#and I'm blanking on things to write

[the-whispers-of-death]

I want to write for Sarabi, since it's birthday, but I'm currently blanking on things to write. So send asks for Sarabi requests, please and thank you!

[eggy-the-boy]

*poking my blorbos with a stick* 

[rambles-on-dragon-age]

Varric doesn't give you the nickname Rook, your whole faction calls you Rook. It makes no sense to give you a faction specific last name and then your faction doesn't even use it, but yeah.

Hi hi!

This will be a bit of a ramble, sorry.

Varric, as a character, gives nicknames to those he's around for any length of time. (Solas is Chuckles, Merrill is Daisy, Vivi is Iron Lady, etc. Very few people in close contact with him will escape earning a moniker. I can go on about how I think it's one of his ways of telling people he sees them, but I digress.) The player character has been traveling with him for a year/the better part of a year. Varric would have definitely given them a nickname in that time. (Honestly it shocks me Harding doesn't have one by now but maybe he tried and she shut that down like Aveline once did lol) When you're putting out your things in the Lighthouse one of them is his shaving mirror and you have a moment of reflection about what he said when he hands it to you. There's also the whole time where he's giving you advice and guides you (IYKYK) and it's clear he means a lot to a Rook and they're close.

That is to say, no matter what faction you were with, you left in disgrace. You broke some code the higher ups held dear, messed up well laid plan, ignored orders to save people, etc. You didn't "fit the bill" for your faction and were summarily "adopted" by Varric to help in his hunt for Solas. Those things that made you a bad fit for your original faction? Made you perfect for what he's doing. A good person that doesn't let the potential costs stop them; they see what needs to happen to help people and will run head first into it and manage to figure a way through the most fucked up situations possible.

When you first meet Neve, you're introduced as Rook. "Like the chess piece?" Yes! One of the most powerful pieces on the board, "but tends to think in straight lines". Which becomes evident in all our shenanigans as Rook through the game. Rook's ability to claw their way through the worst situations and be flexible and creative means that Solas wouldn't be able to predict them or what they'll do. Which turns out to be right; he doesn't expect you to drop a statue on him in the middle of a massive ritual. Rook saw only "this ritual needs to stop NOW" and found a way, no matter the consequences.

I didn't hear that dialogue my first game, though, because I did my first run as a Shadow Dragon. Neve doesn't comment on the naming convention because instead Varric says you both do work with the Shadow Dragons and she just skims past the naming convention to say "Oh, what a coincidence." You are still introduced as Rook at first; it's not until later when you're in the Lighthouse where you can have the conversation that you've heard of each other even though you've never worked together.

Because even if I've worked in the group beside you under the same boss for 20 years, if you're introduced to me as "Rook" instead of "_____ Mercar" I'm not going to know who you are. It's not until later, probably while you're unconscious and she has a chance to speak to Harding, that she says she knows who you are. (Based on what Bellara says when you find her in the forest, you've been out cold for two or three days. Can you imagine what our detective figured out in two or three days?)

All that to say, if "Rook" was given to you by the Shadow Dragons, Neve would have said "Oh! I heard of a Rook." instead of just "Oh! What a coincidence we're both Shadow Dragons." She doesn't comment on who you are and what you've done until later when you have a chance to talk to her in the Lighthouse.

And throughout the game, you continue to be introduced as Rook. Even if you started as another faction, if you're written a letter about "Rook" and not your real name, why would anyone know who Rook is until they meet and go "Oh this lil shit right here. I know this asshole."

[tobiramashusband]

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts 2 - Olympus Coliseum

[little-bumblebeeee]

Moonlight - Part 3

Part 1 part 2

Word count: 1.2k

To Eddie's surprise, there's a note on his locker. He plucks it off and almost crumbles it up, but the handwriting looks familiar.

"Meet me behind the gym after school. - H."

H? For Harrington? Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but why would it be wishful if they avoid each other constantly? It's just after the full moon, Steve still seems rather weak, as he always does afterwards. He's pretty sure nobody goes behind the gym, but it's only because he's never been whisked away to do horny teenager things back there like many other students in this hellhole of a school.

The dirt and pebbles crunch under Eddie's feet as he peeks around the brick wall to see none other than Steve Harrington waiting very anxiously there. Is he waiting for a girl? Maybe Nancy Wheeler? Though Eddie is pretty sure things are rocky between them right now. He slips into the small corridor-like area between the two walls and stands just across from Steve.

"You asked me to come here? I don't have my lunchbox with me today, you'll have to either wait until tomorrow or come to my place-" Eddie starts, but Steve cuts him off.

"No, I don't want weed or anything. I just want to, uh... I just wanted to say thanks. For sticking with me for the past two... nights. I've been doing this for years and nobody's really stuck around to help me out like you did." Steve says quickly, looking around to make sure nobody is listening in on their conversation. The past two nights. The past two full moons. Steve holds out a small wad of cash, clearly expecting Eddie to take it without question.

"I didn't know what you like." Steve says sheepishly as his shoulders shrug. "I would've gotten you a proper gift, but now that just seems weird. So... money" He adds, his tone simple but clearly nervous for some reason. Eddie hesitates. What's the catch? Does he owe Steve after this? Is this a test? Steve moves his hand slightly, raising his eyebrows as if to say "Are you gonna take it or not?". On one hand, money. And on the other hand, it's from Steve.. But money is for certain good, Steve is still a maybe. He reaches out with a shaking hand, hoping Steve won't change his mind at the last second for whatever reason.

"Thanks?" Eddie says, more of a question than an actual statement of gratitude, snatching the wad of cash up before Steve can even blink. Steve nods, running a hand through his hair and taking tiny steps forward so he scoots down the wall a little more. Eddie mirrors him. They stand in silence for a few moments more before Eddie speaks up with probably the stupidest thing he has ever said.

"Why don't you have anyone else with you? Surely your parents know their own kid turns into a giant puppy almost every month." He comments, but Steve immediately goes quiet, even though he was quiet before. This is a different quiet. This is a quiet Eddie knows all too well, the quiet that's either the calm after the storm or the buildup to the storm.

"They don't know." Steve says simply, now seemingly completely invested in the gravel under their feet. Eddie thinks he genuinely hates how much Steve looks like a puppy right now, but it's a little fitting.

"They don't? You've been doing this for how long now, and they've just been at home while you're turning into an overgrown dog?" Eddie says, hardly even a question. Of course he's mad at Steve's parents, he just doesn't know why.

No.. he does.

But he refuses to catch feelings for Harrington. Refuses. It goes against his whole Munson doctrine. Basically, jocks are bad, jocks will always be bad. All of Steve's friends saw Eddie, and decided that he was the perfect target. They've backed off somewhat since he started selling though, nobody really messes with their dealer.

"They just don't." Steve bites, his arms crossed over his chest in a defensive position. The hell is with his tone, wasn't he just thanking Eddie? Also, how long has Steve been doing this? The scar on his shoulder that Eddie managed to see in the locker room looked really old, but Eddie doesn't know enough about scarring to know just how long it's been there. He always wondered about that, it looked like he'd been mauled by something. And he was.

"Fine, fine. Fine. Did.. did it hurt?" Eddie then asks softly, and Steve shrugs, scratching his neck with blunt nails right above the scar. "Don't really remember. It happened when I was like.. seven." He says, snarky tone fading slightly, but definitely not fully. Eddie feels that annoyance burning behind his eyes and in the back fo his throat once more.

"Seven? Are you serious!? And your parents just don't know!?" He demands, throwing his arms in the air. Parents should know these things, especially if their seven year old son got mauled by a werewolf. There had to be blood, it had to hurt- what the actual fuck!? Steve runs a hand through his hair, huffing.

"Just... stop. Seriously. You're about to say something else, just-... just stop, dude. It doesn't matter." Steve says, and Eddie bites his tongue. He really needs this money, his uncle needs this money. And it's just enough to cover rent.

"Fine. Fine, I'll shut up. Just, can I ask what happened? Like, how it happened?" He asks the boy in front of him. Steve sighs for what seems like the hundredth time, shrugging.

"I was just playing outside, I guess. Sun set and I saw the guy- thought it was a big dog and learned my lesson." Steve says. He hesitates before finishing the rest of the story. "My parents paid doctors to say I got onto a car crash on my records. Don't know how the hell it worked but it did."

Eddie just simply nods, his lips parted as he listens to Steve explain all of this. Steve might be a jock, but his parents are now among the list of people he hates, right above Steve himself. Although Eddie might not know it, but Steve is slowly teetering off that list- maybe he hasn't actually been on it for a little while now.

One day Eddie will admit it to himself.

Someone calls out to Steve, snapping them both out of whatever state of dissociation they were in. "See you around." Steve says simply, walking away before Eddie can say a word.

------------------------------------------------------

Eddie is once more alone. The trailer is dark, he has the snacks all to himself, and he gets to watch whatever he wants. This is what happens every time Wayne goes to work, there's always a horror movie not rewinded and a can of Spaghetti-O's missing by morning. This is the way he likes it, and yet someone knocking at the door is interrupting his alone time.

"Whaaaaat?" He groans out as he begrudgingly shuffles to the door, blanket still around his shoulders. The door swings open only for him to see none other than Nancy Wheeler at his door. The hell is she doing here?

"I'm worried about Steve, and I saw you talking to him." She says firmly, almost accusingly. She doesn't think Eddie did something to him, did she? Eddie himself knows his reputation, how he looks and how he acts towards people like Steve, but he feels his blood run cold and his face go numb, and not because of the nighttime breeze now blowing even harder into the trailer.

"What's wrong with Steve?" He can't help but ask.

Short and sweet, but still longer than the rest. I'm gonna try to make each chapter longer, because I'm very used to writing short things under 1k words :)

Tag list!! (Woah I have one of those now): @manda-panda-monium @anaibis @irregular-child @gregre369 @cartercaptainofthemoon

[kdelarenta]

you guys, this is going to sound mean, but i PROMISE this is an actual, genuine question - can anyone name one personality trait of either simon or daphne?

[spotaus]

Besties. Every single day I think about a Honkai:Star Rail and utmv crossover. Do I do it? Absolutely not. Theoretically could it work? Yeag.

[andrasta14]

~ my journal collection ~

[coloursofaparadox]

i should never have pursued adhd meds theyve made me too powerful

[tankgotstuckinthecircusgate]

i could draw anything but i decided to draw this. carlo and rocco in 1932 aka my headache

[faislittlewhiteraven]

Undertale/ISaT crossover thoughts 3

(aka the 'Sif and family explore The Island' edition)

Had a lot of Undertale/ISaT crossover thoughts (here's the post for how I'm crossing them over in general, and here's the post for an overview of each of the three major plot lines) but most of my actual thinking has been about Sif and family exploring The island so I'm gonna go into some depth for once rather than overview and hope this is useful for ideas for anyone writing any sort of 'Sif and family go to Sif's homeland' fic rather than the Undertale crossover centric stuff most of the other posts have been.

Side note: Location names in my notes is very minimal at this point as I generally look up names last when plotting anything. But er, working name of the Island is The Isle of Chara (because Undertale's Chara is kind of a big deal in this actually and good odds the final name will probably have Chara in it) so please keep that in mind in case I somehow end up typing that somewhere here in my notes.

---

Start:

Sif and family's plot starts with the return of colours and memories (caused by the breaking of the Barrier by the monsters). A day is spent kind of just 'emotionally reacting' to all that (Sif's kind of overwhelmed and in tears) but next day the group actually sit down and discuss whether it's worth them going or not because, yes they are the Saviours of Vauguard and yes they're right next to Bambooche but well, who knows what state the Island is in right now and if it turns out to be... Unpleasant, it is definitely going to hit Sif hard.

Siffrin, naturally does want to go, but am definitely having Sif mentally going over all the potential horrors of the situation (everyone just... Vanished without a trace leaving empty streets and homes? Piles of skeletons because everyone died in an instant? His parents completely untouched by the passage of time wondering why he, an adult stranger covered in scars is claiming to be their missing child?) before confirming with the others he's up for this and that they'll need his Island language skills in case of survivors and for reading signs and records anyway.

How do they get there:

At first the think of taking a boat but well, turns out the Island wasn't the only thing erased from memory and as they reach Bambooche it becomes apparent that- Oh! That 'spooky hill everyone just avoids' is actually a really big and complete with steel, concrete and 'our world modern' tar road bridge, that goes all the way out over the ocean and clearly extends towards the Island.

Cue Party stopping by Bambooche's harbour and the local House of Change to get an idea of options: The House also wants to send people to Vauguard's new/old neighbours (in general all the Houses in Vauguard are very curious and there's a ton of messengers and 'Message Craft' going back and forth everywhere right now) and they promise to get the word out to everywhere (including the press) that the Saviours of Vauguard are investigating so no one has any reason to worry. Cue awkward/nervous Mirabelle laughing and trying not to freak out at the pressure of being so important... Again! While many local sailors are willing to make the trip but well, prepping the ships for an unknown landing will take a while and everyone is nervous about the 'was apparently always there' giant bridge looming overhead (what if bits of it fall?).

So after a bit of back and forth the party go for the bridge. It needs people to check it for structural damage and Sadnesses anyway and the party have people capable of handling both (gives Nille construction analysis skills) so welp!

Bridge:

Actually approaching the bridge the party spy some weird 'metal lumps' that as they approach several members of the group (not just Sif) recognise as long abandoned cars. Which are everywhere, to the point its genuinely hard to get around them, and the group realise the 'little building next to the bridge' is actually the entrance for an underground car park. Cue the group finding a 'building' built into the base of the bridge; sadly the door is locked and despite Isabeau and Nille's best efforts they can't smash it open, but Sif's pretty sure it's probably the door to a train station judging by the glass and metal tube they can see running from the side of the building base all the way under the bridge.

Cue talk on what the crab a train even is as they make their way back onto the actual bridge and start climbing and hopping over the sea of cars (Odile wants everyone to know she hates all this jumping btw), but the silly vibes stop dead when the groups starts seeing the remains of car wrecks and some never buried corpses left at the wheel/caught between two lots of crumpled metal (it's been like 18 years so they're pretty much all picked clean skeletons but yeah, Bonnie is definitely having their eyes covered by Mira). ...Isabeau points out that all the cars and remains here very definitely indicate that the people of the Island were not instakilled/frozen in time by whatever happened and, most likely, they were hit by the memory erasure effect and those who could remember how tried to flee the Island for places less detrimental to their psyches but... It's honestly kind of amazing that there aren't more crash wrecks and bodies given how mentally distressed everyone driving must have been.

It doesn't help cheer anyone up but the observation is noted (Sif keeps getting shoulder pats from everyone since well, this isn't the worst case scenerio but it's pretty bad), and the group continue walking until finally they reach a 'Craft' Station (think gas station but like, magic wish stuff for fuel or something. Thinking there's a favor tree 'tank' next to the building and everything) where they find a few scribbled notes in Vauguardian from the last worker there (bilingial type, lived on the island, trying and failing to remember the island and 'something, someone?' important they left there, decided to head for Vauguard but only after noting down everything they can and making sure all the 'time preserving seals' on the food storage containers are working properly. Just in case someone needs them) and a whole heap of fridges and 'glass cases' with somehow still fresh food inside them. Sadly the cooking implements in the building weren't nearly as resistant to the flow of time but the group decides they'd rather spend the night outside in their tents anyway so they set up camp, Sif shares more of what they do and don't know about all this weird stuff they keep encountering (some but not a lot; Sif recognises the appliances and roads but their coastal hometown was much more 'traditional' and they don't have a clue how all these high tech craft machines actually work outside of making sure they're set up right and flicking a switch) and have a nice dinner before going to sleep.

Next day is walking, with a side order of more walking. Mood is a bit better after talks and rest, but most of this gets skipped (during which the precipitation that collected on the bridge during the cold night evaporates into a thick fog, and then starts slowly clearing up under what looks like strong sunlight) until the group finally see the actual island itself for the first time and- Oh wow. That's an actual city (for an idea of the visuals please imagine the city in the background of the Undertale credits scene where Papyrus is driving along a bridge in a car). Group are blown away because, damn, somehow they weren't expecting that (this is waaay too big a place for them alone to explore, thank goodness the Houses will be sending teams in soon) except for Siffrin who promptly recognises the place as something of a tourist/heavily Vauguardian influenced city that he used to visit on rare occasions with his parents: Usually for big events like going to see a big theatre production on his birthday or to attend the Island's biggest Change festival (brought over by the large Vauguardian immigrant population) which his mom's family always loved attending.

The City:

Takes the group another hour or two to actually reach the city itself (walking takes time alas) but when they get there, yep there sure are a lot of signs in Vauguardian and little Change God statues everywhere. ...Also a lot of signs of looting and unchecked plant growth and 'feral' animals everywhere but most of the buildings look pretty good (Odile is still instantly 'none of us are entering going up or down any floors past ground level in any of these without good reason before Nille/other professionals can check them over for instability' though), and though it takes a bit of awkwardly trying to read a rotting signpost map, Sif is able to guide everyone to the central train station...

Which still has its automated trains working!!! (Sif takes a moment to brag about how 'of course they're still fine! All public transport systems are safe guarded by the best protections applied Wish craft can manage' before wondering why they feel so proud of that something their dad used to say a lot?) Cue party quickly finding the 'Vauguard line' which, yes is working and is just waiting for passengers, and (before proper discussion of 'do we take the train back to Vauguard and unblock the station doors on the other end' can be had) a trainline that stops by Siffrin's home town down by the Island's Southern coast.

...Needless to say, they go for Sif's hometown first (they're 100% planning on unblocking the Vauguard station's door at the nearest possible opportunity afterwards though).

Cue silly scenes of everyone boarding the train, comments being made of the silly 'mascot' figures in black and white everywhere (thinking I may cameo Ingo and Emmet in setting), Odile mentioning that she remembers riding trains -much less sleak and automatic than these ones- in Ka Bue during her youth (presumably their use being associated enough with the Island they were forgotten about when the Event happened), Isabeau turning out to be majorly freaked out by the closing doors and general nice vibes before whooosh they're off to Sif's hometown.

Siffrin's hometown:

Party get a nice scenic view of the coast and a lot of 'old fashioned if fancy' looking coastal buildings as the train zips along and pulls into an elegant if overgrown looking station (I'm thinking greek column/smooth plain stone everywhere vibes and IDK why).

One side of the station leads away from the coast in the direction of what looks an actual town, while the other goes towards the coast and in general seems like a much quieter 'district', with lots of more old fashioned looking buildings (some clearly more damaged by the years without care than others), lots of trees, boat houses and cobbled pathways.

Naturally Sif immediately heads in the direction of the coast, at first slow then running ahead as he recognises the streets and houses before finally stopping at a house in very good condition. Party catch up and yeah... This is Sif's home. That tree had a swing, the marks on the door are from when Siffrin got it into his head to try carving 'stars' on everything for 'good luck', that over there is the 'public door' to Dad's observatory he left open to the public because all Islanders deserve to have unrestricted access to the stars but just as often people from town would just walk right through the house to get there because Mom loved having so many guests and their 'private family rooms' all had locks so letting people freely wander their home was fine and-!

...Yeah Siffrin is terrified of going in alone but fortunately their family of choice is there and well, in they go.

Everything inside is in equally good nick (the place itself is simple and homey but also clearly high quality stuff everywhere) and somehow only very barely dusty, though the group are quick to notice that all the cupboards are bare, there's clear signs of someone searching and packing away things (books all over, things left open, scattered things like bowls and cups -someone trying to decide what to take?) and well. There's a bunch of notes, written in Vauguardian on the kitchen table. Odile reads it out:

The writer cannot remember her name, or where she is, her family which she knows she must have because there's three plates here, just as there are three bedrooms and one of each is for a child she can't remember she can't remember but. She can think enough to write things down, to check on her neighbours and get them to eat. ...No one can stay here. She remembers Vauguard so it must be safe, and... There's a boat, in the warehouse, she and others can take. She and the friendly boulanger she can't remember he's her friend but she can't remember know how to rig and sail it and they're more coherent than most everyone else so... If they head there, maybe things will be fine? She's always liked Vauguard and the Change religion, always thought about changing herself a little even if he likes her as she is She can't read that last line and Changing would be nice, she thinks. ...though, if the family she must have are looking for her, she'll need to keep some things the same. Darkless kinky hair is unusual isn't it? Especially with the darker skin she inherited from her Vauguardian mother so she'll keep those, but... Oh what if she makes herself really stand out in other ways? Then. Then maybe they'll notice and be drawn to her even if they can't remember any better than she does! She lists the things she does remember about herself once more, where she plans to lead everyone (Dormont is a nice place. The quiet slow pace there might help the others adjust), all the supplies she plans on taking (a porcaline doll. Her 's favorite. Hugs it constantly even though it feels awful), a few complaints about people who absolutely refuse to leave even though they're every bit as mindblanked as the rest of them and leaves an end note inviting anyone who reads this account to please enjoy their rest in her home but to please, please please not damage anything because- Someone else might not want it damaged and. She can't remember, can't handle even entering some of these rooms it hurts too much but. Please. She wants everything here to remain where it is, until the people who belong here can return.

...

So um. Yeah.

Big group hug and tears are had but Sif being Sif tries to push on quicker than they should, group reluctantly accept that he might just need some time to process and with Sif's blanket permission ("It's my family house. You're my family, so you can go wherever you want") most split into smaller groups inspecting all the rooms and things, with Odile and Isa checking out Sif's dad's study, Bonnie immediately poking their nose into Sif's childhood room dragging Sif along to tell them all about everything in there (Sif is having like all the nostalgia, heart ache and 'genuinely wanting to show Bonnie all the cool things, oh! The toy aeroplane that actually flies =D' moods right now), and Nille and Mira giving the more rummaged areas a quick look over since well. Good odds they may be here a while and knowing where stuff is might be handy.

During this period thinking Mirabelle should have something of a mild freakout for many reasons over the thought that Euphrasie -her mother/mentor figure- could possibly be Siffrin's mindwhammied birth mother because Dormont was mentioned, and the Head Housemaiden never really talks about her past and she knew of Wish Craft, and has that genuinely really rare darkless kinky hair and the hand writing on the note seemed familiar and aaaaaaa!!!! Cue giving Nille a scene of trying to help calm Mira down' mostly by pointing out there's no way they could possibly know the truth right now, pointing out that post the return of colours they can't really be sure what 'darkless' they're even talking about here, and Sif still flinches whenever Euphrasie is mentioned due to how much he associates her with the loops so if they ARE related... It's probably going to be a good long while before they can even consider reconnecting anyway so Mira has plenty of time to sort through her feelings on this, talk to the related parties to confirm if her suspicions have anything to them, and Euphrasie would probably need even more time to process it all than Sif and Mira will put together (good odds she'd currently be going through a massive breakdown/freakout back in Dormont over realising she has a kid she has no idea the identity, well being or anything of).

Mostly out of direct 'scene to scene' stuff at this point but thinking the group end up spending the night in the Observatory, which is MASSIVE and Siffrin sort of manages to awkwardly get across that observatories not directly used for study are always like that because they're basically public churches for Islanders since viewing the guiding light of the stars with others is a holy/community kinda thing but... Also Sif's family on their Dad's side have owned this observatory/the 'star viewing area' on these cliffs for generations and it IS totally normal to spend every other night stargazing with random strangers and to be given near constant lessons on stars and proper behaviour by your Dad so all the other families know you're being properly pious and- Cue everyone being like: 'hey Sif, I think your family might've be a little less 'humble coastal folk' and more 'stupid rich' than you might've realised from the perspective of being a 13 year old, also the notes and diaries in your Dad's study scream political work and someone who arranges a lot of religious stuff' and Siffrin trying to wrap their brain around essentially being the Island's version of Mira but with like, a lot of money on top of that.

Other:

They 100% find the body of someone who killed themselves recently when looking around... Somewhere. (too many days ago for them to have possibly stopped this person but definite confirmation that survivors of the Island might've been hit hard by suddenly remembering and having no support)

Probably meet Undine on the rail system while looking for pockets of survivors still on the island - Undine is doing the same on behalf of the monsters trying to set up a new government so um. Yay happy first contact?

Once Sif's group has met up with the Undertale characters there' definitely gonna be some Sif and Frisk friendship stuff, though probably not before Frisk and Bonnie (and MK?) friendship causes mild craziness.

(...Must have Sif, Isa, Toriel and Sans pun off. I can't write for beans but I MUST! For the PUNS!!!!)

Scene where Siffrin learns the Elder guy who's been looking after all the kids in the Village by Mt Ebott (main area the monsters have set up shop so it'll probably be renamed by Asgore 'Home Town' soon), is their grandfather on their mother's side and a bit of family history. - namely that Sif's mother was half Vauguardian (grandma was sickly and died before Sif was even born), that travelling to other countries and marrying 'outside the island' was seen as something very odd (slight xenophobic attitudes to outsiders?) back in Grampa's day, and a lot of little tidbits about Sif's parents like how his mom loved fishheads so so much, it was Sif's dad who cooked amazing Malanga Fritters with green peppers, the two of them had something of a whirlwind romance bonding over making enchanted things together (dad better at ritual work while mom could just boom! Make things off the cuff without thinking too hard about it) and... yeah. Just... Sif finding one living relative who never, ever expected to see any of his relatives again to boot (also Elder immediately being all 'introduce me to your family- Ah so just like your mother you favor big handsome men! Oh and your little one Bonnie is precious!' the second he gets over the weepy 'I cannot believe it' awkwardness because dang it, Sif deserves to find some additional family on this otherwise incredibly heavy trip)

The exploration into the space warped and Sadness filled Island Capital eventially leads to a lot of weird/heavy revelations about the Island for Sif:

Sif on his dad's side is basically the heir to one of THE big families of the Island (they don't like royalty but the Asterion and Chara families were arguably that in all but name).

His dad was very concerned about the heir of Chara because they were never really seen in public despite the Chara family living in/basically owning the Capital.

There was a genuine fear of the Monsters returning and waging war for the sins committed against their ancestors and a union between the Asterion and Chara families was seen by many as 'Universe ordained' protection against this (Cue Sif having a lot of 'trying not to wonder if my country practiced arranged marriage' squick and really appreciating their parents' choice to keep them well away from the Capital/the really religious types here...)

The Chara family was apparently in charge of protecting and aiding any Monsters found outside Mt Ebott (of which there were actually quite a few!) but according to the official paperwork all of them requested to join the rest of the Monsters under Mt Ebott? (All monsters helping the party point blank state that no one, monster or human, entered the Underground from the Surface before Chara fell)

...Notes on how Monster dust is raw Wish Craft in physical form in the Chara house...

Notes in the Chara house on how the Chara heir wasn't particularly liked, to the point they weren't being given a personal name until they did something to earn it.

Horror lab eventually found in the Chara house. Lots of dusty cages, notes on how people injected with monster dust react to it, etc.

Chara's room. Bare and empty aside from a few potted golden flower plants, a few letters and pictures stuck up on the wall (cue Sif doing a double take recognising their childhood name on some of them -Chara was that penpal of theirs that never responded?), and a few loose floor boards which underneath have scribbled escape plans, very expired food rations, carefully drawn and folded pictures of non human figures crying in cages, and bandages.

--- And... yeah. That last part is very much the 'Chara plotline' stuff kicking in hard but trying to think of little puzzle pieces for Sif and Co to find and slowly piece together into a big old ball of 'Wow, I DO understand why this otherwise very nice and did not deserve this country got accidentally ERASED by this kid actually' hints so um yeah.

Hope you like all the world building/stuff before it gets all 'period horror/drama' at the end there and do feel free to use any of this/give feedback as well. I've spent too long typing this out, my brain is pudding and I'm done on this thinky think train for now XD

[lia404]

For the writing ask!

🧮💕😊

Why do I keep missing asks? It took longer than you probably thought, but here are some (long long long) answers! And the ask game is here for those who are curious. (Is it better practice to only keep the emoji or to put in the whole question? I went for emoji-only because I find the lack of context amusing, but maybe I'm the only one amused.)

Below the cut: answers, WIPs, tips on my writing process, and rambling.

🧮 - 20 words is not a lot, especially when you're like me and you have many WIPs at once. I like working on all of them little by little, like building puzzles that always end up complete at SOME point.

Malik hates my original character;

Emissaryshipping with a side of smut;

Puzzleshipping beast tamer alternate universe;

Shooting stars. Bang, bang.

Here you are! That's exactly 20. I could add more but the other WIPs are more dormant. I'll get back to them once I'm done with the ones up here.

(I like this "20 words maximum" limit. It reminds me of the snowflake method to build stories in which you have to start by writing your story in only one sentence. It's an incredible starting point. Difficult, too.)

💕 - I hate writing what. More seriously, there are multiple parts I like in my writing process, and while the most satisfying parts really depend on which story I'm writing, I can think of the three parts I like most:

The remnants of a dream: I never write my stories in order, and often begin by the middle or the end. So when I start a new story, I lay down the foundations in bits and pieces that come as they want. It's small sentences, sometimes just words, thrown on the page, kind of like what remains of a dream when you've just woken up, and you're writing things down super fast so you don't forget. The more those tiny pieces appear, the more come to my mind, so at the end of the process, I sometimes have already 2k words written. While it looks completely nonsensical from the outside, it's actually the moment that lays down the bases of the story: these scraps and lines already give a tone to the character, and an idea of how they will react to events. One of the reasons I like this part of the process so much is that it can happen anywhere, and while I sometimes sit down and have so many ideas to throw on the page, usually, I do it little by little. Five minutes in the metro, two sentences when I wake up, taking a break from work by adding a paragraph... Sometimes, when I drag this step for too long, I begin writing elements that are contradictory, but it just helps me see the different possibilities.

The epiphany: in general, it's not an actual epiphany, but rather the moment when I've finally found a way to organise all the bits and pieces in a structured story, with a beginning, an end, a something akin to a plot (even if I am usually guilty of writing too much charastudy.) This step is a lot of cutting and pasting in my document, a lot of "[FIND SOMETHING TO WRITE HERE]" that I try not to forget when I'm editing the story, and other "[JE SAIS PLUS COMMENT ON DIT EN ANGLAIS FIND THE WORD ALREADY]". I write to myself a lot at this stage, to remember why I put this or that paragraph in this or that place. Sometimes, I cut thousands of words and paste them in another document, because they won't make it to the final story. Sometimes, I move paragraphs 10 times before finding where they fit best. At this step, the story is like a massive Swiss cheese, with a good structure but so many holes. I love Swiss cheese.

The Ladybug: actually, this one comes after the writing stage and happens at the editing stage. Its name originates from a glorious episode when I became serious with getting real feedback on my stories before publishing; my partner, who is also a writer and an excellent editor, cast a look at the story, went "...uh", clicked and typed and then turned to me, saying "all the red words on the screen, here? They're adverbs." Until then, I had never noticed how much I overused adverbs, but with so much red in the middle of the black font, the text was looking like a ladybug. So the name stuck. Now, it's not only adverbs: once I'm done with writing, I give the story a short cooldown of at least one day, then read it again with a very critical eye and spot all my written tics. It can be that my characters seem to keep sighing. It might be that they say "yeah" every two sentences. It might be that I've used the structure ", and" or ", but" every sentence for three paragraphs. It could be the ridiculous amount of "get/got", of em dashes, or (because I never learn) of words that end with "-ly". I list all of these. Then I use the research function, and I check how many times they come up and their distribution in the text. And that's when the fun starts: I need to remove them, replace them, reformulate whole sentences, rethink some scenes that are too close to others. It's beyond writing; it becomes a fun game of logics. It's like translating from English to English (or French to French, depending) or playing chess and swapping pieces. And sometimes I also get the satisfaction of discovering that what I thought was an unbearable writing tic actually happened only 3 times in a 6k-word story. The search function can be an incredible tool that gives me an objective point of view where mine is completely distorted by the annoyance of having found yet another ", and" ten times in my story. (As an example, if I were to Ladybug this answer, I'd probably try looking up all the words in "-ing". As I'm writing now, I feel like I've been using a ton of these and not all of them are justified. I could probably rephrase a lot.)

There's another moment I could mention, that I like a lot but still doesn't make the cut to what I "prefer", because it's a bit of a hit or miss. It's The highway, when I've been listening to Freed From Desire in repeat mode for 4 hours straight, my brain has disconnected and my hands are typing who-knows-what. I'm in the zone, and often it feels nice; but most of the time, I'm just very frustrated, because the circumstances around me make it hard to reach this state, and I usually only reach it very late at night. So I'm tired, and upset, and even if it's amazing to reach this level of flow in writing, it's still very uncomfortable.

But now that I sit down and think of it, that does make many moment I like in writing. Maybe I don't hate writing what.

😊 - I write well. If it were in French, I would even dare say I write very well. It's a skill I've been honing for the past 30 years of my life, with a lot of trials and tribulations, really terrible results and surprisingly good ones. I don't think I have the best writing style, because there's no such thing and it's all a matter of taste, but I like the grasp I have on the words and the meaning I want to give them. While I'm not the best at plot, I'm good at structure and pacing. I'm extremely demanding with myself, but not in a crippling perfectionist way anymore. From the outside, this whole paragraph may sound arrogant; the truth is that, while there's very little I am self-confident in, my writing is one of them. So, yeah. My writing in English is what it is, of course, but I know that I write well in my mother tongue. I suppose the way I've seen myself grow and evolve as an author plays a huge part in it. I like the control I have developed over my writing.

Thank youuuu for sending this ask! It was super interesting to answer.

[britneyshakespeare]

I have been sitting on the floor in the early-modern English section of my college library a lot lately. Incidences of at least one time per week. But truly when you get over your pride and just sit on the floor the skim the books in a particularly interesting section of the library is the best. Unrestrained summer fun.

As is no secret I do like to browse various Complete Works of Shakespeare, and there was one with a particularly vague spine, I'm pretty sure it had been rebound? From its original binding? A lot of the books in this library have these hard plastic bindings that I'm pretty sure are not what they originally came in and it's very strange to me. I know I'm not actually very experienced with lots of libraries (being from an extremely small town with an underfunded one, and other than that only having attended a community college with a pretty small library too)... but it's very strange and I'd never seen it before. I opened up to find out which company published it and when, but the page with the publication info seemed to be missing? I couldn't even find the general editor? But it WAS a sufficient edition with like, original notes and prefatory material. So it was strange.

It seemed to have been previously owned by a particular person who annotated VERY heavily. Either that or somebody read several plays and vandalized the shit out of a library book. The first random page I flipped to, just wanting to see what the footnotes situation might be, was the first page of Richard III, and I was struck how EVERY. SINGLE. PAGE of this VERY LONG play was thoroughly annotated in small, messy handwriting. Lots of highlighting and underlining too of course. Mostly the annotations seemed to be summaries of what was happening, but still I found it very charming. I noticed that when I flipped at random to Much Ado About Nothing, everything was completely blank, making a very clear distinction between what this person read from this edition, and what they did not read. I immediately wanted to go through and see which were the plays they read and annotated.

So the plays they read, which were all furiously annotated on every page in the like manner, were (in order of the table of contents): Richard III, Titus Andronicus, the introduction to Love's Labor's Lost but seemingly not the play, Richard II, Romeo and Juliet, the introduction to A Midsummer Night's Dream but seemingly not the play (what an L on this one), the Merchant of Venice (this was still annotated on every page, but maybe with like still 20% of the margin space left, which I'm wondering if it meant it was either the first or last play they read in this copy?), Henry V, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Othello, the introduction to Measure for Measure but seemingly not the play, and Macbeth.

And then out of nowhere, the Tempest is sparingly annotated, in what is unmistakably an entirely different person's hand. Original owner used only black pen and wrote in very small characters; this person had varying-size penmanship and wrote in a variety of ink and graphite. They also didn't take up 100% of the margins at all times. I don't know who this impostor was that read the Tempest, perhaps a friend of my beloved former possessor of this mysteriously anonymous Complete Works of Shakespeare (after flipping through all of their annotations, we are bosom-friends now)... I don't know. The mystery remains.

I did not take high quality pictures but I was so shocked when I flipped to Richard III I just had to document it

Every. Single. Page is filled like this (I did go back and read their annotations to I.ii because I wanted to experience the scene with them) (I did not take pictures of it but perhaps I should later)

And. PS. Nobody seemingly read and annotated Antony and Cleopatra, but there is some arithmetic on the first page of the introduction. Lol

[fionnaskyborn]

wish i could stop losing stuff irretrievably. some hardware error emptied out my recycle bin a couple days earlier. just to shit on a day i'd spent being genuinely happy about the art i create. i guess. i'm tired of compromises, sick of lying that "it wasn't that important anyway", and throwing up at "oh well, can't be helped".

and yet. and yet. despite every pain, both major and minor, the love is there. the love is still there. guess i've just somehow miraculously hit that point (or gone past it a long time ago) where every grievance beyond a certain amount hurts an unspeakable amount more than it should. and it stacks. probably went overboard a while back. don't know when.

still, i adore my project. still got someone in whose arms i feel safe. hope i'll get out someday. hope i'll get a win.

[gardensnakie]

How’s life? No pressure question ofc, but if you want to share please feel free to do so with this ask :3

Eh, it doesn't feel all that great right now. I'm tired and hungry a lot, but I just have to get a routine together. My sleep has been wonky, I've been waking up too early, but I feel fine then but it also feels like I can't rest completely- I have dreamless nights mostly. And I also just get annoyed a lot, but it feels better being around people I like.