#and its... a weird premise lol. at least i think so

[mbat]

before i pass out for the night. since my brain is back on dan and phil as if its 2016 or something i need to put this out into the world. this isnt some sort of important life changing post, just a personal funny thing

so when i was 13 and fixating on dan and phil, i read a lot of fanfics. like, i guarantee that even after all these years that, if i had the statistics, that fandom was the one i read the most fanfics for and constantly. i couldnt tell you what nearly any of them were about, and i have a feeling that many of them are probably lost to time by now. i also dont know if i need to mention that yeah, a lot of them were shipping, and yes ive long grown out of that. (the dnp fandom is actually what made me grow out of that)

anyway all this to say that over the last 6 years after i stopped fixating on dan and phil, one fanfic stuck with me and i just. i think about it every once in a while. its been over half a decade. it wasnt a groundbreaking fic, i dont remember any quotes or specifics, just the premise as of at least the first few chapters. idk why it stuck with me

it was literally a fic about. if the world had gotten to a point where almost every child was born as like, a science baby instead of a natural baby, and phil was a science baby, but dan was a natural baby. and there was somehow this like, thing where the science babies would bully the natural babies for some reason idek, and this was a highschool setting and i think dan was a new kid in school. and what gets me about the fic is that dan was some small shy scared kid and phil was some mean jerk bully. and how wild that is compared to how they are in real life

this isnt me trying to find the fic or the person who wrote it or any of that, this is literally just. i remember this fic at least once every few months and i needed to get it out of my brain somewhere

[mariana-oconnor]

Types of AO3 Summary

Option 1 - The Excerpt:

The quickest, the easiest! Find a section of your fic that contains the main premise of said fic and also showcases your writing. Copy paste that into the summary box. BOOM! Done.

Best used for any fic, unless it's so short the excerpt would be the whole fic.

Option 2 - The No Frills:

Just a description of the fic. No need for drama. No need to complicate matters. Keep it simple, keep it safe.

Example: "A short character exploration of Blorbo's thoughts after Daisy leaves."

Best used for short fics, poems and fics where the style/format is more important than the plot. Or fics that tie directly into a scene/episode from canon or another fanfic.

Option 3 - The Hook:

Draw the reader's interest by giving them a set up with no conclusion. Introduce the main character(s), introduce the status quo, describe an inciting incident, leave a question in the reader's mind.

Example: "Blorbo is a barista at a coffee shop, struggling to pay their bills, but after handsome rockstar Obrolb walks into their coffee shop they find that they have to decide whether a chance at love is worth the cost of fame."

Best used for mid to long fic where there's a strong premise and follow through. Especially good for AUs. Can be expanded for more complex plots or used multiple times in one summary for multiple characters or subplots.

Option 4 - The Sitcom One-Liner:

"The one in which [over simplified description of one of the main plotlines]" This is essentially 'boil your plot down to the very simplest statement you can, oversimplify if possible. The more bizarre or unhelpful the better.

Example: "The one in which Blorbo learns to like cake".

Best used for fics with at least a little humour in them.

Option 5 - The Rule of Three:

Three is a magic number. Find three key moments in your fic and just list them. That's it. Often ends with 'not necessarily in that order' if used for comic effect. If it's an AU, establish that quickly (i.e. 'Star NHL player Blorbo…').

Example: "Blorbo makes a friend, falls in love, and almost burns to death, not necessarily in that order."

Best used for anything, really. Three is a magic number. The human brain loves things that come in threes.

Option 6 - The Trope Lure:

Why bother describing the plot? We all know AO3 readers are here for the tropes. Similar to The Sitcom One-Liner just using tropes instead of plot. Often followed by the phrase 'that nobody asked for'.

Example: "The Space western / A/B/O / Mail Order Bride fic that nobody asked for."

Often tacked on to the end of The Hook or The Excerpt as a tl;dr.

Best used for fic that plays its tropes straight with no shame or second guessing.

Option 7 - The Pre-emptive Strike:

(Not recommended) You just wrote this fic, the self doubt is consuming you. You feel the need to apologise profusely for your existence for no apparently reason. You feel cringe, you think the fic is cringe, you want everyone to know that you think the fic is cringe in case they don't like it and judge you for it.

Example: "So I fell in love with this pairing and had to write this. It's weird and terrible. Lol! I suck at summaries! Sorry!"

Best used for no fics ever. I cannot stress this enough.

(Seriously, I am begging you, don't do this. If you're planning to use this option, rethink it and do one of the others. I guarantee you more people will want to read your fic.)

Sometimes added on to any other summary as a strange disclaimer. (srsly. don't.)

Option 8 - The Unapology:

Embrace the mayhem, embrace the deep dark depths of your soul. The opposite of The Pre-emptive Strike. A combination of The No Frills and The Trope Lure that truly gives no fucks.

You have committed crimes and you are proud of them. You know what your USP is and you're going to make sure your target market finds you. Look upon my works, ye readers, and despair!

Example: "There aren't enough tentacle fics in this pairing, so I had to write one myself!"

Best used for fics with controversial/polarising tropes with all relevant details already clearly stated in the tags.

Option 9 - The Interrogation:

What if you wrote a summary entirely in questions? What if your readers had to read the fic to discover the answers? Who knows what will happen if you do this?

Example: "What happens when Blorbo McBlorbo gets his wish and Daisy doesn't make it to the plane on time? What happens when Obrolb finds out? How will this change Daisy and Blorbo's friendship?"

Best used for... I honestly don't know. This style of summary does not vibe with me. Mystery fic maybe? Sorry guys.

Option 10 - The Multipack:

Got a bunch of shorter fics in one work? No way of summarising them all without a wall of text larger than the Great Wall of China? This one is similar to The No Frills in that you're not describing the plots themselves and similar to The Trope Lure in that often broader genres and tropes are mentioned. What links those fics? Are they all in the same fandom? The same pairing? The same challenge? Just slap that right in the summary. A chapter list with 1-2 word trope/pairing summaries can be included or not.

Example: "A collection of Blorbo/Daisy/Obrolb fics based on Tumblr prompts. Chapter 1: Regency AU Chapter 2: Werewolves vs vampires Chapter 3: Ghost!Daisy Chapter 4: Space pirates!"

Best used for (obviously) works that are compilations of fic.

Option ? - The Void:

I said The Excerpt was the quickest and easiest summary to do. I lied, well... I didn't exactly lie. What is quicker and easier than not having a summary at all? After all, that's what the tags are for.

Example:

Best used for... nothing? Write a summary, guys. Please?

[zaptrap]

Seeing that you've been here since 2012 is INSANE like you've witnessed it all huh. You've seen probably SO many weird and crazy things in this fandom like man that's so cool for you I feel...

ive def seen and participated in a lot of dumbass bullshit over the years LMAO. although notsomuch during the skybound-to-seabound era cuz i'd lost interest for a bit

Random shit I remember off the top of my head (plz feel free to fact-check):

deviantart era: (2012-2013)

that bright green ninjago ask meme

like, literally everybody making self-insert purple ninjas (sometimes orange, teal, or rainbow) and shipping them with their fav ninja

everyone making their own genderbends of the ninja. cole was almost always called nicole or colette lmao

people also naming their accounts (name)-the-ninja (or "teh-ninja", since this was 2012)

there's a non-zero probability that if you were in the fandom during the season 1 era, you're a furry now

naruto crossovers

half-snake ninja aus.........wonder who uh......who could've done that.....heheh (me) (that was my whole deal pre-nindroid!jay lmfao)

everyone posting like, doll-maker things they made of ninjago? especially dragon ones

(me) posting leaked screenshots of season 2 eps that i found on the lego wiki or smth lmao. this is also how i found out zane was a robot. i think i kept posting leaks when i moved to tumblr

legends of chima releasing and i thiiink it was supposed to be a ninjago replacement? like, legitimately? though a lot of people weren't happy about it. "furry gang drug wars" was a phrase used a lot lmfao.

tumblr era (2013-2016 for me) (may overlap with dA era)

everyone losing their minds over the shirtless ninja in ns2 lmfao

that one video of kirby marrow (rest in peace) saying cole was 14

that other vid of like, behind the scenes and it was the ninja's actors but like in-universe? it's where "cole bucket" comes from

also some behind the scenes vid with the actual voice actors lol

thinking back on this, im like 100% sure it was bullshit but when the end of rebooted aired, there was a rumor going around about fans being so upset over zane's death that they carved a snowflake on their stomachs. lots of people were freaking out lmfao

the rise and fall of "fucknoshittyninjagoOCs" (ashamed to say i heavily participated in harassing this blog even if i rlly didnt like the premise.........)

maypong

lots of tension with instagram cuz of all the art reposts. like. tons of reposts. i remember someone blocked me when i said to take something down but then unblocked me the same evening and apologized LOL so

roleplay twitter accounts (twitter was kinda not-as-a lot at the time)

nindroid!jay of course. its so old there was an update that was made in flash lmfao...

absolute fucking shitloads of AUs and headcanons. i dont think this has changed much but like. there were so many lmfao. entire threads

actually there's too many fucking AUs. im scrolling through my main blog and i cant fuckin find anything cuz ITS ALL THESE STUPID AU THREADS THEY AREN'T EVEN LIKE DEEP LMAO

ask-all-the-ninjagians

the absurd screenshot redraws i did. like they were super stupid lmfao. icr which blog they're on but they're on my comp still at least

ninjagians just. being a term used at all lmao

the ninjago fan-tournament during ns4. people would draw/write about their ocs doing whatever prompt was posted and then everyone came together to defeat a big bad snake man

tbh i started naturally losing interest during ns5, and then VERY QUICKLY dropped the show (and therefore fandom) when skybound came out lmao............... so i dont really remember a lot from this era and everything after

and now im back :D

i hope this is insightful! xD

[skiiyoomin]

I was wondering if you could write a saiki & reader oneshot fic with a reader who has DID & C-PTSD and paranoid tendencies? I understand that that might be a bit too hard to write but just in case I got some recorces that might be handy, here is the link to DID listing from my own copy of the newest version of the DSM https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htaraej65e34tg9/AADBATmelRQFUBfTMxaJ3W6wa?dl=0 as well as this website that has a lot of good info on it https://did-research.org/ and this page I found that has a brief overview of C-PTSD https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24881-cptsd-complex-ptsd but I also recommend quickly reading thru the different types of flashbacks (shouldn't be that hard to find info on)

The main idea is that because of the mix dissociation,switching,paranoia, different types of flashbacks etc that the readers thoughts are very fucking confusing to saiki (feel free to use this premise for any kind of plot you want just try not to make it overly angsty is all I ask, well as un-angsty as you can get with C-PTSD anyways lol) I just wanna see more y/n / reader inserts that I can actually relate to but the saiki K fandom is so small

Can be platonic or romantic

Hi!! So sorry for the late reply, I researched as much as I could so if theres anything remotely wrong or different please tell me! Ngl, im not very sure i like how it turned out, nevertheless I hope you enjoy :))

Also i totally get that its hard finding stuff for saiki k which is the reason why i write for it in the first place, they totally deserve more recognition!! Feel free to send more requests in the future!!

⤑Back to navigation

Content: somewhat angsty but not really, i tried to be as vague as possible so as not to trigger anyone, reader suffers from trauma, DID, CPTSD, swearing, fluffy ending? slightly oc saiki

Summary: Saiki was used to listening to many types of thoughts, and at one point, nothing he heard surprised him. However when you came around, he was beyond confused. What sparks as a little curiosity might turn into something more.

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:

ღNo matter what

He was used to it, or at least that's what he used to tell himself. Throughout the years he had heard all sorts of thoughts, at one point, he learned to tune them out when need be, having listened in on weird enough ideas that now don't surprise him anymore.

When you came in the picture, he was...baffled, to say the least. Confusing wasn't even close of a word to express how he felt. Your thought process was anything but simple. At times it'd be a fuzzy mess almost as if you lost part of your memory, other times, you'd think as if you were a completely different person, contradicting many of your previous thoughts. But what disturbed him most was the series of traumatic thoughts that would cross your mind. Flashbacks he realized in that moment.

In the beginning he felt annoyed, as per usual. Often times, he'd find you in class with a dazed expression, which to be frank, he had seen enough times to not give it a second thought. But then his attention would be caught when your mind would wander and you'd start thinking in a very unusual way. They were so unlike the person you presented to be, so much so that Saiki was left perplexed and in need to understand exactly what was going on.

The more it happened the more worried he'd be. There were days where you acted a certain way, and other days where you acted completely different. He could tell you weren't being fake trying to act differently for attention, after all, your thoughts lined up with the you acted and the things you said. Rather, it was the abrupt changes in your behaviour that had him thinking for far longer than he normally would.

Along the way, he also picked up how you'd flinch if you were in sudden physical contact, the way your shoulders would tense and the way your heart beat would speed up. Saiki wasn't stupid of course, he was aware that all of this was caused by some form of trauma.

He knew not to pry, yet his heart strings pulled everytime he saw you having a bad moment. So he began to follow you, in disguise of course, and even if he seemed like a stalker, he couldn't help it. Eventually he began to connect the dots, your reactions, behaviors, everything. It made sense now.

Unconciously, his words began to soften around you, his touch became gentler, he looked out for you in ways he had never done so with others. You began to notice but in no way did you mind, if anything, Saiki was someone you took great comfort in. What started of small slowly grew into something neither of you expected.

Of course, that didn't make it any less hard for either of you. Like right now. You were laying in Saikis bed, your head resting on his shoulder as you watched a movie, when suddenly a specific scene had triggered an anxiety attack. Your mind was racing through flashbacks of the many disturbing events you had gone through. Saiki was up almost immediately, having read your mind and sensed your reaction.

His touch was soft, his hands cupping your face so gently you'd think he was scared to break you, which he was. He was in no way someone who could comfort others easily. Nevertheless he tried his best. He attempted to lower your heart rate, rubbing small circles against your back as his other hand held the back of your head. No words were needed, they never were. He had, in a way, been there for you, way before you two even became a thing, so none of this was a surprise for either of you.

That didn't ease the guilt in your heart any less. You always felt bad. You knew Saiki could read you, literally. And well, it wasn't pretty. Countless times you had attempted to push him away, yet he never budged.

"'m sorry" you mumbled against his shoulder as your rested your head on it.

He cupped your face in his hands, pulling you to look at him.

`I won't let you push me away. The things you went through won't make me see you any differently, because to me you'll still be someone I cherish'

Your eyes welled up as you looked him deep in the eyes, finding nothing but love for you. Still cupping your face, he ran his thumbs under your eyes, wiping the tears away. He leaned forward, pressing a gentle kiss to your forehead.

'I love you'

"No matter what?"

`No matter what'

[troglobite]

posting the rest of my compiled pokemon teams for funsies lol

i think the normal type gym would be an animal hospital. lol also yes the furfrou IS shiny. 💜

this gym would be dedicated to training new trainers. like, they all are, but that would be the entire point of this one. the 3 fire starters kind of seal the deal. lol so very much teacher-y vibes.

rotom for this would be one of its different forms, as determined by RNG each time you battled it. it would simply be a gym out in the wilderness setting up telephone poles or some shit. lol

one of my favorites! this gym would be in a mockup of biosphere 2 (which i used to live sort of near, actually lol). but it would Work and it would have simulated weather and biomes. it would change when each pokemon was brought out. i've also debated making decidueye the ace. i think it might work better but beau simply looks so perfectly posed there. lol

one that ~shows my range, dahling~ lol uh yeah. so this gym would be like. a ski resort type deal? i think that's basically it. the vibe is very "haha everything's fun but be careful w the snow and ice!" lol

lol i fucking love this one. the premise/theme is literally just that it goes from biggest to smallest. it's a fighting type gym, so it subverts expectations. it's in a classic luchador fighting ring. very colorful, very over the top. commentary a la whatsherface in s/v for the electric gym. lol but instead it's sports/wwe commentary. anyway, the pokemon both go from biggest to smallest, AND from "most hands" to "least hands" lol

resharing the poison type just to share their names lol

ground type!!! this team is different than if i were to make a team that was competitively better (that version includes a mudkip, for example), but this is all pokemon that i like. and yay!!!! my bb girl is the ace! lol

this gym would be in the desert, but the american southwest, specifically, preferably right on a river. that's the Vibe.

this is the worst team by far in terms of cohesion, aesthetics, and possibly competitive viability. though the final three are pretty dope. but i truly got nothing here other than the funniest names (chicxulub and ord).

i think maybe the gym would be the lab of a mad scientist type who's obsessed with flight.

this team is Vibes through and through. silly goofy, people pokemon, and 2 Creechurs. the gym would be a circus, i think. but a weird one where i as the gym leader am also a mentalist/illusionist. lol

this one seems, at first, to go from "pretty" to "VIOLENT/SCARY" from vivillon to scizor. and then the ace is ribombee. lol also their names. lol the gym idea for this one would simply be a garden, but it would have a lot of deadly-looking plants.

i actually swapped out tyrantrum for carracosta at the last minute. i just really like it. lol anyway, this would be a seaside gym, like on a cliff face or something, perhaps near a volcano.

another good one that i like! i think the concept here is a little looser, but i think it would straight up be a gym in a haunted tudor mansion type place. dragapult is the Creechur haunting it, and every other pokemon is a spirit that resides there as a legit ghost. lol

just resharing the dark type to share their names! also if i didn't say what kind of gym this would be, i think it'd be an abandoned theater or like. fighting arena, like a roman coliseum type deal.

[vivalgi]

A new record (at least since I've subbed) for how late the Choices Insiders has arrived. All of Europe is long asleep at this time already and even in California it's past normal working hours. I hope it's not a sign that PB is making its people to work overtime.

Since it was a simple free form answer box I doubt PB will do anything useful with the results, but for anyone curious I named my top 10: Aster, Sloane, Shannon, Nia, Quinn, Danni, Eris, Kamilah, Ava (ILITW) and Charlie (DS).

As weird and cheap as the LIs look and as much as they conform to male LI stereotypes, I wish PB gave us GOC MCs in supernatural/fantasy books rather than in simple chick flicks and soap operas. The premise of an evil ghost chasing you and causing havoc wherever you travel, is interesting enough in itself, but PB probably had to add another contrived connection between female family members. Despite giving us more GOC MCs than a year ago, I feel like PB cares about male players even less these days. Either PB has no idea what its male player base is interested in or just wants to get rid of us because the latter is honestly slowly working.

Be ready for a huge shock in chapter 1 and I'm not talking about the weird diamond hairstyles. I'm not interested in the wedding stuff because it's clearly WLM coded and lavish ceremonies are so not the MC's style. It looks though that the wedding will be set aside to focus on the mystery, so the story shouldn't be too bad.

"For y'all" my ass. Last time I checked Bitten and COP3 were early access books.

I've only managed to finish the first 3 chapters of Alpha so far, so I couldn't care less about the sequel for now.

lol, stop asking for 100 diamond ads to return, it's never gonna happen. By PB's own words 100 ads cost it 30% in revenue and the company is already poor af (EDIT: Series Entertainment just got $28M from investors so PB should be safe for a few years).

Too bad my questions weren't answered again. Are queries about GOC MCs and multiple LIs really that rare?

"In Inheritance, family secrets and cutthroat competition threaten to destroy everything as you fight for your rightful place at the top."

So, according to PB, Inheritance is some high-stakes drama, which sounds pretty interesting. Should it be GOC, it might actually be worth my time.

"In Years Apart, a steamy fling with a younger man takes an unexpected turn when your ex's protégé becomes impossible to resist.

Hah, "younger MAN"! Probably another slip-up from PB, showing how much it gives a sh't about those who prefer female LIs. But damn, now forbidden romances mean even our exes get to dictate who we can date. Why the hell should anyone care what their ex thinks about their new partner? With how close Choices is getting to Chapters with its themes, it won't be long until PB introduces step-family smut.

Although, I've been wondering for long when we'd get a younger LI than the MC. So far they've been either older or at most the same age, which seems to be the general taste of the main audience, so Years Apart is a fresh idea for Choices in that regard. However, I'm pretty sure MLW players weren't in PB's mind while writing this story.

Best Served Haute is a new title but it still doesn't sound like a dystopian story, which the ex-CEO promised us this year. It does sound like another culinary book, since 'haute cuisine' is a valid term. Maybe PB somehow repurposed that cancelled A Taste for Royalty book. There's also a chance it's a fashion book, though culinary theme is still my first guess.

This is nothing new and and since the exact release dates have already been published why not announce them in the Insiders as well? For those who don't know yet, Plus One wide release is in 2 weeks, October 18, and the first chapter of Blades 3 will be available for everyone from November 20.

I looked it up and as suspected, these two are also the chat stories some players got to play in the past. Not my thing though.

All in all, practically nothing interesting and important to me personally. I guess Lucky will have to keep me company while I wait for the wide release of Blades threequel.

[cosmos-dot-semicolon]

(⭐fanfic writers' commentary)

@plutosoda hi

Ooh, time to reread my old writing, huh? Always a fun trip, especially given I'd totally forgotten like half of it including that repetition trick you'd mentioned…

fair warning, i only got like 3 asks for this thing so I'm gonna commentate on pretty much the entire fic here. This post never ends.

Here's an entire director's commentary on All-Nighter! Enjoy!

"The covers were warm… But at least it'd get something done before passing out again."

I'm still fond of this intro. I'm terrible with being succinct, but this is somewhere where my rambling writing style really works; this section is written from experience of many a 'stayed up too anxious now you can't sleep' nights, and someone who has read a lot of the techniques to fix that problem, then didn't (ADHD lol). That is in fact what my internal monologue tends to be like at night - a mix between recalling every single way you've ever learnt to pass out, worrying about what happens tomorrow, 'why is life like that. what did i do,' and just a pinch of 3am self loathing.

I never really thought of it until an AO3 commenter pointed it out, but it was a fairly natural way of worldbuilding/expositing/characterisation all in one go. Establish the premise of the fic, Robot only bothering to process things when it's on the brink of exhaustion, the way it's kinda obsessed with productivity and efficiency and self-improvement.

I'm proud of it!

Also I like to think Lady Luck only does the weird scheduling thing for Robot. She'd be the type of person to try and make the Dungeons a personalised hell for everybody.

“Hey, could I get a coffee, do you think? …I’ve been sleeping so badly down here.”

I'm quite happy with the intro to the next bit too. My goal going into most fanworks (still) is to emulate what drew me to the original story. In this case, that's Dicey's tone and dialogue, with a bit more direct focus on the characterisation of everyone. So this is sort of a meta plot device that signals all that to the reader. I love how efficient that is. also I just like throwbacks and references okay

"The canteen was a dense jumble of kichen counters…"

I could've been a little faster with this scene and Robot subsequently making the coffee. One of my weaknesses as a writer is that I hallucinate some of the scenes in my head, and try to write down everything in that instead of just drawing a comic (cough that one unpublished Ninjago fic). I'm a sucker for describing scenery for days on end.

That said, I'm really glad I got the vibe of 'light-blue-grey' morning over to you in your fanart. It was exactly what I was imagining as I was writing this.

"Pre-ground. …But this was just evil."

I think I'm funny. Anxiety cube can put up with a lot, but terrible coffee isn't it.

"They taste horrible compared to freshly ground beans. It’s not worth the convenience."

haha. because you see. that's its heart's desire *gets turned into a dice*

"Pouring a generous portion for its new friend, Robot masked its complaints with a long sigh." "…But thanks to the innovations of modern day life-” An overhead swig downed half the mug."

A commenter pointed out that some of my lines have really good flow in them between actions and characterisation. I didn't notice that until then, but I'm inclined to agree. Some of these drive in the point really well.

"At least its fellow patron was enjoying themselves – not even flinching at the concoction and savouring the coffee raw. It was tempted to start a commentary on how dark roasts were overrated, but soon became a little more concerned about them drinking through the 100 centigrade burns. This place had quite the collection of creatures, it seemed."

I like to think Robot's a little snobby about the things it enjoys. I like to think Lady Luck tries to throw people off as much as possible.

"So, how’s the self-improvement going?" they started. "I only want top quality minions in my dungeons."

Very fun fact is that I was worried about spoiling the twist in this fic because of this line being so blatant, but I wanted to put it in anyway because it's a good character-establishing moment, and a good… re-interpretation of the line in another context? I love recontextualising canon in a slightly different way that still works for the characters in question. it's so fun

Anyways. Turns out I didn't need to worry about that because at least one reader totally missed this too so got hit with the full twist anyways. Isn't writing great?

"So, what’s keeping you up this late?” they asked. “Nightmares? A looming sense of regret and existential dread? Unfinished essays due tomorrow morning?"

essays due tomorrow morning. haha so true. i'm glad I don't take much coursework nowadays.

"You know, as useless as it looks, sleep’s rather important for you folks. It’s how you deal with all the terrible things that happen during the day, since your brain can just wipe the slate clean and try again. But funnily enough, it’s always the first thing that’s left behind whenever someone wants to better themself." "Life’s painful enough as it is. Why not change things up if your current routines aren’t working?" "Nobody ever plays the cards they’re dealt perfectly, dear… Time always slips you by when you’re not paying attention. And nobody ever knows what’s coming next. You’ve just got to learn when to raise and fold them." "Well, part of being human is never being a hundred-and-one percent efficient. If you folks still count yourself as that. I’d apologise but I remember you were quite nonchalant about your little transformation anyways."

One of the main points of this fic was that while Lady Luck is blatantly on the offensive and absolutely insulting Robot to its core, she's not technically… wrong?

It's not bad advice. Lady Luck, in-game, seems very perceptive of the various insecurities mortals go through. And I like to think she does start this conversation just for genuine fun, to pick someone apart. See if they bounce back against it or just crumble. It's just a bonus that the recipient finds it harder to refute her offers afterwards.

"It might!" it snapped back, getting them to at least try and contain their mockery under a silent, wavering smirk. "You know what? I think it will be, I can feel it!"

Robot sort of does both. It's definitely very very anxious. But it's stubborn. I really like that about its character: how there's a contrast between its organised and disorganised sides? How robots are usually associated with hard numbers and calculations, but Robot's mechanic is blackjack. also it's SO autism/adhd coded. listen. in this

I don't know if there's a trope to call either of these, but they're my favourite things about both characters, and they're surprisingly introspective for a game so short on story. (I will write more about that in another post. lol).

It's a bit indulgent in how long it goes on in some areas, but eh. It works for the fic's pacing.

"The figure leaned forward to highlight its obvious obliviousness…" "I thought you were supposed to be the overly organisational optimist."

I love alliteration. yippee!

"A gentle chuckle filled the air, restrained from its usual projecting echo. "You wound me, Robot. Games are always more fun when your players at least get the chance to try and fight back."

I like to think Lady Luck's main motivation is entertainment. Which mostly involves watching people suffer. But I think it's in the spirit of luck to have it so that someone's downfall was their choice. Determinism versus free will and whatever.

The chance that somebody could escape makes things spicier. And makes it sting all the more for all those that didn't. Hooray!!

Also given Lady Luck's usual loud persona, I planned (plan) on giving her quite a few more subtle but equally threatening moments in this series. It's a thing that wouldn't really work well in the actual game, but it does in a slower medium like writing, and I fucking love that trope.

"Statistically unlikely, but I’ll humour it," she commented to an invisible aside."

You should picture this scene as her directly staring at you through the fourth wall. Like in a sitcom.

"But it’s not so bad, being a minion… I’ve heard that’s about as stable as a job as you can get these days." "…though surprisingly she was not the worst boss it had had to deal with."

I always thought this line, used on Thief in-game, would've been an absolute killer on Robot. The job market is pretty fucking shit these days under capitalism and you would be lying if you said there aren't at least some parts of the Dungeons that seem better work-wise. Inclusivity, stable employment, accommodation.

Yeah, you have no freedom, but that's also the goal of capitalism up here as well. At least in Dicey it's ridculous and ironic. And you'd get to use your degree in maths/statistics/acounting etc to its full extent! Can you fucking imagine the paperwork for a game-show/dungeon hybrid business.

"But then again, I think you’re plenty used to the grind."

I believe this was an unintentional-turned-intentional coffee pun. Boooooo

"Funny how they think that’ll discourage anybody. …Folks hear that the house always wins and immediately think they’ll be the exception."

She would be the one to know that. This was intended as a followup to Robot's entire argument before. I'm very happy that at least one person picked up on that :D

"So whatever you pick, it'll be a decision from Robot alone, no matter what your mind or body drags you into afterward.”

I believe this was also supposed to be a callback, but the wording got changed slightly. I think it was the "It feels like my mind and body won’t stop working against me" bit.

"Normally, Robot would’ve stayed to socialise and make new friends, and in all likelihood, skipping breakfast would leave it starving later on in the day. But right now, it needed some time to itself: to think and recover and remember where it was going with this."

This was another callback (that actually made it into the story). Robot immediately making another bad decision after the first, with the exact same words echoing it coming.

"Just another day in the dungeons. It could handle this."

I wanted the ending to be very short and open-ended, in that it was up to you to interpret whether Robot took the offer or not, and when. But regardless I wanted it to be like a regular intro to an episode, but with the hint something definitely fucking changed that the audience can only speculate on.

…oof. 80 minutes on this essay. My poor neck. I think that's it for now, though.

Overall I'm really happy with this piece - hence why it's one of the few things I actually put online. It's three years old, and I could've fixed the flow in some bits (there's one part where I think Robot answers a different question than was asked).

But I achieved pretty much everything I wanted to say in this piece of fanwork, it pushed me to think about characterisation a lot and my writing and editing techniques. There's a lot of neat little things I put into it, and it really got me to grips with what I liked about my inspiration in the first place.

I think that's an exercise worth trying for every fan-work creator. Stretches you brain. Almost lets you re-experience what you loved about a thing years later. Points you towards your possible future diagnoses. It's a fun time!

[kimberlyannharts]

some quick thoughts on Power Rangers Infinity since I'm about to leave on a flight and probably won't be able to really talk about it until next week -

= DEFINITELY not targeted to the main series' audience, so I feel a majority of the fandom is going to hate it, but it's fine for what it is. I liked the art a lot, at least

= It honestly plays its premise way straighter than I thought. I figured it was going to be a full-on parody with a bunch of jokes at PR's expense but most of the humor seemed to derive from "hey, isn't it weird that [x] is a team of Rangers?" which, on the one hand, I'm glad I didn't have too see the same five jokes again after over a decade in this fandom, but still kinda threw me off kjfkj especially when these guys start talking about their teams essentially getting killed

= Unfortunately Lola being a Navarro isn't relevant to the overall story; it's not even why Poisandra targets her. I guess it was just meant as an easter egg, as again, obviously Lola lives in "our" universe rather than the Dino Charge one, but still, kind of mean of them lol especially since, as much as I love her, I'm not sure why Poisandra was the villain chosen here. Loved her, though

= Despite what the solicits might make you think, it's not connected to the main series, either. Which should not be a surprise

= Honestly I liked the polar bear WAY more than I ever liked Yale kjkdjfkjdkfk

[house-of-tykayl]

Is there a mandate in Teen Titans Go where they say Robin and Starfire are never allowed to be an actual couple in the show?

I don't understand why they don't want them to be together they make Starfire reject Robin.

I don't think it would cause any problem if they become a thing, they can still make comedy jokes in the show while being in a relationship at the same time.

i think TTG is a low effort parody show, so to change something fundamental to the original concept (having TTG robin chase TTG starfire) would take too much effort. the show would have to replace the conflict of unrequited(?) love with another conflict funny enough to move an episodic story forward for an infinite number of seasons.

so yeah, there probably is a mandate/rule (in the show bible or something) to prevent TTG robstar from becoming "official"

(also if you dont find the idea of TTG robstar being unrequited funny, then tbh i feel like TTG's kind of humor and even the original concept of TTG just isnt for u... it's not the 2003 cartoon v2, it's a parody and always was. by this point i feel like it (TTG's parody elements at least) are such a specific kind of humor that 89% of people won't enjoy it, and thats fine)

anyway there's also how TTG had more sincerity in season 1 when it was more like a really weird sitcom, where the titans' relationships (while still subversions of the 2003 cartoon) were mostly genuine bonds even if they acted like lobotomy patients sometimes. the comedy had limits and the characters had empathy. so if TTG robstar would ever have a chance at becoming anything near canon, it would have been back in s1, though still unlikely

but later seasons of TTG can be very mean spirited, overly cynical and deconstructive, depending on who is writing the episode (assuming the episode is even character focused at all, which became less common over time). the show went from a parody of the 2003 cartoon to a parody of everything besides the 2003 cartoon lol. sometimes i feel like post season 1 some of TTGs writers took the mob hate to heart and let negativity poison the original sitcom premise before slowly selling out

so i dont think genuine relationships between the TTG titans can happen anymore, some of the writers hate the characters enough to have broken up their friendships (someone even messed with cyborg & BB once omg), let alone the romantic relationships. except maybe that doesn't matter either because TTG resets most of its continuity every episode?? ironically TTG could still turn the ship around in terms of the series' tone and direction, though i doubt they will if the current direction makes more money

weirdly enough whenever TTG shits out another AU thing, like the big 2018 movie or the night begins to shine universe, suddenly theres unironic robstar shipping/hints in it that are soooooooo cute. besides being shipper bait this is probably because those TTG AUs feel removed from the main TTG series, so their stories feel more free like they're allowed to be sincere again, like the main show's original season 1.

unless the romance is supposed to be a joke, it needs sincerity in order to work. and its impossible to write sincerely when youre a contractual writer buried under 300 layers of irony and cynicism who doesn't even like the show youre writing for... and thats what i feel happened to the main TTG show ,compared to some of its AU stuff

tl;dr i just cope and pretend like TTG is still the goofy sitcom it used to be, partially coz season 1 TTG robstar had the (admittedly very low) potential to be real, and even if it didnt happen at least their friendship was consistently sincere. and very cute

[genericpuff]

Okay I need someone to know there is an equally bad Hades x Persephone story (it might've been self published? But I'm not sure. I read it years ago as a gift from a friend).

But the basic premise of the story is very similar to a touch of darkness and lore Olympus. The names are changed slightly - Persephone is now Persy or something and hades is Hayden.

Persephone works at an accounting firm or something as a new hire and guess who the new business partner is that her company is trying to strike a deal with? Hades who's Uber rich and handsome. Only difference is for some reason Persephone has the power to make people tell her their deepest secrets so like for example when she was a kid people would confess creepy things to her - like her middle school teacher blatantly admitting to being a pedophile and she does nothing about it. (Granted it's like what would she do even magic powers aren't admissible in court but still). And there's a love triangle with some random human guy? Who is immune to her powers through sheer will power (and masturbation. Yes this is a plot point).

At some point Persephone travels Hayden's domain (which is somewhere in Asia like Shanghai for some reason and not Greece). I gave up at that point. There was lots of creepy things going on in the story a la "young new girl Persephone is constantly almost assaulted at every turn due to her irresistible beauty and people's need to tell her their secrets").

Worst book I've ever read. It's so bad I cannot for the life of me remember the title but it fashioned itself as a modern retelling of Hades and Persephone.

Could it have been The Cursed God? That's what I pulled up from a google search at least LMAO

Here's the summary:

"Hades is coming for me. But that doesn't mean he can have me . . . He says he knows me. Who I am. What I am. I'm pretty sure my boss Hayden is on some sort of weird power trip. He's sexy as hell, but has an arrogance that spells danger. I'm only serving drinks in his seedy strip club until I can afford my own flower shop. I just have to avoid the inexplicable pull between us in the meantime. Then he claims I'm Persephone and he's Hades, the God of the Underworld. He says I was taken from him and now he's here to awaken my spirit so he can take me back to the underworld. That his position in the underworld depends on it. Either he's crazy . . . or I'm a mythical goddess. A queen of the underworld. His Queen."

There was another one I found called Descent. And its summary is equally crazy:

"He was my savior once. Twice. Now he’s become my tormentor.

Hayden Montgomery was my best friend’s big brother. The last time I saw him was that Halloween night. The night he found me in the ruin of the chapel. The night he carried me home through a storm that was the omen warning us all of what would come.

That was five years ago. Now, he’s back. But he’s not the same man he was.

Once upon a time, I’d fantasized about our happily-ever-after. Once upon a time, I think I loved him.

But that was before he stood in the wreckage that is now my life and offered me the solution to my problems. And the cost? My body and my soul.

There’s something dark between Hayden and me. It binds us for better or for worse. Mostly worse. Like the moth to the flame, we can’t seem to resist the draw.

I just don’t know which of us is the moth and which the flame, but either way, we’re both going to get burned."

That last bit about the moth and flame is just- it's so delightfully Twilight "the lion fell in love with the lamb" vibes.

Anyways. Those are the two closest ones I could find that matched your description, but this has me learning that there are ... a LOT of 'modern' retellings of H x P that involve Persephone being an uwu babygirl and Hades being some wet rag abusive dickhead named Hayden. This is a sub-genre I didn't know existed and now I'm wishing I could just scrub my brain of it LOL

On the one hand, part of me now wants to believe that this issue goes deeper than Rachel, that Rachel is just yet another side effect of a bigger problem... but then I spot all the publication dates on these H x P "dark romance" books are from 2019 onwards. Obviously LO doesn't exist in a vacuum either, it's clear it took influences from works that existed before it, it's not the first "modern" retelling of Greek myth. But I can't help but feel a sense of dread that really makes me wonder just how much LO's existence has subsequently oversaturated the market with these "retellings" of a story that was originally a tragedy and meant to sympathize with the mothers whose daughters were forced into marriage, the same way 50 Shades and Twilight oversaturated the market with the "dark romance" genre itself, which is really just a dog whistle for abusive relationships at this point.

Don't really have anything else to say to close out this post. It's just depressing and I desperately want us all to hurry the fuck up and outgrow it instead of dressing up the same abusive "relationships" with a new coat of paint every 5-10 years.

[hsslilly-blog]

heres overseer sakura and julian striking the vault boy pose for rad school story. the cropping looks a bit weird on the second drawing but its okay. its fine ❤️ more stuff under the cut as usual!

sakura got to be the overseer after she was chosen by the vault’s mainframe computer. she was the first one to be chosen, so she considers herself the “main” one of the bunch. such thing does not exist, but the fact she thought it did says something about her and means the experiment is working just fine. before being an overseer, though, she was the vault’s loyalty inspector. i went back and forth between this and making her a shift supervisor but i think making her the person who literally inspects if you are being “loyal” and sticking to the rules of the game vault is very sakura-like. also, adds an element to the au/vault atmosphere. no one really likes the censor.

i gave her two traits that might seem counter intuitive (and maybe they cancel out each other in the game? i didn’t check) but for the au i decided to use the traits in a more figurative sense. well at least for the vault dwellers. sakura has a lot of discipline and she has a set of principles she follows very closely, which is both a strength and a weakness. and both the great escape quest (the one this au is based on) and twelve angry classmates (best quest in game) demonstrate this very well. she has a tendency to… take things too far! even when new information that contradicts her is presented to her. whole premise of the au. so both traits work together.

tagged skills for both of these guys were hard because like i said on the other post, i didn’t want to give the vault dwellers any combat skills. i did end up giving sakura unarmed because she does some crazy physical stuff in the original quest and because she is an active person (her parents make her do all of that stuff on her backyard). this means she would have a higher endurance than the other vaulties, which would give her an advantage in a scenario where radiation finds its way into the vault. huh. speech makes sense for her role (in the vault and in the au) and repair = tinkering = cogs = steampunk. really. sorry.

julian was the second overseer to be chosen and as far as sakura is concerned, that makes him the second in command. he used to be the vault’s little league coach because of course he would. i tried making his vault suit resemble a football uniform. also his pip-boy is covered in stickers from the kids he used to coach. i think he would get really into his overseer job and he’d go along with sakura for the most part. i think his reasoning is different, though. while sakura gets stuck on procedure and then on her (stubborn) ways, i think julian truly believes this is the only option they have. he’s… trying. i don’t think he understands the whole radiation thing 100%. either sakura is keeping information from him, or he just didn’t make the connection yet (everyone is going to die because ezra is basically a ticking time bomb).

i chose loose cannon to reflect his anger issues and good natured because julian gets along with mostly everyone. this is why 6 CHA seems wrong for him but i’m trying to stick to a maximum of 40 S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points for each character (which is the limit in new vegas). i also liked making everyone extremely unlucky because lol this is NOT a fortunate situation.

julian has survival as a tagged skill because 1. he’s shown to have survival skills in multiple quests in high school story (he likes camping a lot) and 2. every game of football i’ve ever watched looks like a warzone to me. i chose unarmed for the same reason. barter… i think he’s the match to sakura’s speech in the same way wes is the complimentary barter to the mc’s diplomacy. i think it makes for an interesting overseer dynamic. also, julian used to be a bully and he’s past his days of messing with people but i think it’s a… skill. pushing people’s buttons, i mean. so. he also has a higher endurance than the other vault inhabitants.

that’s it for now. next ones will be autumn and (finally) ezra. and then vault 105 will be complete!

[inkforhumanhands]

For the fic ask game!

✿ did anything major change when you started writing "All According to Keikaku" to when you finished?

▵ pick a fic and I’ll tell you my favorite line: You Would Never Call Me Baby

✄ what’s your editing process? for podfics

<3

✿ did anything major change when you started writing "All According to Keikaku" to when you finished?

Okay, so the biggest thing that changed is that it was never supposed to be a fic at all 😂 The idea was spawned because I had bamf for a Secret Satan giftee and because we talk all the time I had to divert her attention and make her think I was, if it couldn't be ruled out that I wasn't writing for her, at least writing an entirely different premise so she'd still be surprised. The fic I actually did gift her was A Murder of Crows. But she liked the All According to Keikaku idea so much that when the Murderdock zine was in its planning stages she pushed me into making it a reality. As far as smaller changes, I briefly considered having Otomo and Foggy not actually be fake dating but having him protecting Foggy from something and Matt misinterpreting it, but then I figured that would be less fun. Otherwise it didn't change very much once it all started coming together!

▵ pick a fic and I’ll tell you my favorite line: You Would Never Call Me Baby

I've been asked this question about this fic a few times now and I've given a few different answers 😂 (I'm glad people like it; I poured my heart and soul into writing it lol) This one is still one of my favorites: Yet there was something to be said for mucking up a clean canvas if you were the dirt. But looking over it again right now I'm actually really proud of the dialogue in a lot of places too, like for instance here: “It’s one thing to say no, even if the way you went about it was a little bit rude, if I’m being honest here,” Foggy continued with vitriol. “Your best friend says he likes you. It’s surprising. I get it. But it’s another thing entirely to say I’m not allowed to like you. Because what? Being bisexual is gross?”

✄ what’s your editing process? for podfics

It's pretty simple honestly because I don't have much in the ways of skills here. I record (using Audacity and my laptop mic) the whole fic or chapter in one long take. (This includes lots of mistakes and repeated lines). Then afterward I go in and first cut out all the mistakes (the longest part of the editing process). After that's done I do noise filtering and slow down the audio just a bit because I read a little too fast. I give it a listen to make sure everything is there and there isn't any lingering weirdness, then I export assuming everything is there. If I have to rerecord and insert something I do that, but I've started to try and make sure I get this step done before the noise filtering to make the audio quality more even.

[bambi-kinos]

Lol I'm curious what you look for in a "Paul suffering" fic. Is it just a matter of not committing enough or subject matter? Cos there's this one fic series I think is quite good and in-character but I don't know if it would be your kind of thing.

I have a few requirements. Most of the time these go unfulfilled so I've largely given up on reading fanfiction and get my fix from other fandoms.

That the whump makes sense and is grounded in Paul's flaws and/or irl historical events. that which resembles the grave but isn't! is probably the best example, it's a fic that actually tries to fit in with the people as we know them and how it would be handled. I didn't need the happy ending (I would honestly preferred Paul dying!) but that was nice too. Most whump in fics is just weird, badly considered, or too nonsensical to take seriously.

For the story to be well executed and interesting. Big ideas, big commitment, and good prose that doesn't sound like Rocky Horror Picture Show. I could name a lot of titles here for failing this but then we'd be here all day. I haven't enjoyed any of the kinky or supposedly "amazing" fic that goes back for the last ten years. (And baby, I looked.) Lots of writers have a banger of a premise but then they trip just going out the door and falling face first into a mud puddle, i.e. they refuse to commit to their own insanity from the word 'go.' It's one thing to have a banger of an idea, it's another to follow through with it and most people don't or can't follow through. It just makes me frustrated to see all these good ideas going to waste. There isn't any good kinkfic in this fandom and trust me I looked. I really like rapefic and noncon for example but the fanfiction featuring it is so fucking boring. Stuff like that is a big reason why I've largely given up on reading fanfic here except for a two specific authors that I know put out good stuff.

Decent quality writing. The eternal struggle. Bad spelling, bad grammar, weird insertions of sound effects where they shouldn't be (like one recent fic that has Paul yelling "AWOOOOOOOGAA" like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which...come the fuck on lmao) and it makes Paul whump fics impossible to take seriously. I'm an adult, I want stories written by people who achieve high school level prose please.

I haven't enjoyed any of the fanfiction hyped up the fandom as the best thing since sliced bread, there's always something that's missing or else its breathtakingly bad or it refuses to follow through logically on its subject matter. All of the authors I enjoy are people who don't get traction because they keep their own identity and refuse to play along with fandom trends. There's been good Paul whump from those corners at least.

[wintry--mix]

In celebration of the 4th (I think) anniversary of the creation of my oldest oc (that I still use) Kitsune (she/her), I thought it’d be fun to do a bit of a lore-dumping post about her :> Her saga dates back to before I had much social media (including Tumblr), and a lot’s happened to both myself and her in those 4 years, so if you want to hear (or rather, read): brace yourself, this’ll be a long one lmao

So, first of all, a bit of a quick profile for her:

(^ft. the ref I made not too long ago actually for artfight)

Kitsune isn’t an actual kitsune like from Japanese mythology, but rather a weird ink-themed shapeshifting fox monster (bear with me). Being one of these, she’s immortal (or at least immune to death of old age - heck if she knows whether or not she’s fully immortal, she hasn’t had an experience that would’ve absolutely killed her yet), proving this by being 18 (or otherwise a weirdly short older teen) physically but actually 604 years old in-universe (her birthday being today - October 20th!). I rarely ever use her shapeshifting ability outside of giving her a “true” and human form, but she does also have the power to create portals to teleport herself to anywhere she wishes - including other dimensions and universes. As such, I like to imagine her as being a bit of an interdimensional traveler across the many OC universes I’ve made. (Also, fun fact: my voice headcanon for her is basically Spinel from Steven Universe but with a heavy New Yorker accent)

Now, she’s come a long way, considering her origins as a dragon from a mobile game I used to play called Dragonvale, and her modern human design originating from my Gacha Life/Club era (specifically me making a gijinka of the specific dragon she’s based off of). Years have since passed, and while I made (and ultimately scrapped) many personal projects, and many characters for said personal projects, she never did get recycled for those like many other old ocs, only to die with the project. I liked the idea of her existing outside of those universes, doing her own thing with her teleportation powers and occasionally visiting the new worlds I’ve made. I still do, so she still fills this role, but the specific backstory behind it has changed quite a lot.

Most of her old backstories I’ve either forgotten most of or I cringe too hard at to want to share (even to laugh at with others), but the basic gist of her most notable one was something along the lines of her traveling away from her original home universe to go see the world beyond it, leaving it behind to wither away into nothing - and even if/when she did try to return to check on it, there’d be nothing left, and whatever eerie magic system caused that world to turn into a void would nearly trap her there to potentially die as well. I ultimately scrapped this since some parts of it were a little edgier than I would’ve wanted (and calling this premise “edgy” sounds like an exaggeration, but I assure you that some of the old animatics I made about it would prove my point if I were willing to share them), but she does have a newer one that I do like (at least, as of now, lol):

Much like the significantly more well-known Bill Cipher, Kitsune is the last survivor of a world that was destroyed - although in her case, the cause was that its creator simply got bored and ashamed of it and wanted to move on to other creations (with her surviving due to her unique abilities letting her leave before she could’ve died with the rest of it). She has since used her portal powers to do some dimension-hopping across other, newer worlds, meeting and befriending (though, more often than not, bullying) their own residents. Kitsune enjoys her new life, but she can’t help but feel a little bit of resentment towards the creator who destroyed her old home and turned her old friends into their spiritual successors in the new worlds, without any memory of their previous lives…

ANYWAY that sure was a lot of paragraphs worth of rambling, but I hope those who bothered to take interest enjoyed :) Kitsune will (hopefully) stick around for many more years to come, and explore many of the new stories I make - although one in the very early making may give her an actual part to play beyond just a cameo…

[amischiefofmice]

Fanfic Ask Game: F, M, X, Z (ahahahahaha)

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

OK LETS SEE, this is long but idk, its still a snippet from a longer work!!

“I’ll have you know, if you had not so rudely intruded on me and instead waited for me to find you properly, I would have been much more together. Less of an embarrassing mess. On rare occasions I require some time to… put myself back together.” “I was worried! You just upped and fucking vanished! We’ve already seen people eat up by that shadow curse.” “Really, Karlach, are you lecturing me about horrible curses?” He smirked at her, raising an eyebrow. “Hey, just because you’ve got one doesn't mean you’re an expert in all of ‘em!” “I’m really not an expert in any, my dear, I’m quiet rubbish at being a vampire, honestly, by any real metric. Cazador wanted me a dimber whore more than anything else.” Karlach gave him a mighty squeeze, “I’ve got you now, soldier.” He laughed and mused, “It feels weird to give voice to such thoughts. Talk about it… I don’t think I want to anymore. Not right now, at least.” He coughed awkwardly and shifted topic slightly, “I wasn’t lying when I said I’d never tasted anything but beast blood before now…” “I didn’t think you were, mate.” “I’m a rather disappointing sexy vampire boyfriend, honestly.” Karlach took a moment to tilt her head to the side and inspect him, playing up making thoughtful noises, before nodding decisively “Interesting cute Astarion boyfriend, instead! I think that’s a way fucking better prize.” He briefly kissed her lips again, then rubbed his nose against hers. “Thank you.” He then pushed against her a couple of times. She laughed as she got the message, shifting to lay on her back. He nuzzled into her side, resting his head on her shoulder, right above some of her embedded metal rings, snaking one arm underneath her own. “Might wanna move, Fangs. Those vents let stinky shit out like all the damn time. Well, I can’t fucking smell it, but I’ve heard lots of fucking complaints.” He gave a test sniff and stiffened, his eyes widening and his pupils dilating. She laughed, “See! I told you, fucker!” Astarion coughed and rubbed his face with his free hand. “No. No, no. It is not foul. I was just not prepared.” He coughed again and then explained, “The smell is that of hot blood mixed with…” he took a bigger sniff and smiled as he licked his lips, “Something a bit… tangy? Spicy? Hard to really place. In any case. I quite like it.” He licked a row of her exhaust ports before using her as a pillow again. She shook with laughter and thumped him on the side a couple of times. “Well, hot damn! Glad somebody likes my shoulder farts!” “Darling, some constructive criticism. Find a better term.” “Shoulder toots?” Astarion made the worst fake snoring sounds that had ever been produced in the realm

from my fic that is a combo of karlach and astarion's act 2 romance scenes.

this just makes me happy still lol idk i just think its a good lil snippet of how i see those 2 interacting and playing off each other, he is silly and jokey in game at the drop of a hat, despite everything that happened to him, and so is she, so like. yah they both have their big piles of trauma and huge uncertain futures buuuut well, they stay silly

also i got to use the phrase 'shoulder farts' :D

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?

laffo. peers at WIPS.

one i keep noodling on in-between other stuff is a fic based on the Karlach origin scene where after you get to riverton she is REALLY BURNING UP AT NIGHT bc she's so ANGIES about Gortash. I thought i'd be cute for Astarion to try to figure out some way to help her and comfort her since she's so much about comforting other people and downplaying what she needs a lot of the time.

X: A character you enjoy making suffer.

*holds up the poor sad vampire boy*

LOOK HOW MUCH TRAUMA YOU CAN FIT IN HERE!!!

Z: Major character death–do you ever write/read it? Is there a character whose death you can’t tolerate?

laffo you butt, rainbowbarnacle!!! though really Karlach dying is just kinda.. the bg to my fic, bc so many problems would not have happened if either she was there or they were both in avernus lol

i like character death a lot if there is a reason for it. if you just kill 'em off for no reason eh. idk, its not a thing i look for or a reason not to read a fic for me, it's just... there.

[yuridovewing]

I want to participate...

Thoughts on daisy/cinderpelt, ferncloud/daisy/snowkit (where he lives), hawkfrost/leafpool?

And if I may be self-indulgent...... briarlight/velvet/jax 👉 👈

daisycinder: one of those ships i don't quiiiiite get yet so far tbh? you sorta have to give me a premise to latch onto with it. that being said i am always for f/f rarepairs and this one is certainly possible, so yeah sure i'll accept that into my belief system. ngl though, as the years have gone on, ive only gotten further and further into my romance repulsed aroace cinderpelt headcanon, so this one probably isn't for me lol. i do love daisy getting a girlfriend though! i think she deserves a good time and an actual good partner after what she's had to deal with.

ferndaisysnow: well i like ferndaisy... and i have ferncloud and snowtail get together in my au (if his suffix changed. its because i forgot it sorry. ive been in and out of my au so far). so this is basically a match made in heaven tbh LOL. yessss daisy, get sucked into the nursery polycule!!!!! i like all of them being educators together and helping out with childcare. again, i like daisy finding love again and since she actually does have a canon foundation for polyamory (even if its.... weird and not well handled at all to the point id say its 100% unintentional) i think this works out really well.

hawkleaf: i made a whole au based on this one LOL. although there's a lot of stuff i'd change about it if i made it today, my feelings on hawkfrost have changed a lot and idk if leafpool is all that in-character here (although i guess she's not really in-character in any hawkleaf au. so whatever) but it's one of those pairings where i care a lot more about the storytelling potential and the parallels and symbolism or whatever, than i do about the pair as an actual couple. i think itd be similar to crowleaf where it would fall apart the moment things got serious. they are using each other as beards very very badly. like if it was played straight, like they genuinely had romantic feelings for each other and them not working out was a grand tragedy (like a certain other canon leafpool ship), i don't think i'd care for it too much. the meat is in the consequences! the drama! the horror! brambleclaw having a lot to lose in this situation too in a way that actually holds him accountable for his behavior!! (at least in my au) lionpaw being lured in by his biological father in the dark forest!! leafpool carrying her father's murderer's children!! there's a lot there!

briarvelvetjax: i like it :3 i don't have a ton to say about it bc i skipped around a lot on river of fire, especially the alderheart stuff, so i missed a good amount of the velvet and jax stuff tbh. but i think briarlight deserves a happy ending with these chill kittypets :3 and i like how she cucks alderheart in your post about them