#because there is a lot of cheating that goes on. just generally. and shenanigans i don't approve of and all of that

[itspileofgoodthings]

me like ..... am I a bad teacher .......because I make class fun and my students laugh ........ surely this is wrong ........

[m3ab]

So @hoicacti wanted some of my Yu-Gi-Oh headcanons, so here are a few non season five spoiler ones:)

Joey's dog tag that we see in his season two(?) outfit was gifted to him by serenity before his mom left with her. He wears it all of the time, under his clothes usually but just in general. ( @spudat0 came up with this one)

TW: infidelity, alcohol abuse This one's a little darker, but Joey's mom cheated on his dad. Basically, you know how serenity and joey look nothing alike? Yeahhhh. And she took serenity when she left because she left to go with whoever she cheated with. Joey's father turned to drinking as a coping mechanism, and that's how all of that went.

joey has a missing tooth from fighting and stuff. ( @spudat0 also came up with this one)

joey has lightning scars from y'know getting hit with lightning during battle city. And some burn scars, also from battle city. Yugi has burn scars from various incidents, namely when bandit Keith stole the puzzle(or otogi/duke for my manga readers) and when Yami jumped in front of the blast to save joey and mai. Ryou has scars from Yami bakura shenanigans. (Spud did a lot of the work for this one, but I helped a little bit)

joey and Yugi are both very wary of water after almost drowning in season one and the yugi vs mind controlled joey duel in season two.

ok the rest of them are all very silly ones about Yami, because he's a very silly guy.

Yami goes on yugi's computer all night occasionally and just does stuff on it. It doesn't matter what. It's how he got a lot of his real world knowledge outside of Yugi's head. Yugi is so tried after he does this.

Yami has the weirdest food cravings ever. He throws random foods together and finds them delicious. Yugi has taken control and immediately thrown up on multiple occasions, and Yami was very quickly banned from making meals.

Yami absolutely adores helicopters. This one is my favorite to joke around with, because it's so stupid. It mostly came about because of how fascinated Yami looks in the kaiba corp helicopter in season two.

Ok this one isn't as silly but is really sweet and one of my favorites of this batch. Yami has some manipulation over Yugi's dreams, and so he uses that ability to fend off yugi's nightmares. (This one was mostly me)

All of the ones not specifically marked as either spud or I were a team effort, and all of the Yami ones were done in the middle of the night while we were way too sleep deprived for our own goods. Except for the nightmare one.

[dontmixpaintinyourcoffee]

I like rewriting things for fun because this is just what my brain is like, and on my rewatch of Gravity Falls I was struck once again by how out of place "Roadside Attraction" is. Honestly I don't even dislike it that much, it just feels misplaced? Like, it's a season 1 episode thrown in right before we start gearing up the final arc. I'm hardly the only person who thinks this, but I thought it would be fun to throw my hat in the ring and come up with my own alternate version. Thinking about making a comic about it maybe??

So I've given it some thought, and here's how I would write "Roadside Attraction" (with the benefit of 10 years of hindsight, no deadlines, no supervisors breathing down my neck, and access to pieces of storylines that have only all come together completely after the show ended): It got long so it's under the cut.

I really like the idea of the road trip itself, and I really really like the idea of Dipper and Stan getting this bonding episode. Especially with Stan trying to be a role model for Dipper in a way that Ford has no experience with, playing into both of their insecurities of not being good enough. I just think the focus was too messy. There's a lot of different messages that could be fit in to the whole flirting thing, and I think the episode kind of confuses itself. I'm also of the opinion that the show is at its weakest when romance is the focus. It's just infinitely less interesting than the familial and platonic bonds that have been so lovingly set up.

So instead of the focus being on flirting, we're going to one of Stans favorite skills- lying!

The original episode centers Dippers conflict on not knowing how to deal with an unrequited crush and then acting on some bad advice from Stan. But the episode doesn't really succeed in clearly painting what was actually bad about his advice and why it was bad that Dipper followed it, it gets all muddled up (he wasn't cheating, he was literally just talking to people. It's messed up that ultimately he was objectifying them as subjects for "practice", but he also thought these were going to be one-off interactions. It's all too shaky to actually take a lesson away from in the way the episode wants you to.)

So we're shifting the focus from "confidence with girls" to "confidence" in general. Dipper expresses his insecurities with not being a very confident person, he doesn't think he's brave or cool or tough and he's scared of other people seeing him as weak. So Stan tells him to get some practice talking to people the only way he knows how-by making stuff up! It's very easy to be confident if you just pretend you're someone else! Sure, maybe Stan Pines isn't much of a winner, but Hal Forrester is doing great! And who's to know that he's not Hal Forrester? Stan is a showman and a con artist, if there's one thing he knows how to do it's perform. And that's kind of... All... He knows how to do. It's the thing that's kept him alive for 40-odd years. But it originated in a deep-set belief that Stan Pines is a bad person to be. He has to be someone else in order to be someone worth being around.

Most of the episode can play out as it did but with this framework. We can even keep Darlene! (Stan chatted with her under a false name and acted like he was some kinda unattached drifter lone wolfing it on the road. She heard that and thought "oh good, no one to come looking when he goes missing!" Then gets thrown off when a bunch of kids come and save his ass.) And a different side story for Mabel and the girls. Spitballing here- uhhh Candy and Grenda try to distract Mabel from her feelings about her Summer Romances because she's clearly upset but is trying to hide it. Wacky shenanigans abound. By the end the theme about authenticity comes full circle and Mabel feels better by earnestly talking through her feelings with her friends. It gives Candy and Grenda a bit more time to have some real emotion and follows up on Mabels lesson in "Society of the Blind Eye". She already learned that it's better to live with the bad stuff and learn, but now she also knows that you don't have to carry the bad stuff alone, and that a good friend won't stop being your friend because you aren't performing happiness. That theme can then be picked back up and really hammered home during "Escape From Reality" when she starts facing how shallow Mabelland is.

Anyways back to the primary A plot:

Instead of the crowd of girls it's just a crowd of kids who are all calling him by a different name and claiming to have bonded over a bunch of different interests he doesn't actually have, so he panics and runs out of there. (Basically a Kidz Bop version of what would happen if some of Stan's old "buddies" caught up with him)

Now on the drive home, they have a different conversation. Stan admits that his way of doing things isn't a very stable one, and it always ends with him being alone, but since it was his only option for so long he doesn't really know how else to be. And then Dipper can reassure him that, he, at least, thinks his Grunkle Stanley is pretty great. (Emphasis on the Stanley). Maybe they can both figure out how to be actually confident, together.

ALSO THE B PLOT IS FORD BEING LEFT HOME ALONE WITH WENDY AND IT'S REALLY AWKWARD UNTIL MONSTER STUFF HAPPENS AND THEY GAIN A MUTUAL RESPECT FOR EACH OTHER AS BADASSES!

The monster stuff could be anything tbh, maybe the science magic bullshit from the portal reactivating aggravated a long sleeping cryptid and now it's out for revenge on whoever interrupted its nap. That way we can reinforce that the space between dimensions is weak for a plot sprinkle while primarily focusing on emotional development for the main characters before we get into "Dipper and Mabel vs. The Future". I called it a B plot but it's honestly probably more of a glorified cutaway gag, I don't know how feasible it is to fit all of this into one episode.

I have a really specific scene that I would want to happen at the climax of their side story where Wendy saves Ford's ass at the last minute when he wasn't expecting it and he's like

"How on earth did you manage that?!"

"Dude, my dad is Dan Corduroy. I've been training for stuff like this since I could walk."

"Boyish Dan???????"

And then Wendy suddenly has tons of new ammo to tease her dad with because no one has dared use that name since the 80s

[bluiex]

(This Grian Cheating first) I was thinking Scar ending up with Tango, they have so much fun together and Tango is always willing to indulge Scars shenanigans and listen to him! Scar loves hearing him explain stuff and asking him questions on it so he can talk more about it

-They just bounce off of each other’s energy but Tengo is the calmer one, he loves feeding and taken care of  the Jellie pandas and Jellie when Scar is busy. -Tango loves Scars small kisses, Scars lips are nice and cool on his Skin.

-Scar thinks Tango expects a lot out of him, but in reality he doesn’t. One time Scar got him an orange rose because it looked like his hair, and Tango pulled him into a kiss out of happiness. Tango keeps the rose on him at all times now!

-They are always their for each other, and Tango was very understanding when Scar would be sad over Grian cheating on him even though they started dating. Tango kisses Scars hands and tells him it’s okay and that he loves him no matter what. Even though he still loves Grian somewhat.

-Basically the song ‘Hey lover’ by The Daughters Of Eve.(Scar thinks Tango is True love if it was a person, he loves him so much!)

-Scar is cold blooded and is a Vex while Tango is Hot blooded and Half Blaze so They cuddle at night and Scar loves how warm his sunstone is. -They both purr when they are with each other. They have nicknames for each other, Scar is Moonstone and Tango is Sunstone:D

-I have a headcanon where the are platonically Dating in HermitCraft.

AAA anon, they are in love:) (Jimmy would go with Scott we all know it) 

Ooooh I love that for hermitcraft- like say Scar still holds his ill feelings toward Grian after DL and then goes to Tango for it

but in general, omggg I adore the idea of Tango an Scar platonically dating. this is cute asf

[whoslaurapalmer]

i want to know about your fic! is that cheating? is it meant to be a surprise?

technically!!!!! it is in fact a surprise!!!! because it is secretly for a person!! I will give the following incredibly vague details --

1) i hope to get it done within the. oh I wanted to have it done by the 20th I think but it will uhhhh probably take. longer. by god, it's already the 11th. I regularly and vastly underestimate time. but I hope not much longer than that!!!! hopefully a week after at the latest??????

2) objectively it has the funniest shenanigans. but also like......I am trying to keep them in character. but also not. experience the EXTREME second hand embarrassment that can come with these shenanigans, bc second hand embarrassment physically hurts me

3) a long long time ago (2008.) the mcr website had a blog section that gerard used REGULARLY, and once posted about calling second hand embarrassment The Motts (and since it's gerard, it does and does not make sense in context.) and ever since then whenever I experience second hand embarrassment I think 'oh no gerard way I am feeling the motts' so my notes very frequently say DO YOUR BEST TO AVOID THE MOTTS.

4) lemony is there!!!!!!! beatrice and bertrand are mentioned in passing. ......other characters show up.

5) the fic spans a great deal of time. like.........a GREAT deal of time. damn.

6) I have never written this trope before but I have read a great deal of it in my time, it was very popular in the les mis fandom? which I have read TOO MUCH fic for. I always wanted to write fic for it and still have lots of wip documents, but I think my les mis fic potential days have passed me by. I still love the amis a great deal, though. anyway it's also not quite that trope, and that's very thrilling. that's where a great deal of the amusement comes in. If I can navigate it right. oh but it's also a very old trope, actually!!

6a) I mean, you see tropes in fic sometimes and think of them as very fic specific, and I think some things very much are, but also, people have been telling the same sorts of stories for an age, and i was actually able to tell my mom about the plot and have her understand it bc she's seen movies with the plot. which is very bizarre, usually this does not happen.

6b) although I do wonder now, isn't this trope like the worst way to get enjolras and grantaire together. well, I guess it depends on how you're writing them, honestly. I think the most well-known fic with this trope did it well, now that I think about it

7) I think. I am going to split it into two chapters. and........see the first half took about a weekish of planning to get the Reasons things were happening to make sense. so if push comes to shove and I only finish the first half by whatever date it was, I will post that, and then, do the second half. which is less structured but still needs. you know. things to stand on. just less things.

8) it tentatively had a title but then I thought, it would be better as a chapter title maybe, so then I figured out the other chapter title, and now I am. Missing an overall title.........

9) the titles, though, are from the songs the maze and I know how to speak by manchester orchestra.

10) potentially, a candlelit dinner may take place. there will be bread.

11) one of my notes just says 'it's the most unsexy [REDACTED] of all time'

12) someone's gonna get kissed eventually though despite my subpar skills at writing physical romance contact!!!!!!

13) I worry about it a lot, though. Just, making the fic, make sense right in general. I know what I'm aiming for but there's still a lot of uncertainty in getting there, sometimes. and it happens all the time, in everything I write!!!! every writer goes through that, in every piece. never stops being very nerve-wracking, though. And I don't think I've ever really written something like it before. so!!!!!!!! we'll see. I'm rooting for it.

[shadowsong26fic]

Coming Attractions (of sorts)

I know I basically haven't been keeping up with these this year--it's been kind of a slow writing year in general for me, which is part of it.

And normally at this time of year, I'm setting a number and picking a set of projects to work on for a fake/cheat NaNo but given the whole...AI-nonsense implosion that went on there...

Yeah, not happening.

But I do want to get back into more writing, because I miss it, even if it's been hard this year. So behind the cut is a bit of rambling about the following long-range projects I'm hoping to get more into as time goes on:

The Other Battlestar (BSG)

Papa and J----, August '34 (Les Mis)

Precipice

A handful of other miscellaneous AUs (mostly BSG)

My three main origfic projects (The Farglass Cycle/Feredar; Lux; Untitled Intrigues Story)

And also, as long as we're here, let's go ahead and do an Open Question Night! My askbox is always open, but I'll be keeping a semi-active eye on it and responding tonight. Anything I've written/posted about here or on AO3 is fair game. I do take prompts, but no promises on when I'll fill them, haha.

The Other Battlestar

So this is an AU that I technically started building the first time I was in the fandom, so like...twelveish years ago now? Haha.

The premise, essentially, is Baltar ends up on Pegasus instead of Galactica. Which means a lot of gaps to fill in, both in terms of getting the fleet into roughly the same position when everyone reconnects, and also, even with Razor filling in some gaps, there's a fair bit of 'how do I fill those six months' on the Pegasus side of things.

There are a few OCs involved in filling in those gaps--splitting Baltar's canon shenanigans across two people, one to do the Politics and one to do the Science. Politics is Vance Kimball; movie star/philanthropist, went to university with...I'm blanking on his name; Roslin's original VP pick; anyway the two of them were at an alumni event and got off Caprica together along with the Science person, who is admittedly the most self-indulgent part of this fic but I've decided to stop feeling guilty about my pleasures and honestly what is fandom for if not self-indulgence lol.

Also adding a few people on the Pegasus side of things--there's a Marine officer who grew up with Baltar on Aerilon; Daphne Reed who is the senior medical officer (Cottle's counterpart); and a Four with the civilian fleet who gets drafted to work under Reed.

I did also figure out how to keep Helo on Caprica so he can meet Athena, because they are important to me and see above about self-indulgence, and Fleet!Cavil and Vera (Tough!Six/Hooker!Six/Punk-rock!Six/whatever the cool kids are calling her these days) are probably going to show up once or twice.

So, yeah, the holdup here is...figuring out the best way to balance all the different threads, how much I actively need to rewrite vs. how much I can handwave, and so on. Even if I stop at the end of the Pegasus arc (which is my current plan; I have some vague ideas for where the second half of S2 and beginning of S3 might go but no Active plans at this point), I'm guessing this will end up being like. 150k? It will not be short, anyway. But it's been in my head for a long time and I'm very fond of it.

2. Papa and J----, August '34

So this (and its companion piece, Provenance) is something I was having a lot of fun with and just. Need to get back to, haha. It's outsider POV, an art history grad student named Ari doing some Research into a previously-undiscovered painting by Cosette (who is a moderately well-known painter). Obviously this is a post-canon AU where both Valjean and Javert survived the summer of 1832. I left off with Ari about to go to Europe to continue working there, going into museum collections and archives to try and a) identify J; and b) put a name to 'Papa,' now that we have his face. Anyway, I do plan to get back to this, just...again, slow year, haha.

3. Precipice

I will not quit this fic until/unless I entirely quit the Star Wars fandom which doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon (even if it's back-burnered a bit). So, yeah, even if it's been...::checks notes:: three years since I updated, I haven't forgotten this, it's too big a part of my SW fandom life for me to do that.

(For those who don't know, it's a 'the Republic falls but Anakin doesn't' AU, we've just reached about the timeframe of ANH where I left off)

4. Other Miscellaneous AUs

Just kind of rapid-firing--

The Selkie AU and Backup Plans AU I started with the Year of the OTP project back in 2023. They could go interesting places, and I want to explore them some more.

Acheron is another Les Mis fic, Groundhog Day loop for Javert, fun times.

Percussive Maintenance is the one where D'Anna accidentally unlocks Sam's memories what with all the concussing when they're trapped in the parking garage during Downloaded. It involves a lot of Sam talking to Philosopher!Cavil; I still need to decide whether or not I want to involve/reference the girls from Caprica-the-TV-series. I had a general outline going from Sam regaining his memories up through when they get back to the Fleet that I was hoping to do for GBB this year, but I didn't get enough into it to make it happen. Maybe I will moving forward.

Someday I'd like to get back to Serenissima (which was a Baroque/Renaissance Venice BSG AU)

I have some BSG crossovers floating around that I'd like to actively work on At Some Point (mostly Star Wars, though some of the self-indulgent Stargate crossover stuff I've done in RPs with a friend of mine is always percolating in the back of my head, lol; also the Wheel of Time stuff I started noodling with back when I watched S2 of that series is still interesting--maybe when S3 comes out or when I start my reread of that series)

Someday I'd like to get back to the Avatar Zuko fic or a couple other AtLA AUs I started working back when the fandom renaissance really picked up.

5. Original Works

The Farglass Cycle/Feredar is a fairly typical swords-and-sorcery type fantasy world; it's one of my oldest/longest-running projects and just sort of always a constant in the background of my writing universe.

Lux is the Apocalypse in SPACE. I think a lot of what I've written lately has focused more on the Horsemen than the original two main characters, lol (which would be Lux (Lucifer) and her human love interest Mariko). I still need to get around to fully explaining who Trixie Milton is, among other things.

Untitled Intrigues Story is technically a fantasy because it takes place on a made-up map. The pope/High Priest has sent his two sons as envoys to two rival kingdoms to try and prevent them from going to war, each of them ends up tangled up in the internal politics in different ways, and it's mostly about that. There's also some Politicking going on within the higher ranks of the church (this world is kind of modeled after late-Renaissance Europe soooo), which I find a lot of fun when it's. y'know. fictional.

...yeah, I think that about sums things up, haha. I'm not making any promises for when any of this is coming out, just...these are the sort of uppermost things in my mind for what I want to get more into working on in the next few weeks/months/through the end of the year and beyond.

[sparrowmoss]

in the past couple days i watched 1. the series The Midnight Club, and 2. the movie Do Revenge. and i thought they both were super good like !!!!! both media with main characters who are POC and ALSO lgbt ??$:);!; it feels so rare but. if anyone is interested i will like summarize and content warning them below

the midnight club is not happy feel good media to be clear it is more geared toward teenagers i think but deals with some seriously heavy stuff because every single main character has been diagnosed with a terminal illness and multiple of them do die through the series. its about all these terminally ill teens living in a hospice care house together and bonding/coping/passing time by coming up with horror stories to tell each other. the horror stories are acted out by the same actors so its really cool. obviously lots of dark topics like cancer and HIV/AIDS and death and hopelessness vibes but also empowerment for those kids. additional content warnings i can remember rn would be for discussion of suicide and self harm, murder in a lot of the midnight club horror stories, cult stuff and the like vulnerability and manipulation that goes into cult recruitment, disturbing imagery like corpse people and jumpscares and hallucinations (?) and unreality and stuff i guess idk. it was SO good. main character is a black girl and there is also a gay black girl and a gay black guy in the main cast as well as lots of other POC characters and some other lgbt characters

do revenge is SUPER DIFFERENT but i thought would also be more for teenager audience, though now i dont think so as much because like those high schoolers were doing coke and ketamine for gods sake it was insane. i thought i knew what was going on but there was a plot twist that i fucking never ever saw coming and my jaw literally was wide open atp but i wont spoil that ! its generally about two girls who meet and decide to help each other get revenge on two people who seriously wronged them. and in the process of that, shit gets so wildly beyond out of hand. everything spirals out of their control so fucking fast. it was hilarious and upsetting and shocking. so good. for that the content warnings i think would just be like… shitty guy cheating, revenge porn stuff, drugging people without their knowledge or consent, some shitty stuff is done to someone who presumably is a lesbian but shes rich and white so she ends up fine, car accident scene that was a little scary, ummmm general fucked up shitty asshole teenager shenanigans by which i mean cruel actions and questionable priorities and general lack of awareness for how characters only care about themselves ??? idk if that would bother someone nfbdjfndf anyway one of the two mains is a lesbian and the other is implied bi and is a POC and theres a bunch of other POC and other lgbt characters

and both of them have mild emetophobia warning scenes with only very fake puking sounds and nothing actually visibly shown just that super fake audio like i have pretty bad emetophobia and cannot handle Seeing it but i was totally fine. i would tend to rec the movie more just because it was a happy ending and like. everyone in it was not terminally ill and dying. no one died. they did a shitload of drugs but they were okay

[dannyphantom-justiceleauge]

As much as I believe Vlad to be an iredeemable asshole in cannon, I like the idea of a begrudging mentor Vlad. Like, say in an alternate universe everything starts of the same but he's not got some evil plan to kill Jack and marry Maddie. He's bitter and resents them for turning him into this abomonation, resents them for being happy when he can't, he tries to stay connected, but he just can't stand being near them and fears their reaction to his ghost side. (1/3)

(2/3) He takes advantage of his new powers, he steals and cheats his way to power, living life lavishly, but it doesn't make him happy, none of it fills the emptiness in his heart. He spends most of his life miserable up until one day he invites the Fenton's on a whim, perhaps in some desperate attempt to find happiness again, where he meets Danny. It goes similarly how it went in the show, Vlad discovers he is a halfa like him, see's how his parents treat him... ~ ~ ~ i think part 3 got eaten, bro, but i'm gonna work with what i got.

Vlad sees this kid who's like him who's parents still talk about killing ghosts and destroying them in front of him. not knowing that they're threatening Vlad. that they're threatening their own son. he see's these so called scientist haven't learned anything about ghosts in the years that they've been estranged and that they've managed to make the same mistake twice.

and he see Danny, a moody teenager, going through the traumatic process of dying and gaining hard to control powers on top of being a highschooler and social pariah. he sees this kid in desperate need of guidance and sees his parents who are neglectful and unaware of a fact he learned within a day of knowing Danny. and he says, "if you can't handle the responsibility of having a kid, he's mine now." yoink

except, obviously, he's really, really bad at it. being a mentor, winning Danny over, being a good person. all of it.

initially he just straight up offers to help Danny learn his powers and that works, Danny agrees, because Vlad isn't trying to kill danny's parents or attacking him, or stalking them, so Danny has no reason not to accept the help. Vlad seems okay for all his rich guy eccentricities.

but then the lessons actually start and danny realizes. oh. this guy has no idea how to teach. and oh this guy has the moral compass of a rotary fan. and Danny initially goes with it. in canon danny's can be swayed by petty stuff and money up to a point. he can let a lot of shit go and is even willing to do some soft crime if he thinks it's for the right reasons. and Vlad might beat him up when trying to teach him to fight, but that's part of training, right? and he might be changing a little under Vlad's influence but danny doesn't see that as a bad thing, until Sam and tucker basically call him out and he accidentally hurts one of them. something that Vlad had told him to do.

so danny bails. basically confronts Vlad and tells him he's a shitty mentor and that he's gonna peace out. suck eggs, fruit loop.

but Vlad had thought things were going well. he's gotten attached. he doesn't want to go back to being alone and he and danny are the only two of their species in the world. so typical villain/stalker stuff happens between them for a bit. Vlad tries to win danny over with money, with manipulation, with blackmail. and Danny isn't having it. (he has blackmail on Vlad too). Vlad is growing increasingly desperate and looks and acts a mess. this is a vulnerable Vlad. we're not getting well kept always cocky and put together except when danny embarrasses him Vlad. we're getting a pathetic man trying to cling to the only human(ish) connection he has and slowly falling further into depression and insanity.

and Danny pities him. because Danny had that human connection too. in the early days before he decided he got to see vlad's dorky and cool side. Vlad was generous with his money. vlad only swears in food. he lights up when he watches a packers game and is a total fanboy.

and Danny kinda gets how he became like this. how his isolation and loneliness and fear drove him further and further down the road of corruptness and evil. Danny learns what he would become without his friends and if anything Vlad is better than that. it's almost similar to how he is with val. he understands where she's coming from and sees that she's a good person even if her actions have taken a turn in the wrong direction. he feels the same about Vlad. he thinks maybe he can convince Vlad to be better.

so redemption arc/reverse mentor relationship because danny is gonna be trying to teach Vlad how to stop being a fruit loop and start making some friends his own age. the comedy potential of that is amazing. i have the mental image of Danny convincing vlad to go on a date with Harriet Chin and coaching him from behind her even though he has next to no dating experience either. pure shenanigans.

i also see there being several back and forth instances of kidnapping. Vlad locks Danny in his house because he doesn't want to be alone (Danny eventually escapes and gets mad. Vlad learns never to do that again). Danny kidnaps Vlad to be a chaperone at a school event, mostly to get Vlad to lie for him. another time Vlad kidnaps danny to go to a rich person party because he said he had a kid in a pathetic attempt to make a friend (moral of the episode is lying to make friends doesn't work) so he just has Danny pose as his son that whole episode and they're trying to get along and seem happy, meanwhile snipping at each other in whispers. they think no one is buying that they're related but ironically them arguing at the end of the night is one convinces the person they're family. "me and my daughter would fight all the time, especially at events she didn't want to come to." probably muddies the moral but that's common enough in dp.

just gradually develops into a weird redeemed uncle/mentor dynamic. Vlad really isn't teaching Danny much. he still occasionally has his moments to shine with explaining new powers and showing danny how to commit tax fraud or lie to the police. but he's mostly just this weird guy who's first friend in twenty years is a teenager.

- Hestia

[forevercloudnine]

new 52 riddler origin/timeline

I noticed an older 2017 post by @batriddler​ about Edward’s possible New 52 origin story was going around again, so I thought I’d make a timeline adding what we’ve learned about his origins since then through The Riddler: Year of the Villain (2019).

Childhood

So Year of the Villain brings back several elements of Edward’s original backstory. The first was that, as a child, he won a puzzle contest and became fixated on that moment of victory for the rest of his life.

Unlike previous iterations of the character, however, there’s no obvious indication that Edward cheated in order to win it (other than the looming shadow of his future careers). Whether he won it fairly or not, winning the trophy was a turning point for him because it was the first time he was given undiluted positive attention, something he wasn’t getting at home.

Edward’s mother is heavily, HEAVILY implied to be an alcoholic (like there are even more bottles lying around in this panel, I cut them out for the screenshot), and he himself implies in the narration that she was neglectful to the point that he pretty much had to raise himself. Interestingly, there’s no mention of an abusive father, which is the bog standard for Riddler backstories in previous continuities. There’s nothing contradicting the existence of an abusive father in addition, so obviously there’s room for headcanons here (though I’m enjoying that Jonathan’s New 52 daddy issues replacing his retconned Post-Crisis mommy issues was finally mirrored by Edward’s Post-Crisis daddy issues being retconned and replaced with New 52 mommy issues. It’s equality).

[Side note: apparently his actual birth name in the New 52 IS Edward “Nygma,” which is also a return to form to his first origin. Personally I’m much fonder of him being born “Nashton” and changing his name as an adult, but that’s just me.]

He says that winning the trophy was the first time he “felt like [he] meant something,” which would seem to indicate that before this he’d internalized his mother’s neglect into a low sense of self worth. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like the high of winning it lasted very long, since his classmates weren’t very appreciative of his victory (which is also very in line with Edward’s previous origins, especially Chuck Dixon’s take in Questions Multiple the Mystery).

There’s not much other information about his childhood available, though Batman Annual #4 does seem to indicate that unlike many of Batman’s other villains, he did grow up in Gotham.

This is just based on him telling Bruce that “all of Gotham City” watched him grow up, and that Edward in particular read and watched a lot of tabloid news about Bruce when they were adolescents (is this a Batman Forever reference??? It’s probably not a Batman Forever reference).

Teenage Years

Assuming we’re supposed to take Bruce’s heat-of-the-moment psychoanalysis in Zero Year seriously (Edward is clearly irritated by it, so... confirmation?), Edward’s desire for attention in childhood results in him breaking into corporate data banks and government safe-blocks as a teenager.

Given what Edward is capable of in Zero Year, this definitely doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility, but it’s deeply hilarious in the context of what Year of the Villain confirmed he was (also?) doing as a teenager, which is working as a carnie.

I cannot tell you how hilarious I would find it if THIS is the “questionable past” that Bruce’s Uncle Phillip was talking about during Zero Year, but presumably he’s referring to the same kind of high profile crimes that Bruce was.

But seriously, how funny would it be if he was just talking about how Edward literally ran away from home to join the circus as a teenager...

Adulthood

The 2017 post theorizes that Edward started working for Phillip at Wayne Enterprises in his early twenties, and started earning the various degrees you can see stacked up in a corner in the image above during his employment there. That would seem to fit with this timeline, since I’m not willing to add “earned six different university degrees” to teenage years that are apparently already packed full of ripping off carnival goers AND corporate espionage.

In Batman Annual #4 there is the BAREST indication that Edward might have started working at Wayne Enterprises early into Bruce’s sabbatical abroad, since he talked about how “for months” there were nightly vigils at Wayne Tower where there were so many flowers people would have to cross the street not to step on them. Presumably this would have only been in the first year of Bruce’s disappearance, when Bruce was 18; at the very least this indicates that Edward still lived in Gotham when Bruce left, though it would make more sense for him to be visiting Wayne Tower as Phillip’s strategist than as a hacker/carnie.

In general though, Edward’s Zero Year plan is so ridiculously complex that I think it’s reasonable to assume that he took as long to prepare for his debut as Riddler as it took Bruce to train to be Batman.

[Another side note: Not to accuse Edward of projecting or anything (God forbid), but I think it’s interesting that Edward puts so much emphasis on criticizing Bruce for “disappearing for years” and “making everyone think he’s dead” in combination with the COMPLETE absence of his father from his origin story as presented in Year of the Villain.]

I do think it’s fascinating that Edward’s New 52 origin veers away from the whole “cheating” thing that’s so central to his character in previous continuities - not that he DOESN’T cheat when he feels like it (the whole carnie thing), but it’s not presented as an insecurity of his, and here he’s genuinely intelligent enough to mastermind crimes without needing to move the goalposts at the last second (cough Arkhamverse Riddler COUGH).

One final thing from Edward’s adult life that I think could relate back to his origin comes from Batman #23.2, “Solitaire.”

The issue starts with a flashback of Edward having a deck of playing cards confiscated from him in Arkham because he was playing Solitaire (like, genuinely playing Solitaire; he actually wasn’t plotting anything, it was just for stress relief). The comic is his quest for violent revenge against the Arkham guard who took his cards, which initially seems like a pretty average example of Riddler Brand Pettiness, but the story goes out of its way to highlight how much this really bothered him.

The Arkham Guard has moved on to become the head of security at Wayne Enterprises, so to get revenge Edward has to break into his old place of employment. An unexpected altercation with one of the executives leads Edward to totally freak out over her “touching” him, and afterwards he goes to meditate in her old office in order to calm down. His attempt to relax is interrupted by his old Arkham tormentor, who gets in a couple shots at him before Edward takes his revenge...

...which is BLOWING UP THE ARM that the guard used to take away the “small comfort” Edward had in Arkham. Afterwards, he goes up to the roof to play Solitaire, seeming to finally relax from his agitation earlier.

Given Edward’s isolation and neglect in childhood, it would make sense for him to have ended up playing Solitaire a lot: it’s a game that doesn’t require involvement from friends or family, but still requires a player to use strategy and skill despite the lack of an opponent.

[Yet another side note related to the previous side note: Batman is ACTUALLY dead during Solitaire, which takes place after Joker’s Endgame arc. Bruce and Joker are of course later resurrected through shenanigans, so Edward is right to think he’ll be seeing Batman again. But Riddler sitting on the Wayne Enterprises rooftop, indulging in a self-described “small comfort,” waiting for a man who’s disappeared to miraculously show up again is really interesting. Again, not to accuse him of projecting or anything, but... where’s your dad, Edward...]

His affection for Solitaire is also interesting, in the sense that one could argue that’s what he’s doing in Zero Year: playing a game with himself. He’s challenging other people to play with him through his “riddle” game, and he’s clearly prepared for the possibility of having an opponent (given that he has a whole rainbow disco death trap room set up at the end of Zero Year, which he seems DELIGHTED to have a chance to use), but he’s not expecting to have one. Whether this is a perspective rooted in his childhood or not, it seems to have changed after Zero Year, based on his riddle for Batman in “Alone.”

[hiccanna-tidbits]

The RotBTD+ Gang Plays DnD! (Feat. my ships, sorry not sorry XD)

So highkey I’ve actually been wanting to do a “The Gang Plays DnD” type post for AGES now, but then I saw @hobie-brown and @ohlooksheswriting-wips do DnD AU posts for RotBTD, and then I was like “Ah shit, I really should finish mine, eh?” So thank you to both of you for inspiring me to get off my ass and actually write the post!!!

Hiccup DMs. He comes up with this super complex plot revolving around dragons (because of course) where the party has to dismantle this society ruled by evil knights who want to genocide all of the dragons. Imagine his chagrin when the party wants to do nothing but fuck around in towns and aggravate NPCs 90% of the time.

They usually end up playing at Jack’s apartment, mainly because Hiccup’s dad doesn’t really want a bunch of loud nerds yelling about 20-sided dice in his household while he’s trying to work, if he can at all help it. Jack’s sister regularly barges into their living room and roasts the fuck out of Jack and his friends for being such damn nerds and eats all of their DnD snacks they’ve set out. If they’re in the middle of a combat session, she always gleefully proclaims that they’re all going to die. While Jack is annoyed by this, the rest of the party finds it deeply hilarious.

Jack Overland plays the absolute mayhem warlock Jack Frost, who got his powers through making a deal with the archfey Prince of Frost and has absolutely no qualms about being an evil god’s mortal Sower of Chaos. He spends the vast majority of the campaign doing such useful things as creating ice slicks under annoying NPCs and freezing people’s drinks. He also plays a Tiefling because absolutely no one can talk this boy out of playing the creepy demon race.

Rapunzel plays a woodland nymph druid who is also the party healer (because of course she is). Her name is probably Sunlily or something else suitably hippie-esque. Whenever there’s downtime (or whenever the rest of the party is also dicking around, and she can get away with it), Rapunzel likes to go into the nearest forest and pick the best berries and nuts for the rest of the party. She also loves baking fruit pies and cooking the best nymph food for her companions when given the chance. Definitely the party Cinnamon Roll (every party has one!). She often will turn into cute animals to distract the guards while the party infiltrates a building.

Merida’s character is the party archer and general ranged weapon master, as well as a raging lesbian. Hiccup learns very quickly that any male NPC who tries to flirt with her will very quickly get impaled with an arrow. She can’t ever decide if she wants to be a ranger or a rogue, so she multiclasses in both for flare. She also plays a Tiefling, and continually insists that her character is both scarier and sexier than Jack’s. In combat, she either Leeroy Jenkins her way in with a sword and just starts slashing every which way, or just shoots 90% of the enemies with arrows before the fight even starts. There’s really no in between. She can get away with this because she’s highkey one of the party tanks, and consistently deals a shitton of damage.

Anna plays a human bard, basically having read over the class options and going “Wait, in this one I get to make stylish medieval music??? And wear dramatic and garish outfits and a dumb hat??? And cast wacky illusion spells??? And do silly little magic tricks??? And INSPIRE EVERYONE??? Hell yeah, I’m in!!!” She mostly uses magic attacks in combat (definitely favors Tasha’s Hideous Laughter), but occasionally when she’s out of spell slots she’ll just take to slamming enemies in the face with her lute. She also has WAY too much fun with Vicious Mockery, let’s be real.

Elsa, upon hearing Jack’s character concept, rolls her eyes so far up in her head she can see her damn brain, and vows to play his concept, but serious–solely out of spite. She rolls up a super OP elf Chaos Sorcerer, filled with lots of brooding angst about how uncontrollable her winter powers can get if she isn’t careful. She combines it a bit with Storm Sorcerer so she can create literal blizzards, and Hiccup ends up allowing it just because he thinks it’s cool. Although Elsa’s character is undoubtedly aggravated by the rest of the party’s antics, she starts becoming grudgingly protective of these idiots and can deal some pretty crazy damage when her companions are threatened. She also contains one of the party’s only brain cells.

Eugene of course plays dashing rogue master thief Flynn Rider. Although his high deception and lockpicking skills certainly come in handy, he’s the most chaotic neutral fucker you’ve ever met and will take any excuse to rob NPCs blind or cheat them out of every cent they have in a tavern card game. It’s nigh impossible to get him to cooperate with the rest of the party much of the time, and often Elsa’s character has to either bribe him with some of her family’s gold or threaten to freeze him to stop him backstabbing one or more party members. Eugene’s character forces Hiccup to add in many more heist plotlines than he originally intended. This delights Eugene immensely, and sometimes he goes a bit crazy planning elaborate heists.

Moana plays a sorcerer water genasi. She can control any body of water, but she has a special affinity for controlling saltwater (i.e. the ocean lol). She also requests an animal handling bonus, but only with marine animals, solely because she thought it would be funny. She’s also an ex-pirate who robbed a lot of wealthy merchant ships and freed their slaves back in the day, which Merida thinks is incredibly badass. Moana tends to get bored and unengaged when there are no bodies of water to play around with, so Hiccup ends up having to add a lot more lakes, rivers, and oceans to the campaign than he originally planned on. Moana also takes a sailing skill, and thus the party often ends up traveling by boat. Typically Eugene and Rapunzel will infiltrate and hijack it, and Moana will sail it. Moana probably contains the party’s only other brain cell.

Astrid plays a gigantic berserker orc barbarian who is never without his trusty axe. Astrid is hands down the party’s top tank, and unquestionably deals the most damage every combat session. Much like Merida’s character, Astrid’s character is absolutely a shameless power fantasy. Hiccup pretty easily picks up on this, but is too polite to say anything about it. Jack also picks up on this, but is hardly as courteous as their DM, and teases Astrid mercilessly. Astrid is not amused.

Rapunzel requests that her weapon of choice be a frying pan, her justification being that her character found a discarded one at the edge of a human village outside her woods and mistaked it for a highly-dangerous human weapon. Hiccup is like “…you know what? Fuck it” and rolls up stats for a goddamn frying pan. Jack has nigh-endless admiration for Rapunzel for choosing such a goddamn memey, absurd, yet oddly effective weapon and it definitely makes the poor boy even more smitten with her than he already is.

Eugene and Merida have a bet going on who can sleep with more sexy barmaids. Merida is currently winning, much to Eugene’s chagrin. She’s not even inherently better at seducing NPCs, she and Eugene have the same charisma stat–she just consistently rolls better than Eugene. Eugene is incredibly salty about this.

Anna and Elsa want to be sisters in-game as well, but neither want to change their race–so Anna decides her character was adopted. Hiccup and the rest of the party go along with it, mainly because there’s something deeply hilarious about a regular human bard being adopted and raised by a family of high-powered elf ice mages.

Astrid is absolutely the sort of player who tends to get bored and restless outside of fights, and tends to fidget and twiddle her thumbs waiting for the next combat session. Jack picks up on this, and purposely does more roleplay for longer just to piss her off. He’s also just a very dramatic fucker and highkey loves roleplay.

When she’s not causing mayhem around the town or sleeping with hot women, Merida tries to entertain Astrid between combat sessions by offering to spar with her. Unfortunately, this does not usually end well for poor Merida, as even the most hardcore and badass of tieflings is prone to getting dumpstered by an 8-foot-tall barbarian orc with an axe. Astrid is, nonetheless, grateful to have someone to fight.

Rapunzel, Elsa, and Moana will humor Hiccup and attempt to actually play the main plot. Meanwhile, Jack, Merida, and Eugene are a DM’s worst nightmare. They constantly derail the damn campaign to fuck around, cause mayhem, and do inane shenanigans in every. Damn. Town. They go to. Anna is kind of a wildcard–she’ll typically go with whatever group looks like they’re going to be doing something more interesting. Astrid will go along with whichever group is more likely to get into a fight–which, often as not, is Jack and his posse of terrible Chaotic Neutrals (who have definitely pissed off a number of NPCs into attacking them).

As the campaign goes on, Elsa and Eugene become the beleaguered Party Mom and Dad. Both are quite aggravated by this–especially poor Eugene, who just wanted to play a morally-gray charming rogue who stole everything and got away with it and then accidentally ended up caring about these idiots he got stuck with.

Anna initially joins the campaign because she has a planet-size crush on Hiccup, and inevitably is the one who dragged Elsa into it too. Being the hopeless romantic that she is, Anna writes a love interest into her backstory. Hiccup eventually has the party run into said love interest, and Anna is overjoyed. He starts flirting with her as the love interest, and it’s easily the best 30 minutes of Anna’s life.

Moana and Elsa also give Hiccup pretty detailed backstories, and he works in little subplots for them. Moana gets to bring water back to a dying part of the jungle in the middle of a draught, while Elsa gets to go on a whole sidequest to explore her family history and how they came to be sorcerers.

Jack, Merida, and Eugene also give Hiccup fairly elaborate backstories, but Jack’s and Merida’s are like 99% memes and Dumb Shit. Hiccup tries to give all of them backstory-related plot hooks, but inevitably any hooks he provides are either stabbed, robbed, or frozen. Honestly any plot hook offered to these 3 will be all but spat in the face of and tossed off a cliff.

The one relevant part of Eugene’s backstory is that he and Rapunzel decide they used to be partners in crime before the campaign started. Rapunzel would infiltrate and scout out places he wanted to rob as small, unobtrusive animals (her preferred Wild Shape is a chameleon) and later distract the guards as a bunny or kitten while he went in and took every gold coin in sight. In return, Flynn Rider would bribe builders to not develop into Sunlily’s forest. Rapunzel and Eugene partly came up with this For Funsies, but also it was Rapunzel’s sneaky way of tricking Eugene into having prior connections in the party so he’d be less likely to betray them. It works pretty well–although the entire party is protective of Cinnamon Roll Sunlily, Flynn is certainly especially protective of her.

Astrid does the absolute bare minimum as far as backstories go. She is literally just here to smash stuff, slice people, and beat some fuckers up.

Rapunzel has a backstory, but she’s typically so invested in the main plot and the other party members that Hiccup rarely needs to bring it in to keep her engaged. She’s highkey the party emotional rock, and probably the only one keeping them all together.

On that note, Rapunzel’s character is the ONLY one who can get Jack’s character to take the plot even REMOTELY seriously. Like he’ll be dicking around in the nearest tavern challenging the nearest orc to a drinking game, and Rapunzel will come in and ask him to help them on a Main Plot Quest. And he’ll be like “come onnnnn I’m having funnn” and she’ll be like “Jack pleeeeeease?” and you just. Can’t resist Sunlily’s puppy dog eyes. At all. Also, whenever Sunlily is genuinely threatened, any silliness immediately goes out the window and Jack Frost is OUT FOR BLOOD.

For better or for worse, Rapunzel is not immune to being looped into Jack’s shenanigans. Occasionally if either Merida or Eugene have a particularly hare-brained scheme she’ll go along with it, but by and large Jack is the most successful in convincing her to temporarily abandon the plot and cause mild mischief with him. They once wasted half a session creating an elaborate “ice theme park” for some squirrels in the forest.

Hiccup tries to get Merida to play the main plot by eventually having there be no more sexy female NPCs to seduce in the towns they go to. Unfortunately, this backfires–Merida just hooks up with Moana’s character instead. When asked to roll for how good the lay is, Merida gets a nat 20–and thus her character and Moana’s character end up hooking up regularly throughout the rest of the campaign.

Hiccup introduces a few Wise Old Mentor-type NPCs to guide the party throughout the campaign. While Rapunzel, Elsa, Moana, and Anna actually try to listen to them and take their advice, Merida, Jack, and Eugene absolutely refuse to take them seriously and mercilessly play pranks on them.

At one point, Hiccup gives the party the option to attempt to tame a group of wild dragons and use them as mounts. They all have to make animal handling checks. Anna, Rapunzel, Elsa, and Moana pass. The rest of the party fails, with Jack and Eugene crit-failing. Hilarity ensues.

Hiccup ends up bringing back Anna’s backstory love interest as an NPC regular. Anna thinks he’s just being a good friend and a good DM and trying to incorporate her backstory as much as he can, but really, he just wants an excuse to regularly flirt with her. He hardly has the balls to out-of-game.

Merida comes out as gay toward the end of the campaign. Everyone in the group is extremely supportive, of course, but everyone is also like “Merida…with the amount of barmaids you’ve banged…and the amount of times you and Moana’s character hooked up…this isn’t exactly surprising.”

Hiccup actually finds a way to use Jack and Elsa’s same-concept-opposite-execution characters to the plot’s advantage. He decides one of the main villains will have a prophecy saying he’ll be taken down by a powerful ice mage. The party manages to fool this guy into thinking this ice mage is Jack, and sends Jack to fight him. As soon as the villain sees Jack, he’s like “WHAT??? THIS clown???” (word has absolutely spread throughout the land of Jack not using his ice powers for anything besides mildly annoying trolling). Naturally, the bad guy lets his guard down after thinking he’s going to fight this literal joke, and then Elsa crashes in from the side and absolutely dumpsters him.

Jack tries to defeat the final boss by just annoying him so much that he leaves. Unfortunately, he just annoys him so much that he attacks Rapunzel’s character. Jack’s just like “oh HELL no” and attacks with absolutely nothing held back. Turns out he’s pretty terrifying when he’s not using his magic for Dumb Antics.

During the final boss of the campaign, the Big Bad tries to one-shot Moana’s character, and Merida’s character super theatrically jumps in front of her to take the blow instead. Rapunzel just barely manages to heal Merida’s character, but it’s a really close call. During all this, Merida is like “ah shit...maybe I’m NOT just in this to get fantasy-laid.” After the fight’s over, her and Moana’s characters have a big dramatic love confession and share a Big Damn Kiss in front of everyone. It’s pretty epic.

After the final session of the campaign, Merida drags Moana outside Jack’s apartment and sputters and trips over her words for a solid minute before she finally gets out that through all this nonsense...well...maybe it’s not just in the game that she thinks Moana is hot. Moana just gets this HUGE grin on her face and says “c’mere, Leeroy Jenkins” and just pulls Merida in and kisses her. Cue the rest of the party barging in on them. Merida and Moana freeze, and there’s a moment of terrified silence...and then the entire party starts cheering them on like “took you long enough!”

The entire rest of the party could detect the sexual tension. Literally all of them.

But Eugene is like “HA, THIS MEANS IF WE DO A SEQUEL CAMPAIGN I’M WINNING THAT BET! BECAUSE YOU’RE GONNA BE DATING MO’S CHAR AND THUS NOT ABLE TO SLEEP WITH ANY MORE BARMAIDS!”

By the epilogue session, Jack and Rapunzel are dating. Merida and Moana are also dating. Hiccup and Anna STILL haven’t figured out why they’re so prone to spending half the session flirting when Anna’s love interest shows up, and Hiccup STILL hasn’t figured out why he likes to have Anna’s love interest show up so often. Bless their souls. Maybe they’ll figure it out next campaign...?

Damn I actually really like this...maybe if people like it I’ll do some incorrect quotes or a drabble or something??? Or maybe some HCs from next campaign???

[snakeliciousbaby]

9 & 10

Ohoho! Thanks for the ask! These are gonna be fun ones to answer ):)

Season Ranking?

Season two is my absolute favorite, as someone who loves motw and teenage shenanigans. This season is just banger after banger after banger!!! Season four goes next, because I love the introductions of Anya, Riley and Tara, adore the growing queer themes, and once again: love motw. Season 1 is next (though this is where ranking gets a little hard) because I love the creepier tone for this season, and all the character introductions. Season five and season three are about the same ranking, since season 3 is amazing but held down by a cheating plot that I'm VERY conflicted about, and season 5 writes Riley terribly but also has fantastic Spike-Scooby dynamics and excellent general found family stuff. I'd put season six next, since personally it's too depressing for me-- and was also the season that made me genuinely consider dropping the show. I also despised most storylines, with the exception of parts of Buffy's-- so it wasn't a fun time. And yet it's still season seven at the bottom, which I consider basically a joke with one or two barely redeeming factors. 6 was bad with a finale that managed to pull everything together-- 7 did NOT have that finale.

Character You Relate To The Most?

mmm let me think--Xander. It's Xander. I literally dressed up as him for Halloween cause of how much I relate to him, though in more mental than physical ways lol. A lot of his arcs hit close to home, and one of the reasons I can't help but despise Hell's Bells is that it deals with a lot of fears I have as well in a horrible way. In less serious terms, he also just makes a lot of jokes I would as well-- and dresses in a way I aspire to.

[cryo-locket]

Rules & Info

General Info

❖ This is a highly sfw blog, so please refrain from sending/tagging me in anything sexual.

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DNI/BYF

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❖ I currently only write for Genshin, but I do play ‘Obey Me!’ and Twisted Wonderland, so brainrots are very much welcomed!

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> Small Beans: Qiqi, Klee, Diona, Sayu

✫ Please do not ask romantic troupes for any other minor characters if you are an adult!

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❖ I don’t accept requests often, as my mind often goes blank when I do requests, but my inbox is always open for any sort of other shenanigans you’d like to send in! (Even an occasional ‘hi’ is absolutely fine!!)

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This list also randomly updates whenever I remember something I should add, but I’ll most likely make a post notifying about it. So please remember to pay attention to #notice locket for announcements and stuff!!

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[elsanna-shenanigans]

April Contest Submission #15: Schrödinger’s break

Words: ca. 3,700 Setting: modern AU Lemon: no CW: wrong Witcher facts (sorry Yen!)

“What do you mean it doesn’t count?!” Anna could tell that her face was tomato-red, since she could feel the heat in her puffed-up cheeks.

“Well, they clearly were on a break, were they not?!” Elsa’s voice was positively dripping with restrained annoyance.

That was the difference between them - while Anna got heated up and was all fire, Elsa turned cold and icy. Anna hated that version of her sister. Ice queen, indeed. Yet with sick satisfaction, she noted that Elsa’s usually pale complexion also sported a hefty colour in her cheeks. She felt a flare in her throat and belly and, like an out-of-body experience, she couldn’t stop herself and this argument, and so pressed on:

“So you think cheating is okay then at the first sight of trouble - is that it?!” 

“Well, how exactly is it cheating if they are not even together, Anna! Of course it’s scummy to-” 

“So you think cheating is okay on a technicality? Wow, that’s very assuring, thanks a lot.” Anna huffed and crossed her arms indignantly. What does one even do with arms in situations like this? 

“Why are you making this so personal - this is so stupid - I mean, how old is this show exactly now? 20 years?!” Elsa almost whispered to hopefully calm the situation down. 

She was painfully aware of the people in the little cafe, giving them harsh side-looks and judging them quietly. Anna was immune to stuff like this, but Elsa felt their stares almost physically. And this was their usual cafe and go-to place on late-work mornings, which made it even worse.

Her fingers found the rounded edge of their table as she rubbed her thumb against it, until she finally found an imperfection that she could push her thumb in even harder.

The blonde side-glanced around them, not making any real eye contact yet trying to mentally ward off the surrounding people. Most of them quickly looked away as Elsa furiously glanced in their direction. She felt a headache coming on.

“So I’m stupid now for caring what my girlfriend thinks about cheating?”

“What, NO- how is that - I-I didn’t say anything like that!” Elsa’s fingers gripped the smooth wood of the table even harder; the pressure on her knuckles made her whole hand ache.

“Anna, let’s not do this right now” she tried to lower her voice even more, but could immediately tell by Anna’s face that it was a mistake. A big one.

“Yeah- okay, I get it. Let’s NOT do this!” The younger sister shuffled her phone back into her backpack, and yanked her haphazardly placed jacket hard from the chair at their table.

“Are you seriously storming out because of-“

“Yeah! Yeah, I am!” Anna roughly pushed her arms through the sleeves of her rain-jacket. Her braids were rabidly bobbing with every jerky action of the furious redhead. “Do you think I’m too stupid,” she angrily signed quotation marks at this “to not know how embarrassed you are right now?!” 

Elsa couldn’t help but glance around them, to the other patrons of the cafe, as Anna practically yelled their grievances into the air.

“See!! You’re doing it right now! If I’m too embarrassing for you as it is, I’m going! So - have fun!” 

Anna quickly slung her backpack on her shoulder, stomping out as quickly as she could and leaving a speechless Elsa at their table.

She didn’t dare to look around again, since it would have been pointless anyway. She could practically feel all of their stares like daggers.

She kept her eyes down on her now lukewarm chocolate and angrily blinked away the tears that threatened to fall. She stopped gripping the table to nurse her aching head with her fingers.

She always hated Ross.

***

“What crawled into your morning coffee and gave you the biggest resting bitch face I’ve ever seen? And that’s already accounting even your usual standards!” 

Elsa pinched the bridge of her nose. She loved Meg, she really did. In fact, she was her favourite coworker in all of Arendelle Corp, but today she felt like she was not capable of the banter and dry wit this required.

“Meg, just leave her alone already! Can’t you see she’s struggling as it is?!” Raps piped up. Leave it to her PA to fend off the inquisitive brunette. But knowing her, it will do no good anyway.

“Hey blondie. I meant snowflake over there. Leave the talk to the grown-ups.” Meg countered with her usual dismissiveness. 

“Oh stop it, you two! You’re giving me a bigger headache as is.” Elsa slapped her papers on her desk. When she looked up, she could practically see the concern in her friend’s eyes - a rare sign indeed, to see Meg so open about her emotions.

“I think someone needs a sugar fix - blondie, get your boss some hot chocolate… and make it extra sweet.” Meg sat on the edge of Elsa’s desk, looking over to the short-haired PA to gauge her reaction.

Rapunzel looked over her boss and saw the plea in her eyes, pleading for peace and not the usual shenanigans those two got up to. She sighed.

“Alright, I’m on my way.” She slowly packed her things up, made sure to turn down the volume of her little hot-pink Bluetooth speaker and took her purse with her.

When she quietly closed the door, Meg didn’t waste another second.

“Okay, so what’s wrong? You look like you’re… ” She briefly touched Elsa’s shoulder but didn’t leave it there. She knew her too well for that.

Elsa dropped her head into her hands and breathed in deeply.

“I had a huge fight with Anna this morning… and the worst part is I don’t even know for what and why? We started to talk about what we used to do as children-” she swallowed harshly because she knew she had to be careful.

The official story was that they were childhood friends. It was easy to change the general logistics of their meeting. But it was hard, in some specific cases, to veil how deep their connection was.  

“-and we talked about Friends.” she concluded.

“Wait - the TV show?”

“Yeah, Friends.” Elsa clarified “So all of a sudden we get to the topic of Ross and Rachel’s break-up and it goes all downhill from there about cheating and about how I didn’t think he did-“

“You don’t?” Meg asked her surprised.

“No, I don’t. They were on a BREAK.” Elsa felt her cold anger gripping her again. It was so pointless and unnecessary - stupid Ross! - why did this keep happening?!

Meg’s laughter snapped her out of her thoughts.

“I’m sorry snowflake, but this has to be the cutest yet most idiotic lover’s quarrel I have ever heard in my whole life, so far.” Meg ran her fingers through her hair. “I know it’s rude to laugh… but Elsa. I mean.” She stopped there but let out another snort. 

“I know, I .. it’s positively atrocious.” She breathed out her frustration. “I really don’t know what this means or what even caused this. Nothing has been out of the ordinary lately. At least I think so…?” She frantically started to question herself. Was she just not seeing it? Was she so inconsiderate and not noticed her sister’s pain or grievances of late? What if it wasn’t nothing and it turned out-

“And is she by any chance on her period or getting there?”

“Meg, that’s sexist!” Elsa said indignantly.

“Yeah, but it doesn’t make it untrue.” Meg shrugged “I always get bitchy around that time and boy, do I get all the feels when it happens.”

“You’re always bitchy.” Elsa deadpanned.

“I know. But you love me for it.” Meg nudged the blonde’s shoulder as another small snort escaped Elsa.

“So in any case” Meg soldiered on, “what’s the grand romantic gesture you planned to show your undying love now that it happened?” 

“A… grand gesture?” Elsa didn’t like the sound of this. Not at all.

“Oh Elsa, Elsa… why are you so clueless about women when you are one yourself - of course grand gesture! Something that’s bigger than your fight, so as to leave that the only big impression of the day!” She side-glanced at Elsa, a mischievous grin on her lips.  

“Get her something big or better: get some poor street performers and make them sing some positively sappy love-song or something while you stand in a sea of roses telling her how dumb you have been.”

“Well, that sounds totally feasible.” Elsa shook her head into her hand, cradling her chin as she stared into space. She never was someone to openly show her feelings… or her life to others. And the idea was simply ridiculous.

She startled as her PA quietly opened her door with one hand, the other cradling the promised hot chocolate and a paper bag with something positively lovely-smelling in it. 

“I thought, what’s better than hot chocolate? A fresh chocolate croissant to it! So… double the fun?” Rapunzel smiled, all teeth, and it was hard to not feel her heart softening at that. She had it good here. 

“Alright snowflake, enjoy your spoils and tell me your battle plan once you have it!”

Meg fished out one of her reports on Elsa’s desk - thank god it was already finished - and sauntered off without looking back. 

Rapunzel placed her beverage and pastry bag on the very same spot Meg just sat on, and went back to her desk to turn up the volume on her little radio. 

“Thanks Raps. You’re an angel.” Elsa smiled as she opened up the lid of her steaming hot chocolate, savouring the smell of the sweet concoction. 

As Rapunzel laughed at that, she tugged her short hair back behind her ears “You tell Mr. Weselton that, when you have the chance.” 

The radio tuned into an upbeat song they played at least 3 times in the span of a day. If Elsa recalled correctly, her PA told her they’re a Korean girl band and all the rage now. Pink something… hm. 

“Say… how does that little speaker of yours work and where did you get it?”

***

Anna tugged on her new and tight yoga pants, trying to get the seam out of her crotch. To no avail. Typical.

“… at the same time there is a lightness; a sensation of floating. Feel both of these things at once. You feel the waves lapping at your feet. They beckon you to step closer. One step at a time, you feel the purifying power of the ocean. Its body envelopes you. Notice if your tongue is touching the roof of your mouth. Let your tongue soften down…” 

Anna stood in the middle of the living room, the furniture haphazardly pushed against the walls. 

The TV was still on and the PlayStation was still running, but at least it was muted. The Witcher was still standing in the maze, waiting for any input to further this party along. Amiss in between all those pompous Novigrad nobles and probably feeling kind of lost? …

Wasn’t he supposed to look for his missus? Jennifer… or something? It was already some time ago she played it last and had a hard time keeping it all straight.

But Anna tried to not think about this. About how this reminded her of Elsa. Elsa, who loves reading and who devoured the whole series in a matter of days. She just got the game to be able to talk to her about it - and it was really good, actually! She started with the third and last one, but she could piece things together with Elsa’s little anecdotes and the overall pointers in the story, but no - here she was. NOT thinking about it. No sirree!

“… it carries away your sorrows. It affirms the power within you. Life is good. Life is precious. Say it-”

“Say it.” Anna murmured and tried to concentrate on the voice again, pushing any thought of Jen or Elsa out of her mind.

“- out loud.”

“Out loud.” Anna’s voice rose with the last word.

“Life is peace.”

“Oh.” She opened her eyes. Now she felt silly.

With a deep breath, Anna closed them again and envisioned the waves lapping at her feet. Again and again. She pictured seagulls in the distance, imagined hearing their distinctive cry. They got closer. Their cries got shriller as the waves of the water, imaginatively yet unruly, lapped against her feet, quicker and quicker, with harsh -

“Fudge this!” Anna tugged on her braids as she groaned out loud. 

Wasn’t meditation supposed to make her feel better? To forget and relax? What a mess she was still feeling. Still an undercurrent of anger and hurt, but mostly regret now. She could see how she took this way too far, how it tugged on her insecurities - mostly unfounded, she could admit! - of her constant abandonment issues, even if Elsa showed no indication of leaving her. Even if she could tell that, sometimes their .. unusual situation was still not sitting right with the older sibling at points. But mostly, it was good! Really.  

Now all Elsa had to do was come back from work so they could talk it out, make up, and kiss it better…  So that was the plan. But it was already later than usual for her sister to return home. If only she could calm herself down enough to rationally and calmly talk through it so it wouldn’t even be a bigger mess than it was right now. What was the worst that could happen, right? No matter what, they still were family! At least that, even if -  Anna painfully tugged on her braids again.

She took a deep breath and tried to banish all feverish thoughts from her head. She listened to her breathing as it flowed in and out. She listened to the little specks of sounds coming from the window. She could almost make out a pattern as the little clanks came almost every three breaths.

- Wait, what?!

Anna hesitantly went over to the window; all the while the suspicious sounds didn’t cease to stop. Just as she reached it, she saw a tiny pebble hit the windowpane as it immediately dropped down again. Pushing the flimsy curtain aside, she looked down wearily. What kind of crazy - serial killer or stalker really- would do this?!

But what she found was her older sister flicking those pebbles up their window. Her cheeks were unusually flushed and Anna could see her breath escaping red lips in harsh puffs, curling in the cold air. Her golden hair was wind-whipped and some loose strands escaped and fluttered in the breeze. She’s never seen Elsa so…disheveled and radiant at the same time. She looked like a spirit stepped out of the night. Like a beautiful and elegant… wraith? Wait, was that even a thing?

As she fiddled with the old window lock, she watched as Elsa dropped all her stones on the ground as she frantically rummaged through her purse with one hand; the other one was clutching her phone tightly.

“Elsa?” Anna called out just as Elsa was straightening herself again, with one arm outstretched above her head with a small hot pink… device held high above her.

“Elsa - what.. ?” 

“Anna! I-I’ve been so stupid,” Elsa cried out “it doesn’t matter that we don’t see eye to eye on everything or that we’re different - but whatever happens, I’ve always-” just then a guitar riff cut the blonde off as a familiar male voice started to sing

So no one told you life was gonna be this way

-Clap clap clap clap-

Your jobs a joke, you’re broke

Your love life’s DOA -

Anna couldn’t hold back the manic laughter that escaped her as she frantically tried to take everything in. Was this really happening?!

Her sister making a fool out of herself. In front of their window. In front of their neighbours. In front of everyone. And most importantly, in front of her! That was so not Elsa and yet here she was, doing this to make her laugh and to prove to her how much she means to her. She could feel tears prickling in her eyes even as she sported the biggest grin that she tried to hide behind her hands.

your week, your month

Or even your year but

“I’ll BE THERE FOR YOOOUU” Elsa belted as she stood there steadfast yet with the pink Bluetooth speaker slightly wobbling in her hand as she pushed through the strain in her left arm.

Elsa felt terrified about the whole spectacle, but her worries took a backseat as she saw Anna clearly laughing, her eyes shining with happiness. So - huge success! And worth everything ten times over.

(When the rain starts to pour)

“I’LL BE THERE FOR YOUU” Anna joined her this time even when her voice cracked a bit with emotion.

(Like I’ve been there before)

They both laughed out loud at themselves and couldn’t make it through the last chorus. Both their eyes were trained on just one another. Elsa’s heart felt full and like bursting in any second. 

(‘Cause you’re there for me too)

The song came to its conclusion, yet Elsa was still standing there with her speaker held high. This time, Anna could tell the nervousness was replaced by elation and happiness, even through the awkward moment of silence that was now threatening to envelope them.

“Come up here already you sappy fool!”

Not a moment longer after the invitation, Elsa stuffed the speaker back into her purse and dashed to the front gate, avoiding to look into any windows as she did so.

She felt her thighs burn as she sprinted up the two flights of stairs in record speed to join her love.

She could hear the keys turning just on the last steps of the stairs, as the warm glow of their apartment illuminated the dark staircase. She looked up just as her sister stepped into the door frame. Anna was encompassed in the soft glow of the light that looked almost like a halo around the contours of her body. After this rough day, it truly seemed like a vision to Elsa.

“Anna, I’m so sorry-“ 

“Oh, Elsa. But stop. Just come to me already - please!” the redhead sniffed as she wiped her nose with her wrist.

Elsa practically flew into her arms. Her arms snaked around the scrawny shoulders as she pushed her head into the crook of her neck and breathed in deeply. She felt Anna trembling in her embrace, and she was glad to hear the snort of laughter through the tears as she did so.

“I love you so much, Anna. Let’s never do this again.” she breathed into her sister’s collarbone as she pushed her cheek further into the warm skin of Anna’s shoulders.

“It had a pretty remarkable end, if you ask me - so… I won’t make any promises” Anna left a wet kiss on her forehead as she rubbed the blonde’s back soothingly up and down. “But let’s go inside. I’m sure the neighbours are entertained enough for now.”

Elsa gently pushed Anna and herself inside as she closed the door behind her and double-locked the locks. 

Once safe inside, she let herself rest against the locked door and let her fingers push against the sturdy wood as she did so. 

Anna was taking her girlfriend in with a soft smile. She knew how much this took out of Elsa and what a big step this was for her to do. And she loved her even more for it. Anna watched her like a hawk as she pushed herself up to take off her boots and her coat and meticulously hung everything up in its space at their coat rack.

With patience never being her strong suit, Anna immediately bounced on her lover once she put everything away and pushed her back into the groaning door. Her lips sought out her sister’s as she pressed her harshly against it. Elsa frantically deepened the kiss, her cold hands holding Anna’s cheeks closely as her fingers stroked her temples. Anna felt breathless at the heat that threatened to engulf her, yet the cold and gentle fingers ground her to reality. She had to break the kiss for air but stayed close to Elsa’s lips, not being able to bear any distance between them right now.

“I love you so much, Elsa I…”

The smile the blonde gave her was a radiant one.

Elsa’s hand found its way around Anna’s hips, brushing the curve of them and enjoying the soft material. She kissed the freckles right beside Anna’s nose, one of her favourite spots in general. It always made Anna melt.

“You’re so sweet, my love.” 

Her hands started to warm up, Anna could tell, as Elsa gently tugged on hers to lead her further into their apartment.

“What happened here?” Elsa’s eyebrows rose high as she saw the mess that was left in their living room. Anna felt Elsa’s hand gently squeeze hers.

“Well .. I thought I’d try to center myself with some meditation and some yoga or something.”

“Oh, now those pants make sense… though I wouldn’t mind any occasion, really.” Anna felt her cheeks flush as she saw her sister’s eyes roam over her. “They suit you, you know.” 

Why was it that Elsa could make her feel just like a lovelorn teenager just in a matter of seconds, even when they were already together for years now.

“Oh, what’s this? You’re playing the Witcher?” the blonde studied the scene in front of her.

Gerald sitting patiently in a garden - in his finest clothes? Elsa tried to place the scene in her head, considering that Anna started almost at the very end - so very much like her, mused Elsa.

“Yeah, it makes me think of you so…” Anna rubbed her neck. “I’m just at this party with Triss and we just kissed and now-“

Elsa whipped her head around instantly with a sudden and dangerous glint in her eyes.

“You what?!”

[technoskittles]

Catradora fic rec list

I mentioned making one of these awhile ago and I’m finally sitting down and compiling some of my all-time favorite fics. I’ve read a lot (like, a LOT), but I feel like a few of those really deserve an extra shout out.

I’ll separate them between multi-chap and one shots, but other than that they won’t be in any particular order. I’ll also try my best to tag the authors here on tumblr if I can find them, but if not, just lemme know if you see your fic and I can edit this later.

I’ll also be including ratings/word count/trigger warnings/etc

(I’ll mostly be including common tw’s so please make sure you also read the tags for anything that may affect you personally! Also, if I miss any, please keep in mind that it’s been awhile since I’ve read some of these so I may not remember all of them!)

Key:

[E] - Explicit 

[M] - Mature

[T] - Teen & Up Audiences

[G] - General Audiences

And for the multi-chap fics:

(O) - Ongoing

(F) - Finished

(?) - Not finished and they haven’t updated in awhile so the author probably died

So let’s get started! (Get ready for a long post obviously)

Multi-chap fics:

1. upper west side by ceruleanstorm (F) [T] ~190,000 words

TW: past child abuse, alcohol abuse

@princessofgayskull

I feel like this is definitely one of the top must-reads for all Catradora fanfics. I know I’ve seen this on a couple different lists but I’m including it on mine as well because it really is just that good.

The chapters are lengthy (but in a good way!) and the story really takes its time to flesh itself out. The character development of the characters as individuals is beautifully done and wonderfully realistic. The pacing of the development of Catra and Adora’s relationship is also sweetly slow, a steady slowburn that invokes that deep-rooted yearning feeling mirrored by the characters themselves.

It’s a really clever premise that takes place in the modern world but implements the canon universe in the form of the book that Adora’s writing that ties back to her and Catra’s shared childhood. The way that aspects of the show were revamped into this fic are so creative and I just....ugh. LOVE.

This fic also has a oneshot compilation that takes place after the events of the final chapter which is currently ongoing and I HIGHLY suggest checking that out as well once you’ve finished this. 

The sister fic for those interested: she’s god (and I found her) (O) [T] ~40,000 words

2. The Devil Is In (The Details) by SeasInkarnadine (O) [M] ~58,000 words

TW: Graphic Depictions of Violence, child abuse, emotional abuse, use of recreational drugs, Major Character Death

@seasinkarnadine

This is a really great fic where Adora is an undercover cop who sidles her way into one of the largest gang syndicates to bust whoever killed Hordak, a big gang leader and drug trafficker, whose death was originally ruled as an accidental overdose. Her and Catra (one of the gang members) both know foul play was involved and work together to figure out the truth.

The dynamics between these two is so casual and hilarious but still has those gut-wrenching moments that really ground you and realize that their relationship is dysfunctional on a few levels. The exploration of Adora’s conflicting feelings towards Catra hurt in such a good way as she realizes that she does genuinely care for Catra, but also is aware that what she’s doing will eventually screw her over and land her in jail. It’s the best kind of underlying angst and I highly recommend it.

Another really great selling point that I particularly love is that Adora is deaf in this AU and the author really shows this in such a realistic and natural way that shows she really knows what she’s talking about. It makes the dynamic between the two even more interesting considering that Catra also knows sign language which give the two a lot of moments of mutual understanding that doesn’t extend to the other characters. It’s something that the two of them have that’s sort of just for them to be on that level of understanding and it’s so great.

Also, Morgan is just a great writer in general and I highly suggest checking out more of her stuff (her art too!). She’s one of the writers I’ve looked up to since my beginning days in the fandom and it’s still amazing seeing all the great stuff she puts out.

3. Skinny Love by Maychup (O) [M] ~100,000 words

TW: past child abuse

@maychup

Another staple of big fics in the catradora fandom but for good reason. This fic is a wonderful exploration of events taking place after S1 illustrating Catra & Adora’s relationship in a different path that the rest of the show takes. It focuses heavily on their past experiences with each other and how that affects their current situation being on opposite sides of the war. 

This fic is older, published just after S1, so canon divergence is an important aspect of its build. But the way the story is written is so beautiful and grounded that it’s still interesting even now knowing what really happens in the show. 

Their dynamic is kind of back-and-forth, with Catra figuring out what Adora means to her and vice versa and where the two of them want to go from that point. It has so many sweet moments and steamy ones as well (btw, there’s a lot of smut) and the exploration into each of the character’s pysches is so compelling and intriguing.

4. Faded With Feelings by yesimgay (F) [T] ~24,000 words

TW: recreational drug use

This was such a cute, short multi-chap fic. It’s a bit older but I think it’s still one of my top faves. 

A modern au, Catra & Adora are roommates post-college and trying to make their way in the adulting world. Catra has ADHD and smokes weed to help with that. One day Adora accidentally eats a couple of her edibles and cute shenanigans ensue. And that’s just the first two chapters.

The rest of the fic goes on to the girls figuring out their feelings for each other, especially Adora who, in this case, isn’t really sure of her sexuality. All-in-all, a really cute fic that’s a nice break from all the angst that typically saturates the fandom.

5. Chasing the Spotlight by holymountain (?) [T] ~20,000 words

This is an AU where Adora is hired to be Catra’s, a pop singer, bodyguard. There’s so many cute moments in this, though admittedly it’s been about 6 months since it’s last updated so be sure to keep that in mind.

6. we’ve been making shades of purple out of red and blue by darklady21 (?) [t] ~24,000 words

An “and they were ROOMMATES” au. In this one though, Catra and Adora don’t actually know each other and really only get to know each other over time. It’s cute and has a lot of interesting interactions between the two, but it hasn’t updated in about 7 months.

7. Tuning Out by FaiaHae (?) [T] ~2500 words

I actually really loved the whole concept of this fic but it hasn’t updated in like, an entire year so...only read if you’re okay with the fact that it probably won’t ever be finished haha

8. burnt sugar by jeserai (O) [G] ~11,000 words

@jeserai

Oh god YES this fic. The classic “fake dating” au except Catra is a rich kid inheriting a business who essentially hires Adora, a broke college student, to go on a date with her to this big business function. There’s not a lot to say about it other than that without giving too much away, but the fic is about halfway done at this point so it’s a pretty short read as of now.

Just be warned, it’s currently on a MASSIVE cliffhanger so if you wanna wait until it updates I totally understand lol

9. still waters by summerson (O) [M] ~28,000 words

TW: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, self harm

A “The Last of Us” AU. Personally, I’m not super familiar with TLOU because I could never get into the game myself, but this fic is so well done and the writing style is so interesting and well-executed that I still love this fic to bits. But obviously, for those of you who are aware of TLOU, you already know that this fic is going to contain quite the fair share of angst so be ready.

10. Whispering Dreams by dragonesdepapel (F) [T] ~7500 words

It’s been awhile since I’ve read this one so I don’t remember everything, but I do remember really enjoying the writing style and the construction of this fic. It’s a short read, but it’s totally worth it

11. please could you be tender by erce3 (F) [G] ~40,000 words

@figbian

please please PLEASE go read this fic. I’m actually begging y’all to go read this one I loved it so much it’s still one of my top 10 faves out there.

This fic is set in a modern setting where Adora & Catra were childhood friends and are in college and god it’s just SO. GOOD. The writing style and composition of the flashbacks with the present events is so beautifully done and organized and I really cannot hype this fic up enough GO READ IT

12. buried a hatchet (it’s coming up lavendar) by erce3 (O) [G] ~12,000 words

on the note of that last rec, I highly rec their other work which is currently in progress. It takes place after S3 but it’s an exploration on if Catra and Adora got trapped in the portal instead of Angella and FUCK this person is genuinely amazing go read their stuff

13. Senior Year by SimplyAbsolute (O) [E] ~98,000 words

@simplyabsolute

This is a really cute fic about Adora and Catra in their final year of college and I guess for me personally it really just hits hard because I’m also in my final year of college lol. But really, it’s a great fic and I suggest checking it out. It’s actually only got one more chapter left too so it’s almost done!

14. Assassinating Adora by Wicked42 (F) [T] ~13,000 words

@wicked-42

TW: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Jeez this fic was a real rollercoaster of emotions. I loved every bit of it. 

Basically, some people try to assassinate Adora and Catra stops one of them, but both girls are still inflicted by the poison and....it just gets crazier from there. Don’t wanna spoil it too much but this is a must-read for sure.

And this one may seem like cheating but I’m gonna plug one of my own multi-chap fics here

15. Pure Feeling (O) [T] ~30,000 words

TW: brief mention of sexual assault in Ch 5

This is a modern AU set after all the kids have been out of college for a few years. 

Adora and Catra were childhood friends but ended up drifting apart and falling out during their college years. Fast forward about 6 years and they run into each other again, except now Adora has a daughter and is struggling to balance her life as a single mother. Overtime the two girls work on rebuilding their friendship and somewhere along the way might even realize that they’re feelings for each other never really went away. But of course, like all things in life, this isn’t an easy process and they run into more than a few complications - internal and external.

One Shots:

(there’s so many of these I’ve loved so I’m really going to try and narrow it down to about 10. If yours didn’t make it, no offense! I just have WAY too many to include and this post is already so long haha)

1. The Interlude That Never Ends by FMLClexa [M] ~2500 words

TW: Major Character Death, brief mention of sexual assault

Okay I’m gonna be honest: If you ignore all the other fics on this list, READ THIS ONE. This is absolutely my #1 favorite without a doubt. It’s a soulmate/reincarnation au and it’s so wonderfully executed that I honestly cannot even begin to tell y’all how much I love this one. It’s old and one of the first fics I ever read, but it’s so timeless and excellent and I promise you won’t regret reading it. I know I’ve read this about a million times over.

It’s been a whole year and this has held my #1 fave position the entire time. READ. IT.

2. after party by summerson [M] ~2000 words

TW: recreational drug use

God this fic was so great I read it last night and I’m still in awe in how well it was written and the emotions it managed to invoke in me. My favorite scene is the part where Catra tells Adora “I love you” because it’s so raw and desperate and I vibed with it so hard. It’s really difficult trying to tell someone how much you love them with just a few simple words because they really just don’t convey how much you love them and it’s so frustrating and GAH this fic was fucking great please read it.

3. jigsaw by jeserai [G] ~2500 words

@jeserai

This fic is so great and I felt so warm inside reading it. Definitely read if you want sweet, slow friends to lovers burn.

4. Vicious by SeasInkarnadine [M] ~3500 words

TW: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Rape/Non-Con

I really highly recommend this one if you can get past the trigger warnings. It was so well written and very suspenseful with the juxtaposition of the timeline between current events and snippets of what had happened just hours before. But the ending is really sweet and the way that Catra cares for Adora after the whole thing squeezed my heart to pieces.

This is one I’ve read a few times over because of how much I love it. Def in my top 3.

5. Basement by spookyscaryskeletons [G] ~2800 words

This was such a great rendition of “Adora and Catra are forced to talk” and the emotions were raw and bleeding and I love the character portrayals. 

6. Coming Apart by Whorls [E] ~13,000 words (or ~6,000 words each chap)

@crazy-pages

Okay this fic technically has two chapters but I’m including it here in the oneshots because the chapters are identical in the sense of story but the only difference is that in chapter one Catra is a cis woman and in chapter two she’s a trans woman pre-op. Other than that the chapters are identical so it’s mostly based off which experience you would rather have while reading.

This fic was. So. Fucking. Good. Sen did such a fantastic job with both aspects of this story and I love it to bits and pieces. The smut in the beginning is delicious as can be, but then towards the latter half it absolutely sucker punches you with feelings but in a good way. I really, really fucking love this fic and I think it needs more attention than it initially got so I’m imploring you all to please go read this fic. It’s fantastic.

7. Seconds That I Cannot Replace by Mogatrat [M] ~7800 words

TW: child abuse, underage(?)

This is a really heartbreaking fic set before canon. It’s about all the times that Catra and Adora started a romantic relationship only for Shadow Weaver to come in and ruin everything by constantly erasing and resetting Adora’s memory. I still think about this fic from time to time. Give it a go.

8. Come morning light by dragonesdepapel [T] ~1800 words

TW: Major Character Death

Another one that’s technically two chapters but it’s the same events, just covers the perspective of each girl. Adora’s dying and asks Catra to stay with her.

Basically this fic ripped my heart out and I still think about it sometimes.

9. someone you like by caela [T] ~5100 words

oh fuck me yes this fic. A modern au where Catra sorta stalks Adora on instagram and accidentally likes an old picture. Fluffiness galore.

10. When You Came Calling by ActuallyMe [E] ~5200 words

TW: Major Character Death

A 1940′s Mob AU where Catra is a private eye and Adora married high-ranking mob boss Hordak...who’s just been murdered.

Really great one shot. Personally I would’ve loved to see more come of this but it’s great on its own.

And once again, this is cheating but here’s a couple oneshots of my own that I wanna plug real quick

11. hang tight (all you) [T] ~9200 words

Modern AU fic set when Catra and Adora are in high school. Adora struggles to come to terms with her sexuality in an discouraging environment as well as the fact that she’s had a crush on her best friend since middle school. Personally I think this was one of my best works and a lot of other people seem to have liked it too so yeah!

12. as my World d[ivides] [E] ~2500 words

TW: Rape/Non-Con, Underage

One of my darker fics, but still one I’m pretty proud of. Without giving too much away, Adora suffers from a trauma and engages in unhealthy coping mechanisms and Catra enables her because no one’s taught them any different.

[zelskzerker]

Mangadex went down so I read alot 2/7

Lets CONTINUE reviewing a bunch of isekai and related stuff I binged because mangadex went down. The scale will be a single thumbs up to a single thumbs down in terms of how much I would consider recommending it in general. Lot more to come, brace yourself future me who is reading this.

The Reincarnation Magician Of The Inferior Eyes

Chapters 1-55

This manga is FUCKING SHOCKING. [Insert reincarnation setup] but this time it is end tier level generic. I actually cannot believe the things that happen in this manga are so utterly within my prediction range. Calling the plot and characters lazy would not give this enough credit. It takes alot of force of will to produce something so utterly generic, devoid of spirit, bereft of theme and lacking in interesting setting. I keep reading only to be shocked SHOCKED at how basic the next fuckin plot point is. HOW FAR CAN THIS GO?!?! It is maddening. THUMBS DOWN.

The Reincarnation Magician Of The Inferior Eyes (Prequel)

Chapters 1-21

I cannot believe this. How is there a prequel. How is it even worse. Is this a test? Did Cthulu write this to drive me insane? HOW IS THERE A PREQUEL. This must be a personal attack. Who asked for this. Why.

Revival Game of Wandering Reincarnations

Chapters 1-20

Hmmm. This manga’s concept actually comes together and manages to have emotional highs and lows in a short amount of time. Where it doesn’t connect with me is how every arc completion in this ends with some plot-direction altering revelation about the world that its hard to grasp the theme. Its the best its concept allows I guess. THUMB SIDEWAYS. 

Do You Think Someone Like You Could Defeat the Demon Lord?

Chapters 1-8. 

THUMBS SIDEWAYS. Biggest problem here is how little is translated. Great trajectory, bad total amount of content. Gorey story of a former hero tricked into slavery by an evil member of the hero’s party. Using the knowledge she got there and her skill to reverse effects, she fights for a daily life with her new maid friend. Edgy dark and sweet yuri mix.

Start a leisurely lord life with a plant magic cheat After farming with the knowledge of the previous life, a reversal life began

Chapters 1-7

[Insert isekai startup here] but this time its about growing a town with MC’s OP plant growing magic. Nothing too interesting here, just slice of life slow town building. THUMB SIDEWAYS.

The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool "Asley"

Chapters 1-41

[Insert reincarnation setup] but this time he didn’t actually die, just hikki researched for waaay too long. 5000 years too long. He drank an immortality potion he accidentally made, so old age can’t kill him(he can only die when killed.) Firstly, the story has got alot of chapters which means it clearly goes through multiple arcs and scenarios that allow the grand narrative to start coming into perspective and show how the MC is going for it. Most notable thing about this is how much a comedy duo The Fool Asley and his Trusty Dog Pochi make. It is every chapter, sometimes hit or miss, so you have to be braced for constant back-and-forth comedy acts. For a reincarnation-esque series, Astley is not overpowered for the world. Or at least he really does not want to show off what he can do and has invented himself willy nilly. It is really interesting to see how he self-describes himself as an idiot and he is slow to learn and talentless, his only real advantage being his massive age. As long as you can take the comedy antics and the sometimes iffy art, THUMBS UP.

Exceeding limits can only be handled by reincarnated people

Chapters 1-5. 

Absolutely wild start, even though its isekai. THUMBS UP. For at least the first chapter. Skills in this world are mineable ores and each person only has 8 skill slots. Then of course the MC equips an ability that needed 10 slots. Story outside the inciting incident is cute shotasekai stuff. But damn chapter 1 pops off.

Saikyou Juzoku Tensei: Majutsu Otaku no Risoukyou

Chapters 1-20

So [insert isekai startup here] but this time the MC’s clan uses totems to teach magic, therefore MC mostly uses totem magic. Alot of this series is made up of weird ideas like that and the biggest hook I saw is the chapter 6 stinger of the clan having its siblings marry, the MC obviously hating it and running away, and the YOOOO part of his little sister being a yandere out to fuck him. Surprisingly interesting. THUMBS UP. 

Shadow Hero's Daily Life

Chapters 1-10

Displays and goes through the positivity in seeking revenge. One of the best complete expressions of the theme of “revenge” that I have ever read. A THUMBS UP based on that alone.

The Abandoned Hero is Going Home

Chapters 1-6

THUMBS DOWN. Eh. Not worth reading based on its incompleteness and hiatus.

Shokei Shoujo no Ikirumichi

Chapters 1-12

A well thought out world and story about an isekai slayer *coughcoughfuckisekaicheatslayercoughcough*. The world exists such that the isekai’d are many(relatively speaking) and are on a variable scale from good to bad. The only consistency about them being that their skills eventually grow out of control and instantiate nuclear-tier catastraphoes. So the MC is part of a group that assassinates them, before they know whats happening. Good depictions of present, past, and expectations of how the MC will grow given the recent isekai’d girl she meets and has to travel with because she can’t be killed by normal means. Also touches on how the assassins don’t neccessarily see themselves as good people. Some even see themselves as evil. THUMBS UP. Oh yeah also this is a yuri story so its anime as fuck and adorable.

Even Though I'm a Former Noble and a Single Mother, My Daughters Are Too Cute and Working as an Adventurer Isn’t Too Much of a Hassle

Chapters 1-8

Cute concept, but its kinda only it’s concept so far. Mom is a god tier semi-immortal and fights for her daughters. Maybe the revelation of mysteries later will be interesting but, its exactly as the title says. THUMBS SIDEWAYS.

Vermeil in Gold

Chapters 1-9

Gotta love these oneshota manga. Good design sense, really love Captain Kurys. Vermeil is shamelessly lewd and secretly tragic. This is a story that is going on constantly despite oneshota shenanigans every chapter. su-perb. THUMBS UP.

Ragna Crimson

Chapters 1-40

THUMBS UP. This manga is absolutely wild. It has 4 different scenarios, each which are so radically different in setting and then they just flip out into a totally different setting, making it impossible to predict the trajectory of the manga or what kind of arc will happen next. The only thing worth describing here is the MC with big himbo that is beqeauthed power from his future self in order to protecc his loli this time. Thusly, Ragna wants to kill every “dragon.” They say dragon, its more like vampires. Then there is Crimson, one of the strongest dragons who wants to hunt the 12 elites, and then at the end have Ragna hunt him. Issue being Ragna hates Crimson, because Crimson is absolutely evil. More evil the 12 elites but also more pragmatic to reel it in. The power system of the world is simple and described well so fights make sense. The real most amazing part here is the art and the concept behind fights. Probably the BEST ART of any manga on this entire list. From silly cute gags like the MC’s head being a sword or tsundere love antics to Crimson’s face as he commits a warcrime. As for one of the many amazing fight portrayls I while mention a time where Ragna has to fight an enemy for NINE SECONDS. So the whole chapter takes place over 9 seconds and there is a countdown timer in every other panel. FUCKING SUGOII.

[gra-sonas]

For the otp asks, are there still numbers you haven't been asked yet? Every singlenone of your answers has been amazing to be honest.

Awww, thank you, nonnie, I’m glad you’ve liked my answers. ❤️

Okay, let’s see which numbers I haven’t answered for Malex yet:

1) Who rocks the Ferris Wheel seat and who flips out and begs them to stop?

Neither. They just enjoy the ride and the view. 🎡

6) Who takes photos of the other while they sleep?

They both did in the past when Alex came to the Airstream whenever he was on leave. One afternoon, Michael had managed to take a picture of Alex who’d fallen asleep after their intense and somewhat desperate reunion sex. Michael took the pic not knowing whether he’d ever get to have this again: Alex, safe in his bed. After Alex had left, Michael got a printed copy of the photo at the drugstore and put it in his wallet. It’s still in there.

Alex took a photo of Michael asleep whenever he had to leave, desperate to drink in the sight of Michael, all sun-kissed skin and wild curls. He never dared to get one of the pics printed, but he has a special folder on his phone where these pics are stored.

When they get back together, they don’t need to take pictures of the other asleep anymore because they know, that from now on, they have “the real deal” right by their side for the rest of their lives.

10) Who is more likely to cheat?

Neither!

12) Who starts a food fight in the kitchen?

Neither. The “kitchen” in the Airstream is too small, and Alex’s kitchen is so pristine, the mere idea of getting it all dirty in a food fight is absurd. They do enjoy cooking together, though, feeding each other bites of whatever they’re preparing.

13) Who initiates duets? and who is the better singer?

Alex is the singer in the family, that doesn’t keep Michael from singing in the shower, though. He also loves to sing in the car, along to whatever’s playing on the radio. And Alex joins him, happy to share this with Michael.

15) Who likes writes the others name on their wrist?

Neither

18) Who talks to the other while they are sleeping?

Sometimes Michael wakes up in the middle of the night. Not from nightmares or anything, he just wakes up and lies in the dark, listening to Alex’s slow and deep breaths right next to him. And he’s just so grateful that he gets to have this, that they get to have this. That they finally figured out how to be together without hurting each other.

And sometimes he just has to tell Alex, even though he’s asleep and won’t hear Michael, but Michael tells him anyway. How much he loves Alex, how much he loves their life together, he tells Alex about his hopes and dreams, just all the little things he sometimes forgets to tell Alex when they are awake (although they both make an effort to talk to each other, to tell each other how much they love the other etc, there’s no lack of communication between them these days).

Anyway, sometimes Michael talks to Alex while he’s asleep, these moments are very dear to him and they help him to fall asleep again eventually.

(Sometimes Alex will wake up from Michael whispering sweet things to him, he pretends to still be asleep and just let’s Michael’s love wash over him.)

19) Who drives and who has the window seat?

During their first summer together they’re going on a road trip. Alex insists on driving because he wants Michael to be able to soak it all up. The view, the landscape, sights, animals on the side of the road, everything.

23) Who thinks they are not good enough for the others love? and who’s more afraid of loosing the other? Who thinks they keep messing up, only for the other to tell them they don’t need to worry?

Ouch, this is a touchy topic for both of them.

Alex is maybe a tad better at talking himself out of thinking like that, but sometimes it’s still hard to shut up and dismiss Jesse’s voice in his head. Michael struggles more tbh . Undoing the damage of more than two decades of abandonment issues requires a lot of work.

But the longer they are together, the easier it gets, and the faster one of them will pick up on the other “going there” and then they’ll talk, and there’s always the reassurance of “I love you, you are good enough, you are my forever, I’m not going anywhere.”

24) Who starts random slow dancing with the other in the kitchen? Who holds the other just above the ground and kisses them?

When they cook together, there’s always music playing in the background, and Michael loves nothing more than to hug Alex from behind, kiss his neck, and sway with him to the rhythm of the music. Eventually, Michael will turn in Michael’s embrace, put his arms around Michael’s neck and kiss him (while they’re still swaying to the rhythm of the music).

26) Who kissed first?

Alex tried, but Michael wasn’t ready.

Didn’t take him long to get there, though

27) Who orders take out at two in a morning? and who wakes the other up at three in the morning to go downstairs with them to get a glass of water because it’s too dark?

When Alex is really (REALLY) in the mood for fries and milkshake one night, Michael drives to the Crashdown and gets them fries and shakes just before Arturo closes for the night.

Neither of them‘s afraid of the dark, though, and if someone’s thirsty in the middle of the night, it’s usually Michael who gets up so Alex won’t have to use his crutches.

28) Who writes poems/stories and love songs about the other? Do they sing the songs the write for them?

I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE THAT THIS IS CANON 🥺😭

29) Who does some crazy stunt to try and impress the other and who ends up driving them to the emergency room after it backfires?

No stunts for these two, especially stunts that will earn them a trip to the ER (Michael wouldn’t go there anyway, and Alex has spent too much time in a hospital, he really doesn’t need more of that if he can help it).

It’s more likely that alien shenanigans will get them in trouble, and since they’ll both do anything to protect the other, chances are, things will end in a way that requires medical attention, it’s usually Kyle or Liz who’ll patch them up.

One day, Alex gets hurt quite severely during a mission to another secret facility, though. Michael finds him after fighting off a group of soldiers. Alex is lying on the floor of the server room where he was hacking into the main computer, a red stain in the shape of a poppy slowly growing on his chest. He’s been shot and his breathing is getting more and more shallow. Michael cradles him in his arms, yelling at him to stay awake, but he knows if he doesn’t come up with an idea real quick, he’ll lose Alex.

There’s no way in heaven or hell Michael will let that happen. He rips Alex bloody shirt open and places his hand right over Alex’s heart. He closes his eyes and lets his instincts take over. His hand starts glowing a familiar red, and the lights in the room are flickering. He feels a boost of something building up inside of him, and with one final push, he presses his hand down on Alex’s chest. It’s like he’s shoving life itself back into Alex’s limp body.

Seconds later Alex starts moving in his arms. He coughs, then he looks up at Michael, his dark hazel eyes shining with so much love, it takes Michael’s breath away.

“You did it, Michael, you saved my life!” He grabs for Michael’s hand (that’s still glowing a faint red) and presses a kiss into the open palm. Michael cups Alex’s face and Alex nuzzles into the touch. The intimate contact blows a connection between them wide open and all of a sudden it’s like they’re outside in the bright sunshine, there’s so much light, but it doesn’t hurt their eyes, it just surrounds them, pierces right through them and warms them from the inside.

Then there are pictures, they feel like memories but how can that be? There they are, kissing, but they are clad in what looks like primitive fur clothing. Another picture, Michael is wearing a toga-like garment, while Alex is sporting the golden armor pieces of a Roman general. They are lying on the floor a luxuriously decorated tent, feeding each other with grapes. Another picture where they are wearing medieval clothing, and so it goes on and on. It’s like there’s always been an Alex and a Michael in every century since the beginning of time.

When the picture show ends, they gasp and with that they’re back under the harsh neon light of the server room. They look at each other and although they hear noise in the distance, they hug tight and sink into the most intimate kiss they’ve ever shared.

When the noise comes closer, they stop kissing, and Alex grabs Michael’s hand.

“Please help me up. I have everything I need downloaded, also one push of that button over there and the facility will blow up in 15 minutes. Let’s get out of here, and then I want to go home and make love to you four weeks in a row.”

Michael grins, helps Alex up and on their way out, sets off the self-destruct mechanism with a mere thought.

When they get home, their friends don’t see them for an entire month ;)