#below the readmore as a part of the discussion of the fic

[firendgold]

Pk now I want to hear tour rant about how Harrydore is bettter than Grindeldore. Bring it 🤣❤️

ohhh, this one's easy. I've been in this fandom on and off since 2006, and seen how Harry, Albus and Gellert were written pre- and post-'Dumbledore closet interview'. cracks knuckles

got to hit you with that readmore though. and it's going to be in two parts. I rambled again. ^^

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(...'rambled' is perhaps an understatement.)

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grindeldore vs harrydore

grindeldore

the tl;dr of the below is the following sentences, and then I'll get into it. My philosophy on gr*ndeld*re extends to all other ships in all other fandoms, especially HP: if it's not an AU and you have to excessively mischaracterize Character A to get them to 'fit' with Character B, then it's not a good ship, canon or not. Albus Dumbledore is quite often mischaracterized in order to 'fit' or 'keep' him with Gellert Grindelwald.

here's my problems with how gr*ndeld*re is most often portrayed:

Inconsistency within canon. JKR is partly mostly to blame for this (because she has contradicted her original 2007 statement in the present day with more interviews in the 2010s and with the Fantastic Beasts movies), but the first problem is: gr*ndeld*re was originally an unrequited ship. The original statement was that Albus was dazzled by Gellert's power, his presence, their similarities, their shared ideals... but That Woman wasn't explicit on whether Gellert ever returned his feelings. But based on her quotes where she says "falling in love can blind you to an extent" and that [Dumbledore] was "terribly, terribly let down" by the result of that whirlwind relationship, I think it's safe to assume that her original idea of Gellert cared far more for seeing his grander plans realized than for the needs and feelings of his 'equal'. And yet... in fandom, they are most often portrayed instead as star-crossed lovers torn apart by 'conflicting ideals'.

The second problem is that in the avalanche of fics and art that have come from The Reveal, the original lesson (/moral...?) behind the reveal of gr*ndeld*re, and how it shaped Albus as an adult, leader, and progressive, just... got lost. Completely lost. The whole point of it was to show that even Albus (supposed 'paragon of goodness' until book 7 showed the fandom that he is a regular human being) can make 'relatable' mistakes like... you know... being friends with a fascist. Being in love with a fascist, even. Thanks to said retcon interviews and the new movies (and even before that tbh) the fandom has since: overexaggerated Albus' new clay feet to the point of bashing him, idolized Grindelwald's red flag traits and ideals to the point where he has become the new "Tom Riddle was just misunderstood!" guy, and twisted that lesson/moral/whatever to mean that actually Albus and Gellert were tragically kept away from each other by an itsy bitsy little difference of opinion. A minor little fight. Casual death of your sick sister. Haven't we all been there?

The fandom diminishing the real reasons why Albus and Gellert eventually clashed, were destined to clash, is bad enough. What's worse is the opposite end. Some Dumbledore-bashing fans go the other way and paint present-day Dumbledore with the same brush as Grindelwald, even going so far as to say he still supports The Greater Good even though his entire character is literally built on being the opposite of the pro-magic, anti-Muggle philosophy. Albus has also been painted in some fics and even meta discussions as someone who 'regrets' his past not because his sister died and his brother is estranged from him, but just because his ex-boyfriend is in prison and he maybe kind of regrets not going full fascist with him. Like... bruh. NO. There are people who ship gr*ndeld*re just because they feel like Grindelwald, the worst dark wizard in the world, the reason why Voldemort is only a minor league little lord in comparison, is an appropriate "punishment" for the character they already dislike and thus misinterpret. (Side note: I'm not sure if I'm in a worse hell watching Albus' character get whitewashed for fascism or demonized so he can be a miserable lonely gay.)

Albus diminishes himself to meet Gellert's needs. An in-universe problem this time instead of a meta/RL one: Albus and Gellert were lovers, yes, but in order to be so, Albus had to actively start neglecting his siblings (since in Aberforth's words he was 'doing all right' taking care of them before Gellert showed up) and leaning more into anti-Muggle sentiment. He put all his energy into what for most of the magical world was a wild goose chase after some fairy-tale items. (Remember, most wixen don't give a shit about the Deathly Hallows, or think they're even real.) He became the person Gellert needed/desired most. Albus became a version of himself that he despised later in his life and after his death.

Relationships often include the members changing, and it's easy for even the most devoted partners to fall out of love if they change and are now too different from one another, or one person changes and the other... doesn't. After Ariana died, Albus chose to become a different person and champion the same people he and his family once despised. He chose to stay away from Gellert, whether he called it cowardice or principles or whatever else. And his choice put him in conflict with Gellert, who at sixteen refused to change course or rethink his ideals even when his choices led to the death of a magical person (the type of person he supposedly prizes above all others). His magical boyfriend's magical sister, even. And we see no sign that Gellert changed, repented, or considered Albus until decades later, at the very end of his life—far too late.

Healthy relationships require give-and-take, sacrificing for your partner in things big and small. For high-stakes relationships like Albus and Gellert's (queer in the 1800s, sweet Merlin), that is even more true. During that steamy summer of 1899, it was Albus who did all the sacrifcing/giving and Gellert who did all the taking. Gellert may have entertained the idea of bringing Ariana along on his quest with Albus (we don't know), but Aberforth was right to say that it would have been torture for her—and no alternate idea was brought up that would prioritize the wellbeing of Albus' siblings while he was away. And in the moment of required reciprocity when Albus was at his lowest, Gellert left him behind and went off to go rule the world. Not even the most diehard shipper can argue against the fact that when Ariana died, Grindelwald left.

This problem is even more personal/biased than the other ones. Albus and Gellert parted ways in 1899. They didn't see each other again until the duel in 1945 (because fuck Fantastic Beasts, the scripts don't even make fucking sense). Albus defeated Gellert, put him in prison, and then went on living for another fifty-two years. And That Woman expects me to believe that Albus never had a relationship with anyone before Gellert, and never even looked at another wizard afterward? In 52 years, he was one-and-done? He never once fell in love with other people, whether or not he fully trusted them/let them in? Be serious. Pull the other one. It's not realistic, and it doesn't speak to the kind of man Albus Dumbledore is. He may not have found a man to check the same boxes Gellert did, but he wouldn't arguably be looking for someone too similar to his old flame. He might not trust them unconditionally or be the Perfect Partner for them (bc whew traumaaa), but there would be other people for Albus in a realistic Magical Britain (even discounting time travel shenanigans). Before the reveal, the most popular people to ship Albus with were Minerva, Alastor, and Elphias Doge; these options are still arguably more valid. Albus Dumbledore loves love, he champions love, and he doesn't think he deserves it after his sins, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't go looking. It's mind-boggling to me that with all the well-deserved disavowing of JKR following her anti-trans hate (and her shameless pandering to the same people calling her a witch poisoning their children's minds decades ago), that some people still treat her words about Albus and Gellert's relationship and its effects on Albus in particular as gospel. I sure don't. (Especially because she said he became "asexual" after His One Gay Experience when like. That's not. What asexuality is??? And ace gay people exist???) Whether you count the FB movies or not, there are still decades of Albus' life that are a mystery, and I refuse to believe he closed his heart and caged his dick for all of them.

IMPORTANT END NOTE: These observations obviously do not apply to all gr*ndeld*re shippers. Some people genuinely do like both characters, characterize them correctly, and still want to see them together for reasons. I'm not going to judge them. I ship a frigging time travel age gap ship, how the fuck could I. And I'm also aware that a lot of fics/art are made to color in between the lines of what we don't know in the fandom, bringing Albus and Gellert together during the mystery years, or making one wizard better for the other to address all the ship baggage. I just can't join them because of how rarely that occurs (and, admittedly, how much I personally can't see it). You would not believe how many fics and discussions I've seen that lionize Grindelwald and treat Dumbledore like an accessory, or completely mischaracterize Albus' motivations, intentions, and actions, and then put him with "the other Big Bad". UGH.

Most of the time, I see gr*ndeld*re the ship hurting Albus the individual. It's very rare to find an iteration where Albus is not bearing the consequences of Gellert's choices, Gellert's actions, Gellert's mistakes and harm done. I think Albus deserves better than to be Gellert's accessory just because he loved him deeply long ago.

okay. whew. that was a lot.

a character limit prevents me from continuing here, so the second half of this versus will go elsewhere, sorry!

[cytocutie]

I'm considering writing a prsk fic, but I need to know more about Japanese culture to do it right. Is there anyone who's familiar with the culture (grew up in Japan and/or has Japanese family) who'd be willing to chat with me about cultural values surrounding childrearing, death/respecting the wishes of the dead, and prioritizing between work and emotional needs?

You don't have to know the source material—below the readmore is a summary of the canon story arc, "Light Up The Fire", which I want to base the fic on. At the end of the post, I'll describe the basic idea for the fic and write the specific questions I have.

The canon arc focuses on Shiraishi An, a young street musician. An was raised in a neighborhood full of musicians, and her father, Ken, used to be in a band called RADder with Nagi and Taiga. Although An is not biologically related to Nagi and Taiga, she considers them family and refers to them as her aunt and uncle. When An was about 12, RADder held a legendary concert called RAD WEEKEND, which was so powerful that it became An's driving force. Her ambition is to gather a band of incredible talents and put on a concert even greater than RAD WEEKEND.

During her childhood, An's entire neighborhood helped cultivate her musical skills, but her aunt Nagi was her primary singing teacher, and the two of them had a particularly close bond. Nagi herself was extremely ambitious person; her goal was to "rule the world" with RADder. However, this dream was dashed when Nagi was diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer and told she had only 5 months to live. With this time, Nagi decided she wanted to go out with a bang, leading her to organize RAD WEEKEND as a last hurrah. (For the purposes of this discussion, I will choose to ignore the fact that this would be medically impossible; I haven't decided how to address that part yet.)

Nagi told everyone in her life that, after she died, she wanted them to act as though she was still alive. As far as I'm aware, no funeral was held. Most importantly, Nagi chose NOT to reveal her illness to An, and convinced the entire neighborhood to lie to An about her death. Instead, An was told that Nagi moved to the US to study music. This is because Nagi feared that grief would injure An's passion for singing, because she so heavily associated music with Nagi. It was Nagi's last wish that this lie be maintained until An was "strong enough" to learn the truth. The neighborhood complied, including An's father.

Taiga and Ken finally explain the whole story to An when she becomes an older teenager. She's angry at first, but ultimately she is grateful for Nagi's decision. She resolves to work harder than ever to make her dream come true, both for her own sake and for Nagi. All of An's friends agree.

When I read this story, I thought it was extremely messed up. I believe that the adults should have told An the truth, even if it would have cost her singing career. She was robbed of the chance to process her aunt's death and to celebrate her life, and most importantly in my opinion, to say goodbye. My fic idea is essentially that An's friends will disagree with Nagi's decision and push back against Ken and Taiga.

However, I'm an American, so my own calibration of values/priorities may be quite different from the culture that created this story. As such, I want to make sure l'm not out of line here. My questions are:

Does this story resemble any common tropes in other Japanese fiction or folklore?

Are there any nuances that I'm missing here (social, spiritual, traditional)?

There is a minor character in the story, a neighbor who's about 80 years old and helped raise Nagi, Ken, and Taiga. How do you think an elderly Japanese person would react to Nagi's decision?

How would you react if you were in Ken's position? Would you respect your best friend's dying wish and lie to your daughter?

How would you react if you were in An's position, when you find out that nobody ever told you your aunt had died?

[destielomegaversebigbang]

Ligaments

Posting 25th September 2023!

Fic by tea_or_die Art by sidewinder

Rating: Explicit

Summary: lig·a·ment noun ANATOMY a short band of tough, flexible fibrous connective tissue which connects two bones or cartilages or holds together a joint. a membranous fold that supports an organ and keeps it in position. ARCHAIC a thing which unites people or things; a bond.

Tags: Graphic Depictions of Violence; Tags: Alternate Universe- Canon Divergence, POV Alternating, TransAlpha Dean, Omega Cas, Serial Killers, Righteous Killers, Murder Husbands/Murder Mates, A/B/O Dynamics, Idiots in Love, Mutual Pining, Dismembering, Bodyparts Everywhere, Mutilation, Strangers to Lovers, Latin, Sexy Anatomy Talk, Murder as Foreplay, Knives, Blood&Violence, Torture-not the sexy kind, Smut, Fluff Too, Sexual Tension, Self-worth Issues, Charlie Is a Good Friend, Mention of Abuse- but the bitch dies for it so it’s fine, Assholes Die in This Universe, Scenting, True Mates, Mating Bites, Frotting, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Consent Is Sexy, Unsafe sex, Impala Sex, Gift Giving, Happy Ending

Excerpt: Below the readmore

Dean unceremoniously dumps the shitty valet onto the ground behind the car. Rummaging in the trunk, he selects a length of lead pipe, a sheet of sandpaper, and one of two iron brands that now rest below the false bottom of the Impala’s trunk. He and Castiel had discussed their plan on the way to their destination, but that last item is one that should take Castiel by surprise. A pleasant one, Dean hopes.

“Hey Cas,” Dean calls, heading towards the run-down cabin, “I’m just gonna start running supplies in. Can you keep an eye on douchebag over here?”

Castiel ambles over, hands still in his pockets and looks down at the teen in disdain.

“He’s not going anywhere, darling, take your time.”

The crooked smirk and the look of menace in Castiel’s eyes is unbearably hot to Dean. His blood is set aflame, and he nearly trips as he carries a handful of tarps in next, he’s so distracted.

When the temporary kill room is set up to Dean’s satisfaction, he and Castiel haul the young man in from outside to rest on the tarps Dean has laid out on the floor. He’s not sure this one will get particularly messy, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. For all that he’s not been gagged, their victim is unusually quiet. This is the part where they generally start begging and pleading, but Dean’s not going to complain about the lack of sniveling and crying. He does, however, like to play with his food so he rearranges his tools where Beverly can see them, and begins to speak.

“You understand what you did, right you little asshole?” Dean asks, tauntingly. The beta man simply glares up at Dean from his position on his knees.

[lululeighsworld]

Friendship is Evergreen

Summary:

“Y/N, are you there?” Ashe calls out, a hint of concern in his voice, “I have that book you wanted to read! Is now an inconvenient time?”

Clutching the shoulder strap of his bag, he looks from left to right to see if he recognizes anyone nearby—but the courtyard outside this area of the dorms is silent, save for the occasional rustle in the bushes from the monastery’s resident cats and dogs. There is no one here but him, and, he hopes, his friend who is waiting on the other side of the door.

Notes:

Happy holidays @fiction-box! I was your Secret Santa for @nagamas this year! You can find your gift fic below, under the readmore -- I had a lot of fun with it, and thank you for the lovely prompts!

Tags:

FE3H Academy Phase, Physical Hurt, Comfort, Kidnapping, Books, Knights and Chivalry, Ashe/Female!Reader, Y/N stands for “Your Name”, Written in Third Person

Word count: 2,281 now on ao3

During the first few weeks of the semester, Ashe hadn’t thought much of his classmate who always seemed to have her nose buried in a book, marking her page with a simple black bookmark and tucking the book away for safekeeping like clockwork moments before their professor’s lecture began. She was quiet, and unlike some of the others in his class, she did not call much attention to herself.

That was until she grabbed a book out from under his nose a few months later in the library.

“Excuse me!” Ashe exclaims, unusual for him. For weeks he had been waiting patiently for the most recent installment of Evergreens and Chivalry to be available at Garreg Mach’s library, eager to finally read what had become of the heroic knight after he had learned the truth of his allegiances at the conclusion of the previous novel. He was out of pocket money to spare for the moment, and so rather than buying the newest book from one of the vendors at the marketplace, he had been relying on the library to secure a copy that he could finally borrow and read in his own time.

Needless to say, Ashe’s tone of voice made it abruptly, and, even if it was beyond his intention, displeasingly known that he had grown a tad frustrated to see someone else had thought of the same idea as him.

“Hmm?” is all the reply he initially thinks he will receive, her hands wrapping around the spine of the book as she pulls it from the shelf. “Oh! We’re in the same class, aren’t we? Your name is Ashe, right?”

Her genuine curiosity catches him off guard, annoyance quickly dissolving as she holds out the book to him.

“I took this from you. In my eagerness, I didn’t see that you were also reaching for it.”

“You also like Evergreens and Chivalry?” Ashe asks, and his classmate affirms with a quick nod.

“I’ve been reading since the first book in the series was published. I was left waiting on my toes—”

“—to see what the hero would do after discovering the truth about his liege!” Ashe finishes her thought, and the pair bursts into laughter. A curt “Sshhh!” comes from somewhere across the library, reminding them, in their excitement, of where they are.

“Here, you read it first,” she speaks in a quieter voice, offering the book to him. Ashe pushes it back in her hands, insistent that she be the first to borrow it.

“Just make sure not to spoil any of the story for me until I have the chance to finish it, okay?”

It’s nice, to make a friend through a shared passion, enthusiastically discussing their favourite parts of the series while seated at the meal hall and as they walk back to their dorm rooms after classes have concluded for the day. As spring turns to summer, and summer all too quickly transitions to fall, news reaches their ears that a special edition novel will be published for Evergreens and Chivalry, accompanied with illustrations as the first book in the series receives a limited-run print.

Combining their spending money to afford the last copy the local merchant has to sell, Ashe wins the rock, paper, scissors bet they hold to determine who will get to read the novel first. He assures Y/N that he will read it as fast as possible, in between completing assignments for their professor and studying for exams, and that he’ll wait for her to enjoy the story too before jumping to discussions of what he thought about the new edition.

The first few nights of the Horsebow Moon come to a close by the time Ashe finishes reading the book, staying up far later into the evenings than he should so that Y/N can have her turn with it before exam season is upon them. Before departing for class, he marvels at his favourite illustrations one last time that morning he plans to hand it over, and tucks the book into his satchel as he heads out for the day.

Except, as he passes through the large oak doors of the classroom, Y/N isn’t there, her seat oddly empty when she had made such a habit of always arriving before him. Ashe does not think much of it as the professor takes their place at the front of the classroom and begins their lecture after taking attendance. He places all his attention on the lesson, losing himself in his notes as Byleth explains the intricacies of a strong battle formation when enemies were surrounding the party from all sides. 

“Maybe she’s not feeling well,” Ashe thinks, glancing over to her vacant seat during a moment of downtime from Byleth’s instruction, “Maybe she’s busy running an errand and lost track of time…” 

It doesn't dawn on him again that he still hasn't seen Y/N all day until supper time, when he reaches into his bag to retrieve a book while he’s sitting towards the back of the dining hall. Looking into his bag, his eyes land on the spine of the first edition of Evergreens and Chivalry, the swirling ornate details in blues, greens, and silvers reminding him of how excited he was to give her the book hours earlier. The colours call to mind one particular illustration, one that he had been so eager to see as he read the special edition as it was from one of Y/N’s favourite scenes that she always came back to during their discussions. 

Ashe eats his stew with slightly less enthusiasm than usual. He hopes what’s been keeping his friend away all day is only a terrible cold, rather than some worse situation, as he makes his way to her quarters.

His knuckles rasp politely against the door of Y/N's dorm room, waiting patiently for a response so that he may enter. A cat sleeping in a nearby plant pot catches his eye, cozy and warm as it snoozes away in the setting sun. Ashe closes the distance and begins to scratch behind its ears, and still, by the time he has finished, he's heard no response from the other side of the door.

He knocks a little harder the second time, thinking that perhaps she didn’t hear the first. Again, there’s no response nor indication that she’s currently in her room.

“Y/N, are you there?” Ashe calls out, a hint of concern in his voice, “I have that book you wanted to read! Is now an inconvenient time?”

Clutching the shoulder strap of his bag, he looks from left to right to see if he recognizes anyone nearby—but the courtyard outside this area of the dorms is silent, save for the occasional rustle in the bushes from the monastery’s resident cats and dogs. There is no one here but him, and, he hopes, his friend who is waiting on the other side of the door.

“Please forgive me,” Ashe whispers under his breath, “Y/N, I’m coming in!”

He feels bad doing it, a pang of guilt rushing across his chest as his hand finds the knob and turns it to unlatch the door. The fact that it is unlocked does not register as a warning signal until he’s pushed it open to reveal the disaster that befalls his eyes.

There’s clear evidence of a struggle, between the countless books strewn over every surface of the room and the clear defense that was put up by the sight of the desk chair toppled over, legs broken and splintered. Stepping a few more feet inside, Ashe notices dried blood along the carpet, the faint traces of it leading up over the wooden shelving and continuing to the one broken window, smashed with enough force to litter the room with the dangerous glass shards. The evidence trail ends there, as Ashe finds no footsteps left outside the window, and no clues as to who may have trespassed into his friend’s room.

Ashe’s heart drops into his stomach as he recalls what Mercedes and Annette had been whispering about at the back of the classroom a few days ago, rumours of a treacherous figure donned in the attire of a reaper kidnapping students in the midst of the night. He had thought it was merely one of Mercedes' ghost stories she had attempted to scare Annette with, and any passersby who overheard the ghastly details.

Now, as Y/N’s absence, the state of the room, and the rumours all come together before Ashe’s very eyes, he can do nothing but accept the horrible truth that the most recent victim was his friend.

He bolts from the room, hoping to find a faculty member before they all disappear to their quarters for the evening, grasping his bag to his side as he pushes himself to run harder than he’s ever needed to during battle.

Three distraught weeks later, filled with further kidnappings and a shocking discovery on behalf of Manuela, they do find Y/N, along with others, unconscious in the underground chamber. Thankfully, the rescue mission is a success following the retreat of the Death Knight, with no fatalities recorded. For the first time in a month, faculty members and students alike are able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Ashe still feels like he’s holding his when he makes his way to the infirmary a few days later, collecting himself in the hallway before turning the corner into the room. At the moment, it’s only Y/N and one other student currently on bed rest, the one he doesn’t recognize is sleeping on the far side of the room.

Y/N smiles when she notices he’s in the doorway, and to see her again—not bruised and fatigued, but with a look of cheer in her eyes—helps calm his nerves, at least a little.

“Hey,” he waves, quietly approaching Y/N’s bedside. “Is now a good time?”

She nods, and he takes up the chair at her bedside, bringing his satchel to sit in his lap as she rearranges herself on her hospital cot.

“I heard through the grapevine that you were the one to find me—I mean the fact that I was kidnapped,” she begins, looking at Ashe in earnest. She didn’t see the point in small talk; she was tired of answering the faculty members’ questions over the last three days. Now that her head was a bit less foggy, and after restless nights with very little sleep, she had had some time to think over exactly what she wanted to say, so long as her friend stopped by.

And he had.

“Thank you,” she tells Ashe, hoping her tone conveys her gratitude. “If it weren’t for you, my kidnapping might have been overlooked for much longer.”

“No apology is necessary. I was just doing what a good friend should: keeping an eye out for you because something about that day felt off to me, once I realized it.”

She raises an inquisitive eyebrow, prompting Ashe to continue. He pulls his bag open and retrieves the copy of Evergreens and Chivalry that they had brought together, still in pristine condition.

“I was planning to give it to you that morning in class, as I had finished it the night before. But you weren’t there—you weren’t anywhere that day, and by the time evening rolled around I figured I should stop by, just to see if you were sick or something. Please forgive me for entering your room without permission!”

She laughs, one of those full-hearty ones, “Ashe, that’s the least of my worries. Had you not, you never would have discovered my disappearance.”

“That’s true…” he mulls over it, breathing a sigh of relief. His eyes fall to the cover of the book, decorated in the same blues, greens, and silvers that embellish the spine. He wonders what maybe would have happened if he hadn't finished reading the book that night, but the brush of her hand against his pulls him away from sinking too deep into those thoughts. She’s admiring the cover, tracing her finger over the ornate details of the evergreen boughs.

“Would you like to read it now? The book’s all yours since I already finished reading it.”

“Can you read some of it to me?” she requests, pushing the book into his hands before turning herself onto her side as her head lies comfortably on the pillows. “I’m still finding it difficult to focus my attention for certain tasks.”

A smile spreads across Ashe’s face in delight, scooting his chair closer to the edge of her bed so that she doesn’t miss a word as he begins. He narrates the story in as best of a show as he can, stopping to show her the illustrations in between. They stay together like that well into the night, completely forgetting about going to bed at a reasonable time.

“You’ll never believe what’s on the next page,” Ashe breaks out of his narrator’s voice, turning the page to show his friend the illustration for her favourite scene. When she doesn’t react, he grows nervous, worried that perhaps she didn’t like what she saw. He breathes a sigh of relief as he looks over to her, finding her asleep in her bed, curled up to the very edge. Quietly, he blows out the candle at her bedside, leaving the book on the small nightstand after placing the ribbon bookmark in between the pages.

“We can finish it tomorrow,” he tells her, pulling the blankets up over her shoulders so that she wouldn’t catch a cold amongst the chilly autumn air, “Sweet dreams, my friend.”

divider by Firefly Graphics

[chiropteracupola]

Shakespearean werewolf and tavern futures and you know I ALWAYS wanna hear about rat piper <3

BIG ALAS I have STILL not worked on rat piper since last october... I Get Distracted and also I have No Clue how to actually end it :/

tavern futures discussed here

and now here we are at my beloved my torment my shakespearean werewolf fic. the story that I think english professors would hunt me down because of, if I did not know that many people have already done far worse. really it would be better if I reworked this as an original story since it was barely grounded in henry the galdarn fifth to begin with. But Hey medieval werewolf's a wonderful aesthetic and by gosh I'll finish this thing one day.

...even so I am not nearly bold enough to post parts of this thing outside a readmore. historians and other people with functioning judgement centers please look away from me.

There was a snap of wood, sharp in the near-silence, and a faint groan. Exeter fixed his face, not wishing to show any expression, but Henry, Henry who had seen and done much worse that very morning on the battlefield, flinched at the sound. His hand, seemingly without his own intention, went to his face, nails digging into the hardened edge of the scar below his eye. But of course he did not like the thought of a stuck arrowhead — Exeter had not forgotten how Henry, then still nothing but no-good Prince Hal and only just beginning to make his name, had looked with that chunk of iron in his face, the point solidly embedded in bone. It had been weeks before that scoundrel of a surgeon had managed to tear the blasted thing loose, weeks that had surely been far worse for Henry than for his kinsmen. Any effort he had made at keeping his expression neutral failed, and he leaned over and put an arm around Henry’s shoulders. “He is a werwolf — such men are strong.” It was a poor reassurance at best, and Henry scowled at him, but did not shake off his arm. “And it is not so uncommon for a Frenchman to be a …shape-changer,” growled Exeter, rolling the last word around in his mouth as if he disliked the taste. There were better words that went with werwolf and Frenchman both, liar and coward and turncoat not the least of them.

[amaranthsynthesis]

#hope you don’t mind me reblogging op but #I love fantasy meta about how transness integrates realistically with the setting #curious if you have any thoughts about a transmasc dark urge #and how that might work given the original (albeit cut) lore for durge is as bhaal’s breeding stud #durge tag

@bardnuts

OH BOY DO I HAVE THOUGHTS ABOUT A TRANS MASC DARK URGE (OR AS HE IS KNOWN COLLOQUIALLY, BABY BEST BOY BALLARD HALVYRIIN)

rubs my little gremlin hands together, buckle in and content warning below the readmore for: reproductive horror, forced breeding, bhaalcest mention, general Bhaal Sucks And Is The Worst

To lead, a bit I have jotted down from sever discussing the cut ending as it applies to everyone's durges:

To Ballard's understanding there are two aspects of being a Bhaalspawn. The first is as the knife of Bhaal in this material plane, whose purpose is murder and lots of it. The second is as the womb of His Will; this is the failure state. To be relegated to broodmother is to have failed, to have proven ineffectual and pitiable and disposable, not longer a useful tool in the fight to bring the world to its end. Good Soldiers will not be asked to breed, so all he has to do is be good enough. Not how it works! I think the breeding urge, just like the dark urge itself, is a tool Bhaal can use to punish his spawn. It comes and goes in truncated, very pronounced waves, that leave him so shaken and upset that he behaves very, very well for quite a while following. It isn't about bodily autonomy or body horror for Ballard, it's entirely about failure, and the humiliation of it--giving in to the desire is accepting the failure, but how is he supposed to fight it? It's rigged.

Especially in light of Sarevok's epilogue letter if you've let him live (here) it seems like the AGAB of the dark urge doesn't have any affect on whether or not you're opted in to the worst family tree's blood olympics--it makes more sense logistically to be an inseminating actor than a gestating one, but regardless of how efficient you are it does seem like Bhaal will have the next generation from you one way or another. Some folks have bandied around really interesting ideas re: nontraditional insemination from AFAB bhaalspawn (going to have to write an extremely AU ovi fic for this one day tbh), forced heats/ruts even if that bhaalspawn has removed or has had removed their related organs, rapid pregnancies etc--I really enjoy seeing how everyone interprets what is, frankly, a truly horrifying potential canon ending to their specific dark urge.

There's an argument to be made for Sarevok lying to you, or justifying his own actions, but there really being a kind of sleeper drive to further the bloodline is an interesting take to me. In part, because it does a lot of work to bridge the gap from Sarevok's previous iteration to his character in BG3 (as I've seen it discussed, I've not played the other games) and the circumstances of Orin's birth as his granddaughter-daughter. In part because, also, Bhaal's whole game is rigged. It is literally an impossible task for his spawn/followers to end the world in blood--there are not enough of them, the world is too big, and there are too many other forces at play. What this stated goal DOES accomplish is making a power mill to farm energy and blood and souls from his worshipers, bodies funneled in one end to fuel the wheel's turn and further Bhaal's strength. And with that in mind it makes a great deal of sense for his children to have, buried under the dark urge to murder and destroy, a biological drive to make more of themselves. You've worn out your use; you are no longer a useful tool of murder or destruction, you are weak or broken or disobedient. Time then for your second purpose, which has always been waiting in the wings for you to fail.

Transmasc Bhaal-breeder durge is interesting to me because, from a trans viewpoint, there is a conflation of the body horror and violence of pregnancy and childbirth with the body horror and violence of actual real murder. It's about betrayal and powerlessness and objectification, it's about being ruined in the pursuit of duty, it's about nature vs nurture and the fear that any changes you force in yourself will never be enough to overcome what you were made to be, and made to do. Even with a Dark Urge that's obedient, that isn't fighting Bhaal and his purpose for them, being remade into a reproductive machine is a horrifying trespass and breech of autonomy in a way that is underlined and reinforced by transness. It's multilayered and delicious, I am genuinely shocked that the original content was included past the brainstorming stage because it is soooo horrific. I understand there not being more of it in-text but I feel insane every time I think about it!

Underdark drow sex culture has a lot of really different assumptions than the surface world. (Ex-the socially dominant group is going to often be the receptive partner during sex. Idk where that would go exactly, but I can't see them coming to the same conclusions as the surface world or ours.)

Obviously, Ballard was dealing with a lot at the time (burning of house + social transition) but I was wondering how the culture change affected him beyond 'oh boy, that's some racism'?

I know the joke about DND and the forgotten realms lore is 'some guy was really weird and horny about this set dressing so that's why it's Like That' and unfortunately. I'm on board with the guys who were weird and horny about Drow. In a modern, transgay informed way, but also I will admit I think it's a fun sexy little sandbox and I'm in there chewing on my plastic shovel. I've got some notes and some passages jotted down for both the repro horror fic and the vaguely meandering Imton memories, I'd love to got more properly into it some time to be honest.

The lecture on procreation and reproduction made him feel cold and small, blood-blood-blood beating in his ears as they showed him a picture of a woman atop a man, taking his penis inside of her. They told him how she took her pleasure from him, that that was his role―seed and service. It had dawned on him in horror that he was more than he thought. Not a child, not a knife, but one of these adults-in-the-making, like the illustrated woman with her broad hips and heavy breasts and strong, defined shoulders. Like the guardswomen. Like the Matron Mother. The narrow man in the illustration, the lithe consorts he had glimpsed only a handful of times in their draping finery and painted faces… it wasn’t him, it was for him.  He unfocused his eyes and watched without seeing everything else they showed him, tired of it all, letting the diagrams and words blur so he would simply not have to think about them any further.

I think moving up to the surface as he traveled to Baldur's Gate was in a lot of ways a step back into the familiar! Being read as male aboveground afforded him, if not to quite the same extent, the same level of basic respect and autonomy he had been used to as the heir presumptive of House Halvyriin. At the same time, trying to emulate the type of masculinity that he was used to seeing and appreciating from a distance--as decoration, as performance, as something effete and dainty--was going to evoke a very different response. In the same way that I think Faerun isn't past sexism, I don't think it's fully escaped homophobia either. So, yes, Ballard can be a man, can be greeted as a man and exist as one, but not as the kind he'd like to be, and he has to trade that precious/beautiful/treasured masculinity for some butch attempt at camaraderie, to stave off any kind of hostile attentions.

In the same way that he could more than take care of himself in the Underdark, as an unprotected male, responding to harassment with violence draws too much attention. He's already viewed as effeminate and weak and duplicitous, just for being an elf and a drow, specifically--he has to make some decisions about how else to display himself to make the journey to the Gate as smooth as possible. I think it becomes second nature so quickly that it takes year for him to remember it wasn't always his intention.

[freckliedan]

I'm sorry, I really disagree with you. I don't think anyone HAS to accept critisicm unless that person is like, their teacher. Anons and others of tumblr are not that. She wrote something that was very deep and very personal, tagged it as such, and posted in on the internet. All things that are allowed. Logging off when you don't want to see hate is totally reasonable- if someone was screaming in your face, walking away is a good response. I don't understand the way people reacted to this.

I guess, she just doesn't have to aplogise because people are telling her to. It was all her choice-posting it, taking it down, etc. It might be sad or make people angry if she doesn't react the way they'd like, but thats part of being on the internet. It goes both ways here. I'm really not trying to come at people all up in arms- I understand there is upset. But that is part of being a bloody human, let alone on the internet. For something like a fic? We don't get to tell her what to do.

I'm like specifically not anon here cos I really don't want to argue or seem hostile. Discussion is good, I'm not here to hate on you or anyone. I hope it didn't come across that way.

hi b! thank you so much for your messages, especially the last one clarifying tone! you weren’t coming across as hostile, especially because of being off anon, but i always tend to doubt myself when reading tone so it meant a lot to have a clear confirmation that i was reading things right 💛 and also thank you because i’m really glad for the chance to have a discussion with someone who has a different point of view from me; i always worry a lot about what will happen if i only talk with/listen to people who think similarly to me and it means the world to me when people who disagree with my thoughts are comfy having conversations with me.

i’m worried that i haven’t been entirely clear expressing my point of view, and that that’s a part of what you don’t agree with? because i agree with a lot of what you’ve said, and that makes me think the disagreement might be because i’m not communicating clearly? (my apologies if this gets quite long, my instinct is always to over-explain things & it comes not from a place of condescension but from a desire to make as much sense as possible)

tl;dr for the contents below the cut:

overall the message that i’m trying to send is not that sarah should apologize/change her behavior or that her leaving tumblr due to the hateful messages she was receiving at the same time as legitimate criticism was wrong. the message i’m trying to send is that due to her pattern of behavior, i don't think she’s willing to hold herself accountable for her actions, and that because of that/because the only person anyone can control is themself it’s up to us as a community to decide whether we’re okay with sarah’s actions and are going to support her by not acting on anything, or if we’re not okay with her actions and if we’re not, what actions we’re going to take about this situation. (this was going to be my final paragraph but i put it here instead).

i’m going to number these just to try to add a little organization in my responses to everything?

1) you’re right that nobody has to accept criticism from anyone; the only person anyone can control is themself, and i would never push the idea that the best resolution to a conflict situation is changing someone else's behavior/the only way to resolve something is for someone else’s behavior to change. what i am saying is that in society, it is generally accepted that an appropriate response to being told that something you did/said was in the wrong is evaluating whether what you did or said was hurtful, and if it was going on to apologize and change your behavior as best you're able in the future.(the reason i included evaluating whether what you did or said was hurtful is because sometimes abusers tell their victims that they are bad or in the wrong for setting and enforcing healthy boundaries, which isn’t a bad or wrong thing at all, and even though that’s not the topic of this post i don’t want to put the message into the world that literally 100% of the time people must apologize and change their behavior when told they’ve hurt someone. evaluation of the situation is important).and there is no literal law or rule that says you have to apologize and modify your behavior when someone tells you you've done something hurtful and their criticism/call in is an accurate assessment of the situatoin, but in general? refusing to apologize and change when it’s true that you’ve hurt someone is the asshole thing to do.and even though there’s no rule saying someone has to apologize, it's very socially accepted that if you say "hey, this thing you did hurt me/someone i care about and i don't know if you realized, so i'm telling you with the assumption that you don't want to hurt other people again in the future" and the other person says "there's no rule saying i have to accept criticism or apologize to anyone"? that person is kind of an asshole and you can choose not to spend time around them or interact with them in the future.

so like, nobody has to accept criticism from others but refusing to accept any criticism whatsoever often means people probably won’t want to spend time around you because you clearly don’t care about others’ feelings?

i'm not saying sarah has to accept criticism or apologise, i'm saying that if sarah continually shows a disregard for other people's wellbeing by refusing to accept criticism, it's reasonable for people to choose not to interact with her anymore. 

i’ve been blocked by her and her friends since (i believe) january, when i was sending supportive asks to a minor who was recieving violent anon hate for making room on his blog for other minors who were uncomfortable with the teenagers fanfic; i have the people who blocked me blocked in return, because before now i was choosing to deal with this by following my own advice and refusing to interact with individuals who have behaved hurtfully and refused to change but at this point in time feel it necessary to speak out for the reasons i listed in my long reply on a post about the current discourse (link for context, though i think that post may be why i got these asks?)

2) also, i agree with you that disengaging when you’re receiving hateful messages is incredibly valid and honestly the smartest thing for anyone’s mental health when conflict gets out of control on tumblr. i don’t consider the hateful messages sarah was getting to have been constructive criticism of the kind i’ve previously been describing in this post; i’m fully against anyone sending anon hate for any reason. amber answered an ask about this (link) and i agree with everything amber said. for me, it is both true that the anon hate sarah received was horrible and inexcusable and that i cannot continue standing by while she refuses to be held accountable for the impact of her actions, regardless of her intent.

3) i think in response to you not understanding the way people reacted to this, that’s probably connected to the one place where we do have a major difference in the way we’re thinking? specifically the part where you said “She wrote something that was very deep and very personal, tagged it as such, and posted in on the internet. All things that are allowed.”

you’re right that there’s no laws or literal rules preventing what she did, and i think i’ve repeatedly said that i understand and support people writing fic to cope with their own experiences, but that sarah crossed a line when posting this fic specifically. amber covers that really well in her response to an ask, as well (link). please read what amber said; i am in total agreement with them. 

what you said about sarah’s fic-that it was very deep and very personal- is also true about what dan shared with us in basically i’m gay. publishing a fic that uses dan’s trauma in the way that sarah did is incredibly dehumanizing and it genuinely makes me sick to my stomach with horror. dan and phil are human people, and it’s never okay to take ownership over another person’s trauma like that.

does that make sense? i don’t mean to have an aggressive or hostile tone whatsoever either, and i can’t tell whether i’ve succeeded in avoiding that in this reply.

[neechees]

I wanted to thank you for talking abt the whole house of dragons situation bc like I couldn’t believe they made that show??? Like not only did someone write that but people get to profit off of it? :/ it just like why are you celebrating some of the most painful things a person can go through, it just makes me devastated

Just putting my ghoughts underneath the readmore for others' comfort. Tw for discussions of incest, grooming, & pedophilia below.

I think the show was wholly unnecessary & was stupid to launch after they just totally gave up on GOT to begin with (like... dont let your wagon get in frot of your horse). I haven't watched the show or even really GOT but from what I understand I don't think GRRM necessarily intends to romantisize things like incest, but uses it to show human flaws & how it affects people (or at least that's what he's trying to go for), but the rate at which he succeeds in that is debatable & his writing generally & overall is DEFINITELY up for debate (I talk about his racist writing pretty frequently). A lot of his writing is also based on real world history, & royal incest happens to be another thing he included. Unfortunately.

I think the worst thing with this is how the Targaryens are all inbred (and for creepy eugenics reasons too) but they're also all supposedly known for being outstandingly beautiful & perfect (minus the mental health issues) to the point that a 13 year old is declared the most beautiful woman in the world (which is. Weird. That's a kid), versus in the real world where inbreeding causes a lot of disabilities & physical problems as well as mental ones. Like for a book hailed for being "historically accurate" and "realistic" you'd think he'd put that in, but he didn't. I don't think he intends to romantisize it, but it's in the same way I don't think he intends to be racist in his writing, but he is. And I don't think he does it out of malice, but it's out of him being a White man who doesn't want to put in effort to see why what he's written is offensive because its "fantasy".

But all of this wouldn't be as bad if the fans (see: proshitters) didn't make it worse by romantisizing it themselves. From what I've seen other people say, the new show is ultimately about all these characters who are immoral and act selfishly & that this is their downfall; a character like the creepy uncle Daemon didnt marry his niece because he was "in love" with her or that their relationship was "cute", it's because he was creepy & wanted power so he started grooming her at a young age to get that, & the showrunners THEMSELVES have told us this. & the Targaryen incest featured in the show is part of the wider narrative of the Targaryens being assholes. But the fans are making it out to be like this is "hot" and that seeing a 16 year old be sexually pursued by her 30+ year old uncle is "the female gaze" (fucking BARF). I saw a blazed post of an incestuous "character x reader" GOT fic on my dash. I don't understand.

So tl;dr there's already a lot of problems with GOT going on in the first place, but the fans have made it exponentially worse and I'm worried for how that'll influence things in the future.

[howlingmoonrise]

Dear Yuletide Author

hello and thank you for signing up for yuletide, i hope you have fun during the challenge!

i ramble a lot so my letter is under a readmore (i put everything in one post so you don’t have to juggle links around). obviously you don’t have to follow any of the things i put in here, but hopefully this will help you out!

general things i like

PINING. I’M SUCH A SLUT FOR PINING ALL THE PINING ULTRA PINING SUPER PINING. i have SO MUCH FUN reading about idiots in love who aren’t together yet and i far prefer it to fics with already established relationships. this is also applicable to when they know the other is in love with them but they can’t act on it for some reason.

i’m down for either gen or romantic!! what really does it for me is the developing relationship, platonic or otherwise, and the character dynamics and interactions and all the little moments in between. stuff like developing trust and finding kinship and growing respect for the other and subconsciously learning to lean on the other over anyone else is far more important for me than any kissing will ever be (though kissing is also nice if you wanna go down that route lmao)

i love love LOVE enemies/rivals-?to-friends?-to-lovers and bickering pairs in general, as you can probably tell by my choice in character! it’s so much fun and it gives us so many opportunities for character and relationship developments :D

continuing from the above points, nothing kills me as much as characters that bicker all the time but in the end they rely on the other and go to each other before they go to anyone else, whether they realize it or not

i REALLY like the canon and characters for all the fandoms i picked, so sticking at least to their characterizations and the overall “tone” of canon is a huge plus!! “missing scenes” and “what if” canon-divergent situations are excellent, as are continuations from where canon left us! that being said, i also enjoy more conceptual AUs and i’ve put more details about those a little further below. rule of thumb is that i enjoy AUs where the focus remains more on the relationship itself and how it works on such a setting than on the worldbuilding for it.

fun tropes i enjoy (sorry, these are a bit romance-leaning but if you’re not into that they can probably be adapted somehow): fake dating, accidentally got roped into x and shenanigans of all sorts keep happening, misunderstood confessions, groundhog day au, one or both the characters having stupid levels of denial while technically in a relationship and just not realizing it like What Do You Mean We’re Dating??, that sorta thing.

TROPE SUBVERSION ALL THE WAY!

general things i dislike

kidfics. babyfics. next gen fics. pregnancy fics, or even pregnancy discussed in the fic is a major squick of mine. the one exception i make for kidfics is for petshop of horrors when it comes to chris and the pets, as they already belong in canon, but no babies or children otherwise please.

future fics in general, actually. what i enjoy is the relationship development, so huge time skips make me feel like we missed way too much. one exception to this is post-canon petshop of horrors, for obvious reasons.

i usually don’t like most angst stuff since it feels a bit gratuitous to me when it comes to most fandoms and characters. the one exception for this is psoh (see below if you’re picking this fandom - and wow psoh seems to be the exception to everything huh) or when it’s a more introspective sort of fic. as a result of this, i’d pass on most content with major character death, sexual abuse, self-harm, the like, though of course there are always exceptions to the rule and you’re free to write as you wish!

hard AUs are a bit ugh to me. by this i mean AUs that rely heavily on setting, such as high school AUs, harry potter AUs, that sort of thing. i DO however enjoy stuff like siren AUs and soulmate AUs, depending on the concept and on the fandom. more details in their own sections if you enjoy writing those!

i heavily dislike things involving cheating/infidelity, sickfics, and genderbending of any kind is a bit ehhhh for me, as are concepts such as ABO. hard pass on stuff like dysphoria and deep diving into most mental illnesses, too (with a possible exception for depression when it comes to psoh). 

script-based or roleplay fic is not really my preferred format, i really enjoy prose instead of nearly all dialogue!

if you’re going for nsfw

kinks

moderate sadomasochism, uncommon forms of bondage (plants, stuck with strange substance or in awkward position, the shadows from p&tf as restraints, etc), choking/breathplay, xenophilia and tentacles/alien genitals (shadowplay in p&tf, non-human genitals for the staryk lord, etc), moderate degradation, edging/desperation play, ladies topping and calling the shots, bloodplay/knifeplay, long hair/hair pulling (staryk lord, leon orcot), sharp nails/claws (staryk lord, charlotte la bouff, count d; miryem mandelstam having them is actually preferable to the staryk lord now that i think of it), lowkey cannibalism imagery (count d re:leon orcot)

squicks

scat, vomit, praise kink, daddy or baby kink, vore, forced feminization, pet play, gore, abuse, abo, anything involving pregnancy at all

--

PETSHOP OF HORRORS

i’m usually not very partial to angst but GODS does psoh throw that out of the window, so feel more than free to run with it if you wanna go down that route.  psoh is RIPE for angst. we got two people with abandonment and inadequacy issues: leon who decided to leave his whole life behind to chase someone who gave him life and then left and initially didn’t even bother to do it with any sort of goodbyes, and d who is supremely fucked up by his upbringing and had to push leon off the ark to continue his family’s mission and let drop one (1) single tear that he was not supposed to cry over a human. those fuckers. those idiots. i love them so much.

THAT BEING SAID, i also!!!! love slice of life shit for them!!!!!!!! GODS i love how much they bicker but then they turn around and the other is the person they rely on the most and who they trust implicitly above all others and how they keep roping each other into ridiculous shenanigans. neither of them are particularly communicative with a few rare exceptions, so there’s also a lot of room there for introspection and unspoken affection on both sides, which i LOVE. my son leon in particular is also super underestimated when it comes to his intelligence and tolerance for gay shit both in canon and fandom, and he performs ridiculous leaps of logic and instinct that somehow turn out to be right but that are super ???? for everyone else involved, and that’s always fun to see. hell, just another missing scene where leon brings d some cake and they banter fondly over tea is A++++ to me!!

nsfw???? bring it!!! this is the one fandom where you’re more than free to go super dark and kinky if you wanna, or if you wanna write tender loving reunion sex where d cries a little while leon is loving and disbelieving and so very careful that’s also excellent! i don’t have a particular preference on who tops either, it’s fun either way, but i tend to see leon more as a sub/masochist >u> i can also see it going a bit dark with those two, especially considering d and his kind (implied to eat human flesh and being predators more than once) so bloodplay and cannibalistic thoughts could be fun. re: d’s genitals (as are hotly debated in the fandom), i usually prefer either a dick or triple threat d, though some fun plant-man shenanigans also have their place here.

all in all, psoh is the most excellent genre triangle where i’d be super happy to receive anything on the slice-of-life/angst/smut corners! (also, slash is 3249823% acceptable if you couldn’t tell by my ranting, as is a hint of crack)

if you’re thinking going AU on this one, my suggestions are of slight universe alterations instead of major world AUs. examples could be soulmate AUs (trope subversion would be GREAT here, aka foreign script they didn’t initially recognize, or only Ds having soulmates while humans do not, or the same scenario as the last but leon DOES have it on his skin and just keeps it hidden because Normal Humans Don’t Have Birth Tattoos, or d never expected to have one because his kind is dead and yet when he pushes leon from the ark the soulmate bond is forged, etc), a different first meeting, or even missed connections when they did not know each other yet; something like papa being alive and brady bunch-ing it up with them and chris would also be both excellent and hilarious. epistolary form for those two is also fun! if you wanna go full universe AU, something like a vampire hunter leon could be very interesting >u>

--

SPINNING SILVER

WHERE DO I EVEN START. miryem and the staryk lord were my favourite part of the book; if the book was only their story i would have already been more than satisfied. the rest of the book is also excellent, but those two???? that story was far too great. enemies to allies to lovers is one of my favourite tropes, and this is one of the examples that just keeps proving me right. the slowly growing respect, the wariness when they both know what the other is capable of, the staryk lord getting hit with the hots for his wife when she manages the impossible and then miryem being unable to just let it go when he’s imprisoned and defeated. ACTUALLY lemme just grab that line of thought and bring up that moment when he was sorrowful and resigned when miryem didn’t argue further for the three rooms full of gold and he thought she would not succeed and that she would have to die for it. that, right there? those moments of renewed respect, those moments sudden longing for something they did not know they wanted? those are the things that kill me.

tonally, i love the sort of writing in canon too much to ask for anything different, though you’re by no means obliged to keep to it or to 1st person pov (i have a love-hate relationship with 1st person pov, ngl). missing moments from the novel or moments from the period of time they spent either courting or apart would be GREAT. for those two i actually don’t mind it too much if they’re already established, if it’s early on in the relationship when they’re still learning how to step around one another. the staryk lord flabbergasted or in awe of miryem is always Excellent(TM). bits of worldbuilding and staryk culture would be fun as applied to their relationship (such as the names thing, or courting habits, etc) as are AUs such as soulmates or alternate meetings and the like. if you’re wanting to go full universe AU, keeping some fairytale elements would be great!

if you’re going for nsfw? the name kink, holy shit that would be so goooood. the staryk lord being a bit of a masochist under miryem’s hands would also be great, and inhuman staryk genitals and erogenous zones/acts would be great to play with such as human body heat affecting them in different ways from normal, etc. bringing in his long hair would be a major plus. the build-up for the actual act is the best, so miryem and the staryk lord being super hot for each other while either denying it internally pre-relationship or being unable to go through with it post-relationship due to several factors (busy dealing with their people, no privacy, etc) would be EXCELLENT. so much fun can be had here!

--

PRINCESS AND THE FROG

i am 100% aware this is a weird-ass pairing but gods, the possibilities. it has so much potential. there are few things i like quite as much as a villain and a good person developing a strange sort of kinship with each other. this doesn’t have to mean in a romantic way, obviously! as i said, for me it’s the building understanding and reluctant respect that i really love, far more than the actual romance. 

ideas, ideas, ideas. i’m aware this is a rare relationship to either portray or ask for, so i’m gonna try to give some more concrete-ish ones for you to build up on if you have no clue as to how to approach this. we could have canonverse with charlotte dealing with the shadowman in some other matter while the main plot is occurring, making him feel somewhat guilty about the whole marriage plot with laurence-turned-naveen; cue introspection or an entirely different outcome. or a post-canon sort of hades&persephone plot, with charlotte curious despite herself and tempted to listen to a shadow/dead/whatever!dr facilier when she’s the only one that can hear him, or her being dragged Beneath as well in a freak accident and then charming him into helping her back to the surface/living world (very, veeeeery reluctantly on his part, at least at the start, he might have even be thinking of tricking her but then change his mind when the time comes to do it). i think dr facilier wouldn’t be sure how to deal with charlotte’s particular brand of personality and good humour, and it’d throw him off his rhythm a lot - that sort of thing is always super fun to write. 

soulmate au in canon would work pretty well, but with this pairing? FULL WORLD AU IS YOURS FOR THE TAKING. keeping to the shadowman sort of thing to her normal bougie self would be a major plus; it’s one of her charms. also, charlotte thinking that she wants one thing (her prince, for example) while keeping getting drawn to him time and time again could work on pretty much any era or setting. vice-versa for him, thinking he wants to be rid of her but coming to realize he’d actually miss her if she were to be gone. OR, charlotte deciding she wants this sullen manipulative bastard and manipulating HIM into taking her out and hanging out with her would be hilarious.

if you wanna do nsfw, i have only one major request: charlotte calling the shots/topping. i think this arrangement would be entirely in character for both of them (dr facilier would prob also enjoy having someone else do all the work lol) considering her go-getter attitude, but keeping in mind his manipulative personality i’d be more comfortable if she had some control over what was happening. ASIDE FROM THAT, dyou know what would be fun? a little darkness, and by that i mean consider dr facilier’s shadow joining in on the fun. shadows would also be an interesting sort of constraint. also i know i said charlotte calling the shots, but she can be constrained by the shadows while being amused by it or being used for it to happen (the latter case implying it’s not the first time that they’ve used it in bed play), or charlotte could team up with Shadow to do it to facilier instead. charlotte using her nails and facilier being a bit of a sub/masochist would also be pretty good!

(actually in general it’d be really fun if there was some complicity between charlotte and facilier’s shadow in general, regardless of nsfw or not. the shadow being wrapped around her little finger is an excellent concept, especially if facilier isn’t too fond of her just yet lmfao.) 

thank you for reading all my rambling, and i hope you have fun!