#but 100% adjacent to canon lmao

[ominous-feychild]

SEMICORRECT QUOTES:

RISING FROM MISFORTUNE

(Get it? Because it's kinda a crossover?)

Tián: (cheerfully and jokingly) “ah, looks like we won't be able to mansplain, manipulate, or manwhore our way outta this one, boys!”

Benji: (half-laughs; amusedly) “Seriously!? But I manwhore my way out of everything! What am I going to do now!?”

Tián: [spares a moment to give him an overdramatic wink and draw out a cartoonishly large sword] “manslaughter.”

The Rest of the Crew: [stunned silent]

(Bonus scene beyond "read more")

Cricket: “I... somebody needs to stop this.” :'D

Flavie: (under her breath) “I don't know, that Tián guy is pretty hot...”

Cricket: (sharply, shocked) “What!?”

Flavie: (meets his eyes; deadpan) “What.”

Zarina: (evenly) “first of all, no.”

Cricket & Flavie: [look to her]

Zarina: (continues, not having stopped speaking) “Secondly...”

Zarina: [sighs heavily, putting her head in her hand]

Zarina: (defeatedly) “... I don't even know if I want to step in.”

Cricket: :'D

Flavie: [amused! But not complaining.]

Cricket: [sighs himself, but then shakes his head and pulls out his spellbook]

Cricket: (tiredly) “Don't worry about it, Captain. I'll take care this.”

Zarina: [just sighs again, hesitantly watching between her fingers—]

Cricket: [heading to Tián & Benji to put a stop to their shenanigans]

Flavie: (slightly obnoxiously) “Sooooooo...” ;DDDDD

Zarina: [hesitantly lifts her head from her hand to look up at her]

Flavie: [winks; amusedly) “You're staying up here to get a good view, too, huh?”

Zarina:

Zarina: [face flushes, but stands up straight—and crosses her arms, as she often does—to give Flavie a slight glare]

Zarina: (sharply) “Absolutely not!”

Flavie: [can't help a shit-eating grin]

Flavie: (teasingly) “oh, sure! So, tell me...”

Zarina: [narrows her eyes further in a much more obvious glare]

Flavie: (overdramatically, drawing out and savoring her words) “Is it Benji? Tián? Or, maybe even... Cricket?” >;DDDD

Zarina: [face only flashed in annoyance at Benji's name, disgusted at Tián's, but... goes empty and unreadable at Cricket's]

Flavie: (playfully) “OOOOOOOOO! The Captain and—”

Zarina: [scoffs, simultaneously turning away, heading to the stairs, and un-crossing an arm to wave it dismissively over her shoulder]

Zarina: (talking over Flavie) “Whatever you think is going on, don't say a word of it to Hugo.”

Zarina: [sets her hand on the stairs' handrail and twists on her heel to meet Flavie's eyes with a sharp, serious expression]

Zarina: (voice hard) “Or else. Understood?”

Flavie: [stunned—]

Flavie: [swallows slightly, but forces an awkward grin, stands at attention, and raises her hand in salute]

Flavie: (voice thick and uneven) “aye, aye, Captain. Wouldn't even dream of it.” ;'D

Zarina: [face softens—a flash of guilt crossing it—but quickly just turns away and hurries to help Cricket]

@honeybewrites @the-golden-comet @illarian-rambling @ashirisu @urnumber1star

@the-letterbox-archives @48lexr @aalinaaaaaa @thecomfywriter @an-indecisive-nerd

@seastarblue @leahnardo-da-veggie @world-of-iridensia

Banners from @saradika

[lullabyes22-blog]

First of all, I just wanted to say how much I love your Arcane fics. I’ve been following FnF since I stumbled across it at 10 chapters long, and it’s been a wild ride since! Like a lot of people I’ve been all over the place with my feelings regarding season 2, but as far as I’m concerned FnF is my season 2 (and 3, 4, etc.) lol. You’re a gift to this fandom. Thank you for sharing your brilliant mind and imagination with us readers ❤️

You’ve answered some what-if asks and shared other Arcane thoughts on this blog before, so I have two questions for your consideration, but no pressure to answer either of them!

1. As a fellow writer, I’m in awe of the scale of FnF and the amount of planning/outlining that must be involved—HOLY SHIT! Are there any elements of s2 that have inspired you as you continue to write FnF? Have you considered adapting any s2 elements into later chapters (beyond what you’ve already predicted), or have you held fast to a specific Vision throughout the duration of this writing project?

2. Not sure if you’ve been asked this in the past, but what the hell would a living Silco’s reaction be to Vander’s hellish resuscitation as Warwick, assuming he isn’t immediately mauled in a confrontation?? Is Singed (assuming he’s the culprit) definitely fired??? This feels like such a MESSY terrible horrible no-good very bad situation for everyone involved lmao, and I would love to know your thoughts.

Aaaaah thank you so much! I'm super happy you're enjoying the story! I've been having a lot of fun with it, and I'm glad so many other folks are having fun with it as well <333

Also deeply honored you'd consider FnF in any way adjacent to canon material; that means so much T_T Especially since my own feelings on s2 are pretty mixed, and I'm not really sure what I would even do with those ideas, except maybe throw them out as a one-shot sometime down the road.

1. In terms of the s2 inspiration, I will say I was not the biggest fan of the plot's coherence/cohesion as a whole (too much stuff going on in too little time, too many threads left dangling etc). However, I was very gratified by the thematic journeys of the characters in S2, as in FnF they're actually following a similar trajectory (except for Silco who is, well, dead), and a lot of the same conflicts and themes are coming up. There was a happy sense of vindication that came from that, like, "Oh, so this was actually important, and not just me making a fanficcy mountain out of a molehill."

I will say though, that FnF has its own pretty airtight-ish plot, with many aspects already sketched out in advance, so I'm not going to go re-plotting things to match s2's direction unless and until it becomes necessary. In some ways, tbh, there's a sense of gleeful overlap, as a lot of the plot beats do mirror one another. (The Black Rose make an appearance by Act VII, there's a greater emphasis on magic and high fantasy going forward, Jinx is in the grip of an identity/existential crisis and Vi is stuck at a crossroads, Jayce has become disillusioned and split with Mel, Viktor has retreated underground and will be withdrawing deeper into his work, Ekko will be the one to snap Jinx out of a critical juncture and save Zaun in the long term, Sevika will take a greater leadership role etc...) All of the parallels if not the outright similarities were pretty satisfying.

As for how that's manifesting, a lot of the major developments and character arcs going forward are largely set in stone, but I do have a few key S2 events/details I've been mulling over in the background that I can see myself weaving into the plot at some point. But the rest is probably best kept as a surprise :>

2. As for the hellish resuscitation, well, I'd be lying if I said I haven't been thinking about that one a lot hehehe...

But long story short:

Singed is 100% fired because there is NO WAY Silco would sanction such a thing - and if it occured in the FnF universe, then Singed was absolutely doing it behind Silco's back and will now face the full consequences.

 As for Warwick himself - he'd 100% retreat to Silco and Vander's little Brokeback bunk in the mines. And Silco would 100% don his old mining duds and dustry greatcoat and go looking for him, because he needs to be SURE it's not just a rumor, and also because he does, subconsciously, desperately want it to be his Vander. And Vander, who has a good measure of the old Vander's memories, and is 100% aware it's not a rumor, because hello: deranged wolfman, will 100% run towards Silco with every intention of tearing him to pieces.

And that is where the similarities end.

Because Vander is too deeply trapped within Warwick's killer shell, and is therefore incapable of having an emotional reunion with anyone, and because Silco is not an idiot and would never go into a skirmish without a loaded gun and an escape route, the end result would be bloody, messy and tragic.

Worst case scenario: both men would kill each other, and in their final death throes, find boyhood memories resurfacing. They'd die in tears, messily and bloodily entwined, but finally at peace with their own demons - which is how Jinx and Vi, teaming up similar to S2, would find them.

Best case scenario: Silco would find Warwick and be forced to try and capture and contain him. He'd enlist Sevika's help and succeed, but when Jinx finds out, she'd be appalled and retraumatized, and convinced Silco is trying to erase her dead dad and supplant him in every sense. She'd go off the rails and have a complete breakdown, and Vi would be the one she'd run to, because Vi is the only person who understands and cares. The sisters would end up teaming against Silco to try and bust WarVander out, and this would cause an irreparable rift between Silco and Jinx.

Cue mass destruction and an epic family feud.

Sevika, who'd be the only person left in Silco's circle of trust, would have to make the call to have Warwick quietly killed in order to save the city from a war, and then lie to Silco, telling him Vander succumbed to his own madness and perished. This would cause Silco's mental state to completely disintegrate. He'd lose what little sanity he had left, and would descend into a pit of guilt and grief.

 Either way, it's a pretty awful tragedy on both sides, and it would take the entire remaining plot of FnF to resolve the fallout, and for Jinx and Vi to find any kind of peace.

So you can see why I've been mulling a lot, but also left it alone haha.

But who knows?

Maybe the story will change my mind, or I'll be struck by some miraculous idea and figure a way out, though I'm doubtful.

Thanks again for the lovely words and thoughtful questions! They really mean a lot <3

[ophiespeaks]

MY DRS!!!

Masterlist <3

(For inspiration, ideas, or just to get to know me!!! This is in no particular order btw, just the way they’re ordered in my Lifa App.)

———

*Side note, I have a “waiting room” dr too. It’s basically just a big movie theater but all the theater rooms are my different drs. But I’ve elected to not make a full section for it.*

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•1•

Dr Name: Hogwarts, 1991.

Universe/Basis: Harry Potter

Synopsis: Non-Canonical HP dr where I get to experience the magical world completely and fully with my favorite characters. There’s no war, no plot, and things have been changed to make it more desirable for me. IE: No Death Eaters/Voldemort, no one dies, etc. It’s basically just a boarding school dr with magic lol. It was my main dr for a long time and has a LOT of little things scripted in. Honestly, I’m still so in love with it and if I ever did permashift, it would probably be here.

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•2•

Dr Name: Chosen One

Universe/Basis: Harry Potter

Synopsis: Canon-Adjacent dr where basically I’m Harry. Obviously he doesn’t exist in this dr because I’m obsessed with being the main character (/hj). Things have been scripted to not be so traumatizing and awful all the time, but will loosely follow a sort of plot to let me be the chosen one in a prophecy and basically the center of attention. There’s stakes and I don’t expect to shift here for long intervals because it seems stressful, but I’m shifting to third year with a pre-written backstory for the first two years. Again, not fully canon- certain characters don’t die and the war isn’t killing innocents etc. I just like attention.

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•3•

Dr Name: Lost

Universe/Basis: ABC’s Lost TV Series (2004)

Synopsis: Canon-Adjacent to the Lost TV series, without the um…trauma. Also people don’t die. It’s basically Survivor meets Real Housewives. I live for the drama tbh. Basically the plane crash leaves me stranded with strangers and I get to meet the characters. I don’t have a s/o but I’m looking to be an adoptive daughter figure to Sawyer because emotionally unavailable selfish assholes seem to be my father-figure go to for some reason.

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•4•

Dr Name: The 100

Universe/Basis: CW’s The 100

Synopsis: Heavily scripted but honestly it’s almost-canon to the events of seasons 1 and 2 of the 100, obviously not so traumatizing though. I’m basically using this as a teenage-run society dr or maybe like a huge camping trip dr lmao. None of the 100 die like in canon, and also because I have main character syndrome Clarke and therefore also Wells aren’t part of the original delinquent mission. My s/o is gonna be Bellamy Blake, and I have a few close friends in the 100/eventually the grounders. There’s a lot of drama lmao. Also, my dad is Markus Kane and my (adoptive) brother is Murphy and my whole backstory is so convoluted it needed rewritten multiple times to even be coherent lmao.

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•5•

Dr Name: Fame (Adult)

Universe/Basis: Better CR

Synopsis: Modern-set dr where I’m a famous actress/musician in my early twenties. I own a makeup/skincare company, as well as a non-profit community oriented foundation to teach kids the arts (acting, music, performance, dance, drawing, painting, etc.) but also hosting events and drives to give back to local communities. As for my professional career, I’m a part of some of my favorite movies/shows in my cr, as well as some movie ideas I had myself and made into a franchise in my DR. I’m basically the biggest IT girl and I’m like if Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, and Margot Robbie were a single person. Some of my films/shows, to name a few, are The VVitch, A Star Is Born, The Summer I Turned Pretty, and Barbie.

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•6•

Dr Name: Fame (Teen)

Universe/Basis: Better CR

Synopsis: An early 2010s dr, I’m a young teen actress and get to star in some of my favorite shows and movies from that time period, as well as some adaptations I thought up myself. My dad is Matthew Grey Gubler because he seems like he’d be such a cool dad, so I’m technically a Nepo baby. I play Dustin’s twin sister in Stranger Things, I play Annabeth Chase in an adaptation of PJO, I play Prim in The Hunger Games, I’m Coraline in a live action adapatation, and a few other roles that I have planned.

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•7•

Dr Name: Assemble

Universe/Basis: MCU - Young Avengers

Synopsis: I’m Tony Stark’s daughter, all the OGs don’t die, and I’m in charge of the Young Avengers. I’ve adapted some comic book characters into new heroes, as well as adding known characters like Spider-man, America Chavez, Yelena (younger in my dr), Kate Bishop, etc. It’s basically like fanfic Avengers lmao. We all live in the compound in upstate New York, and sometimes other “characters” pop in to give us training lessons and stuff such as Stephen Strange or Wong, T’Challa, Bucky, Loki, etc. It seems so fun to just have a compound full of super powered/super-capable teenagers tbh. A nightmare for my dad tho.

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•8•

Dr Name: The Olympian

Universe/Basis: MCU

Synopsis: A more canon-reliant take on an MCU dr, where I join the original Avengers back in 2011. I’m basically a greek demigoddess capable of minor feats of magic, but through being a hero I’m eventually granted full godhood (like Hercules/Heracles in the myths) for my efforts. Fighting villains and hearing the hero drama seems so interesting. Honestly, I’ll probably be less involved in this dr than my Assemble dr, but this one’s still cool if only for my backstory here alone lol.

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•9•

Dr Name: The Games

Universe/Basis: The Hunger Games

Synopsis: Basically not canon at all lmao. I don’t want to kill anyone, that’s insane. Basically, the districts still exist (though people aren’t starving or anything) and “The Games” are basically just a big game show held in the Capitol and the winner gets money, fame, etc. This dr is loosely based off of the prequel, the ballad of songbirds and snakes, so there’s *technically* Coriolanus Snow as my love interest/mentor, but his character is so different that it’s basically not even him- I just find Tom Blythe attractive is all. Also Sejanus Plinth is my bbygirl he deserved so much better.

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•10•

Dr Name: Camp Halfblood

Universe/Basis: PJO

Synopsis: Non-Canon pjo dr. I’m a child of Zeus (I need to be the main character so bad ig. Also, I need to have an absent/terrible biological father apparently?? minus tony tho 🫶) and I’m the only one in the Zeus Cabin. There’s no quests and we’re genuinely just trained over the summer and allowed to either stay or go to school for the rest of the year. It’s basically a summer camp dr but with a little magic and stuff here and there. Percy, Grover, Annabeth, etc. are all my age and eventually Percy will be my s/o because clueless boys of unimaginable power are just so babygirl to me i guess.

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•11•

Dr Name: Bridgerton

Universe/Basis: Netflix’s Bridgerton TV series

Synopsis: Mostly canon, with a few more added families and such. My own background is also a royalty dr- I’m the princess of Norway undercover as the distant relative of Lady Danbury, and I’ve got a few completely made-up love interests because no one in the show is really in my age range??? I mean some are close, like Colin, but he’s in love with Penelope so idk. I just want fancy dresses and huge parties and high society drama tbh.

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•12•

Dr Name: The Walking Dead

Universe/Basis: AMC’s The Walking Dead TV series

Synopsis: HEAVILY SCRIPTED!!! I don’t want my people to die obviously. Zombies/walkers can’t actually hurt us and everyone smells good oof. No cannibals bc ew, it’s basically a found family dr with zombies. I/we won’t have to kill people!!! Both Daryl and Rick are sort of father figures to me, and my love interests include a few people such as Carl, Enid, Ron, and Kelly (I love Kelly sm) and the later seasons are changed to be better to live in and everything’s not constantly falling apart. Also, basically scripting out all of the Negan drama and most stuff after it, because absolutely not.

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•13•

Dr Name: BrBa

Universe/Basis: AMC’s Breaking Bad TV series

Synopsis: LISTEN!!! I just think it would be fun to fuck around in this dr tbh. I’m a high-end dealer (drugs don’t kill people and don’t have a bad effect on people either) and I just want to go to lavish parties and commit high end crimes. I think Walter White is funny as hell unintentionally and Jesse Pinkman seems like the coolest person to just hang out with (at least in the first few seasons of the show.) Obviously, it’s not even remotely canon and doesn’t follow the actual plot. I also won’t spent too much time here. Like I said, it’s just to mess around in. It’s absolutely not serious nor is it a place i’d want to be for long.

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•14•

Dr Name: Narnia

Universe/Basis: The Chronicles of Narnia (films)

Synopsis: Golden Age Narnia? Ruling a magical country, marrying my best friend (Peter), leading people, being highly respected by my court? The whole thing sounds like a fairytale. It’s basically a royalty dr but with magic. Medieval times but, as with all my non-modern drs, I script modern amenities because if I don’t have toilet paper and indoor plumbing I’m gonna scream and cry. I also love the canon Pevensie siblings and their personalities I want to meet them all so bad. Also, Peter Pevensie was my first crush ever, as an fyi.

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•15•

Dr Name: LIS

Universe/Basis: Netflix’ Lost In Space reboot

Synopsis: Canon/mostly canon with fun additions and workarounds. Adoptive/found family dynamics. I get to be a super cool badass with yet another adoptive father figure while exploring alien planets and getting to be besties with penny robinson (i’m forever a penny defender- i love forgotten, “unwanted” middle child archetypes) and getting to meet a literal 7 foot tall alien robot is gonna be SO cool are you kidding me???

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•16•

Dr Name: Stardew Valley

Universe/Basis: Stardew Valley (video game)

Synopsis: CUTE FARMING DR!!! There’s twelve canonical love interests but i’m considering adding a few more options/people in general for funsies. Basically I want to have my little farm and my little animals and run around town and meet people and go to the beach and it’s gonna be so fun i’m so excited for it. I’ve actually considered it for my “waiting room” sort of place, because only the valley itself and like three other places even really exist in canon soooo but idk. (also considering scripting johnnie guilbert as sebastian bc 🤭🤭🤭)

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•17•

Dr Name: Gravity Falls

Universe/Basis: Gravity Falls

Synopsis: Teenage dr, not canon reliant but with weird occurrences and mysteries going on all around. The twins and their friends are older but most of the other characters stay the same age. Instead of having a complicated backstory I straight up just tell Stan I shifted and he’s unbothered because he literally watched his brother get sucked into a portal and fist-fought a pterodactyl so not much can phase him anymore ig.

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•18•

Dr Name: Summer Ship

Universe/Basis: Better Cr

Synopsis: Um this one’s completely made up by me, hi. Basically me and some of my dr friends are working on a private yacht for the summer. We only work like four hours a day, get paid WAY too much tbh, and then spend the weekends/after work hours getting to live on this huge ass rich people yacht that we’re allowed to go crazy on. It’s sailing the mediterranean so it doubles as a travel dr, where I get to see places like Greece, Rome, Venice, etc. when we dock and go inland. I’m so unbelievably stoked about this one tbh.

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•19•

Dr Name: Smosh

Universe/Basis: Better Cr

Synopsis: This one’s kinda embarrassing ngl 💀 so basically, the Youtube channel Smosh is this whole big brand that’s like an office completely oriented on making fun videos, sketch comedy, playing board games, etc. and it looks SO fun to work there. Some of the people in videos/crew behind the scenes seem like genuinely nice people so basically it’s a better cr dr where I just work there too, and I’m a little older lol. Like obviously it’s a job like anywhere else, but a lot of the time their job is fart jokes and playing games.

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•20•

Dr Name: Sword AF

Universe/Basis: Smosh - DnD Campaign

Synopsis: If I thought the last one was embarrassing, this takes the cake lmao. So, Smosh runs a dnd campaign where four of them play characters and then the dm plays a bunch of npcs. I’ve scripted myself as a fantasy character to explore the dr world based off of the dnd campaign’s world. Interacting with real people who are the characters my friends play in a different dr lmao. But an ancient giant wooden robot, a blue goblin, a gay elf, and a horny older halfling lady are MY comfort characters, okay! It’s a dnd dr, based off of the Sword AF campaign.

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•21•

Dr Name: A:TLA

Universe/Basis: Nickelodeon’s Avatar Cartoon

Synopsis: guys i LOVE avatar omg. uncle iroh singing little soldier boy can make me cry on command to this day. In this dr, I’m a fire bender runaway living in Omashu. I also scripted different fire nation “countries,” like how the earth kingdom has sort of different governments set-up throughout or how the water tribes have the two separate tribes on either pole. I’m from an island tribe and because I like attention, I’m a princess in that kingdom. This dr is mostly canon??? It was a cartoon so not too much traumatizing stuff happened anyways, but there are certainly some…questionable moments.

———

Honorable Mentions

(drs that i *technically* have, but have put little to no thought into the actual context of and i currently have no desire to actively shift to, just future possibilities)

-“Dog Days,” a Diary of a Wimpy Kid dr (i am down BAD for rodrick heffley)

-BAU/criminal minds dr (i have no idea how i’d POSSIBLY script this to not be traumatic so for now it’s not even really a dr, just a place i may want to go???)

-“Safety” dr (without too much detail, I’m a kid again and live in a valley home with my favorite people, with neighbor kids and the whole place is filled with flowers and it’s always summer. basically just a stress-free dreamland.)

-Sam and Colby dr. (ghost hunting but i’m a medium + getting up to some utter tomfoolery in a youtuber house)

-Daybreak dr based off of the netflix show (societies run by teenagers AND zombie survival found family drs seem to be a favorite of mine, and this is both)

-“Hawkins” dr, basically stranger things without any strange things (no way am i facing a demogorgan head on, let ALONE vecna or the mind flayer are you KIDDING???)

-The Walking Dead (game), (I love Clementine so much) (I honestly might just script twdg characters into my main twd dr so I don’t have to have multiple, idk yet)

-“Royal University,” yet another royalty dr bc i’m self obsessed ig, (made up royalty heirs in a college dr)

-Hogwarts, 1971 (undecided/not scripted marauders era dr. obsessed with andrew garfield as remus lupin.)

-Hogwarts, 2011 (undecided dr of the golden-trio era’s kids from the series epilogue/*minor* elements of cursed child, teddy lupin gets to live with his parents bc i WILL start crying)

-Youtuber Dr, (Making horror content/horror-themed video essays, will be in the same sort of circle as Wendigoon, the Lore Lodge, Loey Lane, Nexpo, etc.)

-Various short-term drs to figure out what happened at certain instances in my cr. I kind of think of them as “fly on the wall” drs just for me to be in a location to fully understand what happened there. Mainly, cold cases/unexplained events. (Jonbenet Ramsey, mothman bridge incident, phoenix lights, dyatlov pass, and several missing 411 cases mostly.)

-Cool History dr, where I can go see cool historical moments for myself from my cr. such as the building of the pyramids, the library of alexandria, the “resurrection of jesus” (since he was a real person), woodstock, stonewall, etc.

———

I am always accepting more dr ideas, tbh. Any piece of media I consume is free real estate for a dr if we’re being so fr.

[akaneenaka33]

I wonder what it will be like when Zeno sees the other dragons again in the real world. When he hypothetically comes face to face with everyone after it's all over. (Assuming this is a timeline in which everyone lives and the dragon gods are somehow appeased with no sacrifice or return or whatever)

In my idea of a perfect (well, maybe not perfect, but happy) timeline, everyone gets to live and Zeno's immortality is lifted. He no longer has to live if he wants to, but with the choice of living out a life with the end in sight, a life with his family, will he want to end it all right then and there? I understand his suffering and everything he's been through, but he does love Yoon, Hak, Yona and the other dragons. Zeno's betrayal was justified. There wasn't a single drop of malice in his decisions, just desperation.

That being said, I'm pretty sure he'd feel guilty about everything once it's over, and although Zeno isn't necessarily a bad person, I won't say he didn't make mistakes. He made BIG mistakes and hurt the people he cares about so yeah, he will have to reconcile to some degree. I mean, he kind of did seal away the dragons, lie, take the chalice, and set his whole plan into motion without an explanation.

Now, with that being said, Zeno's plan was pretty logical and I understand why he might have kept it under wraps. I highly doubt the dragons would have consented to it.

Will Ouryuu's words get to him? Will he view himself as a traitor? I kind of hope not?? But in the case that he does, then BOY does this supply some hefty hurt/comfort for Kusa (and me and my fiancee in our delulu little fanfic world) to write out.

I'd like a scene where everyone is back. Yoon and Hak are there and they and the dragons immediately swarm the Princess, rejoicing in their victory while Zeno holds back, unsure of whether he'll be welcome or not.

And then everyone sees him kind of moping in the background, and immediately tackle him. A parallel to the scene in chapter 100 when they find out about his abilities. Maybe he's on the edge of whether he wants lo live out another couple of decades or not. Maybe this is the deciding factor, and he decides he wants to stay. He decides he wants to live.

(In another AU, again, written by my beloved fiancee and I, Kaya is the one who convinces him to live and the whole "fighting the gods" scene plays out WAY differently, but that's a ramble for another time. I feel like this ramble is slightly more canon-adjacent lmao. Also, I'm fully aware of all the gray areas and all the moral and emotional issues regarding Yona right now. I know, but just. I'd like an AU with my found family so let me have this. This is not meant to spark any criticism or argument or debate, it's just me fantasizing about the HHB being the HHB and the Dark dragon again. I just want everyone to be happy this ramble is not that deep please and thank you chat <3)

[neallo]

meronia containing multitudes!! would you say there are any core consistencies that you cant do without when writing or thinking about them or is everything changeable? for me I think it’s hard to imagine them not having an in some form or another but I’ve been trying to think of instances where it works when they weren’t thrown in the same pressure cooker together in one way or another even if that was somewhat later in life

hello!! this is an excellent question. let me try to opine on the matter. i will say right off the top of my head that the core appealing aspects of meronia to me are mutual obsession and deep connection / understanding of one another. even though there is also sometimes a lot of active misunderstanding / miscommunication getting in the way of that connection being fully realized. on the occasions i've tried to write AUs and they haven't worked for me, i've found that it's because one or both are absent or not obvious enough.

the pressure cooker (love this shorthand) is, i think, the quickest and most canon-adjacent pathway to developing and justifying this mutual obsession and deep understanding. i generally skew heavily towards writing canonverse (<- loosely-defined; i am including no-kira and L wins AUs in this, because they still grew up at Wammy's) because of this; i'm not much of an AU girlie in general, regardless of fandom, but i find it particularly tricky for meronia. translating that kind of connection without substantial shared experiences is challenging, and i think it's easiest for me to imagine their dynamic developing if those shared experiences occur earlier in life, though i agree that it can definitely work even if it's later, so long as it's Intense.

this being said, i can't say i have 100% stuck to The Pressure Cooker background, actually!! off the top of my head the only time i really plan to break from it is in 15 Totally Chill Ways to Flirt With Your Crush, which is a profoundly unserious college AU. because this is a sillier story, i'm not as concerned with justifying a mutual obsession-- in some ways it's more fun to me here that there really isn't a good justification for Mello to be down so bad. that being said, i would say this story sits at the limit of what i can really enjoy in terms of characterization; i consider it to be borderline OOC, if not fully OOC, but that's more feature than bug here.

trying to think what other non-negotiables there are for me. some level of care / tenderness from both sides is always essential, imo-- even if it's buried under bitterness and pain and spite, that needs to come through at least a little. i guess this is rooted in the idea of their connection being a core element of the ship, but i find their dynamic fundamentally distinct from, say, lawlight, whose most fraught dynamics involve Fucking Killing Eachother. like, L and Light have a deep connection, too, but it's very different imo. the power dynamic being complex / nuanced in some way or another also feels essential To Me. it can be extremely fun to have that balance be really uneven, but it can't be totally straightforward or i get terminally bored with the idea.

okay i think i actually just started listing pet peeves (<- had to delete a full paragraph lmao) so i'm gonna stop here. thank you sm for the ask, this was a really fun one to meditate on :3c

[kiastirling-fanfic]

2024 Writing Round-Up

no one tagged me yet I'm just doing it

words posted:

59,724

additional words written:

no clue!

grand total of words:

somewhere north of 60k?

fandoms:

Dragon Age (various games), Baldur's Gate 3

highest kudos:

Few Against the Wind (no clue how many are from this year, but guaranteed it's that lol. At least a couple hundred are from this year since I don't think I broke 1k last year?)

highest hit oneshot:

He's Careful With His Teeth (the BG3 fic) with 129

new things I tried:

Smut-adjacent (haven't written smut since like 2008; He's Careful With His Teeth is at least adjacent though)

Describing flowers in the pov of someone who's never seen them (Flowers for Brosca is about Karina Brosca and her evolving relationship with flowers)

Actual proper drabbles! In my 20+ years in fandom I somehow only learned this year that "drabbles" are supposed to be exactly 100 words long; I wrote quite a few between Dragon Age Drunk Writing Circle and doing a 10-drabbles series for the DA Create-a-thon :)

fic I spent the most time on:

Few Against the Wind, though admittedly with little to show for it lol

fic I spent the least time on:

No Rest Could They Find (no link, still unpublished), I legitimately don't know if I wrote anything new for it all year lmao

favorite thing I wrote:

Curiosity Crosses the Veil, a storytelling fic that has my OC Hamin Surana doing a Thedas-retelling of The Little Mermaid. It even got podficced :)

favorite thing(s) I read:

Detours by BrownieFox, a Pokemon fic that deals with the ramifications of the Sinnoh champion falling out of time, getting back to her time with friends in tow, and more. Great if you like action and devastating emotional turmoil all in one.

writing goals for 2024:

I'd love to write more! Ideally I'd love to get through Act 2 of Few Against the Wind and get enough of No Rest Could They Find to start publishing.

new works:

Starting with Gift fics:

The Trial of Raleigh Samson, for Nirikeehan, for a Satinalia exchange, feat politics and Samson being gross, two of her favorite things

Two Heralds Walk Into a Bar, for Plisuu feat his boy Connor, for an OC swap, a Tranquil Templar Inquisitor, and my Dascha Cadash, a dwarf who dreams.

Provenance, for youworeblue (dreadfutures), for Arlathan exchange, feat Dorian and Solas being academics

Comfort in the Darkest Hours, for Inquisimer, for Arlathan exchange, because I got her hooked on Avexis/Alistair with no content for the ship

The Nuances of Your Character, for Morsmordre, for Arlathan exchange, feat Solas and Sera on a mission together (Sera's PoV)

Hands by Labor Worn, also for Morsmordre, as a random act of kindness, another idea I'd had for the Arlathan exchange but Nuances won out

The End of the Tunnel, for gl1tch_prime, for a moodboard exchange. Got dwarfy with it :)

Tranquil Week:

Slow and Steady, featuring Clemence, a canon Tranquil from DAI

A Break, featuring Avexis, a canon Tranquil from DAI

Dissent, featuring Nestor, a Tranquil OC who works at the Wonders of Thedas

Empty Gestures, featuring Gereon Alexius, who the Inquisitor can make Tranquil in DAI

Fearless, featuring Boranehn, a tranquil Gray Warden OC

DA Create-a-thon:

Dagna Drabble Series, pretty self explanatory

Delicious in the Deep Roads, wherein Oghren wonders at how well they're eating, and Warden Terit Brosca delights in telling him

Curiosity Crosses the Veil, a Thedas retelling of The Little Mermaid

Other:

He's Careful With His Teeth, a Dark Urge/Astarion sort of pre-smut. cw for blood kink.

Flowers for Brosca, in which Karina Brosca learns what flowers are, how to resent them, how they can heal, and how they can make her heart flutter

Dorothea and the Mage of the Emerald Circle, a Thedas retelling of The Wizard of Oz

Gonna half-ass the tags because I am sick bye

@theluckywizard | @inquisimer | @plisuu

Template under the cut:

words posted:

additional words written:

grand total of words:

fandoms:

highest kudos:

highest hit oneshot:

new things I tried:

fic I spent the most time on:

fic I spent the least time on:

favorite thing I wrote:

favorite thing(s) I read:

writing goals for 2024:

new works:

[aimmyarrowshigh]

Hello! For the fic writing ask: 🎀 & 🔚 , please? Thank you! 💜

🎀 how do you decide when something is done?

I usually start at the end and then figure out how something would have to begin to get there, tbh, so I guess I work backwards. I generally outline only after I know both the beginning and the end, because I'm weak at middles (hah) but I suppose that I probably most closely would believe in using the Dan Harmon Plot Embryo as a guide for figuring out the beginning/ending of a piece.

Both have to be a sense of normalcy, unless it's intentionally a cliffhanger for a sequel (which I've never tried tbh), but with juxtaposing senses of completion for the protagonist. So if the protagonist is living a small life and feeling unfulfilled but safe in the beginning, the ending has to be them living a big, fulfilling life that may not be as certain/consistent, yk? And since I start with the endings in mind most of the time, it's a matter of working backwards to a beginning point.

THAT SAID, since I almost only write canon-adjacent stuff, the starting point is often already in place for me. Like, we know what Small Steve's life was like in Brooklyn, to a degree, so it's easy to work backwards from an ending to that canon-ish basis, etc. I feel like this is definitely one area in which fic is *way* "easier" for my brain than original work, because like... we know how it either started or ends up, you know? At least if it's not a WILD AU, which I generally don't write for non-RPF fic.

And beyond that, in a less plot-focused but more technical sense, I guess I decide things are done when the deadline says I have to stop writing LMAO. Or when I've hit 100 words. Part of why I like drabbles and drabble sequences so much is because the structure is baked in and I'm forced to keep to it.

🔚 have you ever completely changed the direction a piece was going?

Well, Lent From Tomorrow existed for the first 15k without being omegaverse at first! But I could NOT figure out how to actually get Steve and Bucky together in a non-omegaverse 'verse because... ethics... were... murky at best. lol. Making it into an omegaverse story gave me some latitude because it evened out their power dynamics to a point where I'm at least able to write the story, you know? It removes some of the ABSOLUTENESS of Steve's power over Bucky since Bucky is, yk, his prisoner of war, technically.

(I also just prefer omegaverse to non-omegaverse lately, slash-wise. IDK. I think it can present interesting commentary on gender and power and things that make stories interesting to me!)

Otherwise, I mostly only change direction on things when I have to pivot because the deadline is looming and I'm nowhere close to finishing. Because I'm the world's slowest writer when it's not drabbles. And that usually isn't a directional change so much as a truncation that bums me out a bit, lolol.

I DID just have to majorly change direction on my Yuletide WIP, because I realized that it might be veering too close to my giftee's DNW list and asked the mods to clarify with them, and, yep, it was crossing the line. So I've had to totally scrap the idea and come up with something new! It's definitely a challenge because I'm not as into this idea as I was the other one, but that's okay -- I'd rather be less invested in the story but not trigger or squick the recipient than be super into it and a jerk.

And I think in original writing that isn't fic, I've changed directions on things? The Peter Pan 1920s AU that's up on my AO3 started out as my fiction thesis piece for my MFA, and it was originally in the 1910s and a different character's POV entirely (it was going to be Tinkerbelle's POV, and she was Anastasia Romanova). But then my advisor was like, "Did you pick this POV because it has the least internal conflict again?" and I was like, "Yes..." and she was like, "Change it." (HA! ::facepalm::)

ask me writing questions!

[prentissluvr]

seeing the smau fics going around gave me an idea to do a similar thing but with their Spotify y’know? which is obviously going to take a lot of time but i wanted your opinion on what Sam’s music taste would be. so far i have mitski/sad girl music, or indie? i’m leaning more towards the sad girl music. the obvious choice would be country or something but i hate country music with a blazing passion so i’m not doing that. my friend told me he looks like he listens to ayesha erotica 💀 that’s honestly kinda valid but anyways what are your thoughts?

@just-be-the-cowboy HEHEHE OMG I LOVE THAT IDEAAA if i can figure out how to format that i might steal that idea if i have permission cuz i LOVE IT !!

hehe sad girl music FACTS LMAO i don't listen to a ton of mitski/sad girl music but i can so see what you mean!! i think we would listen to it, it feels like sooo younger sam vibes especially.

i actually don't think he'd love country tbh, esp earlier 2000s country because it's often about stupid shit like trucks and being misogynistic and i don't think that's his vibe tbh HAHA ik that's an over generalization but i also hate country and even if he looks sort of like he likes country when he wears boots, jeans, and flannels exclusively, i think he's far more tasteful LOL sorry people who like country :) i think he does like a select few songs from the genre because they can be good sometimes. like he'd like country from women not men if he did. play picture to burn by taylor swift and before he cheats by carrie underwood HAHA he's a girls girl!!

but! that being said, i think he might like some country adjacent things like american folk!! from here on out i am 100% projecting my own music taste onto sam so disclaimer for that LOL. i love the idea of sad girl music sam, but since i know more indie better, that's what i think he'd like. specifically indie folk, some indie rock, and ofc indie folk rock LOL. i think in terms of artists (once again, just projecting my own taste), he'd like hozier, noah kahan, sea wolf, maybe some vampire weekend, and other random folky indie artists! i don't think he loves the more pop-ish indie that's more popular these days, but he wouldn't mind it! he also might like shoegaze?

and he'd be interested in music from other languages because of how much he likes learning new things. maybe he'd be into indie japanese music? i think that's a pretty cool music scene that he might like. in season 12 he also canonically likes the vince vincente music which was like 80s rock i think?? so he probably likes similar stuff. he probably also listens to classical music LOL which actually i think is so valid. he might like jazz too, begin challenge do you think i could make sam like laufey LOL

idk so yeah obviously this is really just me projecting because that's basically my music taste outside of kpop and i don't think he'd like that LOL he'd be fascinated by that music industry tho haha. but my excuse for projecting is that i think it's kinda accurate anyways and sam is basically me! he's so masc lesbian so ofc he likes my masc lesbian music LMAO

i don't even know about ayesha erotica BUT THAT'S SO FUNNY TO ME HAHA not sure if older sam would but stanford and early seasons sam was that kind of cunty sooooo what can i even say LOL

[optiwashere]

I saw some discussion about Shadowheart's path, if Tav/Your character is dead when she confronts the Nightsong she will kill her 100% of the time. Saying that this is her "true" path and what she wants, how she only stops due to your presence. The DJ end is her "best" end due to her being confident and fulfilled, how she is actual quite an evil character due to torture etc. How it fits the lore better

All I can politely say is that I'm glad I isolate myself from most fandom spaces for this game, because this is a doozy.

She has to be memory wiped so many times because of how often she drifts back to questioning Sharran teachings and just being Very Bad at it. So I don't really buy "100%" of the time, but that's also because I personally believe nobody has absolute certainty in their morals and faith that certain situations wouldn't test.

There's kind of a whole section about that in the Shadowfell.

I don't even want to touch the Tav/PC comment. That's a barrel of worms that isn't worth opening.

For some folks, I think they just want something against the grain or not "typical" and so they naturally gravitate towards things like the Dark Justiciar ending. It's a different kind of wish fulfillment fantasy for them.

"I can make her worse" and all that. I don't think the reason people like that ending is because it's good for her lmao.

Long ramble while I'm on break ahead.

That said, a lot of people need to relearn critical thinking and practice emotional skills. Or they need to watch the full story side-by-side on both paths, because some of this shit is so blatant it's fascinating how some folks miss it.

I think assuming the A -> B -> C of "oh, she's a Sharran so she would strive to become a Dark Justiciar, there is no alternative character explanation for/against that" is a simple-minded approach.

It also, in my opinion, restricts people into very fundamentalist-adjacent viewpoints and thoughts. If someone was made to believe without a shadow of a doubt that they were born X way, or behaved Y way for Z years, then they must be that person forever and always. No, it doesn't work like that lol.

There's also no true path in this game until/if there's a sequel, because there's too many paths the characters can take. I use a lot of "I" statements and say "this is a theory/extratextual" in my opinions for that reason.

Aside #1: It's also why I take a lot of umbrage with anyone that says there's canon ships, or that there's ships that "obviously would happen." Maybe? Maybe not? It's just silly and far too self-restricting for no good reason. I get if you just want to ship one thing, but you don't have to justify it lol. Enjoy what you enjoy, but don't try to strongarm it into "canon" that doesn't really exist.

And saying it's "what she wants" and that she is confident and fulfilled is a load of shit lmao.

You (the royal you, not you, anon) have to have negative reading comprehension to put Shadowheart down that path and be like, "yeah, she loves this." It's so typical of an abuse victim to try and appease her abuser, and the Dark Justiciar route is her indulging in that. But to hear her lines in the romance afterwards, about how she can't really love the PC, combined with how she has to deal with her parents and how she retreats from being open about herself to being cold and distant once more...?

To say it's "right" for her is absolutely wild, and I despise the thought that there can't be happy endings or we can't want her to have a happy ending. I love fucked up stories with miserable endings, but I also love warm stories with joy and love and redemption at the end of it all.

It's also a massively surface-level read to say it's anything she wants. Sometimes people push themselves down paths they don't know how to retreat from, and the ends are often horrifying.

Aside #2: It's the same as if you cheat on her with Mizora. Like, she might be OK with relationships that are non-monogamous (if the player is) but the way the VA and writing and mocap combined in that scene make it painfully obvious that she is just trying to appease you to keep the relationship intact. Supremely typical abused person behavior, but now the PC is the abuser instead. Seeing people comment that she's OK with the Mizora situation is head-on-backwards level misreading.

She has done evil deeds in her past, sure. I think if you blanket claim she cannot be redeemed, you're going into some wild territory at the logical conclusion of that one. Her circumstances also alter how we interpret her past as well, and I think it intersects with my belief that compassion is a learned skill that not everyone cultivates.

Not to mention that everyone in the BG3 cast can be turned "evil" or at least made to do dark shit. "One True Way" types will never understand that there is a multitude of experiences, and it translates to this game as well.

And finally.

The lore?

Lol. Lmao even.

We know who the "real" Shadowheart is, but in some universes she destroys that person in order to foolishly seek approval from her abuser/goddess. In others, in mine for example, she abandons that goddess to embrace the person she's been forced to hide.

So yeah, my ultimate response to "Dark Justiciar Shadowheart is the real Shadowheart" is a big, wet fart noise.

[ddelline]

wip wednesday (feat shibuya groundhog day/time loop multi-ch goyuu)

blurb | holy shit y’all, I’ve got another multi-ch jjk fic on the block. and it's not interfering w adsr. I have never had the mental capacity to as much as consider two multi-ch fics at the same time; if I’m working on a multi-ch wip, and inspiration suddenly strikes and forces me to get another one off the ground, I just abandon the former for the latter. they can never co-exist. well until now apparently.

maybe due to the fact that this is like, the first longish fic I’ve ever set out to write, that I know needs to start with x, and contain y, to equate z (in less dumbass terms: I know what the fuck I’m supposed to write (which I never do lmao, as a writer I operate on 0 thoughts 100% vibes in the purest sense, which is idiotic when all I can write is plotty as sh*t)). which is why I’m slowly fleshing out ch 09 of adsr alongside chapter 1/2 of cv/sm (title isn’t necessarily all that spoiler-y, but in a sense it is, so keeping the full thing under wraps for now). estimating chapter length to be around at least 10-ish k each.

annnnd bc it’s fun to dump a wip somewhere whilst in-progress, I’ll be doing these wip wednesday updates whenever there’s something to say about it.

premise | unlike what I told @voxofthevoid, this is not post-jjk light novel reading, crack-adjacent, wholesome goyuu fluff: this is ‘a groundhog day/timeloop two-shot feat satoru trying to move mountains/himself w limitless inside prison realm, wherein he succeeds in breaking out (and into different timelines), only to have his every attempt at righting various wrongs turn to shit’

may or may not turn out well; will absolutely contain 1. goyuu 2. post-apocalyptic timeline 3. bb!satoru timeline (& various ??? canon + non-canon timelines) 4. sports metaphors (sry but y’all know me by now)

jaySUS enough of me click on the cut to read a first (very rough) excerpt. if you want to get in to The Vibe I recommend listening to: 01. VTSS — Why we don’t deserve nice things 02. Tzusing — 戴綠帽 (Wear Green Hat) 03. Low — Poor Sucker

01. full time elapsed  | t = tf (tf = 5 259 492 000) – t0 (t0 = 31/10/2018 21:22)

The shore is not so much a shore anymore.

Satoru shields a hand—and himself—against dank, bloodspill red rays of supposed-to-be-sunlight. He squints, for the second time in very short—a novelty—as he slowly treks up a quasi-path in sand that’s less sand, more earth-adjacent carnage. There’s as much splintered rock and powdered mineral, weighed down by radioactive algae, as there is—

Bone. Satoru didn’t pay all that much attention to any of his number of biology classes, but via this or the other, he knows that he just stepped clean through the porous curve of a partial ilium crest. 

Bone. And calcified curse. Whoever’s pelvis he just crushed beneath the heel of his boot is fifty fifty, somehow. Curses have weight to them: Satoru doesn’t mean that in an abstract, flighty sense; curses weigh literal kilos, if realized enough. And this bit of so old it’s become brittle-bone isn’t brittle because it doesn’t have the amassed density of dense bone mineral and weighty curse—

It’s brittle because the curse which blankets the very atmosphere—and by extension Satoru—like the incredible opposite of stepping out into balmy, subtropical climate after so long breathing recycled air on long flight, is so much heavier.

Satoru swallows against a parched throat he hadn’t realized was this dry. Bile amasses sour at the back of his tongue. He’s not so naïve as to not believe his eyes; they’ve never deceived him, though he has admittedly, a scant number of times, seen only a partial piece when he’s supposed to have zoomed out, regarded the whole frame. So he won’t do himself the discourtesy of cowering for what he is indeed seeing, right now, either.

Wherever he is might be Tokyo; might be Japan. It might not be. The thought occurs to him that there might be no such thing as ‘Japan’ at this point.

He scuffs a toe in the wet kind of-sand. At least the ocean remains a steady, squalling, sucking depth of blue-grey-black: a constant. He puts a cupped palm to shield his eyes as he scans his immediate surroundings: the carnage-filled slope of the once-beach hitches up into a small rock jut. Satoru climbs it with wary, though loping steps. Can’t reach the peak far enough, just as he can’t wait to wake up, startled out of horrid, nightmarish slumber by his senses wavering, flickering out of active guard for a millisecond.

Fucking ironic, how being imprisoned in an alternate dimension, whilst your comrades are no doubt slaughtered, picked off one by one on the outside, can apparently measure up and beyond to a certain iteration of reality.

The world beyond Satoru’s meager outlook spot, for lack of actual, original words, looks like a most fleshed out iteration of Ducasse’s juxtaposed sewing machine and an umbrella, flayed bare and egregiously stitched together, there on the dissecting table. A subcutaneous fissure in the earth yawns wide and open ahead of him, having broken through what was once maybe an inlaid asphalt road, which might’ve bisected the dry landscape, made it into something traversable. Farther ahead, vines have staked their claim on man made structures: lampposts and road signs lilt askew, overgrown now and mostly impossible to identify by cursory glance alone. To his left, far up ahead, a probable once upon a time-gas station has been half-gouged out of place, bits and pieces of the foundation strewn, alongside the disembodied hood of a car, and the shriveled spirals of torn-apart rubber, like so much collateral, structural shrapnel.

The air is heady and thick with curse. It’s invasive, and everywhere, muggy and humid; it fills his pores to the brim, snakes into his clothes, mingles so thoroughly with the oxygen that it might as well be one and the same.

Satoru doesn’t have the personality to become overwhelmed: whatever typical strains of reactionary, knee jerk, emotional responses might’ve once been ingrained into the core of him, he’s successfully whetted away over time. Has picked out, grasped between the thumb and pad of index finger, and ripped out by the root.

He sinks to a crouch by way of slow inching. Drops his weight until he’s dislodged most of his mass to be temporarily suspended in the aborted motion of balancing himself between the flat of his sole, and his knees. He puts his right hand to rest on top of his rocky underfoot, not in support, but to feel dense, solid earth under his knuckles as he tightens them. He dispels Infinity, in this instant giving less than a flying fuck about what might happen to him as a result of it, and digs his blunt fingernails into the meat of his palm until it breaks into gaping, blood pulsing lesions.

[morningstargirl666]

oh wow oh wow oh wow. I just read TBBW and the other wolfblood stories and I am absolutely 100% blown away. your writing and world building is absolutely incredible and your mastery of each character and their relationships is something to be admired. like holy shit. one of my favorite parts is how you developed the werewolf lore so much -- I always thought they could do SO much better (and you did!!). ((also also I absolutely LOVE sam as a character, he's amazing and I love his interactions with everybody)) but question for you: how do (some) werewolves consider the curse a gift if the trigger is killing someone (in canon at least)? I can't recall if that was the only way to trigger it in TBBW or not. but ty for sharing your story! <3

omg omg HI!!!

First of all, thank you so much for all the nice words! Absolutely love that you have enjoyed my self-indulgent crusade against canon lmao 😂 I feel very honoured! Love you so much ✨❤️

And your question! Funnily enough, this is going to be explored in more depth in the editing I've been doing to The Little Wolf...it's uh...not 11k anymore. [nervous laugher] More like...30k? Once I've finished it, I'll re-post, so watch out for that update.

ANYWAY as for my lore around the werewolf curse, I've had it in my head for a long time (hence me laying the groundwork in for TBBW, how it's gift, not a curse etc). There's a LOT to it, so let me try and explain in a coherent way:

So. First, the way the wolf is triggered is slightly different than canon. In my head, all that werewolf backstory (that came in I think in The Originals but don't quote me on that) where a witch cursed people to turn on a full moon after they themselves had killed someone, creating the werewolf species - is bullshit. That did not happen here. In TBBW and its related stories, werewolves evolved. Whether they started off as witches who meddled in shapeshifting magics, or simply evolved as an adjacent species to the human race I'll leave unclear (i feel that werewolves probably tell their children legends of how werewolves came first, man and wolves evolving from them lol, like their little own creation story). And like the scientific theory of evolution, werewolf packs have different traits/attributes because they reproduced with certain gene pools. Some are stronger, some are faster, some - like Lycaon and Klaus, werewolves from North America and Scandinavia (because the continents used to be joined, especially during the ice ages I think) - are larger, like Dire Wolves.

Now, my theory is, like I said, is that lycanthropy isn't a curse. It's sorta like a defence mechanism? So strong emotions of fear, anger, panic, anything that comes with trauma or what ignites that fight/flight instinct, coming of age even - that's what triggers it, what awakens the wolf and brings it forth and any death that happens because of that anger is merely a consequence, not a cause. Now obviously, hundreds of years ago, people didn't have an understanding of mental health or the idea of trauma, not really. I mean shellshock was a term more broadly used after the World Wars, which is barely 100 years ago. So, werewolves wouldn't have seen this scientific/logical reasoning behind it.

However, they also didn't believe it was merely taking a life that caused it. That reasoning, came from fear, people like Mikael who feared werewolves because of their power and strength. It's basically propaganda from the winning side of the feud between supernatural species. Like you said, werewolves believe it to be a gift. Perhaps even, a gift from the gods themselves.

In The Little Wolf it's going to be explained that they believe Death demands a sacrifice, but Death also doesn't care how that sacrifice is given. Yes, you can awaken the wolf if you kill a man. But you also awaken the wolf if you watch a family member die in front of you, grieving their loss. Furthermore, I always thought you also have to consider how killing someone a thousand years ago wasn't a horror or crime it is now. People killed to survive, to defend their families, even to prove their worth. I'm not talking about cold-blooded murder, but killing as warriors. Most cultures it was probably even an act of coming of age.

Here's a snippet from the The Little Wolf that probably explains it better, where young pack members are being initiated into Lycaon's pack:

The Alpha stared down at the young wolves, his eyes kind as he stood before them, assessing each of them in turn.  “Will you answer their call tonight?” He asked; a question for them and them alone. A chorus of ‘Aye’ answered him, the young wolves keeping their heads bowed. The Alpha nodded and turned, gesturing for an elder wolf-woman to step forward, her face wrinkled by time. In one of her hands hung a cluster of necklaces, each unique to its owner, and in the other, a bowl of blood, drawn from every member of the pack. The first, a silver trinket forged from the metal of the enemy’s sword he had slain. The second and third, necklaces made of small bones from the animal they had killed on their first hunt alone. The fourth, made of wooden beads that used to decorate necklaces adorning her mother’s breast, a possession of a relative recently lost. Many feared the wolf-men because of the way their wolves woke, satisfied only by Death herself. But what was little known, was Death did not discriminate. She did not care either way, if the death you witnessed was dealt by your own hand or by the cruelty of fate. The Alpha himself had befallen such a trial, his wolf woken the day of his father’s death, taken by the floods of a great storm that had robbed his mother of her mate. Death was Death, a notion that transcended all languages and cultures, timeless in its power and prestige. Just as there was a Beginning, there had to be an End. And only through seeing death, did one truly understand the nature of life.

Does that make any sense? Lol there's a lot to it (and tbf there's probably more I'm forgetting to say). Klaus, despite Mikael's abuse, never triggered the wolf for reasons that will be explained in The Little Wolf.

Thanks so much again, I've had the shittiest day and your ask arriving in my inbox really brightened it. So thank you ✨

[wickermayne]

What inspires your Naruto fics? Huge fan!

I'm going to assume you mean all my smut lol, if not just ask again with whatever you mean in particular.

I mostly inspired by Dramione (Draco/Hermione from HP) fics. There's a lot of high quality smut that I feel like het Naruto fics with Naruto as the lead (outside some NaruHina fics) are lacking. And sometimes it's not even just quality but quantity. Dramione gets updated with smut like everyday and for sure every week, and we're lucky to get some Naruto/F smut on AO3 a few times a month I feel like. I'm a huge Naruto/Multishiper and it feels like slim pickings in general and especially for smut. I'm also the type that's not interested in adventure/action fics anymore. I like romance (and smut obviously!) and I felt it was hard to find those fics with, say, Naruto/Ino or even Naruto/Sakura. I got into a "Fine, I'll do it myself," mentality and here we are like 4 years later with like 200k words of smut lol.

But back to the inspiration, I usually read Dramione smut and think "That's really hot, I should try that with Naruto/whomever." Especially the bdsm aspect of my writing and Naruto being like a pleasure dom, that really comes from there.

Sometimes I watch porn or hentai or something and there's a striking visual aspect that I'm like "I need to turn this into smut," so there's that too. It can be challenging and that's a fun part of it too, like making sure this primarily visual experience comes of as hot/sexy in the written format.

My main motivation for writing, especially all this smut, is I feel like the PWP? (Plot? What Plot?) genre of smut is like dead or a dying breed for Naruto/F. Which is fine if no one else wants to write it, I'll do it lol. I do feel like my opinion is a scorching hot take, but a lot of times I'm not interested in 50K+ slowburn fics to read some smut! I also kind of want to expand from the purely mechanical/hentai implementation of smut for Naruto/F fics a lot of guys write. Not saying that I don't use some of that technique, but I don't want my "Naruto" to be a self-insert and I don't write him a such, he's meant to be as canon-adjacent as possible while writing all these different, interesting kinks. I love writing different pairings with him and different interactions.

Naruto Uzumaki is my favourite character, ever, and sometimes I get into the mindset that no one loves him except for me, lmao I know this is an insane thing to say, but the mindset is what lets me pump content. I really get into this zone like "Literally no one else will do this if I don't," and while 99% probably not true, like looking at all the content I produced, the breadth of my pairings and kinks, and maybe I'm not 100% tripping? Anyway this is my deep dark secret 😬

Thanks for the ask! 🤗

[onmaplestreetagain]

lia, you aren't wrong. the st play is so random - reminds me of the HP sequel that was a play. it feels like an odd branch for the series, especially because its not the most accessible. i am intrigued because i love theatre and ST but i don't want the ST fandom to be one like the MCU where if you miss one thing (like this or supplementary novels) you're lost. i just want the duffle bags to focus on ST5 and end it well, and preferably in less than 5 years time. gah.

Yessss Janna I 100% agree, you put into words exactly how I feel! I'm also a big theatre fan and I think it's totally fine for creators to branch out to different forms -- it's expected at this point with a lot of franchises -- but when it starts to become officially incorporated into canon I'm skeptical. And you're right, it's not the most accessible form, I mean the ST-adjacent novels and comics etc are one thing but a play?? One described as holding the "key" to future events? I don't know how to feel. And I'm saying this purely on how the ST social media accounts have described and addressed it.... so we'll see! I'm also just protective over ST staying true to its core and not changing too much.... even after I've been let down lmao so it's very Me to be rattled by something like this

[anxietycheesecake]

Gay sex jokes can be funny, tasteful and valid rep. But when it's all a show really delivers, there's definitely teasing of the only potential mlm couple (that nobody forced them to put in there; people shipping something they know is just a fun dynamic that won't go anywhere isn't that) and then going all "oh, but it's deeper than sexual™" and "I don't know if we're teasing it" is definitely... queerbait adjacent.

There are homophobes who are super comfortable watching this show to this day. They have an homophobic explanation for every single joke or hint we've enjoyed. It doesn't make it an homophobic show, of fucking course not, but it hasn't alienated the homophobic audience as much as you think. It probably will happen in season 4, but not yet.

Baiting the only mlm relationship when the only rep as for today are casual jokes is queerbait-adjacent. Going on unrelated weirdly sexual tangents when asked genuine questions about something even the press has read as text should leave a taste in your mouth, especially when compared to stuff that's been said before season 3 was a thing (and I'm willing to bet they're barely aware asexuality/demisexuality is a thing, if they've heard of it at all, so don't come for me). This doesn't feel like a "wait and see" type of answer, but ok, let's wait and see.

And if by the end of the show nandermo goes fully unaddressed (NOT CANON; the bar is as low as ADDRESSING it, I'll be ok with however it goes from there), I'm sorry, but I won't be as uwu about it as you are being.

I'm glad you feel seen and validated and like you're getting the rep you want, but when you consider how little risks the network is truly taking by doing stuff this way and how they'll definitely keep doing it in the future if they can get away with it... I mean, it's kind of insulting? I wouldn't give it a pass. I think it 100% would set a very unfortunate precedent.

(I know people are going to say "oh, but there's a lesbian couple in this other show, they're super ok with that". Cool. I promise you a board of guys with ties sat around a table to study every possible ramification of putting those lesbians in that drama or whatever. But you know what I want? More sitcoms with wild concepts and queer relationships. More sitcoms with queer relationships in general. If they can get away with baiting the only gay ship and still get praised for queer rep for jokes about how horny everybody is, expect most shows to handle it exactly like that. One is ok, sure, but there will be more and it'll get boring very quickly.)

I can't believe I have to say this, but don't fucking harrass the creators. Express your negativity about a product you consumed in general terms like a normal person and act in consequence.

Anyway, I love this show and where it's heading, not so much how it's being handled in the month and year of our lord June, 2022. Hope to come back and cringe at this someday lmao

[hexfloog]

Hakuba?

disclaimer: i haven't seen ep.479 yet, it's been a hot minute since i read magic kaito, and i wrote this after a few drinks

(in no particular order below the break)

they got done dirty by fans • despite being basically prototype shinichi (and, appropriately, looking a bit like the end product of using polymerization on him with shiho), he gets relatively little attention. obviously most of this is just due to the fact that he just doesn't appear in anything-- and hasn't for a not-insignificant amount of time-- but that and personality and flaws aside, i think it's kind of a shame because of most everything else on this list, such as...

wasted potential / didn't get enough screen time / they work better as part of a dynamic • his relationship with kaito is so funny. he heckles him """knowing""" that he's KID but has never actually 100% without-a-doubt, irrefutably confirmed it. he gets bamboozled every time but is just so dead set on it that he completely ignores kaito's repeated insistence that he isn't who he thinks he is and just continues to talk to him as if he's talking to KID and that's just hilarious to me. it's kind of like if conan never disclosed his identity as shinichi to heiji but heiji treats him like he does in current canon anyway. of these interactions by far the best one is the volunteering of valuable information to kaito in the middle of the chat noir heist as an under-the-table, backhanded sort of bidding of "good luck." it's a lesser mirroring of the relationship kaito has with conan - but arguably funnier since hakuba """knows""" the truth but conan does not (and likely does not care to, as it would not alter the dynamic). • the above, but now with the added hilarity of him being 1 of 3 members in a group of 4 (one of whom is JUST KAITO HIMSELF sksksk) who know that kaito moonlights as KID at the conclusion of MK1412. i'm a little mad this didn't continue like WHAT were they gonna do LMAO • adjacent to the above: his apparent (former? is he still into her?) infatuation with akako. obviously it's just/mostly a result of him being under her spell but it's so fucking funny that she still sort of notices him regardless. even if he is just a means to an end she calls upon him when kaito is in danger in sun halo, which is... wild?? akako is also member #2 of this KID group which makes this even funnier, deadASS what was the endgame of this group gonna be in practice LOLOL, everyone just uses everyone else as bait for something or other and the end goal of unmasking KID is just completely moot if 75% of them already know

wow! they are a horrible person

• you cAN'T JUST SAY THAT TO HEIJI AND GET AWAY WITH IT

• *wildly gesturing* YOU ALSO CAN'T JUST ACCUSE OTHER PEOPLE OF NEPOTISM (something something people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones etc. etc.)

• in the MK anime specials canon, hakuba has relatively little interest in capturing KID and instead uses him as bait iirc?? tbf they're all guilty of this in the MK1412 canon, but it rubs differently when spider is the prey they're trying to catch - different if only because he poses a legitimate threat to even kaito. even if he saves him before he's lost to the nightmare that's still something of a MASSIVE gamble, especially if both he and kaito combined are not much of a threat to spider T___T like this is like... how conan tends towards recklessness when the black organization is involved, including the disregard/failure to consider the full consequences of involving or using the people around him, villain or otherwise (pisco and itakura, at least, come to mind).

why do they look like that • he LITERALLY debuts in sherlock cosplay • his eyes are red?? hello???? (why is this so vivid in my memory but now when i try to look up screenies to corroborate they're brown in every single one of them)

whatever. they're red to me. makes things more interesting sksksks

i don't really have much to say about them / i forgot this character existed (am i the biggest lying liar or nah. look at all this text) • despite all of this, that's kind of all i have to say about him. i didn't do my homework and am drawing purely on memory and that's a little hard when he makes so few appearances even in the MK canon(s). MK in general has a lot of wasted potential tho imo and i think that extends to its primary cast too, including hakuba. personally i think he's far too wacky to mesh well into detco canon, in the same way that detco kaito is not quite the same as MK kaito.

all in all i think hakuba, unlike his successor, is really not at all tolerable on his own and works infinitely better with practically anyone else in the ekoda gang (but mostly kaito, bc they are both proprietors of a part of the MK-brand of Shenanigans).

anyway thank you for the character!! nice opportunity to think about the fellas i don't typically yammer about :D

[fanfictionsquared]

I’m reworking my one MoD!Harry AU. Details below the cut.

Who did I draw in the pic?

Regulus (sharp cheekbone, curly hair that changes length)

Sirius (in the jacket with pins hehe)

Lily Luna (red hair)

Teddy (blue hair)

What is the AU now, FF^2?

*inhales deeply*

SO. Everything’s mostly canon (not cursed child compliant tho lmao), and Harry is officially Master of Death since he was the owner of all three hallows at the same time. This means, essentially, that he is now the personification/god of death.

Since Harry is Harry tho, he doesn’t want to live forever alone, and so his friends and family try to help him find a way to get out of it. There isn’t one. So he is, of course, resigned to living forever alone.

Except his friends decide “no, no thanks, we’re not letting you do this alone.” So when Harry dies and ‘ascends,’ his family and friends choose to ascend with him. He’s able to reach already dead souls using the stone, so Sirius also ends up making the choice to ascend too. The rest of the dead are content staying where they are.

(I have,,,, such a long list of who ascends and what they do and blah blah blah, but I’m not gonna get into it because it is….. so much. It’s truly just so much.)

The important thing is that the way this works is that the universe resets itself every so often, slightly different each time. And certain things carry through, like tales turning into mythos. Harry and his immortal (sometimes reincarnating) family, are the focus of several of these myths, including the harbingers of the apocalypse one.

So when his family meddles, it’s usually with those names, rather than their original ones. Which, when they interact with alternate incarnations of people they know, can cause some shenanigans.

What is actually depicted in your doodles?

Regulus,,,, listen he is my current blorbo and I just wanted to draw him, ok? The jegulus fandom got its teeth in me and now I’m thinking about Harry Potter stuff again. (Speaking of which! Fuck JKR.)

In this AU, he doesn’t ascend with everyone else, but instead ascends later during a whole thing that I will maybe actually write into a fic. Maybe.

Top left is just the first full body Regulus design I did. Dipping my toes in, you could say. Key things; he’s younger in this. Pre-ascension. He’s wearing slytherin’s locket for plot reasons.

Top middle is the Black brothers with their animagus forms behind them. And yes I made regulus’ a lion. Tbh I think he deserves it. He’s dangerous, lazy, proud, sneaky, and at the end he was really, really brave. I know lots of people make him a house cat, but like. If Sirius can have his star’s namesake as an animagus form, so can regulus.

Below that, we have Regulus saying “Potter?” While looking shocked. I won’t elaborate too much on this for plot reasons (in case I write the fic), BUT, this is the moment that he learns that Lily Luna is a Potter.

To the right of that is the brother hanging out and being cute and I love them. I just want them to reconcile and talk and be family again 😭. Also I want Sirius to have 100 little gay pins for his leather jacket. He deserves it.

Bottom left is Lily Luna and Regulus together. I this AU on particular, Regulus has a mentor/mentee and uncle adjacent relationship with her. They are cute, and I love them, and I won’t hear otherwise, sorry not sorry.

Bottom right is the only doodle I will give spoilers for. It’s post-ascension, where Regulus, Sirius, LilyLuna, and Teddy are all about to wreck some shit. The rest of the family jokingly calls them the “Grim Squad”, because all of them go out and hunt down wayward or death cheating souls. So if you see them, you’re their target, and will die. Just like the Grim thing.

Last words

This is a self indulgent au, and idk if I’ll write it, but maybe I’ll elaborate on it more here if anyone is actually interested. Either way, I’m just happy I had the motivation to draw this 😌