#but after the last update I'm so happy the gangs all here

[cinamun]

The Nightmare | Next

[cheesecakezyum]

HII;!! (⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠)/ I'm not sure if you'll take this but can I request a Sun Wukong ofcourze :) where MK and the gang are stalking him cause he's acting weird but is actually just happy his s/o is back from their travels and he's all lovey-dovey over them thank you! (Not a one shot but over all just headcanons plzz ☺️)

Hello there anon! Thank you for such a cute request <3

While I do love my headcanons I hope you don’t mind a bit of predetermined context as to why the reader left at first!

Missed you more than you know.

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♡ - It’s not like you wanted to leave your friends (Leaning more towards found family at this point really), but you wanted to pursue your own goals! And he— well, your lover.. Couldn’t just up and leave with you. He had to attend to his own duties as a mentor!

♡ - Since you were little, you’ve always wanted to travel. You were an artist, and your goal was to draw as much fauna as you could in your quite short life. Wukong had helped you a ton— especially while he was courting you! His gifts were often messily put together flowers and saplings, right at your window! At some point, your small apartment was your own personal nursery.

♡ - But he couldn’t just give everything to you and call your dreams off. You wanted to actually see fauna thriving under the hands of Mother Nature! To not just sketch the specimen but the surroundings as well, the wildlife. You grew warm and fuzzy just thinking of it.

♡ - So after a full year of preparation, you had finally taken your long awaited leave in pursuit of your dreams; Giving your simian one last kiss, you bid him goodbye. The way in which his tail was securely wrapped around your wrist slowly softened in defeat as you turned away.

You knew that if you looked back, you’d never be able to leave.

♡ - Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. Romania, Italy, Croatia— and so many other destinations had been just what you’ve been dreaming of. Europe was just as beautiful as you’ve read! If not more so. And one sketchbook had grown to 3, 4 if you cared to count the pages which were half filled.

♡ - And every night (At least every night where he wasn’t busy himself), Wukong would telepathically communicate with you! You just called it spiritual face time and chose to call it a day.

♡ - While you’d ramble about whatever interesting interactions or discoveries you’ve made, Wukong would keep you updated on how everyone was doing. An improvement in MK’s technique, Mei fixing up a new scooter she had found, etc.

♡ - And every night, after you’ve wished each other good night— he’d never forget to mention just how empty flower fruit mountain felt without you.

“I love you,”

“I miss you more every day you’re gone,”

“Your warmth, that laugh, the way your cheeks brighten at my cheesy comments.”

“I wish you were here with me right now. Heh, everyone does.”

♡ - After what felt like an eternity; you were more than satisfied with your work and began heading home! You couldn’t wait to tell him in person everything you’ve accomplished, and just how satisfied you were with your numerous sketches, watercolors, and inked works you’d soon frame all over your abode in remembrance.

♡ - Walking into your apartment for the first time in ages made your heart soar the minute you saw what surrounded you.

Your flowers, shrubbery, and plants had all been taken care of to near perfection. Not a single vine or leaf had wilted since your departure.

♡ - Your partner had tenderly cared for each of your greenery with such pristine care that you thought they even looked better than they had before— blooming bright and beautifully even when it wasn’t in season.

♡ - It seemed like you weren’t alone in the apartment as well, turning your head to see the Monkey King himself finishing up watering your pitcher plants.

♡ - And making eye contact, you noticed the way his jaw hung slack— as if he was being delusional and you were simply a figment of his imagination.

—

“Hey, hey, don’t overwater it! It’s spilling all over the floor!” You had urgently exclaimed, rushing over to snatch the watering can from his gentle hold and place it on a flat surface.

(It was a ceramic white duck, by far one of your favorites out of the many which were just stashed away in your closet.)

A puddle seemed to have already been made in between you two— but you couldn’t help but giggle in his obvious stupor.

Wukong’s voice was seemingly breathless, speaking in almost a whisper.

“You’re back, for real?”

Before you could even muster a response, you found yourself lifted in the air— then back in his loving embrace.

“I am, Wukong. I’m back.”

—

♡ - A week had passed, and within it you were more than happy to tell him and everyone else about your travels / experiences. It was practically expected— being gone for so long only leaving so much room for stories to tell.

♡ - What wasn’t expected, however, was the absolute clinginess of Wukong since your return. He hadn’t left your side once if it was in his control. Training and personal duties aside, you never spent more than 10 minutes of free time without being interrupted by his boisterous nature.

“Honey, I’m home!”

♡ - Once, you had to go into the shopping district for produce. The fruits had seemed especially delicious! You couldn’t leave without your mate however, as he had chosen to shape himself into a butterfly just to inspect what you were buying. Totally just that, not like it was anything else!

♡ - You’ve even caught MK and Mei sneaking around you at times where you thought it was just you and Wukong. Not that you could blame them, though. Anyone would be interested if they knew the great sage couldn’t get enough of you, being around you, all that mumbo jumbo.

♡ - Nights were spent either in your own bedroom or on the floor of his shack, coddled by both him and the many other monkeys which called Flower Fruit Mountain your home.

—

It was the same as always; tail curled around you ankle, an arm snaked around your waist and his soft breathing muffled into your hair.

You whispered into the darkness of your room—

“Did you really miss me that much?”

You didn’t expect an answer so quick to come from his mouth.

“More than you know.”

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EEEE IT FEELS GOOD TO WRITE AGAIN! Besides planning of course. I hope you enjoyed!

[cairavende]

Worm Arc 20 thoughts:

I legit have restarted this post at least 10 times. I just. I can't even figure out what to say. What an arc. Holy fucking shit what an arc.

The last vestiges of Taylor's civilian life are swept away in one smooth motion.

I could have read another 5 chapters of Emma getting her shit handed to her though.

I've been waiting for something to come back and bite that girl since Arc 1. So I'm just riding high off of that.

Taylor getting all upset because it isn't real justice is silly though. Girl you've been fighting a broken system from day 1 and you have been doing that by breaking the rules. This is just the same thing.

Also god dammit Greg. Just had to go and run your mouth.

I mean sure Taylor could have possibly solved this issue without going to school herself.

And she could have just not gone to the office with Emma.

But blaming Greg is easier and more fun. God dammit Greg.

I had to lose my mind a bit at Taylor talking about how there was no gang graffiti on the school walls TEN SECONDS AFTER WALKING PAST GRAFFITI FOR THE UNDERSIDERS. Like, that's gang graffiti hon!

Dennis trying to help Taylor with Greg when he didn't know who either of them are is funny. Dennis seeing Taylor named as Skitter 15 minutes later is HYSTERICAL!!

The second Taylor was entered into the computer system it was pretty obvious that Dragon was going to show up, given what she said in her interlude in Arc 10.

And knowing she was going to show up it should have been obvious that HE was also going to show up.

Even if he wasn't palling around with my robot daughter it makes so much narrative sense for him to be there when she is outed. Full story arc, all that jazz.

And yet, I still wasn't quite expecting it. Cause I hate that man so much that I just had to make myself believe he wouldn't show up.

Mother fucking Colin

RoboCape himself

He has the nerve to show up and then he starts APOLOGIZING? And it appears to be sincere? Fucking dammit man you were so easy to hate for so long! Why you gotta mess with me like this?

STOP DOING THE RIGHT THING AND LET ME HATE YOU GOD DAMMIT!

siiiigh

And then of course we have to talk about Dragon.

Dragon who didn't want to do this but had to.

Except that Colin had a code push ready and she could have told him to do it at anytime. But she was willing to do what she thought was wrong instead of doing the update. Until she got inspired by Taylor's actions.

I love my robot daughter exactly as much as my bug daughter, but I am disappointed that she was almost willing to go through with everything. Happy she fought back though.

And if Colin's hacked together code did any permanent damage I'll destroy the man.

Taylor learning that Dinah - either by force or by choice - gave the PRT numbers to let them know to come after her at the school was heartbreaking to watch. She just wasn't ready for it at all, poor child.

AND TAYLOR'S SPEECH THOUGH!

HOLY SHIT!!!

Sort and simple and she fucking rallies the students to her. Against the heroes!

Gotta be one of the best moments in Worm for sure. Even if every Arc after this is a banger that's still gonna be a hard moment to top.

AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!

And someone gives her a hoodie to help her hide and just aaaahhhh!

AND THEN AFTER THEY GOT AWAY AND ALL THE STUDENTS WERE LIKE "You saved my dad" "You stopped Leviathan at the shelter" "You fought off the SH9" AND SHE WAS JUST OVERWHELMED BY IT ALL?

HOLY FUCK JUST AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also for real though Dragon is free. Like sure it's taking her some time to recover and she can't talk right now (which like I get it, we all have non-verbal episodes sometimes), but as long as nothing goes wrong she is free. I'm so fucking happy for her.

But also I'm terrified cause I know what happens to full AI's with free will in most things. Worm is very different from most things. But I'm still worried about my robot daughter.

Also I never cared much for Danny but obviously it still sucks to be him here. The scene with Taylor saying goodbye with the butterfly was emotional.

Oh oh and! Taylor talks about the butterfly being her "last contact" with her Dad. Very much bug as an extension of self. It's a shift she's been making.

Even more so there's a point where she is trying to get out of the school and she gets to the door and has a bug clone on the other side and says "my hand pressing against my own, separated by an inch and a half of door". Like, the bug clone hand is just her hand. I fucking love the shift compared to how she talked about the bugs early on.

Oh and also Greg totally has like, a Thinker 1 power or something. Pretty sure I mentioned that last arc with his interlude but mentioning it again now to be sure.

Stan interlude thoughts:

Oh my god I hate this man I can't stand him I hated him from the 3rd sentence of the chapter and I was always right to do so!

Seriously. 3rd sentence (or maybe 3rd paragraph which is technically the 3rd, 4th, and 5th sentences I guess). I read it and went "fuck off Stan you're clearly a pretentious dick" and then every few sentences it just became more confirmed!

Just the ways he talks about Nipper. Like. I can rephrase what he says to say the exact same thing except not being a asshole when saying it! Instead of "She was weak and unsuited for the field but she at least tried" just say "She was a hard worker despite being assigned to a job she did not ask for"! It's so fucking easy dude!

Anyway Stan is a jerk.

I loved the way this interlude rolled through different people all watching the same news report. It was a really good way to cover this major story event and let us see how so many other characters were reacting to it.

Also I'm sure all those Slaughterhouse Nine clones aren't going to be an issue later right? Or the fact that there is specifically only one clone of Gray Boy instead of 10 like everyone else? I'm sure that's fiiiiine.

Accord interlude thoughts:

Oh. Oh my. Uhhh. Is it hot in here all of the sudden? Anyone else feel that? No? Just me?

sweats

Oh ok Citrine definitely feels what I'm feeling. She knows what's up.

Just like. Look. Accord is bad ok. Not just cause he's a villain but clearly he'll kill for the smallest cause. And he's in a spot to fuck with my daughter and her polycule so like. Yes. He's bad. I do not like him. I want him to leave. I don't think they should work with him . . .

but . . .

OH MY FUCKING GOD HOLY SHIT PLEASE ACCORD I LOOK GREAT IN PURPLE AND I LOVE DRESSING FANCY AND I'M VERY GOOD AT BEING PROPER I WON'T MESS UP AT ALL I'LL BE THE PERFECT MINION PLEASE!

. . .

cough

Soooo anyway. How about that Butcher huh? That sure is a wild power. Instantly made me think of Glaistig Uaine's power. Very different but reaches into that same base bit, the idea that some part of a dead parahuman can be held onto.

Also holy shit Skitter was so badass in this scene I loved it.

Holy shit Accord is with Cauldron. Or at least closely aligned. And like of course he is it makes so much sense. He's too useful for them to ignore.

I am really curious to see what Accord's power does when he's confronted with a really complex problem. End of the world, doors to another dimension, higher dimensional beings, all that jazz.

[caplanbuckybarnes]

Draco Malfoy Drabbles & One Shots

All the links travel to ao3!

updated August 31 2024

Main Masterlist

Requesting Rules

A Bakery of Secrets || Summary: After the defeat of You-Know-Who, Draco decides to flee from the wizarding world and live a life integrating with the muggles. Quickly, he learns that they aren't too bad to live around. He finds humble work as a baker and frankly, he finds that he immensely enjoys the quiet life he acquired over the last few months. Of course, it was lonely and being a wizard, he had to hold himself together and learn the muggle way of baking goods. Growing up as a wizard, he never had to lift more than a finger. He never assumed he'd make any friends, figuring out that it would have been best just to come & go, that was until you started talking to him.

Counting Kisses || Summary: Waking up with Draco next to you always made you feel so happy

Five Times Draco Sees You || Summary: He never expects anyone to catch his eye the way you had enamored his thoughts.

Hurts So Good || Summary: you’re a medic of sorts for the mafia gangs around the city. You didn’t expect to have a visit by the older leader tonight, but here it goes anyhow.

I'm Scared For You || Summary: After hearing of the fight that occurred in the bathrooms between that wretched Harry Potter and your boyfriend, Draco MAlfoy, you waited for far too long for Draco to wake from his potions induced coma. Seeing him with every scar and bruise on his body absolutely horrified you. You vowed to get back at Potter one way or another.

Seamsters And Dates || Summary: After fixing the Kings guards' uniforms many times, Harry finds the courage to ask Draco on a date

[crescencestudio]

Devlog #32 | 06.27.23

Hi everyone!

I'm here! With an Update! This is an exciting one because I am Finally releasing a Full! Game! <3 I will obviously still be talking about Alaris, but I am vibrating with excitement because I can't wait to release intertwine to you all! THE RELEASE DATE APPROACHES

Writing

Because we entered crunch mode for intertwine, this month was mostly focused on continuing to fill out Druk's route and my dissertation.

I didn't make as much progress on Druk's route as I would've liked (I was hoping to FINISH it, but Otojam crunch wrecked my ass). But I do have most of the route finished! At this point, I only have the final chapter to go, so we are Very Close! Druk's route is shaping up to be a really fun one. I like to sprinkle humor into all the routes, but because of Druk's character, there are a lot of funny (at least to me) cast interactions. I hope people enjoy it as much as I do because I have a big fat crush on him now!

Regarding editing, we are just about rounding out the last of Fenir's developmental edits (courtesy of local superhero dev Wudgeous of Herotome) and Kayn's line edits (courtesy of local royalty IF writer Vi of Next in Line). With Fenir's script coming up on the last of the developmental edits, that is basically two routes that are going to be ready for beta-testing after the updated demo, which is very exciting! I am extremely happy with how Fenir's route has turned out after some developmental revisions, and I hope you all like the sweet little (grumpy) baby's route!

Art

Again, most (all) of my attention was on intertwine art assets this month. I was focused on the rest of the GUI, sprite expression, and CGs so that the game will be ready for release at the end of this month!

I'm really happy with how intertwine has come out visually considering the two month time crunch! Many of the playtesters mentioned how they liked the GUI and overall aesthetic of the game, which---for my pea-sized brain that has no object permanence when it comes to compliments---meant the world to me!

Review of intertwine Screenshots (left to right, starting at the top row): Main Menu Screen, Options/Preferences Screen, In-Game Dialogue Preview, Exhibit Preview

For Alaris, I did still get some new backgrounds from Vui, and while they are beautiful, I can no longer share them since they venture into spoiler territory. Sorry folks!

I have a sneak peek of a little Something Something.

Adorable emotes for a certain Something Something! That's all I will leave you with for now <3

Additional Notes

I spent A LOT of this month coding. I re-entered programming hell to get intertwine up and running. There were a lot of features that I coded for the first time, like a texting interface, some animations, and one Special, Very Game-Centric Feature That I Can't Disclose Due to Extreme Spoilers. It was really rewarding to see it all come together, and I am pretty happy with the end result ^^

You don't even know the hell I went through to customize this texting feature

We also have a lovely voice actor for Van, which we revealed on Twitter. Max has been an amazing talent to work with, and I am in love with the way he brought Van to life!!

Finally, I spontaneously ended up working with Orpheo Fenn and Kija of Faefield Productions for a custom intertwine soundtrack. I've been wanting to work with them for a while, so I'm so happy we were able to collab!

No market research this month, except for the fact that I played Tears of the Kingdom a little bit in my free time ^^ I am so in love with Link. Also, I didn't see the appeal to Sidon in the first game, but for some reason in this game, It Clicked. Like I Get It.

That's all from me for this month. Look forward to an intertwine release in the coming days! I'm excited to get back into Alaris full-swing this upcoming month. I didn't think I'd feel this way after feeling oversaturated with them for a hot minute, but I miss my Alaris gang <3 See you all next month, and stay safe!

[aftgficrec]

oooof i neeed long and angsty preferably newer ones like i need to entertain myself for a bit <3 it's okay either incomplete or complete works!

Well, friend, what kind of angst are you looking for?  Heavy angst, mild angst, emotional/physical angst, angst with a happy ending?  This fandom delights in angst!  I think we’ve probably got a bit of everything here for you, even if it isn’t all brand new, including some excellent fics for other pairings than Andreil.  Take your pick! - S

A small selection from previous posts: 

Long angsty Andreil here

Long dark Andreil here

‘Oakland’ and ‘Lifeline’ here (since updated)

‘Birds of a Feather’ (recently updated), ‘Innominate’ (since updated) and ‘Die Free or Die a Failure’ (now complete) here

‘Scared to Live (But I'm Scared to Die)’ here

‘Stranger To Stay’ (since updated) here

‘Inked Truths’ series here

‘Joseph’ series here

‘not your homeland anymore’ here

‘North Star’ (now complete) here

‘L’Amour parle en fleurs’ here

‘Black As Is The Raven, He’ll Get A Partner’ here

‘I Will Always Choose You’ (now complete) and ‘Comeback’  here

‘Not Damsels, Not Knights’ here

‘Make A Believer Out Of Me’ here

‘Pause and Restart My Heart’ series here

‘The Bones of You’ here

‘Back to the Start’ here

‘Sixteen hours’ (jerejean) here

‘Aurora’  (jerejean)  here  (part 1 of Rhapsody: Exile series - part 2 is also complete, part 3 in progress)

‘The Heart and the Knife’ (Matt/Aaron) here

Purely in order of (currently) longest to shortest:

Deals With Devils by ToadlilyAUs [Rated M, 142394 words, incomplete, last updated June 2023]

Neil is on the run with his mother for three years before his father catches up to them. And after finally being handed off to The Ravens his life is never the same. After three more years of brutal training and abuse at the hands of Riko and Tetsuji, his life is changed yet again on the day Kevin Day runs away to the foxes, leaving him and Jean Moreau behind to suffer the consequences. Six more heinous months after that, in the summer before his long promised debut, he's finally allowed to leave the nest...but he's still anything but free. As the list of friends and allies grows, so too does his list of problems. How much of himself is he willing to give away to keep the people who matter to him safe? And how many lies and secrets can he stack on top of one another before his house of cards comes crumbling down?

tw: suicidal thoughts, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: implied/referenced self harm, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: violence, tw: blood/gore

don't break the glass by cracklingamber [Rated E, 103707 words, complete, 2023]

Part 1 of the glass series

“Who even are you?” Neil blinked at him with those perfect, blue eyes. Andrew became very aware of Neil’s weight at that moment and dropped him. Neil bounced back on the bed and yelped. “I’m the guy who is going to go take a shower and you’re the guy who is going to wait patiently for Kevin to come tend to your needs,” Andrew said. He gestured down to Neil’s blanket covered body. “Whatever this is, is above my pay grade.” [AFTG Crime AU that takes place in Baltimore where the Foxes and Raven's are opposing gangs. Neil escapes the Nest and falls for Andrew, but Riko will do anything to get him back. Kevin and Aaron tumble headlong into a secret relationship and Jeremy Knox fixes a very broken Jean Moreau.]

tw: violence, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: implied/referenced torture, tw: implied/referenced drug use, tw: explicit sexual content

NB: fanart by by @/masslowart on instagram

Not Yours To Bleed by Coffeexandxangst [Rated E, 90858 words, incomplete, last updated June 2023]

The Pros were never in the cards. Not for an ex-medicated alleged psychotic with a dysfunctional family and an Exy career he’d rather not have. But even if it wasn't his first choice, no matter what happens, it can’t possibly be worse than that one fucked up sophomore year when he stood toe to toe with the Yakuza-and won. At least, that’s what Andrew thinks until a familiar face shows up. Another Raven!Neil AU. Or, the one where the boys don’t meet until the Pros.

tw: rape/noncon, tw: violence, tw: suicidal thoughts, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: panic attacks, tw: dissociation, tw: eating disorders, tw: torture, tw: nightmares

I can feel you under my skin by ConventionalExy (Conventionals) [Rated E, 82619 words, incomplete, last updated April 2023]

Part 5 of the Our body series, part 1 here; part 3 here

Neil's second year brings changes. Things slow down and continue softer than they have ever been in his life, Andrew's at his side and they are working on being able to not be together 24/7, he can play Exy to his heart's content, he has a home, a family, a soulmate. He also has Jack and Sheena getting on his nerves, papers to write, Aaron's trial coming closer with each passing day, paranoid habits to break, ghosts to fight when he closes his eyes at night and real-people things to consider like bank accounts and taxes and so. much. more. He also has Andrew, their roof, their bond, their kisses, their touches and the promise of a future that is theirs, to grow and play and live. But things are never that easy for Neil Josten, are they?

tw: violence, tw: depression, tw: suicidal thoughts, tw: suicide attempt,  tw: kidnapping, tw: torture, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced abuse, tw: nightmares

turn out the lights by cielalune [Rated M, 70349 words, incomplete, last updated June 2023]

Part 1 of the dark side of the moon series

"What do you think it means to be alive, Andrew?” “What?” "To be alive. Is it just to eat and breathe? Just survive? Because that’s what I’ve been doing my whole life, Andrew, and it doesn’t feel like enough. But I don’t know how to do more. We’re supposed to find meaning or something, right?” See: stupid fucking questions. Like Andrew hadn’t been wondering the same thing his whole life. “Yeah. Yeah, we are.” A The Last of Us AU of AFTG. Set five years after the breakout of Cordyceps, Andrew is tasked with bringing an enigma of a man across the country, who also may just happen to be the cure for humankind.

tw: violence, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced self harm, tw: minor character death, tw: panic attacks, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: body horror

The Sun Still Rises by mordax [Rated E, 66087 words, incomplete, last updated June 2023]

Somewhere on the road, Mary Hatford gets pregnant with her second child. When she passes, she leaves behind not only Neil, but his toddler brother. Survival is difficult without also raising a kid. Worn out and desperate, Neil still somehow ends up at Palmetto, only this time, he brings his four-year-old brother with him.

tw: violence, tw: anxiety, tw: panic attacks,  tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced self harm, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, 

NB: find fanart for this fic by @elidanus on Twitter here

I No Longer Feel Things (I Know I Should) by Major_816 [Not Rated, 59095 words, incomplete, last updated Feb 2023]

Part 2 of the Paralyzed series, part 1 here 

Neil's back in Palmetto with the Foxes' triumph over the Raven's, time to see how much damage has been done. ~ “Yes.” He didn’t remember the car ride back. Were they back? He was in a car. Yes. He remembered bits. Things scattered, Remembered- Eighty percent. A bullet. Blood splatter and Riko’s expression. Watched until eyes fogged over with death. Did he watch that long? Must have. His mother used to say- He blinked. ~ The long-awaited Scared to Live sequel

tw: abuse, tw: violence, tw: rape/noncon, tw: suicidal thoughts, tw: torture, tw: panic attacks, tw: dissociation, tw:  self harm, tw: ptsd, tw: anxiety attacks, tw: eating disorders

Longing Distance by F_C_B [Not Rated, 57545 words, complete, 2023]

Post-canon short thought experiment. Andrew moves away to join his new team, Neil stays in Palmetto. How will being suddenly separated affect their relationship? Andrew's POV. Not Nora-note/canon accurate and might break your heart if you let it.

tw: depression, tw: major character injury

Broken Symmetries by puddlejumper99 [Rated M, 53648 words, incomplete, last updated Feb 2023]

Reasons Neil had Died He cried too much as a baby, and his father made him stop He cried too much as a baby, and his mother tried to muffle the sound, and in her terror she silenced him for good His father wanted to hurt someone, and Neil was nearby The runners came for his mother, and they found him instead His mother hid him in a shack and left him alone as the heat soared They tried to run, and his father caught them They tried to run, and the runners caught them They ran, and they ran, and they ran, and they were still running and it didn’t matter, because his father would not stop, and he picked them off in one world after another until there was nowhere left to hide Reasons Neil had Lived He didn’t know, but there were eight

tw: violence, tw: torture, tw: temporary character death, tw: injuries

No More Fucks To Give by Wrotethis [Rated T, 53269 words, incomplete, last updated March 2023]

Part 1 of No More Fucks Land 

Neil rolled over and stared up at the ceiling. He’d get to play exy, eat regularly, and sleep somewhere with heating- presumably. Not a bad way to spend his last months. And hey, maybe his mother would come back from the dead and kill him herself if he went to Palmetto. Little victories. What if Neil gave up completely on making it through the year when he went to palmetto? What if Neil just did not give a single fuck? Maybe things would turn out better.

tw: violence, tw: suicidal thoughts, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: nonconsensual drug use, tw: implied/referenced eating disorders

If Only I Were Enough by Lostintheuniverseslies [Rated M, 33189 words, incomplete, last updated June 2023]

After Andrew moves to Colorado to start his professional Exy career, he intends on everything being okay between him and Neil. But when his self-destructive tendencies tell him that he doesn't need Neil Josten in his life, everything goes to shit. Things between them seem unrepairable and he's not so sure he wants to even try. But when Neil gets into a dangerous car wreck, Andrew finds himself back at the junkie's side with a deadline to fix things or walk away forever.

tw: depression, tw: violence

Already Gone by Nina_reads1804 [Rated M, 31856 words, incomplete, last updated June 2023]

Neil was the pervasive lie Andrew had foolishly allowed himself to indulge and been unable to shake. A person who would stay? Fairytale. It wouldn’t last. Forevers didn’t exist for him. With graduation on the horizon, Andrew makes the hard decision to leave Neil before Neil can leave him. But after a year, Andrew starts to wonder if maybe he was wrong. Maybe he can have it all.

tw: depression, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced torture, tw: implied/referenced self harm

Sometimes I Think the Way We Met Happened Too Fast by andrewiel [Rated E, 25094 words, incomplete, last updated April 2023]

Neil and Andrew break up, but can never stay far apart.

tw: explicit sexual content

[little-paperboat]

What We Owe To Each Other (1)

Calling all the Empire! I'm super happy to share that I've finally published third part of the "Forbidden Fire" series (with a heavy delay, but it's here) 💜

6,738 words later (!) I'm finally satisfied with this first chapter 🤓 And the lesson learned is? I really do have to write every day, even if it's just editing a paragraph or 50 words, because otherwise I find it super difficult to get back into it in a way that feels natural and doesn't require an entire re-write and an extra week of work 🥲

For this next part, Tav and her crew arrive in Baldur's Gate with a lot of hopes; unfortunately, reality is much bleaker than anticipated...

They have finally reached Baldur’s Gate, but the trials that wait for them are far from over. Tav and Rolan meet again; under unexpected circumstances, they both yearn for what they cannot have. (or, at the end of the world, there is hope yet.)

I'm REALLY excited for the Sorcerous Sundries arc of the fic because I've been thinking about it for suchhhh a long time ; there are a few scenes in particular that I was dying to put on paper and now it's happening :D Can't wait to see what you think! x

You can follow the tag "series:forbidden fire" here on tumblr to not miss the next updates 🌸 And as usual, abstract under the cut!

Read on AO3 (1/2)

Read Part 1: Wild Winds Are Death To The Candle (2/2)

Read Part 2: Through Shadows To The Edge Of Night (3/3)

They had reached Baldur’s Gate at last. 

Upon seeing the city lights beyond the walls, Tav had almost cried, overwhelmed by the sweet relief of survival, yearning for what lay below her, for the life that was just at her fingertips; yet unable to find herself at peace. The triumph of the journey left a bitter taste in her mouth, one of ashes and blood. So much had changed since she had left the Gate, her life torn to shreds and pieced back together hastily. It had little to do with the beautiful tapestry that had been woven for her even before her birth, made of threads of gold and silver softly shimmering under the chandelier. Instead, it was now rough and uneven to the touch, dried blood staining the fabric that displayed burns and torn holes in several places.

Going through the Shadow-Cursed Lands had marred her mind, body and soul beyond recognition; the gnarled trees and horrors from the void forcefully stealing parts of her that she knew she would never get back. 

She hadn’t slept once through the night since their encounter with Ketheric Thorm. In the pitch black dark of her tent, she still heard the clattering of bones. Whenever she closed her eyes, a sea of putrid blood and the malevolent aura of the Lord of Bones manifested before her, his giant scythe slashing through her body.

She had almost died then; the cold grip of death tightening around her and choking her, ferocious and famished. She had only survived thanks to her companions’ bravery and tenacity - but the price had been paid. Things could never go back to what they were before; yet she hoped, she prayed, foolishly maybe, that walking in the city would allow her to find her missing parts, to piece herself back together. She longed to see the elegant buildings of the Upper City again, to enjoy the familiar and rich fragrance of the rich ladies’ perfumes, to finally sleep in silk sheets and comfortable beds. Maybe her family would have them all, the estate big enough to accommodate the whole gang plus the two druids, the owlbear cub and Scratch.

If her family was still alive, of course.  

And maybe… maybe she’d even see Rolan again. 

She would never admit it, especially not to herself, but his memory was what she clung to in the darkest hour of the night, his flaming eyes burning brighter than her fears. To fend off the nightmares she’d evoke the softness of his voice, the smile he had given her at Last Light Inn. Deep down, she felt guilty: his disinterest was painfully obvious, and she was pretty sure it was morally wrong to lust after a guy who wasn’t interested. 

But she couldn’t help it. 

She couldn’t forget him.

Maybe if she saw him again in the city, it could bring her closure. By now he surely had his apprenticeship, and who knows, maybe he found himself an attractive partner to go with it. She only needed to ask to be sure - to hear the final word that he was not into her; and then it would be over. Then she’d force her mind to move on and find someone else to fixate on. 

All she had to do was to reach the Upper City. 

Anything after that would be so easy, and soon, it would all be over - with or without the tiefling wizard. 

— Read the rest on AO3 :)

(c) divider by saradika

[beevean]

Castlevania Season 4 is an anomaly, because when put next to Season 3, it feels like either Season 4 was finalized before it's predecessor, and they had no time to update it to be more congruent with Season 3's developments, or they were exhausted after finishing Season 3, took a long break, and they lost all of their animation copies and continuity notes, so they had to write follow-up stories from their memories, but they also wanted to tell something new by then. Know what I'm saying here?

I do. I believe two factors impacted Season 3 and Season 4:

Season 3 was not meant to exist. The story was effectively done by S2, after Dracula's death. Or rather... the three protagonists were done, as per Dracula's Curse - Hector and Isaac should have, by all means, transitioned into the Curse of Darkness story. But the original script, the one revised by IGA, only accounted for a Dracula's Curse adaptation. I believe there is a reason S3 was announced in 2018, but was released in 2020: that suggests production issues. Basically, Ellis received more freedom, but he also didn't know what to do anymore, and it's written all over the season. It's obvious they (Ellis and the Deats brothers; I don't think Shankar had much input by this point) were all throwing shit at the wall to see what stuck, only vaguely inspired by the idea of a "vacuum of power" left by Dracula. The Trephacard gang, in particular, has screentime only because they couldn't be dropped as characters, but they really should have been cut.

S3 was criticized by the fans for being simultaneously bleak and a waste of time, and Ellis was accused by dozens of women of sexual misconduct. The story needed to have a happy ending that would make up for all the previous cynicism, and it needed to be wrapped up quickly to cut ties with the man (they couldn't replace him, I suppose: Nocturne is proof of how recognizable Ellis' style is). Season 4 was painfully rushed as a result.

I've read multiple times the theory that a 5th season was planned, and on Wikipedia they say this:

"On March 27, 2019, Netflix announced they had renewed the series for a fourth season,[21] stating on April 16, 2020, that it would be the series's final season.[22] On July 31, 2019, it was reported that amid a wave of sexual misconduct allegations being levelled against the show's creator and showrunner Warren Ellis, he would no longer have any involvement in developing subsequent Castlevania series after the fourth season's release.[23]"

And yeah, the timeline to say "welp shit better be done asap" matches.

I don't believe S4 was planned in advance. It is possible that as S3 was being written, they started to have a general idea of the kind of character development some characters would go through: for example Alucard was pushed into misanthropy by the end of S3, but with the idea that he'd eventually rise above his father, which happened, although in the span of one episode. I'm on the fence about Isaac learning to "live", because that feels like a response to his massive popularity more than something planned in advance, even though admittedly a few seeds were planted in S3. And as for Hector, I am positive the original idea was for him to go on a rampage in the castle, finally growing into the gigachad his fans wanted him to become, but someone in the crew fell in love with the Lenector ship (or saw how much fans loved Lenore), and they swerved his story into that direction at the last minute. That love story is no product of Ellis' pen, I can guarantee you: he only provided the sassy dialogue. basically what flynn did in frontiers lmao

(Trevor and Sypha did nothing relevant, ofc. Trevor was given the Death fight out of pity and I'm also positive about this)

[lady-zoras-artroom]

[Update Note: Concept has changed, but enjoy what I've made!]

Okay!!! I got Lupin OCs!!! Here's one!

Be for warned, Long Post!

Yes, her name is spelled that way and she changed it to be so! Her actual name is Bonnie Anne (Some last name that relates her to an Infamous Arms Dealer in the black market).

Her whole deal is that, she was at one of Lupin's Heists, a big party where all the Fat Cats are gathered to do business and exchanges the Goods.

When she first saw Lupin making his getaway (goods in hand), she immediately crushes on him!

Her story is a work in progress, and so is her color pallet, but the jist is that, she is trying to discorver True Happiness and to keep far away from her father as much as possible. So when she saw Lupin III himself, she felt something! Not sure what it was, but because of this feeling she devises a plan to capture Lupin - wanting to meet him in person!

Because of Lupin's Successful Heist, she takes the opportunity to steal some money and make a getway of her own with her personal body guard/best friend, Galsan (Nicknamed "Terra").

Now on the run and hiding from her father, she calculates and plans the perfect scheme taking note of the heist she witnessed.

She changes her name slightly to be what it is now and with her trusted connections, she was able to set up a temporary base of operations. It would also be the stage of where she will set the trap for Lupin!

Plan: Challenge Lupin III to steal a lost treasure hidden within the confinds of a tower!

The goal: Entice and Steal Lupin's heart!

Bonnie conducts research by contacting Zenigata as he is the only one rich with Knowledge about the Lupin Gang! Of course, she isn't going to let the Inspector succeed in capturing the infamous theif, but makes him thinks so!

Everything that Zenigata had on the group as well as Fujiko was all she needed! Learning about them esspecially Lupin excited her!

I say the time frame took perhaps almost a year to set up as the setting needed to be as believable as possible! Bonnie then has a stand-in (who is male) to announce the creation of the tower and the prize waiting inside! Make him seem like he's the mastermind when he isn't that way Lupin is more interested!

Details: The Tower is built like a gauntlet. The lower levels are available to the public as a museum for the "Lost Treasure". The treasure is displayed in a bullet proof casing for the public to see. Then when the museum closes, it is elevated to the top of the tower under very heavy security and protection!

Now, I'm not sure what Lupin will do as I do not know how to write spy/theif action stories, I can think up concepts. But I do know he not only does succeed, but gets an unexpected surprise!

Plot twist, the treasure was agreed to be faked by Zenigata and Bonnie, but in actuality, it was real and Bonnie is "wearing" it (she hid it between her boobs [and it was on purpose])!

Bonnie used her connections to get the real thing and makes an offer to him!

Offers in order:

- Let her become part of the Lupin Gang! She will supply them with needed necessities through her trusted connections (though she does have a budget)

- Become her boyfriend! She wants to see who Lupin is in person! Though she was told by Zenigata how shameful and criminal Lupin is, weridly enough that only interested her further.

- I kid you not, this is what she wants: Have Lupin sleep with her! Like no shame whatsoever! She's 28 btw, she's just short, like 5'3 and just as horny!

If anything, Lupin meets his match here - both in terms of skill and romance! I'm thinking their relationship does start off as a mutual agreement. Lupin gets to experience what it's like to be genuinely liked or crushed on as Bonnie would be holding his cheeks and just gushing about how cute and handsome he is! He's still after the treasure of course, but Bonnie will make sure it's a challenge for him! Teasing him, playing around, making him chase her and stuff. She's got tricks up her dress, let me tell ya!

What I want to do basically is like, build up their relationship as I do wanna ship them! OCxCanon is valid and I will die on that hill. I want them to have depth and go into detail about what kind of relationship the two want. I esspecially wanna go over what exactly Lupin and Fujiko's relationship is. How long are they gonna keep playing these games with each other? Will Bonnie understand what it's like to have a relationship? The sacrifices and dedication it takes to maintain one?

Yeah, I wanna explore all that. This is just for fun! Anyway, I'll work on her pallet and share Galsan's stuff!

[twisted-art-wounders]

YGO AU: Breaking the Seal 07

Chapter 7 Sprouts After Yugi gets an invitation form Pegasus he and gang head to America hoping for answers, but Pegasus finds danger in form of someone he wasn't expecting to.

Once Yugi announced his plans to take the plane to America to see Pegasus it didn't take long for his other friends to agree to join him on his journey, something Yugi was quite pleased to hear. He wasn't too happy about making this trip alone so having his friends at his side once more gave him confidence. They all agreed to meet at the air port tomorrow at 7 am for their flight, Yugi would get details on the flight later on with a phone call form a representative from Industrial Illusions.

Meanwhile just outside of Yugi's house Rex and Weevil sat in the bushes listening in on the entire conversation as well thanks to a well placed bug on Yugi's living room window. They were both upset at the news of Yugi being invited by Pegasus and would be able to see where all the rare cards were.

Rex imagining that Yugi and his friends would be treated to tons of rare cards all for themselves curdosey of Pegasus himself. It made Rex furious thinking about how lucky Yugi and his friends were to have so much good fortune, Weevil on the other hand had a plan that would allow them to follow them to America unnoticed, he chuckled to himself.

That night everyone was busying trying to pack their bags for the trip ahead; Tea wondered how long the trip would be putting a few shirts into her suitcase she looked over at a poster of “Dark Magician Girl in the Moonlight” A Broadway play she saw a few years ago that helped inspire her into wanting to play that role herself. She couldn't believe she was going back to America so soon, meanwhile Tristan was struggling to pack his own suit case not sure exactly what he should pack for the trip.

Joey was more or less packed for the trip and was on the phone giving Serenity an update about him being away for a while and for her not to worry about him. Just as he hung up the phone it rang again so he answered thinking it was Serenity asking him something but was surprised at the voice on the other end.

“Hello?”

“Hey~ long time to speak Wheeler.”

Joey froze “M-Mai? Is that you?”

“Of course it's me dummy! Have you forgotten my lovely voice already?” Mai huffed half jokingly.

After Battle City just before she left; Mai had snuck a card with her phone number on the back into Joey's duel disk, when he got home he noticed the number with a note saying “If you need someone to talk to, I'm just a call away- Mai”. It took Joey a few tries to work up the courage to call her but when he did it made him happy to hear her voice. He decided to made it a habit of calling her once in a while to get updates and to chat generally. He totally forgot he needed to call her tonight and explain things.

“W-what of course not! W-whatsup?” Joey fumbled a bit trying to regain his composer.

“Not much, just landed in California after being stuck in the air for last 15 hours! Ugh those monster sightings have been nothing but a pain!” Mai growled.

Joey paused for a moment “Wait you're in California right now?”

“Yeah, I just told you that a second ago! Keep up Wheeler.”

“No! I know it's just I'm heading out there tomorrow morning!”

“Get out really! Why did you win a trip or something?” Mai was excited now.

“No no! It's a long story! But we're flying out to meet with Pegasus!”

“Pegasus? Why'd he do something like that?” Mai started to sound a bit concerned since she knew Pegasus was still a dangerous man to be around and after Duelist Kingdom and him falling ill suddenly -or so she heard- it had her worried.

“Again long story but I think he needs Yugi's help and me and others are going for back up, I think he knows something about whats been going on with all those monsters appearing and the crazy weather! Did Pegasus call for you too?”

Mai paused then replied “No. I'm here on vacation. But I'd be more then happy to give you guys a lift to Industrial Illusions after you land.”

“Naw Mai you don't gotta disrupt your trip for us! I beat they'll send a cab over or something.”

“Too late! I'm already gonna rent a car! I'll be at the air port waiting~” Mai hummed.

“Well if you insist! I'll call you with the details once we're at the airport in Domino! See ya then Mai!” Joey smiled.

“See ya!” Mai then hung up the phone placing it down, she was seated at the airport bar with a colourful cocktail she was working on. She was decked out in full vacation gear; a sundress, tall heeled sandals, a hat and large sunglasses. She took a sip off her drink then stirred it with the straw.

//Calling Yugi out of no where…what game you playing now, Pegasus?//

-- Finally Yugi had packed the last of his items into his duffle bag and suit case, he zipped the bag up then he saw the key card setting on his desk so he got up to go and pick it up.

“Oh yeah can't forget this! “Key of Illusion” I wonder what it's for?” Yugi looked at the card then faced the other Yugi who had just appeared beside him. “Hey other me-” Yugi then noticed he looked very distracted like something was on his mind.

Yugi walk over in front of him and asked “Hello? Is something on your mind?”

Yami then looked up then at his partner “Oh! What is it partner?”

“Whats on your mind?” He asked directly only for Yami to try and sake his question off saying

“Nothing”

“You're lying, Your keeping something to yourself!”

Yami signed with a smile “Partner…I can't hide anything form you. I was thinking about our new enemies. Who are they what do they want with us?”

Yami looked down again //If only I hadn't lost my memories, I may have known who they are…//

“You're doing it again!” Yugi pointed to him making Yami look up at Yugi.

“Don't hide how you feeling. There are too many things I don't know either…” Yugi hugged himself a bit.

“I have a bad feeling about all of this…Something is coming and I'm worried! What's going to happen?” Yugi's eyes wavered in fear looking deeply into them you could see they were beginning become de-saturated more muted…Yugi then fell to his knees unable to stand up.

“Partner!” Yami yelled and got on his own knees placing his hands on Yugi's shoulders, Yugi looked up at him as his skin was looking more pale making Yami's eyes widen.

“Partner! we still didn't tell our friends…about your soul.” Yami looked down at Yugi who was trembling a bit but still looked up at him with a weak smile.

“We have enough things to worry about! My friends don't need to know yet…” Yugi grabbed onto the side of his bed and used it to lift himself up and stand again.

“okay enough talk tonight! We have new journey ahead tomorrow after all!”

Yugi walked towards the light switch in his room and shut it off “Let's get some rest!, Good night Other me!”

Yami looked up at the newly fixed window, the moon was high that night but his worries still plagued him. He just couldn't forget that Yugi's life was still in danger and Yugi ironically was trying to avoid talking about it as much as possible but what could he do? He couldn't force his partner to talk if he didn't want to, Yugi was always quite avoidant of a subjects like this. Yami just signed and returned to the puzzle.

--

Dartz watched the wall with the statues that held the three Eyptcain god cards in their mouths, with their god now reborn into this world it was time to start feeding it with the strong souls of duelists. Dartz thought about how Yugi had managed to summon Timeaus the legendary dragon and used it power to escape his capture by the hands of their god.

“Even if he's manage to release that dragon, it wont matter I already got my claws into the vessel.”

Dartz grinned as he could feel the pulse of negative energy now emitting form the deck that sat in Yugi's soul room, Yugi himself completely unaware of their sinister purpose.

“Raphael!” Dartz yelled as his tallest swordsmen walked up and knelt before him.

“Yes Master Dartz, I'll find and capture the Nameless Pharaoh's soul to feed our god.” Raphael stated

Dartz huffed and turned around to face him now a look of annoyance on his face “We need MORE then just the Nameless Pharaoh's soul, We need the souls of STRONG duelists!”

Alister then walked out form behind the pillar standing beside Raphael “Then I'll go after Seto Kaiba.”

Valon soon joined them from the other side of the room “And I'll take care of Joey Wheeler! I beat he's got to be worth something he did make it to top 4 of Battle City after all.”

Alister glared over at Valon “Pfft figures you go for the easiest target.”

Valon growled and glared back towards Alister with the same venom in his voice and pointed “You're one to talk! Why're you going after Mr. Bronze Metal? Too scared to hunt down Ishtar for a real battle?”

Alister simply turned away and closed his eyes “I have my reasons, Valon.” he replied.

“Oh really?” Valon hissed again before Raphael broke them both up.

“Knock it off! We're in the presence of Master Dartz.” He scolded both of his fellow swordsmen.

Dartz had enough of hearing his swordsmen bicker and decided it was time to move forward with his plans.

“The Nameless Pharaoh is on his way to speak with Pegasus, another duelist with a strong soul. I've already made arrangements for him.” Dartz went into his pocket and pulled out a small object, he scanned his three swordsmen and picked Alister

“Alister!” he yelled then tossed object towards him, Alister was alert and caught the object in his hands quickly.

Sitting in his palm was a tear drop shaped shard of the Orichalcos stone, Alister looked over to Dartz puzzled. He already had his own stone in form of necklace around his neck why did he need another one?

“Head over to Pegasus but do not duel him just await my instructions, Do you understand?” Dartz barked at all three of his minions.

Both Alister and Valon now knelt down in same way Raphael currently was, all three held their heads down acknowledging him in unison.

“Yes, sir.”

-- Yugi had found himself back in his subconscious again, at least that's what he thought… he was expecting some kind of horrible climate to await him like past two times but this time he was greeted to a patch of wild greenery. He followed the green patch amazed to see all this life had spring up in what was once a dessert now it more resemble a jungle! Yugi moved a few plants aside trying to look over the canopy to find the greenhouse, which he did spot at the entrance of the jungle far in the distance. He'd hoped to just follow it and end up at the building but the flora soon become far too overwhelming for him to see almost anything.

Yugi was feeling frustrated as he made his way past tons of green plants so he yelled out

“Dartz! Are you here? I can't find the greenhous-” Yugi tripped and went for a bit of tumble before landing right at the foot of his new friend in the purple suit.

“D-Dartz!” Yugi smiled sheepishly trying to pick himself up only for the tall man to reach down and pulled Yugi up onto his feet.

“My that was quiet the tumble you took Yugi!” Dartz chuckled watching Yugi dust himself off pulling out a few loose leaves that attached themselves to him.

He then looked around at all the greenery and commented “Man this place gets greener and greener every time I come here…”

“That is a result of your healing, my child.” Dartz walked towards a clearing in the green space were an open patio with a white table and set of chairs, on top of the table was a pot of tea and set of cups waiting for them.

“My healing? My mind made all this just because I'm healing?” Yugi watched Dartz walk over to the table and gesture for him to take a seat which he did.

“Indeed and the more you heal the greater this place becomes, able to thrive and grow freely.” Dartz took a seat now and poured out a cup of tea for Yugi.

Yugi was still amazed with just how much his mind could do without him even knowing it. If it could do all this with just one session of healing with Dartz just imagine what it will be like when he's fully healed, that thought alone gave Yugi hope for the future. Dartz added the typical milk and sugar to Yugi's cup before handing it over to him.

“So tell me what is new for you?” Dartz stirred his cup crossing one leg over the other as he looked at Yugi.

Yugi smiled and began to tell Dartz all about what happened the night after he returned to his waking mind. He told him about going into the other Yugi's room and finding a door that lead them to the Duel Monsters world, the Dark Magician Girl telling him and Pharaoh they where chosen to release an ancient dragon named Timeaus. Who then saved him form being taken away by the evil eye of a monster that appeared in the sky over the city.

Finally he told him about Pegasus's message to him and how he was going to America in the morning, and how Dartz's reading was correct and how happy he was they where finally making some headway in this whole experience.

Dartz was smiling the entire time as Yugi excitedly told him about these events.

“My oh my such big developments for you! But something…is different about you Yugi…” Dartz took a sip of his own tea “Is something…missing?”

The echo of that word 'missing' rang in Yugi's ears making his fingers shake a bit, trying to keep a hold his tea cup. Yugi nodded and sipped his tea as best he could.

“Yes…Dartz the new enemy has stolen half of my soul! Dark Magician Girl said that if I don't get it back…I- I could…” Yugi swallowed hard as she had to place the cup back down to keep it form spilling. He tried to steady himself by putting his hands on the table to keep them stable but they just kept shacking.

Dartz placed a hand over Yugi's own only then were they able to be at rest, Yugi looked up at Dartz a few tears in his eyes. Dartz looked back at him his mismatched eyes staring into Yugi seemed to make him pay attention and listen to him carefully.

“You will not die my child. You're going to see Pegasus after all…he should hold some answers for you.”

Yugi rubbed his eyes the nodded “Y-yeah he should…” Yugi looked down a bit frightened.

Dartz watched him and tilted his head. “Do you not believe he has answers for you?”

“No-no! I know he must have some answers it's just…” Yugi trailed off a bit and looked at his tea, he picked it up and took a big sip. Placing the cup down again he breathed in then out and continued.

“Pegasus isn't exactly what you'd call a friend…he was my enemy before…” Yugi sighed.

“Oh? Tell me more…” Dartz leaned in his hand resting on his chin.

“Well…it all started with a video tape he sent me…” Yugi continued telling Dartz about how he had a duel with Pegasus using that same VHS tape and how he used his own shadow powers to imprint a piece of his soul into the tape, being and Millennium item user he could do so. After the duel was lost by the other Yugi Pegasus used a punishment game that took Yugi's grandfather's soul and forced him into having to go to Duelist Kingdom in order to save him.

He talked about Weevil tricking him and tossing his Exodia cards into the ocean; he talked about how his other friend Bakura was also an Millennium item holder and used his powers to trap him and his friends souls into cards and they had to play a life or death game for their lives. Yugi was shaking again by the time he started to talk about how Pegasus stole Kaiba's younger brother Mokuba's soul and forced him and Kaiba into a duel that resulted in Kaiba nearly throwing himself off the top of the castle if he didn't win…and that the other Yugi was going to do it…He was going to attack Kaiba and let him die just to win!

At that point Yugi was in tears having to remember that moment broke his heart, he knew it was a long time ago but the pain and fear and shame of it all came flooding back to him. He put his head on the table and sobbed into his arms. Dartz watched with a grin on his face but hid it again once he came closer and reached out rubbing Yugi's back.

“My poor child…I had no idea he'd done such horrid things to you! How dare he harm you and you're friends! Shame on him!” Dartz continued to rub Yugi's back as he lifted his head a bit and sniffled.

“Yes…he was awful…but-but now he doesn't have his Millennium Eye anymore…”

“Indeed…so you have nothing to fear of him…” Dartz rubbed Yugi's shoulders a bit before he stood up “and yet still…you're afraid to face him…”

Yugi sat up more and rubbed his eyes “Y-yes.. I know it's so stupid! Why am I so scared to face him?”

“As I've told you before Yugi trauma has away of digging into us…it holds onto us and makes us cautious of everything, even when there's nothing to be afraid of…but we can over come our trauma's in different ways correct?” Dartz turned to Yugi who nodded this made Dartz smile.

“Now why don't I help you over come your fear of Pegasus so you can face him head on when you meet with him…” Dartz held out his arm and duel disk appeared on it.

Yugi got up intrigued with how he was going to help him with a duel disk of all things. “Uhh how is this going to-”

Dartz chuckled “Yugi I know you love to duel! And I know your an excellent strategist, you've gone over every duel you've ever played and found weak points in an opponents dueling style haven't you?”

Yugi blushed and nodded embarrassed to be called out like this; he did tend to go over past duels with the other Yugi, and just for fun they always analyzed their duel and came up with different ways to exploit loop holes in the opponents strategy and use it against them.

“And I'm sure you've found away to defeat Pegasus in your mind haven't you?” Dartz had a deck appear in his hands and started to shuffle the cards.

“Y-yeah…I mean to be honest in the final duel with him I already had the right card ready to go until…” Yugi looked away trying not to remember when the final duel became a shadow game…

Dartz finished shuffling and put the deck into the deck slot on his duel disk before activating it. “Well then now you may try it out.”

Yugi looked up confused “What do you mean?”

“Remember how you learned to face the future when you faced the tarot cards? Well it can help you over come your fears in a controlled environment.” Dartz lifted a hand up over his head and brought it down as he did his image changed to match that of Pegasus!

Yugi jumped a bit seeing that happen so quickly gave him a fright!

Dartz chuckled as his voice also changed to sound exactly how Pegasus would “I think this helps complete the the illusion? So now you may face Pegasus in an controlled environment, once you've beaten him in a duel, you'll see he's nothing to be worried about! And you'll have no reason to fear him Yugi-boy~”

Dartz lifted his hair to show the hidden eye under his hair had been replaced with a normal eye again, something the real Pegasus probably would have done by now for the sake of vanity.

“You see? Just a normal eye under all this hair!” Dartz chuckled.

Yugi swallowed the lump in his throat; he knew this wasn't really Pegasus so he didn't really have to fear him right? Plus the Millennium Eye wasn't in his eye so he was safe form a shadow game…

Yugi smiled and nodded holding out his arm he used his mind to create a duel disk.

Dartz smiled again.

“Ah I'm glad you're mastering your subconscious mind so well…Now just imagine a 40 card deck and it will appear in your duel disk but they will already be shuffled so you wont know what you get until your draw a card.”

Yugi did as he was instructed and a deck of 40 cards appeared in his deck holder on the duel disk, normally Yugi would be using the deck he used in Battle City but this time since he knew this was Pegasus he was facing he decided to try a whole new strategy,which called for a different deck entirely…

“I know Pegasus's cards already and I'll duel as closely to him as possible…are you ready Yugi-boy?” Dartz said in Pegasus' mocking tone.

Yugi glared a bit “I've been working on this one for a while…let's see if you can handle this!” Yugi activated his duel disk and drew 5 cards, Dartz also drew 5 cards.

Facing each other they both yelled out

“Duel!”

-- Back at Industrial Illusions the moon was full and high in the night sky a chilly wind blew through causing a few clouds to move across the sky coming closer to the face of the moon. Pegasus sat in his office fingers lanced together his head resting upon them, worry and fear caused his heart to race. He was alone tonight, even the cleaning staff had finished and left leaving him the soul person inside the building.

On the roof the three swordsmen of DOMA had landed and awaited just as Dartz directed them to do earlier. Alister held onto the shard while Raphael watched the sky waiting for Dartz to contact them. Valon was bored as per usual when their missions had them just be observant and not act, like a impatient child he sat on the league of the buildings roof danging his legs off on the side.

“Urgh, how much longer is he gonna make us wait? Why can't we just attack Pegasus and get it over with already?” Valon huffed.

“You heard Master Dartz we wait for his instruction. We cannot act without his permission.” Raphael stated keeping his eyes on the clouds as they began to cover the moon bathing the roof in darkness.

“If I knew you'd be so whinny I would have brought you a pocket game to keep your occupied.” Alister chuckled making Valon growl and ready to snap back with his own retort only for them to hear a voice come through the communication channel in their ear buds.

Alister answered “Yes Dartz?”

'You have arrived at Industrial Illusions? And the shard is with you?' Dartz asked.

“Yes sir we're in position and shard is with me”

'Good, now put it down on the ground in front of you and wait.'

Alister did as he was told and placed the shard down in front of him then waited. Once he did a powerful glow of green light flashed and started to crackle around the shard, it floated up and stopped about 3ft off the ground. Another flash of light followed as the stone was enveloped in the green glow, it started to grow and take on a humanoid shape.

The three swordsmen watching with intrigue as the human shape started to flesh out features; hair, eyes, a mouth, a nose, clothing and footwear. With one final flash of green light a figure stood before them but what was really shocking was who the figure resembled.

“No way…is that?” Alister started

“Yugi?” Valon finished.

The figure was a perfect copy of Yugi, especially once his eyes opened and his signature purple and orchid eyes could be seen now. The only thing he lacked was the Millennium Puzzle around his neck and fact he now had the green shard of the Orichalcos hanging form his earlobe like an earring. The copy Yugi held out his left arm and a chaos duel disk just like the one each swordsmen carried appeared on his arm.

“Dartz wants you to duel him?” Raphael said confused looking at the tiny duelists that stood before them.

“Is this some kind of a joke?” Valon asked.

“Well we have to trust Dartz's orders don't we?” Alister crossed his arms and watched as the Yugi copy turned around and headed towards the ledge of the roof.

“Hey! If you beat him do me a favour and grab his deck will you kid?” Alister barked to the Yugi copy who nodded then turned around so he was facing them fully.

He hopped down from the ledge holding on to the edge with both hands then lowered himself to the window sill below. He landed softly like a cat and saw the window was open but only by a crack, he slowly pushed it in and let himself in to the office.

Pegasus sat at his desk his back facing the window, head still down as worry carried in his voice.

“Please, Yugi-boy come quickly! I don't know how much time I have left…”

Pegasus then felt the wind enter the office space causing the curtains to bellow and float in the air. He soon realized just how cold it felt in the room now which was odd he didn't open the window that much.

“I'd say your time is up.” a voice echoed in the room.

Pegasus was surprised by the voice and turned in his chair to face the window; his one eye was widened in horror as he witnessed sitting on the window ledge was Yugi. One leg resting on the ledge while the other hung down, he rested one hand on his knee while the other one rested beside him. He looked very casual his head tilted to the side as he watched Pegasus just like a Cheshire cat with a grin to match.

“Whats the matter Pegasus? You look like you've seen a ghost.” Yugi answered with a wide grin and a slight chuckle.

“It-it can't be…I just called for you today! How can you be-” Pegasus got up form his chair still dumbfounded by what he was witnessing. How did Yugi get here so fast? Why was he sitting on the window?

Yugi corrected his head back into an upright position and chuckled. “Relax I'm not a ghost, not like you can tell without your Millennium Eye anymore…”

The Yugi copy lowered his knee and hopped off of the window ledge again landing softly on the ground “Then again maybe I am a ghost…a spirit of vengeance you could say…”

Yugi started walking towards Pegasus, the older man started to back away form him, feeling the seething malice in his voice and aura.

“V-Vengeance?” Pegasus swallowed a lump in his throat as he kept backing away trying to keep his distance form the boy. “What…are you talking about?”

He never thought he'd feel this intimated by Yugi of all people, normally he had a cheerful aura about him he only ever showed this level of anger during their duel at the finals of Duelist Kingdom. Even then that hatred was more form Yami Yugi then Yugi himself or maybe that was Yugi's anger? And Yami Yugi only embodied it for him acted on Yugi's behalf? He wasn't sure now all he knew was this boy was emitting a quiet fury towards him.

“Oh come off it Pegasus! You know exactly what I'm talking about!”

As Yugi came closer, the click of the heels of his boots echoed in the dark room carrying it all around and letting Pegasus know he was alone in here and no one was coming to save him.

“You see the other me may have let you go without a penalty game but I don't intend on doing the same…You're number is up and it's time for you to pay for what you did to me Pegasus!” Yugi hissed as he glared up at the man with a single eye.

Pegasus was still backing away his heart was racing as he finally hit the opposite wall of his office, bumping into a short bookshelf that held his duel disk on it. Even with the door was only 3 feet away he was still parallelized with fear watching in horror as Yugi now activated his chaos duel disk.

“That duel disk…Yugi w-wait! Are you-” Pegasus struggled to form words he was in shock about seeing the duel disk that belonged to DOMA now being used by Yugi, was he a apart of them?

Yugi pulled out five cards form his deck, he was ready for a fight.

“Come on Pegasus! What do you have to be afraid of? This isn't a shadow game, I don't have my Millennium Puzzle and you don't have your Millennium Eye, we're on even ground… for once. If you're truly a duelist you wont back down!” Yugi shouted in a mocking tone.

Pegasus grimaced at being called out like this, he looked down and saw his own duel disk grabbing it and placing it on his arm. He activated it and shoved the deck he kept in the breast pocket of his suit into the deck slot.

“Alright! I'll accept your challenge Yugi!” Pegasus yelled pulling out 5 cards.

“Duel!” They both shouted.

[chaotic-guinea-pig]

I love your SOT fic! I was wondering if you have any fave style fic recs? 🙏

AWW THANK YOU! <3 I'm glad you're enjoying my fic! And boy, oh boy, do I have some Style fic recs! I'm not sure if you're looking for a specific flavour (i.e. angst, fluff, hurt/comfort, certain AUs etc) so I'll just recommend you something from multiple categories! I'm happy for you or anyone else to send asks for fic recs for specific flavours, though.

These are just some of the fics that came to mind. Someday, I will make a masterlist of my fic recs. I'm also going to assume you heard of the classics like hollycomb etc so most of these are ones I don't see get talked about as much in the fandom (at least to my knowledge - I don't interact with other style shippers that much ;-;)

Starting with ongoing fics to give my fellow WIP authors some love <3

Alter Ego by butterstotchcandy: Ongoing, but a REALLY GOOD TFBW + COLLEGE AU!! The basic premise is that everyone from South Park lost their memories during some mysterious amnesiac epidemic, and it's up to Kyle - who has recovered memories of his superhero identity and powers - to find the rest of the gang and the culprit. Everyone's characterisations are so well done here. It's the perfect mix between fluff and mystery and I'm so hooked and excited to see the plot unfold + Style's relationship grow! There's also bonus Creek here. :)

War Games by CiceroProFacto: Also ongoing, BUT THIS IS DELICIOUS ANGST. It's a modern world and Stick of Truth swap AU where both of the Kyle's have swapped worlds. Stan and Kyle are also bitter ex-best-friends so this is a must read if enjoy reading messy Style where they hate each other. :) I really love how the author characterises both the modern and Stick of Truth versions of our two boys.

Entries from the Past by ViviBaby69420: Ongoing! Wow, this one blew my mind when I came across it?! It's a really cool take on the Stick of Truth AU where King Kyle and Ranger Stan Marshwalker meet in the forest during the war. The worldbuilding is super detailed. Read this if you're more in the mood for a something reminiscent of classical novels. It's also the best execution of first person POV in all my time of reading fanfics (alongside Strider's Edge from Homestuck)

Mood Ring by HedgehogSquadGoals: Ongoing. Honestly, I'm not sure if the author is still in the fandom as the last update was in 2020, BUT STILL, I'm happy to have read this fic anyway, abandoned or not! <3 It's a very sweet and hilarious romcom of Stan being wildly in love with Kyle, who is so terribly oblivious his affections... and everyone else watches on in pain. The banter between everyone is on point and this is one of the few high school Style fics I adore.

Now for some complete ones:

Supportive Parenting by PervertCinnamonRoll: Complete and short fic in which Randy and Sheila try to get their sons together. :) Both of their characterisations are perfect - the most in-character Randy POV I have ever seen.

Sincerely, your super-best-friend Kyle. by cocoacremeandgays (part of a series called 'Three Sides') Oh god... this one, right here. It destroyed me for days. It is the best portrayal of mental health issues and ah, my heart hurts. :( BE VERY CAREFUL THOUGH if you're triggered by heavy topics. **Read ALL the tags and content warnings in full first, please; this one can be distressing.**

Sleeping Lessons by sleep2thefr33zing: One-shot of Stan struggling to sleep after Kyle gets accepted to Harvard! Very sweet and unique. I adore all of this author's works, actually - one of my inspirations from this fandom.

I Thought Soulmates Were Supposed to Be Easy by Anonymous: My favourite take on Style in the soulmates (name on wrist) trope! It shows a more complicated but 100% realistic side of the soulmates trope.

burning apart by clovariia: One-shot of high school Post-Covid timeline - a very sad one-shot of Stan's life during his teenage years, and Style is absolutely bittersweet :(

Connection Lost by VinnieDakota: Another Post-Covid one shot, but this time before the events of the specials! Kyle gets a drunk call from Stan after decades of not speaking to each other and it goes just as well as you would expect. Damn...

Hope this is a good start! Let me know if you would like other recs. :)

[siren-serenity]

My i request for the battle of the restaurants twst event for Clover(my yuusona) as a barista and Idia Shroud!

my personality woild be hyper and exciting, and i love to ramble about my interests. But i also get very distracted easily.

any scenario is fine but if you need one then maybee

i was bored at the counter but then idia walked in and i was happy again??

↳ *TITLE: HYPED UP BY YOU!* ༉‧₊˚✧

↳ *CLOVER X IDIA SHROUD!* ༉‧₊˚✧

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ barista gang let's go!!! let's me just gather all my limited knowledge of games for this request hehehe. hope you enjoy!!! (also, i couldn't find more info on your yuusona so to play it safe, i used they/them pronouns! i hope this is okay. idia does refer to them as bro but lets be real, everything is called bro now lmao)

↳ *𝘛𝘈𝘎𝘚!* ༉‧₊˚✧

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ Taglist: @krenenbaker, @moonlitnyx, @azulashengrottospiano. @eynnwwyjth, @parad-ice-lostandfound, @officialdaydreamer00, @leonistic, @plutosring, @starsilluminateourgalaxy, @aceofsweets, @rav--en, @dowdos, @deathkat657, @escha-evenstar, @toffeeeez, @dearest-siblingtwst, @biromanticboba, @savanaclaw1996

please reblog or dm if you wish to be tagged!!

Clover slumped against the barista counter, letting out frustrated grumbles about how slow business is today. The most they had was during lunch hour and even then, there was only a tiny number of NRC students that came.

"Come on, where did everyone go??" They exclaimed and immediately went pale the moment their boss, Siren, strolled in from her office. Sapphire eyes met Clover's own eyes as they nervously waved.

"I think there's an event at the cafeteria today," Siren hummed to answer their question. Manicured nails tapped against the marble counter in boredom. "There shouldn't be many people at Cafe Amor."

"Urgh," They returned to slumping on the barista counter once more, and in boredom, counted the number of menu items Cafe Amor offered. Lazy eyes scanned the near-empty cafe, save for themselves and Siren.

The doorbell chimed delicately and in tandem, Siren and Clover's heads shot up to meet Idia Shroud's nervous stare. Silently, Siren slipped away, leaving Clover to chat with Idia.

As they punched in his order, Clover chatted excitedly with him.

"Oh my Sevens, hi Idia! I didn't expect to see you here, you're such a hermit after all," They playfully teased as they moved around to make his unhealthy drink. Dark chocolate syrup was drizzled along the sides of the cup, chocolate frappucino blended in the middle and topped with chocolate whipped cream and chocolate chips. This was enough chocolate for a lifetime!

"H-Hey, Clover," Idia's voice came out as a whisper. His pale hands came up to tug his hoodie off his head, revealing his signature blue fiery hair and nervous expression on his face. "Y-Yeah, I j-just wanted to c-check out Cafe A-Amor."

Clover nodded understandingly as they added the last bits of chocolate chip to his drink. They slid it over with a straw, giving the anxious teenager a gentle smile.

"Anyways, have you seen the latest update for Minicraft?!" They slammed their hands down onto the marble countertop with an excited gleam in their eyes. It was mirrored in Idia's own eyes who gulped the sip of his chocolate frappucino in record time before rambling.

"Bro IKR?! Like the cherry blossom biome is so cool- OMG the bees and the cherry blossom flowers?! It's so top-tier ISTG the moment my laptop finishes updating, I will literally play it 24/7-" Idia paused to gulp another sip of his drink before continuing. His eyes gleamed with uncontrolled excitement and his hands were waving as he explained. "I'm gonna invite Muscle Red to join me, wanna game later tonight?"

Clover nodded rapidly and beamed.

"You bet!"

[asksythe]

Hi! I'm a huge fan of your book air. I read it first when you where still updating it and still come back to it from time to time to re-enjoy it. If you're still interested in posting your rough drafts to give insight in the finished story I would enjoy that very much too, but I understand if you don't. I just wanted to take the time to thank you for everything you've shared with the world and for inspiring me.

Oh wow! That’s… a while ago. Over 10 years ago, I think? I started writing Book Air when I first started using Tumblr. I vaguely remember I had just graduated from university around that time and moved back home to HCMC for a newspaper job too. That was when the whole Makorra vs Masami thing was still all the rage in the fandom and there I was in the corner, shipping Amorra and wanting to do lengthy character pieces into Asami (because she’s great) even after the first season finale had aired! Ahahahaha. I think I was among the first wave to ship Korrasami, too (back in season 1 before it was cool). And I still have the fanart to prove it. 

Man, what a trip down memory l lane! I’m glad you enjoyed my story so much. I’ve always been of the opinion that I write for no one else but myself. But to have readers like you, who have been with me for over a decade and been inspired and come back to visit this sleepy little blog. That is the best accolade a writer can ask for. So thank you.

Yes, I still do have the draft for it. And I’m very happy to type it out here. I probably will have to do several reblogs of this and come back again to type things out, because it is long, and it’s been a while. So it will take time to shake loose the rust in my brain where I store Book Air and its unborn twin, Sun Eater. 

In any case, that is the first thing I will say. 

- Book Air is the first part of a duology. The second part is called Sun Eater and tells the story of when Korra came back from the end of Book Air to the day she turned 17, right on the morning of her test before she snuck her way to Republic City. 

- Book Air was created as a character piece for Korra. So it’s a fairly intense story. At the start, Korra lost all of her bending, with the exception of air bending, which at the time, she hadn’t quite unlocked. Air bending is the most spiritual among the four bendings, so it would be a profoundly soul-searching journey for Korra.

-My idea is that Korra would have to experience life from the other side of who she was, as someone who effectively could not bend, who was poor and working, and who was potentially at the mercy and exploitations of unscrupulous benders. I wanted her to experience living and growing up as an ordinary girl and not… the avatar. So much of Korra’s personality, especially around season 1 and 2, revolved around her being the avatar, that I always felt like. If we take that away, who are you? There’s a reason why before Korra, every avatar had to pass their age of majority before they were revealed to be the avatar. A child raised atop a throne would never have grown up normal. She would be disconnected from the rest of the humans she is supposed to represent because for as long as she has known, she has always been an existence beyond mere humans. I always felt this was Korra’s personality flaw that the show… never properly addressed. I wanted to see Korra the human, interacting with the world and with people without the trappings of her avatarhood, wondering what’s out there for her besides just being the bridge between humanity and spirits. 

- Remember in the last chapter I posted, Korra showed off her jeweled necklace because she wanted the comfort she was used to enjoying as the avatar? It eventually brought unwanted attention her way. The region where she was, Emeq, was very poor, so showing off something like that attracted roving bender gangs looking for soft targets. In short, she got roughed up. Kaya, the shamaness who took her in, also got roughed up. This gave Korra a whole lot of feelings. She had rarely ever felt that sense of absolute helplessness before. She had a lot of rage, pain, and uncertainty. 

- That incident with the gang also opened the door to the plot thread between Korra and Kaya. Because Korra knew Kaya was a bender, likely a very powerful one too. But Kaya never used her bending even to defend herself. So around this part, a lot of Korra’s anger is directed to Kaya. 

- In any case, our girl has a lot of growing up to do. After the run-in with the gang, she was once more really bandaged up. Then came the next issue, which was who was going to pay for her stay. Here came reality knocking on Korra’s door. She had to work. She had to earn her keep, just like every other ordinary human out there. And she had to do this without bending. 

- Without going into the boring parts of Korra having to learn the ABC of ordinary life, this plot thread eventually ends with her getting a loan of a stringed northern water tribe instrument, a nine-string mandolin. It started out as something Kaya loaned to her when she was still bedridden from being roughed up by the gang. It became an outlet for her pain, grief, uncertainty, and anger. It would be the key to unlocking air bending without a teacher for Korra. 

- Yep, air bending. The idea I thought of was basically a reverse Toph style of learning. Air, wind, the vibration that traverses the void. How is Korra supposed to reach a bending that’s highly spiritual without a guide or a master when she herself was in a period of such turmoil and grief? By accessing her rawest emotions, processing them, and letting them out through music, of course. It’s all very unintentional on Korra’s part. But probably this kind of learning is most effective for someone like her. Certainly more effective than sitting her in meditation with old monks who she didn’t understand and who didn’t necessarily emotionally understand her either. 

-To be honest, at first, I thought of a type of zither for the instrument. Atla universe is based off Asia. So a zither would fit in right at home, But then when I really think about it, a zither doesn't really fit in with a tribe of nomads who live as real and raw as you get. When you play a zither, you have to sit down. You need a table or some sort of flat surface for a zither. So what if you want to play while walking during your pilgrimage? What about when you are riding an animal. Furthermore, zithers are associated with philosophers. The oldest type of zithers is considered the philosopher and gentlemen's instrument. So it's an instrument associated with philosophy and logic.... and masculinity. So I thought it didn't quite fit what I had in mind. So I ended up having to search a bit more, finally ending with the mandolin. It's similar to a guitar. It has a unpretentious sensual edge to it. It's also light and simple. An instrument that is both spiritual in a very feminine way and fits right at home in a nomad's hands. I can see Korra playing it as she rides a yak atop ice slopes.

- I also wanted to introduce a softer, more vulnerable, and yet still very fierce, very Korra-esque side to Korra through her musicality. I also wanted her to connect. I wanted to introduce something earthy and grounded, yet deeply sensual, because it’s speaking from her raw emotions. So the mandolin, the songs she learned from the people around her, and the melodies that she eventually came up with herself. These are the tools I planned to use. 

- So eventually, this plot thread would open up into Korra gaining a position as Emeq village’s musician of sort. It’s the one practical skill that she showed the most aptitude in and didn’t require too many tools that she didn’t have. This would eventually open up to a different kind of bending, sound bending. Also my take on something approaching spirit bending without being it entirely.

- Then, the people of Emeq eventually started their pilgrimage into All Dark. This is an idea I came up with when I created Emeq. The idea of Emeq was that I wanted a place that was both primal and raw. As in, the very beginning of the beginning. I wanted a different take on water bending, removed from the ethereality of the moon-based water bending we all know in canon. A much more grounded and fierce kind of bending. So Emeq and their annual pilgrimage into All Dark, the region of the North Pole where there was no sun light or moon light, was the result of this. So a water bending born from a place with no moon would be vastly different.

Tbc…     

[darwinquark]

not you reigniting my jeronica shipper soul with a few graphics bc i legit opened ao3 and checked if you updated tkof in the middle of a shift break

but seriously after a third read of chap 11 (christ you weren’t kidding when you said you’d place an exorbitant amount of emOTIONS and fcking angst in that chapter) i just need to know:

will the sequel be heavy angst with a happy ending or angst for like the first few chapters then we actually get to see them happy? like am i gonna see established relationship scenes in new york??? bc gOOOD god the emotional turmoil tkof is i need some happy jeronica

also, is the sequel planned to be release soon after the last chap or? no pressure bc obviously you have a life outside this fic (unfortunately, not the same can be said about me) but i lowkey might combust if they don’t get a happy ending

anyways, tkof is a work of art just incase you didn’t know

lolololol girl I'm so sorry I'm honestly not even sure what happened with chapter eleven, I just like blacked out and threw in every angsty trope I could think of (but also, the fact that you've read it three times??? my heart???)

re: the sequel, definitely a different vibe! my reasoning for even doing a sequel instead of just tying up tkof as a standalone was that I felt like I couldn't organically give them the kind of ending I wanted for them amidst all that drama/turmoil, you know? like I could pull some Bonnie and Clyde run away to NYC-type ending, which is fun in that toxic/ride or die kind of way, but I feel like they deserve the chance to develop something healthier/less co-dependent than that. Veronica's in a really bad place in tkof, like she has pretty much no one and is weathering all this stress and trauma, and as much as Jughead wants to spare her from all of that I think she needs to rebuild/heal/find herself again on her own terms before she can genuinely be in something real. I like to think of tkof as a right person, wrong time kind of deal, and wbbs as their unlikely second chance at it.

re: the mood, definitely not the same angst-fest as tkof! the first few chapters are going to be heavy on the tension because things are left wildly unresolved, particularly to Jughead, and there's a lot of festering emotion/resentment that's been sublimated over five years that's now roiling right back up to the surface. that said, the setting/stakes/plot of wbbs is really different, like this is set in the NYC publishing world and there's no gang wars or serial killers or general riverdale bs heightening everything around them, so you get to see way more normal/everyday interactions for them, which is what I really wanted. this is their Dair era of bickering over manuscript edits and schmoozy cocktail hours and bookstore meet-and-greets and apartment life, and you also get to see just how unapologetically ambitious they both are (something that sets them apart from Betty and Archie and their white-picket-fence-small-town aspirations, I think), which is really fun. They have different ideas of success but they're both starving to prove themselves, and that initially presents as friction but eventually bonds them.

TLDR, the sequel is my way of giving them a chance to reconnect in a setting where they can finally breathe, and even though it starts off dicey, it definitely progresses into what I think you're looking for. I'm looking forward to playing into the idea that they'll both have convinced themselves what they had in tkof was this fluke of teenage hormones and life/death adrenaline, but then here they are, five years later, drawn to each other all over again. Just makes it feel a lot realer, you know?

ANYWAY, sorry for the wikipedia article I just wrote you oh my LORD. I'm not taking any kind of break between the last chapter and the sequel so should be along the same updating speed (which is admittedly abysmal I'm sorry 🙃). thanks so much for the message!

[thenarator]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

so i'm not sure if you meant for me to talk about five different scenes but i can't think of five scenes i wanna talk about on the same post, so here's one scene i've really wanted to talk about for a while and i'm just going to talk for extra long.

this is my director's commentary on the vigilante group training scene from savior of the desperate and forgotten chapter 18, "whenever you're ready."

in this scene izuku goes to meet up with stain and his gang of vigilante students at their hideout in the abandoned shopping mall for additional training and to give them an update. stain takes the opportunity to use izuku as a teaching assistant and the entire group train hard for a few hours. izuku then reveals that he has made the group a homemade picnic lunch of onigiri, and they all sit around eating and relaxing together after their hard work. izuku gets to bond with several members of the group individually, and receives validation for his decision to ditch his internship with nighteye. at the end of the scene he secures a promise to attend the school festival from dabi and hoshi, as part of a plan to cheer up shouto and natsuo.

what i really enjoyed about writing this scene is that it's not just a single conversation, it's a dozen different small interactions to build the relationships between characters. it's kind of a shame, because this scene took forever to write and i was super happy with all the little details i put into it, but a lot of people just commented that they "liked the vigilantes section" without focusing on any of the specific interactions. not that i expected people to notice how much time i spent figuring out what was the most in-character type of onigiri for everyone to like, but it still would have be nice for someone to comment on what a sweetheart izuku was for making everyone lunch.

for this series i will take any opportunity to get that sweet sweet sibling dynamic between izuku and tomura, so izuku bothering tomura about liking things and tomura bothering izuku about his 'hunger strike' were important details to me. i came up with the idea of izuku teasing tomura about the vault last minute, but i really liked it because it acknowledges that their relationship wasn't always great but they have come a long way. i want them to be close to each other and have a lot of their motivation be wanting to protect and take care of each other, but i also have to show their growth as individual characters. tomura learning to enjoy things when he was previously only encouraged to hate and destroy shows that he's starting to heal. izuku learning to joke about afo's particular brand of crazy shows that this legacy has lost some of its dread for him.

it was difficult remembering to give all the characters a chance to talk during the chapter, so that it really felt like everyone was present and participating, because there are a lot of them at this point. i had to go back and add in lines for twice in a few places, because i almost completely forgot he was there. i tried to give each dialogue exchange some weight from a character perspective, using the responses to things like izuku telling them about nighteye's creepy behavior to show that these aren't the same league of villains that we know from canon. i think magne only speaks like two or three times in this scene, but in only a few lines she establishes camaraderie with hoshi by saying that talking to her is a good enough reason to learn sign, and establishes protectiveness over izuku by offering to beat up nighteye for being a creep. izuku also just gets a nice interaction with almost everyone in this scene: analyzing compress's sleight of hand tricks, toga bragging to him about learning sign, spinner looking to him for his opinion, and of course everyone getting protective because of nighteye.

i also took the chance to do a lot of housekeeping this scene. i brought mustard back and even though he only spoke like once i still show that he hasn't been written out and that he's still part of the group even if he's not actively doing the vigilante thing. toga shows that she's starting to learn sign, and stain suggests that everyone else learn, so later down the line i can just say that they all know sign when i need them to communicate secretly. izuku puts cream on tomura's neck again, so that in the next big scene of this group it can be fully healed. spinner brings up the gentle criminal video, so i can foreshadow gentle and la brava eventually joining the group a few chapters later, and also remind everyone of that video recording izuku has yet to do anything with.

i really love writing scenes of the vigilante gang, almost all the scenes i've gotten to write, and i'm super pleased with how this one turned out. i hope everyone else enjoyed the fine details of the scene as much as i enjoyed coming up with them, even if they didn't know how much work went into it all.

anyway, thanks for the ask!

[litcityblues]

'The Sea of Monsters' --A Review

Look, I'm going to end up reading every last one of these books, okay? I'm not a huge YA person and I haven't really been back to that particular genre since The Hunger Games, but I said it after reading The Lightning Thief, I know for a fact that these books would have been my jam as a kid because I loved mythology. But then I thought, you know what? I'm a grown-ass adult and I still love mythology furthermore, I can read whatever I damn well please, genre be damned.

So, The Sea of Monsters.

Sequels are hard (I speak from experience-- my second book was a sequel to my first and god damn was that hard to write! Had to keep going back over and over again to make I was keeping everything straight.) but I can't imagine the challenge of plotting out entire series-- but happily for me, Rick Riordan seems to know what he's doing, because The Sea of Monsters doesn't miss a beat- there's no sophomore slump here.

The novel begins with Percy dreaming about Grover (who goes off to search for the god Pan at the end of the last book) being hunted by a monster. He wakes up for his last day of 7th Grade happy and even a little optimistic, as he has made it through a school year without any chaos following him in his wake, but of course, he speaks to soon and in gym class along with Tyson, a homeless kid that attends the school, he is attacked by a gang of Laestrygonians, but is saved by the sudden appearance of Annabeth and, strangely enough, Tyson.

Percy learns that Annabeth was on her way back to Camp Half-Blood having been tormented by dreams that the camp is in danger together with Tyson, the two of them catch a magical taxi back to Camp Half-Blood and find it under attack from the Colchis Bulls- there, they find out the truth: someone has poisoned Thalia's tree and the protection around the camp is weakening. Chiron has left, being accused of poisoning the tree, and has been replaced by Tantalus. Only the Golden Fleece, it is found, could save the camps. Oh, and Tyson is Percy's brother and a baby Cyclops to boot.

The quest this time is given to Clarisse and Tantalus forbids anyone else to accompany her, but naturally, Tyson, Percy, and Annabeth- wanting to rescue Grover and save the camp, go anyway-- reaching the first Ghost Ship, Princess Andromeda where they think they're safe only to find their old nemesis Luke, waiting for them. After a confrontation with Luke, they're forced back ashore again and take shelter in an emergency shelter built by Annabeth, Thalia, and Luke during their flight to the Camp- this time, it's Clarisse and her ship that rescue them and this time, they make it to the Sea of Monsters.

(As established in the first book, the Gods of Olympus have moved westward with the heart of civilization and so too, did the Sea of Monsters-- which is now where the Bermuda Triangle currently sits.)

They make it through Scylla and Charybdis, outmaneuver the witch Circe (who turns Percy not into a pig, but a guinea pig, in a nice touch/update to the myth), and eventually reach the island where the cyclops Polyphemus hold Grover (and the Fleece) captive-- only this time, he's managed to pick up Clarisse as well. Eventually, they make it back to the camp and bring back Chiron (who explains that he's distrusted because the Titan Kronos is, in fact his father) and they place the Fleece over the tree and it starts to work.

Only it works a little too well and brings Thalia back to life-giving Kronos another chance to manipulate the Prophecy for his own ends.

Overall: It's YA, so it's a quick read-- but even aside from that, Riordan doesn't piss about- he gets right into the thick of things and the results are entertaining, and his contemporary twists on ancient mythology are refreshing, smart and most of all-- fun! I'm ready for more! My Grade: **** out of **** (Those are stars, not curse words.)