#but also ........all these characters are like a piece of me and the story has been evolving from toys i played with as a kid

[silkentine]

Wha--?! Silk finally finished her fem Zoro design after (checks notes) literally 6 months since she made the canvas in procreate?

I'll break down design thoughts and share some fun bonus pics under the cut:

I LOVE long hair on Zoro, I think that was the first change I wanted to implement. Zoro in canon actually has a really interesting relationship with gender dynamics which (if for some reason you're reading this and you haven't watched One Piece) can seem out of left field for the "dumb brute" character. His rivalry with and reverence for Kuina suggests he doesn't adhere to the idea that women are weaker than men. Later on, however, during his confrontation with Monet and Tashigi during Punk Hazard, his hesitation to slash her down reveals that he's subconsciously over-protective of women because he thinks they're inherently weaker. I actually don't have any problem with this character trait, I think it makes him feel more real as a person and he obviously gets shit-talked enough about it in the story itself. But how did I want to reflect these beliefs if Zoro had been born a woman? Easy: internalized misogyny and applying value to herself via her appearance.

My version of Zoro grew up wanting to fight with swords but her only chance of entering the dojo was to work under the proprietress, Lady Shimotsuki to maintain the property, cook meals for the male students, and eventually be a good wife to the current heir, Kuina. She learns that, to get what she wants, she must be the ideal woman, even if she stays up all night training swordsmanship with Kuina when she isn't supposed to. He treats her love for swordplay seriously and treats her like an equal, which sparks a bond between them and eventually leads to Zoro's goal of becoming the world's greatest swordsman after his sudden, accidental death.

After years of intense training (now that Lady Shimotsuki admits that she'll need a new heir and Zoro is the closest thing she has) Zoro's finally old enough to leave and begin her journey. She starts letting go of the idea that she has to look pulled together to be taken seriously because she can just kill anyone who looks down on her. Her clothing falls into disrepair, she wears outfits that help her move in combat, and she starts tossing her hair up into messy, knotted buns under her bandana. Even so, she keeps her hair long like rolling hills of grass. (At least during pre-timeskip. She lops off her hair to prove to Mihawk that she's serious about being trained.)

I've put her in a thin sweater that she stitches (poorly) back together after her first interaction with Mihawk. (I kept one sleeve because I was inspired by the santoryuu Nami that Oda drew that one time.) I also wanted to girl-ify the ubiquitous haramaki so I picked leg warmers for her because I think they're sufficiently "dated" enough to be kinda analogous with his old man belly warmer. I also love gyaru fashion, sue me.

Here is a screenshot of her as a blonde:

And here is a sketch of her post-timeskip where she's fully embraced her butch nature:

Hubba hubba, am I right?

Check out my tag "girl piece original design" to see more of my genderbending art! Next post, I'll put all my East Blue Crew designs together! I can't believe it's taken this long but I AM SO HAPPPPPYYYYY

[ultfreakme]

So.

I finished She-ra.

I wanted to watch it because I realized I rarely watched anything with a female-centric cast and I especially didn't interact with sapphic content despite being sapphic. Abundance of cishet male-specific stories and a love for action-adventure led me to not exploring the latter in stories centering women because I had my own biases. I didn't think there were nearly enough action-adventure stories centering women out there in comparison to men. I just gave into convenience. Also I'll be real, internalized misogyny.

She-ra was so breathtaking and impactful because close to a decade after watching Legend of Korra and the beginning of Korrasami, I got to watch a fully-explored lesbian relationship on-screen with all the action and adventure I wanted.

I saw too much of myself in all the characters. In Glimmer & Angella's mother-daughter bickering, in Catra's insecurities, in Mermista's distance and aversion to people but still wanting companionship. I saw me in bits and pieces across all these girls and women.

It's a rare moment for a POC queer woman like me to truly see myself anywhere. My identity is often considered rare enough to be mythic (although queer POC are fucking everywhere lbr).

I remember being an eight-year old, and watching The Little Mermaid for the first time. I was mesmerized, I sung "Part of Your World" and re-enacted in my tiny apartment with only enough space for a bed and a cupboard and nothing else where my entire family were. I'd sing it on top of my lungs and then I'd look in the mirror and see brown skin and black hair and the spell of being a mermaid underwater would break.

Then fast-forward to 2024, I see She-Ra and her magical princess friends say they need to recruit a powerful Sea Princess to their war efforts. I am excited only because my fascination for mermaids has never really gone away. Then our main crew arrive and what do I see?

A brown woman, a woman with my skin tone and my eyes and my wavy kind of hair. She's stand-offish and a little emo, and she controls the ocean. She can switch her legs for fins and swim!! Suddenly I'm eight again.

I also remember watching The Swan Princess for the first time and feeling strange butterflies every time I saw Odette in her beautiful white gown. I didn't know then that girls could like girls, all I had was this feeling. A buttery, soft feeling where I wanted to sit beside her and see her smile. As I grew up I understood it was me being attracted to her and thinking "there's no love story showing the way I love".

Enter Catra and Adora. I felt a silly kind of nostalgia seeing Catra in love with a magical girl in gold and white.

I could go ON AND ON with all these little details where bits of me were in the show. It made me a little less lonely, and made me a lot more hopeful. Seeing yourself in media is important. Obviously you don't need it to empathize with a character or understand them but seeing parts of your own experience on-screen is a different kind of high. Like, like woah I can be a protagonist like that? I don't need to erase myself?

A story which treated parts of me- all the good and the bad parts- with kindness and gave it all a happy ending. I am so used to reading tragedy, expecting cruelty from even fantasy that I truly treasure stories with hope.

This show gave me that. I have been doing pretty bad in terms of mental health for months, maybe over a year actually. This was a nice reprieve and I hope the message of the story sticks with me, and that I start 2025 stronger and braver.

[lilac-sweet]

Varric might still be alive and here’s why:

So this is going to sound like massive amounts of copium, but hear me out:

Why does the veil not collapse immediately after Elgar’nan’s death?

It is made out of and tied to the life force of the Evanuris, so with all of them dead it should fall, right? But it doesn’t - it holds long enough for Solas and Rook to have a heart-to-heart. So what gives? Are there some leftover life force from the other Evanuris ? Are they not as dead as we are led to believe? Falon’Din’s owl statues are certainly hinted at being somehow important since we can happen upon multiple of them and see they are tied to some sort of weird magic.

Or has the dagger preserved a fragment of those it has killed (just like it did with Mythal), and that is what’s keeping the veil up? Since all it takes to be tied to the veil is a cut (apparently), it begs the question: can a mortal be tied to the veil?

Lyrium is such an interesting aspect of Dragon Age lore, and it seems to work as a vessel for spirits: it is what the ancient elves used to bind themselves to the physical world; it is what held Mythal’s spirit fragment inside the dagger; it might be what the dwarves are actually referring to when they say they “return to the stone”; it might also be why lyrium sings, and “Isatunol” would be the accumulation of dwarven spirits flowing through the rivers of lyrium within the Titans.

In that way, Varric might actually have been the first dwarf in a long time to “return to the Stone” - and what happens to Harding when she touches the dagger? She becomes something very much like a titan! Her magic might literally be Varric’s spirit coursing through her body - her body does become lyrium-infused as you see in her romance.

So is it possible a piece of Varric lives on in Harding? Absolutely. It would also be another explanation on what the Varric who visits Rook in the prison of regret actually is. If he is tied to the veil he might have had access to the prison somehow. Solas’ blood magic should have ceased by now, since any further use would be unnecessary and cruel (which would be out of character for Solas), and the only other explanation for him being there, that I can think of, would be as a guide that Rook has conjured up subconsciously and is part of the magic of the regret prison just like whichever companions you chose to sacrifice.

Helping to hold up the veil while Rook deals with Solas just sounds like something Varric would totally do (and I can’t help becoming a bit misty-eyed thinking he might be there with us in the final hour) - of course it might be Ghilan’nain’s fragment doing the heavy lifting here, but it’s not nearly as poetic.

In the ending scene we see a picture of Varric in the skies: it might be a way to honor the end of his story arc, or it might be a way to imply him watching over us still (maybe both).

It is going to be interesting to see which direction the next Dragon Age game will take: the Executors and Those Across The Sea seem to have a connection to not only Qunari and the Elven Gods, but to death as well. We hear how everything turns cold around the executors and hear the same whenever we meet a lich or Vorgoth in the Necropolis. We are also told the Watchers guard many secrets, so who knows, maybe the next game will explore more about what happens after death to the inhabitants of Thedas, and in that (lyrium) vein maybe if we’re really lucky we’ll get to dive more into dwarven lore as well.

[kquil]

hi pretty baby!! I have a very important question for you:

the year is coming to a close and it has brought us many great things (like your sweet sweet stories) and I'm simply dying to know.... if you were to do a 12 fics for 12 months sort of wrap up of your own blog, what would be your 12 most memorable fics of the year? which of your pieces really stood out to you? I'm eager to hear what my friends' proudest works are!

xx

i'm a pretty baby? my stories are sweet? ( /)///(\✿) AHHHHHHHH!

and that's such a fun thing to do as a way of rounding off the year omg! this requires some thought though, so i hope you don't mind if i take a while to answer

these fics aren't in any particular order but would say that the following are my 12 most memorable fics this year... (i will also include fics from my side blogs as those are my works too hehe~)

DIVORCING ORION BLACK CHAPTER 5

this was the fic that i first posted when i came back from my hiatus so it holds a special place in my heart~

DIVORCING ORION BLACK CHAPTER 6

DIVORCING ORION BLACK CHAPTER 7

i'm including all updates for the DOB series because i honestly think it's my magnum opus and i managed to stay consistent with updates until the end of the year ever since coming back from my hiatus

JAMES POTTER | HOW TO DRESS (nsfw)

this is from my nsfw side blog ; it took me an entire year to write this oneshot for james and it's 16k words long, which makes it the longest fic i have ever written AND it's the first ever NSFW oneshot I've ever written and posted haha! so it represents a big milestone for me

SIRIUS BLACK | BIKER BOY

this was dedicated to one of my dearest moots and close friends here @somewereinthegalaxi / @thebestofoneshots and was a fun little way of showcasing an interest we both share motorbikes, biker boy boyfriends and sirius black (づ> v <)づ♡ 

REGULUS BACK | HOLD HER PART 2

i've always loved the trope of characters being given insight into their futures somewhat, in fact, a niche of fanfiction i adore reading is based on that e.g marauders watching/reading the harry potter movies/books or harry traveling back in time and interacting with the marauders -- this is my little way of finally dabbling in the trope without writing another fix-it fic atop DOB (ᵕ—ᴗ—)

REMUS LUPIN | ONE NEGRONI

this combined a guilty pleasure of mine, mob boss aus and the marauders, mainly featuring our beloved Remus Lupin -- it just seemed natural making him the mob boss  (˵ ¬ᴗ¬˵) hehe~

JAMES POTTER | GENUINE

i literally couldn't sleep until i wrote this and i'm so happy i did too because you darlings seemed to really enjoy it too! now i have a deep love for the actor james x singer reader trope (๑>◡<๑)

JAMES POTTER | LIKE LOVERS DO

this was sooo self-indulgent ( /)///(\✿) it's a manifestation of my love for james potter and the friends to lovers trope -- this fic is secretly how i want to my relationship with james to blossom in another universe where he's no longer fictional and i have a chance at making him mine!

JAMES POTTER | BOUDOIR PHOTOSHOOT

i've been seeing tiktoks of this on my fyp for a long time and i kept thinking of james every time i saw it, my real life responsibilities kept getting in the way of me writing it until i finally committed writing it even if it meant sleeping super late again (๑˃́ꇴ˂̀๑)   

GROUP EFFORT SERIES

this imagines series is from my mcu + misc. side blog and i predict having a lot of fun with it in the future ; i'm writing it from a random thought i had during my hiatus when i got into the mcu fandom, it went along the lines of: i wonder how the avengers would handle babysitting a baby like Jack-Jack from the Incredibles -- i slapped my love for single mother reader tropes on it and this imagines series was made!

THE PRINCESS' SEVEN MERCENARIES

after getting into the mcu fandom during my hiatus, i also fell in love with many of Chris Evans' characters and started reading fics about them too, combine that with my love for fairy tale aus, drawing inspiration from a writer with a phenomenal nsfw fairy tale series and you get this snow white au series with seven of my favourite Chris Evans characters (。>\\<)♡

damn... look at this list makes me realise how much i've written this year despite my hiatus -- i need to give myself more credit since half the time i feel like i'm not writing enough omg! thank you so much for prompting me to do this, my love!

[whipped-for-kpop-fics]

First of all, thank you to my darling Lola @monamipencil for tagging me for this, it's actually the perfect opportunity for me to announce this.

This is officially my last post on this account. As much as I adore this account, it was started over 7 years ago as a shared account and I think it's about time I actually start an account that is entirely my own.

If you want to continue following me, my new account is @nothoughtsjustfic and I'll be very happy to see you there!

However, if you no longer wish to follow me, I just want to say thank you for following me this far. I appreciate all the support I've received on this account over the past years and I truly wish all of my followers, past, present and future, the very best of things.

For my wrapped I want to look back on not just 2024 but all of my writing on this account as a kind of final farewell to the account so excuse that this is a lil long.

I also got carried away with fic recs at the end oops.

First pieces of writing on whipped-for-kpop-fics

My first piece on this account GOT7 catch you staring 117 notes 0.9k Individual GOT7 x reader reactions, fluff. Posted 4th April 2017

My first fic on this account Birthday Boy 386 notes 3.8k Jungkook x reader smut. Posted 1st September 2017

First piece of 2024 Petnames Seventeen would use for their S/O  93 notes 0.9k  Individual Seventeen x reader headcanons, fluff. Posted 24th March 2024

First fic of 2024 Starlight Eyes 103 notes 14k Idol Seungkwan x staff reader, friends to lovers, fluff. Posted 28th March 2024

Last piece of writing on whipped-for-kpop-fics

Naïve 127 notes 11.5k Best friend Chan x reader, thriller, angst. Posted 27th November 2024

Most popular pieces of writing

Delivery Boy  2,312 notes 3.3k  Delivery boy Jungkook x customer reader, smut. Posted 9th October 2017 I still can’t believe this is the most popular thing I’ve ever written literally 7 years later.

Life’s A Beach 1,663 notes 7.3k  Lifeguard Mingyu x reader, strangers to lovers, smut. Posted 23rd July 2024

Let our lips lock, baby 1,162 notes 9.6k Mingyu x reader, friends to lovers, fluff, smut. Posted 6th April 2024

BTS when their S/O shakes from an orgasm 1,021 notes 0.5k Individual BTS members x reader smut reactions Posted 8th February 2018 Okay this one has genuinely surprised me; I never knew this post was so popular and honestly forgot about it. Made me laugh to reread just now though. I remember I used to get so frustrated looking for gifs to match the reactions because the laptop I had then was so slow. Ah, memories.

Longest fics

Troublemaker 994 notes 15.9k Gang boss Seungcheol x gang member reader, angst, fluff, crack, smut. Posted 9th September 2024

Mirror Mirror 175 notes 15.9k Seokmin x witch reader, magic au, fluff, minor smut, minor angst. Posted 27th October 2024

My personal favourites on whipped-for-kpop-fics

Protection Squad 42k series. Shapeshifter Yoongi x reader, angst, fluff. Posted 2nd April – 21st June 2018 This series started because I was struggling mentally and wanted to write about playing with cats as a form of therapy and then this happened. I got a lot of responses and asks about this series from readers who related to the big mental health theme and so I think that is such a big reason as to why this series will always have a special place in my heart. I like to think it helped readers who were struggling feel seen and understood, like they aren’t alone. Plus it’s shapeshifters and I love that, even if the writing is obviously written by a much younger me.

Troublemaker 994 notes 15.9k Gang boss Seungcheol x gang member reader, angst, fluff, crack, smut. Posted 9th September 2024 I truly think this is one of the best things I’ve ever written and I don’t think I’ll ever write something better. The vibes were just on point when I was writing and this one really ran away from me but in the best of ways. I genuinely adore this story and the characters.

Dark 191 notes 3.2k Monster Jeonghan x human reader, horror. Posted 18th August 2024 This was the first attempt at writing a horror fic and I loved the entire experience of writing it. It opened my heart and mind up to this kind of darker fics, and the feedback I received for Dark really made me so happy and convinced me that I should write more horror/thriller fics in the future!

Total pieces of posted writing: 33

Reactions/headcanons: 18

Fics: 15

Total posted wordcount: 121,420 (roughly)

Writing plans for 2025

To open up my new account starting on the 1st January 2025 I’m going to post a less than 3k word piece for each Seventeen member, including: another vampire Jeonghan fic, single parent Seokmin and siren Seungkwan! I’m very excited about those.

But what I am most excited about is that in 2025 I will post the entire first part of my pirate Seventeen series! Part one includes 7/8 chapters and each should be around 10k so this is going to be my longest story perhaps ever but it’s all planned and I’m so in love with it, you have no idea. I think the total wordcount for the pirate fic will be around 500k, which is admittedly terrifying and no doubt daunting as a reader but I hope at least one person will join me on that adventure when it happens!

I’m really bad at actually picking favourites so this is just a list of some of the fics I’ve read and enjoyed this year, arranged by svt member because why not.

Poly crossroads by @smileysuh Mingyu x reader x Wonwoo A New Rhythm by @sluttywoozi Yoongi (BTS) x reader x Jihoon

Seungcheol Have My Baby by @seokgyuu on my knees by @sescoups eat. play. love. by @husbandhoshi

Jeonghan young & stupid by @wavesmp3

Jisoo mr. nice guy by @toruro

Junhui ocean view by @junkissed What’s My Age Again? by @milfgyuu

Soonyoung Burnt Coffee by @highvern warm by @ddeonghwa-s Yes, Baby by milfgyuu just a moment with you by husbandhoshi (s)exercise by @monamipencil charity f*ck by @ncteez What? Like It's Hard? by @starsstuddedsky

Wonwoo no such thing as too perfect by @fairyhaos into the night by @etherealyoungk Heart of the Sea by highvern 34.6037° S, 58.3816° W by @the-boy-meets-evil

Jihoon Shy Woozi by @hoshifighting The Hair Tie Test by sluttywoozi Somewhere In The Middle by sluttywoozi

Seokmin RAW by @ourdawnishotterthanourday $$60 billion by @onlyseokmins

Mingyu When I Kissed the Teacher by highvern Whipped by @minisugakoobies The Way of The House Husband by @wonustars

Minghao Perspective by @tomodachiii

Seungkwan Who Wants to be a Dumbass by @soongyeopsal The Beach House by @bluehoodiewoozi

Hansol Quondam by @flurrys-creativity favorite coworker by sescoups The Cat-Parent Trap by bluehooziewoozi

Chan venus in furs by monamipencil DOES HE KNOW? by @hannieehaee

Oh I got far too carried away with this fic list and now this post is super long but all of the fics are more than worth it! Seriously, I highly recommend each of them.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this account, and me, by following, reblogging and commenting. I endlessly appreciate every single one of you.

May this next year be a happy and healthy year for us all and may we all feel genuine love, in whatever form that comes in be that platonic, romantic or otherwise.

See you again, I hope, Chee 💗

Closed: 31/12/2024

[drewstarkeybroughtmehere]

You and drew’s not so secret relationship 💍

yourusername

Liked by drewstarkey and others

yourusername Four years ago, our love began with the quiet rhythm of ink on paper, our notes carrying secrets only we understood. Each folded slip was a whisper of affection, a promise that even in silence, our hearts spoke to one another. Now, as I stand on the threshold of marrying you, I find myself tracing the path we’ve walked—every word, every glance, every shared laugh like a delicate thread weaving us closer. The notes have stopped, but the love they held has only grown, stronger than I ever imagined. And now, I can't wait to marry you, to keep writing our story, not with paper, but with the vows and dreams we’ve built together. I love you Jo🫎. @/drewstarkey

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drewstarkey I love you baby

| yourusername I love you more

madelyncline you guys are unbelievable

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jonathandavissofficial 🩵

| ❤️ by author

hichasestokes the perfect pair I fear

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harrystyles congrats🫶🏼

drewandyn omg.. I’m literally crying

drewstarkey

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drewstarkey As I stand on the precipice of forever, my heart trembles at the thought of how deeply I love you. Four years with you have woven a tapestry of memories so precious, I can't bear the idea of ever losing you. Every laugh, every whispered word, every touch has become a part of me, and now, as I prepare to marry you, the thought of living without you feels impossible, like losing a piece of my own soul. You are the rhythm that beats in my chest, the breath in my lungs, and I will spend every day for the rest of my life proving that I am yours, in a way that goes beyond words. I’m not just excited to marry you—I am in awe, terrified, and overwhelmingly grateful to call you mine. I love you Bug 🐞. @/yourusername

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yourusername my Jo.

| drewstarkey my Bug.

rudypankow CONGRATULATIONS ❤️❤️

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iheartdrewstarkey I’m happy but also sad 😔

madelyncline my besties 🥹

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madelyncline 40m

-NEXT DAY-

yourusername 10m

harrystyles 20m

drewstarkey 25m

Hey guys this kinda took a while because I’ve been sick, I still am but I’m a bit better. I tried my best with this one, but I really just got tired of typing and making the “posts“ I know I could’ve done better but I really do hope you guys like this one and I’m working on a new story having to do with Jensen Ackles I don’t know if I wanna use one of his characters or just him so let me know. (also you and Drew’s captions on your wedding day are some of your vows from the wedding ) Enjoy 🫶🏼🫶🏼 

[twirlymarimo]

twirlymarimo's 2024 year-end zosan fic rec!

after a full orbit around the sun reading zosan fanfics, i decided to make a list of recommendations bringing light to these beautiful pieces of work, whether it made my heart hurt, made me laugh, or just simply hooked to the story. enjoy reading!

☆゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜★

i would give you my heart, i think by fairv it's not finished but the first chapter is an absolute banger. multiple angsty trope in one - canonical character death, pining, miscommunication, friends to lovers, secret dating, what more could you ask for. i constantly find my self thinking about this story and i wish i was patient enough to wait for the finished work. this one deserves a lot more kudos!

homesick by summerofspock another mystery banger from summer! the vibe is twin peaks meets teen wolf and the premise is angsty but fluff is sprinkled here and there to keep our hearts stable.

insiduous by riotoftime and aevv the dynamic duo of the century that brought us tin lover is back with a new world to take over our minds with every update. their synchronized writing style reads like a book, just take a look at the world building in this one. the story is starting to pick up just like the intense dynamic between our two faves.

a heavy heart to carry by inkinmyheart i realized none of the first recs are finished, my bad but this one is! i typically avoid vampire aus because trauma from reading twilight but the concept here is interesting! i always enjoy ptsd sanji and the build up to the ending/reveal was satisfying.

the proposal by brunetta6 a well-written adaptation of the rom-com classic, the proposal. the accurate description of hokkaido brought me back down memory lane when i visited in 2023. hilarious dialogues with a tiny slice of angst makes a perfect pick-me-up read in the winter time.

lost myself when i caught sight of you by thecrownofclowns the sigh i let out after reading this. so hauntingly beautiful, like one of the fics that made me believe zosan is canon lol if this was a song, it would be a house in nebraska by our queen ethel cain

the knight shift by strawhatbougie inspired by THAT photo that circulated the internet, the author brought justice to what the audience wants - sanji in white fishnet leggings.

the mummy by greenyogurtelephant i love movie adaptations as you can see lol i read this on my e-reader in the summer and it was so hilarious, entertaining, and truly fits the essence of zosan. i would suggest to watch the actual movie either before or after reading the fic.

loose ends of the night by veto_power_over_clocks if you like pain like me, the first 4 chapters are all about miscommunication and wanting to smack both of these guys' heads and screaming at them the entire time. zoro POV too which is so rare these days but author delivered!

this post has been deleted. by evils if you love social media au but need it in a written format, this one is for you! a mix of comedy, fluff, and a slice of angst thru miscommunication.

seagrain by fruityumbrella ever thought about what would happen if sanji and zoro find out they've both done the one thing that make up their very core? "you know what, hell yeah," author fruityumbrella said.

thank you for reading if you made it this far! i have way more fics that i liked this year but i only got my account a couple of months ago so i couldn't track the ones i read earlier in the year. i also tried to feature ones that are not from well-known authors but i still had to give credit where it's due ;) thank you to all zosan writers for keeping my mental health stable (or maybe not for adding to my delusions about these two) <3

if you liked any of the fics above, please don't forget to give kudos, comment and bookmark! writers work so hard to give us amazing stories and they take so much time out of their schedules to do so.

if you're interested in more of my fic recs, you can check out my ao3 bookmarks here.

[m0thlegs]

Honestly, this is a really strong argument.

I think people tend to overlook this ship, for one because fandom spaces tend to centre men a LOT despite being filled with majority queer people and women (and queer women), and we have the classic case of “fans of a popular mlm ship being weird and feeling the need to dismiss or demonise female characters who feel threatening to their ship that they want to uphold above all else”, nothing new here, fork found in kitchen.

But also, I don’t even think the WRITERS cared that much about Sky, what she meant, and the impact she could’ve had beyond “girl has a crush on a man, then gets fridged twice in the same show because the writers got too scared to develop her as an interesting presence or force in the story beyond her one-sided crush on a prominent male character”, because even in season 1 we were barely shown ANY characterisation for her outside of Viktor, and a lot of observations made about her have been by dedicated fans analysing the tiny details and “blink and you miss it” Easter eggs (which is shit, quite frankly. Like what can be said for the majority of season 2’s writing, Easter eggs are meant for fun side quests, they should NOT be your main source of storytelling or characterisation. I said show don’t tell, not don’t show or tell me anything at all except for frames that show up for a nanosecond. Do better). Other than that though? We had SCRAPS of her, and have mostly only been going off of fanon characterisation since the show can’t be bothered to give it to her themselves.

It’s like to them, she only existed to further his character development, and once she started to become too prominent or interesting of a presence in the story, the writers got scared and killed her off again so she wouldn’t “threaten” the relationship between two men (at least.. that’s my theory. I don’t know their exact thought process but that’s what it feels like to me, based off of what we were shown.). Which is ridiculous, it’s not like you can’t have your cake and eat it too, they could’ve been equally important pieces for Viktor’s narrative, but the writers never gave us a real reason to care about Sky (not that you shouldn’t care anyways, even if the narrative says otherwise); we were never shown much of her motivations, her goals, or a more in-depth look of her personality beyond Viktor, so a lot of fans tend to overlook her for that reason as well, since a lot of people seem to uphold the text as gospel and either can’t or refuse to use their imagination beyond that.

I’m really upset with the treatment of Sky, by both the fans and the writers. She could’ve been such an interesting piece of the story, but nobody seemed to consider that when writing the show, so we’re forced to scrape together bits and pieces and even make up our own to do her justice.

We need to abolish the "Viktor didn't care about Sky" argument. This mandela effect started somewhere god knows where but it's gotten to a point where my eyebrows do the angry bird thing every fucking time someone says it.

1. If he did hallucinate her, that's an insane level of obsession, I'm afraid. Guilt and grief are one thing, building her dream commune is something completely different. Also I'm sorry let's not pretend that guilt and grief are not inherently romantic, they are in their case. He was ready to off himself after she died. There's nothing casual or colleague like in the way Viktor treats Sky post her death. In love with the idea of her or in love with her, it doesnt really matter

2. If he didn't hallucinate her and she was indeed real, then he let her guide him and spent months upon months doing the equivalent of giggling in flowers and holding hands. He again in that case built her project for her and cared for it for her.

3. He wore Jayce's blanket with HER pin. He kept the cog AND the notebook.

Viktor loved them both, it's quite clear when you stop quivering over one ship or the other being more canon. I genuinely dont know how we are all still arguing about it or why as a matter of fact.

Why isn't he allowed to love them both?! Some people act as if THEY are Viktor and their feelings about him are the canonical ones. The rules of fandom state we award him pin of bisexuality until a canon decision is made. That's how it works. If either side doesnt like him being with either Sky or Jayce, then that's frankly an issue that needs looking in and not project onto the others.

Jayce, sky, viktor, mel, get behind me. Baby's first fandom behaviours are ensuing.

I wholeheartedly agree. I love skyvik, I wish people weren’t so crazy over ships in this fandom

[nsharks]

also!!!! i feel like the way you put all the story pieces together makes this particular ghost fic so idk... special to me. like the tortured lone wolf persona ghost has in most fics somehow makes all pain, suffering and living experience the reader character went through insignificant. and in this zombie world i feel like they both went through shit and hell combined, and this "i dont know why i fight so hard to survive when i have no one to be with" is exactly why ghost gets twix on some animalistic level IN MY HEAD. cause he too survived torture and his family death and went welp guess i'll live bitches

I LOVE THIS. yeah!!! he GETS twix at the soul-level. they are more alike than either thought or was willing to admit, and that will definitely shine in this next part (hopefully).

[replicabetweenblogs]

FIRST POST-HIATUS WRITING UPDATE WOOHOOO. ALSO I NEED Y'ALLS HELP.

30.12.2024 // this is not a chapter update yet! As promised before, an update to reveal what I have been up to regarding RBU.

;-; catching up on age old asks that got thrown into my inbox while I was away on hiatus and. Yes- always made me smile reading those, but also made me quite sad for leaving the story at such a cliffhanger.

All the people hoping for a happy ending with the ROs do make me giggle- all those people pointing out all the angst make me feel quite evil for the stuff I have written down in chapter 9 already. ANYWAY!! the update!

A few lill snippets because why not.

over the past years of total and utter silence with this project gone through a never-ending hiatus, I have gotten alotta more confident(yay) yet no-where to put these skills of mine into, as my struggle in real life right now is the fact that I can’t find a proper game design job where I can flourish - I decided to try and keep said skills sharp and fresh by writing stories. so here we are again. I have been quite busy rewriting and re-defining the overarching story, and I cannot wait to have everyone see the eventual endings.

Kept it all hush hush not wanting to come back with nothing- hence the ask compilation above c:<

the chapter is going to be a BIG one. I am at 91k words, fully written out and basically done aside from one (1) path remaining. WOOHOOOO NEARLY THERE :D running towards the finish line, hence the teaser. Anyway --

FEEDBACK FORM, TEASER, REQUEST FOR EDITOR UNDER CUT!

***Feedback form! Help me reach the finish line!!***

I need your help c: for anyone who still has their saves or new players who have reached the end of chapter 8, I like to know what your stats are! I require this for proper balancing in chapter 9 as this is the chapter where the story gets split into many paths depending on some of those questions. Thank you in advance!!

what can you expect from the next update, coming up SOON?

91k wordcount so far (total, all branches, excluding code)

19k words for one single run

Romance lock-ins with Ash and Ha

consequences of your past major decisions/Character personality traits starting to finally catch up by taking the players onto whole different branches and locations altogether.

trigger warnings: implied mental and physical torture, determined character deaths

Some additional flashback sequences across chapters 6, 7 and 8 to some see things from companions' povs

The story of RBU is dark. this game has a dozen "bad" endings planned, only having one "good" ending for each individual Character/MC and main story in general. It's not for just the sake of drama and shock value, as I want this game to reach a very specific "lesson" which effect will be taken away if everything ended in a too-good-to-be-true way. Just a gentle warning!

main story lock-in!! Coded out some branches already for the next chapters. Chapter 10 will be the end of part 2, and part 3 will be more of a 2-chapter endgame with a chapter dedicated to an epilogue afterward. So we are really getting close to the end if I keep this up, and will stop updating the public link once reaching part 3. Will be making an announcement for private betas by then probably, but that'd be like... when I am on my deathbed at the age of 92, most likely.

I really hope you guys will be enjoying the absurdly long chapter. Did a few bold moves regarding the direction the story is going towards which I had been planning and iterating for since the very start of RBU regarding final revelations, hoping some puzzle pieces will be satisfyingly falling into place.

RBU is really about regret and acceptance regarding our decisions and mistakes, and how different types of people deal with it (badly).. so there are no "good" or "bad" endings or choices, really. BUT there is always a "worse" and "worst" so uh. Beware :')

Looking for a paid/voluntary editor!!

To help with the reconstruction of weird sentences, taking out grammar mistakes, eliminating the bad spelling, and bonking teenage-firefly on the head for her bad storytelling. plus points if you could help with the phasing even, perhaps like some kind of a beta reader- yet not too focused on it right now, as I'm just wanting to make the old chapters flow nicer.

shoot me a message if you are wanting to help out! Either on the forums, over here, or shoot me a DM! as I am @fireflyy on the official COG discord server.

For the sake of consistency, I am hoping to get help from one available editor for now. so please do let me know of your experiences if you are wanting to help out!!

You shall be credited within RBU's main screen

See you all soon <3 and a happy new year!!

[giantkillerjack]

Me: hm, I want something to put on the TV as background noise... Huh. Looks like YouTube is recommending something called The Last Unicorn. That's perfect, it's probably some old shitty animation that has aged poorly! I can watch it ironically!

Me, 2 hours later as the credits roll: *crying, cheering, buying the book, composing the songs*

Me, 2 weeks later: So I have compiled all of the quotes from the book that I think could make good tattoos, and also, HOW HAVE I NEVER LEARNED ABOUT HOW THE LAST UNICORN FUCKING SLAPS??? This gay-ass little fairytale fed my soul! Watered my crops! Transed my gender! Can't believe I heard of this story from youtube recommendations, of all places!!

[karmanun]

Isha: A writer’s musings

Tw mentions of suicidal ideation, depression

Maybe a little late to the conversation, but you’ve mentioned in a couple of your others posts that Isha somewhat puzzles you, so I wanted to share my two cents, because Isha confused the hell out of me at first two.

I have always been a fan of the idea of Jinx becoming a parent/parental figure with Lux just because of how important a theme parenthood is in her story, there has always been something incredibly poetic about it all coming full circle, so while I was certainly intrigued to see Jinx actually depicted in a parental/older sibling role in S2, it sort of felt like it was happening too quickly? Like, shouldn’t Jinx have more time to grow and figure herself out a little before being a role model, especially to such a young girl?

However, the more a thought about it the more I realized what a genius move it was. Many people picked up on how Isha heals Jinx’s inner child - she even says it herself:

- “I had a different name back then you know. Powder. Stupid, right? I thought I was rid of her for good, but… you kind of remind me of her.”

But it’s more than that. Jinx is simultaneously coming to accept her role as a symbol to the Zaunites (a role which makes perfect sense: Vander kept the peace but also upheld the status quo, Silco furthered the movement but walked all over the very people he claimed he wanted to free to do it, Jinx was the first person to actually make a move) but it’s a struggle for her. Jinx has never been a “big picture” person - while I have no doubt that she believes in the cause, given everything Piltover took from her, she operates mainly off of emotional reponses and impulses. Her world is limited to her inner circle of family and she has trouble empathizing with anyone outside of it. She was already someone who was driven by personal connection. Throw in severe suicidal ideation and naturally she needs more than simply a grand cause to accept her role as a symbol.

Isha fulfills that missing piece. She is the personal connection Jinx needed to drive her towards something new. Jinx wouldn’t have cared about being Zaun’s hero, but the fact that she is Isha’s hero is what convinces her that there might be something to it.

“Is there anything so undoing as a daughter?”

Boom, I have the character figured out!

Except…

What in the cheezits frick was this about???

Now, from a storytelling perspective: do I think Isha’s death was necessary? Of course not. Do I think it was worthless? Also no.

To figure out what is going on here, let’s back up and explain what S2 was doing with Jinx (because although Isha is my precious baby gremlin with an explosive personality and I love her, from a writing perspective she is primarily a narrative device for Jinx’s arc). My take is:

If Jinx’s arc in Season 1 is about accepting that she is “Jinx” ie she can never go back to the girl she was before, then her Season 2 arc is about learning that “Jinx” can mean whatever she wants it to mean. She gets to decide what that means, no one else. As we discussed above, Isha is the one who truly helps her to understand that - this little girl who never knew Powder, only Jinx, and still sees a hero, a friend, family in her - helps her see she can be more than the destructive force of chaos Silco told her was perfect.

So when Isha died and Jinx fell back into depression and suicidal ideation, it sort of seemed like it was all for nothing - like the lessons she learned through Isha were lost, and that having Ekko replace Isha as the one who helps her accept her new identity was, as you put it, “shipping wish fulfillment”. However, I slowly came to realize that just wasn’t true.

As somewhat of a side note, this video really helped me understand what was going on with the Ep. 9 opening, the AU, and Ekko’s character arc in general. The basic gist of it is that he redefines his views on the potential of the present (something the Z-Drive is symbolic of) and therefore of Jinx’s potential. After Isha’s death Jinx falls back into her old, dark mental state, but not because Isha’s lesson is lost: because that is a human response to such a horrible tragedy, and frankly I commend the writers on not shying away from that.

My interpretation of Jinx and Ekko’s interaction in Ep. 9 isn’t that he’s able to pull her back from the brink because he’s her savior or because they’re just so in love, but because the fact that even the very person who gave up on her, spent years despising her, and tried to kill her multiple times (for justified reasons) was able to redefine the way her saw her was a jarring reminder that Isha’s lesson was not, in fact, lost - that there is still more to her than just a jinx.

I think that’s why Jinx chooses to live. I think that’s why she chooses to break the cycle not by killing herself but by taking a chance on something new. Ekko being able to change the way he saw her, enough to take a chance on the good she could still do, was the final nail in the coffin that was her journey of self-growth Isha led her on. Just because Isha was gone didn’t mean the person she saw in Jinx also had to be.

Now, I don’t think Isha had to die for Jinx’s arc to reach this same conclusion. They were very clearly careening towards it anyway. I can’t say for sure why the writers chose to go down that route (other than the obvious answer that they love to torment us) but I still believe they got something powerful out of it.

Jinx chooses to live, for her little girl.

Jinx's mental health musings, again.

I think calling a severely traumatized person struggling with mental illness 'broken' or a 'monster' is part of the problem, no matter how violently she's lashing out at the world. So many people in Jinx's life wrote her off as 'broken' 'monster' 'too far gone', and that just made it worse for her at every point.

Vi and Ekko just wanted Powder back, so hard they each were literally ready to murder her until some reminder of her 'Powder' side stopped them, and Silco leaned into enabling her 'Jinx' persona, and all that did was force her to choose between two parts of her psyche mostly constructed by other people's expectations, instead of reconciling with herself.

It took until the very end of S3 and a whole jaunt into another timeline and a romance with an AU version of his childhood crush for Ekko to see that maybe he shouldn't have written her off.

The only people who loved her unconditionally were Isha and Vander... ...and arguably Sevika, in a grumpy auntie who sort of wants you to lead a rebellion for her kind of way. Even AU Powder is hiding her trauma from losing Vi and stifling her own genius to please others and be their support girl. It's no surprise that Jinx is at her most healed, authentic and whole when she is with Isha.

She still had a long way to go, but that was when she felt the most 'complete' to me. She was healing herself on her own steam, taking her own steps to reach out to her sister and reunite with her father. To become the hero, not just for the kiddo who looked up to her, but for herself as well.

The writers taking that away from her just so Amanda could have her shipping wish fulfillment plot will burn in me forever.

[kacievvbbbb]

Honestly despite my feelings about how the last arc of MHA went down I really love Deku and his story.

I just feel like a lot of the time we get these protagonists whose whole philosophy is it doesn’t matter what you were born as everyone can achieve greatness. But then the series goes on and it turns out that actually it DOES matter because the protagonist has this really great lineage and these really great powers you can only have through birth they were actually born born, predestined if you will, to do this.

But MHA actually sticks to its guns. Midoriya wasn’t revealed to have some great connection to all might that the universe had put in place. He wasn’t defended from some great lineage that makes him uniquely suited to this. Hell All for one didn’t even turn out to be his father, there was no hidden powerful quirk he was always meant to have. He was just Midoriya Izuku a boy who was in the right place at the right time and simply decided to act while the world did nothing. And that’s what really made him a hero.

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I believe him a bit more when he goes anybody can be a hero if you just decide to act

[ganondoodle]

just to make this clear, im not doing much better, but the messages i did get helped a little bit and i plan to answer them too, i just cant do it all at once q-q

[niklausie]

hehehe… coming to a dashboard near you this friday 🥰

[nartml]

Saw a comment describe killugon as 'born to be brothers, forced to be best friends'.

And I just have to say that, out of all the things that have never happened, that has never happened the most.