#but i am more than happy to give a general idea about what the process could look like!

[shalom-iamcominghome]

What kind of questions are good to ask your rabbi during the first meeting? I know it's good to ask questions but I can't really think of any other than what will the process be like etc., and I want to plan ahead

I didn't ask too many questions during the first meeting, but my rabbi and I got to know each other as people. He talked a bit about his history as a rabbi, some things about his practices, and then I talked about what led me to judaism and a bit of how I've integrated judaism into my life at that point.

I do think the most important question you can ask at this time is for them to outline what their expectations would be of you if you both decide to go forward. So asking what coursework there might be (my rabbi mostly gives me optional readings because I'm already in a course), how they teach, what they most often teach, and perhaps even what steps they would encourage you to take while you're converting are all good questions.

I would stray away from political questions or complex questions only when you and your potential rabbi are first meeting. You will likely have many more meetings where you can address certain things! My rabbi and I have met about three or four times, and it's pretty recent that I talked about (am/eretz) yisrael with him and how many complex and deep feelings I have about it (very cathartic and comforting, I will say). Unless it's a make-or-break for you, you can probably delay those topics for the near future.

I honestly think the first meeting is more than just discussing "practical" topics like how you'll be converting and what the process is like and asking questions. It's also to get to know each other as people. Not every rabbi will fit into your conversion in a fruitful way - you're also seeing if the rabbi will be a good fit for your goals in judaism and how you want to exist as a jew in the future.

I don't want to say "have fun and be yourself," but I think you should try to do that in part! There will probably be many places where you'll want to ask questions, and I can't anticipate that. I personally didn't ask questions from my rabbi because I could tell we were a good match, and sometimes, it's like that! But don't be afraid of the rabbi - they're a person, they're not infallible, and so many rabbis absolutely love to talk to students! I am fully confident that you wouldn't be an exception to that

[kedreeva]

Any bird artists/graphic designers/photo-editors out there that might be willing to make a logo and/or a merch design for our local small game bird association, after the new year?

Story below the cut if you want more info

I'm currently in the process of taking over my state game bird association's website stuff, to help them recover after incredibly bad leadership did their level best to wreck it entirely. It's a "State" association, in that it's for people in this state but isn't run by the state, it's just like. a few people who like game birds who have made nonprofit (like an actual 501(c)) club for other people that like game birds. There's less than 100 members in it according to the registry I saw, to give you an idea what it's like. I'm dealing with one 70+ year old lady, one Older Mom (who isn't even in the association anymore) that helped transfer stuff out of her name, and one Other Lady (who is apparently the sister of one of the hospital board members, but who lacks her sister's desire to watch the world burn I guess) that I've only had phone conversations with so far. I've so far been able to get their website under control and I'm working on getting their facebook back into their hands (it's still being held hostage by a hostile board member they're trying to get rid of), and to try to help them all limp into being a functional association again, like it was when I first started interacting with it 20 years ago.

That being said, in the transfer of the site, the previous site is 100% lost, including all old graphics. No one still in the association has any of the old graphics saved. That's fine, they were.... terrible. Like, this is an old preview pic of the site banner

Truly terrible. So, not gonna lie, kinda glad it's gone forever.

There is an OLDER banner, from before dickhead mcfuckface took over the association, and it's "better" but it's very clearly got an 80s vibe like you would not believe

But, the old lady that is running the association now asked me about having a header on the front page, so here I am. I told her that there were a TON of talented artists that would be happy to be paid (all of the following would be PAID work, if the association can afford it and if not they will just do without, I was VERY clear about needing to pay artists for work) to design a logo and/or some kind of graphic designer that could help with a little banner for the website. She also asked me about selling t-shirts and hats, since some people at the swaps have asked for them. I told her that a nice looking logo would be a good start for that kind of thing, but that I could ask around and see if anyone wanted to draw a game bird design to sell at their bake sale table or maybe redbubble or something similar so people can just get what they want.

I'm sorry that this is vague, but beyond the logo/site header, I'm not sure exactly what they are going to want, just that they are going to want An Artist Or Three. You'd be dealing with me once I've wrangled them into telling me what they exactly want for anything outside the website.

As for the website, I actually don't mind the basic design of the second banner (the 80's one, a rectangle, circle badge logo in the middle, game animals to either side), and I think it would be good to bring back that general feel, but cleaner and brighter on colors, and different animals. The club does not really deal with deer or raccoons regularly, and pheasants are not the only game birds. I was thinking maybe just doing birds on both sides. Peacocks, pheasant, chicken, turkey, ducks, quail, and dove(s) are the most common at swap meets, so some combo of those would be nice (doesn't need to have all of them), as that's what members will mostly be raising.

If that's something you feel you might be interested in, and can provide your pricing & an example of your style so I can bring it to them and tell them I want them to pay you to give me things for the site and/or association at large.

For the laughs, here is what I "mocked up" for them as an idea

But they also liked the idea of a plain badge logo like this one (because they don't live and breathe peafowl I assume, it's the only explanation)

anyway. if you have the art skills and wanna help a bird nerd group out, please let me know!

[sweet-as-an-angel]

Heya!! can i request for yandere john wick (headcannons or give anything will work)

You probably know which Anon i am. Please forgive me i got a little too happy cuz you write so good for such good stuff!

Yandere John Wick Headcanons

Warnings: Obsessive Behaviour, Stalking, Snooping, Very Brief Implication of Smut, Just John in Love <333, No Pronouns used for Reader except ‘You.

A/N: I wanted to get these out before I watch the new John Wick film; one which I have been waiting for for the last 4 years <3

O B S E S S I V E

Absolutely an obsessive lucid yandere – he may be in love, but he’s not delusional.

Regardless of whether you came before or after Helen, John knows how cut-throat his profession is; how quickly everything can go from an is to a was.

Thus, nothing is certain. Not you, not him, not your relationship.

So when he realises he’s in love with you – a process as gradual as the construction of Earth itself – he’s never letting you out of his sight.

This might manifest as something as subtle as him visiting you more than usual, staying, longer during movie nights, trying to get you to spend the night more often; inconspicuous displays of a strengthening friendship you and John had accrued over the last couple years or so.

But, unbeknownst to you, he’s around even when you’re unaware.

An unmarked black car parked a house or two down the street, shielded by the shadows of the trees as moonlight casts a stark white against the black.

An inconspicuously-dressed civilian who’s been sat on that park bench for the last two hours as you read your book.

And, eventually, the tiny camera attached underneath your sofa, monitoring every coming and going of your house.

You know about none of this, of course.

Sure, you may have suspicions that the car down the street – one you’ve never seen before in your life – could be doing something… but who were you to judge ? There could be a perfectly logical explanation !

But John keeps enough of himself – and you – in the dark so you’d never suspect him.

I mean, why would you ? He’s John Wick ! Nicest, quietest guy on the block.

If ever he’s on a mission; John relies on that camera more than he’s like to admit.

In his downtime, while resting up at the Continental, he’ll check his phone, see that you’ve gone to the kitchen to make something or other, and wait for you to return to the sofa until he can put his phone away.

Even with his logical mind, he can’t help but fall partial victim to his superstition that, once you reach the sofa, nothing bad can happen to you.

The idea of putting up more cameras has crossed his mind.

Multiple times.

But you’re attentive. You’d notice something as small as a little blinking light a mile off.

Hencewhy he takes to manual surveillance when he’s not out earning a thriving.

He also lowkey interrogates you.

“You found a boyfriend yet ?”

You give a sharp laugh.

“If I had, you’d be the first to know,”

You already tell John practically everything that happens to you – as best friends do – but whenever you ask John something similar, he’ll skirt around your questions.

“No time for that,” he’ll tell you whenever you try to identify the new mystery partner in his life.

“You’re always so busy, John-John !”

Ah, his nickname. A mythic specialty no other has had the privilege to call him.

And John gives a rare smile.

“I’m never too busy for you.”

And you know he means it.

Whenever you need him, he’s there.

And you try to be there for him as much as possible, but given how elusive he is, he rarely seems to need it.

You want to help as best you can, regardless.

So, one day, out of the blue, you hand John a set of keys.

He’s a smart man. But he can’t wrap his head around what you’re trying to tell him.

And when he stares at you with a narrowed look, your eyes roll, the edges of your lips curling up.

“They’re keys, John,” you say. And you gesture around the living room, general in your manner. “To my house.”

And John stares at you for a moment. Then two.

“(Y/N), I’m not trained to be a housekeeper.”

“Oh my god, John–”

You have to explain to him that you’re not trying to get him to clean your house or care for it. You’re opening it up to him.

“I trust you more than anyone else to know how everything works here,” you say, a hand on his shoulder. He’s trying to keep dead eye contact with you, but the feeling of your fingers holding him with a softness he’s never known is like being branded.

“So,” you smile. “If you ever need it for anything, you can get in.”

Honestly, John has been granted few mercies in his time; makeshift alliances with murderers who were loyal to none, not even themselves, his life saved only by his ability to barter and his renowned skill for death. And never are these mercies granted without a price.

So to have you gift him a set of keys to the place you are most vulnerable takes John a while to come to terms with, shall we say.

Remember earlier when I mentioned John’s idea to install more cameras ?

Well, now you’ve given him a perfect in.

Plus, he now has access to all your personal belongings.

At first, he did try to restrain himself.

Trust me, he did.

But, as the days grew into weeks, your keys sat on his bedside, glinting under any source of light that could find its way inside.

And, as if the Gods aligned circumstance on his favour, you would be away from home for a week.

A trip to such-and-such a place – John had the address memorised even before you did.

You’d best believe that, although he initially had his reservations about 1.) you going on the trip, and 2.) using your absence as a means to snoop around your home, John is not immune to whim and fancy. Especially when it came to you.

He’s phantasmic; he leaves no trace, not even fingerprints as he prowls your apartment, looking for…well, anything, really.

He avoids stooping so low as to rifle through your underwear drawer like a stalker. Instead, he uses what he likes to call ‘environmental storytelling’ to make deductions about you.

He’s a very intuitive, perceptive individual, so the story of your everyday routing unfolds for him as if he were reading a book.

And, yes, the temptation to peek at the…less savoury pieces of your inventory did become overwhelming when he could no longer be satiated with the literature you consumed, the worn look of your favourite outfit, your secret money stash you kept in the biscuit tin in the kitchen.

To make a long story short, John walked out your house with a short of yours.

And, when he got home, he did the only thing he could think to do.

He put it on a pillow and pretended it was you.

Cuddles with it whenever he’s missing you. Or sad.

Maaay have cried into it on more than one occasion.

Maaay have done…other things to it when he wasn’t feeling upset.

He’s absolutely paranoid that you’ll find it one day, despite his aptitude at covering his tracks, so he tries not to invite you to his house as much as he can.

However, as your friendship progresses further, that’s unavoidable.

While you may not be dating yet, just know that John holds you in the highest of regards, and he’ll never let anything – including himself – hurt you.

Just ignore his eye wandering to the walk-in cupboard in the hallway; that’s just where he’s kept his imitation of you.

Reblog for more content like this! It helps creators like myself tremendously and it is greatly appreciated :-)

Masterlist Masterpost

Yandere Masterlist Juicy Original Content <3

[parad-ice-lostandfound]

Prompt: "…How’d you know I wanted this?" "Because I heard you talking about it on several occasions." "I didn’t know you paid this much attention to me." "—I don’t. You just happen to talk really loudly.”

Pairing: Idia Shroud x GN!Reader/Prefect/Yuu

Genre: Fluff, and slight crack because it's Idia <3

TW: NA

"-And so, we shall celebrate this winter with a housewarden Secret Santa exchange!" Crowley smiled, golden eyes crinkling into happy little half-moons behind his mask.

The seven housewardens of NRC, joined by Ramshackle's Prefect for this particular meeting, looked at each other. Some with clear exasperation in their eyes, a few (namely Kalim) showing a little more excitement than the rest of their dour counterparts.

The Prefect sighed, sinking into their chair as if embarrassed beyond words as Crowley clapped his hands and stretched his arms towards them, proudly continuing.

"I must give credit of this splendid idea to our beloved Prefect, who told me about this adorable little custom they had followed back in their own world. Of course, being the kind and generous soul that I am, I wish for our Prefect to feel right at home here in Twisted Wonderland. I believe all of you wish the same, hm?"

Leona grumbled under his breath as he leaned back in his chair, tail swishing irritably. Of course the old crow goes and uses them against us, he thought to himself, watching as the others' faces immediately softened at that. No matter how much the seven housewardens of NRC hated working with each other, with the exception of Kalim who seemed happy to just be there, all of them would bear with it if it was for the sake of the Ramshackle Prefect.

Crowley didn't exaggerate when he called the magicless human a beast tamer.

"Fine by me, as long as I don't have to get somethin' for the lizard," he spoke, jutting his chin at Malleus as he frowned. The dragon fae narrowed his eyes at him, before turning to look at the headmage.

"As much as it pains me to admit it, I agree with Kingscholar," he said, voice low and serious. "That being said, I do hope that you would allow me to partake in this gift exchange with the Child of Man as my partner."

"Now, now, that isn't fair to the rest of us, Malleus. I would very much like to be the Prefect's Secret Santa as well," Vil hummed, raising a perfectly trimmed eyebrow as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"That's not how Secret Santa works," the Prefect sighed, before Crowley took over for them. "Precisely. And to ensure that everyone has a fair chance of being assigned as our beloved Prefect's Secret Santa, we will have the fairest means of competition possible!"

He took a box from under the table and placed it in front of everyone. "You all shall draw chits, and the person who's name you draw will be for whom you have to get a gift," he drummed his golden claws on the box as he pushed it in Riddle's direction.

"Mr. Rosehearts, if you would."

Riddle nodded, before putting his hand inside and pulling out a chit.

The process continued, with the Prefect being the last to pull out a name. Their eyes had widened on seeing what was written before they shoved the piece of paper in their pocket, refusing to answer Malleus and Kalim's questions of whose name they had pulled.

No one noticed the reclusive housewarden of Ignihyde slinking away in the shadows, the tips of his hair flaming a soft pink.

"Why did I have to get them, out of everybody?" Idia groaned into his pillow. The one time he decided to attend a housewarden meeting in person, he had to be roped into what was probably going to be the most awkward bonding activity.

"I do not have enough XP to get the Prefect a gift for Christmas," he mumbled to himself, turning to lie on his back. As Idia stared up at the ceiling, he continued airing out his grievances to the techomantic machines in his room.

"If it was any of the others I could have gotten them something. What do I get them...?"

Idia let out another groan, dragging his hands down his face. Maybe avoiding them after his overblot wasn't such a great idea...

But how could he have brought himself to talk to them after the entire fiasco that was his overblot? If there was anyone who knew all about the effects of overblots on victims and the people around them, it was him. Besides, Ortho had become fast friends with them, so he could always keep an eye on their state through him...

"Ortho!"

The young humanoid poked his head in through the door, only to be met with the frantic and helpless eyes of his brother.

"Help me get something for the Prefect!"

Idia sighed, wishing for not the first time and certainly not the last time to melt into the floor, if only to escape the stifling atmosphere in the room as the housewardens exchanged presents.

Distracted by the sight of ever oblivious Kalim handing a flustered Riddle an extremely expensive-looking tea set, he didn't notice when the Prefect snuck up on him.

"Hey."

"Sevens-!" He spun his head to look at them, eyes wide with shock and fear. "P-Prefect, you shouldn't creep up on me like that! That's t-too much for my poor otaku heart-!"

Idia's cheeks and hair tinted a light pink as they mumbled out an apology for startling him. They allowed him to calm down before speaking.

"So, who's the lucky person?" They asked, their gaze on the wrapped box in his hand. He felt his mouth dry, at a loss for words.

"T-this is, uh, it's for you, a-actually," he mumbled, feeling warm as he looked down at the neatly wrapped present before handing it to them.

The Prefect tilted their head, and Idia had to stop his squeal at how cat-like that action was. "You're my Secret Santa?"

Idia nodded, not trusting his words to be anything but a panicked jumble of how cute they were and how much he liked them and how he hoped they liked what he got for them because if they didn't then he would happily bury himself alive to escape the humiliation and embarassment and-

"What a coincidence! I'm your Secret Santa as well!"

"O-Oh." Idia's train of thought screeched to a stop, before roaring back and running at even higher speeds. Is this some sort of joke from the Seven? That just upped the difficulty level! Abort, abort mission right now!

They smiled, before pressing something into Idia's hands. The warmth of their smaller hands on his was equal parts comforting and panic-inducing. Had Ortho been there, he would have definitely remarked on his increased heartbeat and dilated pupils.

"I got you the merch that Precipice Moirai released recently. It isn't much, but..."

"Isn't much..? Wait, are you talking about those figurines they launched for their fifth anniversary?!" Idia's eyes widened as you nodded. "Even I couldn't get them anywhere because I was a bit late! How did you clear that quest so easily?!"

"Well... I entered the lucky draw they held just for fun, but ended up winning the figurines. And I knew that you wanted them, so-"

"How did you know I wanted this?" Idia asked. It wasn't his intention to be rude, but he was pretty sure that all of his groaning and moaning about losing the chance to own the ultra-rare, SSR tier merch was only heard by Ortho.

He watched as they hesitated before answering. "That's because... I heard you talking about it to Ortho a few times."

Idia's heart thundered in his chest. The Prefect was trying to not make eye contact with him, a clear sign that they weren't telling the entire truth.

"I, uh.. I didn’t know you paid this much attention to me"

"—I don’t. You just happen to talk really loudly and passionately about the things you like," they said, still refusing to make eye contact with him. Before Idia could tell himself that it was because the Prefect wanted to get over with this interaction as soon as they could, he noticed the darkness of their cheeks, and the colour on the tip of their ears.

"Oh. Well, thank you anyways, Prefect. I hope you'll like my gift as well," Idia said, an awkward, yet sincere smile on his face.

Back to Masterlist...

[fyeahnix]

Ok lemme talk about this season of Arcane, the ending, and most importantly, Sevika. If you don't want spoilers, back away now but I'm leaving this open because people have a tendency to not open or read my posts with read more cuts after them 🙃

[SPOILERS BELOW]

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First off, I will say that I like Arcane a lot. Like a LOT. I've watched the first season 4 times (rarely do I watch anything more than once) and I think it's a masterclass in adult animation. Fortiche really put everything into this series.

That being said...

While I did like season 2, I don't think it was enough. Animation wise it was phenomenal, writing wise...I think it could have been better. As I've learned through doing research for my Sevika fics, the League of Legends universe, lore, and worldbuilding is fucking MASSIVE and even if I don't give two shits about that community or game, I have to give it props in that department because they really put a ton of work into it to make it feel alive. Maps? Short stories? Timelines? Race and culture? Apex could never...

That ofc is why it's hard for me to say that the writing is amazing. We had far too many characters to keep track of in season 2 with far too many plot threads to finish in two seasons. I think ideally, this series should have been 3 seasons instead of 2. Acts 1 and 2 could have been its own season, and Act 3 could have been its own season. If not that, then at least one more episode per act would have helped a lot. Things just progressed and wrapped up far too quickly for my liking.

Also not a huge fan of how quickly video game related media tends to dip into the whole timeline and multidimensional business. It def works well for some games but here? Idk I guess it was bound to happen given some League character's abilities, but the stakes just elevated far too quickly for me. Not a fan of Viktor becoming one of the main antagonists at all, and DEFINITELY not a fan of the conflict between Piltover and Zaun being sidelined for an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing with the war against the Noxians. It makes sense, I just wish "war with the Noxians" came at a later date so we could focus on the twin cities.

And speaking of the generational conflict between Piltover and Zaun, let's talk about Sevika.

As I said before, Sevika is the most qualified person to become the leader of Zaun and I stand by that even after the ending. But first....what about her found family? Isha sacrificed herself and Sevika gets no on-screen reaction? The last two episodes just progressed SOOOO FAST that we and some of the characters didn't even have time to breathe. Did Sevika even get time to mourn for Isha? What about Jinx, who is now gone? Sevika barely even encountered Vander! I would have loved to see some of the aftermath there because I think season 1 did a better job of allowing characters time to process their emotions and grief, even if the pacing was still kinda fast. It was acceptable!

I am sad af she didn't get more lines, but remember, Sevika has always been a side character in this series. An important side character but a side character no less. The promo shot of her now feels like...what was the point? (more on that in a sec) but considering how many characters and plot points and plot threads they had to account for, I am not surprised she didn't get more screen time. Hell, Vi and Caitlyn didn't even get a chance to have a full conversation on eveything that happened and Caitlyn didn't even apologize on screen. The fuck bro.

Now about Sevika's ending....I am very happy she isn't dead. Like dawg, you have no fucking idea how happy I am about it. SHE FUCKING LIVED. But....

I am seeing some people saying they're not happy or they're confused or that her ending doesn't make sense. And I just disagree with those points. Let me explain why.

I posted something earlier today about it, but again, as people don't open my read mores, I'll repost it here:

We absolutely do not know how much time passed between the war and the final few shots of the season. So Sevika joins the council. I DO NOT THINK she would do this unless there's a good reason for it, and that's why I'm guessing she will be Zaun's ambassador on the council. That war probably significantly changed the relationship between Piltover and Zaun and while old wounds will take more than a fucking war to heal, her being on the council now means she directly has a say in Zaun's future. Remember, the council was literally about to hand Zaun their independence before Jinx blew it up, and Mel was in support of it. As I said before, Sevika is respected down there at a bare minimum with all the factions. She would know better than anyone how to lead Zaun at this point. So yeah I get the hesitation, but it makes sense in my eyes. And it makes it likely that Sevika could show up again in a future League animation, if not become a whole champion.

I like her ending. I am sorry but it just makes fucking sense. Sevika is extremely loyal to her home and her people of Zaun. We've seen that time and time again. She was willing to go to war and die for those people not just against Piltover but also the Noxians, so why on fucking earth would anyone believe she's making a bad choice here?

She is now in the best possible position anyone in Zaun could be to advocate for their independence and support their growth. She knows the chem barons and brought them to peace, she gained the respect of the Firelights with Scar leading them in Ekko's absence, and she even got the Jinxers together with them before the Noxian attack on Zaun. Sevika has experience, she has the ear of the people, she knows what it's like down there, she is made to lead and help advocate for them!!!!

Believe me I get that whole "changing things from the inside" angle doesn't work more often than not, but this doesn't feel like "changing from the inside," it feels like "let me advocate for my people's actual independence so we have a starting point to become self sufficient." Again, Piltover was literally about to let Zaun gain their independence, and while none of the previous council members that agreed to it are there, Mel is/was. Who's to say she didn't help negotiate for Sevika to sit on the council and start (or complete!) the Zaun independence process before she left for Noxus? I can't imagine Sevika would just show up to the table and sit there if she didn't have a damn good reason. Like come on now. This woman has seen first-hand what Piltover is capable of and does not like them nor looks like she wants to be there. But she's seen what Piltover has done to her people first-hand, and after learning from both Vander and Silco, this is how she feels she can best protect her people.

She IS the new leader of Zaun and their ambassador at the council.

And lastly, we've been told that some characters will be returning in future League animations. Mel seems like an absolute given, but what about Sevika? Zaun's story is only just beginning, and yeah they said they'd like to branch out to other regions, that doesn't mean a cameo or maybe another medium can't be used to continue that story (a book, perhaps??).

Anyway yeah those are my thoughts...

[devirnis]

Okay, after having a few days to process, I am allowing myself one vent post to get it out of my system and then it’s back to ✨positive vibes✨ only

If I see one more goddamn smarmy post about how “the writing was on the wall the whole time” (with the undercurrent of “you were too stupid to see it, I have the only valid interpretation”) I’m going to lose it

Had we not had 8x05, the breakup still would have bummed me out, but I would have said, you know what, fair, we didn’t see a whole lot of their relationship, a lot of it was fanon and headcanons. We had a good run. But we did get 8x05, apparently some of it filmed out of order knowing a breakup was coming, and what was the point? To be cruel? It felt like a slap in the face to people who liked that relationship.

They could have laid some groundwork to show some cracks in the relationship, but no. Ignoring disingenuous interpretations from people who have been rooting for the ship to crash and burn since day one, 8x05 established Buck & Tommy as a solid couple. Tommy gets along with Eddie, the three of them had great chemistry together. Tommy takes care of Buck when he’s hurt. Tommy thinks the curse is a bunch of bs (as does Eddie) but still went with Buck to have a funeral for a mummy. It’s like I watched someone cook an elaborate, delicious dinner for me and then they immediately threw it in the trash, and other people around me made fun of me for being blindsided and upset because I should have seen that coming.

I won’t pretend the general audience is a monolith who all have the same opinions. I’m sure there are people who don’t care and just shrugged their shoulders that another relationship of Buck’s fizzled out. But I have 2 friends who watch the show and aren’t Fandom Fans, and they are always my barometer for how people who don’t have brain rot (affectionate) feel about the show. One really liked the relationship, the other was neutral to mildly negative on it, and both of them agreed that it felt like the breakup came out of nowhere and made no sense given the context of the previous episode. So please stop pretending that it’s only BT fandom fans who have their knickers in a twist about how it played out.

If this isn’t leading to buddie, then I don’t want to see another love interest for either Buck or Eddie for the rest of the show. Tommy had so much potential to break the cycle of Buck’s love interests (and interviews from last season seem to support that they were aware of this and planning on utilizing that) and throwing it away feels like such a waste.

So yeah, instead of being just bummed, I’m pissed. I do not know if there was BTS drama or if Tim got some other grand idea for Buck’s storyline this season — but given how plots are adopted and dropped at rapid fire pace this season (something I was willing to forgive last season because of the shortened production timeline and fewer episodes), I’m highly skeptical that there’s any sort of overarching plan here.

I’ve never thought buddie would actually happen on the show, but I also never thought either Buck or Eddie would ever be anything other than straight, so I’d be happy to be proven wrong. I’m just a little jaded by seeing people doing a victory lap convinced that buddie canon is imminent when I think that they are giving the writers a lot more credit than they deserve for supposedly crafting this epic love story for the last five or so years when a lot of that is also just generous fanon interpretation. I need explicit confirmation within the show by the end of this season that at least one of them has caught feelings or I’m over entertaining the possibility it will actually happen.

I know the joy will come back. But I really hope the same plot lines playing out ad nauseam for every character stops because I’m getting a little tired.

[sseomtada]

being [ruben dias]

you receive a visitor while working late & make a pivotal decision.

warnings: 18+... | wc: 5093 | 4/8

“Did you get the package I sent?”

You’d finally made time to have an extended FaceTime call with your mom who was more than happy to give you an earful of her recent doings. The ramblings that once served as an annoyance now provided a strange comfort. Perhaps it was because it reminded you of the time when your biggest worry was whether or not you’d ace your next test.

“Yes,” She laughed. “The English are terrible with food, but they got tea making right.”

That made you join in with her. The traditional food here did leave much to be desired, but thankfully, a wonderful immigrant population has made their culinary world highly diverse and tasty.

Earlier, your mom sent you a picture of her posing next to the Nike ad your company had helped brand. She said she could tell by one look at it, without even knowing you were a part of it, that it had come from your mind. In that moment, her eyes were a bit shiny.

You felt your heart soften. There were rarely times where she visibly showed how proud of you she was, her words were always at the forefront. Your own eyes teared up as you looked up and blinked.

What did you think of it?

Just how proud of you I am.

Collaborating with big brands and names, celebrating your successes in rooms with insurmountable net worths - it was all great. None of it came close to providing the same amount of validation as hearing those words come from her. One of the biggest driving forces behind you not giving up and chasing this crazy dream was her. You couldn’t put into words how relieved you were when you felt that her sacrifices for you had paid off.

“I’ve got to start getting ready for work, but I promise I’ll talk to you soon.” You looked at the time with a sigh.

“Tell Aki I said hello!” She waved. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” You returned the gesture.

Though things were going well with Bana’s latest projects, you’d been dragging your feet when heading into the office for the past few days. There was something like a weight on your chest akin to the feeling of when guilt gnawed at your insides.

That conversation you had with Ruben played in your mind over and over whenever it wasn’t otherwise occupied. You didn’t tell Aki how you’d gotten back to your place, or the exchange that occurred. There wasn’t any particular reason behind your withholding, you just needed time to process it.

A definitive answer still had yet to come to your latest question, what would you do now? Was there even anything to do at all, anything that could be done? The truth behind the breakup was just…sad. More than anger or pain, you just felt disconsolation.

It seemed as if you and him had both bitten off more than you could chew. You were overly enamored with him and placed him on a pedestal that he wasn’t ready for and didn’t want to be on.

The way things ended would never be excusable, but you now had a sense of understanding that made it more digestible. You were able to start working on that wound and healing it to the point of a mild ache instead of the agony it once generated.

“Do I get a gold star for beating you in today?” Aki gloated at the door.

You faked a laugh. “I’ll think about it. Mom says hi, by the way.”

She got all giddy at that and started reminiscing about your mother’s cooking. Before she could make your stomach start speaking in tongues, you told her to grab Cindy for your morning meeting in the conference room.

The project with Erling was going well so far. After your first conversation with him and his assistant, they sent over some of the ideas they were leaning more towards as well as additional points they’d like to meet.

“I’ve been playing with these fonts and color schemes for the logo and typography.” Cindy presented on the large screen.

“Awesome,” You nodded. “I’d send those over to him so you can get that finalized by the end of the week.”

“Sponsor option one is willing to pay a pretty penny, but they do want exclusivity for a period of time. The second is coming in lower with the benefit of more contractual freedom and a door open for bonuses if key revenue markers are met.” Aki gave her update.

They were both good proposals to consider, so you gave her the same directive as Cindy.

When it came to your specific workload, there was still plenty to do. You showed them the outline of what you’d done so far and received feedback on features that could be useful as you continued to build.

Website design was one of the more headache inducing parts of marketing, one that would usually be handled by a design team. You didn’t have the cashflow just yet to hire or outsource someone to do this aspect.

That left you tapping into the Python and CSS skills you developed in your IT minor to get the job done. Thankfully, technology had come a long way to make website building much easier than doing it from absolute scratch.

There were a few tweaks you had to make to the work you’d already done and more features you wanted to complete before clocking out for the day. Given the busy and focus intensive nature of the tasks at hand, your girls left you to it. They let you know when they were headed out through the company’s Slack.

You weren’t sure if your blue light frames were doing anything, or if your eyes were just exhausted from staring at the monitors for hours on end. A quick eye drop and coffee break was all you could trust yourself to do.

Any longer than that and you would be convincing yourself to shut down your computer. It would only make you feel like shit once you got home and showered though, considering you were already down to the last two bullet points on your to-do list.

You sat back down at your desk, took a deep breath and got back into it. Add a few more lines of code in the backend software, run it to test to ensure there were no glitches, and repeat the process. One more bullet point was left to go when your phone pinged.

Is this still your number?

Ruben’s name sat above the message. You slid your glasses up to your hair and picked up the device, contemplating if you should reply or not. It was kind of funny that he texted you that considering that he hadn’t changed his own either - hence the contact still popping up with his name.

Depends on who this is.

You couldn’t help pulling his leg a little. Knowing him, he would obviously gather that this was still, in fact, your number and you were taking a crack at him. Three dots appeared shortly after your reply.

That’s fair.

Are you busy?

Your bottom lip pinned between your teeth, brows meeting. It was pretty late on a weekday, a time when most would be winding down to go to bed if not already sound asleep. Unfortunately for him, perhaps, your answer wouldn’t be what he wanted to hear.

I’m still at work, so…yes.

Those little dots appeared again, his acknowledgment floating up without hesitation.

Okay, I’ll leave you to it.

That was a conversation ender if there ever was one. You placed your phone back to the desk, face down, and slid your glasses back on. Tackling the last bullet point suddenly became even more of an uphill climb than it already was with that fresh dialog banging pots and pans in your head.

It was mentally difficult to disengage from the conversation. You started to wonder what Ruben wanted. Why did he decide to message you tonight at this hour, days after the last time you spoke? What would he have said if you did tell him that you were free?

With a groan, you spun around in your chair until you grew dizzy. After the stars cleared from your eyes and the pit in your stomach settled, you grounded yourself enough to get back on track. All that pondering could wait until you were tucked under your duvet.

You returned to user interfacing , trying to approach the website so far from the visiting fans and prospective client views. Everything was in top shape so far, making you throw your hands up in the air gratefully. Just after you saved and tripled checked that you’d done so, the office’s door buzzer went off.

If Cindy or Aki had come back to check on your wellbeing, they would’ve just entered the code. Deliveries weren’t made after a certain hour either. You pulled up the security camera feed out front on your monitor to see whether or not you’d have to call the cops.

The sight it brought disarmed you, but didn’t entirely provide relief. Ruben peered around and when he spotted the lens, he waved. He held up the bags in each of his hands, clearly full of take out. Responding to that before you could was your belly, an embarrassing gurgle echoing through your office.

“I could’ve been gone by now. Or lying.” You raised a brow after opening the door.

“Yet here you are.” Ruben shrugged.

A tense period passed of you two looking at each other. He was wondering whether or not you would let him in and you were tossing the same question around in your head. Eventually, you stepped aside.

“Ten pounds says you haven’t eaten anything since lunch.” Ruben set the bags down on the coffee table. “No, breakfast.”

It was exasperating how he had the tendency to be absolutely on the money. You regrettably haven’t grow out of a habit he knew all too well about, which was neglecting your meals in an effort to get your tasks completed.

“Hm. What’s on the menu?” You grunted and sank to the guest sofa.

“Lo mein…butter chicken…” Ruben pulled the containers from their respective bags. “Kebabs. I wasn’t sure what you’d want most.”

And so his irritating ability continued. Even though both assumptions were made on the basis of the past and were somewhat of a shot in the dark for your present self, they both held true. Your taste in cravings still stood the test of time.

“Why are you here, really*?*” You couldn’t pretend like this was normal.

There was something bigger than an elephant in the room. It carried the immeasurable weight of everything that had transpired from the moment you weakly kicked his football back to him, to your first kiss and dance, and every juncture leading up to the only time he’d made you cry tears of sorrow.

The uncertainty of what was to become of you and him carried the bulk of that heaviness.

“The easiest way I can answer that is by asking you a question.” Ruben paused, lowering the napkins. “Would you prefer it if we live in the same city, run in the same circles, and basically act like we’re strangers or would you rather do…this?”

A frustrated puff of air left your nose.

“That’s just it.” You ran your hands down your face. “What is this?”

“I don’t know. All I know is that I can’t do the alternative.” He sat beside you. “I can’t act like we’re two people on a morning commute who happen to make eye contact and stutter through small talk to ease the awkwardness. Can you?”

There it was. That **was the solution to the problem that had been harping on you since that last conversation. You couldn’t figure out what it was you wanted to do, what you could do now, because you hadn’t even considered the other perspective - what did you not want?

It was exactly as he said. You didn’t want to carry around your history and act like it never happened. That made hearing his name, or even thinking about the slightest chance that you would run into him feel suffocating.

You wanted to breathe. Though it was obvious that neither of you knew exactly how to go about that yet, Ruben had at least taken the first step. All things considered, an olive branch extended in the form of your favorite foods wasn’t the worst place to start.

Your response came in the form of motioning towards the butter chicken.

“I should’ve bet on that too.” Ruben shook his head with a small smile.

The train had left the station, but there was no destination in sight. Yes, it was agreed that acting like you didn’t once mean a significant amount to one another wasn’t the best way to go about things. That still left a gaping sense of what now, which rang louder than the silence as you dug into your meal of choice.

You decided to take the next step this time. It was a painfully ordinary way to break the ice, yet one that could lead to other paths. Or it could have you opening doors you would rather not see behind.

Seven years seemed like a lifetime. There was evidently a story surrounding how he went from playing locally to now being part of such a big foreign team, so you started there by asking him about it. Ruben visibly relaxed more as he shared his trajectory.

It was bittersweet to hear all that you missed. The big matches and the grand occasions you once had envisioned was a part of your future too. You had a sense that the feeling was mutual for him when the question was returned to you.

Ultimately, what you were both most conscious of was the fact that you’d made the dreams you whispered about late at night in each other’s arms come true. And somehow, they had led you to be sitting right here. Together.

“How’s Aki doing?” Ruben asked and then laughed to himself. “I know she can still pack a verbal punch. She didn’t hold back at that launch party.”

That piqued your interest. She and him always had a sibling relationship with banter filled exchanges that sounded borderline abusive to those who didn’t know they were close. How badly did she chew him out to have him fearful?

“Did her choice of words allude to you finding the nearest ditch and falling into it?” You snorted.

“Okay, not that much of a punch. She told me to not do anything after I…” He bit his lip, considering. “After I told her that I didn’t want to hurt either of you again.”

Gravity thickened once more, but not in the same sense as before. The wheels were moving less heavily now with the flow of communication going like it always had. You guessed his words were a harrowing reminder of how you’d gotten to be here in the first place.

For a moment, you’d forgotten. It began to feel the way things did back then and him saying that brought reality back to the forefront. The relationship you had with him, regardless of what that looked like, would never be the same as it once was.

“What do you mean by she told you not to do anything?” Your subconscious backtracked a bit to a point you were confused about.

“Her words verbatim were then stop. It was like a warning, she was telling me not to act on what was going through my mind.” Ruben replied candidly.

It felt as if you were approaching one of those doors you thought about earlier. You took a beat to decide if you were going to turn the knob and face whatever laid in wait bravely, or walk away with blissful ignorance.

Except…there would never be the latter in your case. If you didn’t dare to look at or hear the things that could frighten you, there wouldn’t be a moment of peace in your spirit. You would toss and turn, night after night, going through a cycle of beating yourself up for shying away and then convincing yourself it was for the best.

No more running. You recall the silent promise you made to yourself when you drank with Aki not long ago. It was time to make good on that.

“What were you thinking then?” You set aside your nearly empty container and turned to him.

“I was thinking the same thing I am now.” When he looked at you, his eyes were resolute. “That I still love you. I did back then and I never stopped anywhere in between. The difference today is that it doesn’t scare me anymore. To be deeply by you and giving you it all in return.”

Your lips parted with nothing and everything behind them.

You wanted to yell at him and call him every bad name in existence. You wanted to admonish him for only just now being ready to accept your feelings for him, the very thing he once saw as a burden. But you couldn’t, because that wasn’t what you truly desired.

His revelation did end up frightening you in the way you feared the most. That whatever you discovered would be like having a mirror held up to you. Aki played dumb that night for your sake because you’d been too much of a coward to admit it - the real reason you hadn’t been on more dates than you had fingers on one hand.

“And what if I don’t anymore?” You weren’t sure if your words were born of that same cowardice or from the spite you so badly wanted to be real.

“I’d be a fool if I thought you did.” Ruben sighed. “I’ve already made peace with that aspect of us…remaining in the past.”

What was left unsaid was the reason he brought it up in the first place. Beside you asking, he could’ve just given an answer that was pacifying. Something that didn’t imply that he also wanted to know whether you still felt the same or not. Yet, he chose to go with the unfiltered truth with hopes that he’d pull the answer out of you.

“I was always the smartest one between us.” You took the bait indirectly.

Ruben looked at you then with knitted brows, proving your point. You were sharper than he was in many ways, though not by a measurable amount. Only a few seconds went by before recognition struck. His gaze softened, a hand reaching for you hesitantly.

Yours met it halfway and pulled him in. It was a move he didn’t anticipate causing his full weight to come down on you. There wasn’t room to analyze the awkward position of your body, half sitting, half lying down. That task was impossible when he was chest to chest with you, his nose a hair away from your own. Those dark pools of his swallowing you whole.

He inched closer, then paused. “Can I-”

You nudged your head up slightly to mold your mouth to his. It was just a prolonged peck, yet your heart was pounding like the ground under the galloping of hundreds of stallions. When you sank back down, you were breathless.

Ruben cupped your cheek, his thumb stroking the supple skin tenderly as his gazed fluttered all over your face. Your eyes closed against the feeling and you only had seconds to savor it before he initiated the second kiss.

He trembled against you, muscles tensed with forced composure. You didn’t want that. Your arms curled around his neck to bring him even nearer. When his tongue finally slid against yours, a part of your memory cracked open.

It left you breathing erratically in the same way you did when on the verge of tears. You’d forgotten. Though your mind had filled in the blanks with similar sensations, you’d forgotten the exact way he felt and tasted.

Kissing him felt like hot summer days of the past. The baking of your skin suddenly given reprieve under gray clouds that rolled in unannounced, and then the skies breaking to douse you. Instead of running, you always let your head fall back and your jaw slacken - feeling, tasting.

A small, desperate sound sounded from the back of your throat. How much of him had been lost? It must’ve been too much to bear to recall how his hair grew thickest at the base of his skull and how strong his grip became as his need for you grew.

“Can you say it?” Ruben rasped.

You blinked dark spots from your vision, trying to grapple with the meaning of his inquiry. It was you this time who was struggling to keep up. Once you were able to, you smiled up at him. The reason why every thought of him still hurt and why you dreamt of him so often was telling. Of course you did and yes, you could admit it at last.

“I still love you too.”

That was all he needed to hear for his final tether to snap loose. He tilted your head further, his tongue reclaiming yours - slick and warm, much like the state of things between your thighs. Fingers curled around the back of your knee, tugging, and no more had to be done for you to shuffle until he was fully nested in the middle of your legs.

You caressed along the sides of his torso, bunching up his shirt along the way. His lips detached from yours to let you remove it completely, and when you chased after them hungrily, you were met with denial.

Ruben had other plans, immediately latching onto the skin of your neck while his hands worked deftly to unfasten the buttons of your blouse. You arched into him, wanting more. Needing it after been deprived of him for so long.

Your palms greedily ran over every inch of skin they could find, grasping from the beginning of his hips all the way up to his shoulders. He’d always felt sturdy beneath your touch, but today he felt indestructible.

Muscle upon muscle rippled as he moved against you on instinct. Ruben’s breath was ragged against your collarbone where he sucked and nipped. That bottomless, gnawing yearn you had for him grew ravenous. Your hips pressed upwards and into his, lips trailing along his hairline.

“I missed you.” The words tumbled from you freely.

You didn’t think there was ever a time in your life where you’d felt this exposed, vulnerable. Coming back home to a place you thought was lost to you for eternity would do that, you supposed.

“Yeah?” He grinned against your skin.

You nodded promptly.

Ruben slid a hand up your stomach. “I missed you too. So much.”

“Come here.” You whispered.

His lips travelled up from between your breasts until they met your own again. You exhaled into them, trying to swat away your impatience to allow yourself to relish in every line and dip. When that battle could no longer be fought, you twisted beneath him.

Your hands shot to the belt low on his waist before his own could. Though the series of actions that followed were done with fervor, they might as well had lasted an eternity. Your fingers undid the buckle, his hands assisted your toes that pushed at those stubborn last layers. He went to remove the slick soak panties revealed by your ridden up skirt, but you refused to wait any longer.

“Please - ” A frustrated whine ripped its way out.

Ruben leaned down to hush you with a languid and ardent kiss. It had your toes curling into the upholstery before the feeling of him rubbing your thinly covered heat could. You moaned appreciatively, but kept pressing up into his touch - more.

Two of his digits slipped the fabric aside and sliced through your folds. That was better. You sucked on his tongue, your lower half writhing to move your swollen clit against his fingers. Maybe it should’ve been embarrassing to experience yourself react this vividly, but it wasn’t. You were beyond touch starved and the first hands to make contact were none other than his. In a way, it was oddly poetic.

“Ruben…” You called to him with your voice again, urging alongside your body.

He heard you, teeth flashing against your mouth, “Just making sure you’re ready.”

Despite your state that was bordering on delirium, you picked up on a slight tone to his statement. It felt like it had two meanings - the first spoke obviously to your physical state, and the second aimed more at your mental. Were you ready to do this again?

You could never be a stranger to Ruben. Certainly never just a friend or acquaintance. As long as you both existed in the same place and at the same time, it was always going to be you and him, together.

“I am.” Your fingers comb through his hair. “I want all of you.”

His head dropped to your chest, lips brushing over the top of your left breast. You clenched around nothing in response to him sliding his cock against you. The sound of him coating himself in your wetness, much less the feel of it, had you on the verge of madness.

When he rested his tip at your opening, you took in a shaky breath. Air slowly exited your lungs as he gradually entered you. What a stretch it still was to make sure you took every inch of him. You hugged his strong back while you adjusted.

Soon, you began circling your hips and then working his length. Ruben was quick to pick up your rhythm, pulling just a little out as your back arched and pushing all the way in when it curled. You were taking him with ease now - warm, slippery juices making a mess between your legs.

Fuck, he felt so incredible. It would’ve been useless to fight the urge to moan and coo. Those sounds coupled with slurred, half-finished variations of his name fell from your lips as your muscles began to tighten.

Ruben lost himself in you. His groans came as a direct response to your mewls, eyes fixated on the pleasure overcoming your features. He thrusted into you, going deeper than he’d been before and you gasped.

Your hands flew to his face. You cupped his stubbled cheeks and pressed your forehead to his own. With your eyes locked firmly in on his, you found yourself nodding urgently. That’s it, that’s the spot. Your ears were ringing too loudly for you to determine if you’d said those words aloud or not.

It didn’t matter either way. There was no one who knew your body better than him. Ruben eased his strokes at the very moment you needed him to and not a minute sooner. With each huff of air and roll of your hips as you came, he was there. His lips trailed along the underside of your chin, then your neck.

“Doing okay, baby?” He checked in when you stilled.

You were slightly vibrating at a higher frequency than usual and a bit hazy behind the eyes, but hadn’t felt better in ages. To make that clear to him, one of your hands reached lower to stroke and reposition his cock.

Ruben entered you again and it was easier than before, but twice as stimulating. Your moans were muffled by his neck that your face had pressed into while his thrusts into you were slow and testing. You slung one arm over his shoulder and wrapped your legs around him tight, pleading.

His pace quickened in response. Your head fell back onto the sofa, eyes blinking shut as you felt his hands sliding up your torso softly. He laced his fingers with those of your free hand and brought the conjoined pair to rest over your head.

You squeezed down as you rocked against him, shuddering with each drag of his cock through your walls. Ruben sensed how close you were again. His tongue was waiting for your mouth that opened soundlessly, lapping up your own with hunger.

“Tell me where, love.” He grunted, speeding towards his end as well.

“Stay.” You didn’t miss a beat. Knowing he would second guess your request, you reinforced it for good measure. “Stay in me.”

Ruben whined breathily and that was enough to send you tumbling into the abyss. You were a pool of uncontrolled chaos until he grabbed hold of your hips. His own staggered with each shot of his cum that settled deeply into your core.

The seconds that followed were blissful. You stroked up and down his spine as he kissed you sweetly. Ruben nuzzled his nose against yours, a move he knew you favored. It did the impossible in making you feel even more satiated than you already were.

And then, reality began to remove those rose colored glasses.

It wasn’t in a negative way. You didn’t regret having sex with him or saying any of the things that you did. With post orgasm clarity setting in, it allowed you to take in both of your half-dressed, wrecked states as well as realize you just did all of that in your office. On the common area sofa.

Your hand covered your mouth, a laugh bubbling from between your fingers. Ruben couldn’t stop himself from joining in too. He pulled out and you yelped, trying to no avail to keep all he’d given you inside.

“You’re definitely gonna need a new chair.”

[undertale-fic-librarby]

Recommend some Underswap Sans/Reader that's not part of a harem? I'm having a hard time finding some cute fics that's one on one 😭

Howdy, thanks for asking! Here are some fics that might fit what you're looking for!

We'll be Magnificent by EvergreenEmerald (Teen And Up, Complete)

“Welcome to Buttercup… Day… care….” Your smile drops from the smell of smoke. Your nose scrunches at the culprit, a cigarette in between white teeth… no, fangs? And the white doesn’t end there; his whole head is white, like real white. Wait… that is a skull, your eyes widened, taking the entire sight. There is a tall smoking skeleton in an orange hoodie at your door. The grim reaper wears a hoodie? Before your brain could fully process the hoodie wearing skeleton, a loud voice comes from below, startling you. “HELLO HUMAN, I AM THE MAGNIFICENT SANS AND THIS IS MY LAZY AWFUL PUN-LOVING BROTHER, PAPYRUS!!” You look down to a shorter skeleton, you are only a head taller than him, giving you a cheerful grin and wearing what seems to be armor and a blue scarf. He has a childlike cuteness atmosphere about him. You can’t help but find him adorable, especially with the stars spinning in his eyes. He poses as he made his and his brother’s grand introduction. A smile comes to your face as you giggle at him. What a sweetie

Throwing Dirty Confetti by BandieLove (Explicit, Incomplete)

You regret getting married. No, what you actually regret is getting married to a man you didn’t really know, too soon. Now, you hide your misery under a mask of fake happiness, pretending to be the ‘cheery wife’ he expects from you. You’ve gotten really good at hiding things, too. Like, your affair with Sans for example.

Strings Anonymous by Absent_Enigma (Teen And Up, Incomplete)

You’d purchased a house in the middle of nowhere for cheap. Too bad it was apparently haunted. No wonder the cost for the place had been low. The furniture moves. The food, particularly chocolate, vanishes at random. Clothes are mysteriously hung up, clutter tidied. Extra groceries or leftovers mysteriously appear in your fridge. Most curious of all, however, were the creepy blue strings that were strung up all over your new home’s half-finished basement, along with a cleverly concealed door on the wall that most certainly wasn't there before you moved in. What the heck.

I Taco About You [Underswap Sans x Reader] by Fandom_T2003 (General Audiences, Incomplete)

You are the older sister of Chara and the ambassador to monsters. It has been several months since monsters were released from the Underground and a certain small blue skeleton has started to develop feelings for none other than you! Will you accept his attraction or will the conflict between humans and monsters end up pushing you away? Taster: It wasn't that I didn't like Sans like that; he was always so caring and adorable that I couldn't help but feel at least some sort of affection for him. It was just that Chara kept running their mouth about it - even when the two of us were around Sans. I didn't want him to know about it! The whole point of having a crush is that it's meant to be a secret until either side cracks and ends up confessing!

Osteology by Rehlia (Mature, Incomplete)

Your first stint at university wasn't very successful. You had to drop out because you had no idea what you were doing with your life. Now, almost a decade later, you've finished an apprenticeship and are back to add a degree so you can get a better job. Older than everyone else and with a different perspective on life thanks to your experience, you feel a little isolated. Until you meet the one person who shares your age. Optimistic, cheerful, funny, kind - you could almost fall in love with this guy. Too bad he's a monster and society doesn't really accept that...

Here's a few more fics that are similar to what you're asking for!

[bitchy-craft]

Message From Your Future Self | Pick A Pile

Hello and welcome to this Pick A Pile! In here you'll find out what your future self wants to tell you. I hope you guys enjoy and find this useful. Do make sure to leave comments down below on your experience! I do want to remind you all that this is a General Pick A Pile which means this is for a lot of people: therefore keep what resonates and leave what doesn't.

Note: Thank you all so much for requesting / offering Pick A Pile Ideas. I hope you all understand I am not able to do all of them since there are so many. I hope you guys can understand I am not always able to do everyone’s ideas since some simply don’t resonate with me, which makes me unable to do them or need to alter them slightly.

Masterlist

Pick A Pile!

Pile 1:

Your higher self wants to tell you that you’ll figure things out eventually. That thing you can decide or choose on? It’ll be solved. You’re going to be able to get whatever you want and gain whatever you wished for. Of course, the journey won’t be easy and it won’t simply come walking to you, you have to work for it, but that wish of yours is far from impossible, it’s in near future.

You’re going to go through a lot of self-growth, self-appreciation and self-love, you’re going to grow as a person and be able to revolve your life around the things you love and are passionate about, you’ll be able to use your creativity for success and love in your life. So don’t hold back, continue to learn, continue to love and continue to succeed, you’ll get there.

Pile 2:

You’re going to have a busy life, full of friends, passions, work and everything around it. It’ll look like a fever dream for a couple of years; full of partying and enjoyment. You’ll learn how to love yourself and to be yourself, you’ll be able to appreciate life for what it is and enjoy yourself. Although your life won’t be perfect, and there’ll still be things like heartbreak, but you’ll learn to process these emotions, accept them for what they are and use them to grow in life, to grow as a person.

You’ll feel conflicted for a while, and you’ll realise that even though doing a lot of things all at once is amazing to do, but it does take a toll on you, and that toll will show eventually. Your tiredness will come to you, but you’ll learn how to balance out your life, to make sure that won’t happen again. So continue to enjoy your life, continue to do what makes you happy, enjoy yourself, do as much as you want, it’ll give you a bright future.

Pile 3:

You’ll get a lot gifted to you once you’ve given your energy and time to others. You’ll share emotions and love with other people and live a rather peaceful life. Keep your friends and family close, don’t let them leave, don’t give them barely any energy, they are important and will give a great deal of love and support in the future.

You’ll have a clear vision on your future, a clear vision about what you want, and people will help you on the way. Your life will be a social one, a loving one. A life you wouldn’t dare to throw away, a life where you’ll appreciate yourself and your knowledge.

There’s a big chance you’ll have a family, may that be with children or pets. But you’ll enjoy every second of it, although you will realise it may be a bit harder than expected, a bit more energy than expected. You’ll be confident in yourself and see the growth you’ve made compared to when you were young.

Pile 4:

You’re going to feel pressured with time, possibly fear time if you don’t already do. This is because of how much ambition you have or will have, how much you want to learn, how much time you want to spend with your friends and family.

You’ll find out that time goes much quicker than you remembered, than you thought. You will fear you won’t learn enough in time, you won’t have enough memories in time, that you should use every second of your life to do something useful.

You’ll continue to compare yourself to others, although it will be in a different way than you do now, it doesn’t have to be a negative way of comparing, it can be a peaceful and understanding one.

You’ll live your life to the fullest, and you’ll live a good life, one you won’t regret, but that fear of not being able to do or see enough in time will always be a burden to you, at least if you don’t actively try to change it. Perhaps it isn’t much of a big deal to you, perhaps it won’t ever be a big deal, and if it isn’t a big deal it shouldn’t need to be solved.

Pile 5:

You’re going to fix the things that hold you back, solve the things that make you unhappy. You’re going to do a cleanse of all the negative things and energies around you and in you. You’re going to do an absolute 180 to your own benefit. Of course, it won’t be easy, it’ll be far from it. But it’ll make you succeed in life, be happy with life, be content with life.

You’ll be able to leave the things that happened in the past alone, it won’t hurt you anymore nor annoy you when you don’t want to think about it.

You’ll see the growth you’ve made and compare your future self with your past self. You’ll be able to look at all the terrible and hurtful things that happened with an accepting watch. You’ll be able to leave it behind, since it no longer served you. All that trauma will be dealt with, because you’re able to do it, you’ve always been able to do it, and you will, you did.

[sadiegirl2021]

Writing tag game by @bonecarversbestie !

Describe your writing process from idea to posting/publishing?

I have a notes app called EasyNotes where I jot down all my ideas as I get them; bits of dialogue I think would work in a fic, interactions between characters (which always come to me just as I'm about to drift off to sleep) and very, very rough outlines of chapters.

Then, I'll word vomit onto a doc and copy in any notes I had.

Because I'm better at dialogue than describing the scene, I'll write out all of that first and then work from there to flesh it out. Like starting with the skeleton.

Once I have the first draft done, I start my editing process. I go paragraph by paragraph correcting spelling and grammar (I have a Chrome extension called LanguageTool), and then I play the whole chapter through another Chrome extension called Read Aloud. Because of my ADHD, it can be difficult to catch all my errors by reading alone, so hearing it out loud helps A LOT! Would recommend it. (Although the voices used are hilarious. Hearing your smut scene's read out by a monotone robot is slightly traumatising 😂)

Once I'm happy with a paragraph, I will add HTML coding to it - the <p> tag. In my head, it's just the easiest way to mark that a paragraph is complete. If I'm still not sure about a sentence or paragraph, I will mark it in red to rework. I also add all my <i> tags as I'm writing, so I don't forget about them later!

I realise I'm doing too much! But, I quite enjoy the editing process.

Once I get a chapter or One Shot uploaded, I try my best not to read it again so I'm not continuously making little changes.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I want to be a plotter SO BAD! I've got Excel sheets, multiple docs with outlines, plot points, and a solid plan. And then boom! The characters run off like a crazed toddler in the opposite direction, and all I can do is follow. So… I guess I'm a pantser!

What do you listen to when you are writing?

I have multiple Spotify playlists depending on the mood of the fic/chapter I'm writing. If I need to write emotional scenes, I'll put on some heartbreaking Emo songs from 2006! Or, if my energy drops while writing, I'll switch to 90s pop. Generally, though, I just listen to instrumental music. One of my fav playlists is this one.

What’s your drink of choice (while writing)?

Water. I am booooooring. It is sparkling, though!

Promote yourself! What’s your favourite thing you’ve written?

I think it's Hot Girl Summer. This was supposed to be a little funny, 5-10 chapter fic that wasn't serious. And it has spiralled into a multi POV, 40-chapter story with so much plot! I'm loving the process, though. And I think I will definitely have to get it bound when it's all done.

Share a fic of yours that you think is underrated/deserves more love.

I'm going to say Hot Girl Summer too. I think a lot of people aren't as interested in stories that follow both Gwynriel and Elucien (and sometimes E/riel or another pairing with their favourite characters) at the same time. I haven't seen many fics that do it, but they’re some of my favourites in the fandom, and I’m so happy to add to that list. If you're hesitant, I highly recommend giving them a try!

My favs are:

Call Me Home (by @propagandaprincess)

A Court of Vision and Bloom (by studentwriter666)

Best Laid Plans (by @trappedoutside124)

Do you have any advice for new writers?

First of all, just do it! It took me 33 years to build the confidence to try. For most of my life, I didn't think I was good enough to write, even though I had so many stories to tell. In my 20s, I probably wouldn’t have had the confidence to take the plunge. Writing opens you up to criticism (which I hate!), but I’m forever grateful that 99.9% of my readers have only ever been incredibly supportive and encouraging.

Don’t be afraid to use tools that help you. I know my limitations with ADHD, so I created a process that works for me. Everyone has a different method, and the right one is whatever works for you.

Finally, finding a community of like-minded people makes the whole process a lot more fun. I love helping others develop fic ideas or beta-reading for them, and appreciate all the support they give me. It really motivates me to keep writing.

What is a writing style/technique that others do really well that you'd like to get better at?

Flow and angst! I'm really working on improving these areas in my writing. I'm quite impatient and tend to rush through the plot rather than building up tension. I know I need to slow down and let the story breathe, but it's so hard! I just want my characters to kiss within the first 5 seconds 😂

Is there a character you were surprised you enjoyed writing as much as you did?

Eris Vanserra!

Gods, I love torturing this man! I've redeemed him so much in my fic that I'll be heartbroken if he truly turns out to be just a dickhead in the canon ACOTAR world!

Thank you for tagging me @olenvasynyt

No pressure tags: @sunshinebingo @avabrynne @thevalkyriesshadow @aldbooks @hlizr50

[lulu24784]

🖸 ──» south park tattoo artist au headcanons :

main 4 + butters headcanons for an upcoming fic

stan 🖸 specializes in: blackwork tattoos 🖸 hates sitting for too long 🖸 frequent smoke breaks 🖸 needs to be listening to his music when tattooing 🖸 refuses to do any color 🖸 definitely acts like a rockstar and thinks he'd kick ass at inkmaster 🖸 not always the nicest when he's frustrated; like if his client isn't sitting still. he will definitely tell them they need to or he'll stop and won't finish the session that day 🖸 rotary machine usually 🖸 his station is sleek; black and grey themed. almost empty looking, he doesn't have much hanging up. feels very medical

portfolio: preferences to skulls, abstract, blackout sleeves

kyle 🖸 specializes in: neo traditional 🖸 asks if you're okay every 5 minutes 🖸 "do you need more pillows? water? sugar??" 🖸 "if you need me to stop for any reason at all, don't hesitate to let me know, okay?" 🖸 other than that, he doesn't talk too much during the session. he's too focused 🖸 very detail oriented 🖸 wireless rotary machine all the way 🖸 stencils you like 2-3 times; "hmm i dunno the placement is weird?" "dude i said i liked it, it's fine. am i paying your hourly for this??" 🖸 walks you through literally every step of the tattoo process. goes to wipe with soap: "okay, so this is gonna be cold okay?" 🖸 he just wants you to be happy in the end 🖸 his station is a bit cluttered, but it's organized clutter. artwork hung up in matching regal frames and plants on his storage shelves and in hanging baskets.

portfolio: preferences to lady faces, botanicals, animals

kenny 🖸 specializes in: neo traditional + but is an all-rounder can literally do anything 🖸 studio owner 🖸 always smokes weed before a session 🖸 pretty chill; he's a laid back boss. as long as you're clean and professional he doesn't care what you do 🖸 likes to take his time and do good work, he did work hard for this career after all 🖸 loves getting to do stupid tattoo ideas but is usually stuck doing bigger piece work; he gives the fun stuff to his apprentice 🖸 CHATTERBOX. literally does not shut up during the session, always cracking jokes 🖸 definitely the life of the studio; makes everyone feel comfortable and welcome 🖸 rotary or coil depending on what he's doing 🖸 generally keeps the main studio area organized; has plants that he gets kyle to take care of. his own station though... oml. it's chaos. random mismatching frames with prints of dicks and memes all over the walls. his shelves probably have random knick-knacks he thrifted, like... idk a furby, some random porcelain horse?? just the most weirdest shit. his ink wall is very organized though somehow..

portfolio: preferences to peonies, irezumi style, ignorant style

eric 🖸 specializes in piercings 🖸 definitely gets a kick out of hurting people 🖸 has a big ego because of what he does 🖸 surprisingly very professional when it comes down to it 🖸 makes his clients comfortable and sometimes jokes around with them 🖸 gets nervous before every appointment; always a little afraid he's gonna fuck up 🖸 always keeps the a/c cranked so his clients are less likely to pass out but it makes everyone miserable with how cold it always is in the studio 🖸 thinks he's hot shit because he's the best piercer in town; it definitely fuels his already massive ego 🖸 definitely the type to bitch about problem clients 🖸 has superhero prints hung up in his station and funko pops on his storage shelves; but his station is fucking spotless otherwise.

portfolio: preference to cartilage, septums, nostrils

butters 🖸 specializes in: kawaii style, anime, cartoons 🖸 kenny's apprentice 🖸 the most nervous wreck of a tattoo artist, cries after almost every tattoo 🖸 runs the social media for everyone and manages the front desk 🖸 basically the "shop bitch" that has to do apprentice duties like cleaning and running errands; kenny's generally pretty easy on him though 🖸 gets all the tattoo's nobody else wants to do, but it pushes him to learn 🖸 slowly making a name for himself though as the only tattoo artist in SP that does anime tats 🖸 gets all the hello kitty girls as clients 🖸 the artist you want to go to if you need a mini therapy session. will tell you to dump your partner, move out of the city, and go travel with the $2 you have left in your bank account after the tattoo lmao 🖸 rotary only. Kenny wanted to teach him how to use a coil but figured with the times he might as well just show him the basics 🖸 pink station! stickers everywhere! he's got a heart ring light to take pictures for his portfolio. his shelves are full of plushies that clients have bought him and anime figures. also has a hello kitty water cooler that he uses for his distilled

portfolio: preference to color, sanrio, anything adorable!

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  Skepsis_Ree! @skepsiss has 16 fics in the Stranger Things fandom on AO3 and 15 of them are in the Steddie tag!

Our anonymous nominator recommends the following works by @skepsiss:

The Last Strange Thing

It's Snowing In Hawkins

Long Road Ahead

House to ourselves

Modern Problems, Modern Solutions

"Bailey's fics are phenomenal and they don't get enough love!" -- Anonymous

Below the cut, @skepsiss answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

a) Why does anyone latch onto any pairing? Something about Steve and Eddie grabbed my attention like no other ship has in years. I’ve always liked Stranger Things, but I never shipped anything from it until season 4 and until I saw the on-screen dynamic of Steve and Eddie. It felt so fun, and I just constantly saw Steddie art popping up on my dash, so I was looking more and more at it until I just said OKAY, I’M GOING ALL IN and started writing private fan fictions for just one of my friends who encouraged me to post them. b)Why do I still write Steddie? Probably because of my pals Eddy and Jess who talk to me about the lads day in and day out <3

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

I’m really bad at reading fan fics, to be honest, and I don’t actually enjoy reading tropes. The closest thing to a trope I like to read is probably just “they’re in love” or “they will fall in love.” I like good stories, regardless of the setting or the trope.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Does angst count? I pretty much just write angst! I love drama, angst, and exploring miscommunication! Supernatural elements are also super fun, and of course, I love horror, but those things feel more like genre rather than tropes. But I am also a sucker for a happy ending, so you can sort of expect that from me.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

My fav fic is “No Regrets” by @/strangersteddierthings I loved it so much that I made a graphic for it, and Jess uses it as a banner for the fic now!

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

I try to avoid tropes in my writing, (unless you count drama and angst, lol), so I’m not really sure how to answer this. I’ve never written a classic “there is only one bed” or “coffee shop au” or ANYTHING like that, so maybe I should try and do an actual, classic trope. I don’t think I’ve ever, EVER written a REAL trope before, tbh. I’m actually really curious what people would suggest for me to write, if anyone has a suggestion, I’m all ears!

What is your writing process like?

If I’m looking for a story idea, I usually play the “3-word game” to generate an idea. It works like this: I ask someone to give me 1 word that is a Person (priest, character from a show, sister, etc), a Place (NYC, a house, tombstone, etc), and an Object (pen, houseplant, knife, etc) and then I try and connect those 3 things. That usually helps me generate an idea and develop an interesting story. My other method is… I have wild dreams and wake up with a fully-formed scene in my brain, and I deconstruct that scene in order to find out how I can create a story to get to that point. I also write super fast, so I try and get the idea down on paper asap, or I’ll lose interest and never write it. If I’m writing for a Big Bang or something, I have usually finished writing that fic like… months before I need to post it.

Do you have any writing quirks?

A say “though” a lot, start sentences with “so,” and say “a bit” or “a little bit” in my writing a lot. An example would be “He wasn’t alive though, he didn’t ‘have a life’ to speak of, so this was what exactly?”

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

As soon as I finish!!!! I have a hard time holding back….

Which fic are you most proud of?

That I have posted? Probably “The Last Strange Thing.” It is my longest one. But I have one that I will be posting soon that I am very proud of that I have been working on for a while called “Senior Year” which I’ve been writing on and off since November 2022. I finally buckled down and finished writing it for the Steddie Big Bang and I’ll be posting it this year!

How did you get the idea for The Last Strange Thing?

“The Last Strange Thing” was written for a Reverse Big Bang in collaboration with @/llamalpaca. They created an amazing art piece of Steve and Robin in apocalypse gear, and it got the wheels turning in my brain about an apocalypse AU which reminded me of a conversation I had with a pal about “The Last of Us.” It inspired a whole tale in my brain about Steve and all of the “Stranger Things” party existing in a “The Last of Us” world, so I mashed them together and started writing a story.

When writing The Last Strange Thing, what was something you didn’t expect?

I plan out my stories pretty thoroughly, but something I feel is a very “weak point” in my writing is “action scenes,” so I really surprised myself by even ATTEMPTING to tackle something like “The Last Strange Thing,” which has so much action in it. At first, I sort of assumed I would avoid action as much as possible and make the story about the journey, but as I plotted things out, I just kept making plot points that involved more and more action so when I sat down to write it… I was really surprised that everything flowed together so well and the action felt really natural. Lots of people even complimented my action writing, which felt amazing, cause I’ve always felt it was a weakness!

What inspired It's Snowing In Hawkins?

“It’s Snowing In Hawkins” was a request for a mini-Steddie Winter Exchange where a secret exchanger submitted three requests/tropes/inspirations, and you got to choose from them. One of them involved a snowman-building contest, and Eddie “schooling the younger members of the party.” Another part of the request was that they DID NOT WANT ANY ANGST, so that was a big challenge for me! So it was all fluff, and I thought giving Eddie a slightly ADHD-sideways assignment from “snowman” felt fitting for him. Thus, snow-dome and Steve and Eddie getting some private time in the snow together. That, and at that point, I had never written “virgin Eddie” before, so I thought it would be super cute to explore.

What was your favorite part to write from House to ourselves?

Oh geez, this one is almost PWP, but I think probably just the adult-domestic side of it. Just two dads… getting to be dads. Their young kids are away for the weekend, and they get to take a nap together? There is something so… luxurious about that as an adult (I don’t have kids, but working full-time doesn’t give you enough time for naps either) that feels so nice and REAL about that, haha.

How do/did you feel writing Modern Problems, Modern Solutions?

I really wanted to channel shitty-teen energy. This was the most TEENAGE ANGST AND TEEN DRAMA story I’ve written. Everyone in the story is properly a teen in this, and I dug deep to remember what it felt like to be a teenager again. So I guess what I was feeling was… teen spirit.

What was the most difficult part of writing Long Road Ahead?

This is a really emotional fic, actually. Probably the hardest chapters to write were chapters 2 and 3 where we see the intense yearning between Eddie and Steve and how both of them truly believe that nothing would work between them—Eddie because he thinks Steve doesn’t like him, and with Steve, it is because he is terrified about being queer. I think the toughest thing about writing this was challenging Steve’s intense internal homophobia. That’s something that isn’t explored a lot in fic, and it does not feel good, so I get it, but I think it’s realistic for the 80s. Steve being really scared about his own feelings would be something a lot of boys would struggle with in that era, especially as a handsome, sporty guy who really thinks he is straight up until that point where he falls HARD for his guy friends uncontrollably. It’s difficult to write characters who have polar opposite opinions compared to yourself, but I find it really interesting, and it makes it really fun to write them GROWING OUT of that mindset.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

I don’t think I can pick a line because it has been too long since I have written any of those fics, but scene-wise, I think one of my favourite scenes is from one of my stories called “Tooth and Nail” where EDDIE is the one struggle with the idea of being queer and Steve is the one who has “come out” first. Anyway, Eddie is sitting on one side of a door, and he has no idea if Steve is listening to him or not, but he is confessing all of his feeling of “I messed up, and I don’t know how I feel, but I know I messed up and I’m sorry.” Also later, he cries about it to Steve and gets so embarrassed he pulls his shirt over his head to hide the fact that he is crying, and I still think that is adorable. I really like both of those scenes.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

a) If you haven’t read “Tooth and Nail” you should, it’s older but up on my Tumblr. b) New project wise though!!!! I HAVE THREE NEW ONES! c) “Batter Up” just dropped on June 16th and is a 14,000 word fluff fic for the Steddie Summer Exchange. It’s about Baseball!Player Steve and Rockstar!Eddie meeting and falling in love. d) “Momento Mori” is my Wayne & Steve (with Steddie of course) fic for the Stranger Things Big Bang that will be posting in July, so keep an eye on my Tumblr and/or my Ao3. My artist @/the-aphelion-archives has some really cool art being cooked up, so stay tuned for that! e) And last but not least, my Steddie piece “Senior Year” will be posted for the Steddie Big Bang at the end of this summer/early fall during the bang with art made by @/metalfreaks86! This is my 50k fic that spans from just after Season 2 to after Season 4, and involves a lot of heartbreak, and first loves. Keep an eye on my Tumblr and Ao3 for that one too because we do not yet have a release date.

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

Thank you to whoever nominated me! I often feel like my fics aren’t for everyone because I tend to write for a more serious audience and tackle tougher topics and that just isn’t an overly popular medium in fan fiction––which is fine! Because fan fiction is escapism and I know people use it to feel good, and sometimes you don’t want to read sad stuff. So, I really appreciate people who take the time to read my sad stuff (that ends happily every time, cause I also like happy things haha), and enjoy my hard work. Genuinely, every time I feel like throwing in the towel because I think I’m writing into the void, some little kudo-kween pops up and reminds me that my writing is appreciated. Thanks gang <3 Also!!!! I am ALWAYS accepting requests. Anyone and EVERYONE (anon or not) is welcome to pop into my inbox on Tumblr at ANY TIME to make a Steddie fic request, be that a trope, a tiny Steddie idea or whatever. And if you’ve made a request and I’ve forgotten… please ask again!

Thank you to our author, @skepsiss, and our anonymous nominator! See more of Skepsis_Ree's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[jaymesyourplaything]

TRANSPARENCY

ver they/them is sherlock he/him mod

john he/him is johns mod.

all purple are links.

hello,, i think to start this, i will have to be very transparent. this is going to push a lot of my comfort zones, and... well, writing this is going to... be very difficult for me. i'm sorry. if i give too much leeway, some friends may be upset. if i speak at all, i fear i'm losing some automatically.

but, i wanted to speak up. push myself. my friend gave me the okay, and along with bewitched they are both giving me the courage every day. 🥺🥺🥺

i struggle with speaking up. my co-mod was always the one who, spoke for me. in my life; i am very much a wallflower. in my personal life, people don't like how i am so very willing to see the good in people, even if they hurt me. this is because i was abused and neglected started from a young age.

due to my abuse;

i have a dissociative disorder

it makes it very hard for me to interact with people around me in my day to day life. whenever i am stressed, whenever i feel i should be quiet-i was conditioned well-or if anyone so much as changes their tones, i'll be gone. it's questioning when i come back, but it's often when i'm more comfortable.

so, when someone is out of line, or otherwise mean to me, i would dissociate, and often forget about it. my caretaker once commented on how i wasn't there mentally, i didn't have the ability to hold a grudge. it was not because of a mental deformity, but the neglect i suffered.

i was only ever "real" during happy moments. i would lose focus during un-happy moments. it was easy to create false memories, especially if all i had to go on was my (caretakers) retelling of any story.

my memories, my thoughts and feelings on people, are based entirely of whatever i can remember of them at that moment, and what other's tell me about the memories/people. my reality is easy to be altered. (which is why i stepped back so long, all my thoughts are based on my partner of 10 years, childhood friends who do not interact with this website or anyone in it, or some of my friends who have been helping me correct my behavior who have all stayed out of it for their general lack of like of drama and also it helps me tremendously to interact with the world "alone" and learn how to proceed in my life/process. alone as in they don't interfere, other than advice i ask for. mostly i'm saying i purposeful stepped back from ver and bewitched -and john- anyone involved and spoke to those not involved for my opinions here. )

the best coping mechanism we found is to be extremely grounded. the last year has become the best year of our life after we became aware how severe the abuse was and why i've been the way i have. (we as in my partner and i. we have been together for 9 years now. )

this is why i struggle keeping a narrative for long. i'll lose it, i'll go through various stages of understanding, or memory loss. my narrative is based on those around me and what i see, and other things i can trust. it takes awhile, so i can gather what other's think of what's happened around me, so i can base the truth off it.

(i stayed out of this because i couldn't just, listen to everyone when this is /my/ experience. hence why i talked to my partner, or other -childhood friends not related to anyone here in this space- about such topics for so long, or other trusted friends, until i could gather an idea that isn't biased from my friends. because i trusted john, it hurt a lot for this to happen, it was hard to believe, hence dissociation and why it took so long. heughhh... )

also, yes, co-mod

i co-moded this blog once. if you know who the co-mod is, please keep it private. we have since talked and he has agreed to stay out, he's leaving me to handle the experiences on this account. he has remained quiet by my request. he now has only commented on his own experiences on his blog, only. john never knew the identity of this other person, in fact i don't think i told him my identity either. we spoke as "i" or "we".

edit: gdi pookie i said keep it private wts

my co-mod quit the fucking whore

thats a joke i don't mind they quit. poor communication, i would dissociate and he disapproved that i was continuously supporting him [john] even though i was clearly, by my own mind's definition, in discomfort talking to him. i wanted to be a good mod, keep contact with the other mods. ): i didn't like how he treated people behind the scenes, gossip and stuff. devaluing sherlock for a long time.

my friendship and thoughts on john and ver

i don't think ver is emotionally manipulative, but i didn't think john was abusive either. john has certainly shown he has been abusive since the split at least, but it suspects he could have always been abusive.

john planned replacing sherlock with his friend, from early january at least, but i suspected it back around august 2023

he said early on ver would deserve being replaced. said mine would be a better sherlock once, said he was tired of ver's sherlock, supported the idea of the other sherlocks popping up since jan but said they were also crazy and not to talk to them.

but anyway, here's wonderwall

aka my statement

there are boundaries. revealing personal information about ver, at first in private (with me, who else could he have? ) and then later in public, or messaging them after they (publicly ) told him to stop. then slander, or public harassment (public attempts to communicate, or throw accusations at, or now accuse of sending anon asks without proof -turn off anon asks then john. ) i don't know what happened in private, but publicly john has continuously escalated a situation that ver has attempted to be quiet and respectful on continuously.

i ended my friendship with john because of his continued abuse towards ver since he abruptly and without warning replaced ver.

uh , last thoughts? and a message from me

john was a mean girl who decided to fully bully and harass ver now that ver was free.

ver is just emotional and reacted to johns /empty/ threats of quitting.

which again is mean of him, empty threats, he knew he wanted to replace ver, not quit lol

since he kicked ver out and cut them off, he has continuously reached out, even after ver requested he stop. he has no even made a new account (sherlockbbc-rp blog ) so that he could interact with us (we all had to re-block him, or otherwise ignore him ) since we all have been trying to move on

he is obsessed with ver, which is weird when john is the one who wanted ver gone. ver even tried to help john every step of the way (and wanted the same respect and help. ) which john refused. i believe ver and believe john blew them off until he replaced him, since he's refused my help in similar ways countless times.

i hope ver can move on and recover, they do seem really shaken up and shy because of this event, and john continuously just, escalates. now that we've all done statements, i want to help ver move on. i want to plan and plot more interactions, i want to help cheer them up. i hope johns friends continue to watch and take care of him too, but i honestly am happy i'm not one of them now. it's stressful. i don't need to be friends with someone who puts that much thought into slandering and harassing someone and has no intentions of growing as a person and stopping that behavior. i've been trying, and i'm sure most of my friends would agree i'm doing so much better. i am proud of my improvements, and i am so very proud of ver for moving on and taking all steps i would have. i am not proud of john. i am proud of me for leaving john. my friends are proud, it was difficult for me, very very difficult.

this was difficult to write. as said, in my personal life, i am too soft, too nice. last ex, i remember we talked it out and ended with me saying (so us agreeing ) we were both too immature for the relationship. in reality they were cheating and petty lol. i.. i am often harassed for, not... speaking up, for taking blame, for ending so many things on good terms. two people i respected a lot even judged me when it took me so long to cut john out of my life. it hurt a lot. i've withdrawn a lot, since then. i am excited to move on from this chapter of my life, and continue growing as a person, from poor behavior to just being more assertive.

thank you for reading this, i... i feel no one really cares, but a close friend comforted me, and reminded me that even if no one else cares, that my friend ver appreciates me helping. i was silent so long, partially their request, some was a mutual agreement between me and my co-mod, and a lot was processing... what was going on with john. please be respectful, please be patient with me. this was my friend too. this was ver's friend once too. thank you to my friend, thank you to my continued friends for always helping me in correcting my behavior, or just remaining patient with me during this journey the last year with my own personal growth, and thank you to bewitched and ver for giving me the courage and help to speak out in the first place. i love and appreciate all of you very much.

john, please stop trying to contact me.

[eredhes]

Hey!

I majored in anth at a p awesome school for it (had a so fun class where we hands on used paleo to neo lithic techniques- from making stone tools to processing hides) but there wasn't much available for prehistoric art (+ I was a major switch from microbiology so bio anth, epidemiology and forensics stuff, made more sense with my course history). Been out of school for almost 10 years now and unfortunately doing nothing even remotely related, but I'm wanting to learn more about prehistoric art of all sorts. With search engines being overrun with AI misinfo I'm not really sure where to start other than Wikipedia. Do you have any favorite resources you'd be up for recommending?

Thanks a ton! Happy holidays, and may the new year be kind.

Hello! I should preface this with saying I am just someone with a general interest and not remotely an expert haha! Getting to do hands on stuff sounds really fun!

A lot of my reading has been restricted to Upper Palaeolithic Europe, and cave art at that, so I can't really recommend anything outside of that.

I've been concerned also with avoiding misinformation - there was a painting I saw a while ago where it was obvious the level of research involved was typing "Lascaux" into pinterest and just using whatever results came up (the art used was from Cueva de los Caballos and Mesolithic) and it's been driving me nuts. I've been sticking to books for information, almost everything I've read has been through Internet Archive, and majority are over 30 years old so could be outdated, can contradict each other, and should be noted are can be very racist.

Putting the list of everything under a read more as it's quite long, I hope there's something useful in amongst all of this! Happy holidays, I hope you have a good new year!

Books and other resources I've found useful in no particular order:

The Cave of Lascaux: The Final Photographs by Mario Ruspoli (1987) [Is on Internet Archive but currently unavailable, the German version is still up.] When Lascaux was closed to the public Mario Ruspoli was hired by the French govenment to document the entire cave on film and wrote this book afterwards. Even though it's focus is Lascaux I found it a good introduction to the topic of cave art. I have tried to find the footage online with little success so if anyone knows... do tell. This book brings you through the cave and gives a good idea of the layout and where paintings/engravings are in relation to each other. I would love if there was something like this for other caves but I'm not aware of anything 🤔

Lascaux Virtual Tour [Link here] The video isn't toally clear but it gives a good sense of the layout, and you can click the little 'i' icon to see clearer photos and get more details.

Images of the Ice Age by Paul Bahn and Jean Vertut (1988) [Internet Archive Link] This book is also a good starting point! There's also Journey Through the Ice Age which is the same book.

Cambridge Illustrated History of Cave Art by Paul Bahn (1998) [Internet Archive Link] I haven't gotten around to reading this yet but it appears to be a broader scope and not restricted to Europe.

Palaeolithic Cave Art by Peter J. Ucko and Andrée Rosenfeld (1967) The main appeal of this bok is that it goes through the different possible reasons for cave art. I had to buy a physical copy as I couldn't find it online.

Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art by Rebecca Wragg Sykes (2020) [Aeon article link "Sheanderthal: Not all Neanderthals were ‘cavemen’: half were women. What can archaeologists tell us about how they lived?] Not solely focused on art but she does talk about what the neanderthals made including a large circular structure in Bruniquel Cave - there is footage of the cave in the recent netflix documentary Secrets of the Neanderthals (not great, at one point the narrator says neanderthals lived in the neolithic lmfao but the interviews with experts are interesting).

Don's Maps [Link here] Really great website. Some books will mention a painting/engraving/sculpture but no image, so my first place to check is Don's Maps as everything he includes is either from a book which will be referenced or from his own visits to caves.

The Neanderthal Museum Digital Archive [Link here] Despite the name is not exclusively Neanderthal, lots of photos of cave art in the Wendel Collection (including a photo of the one known instance of a saiga antelope in cave art that I hadn't been able to find a photo of before!).

There's also the Archaeology Podcast Network and sites like Academia.edu but I don't have any specific recommendations at present.

[thedragonagebigbang]

Bang Creator Interview: Tumblr: @blarrghe  |  [AO3: blarghe

The Collaboration period has begun! In these quiet months before works are due, we want to foster a sense of excitement, camaraderie, and celebration among our participants. To that end, all participants were given the option of a formal interview by our mod, Dema, or an informal “ask-game” survey. We hope you enjoy getting to know our phenomenal creators as much as we have!

Tortured Man More Tortured by Having To Endure the Best Week of His Life

Blarghe and Dema talk art imitating life writing, romantic foils, and the Platonic Ideal Dorianmance 

Dema: I'd love to begin in OC land with you. As someone who is both an artist and a writer, do you find that making art of your OCs informs your process? Or are those pretty separate for you?

Blarghe: Hmm. That's a good question.

Dema: Why, thank you!

Blarghe: My feeling has always been that I'm a better writer than I am an artist, so maybe the writing informs the art, more. I am always getting very visual ideas, like maybe some comic-panel type storyboards in the brain, and I can't really illustrate that to the degree that I want, so it can be like it is in my head. But I can more easily make words do that.

I'd very much like to do some illustrations for my own stuff, and I love drawing my OC and some things have helped in the other way, like designing his vallaslin on paper did give me something better to describe from in writing. I'd really love to reach the point of being able to do a few comics. There are a few scenes I really see that way. I try to be quite visual in my writing in the meantime I guess, haha.

Dema: That makes sense! I have the same dream. Comics are very intimidating. So it sounds like you write your OCs before you draw them?

Blarghe: Yeah, generally. I think since we're going from a video game and I already have seen the characters that way, there's that. Though I have OCs I have not made in the character creator. I haven't invented a ton of non-canon side characters but there are a few. I think I can picture them pretty well. I wind up drawing them after falling in love with them through writing them, rather than like, designing a character visually/on paper/in the cc before putting them in a story. Honestly, I put down DA:I for a looong time while still writing da:i-inspired fic with my OC and other canon characters. So I guess I don't have to look at him that often.

Dema: I have asked several of our writers if they make all their OCs in the CC, and if that's step 1. I'm curious, too, at what point you knew you were going to make fan content of your OC and participate in fandom. Did you finish the game first? Did you come in with a foot already in the fandom?

Blarghe: Ok long answer: I was into the games first. I started playing in maybe 2015, shortly after Inquisition came out. My partner already liked the games and was excited to play it, so I wound up watching some of that and being intrigued. But I started with Origins, loved it, and wound up loving and playing all three, all of them with more than one OC, to varying degrees of completion. When it comes to writing fic, I had ideas, like, little comics and some additional fill-in-the-gaps scenes written into notebooks and stuff for all three games. Mostly expanding on the personal relationships and romances, as you do. I'd done that kind of thing for other media I liked, but never really been in "fandom" about it for anything. I've always done creative writing and original fiction as a hobby and it was just a way of getting back into that on a personal level. I wrote the most after finishing DA:I for the second time... I kind of did a playthrough I wasn't super happy with, then made a new character specifically for a romance (Dorian's) then... wasn't super happy with that character either, THEN made Taren who is my current OC obsession, and wrote like 30K words of canon-divergence fic with a whole other OC companion inserted and just had fun with it. I forgot about that until 2020, when I found it in my docs and re-read it and decided it was actually pretty good and that I could maybe try to post online, find community, etc. I've since completely scrapped and deleted that fic from AO3, but getting out there got me into doing writing prompts and writing other stories, and now here I am. (I still haven't actually finished my Taren playthrough. I will before Veilguard lol) I was definitely motivated by COVID, thought I might go insane without community, so I picked a couple things I was already into (writing and dragon age) and went looking.

Dema: I'm guessing most of the art and writing you've done for DA has been DA:I?

Blarghe: Most, yeah. If only because my long fic is a DA:I inspired modern-au. Honestly it's fairly divorced from canon lol. Most of my canon writing is for DA:O actually. And I'm obsessed with Taren, I've drawn him more than anyone ever. He is very pretty, you see.

Dema: He is very, very pretty. Is DA:O your favorite game in the franchise? Everyone hates this question but I GOTTA KNOW hahaha!

Blarghe: Yeah it is! I love them all for different aspects, but it's got that first-game start of the obsession nostalgia. I also love a finicky, strategy-heavy RPG so to me the usual combat complaints aren't really a thing. I like the pause-every-two-seconds combat hahaha. I do really love running around through the scenery in Inquisition though, and I like the characters, and the fun flashy rogue stabbing too. But I have a soft spot for Origins for really gripping you into that story and world. It's a great balance of silly and funny and dark and difficult choices.

Dema: I haven't asked anyone else this yet, but are you finding the Veilguard announcements and previews are refreshing the inspiration? Or are you avoiding all spoilers and pretending it does not exist until the release? Or some secret, third thing…

Blarghe: Somewhere in between. I've been here the whole time lol, I don't know that it hyped me up any more, but it's nice to finally have news. And I'm excited that it will mean new people in the fandom and a resurgence that way. I am not totally avoiding spoilers but still kinda keeping my distance for my own sanity. I'll definitely lock down the spoiler tags once it's actually out.

Dema: So valid. I am feeling very inspired, myself, but I think it may be more the energy of the fandom around me reaching such a fever pitch. We're like a flock of ducks getting a whole loaf of bread after years of crumbs. 

Blarghe: So true haha. I am really excited about how it looks. Can't wait to play it!

Dema: Same! Returning to Taren a bit because, well, he's pretty: you said you went through a few iterations of OCs for a Dorian romance before him, and then were hooked. What is it about Taren that makes him a favorite? Was there a particular inspiration for him?

Blarghe: Oh boy. Not a specific inspiration. I played DA:I three times, counting the Taren one that I'm not technically finished, and the first I completely missed any romance (thought I could get Harding until it was too late) but I loved Dorian's character and his personal arc hit so hard that I immediately made a new character just for him. He was like a sassy Trevelyan who didn't really wanna be there, trying to pull kind of a rogueish charming sarcastic irresponsible pretty boy to hang with Dorian but I really didn't like how that clicked. I know it's a pretty common character archetype esp in a Dorian romance to do sassy x sassy so no hate but I found the Inquisition storyline and dialogue options just wouldn't let me be that irresponsible and funny, which makes sense. I really liked the themes of how the game pushes you into this impossible role where the only thing you can do is become a big responsible hero figure. I'm sure there's a compelling story there for the kind of character I'm talking about, but since mine fell so flat to me I decided to lean the complete opposite way. And Dorian inspired it too. The more I played and considered it the more I felt like I wanted him to have kind of a counterweight romance, you know. Opposites attract kind of thing. So Taren started as this very responsible, serious character who has always been prepared for leadership, being a First, and takes all that really seriously. He's also very Dalish and has reason to distrust and argue with him, which is great for Drama, but very very sweet and genuine and wholesome, which is so fun to contrast with all Dorian's trust issues. Dorian's quite emotional and idealistic, really, so they match in that way and it's very romantic. Taren's also a bit aspirational. Part of why I like Dorian so much is that I relate to him a lot, and I was struggling with trying to become less arrogant and more genuine, so Taren embodies a lot of that for me. Part of what makes him my favourite is probably the blank-slate of it all, too. Not having the Origin and getting to make stuff up. The whole romance plot is really compelling. I stuck him in some AUs and got carried away by worldbuilding, too. And after so much time spent with him he's just the fave now. But yeah, he's not my usual archetype. I think I've made a lot more sarcastic rogues than genuine sweethearts. He has like, anxiety and trust issues and I keep throwing him in situations to give him Trauma, but that sort of, happy, sweet, genuine, and healer-class character was all new ground to me and I wound up just loving the different-ness and challenge of it.

Dema: I did want to tell you that your "This is a story about trauma and relationships and socioeconomics and questioning belief and searching for balance. It's also about finding your soulmate on grindr" summary absolutely sent me.

Blarghe: Thank you, I'm very proud of that.

Dema: Speaking of which, can you come up with a clickbait title for your bang fic?

Blarghe: Something like Tortured Man More Tortured by Having To Endure the Best Week of His Life [[REDACTED]] you can cut that last part because it does make it obvious.

Dema: A+. Thank you for the lovely interview, it's been a treat chatting!

Blarghe: Thanks! It was very fun.

[emberglowfox]

okay a few people have asked now abt steelheart redux so i will do my best to give an overview the maelstrom of vague thoughts it consists of at the moment

basically, steelheart is the oc story i've been posting a shitton of on and off for the past while. steelheart redux refers specifically to its latest iteration, which is completely (mostly) sci-fi and mech driven as opposed to the standard dragon rider story it was before.

it focuses primarily on these guys!

arthur is a human, while zarian is a DRACO, specifically a v1, which i will elaborate on below the readmore bc this is a little long haha

the setup for the story is essentially this:

the DRACOs (version 1, aka v1s) are big draconic mechs that are basically the equivalent of a super high-tech fighter jet with some other bells and whistles, the most notable being that they're pretty much human powered. but to be efficiently powered long-term, they have to be (or have part of them, really) permanently fused to a human host (or any living creature, technically, but humans are what they're like. made for).

despite all that, stuff surrounding their creation goes pretty well for a while, until the v1s mysteriously 'wake up'-- as in, suddenly attain self-aware consciousness, and start talking to their hosts (known as pilots) who understandably take this pretty badly. it's like if the fighter jet you've been flying around and are also kind of biologically fused to suddenly grew a brain and started asking about your day. things get even worse when the company producing the v1s attempts to like. undo this by forcing out an update patch, which has the unintended effect of corrupting the (previously entirely benevolent, just curious) v1s and turning them into crazed murder machines. stuff is bad for a while.

the ACTUAL story takes place 15 years after this, when stuff still isn't amazing but has mostly evened out. the company responsible for the v1s collapsed in the initial chaos, but from its ashes came a new company, Defenex, which has been producing DRACO v2s. they're the sleeker, badder cousins to the v1, made for the sole purpose of protecting towns from and hunting down remaining v1s. they're also, very critically, Not Mysteriously Self-Aware like the v1s are (or. were?) which is good.

the plot follows arthur steele, a fifteen year old boy living in one of the surviving cities, who through a series of accidents comes to be permanently fused to a (mysteriously un-murderous but distinctly unhappy) v1 calling himself Zarian. at first, his goal is to get Zarian removed from his back so they can go their separate ways and he can go back to his unremarkable, relatively safe life. unfortunately, this does not go according to plan. at all. but in the process, they start learning more about the mysterious origins of the DRACO incident and asking questions some people REALLY don't want answered. along the way, they make a few friends, come to actually like each other, and accidentally develop a reputation as Public Enemy #1, Definitely Evil, Kill On Sight. oops.

and that's the gist! i know... a lot of what happens, within that window, but most stuff isn't like nailed down clearly or in order yet, because i've discovered that while i am good with coming up with originally story ideas, actually plotting one from start to finish, coherently and satisfactorily, does NOT come naturally to me at all.

but, at the very least, it has become a fun brain playground and happiness generator, because i am veeery attached to these guys. moreso than i ever have gotten about my own ocs in my whole life tbh

:)