#but i'm saving that for when i have something drawn from them hopefully at some point lol

[emptysekai]

guide to ad-free youtube for mobile via. youtube revanced

since youtube vance is no longer maintained and youtube is cracking down on adblockers here is how to download youtube revanced which has the best options for customising youtube features; including removing youtube shorts popups, sponsorship segments in videos, hiding unused buttons, bringing back dislikes, and more! [official revanced github]

this guide is for android only. sorry apple users idk how to help you. your device doesn't have to be rooted. even if it is, you should still be able to follow this guide. if you have youtube vanced installed, revanced shouldn't clash, so you don't have to uninstall it if you don't want to.

installation guide:

1. download all 3:

i. microg (this will let you log into your youtube account) [apk mirror] (scroll past description, download the latest one)

ii. revanced manager apk [github] (select the latest release, scroll to the bottom in assets, install the .apk file)

iii. latest youtube apk [apk mirror]

2. open revanced manager

3. select in this order: "patcher" -> "select an application" -> "storage" (note: if your phone asks you to let the app have storage access, say yes)

[id. two screenshots of the revanced manager app. there are red markings drawn overtop, indicating areas to select mentioned in step 3. the three spots are circled by a red square, an arrow pointing towards it, and a circle with a marked number to indicate the order at the end of each arrow. id end.]

4. select the youtube apk you downloaded

5. select patches. you can tap "recommended" or "default" or turn on/off patches you want

6. once you have selected, select: "done" -> "patch"

7. wait as it intialises youtube revanced. when it's done select "install" (note: if your phone gives you a warning that the app is blocked, select: "more details" -> "install anyway")

8. if this worked, you should have youtube revanced installed, and you can log in like normal. if this didn't work, read the next part.

(under the read more are troubleshooting solutions + other alternative apps)

issue a) if the botom right now says "open"

1. select: 3 dots on the top right -> "export apk"

2. save it

3. open whatever file browsing app you use (most phones should have a default one that comes pre-installed called something like "files" or "my files". if you don't have one, you can go to the play store and search "files" and pick one. if you aren't sure, i use "files by google")

4. find the exported file and install it (it will be called something like "youtube-revanced-versionnumber.apk")

5. if this worked, you should have youtube revanced installed, and you can log in like normal. if this didn't work, you can read the next part.

issue b) can't build or install youtube revanced with no option to export

1. something may have gone wrong with the file installation at some point, so try a clean start. to do this, uninstall:

i. revanced manager

ii. youtube revanced

iii. microg

iv. (optional) disable/uninstall the default youtube app

2. follow guide from step 1 again, hopefully it works. if it's still not working, you can try other alternatives. i've listed some in the next part of this post

alternatives:

libretube, newpipe, songtube, vuetube, astron, puretuber

i haven't used any of these personally, but i haven't seen any problems with them. let me know if there are and i'll remove it from the list.

you can also use youtube through your web browser with adblock add-ons. i'm not sure whether youtube has affected their mobile site though. with the firefox app you can use ublock origins (for ads) + youtube high definition (for general quality fixes)

[chriskotiesen]

Oh hey, your art owns majorly, and I covet your skills muchly. I wanted to ask, how do you go about drawing portraits from imagination? Do you have any tips or resources you could recommend? Regardless if you respond or not, hope you keep drawing forever.

Thanks so much!

I guess I approach drawing people roughly the same way that I draw anything else: Absorb as much knowledge as possible, by whatever means possible, and experiment a lot.

I don't have any specific resources to recommend, but there are lots of good ones out there and they're all good for different things. "Anatomy for artists" resources are a great reference for the general forms, medical resources can explain the fine details, and studying other artists that you like can teach you a lot about interpretation and stylization (although be wary of learning detailed anatomy based on other artwork because nobody is perfect and you may not even be able to easily tell what they might have exaggerated on purpose). Even if you have a simplified style where you don't usually draw the subtle little details, any insight is valuable. The more anatomy you know, the more options you have to work with.

That said, nothing beats studying from life. And while you absolutely should draw live subjects when possible, it's good to remember that you don't need to be holding a pencil to absorb information. I think I just pay more attention to other people's faces than the average person whenever I'm looking at or talking to someone. Try to figure out what makes someone look distinctive, or attractive, or intimidating. How accurately do you think you can guess their age, or heritage? Based on which features? Is there any feature they possess that's different from anything you've drawn before?

Whenever you think you've learned something new, experiment with that knowledge! To me it feels like a waste of time to draw the same picture twice, so I'm constantly trying to come up with combinations of features, angles, styles, shapes and colours that I haven't used before. I think that artists who are less confident at drawing people tend more toward stereotypes (giving a 'manly' character all of the 'manliest' features, for example) and that can sort of work for some cartoonier styles, but I prefer a more realistic messiness. Real people don't fit into neat boxes and have all kinds of fun combinations of features. Sometimes I'll just start sketching a face without a plan in mind and won't really be able to tell the character's gender or race until I'm almost done. Other times I'll foresee it going in one direction and try to turn it around before the end.

If you always try to do something different then I think you eventually run out of boring choices and become forced to make more interesting ones, or at least choices which are new to you, which can in turn help you to develop new ways of thinking about a subject. And I do a lot of sketches, so I burn through a lot of ideas. Plenty of them are pretty mediocre and that's okay. 'Bad' art is just a byproduct of making 'good' art. If a picture turns out poorly then I just try to figure out what went wrong, save it anyway, file it away where nobody else will ever see it, and start a new one. The hundreds of drawings that I've uploaded to the internet are nothing compared to the mountain of stuff that I don't bother sharing.

Hopefully that helps a little bit!

[reverie-starlight]

crawling back to you- fushiguro megumi

just something silly I started a while back that I'm finally finishing up!! i'm very in love with megumi and since I was doing a season one rewatch with my dad, I have plenty of megumi-centered thoughts I can't talk abt with him. but I can write them!! and YES okay the title was a failed bug pun.

warnings: just fluff! death of a spider, though. megumi is a little annoyed, but it gets resolved super fast, so no angst at all.

gn! reader, no specified gender or physical description, but they do stay in the girl's dorms for this fic for the sole purpose of being nobara's next door neighbour!!

You opened your door and stopped in your tracks when you saw something scuttle across the ceiling from the corner of your eye.

A loud gasp was released and Nobara, already in her PJs, peeked out from her door to see what the fuss was. “Y/n? You okay?”

You frantically beckon her over, your eyes never leaving the beast that decided to infiltrate your room. She made it to your side and followed your eyes.

“Ew! Why’d you have to show me a spider right as I’m about to go to bed? Now I’m going to be paranoid all night, thanks a lot.” She crossed her arms and made a yuck face.

“Nobara,” you started, deadly serious, clutching her arm. “I need you to use your hammer and nails to get this thing. We don’t have to get close to it that way.”

She looked as though she was seriously considering it for a moment before reluctantly shaking her head. “Y/n, cursed energy is for jujutsu work, not creepy crawlies. Besides, it’d leave some nasty holes in your wall.”

You sighed and almost resigned yourself to having to find a long stick or something to get it with. But then she spoke again.

“What about Fushiguro? He brings out his demon dog for you to play with all the time, right? What’s one more non-curse related job for a frog who’d probably love a snack?”

This finally brought your attention away from the eight legged monster on your ceiling. You looked at her with so much admiration and thanks and hugged her tightly. “Oh, Nobara you’re a genius! Thank y-“

You visibly deflated when you realized that your boyfriend wasn’t exactly happy with you at that moment.

Nobara winced. “Ouch, is he still upset?”

You nodded and frowned. Of course this would happen at a time you didn’t have him as back up.

It was a petty argument that got you into this situation- in the shared kitchen for the students, you accidentally ate a snack of his that he had been saving, which you apologized for. Great! Should’ve been over with after that, right?

…Except you accidentally did it again the next day AND forgot to put his milk back in the fridge that he had just measured out for some recipe he was excited to try.

And even though you apologized and he reassured you that it wasn’t that big of a deal, mistakes happen, he still wasn't letting you hang out in his room after training as usual. He seemed to be annoyed with you at the very least.

With the long week he’s had from being sent on two missions back to back, you understood why. He really need the mental break that you accidentally took away.

So yeah, you really doubted that he’d be willing to kill a spider for you when he’d barely even talked to you in the past 24 hours (save for his usual good morning text and a peck on the cheek when he saw you in person).

Nobara patted your back and sighed. "I think you should go ask him anyway. He's probably suffering from Y/n withdrawals by now, you know? Yuuji said he was sure he caught Fushiguro pouting on their jog earlier. Could be a good sign."

You looked at her hopefully and smiled. "Thanks, Nobara, but I think I'll just wait until morning. I'm sure if I could just find a-" your attention was drawn back to the ceiling and a feeling of dread washed over you. "Nope, I'm going right now, the spider's fucking gone," you quickly shut your door and stepped away.

She made a blended noise of disgust and fear. "Alright, I'm out. Good luck and don't let that thing out. If I see it in my room tomorrow I'm putting my nails through your clothes." She waved and headed back to her room.

You waved back and headed the other direction, towards the boy's dorms. Since it was getting late, you had to be mindful of noise so you wouldn't get caught by any faculty member- especially Gojo.

If he were to catch you "sneaking" over to Megumi's room, you were pretty sure you'd never hear the end of it, and even more sure that it would just irritate your boyfriend further.

So you put your stealth to the test until you were finally at his door. You quietly knocked three times, hoping it was loud enough for him to hear it.

When he opened the door, he raised an eyebrow at you and checked out in the hall before dragging you inside so you could talk at a somewhat normal volume.

And of course you wanted to take the time to make everything up to him, to talk it out for real and not have him be annoyed at you anymore- if Nobara said he was starting to have Y/n Withdrawals, then you had already been feeling the effects of Megumi Withdrawals since his first mission earlier this week- but right now the most pressing matter on your mind was the spider currently lost in your room.

So you decided that sweet talking him was the way to achieve your goal of getting his help.

"Megumi, love and light of my life, my one and only, my beloved-"

"Please stop."

You got down on your knees and took hold of his hand. "I am so sorry that I have ailed you this week, I promise that I will be more mindful moving forward and use my eyes to look for your name on things in the fridge-"

"You don't have to beg for my forgiveness, get up." He was basically a tomato, his whole face red and slightly covered by his hair. If you weren't on such a time crunch, you might keep going just to tease him.

"And I come to enlist your help on a quest that only you have the required tools to complete!"

"Ah, there it is. So you just need my help, then?" He tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice, but you caught it and immediately stood up to explain yourself.

"Baby, no, I do genuinely want to apologize and fix things! But um... yes, I do actually have a problem that only you can help me with."

He sighed and regarded you for a moment before nodding. "Alright, what is it?"

You immediately lit up and shook his hand excitedly. "Really? Thank you so much!"

"So... what is it?"

"There's a spider in my room, and I lost it and I need your toad to eat it."

He gave you a deadpan look before throwing his head back with a long sigh, looking at the ceiling. "Alright, let's go."

On your way back to your room, you fell into silence. Mostly because you didn't want to get caught being out past curfew, but also because neither of you really knew what to say.

Once you were in front of your door, you opened it and let him in. He summoned his toad and helped you search for it (by helped, you really meant he did all the searching while you stood outside and quietly directed him to where you saw it last.

"Can you at least come and help me look?" He asked, currently looking around on the floor under a couple of bags.

You hesitantly walked in, surveying everything before standing next to him to double check.

He broke the silence first. "You know... I really wasn't mad at you for any of the kitchen stuff. I know I told you that already, but I feel like you don't believe it."

You sifted through some clothes. "No, I did. I guess I was just sad that you weren't letting me hang out with you as much. I totally understand it- you needed a break from everything and I respect that, but I wish I could have helped before you got to that point. And I'm serious, I'll keep a better eye out before I accidentally eat your stuff." you both kind of laughed at that.

It was silent again for a couple seconds. "I'm sorry I kind of pushed you away and isolated myself."

You smiled a bit. "I'm sorry I kinda tipped you over the edge."

You turned to face each other for a moment before he wrapped you up in his arms. "You didn't. I promise next time I feel overwhelmed I'll let you know so you don't think I'm upset with you," he mumbled.

"Thank you... I love you."

"I love you too."

You stayed like that for a moment before you pulled back a bit and smirked at him. "Nobara told me that Itadori said you were pouting on you jog together earlier."

He blushed. "I was not. He doesn't know what he's talking about."

You giggled a bit and cupped his face. "I would bet a million yen that you were!"

He groaned and tried to gently pry your hands away from his face. "Stop it... I was not pouting, I don't pout."

"You so do! You're doing it right- holy shit Megumi the spider is right there gET IT PLEASE-"

The sweet moment was ruined by the spider from earlier scuttling across the ceiling over your bed. You jumped onto your boyfriend for protection, even though he couldn't do much while supporting your entire bodyweight so you wouldn't fall. He managed to send the toad after it, and it happily chased it with its tongue.

The spider was no more.

You settled back on the ground and patted the toad on the head before Megumi released it back to the shadows.

You sighed in relief.

"Thank you, my love, I appreciate it."

He nodded at you. "No problem. I should head back to my dorm now before-"

"Want to stay with me?" You tentatively interrupted.

He paused and looked towards you. "We'll get in trouble if we're caught."

You tugged on his hand a little. "Please, Megumi? I've missed you this week..."

He sighed and let you pull him to your bed, hiding a small smile when you cheer. "Fine, but I'm leaving before the sun comes up. I'm not letting Gojo think he has anything over me."

You giggled. "That's fine," and then you both got settled under the covers.

He'd be lying if he said he hadn't missed you while he was isolating himself, but he pushed any thoughts of that away and fell into a peaceful sleep with you in his arms.

this took foreverrrrr but it's finally done since I have time to write today!! ty for reading, hope you all enjoyed <3

[rendy-a]

An Unlikely Friendship

Yes, I'm still around! Lately, it seems like the only time I'm thinking about writing is when I can't possibly write! Hopefully, I'll be settling back into my old routines and get in some more writing time soon.

It started with a simple request, fetch some noodles.  Now the easiest way to do this was probably to head to Sam’s shop but that wasn’t what was happening.  Floyd chuckled darkly as he received the order and Sebek merely stood at rigid attention.  Perhaps some might have questioned the legalities or even the general propriety of shaking down students of Ignihyde dorm for their ramen but not these two.  If it was a request from the Player, then it would be fulfilled as directed. 

The door to Idia’s room groaned at the assault, bending inwards and straining its hinges.  The frightened dorm leader inside shuddered from the corner where he crouched, waiting for the inevitable.  And, just like that, the moment came.  The door moaned and finally surrendered to the effort of Sebek, allowing both door and student to tumble into the room.  The door settled loudly onto the floor and the student settled loudly on his feet.  “HUMAN!” he began, “I DEMAND YOU RELINQUISH ALL YOUR NOODLES TO ME IMMEDIATELY!” 

From where he cowered, a bony white hand pointed shakily at a cabinet.  Sebek throws open the door and smiles in victory, “THE NOODLES HAVE BEEN SECURED!” He smiles to himself while on the floor, Idia begins to mumble under his breath, “Who’d have thought Malleus-shi was so desperate he’d resort to common thievery to get a snack stash.” Sebek gave a shocked guffaw, “HOW DARE YOU!  PLUS, THESE NOODLES AREN’T EVEN FOR MALLEUS.  I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT THESE ARE FOR THE PLAYER THEMSELVES!”  Idia’s eyes widen and a slow, “Wha?” is drawn unknowingly from his lips. 

Sebek turns to leave with his bounty when a tentative, “Wai..wait!” comes from the corner.  He turns with a scowl, “Just be glad you’ve had this chance to serve the Player in some small way and stop your groveling.”  Idia stammers, “I…I know!  But!  But!  You can’t serve such low-quality noodles like that to the Player!”  Sebek frowns and looks at the noodles he has collected.  Certainly, they didn’t appear to be nearly so special as he’d hoped.  He wanted the Player to see the efforts he put into fulfilling their wishes and (dare he dream), praise him.  He puts a hand to his forehead and shakes his head in dismay, “I want to present them with only the best, but they’ve commanded I come here to retrieve what I can find.” 

A small click sound rouses Sebek from his inner turmoil and he looks up to see Idia pull a shiny package of ramen from a small hidden safe under his bed.  He slides it timidly across the table, “This is a limited premium package from the Premo collab.  I’ve been saving it for something special but if…if its for the Player, what could be more special than that?”  Sebek picks up the pre-offered package and looks at it with glistening eyes; this was a gold-quality noodle if he ever saw one.  He looks back at the timid dorm leader one last time for departing and some common thread connects them.  This was what it meant to be a fan and both understood it deeply. 

When Sebek returns to the main hall of Ignihyde, he sees Floyd already waiting with his packages of noodles.  None, Sebek notes proudly, as fine as the one he has collected.  “Let us return with all haste!  The Player is waiting for us!”  Floyd gives him an angry, frustrated look.  “They said to stay for an hour.”  Sebek turns to look at the blue monitors floating all over the common room.  It had been 10 minutes.  He places his hand once more on his forehead and laments the cruel passage of time as he waits dejectedly for the hour to pass.

When Sebek and Floyd returned to the campus kitchen with their noodles, they were delighted that the Player appeared quickly after.  They were waiting for Sebek to return.  They wanted to cook with him.  Sebek was so delighted that he didn’t even mind when his master Malleus turned his head away from the pitiful pasta dish he served and declared it was a one-star effort.  If the Player wanted to serve his great lord sub-par spaghetti, who was he to argue with their wisdom?  Only Sebek worried that people would forget that it was a great honor to eat what the Player commanded.  That they might start thinking the Player was a (he barely dared think it), bad chef. 

That night, the Player commanded Sebek to return to Ignihyde for nearly the entire night.  The great Player had also magnanimously gifted Sebek with proper chef’s garb and he set out on his quest with his apron tied tightly and chef’s hat set at just the right angle.  It weighed on his mind that the great Player themselves would put so much effort into ensuring their cooking success while he could only venture forth to retrieve noodles at their command.  He smoothed his apron and sauntered pensively into the Ingihyde main hall.  As soon as he crossed the threshold, a nervous peep came from behind a pillar, “There…there you are!  I…I’ve been waiting for you!” 

Sebek was astonished to find Idia peering nervously from behind the pillar.  “YOU THERE!  ANNOUNCE YOUR PURPOSE! I’VE NO TIME FOR GAMES!  I’M ON A MISSION FROM THE PLAYER!”  Floyd brushes past him and mutters, “Chill out, we’re stuck here for six hours.  This will only take one, max.”  Sebek is momentarily off-balance at his urgency being challenged.  “That…well…REGARDLESS!  I WILL TAKE THIS MISSION WITH THE UTMOST LEVEL OF SINSERITY AS IT IS FOR THE GREAT PLAYER!”  Idia has used his distraction to creep from behind the pillar and cower partially hidden behind a high-backed chair.  “So, so you used them then?  For the Player?  Were…were they pleased?” 

Sebek frowned, unsure of what to say.  Yes, he HAD presented the Player with the gold-quality noodles and the Player HAD instructed him to cook with them, only, the results were so dismal Sebek felt it disloyal to bring it up to others.  “A dish was made,” is all Sebek finally got out.  At this, a wide and toothy grin spreads across Idia’s face.  “Riiiiiight,” he drawls, stretching the word out unnecessarily long, “Those were premo quality noodles.  I’m so happy I could pass them to the Player.  I’ve already collected the best noodles from the dorm and sorted them by size, weight and style!”  The dorm leader’s hair turns a touch red at the tips as he becomes fired up about his efforts to assist the Player from behind the scenes. 

Sebek can no longer contain his disappointment, “IT DOESN’T MATTER!”  Idia ducks behind the chair suddenly frightened.  “It doesn’t matter,” he says more quietly, “it got a bad score.”  Idia stares for a moment before a look of disbelief crosses his face, “Whaaaa?  Those noobs got a dish straight from the Player and that was the reaction?  I don’t care what it is, if the Player gives me something I’m only going to love it.  Those guys don’t deserve to call themselves fans…”  Sebek listens to Idia’s mumbling rant and is overcome by his approval, “RIGHT!  HOW DARE THEY BE SO UNGRATEFUL!  SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT THIS!”  For all his enthusiasm, Sebek had no plan.  He slowly deflates until his head hangs sadly from his shoulders.

“What…what if we could remind them?” Idia asks softly.  “Remind them of what?” Sebek questions quietly.  “That this is for the Player.  If they remembered the Player, they’d have to reconsider.” Idia finishes.  Sebek is fired up for a moment but then returns to his dejected state, “How am I going to do that?  I can hardly speak to the judges while the Player is there watching.”  Idia gets a crazed look on his face, “Well, I have an idea.  You’ll be here all night, yah?”

The following morning, the Player returned to the game to retrieve the results from a nightly excursion into Ignihyde for noodles.  Thus, overflowing with a day’s ingredients, they set to cooking.  The recipe was chosen, and the ingredients set.  Floyd combined the ingredients and tossed them to Sebek.  Sebek offered a sincere prayer to the Player that this effort would be up to standard and used his tool to toss the ingredients into the magic oven.  A short time later, the dish is completed and arrives at the judging table. 

Malleus sits at the head of the table, aloof and intimidating.  Epel occupies the middle seat; seemingly cute and easy going but in fact a harsh critic.  Miraculously, Idia himself is drafted to have the remaining seat which he occupies with more than his usual nervous energy.  Sebek and Floyd come to the table and gesture as the food is summoned.  The dish served could be called mediocre at best.  The Player had only a moderate mastery of the dish and had chosen a mixture of middle and low-quality ingredients.  The result was a pasta that sat in a recognizable yet slightly questionable red sauce.  The only redeeming trait was the pasta noodles. 

All night in Ignihyde, Idia and Sebek had worked hard at creating a machine that would make special shaped pasta.  Floating in the sea of red sauce were shapes that brought to mind Grim, Ramshackle and Yuu but more importantly, things glimpsed of the other world while the Player graced them with their presence.  Their favorite accessory, a cherished keepsake, even a noodle bearing the likeness of the Player themselves.  To gaze upon this dish was to be reminded of the greatness of the Player and their own place as characters in Twisted Wonderland. 

The confusion was clear on the faces of Malleus and Epel.  Normally, they wouldn’t consider having a dish like this but how could they ignore such a pasta?  As a conflicted Epel looks back and forth from third-year to third-year student, Idia catches his gaze.  He smiles and lazily twirls his spoon until a perfect Player-shaped noodle settles on the utensil.  Then he lifts it to his lips where he gives it a soft kiss before sliding the noodle into his mouth.  “Just like kissing the Player themselves…” he bashfully declares as his hair gently flushes red for him. 

Epel’s eyes go wide as his mouth opens into a shocked ‘O’ shape.  Then his brow lowers as he looks at Idia in challenge.  So, it was to be a competition for the Player’s affection?  Well, bring it on!  Epel grabs his spoon and starts shoveling the noodles into his mouth, glaring first at Idia and then at Malleus, entirely becoming lost in his competitive spirit.  Malleus sees the glare from the boy and it pricks his noble spirit.  ‘Oh, so the child of man wishes to challenge him over his dish of pasta and his dedication to the Player?  Well, he is not so easily cowed.’  With a grin that crossed boundaries between evil and excited, Malleus accepted Epel’s challenge and also began to shovel the noodles into his maw with great speed. 

With a simultaneous clank, two spoons hit the bowl in unison as each eager boy finishes the whole dish and set aside the spoon with which they have done battle.  “Ha!” Epel yells as Malleus wordlessly returns an eager smile.  From the end of the table, Idia is no less fired up though he has eaten only his standard single bite.  He is satisfied that he got the best bite of the dish when he chose his Player-shaped noodle. 

Now though, the game was calling for a judging score and Epel and Malleus were at a bit of a loss.  They had eaten with such competitive gusto that they hadn’t truly tasted the dish.  Two things remained high in their minds, one, the dish reminded them greatly of the Player they so admired.  Two, they both felt like they had won their eating competition, which was very satisfying.  After eyeing each other for a moment and feeling the pressure of the game to deliver a score, Malleus finally smiles in an oddly knowing way and holds up his paddle.  Epel sees the score and returns an evil grin before holding up his paddle.  Idia taps his forefingers together nervously as he gestures for his skull device to raise with his score.  He sneakily turns his eyes up from where he sits to look beyond to the Player for their reaction.

Far away, a person looks down at their phone, somewhat puzzled but not really concerned.  “Huh, I didn’t think I had enough mastery for a perfect score.”  They watched the 12 points added to their mastery to bring the total to 62%.  “Well, good job guys.  I guess you make a great cooking pair,” they say absentmindedly as they return to the cooking screen to take stock of their recipes and ingredients.  Far away, two students make eye contact and smile, knowing that they were the true victors here.  They were as different as could be, yet, the Player had spoken true when they declared that they made a great pair. 

[corey-wh0re]

The best episode of the season so far, hands down.

-After last week, which I consider to be the weakest ep of S3 by taking things into ~too silly~ of a direction (something I don't mind when it's handled well, it just leaned a little too into it for my taste), I'm glad we & the characters are back in the trenches cause everything going horrible all the time is what this series excels at. I do think Shauna's belated reaction to Lottie's death+her interaction with her father & the line drawn in the sand to officially. differentiate between who Misty is (someone who does everything she does due to her strong emotional investment to a fault) & who Walter is (someone who is just doing these investigations for shits & giggles) for any who still considers them ~just like one another~ to be the best attributes of. "Did Tai Do That?" but thankfully everything is getting terrible again so things can hopefully get even worse in the final 4 eps!!!

-For a season that has largely been defined by Natalie's absence in both timelines (reluctant leadership in the past & self-explanatory in the present), Sophie Thatcher REALLY got to do her big one this ep. I know much has been discussed on multiple platforms that one can tell she's been studying Juliette Lewis's mannerisms, but THIS. ep especially felt like she was completely possessed by her to more seamlessly bridge the gap between their teen & adult selves. It's easy to see already why. Lewis's Natalie struggled so much in the brief time we got with her if something like mercy killing Coach Ben after trying to futilely keep him alive, alongside everything else that has previously happened & has yet to in the wilderness, is what she had to resort to while she was still the "leader." Much like how I previously expressed feeling the same way with Lynskey & Nélisse in "12 Angry Girls and 1 Drunk Travis," I can not wait to see how these performances continue to evolve as everyone adopts the nuances of their opposite selves.

-As much as I've enjoyed basking in the blissful ignorance (while recognizing things were not going to last) of the TaiVan Whirlwind Rekindled Romance™ scenes, I'm glad Van seems to finally be recognizing that things are not alright with Tai right now, with what is looking to be some overt supernatural assistance via that telephone, & that "Other Tai" appears to have taken completely. over Tai's"conscious" body. While we all know that "Other Tai" emerges in high stress environments to do what Tai can not or is unwilling to, I have to wonder what. exactly the end goal is here beyond my early theorizing about "giving the wilderness what it wants" & going on a killing spree to save Van. If "Other Tai" does. end up being responsible for killing Lottie, as Misty's investigation is presently circulating the possibility of, what. exactly is gonna come of it?

-Can we get an amen that the writers F I N A L L Y brought Lisa back for the juicy character interaction we have all been waiting. for after every.fucking.thing. that has gone on in the past several weeks of this show's timeline? I know one has to be patient with the progression of plotlines on television & she will likely cease to exist after giving Misty a new lead to chase after, but it's nice to have some. sense of resolution since things really were hanging in the balance about where exactly Lottie's ~followers~ ended up considering S2 spent so much time at. her compound. As much as I get invested in this series, one of my prevailing issues with it is that details like that will be brushed aside while I'm sitting here questioning why more investigations have not been surrounding the YJs themselves when you think about the sheer amount of shit they've gotten embroiled in while adults in such a short amount of time.

-I am. slightly mixed on "Shauna will lead us." While nearly everything else. that occurred in the past timeline from the build-up to Coach Ben dying to Natalie & Travis finally getting some more interactions again to Akilah searching for meaning in the cave visions & on & on worked for me, I do think just having Lottie just come out & say that to be a little clunky. I know the season has been taking great pains to establish Shauna's eventual takeover from Natalie & Lottie shifting allegiances based on what she thinks ~the wilderness wants~ but I feel the season still should've waited to fully. vocalize it until Shauna had completely wrested control from the rest of the group with something big & splashy cause I don't entirely believe that everybody would be gung ho with her leadership yet despite the anger she weaponizes. She's obviously gonna enforce a motion to kill them hikers at the end of the ep sometime in the following ones, thus dooming the group to an even worse winter than S2, because Shauna Shipman is THEE. queen of making bad decisions for temporary satisfaction to stroke her own ego. But her doing that & convincing everyone to go along with it is what I feel should've been THEE. moment to classify her as The Antler Queen™ to make for a smoother narrative transition.

-It really is a wonder how anybody has ever had a single meaningful interaction with adult Shauna cause the way Lynskey specifically plays her "melting down" by being constantly distracted & unable to stay. in one moment at a time while she's out here making requests for tape players, demanding her family go into hiding, & not even really digesting the content of the tape she's been given to be such a genius move on her part. It's such a subtle way of depicting someone in literal free fall & who is only about to get even worse if she's the likely candidate trying to murder Hillary Swank's mystery character in the coming eps, but it so perfectly displays who Shauna is as a character beyond all of the superficial stuff, anger included. Shauna really is a woman, for all the observations already exhaustively made about her from everyone, who is just so damn blinded by her own fleeting, stubborn needs that she will say/do anything as long as she thinks it will feel good in the moment. God, I'm so fuckin ready for the chaos she still has to unleash.

[en-geneisaxx]

Case: L̶0V̶3A̶N̶D̶R̶3V̶3N̶63

𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞!𝐉𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝖂𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘: 𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓𝖘 𝖔𝖋 𝖒𝖚𝖗𝖉𝖊𝖗, 𝖇𝖑𝖔𝖔𝖉, 𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊, 𝖒𝖆𝖋𝖎𝖆 𝖆𝖚, 𝖌𝖚𝖓𝖘, 𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖌𝖚𝖆𝖌𝖊 𝖒𝖉𝖓𝖎 (𝖒𝖙𝖇𝖆)

𝐹𝑒𝑎𝑡. 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝐽𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆𝑢𝑛𝑔ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝐸𝑛ℎ𝑦𝑝𝑒𝑛.

𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒔, 𝒓𝒆𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅/ 𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅!! დ

Part 2:

'𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑴𝒓 𝑺𝒊𝒎 𝑱𝒂𝒆𝒚𝒖𝒏,

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒘. 𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒖𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒐𝒚𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒔. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆, 𝒔𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒕 ��𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒄𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒔, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕.

𝑾𝒆'𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒏𝒐𝒘,

𝐑3𝐕3𝐍63.'

"Finallyyyy," you groaned, hand aching from the amount of words you had to do with such handwriting, "hopefully he'll be drawn to this."

You fetched some cup noodles, wanting to have something to comfort you as it had been a long week. It took a while, having to constrain his members, but what was worse was when you found out (looking through strictly confidental files) his dad-

"Y/n, could you please shut these pussycats up? Ain't no way they're elite members when they're acting like they need their mom to save their pathetic asses" Says Jay, head aching from the constant whines and moans of the abducted grown men, through the speaker.

You sigh, knowing it was just because they needed your reassurance with the whole abduction. You told them it was just an act, just for a chance to have an encounter with him, to rebel against the Mafia King. You forgot to tell Jay that, so he must've given them the wrong idea.

"Y/n, Y/N!!" Shouts Jay in frustration, "COME ON DOWN RIGHT NOW, NOT EVEN HOON'S HELPING."

You chuckle at the thought of Sunghoon going down there, they're probably-

"THEY'RE FUCKING MESMERISED BY HIM!?" Cries the older Park in confusion, bewildered by the change of reactions from the men.

"Ok ok, I'm coming down Jay, but I also need to explain a few things, judging by the reactions." You replied, smiling at how childish it all seems.

The men cheered when you came down, exclaiming things like, "Our saviour is back!" "The angel has descended!" "We're saved!" You guess all that was because of the hard hand Jay was giving.

"Y/n, explain to me why such demented dickheads are giving you a whole new reaction? Just a few moments ago, they were busy admiring at Hoon!" Points Jay at the majestic beauty, "But they're scared when it comes to me!"

Sunghoon chuckles cockily, "I know, I'm pretty handsome." He wriggled his eyebrows, earning a cringed look from the pair of you.

"Well...these men aren't really here for the mafia..." You knew they would understand.

"OHH, THEY'RE OURS!?" Asks Jay with excitement, hoping what he cracked the code.

"Ahh, lovely Y/n's found a brain, eh?" Sunghoon says in a seductive manner, ego boosting because to the child-like elites.

You nod, knowing they'll understand what to do to. Get Jake, show him why you guys truly are different, become the best of mates and fight the battle, eliminating the guy behind all the misery.

Jay turns to the expectant audience. With a modest manner, he apologises, earning bright smiles from them.

"Well, wanna have a 1v1?" Asks Jay, head cocked to the side.

"Oh, are you two going in bed-" Jokes Sunghoon.

"Park fucking Sunghoon," you started, "I could make sure you don't have children to prevent such cringe mistakes" you glared, Sunghoon acting all melodramatic. "But yeah, would love to destroy you Jay." You agreed, heading over to the doors until,

"Destroy his dick-"

"SUNGHOON." You bellowed, and he just shrugged, amused by your angered reaction. Jay laughs through it all. You guys may be close, but you, Jay and Sunghoon will always remain as best friends, traumatised best friends. Jake was just a member queued to join soon, making you even happier when you realised your fates were being intertwined once again.

"I wonder how sweet y/n's going to do." Says Jay in a provokingly calm tone, stretching before you go at him.

"Like I said, gonna destroy you Park." You stated, going serious as you looked at this as training.

"Oh yeah? You think you can beat the better executive?" Boasts the oldest Park, cracking his knuckles and craning his head, "You think you'll be stronger?"

"Remember who got promoted first, and who was faster at it." You said with such pride, knowing it took Jay years to get where he is today, meanwhile you sailed through it, earning it in just a few months since joining. That's what triggered Jay, and now the fight's begun.

You both went at full potential, each trying their best to stand tall as the victor. Jay's managed to punched you at times, but he's going to be aching with how hard you did it back. Just as he was walking back in a daze, you did an iconic roundhouse kick, and make him topple to the ground with ease. Of course, your sportmanship came first, and you helped him up, as well as tending to his injuries as an apology. The two of you were completely different in looks: one looked unscathed, a hot beauty, whilst the other had purple and blue marks with a few scars in the visible areas, and walking in pain.

"Like I said, was going to destroy you." You said in a joyful voice, pleased seeing his being like this. You kicked ass like the badass bitch you were.

"Fuck you, Y/n."

You went back to your office, noticing the unsealed envelope.

"Ugh, need to send it to him now." You wished you could send someone else, but everyone said it was only a small issue, no need to go to such an extent. You huffed, dressing yourself so as to conceal your identity, before sending the tip to his agency. You pondered as to when you two will meet, and whether he'll pick up the signs. 𝘎𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘢 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘐 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 you thought. It wasn't like you wanted to deceive him, but he may misunderstand the letter, thinking you wanted him to join the gang, when it was, really, to join the trio.

Walking to the agency, you looked around, hoping that no one will take notice of your outfit. You sighed with relief when it was just like you hoped it would, and put the letter into the letterbox, before returing to base.

'𝑺𝒊𝒎 𝑱𝒂𝒆𝒚𝒖𝒏,

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆?"

It was a thought in your mind, because what was he to be? Someone who not only lectured you but fed you, or someone you were 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 with. Yes, that's right, you were 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝. But,

Why?

𝑇𝑎𝑔𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔: @pockettwinzz @diorsyun @rinbowaman @emi-en @jaylaxies @dollywons @potatohoon @sungvrhs @hoonieshoneymain @heeslomll @velvetkisscs (lmk if u want to be added through asks!)

[helaelaemond]

All Things End - Osferth x reader

For @arcielee's 1k celebration - thank you for being such a wonderful supporter to so many writers in this little community, and for writing the most exquisite pieces yourself.

Pairing: Osferth x reader (not gender-specific - his rejection of marriage can be because you are a woman, but he is a cursed bastard, or you are not a woman and pre-medieval queer marriage is just not quite accepted, damn it!)

Word count: 1.4k

Summary: Knowing that everything will end should not change our plan. Osferth is dead, and his lover remembers their last conversation before they parted.

Content warning(s): major character death, angst, no happy ending

Rating: Gen/Teen

Masterlist

Notes: No porn and no plot? It's more likely thank you would think. Not tagging the usuals as I'm unsure if this is what you want to read as you usually only get smut from me.

They are back. They are back! The streets begin to fill with people crowding close to greet Uhtred and his men back, and you look for the sandy hair of your tall man. It feels so long since you have set eyes upon him, although it is never as many weeks as it feels. Some of the men are cheerful to be back. Some are grim faced. Less return than left.

You do not normally approach Uhtred. It is not your place, after all, but you can't see your man. Your Osferth. "Lord?" you ask hopefully. "Where is he?"

He looks at you for a long moment, and rests his hand on your shoulder. Something akin to ice prickles across your skin. At his side is Finan. Your eyes are drawn to the cross about his neck.

The smile on your face is frozen. "Where is Osferth?"

Slowly, Finan's face begins to crumple. His hand goes to the cross on the string, and he bows his head. "I tried, I really-"

It's like he can't bear to face you, to face what happened. He tries to turn away but you catch him. He is not your friend, and you never spent much time together before, but you know how much Osferth loves him, how much Finan loves him in return. "You tried to what?"

"I couldn't save them both."

Strange, how it feels, when a smile pulls back over one's teeth until it's ghastly and fearsome. When all beauty is gone, and in its place is terror. "What are you saying?"

"I..." At his side, Ingrith squeezes his hand.

She looks at you sadly. "He saved me. But... he died. He's with his God, now."

Finan's jaw tenses and he gulps in air. When they walk away, you are left alone. Somewhere out there, your sweet love rots.

Osferth laid his head on your chest and began tracing shapes across your skin. You glanced down at his sandy hair and smiled, threading your fingers through it. He let out a quiet hum of approval. His lips were warm when he pressed a kiss against your sternum.

"I won't be away long," he promised. "I never am."

"Do you think it never feels long, because you are always having adventures?" you asked.

He smiled against your stomach as he moved down your body. "Maybe."

"It's dull without you."

"You could always come with me, you know?"

You gripped his hair not unkindly, and tugged him to look up at you. How pretty his mouth was when he smiled. "I don't like it when you go. I grow weary of it."

The smile turned into a grimace, one side of his lip pulled up, and one eye closed. "It is my duty. I'm sworn to it."

"And when will you swear to me?"

Osferth knelt on the bed between your thighs and sighed. His hands ran down your legs and settled around the backs of your knees. One swift yank pulled you to him, and he wrapped your legs around his waist. "I cannot swear to you."

"Why not? Finan has sworn to his wife, and Sihtric to his. That doesn't prevent them from fulfilling their oaths to your lord."

He bit his lip and shook his head. It was a discussion that you had already had many times. He did not budge, and neither did you. "It's different for them than it is for us. I'm sorry."

Rolling away from him, you got off the bed in frustration and pulled on a linen shift. The idea of feeling his skin on yours felt overwhelming now. "There are only so many times that I can survive your rejection, Osferth."

"My love," he murmured softly. He reached out a hand to you that you ignored. "I do not reject you. It is simply that... we cannot marry. And as we cannot marry, I will swear to you no oaths and bind you with no promises."

"Do you want me to find someone who will marry me, then?" Your voice was cool, and your arms were crossed over your chest. You were hurting, and it was a cruel instinct, but hurting him back in the moment soothed you. Once your tempers had evened, it would feel even worse, though.

Osferth got up from the bed and walked over to you with kindness in his eyes. He stood in front of you, tall and slender, and guided your head up with a hand under your chin. "I would see you be happy, my love. If that means finding someone else to love and marry, then yes, that is what I want."

It was the wrong thing for him to say, not what you wanted to hear. It was kind in its own way, but a lie would have been kinder. You wanted to be possessed by him completely, for him to need you more than anything and have you at any cost, but- but that was not in his nature. He was kind.

You shook your head and looked down. "What are we doing, Osferth?"

He bit his lip nervously. His hands went to your shoulders. "We're trying to get it right."

A lump rose in your throat. "We didn't get it right, Osferth. My love, we tried our best."

You felt a kiss on your forehead. "When I return, we will try again. I promise. We will make each other happy."

"Osferth. This can't last forever."

He tilted your chin up again and pressed a gentle kiss to your lips. It made your heart race. When he pulled back, he rested your foreheads together and gently bumped your nose with his. "That will not change the fact that we will try again."

He was gone the next morning before you could go to him and apologise. For the five years that you had welcomed him at your hearth and table, in your heart and bed, he had been honest that he could never marry you. It wasn't your fault, you knew. It was no one's fault. But after a while, it had become easier to blame him. Unfair though it was, you couldn't help it. Sweet Osferth hadn't deserved that. But neither had you.

Your sweet love is buried miles away in a shallow grave marked only by a cross of sticks. There is no place for you to mourn him, no place to speak with him. Only a letter from him remains, but it is nothing to you, for you cannot read. Still, there's some comfort in stroking where he left the ink on it years ago. At the bottom amongst the scrawl is a circle like a wheel - this marks where he had signed his name. Osferth.

You touch it. Already you are forgetting what his voice sounds like. Sounded like.

You lie in bed in the linen shift that has stopped smelling like him. The letter rests on your chest like a two-tonne weight. But the thoughts of him are as light as sand, blowing away in the wind to nothing.

Matthew 7:26. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand / And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

Osferth knows the verse in Latin. Knew. Osferth knew. The sound of his voice slips with the sand through your fingers and into the wind. The sound of your sorrow follows it. To dust, to dirt, to the earth and sky. You are lost, and so too is he.

Did he know that you were sorry when he died? Did he think of you? Did he fear death? He didn't always, but as he grew to love life, it frightened him. Still, at Uhtred's side, he had seemed invincible. Like death would not dare come for him.

You curl around his pillow and cry.

Please bring him back to me, you plead with God. Let me live it all again. Even knowing how it ends, I wouldn't change a thing. Bring him back to me, I beg.

Bring him back. Let us begin again.

God does not listen. You never do find someone to marry.

[dracrownian]

Alright, PT, gun to your head, here's some questions for the ask meme-

6, 11 (AkAm), 12, 13, 16, 18, 19, as many of those as you'd like, gogogogogo

Oh no, there's a gun to my head. I guess I'll have to answer all of them then! for the ask meme [ here ].

6. Show us a bit of a WIP!

Okay, so. I am going to share some of a WIP, but I'll add it in a separate post and then link it here when I do (and make a note on that post as well), because it'll be longer than I'd like to make this post. And also I have to find one that I haven't either already posted bits of here/haven't shown you elsewhere/etc. Because I figured it should be something new (to you, not new to me).

(It's also going to be several hours from now, probably, because of irl reasons and because everything I have saved on this pc you've already seen. I think.)

Edit: the WIP is [ here ]! And hopefully editing this post doesn't completely break the formatting, tumblr.

11. What's your favourite piece of fanart for [akam]?

Picking a favorite is impossible, so I'm just gonna link a bunch that I like.

Akai's burning desire for Rei. Honesty. soft. (this one is from a deactivated account, so I just linked to my reblog of it) Rei smiling, god it's so cute. average akam interaction. okay I lied, this one is my favorite I think. the vibes are perfect.

Hopefully the links work and I didn't mess them up. If I did, let me know and I'll figure it out.

12. What's the funniest or craziest AU idea you've ever come up with?

Craziest is probably the yokai au, given all the research I need to do for that one, and the general plot. Super fun though.

Funniest... probably recency bias, because I can't think of many right now, but I am currently very amused by the fake marriage au.

(For those who wouldn't know these because I haven't talked about them here: dragon/yokai au is... hard to explain without giving things away that I'm not ready to give away yet. there's yokai. it started because of the scene where Ran pictures Chihaya with wings, and went completely off the rails from there.

The fake marriage au is akam getting married for a case.)

13. What's a character or ship you haven't written/drawn yet but would like to some day?

Hmm. I don't know. Masumi x Momiji might be a fun one to write. I have no plans for it currently, though. I'm not currently setting out to write anything other than AkAm, and the occasional HiroRei.

16. Do people irl know you participate in fandom?

Yes. My sister, who got me back into DetCo after a long break from it, is the sounding board for a lot of just "wouldn't this be funny if..." discussion, and she's aware that I write fanfic and talk to people online about it.

Aside from her, I have at least one active tumblr mutual I've met irl. (And at least one that I'm pretty sure is inactive on tumblr, but I talk to elsewhere. There might be more, but my memory is bad today.)

18. Type [Akai and/or Rei]'s name and tell us what the autocomplete suggests as the next word

So I'm assuming this is the same as predictive text, and I had to struggle to remember how to turn it back on because I don't use it. And then it just gave me boring answers as the "next" word (type the name, then space, and then it just gives me "is") for both.

Instead, I started typing the name to see what it would suggest that I'm trying to type. And I did a couple variations for fun.

Rei -> Reign Shuuichi -> Shuukichi Furuya Rei -> Furuya Reiterated Akai Shuuichi -> literally no response here. Bourbon -> Bourbons Rye -> Rye's Amuro -> Amuro's Okiya -> Okiya's

Okay so those last few weren't fun. Akai turning into his brother amused me, though. And Demon Lord Rei has taken over.

19. What's your favourite thing about [fandom] (the people in it, not the media you're all enjoying together)?

All the fun brainstorming, and the suffering together because of whatever Gosho's done now, and just. The general interactions. Idk, that feels like a bad answer, but I've just been really enjoying being back in fandom and actually participating and making stuff. I hadn't felt comfortable sharing any of my writing with anyone in over a decade, and now suddenly I've posted two fics on AO3 this year alone, and I'm constantly either writing or thinking about writing, and it's because I'm enjoying the fandom interactions so much. <3

[theorchidfestival]

Setting the Scene

I wrote a little snippet to help set the scene for the festival, featuring Leander and my OC, Lavinia. It's suggestive but not explicit and contains some light temperature play. Hopefully it helps get those creative juices flowing!

The streets of Amaryllis District were bustling, full of color and life in celebration of the Orchid Festival. While there were many faces that Lavinia recognized either from her shop or the Wet Wick, there were many more that she'd never seen before, even some that, based on their choice of jewelry, seemed not to be from Lowtown at all. At least, she tried to focus on the faces, as looking anywhere else made her blush. Never before had she seen so much exposed skin in a public place! Everywhere she looked, people expressed their festive spirits with various levels of colorful dress: harnesses, chains, dyed feathers, black leather. Lavinia felt out of place walking down the street in her light blue sundress, even though she'd made the bold--for her comfort level--move of not wearing her corset underneath the dress.

She looked at Leander, who was dressed somewhat more casually in a sleeveless top and pants, and wondered how he usually dressed for this event when not trying to make her feel more comfortable. Was he an underwear and body paint type? Or did he prefer leather? Her imaginings occupied her long enough that she almost stepped in puddle of suspicious composition, saved only by Leander who tugged her by the hand he was holding to avoid it.

Once the puddle was avoided, Leander glanced down at her with a smile. "Distracted?" he asked.

Perhaps one day she would become immune to his smile, though she hoped not. Focused on where she was stepping, Lavinia felt herself blush, her mouth pressed into a slight pout. "It's just...a lot to take in is all. We have the Feast of Life in Stiving too, but it's...different."

At this, he laughed that musical laugh of his. "I'm sure it is!" he said. "Even in the rest of Eridia it's different, just a celebration of fertility honoring the Allmother. But Amaryllis District has taken it a step further."

That was an understatement! As unusual as the festival seemed to be, Lavinia supposed she could see the logical progression. Even back in Stiving where the Feast of Life was celebrated primarily by spending the day eating, drinking, and dancing, she knew it was tradition for many to make love to their special someone. It made sense that that particular tradition would flourish somewhere like Amaryllis District. What really surprised her was how the holiday itself had warped from a celebration of fertility to one of free love. And it lasted a week! It was fascinating!

"So what all does this whole thing entail?" Lavinia asked as they strolled down the street. Among the crowd were people passing out little flyers and advertising the special shows and events being put on by the local brothels and bars. On either side of the road, vendors had set up stalls. Some sold food such as novelty treats shaped like various body parts, foods that were meant to improve sexual desire or stamina, herbs and teas meant to increase or decrease fertility, and even something called a pineapple that was supposed to make certain body fluids taste sweeter. Other vendors sold toys and accessories meant to be used during the act, like lingerie, special ropes, and any number of things she'd never seen before the use of which she could only guess at.

As she finished her question, one stall in particular caught her eye. The vendor was apparently a glass blower, her wares all manner of shapes and colors that sparkled in the sunlight.

"Anything you want it to." Leander looked at her only to notice what had drawn her attention.

She didn't need to ask before he was steering her over to the glassblower's stall. There was just enough room for the two of them and the couple of other people who were already there to browse the beautifully-made toys. In spite of herself, Lavinia found herself drawn to the shelves of dildos. She would have expected the primary difference to be in size, but that was only one of many. There were different types of curvature, for one. But there were also bumps and ridges and bulges and different colors.

One in particular caught her eye. It had a bulbous head with a red flower inside of it. A green ridge spiraled down the outside of the shaft ending just above the base where there were little bumps. In terms of size, it reminded her of Leander, which made it that much more perfect.

Leander, who was standing close behind her with his hands affectionately rubbing her upper arms, followed her gaze to the toy she seemed to like. Sensing her hesitation to pick it up, he reached over her shoulder to grab it himself. As he held it in front of her, it began to glow with a swirling, green light that she recognized as his magic.

"Leander, what are you--?"

Before she could finish her question, he touched the glass head against her shoulder. It was cold--not cold enough to hurt, but cold enough that it felt nice given the warm weather as he slowly dragged the implement down her shoulder, then down to her clavicle. Lavinia leaned back against Leander and let her eyes flutter shut. Her breathing became heavier, and she lost herself to the sensation of cold glass against her skin.

Just as the glass inched down past the neckline of her dress, they were interrupted by someone loudly clearing their throat.

"Can I help you?" The voice of the glassblower startled Lavinia back to reality. Embarrassed, she looked away, her cheeks red as she muttered an apology.

Leander, who she imagined was also blushing, laughed awkwardly. "We'll take this one!"

[tenjad129]

Now, about the movie epic of my dreams...

Well, considering that I'm always working hard or even trying to draw all kinds of inspirations from both art and life and fashioned any of them all into some lifelong dream movie epic of mine, there may also be three big major influences -- in addition to my actual life and childhood experiences and especially my love of the mighty Mesozoic beasts of prehistoric times called dinosaurs -- that might bear down on the research and development, writing, and especially the making of the movie epic of my lifelong dreams, which I'm trying to work on in any way, shape, form and means imaginable either since I was in high school or even since I was a little kid:

And, those three films that I'm talking about and in question may well be Steven Spielberg, Phil Nibbelink and Simon Wells' wacky and enjoyable comedy western, An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991), Cartoon Network and Genndy Tartakovsky's 1999 one hour made for television animated feature film Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip (TV, 1999) and James Cameron's 3-D CGI-laden science fiction epic blockbuster, AVATAR (2009), respectively.

Now, it might always and forever be very incredibly dangerous for even someone like you to read one's movies, artwork, writing, etc. especially such as mine's, in a much more biographical light, and even most fiction narrative films are, after all, just that: they're all fictions!

And yet, if I were to even pull off my dream movie epic very successfully, then whoever I truly am as a person, and especially my most authentic stuff, might hopefully come out, believe it or not, if and when I ever make or direct or even write a movie of my dreams and to my very specific liking. The film of my dreams that I really wanted to make, write, and/or direct far along, after all, may not be a small low budget indie art house film, and especially a rough and profane R-Rated one like 1994's Clerks or a comic book-derived superhero epic movie like 2012's The Avengers or 2008's earlier The Dark Knight or let alone, a modern horror film like 2017's Get Out or even a gross out R-Rated comedy like 2007's Superbad. And all those may not be who I really am.

And whatever ultimate title, shape and form that my dream movie epic will assume in the end, and that most especially includes 'Planet of the Toons', it is going to be about people, young or otherwise old, and of real living flesh and blood or even fantastic beings made out of living cartoon ink and paint (as in the living (car)toons of the world of Who Framed Roger Rabbit), especially like these six cartoon characters above, who have to go on a great adventure of some sort in order to save the day as far as the things and fellow beings and creatures that he or she loved or cherished so much.

And even if my movies could ever reflect my own views, or even if the movies could ever reflect on them in turn, then either way is always fine with me.

I mean, many of my dream movie ideas and concepts are supposed to be adventure stories or even hero's journey narratives, especially of a bizarre or unusual sort or something, and filled with a sense of fantasy and wonder that's never been seen since or even outside of the original three Star Wars films from 1977 to 1983, maybe, but most especially the first 1977 Star Wars and its 1980 sequel The Empire Strikes Back, and so I never even made a secret about my affection towards older films, from Disney's 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and MGM's 1939 The Wizard of Oz all the way up to James Cameron's AVATAR movie from 2009.

After all, I really would love to one day see, and I especially would one day love to see get made or funded or written down on some paper somewhere, a movie, and especially an epic movie, or even a happily ever after kind of epic, where any or everybody on the side of good and light and love -- even a walking, talking, and cute hand drawn 2d animated cartoon mouse, rabbit, bird, cat, or dog -- prevails against those on the side of evil and darkness and tyranny -- and especially against the dreaded and fearsome evil forces of a jealous and tyrannical hand drawn 2d animated cartoon nerd like the Mandark as he appears in Dexter's Laboratory's Ego Trip television special.

Now, my typical human hero, most often a young man or even a teenage boy, the latter type of whom ostensibly prefers trying to attract the opposite sex (and very attractive teenage girls, in particular) or perhaps even seeking out absolutely nothing but sex, drugs, alcohol, or especially property destruction or damage (all of which just so happened to be the very timeless classic staples of many a typical teen comedy movie, anyway), is summoned to a special world and to embark on a great adventure of his life, when, especially in the form of a very long distance outer space phone call paid to him by both a heroic cartoon cowboy mouse (as in the Fievel Goes West version of Fievel Mousekewitz himself) and a very lovely and very beautifully pretty saloon girl mouse (as in the Fievel Goes West version of Fievel's sister Tanya Mousekewitz as she is seen and voiced in that AAT:FGW movie by Cathy Cavadini of the Powerpuff Girls fame) on another Earth-like world or something, invites him and two other real human beings over to help them and their ally, a short, immortal being that bears a striking resemblance to a certain 90s cartoon boy genius, wrest back control of the latter being's ancient prized invention (which enables its user to control the entire universe for good or for evil) from a dreaded and fearsome Dark Lord being that also, in turn, bears a very striking resemblance to a certain bitter, jealous and tyrannical rival cartoon kid nerd to said certain cartoon boy scientist, and who had gain control of the boy genius' ideas, concepts and inventions long, long ago when said special world was still young.

Each plot just like this should create some situation in which a heraldic call to adventure is virtually demanded for the receiver of the call to either accept or refuse, with little or no apology necessary.

Now, Luke Skywalker of the 1977 Star Wars movie fame usually needed a whole lot of training and guidance from both Jedi Knight and Clone Wars veteran Obi Wan "Ben" Kenobi as well as The Empire Strikes Back's Jedi Master Yoda in order for Luke himself to become a Jedi Knight just like his dad (who later turned out to be Anakin Skywalker, aka Darth Vader, in the aforementioned Empire Strikes Back and by the end of 1983's Return of the Jedi) before him, or perhaps or maybe not all of the characters that I am writing about or am currently attempting to write about; maybe all that any, or even some, of my characters that I'm trying to write about may want is some kind of excuse for them to embark on some great adventure in that very great big huge somewhere out there, even if it turn out to be another planet just like Earth but many light years away from our Earth in outer space, and to save the day from surely utter disruption, and some of the excuses may abound:

Somewhere in my story treatment still in progress so far (as of late) for the epic of the Planet of the Toons, to give you just one example, the Fievel Goes West version of Tanya may have just fulfilled her quest not just for show business, but also to sing a song or two to the whole, entire world (of Ten'Jad, by the way) at large when she gets to sing one song to a saloon packed full of hungry cartoon cats, and maybe when her own brother, Fievel the cowboy mouse, tries to get his pretty and lovely saloon show girl mouse sister out of the saloon, having escaped being eaten by an outlaw spider man thing named T.R. Chula, maybe Tanya might be very kind enough for herself and Fievel to seek out and call up the full sized human ally of their shared dreams who, according to the prophecy in my movie ideas, they will join forces with to help the local residential (and maybe immortal) boy scientist Dexter (of Dexter's Laboratory fame) end the long reign of terror of the boy genius' wicked rival and Ten'Jad's local and residential Dark Lord, Mandark (of Dexter's Laboratory's Ego Trip television special infamy) in order for Dexter to also wrest back control of his long ago prized invention from his rival...and sure enough, the two cute heroic cowboy and pretty saloon girl brother and sister mice will finally find one that wil lcome in the name, shape and form of a teenage boy from Earth named David Joseph Zarus, who in my story lives in a similar kind of place to the one that this writer grew up in (i.e., near the outskirts of Annapolis in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, USA).

Anyway, as far as the dark corners of the internet and/or especially, some fans and professionals in the animation and/or film entertainment industries or communities are really concerned, the situation may be much more complicated, and my current one from the heart dream movie epic story/idea/concept/project, Planet of the Toons, may play a key role even if it ever get written down, developed, produced, made or funded, especially. For if any of you, and anybody still interested, especially those outside the internet, just happen to read my story treatment one day, especially if it's about what takes place when the three astronauts and their pet animal mascot join forces with the three cute boy and girl mice (Fievel, Tanya and Yasha Mousekewitz), the rascally rabbit (Bugs Bunny), the greedy crazy bird (Daffy Duck) and the immortal or so little boy genius-like being (Dexter) on a questing journey to ensure that one of the astronauts (David Zarus) and two of the boy and girl mice (Fievel and Tanya Mousekewitz) fulfill an ancient, local prophecy stating that the two mice and one full sized young human guy from the stars team up to do away with the evil reign of terror of a certain wicked rival cartoon kid-like nerd (Mandark) of a certain little cartoon boy-like scientist (Dexter)'s and save the planet and the universe, it's going to be, hopefully, one of the greatest and most extraordinary adventure stories that ever will be put between the covers of a book or especially between the first and last reels of a full-length feature film. And maybe I am still fixated on the methodology of how to make a paying and moviegoing audience feel immersed in the same kind of great adventure that these three humans and these assorted walking, talking and cute cartoon boy and girl mice, rabbit, duck, and boy genius-like being are going through on another Earth-like planet as they journey to the faraway castle of the latter's rival to do away with Dexter's rival's crooked evil and treachery. So all this really isn't going to be about 'I want to vex the professional worlds of film and animation, and especially to vex the world of the internet to the point of all three worlds banding together to try to very brutally suppress or even censor my efforts or especially my works of art,' and I just don't think I ever intended to make something extremely controversial at all, even if I may not very much be prepared for just any uproarious reaction to my work and ideas and concepts.

And gee, talk about possibly wandering blindfolded into a very incredibly dangerously live minefield! And even if it is that true, then, maybe I may have been preternaturally naïve and behaving nothing more or less better than some arrested kind of adolescent child breathtakingly trying to ignore or be breathtakingly ignorant of the whole, entire world around me at large, when all around me and my family will be all chaos and fire all over again!

And either I may succeed above and beyond anyone's wildest dreams and mine's, or else. I may otherwise succeed all too well in bringing that very great and extraordinary adventure on the faraway planet of the toons to life on the big screen (or especially in IMAX or something), depending on one's view: either way, I may turn the rivalry between the two cartoon child scientists Dexter and Mandark, both past and future, as depicted in the Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip television special plus especially the real world plight of Fievel's own mouse family, The Mousekewitzes of Don Bluth and Steven Spielberg's American Tail and Amblimation's Fievel Goes West fame, into a more timeless and classic and epic struggle of good versus evil set on another planet just like our Earth that would have given the likes of James Cameron, George Lucas, or even J.R.R. Tolkien, a run for their money, especiall,y while also doing my best in avoiding, deleting, or even eliminating most any references to the Fievel Mousekewitz character's real world struggles and plight, his religious faith and heritage, his social class status, and/or especially the Fievel character's native and adopted cinematic homelands on our Earth (which may be unsurprising given recent turbulent events involving many parts of our world as of late and which may lead to the impending decline, fall, destruction, collapse, ruin and very calamitous end of U.S. American history and civilization, thereby affecting Western civilization and Western world history in turn in the very long run), thereby locating the worlds of Fievel and his friends and fellow mice and especially that of Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd and even that of Dexter, Mandark and Dee Dee safely in the world of Ten'Jad, a fictional, distant and faraway planet that'll be just like our Earth, complete with woodland forests,. a warm-cold or temperate climate and naturally breathable air (thankdully for us humans coming from Earth, especially), but lit by two suns by day and one moon by night and by virtue of being many light years far away from our planet. For example, in my Planet of the Toons treatment somewhere, the reason why the Mousekewitz family and young Fievel moves to a faraway free land among a free people (America on our Earth; Icamer on Ten'Jad) may be Fievel's house getting burned down not in a hate-based move or in an anti-Semitic pogrom, but in some rampaging fire-breathing dragon attack, and also because the chief villain, Mandark, tries to seek a way to quash a prophecy that will see Fievel and Tanya team up with a human from across the stars to stop him and bring down his evil empire!

Now, in the show Dexter's Laboratory, Mandark is usually Dexter's rival neighbor, but in my whole run of stories or story ideas and concepts, especially Planet of the Toons, he can basically be like the Dark Lord, Sauron, the mostly absent title villain in The Lord of the Rings -- and complete with a volcanic lair, even though the irony may be that all of this may well be sort of possible in canon because of the cartoon show's very fantastical nature.

But speaking of very literal evil toons besides such villains as Mandark himself, anyway, here is an 13-second edit of the infamous Coachman character from Walt Disney's 1940 magnum opus Pinocchio hissing very evilly that any of those boys going to some spooky place such as Pleasure Island will "never come back as BOYS!", only instead showing the character's best scary face (for fear of causing any more nightmares), I had Elmer Fudd, Fievel and Tanya Mousekewitz as well as Honest John the Fox and Gideon the Cat beholding the Coachman turning himself into Samurai Jack's even more demonic enemy Aku:

Anyway, even if my dream work on Planet of the Toons may attract the notorious attention of the dark corners of the internet, I am still subject to criticism, constructive or otherwise, as a storyteller, criticism as an artist, criticism as an American, and even criticism as a person, and I will forgive them all, but as far as the internet trying to make me some weird online cult wacko like Chris Chan (whom I may have heard about before, whom I'd still rather condemn for their beastly and monstrous behavior, and who had a very constant series of run ins with the rule of law and with many authorities throughout their life!), enough is ENOUGH! All I have to do otherwise is go and pray.

Maybe in the foreseeable future, one of the first things I'll ever do when everything's all said and done about my Planet of the Toons movie epic thing one of these days is to call anyone interested or even especially any of those among the film and animation industry professionals and say "look, I know you're super sensitive to things that you perceive may deviate from the source material -- because that person among the film and animation industry professionals or even an internet user may be railing to me or you about this and that deviating too much from the source -- but please watch it and give me notes or something." And maybe I shall actively try to get people, especially film and animation industry professionals, to tell me if anything deviates, however too much, from the source material, but what I don't like is people trying to suppress and censor me and my works of art, and all of that will rile me up otherwise!

Anyway, I don't think anyone on the internet should really seem to know what really, ultimately makes me tick, especially as a person, but anyway, all roads for me could lead all the way back to my parents and to my family. And I'm very much a product of my mom and dad and a literal human mutt, granted I have Scottish, English, German, and/or even Eastern European ancestors on my dad's and my mom's sides. Now, we love our parents, and they can do no wrong, and if they teach us either lies and/or truths, it either begets a tremendous conflict and/or even a tremendous boon in our lives.

And finally, last but not least, if even you delve into all that, you'll still learn a lot of things about me, especially.

That's all, folks! So as to quote Porky Pig.

P.S. Since Christmas is coming, I'll leave all of you with a very special Christmas card from the Planet of the Toons featuring An American Tail's Fievel Mousekewitz, Tanya Mousekewitz and Yasha Mousekewitz (or raather specifically, the Fievel Goes West incarnations of all three cartoon boy and girl mice), Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck of Looney Tunes fame, and the Dexter the Boy Genius from Dexter's Laboratory, despite Dexter ending up being a very naughty boy as demonstrated in the notorious Dexter's Laboratory Christmas episode, 1998's Dexter vs. Santa's Claws as well as a surprised but very happy real kid, all below this post for your very own Yuletide holiday festive enjoyment:

[createserenity]

A Day for Magic - fanfiction

This is the first story I wrote inspired by @mrghostrat's collage of kisses. It's based on the first kiss in the set, which I don't think was drawn with the intention of it being on a bench, but it happens on a bench in this fic anyway.

Thank you so much Bilvy for making such lovely artwork that did away with my writers block. Maybe I'll actually be able to make some proper progress with my wips now, at least if I'm not distracted by the ficlet idea I have for the fourth kiss (hello ADHD hyperfixation taking over my brain). Like the other fic, which you can find here, this is set post an imaginary season 3 where they've saved the world and are talking again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Day for Magic

Read on AO3 here (preview below)

It’s a beautiful early autumn day, the warm afternoon sun slants through the trees, sending golden motes of light dancing across the lake as Aziraphale sits on the park bench and contemplates the scene around them.

Just up the pathway he can see the little ice cream cart is making good money from the passing foot traffic, the vendor taking advantage of the unseasonably warm autumn day before the winter sets in and nobody wants ice cream anymore.

Over near the lake crowd of ducks harass the Bulgarian culture attaché over the contents of the plastic bag clutched in his hands. Aziraphale can tell even from here that the bag contains frozen peas, or at least previously-frozen-and-hopefully-now-defrosted peas, and he feels his lips twitch up into a smile. Crowley will be pleased.

He glances over at the former demon sprawling out next to him on the bench, skating his eyes briefly over the sharp lines of his form fitting jacket, up the long neck, partly hidden by the red hair that Crowley has grown out again. He’s got half of it pulled back off his face today and Aziraphale thinks the look rather suits him, not to mention it has the advantage of being an exceptionally convenient length for Aziraphale to run his fingers through when the mood takes him.

They’ve sat like this in this park so many times before, but things are different now. Aziraphale sits closer, no longer confined to his side of the bench, and Crowley has one knee pressed against Aziraphale’s thigh, warm and solid. His arm is draped over the back of the bench and Aziraphale can feel the fingers of Crowley’s hand curled up against his back. The touch is nice – comforting without being intrusive.

Crowley isn’t paying attention to him; he’s gazing across the path and when he gives a sudden smirk Aziraphale turns his head to try and work out what he’s looking at. It’s certainly not the ducks.

He’s just in time to see a man in a sharp looking business suit rising to his feet, glancing around in a way that suggests embarrassment. Had he fallen over? It didn’t look as if he had and surely Aziraphale would have noticed if there had been a commotion.

His eyes drift down to the path itself and he sees something round and shiny, glinting in the soft autumn light.

“Really, my dear,” he murmurs, glancing over at Crowley again.

“What?” Crowley shoots him a grin. They both know he’s feigning the ignorance so Aziraphale just shakes his head and lets the corner of his mouth quirk up into a slight smile. He’s aiming for something that says, “I can’t believe you’re doing this, you incorrigible fiend,” but suspects the expression has taken a detour towards fond somewhere along the way.

Continue on AO3 here

[thepalewolfhowls]

Art by @teallinum! I had this drawn up as a possible future ages ago and I got to thinking about these two dumdums meeting again.

I really hope there's an opportunity within the canon for Taria and Anduin to meet in War Within. I try to limit their interactions to moments where they could have met. Currently, they have crossed paths at these moments in her history:

At the Tavern in the Mists when Taria was a child. Before she was attacked by the tiger that led to her accelerated aging. Tarvasha left her with Tong as the tavern was obscure and out of the way of most danger. During her time there, she met Wrathion and Anduin, but was largely kept away from bothering them.

For a brief moment in Stormwind, he appeared when she was visiting Varian's memorial at Lion's Rest. They didn't get a chance to interact really, but it was the first time she really saw him after finding out he was her brother.

During the Fourth War, she was present for a time in the command tent while Grok'tor (her late husband) relayed information to Saurfang.

There was no question Taria was going to jump into the Maw after Anduin. Truly, I'm still working this part out. I have some bare bones for what I wanted and did stretch things a bit. After she found her way into the Maw, she managed to track him down, but couldn't get to the room he was in. They were able to speak between the wall for a time, but she was found out and taken to Zorvaal who gashed out pieces of her soul and tossed her into the river Gorgoa. There, she collided with a familiar soul* and was able to force her way out, having not technically been dead. She was too late to save Anduin from the Jailer's domination and followed along with the core group trying to rescue him.

Every week for the past three years, she traveled to Stormwind to ask about her brother, but no one could give her any information. Recently, an informant of her mother's (probably Valeera, as she'd be one of the few who could spy on Shaw and Greymane) relayed that he was seen in Ratchet and moving south through the Barrens. Currently, she is setting out to track that lead and hopefully find Anduin. Whether or not she'll ever have the courage to talk to him face to face remains to be seen.

I realize my goal to stay on canon as much as possible with this character is getting stretched, but I've had her a long time and this is something I've put off for years because there were never any good points in the plot to make more than this possible.

I like to talk about my characters. Hope some of you enjoy reading about them!

Tarvasha (Taria's mother) - @the-wolfs-raven

*The soul Taria runs into, in my headcanon, is Lo'Gosh, who was split from the Varian half of his soul in a last ditch effort for survival during the confrontation with Gul'dan. Lo'Gosh, who took the brunt of the hit this time, was sent to the Shadowlands; into the Maw and Gorgoa since his soul was a fractured one. I don't know how accurate that might be to how Shadowlands works. I didn't play much of it, to be honest. Anyway, headcanon puts Varian's soul in Shalamayne (as seems to possibly be backed up in some way by the plot, unless Anduin was just hallucinating, I suppose.)

As always, I'm up for some constructive criticism to help make my characters more believable!

[anistarrose]

🌀🌤🌧🌪 :3c

my computer's displaying the emojis weird so hopefully I got the right ones, let me know if not!

🌀Post the fic summary for a fic you haven't written/published yet. It can be hypothetical or something you really plan on releasing...

okay I don't think I had a single proper summary written for a WIP prior to now, so thank you for encouraging me to get off my ass and write a tentative one for the maurcretia divorce fic:

At one point, Maureen never thought she could fall in love with a client of Miller Labs — but that was before Lucretia came into her life, brilliant and witty and mysterious, and Maureen is hooked, drawn as is her nature to Lucretia and her secrets.

At another point, Maureen never thought she could fall out of love with Lucretia — and she doesn't, not exactly — but nevertheless, as the pair's dueling projects near completion, the weight of secrets and stubbornness weighs heavier and heavier.

were they ever married? no one's quite sure. are they divorced? i hope to convince you that they absolutely are, in a fic coming very very soon :)

🌤️Share your favorite piece of dialogue from your WIP.

from "untitled barry midlife crisis" fic, which is set shortly pre-starblaster:

“I — I fucking figured you were working on the bond engine, Barry, you’re always working on the bond engine — but for Pete’s sake, for how goddamn long this time? Did you stay the night here?!”

Barry leaps to his feet, immediately the most animated that Davenport’s seen him in days.

“Dropped my fantasy car keys down the fantasy parking lot sewer last night!” he exclaims, holding up his hands as if to add what can you do? “So I came back to my lab, settled down for the night, and had a whole fantasy mid-life crisis!”

I actually rewrote this one recently and it's full of STEM major in-jokes that are funny mainly to me but possibly other people as well, it's basically complete but I'm saving it for when I need to post a breather between angsty fics. speaking of,

🌧️Share something angsty from your WIP.

from a "lup lives... until glamour springs" AU:

“Taako, I don’t think she’s going to make it.”

Taako sits bolt upright. The door in front of him is closed, the room is dim — dimmer than he remembers leaving it, even — and Lup is still breathing softly, thank gods, thank more fucking gods than Taako can remember the names of —

And looming over foot of the bed is a human-shaped specter, cloaked in black shadows and a glowing crimson robe. On reflex, Taako throws an arm over Lup, clutching his wand.

I wrote most of this one just yesterday, and it occupies a very specific place on the hurt-comfort spectrum that I honestly don't know how to articulate 😭

🌩️ Share something funny/cracky from your WIP.

ooh I got a good one from a basically complete hurloane piece I'm gonna try and polish up for next week:

“Ooh, babe, you’ve gotta see this meme Carey posted,” Sloane says with a chuckle, and shows Hurley her screen. It’s a very, very compressed Fantasy JPEG of a horse that’s captioned, in Fantasy Impact font: “jeffandrew found some of the horses and made them vampire horses.”

“Wow. So deep,” Hurley deadpans. “Is this the rogues group chat again?”

“Yeah. Magnus reacted with a cow emoji, Barry replied with a picture of himself holding up a piece of paper that reads ‘I don’t understand this meme and at this point I’m too afraid to ask,’ and it looks like Angus didn’t see this yet — which he better not have, ‘cause Carey posted it way past his bedtime!”

there's more group chat silliness where that came from in the final wip so stay tuned :)

(send me writing ask emojis!)

[x-neurodivergent-reader]

Heyy i Hope You’re Doing well! I’m a new writing acc and I don’t really have any requests or an audience, can I please ask for your advice on how to start writing more or gaining an audience, because I struggle to write without any ideas being given or a prompt list.

Sending love!! Byee

Hello, welcome to the world of writing fanfiction! Since this might get a bit rambly, I'll stick my advice under the cut. I'll also break it up into categories, and bold the most important parts, just for easier readability.

Writing a particular niche/experience

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure how universal my experience with writing/the following I built is, because my blog is directed towards a specific niche? It was genuinely a case of there being very few fics directed at/including neurodivergent readers, deciding "fine, I'll do it myself", and then the people who also wanted more of such fics were drawn to my writing as they came across it.

As such, writing one or two things based on your unique personal experiences (that you're comfortable sharing) might be a good start?

Your blog doesn't have to be centred around those experiences for you to write about them, and it doesn't have to be very specific, either (a few of my first posts were literally HCs for "[character] x Autistic!Reader - Established Relationship"). My more specific/unique ideas came along as I wrote more, and from the requests that came in over time.

There'll always be someone out there who not only relates to your experiences and feelings, but is waiting to see themselves in your stories!

Prompt lists (even without anyone to send them!)

Other than that, though: there's no shame in starting with a prompt list! Even if there's no one to give you a prompt yet, you might be able to find a small list, and then put the numbers/prompts into a random name picker to choose it for you?

I've just had a look for some examples, and a lot of prompt lists tend to be fairly long, from what I'm seeing (around 15-25 prompts seems to be the average) - but I've found this blog, that has some smaller lists to choose from. If anyone else knows of any others that anon might find useful, feel free to share them here!

An extra bit of advice...

This isn't really relevant to your question, but is the No. 1 bit of advice I would give to a new fic writer: figure out what you are/aren't comfortable writing before you start taking requests.

When I got my first request, the requester ended up having to change it a couple times, because I hadn't considered that, for example, someone could request a character I wasn't familiar with - leading to the "don't request characters I haven't already written for" rule in my guidelines. In hindsight, I'd recommend writing several fics before you start taking requests, so you have a better idea of what your boundaries are, and can list them out for people to take note of. It'll save you, and the requesters, a lot of trouble!

It's also important to not let anyone intentionally try to break those boundaries (e.g. by blatantly guilt-tripping you). While it's wonderful to have people appreciate your writing enough to want to see more from you, they aren't entitled to cross the line like that - it's OK to stand up for yourself. Do no harm, take no shit, etc. etc.

And that's all I've got!

I hope this was at least a little bit helpful - again, I'm not sure how universal the way my blog grew is, but hopefully there's something you'll be able to take away from this!

I hope you have fun writing! c:

[booksnstuff58]

Now that I have finished the ARC I was reading, I can finally tell you what it is!

Beauty and Deceit by Carol Beth Anderson!

It's a Beauty and the Beast retelling with fae!

Here's the blurb:

Aeryn is hungry, perpetually exhausted, and short on hope. Ever since her merchant father lost everything to pirates, the twenty-two-year-old has worked endlessly to meet the needs of her impoverished family. But it's never enough.

That all changes when a mysterious faerie invites her to a competition hosted by a Fae beast looking for a wife. Tor, the castle-dwelling creature, is wealthy enough to provide for Aeryn's family ... and she's desperate enough to say yes.

The castle is beautiful, straight out of Aeryn's dreams. Tor is more suited to her nightmares, with his red eyes, long claws, and rat-like tail. But looks can be deceiving ...

Then there are the other contestants, nine powerful faerie females. Aeryn is a mortal. How is she supposed to compete with their otherworldly beauty—and thwart the curse magic some of them wield?

The complicated situation quickly turns impossible for Aeryn. As her romance with Tor progresses, she also finds herself drawn to Wyatt, the castle gardener. He's nothing like the powerful Tor, yet Aeryn's feelings for him keep blurring the lines between friendship and attraction.

Winning Tor's heart is the only way Aeryn can save her family. But can she fend off the attacks of powerful faerie females, ignore her growing desire for Wyatt, and let herself fall for a monster?

If you like fairytale retellings, bookish heroines, love triangles, and a little bit of steam, you'll love Beauty and Deceit.

***

Originally published on Kindle Vella as Beauty and the Beast: A Faerie Tale Retelling .

This story is romantic, and there's mild steam. The intimacy is open door but with minimal explicit detail. Written for NA (new adult) audiences, appropriate for ages 16+.

*Copied from Goodreads*

And here's my review:

Ok, so first of all, I love fae. What's really funny is I hadn't heard the word until last year. I also love fairy tale retellings, especially Beauty and the Beast.

This was an awesome mix of Beauty and the Beast, fae, and The Selection. Like I said before, The Selection wasn't my cup of tea, but the idea was interesting.

I enjoyed listening to it very much! The characters were written well, and the plot was interesting!

The images I got while listening to this were beautiful! The author certainly knows how to paint a picture with words!

I also love listening to audio books that the author narrates themselves. That way I know I have the pronunciation of the names right! 😂

Now for triggers:

So, as said at the end of the blurb, this one is a bit steamy. She goes into a little more detail with the kissing than I'd like, (I prefer less tongue talk) when it gets to the other things, there is thankfully little to no detail. Like you know what's going on, but you don't get all the lovely pictures that come with it.

There is also quite a bit of swearing, which, as I've said before, I don't really mind, but I know some people do.

Also, once again, some people will find this the opposite of a trigger, but I'm putting it here anyway, there was a lesbian couple. No detail with them, they were just there.

I can't think of any other triggers, but I may have missed something. I'm not perfect!

So, in my opinion, this was a good book! If you don't mind a bit of steam which was really not graphic other than the tongues, I definitely recommend you check out this book. It was a lot of fun!

Now hopefully I can finish the other two books I'm working on and get a new review out for you soon!

[shellalana]

When the anger is not enough

It takes everything she has not to give in to the deafening screams for bloodlust that filled her ears. Easy to shred the next thief she found into ribbons with her claws and leave nothing behind for his family to identify. Not even a bother to drive an abusing husband’s face into a wall until his eyes became familiar with the back of his skull. Barely an inconvenience to squeeze a mother’s neck for choosing drugs over feeding her child.

None of it would put her out. None of it would satisfy her either.

What she needed... what she craved was something important enough to purge it all from her body.

Claws dug into the brick exterior of the building she clung to, the red rock crumbling beneath her touch. She’d found her way to the city, the Home of the Big Crime and Ne’er-do-wells. Here, she could find release. Here, she could take out all her frustrations without restraint. Here, she could be as ugly and visceral as she needed to be.

Here, she could hopefully find herself again.

Sirens and such wailed far below, more authority chasing figures who hadn’t complied with some law or another. People screamed. Gunfire echoed off the buildings. Couples argued in their apartments. The noise, the stench, the filth of the city clung to her like cigarette smoke to skin, leaving her yearning for the peace of Wakanda. A place that she could barely call home anymore.

Because of him. Him and his selfish threats. His need to satisfy his ego.

The phantom smells of ocean spray hit her like a wall, coating and intensifying her anger with fear. Fear she would not avenge her mother’s death properly. Fear that she was buying into that pretty dream Namor promised of their people working together. Fear that if she gave too much of herself, she was opening herself up to the knife finding its way between her ribs.

"These are uncertain times, not one for solitude."

Shuri sneered at his words as she made her way down the building to the street, taking care to remain in the shadows. Solitude. He was the one who'd assured she would be alone. Alone and vulnerable. Susceptible to his worming words of comfort and friendship. Isolation. That was what he wanted for her. To make her feel so incredibly alone that she would cling to the first person to offer her an ear to listen, to present a place that seemed "comfortable and safe" so that she would look nowhere else.

Ears perked and pupils glittered when she spotted exactly what she'd been looking for. A large group of armed men huddling near the door of a loading dock. They seemed to be having problems cutting off the lock, their tools too inferior to cut through the metal.

Finally, some prey to play with.

She retreated most of her Habit, save for the claws, and made her way to her new "friends," eager to see how they would react to her sudden appearance.

"Looks like you're having some trouble," she called out as she emerged from the shadows, forcing an American accent to keep her native tongue at bay. The alleyway echoed with the clatter of drawn and pointed guns, all trained on her as she walked over to the door. It would be stupid of them to; the din would attract unnecessary attention and force them to give up on their prize. No, they were eager to see what this waif of a woman could do for them.

Shuri scoffed at the primitive lock — this is what was giving them so many problems? — and crushed it in her palm, chucking the dead metal into the dark with a dull metal thud. She threw up the bay door with ease and stepped to one side so that the men could do what they came for.

"How'd you do that?" one of them asked in passing as the rest poured in, ready to bag as much merchandise as possible.

"Would you believe me if I said I'm the one responsible for the Winter Soldier's vibranium arm?" Even the truth would sound unbelievable to them.

"Ha! Next you're going to tell me you're some kind of super."

Is that the word people were using now?

"You want in on this?"

"Take your fill. I'm only here for one thing and it will be nothing of value to you."

The last man shrugged as he finally darted inside, eager to not miss out on what hadn't been picked clean yet.

With a smile, Shuri slowly slid the bay door to the ground behind them and bent the metal tracks around the corners, sealing it shut. The Habit glimmered back to life to cover her face, to hide her utter delight for what was about to happen.