#but technically I haven't done specifically on the curse

[thewolfisawake]

It always feels like anything sweet I do with him is either actually bittersweet or ends up followed up with sads. Wonder how that happens.

I have been and still am working with what is up with Aspis. There hasn't been much about the curse because Aspis himself doesn't know much about it. All he knows is that he was at a point of dying when he was about eight from creatures that were not human and were ferocious. He, near drowning at that point, had made the wish that 'I do not want to die.' Someone had acknowledged this desire but that he would have to pay for that wish. To that point, his memory is fuzzy. There are flashes of his parents, his grandfather and flame that seemed to ignite his entire island.

His next memory is being in a hospital bed and promptly blacking back out because of this searing pain throughout his body. Consciousness hurt and he basically kept knocking out from how much it hurt. The best he can surmise is that he got acclimated to it to be conscious but many tasks felt enormous. He spoke softly because it felt like he was breathing glass. He was clumsy because it felt like he was walking on blades. His range of motion even within his hands to grip and write was terrible as it was like they were constantly banded.

Aspis did get used to it all with time. He noticed that it does feel like it 'ramps up' every few years or so but he is used to the tricks that it doesn't incapacitate him anymore. But he isn't perfect with it and he doesn't think he'll ever be with it. His main pitfall currently is his lack of registering what should be uncomfortable and awareness of injury. These are things like not moving his hand off a hot stove, getting straight up poisoned and going about his day, and the 'oh would you look at that, I've been impaled.' He usually plays it as he wasn't paying attnetion but honestly, he doesn't know what it's like truly. Because none of it registers any worse than what he feels passively.

He has noticed that it has changed as of late. Like it still hurts but that there's a different kind of hurt there. Maybe it was always there and it wasn't as rampant or to the threshold it has reached...Aspis can't say. However he has noticed that there is a fresh pain that comes to him in relation to his heart. Or rather when he experiences heartache. Not like he watched a sad movie but like experiences that we metaphorically say 'grips the heart' feels very literal to him and honestly feel like it plus it will rip him apart. By his luck it hasn't been experienced much with the latest time actually being from remeeting his godfather at the tournament.

Found by some variant of a certain event, both he and his closest friends (called by me and Kristen 'The Bastion Kids') are aware that Aspis has a sort of pseudo-immortality. His body can experience limits that should kill any human and it seems to shut down but always inexplicably restarts or never stops despite the implausibility. This doesn't stop Aspis from experiencing the horrors of his body literally giving up and coming back over and over in the situation. His mind does give the grace of like...not keeping him conscious for every bit of that or blocking it out after it has passed. However it doesn't look like he stops aging considering that he was eight when this started and he's well into his 20s at this point with no signs of that slowing.

What he isn't aware of--at least not fully--is that this curse goes all the way down to his soul. Take any way you want to manifest a soul. Flames, crystal, etc, etc. His is literally imprisoned by scrawl that work like chains and a brand. It douses, it creates a vise, it threatens to shatter its captive. And honestly? With time it likely would. It seems to be a curse that wants to prolong his existence while so very slowly extinguishing his very being. At least one that can view this sort of thing has told Aspis that they believe he could live a normal human life span. The problem is that by time he would reach that life span, every inch of him would have longed for release decades ago. Inferring that the curse will ramp up to a point that Aspis will not be able to keep up with it. And he will...for a lack of a better word, simply break. What that entails for him physically, mentally, and anything else, no one has any idea. HE has no idea and honestly? Probably doesn't want to find out either.

[iwannascreameurekaa]

! Spoilers for trials of Apollo !

just had someone tell me that valgrace was stupid bc, and I quote, "um sorry but no they both are in different relationships" which I can't help but read in one of those 🤓🤓 voices or like Jeffery from class of 09'

lets deep dive because I want to talk about it

Starting with the (incorrect) point of "they both are in different relationship" firstly: Jason and Piper are not together anymore. This person obviously wants to go by canon since they hate on any non canon ship so also: JASONS DEAD??? I'm gonna ship him with whoever I want bc he didn't die for you to spew around about how no one can have a little fun and live a little!! Going back to the jiper/jasper thing. If you haven't read TOA, Piper breaks up with Jason because "Jason and me—we started out oddly. Hera kind of messed with our heads, made us think we shared a past we didn't share." (Page 123 of the grunting maze) Piper herself literally admits to knowing that her feelings were not valid because of the manipulation done by Hera. It's actually so incredInly stupdi that SOME people think that just because Jason and Piper WERE canon that it means they SHOULD STILL BE because they're relationship was actually toxic because in what world is relationship like theirs actually healthy? Imagine that you woke up on a bus with random people, specifically a girl who is a STRANGER to you and she tells you that she's your girlfriend even though you have ZERO memories of her. Now, fast forward a little bit and this girl was apparently BRAINWASHED into believing that she liked you and was in a relationship with you??? That's so fucked up how does anyone see that and just go "yeah seems healthy" HUH???

moving on, what about caleo? Now I know I've made posts and posts about this but it's seriously weird that people still think that's an actively healthy relationship. When Leo first gets onto the island (I don't remember the name I apologize) that calypso is cursed or banished to or whatever the hell it is, Calypso is not only rude to him BUT MAKES HIM SLEEP OUTSIDE FOR DAYS WITH LITTLE TO NO HELP

putting that in all caps cause that right there is not a healthy relationship I'm sorry I don't care if that was the "early days" of caleo this enemies to lovers thing wasn't it at all

that's not even mentioning the fact that calypso is 2000+ years older than Leo and I just know that's gonna get some caleo ass kissers mad bc "what about Nico" "what about Hazel" well first off all HAZEL WAS FREAKING DEAD she didn't live those (70?) years bc she. Was. DEAD. And Nico wasn't even aware that he was skipping centuries in the lotus casino meanwhile calyspo was aware that she was older than APOLLO HIMSELF. Weird.

there's also the little details of the way that caleo doesn't even seem openly romantic in the books and that sounds confusing cause idk hwo to really describe it but caleo seems like it's a failing relationship that's only been created because calypso has the problem of falling in love with every hero she meets and Leo has the problem of never being loved and technically speaking when these two types of problems collide (never being able to stop loving, never being loved) it makes a cute relationship.... for a little while and then it blows up into a huge mess

Thank you for reading my 4 a rants about caleo!! go to bed 🫶🫶

[tragedycoded]

Hellooooooooooooooo!

Can you tell us everything behind the places in Doom Metal Love Story : Fort Cano, Fort Sarras, the American Great Plains and so on?

Inspiration, do they exist (or similar places) and all ?

Also, bells ring when they ring, 1873 is a great year.

Thank you 💗

Gioia my love! Hi! Thank you for the question! I sure hope my rambling response makes sense I haven't had coffee yet LOL.

(Note to people who aren't familiar with DMLS or with me: I'm discussing an alternate-history start of a Weird Western novel, but I do touch on U.S. Army activity in American Indian territory during the 1870s. I am not ignoring or erasing the U.S. genocide of American Indians by creating an alt-history where that does not happen.)

Let's Go

The extent of my initial worldbuilding was "What if the U.S. didn't have territory past the Mississippi River?" + drawing on an absolutely cursed save file from when I was playing Crusader Kings II and Spain got wiped off the map in the 12th or 13th century.

(I don't think the Aztecs actually invaded Europe in that playthrough but it got real weird real fast.)

Things That Happened Before Sullivan Was Born

The United States had two gold rushes that I was specifically concerned with. The Georgia gold rush started in 1829, and is the reason most of the characters (Buck, the Hustons, the retired miners Royston gambles with) are from Georgia and tend to travel in groups.

There was another gold rush in California in the 1840s--it's my understanding that without that, America never would have gained an advantage on the world financial stage. That land would still belong to the 100 or so tribes native to that area, so unless France sent Catholic missions, there was no Spain to do it.

Everyone but the U.S. is thriving in this setting LOL.

(Everything east of the highlighted states belongs to the U.S. in this shitty timeline. The highlighted states are the ones that are considered part of the Great Plains.)

Since I have the U.S. no longer possessing territory west of the Mississippi River, I had to change some dates of the Louisiana Purchase--in real life, the U.S. acquired a huge chunk of land from France in 1803. I had this occur later, and I've been handwaving a lot; my memory is dogshit, and I'm not smart enough to sort out what the long-term effect of Spain not conquering the Aztec Empire would have been, other than "The Aztecs survived and native tribes have a better relationship with France than the U.S."

The Military Situation

So the land the Army is occupying in DMLS belongs to the native tribes. The previous mission of "settle and expand the territory" became "evacuate all U.S. citizens still in the area and keep a presence on the plains so it won't be a huge surprise if France tries to invade the U.S. again."

The two forts that appear in DMLS are based on Fort Leavenworth (Sarras) and Fort Reno (Cano) but because of all the screwing around I've done, they aren't as well-supplied or fortified or populated as they were in our 1873-1874. This kind of gets touched on in a flashback in a Hofer POV chapter--getting sent to Fort Sarras feels like a death sentence, but it's the last stint Sullivan and Hofer have to do before they both retire.

(Sullivan and Hofer would have stayed at Fort Sarras until 1876 and then fucked off back home to Philadelphia if everything in the book hadn't happened. That's about when I see things really popping off with France.)

Fort Sarras does not have a federal penitentiary like Leavenworth does; that might have been the plan thirty years earlier but that's shot by the time Sullivan and Hofer transfer in. In real life, Fort Leavenworth is the oldest permanent settlement in the state of Kansas, and thousands of settlers and natives passed through on their way west every year.

Fort Reno technically didn't exist until July 1874--it was a temporary camp set up before the Red River War. Fort Cano was established for similar reasons (fighting with the locals) but about six months earlier. If Fort Sill, Fort Smith, or any of the other local forts made appearances in the novel I would have given them new names.

Fort Reno also does not have railroad access like Fort Cano does. That strongly ties in with some of the shit happening in Book 2 and 3. I can already see having to put a note in a foreword that says something like "I know there was no Fort Reno or railroad in June 1874 let me cook."

Minus the Alt-History Bullshit

If I were writing a proper historical novel and not alt-history, Sullivan wouldn't have been at Fort Reno--the 10th Cavalry was posted at Fort Sill, which is on the opposite side of Oklahoma (then called the Indian Territory), and they were sent to the Texas Panhandle with a few other companies to fight in the Red River War, which involved killing natives and forcing the survivors back to Fort Sill to be sent to a reservation.

So Royston would have been "saving" Sullivan from that scenario.

The alt-history was just me being high and writing alone in my room and trying to set up for a Bad Ending scenario, which had Sullivan and Royston surviving the events in the City--Royston calls out what would have happened in Hofer's last 1874 chapter. The City would have given them new bodies--Sullivan couldn't have survived the injuries he sustained, he had about fifteen minutes left. So it dumped them in a new timeline.

The "punchline" of all my shitty worldbuilding would have been that they ended up in our timeline in Book 2, and they still had to deal with the Hustons and Powell on top of not knowing shit about the political situation they were spat into.

But Sullivan had to lose Hofer in order for that scenario to happen. And he's already made it v clear to me how he feels about that. He's OK living in a timeline that's shittier for his country if it means there's less genocide and no me killing his best friend.

Post-Script

After I have the surgery I need to have to treat my trigeminal neuralgia I intend to take a field trip out to Fort Reno to see just how fucked Sullivan and Hofer were in the Bad Ending. I've been in this cursed-ass state for over a year and started DMLS in September 2023 and I have done zero novel-related sightseeing.

[party-gilmore]

(Spoiler Free) Reasons Why "Violent Night" DESERVES to be the Breakout Blockbuster Hit of the Holidays

I haven't laughed that fucking hard or consistently through a movie in my fucking life. My throat and chest are both actively hurting right now from all the yell-laughing and the breathless wheezing I was reduced to by the midway point.

I knew it would be entertaining, but I was in no way shape or form prepared for it to be that good.

Seriously this movie was a technical masterpiece. Every single actor brought their A game. Every scrap of script was perfectly tailored to each character. The corniest lines imaginable on paper delivered with such conviction they immediately get launched into the stratosphere of Coolest Thing That Could Possibly Have Been Said In That Moment. The way Alex Hassell (Jason) did literally every facial expression he makes throughout the entire movie? But specifically how he looks at Alexis Louder (Linda) from behind the [SPOILER] when she's [SPOILER]? Effervescent. The COSTUMING???? The details in Santa's Coat ALONE I will be obsessing over for the next three months.

On a more technical side, the LIGHTING! Perfectly able to see everything even in dark rooms/scenes! The SETS? Full environments completely utilized! A masterclass in Chekov's Gun! Every single set-up had a payoff, and every single payoff had a setup.

And PRACTICAL EFFECTS!!! HHGNGDNWHNG some of the BEST blood work I've ever seen! And the prosthetics! Like, I know gory stuff hasn't been hit as hard by the Replaced With CGI curse as other genres but still it was so fucking refreshing and well done.

And the way the gore slowly ramped up!!! The gore and violence starts off a little light (comparatively) and just sloooowly and steeeaadily ramps up and up and up until it peaks PERFECTLY at the climactic moment! And the individual scenes themselves were crisp, perfectly timed, not unnecessariliy drawn out of lingered on for shock value - in fact, more often, they were kept short and quick to emphasize how fast these fights were moving, realistic and delightful little BURSTS of grotesquery and then already carrying you away to the NEXT swing and spray of blood! It kept the violence constantly fresh and fascinating, building not only momentum but the audience's tolerance/expectations to the cresting point.

Seriously I got so fucking worked up by how good and funny and action packed it was that I had to take off my fucking sweater and NOT (just) because of the shirtless Santa scene they put in there just for me.

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BUDDY holy FUCK. That scene. Th. The bloodiness and th. The [SPOILER] and the [SPOILER] and the girth. The thickness. The titties and the stomach and the little bit of overhang and the [SPOILER]. HOOOOOOO santa treated us GOOD tonight boys holy FUCK david harbour bless you bless you bless you bl-

-ahem- sorry anyways uhhhhhhh where was i...

I think that was pretty much it, without getting into blatant spoilery stuff. So. Fuckin uhhhhh watch this movie.

[akutasoda]

Hello, can I request the bungou stray dogs characters

With an s/o like Julius novachrono {black clover}

Chuuya,atsushi,kunikida,dazai e ranpo

lights in darkness fade

synopsis - how are they with someone like julius novachrono

includes - atsushi, dazai, kunikida, ranpo, chuuya

warnings - gn!reader, fluff, angst some comfort, death mentions(slight spoilers for black clover?), wc - 1.1k

a/n: i haven't read black clover in ages ao uhh i might've got some things wrong but i think this classes as spoilers? also got a bit angsty-

atsushi nakajima ★↷

↪he had met you when he first arrived at the agency, he never said anything but from the very start he looked up to you.

↪he found your presence rather comforting which was a rather stark contrast to your childish personality which sometimes reminded him of dazai.

↪ especially because he did notice you had the habit to ditch your duties in order to do whatever it was that you deemed more important.

↪and even though dazai was technically his mentor, he found himself seeking you out for advice and such just as much.

↪he didn't initially get why you found abilities so fascinating. sure they were rather cool but he couldn't understand your level of enthusiasm especially when watching them in action.

↪ nothing could prepare him for the news of your death. it struck him right in the heart and all of sudden he felt as bad as he did before he met dazai.

↪and nothing could prepare him cor you walking through the doors of the agency again. except it wasn't really you.

↪he refused to believe it but there you stood, a much younger version but it was you nonetheless. and now most of your power had been reduced he could look after you the way you looked after him.

osamu dazai ★↷

↪he absolutely adored everything about you. it was like looking in a mirror, personality wise anyway.

↪ you both seemed to feed of each others energy and most days amounted to nothing being done at the agency as you encouraged each kthers bad ideas.

↪ more specifically, you encouraging dazai to ditch work, disguise yourselfs and explore somewhere.

↪but dazai also loved how when the occasion rose, you were always so level headed and possessed that wide range of knowledge to help most situations.

↪it was weird for him at first, how you admired his ability. how you enjoyed seeing him and others in action as he never really had anyone admire his ability in such a way before.

↪but he cursed himself over and over again. he lived in the illusion for far too long and now, like always, you had been ripped from him. another person he cared for dead.

↪he lived in absolute denial that only increased when he saw you again. now he was a reasonable man sometimes but even this seemed out of the realms of possibility.

↪all he could bring himself to do was stare down at your new adolescent form and try to convince himself that you were here, you were safe. but could he do it?

doppo kunikida ★↷

↪when he first met you, he met your rational and knowledgeable side. therefore he thought you were going to be a great coworker and someone he could get along with.

↪ unfortunately, you seemed to be worse than dazai. always ditching duties and disappearing for periods of time and acting very childish.

↪ however, for some reason no matter how childish you acted he still got along with you. he didn't understand how but you both seemed to really get along well.

↪ although he did wish you would stop literally stopping in the middle of a battle to admire the abilities being used. but he can't really complain when you still get the job done.

↪he did prefer it when you acted more sensible. alot more work got done in the agency and you weren't as distracting to other coworkers.

↪but even through all the complaints he gave you, he wished he could take them all back the moment news of your death reached his ears. it truly ripped his heart in two and left no room for healing.

↪he had no clue how to react when you came back. he was so overwhelmed with emotions but tried so hard to hide it and fortunately you could tell. even in your younger form you knew him.

↪and you knew him well enough to know he was glad you're back, even if it wasn't exactly you from before. but even so, he will always deny the tear that hit your shoulder when you hugged him.

ranpo edogawa ★↷

↪another one who absolutely adored you when he first met you. practically two peas in a pod. you both got along so naturally it was kind of scary.

↪you both acted so childish together and slacked off work most of the time but when it came down to it, you bith held large amounts of knowledge that nearly made up for it.

↪ initially, you showed your adoration toward ranpo's ability but you soon figured out yourself that it actually wasn't an ability.

↪but that didn't stop you from admiring it, in fact your loved seeing it in action more and more because it was truly more impressive this way.

↪ranpo rarely shows how down he can get but sometimes he's too down to actually care. and that's how he was initially after hearing you died.

↪for the whole time, he shoved away any cases and practically isolated himself as he didn't know what to do or how to react. you couldn't of died? you wouldn't of? right?

↪and he was right, but for the first time he was unsure. even seeing your new adolescent form standing before him he refused to believe he was right.

↪there was no way. maybe his sorrow was clouding his mind because there was no denying that it was you.

chuuya nakahara ★↷

↪you reminded him of a certain someone too much. for that, he initially wanted to avoid you but he wasn't that childish.

↪he grew to actually like how childish you were, it was sort of refreshing compared to others he worked with. and he definitely admired the confidence you had to ditch work the minute something intrested you.

↪he also respected how knowledgeable you were when you chose to be. he wouldn't say it but he did prefer you when you were sensible but not by much.

↪but even so he missed it. your death had sent him into a weird state. he didn't know how to react as he was absolutely devastated you were gone but he didn't understand why.

↪it was an eventuality right? in this line of work casualties always happen. but that didn't stop his sorrow.

↪he thought ot was a cruel joke. first he was told you were dead and now here was your likeness as a child infront of him. a joke right?

↪no matter how much you tried to convince him he couldn't accept it for some reason. he seemed to be coming round to it but for some reason sorrow still consumed him.

[thousand-winters]

I hope YOU'RE doing well pal! 💖💖💖 I'd love to hear your Laios and Hooty thoughts

Actually now I'm thinking about them interacting and how cursed it'd be haha

I am today!!! It has been a good day for once haha. I hope you're having a good day today, and that your cats are doing good!!!

Oh, my gods, I can't decide if they would get along like a house on fire or if somebody would end up dead ahahaha. Or if Laios would consider Hooty looks stupid considering his reaction to Marcille's sky fish lmao 😭 I'm sorry, Hooty, you technically ARE a worm.

Okay, getting into it now, starting with Laios:

How I feel about this character

I love him!!! He ended up not being my favorite because I adore Marcille with my whole heart but he's such a good main character, honestly. I wasn't thinking too much about it when I started watching, I was just having fun and I think it showed already that he wasn't just a silly character or anything, but man... the moments he got the most serious, he had me in shambles haha.

I enjoy him very much, it's really cool to see the ripples in his relationship with both monsters and humans. There's so much to him that I'm yet to see too and I'm looking forward to it, he's definitely not the kind of main character you're kinda sick of and want to leave already haha.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

I have been swayed to the Labru side, finally, haha. I think they have a fascinating dynamic and while I certainly haven't seen everything they have to offer, the push and pull there makes it very compelling. Plus I'm not immune to cool fanart and funny posts, not gonna lie, but the main reason is that they seem to have a very compelling dynamic, not exactly direct or straightforward in its development and that really has me dying to see more.

I have been seeing Lashuro recently too and ngl, I've been going 👀 at that too. I remember I had talked with my friend Isis about how it was sort of funny that the Toudens do have very similar traits when it comes to how they view the world sometimes and yet Toshiro finds one annoying and the other charming. Probably in part a mix of attitude and gender, I'm not sure. Although in all fairness they seemed to be pretty at peace at the end so... I think it can be fun.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Marcille!!! Oh, they have so many good scenes with one another, they have such a fun dynamic, I love how much Laios trusts Marcille despite also knowing she can do shit like pour boiling water on an Undyne lmao.

In general they're very fun, the mix of them bickering but very obviously valuing each other's opinions and caring about one another is really good. Also I think it was you who said once they had siblings in lae energy and I can't unsee it ever since, they really do haha.

My unpopular opinion about this character

I haven't seen this much around tumblr or such, and I know the Dunmeshi Spanish fandom has the worst takes known to mankind but man, he's not dumb, come on now.

I doubt this is really unpopular and I especially need to actually read the full manga to understand his character more, probably, so I don't have too many complex opinions about him but... I feel like it's somewhat common to see him depicted as stupid but he's such a smart character, actually? He doesn't have to be the tropey nerd character to be smart, he has been shown to be very perceptive, even if he might be lacking on that department when it comes to social matters.

I just think writing him off as just being clueless and dumb is doing a big disservice to his character. He does have his struggles when it comes to general awareness and specific types of it but he's far from dumb.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I truly cannot speak on this one since I'm not done with the manga, haha. I have been spoiled a bit by some really cool fanart and animatics, I'm not gonna lie, so I have the gist of some big things that are coming but since I have the idea and not the actual development of it, I don't feel like I can speak on any of it, nor do I have any concrete ideas there anyway.

So far I'm pretty content with everything I have seen, both anime and manga wise.

And now onto Hooty:

How I feel about this character

I love him. I get why he annoys a lot of people in and out of universe, he's one of those silly cartoon characters that's not supposed to be super deep (although what's up with Papa Titan having a Hooty in his eye? I still need answers about that), but I like that he's always sweet and loves his people even if they're mean to him. I'm so happy Lilith came along and started appreciating him, it's what he deserves!

I think he's fun in general. I definitely would love to think more about the deeper implications about his existence, how did he even meet Eda and all about that, but I have to admit I don't think enough about him most of the time to even have ideas in that department. He's just silly and I appreciate that.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

None, this is how you get the cursed image of Hootlets. Does anybody wants Hootlets? This is how we get them.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

LILITH!!! Their friendship makes me SO happy, they're adorable. I definitely didn't see that one coming but I like how they ended lowkey balancing each other with Hooty reminding Lilith to care for herself and that she should depend on others and Lilith remarking upon Hooty's own worth to the point he's not seeking attention desperately anymore after they become friends because he's far more content with his friendship. It might have been more about how the writing around him changed too, but I liked to think the fact they became friends also helped the rest of the Owl Fam to soften around him and appreciate him more.

I love that in the end Hooty is living his best life just going around with Lilith.

My unpopular opinion about this character

He's not THAT annoying except in the Spanish dub. And I'm saying this as a chronic "obnoxious cartoon mascot hater" haha. Hooty is obviously supposed to be a little much but I don't think it ever goes to the point in which you actually want to strangle him or wish he wasn't even in the show in the first place.

At least that's what the experience was for me, I'm aware opinions differ but I think Hooty is pretty fine as he is, honestly.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

Going back to that thing with Papa Titan and the Hooty eye... hey, what was that? Can we go back to that real quick? I really wish we had found out what was the connection between titans and... whatever Hooty is. I know Dana said at some point a specific youtuber had made the right theory but I could never figure out who was it and what did they say haha.

Anyway, yeah, I wish they had gotten into that. It would be Hooty AND titan lore all in one.

Thank you for the ask!!! From this ask game

[5centz]

I want to know more about your Happy Go Lucky au

OH BOOOOOY now I ramble cuz I have a lot of ideas n things ab this

CWs plant parasitism/ sorta mind control/ psychological + body? horror/

okay so this is somewhat a small-ish AU ATM in that it's just diverges somewhat from regular II season 3 but I might expand it??? not sure yet, but here's some of what i do have (may modify it later but idk) OKAY SO some of my thought process on Lucky Nickel (idk what to call him yet exactly): - Essentially, the plant afflicting Nickel IS a "clone" of Clover (in the sense of how for say like, a tomato plant you can remove a limb and have it grow into a independent plant if done correctly)| - Because of this, the plant carries over Clover's personality/outlook and incidentally, begins imposing it onto Nickel's own personality, causing Nickel to start have lowkey internal crisis - Nickel does realize he's not "acting/thinking normally" at first but doesnt exactly mention it outright, as the plant grows he notices it less and less - The escalation of this being, his anxieties (specifically, being hurt by other people/distrust of others) ends up distorting into a forced "positive" outlook ("I don't need anyone anymore!") - and of course, on top of all this he's "lucky" - and such and so happens that on the glacier (still haven't figured out exactly what), that Nickel snaps out of it just long enough to curse out the luck and the plant, and then the wall falls on him/kills him - Nickel is recovered via MeLife and is normal again, but is still very jarred by the whole thing - HOWEVER, the plant survives until the dead Nickel washes up on shore, and the luck allowing the plant to revive him for survival (separate from now Normal Nickel) - This makes the Springy ep play out a bit differently (Balloon becomes concerned that Nickel making light of the past is the plant returning, before realizing its def Not that) - Not 100% sure how the Murder Mystery ep plays out after this but, for one Clover feels really bad about the whole thing (she had no idea this would happen), her and nickel talk out things and he gets his canon development, meanwhile while balloon 'n tea kettle are trying to solve the mystery, Balloon sees Lucky Nickel in the distance and is like "WHAT THE FUCK" - IDK what to have happen after this but, Lucky Nickel tryin 2 kill reg Nickel bc technically, Bro still has his brain/Is him (I was gonna add a drawin here but my wacom not working so uhhh NOTE 2 SELF draw zombie Nickel ref later) BONUS!!: this idea partially started as like, a doppelganger horror idea at first with a bunch of other ideas, so here's my other horror ideas for II (most ended up moreso joke-ish but ye)

[mmelanch0ly]

Hi, hello I have never posted about this anywhere due to me feeling so crazy about this. My family makes jokes all the time saying how there isn't anything or I'm just anxious ect. Ever since I was little, I have always been terrified of my great grandmother's basement. Now I know what you are thinking, "Wow, you're not original with this. Everyone has been scared of a basement at least once in their life." Please hear me out on this though.

Tw for those who are any bit sensitive at all to anything like death or religions

Ever since I was young enough to start having memories, I can remember having these dreams about our property. For more info, our whole family lives on one big property along with woods and a large field for farming. The dreams would be normal, but for some reason, we would have native Americans on our property just come to pray in our woods. They would stand at the edge of the property line and mumble something in what I think is Cherokee (my mother is half-Cherokee, not that it matters cause she technically never lived on or near the property other than for a few months when I was around 8) which is the only native American culture I am aware of being in this area. The ones that spoke english would tell me "It's cursed" or others would say "they stole it from us!" I think they meant they cursed the land someone from my family stole. The dreams repeat but each time they get more extreme. The dreams started taking more of a turn from the praying when I started having dreams of the basement. The all seemed to be terrified of me or any family member that came out of the basement, they would even urge you to quickly come with them. Remember, all of this is a dream. I have never met a fully on Cherokee Indian other than my mother and her mother (you couldn't tell seeing how we are as white as can be, having also a lot of German and Irish in us).

Then the dreams would have people start being dead. Some of the Native Americans would be found dead in our basement, like one being hung from her neck under the basement stairs. I remember that one the most because she looked most like me. I remember just waking up screaming and gasping for air too after that dream.

In the more recent dreams, the entire tribe that prayed on the property line are dead. The dreams will start off as your normal dreams, but as soon as I start walking to my dad's house at night (in the dream, we aren't at the real events yet), I hear someone yell something about dancing at night. If I turn around I will see a contorted woman twitching her way at me dancing. She rises from the ground near the basement. She will do a weird dance where she just follows me and catches me no matter how fast I run to my father's house. They keep repeating! Anytime I have a dream now that starts on that property, I am chased by her in the night of the dream. I don't know who she is or what she is. I learned about the moon eyed people, I haven't done much research currently on them so I will update after I have on them specifically, but from the brief description I got that is almost exact to her. She is terrifying to me and my hands shake even just thinking about her for some reason.

My family, especially my dad's family that owns the property, are VERY religious. They are Christian and their domination is Baptist like most of the South is. Anytime you mention to them there might be something evil all they do is say, "Darling, just say 'I rebuke you in the name of Jesus!' if you feel scared. Besides, there isn't anything wrong. Your grandparents are good honest people." The only person who even agreed with something weird was only saying that because my old stepfather helped with the basement at one point and she hates him.

These are also the type of people who think it is funny to scare you. They will pick on you about it. For example, I am terrified of spiders due to something that happened when I was little and my step-brother throws them on me to watch me scream. So one day, they got tired of me saying I was scared of the basement and made me go down there for 5 minutes. I didn't last 2.

Now, this is one of the only many events I have evidence of. I felt like something was wrong, so before I even got to the bottom of the steps I pulled out my phone to record. I went around touring the basement with my camera. After a bit, I do feel a bit at ease but can't shake the feeling of someone staring me down. Suddenly as I am coming to the end of the tour and going to relax for a moment, something suddenly being thrown against a wall of a room I was looking at. I tried my best not to show obvious fear cause I have heard that can fuel it. I as calmly as I could got my ass up the steps.

Days later I did sadly have to go back down there. I was crying the whole time. I just couldn't stop as soon as I opened that door. I don't know if it was from fear or just me being lazy and mad someone made me get out of bed for something I hate. I was sent down there to get a bag for a present, but while I was down there decided to check what was thrown. There was a lamp that fell over and was on the other side of the room from where it was placed. This lamp was not a circular shape or in any bit a round shape. It is a rectangle. It couldn't have fallen and rolled, even if it did fall how did it fall? Why did it fall? It could have only fell if someone physically threw it or hit it hard. Also, wasn't one of those big lamps it was one we use for camping.

Last time I went down alone, I decided I should try religion. Maybe that would put my mind at ease. I started reciting parts of the bible I knew off the top of my head, but I was quickly silenced by my throat suddenly feeling like someone was grabbing it from the inside if that makes any sense at all. I couldn't breathe or even speak. It only stopped when I got out of the basement. I do have an inhaler for asthma, but that wasn't my normal asthma.

Everytime I am down there, someone or something is watching me. I don't know how to tell. I can't even show my family the video of the lamp incident because I know they would dismiss it or get mad I filmed their messy basement. I don't know where or who to go to about this cause the only people who ever believe me are people who aren't related to my family.

Also, I have no idea if this is even remotely relevant but I am very sensitive to energy and can see stuff that most do. The simplest way I feel I can explain is by saying I am a medium. This post is all over the place I am so sorry! I just get excited or hopeful that someone may read this or listen. If any of you know how to deal with this or at least help me with my family please comment! I may post the video here later if anyone is even interested in this.

Reasons I think it's targeting me:

1. It knows I know its there

2. I am the youngest by blood of my family

3. I am very anxious and have been diagnosed with depression from a young age so I am the most vulnerable. Melancholy and Eeyore have been my childhood nicknames given by by family.

4. I do have a hard time with religion. So much has been tried to be forced on me that I just slowly drifted away over time.

Thank you for reading if you have, please comment if you have any advice or at least like so I know someone is reading.

[reasonandfaithinharmony]

Weekend WIP Game

Thank you for tagging me, @rmd-writes and @thisbuildinghasfeelings!

I know I am very late to this, but it is still technically the weekend here in the Pacific time zone, so here we go. I'll be using the questions for Artists/GIF makers. (There are also questions for writers in @welcometololaland's original post!)

Rules: List your WIPs below (if you only work on one project at a time, feel free to include future WIPs/ideas!) then answer the following questions. Then, tag as many people as you have WIPs (or more).

1. WIP List:

I am so afraid to see these all written out in a way where I can count them. [deep breath] This is a rather mixed-up list of gif sets for 911 Lone Star, Schitt's Creek, and The X-Files. Also, since they're gif sets, they don't really have titles, just nicknames:

husbands fancy dinner lizard arc kisses quotes of devotion come rain or come shine spin instructors flashbacks yes way meet the parents until i'm okay, too pile of good things best man wedding attire tk stays capable and decent unspectacular things endless act of being loved gravity of hearts simply the best reassuring head kisses he's a jungle cat wedding behind the scenes soft light/tooms/squeeze hope is messy iris/tk arc you are good and i love you

2. Which WIP is your most complex?

Oh gosh. Anything that involves coloring of more than one scene, really. That's what slows me down. And pretty much all of these fall into that category. Which is a big part of why they're not done yet.

3. Do any of your WIPs involve you using a technique/style that you haven't used before? What inspired you to try it?

Um. Possibly? I'm not far enough along to know for sure, but I think a couple of them might involve trying out a new text treatment.

4. Which WIP do you expect will take you the longest?

I am historically a very bad judge of this. Lol. There are plenty of potential obstacles in that list. I'm afraid to jinx it/make things worse by saying anything specific.

5. Which WIP are you finding the most enjoyable to create?

The "lizard arc" set has been very enjoyable to play with. And I suspect that "he's a jungle cat" will be very fun to eventually get back to.

6. Do you have a favourite character to draw/stitch/paint/depict? Are they in many of your WIP projects?

Hmmm. Not really. I mean, I certainly tend to focus on my favorite ships, but I can't really pick a favorite from that group.

7. Which WIP do you experience the most self-doubt about. Why?

All of them. Because I am self-taught and constantly second guessing absolutely everything.

8. Have any of your WIPs been struck by the curse of creator's block?

I suppose so. Although It's more lack of energy or just… utter frustration that results in a WIP getting a time out.

9. Do any of your WIPs contain characters outside the main ship? How are you finding creating those?

Yeah, definitely. There are a couple on that list that focus on other relationships.

10. What emotions are you hoping to convey through your WIPs?

It varies. Some are angsty. Some are meant to be funny. But I think, in general, they are all trying to convey love.

11. Are there any features/details you are finding challenging in your WIPs?

[gestures wildly at the lighting teams on every show, thwarting my best efforts to see what's going on]

12. Which WIP has the most complex shading/colouring?

Don't know yet. All of them. Lol. I can tell you that the "fancy dinner" set has been in time out for months now. Because of lighting and coloring.

13. Which WIP has the most complex background?

Not sure this one applies to me.

14. Which WIP do you have the highest expectations for?

Oh, I really don't know. My opinions here change all the time.

15. Do you dream about any of your WIPs?

I normally do not remember my dreams. But very recently, I dreamt that I had finished one of those sets. I was very disappointed to wake up and realize it wasn't true.

16. Do any of your WIPs have particular complexities that your other art doesn't?

Hmm, I don't think so.

17. Are any of your WIPs commissions?

No, but some of them are friendly requests or things that came about from chatting here on tumblr.

18. Do you have a character that is more difficult to draw/stitch/paint/depict? Are they in many of your WIP projects?

I'm going to go with Patrick Brewer. That boy's face just… goes nuclear bright whenever I try to brighten a scene overall. There are a lot of rather pale characters on that show, but they take pretty well to coloring/brightening. He does not.

19. Tell us one thing we don't know about one or more of your WIPs.

Um. Some items have been on that list for years. They're not abandoned, I promise. I am just not in charge of the creative process.

Since it is barely the weekend for me anymore (and no longer the weekend for many of you), please consider this an open tag!! If you'd like to play along, go for it. Even if the weekend has passed you by.

[pack-the-pack]

Going though your blog and answers has me ✨ fascinated ✨ and I mean that in the most positive of ways. ABO is a hit or miss because it frequently intersects with my scent kink but only in the most specific of ways lol. (It has also been rotting my brains in trying to come up with different hcs lately so thank you for satisfying that scratch)

Originally came here from your slur list which I'm Obsessed with because mundane world building (mundane as in every day, I very much love it XD) so going through it was such a treat.

And now having spent almost an hour scrolling, I can confidently say that I love your blog ~

(I'm also on your 'give chan all the love he deserves' boat and currently Going through it trying to find good fics XD. If you have any recs I would be forever grateful <3)

Food for thought: I know most head cannons around abo stay relatively away from deviation aside from personality (going off fanfics, I haven't explored blogs that much, a travesty I'm now realizing), but knowing that in humans neither sex nor gender is binary in any way has me wondering what those deviations might look like in an abo setting. What would intersex look like in this setting? Pheromones are pretty obvious, certain scents being correlated with certain presentations, but the potency could also bring up insecurity (going off your beta having weaker scents hc). Glands could be missing or placed differently (is the scent kink obvious lol) but seeing as they're important for communication, that could be an interesting take on ostracization as the "inept" one. I won't get too far into the surgery done to irl intersex folk because this is fun fantasy, but it's another aspect to explore.

All to say, I'm just fascinated with the evolution and the "how we got here" side of abo and all the ramifications that come with it lol.

Hope you have a good day! You've made mine with a new blog to explore -w-

Hello!

So sorry, for taking so long to answer. I've been neglecting my asks a lot, there's nearly 100 of them, and I know I'll never get them down to a reasonable number. Oop :V But slowly I'll get through SOME hahahaha. First things first: I'm incredibly grateful for all the kind words. I know I've slowly got less and less time over the years to dedicete to this blog, But I still try to come by whenever I have some time to spare. And to know that there are people out there that really enjoy what I write and create is very heart-warming. Ah yes, the infamous slurs post. The A/B/O magnet that curses my notifications lol. Like I said in my last post, one day people will realize this is for FICTION, and as you said, world-building, not a real thing? Antis be bafflings as always, but what else is new, ey? YES! Channie deserves so much love. I unforutetly don't have any fanfics to rec, even though I am writting one myself. But I gotta say, as I write, writing Chris' persona (because when it comes to Real People fanfiction, especially idols, I make it very clear that we're dealing with their personas as artists, not them as real people in their private lives) is surprisingly difficult. Most of all when it comes to writing him as a source of conflict. Because bloody hell, he's so sweet, I can't write him being petty or whiny belivably enough! When I do write my fanfic though and at least post ONE chapter, I'll let you know, if you want I can send you a link also. Now for the interesting part. As always, omegaverse biology! I think it'd be interesting if intersex people were like, maybe anatomically like one dynamics, but behaviourally like another. Specially on their scent. You look at this big person, and you think "there goes an Alpha", but then they just smell like sweet Omega or Beta and you're like "wait a sec--". I like the idea of different shapes and placements of glands too! That'd be quite interesting. As for the gonads and reproductive organs, technically in my verse, Alpha females and Omega males are in a way, already what one may consider intersex (at least one interpretation of it). Female alpha have a slit/vagina that acts as a sheath for their penis, which only grow upon arousal, much like cats. And at least in my verse, Omega males have a vestigial penis and testicles, that although not functional for reproduction still react to arousal and stimulus. They also have a womb accessible by their booty, which I know many people don't like, but hey, my game my rules, right? Thinking of other possible intersex presentations in a verse such as this, then one could maybe argue for functional and larger penises for "supposed" Omegas while keeping the ability to carry offspring. And for female Alphas maybe maintining the ability to carry children, like Beta females, but having a smaller, non functional penis. And also a myriad of other possibilities. Would that be enough to constitute a new dynamics? Maybe, idk actually. I think much like in real life, it'd be up to the individual to decide whether or not they want to be segregated and categorized as something other. It's certainly a fun thing to consider and build a story or some headcanons in the very least upon. Thank you for the ideas :))

[girl-mercury]

20 asks for writers

tagged by @noblealice

how many works do you have on Ao3? 50

what's your total Ao3 word count? 203,210

what fandoms do you write for? A bunch-- Once Upon a Time, Our Flag Means Death, The Adventure Zone, MCU, Tomorrowland, and Newsflesh all have more than one fic.

what are your top five fics by kudos? -close enough to touch -in silent screams, in wildest dreams -hand me your hand -open up the door, let the light in -comforts of the household gods

do you respond to comments? I try to respond to each of them.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Probably Double Vision, an OUAT fic about Belle's possible cursed Storybrook life

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? It's hard to pick, I try to end on happiness or at least hope, but we rise as we fall might be the happiest

Do you get hate on fics? If I ever have, it's been blocked from my memory.

Do you write smut? Yep! It's a pretty recent thing, though, because it hasn't really been what I was interested in in the past, and just a few ship dynamics in recent years have lent themselves to some very specific smut.

Do you write crossovers? Sure.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I'm aware of!

Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes! Recently someone translated in silent screams, in wildest dreams into Chinese, and I just got a request to translate Comforts of the Household Gods into Russian.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes, although I don't think any of them are online at this point.

What’s your all time favourite ship? You would ask me to choose my favorite child??????

What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I started a fic like 18 years ago about Jack Bristow and Irina Derevko from Alias years after the show ends (nobody dies, everybody lives, the two of them remain married and constantly bitching at each other) uncovering a plot at their retirement community and absolutely annihilating some mercenaries.

What are your writing strengths? I think I'm pretty good at character voices.

What are your writing weaknesses? Plot. I can do it, but my god does it take a long time to figure out logistics.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Only that I haven't figured out a way to do it that I don't hate. Italics help, I think, even though I know the arguments against them; for languages not in a Roman alphabet, I don't like the anglicization and the correct alphabet looks wrong, I don't know what the answer is there.

First fandom you wrote for? Technically Narnia or Men in Black: The Animated Series, if we're counting fic when I didn't know fic existed; Lord of the Rings I think was the first posted online in fandom.

Favourite fic you’ve written? Oh gosh. I don't think I can pick.

Tagging @lindsayribar and @shinyopals, but only if you want/haven't done it already!

[leatherbookmark]

fuck or die/sex pollen, Very Specific This Is Almost Definitely The Writer's Job/Hobby AU, Magical Creachure AU

wow, anon! those are Just the tropes i wanted to talk about! it's almost as if you were me, sending this ask to myself for this exact purpose! amazing. anyway

fuck or die/sex pollen: are technically different things but i will put them together and give them an A because they're the one trope that i actually Have In The Past combed ao3 for. lol. i don't know! i don't know. usually characters losing the control over their autonomy, bodies and so on kinda bug me, and while in a certain state i can accept a/b/o, when i try to think about the Social Circumstances of everyone being aware you're in horny town/about to enter horny town/submissive and breedable/etc for more than five seconds i go insane, but. there's SOMETHING about fuck or die and sex pollen that just *clenches fist* gets me.

i haven't read many fics where the characters forced to fuck are total not even a little sexually attracted to each other*; mostly it's been ships i was interested in, and while obviously for the characters involved it's probably hell, there's often this moment of... idk, assurance that neither part is using the other? the mind-blowing sex we're about to have is 100% medicinal/situational, i am doing this 100% respectfully...!

*hold up. i have. IT WAS NIECEST. i think some guys have captured them and forced them to fuck or else, and it was hoooorrible for them both because they were NOT miserably in forbidden love with each other in this scenario. 🥰🥰🥰

except. EXCEPT. there's also the Angst Potential (which i hope to squeeze as much as in can when i get to it 😬). the "i want him to rail me into next tuesday, but of course he would never...! and yet here he is, forced to rail me into next tuesday to save my life! how horrible! i am staining his pristine body with my filthy, cursed, and horny body...! ah! what horror. what utter bliss". as well as the top version of it, aka the "ah! he would never! but here i am, having to--" etc. but ALSO the, uh, spoiler alert, "i would love to be somewhere else. instead i am railing this person, who is very dear to me in a way i can't yet explain due to reasons etc, into next tuesday. they seem into it. no, it's the curse. but they seem really into it. no, i'm victim-blaming. they would never. not that it's bad. but--"

like. Wa Hoo! nice 👍

Very Specific This Is Almost Definitely The Writer's Job/Hobby AU: fucks like a rabid rhino even in cases where i have no idea what any of those terms mean. i want to get IMMERSED! give me those DETAILS you funky little author! YEAS. A

Magical Creachure AU: AH YOU SEE. depends on everything including the creachure.

like, say, one of them is a mermaid (gender neutral). i just got reminded of a rinharu mermaid fic that i was crazy about back in the times. anyway! there's... the list of things that happen in a mermaid au is pretty predictable, i think? dude finds a mermaid, they either meet on the beach or the mermaid is injured and needs help --> into the bathtub you go; the mermaid learns about human stuff and the human learns about mermaid stuff, insert conflict either down there or up there, sex? and then A SOLUTION, which often is "the mermaid stays on land due to Love". it can be done well! and it can be done not well. it really depends!

paradoxically, i don't really like it when the creature character is too much like an animal and too little like a human. does this make sense? for example, when they eat their human's pet, don't know much about Emotions, talk about Nesting and Mating rather than, idk, finding someone to fuck... that's. that's kind of like an animal that can talk, i feel? not exactly my cup of tea, so to speak. i'd much prefer if there was some other Culture under the sea, with existing traditions and such, but a culture nonetheless. something like "i caught you this big huge fish in broad daylight because i want you to be my mate forever!" vs "oh yeah, well, when we like someone we bring them stuff, mostly good food but cool stuff from the surface is a hit too. you do that too...? ah, figures. shit listen can i bring you a hugeass fish because i don't really have cash money"

When There Are Vampires/Werewolves: i have this sad disease called "i don't really care about vampires/werewolves and i don't think blood sucking is sexy" :(

When One Of Them Can Turn Into Some Animal: yknow what. yeah. yeah that's good stuff (i bet you're all surprised). this is good. there's Human Them, and then there's Animal Them, and they both need different things, and their beloved wants to give it to them. what's cooler than a little guy chilling in the coils of a huge fuckass dragon, who is his loving boyfriend? probably that dragon boyfriend killing some annoying people for him! what's cooler than a guy cuddling a bighuge wolf who's (you guessed it!) their boyfriend who has a bad brain day and just needs to be dog for a bit. what's cooler than lan xichen holding a little bird a-yao in his hands, gently, so gently that not a feather on a-yao's person is ruffled, ready to hide him from the world, ready to kill for this tiny ball of feathers, each smaller than his little fin--hi? no i did not drop any names, you're just imagining things. anyway. S

[words-after-midnight]

from the weird questions for writers: 1, 3, 10, 23, 27. from the one before that: 2, 11, 15, 39, 47. i mean i already mostly know the answers but ... lmao

OH BOY.

Weird questions for writers:

1. What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting?

The font I use during drafts depends on narration! libaw = Arial, TDL = Courier New, anything in third person = Times. For a final version I usually switch to Times regardless of project.

3. What is your writing ritual and why is it cursed?

Get coffee

Open laptop

Open documents

Put on music/a background video

Write

Honestly I feel like the most/only cursed aspect of this very standard ritual is that more writing = more coffee, lmao. I can write 8k words in a day... but at what cost?

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

Being haunted by something, to me, means not being able to forget about it, so you carry it with you - often to an extent that it becomes a part of you. Pieces of writing that truly haunt me have lived in my head rent-free for years. When it's my writing, I barely go a day without those pieces crossing my mind, and I often have a bittersweet relationship with them.

My own writing: "Sixteen Minutes" and Life in Black and White, mostly, as well as one other document that's connected to Life in Black and White but that I haven't shared with anyone. It's technically untitled, but I call it "to the moon."

Not my writing: Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane, Othello, the poem "Good Bones" by Maggie Smith, Wuthering Heights... I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

23. Describe the physical environment in which you write. Be as detailed as possible. Tell me what’s around you as you work. Paint me a picture.

I write everywhere and anywhere, but the most common ones: in my bed with my lamp on, surrounded by a bunch of blankets and pillows, my cat, and with music or a video playing in the background. On the morning bus listening to EDM. On the evening train listening to EDM or a story playlist. In a coffee shop with a latte bowl and my music.

27. Who is the most stressful character you’ve ever written? Why?

Gabriel, hands down, because he's the most complex character I've ever written and it's very important to me to get his portrayal right. Easier said than done, as the last 14.5 years of work can attest to. Also just like, the... the reptilian-brained life choices on this man. Jesus Christ.

OC development asks:

2. Which ocs are most likely to be caught eating cheese at 3 am?

libaw: Daphne, Katie, Gabriel, in that order. You'd think it'd be Jeff, but he (mostly) "doesn't do" cheese.

TDL: not applicable lol. I feel like Hitman sometimes eats honey buns at random hours in the morning though.

supernova: Seven (deuteragonist), Romy (protag's lab colleague)

Velocity: Jackie (T.J.'s mom). Jackie is by far the most "eats cheese at 3am" character I have.

11. which ocs have to be reminded to take breaks?

Gabriel (libaw), Spencer (supernova; "what's a break?"), sometimes Jackie (velocity) but less so as the story progresses, T.J. (velocity), Harvin (velocity).

15. which ocs are too self-sacrificial?

GABRIEL AND SPENCER (side note, I'm laughing at how many things they have in common in these questions because they are so radically different as people). Seven (Supernova) selectively (ie. has a specific allegiance). Also Jenna to an extent, Daphne for certain people and in certain situations, Isabelle (libaw) to an extent, sometimes Catricia (libaw) when it comes to her patients because she gets overly involved. Wouldn't describe anyone in TDL as self-sacrificial because it's basically a matter of survival to not be in their case.

39. which ocs set multiple alarms? which only need one? which don’t set alarms at all?

Multiple alarms: Spencer (Supernova) increasingly throughout the story, Gabriel (libaw) because he's on Seroquel.

One alarm: Jenna (libaw), Romy (Supernova), everyone in TDL because they're always woken up in the morning lol.

No alarms: Jeff (libaw) because he's a morning person who randomly wakes up at the asscrack of dawn despite frequently going to bed late.

47. Which ocs use the “wrong” dishes for things purely to spite others who can’t stand it? (like drinking coffee off a plate)

Jeff lmao. "Relaaaaax, Killjoy, I'm just yanking your chain." s/o to the time he was high on dilaudid and drinking beer out of a straw.

[acircusfullofdemons]

I know shared/extended universes have been done to death at this point but I have this Curse you see (aka I was a MCU fan for 7 years. no im not ashamed of this I think [most] of those movies are genuinely good fight me). I say this because my 3 main paracosms (Phantasmagoria, Mad as a Crow, StoryBook City) are connected. Like, not only are there alternate versions of some paras that exist in each universe (Calypso, Jervis, and Phineas are all Alternates/technically the same person in this regard) but each paracosm exists within the other.

"Mad as a Crow" is a comic book series held in a comic book store that False Moon canonically visits at the end of Phantasmagoria. Like Calypso has read about Jervis & is probably like "he just like me fr".

"StoryBook City" is actually a show called "Toybox Tutors" -- a children's show where each spokesman is a teacher & all the other Fables are students. Jervis & Alice grew up watching it and it canonically sparked their interest in Alice in Wonderland thanks to how Phineas & Alice were portrayed in that show. I think it's also a show Blair watches frequently because that would be perfect.

"Phantasmagoria" is a game....I haven't worked out the specific details but I think Eddie worked on part of "Fade into Insomnia" (since i sometimes imagine it in the style of those rpg horror games) before getting fired and becoming a criminal.

I haven't really worked out how Phantasmagoria & MaaC appear in SBC yet. It's not like they don't exist I just don't know how they do.

[bardic-inspo]

2 4 17 and 28? Hier sind Bredeles.

Thank you! <3

[Fanfic Writer Ask Game]

2. Do you read/reread your own fics?

Yes! Not super often. I revisit the same few Deacon x MacCready x Natasha oneshots a lot, but have made a few rounds through my whole post-Institute OT3 series for them. I've only re-read BtG a few times. Part of that, too, is, I read the chapters so many times already before posting them. It's different to read for editing, but, still.

4. How many WIPs do you have right now?

Two major ones! Which is more than enough for me.

Midnight Chimes is my Astarion x Cursed!Tav long-ish fic I recently started (but really it feels more like it sprang out of me of its own accord). I had intended to maybe write them a oneshot series. Or to maybe write a shorter multi-chapter set only in Act III. Naomi and Astarion took the wheel and told me otherwise. It's been fun so far, having the broad strokes in mind, but really letting the characters drive the adventure. And I get to write in a more traditional fantasy setting, which I haven't done in ages, and feels super refreshing.

The other is my moby dick-sized and counting Fallout 4 longfic for SoSu x MacCready, Bring the Gasoline. She's sitting at 29/43 chapters posted, and I am still chipping away at her. It's been a while since I plugged this one, so here's the summary:

“Six months, huh? How much fast talking did you do to get here?”   “Enough to keep me alive.” “Really? Cause you don’t act like that’s your goal half the time. Hell, you throw yourself at everything like you’re jumping off a cliff.” Sole survivor Natasha Sokolova is burning through friends faster than she can make them. Robert Joseph MacCready needs all the caps he can get. Problem is, the smooth-talking woman with a pistol and a job offer turns out to be more trouble than he’s counting on. They’re a match made in hell, but their little partnership might be the only thing that can see them through it.

17. What’s something you’ve learned about while doing research for a fic?

Hmm, well, my partner has far more gun knowledge than I do, so I've consulted him a lot in the past regarding Fallout fic. One thing that springs to mind that he taught me is that a revolver will nearly never jam. The design of the gun itself makes it nearly impossible, because it's rotating each individual bullet into place one at a time, and you can easily/quickly remove the cylinder they're loaded into without digging deeper into the whole gun. I'm obviously very fuzzy on the technical specifics, but I understood enough to change the type of gun for a plot point where I needed it to jame (incidentally, I think I ended up scrapping that entirely and just going for 'the bullets ran out and they didn't have time to reload' instead).

28. Have you ever tagged a fic “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat”?

I haven't! And idk that I've really had any potential fic ideas that would earn the tag. Definitely some ideas that would earn a lot of specific tags, but I don't think the doves are dead enough for that label.

[alternamarian]

I haven't posted much about Hereditary (if I have at all), which may seem odd since I'm somewhat target-audienced for that film :-D And I guess this would be an occasion to write about films that are not currently on a cancelled press tour. Then again, the movie is from A24, which complied with union terms and thus was granted a waiver. Welp.

The performances, of course, are excellent. And the fact that Toni Collette was not even nominated for an Oscar is yet another reason I don't pay attention to award shows.

The rest of the movie is also very well-made. I am no professional critic, nor well-versed in technical things, but I do agree that the lighting, the sound design, the editing are all crafted to form remarkable images and atmospheres. And the themes of mental illness and other difficulties all make for a film that, as the cool kids say, is 'just for me.'

The movie is ... not the worst thing ever.

Now this movie was released in 2018, and I'm not too fussy about spoiler warnings. Still, for the record —

Spoiler Warning

And I will continue after the cut.

I've heard the 'there's actually two movies in this film' criticisms, and at first I thought I could apply that to Hereditary. But I think there are three movies that, for me, did not quite synthesize at the end.

While I did get the sense that something other was going on, for the most part there seemed to be an attempt to 'stay grounded'. And that's not necessarily a bad thing; again, the performances of all the actors were quite compelling. Even without any untoward powers, the main characters were already faced with severe difficulties with no easy solutions. And I appreciate that the film did not exaggerate the otherworldly aspects, which could have quickly made them cartoonish.

But not-ordinary forces are indeed at work, and from what I can tell, those forces have been busy for a long time before the film even began. I mean the gang's official logo was carved onto the street post. I'm not much good at reading foreshadowing, but surely that's whacking the audience over with a log, yes?

Anyway.

Why did the Joan character insist for Annie Graham to try out the summoning starter kit? The already vulnerable family was oblivious to the grandmother's hobby — which, of course, was actually Ellen Leigh's main focus; her normal life was her facade. After her death, what need was there for Joan (I don't think her family name was ever mentioned) to keep up the act? I doubt that the special niche group was worried about outside interruption. And Joan clearly had the power to just start yelling curses at Peter Graham from the sidewalk without anyone else noticing anything amiss. Anyway, with the way she went oH wHaT a coiNciDENcE!!!1!1!!!1!! about the doormat, she should have just stuck a You’re All Dead Now :-) sign on her forehead and be done with it.

I don't see the need for all the secrecy, and I think the film suffers for it because, as a consequence, the god becomes a bit like an afterthought. The subterfuge feels more like a barrier between the corrupt powers and the family's deterioration: an obstacle for the corporeal takeover, as well as a divider between plot threads that just happened to run parallel, and then sort of tangled together towards the end.

— And that end. I said I think there are three movies in this film. One is a contemporary drama, while the other is a supernatural horror story. By the time the boy was at the tree house, though, I could almost say I was watching an indie comedy. — Specifically, an indie comedy with a happy ending: after all the funny hijinx, the goal was attained; the prospective occupant was successfully installed in the new place, and everything seems to be as it should. Like, I know the evil forces have won and an even bigger fight is about to begin, but that's not what I get from the film. I'm feeling quirky comedy happy-ending feels. Not-Peter is the awkward but cool antihero, complete with paper crown and quirky credits music. Oh, what? That was a flesh crown? Well that makes him even more hipster, doesn't it?

I've mentioned before that comedy and horror tend to overlap. I also don't think the film was purposely negating the horror of the conclusion. And I could rewatch Hereditary for the performances alone. But I can't say that the comedy, the horror, and the drama all combined very well in this instance, so I probably won't be rewatching very often.