#but then canon happened. These are those Thoughts™

[alrightbuckaroo]

modus operandi

1/1 | M | 1k | Beta read by the ever lovely @herefortarlos

Summary: Carlos solves the case and needs to put all of that adrenaline somewhere.

Carlos walks through the front door smelling of gunpowder, sweat and satisfaction.TK almost falls apart on the kitchen floor right then and there. He’s just finished putting Lou II back in his tank and is now putting the rest of the bell pepper away in the fridge.

“Hey, baby,” TK greets, his smile turning a bit electric when he sees the gleam in Carlos’ eyes. He watches as Carlos takes off his hat and removes his holster. “Just finished feeding Lou II. He was hungry.”

“He’s not the only one,” Carlos declares before undoing the knot in his tie. He collides with TK, mouths overtaking one another, no air escaping between them. Carlos tastes like married life, missed dinners and the right kind mayhem.

Both bodies move as one as Carlos takes them to the living room and pushes TK down on the couch. Carlos sinks to his knees, his jeans pressing into his soft skin and creating a friction that pales in comparison to the one that’s between him and TK.

He goes to pull TK’s jeans and boxers down, but stops short. TK looks down, wondering what’s brought on the pause. He’s greeted by the sight of Carlos looking up at him, brown eyes burning with the fire of their twin flames. “I love you.” Carlos says it like it’s a confession he’ll gladly make for the rest of time. “I’ll always love you.”

continued on ao3 <3

[musical-chick-13]

"Truly GOOD works don't have thriving fandoms because people aren't interested in fixing them, so what do they have to write fics/make art about."

Idk about you, but I don't write fic for properties I don't genuinely enjoy and think are, on some level, actually good.

[wheucto]

what if fan was also a robot

[vasyandii]

Hello! I just wanted to say that I absolutely adore your IHNMAIMS oc. I'm a OC x canon enthusiast and seeing a character so well written and adapted to the story as Vernon is makes me so excited!! Plus your art is literally amazing. I've been curious since you mentioned how Vernon cuts potions of her meal to give them to AM and how the food improved since AM got his body, what food/meals do Vernon and AM like/dislike/have as favourite? -for AM, at least from what he has tasted- Whether if it's because of the taste, flavour, etc.

Howdy Anon! Thank you so much for the kind words, I've been giddy since I got it a few days ago! I'm glad my OC x Canon content gets your stamp of Approval >:D!! 💞💞

VernonAM 🏺🖥️ Food Preferences

I think Vernon is careful in choosing the food she shares with AM because he will eat literally ANYTHING. She would try to eat things to torture herself with, extremely spicy foods, live insects, raw organs, etc. but then remember that she has to "Feed AM". So she opts out for something normal so his taste buds don't get fucked.

Or as normal as it can get, the food kind of has the uncanny valley effect as well. It looks normal and tastes normal, but she feels there's something a bit off about it (kind of like airplane food). So she often leaves criticism to the Chef™ (AM) or asks to cook instead.

Vernon isn't particularly picky when it comes to food, she'll eat it and clean her plate. She likes her food balanced, vegetables/meat with sauce and all that. If it tastes good, she'll eat it, y'know?

AM is more... difficult. Sure, he'll eat anything, but if it tastes really bad, it'll traumatize him and he'll refuse to eat it for a while.

His food has to not be touching, if it's mixed in all together beforehand he'll eat it. If there's sauce it shouldn't be close enough to where it can contaminate the food AM's eating because he WILL taste it, no matter how small the amount is. His utensils need to be a specific size, and the food HAS to be hot/warm. He needs to be able to see or know every ingredient in it.

It's observed that AM likes fried foods/anything crunchy because of how consistent they are in taste, texture, and flavour. So what ends up happening is Vernon will just include those foods into her meal, just to not eat it and have it on a little plate for him.

Vernon asks him why he can't just make food for himself, his response is "I don't need to eat, I eat when when you eat."

But honestly it's a pretty dumb question now that she's looking back on it. AM has all the knowledge in the world about food, everything ever made, everything he's never tasted. So he's basically asking Her, indirectly, "I don't know where to start or what's good. But you do. I trust you. Feed me."

Now here's some of the meals They've had together (+ AM's comments):

Chicken soup ("Too wet", just ate the broth)

Caesar Salad ("Damp, Crunchy water")

Vanilla ice cream (experienced a brain freeze for the first time, thought his body was malfunctioning)

Spaghetti Bolognese ("No I will not be mixing it, you mix it for me")

Western beef stew (He picked out the potatoes and only ate those. Thought the meat was irritating to eat.)

Baby carrots. ("You know they bleach these, right?")

Asparagus (he likes them. Needs to be warm)

Broccoli (same thing)

Cheese Pizza (Ate it, ate too much. Tummy hurted.)

Tempura (Ate too much, tummy hurted)

Fish and chips (Ate too much, tummy hurted)

Coffee, black (spat it out)

Macaroni and cheese (Ate too much, tummy hurted)

Grilled chicken hearts skewers (He liked it, but kept poking the roof of his mouth with the skewer.)

Half a Hamburger (picked out the vegetables because he didn't like them, still tasted it and gave the rest to Vernon)

Half a cheeseburger (ate it with no fuss.)

Aaand that'll be all for now :) if you made it this far, thank you for reading! If you need any clarifications, feel free to tell me!

[humanitys-strongest-bamf]

OK I WAS TOO UPSET TO WRITE THIS BUT NOW I AM ONLY MILDLY UPSET SO I WROTE IT

Your Worth | Canonverse Oneshot

✧ word count ➼ 1.3k ✧ notes ➼ canon!verse, hurt/comfort, negative self-talk, levi being comforting in his levi way

The door to your office flew open. It was already well into the evening. Nearly everyone should have returned to the barracks. You were hoping to have some alone time to process and catch up with paperwork. The previous few hours haven't been easy and you were coping by drowning yourself in tedious work.

Your body tensed as you heard Levi's distinct footsteps step into your office.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked sternly.

You put your pen down as you slowly looked up at your visibly agitated boyfriend. You had an idea as to what got him so upset, although you hoped it wasn't the case.

"What are you talking about?" you asked quietly.

He was holding a few sheets of paper in his hand. He placed one on your desk in front of you. Your heart sank upon reading it.

It was your request to the Commander to be removed from Levi's squad. You had submitted it early this morning, putting in substantial effort to get it to the Commander's office without Levi catching on.

You took the page from him roughly, frowning.

"Tch," you muttered in irritation. "He showed you?"

"It's my fucking squad, of course he showed me," Levi scolded.

You didn't respond. You knew he had a point. It was Levi's squad. He was the Captain. Of course he was going to find out sooner or later.

"Why are you requesting to be removed?" he asked with a gentler tone. "Did something happen?"

It wasn't like you to just suddenly do something like this. He had noticed that you had been acting differently or have been more reserved for the past few days. He had been expecting something to eventually happen, but nothing as extreme as this.

"_____," Levi nudged you once you didn't respond.

After a while, your lips finally parted to speak.

"I'm..." you mumbled quietly, "I'm holding you back."

"Ah?" Levi muttered, genuinely not expecting those words to come out of your mouth.

"You heard me. I'm holding you back," you reemphasized. "Everyone you had chosen for your squad is skilled with the gear or has a high amount of Titan kills and I'm just...me."

He took the paper back from you and set it to the side, sitting on your desk as he looked down at you as you sat in your office chair.

"...the fuck do you mean 'just' you?" he asked, although he already somewhat knew the answer. He knew that you were frequently plagued with feelings and thoughts of inadequacy.

You knew that he knew.

"What do you want me to say?" you exclaimed, frustrated beyond belief. "No matter what I do, there's someone that's better at it. There's someone with more kills, faster times, more respect, or whatever! No matter how much I try, no matter how much effort I put in, I will never be the person that someone goes to for help. There isn't the One Thing™ that I'm good at where someone would be like 'hey, _____ should be the one you ask for help from'. No, I'm always in the fucking background and being dead weight, so that is why I requested to be discharged from your squad. The last thing you need is to have me drag you down."

Levi was silent the entire time you rambled, never taking his eyes off you as he listened.

"You done?" he finally said once you stopped speaking.

You scowled at him again.

"Get out."

Levi promptly got up, but instead of walking out the door, he walked around your desk to where you were seated at.

"Get out!" you repeated, raising your voice.

"Not until you tell me that everything you just said was bullshit," he said sternly.

You clenched your jaw, frustrated. You wanted to tell him what he wanted to hear, but you couldn't lie to him. You did legitimately believe in everything you just said, in every flaw that you had just listed.

You groaned in frustration as you buried your face into your hands while gripping at your hair.

These feelings of inadequacy were not new. Feelings of never being good enough and your fear of failure was something that was just drilled into you as a child. You were always being compared to others and you eventually developed a worldview that made you feel like you had to "earn" your right to exist by being good at things. Not only that, but you had to "specialize" in it, which made it so that anytime someone else came along that was just as good at if not better than you at something, you felt like your entire life—including your right to live it—spiraled out of control.

Levi gently placed his hand on your shoulder.

"Hey," he said quietly.

He shook you a little bit once you didn't answer or move.

"_____, look at me."

You slowly leaned back from your desk to look at him.

Before your eyes could even focus properly on him, he gently flicked at your forehead.

"Quit pitying yourself," he said as he scowled.

You rubbed at your forehead, which was now slightly red as you pouted at him.

The pout was a good sign for him. It meant you were listening to what he was trying to say, despite how strong those intrusive thoughts were being.

He knelt down, so that he was eye-level with you, gazing at you with gentler eyes.

"What started this?" he asked quietly.

You looked away, but he immediately grabbed your chin and turned you towards him so that he was making eye contact with you.

You tried to resist against his grip, feeling incredibly embarrassed that he was still able to read you like an open book. You had prided yourself as being able to mask well to not be a burden to those around you, but that was never the case around Levi. You hated and loved it at the same time.

You sighed in defeat.

"I just heard some of the prospective recruits talking and mentioning who in the Scouts they looked up to, and I guess it was foolish of me to even think that my name would be mentioned, but a dumb part of me hoped that I at least contributed something, something to be remembered for if I died," you began rambling, taking a deep breath to keep your voice from breaking as your frustration and self-hate threatened to boil over. "But there isn't, is there? As far as everyone else is concerned, I'm either your partner or just another soldier. I'm not anyone special-"

"Cut that shit out," Levi scolded, not giving you a chance to finish your rambling this time.

You stopped talking, but looked at him with hurt in your eyes.

"I know how important external validation is to you, but the cadets are talking out of their ass and you know it," he said as he looked intensely in your eyes. "You know they don't know shit about what any of us actually do—and it certainly doesn't warrant you requesting to be discharged from the squad."

He sighed and let go of your chin, instead moving to gently place his palm on the side of your face, allowing you to take comfort in his touch. It at least helped ground you when you felt like your emotions were taking over your entire world.

"You're worth more than you know," he said gently before pulling you in and gently placing his lips against yours, lingering for a few seconds until he felt you relax into him.

He placed his other hand on your thigh and gently squeezed as he slowly began to deepen the kiss before finally pulling away and resting his forehead on yours.

"And if I have to remind you of that every single day of your life, I will."

ok this was cathartic, ty to anyone who took the time to read :3 #: @chaotic-on-main @romantichomicide95 @lovolee3 @svftackerman @levisbrat25 @leviismybby @idkks4m @moonmalice @elnyrae @sleepyfairyxo @averysmolbear @cathybarn @tclbts @belovedackerman @bejewelledd @fuyulvr @sad-darksoul @levis-squishy-cheeks @roseofdarknessblog @anviacker @aam1na @luvjiro @noctemys @sixpennydame @dumbfound-princess @raenacreates @deepzombieyouth join my taglist!

[rayshippouuchiha]

Had a Thought™ about KHR. (excuse spelling mistakes because I WILL be making them)

So the giglio Nero family canonically has the strongest skies right? Like this matrilineal family of Skies has, as far as we know, always held the strongest skies in existence. It doesn't matter who they have a kid with, their first kid is 1) always a girl (far as we know) 2) an insanely strong sky 3) has some type of foresight.

So my thought (story idea/premise IG). Nana is descended from this family in some probably convoluted distant way. This could explain her space cadet behavior. She is LITERALLY not mentally present in the, well present. But she's enough removed from the family line that what she's seeing is probably really confusing and has little resemblance to reality. Also, let's be honest, if you're seeing visions of an alternate or possible future existence and aren't aware what that is about? You probably think there's something wrong with you. To the point you probably instinctively disregard A LOT of things that would be odd or concerning because well, they don't make sense so are probably made up. (Nana basically taking masking to the extreme meaning she doesn't notice/pay attention to the Flame and Mafia stuff because nobody else around her notices/talks about it. So it's probably Not Real)

And then she meets Iemeitsu. Who let's be honest, also has something DEEPLY wrong with him. ( A sky with no guardians? When that's what they DO?! Something is wrong with him on a literal soul deep level.) But he just acts like a mildly eccentric goofy guy, who otherwise is Normal™. So Nana gets attached to him, because she sees something similar in him. And she ignores anything pretty obviously WRONG because well, it's not REAL is it? She's just seeing things again. Plus of course Iemeitsu can't act Normal™ all the time, SHE struggles with that and that's something else she feels they have in common. (Very much modeling the fact that neurodivergent people tend to gravitate towards each other, and ignore stuff that's 'not normal', because for them normal isn't a thing that exists.)

And then they have Tsuna. An insanely powerful Sky child (I think there's mention of him possibly being the future sky acrobaleno at some point? Might just be fanon tho) who from a pretty young age has Hyper-Intuition.

Nana probably assumes her son has inherited her problems regarding seeing non-existent things. She probably ignores the general weirdness of Iemeitsu bringing his boss home and her son changing entirely after the visit, because she can't figure out a logical reason for Tsuna to change, so OBVIOUSLY there can't be anything wrong there, he's just going through a growth spurt!

Tsuna gets bullied in school? Well, so did Nana growing up. The fact the teachers are in on it? Not outside her perception of reality, because that's just how people treat those who are different, who can't 'Act Normal ™'. The problem of course here is that this behavior was Normal™. She was gaslit into believing this was expected and tacitly encouraged by society.

But, there's that little part that's still a mother, and doesn't understand WHY people act like this, and SURELY it's NOT Normal™ for people to treat her son like this!? It can't be reality! Right?! So obviously it's something ELSE her brain is making up, so something she should ignore entirely!

It would take ..... A LOT to have her come to terms with the fact that all that stuff she was convinced wasn't really happening, and just something else her brain was lying to her about, is actually reality. She's closed herself into a teeny tiny box of what she considers reality and anything outside of that obviously ISN'T.

ohoho now this is an interesting take on Nana that I've never seen before and it's so fucking cool

[coreene]

It's the 1 year anniversary of Lorelei's Journal! I can't believe it's been a year since I've started sharing this thing. When I started I had no idea it was going to take me this long to write it, nor have I thought how long it was going to be.

It currently has 194k words and 45 chapters! I have made it to act 3 but act 3, as we all know it, is an overwhelming chaotic mess but, I am determined to write it in a way that it can make some sort of sense.

I do plan to end it at 60 chapters which coincides to 60 in-game days, as each chapter is a day. Depending on the things™, it might get a little bit longer - we're gonna see what happens!

For those that do not know Lorelei's Journal is a rewrite of the game in journaling format and uses 1st Person POV. The main romantic pairing is Astarion x Fem!Tav and Lorelei is a half-elf rogue.

Act 1&2 are written from her POV, Astarion starts writing in act 3 alongside her. But I also have a series with one-shots, written from Astarion's POV (mostly 1st person).

And a post-game (non-canon) fluff series written for the Winter Fluffle of 2023.

This is not all I've done for this series however. I've also made a calendar and marked the events that has happened in the fic (and by extension the game) so far!

The Calendar of Harptos is the calendar used in the game and more info can be found in this post.

Now, if I move onto the OCs:

This is Lorelei (Tav)

Her name comes from the song Lorelei by Theatre of Tragedy. I haven't checked it very recently but if my memory serves me correctly, it is also the name of sirens in germanic mythology. (I also like the song Lorelei from Scorpions)

Her guardian (and also her old flame) Athedrin

I've created his name using the information I've linked in this post. It comes from mixing "tath" and "drin" which mean "blue, midnight, night" and "rogue, stealer" respectively. I like to think his name would mean "Midnight rogue"

And lastly, Lorelei's unfinished family tree (slight spoilers):

This one has a few spoilers but I doubt many people who decides to read this will make it this far on the post (or will actually read the fic). And it is also still a wip so the names and descriptions I haven't used in the fic might change.

My plan for its second year is finish up and hopefully start on the following stories I have been turning in my head for the past year.

Thank you everyone for reading this far, thank you everyone who liked, reblogged, kudoed, left a comment and was with me on this journey one-way or the other!

[erithel]

Piggybacking off of your response to the previous ask, man can I just say what an utter clusterfuck the whole "gone" situation was follower-wise... i'm gonna make this about me so sorry about that, however i'm the kind of person that can't really articulate their thoughts, can't see through the layers as clearly as others and when people post a thoughtful analysis that reflects my feelings about the fic while the best thing I can come up with is something like "wow, fic good❤️" (which yeah I know is still fine but anyway) it makes me feel so much better because what is trapped in my head is articulated as I wanted to express it... that being said, seeing you explore ptsd and lance's grief like this stirred smth in me, I cried at times, so I was very excited to see people in your asks sharing their thoughts and all... And then they didn't seem to care so much about it (not all of them obvs) and at first it was like "hahah yeah.. we all want them to kiss xd lol" but then seeing you post about how people would essentially flood your asks for klance to KISS ALREADY™ plus with other general stuff... Idk if it was frustrating for me I can't even begin to imagine how it was for you, because this is like.. still a story, just in comic form, so yes it has an arc it need to complete. We could see the episode count from the beginning too if I remember correctly, so being so insistent about it was weird? Either way, it was a story and it was getting somewhere and spamming about when your ship will be canon is kind of annoying. So sorry this happened to you and so happy you pushed through! I binge it on the regular!

I feel like I could do a Ted Talk on the etiquette of commenting at this point, through my own experience, and also reading comments my friends have received on their work.

But essentially what it boils down to is two things:

Creators put a lot of work into their stories, and

They choose to write stories their way

The way that I write fan content (both fics and comics) is because these stories and these subjects are important to me. Some of them are very personal, too. And I know I am not the only creator who chooses to write this way.

Obviously the way I reacted to the "just kiss already" comments may have seemed like an overreaction from the outside (I thank you for being understanding in your ask btw).

But the message those constant comments were sending was a very clear one of:

All the thought/time/work you put into this story does not matter

Everyone who ever told you to "just get over it" was right

Grief can be a very physical and powerful thing.

Losing someone you love leaves you with this excess of love and affection that now has no where to go. You used to have a place to direct it, and when that place is suddenly gone, it takes a while to learn how to function again; to redistribute that love.

It's something that never goes away, it just gets manageable. And it's definitely not something you can "just get over."

I'm not saying I'm the greatest storyteller of all time, but I was tired of reading books and watching movies and shows where the characters never felt the aftermath of a loss. They all just moved onto the next episode or the next chapter like nothing ever happened.

And I do think it's important to tell stories like this in fanfiction. Because many readers are younger. Many readers rely on reading fanfiction because it's free. Many readers need hope and catharsis. And getting to read about their favorite characters go through terrible things but realistically come out on the other side is, to me, very important. Because the stories we read - no matter if they are free or published works - can stick with us for the rest of our lives.

This is why it was such a big deal for me. Because I was trying to tell a story that said "Please take your time to get over things. Please know that it's okay if you don't immediately snap back to the way things were. Please know that it's okay to feel whatever it is you are feeling." And getting comment after comment that said the exact opposite was honestly just crushing.

I would take a "wow, fic good" comment any day. Because it acknowledges what has been done, instead of demands things to speed up to suit someone else's needs.

And, on a slightly more petty note... it was a klance fan comic. It's not like they weren't going to kiss. They just weren't going to do it in the middle of an argument where it wouldn't have stuck!

(I do also think it's funny that there's a perfect comic example of a kiss happening too early, before communication which happened right around the same time as Gone. And for the record, she's gotten way more and way worse comments than I did, so that's something worth mentioning, too.)

The point is that some stories are very personal to the author and very important to certain members of the audience. Of course no single story will be for everyone, but just because it is not going a certain way does not mean it's okay to demand it be changed.

[spirk-trek]

I would love to hear your thoughts on kirk's backstory and what happened on tarsus iv, I feel like I've read so many conflicting takes on here and none of them actually match up with the episode (conscience of the king)

Hi anon! The way you worded this makes me think you were just looking for information and not a fic request. Forgive me if I was wrong!! 😅

I think the reason there are so many conflicting ideas is because of how vague it is in canon itself (which is cool, leaves a lot of room for interpretation). Because of this, when I recently wrote a thing about Tarsus IV I also struggled with "research" for it. Here's what I came up with:

!!! Disclaimer! I am not declaring any of this the One True Canon™! This is just my interpretation/speculation based on existing lore !!!

To me, it makes most sense for Jim to be sent to Tarsus IV with his mother, and for her to be a civilian scientist/researcher of some kind. I find it very hard to believe the massacre could have taken place if Starfleet were present, which would include George Kirk, Jim's father. George is said to have been absent often due to his work (SNW), so it wouldn’t be strange for him to be separated from his family (this is also just normal in Star Trek in general, i.e. Sulu [AOS] and like… everyone with children in TNG).

A more recent Trek book called Drastic Measures seems to back this exact idea up (depends who you ask which novels are canon, and this book was written for Discovery so take it with a grain of salt).

Sam would, in the TOS timeline, be 10 years older than Jim (~23). That would make it unlikely he'd be tailing after his mother to remote colonies. It's much more likely he was concerned with his own career/family/life.

So, in summary of those points, I think it was just Jim and Winona. Jim is between 12 and 14 years old, and his mother was a civilian researcher (the novel I mentioned earlier made her a xenobiologist, probably for plot reasons).

Something I do see exaggerated sometimes is the method of killing in the massacre. An antimatter chamber appears to be what was used, similar to A Taste of Armageddon, so it would not have been mass carnage or a big dramatic fight in the end. Just... zap. 

SPOCK: "He was certainly among the most ruthless, to decide arbitrarily who would survive and who would not [...] and then to implement his decision without mercy. Children watching their parents die. Whole families, destroyed. Over four thousand people. They died quickly, without pain, but they died.”

However, these are also quotes from the episode, so I can see why people might think the massacre itself was more violent: 

- JIM: “Four thousand people were needlessly butchered.” - LEIGHTON: “I remember him. That voice. The bloody thing he did.”  - JIM: “Are you sure you didn't act this role out in front of a captive audience whom you blasted out of existence without mercy?” - KARIDIAN/KODOS: “Murder, flight, suicide, madness. I never wanted the blood on my hands ever to stain you.” 

There was a revolution of some kind, probably brought about by people easily radicalized out of hunger and desperation.

- KARIDIAN/KODOS: [reading] "The revolution is successful…” - SPOCK: “There were over eight thousand colonists and virtually no food. And that was when Governor Kodos seized full power and declared emergency martial law.”

If Kodos already had his ideas about eugenics, which it sounds like he did, he would have seized this as an opportunity. This would make him an even more solid comparison to Hitler, which they were definitely going for to at least some extent (this was written two decades after WWII which many involved in the making of star trek were deeply affected by if not veterans themselves).

Because of the above quotes, I also think there’s merit to the idea of there being multiple formal executions where Kodos gave his infamous “speech” each time rather than just once (this would be another reason Jim would remember it enough to write it down), rather than one massive execution of 4,000 people. However, this quote could be interpreted to mean the opposite:

SPOCK: “Kodos began to separate the colonists. Some would live, be rationed whatever food was left; The remainder would be immediately put to death.”

Arguably, the even more traumatic suffering would be the period of starvation and upheaval leading up to the massacre. To me, a 3-6 month period of slowly worsening starvation as the food supply shrank and shrank to nothing would make the most sense.

One aspect I don't quite get is that Kodos's body was supposed to have been "burned beyond recognition.” Since we know from Conscience of the King his death was staged, then this fake death can’t have been pulled off in the midst of Starfleet intervention upon arrival (they would have taken him into custody to stand trial rather than kill him on sight anyway). Burning yourself to death is a highly unusual form of suicide, so I’m not sure if that’s supposed to allude to him being fake killed in the carnage following the execution when the people didn't react the way he wanted or expected? My only theory is that there was unrest and rioting for the period of time between the massacre and Starfleet arriving with relief, and he used that to fake his death once he knew he would be put on trial.

Anyway, this is super long so I'll cut myself off there. Hope that answered your question, sorry for being crazy! If anyone has anything to add, please do!

[ranna-alga]

I think about this conversation between Ellie and Tommy in TLOU2 a lot, particularly this line, because what if it was Ellie that died instead of Joel?

(Disclaimer: this text will make absolutely zero sense probably since I put very little thought into it and there are likely some plot holes. You can choose to dislike it or not but this is all hypothetical so let me have my depressingly whimsical wonders here)

Imagine it this way: Joel's death scene pretty much plays out the same way as it does canonically, except that the roles are reversed: Joel is the one who is pinned down and forced to watch Ellie be brutally murdered in front of him. Perhaps, in whatever way, Abby's group discover that she's The Immune Girl™ that Joel killed almost the entire Saint Mary's hospital for - the reason why Abby's father was murdered. If she's here, and is still as close with Joel as Abby may assume, then he couldn't be that far (say that members of the group saw Joel and Ellie moving together for a while before taking separate directions for whatever reason or something). The plan was to originally kill Joel, but Abby can't help but think: why do they get to live a picture-perfect life with each other as father and daughter, when he was the one who robbed me and my actual father of that life and she was the reason my father was in that position in the first place? How can he commit the sin and live without consequence after? Knowing that Joel would be looking for Ellie, the attack on her would start and continue even when Joel finds her and is made to watch - a sort of 'you took away the thing I cared about the most in this world, so now I will do the same to you and make you feel the pain I felt' message to Joel from Abby.

This would have been the second time he watched his daughter die. The second time he lost the one thing he lived for. The second time he's failed - as a protector, as a survivor, as a father. He had only four years with her, two of which was lost due to her anger towards him for what he did at Salt Lake City. And only the night before her murder did she confide in him about possible forgiveness, only for that to be taken from him? For her to be taken from him? After everything he did for her to ensure her safety, even if it meant the cost of her trust in him. Every part of him that died alongside Sarah was brought back to life slowly but surely thanks to this girl who stole his heart in only one year after two decades of being an empty shell of violence and resentment towards the world and himself.

His biggest fear came true - losing Ellie, failing her too - and it happened right in front of his eyes, just like Sarah.

Remember when it was heavily implied that both Tommy and Joel had a very violent and vicious past during the early years of the apocalypse where they were their darkest selves? Joel would have likely reverted back to that in this scenario. Absolutely nobody in Seattle will be safe. That man would turn that militarised city into a fucking ghost town, no doubt about it.

As for Tommy... Would he have been the same? Would he also want vengeance for Ellie as much as Joel did? Or would the pain of having another niece die + watching his brother descend into bloodlust and resentment again be simply too much to bare? Could he tolerate losing his brother and not get him back this time ever again?

It took twenty years after Sarah's death to find solace in life thanks to Ellie. He can't wait another twenty for another one - he can never go back, never again. He failed to save the lives of those he cared for (Sarah, Tess, Sam/Henry) and he feared the same for Ellie. But at least they made it into Jackson, their new home, alive and safe. But now? What more does he have to live for? How much more stronger would his self-hatred become for failing again and again and again where he can no longer see the light Ellie brought to him?

Knowing now that the surgeon he killed was Abby's father, he probably thinks it was an error to kill him instead of just knocking him out so that this WLF ambush costing Ellie's life wouldn't happen. But one thing he's certain he doesn't regret? Dooming humanity of a cure, because taking both of his daughters away from him proved Joel's decision to save Ellie from the Fireflies: to him, humanity didn't deserve to be saved, not anymore.

TLDR; I may be aromantic asexual but I'm still a proud Joel Miller simp who loves the thought of Joel in the bloody Santa Barbara appearance Ellie had in the canon TLOU2. No shame.

[siriusblack-the-third]

Headcanons for Sirius black?

YES YOU CAN HAVE THEM

Smart. Like, really fucking smart.

Has silver eyes. Not grey. It's the brightest hue of silver you have ever seen, and he has this habit of staring straight into your eyes that makes him absolutely terrifying.

Intimidating as fuck. He's six foot four and built like a fucking tank, and has the most intense Resting Bitch Face™ ever. People literally scramble to get out of his way when he's walking down a corridor.

French. I know I've posted about Indian Black Family, but I have a soft spot for French Sirius.

Has the best poker face ever. The only time you will see him fazed is when James is hurt, insulted, or in danger. The whole school learnt very quickly (as early as the marauders' second year, in fact) that going after James is a Bad Idea™. Sirius could and would kill them slowly and painfully if they dared.

Gets annoyed easily, but almost never gets angry. He's scared of his own anger, because it's so similar to his mother, and the only times he has ever gotten truly angry was once when he saw Regulus being tortured by Walburga and the second time at Peter on the Samhain of 1981.

The exact opposite of reckless. Contrary to popular belief, he hates jumping into situations before thinking shit through, and has stopped James from making impulsive decisions way too many times to count. Even when people think he's being reckless, he knows exactly what the fuck he's doing, what the consequences are going to be, and how to deal with said consequences.

Wears black and emerald green the most, but also likes sea/sapphire blue shades. Surprisingly, he hates wearing red, because the colour reminds him of the deep red velvet drapes and cushions in Walburga's room.

Plays the violin, and enjoys it. He's good at it, too. At Hogwarts, people will form a silent gathering in the common room to listen to him as he plays in his empty dorm. It's become a thing. Everyone thinks Sirius doesn't know,but James told him the first time it happened. Sometimes, he plays on the first day of school after the summer, winter or Easter holidays, as a form of comfort to the children who don't really feel at home in their own houses.

Absurdly competent. He's outstanding at everything, even if he doesn't work at it— one of those people who don't need to work to get excellent results. James is the same, and it annoys the fuck out of Remus and Peter, but they help everyone out with schoolwork a lot so nobody actually has too many negative feelings about it (ahem- except for one Severus Snape)

N E R D. Seriously. Will talk nerdy shit with James for hours on end, because both of them are Nerds™. I will die on the hill of Nerd!Sirius Black, and your opinion is invalid if it's not the same as mine bc my opinion is actually canon I don't make the rules.

Long, wavy hair. He had short hair up until the end of fourth year, but then puberty hit and he realised long hair went better with his developing features. Makes him look so much like his grandfather that he has been mistaken for Arcturus several times.

School heartthrob, but didn't actually date anyone/have sex with anyone in school. He found out he was on the ace spectrum in fifth year because asked James to kiss him. He liked it, but the thought of going further didn't excite him like he thought it would. So he asked Marlene, and the outcome was the same.

Biromantic. Sex positive asexual.

No man at Hogwarts is straight, simply because of him. He's ridiculously handsome, and has people fawning over him and falling over these to get into his good books. Unfortunately for them, Sirius knows the names of like seven people out of the four thousand students that attend Hogwarts during his school career, and can't be bothered to remember the names or features of the rest of them.

Rude but polite, if ykwim? Gets called mean a lot, but argues that rudeness is not the same as mean. Rude is when you can't be bothered with pleasantries, he says, and mean is when you're cruel just for the sake of being cruel.

Him not being mean does not negate the fact that his cruel streak is wider and deeper than the Grand motherfucking Canyon. He has a particular talent for weeding out your insecurities, and will not hesitate to use them against you if you piss him off too much.

Prefers verbal sparring rather than a duel, but any fight he gets into, he wins. He has both intelligent quips and powerful magic up his sleeves and he will use them to his advantage if need be.

Absolutely loves mint dark chocolate, for some odd fucking reason. James and Peter always give him shit for it, and he always laughs in their faces before taking an even bigger bite out of the bar.

Nobody knows how many languages he speaks. So far, people have heard him speak English, French, Ancient Greek, Old Norse, Gaelic, Latin and Italian. James gets asked the question "how many languages does your best mate speak?" and he breaks into silly giggles. Refuses to tell the answer, says he likes to keep people on their toes. (Sirius speaks nine languages.)

Wears eyeliner sometimes. It's bold and winged and perfectly done, and has caused multiple fainting incidents because of the way it makes his silver eyes stand out even more than they already do. He says it makes him feel powerful when his eyeliner is perfect, and James answers that he is more than powerful enough, he doesn't need any more.

[groovebunker]

Since you gave me Fran, I’ll bless you with CC ;)

you angel.

it's time for eliott to have Thoughts™ about cc babcock. nothing new here.

how i feel about this character

my g-d, where do i fucking start. i love her. it was not my intention to love her bc, let's face it, she's kind of a bitch to my girl fran fine but we're here now. that is my sweet, autistic angel cc babcock, i remain the ringleader of the cc babcock defense squad, i just...

she was done horrendously dirty by the canon (and by the writing and, lovingly, by fran drescher's intense need to be the funniest and prettiest woman in the room) and i just wish we could have seen her as a more well rounded character. even a more well rounded villain!

also important: she's a dyke and she's a domme and i will not take any notes on either of those.

all the people i ship romantically with this character

francine joy fine. that's it, that's the list.

the way lauren plays cc is so fucking homosexual, it's unreal, the way she looks at fran (especially in the first few seasons) is so full of patently lesbian pining that i do not know what to do with myself. i love them, your honour. they would make each other so much better.

my non-romantic otp for this character

yetta & cc, my brotp of all time. imagine them on the terrace with their cigarettes and coffee, bad mouthing everyone else. just imagine it.

my unpopular opinion about this character

i guess that she's a lesbian? idk. or maybe that i see her as autistic coded, people somewhere probably don't like that but alas, that's my emotional support lesbian who's never been normal about a human emotion in her life.

one thing i wish had happened with this character in canon

i wish we'd seen mom!cc so bad, so basically, I guess i wish we'd seen what happens in la. i want to know how she deals with a baby and how she deals with her lavender marriage (or lack thereof - danny and lauren both think they got divorced almost immediately).

i also wish that post-paris, she and fran had been friends - i hated how long they dragged out the pointless rivalry for.

[hiding-in-the-vault]

I would love to know more about the cave au. Why are the cave more dangerous now? Who's death Dream managed to get safety for bringing them back?

And because I'm a huge fantasy dwarves and fallen london fan : how did the architecture change? Is it safe to build underground or is everyone nomadic now? How is the food situation?

Long post oh boy!

The cave au is kinda like taking Dream's original mention of a "world altering event" and making it very literal. In minecraft terms, I'd describe it like the cave and cliff update installed overnight except on amplified mode. All of this is because there is so much imbalance™, that's the overworld is behaving erratically.

Most of the shifting already occurred underground by the time they noticed something was wrong. But things shifted a looott to the point where what they had explored had been altered or displaced, and what now expands below dwarfs their existing tunnels in comparison. So to answer the first question, it's essentially uncharted, for one. For two, the mobs are acting as unpredictable as the earth is, swarming the tunnels en masse. But more importantly, the longer theyre down there, the longer this goes on, the more the mobs get altered themselves. (which originally was so i can say hey more things glow now :) pretty!) But now, we're talking like massive spiders in every classic work of fantasy. I'm mulling over introducing new things here too, for flavor. (like those mods with the huge centipedes ughuhg) Maybe a warden or two gets displaced and starts wandering the tunnels, who knows! On that note, sculk is probably on the rise as well and they need to be careful about keeping it from getting too close.

As for who dies-- ngl, I haven't decided 100%. For what it's worth, this is only the First death, not the only one. I've been thinking one of the teens, as they seem most likely to wander too out from camp and get Got by something. First I thought Tubbo, but I don't really want Tommy to have to ask Dream to bring him back. (not like he'd do it alone- the entire group wants to avoid casualties) Then I thought Tommy, but discduo can't hog limbo forever, right, we've been there and seen that! My desire to not repeat things that already happened in canon vs whatever actually feels most likely, FIGHT!!

I haven't put too much thought into generated structures yet, like the dungeons or ancient cities, but I would like there to be some change there as well. It'd be coooool. (shaking your hand, i loove dwarven architecture) The walls of the caverns themselves often have a stretched feel about them. A looot of stalactite and stalagmites, on massive scales. I'd say it is safe enough to build, once they find a place that feels fitting- a cavern big enough for them but not too big that they'll have to share it. Water, nutrient rich dirt, existing vegetation preferred, etc etc. But even then, the caves do still shift on occasion. Basically earthquakes that will require them to do some repairs and plan structures around, but it's possible! They think, anyway :D

And finally food. They go in prepared the best they can. A lot of them has massive farms and lots of animals, ofc. They can't drag too many animals into the caves with them, but they prepared as much food as they could before going on, with intentions to start new farms once they settle down. Lots of potatoes, yay for Dream! And Some the underground lakes have a surprising about of fish in them. In all the uproar above ground, there was a lot of flooding, but many of those bodies of water pooled underground as well, taking the fish with them. This becomes a bit more reliable as time passes as well, as the fish adapt.

I'm kinda rolling with mobs very short life cycles and using that to explain why they change so much faster. Also Magic™

[lithreeum]

WHATS UP FUCKERS I'M HERE TO SHARE WITH YOU MY LATEST CAFFEINE FUELED BRAINCHILD:

THE PROJECT MOON AU WHERE NOTHING BAD EVER HAPPENS EVER (and also some of them are college students (and none of this is well thought out at all please help me))™

You know how Fate has that one cooking spinoff where nobody kills anybody and they just hang around and have dinner?

This is that. For PM fans. Roland is canonically a good cook and a foodie. It could happen. PM please make it happen I just want my goobers to be happy and untraumatized.

Anyways, with that rambling done, let me ramble about these four fuckers and what they're up to.

So, the setting's a fancy college where rich people go to. Angelica is there on academic scholarship; Argalia has a music scholarship; Roland's there because his adopted mom Iori is a lecturer there so the tuition's cheaper; Angela's there because Ayin and Benjamin are fuck you rich and spoils her to high heavens.

Argalia's and Angela are both music majors, Angelica's in engineering, and Roland's in culinary. Roland and Angelica are 2nd years, Argalia and Angela are 3rd years.

Roland's known Angela since forever ago because they were in the same orphanage. Argalia and Angelica are siblings. Here's baby roland on adoption day I drew while writing this because I have no self control.

Where was I? Oh right. So, Roland gets adopted by Iori; Angela gets adopted by Ayin and Benji. Angela calls Ayin Dad and Benjamin Gramps because he has grey hair, the two got to some hijinks in their high school years, they remained friends to present day.

Back to the main four. So, first year, Angelica and Roland meet on campus one day on some meet cute shit. Then it turns out Iori is Angelica's Host family while she's studying here. Romcom shenanigans happen, Argalia's the overprotective brother, Angela's the resident wingman/shipmaker/popcorn eater/"just kiss already" yeller, Roland cooks/awkwardly flirts, Angelica gifts Roland a knife she made for his adoption day, it's great. Eventually A Fritter Called Jeon happens and they start dating and more romcom ensues.

That is everything my stupid little monkey brain can semi-coherently conjure up since the rest are just incoherent snippets of tangentially related information and cute funny things these goobers can get up to. Among which include:

The Asiyah and Briah Sephira are Angela's circle of friends that met in high school, they all go into their respective fields from LoR. Geb does sports. Maybe Yesod and Angelica know each other from engineering competitions or something.

Binah's a CIA agent that knows way too many people, because of course she does.

Yan and Gloria are taking Theology studies, Esther and Hubert are post-grads/professor assistants, they become friends somewhat, Moirai's a professor there.

Blue Reverbs are all music majors that hang out with Argalia and Angela, they take bets on which one snaps and kills the other first. Oswald bets on hate sex. Tanya bets that the two of them would kill someone together.

Charles' Office are Roland's group of friends back from back in High School, Olivier went on to become a civil servant, I do not know what the fuck the rest are up to, we'll see when they show up in Limbus.

Speaking of Limbus, the Limbus gang are all in...I don't know what you english speaking fuckers call "school clubs but in college", I know a word exists for it, but I'm blanking. They're all in one of those. Rodya started it and roped them all in. Vergilius and Dante are their advisors. They go around and survey the socioeconomic state of the country in various locales and write reports about it (read: Rodya found a way to get them all free vacation and they all took it)

Angelica' physically very strong, she does martial arts, and she gets Roland into martial arts, but whenever they "spar" they just end up a blushing pile of goo that's too embarrassed to grapple their crush. They have good fun though.

Argalia keeps trying to split Angelica and Roland apart but he doesn't actually try since he's seen how happy she gets when she talks about him.

[deathbyoctopi]

Feeling itchy to write a yi city AU in which Xue Yang gets sloppy and unintentionally starts giving away details -his voice slips back to its original register, he mentions something from his past, xxc squeezes his left hand while they’re busy in bed...

At first he’s all tense and defensive every time that happens, because fuck, his cover is blown, but no reaction comes from Xiao xingchen. every time he’s careless and lets something slip, no reaction. Daozhang isn’t stupid: he ought to have noticed a few, if not one, of those very incriminating pieces of evidence. 

So of course xy reaches the conclusion that daozhang is purposefully looking the other way (pffff) and that that he knows who Xue Yang is, but for the sake of their peaceful coexistence, he’s decided to let the past go and start anew. No need to bring the past up, no need to upset the established order, just keep living together as is. 

And THREE YEARS go by like this. Xue Yang isn’t even pretending anymore, he just never uses his name out of habit. And then one day they’re walking at the market and he lets out an offhand comment like “This potato seller, he wouldn’t be so smug and pricey if I trashed his stall” and xxc’s all like Don’t trash stalls, it’s not Right™ And Xue Yang says “Why not? That’s how I met you!” 

Cue a monumental scene they are doing in the middle of the market, yelling at each other because yes, Xiao Xingchen was that dumb that he had NO IDEA it was him, all like “Xue Yang!! You’ve deceived me!” and xy being so fucking confused like “I though we were on the same page!! We’ve been married for THREE YEARS!!!” and both just screaming “I thought I knew you!!” over and over.

---They make up eventually, have an nice roll in the sheets about it, and tell all about it to a-Qing. She had inferred most of it from what Xue Yang had been telling, since he wasn’t hiding much anyways, and she’s in fact Very much supportive to give high and mighty clans hell for abusing the poor. 

Hehehe, even if I don’t write it, I’m deciding THIS is the prequel setup for my fic Phantom Threat, where Song Lan gets to Yi City and does what he should have done in canon, which was making a beeline for Xingchen and tell him the ugly truth. Except here, xxc already knows (and Song-daozhang doesn’t take it well, exactly...) 

------

14/9/23 EDIT: Fuck it, we did it, we WROTE IT!!! >w<

https://archiveofourown.org/works/49890853 

[punks-never-die205]

How do you think Kid and Killer would react if their someone tells them she's pregnant? Would they want to keep it and raise it on the Victoria Punk? 👶🏻

As someone who never wanted kids, and never had any, I have to admit I don't often give scenarios like this too much thought, but!

In Universe I think they'd want to raise it on the ship. I think they'd talk about maybe having their S/O and kid stay at a base (once one was established), but I don't think they'd leave them unattended for long. Given their history, I feel like both would feel that they could more effectively protect both mom and baby directly.

Plus, I would assume, their S/O would be a capable pirate in their own right, to have been on the ship to begin with xD

I feel like Kid would hit every emotion known to man in short succession. In the end he would be okay, but like, this man raised himself canonically. Sure he had Killer by his side after a few years, but there's no hint of family for Kid.

I actually head canon the reason he's called Eustass Kid is because the villagers would grumble "Useless Kid" at him and he just ran with it. Growing up on an island that cared just enough he didn't starve to death doesn't really help someone be a dad later on.

Balanced against that though, is the super strong found family vibes of the entire crew. A collection of the misfits of misfits, working together harmoniously on a ship together. I feel like any child raised on the ship would be a collective effort.

No one would use labels like mom or dad, cause most of these people don't have positive connotations with those titles. Neutral at the best, I imagine.

That's the best I got, my mind went down a rabbit hole of story ideas, and I kind of spaced out and chased it for a few minutes XD but it'd be an interesting look at things.

In an AU though, I think Kid would make a good dad. He seems like the type to not be interested, and he probably says he doesn't want kids, but you can see him getting along with the city kids for starters, and I think if it happened despite any best practices to avoid it, he'd embrace the whole deal.

And Killer for sure. OG world or AU, I think he'd be 100% on board to be there for someone from the start. Killer just strikes me as no explanation needed good at Dad™