#choices library

[leiatalon]

The Eternal Library: a Romantasy Retelling IF (WIP)

What if Cinderella and the prince grew up together?

What if the king was the evil one?

What if the missing piece wasn’t a glass slipper, but ancient memories buried in your soul?

Fight for forbidden love in a cruel kingdom and forge alliances with the heir to the crown.

Buried beneath the sprawling castle at the heart of Minare is a room most think is legend: the Library of Souls. As a member of the royal cleaning staff—and one with Fae-blood—sneaking into the Eternal Library is a dangerous idea, but you risk it for a ritual that gives you the skills of your warrior ancestor and a mission that spans lifetimes.

Destiny calls your warrior spirit to wake.

Assassins are infiltrating the castle.

The kingdom is ripe for change, and it needs your help.

Your soul has waited lifetimes for the chance to put things right.

Now, it’s time.

Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, bi; asexual; monogamous or polyamorous.

Romance or befriend a scholarly prince, a down-to-earth princess, a scarred soldier, a soft-spoken spy, a sweet-hearted maid, or a Fae warrior-mage. 3 male and 3 female ROs: Romance character descriptions.

This is a SLOW BURN ROMANCE. Optional explicit scenes will be offered at the end of the game, but it’ll be a while before we get to those. Enjoy the secret glances and deep yearning until then. ❤️

This is a standalone story set in the same world as Their Majesties’ Pleasure and Ink and Intrigue. You do not need to have played either of those games to enjoy this one.

Public demo wordcount: 95,000 Patreon demo wordcount: 95,000 (update coming soon!)

Play the ETERNAL LIBRARY DEMO for Free!

Join the conversation on the CoG forum thread.

Subscribe to my Patreon for bonus scenes, worldbuilding secrets, and early access to demo updates! 👑

[cent-scratchnsniff]

hoptal

[bookwyrminspiration]

if I asked very nicely would you all be willing to take a one minute anonymous survey for my linguistics class. if the answer is yes, please click here. thanks :)

(sharing for a better response size would also be very appreciated)

[soniclibraryooc]

This is how you drive an entire discord server insane

[perpetuallyconfuzzled]

you bet your ass Starscream was still a menace to society even before the civil war and Skyfire, owner of their only functioning megabyte, somehow kept finding himself with the same expanding criminal record as Starscream.

[lewkwoodnco]

no one’s ever had me (not like you) - anthony lockwood x reader

A day in the life of dating Anthony Lockwood

“Tell me about the first time you saw me.”

“Again?”

She nodded, drawing the blanket up to her chin as she pressed herself flush against his side as if any distance between them was simply too much. His arm settled comfortably across her shoulders, his fingers lazily tracing shapes on her skin, just underneath her sleeve. There was quiet, for a moment, as they took a second to just breathe together.

“Hmm. Let’s see. It was…November, was it?”

She gave him a playful dig in the ribs. “May, as you perfectly well know.”

“Ah, yes. May. Spring. The flowers smelled lovely.” He dipped his head, briefly pressing his lips against her skittering pulse, murmuring against the warm skin of her throat. “Or maybe it was you, smelling so sweet.”

a/n - the gif is only a tad bit misleading but I just feel like it fits the vibes so well 🥰🥰 this so high school fic was rlly very importu I thought it would just be a snippet hehehe but enjoy some cosy fluffy vibes! As always disclaimer this is a slightly aged up lockwood

tropes/warnings - domestic sillyness, fluff fluff fluff, one veryyy mild description of physical intimacy

word count - 2.1k!

MASTERLIST | TAGLIST

By the time they had arrived at the site of the psychical investigation, Lockwood was well aware that they were rather late. Still, he was sure that they had made it just in time to meet a special someone. He anxiously weeded through the crowds of agents milling about. She couldn’t have left before they arrived, could she?

His answer came in the form of two very cold (due to poor circulation, as Lockwood was well aware of) hands covering his eyes from behind. “Guess who.”

“The world’s worst serial killer?”

The hands slipped away as he turned, coming face to face with a familiar grin.

“Close.” 

Lockwood pulled her into a hug, the first after far too long. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her cheek against his. “You’re late.”

His arms tightened around her, and she squeezed back just as hard. His voice came out exaggeratedly pained. “You’re always pointing out my flaws.”

“What I mean is, you’re very late. I have to go now.”

He sucked in a breath sharply and his hold loosened as he pulled away to look at her face, a dismayed expression marring his features. “Already? I just got here.”

She glanced at her wristwatch. “I was supposed to have left five minutes ago, actually. One of the benefits of punctuality, you might find, is spending more time with your intelligent, highly capable, and hence increasingly busy, g-“

“I’ll come earlier tomorrow,” Lockwood promised earnestly.

She snorted. “Lockwood, you’ve never been on time a day in your life.” 

“What about dinner on Friday?” He asked desperately. “Did your time off get approved?”

She sighed and shook her head. “I’m sorry.” Lockwood was starting to look majorly ticked off.

“This is ridiculous. Disrespectful, even. They work you like a dog, pay you peanuts, refuse to let you off for oneni-“

She tugged at the lapels of his coat until his forehead was touching hers. They only had seconds before she would be really too late, and she didn’t want to waste them arguing. Lockwood sighed wearily as his anger dissipated, loosely holding one of her wrists.

“You’re adorable when you’re worked up,” she started, once he looked sufficiently cooled off. He grudgingly pulled back to meet her gaze, distractedly running a thumb along her vein. She made to leave, but Lockwood refused to let go of her wrist, reeling her in one more time.

“Are you sure you still can’t sneak off?” He whispered. “George’s making ghormeh sabzi.”

She shook her head. “It’s field work. Can’t get out of it.”

“He’s going to be very upset when he hears that. He’s been looking forward to feeding you ghormeh sabzi all week, and he’s a busy man.”

She had a feeling he wasn’t talking about George anymore. She tiptoed as she kissed Lockwood’s nose in apology before he reluctantly let her slip away. She waved at his associates standing a short distance away.

“Bye, Luce. Bye, George. Goodbye, Lockwood.” From the look on his face, she just knew he was going to be melodramatic about this.

“You’re breaking his heart, Y/N!”

Later that week, Lockwood found her in the kitchen with Lucy and Holly, pouring over some paperwork while they enjoyed an afternoon snack. As preoccupied as he was, he didn’t miss the way her eyes lit up as he walked in, not immune to a giddy pulse of surprise himself.

“Hey.”

Lockwood gave a vague sound of acknowledgement, pressing a hurried kiss to the top of her head.

“H’llo. Can’t stay long, I’m afraid,” he said, whisking around the kitchen for a snack, before finally settling for one of the jammy dodgers on the counter. He peered over Lucy’s shoulder, trying to figure out Y/N’s writing upside down.

“What’s that you got there?”

She gave him a wan smile. “Oh, nothing. Just some case reports I need to finish up.”

“Need any help?” Lockwood asked, straightening. “I do those all the time.”

“Thanks, but I’ll be fine. I’ve been doing these since I was a kid.”

Lockwood paused mid-chew, a thin layer of icing sugar dusting his lips. “No, you haven’t. I was the one who taught you how to fill out those forms, remember? When we first started talking?” 

It had been a pretty crucial element in their getting-to-know-each-other phase, in fact. It helped her get her paperwork done correctly and on time, and it gave Lockwood the chance to chat with the pretty agent who glanced his way more often than normal. Now, however, he was feeling none of those warm and bubbly feelings he had come to associate with Y/N, as Lucy and Holly exchanged a meaningful look across the table.

“Hey, hey. What’s going on?”

Y/N busied herself with her forms, mumbling under her breath. Holly shot him a sympathetic look.

“Oh, Lockwood. I thought you knew by now.”

His eyes darted around, stupefied. “Knew what?”

“I knew he didn’t know,” Lucy offered, “for the record.”

“Luce…” Holly looked disapproving.

“It was bloody hilarious. Still is, actually.”

“Will someone tell me,” Lockwood demanded, only somewhat hysterically, “what the hell it is that I’m supposed to know?”

“Lockwood,” she started, awkwardly, “you can’t seriously believe anyone would hire an agent who couldn’t do up a simple case report.”

He looked so crestfallen it was almost funny. He blinked slowly, stunned, as he struggled with his words.

“So…so you let me -?”

“Yes.”

“Even though -“

“Exactly. Speaking of, you’re not very good at writing case reports. I see why you have George do them.”

Lucy choked on her tea badly and Holly started thumping her back. Lockwood took on a very faint tinge of pink, though he pressed on.

“But why?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I liked hearing your voice. Even if it was just you doing a poor job of explaining how to write case reports.”

He looked as though he didn’t quite know what to say to that. She didn’t know either.

“Lockwood,” interrupted Holly, sounding highly peeved between Lucy’s choking and his cluelessness, “I thought you were meeting the Smiths tonight.”

Lockwood’s eyes flicked to the clock near the stove and swore. He nearly pulled a muscle as he tripped over himself rushing out, a hurried goodbye yelled over his shoulder. She watched him run off with an odd wistfulness. In some other life, he spends the rest of the evening with her, laughing, talking, giving her hell for her underhanded flirting tactics. In some other life, they have time for each other.

“You came.” 

When Anthony Lockwood opened 35 Portland Row’s front door to someone incessantly knocking on a chilly Friday night, she was the last person he expected to see. A smile cracked across his face as he swept her up into a half-incredulous hug, his cold nose pressed against her jaw. 

When they disentangled themselves from each other, she could see his eyes shining with that special kind of joy that made her eyes hurt. “Don’t get too excited, now. I got a friend to cover for me tonight but I’ll be in hellish amounts of trouble if anyone finds out I’m gone.”

As they normally did on the rare occasions they were free to spend together, the two of them wandered around joined at the hip for the entire night. Holly, Kipps and the skull had been invited for a movie night in the library, the latter having been thoroughly threatened into behaving somewhat acceptably.

Perhaps the threats would have been better directed at her and Lockwood, though. When they weren’t being very loudly told off for whispering and snickering through the movie (Kipps took his cinematic experiences quite seriously), it was for hogging the popcorn bowl (it was Lockwood’s fault, she’d maintain) or for behaving like an overall nuisance. 

Once the movie finished, they decided to end the night with a game of Scrabble. Given that Lockwood was already starting to nod off, the two of them decided to preside over the game from where they were curled up in an armchair. Eventually, the players called it quits once George and Kipps started yelling abuse at each other over whether or not “klaqi” was a word. 

“Go to bed, you two,” Lucy called out as she crept up towards the attic, the rest of them having turned into their respective rooms and guest rooms. Lockwood yawned, lifting his head from where it had been resting in her shoulder.

“Well. You heard her.”

“Oh, come on. I just got here,” she said, in an amusing mimicry of Lockwood’s words earlier that week. Finally, finally, they had a few moments to themselves, and all he wanted to do was doze off. She had half a mind to shake him awake. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead. Five more minutes?”

Lockwood made an exaggerated show of listening to Lucy’s footsteps as the attic door creaked close. A small smile tugged at his lips as he forced his eyes open. “Five, and that’s it.”

She grinned. “Have I mentioned that my boyfriend is the best person in the whole entire world?”

He rolled his eyes, grumbling. “Yeah, well, don’t think I’ve forgotten about the whole case report lie.” His eyes roamed her face as he softly brushed an eyelash away. “I let you get away with far too much,” he mumbled. 

She impatiently brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes, drinking in the sight of his bedroom eyes. “Tell me about the first time you saw me.”

“Again?”

She nodded, drawing the blanket up to her chin as she pressed herself flush against his side as if any distance between them was simply too much. His arm settled comfortably across her shoulders, his fingers lazily tracing shapes on her skin, just underneath her sleeve. There was quiet, for a moment, as they took a second to just breathe together.

“Hmm. Let’s see. It was…November, was it?”

She gave him a playful dig in the ribs. “May, as you perfectly well know.”

“Ah, yes. May. Spring. The flowers smelled lovely.” He dipped his head, briefly pressing his lips against her skittering pulse, murmuring against the warm skin of her throat. “Or maybe it was you, smelling so sweet.”

She felt her cheeks warm and she turned to bury her face into his shirt. “Shut up,” she whispered not-very-wittily. She felt him smile against her neck before looking up once again, his brow furrowing as he tried to sort through his sleep-fuddled memory.

“So. It was May. You were standing there with your shoelaces untied…wearing a freshly singed jacket. You had this terrible - and I mean terrible - scowl on your face, ‘cause you were getting chewed out by your supervisor,” Lockwood teased as she playfully narrowed her eyes at him. “You looked like you were going to set him on fire next. And all I remember thinking was,” Lockwood threaded the fingers of his other hand into one of hers, “was that I was looking at the prettiest girl in London and that I wanted to talk to her, but I hadn’t the faintest idea how or when.”

She couldn’t help it - her heart skipped a beat every time she heard those words. It fascinated her to no end how someone could love as openly and unabashedly as Lockwood.

“So aren’t you glad about the whole case report lie?”

He threw his head back in a bark of laughter and she watched him carefully, the dim light of the fireplace softening him into something delightfully easy on the eyes. “Yes. I’m very glad about the case report lie.” He raised their interlocked hands and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. “I’m very glad I got to meet you, in case there was ever any doubt.”

They lapsed into a cosy silence, the exhaustion they were holding at bay finally getting the better of them. She felt her eyelids grow heavier as the crackle of the fire’s dying embers lulled them to sleep, Lockwood’s chest feeling wonderfully solid beneath her head.

“You’re sure it was May?”

She peeled her eyes open and, with considerable effort, shifted closer. “I couldn’t forget it even if I wanted to.” She looked up at Lockwood’s face. His eyes were still closed, and with his slow, measured breathing, he looked fast asleep. “Why?”

His words came out in barely a flutter of breath, easy to miss if she didn’t have his heart thumping right below her ear. 

“Could have sworn…I’ve known you forever.”

That night, she slept next to the one person who made her feel so young, so sprightly, so pervious to joy and heartbreak. So full of life and so ready to love. So high school, even.

TAGLIST: @neewtmas @midnight--raine @ahead-fullofdreams @how-to-stuff-and-things @cielooci @mohinithoughts @snoopyluver20 @ell0ra-br3kk3r @elenianag080 @avdiobliss @houseoftwistedspirits @mischivana @dangelnleif @mitskiswift99

[sulasnsleep]

“i have the everlasting tendency to ruin everything i love.”

—fatima aamer bilal, excerpt from moony moonless sky's 'i am an observer, but not by choice.'

[letters-to-lgbt-kids]

My dear lgbt+ kids, 

If you sometimes come across the term “banned books” but don’t really know what it means, here’s a simple little introduction to the topic: 

“Banned books” refers to books that have been censored or removed from libraries, schools, or bookstores due to objections from certain groups or individuals.

When we read that definition, I think a really common and understandable response is: „whoa, okay, these must be really bad books full of dangerous ideas!“… and in some way, that’s true. 

Because, you see, to someone with a homophobic worldview, any book with a gay character is really bad and dangerous. And to a child abuser, any book that educates children on consent is really bad and dangerous. 

Among the top reasons for book bans are lgbt+ content, sexual content (including sexual education or education on sexual abuse), themes of racism and themes like drug use or addiction. Over the years, many books with significant cultural and educational value have faced bans - and this continues to be an issue all around the world, including in the US. 

When books are banned, it restricts the access to information people (including kids and teenagers) need to understand themselves and others. This negatively affects queer people and other marginalized groups (for example people of color or disabled people) but it also impacts everyone else. Diversity in literature enriches our understanding of the diversity of real life. It helps to build empathy, compassion, kindness and understanding. Access to different stories and viewpoints is vital for an inclusive society. 

Censoring queer books in particular also normalizes the message that queer experiences are inappropriate or “dirty” - which, again, is really beneficial to homophobes and transphobes. If it feels safe for them to say that queer books harm children, it paves the way for all other kinds of discrimination and harassment of queer people. 

Now you may think “this all makes sense when it comes to books with gay characters! But didn’t you also mention stuff like sexual abuse and addiction and racism up there? These are indeed bad and dangerous things!” 

I think this is another really common thought. These things happen in real life and it can be uncomfortable to even think about them. But that’s precisely why we need books about those “uncomfortable” topics! 

We may not like the idea that a child hears about racism or abuse - but in a world where kids can experience racism and abuse, they also need to be able to read about racism and abuse. They need to be able to say “this is what’s happening to me and this is not okay”. We need to be able to name bad things when they happen to us or when we witness them happening to others. We need an understanding of and a language for bad things. That’s the only way to fight the bad things. 

Another thought you may have is “Okay, and now what? I don’t have the power to do anything about all this anyway”, and honestly I wouldn’t blame you for that one either. Hearing about book bans (on top of all the other negative stuff we hear about) can feel really depressing. But there are things you can do to push back and help keep diverse stories accessible - even if you are young or have limited resources! 

Some ideas: 

use your public library (many public libraries actively resist censorship and make banned books available!) 

use a digital library (services like Libby and Project Gutenberg offer free access to many books) 

look out for online petitions or letter-writing campaigns by organizations that oppose book bans (for example PEN in America) 

look up if there are any “little free libraries” in your area (free book-sharing box operating on the honor system: anyone can take or leave a book for no cost) 

look up if there are any book swapping events in your area 

take part in reading groups, book clubs etc. (either in person or online) 

And of course the big one: if you can afford to buy books - make a point to buy banned books (or more generally, queer books and books from marginalized authors and books on topics that frequently get banned)! As a starting point, you can find lists of banned books online. Wikipedia has one, for example. 

If you have a bigger budget, you could even buy multiple copies and put some in your local “little free library” or bring them to book-swapping events or gift them to friends etc! (You could also ask your local public library (or school library or prison library or youth center or women’s shelter etc) if they take book donations, but you may want to hold off on buying before they say yes - not all of them can accept donations!).

Happy reading and resisting!

With all my love, 

Your Tumblr Dad 

[ineffably-human]

I do think it's extremely funny that we actually got more implied-canon than I expected in some ways ("you'll always be master to me", that entire bit about the cameras being off, in the coffin together, the human AU obviously, ETA I FORGOT the vampires shipping Gigi and the crew member who looks like Nandor)

and I'm like "yes, obviously there are a million chances for someone to spin off their first kiss, but what about the disrespect of the character arc on the piss and fuck show"

[leiatalon]

DEMO UPDATE AND PROGRESS REPORT:

Can you believe it’s already the end of January? As promised, the public demo of The Eternal Library has been updated to include all of chapter three (now over 65,000 words).

I’m nearly finished with the first draft of chapter four, which will go out to Patreon subscribers for early access once I’ve had a chance to do a read-through and polish it up a bit. I’m hoping to have that ready in a week or so.

I’ve been feeling the ebb and flow of energy this month. As we get into the deep winter up here in Canada, my body craves extra sleep. My days are full and my family is my priority, so some days I have time for writing and other days I do not. I have to give myself permission to rest, recharge, and get outside for walks with my dog. Down time helps provide the kind of inspiration and endurance it takes to write a project like this.

My guess is chapter four will be around 25k words (currently 23k). That would take the WIP to 90,000 words, and I feel like I’ve barely started telling the story. It’s possible this might be my longest IF novel yet. Their Majesties’ Pleasure is over 225k words and Ink and Intrigue is over 350k.

I started working on this project less than four months ago and the WIP is already nearing 90k words. I’m pretty impressed with that! As the story and variables get more complicated progress may be a bit slower, but I’ll keep marching steadily onward.

A week or so ago it occurred to me that I’m going to have to write two versions of chapter five. There will be a major branch split at the end of chapter four, offering one adventure or another before the storyline comes back together in chapter six. I’m both excited and apprehensive about how much work it will involve, but I’m quite sure it will be worth it!

Play the demo of The Eternal Library for free!

[cent-scratchnsniff]

something bad did indeed happen to that man. spent abt 25 minutes trying to find a better picture of that one (1) offical piece with his eyes open that wasnt compressed or tiny

[syndrossi]

Was inspired by @textbookchoices's recent ask to do a re-read of Resonant for the first time in months, and aside from enjoying the hell out of it, I'm finding some tiny inconsistencies to fix, so it's been productive, too!

[theinfinitedivides]

it's so much fun to me to see how Jacob and Assad approach their respective character playlists bc you've got Jacob literally using the 'copy to new playlist' option from his private library (and ik bc that's the only way all of those songs from all those artists will be added at the exact same time. for cohesiveness) slapping an image on that bad boy and releasing it into the world meanwhile Assad's like hmmm. i add these songs. i come back and add new ones. ooooh look here's another. finally i will make this public no image just the autogenerated cover made from the album art of the first four unique tracks you are actively seeing the process. let the 'date added' label seduce you this is what makes you fascinating

[moonyfr]

The amount of fics I want to re-read, the amount of fics I want to finish reading, and the amount of fics I want to start reading is very impractical atm

[shalom-iamcominghome]

I knew judaism was perfect for me because I'm a person who actually reads to myself in a whisper, even when I'm reading for leisure. People used to stare at me because of how I read (I don't read out loud, but I read to myself with the same volume a person has when we're all davening at shul)

[idontmindifuforgetme]

my GOD I love science. i love chemistry. i love medicine. i love my life