#cs rewrite

[audreyscribes]

Could you do headcanons for what it would be like for child of thanatos to go to caml half blood? Do you think it would affect how things would go in the first book? Especially if they joined percy on the quest

Alright, I’m going to preface and lay out the obvious that the child of Thanatos will be very headcanon-y and I will try to make it as believable as possible, however much as I’m trying to stretch.  I will also be referring to my THANATOS DEMIGOD H/CS as my basis for the child of Thanatos for this ask. I will also be keeping this theoretical “what if” in the first book of PJO. 

The child of Thanatos will be referred to with gender neutral pronouns with THEY/THEM for simplicity sake. There may be references to their sex (i.e. daughter of // son of) but does not dictate their dominant or overall identity and it is merely for semantics’ sake. 

ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ﾟ⋆{Warning: Really x2 Long Text Below!}ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ﾟ☾

The child of Thanatos being in the first book would act as a physical representation of what is to come throughout the series, and what Percy will experience with the numerous deaths for the upcoming war is going to entail. I’m going to assume the child of Thanatos does not know their demigod identity or at the very least does not realize they are a demigod. If they have the beginnings of their wings growing or they do have wings, the mist is a powerful tool in hiding it (maybe they don’t even realize they have wings) and are very protective of their back, not letting anyone touch or graze it, saying they have a really bad skin condition on their back. They might even be shown having a bad back, constantly being shown having their back hunched over (probably the weight of their wings and being hidden away, making it hard to stand up straight).

While yes, the child of Thanatos could be just there, when the Fates are involved, I really doubt anything is a coincidence and I’m going to say that the child of Thanatos would be placed there deliberately in Yancy Academy. Let’s also assume that Hades and all relevant parties of the Underworld know the child of Thanatos exists (however somehow they are born. Let’s just suspend our belief for now). 

I can see when Mrs. Dodds a.k.a Alecto, appears half way through, replacing his previous pre-algebra teacher, the child of Thanatos appeared roughly around the same time. Grover can smell the child of Thanatos being a demigod but at the same time, might have a nervous breakdown because they would smell like death and the underworld, which would make Grover think the child of Thanatos is a child of Hades.  This would make the satyr even more nervous because he would think there’s another child of the Big Three, and they’re both in one place. 

I can see Chiron as Mr. Brunner doing his best to be close to the child of Thanatos, but at the same time would have a harder time than say being as close as he is like to Percy, because Mrs. Dodds would intervene since the child of Thanatos would be under her care; whether or not the child of Thanatos would be aware or not.

Let’s also just say that Percy gets along with the child of Thanatos, or at the very least, knows about them. Maybe they bond that they both have a hard time at Yancy Academy and are having difficulties in school. Maybe they bond over their mothers or their supposed birth (godly) fathers.

Whatever the case is, the child of Thanatos gets along with Percy, which would be Hades’ plan or insurance to make sure if Percy will open up where he may have hidden the Helm of Darkness, and when he does, the child of Thanatos would mention it to Alecto who would grab it. 

However, how, the child of Thanatos gets to camp, whether Grover escorts or has another satyr takes them to Camp Halfblood, when Percy wakes up, he’s relieved to see the child of Thanatos in same place as he is, both of them not sure who their own respective godly fathers are and who they’re supposed to be, and being stuck together in the Hermes cabin together. If Percy has an inkling or has the same idea that the child of Thanatos may be a child of Hades, another child of the Big Three, he could’ve kept it on the down low to protect his friend. However, I can see Percy quietly asking the child of Thanatos whether or not they can see or sense his mom, who supposedly ‘died’ from the Minotaur. The child of Thanatos may sees the lingering of Hades’ influence, but they’re still very new to their power and demigod abilities, so it may not be a good consolation. I can also see Luke trying to get along with the child of Thanatos, along with Percy, because just like everyone else, Luke mistakens the child of Thanatos with a child of Hades. When Percy gets claimed as a son of Poseidon, Luke would definitely assume that the child of Thanatos is a child of Hades, and tries to get closer to them in hopes to persuade them and make use of them for the prophecy and the war against the gods. 

It would be relatively easy because neither Hades nor Thanatos have a cabin, so the child of Thanatos getting claimed isn’t happening at all. So they’re going to be pretty much stuck staying at the Hermes cabin.

Especially when the child of Thanatos shows some innate power or skill to go (seemingly) invisible; which is very useful when you’re trying to be a spy for Kronos. I can sort of see Luke teaching the child of Thanatos how to be sneaky and develop the demigod’s power as a son of thieves, while also telling him to keep it secret. Mostly because he wants to keep them and everyone else in the dark about their origins as a ‘child of Hades’ which violates the Big Three pact; scaring them that they should stay safe because Zeus already has his eye on Percy, so to hear Hades also had broken his pact? He doesn’t want Zeus to treat Percy and the child of Thanatos like what happened with Thalia, while also guilt tripping them that their ‘father’ killed his best friend and is immortalized as a tree- 

Yeah there’s going to be a lot of Luke manipulation, and trying to isolate the child of Thanatos from everyone, even Percy because he was claimed by Poseidon and Hades hasn’t or ever will- 

There’s also the fact of the child of Thanatos keeping their wings hidden from Luke for it to work; which I guess wouldn’t be a problem too much even if they’re small. It’ll definitely be harder to keep underwraps if they’re a son of Thanatos, since the boys tend to stick together because man to man talk, but if the child of Thanatos is a daughter  of Thanatos, Luke would have to switch to tactics and use his charisma and wit to draw them in like he did with Silena Beaugard. 

Throughout the child of Thanatos’ interactions with Luke, the child of Thanatos would see the lingering aura of the Helm of Darkness on Luke, but since they would be still very new to their power, they just assume that the touch of death is because Luke had suffered the death of a loved one, or experienced death and grief (which isn’t unlikely given Thalia’s ‘death’, the ‘death’ of the mother in Mary, the touch of Tartarus that lingered on Kronos, etc). 

I dunno how the child of Thanatos could legally go on a quest with Percy, Annabeth, and Grover since 3 is a traditional number, and to break that is calling for bad luck. It's either popping up or going practically staying invisible throughout the entire quest with or without Percy’s or anyone’s knowledge. Maybe the child of Thanatos gifts Percy with one of their feathers, as a sort of good luck charm, and maybe eluding to Percy that they have wings or not; to which the wing acts a sort of signal for the child of Thanatos that lets them know if Percy is in danger or not, or if Percy can summon them.

Maybe if Percy and Annabeth ‘knew’ the child of Thanatos is a ‘child of Hades’ and maybe they make use of it; yet kept their mouths closed because of the supposed ‘pact’ the Big Three share. I can see Percy calling the child of Thanatos to come over with their supposed ‘shadow travelling’ and ask for help and get them to go in and out throughout the entire camp as a sort of loophole, 

I can also see Annabeth convincing the child of Thanatos’ supposed ‘shadow traveling’ to go invisible being useful, just as Annabeth uses her cap to do the same. 

Definitely at the Lotus Casino, the child of Thanatos making an appearance because of the tidbit that Nico and Bianca are there, and the aura of a child of Hades practically summons them. There could be a small conversation between Nico and Bianca and they talk about the weird situation of the Casino, to which the child of Thanatos realizes this is the Lotus Casino and goes to find Percy, Annabeth, or Grover. 

Though when it gets to the underworld, things become more tense when Hades calls out that the child of Thanatos being a child of the underworld, and he had them placed in Yancy Academy to specifically find out where Percy, the supposed thief, was hiding his Helm of Darkness. Ensure the scenario of the child of Thanatos being seen as a traitor and spy, but we’re going to have to tap into Percy’s loyalty to his family and friends where he trusts the Child of Thanatos’ words that they didn’t know about this and they aren’t a spy. 

However, I can see the child of Thanatos noticing the lingering of death, darkness, and fear of the Helm of Darkness residue on Percy’s backpack that Ares gave to him, confirming Percy’s suspicion and telling Hades that Ares has the Helm of Darkness. 

I can see the child of Thanatos distracting Hades to let Percy, Annabeth, and Grover escape, ensuring that they would keep an eye on Sally. That’s also where Hades enlightens the child of Thanatos that he is a child of the underworld but he is not his blood son.

At the end of the book, I can see the child of Thanatos barely realizing Luke was the one who stole the Helm and barely getting there to fight Luke to protect Percy. There may be a bit of Luke’s manipulation that lingers in the child of Thanatos’ mind or not, but I can see the child of Thanatos hesitating a lot when confronting Luke. 

This matches or could be a similar scenario in the tv show version of the confrontation between Percy and Luke, where the child of Thanatos follows Luke and Percy with their invisibility skill, and appears just the right time like Annabeth did. 

It’s been a while since I re-read the Lightning Thief so some parts may be inaccurate or not in the right sequence but basically the child of Thanatos’ identity as their godly parent’s demigod would be delayed for a very long time. The constant stress of people having the knowledge that they might be a child of Hades, the impact it may have, and so forth. However, definitely when it comes to the ‘Titan’s Curse, when it comes to the introduction of Nico and Bianca, they’re going to be spending a lot of time together. Not only from the Lotus Casino, because the pull of being underworld children, leading to when Nico has his meltdown and leaves Camp, the child of Thanatos follows him because that’s their inborn duty.

[ohmightydevviepuu]

fanbinding: our little life (rounded with a sleep)

my signature fic. our little life (rounded with a sleep) is a project i originally began in 2018, but abandoned as i realized i didn't yet have the support or ideas i needed to see it through the way i wanted to. in 2019, i signed up for the @captainswanbigbang Rewrite-a-Thon, a decision that ended up being a fateful one for me. (more on this in a later post)

but for now, let's discuss the binding. the cover is a modified paper casing i learned from sarah nicholls at the NYC Center for Book Arts. her original design (detailed in Bookforms, A Complete Guide to Designing and Crafting Hand-Bound Books) is based on an elaborate folded paper apparatus cased in paper, modified from a limp vellum style. i (perhaps?) went a bit overboard here in making the casing out of folded faux leather bookcloth with a longstitch-inspired spine. the textblock is sewn with a combination coptic/french link so that it opens completely flat, allowing flaps that slide into the case to be inserted or removed for ease of reading. the concept was intended to evoke a ye olde style booke appropriate for a fairy tale.

but. BUT. let's talk about this art. for my birthday, as a gift to myself, i commissioned the brilliant @camii-artt to draw characters inspired by scenes from the fic. i built the entire typeset around her work and it was completely worth it--everything about the style evokes the hard-boiled detective vibe of the fic, from the angles to the colors to the facial expressions.

this fic is, truly, the stuff that dreams are made of. (and this is only binding version #1)

[mlb-a-rewrite]

Chat Noir is Adrien

That seems pretty obvious, they are literally the same person. Honestly, I don’t know if this was ever a point of contention in the fandom because I’ve never been, like, properly in the fandom but I remembered hearing about this a while ago and thought I talk about it in regard to my Rewrite :)

Adrien and Chat Noir are the same person, again, obviously, but they act very differently from one another, particularly in the show. Adrien is always polite and carefully spoken while Chat Noir says anything and everything. They act like different people, but they aren’t.

I think every person goes through an identity crisis in their life. Mine has been ongoing but it was pretty bad a few years ago. I felt very lonely because I didn’t have anyone who knew me, but that begged the question, Who am I?

Depending on the situation I act differently. I make different jokes around family than I do around friends. I speak and act differently at work than I do in my house and at school I behave entirely differently, but all of these are me.

At school, I am naturally quieter and more withdrawn. It would be unnatural, not authentic if I were to be super outgoing and sociable. That is me.

But with friends, I make crass jokes and laugh about dumb shit. I instigate conversations and go out of my way to spend time with them. That is also me.

Neither of these versions of me are facades, they are all me, but reacting to different situations. I don’t particularly enjoy school so I go into low power mode, but when I do happen to enjoy a topic or have a friend in the same class then I am more invested. I am fluid and changing and all different “versions” of me are still me.

To apply this to a fictional teenage superhero, Adrien acts a certain way at school, and as time progresses he gets more comfortable in the “version” of him he is at school and settles into it. When he transforms and becomes Chat Noir, another “version” of him surfaces. One isn’t more valid or authentic than another; Adrien is simply adapting to his circumstances.

One minor issue (yes it’s only minor this time around) I have with the show is that they never show bleedover between the different “versions” of Adrien. I may be wrong, but I believe they do with Marinette early on where they show her gain confidence as Ladybug and that transfers over to her as Marinette, but they never do anything like that with Adrien.

Going back to my example from before, in class, I am typically quieter and more withdrawn, but if I have a friend in that class or was just talking to my friends before I went to class, that may change and I end up being more talkative and involved. If something bad happens in my personal life, I will be unfocused and tired in class. These different “versions” of myself are all connected and they bleed together, they impact one another.

As a whole, I think the show should look into this more. Or, if they don’t want to dive into that, they just ignore it entirely, but a lot of the show’s main struggles are with the heroes, Marinette in particular, dealing with having “two lives” that are at odds with each other. It would make that struggle more interesting if they dove into how they personally struggle with this outside of just being stressed, you know?

In my rewrite, I’m not planning on diving into this in great detail, but I want to make sure that the connection is present. I see how changes in one “version” of a character impact the others. 

When Adrien gets his miraculous and becomes Chat Noir, he suddenly has unlimited freedom and gets to experience something new. As a result, he starts to discover himself more in this newfound freedom and realizes he likes making jokes and goofing off but that he likes to do so because it makes the people around him smile. 

As Adrien, he makes the people around him smile not primarily through jokes, but by acts of service. He spends time with them and connects with them on an emotional level to support them. Adrien still makes jokes, but they aren’t his go-to as it is for Chat. Chat likes to connect emotionally with Ladybug, but can’t fully because of their secret identities.

Adrien and Chat Noir are the same person but just put names to that same person in different circumstances.

[quatregats]

Have been contemplating creating so many Hornblower things in which playing cards are a narrative device/motif that I forgot that CS Forester didn't actually ever do that with them

[britishchick09]

some employee on the store pa system: *christine and erik please report to customer service! your friends are looking for you*

rewrite christine when she gets there: "sorry we took so long! there are a lot of great book... wait where's erik?"

she and raoul/meg: *find him huddled behind a bookshelf*

christine: "what in the world are you doing here?"

raoul: "the point of that was to get you to us not away!"

meg: "silly mr. e!"

erik: "so much for trying to lay low..."

[anmylica]

Fly With The Black Swan

Tagging the Usual Crew: @kmomof4 @xarandomdreamx @tiganasummertree @snowbellewells @sotangledupinit @zaharadessert @whimsicallyenchantedrose @deckerstarblanche

Read on AO3

Read on FFN

Summary: Captain Hook has finally returned to the Enchanted Forest after an all-too-long stint in the Enchanted Forest, ready to get his revenge, only he’s too late. His Crocodile has been killed by another, but the demon partially responsible for his Milah’s death remains. He sets out, determined to kill the demon once and for all, but a life or death situation puts him right in the demon’s clutches. Reluctantly, he joins the new Dark One, finding himself falling for her against his will and his motivations change. Now, he needs to save this woman from the same demon that killed his first love, and he plans out a way to save her.

But the Darkness has plans of its own.

CSSNS ‘23 Entry. Based on the Sonata Arctica song “Fly With The Black Swan”

Note: I have no idea if this is going to post or not. I am currently in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico with crappy satellite internet and none of my other attempts have gone through. Seriously, I’ve tried it a million times by this point. Maybe this time is the charm? I guess we’ll see. If it does post, I will be editing this Saturday to clean it up when I get home.

———————————

The Jolly Roger landed hard in the ocean waters with a great splash that sent droplets of water into the air and on the deck, drenching most of her crew in the process. Captain Hook stood at the helm, seemingly unaffected by the wake, scanning the seas for any danger, always on his guard. He took a deep breath, turning his face up to the sun high in the sky, practically tasting the ocean on his tongue and thought, ‘This is what freedom smells like.’ The sails glittered with the remnants of the last vial of pixie dust he would ever have to use to get his ship airborne for a sojourn back to the Enchanted Forest again.

He had just spent countless years sailing the never ending circle of Neverland’s waters in the reluctant employ of a demon in a child’s body, never seeing the sun except for when he was Pan’s errand boy on a supply run back to the Enchanted Forest. His years under the deal with Pan were finally complete, and he felt that he had enough information to achieve his true mission: skinning his Crocodile.

Captain Hook stared at the cloudless sky, pondering his next steps as his first mate, William Smee, blundered about giving orders to the others. His crew scurried about letting out sails, hauling in lines, securing their goods, and generally making preparations to sail to the destination their captain ordered. Throughout the hustle and bustle, their captain stood stoic at the helm. He did not steer; his helmsman, Antonio Buckham, had the pleasure of directing the ship, and he stood with his hands tight on the wheel and his eyes on his captain’s profile, awaiting orders.

Hook’s forget-me-not blue eyes finally left the horizon and focused upon the map in front of him. If he had landed his ship in the location he had wanted, then he was just due south of Glowerhaven. This was a pirate-friendly port, and it was going to be the best place at which they could restock their supplies. He looked over at Buckham, who stood anticipating his orders.

“Make way to Glowerhaven,” Hook ordered, and Buckham nodded once.

“Aye, Captain,” he responded, turning to the rest of the crew before bellowing, “Make way to Glowerhaven!”

The crew repeated the order, and Buckham turned the wheel slightly as the others adjusted the sails. Through it all, Hook said nothing else, just watched the sea and the sky pass them by as they sailed towards their port of call. It was a sunny day with nary a cloud in the sky. A good wind at their backs filled the sails and carried them over the water so smoothly it was as if the ship was flying over the waves. All around the deck, his crew carried out their orders, bringing them into the port where they could find a tavern and food and relish their newfound freedom. Hook surveyed the work with disinterest, for so long as they arrived at their destination without issue, it did not matter to him how his crew did their jobs.

His cold, hard, forget-me-not blue eyes watched ahead of the bow as the land of the Enchanted Forest appeared in view. His jaw clenched at the sight. It was there that he would finally fulfill his life’s purpose. As the land grew closer and the short skyline of Glowerhaven became more distinct, he was filled with a sense that, at last, he was on the path for his vengeance. He was about to find his happy ending, however bittersweet it may be. A determined, almost manic glint filled his eyes, and his crew gave him side glances and moved away from him, hoping to avoid his ire, though he paid them no mind.

An hour later, The Jolly Roger had been docked into her berth, the crew had all left, and those tasked with her watch were settled in for a few hours. Hook was the last to leave, wanting to make sure everything was just so. He sauntered down the alleyways between buildings into a tavern at which he had long since been a patron. He knew that the last pieces of his plan could be crafted with information the owner likely had.

He opened the door and stepped inside, scanning the room for any potentially unsavory situations. The room was dimly lit and dirty, much like all portside taverns throughout the realms of the Enchanted Forest. Rough hewn tables of various sizes filled the room and stools of varying heights were haphazardly placed by each table. There weren’t many people occupying the tavern at this time of day, and so most of the tables were empty. His crew occupied a few, already having drinks and food delivered by several barmaids. The bar was manned by a lone attendant, and it was to her that he made his way.

He slid onto a stool at the bar in front of her with a beguiling grin on his face. The old woman scoffed and rolled her eyes, but she moved closer, grabbing a bottle of rum and a glass on her way.

“What are you scallywags doing here,” she demanded, plunking down the bottle and glass roughly. She looked over her glasses at Hook and stared him down, causing him to grin even wider.

“Is that any way to greet an old friend,” he responded, moving to open the bottle and pour himself a finger’s width of rum. He had no plans on getting drunk, but he wasn’t about to turn down the libation.

“You’re hardly a friend,” she retorted, causing him to laugh.

“A patron then,” he amended. “A well-paying patron.”

The woman surveyed him hard and then nodded. “What do you want, Hook?”

He shook his head slightly as he raised the glass to his lips and knocked back the measure of rum. “Many things,” he said, placing the glass back on the bar. “Mostly, I’d like information at the moment.”

The woman crossed her arms. “I ain’t got information.”

Hook smirked. “Come, now, Granny, you and I both know you’re the best there is at collecting information. And we both know how valuable I find it.”

He took out his coin purse and very deliberately counted out five doubloons. Granny watched him as he did so, quirking an eyebrow at him before sighing.

“You want to know about the Dark One’s movements,” she said, grabbing a second glass and pouring herself a measure of rum.

“Aye.” Hook eyed her with curiosity, as this was definitely out of the norm for their usual pattern of conversation.

Granny took a sip of her drink and met his eyes. “You’re a bit behind the times.”

“How so?” Hook questioned, leaning closer to the old woman, a frown on his face at Granny’s implication.

“The Dark One you chase is no longer the host of the Darkness. The host has changed,” Granny said bluntly, a strange look crossing her face.

Hook blinked as Granny fell silent, sipping her rum to allow him time to process her words. He didn’t move as he tasted the information on his lips, a horrible sensation of dread and despair filling him. His immediate instinct was to deny that it was possible, but he knew deep down that the woman’s look of despair and grief couldn’t be anything but real.

“Who is it now?” he asked, studying her face carefully, hoping to pick up on some nuance in her communication. He didn’t know what he was looking for exactly, but he felt disappointment all the same when he realize how upset she was.

Granny poured herself a bit more rum into the half-full glass and knocked back the entire thing in one swallow. Hook watched her dispassionately. She grimaced out of grief, and Hook realized this topic was a festering wound though he didn’t know why.

“I don’t know,” Granny denied, and Hook got the sense that she did indeed know but didn’t want to admit it.

Hook clenched his fist and narrowed his eyes. He felt a rage that he hadn’t felt since Rumplestiltskin had taken his hand and his love from him. All these years of seeking revenge, and for what? What was he left with now? He snarled at the thought of the Crocodile evading his hook another time.

Granny cleared her throat as she choked back tears, calling his attention back to her before he could fall any more into his anger. Her wet eyes shocked him out of his rage long enough to restore sense to his head. “You want any more than that, you’re out of luck. I know nothing else.”

Granny poured herself another shot and knocked it back. Once she had finished, she stood and moved down to another end of the bar without another word. Hook contemplated the bottle before deciding that today’s news had been bad enough. He poured himself a healthy measure and drained the glass. He glanced over to Smee and beckoned his head. Smee scrambled to his side, and when Smee was within earshot, he said, “Tomorrow we travel to the Dark One’s castle.”

Smee blinked before widening his eyes in fear. “To the Dark One’s castle?”

“Aye,” Hook responded. “There will be information there that we need.”

“But won’t he-“ Smee began but Hook cut him off.

“Apparently someone else got to the Crocodile before us. I want to know who and why.” Hook’s eyes hardened in resolve, and Smee gulped before nodding his head. “My best chance at getting answers is there.”

As Smee scrambled off back to the crew to pass the news around, Hook drank another healthy measure of rum, resigned to the situation at hand. This was merely a minor setback in his quest for revenge. He’d waited this long; he could bide his time a little longer.

The next morning dawned bright and cheerful, completely at odds with Hook’s mood. Hook had already left instructions to the next man in charge for getting supplies in his stead. He and Smee arranged for a couple of horses for the journey inland, and they made sure to have the necessary supplies for their journey.

The journey itself to the Dark One’s castle was mostly uneventful. Hook and Smee endeavored to find out all they could about the Dark One’s whereabouts, but no one wanted to talk. Either they didn’t know or they avoided the conversation once questions were asked and quickly hurried off on their way. Hook was quickly becoming vexed with the situation. He needed answers now.

“Don’t worry, Captain,” Smee attempted to reassure him after their latest fruitless encounter in a village just south of the Southern Kingdom’s borders. “We’ll find out more at the next inn.”

Hook just sighed in response. It would do no good taking his ire out on Smee. Not when the man was trying to help. Hook just nudged his horse forward into a trot.

“We can find out all we need once we reach the Dark One’s castle. Come and let us stop wasting time,” Hook replied.

Smee said nothing in response. Hook supposed it was because Smee could see just how fine the leash was on his temper. The two rode on in silence, crossing into the Moors kingdom just before nightfall. They stopped at an inn for the night, keeping their ears fruitlessly peeled for any hint of gossip. None could be heard that bore any importance for their quest.

The next morning’s travels brought about similar results. They crossed the small leg of the East Mountains and into Capetia at around noon. They stopped briefly at a tavern for food before moving on. The ride was boring, and Hook’s mind wandered as the horse trudged onward.

Just who had managed to get the best of the Crocodile? How had that happened? Would there even be anything of value at Rumplestiltskin’s old castle? Was all of this just Hook grasping at straws, unwilling to let a past wrong go, even after the culprit was long gone?

Hook didn’t think so, but he had been wrong before. He decided that the only way he was going to get answers was by raiding Rumplestiltskin’s castle. He could decide on the next course to set once he saw the state of things there.

They reached the edge of the Dark Forest that evening. He and Smee lit a fire for safety and camped under the stars. Neither spoke very much, for Hook was too deep in thought and Smee knew better than to push his Captain when the man was pensive like this. The night passed by uneventfully, and the next morning dawned bright.

A hard ride resulted in their arriving at the perimeter of the Dark One’s lands just after noon. They pulled their horses up short as they surveyed the imposing structure in the distance.

“So that’s the Dark One’s castle,” Smee muttered. “Do you think maybe he was compensating for something?”

Hook sniggered. “Most assuredly. We need to be cautious. If the rumors are false, and he is still alive, he won’t take kindly to seeing either of us.”

Smee nodded vigorously and they dismounted their horses. They tied the mounts off, leaving them plenty of slack to graze, and they slunk off in the direction of danger. They crept along in the surrounding woods, keeping their eyes peeled and their ears alert.

The woods were silent. It was eerie how no animals rustled in the undergrowth, how no birds tweeted in the trees above them. The closer they got to the castle, the quieter it got. Hook felt dizzy with how much he kept looking around them, just waiting for an ambush.

Finally they got close enough that the front doors were just in front of them. The castle had a derelict, abandoned feel. No smoke rose from the myriad chimneys; no movement could be detected behind the windows. The facade was covered in overrun ivies and weeds littered the overgrown lawn.

“Well, Captain, there might just be some truth to the rumors after all.”

Hook glanced at Smee. “It seems safe enough so far, but keep on your guard.”

Hook and Smee each grasped a door handle of the giant wooden doors and pulled with all their might, not noticing the wave of blue light that swept the yard as they did so. Slowly, creaking in protest the entire time, the doors gave away. Hook was just about to step inside the foyer when a fireball came soaring at them. Hook and Smee dove for the ground, managing to just narrowly avoid it. They watched as it flew into a tree and caught it on fire. The flames whooshed as it engulfed the large tree and devoured it until nothing but ash remained. They stared at it before looking at each other.

“Let’s hope that’s the only thing waiting for us,” Hook said. Smee chuckled nervously and they both scrambled up into standing positions. They glanced at the opening, but nothing else seemed to be waiting.

“Shall we try this again, sir,” Smee asked uncertainly.

Hook nodded once. “Without the fireballs, preferably.”

They crept through the arched doorway, sticking to the sides, but nothing else happened. The foyer beyond was dark and cold. It gave off a chilling air of abandonment. Hook and Smee exchanged looks.

“Shall we split up sir? Cover more ground that way,” Smee offered as he shrugged.

Hook considered his first mate for a moment, eyebrow tilting up a bit. On the one hand, splitting up could be a trap, but on the other, they waste valuable time searching together.

Hook nodded once. “Yell if you find anything.”

“Aye, aye,” replied Smee before heading to the rooms on the left. Hook decided to go up the grand staircase that lay in waiting just in front of him.

He walked up the steps one at a time, slowly prowling forward, always expecting another type of security measure. Nothing happened.

The lack of reaction set him on edge even more than he had been before entering the abandoned building. He expected Rumplestiltskin’s slimy high pitched giggle to sound behind him at any moment. As the minutes dragged on, he became even more unnerved at the lack of the coward’s appearance.

He stepped onto the next floor and looked around him. The second floor had the same derelict feel as the downstairs. There was no sign of anyone’s inhabitance. He crept forward, resting his palm in the jolt of his sword, keeping his hook at the ready. The first room he came to was some sort of guest room, but for whom, Hook couldn’t begin to say. He didn’t believe the Crocodile had many guests. The imp hadn’t been known for his hospitality, after all. He searched the room, but nothing was there besides tacky furniture and dusty bedclothes. Hook left the room as quickly as he entered it.

The silence in this place was eerie. It set his teeth on edge, and he clenched his jaw out of tension. He crept down the hallway, forgoing searching other countless bedchambers. The stench of Dark magic hung in the air, cloying and sickening. The further down the hall he traveled, the more palpable the magic became.

He went up another staircase, choosing to follow the feeling of the magic instead of investigating every room. Hook figured the odds of finding something were better if he traced the magic. He hadn’t felt this kind of sensation, this tingling numbness, since the Crocodile had been on the deck of his ship, changing Hook’s life forever.

He followed the tingle of the magic until he arrived in front of what appeared to be a private study. He opened the double doors and walked into a large room. A giant table occupied the center of the room, and display cases that had once held whatever objects Rumplestiltskin deemed important surrounded the table. The room had been decorated in rich shades of red and gold, but now a thick layer of dust covered everything.

The room looked as if it had been ransacked by looters at some undetermined point. Hook breathed a heavy sigh. This beyond anything else convinced him that the Crocodile was gone. Looters wouldn’t have been able to mauraud this castle if Rumplestiltskin had still been alive. Hook felt a dull sensation curdle in his stomach that he belatedly recognized was disappointment.

Discouraged, he wandered into the room, no less on his guard than before, but no longer expecting his mortal enemy to appear before him sniggering with twisted glee. He rummaged through the detritus, looking for something but not knowing what it was. After shuffling a few plates around, he saw a brown piece of fabric, dirtied with age and a few dried blood stains. He frowned and picked it up, his heart sinking even lower in his chest.

He knew those stitches.

He stood and shook the fabric out, using his hook to help fan it out to make sure that it was what he thought it was. He smiled a grim smile at the confirmation. It was a shawl. He recognized the handiwork as Milah’s, and he suddenly felt like crying. It must have belonged to Bae.

He swallowed and cleared his throat, hoping to drown the burning sensation, and rapidly tried to blink tears away. He folded it as carefully as he could, caressing the fabric as he did so. He took a step towards the door, intending to leave this room and all its ghosts behind, when he stepped on something that slid as he put his weight down.

Catching himself from falling, he looked at his feet and saw a cane. He moved his shoe off the wood and bent down to pick it up, recognizing it to be that old cane the Crocodile had once used to walk when the coward boarded his ship for the first time. He held it against the shawl that was also in his hand for a moment, considering all the possibilities that could have happened and didn’t, all the ways fate could have worked out differently for him.

Frustrated, he threw the cane away from him and turned to walk out. As he threw it, a shimmering came from the far corner of the room, catching his attention. The shimmering revealed a cabinet that extended from floor to ceiling. He stared in disbelief at it before his heart started racing. This was what he had been looking for!

He hurried to it and wrenched the doors open, seeing all kinds of magical items and whatnots. Books were stacked high in all areas, potion ingredients were stored three lines deep in bottles, with some already being completed. Magical objects filled the empty areas, and wands were held in stands. The magical items weren’t necessarily what he needed, but the books��� the books might just be the missing link.

Hook tore through the books stacked high inside the cabinet, desperately searching for something that would help him piece together what had happened. He quickly discarded the ones that looked as if they were magical instruction books, having no interest in their contents. No, he was looking for something more personal.

Seeing nothing in the stack that could help him, he turned to the table, searching for any hidden compartments. Finding two, he tore open the drawers, the contents rattling as he jerked the drawers out, quills and empty ink bottles and other rubbish littering their insides. There was nothing that could even hint at the circumstances that finally resulted in the demon's demise.

He searched in this manner until he had combed through the entire room. If there had ever been any records, they had long since been hidden or destroyed. The fruitlessness of the search just made Hook more determined.

There had to be another room he had overlooked in this overgrown hunk of an imitation castle. Moving decisively towards the door, his hook got caught in a hole in a shelf of the cabinet in his haste. Hook yanked his hook out of the hole it had gotten lodged in, and the shelf came crashing, the contents falling to the floor in a great crash. Hook just managed to jump out of the way in time.

Hook scanned the rubbish, finding it absolutely ridiculous that Rumplestiltskin had never bothered to secure the blasted thing when it had borne all that weight when something caught his eye.

He scanned the back of the cabinet again, his brow furrowing in concentration. There! A glimmer!! He tilted his head this way and that as he tried to determine from where the glimmer had come. He noticed a notch from in between the wooden panels that covered the back of the shelf.

He put his hook into the notch, which was just big enough for the tip of his hook to lodge into, and pulled. The back panel was stubborn and didn’t come off. He sighed and maneuvered his hook deeper into the hole to provide himself with a bit more leverage. He wrapped his hand around his brace and pulled again, this time with all his strength.

The back panel came loose with a loud screech. It had detached just enough so he could see a small book inside. The cabinet must have had a false backing that only the crocodile would know about.

“Clever,” Hook muttered to himself as he reached in and clasped the book in his hand. Once he had pulled it out, he wiggled his hook out of the hole and set out to peruse the book. It had to contain something of importance if the Crocodile had gone to great lengths to keep it hidden.

He opened the book as he sank into a nearby chair that hadn’t toppled over in his haste to further ransack the room. Hook was pleased to find that it was a handwritten journal. He flipped through the pages slowly, finding a lot of drivel about magical experiments that didn’t interest Hook. Most of it was useless, but almost at the end of the journal, the writing changed. It was spiky, with very slanted words (a far different type of handwriting from Rumplestiltskin's scrawled handwriting).

The script made the document hard to read, so Hook skimmed the pages looking for any clues as to what had happened to the Crocodile (and most importantly, whom had killed him). He flipped through page after page, almost falling into a trance as he skimmed over the entry. Just when he thought the journal had nothing of importance, his eyes caught upon a very familiar name.

Milah.

Hook’s heart skipped a beat. He read the sentence that contained her name but found it didn’t make sense in the context, so he backtracked until he fell upon a section that seemed to detail why her name was on the page.

As he read the entry, his blood began to boil.

It had been easy enough to convince Rumplestiltskin that the only way to satisfy his broken heart upon learning his once beloved wife had fallen in love with someone else was to rip out her heart and crush it. With this, I believe that Rumplestiltskin’s last dregs of humanity have been thoroughly eradicated. I have been successful in imprinting myself irrevocably within his soul. With his black heart now thoroughly darkened, he will have no hope of the use of Light Magic against me, that cursed abomination of a magical force.

I had thought seeing him abandon and break a deal with his son was the ultimate test of his loyalty to me, but his murder of Milah showed me the depths of depravity he is willing to sink to. It will be so much easier to twist and bend Rumplestiltskin’s actions to my will. It was amusing to see how little he resisted the urge once I placed the thought in his head to kill her. He almost seemed to welcome it.

I think the coward enjoyed the thrill of the power I wield over life. He will be much more pliant to fulfilling my desires, I think. After all, he will not want to give up the control over the magic I have given him easily. This just serves as further proof that humanity is corruptible and unworthy of the gifts they have been bestowed. They will all bow to me before it is over. I must make my own plans for that day. This vessel will not be able to support me for very long, and the time will eventually come to find another host.

Hook continued to read, but the rest of the passage detailed how it felt to crush a heart and the magic that had to go into the action. He felt sick the more he tried to read, and he closed the book in disgust. His heart lay in jagged pieces at his feet at the information he had sought and obtained.

Rumplestiltskin had merely been a pawn in Milah’s death. Oh, Hook didn’t doubt that Rumplestiltskin desired her death; by the end, the man had looked upon his estranged wife with hatred in his eyes. But to learn that Hook’s love had been killed because some demon had wanted it done to prove a point? That was like rubbing salt in an already festering and infected wound.

Hook grit his teeth. He snatched the journal up and tucked it into one of the hidden pockets in his leather duster. His revenge was still possible. All he had to do was find the demon that killed her and find a way to end its existence.

He threw open the door, hollering for Smee. His first mate came running.

“Tell me you’ve found something of value in this place,” Hook commanded.

Smee held up a dreamcatcher. “I found this. I think it could tell us who the next Dark One is!”

“What is it?” Hook asked, puzzled as to how such an object would be able to tell them anything.

“I don’t know what it’s called, but when I held it, I could see something. I think it might hold memories.” Smee held it out to his captain.

Hook took it in his hand, and once he touched it, images started to play out amongst the strings. It did look like memories. He watched as a pretty young girl, possibly mid to late twenties, approached the Dark One. Rumplestiltskin giggled, dismissing her, when she held out the dagger. He watched dispassionately as Rumple froze in disbelief. He watched the woman say something and then plunge the knife into Rumplestiltskin’s chest. He watched as oily tendrils of darkness began to ooze out of Rumpelstiltskin, making their way up the woman’s arms until it coated her in the substance. She disappeared, the knife disappearing along with her. Rumplestiltskin fell to the ground of his castle, obviously dead.

“Where did she disappear to?” Hook asked once the memories went black and the images reverted back to the strings once more.

“I don’t know, Captain. But I found this with it,” Smee said as he held up a giant black feather.

Hook took it, his brow furrowed in concentration. “Perhaps we can use this to find out.”

He turned and made his way back into the study where he had found the stash of potions. He went to the box and scanned its contents, pulling out a bottle once he had found what he was looking for. He uncorked it, Smee looking on, and poured its contents over the feather.

“Is that a locator spell?” Smee asked.

“I think so. It’s some kind of potion for it, at any rate.” He watched as the feather floated in the air before darting towards a ragged map of the Enchanted Forest that hung on the wall. It gouged itself into the map, and Hook and Smee hurried across the room to see where it was pointing.

“The North Mountains?” Smee read aloud.

“Aye,” Hook agreed. “That is our next destination. We must return to the ship at once.”

Smee nodded, and after a brief moment to figure out the exact location on the map the feather pointed to, the two men left the Dark One’s castle, never to step foot inside again.

After several days’ journey of riding hard and resting only when needed, Hook and Smee arrived back in the port town they had left the Jolly Roger moored at. After a quick replenishment of supplies, she set sail once more, this time to a village called Sapphire Springs in the Northern Kingdom.

Hartford was a quaint little village that had little to offer pirate crews, so Hook and his band rarely made port there. It was out of the way of the major shipping lanes, as it was the most remote village of the Northern Kingdom. Hook preferred doing most of his business at Glowerhaven and other larger ports where it was easier to blend in with the locals and visitors, but he had been to Sapphire Springs enough to know the lay of the land.

Hook and his crew sailed hard, avoiding most traffic in the shipping lanes. They stumbled upon a ship from Agrabah, and Hook gave the order to take it. He knew his crew would appreciate the opportunity to acquire jewels and riches when they hadn’t yet been able to take any ships since their permanent arrival back in the Enchanted Forest. The crew of the merchant ship were very amenable to surrender, and after a couple of hours, the Jolly Roger rode deeper in the water, her hull full of spices and jewels and Agrabahn wine. Hook allowed them to open a barrel, and the evening was spent toasting their success.

They made a quick stop at a port in Sherwood Forest to sell off the jewels and spices. Smee divided the spoils to the rest of the crew after selling off their wares. The crew didn’t dally long; Hook was in too much of a hurry to make it to the North Mountains to spend much time in port.

After selling off this particular haul, they set sail once more, making a beeline straight for Sappire Springs. Hook stood back, letting his crew do the sailing and navigating as they had been for centuries. He kept his eyes trained on the horizon as he came ever closer to fulfilling his destiny and achieving his happy ending (however miserable an end it may be). If he had any doubts about the dangers that lay before him, he didn’t express it.

Hook continued his vigilance until the sky turned to dusk and the night crew took over. He looked out over the water at the waves, felt the breeze on his face, and heaved a sigh. He turned and slid open the hatch to his cabin and descended the ladder, not noticing the giant black swan that swooped down from the clouds and glided over the ship for a brief moment before ascending once more into the clouds.

[ghostsanndstuff]

So. I rewatched the second Narnia movie today. And that is one of the stories I absolutely cannot think about too much because it makes me feel feral.

The books were the first ones I was absolutely obsessed with as a kid. I have always loved and coped via daydreams and escapism (and definitely went way too far with that for a few years there during teenagehood) and it was always the Narnia chronicles about which I felt a particular way. But it took rewatching it a few times now that I'm a bit older to see why.

Somewhere between 11 year old me wanting to be there instead of here so badly it physically hurt and the scene in the last book where everyone except for Susan chooses to end their lives in our world to return to Narnia forever.

Somewhere between there and being raised catholic while Aslan and Narnia are C.S. Lewis' metaphor for God and Heaven and talking to my mom sobbing on the phone for the 5th day in a row as she tells me that whenever she has felt utterly hopeless and like there was no way forward she would take all the pressure and all that she was and put her life, put herself entirely in the hands of god, and how it felt like someone was squeezing every last bit of air out of my lungs as I desperately wished to fullheartetly have faith in something like that for even a moment.

Somewhere in between the way I see myself in Lucy and the way I fully understand Susan I'm going insane.

[divinecomedyproductions]

FanFiciton Multiverse: The Emperor-Verse

Given the nature of my RWBY Reimagined AU, Saints of Remnant, I'm thinking compiling some of my fanfictions in a universe thats inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia which is implied to exist in this universe but never truly touched upon until a major crossover event and even then, its set after The Last Battle so Narnia is long gone, but it vaguely implied and referenced to explain how this multiverse works and even the origins of some worlds along utilizing the theology of my Catholic Faith, The Works of CS Lewis and Medieval Cosmology, since all these things in my opinion can help tie them all together.

The Emperor-Verse(link to the blog is in the title)

The Emperor-Verse is the fanfiction multiverse in which these stories take place, named after the Supreme Deity that rules these worlds The-Emperor-Of-All-That-Is which were created or adopted by The Great Prince and given The Breath of Life

My Catholic Faith along with the works of CS Lewis served great inspiration for this universe, but mostly its a prototype of one of my fictional universes, or perhaps you can call a ‘multiverse’, known as The Loreverse which you can find on my primary blog

And here are some of the titles

RWBY: Saints of Remnant(reimagined)

Code Geass: Lelouch of The Knighood(reimagined, possible placeholder title)

Skullgirls: Reimagined(placeholder name, need to think of something more fitting)

Bionicle: A Tale of Hope(reimagined)

Fate/Defiance(Fan Sequel to Unlimted Bladeworks)

Skeleton Knight in Another World: The Order of The Sacred Blood(alternate sequel)

BlazBlue: Alterized Fate(reimagined)

D.Gray-Man: Encore(reimagined)

There may be more in the future

It may feature a crossover involving five characters, two from our world which shares the same world as Fate in this case, jumping from world to world and bring some other characters across worlds depending on the situation

Now you’re probably asking

“Why are you doing this?”

Mostly because like I said, its a prototype of concepts and stories which these franchises I’m using I take heavy inspiration from, which will most likely become there own things mostly for The Lorverse.

If I used The Loreverse which I plan to make money on, it might lead to legal issues and I don't want that to happen.

“Why are you using your Religion?”

Mostly due to it being a strong foundation, notably theology, for most of my stories, there are many strong foundations of storytelling, religion, history, you can even fantasize science if you put the imagination, time, and effort into it.

After doing some soul searching and listening to the Narnia books on Audible, which Narnia is implied to exist, or I should say had existed, in this universe, and I might include elements of CS Lewis’ Space Trilogy

The multiverse takes these universes and blends them into my faith and its theology, and even uses medieval cosmology, and makes them more like swashbucklings epics and fairy stories.

“Isn’t this kind of entitled and disrespectful?”

Disagreement isn’t necessarily malicious, and entitlement is not inherently bad if its your opinions and subjective feelings which people are entitled to.

Tolkien was heavily inspired by his distaste for how Shakespeare handled certain concepts, such as the Ents when he was upset and dissatisfied that there were no walking talking trees in the Enchanted Fortest of Macbeth, and the Valar Aule the Smith and the origin of the Dwarves make him something of an Anti-Prometheus

Not to mention Philip Pullman, the author of His Dark Materials Trilogy, made it out his distaste how CS Lewis made the Chronicles of Narnia and his overall beef with Christianity, and nobody seems to take issue with that.

I’m not trying to spite anyone, I’m not trying to spite Monty Oum with my RWBY Reimagined AU, Especially when I never knew the guy, and that can be said with the other AUs I’m not trying to change canon or its “trajectory” whatever that means in this context. I’m not saying Pyrrha and Arkos and the current direction of RWBY post V3 was objectively bad, just not my taste, I expected it to be more like Star Wars or Avatar the Last Airbender, and ships I wanted akin to Ed and Winry, Han and Leia, Kagome and Inuyasha, I think you get the idea, and I know not everyone who liked it and are fine with how these other franchises turned out is an elitist about it, just in my experience, there were people who were. And I won’t touch upon the ships I have a beef with on this blog either.

And I’m not saying any of the franchises I’ve been covering are all objectively bad, even when they use concepts or take directions with them I don’t like due to personal tastes and preferences and “personal emotional beats”, I have my reasons for them just as you all have reasons for yours.

I am making these AU stories, which will eventually be revamped into original stories because looking back on them, their worlds, characters, concepts, ships I wanted, and other ideas all could have been in stories I believe are worth telling and I was disappointed and frustrated that they weren’t. That’s it.

Yeah, it may also be due to subjective and personal feelings, at least so I’ve been told, but I try to integrate that in a meaningful way. Once again, I have my reasons for them as you all do for yours.

“But isn’t this crossover and multiverse stuff, especially if your including Narnia and your religion kinda cringe?”

It’s mostly because helps organize my stories and gives a stable foundation when reimagining these stories, notably the magical nature of each world such as the nature of Remnant(Aura, Semblance, Faunus), Geass, Blue(BlazeBlue), Bionicle mysticism, and so-on and so-forth as different configurations of Deep Magic

I’m also utilizing medieval cosmology as Lewis did to explain the multiverse by organizing with every universe being a “Sphere” and our world, blended with the Fate Type Moon universe for practical purposes, being “The Firstborn Sphere” and the outermost sphere being Heaven or some had called “Aslan’s Country” or as its called in this Multiverse “The Great Empire” which also can be applied to the multiverse itself aka The Great Cosmic Sphere. and Hell or also known as “Tash’s Country” or “The Netherworld” exists completely outside of the multiverse 

As well using the Biblical Story of Genesis as a basis especially with Adam and Eve’s connection to many sentient species of the Multiverse.

Now personally when it comes to my faith, I can live with either creationism or theistic evolution, just anything besides outright materialism.

All of this just helps tie everything together...

And like I said, all in due time, these will be made into original stories for my original universe.

I can see why people think using my religion and Narnia is cringe due to the creatively bankrupt Pureflix movies are all feel-good with no substance written by mostly I like to call "Joel Olsteens" rather than the works of martyrs and church fathers, or the esteemed medievalist CS Lewis and his friend JRR Tolkien, a hardened veteran who's family and his own life was nurtured by a serious but still merry understanding of the faith.

And I'm not saying I'm on par with these guys, but I feel like if I take cue from them, I can be sincere in my work.

So I hope you all enjoy what I have to offer, which will most likely be put on AO3 and FanFiction.Net, and who knows, I might get a few artists to commission to redesign some characters or illustrate some scenes if anyone is up for it.

[dbphantom]

I am so fucking glad this actually returned what I was trying to say while writing tags about Law's kickass outfits because the unhelpful instamash mix I disrespectfully call a brain was supplementing all the wrong words and I didn't feel like finding that one writing thesaurus site on mobile

[losergames]

Chop Shop is strictly 18+ for language, themes, and potential explicit content. 

🔗 - Game Intro | Bug Report | ko-fi

WE ARE LIVE!!! Chop Shop has officially relaunched on Itch.io! Available to play on desktop, tablet and mobile.

Prologue - EP .02 are ready to play - the same as the previous demo - with a new word count of 120k. The choicescript demo will be taken down at the end of the month.

Thank you so much to those who have helped me during this transition period of development! It has been crazy frustrating but I am so much more in love with the game than ever. And thank you to everyone who has been patiently waiting - hope you enjoy all the new bits and bobs!!

PLAY THE NEW DEMO NOW!

AN: CS has had some significant rejigging and rewriting. You can read the authors notes under the cut.

chop shop now has it's own UI! woohoo! (totally did not kill me) this, of course, will come with teething problems and accessibility issues. i am welcome to constructive feedback!

there are a lot of new dialog boxes to explore, especially the dashboard, which includes the PC's profile, inventory, contacts and a glossary page. (the stat definitions page from the old choicescript demo has been scrapped, too much text that wasn't needed.)

chapters are now called episodes! not a huge change but i prefer the vibe yknow.

there have been some extensive rewrites - especially in ep .01, the bar scene got a lot more fleshing out - so i expect typos and grammar errors have slipped through. this doesn't bother me too much but i appreciate any one who spots them to send them in!

there is now an 'end game' scenario in ep. 01. i won't be providing a walkthrough as i think it's relatively obvious given the scenario but it does give you an achievement!

i've kept achievements like the old choicescript demo but it no longer rewards points. maybe i will think of something to reward the player with later down the line?? who knows

i don't want to explain ALL the new details as i really encourage people to go find all the new flavour text and other things etc!!

next -- if you have not noticed, i have added a bug report to the links list. all issues, bugs, and errors found in the public demo can now be reported via the new bug report form.

in terms of writing, i am now porting episode 3. i have had rewrite plans for this chapter for a while, so i imagine this port will take some time. i was in the middle of writing episode 4 when i decided to make the twine jump lmao, so it hasn't been touched for a LONG time, probably since march. i plan to jump straight back into writing when episode 3 is all done!

like before, ep 3 won't be released until ep 4 has a first draft and i'm happy with the shape and direction. so it will be some time before i am able to release new content. but - we ball!

thank you for reading this far and i hope you enjoy the new and improved demo! happy reading! - becky :^)

[obsolete-stars-if]

Hello my beloved readers. It seems that I am at an impasse. So let's be real.

I am considering porting to twine. Why? The biggest point for me is surprisingly not any weird drama or suspicious activity. No no no. It's pricing. The main thing is that I don't want to earn money from this, I don't want people to pay money to play this.

While I can suggest a pricing, in the end it is out of my hands, and I am very firm on the free to play part. And I mean that, no weird ads, no refills, no paid shit. The entire experience for free.

So porting to twine seems, morally at least, the only way to actually publish the game in its entirety. However, when said port happens is another question that I want to ask for y'all's input. We certainly have some options:

Finish the Update, which at best will take me at least another month or two. I am about halfway through one of the split paths by now, I could write the update, publish it in CS, and then start the port.

Just do to the port, it would mean that the update is postponed until the entire game is ported into twine. I have no idea how long that would take. After publishing the port, not updated, I could get to the actual update.

Port and Rewrite, perhaps the longest option, and frankly what I think would make most sense quality wise- I port the game, and at the same time work on it, editing, rewriting parts, cleaning code like no one else. However that might take a very long time, I don't know how quick I'll be at coding, and editing can take a ridiculous amount of time too, esp BCS there are a lot of things to fix.

Do half the update, I'm being honest when the pricing issue came up, I was super demotivated. And while I still work on the update in CS, I can, technically speaking, simply finish the split path, update it, and then do the port, so I am not wasting more energy on the entire update only to have to recode it. I know everyone has been waiting for the Update and it personally feels like I am taking forever.

Continuing with CG/HG is not an option if I can't decide to offer the game for free in the end.

Mind you, regardless of the outcome of the Poll, it's my decision in the end. I do want to check in with what everyone would prefer, and I honestly only gave options I decided I would be willing to do.

Thanks for reading, participating, and being patient.

[luckyyyduckyyy]

THANKSGIVING MOOTIE APPRECIATION ❤️✨❤️

Happy thanksgiving y'all! And a good time zone to all my non-US/non-Turkey day havers lovelies!

Tis the season of thanks and I'm a very thankful goober this year! I only started getting active on Tumblr about half a year ago and there's already so many people and things I'm grateful for from this site alone! I've enjoyed so much art and events, participated in yap seshes, tag games, and ultimately felt pretty welcomed and at home on this site, and it's thanks to all you! <3<3<3

Special thanks to the DCA fandom in its entirety as well! All the discussions, artists, writers, and shared reposts with all the silly notes are awesome! Y'all inspire me all the time and make me wish I was more outgoing than I am just so I can say hello to each and every one of you!!!!

The list gets long, so for the sake of those scrolling by, I have put it below! Have a lovely day everyone! <3333

@midnight-mourning Your writing is just wonderful. It's everything!!! I adore it so much and your CS boyos have wormed their way into my heart and refuses to leave. Some of my favorite songs even remind me of them! (Don't tell Moon this but I am very attached to CS Sun-)(Honestly gotta be my favorite Sun I've read fr fr) Also! Thank you for just being so supportive, thinking about me in tag games, and giving ALL the tag notes! They're a wonder to read and have me bounce off the walls! I'm always so happy we're mooties! ❤️❤️❤️ (Also, fun fact, you're my first mutual too! It's insane to me HOW DID THIS HAPPEN GUAHPHIAHDKA)

@pointyfruit You! Your art? Muah, wonderful. I don't even care if it's not dca related because it's so good. The shape language, art style, and just unique takes on just anything and everything blows my mind! Let's not forget COLORS. Oml they are so PRETTY. It's like an explosion I never want to end. 💥💥💥 Also! So goofy, so silly, and COTL enjoyer! Let's GOOOOO!!! I don't engage with the fandom much but I DO love the game and honestly I almost beat it, but still have not because I don't wanna do the final boss fight. It can't be over bros... Anyways when I see your posts I always wanna just wave like a neighbor seeing ya blow up 10 boxes of fireworks on a casual Tuesday afternoon. 👋👋👋:D

@divinit3a SPINS YOU!!! 🐶🐕🐶 Heya silly meister! In the midst of reading your work, gotta say? Muwah, Perfecto! The sillies are putting me on a rollercoaster and I'm stuck on the ride! While my ability to yap is a coin flip every hour, you happen to bring the yappening out of me with all the fun notes and posts you do--We've already had so many fun convos! Speaking of posts, the art is peak and will STAY peak! The designs? Muwah. The colors? Muwah. You make even the creepiest of goobers hauntingly beautiful! We've may not have known each other for long, but you're someone I look forward to seeing on my dash/notifications every time I open the app! ❤️❤️❤️

@sinister-sincerely Hi!!!! I'm still sometimes in awe realizing we're mutuals! I really love your work and if I'm in the mood to read something but I don't know what, I tend to turn to Aftersome often, even though I've read both the og and the rewrite! It's like you're the master of writing angst, bitter unrequited feelings, and the strange tenseness but want of confusing relationships. It's gut wrenching and I wish I could write something so evoking! All your stories are amazing and I seriously hope you know that, they're such heavy hitters that they have marked a place in my memory. ❤️ Your art too is wonderful! They don't pop up often but when they do it's a real treat! I love that you use grey scale in a lot of your works and the style is just so pleasing to look at. Whenever I see the DCA in your style I wanna give them the biggest hugs, even if they'd pry me off seconds later! ✨✨✨

@r0b0s-robos / @r0b0-wannabe Waving at you excitedly!!! It's always a pleasure to see your reposts, you always find the good stuff! Plus, you always are trying to help out others and it's amazing to see, your efforts are able to make great impacts. :333 You're also another writer I appreciate immensely, and I'm so invested in your botanist au. The sillies and their botanist who is desperately trying not to fall in love with them!!! ADORE THEM!!! I can't wait to read more! ❤️❤️❤️ The times you post about writing ideas or silly things about the DCA has me nodding my head with a smile. Also, the little notes you leave in tags, despite usually being brief, always makes me so happy! It's like seeing the kind stoic look at you from their seat, let out a small smile, and say "I love this"- and then suddenly it's a blast of blinding white light of endearment straight to my heart. K.O.!

@chickenchirps27 Welcome back!!! I've noticed you've been much more active recently and it's always fun to see what you got goin on! Obligatory art mention, but it would be criminal to NOT mention it. ITS!!! AMAZING!!! THEY LOOK LIKE ROCK CANDY!!! Colors!!! I love it so much, the goobers look delicio- I mean they look adorable and masterfully crafted in each piece of art! And your sona, ugh, she's so gorgeous and alien in the best ways possible. I've never seen anything like her and I am in awe of how you came up with all her little details. Those mantis arms are SICK and I want them!!! (Though drawing may be a little hard if I had em-)✨✨✨

@amarynthian-fortress / @amarynthian-chronicles Hehehe! Boops you! >:D Honestly, thank you for always being the biggest sweetheart around and being so welcoming. You're one of the people that made me feel able to crack my shell more and be more active on here! Your writing is whimsical, your reposts and comments are always so kind and feel-goody, and you just always show you care and the randomest times! Catch me off guard why don't you! I love all the snippets and treats you post, and I'm saving many of your stories to read for rainy days! ❤️❤️❤️

@ping-ski My reaction to us becoming mutuals was- 💥💥💥:OOOOO💥OO💥💥 I think I've followed you right when I started getting active on here and gah, your art is wonderful. So lovely, stylized, and colored so simply yet so appealingly that I can't stop looking. Your aus make me want to read them and their designs are always top tier! Also, I cannot forget to mention you are SILLAY!!! So silly! Your comments on reposts are goofy and I love to read them whenever they come up on my dash! Not to mention your own posts- I will never forget the 3-in-1 solid block of dca encased in ice. I was in awe of seeing them encased and I suddenly wanted my own dca ice cubes to put into a drink and try not to choke on. ✨✨✨

@quilteddreamz Your writing. Oh my GOSH your writing! It's wonderful, beautiful, gah, I can't wait for your advent calender! I wish I could do something for it but I got 3 more weeks of large projects tapped to my back. I am sending much luck your way and know that I am excited to enjoy some daily dca! Don't break yourself over it too! I may adore the goobers but you're most adored first! Take care and keep being such a whimsical person! Muwah! ✨✨✨

@flowysgonemad You are also! Silly!!! You are so fun to see popping around my dash and your doodles just make me go :333 every time! I love your aus and you're a very kind/goofy person! I don't even remember how we became mutuals but garsh diggity dang it, it's awesome to see ya and anything you yap about!

There are MANY more mooties I want to appreciate and show off, but I fear I am currently omw to go to a large thanksgiving dinner and I'm expecting to be there for the rest of the day. SO! If you weren't listed, please know that I AM thinking of you! Have a wonderful time zone, and just know that my heart is so full knowing that you're all there! I can't believe there is that many of you to begin with that I can't fit you all within the time frame! (Would you believe me if I said coming up with all the right words to say here took me 2 1/2 hours?)

So! To all my beloved writers, artists, and sillies alike! From the bottom of my heart, really, thank you! For being here, even reading this, and appreciating the things I do as much as I appreciate you! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️✨✨✨✨✨✨

[ohmightydevviepuu]

fanbinding: a second version of our little life (rounded with a sleep), plus some thoughts on fandom and Fanfiction Writers Appreciation Day

the story: i found in my tumblr drafts an ask about this story, a hard-boiled detective noir AU retelling of the first season of OUAT.

a lot of the first half of the story came to me very quickly and very easily, especially during the rewrite draft, because i had already done some work with @thisonesatellite to brainstorm about what might be expanded and i already had about 18k to work with.  

i got stuck about halfway through, caught up in my own writer bullshit, but @wistfulcynic kindly stepped up and freed me from that with a couple of simple, pointed plot questions while the group in the CSRT discord helped me unlock a few ideas about the specifics of the dreams.

as for the ending...was directly influenced by a project that @distant-rose and @justanotherwannabeclassic were working on that they kindly shared with me. 

the binding: sewn boards covered in Duo Oatmeal bookcloth. lineco bookcloth spine piece, hand embroidered for decoration. painted by me in a buttercup motif. paste-painted endpapers from Madeleine's Paste Papers on etsy. art by @camii-artt.

i mentioned in the earlier post about how joining the @captainswanbigbang CSRT in august of 2019, to work on finishing the fic of my heart, was a fateful decision for me. boy howdy was it. i had no idea what i was getting into--the people, the community--they were just names i'd seen on so many amazing fics. i had no idea what events were like or what the group chat would be like but i jumped in with both feet. it was the timing, you see. august is (for Reasons) a very difficult month for me and the idea of grasping on to this Thing was a joyful and a hopeful one.

so we embarked, as a group, on this writing project together. comments, questions, discussions about show canon turned into pet photos and vacation photos and late nights. we entered lockdowns together. watched one, two, three babies come into the world. new jobs. new houses. election night(s) 2020. insurrection day 2021. new year's eve parties, cocktail hours, bake-off, video game lobbies. in-person meetings. vacations. and so many nights spent writing together.

all because we wanted the same two fictional characters to kiss.

holding this fic in my hand is a wonderous thing because it literally would not exist without these people.

happy FFWAD to my CSRT/IAS fam. you're everything.

@wistfulcynic @thisonesatellite @optomisticgirl @spartanguard @shireness-says @idoltina @initiala @phiralovesloki @thejollyroger-writer

[mlb-a-rewrite]

Fixing Lila Rossi

Oh boy, do I hate Lila. Not only is she a bad character, but she's a badly written character too which is a far worse crime imo.

At first, I was tempted to just write her out entirely but then I thought, "What the hell, might as well see if I could make her work" and I'm glad I did.

In the show, Lila is a conniving manipulator. She is constantly scheming, but why? Her reasons for what she does are never made very clear, but that's not her biggest crime.

Lila joins the class randomly and immediately begins lying and deceiving. When Marinette discovers this, Lila begins attacking her and when Marinette speaks up about this, everyone sides with Lila, including Marinette's best friend. For so many episodes, for so many seasons, Lila is a cruel manipulator, and that entire time Marinette and Adrien, two of the most well-liked people in the entire class, are ignored when they speak up against Lila.

I think this is all incredibly dumb and it makes me very angry to think about it so I reworked her character entirely.

The first thing I figured out was Lila's motivations. Why is she the way she is? What are her goals? How far is she willing to go to get what she wants?

The easy conclusion I came to was that Lila wants the luxurious glory of wealth. She comes from a poor family where she's been neglected and pushed to the side her whole life. She wants the power that comes from money. She wants people to look at her and envy her like she has done to others her whole life.

But the more I thought about Lila the more I realized her motivations are more than that.

Her whole life has been lived in uncertainty. She never knew if she would be getting dinner that day or if she'd be able to stay in her home. She never knew if her parents were in a caring mood or a cruel one. She never had any control over her life, and she is tired of it.

Lila wants money because it gives her control, but she also wants to control people. She befriends people to get what she wants or to gather information to force them to do what she wants. She never lets anyone have a leg up on her, because that is surrendering control.

Even if the person she is interacting with doesn't play a role in her master plan, she doesn't want to risk the chance that they might. Vulnerability and authenticity give people access to Lila, to the things that anger her and make her sad, and so she never lets anyone in.

Yes, Lila is driven by a desire to accumulate wealth and fame, but those are just pieces of the larger puzzle. Ultimately, Lila has lived a life where she is powerless and she decided years ago that she would rather be dead than continue to live at the whim of others.

[childotkw]

Hi Jordan, I'm just starting out writing my fic and I am a bit stuck so I'm seeking for some advice. How do you plan your fics? I have a few specific scenes in my head and I'm not sure whether I should write those and build my fic around it? Or I should plan out all the vital plot points

Hello darling! Sorry about the delay in getting to you!

Most of my stories are born out of one cool scene or concept, and then I create the branching storyline for either direction from that one moment in the plot.

I don’t have a specific method that I follow - each story’s development is different and I’m very much at the whim of my muse and imagination. But one structure that I have found helpful is this:

Identify your main characters and their details (e.g., their backstories, their traits, their flaws relevant to your fanfiction world / environment / AU). For example - in a non-magical AU, how would this impact the lives of character who were canonically magical?

Order your current scenes into a rough timeline and identify the gaps between them. For example - label them ‘Scene A’, ‘Scene B’ and ‘Scene C’ once you know what you’re working with.

Starting with your earliest scene, figure out how much build up you want until you reach it and then start working backwards until you’re satisfied with your story’s new initial starting point. For example - your original ‘Scene A’ might end up becoming your new ‘Scene H’. Relabel and reorder them as you go!

Think of potential in-between scenes that could occur to propel the story and characters along, and mark them down (these in-between scenes don’t have to be super detailed, but it will help you to flesh out your order). For example - “I know that at some point before ‘Scene F’ I want these two characters to have a fight, so I’ll just put it down as ‘Scene D’ for now”.

Repeat the above steps for all of your original scenes, until you have a tentative sequence of events between all of them.

Once you have a rough outline, identify your moments of conflict - and outline how these moments will impact the growth of your character. For example - ask yourself things like: Will they grow stronger or weaker because of this conflict? Will their previous progress continue or will they be stalled? How does it affect them emotionally as well as physically? Does their flaw play into this conflict at all? Have I foreshadowed things to my satisfaction?

Characters drive your story events forward, so consider what their motivations are at each point in the story. For example - ask what they want and how you, as the writer, can stop them from getting it.

Start planning how each conflict will be resolved. For example - did the character’s growth from a previous moment of conflict help them learn a new ability or piece of information that lets them overcome this next challenge?

These are just some small tips but I hope they help! The important thing about setting out your plot is understanding that everyone’s process is different, and that even if you don’t know all of the in-between moments just yet, you’ll discover them along the way.

Some people are super detailed in their outlining, others figure it out mid-way through. I had the ending of CS planned out pretty much from the beginning. The plot-twist to ybtm only came to me as I was writing it, and I had to go back and rewrite the first chapter to make it make sense.

Writing is very fluid, and you shouldn’t be afraid to start just because you don’t have all the pieces perfectly arranged.

[naoristerling]

Yeosang fic rec

Entropy (k.ys) | 21.3k @in-san-ity

Hacker yeo X reader mafia

things never went according to plan; career wise, family wise, relationship wise and especially not when you were suddenly saddled with an infant to raise but you learned to roll with the punches. except the next challenge you were about to face wasn't a punch, it was a machine gun.

Fated

Alma gêmea

Siren | 27,8k @sorryimananti-romantic

yeosang is a siren and you're a siren-hunter. he may have lost his voice and you may be immune to a siren's call, but he has you bewitched anyway. on your journey together to find the sirens who killed your parents and took his voice, you make new friends, find yourself cursed and turning into a siren, and fall for yeosang. he proves time and time again that he's not the monster you thought all sirens to be as he helps you come to terms with yourself and find the person who cursed you.

Freaks || Kang Yeosang | 3,4k @mingigoo

after being friends for ten years, your triad friendship with Yeosang and Wooyoung is falling apart, all because of a simple game—spin the bottle.

Cosmos | 18k @pirateprincessblog

centuries ago, humans detected a signal from an asteroid with a collision probability of 1-in-1,200. unwilling to gamble with humanity's future, they decided to evacuate. thus, kang yeosang finds himself aboard a spaceship, nestled in a sleeping pod among thousands of other slumbering passengers. the destination appears distant, and everyone remains asleep. just why is the young man awake then?

ʀᴜᴘᴛᴜʀᴇᴅ ᴄᴏɴꜱᴛᴇʟʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱ | 3k @the-midnight-blooms

Dreams soulmate au

Other members

San

destiny. | 25k @tainsan

waking up in the past is a disorienting experience. what’s even worse is it seems like you’re the only person in the world who is experiencing it. so when all of a sudden, a distressed man shows up claiming he has also woken up in the past. you realise he may be the key to your way home, yet he also just so happens to be a member from your favourite kpop group, ateez.

Champagne Problems | ? @mingigoo

after finding out your dad set you up in an arranged marriage that you wanted no part of, the only thing you could think of is claiming you already had a lover. To prove it, you kissed a complete stranger in front of him at your engagement party—a stranger you knew your dad wouldn’t approve of.

blushing red. | 11k @atozfic

how did choi san go from wanting to protect you like a big brother to wanting to ruin you with his own two hands? ( part of the rainbow riots anthology series. )

Overdrive | 18k @atozfic

wildfire (cs) | ?k @hwaslayer

assistant professor in bioengineering, incredibly attractive, lonely and divorced; that’s how most people describe san. but despite the events that have happened in his life, san has a lot going for himself. he’s a successful, sought out professor due to his brilliant contributions to science at just an early age of 32. he worked hard to get where he was now; head deep into his research, his publications, building his lab and creating a name for himself. everything was good and smooth sailing— until it wasn’t. because when he meets you, a bioengineering grad student interested in rotating in his lab, he finds himself ready to risk all the blood, sweat and tears he put in throughout the years just to keep you close— his need for you spiraling out of control like a wildfire.

Seongwa

Bodyguard | 37,8k @baekhvuns

in which his task is to be your bodyguard, his mob-boss’s daughter. where he not only guards you but also guards your body.

rewrite the stars | 24k @baekhyun-ah

in which you runway to escape an alliance accompanied by an unknown man named park seonghwa.

Arrow in the dark | 65k

Your quiet life of working at a convenience store is upended when ultra wealthy Seonghwa convinces you to pretend to be his girlfriend for one night in order to fool his parents.

Playing with fire | 200+k @ateezmakemeweep

Age gap

when your scholarship falls through during the last semester of your college career, you were, admittedly, on edge.

overwhelmed by the prospect of delaying your graduation to save up thousands of dollars or work a second job or, per the suggestion of your roommate, sell pictures of your feet.

you first met park eunbi during your first year of college, when she walked through your dorm room with a smile on her face and her parents by her side - or, more notably to you, her incredibly handsome father.

that’s all he ever was to you though - your friend’s hot dad who you only ever saw a few times a year.

but when you find yourself around him more and more often, your attraction growing and his eyes lingering, you suddenly find yourself in a situation you know is wrong but can’t seem to pull yourself out of.

Wooyoung

If Without You | 14k @sorryimananti-romantic

your childhood best friend wooyoung decides to move in with you in the middle of your college degree, and now you just have to live with him and hide your very romantic feelings for him in the fear it would ruin your friendship.

Hongjoong

needle to the heart | 7k @pirateprincessblog

wedding planning seemed stressful and difficult on tv and in the stories of your friends and family. your first one was, indeed, stressful and difficult. so much that it took you less than ten minutes to discard your wedding dress, undo your hair, and call a cab. this time will be different. with a different approach. in a different city. with a different man.

look after you || k.hj (m.) | 10k @mingigoo

after a long night at work with little to no sleep, you nearly doze off on your way home, hitting a tattooed, spikey-haired guy in the middle of the road. Panicking, you run out to help him and go with him to the hospital, only to lie and say he was your husband so you could go back with him. Well, when he woke up, he didn't exactly take it the way you thought he would...

Overdrive | 18k @atozfic

a lonely artist finds himself in need of some human contact, so he joins a dating app but with a very specific request: he doesn’t want a relationship, he wants the experience of one. when someone contacts him, interested and willing to aid him in his search for artistic inspiration, the rules quickly become simple: no real names, no personal details, no feelings. so what the hell is kim hongjoong supposed to do when he catches himself daydreaming about their future together?- or, can you fall in love with a stranger?

Your Gentle Hands (They Feel Like Home To Me). || Kim Hongjoong. [ Part I ] | 31k @yourlocaljonghoe

meeting the local outcast shouldn't have ended with you slowly falling for him. yet you did, all while knowing you could never have this man, because you were already someones else's wife. two lovers, a dress shop, and a violent man between it all. we all know how this ends, right? ... right?

New World | 27k @sorryimananti-romantic

you've always known the crown prince was just a little power hungry, however, when you offer to kill the king for him as part of your big scheme to end the monarchy, you didn't realise he'd be ecstatic about it. while you etch out an elaborate plan to get more obstacles out of the way, you start enjoying his company just a little too much. it ultimately clouds your judgement and becomes the cause of your downfall, though... if you go down, he goes down with you :D

what lies beneath | k.hj | 13k @noramoons

there’s a pair of eyes blinking up at you from below the pier. you think you know who (or what, really) they belong to—but you might be too afraid to admit it.

The secret garden | 13k @yoonguurt

Spring brings with it the need for a change. You're in a writing rut and that just can't happen right now. You decided to spend a few months with your aunt at her massive garden estate. for the first time in 10 years. Dreams of a boy you don't remember become a nightly thing. Who is this boy?

TWTHH Spinoff: Stitched Hearts | 14k @edenesth

Throughout his entire career, Hongjoong has received nothing but praise for his work. Never once had anyone suggested his dresses were anything short of perfection. That is, until he met the youngest daughter of the Baek household—the family's black sheep, an enigmatic spinster whom he found utterly confounding.

Lust is in the Air | 6.5k ❤️‍🔥 @bananayuyu

Your best friend drags you along to a family wedding, wanting to add some fun to your all too serious life. Turns out her uncle is the one who really provides the distraction.

One-shot I ?k ❤️‍🔥 @sugawhaaa

Eita que ele tá bravo

𝔐𝔦𝔩𝔩𝔦𝔬𝔫 𝔇𝔬𝔩𝔩𝔞𝔯 𝔐𝔞𝔫 | ok @holybibly

You've always had expensive taste. So when you meet a gorgeous older man in a bar with the most ravenous feline eyes and diabolical smile, you can't resist the urge to taste him. You let him take you back to his place and give you the most unforgettable night of your life.

His favourite | 12k @k-hotchoisan