#esp since I mostly do original art

[haliaiii]

Thanks for 1k followers omg??? I didn’t even notice lmao 😭😭 thanks a lot !! <33

[wizardsix]

probably won't be making any other veilguard posts bc I'm over it and I think we've beaten this game into the dirt enough. my ask box is always open if anyone wants my thoughts on smth specific or just wants to complain but I think I've had enough lol I want to move on to other games

[ccrisntok]

Your Masterminds, Whit Young, and Ace Markey! (mm! whace au)

(Spoilers lol)

what normal fellas ahahahahaha (I have poured my entire soul into these two there is nothing left of me)

A basic summary of their relationship:

Whit has spent like, over a year manipulating Ace into being complacent in his plans. In his own eyes, Ace is a sorta-stupid lacky, who he's constantly love-bombing to keep obedient. Although, he is a bit glad for the company... it was sorta empty when Ace was "dead" and they couldn't really talk. And maybe Ace almost dying from his fake execution was a bit disturbing. But he's sure its nothing! (He fell in love with him like a moron.)

Ace has fully fallen in love with Whit. He's not happy about it, but it happened. As a result, he's basically ruined any semblance of his own morality, just so he doesn't lose Whit, or the affection he knows is mostly performative. He's more than happy to kill his fuck-face classmates, after a... bit of prodding, and honestly, he'd do anything Whit asked at this point, even die. He'll still complain about it, though.

i tried to be as original as humanly possible, but I'm def giving credit to @talkativeanonymous, @acethehorseishere, and @a-blog-for-kat all for inspiring these two in one way or another (esp. a-blog-for-kat lol).

anyway there's the art, here's the promised lore. warning for like a million words. I'm serious. It's 1,400 words. you can stop here i don't blame you.

also sorry for the odd looking bullet points, didn't realize you couldn't have gaps lol!

This au operates on a probably un-canon assumption that I pulled out of my ass. That is that Mai Akasaki is both a student in the class of 27, and that she is the "time loop" student. She is usually a part of the killing game, but she isn't this time, for reasons I'll explain in a sec.

This specific loop, Mai is attempting to dissuade the (usual) mastermind from wanting to start a killing game in the first place. That mastermind is Whit Young.

She goes about this by trying to curb Whit's main reason for his descent into despair, his resounding loneliness, by giving him championship. Charles hasn't softened up to the others in any regard yet. But that wasn't the main reason, unbenouced to Mai.

In this loop, and this loop alone, Mai sets Whit and Ace up to be friends. She hopes they can help each other, since they usually end up more or less alone in their school life.

Surprisingly, it works. They get along decently well, although a codependency starts to develop on Ace's side.

Around this time, Whit takes up an internship at XF Future, which Mai doesn't realize. He innocently wants to explore other job options, "Matchmaking" not really being a stable career forever.

Obviously FX Future isn't a normal Tech Company. Whit starts to change, in a barely noticeable fashion, the longer he works there.

Ace notices Whit's contacts start looking a lot more vibrant after Whit takes a couple weeks off school for a "company trip." He thinks it's... sort of pretty.

(Whit's time at XF Future showed him a side of humanity he didn't realize existed. Insane levels of greed, using the concepts of "ultimates" to guide a stupid pubic where the Government wanted them, generally a dystopia. It feeds into his existing detachment from humanity, until he hits a breaking point, setting his sights on ending the "Ultimates" concept by killing the newest class in the public eye, including himself.)

(XF Future develops a new sort of technology, prosthetic "eyes" that basically turn you into a living remote control, able to connect to an entire building if its connected via a computer system. Security cameras, doors, fucking air conditioning- everything.

(Whit offers himself as the test dummy, and it goes perfectly.)

Anyway, Mai decides to talk to Ace, since she's starting to realize he's becoming a bit... softer after hanging out with Whit so much? And hopes like, for once, he'll actually accept help for his mountain of problems.

He doesn't take this conversation very well.

Mai, with knowledge from dozens of loops, accidentally brings up an extremely traumatic event, simply mentioning the name "Tyler" once.

In a blinding mix of rage and horror at Mai's knowledge of the event, that Ace has literally never even spoken about in this timeline, Ace shoves her away from him.

She falls backwards, and splits her head on a desk, killing her instantly.

Ace, in a horrified frenzy, calls Whit, literally his only friend.

Whit shows up. Ace expects him to freak the fuck out, call the cops, or something like that... But he doesn't.

Whit simply tells him they were going to hide the body together, not even remotely caring about Mai's death.

yeah that's a little fucking weird, and its terrifying, but going to jail is scarier sooo Ace goes along with it!

After this, Whit wraps Ace into uncharacteristically cruel pranks against some of their classmates and others at Hopes Peak, oftentimes resulting in physical injury.

He acts like these are completely normal and funny, while Ace is both freaked out by it, and sort of enjoys enacting pain on people he didn't like.

Along the way, Whit notices Ace starting to fall for him. Horrible news for Ace, since Whit plays into those emotions by becoming much more physically and emotionally affectionate. Which he doesn't enjoy, like, at all... not a bit...

Whit convinces Ace to assist him in greater and greater acts of violence until Whit just straight up kills someone (not a classmate, a stranger.)

Ace is of course tied into everything way too deep to stop now, and after all this... he doesn't really want to. So he stays as Whit's accomplice for months, up until Whit's weirdo behavior arrives at the idea of the killing game. He references the "First Killing Game", which Ace had never heard of.

The idea is a bit intense for Ace, but at that point, he didn't have anything beyond Whit. If it took this to stay with him... He'd do it. Even if in the end, they both were going to die.

So they get to work!

Ace had been taking engineering classes at Hope's Peak in hopes of getting out of jockeying, and he'd helped his family build sheds and shit since he was a kid, so he focused on the construction and executions.

Whit wired the building an all-encompassing computer system he could control, as well as stealing "Mono-TV" from XF Future, a robot he can fully control to be the "host" of the game.

He also steals the "mind wiping" technology from XF Future. It's weirdly easy to steal stuff from this company, hm? It's almost like they aren't protecting it...

Whit also uses another piece of experimental biological technology... on Ace.

A screen connected to his brain, a lottt less invasive than Whit's eye surgery. It doesn't impact Ace mentally, it just gives him the ability to produce visible projections for easy construction, communicate with Whit remotely, (and give Whit a way to always know what Ace's condition.)

The screen is unclipped when the game starts, but the brain implant is still connected to Whit, so he can detect Ace's condition.

After kidnapping the class of 27 and wiping their memories... It all starts. A killing game, streamed live to the entire nation.

Whit and Ace start off as a part of the class, interacting with the others like normal, a pretty decent show. Things go roughly as planned, putting everyone in the positions Whit wanted them. Untilll... chapter 2.

Ace gets his ass jumped, and almost dies prematurely. This is fine, Whit privately makes sure the wounds properly cleaned, but it does fill Whit with an... ominous feeling.

Ace still kills Arei, a part of the plan, and gets "executed", so he can more easily upkeep the executions and such behind the scenes.

After the screen playing the fake execution turns off, Whit checks to make sure Ace didn't get injured in his running around... but can't detect anything.

At all.

Ace's heart wasn't beating.

He actually, seriously, had a fucking heart attack.

(Ace's heart attack was for a combination of reasons. Firstly, his heart was actually in pretty bad condition as a result of his eating disorder, something Whit had figured was "over" by now. It wasn't!)

(Second, in that moment, the idea that maybe, just maybe, Whit could have been double-crossing him came to Ace. What if Whit loaded the guns? What if Ace's use was done, and Whit was finally getting rid of him? It was terrifying because he could die, and terrifying because... It'd make sense. It was all that ever happened to him.)

So he had a heart attackkk lameeeeee

This makes Whit tweak the fuck out, internally. (lol pretend his spooky ass sprite happens AFTER the execution, not before. shh its all made up its all pretend)

After Levi gets taken to the infirmary, Whit drops Charles off at his room as quickly as he can, then fucking BOLTS IT to a hidden passageway in his room to the like... Mastermind area, with the execution chamber.

Whit manages to resuscitate Ace in time, barely. And even after that, he's in pretty bad condition. But he's conscious and mobile.

Whit gets him as comfortable as he can, and after spending the night, he sort of... has to leave. He does some tweaks to Ace's brain screen thing, creating a functional heart monitor that Ace (and he) can watch.

As often as he can, Whit sneaks off to the Mastermind area at night to make sure Ace doesn't fucking die in his sleep. But Ace gets... decently better quickly, and returns to his duties overseeing the killing game.

Whit still visits almost every night to make sure Ace wakes up, which he can't really explain to himself. Ace was... supposed to be disposable anyway. Why would it matter if he died?

Anyway yeah the rest of the game happens. No clue there.

In the end, Whit and Ace come out as masterminds (happy pride).

I have a comic planned for how the end goes, soooo... that's it!

holy fuck! my fingers! hi the whole 2 people who made it down this far... uh... did you like my lore.....? do you want me dead now for having you read 1,400 words of two evil homsexuals...? 😅 love you thank you im sorry.

[popiellart]

can you elaborate on how you do dao style origins in your ttrpgs? I'm curious

I do 1-on-1 prologue sessions with each player before the group game start proper, not just a quick aside, but a whole separate session

since i mostly run World of Darkness, these prologue sessions tend to be the last day of the PC's normal life, which might sounds boring on the surface but actually gets shockingly riveting (esp with excellent roleplayers such as my players are)

i let them struggle with some mundane problems, i let them see glimpses of strange dark world under the surface of normalcy, i let them spend time with a couple NPCs, some of which will be returning, especially friends and loved ones, it gives them something to fight for and care for and hold on to!!

... And then I do the GM-ly thing and rip it all away from them 😊 The prologue sessions usually culminate in a character's entry into the World of Darkness proper, so, for example, for Vampire: the Masquerade, we finish the session with the player character getting murdered

the value-to-effort ratio is ridiculous from these. i'm not a very experienced GM, so i'm still learning how to maximize the potential, but my more experienced friend, @elegiacescapist, who is running a Sabbat V:tM game for myself and a couple of friends, easily squeezed veritable fuckmountains of value from our prologue sessions.

I'm talking putting in super-strong foundations for NPC relationships, power dynamics, exploitable traumas and character building moments, hints of secrets and plots to come, the events in them got a bunch of art and writing from players, etc.

it's not strictly DA:O style, per se, but it's the same principle - letting you create and embody your character, but making it so that they have tangible place in the world they occupy

[choccy-milky]

hey! They already asked you but I don't know if you forgot hehe, what are the mbti of Clora and Sebastian? 😸

OK, I FINALLY HAVE AN ANSWER!! took me a hot minute to figure out sebs, but after reading all the pages and comparing, i do think entp fits him the best. also i saw this picture on pinterest about a relationship between isfj and entp and its so true, esp the "do not listen to each other's advice, still get each other out of trouble" LMFAO. also the 'protecting isfj at all costs' 🥺🥺🥺im soft. (ALSO DONT COME AT ME I KNOW I SPELLED KNOWLEDGEABLE WRONG IM TOO LAZY TO FIX IT😭) OKAY!! and its been a while so i'll be using this ask to reply to a buncha others🙏🙏

my fanfic does follow the plot of the game, but with sebastian added to every sidequest/story mission. and then from around the third (niamh's) trial, it starts to branch more into (mostly all) original stuff!^^

yes actually LMAO, clora's lawley-slap wasn't even planned. but as i was writing it i started to get so offended on her behalf i was like GIRL, SLAP THIS BITCH🤬 so she did😇😇 id say its normal, yeah! even tho i stick to my outlines, a lot of what happens just kinda happens without my prior planning as i begin to write bahaha, especially dialogue scenes.

aw, im glad u like my blog so much and that it can help u even in the smallest of ways 😭thank u!!💖💖

BAHAHA AWW TYY IM GLAD U LIKE IT SO MUCH!! i saw u re-reading it recently on wattpad and ur comments always have me dying. also im just gonna address your other ask here in this one, but as u know seb has now met mr.clemons, and you 10000% nailed the dynamic between seb and clora's dad LMFAOO, they will absolutely bond over disagreeing with how careless she is and wanting to protect her/stressing over her LOOL. ty again for all ur messages, i love seeing how much u love my art/fic😭💖

OMG u are so right i need to draw this

also god idk....following the sebinis example, i guess they'd be...sebora?? reminds me of sephora LMAO. ive also had someone call them "alliteration shipping" which i think is so cute BAHAHA. HONESTLY PPL CAN JUST SAY WHATEVER THEY WANT, i aint picky.

oh god its been too long since ive read the books (tho i do really wanna re-read them esp in the winter) but my fav movie is half blood prince, just because i love all the ron/hermione moments and the highschool drama BAHAHA. what do u mean harry potter isnt a romcom??? ok and last but DEFS not least

THE UNHINGED ENERGY OF THIS ASK CRACKED ME UP SO MUCH WHEN U SENT IT BAHAHAH, couldnt even fit the whole thing in my screenshot. IM GLAD U LIKED/HATED THE CHAP, and also your pfp just makes everything you say funnier, i love it LMAOOO. ty🙏🙏

[pixiestickie]

so . i did something ^}*#*}*%+%

(more parts might come and if that happens this post will be the masterlist)

ramble ⏬

so . ok here goes nothing. first things first.

this is like the “fisherman meets mermaid and they are in love” AU trope but jamil isnt a fisherman: he pretty much retained his canon life, aka he is a servant and one day he found a merman and he just hangs around him to escape from his shitty life situation (and the merman is completey enamoured).

so, apart of NRC not happening, more details about the canon divergence should be revealed at a later date

thiat is the info about the au out of the way. ill just do personal rambling here esp bevause im insecure about some things about this so you can stop reading if you want.

this is a trope ive seen around a lot, especially on twitter, so ive had this idea since a bunch of months ago. i then proceeded to forget about it until i saw a twitter post about this same exact trope again except it was with fucking miguel o’hara but thats besides the point. the original post that made me get the idea were 2 ocs (they had the blood-cut-to-call-merman idea. I completely stole it from that. im coming clean) and i was like “wow do you know who else is a mermaid? azul fucking ashengrotto”

ok so no the art style i used. i started using it really recently to doodle stuff, since 2 days ago actually im so serious. i tried using it here as well bevause its an easy art style, really quick to draw with it and also looks good. or so i thought. because im now having doubts about wether it looks good or not and i fear it might just look weird. i kinda wanna hear if people prefer this art style or my “actual” one from my other posts

this style looked way better when i used it to doodle stuff, but i dont think im capable of using it in comic format. the style i was going for is mostly evident in the colored “poster” because ive actually redrawn the comic sequence a bunch of times so the style was lost there. I do like how the “poster” looks but im not sure if y’all would agree so id love to hear wyt

now the biggest part. ive never made comics in my life!! so these are going to look so damn akward. u can already notice it here!!!!! crowd starts booing

also i cant draw water and also i dont know how to draw azuls octo patterns bc the material we have of his design are so vague and fragmented but his patterns are not easy to draw so im struggling and i need to make a reference of him for myself 😭😭

[barzfrommarz]

c!wilbur headcanons for @dynamitedarlingg

-during a breakdown in pogtopia, he went to go burn the original lmanburg flag but stopped himself. Opted for burning pieces of paper with the lmanburg flag drawn on instead

-(aroace c!wil propaganda incoming) after revival he tried to force himself to feel romantic/sexual attraction because he wanted to feel like a normal human again and that is how everything with c!quackity started. He only snapped out of it when they got drunk and hooked up and woke up in his bed like “wait a minute…”

-Favorite snack is goldfish crackers (i’m eating some while writing this)

-Has a tic where he throws his head back and brings his arms into like a “rawrrrr” position like he’s trying to scare someone. Think during the dance scene in the wendnesday show where wednesday is dancing and looks up to the ceiling and her arms are moving side to side kinda in that position. Everyone thinks he’s either joking or making a piss poor attempt to scare them and it’s really embarrassing for Wilbur

-Had a major goth phase as a teen to rebel against phil. He doesn’t dress the part but he still considers himself a goth and the Lmanburg uniform was somewhat inspired by gothic aesthetics 

-Used to hate halloween but it’s now his favorite after revival because he doesn’t have to try as hard to look presentable to others 

-Pretends to hate asmr but actually loves it. Sometimes if he exhausts all his other options to try and fall asleep he will use asmr and it always works

-Hates his crow wings because he feels like they make him look like his father. Purposely got them clipped some point during lmanburg and excused it by saying it would make him less of a target in war

-He can somewhat shapeshift. Mostly stays human/a crow but sometimes will give himself fox ears and a tail because he secretly wishes he was one instead of a crow. Could also explain why c!fundy is a fox 

-He explores all art mediums. Drawing has always been a way for him to visualize his emotions since he sometimes has a hard time identifying them

-Ashamed of his scars and stitches. tries to use foundation to cover them up but it never works and everyone can tell he’s wearing it

-Was a huge theater and band kid in middle-high school. Wished he went for a career in acting or music first instead of the president of a random country on a random secluded island in the middle of the ocean

-Burned all the music he wrote and recorded during his days on the smp on cds. He plans to one day release some of them in an ep but he’s saving it for when he truly feels he has healed enough to handle it

-He struggles with pain seeking stims. He picks at his skin, bites his hands and fingers and pulls out hair 

-He never cries infront of others. He only did once infront of Tommy and Quackity when he was told people use his name as a way to imply someone is being crazy/irrational. (this was inspired by a comic I saw basically doing that I forgot who drew it) ((he also swears up and down it doesn’t upset him after the fact)) (((Idk I just think something like that would really get to him esp since he tries so hard not to be like how he was in pogtopia)))

-I like to think c!wilbur is an empathetic person but he struggles with showing it especially after he was revived. He thinks it makes him look weak or vulnerable so he keeps it to himself and this makes him look more like a major asshole than he already does 

-When no one is around, he will do childish activities like hop scotch or watching cartoons because it strangely helps him calm down and unwind 

-His diet after revival consists of. Mac and cheese, instant mashed potatoes, all meat besides ham or bacon with a stupid amount of seasoning, plain white rice (sometimes with soy sauce), whatever fast food he serves (but only as a treat). Mostly just simple things because he can’t be arsed to make himself a good meal like phil did for him when he lived with him before starting the burger van

-He sleeps in the burger van on the floor with one pillow and a scratchy blanket. No one knew this until he forgot his coat at last nevadas and Quackity saw him like that when he went to bring it back to him. He ended up offering Wilbur a hotel room to sleep in for the night because he felt bad. Wilbur declined because he felt like he was being mocked 

-If the game WEBFISHING existed in the dsmp universe, you would not see Wilbur for days because all he wants to do is fish and forget about life

-Actively goes out of his way to cook and eat every salmon he catches. It makes him feel empowered 

-Either rides a bike to get around or drives a motorcycle. He doesn’t wear a helmet when riding either 

YIPPEE THATS IT KEEP THE ASKS COMING PEOPLE (but give me a bit to get back in my thinking chamber)

[queenaeducan-writes]

2024 writing round up

i saw it on my dash and wanted to do it! tagging: @blackjackkent, @theshirallen, @dreadfutures, @theluckywizard, @ anyone else who would care to do this!

words posted: Not counting Tumblr RP or I'd be here forever, 76,581. 35,245 of those were Var Shiral'vhen.

additional words written: 21,585 on VS, plus some other WIPs means I have typed about 33,109 words. There are more in my notebook (but probably not a significant amount).

grand total of words: About 109,690 words! <3

fandoms: Dragon Age, HotD, BG3

highest kudos: 187 on The Queen's Pleasure, making it the first fic I ever posted to break 100 kudos.

highest hit oneshot: 2667 on The Queen's Pleasure.

new things I tried:

New fandoms! BG3 got me back into writing for fun before DA reassumed its throne, and I published HotD for the first time, too!

Smut! I published five smut fics on AO3, one on Tumblr, and another that will probably not make it out of the docs I'm gonna be real.

Long fic! Technically I've tried before, but writing Var Shiral'vhen with @theshirallen has been a pretty new experience as someone who mostly writes oneshots. It's been fun, though!

fic I spent the most time on: Var Shiral'vhen on the basis of it being a long fic. For one shots, probably The means by which art is made due it being my first attempt at Solian smut and that ship being very dear to me (and it was originally started back in like 2022).

fic I spent the least time on: I wrote Stronger Where it Breaks (Veilguard spoilers) after I beat DA4 in a short space of time. They will learn was also written similarly quickly.

favorite thing I wrote: I'm going to list multiple answers bc I deserve it.

I think it might be the unpublished Var Shiral'vhen chapter "Rift test take 2" just because I adore the Solas/Ian conversation in that chapter. It really encapsulates what I find fascinating about their dynamic, put them in a room together and they will start vibing even when I wasn't planning on it.

(Veilguard spoilers in the link) They will learn, a fic I mostly wrote for Joly but ended up getting more attention than I expected on Tumblr! I really enjoyed working with Elvhenan worldbuilding and I'm looking forward to doing more with the OCs I started crafting for the purposes of the fic.

(Veilguard spoilers in the link) The shape of you, a really abstract fic that's sex but also isn't sex. It was more a picture than words in my head so writing it down was difficult, but I enjoyed how it turned out esp since I didn't spend too long on it (it was like two sessions of writing).

favorite thing(s) I read:

(Veilguard spoilers in the link) keep my body from the fire (Solas x Felassan) by Almalexiasgf. I loved the depiction of Solas's [redacted] and Felassan's handling of it. It captured everything I love about the new lore surrounding the elves in DA4.

deus proditus (dame aylin & ketheric thorm) by @darethshirl. Such a neat exploration of these characters and their hostile relationship to each other, their love of Isobel, divinity/mortality. Highly recommended!

The History in our Skin (nb!lavellan & keeper deshanna) by @theshirallen. You were a fool if you thought I wouldn't include Joly in this. I love the pain and the peace in this, the impossible choice Deshanna saddles Ian (still a child but in choosing becomes grown) with. "There is no right answer" but only because the world is hostile to everything they are.

it ends, or it doesn't (felassan & an ensemble cast) by @dreadfutures I'm still making my way through this one (VG put a huge dent in my reading habit I carefully built over 2024 lmao) but I love Blue's Felassan POV and the worldbuilding they do for the Dalish/ancient elves. It's so inspiring, and the mystery is so good.

Mien'Harel (solas/felassan, solas & ensemble) by @bodysnatch3r Again, making my way through it, but Matty has such a great use of language and the worldbuilding is so good. I'm going to have my heart broken (more) when I continue I'm sure, but I'd highly recommend checking this one out.

these violent delights (Zevran x f!Tabris, Lucanis & Zev/Warden - Rated T) by @inquisimer. I love love love the Zev/Tabris pairing in this, and the playing off Lucanis is also excellent. I'd highly recommend it for its intrigue and character dynamics!!!

writing goals for 2025:

Continue Var Shiral'vhen

Not burn myself out on exchanges

Try to satisfy the need for engagement w/ more realistic means

Stop comparing myself/my headcanons/my divergences to others

new works: It was only after listing them that I realised I was supposed to just say how many, but I wrote it so it's here now. Anyway. 13!

Var Shiral'vhen (Solas x Nonbinary!Lavellan - Rated M) An adaptation of Solas and Ian's love story as well as Thora's journey as Inquisitor. About finding love in impossible places, undoing the damage the world has done to you, building trust from the ashes of other people's fires.

They will learn (Solas & Original Elvhen Character- Rated G) Veilguard spoilers. The world is new, and so are the people. Solas meets a new invention and sees the beauty and horror of creation.

The shape of you (Solas x Nonbinary!Lavellan- Rated E) Veilguard spoilers. Solas asks Ian a difficult question that Ian has no trouble answering.

Five, Seven, Five (Solas & F!Cadash - Rated G) Veilguard spoilers. Set in Inquisition. After a visit to Cadash thaig, Thora is inspired to write poetry after a lifetime of reading it. She shares it with Solas, as she shares everything with Solas.

Stronger Where it Breaks ( Solas x Nonbinary!Lavellan- Rated G) Veilguard spoilers. On Ian's suggestions, Solas takes up journaling to deal with some of his issues.

Pawn Takes King ( Solas x Nonbinary!Lavellan - Rated E) Technically Veilguard spoilers for the game's hub/home location. After a game of chess results in a rare victory, Ian claims his spoils.

The means by which art is made ( Solas x Nonbinary Lavellan! - Rated E) After Solas discloses his preference for bottoming, Ian tops him for the first time. It is not a night without its setbacks.

In Defense of Spirits (N/A - Rated G) A meta about the spirits of DA:O and how they can be read more sympathetically with the future game's lore taken into account.

The Art of Reading Aloud (Gale x F!Tav - Rated E) Ophelia (Tav) gives Gale a blowjob while he explains the history of the Moonshae Isles to her.

A Study of Hands (Gale x F!Tav - Rated T) An exploration of Gale's mental state throughout act I of BG3 as well as his developing feelings for Ophelia (Tav).

Chip Butty (Gale x F!Tav - Rated E) The morning after the party with her Tiefling kin, Ophelia wakes up with two headaches. One, from wine. Two, everyone expects she bedded Gale the night before.

The Queen's Pleasaure (Alicent x Rhaenyra - Rated E) When the King calls, Alicent does not linger longer than she is wanted. Her return is interrupted by a wayward princess, fresh from a foray into Flea Bottom, and hungry for companionship. Or: What if Rhaenyra had found Alicent before she found Ser Criston?

A Little Light (Jowan & Connor - Rated G) After years of young apprentices giving him a wide berth, lest they catch his talent for mediocrity, Jowan finds himself in the position of tutor to the young Connor.

[iraprince]

Absolutely love the Infodump on Cookie she's so good. however!! I remember you made a trio of characters for this game and were torn about which one to play, then decided the other two could be his attendants.

How are those two, what are they up to?? Have you done much with them in the game so far? (And even if not, wanna give us some tastey information about 'em?)

💜

oooh yes! those two are sir velvet the unsmiling (it/she), and damned-if-i-do/dandy (he/they). let's pull up their art (esp now that i have crispy clean new scans!!! i think i have only ever posted this art as shitty phone pics prior to this)

ANYWAY. it turns out that even though attendants are a built-in part of the noble sweetheart playbook (cookie's title) and you're SUPPOSED to be using them... for me in practice, when i'm actually playing the game, i just keep totally forgetting lmfao!!!! :') rping with my other party members and chasing quests and stuff is so engaging that my brain is totally booked with just being cookie, let alone two additional npcs, so sadly dandy and velvet have not gotten a ton of screentime in the current campaign

BUT that really just makes me eager to one day play them properly in a different campaign, whether that's them each taking their turn as player characters like was originally intended, or when i'm GMing a campaign of my own (i'm trying to write up something for my friends, but i have no idea when it's actually gonna happen bc i'm so busy rip... but when i do, cookie and her attendants will def be npcs)

i honestly don't have MUCH i can say abt them, bc since i haven't played them much i also havent developed them much... i suppose i can give summaries tho!

in terms of vibes velvet is very much like, "guy who is brooding so hard that it stops being mysterious or having any gravity at all and is mostly just making people wonder if she's like? okay?????" like there is only so long you can spend with your back to the rest of the group clenching your fist and muttering to yourself before people just start kind of glossing over it and being like "oh haha that's CLASSIC sir velvet the unsmiling!!!"... mix this with a heady dose of "[nasal voice] UM, you forgot to collect the homework" and somehow you have created a creature ideal for wrangling cookie's effusive elaborate scatterbrained whims, somehow, most of the time. velvet is really similar to a different Brooding Goth Knight character i have wherein my formula is "make a character who looks extremely fucking sicknasty badass, then never ever ever stop making fun of them ever"

dandy is cookie's quartermaster, and so unlike velvet (who's usually assumed to be traveling around with cookie, even if i am constantly forgetting to roleplay that it's doing that) he mostly chills at chateau gorgeous looking after his liege's affairs and making sure the ppl who live there are fed + sheltered + generally taken care of. they are pretty much velvet's exact opposite in terms of temperament; EVERYTHING gets velvet's hackles up, NOTHING phases dandy. i need to be careful bc i am starting to arbitrarily ship them just from typing this. anyway, dandy is largely non-verbal; they're able to speak if really necessary, but they would just rather not, and if there's really no way around it they'd rather just sidle over to cookie and whisper it to her, and then let her communicate whatever they want to say to the rest of the group on their behalf; if cookie's not around, you're just gonna have to figure out how to communicate w him otherwise. which always works out fine bc dandy is very patient and used to getting along in silence!

that's about all i've got rn... i will def post it here if i come up with or draw anything else that's fun tho :) ty for the ask!

[kindred-spirit-93]

the falcon and the flower

hear ye hear ye, im planning a short story lol and believe it or not storyboarding is significantly more entertaining of a process than actually having to actually write lmao. whodve thunk.

anyways this post exists for a few reasons, mostly so i can map things out in one place (i plan on posting it here eventually hehe) but also for context and references and insight from yall & general yapping so if ur interested take a seat :3

--

i. inspiration & background info: the idea came to me after watching this short about a painting that depicts the story of a king and a beggar maid who lived a quiet life together. and i think thats neat lol.

the ballad that inspired the painting is mentioned and was popularised in the works of shakespeare and alfred tennyson respectively among several others, old and new. the 2 paintings (1884 and 1898) belong to edward burne-jones.

the maid in the painting is said to resemble burne-jones' wife (dont be fooled he had an affair. also turns out its kinda his signature way to paint women) which made me realise that the way the ballad was interpreted (and therefore immortalised so to speak) was according to the views of the aforementioned vessels and the norms of the time.

and so it struck me and my 0 knowledge of art history as odd for the love interest to just so happen to appeal to the eurocentric beauty ideals of the time (she is described as having dark hair yet is painted in both as auburn?) and by extension the male gaze (esp in the 1884 painting where her clothes are somewhat translucent and she sports a neckline too scandalous for the era lol).

also the king being specifically described as 'african' (by the narrators? the ballad doesnt specify and i havent found any origin for the name) and then proceeding to ignore that completely. or worse. point is old dead white guys and their pesky world views probably thought slapping a single word last minute and calling it a day was a very progressive move. and i took that personally

--

ii. creative liberties taken: point is im giving this my own twist because i can. everyone is entitled to their own views and interpretations (mostly). the beauty of art to me lies in the many ways it can be seen and percieved, and i personally love seeing how ones culture and background reflects in that, so thats what im doing. kinda.

and at the end of the day maybe to someone else my interpretation completely misses the point is biased to what im familiar with. which is absolutely valid and they would be right lol. idk i just wanted to kinda add this as a heads up and a general fyi. we all know how repressed everyone was back then lol. so much so it became a name of a complex. moving on.

--

iii. symbolism and stuff: looked up a bunch of birds this morning loll and settled at first for a starling. i might keep the imagery idk i had a very specific idea for the king but then falcons popped into my head and i was like dang this is cooler. so it stuck!

the flower i first had in mind was rosa abyssinica, then the desert rose, finally i decided to switch to maybe my favouritest flower ever: and *cough* the national flower of jordan *cough* the black iris :D

its pretty and rare and not at all realistic to the events of the story but its mine so leave me be lol. if i can sprinkle some of my culture/ heritage and get away with it i will. sue me :p

anyway the cool and not at all pretentious title is a reference to the main characters; a king who loves birbs and the owner of a small flower stall in the marketplace (both of which are now specified)

--

and now for the tragic backstory poll!

keeping this up for 3 days, since ill probably draft it out next weekend... if i get to it lol. i appreciate ur contribution in advance :3

--

tysm if u read this far lol i didnt expect it to go on this long lol, sorry! will reblog and update this as i go (probably) so yeah. stick around if u want. take care and dont forget to dink ur oiter :)

[nishnormp]

thinking way too hard about things that probably do not need this much thought

In lieu of tfc merc brainrot, I have decided to do some historical research and character workshopping to shape out the details of everything needed in ficwriting. I have nothing else to post (my art is not going well) so I might as well scream about this

P1: TF2 alternate history bullshit

Abraham Lincoln inventing rocket jumping before the existence of stairs, the entire thing with Australium, so on. Despite TFC having modern kevlar (as opposed to looney toons weapons, but a bit about that later) and a more serious/gritty tone, the setting is still within the TF2 universe; which means having a weird fusion of irl history and vaguely reasonable fantasy absurdities.

To clarify, I am not a bona fide history nut who knows absolutely everything (ffs my own country's history doesn't even play much in western incidents). I've just been doing research thru online articles, videos, and talking to other ppl who know more than me, so my brain can lack a bit for certain things; do correct me if I get anything wrong.

By the 1850s (estimation) Australia became a tech giant due to discovering Australium, making insane progress in basically every field (and also making their population very jacked). Newfound inventions also require raw resources, and this page confirms that australians pick their leader mostly based on pure strength, which begs the question; are they still connected to Britain? Would there still be a benefit for them to be linked to Britian the way they are?

There are many cases where nations plunder other nations just for natural resources; Britian is one particularly infamous force with many colonies, which makes me wonder if Australia ever resorted to snatching them just to afford all the material components that their tech requires. Australia was part of the British Empire up until 1901 irl (not too far from 1890), but the question about resources and sovereignty(even if symbolic) still remain (Britain likely wouldn't like a territory growing at terrifying and eventually unmanageable rates, and at that rate I doubt Australia would settle for middling trade margins)

(Well, apparently Saxton owns England. But that was when he discovered the internet)

There's also the ensemble of first gen mercs. RED and BLU recruit progressively less important mercs as time goes on, starting from important historical/media figures, to modern militant professional-lookin dudes, and finally to the current crop of crackheaded TF2 mercs we know and love. The Original mercs I mostly want to focus on are Abraham Lincoln and John Henry.

I'm not exactly sure if John Henry is even a real person, but he was a symbol for labor movements and the civil rights movement; the fact that he IS a real person in TF2 lore is p vital methinks, especially since him and Lincoln seem to be on the same team. Mercs are paid a lot, even the "bottom of the barrel" tf2 ones: scout has his merch collection to show for it, medic has his exotic animal parts, heavy has his gun ammo (and also casually gave a child 7k dollars), etc; could John Henry have spearheaded civil rights movements not just in America but also other territories (like africa) with the bread and merits he got for the job? Does he have a legacy with rouge merc groups (armed unions?) that fight against imperialism? Maybe even effect/radicalize Lincoln about some things??? Unethical business practices still persist even in Saxton's era (hell, he's an example) but maybe the (hypothetical) challenges to Britain's grasp on its colonies and evolution of munitions would give the people an edge.

I have no idea how a drastically colony-less Britain would affect the timeline of WW1 (esp in less popular side-wars like in South Africa where Britain was very much involved, which may be problematic since my interp of cmedic is FROM there but anyways) (btw they only won that bc they out-attritioned Germany, but by that point maybe the dutch or the americans would take over), but surprisingly enough WW2 ends at around the same time it does irl, despite my initial thought that a roided-out Allied Australia would be more than capable of turning the Axis Powers into a skidmark. The likely explanation for that is that the finer details were just not important for the tf2 comics that took place AFTER (fair enough), but as someone planning to write the 1930s mercs . Pain . My working explanation is that seemingly unaligned private contractors can get ahold of weapons easier than Certain governments, which makes mercs more popular than national soldiers for carrying out certain missions (plausible employer deniability baybeeee).

P2: Conflicting class meta - CHeavy edition

Onto something less heavy, another part of ficwriting is figuring out how characters are...characterized. The TFC mercs dont have much canonical info (I've already turned two of them into straight up ocs because I am NOT going to write p3dos from start to finish of a longfic) so I settle for looking at other things, like gameplay and ingame roles.

The first I focused on was cheavy, the leader of the group. Grouchy, but a surprisingly tolerant team player.

This IS reused from a previous post (im lazy) but the first bullet basically says "otherwise, offensive heavies are frequently looked down on and the power of the other team's defense will have you dead in no time". Gameplay-wise, CHeavy is considered the simplest class and the easiest one to master; most tfc gamers think its a common noob pick. His total health is pretty good, he occupies a big space so he can block narrow paths, and the way he attacks is simple; but he's slow even when b-hopping (grenades cant boost him either) so he can be outrun/picked apart by other classes, which really shows in tfc's most popular game format: capture the flag.

I've seen about a handful video of tfc gameplay that WASN'T ctf (or the slightly diff gamemode with a defense system), and even if the 4th bullet point is right, those two classes are usually doing more important things during ctf. My main point is that despite being the leader, he isn't the type of class to lead the charge.

The most reasonable thing I can think of is that he's just . Really good at strategy and can keep track of his team while reliably holding down a position. That, and his superior bulk makes him shine more outside of the gravel pits. Whatever it is, it does make more sense to me now that I revisit the comic panels where he is VERY spiteful that his teammates got killed (rather than calling them weak, they fr matter to him bc otherwise, he isn't getting shit done)

(Ik the reason hes the boss is bc big scary dude and karmic ass-handing via other heavy who actually respects his doctor but shh the fic demands reasons)

P3: Conflicting class meta - Cmedic edition

The contradiction I can immediately clock is the fact that cmedic never gets mentioned despite his omnipresence in his original game. Most hc's I've seen interpret him as the exact opposite of the current medic, which is a dedicated doctor who also happens to be a sweetheart (with very rare exceptions), but may I propose the theory that all mannco medic mercs are bastards? I'm 99% sure that the original medic was sigmund freud. TF2 medic is just a menace. Post WW1 most moral and noble medics would bust their asses at hospitals rather than sign up to a contract tying them down to just healing 8 other people and killing other people over and over, but that's just my hc (we're all making shit up, might as well have fun with it).

The most common citing for cmed's hidden menace energy is his virus weaponry, but I think his ingame role also shows it pretty well. Practically taking the scout's niche and making it less punishing by having straight upgrades of his two weapons, giving healing utility AND also being able to sniff out spies like a cscout (he can't diffuse bombs or trail caltrops, but he's already powerful as is). Imagine being cscout, having to compete for flag capture points with this guy who practically has everything you have but better (instead of leaving behind super visible spikes he has a college degree). This isn't even like the modern sniper vs spy debate where it can still be debated that spy has a unique niche with his mindgames, cmedic just straight up took copied his homework, 98% percent matching on the plagiarism bot.

Cscout and cmedic beef is very likely, but if cscout is a literal god at what he does then there won't be much issue, since the best cscout is ultimately better at flagrunning than cmedic. Its likely that cscout is simply human tho, so that's some drama that can happen.

Funnily enough the tfc class that gets the most weight and hate on its shoulders is sniper. This is because servers have a limit on how many snipers can join, and if a shitty sniper took up the slots, the rest of the team would be pretty pissed. Meanwhile, a competent sniper is the bane of every player's existence; a missed shot can still slow someone down until a medic cures them.

P4: cmedic backstory building hell - barely organized nonsense

Last one I swear. My drawings of cmedic explicitly portray him as a person of color- more specifically a cape malay, from the cape territory in South Africa; he even curses in malay in one of the posts. Ig I wanted the cast to be more diverse, but it did make his backstory somewhat harder to write.

Mann co is situated in New Mexico, far from SA. How and why did he get all the way there? With the fanon worldbuilding I set, what is stopping him from simply joining a nearer merc group? Probably heard of it through the grapevine, and travelled for fat stacks; wouldn't be uncommon for doctors (or mercs) to be highly motivated due to money. I wondered of what would set him apart from all the other hypothetical medic applicants that probably graduated from upstanding colleges like harvard, then I recall all those common hcs.

1)Most applicants assumed that the job would consist of primarily healing, without considering how bloodthirsty their company would be, and/or 2)the BLU team has been getting genuine medics and chewing them up like gum (and spitting them out utterly mangled, I suppose). There's also the possibility that some margin of these medics actually had some weapon training, but at that point a lot of time has been spent (also some conflicting motives there, I can't imagine the perks that a deadly merc job has over a hospital job unless the guy got a kick out of it).

My next idea was to make him a ww1 vet on the side of the British (australian? american?) colonies of SA, having joined midway after finishing his education. However this would clock his age during the current 1970s timeline to be around 81, pretty old; most of the tfc mercs would be 70s max around that time. Cmedic is visually the youngest of the mercs too, you can compare his smooth eyes to the more sunken cspy's eyes and there is a notable difference. This is really just an issue of me being on the fence about fully oc-fying him (a friend of him suggested making him a vampire, I am almost tempted to make it so).

In the case that particular hurdle is overcome, there are more details I have to iron out. I figured that his motives either come from wanting to financially help out his family after the war's sheer devastation, or just . a general resentment for the way things unfolded, and he swapped to merc work in the states to get properly paid for his work and (attempt to) fill the void in his soul. Maybe a mix of the two. An outlier in his community for being a godless man and having very material and tangible masters (science and money), he abandons the lofty ideals of nationalism and sides himself with the highest bidder in the private market. Also developed an insane immune system (trenches and exposure are no joke).

(Certain classes have shared characteristics across gens, like the demos' deranged smiles and engies' wholesome vibes. With sigmund freud, tf2 medic as the archetypal mad doctor, and tfc medic as the archetypal capitalist doctor, there are now three gens of doctors with dubious machinations.)

He'd probably be a great medic, respecting merc code and all (funfact tf2 medic mentions tfc demo by name, implying that he knows his real name and putting a dent in my theory that being on a first-name basis is a big deal actually , my countertheory to that is that grey mann gave him the team's files and tf2 medic wants to spite them). Cmedic also reverse-engineered the medkit and made a new version for non-gravel war missions, since the usual has several hard drugs (heals to full instantly and gives adrenaline boost, sounds sus especially if you read jarate's side effects) since he ended up somewhat caring about his pack of rabid animals

[pinkpastels113]

intro post

okay so i realized that i've never done one of these and i kinda want to!! esp for the new people following me and my side account @caitlynspistol, which i plan on keeping even if my fandoms and otp brain rots change

name: wenz (pronounced as when-zzz, or if you're anne, whence is fine too LMAO). it's not my real name but that's what i'm comfortable with on here!

pronouns: she/her.

nicknames: i respond to girl, girlie, dude, or any cute pet names hehe

age: 22

personality type: enfj (protagonist mbti personality). i also relate to harley quinn, lexie grey, annabeth chase, red of hearts, and chloe beale (besides the barging into other people's shower part). more of a golden retriever than a black cat, esp at work and around people i like and can be myself with, but can be a standoffish opinionated moody lil binch if im pissed or annoyed lmao

lgbtq?: yes. i think im labeling myself as bi but leaning towards wlw

country: usa (even tho i be so tired of it sometimes 💀)

comfort fandom: pitch perfect and bechloe! it's the fandom that i originally joined tumblr and got an ao3 account for, and the pairing that i feel the most comfortable and natural writing for

type of content creator: i'm more of a writer than an artist but i'm trying to explore more of my artsy side. i've loved drawing since i was 5. it's just difficult sometimes to motivate myself and practice my art when everyone else is so much better HAHA

i prefer to write drabbles and one-shots more than multi-chapter fics bc my attention span and motivation just. won't let me. but if enough people encourage me and ask for them-!! i also like to write aus? and fluff? and meet-cutes i think :)

current obsession/brain rots: glassheart from descendants the rise of red but im scared that caitvi will take over this spot when the new arcane season releases lmao

others: wenclair from wednesday, chaggie from hazbin hotel, harlivy from dc but mostly the tv show, damie from the haunting of bly manor, percabeth from percy jackson

guilty pleasures: nikkenzie (dork diaries), miraculous ladybug (ADFSJHDSLK MY SISTER GOT ME INTO THIS DON'T COME FOR ME-), sunset shimmer x twilight sparkle

comfort/fav shows: grey's anatomy and friends

comfort/fav movies: tangled, mulan, mean girls, just chick flicks in general ig, the pp franchise

music: i'm a swiftie so pop :) not the ones that are too techno but like soft? but also catchy. i also like throwback 2010s music bc those SLAP

hobbies besides being a part of the fandom: i like to play card games, read/discover contemporary romance books, paint, text or hang out with my friends, do puzzles, be a couch potato, play wild rift (league of legends on mobile), watch asmr videos on tiktok, and just explore the city ig

special tags?: "wenz can talk" for my posts that i just yap in, "w writes" for my writing, "w sketches" for my art

anything else to share: i love getting asks! like from ask meme games or just getting to know you questions, nothing too personal tho! i also welcome any kind of interaction that gets me to talk about my fandoms/brain rots/ships. pls don't be shy lmao: you can interact through tags in a reblog or through an anon ask if you don't know how ima react. worse case scenario i just won't reply? but i'm not gonna judge or bash on you or anything unless you come for me first 😭

[marsprincess889]

Thoughts on ketu in purvashadha. I read your post on ketu's association with creativity but also any other observations. It's in 6h saggitarius with sun and mercury in mula. Thanks ❤

Hii

Again, rambled a lot 😭 but it's worth it.

Basically, you can read my post about ketu, I also talk about my ketu in jyeshta there but you just apply that to purva ashadha and its themes.

A good way to understand purva ashadha (and any other nakshatra) is to compare it to other nakshtaras ruled by the same planet, in this case, venus.

Bharani is venus channeled through mars(active mars, aries/1st house), which means that it takes the energies of venus and protects/defends(mars themes) them. This is mostly the origin of developing/cultivating beauty and abundance and the neccessity of gatekeeping in order to achieve that. It's also focused on self, because it's in aries, so, bharani is the nakshatra connected to physicality and the rules of the material world(in every sense), and how the female body itself is what birthes and manifests life into the material, and how its THE thing to be worshipped. I have a long post about bharani and yet I still have so much more I want to say about it 😭 but you get the gist.

Purva Phalguni is venus channeled through sun(leo/5th house) but it's more laid back, relaxed and more actively focused on enjoyment. Bharani is more passive and more focused on self-preservation than Purva Phalguni. Purva Phalguni finds pleasure in giving(Bharani is the yoni, P. Phalguni is the phallus). It's venus integrated into the identity/ego/self(sun). Bharani's self-focus is more about the literal body and basic self-awarness, P. Phalguni is about love, pleasure and art as enjoyment. Both Bharani and P. Phalguni are very sexual in nature, in different ways, but in my experience, even if natives of those two don't have much in common they still get along well, or at the very least genuinely appreciate and respect each other. Their yoni animals are said to have a special relationship(elephant and rat).

Now to Purva Ashadha, which is not as sexual(not usually and not overtly at least) as other venus nakshatras. It's venus channeled through jupiter, so, venus here is focused on expansion and philosophies. This is venus energies being idolized, moralized and "promoted", so to speak. It's literally what it sounds like. Purva Ashadha is about gaining alliances to secure your victory, about determination. I think out of all venus nakshatras purva ashadhas have the most potential to be snobbish, just because it has a tendency to moralize beauty and art. There obviously is a lot of truth in one thing being superior to another, but unevolved purva ashadhas are the ones that fail to realize that some things they claim to be objectively good might just be enjoyed by them, but they don't back down easily. I just realized how propagandist this nakshatra can be omg. Anyways, aside from that, evolved ones know when to be not bother with trying to prove their superiority and realize that the oens who are meant to share their ideals and be their true allies will naturally reveal themselves.

The thing about ketu is that you yourself know it best. It's verrrryyyy personal. It's literally yoir past lives stored together, your most primal and familiar part, so, if you're asking someone else what its about you're kinda doing it wrong, cause no one else can tell you about that part of yourself(any part of yourself, actually, but this part esp. so). I think you already have an innate understanding of your ketu, I think everyone does. It's what you've known since very early childhood, it's what you think your past life was like, it's those themes and energies you know too well. Ketu is stillness, the hidden, the transcendental. It's your foundation, it's the conqueror, it's where YOU set the rules, because you have a clean slate. It's about liberation.

Btw, if you see a lot of posts nudging you towards rahu cause it's the future and your destiny, do the opposite cause rahu is already a very high-alert, hyper-aware, anxious place in a chart and since rahu is always connected to ketu, ketu is what gives you the power to achieve your destiny. Rahu will make you aimlessly chase different things, thinking it's doing a good job, but ketu has the real power, in a sense that it has a real knowing understanding of what its doing, without being aware that it is. Rahu thinks it knows and it does not, Ketu does not even know there's anything to know and it just naturally moves. So, I'd advise to not fall into the trap of looking oitside of yourself, thinking there's something to do. Find the stillness within yourself and you'll discover things you probably did not even know were there. Be natural, be detached, be yourself and I think you'll connect to your ketu.

I'd love to know if this has resonated with you.

[magpiefngrl]

Can I ask your top 10 fav fics ever (from any fandom, if you don't mind)?

Also, just curious, is there a story behind your name "magpiefngrl"?

Hey, anon!

Oh fave fics! I love talking about fics and books, though I feel I talk about fics everyone knows and have nothing new to offer, esp since I've not read much in the last 2-3 years. Still, narrowing it down to 10 is super hard, so I've looked at my bookmarks and chose the ten fics that I've reread the most.

1. Bound Skerry by Frayach (drarry, M, 2.3k)

I've read this a hundred times and I'll keep coming back to it. Possibly my most read fic. The reason it's one of my Forever Fics is the prose. Absolutely stunning writing.

2. House Proud by astolat (drarry, M, 23k)

The original House Magic fic and the best one. I particularly love the hints of dark faerie magic, the horror elements and the brilliant worldbuilding. Astolat's prose is super readable and the pacing is excellent.

3. with exactness grinds he all by thistle_verse (drarry, M, 6k)

An aching fic with beautiful, lyrical writing. I've reread this so many times.

4. Art in Life by northofallmusic (tofsla) (wangxian, T, 2k)

I feel I'm repeating myself but this has excellent prose and it's aching and tender and made me feel all the feels.

5. Out of the Dead Land by orphan account (stucky, M, 63k)

OK so this hasn't stood the test of time because I finished it a few days ago, but WOW. Absolutely brilliant. I'm not even a stucky fan or anything. But I kept thinking about it when I was doing other stuff and I set aside the books I was reading so as to finish this. Now it's days later and it's still on my mind. I can't remember the last time I had a book/fic hangover. A very angsty fic and a fantastic exploration of Bucky's trauma. This is by one of my top authors of all time, who's now orphaned everything.

6. Mr Webster's Wager by Fahye + orphan author (same one as above) (Ash/Webster, E, 27k)

Now we're getting into the horny fics. This one is based on a KJ Charles short story which is the best romance short story ever written in my not so humble opinion. This takes the original story and the horniness of that scene and expands it into many horny scenes. It's masterful, very very hot, and just a fantastic fic.

7. Unhook the Stars by jad (drarry, E, 70k)

One of the first drarry fics I read and one that made a huge impression on me. Super kinky, lots of sex scenes, I've reread this a LOT.

8. IDK My BFF Hermione? by lettered (drarry, E, 19k)

Extraordinary. Phenomenal. It will always have a place in my Top 10. Also, very filthy, which is a huge plus in my book.

9. a better happier st sebastian by halsinator (Jonathan Strange, E, 6k)

Another one I reread a million times. Stunning prose and vibes and beautiful yearning. I keep coming back to it.

10. live from new york by varnes (wangxian, E, 87k)

A masterpiece, a classic of wangxian, this is a Saturday Night Live AU, which is such a bizarre choice for an AU--and yet it works. I don't live in US, I have never watched SNL, but I adored the fic.

I've left out a ton of favourite works and authors I adore, but for more of my faves, my AO3 Bookmarks is the place to go.

I have to say, this exercise has been quite illuminating: I don't think I've ever had such a clear glimpse of what makes me tick. In short, sublime prose, an aching, yearning mood and/or filthy porn.

*****

As for my username, here's the story: I joined tumblr a gazillion years ago (way before I got into fandom) and my first blog (still exists: @magpie-x ) was mostly what you'd call an aesthetic blog. I'd reblog cool pics and quotes and occasionally post a personal post about my life. I named it magpie because it was a place where I collected everything shiny, like a magpie. I rarely used it after a while tbh. Years later I read The Raven Cycle and fell heads over heel with pynch and knew that the only place I'd find fans was tumblr. I got into the nascent TRC fandom and soon I needed a space exclusively for fannish posts. I created a sideblog called magpiefangirling and when I later got an AO3 account I shortened the name. Years later I got into drarry, I became very active on tumblr again, and the sideblog wasn't enough so I deleted it and created a brand new blog with my AO3 name.

In short, magpiefngrl, means magpie being a fangirl. It was a random decision but it has now shaped me and I think of myself as Magpie in fandom spaces, and even chose that as my pen name for my future original romance books.

[whitebookposts]

alright so now that we're discussing elder headcanons what are your hcs for ayin :3

OH HEY ANOTHER FEW WEEKS HAVE PASSED BEFORE I ANSWERED THIS. HAHA I live in shame every breathing moment <3

ANYWAY!! AYIN!!! OUR FRIEND!!! THE ULTIMATE DAD\MOM\GRANDMA!!! The one who holds so much pain behind their gentle hands.... one of my favorite elders, right behind Priestess (shhhhh let's ignore the fact she isnt even canon). Let's get right to them!!!!

GENDAQUEEEER I am a firm he\she\they Ayin believer (although it does make writing fics with him a bit tricky lol). idk why, but it makes so much sense, both because I feel like Ayin feels love and appreciation towards all gender expressions, be it feminine or masculine, and because I'm projecting my own gender identity onto em. plus, Ayin was called both a he and a they by tgc, and in one of the game's translations (I don't remember the language, unfortunately), Ayin is called "Prairie grandma" instead of Prairie elder. Overall, I feel like Ayin wouldn't care what pronouns you use for her, he is happy with all (projecting again), and they will wear beautiful dresses and gorgeous suits depending on the mood.

PANSEXULAAAA I don't even have any explanation for this one, I just know it on molecular level.

Youngest child syndrome Headcanon that Ayin is the youngest of three kids, having two older twin brothers. Both because it just… makes sense for him to be the youngest (listen. Half of my headcanons are just vibes.), and because when @grapeless-seeds introduced this headcanon to me (using early beta content where it seemed that some spirit memories were actually memories of the elders, and what we concluded was beta ayin was surrounded by two more spirits that looked a lot like them) I fell in love with it immediately. There are so many funny scenarios that can arise from it, esp if Ayin turns out to be taller than her older brothers. This is also a basis for some of my angst for Ayin too, because out of the other elders, Ayin has the most family still up there in the constellation while she is stuck down there (I'm a "elders are fallen stars who crave to get back home" type of fella)

ARTS & CRAFTS Like to think that Ayin is the type of person to always make some sort of pretty trinkets and stuff, often pairing up with Teth to make them. His favorite type of creation though? Clay pots! All the smaller clay pots you see around her temple are handmade by her :) (even though it does get tricky with their big hands :"D)

Hard of hearing Hard of hearing Ayin headcanon blast! I like to think that the reason they have bells on their temple is so that he can hear their calls better since she would have a hard time hearing them from the village. Originally born from noticing the detail that in his cutscene, Ayin needs to look around before spotting you instead of simply following the sound of our footsteps and the flame. He mostly hears either thanks to a special device created by Teth for him, or through the rumbles of the earth around them. Which leads to-

Is this an avatar reference I forgot to mention this in my Teth headcanon list, but I hc that the elders that appear holding the colored light in the cave of Prophecies can manipulate the respective elements. Even more, they could do so even before they were granted these lights, but it was the lights that allowed them to master the skill. So Ayin, as the holder of Earth, is one of the most powerful elders - she can transform the terrain, make plants grow, lift entire islands into the sky (why do you think their temple is so high up), and even change gravity. If such power fell to any other hands but Ayin's who knows what could have happened? Thankfully, Ayin has a very strong connection and respect for the land, coming from a constellation (the way the stars call their families) of farmers (but that is a whole other can of worms) so you can be sure Ayin can be trusted with it. But if they were to use it aggressively…..

I got my ass kicked, I ain't posting that Both because of Ayin's ability to manipulate earth, AND their sheer size and physical strength, if you somehow manage to get into a physical fight with them, expect your ass to get handed to you on a cute hand made plate. But let's be honest if you somehow manage to get such a calm and gentle person like Ayin to fight you, you deserve everything that comes next.

A single mom who works two jobs...... It's already canon that Flight guide was Ayin's apprentice, but my headcanon extends to Sanctuary guide too, and that for both of them, Ayin was not only a master but a parental figure as well. Even though all the other elders told Ayin that it would be silly to raise ancestor children since the ancestor life span is so much shorter and they will see their kids grow and get old and die before them, Ayin still took on the job because she couldn't let these poor kids have no home, ready to face the pain of their death if just she gets to see them grow old and happy. well… they did die earlier than Ayin…. unfortunately, they also died much, much earlier than they were supposed to and Ayin expected. Oops.

This is the part where we get to the horrors During the height of the darkstone era and the fallout that happened after it, Ayin was caught between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, he longed desperately to get back to the stars and reunite with his family, and that, at the time, was believed to be possibly only through continual darkstone use. On the other, as mentioned earlier, Ayin has a great connection to the land and a great love for creatures and nature. We can even see it in their realm, which is the healthiest, most thriving out of all others. I mean, she has a whole ass sanctuary in the Prairie, so it's clear that the preservation of nature was very important to them. So Ayin was deeply conflicted, wanting to return to the stars but knowing it would be at the expense of the land. This desire to go home was what caused her to go with the continual industrialization at first, and the crushing guilt just made them work harder and harder, running themself thin trying to provide enough light from their realm for the growing demand, because hey, if they work themself to exhaustion, they don't have enough time to dwell if their actions are good! Sleep became their coping mechanism. (Might not be super healthy, but hey! At least it's not DRINKING like in early concept art! I still can't believe they were planning to make Ayin a drunk and that the pots were originally there to contain the drink.)

more horrors Such behavior and Ayin's quiet acceptance of the situation continued up until… it couldn't anymore. Ayin couldn't go on like that anymore, she saw her land and her neighbor's lands fall to ruin, more and more people becoming sick, a war waging taking more and more resources and lives…. and the catalyst for it all was the death of both of her apprentices, who died protecting the very same things she taught them to protect. That was the final straw. And Prairie officially joined the resistance.

Oops, still horrors. So you remember that cut-out beta part of the Aurora concert where we saw the elders on the battlefield during the war, with Ayin with Daleth being on the side of the resistance? Yeah, it's a pretty cool basis for this headcanon, BUT ACTUALLY, this idea came to me so much earlier, IN A DREAM. I am not even joking, I had a dream 3 years ago where Ayin was fighting in the war. Speak of Apollo and his prophetic visions, huh? Do you remember how I mentioned that Ayin would be terrifying to fight against due to her control over earth? Yea, let's just say the giant craters on the battlefield in GW weren't always there.

Doomed middle aged yaoi An extension to the previous point, I'm a Tsadi x Ayin fan, and seeing how Tsadi appeared on the other side of the battle on that one cut out segment... well, do what you will with it.

okay back to normal stuff Ayin is really great at putting children to sleep, even the most energetic ones. there is just something about the softness and warmth of his body and the general calming vibes around her that make young children relax. Was really helpful to Priestess when the little twins were full of energy all too late when she had none.

Grandma instinct Don't say you're hungry next to them. Ayin WILL cook a "all you can eat" buffet for you if you do. No one is going hungry if Ayin can help it. Honestly, I know this hc sounds very joky, but I genuinely love the healthy relationship with food Ayin has. It really helps me to not worry about calories and weight gain. I know Ayin would want me to be well fed and eat tasty food first and foremost. :3

Ayin milk

ANDDD this concludes my list for now! In truth, I have so, so much more headcanons about Ayin, but Im getting tired typing all that, besides, many of them will need a much bigges exposition about my world building and general world headcanons for Sky. Hope you enjoyed reading those!

[woodpengu]

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Oh, look! Drawings! Because that's something I do sometimes. Cute lil critters with nightmares in their eyes and love in their soulless bodies.

The point of this acct was originally to post art. And then I forgot how to art. So it's been mostly rambles. This is a return to the intent, but incrementally. I have ideas; executing them is a challenge, so patience is necessary. Esp since relearning art is not "like riding a bike" for all of us.