#fable x rogue

[machaon-art]

Im way too deep into Tavern Talk and its not even out yet >:V

[baronmpontmercy]

it’s a bit of a mess in there

[lixiesfreckless]

Die With A Smile | k. sw.

➸ synopsis: with nothing but a stone door between you and not-so-mythical creatures, tension rises and the truth spills out when—or perhaps from whom—you least expect it.

➸ starring: kim sunwoo x reader

➸ word count: 1.3k

➸ general content: fantasy au, royal au, lives in jeopardy and people in peril blah blah blah oh yeah dragons

➸ warnings: if kissing or dragons scare you you're fresh outta luck

➸ rating: teen+

➸ author’s note: (I've been reading this fantasy book for two days and the brainrot got to me :p so when I started a game of frantic fanfic with my girl @ashonheavenscloud you best BELIEVE I subjected her to the madness. thanks for co-writing this with me, angel)

Sunwoo slides the safe room door back into place with a labored yell before collapsing into the stone, brown eyes adjusting to the dimly lit space. You stand a few feet from him, desperately pulling at the bows of your gown.

“So they were real after all,” you heave, pulling at a sash. “The dragons. They’re real.”

Sunwoo nods in astonishment as a ground shaking roar reverberates through the stone wall, sending an excited shiver up your spine. You tear off the outer layer of your dress and almost shriek in anticipation.

“All this time, they told us it was just a folk tale,” Sunwoo whispers, unable to fathom it himself despite having seen it with his own eyes. “And now they’re…terrorizing the castle?”

“Sunwoo, don’t you know what this means?” you whisper eagerly, pushing aside your discarded clothes and glancing around the room, assessing your hideaway. Compact stone walls, lanterns hanging and casting a dim glow on Sunwoo's face as he glances at you with an incredulous expression.

"Uh, yeah, that we're going to be burned to bits of charcoal?"

"The prophecy, you dimwit." You sigh. The boy refutes with his own exasperated breath.

"You really believe defeating these things can put an end to the gem wars and unite this pile of rubble we call a kingdom?” He jokes bitterly, checking his face for any more cuts. “I think we’d get our asses handed to us if we even tried.”

“Right, but if they told us that dragons and all of the fables and tales were a lie, then I can only guess what else might be true.”

Your hands slip behind you to your corset, reaching for the strings in an attempt to untie it.

“At this point, anything goes. And that means that that prophecy, with the knight on the dragon, is as good as gospel.”

Sunwoo furrows his eyebrows for a split second, before taking two quick steps towards you. “Y/n, you don’t mean—“

“I do,” you say and huff, dropping your arms in frustration. “Someone has to try.”

“But we’ve never seen anyone tame them!”

“If I recall correctly, before today, neither of us had even seen a dragon,” you counter, and Sunwoo opens his mouth, then snaps it shut when he can’t seem to come up with a response.

As he watches you from behind, only one thought comes to mind, one that terrifies him more than being burnt to a crisp by a beast.

“You’re going to get yourself killed.”

At his low blunt voice, you freeze momentarily, considering that possibility for what feels like the first time, despite knowing how much it very much is not.

“Yeah well,” you sigh, just barely grabbing at the laces of your corset to pull the loops loose, “you’ve always said I was always in the right place to make a name for myself, so…”

”I meant that in a ‘you have the means to’ kind of way, not for you to go and make yourself some kind of a martyr-”

”Well what does it matter anyway?” You exclaim, twisting around to face him with a flushed face. “What does it matter if I die?”

Your breath comes in short and quick puffs, clouds of steam inhabiting the diminishing space between you two as he stares at you in shock.

“My family is ruined,” you spit, a rogue tear slipping out of one eye, “my title is a chain to which I’ve been bound by birth, I have no prospects, no possessions, my very existence is meaningless—”

”Not to me!”

Your eyes widen after Sunwoo yells, both of his hands holding a tight grip to your shoulders as he breathes heavily and tries to right himself.

”I don’t care how selfless you are, or how unimportant your life seems to be, or how true this so-called prophecy is,” he says in a low voice, staring at the stone flooring as he blinks hard. “I’ll be damned if I lose the only person I’ve ever loved, because you’re so quick to risk it all for a society that’s never cared. About you. About us.”

Mouth agape, you hardly find the air necessary to breathe before you let go of the laces in your hands, nearly shaking in his grasp.

”You…” More tears prick at the corner of your vision, making it even harder to see him in the low lighting. “You love me?”

He picks up his head, gazing straight into your shocked demeanor with a small but sure nod.

”Fates and swords, Sunwoo,” you choke out a sob, fingers trembling as you reach up to cup his bruised cheek, “why…why didn’t you ever-”

”Because I couldn’t risk,” he begins, teary eyes now mirroring yours, “losing the only person I’ve ever loved.”

He watches as you fall to pieces in his hold, trying to sort through the muddled emotions swirling through your mind. The muffled sound of shouting and heavy blasts echoes from the closed door, and you wonder how much time you'd even have staying here. If it would even make a difference to hide or to face the threat head on. But then you feel Sunwoo's fingers curling around your shoulders, so tightly it almost hurts, like he's trying to remind himself that you're still there. Drinking in the feeling of his touch, the warmth of his face in your palm, you realize you're doing the same.

His eyes stay locked with yours, and it's obvious that he notices the shift in your realization. That this moment may very well be the last one you get together like this, if you’re so unlucky.

You don’t know what compels you to do it. But one second you’re standing in his hold and the next, you’re throwing yourself into his chest, crushing your lips with his as tears stream down your cheeks.

He catches you with ease, pulling you hard against him, but careful enough to not splinter the boning in your corset as you both attempt to steady yourselves, simultaneously unwilling to part for another second. Sunwoo kisses you back hard, desperately, freely, and you know that he feels just as frantically that you may not have this chance again. There's a million things to regret, to wonder—if you had said something sooner, if he’d said something sooner, if time could be on your side—but you shove aside those thoughts. You're not wasting a second more.

Sunwoo's hands slide up to hold your face, the same way you're doing with his. It's equal parts tender and firm, like he's holding you together—like he's holding himself together by extension. And then you lose yourself in his mouth pressing against yours, communicating all the unspoken feelings you don’t have time to voice. But you can feel each word in the trace of his thumb along your cheekbone, his breath on your skin with every brief pull back before diving in again, his wet tears that spill over your fingers and pool by the corners of his lips. You taste salt, and regret, and relief all at once.

And then you pull back yourself, and whisper it back.

“I love you too.”

Sunwoo looks as if he’s seen another dragon as he stares back at you, a fire alight in his eyes. He gently presses his forehead to yours as he stumbles you both into the cold stone wall, barely being able to hold himself off of you as he takes in the sight of you, flushed and breathless.

“Please,” he begs, hand dropping to hold yours down by your skirts, “please say that again.”

“I love you, Sunwoo.”

At that he smiles widely to himself, lifting the back of your hand to his lips and kissing it over and over again.

“Maybe I’ll join you in taming these dragons,” he chuckles, turning your wrist to press one last kiss against your palm before holding it to his face.

"Because now that I've heard that, I can die a happy man."

[theguywithaplan]

List of Video Games Turning 10 Years Old in 2024

Alien: Isolation

Assassin's Creed: Rogue (the one where you play as an Assassin turned Templar.)

Assassin's Creed: Unity (the one set during the French Revolution.)

Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky

Azure Striker Gunvolt

The Banner Saga

Bayonetta 2

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea (the DLC where you go back to Rapture)

A Bird Story (a sort of spin-off of "To the Moon")

BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! (is this a sequel to 1 or a prequel to 1? I forgor)

Bravely Default (in North America)

Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (the one with K*vin Sp*cey)

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (to date, the last new Castlevania game to release)

Child of Light

The Crew (going offline at the end of March)

D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die (a wonderfully strange game from the guy that made Deadly Premonition)

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (in North America)

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (in North America)

Dark Souls II

Deception IV: Blood Ties

Demon Gaze

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls

Disney Infinity 2.0

Divinity: Original Sin (from the team that would go on to make Baldur's Gate 3)

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

Dragon Age: Inquisition (the winner of GOTY at the very first TGAs)

Drakengard 3

Earth Defense Force 2025 (EDF! EDF! EDF!)

The Evil Within (from the creative director of Resident Evil)

Fable Anniversary

Fairy Fencer F

Far Cry 4

Freedom Planet

Guilty Gear Xrd Sign

Hyrule Warriors

Inazuma Eleven (in North America. And digital only.)

Infamous: Second Son (as well as its expansion, First Light)

Kirby: Triple Deluxe

The Last of Us Remastered (just one year after the original version came out...)

The Legend of Korra (the game from PlatinumGames that you can't buy anymore)

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

Lego The Hobbit

The Lego Movie Videogame

Lethal League (from the team that would go on to make Bomb Rush Cyberfunk)

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (the third and final chapter of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy)

Lisa: The Painful (yes, really)

LittleBigPlanet 3

Lords of the Fallen (not to be confused with Lords of the Fallen, which came out in 2023)

Mario Golf: World Tour

Mario Kart 8 (the original version)

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes (the prologue to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which came out 18 months later)

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

Might & Magic X: Legacy

Murdered: Soul Suspect (it's like Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, but not as good)

Natural Doctrine

Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! (a from the ground up remake of the first Oddworld game from 1997)

Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 (yes, it got a sequel. I don't know how or why.)

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth

Pokemon Omega Ruby & Pokemon Alpha Sapphire

Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy (the last time that Professor Layton himself was the protagonist. At least, until the New World of Steam comes out)

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Pushmo World

Risen 3: Titan Lords

Sacred 3

Samurai Warriors 4

Shadowrun: Dragonfall

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (the 3rd one)

Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments

Shovel Knight (yes, really)

Skylanders: Trap Team (the 4th one)

Sniper Elite III

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric

Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal

South Park: The Stick of Truth

Steins;Gate (in North America)

Strider (the one from Double Helix)

Sunset Overdrive

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS (or Smash 4 for short)

Tales of Xillia 2

Tales of Hearts R

The Talos Principle

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call

Thief (the reboot)

This War of Mine

Toukiden: The Age of Demons

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark (this game merged the storyline of the War for/Fall of Cybertron games with the storyline of the Michael Bay movies. I’m not joking)

Transistor

Valiant Hearts: The Great War

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

The Walking Dead: Season Two

Wasteland 2

Watch Dogs

The Witch and the Hundred Knight

The Wolf Among Us (sequel this year!)

Wolfenstein: The New Order

Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z

Yoshi's New Island

[jjs-brainrot]

Alright, finally finished all the anime I was keeping up with for the Summer 2024 Anime season that isn't continuing into the Fall season (Oshi no Ko S2 technically has 1 more episode but my opinion on it isn't going to change at this point).

I was originally thinking this would be a pretty slow season, but I ended up with way more shows that I was obsessed with then I was expecting. My only complaint was it seemed like the majority of shows I was keeping up with this season just got ignored a lot of the general anime community.

Like that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it definitely felt weird being one of only a handful of people actually hyping up a bunch of the shows that I felt were the best this season had to offer.

A-Tier (Shows that I became obsessed with and were the highlight of my week)

VTuber Legend: Easily the best and most unhinged yuri this season. Will be the gold standard that all future VTuber anime projects will have to be compared to.

Mayonaka Punch: Vampire x Cancelled Youtber yuri. An absolute romp every single week right up to the end. Another strong addition to P.A. Works' collection.

Dungeon People: Another strong contender for the "how would a fantasy dungeon actually work?" sub-genre that's starting to form. Only instead of an ecosystem, it's a work place this time. Also has some strong max level wizard x high level rogue yuri.

B-Tier (Good shows that I can definitely recommend giving a try)

The Fable: A pretty solid yakuza/hitman crime drama/comedy. Definitely much more emphasis on the drama then the comedy but it was consistently good drama.

My Deer Friend Nokotan: Deer girl doing deer things the anime. Humor could be extremely hit-or-miss and it veered more into being weird for the sake of being weird a lot of the time. That's not really a bad thing exactly (I've definitely enjoyed my fair share of "lolrandom" anime over the years), but the swerves were starting to get a bit tiresome by the end.

Oshi no Ko S2: Yup, that was Oshi no Ko. I don't honestly have much to say about it tbh. I enjoyed it enough that I kept watching it every week and would be down for a third season, but I also barely remember half of what happened this season.

C-Tier (shows I liked but were very flawed)

Plus-Sized Elf: If you're looking for an ecchi about bbw fantasy race ladies moving around with their tits frequently out, this is the anime for you. The only thing that really held it back for me was the half length episodes.

Quality Assurance in Another World: Video game QA testers getting isekaied. A neat concept and had some fun ideas but the pacing was just bizarre and frequently left arcs feeling unfinished before moving on to the next ones.

(S)pecial-Tier (For series that I've already read the source material. Can be either positive (+) or negative (-).)

Sengoku Youko (+) (continuing into next season): While the quality has been more up and down compared to season 1, it's still been a solid adaptation so far.

Spice and Wolf S1 (+): Another excellent adaptation of Spice and Wolf. We'll have wait until next season to start getting into more books not covered by the first anime, but I am happy we finally got book 3 in anime form.

(D)ropped/DNF/Do not Recommend Tier (only counting anime I've watched 6+ episodes of)

Nothing

[ariel-seagull-wings]

IMAGINARY FILM TETRALOGY: THE MAGNIFICENT X-MEN

@s10127470 @a-roguish-gambit @knivxsanddespair @thealmightyemprex @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland @professorlehnsherr-almashy @amalthea9 @thestreamweaver

Having recently read the 1991 and 1994 scripts for unproduced X-Men films (the first titled Wolverine and the X-Men and the second titled simply X-Men), I started to think which approach I would take in idealizing an X-Men film series, taking some elements I enjoyed from the unproduced scripts, while cutting out others and also mixing up my own ideas.

For me personally, the main appeal of the X-Men compared to other Marvel hero teams is how vast their own universe is, which gives the chance to not be limited to other super hero genre conventions of good guys fighting bad guys of the week to save the world from a catastrophe, but also takes many chances to deescalate the conflict to small stories that take the influence of other genre sources: romantic melodrama, gothic horror, science fiction comedy, urban fantasy, high school drama and work situational comedy.

So far the science fiction thriller and action comedy genres have been the aproach that studios and filmakers have taken to be safe.

I would like to give the X-Men a chance into the potential for exploring the urban fantasy, romance and horror angles, with a sprinkle of light sci fi and comedy, into a viewer’s digest of the existing story material provided not only by the main Uncanny X-Men comic books, but also take some elements from The New Defenders #125-152, Excalibur and the graphic novels and limited series staring the characters, and I would call this encarnation The Magnificent X-Men homaging the movies The Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven.

There would be relationship overhauls where characters who only casually flirted, had a will-they-or-will-they not long running unresolved romantic tension (that while can be taken for granted in the long running medium of comics, is not very satisfactory in the formats of movies and TV shows) would be official couples in the adaptation.

The timescale and timeline would avoid convolutedness by having characters who, in the comics, were originally clones or alternate timeline children to be children born in the main movie timeline born and raised by previous characters that while mentioned as important, are not the main characters of the narrative, exploring the idea that as a group, the X-Men have a history that goes back to the 60s, where there were founding figures, partisan dissidences, characters went to college, graduated, retired from the battlefield to get married and raise children, or died while fighting for mutant rights.

The influences and narrative style would come from shows like Gargoyles, The Real and Extreme Ghostbusters, and movies like Streets of Fire, 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Tutles, Wesley Snipes Blade and Guillermo Del Toro's Hellboy, being a rock and roll fable exploring the communities and culture built by mutants beyond just the Xavier Mansion in the cities undergrounds, where they built their own clubs, bars, safe spaces to live together, while borrowing fashion and architecture from the 80s and 90s with a little touch of the 50s, in contrast to the swashbuckler fantasy and circus influence, borrowing from Earth 5311, that would be highlighted in the battlefield costumes of the X-Men team members themselves.

There would be a total of four movies, and the main team would be formed by:

ALISON BLAIRE (DAZZLER)

ANNE MARIE (ROGUE)

ORORO MUNROE (STORM)

RACHEL GREY SUMMERS (PHOENIX)

ELIZABETH BRADDOCK (PSYLOCKE)

JAMES LOGAN HOWLETT (WOLVERINE)

HENRY PHILLIP MCCOY (BEAST)

KURT WAGNER (NIGHTCRAWLER)

PIOTR RASPUTIN (COLOSSUS)

WARREN WORTHINGTON III (ANGEL)

VISUAL CONCEPT ART INFLUENCES

DAVE COCKRUM

MARIE SEVERIN

ALAN DAVIS

PAUL MARTIN SMITH

BRENT ANDERSON

I will be slowly thinking of the plots that would narrow down each movie as time goes on.

[gorogues]

Spoilers for comics in May!

These are from the official solicits for that month, which you can see in full at Adventures In Poor Taste.

THE FLASH #9 Written by SIMON SPURRIER Art and cover by RAMÓN PÉREZ Variant covers by JOHN GIANG and MATT TAYLOR $3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock) ON SALE 5/28/24 As the Speed Force glitching causes more chaos around the world, another Rogue is gifted with a mysterious powerset upgrade, while Linda seeks out the source of the mysterious voices she’s been hearing, and Barry reaches a breaking point!

Place your bets on the identity of the upgraded Rogue!

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #27 Written by MARK WAID Art and cover by DAN MORA Variant covers by JEFF DEKAL and RAMÓN PÉREZ 1:25 variant cover by KERON GRANT $3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock) ON SALE 5/21/24 It’s an IMP-losion of global proportions! As Mxy and Bat-Mite flee the dreaded Doom-Mite of the fifth dimension, Batman and Superman must travel to the fifth dimension to do battle within a dimension of omnipotent mayhem! All this, plus the march of the Legion of Doom-Mites and an absolutely ADORABLE weapon of mass destruction in this startling second installment of the latest World’s Finest epic!

Len-Mite! And if you look in the background near the bottom right, there's a Zoom-Mite as well.

SUICIDE SQUAD: KILL ARKHAM ASYLUM #5 Written by JOHN LAYMAN Art by JESÚS HERVÁS Cover by DAN PANOSIAN Variant cover by ARIEL OLIVETTI Variant cover by RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE $4.99 US | 32 pages | 5 of 5 | Variant $5.99 US (card stock) ON SALE 6/4/24 He may have the sharpest teeth in the sea, but he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. Talkin’ ’bout King Shark, who’s been locked away in Arkham where Amanda Waller has taken an extra-special interest in him. Now there’s a full-scale riot going on, and King Shark knows Waller is behind it. Can he survive the blood frenzy long enough to figure out her master plan? The prequel to Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League comes to its epic conclusion. Read the book, then play the game! Each print issue includes a redeemable code for a bonus digital doll in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League inspired by the comics. Get the new Clayface digital doll with issue #4. Paying subscribers with a DC UNIVERSE INFINITE Annual or Ultra subscription (U.S. only) who read the digital issues of Suicide Squad: Kill Arkham Asylum will also receive these bonus digital codes.* *Terms Apply. See dc.com/suicide-squad-faq for details. DC UNIVERSE INFINITE is not intended for children.

Digger isn't on any of the covers or in the solicitation, but he'll probably appear in the issue.

ABSOLUTE JUSTICE (2024 EDITION) Written by JIM KRUEGER and ALEX ROSS Art by ALEX ROSS and DOUG BRAITHWAITE Cover by ALEX ROSS $125.00 US | 496 pages | 8 1/8″ x 12 1/4″ | Hardcover | ISBN: 978-1-77952-758-5 ON SALE 11/19/24 They are the World’s Greatest Super Heroes. But the members of the fabled Justice League of America are about to learn they aren’t the only ones who can band together toward a common goal. The deadliest criminal masterminds of our time appear to be acting in concert—with a surprising plan that seeks to achieve more good than the JLA ever could! Collects Justice #1-12.

Len and the Legion of Doom appear in this old reprinted story. It's an AU.

[indietourney]

Hey, is there a list of competitors that has there names instead of icons? Some of these I want to check out but, I don't recognize them by their icons.

Hiya! You're in luck :D

I've been keeping a list of titles to keep track of the competitors since the beginning, for my sake and now for yours too. Feast your eyes!

Logic & Optics The Witness, Monument Valley, The Room (series), FEZ

It Takes a Village Owlboy, Night in the Woods, Bug Fables, Spiritfarer

Like Clockwork Cook, Serve, Delicious! (trilogy), Bejeweled 3, Satisfactory, Creeper World (series)

Darkness Falls The End is Nigh, Rainworld, LISA: The Painful, Brutal Orchestra

The “Flash”backs FireBoy & WaterGirl (series), The Bart Bonte Collection, Duck Life (series), Learn to Fly (trilogy)

The Walls are Written GRIS, Titan Souls, Flower, FAR: Lone Sails

Four Square Fair Just Shapes & Beats, thomas was alone, 140, Super Hexagon

The Gun Show Deep Rock Galactic, ShellShock Live, Risk of Rain 2, Nuclear Throne

Heart of the Cards One Step From Eden, 100% Orange Juice!, Dicey Dungeons, Rounds

My Home Away From Home Cult of the Lamb, Aground, Stardew Valley, Forager

Test of Temperament Give Up (series), I Wanna Be The Guy, Jump King, The Impossible Quiz (series)

Team-Building Exercises ibb & obb, Sky: Children of the Light, Vitamin Connection, Pico Park

Retrogradation Creepy Castle, Tower of Heaven, The Messenger, Old School Musical

Speed Menace Freedom Planet (duology), Spark the Electric Jester (trilogy), SpeedRunners, Azure Striker Gunvolt (trilogy)

Blood for the Blood God They Bleed Pixels, Dead Cells, Hotline Miami (duology), ULTRAKILL

Jump Up, Super Stars! Electronic Super Joy (duology), Umihara Kawase (series), Woodle Tree (series), Yooka-Laylee (series)

Traveling Companions Alto's Adventure (series), Fruit Ninja (series), Plants VS. Zombies (classic), Canabalt

The Chessmasters Bloons TD (series), GemCraft (series), Wargroove (duology), Pit People

Just Plain Adorable Sushi Cat (series), Pikuniku, A Short Hike, Petal Crash

LevelWare D.I.Y. osu!, Baba is You, Levelhead, Crayon Physics Deluxe

“Flash”bang Deep Sea Hunter (duology), Age of War (duology), Raft Wars (series), Bubble Tanks (series)

Untold Horrors LIMBO, Fran Bow, Dread X Collection (series), Yume Nikki (series)

Answer: Fisticuffs Tunche, Skullgirls: 2nd Encore, Guacamelee (duology), Them's Fightin' Herds

Neverending Dungeons Darkest Dungeon (duology), Rogue Glitch, Loop Hero, Noita

Please check each of these games out as time allows and as you desire. Use the divisions to roughly sort the competitors by genre and theme :)

And happy new year to everyone! I'm in the midst of winter break, and as such I can happily say I intend to resume progress on this project after an unpredictably indefinite hiatus. Thank you all for staying tuned!

- Zettaflake

[lovecanbesostrange]

10 characters from 10 fandoms

Just gonna pick up @dufrau 's open tag. Gonna do a comic edition: 1. Rogue (X-Men) 2. Katchoo aka Katina Choovanski (Strangers in Paradise) 3. Molly (Lumberjanes) 4. Sydney Savage (Danger Girl) 5. Snow White (Fables) 6. Izabel (Saga) 7. Roiya Sintor (Sigil, CrossGen universe) 8. Gert (I Hate Fairyland) 9. Agent 355 (Y: The Last Man) 10. Barbara Gordon (Batfam)

If you feel like naming 10 characters from 10 fandoms that are on your mind a lot or something, feel tagged by me.

[ext-backlot]

*EXT. BACKLOT — a multi - muse sideblog. personalized portrayals. low - activity. simple writing and style. temp info & muse list below.

PINTEREST. CARRD.

i wanna keep this simple and have a good time! basic formatting, simple writing style, no precedent for length of replies, and no heavy plotting required. i still would love to plot, but i’m more likely to throw stuff at the wall here. some muses are those i’ve had blogs for, but i’ve mostly purged them and will be indefinitely housing them here.

i’m also always taking muse requests. be it a muse you never see, a niche wishlist muse, or a muse you’d just like to write with someone you know already, put their name in my inbox. the worst i could say is no!

all muses are mixed media and/or headcanon based. many of them have such a plethora of source material…… no, i’m not the expert on all of them. i like what i like, i take my crumbs— marvel and dc especially.

CALL SHEET: ALPHABETICAL BY SOURCE MATERIAL. SC. 1: EXT. FERRIX — DAY. cassian andor — andor/rogue one

★ talent: diego luna

(currently up to s2 ep4)

SC. 2: WAYNE MANOR — NIGHT.

bruce wayne — batman

★ talent: varies SC. 3: INT. TAVERN — NIGHT. trevor belmont — castlevania

★ talent: show design SC. 4: EXT. HELL’S KITCHEN, NY — NIGHT. matthew murdock — daredevil

★ talent: charlie cox

SC. 5: EXT. FABLETOWN, NY — NIGHT. bigby wolf — fables/the wolf among us

★ talent: game model SC. 6: EXT. THE WASTELAND — DAY. cooper howard — fallout, formerly @nitradiate

★ talent: walton goggins SC. 7: INT. MILANO — OUTER SPACE. peter quill — guardians of the galaxy

★ talent: glenn powell/game model rocket raccoon — guardians of the galaxy

(partial to the 2021 game, currently in ch. 5) SC: 8: INT. THE CONTINENTAL — NIGHT. the tracker — john wick 4

★ talent: shamier anderson SC. 9: EXT. JACKSON, WY — DAY. joel miller — the last of us, formerly @survifor jesse — the last of us ellie williams — the last of us SC. 10: EXT. SEATTLE, WA — DAY. abby anderson — the last of us

lev — the last of us

★ talent: all tlou are game models SC. 11: INT. RAZOR CREST — OUTER SPACE. din djarin — the mandalorian, formerly @cuyanuir

★ talent: pedro pascal SC. 12: INT. SAFEHOUSE — NIGHT. ethan hunt — mission: impossible, formerly @espioneur

★ talent: tom cruise SC. 13: EXT. LONDON — NIGHT. ethan talbot chandler — penny dreadful

★ talent: josh hartnett SC. 14: EXT. PORT ROYAL — DAY. will turner — pirates of the caribbean, formerly @turneir

★ talent: orlando bloom SC. 15: INT. THE OLDEST HOUSE — DAY/NIGHT. jesse faden — remedy entertainment

★ talent: courtney hope

SC. 16: EXT. RIVERPORT, MA — DAY.

jack joyce — remedy entertainment

★ talent: shawn ashmore SC. 17: INT. BIRD LEG CABIN — ENDLESS NIGHT. alan wake — remedy entertainment, formerly @paramnesias

★ talent: ilkka villi SC. 18: EXT. FRAZIER, NH — DAY. dan torrance — stephen king, formerly @telesomnia

★ talent: tba SC. 19: INT. CLOCKWORKS — NIGHT. david haller — x-men/legion, formerly @teletropic

★ talent: dan stevens EXTRAS (REQUESTED BY FRIENDS): father paul pruitt — midnight mass thomas hutter — nosferatu raoul de chagny — phantom of the opera bradley “rooster” bradshaw — top gun pete “maverick�� mitchell — top gun jake “hangman” seresin — top gun bumblebee — transformers nat scatorccio — yellowjackets (not seen s3)

[chazzbot]

My Year in Reading: 2024

Here is every book I read over the last year, listed in the order I read them. These are the books I read cover-to-cover and completed. Books I particularly enjoyed are in boldface. Books I’ve read multiple times are marked with an asterisk.

Ralph Ellison - Invisible Man

Walter Mosley - Touched

Seanan McGuire - Lost in the Moment and Found

Jhumpa Lahiri - Roman Stories

Larry McMurtry - Leaving Cheyenne

George Saunders - Liberation Day

Gilbert Hernandez - Poison River*

Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, Vol. 5: Worst Among Equals

Mattie Lubchansky - Boys Weekend

Max Alan Collins & Terry Beatty - Ms. Tree: One Mean Mother

Star Wars, Vol. 7: The Ashes of Jedha

Kristen Radtke - Imagine Wanting Only This

X-Force, Vol. 3: Ends/Means

Thor by Donny Cates, Vol. 3: Revelations

Anne Elizabeth Moore - Threadbare: Clothes, Sex and Trafficking

The Sandman: Season of Mists*

Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, Vol. 6: Unspeakable Rebel Superweapon

Jeanine Cummins - The Outside Boy

Nightwing, Vol. 1: Traps and Trapezes

Russell Banks - American Spirits

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah - Chain-Gang All-Stars

Yume Kitasei - The Deep Sky

Patrick Rothfuss - The Narrow Road Between Desires

Michael Connelly - The Night Fire

Star Wars, Vol. 8: Mutiny at Mon Cala

Eddie Campbell - The Black Diamond Detective Agency

Gennarose Nethercott - Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart

Tom Wolfe - Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers

Thor by Donny Cates, Vol. 4: God of Hammers

Batman: Hush, Vol. 1*

Carlo Rovelli - White Holes

Tariq Trotter & Jasmine Martin - The Upcycled Self

Gabrielle Zevin - The Hole We're In

Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Until August

Forever Evil (DC Comics)

Cassandra Khaw - The Salt Grows Heavy

Daniel Clowes - Monica

W. Craghead III - How to Be Everywhere

Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, Vol. 7: A Rogue's End

David Lapham - Silverfish

Miracleman, Book 1: A Dream of Flying*

Salman Rushdie - Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder

Stephen King - Fairy Tale

Thor by Donny Cates, Vol. 5: The Legacy of Thanos

Larry McMurtry - The Last Picture Show

Star Wars, Vol. 9: Hope Dies

Daniel Clowes - Patience*

Chris Ryall & Sam Kieth - The Hollows

C Pam Zhang - How Much of These Hills Is Gold

Fables, Vol. 7: Arabian Knights (and Days)

Sebastian Barry - Days Without End

Immortal Hulk, Vol. 6: We Believe in Bruce Banner

Charles Ardai & Ang Hor Kheng - Gun Honey

Fantastic Four, Vol. 5: Point of Origin

Batman: Hush, Vol. 2*

[xprojectrpg]

This Day in X-Project - March 28

2015: Laurie texts Kyle inviting him to come play Dance Dance revolution with her after he is done being scolded. Laurie plans a Rocky Horror Picture Show weekend with Doug, Wade and Marie-Ange. Laurie meets Arthur in the medlabs. Clint texts Matt to arrange for dinner after he meets Barney. Looking for his brother Clint runs into Kitty at a seedy bar. Gabriel shares the new song he’s obsessed with to prove he’s not always sour. Rogue contacts Logan to catch him up on Vegas. Jean and Warren make up after their fight and he shows off his baking skills. Warren later tells everyone the result, a croquembouche is available in the kitchen. In Paris, Adrienne and Garrison comes across a car accident and help the woman driver, unaware that Rick Chalker, the last of the Chalker brothers, is unconscious in the back of the box truck involved, where he was planning to unleash his exo-suit against them; instead, he is only able to fly out of the truck before the suit loses power and he winds up at the bottom of the Seine.

2016: Miles celebrates his score on a practice test. Kevin continues to train Gabriel in the ways of espionage. Wade texts Cecilia asking to hang out. Laurie posts about the movie "Crimson Peak." Are We Ourselves: Coulson calls Clint to investigate disappearances in Alaska, sparking the following string of texts and emails; Clint texts Natasha to discuss; Clint invites Kyle and Molly to join him; Clint asks Matt to dogsit; Molly asks Topaz if she wants to come on Clint's trip; Clint emails Jennie to let her know about his whereabouts; Topaz texts Amanda to get her to catsit; Molly tells Wade she's going on a real mission; Wade texts Marie-Ange his feelings on this.

2017: Marie-Ange wants to hatewatch American Gods.

2018: Marie-Ange posts about a crystal ball frappuccino, and wanting one every other day.

2019: Sue suggests taking advantage of a warm weekend with a BBQ.

2020: 793.8.025.110.393: Daniel Drumm and Wong meet with Amanda and Topaz (with Marie-Ange and Doug as not-entirely-welcome guests), and explain that the London Sanctum has locked them out; Amanda and Topaz play nice with the Sanctum/Library to get inside; the group pairs off in various ways to use their skills and restore the library, while also running across various fictional characters; in return for their help, the library decides to offer a little advice to the group about their various issues in the form of more strange avatars - Marie-Ange gets Frau Totenkinder (of Fables), Doug gets John Constantine, Topaz gets Magdaleana Brooks (a British Fae Librarian), and Amanda gets the first woman of the British isles condemned for witchcraft; with things finally restored to a somewhat normal state, the group takes their happy leave, all agreeing that Doug still gets to be dunked in cold water.

2021:

2022:

2023: Madin makes a journal entry about returning the car and asking what’s happened while they were away. Terry drops in to watch Kyle fight and makes some unsettling discoveries... discussions are had. Quentin and Gabriel catch up on the roof after the powers swap and possibly share more than they intended. In New York, Alex takes Madin out for a meal and Madin starts to think staying at the mansion may not be entirely terrible.

[mes-envies-de-culture]

Dune - L'opus 1 du film de Denis Villeneuve en bande-dessinée.

Séance de rattrapage pour ceux qui ont raté le premier volet de la nouvelle saga de Denis Villeneuve : Dune.

Bien entendu, le premier conseil est de lire l'histoire originelle imaginée et mis sur papier par Frank Herbert en 1965.

Delcourt vous propose l'adaptation officielle du film de Denis Villeneuve d'après ce monument de la Science-fiction.

La scénarisation est assuré par l'américaine Lilah Sturges dont une de ses œuvres majeures est Jack of Fables. L'illustration à partir des scènes du film sont sous les plumes de Bill Sienkiewicz (Elektra: Assassin, Marvel Comics' New Mutants, Moon Knight...)et Drew Johnson (Star Wars - Infinities, Star Wars X-Wing Rogue Squadron...). La colorisation et en l'occurrence le joli rendu par Zid Niezman.

Ce volume 1 est une véritable réussite qui reprend fidèlement le premier film, ce qui n'est pas forcément face à une histoire difficile à résumer. L'album est complété d'anecdotes et de planches spéciales notamment des portraits des personnages.

Pas de date de prévue pour la suite, mais il va falloir lui faire une petite place.

[theguywithaplan]

List of Video Games Turning 20 Years Old in 2024

Alien Hominid (started off life as a Flash game and graduated to a real game.)

Army Men: Sarge's War (the sequel to the Sarge’s Heroes games, but this one was rated T for Teen and used realistic guns instead of plastic ones)

Astro Boy: Omega Factor (seriously, if you have a chance to play this, take it. This game is AMAZING)

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II

The Bard's Tale (the 2004 version with the guy who played Wesley in The Princess Bride)

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings & the Lost Ocean (hey! That collection with this game and it's follow-up is out on the Switch now! Go get it!)

Blinx 2: Masters of Time and Space

Blood Will Tell: Tezuka Osamu's Dororo

BloodRayne 2

Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django (this GBA game had a special cartridge that required you to go outside into the sunlight to power up your character in game)

Breakdown

Bujingai: The Forsaken City (the game where you play as Gackt)

Burnout 3: Takedown

Call of Duty: United Offensive

Call of Duty: Finest Hour (a side story to the original Call of Duty, which came out the year before)

Capcom Fighting Evolution (the darkest of the dark age of fighting games)

Carmen Sandiego: The Secret of the Stolen Drums (a full-on adventure game where you play as the mascot of a series of edutainment games)

Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (the rare movie-in game that's not only really good, but is actually better than the movie it's based on)

Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage + Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy

Crash Twinsanity (a childhood favorite)

Crimson Tears

Crusader Kings

Custom Robo (the first one in the series to release in North America)

Cy Girls

Dead Man's Hand

Dead or Alive Ultimate (remakes of Dead or Alive 1 and Dead or Alive 2)

Def Jam: Fight for NY (the vastly superior sequel to Vendetta)

Dog's Life

Doom 3 (the original version. Hope you've got a flashlight on you...)

Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors

Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury (the final game in the Legacy of Goku series)

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3

Drakengard (Yoko Taro's debut as a game director)

Driver 3

Evil Genius

Fable (another childhood favorite)

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (the last Fallout game made by Interplay before Bethesda acquired the IP.)

Far Cry (the very first one.)

Feel the Magic: XY/XX (a launch title for the Nintendo DS)

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (the only Final Fantasy game to release for the GameCube)

Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls (remakes of the first two mainline Final Fantasy games)

Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone

Front Mission 4

F-Zero: GP Legend (the last F-Zero game to release for almost 2 decades, until F-Zero 99 released in 2023.)

Galleon

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (the PS2 one. There was another version of SAC that released for the PSP a year later that is completely different.)

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2

Ghosthunter

Godzilla: Save the World

GoldenEye: Rogue Agent

Gradius V (the last mainline Gradius game)

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Grand Theft Auto Advance (yes, there was a GTA game on the GBA.)

Growlanser Generations

Guilty Gear Isuka

.hack//Quarantine

Half-Life 2

Halo 2

Hitman: Contracts (the third one)

Hot Shots Golf Fore! (yet another childhood favorite)

It's Mr. Pants (Rareware made this for the GBA after being acquired by Microsoft)

Jak 3

James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

Katamari Damacy (the very first Katamari game)

Killzone (PlayStation's supposed "Halo killer".)

KOF: Maximum Impact

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories

Kirby & the Amazing Mirror

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

Lifeline (a microphone-based survival horror game for the PS2 by Konami.)

The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (a turn-based RPG that uses the exact same battle system as Final Fantasy X.)

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth

Mario Golf: Advance Tour

Mario Party 6

Mario Pinball Land

Mario Power Tennis (not to be confused with "Mario Golf: Power Tour" for the GBA.)

Mario vs. Donkey Kong (the first one, which is getting a remake for the Switch in February!)

Maximo vs. Army of Zin

MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf

Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault

Mega Man: Battle Chip Challenge

Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun/Blue Moon

Mega Man X: Command Mission

Mega Man Zero 3

Mega Man X8 (yeah, there was a lot of Mega Man stuff in 2004.)

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (a remake of the original Metal Gear Solid for the GameCube)

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (SNAAAAAKE EATERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR)

Metal Wolf Chaos (LET'S PARTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY)

Metroid: Zero Mission (a remake of the original Metroid for the GBA.)

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Monster Hunter (the very first one)

Mortal Kombat: Deception

Mushihimesama ((a bullet hell that you’ve probably seen a lot of if you search for “HARDEST GAME OF ALL TIME?????” on YouTube)

Myst IV: Revelation

Need for Speed: Underground 2

Ninja Gaiden (the reboot from the Dead or Alive devs)

The Nintendo DS

Onimusha 3: Demon Siege

Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors (an action-adventure hack & slash made by FromSoftware)

Painkiller

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (can you believe this is getting a remake this year??)

Phantom Brave

Pikmin 2

Pitfall: The Lost Expedition (the last game in an series that started all the back in 1982 on the Atari 2600)

Pokemon Colosseum

Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal (the 3rd one)

Red Dead Revolver (the predecessor to Red Dead Redemption.)

Resident Evil Outbreak

R-Type Final

Sacred

Samurai Warriors

Scaler

American McGee Presents: Scrapland

Second Sight

Serious Sam: Next Encounter

Shadow Hearts: Covenant

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne (you know that “Featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series” meme you guys love so much? This is where that came from.)

Silent Hill 4: The Room

Siren (a spirital successor to Silent Hill from the same creative director)

Sly 2: Band of Thieves

Sonic Heroes

Sonic Battle (an arena fighter for the GBA.)

Sonic Advance 3

Spider-Man 2 ((based on the movie of the same name. The one with the really good web-slinging)

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (the 2nd one)

Spyro: A Hero's Tail (the 5th one)

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (the 3rd one)

Star Wars: Battlefront (the one that everyone liked)

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords

Steel Battalion: Line of Contact ((this, and the original Steel Battalion two years prior, used a special controller called the Mega-Jockey 9000, which had 44 buttons, two joysticks, a throttle handle, a radio channel dial, five switches, an eject button, and three foot pedals.)

Sudeki

The Suffering

Super Mario 64 DS

Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain (the 4th one)

Tales of Symphonia

Thief: Deadly Shadows (the 3rd one)

Tony Hawk's Underground 2

Total War: Rome

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

Viewtiful Joe 2

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

X-Men Legends

[otomegema]

Title: Convergence Theory

Fandom: Jujutsu Kaisen

Rating: M

Summary: Years after a botched engagement meeting, your path once again converges with one Gojo Satoru’s. And this time, the scheme is of his own design.

Notes: Reader is a jujutsu sorcerer and a lower member of the Gojo family through her great grandmother. She has the limitless ability. The only set physical trait are two patches of white hair that grows out near her temples (Aka Rogue from X-men style).

—

August, 2005.

That summer had been oppressively warm, a layer of heat trapped beneath a layer of moisture that made even the light fabric of your kimono stick to your sides. It was the kind of weather that made your body beg for relief, to lay shivering and sweltering under the barest breath of cool air.

Your mother had opened the outside screens in the room, letting you sit on the porch overlooking the small garden at the center of the expansive, traditional home. The view was lovely, overlooking a manicured garden, a small koi pond bubbling pleasantly even as the night air chirped with the sounds of insects.

The main house was equipped with air conditioners in some of the rooms— just like your parent’s own home, only a short distance away, but somehow so far removed from the atmosphere of this place it felt miles away. Centuries. The clock on the wall seemed suspended in time, halted too by the weight that fell over this place.

There was nothing to be done. When the head of the Gojo family called, even the smallest vine, hanging from the tiniest branch, curled in. Your great grandmother had bore the Gojo name before she married, a detail of minor significance that had not effected your own family until your birth. You had often heard your parents discussing the main family in hushed voices when they thought you were not listening. First with excitement and eagerness and then with worry.

There had been a phone call, an order disguised as invitation.

Gojo Satoru, heir to the name, barer of the Six Eyes, was turning sixteen in December, a scant four months away.

Six Eyes.

Two words that managed to leave the bitterest taste of bile in your throat.

It had been thought the next Six Eyes would be born in your generation, your parents hopeful at one point that you were the one so blessed. A hundred years of waiting ended by the birth of another child, honored above all other sorcerers. You had been born with the Limitless technique, that much was certain and an extra unnaturally keen ability of foresight… the signs were there. The possibility that the the massive potential of the Limitless was within your grasp if you could only prove to possess the fabled Six Eyes…

You were hailed for a short time as possibly a true child of the Gojo blood, a blessing. A boon. And then not even a short year later that boy was tested. No two Six Eyes could exist and it was him, not you, who was truly blessed.

You ran your hands up the back of your neck, dislodging the hair stuck your heated skin.

And worse yet, now you would suffer the indignity of being paraded around with every other eligible girl with a single drop of Gojo blood diluted enough to be proper for marriage.

Gojo Satoru needed a betrothed and only the best would do, naturally.

You were to be polite, courteous and docile. Laugh at his jokes, bat your eyes. Play the role of the pursued for the pursuer.

Did you even want to be selected? Once hailed as the promised child, now degraded to probable broodmare?

You sucked your teeth, holding back a feral shriek somewhere deep in your throat. There was a knock on the wooden frame of the room, lazy and slow. The door slid open before your mother could get you to return inside to the low tables and too hot tea laid out.

You were all but deaf to the sounds of stilted, forced polite conversation, but could not ignore the sudden presence of a young man who came to sit down hard at your side.

Gojo Satoru was not an unattractive young man. He had the signature Gojo coloring, his eyelashes even as pale as driven snow. You yourself had even inherited two streaks of white in your hair, framed near your face and standing in contrast against the rest.

But that handsomeness was hard to enjoy when his expression was one of such utter indifference. He did not even bother to remove the dark glasses that shaded over his eyes, but you hardly were offended. It would have been all the worse to have to look at the very thing you coveted most in this world. Taunting you. Dismissing you.

How many girls had he been forced to sit with today? Judging by his bored expression, too many.

“This is the part where you tell me your name.” He said, voice amused, yet slightly condescending. Behind you both, his father spoke with your parents, but that too was part of the charade. All eyes were on you. All ears tuned to your words.

“You know my name.” You said with a thinly veiled sigh. His attention shifted just a fraction and you noticed with an indignant flush he was wearing his school uniform. Shirt untucked, jacket unbuttoned. You had been forced to spend hours getting ready for this meet-up. Forced to wear a kimono in this hot weather.

He tilted down his glasses to give you a halfway appraising look and you turned away.

“Goin’ for the aloof angle then? Some other girls tried it too. As if you pretend hard enough that you aren’t interested somehow I will be.”

How fucking arrogant.

Your fists clenched in your lap.

“It won’t work.”

“I’m not working any ‘angle’.” You grumbled, “I was told to be here so I’m here. That’s all.”

“You expect me to believe that, huh?”

“I don’t care what you believe.” You spat back, turning to shoot him a piercing glare.

There was silence then, even the voices behind you seeming to falter and lower as if worried they were missing out on some secret hushed conversation.

“Ohhh, wait. I remember now! I do know your name.” Gojo continued, taking off his sunglasses and wiping off some smudge or dust from the lens, “Aren’t you that girl they thought was gonna have the Six Eyes in her?”

Your fist clenched tighter.

“I get it now. Sour grapes and all. Tell ya what…” he spoke softer and leaned in until you felt his breath against your ear, “If you ask me really nicely, for one night, you still could."

The only sound that came after that was the harsh strike of skin against skin. The contact of your palm connecting to his cheek stunned not just the adults inside, but you.

No self respecting sorcerer with the Limitless ability would have been taken by surprise and yet here you sat, having successfully struck the heir to the Gojo name right across his smug face.

You drew your hand back. His cheek had turned a throbbing red so quickly, his smirk raised as his glasses slid down the bridge of his nose and revealed how his blue eyes danced with open amusement.

—

September, 2017.

The uproar that followed that moment twelve years ago had been profound. Your parents had spent the remainder of the visit profusely apologizing and demanding explanations… and the entire time Gojo had stared only at you. Blue eyes wide and engulfing, a smirk etched in the corner of his mouth even as he got up and strode out without another word.

You remembered he had whistled as he went. As if it were all according to plan.

No betrothal was agreed to that night nor any night since. You were never summoned to the main house again.

It had been the most freeing moment of your young life, opening the world from the one pinpointed hope you’d be born with the Six Eyes or wed to the one who had it into a kaleidoscope of possibility.

You attended Jujutsu Tech’s Kyoto branch, keeping far out of the way of the rising star of the Gojo clan.

Well.

Sorta.

—

The problem with having an inherited technique that allowed you to “see” curses and cursed energy users from great distances? Gojo Satoru. The man was such an expansive supernova of energy that when you opened your mind and utilized your gift of telemetry to try and pinpoint targets you had to navigate around his massive, dominating aura.

It was like counting stars against a sunlit sky. The ability, that should have been astronomically useful, rendered inert if Gojo Satoru was on the field.

You tried not to have your own missions line up with his. Which meant keeping tabs on him. Which meant having to live with this gnat, this buzzing fly of cursed bullshit constantly humming in the background when you used your gifts.

You wished everyday you had swatted him harder.

Missions in Tokyo were the worst, but you accepted them without complaint. The fact you’d even managed to rise to second grade despite your public humiliation of the main family’s golden child was a miracle in itself and not one you would squander.

The task was simply. There was a cursed entity that was utilizing the signal within electric devices of all things to move from device to device, rapid as an electrical pulse. It had already killed five non-sorcerers in surge related house-fires in two days. The risk of it causing a massive firestorm in any district rising.

The air had begun to cool in Tokyo, the heat of the summer giving way to fall. You sat on a bench, wireless com already clipped to your ear, the only sound so far the faint static of the open radio and the sound of your breath. The air had that crispness already, the bare cusp of autumn. You steadied your thoughts and began to shut down your senses.

The cursed energy of the young sorcerer students around you began to glow in your mind’s eye, the rest of the world fading into shades of imperceptible grey. Blurring. Distorting.

If you had the Six Eyes, you would be able to see it all. But instead, you blinded yourself to everything but the cursed when you utilized your skill.

You shut your eyes and with a soft breath you whispered, “Cursed technique— Limitless Telemetry: Grey.”

The city revealed itself to your five senses like a massive overflowing of information. Had you not taken the time to adjust, quickly shutting down your hearing, sight, taste, smell and touch in order to compensate, the mental load would have stunned you into a comatose state for several hours. Another thing a Six Eyes user would never need to do. You mentally chastised yourself for allowing the distraction of a deprecating thought, and focused instead upon your sixth sense. The one that tracked beyond the physical.

You were effectively helpless in this state, but within your mind you breezed through the city like a thumb pressed over the pages of a book. Flipping at your leisure as you focused in upon the fastest moving pulse of cursed energy.

In your “peripheral vision” or what acted like a sort of peripheral vision, you could sense the constant presence of Gojo. It was far away, diluted. You wondered if perhaps he was overseas for the barest moment until your senses snapped together and fell upon your target.

You spoke. Your words falling on your own deaf ears as you gave the location into the com. You perceived the movement of the three students. Good kids, fast learners. One boy was even a scion of another great house and the one girl among them possessed a cursed technique of extreme value. The other boy, the pink haired one, you had yet to understand, but his cursed energy output was impressive.

The entity moved. You adjusted, giving new instructions. The curse had not yet caught on to the fact it was being tracked, a fact you would use to your advantage as long as possible. If the curse sensed you, it could easily close the distance and attempt to seek you out… which was why sitting in a park, far from any electrical devices other than your battery powered radio was the safest place you could be.

And if worse came to worse, at least it would be drawn out in the open.

The entity jumped again, following the planned route the three had decided upon to box it further and further into a section of the city that they had already prepared to shut down. Without power, the curse would have to break free of its hiding place within the electric current.

How did a curse even get into the power grid? Too many lost football games on TV? You chuckled a bit to yourself without thinking, providing the newest coordinates as you watched, like an omnipresent spectator as the energies of the curse and the students moved.

This is why I score the highest at Pac-Man…

Everything was going according to plan. You had begun to even let your thoughts wonder, your focus softening just the barest fraction as the students rounded the final corner and blocked the curse into the chosen spot.

And now here comes the switch…

You braced for the surge of cursed energy you expected to feel from it’s ejection…but the power stayed on. You had to stifle the sensation of panic that sparked through your heart, your cursed energy rising a fraction.

And there it was. You felt the shift, the sudden adjusting of the entity. The students flared bright, attacking to try and ward off its escape, but without the power shut off they were waiting for, the curse easily vanished, pulsing through the city and heading now straight ahead… to you.

It’s fine. Fine. Nothing electric by me, so no fast travel.

It couldn’t pass through the coms. It would need to branch off into another grounded circuit and then physically come out to face you in the empty park.

You could hold unto the technique a little longer. Guide the students a little longer. You snapped information in quick short terms. Watching the cursed energy approach closer and closer until it reached the last building at the far end of the park.

And then, inexplicably, it jumped again.

The force in which you were propelled did not immediately register to your mind as your senses flickered and began to come back on line one by one.

The first was touch.

And thus pain.

Your muscles contracted, shot full with an electrical pulse. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, the strike coming indirectly as if someone had forced the curse away. Something blinding and bright exploding over the far-reaching vision of your Limitless technique before your ability snapped off like a cut thread.

Your hearing came back first from sheer force of will. Sight returning in blurry, slowly filling shapes. You forced yourself up from the ground, feeling scrapes biting along your palms.

“You fucking dick.” You managed to hiss, your vision returning just in time to witness the exorcism of the curse by none other than Gojo Satoru.

—

“You used me as bait!”

Your voice reverberated off the hallway walls, your mild injuries tended to but your grievances still in desperate need of airing.

You were only comforted by the fact his students had not been involved in the deception, having also thought Gojo was away while they worked under her guidance in the meanwhile. You were no teacher, but you had taken enough students through missions to be adequate at “babysitting”.

Gojo grinned easily, eyes hidden behind his blind fold as he ran a hand up his neck, feigning a bashfulness you knew had not an ounce of genuineness to it.

The bastard had quietly set up a god damn daisy chain of extension cables into the park, ending plugged into a cheap TV set… right next to you. And he’d done it only after you’d entered your Limitless, taking advantage of your lack of senses to literally bait you like a god damn fish hook and then swoop in to destroy the curse.

His students had been a distraction. A means to force the curse into seeking you out and getting into the open where it could not easily run again. It was the most convoluted, infuriatingly, ridiculous brilliant bullshit you had heard in a long while.

“Pretty clever, yeah? I’ve been practicing my multi-layer tactics.”

“That wasn’t a tactic, it was a gamble and a shitty one at that!”

“Yeah, yeah, but did you die?” Gojo asked, tilting his head to the side. His voice was tinged with amusement and you wondered for a moment if he even remembered you and this was some elaborate “gotcha” twelve years in the making… or if this kind of backhanded backstabbing was common place for him.

“It was interesting to see your technique in action. I could probably give you some tips on how to make it more effective, but they’d be pretty useless to— well. You. So I figure I’ll just make the tweaks and practice it myself!”

You stayed silent.

“What did ya call it? Limitless Telemetry?”

You turned and walked in the opposite direction.

“Whoa— hold on.”

Your exit was cut off, the grinning face you wanted nothing more than to connect your fist into coming back into view.

“I’m kidding. Don’t run off and cry now, we got some other business I wanna discuss.”

“If you’re planning on pitching another mission to me, I pass.”

“Nope. Well— yes. But not like this one.”

You sighed, side stepped, and continued around him again.

“I’ll buy you lunch!”

You stopped.

“And maybe even some kakigōriiiiiiii—“ he continued, his voice lifting to a sing-song tone as he stretched out the word. Your stomach twisted and grumbled in response. Using your Limitless always took so much out of you… a side effect you wondered if he experienced to.

You turned to look back at the man who hadn’t so much as glanced your way in years and wondered again if he was so stupid he didn’t remember who you were or if he was hatching some new plot.

He smiled in what you assumed he thought was a disarming and charming way.

“Fine.”

—

You had settled for a sweet plum flavor, dipping your small wooden spoon into the shaved ice and enjoying the way it melted across your tongue. Flavors always felt more pronounced after you used your Limitless, smells more intense. The sights sharper. It was probably just a placebo effect from being without them, even for a short amount of time, but regardless you enjoyed the sweet flavor and the fruity smell of the different syrups… most of which were coming from Gojo’s own cup.

He had gotten every flavor. The shaved ice in his cup a rainbow of color and tastes as he scooped several together at a time.

The lunch he promised had yet to come, but the treat was enough for now as the sugar helped give a little more pep to your body and your mood. The amount of calories you expended using your gifts was another thing entirely.

The two of you walked a ways in silence, giving you time to observe him for the first time in over a decade.

He had changed, that much you could tell. There was something less harsh in his general demeanor and he had grown considerably since he was fifteen. The boyishness of his face had sharpened, the man overtaking his features. He was broader, less lanky than his teenage self and while his easygoing and devil-may-care attitude was still present, there was something less— edged about it. Less angry.

“Your hair is shorter now,” Gojo said suddenly, “And your chest is bigger.”

You immediately frowned. A look of open disgust flashing over your face. Gojo laughed.

“Thought I forgot about ya, didn’t you?” He slid a thumb over his cheek, the gesture making you flush at the memory of what it felt like to slap the smirk off his face.

“Honestly? Yes.” you answered shortly, taking another bite of your ice.

“Nah. I remember, just figured there was no point in makin’ nice. You seem to be doing fine on your own these days. Second grade, yeah?”

“Yes.”

“As short worded as ever.”

He strode off, forcing you to match his pace. He found a park bench and sat down, sprawling out lazily. You sat next to him at his insistence, knocking your knee into his own until he closed his thighs a bit more with a chuckle.

“Thought you’d be a first grade by now.”

“I have not been recommended.”

He snorted, “Bet you know why.”

You clenched your teeth, holding back a sharp word and an even sharper desire to toss your kakigōri right in his face. Arrogant as ever. Some things, you guessed, did not get better with age.

“The great and fabled Six Eyes holding a grudge over a love tap? How trite.” you said, trying to keep your words indifferent.

“Is that what it was? I had a bruise ya know.”

“You could have stopped my hand before it ever even touched you. You wanted me to slap you so you could get out of having to do anymore meetings.”

His laugh was all the confirmation you needed.

“Is that what you’ve thought all this time?”

“It’s what I know.”

Gojo turned his attention back to his shaved ice, the two of you sitting in silence long enough for the weight of it to become uncomfortable for you. Finally you shifted and scrapped your spoon down the ice, leaving trails of melting syrup.

“What is it that you want?”

Because that was what this was about wasn’t it? He wanted something. The main family never disdained to speak to the lower members without a need and Gojo Satoru was not about to be the exception.

“I’m going to recommend you for first-grade sorcerer status.”

You scrapped your spoon through so harshly a chunk of colored ice fumbled down the side of the paper cup and down your hand. You dodged just in time to avoid it landing with a wet smack on your pants.

You gaped openly at him, but Gojo kept his attention fixed on his ice, happily stirring it up into a soupy, syrupy mess.

“… and yet again I ask, what is it that you want?”

Gojo leaned back, tilting his face towards you with an easy grin. You wondered if he saw the world the way you did with your Limitless with his eyes shaded. Seeing only the impressions of energy and sensation. Could he see your expression? The confusion in the downturn of your mouth or the suspicion in the narrowness of your eyes?

“Nothing too crazy! Just need a fiancée.”

The breath punched out of your lungs.

—

You waited outside the small convenience store across the street, feeling your cheeks beginning to lessen in redness from both anger and embarrassment at your sudden outburst.

When Gojo returned from inside, his hair was still wet… and there was still some redness from the syrup stuck to the strands. You hadn’t been able to control the impulse to throw your kakigōri at him, the breaking of your composure having flowed directly down your arm. It could have been worse, you supposed. You could have punched him.

He had needed to rinse off his blindfold, the fabric now folded and tucked into his back pocket. He had replaced it with the dark glasses you recognized from his youth, giving you a glimpse of the bright blueness of his eyes every once and awhile.

Gojo sighed and tossed a damp paper towel into a bin and turned to you expectantly. You gingerly handed him back his own dessert, having minded it for him while he went into the men’s room to clean up. It was practically soup now and you winced when he lifted it to his lips and drank it.

“As I was saying—“ he began with a smack of his lips.

“No—”

“—it’s a pretend engagement.”

Your mouth hung open, half ready to utter another refusal, which you swallowed back in as he waited expectantly for you to cease interrupting him.

“You let me take you on a few dates, we put on a show of my courting a potential betrothed and in exchange I green light your promotion.”

You narrowed your eyes, biting the corner of your lip into your mouth in obvious consideration.

“For how long?”

Your directness didn’t seem to offend him. Quite the opposite actually. Every time you curtly dropped a single or few word sentence he seemed to only smile brighter.

Gojo shrugged, “A few months. Maybe more. Until I figure out a permanent solution.”

“Your parents want you to get married?”

“The whole clan wants me to get married, sweetheart. I am the strongest.”

And now came the obvious question.

“Why me?”

Gojo shrugged, “You were one of their first picks to start with, so they’ll approve. And there isn’t a risk of you falling for me…”

His lips upturned into a sly grin, “… too quickly.”

You scoffed.

“Family will back off. I get a bit of peace until I have to kick you to the curb, and you get to be a first-class sorcerer. Everyone wins.”

“I’m not going to fall for you.”

Gojo gave a sad little nod, like he was agreeing with a deluded person in order to keep them calm and reasonable.

Granted, you did just effectively hurl a slushy at him a few minutes prior.

“This seems a bit extreme, even for you. Why do you think I’d even say yes? You know exactly why you got slapped. Can I expect that same level of charm from our future ‘dates’?” you asked, kicking yourself for having implied in your words you knew him well enough to even know what was extreme for him. The comment did not go unnoticed, even with his half expression hidden you could tell his interest was piqued. The last thing you wanted to do was to explain to this insufferable man how his very presence was as constant as the sun. Always nagging in the back of your mind and in your abilities.

You wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

“That was awhile ago. Most girls find me pretty charming these days. As to why you’d say yes— given it is probably your best chance at getting to first grade sorcerer status, I can’t think of a reason you wouldn’t.”

You bit the inside of your cheek. Fifteen year old you would be outraged, furious. She would not have considered this offer for a second. She would have stamped her foot and told him exactly where he could stick his offer.

But twenty-eight year old you had learned that very often principles were made to be damned.

“And the fact I can tell you are just dying to say yes.”

There was that arrogance again.

“You still buying me lunch?” you countered and the smile he gave you was a bit different than the ones before.

“Wow. No one will even question how I could have been charmed by such a talented freeloader.”

“I am exceedingly charming.”

“And what an arm. You play softball or you just start a lot of food fights as a kid?”

“I want sushi.” You said, the finality of your voice inarguable. You thought he might have rolled his eyes, but nevertheless you got your lunch and even managed to bargain a single day to think about the offer.

Read the rest on ao3!

[queenaeducan-writes]

2022 in Fics

I did a little fic round-up here, but before the year is out I wanted to make a list of the things I published on AO3 this year because you can never have enough self-promotion.

Satinalia & Harvestmere | G | Dragon Age Leliana & Zevran & Isabela / Dragon Age: Origins Ensemble My two entries for the 2022 Dragon Age Annual Calendar. The first is a little celebration between a party of rogues and the second a bonified ghost story told by renown griffon-hater Wynne.

Common Ground | G | Dragon Age Vivienne & Orlesian Warden Written for Shellepink for the Platonic Ideal Exchange. Vivienne meets an unexpected former colleague in the aftermath of Marquise Bouffon’s defeat. I liked the idea of Vivienne having a friendly rivalry with the Andras Warden from Awakening, and I inventing a Warden OC for the prompt was fun.

Because I Asked | E | Dragon Age Solas x Non-binary Lavellan My first explicit fic ever! Set in Solas and Ian’s much softer Modern Thedas verse. Ian wakes up with a thirst and he decides to make it Solas’s problem. Writing the intimacy in both their domestic lives and their sex was really fulfilling, I love this couple so much no matter what universe they’re in.

Prayers of the Father | G | Mass Effect Thane Krios & Miranda Lawson Written for CelestialArcadia for the Spectre Requisitions Exchange. Mass Effect 2 is my favourite of the ME games, but one thing I often find disappointing in it is the lack of dialogue between companions. This fic was one way I sought to explore what I wish the game would. Set after Miranda’s personal quest, but before Thane’s, I wanted to set up the similarities between these characters and their desires and how they might talk to each other about them when Shepard isn’t in the picture.

Remembering Well | G | Dragon Age Varric Tethras & Solas Written for the Solamancy 2022 Zine. Solas and Varric are both two characters who are (potentially) mourning the loss of one of the oldest friends. They’re also both storytellers, albeit of different flavours. I wanted to write Solas engaging with Varric’s loss by talking about his own, and keeping Hawke’s name alive in the wake of her death.

Homecoming | T | Dragon Age Charter & Agent(s) of Fen’Harel Written for YouWoreBlue for the Arlathan Exchange. Charter attends a party in pursuit of rumours of an ancient Elvhen artefact, and finds herself in a race against the agents of Fen’Harel to find it first. I wanted to depict the agents presented here with sympathy and compare them with the Inquisiton agents still in operation because I am overly fond of paralleling Solas’s forces with the protagonists’.

Onomatology | G | Dragon Age f!Cadash & Solas This was written for my roleplay blog a while ago, but I only got around to publishing it on AO3 this year. Solas is a name I headcanon he chose for himself and I wanted to write a conversation of him sharing why with Thora. Despite the secrets between them, they have a close friendship, one where he shares a lot while concealing what he must. Depicting that here was important to me.

Good-bye Kiss | M | Dragon Age f!Cadash x Blackwall  Originally written and published on my multimuse roleplay blog. It’s a little scene exploring Thom and Thora’s intimacy post-Revelations. Him leaving without saying good-bye rocked Thora almost as much as everything else about that quest, and when they eventually reunite good-byes become an important part of their daily rituals as a reflection of that.

The Storyteller’s Game & The Last Laugh | T | Dragon Age Fen’Harel & a Miscellaneous Cast After a long hiatus I finally got around to writing more Tales of Fen’Harel! I love writing fables, and two myths I heard about Aengus inspired me to create Elvhen interpretations. The Storyteller’s Game veers much closer to the fable I heard, whereas the second I lean into Fen’Harel as the noble’s nightmare, divvying justice where Mythal can’t (or won’t?) intercede.

The Ascent | M | Dragon Age | In-Progress f!Cadash & Solas My first proper longfic! I’ve had this idea in my head for a while and deciding I wanted to start publishing it this year. It’s an expansion on a drabble I wrote years ago. Thora’s faith in the Stone and her ancestors is an important aspect of her character, and it dovetails beautifully with Solas’s own interest in remembering the past. Given Cadash Thaig’s history with ancient Elvhenan, them travelling to it together just feels right. I’m looking forward to continuing this fic in 2023!

Ten fics may not be much by some estimates, but I’m really actually kind of proud of what I’ve written. I’m looking forward to the stuff I have in the works for 2023 and I hope it’ll be another good year for writing. I even have a WIP I began yesterday which isn’t Bioware-related.

Thank you to everyone who has read, commented, and promoted my fic this year. I appreciate each and every one of you. 💖 Have a happy New Year!