#foreshadowing to pearl angst

[crazy-ache]

🏜️ 🍄 ☁️

🏜️ —> what’s your favorite type of comment to receive on your work?

Any and all! I cherish all of them and I do try my best to reply to each one, though if I don’t, I promise I did try. I will say the one kind of comment that has me beaming is when someone picks up on a specific piece of foreshadowing or imagery that I was very intentional about inserting—perhaps even planning for a long time. Like yesss, what a pay off that someone noticed!

One person did comment that they loved a line I wrote so much they saved it in their notes app with their all time favorite quotes and yeah…that’s like an Oscar I keep on my shelf kind of proud.

🍄 —> share a head canon for one of your favorite ships or pairings

I believe the pearl earrings Lucien gifted to Elain once belonged to his mother, the Lady of Autumn. And they were once a gift from Helion to her…long ago. From mate to mate it has been passed down. Lady of Autumn had given them to Lucien to gift to Jesminda “when the bond finally snaps” since he so adamantly believed it would. It never did…but with Elain? Well, he couldn’t stop himself from fulfilling the promise he had made his mother. So he gave it to his mate. *muffled sob*

☁️ —> what made you pick your username?

I’ve had this one for a long, long time now. I used it in another fandom before this one. I think I picked it because I love writing angst and ache is one of my favorite words and I just threw crazy in front of it and boom. It stuck. I still love it to this day.

[sithwitch13]

AEW WrestleDream 10/12/24

IT IS TIME

I'm wearing my new Hangman shirt for this

Boooo but also this will only increase Hangman's feral quotient, which will give me angst for weeks and perhaps months to come

WILLOW VS MARIAH TIME

Please tell me the black and white gear (with solitary blood red thingy on her butt) is a Toni reference

"The runt that you love to hunt. At least, I think it was runt." NIGEL

That match fucked hard.

For a second I thought Jack Perry was given a Codyvator entrance

What if Shibata kills Jack with his dick and that's why it was foreshadowed

Oh Jack, you little weasel boy. I was hoping for something like this.

Danny!

MJF?!?!?!

ADAM COLE?!?!?!

ADAM COLE CAME OUT OF THE GOOD BOY HOLE

I think I will be screaming for the entirety of the International Championship match

Ricochet in trunks?????

Don Callis called everyone but Takeshita "meat puppets"

"That's my autistic assassin" sign holder, you are good

I HAVE BEEN SCREAMING FOR LIKE 20 MINUTES

KYLE NOOOOOO

YAY SOUP

MATCH OF THE FUCKING NIGHT SO FAR

Aww Jerry Lynn complimenting Orange

Swerve time???

Ooooh that's a look

Aaaaa MVP and Shelton Benjamin!

Lol Nana still selling weed to high schoolers, I love that

Huh, really thought Lashley would pop up here

*vin diesel voice* FAMILY

Aaaa Hologram vs Mortos aaaaaaa

That was so good

Also Mortos has mastered acting like the villain in a tokusatsu. I want Hologram to take inspiration and Power Rangers this shit up

Time to destroy the twink

Solid match, I always enjoy the juxtaposition of Brody and Darby

BUCKS VS PRIVATE PARTY TIME

I want both teams to win

THE PEARLS

Ooh, Private Party looks good

Lol Stokely in the audience wanting a new meal ticket

Ooh, Top Flight plus Andretti, Lio, and Leila are also ringside, hmmm

Damn, that was good. If not Private Party to dethrone the Bucks, then who?

Mark Briscoe had better win because this show has been fantastic so far.

"Chris Joker" Schiavone with the Freudian slip

YESSSS

Oh god and now it's time for Mox and Bryan to tear my emotions into tiny shreds

The music playing over the fighting aaaaa

I'm gonna cry

Mox bowed in respect and that made me cry

Oh lord not another bag

YOOTS AND DARBY

YUTA NOOOO

Everything hurts and I'm dying

[minijenn]

Attack the Light in UF

(Yeah, I was the anon who sent it. I was a bit embarrassed and though my idea was silly. Since you liked it, however, I decided to expand on it a little more, hope you don’t mind). 

  First, I think one of the best placements for it is on season 4 (old arc 5) after “Do it for Them”. Because Connie already started to learn how to sword fight, and the story has started to take a darker turn. 

  A few interesting opportunities this chapter would bring: 

  The different implications: on the OG game, it’s just another CG mission. However, here, the stakes are a lot higher. The MKs have no idea of what that prism was besides a few explanations of Pearl. Therefore, they have no idea of how serious the situation actually is. Imagine them feeling bad abou potentially causing the end of the world just because they were immature? Besides, they don’t know how to face the creatures, and it makes sense for them to be a bit weak against them (I always thought it was weird for the Gems in the game to have such a hard time facing the light creatures, considering they probably fought many more in the war, although, at season 1 of SU, the plot was still forming itself, so, things like that were frequent). 

It works as a replacement of the test for the MKs: since the test was never part of UF (which makes sense, because, although it was a good episode in canon, here would just be a waste of time), this adventure could be used as a test for the MKs. But, not from the gems, but, themselves. This mission would be important for the kids to prove to themselves that after everything they went through, they are finally ready to move forward on their missions. Imagine the angst potential when they get close to failing (like, when all the colors reunite into the light monster).

A chance for the MK fusions to train: this chapter(s) would also give Maven, Stepper and Stevonnie a chance to train before their big fights (Pyrite, RMD and Weirdmaggedon). Like, we can see they still getting a hang of their powers, before becoming more and more experienced with them in future battles. 

Speaking of them, the chapter would also be a good chance for Maven to redeem themselves. Connie and Dipper were left traumatized by Together Forever. The chapter would give Maven a chance to prove to their friends that they can control themselves enough to not completely lose themselves. 

The chapter could also do a lot for Stepper. Besides finally giving him and Connie canon meaningful interactions, we could see Stepper slowly discovering his own powers. Imagine the Steven and Dipper clones fighting the green light clones?

  These are some plot points I can think of for the chapter. Again, these are all suggestions. Hope you don’t mind, it’s just my writer’s mind.

----

Interesting ideas! Though my plan is a lot simpler. As far as I’m seeing it right now, my plan is to put Attack the Light much earlier on in UF, like into the first ten chapters or so as the MK’s first brush with real danger. In a way it’ll be like Secret Team, with the MK trying to defeat all the light creatures before the Crystal Gems can find out. It’ll help to develop their dynamics as a team and also foreshadow all of them learning how to eventually fight on their own while still having them be relatively underpowered and unskilled. Still though, some fun ideas! 

[etonzolo]

Year of Writing 2024

"He needed his king to survive, to make up for ki- incapacitating him." -January

between your name and a prayer, is there a difference? (does it matter?) - 2.4k Oneshot, Rated Teen

Treebark shipfic w/ a side of Martyn&Doc in a Space Fantasy AU. It rewrites the alter scene & the moments after into the new setting that i og made for my ocs!! Warnings for Temporary Character Death, Decapitation, and overuse of Conlangs.

"False glanced at the painted flowers and golden makeup on Pearl’s face. It matched beautifully with the green dress she was wearing." -February

heaven's full and hell won't have me - 389 words platonic shipfic, Rated Gen

What it says on the tin really, the core premise is what if e!False ended up in Santa Pearla/s8!Pearl's house like Oli did pre-Empires. Except because it was written for yuri week there's also a side of aesthetic yearning & Falses angst lmao.

"I distinctly remember thinking- feeling like I shouldn’t approach, but I- I felt a need to know if she was real or not." -March

Hallowed Out Clone - 1.8k oneshot, Rated Teen

My Falses Vivisection fic <2<2<2 Or well a TMA au from hc!False's perspective about e!False. Big Big warnings for body horror, the aforementioned vivisection, mentioned cannibalism, restraints, and Self Harm-like imagery. This one gets a bit intense but i love it so so much :)

"But there he was, sitting around a campfire with a bunch of living corpses, stained in the blood he’d spilled." - April

the living are dead (the dead are all living) - 344 word oneshot, Rated General

Last Life Fic that's actually secretly a Renchanting Wins AU. The premise is Martyn can't get past 3rd Life & also has hallucinations about it (semi-unintentional on my part- i was trying for derealization lol). It's... fairly good i think, though it's my first & currently only time writing such a serious topic-matter so who knows lmao /lh

Trigger Warning for Talk of Death, Hallucinations, Non-Graphic Deceptions of Corpses, Light Horror??, and Open/Sad Ending

"(And he did not start to melt into it before he caught himself, no matter what any onlookers might have been jeering from the sidelines.)" - May

Kisses lazily - 432 words, Rated Gen

The fic that got me into Scarishbeans as a ship!! It follows the aftermath of a Wild Life where Joel & Scar had the task to Convince the other's they were dating. The ending gets angsty because of course it does, this is the Life Series i can't make it easy for them >:)

"It was the most human she’d sounded in years. Or maybe Etho was no longer human enough to tell the difference." - June

Kisses because they’re running out of time - 512 words oneshot, Rated Gen

Can't believe my only June fic is also one of my only straight fics /silly. It's platonic Gemtho set in a Secret Life inspired Zombie Apoc, and it's very sweet when you ignore the bleakness of the plot!! Has genre standard warnings but none of them are gone into graphically.

"False scrambled to get up, every atom in her body screaming- tearing itself to find Ren." - July

you won't die, that's your talent - 1.8k Ongoing Multichap fic, Rated Teen

My HCGTA fic!!!! All you need to know is that it's False&Ren-centric and was a big test for me to see if i could do foreshadowing!! There's nothing else i can say that wouldn't spoil the parts i've been chipping away at, other then this is my pride & joy. It's very silly & i'm very excited to show ya'll what i've been plotting >:)

"She had to fix this. To— To atone for killing her mom." - September

six feet under- cast asunder - 662 words, Rated Gen

My first (finished) attempt at writing outside of mcyt!! It's supposed to be a character study of Futaba Sakura from Persona 5. Has big big trigger warnings for Suiside Idealization, Self-Guilt, Disordered Eating, and Religious Imagery!!! This is a sad one, it exist to be sad.

"led each-other through the changing maze and prayed this hell would fade, quick as it came." - October

the vicious cycle was over the moment you smiled at me - 215 word poem, Rated Gen

A InTheBigDog Persona 5 AU!! The premise is the Martyn is Akechi, well both Ren & BigB are apart of the Phantom Thieves. Also Martyn thought BigB had died. Ideally it requires knowledge of both canons, but you might be able to get away w/ just knowing one of them.

"A telltale wuahhahbuaba came from right behind the elf." - December

just barely survived - 430 word oneshot, Rated Gen

Just a silly Wild Life Session 3 Scarishbeans shipfic :) They are simply being silly your honour- that is it. No trigger warnings nor angst in sight

[deathsquiggles]

see below!

the basic outline of the last major plot fic in the series:

main conflicts:

schlatt’s back

-he taught the witches to use nether portals

-the witches figured out they could trade fire res to piglins for ender pearls and soul sand

-the witches turned on schlatt

-schlatt fled and hid out until he was forced out of hiding by the witches occupying the village where he was sheltering

-schlatt returned to lmanberg to seek asylum in exchange for info about how to bring down the witches

techno’s back

-he wants all of the strongest fighters together so he can spawn a wither, slay it, and use the remains to construct a beacon to call phil back

-he asks The Strongest to aid him but dream doesn’t fight anymore; techno calls this cowardice and opts to spawn the wither anyway

-between techno, punz, sapnap, and purpled (guest brought [paid] by techno) they’re able to kill the wither without dream needing to intervene (dream has a panic attack anyway)

-techno makes the beacon, leading to…

phil’s return

-he swoops in from above and reunites with his family. 33% are happy to see him. philza nearly kills schlatt after being told who he is, but wilbur calls him off

-wilbur is  f u r i o u s  with phil and tommy isn’t too thrilled either. SBI angst is rapidly made into everyone else’s problem because this family is messy af

phil took techno and slayed the dragon; dragon cultists have been after him and techno ever since

WARDEN

-why is it up here?

-phil stole its heart

-why did he steal it?

-it’s a key to the end

-he killed the dragon and found out afterward that was a Bad Choice

-phil is now being forced to choose between letting the end die and letting his children die (to the warden still pillaging their shit)

end is sealed; no way in without the keys

where do you get the keys?

warden.

-how do you actually resurrect the dragon?

-the cultists know!

-get rid of the warden, in come the cultists

-luckily ranboo has Heritage with them and can calm them down enough to get info

-they get the recipe and need ghast tears

-gotta go to the nether to get those

-get ghast tears

-make crystals

-badabing

-badaboom

big beats;

-townies go to l’manberg for the festival, establish new faces

-festival begins, fluff time, everyone is chilling

-schlatt shows up, makes his bargain, is put under house arrest for the time being

-techno rolls in, seeks the strongest, dream internal conflict dot jpg

-techno spawns the wither anyway and they slay it

-techno builds the beacon right away

-philza swoops in pursued by warden

-the grace period while it catches up is brief but horribly tense

-everyone fights the warden

-it’s no use! they trap it in the sewers but it’s only a matter of time before it busts out

-phil is convinced to return the warden’s heart in exchange for a promise from [PERSPECTIVE BOY] that they’ll find another way into the end

-with its heart returned they continue attacking the warden and it eventually dies, but not before doing a Lot of property damage

schlatt puts himself in extreme danger to save tubbo at one point

dream puts himself in extreme danger to save tommy at one point

-the warden dropped a key!!

-whole thing with cultists and ranboo (please for the love of god remember to foreshadow this)

-gotta go to the nether to get ghast tears to make crystals to revive the dragon; gotta kill witches to get into the nether; schlatt warns they discovered fire charges; R&D commences on the lichen; fireproofing unlocked; go kill the coven and end the witch threat

-townies are like Well That’s Really None Of My Business wrt going to the end to revive an entire fucking dragon, so they leave the sleepy bois to it and go home

-george on the journey back is like “hey. do you remember how tubbo and ranboo were married. that was kinda cool. thoughts?” and leave that whole situation ambiguous for the next entry

then i never actually did anything else for the next entry, but it was going to be a cute little proposal/marriage fic to wrap the series

the actual writing i did for that fic (there isn't a ton of it.)

The city’s jagged towers pierce the sky long before its oppressive obsidian walls rise up to choke the surrounding land. For miles in every direction, the trees and forest have all been long since clear-cut and the ground flattened into harsh swathes of farmland congested with great lumbering machines to tend the anemic crops. Festive balloons further crowd the artificial horizon, their obtrusive lanterns catching what little sunlight breaks between the buildings and scattering blinding reflections randomly upon the ground below.

Their procession pulls to a stop several yards from the ornate interlocking gate leading into town. Speakers on either side crackle and shriek with static, then blare a blessedly brief segment of the anthem. Quiet falls- though, quiet is hardly an apt description with the dull road of industry pressing in on all sides.

The speakers crackle and hiss again, then a tinny voice filters through.

“Who goes there?”

“It’s us, Wilbur. We’re here for the festival.”

“Identify the members of your envoy.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes.”

“Why? You knew we were coming.”

“It’s our policy to record the identities of anyone entering the country. We’ve had issues with the wrong sort infiltrating us before, so I’m sure you understand why we must exercise abundant caution.”

“Oh my god. Fine. Okay. Uh…” Dream glances back at his group and starts listing off on his fingers.

[he lists everyone]

“Hmm… Alright, fine. I suppose I can let you in. But don’t cause any trouble!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Dream mutters.

a karlnap side fic i started working on

“I’m happy for them, though,” Karl says, draping himself over Sapnap’s shoulders.

Sapnap suppresses his reflex to stiffen up, instead placing his hands over Karl’s on his chest. “What do you mean?”

“Y’know. They finally figured their shit out.”

“Like… How?”

Karl pulls back a few inches to shoot Sapnap an incredulous look. “You know what I’m talking about.”

“I really don’t.”

“Oh my god,” Karl giggles. “Smart, handsome, and funny? Wombo combo? Unless you’re somehow being serious- then I’m striking ‘smart’ from the record.”

“Dude, I don’t- they’re not-”

“Nah. No shot. My man has not missed his two best friends literally boning each other-”

“Karl!” Sapnap spins in Karl’s grasp and throws a hand over his mouth, glancing sharply around. “Dude, if someone hears you I’m fucked- agh!”

Sapnap yanks his hand away and wipes Karl’s saliva off on his jacket. “Seriously?”

“I licked you,” Karl declares. “That means you’re mine.”

“Wh- dude.”

“Wanna know how I figured it out?”

Sapnap blinks, fighting whiplash over the rapid topic change. “Uh- sure? I guess?”

Karl grins and threads his fingers through Sapnap’s. “Here- come on, I can show you!”

Just like that, he’s running down the main road hand in hand with Karl, and thanking Prime above that this behavior is in no way out of place for Karl, or their secret would be blown pretty fucking wide open. But no one spares them a second glance, and before long, Karl drags Sapnap into the Brew House and disconnects from him to start digging through the drawers.

He spins and holds up a stack of paper triumphantly. Sapnap squints at it.

“…Fundy’s potion guide?”

“Yes- but look here,” Karl says, pointing at one entry in particular.

Blue orchid - light blue - random effect - 125 sec onset

Sapnap raises a brow. “Okay…?”

“This,” Karl says, “is absolute cap. No fucking way does Fundy go full meticulous with every other entry but leave this one at ‘random’ without at least kind of trying to find a pattern. But he only did six trials for this one, and you know what’s interesting?”

Sapnap blinks hard and shakes his head. Karl flips through the papers and settles on the test log where Fundy kept his original notes.

“He only tested it on Dream and George. No one else. Every other potion was tested on at least three people, but he fully stopped these trials after the initial run with them.”

“Uh… Okay?”

“Well, I got to thinking- they were acting super weird that night when George busted down your door. Like, if they were genuinely worried about Tommy and Tubbo’s safety, wouldn’t they have said something immediately?”

“Well-”

“Unless they couldn’t,” Karl continues, glee building in his tone. “Because they were totally wiped out by their potion. Plus, you said George was obviously lying, so it had to be something embarrassing.”

“Where are you going with this?”

“I brewed some and tested it.”

“What?!”

Karl giggles. “Sapnap. Oh my god. I couldn’t believe it the first time, so I tried it three times. The effect was always the same. It’s not random.”

Sapnap opens and shuts his mouth a few times. His concern falls under the smoldering weight of his curiosity. “What does it do?”

Karl tosses the stack of papers onto the counter and takes both of Sapnap’s hands. “It makes you crazy magic horny, man.”

Sapnap blanches, then flushes. “Wait-”

“Dude. I’ve never been so hard in my fucking life. If I didn’t have milk with me, I think I would’ve been willing to fuck a brewing stand. I’m not even kidding.”

“I- it- you…” Sapnap searches Karl’s eyes for any hint of deception, but he finds only earnest certainty. “Well… How does that… Confirm anything? If it was just the potion, it doesn’t mean they’re actually, like…”

“See, that’s the best part. The whole time I was under the effect, all I could think about was how fucking badly I wanted you to be there. Like, straight up, I was about to call you over to come drill me into the floor right here in the Brew House. I wanted you more than I wanted to breathe, Sapnap. And I don’t think that was a coincidence. No one else would have done.”

“Oh.” Sapnap stares at their connected hands to avoid meeting Karl’s gaze. “So they…”

“They must have already been into each other- which, yeah, no one is surprised. But that made me super sus, and I started paying way more attention. Did you know they’ve slept over at each others’ places every night for the last two weeks?”

“Are you stalking them or something?”

“No. My place is right near Dream’s, and I see them leaving together most mornings. That, or I don’t see either of them, which would imply they were at George’s place.”

Sapnap scrambles for something- anything he can fucking say, but he comes up short. He slumps forward into Karl’s chest and releases a beleaguered sigh. “I was sworn to secrecy, man,” he says. “If they ever find out you know, they will never believe me that you figured it out on your own. George will actually murder me.”

“I mean, I’m not planning on telling them anything,” Karl says, releasing Sapnap’s hands to wrap him in a loose embrace. “But I wanted you to know that I know. So you’re not keeping this all by yourself.”

Sapnap shuts his eyes and circles his arms around Karl’s waist.

“Also, I needed a pretense to tell you about the horny potion because I brewed more.”

Sapnap rears back. “What?”

“I have more,” Karl repeats. “Back at my place. If you want to check it out. It’s, uh- it’s intense, but I think it could be really fun.”

“Oh.” He flexes his fingers against Karl’s hips. “Like- right now?”

“Yeah, nimrod, right now.”

Sapnap scoffs. “You’re really gonna be calling me a nimrod right now when I’m about to blow your mind?”

“Only because you keep standing here acting like a nimrod.”

“Do you wanna get edged for an hour again? Because you’re talking like someone who wants to get edged for an hour again.”

“Please, like you could resist that long.”

“Oh, you are asking for it now, Jacobs.”

“Asking for you to actually follow through on all those big threats you make? Yeah, nimrod, I am.”

Sapnap growls and tilts Karl’s head down with firm grasp on his jaw to pull him into a kiss.

“Sapnap wants- mm- to ki-mm- kiss me confirmmmff-” Karl says in the brief moments between presses of their lips.

“Oh my god, shut up.”

“Literally make me?”

“Fine by me, darlin’.”

Sapnap steps forward, crowding Karl against the wall, and slides a leg between Karl’s to press his thigh firmly against Karl’s groin while he draws Karl into a dirty open-mouthed kiss.

Karl whimpers and immediately melts against Sapnap, wrapping around him and clinging with a scrambling desperation that’s backed by the twitching and hardening of his cock against Sapnap’s thigh. Sapnap doesn’t let up, continuing to grind his leg against Karl and moving to trail wet kisses along Karl’s jaw and down to the column of his throat, where he skims his teeth- mindful not to use enough pressure to leave a mark- before shoving his oversized hoodie aside and sinking down to bite hard into the space just above Karl’s left collarbone.

“Hahhhhfuck, Sapnap- God- please-”

Sapnap pulls fully away, planting a hand on Karl’s chest to keep him from following. He whimpers and thrusts into the air for a moment.

“W- hey,” Karl whines, giving Sapnap pleading eyes.

“Hush,” Sapnap presses a finger to Karl’s lips. “Keep that pretty mouth shut, darlin’. I’ll make you feel good but you have to behave.”

Karl whines, swallows hard, and says, “You- you want me so bad it’s embarrassing.”

“Oh?” Sapnap crosses his arms and takes another full step back. “Guess you don’t want me to touch you after all.”

“Nooooo,” Karl says, legs trembling. “Sapnap, come on, please-”

“I don’t wanna hear it.”

“What if- what if I tell you how bad I want it? How you’re the hottest person on the planet and every second you’re not touching me is- is agony? And- and I can’t keep my mouth shut because I have to tell you how good you feel, how much I love it when you touch me?”

Sapnap looks him over for a long moment, then slinks closer, hovering just shy of contact and leaning up to murmur right into Karl’s ear.

“Any askers?”

Then he takes another full step back, and Karl gasps and grabs at the counter behind him to support himself. His fingers brush against one of the empty bottles and it makes a small clink as it slides a centimeter over and collides with another bottle.

Karl’s expression breaks all at once and he slides to the floor in a mess of giggles.

Sapnap’s brows furrow. “What’s so funny?”

“I just-” Karl wheezes and buries his face in his hands. “We’re supposed to- I made the potions.”

“Oh. Right.” Sapnap flushes and ducks his head. “I, uh, got caught up in the moment. Oops.”

“Me too,” Karl assures, reaching to grab Sapnap’s calf in an oddly comforting gesture. “We shouldn’t actually fuck in here, though. Pretty sure it’s against the rules.”

“Eh, whatever. I caught Dream and George looking like they were about to stick their hands down each other’s pants in the infirmary, so we get at least one free pass.”

Sapnap holds a hand out and helps pull Karl up to his feet. Karl dusts himself off and runs a hand through his hair, and Sapnap takes in the beautiful flush of pink across his cheeks.

“Are you good to walk back to your place?”

Karl barks a laugh and gestures to the visible stiffness in his jeans. “You get me all worked up then tell me you walked in on Dream and George practically boning and you expect me to be calm?”

Sapnap wrinkles his nose. “Dude. Dream’s, like, my brother. Nothing could be more of a turn-off than thinking about him… Eugh.”

“Yeah, but. George. He’s smoking hot, dude.”

“I mean, yeah, but he’s also George,” Sapnap protests, crossing his arms. “He’s practically my brother-in-law.”

Karl tilts his head. “What?”

“Oh- it’s an Old World thing. Do you know about marriage?”

“Uh… No, I don’t think so. Doesn’t sound familiar, anyway.”

Sapnap struggles to recall the hazy details from his childhood. Dream and he stumbled onto a bookshop in some relatively intact ruins when Sapnap was… Eight? Maybe nine? And they scoured the shelves for anything that wasn’t too damaged to be legible, though Sapnap was at a pretty stark disadvantage in determining legibility as he didn’t know how to read at the time. Dream eventually came up with five books that weren’t too heavy to carry. He used them as learning aids at first, but with such limited material, it didn’t take long for Sapnap to outright memorize the contents of each book, and before long, his “reading” practice was more “reciting” practice. Dream still made him copy the words down letter by letter until his clumsy hand could reliably recreate them.

But that’s not the point. The point is that one of the books was about marriage.

Marriage is an Old World thing. When two people love each other, one of them gives the other a ring, and they have a special party called a ‘wedding’ where all of their friends and family gather together and watch them promise to love each other forever. After that party, they’re ‘married.’ Boys who are married are called ‘husbands’ and girls who are married are called ‘wives.’ If you’re neither, you can be a ‘spouse.’ The idea seemed silly to Sapnap for a long time, but the way Dream talked about it made him change his mind. He was always so wistful, and so full of hope- he’d tell Sapnap he wished more than anything to love someone so much that he would want to be theirs for the rest of his life. Sapnap suggested that they could get married, and that made Dream laugh. It’s a different kinda love, Pandas, he’d said. It’s the kind where you wanna kiss and stuff.

Sapnap decided that sounded gross, and told Dream so, which only made him laugh more.

He couldn’t really, truly grasp marriage-love until George entered their lives. Seeing it play out in front of him in real time gave Sapnap the piece he’d been missing, and he came to take up Dream’s mantle of yearning; Dream himself no longer had to want for that kind of love, though it would take him nearly a decade to realize as much.

Sapnap cradled that flame of desire for a long time.

“Okay, um… It’s like… A ceremony, where you promise to love someone for the rest of your life,” he explains. “And the commitment is so strong that it’s recognized by the law. When you marry someone, their family becomes your family, too- so, like, your father-in-law, or your sister-in-law, or…”

“Your brother-in-law,” Karl finishes.

“Right. So George is basically my brother because he’s pretty much married to Dream, and always has been.”

“Tell me more,” Karl says, taking Sapnap’s hand and pressing his lips to his knuckles. “I wanna hear more about… Marriage.”

They end up sitting together with their backs to the cabinets while Sapnap recounts every detail he knows about weddings. He tells Karl about rings worn on specific fingers, about big white dresses and dark suits, about maids of honor and best men. He speaks with envy of towering cakes and first dances and speeches full of wonderful promises. Karl listens with rapt attention- the kind that might concern Sapnap if he felt there was any chance Karl could use this knowledge for mischief.

“Oh, man, okay- so the best part is, the marriage doesn’t fully count until you have sex.”

Karl barks a laugh. “How do they even check for that?”

“I think it was supposed to be an honor system thing. But it’s called consummating, and once that’s done it’s completely official and you’re married forever.”

“Wouldn’t people get married on accident all the time?”

“Nah, it only counts if you do the ceremony first.”

“Huh.” Karl nods slowly. “We should get married.”

Sapnap chokes on his saliva and spends several seconds coughing while Karl rubs soothing circles into his shoulder blades and laughs at him.

“Jesus fuck,” Sapnap groans. “You can’t just- spring that shit on me, man.”

“Oh, sorry,” Karl says, far from apologetic. “How should I lead into it? Do I take you out to dinner first, or is this a post-orgasm pillow talk situation?”

“You’re supposed to have a ring. Like- the person who proposes.”

Karl hums.

“And, like, it’s meant to be all romantic and shit, I think? You get down on one knee when you ask, and if they say yes, you put the ring on their finger.”

“Ah, I see.”

“And also, we’ve… We only started, like… Seeing each other a couple of months ago. I think you’re supposed to be together for a while before you get married.”

“I mean, we’ve only been together for two months, sure, but the full year of pining and flirting that came before it has to count for something. I’ve been in love with you for, like, forever, Sapnap.”

His cheeks color and he has to look away from the earnest affection in Karl’s gaze. “…Yeah,” he breathes. “Me too. I guess we kinda skipped the early dating part.”

“That settles it then!” Karl claps and beams at Sapnap. “You said we can be engaged for marriage before actually doing it, right? Well, I’m gonna propose to you. It’s gonna knock your socks off. I’ll have to dive to catch you before you swoon directly into the floor.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sapnap grumbles, fighting the fierce blush trying to climb his cheeks. “Can we go to your place and fuck already?”

“Obviously.” Karl grabs Sapnap’s hand and tugs him easily up and out the door.

Four bottles sit in a line on the nightstand.

Two are light blue and shimmering with a hazy green glow of magic. The other two are milk, fresh from Karl’s fridge.

Sapnap studies them while he unlaces his boots. “Should we just get the lube out now, or…?”

“Won’t need it.”

His eyes snap to meet Karl’s. “Oh. I thought we were gonna, like…”

“We are,” Karl assures with a mischievous smile.

That's okay! I was just wondering but thank you for taking the time to reply :] I appreciate your works either way. I would be interested in seeing those scraps? I just adore the universe

gonna reblog this post (so i don't end up in tags) and put the stuff under the cut! one moment please

[antonidomoni]

Goncharov (1973)

I finally watched it and I HAD to make fanart of these scenes to cope, so let’s talk about the parallels between the apple scenes in this movie because I’m absolutely RABID about it:

The way that Sofia and Katya are in public, talking about things like love and duty as Sofia tries to convince her to leave Goncharov, and the growing tension as their hands touch reaching for an apple—they are facing the camera, their backs to all the people bustling along in the street behind them, they look guarded but in this brief moment there’s real tenderness and all the other people in the background melt into just color and movement. The apple is in the foreground, it is polished and almost perfect, resembling both the symbolic and anatomical heart, but it’s among a sea of apples that take up the whole scene, the apple itself being both a barrier and a temptation between them—much like the love and duty that Katya speaks of and feels bound by. Sofia’s gaze lingers longer than Katya’s but the focus never falls from their hands above the apple. There’s an unspoken longing that persists until the pearl scene—the very same pearls in this scene. The way the scene is lit makes you feel as though we are meant to be like Sofia, admiring the soft almost unreal beauty of Katya. Katya then hands Sofia this apple which feels deliberate, as they begin talking of Eve, which prompts Sofia to give her a pomegranate in return with a reference to Persephone, giving insight to how each see their own positions in the narrative—the sacrificial expectations on femininity—which feels almost foreshadowing…

Meanwhile, later in the movie we see Goncharov peeling an apple with a knife when Andrey enters the parlor, a normally well populated place but this is one of the few times they are alone together the whole movie. Goncharov is dressed down, he has his sleeves rolled up, his hair is even a little disheveled. He peels the whole skin in one long ribbon without looking up at Andrey, addressing him affectionately in spite of his own growing mistrust of Andrey (this is before the clocktower scene). Goncharov reveals he had won the duel with Mario hours earlier—hinting at perhaps why he looked as though he had cleaned himself up—and he slices into the apple and eats it off the knife. Andrey begins to warn him of his hubris as Goncharov cuts another slice free, offering it to Andrey by pressing the slice to Andrey’s lips at the end of his knife. Andrey stalls a moment, and they stare at each other. The camera is at their backs, showing an over the shoulder shot of the peeled apple between them in the middle of the scene—the seeds visible in both the apple and the severed slice implying Goncharov ate the slice in its entirety (apple seeds having small traces of cyanide, this feels VERY deliberate)—a sense of vulnerability and danger and perhaps even a hint of passion as the red walls of the parlor seem to isolate them from the rest of the story. Goncharov almost looks like he’s pleading silently with Andrey to just surrender to the temptation, and Andrey bites the slice off the knife smoothly, but after a couple long seconds of chewing, he spits the seed onto the floor. They are interrupted by Katya in her nightgown (having just found the warm gun in the previous scene) who doesn’t even flinch seeing them together this late in the night, only asking Goncharov if he would be coming to bed. Andrey takes his leave before Goncharov can answer…

The angst alone could power a small country. What an absolute masterpiece of cinema history🍎

[pjchatters]

So you're telling me, that if only the portal HADN'T linked up with the OTHER nether portal which was trapped, and Joel and Etho came out safely from the same portal they went in, then we would've had an AWESOME 4V4 POLYCULE VERSUS POLYCULE SHOWDOWN FIGHT TO THE DEATH!?!?!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?!?

I am SO normal about this right now, I am perfectly sane, oh my god what could've been! I guess it would've been too much for the world to handle, so the world nuked the most chaotic reds of the series with lava. PLUS THE UNINTENTIONAL FORESHADOWING!? "I guess the saying is true. If the ship burns, everything burns, including us." Joel you madlad, always dropping the sickest one-liners on us, I was soo rooting for him and Etho to win this series, sad to see them go. The Boat Boys really went out in a blaze of glory.

But that ending though! TILLY DEATH DO US PART! AUUGHH! Scott sacrificed himself to let Pearl win cause she deserved it, but also because his chosen soulmate Cleo has died, so naturally, he needs to die too, and he did so by his own hand. And then Pearl as a ghost forgives him as well!

How does this funny death game series always turn out to be an angst-fueled chaotic show with drama at every corner? I'm sobbing, I'm crying, I'm shaking. Aww man, until the next Life series then, can't wait.

[theviolenttomboy]

How would you like Pokespe to handle PLA?

I did say it a lot before, and I still stand by it: a PokeSpe PLA adaption has to be Doomed by Canon and end in tragedy.

So the following is a rough outline of a theoretical fanfic I’d write if I had the time/energy/motivation to do so (full disclosure, I don’t have any of those three things):

The event that led to Arceus officially noping out of Hisui was also what caused the destruction of the Celestica civilization; there was either a civil war or an invasion. Most of the people died and the survivors left. Some of the survivors ended up in Johto where they built the Sinjoh Ruins, in hopes that one day Arceus would return. They brought the Plates with them, but something caused the Plates to be scattered across Johto.

The Diamond and Pearl Clans eventually settled in and appropriated the Celestica culture without getting the full picture. They warred over their incorrect beliefs of Almighty Sinnoh, until Kamado and the Galaxy Team essentially forced them into a peace treaty. Tensions remained high, leading all three unable to work together when shit goes down.

Arceus never sent a human back in time. Ingo's still there and suffering because he fell in a rift (or maybe even through the Cave of Being).

We got Rei (representing emotion) and Akari (representing knowledge) (hey, the Rangers got to keep their canon names) paralleling their descendants, Diamond and Platinum. Unfortunately, in a cruel call-forward, Pearl's ancestor (representing willpower) isn't here, so the human spirit is incomplete, foreshadowing their future failure.

Most of the gameplay is dedicated to catching Pokemon, gathering resources, and throwing bags of food. That’d be tedious to go into detail in manga form and I’m assuming we’d work with less than 3 volumes of content. I’m kicking the frenzied Noble plot out entirely. The Plates also don’t factor in because they’re in Johto. Instead most of the time is dedicated to Akari exploring ruins with Volo while doing her fieldwork. She’s as hungry for knowledge as her descendant, and Volo has managed to convince her that if they find out the truth of Almighty Sinnoh, the Diamond and Pearl Clans will stop feuding and things will be more peaceful.

To mush the main game and post game plots into one, Volo's plan here is to create/find the Red Chain as to force Dialga and Palkia to fight, so that a space-time rift for Giratina to come through will be formed. He figures Giratina appearing will compel Arceus to come back to Hisui.

After some adventures and trials, Akari gets the Red Chain, only for Volo to knock her out, steal the Chain, and head up to the Temple of Sinnoh by himself.

The ensuing space-time distortions caused by the fight threaten to destroy all of Hisui. Some people nearby manage to get a glimpse of the battle, which gets them to building the Eterna Statue years later.

Rei and Akari try to battle Volo to get past him, but they’re not strong enough to beat him.

Dialga and Palkia break free of Volo’s control due to him having only one chain, but not before Giratina shows up. They all duke it out and kill each other, stopping the distortions...and Arceus still doesn't come down. Volo realizes despite everything he's done, all he’s suffered, it was all for naught. And his spirit breaks.

Shit, not even the bad guy gets out of having a bad ending here.

Cue epilogue, with everyone being miserable and traumatized. The Diamond and Pearl clans know about Dialga and Palkia now but they’re dead, Volo is wandering alone aimlessly, leaving things open ended enough for him to come back/have kids but it’s clear how broken he is, Akari is still shaken up by Volo’s betrayal, and Cyllene vows to be more proactive in protecting Hisui, which unfortunately leads to a cycle of abuse in her descendants that eventually ends in Cyrus’ myriad of issues.

The only things stopping this from being a full blown angst-fest (for the readers) is the knowledge that by present day, Arceus eventually did get its heart healed and the Creation Trio gets revived.

The Sinnoh Trio, in modern day, read all/most of this in old diaries/records that they find in the Berlitz personal library. Moon's there too.

[wolfclaire]

ask game ig? (i dont write fics but i like yours :D)

"Somebody tried to cut her wings off.

Somebody was purposely trying to keep her from getting away."

the foreshadowing tho.. the vibes

Hi, thank you for your ask! Aww thanks anon :')

The foreshadowing was strong with this one, ngl XD

To be honest, Etho didn't try cut Pearl's wings off, or was pruporsely aiming at them. He just wanted to hit Pearl to stop her from running away with his and Joel's stuff... But when she had her back turned on him, well...it was hard to miss them, you know? He did wanted to apologize to her after that, but in his clouded Red mind he didn't find the reason or the need to do it. If he was still Yellow, he would try to offer something to help Pearl heal and be able to fly again soon...as Red, he doesn't even consider that.

Grian, on the other hand? Oh, he certainly knew what he was doing and why. Making an example out of someone, you want everyone else to see it. You want them to see what happens to those who wont stay in line and follow the rules.

Etho? Just an accident. Grian? Because he could.

Also, you only know the "reactions" of Gem and Cleo about Pearl's wings being hurt/gone (should I count Grian too?...Yeah let's count Grian too, he had a grin on his face when he did what he did)... I still have 3 characters you will see "more indepth" reactions of, one of them being Pearl (because no, we aren't done with the Pearl angst yet! >:D ) and the other two will be in the next chapter ;)

[cloudninetonine]

Ok random idea what if the player had metallic liquid gold blood so when the bleed it was just gold or when they cried pearls dropped from their eyes how would the chain react would they think the player IS a god in disguise

Oooo, the world fucking with the Player's genetics is a awesome take! (Also slight foreshadowing 😏) BUT OMG THE ANGST.

It would bring in the idea of scepticism and deciet, because like has the Player been plying this entire time? Are they really just a deity in disguise? Why wouldn't they say anything? I feel it would cause a divide between them all. Hyrule currently would be the most broken about it because have they planted false memories? Had he always been alone in his journeys? What was the truth?

Just a lot of pain if I'm being honest.

[riacte]

So I watched some misc MCC4-8 clips for fic research and:

- Ren got three kills in MCC4 SG? It’s his first SG?

- False calmly lead the team in SG and I think they got like? Fourth? They did pretty well considering they’re “bad at PvP”

- the full hermit team got like 3rd in SG I think. They’ve always been good ngl.

- FALSE SURVIVED IN MCC5 ROCKET SPLEEF

- they also supported all the teams I thought they would support in Dodgebolt (yeah I did not watch Dodgebolt b4 MCC9 bcz if hermits weren’t there, I ain’t watching lol)

- them saying it’s a Legacy X Hermitcraft team up every time

- Ren always says he wants to get in Dodgebolt every time they watch Dodgebolt

- In MCC5 Ren said he was the weak link and how he should be “replaced” and everyone immediately said “no!! Not playing without you” 🥺🥺🥺

- Grian: so y’all getting getting worse at this huh (paraphrased)

- False: it’s for the comeback of the century

- ah yes MCC8: the angst fest

- Ren taking a screenshot at the beginning because “they’ll never get third”

- stop im crying

- Pearl: they’re predicting us to get 9th/10th

- False: oh really? We’ve got to upset them lmao

- they’re aiming for seventh

- False really likes upsetting Reddit.

- And then the Yaks got 9th so they joked they met expectations

- Honestly Ren was extremely important in MCC8 bcz he was always the first to boost morale and make jokes

- Like they lost 8/9 rounds of Battle Box and Ren was like “yeah we did great”

- and when they got 9th Ren said they got second in the for fun teams

- “nine is our comfortable place”

- YOU CAN SEE THEIR COMMS STRUGGLE esp in SoT when False didn’t even know Ren was still in the game

- pain pain pogging through the pain

- ALSO LMAO THE HERMITS JUST WANT TO BEAT TECHNO THIS IS SO FUNNY

- Ren calling Pearl “sensei” so she can teach the other three parkour

- MAN THE BLUE BATS FORESHADOWING

- MCC8 Dodgebolt

- Ren: do we support Dream or Fwhip

- False: is that even a question

- (YEAH REN WHAT QUESTION IS THAT??)

- False: everyone wants technodream to win so we’re supporting aqua

- YASS queen, loves upsetting Reddit lmao. We stan

- Ren starts narrating the entire damn Dodgebolt

- everyone cheering for Fwhip is 🥺 Pearl cheering for Joel is 🥺🥺

- False said H is not bad at shooting

- Ren calling H “Hbomb” not “Hmama” has the same energy as Grian calling Fruit “Fruitberries” not “Fruity B”

- I love how they’re joking like, “we’re bad at this so we can surprise everyone and come first” YEAH ALL 4 OF THE YAKS WILL GET INTO DODGEBOLT VERY SOON. POG PREDICTIONS.

- They’re like “haha let’s do better next time”. MCC9 Ren and False won. MCC10 False and Cub won. MCC12 Cub and Pearl in Dodgebolt. Listen. You guys are the prophecy.

- in conclusion I am 🥺🥺🥺🥺😭

[inbarfink]

I know I already made a post about the Rose Quartz-Greg Universe Backstory Parallels, but thinking about it... the fact that Greg’s backstory is just the Normal Human Earth Version of Pink Diamond’s Story is important... but it’s not the ONLY reason why Steven felt like Greg is “just like mom”. There’s also another factor here, the fact that Greg has never told him about his human family, the fact that he hid this information from him. He did that Thing Steven associates with Rose most of all, he lied. 

Well, ‘hiding’ and ‘lying’ is kind of heavy words here. I don’t think Greg saw himself as lying. or hiding anything. This is - like a lot of the issues brought up to the surface in Mr. Universe - this is a communication issue created by the wide difference in the perspectives and life experiences between Steven and Greg. 

Greg, in his POV, never divulged false information to Steven about his family. He never explicitly told Steven “I have always had the surname ‘Universe’, I was born with it”, or “No, you can’t visit your grandparents because..... they’re dead”, or “I did not run away from home”. He just... didn’t talk about his family a lot. He occusionally mentioned vauge stuff about his family when they subject gets brought up that foreshadowed this episode, but all in all, Greg just didn’t talk about it. 

(And you can totally understand why, these Family Issues are clearly still a sore spot for Greg. I think he’s been underplaying his own emotions even all through “Mr. Universe”. PLUS, discussing them with Steven in spesifics is gonna be extra-hard cause...well... at what age do you tell your child that his grandparents never answer your letters??? Especially since Steven already has so much on his plate!)

And Greg doesn’t view that as ‘lying’ or ‘hiding’ anything, if Steven actually directly ASKED him about his family at any point in his life, he’d probably would have explained his backstory in vauge, emotionally-disconnected terms and then he would have been like “oh whatever, YOU’RE the only family I care about anymore, schtu-ball!”. He clearly didn’t treat that backstory-revealing road trip, as... like... Revealing anything previously hidden to Steven. This is also consistent with the way he feels about Rose’s secrets and falsehoods:

Rose didn’t *lie* to Greg about Not Being a Diamond, she simply did not tell Greg that she was a Diamond - and there is a difference there. Well, for Greg, at least. For him, that level of ‘secretiveness’ comes off as normal and acceptable. Because he basically grew up with the Normal Human Version of Pink Diamond’s Upbringing! Overcontrolling parents raise oversecretive children, that’s a Theme in the Show!

But I think that Steven sees less of a distinction here. Greg might have grown up until the age of 20 having to Hide Everything from his parents, but Steven grew up constantly having to deal with the emotional fallout of his various parental figures Hiding Stuff from him! Rose’s many, many secrets are the most obvious examples, but the CGs and Greg also have their fair share of it. Steven starts the show knowing almost nothing about Gemkind because the CGs and Greg (who DO know a bunch of Stuff) chose to not tell him and he had to find out a lot of the Lore in the worst possible moments.

Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Greg never directly *lied* to Steven about the origins of the Crystal Gems, but they didn’t tell him any of the truth either and quietly allowed him to build a very inaccurate image of the situation in his head - which got knocked down one-by-one as the Gems were *forced* to tell Steven the truth. And I don’t think it would have made much of a difference for Steven if this inaccurate image was purely a result of Steven’s imagination running wild with the void of information that his parental figures chose to give him or if they directly told him false shit. The result for Steven was the same!

Either way he had to deal with Dramatic Big Revelations rather than being able to process stuff like the nature of Gemkind or Pink Diamond’s supposed shattering in a calm environment surronded by loved ones. Either way he had constantly put himself and his loved ones into dangerous situations because he has not been given enough information to know that This Is a Bad Idea. Either way he had his viewpoint shattered a million time. For Steven, who has directly experienced the very worst of this ‘sorta lying by omission’, it’s all bad and it’s lying!

And I think Steven had a similar sort of situation with the Gem-Stuff and with Greg’s family. Like, I guess it’s unclear how seriously we should take “I thought you said you grew up in a prison!”, but I can see Tiny Baby Steven hearing Greg talking about ‘sneaking past the warden’ and assuming his dad Literally Escaped From Prison and then Older Teen Steven just never really questioned that information because it’s just never got brought up a lot. At the very least Steven is VERY suprised that the DeMayos’ house is ‘beautiful’.

And we already know he’s sick of being lied too! It’s been a thing since Steven’s Dream! (at the very least!)

Steven thought he was done with all the Secrets to Supposedly Protect Him back when he found out that Rose ‘shattered’ Pink Diamond. He thought that his family was gonna share stuff with him and be open. So he was extremely mad when he thought that the Gems were keeping yet something ELSE from him (when actually Garnet was trying to avoid the confertation with Blue Diamond she kept future-visoning and Pearl was technically keeping a secret from him... but not necasserly out of her own will). And as he clearly states here, for him, the Gems were LYING to him. When they are not telling him any information, it’s the same as lying to him!

And just as I understand why Greg doesn’t like to talk about his family much, I understand why Steven feels like he’s got a right to know. If it was just Greg not telling a Friend everything about his backstory, it would have been different. But the DeMayos are Steven’s family too, doesn’t he has the right to know about them? Steven has angsted so long about Rose and what’s she like and how unknowable she is to him because he only got to know her through other people’s stories of her... maybe he doesn’t want his grandpa and grandma in this category too. He’s defos has some conflicting feelings about them now. Between being super-charmed by the decor of their house and feeling like he’d be better off raised in such a ‘normal’ situation and between his dad’s super-negative feelings about them.

And remember, “Growing Pains” has just gone over how Steven’s PTSD makes it hard for him to react to Issues in a porpotional manner. Steven has gotten yet ONE MORE THING his loved ones have ‘hidden from him’ or ‘lied about’ (even if it wasn’t Greg’s intentions), and his brain’s Emotional Reference Points are all the OTHER times where his family was keeping Shit hidden from him. Even if Greg’s backstory is technically small peanuts, Steven is processing the shock like he’s realizing the Gems are an Alien Invader race all over again. Like he heard that his mom had murdered someone for the greater good for the first time. Like he is once again seeing Rose Quartz transform into Pink Diamond. 

So as far as Steven, processing his Emotions behind the wheel of that car is concered... what Greg did *feels* like what Rose has done. It at least feels equivelent in a way that I don’t think Greg really understands. 

[minijenn]

Universe Falls Preview 3

K so yeah this is the last preview I’m giving ya’ll for this chapter because from here on until like almost the end its just a fucking montage with dialogue scenes mixed in so yeah. This is kinda mostly by the books (most of the original stuff is gonna come pretty late on in the chapter) but I still think its pretty good (plus I wrote all of this today, so yay, progress!) So yeah, enjoy!

In order to properly train Connie and Dipper in the ways of the blade, Pearl would need the proper venue to accommodate such training, and fortunately, she knew of the perfect place. The white Gem warped herself and the kids to this greatly elevated destination with a broad, confident smile, a pair of training swords cradled in her arms. The kids were a bit less dignified, with Connie giggling in excitement and falling flat onto the pad as they arrived, having warped only a handful of times compared to Steven and the twins. The young Gem chuckled himself as he helped her up, and while Mabel initially smiled in amusement at this, her expression soon fell as she glanced over at Dipper, whose manner was quite cold and serious, even despite the beautifully bewildering place they were now in.

The massive marble structure seemed to be set adrift in an endless sea of fluffy white clouds, high above the ground with only sunny blue skies above it. The pair of staircases behind the warp pad led to a vast, open-air arena, one that clearly showed is age in how over half of it had completely crumbled apart. What was left was still rather impressive though, from its high staggered seating, to its towering pillars and accompanying statues, to the collection of four diamond symbols stacked together at the pinnacle of the structure, the bottommost of which had broken apart quite some time ago. The kids all soaked this incredibly sight in with apt wonder as they followed Pearl down into the arena’s empty center, which would certainly provide more than enough space to pass her sword fighting skills along to her two new students.

“Whoa… this place is amazing!” Connie exclaimed upon finally seeing the full lay of the arena and the billowing clouds surrounding it.  

“It certainly is, Connie,” Pearl smiled broadly, her back turned to the kids as she glanced down to the pair of training swords resting in her arms. “This is an Ancient Sky Arena, where some of the first battles for Earth took place! It was here that I became familiar with the human concept of being a knight, completely dedicated to a person and a cause. Its easily the most noble, heroic resolve any Gem or human could hope to dedicate themselves to. Dipper, Connie, that is what you both must become: brave, loyal, selfless. Entirely devoted and committed not to yourselves, but to those you’re willing to give up everything to protect and serve! You… must be knights!”

At this, the white Gem turned to her young pupils, finally holding the pair of training swords out to them and silently instructing them to take up these blades. For both Dipper and Connie, the moment they both reached out to take their swords felt surreal, almost monumental. After all, these weren’t just plastic toys or dulled metal; these were real, sharp, potentially deadly weapons, weapons that they were about to learn how to wield with their own hands. As the pair exchanged a rather tentative glance upon claiming these weapons for themselves, they could both acutely feel just how intimidating this prospect really was. In fact, it was so initially intimidating to them both that they gave Pearl’s manifesto much thought, even if Steven and Mabel were rather caught off guard by its somewhat alarming implications. Still, the white Gem didn’t waste a beat as she decided to formally start her training regimen.

“We begin with a bow,” she said authoritatively. “First to me, your teacher.” As Pearl gracefully bowed to her pupils, Dipper and Connie followed suit, albeit a bit less confidently, both of them awkwardly holding their swords and unwittingly showing that they had quite a lot to learn. “Now again, to your fellow student.” The pair did as the white Gem said, respectfully bowing to each other and ignoring the soft chuckles starting to bubble up from Mabel and Steven behind them. “And finally, to your lieges.” Pearl nodded over to the aforementioned laughing pair, who were quick to sober up under the sudden scrutiny.

Steven’s smile was quick to return however as Connie lowered herself to one knee before him, her manner filled with plenty of hints of levity as she did so. “My liege,” she remarked, her tone intentionally overdramatic.

“Miss Knight,” the young Gem acknowledged with an air of playful sovereignty before both him and Connie broke down into a gale of muted laughter under their breaths.

Mabel was already smirking as she watched this silly, lighthearted interaction, but her smile widened with surprise as Dipper suddenly bowed to her, much to her amusement. “Tis an honor, Sir Dipping Sauce,” she giggled, slightly bowing back to him, though Dipper adamantly refused to join in on her merriment.

“Come on, Mabel,” he scowled admonishingly as he glanced up at her slightly, causing her smile to drop almost instantly. “This is serious.”

“Indeed it is, Dipper,” Pearl agreed as she overheard this, taking a step closer. “I’m glad someone here recognizes that fact…” The white Gem frowned as she sent a critical glance to Steven and Connie, who were quick to stop laughing and straighten up upon being called out.

“Oh! S-sorry, ma’am!” Connie blushed, clearly flustered by her teacher’s admonishment.

“Mm hm…” Pearl nodded as her gemstone began to glow. Out of it emerged a pair of near-perfect holographic replicas of the white Gem, both of them already wielding solid rapiers as it stood emotionlessly and rigidly alongside the real Pearl. “Now, to begin, these holo-Pearls will be your opponents.”

While Connie, Mabel, and Dipper were all quite impressed by the white Gem’s holographic abilities, Steven was instantly set on high alert, largely because of something that had happened not too long before summer had begun. In fact, his dread progressively grew as both holo-Pearls raised their blades a bit, their voices crisp and robotic as they spoke in orderly unison. “Level 0, beginner set, dual opponents. Do you wish to engage in combat?”

“Yes!” Connie readily exclaimed, her eyes a light with daring excitement.

“Uh, s-sure, I guess,” Dipper replied a bit more unsteadily, undoubtedly intimidated by the fact that they were actually going to start off learning how to fight firsthand.  

Steven, however, was far less complacent with the idea of two of his friends being pitted against such heartless holographs in the same way he had when Pearl had been out of commission for nearly two weeks and one of the only remnants of her he had left had been one such ruthless combatant apparition. Which was why, upon his mere self-preservation instinct alone, a large pink bubble bloomed around him, Connie, Mabel, and Dipper, startling the other three as they all looked to the wide-eyed young Gem questioningly.

“Steven? Are… you ok?” Mabel asked with a concerned frown, taking note of his rather shallow, sharp breathing.

“H-huh?” Steven blinked before noticing the bubble he had unconsciously created. “Oh! I-I’m sorry! It’s… i-it was… um, r-reflex…” The young Gem lowered his bubble, scratching the back of his neck as he let out an awkward laugh and began to back away. “Uh, y-you guys just be careful and we’ll… we’ll, uh, be over here…”

“Yeah, have fun, you guys!” Mabel called with a small smile as she began to follow Steven over to the stands, but not before placing a steady hand on Dipper’s uninjured shoulder. “Seriously though, bro-bro,” she whispered to him, her manner suddenly quite intent and worried. “Be careful. Even if you said you’re feeling better, you still probably shouldn’t go all overboard with this sword fighting stuff—even if it is really cool—so soon after… w-well, you know. So… so just promise me you won’t push yourself too far… ok?”

Dipper hesitated upon hearing this, his grip tightening around the hilt of his sword as he met his sister’s sincere, almost pleading gaze. But all the same, he forced a weak, reassuring smile, pulling his posture up as he nodded slightly. “Don’t worry, Mabel. I’m not gonna go ‘overboard’ or anything like that. I… I promise.”

Mabel smiled once more, allayed by this affirmation as her hand slipped off his shoulder. “Thanks,” she sighed contentedly as she hurried to join Steven on the stands. “And hey! You got this, ‘Sir Dippin-Dots!”

Despite his earlier exasperation with Mabel’s playful nicknaming, Dipper couldn’t help but crack a genuine smile at this, glad for her vote of confidence that easily could have been nothing more than teasing under different circumstances. Even so, he couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit guilty as he glanced down to the sword in his hand, not entirely sure if he’d be able to live up to the promise he had just made to her.

Upon seeing that there was no further distractions or delay, Pearl came to stand in between her two students, placing guiding hands upon both of their shoulders as she started her very first lesson. “Alright, everything begins with your stance…”

[chdarling-tle]

Hello! I just finished reading TLE1 so naturally I had to come gush about it into your inbox. First of all, I’m truly sorry, this is going to be long. With the story’s growing popularity I assume that you get a lot of messages and comments like this so I genuinely apologise for bothering you and don’t feel obliged to respond but I simply must try to express all my emotions. I wanted to thank you for the rollercoaster of emotions you’ve put me through over the last few days as I binged your 1/7

story. I’ve been reading Marauders fics for 14 years and I’m such a canon whore, I can’t even enjoy a good old AU anymore. Unique canon compliant fics are so scarce these days, so the fact that you managed to capture the Marauders & co’s characterisation and dynamic so accurately and perfectly while telling an utterly engaging and captivating story … I really have no words. BOWING DOWN TO YOU, QUEEN. I thought that no matter how many other fics I read, none of them can mend my TLAT 2/7

induced heartbreak over the lack of closure of that story, but I think I finally found a worthy successor. I’m rambling because I cannot coherently express how much I loved TLE. I was trying to explain to my very patient irl friends that what absolutely obliterates me about it is your inclusion of the small details and character moments from the books, and developing them into intricate plotlines and complex, nuanced character backstories. I just can’t get over how well you handled it. 3/7

I was making so many notes and highlights when reading TLE. And the clever little canon Easter eggs (“she hates me now!” ”nah, she doesn’t”, “you see the best in people even when the others don’t” and countless others), again, I have no WORDS. The way you handled Sirius and his family, Remus’s little furry problem, the prank, the fallout and Snape’s worst memory fitting it into JKR’s weird chronology of events... James’s anger at Snape, Snape’s anger at Lily, Sirius’s rage and resentment, 4/7

it all makes such perfect sense… don’t even get me started on the Animagi plotline… Sorry I can’t form coherent sentences, I’m basically clutching my pearls (if I had any) and shouting at my laptop. Your prose is beautiful, your attention to detail immensely appreciated and your characterisation absolutely spot on. All the plotlines flowed so naturally and have I mentioned how you managed to construct a whole fucking book around canon tidbits without any convoluted plotlines??? 5/7

AND THE FORESHADOWING. Like connecting Peter’s failed transformation with Hogwarts plumbing (lol) which will lead to the map making ahhhhh HOW ARE YOU SUCH A GENIUS. I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT WAIT to see what you do with the Map making process, invisibility cloak, JILY OMG!!!! You gave us such a cute crush and delicious angst already! And the war years, I bet you’ll annihilate anything left of my heart.What I’m trying to say I’m your massive fan and will be eagerly anticipating anything you write. 6/7

Thank you so so so so sooooo much for putting so much time and effort into this project, I truly cannot form into words how much it means to me and undoubtedly hundreds - if not thousands - of other fans of these characters. I’m sure this story will become huge in the fandom. SENDING ONLY LOVE, COOKIES, SUNSHINE AND RAINBOWS YOUR WAY! <3 i'm so sorry for word vomiting this rant into your inbox 7/7

-------

ok I’m legit crying 😭😭😭😭

First of all, please do not feel the need to apologize for bothering me or for leaving a long message oh my goodness. This was truly the loveliest thing to read this evening. I SO appreciate you taking the time to not only read my story but share your thoughts and reactions with me!! I am thrilled that you enjoyed book one and I am very much looking forward to annihilating your heart in the future. 😉

Seriously, thank you for this incredibly kind message. I have been in Writer Despair Mode™ all week, so I can’t begin to describe how much opening Tumblr and finding these lovely messages means to me. You keep me going on days like today when I am debating just throwing my laptop into the pond and starting a new life… 😂

So much love to you ❤️❤️❤️

[sondepoch]

I really like the way you write, like the words you pick, and the flow and pacing agshjflfhahdk so I was wondering if you have any book recs? Stuff that influenced you? ( ilu 💕 @obaes)

Gaaahhhh bookskss??? 

I think I said it before, but books are love, books are life <3 I grew up surrounded by literature (a lot of the people in my family are book collectors), so I’ve probably read thousands by now, but I’ll list a few specific works that made me actively change my writing!

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden - Honestly the plot here isn’t super impressive, it’s a stereotypical slow burn romance lol but the narration is on point. Like, some of the language in this book is just so beautiful that you have to stop to reread a certain paragraph because of how lovely the figurative language is. Reading this book, you’ll understand just how powerful imagery is if someone describes it properly - and my prose was never really the same afterward

Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - All the works in this series make for wonderful case studies if you want to understand how pacing, foreshadowing, and development work. There’s a reason these books are so wildly popular, and reading them really taught me how important it is to tell a story with your readers rather than to your readers. Honestly, i hate mystery and thriller as a genre, but these books are just so wonderful to analyze so I always reopen them to catch things I didn’t catch before

The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck - Oh god if I had to pick one book to read for the rest of my life, this would be it. Buck won the Pulitzer Prize for a reason, and you understand why when you read this book. Like - it’s such a simple plot. So simple that I wouldn’t even consider it a worthy bedtime story. But holy SHIT the writing. Every single word has you enraptured, every detail, every description. You want to learn about Wang Lung’s morning routine, and somehow it’s not even boring, and the reason why lies not in the complexity of the plot but instead in the beauty of simplicity - in the beauty of nature when it’s completely unrefined and left in it’s original state. Excellent work to use as a case study. I spent four months analyzing this in high school and there’s still stuff I missed.

The Three-Body-Problem Trilogy by Cixin Liu - Ahh holy shit. If you know the other books I mentioned, this really seems like the opposite of them. Liu doesn’t waste any effort over flowery language and his plots are literal light years away from “simple” - but everything here is phenomenal. If we forget the fact that all three books are absolute masterpieces in terms of plot, you can focus on how smoothly he integrates detail into his writing - which is super important for current authors imo because we tend to info dump. But not Liu. This series is the closest thing to perfection that I have ever encountered - plot twists, compelling characters, angst, love stories, advanced astrophysics - this book has it all.

I was originally going to list more, but my explanations kept getting longer and longer so I’m going to cut myself off here x3 I tried to pick a diverse set of works (historical fiction, mystery, realistic fiction, sci fi) that have all influenced me in different ways, but each of these books have shaped who I am as a reader because I still try to mimic some of the literary tools used by these authors. If you want more recs, shoot me a dm! <3 I have half a hundred more bouncing around in my mind, and I’m happy to hear that there are other readers looking for new books! ::D

[shinneth]

Chapters: 5/? Fandom: Steven Universe (Cartoon) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Peridot/Steven Universe, Ruby/Sapphire (Steven Universe), Bismuth & Steven Universe, Bismuth & Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe), Bismuth & Lapis Lazuli & Peridot (Steven Universe), Amethyst & Bismuth (Steven Universe), Amethyst & Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe), Amethyst & Steven Universe, Amethyst & Peridot (Steven Universe), Original Character(s)/Original Character(s), Steven Universe & Original Gem Character(s), Peridot (Steven Universe) & Original Character(s), Lapis Lazuli & Peridot (Steven Universe), Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe) & Original Character(s), Lars Barriga & Steven Universe, Lars Barriga & Off Colors, Lars Barriga & Bismuth, Bismuth & Rose Quartz (Steven Universe), Rose Quartz & Steven Universe, Bismuth & Peridot (Steven Universe), Amethyst (Steven Universe) & Original Character(s), Jasper & Peridot (Steven Universe), Amethyst & Jasper (Steven Universe), Amethyst & Famethyst (Steven Universe), Jasper & Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe), Peridot & Pumpkin (Steven Universe), Garnet & Peridot (Steven Universe), Pearl & Peridot (Steven Universe), Garnet (Steven Universe) & Original Character(s), Pearl & Original Gem Character(s) (Steven Universe) Characters: Peridot (Steven Universe), Steven Universe, Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe), Bismuth (Steven Universe), Garnet (Steven Universe), Pearl (Steven Universe), Amethyst (Steven Universe), Ruby (Steven Universe), Sapphire (Steven Universe), Original Gem Character(s) (Steven Universe), Original Fusion Character(s) (Steven Universe), Lars Barriga, Rhodonite (Steven Universe), Rutile Twins (Steven Universe), Padparadscha (Steven Universe), Fluorite (Steven Universe), Harold Smiley, Rose Quartz | Pink Diamond, Sadie Miller, Connie Maheswaran, Jasper (Steven Universe), Famethyst (Steven Universe), Greg Universe, Pumpkin (Steven Universe) Additional Tags: Crystal Gems, Post-Episode s05e29-32 Change Your Mind, Post-Gem Ascension, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gap Filler, Character Development, Developing Friendships, Team as Family, Team Bonding, Team Feels, Established Relationship, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Sibling Rivalry, Dysfunctional Family, Dysfunctional Relationships, Difficult Decisions, Awkward Conversations, Mystery, Arguing, Triggers, Before Battle, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Gem Fusion, Homeworld Gems - Freeform, Reunions, Male Friendship, Friendzone, Plans For The Future, Funland (Steven Universe), Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Memory Loss, Forgiveness, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Breakfast, Puns & Word Play, Nostalgia, Unexpected Visitors, Homeworld is Horrible, True Love, Confessions, Best Friends, Female Friendship, Birthday, Heart-to-Heart, Past Jasper/Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe) - Freeform, Teasing, Platonic Female/Female Relationships, Relationship Advice, Hair Braiding, Embarrassment, Multiple Personalities, Implied/Referenced Mind Control, Loss of Identity, Loss of Control, Memory Alteration, Desperation, Past Relationship(s), Moving On, First Meetings, Ocean, Moral Lessons, Alien Cultural Differences, Class Differences, Compare and Contrast, Possession, Dominance, Forced Gem Fusion, Foreshadowing, Partial Mind Control, Sharing a Body, Existential Crisis, Existential Angst, Trapped, Morally Ambiguous Character, Moral Dilemmas, Star-crossed, Implied Sexual Content, Wrongful Imprisonment, We Just Love Each Other, Pets, Distrust, Leadership, Self-Doubt, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, Temporary Amnesia, Wet Dream, Dream Sex, Implied/Referenced Sex, Mentor/Protégé, Subliminal Messages, Confrontations, With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility, Promises, Acceptance, Redemption, Caretaking, First Impressions, Everyone Needs A Hug, Everyone Has Issues, Interactive Fiction, Beach City, Beach House Series: Part 8 of The Gem Ascension Universe Summary:

In order to function as a team, as guides to Homeworld immigrants, and as eventual galactic ambassadors of peace, the Crystal Gems first and foremost must work out what they mean to each other. Friends? Family? Something beyond the platonic boundary?

That's for them to figure out.

Fanfiction.net version

That’s right. I wrote over half a million words in less than 11 months. And it was STEVIDOT.