#gonna go and trawl through my old blogs now i think

[spadilled]

NEV'S ROLEPLAY HISTORY!

the rules are simple! post characters you’d like to roleplay as, have roleplayed as, and might bring back. then tag ten people to do the same ( if you can’t think of ten, just write down however many you can and tag that number of people ). please repost, don’t reblog!

CURRENT MUSE/S :

you are here (@spadilled)

@catclyssm (bsd nakahara chuuya and the side blogs @seiigi (suehiro tetcho) and @kakarette (an extremely low activity oda that i use to torment ori specifically))

WANT TO WRITE :

boothill, probably... let's be honest here i'm a sucker for a cowboy

blade, but his lore intimidates me and there's already sooo many cool blades

sampo, again i just enjoy other people's sampo's at this point lmao

my very vague idea of a hsr oc that none of u will ever hear about unless you pry it from my cold, dead hands

i want to pick up a few genshin muses like alhaitham but the lore scares me

HAVE WRITTEN :

@qrwvviid-archived-blog, @qrwvviid-a, @crviis-a, @crviis (qr.ow bra.n.we.n of r.w.b.y.... man i had his muse for such a long time and then the rpc finally got to me lmaoo)

@godtricks (mercury bl.ack of r.w.b.y)

@afierosii (destiny multi muse including shi.n mal.phur, tevis larsen and andal brask)

@usurperr (r.k.900 of d.b.h... richard my beloved)

@imptus (r.k800-60 of d.b.h.... caleb..... i miss youuuu)

@pyresided (my oc shi.n mal.phur who i made)

@abelshot (v.ash the stampede)

@selfnss (a collection of other muses and a few ocs i never really got off the ground)

@xiincun (jing yuan, my beloved)

i've also written; wriothesley, diluc, katabasis of destiny fame, ro.man torch.wi.ck, gen/ji

WOULD WRITE AGAIN :

i would write shin again in a heartbeat if i had the chance honestly.. and vash and richard/caleb... my time with qrow is long gone unfortunately but... forever in our memories......

[wiltking]

Hi wilt do you have theories as to why so many MM books are shitty? Are my standards too high? Like so many popular MM books are popular based off the sexiness of the characters and the sex alone and so many are just the most basic "I'm serious/edgy guy" and "I'm flirty/funny guy" relationship.

I have to fight for my life to find a good MM book that isn't instant attraction/love (I fucking hate when an MCs first thoughts about the other MC is "I want to fuck him so bad"; it's only good in a few stories), and has a worthwhile plot, well developed characters with serious/realistic problems, and a meaningful romance. I know there's really good MM out there but it's so annoying going thru Goodreads and finding maybe one actually well-thought, not porn-y book out of 13 hockey romances about the same generic, muscley white ppl.

so, i dont read popular books. full stop. i also generally avoid anything marked as strictly 'romance' or published in the past 8+ years out of personal preference (if i can help it). because from my experience what youre describing is an ongoing problem with modern publishing standards and i have zero patience or interest for it.

my advice would be to try reading stuff published before 2015, roughly, and avoid goodreads like the plague. easier said than done because ive been trawling through older and weirder gay books for about a decade now, and they have certainly not all been Good. but generally the good stuff (complex characters, weird narrative styles, compelling and morally difficult stories) isnt what's "marketable", and youre gonna have to work harder to find it. stuff thats out of print, self published indie authors, old abandonned review blog sites - it takes work. but your standards arent too high.

i think publishers these days are too interested in making a quick buck off queer readers (with sanitized YA and smutty plotless shovelware novels) rather than take risks with more challenging, thoughtful, adult gay fiction. older books (from smaller and even shortlived publishers) seem to have been a lot more willing to take those risks because publishing stories with gay characters was already a risk in and of itself. and if they were going to print a book with gay characters the story have better been damn good and worth the investment.

in conclusion capitalism is the death of art, use storygraph instead of goodreads, and take chances on books that maybe dont have many reviews but are just strange enough to pique your interest. good luck and godspeed out there soldier

[thevampirediariesdiary]

[1/7] HELLO! so i just had to come here bc i found your blog through your 1x19/1x20 fic on ao3, and i've also been rewatching tvd (very slowly) lately, and trawling your tags to get a fix of delena lol, but there's something i've been thinking about for yearssss but your fic recently made me think of it differently as did your posts, so i would love to hear your opinion properly... so it is confirmed that damon fell in love with elena in 1x19 during the dance, but it was always MY opinion

[2/3] that he didn't KNOW-like, consciously-that he had fallen in love with her, and i’ve often debated with myself about when he could have realised it; i think the easiest answer is that isobel saying “because he’s in love with you” is when he was like Oh Shit because he after that moment DOES become a lot more flirty with her (and in the next episode kisses “her” cheek/lips lol, romantic feelings for sure)… but the way you wrote it in in the 1x19-1x21 posts and the last a/n on your fic makes [3/7] me think that you think he WAS aware he had fallen for her in 1x19? so he was what just not sure how to deal with it? i guess i just have always wondered about this because damon’s behaviour doesn’t seem to indicate he had fallen in love and Knew about it, 1x20 damon and elena are definitely a lot closer but they’re closer because they’re trying to help stefan together so it’s natural for them to be spending a lot more time together. and he goes with alaric with some hope that he can [4/7] find a clue about katherine/he still has katherine on the brain…?1x21 damon has some of the BEST moments imho that support both sides (he knew/he didn’t know yet); he is all Elena you don’t have to see isobel if you don’t want to, we should be in there; and then the threatening of isobel’s life to leave elena alone [5/7] this is so jumbled. i guess i just want to know how you feel about this Very Important question: did he know he had fallen in 1x19 and if so WHY (and if not, was it isobel saying it out loud for the first time that made him realise?). lmfao (also sorry about the many asks…blame tumblr for that.) [6/7] ooh also a follow-up question because i would love to hear it (and bc i just watched rose last night so it’s very fresh in my mind lol): why do you think damon chose to tell elena he loved her at that moment? is it just bc she didn’t have her necklace, so he had the opportunity to do it and then walk away? it’s so romantic to me that if this is true it seems like he was bursting to tell her “i just have to say it once” like it was always on the tip of his tongue??????? [7/7] would he have told her if she had never lost her necklace…probably not, he definitely needed to know he could erase her memory of it lol… ahhh yes would love ur thoughts… anyways, sorry for all these messages again... also just would love you to know how much i love your fic it brings me such joy, i did leave a message on there (most recent one lol) but may as well tell you again it is sooooo good!!! i love how you write them so in character!! 

THANK YOU for this message!!  I’m so glad you enjoyed You’re Still Here!!  and I definitely feel you on the whole “they confirmed that x moment was when so-and-so fell in love….but like…was it?” thing, because my kneejerk response to almost everything I learn from the commentaries is “yeah right”, haha.  BUT once I got over the initial resistance, the moments they name – the MMF dance for Damon and the birthday necklace for Elena – do have a kind of internal consistency, they work.  so yeah, I do think Damon knew he was in love with Elena in 1x19.  the big things for me are his face during the waltz (awed and affectionate), his face when he walks into the room after she drugs Stefan (oddly vulnerable almost), and the line “I’ve had a no good very bad day” (if he hadn’t just figured out that he was in love with a girl he could never have, I honestly don’t know why the day would be that bad haha).  plus, the way he reacts in 1x20 when she says that he’s been punishing Stefan for letting Katherine get caught – it’s really dramatic. it’s very important to Damon, suddenly, that Elena not be deceived about him.

on the other hand, though, the thing with Damon always is, what kind of love? throughout the show, I’m always pretty willing to give the answer, “yeah, Damon’s in love with her”.  but is he only in love with her, or is he also in love with Katherine at the same time?  does he truly love her, or is it a grasping, desperate, clingy love?  does he love her and think they could be together, or is he determined to love her from afar, for her own good?  and at the point of 1x19 I think the answers are still pretty mixed up: he knows he loves her but he also knows she loves Stefan, and so he clings to his love for Katherine as a kind of escape.  he thinks Elena might love him back when he kisses “her” in 1.22, but even then, that brief illusion isn’t enough to push out all of his old feelings for Katherine – Katherine has to totally reject him before he makes his feelings for Elena truly the guiding principle of his life.  finally, he has nothing else left, and so he can focus purely on keeping her safe and tending his love for her.

as for 2x08, I think it’s actually very intrinsically tied up with 1x19!!  before both episodes, Katherine’s been set aside in a significant way, taking her out of the picture.  in both episodes, Damon arrives at the bottom of a staircase to rescue Elena.  but where in 1x19 he knew she didn’t love him, but he still had a place in her life – her friend, her protector, her warrior – in 2x08 there’s no clear place for him.  Stefan’s drinking blood and in control, and Damon lost her trust; she runs down the stairs and into Stefan’s arms, and he’s left alone.  and Damon accepts it!  he feels all over again the devastation of losing Katherine and never having been loved by her or Elena, and still he loves Elena.  even though she hates him (she doesn’t) and he doesn’t deserve her, he finds that her “thank you” is enough for him.  compassion and gratitude from her is worth more than anything from someone else, it’s worth staying for.  he loves her, only her, without any hope of return, and he makes his peace with that.  and I think the only way he knew to let her go is tell her and then to very literally take it away, set her free even from the memory.  

I think he’d never said it before because on the one hand, she didn’t need to be told because she already knew, every villain of the week comments on it, but also because if he held back from saying it then maybe the perfect moment would come along and he’d tell her and it would mean something, she’d say it back.  he can say it now because he knows she’s not gonna say it back, and he’s okay with that. it’s still the deepest truth of his heart, and it deserves to be spoken and heard, even if it’s a hopeless truth.

it’s definitely a difficult scene to interpret, though, because he prefaces the whole thing by saying “this is maybe the most selfish thing I’ve ever said”, but then says that he doesn’t deserve her and erases her memory, which doesn’t seem selfish – and years after the fact when she recovers the memory he calls it selfish again??  which I don’t understand, unless he thought hearing it would cause her pain, which it…doesn’t seem to???  so I tend to just ignore that entire aspect of the scene.  I think this is Damon being unselfish, acknowledging his own capacity for selfishness which ruined everything in 2x01, and then rejecting it. 

this is quite a rambley answer haha.  I hope I answered everything adequately, and I hope it makes sense!

[cedarmoons]

do you have tips for creating memorable oc's? yours are always great

this ask is perfectly timed because I’ve recently played the mobile game Stellamore by @willowishstudios (available now on iOS and Android!) and I’ve FALLEN IN LOVE. Cipactli babe… call me… (jk i’ll call u 😏😘)

So! Let’s go overboard in answering this ask and create a brand new OC for Stellamore, step-by-step! Under the cut for length. :)

My method of creating OCs is like a toddler fiddling with building blocks. I start with a base and build from there, adding rooms, removing towers, etc., as I see fit, until I have a basic structure that passes as a castle. It should be mentioned that @vide0-nasties has been instrumental in helping me develop my MCs in various ways, and I love her to pieces!

First Step: Inspiration

So before I decide anything about my OC, personality, name, etc, I look at inspirations: what is in the game, and what can I build off of it? The devs have helpfully provided some inspirations for the Stellamore world, so that’s what I’m going to use as a launching pad. Initially, I looked at Halle, who has clear Scandinavian influences, and I was like “nice… viking girl…” but I did further lore delving and I don’t think Halle is human lmfao so THAT was out! Back to the drawing board.

Ooh, okay, so there’s Roman influences, clearly seen in the character Seneca, who is human… okay. Great. Let’s make this MC fantasy Roman! That gives me my foundation of building blocks.

Second Step: Name

So the Oracle, Stellamore’s MC, receives visions from the stars. Knowing this, I was like, “Dope… let’s look at some mythology names, because Roman influence, and try to narrow those down to celestial/sky deity names.”

So I went to good ol’ Wikipedia’s list of names, and here were some of my initial impressions:

Aditi’s a pretty name, but that’s the name of a Hindu goddess, and MC’s fantasy Roman. Questionable decision. Out.

Urania’s the muse of astronomy, so it fits thematically, but there are unfortunate implications within the name. I can name her Ourania to get rid of the unfortunate “ur anus” implications, but that’s a bit of a mouthful? Hmm. No. Next.

Asteria is an old Greek goddess of the stars… nice… wait, I already have like 3 OCs with A names. Let’s diversify. Out.

Phoebe is a Greek Titaness of prophecy and related to Titaness Theia (!!), mother of Asteria. Good placeholder name, but a little too modern for my tastes. We’ll see.

Eventually I settled on Maris, which means “of the sea” and has nothing to do with the stars or astronomy &etc. I don’t know how I jumped to Maris from sky deity names, but it’s pretty and it’s Latin, so Maris is her name! 

Third Step: Faceclaim/Appearance

I always try to find faceclaims for my OCs as a springboard. Back when I was thinking “hhh Viking Gorl” as my baseline, I found pictures of María Valverde as Lucrezia Borgia and I was like “oh,,,, nice,,,” and looked up María outside of that role. María is still not a lock in for Maris, but she’s influenced her looks! Outside of that, I wanted to make some tweaks.

One thing I wanted for sure: black hair and brown eyes (romanticize brown eyes!! every one of my OCs has brown eyes except Ziah and I will regret not giving her brown eyes to my dying day)

Second thing I wanted: thanks to Ms. Valverde, I wanted Maris to have a big beautiful nose and oval face!

Third thing I have just as of right now decided about her appearance, suddenly and without warning: she’s gonna have moles on her face. no freckles, just moles. (bonus: Cipactli counts them and LOVES THEM ALL. My babe…… I’ll call u….)

Rags (@vide0-nasties) was kind enough to let me pick the height for her Oracle, Petra, so she picked Maris’s height, which is now 5′8″.

Fourth Step: Personality and/or Backstory

This is the least fleshed out because I decided to make Maris yesterday (11/12) after replaying Stellamore and trawling through the blog’s Cipactli tag for that sweet sweet lore about my newest love. But here were my initial goals for Maris:

Theia make an OC who’s not an ice queen (at the start) challenge

Theia make an OC who’s not depressed and/or anxious challenge

Theia make an OC who’s not an introvert challenge

Theia make an OC who’s not afraid of her emotions challenge

So that’s fine. Again, I need a springboard for Maris. I’ve decided since she’s an Oracle, and Oracles have connections to the stars for unknown but undoubtedly cool reasons, she will be an Air sign (completing the cycle of Ziah’s Earth, Ariala’s Fire, and Adelaide’s Water) – which limits me to Libra, Aquarius, and Gemini. Okay, well, let’s google some “basic traits” of all of these signs. I want Maris to have sun or star symbolism, because Ziah and Adelaide are my Moon Girls and Ariala’s my Sun Girl, so I can either balance it (making her a Sun symbol) or complete the triad (making her a Star symbol). 

Here was my thought process researching this:

“Libras can be emotionally cold” oof… no… that would fail my non-ice queen challenge, let’s move on to Aquarius (who can also be cold I have discovered through another search with Google Images)

Oh, Aquarius seems extroverted! I like these basic traits, and it makes sense since Mukondi is Maris’s friend and an extrovert. Both succeeds my “non ice queen” and “non introvert” challenges. Depression and/or anxiety… I’m coming for u bitches…

Oh hey what’s Cipactli’s sign

OH HE’S A LIBRA

OH AQUARIUS AND LIBRA ARE COMPATIBLE JACKPOT

I put a lot of stock in astrology even though I know I shouldn’t

Okay I’ve decided to give her Sun iconography to balance it, I can make Star ocs later. This means she will wear a lot of gold/summer tones.

Also hey Cipactli’s religion focuses a lot on the sun

U know what this means………….. religious iconography during sex…… symbolism……..

anyway Cipactli my love i’m so sorry idk if ur religious or not and if u are I apologize for the blasphemy

But if ur not….. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Ms. Valverde’s smile in many pictures is kinda smirk-y, so maybe that’s something to incorporate about Maris: she doesn’t smile, she smirks. What kind of sense of humor would that give her? A wry one? A dry one (which isn’t the same thing necessarily)? What does this phrase – that she doesn’t smile, she smirks – imply about her character? Is she smug? Self-assured? Sarcastic? Detached from others? (NO! She can’t be detached because then I will fail my “don’t make an ice queen” challenge!)

Her personality will still need fleshing out – I will need more to work with than “oh she’s extroverted!” and “oh she’s friendly/sunny!” She will need flaws that are more complex. Since I chose the “bold” option when approaching Cipactli, maybe… HMM… okay, let’s make Maris bold. This makes her unafraid of conflict, but can also make her brash and/or arrogant and/or potentially hot-tempered! She can also be insufferably smug when she’s right, which is often, because of her Oracle abilities (idk!)

Another springboard I’ll use is looking up MBTI types, but those usually come after I’ve made my OC and just need more development.

As for her backstory, here were some things I decided upon, fiddling with my growing castle made out of wooden building blocks:

Okay she’s fantasy Roman… what if… she grew up on a vineyard & winery

And her dad was the vineyard’s owner

A mom? No. Single dad. Who knows where the Mom went. No, that could give her mom issues, let’s not do that. Mom died in childbirth or illness?

So now Maris is the daughter of a vineyard owner, which means she would probably know a fair amount about wine, which means she has excellent (and/or: snobby) taste in wine.

She also loves nature because she grew up in it, which means she would LOVE Huatzintepec. Oh hey, Cipactli’s room is full of plants, another reason for Maris (and me) to love him

I’ve just decided she has an older brother

No, younger

No, she has two brothers, one older and one younger. She’s the middle child. This means Mom died in childbirth to the younger brother and made Dad a Single Roman Dad.

Dad funded her education because if she was educated she could a) help her brothers operate the winery/vineyard after his death; b) make a career in politics and further the family name (haven’t decided a surname yet, let’s google Roman surnames, ooh here’s a list of ancient Roman surnames on Wikipedia – OKAY, I have it, Maris Viridius of the Gens Viridia); c) marry a well-off fantasy Roman businessman??

Instead Maris became a diplomat, which is how she met Mukondi, and since they’re both friendly extroverts they became fast friends

Since she’s a diplomat and educated she probably speaks a bunch of languages,,, oh look here’s a list of how many languages the cast speaks [clicks tongue] noice,,, okay so she would speak at least 3 (three) languages: Latin, Common, Greek, and know some basic Nahuatl

How does her backstory influence her personality, because pasts always have a vast impact on characters’ (and our own) personalities? Well, maybe she’s a little bit elitist because of her upper class upbringing. Maybe her work as a diplomat has allowed her to visit every one of the human kingdoms, and has made her down to earth. Maybe she was so cooped up in her studies that she became sheltered, or a bookworm, or both – which would give her another point of commonality with Cipactli.

All of these are reasonable possibilities, and all of these are little building blocks I can assemble together to shape my OC and develop her further!

So now I have Maris Viridius, of Gens Viridia, who:

has black hair, black eyes, lots of moles, a big beautiful nose and an oval face (thus, rounded features)

is an Aquarius

is unafraid to be bold, even if it comes across as arrogance; is unafraid to challenge authority; is also aware, as a diplomat, when to hold her tongue or when to be polite (her job might also make her a good liar? things to ponder for the future!) 

is an optimist and an extrovert; thrives off of meeting new people and making new friends; has a good, albeit sarcastic, sense of humor

is gonna cash in Cipactli’s v-card, but tenderly, because soft otps are my jam

I have to do more development with Maris, but here is her skeleton, built out of blocks! I might just write some stuff for her and Cipactli in the future because I have seen two (2) Stellamore fics, one on Tumblr and one on Ao3, which is a tragedy.

Anyway, I know I went overboard, but I hope this helps and gives insight into my process as to how I write my OCs! :)

[alexschlitz]

Hi there! Do u have any advice for someone suffering a severe case of art block? I find that i cant mentally get myself in that headspace where i actually WANT to achieve something. It doesn't help the fact that im an animation student in the thick of the semester where theres deadlines left, right and centre. Any advice from ur own experiences would be more than appreciated!

hi!!! hey buddy!! thanks for asking me im honestly flattered that you would come to me w this and also, strap in pull up a chair lets talk for a minute

first things first, lets get this out of the way: i always have art block. i love drawing, i’ve loved it for my whole entire life ever since i figured out i could do it, but it’s always hard for me. every second, every time. im eternally grateful to have as many followers as i do here (thanks, everybody) because i have spent the majority of my life just occasionally scribbling off something i was vaguely interested in and only recently have i had the pleasure of other people being interested in those things. this is a huge motivator for me, which i know every third artist on any social media platform will tell you is “””””””not why you should do it, do it for yourself”””””” etc etc ad nauseam. but it works for me: knowing that i can draw something, even if it took me twenty minutes, and someone out there will appreciate it. i love that. but i don’t think i have the natural ability or ambition that i think a lot of others have. it’s a lot of work for me, it takes a long time, i’m constantly berating myself and wishing i could improve faster and screaming at my devil hands for not eating what my brain cooked up.

SECOND: i never finished my stint at art school (which was ALMOST TEN YEARS AGO at this point), so i may not be an excellent authority on this subject. deadlines and pressure are not my strong suit. i don’t handle them well, given the information detailed in point one. you did ask, though, so i’ll answer you as well as i can

ALL THIS TO SAY: the way i get myself to Want To Do Things is generally to literally fucking force myself to do it. whether this is trawling inspiration blogs for something that catches my eye (i maintain my own regularly for occasions like these, so i have a handy resource to go to when i can’t think of anything i even want to draw), doing a few rounds of life drawing, going through old art and attempting to redraw something i really liked but know i could do better now, or honestly The Extreme which is getting myself fully and emotionally invested in some form of new content (which i do uhhhhhhhhh a little too frequently) -- find something, anything that stirs you. then draw! even if it’s crap that you’d never show anyone in your entire life, even if it’s sketches you’ll never finish, i mean jesus christ i have like 900 unfinished .psds that are unintelligible half-formed shapes that only vaguely resemble something that inhabits planet earth. the only thing i have ever found that works is to just keep going, even when it sucks, until i can break through it JUST enough to feel like i’m not scribbling on a wall with crayola markers and my non-dominant hand. that’s all it takes, usually. if i can do a little bit, i can convince myself i’m capable of a lot, and that’s huge.

one more thing, and i’ve said it a million times and i’ll say it until i die: i think making things that you enjoy, regardless of their quantity or quality, is the most important factor in keeping yourself motivated and in the game, and it shows when other people see what you do! it shows in the pride you take in your work! i mean, i know objectively that a lot of things that i PERSONALLY make are not good or polished or professional in any way, shape, or form, and they never have been, and i’ve never operated under the illusion that they were. but i like them, and i like thinking about them and sharing them with other people who enjoy them and respond to them, and i think that’s a good, symbiotic relationship. if you aren’t invested in your own work, if the things you CAN make even when you feel like your garbage dumpster hands can’t make anything worthwhile, don’t make you both proud to have been the one to do them and ALSO inspired to do better than your own good good self the next time, you’re gonna feel like nothing you do is worth it. do stuff that matters to you and you’ll feel better about it because it isn’t just an assignment or a deadline, it’s something you care about. and you wouldn’t be asking me this question if you didn’t care, so i believe in you

(ps if any pals or fellow animation majors would like to tag in and field this question you’re more than welcome -- my expertise is not particularly valuable in this situation xoxo)

[callunavulgari]

heather recs things pt. 2

This isn’t everything else. I could actually update that fic recs blog that I have daily and it still probably wouldn’t be enough. However, this is a list of my All Time Favorites. Most of them are from the actual tag, but some of them are too new (or not found on Ao3) or too old.

Boys by @caseyvalhalla. (Kingdom Hearts; Axel/Roxas, Sora/Riku) If you know me, you know that I’ve been yelling about this fic for the better part of a decade. Even now, years after I slowly drifted from the KH fandom, I can say without an ounce of doubt that this is my favorite fic. This is the one. And after nine years, I don’t think that’s going to change any time soon.

Freedom’s Just Another Name For Nothing Left To Lose by @ synecdochic (SGA; Mcshep) By now, I’ve trawled through a lot of SGA fic. I’ve combed through old rec lists, gone through page after page on Ao3, and can say with confidence that this is the best one I’ve read. This is probably going to be the one that I take with me and it doesn’t even. God. I can’t even get into how much I adored this. How perfect and sad and raw it is, and how the day that I read this, Rodney McKay was completely changed to me.

Under the Table and Dreaming by snooter (Toy Story; Sid/Andy) is one of those fics that you can’t really explain with words. Because, I mean, c’mon. Toy Story? Really. But seriously. Go. Read it. Marvel in wonder over slash fanfiction for a Disney movie, because it’s in my top five.

Towards Zero by mirabella (Inception; Eames/Arthur) The first. The best. The only one that I still regularly think about. Arthur meets Eames projection before he meets him. It’s angsty and sexy and all kinds of awesome.

The Student Prince by FayJay (Merlin; Merlin/Arthur) Another fic that outlasted my interest in a fandom, this one has been reread almost as many times as Boys. Reincarnation, Arthur as a prince, and modern day magic. I was always going to fall for this one.

Arcana by rosa_acicularis (Sherlock BBC; John/Sherlock) Okay, so much like Doctor Who, over the years I’ve fallen out with Sherlock. However- this remains to be one of the best things that I’ve read. John Watson is Joanna. She is also a witch. The world building is excellent and Joanna herself is perfect. Hell, even Sherlock is perfect, okay.

Magpie by @waldorph (Star Trek AoS; Spock/Jim) is a Star Trek AoS fic where Jim and Spock pretty much grew up with each other. It is so incredibly gorgeous, almost 60k of, you guessed it, found family and friendship and a slow, slow burn that will leave your toes curling by the end. Also by waldorph is  strive seek find yield, which is basically a royalty AU. In space. It’s magnificent.

Inertia by @the-apocrypha. (Teen Wolf; Derek/Stiles(/Cora)) I know for a fact that I’ve talked about this one before, because it’s slowly and carefully inserted itself in with all the other fics that made my top ten fics years and years ago. You guessed it, this fic mostly focuses on friendship and emotional healing after various traumatic experiences for the three main characters. The fact that it’s roadtrip fic only made it more enticing. This is my feel good fic. Well, one of them. The one that I read when I need something to drop me straight into that syrupy sweet state of mind when you’re just quiet and slow and content. Lawrence of My Labia, the cracky mixtape made for the fic has also seen me through some shit, not gonna lie.

Not Easily Conquered by @drop-deaddream​ and @whatarefears​ (Marvel; Captain America; Bucky/Steve, Steve/Peggy) clocks in at over 100k as a whole and is one of my very favorite fics. It’s basically a canon divergent AU where Steve crawled out of the ice and married Peggy Carter instead of being frozen in ice for decades. Almost twenty years later, the world finds out about the lost letters of Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, which throws Peggy and Steve’s marriage into freefall. I can’t seem to find the words to do this fic justice, but just know that it’s one of those where you’ll have snippets from it pop into your head years after you read it, and you’ll still smile.

Heroes by @ryttu3k (Legend of Zelda; Zelda/Link/Groose) Before this fic, I never considered Skyward Sword as fanfic material. That was for Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask, hell, even Twilight Princess. Those were the fics that I read and wrote. And then I read this in its entirety in the span of one very long night and never looked back.

to the sky without wings by @leupagus​. (Star Wars; Poe/Luke) Okay, okay. If you’d told me going into this fic that I would emerge from it shipping Luke Skywalker and Poe Dameron I probably would have... well, okay, I would have shrugged at you and said that anything’s possible, but I would have been pretty damn doubtful about it. I stumbled into this one blind, not knowing a damn thing about it, just that it was 80k of Poe Dameron backstory and as I was trying to write him at the time, desperately needed him to start clicking in my head. It’s a truly beautiful fic, fleshed out and horribly sad and exhilarating. It also contains one of the hottest damn scenes I’ve read in years, so look forward to that.

we built this city by @fahye​ (Raven Cycle; Gansey/Blue/Henry) is a Raven Cycle fic. Now, I haven’t read much fic for the series because somehow Stiefvater achieved literary nirvana and I was so satisfied by the books that I never actually went looking for fic. I was just content to let it stand. And now, I can’t remember when I actually started reading Fahye’s stuff, but I’m pretty sure it was back when I was into things like livejournal and Ouran High School Host Club. So it’s been awhile, and I can pretty much guarantee that I’ll always like the things she’s written, so I read it, because I had a bit of a hankering for Gansey/Blue/Henry and I figured she could satisfy that. And my god, was I right. This fic is beautiful.