#i actually think it makes sense for him to tell that as an extreme snippet to claudia and louis to get them off his back about it

[pynkhues]

I am very very curious about that tower scene because Sam said in an interview that he didn't think Lestat was at the tower voluntarily--so if Armand put him there, how much of Louis' memory of that scene is accurate? Lestat looks very well put-together for a prisoner, and how is he being kept there? So much about that scene felt intentionally odd (even, and you touched on this in your fic, that Lestat says that he wasn't kept in the room with the corpses/"disappointments", whereas he'd told Louis and Claudia that he was kept in a room with corpses).

I'm really curious too, anon! It definitely feels like one that's going to be revisited, probably in more ways than one given Magnus' tower is such a vital location across The Vampire Lestat, and it makes sense that Sam would say that too given Lestat's not there by choice in the book. Like you said, Armand takes him there after the trial (and pushes him out the window to debilitate him further) and I'm curious as to how much of that the show keeps. They've changed a few elements of that sequence already that I don't think can be reversed - like Claudia's dress ending up with Louis for instance, not Lestat - and the bigger fact of Louis seeing Lestat then at all when in the book Armand tells him Lestat died in the theatre fire even though he knows he didn't).

You're right though that it's an odd scene, both between how good Lestat looked (but then Louis' memories of how he looked at the trial too were coloured by other emotions given the revisited scenes at the end showed how unwell he actually looked) and that change in what Lestat tells Louis about where he was kept in Magnus' tower feels pointed given 2.08 spends quite a bit of time pointing out its own deliberate inconsistencies with s1 moments.

I think like a lot of these scenes, Louis' memory of it will be a partial truth, but it lacks the context that we have (and he now, at least, has some of). I also kiiind of imagine Lestat and Armand are probably talking to each other too with the mind link in that scene, but obviously we're not privvy to if that's happening or what it might entail yet.

I can't wait to see what they do with it.

[bonny-kookoo]

Jungkook

𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 [Snippet] 🔞

Jungkook just loves to show you off- because while everyone on his planet might get to look at you, he gets to touch and love you in private.

Tags/Warnings: Alien!Jungkook, Bunny Hybrid!Reader, Extremely flirty Jungkook, suggestive, Major Fluff!, Romance, Established Relationship, JK has tentacles oops, smut

Length: It was supposed to be a drabble but I ended up writing ~2.5k words oops

There is no taglist for this fic

A/N: Boo here you go hybrid alien tentacle porn yay 🥳

⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅

"There you are!" Jungkook sighs in relief, finding you in an isle for fresh produce, staring wide eyed at the round plastic containers filled with cubed fruits. "You want those?" He asks, pointing at one with pinkish and pale yellow cubes. You nod.

"Sweet?" You ask, unsure, and he shrugs, pulling the item down to inspect it, before he nods.

"Yeah, those are sweet- but I gotta…" He mumbles the last part, reading the label a bit further while you begin to wander off again- though this time you're pulled back by his hand reaching out during his task of finding out more about the fruits he's about to buy, to hold onto the hood of your light cotton jacket to keep you close this time and not lose you again in the grocery store. "..safe for human consumption. Hm, there's nothing written about hybrids though.." He mumbles to himself before he pulls out his phone to search online if you can eat those fruits native to his home planet, hand now leaving your hood- one of his extra appendages sneaking out from beneath his shirt to hold onto the belt loops of your shorts to keep you close.

Basilisks- that's what they're called here, which confused you for a good while, until you learned that they actually didn't ever have a true name, but that it was simply an earth-term his kind had adopted to use for them, because it sounded like a similar word which means 'Blood-snake' in his native language. You remember how terrified you were of his uniquely inky-purple colored tentacles everyone of his kind has- mostly though because you met them when he'd used them to defend you both, the images still very vivid in your mind. But these days, you've come to love them as just another piece of him- even though you remember Yoongi, a good friend of his and your doctor currently, explaining to you that they do have their own minds.

'It's actually quite surprising they chose you.' He'd told you. 'I've never seen them so interested in their host's mate.'

Mate. It's still odd to think of yourself as that, though it makes sense with how he cares for and about you.

Jungkook is, nowadays, a bit more careful now with your food for example. He'd hate for you to have another situation like a month prior when you had eaten Nacuri- a vegetable he himself actually likes a lot, but that is apparently not very good for hybrids such as yourself, having caused you some major stomach cramps that pained him to simply watch- and ever since then, he's checking everything twice just to make sure. "-but can be eaten as a snack in small quantities." He reads out loud. "Alright, so only the small box then!" He chirps, putting the big container back to exchange it for a smaller one.

The moment his hands are free again, his inky-purple appendage disappears underneath the back of his shirt again, hiding away as to not get in the way, while he holds your hand as he walks through the different isles at the store.

He notices you yawning a lot more now as you stand on the metal parts of the shopping cart while his chest is warm against your back, and he's learned that's not always just a sign for tiredness in humans and hybrids. "We'll be home soon. I didn't think the line for checkout would be this long.." He tells you, hand running over your hybrid ears, while you suppress another yawn, tears stinging in the corners of your eyes from it. Oxygen levels inside buildings like these are fine for him and his kind- but humans and hybrids like you need a lot more than him to thrive properly. It's why he's got a special air filtering system installed in his home to accommodate for that- to make your life with him as comfortable as he possibly can.

It's the least he can do to show gratefulness for what you've done for him in the past, after all. And also, what kind of partner would he be if he didn't provide the absolute best for you?

He doesn't like how your ears droop after a few moments more- so he searches in your shoulder bag for the familiar pale pink plastic inhaler, setting it up with a few clicks for the proper dosage. "Here. It's almost our turn." He reassures again, offering the inhaler to you which you take with a nod. It'll help you with a bit of extra oxygen until you're out in the open again, levels today high for his kind, but perfect for yours. "Do you wanna eat the fruits in the gardens near the Archives?" He wonders, and you seem to think.

"What about.. those?" You ask, pointing at all the groceries.

"We can eat the icecream there too. I've got a spare blanket we can sit on, in the car." He says, leaning in to rest his chin on your shoulder. "I wanna have some.. cozy time with my baby, what do you say?" He purrs, and you shiver a bit, bunny tail wiggling around.

"Hmhm." You nod. You're not sure what entirely he means by 'cozy time'- because with him, that could honestly mean anything.

Later, outside on the blanket he'd laid out in the park in a more secluded space, you're happily filling your stomach with the fruits he'd bought you. He's watching fondly, because moments like these remind him that the past truly is behind the both of you. You no longer seem scared of anything as long as he's around. You speak freely to him, you're not shy at all, and you've even become a little bit daring these days.

You're no longer the empty, confused and almost soulless hybrid he'd met years back at the facility he'd found himself in. You no longer need to be told exactly what to do or otherwise you'll end up having a panic attack. You've become your own person, independent. You've blossomed, vibrantly.

And he loves it.

He loves you.

Especially now, hours later back at home, groceries still in their bags in the kitchen while you whine pitifully against his lips, with his grin satisfied while he watches you cling onto him. Something you've learned fairly quickly is that his kind is one that treats intimacy a little differently than humans back on earth. There's nothing forbidden or to be shy about for his kind- every type of intimacy or romantic displays of affection are normal even in public- no one stares at a couple kissing or hugging. If anything, people will just instantly believe a relationship is bad if there's no PDA ever between mates.

And sex? That's something sacred, it feels like.

Enio people just like himself find pleasure by feeding off of other's pleasure. They thrive when their partners thrive, they're happy when their partner's happy, and they're sad or in pain whenever their mates are. They also have relationships between multiple people- rarely ever having just one partner. Jungkook however had told you numerous times already that he's completely fine with just having you.

'Why would I ever need anybody else-' he'd said into your neck, '-when you're making me lose my mind every single time we're together?'

He's long lost his shirt by now, his dark purple tentacles already eagerly touching you. They're clearly just as excited as he is every single time you're together like this- and it's honestly almost cute.

Almost- if it wasn't for one of them very eagerly sliding right through in between your legs, back and forth, making you cling onto his arms as he watches you with an intense gaze. His eyes have always been something unique- like two pitch black voids, but only ever if the light doesn't hit them just right, making you able to see the deep red-ish brown and slanted pupils, similar to a feline. But in times like these, in the barely lit bedroom of his, they're just two nightsky colored marbles, reflecting anything like a galaxy.

His tongue runs over his bottom lip, licking over his silver piercings on one side. His grin is that of a predator, watching his prey struggle. But not for it's life- no, you're struggling for entirely different reasons.

"They're horribly impatient." He chuckles when one of his purple appendages moves to instead play with your pearl, before it prods at your entrance, almost as if to see if Jungkook will allow it.

He doesn't.

And it's clear with the way they retreat from between your legs, instead roaming your hips instead, before two of the four spread your legs open for him. That's how it usually goes- a rule set by him. Only he gets to be inside you- gets to claim you like that.

Your underwear is still hanging from your ankle when he pushes himself inside, hands gripping the soft flesh of your waist. He tends to be impatient like this, can't help himself, as he always tends to say to excuse his eager nature. You're perfectly compatible to him, physically and emotionally as well.

You're his, and he just can't help but want to make sure everyone knows that.

The windows are open, and your sure someone way down can probably hear your faint moans, but you can't bring yourself to care about it. "My baby.." he purrs into your neck, where he kisses and sucks his marks, hands gripping your body wherever he can while his tentacles roam around to offer you their own ways of pleasure.

You don't kind the almost sticky substance they begin to leak onto your skin. You've gotten used to it by now.

You're dizzy with everything going on around you. You're unable to quite move much, but you don't have to- both Jungkook's arms and his extra appendages make sure to keep you in place while his hips snap into yours, skin wet as it stays connected to his with thin strands of both your arousal and the sweet smelling precum of his tentacles.

A year ago, you would've tried to hide in shame of it all- thinking you dont deserve nice feelings like this. You would've never thought you'd be loved like this, touched like this.

But he's made that possible. He makes it happen time and time again, and in every touch he places on your skin you can feel the tenderness he has for you in his very soul. He's not lying when he says he loves you. He's not deceiving you with acts of kindness and care. He means every single affectionate gaze he throws your way.

You love him because of that alone.

"My sweet little bunny baby.." he chuckles out of breath as he rolls his hips in just the way to make you arch your back in pleasure, as he leans over you to kiss your lips bright red.

He likes to bite. Likes to pull a little on your bottom lip and likes to get you into any position he sees fit. Sometimes he'll kiss up your back as he takes you from behind- other times like now, he wants to watch your face as you come undone under his steady pace.

It fuels his ego every single time seeing you all fucked out like this.

Every time it's proof that he's a good lover to you.

The moment you come undone and clench around him in waves of pleasure, he's quick to shoot his shot as well- hips stuttering as he pushes himself inside, one of his tentacles sneaking between you both, running over your pearl just to coax another orgasm out of you, thighs trembling a little. You're somewhat glad his basilisks are keeping your body in place, because at this point you're just absolutely boneless.

He's humming in pleasure as he sighs into your neck, body covering yours now almost protectively. 'Shielding' is what it's called- you've looked up some of his behavior just to figure out things you're too shy to ask him yourself. It's an instinctual thing- a remnant of a time long passed when his kind had to protect their mates whenever they were in a vulnerable state.

And then he moves again, tentacles slick with their own arousal as they wrap around your ankles, adjusting your legs as he moves lower, his hands on your hips cherishing your skin it feels like.

And then his mouth is on you, licking you up, probably tasting both you and him in a sinful mixture- but it's another behavior of his that always repeats. He does this every single time, claims it's nothing special and that for his kind, it's basic care after getting his own fill of you. He's constantly surprised at what things surprise you- but then again, you both grew up on entirely different planets, with entirely different culture surrounding you.

So it's normal that some of the things you do tend to catch him off guard as well.

Such as after you're both done showering and cleaning up- he's always surprised how clingy you get after being so closely together just minutes prior. Normally, with his kind, it's like he's recharged his social batteries- now able to go about his day easily, no need for too much physical affection. But for you it seems to be almost the opposite- you love to cuddle and be close to him afterwards, and maybe that's one of the key points that just make you so endearing to him.

He loves cuddling. He loves being lazy with you, especially like this. "I booked our flight to Doria for the end of this cycle." Jungkook hums into your skin, letting you lay almost on top of him, skin still bare. "It's gonna be a long flight, but I already talked to Yoongi about medication in case you feel sick." he reassures you, and you just nod, way too tired to really comprehend what he's talking about. "You're not even listening at all, are you?" He laughs because he knows as well- though he doesn't mind. He knows your body works a bit differently than his own, and knows by now he can be… quite exhausting.

So he let's you sleep, and decides that maybe a short nap isn't the worst idea either-

especially not if he gets to sleep with you in his arms.

[dozyisdead]

The RB16 was actually considered as one of the fastest cars on the grid in 2020, only behind *maybe* the Mercedes despite looking rocky at the beginning of the season. I found a little snippet of what Max said about the car:

Max and Alex both have the same preference of oversteer, but it's on different levels for them.

Look on this chart where Alex is more towards the N (neutral) while Max is more to the extreme side of oversteer! Alex has said before that some of the main reason why he had such a hard time in the car was because of the media attention and not having enough experience after being brought up so soon from Toro Rosso (doesn't that sound like a certain American currently in Williams...). He also was getting updates way later than Max, which while normal, definitely didn't help his case. I definitely do think though that if Alex got another year, he definitely could have done well!

Don't take me for sure on this, but I've seen people say that the more extreme you are in preference, the "faster" you'll be. It makes sense, but if you see Lewis on that chart, that claim seems rather stupid.

I honestly have no idea how good the Williams actually is. From our POV, it obviously looks slow and hard to drive (Logan's hands during some of these corners....) but I would say it's hard to tell how actually bad it is. For all we know, its a decent car that looks worse than it is because of that extra weight. Going back to Alex, I think that media pressure Logan's been getting is what's hurting him so much. I think he's scared to push the car, which is a reason why he's crashing so much.

To be frank, I know little to nothing about how drivers configure their set ups/cars, but I do agree that Logan has been massively improving since last year. He's definitely been crashing less, and that weight he put on during the beginning on the year seems to be doing well for him! I'm actually really excited to see if Logan will be able to start matching Alex by the end of the year in terms of pace/ points (?). I think some weight will finally be lifted off him not that he knows he's not fighting for his seat anymore.

I think it's kinda funny how so many teams have drivers that like opposite things. In Ferrari we had Charles (oversteer) and Carlos (understeer) and in Red bull we have Max (oversteer) and Checo (understeer). Carlos though, has shown that he can drive cars that don't exactly suit his preference. I'm pretty sure (I'm saying this because it's a struggle to keep up with Ferrari sometimes) that the car is more suited towards Charles this year and in 2021 (why some Ferrari fans said that the 2021 car was so "good") and both years Carlos has preformed very well. I'm pretty sure the Ferrari is also more closer to neutral than way too oversteery though (?). I don't know what Williams is cooking up, but their car has been more oversteer prone in the past few years.

Funny enough though, both Lance and Latifi (though he liked a more neutral setup) both prefere (d) a slightly more understeer car! George on the other hand, likes a more oversteery car.

Oh my god I love you (/p)

So we all agree the way that Alex was brought up through Red Bull was an absolute shit show and messed up what could have been an incredible entrance into F1? But it's really interesting how much a difference they have with how they like the cars set up! But actually, noticing that Max was on an extreme makes a lot of sense. Line I've said before, I am absolutely brain dead when it comes to the technical aspects of F1, but I notice things when it comes to how things react to their environments. I've seen the way the cars move as they go through turns and down straights, and Max really is on an extreme! And I saw it a bit with Fernando's older races before Alpine and Aston Martin, but I do see it with him in Aston right now. And Lewis too, I can see the difference in both driving styles and how the car handles certain areas in certain tracks compared to the Red Bull that Max drives in those same areas. And I know part of that has to do with how the cars are made differently, but there are still differences that can't be explained with that. Also, the fact that Alex is very neutral leaning makes a lot of sense, especially if you rewatch his overtake in Canada from this year! I really don't know how to explain it, but that moment shows it very well.

Yes, I think we don't have a huge well of knowledge on the status of each car because it's really relative to each driver, though I do agree with the bit about the corners from Logan's POV. It seemed so unwieldly! Like, my grandfather has an old while truck, it's one of the ones with a bench seat in the front, and it really is very old. I learned to initially drive in it, and it is so hard to deal with now compared to my parent's cars, which is what I'm learning to drive now (I'm a very late learner so it's just harder for me in general). I think it would be very interesting to have every driver on the grid try each other team's cars with the most basic configuration. I think that would be an amazing comparison!

Also, I'm so glad someone else noticed how much the pressure made logan so hesitant while driving! I heard a driver once say that hesitation on track was a one-way ticket to a crash or going off, so I agree with your point about his performance being affected by that pressure! Oh, and I am also so glad someone noticed the weight gain! It really shocked me how skinny Logan always seemed to be, and honestly, I was a bit concerned for a bit. I think there's a video on the Williams channel that is focused on Logan, and he mentions that he needed to focus on controlling how much he weighed because he was actually too skinny/underweight, and it could have affected his performance! Don't quote me on that, but it's either one of his training camp videos or is the team torque episode with him and his new trainer (Elias) and a football player. I think the weight he put on is great for him and I'm actually so happy! And as much as I hate to see it, I'm also thinking that part of his improvement is knowing he's basically out of the running for a seat and he's relieved he doesn't have to fight for one anymore. He knows he just has to give what is left his all, and he's willing to do that! I do really hope that he joins Prema in IndyCar, particularly because I can actually afford Indy tickets lol!

But I also agree that it's really funny that we see so many opposites within teams in regard to over vs. under steer preference! And now that we see that Williams has been more oversteer leaning, and we see that both Lance and Latifi prefer a more understeer leaning set up, it kind of explains their limited success at Williams, and why George did so well! We all know George put so much into Williams, and I am glad that it did him so well. It's going to be very interesting next year when we see how Carlos does, if Williams keeps on the oversteer leaning path!

You have been a delight to talk with and I am so glad you could give me so much information!

[sapphire-weapon]

I don't know if this is just my perception, but I've noticed that Krauser uses Ashley several times as a way to provoke Leon (especially during their final fight).

In their first encounter, immediately after Leon realizes it was Krauser who kidnapped Ashley, the camera focuses on his angry face and then on his hand about to grab his gun. As if the knowledge that it was Krauser who was to blame for Ashley's kidnapping was Leon's motivation to start fighting back.

Then there's that cinematic where Leon arrives just in time to see Krauser take Ashley away with nothing he can do to stop him. Krauser even walks slower and without bothering to turn to look at Leon, not even when he shouts Ashley's name. In Separate Ways, we see Krauser start running with Ashley in tow as soon as Leon can no longer see them.

After killing Salazar and using the elevator, if we use the rifle to get a closer look at the speedboat, Krauser turns to look at Leon, while Ashley is unconscious in the back seat, almost as if he is challenging him.

During their final fight, Krauser mocks Leon's concern for Ashley, and then tells him that he won't be able to save her, and that's when Leon explodes again.

Krauser taunts again when he tells Leon to hurry up or who knows what could happen to Ashley.

And near the end of the fight, Krauser tells Leon that if he needs motivation, he should think about Ashley.

I think Capcom's intention was to show how deeply Leon cares about Ashley through Krauser. That's why I can't take seriously people who say Leon only cares about Ashley because 'it's his job', it just doesn't fucking make sense, it's like they haven't played the damn game, or just decided to ignore all that.

there's a lot going on here, actually, and it goes deeper than just Ashley herself. Krauser absolutely dangles Ashley over Leon's head, don't get me wrong, because he knows that it's a source of angst and insecurity for him -- but it goes far deeper than just this one woman.

Krauser says at one point that he knows Leon's potential better than anyone -- he knows Leon better than anyone. and he may just be right.

in OG, Krauser asks Leon: "what is it that you fight for, comrade?" to which Leon responds: "my past, I suppose."

now, take that little snippet of a conversation and stretch it out over the course of four years of military training. it's likely that Krauser had to dig deep into Leon's psyche in order to motivate him to perform at his absolute best -- and what's at the center of everything for Leon is what happened in Raccoon City. Krauser likely knows every detail of what happened that night.

and what happened that night was that Leon failed to save the life of a single person.

so, since LeonA is canon in the Remake-verse, let's take a look at the list of people Leon failed to save in Raccoon City:

the cop in the gas station

Officer Elliott

Marvin Branaugh

Ben Bertolucci

Annette Birkin

Ada Wong

I don't know if you're keeping score, but that's... just about every person that Leon meets. the only exceptions to this are Kendo and his daughter (who Leon never attempted to save), Claire (who never needed saving), and...

Sherry, whom Leon then gets kidnapped and held hostage almost as soon as he volunteers to take sole custody of her.

so, when Krauser says to him: "you can't save anyone" he means anyone. the US government sent a man who's never been able to save anyone but himself on a mission alone to rescue the president's daughter. if anyone knew his history and his track record, he likely wouldn't have been the agent assigned to do this.

but the only person who knew it was Krauser, because Krauser's the only one who ever got close enough for Leon to tell. and since Krauser's now a traitor and a terrorist, he uses that knowledge as a cudgel to beat Leon with.

so -- yes, Krauser is purposefully using Ashley as a knife to twist in Leon's heart, and yes, saving her is more than "just doing my job" for him. it's extremely personal for him for many reasons. and as he starts to feel more and more affection for her, this need to save her becomes more and more intense, and it becomes easier and easier for Krauser to weaponize that against him.

and this is just storytelling 101. as the story goes on, the stakes have to rise higher and higher until they reach an absolute crescendo at the climax. and since Leon is so physically capable and very little in RE4make comes off as an actual threat to him, his stakes are mental and emotional in nature. as his feelings for Ashley intensify, so too does his anxiety about being able to save her.

the climax of RE4make's story is the walk to Luis's lab, and by then, Leon's feelings for Ashley have gotten so strong, and his need to save her has become so intense, that he sees her life alone as comparable to all of the people who died in front of him in Raccoon City.

if he can just save her, that would absolve him of his other failures.

that's why the script was written so that Ashley says the actual words to him in the ending.

this is the culmination of Leon's several character arcs in the series so far; it's the payoff for his character development; it's the catharsis for the angst he brings into RE4make with him.

Leon was a man who couldn't save anyone, but he ends RE4make as a hero.

his 21-year-old self would be so proud.

[wanderingblindly]

A) I will wait forever for the update of Oscar Piastri’s (Full Homo) Guide to Fucking Your Boyfriend (although at this rate should you consider changing the title from Boyfriend to Girlfriend 🤔) and you should absolutely take your time to make sure the final product is something you’re proud of. As the asexual anon from earlier, I’m going to stay ten toes dug into the dirt behind you At All Times, as I am with all people who tend to write with things that are potentially challenging, but especially ace people. So absolutely zero rush to you

B) There is never too much feminization for this because PLEASE LET ME MAKE MY CASE the way you write it is exploratory. They’re exploring a new ‘kink’ (don’t know what else to call it) and finding what works for them. The way you’re writing them is so trusting like “you’re giving me the end of the rope but I’m not going to pull on it” and so softtttttt. I like to imagine how safe Lando feels even while Oscar is teasing him about feminization because he knows he has nothing to be ashamed of in the face of Oscar. This leaves the floor open for the possibility that they could go deeper and deeper into exploration because they trust each other so so much and that’s beautiful to me

C) just read the snippet and man oh man, I’m pumped. everythingggggg liquid you know how to reel a person in

A) you’d THINK the title would be nearly ironic at this point, but when you consider who’s getting fucked in chapter two. Hm. Maybe it isn’t :)

From the bottom of my heart, I’m so deeply thankful for you reminding me that being happy and satisfied with my work is more important than finishing it quickly. I know a lot of fic writers — asexual or otherwise!! — feel this looming sense of expectation when it comes to getting things done, and it’s easy to get lost in it. But you’re right! And thank you!!

B) ANON YOU NEEDNT MAKE A CASE BECAUSE YOU ARE. SO RIGHT. AND ALSO YOURE IN MY HEAD!!!! I so so so wanted to convey like, the trust that’s already in their relationship — because this relationship isn’t new. Yes, the dating is new, but they were extremely close and trusting before this; that’s why Lando was so confused by how natural their fake dating felt! The trust was already there! The foundations, laid!

I also think that a lot can go unspoken because there’s this mutual ability to read one another; they’ve been observing each other for ages. Oscar can tell what’s too far, he knows how to read Lando — and vice versa n

“You’re giving me the end of the rope, but I’m not going to pull on it” is such a beautiful way of explaining that dynamic — I’m going to spin this in my fingers for ages actually.

C) oh my gossssshhhhhhh what if I blushhhhhhhhhh anon stop being so nice lol

[witchhazelevesque]

Snippet of a valzhangrace Hunger Games au not-fic I’ve been working on for like two years:

Frank skids into the next clearing, arrow notched but not drawn, and takes cautious steps forward as he scans the area for his target. He hears a shuffle to his right and steps toward it, and only too late registers that something is wrong.

He hears a slight click and realizes that he must have stepped in one of Leo’s traps, and whatever part of the design that registers prey is activated. He freezes, and in the moment it takes his weight to settle, his muscle memory takes over, drawing his bow and aiming it right at the pair of eyes that have appeared in front of him.

"It’s a stalemate," Leo says.

He’s right, Frank admits to himself, but he’s certain that even if they both spring each other's defenses, he’ll come out the winner.

“Pretty sure an arrow in the face will kill you whereas I can handle being strung up in the air. I’ll just cut myself down.”

But Leo laughs, a colder sound than Frank would have expected from him. “You don’t really think I’d pull something so tame in the actual Games, did you?”

Frank's eyes dart down and he curses.

“A bear trap?” He demands. “What kind of sponsorship money do you have?”

Leo smiles, looking proud of himself as he says, “Oh no, this is a Valdez original.”

Frank risks another look down and sees that yes, the spikes he noted a second before are made of wood, not metal. And while from his brief glance he can see that the construction is solid, he doesn’t think it’s lethal.

“My point still stands. What’s a few puncture wounds?”

He’s bluffing of course, because a few puncture wounds could spell death for him down the line, but at the moment, he’s still the likeliest to survive.

“You’ve spent enough time watching me at the edible plants station to know it’s not that simple,'' Leo says.

Frank balks, momentarily caught off guard at Leo dropping that information so cavalierly, but his eyes find their own way back to the trap and yes, he can see the tips of the spikes aren’t quite the same color as the rest of the wood. They have a slightly darker sheen, almost indiscernibly so, and they’re still wet. Leo must have just finished setting this trap before he'd come after Frank.

Frank grits his teeth.

“How about I just shoot you now and think of a way out of this after they cleared your body from the arena?” he bites out.

“You’ll be right behind me,” Leo sneers back, and Frank narrows his eyes, knowing he’s probably playing with him, trying to distract him to pull another fast one, but he can’t not give Leo a once over to make sure he’s not telling the truth and-

“Damn it,” Frank mutters, once he’s caught sight of the string clutched in Leo’s fist.

The other boy grins. “Dead man’s switch,” he says cheerfully, “You shoot me, I release the trap, you die too.”

“Stalemate,” Frank agrees morosely.

But he shifts his gaze back down to the trap, trying to make out its design, to see how the switch in Leo's hand is connected to the contraption, hoping he’d be able to disarm it somehow, maybe shoot his arrow at the right spot...

“I wouldn’t,” Leo’s voice cuts into his thoughts. “The trigger plate is extremely sensitive. Any shift in weight will set it off.”

“So what’s your plan then? We stand here until we die of old age?”

“Oh, I’m sure the Gamemakers would send something to liven things up before it came to that. But I think I can stand here with my hand at my side longer than you can hold that exact position with your bow fully drawn, no offense to you and your impressive muscles.”

Frank bears his teeth. “Don’t be so sure.”

“Fair,” Leo admits, though his eyes narrow. “Of course, we could always call a truce.”

Frank laughs. “Not sure I value my leg that much.”

“Rude,”  Leo says, eyes still narrowed, and Frank gets the sense that he’s actually bothered by Frank's response.

“So you just watched me all throughout training to decide that I wasn’t worthy of being your ally, is that it?”

“I didn’t-” Frank starts to protest, and that’s when he makes the mistake of leaning forward to emphasize his point.

The trap creaks and Frank freezes.

[seasideoranges]

Your honest thoughts on Zutara for the ship asks?

OH!!

well before I begin here's a really cool relaxing video I very much enjoy

anyways

i apologize in advance if my thoughts on the ship seem very much all over the place lol.

on one hand, i understand the appeal! i have some friends/moots that share beautiful zutara fanart/fics that i very much enjoy! it's a ship that i very much understand it's significance and impact it's had on not just this fandom, but throughout other online spaces and just shipping as a whole.

on the other hand, while i understand the appeal, it kind of shocks me how ride and die people are with the ship, specifically with how massive the ship war is, and the nasty behavior that comes with it.

it's important to note that when the show first began airing, i was only 3, and i was around 7 or 8 when the show ended. i didnt really get into it because of how young i was, besides watching snippets of s2 and 3 on nick and random amvs i stumbled upon as a kid haha.

i had my first real watch of the show about 2 years ago, and while i wasn't extremely knowledgeable on the fandom, i did hear about the infamous shipping wars in the fandom, like whispers in the wind, and how zutara should've been endgame. going in with this knowledge, let me tell you how shocked i was with the lack of canon material in the show regarding zutara. like, i had people tell me there was a legitimate love triangle happening! people still believe that!

dont take this the wrong way! im not saying you have to have a ship be canon, or for it to have a ton of canon material in order to ship it, i love rarepairs and crackships, shipping is suppose to be fun! i know zk gets hate because it isnt a canon ship and i think that's very, very silly. this is more so a response to the "zk shouldve been end game it was robbed from us etc etc", because i'm sorry, but i didn't see this at all while watching the show. it was very clear to me what was suppose to be endgame.

i do understand that it was a different culture back when the show was airing, in the sense that there was tons of marketing material teasing zutara, thus people were upset with the writers when it didn't happen, but it makes me wonder if this is truly the fault of the atla crew, or the fault of the marketing department, and nickelodeon seeing how popular shipping was and asking it's marketing department to hone in on this to draw in numbers. most of the time the people behind a show don't get a say in how the marketing works y'know? ANYWAYS! Back to the actual ship! I don't like when people water down katara and zukos characters for the ship. I don't like the treatment aang receives from more hardcore fans, painting him to be some awful, no good, horrible partner of katara and friend of zuko. zuko and katara are ride and die for aang, if there was an aang fanclub, they're the ones who started it and they're fighting every week over who gets to be president lmao. i really dont like when this treatment gets extended to sokka and toph, treating them like bumbling idiots that katara is stuck with until zuko comes in to save the day because he's 'oh so mature, much more mature then those other 3 fools, and the only one who gets katara' which just. isn't true.

I like when people don't water their characters down and really focus on how chaotic they'd be, or the fact that they're still just teenagers! I like when people don't throw away Aang, and even in a zk universe aang is still close friends with them and their number one supporter. i like when they don't throw away kataras relationship with sokka or toph, and they're still just as important in her life.

final thoughts

it's fine! im not crazy over it but i understand the appeal. shoutout to my zutara moots, love the stuff you create, don't ever stop! besides sharing some zk art, you probably wont see zutara art coming from me, im much more focused on pushing my 'platonic shit talking wine drinking zuko and katara besties' agenda bahaha.

[settsplitt]

fic questions! how about 4, 11, 39, and 59?

👁️👁️ I am two business days late to answering this I apologize deeply

4. Where do you find inspiration for new ideas?

Erm...idk tbh. I think a lot about baseball. And the men who play it. And sometimes this evolves into creation. I am extremely vulnerable to the narratives. And sometimes things happen in games that I just can't help writing about.

11. Link your three favorite fics right now

oooo ok this one's fun!! This is not a baseball fic but I was rereading down by the brazos today and wow what a fic!!! One of the old hockey rpfs that got me back into fanfic a couple years ago. This is um..also not baseball but one of my favourite f1 fics and one that I am so grateful that I get to see grow and develop because its written by my lovely friend is sympathy is a knife. A reader insert fic for people who don't like reader insert, an amazing exploration of what the genre can be, all beautifully written and viscerally real.

now finally, an actual baseball one. I've been thinking a lot about strike out looking lately. I don't know if it's the time of year, the uncanny feeling of no baseball, or just that I need it right now. But yeah. All time fav, current fav, a wonderful creation.

39. Share a snippet from a WIP

this is a lil something I wrote today from the time begins on opening day prompt i am still working on!

And then Adley gets hurt and they won't put him on the IL but he’s not really catching either, and James resigns himself to the grind. He’s missed it, in a way. The routine of catching every day, the meetings, the stretches, the strategy, thinking about every man in the league like a doe just waiting up ahead, what will spook them, what will keep them subdued in the box just long enough for the kill. He thinks about his pitchers, too. Corbin with his big eyes that always flick down just before the pitch, Cade and his heaving chest, the bullpen like something wild, reining them in with a steady glove and pitch decisions they don't know how to make. He’s missed managing a staff, managing their expectations and their dreams and the breaking ball they so desperately want him to call for.

59. Does anyone in your personal life know you write fic? if not, would you tell anyone?

Um well! My ex bf betas a good chunk of my fics. He's the only person I know irl who knows about my secret double life. He knows nothing about baseball and formula one but he's a pretty good little cheerleader and gives good feedback. I don't think I would tell anyone else though, not unless they were a certain level of freak. Idk if they would understand the baseball rpf beauty.

I have a migraine rn so sorry if any of these answers don't make sense. Thank you for the ask <3 my deepest apologies it took me so long to answer 😔

[harleyacoincidence]

More Hadeon!

Do you have any favorite snippets with him?

Hey there! I'll admit, I was not expecting this ask moments after I posted about Hadeon. I'm going to warn you now, the WIP that he's from is extremely old (I'm talking high school me), so it's not good at all. I've definitely improved since then, but I'm still happy to share some (VERY OLD) snippets. Luckily, I love Hadeon a whole lot, and eventually I'll rewrite the books that need to be rewritten after I finish the series (just to get it up to par).

Here's some Hadeon content, completely out of context (trigger warnings for death, violence, and swearing):

I heard Hadeon groan. “Seriously? This moron again? Kid, didn’t I tell you to casually nuke him or something?” Yes, Hadeon, you did. However, you did not provide me with said nuke, and it’s kind of hard to order one online, so that did not happen, I replied. “Right. I remember now. Next time I’ll actually provide you with a weapon when we need to get rid of people we don’t like.” Kind of dark, but understandable. “I’ll even take control and erase it from your memory banks if you’d like. Whatever is easier for you.”

He shook himself out of it. He hated it when people caused him to feel sympathy (or even empathy) for them. He was a high ranking demon, not some charity worker. It was…inconvenient…to feel anything towards people, especially since victims were what he needed. Gathering victims and hosts to exert control on small parts of the world at a time was his goal, so one day he might be more powerful. Deceit, domination, and destruction were the things he was known for, and the only things he needed to put in motion to succeed. If anyone found out he had strayed from his usual path for a single host, or showed empathy towards others, he would be stripped of his rank and respect, possibly even his power. He couldn’t afford that. He turned away from Madelaine’s grave, unsure of why he was so remorseful about her death in particular. He turned back to her resting place, and saw the stone beside it, and it suddenly made sense why she had been buried here, despite living rather far away. He shuddered, looking disgusted. He walked briskly away, remembering the state his host had been in the first time he’d seen her. She had been stressed, tired, depressed, a tad irritable, and would jump at the slightest thing. Arlan, the previous demon, had done a number on her. She was lucky that she had summoned him when she had. Arlan had been one of the most powerful demons in the underworld, and when Hadeon had killed him (due to the amount of control Henriette chose to give him in what would have been her last moments), he took Arlan’s place, as is customary. He had been lucky that Henriette had expended most of her energy to drain Arlan’s power. Henriette had been even luckier that Hadeon knew what to do with a weakened demon. He wasn’t sure what had happened for such a high ranking demon to come over and use her as a host. While being able to summon (and contain) a font of such power was rare, Hadeon was unsure as to whether it was a thing to be complimented, since Arlan was rather annoying and manipulative. It was an excellent experience for Hadeon to completely destroy him, however. His death was most likely the best thing related to him that had ever happened.

“You used to be so helpful, Blaise. What happened to you?” “Had a bit too much fun. Judging from your current state, I think you could understand,” Blaise smirked, turning back into the pillar of smoke. “You have no idea what happened. How dare you make assumptions!” roared Hadeon. “Oh no, I’ve struck a nerve! What are you going to do, snap my spine again? You’re all bark and no bite, Hadeon. You know I’ll just come back,” Blaise teased. “Not this time,” Hadeon growled, walking forward, feeling his rage take the wheel. Blaise still didn’t seem concerned, and took it all like it was a game. That was his mistake, especially as a lower-ranking demon. His only advantage was the ability to return and annoy Hadeon further, but he didn’t know it. He often overestimated his power if he didn’t fully understand it, causing frequent power trips and then crashes when he realized he couldn’t do it all. While it seemed like he knew some of his abilities well (and he did, especially teleportation), he often got carried away in the rush he got from using his magic properly. This would cause him to go farther and go all in when he didn’t even know how. He was a novice at using some magic (such as shapeshifting), so charisma was his main weapon, and how he’d nearly taken Henriette from Hadeon. “I’d be careful if I were you. You remember what happened last time you let something like this happen?” Blaise taunted. “I remember killing you and you being unable to return for a good eight months. I’ll happily take that outcome once more, if not you being permanently destroyed, like you should have been,” Hadeon scowled at Blaise, who was trying to shift into a humanoid form to make his escape instead of teleporting, for some reason. Perhaps he hid his terror and was merely too freaked out to think straight. Hadeon didn’t care. This worked for him, as it was what he was used to. Causing fear in potential hosts or victims usually meant they were unstable and therefore easier to work with and control. While he didn’t want to control Blaise, a victim’s fear made killing them more satisfying and required less effort. “Hey hey, buddy. Just give me a minute while I try to match you, alright? Then we’ll do whatever you want.” “It isn’t my fault or my problem that you’re an incompetent shapeshifter. I can kill you either way. Don’t think about escaping either. You know I’ll find you.” “N-no, I know that. Just, uh, let me-” “Stop stammering. It won’t delay your destruction.” “Can you blame me? It’s literally what my name means.” “You have a terrible name.” “Finally, we agree on something.” “Shut up.”

“Why should I trust you? You left, probably killed someone, and came back with a body. Where did you go, why, and what did you actually do?” she demanded an answer out of the demon, pointing the dagger at his neck and forcing his retreat. “Relax, kid. Just went home for a bit to check nobody tried to sell you again. My current host agreed to this. I’ll let him speak to you for a bit, if you’re ever desperate for conversation.” “PEOPLE TRIED TO SELL ME?!” “Uh, yeah. It was an auction. Don’t worry, I prevented anything from going too far.” “PEOPLE TRIED TO SELL ME IN AN AUCTION?! WITHOUT ME KNOWING?!” “Yes. How do you think some demons choose their hosts?” “Is that how you-” “No.” “Okay, good.” “So…” The demon awkwardly looked around the collapsing gymnasium. Students and staff members either ran by them and out the door, without batting an eye, or were crushed by the falling ceiling and walls.

“What…the…heaven…?” murmured one of the demons. “Get in, demons, we’ve got a city to blow up,” called Hadeon, rolling down the window. “Hadeon, that’s a child,” a demon with a silk black gown, a red feather boa, and pearl jewelry told him. “I know. She’s with me. Do you want to cause chaos or not?” “Hadeon, it’s technically a town,” interjected Henriette. “Same difference,” he grumbled. “You need to stop referencing pop culture no one cares about,” snarled the demon with the gown and boa. “Shut up, Deceiver. You’re not here to piss me off.”

Thanks for reading! I hope this was what you were looking for!

[nirikeehan]

NIRI!!! I am curious about all of your WIPs actually but if I must narrow it down..... pls tell me about It's Always Sunny at Skyhold (is samson frank or dennis) AND OFC thalia & kallian: full moon 👀👀👀

Hi aster thank you!!

Ask me wip questions here!

I will answer these chronologically bc it makes more sense to do so:

Thalia & Kallian - Full moon

This is meant to be the introduction chapter to the Curse of Strahd crossover. Thalia visits Kallian at Vigil’s Keep, fangirls over the Grey Warden commander, talks a bit about Blackwall and his deal. Then Kallian reveals she received a mysterious letter from someone calling himself the Burgomaster of Barovia and calling out the tyranny of a vampire lord who rules over those lands. This sparks interest in both of them, they do a little investigating in the library at the keep. They find evidence an ancient land called Barovia, which no one in modern times has heard of, may exist in this one remote region of Nevarra. So of course they decide to convene a retinue and go check it out. 😎 what could go wrong?!?

I can’t remember where the full moon comes in. I think it’s just there for the atmosphere LOL. It was based on a dadwc prompt.

It’s Always Sunny at Skyhold

(Samson is definitely Frank LMAO)

So I plan to call the romp in Barovia It's Never Sunny in Barovia. So this bit I half-jokingly named "It's Always Sunny at Skyhold" because I was envisioning a sequel (yes, I love jumping the gun) where Thalia takes her new bestie she met in Barovia, Metrion, and employs him as a spy at Skyhold. This scene is poor Cullen trying to grasp why his girlfriend would do such a thing and what shenanigans she got up to in his absence.

It's like 90% more written than the previous scene, so here's a snippet:

Thalia leans forward, squinting at the report to rival her own. Even upside down, she recognizes the penmanship. “What did Pravin have to say about him that I didn’t?”  Cullen looks stricken. He rocks back on his heels, crossing arms over his breastplate the way he does when he doesn’t want to deliver bad news. “You were, um, significantly kinder in your assessment of his character than your cousin was.”  “Kinder how?” Metrion and Pravin have never gotten along — despite having, it seems to Thalia, extremely similar experience and skillsets. Pravin never saw it that way, however, in a manner Thalia finds quite classist.  “Your account uses words like ‘actor’ and ‘diplomatic’ to categorize him,” Cullen says carefully. “Pravin’s descriptions, on the other hand, are more colorful.” “In what way?” Thalia asks, already wincing.  “Er, let’s see. ‘Con man, swindler. Ne’er-do-well, wastrel, fraudster, mountebank… Trickster, charlatan, knave, drunkard—’” “Drunkard!” Thalia huffs. “That’s the pot meeting the kettle, coming from Pravin.” “He includes several anecdotes where the two of you— ‘Thalia and Metrion, if that is indeed his name,’ ah,” Cullen says, flipping the parchment, “robbed local establishments through deception and guile. ‘Gleefully’ is the word he used.” Cullen clears his throat and meets Thalia’s eyes, troubled. “Seeming to imply you enjoyed it?” 

[imagoddamnonionmason]

This is the self insert/OC fairy. 🌼🧚‍♀️When you get this in your ask box, please tell us 3 facts about your S/I or OC and pass it around. Let's learn about each other's S/Is/OCs! 🌈🌷

I'd love to learn more about your OCs! They all seem super interesting❤️

Hello mate! Thanks for the ask!!

Ok, so I do not know which oc to pick, so I shall give you all three lmao XD I hope you're ok with that!

~~~~~ \(0u0)/ ~~~~~

Jodie "Bell" Hall (BOCW OC)

After the events of the campaign, Jodie couldn't quite drop the English accent she'd gained from the hours of speaking with Park; however, depending on her state, her original Russian accent might slip through. For example, if she is very sleepy, the English accent slowly fades and she'll speak at you in a mild Russian accent. On the other hand, if someone angers her, it can slip through then, too. I based this off the fact that when I get angry, my northern accent breaks on through my usually not-so-northern accent; I thought that it would make some sense that her accent shifts or fluctuates as the English accent was never hers to begin with, it's just something she picked up from Park.

Her brother was four years younger than her, making her an older sister.

She carries a booklet of sudoku, crossword and other puzzles with her everywhere she goes. It occupies her mind and keeps the noise in her head down - she also finds that it reminds her of cryptography, which is something Canon Bell is said to be good at. It's a tattered book and sometimes she scribbles in the margins different encoding patterns and such. It's basically something to keep her mind from falling in on itself. I might be cheeky in admitting this, but that little snippet was actually inspired by another creator; a thought was sparked and then it turned into this idea that Jodie often keeps her skills sharp by occupying her brain with these kinds of things.

~~~~~ /(030)\ ~~~~~

Franca "Major" Lorenzetti (MW OC)

Her middle name is Viola.

2. She has a family that she no longer speaks with, due to differing opinions on her choice to join the army; her father was extremely traditional and essentially forbade her joining and wanted her to focus on finding someone, settling down and having a family. You know, old traditional views that were not made to suit her. Her family are as follows: Antonio, 60: Father. Alessandra, 55: Mother. Carlotta, 34: Sister. Vincenzo (otherwise known as Vinnie), 22: brother. Later on in her life, after she has joined the military and become well established, her brother turns up on her door having been 'banished' like she had, and they have a tearful reunion. She loves her brother a lot and would do anything for him. The rest of her family though? She doesn't really talk about them much and if you were to ask her about them, she'd probably just stare at you until you left her alone.

3. Franca joined the Royal Army Medical Corps, becoming a Combat Medic. She rose through the ranks to RSM/WO1 - Regimental Sergeant Major/Warrant Officer. This associated rank is where her nickname came from, 'Major'. I actually tried to make the rank as accurate as possible, as I think different regiments and military organisations call them different things.

~~~~~ \(0x0)\ ~~~~~

Nanette MacTavish (MW)

Her maiden name was 'Oakley'.

Her dad is from Cornwall and her mum from the Midlands, so she every so often she has a little bit of a Cornish accent. It's really cute but sounds like a farmer sometimes.

She works at the primary school on the army base that she lives at. She's a teaching assistant and takes care of the children like they were her own! Oh- and her own does go to the nursery at the primary school - she has wee little lass with her husband, Soap, and she adores the girl so much.

BONUS: I don't have many facts for Nanette in the MW world, because most of the work I've done with her came about when I was planning a fantasy medieval au for Franca and Ghost. sigh. I ended up making that au about her and Soap, her knight in shining armour-ish. Ok! That's all for the facts! I hope you enjoyed reading about them!! If you're curious about anything or want anything elaborating, just hmu! Goose out!

[booasaur]

Different anon here but I found madre sólo hay dos so extremely underwhelming with Mariana’s feelings. I was happy that they got together but I had very little doubt that we would get some kind of endgame so as much as I was preparing myself to being annoyed by Mariana I was still surprised by how much she did annoy me lol it would need so little for the Mariana/Ana relationship to be better and more equal but they didn’t make any kind of effort with Mariana and it made so little sense to me.

Why was there so much ferran? Why couldn’t she left him because she was in love with Ana and not because he lied? Why couldn’t we had at least one tiny scene about Mariana’s feelings for Ana, something a bit more than that tepid “I love you too” in the very end.

Ana’s journey was definitely the highlight of the show for me. I definitely wanted more of her with Elena and that other hot lady lol. But I actually like most of the other characters and I enjoyed how everyone got their happy ending and in the end I just wanted Ana happy and I got that so I’m glad.

And another anon:

Oh yay! Ok so i was actually befuddled by like every choice made this season??? I was annoyed that they had mariana and ana sleep together, had ana tell M she loved her, & had M in love w ferran & choose him. & then their breakup wasn’t even M deciding she actually didn’t love him, or loved A more, it was a secret baby??? & then she wanted to move not caring bout leaving A or V/separating the babies?? Just?? What??? (1/2) And then they had ana make a big love declaration when her feelings were never the ones in question?? She’d been very direct about telling M she loved her and she couldn’t stop thinking about her. Very confusing choices and left me feeling disappointed even tho we collected endgame?? I guess?? Like even that felt like they made it gal pal-y enough to appease homophobes who could say they didn’t really end up together.

And another anon:

I have never feel so underwhelmed by an endgame ever. Like we won but it doesn’t feel like a win? I don’t know. It feels weird.

So tell me how y'all really feel. :P

But no, this is sadly how I felt too. It feels churlish to be not satisfied with a planned endgame, especially after everything this year and Netflix in particular, but damn, it did not feel particularly rewarding or fulfilling to me.

There just wasn't that mutualness I was expecting, as y'all said, it seemed much more about Ana's feelings, Mariana seemed almost a bystander in it all, with how much Ferran there was and the reason for their breakup not Mariana actually choosing Ana. Or Ana and the two babies, it suddenly seemed like it all mattered so much less to her. And exactly, Ana's feelings were pretty known, so why is the big gesture from her again?

And yeah, while I don't think there was any plausible deniability for homophobes to think they didn't end up together, it felt really dialed down as two women in love, especially compared to how they'd been before. Like, when it's one-sided or for comedy, it can be hot and heavy but not when it's actually genuine? As someone said, that feels like how these stories were told in the olden days.

And SO much focus on the other characters, by the end it was just little snippets of Ana and Mariana. Again, it felt like a deliberate effort to pull back from Ana and Mariana in love, their own ostensible premise.

I guess the disappointment is that should have been so much more, the payoff for something like this should have been so breathless and satisfying, three seasons of yearning and transformation and connection, and it came down to this sexless family thing.

[elliepassmore]

What the River Knows review

4/5 stars Recommended if you like: Egypt, Death on the Nile, archeology, adventure Thank you to Netgalley, Wednesday Books, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review! I really wanted this to be 5 stars. The premise is so intriguing and Egypt has so much interesting history, both on its own and in relation to archeology. Unfortunately, this is a book where I'm not really sure how I feel about it, so it's 4 stars right now but might drop down later. The first half of the book lives up to expectations. We get Inez traveling to Egypt and using her wits to tag along on her uncle's excavation. I loved the descriptions of Cairo and the Nile and Phillae. There's so much culture and lush imagery, it's easy to become engrossed in the setting and story. Unfortunately, after that the plot doesn't focus as much on archeology and Egypt as it should. We do get multiple excavation/temple/tomb scenes, but I wanted more of them. I wanted a true exploration of being on an archeological site and discovering these big things and worrying over tomb raiders. Instead, we get more focus on personal relationships (or lack thereof). The story was also fairly predictable. I wasn't entirely sure at first, but once Inez got to Cairo I felt more certain of what I suspected. Then, later on when the first half of my theory was revealed, it was also immediately obvious that the rest of it was too and I got to sit with a feeling of utter dread while Inez just went with things despite the signs pointing to a bad conclusion. That being said, I can actually understand why Inez didn't question things as much as she should've, and why when she did question things, she dismissed her own instincts. Like, honestly, I think anyone probably would in that situation. This is one of the few cases where I think things being predictable for the reader and not for the character actually makes sense...I just wish the predictability was less subtle so I didn't have to spend 30% of the book waiting for the other shoe to drop. One thing that really bothered me was that the whole mess with the grave goods was framed as being wholly Inez's fault. Like, was she being extremely dumb? Absolutely. Is it understandable? Also yes. And is it especially understandable because her uncle kept lying to her and hiding the truth? 100%. Half of the mess would've been avoided if Tío Ricardo had simply told Inez what he'd suspected and dealt with the potential fallout of that. Instead, he kept secrets and lied (and it was fairly obvious this was setting up to be a miscommunication trope) and then got angry with Inez when she didn't magically know who their enemies were. Not just him, Abdullah also got upset with her, though not as much as Tío Ricardo....but Abdullah also wasn't telling her shit. Like, a single conversation in Cairo, as upsetting as it would've been, would've literally circumvented this whole thing and instead everyone blames Inez. As for the characters. Inez is great in the first half of the story. She's got a lot of spunk and a desire for the truth. She's fairly good at getting herself in and out of any situation, which comes in handy. But for someone so interested in Egypt, she doesn't really seem to know that much about it. I actually liked Isadora, and I'm not really sure what Whit's problem with her is (though I'm sure it will get revealed in book 2). She and Inez make a formidable team and I would've liked to see them interact more. Her dad can be awful and kind of gruff, but Isadora seems to manage him fairly well. Whit is...mainly annoying, imo. Inez wants the two of them to be friends, and while they're in Cairo he seems fairly normal, but so much of the story involves him being secretive or lying or just being annoying and pushing Inez away. It gets frustrating after a while. We also get to see things from his POV, but they're mostly small snippets and single scenes. I think it would've worked better if we'd gotten chapters or half-chapters from his POV or if it had been excluded altogether. Some of his POV scenes provide helpful information, but the way it's written now it mostly just seems like he has a POV because Ibañez couldn't figure out how to provide the information any other way. Tío Ricardo had the potential to be a fantastic character. The first scene where they're all at dinner makes him seem really promising, and it definitely appears as though he cares about Egyptian history and the injustices being wrought by the British and French. However, a lot of that is overshadowed by how secretive he is and just downright awful he can be to Inez. He sort of redeems himself toward the end and shows that he truly cares about her, but it still doesn't make up for the rest of the book. I didn't realize that this book was part of a duology. I thought it was a standalone like her previous book. This book really didn't need a sequel. The way it stands now, there's obviously things left unfinished that require a sequel, but if the book had been cleaned up a little, I really think a full story and arc could've been told within the one book. Certain parts of the book are dragged out and probably could've been cut in favor of finishing the story satisfactorily. And honestly, what's left of the plot doesn't really feel like it could fill a whole second book. Also, what was that ending? Things were already fine without that INEZ FELL FOR IT note. It adds a layer to the story that it absolutely does not need. There are already so many complicated relationships and crossing and double-crossing, the book doesn't need more. I was actually somewhat interested in a sequel before reading the epilogue, but once I read it just kind of felt 'meh.' It's too much going on and I'm not really interested in seeing more of Inez getting lied to and then falling flat on her face when everyone else's lying is revealed.

[zepandovski]

You said to send asks but i had no clue what to send so here's some excerpts of lore from my Sonic AU's google doc I guess !

The Chronophage ”Chrono” or Time Eater : Beast that controls the passing of time. Born of people’s hearts, there’s a piece of it inside every person. Its form changes as understanding of time in humanity evolves, though it is formless originally. In Sonic’s era, it features mechanical clock patterns, like gears and clock hands, and notably, a grasshopper mechanism. In Silver’s Era, it’s a really weak entity, as most ways to tell precise time have been destroyed, and current technology is focused on survival purposes. In that time, it appears as a dark void and features patterns reminiscent of code and bells.

Rumor has it that if you see a grasshopper in your garden, it’s a sign you should do something you’ve been putting off. In Silver’s future where nature is extremely rare, grasshoppers are a legendary animal and a superstition goes that seeing a grasshopper in your dreams or waking hours means the end of your time. Because of this legendary status, grasshoppers are a popular image to tag for survivors to signify their presence.

This is a recent addition because I learned recently that the Time Eater looks reminiscent of an actual clock ! And the mechanism it uses looks like a monstrous grasshopper, it's pretty cool !

My AU's not about it in particular ( it's a reimagining of the whole canon ), but it's apart of it so I thought it was interesting to share.

What's a Sonic creature or boss fight you find interesting ?

YES YES YES YES TY FOR THE LORE MEAL!! I'll gladly accept any lore snippet from your au! Im still very curious about it :D

Thats a pretty interesting interpretation of the time eater, even more the grasshopper symbolism, i loved how different it is on silver's era and it makes sense!

Now for the lil question, hm, for the creature..ngl the black arms still gives me interest, like we dont have much information about them besides of wat we have in Shadow's game [and thanks to him we will never fucking know more about them TY SHADOW FOR MAKING THEM EXTINCT/sarcastic]

I haven't played much sonic games so for me to remember some creatures and boss fights will be difficult KWBDKEND

Another one that i find interesting is just, all of the unleashed dark gaia creatures, dark gaia itself and our boy the werehog! I wished we could have got more about them just like the black arms..

For the boss fight, i'll just grab frontiers and well TMoSTH if that counts, i found the think levels so cool and interesting but also irritating OWNDLEND

[camgoloud]

🌿💝💥💌

🌿 how does creating make you feel?

oh god. well honestly i feel like it depends very strongly on what exactly it IS that i’m creating… sometimes when i’m writing a character study or an intimate moment i feel intensely vulnerable and open, which is of course both terrifying and extremely cathartic… and then sometimes when i am writing humorous scenes or Cursed Concepts i feel so evil and wicked and pleased with myself the whole time. so which emotions i'm experiencing while i’m actually in the moment of creation can really be all over the map… but of course i can say that once i’ve actually finished creating something i always feel proud of myself! even at times when the piece didn’t come together as well as i was hoping it would in the end, there’s definitely something to be said just for that pure “oh i made a WHOLE NEW THING” sense of satisfaction :)

💝 what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

i’ll be honest, i really thought that Do my friends think I’m dying? (or do I just need to go to sleep?) would get about 20 hits total… i mean, it’s a recursive fanfic (inspired by the excellent good old fashioned lover boy) about an extremely minor ted lasso character with an unintelligible summary and the tags “yes I’ve written a reddit thread as a fic” “sorry except i’m not”; i was really just writing it to have a good time (and oh my god, did i have the BEST time…). but the response to it was actually quite warm, and MUCH larger than i was expecting! and not to brag lmao but i got Many compliments in the comments section about how convincing my various insufferable reddit personalities were… i guess i’ve found my calling! i’ve been meaning to write another reddit fic ever since, actually—it really was a blast

💥 find your least kudos'd fic - say something wonderful about it.

least kudos’d by raw numbers would be my most recent one, Philosophical Shifts in Teixcalaanli Xenocontact! (although i wouldn’t necessarily call it my least warmly received—the kudos-to-hits ratio on that one is actually fairly good, it’s just a very new fic for a very small fandom! but i didn’t go through and calculate K:H ratios on everything, so i’ll just talk about this one.) i think that with this fic i really nailed the voice of the narrator, three seagrass—from her speech patterns to the way she thinks about the world; her love for poetry to her partially-worked-through tendency to exoticize the foreign and the new to the detriment of everyone involved. she was a lot of fun to write and i’d love to try my hand at her again soon!

💌 share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

agh okay i’m always the WORST person in the world to talk to about wips because i will happily spin you elaborate tales about all the Concepts i’m currently working on and then you will just never hear about them again… but here’s a snippet from something for stranger things that I’ve been tinkering with off and on for AGES and really do hope to get finished… sometime in the next few years… i’m calling it “things that we were working on,” and em, this one goes right out to you: you know exactly what you did. <3

“Hold the phone,” Eddie interrupts, earning himself a glare and yet another eyebrow twitch, but he doesn’t even care to savor the rise he’s getting out of Higgins this time, because he is actually, genuinely desperate for an answer to the question he’s about to ask. “You’re telling me Steve Harrington is gonna be here? In detention?” This day really is just shaping up to be something else, isn’t it. Steve Harrington in detention? Hell had better not have frozen over yet; Eddie hates the fucking cold. “What’d he do?” 

Or, probably more accurately: what’d he do that they didn’t let him just get away with this time?

[fic writing asks here!]

[spacecadetspe]

Snippets from last year...

Nov. 1, 2022

It always feels like I take so long between entries to develop a new narrative of my life.

Fortitude has moved himself and all his belongings in with me, and there's a palpable sense of relief in the air.  Neither X nor his mistress have made any attempt to approach him, even when face-to-face, and that is... bothersome.  Fortitude procured a case of wine (at personal expense) for our consumption, and neither of them reached out to him.  In fact, X's reaction was to request that I stop speaking with Fortitude entirely.

So here we are now; neither of them will stand and take the appropriate admonition when confronted, and yet X goes out of his way to torment me as much as he can during the day.  X has even started making up arbitrary rules for me to try and control my life: first, when I asked K to take our son to his therapist, X said our settlement agreement required me to consult him before I made a decision; and secondly, he said I was in violation of our agreement when I had a man staying over at my apartment (Fortitude)!

So I went with my first instinct and called my lawyer.  Turns out, there's no paperwork dictating any requirement that I disclose medical findings with X.  Not only is X lying about the contents of the agreement, but it isn't even legal yet!  The presiding judge has yet to sign the documents officiating our divorce.  That means, if I were really petty, I wouldn't be bound by the rules of the document until it was actually signed.Collapse

But it was when my lawyer called me over the second issue that I got really incensed.  Turns out, X told his attorney that I was in violation of the agreement (again, what agreement?) and his lawyer called mine, and mine called me.  I had to remind my lawyer that no such ruling or paperwork existed, and even if it did, X would be forced to bid farewell to his prized mistress.  How exactly would a judge mandate that I not have a romantic partner, anyway?  It seems ludicrous, no matter which way I look at it.  I didn't spend that whole day in our settlement meeting on the edge of my fucking seat for my lying, gaslighting ex to tell me I missed something.  I refuse to bow to what is obviously a ploy to control me, and I'm extremely angry that I had to remind two lawyers that the fucking thing hasn't even been signed yet!

That being said, it was in this way that I learned that X's lawyer is quitting his case.  This would be the second time.  It's a strange correlation that his lawyers seem to keep spontaneously quitting on him; definitely not a good look.  I'd love to think that his lawyer decides to blacklist X before he quits, just for manipulating him.  But that doesn't seem to be my luck.

So, what with my constant defiance of his pretty little double standard, I've been catching a lot of flack.  He lashes out at me whenever he remembers to, and I've had a couple bad days since then.  I spoke with Stolas and Kali, who had some devious plans to aid me; whenever X rears his head, manifest a pack of dogs that bay endless wrathful truths, and when they chase him down, they rend him limb from limb.  Thus, he will always know the pain and fear of being pursued, the same way he's targeted me.

Two days ago was bad; X's pressure followed me throughout the day.  I lay down and spaced out, and was almost immediately approached by Liraz.  He sat down beside me and asked, "What are you afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid," I said.  "I'm angry."

"Then why are you angry?"

I thought about it calmly for a moment; he obviously knew about my relationship with X, so he meant to get to the root of my feelings.  "Because I'm in pain," I finally answered.  "I'm in pain and I can't make it stop, or make him stop."

He nodded.  "Are you angry that you can't control him?"

I shrugged.  "Not really.  I don't care to control him.  I just don't want him to control me."

"And yet he does, using pain as his method."

I looked at him.  Liraz is olive-skinned, with curly hair that he keeps mostly hidden under his hood.  "So what are you suggesting?" I asked.

"Change your relationship with pain," he said.  "When you do that, you stop being angry at the pain, itself.  And when you have no emotional connection to that, you're able to let go of its source, as well."

Some things stay broken no matter how well you take care of them.  Like the split ends of a lock of hair, it's only the culling that allows it to flourish.  Everything else can (and should) be let go.

Anshel arrived the next afternoon to love on me and help me relax.  I'd been beating myself up all day, and it didn't help that I saw X and K at our son's school.  I'm glad he came... Fortitude didn't get home from his errands until after 7, and I had no energy to do much of anything.  Anshel helped me work out some of my stress, and then gave me a massage and a glass of wine.  He's such a sweetheart.  After a while, we sat together and studied the patterns on his armor and talked about the meanings behind each of the designs.  It was relaxing, and I got to bond with him a bit more.

I'm not going to let this get me down.  It's an uphill battle, but I'm still winning.

One year later...

Nov. 2, 2023

All Souls' Day is a big event for the Underworld. The souls get the chance to visit their loved ones in the mortal realm through dreams, and it's always a big production.

But this time, something seemed just a little... off. The procession, as massive as it was, was presided over by not only the chthonic deities... but by a massive flock of crows.

To anyone who understood what was going on, the presence of crows might not be so unusual. After all, we were shepherding the dead. But something... felt different. There were too many of them, and none of them were acting like normal carrion birds should. I called everyone's attention to the birds as best I could; we all knew something was up. One of the dreamlings actually took a shot at one of them, and they swarmed him until he ran away.

The procession went off without a hitch...But three of the psychopomps did not return.

Zagreus, Hermes, and Charon all vanished, seemingly without a trace. Hades was frantic, and gathered a search party to look for them.

In the morning, Phantasos brought me the news, and I led the way down to the throne room. I pulled Hermes out of thin air, but Morpheus charged in and shouted for me not to touch him.

Hermes' eyes were black pools... iridescent, like Mother, but corrupted badly. And on his arm was a peculiar rune; Odr. Morpheus put him into a sphere so that we could break the spell together. Eitri appeared and leapt in to help. A few raven feathers, and he'll be all right. He claims that the sons of Ivaldi are behind this... and they're using the psychopomps to gather souls for some nefarious purpose.

I pulled Zagreus out and had to keep Hades from getting too close... the last one is Charon. I'll have to do it soon, though... He carries more souls than any of the others. And I don't need to give them any more fuel for their forges.