#i can absolutely link any of the mods if someone asks! no worries about it

[goobobbers]

Songbird

[hood-simz]

Directory📝

→PSA/Intro! (read b4 u have a bitchfit)←

The name is Piqt and this blog is 18+. My playstyle features the lifestyles that stray away from the typical "happy-nucleur-family-in-windenberg" type stuff and instead sheds light onto the other side of the pond. I'm on Windows, play with almost every pack due to a beautiful thing called ✨piracy✨, been in the game since the month it released (in case you need to reach out to someone seasoned for troubleshooting), and am currently using 5+ GB of cc/scripts.

WCIF friendly and I hope I can actually help you in that regard through my shitmix of a folder!

Going forward, since you will encounter content in this pinned post that some in the community have had literal tantrums about, I would like to state ✨EA is a leech, delivers broken content again and again for a loaded price and doesn't deserve your morality✨ and I, as someone who has been pirating since 2005, will keep pirating it's content and advocating for others to do so. In the terms of me sharing my own + others mod folders, I also give 0 fucks about someone losing .3 cents of ad revenue as I believe internet ads are literal acidic dogshit and shouldn't exist.

→Tags for this blog←

#thebuildtag [my own builds]

#thescenerytag [scenery edits]

#thelifetag [portrait/life shots]

#thememetag [meme/shitposts/glitches]

#favbuilds [builds i love by others]

#favcontenttag [content i love by others]

The Masterposts!

◤Anadius's Twitter (site in bio)

→Kinda speaks for itself. Kudus to this guy for his work & time in creating such programs for our community!

◤Blogger who compiles DLC content made BGC by various creators

→An absolute godsend before I got the courage to tell EA to go fuck itself and just rip their entire game + all their packs. These creators are absolutely amazing for doing this♡

◤Sims 4 Mod Manager

→Vital in any scenario when sorting mods/cc due to it's access of all the thumbnails, but you just gotta have this if you're gonna download someone's 50+ GB mod folders like I tend to do. Kudos to this guy as well for an amazing, user friendly program!

◤Sims 4 Price Call Out

→A while back I made a post calling out the insane price EA makes for content that lacks its worth + is almost always broken upon release, leaving us to fix it. This post is updated every few months and is there to show you just how much your paying for assets that lack functionality + are bare minimum in terms of design.

◤Paysitesmustbedestroyed + TS4Rebels

→Both sites hold cc content that is blocked behind paywalls.

◤My personal Mod Folder + recommended/best scripts↓

→*take note as its been a few patches since I made this list and folder, both could be out of date though as of today (04/04/24) it works- check with creator pages/popular conflict detectors if worried*

Mod Folder (5+ GB)

Script List w/ links

•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡

Though this blog is mainly a simblr-story type blog, it will also feature CC I find appealing + reblogs of other simmer's gameplay. If you find yourself ever with a broken game, need to find CC, or just need basic troubleshooting help, shoot me an ask/PM and I'll try my best to help!! Also, though it's pretty abandoned, my older storylines are over on insta @ hoodsimz if you want to check it out

[recovering-radqueers]

"Recovering Radqueer" using transabled and transharm

Anonymous sent: I'm a "recovering radqueer" but I still use transIDs, even the "harmful" ones like transabled and transharmed/ful. They're the only words that meaningfully describe my experience. The anti-transition stance of Dissomei just doesn't work for me when I fully intend to remove an eye and I know nobody in that community would approve. I want to get away from the radqueer community but they are the only ones who will accept me. Every anti-radqueer blog I talk to just spits slurs and tells me to kill myself over my identity. Do you have any advice? Other labels that aren't anti-transition? Blogs that are pro-transID but anti radqueer that I can interact with to separate myself from all the abusers in the RQC?

Hey there, I'm sorry to hear that you've been told to kill yourself. I don't believe anyone deserves that and that's not fair to you.

I can absolutely understand wanting to still use transIDs, and the reasons you gave definitely are common. It sounds like you have some serious intentions, and while obviously I don't want anyone to harm themselves in general, I do also acknowledge that serious dysphoria makes it feel unavoidable. It reminds me a lot, in fact, of people with BID who have performed self amputation. At the end of the day, everyone deserves a chance to be happy - so don't worry, no judgement on that end.

Whether or not your wants/needs are understood by others, it’s important to honor that you’re experiencing something very real that makes you feel connected to these identities. The language you use to describe your experience doesn’t have to come from a bigoted/harmful place. It does suck, though, when it feels like there aren't exactly the right words to describe your identity. :(

Identity-wise:

Some people do genuinely use "transabled" in a 100% good-faith, non-radqueer-associated way. As far as I'm aware, this originated in the BID community, so if it's possible you may fit that disorder's criteria, you could switch to identifying as that. A 100% good-faith, non-radqueer-associated way transabled person. There's even a pride flag for this by antiradqueer if you like.

I recently heard of the term "dysfirming" to be a substitute for "transitioning" that applies to some atypical dysphoria-influenced identities. I don't know if this would be a helpful term?

I would suggest looking into communities focused on body mods, body autonomy, trauma recovery, and identity exploration. Find forums, Discords, Subreddits, etc, and see if it's a space you can vibe with. I think you could potentially find some people who think similarly to you. If you want me to specifically look and link you to some places, feel free to send another ask.

Dissomei as a term actually isn't anti transition! You can see a couple of quotes from the creator on this page, and one mentions that even amputations are accepted. Of course, it'll always be up to you what term you want to use.

Desirdae (Coining post)

Sensus (Coining post)

If you can do some introspection and try to pin down why you identify as any transharmful labels, it might be helpful. For example, if you wanted people to see you as dangerous, maybe a presentation label related to danger/violence, or perspesque (coining post). If it's paraphila-related, maybe Paraphikitós/Paramenos (coining post).

Intenxper (Coining post)

-vior (Coining post)

Archetrope (Tag)

Neurowiry (Coining post)

Enviren (Coining post)

Also general tips:

Find a therapist if you haven't already. I know, you've probably heard "get therapy!!!" a lot, haha, but I don't mean "get into therapy so they can make you stop identifying the way that you do". A truly good therapist would be someone you can trust to talk about how you feel and that includes being transID. And they could also direct you to any local IRL groups that might be good places to hang out!

Phew, sorry my response was so long! Whatever you decide to do, I wish you good luck! Please feel free to send another ask for follow-ups, specific advice, or just to say hi, okay?

-Mod Ally🍄

[booklovertwilight]

I'm really sorry about what happened to your fic. I'm sorry if it's a stressor or anything (You don't have to answer this if you're not in the right headspace for it) but do you have any idea why they might have targeted that fic in particular? Judging by AO3's TOS, there's absolutely no reason they should have done that. I'm just worried that if it happened to you, it might happen to other people too.

Thank you for your sympathy. It is in fact a major stressor, even so long after it happened... that fic really mattered a lot to me, and I often came back to read the nice comments people had left on it when I was having bad days. Those are all gone now.

I don't know exactly why they took it down, but I have a guess. The idea came from an orphaned fic, and the first few chapters were very similar (before it diverged around chapter 4). In a way it was a fanfic of Death Note and also a fanfic of another fanfic. However, I wasn't able to credit the author with the inspiration, because I had no idea who the author was. Orphaned fics work like that. I did link to the inspiration fic in the notes, but... I guess that wasn't good enough...?For a long time I was confused. I all cited the sources of my story. I tagged it as a divergence. What else was I supposed to do?

Then, after a while, I realized (while publishing another work) that there was an easily-overlooked little checkbox in the work-creation menu, "this work is based on another work". I wondered if, perhaps, I should have checked it for What I've Done--if that would have solved the problem and kept the mods from coming after me. I certainly would have checked it, if I'd known it existed. But that wasn't a mechanic on FFnet, where I started writing fanfic - what we did back then was just link to the inspiration fic in the summary. (Which is what I did!)

Not a clue if this would have fixed it, honestly--maybe not. And, even if that is the problem... well, it's weird. "This is too similar to another work" is a weird criticism to level against a fanfiction. The whole point of fanfic, and the whole reason for AO3's existence, is that fanwork is too similar to one or more existing published works. If my speculation on the source of the error is correct, I should never have had to speculate: the mods should have told me about it in their emails. And, while they're at it, their interface should be more friendly to fanfic-of-fanfic writers, since fanfic is their whole thing.

But anyway, that's the story. If the error is generalizable, it is "failing to tick the little checkbox in the work creation screen". I will certainly not be making that mistake again.

I would put the work back up, now: someone wrote a sequel to What I've Done that now lacks its relevant context. But I worry that if I did so, the mods might just delete my account in its entirety. They do seem to be capricious like that.

This whole incident has put a sour taste in my mouth regarding fanfiction in general and AO3 in specific, so that's one reason (of many) that I haven't been updating my other fics very much. Sorry about that.

Thanks for asking about this. It makes me happy that people still care about this story. And, just in case you don't already have it, here is the google doc where you can still read it.

[dfoanthology]

Vault Interviews #1

Thank you to all of those who supported this project and continue to do so. It's because of your overwhelming support that we are able to get this far in our project and reach so many sketch goals! Be sure to get your copy of the zine before it's gone! Click here for the link. With no further ado, since many of you may not know the inner workings of a zine, we asked our contributor to give us their thoughts!

Contributor: @mcfanely

How was your experience with being a contributor been?

Pretty awesome! This was my first ever zine and to be in one surrounded by so many amazing artists and writers has been incredible!! Just being welcomed into the server was a constant stream of "YOU DREW XX", "YOU WROTE YY" I was screaming for a good few days as people joined - overall, I'm honoured to have been a part of this project!!

Have you learned anything new about the Zine process or about your own skill process? If so, what? 

Talk to people more? Even though I do a lot, BUT screaming at someone about how much I love their art and writing has made me a fair few new friends!!

What advice would you give to others about being a contributor? 

Do it. Do it, do it. I was absolutely terrified about joining but the support within Zines from both Tue mods and the other contributors is AMAZING, you won't flounder, you can ask anything at any time, you're not just left to your own devices and have no clue what you're doing! There is always amazing support, so don't feel like you'll not know what you're doing - half the time I had no clue but everything still worked!😂 Don't be scared to just DO - and if you have any questions, shoot me a message! I'll be more than ready to quell your worries, Zines are so fun and nothing at all to fear!

Anything else you would like to mention? (A thanks or last piece of advice) 

Mainly thanking the amazing mods! They've done so SO much work for this zine; being a contributor is easy because my work is producing something and then I'm done, the little bits of behind the scenes stuff that I've been party to, it sounds so hectic and yet the mods make it seem to fluid and faultless - so please throw love at them all!! This wouldn't be possible without their drive to see this project through!

[genderheaven]

excuse me for this being a post full of drama

"i" is used loosely before, the person who used to run this blog has split multiple times

- shaun/(i genuinely do not know what name they might go by now because i’ve been making a point to not check up on people from my mogai days, sorry) DID reblog that post that caused me to send that (shitty) message, they are literally a mod on that mogai wiki critism blog and at the time it had no indicator there were other mods so at the time when they reblogged that post telling “i hope all you mods burn” i really thought they had just reblogged it and then lied in their next post on kenochoric and said “i never reblogged that post.” i had been discussing the post with my therapist at the time in private and my therapist had repeatedly described it as a borderline threat, so how i saw it was that someone who i used to respect quite a lot reblogged a borderline threat against me and other mods and then acted like they didn't. after this i had a more extreme breakdown and i think i may have been delusional at different points, which is part of the reason a lot of my posts after that got... weird and some got deleted quickly. not an excuse but i’d like to EXPLAIN this and give some context.

- never doxxed rogue. doxxing can kill people and disgusts me on a moral basis. rogue has said in private emails that lo thinks the wiki page i made about lov is doxxing. it’s not. (it WAS rude and a breach of privacy and didn’t really need to exist. still not doxxing, did not contain a literal shred of information that counts as doxxing.) rogue was linked to four or five actual legal websites by the person who was maintaing the NCB on my behalf with the definition of doxxing, to say “no, your claim that this wiki page was doxxxing is wrong,” and rogue quite literally responded with “but my friends said it is.” this implies that rogue literally ignored actual legal professionals over like.. proship friends. i think the things i did to rogue were mean and uncessary but rogue has also used the scary word “dox” as a tool to silence supports of me/old me pre-splitting, while lo KNOWS that the wiki page was not a dox. mean and not needed? yeah, absolutely, i feel a lot of guilt over it and if i could go back in time and slap myself i would.

- i don’t tell people to kill themselves. i haven’t really checked but i have ZERO doubt there’s still never been any evidence that i told some random 16 year old to kill themselves. in fact i was literally silently making an effort to stop interacting with minors (just because of my age making me worried about making people uncomfortable) so from my perspective this accusation is all kinds of wild.

i’m still incredibly upset that someone as smart as dexter would think it’s okay to post an ask like that and leave NO comments at first about how he received no evidence of it and i really do hope that in the future mogai tumblr remembers that this isn’t the first time someone has sent an anon to whatever random mogai blogs have their asks open, saying that i did XYZ. remember when tgce was going to every blog they absolutely could and telling them i was antisemitic and then never providing evidence when asked but just talking about how shitty i am? yeah.

- the different carrds that i made no longer belong to me and haven’t been in my possession since this all happened, they’re not affiliated with me at all anymore so if you’ve removed links to them because they’re associated with Smelly Bad Guy i wouldn’t worry about that, i literally can’t edit them or anything now

figured out shortly after this that i have ocd and autism and i’m starting to slip and not be able to fight compulsions to come back here and comment so i think i’m just gonna outright delete the email this account is atatched to so i can’t get back in after this

with all that being said though: i'm sorry.

i don’t want forgiveness or to be defended, to be honest, so please just don’t. i’m very aware every action i took at this point was just asinine and rude and downright mean and hurting people and to say the least i’m not happy with myself for it

also: i’m no longer making any sort of mogai/resource-related accounts, so please know if you see anybody with an ezgendr/genderheaven/etc related url on another site it is ABSOLUTELY not me, i’ve seen fake usernames on other sites which kind of freaks me out so again that’s NOT legitimate

thank you for reading and i’m sorry, please know that there isn’t a single action i took that i don’t regret extremely

final note: if you're referring to me/old me pre splitting, please don't use the name "ez". our system's split was kind of violent and traumatizing and we've come to refer to it like "ez" dying. we would really like if people, especially those of you who outright knew me/us when i went by kris instead, didn't call me/us ez. mentioning the url ezgender is one thing because that was our actual url but people don't switch back to a name that this headmate no longer wanted to be called even when he was alive. never gonan stop you from being upset with me/us because there's a lot of legit reasons to but please don't with this name especially if we outright spoke to each other while it was "kris" instead

[wolfstarwritingchallenges]

🎲 Wolfstar Roll The Dice Challenge - Christmas Edition | Rules & Information 🎲

The Wolfstar Roll The Dice Challenge - Christmas Edition is here! 🎲

The schedule : 

10 November : The first day to get a prompt 15 November : The AO3 Collection opens 27 December : The final day to get a new prompt 31 December : The AO3 Collection closes

Just a few simple rules & guidelines for this challenge :

- Both fics and art are welcome for this challenge. There is no minimum or maximum word count, and all forms of art (moodboard, drawing, fan video etc.) are welcome.

- This is a prompt-based challenge. Every prompt you'll receive consists of three different things; a Christmas-related prompt (this could be an item, a song, a sentence etc.), a word you need to use in your work, and an emotion. To receive a prompt, you can send me a message here on Tumblr, or if you don't have a Tumblr account you can send me an anon ask with your email (which I will not publish) and I will email you a prompt.

- There are 10 different Christmas prompts, words and emotions. When you ask for a prompt, I will roll a virtual dice three times to see which prompt, word and emotion will make up your final prompt.

- I know that not everyone is comfortable with, or wants to create Christmas-themed works. This is absolutely fine! The prompts are Christmas-themed, but you can interpret them any way you like, and your work does not have to be Christmas-themed. For example, if the Christmas part of your prompt is Santa, you can write about someone who likes to give presents. But, if you still feel like you receive a prompt that you really can’t work with, no worries! You can skip up to three prompts during the duration of this challenge. Just let me know, and I’ll roll the dice for a new prompt.

- All works posted to the AO3 Collection will be shared to the Tumblr page. Please give it up to 48 hours for me to share your work to Tumblr. If it hasn’t been shared after that time, there’s a chance I have missed it. Then feel free to send me a message to remind me to share it.

- If you only post your work to Tumblr / Wattpad etc. and you want it shared to the page, please send me a message with the following information and a link to your work. :

- Title : - Rating : - Warnings (if any) : - Summary :

- You can create as many works for this challenge as you like, but you can only request one prompt at a time. And make sure to post your work(s) before the 31st of December.

- Works for this challenge have to be new. Older works that fit the prompt will not be accepted into the AO3 collection or shared to the Tumblr page.

- This is a Wolfstar challenge, so the main focus of your story has to be Remus & Sirius. But feel free to add any other characters you like.

- Any rating or theme is allowed for the challenge. But please make sure to put up the correct tags, and to add a warning if your story contains things like MCD, Violence, Non-Con etc.

- Prompts for the Wolfstar Roll The Dice Challenge - Christmas Edition may be combined with prompts for other challenges, but please make sure to check with the mods for those other challenges / fests as well!

- A masterlist of all the stories written for this challenge will be shared on this Tumblr page after the challenge has ended.

If you have any questions, just send me a message! ❤️

PS. You can check out the works that were written for our previous edition of Wolfstar Roll The Dice Challenge here.

[hpfests]

🎲 Wolfstar Roll The Dice - Christmas Edition | Rules & Information 🎲

The Wolfstar Roll The Dice Challenge - Christmas Edition is here! 🎲

The schedule : 

10 November : The first day to get a prompt 15 November : The AO3 Collection opens 27 December : The final day to get a new prompt 31 December : The AO3 Collection closes

Just a few simple rules & guidelines for this challenge :

- Both fics and art are welcome for this challenge. There is no minimum or maximum word count, and all forms of art (moodboard, drawing, fan video etc.) are welcome.

- This is a prompt-based challenge. Every prompt you’ll receive consists of three different things; a Christmas-related prompt (this could be an item, a song, a sentence etc.), a word you need to use in your work, and an emotion. To receive a prompt, you can send me a message here on Tumblr, or if you don’t have a Tumblr account you can send me an anon ask with your email (which I will not publish) and I will email you a prompt.

- There are 10 different Christmas prompts, words and emotions. When you ask for a prompt, I will roll a virtual dice three times to see which prompt, word and emotion will make up your final prompt.

- I know that not everyone is comfortable with, or wants to create Christmas-themed works. This is absolutely fine! The prompts are Christmas-themed, but you can interpret them any way you like, and your work does not have to be Christmas-themed. For example, if the Christmas part of your prompt is Santa, you can write about someone who likes to give presents. But, if you still feel like you receive a prompt that you really can’t work with, no worries! You can skip up to three prompts during the duration of this challenge. Just let me know, and I’ll roll the dice for a new prompt.

- All works posted to the AO3 Collection will be shared to the Tumblr page. Please give it up to 48 hours for me to share your work to Tumblr. If it hasn’t been shared after that time, there’s a chance I have missed it. Then feel free to send me a message to remind me to share it.

- If you only post your work to Tumblr / Wattpad etc. and you want it shared to the page, please send me a message with the following information and a link to your work. :

- Title : - Rating : - Warnings (if any) : - Summary :

- You can create as many works for this challenge as you like, but you can only request one prompt at a time. And make sure to post your work(s) before the 31st of December.

- Works for this challenge have to be new. Older works that fit the prompt will not be accepted into the AO3 collection or shared to the Tumblr page.

- This is a Wolfstar challenge, so the main focus of your story has to be Remus & Sirius. But feel free to add any other characters you like.

- Any rating or theme is allowed for the challenge. But please make sure to put up the correct tags, and to add a warning if your story contains things like MCD, Violence, Non-Con etc.

- Prompts for the Wolfstar Roll The Dice Challenge - Christmas Edition may be combined with prompts for other challenges, but please make sure to check with the mods for those other challenges / fests as well!

- A masterlist of all the stories written for this challenge will be shared on this Tumblr page after the challenge has ended.

If you have any questions, just send me a message over at Wolfstar Writing Challenges! ❤️

PS. You can check out the works that were written for our previous edition of Wolfstar Roll The Dice Challenge here.

[the-bjd-community-confess]

More Divaz confos

Mod: Round two of these, previously: link. There’s some interesting customer reviews in this batch (5 and 8) which may be useful to readers.

1.Vic3mage "the secret bjdivaz vip group is just pictures of boxes coming in and going out". Yeah, between the bitching about d0llshe, asking people to post on doa for them, dunking on ex-customers, posting pics of random doll parts that they can't identify which doll they're supposed to go with, whining about how little money they make, whining when ppl e-mail them, whining. Yeah, other than that it's just boxes, and alpacas u can buy off amazon anyway lol.

~Anonymous

2.The butthurt users crying and guilttripping under every Divaz confession who have never been seen before elsewhere on this blog are extremely unsuspicious and unproblematic and definitely unconnected to Divaz and unbiased in every possible way

/s

~Anonymous

3.idk shit abt bjd1vas but v1cemage i can absolutely tell you the shit about ch0o is 100% accurate, fucker's got a long, long history of being an awful little man that stretches well beyond his involvement in the doll community. between the two i'd still trust bjd1vas over ch00 ch00 the fool any day!

~Anonymous

4.The Z3st and Div4s thing is really silly and both entities were being shady but did they really have to take the DZ waiting room down with them? :( He had even made a separate thread about it......

~Anonymous 

5. RE: BJD Divaz

I’ve been a customer of BJD Divaz since they first started, when it was only run by Chart3rline. I even contacted other BJD companies trying to persuade them to work with Divaz as their US representative. Most declined because they didnt like D's commission fee, but I was able to persuade a few of them.

I asked them to purchase a doll off DOA because I couldnt afford the asking price, and while they did, I found out later that instead of agreeing to purchase the seller's price, they negotiated the price to be lower. This significantly cheaper price was not passed down to me. I paid the full price +the commission fee based on that full price. I am disappointed I was not told this. This is when I stopped viewing them as a "friend" and instead, as a business. I dont hold this against them, it’s context to what Im going to say later.

I’ve stopped purchasing from D after my recent order from them. This company usually takes 3 or less months to make a doll. I’ve ordered the doll from D and it took 11 months. They let me know it arrived to them in March and that it will be shipped soon, except it only shipped on July, and only after I sent them several "reminder" emails. Before people in the comments try to put the blame on me for not sending a reminder soon, please keep in mind that I acknowledged the email in March and confirmed everything and they keep stressing to not send them emails because they are busy, I’ve emailed once every month since. I’ve since switched to ACBJD and Ive been happy with communication and the dolls ordered. I imagine ACBJD gets the same amount of emails, but they dont berate their customers if they email more than once.

I regret when people wanted a D0llshe, but not deal with him, I always recommended D. I would warn people of ordering directly and instead go through D. They assured buyers they would be handling communication and all the efforts so they wouldnt worry, except they didn’t. A person that I’ve recommended D to, who surpassed 2 years, keeps messaging me for help because D wouldnt reply to their emails. She is respectful, sweet and a timid person, not a Karen. This person, emailed D without a reply so would email a week later, only to be told that their email would be pushed down to the bottom if emailed again. No response, so she goes to FB and IG, who both tell her to email because they arent the person running orders. Finally got a response that they would get their refund, after D0llshe sends D's payment, but minus the PP fees. 3 months later and theres no refund, only a promise of them getting it later. Why is the customer missing out on fees when they have no doll? Customer emails d0llshe and he says he cant offer refund, because they didn’t order through them, which is understandable, but when all options are out for a customer, do you blame them for chargebacks?

If anyone files a chargeback, D will be blacklisting them from every company they rep, as in blacklisting you from buying direct from those companies. I urge everyone who has negative experiences with D to email the companies they rep instead of venting on confession blogs, and writing your experiences on social media. Make it count and send letters to the companies they represent, and please provide proof because they will try to make you out to be a liar.

Speaking of, they made vague posts on cl0ver singing for charging paypal fees, and that they offer guarantees as an official dealer, except when offering refunds, to non delivered products I might add, they are keeping the fees, and offered no help with d0llshe, even before they ended their dealership with them. Someone on DOA was told to not email them unless the wait time surpassed 1.5 years. They are even so petty that they post screenshots with the full name and address (dox) of the customer on purpose and then delete it out a day later as if they just realized their "mistake".

Before you try to make excuses for them about the fires, keep in mind, I am dealing with a business. The lower price negotiation with the DOA sale, I am in no way obligated to give them a pass or treat them as a friend when they made it clear that our relationship is strictly business. Their issues, are not my issues. D0lk got dragged for not shipping in time, others, including artisans, got dragged for being so late with communication and sending back refunds for cancelled orders. Why does D get to be exempt?

The supporters are the worst part of this, because of instead of being honest so D can improve, they support them for being "real". For example, look how micemage words it, to make it seem like this criticism is from one person, when there are people on addicts who didn’t have good experience. Check the bjd dealers tag here, you will see the supporters in the comments going off on any and all criticism of D. Some have sane comments, but the majority are cult like and try to identify the person venting as if it’s one person. Addicts deletes threads with criticism asking people to instead direct it to their feedback group; which lets be honest, no one is going to do because its "not that bad", and most dont want to join a new group, which is mostly dead.

This is my first and last confession on D, I’ve emailed each company they rep and told them my experience as well as contacting the 3 month wait company, with screenshots of my order, how they handled it, and the excuse they used to put blame on the company for being so late (package arrived march to D, 4 months to be shipped is on D, not the company). I’m not using company or order details because I know they are petty enough to try to identify me and publicly shame me like they have to others. This and the threat of suing is why not many people like to go public with their experience. They just keep feedback neutral, move on and never deal with again.

~Anonymous

6. Listen, I can't take you seriously in regards to BJD!vas because you're posting on a confession blog. If you were serious, you would have posted in buyer beware groups, DoA reviews or the board to get things resolved, or you would have made a complaint to the BBB. And your language makes you come off more as someone with an agenda rather than someone who is trying to warn people. If shipping is the issue, stop buying with standard shipping and pay the extra price for express shipping. I saw one of you complain that it sat with them for 20 days; that's probably because you're not the only one and they more than likely have a queue to check and then ship out. Do mistakes happen? Yes, because we're human. I've been in this hobby for a few years now and it seems like most people know you're going to have to wait, sometimes even outside the expected wait time. And shipping something as big as a doll is a timely endeavor. I shouldn't have to say that.

My point is simply to stop complaining on an confession board and either take it to the places previously mentioned. Posting here behind the anonymous mask makes you sound like a petulant child who didn't get their way right away.

~Anonymous

7.My only issue with BJD Divaz is how I never get any updates. Every email, they tell me to join their facebook page for status updates. I dont have a FB and I dont want to create one. I bought my doll through their website, updates should be posted on their website, or they could send me an email. That isnt asking much.

~Anonymous

8. Since there seems to be a lot of either "completely negative everything sucks" or "everything was sunshine and rainbows" confessions about bjd!vaz I thought I'd chime in with a neutral review.

PROS

-They were always polite and professional in their emails, and gave me very detailed answers to my questions.

-I got exactly what I ordered, so no mix ups or missing parts or anything like that.

-I think them being forthcoming about personal issues (only one person on staff, illness, the flooding isue etc.) on social media is good, since it keeps customers updated as to why there might be delays.

-If you live in the US their shipping is very reasonable.

CONS

-Reply times were varied. Sometimes it could take over a week, sometimes a couple hours.

-My order took about 10mo which, when comparing to other people who ordered through the same company around the same time, was about 3x as long as if I bought it direct and 2x as long if I had gone through a different dealer. I get some of the waiting time is out of their control, but it was kind of ridiculous.

-They dont necessarily ship the same day they send you a tracking number. I wish they said something like, "Here's your tracking number, our pickup is Xday so it should start moving after that" just so I could be aware.

All in all no major complaints. I got my doll and all that. Their lone employee is clearly overwhelmed. I hope they hire another person, if only to give the one a break.

Truthfully, I most likely won't buy through them again. I'd rather pay the international shipping and go direct, than deal with the extensive wait time. I'd still recommend them to someone looking for a very long layaway, though. I paid in full, but if I had a 12mo layaway I would've never known they weren't ready to ship my doll until month 10.

~Anonymous

[starkerxstarker]

Peter’s Lip Piercing

Pairing: Peter Parker/Tony Stark

Rating: E

Words: 1776

Warnings: Just some smut

Summary: Peter gets his lip pierced on a whim. Unfortunately, that means no kissing or giving bl0wjobs until its healed. Good thing Tony has some ideas on what to do in the meantime.

Read on Ao3

NOTE: Because of tumblr constantly knocking my stuff out of the tags, bad words above the read more are minorly censored in an effort to keep it in the tags. Its annoying that tumblr is like this but everything is fully uncensored on the Ao3 link above. 

Peter got it done on a whim. He had always been interested but never worked up the courage. That is, until today. He walked out of the tattoo and piercing shop with a swollen lip, a platinum stud, and a pamphlet on how to take care of the piercing. 

The actual process hadn't hurt as much as he feared. Sure, it wasn't pleasant, but it was only a moment of pain and then it was done. The anxiety leading up to it was the worst part. 

The man who did his piercing gave him a rundown of how to keep the piercing healthy while it healed. Notability, don't move the jewelry around, keep excellent oral hygiene, avoid spicy food. But one particular instruction stuck out to Peter. No kissing or giving oral séx until the piercing fully healed. Which would be at least three months. And that, to be honest, f-cking sucked.

Peter wasn't sure if he could survive three whole months without getting Tony's d!ck in his mouth, or even just getting to kiss his boyfriend. 

The prospect of it became even more difficult when as soon as Peter walked in the door and Tony noticed the new addition to Peter's face, he looked like he wanted to absolutely devour him. Peter had to cover his own mouth and gently push Tony back. Peter immediately explains himself upon seeing the confusion in Tony's eyes at the rejection. "No kissing until it's fully healed. Or bl0wjobs. Bacteria could get the piercing infected."

Tony nods in understanding but still replies, "You come home looking like that and you're telling me I can't even kiss you?"

"For at least three months," Peter confirms with a grimace. 

"Three months?!?!?" Tony repeats in disbelief. Whether that be about the lack of kissing or lack of head, Peter wasn't sure. 

"Yeah..." he trails off awkwardly. "But do you like it?" Peter asks, hopeful for Tony's approval. 

"Baby, I love it, "Tony replies low. "You're already sexy, but it makes me want to eat you up even more." Tony cups Peter's face in his hands and caresses his cheeks, careful to avoid disturbing his lip.

"Well..." Peter grins mischievously, "There's other places to kiss me besides my lips. And there's no rule about me receiving head." 

Tony chuckles, "You little shit." Tony has to restrain himself from covering Peter's lips with his own and instead settles for dragging Peter off to the bedroom.

Peter stumbles as he’s pulled along, trying to kick his shoes off along the way before they hit the bed. Tony pushes Peter onto the bed and he settles himself back on the pillows carefully pulling his shirt off to avoid brushing his lip as Tony removes his own shirt with much less grace. With both their shirts discarded to the floor, Tony climbs onto the bed, over top Peter, caging him under him on all fours. Tony lets out a half aroused, half a frustrated groan, “God, I wish I could kiss the hell out of you right now.”

And before Peter can make any smart remark about how he can, just not the lips, Tony has already got with the program and is pressing warm lips and hot tongue to the center of Peter’s throat. Peter hums softly in satisfaction, which turns into a sharp gasp when Tony nips at his skin. Peter wraps his arms around Tony’s back pulling him closer to his body and Tony lets himself fall from his knees to slot one thigh between Peter’s. 

Peter greedily ruts his quickly swelling cock up against the pressure of Tony’s leg as Tony kisses up Peter’s jaw, careful to give Peter’s lip ring ample room. Tony’s stubble is rough against Peter’s skin in contrast to Tony’s softer lips and it makes him shiver. Tony slowly makes his way back down to the side of Peter’s neck, where he draws a whine out of Peter by harshly sucking on Peter’s skin, no doubt leaving a blooming bruise behind, that he soothes with a lick and a gentle kiss before moving lower to Peter’s collarbone.

Peter wants nothing more than to pull Tony’s face up and feel Tony’s lips and tongue against his own, but since he can’t do that, what Tony is doing right now is pretty damn good. Tony moves south from Peter’s lovingly abused collarbone to his chest, planting wet kisses in a sort of spiral around Peter’s pecs before wrapping his lips around a nipple. The sensitive flesh hardens under the attention and Peter tangles his hands tightly in Tony’s hair, pulling with a breathy sigh. Tony grunts softly at the light pleasurable pain in his scalp, and laves his tongue over the nub, and worries it between his teeth before he pulls away, only to award Peter’s other nipple the same attention. 

Appreciative groans and gasps are pulled from Peter with every new place Tony maps with his lips, teeth, and tongue. Tony works over Peter’s body, licking, kissing, sucking, and occasionally biting every piece of skin available to him, worshiping Peter’s body inch by inch, removing any clothing that dares get in his way. Kisses down Peter’s sternum, proper attention paid to each muscle in Peter’s well defined six-pack, hickeys sucked into his hip bones, tongue dragged along the crease of his v-lines, love bites bitten into his soft thighs.  

By the time Tony actually touches Peter’s cock, Peter himself is an impatient, begging mess wriggling under Tony’s mouth and hands. It only takes one desperate whine of, “Please fucking suck me,” for Tony’s teasing, feather light kisses to the head and shaft to turn into Tony’s lips happily wrapped around Peter’s dick, giving him a thoroughly enthusiastic blowjob that has him coming not long after. 

***

It's three months and four days later when Tony is greeted by Peter bounding in the door, back from his appointment at the body mod shop with the widest grin, and a new shiny hoop gracing his bottom lip, replacing his starting stud. Within moments Tony’s breath is knocked out of him with a soft “umph” as Peter enthusiastically crashes against his body and presses their lips together for the first time in months. And god, it feels good. Familiar. Except for the addition of the metal ring, firmer and cooler than the rest of Peter’s soft and demanding lips. It's definitely not the first time Tony has kissed someone with piercings, but this is Peter and it's been far too long since he’s gotten to feel his lover’s lips, so it’s intoxicating. 

Soon Peter’s tongue is demanding entrance to Tony’s mouth which he immediately gives, swallowing Peter’s groan as his own tongue presses into Peter’s mouth as well. Peter’s hands frantically try to force their way under Tony’s shirt, grappling for bare skin as he starts to walk Tony backwards towards the bedroom, groaning against Tony’s lips, “God, I’ve fucking missed this”. 

Tony can’t agree more as his back thumps against their bedroom door and he blindly reaches behind him to turn the handle, popping the door open. They stumble into the room while Peter’s hands have moved on to working at getting Tony’s pants out of the way with quick success and Tony kicks them off as they pool around his ankles. His legs hit the bed and he pulls Peter down with him as he falls back on the blankets. Their lips don’t separate until Tony pulls Peter’s shirt over his head, but before the shirt even hits the floor, their lips are already pressed back together, tongues clumsily dancing in feverish need. 

They continue kissing, soaking each other up, Tony enjoying what he’s gone the past few torturous months without. Their hands blindly remove their remaining clothing, discarding it carelessly to be dealt with later. As soon as they’re both bare, Peter’s hand is wrapped around Tony’s cock, slowly stroking the length and for the first time since they hit the bed, Peter’s lips abandon Tony’s in favor of his neck. 

Tony groans, his dick finally getting some attention as Peter kisses, sucks, and licks his way down Tony’s body in an imitation of the treatment Tony’s often given him over the months in lieu of being able to kiss properly. But unlike Tony, who would sometimes spend over thirty minutes worshiping every inch of Peter’s body, sans lips, before finally getting to Peter’s dick, neither of them have that kind of patience at the moment after being denied for months, and Peter’s face is level with Tony’s cock in only a few moments. 

Peter only hesitates long enough to breathe out a reverent “finally” before wrapping his lips around the head of Tony’s cock and Tony drops his head back against the pillow letting out a loud moan of pleasure and relief. The wet heat of Peter’s mouth on him feeling like absolute heaven after going through the longest time without a blowjob in years. 

Peter seems to be enjoying himself equally as much, letting out a dramatic groan around Tony’s cock before sinking his lips down and taking more of Tony into his mouth. Tony hums and groans lowly as Peter sets a bobbing pace, using his tongue in sinful ways that make Tony never want to go even a day without Peter’s skillful mouth on him again. 

After going so long without, everything Peter does feels amazing. Peter’s tongue flicking at the head on the pull back and Tony bumping the back of Peter’s throat on the way in, Peter’s soft lips tight around his shaft, and even the smooth slide of the cool hoop of metal along Tony’s length are all building Tony up to an orgasm at record speed. It would be embarrassing in other circumstances, but for now Tony can’t even care because he’s waited well long enough for this. And if Peter’s lamenting over the lack of cum down his throat over the past few weeks is anything to go by, Peter won’t mind the expedited delivery of his prize either. 

Only a few moments and a couple skillful maneuvers later, Tony is coming with a shout and Peter is swallowing it all with a groan and not wasting a drop. “Cumslut,” Tony teases affectionately as Peter pulls back, licking his lips. 

“Maybe,” Peter concedes as he crawls back up the bed to be level with Tony, pressing a much softer, less frantic kiss to his lips than the ones they shared before. “So, I’m thinking about a tongue piercing next,” Peter says with a grin.

“Oh, hell no,” Tony responds, playfully swatting at Peter, “I’m never going that long without your mouth again.” 

[hprarepairfest]

Frequently Asked Questions

Here is a list of (most) previously asked questions about the fest.

You can also find some of these in #FAQ

Why the need to beta read? Also, why not use DMs to communicate tag changes and story changes? Having to add someone who is not a co-author as a co-author is a big ask. We require a beta reader in order to ensure that basic SPaG/flow issues have been corrected so that all fics are fest-ready for consumption. That way everyone can focus on enjoying all the lovely content worry-free! I understand that adding a mod account as a co-creator can be a big ask which is why we have stated it upfront so that if anyone has any issues with it they are fore-warned. It is entirely for functional reasons (adding fest tags, ability to check fest collection is added correctly, etc.) and will be removed once the work has been revealed. Anything the mods may feel require action, for example, the need for adding a warning tag, they will email or DM the creator and discuss it with them. No changes to the actual work will ever be made by a Mod.

Can we view the list of prompts before claiming opens? Yes. This year we will be trying Airtable for the first time, so please do be patient, but hopefully you’ll be able to see all prompts the moment you or anyone else submits them. If there are any spelling errors or anything you wish to change on your own prompt please feel free to contact us. 

How many prompts can we submit? 10! You can submit up to 10 prompts. You do not need to prompt in order to claim. You do not need to claim in order to prompt.

Are rare poly-ships okay for the fest? Yes! Any and all rare ships are welcome. As all Poly ships in the HP Universe have fewer than 1000 completed works in English they are all considered rare.

What will happen in the end with prompts that don't get claimed? Prompts from previous fests will be opened to be used by anyone. You can find prompts from previous years in the different tabs here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1v8C4EFKNCzGH7V44QET7TLXGLIzlat759KoCNN78Fls/edit?usp=sharing

How closely should fest works follow the DNLs (dislikes) of prompts? You don't have to at all. These are prompts, take them in whatever direction you feel comfortable with. All we ask is that you please do not gift your work to your prompter if they do not follow the prompt specifications.

Am I allowed to send the link of this discord to people who want to join the fest, or are planning on claiming a prompt? Yes, definitely! You can find the server invite here: https://discord.gg/EVAM2mX

Can we make our work part of a collection or series after the fest is over? Absolutely. When posting for the fest your work must be complete and stand-alone, after the fest is over you're free to add your work into different collections or add more works to a series involving your fest fic!

When it comes to submitting our submissions on Ao3, is there a fest-specific user name to tag for co-creator? Any specific fest collection to add to? And after all is posted to Ao3, is there anything else that needs to be done? All information on how to post to AO3 will have been sent out once you confirmed your email. If you're yet to confirm your email please do so and we can send out instructions right away. If you didn't receive a confirmation email, please let us know by sending us an email at hprarefestmod@gmail.com

Are collaborations between writers allowed? As in, could me and a friend claim a prompt together and write the fic together? Yes. We do ask that you please let us know you're doing so in the claiming form, and provide only one email address to make contact easier.

Can we Gift our work to someone on AO3? Absolutely you’re welcome to gift your work! Our only conditions on gifting: - if you’re gifting your work to your prompter please make sure that your work meets the Ship, likes, dislikes, and ratings of the prompt. -We ask that you only gift your work to those involved in this fest (eg. prompter, beta reader) This is because all works for this fest should be created specifically for this fest and not involved in other challenges. (If you self promoted and you want to gift to the person who inspired the story/art idea, that is fine)

Will multi-chaptered fics be shared with all chapters at the same time, or will we be able to stagger the uploading of our chapters? No. All works will be posted as one complete work. This includes works with multiple chapters. There are many claims and works for this fest, and to make posting go as smoothly as possible it is infeasible to post any works chapter by chapter.

Are self prompts allowed for this fest? Yes. There is/will be a self-prompt option in the Claiming Form.

Does this fest allow art/podfics? Yes. Absolutely! We welcome fanfiction, fanart, pod-fics, scripts. If you want to submit another form of work not listed here, feel free to send us an ask and we'll let you know!

If I need to drop out, should I dm someone or use the email? Please email us at hprarefestmod@gmail.com to let us know. That way we can connect the email to the claim, it just makes it a little easier for us. Please note there is no problem with anyone dropping out of the fest at any time, we just need to know is all.

Can stories be gen? Like can the story be about Sirius and Molly Weasley (for example...) but it's about their FRIENDSHIP or does it have to be a romance? Is it rare pair b/c there's the element of romance? This particular fest is for the romantic and sexual relationship/s between characters. However, if you're keen to write or read friendship content, please stay tuned for the HP Friendship Collection!

Are darker themes okay? Yes. Any that is allowable on AO3 is welcome in this fest. So long as the fic focuses on and is about a rare ship. We simply ask that all content in your work is clearly tagged.

In the post regarding the list of prompts, it says that prompts from the previous year are open to anyone. Does that mean we can claim those prompts for this year's fest? Or does it mean we can use those prompts outside of the HP Rare Pair Fest? Both! If you’re wanting to claim one of those prompts for this year's fest then it will be posted to this year’s fest collection as any other prompt. However, anyone is welcome to write for a previous year’s prompts at any time outside of the fest, simply let us know and we can bookmark the creation to the fest collection the prompt belongs to. Eg. if in a few months you decide to write a fic based off the 2020/21 list of prompts, then you can let us know when you post it to AO3 and a mod can bookmark it to the 2020/21 collection, and promote it on discord/tumblr if that is something you’d like.

How do I claim a prompt? Do I send you an email? I have found a prompt I like in the list. You can claim a prompt by filling out the claiming form. This can be found in #information when claiming is open. Can those of us who'll turn 18 in the next few months join or if one must already be over 18 to claim now? You can prompt or claim once you turn 18. If you turn while claiming is open, then you can claim on your birthday. What do the cell background colours mean on the prompt spreadsheet? (For previous year’s fests) If a square/text is shaded, that means the prompt was been claimed. Will confirmation emails go out after we've claimed a prompt? Yes. It may take a little while to send out the initial emails due to the quantity of claims received in the first day or two, but we do try our best. If you've not received a confirmation email after 48 hours please send us an email at hprarefestmod@gmail.com to let us know, this may be due to a spelling error or something along those lines.

[thebanguette]

About

SCHEDULE Signups: Jan 16th — Feb 15th Creation Period: Feb 15th — May 31st Posting Time: May 31st* * see F.A.Q.

RULES

Be kind!

No bigotry of any kind on the server.

Let us know if your work will be delayed or you have to bow out.

Have fun!

Join our Server here

F.A.Q.

Q. Why is it called the Banguette?

A big bang… but smaller! A Banguette, if you will (and we will). Fandom big bangs are challenges involving any type of fanwork! The Banguette is a closed big bang, which means participants will sign up in advance, and commit to producing a certain number of words, amount of art, etc. by the final deadline.

Q. Can anyone sign up?

Absolutely! There’s no requirements other than committing to the targets; anyone and everyone is welcome, regardless of skill level. The only goal is to create, and to have fun doing it. And if you don’t quite feel ready to jump in as a creator, you’re more than welcome to volunteer as a beta, either written or visual – just let us know which!

Q. What day will the Banguette be?

The final deadline for completing your works will be 23:59 UTC on May 31st (don’t worry, we’ll have a couple of check-ins just to make sure everyone’s on track and having a good time). After the final deadline, everyone will start posting works from June 1st leading up to our grand finale on June 7th, using the tag #banguette on tumblr and/or tagging the zine’s account (@thebanguette)

Q. Do I have to post my work on tumblr?

Nope! Any hosting platform is fine; just give us a link. (Do note however, for visual work, that imgur’s ToS disallows image embedding on other sites, so Flickr is a better choice here.) In addition, we’ll be creating an AO3 collection for anyone who wants to post their written or visual work there.

Q. Can I collaborate with other creators?

Absolutely! We will provide a channel where you can pitch the idea you want to work on, and anyone interested can get in touch! There’s no rules on how many people can collaborate on one project, and you can collaborate on someone else’s project while also doing your own thing – they’ll count as separate entries.

Q. I need feedback on my work; who do I call?

A beta! We’ll provide a channel and a handy-dandy script on our discord server so you can quickly and easily describe what kind of piece you’re producing, and what sort of help you’re looking for. Unfortunately, we can’t guarantee a beta will be available to check your work; contact one of our Mods in that case. If you want to phone a friend from outside a server, that’s fine too – just remember to credit them properly! If rather than a Beta, you’re looking for some general feedback, both the #writers-zone and #artists-zone chats are open to discuss your ideas and pieces in detail. Everyone can give feedback on any piece shared on there! Just mind the rules (which you can find in #welcome).

Q. Are there restrictions on the type of content we can make?

As both minors and adults can participate in the Banguette, we ask that any NSFW content be clearly labelled, and we’ll be separating SFW and NSFW spaces on our discord server. Apart from that, there’s no restrictions on what type of content you can make: you have complete creative control.

Q. What are the requirements?


Writers have to commit to producing at least one 5,000-word fic; there is no word count limit though, so feel free to let your imagination run wild! Artists must create at least one finished piece of art for the event - no restrictions on medium or size! Everyone can submit any number of works, as long as they’re ready by the May 31st deadline!

Q. How does posting work?

We’ll make a more detailed post once the Banguette starts, but the idea is to post in groups centered around a theme (e.g. “canon divergence/alternate universe”, or “les amis”) - one for each day of the Banguette’s week! It’s up to you which category you think fits your piece best, and if you’re making something that doesn’t quite fit into any category, no problem! Let us know and we’ll work with you to figure out the best posting date. We’ll release the full list of categories soon, so stay tuned!

if your question isn’t here, send us an ask!

[rarepair-haven]

Can we ask to join the discord server? Do we dm for it or-

hey! i did already send u an invite, but i saved ur ask so i could explain how we hand out the invites for our server on this blog, and also a bit about how our server works in general!

so first off, if you didn’t know, yes! this blog has a discord server! it was created by mod galli and i, (mod fae), to be a safe haven for all ships!

to get an invite, all you need to do is ask us on this blog off anon! we won’t be posting invites (or perma-invites) publicly. this helps us ward against raids or other undesirables. (i have had someone asking me for an invite on my main blog, which was a bit strange to wake up to. i did give them their invite, but we prefer you to ask us here please!)

mod galli and i, (the admins of the server), are usually the ones who hand out invites! you’ll usually receive a dm from one of us on tumblr. if your dms aren’t open, or you dont feel comfortable having your messages open, don’t worry! we’ll save your ask and send it back privately with your invite!

before we send out an invite to you though, we do have to check and clear your blog, which is why getting invites out takes so long sometimes (we have to do our checks and clear you before we can send you your invite, after all!). our server is pro-ship, and we don’t want any fighting in the server. all our mods, for example, are pro-dreammare, which is a pretty controversial topic in this fandom. we’d just rather avoid shipping discourse by not letting it in at all. ((and a note, we won’t be posting or tolerating shipping discourse on this blog either. all people who attempt to instigate discourse will be blocked from the blog)).

we also check a few other things - like i said before, we don’t want any “undesirable” people in the server, so we check the blog of each person who asks to make sure we’re not letting in anyone who might start fights concerning certain ideologies or stir up political debates or trouble. most people who ask for invites do pass our checks pretty easily, though we are human and we do make mistakes sometimes. we do try our absolute best to keep the server a safe environment for everyone in it though!

basically, all you have to do is ask off anon! we take care of the rest!

a bit more about how our server works: when you get in, you have to introduce yourself before you can see the rest of the server! this means introducing yourself, telling us your age*, telling us your pronouns (we’re neo-pronoun friendly, and will make a pronoun role for you!), linking/telling your blog or other social media (somewhere online where people can find you, a little promotion, as a treat), and two optional last options, which are telling us your favorite ship and a fun fact about you. (you can check the pins in our intro channel to find a guide for our intro requirements!)

*your age is a requirement. if you feel uncomfortable telling the server, you may put “Minor” or “Adult”. this is for your own safety and everyone in the server’s safety (because minor could be from 13-17, which is a huge difference, and adult could be from 18 to anywhere beyond). you won’t be allowed in unless you let us know! (and one last thing, a gentle reminder that you must be 13+ to be on discord).

these are our server rules; they cover pretty much everything you’ll need to know about how the server is run!

server participation does get rewarded, by the way! we’ll upgrade you to a full member if you participate in the server enough for long enough, and this comes with access to our promo channel

our current server is about two years old (though overall, the rarepair server has been around for about four years; we moved servers two years ago). we’ve been steadily growing since we created this blog three years ago, and we’re very close to 100 members in the server! i can say that our server is very very peaceful and positive, despite its size. it’s such a fantastic ship environment

so, this has been an rph discord server post! hope more of u guys will join us!!

-mod fae

[kittenshift-17]

Hi! How are you? I love your writing! There’s absolutely nothing you put out that I don’t like. I hope you’re doing well and enjoying life. I have a question to ask you. I want to start publishing my own writing, but I’m pretty nervous about it. I want to start small, so I wanted to post on FFN first since it’s where I started reading, but the warnings when you first sign up are kinda intimidating 😂 Like no grammatical errors?!?And ratings! What if I write something too explicit?!? Also, do you think the community is welcoming and nice? Or will all (if any) reviews I get be flames? Please advise😂 Again, I’m a huge fan of yours and I hope you’re doing well.

LOL, if you’ve read my stuff you’ll know I break the rules about no spelling/grammatical errors and about being too explicit right out the gate in pretty much every fic. People might comment occasionally, but the hard-fact is whomever mods on FFN is either super busy or doesn’t give a shit because even stories that are repeatedly reported for plagarism don’t get deleted unless the fans harass the theif into it...  There was a massive purge a while back (maybe a decade ago now?) where anything explicit was removed without warning by the mods, but that was a long time ago and no one seems to give a damn anymore what’s published there.

But if you’re worried about those things, use Ao3. Over there you can publish anything (literally, anything, no matter how sick/gross/fucked up/explicit) and as long as you use the right tags, no one minds. 

As for the community.... it depends on the fandom/ship.

I’ve found over time that the community over on AO3 is much more welcoming and much kinder for all fics that aren’t Harry Potter based, and that most just tend to be a bit kinder in general over there. FFN is okay for HP fics, but you’ve got to be careful about which ship. The Dramione & Romione shippers, for example, are extrememly unforgiving and if you’re not one of the top 10 writers of all time, you’ve got to have a hell of a story to claw your way onto their noticeboard in any positive light. I know the biggest reason people who publish HP fics for the dramione ship tend to pull them/quit writing them is because so many of the shippers tend to be vocally combative. 

It takes a pretty thick skin to persevere when they’re prone to flaming anyone who publishes anything that’s less than perfect, and forget it if it’s trope-y and someone “famous” in the fandom has used that trope/plot device before because they’ll crucify you for a copy-cat. And those that don’t bother flaming tend to just.... ignore you? Lots of people might see their read-count climbing while the review count stays miniscule because so many just don’t bother reviewing with anything encouraging. Some do, of course, angels that they are amongst the riff-raff, but the vast majority won’t say anything - or if they do, it will be one short review at the end of an entire story. Most readers these days also really don’t like open WIPs and won’t even think about opening a story until it’s complete because  they’ve “been burned too many times before” (insert eye-roll here). They’re all about binge-reading and instant gratification and have no concept of suspense building ( I blame streaming services for this).

I don’t want to discourage you, but I do want to warn you. I remember when I started out and I was hoping for reviews and all I got was squat and the occasional “Have you considered getting a beta?” kinds of comments (more eye-rolling). I don’t want to disillusion you to the idea of publishing and I hope you’ll try your hand at it despite my warnings about what you might encounter... 

Realisitically, most people are nice until you do something to annoy them. If you answer every comment in your next chapter, you’ll get flamed (seriously, never do this, it drives me mental when it looks like there’s another half-page of chapter content to read but it’s just 50 comments replying to reviews. There’s a PM button for that, use it at your leisure without interfering with chapter/word counts, for the love of God). If you leave snarky author-notes responding to rude people? Flamed. If you abandon a story just when it gets good? Whining and flames. But for the most part, the nice readers will read and might comment, and the few assholes will flame and if you react, they’ll keep flaming because it’s how they get their jollies, and all in all it’s an experience in learning not to base your own self-worth on the opinions of others because you’ll find quite quicky that: a) there’s no pleasing everyone, b) most people are NOT as smart as they think they are, c) some angels walk among us, and they are to be cherished.

Regarding ratings.... I tend to just mark everything as M to be on the safe side unless it’s pure fluff with nothing suggestive. T if there’s kissing but no nudity/hanky-panky (the shippers get MAAAAD if you mark it M and then don’t give their thirsty asses the smut).

Good luck! Shoot me a link if/when you decided to bite the bullet and publish something.

xx-Kitten.

[yoispookyweek]

Spooky Week FAQ’s

👻 What is Spooky Week?

Spooky Week is a week-long Yuri on Ice!!! themes event meant to help inspire content creators to create new content based on certain Halloween/Fall themed prompts

👻 Who can participate in this event?

Everyone is welcome to participate in this event!  If you are someone who loves both Halloween and Yuri on Ice, then you are in the right place! This event welcomes all types of content creators, works in any language, as well as all ships and pairings!

👻 Do I need to sign up to participate?

Nope! No sign up is necessary for participation! Even if you stumble across this event late or in the middle of the event week, everyone is more than welcome to join in on the fun. All you need to do in order to participate is to post content based on the prompts with the event tags sometime during the event week! 

👻 Are there any restrictions on what is created?

Nope, no restrictions! Feel free to create/write/draw/etc as much or as little as you’d like. Just be sure to use the appropriate tags when posting your creations! (Check out the rules page for more information about tagging/content warnings)

👻 Who are the mods for this event?

The mod for this year’s event is @mysticemerald​ (Mod Mystic) 

  👻 Where can I find a list of the prompts for this event?

Prompts will be released on August 22, 2020 so stay tuned for updates! 

👻 Are there Special Tags that will be used for this event?

There sure are! Tags are one of the easiest ways for us to find the things you have created for this event. The tags that will be used this year are #yoi spooky week and #yoi spooky week 2020, but don’t be afraid to ‘@��� us too if you’re worried, we won’t see the post! Also, when posting your work, don’t forget to include the prompt (e.g. Day 1: Theme B) somewhere in the body of your post.

Please Note: the event tag has to be within the first five tags for it to work properly

  👻 So, each day will have two prompts, does that mean I need to use both?

There is no need to use both prompts or to create something for both prompts if you don’t want to do so. However, if you would like to create something for each prompt, or even incorporate both prompts into one submission, you absolutely can!

👻 Do I have to post something for each day of the event?

Nope! It is totally up to you to decide which days and prompts you would like to create content for! You can even create multiple pieces for one prompt if you like!

👻 Since this is a Halloween themed event, do I have to create something spooky or scary?

The event prompts are merely guide points to help generate ideas and get you started. So, whatever you are inspired to create based on the prompts is absolutely perfect! Spooky, scary, fluffy, cute, you name it we accept and welcome it all!

👻 Can I participate even if I don’t have tumblr?

Of course, you can! We have our submissions open which allow users who don’t have a tumblr account or who wish to stay anonymous to still participate and share their work.  

👻 I wasn’t able to finish my piece on the day of the prompt. Can I still post it?

Absolutely! We will be accepting all submissions until November 7th            

👻 Will there be an AO3 collection for fic writers?

Yep, as the event week gets closer, we will post more information regarding the AO3 collection.

👻 Can we also submit artwork to the AO3 Collection?

Yeah absolutely! You are more than welcome to submit your artwork to the collection.  Additionally, we will be publishing a Master List on November 8, 2020 linking all the works that were submitted.

👻 Are you going to create a master list post for the submitted works too?

Absolutely! We will be posting a master list on November 8th, one day after the event officially ends.

👻 What about twitter? Do you have a twitter page?

Yep, we sure do! Our twitter page is @yoispookyweek

Do you have a question or a concern that wasn’t addressed above? If so, please feel free to send us an ask!

About | Rules | Schedule | Event Prompts

[aelaer]

Whumptober 31: Embrace

And somehow I've completed every prompt for @whumptober2019 with this final one here. Even more crazy, I basically completed NaNoWriMo with this series, only, you know, in October. The Google Doc all my fics live in for this series is at 51,299 words with the following fic's completion. Considering I was absolutely not attempting the challenge when I started this, I'm counting that as a complete NaNoWriMo, even if it does include a lot of the author's notes in that word count. Doesn't matter, it's still my writing!

So thank you very much to the mods for putting this together, because I would have never come up with all of these stories (which includes three series) otherwise.

I'll have the full list linked on my "bingo list" post, and the works have been slowly going up on AO3 for easier reading (and AO3 is only about a week behind at this point) - all the links will come probably in the next week or so. I'll reblog it when it's ready.

This one is the last one in the "demon" series within these prompt fills. If someone told me on the 2nd that my experimentation in first person would lead to this I wouldn't have believed them because I wouldn't have thought I was crazy enough to do every prompt while working a full time job on the freaking fly. *shakes head*

The series: Part One: 20 - Trembling Part Two: 22 - Alt 6 - Lost Part Three: 25 - Humiliation Part Four: 29 - Numb (and fanart(!!!!!) from dragonnan here, tw blood/wounds)

31. Embrace

Christine looked up at the Sanctum doors with a soft frown. Out of all the times she had been to Stephen's weird new home, this was the first time she could remember that she was coming without an advance notice of any sort.

The thing was, though, that after that… that thing (she really didn't like to think about it too much) over three months ago, Stephen had been acting odd. And even if they didn't tend to see each other more than once a month (and sometimes not even that), they kept in touch fairly consistently through texts. She knew he used her as a bit of a remaining connection to the so-called real world and she was happy to provide it. Besides, it was fun to share hospital gossip with him.

But for a while he had been very limited in his conversation until he stopped replying entirely two weeks ago. She texted Wong to see if he was especially busy "being a superhero" but he assured her that it's been relatively quiet since "the demon issue" (ugh, she really didn't want to think about it).

So here she was, come to figure out why the hell he was suddenly ghosting her.

After a moment of hesitation, Christine ascended the two steps up to the doors and firmly knocked upon them. After waiting for thirty seconds with no response, she bit her bottom lip and looked at her purse; maybe she should text someone, see if anyone was available—

Suddenly, the door opened… but she couldn't see anyone on the other side of it.

Magic house, right, she thought dryly as she stepped in. She knew a little bit of the weirdness that encompassed Stephen's new home, but generally speaking the building had acted like a proper, regular building every time she visited (and, to her own credit, she never went into any of the rooms that Stephen told her to leave alone. That made perfect sense to her, but apparently not everyone had her common sense, at least according to Wong).

Long story short, this was different.

"Uh, hello?" she called out into the empty foyer. "Stephen? Wong? … anyone?"

Yeah, it was completely empty. This was… this was definitely unusual.

Still, she had been at his house— the so-called Sanctum— enough times to remember where Stephen's study and the library were, so she decided to search those two rooms. Since the house had let her in, she figured she was more than welcome to.

If she wasn't, well, she'd blame the magic house.

She ventured first towards the library, careful not to touch anything sitting on the shelves or hanging on the walls. Even with her familiarity with the Sanctum, many of the items in the building's collection continued to look rather otherworldly or just felt outright wrong to her.

(Christine had learned early on, maybe her second or third time within the Sanctum, that they had a surprising amount of dangerous things on display for aesthetic purposes. At her remark about that, Stephen had pointed out that they didn't exactly have any children within the Sanctum to worry about. Wong later said that having magical items on display was a fantastic litmus test to weed out any really idiotic and self-destructive novices and apprentices, though that the test had somehow failed with Stephen. Stephen had flipped the bird at that remark, but she had seen it was in good nature, and it definitely made her happy to see the somewhat reclusive man making friends with his new cult.)

The library doors were closed. She knocked, then tried the handle; it opened and she peeked into a library that still looked like it was stuck somewhere in the nineteenth century. It was completely empty.

Now that she thought about it, it was a little weird she had yet to run into anyone. While Stephen's new home was rather empty the first few months he was there, it did not become uncommon to see the occasional passerby, though only a few people stopped to talk with her when she was with Stephen. When she really thought about it, she couldn't actually remember the last time she hadn't seen other people in the Sanctum.

Weird.

Christine shut the library doors again and started towards Stephen's study. It was closer to his bedroom (which she only knew because she came over to bring him soup when he had to cancel a meetup because he was sick, thank you very much), so she went up a level and headed there.

Stephen's study door was closed, too. She knocked and heard some sort of noise just beyond the door. Christine waited, but when nothing happened, she knocked again. "Stephen? It's me. Can I come in?"

Silence. She frowned and tried the door, but it didn't budge. "C'mon, Stephen. Even if you don't want to see me, at least reply to me." Even though she tried to pretend to be genuinely unbothered, the silent treatment did sting. He was meant to be a friend, after all.

The knob on the door jiggled and it opened, but all she saw in the small gap was shades of red. Why was the Cloak opening the door? Was Stephen hurt? At that alarming thought, Christine pushed the door fully open, the Cloak sweeping aside to give her full access of the room.

Stephen was… Stephen was sitting in the air, meditating, it looked like. Her shoulders relaxed when she saw he was okay, but her lips began to downturn as she stepped a bit closer. There were dark shadows under his eyes and it appeared like he had lost a bit of weight. Didn't Wong say that things were currently calm and uneventful? At the moment, Stephen looked something like he did after the alien invasion in 2012, only somehow worse. (She had, of course, seen even worse than this, but she refused to think back on the months after the accident. He was a different man, a much different man now.)

Christine took a couple steps back so she didn't startle him when he came back from wherever he went to when he was meditating. "Is he okay?" she whispered to the Cloak. It still astounded her how communicative the fabric could be.

And she really didn't like how it down-turned to bow its collar, only to end up shrugging its shoulders in a gesture that spoke of uncertainty. Her frown deepened and she went back to watching him and, finally accepting that he might take a while, asked the Cloak, "Are there any books here in English that are safe for me to read?" The Cloak tapped at several options, and she picked one at random to read.

It turned out it was about souls, of all things. She had keyed in that they were very much real things after… after everything that happened with the world in the last few years, but beyond that she only had a vague grasp of what it was, or what she thought it was, from the occasional visit to church as a kid.

The first five pages of the book were both incredibly dry and fascinating at the same time. It reminded her of many medical textbooks; no wonder Stephen was so good at this magic stuff, if this was the tone of the material in all his books. Christine settled down into a rather plush loveseat and got comfortable; her record for waiting on Stephen to "come back" was forty-five minutes, and during that wait Wong had proved to be surprisingly entertaining, funny, and kind. If anything, getting to know him better had made Christine feel a lot better about Stephen's very strange (hah) new role in life.

This time it was just after twenty minutes when she heard Stephen say in clear confusion, "Christine?"

She looked up from the book; he was now standing and his expression matched his tone. She offered a smile. "Oh, there you are."

"What are you doing here?"

If she didn't know him better, she might have been a bit miffed by that greeting. However, she did know him, knew him very well, and he sounded honestly puzzled. Still, she was more than happy to respond to bluntness with bluntness. "I came here to see why you're ghosting me."

Stephen looked startled by the accusation. "I'm not ghosting you— or certainly not intentionally. I've been too busy to check on my phone in a couple weeks."

"No, you haven't," Christine countered, and her comment surprised him so much that she was able to continue without interruption. "I asked Wong if things were busy and if you all were overworked with your jobs. He told me it's been so quiet that he finally got to catch up on the last two seasons of 90 Day Fiance and the newest season of Botched, and I still can't believe he enjoys trash TV so much."

He blinked and shook his head. "I knew you two talked sometimes, but— but that's not the point." He walked over to his desk; the Cloak followed him halfway before stopping in the middle of the room, and turned from him to her, and then back to him. He rounded the desk and flipped through several pieces of paper, looking them over as he said, "It's been quiet, yes, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been busy. There is always work to be done and I just don't have time for other things."

She narrowed her eyes at him and placed the book down before standing. The Cloak was again facing her as she took a couple steps forward. "Other things like the occasional break? Talking with friends? Sleeping?"

Stephen narrowed his eyes at her. "I've been sleeping just fine, thank you."

"Stephen, I can see the dark circles around your eyes from here. You're not hiding it from anyone."

He blinked and quickly strode over to a small mirror on the wall, back to her. "Fuck," he muttered under his breath, but it was quiet enough in the room to hear. When he turned back around, the bags were completely gone and he looked fully refreshed.

Christine gaped. "You're using magic to hide your exhaustion? I can't believe you!" Actually, on second thought, she could very, very much believe he would do something like this. As one of his friends, he drove her absolutely insane sometimes.

"I do what I must," he retorted. "I am still relatively new to my position and there is entirely too much to do and learn, and I cannot show any faltering to the students of Kamar-Taj."

"What about your peers?" she retorted right back. "What about Wong or, or any of the others, these Masters? Does anyone know what you actually look like or what you're putting yourself through?"

"There is no need for them to," Stephen answered, lips pressed into a thin line. "Now if you'll excuse me, I do have work I need to do, as enjoyable as this little conversation has been."

Christine recognized that biting sarcasm a mile away. She pulled out her phone and looked for Wong in her contacts.

"What are you doing?" Now he sounded alarmed.

"Telling Wong that you need a damn babysitter," she snapped.

She managed to type a couple words of her text before she heard sparks and then a golden rope wrapped around her right wrist. It didn't hurt, but its sudden appearance caused Christine to drop her phone in surprise. Her eyes shot up at Stephen, who looked just as shocked as her by its presence in his hand. A beat later and the magic rope was gone and Stephen was stumbling backwards, clear horror in his eyes.

Okay, that was… not good he did it in the first place, but clearly he realized that and looked on the verge of panic. She pushed the issue to the side to talk about later and instead addressed what was in front of her right at this moment. "Hey, hey," she said slowly, calmly. She left her phone on the floor and took two slow steps forward. "It's okay, Stephen. You didn't hurt me. Not even a mark, see?" She lifted her wrist to show him. "It's alright."

"That was not alright," he said. He made it to the back wall and leaned heavily against it. "That was not alright at all."

"I am not angry at you," she answered slowly in a slow, calm voice. "Everything is okay."

"No it's not," he gasped, as if struggling for air. He slid down the wall until he was sitting, and Christine finished crossing the distance between them to sit a few feet away. He stared off for a moment, then met her eyes. "I could've hurt you."

"You didn't," she reminded him.

He shook his head. "But I— Christine, this is why we can't— I can't see you anymore. I only bring danger whether it's through my own actions or due to who I am."

"You are not completely yourself right now," she reminded him gently. "You're clearly exhausted, and even then you caught your temper immediately. That's a vast improvement from a few years ago." He snorted in self-derision, and she pressed on. "As for who you are, I've known for years that there might be risks. I'm okay with that."

"I'm not," he whispered.

She offered him a small smile. "You don't get to decide who wants to be your friend, Stephen. And I know you and your level of stubbornness, but you know I can be just as stubborn if I want to be. And you're worth the effort."

He closed his eyes and shuddered. "I'm not so sure I am."

"You are," she retorted a bit more strongly. Lips downturned in thought, she considered his words. "Is this about that… that demon thing that happened three months ago?" Come to think of it, that did about match the timing when he started seeming a bit off, at least in texting habits.

Stephen pressed his lips together. "That should have never happened. I failed to place basic protection about you and it was a gross oversight on my part."

"Congratulations, you're human," Christine deadpanned, then softened it with a small smile and added, "no matter how much you'd like to think otherwise." He took another shuddering breath and leaned his head back against the wall. In the corner of her eye she saw the Cloak hovering, as if anxious. And she definitely understood that feeling.

But this, this was a start. "Stephen," she said softly, "I think it's time you told us what exactly happened after you got me back home." He stilled, and she couldn't quite read him, but she said, "Please, Stephen. Let your friends back in." She reached out and laid a hand on his calf.

Again he shuddered and, after a moment, he slowly nodded. She gave him a small, encouraging smile before offering her hand. He took it and together they got back up on their feet.

She led him to the loveseat and had him sit down. She sat beside him and asked, "Is it okay if I have Wong join us? Or will that be too hard?"

Stephen closed his eyes and again pressed his lips together, but a moment later responded, "You can call him. He probably deserves an explanation as well."

Christine gently squeezed his forearm, then stood up and went for her dropped phone. She abandoned the text and tried calling Wong instead.

He picked up on the third ring. "Christine," he said in greeting. He didn't sound surprised (she wasn't sure if he ever allowed himself to sound surprised), but she'd like to think that he at least knew she wasn't calling for no good reason. They texted, not called. That was what they did.

"Hey Wong, are you busy?"

"Not with anything I cannot finish later," he replied. "Do you need something?"

"Not me," she answered, walking back to Stephen. He had his head bowed. She placed a supportive hand on his shoulder. "It's Stephen. He could use another friend here, if you don't mind."

A pause that, again, she couldn't read. "Certainly," he answered. "Where are you?"

"In his study. And um, if it wouldn't be too much to ask, could you make that tea of yours?" He made really good tea.

"I can," he answered, and with that he hung up. Succinct, as always.

"He'll probably be here as soon as the tea's ready," she said as she sat back down beside him. "I like his tea."

Stephen slowly nodded. "It's very good tea," he muttered.

Christine peered at his face. "Are you going to wear the mask around him?" she asked.

He exhaled, long and slow. "Not much point if we're having this conversation, is there?"

"It's okay to be human, Stephen."

He shot her a grim smile, and slowly the mask that covered his exhausted face dissipated. The Cloak closed the distance it had to the couch and hovered at Stephen's side.

A couple minutes later, a portal opened straight from the kitchen and Wong floated a tea tray into the study before following it in. The golden sparks disappeared behind him and he turned to look at the two of them on the couch. He stared at Stephen for a moment, then exhaled. "I suspected something," he muttered, almost as if to himself. He let the tray settle on the table in front of the loveseat and summoned the chair from the corner of the room to sit across from it, and from them. Wong settled in the seat and poured out three mugs of tea, keeping Stephen's only partially full. He gave them both their cups wordlessly, then sat back and looked at Stephen with silent, but unjudging expectation.

The man in question huffed as he grabbed the mug and took a short sip. "Now all I need is a blanket to get real cozy," he muttered.

The Cloak, in turn, twisted its way between Stephen's arms and legs and settled across both his and Christine's laps.

She laughed softly at his slight frown at the garment and patted the red fabric on her lap. "Good Cloak."

They fell into a patient silence after that, both Christine and Wong quietly drinking their tea as Stephen gathered his words. She could see his struggle in his small microexpressions that she had only learned after knowing him so well after so many years. Wong, she suspected, could read him nearly as well, if not equally.

Eventually he cleared his throat and began to speak. "In return for Christine to get back safely to Earth, I agreed with the demon Mephisto to play games of his choosing for the next twenty-four hours…"

Christine listened in growing horror as he described each game, seeing how this creature had somehow known about Stephen's innate need to protect and rescue innocents and how he dangled souls that, no matter their decisions, he would certainly see as people taken advantage of in desperate, awful times. Throughout his recollection she occasionally looked at Wong; the man's expression was completely frozen in a soft frown. She had a feeling that it was a mechanism to keep the absolute horror off his face. Goodness knew that she was doing her best to appear supportive and sympathetic as opposed to absolutely horrified.

It only got more difficult as Stephen's account went on. By the time he finally got to where he was let go back to Earth with the six souls he managed to save, her free hand was gripping the Cloak so tightly that she felt that she might rip through it, were it not the Cloak.

"I've replayed those hours time and again in my head," he muttered as he stared down at his shaking hands; the quivering had incrementally increased throughout the tale. "All I can think about is all the ways I could have done more, done better, saved more innocents. It was only due to his whims that I was able to save any." 

"Oh, Stephen." She leaned towards him and, without asking for permission, engulfed him in a large hug. She felt the Cloak wrap around her side and she was sure it was pressing against Stephen on the other side.

She felt him let go for a moment and indulge in the embrace before pulling away, and she let go and gave him his space again. She watched him as he looked up to Wong, who had managed to keep his amazing poker face with only the slight frown throughout the conversation. "Wong," Stephen started, "I couldn't— I couldn't bear telling the other Masters about my failures in my first real test as Sorcerer Supreme. And I promise you, I've been doing everything in my power to bridge the gaps that remain in my knowledge and power so that I may be more capable in meeting such threats, whether I have the aid of the Vishanti or not."

Wong exhaled and clasped his hands together. "The experience you call a failure, Stephen, is what all of us consider a success," he started. Stephen immediately opened his mouth to argue, but Wong quickly said, "Let me finish, and try to listen to my words and not the doubt that plagues your mind as I speak." He leaned forward. "When you first left with the demon that refused to name itself, we thought it a lesser one that a sorcerer of your caliber could deal with, even on its own plane of existence. Any one of us present would have been able to, though it would not necessarily be easy. It was with that thought in mind that we left you with advice rather than protests, though Master Hamir was correct in his suspicions that the demon was unusually more powerful than those we've encountered in recent memory.

"I know you have been doing a lot of research on demonology, Stephen, and what information we have upon the greater demons known as the Hell-Lords. There is a reason that, despite thousands of years of collecting knowledge, what we know of them is so little. Hell-Lords are very powerful due to the number of souls they have attained over the uncounted millennia in which sentient, reasoning lifeforms have existed. They gather more souls to be ever the strongest, but they are not desperate for every sentient being they come across. Hell-Lords are unlike lesser demons in that they will kill if they don't think the person's soul is worth the effort."

Christine grabbed at the Cloak again and looked again to Stephen; he, in turn, was looking at her with a tight expression.

They both turned to Wong as the man continued, "Had we known this was one of the Hell-Lords, we would have done as much as we could to stop you, perhaps even by force— though I doubt that would have worked in our favour. So we would have seen you off and declared you dead, more than likely."

Stephen's brow furrowed. "Dead? Immediately? Why?"

"The last time a Sorcerer Supreme fought a Hell-Lord within their own domain and lived was the first one in Agamotto. The last time anyone encountered one was the Ancient One in Germany at the end of WWII. From what I understand there were three Hell-Lords present in the spring of 1945 in that country, but as they were upon Earth's plane, they were manageable. Facing one in its own dimension is unprecedented in modern history. That you were able to play its games with enough wit to not only survive, but to also bring back six souls that would have otherwise been lost, is a great victory."

Christine watched as Stephen's gaze fell to his hands, still trembling. "It did not feel like a victory," he mumbled. "Each test, each game I failed in some manner."

Wong shook his head. "Each test was specifically designed to take advantage of what Mephisto would consider your weaknesses, though I assure you your passion for the soul of the individual is considered one of your greatest strengths by all of us." Stephen lifted his head in surprise, but Wong continued on. "Consider this: if it had been Hamir in your place, one of his tests would have involved something that would give a person with two hands a distinct advantage. If it had been Minoru, you know there would have been something with spiders." Stephen's lips twitched upward, and Wong raised his brow pointedly. "The point, Stephen, is that this demon is known as a deceptive trickster. He twisted his so-called games to place you in the worst possible position and keep you in a position of doubt."

"Out of all of this, what I do find concerning," Wong admitted, "is that he knew you so well. It is possible that he has been watching you for some time."

Stephen's brow furrowed. "Why would he do that?"

"It is hard to say," he answered. "Demons are soulless creatures with no concept of time beyond the souls which they trick and enslave. It is thought that some have some greater perception of the wider multiverse and their realities; it is possible that Mephisto has some small knowledge from that."

Christine did not like where this conversation was going, and there was still one rather important thing to address at that time. "I think what you should get out of this, Stephen," she started, "is that you are most certainly not a failure. You can't be so hard on yourself."

He gave her an imploring look, as if willing her to understand him. "I have a great responsibility to this world and I cannot—"

"No, she's completely right," Wong interrupted. "Kamar-Taj calls for devotion wholly to defending reality, but you can't do that if you're half-dead from exhaustion."

"I'm not—"

"You wouldn't be using glamour if it wasn't an issue," Wong pointed out, and Stephen had nothing to retort to that. "And," he added, "the occasional lunch or ice cream break is not only permitted, but encouraged to retain one's sanity and reminder as to why we do what we do."

Stephen gave him a long look. "Are you saying you do it for ice cream?"

"And so that reality TV may flourish unhindered," Wong replied, and Christine quickly covered a surprised laugh. "If there are indeed areas you believe you may be lacking in knowledge, all the Masters will be more than willing to assist you, though I feel that you are equal if not more knowledgeable in most fields. But we can talk about that tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Why tomorrow?"

"Because you look absolutely awful and clearly need to sleep for the next twenty-four hours," he retorted.

Stephen frowned. "I'm awake and functioning."

Christine wrinkled her nose. "Barely. Get some sleep!" 

The Cloak lifted itself off their laps and waited expectantly beside the study door, causing its keeper to make a face at it.

Wong stood up and walked over to him, offering him a hand. "Listen to your friends. We can discuss more details about what happened and where we need to go tomorrow, but for now, you need to rest. No matter what you have been telling yourself, you do deserve it."

He hesitated, but for only a couple seconds before taking Wong's proffered hand and letting his friend hoist him up. "Don't let me sleep too long," Stephen muttered.

"You're sleeping for the next week if you have to," Wong retorted.

"I can get some drugs that would do that," Christine quipped as she got to her feet.

"No need; we have spells that can do the same, but thank you for the offer all the same."

"You're both terrible," Stephen moaned as he trudged to the door. The Cloak fit itself snugly across his shoulders.

"You're welcome," she said in return, and he glanced at her with a soft, but very warm smile that still made her heart do things that it shouldn't do, all these years later. Damn that man. "I'll text you."

"You'll hear from me," he promised, and then he turned and let Wong and the Cloak usher him towards his bedroom for some much-needed sleep and, for the first time in a long time, a peaceful time of rest.

—————

(Anndddd the series is done! Wooow. Whoda thought this was going to be a thing, because I certainly didn't.

You can take the headcanon that Wong is an enthusiastic fan of trashy reality TV shows from my cold dead hands. Definitely inspired by my two co-workers I work with the most, though I have had the occasional reality TV show binge watch.)