#i do not give a fuck if there is enough character work outside the romance to make it make sense

[deangirldisease]

the whole concept of Calypso as a romantic lead… he was in love with a storm. literally in love with the sea

[baronessvonglitter]

Halftime Show

Joel Miller, Javier Pena, Dave York, Frankie Morales, Marcus Moreno x f!sexworker!reader (lucky girl)

Word count: 2.7K

Summary: you're an escort hired for a private Super Bowl party hosted by a mysterious client and his four friends

WARNINGS: 18+ Only! Mature and Explicit, reader's work name is "Angel", reader is a sex worker, mildly dubious consent (though she does state that the men can do as they want, it's her first experience in sex work), rough sex (but no violence done to reader), group sex, threesome to sixsome, oral sex (f & m receiving), unprotected p in v sex, double p in v, anal sex & fingering, multiple penetration, hand jobs, face fucking, facial, verbal abuse/humiliation, squirting, swallowing, creampie, spitroasting, reader gets slapped w/a dick for a bit, porn without plot, you know.. all the sweet stuff.

Author's Note: another cross-post from AO3 but honestly, football is barely mentioned so if you want you can ignore the whole Super Bowl aspect. Y'all might know by now I love a little romance in my smut but this particular fic has zero romance. Reader is there to do a job and leaves having done it very well. Also.. I'm considering creating a part 2 featuring more Pedro Boys, so any input on that is welcome!

FULL MASTERLIST | JOEL MILLER MASTERLIST

MARCUS MORENO MASTERLIST | FRANKIE MORALES MASTERLIST

DAVE YORK MASTERLIST | JAVIER PENA MASTERLIST

It's your first day as an escort and you're a little nervous. Okay, a lot nervous. You never know what you're going to expect from clients, but these guys you're about to meet have been pre-screened and even had to turn in blood tests just to be considered as clients. The escort service you work for is very prestigious. You're even driven to the location by a security detail who is tasked to wait outside for you. This makes you feel a little better.

You take a quick look at your outfit before you leave the car. The rule is you show up in character and leave in character. No real names, no background stories, just a persona and an exchange of goods. Simple as that. Should be easy enough.

Taking a deep breath, you exit the car and go up to the front door.

The doorbell rings, and Dave York springs from the sofa, a little smirk on his lips. "Guys, I think she's here," he announces, and the rest of the group look up from the Super Bowl game, groaning when Dave mutes the sound even though it's just gone to commercial.

"Who?" Frankie Morales asks, swigging a beer.

"The halftime entertainment," Dave answers mysteriously.

Marcus Moreno and Joel Miller trade inquisitive glances. Javier Peña raises his brow. He knows what Dave means.

Dave brings you into the living room and you take a quick survey of your surroundings: the home is nicer than most, two stories, decorated tastefully but with an obvious woman's touch. You give him a once-over. He's forty-ish, handsome, clean-shaven.

"The wife got the house in the divorce," Dave tells you, as if reading your mind. "This is my last weekend here, so let's make it count!" He raises his glass of whiskey to the guys, most of whom also salute with their drinks. They are all eyeing you like a pack of dogs that haven't eaten in days.

Marcus, a kind-looking man with dark eyeglasses who gives you Clark Kent vibes, smiles awkwardly at you, blushing. "Aren't you going to introduce us?" he asks Dave politely.

"Angel," you give your working name, smiling at each of the men. They're all cute: some scruffy, some dapper.

Dave smirks. "I'm Dave, and these are my buddies Marcus, Frankie, Joel, and Javier." Each of the guys smiles or nods at you as they're introduced.

"I heard you guys are looking to get wild," you say, opening your winter coat to reveal your see-through lingerie. Joel, Javier, and Dave whoop in excitement. Marcus and Frankie are more reticent but can't take their eyes off you. "What do you plan on doing with little ol' me?" you ask innocently, kneeling on the cushioned ottoman in the middle of the living room. You glide your hands over your body and smile as the men shift in their seats, watching you, getting hard already at the idea of you offering yourself.

Dave is the first to put his hands on you, first on your hips then grabbing your ass. Joel, an older man with graying hair and green flannel shirt, interrupts him, rising from his seat. "Now, who told you you get to go first?" he asks in a deep voiced Texan accent.

"First? We're running a train on this girl?" Javier asks from his seat, a cigarette burning between his lips. He's dressed like someone from the 1970s but his clothes fit him well, accentuating a lean physique.

"You can do whatever you want with me," you tell them with confidence. "But of course, no hitting, no biting, no leaving marks." You are resolute on this, as is your employer.

"Hell, darlin', we're not monsters," Joel says, his eyes full of concern for you. The others chime in that they aren't into really rough stuff. Only Dave looks a little disappointed by your rule.

"I'd expect you to be more methodical about this," Javier tells Dave, rising from his seat and casting an amused glance at his friend. He eyes you up and down then reaches into your bra to cup your breast while his other hand dives between your thighs. "Christ, she's already wet. And so fucking tight. You haven't been doing this kind of work long, have you, baby?"

"You all are my first clients," you admit, your breath hitching as his thick fingers tease you.

Javier manages a small smile then looks over at the group. "You haven't thought about these guys," he tells Dave, and nods at Frankie and Marcus. "They're completely baffled by this."

"We're not, I know exactly what's going on," insists Frankie, an adorable middle-aged guy wearing a t-shirt, cargo pants and baseball cap. His innocence is palpable and quite touching.

Dave and Javier's hands are still on you, grabbing and groping. It's a good start. "I'm paying for her. I should get to go first," Dave complains.

A few of the guys (well, okay, Javier and Dave) start to bicker about it, fueled by testosterone and alcohol. Joel strides up to you, effectively taking you away from Dave and Javier. "It's kind of a shame that no one's puttin' her feelings into consideration. She's gonna be providin' a huge service for us. Least we can do is give her a little pleasure beforehand." With that, he takes you and places you on the ottoman, kneeling between your open thighs. He rips open the crotch of your lingerie and dives in, sucking on your pussy. Your initial shock gives way to thrill as you register the warm, wet stiffness of his tongue rasping your folds, your clit, not taking his time about it. Your fingers curl into his hair as you lift your thighs back. You're still on the clock, still giving a show, even if this part is currently for your benefit. With Joel's aid you manage to take the now-ruined lingerie off and are naked but for your knee-high stockings.

"Way to get the party started," Javier says approvingly. "I'm not about to waste any time." He goes to you and sits you up. You take a moment to admire the bulge in those tight trousers before he pulls them down enough to take out his thick shaft. You obediently open your mouth to accept it and he slowly moves into your throat, allowing you to get used to him. Saliva pools in your mouth as you start to moan around his dick, still exhilarated by Joel's ravishing you with his tongue. You feel a hand massaging your breast and look over to see Frankie, his puppy dog eyes wide with wonder, as if he can't believe you're real.

"That feels so good," you tell him, sensing he likes praise. He lights up, encouraged by you, and continues to pinch and pull at your nipple before sucking on it, extracting a pleasured moan from your lips before you go back to sucking off Javier.

Marcus and Dave stand back. Marcus looks flustered and Dave has his hands on his hips, making a face. He's figuring out where to squeeze in but at the same time doesn't want to share.

Meanwhile you're keeping busy with Javier's cock in your mouth, Frankie's mouth on your breast, and Joel still lapping at you between your thighs. The most exquisite feelings comes over you and your scream is muffled as you come so hard, your body spasming while surrounded by these men. It's the most sensually charged moment of your entire life.

Joel lifts himself up, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "She's wetter'n a cucumber in a convent," he chuckles, standing and trying to get the feeling back in his knees. Frankie then moves down to finger you just as Javier is on the verge of coming. Just as he gives a strangled growl, spilling his cum into your willing throat, you feel one of Frankie's fingers in your ass. You gasp and clench around him as Dave takes Javier's place. Your body is buzzing with energy, with lust.

"You're gonna earn every penny," Dave growls, thrusting into your mouth as if he hates you. You don't have a gag reflex but you pretend to choke on him, bringing tears to your eyes.

Frankie starts to undo his pants then quickly steps away. "I'm, uh, not ready yet."

"Let her take care of it," Javier says, lighting up another cigarette.

"No smoking in here," Dave warns, his eyes still on the mascara running down your face.

"Fuck you."

You start stroking Frankie, smiling at the plumpness of his cock, uncut. He's gazing down at you with tenderness in his eyes.

"Marcus, you joinin' us?" Joel asks, getting ready to pull down his jeans.

Marcus watches from the adjoining kitchen, his beer growing warm in his hand. "Maybe.. in a bit." He smiles nervously.

Joel shrugs and unzips himself, releasing his thick, veiny cock. It's all you can do not to stare at it in wonder.

"Hey, I was gonna go first," Dave says aggressively.

"You snooze you lose. Aren't we all gonna get a turn?" Joel smirks before aligning himself to your opening. "Such a tiny, perfect little pussy.. you're gonna be completely wrecked when we're done with you, babygirl..."

Your eyes widen when he begins to slide into you, but you're already slick enough to take him. You remove Dave from your mouth so you can watch Joel's cock disappear inch by inch into your cunt.

"Don't forget about me," Dave warns you, tapping his dick against the side of your face. You compliantly return to sucking him off and he grunts contentedly in response. At the same time Joel pushes in to the hilt. "Hell she's taking every inch of me," he groans. "What a good little slut she is.."

"Well shit, don't stretch her out before the rest of us," Dave complains.

"That's not a particular worry of mine," Javier smirks, getting himself ready again as he goes to your free hand, opposite Frankie, who is already hard and ready. Joel is building up a nice tempo, sliding deep inside your pussy, Dave thrusts avidly into your mouth, Frankie and Joel are watching you as you zealously prime them for whatever they want to do next.

"Oh my god!" Frankie's eyes go wide and without warning he comes on your stomach and you make a sound of surprise when you feel the warm stickiness of him on your skin. "I'm sorry," he mumbles.

"Don't be," you tell him with a smile. "Think you've got another one in you?" you wink and scoop his cum into your mouth as Frankie watches in wonder.

Dave seems upset that you keep removing him from your mouth to talk to Frankie, but Frankie looks so happy that you're not grossed out or upset. Dave grabs hold of the back of your head and rams himself in your throat. "Less talking, bitch," he growls.

You would give him a death glare but then you feel Joel speeding up, his thrusts strong, the loud slapping of your flesh fills the air. Before you know it you're throbbing around him, milking him as you feel him finish inside you. He doesn't stay long, and soon Javier takes his place. "Flip over, cariño," he says, moving you on all fours. Dave takes over from the front, Frankie strokes himself while fondling your tit. Javier grabs your ass and slides in, letting you feel every inch of him as you moan around Dave's cock. He cums soon, spraying the back of your throat with his thick white cum.

"Get in there, Frankie!" Javier encourages, pumping away none too gently as he watches your ass ripple with each thrust. "Marcus get over here and do something or you'll miss out!"

Marcus seems frozen to his spot but Frankie follows orders and you open wide to receive him. He looks down at you like you're some kind of miracle, and you make sure to look at him the same way, charmed by his good nature.

Javier leans close to you. "I'm gonna put it in your ass, cariño."

"Do whatever you want," you purr.

He pulls out of you and you feel a warm glob of saliva at your rear entrance. Javier smears it around your puckered hole and eases himself in. You gasp, fists clenching the edge of the ottoman. "Fill all her holes, boys," Dave says, watching from the side. "That's what she's here for."

Frankie pulls away from your mouth. "Let me get under you." he says, and Javier pulls out enough for you two to get positioned. Frankie aligns himself at your entrance and sinks in easily. "Jesus, you feel so good, Angel.." He thrusts up into you as Javier continues to fuck your ass. The three of you are a fusion of lust and frenzy. Joel watches, running his tongue over his lips, still tasting your sweet essence. Dave tells everyone he's next to claim your ass. Marcus has since inched closer, undeciding yet if he's going to join, or how. He's obviously hard, his eyes dark with craving.

"Marcus," you mumble as he approaches your side. "Fuck my mouth," you beg.

He suppresses a gasp but he unbuckles his belt. "I haven't.. in a while.."

"That's okay.." you smile at him, helping him pull down his pants and briefs, running your nails over his solid girth, and he immediately rises to the occasion. "You were shy before, but not now," you notice, and give his cock a couple of gentle tugs before taking him into your waiting mouth, just the tip, and letting him go in as deep as he wants.

Javier speeds up, fingers digging into your hips as all your cries fill the room. He comes, filling your ass as he grunts savagely, causing you in turn to come, clenching around Frankie who buries himself deep inside as he lets go. Once Javier pulls away Dave takes over, gripping your hips and moving you against him.

You finger your lonely pussy, unable to make yourself feel as good as any of these men have. “Oh god, I want all of you at once.. please!” You beg.

Marcus approaches you and lays beneath you as Dave moves away, scoots up so he’s practically standing over you. Joel claims your mouth and Javier lets you pump him with your fist. Frankie approaches from behind and at the same time Marcus enters you from beneath. Two men fuck your cunt, stretching you, ruining you, and all you can do is give them what they want and then ask for more.. one man in your mouth, in your hand, in your ass.. you are working for every penny just as Dave said.

You're practically dazed by the countless feelings of pleasure coming from every man inside you, the way they move, the way they taste, how their hands grope your ass or your breasts, your hips.. you're just a receptacle for them, a plaything. This allows your brain to soak everything in without having to think. Just feeling. None of them really care about your pleasure, not at this point. You're just a means to an end, and you like it. You've never felt more alive.

"God!" you gasp as you feel yet another wave of absolute euphoria threaten to take you under. You don't even bother to hold back. As soon as you come you feel them all come with you, like tiny explosions set off in a chain. You gulp down Joel's spunk as Dave spills himself inside your ass, and Marcus and Frankie throb then release, one only seconds after the other. Javier takes control of himself from you and spurts his cum onto your face. For the first time ever in your life, you squirt, gasping at the relief and suddenness of it. The six of you try hard to catch your breath, all of you taking in the moments of this night.

"I don't think I'll be able to cum for weeks," Joel says, chuckling as he pulls up his pants.

Showered and dressed, you leave in a skimpy outfit that covers more than the lingerie did, as Dave uses the escort agency's app to send you a very generous tip from himself and the rest of the guys. The guys, cleaned up and all in relaxed moods, watch the game, not even upset that they missed most of the second half. You take your money and leave, blowing a kiss to the guys.

"God damn, you hired a good one," Javier mutters to Dave.

"Let's make this an annual thing," Dave smirks. "Next one's on you, Peña."

dividers by @saradika-graphics 👑

[kngrose]

i legit am in love with your bully sevika work 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩

can you write about sevika realising she has feelings for us and decides to distance herself from ourself :3

bully! sevika analysis

a small deep dive into her character

WARNINGS: mentions of bullying, slightly suggestive themes

from roselí ᡣ𐭩 : thank you sm, i appreciate this submission! i have a lot to say about it.

So let me preface this tiny rant by saying this version of Sevika is entirely uncaring and incapable of having a romantic interest for reader. Bullyvika is solely interested in causing misfortune to her. I purposely try not to write her in a light that will give her a chance at redemption because I don’t want it to lead to romance. I wouldn’t deny that Bullyvika would have certain feelings for reader, but under no circumstances would it be romantic because it’s not meant to be romantic. It’s meant to be uncomfortable and sickening.

I didn’t want Bullyvika to be the stereotypical ‘give me your lunch money’ or ‘you better do my homework’ kind of bully we commonly see because I feel it doesn’t instill enough fear and discomfort. You can accommodate to having to do someone’s homework, or maybe even having to give up a few dollars here and there. What you won’t get used to, is being berated, extreme workplace harassment, or constantly having your self worth being stripped. I want her to feel like a real villain. Someone you literally can’t conceptualize a relationship with outside of the power dynamic she’s put in place.

Bullyvika has so many layers and I’ve put a lot of thought into how I would like to characterize her, and a lot of it comes directly from the pent up feelings that she has. Bullyvika is exactly that. A bully. It’s common knowledge that bullies are pent up with a lot of pain and sadness, and that usually manifests itself into anger when it’s not properly managed.

Sevika is tired, okay. There’s so many things that she is sick and tired of. She’s constantly left to clean up another bastards mess, regardless of if she had anything to do with it. It will always fall on her because she is Silco’s number two, she is in charge of everyone under her and if she doesn’t have it dealt with she will face the backlash.

Nevermind the fact that more than 99% of their problems stem from the only person Silco is not willing to get rid of.

She’s tired of being undermined, constantly under the wing and shadow of the person above her when she knows she’s better fit than them. Never given the proper credit, always given the short end of the stick. Tired of feeling like no one is taking her seriously when she’s making the most efforts and hard decisions.

Tired of the unfair treatment. How dare Silco hold Jinx on such a pedestal? How could he when all she does is fuck everything up? She’s a liability, but she gets all of the praise. Where is her praise? Where are her flowers?

But she can’t just respond. Silco’s got too much power, too much influence. She can’t directly cross him or he’ll have her head. That’s why she spends so much time at the brothel, it’s a nice place to detress. A little hate sex every now and then to really blow the steam. But Sevika is full of smoke. The sex isn’t enough. The roughhousing, the biting, the choking, the slapping. It’s not enough. She needs someone to feel what she feels. Sevika is angry, and someone is going to have to face the repercussions of her feelings. She needs someone to throw all of this onto because she doesn’t know how to deal with it.

Bullyvika does take her time to get to know you, but not in a romantic sense. It’s more of her studying your details. What makes you react a certain way, what makes you really cry, what subjects hit home? Any sensitive spots she should know about, who are the people closest to you? How can she victimize that?

There will never call for in instance where Bullyvika is interested in knowing reader any further than it’s beneficial to her; Therefore, she could never be romantically interested. She doesn’t want to know what makes you light up, or what you’re passionate about, and doesn’t care for your small quirks or micro expressions. Bullyvika is sexually attracted to reader though, and that will be touched on plenty of times in further parts of the collection, but that’s about as far as the attraction goes.

Sevika knows she could have potentially anyone she wants, and when the time comes she’ll settle down with someone she deems fit. But that’s neither here nor there. For now, she’s looking for something to break. And that just so happens to be you.

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[fixfoxnox]

Okay but think about this, the cod boys' reaction to having a Barrack's Bunny with them.

(if you don't know, a Barrack's Bunny is usually a woman, but can also be a man, that sleeps around a lot with their colleagues)

Idk if you want to like do all of the fabfavorites, but I'ld be most interested in how König, Ghost and Keegan would react!!

While we're talking about König, I had a stroke of genius a few days back and decided that König to me looks like Lee Pace, so...yeah, I'm imagining Lee Pace as this man. Lee Pace is also my fc for Johnathan Sanderson but that less important rn also I'm assuming we want romance/spice here so:

COD Boys Reaction to Finding Out Reader is a Barrack's Bunny

Characters: Price, Ghost, Gaz, Soap, Roach, König, and Keegan

Warnings: Possessiveness, NSFW Implied, Minor NSFW, choking (light), mentions of STD's, reader is a barracks bunny (sleeps around essentially)

Price

Price sees you coming out of some new recruits room, hair mussed and clothes wrinkled

He's not an idiot, Price has been around, he's had people like you on teams that he's worked with before

Still, this is the first time he's actually felt tempted

Calls you into his office a week later, after he's done more research and watched you dissappear in and out of different bunks. He had to be sure before he could act.

Sits you down and tells you that he knows what you've been doing

You're in a panic, sure you've been enjoying yourself but its not worth losing your job over

Everything is made even worse to you by the fact that its Price speaking to you about it

Captain of the illustrious Taskforce 141, everyone knows him, everyone knows his skill

You, in particular, know how fucking attractive he is

So while Price is "scolding" you (literally just telling you the dangers of what you're doing) you're trying desperately to pretend you aren't losing your shit and horny as fuck.

Then, at the end, Price is tapping your papers together and tells you he wants you to stop sleeping around with other recruits

He tells you that he wants you to get tested weekly now, to make sure you don't have anything

You ask him in a meek voice why weekly, why weekly if you're supposed to stop?

He leans back in his seat, his eyes practically devouring you as he reminds you

"I said stop sleeping around with the other recruits"

Price gives a much better offer. If you want to fuck around, why not fuck around with his team rather than the typically less than stellar recruits you'd been sleeping with

It's really not much of a question for you

When you accept, you see just a hint of a smirk tug at his lips, not much but enough to have you going warm

If you're warm then, you're sure you'll combust when Price pushes his seat back just enough to motion to the floor in front of his chair, his legs spread

"Go on then, you can start with just your hands until we get everything else sorted."

He doesn't interact much with the new recruits outside of training, but he knows you

Ghost

Ghost learns about what you've been up to from Price

He's seen the way the other recruits flock to you and hang off of you, he knows several of them have crushes

He assumed, however, that you hadn't been giving any of them the time of day, so he's a little shocked to hear what you've actually been up to.

Maybe part of him is a little jealous, but the bigger part of him is excited.

If you're willing to fuck with recruits who barely know how to use their cock, surely you'd have no issue with him.

He waits for Price to talk to you and waits patiently for everything to go through before he makes his move

It's after training and he's just watched you the whole time, anticipation for whats coming

Ghost doesn't indulge often, but when you're so open and he's feeling more than a little desperate, its easier to wait for you outside of the locker room.

As soon as you step out he has you by the arm, pulling you somewhere quiet and secluded

He has you pressed against a wall, a thigh pressed up against you as he gets close.

He makes sure you know that Price has told him what you've been up to

He enjoys the embarrassment that flushes across your face, but doesn't let it last very long as he presses closer

Asks you if you've been satisfied with the recruits you've been fucking with. Asks you if they fuck you the way that you like.

He's right against you now, his entire body pressed against yours so all you can do is shake your head no, feeling flushed from head to toe

"Bad choice going for the recruits, if you're going to sleep around you can at least get something out of it. You want something out of it?"

Let's a hand land temptingly over your crotch as he waits for your response, his intentions are perfectly clear.

He waits for your permission before jumping you, but he certainly makes his point about those recruits

Its not hard for you to say you'll be aiming higher up from that point on

Gaz

Absolutely miffed when he finds out

He probably spends the most time around the recruits, so he definitely knows you

He never would have expected it from you

Never would have known if he hadn't overheard some recruit trying to brag about it

"You're not special, they're a bunny dude. They've had like half the people on our squad."

Has a whole moment™ because he knows he has to tell someone about this, like its part of his thing as a superior to you

But also 😏

Maybe he can handle it on his own

Bides his time, watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity to approach

Ends up finding it when he sees one of the recruits yoinking you out of the cafe for a very clear purpose

Hustles through a short cut to be able to cut you guys off

Acts like he has no idea what you guys were about to do

"Oh, there you are. I've been searching up and down for you. Think I can borrow them for a sec?"

You're more than a little confused when Gaz takes you back to his room rather than any meeting room

The lock of the door clicks behind you and the two of you are left alone

Gaz starts with the professional side of things

"I know what you've been doing."

You run cold and rush to explain yourself, but Gaz stops you with a hand raised

"Listen, this can't be good for you, and its against regulation, so I really do need you to stop."

You nod your head rapidly, prepared to literally fall to your knees in thanks for him not ratting you out. That is until he steps into your space

"However, if you're careful, maybe have one person take care of you, maybe it'll be alright."

Your eyes widen and a part of you runs hot as Gaz reached forward to tuck a finger under your chin, guiding you closer with just a light touch.

You're literally helpless against him, unable to do anything but follow as he brings you closer

"I'd be willing to volunteer, if you'd like"

You do end up liking ;)

Soap

Soap barely knows the recruits, he hardly pays attention to them

However he does know you

Soap's had his fair share of flings and his fair share of run ins with Barrack Bunnies before, he knows the type.

And he sees you chatting it up with the recruits and his brain clicks into place immediately

Maybe he doesn't believe at first, but later he sees you sneaking out of someone's room and he knows his instincts were right.

A part of him is really excited

Since joining the 141 he's held out on enjoying any of the more risqué things that people get up to

And he's been a little too busy to actually seek anything out even if he'd wanted to

So to have you show up and fall right into his lap? He plans to take full advantage

Soap knows the game, he knows how this all works. You don't talk about it directly

So he starts by fully introducing himself, giving you his name with a joke and a little bit of flirtation attached to let you know he's interested.

Then comes the talking as he slowly hints at what he wants, what he knows that you do

You pick up on it all pretty quick, after all this is part of what you do

Still, to say you're surprised would be an understatement

A member of the famous taskforce 141 wanting to use you? Sign you tf up

When one of you finally cracks and invites the other back to your room/bunk, its a literal flurry of movement

You're both pretty much ready for this so it makes sense that you're both on the exact same page

Course he takes good care of you and you're more than pleased. He's easily the best you've had

Later when you're laying in bed together Soap tells you:

"As your superior, I am required to tell you that you need to stop this by the way. However as me?? Well, I'll find you again soon."

Roach

Roach is the unlucky one who doesn't realize what you get up to until he happens to walk by the wrong room at the wrong time

He's heading to a meeting with the rest of the team, completely oblivious to any of the people he passes or conversations going on

That is until he turns a corner and passes a room where he can very clearly hear moans echoing from

Stops in place, absolutely shocked because hey that's a fucking broom closet

Sticks around just long enough to hear whoever you're with moan out your name

Then he's scampering off to his meeting, his face red and his mind only focused on what he's heard

Thats when he starts paying more attention and, after walking by yet another one of your rendezvous a few days later, he realizes exactly what's going on

He's a little uncomfortable to be honest

He found you one of the more likable recruits and had been helping you with your weapons tests

He'd taught you how to line up your shots quicker with a sniper and the fastest way to reload a pistol

He'd been rooting for you and you knew it

So a part of him felt uncomfortable because, really, if you needed someone to take care of you, why would you not come to him?

What was so great about all those recruits you were fucking? What was so great about hopping between people?

He probably wouldn't have been so odd about the whole thing if he was one of the people you were seeing

He's a bit distant the next time he helps you, not talking as much and hardly meeting your eyes.

He's touchy though, constantly reaching out to correct your form and brush his fingers over your skin in a way that leaves shivers down your spine

When your session is over, he stops you

"Listen, I'm not going to make a big deal out of this because I don't see whats wrong with it, but if you're going to be with a new guy every night, you need to at least find somewhere better than a broom closet."

You go bright red, stuttering out apologies and excuses about sharing the bunks with others, all while he watches you with soft eyes

"Well, I guess you could always use my room."

You stop stuttering and for a moment you and Roach just stare at each other.

He seems a bit unsure of himself, but after you don't rebuff him, he continues

"But I'm the only person you're allowed to bring back there. How's that sound?"

That sounded just perfect to you.

König

The thing about König is that he's very possessive

Its hard to keep things and have a constant in life when you're in the military, so when König finds something constant that he enjoys, he gets attached

You become a constant in his life after joining KorTac and falling under his command

König likes the people under his command, but he really really likes you

A part of him views you as his already, even when he hasn't quite worked up the courage to tell you yet

It frustrated him more then he could explain

All that confidence on the field, but when it came to something as simple as confessing his feelings and that anxiety from when he was younger would bubble back up

But what frustrated him more was coming to the realization that you'd been bouncing around the various KorTac members practically since you'd joined

Well, the various members minus him

He'd spotted you sneaking off with Conor or Roze one too many times and he wasn't stupid, he could figure out what was going on, even if it had taken him longer than he wanted to admit

He would have to rectify this issue

He calls you to his office, declaring it a matter of utmost importance, of course you believe him

Its easier for him when he can slip into his work mask, using the title of colonel to shield him from his usual anxiety.

"I know what you've been doing."

He calls you on it. Wastes no time in telling you that he knows what you've been up to.

You panic, assuming you were on the chopping block for breaking regulation. Apologies spill from your lips.

König listens to them as he stands up and rounds the desk, getting closer and closer to you with each step.

Finally he leans over you, silencing you with his towering presence

"You should be sorry. The only person you should be pleasuring is me."

You're taken aback completely, but you can't deny the heat that comes with the possession

König makes sure that you understand who it is you'll be taking care of from then on out, all while wiping the remnants of the other members of KorTac away from your skin with his own heated touch

Keegan

It's hard for Keegan to admit that he feels jealous

Usually he's calm and cool about things, always keeping a level head even with a gun pressed to his temple

He knows it and everyone else around him knows it

So its hard to admit when he is losing his cool, especially when he's losing his cool over you enjoying yourself

There are really no regulations anymore. The military is barely a military, held together by a string in a wasteland

So there isn't even anything wrong with what you're doing.

He can't tell you to stop, he'll just look like an ass

So instead he has to sit and watch as you cycle your way through half of the fucking platoon.

It eats him up, drives him crazy

He'd had Hesh make fun of him several times, mocking him for wanting to be one of the people you brought home

Hesh didn't get it, Keegan didn't want to be one of the people, he wanted to be the person!

Since finding out what you'd been up to, it had been hell, and he finally decided that it was time to confront you.

He corners you in one of the weapons tents, has you pressed against some ammo boxes as he asks you what you were doing the night before

You stutter through your answer, a little embarassed to admit to it, even if there was nothing wrong with what you'd done.

Keegan lets you stumble over yourself, enjoying the fool that you make before he just comes out and says it

He's not kind with it, instead he offers a more vulgar explanation and you gape at him, unsure of what to say or do

"No more of that, doll. I'm tired of it."

You go to protest, prepared to point out that he couldn't really stop you

Thats when you've got a leg between your thighs and a hand pressed gently to the base of your throat

"I want you all to myself. I'll take you better than any of those fucking rookies could even dream of."

He makes good on his promise

[mosaickiwi]

Ahh i totally forgot to send it :’)

(Tumblr hates me so sorry if you get this ask twice)

Hii momo <3

My headcanon is:

“What if Angel gets isekai’d in the game. But instead of getting to live the life of the MC, they switch roles with a certain hacker, unexpectedly getting trapped in the game mechanics. Will they be able to make it out? Or will they be forced to live the days over and over on a loop”

hiii ashe!!! no i will not write teo fic <333 (froggy hats are NOT enough payment sorry!!)

Flip the Script(s) - Isekai AU?? 

Flip the script like the saying goes but also a script like coding… is this funny to anyone but me… anyways have some messy thoughts hehe

14 Days With You is an 18+ Yandere Visual Novel. MINORS DNI

🖤 Flipped [REDACTED]

📜 No glitch powers or awareness anymore. Keeps most of his backstory intact, but gets og!Angel's main plot relevant traits which are: 

Secretly obsessed with AoG and therefore Haruko (this is extremely funny to me).

Someone proposed to him as a kid and he doesn't remember. 

Moved back to Corland, lives in a crappy apartment, works as a librarian.

📜 For the sake of the plot being able to move forward, he can't be as clever or observant but otherwise their personality is pretty much the same. Just without the Angel obsession.

📜 (Lack of) friendship with other characters?? Probably treats them the same as River at best: he doesn't really mind most of them. This is more like a debuff so there's at least a guarantee that Ren won't wind up on another character’s route unless Angel majorly fucks up. Also I can't imagine him putting up with any of the main cast besides Conan for more than 5 minutes.

📜 I think it's funny for River and Leon to swap places too!! So River also proposed to Ren lmfao (and Leon still gets to be Angel’s best friend, only now he’s cautiously supportive of all the wild shit they have to do to make the game progress).

💜 Flipped Angel

📜 I have a specific Angel in mind but obviously bits and pieces here are not universal to all Angels fdjsalkfjldska

📜 Their goal is to leave, but they aren’t even sure how to. Has to play the manipulative yandere role in some ways, otherwise the game falls apart.

📜 Angel’s only inherited traits are the ones [REDACTED] loses, so glitch powers + awareness. They at least have isekai semi-omniscience: 

Knows they're in a yandere romance game 

Knows a few of the characters from browsing social media 

Can see the UI and therefore the choices Ren makes 

Hit by the truck once they press the start button so they don’t know much of the plot outside of meeting Ren at the library

💙 Game Rules - that Angel is not aware of without doing some trial and error

📚 The plot/narration/dialogue etc. doesn't have to (and logically can't) be one-for-one, but pivotal choices remain the same.

📚 The day restarts by itself if Angel’s meter is too low to make any progress (as in [REDACTED] doesn't show enough interest, or shows hostility towards them). Angel can also restart the day themselves once they figure out how the glitch powers work.

📚 Choices that would normally lead to dead ends force Angel to end and restart them the same way [REDACTED] does—by breaking in to his apartment at night.

📚 They can't escape until they reach the true ending to reset the game back to normal, and reach another ending as og!Angel. Except now [REDACTED] remembers everything that happened.

💙 Goofy things to chew on

😋 [REDACTED] would still be a clean freak, so finding the mattress with a hole on day 1 would absolutely piss him off. Bro (rightfully) harasses their landlord 24/7.

😋 [REDACTED] also still terrible with finances… poor Angel has to figure out asap how to hack to give him more money before he has to move in with River (River route canon!!!).

😋 [REDACTED] either has to ignore Teo’s entire existence, or every single interaction is a minefield since Teo would live for pissing him off. River (poorly) plays mediator.

😋 Angel could outright suck at murder. Sledgehammer? Too heavy. Knives? Too messy. Screaming on the inside when [REDACTED] still doesn’t go home with them on day 2 after they’ve tried so hard. Olivia getting murdered simply does not happen anymore, they give up and force another reset.

😋 Elanor having the worst time at work because [REDACTED] gets customer complaints every single day but Conan won't fire him (the plot compels him). And then mutters insults about her being clumsy when she tries to correct his manners.

😋How are Moth and [REDACTED] even friends... enemies on the forums until some third party comes in with the most wild take on AoG?? Enemy of my enemy is my friend. But most of the time they're insulting each other.

😋 Leon watching Angel lose their shit seemingly out of nowhere (because of all the restarts) during a hangout. Consoling them awkwardly while they cry about the emo boy they’ve been stalking and how they don’t know how to ride a motorcycle.

😋 The trio being River, Jae, and Teo instead has disaster possibilities. Leon was the one keeping them from getting TOO destructive, and I feel like River is absolutely on board with every terrible idea. So Corland might as well be going up in flames in the background while Angel attempts romance.

💜 And a short fic!!! Angel's "first" day

Day 1, Attempt #0

You know right away that you’re in some type of isekai situation. An oddly luxurious but empty apartment that you woke up in. A hallway that’s just as empty, and when you knock on all the neighboring doors, nobody’s home. Weird, but not enough to set off any alarms. Getting back home should be simple. 

You head to the library and finally find someone, at least. That blonde girl Ellen? Elaine? Whatever her name is, she smiles as you walk in… and then greets you like a patron? Weren’t you meant to be co-workers? You’re completely confused until the person that you spot in a far aisle isn’t a pink-haired stranger, but instead someone decked head to toe in black fabric and silver chains.

Ohh it’s THIS one. The one you’ve seen in fan art sometimes. He’s supposed to be the real Ren, but you thought he’d be dressed up as “Haruko" at first. Something is wrong.

You slowly walk up and tap his shoulder, but they recoil at your presence. There’s a name tag stuck to his shirt—did he work here? The name is scribbled out completely.

“Um… I was wondering if you could help me?” you timidly ask.

His eyes roll as if you’re bothering him, instead of asking him to do his job. “Y’lookin’ for somethin’?” [REDACTED] mutters.

“Yes! Sort of. It's a long story. Maybe we could go to your place and talk?” Normally, you aren't this forward. But from what little you've read, they're the type to go along with anything his ‘Angel’ says, so this should be easy.

Something pops up in front of you. A small pair of black boxes with words in them. “Invite them over” in one, and “Don't invite them over” in the other. Finally, something like a system. You were wondering if you'd have to play through the game without any clear help. 

You reach your hand out, but the second choice seems to get chosen all on its own, and the menu disappears once more. You worriedly look back up only to be met with pure disgust in the man's gaze.

“...How ‘bout y’do us both a favor n’ fuck off, yeah?” the venom in his tone startles you, forcing you to take a few steps back. “I'd rather not lose my job f’beating the shit out of a patron.”

“What—”

“Leave.”

💜🖤💜🖤💜🖤

Day 2, Attempt #14

It took you longer than you wanted to admit to realize that the pink hair dye in the bathroom was meant for you. 

On the 9th time you approached [REDACTED] for your ‘meet cute,’ you’d finally noticed the little character pin keeping his scribbled out name tag in place. An acrylic, chibi face that looked strikingly similar to the bloodied image on the title screen you saw before winding up in the game.

The thought didn’t occur to you until then. Talking to him was like pulling teeth when he didn’t even care to try, but… If you were taking his place, and they were taking yours… wouldn’t he be more open to talking with someone that was maybe into the same weird anime he was?

So you reluctantly bleached and dyed your hair in pastel pink, put on the sweater despite the horrid summer weather, and went off to the library once again. Unfortunately, it worked. 

While he wasn’t outright hostile like the first couple of times, he wasn’t completely interested, either. But the conversation was friendly enough. As friendly as they seemed capable of being, anyway.

Thanks to frying your hair, you made it all the way through the day after a few more tries. You even managed to get invited over somehow. Instead of waking up in that all too familiar empty apartment for the millionth time, you woke up on a terribly put together couch. Just as you sat up to stretch and work the kinks out of your back, you spotted a rat skittering behind a table across the room.

You were grateful that he hadn’t chosen to make you sleep on the floor.

[jjjjeonww]

zhong chenle - "pickup lines"

genre - angsty romance. word count - 903 ~~in which chenle wins you back, with his manipulation tactics and pickup lines. to: @chenlezip. "anna my love <3 i'll hunt your ex down to the ends of the earth and i'll make sure to bring an umbrella with me everywhere so that if i find him i can shove it up his fucking ass and open it!!" with love, jjjjeonww.

friday, 1:27pm: you were outside, sitting in a cafe, taking care of some work before giving yourself some downtime after a long week. meanwhile chenle was bored. he scrolled on his phone, watching videos both sad and funny to try and get his mind off you. was life this boring without having someone under his control? and so, he couldn't resist sending you a cheesy pick-up line. seriously, who did this guy think he was? why would you even bother responding to him? he's your ex for a reason. ignore his message and let him suffer the consequences.

saturday, 11:43am. why does he keep texting you? can't he just leave you alone? you wouldn't want to be responding to him after what he's done right? but, you also remembered the conversation you both had shared. ...flashback: you were lounging on the couch, chenle's arms wrapped around you. you were reading a book, a shitty romance book about how the main character, lewis had cheated on his girlfriend, rebecca, with another girl. in that moment you were focused on the book, completely unaware that in a few months time, lewis would be chenle, and you'd be rebecca. out of the blue, chenle whispered, "whoever says that 'disneyland is the happiest place to be' has obviously never been by your side." his breath on your neck with each syllable. you hit his arm playfully in fake annoyance, "you're so bad at pickup lines!"

sunday, 5:53pm. you couldn't handle the way your phone would buzz or light up at the most random times. it wasn't from your friends, or family, or even classmates. it was from chenle the great. did leaving him on read each time he texted not enough for him to take the hint? he'd put a spell on you, one where he exuded his charm, one where he somehow had you head over heels for him in just a snap. it was your turn to put the spell on him, the spell of 'not replying.' or just replying dryly.

monday, 3:25pm. chenle's job: send you pick up lines on a daily basis. chenle's former job: not to 'happily' form another relationship while still being with you. damn zhong chenle for being so loveable. and damn you for still loving him.

tuesday, 8:09pm. no. why did you reply to him? why? to get manipulated once again? to let chenle deceive you? why DIDN'T you block him? do you... still love him? chenle's jobs: break you into pieces (ticked!) chenle's NEW jobs: mold you into what he wants. flashback: the day you found out about chenle and his other chick, you were horrified. you had loved him for so long, and you still love him, and you were convinced that he loved you back. you were at home, waiting for chenle to come back so you could eat the freshly-cooked dinner you had made. instead you get a text from your friend, jaewon, saying that she had just seen chenle and another girl in the restaurant she worked in, and a picture sent. it really was chenle with another girl, and his neck was full of lipstick marks. not yours, but that girl's. you didn't know what to do, so you took all of your belongings from chenle's place and went to yours. you ignored all of his calls and texts, thinking that your heart would heal faster. and when he showed up at your doorstep, you ignored him. even when it was raining heavily. you felt guilty. yes you did, to make him wait outside for an hour, to make him look like an idiot, which he was, obviously you would feel guilty. unfortunately, this was karma served cold. but you did infact, run away from the problem.

but what else could you do? its zhong chenle. you'll always be head over heels for him. and you'll always be the pawn of his deception game.

[ranger-danger]

So far my biggest complaint with datv is that rook doesn’t get treated like a main character deserves. No emotional moments, they rarely if ever get comforted, and they rarely get to express a personality outside of “Im the leader.” Even with Varric and the Inquisitor Rook gets treated like a leader first and foremost, someone forced to make all the big decisions and influence the way people’s lives go. Even in relaxed moments the decision always falls back on Rook.

Despite the fact that a Warden rook is commented on being a warden pretty often, they never get asked how they’re feeling after Weisshaupt. The game has other wardens know and recognize Rook, many dialogue lines exclusive to being a warden, but for some reason one of the big warden quests is completely devoid of Rook’s place in it. Even during Weisshaupt Rook is clearly written as a warden, comments on actively occurring events, but for some reason right after Weisshaupt the game forgets that Davrin and Rook are wardens.

Other defined aspects of Rook are also disregarded too. The game talks a lot about Neve and Lucanis not sleeping enough, but Rook doing the exact same thing (if not worse) is rarely adressed outside of Varric (there’s probably other examples, but I’m pretty sure Davrin comments on Rook finally getting some rest when they get together).

The most emotion I’ve seen rook permitted to express so far was at D’Meta’s Crossing and when they walked around a Venetori controlled Dock Town. But with those examples it still wasn’t that personal to Rookz

Granted all of the severely emotional shit Rook is going through, all after seeing their friend get stabbed in the chest, releasing blighted gods, and being forced up into a position they weren’t prepared for, would work if the game adressed that characterization of Rook. If the game tried to have the gods use Rook’s repressed or disregarded emotions to manipulate them. Or if Rook got a moment to actually have it all crashing down on them. If Rook also got to have coping mechanisms for everything alongside the companions, really anything that gave Rook more personal things outside of Leader.

Yeah there’s the symbolism with the chess piece, of being stable and powerful. But you can still show that without only having them be that. If anything it shows that more when they’re also capable of being more. The game also mildly mentions the bird in an achievement, which also would’ve been cool to expand on.

I like the game, while it’s not really what I would consider an RPG (dialogue wheel + voiced mc kill that really quick), I just wish Rook’s character got to have a place other than just the leader. Or vise versa, that the fact Rook doesn’t get to be anything other than the leader was explored and used as a chance for characterization (both with companions & Rook).

The game isn’t that bad, again I have found myself liking it a lot, it’s just glaring issues like this that upset me. I feel so upset for Rook, so empathetic? It feels weird getting upset on behalf of a character that should be permitted to cry, and maybe be suicidal, on their own.

I still haven’t finished the game, I got past beating the three blighted dragons then fucked up and now I have to restart the entire game, but this has been a smaller but important thing I’ve noticed. Normally small details like forgetting a romance comment aren’t something I’d think made the game better, but this isn’t that small of a detail. Rook got robbed of everything outside of being the leader and maybe their romance. Which sucks because Rook is a pretty decent main character being that they’re set out to be a wild-card.

I complain a lot about bg3 getting bullshit updates despite the fact it’s been out full-release for so long, because it does suck and they are bullshit, and cannot deliver the game from horribly mediocre writing (or thousands of bugs). But it does sting a little to know datv probably isn’t going to get an update that gives Rook more moments or bringing in cut content.

Also on that note, if you want to expand or agree I’d love it, but would appreciate if you didn’t include spoilers.

[minijenn]

Jen Tortures Herself With Every Dreamworks Animated Movie Ever: Megamind

So surprisingly, this is one movie I've never actually seen before outside of all of the memes and all of the love people tend to shower upon it, and after finally seeing it for myself... yeah, I totally get why. Megamind is based as fuck, ya'll.

We focus on, of course, Megamind, who is a supervillain who terrorizes Metro City and is opposed by the heroic Metro Man. At least until Megamind seems to successfully defeat Metro Man, leaving Metro City in his hands and quickly leading him into wanting more than just power alone. While in disguse, he ends up striking up a romance with Roxanne, a local reporter, and at the same time, he ends up creating a new opponent for him to fight to curb his growing boredum in the nerdy (incel) Hal, who quickly becomes more of a villain himself than the hero Megamind wanted him to be. So of course, this leads to all sorts of chaos and hijinks, and while you might think that plot sounds too complicated for its own good, I can surprisingly say, it really isn't!

Yeah, all of the moving pieces here work so well together, interwoven into a really compelling story with some pretty solid emotions and some great character moments. It helps that our cast itself is fantastic; Megamind is such a good lead, he's a genuis, but he's also totally socially graceless and is an absolute lovable goober as a result, one who comes to realize that he can be more than the "villain" stereotype he believed he was forced into being from childhood. Roxanne is also a really good leading lady; she's funny and snarky and has really great chemistry with Megamind throughout.

Metro Man doesn't get a ton of screentime, but he's a great parody on the usual superhero tropes, while Minion is the perfect right hand man (fish?) to Megamind in every way. Even our villain, Hal, or as he comes to be called, Titan, works really well here; he's the kind of asshole who just doesn't take no for an answer that we can all justifably hate (but he's also hilarious in his own right).

The animation is also really great here. I find that Dreamworks movies tend to look their best when their characters are highly stylized, and that's what we get a lot of here. We get a lot of really fun action scenes, both in terms of fighting and Megamind's tech. and strangely enough the special effects here (things like fabric and particle effects, etc) really stood out to me, they were all super well done.

The humor is absolutely fantastic here. It's not as adult as some of Dreamworks earlier days, but instead it relies more on who these characters are and how they interact with each other. I think one of my favorite running gags is Megamind obliviously mispronouncing various words (like school and Metro City). There's a bunch of small bits just like that throughout the movie, and they're all so fast paced and well delivered by a really stellar voice cast. The emotions also strike a cord here; there aren't any tearjerker moments, but you really do feel Megamind's growth here as he falls in love and eventually decides to become the hero he never thought he could be.

So yeah, I really enjoyed this one! It's a shame it took me this long to watch it, because it was super enjoyable all the way through. Also amazing that it never really spawned any legit sequels, but I heard its getting a show next year, so idk. I am probs not gonna watch it. Movie good tho, give it a watch if ya haven't.

Overall Rating: 9/10

Verdict: There is no Queen of England

Previous Review (Shrek Forever After)

Next Review (Kung Fu Panda 2)

[nellasbookplanet]

Book recs: my favorite 2024 reads

I read over 160 books this year. Let's fucking go.

Note: List excludes re-reads and sequels, I am however not above including franchise novels and tie-ins.

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

Dystopia. In a near future America, inmates on death row or with life sentences can choose to participate in death matches for entertainment. If they survive long enough - a rare case indeed - they regain their freedom. Among these prisoners are Loretta Thurwar and Hamara "Hurricane Staxxx" Stacker, partners behind the scenes and close to the deadline of a possible release - if only they can survive for long enough. As the game continues to be stacked against them and protests mount outside, two women fight for love, freedom, and their own humanity. Chain-Gang All-Stars is bleak and unflinching as well as genuinely hopeful in its portrayal of a dark but all too real possible future.

Goddess of Filth by V. Castro

Horror novella. What starts as a drunken seance between friends ends with one of them chanting in Nahuatl, the language of their Aztec ancestors. Following that night, the formerly shy Fernanda has changed. While her family calls for priests, claiming her possessed by a demon, Fernanda’s friends believe what has taken up residence in her is something decidedly older. A quick read featuring female rage, desire and empowerment, this is a different twist on the typical possession story.

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez

Science fiction. A strange child lands on an isolated planet, scaring its inhabitants into handing him over into the hands of Nia Amani. As captain of a transport ship, Nia is not only the planet's only contact with the outside world, she is also a woman out of time, years compressing into months as she travels through space at high speeds. Now responsible for a child who doesn't speak and in a galaxy that wishes them ill, she must rethink exactly what she wants to do with her life, and what she's prepared to give up. Features multiple major queer characters.

The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings

In an alternate version of our present, the witch hunt never ended. Women are constantly watched and expected to marry young so their husbands can keep an eye on them. When she was fourteen, Josephine's mother disappeared, leveling suspicions at both mother and daughter of possible witchcraft. Now, nearly a decade and a half later, Jo, in trying to finally accept her missing mother as dead, decides to follow up on a set of seemingly nonsensical instructions left in her will. Features a bisexual lead!

Cottonwood by R. Lee Smith

Science fiction romance. 20 years ago, aliens arrived on Earth, neither invaders nor diplomats but refugees. Now they are being kept in integration camps away from the human population, meaning Sarah has never met one before getting a job as a social worker in one of the camps, at which point the true treatment of the aliens at once become horrifyingly clear to her. Sanford, single father, has a decades long plan to flee the prison that is Earth, and maybe with Sarah's help it can finally reach fruition. Includes dark elements such as torture, sexual assault, and pet death.

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Historical fantasy. Emily Wilde is a professor who prefers the company of faeries, dangerous but bound to rules she can understand, to that of humans, who she finds inexplicable. Working on her faerie encyclopedia, she travels on a research expedition to the faraway Hrafnsvik, hoping for some solitary months of study. Her hopes are dashed when Wendell Bambleby, rival scholar and possible faerie in hiding, arrives on her doorstep. But Wendell's aggravating presence is far from Emily's only problem, as the Hidden Folk of Hrafnsvik turns out to be far more dangerous than expected.

Mass Effect Andromeda: Annihilation by Catherynne M. Valente

In a ship carrying 20 000 colonists on a centuries long trip to the Andromeda galaxy, something has gone wrong. A small contingent of crew representing the various races on board has been woken up to find out why colonists are dying in their sleep, but the situation quickly gets worse. Soon a pathogen is spreading and jumping species, threatening the entire ship before it has even reached its goal. Tie-in novel for the Mass Effect games; while I love it a lot, you're unlikely to get the full experience unless you've also played the games.

Under Fortunate Stars by Ren Hutchings

Two ships have gotten stuck in a rift in space, isolated outside of time. One of them is the Jonah, a ship dodging a generations long war against an alien species, carrying a small crew of smugglers, an unintended passenger, and a hijacker. The other ship is the Gallion, which arrived from 150 years in the future carrying an alien ambassador - and whose crew is awestruck at meeting the heroes of the Jonah, known to have ended the war. As the two crews struggle to understand each other's timelines, they must also work together to leave the rift before they're stranded forever. Multiple queer characters, however the main romance plotlines are m/f.

The Good Demon by Jimmy Cajoleas

Young adult horror. Clare has recently been put through a successful exorcism, but rather than help her, it has left her miserable. Clare's demon was her closest friend and had been for years, and without her Clare is left alone and lost. Set on getting her friend back, Clare starts seeking clues her demon seems to have left her, and in doing so starts finding dark, old secrets buried in the history of her home town.

Such Sharp Teeth by Kim Harrison

When her pregnant twin sister is left by her boyfriend, Rory decides to go back to her home town and stay with her for a time. But the town is also the home of old childhood trauma, and something wild is roaming the woods. When she gets attacked and mauled one night, Rory's successful life is changed forever. Lycanthropy used as a metaphor for female rage, trauma, and bad coping mechanisms.

The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison

Sherlock Holmes retelling, historical fantasy. After having been injured fighting a war against fallen angels, Doyle returns to London to survive on only a veteran's pension. To afford a place to live in the city, Doyle finds a housemate in Crow, an eccentric angel with a great curiosity for humans and a knack for solving crime. And London needs its protector - supernatural beings walk the streets, and a someone going by the name Jack the Ripper terrifies the citizens at night.

The Spider and Her Demons by sydney khoo

Young adult fantasy. All teenager Zhi wants is a normal life (and possibly for her harsh aunt to be a bit nicer), but it’s hard when she’s half spider demon. Every day she must conceal her true nature and hide in human guise. When she slips up and eats a man in front of her rich, aloof classmate Dior, Zhi thinks her life is over. But Dior has secrets of her own, and she is dead set on making herself a part of Zhi's life.

A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin

Urban fantasy. Two years ago, sorcerer Matthew Swift was killed. Today, he woke back up. And he isn't alone in his body, but rather in the company of the blue electric angels, who lived in the telephone lines and are now experiencing the world for the first time through him. Now, he seeks vengeance not only against the one who killed him, but also against the one who brought him back. Absolutely buck wild unique take on switching and merging pov betwen singular and plural.

The Fall that Saved Us by Tamara Jerée

Sapphic romance. Cassiel is of angelic heritage, raised to fight and kill demons alongside her family. But Cassiel has left the hunt and her family behind, wanting a normal life. For three years she's built a life for herself, cut off from her family, but now a demon has found her, sent to collect her soul. Except, the demon isn't any more interested in following the orders of her family than Cassiel is. Can they work together to free themselves from the expectations placed on them?

Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Fantasy. A small band of heroes prophesied to defeat an evil king must follow the "spider's path"; to find the way they seek the aid of dangerous, man-eating giant spiders. As spiders don't keep maps, their mage turns one of the spiders into human guise, forcing it to lead their way if it is ever to return to its true form. Both dark and immensely funny, Spiderlight is at once a love letter to classical heroic fantasy quests and a deconstruction of the idea of 'evil races' in the fantasy genre.

Providence Girls by Morgan Dante

Sapphic horror re-imagining of several of H.P. Lovecraft's works from the point of view of the women sidelined as victims in the originals. Forced to abandon her not-quite-human children to escape a cult seeking to sacrifice her, Lavinia nearly dies from exposure in the woods. She's saved by the prickly Asenath, and they find themselves growing close as Lavinia regains her strength. But Asenath's own dark past is catching up, as she too begins to transform into something not entirely human.

Amatka by Karin Tidbeck

Dystopia with especially creative world-building and a sapphic romance. In a vague past, something caused a group of humans to become trapped in an alien world, where the laws of reality themselves react in hostile ways to humanity's attempt at life and stability. To survive, strict rules and censorship are put in place, with harsh punishments for any overstep. Vanja is sent to the distant colony Amatka to do market research. In her research, she starts finding out the truth of the laws she chafes under, and begins to wonder whether life is really worth living if change isn't made.

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Having grown up on the heavily militarized Gaea Station, Kyr has spent her whole life training to become a soldier, aiming to bring power back to humanity after Earth was destroyed in an alien war decades ago. But when she is relegated to the nursery to birth future sons and her brother is sent on a suicide mission, Kyr breaks the rules for the first time in her life. Breaking out an alien prisoner and working alongside her brother's asshole friend, she flees Gaea Station to save her brother and bring glory to humanity. But along the way she finds out there’s much she doesn't know, about Gaea station and her own family both.

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

Alternate history. In 1952, history changes when a massive meteorite hits the Earth, killing thousands and kickstarting a global climate change that will soon make the planet uninhabitable. To save humanity from extinction, the world begins to come together to bring us to space before it's too late. Elma York, WASP pilot in the war and expert mathematician, is hoping to become one of the astronauts, but finds that she and her women friends have to work harder than anyone else to be given room in the mission.

To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

Young adult fantasy. Anequs is a young indigenous woman in a land ruled by Anglish conquerors. When Anequs finds a dragon egg and bonds with the hatchling, she is forced to travel away to attend an academy for dragon riders as one of only two indigenous students. Pulled between the traditions of her family and the ideas of the conquerors - many of which want her out of the academy no matter what - Anequs must find her place in the world as a dragon rider.

What Doesn’t Break by Cassandra Khaw

Fantasy, character study. You’re unlikely to get the full experience of What Doesn’t Break unless you’re also a viewer of Critical Role. It follows the backstory of Laudna, undead sorceress and warlock with the ghostly presence of the necromancer who once murdered her keeping residence in her mind and tugging at her strings. For thirty years, Laudna wanders the outskirts of society, forced into a lonely existence by her visibly undead status, and tries to understand what she wants to do with her un-life.

[johanna-swann]

Having seen the Daredevil Born Again trailer I gotta say: I don't think my previous worries will be proven right.

I was mostly worried that they'd miss the tone and make the reboot too Disney. After we saw Fisk in Hawkeye dressed like that and after they first re-introduced Matt in She-Hulk of all shows I was seriously worried the reboot would suck. There were rumors about writers being fired and rehired, there wasn't much info about returning supporting characters, then there's the "Born Again" title.

In general the new show seems to have a very serious, dark and violent tone matching the previous Netflix seasons really well, but as far as I understand the Born Again run was what season 3 of the Netflix show was based on, yes? And then they also use it as source material for the reboot / season 4? Still interested in how that will play out. But yeah, in general the vibes are on point.

Plotwise, Matt seems to have stopped his vigilante activities again which one could call repetitive, but I think it makes sense. He quit being Daredevil after Elektra died and the Nelson and Murdock firm broke up due to his and Foggy's conflict about vigilantism. In Defenders he briefly came back because the enemy he fought in season 2, the Hand, had resurfaced and he thought he might be able to save Elektra. Then in season 3 he only reclaimed the Daredevil identity because Fisk was back. Both times he had specific reasons to come back, he didn't just feel like putting the mask back on again. He knows it's dangerous and that often enough the people he cares about suffer the consequences.

Now I personally got the impression that the ongoing corruption within NYPD, the FBI and the Justice system in general paired with the success of putting Fisk away a second time provided the perfect set-up for Matt to go back to being Daredevil for non-specific, principled reasons and with his friends' blessing too.

The new trailer tells us that then something happened. "A line was crossed." and Matt as a result hung up the mantle again. (I assume Matt's moonlighting got someone killed. He's a vigilante with a no kill rule, this is definitely something that would shake him up.) But now Fisk is back and he is Mayor. So once again we've got the same conflict, opponents and basic prerequisite: Matt vs Fisk, Fisk thinking he's actually helping the city and with the power of the system behind him, Matt fighting a corrupt system and therefore having to work outside the law. Not new, but it's a solid concept, I'm down.

(On a side note: D'Onofrio is so good, I have so so much respect for his acting skills. His portrayal of Fisk gives me the chills every time. Charlie Cox gets so much praise and it's deserved, but holy fuck. Vincent D'Onofrio everyone. One round of applause please.)

What I am worried about right no has more to do with personal preference than what I've seen from the reboot itself so far.

It's not a big secret that I did not like Karen in the Netflix series very much. She was fine in season 1, but after that they started writing her in a very hypocritical way. She starts somehow stanning the Punisher and shortly later is super upset about Matt being Daredevil. She constantly runs head first into danger, pulling other people into her mess and then blames Matt for doing the exact same thing. She accuses Matt and Foggy of keeping secrets, dangerous secrets that affect her as well, but doesn't tell them she killed Fisk's right hand man. So yeah, not a fan of that.

At the end of season 3 though the trio (Matt, Foggy and Karen) seem to be on the same page and the Matt/Karen romance could end up as a "been there, done that, it's over" thing. If the writers handle Karen better this season and these three stay platonic besties - it could be good, but I am worried especially with the theory flying around that Foggy might be dead. Without him to balance out Karen's and Matt's reckless stunts this could turn out really bad.

The other thing is that I low-key hated how much space the Punisher took up in season 2. The Punisher storyline was very much the focus of that season while Matt the protagonist and titular character was off doing something else. It's fine that they used Daredevil as a Punisher backdoor pilot, but if he is already getting his own show - why make him the main character of a different show for an entire season? This also ties into the writing around Karen in season 2 and the Defenders. I did not have fun with the Punisher storyline at all. I much would've preferred if they had given Elektra, Stick, the Hand and that entire plot more room since that was also very relevant to the Defenders crossover while the Punisher didn't need to be so closely connected to the rest of the Netflix Marvel universe.

So him being back doesn't thrill me. I hope he's just a minor character they whipped out to create a buzz in the fandom and he won't "steal" the spotlight again. There's a long, long list of other characters I would've loved to see again instead. There's Claire, the other Defenders (especially Jessica Jones), Marcy, Elektra (if Matt can survive Midland Circle collapsing ontop of him so can she), Foggy's frenemy Brett, etc. And now that Daredevil is officially in the MCU this opens up a plethora of new possibilities too.

So. I think objectively speaking the show is looking pretty solid right now, but I'm not sure it'll hit my personal sweet spot.

[enchantedbat]

Winx Club x Stardew Valley

Six Winx. Six Bachelors. Six Bachelorettes.

Bloom. Obviously Sam and Haley. Sam is just a mix between Sky and Andy. He likes pizza, skateboards and has a band! He is front singer! She's smitten. Now, Haley is like Stella and Bloom loves Stella. Of course, she will date the sweet blonde who is mean at first and then grows soft. The woman in this picture? Yeah, she loves 'em blonde. She really fucked their well planned farm over just to grow a bunch of sunflowers and spends all their hard earned money on pizza.

Flora. She agreed to play with them after Tecna promised she doesn't have to fight anyone and can just take care of their plants. Now, Flora has a type too. Long-haired man with a kind soul. Now, add poetry and romantic, you get Elliott. He is basically Helia. For bachelorettes, I want to go with Emily. She is an artist too. A spiritual woman who feels trapped in the life she is living. All those responsibilties she has to bear. Flora would choose either of them but never marry them. She doesn't want to get in their way of achieving their dreams and be free.

Stella. She saw Alex and called dibs. He looks a bit like Brandon and that's enough. When she heard that Bloom romances Haley because she reminds her of Stella, you bet that Stella started to romance Penny. She totally loves the character depth of Alex, even though she is great impatient and would love to just skip all dialogue. Yes, Stella spends their money on items none of her love interests like but that she finds good. She runs around the whole day to talk to the sweet Penny and her handsome Alex. At the end of the day, she will marry her Penny to save her from that horrendous mess that is Pam.

Tecna. This woman has no time for romance. She wants efficiency. She wants perfection. Every crate has a colour and every object has a crate to be put into. She likes Maru. If she didn't have to work on the farm and plan it to bring them the highest amount of money, she would romance her. Shane? While I like him, Tecna doesn't have time for his terrible character. She dislikes him but he gets her blue chicken and she wants those. And deep down, she feels better helping him to get sober. Back to Maru: a woman of science. A lovely character with a predictable routine. Tecna loves her so much, she gifts Maru her precious strawberries. Sighing so happily while her girlfriend (and soon-to-be-wife) shows her the robot she built.

Musa. Well, well, well if it isn't her type: moody and rebellious loner. Yeah, she romances Sebastian. Now, Musa has some jealousy issues as we know and her plan was quite easy: romance Abigail, so she stops flirting with Sebastian and then get Sebastian. However, it ended with her begging Tecna to get a mod to have both. She is greedy. They both play instruments, they are both rebels at heart and Abigail fights the normalcy her mother expects of her. That's a badass woman and Musa loves these.

Layla/Aisha. Her job was to reach the level 100 as fast as possible in the mines and then do the same in the skull cavern. Layla ended up often enough at Harvey's clinic to think "well, let's romance him and hope for a discount". She worried first that Tecna wants that romance but no, she is busy enough (and has Maru). She is happily surprised when she finds out that Leah isn't taken yet. The outside-loving artist? Who lives all alone and happy? That's Layla's girl. Forget that doctor that doesn't even give her a discount, she proudly carries the sculpture from Leah around.

Tecna didn't tell them they can marry each other and it shows.

[ofmermaidstories]

From your posts so far I feel like you have such a wide variety of understanding complex characters. How do you think you would tackle writing for Todoroki Touya, and have you ever considered any storyline for him? What kind of civilian reader do you think you’d craft for him if so?

beyond a post-canon bonnie and clyde AU, i’ve never really seriously considered a fic for dabbers. 🧐 he’s a fun character in canon, but to me that’s because he’s a walking tragedy—his hatred and desperation for his father. his resentment of his perfect baby brother. the way both of those things blindside him to his other brother, his sister, their mum. i don’t see him as like, the fun flirty bad boy that i think was a given read of him, earlier in BNHA—i think what he eventually goes through will profoundly change him, if he lives. it’ll take hard work for him to get to a place where he can be like, happy with the family that’s reaching out to him—his father, his mother, his siblings…. his perfect baby brother.

for a post-canon dabbers fic, i’d probably strike at the in-between time between him physically and mentally healing—like, his injuries have been treated, he’s gotten physical therapy. maybe he has a prosthetic arm like his arm, or a cane to help him walk but he can do things, he can physically be apart of the world again—but he still bubbles with his resentment. touya’s a massive fazacon in canon and everyone who disagrees with me can argue with a wall LMAOOO i’m right about this forever, but like, for a x reader fic i think that means competition for his attention on a very base level, you know? like, how do you bond with and romance a guy that’s constantly sour about how his father ruined his life??? to me that means you benefit best from having a Reader-insert who either has their own baggage, or is nihilistic enough to laugh his off LOL. and i think if you’re going to make them both like, kinda unrepentant assholes, you’re almost obligated to give them a happy ending??? or rather—that’s how i would write it. like with the dabi/bonnie & reader/clyde idea, i would set it up so that they both think they’re gonna die at the end of it, that the reader (lowercase) thinks they’re gonna die, that endeavour and rei and the todo siblings (minus Shouto) think they’re gonna die—and then at the end they don’t. one of them—maybe dabi himself, because i think we owe him that chance—tries to pull a stunt that like, lets Reader live, say. maybe he meets up with his perfect baby brother at some stage during the Crime Spree and it’s Shouto who’s like, I can help you. I can help both of you, please let me, and at first Dabi’s furious (how fucking dare this useless squirt of endeavour’s hot fucking snot talk to him like a hero) but then. you know. he gets attached like a chump, or whatever. maybe he sees more of himself in you than he wanted to, or maybe being outside of the careful, clinical surveillance he was under before means he has to confront like—what the point of it all is, you know? he failed in killing his father, his baby brother, himself. he got patched together and now endeavour’s grovelling like a worm for forgiveness Touya doesn’t want to give him, almost (it’s not atonement or forgiveness he wants—he wants the family he should’ve had, the power he should’ve had from birth, perfect and whole). and it’s like—the choice is either go out in a blaze of glory or…. i don’t think he’d even let himself imagine it, LOL. you and him and your fucked up issues like linen in the cupboards of some cute little house with a tidy fence around it? bullshit. pathetic.

(but you patch each other up. and the way you laugh when someone eats shit trying to run during one of your robberies makes him think of his days with the League of Villains—the way everyone was so unrepentative in what they were after, the hurt they wanted to inflict. And yet Toga’s out there somewhere, getting rehabilitated back into society and last Touya heard Spinner was working with heteromorph discrimination programs after a rough recovery—and you could still make it, he thinks in disdain. He’s on his last, last chance but you—you could still have that tiny home, somewhere. The linen cupboards that hold more than the issues that sent you to the same centre he was languishing in. You could still have a future, and later that night when you’re asleep he walks away from the car you’ve traded (stolen) the van in for—and calls his perfect baby brother, who answers the phone silently, waiting.

“You wanna help?” Touya asks, dry. “Then help, Hero.”)

[sanctus-ingenium]

What is your process like when building a story, it's characters and world?

my two main methods - start with characters, or start with plot/setting

to start with characters - that's an easy enough one for me and my main go-to. I enjoy writing and drawing characters more than I do working on worldbuilding or setting stuff, and I think "wouldn't it be cool if I had a character who was x/did y/etc". my book Said The Black Horse is 100% character driven. the three main characters are built for each other, to fit together in the story. the world is built FOR the characters - it's not a worldbuilding Project that works outside the scope of the story. so for this story, the starting point was - "i want to write about a poly gay relationship between three fucking losers who constantly get in arguments with eachother". before the faery stuff, before anything else about the setting, that was the start of it. it's about a close friendship/romance. i start with the characters - not so much 'here's what they look like and their personality and backstory' but 'here's the functional purpose of that character, here's what they bring to the story'. and that doesn't mean that everything has to be critically important to the plot either

so now we have the purpose of that character - what character traits make it easier to achieve this purpose? what might be entertaining to read? the characters are built as a cast, to all fit together - not in the sense of "x character is the stubborn one so that means y character has to be opposite of that", but "x is the stubborn one, so what trait of y's can emphasise x's stubbornness" and vice versa. the characters are tools, not people, and it's fine to give one a trait just for the purpose of enhancing our understanding of another more important character. how do they bring out the best in one another? or (my favourite) how do they bring out the worst?

I find that the story comes very naturally just from building up the cast. what parts of the setting can be used to show off these characters? my book has an extended period when the characters are lost as children & on the run - well, why not put them in a giant magic forest known for eating people alive, just to raise the stakes and show more of the supernatural elements? okay, how does that forest change the setting? how does it impact the characters? what are their misconceptions about the forest? which misconceptions come from their culture? what does that say about their culture? and once you get this sort of cycle going, it's hard to stop. only drawback is that it might take multiple rough drafts of the same story until you iron out all the creases - i started writing the rough draft in 2019, it was about 110k words. the first true draft in 2020 was 215k words. the current draft is 225k words. that's a lot of writing lol and each new draft started with a new blank document.

to start with setting - this is tougher for me because i just love characters so much and tend to only really care about them. but sometimes you get an idea like "what if big mechanical beasts" while listening to a christian metal album and you gotta pursue it, even without the safe starting point of the characters. but in a way it's kind of the same - the setting HAS to serve the story first of all, otherwise it's just a worldbuilding project. which is fine, they just don't hold my attention all that much. so the concept - 'what if mechanical beasts' -> what are they used for? fighting dragons. why? for fuel, and righteous religious reasons. immediately there's a scarcity problem with the fuel, right, if it only comes from dragons. so how is this dealt with? it's very expensive. the church controls the supply to avoid having to compete with private entities or a non-theocratic government. how is this enforced? and so on and on and on. and then to put the characters in, it's me identifying which POV might be interesting to read about - a knight struggling to meet the church's expectations, an enginesmith with a guilty secret, and a banished ex-knight who desperately yearns for adulation again.

i find that the best way to refine the setting or characters is just to write in it. pick a random plot that COULD happen and write it out short story style. i will instantly run into issues that need to be solved, in order of importance. it doesn't matter if you have a whole kingdom designed down to the last vizier if you don't know what a character does in their day to day life when the main plot isn't happening

[godsgamefreak]

After 1354 saves and just over 60 hours, I finally finished my Dragon Age II re-play, the first of its kind since the game came out 13 years ago. I toyed with it for a bit longer, I know I bought the Mark of the Assassin DLC and I think I even finished it, but I barely remembered it. But not a single proper playthrough in 13 years.

In that time DA2 of course got ripped apart by the media for the glaring issues of developing a massive RPG in 16-18 months, like the re-used assets (particularly in dungeons) but I had remembered enjoying it well enough as I played. Though, I also had issues with a lot of the Companions at the time too.

After being quite soured in my playthrough of Inquisition a few years later, I had fully dropped the series, with little to no interest in anything it was doing (granted it wasn't a lot, with Veilguard only just recently being properly announced) outside of the animated series on Netflix which was neat. But with Veilguard around the corner, and over 10 years of life under my belt, I thought... why not give it another try, see what's different?

Turns out both not much and also a fair bit. The not much was how much I enjoyed it - while certain mechanics don't work the way I'd like or aren't communicated as well (I'm very sad I couldn't truly be a proper tank, since enemy threat was constantly all over the place) I still had FUN with it. Since I remembered being meh on a lot of the Companions, I made sure to keep a particular eye on them this time around and I came to realize I understood them all a lot more this time around.

Merrill held a conviction, though a dangerous one, and while commendable to hold to it despite understanding the dangers... was completely blind to so much more. A great comparison to Anders, who was so much WORSE than I remembered, finally coming to a head if you question him during his Act 3 companion quest. I literally had to get up out of my chair in anger when he tries to threaten your friendship over his cause ("trust me even though I lied to you" like fuck off man).

Fenris was still overly grumpy about so much, but the reasoning is still solid, and it was nice to see him loosen up a little here and there. Agreeing to drop the mage freedom topic with Isabela and deflecting with a game of "guess my undergarments colour" was wonderful. Speaking of Isabela, I'm definitely older and care less about her darker side than I did as a "young and pure paladin" of 20 years old. I even romanced her, due in part to a similarity to one of my wife's OC's. Her romance story ends so sweet too, and her story is quite interesting. I wish the game had more time to expand on both Fenris and Isabela's stories and personal growth.

Varric and Aveline are still great, I love how they individually check in on Hawke through the game. They feel like the closest friends you have, in that they check on you just as much as you check on them, with no other major goals taking up their time and attention. Though the Aveline vs Isabela lines feel like they get a little too catty, there was one scene of them laughing over a drink once that made me happy to see they could get along.

My biggest regret is that Bethany is so absent from Act 2 and most of Act 3, not even making an on-screen appearance over your mother's death - the quest of which still hits pretty hard, though I didn't fully realize it until afterwards.

All in all, it was wonderful to re-play it, re-experience it, and play it in its complete form start-to-finish, and did exactly what I hoped: re-ignited my desire to care about this dark fantasy world, and make me excited to play Inquisition again. This time with less faffing about, more paying attention, and spending more time with Companions (and other major characters). I barely remember what happened in the game, so it's almost like finishing a re-play of DA2 before the big new game comes out. I hope I really find something I missed in my first DAI playthrough that makes me love it after hating it for 10 years.

[physalian]

Idk what boxes to check off on my neurodivergent/acespec bingo card here but I’ve never had an OTP? I like shipping and I write romances in books and fanfic but I don’t talk about someone else’s fiction characters in a fanon context, only canon, if that makes sense? Like you’ll see me writing fic for Pernico as a fix-it canon divergence, but I’m never going to blog about the ship or like, create a mood board, lest people scream at me about Solangelo or Percabeth.

Heck the only reason I worked up the courage to post those fics was beacuse I knew no one on here would give a fuck and go search them up. Ironically, the lack of engagement and knowing my fics yell into the void is quite freeing.

I don’t even know how to make a mood board. Where do I get the ingredients? Why would I make one? Why do people like them?

Never cared about the actors who play the characters on screen to the point of watching interviews or wanting to meet them at cons. Never tried to pick an actor to play a book character. Never had a celebrity crush, or a character crush (but Caspian is still perfect ngl).

Never owned posters or merch like pins or bags of my favorite books or movies, only what was bought for my mom, who let me read books above my age after she read them, like Twilight.

I have one (1) piece of art that’s not up in my current apartment that’s an MHA version of the old photograph “Lunch atop a Skyscraper” in black and white that was absolutely an impulse buy and only because I recognized the inspiration.

I don’t have stickers or car decals, but I do have 2 anime t-shirts that I never wear anymore and two little chibi keychains, one of which is still on my keys (the other lost his head somewhere).

I don’t even own stuff from the most famous fandoms that I like, like, Mario, or Star Wars, or Marvel.

It definitely partly comes from, as a kid, understanding: “Being into fandom things gets you bullied. Tell no one you read or watch TV unless it’s what’s popular, and your interests are inconvenient to everyone else anyway so hush.”

Maybe if Percy Jackson had merch when I was younger I would have gotten some for birthdays and christmas, but it didn't, not like Harry Potter, and walking around in a neon orange t-shirt that everyone would stare at was not gonna happen.

When one of the animated Tinker Bell movies was airing on Disney Channel, I was going to miss it so I wanted to record it, but something else was taking up the DVR spot and I'm absolutely the only one in my family who remembers the ridicule I recieved for wanting to record Tinker Bell. Pretty sure I made myself stop caring about it, like, immediately after, and never asked to record anything ever again. I just made sure I caught whatever, quietly, live.

I was driving the other day and beside me was this girl in her little hatchback with those decals where it looks like the character is popping up from the window, and they were all Hazbin Hotel and my very first thought was omg that’s so cringey. I like Hazbin, but I am definitely not in the fandom because it’s scary over there, but also that Alastor sticker was cute.

But the other part comes from just… not caring. Not understanding how anyone can get so attached to aspects of a story outside the bounds of the pages (certainly not understanding how that attachment can cause meltdowns when someone disagrees with you over what won’t ever actually happen with the character in canon).

My interest in an actor stops completely once they take their acting hat off and are themselves again. How a thing is made? Oh I’ll eat that up. Like director’s commentaries and BTS. But following an actor on Twitter? Nah.

But on the other hand, darn it, I wish I was brave enough to have stickers on my car? To buy merch and hang it up in my apartment? To actually wear my t-shirts and not make sure I have a sweatshirt to hide them with? Nobody nowadays knows the chibi on my keychain, and no one sees my keys anyway.

I want to be able to be that passionate about any one fandom to run a whole blog about it? That sounds fun? To be so staunchly oblivious to any story's problems so I can enjoy it? Or like… to care, at all, when new content for something I used to like drops? Passively hate the Disney Percy Jackson but I wish I didn’t. Could not care less about Arcane season 2 but I wish I’d enjoyed it. Both have been soured by "well you just didn't understand it fuck off". I liked the second Spiderverse but know no one who’d talk about it with me so it’s just kind of there. It’s a movie just like any other.

Friends in fandom isn’t like a thing that I’ve ever had. I’ve had friends, who also have extremely passionate opinions very different from mine about various fandoms which made “let’s talk about this thing we both like” a minefield.

And attempting to voice those opinions on here? Pfft. I’ve been harassed enough, no thank you. Fandom is dangerous for me, not fun. Idk how the rest of you are doing it. I’ve only been on here a year and the blacklist of "things we do not discuss on Tumblr" has grown quite long.

You do not understand how much conscious effort it takes to admit, out loud, that I like action movies and stuff like Transformers. I’ve wanted, for years now, a little Decepticon sticker for my car. It costs like $3. I still haven’t bought it. There's an art book (The Art of Prime) that's ridiculously rare and being hoarded by collectors that I still very much want, but it's like $800 on Ebay (or it was several years ago last I checked). It's the only unique piece of fandom I've ever actually hunted for.

But yeah, I'm saying this on The Fandom Hellsite so y’all probably think I’m insane but media, to me, has always just been an entertaining story, and never steps beyond the bounds of the pages it’s printed on and my imagination, because when it does the judgment comes. Like, everywhere I turn, I am doing fandom wrong.

Fandom is a thing best viewed silently, anonymously, and at a great distance, lest ye be known.

[priafey]

AO3 Twenty Questions

tagged by @ladytanithia. a big thank you, as always!

tagging @inkoherentwriting, @azures-grace and YOU, dear reader

(copy/paste for the questions below the cut)

1 – How many works do you have on AO3?

Four, not counting the work I published as a reference list for my OCs.

2 – What's your total AO3 word count?

84,627

3 – What fandoms do you write for?

Just TES:Skyrim for the moment. Sadly, I haven't been able to play any of the other games just yet.

4 – What are your top five fics by kudos?

I'm dying for Among the Many Lost Souls to surpass Sought and Found. It was my first venture into longform writing and it shows. Bleh.

5 – Do you respond to comments?

Almost always. If I don't respond, it's usually because I tried my darndest and couldn't think of a constructive or meaningful response.

6 – What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

The one I'm writing right now :3c (Among the Many Lost Souls). I'm putting Gwilin through the wringer and then I'm gonna hang him out to dry.

7 – What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Sought and Found, I suppose.

8 – Do you get hate on fics?

No, I don't. I lowkey wish I did. Firstly, because haters can be remarkably perceptive, and, secondly, because I am as interested in what makes someone scrunch up their nose or click away from my fic as I am about hearing people's thoughts on what was well-executed about them. I think my stuff is too niche to really draw a lot of negative attention (right now, at least).

9 – Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Always, my man! I consider it my moral duty to make my characters fuck nasty. Why? BECAUSE IT'S HOT DUHHH

10 – Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

People who write crossovers scare me so bad. I can barely limp my way through having to structure a plot around already-existing lore and making sure everything that happens in the story is congruent with in-universe rules, meanwhile there are people out there writing Skyrim x The Walking Dead crossovers. It's cocobananas.

11 – Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know. I don't really give a fuck if people steal my shit. Fighting with someone over authorship of a work that is principally riding on the coattails of an existing IP, which can't even be monetized, mind you, feels like a real 'race to the bottom' situation to me. I'm well aware of the quality of my work and I'm proud to have the drive to constantly better my skills. That's all that matters.

12 – Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope. Though I did start translating Sought and Found into Spanish, I dropped it when I started writing Among the Many Lost Souls. In any case, I would be so, so touched if someone decided to translate a fic of mine.

13 – Have you ever co-written a fic?

Also nope. Never tried collaborative writing outside of an academic setting. Totally open to it, though!

14 – What's your all-time favorite ship?

Uh, I'm not real big on shipping existing characters. I mostly just think about my OCs, or my friend's OCs, with each other. Aside from Gwilin x [pretty much every other NPC in Skyrim], I think thoughts about @abstractredd's guys, Hedgrod and Athrar, quite often.

15 – What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Fic-related WIP? Just one. I wanted to write another romance fic (like Sought and Found) featuring a netch farmer who's a cowboy-type character. Sexy Dunmer with a southwestern accent. Brokeback Mountain: Morrowind Edition. You get the picture.

I might still finish it, but I'm reluctant to even touch it because I haven't played Morrowind, and would have to do a real deep-dive into everything related to Dunmer in TES lore to write it. I know a lot already, but I never feel like I know enough, y'know?

16 – What are your writing strengths?

I've been told I'm good at setting a scene and painting a picture. This is, I think, a new ability I acquired in the past year or so. I've also been told my smut-writing abilities are pretty good, which is always nice to hear :) If I had to list what I consider to be my own strengths, I'd add that I've gotten a lot better at cutting the fat out of my writing (especially from dialogue tags and in describing facial expressions and body language).

17 – What are your writing weaknesses?

Dialogue is a bitch a half for me to write. It's probably the thing I most obsessively tweak before publishing. I think my dialogue tends to fall short.

Pacing is another issue. I often criticize, in other fic author's works, that they present an interesting image or idea and then leave me hungry because they don't elaborate on it, but I am the biggest culprit of this if I don't constantly remind myself that, yes, people want to hear more about this or that. They want you to mystify it, justify it, make it sexy, make it like a puzzle for them to solve. You can't just leave it cut-and-dry, much as my autism compels to do because "It's quite literally saying the same thing". Like, that's great, bestie, but you have to elaborate! Say the same thing just make it sound cooler than it is!

18 – Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

This is cool. I don't mind busting out Google Translate to enjoy a fic. That mouse-hovering feature that lets you add alternative text to a fic on ao3 is super useful for this sort of thing.

19 – First fandom you wrote for?

My first, and only other, fandom: My Little Pony. I was 12.

20 – Favorite fic you've written?

I love them all for different reasons, BUT Among the Many Souls has blood and sex and drama in it, so yeah. It's in the lead.

1 – How many works do you have on AO3?

2 – What's your total AO3 word count?

3 – What fandoms do you write for?

4 – What are your top five fics by kudos?

5 – Do you respond to comments?

6 – What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

7 – What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

8 – Do you get hate on fics?

9 – Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

10 – Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

11 – Have you ever had a fic stolen?

12 – Have you ever had a fic translated?

13 – Have you ever co-written a fic?

14 – What's your all-time favorite ship?

15 – What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

16 – What are your writing strengths?

17 – What are your writing weaknesses?

18 – Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

19 – First fandom you wrote for?

20 – Favorite fic you've written?