#i have an outline of happenings

[nexility-sims]

update: took an unannounced hiatus, but i’m estimating that i will resume story posting by next sunday. the upcoming installment is a real beast, and i need the writing and visuals to be Exactly What They Are In My Head. good news is things are moving right along, so stay tuned—!

[cutter-kirby]

getting into both of these games at the same time is pretty funny

[accirax]

a collection of DCAS memes so far

[choccy-milky]

congrats on baby #2!🥰👍 part 2 to this post bc seb is a smug ass bitch when it comes to getting clora pregnant. and ty @rednite-dork for sending me the original pic ages ago LMFAO... i knew as soon as i saw it that i had to redraw it eventually 👼

[lgbtlunaverse]

So I've said multipe times now (here and here) that thinking nmj is just so blinded by privilege he doesn't undertand that acting out of line gets people killed is, in my opinion, a misunderstanding of his character that ignores the part where he's, you know, actively dying the whole time and thinks that's a good thing. But that doesn't mean I don't think privilege plays no role at all in how he views the world.

Specifically, his view that death (at least premature or violent death) means something.

Death isn't always a tragedy to NMJ, but it is always meaningful. If you kill an evil dangerous person for your righteous cause, that death had meaning. There was evil in the world and now there is less of it. Similarly, if you die in the pursuit of your righteous cause, that death has meaning, because the sheer dedication you gave to it that you were willing to die for it will further that cause, and your bretheren will be invigorated by your sacrifice to fight even harder.

If a death isn't meaningful, that's an injustice and it is up to the living to give it meaning. That's what cuts so deep about his father's murder. There were no consequences, no changes, no meaning. Wen Ruohan was just going to get away with it! He fights and wins an entire war to make it mean something, to make it so that the unjust murder of Nie Mingjue's father is part of Wen Ruohan's downfall.

But this is a view he can only hold because he's the kind of person who's death will be meaningful. Most ordinary people's deaths are meaningless. Not ontologically, not inherently, but they are made meaningless because no one cares. For death to be meaningful you either have to be so powerful that anything you risk your life for will be impacted in some way. (Like, say, if you sacrifice a long life for immense martial power in a faustian bargain with a blade) Or if people with that kind of power care enough about you to do so for you. For most people, this isn't true. A starving street kid has no power to change the unfair world that put them there, even if they risk their life trying, and no one will do it for them once they die.

Nie Mingjue knows this in abstract, and of course rightfully believes it's wrong. But all that does is make it yet another righteous cause people should be willing to die for. Everyone's deaths should mean something, we'll make it so or die trying!

This is what the conflict between nieyao is about at its core. Because Jin Guangyao, fundamentally, cannot conceive of his own death as meaningful. Nie Mingjue grew up around powerful men who could change the world but refuse to do so because god forbid they risk a single hair on their perfect heads. Meng Yao, on the other hand, grew up in an environment where no one of importance would blink twice if you died. He was surrounded by meaningless death. Indeed his entire early life is defined by that lack of care.

Meng Shi dies and no one cares. Meng Yao gets thrown off a flight off stairs and no one cares. He has to be the one to do the caring, and once he's gone no one else will do it for him.

So he has to live.

Jin Guangyao eventually gets far enough that he actually does aquire the power to change some things... as long as he's alive. If he changes too much, holds on too tightly to his ideals, he'll die and it'll all be for nothing. He can't sacrifice himself for his goals because doing so would immediately render those goals unobtainable. No one will care about what he tried to do. He won't be a heroic sacrifice, he'll just be trash that finally cleaned itself up.

And well... Nie Mingjue dies, and someone makes it mean something. Makes it mean so much that the entire story of mdzs would not exist without it. Jin Guangyao dies and it doesn't mean anything. Most people are glad to be rid of him, and the few that are not don't do anything to change that.

[coalitiongirl]

Regina lets out a little puff of laughter, then looks annoyed again. “No sense of self-preservation,” she says, frowning. “How am I going to get you to activate all that magic if you can’t even do it to save your life?” She considers for a moment. Then her eyes light up with an idea. It’s a little frightening. “It’s not your imminent death that gets you moving,” she says slowly. “It’s saving people.” And without hesitation, she throws herself off the side of the ravine. Emma lets out a cry, panic flooding her as she rushes to the edge. Regina drops peacefully, as though she’s already resigned to her fate. Emma has to do something, she has to help, she has to– She is in the air before she can think about it, but she hasn’t thrown herself off a cliff. No, she’s floating a few feet below Regina, magic warming her entire body as she throws out her hands. Regina lands in her arms, cradled against her, and Emma jolts from the force of the catch. Slowly, she tells herself, and they descend to the bottom of the ravine, Emma flushed with the effort of controlling her magic. “There we go,” Regina says softly, her eyes on Emma. Emma stares back at her, their gazes locked, flushed with magic and victory. Her whole body feels like it’s humming, like she has been given an infusion of energy that makes everything feel so alive. “Do you feel it?” Emma breathes. She thinks that she could probably summon one of Regina’s fireballs right now with just a thought, that she could move worlds with a blink. But she doesn’t, because Regina is still in her arms. She feels so small like this, not a legendary evil queen but only a woman, soft and warm. “Yeah,” she says, trembling with the force of the magic. “Yeah, I feel it.”

[kat1nkulta]

Get husked idiot lol

[feelingthedisaster]

comments in my fic be like "i cant wait to see what happens next" and same bitch same

[weevmo]

Daily OC Challenge #3: 'Never in a Million Years' ship (ye I'm doing another cause I missed yesterday -)

Barry and Sorro for this one! They barely get along (Sorro's fault 100%) nevermind any o' THAT

[imagineaspen]

Remember that time that Zelda sealed herself away with Ganon and was alone with him for 100 years and then found herself thrown back into the past and he was there and he knows her so intimately that he's able to make a copy of her that is so accurate in appearance and personality that it fooled the entirety of Hyrule? Because I think about that a lot.

[sunnimint]

Hi. I AM VERY MUCH ALIVE.

I know I promised to pick up my fics but then I disappeared again. A lot has been happening in my life. I do apologize for that, I didn't mean to suddenly go quiet, I'll try my best to get back in the groove of writing.

Please be patient ✨️

[kyouka-supremacy]

This art is doing things to me

[rrotostap]

Showdown in Gunland

Once more, thank you @akeshuakeauzine for your hard work! My random AU of the day for them: SAO: Gun Gale Online edition!

[choccy-milky]

Okay so I read your entire fic in three days and I LOVE IT!? ITS SO GOOD!?! I am supposed to be studying for finals and instead have spent 72 hours definitely not doing that. I originally got into your fic because I saw your drawings from different scenes and OH MY GOD THEYRE AMAZING. The way you draw Seb makes me want to bang my head on the table (in the best way ever)…that boy does things to me. The whole thing is just uGHHH chefs kiss amazing work love it love you amazing

AWW TYY IM GLAD YOU LIKED IT SM (ENOUGH TO BINGE IT AND IGNORE SCHOOL) AND THAT YOU LIKE HOW I DRAW SEB TOO💖💖😍😍😍

LMAOO but fr as a procrastinator and horrible student myself, im pleased with this theme of interfering with ppls schoolwork/thesis/whatever else to read my fic...im dragging yall down with me...just stop using your brain and enjoy sexy seb aha😜 (ILY TOO GOOD LUCK ON UR FINALS)

@jstfndmthngs omg thank you for such a long and in depth ask i hope u dont mind i just screenshotted it and cut it into 2 BAHAHA but THANK YOUU im glad youre enjoying it so far!! 🥹💖AND YESSS BAHAHA IVE ALSO BRAINWASHED YOU TO SEE SEB AND CLORA WHEN YOU SEE A BLONDE + BROWN HAIR COUPLE mission accomplished😈😈 and I LOVE THAT YOU DAYDREAM ABOUT SEB AND CLORA TOO!!! people thinking about your fic/art when theyre not actively reading it is the highest honour fr...😭🙏 AND BAHAHA I REMEMBER THAT COMMENT THREAD ABOUT LEANDER AND HIS LITTLE GARDEN PATCH LMAO and him and seb competing as neighbors/dads over who has the better yard...LMAO im putting in my oneshot that leander lives close by, i might try and find a way to allude to that if i can LMAOO speaking of IM GLAD YOURE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE ONESHOT 💖💖 ive been working on the outline every day the past few days and its 24k words AND THATS JUST THE OUTLINE😭😭LIKE DAWG i was planning on this oneshot to just be short and sweet BAHAHA but i forgot im fluent in yappanese...then i just kept thinking of cute pregnancy moments i wanted to add so it spiralled....BUT ANYWAY I HOPE I CAN FINISH IT SOON!!🙏 also im so impressed you only read 1 chap of my fic a day BAHAHA i admire the self restraint bc i could never...but i feel you with wanting to make things last. LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU CATCH UP!!🥳AND TY AGAIN!!💖💖

omg anon this is diabolical...at first i was imagining it as seb being the one caught in the time loop and going crazy, but i actually think its better if its clora... because the idea of seb watching her slowly spiral into semi-insanity while knowing its bc of some weird time shenanigans and he doesnt know how to help would also make SEB go crazy BAHAHAH. i dont think ill ever write this but i just wanted to tell u i love this idea LOL

aw TYYYYY!!! i’m honoured u think so omg😭🥹💖 you sent this a while ago (before all of the recent family posting ive been doing) BAHAHA so i hope youre enjoying the kid content bc u manifested it girl🥰 and trust me i aint doing work for the fandom, the fandom is doing work for ME!!! by continuing to humour my brainrotted ass😔🙏

"they're my legal parents now" followed by "so anyway can you draw them going down on each other" LMFAOOOOO💀💀💀thank you i love you anon. and i HAVE been wanting to draw this for a while so YES!! i just cant guarantee when...but the day SHALL come rest assured🫡😇

[ranticore]

allow me to lay out the rest of the dog knight story in bulletpoint form, following directly on from the wip i posted yesterday

so basically my man penfrey realises he has to somehow kill his bastard brother hugo before they get back to their capital city and the king legitimises hugo

he tries this and gets caught instead, making for a very awkward journey home

meanwhile holly got to the village and managed to see baby matriarch with the dog in the stable but before he can grab her, the dragonslaying party breaks camp and they set off, again leaving holly behind in the dust because he can't keep up with it

after a few weeks of travel, the dog gets so aggressive around penfrey that she becomes a danger to him and he orders her killed (baby is starting to accept cow's milk and solid food by now)

poltim, the squire who sucks at everything, takes the dog out back behind their camp one night and tries to take her over the rainbow bridge so to speak, but she's so scary that he doesn't wanna get close so instead he throws rocks at her until she finally runs away and then he goes and tells penfrey he killed her

she stays back for a few hours but starts following eventually looking for Her Baby and Holly meets her on the road, recognises her, and realises that she's going to follow the knights too and he can make use of that. they become friends :)

eventually near the end of the journey back, holly catches up to the slayers and tries to sneak into the encampment to get his baby. but he's captured instead. and the only way this story can possibly work is if they can all talk to each other at this point so i guess they can and there's no language barrier (???? man who fucking knows?)

penfrey almost kills holly but holly manages to express, just in time, that he recognises the helm of Seibold as well, because he was the one who took it from the guy's almost-corpse. he manages to convey to Penfrey the truth, almost as an aside, not realising it's actually VERY important that Seibold was not killed by the dragon. Seibold killed himself, and suicide is a sin.

Penfrey realises he has a new opportunity to stop Hugo now but it won't be easy. He believes Holly because Holly can explain enough about what he saw that the facts can be corroborated, but also because he wants to believe Holly. Nobody else will.

>mfw i need to convince the entire kingdom that a kobold is an honourable person whose testimony would be respected in court

holly would rather take baby matriarch and go but Penfrey submits a counter-offer - if Holly can pull this off for him, he will be the next king and he will give both Holly and baby matriarch his personal protection for the rest of their lives

holly agrees to this

they make it home. holly is hidden in penfrey's entourage but the baby matriarch is given as a pet to emaline as promised. holly is not happy with this arrangement because it's very disrespectful but penfry is like don't worry man it needs to be this way

hugo prepares to present the helm of Seibold to the king and give testimony about Seibold dying valiantly fighting a dragon and Hugo killing the dragon in revenge etc all very dramatic and designed to flatter Hugo as much as possible. Hugo is not a very good person and would be a shite king but tbh to be honest it's not like Penfrey is any better

behind the scenes Penfrey is My Fair Lady-ing Holly as hard as possible. the cover story is that Holly is a distinguished, well-spoken, christian knight who just happens to be a kobold but really aren't they all like that? perhaps we shouldn't see them as vermin after all. Holly is allowed at court as Penfrey's guest and it's a unilaterally bewildering experience to him but he has to say and do everything right and without much help either (Penfrey sucks) and he's very conscious of the whole. massacre thing. but he has to stay polite

nothing matters to Holly but baby matriarch's safety and he's out of his mind with worry because a 6 year old child is not a good caretaker for an infant and he feels that Penfrey is not doing enough to address this (he isn't because pleasing Emaline's family is still his Plan B and he can't take that cute pet away just yet)

time to testify in court, and it works!!! um. we successfully convinced the grieving king that his brother is burning in hell forever. hugo leaves mad as fuck, and Holly makes an unsanctioned demand for baby matriarch to be released from captivity because that's fucked up and for her to be returned to him as his ward. the king is like sure fine whatever and you want to be a knight? there ya go. who give a fuck. now let me grieve in peace

in this manner, holly gets one over on hugo AND penfrey so Penfrey Will Remember This

time skip like fifteen years. it's time to learn more about baby matriarch. She has grown up at court and knows nothing else; she's a sweet lil princess who is completely human-socialised and wants for nothing, with Holly as her protector (and the dog too). she's good company and happy (he can't help but see her as a daughter) but he's desperately lonely and unfulfilled because she's all he has and she has no context for the culture he grew up in.

there ARE other kobolds around but they grew up in the town and don't know what he's talking about when he tries to relate to them. except for One, the Poisoner, who arrives to the court to sell his products. the Poisoner was also raised in a dragon lair and he's this connection to the past that Holly was looking for (grizzled older knight x cute young thing let's gooo). he represents an opportunity to indulge in nonhuman behaviours again but when baby matriarch is introduced (Holly hopes the Poisoner might be a mate for her), she finds these behaviours offputting and embarrassing and also like that's her dad's new bestie so it's weird

she and Holly have several falling-out moments because they want different things for one another; she wants a fairytale prince and a castle of her own and he seems to want to stuff her underground into a cave with a dragon in it?? ew? yeah it's all pretty heartbreaking for him to learn her true opinions of him & his culture

anyway someone kills the king! or maybe the queen idk?? blah blah blah it's all court intrigue but this is as far as i actually got in the plot outline. i wanted it to end with holly betraying the king in some way after finally being fed up of the many many humiliations he's endured at court and also maybe? being betrayed in turn by baby matriarch seeking some kind of independence from her guardian. his arc is all about the erosion of oneself to nothing at all in pursuit of Duty. he's a tragic character he's grieving all the time. baby matriarch's permanent freedom and safety would be a happy ending for him i guess

[incandescent-creativity]

Over 51,000 words in 18 days… that’s a new personal record!