#i love how vampires are called angels so many times in the series

[secretdazedragon]

Angels

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

How would you order your stories in terms of fantasy? From most fantasy elements to least.

Oh Jesus okay

The Princess in the Tower -- A straightup dragon-guarding-princess story. Hard to get more fantasy than that.

Gentle Nerandi -- Name magic and selkies. Again, pretty self-explanatory.

A Cinderella Premise/ A Cinderella Sequel -- It's. Cinderella.

Curse Words: Spellcasting for Fun and Prophet -- It's a magic school series.

Original Sin -- The inciting incident in this one is the protagonist killing a god.

Angel -- This is probably the last indisputably fantasy story on the list, but I'd argue that many more of my stories have Fantasy Vibes.

Breakfast Time -- We're getting into superhero territory here. From here on out, we start to move more into scifi.

World Builder -- It's hard to classify this one. I guess you'd put it in whatever genre you'd put the Library of Babel in.

How to Escape the Well -- not even gonna try to classify this.

Drops of Blood like Neon Stars -- It's vampires. They have a bullshit "scientific" explanation, but it's vampires.

The Void Princess -- This one has future people living in space stations, but they do also "psychically" connect (connect wirelessly via brain implant) to each other and fly robot dragons through space, so.

Child of a Wandering Star -- To the human in this story, this is a standard scifi adventure. To the alien protagonist, this is an epic fantasy quest and she is the Chosen One.

Charlie MacNamara -- Scifi, but with an old-fashioned Plucky Human Hero Saves the Day kind of vibe.

Rebirth/ New Rules and Guidelines From HR For Working With Humans/ Isolation Hysteria/ Unknown Complications/Love at First Sip -- all short stories exploring simple scifi concepts

The Back End of Time -- A time travel scifi story, but I did get to build a fun world for it

Copy <|> Paste -- This is just a thesis about Star Trek teleporters

Time to Orbit: Unknown -- This is about as hard as my scifi gets. There's still a few 'magic' handwavey tech bits in there, but nothing I'd call fantasy.

Wasting Time -- The social implications of time dilation due to near-lightspeed starship travel are not generally considered fantasy. (Now, if the time dilation was from going through a magic portal, on the other hand...)

[beyondthisdarkhouse]

Feeling really nostalgic about July 17-18, 2008, the last time I believed in Joss Whedon

It was just cool, you know? Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog dropped in three separate pieces over the course of the week. We'd get 15 minutes of story, and then two days to froth over the whys and wherefores in Livejournal comments before the next piece came out. And those days were so good.

Buffy fans are so fucking smart, y'all. They could combine academic rigor with unselfconscious fangirl squee. Squee was a hermeneutical method, a mode of interrogating the text--one we often dismiss and diminish, because if there's anything grosser than teenage girls getting goopy over a vampire they like, it's 30 or 50 or 70-year-old women getting goopy over a vampire they like. But it's similar to what I've seen called a "redemptive reading". You approach a piece of media specifically looking for its best parts, the pieces you love the best, and you allow yourself to fully embody the joy of liking something and caroling your joy to other people who like it too. In a perpetually burned-out time, squee can be like a desert oasis.

So the people who liked Buffy and Angel and Firefly watched Doctor Horrible in a manner both squeeful and intersectionally feminist, and saw all the amazing interesting things it was doing, showing how insecure geek masculinity fundamentally self-sabotages the main character, Billy, because the relationship he wants has been there in reach for months, and it's his own perception that he needs to be an alpha male warrior that has kept him from it. It interrogated the entire genre of costumed heroes, with two men thumping their chests and comparing their dick sizes, and none of them doing anything as direct and helpful for their society as Penny, the woman who stands on sidewalks collecting signatures to help a homeless shelter.

Part II came out on July 17, and the series would end with Part III on July 19. So on July 18, I spent most of the day reading Livejournal comments about it. There were all these theories: Maybe Penny was secretly Bad Horse, the archvillain whose approval Billy has craved since the beginning. Maybe she will collapse the love triangle with Billy's rival, Captain Hammer, by acting on her clearly-demonstrated discomfort and dumping him. Maybe Billy will learn that relationships are based on intimacy, not being The Best. Maybe Penny will become a superhero and replace Captain Hammer as Billy's nemesis. Maybe Billy will succeed and rule the world and give Penny Australia.

And then... none of those things happened. Joss Whedon ended the series in a way less progressive, less imaginative, less cool, than even the most half-baked fan theory out there. The story opened up possibilities to break out of an old, tired, toxic set of stories around men and women and sex and heroics, and then hid under a rock rather than change a single one of them.

July 19 was the day I concluded that while Joss Whedon might have his own baggage to work through about toxic masculinity, and artists have the right to make work meaningful to them, he wasn't making art that was meaningful to me. And I basically stopped expecting anything of him.

And then, for years, Buffy fans, educated and squeeful feminists and sharp pop culture critics, got told they were crazy histrionic SJWs for thinking Whedon didn't shit solid gold. For years. (I recently saw a video essay that included the line, "If you have the phrase 'mewling quim' branded onto your memory, you probably need some Metamucil" and, ouch, rude.)

There was so much excitement! A lot of us actually believed in the guy (although even then, there was enough evidence for many people to suspect what we now know to be 100% true about him.)

We wanted it to be good. We wanted to enjoy it.

I miss that feeling.

[literally-noone83]

Supernatural Headcanons: Receiving Affection (1/?)

About: female!reader×platonic!everyone, teenage/young adult reader, reader's love language is touch: hugging, hanging off the boys' shoulders, falling asleep on their shoulders and the like :) just wholesome things (with some angst).

Word count: It's a long a one...

Warning: Angst, Shouting, other than that it's just fluffy :)

A/n: This reallt isnt a head cannon tbh. Started with an idea, created an OC then a background and then and then and then — it spiralled into this mess haha.

I meant to go further - provide that conclusion to create a holistic narrative... but it's already really long and atm felt uninspired to keep going with it. So we wait, sorry !

Welp, enjoy!

Let's imagine your love language is touch. The crave and the lingering need to touch, hug, lean on, hold onto someone, some one you felt safe around and loved by was a instinct you've always had.

Surrounding yourself with some of the most emotionally stunted and constipated people — emotionally unavailable car, pie and ACDC loving hunter, his emotionally neglected brother and monotonous 'I don't understand the reason for handholds if you're not lost' angel boyfriend — your touchy feely nature was met half-heartedly.

Given the moment you first met them was amidst a series of tumultuously devastating events — one easy case turned bad, the loss of family was never easy on a adolescent. And for the most part that's all you were to them. Another poor young soul caught up in the cusp of a terrifying world Dean and Sam intended to protect. To save. It never came without consequence — it's just this time in came in the form of a teenager, tear stained and alone.

Dead of night, once the vampires who took your mother and little brother were resolved with a few knife swings and burning bullets — it was the embrace Sam offered that changed things.

You needed it. Solace, comfort. Something to keep you grounded.

The Winchesters would do more than offer a hug. Decisions and shots were called, arguments sure did occure — another mouth to feed, a head to look out for — but in the end life kept moving and this was all you had left; a reason, an opportunity, to help.

A Winchester. You were the rookie who could barely hold a gun. Then you were the amature that fought to fight; snooping for cases, sneaking out for a chance to shoot and to prove you can contribute. Couple years fly by and now you're family.

So many night spent trading stories, on the stupid shit Dean pulled and Sam moments of pubescent embarrassment among the pockets of normal school life, or your gems of memory with your mother you missed and a brother you had teased. The banter was rich on both ends — most prominently with Dean. It was just so easy. A grumpy old man who dished out the rules and stomped around with that voice of his — you couldn't help yourself.

*in Dean's voice* "Its too dangerous, me macho man will take care of it" *normal voice* "y'know I didn't realise you were one grey hair away from being my father..."

He lets out a humorless laugh, rubbing his chin and gesturing to you at Sam. "She thinks shes funny huh? youre real comedian— thats it!"

He chases you down the bunker and you run away. Deans yelling and your laughter ringing behind Sam.

Sam truly was enjoying to have someone on his side — till at times he wasn't so lucky. You and Dean were a little too powerful once you joined arms...

Amidst this new found family, Dean and Sam quickly noticed how much you liked to hug them... almost clingy.

Granted, it wasn't like you smothered everyone who walked into your life — with Dean and Sam it was different. They saved you, welcomed you, took care of you. You trusted them.

It qas noticeable during the early days of your stay. After long hunts when you were left behind, in security of the bunker, those hours felt like days and days felt like years. Crippling fear of losing the only formed tether of family and safety frightened you.

The moment the door clicked open, "Hey, Y/n, we're back," a bag of take out ready and jackets being torn off in lethargic movements of a day's struggle, "got some burgers and those curly fries as remembered and—"

Frantic steps and a leap, Dean was almost knocked down by the force of your hug. Wrapped around his neck, face buried in his collar. "Woah there, Kid." He stumbled and huffed from the suddenness.

"Y/n? you ok?" Sam asked at your long passing moments in embrace. Words of gladness and "Thank god"s poured from your lips, stepping back to look at how they're really here. Alive. Safe. The brothers noted it was probably because of your family — you were dealing and I think they are one of few people who could really understand that.

However, this passing moment became everytime. They'd come home and you'd hug them briefly. Once you were coming with them than waiting patiently, you'd embrace them before bed.

Huddled around the table, Sam reading, Dean nursing a cold beer whilst flipping through a magazine as you ate and prompted Dean into weird topics of 'never have I ever - monster edition'. You'd bid yourself adue.

"I'm gonna hit the sack, weirdos." You'd walk around to them. "Enjoy your light reading, Sammy. And enjoy your pervy magazine, old man." Passing by, wrapping your arm their shoulders, affectionately nudging cheeks with them — Sam would accept them graciously, the loving gesture comforting to him. And Dean would simply hum at you, trying his best to look indifferent or exasperated by such contact. But you knew he silently enjoyed them, and Sam did especially; knowing his older brother, the boundary of affection was never crossed but from you — a semblance of a younger sister — was soothed but this entry of comfort. Shoulders slacked, posture less tense, you were a reminder of everything was okay.

"Now get off me - you need a shower."

When Castiel was around it, too, didn't take long before he was another victim to your embraces. Seeing how close Cas was to Dean and Sam, it meant he was good.

Late night car rides, slumped against the worn leather of Baby as the soft rock channel hummed alongside the murmuring engine pushing the hunters and a angel home. The orange street light continuously ran over their laps, exhaustion lingered in the vehicle — Dean's raw red knuckles were prominent, wrapped around the steering wheel. Sam sported a scrape on his cheek bone, exchanging hushed words between his brother and Castiel. Sat in the back with Cas, you couldn't bother chipping on the discussion. The headache you endured only just subsided, with just a bruise that ached at your side, both the dull music and gentle voices did well to block it. Soothing you into a lul.

"Someone's uncharacteristically quiet..." Sam humoured. The two shared a peak through the review mirror to catch your heavy eyes and tilting head you struggled to hold up. Dean couldn't help but smirk, chuckling under his breath at your disgruntled hum towards Sam.

"It's a nice change," he joked.

"Dean," Cas warned, glancing attentively to you, "She did a lot today."

"Yea... she did." He said silently proud. Of course she did.

Moments passed and next thing you know, Cas felt your held fall on his shoulder. Almost surprised, he didn't move an inch. Tossing and turning, laying on him finally made you settle. Staring down at you, he was glad to see you sleep — you took too many nights to sitting on thay laptop keen that every minute need not be wasted. And so he laid back a bit more comfortably, mindful on how much he moved. He understood, humans needed their rest.

Dean couldn't help but find it endearing.

The boys did their best to revieve your affection in stride. Cas was always naturally stiff when you slung your arm over his shoulders. Dean tried his best to act annoyed when you attack hug him from behind, and awkwardly patting your back. Sam never minded the time you'd sit beside him, leaning against his larger stature while he read or researched.

Then Jack showed up. Between losing Mary, Crowley, the fright of Cas' death and so much more — times weren't the easiest. Lucifer's son, the premeditated anti-christ that was the cease all life and goodness, the first day of getting to know Jack was a rocky path. While Sam continuously sympathised the young man and Dean couldn't even look at him, you remained initially indifferent. Just like your brothers, you were scared more than anything, grieving over the losses especially Cas — you didn't know what to think but you did know they needed you.

Jack noticed how you kept wrapping your arms around them every time you left off to somewhere or twist your twist your face into something warm at the much angrier man. It was so peculiar to him that he asked Sam when they were in the cellar, "why does she do that?"

"What?"

A look of seriousness worried Sam, "Do that - hold him. Dean." And he looked at him confused.

"You mean— she hugging him." Jack's face didn't change, "she's embraced him because she's worried about him," it sounded more like a question as he mimicked the gesture, "you embrace someone when you want to comfort them, or show them affection."

"'affection'?"

"It's means to show care for someone."

Jack looks at him, "She does it a lot." He noted.

Sam omitted a breathy laugh, "Yea. She does - she cares a lot, I suppose."

Soon your apprehension grew to empathy for the nephillum. His innocence and innate kindness baffled you at times. He borne no essence of evil - he rather carried Kelly's sweetness, and a fear that made you realise that Jack was far from anything like his father. He was just Jack.

The realisation settled within you as you sat on that crate where your breath transpired in the cold, facing Jack curled up beside the dumpster. Large shadows drew over his furrowed brows, deep with sadness and hurt as he said, "Maybe I'm not worth all this". Your heart sunk. All alone without the comfort of his mother and guidance of the angel she promised, made to feel like he was something he wasn't — worthless.

"Stop." The words escaped your lips faster than you could think and he stared at you saddened. "Don't..." You hesitated, too many things you want to say and you settle with reaching out a gentle hand. "Can I please uhm..." Jack slightly confused gave his hand at your hushed question. And he was surprised by your warm and firm grip; holding his palm with your other hand instantly clasping over his knuckles, you told him "Jack, you are worth all this..." staring intently into his eyes. "Sam thinks your worth it, so did Castiel, your mother. And so do I."

His eyes softened, and a small smile slipped onto your lips. Hope seeping into his features, he asked, "Really?"

"Really." You said.

That night you shared a room with Jack, agreeing with Sam things were too tense with Dean. You'd continue to be at Jack's side, speaking to him, answering his questions, simply being with Jack whilst mediating your brothers. Meaning, your constant defense of Jack caused a constant bickering and arguing with Dean. Unlike Sam the Diplomat, you two were almost explosive. Dean hated how close you'd stick by that thing, that freak; he was dangerous, he could hurt you! And you hated Dean's merciless disdain for him — always throwing warnings at the names and disregarding statements Dean would say without a thought with Jack.

At times, when Sam was with Jack, the moment he'd leave you and the eldest alone, stiff muttering of words escalated into loud yelling. Seething at each other until your red faced. Sam would always have to intervene, assuring Jack they're just "hot headed".

This anger festered into Dean's asserting orders; regulations, rules, reprimanding of your interactions with Jack. You were holding Jack's hand cause he seemed nervous, Dean would explicitly say no handing holding with devils. Alone in a room with him on an off chance again? Dean's dragging you out on errands or telling you to go to your room. Walking around the table offering your bidding night hugs, your affectionate squeeze on Jack's shoulder earned a warning glare from Dean.

You always made a face back, countering his overprotective as overbearing and stupid. When you finally had a go at him for it, Sam was out and there was nothing holding them back. You both pushed at each other to your limits. Comparing Jack to you when you some kid helpless and alone too, or Sam deemed bad before he could do any good, really sent Dean down the rails — because you're family. Jack is Lucifer's son, not you.

"Does he look like Lucifer's son to you, Dean?! He does nothing but be kind, gentle. He listens to your orders, he's even terrified of you!"

"And so he should be!" His voice booms with anger you hadn't heard from Dean till now and it shakes you. "You think I care that he can smile nicely at you, and say 'thank you' and 'sorry'? That doesn't matter. Cas is gone because of him, Mum is gone because of him. Wake up, Y/n, he can't change what he is and what he is, is a freak, an inevitable danger to you, to us, this entire freaking world- I'm sorry youre too damn stupid and niave to realise that." His starn, harsh words push past his lips in a burst of thoughts that seemed like he's been holding in forever, and he has to lean back for a moment to sigh. You stood there without moving, your eye glisten against your will as you swallow his words. He paused before turning to walk away without another word — the knife sunk a little deeper.

"I know you're hurting, Dean," your voice went small, and you caught him mid step. "but you're not the only one." His face grew sullen: he was too angry, too tired. He hadn't the energy to say or do something. Looking at you, he noticed your quivering lip you tried so hard to hide and instantly in his eyes you reverted back into that small 14 year old girl he and Sam decided to take under their wing. An image that flashed by and then you were walking away. To the other side of the bunker. And after a few heart beats, he did too.

Without either of you knowing, Jack had heard the entire altercation. Your purposeful steps rushed past him and you didn't see him — too busy fiercely wiping away escaping hot tears you didn't want. Jack had never seen you this upset and quietly he followed you to your room. He heard you slam the door shut and heard you sniffle inside. Hesitant he slowly cracked the door open to see your back facing towards him, sat on the edge of your unmade bed, silently crying.

A sensation of sorrowful guilt imbued in the centre of his chest. This was his fault wasn't it?

"Y/n?" His sudden appearance finally made known surprises you and you whip around. "Jack," your voice is thick with emotions, harshly sniffed back as your wiped your cheeks several times. "What are you..." You took a deep breath. Seeing his worried eyes you realised your attempt to appear unphased and normal was feeble — your eyes were puffy, flushed cheeks and red nose. And then it hit you, "I'm sorry, Jack. Sorry you had to hear that it's just, he's just..." you lett your hands fall to your lap defeatedly and head hung low. You looked him and flashed a weak smile, "Don't worry," Jack moved to sit on your bed, "It's just everything's a bit weird."

"I'm sorry." He finally said simply.

"What? Jack-"

"I'm sorry," he looked at you with those same eyes that night. "that you, Dean and Sam are hurting - because of me."

You shook your head, "No, no Jack, you have done nothing wrong, we're fine. We will work this out-"

"But you are crying, you are upset."

"I'm fine, Jack, don't-"

"Why are you lying?" He places a hand over yours, catching your evasive and scattered gaze. He pulls you to a halt, forcing you to meeting his big attentive eyes. They were so kind and gentle. And the warm of his hand stopped your racing heart. "You can tell me." He said softly and such simple words crashes over you. Your eyes locked onto his, you let silence hang in between as you soaked in this blooming comfort from someone you least expected it. It was overwhelming. And the longer you looked at him, all thoughts and emotions started to feel too real, too much, and your eyed began to well up in tears. Trying to blink them away made them fall faster and your gaze fell to his hand. "I- I'm sorry."

Your voice cracked and your instinctively tried to cover your face; to hide from Jack which you were sure you were confusing him even more with your immense and sudden outpour of emotions. You muttered your apologies, intending to turn to avoid overwhelming him further until the mattress dipped this way and there and a pair of arms embraced you. The foreign feeling of his body against yours made you hold your breath for a second — digesting the unexpected gesture of comfort from Jack and one that you didn't know you needed.

He held you firmly, his head tucked beside yours, eyes scrunched tight as if desperate to make you feel better. Seconds pass before you relent into his touch, wrapping your arms around his neck and burrying yourself away into the nape of his neck. And Jack squeezed you a little tighter.

You and Jack would stay like that for a while. Until your quiet sobs muffled into his shirt quietened down to weak sniffles and your arms loosened, feeling yourself wafting into sleep.

Once Sam came home from his grocery run, he was met by the unsuaul silence and brooding Dean who fixing himself a sandwich.

"Dean, I literally went shopping to cook now why are you-"

"'s not for me." He finished it before pushing it towards Sam, "Mind giving this to Y/n?" It was hardly a question.

The way his brother barely looked at him leaning back with a drink, and the sullenness of his voice, Sam knew something must've happened, "...And why can't you do that?"

"I don't think she's in the mood to talk to be right about now."

Sam walked up to your door, sick with worry and anger to hear what had gone down between you and Dean. The steam from yet another argument with Dean came to a simmer seeing your door not locked but left ajar. He slowed, softly calling out "Y/n?" coming closer he heard not only your soft snores he knew well after years but another's.

Entering he stopped — there you were deep in slumber. And in the arms of the nephilum. Your head lay in the croock of his neck, arms loosely fallen across his torso while his around your shoulders. Sam noted your red eyes and nose, stains of tears that revealed the severity of this argument with Dean had a toll on you. It pained his heart yet seeing Jack with you overturned such hurt — he comforted you. A cosmic being does not need sleep yet Jack visibly chose to rest with you — to show you he cared too. However it there was no doubt you had fallen asleep on him first — a sign of your trust.

The two of you have connected, and Sam quietly left, clicking the door shut with a relief and no plan on letting his older brother know about this.

[catholic-character-tournament]

Round 1 - Side B

Propaganda below ⬇️

Johnathan

Catholicism doesn’t really exist in the game but it also kind of does. Basically, Johnathan didn’t know that God existed until one day all the angels started coming down from heaven to have a war with the demons from hell. And then Johnathan made a pledge to go serve god and heaven and kill all humans living on earth because they were like “unfit” or “unclean” or something. So then Johnathan’s friend Walter goes to hang out with satan and then they become enemies :( But he’s basically catholic even if he doesn’t directly call himself that so i’m gonna say yes.

Johnathan literally fuses himself with god to become merkabach. He is unhinged. At the start of the game i thought he was cool because he didn’t want me to kill my best friend like WALTER did. And unlike WALTER, johnathan didn’t fuck up the boss fight with the minotaur. But then johnathan became really really bourgeoise or bougie idk whatever idk how to spell it. And then johnathan was like “FUCK POOR PEOPLE” and i was like no girl nooooo. But johnathan wanted to fuse himself with god and wipe all humans off the face of the earth because heaven thought they were impure. So he was trying to invoke the angels of destruction so badly and i was like johnathan you can’t do that son, and so i had to beat his ass. And then by extension i had to also beat god’s ass. And then i don’t really remember what happens but johnathan was essentially the most catholic guy in existence considering i don’t know anybody else who was chill enough with god to do steven universe fusion with him.

ok so like in smt theres alignments . chaos neutral and law. jonathan is the local lawboy and this means hes like the one who rather follow the rules already established and reject radical changes. but anyways hes also shown to be some sort of follower of god in this world and also of the like. local religion or whatever in mikado (where everyone is from) and hes very devoted to the cause and to keep things peaceful as they are now instead of trying to change shit up like walter (the chaosboy)

if he wants to commit genocide who am i to say no

has one fight with friend and decides to become an angel about it and nuke tokyo off the map

Fuses with literal biblical angels to become another angel that then wants to genocide anyone deemed ungodly/unclean by the biblical higher powers (which includes the entire population of Tokyo. And people who read manga).

Dude he is absolutely insane. He's my poor little meow meow. The party got high and he rolled around on the floor and meowed because he thought he was a cat. He is also so insanely gay. Like stupidly queer coded . that just makes the catholic guilt hit harder tbh

Gay boy who dies in every timeline

Paul

he's like if renfield from dracula was cool youth pastor.

He's also a priest, who essentially becomes a vampire due to an "angel" and tries to convert the entire town. He also runs an Alcoholics Anonymous group. I love him

Listen you've probably gotten this guy idk how many times but JUST IN CASE, I submitted him. He's a priest who fell in love and had a lesbian daughter. He becomes a vampire after his money-laundering fundie simp sent him to the Holy Land. He's so torn up over his lover having dementia and God allowing so much overwhelming death that he decides he's going to try to Cure Death Forever but oh boy is it a slippery slope and the man is surrounded by enablers.

so i binged watch the chosen (it's a drama series but it's the bible) and I needed to balance or else Id be insane so I watched midnight mass. It was good. Fuck this rat -- op

[jazzystudios82]

Diabolik Lovers - An Angel's Embrace AU: Sofia's relationships with the Sakamaki Family 🥀

Image made with a picrew. Will probably change it when I learn to draw digitally for a more accurate depiction of the character.

Note (updated info):

Sofia Sakamaki is the younger sister of Akira, Shu, Reiji, Ayato, Kanato, Laito, and Subaru. She is the daughter of Karlheinz and Angelica, and the youngest of the Sakamakis. This 12 year old vampire adores her family very much, even if they can be a bit weird from time to time. . . .

WARNING: Diabolik Lovers is a dark series with mature themes and topics. Discretion is advised. . . .

Also, keep in mind that some of the information is for an upcoming story and some of it may change in the near future.

——————————————————————————

Karlheinz | Tougo Sakamaki ♔

Karlheinz is Sofia's father. Unlike the rest of his children, he was present for her birth.

As she was his and Angelica's child, Karlheinz put in more effort in being present in her life than he did with his sons.

This all started when after she was born, little Sofia had grabbed his finger with her tiny hand, and smiled at him. This melted his heart a little and she instantly became his favorite child.

Due to her being a girl and being far too young to partake in his "Adam & Eve" plan, Karlheinz allowed Sofia to live a normal life: what's normal for vampires anyway.

Unlike her older brothers (minus Reiji), Sofia likes Karlheinz. She enjoys hearing his stories of his accomplishments. It also helps that he only shows her his good side.

He believes that Sofia is the "perfect combination" of him and Angelica: she has her mother's light pink hair and his golden eyes.

Has framed the drawings Sofia makes for him on Father's Day: she would make him drawings for his birthday, but Karlheinz has been alive for so long that he doesn't see the point in celebrating it anymore. It also doesn't help that he's long forgotten the date.

One time when Sofia was a baby, she had mistaken Karlheinz as her grandfather and Reiji as her father in front of him when he tried to get her to call him "papa". Her brothers and mother still find that amusing.

When at work as "Tougo Sakamaki", Karlheinz typically tells his subordinates about the things his daughter does during the week, as he thinks she's adorable. While his workers do think it's cute, they'd rather focus on work than talk about the boss's daughter.

He has her baby teeth in jar somewhere in his castle. He's weird like that.

Karlheinz, however, is not above lying to Sofia. When she called him, using her mother's phone, about why Yui and the past sacrificial brides before her stayed at their home, he'd tell her he's paying back some favors for some friends of his.

He's tried to teach Sofia how to play chess once, but she was too impatient to learn how to play the game properly.

Karlheinz has told her a "fairytale" like version of how he and her mother met, causing her to believe that they are madly in love with each other.

He already had her enrolled at Nevermore Academy, the best and most prestigious school in the demon realm, when she was old enough to read and write.

When it was time for her "Coming of Age" ceremony, Sofia didn't go through the same horrific nightmare-like "simulation" he made her brothers go through when they were around her age.

Karlheinz has portraits of both Sofia and her mother (often of them together) in his castle: in fact, there's so many that they overtake the ones he has of his previous wives and sons. Though whenever Sofia would try to ask him about this, Karlheinz would redirect her attention to something else.

Freaked out a little when she asked him where babies came from when she was six years old.

Angelica Amor-Sakamaki 🎶

Angelica is Sofia's mother. Unlike her older brothers with their moms, Sofia is absolutely close with her.

Kind of like Kanato with Cordelia, Sofia takes some pride with how close she looks to her mother in looks. Though she sometimes wishes that she had her mother's silver eyes instead of her father's golden ones.

Enjoys playing dress up with Angelica, especially if it's with her mother's old clothes from her childhood.

When she was four, Sofia would often ask her mother to sleep in her room whenever she had a nightmare. If her mother was already asleep, Sofia would walk from her room and go to her mother's and curl up and drift off to sleep.

Angelica made her a stuffed bunny toy made of fabric of her old dresses so Sofia would have something to remind her of her mother whenever Karlheinz or her father would send for her. Sofia would go on to name her stuffed bunny "Usagi".

Like her older brothers when they were her age, Sofia would lie down on the peppermint smelling carpet in the main room whenever she misses Angelica.

Sofia also loves her mother's cooking, and often watches her prep meals with Reiji and offers help in whatever way she can. Though she'd often end up as the taste tester, but she didn't mind.

Likes to watch movies with her mother and brothers, though she'd typically end up falling asleep before the credits would roll.

Once for her mother's birthday when she was ten, Sofia helped Reiji with making breakfast for Angelica to eat.

Sofia once asked Angelica if she loved her father, Karlheinz, after he told her how they met, with little sprinkles of lies here and there, but Sofia was never the wiser. Angelica was taken aback by this, but she didn't want to break her daughter's heart, so she'd answer with "I care for him" or a variation of that. Sofia would think that was a bit of an odd response, but she could tell that her mother didn't want to talk about this, so Sofia would ask her something else.

She's aware that her mother was married to a different man and had another child before, but since no one really talks about them in front/around her, Sofia doesn't really know how to feel about them. She likes to imagine that they're good people though, since her mother seemed to care about them a lot.

When Sofia got older, she'd try to become less and less dependent on her mother, since she didn't want to "bother" her anymore with her problems and other things. When Angelica heard about this, the older woman would have a talk with her daughter and tell her that she'll always be there for her if she needed her, even if she was a "big girl".

Sofia was shocked to learn that her mother was once a student at Nevermore like she is right now. She feels like it makes her closer to her mother when she ends up in the same house she did and meets the teachers Angelica had (who are still apart of the faculty) speak her praises.

Angelica noticed that Sofia would have difficulty with learning certain subjects in school. So when she hired tutors to help her, Angelica was shocked to learn that Sofia didn't like any of them, as they were a bit frustrated with her and a bit harsh, Angelica didn't like any of that. After firing the tutors, Sofia's mother would hire tutors that were more patient and understanding with her daughter.

Shu Sakamaki 💛

Despite being called a "good for nothing" and a "deadbeat" by a certain someone (Reiji), Shu was pretty responsible with Sofia.

He was usually the one to hold and rock her to sleep as a baby when Angelica is tired.

Shu once played the violin for her when she was one in order to get her to sleep. When the worked, Shu even tucked her into bed and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

When Sofia got older, Shu would try to teach her how to play classical music so they'd have more interests. When he noticed that she was having some difficulty in learning how to play properly, Shu would be patient and take his time with helping her.

One time, he caught Sofia dancing to one of Kou Mukami's songs in her room. When she realized Shu was watching, Sofia immediately got embarrassed. He still teases her about it, though never in front of the others.

When Sofia got scared of a clown in the park, Shu decided to take her to get an ice cream and see a movie to help calm her down. Shu understands her fears as he's also scared of clowns (the scary ones).

Shu often has Sofia take naps with him when he senses that she's anxious about something or tired.

Basically a secondary father figure to Sofia.

Sofia of reminds him of Edgar and Akira: Edgar with her smile caring nature and Akira with her thoughtfulness and looks. This makes Shu especially protective of her.

One time, Sofia found a playlist of Shu's that contained "certain sounds" on it. When she was about to press the play button, Shu quickly snatched it out of her hands and told her not to touch his stuff without permission (not in an angry way, more of like an embarrassed way). When Sofia tried to ask why, Shu told her that it just didn't contain any music that she would like.

Sofia is aware of Shu's old friend Edgar. But like with her mother and her first husband and son, Sofia never really asks Shu about Edgar, since she doesn't want him to feel sad.

When Shu went to the North Pole for having to repeat a year of high school, Sofia would try to write letters to him everyday.

Unlike his mother Beatrix, Shu made sure that he showed Sofia the proper amount of affection and gave her space when she needed it.

Reiji Sakamaki 💙

Reiji was absolutely involved with Sofia's upbringing in any way he could be.

The man was even responsible for coming up with a "perfect" plan for what Sofia's first words would be. Yes, he was that dedicated.

Practically a secondary father figure to the girl, even though their brothers would joke that he gave more "mom energy" than anything.

Reiji would usually help Angelica with planning playdates for Sofia and what school she would go to in the human realm, since this happened around the time the Sakamakis moved to Japan from Eden.

Whenever Angelica was tired from looking after Sofia, Reiji would have her relax and reassure her that he'd look after his baby sister. He'd typically put her in a baby carrier and do work around the mansion that requires his assistance.

Reiji was the one to introduce Sofia to tea when she got old enough. Though unlike her older brother, Sofia likes her tea iced. She likes hers with fresh fruit. Though Reiji wishes that Sofia would drink tea the old-fashioned way, he still appreciates that he has at least one sibling to drink tea with.

He, alongside Angelica, taught Sofia to put her things away when she's done using them.

Reiji makes sure to keep his potions science equipment away from Sofia so she doesn't hurt herself or break them on accident.

Because of his complicated relationship with his mother Beatrix, Reiji made sure to never neglect Sofia, and whenever she does something that is considered in achievement in Nevermore Academy, such as getting the highest grade in her class, Reiji makes sure to make her feel proud of herself.

He has taught her proper table manners.

Reiji has also noticed that Sofia seems to learn at a different pace than most kids her age, so he makes sure to teach subjects her at her own pace whenever her tutors were too busy.

Reiji has his brothers watch their mouths around Sofia. He doesn't want her to pick up bad words and their habits.

He has taught Sofia some German because she asked: she thought it would be fun.

The bespectacled young man helped with baking Sofia's 12th birthday cake: it was in the shape of a rabbit.

Ayato Sakamaki ❤️

Ayato didn't really know what to do when Sofia was born and revealed to be a girl.

The redhead literally looked up advice for "what to do with a girl baby" on Yahoo! answers (depends on what year this takes place).

When he heard about how big brothers are supposed to "protect their baby sisters from the big bad wolfs in the world", Ayato immediately went into "overprotective big brother mode". He even refused to allow a six month old Sofia to have playdates with babies that were male: Laito and Kanato never let him live it down.

His overprotective nature calmed down over the years, since Ayato became one of those "fun big brothers".

Ayato has taught her how to play basketball because she'd watch him play at their house. She was very tired afterwards, but she had fun.

When Ayato learned from Laito that Sofia had a crush, he immediately went to Sofia to find out who it was (overprotective an all), the redhead was extremely shocked to learn that Sofia's crush wasn't someone who was real: it was some character from one of her favorite animated movies. After that, Sofia never told him about her other crush, the very real Kou Mukami.

He enjoys drawing with her. Ayato even has one of her drawings she made him framed in his room.

Ayato tried getting Sofia to like takoyaki. She thinks it's good, but she's not as big of a fan of it as he is.

He brags about having a cute little sister at school.

While Ayato is known to be a big prankster, he doesn't do anything "extreme" with Sofia: one time he wore a clown mask and snuck up on her while she was watching a movie. When he scared her, Sofia cried and ran to her room, hiding in the closet until her mother returned home from an acting gig. After getting thoroughly chewed out by his brothers and feeling extremely guilty, Ayato helped Sofia calm down and apologized to her. He promised that he wouldn't do something like this again and got her an ice cream to make up for it.

Ayato doesn't really understand why Sofia doesn't like drinking blood from humans. He claims that it's natural for a vampire to drink human blood, and when he asked her, Sofia simply says that she just doesn't want to.

While he thinks that Sofia is a bit too kind hearted, Ayato wouldn't change a thing about her.

Affectionately calls her "pipsqueak".

When Sofia wanted to learn how to swim, Ayato made sure that she learned the proper way, not the way his mother Cordelia made him.

Sofia thinks it's odd that Ayato sleeps in an Iron Maiden (without the spikes of course), though this is mainly because she doesn't like small and dark places.

Ayato does his best to not let Sofia anywhere near Cordelia's room. One time she asked why it was locked up, and Ayato simply told her that it was just to keep away a monster. Sofia, naturally, got scared, but Ayato comforted her and said that as long as he was here, no monster would hurt her.

Kanato Sakamaki 💜

Originally, Kanato didn't really care that his father Karlheinz and stepmother Angelica were having a baby. Would he still try to make the kid favor him over the others? Yes, of course. But like the others, he assumed that the baby would be a boy due to their father's track record, and Kanato didn't care for having another brother.

But when it was revealed that his new sibling was a girl? His feelings changed in the blink of an eye.

A girl? Finally! Kanato has someone (other than Teddy and Angelica) to partake in his tea parties and dress up games! And when he saw Sofia's tiny form for the first time and she grabbed his finger with her tiny fist? Kanato immediately became attached and vowed to annihilate anyone or anything that tried to harm her or take her away from him and Teddy.

He dressed Sofia up in the cutest clothes and made her the most adorable stuffed animals when she was a toddler.

Kanato attempted to have her first word be his name. It didn't work, but he got over it.

He likes to brush and style her hair: in fact, Kanato styled her hair to look like curly princess hair for her first day at Nevermore.

Sofia is the only one of his siblings that he shares his sweets with.

Like Ayato, Kanato is very protective of Sofia when it comes to boys, though with someone like Kanato, it's a lot more concerning. He did turn Cordelia's lovers and Angelica's unwanted suitors into "dolls" after all.

Also like Ayato, Kanato became very shocked to learn that Sofia developed her first crush. While he was planning to turn whoever her crush was into a "doll", Kanato learned from Ayato that Sofia's crush was a fictional character. He then relaxed and talked to Teddy about how he was going to need a nap after this.

Other than Angelica, Sofia is the only person Kanato allows to talk and hold Teddy.

When Kanato learned of Sofia's old tutors being harsh and impatient with her, Kanato became enraged and killed them. He didn't think that they were worthy of becoming part of his "doll collection", so he burned their bodies and got rid of their ashes.

If Kanato had friends at his school, he'd most likely talk about Sofia. But he still does this with Teddy.

Doesn't like sharing the time he spends with Sofia with. . . .anyone really. Unless they're Angelica.

Laito Sakamaki 💚

When Laito learned that he was getting a new sibling, he was happy for his stepmother Angelica, truly, he was, but he had his concerns since it obviously involved Karlheinz. What would his menace of a father do with the baby when they arrived?

He didn't really care if the kid was a boy or a girl.

When Laito learned that his new sibling was a girl, he was rather surprised, but not in a bad way. He was actually a little excited to have a sister in the house after having so many brothers.

Like Kanato, Laito dresses up Sofia in a lot of cute and fashionable dresses.

Laito doesn't want Sofia's innocence to be ruined like his was when Cordelia abused him, so he vowed to protect her from anyone who could harm her in a similar way.

Whenever they have little dress up games, Laito always has her wear little hats that match his.

He usually keeps his door to his bedroom locked so Sofia doesn't find his stash of "dirty" magazines and movies.

Whenever Laito has a girl over, he makes sure Sofia is either asleep in her room or she's with one of their brothers. He doesn't want her to meet whichever girl he's with and assume she's his girlfriend.

When Sofia was a baby, Laito would play a calming tune on the piano whenever she was fussy.

Laito takes her to a local bakery so they can share macarons.

He is helping Sofia with learning how to play the piano.

When Laito learned that Sofia had a crush on a fictional character, he thought it'd be funny to have Ayato think that she had a crush on someone from her school. When Ayato learned the truth, Laito laughed in his face.

He likes that they both have beauty marks on the right side of their chins.

Laito gifted her a bunny shaped pillow once.

Out of all the brothers, Laito has the least amount of trouble with not swearing in front of Sofia.

Like Ayato, Laito also brags about having a cute little sister to his classmates at school.

Sofia is aware of Laito's flirtatious nature when he interacts with girls, but she thinks nothing of it.

Despite being the older brother, Laito comes to Sofia whenever he sees a spider in his room so she can take care of it for him.

Subaru Sakamaki 🤍

Due to his close relationship with Angelica, Subaru is naturally the closet with his little sister Sofia.

He typically tries to keep Sofia as innocent for as long as possible: Subaru does NOT want her to have her mind ruined the way his and their brothers' were when they were young.

Sofia likes to help Subaru with his rose garden when she's free from homework and chores. She thinks the white roses he plants are so pretty and fragrant. Whenever she tries to ask him why he specifically plants white roses, Subaru gets quiet and seemingly sad, and would finish with the garden early. This makes Sofia worried that she said something wrong, and would try to do something to apologize to him.

She'd usually make drawings and cards that said "I'm sorry" and leave them by his bedroom door when this happens. Subaru would of course find them a couple minutes later and would put them in a box in his closet for safekeeping.

But Sofia thought to do something different, so she thought about making him something tasty to eat so he'd feel better. Even though Sofia knows that Subaru doesn't normally eat human food, she is also aware of the fact that he does enjoy their mother's cooking. So she would go to the kitchen and attempted to make him a specific soup her mother made that she remembered him liking.

But due to her being six at the time and not having adult supervision, Sofia ended up breaking a porcelain bowl and burning her arm. Subaru happened to be nearby when he heard the breaking of the bowl and Sofia's yelp of pain, so when he saw what she was doing, he immediately turned the stove off and yelled at her for not being careful.

This made Sofia cry and say "I'm sorry" over and over again, and how she just wanted to make him feel better. Subaru was naturally shocked by this, and after calming her down and getting some medicine to help with the burns, he told Sofia that he wasn't mad at her and was just thinking of something else. When Sofia tried to ask what it was about, he told her not to worry about it, and to focus on resting since she was tired from the crying and because of what happened in the kitchen.

Subaru would clean up her mess and would try to finish the soup that Sofia tried to make while she slept. When she woke up, Subaru would have her eat some of it with him while they watched one of Sofia's favorite movies.

He has most certainly taught Sofia some self-defense techniques.

One time when Subaru took Sofia to the park, she found a lost puppy and asked him if they could take it home as a pet. Subaru wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but after he contacted Angelica who told him on what to do, he said they'll only take care of the puppy until the owner came to take the dog back. No one came to claim the dog, as it turned out it was a hellhound and it imprinted on Sofia. The dog, Howl, became her little fluffy bodyguard.

Subaru gets embarrassed when Sofia compares him to a Disney princess whenever small animals from the forest near their home come to him. He knows she means it as a compliment, but still. . . .

Whenever Subaru gets worked up and punches a wall in the mansion, Sofia worries about his fist getting hurt.

Sofia does think that it's a bit weird that Subaru sleeps in a coffin instead of a bed, but she ultimately doesn't say anything since Subaru seems fine with it.

He keeps one of her baby photos in his room.

Kino Sakamaki 🐦‍⬛

Kino is Sofia's older half brother through Karlheinz, though not in the way one would think: Kino was in actuality a creation of Karlheinz's that he abandoned in the town of Rotigenberg. When the dark haired young man tried to take over the Sakamaki family, but failed, Sofia vouched for him and pleaded with her mother and brothers to at least give him a chance to redeem himself. This is basically the scene between Charlie and Sir Pentious from Hazbin Hotel episode 2 "Radio Killed the Video Star".

Kino did his very best to hate Sofia when he first met her due to her being half vampire. This lasted for barely two minutes as her kindness ultimately won him over.

While he liked Sofia, Kino was still jealous that the young vampire had a family that loved and cared for her, while he had nothing growing up. Though he'd try to keep in mind that she'd just a child that didn't have anything to do with his past, and was always nice to him. She's the reason why their brothers are even tolerating him.

After a few weeks, Kino became close with Sofia since she helped him get acclimated with his new home. She even helped Kino with decorating his room.

Like Ayato and Kanato, Kino tries to make himself Sofia's favorite brother.

Kino is a little scared of Sofia's hellhound Howl, since the dog growls at him and has tried to bite him if he gets too close to him and Sofia.

Kino likes having movie nights with Sofia.

One time, Kino tried watching a scary movie with Sofia thinking she could handle it. She couldn't and was too scared to sleep by herself, so she'd sneak into Kino's room and sleep in his bed for comfort. He'd be thoroughly chewed out by the others when they found out about it later.

He likes playing video games with her during their spare time.

Richter Sakamaki 🗡️

Richter's relationship with Sofia is practically nonexistent. This is due to his constant travels around the world and because he doesn't really care for her, as she's the child of the brother he hates and the woman he obsesses over to this day.

Due to the older vampire still having feelings for Sofia's mother, Richter believes that Sofia shouldn't be here, and that Angelica should have been married to him and give birth to his baby.

Sofia doesn't know how to feel about her uncle, while her mother and brothers clearly don't like him for their own reasons, Sofia at least tries to be nice to him whenever he visits the mansion, though her shyness tends to get in the way.

One time when Richter visited just before Yui's arrival, she tried to offer him a drink of water, and he refused, saying that he was fine. Her brother Laito reassured Sofia that he was probably just tired from his travels and not to worry about it.

When Sofia tries to ask her mother or father what Richter is like, both of them tell her different things:

"Your uncle? Oh, you mean Richter. Stay away from him, dear. Your uncle is a bit of an odd one." -Karlheinz.

"Your uncle? Oh, you mean the one with cloven hooves and the little rat claws." - Angelica.

When Sofia learns about Richter's plans to become the next head of the family and with her mother, Sofia's own hatred for him began to grow.

Cordelia, Beatrix, and Christa 💔

For Cordelia, Sofia wasn't really her biggest fan (to put it kindly). Due to her young age, Sofia wasn't aware of everything that Cordelia did to the triplets, but she knew just enough to know that their mother was a terrible woman. This had started when Sofia, at six years old, wandered around the mansion and came across a locked up room she had never seen before: her brothers and mother would keep her away from that specific area of the house. When she asked about the locked door, the triplets and Angelica knew that she was too young to know all the details, so they told her a simplified version of what she was like. So when Cordelia was resurrected in Yui's body because she possessed her heart, Sofia became worried for her friend and helped Reiji with making a potion to expel Cordelia's soul from Yui's body. Sofia is also unaware that Cordelia tried to poison her and her mother when she was still in the womb, since everyone agreed that would have been too much for her to handle.

For Beatrix, Sofia, while she didn't hate her like she does with Cordelia, disliked that Beatrix seemed to have been too strict with Shu and neglectful of Reiji from what she heard about her. She does wish that Beatrix had lived long enough to make up with her sons and have a better relationship with them.

For Christa, Sofia doesn't really know much about them since Subaru and Angelica don't talk about them much. For a while, Sofia thought that Christa was dead, and that's the reason why her mother and brother don't talk about her. However, one day when she and her mother were visiting her father in his castle, Sofia heard the sound of a woman crying. Concerned, Sofia had followed where the sound was coming from, which led to a metal door that was unlocked and a spiral staircase. Sofia walked up the staircase and when she reached the top, found a sobbing woman with white hair and a white dress, Christa, in a cell. When Sofia tried to ask her what was wrong and if she needed help, Christa mistook her for Angelica due to her near identical resemblance to her old friend. When she asked Sofia how things with Subaru were doing and if she left that "terrible man" yet, Sofia had no idea how to answer her, except with that Subaru was doing fairly well. When Sofia tried to ask her for her name and who the "terrible man" was, one of Christa's episodes began to take place, and worried for "Angelica's" safety, told her to go before she gets hurt. Even though she didn't want to leave her alone, Sofia did as she was told and ran down the staircase, making sure to close the door behind her. When Sofia's mother and father found her and asked what was wrong since she seemed shaken up, Sofia didn't say anything about her meeting Christa. She simply told them that she thought she saw a sad ghost woman and got frightened. While her parents knew that she wasn't being honest, they didn't push her for answers since she seemed like she didn't want to talk about it.

Anselm | Akira Amor-Sakamaki 🩸

Akira is the older brother that Sofia never got the chance to meet. He was killed by a vampire hunter long before she was born.

Because of how close her brothers were with Akira, Sofia tends to ask them what he was like when he was alive.

She feels a little jealous that her brothers got to know him and she didn't.

Whenever she sees his portrait, Sofia feels a bit of sadness. Though she wonders how this can be if she never met the man to begin with.

However, during her stay/imprisonment at the Tsukinami castle, Sofia had made friends with a familiar/follower of Carla and Shin, an amnesiac young man, who wore a cloak and mask, that went by the name of "Anselm".

Anselm knew that Sofia was the Tsukinami brothers' prisoner, and that all she wanted was to go home and be with her family again. But he wasn't allowed to disobey their orders, so Anselm tried to at least make Sofia's stay as comfortable as possible until Carla and Shin changed their minds and let her go.

Anselm was the one to make Sofia's meals and get her to reveal information about Karlheinz that the Tsukinamis could use against him.

Sofia liked Anselm, as he was the only one that wasn't scary to her originally.

He'd read to her every day in an attempt to comfort her so she could sleep.

When Sofia asked him, knowing of his condition, if he any potential memories of the people who cared about him, Anselm told her that all he could remember was the moment of his original death: where he protected a woman he assumed to be his mother from an attack by some kind of demon hunter. The attack left him with a scar on his face, and his resurrection had somehow erased his the important memories of his past. Sofia could tell that this upset him, so she gave him some space afterwards.

The two became close to the point where they came off as an older brother and a younger sister.

When Akira had finally regained his memories, he tearfully reunited with his mother and brothers, and had properly introduced himself to Sofia, who was overwhelmed with so much emotion that she ended up crying.

He does think it's a little funny that Sofia gets jealous that he has their mother's eyes and she doesn't.

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This took a lot of work. Which part of this was your favorite? And in case any of you were wondering, Akira's picture was made with this picrew that I found.

[somewhereapart]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you for tagging me @revolutionsoftheheart! 💋

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

230

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 1,851,307

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently: SVU (EO), MCU/Marvel (Steggy), Once Upon a Time (OQ) (shut up, i'm calling it current bc I intend to continue, I've just been taking a little break....)

Over the course of my fandom life: Battlestar Galactica (Lee/Kara), Private Practice (Charlotte/Cooper), CSI:Miami (Calleigh/Eric), and if you count all the writing I did in notebooks during my teenage years Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: The Series (Buffy/Angel, Buffy/Spike, Angel/Darla).

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Couches (SVU)

Breaking In (Once Upon a Time) (** This one would absolutely have the top spot if the OQ fandom had made the shift to Ao3 sooner. Baker's Dozen would probably be in the top 5 as well, so... honorable mention. lol)

Lip Service (SVU)

Convalescence (SVU)

Mistakes Were Made (SVU)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I used to respond to every single comment, years and years ago. Now I am terrible at responding to comments, for a number of reasons. 1) I just don't have the spoons I used to have, and oftentimes I will start out replying to all the comments and then the day will pass and the next day I maybe don't have the time/energy for it, and then I worry people will think I'm intentionally ignoring their comments, which I am very much not, so I kind of adopted an "if I can't get to everybody, I just shouldn't do anybody" mentality which is probably not the greatest and I am trying to work on... 2) I tend to keep the tab open for my latest fic/update for a day or two to see what comments roll in but then after that, I close the tab and I forget the inbox on Ao3 actually exists so I'm reliant on my email alerts to know when there's a new comment, and I don't check that email every day so sometimes it's dayssss after someone leaves a comment on a not-quite-brand-new work before I see it. And then I feel like I've accidentally left it too late? 3) I feel like I should have more to say than just replying to everyone with "Thanks!", or I feel bad when I have more to say to some reviews than that (because they ask a question, are more specific about something, etc.) but then reply to some of the others with only "Thanks!" Like I feel like the people who just get "thanks!" are gonna feel like I don't value their reviews as much as the people who get a longer response, and then they'll feel bad or like they wasted their effort reviewing and then I'll feel bad bc that is very much not the case. (See above re: "if I can't do it for everyone, I'll just do it for no one.") This is the (one and only) downside to me of the Ao3 comment reply format vs. FFNet review replies -- I LOVE that the Ao3 comments format lends itself better to conversation, but the FFnet review replies went to people's DMs so nobody knew if they got a "Thanks!" on this one and someone else got a paragraph. 4) I feel like it pads the Comment count? Like it looks like the work got double the response that it did, it feels a little like I'm cheating? So in summary, I have Comment reply anxiety, clearly lol. But I love receiving everyone's comments, and I hoard each and every one like a dragon with their treasure, and I appreciate everyone who takes the time to leave one. Maybe in 2024 I should make it a goal to reply to all of them idk...

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Mmmmm.... Hexes, maybe? I was scrolling down the OUAT fic memory lane last night and hit OQ Angst Week, that had some doozies. Maybe Sing A Song of Forgetting, that one was rough.

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

Baker's Dozen, probably. (Which, fun fact -- I put the OG version back up on Ao3 a few years back "temporarily" and then forgot to take it down, so if you have that and the published book version, now you can compare, I guess 😂)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not much these days, but I have a few times in the past. The one I got the most hate on is actually not on Ao3 because when I moved over my Private Practice fics from FFnet, I didn't move anything incomplete that I wasn't expecting to finish. But it was a Charlotte King fic that dealt with her fiance coming back into her life (before we actually met him on the show) while she and Cooper were broken up, and I was very clear that it was a Charlotte fic not so much a CharCoop fic, but oooooh people were mad that there was a love triangle going on and it was unclear who she was gonna end up with. LIVID. FURIOUS. That's the fic that made me turn off anon reviews for the first time bc I had someone who would just troll me with hate reviews and blow up my DMs. It was a time....

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

Indeed, and pretty much... whatever's clever. lol I need more specifics on the last question.

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

Not really, no.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes! Someone swiped a chunk of one of my EO fics and reused it like word for word (with the names changed, obvs) in their Jopper fic this summer! And someone linked me to it and I blew up their Comments section on the chapter and they deleted their entire internet presence, it was wild.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, because every time someone asks me for permission to translate one, I say no, bc I am very protective of my work. lol I don't like not being able to vet the translation and know that it comes across the way I want it to. I've talked in the past about having a friend of mine do a Spanish translation of Baker's Dozen, but she literally does translation for a living and she's so familiar with my writing and my writing process (and I'm so familiar with hers) that I can trust the end result would be what I'd want it to be. Also, in my experience, folks who want to translate my work also want to repost it somewhere themselves, and I haaaaaaate that. I'm a control freak about my work, I want it to be where I want it and have control over the managing of it at all times. (I get annoyed when people repost my work to other fic archives/collections, or have it bound in print for themselves, etc. I don't like that. What if I want to go back and change something? Just leave it where I posted it and link back to there, please and thank you!)

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, but never to completion.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship? It's like choosing between children, I can't.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

If Every Road Led Back Home (the aforementioned Charlotte King fic). Everything else, I am still convinced I'll finish it someday. lol (But if we were gonna be less optimistic than that, What Happens in Vegas, and L'ébauche probably)

16. What are your writing strengths?

Porn with feelings. lol Sex scenes with what I call "heightened realism" -- it's probably consistently better sex than real-world sex, but never so much that it seems implausible or too exaggerated, and I like to include little mishaps, or imperfections, or the real things that often get skipped over (hey condoms, hey lube, hey peeing after sex) because when you've been writing sexy fanfic for two decades, quite frankly it's boring when it's perfect and shiny every time. I have a Steggy fic planned for sometime this year that is basically "their sex life has one consistent and inconvenient obstacle and here's all the ways that works out (and sometimes doesn't work out) for them." I haven't flexed my angst muscles in a while, but I used to absolutely love writing stuff that wrecked people until they were yelling at me in the comments. I miss doing that.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Rampant abuse of grammar (I know I'm doing it, I just don't care), overuse of the word "just", and too many parentheticals. Also knowing when to stop. I will use 18 words when 3 would do, and I can very easily write myself into the weeds instead of staying on target and writing every scene with intent toward a goal. (Hi, Breaking In.) Also, finishing things. (Hello again, Breaking In, and every other unfinished WIP both on Ao3/FFnet and in my Google Docs graveyard.)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

If it fits the fic, absolutely, but only a language I can find a native speaker to check and correct for me before I post it. I don't wanna be the one out here with the wonky Google Translate French that makes people who can actually read the language cringe.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Technically, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The first fanfic I ever published on the internet was a Spuffy fic that is now lost to the ages because it was on some fic archive that no longer exists, but I did a lot of pen-and-paper BtVS fanfic writing in middle and high school.

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

I'm gonna go with Breaking In, because it's my baby. My Beast. The big guy. My Everest. And also Baker's Dozen because it's Baker's Dozen.

tagging in a no-pressure way (and sorry for any double tags): @goodthingscomeinthrees @behindthelabels @rahleeyah @roboticonography @doctorhelena @lyricalviolet @audreysl0ve @ninzied @somuchwhatever and anyone else who wants to do it!

[tuiyla]

Hi! No pressure of course but is there any chance you could share some thoughts on 5.07 specifically? It’s considered a high point I think, and it’s obv a crucial one for Spike’s ch and his relationship with Buffy.

I'm determined not to let this one sit for months on end uwu

So, Fool For Love, great episode! Even just aesthetically it's very well put together and I really enjoyed how it rhymed with Angel 2.07. I feel like the watching order didn't matter though I did watch ATS and therefore Angel's POV first. It was about time we got some Spike flashbacks and I have to say they delivered. The Angel-related ones as well but the second Slayer subway sequence was just something else. Not that this was the first episode to do so but 5.07 really proved just how far BtVS has come and what they can do in just 45 minutes of television. Also, unrelated to other flashback thoughts but when they cut to 1998 with Spike and Dru I was trying to place it in my head and at first I was like "okay so like 20 years before Buffy." Lmaooo joke's on me for often forgetting how old BtVS is as a series. I feel at liberty to call it old as a fellow 1997 baby.

I thought the premise of getting Buffy and Spike to talk about Slayers and fighting and death was a little forced, Buffy getting injured all of a sudden and all. But it doesn't take away from how good what follows is and I'm glad the show returned to what was used to introduce Spike, the fact that his two Slayer kills are what really give him his reputation. And if anything, Fool For Love is just the hammering home of Spike's "violence and sex are the same" thesis. I know that's a theme throughout the show because duh, vampires and their metaphors and what with all the slaying, but Spike as a character really embodies it. And there are many interesting implications to consider about him willingly chasing Slayers, the people most likely to kill him. There's really a lot to say about his hedonsitic tendencies and this embodiement but I don't think I could add anything that people smarter than me haven't already offered all thoughts on haha.

I also appreciated that Spike was once again established as an unreliable narrator, one who boasts and and all but who has an emotional truth to speak of. His origin story of when he was still human checks out with everything he does as a vampire and I'm curious where the series will go with him. Because he is a soulless vampire and I'm sure there will be many an exploration of that and what it means for the concept of love, but at this point in the lore it's also been made pretty clear that one's human self influences their vampire one. And William was kind of... all about love? As a true romantic Victorian poet. And, particularly if we consider love(/sex) and violence the same, Spike's all about that too. So you know, I buy that he really does love Buffy. I think it started as lust and as obsession, but at this point in the story it is love. I was afraid the episode would end with Buffy pissing him off and several episodes would be about Spike acting all scorned and spiteful so the ending scene was a nice subversion. It made Spike's genuine affection all the more clear, because he is still a petty spiteful vampire who doesn't take rejection well but he also saw that Buffy was hurting and demonstrated that he has empathy. It's strange, sure, but I'm kinda digging the way the show is portraying it.

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about Spike and, inevitably, Spuffy, but now that I'm well into season 5 I have to say that I get it. And this is more in general rather than specific to the episode, but I think I get it. I proceeded with caution because fandom hype can be so misleading and I'm extra cautious of once bad boys for whom fandoms have soft spots. Very often I don't feel like the characters deserve it beyond being played by attractive white men. But from the start Marsters' performance as Spike has been unabashedly delightful and particularly from season 4 on it's been so easy to want to root for him. I won't yet say either way in terms of Spuffy because I don't yet know where I'll fall with them, but... I get it. Yeah, I can totally see why people would dig this. I have to say, some of Spike's pitiful attempts at just being in Buffy's presence rang all too true to me. Granted I'm not a soulless vampire, just a useless lesbian, but still.

What else to say specifically about the ep, hmm. Honestly not a lot, just that it was good. I know that might not sound like I'm appreciating the quality of eps like this appropriately but that's just because I'm speeding through episodes and processing everything at once. I do think Buffy s5 and Angel s2 are really really solid seasons of television with some truly exceptional episodes, 5.07 among them. The interplay of the flashbacks and Spuffy in the present and the line blurring and disappearing by the end are chef's kiss. I'll have to see Their Story unfold fully before passing verdict on the fight scene but yeah, it's great TV. And dare I say, Buffy was showing signs of being attracted to Spike herself just not realizing it yet. That's the vibe anyway, just like it took Spike a while to have that 'oh' moment. We've all been there.

[digitalsatyr23]

WIP Intro: Arachnia Fables

Genre: Dark Fantasy, Horror, Science Fantasy Setting: Arachnia

Tropes/Features: Introspection, violence, bloodshed, gore (occasionally), wilderness, survival, adventures, old ruins, spirits, monsters, animal people, vampires, shapeshifters, demons, angels, unreliable narrator, varied POV, flawed deities, grey morality, world building/history, magic, alchemy, technology mistaken for magic, the familiar and alien co-existing, eldritch horrors, monsters that look like people, people that look like monsters, melancholy, tragedy, and little things that give the protagonist hope.

What are the Arachnia Fables?

The Arachnia Fables are a series of mostly unconnected short stories that take place in the dark fantasy setting of Arachnia. There are some reoccurring characters, but many of the short stories and novelettes are one-and-done type fables. An Arachnia Fable can take place in virtually any part of the world setting in any time period, though I will generally not comment on the when and where except in the text itself. There is an underlying, broader narrative going on behind the scenes, but there is no harm in simply reading one of the stories and moving on.

Who are the reoccurring characters?

Vernar and Sonja

Most often written as a pair, Vernar met Sonja in the Summer of 1180 AC (After Cataclysm). Sonja lived in a village that had been taken over by a cult that performed profane acts in order to keep the famine and drought at bay in their land. Sonja, who lived most of her life locked in a cage in her family's basement, was eventually set to be burned at the stake in order to bring the rain. However, Vernar happened upon the village and decided to save Sonja, slaughtering anyone who got in their way. They summoned a rainstorm to quench the flames around Sonja, but the girl's feet were badly burned and it was likely that she would suffer a slow, miserable death due to her injuries. So instead, Vernar gave Sonja a little of their cursed blood, forever changing the girl into what are known as Accursed (which are sort of like lycanthropes, though different Accursed often change into things besides wolf-men). Having taken Sonja under their wing, Vernar and the child travel the land of Besalbrie in search of a place they can both call home. Vernar, who was once the second-in-command of the infamous Black Hand organization, is an extremely capable hand-to-hand fighter and assassin. They can also use lightning to empower their body, strike foes from a distance, or even control them via the electrical signals in their nervous system. Sonja had her magical abilities unlocked by a fey at one point in her adventures and uses ice magic, though she is still learning how to best utilize it. Both Sonja and Vernar are capable of regeneration - though as Sonja has learned, scars do not always heal.

Reah Fenae

A plucky adventurer from around 512 AC. The daughter of the famous Toma Fenae, Reah took to adventuring and combat like a fish to water. Reah loves to travel and experience new things. This is partly because Toma used to tell Reah all sorts of stories about his adventuring days, which gave Reah a great deal of comfort and inspiration when she was a child. She hopes that by traveling the world, she can eventually bring back her own stories to tell, and with luck, these tales will give her father some degree of comfort as well. Reah is known as a beahuil, a kind of human-like shapeshifting race that draws power from animals in subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) ways. A hunter and warrior both, Reah uses her dual-bladed weapon Bonespur, which has the jaw bones of a dinosaur she once slew in a rite of passage ritual.

Gaap, the Pillar of Curiosity

One of the 72 Pillars of Creation, Gaap is a mischievous being that can travel through space and time at will using interconnected portals. A demon thousands upon thousands of years old, she rarely takes her true form, and instead will shapeshift into a variety of different appearances she's grown fond of over the millennia (such as the one pictured above). As a Pillar of Creation, Gaap acts as something of a supernatural agent, helping transport other beings from place to place, though occasionally she gets a "vacation" which tends to end in disaster for everyone involved. Because of her unique position and abilities, she rarely gets into fights, and if she does feel like fighting, she'll either use her portals (known as the Mouths of Mundus) or a shotel she enchanted to be indestructible.

Rosalina, the Saint of Hope

A sort of child of destiny that experienced ultimate sorrow. She crawled out from the ashes and was reborn as a saint, thanks to the help of a certain band of heroes. Rosalina uses her divine magic to vanquish evil and save the innocent from harm. Rosalina was most active between 491 AC - 500 AC, after which she lost her saintly powers and created an orphanage for children left as orphans by the Black Sky War. Even without her saintly powers, Rosalina is still possessed of immense strength and magical might, as well as a great deal of longevity, aging very slowly over the centuries. Rosalina has a moss-covered staff that was made from her own grave marker. She transforms this staff into a variety of weapons, most commonly a longbow, which she can shoot arrows of golden light from. Rosalina and Gaap have an unusual friendship, and have both helped and hindered one another many times over the years. They also bear a striking resemblance to one another, though only a handful of people know the reason why...

Additional Information

This WIP has an irregular upload schedule, as each fable is its own short story. However, many have already been uploaded to this blog and can be found on my master list if you'd like to read some of them. I also have uploaded bits and pieces of world building info and will continue doing so, mostly to have it up online somewhere for those who find that kind of thing interesting. You can find anything related to it using the Arachnia and Arachnia Fables tags on my blog.

Art Credit

Banner (sunshinememoir), Vernar pic (aortic-inkwell), Sonja pic (_Harleequeen), Reah and Toma pic (VoksMoth), Gaap pic (mihke). All the art featured on this post are commissions drawn by the artists listed, and they're all very skilled, wonderful people. I encourage you all to check out their stuff.

[rizavii]

my writing plans!

this list will be updated regularly. if something was here before, but isn't any more, i've most likely finished and published it! feel free to ask or check my ao3 :)

feel free to ask me about any of these ideas! i <3 talking about them :)

AI Allura AU (wip) Allura is killed in the attack on Altea, and saved in the same was Alfor was. Alfor is alive instead.

Max Ride AU (aka wingfic) (wip) A feel-good, plotless fic with none of the actual Max Ride drama <3

like they'll never fall down (wip) A post-Kerberos fic about Keith, written from finish to start

would i run off the world someday? (wip) Lance feels untethered in the wake of battle, and Hunk helps him back to the ground.

interstate 75 (wip) The paladins (plus Allura and Lotor) survived an intergalactic war, so surely they can survive a seven-hour road trip. Right?

guardian angel (wip) idk how to describe this ok it's just Projection Central

Krolia and the ice cream shop (wip) One part Krolia & Keith fic, one part Keith/Hunk fic. It starts, as many good things do, with a trip to a local sweets shop.

my, what big teeth you have! (wip) Lance's new roommate is not a vampire, because vampires aren't real. Lotor taking the evening classes, having pointy teeth, and talking like a Shakespeare character doesn't mean a thing!

missing out, missing you (wip) Adam's side, from Earth.

and the universe said i love you because you are love (wip) a minecraft au series!

Honerva, Zarkon, and Lotor in the afterlife

Allura/Hunk/Lance/Keith after the war

5 times someone thought Keith might be more than human, and one time they found out he was

T4T Allurance

Five times Hunk makes someone's comfort food, and one time someone makes his

Allura has been dead from the beginning

Shiro is bad at cooking but make it OCD flavored

Hunk meets the family (families? idk, Hunk/Keith/Lance)

Keith vs James

Kallura Galtean Princess/Knight AU (keith gets to kill someone with his teeth)

Lotor ft “notre dame” by paris paloma

Lotureith where lotor and allura absolutely shower Keith in gifts <3

Keith with an Older Sister

Shiro finds a child idk man I just like kid fics

Shiro is a vampire, Keith is autistic, they're both dumb as rocks

Lance and Coran think about home together

Adam and Keith after Kerberos (idea by the little worm I call a sibling <3)

5 times Hunk got food at a local gas station in the middle of the night, and 1 time he didnt (ty leo)

Allura breakdown <33

Lotor cuts his hair after the war

Betting on who’d get into a fight

Lotor eats one of Allura’s mice

Galran courtship is just mutual stalking

Keitor with a lil kid bc they deserve one

Lotura to the quote, "If I've got to suffer, it may as well be at your hands, your pretty hands."

Qpp kallura but they’re super affectionate and everyone thinks they’re dating

BOM Lotor but during the trials he sees Honerva

Idfk just something krolivan i wanna write them

Mansplain Manipulate Manwhore

Keitor but they have tails (fuck you LSP i hate all of you guys)

Keith post-kerb to the quote "I was fifteen when you left and I have been fifteen ever since."

[tenrousei-kuroi]

Well, I’m not surprised it’s Sirius/Regulus. I should’ve seen this coming🤣

I’ve asked about incest shipping because I see different reasons out there. Some people just like it for the forbidden love/taboo aspect, some have bad real life experiences, and it has always intrigued me how common it is to like stories that are “morally wrong” (dark romances are very popular, for example) and not see fiction tied to real life morality but drawing the line at this theme, not only for personal taste but also imputing a moral obligation to depict it as wrong. 

My first incest ship was accidental. It was Yuki/Kaname from a series called Vampire Knight. We only discover they’re siblings at certain point in the story, and even after people were condemning them together I just didn't care and still rooted for the author not to separate them (which was in vain 😅). Eventually I came across Siri/Reggie and from then on there was no going back. I think it particularly struck me because, specially for older works, there was this flowery and tragic aspect to many – if not most – stories shipping them, a fleeting happiness that frequently wouldn’t last long.

Similarly to what you said, I have a pretty normal and stable life and darker themes have always caught my attention. Strangely, I love sad and bittersweet endings, even if I’m attached to the character and actually feel bad for them – tragedy is just so much more intense than any portrait of happiness I’ve ever seen. I had access to pretty much anything I wanted to read or watch growing up. Mostly because I’m a naturally private person and the ‘smart, well-behaved daughter’, my parents never used to question me much, but to this day this aspect of my life is pretty much my dirty little secret (that I don’t even think it’s dirty, but I assume peoplesurrounding me wouldn't think the same).

Anyway, I wish I could personally thank Ann for getting you hooked on Sirius/Regulus and creating so much good content for the fandom (btw, could I get a link to Palimpsest? Sounds like it’s really good).

Oooo I remember Vampire Knight! It used to come serialized in ShojoBeat, a manga magazine I got back in middle school. I admit I didn't finish the series but I did get to the incest reveal. I have some pretty vivid memories of a hilarious "argument" my friend and I had in gym class over it (she's cool, she was just very easily embarrassed, so it was funny to tease her with her ship turning out to be incestuous).

I didn't have much of a reaction to the plot turn that they were siblings because I was too busy picturing Mr. Kaname getting it on with Zero ;)

Angel Sanctuary was another early incest story I came across. If it wasn't clear by my profile pictures literally everywhere online I've a bit of a fancy for Kaori Yuki's work.

A Cruel God Reigns by Moto Hagio is another good manga rec if you're looking for something a bit more...I dunno', classy? Award-worthy? "Serious"? Whatever you want to call it, if you haven't read it, you should check it out. It's scanlation only, though, unless you can read Japanese, because I don't think it was ever officially localized in the English market.

Here's a link to Palimpsest. I'd recommend downloading a copy quick now, because that's a web archive and who knows how long it'll be up. Actually all of the author's previous HP stuff is up on that archive page and it's all good.

(Can you tell I'm typing on my computer instead of my phone this time? Suddenly my punctuation and formatting are semi-competent.)

And speaking of everyone's favorite incestuous Black brothers, I've got to get myself in gear--I'm super behind. I've got like three fests I need to finish up! ...plus a whole lot of WIP's that I swear I am working on. They'll all be finished...one day.

Sirius/Regulus is so much more popular now than it was when I was a teen. Easier to find too. And James/Regulus has blown up in an almost unrecognizable way. I swear I don't even know who the characters are in half the Jegulus fics I read.

I wonder how long the inertia will last? I guess no matter what, I was there writing my pretentious nonsense long before that stuff got popular and I'll still be here long after everyone else gets bored and moves on <3

Ao3 could blow up tomorrow, and I'd probably just set up a Sirius/Regulus mailing list.

[jvstheworld]

The Buffy Re-watch: S2E7 (part 1)

Lie to me

Playground equipment moving in the wind, not unsettling at all. How many horrors feature this type of thing at the beginning of their films or TV shows?

Then Drusilla comes in, stalks and tries to kidnap a child to amp up the creepy. Well done.

Angel appears and he and Dru have history, which makes sense because if he knew Spike, he would know Dru. We find out later what their real connection is and whoa boy, it is a doozy.

The kicker here is that Buffy sees it all. Doesn't take a genius to work out that they know each other.

Hold on! Giles, wants Buffy to have the night off? Did he get replaced by an alien? Or did he finally listen to his slayer about having a healthy work/life balance?

Passing notes in class. Something I never did in school. I didn't do a lot of things in school. God, my time at school was shit. This is not a new realisation, just remembering.

An old friend of Buffy's appears, probably one of the few she has left from LA, Billy Fordham.

If you have never heard the Divinyls song 'I touch myself' take 3 guesses as to what it's about and the first 2 don't count. This song was also famously used in 'Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery' in the scene where he dance fights the fembots towards the end of the film.

Willow's realisation as to the meaning of the song steals the scene for me.

Angel, honey, sweetie, learn to tell your sort of girlfriend the truth. Things would go much easier if you did.

Ford knows Buffy is the slayer. Buffy keeping being the slayer a secret identity is on par with James Bond keeping secret that he is a spy. Both of them are shit at it.

Mysterious club with very heavy metal doors? Never a good sign. And oh look, vampire wannabes.

Ford taking meds and wanting to turn into a vampire. Hmm, me thinks something is up.

Angel appearing again, but at Willow's house because he rightfully thinks Ford is being sus, and Willow confirms this with the school having no record of him having transferred.

Giles understands that Ford is cute, and that Buffy thinks he is too.

Ford came prepared, he has that going for him, but is still sus.

So, the entire club is made up of delusional people who believe that vampires are fluffy bunnies, and that they are really just misunderstood. Not in this universe they aren't. Hell, Angel and Spike while ensouled can still turn into rage machines if the occasion calls for it. They don't even know that one of the most feared vampires in history is standing right in front of them, that would be terrifying to know. To which I now have to ask, is there much in the way of vampires being good? There's Hellsing where Alucard and Seras are good, Blade from the Marvel comics, Alucard from Castlevania (loved the Netflix series by the way and looking forward to the next one), Underworld has Selene. Are there any others? And not just one or two of them, but where vampires as a whole are the good guys?

Jenny took Giles to go see Monster Trucks... I need to see that.

That angry mob in Prague did a shite job of killing Dru, since she is still walking around.

Dru is referred to as a 'sometime paramour of Spike's' does that mean they have an on-again-off-again relationship or just a very long term one? Because either is sort of believable, especially with how Dru can be.

Genuine question: do I come across as sarcastic in these posts? Because when I read through my notes in my head I definitely sound sarcastic, same when typing. I'm just curious.

Anyway, part 2 will be tomorrow.

[shallowrambles]

Michael + wants

Revelations of key SPN themes in 14x01

In 14x01, Michael visits a devout human, a rebel angel, and a vampire. In trying to figure out who he wants to have on his side, we get a window into some of the key themes of the series. I've put this in my side blog, because I know my pessimistic views on Purgatory and vampires are not sexy nor preferred in the world of Supernatural, but I do like to throw out contrary themes from time to time...so here I go.

1. Humans: They don't know what they want.

Why are we here? (Later, we will learn that AU Michael believes it's all meaningless.)

///

Interestingly, even though AU Michael scoffs at love, two characters (Dean & Anael) will want LOVE in the very next Michael meeting.

This taunt is something Michael drums up specifically to taunt this "devout man." Michael wants to call out his hypocrisy of pretending to care and not caring.

More importantly, is it true? Probably not completely. AU Michaels' whole shtick is taking truths and applying the worst possible conclusion in order to get under your skin.

This devout man may indeed want love and peace, but he's indecisive and self-sabotaging because life is fuckin' hard. (We know that repeat trauma can cause an emotional numbing, too.) This man's made so many mistakes, like betraying loved ones. But those mistakes don't magically cancel out the desire for love and peace. Michael is either being willfully cruel OR in his perfectionism and rigid worldview, he can't process nuance or the concept of forgiveness.

This devout man calls to mind Sam, at least when it comes to Sam's constant search for meaning and answers. (Sam is Solomonari). There's also a bit about this Jamil leaving his friends behind in the war to die (soldier-deserter) and being unfaithful to his wife/family, and now, he performs religious rituals to soothe his inner anxieties and find comfort.

Of course, he calls to mind all alcoholics, as well. Which is most hunters. (John, Bobby, Dean, Sam, even Mary... Also Raphael's despair in just wanting to escape/for it to all be over.)

Michael's verdict: Humans are a mishmash of complicated imperfections. In the world of Supernatural, phrases like "simple, pure" are a warning signs of unreality and idealizations. Humans, on the other hand, are messy. To Michael, they're not worth saving because they're complicated.

We can almost hear Chuck talking to Amara in 15x17 Unity: "Humans...they'll let you down every time."

That's humanity! Because people are real and imperfect.

You can also hear echoes of Metatron from 11x20: "Yeah, sure, they're weak and they cheat and steal and... destroy and disappoint. But they also give and create and they sing and dance and love. And above all, they never give up! But, you do!"

///

2. Beaten-down soldiers: longing for home

Next, we come to Jo (Anael). She counts a wad of cash:

///

LOVE.

So, indirectly, Michael IS telling us what Dean wants, too. It's a bookend to OG Famine wondering what is the thing that Dean can't fill up, not with booze or drugs, not even with sex. (Ergo, love is the thing Dean wants but he can't have. His core wound.)

And Oh, Sister Jo.

Her is a reverse of Jamil: it's a hypocrisy of pretending NOT to care to cover up how much she actually cares.

///

///

///

Anael wants love, not material things.

Dean also wants love. He passes the time with other things to try to cover up what he really wants, because going after what he really wants is scary, and more importantly, not allowed. He is like Anael.

///

So, washed-up angels soldiers are lost, sad, fallen things. They're weak.

This could call to mind Cas, especially the part about "rebellious angel who never played by the rules," but I still think this Anael is mostly about Dean, like Jamil Hamed is mostly about Sam.

///

3. Vampires: Pure, won't let you down, no baggage

So, Michael finally settles on vampires. But why?

What are vampires in this context? They're pure. Simple. They won't let Michael down. I've said before, of Purgatory's "pureness":

Dean's simplified Purgatory world of black-and-white kill-or-be-killed (no-mistakes-can-be-made-here-no-one-can-let-me-down-here) is his False Answer to ending the difficult decision-making associated with hunting in a complex world AND maladaptively dealing with disappointment

This is Michael's False Answer, too. Because the world is meaningless, Michael doesn't appreciate metaphorical shades of gray, much less colors and vibrancy. Michael's better world is just simple, with clear rules. Michael is bringing back heavy season 8 vibes, what with calling out Jamil's deserting of his friends in Syria, and now bringing up the "purity" of vampires.

Season 8 is all about figment-like wisps of Romanticization, all the way up to romanticizing solutions to the world’s messy problems and romanticizing relationships that either don’t fit in the real world, or don’t allow for the full expression of your imperfect self. It creates ghosts that represent the perfect home life + companion, with no baggage and the perfect war + perfect comrade, with no baggage.

Here, Michael is looking for perfect war companions, his blood brothers if you prefer, because "war is what Michael does." Michael has become his worst self. He's fruitlessly killed everything he cares about, just to get his father's attention. After all, there seemed to be no archangels left in AU Earth, and the complicated civil wars of the angels are not pure. Angels were never simple; it was always brother-against-brother and extreme politicking in the world of the angels. So here, he arrives in a new world and finds an ally in something he views as pure. There's no baggage.

But importantly, these figments (a) cannot disappoint you due to their purity and/or simplicity and (b) elegantly solve issues by eliminating the messy business of decision-making and disappointment.

I know vampires have a lot of valid sexy themes, but often in Supernatural another theme swirls around them more strongly, and that is this one: simplicity. Like Purgatory. They're one-dimensional, uncomplicated, and they do what you want / never let you down. They are perfect war companions. Keep them fed, and they'll owe you.

Not like complicated humans.

That's why, in season 15 (The Trap), Sam and Dean's "worst" ending is becoming vampires. They devolve into singularly driven, one-dimensional characters that lack complexity. They are devolving into a metaphorical Purgatory, a "suicide" of no longer being willing to engage in a complex world. It all becomes blood.

Michael (God) doesn't want Jamil (Sam) -- he's too unmotivated and messy and he lets you down. Michael (God) also doesn't want Anael (Dean), because she's weak and wants that ooey-gooey love stuff. Gross. What Michael (God) wants are vampires and Leviathans.

It's as if Chuck is a symbolic fourteen-year-old dudebro writer, insisting his show is about "only two brothers who hunt," and that's all. (No messy human shit, and certainly not love n' romance.) As he tells Becky in season 15: "Monsters are so cool, right? All those teeth! People read for the monsters!"

[shaych03]

Writer Asks

I was tagged by my old friend and Casey/Olivia shenanigans buddy, @dinovia-grant

1. How many works do you have on AO3? A big, fat goose egg, sadly. Somewhere, out there, I have an old site I haven't updated in years. And fic on other sites, but I never migrated them all to AO3. One day, maybe... My ancient website, broken graphics links and all, can be found here: http://xenafiction.net/shaylynnrose/playground.htm Other fics and such that I've written can be found on Passion and Perfection: http://www.ralst.com/

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? unless my comments count, zero.

3. What fandoms do you write for? When I do write, Xena/Gabrielle, Casey/Olivia, Sam/Janet, Janeway/Seven, Emily/JJ, BtVS: Willow/Tara, Willow/Kennedy, Buffy/Amy, Buffy/Faith, Faith/Cordelia, Kate/Elizabeth, Kerry/Kim, as well as my own original characters.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? Never gotten any kudos, but I think I had the most engagement from Resurrection is for the Unbelievers, simply because I posted it in regular parts back in the LiveJournal days. I know i had a lot of good feedback on the various things I had written, but they were personal emails, which I cherish and look back upon with strong fondness. It makes me happy that something about my stories touched others.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I almost always responded to comments, good or bad, just because it meant something to me that my work had inspired someone to say something about it.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Possibly a Xena fic, one that was quite short, called Solitude. It was set during the Bitter Suite era, which overall, was quite angsty.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? There's an old movie, The Pirate Movie, that I latched onto as a kid, because of the song, "Happy Ending" and so...uh, I'm pretty sure everything I write has at least the glimmer of a happy ending, if not a total rainbows and puppy dogs ending...even if the characters had to slog through heck and squishy toast to get there.

8. Do you get hate on fic? Ages and ages ago, I got one of the most confusing emails I've ever seen. It was so badly written that I'd accuse it of being spewed out by an AI, except this was literally in the 90s, so I don't know if AI was a thing then...it might have been hate, or it might have been someone's drunken ramblings, I'm not terribly sure. I think the worst I've truly gotten was comments about how atrocious my grammar or editing was, and I don't consider that hate, just good criticism.

9. Do you write smut? Yes and No. Most of my published fanfic is fairly tame. Even my currently published original fiction is fairly tame...things I've been working on and dabbling with that are still unfinished and may or may not ever see the light? Definitely not tame.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Yes. Absolutely. Resurrection is for the Unbelievers is a mega crossover between Angel: The Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a Dracula movie, and eventually, Criminal Minds. This is probably my craziest in terms of seriously different fandoms.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Many moons ago, back before even LiveJournal was a thing, someone posted one of my Xena fics to their site without asking. I asked them to remove it, and after some discussion, they did. They'd credited me, but I hadn't given them permission to post it.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Actually, yes. A long time ago, I had someone ask to translate a couple of my pieces and I said yes. I...really don't remember which ones, though. I've slept many, many times since then. I hope they're still out there, though.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Several times. I'm currently co-writing with a friend. Nothing to publish as yet, but it's a lovely way to get better at many things.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship? Of what I've written? I'd have to see Kate/Elizabeth simply because I invented it in terms of looking a two characters from different media and said, "They'd really make a great couple". Outside of that, I'd have to proffer the OG, Xena and Gabrielle...they're the ones who got me writing, who got me interacting with internet fandom as a whole, and made me a lot of friends...many of whom I still know, and one of which has been one of my closet friends since 1996.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t? I have too many to name, but I'll through out the name of an unpublished piece called The Broken. It's a marvelous monstrosity that I worked on for over ten years with a friend...and we abandoned it because it had gotten too convoluted and silly and really, just completely lost its way. But I learned so, so much while writing it. I'll forever be grateful for its existence.

16. What are your writing strengths? Dialog, world building, emotive descriptions, romance, and I'd say I'm not too bad with action sequences if I put my mind to it.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I'm too wordy and I suck at grammar. And I love adverbs and will die on the hill that they are a necessary part of dialog...but I do overuse them, especially when writing a first draft. I don't like doing a ton of research, either. I'd rather make it up unless I really need to know something. Good thing I generally write fantasy LOL.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I don't write well in any other languages...I've had 2 years of high school French, but that was over 30 years ago.

19. First fandom you wrote for? On the page, that people could read? Xena: Warrior Princess, but I was making up stories about Charlie's Angels and other TV shows I loved for years. In the sixth grade, a friend of mine and I had a Wonder Woman (TV series) fanclub where we all spun around and pretended to be amazons out to save the day...so what if it was me and two boys who were telling each other these stories. We were having fun and extending the mythos of a show we loved.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? Resurrection is for the Unbelievers is probably closest to my heart because of the work I put into it, but I love all my story children, even the ones whose existence has slipped to the back of my mind. They were all words that had to get out and show themselves off to the world.

(small disclaimer, all of the above was written while veeery tired, so if there are typos, I'm sorry.)

I tag whoever wants to have at this thing and have fun telling the world about your work. No specific callouts because frankly, I bet most of y'all have already answered this thing.

[darkangel1791]

Please could everyone post show recommendations for anyone who needs something new to watch during the strike?

Either add to this post, or create your own!

I'm going to limit myself to 3. And these are all shows that had an ending.

1. Shadowhunters. I believe it is showing on Hulu. It originally aired on Freeform. This show is based on a series of books. I saw the show first and then read the books. I would say the characterization deviated somewhat from the books, but it a good way. It aged up some characters, it fleshed some out. The plot deviates greatly from the books.

The premise is that Shadowhunters have angelic blood and they are on the earth to protect mundanes (regular human beings) from demonic monster attacks. They are trained to be warriors from childhood. But there are also Downworlders, who have some demonic blood, but aren't demons: werewolves, vampires and warlocks. Then there are the Seelies, half angel and half demon. They are like the Fae, they have their own world. But they have representatives who walk the earth.

There are a lot of pairings, but I personally am recommending it because of Malec! Magnus Bane, the High Warlock of Brooklyn, and Alec Lightwood, oldest son of the the family that runs the New York Shadowhunter Institute.

You kind of need to hang in there with this show, it gets better in the second season, and better than that in the third season. It is on Blu ray and dvd.

2. The Untamed. This is a Chinese show. It is based on a book which I have not read, but I understand that in the book, the romantic relationship between the main characters is far more obvious and blatant. But they couldn't go quite that far on Chinese TV. Also, if you do not speak Chinese (I think it is in Mandarin, but I'm not positive) you will have to read subtitles.

The main characters are Wei Wuxian, a charming, mischievous, guy who likes fun and drinking! He is sweet and cute and just a darling. And Lan Wangji, he has been raised to be very serious, there are many rules in the place where he lives and he follows them all. He was raised to be upright, obedient and perfect. He lives in the Cloud Recesses. Others his age are sent there as students to learn philosophy, combat, and such. This is how they meet. And as they grow, they can see through their differences and appreciate each other. And though the series wants it to look as if they love each other only as friends, the actors have great chemistry and you can see through that.

I saw it on YouTube, but I think it is on Amazon Prime right now. It is on Blu ray, but it is a several disc series, there is also a movie called The Untamed, make sure you get the right one.

3. The Sentinel. This is an American series from the 1990s. A police detective, Jim Ellison, finds that his senses are suddenly very acute, annoyingly so. He finds an archaeolgist/cultural anthropologist at the local university who is a TA, working on his doctorate, Blair Sandburg. Blair explains to Jim that he has these senses because ancient cultures had a Sentinel, who would protect the group and and alert them to danger. This is something Blair had studied and what he is doing his doctoral thesis on. He says he can help Jim learn to control his senses, if Jim will allow him to test his senses for his paper. Jim agrees, though Blair is his complete opposite, talks all of the time, long-haired hippie type, into new age sorts of philosophy. Jim is a straight arrow, ex-military, strong, silent type. Blair moves into Jim's place and starts riding along with him when he is at work to help him control his senses.

With the way TV has changed since the 90s, you might feel a bit like you are being queer baited. But nothing homosexual was allowed on mainstream TV yet. But all of the fans saw the slash between the lines.

The Sentinel isn't playing anywhere as far as I know, but it is on DVD. There are 4 seasons, 65 episodes. There are a couple of movies called The Sentinel or Sentinel, so make sure you choose the right one.

Each of these are probably better described on IMDb or somewhere else on the web, but these are my descriptions because these are why I love them.

Next?

[indigoinka]

Hi! I’m finally getting around to that intro post I promised months ago, and honestly, you could be here for some time.

I’m squatting on a whole bunch of social media accounts, but this is the only place I feel safe anymore, though I do have a little reader group on the Meta-hole (🤢). I wish I could get my AuDHD head around Discord, but it feels like the old Yahoo boards mated with a speeding train, and I'm just too tired for that. 

Wherever you look, I’ll be indigoinka or Inka York there.

This is me:

About me, then:

I love tea. Would I even be British if I didn’t?

I love cake. British.

And cider. British.

Yeah, and pie.

Food. I like food.

Please rec queer TV shows to me because I don’t watch as much as I should, and sometimes I just need to refill my crusty old well.

I love supporting indie authors, and rarely read trad stuff these days unless the blurb and sample are god tier.

Feel free to ask questions and tag me in writing games, or whatever shenanigans you get up to around here.

What do I write?

I write queer books, mostly urban fantasy, and usually set in the same storyworld. I also write contemporary gay romance, sometimes with an alien twist. And I’m wide with my books, so you can find them at all the major online retailers and in library catalogues.

I write what I like to read, which sometimes includes problematic tropes, but mostly includes wholesome shit like twin stories, sibling banter, ride or die friendships, a hearty mix of fluff and angst, found families, annoying ghosts, salty supernaturals, cinnamon rolls with knives, and sentient vehicles. Oh, and goats. I love me a judgemental goat.

My favourite tropes

Well, it started as a love triangle/square/dodecahedron, but now everybody's fucking (I don't know what this trope is actually called)

Forced proximity/only one bed (or coffin, in my case)

Friends to lovers (AKA idiots who took too long to notice how perfect they are)

Grumpy/Sunshine

Secret twins

Rivals to lovers

Hurt/comfort

My storyworlds

Cascade Apocrypha (queer paranormal/urban fantasy in many subgenres from pirate adventures to cosy mysteries to paranormal romance)

Feverish (contemporary gay romance)

Dracate System (AKA Gay Space Bridgerton)

My books

My first series, Not the Same River, is urban fantasy, upper YA/crossover, set in the Cascade Apocrypha storyworld. It features angels, demons, vamps, vaewolves, goats, succubus nuns, and villains to cry over. Book five is out this month, and the final book is out in February. This is the story of my heart, and the one that spurred a thousand spin-offs that I'll never have time to write.

The first book in that series, A Storm of Paper Starlings, is complete on Wattpad and Inkitt. I was gonna put it on AO3, but it feels weird because I tore all my Potter fics down when JKR started flashing her arse at the entire world, and everything I had on there felt dirty. Anyway, I digress. I might go back. Talk me into it.

I also have two other books updating on Wattpad:

🩷 Victorian Vampire Daddy (MM historical romantic suspense/Cascade Apocrypha)

🩷 My Ex & His Boyfriend (MMM/Feverish storyworld)

My other current series, Tales from the Noctuary (Cascade Apocrypha), has two books out at the retailers:

🩷 Secrets at the Door (historical mystery/suspense with lesbian romance): fat, beekeeping lesbian vampire, queer well-demon with a bad haircut, nonbinary treasure who sometimes makes bad decisions, everybody be gay.

🩷 Puddles in the Pavement (historical mystery and outright shenanigans): queer archangel brother detectives, a perky butler, an escort of indeterminate gender with the worst singing voice in the known world, a vampire duke with terrible table manners, and a Home Secretary with an unasked for appendage (let's hope that doesn't get around).

I have two more books written for this series so far, which will likely debut in my subscription.

Getting to that...

My subscription

13 Club: After Dark is hosted at Ream Stories, the only subscription platform designed specifically for authors and readers, and it is amazing.

You just click on the book cover you want, and the app will drop you into the social e-reader right where you left off, so you can comment right there inside the story. It’s like Patreon + Wattpad + a community board + extra sauce.

Honestly, I could gush about it all week.

This is also me:

So, what’s there?

Well, first, you can follow me there (which is free, obvs) and get access to:

The Weakest Link (Not the Same River #0): features the series MC’s twin sister and the coven she grew up in.

The Cursed Bones of Sergeant Boom!: a contemporary paranormal mystery involving a ghost who gatecrashed a funeral and got followed home by a necromantified corgi (as one does).

Pride’s Treasure: a series of mini adventures with characters from all the stories above, where all the chaos is your fault, because the MC of this story is YOU!

In the paid tiers, there’s 8 weeks early access to the two stories updating on Wattpad, the whole Not the Same River series so far (book 5 is updating now, before it hits the retailers at the end of October 2023). There’s also a 13 Club exclusive story called Earth Render, which is MMMMF (but not reverse harem), again set in the Cascade Apocrypha storyworld. That one features a witch with no beginning, a raven shifter with the best taste in pets, a vampire with memory issues, a vaewolf who can’t control his wolfism, and a nephilim with a huge secret. I promise not to give the Archangel Gabriel a horse penis in this story 👀

There are also physical welcome packs for some of the tiers, and all members are rewarded with After Darkling points, which they can save up each month for sweet treats, like a personalised drabble, or a one-shot featuring their favourite character, or some mystery merch. I love my After Darklings and my little club so much.

My main WIPs at the moment are:

Earth Render serial (mentioned above)

The Dryad's Curse: Pirates of Siorai trilogy (paranormal pirate adventure with romance/Cascade Apocrypha)

Gay Space Bridgerton (space fantasy romance with interplanetary political intrigue and hapless humans/Dracate System)

Almost done... maybe

That was a whole lot of intro (mate, do I love the word shenanigans), but I’m a busy goblin, and though my days are only marginally more comfortable than my painful nights, I still feel grateful that I get to do this every day.

I’d love to chat with you here, on Wattpad,  in my FB group (same name as my sub) or over at 13 Club: After Dark. My subscription is what keeps me and my writing going, so if you’re here because you already love my stories, and you have the means, I’d love to see you over there. Your support would mean the world to me, whether it’s a follow or more. I love in-story comments more than life.

I’d love more friends on here, though. So if you’re into queer media and love reading, feel free to follow and I'll follow back.

That’s it from me. I’m finally shutting the fuck up.

Come chat with me whenever you want.

Stay safe!

❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜