#i may or may not have been getting obsessed with trollhunters again

[international-superspy-superspy]

drew a few sillies today (+bonus silly notenrique)

[imthepunchlord]

Ok, I have to admit it. I am obsessed with your animula idea. It's so cool and exactly what I wanted from the kwamis and the show!

So out of curiosity what exactly are the animula? are they mythical creatures or beings of pure magic?

Also who are the Dawnguard and Twilightvigil?

Well, I'm glad you do cause I recently hopped down the animula rabbit hole again! Trying to figure it out, and maybe grasp some idea for a beginning to get started with cause that has been the biggest wall for me, just not sure how to start it.

Anyway, animula were going to work off my first thought on kwami origins: that they were crafted little dolls/golems that were lifeless, just animated enough to answer to commands that were given. And that through the years of being exposed to the complexity of humans, they gained "life". They became aware, they started to speak, to process, and developed their own personalities and views. They even chose their own names. That they were drawn to what felt "good" for them, what felt natural.

Like, Solace the Bee feels that she thrives when communities go strong, that teams work efficiently, to see provision and assistance given so readily.

Or Regis the Lion finds himself drawn to leaders, those who take charge, are confident, commanding. To know how how to give directions and how to best utilize others.

So while they were made to serve humanity, humanity did give something back to them as well. Also animula may be able to take on bigger, mythical forms, as I do like mythical creatures.

And leaning into the Arthurian Legends (as Trollhunters is part of the inspiration), there is a thought that in ancient times, even long before the Arthurian Legends, animula were created through the union of a human and fairy (Merlin and the Lady of the Lake). Details of it aren't known as animula don't recall their Creation Day. Though some playful animula will jokingly refer to them as "Mom and Dad", while more formal will simply refer to them as the Creators.

Now, the Dawnguard and the Twilightvigil are two halves of a whole, echoing the sun and moon.

Both are factions found on doing good for all of humanity. But they got about it differently.

The Dawnguard are your classic white knights, the true iconic heroes and icons of hope and salvation, standing for chivalry, truth, justice, and order.

The Twilightvigil in are dark rogues, antiheroes, doing what needs to be done any means necessary, working off cunning, trickery, and chaos.

Back in the day, they worked in harmony, a balance between light and shadow. But one that broke into conflict as disagreements for how they functioned arose. The Dawnguard felt that the Twilightvigil would go too far, borderline villainous and were dangerous. The Twilightvigil saw the Dawnguard as being too arrogant and closed minded, and feared that they may seek full control of all animula, and work off what they defined to be just.

And through their war, animula would scatter, or join sharing some of those beliefs.

Through the years, the two orders have shrunken in numbers and live in secrecy, but a few members linger, ever watchful for their enemy, danger, and any sort of magic.

[bluemoonnightmare]

So the ending to 'Rise of the Titans' was the biggest slap in the face fandom wide. It was such a stupid goddamn decision to write it the way they did, but seeing as I'm spiteful and there are already a bunch of amazing fix-it-fics in the making: I would like to propose something slightly different.

A fic where we as the audience follow the Story EXCLUSIVELY through Toby's POV through the seasons even though Jim from the TOA Universe still has his memories. If this is a confusing way to put it, I'll try and make more sense with the fic summary:

Tobias Domzalaki is an ordinary kid with a cat obsessed Nana busy helping his best friend who yearns to have more adventure in his life. As it happens, Toby gets stuck with the after affects of his best friend's wish when he finds a magic amulet under a bridge calling to him. With that discovery, Toby finds himself as the next Trollhunter, the champion of the troll world. Dragging with him his reluctant yet supportive best friend, Jim Lake Jr, Toby discovers the world of Trollmarket where he further unravels the mysteries and past of his new amulet.

The fic would follow the formula of four seasons, (it would only cover Trollhunters so far as I have planned) except the first season would be shorter because Angor Rot would not appear.

In season One: Tony would find the amulet, have to fight Bular and he would only find out about Jim and the past timeline he comes from during the FINALE Of the first season. This is the season where it hints that Jim knows more than he lets on. But because Jim has to carry his burdens alone, he never explicitly tries to alter what Toby does or what decisions he makes. He does however tell Draal, Claire and Strickler about his past on three separate occasions, one of which is shown to the audience while the other two are not. Strickler also comes to the good side towards the end of this season. This is the only season I have episodes or Synopsis thought through.

In season Two: We would see Jim and Toby building up their relationship again as Toby learns who his best friend actually is and what he's been through. It would still include the search for the Triumbric Stones, except there would be more emphasis on Jim and Claire finding powers and making them their own. Claire will not have the shadow staff. We also see how The Janice Order react to Strickler's betrayal and how the rest of the cast learn about Jim's past. The season ends with the main cast entering the dark lands.

These are the only two seasons I have even given thought to yet, but for the third season, that includes Gunmar's escape, Eli and Steve's development and the Losses of Vendall and Draal, i have a brief idea of what it is I want to do.

Season 1 of Trollhunters: Fables of Arcadia.

Becoming Part 1 ( On an average day Toby wakes up to find his best friend acting strange and a magical amulet under a bridge. Amazed at his luck, Toby is thrilled to become the new Trollhunter.)

Becoming Part 2 ( when faced with the dangerous adversary Bular, Toby begins to feel as though he's bitten off more than he can chew.)

A rock and a hard place ( Toby deals with a resigned Jim and resentful Trolls as he begins his extensive training.)

Gnome yourself (While dealing with pesky Gnomes, Toby tries to help out Jim with Claire, and in doing so sets off Steve - a notorious bully.)

Waka Chaka (During a field trip to a museum Toby tries to apologize to Jim while juggling the knowledge that the museum curator has a surprising secret.)

Fight, Flight or Vendall (Jim helps Toby deal with the aftermath of his loss against Draal and makes an unlikely friend in Draal while doing so, leaving Toby to feel helpless after a scolding from Vendall.)

To catch a changeling ( Eager to prove himself to Vendall and the others, Toby tries to unmask the changelings living amongst them, while Jim gets closer to Claire.)

Adventures in Trollnapping ( While Jim is training and researching into the museum and it's curator - Toby tries to find out if Claire's brother is a changeling through strange means causing Tensions with Claire.)

Forget me not (Forgetting that it's Jim's birthday due to his new responsibilities, Tony grows nervous when Jim explains that he'd seen a large winged creature immune to the sun on his roof.)

Fools errand ( Knowing more than he's willing to share, Jim invites Toby to spy on his mom and Strickler during a date in the hopes of clueing him in.)

Recipe for disaster ( Overjoyed that his suspicions are correct, Tony goes to examine Strickler's office discovering a small portal to the Darklands while Jim takes the opportunity to level with Stickler.)

Crossing the Bridge ( Suspicious about Stickler's sudden change in motives, Toby questions Jim about how he knows Stickler can be trusted.)

Claire and the Present Danger ( With the play drawing closer, Jim and Toby go to explain what has happened to Claire in hopes of getting her help. Jim shares more with Claire after Toby leaves, leading the audience to a shocking Revelation about his character.)

The battle of two bridges ( Bular hunts Strickler and Baits the Trollhunters to the Killahead bridge resulting in the final battle, Where Toby finally proves he is a competent trollhunter.)

Two truths and a Lie ( With the battle finally over, and the play coming to an end, Toby confronts Jim once and for all about his behaviour and his knowledge - discovering what the audience already knows about what he's been hiding for so long.)

If you have any sort of suggestions or any ideas to add on feel free! This is an incredibly long post, so I apologize. there's a chance that I may begin writing this, we'll see with what time and motivation I have.

[babblish]

23 & 39?

I’m going to answer these out of order as I ended up explaining Uhl fic’s entire backstory and it got it super long and should really go under a cut. I hope you don’t mind, it’s a looong read.

39. What is your greatest strength as a writer?

I think ultimately it is that I have around 20 years of writing experience (I legit started when I was around 10) and I’ve finally gotten to the point where I can execute my vision for a scene/character/whatever and be happy with what I’ve written. Obviously I don’t think my writing is perfect and I’m forever going to be chasing that goal, but being able to go back over my writing and not despise it was a surprisingly hard skill to learn and I think it’s my greatest current strength because now I have the confidence and motivation to continue.

23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

That has to be Whispers Within, I haven’t actually written a full length anything before and I am getting super close to finishing it now which is amazing to me because in part it feels like healing.

To explain this, I started the fic when my disability took a nose dive and I needed something to help me exercise my brain and make me feel like me again. At the time I couldn’t focus on a lot of “adult media” like Orphan Black, Game of Thrones, Sense8, etc because those shows were very long, very complicated and literally impossible for me to follow the plot of at all. 

HOWEVER Trollhunters shone out to me and I’d just lie in bed watching and rewatching and rewatching. Before this I liked the show, I had been introduced by a little man of around the age of 4 and by episode 20 had falling in love with the trolls and the changelings. I had my own changeling OC, a seer named Tristan, which I didn’t really do anything with beyond arting and assigning a backstory to, and maybe shipping him with the usual suspects. Season 2 came around and I fell in love with the human characters as well. I was doing a Cert IV in graphic design and sometimes I’d have it playing in the background as I was working on my assignments. Not always, but I recently started watching Voyager from the beginning and I’d need the occasional palette cleanser.

At the beginning of 2018 I crashed really hard, and the obsessive rewatching began. Especially the episodes S2:8-10, I literally watched one of those for each meal every day. At this stage I couldn’t write at all but I already had Tristan just sitting there in my head. Up until this point I’ve always been able to be creative, I first became disabled at 14 years old and as a response all of my identity became focused around sedentary things I could do alone, see: arting, writing, conlangs, worldbuilding etc. And almost over night I could no longer do any of those things. But creativity doesn’t go away and I lost myself to daydreaming since that was all I could do. As brainfog is an inherently unfocused plane, character ideas about new creatures merged with fandreams about Tristan and they twisted and curled, slightly different each time, and eventually became Sam.

And then in late May and early June, three things happened to me that gave me the drive to force myself to write even though it was so hard for me. 1. My doctor told me if I didn’t use my skills I’d lose them forever. (this isn’t actually true, dr was just a dick, but it was like that no fear, one fear meme). 2. Season 3 of Trollhunters came out and Bad Coffee did things to me and I dove straight into AO3 hungry for a fic that didn’t exist, although I found others such as Days in the Sun by @seagullandcroissant and was further inspired, and 3. My now SO confessed her feelings for me and we started dating. Suddenly I had the deep need to write, even if it was silly or high concept drabble. The concept of Sam’s visions was a way for me to make sense of that and give me a good contrivance to write little bites of speculative fiction within a universe. And due to my SO not being a man I suddenly had some intense internalised biphobia and felt the need to validate my queerness for my own personal reasons, and due to our relationship being LD, a sudden need for sappy domestic fluff.

At first it was so hard, it’d take me all day to write a short paragraph. But then it hit me that, I couldn’t art but I could paint with words. So the visions got more experimental, and I finally started feeling like myself again. I picked a love interest from ToA because that world was already in my head and I had just started learning German on Duolingo as more brain practice, so Uhl randomly became the guy. You have no idea how close I came to picking Walter but there was already so many fics about him out there and like… none about Uhl and I was salty.

Initially I had zero intention of putting it out there in the world because I was going through some internalised stuff about writing fan fiction over my own worlds, but then I shared some of with my SO (enduring the mortifying ordeal of being known) and she liked it so much that over several months I came to the decision that I actually I did want to want to be active in the fandom and have met some amazing people through it. I definitely have no regrets and for however long that I continue writing, Whispers Within is always going to be dear to me for these and a number of other reasons.

[takaraphoenix]

Book Adaptations Wishlist

Let’s start with my biggest fandom that is based on a book-series. Percy Jackson and the Olympians, by Rick Riordan.

I’m one of the... very few who likes the Percy Jackson movies. Most certainly not in the sense of them being adaptations of the books. Hah. Good one. No, I view them more as “motion picture fanfiction”. I mean, damn the pretty cast they got. I love Clarisse and Chris in particular. And I will forever be grateful to the first movie because without it, I would have never in a million years found the books simply because I’m not a big reader so the only way I ever learn about books is by watching an adaptation and deeming it to be my taste.

Now, things with PJatO were a little more complicated than that. Back before the movie hit theatres, I was checking out all the releases announced for the year and among them was this. The word “Thief” in the title caught my attention because I love a good con movie or show. I clicked it and back then the link only lead to the book and a section about it getting an adaptation, so that’s how I found out it was a book adaptation. Reading the synopsis of the book, I thought it sounded pretty cool. Next step was, of course, to check the character list. Because I love Greek mythology.

Main character a son of Poseidon. That’s cool. I love elementals, particularly those with water-powers. And there, not far down, was the name that got me hooked. Nico di Angelo, son of Hades. HOLY UNDERWORLD YES. Hades is my favorite male god. That his kid was listed as one of the main characters of the series - and NOT as a bad guy, because if modern adaptations taught me one thing, it’s that American authors love to paint everything in black and white and anything related to the underworld had to be the devil.

So Nico di Angelo was why I went to see the movie. Needless to say, Nico wasn’t in it because he only joins the series later on. But I did like the movie, Percy was cute, I was still curious to meet Nico, so when I found myself on a classtrip to Munich weeks later and was dragged from store to store and ended up in a bookstore where all six books (I do count The Demigod Files as part of the original series too) were on display at the time, I impulse-bought them.

I loved them. A lot. We’re not gonna talk about Heroes of Olympus here because that will take too many hours of my time. Let’s just say I don’t love them.

But yeah, the movies are not good adaptations of the books.

Then again, personally, I think that no movie can ever properly do a book justice. You can’t take a story that unfolds in like 500 pages of book and cram it into a two hour movie. You’re forced to cut sooo much out of it. It just doesn’t work.

That’s why I’m a huge fan of this new trend of adapting books as TV shows. It’s a very good way of covering more ground, taking things slow and giving the plot its due.

I’m desperately waiting for a good Percy Jackson adaptation. But I don’t want it to be live-action, to be honest. I mean, between Grover’s furry butt, Chiron’s horse-hide, the monsters and pegasi and demigodly powers, the show would need a huge special effects budget. And that’s just not gonna happen. So it’ll look cheap as fuck. Which would be an utter shame.

No.

I want a Percy Jackson cartoon show. I’d entrust DreamWorks with this. DreamWorks has done some amazing cartoon shows the last decade - Voltron, Dragons, Trollhunters. Particularly the cooperation with Netflix is working well for them. And with the team behind Avatar, like they’re doing with Voltron, I could REALLY envision a Percy Jackson cartoon. Imagine Percy water-bending like Katara or Korra, Nico looking like Keith in goth-clothes, I’d be dying to see that. Particularly considering that Avatar and Voltron use this beautiful 2D art style. I wouldn’t object to quality 3D like Trollhunters and Dragons, but I’d prefer 2D. I’m an old-fashioned gal like that.

To me, that would be the perfect way of adapting Percy Jackson.

Aaand I got a little lost in Percy Jackson. It happens. Oh well, I guess this is gonna be a long-ass entry then.

What I wanted to say was that I thoroughly approve of the TV show adaptation of books. I know I love Game of Thrones and Vampire Diaries and, of course as you may have noticed if you know me at all, Shadowhunters. All books I haven’t read (though I’m trying to read The Mortal Instruments. I’m just slow). I’ve just always been more of a TV-show kinda gal than a book-reader.

Now, if only they’d adapt the books that I actually love to read. That would be amazing. But somehow, I read stuff that doesn’t even get movies. Sure I read Percy Jackson and that got two failed movies, but we already covered that.

Because yes, I actually do read. Books that I haven’t met through their adaptations.

My all-time favorite book is Wicked, by Gregory Maguire.

I started reading it back in 2010 when I was doing an internship at our cozy local little bookstore - a very homey little place that was specialized on fantasy and sci-fi books. And Wicked was relatively fresh out back then and stood there in the special display and drew me in because of the green-skinned lady. I have a thing for green-skinned ladies, but that’s between me and Shego. So I started reading it during my breaks, when I had nothing else to do. Ten pages here, twenty pages there. By the time my internship ended, I was too hooked to forget about it so I bought it.

I saw its musical adaptation twice. Once in Stuttgart, the German version, and then when I was in London for the first time, the English version.

I love that musical as much as I loathe it.

The same as The Lightning Thief movie. And I mean it. Literally the same. You can view it as live-action fanfiction, but you can not with half-a-mind view it as an adaptation. It has as much to do with the book as The Lightning Thief movie had to do with The Lightning Thief book. That is to say, the characters shared the same names, but neither their behavior nor their physical appearance actually fit. And the plot, if you cook it down to a very basic one sentence summary - “Percy Jackson has to find the Lightning Thief” and “Elphaba Thropp rebels against the wizard” - fits, but do not ever dig for actual details, because those do not cover what happens in the book.

As a musical lover and someone who can view an adaptation as a separate thing from the source-material, I thoroughly love the musical. But as someone who loves that book to bits and pieces, I hate that the majority of people have only ever heard about the musical and are most likely not even aware of the book or haven’t bothered reading it and are now actually under the impression that all it is is a cheesy love-story. Which it is not. The romance is a foot-note in this long masterpiece that is basically a metaphor for the holocaust. And I will never be able to forgive the stupid fix-it shit of “Oh, Fiyero was turned into the scarecrow and they lived happily ever after”. No. They don’t. Or the fact that they turned my favorite character into a vindictive piece of crap.

(Okay, so maybe I am not as able to separate the two as I like to think, but cut me some slack they turned Elphaba’s trusted friend into a literal heartless tin-man who wants to slaughter her. What the fuck is that even.)

And I got lost again.

So, yes, I want a Wicked adaptation done right. A TV-show. After all, this is a book that literally covers her entire life, from birth to death. It tells a pretty long  story and I’d like to see it done right, instead of turned into a high school musical love drama, as the musical did. Not to mention I want to see the polyamorous relationship between Elphaba’s parents and Turtle Heart, maybe if we take more time for her childhood, we’d get more feels for the threesome too. Her two gay friends Crope and Tibbett. Her own “maybe not quite just friends” with Glinda. Her bisexual son who was entirely cut out of the musical. I mean, maybe we cut the girl out who married the Cowardly Lion, but uh they never had sex because she was a rape survivor who had no interest of ever having sex again - perhaps was even asexual, though it was never explicitely stated in the books - and only married him for safety reasons and all that did connect them was deep friendship?

I’d also like to mention my favorite book-series - while Wicked is my favorite book and its direct sequel Son of a Witch might be the only book I ever read within a literal day because I couldn’t put it down, the third and fourth books were a little on the... drawn out and exhausting side of things.

The Bartimaeus-series by Jonathan Stroud.

Bartimaeus is my favorite book-series, because it is - from start to finish - perfection. And Bartimaeus himself is a sassy little shit. We’d definitely need voice-over narration to not forget his sass. Can’t decide if I’d want it as a cartoon or as a live-action show though. But either way, I’d kiss the feet of the person who would fucking finally decide to adapt that book-series. I mean, seriously, among all the many, many shows and all the many, many adaptations these days, how has no oneever thought about giving this book any form of adaptation? It deserves it. It really does deserve a good adaptation.

And then there’s just one more. My favorite childhood books.

The Woodland Folk, by Tony Wolf.

I don’t think many people have ever even heard of this. It’s from an Italian author and as a child, I only owned two out of the twelve books that existed. But they were my most often read books. I knew them by heart, literally.

I later on, as a teen, bought the missing ten books on the internet and devoured them.

Those books are the reason I got hooked on fantasy, why I am obsessed with fairies and mermaids and witches. Tony Wolf’s illustrations in those books are the reason I always wanted to draw. They are beautiful and sweet and they would make for an amazing cartoon.

I know out of all of those books on this wish-list, this is the one that’s most far-out-there and will probably never happen, but I’d be ridiculously happy if it did.

[callunavulgari]

Scrapbook 2017, Take 1

Scrapbook for 2017, because I actually kept up with it last year (for the most part) and it helped a lot. So, rules!

Italicized titles = enjoyed muchly, bold titles = love, titles with an asterisk* = OBSESSION and titles in (brackets) are re-watches/re-reads. And lastly, strikethough = DISLIKE.

Goals are: read thirty-five new books this year, finish four video games, finish writing and publish the Sabriel AU, and write something original. Even if it’s just a collection of short stories.

MOVIES

January:

(Flubber)

Arrival

(Spirited Away)

KH X

iBoy

February:

The Awakening

(Finding Dory)

(The X-Files)

(V For Vendetta)

La La Land

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

(Interstellar)

Ex. Machina

March:

No Country For Old Men

Beetlejuice

Pontypool

Logan

Get Out

Beauty and the Beast (remake)

It

April:

Tales From Earthsea

(The Secret World of Arriety)

(Inside Out)

(Kubo and the Two String)

May:

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

(It)

The Secret Life of Pets

(Moana)

Stargate

Your Name

BOOKS

January:

Vicious | V.E. Schwab

Goldenhand | Garth Nix

Frankenstein | Mary Shelley

Illuminae | Amie Kaufman [Fin]

February:

Before the Fall | Noah Hawley

The Martian | Andy Weir

March:

Before the Fall | Noah Hawley 

The Martian | Andy Weir

Annihilation | Jeff Vandermeer

April:

Annihilation | Jeff Vandermeer [Fin]

Vicious  | V.E. Schwab [Fin]

A Conjuring of Light | V.E. Schwab [Fin]

Love for the Cold-Blooded: Or: The Part-Time Evil Minion’s Guide to Accidentally Dating a Superhero [Fin]

May:

(American Gods)

PODCASTS

May:

The Bright Sessions Eps 1-31

Alice Isn’t Dead Eps 1-2

TV SHOWS BY SEASON

January:

Stargate Atlantis s5

Sherlock s4

Gate

Steven Universe

Travelers

Trollhunters

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Skam

Voltron

Konosuba

Stargate SG-1 (s1)

Taboo

February:

Stargate SG-1 s1, s2

Yamishibai

Frequency s1

(The X-Files)

Grey’s Anatomy s3

Taboo

Legion

The Flash

Black Mirror s1

March:

Legion

The Flash s3

Taboo

Supernatural

(Hannibal s1)

April:

Legion 

Rick and Morty s3

The Flash

Grey’s Anatomy s4, s5

(Hannibal s1)

The Expanse s1

Trollhunters s1

American Gods

May:

American Gods

Sense8 s2

The Flash

Grey’s Anatomy s5, s6

Wynnona Earp

Grace and Frankie

Riverdale

Steven Universe

VIDEO GAMES

January:

Pokemon Moon (7 hrs)

Dragon Age: Inquisition (Dwarf Rogue; 1 hr)

Final Fantasy X (2 hrs)

Dragon Age: Origins (Male Human Mage; 52 hrs)

KH 2.8 | BBS; A Fragmentary Passage (3hrs)

KH DDD Remake (1 hour)

February:

Pokemon Moon (15 hrs)

Dragon Age: Origins (Male Human Mage; 52 hrs)

Mass Effect 2 (Male Soldier Sheppard; 1 hr)

Assassin’s Creed 2 (8 hrs)

Silent Hill 3

March:

Fallout New Vegas

Horizon Zero Dawn (80 hrs) [Fin]

Mass Effect Andromeda (Female Ryder; 41 hrs)

April:

Mass Effect Andromeda (Female Ryder; 83 hours) [Fin]

Persona 5 (80 hrs)

May:

Persona 5 (96 hrs)

Nier: Automata (4 hrs)

LoZ: Breath of the Wild(40 hrs?)

DELIGHTFUL FIC

January:

Stargazers by Ruby_Wednesday (Captive Prince; Laurent/Damen;  Five years after the Truce of Marlas, Damen and Laurent meet again in Delpha. They're forced to work together to soothe the growing tension between their countries. But Laurent does not forgive easily and Damen's not that sorry.)

con·tra·dic·tion by caseyvalhalla (Yu Yu Hakusho; Kurama/Hiei;  Mukuro raised the paper until it was out of range, just to make Hiei lean up on tiptoe, just to see that curl of anger on his mouth again, and she smiled sweetly enough to bare all of her teeth. “Why are you exchanging love letters with the right hand of my political rival?”)

in another time in another castle by caseyvalhalla (KH; AkuRoku; No one grows up without regrets.But time moves in cycles, winds back on itself, and sooner or later that kid you used to play video games with is gonna reappear just in time to ruin your day.)

Hernandes & Jones by antistar_e (kaikamahine) (SU; Japis;  In Miami, it's a statuette. Jasper tells her, "Come on, I need your help," and Lapis says, "That's nice. What part of 'I'm not wearing a catsuit' do you not understand?")

i have my body (and you have yours) by astoryaboutwar (YoI; Yuuri/Victor;  Yuuri overflows with the weight of things that have been said, trembles with what remains.)

A Somaal Universe by antistar_e (kaikamahine) (SU; Japis; Connie flips over the next card. "'Most likely to -'" She reads out loud, and then dissolves into laughter and has to start over, propping the card up on her bump. "'Most likely to freak out when you go into labor and break the speed limit getting to the hospital?'" "Pearl," Amethyst and Jasper say in unison.)

Let's Give Ourselves Promises of Our Unending byaimmyarrowshigh, nichestars (SW; Shara/Kes/Cassian; Captain Cassian Andor tries to define what it means to live after he should have died. His second life is a softer one.)

Abstain by resonant (SGA; Mcshep;  Aliens force John and Rodney not to have sex.)

Advantage by resonant (SGA; Mcshep;  This slave-owner thing was a lot of responsibility.)

Streets In A World Underneath It All by ISMENETRUTH (SGA; Mcshep; "Puddlejumper One: An Exclusive Portrait of John Sheppard on Atlantis," John reads aloud, smirking. "Funny, I'm pretty sure I've never met the author.")

Faith healing by aesc (SGA; Mcshep; The signal had started a year and a half ago, maddening, popping up in Chicago, D.C., Charlotte, New York City, Santa Fe, Montgomery, Santa Cruz, Seattle, a town in Kansas with a name like Desperation and a place in North Dakota called, from what Rodney could remember, Sweaty Groin.)

The home front by aesc (SGA; Mcshep; “This had better be the Sheppard residence,” Rodney says, brilliant, agitated life and volume against a monotonous day and Dave’s subdued welcome, “because I’ve been driving around for hours and if I ever find the woman who did the voice on my GPS system I’m going to personally amputate her vocal cords.”)

Reality by Resonant (SGA; Mcshep; McKay was the perfect object for a crush you never intended to do anything about.)

Cultural Exchange by lamardeuse (SGA; Mcshep;  "What does he think we are, Fine Arts majors?" Rodney grumbled.)

Do You Know What I Know? by DevilDoll (SGA; Mcshep;  "You need to come here, "John said, crooking a finger, "so I can slap you in the head.")

Pegasus Non-Verbal by igrab (SGA; Mcshep;  John always gets a little thrill when he sees Rodney sign at him across the room, casually dissing people literally standing next to him and John is the only one who knows.)

Junk Cheap by DevilDoll (SGA; Mcshep;  If you were thinking you'd love to read an AU where Rodney is a college professor and John owns a junk shop, this is the story for you.)

Denial by DevilDoll (SGA; Mcshep;  "John talks about you all the time.")

All The Way To The Bone by respoftw (SGA; Mcshep;  John is ready for a new beginning and he wants the tattoo to commemorate it. )

February:

Calling Down the Lightning by dreamwaffles (SGA; Mcshep;  Dr. Rodney McKay, PhD PhD, is a wizard.)

Forget Me Not by maisierita (SGA; Mcshep; John the servant turns out not to be anything like Rodney would have imagined.)

Unidentified by fiercelydreamed (SGA; Mcshep; Fourteen years, eight months, and seven days after John and Rodney meet, the clock starts all over again.)

into that secret place where no one dares to go by verity (TW; Stiles/Lydia; 4k; The first time he felt Lydia's soul, it felt like a sneeze.) 

Black Helicopters at Dawn by whizzy (SGA; Mcshep; 240k;  Screw the bet. Rodney was going to prove the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence. Oh, and incidentally, he might just catch the United States Air Force with their pants around their ankles.)

Out in the Open by Xparrot (SGA; Mcshep;  It's Situation Normal for the team when they're caught in an avalanche, but digging themselves out uncovers more than they counted on.)

A Rational Universe by Xparrot (SGA; Mcshep;  "You're a lot more encouraging than my last friendly hallucination," Rodney says.)

Speech Deprived by Xparrot (SGA; Mcshep;  Rodney was released from the infirmary with painkillers, icepacks, and a strict injunction to limit all unnecessary speech for at least three days.)

Lord of the Sea (masterpost) by Multi (SGA; Mcshep; Among the Goa'uld, Mer'deth was something of an oddity.)

The Return to Normalcy by  Cypher (SGA; Mcshep;  The three month anniversary of the exile--as John thinks of it--falls on a three-day weekend.)

Still by murron (SGA; Mcshep;  On any other day, John might have shot Rodney a quick look, broadcasting his doubt and checking whether Rodney shared it. With a sinking heart, Rodney admitted it would be foolish to expect that kind of exchange right now.)

March:

Surrogate God by PepperPrints (The Flash; Reverb/Harry;  When Harrison Wells returns to Earth-2, someone is waiting for him. Reverb survived Zoom, but with the cost of losing his abilities. Convinced that Harry can return his powers to him, Reverb holds him captive, and he's asking for more than Harry can deliver.)

My Father Before Me by telleer (SGA; Mcshep;  Even after twenty years, Rodney still has no idea how to raise children.)

We Cannot Live Within by laureltreedaphne (SGA; Mcshep; John grinned. "So McKay's attractive to everyone?")

Before We Get Going, Here's Some Books I'd Like You to Read by Chash (The 100; Bellamy/Clarke;  Two months into her new job at the library, Clarke knows the following things about Bellamy Blake: they reserve a lot of books, they have good taste in said books, and they're really good at avoiding her.)

Livewire by marauders_groupie (The 100; Bellamy/Clarke;  Clarke Griffin finds 'Atlas' written on her wrist and Bellamy Blake sees flowers bloom on his skin.)

For Love of the Hunt by acidtonguejenny (Horizon Zero Dawn; Nil/Aloy;  If she’s hard on Nil, it’s because she understands more of him than she wants to.)

Heavy Weapons and How to Use Them by Armengard (Horizon Zero Dawn; Aloy/Petra;  The world ended, and then it didn't, and Aloy seeks a new purpose. In the meantime, visiting Free Heap and one Petra Forgewoman every so often is certainly worthwhile, as Aloy eventually finds out.)

Like a Lightning Strike by miss_aphelion (Hannibal; Will/Hannibal;  In a world where omegas are instant celebrities and treated like royalty, Will just wants to be left alone.)

babel by spqr (X-Men; Charles/Erik;  Two days ago Charles screamed loud enough that Erik heard him halfway around the world, but he didn’t listen.)

Under the Sea by astolat (SGA; Mcshep;  "Oh, thank you," Rodney yelled over the howls of do that conga!, "because what my night was missing was being groped next to the beer keg by a guy in a tiara.")

Lord, Save Me from Your Followers by anamatics (Supergirl; Lena/Kara; Kara, perhaps out of a want for thoroughness in her story, perhaps out of a Millennial-born urge to creep on a the social media of a woman she finds intriguing, discovers that Lena Luthor has a pretty active following on Instagram one afternoon not long after their first meeting.)

The God Machine by robotboy (Marvel; Loki/Tony; Tony goes undercover to spy on Loki. It's a fucking disaster.)

April:

Debt by Storynerd (Marvel; Tony/Loki;  Tony Stark shouldn't find Loki fascinating, but he does, because all he’s ever wanted to do is take things apart to see how they work. Besides, he’s never been any good at following the rules.)

in stasis by ilgaksu (Voltron; Keith/Lance; The story starts like this: with a story where you think you know the end, until it turns out you don’t, until it turns out you didn’t have a clue.)

Yuri!!! in Space by Fahye (YOI; Yuuri/Victor;  "No, see, we've all been trained a certain way. The training system is traditional; it's centuries old. Nobody taught you. You ballist like it's got nothing to do with war at all." A sleepy, extraordinary smile crawls over Victor's face. "Nobody else does it like that. That's why we're going to win.")

hood & glove by Fahye (YOI; Yuri/Otabek;  "I don't mess with the fae," Otabek says.)

between the motion and the act by Fahye (Captive Prince; Damen/Laurent; "They don't want it to be real," Laurent says. He touches lightly, with his fingertips, where he's written LOVE WINS. "They want us to sell them a fantasy, and they want just enough reality that they can pretend it might happen to them, one day.")

May:

A Perfect Commotion by Ruby_Wednesday (Captive Prince; Damen/Laurent;  Laurent needs this job. Not in the I need to put food on the table and a roof over my head kind of way. He's got a generous inheritance, thank you very much. No, he needs this job to prove he is a functioning adult who did not waste his late mother's money on an expensive education. He can be normal, whatever that is.)

Don't Turn Me Home Again by gyzym (Hawaii Five-O; Danny/Steve;  After a rough day of island living, Danny wakes up in New Jersey and learns the hard way to be careful what he wishes for.)

What We Pretend We Can't See by gyzym (HP; Harry/Draco; Seven years out from the war, Harry learns the hard truth of old history: it’s never quite as far behind you as you thought.)

Favor for Your Four-Chambered Heart by @kaikamahine (SU; Jaspis; Never Let Me Go AU)**

With Fire in Their Eyes by Asuka Kureru (Askerian) (YoI; Yuuri/Viktor; He lands butterfly-light in a swirl of hair and glittering gauze, and the ceiling crashes to the rink all around him.)

An Unpredictable Amount of Turtles by skoosiepants (TW; Sterek;  Stiles says, “I have a five year plan. A five year plan to popularity that will tank the minute I meet this guy.”)

Bring a Towel by verity (SGA; Mcshep;  It was just Rodney's luck that the guy with the strongest expression of the ATA gene on Earth was some lanky alpha who couldn't follow an order as basic as "don't touch anything.")

Crypsis by zoemathemata (SGA; Mcshep; Rodney McKay is the pissiest Alpha John Sheppard has ever met. And that’s saying something.)

Zen and the Art of Jumper Maintenance by Indybaggins (SGA; Mcshep; The one where Rodney gets sucked in and John… follows. Featuring a quirky John, Rodney in orange robes, crazy Ancient-worship, sheep milking and jumpers that aren't broken but need to be fixed anyway.)

Out of West by rageprufrock (SGA; Mcshep;  In 1991, Desert Storm began, Pete Rose got banned from the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Soviet Union collapsed, and Rodney McKay was framed for academic fraud.)

A Slightly Different Quality of Light by rageprufrock (SGA; Mcshep;  John's very first memory, the one Rodney finds after he goes through six separate data terminals--all of which he has relocated to a roomy lab with lots of windows--is of the sky.)

Bell Curve, or, Ladies Night at the Boom Boom Room by rageprufrock (SGA; Mcshep;  In his rational mind, Rodney knew that following a girl who'd just dumped you into a strip club was really, really pathetic.)

Lock the Door by rageprufrock (SGA; Mcshep; "You can't possibly be this stupid," is what Rodney finally decides to start with.)

No Less Unthinkable by rageprufrock (Yuri On Ice; Yuuri/Viktor;  In which Katsuki Yuuri fights a losing battle with chronic anxiety, the quadruple Salchow, and his own judgment four drinks in — but wins the war.)

DELIGHTFUL FANVIDS

January:

Glitter & Gold (Voltron)

► Multifandom | Saturn

Yuri On Love

A Sadness Runs Through Him - a Gravity Falls PMV

win | multifandom (2015 mashup)

hero | multifandom (2016 mashup)

Multifandom | Goodbye 2016

take it slow | multifandom

ruins | The x-files

McShep - Run Baby Run

McShep - Can't Pretend

February:

Superhero; SGA, Mckay/Sheppard (mcshep) 

Burning Desire (Peter/Roman)

►Purple Lamborghini

►MAD HATTER

Multipsychos | I got blood on my hands

Dean Winchester | Born to be wild (8k)

multifandom || The Apotheosis of War (TYS) 

star wars || timelines

Captain America • Symphony of Violence

March:

N/A

April:

As Much As If You Were A God 

►MultiFandom | Believer

"Lenny"/David [Legion] || give it a twist

►MultiFandom | Stay

May:

Kylo Ren || believer

DELIGHTFUL MUSIC

January:

Fassine | Feather Jesus 

DJ Earworm Mashup - United State of Pop 2016 (Into Pieces)

What’s The Use In Feeling Blue - Steven Universe\

Caravan Palace - Lone Digger

Yoga Session 08 - Music for Meditation and Relaxation

Utopia (Jana Hunter Remix)

Not Afraid Anymore

Susanne Sundfør - (LidoLido Remix) The Brothel

Run Baby Run - The Rigs

February:

The Man Who Sold the World - Midge Ure (2010 Remaster) 

Donna Burke - Sins of the Father

Liz Phair - Got My Own Thing

Seinabo Sey - Pistols At Dawn

Laura Marling - Rambling Man

Willy Moon - Railroad Track

March:

Undiscovered First - Feist

Kubo Soundtrack

Matt Maeson - "Cringe"

Tribe Society - Kings

Elephante - Black Ivory

BISHOP - River

BISHOP - Wild Horses

Lisa Hannigan Oh You Pretty Things

Nina Simone - Feeling Good (Bassnectar Remix)

MIX - MAURICE RAVEL Bolero

Rag-n-Bone Man - Human

April:

The Judge - Twenty One Pilots

Horizon Zero Dawn - Complete Soundtrack (OST)

Believer - Imagine Dragons

Kygo, Selena Gomez - It Ain't Me

K.Flay - Blood In The Cut

Stargate - Waterfall ft. P!nk, Sia

Portugal. The Man - "Feel It Still"

Doc Robinson - Golden Daze

Iko, Iko - the Dixie Cups

Brian Reitzell feat. Mark Lanegan - “In The Pines”

May:

Feist - Century 

Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon - Rafferty

Evil Woman - Electric Light Orchestra

Guardians Inferno (feat. David Hasselhoff)

Moby - Memory Gospel

Above & Beyond - Good For Me

Jack Johnson - The Sharing Song

Lamb - Wise Enough

Otto Knows feat. Avicii - Back Where I Belong

Emmit Fenn - Painting Greys

Bon Iver - Holocene

Made In Heights - Murakami

DVBBS & Shaun Frank - La La Land

Totemo - Host

Years & Years - Worship

Klyne - Paralyzed

Embrace - Goldroom

MØ - Say You'll Be There

Zella Day - Sweet Ophelia

Every Other Freckle - Alt J

Angel Haze - Moonrise Kingdom

BANKS - Better

Marian Hill - Got It

Glass Animals - Holiest Feat. Tei-Shi 

WRITTEN FIC

January:

Piece From a Satyr Play (SW; Reylo; 141 words; Her hair is done up in white ribbons, three enormously lopsided buns trailing down the back of her neck.) 

Wasted Early Sunday Morning (SW; Reylo; 434 words;  Her skin is smoother than his, smoother than many of the people that he’s touched in his life, and he aches to touch it now, watching her stretch lazily in the early morning sunlight, spine arching like a cats.)

Cosmic Love (SGA; Mcshep; 786 words;  There’s solid matter under the palm of his hand, a beating pulse, and a heart to go with it. A living person that Rodney thought that they’d lost.)

can’t help but be wrong in the dark (The Flash; Barry/Julian; 2,942 words;  The day that Allen had snarled an insult back in response to one of Julian’s cutting remarks, he’d gone home and fisted his cock furiously, thinking about the slant of Allen’s mouth and how it would look smeared with come. How Allen’s hair would feel, knotted in Julian’s fingers as he fucked his mouth.

eat flowers, breathe light (SGA; Mcshep; 1585 words;  John gives Rodney a dreamy smile, swaying slightly towards him, and says, “You have really beautiful eyes, you know that?” )

February:

Bifurcation Theory (TW; Stiles/Derek/Lydia; 7208 words; Lydia sucks in another shaky breath, trying to think of a polite way to explain that she's sorry, that this was a mistake, and she didn’t mean to bother him. Just as she’s opening her mouth, Derek sighs gustily, the sound breaking apart with static in her ear. “What’s Stiles done now?” he asks, his tone resigned.

March:

Ain't At Home (Home's Where I'm Going) (Horizon Zero Dawn; Aloy/Vala, Aloy/Avad; 2 Chapters - WIP; 3420 words;  “Not all comforts are bad,” Vala whispers, and Aloy shudders apart.)

April:

Ain't At Home (Home's Where I'm Going) (Horizon Zero Dawn; Aloy/Nil; Aloy/Petra; 2 chapters - WIP; 1872 words;  She’s beautiful, deadly, her eyes gone sharp and flinty as she stares down each of her victims. Nil licks his lips, throat working when she turns to him afterwards, eyes soft again, now that the killing is done.)

love, can't protect you now (SGA; Mcshep; 1635 words;  “When they come,” Rodney tells him quietly, “I won’t kill you.”)

May:

Ain't At Home (Home's Where I'm Going) (Horizon Zero Dawn; Aloy/Erend; Final Chapter; 1539 words) 

Say You'll Be There (The Flash; Barry/Iris, Barry/Thawne; 1159 words;  Barry swallows, fingers tangling with hers, and says, “Storms make me think of him.”)

FANMIXES/GRAPHICS

January:

Keep Your Heart Inside: A mix for love, hazy and undefined, the kind that leaves you wanting.

February:

N/A

March:

you know the words: a mix for your inner weeaboo.

April:

Cotton Candy Skyline: music for picking at scabs.

May:

[kirbygal]

Top Media Favorites of 2017/2017 Reflection

I made a list last year of media things I liked, so I thought I try again this year. Besides, I find it’s nice to reflect on the media that I obsessed with over the years and think about the good times it gave me. Let’s start of with:

Trollhunters

I wasn’t sure about the show at first (especially with the first few episodes having tropes I’m not completely fond of), but I really grew to enjoy the world and its characters. There’s good pacing, fun character interactions, and some nice lore to think over. 

More links and personal reflection under the cut. 

Bojack Horseman (Season 4)

I’ve been meaning to share my love for this show, so this current season seems like a good way to express it. I found this season to be really powerful (fans of the show know which specific episode) and a good continuation with these characters. It was also nice having a confirmed asexual character for once. That said, I wonder what they’ll do with Diane and Mr. PB in the coming season. Until then, I’ll enjoy one of the rare happy endings.

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

My video game playing style is either “Don’t touch a game for 3 months” or “Play a singular game for a month straight.” BOTW happened to be that game I obsessed over. I’m currently replaying it to get the new DLC and I still find the game enjoyable even when I’m just wandering around the world. It removed my doubts for buying the Switch, and I highly recommend anyone who hasn’t got it yet to give it a shot. 

Brooklyn Nine Nine

Sometimes you just want a good comedy with good character interactions. B99 will serve that purpose. If you’re worried about what tropes the characters use in Season 1, don’t worry, I was worried too. The actors really develop the characters and their relationships as the season moves forward, and the jokes are usually spot on. Give it a watch if you haven’t!

There were plenty of other media things I got into (Stardew Valley, RWBY, a bunch of AMVs), but that list should do for now. Now on to the personal reflection most people don’t care about. 

2017 Reflection:

On one hand, I did do a bunch this year (finally own my own house, looking into new positions in the future, saw my friends in New York, went to Mackinac Island for a relaxing vacation). On the other hand, I’m kind of ending this year with a bit of depression. Let’s look over the resolutions I did last year:

Get healthier? I think I did pretty good. I’m eating fruit most days, I’m currently going to the gym at least once a week, and I’m looking at other forms of exercise.  2018 Goal: Try to give up desserts for five days of the month/look into adult ballet classes/go to the gym 2-3 times a week. 

Draw more? This goal took a nose dive. I started off strong with a few “This week I watched...” but then I fell behind and had no energy to draw this year.  2018 Goal: Get back into drawing regularly, online or not (Ref draw, work on comics, etc.)

Do more AMVs? This goal was 50/50. I ended up making 2.5 (The 0.5 being a remastered AMV I made a few years ago) AMVs this year which matched last year’s number. However, I did AWA this year and had a great time with the other contestants.  2018 Goal: Keep making AMVs/join more contests/see more conventions.

Donate more/be more politically active? I was weak on the politically active part, but I managed to donate at least once a month to multiple charities.  2018 Goal: Continue donating at least once a month. 

Other Random 2018 Goals: Get back into reading, finish my one-shot story, possibly see someone to help with my anxiety. 

While I may not be in the best mood for the end of the year, I realize I had some accomplishments and hopefully that’ll transfer into the new year. Happy New Year everyone!