#i need a new ffxv tag for like

[marmolita]

I've been transferring my old FFXV playlists to my current music app and I've been listening to them, and I'm having a really hard time remembering why I put Christina Aguilera "Genie in a Bottle" on my Noctis playlist 😂

something about royal virginity maybe???

[cinnabeat]

watching people speculate abt the ending of kh3 from when it came out and talking about the significance of yozora and the verum rex trailer and theyre fumbling through ffxv knowledge and its physically hurting me how much theyre getting wrong

[sageteapost]

| Chocobros Dating Drabbles |

[ Noctis Lucis Caelum, Ignis Scientia, Prompto Argentum, Gladiolus Amicitia x GN! Reader ]

TW & CW + Tags: None. No major spoilers mentioned. [All separate pairings. All established relationships. GN! reader.]

Summary: Quick little dating drabbles with each of the chocobros, just overall cuteness and fluff.

[(A/N): Hey hey!! My first FFXV piece. Not requested, but I REALLY wanted to make these since I've started playing recently. No major spoilers please!! I'd appreciate it a lot. As always, enjoy!]

Noctis:

Noctis loves, and I mean LOVES sleeping. Or napping. He feels at peace in this state and he can rest from the chaos of the world, even for a bit.

With you in his life, expect to be pulled into multiple cuddle sessions with him. On the couch, in a bed, or even in the Regalia. Doesn't matter. If he's going to bed, he's dragging your ass to sleep. And he's not afraid to pout and whine a bit if you refuse.

He's usually the bigger spoon, but he doesn't mind being the little spoon as well. Or any position really. As long as he senses your presence, he'll sleep like a baby.

To Noctis, these are special and soft moments to him. The feeling of your bodies close to one another feels so intimate, yet so sweet. He feels safe and it relaxes his mind to know that you're in his arms. Safe and sound.

Ignis:

Oh Iggy. First off, if you ever ask if you could accompany him by helping in the kitchen, he'd happily agree. How could he not. Don't know how to cook? Don't worry! He'll teach you every you'll need to know.

He appreciates hearing constructive criticism or ideas for a new recipe. Not only does he find it helpful, but it also lets him know that you care about him and his interests.

Something Ignis has grown to love over the course of your relationship; is simply spending quiet time together. Reading books quietly, or you resting your head on his lap while he reads a story out loud to you.

You make him feel at ease. Although it doesn't look like it, being on the road makes him tired. And if he can at least get some quiet, alone time with you, Ignis is a happy man.

Gladio:

Look at this giant and lovable golden retriever. Gladio can be and looks like a tough guy, but he's a softie and a romantic at heart.

Always teasing you. Lightheartedly. He loves seeing you flustered and that man is not afraid to make you do so. But he's also the king of giving you compliments that'll make you swoon.

Gladio would watch Disney movies with you if you asked him to do so. He at first denies that he likes them (secretly loves Beauty and the Beast) but eventually he breaks and will start singing along to the songs.

No matter what, he'll protect you always. He may be the King's Shield, but when it comes to you, he'll keep you safe from any and all danger. Even if it costs him his life.

Prompto:

Aww, the little chocobean. Prompto is literally like a ball of sunshine. He strives to make you smile and laugh, even if he uses bad corny jokes to do so.

Will ask—no, beg you to come to see the chocobos with him. Race with them, feed them, and definitely take a couple of pictures together while you're there.

Speaking of taking pictures, if you let him, Prompto always take snapshots of you whenever he finds the perfect spot to do so. One time in Lestallum, he snuck a quick kiss to your cheek and caught your surprised expression on camera. Needless to say, it's his favorite shot of you.

At the end of the day, he loves you dearly. You bring him so much happiness into his life and give him another reason to keep going. The only thing he could ever ask is this; don't break his heart and leave him behind.

[aer1ths]

FFXV Fic Recommendations

Hello! I thought I’d share some of my favorite fics from my most favorite game. Will update with more when I read more. Thank you!

Set Thy Hidden Stars On Fire by MYuzuki (16k words)

This time, when Prompto wakes up to start a new loop, it’s raining.

Normally, this wouldn’t be a cause for concern (or even a blip on his radar, really) but this time he wakes up outside for some reason, which means he’s in the rain.

And as his luck would have it, it’s something of a downpour.

-

If you love Prompto, you’ll love this fic. It’s relatively short, but managed to have me still think about it nearly a year after reading. MYuzuki is a great author!

Salvation by cassisluna (11k words)

Nyx Ulric lives and accompanies Lunafreya across Lucis to wake the six. Written for the 2021 FFXV Reverse Bang.

As she travels to wake Titan and Ramuh, Luna is grateful for the time given to her to see the land of Lucis with her own eyes and feet.

Nyx promised the King that he would see Princess Lunafreya to Altissia, and it seems easy enough—until he learns the Oracle's price for forging the covenants. After that, it's just a matter of... maybe going off-route for a while to let the princess sight-see for a bit.

-

I love anything that expands upon Lunafreya’s character or Kingsglaive. This fic did not disappoint with that at all.

Worth The Risk by Asidian (6k words)

It's captivating. Prompto's probably going to have thirty-eight photos of it for them to relive the experience, in vivid detail, later on.

But Prompto's not taking pictures anymore, Noct realizes. The camera's stopped.

And when Noctis looks over to see what the matter is, Prompto's just staring through the view-finder, head angled up. He's gone absolutely sheet-white – looks like he might pass out. He says, "Noct," very softly, like it's a plea.

Then the world explodes, and something slams into Noctis with the force of a subway train, and everything goes dark.

-

I adore Asidian’s writing, especially for Prompto. This, and any of their other fics you should absolutely check out!

Honor Bound by The_Asset6 (125k words)

It’s still hard for Ignis, Gladio, and Prompto to believe that Noctis has been gone for a year. However, when an old ally appears to tell them that what is gone might not be lost after all, that spark of hope they kept alive during their ten years apart is rekindled. Their only question: what will they have to sacrifice this time in order to bring their brother back alive?

-

This fic focuses more on the bros rather than Noctis himself, and it was really nice to see from their POV how far they’d go to get Noct back. A longer read but didn’t drag, great fic!

Somnus Ultima by The_Asset6 (349k words)

King Regis and Queen Aulea’s desire for a child has finally been fulfilled, as well as their kingdom’s need for an heir to the throne. However, when a dark mage with a vendetta against Lucis blesses the young prince with a deadly curse, they realize that no sacrifice is too much when it comes to someone you love.

But too much, it turns out, is never enough.

-

A sleeping beauty AU! I won’t lie, this one is long, but it’s so worth it. I don’t typically like AU fics, preferring canon-compliant work, but I gave this one a chance and didn’t regret it. The author made great use of the characters and created a lengthy but not hard to read story that was very enjoyable.

Reliance, Resolve by Gnine (13k words)

"Where are you?"

Noct. Voice controlled, each word precise and even. In other words, pissed off to the point of seething. Prompto had obviously screwed up. Again. Seemed about all he was capable of doing lately when it came to Noct—and just about everything else.

-------

Prompto's self-reliant streak kicks into overdrive, sending his life into a tailspin.

-

A nice pre-game fic centered around Prompto, giving some insight to his and Noct’s relationship. Author tagged as pre-slash.

[amidst-wonderland]

final fantasy: rebirth {a mess of emotions, not in chronological order}

this is more story-based, so heads-up spoilers below.

“question. does that make me a dumbass?”

not aerith asking about reno

chadley nearly outing cissnei and cloud getting real confrontational about it.

cloud is so much more conversational in this, i felt in remake he was bordering on joker level’s of player-character. he’s a lot more laidback, which is understandable since he didn’t really know anyone but tifa and midgar’s only like what a week long?

the game now feels like an ensemble piece rather an a cloud simulator.

cloud not realising he’s the one loner friend

americans aren’t the best swearers - put to much emphasis on the swear itself but cloud does it so well.

he’s a prickly, backchatting bitch in this game and i love every single second of it. he’s not mopey, stubborn and grumpy. he’s ‘i’m going to actively make myself your problem if you cross me, so don’t.’

barret immitating yuffie?! or, “oh, wow. tell us more.” it’s giving abridged.

yuffie’s little naruto run!

yuffie and cloud’s growing sibling dynamic is the cutest shit. like, he should be be pissed at her but immediately protected her from the captain.

all i hear is priscilla’s dad’s irish accent from abridged when ever someone says her name or, “mr dolphin, ye daft bastard.”

rufus shinra… the man that you are.

every rude and elena scene, just, yes. her with the ice-lolly, the corneo fight, rude’s pub club?! babysitting palmer. (also, they call it the clean-shaven club when rude literally has a beard).

i genuinely thought we were gonna at least get that iconic reno and rude scene outside of gongaga (and as a long-shot a reunion with cissnei - i stand by the fact tseng absolutely knows where she is.)

that final turks training facility was a bitch to find.

don’t get me wrong, yuffie, barret, tifa and red’s trials were sad but aerith’s absolutely wrecked me. like i’ve got a stuffy nose already and i literally couldn’t breathe with the tears.

same with dyne and barret, like what you mean you want me to fight palmer?! i’m sitting here ugly crying about two men who love their daughter and have been through hell and back.

i’d love to see cissnei and leslie get involved with the wutai turk team-up

as much as i love aerti’s ‘improved over og’ friendship. it’s not passing the bechdel test anytime soon.

fuck queen’s blood.

cloud saying “down boy” sir- THE WHIMPERING!

the kids locking yuffie in with the hooded men on the cruise.

nanaki walking in the cabin on two legs fucking kills me. i also caught barret admiring himself in the mirror.

the fact the name tag is, “???” when we can hear yuffie cheering on cloti.

did they kiss?!

so, we finally see loveless and it was everything i ever wanted. genesis, i’m sorry, you were right.

“death doesn’t suit a turk”

cloud jr is too cute and i love my chocobro protagonists

speaking of, i’m in two heads about ffxv. you can see a lot of the inspiration the team got from that game but i think they left out the one thing that made ffxv perfect, which was the constant chatter during traversal

cloud turning on tifa during the gongaga reactor mission is giving the ffxv: omen trailer

i need a tonberry robot for my desk

jessie’s poster! i really thought she’d be alive with biggs

cloud calling gus a prick is when it clicked for me, like cloud’s got bite

i need esther’s red boots

cid is played by j. michael tatum?! sebastian- france- kyouya-

elena stuck in the heat yelling at rude, omg this is the turk moments i love.

as someone who is scottish, i can’t believe i witnessed cait sith tell cissnei to “wheesht”.

not the biggest fan of cissnei’s new colour scheme. would’ve gone with browns, accented gold buckles and mustard yellow personally

wished they’d’ve put in an turk easter egg in her house.

cosmo canyon’s lantern scene is so pretty.

gold-fucking-saucer. woah

sitting at the water tower with aerith felt wrong, and i know that was intentional.

omfg vincent, why he kinda dressed like gyuvin in en garde?

jesus, roche.

still not keen on seph’s voice - mainly because i don’t like tyler and also zack is better but i’m still not keen

symbiote!peter to “OMG GUYSSS HAIIII” is like fucking whiplash. two minutes ago we were crying over harry, now hotels?!

i knew that’s what marlene saw! and now zack knows! i am not okay!

was low-key waiting on elena throwing the keystone to reno to catch for a grand intro but he kinda just appears, and i loved every second of it.

the way both tifa and aerith have had to stop cloud murdering a turk.

cloud with blood by his own hand on his face is such a chilling image. it’s like seeing someone like superman with it.

avalanche versus reno and rude’s fight was giving advent children, like specifically reno and rude’s fight with loz and kazoo. (which i rewatched recently. rude’s face when reno steps on his glasses is the funniest thing in that film, also i can’t unhear fred from scooby-doo when loz speaks even though i know it’s not frank welker - it’s the dude that plays corneo).

[armajestyy]

tagged by @zanarkandfayth! c:

three ships I like: IgNoct (FFXV), EreMin (AOT), BKDK (MHA)

first ship ever: This is like super hard because I definitely shipped things as a child that I don't remember. My first anime ship was actually Gray x Natsu from Fairy Tail lmao so we'll go with that.

last song you heard: Monster from Epic The Musical oop

favourite childhood book: One of the Warrior cat series books! I couldn't tell you which one but that series was literally the only thing I read as a child.

currently reading: Rn I'm actually reading The Odyssey and PJO: The Last Olympian (if you couldn't tell I am a really big Greek Myth / Ancient Greek nerd... I have taken like 3 classes related to Greek history / mythology at my Uni oops)

currently watching: I tend to start like 10 shows and finish none of them but I am currently rewatching Invincible, I need to finish the new season of Vox Machina, and then I want to watch Arcane asap!!

currently consuming: a cucumber and a ham sandwich

currently craving: tbh right not I really want candy lol

tag nine people: (I want to tag people but Fayth you are my only mutual who I interact with cause I don't use this acct much lol but thank you for tagging me!!)

[starjunco]

Writing Meme: First Line Patterns

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 (or however many you have) posted fics and see if there's a pattern!

Giving it a try after seeing @garbria's.

The three of them had opened the bookstore only six months prior. (The Magic in Chaos, Nyx POV, FFXV, Gen)

“There’s a new prospect, my lady.” (Luminous Core, Luna & Nyx POV, FFXV, Gen)

“This is why materia are illegal.” (Quod Solus Familia Novit, Tredd POV, FFXV, Gen)

Selena opened the window to let the light and sea breeze in. (Diplomacy through Education, Selena POV, FFXV, Gen)

And then everyone died. (Dies in Vita, Luna POV, FFXV, Lunyx)

Nyx shimmied up the exceptionally dirty vent and grumbled, letting Pelna know in no uncertain terms just how much he owed him. (Run, Kitty, Run!, Nyx POV, FFXV, Cor/Nyx)

“Welcome to Cavaugh. You are Nyx Ulric?” (Immortal Sins, Nyx POV, FFXV, Gen)

Cor didn’t stare. (Everyone Has Their Heroes, Cor POV, FFXV, Gen)

Thrash -- Sprint -- Clamor -- Thump (Late Night Romp, Cor & Nyx POV, FFXV, Cor/Nyx)

“You hesitated again.” (What Was Lost, Nyx POV, FFXV, Gen)

When you go back through your fic and find a typo in a title. OMG. Well fixed now.

Also...I forgot several of these existed. I mean completely forgot. Really need to get writing again. And rereading.

Anyway, I like to start with some kind of hook that tries to make people want to know what's going on. Often that's dialog.

The only ones here that were exceptions to that were the latest one...and the one that had the typo -- DipLomacy through Education. Both had more explanation up front.

I'd tag people but Garbria already beat me to everyone I can think of XD So uh...ditto?

[savage-rhi]

Summer Reading/Writing/Arting Tag!

I was tagged by @blossom-adventures and a few others. I apologize it took so damn long, and thank you for inviting me to play 💙

Not gonna tag anyone, but if you want to hop on board and have me read what you write, feel free to tag me back! (mentally I’m here ⬇️)

1) Describe one creative WIP project you’re planning to work on over the summer. Just one! 

Yeah, that’s a hard pass. I’m going to share more than one! Gonna preface by saying my summer writing schedule is riding on what my new job entails. I won’t have 3 day weekends anymore, but I’ll be working less hours during the day. It’s with hope that I’ll have a better work/life balance going forward. 

I’m working on a Reader x Ardyn fic, and plotting a new Death Stranding fic. I’m hoping this summer too I’ll be able to complete The Sacrifice (Karl Heisenberg x OC/Sonja Ainsley). I have gotten so much done on all of these, but I’m not confident right now sharing them because I’m healing from work burn out and a whole host of other shit. 

2) Recommend a book. 

Yeah, again I’m going to have be a rebel and give you a couple because that’s how I roll ;D 

Heir & Vampire Magic by P.K. Reeves (also a lovely tumblr friend) 

Reincarnation Blues: A Novel by Michael Poore 

Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton 

Also throwing my own poetry book in here for giggles 

3) Recommend a fic! 

No one can stop the rebellion...

@seradyn has some lovely Ardyn/FFXV work that I recommend even if you’re not into bastard men. She has a wonderful way of writing characters. Same goes for @hauntedadagium

@pandora-writes-stuff​ & @astrandofgold​ have some great Death Stranding material (especially if you like Higgs)

@woundedheartwithin​ @blossom-adventures​ @vodkafolie​ also have some great work worth checking out. 

4) Recommend music! 

Tina Turner--RIP Queen. She was a beautiful soul and her music is powerful. 

Raining in Kyoto (Lofi Hip-Hop)--Comes with a cute froggo 

The XX--I’ve loved these guys since my early days of college. Good beats and some powerful lyrics. 

5) Share one piece of advice! 

Rest. Rest. REST. 

If you’re dealing with burnout, don’t find joy in your creative endeavors, don’t feel like people appreciate you, have a creator block, that’s a sign you need to dial it back and take a break. If you can have a few days to a week off not doing anything, do that. Seriously. Don’t. Do. Anything. 

It’s okay to not be productive all the time. We are not machines, not everyone wants to be a content creator or be categorized as such, and you don’t owe anyone jack shit (ngl it’s nice to create things for people and have feedback as being your motivator but don’t make this your only source of joy when you make something. If you absolutely need an audience, get 1-3 friends who are consistently supportive of you to be beta readers, give critique, or be hype men). 

I’m guilty of not following my own advice here, but seriously, go the fuck to sleep my beautiful deprived lovely darlings. 

[ohchosen]

GET TO KNOW THE WRITER - VAL EDITION !

what  made  you  pick  up  the  current  muse(s)  you  have?   i  first  played  ffxv  back  in  the  fall  of  2017  and  fell  head  over  heels  in  love  with  the  game.  to  this  day  i  don’t  think  there’s  ever  been  a  cast  of  characters  that’s  had  such  a  lasting  impact  on  me  as  the  boys  have,  and  at  this  point  ever  will.  i  actually  first  started  off  writing  prompto,  sometime  in  early  2018  and  shortly  thereafter  kind  of  fizzled  out  of  that  because  i  was  new  and  super  shy  and  didn’t  really  know  anyone  in  the  community.  i  was  around  18/19  then  and  actually  took  a  break  from  tumblr  for  a  little  while,  but  always  kept  in  touch  with  the  xv  community  on  twitter/instagram  so  the  love  i  had  never  went  away.  fast  forward  to  2020  and  after  replaying  the  game  i  decided  to  pick  up  noctis  who  at  that  point  had  been  my  end  all  comfort  character  for  a  few  years.  he very quickly became my little pincushion and then unintentionally a processing tool i used to process a lot of issues in my own life. i notice  a  lot  of  nuance  in  my  old  notes  and  ramblings  that  100%  reflect  my  struggles  at that  time and its like huh! wow! didnt know it did that. regardless, noctis is the muse i hold most dearly to my heart and someone i will love for the rest of my life. < he 3

is  there  anything  you  don’t  like  to  write?  ive  seen  it  all  brother.  i  can  be  convinced  with  one  skimmed  over  ao3  tag  and  then  some.  regardless,  i  don’t  have  any  hard  no’s  that  aren’t  the  incredibly  obvious,  and  i  think  rp  is  a  great  way  to  develop  and  analyze  your  likes  and  dislikes  in  a  safe  environment.  it’s  okay  to  be  into  something  in  one  thread  and  then  change  your  mind  later,  that’s  something  i  had  to  learn  the  long  way  but  i'm  better  off  for  it!

is  there  anything  you  really  enjoy  writing?  i  really  love  angst.  not  sure  what  happened  developmentally  to  get  here  but  we’re  here.  i  think  that  shows  a  lot  in  my  preferred  range  of  media  i  write  in  (or  just  consume  casually,)  there’s  just  a  certain….  je  ne  sai  quoi  🤌  in  writing  your  character  going  through  the  absolute  extremes  of  the  human  experience.  besides  that,  i  really  go  crazy  with  character  analysis/general  meta.  i  love  to  deep  dive  into  mundane  (or  otherwise)  aspects  of  a  character  and  build  up  traits  to  fully  flesh  out  a  muse. 

do  you  write  in  silence  or  do  you  play  music?  i  need  complete  silence  or  i  will  literally  never  finish  a  sentence.  i  am  way  too  scatterbrained  to  focus  on  two  things  at  once  and  need  to  lock  the  fuck  in  when  i’m  writing  a  reply. 

do  you  plan  your  replies  or  wing  them?  who  do  i  look  like  shakespeare.  i’ve  never  planned  out  a  thing  in  my  life  im  consistently  operating  strictly  off  vibes. 

do  you  enjoy  shipping?  im  a  dirty  little  shipping  whore. shipping is god's gift to the planet what else would i do if not daydream about my two little guys passionately kissing in a field of wheat.

what’s  your  alias/name?  val  :3  my  psn  tag  is  a  variant  of  valkyrie,  and  after  i  was  tired  of  my  old  alias  i  looked  there  for  inspiration.  say  thank  you  god  of  war  (2018)  for  shooting  me  into  another  norse  mythology  frenzy,  feels  just  like  middle  school. 

age  &  birthday?  my  golden  birthday  is  this  july  (25th)!!!  ((mild  existential  dread))

favorite  color?   green,  brown,  black  and  purple❗️

favorite  song?  recently  rediscovered  since  u  been  gone  by  kelly  clarkson.  having  daily  religious  experiences  for  it. 

last  movie  you  watched?  lord  i  have  no  idea.  i  don’t  watch  too  many  movies  and  the  last  one  i  can  place  is  catching  the  second  half  of  47  meters  down  when  i  was  having  dinner  with  my  dad  a  few  weeks  ago.  yay  sharks.  and  mandy  moore!!!!

last  show  you  watched?  i  love  a  good  netflix  documentary  and  i  just  finished  one  called  the  program:  cons,  cults  and  kidnapping,  which  was  about  exposing  the  troubled  teen  industry.  it’s  a  super  interesting  watch  but  deals  with  quite  a  few  heavy  topics  so  if  you’re  interested  please  heed  caution!   i  also  just  started  american  nightmare,  but  im  only  about  30-ish  minutes  into  the  first  episode….  gotta  lock  in. 

last  song  you  listened  to?  according  to  spotify  it  was  safari  song  by  greta  van  fleet  but  according  to  the  fortnite  festival  session  i  just  had  it  was  carry  on  my  wayward  son  by  kansas.  literal  war  flashbacks. 

favourite  food?   dude  there’s  this  fucking  sandwich  place  by  my  house  and  they  literally  make  the  best  chicken  sandwich  i’ve  ever  had.  imagine  grilled  chicken  on  a  brioche  bun  w  cheddar,  bacon,  a  corn  salsa  and  slathered  in  chili  aioli.  walk  with  me.  it  sounds  wack  but  it’s  SO  GOOD.  i  dream  about  her…

favorite  season?  i  love  winter  i  love  being  cold  and  tucked  into  my  electric  blanket  listening  to  the  rain  outside.  all  of  you  summertime  elitists  need  to  get  off  my  lawn. 

do  you  have  a  tumblr  best  friend?   i  have  my  gaggle  of  tumblr  friends  turned  irl  friends  in  my  pockets  at  all  time  and  i  wouldn’t  trade  any  of  them  for  the  world.  i  met  one  of  my  oldest  friends  in  ye  olde  supernatural  rp  back  in  2013?  and  over  ten  years  later  WE’RE  STILL  FUCKING  HERE.  so  many  of  the  most  important  people  in  my  life  i’ve  met  through  tumblr and the amount of shit we've seen through the rpc's we've been in has bonded us all for eternity lmfao.

tagged by: @13nth thank u tea my love :* tagging: my homies @sherez @tactition @liegacy + anyone who's interested :3

[turbles]

(I posted this on twitter back in early March but since that platform is going down the tubes rn I'm reposting here as well for archival purposes)

Some background here. 6 years ago I took up reading fanfic as a hobby. Very quickly I realized I'd need a way to mark which fics I'd already read or tried to read and dropped, so I wouldn't keep running across the same ones over and over and forgetting I'd already read them. So I started bookmarking EVERYTHING regardless of my actual opinion on it (I'll come back to this)

Anyway eventually I realized that, via the filtering options AO3 provides for your bookmarks, I had a pretty good way to collect pointless data about my reading habits and make some really pointless graphs. So when I reached exactly 2000 bookmarks I decided to do that. as a reward to myself.

data for the original 2000 was collected from whenever I started doing this, through March 6th 2023

Caveat: obviously the possibility of human error in this data is significant. I was never consistent on whether I should bookmark all individual fics in a series or just the series itself if I read the whole thing, for instance, and I've surely forgotten to bookmark plenty of things I did read over the years. this is just for fun though so I'm not sweating it.

thank god for how detailed ao3's tag system is tbh

Anyway here's a pie of all fandoms (with over 50 bookmarks):

For some temporal context of the above, I fucking counted every bookmark from the top 9 categories there and arrayed them by month-bookmarked so I could make this chart of growth rates:

Genshin impact will of course continue to grow because the game continually releases new stuff and characters. Numbers spiked in October coinciding with sumeru's release. we'll see if another spike happens once fontaine releases in a few weeks from now. interestingly to me, I started been playing genshin like 6 months before I started participating in the fandom because it took me that long to get accustomed to the uh.. genshin-ness of the characters and the story, enough to start making inroads towards actually caring about the characters.

looks like FE3H grew the fastest, but it will eventually plateau like yoi, dragon age, and ffxv before it. Still kinda going strong though,since there's just lots of people writing for this fandom, and helped by the fact that it has a really large cast.

This next chart will take a little background info. So to indicate to myself something about the quality of the fic, when bookmarking I would choose to "Rec" it or not. As I said previously, I am literally bookmarking everything I read whether I loved it or hated it or it caused me pain or whatever. My criteria for whether I Rec a fic or not has never been set in stone, but THE IDEA is that recced fics were ones I overall quite liked, felt were well written and would be willing to go back & reread or had something else that made them stand out from the crowd. A recced fic isn't necessarily one I would literally recommend to people to read, and non-recced could mean anything from it was good but had one part that bothered me, to I had just read a bunch of that author's other works and this one was weaker than their others, to it was horrendous and ruined my whole day, to it was just kinda boring.

HOWEVER I did add my own more curated tag, Greatest Hits, for the ones that I really loved, that stuck with me after reading it, that I regularly desire to go back and revisit. While I rarely ever adjust my recs, I have often added (even sometimes removed) the Greatest Hits tag from fics years after first reading them.

Anyway that means this chart could be said to express in a really general way my opinion on the general quality of the writing in a given fandom:

I found it interesting that AA has such a high proportion of recs. I think its overall lower number of total bookmarks works in its favor here, as I tend to dip toes into a new fandom by first looking at top-kudosed fics and then when I find authors I like, trawling their bookmarks for more and branching out that way. So I tend to find pretty good fics earlier in the process. the longer I'm looking through a more stagnated fandom, the less good fics I find, is I guess the logic here. So in the case of AA, I suppose I didn't get much deeper than skimming the cream of the crop before I moved on?

Comparing genshin and fe3h vs. dragon age and ffxv, which all have more similar total bookmarks, was interesting too, to explain why genshin/fe3h's ratio of recs is higher. Both genshin and fe3h have really large casts, and therefore lots of different characters and pairings to read about, so it's almost like each pairing is kind of its own pool of fics that I'm skimming the best ones out of. with DA and FFXV there's really only a couple ships I'm interested in, and their ratios are similar accordingly

because we all know. that the main draw for fanfic tends to be shipping. so here's the top 10 most bookmarked ships pie:

and because genshin and fe3h are sizable enough to warrant a further breakdown of ships for that fandom alone, here's some pies for that:

it makes me laugh that dimiclaude is statistically significant when really I was just trying it out and ultimately decided I really don't even care for that ship

And a growth rate chart for genshin impact ships specifically:

so funny story, as I was playing through the liyue story chapter I was NOT a fan of childe at all, in fact I passed up two of his reruns before reading on the wiki (almost immediately after his 2nd rerun ended) a key piece of his backstory that all of a sudden caused his whole characterization to fall perfectly into place in my mind and he shot up the list to being my top fav character in the game literally over the course of like ten minutes. and yeah that was november 2021 and as you can see that's when I started really reading genshin fics LOL

forecasts have haikaveh and cynonari continuing to trend up for a little while, though the next region and thus a whole new cast releases soon and could stymie those trends. zhongchi is a staple genshin ship and imo a bit more flexible content- and dynamic-wise than many of the other pairings here, so I predict it maintains a regular gentle incline even in the face of shinier newer pairings.

The less stacked roster fandoms don't have as interesting breakdowns, but here they are just for curiosity:

and yeah that's all I made at the time! I only thought of it after but I'll be recording data on Ratings from now on as well. I'd also considered looking at things like average word count on recs or greatest hits fics, but absent of even more highly specific filtering tools that would probably fall under diminishing returns. maybe someday.

This was dumb but very engrossing and fun to make and I learned how to use google sheets out of it so we'll see if that ever comes in useful in my life

[altschmerzes]

First Sentences Game!

tagged by @disappearinginq (thank youuuu!!!)

Rules: share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tag ten people. If you have written less than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway.

putting the rest of this under a cut so it’s not a huge long post! decided to take a leaf out of disappearinginq’s book and use only WIPs that haven’t been posted yet so >:) enjoy. we got 4 ted lasso fics, 2 9-1-1 fics, 2 locked tomb fics, 1 now you see me fic, 1 flashpoint fic, and 1 ffxv fic. yes that adds up to 11. it’s a surprise.

i have included the opening...... Couple Of Paragraphs. Or for these lmao because as always with me, i cannot help it and it is longer than intended.

tagging some folks up front no pressure but if you want an excuse to share your stories or brag on yourself this is your cue. i dont think it matters if it’s posted fics or wips - @heavensenthale @appalachianapologies @bold-and-nosy @nativestarwrites @impossiblepluto @roguelibrarian (and anyone compelled to do this who can go ahead and take this as a sign to say i tagged you and Do It)

1. Love Stuck - ted lasso

the aromantic jamie tartt fic. jamie realizes he’s aro, and this becomes a study of his and keeley’s post-breakup friendship and how aromanticism can open doors and allow for more freedom and personal choice in relationships for non-aro people too.

The only warning that Keeley gets before Jamie shows up at her house is a text message that she knows he sent by voice-to-text because of its use of capital letters and the complete lack of emojis. It announces his imminent arrival and apologizes for the lack of warning, explaining that he forgot to do that until he was almost there, all in one long, run-on sentence without punctuation. She has just enough time to grab a cardigan, because she’d been getting kind of chilly anyway, and pause the episode of Sex and the City she had been watching before he’s ringing the doorbell.

When Keeley opens the door, Jamie bypasses any kind of perhaps typically-expected greeting. While this isn’t exactly unusual for him, what he says is.

“I’ve got great news,” he tells her, smiling like he really does have great news, which helps to somewhat offset the sense of foreboding she’d been starting to feel. “I am not in love with you. Can I come in?”

2. Wriggle Up On Dry Land - ted lasso

au where everything is pretty much the same except for the part where jamie is the fifteen year old groundskeeper’s assistant who works part-time at nelson road. proceeds approximately through the timelines/events of seasons 1 and 2 (and maybe 3 depending on how that goes).

At this point, Ted has been in England for less than forty-eight hours, he’s slept for somehow both too many and not enough of those hours, and people keep saying things to him that are ostensibly in English but have no coherent meaning he can wring from his exhausted, jet lagged brain. This, he thinks, is a reasonable explanation for why it takes him several moments to process what he’s seeing when he reaches the coaching office.

One hand loosely gripping the strap of his backpack, the other holding out his keys in preparation to unlock the office, Ted stands there for a long time and blinks. The office does not need unlocking, it turns out, because the door is already open. The door is already open, and there’s what appears to be a kid crouching next to it, doing… something to the lowest hinge with a screwdriver. The boy glances up when Ted approaches, but makes no direct acknowledgement of him and goes immediately back to whatever he’s doing with the tool.

Now. On the one hand, this is a teenager Ted has never seen before and he is messing with the door of the head coaching office. That feels like bad news. On the other hand, he is wearing a grey zippered jacket with the Richmond logo on one lapel and STAFF embroidered underneath it in cursive. That, and his non-reaction to Ted catching him mid-potential-mischief, seems to indicate maybe this whole situation is above board after all.

“Uh,” Ted says after the silent pause has gone on long enough that he officially feels like he’s being rude. “Good morning?”

3. the bus curse 5+1 - ted lasso

Five Times The Curse Of The AFC Richmond Away Game Post-Game Bus Ride Home (Mostly Referred To Simply As 'The Bus Curse' For Conservation Of Time) Ruined The Night And One Time It Tried To But Couldn’t. tl;dr bus is haunted (roy voice It Is Not) (for fun and profit the chapter titles for this are ‘twitter’ ‘illness’ ‘the heavy existential burden of captaincy’ ‘nightmare’ ‘injury’ and ‘double birthday’)

The most important thing to understand about The Curse Of The AFC Richmond Away Game Post-Game Bus Ride Home (mostly referred to as ‘the bus curse’ for conservation of time) is that it doesn’t fucking exist.

Roy is fully ready and willing to die on this hill and go to his grave still swearing up and down that the ‘curse’ is superstitious bullshit, just like the one on the training room. Sure, he’s experienced two flat tires and a radiator overheating on the way home with Richmond, which never happened with any previous team, but that’s probably because management always hired the cheapest charter possible. Sure, the driver once stopped off for petrol and simply never came back from inside the station, but that’s because the bloke apparently had some kind of epiphany and decided to radically change his life, not because of the bus itself. Sure, there have been some dozen-odd other assortment of events ranging from inconveniences to calamities that have disrupted specifically the return bus journey from away matches, but there are explanations for all of them, none of which involve any kind of curse.

4. Never Been In Love - 9-1-1

the aromantic evan buckley fic. buck has a very rocky time coming to terms with being aro, and then telling everyone about it. ft internalized arophobia, romance repulsion, found family, the power of queer friendship, and the way the episode with red the retired firefighter was the perfect set-up for an aro character realization but of course they’d never go there.

The thing about dates is that, theoretically, at some point they are supposed to go well. And it’s not like Buck’s never been on dates that he has fun on. He has! A lot of them, actually! He’s a people person, he always has been, he likes spending time around others and spending time one-on-one is extra nice - it feels nice to bask in the attention and to focus his attention solely on someone else for a while. However, there always comes a point where the woman Buck is out with starts blatantly flirting and he knows he needs to flirt back, or he just… remembers that he’s out on a date and not just hanging out with a cool person he wants to get to know better, and it all goes sour.

The end of it is, even when Buck’s dates go well, they don’t. The mere fact that they’re dates is enough to thoroughly ruin the experience, either in the moment or in hindsight, particularly once there’s an expectation that there are going to be more dates and, at some point, a relationship. And that… Buck really just doesn’t know what to do with that.

5. One-Way Mirror - now you see me

oneshot set between movies 1 and 2 that gets at explaining some of the shifts in character dynamics and digs into what it would be like for dylan to mesh with the team when they were already a team and he was on the outside. lot of focus on what happened to create such a faith in him from jack specifically.

The nice thing about setting yourself up to look like the lawman who got duped by a team of criminals just a little too smart for him is that, when you announce your intention to take a sabbatical, nobody really asks too many questions. Dylan must have played his role effectively, because not an eyelid is bat when the Agent who got too invested in fugitives that ultimately eluded him decides to take off for a while. He has the leave accrued, it’s a matter of putting in the paperwork. Fuller is a little concerned but Evans waves it through with barely a thought. Cowan swans around the office dripping smug satisfaction, and Dylan keeps his head down and swallows it.

He goes to France to visit Alma first. While things are still white-hot in the fallout of the case, the Horsemen are laying low in the area. They’ll take off for a house the Eye has arranged soon enough, but in the handful of days intervening Dylan gets on a plane to Paris. Alma deserves some answers after everything she went through on this case with him, and if it means he’s going to get arrested after all, well, so be it. The others are set up, they’ll be okay.

6. untitled fic about mercymorn and augustine in a doc labeled ‘rotates them’ - the locked tomb series

this is simply me losing my mind about this dynamic, getting somewhat at how they came up with the plan they attempted to enact in ht9.

“Do you love your brother?”

Augustine stops in his tracks, facing away from her. His body twitches in a horrid, disarticulated little spasm, like a marionette that’s been electrocuted. The question has hurt him, and she can tell.

Good, Mercymorn thinks. Pain sharpens the senses.

“How dare you ask me that.”

Mercymorn does not back down. For one thing, she does not, as a rule, back down. Ever. For another, she’d caught up to him here and brought up the subject for a reason, and it isn’t just to torment him with it.

7. One Right Move - flashpoint

time loop of the episode one wrong move where lou young died. spike relives his best friend’s death over and over and over until he can figure out how to make it stop.

This is the way the world ends. This is the way the world ends.

This is the way the worst day of Michaelangelo Scarlatti’s life ends - not with a bang, but with the echo of one.

Explosions have not been an unusual occurrence in Spike’s world to date. Moments of ground-shaking thunder and fire have come and gone for him the way a lawyer conducts depositions or a surgeon draws a dotted line indicating where they plan to cut - something that is an incomprehensible oddity to those outside the profession, but as familiar as the tree on the corner of the street you drive down every day to those inside it. While the detonation of a bomb may be the worst or most shocking thing to happen in the life of just about any random person you grabbed off the street, it’s Tuesday for Spike. Even when they go bad, they still ultimately go. He doesn’t spend hours reliving them after the smoke has cleared.

This time, he does. Laying on his side on the couch in Greg’s living room, the moment that mine went off replays again and again. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if he’s imagining it or if something is still actually exploding, because Spike can still feel himself shaking from the percussive force. Or maybe shaking from something else. It’s hard to tell, now, in this diluted, slipping evening that doesn’t feel remotely real.

8. Can’t Grow A Proper Branch - 9-1-1

5+1 of five times someone got one of the pieces indicating that buck’s childhood and family were Really Fucking Bad and one time he just straight out told someone.

Man plans and God laughs.

When Bobby was growing up, the Nash family’s next door neighbor had been a Rabbi and his wife whose older daughter had been his age. Often, when his parents were working late, Bobby would end up at the Rose house, playing with Sarah Rose or doing homework with her at the kitchen table under Rabbi Rose’s quiet supervision. Man plans and God laughs. A Yiddish proverb Rabbi Rose had been fond of. Even though it’s been decades since he’d lived in the house in St. Paul next door to the Roses, decades since he’d last spoken to the man at all, the phrase he’d used so often still pops into Bobby’s head sometimes. It even makes its way out of his mouth now and then.

From the moment they meet, it feels to Bobby like Evan Buckley is God laughing at his plans.

9. Game Over. Try Again? - final fantasy xv

the first time noctis had to use a phoenix down on each of his friends. exploring game resurrection mechanics from a narrative standpoint.

Gladio has been twenty years old for all of nine days when he dies in an assassination attempt that leaves Noctis without a scratch. It all happens so quickly that there’s no time to feel the energy in the air change before the shooting starts.

A second before the first bullet shatters what had been a perfectly fine, unremarkable afternoon, Gladio’s hand closes around Noctis’s arm, the other plants in the square centre of his back, and he’s being shoved so hard it propels him several feet forward. He’s all ready to be pissed, to whirl around and demand that the big dumb bastard explain what, precisely, his issue is when a chunk of concrete explodes from the waist-high wall he’s landed behind. Noctis isn’t really sure what he thinks is happening at first, but ‘someone is shooting bullets at me because they are trying very hard to kill me’ is not it.

10. baby heist au - ted lasso

the one where bex decides to leave rupert, rebecca decides to help her, an extremely unlikely friendship forms, and i cast spell of ‘hold a baby’ on the entire richmond greyhounds roster.

The first thing that enters Rebecca’s mind when she gets the initial message is suspicion. She stares at her mobile, squinting at the text from the number - unattached to anyone in her address book - and trying to piece together who it could possibly be from.

Hello Rebecca. I was wondering if you might have time for a coffee and a chat soon. I have something I’d really like to discuss with you.

It came through just as she was walking to her desk upon first arriving at the office, and caught her so off-guard that she’s still standing there in the middle of the room looking at the screen when the second message arrives.

Oh, this is Bex by the way. Bex Harper.

A third, not a moment later.

Well. Bex Mannion I guess.

bonus 11. baby heist au 2: 2 heist, 2 baby - the locked tomb series

modern au (i know, but bear with me) where it’s like pov. you are ortus nigenad. you are in your very early twenties. you have come to the unfortunate realization that you are in a cult and you have Fucking Snapped and you cannot be here one more moment longer. on your way out, you decided to take a pair of toddlers with you. pov. you are abigail pent. you are a professor and you live with your husband in the top floor of a duplex. a young man with a pair of little girls just moved in downstairs, and you’ve got the feeling there’s something Going On with them.

The bottom unit of the building has been empty since before Abigail moved into the upstairs of the duplex on Primis Street. She’s never met the person who owns it, and so there has never been an opportunity to ask after this curiosity, despite her desire to know if there was a reason for it. Magnus tells her that it’s probably just not a keenly desired neighbourhood, especially for the university demographic comprising most of their area, but still she has always wondered.

When someone does move into it, Abigail doesn’t notice at first. It’s such a shock the first time she hears a sound and looks out of her unit just in time to see the downstairs door close behind someone that she nearly calls after him on the spot. She manages to repress the instinct, but she calls Magnus immediately upon going back inside.

“What? Since when?” he asks when Abigail tells him they’ve finally got neighbours.

“I haven’t the faintest idea! I just saw him coming home. Didn’t see much, just the door closing behind him, but I think he’s young. There’s not even a car out front! It’s all quite mysterious.”

Things do not clear up from there, especially not once Abigail catches her first glimpse of the children.

[caparrucia]

AO3 First Lines Tag Game

Tagged by @garbria!

Rules: Share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tag ten people. If you have written fewer than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway.

Decided to only use main fics, rather than any sidestory collection associated with them:

1. no greater evidence of roses than thorns (FFXV)

Regis gets two assassination attempts per month on average. Or rather, two assassination attempts on his person are planned per month on average. Lyra Argentum leads his Saboteur Corp. So it’s more like Regis reads about two assassination attempts on his person that got horrifically and often murderously derailed per month on average.

2. upon a truth well-known (FFXV)

Later, much later - after a scramble for lunch that stretched out into dinner, though by then the entirety of the village had heard the news and had come in to bring their gifts, good wishes and nosy questions - Cor finds himself following Nyx out the window of his room and onto the roof. They sneak on the sturdy beams holding the sprawling, interconnected labyrinth of roofs all the way across the village - technically, it’s all one house, technically, and it strikes Cor as the kind of technicality that Regis would be delighted by - to then make their escape onto the mismatched, broken marble pillars that lead up towards the massive temple that dominates the entire island.

3. in his professional opinion (FFXV)

The boy came recommended by Regis.

This was worse, in Titus’ humble opinion, than no recommendation at all. Regis only recommended capable people he saw as full of potential…

Or Cor.

4. Mutual Understanding (Horizon: Forbidden West)

“And… yeah,” Erend says, awkwardly, staring at whatever expression had settled on Talanah’s face and wouldn’t budge an inch. “That’s about it.”

“I see,” Talanah says, slow and steady and not at all reassuring, given the way Erend flinches in a way eerily reminiscent of his reaction to his sister’s opinions on his latest stupidity, back before… well.

Everything.

5. the nature of the beast (FFXV)

Nyx hadn't exactly volunteered to go to the mainland.

None of them had, really. The mainland was a nebulous, foreign concept none of them really thought about that often. And why would they? Galahd was Lucian in name only, and they liked it that way. The mainland brought idiots every couple years, with grand plans and ideas to “modernize the islands” and “bring them into a new era," and it was funny watching them set out to try, only to be inevitably worn down by the storms.

6. from the dark, will come a light (Pokemon)

It’s a windy, autumn afternoon, standing in line inside a nondescript coffee shop in Goldenrod City, when the greatest field agent in the entirety of the International Police realizes he needs to die.

It’s a very quiet realization, that, nothing dramatic or overblown, and certainly not something that manages to make a dent in his expression: he remains standing where he is, patiently waiting for his turn, apathetic stare fixated on the display trays full of elaborate, sweet confections to contrast with the subtle flavors of the roast this coffee shop favors.

7. i've battled hard with the face in the mirror (Pokemon)

When his mum saw him standing in the doorway, sheepish grin and all, she’d cried.

It was the good kind of cry, though, so Leon didn’t feel too bad for crying a little himself, when he got pulled into a tight, tight hug. There was something fundamentally comforting about his mum, this vast, encompassing warmth that reminded Leon of being small and scared, and then instantly reassured, the moment she was there to hold him and promise it would be alright.

It would be alright.

8. Of Kings, Knights and Knaves (FFXV)

The Emperor has come to Insomnia.

Nyx watches the news broadcast, curled up in a chair in his apartment, trying to desensitize himself to it. It burns deep in his bones, and he must learn to master it, so that he’ll be able to carry out the job he’s been assigned to perform. He must stand guard in yet another of the fancy parties preluding the farce of a peace treaty, even though he’s got Crowe’s unseeing stare burned into the back of his eyes.

Must. It’s always about must, never could or would or want.

Must.

9. Chronicles of the Storm King's Reign (FFXV)

It’s not, Ardyn knows, a matter of morals. It’s not even a matter of loyalty.

He’s neither moral nor loyal and he knows it. If nothing else, two thousand years of nothing but his own emptiness for company has been enough to let him come to grips with who and what he is. He’s petty and bitter and not really nice. He reckons he never was all that nice, deep down, before the Scourge got hold of him and he was reduced to play his part in his brother’s farce of a fate. He did as he was told and tried his best to make it be enough, because it was expected of him. He didn’t care, back then, about the lives he saved. All those lives were just variations on a theme, the same boring story told over and over again; and they’d been so weak and cowed by everything, that they clamored for him, for letting them endure their miserable, empty existences a little longer.

10. for to end yet again (Pokemon/Witcher)

“Ah,” Raihan said, right before the shaelmaar hit him head on, “fuck.”

It wasn’t his proudest moment by far. Every bone on the left side of his body broke on impact and he felt that, somewhere under the murk of adrenaline that gave him enough time to force his limbs loose and try to roll with the impact. He bounced off the rock floor like a rag doll, and then barely managed to cast quen, hoping against all hope that it would be enough to hold off the follow up, even though he knew damn well it wouldn’t.

A moment passed.

Then another.

Tagging: @darkpuck @pegunicent @misstrips @kheradihr @whostarlockeda03 @phoenix-is-the-hottest-thing @thedancingwalrus-blog @wordsandrobots @awlwren @jonphaedrus and anyone else who wants to try! Show off your stuff!

[kaelinaloveslomaris]

Tagging Game

Rules: post the first sentence of your last ten fics. If you haven’t written ten fics, share as many first-sentences as you have.

I was tagged by @mokulule, thank you friend!

And I will tag @mochimochacatte and @ivorydice

Starting from most recently posted/updated, the first sentences of my last ten fics:

1. Brother, we are now each other’s responsibility (Batfam, specifically Jason & Tim)

Nightwing stood on a roof in the middle of Crime Alley, wondering if he’d made a mistake.

2. Sleepless Eyes See Too Little (FFXV, Ignis & chocobros)

The man at the end of the snack aisle looked familiar.

3. Absolute Pin (FFXV, Cor & Noctis)

Noctis had been missing for over eighteen hours when Cor got the call, and they had been some of the most awful hours of Cor’s life.

4. disperse the gloomy clouds of night (FFXV, Noctis & Regis)

This was the first time Noctis had seen his dad in over a month - aside from a few passing glances at televised news stories about this law or that event, which didn’t really count - and it was likely he wouldn’t be able to exchange more than a handful of words with him after this meeting before Regis was swept off to wherever he was needed for his next appointment.

5. Counting Down Chocobos (FFXV, Noctis & Ardyn, chocobros)

Noctis woke slowly, awareness gradually filtering into his sluggish mind.

6. A Brush With Death (FFXV, Noctis & Drautos, chocobros)

He’d stepped away only for a moment to answer a phone call, waving Gladio away when his Shield had moved to follow him.

7. Who Pays the Cost (FFXV, Noctis)

The gala for Noctis’s 18th birthday had been in full swing for several hours, and they were past the polite pre-dinner mingling, and the dinner itself - which was Noctis’s favorite part, because the cooks didn’t try to serve him vegetables for once, and the amount of required talking was minimized - and were now in his least favorite part of any such function: the post-dinner socializing.

8. With Your Head Held High (FFXV, Noctis & Ardyn, Noctis & Regis)

It was pure chance that Noctis learned the chancellor of Niflheim was in the Citadel, while he was still in the Citadel. Ignis had been keeping his ear to the ground for any rumors that might circulate in the wake of the ceasefire, and the Glaives who had been pulled back from the frontlines were more chatty than the Crownsguard usually were.

9. Into the Starlight (Star Wars, Luke & Vader)

The last thing Luke expected in the middle of an attack on the base was to be paged to the command center by Mon Mothma herself.

10. Best Laid Schemes (FFXV, Ignis & chocobros)

“He should be alone with Noctis for a while after picking him up from school.”

[lupellis-a]

                                             it’s always darkest just before the dawn                                                                          ffxv

     life in insomnia is routine & simple. denzel goes to school while his parents, abel & chloe, are at work. he comes home with a group of friends who live nearby, finishes his homework as his parents arrive, eats dinner & hang out until bedtime. to the boy, the war is far away, something that plays on the news that his parents watch while he plays with his toys or reads a book. he’s young, & as such has no interest.

     until it arrives at his door.

     he knew little about the treaty other than that the excitement gave him a few days off from school. it’s another thing happening far away until explosions shake the city, magitek engines filled with troops enter & the walls fall, allowing niflheim to bring daemons into the fray. 

     denzel manages to escape, but loses his parents & home all in one instant.

     on his way to lestallum, he groups up with a few other kids. scavengers, they call themselves. early on in their travels they are bold enough to sneak through the remnants of the city to obtain necessary supplies, but when the distance becomes too great, they take what they can from anywhere they pass. even upon reaching lestallum, their work doesn’t end. they scavenge mostly from the land—— anything requested of them—— in exchange for food. they’re reckless enough to go at night if they need to, quick & spry & small enough to dodge daemons. with the influx of refugees, it was easy to escape the eyes of adults who might try to stop them, & they build up quite a quiet but sturdy reputation.

---

     in another version of this au ( i just didn’t feel like making a second tag for the second version), denzel’s parents were casualties of war several years before the attack on insomnia. he’s a ward of the city in a small children’s home in insomnia & though he attends school, his priority is with another small group of orphaned children. the scavengers. 

     with travel in & out of the city strict, they use their size & swiftness to get in & out, doing whatever was asked of them for just a bit of gil so they can manage to feed themselves a bit easier. though the war & daemons are much more real for them than most of the kids within the city, they don’t let it stop them from completing their tasks. whether it’s taking something to someone or gathering a hard to get item from the wilderness, they manage.

[celestrahl]

#CELESTRAHL — an independent, mutuals only and selective multimuse roleplaying blog featuring characters from various video games!

CURRENT PRIMARY MUSES: Tae Suzuya (FFVII OC), Violet Celeste (FF OC), Noel Kreiss (FFXIII-2), Lunafreya Nox Fleuret (FFXV), Luis Serra (RE4R)

CURRENT SECONDARY & TERTIARY MUSES: Élise de la Serre (ACU), Evie Frye (ACS), Nero (DMC), V (DMC), Oerba Dia Vanille (FFXIII), Serah Farron (FFXIII-2), Dion Lesage (FFXVI), Jote (FFXVI), Aqua (KH), Xion (KH), Sherry Birkin (RE6)

Written & loved by Faye, 30, she/her, CET timezone. Beta Editor only! This blog is 18+ only, minors dni!

Currently low/sporadic activity. FFVII Reno blog: @blitzrod Graphic Comm Blog: @rysingdawn

Mobile Rules can be found below the cut! ⬇

★ First off, don’t be an ass. Godmodding, infomodding, metagaming, whatever else these things are called, have no place here. Don’t kill my muses. Don’t kill any of their friends/family/allies right in front of them without discussing it first. Character ≠ Writer, I’m not my muses and if my muses are in any way mean to your muse/s doesn’t mean I’m being mean towards you. If you have criticism, please remain respectful and constructive when sending it in. Anon hate will be deleted/blocked.

★ I’m strictly interacting with mutuals only. If you followed me and I didn’t follow back I either do not know anything about your character’s fandom, find your blog lacking information and/or simply cannot see us interact. I’m also trying to keep my dash a comfortable space for myself so please don’t take it personally if I don’t follow back. But if I do follow you, I’m interested in writing with you – and I will assume the same if it’s the other way around.

★ I’m selective, or rather, my muses are – and sometimes certain muses are louder than others, and some might even take over for a bit. Please don’t get discouraged or disappointed if you see me replying to certain threads with certain muses only, or only to threads in certain genres.

★ I generally prefer writing threads over meme responses, and I love plotting. Winging it is cool too, but expect me to ask questions so I can make sure I got the setting and other things right. Either way, I normally tend to write semi-paragraph, paragraph and multi-paragraph things with the rare occasional one-liner.

★ I encourage you to turn my ask responses into threads! I always put character asks into a new post anyway, so feel free to reblog that and add your reply! No need to ask beforehand!

★ Please do not apply any fancanons to my muses, no matter how popular or widely accepted they are.

★ Relationships in all forms (romantic, platonic, familial, rivals, you name it) are welcome, however there has to be chemistry and I would like if you asked me beforehand and if we’ve written before. One-sided crushes and unrequited feelings are fine too, just don’t try to force your character on mine and we’re cool. I DO NOT AUTO-SHIP CANON ROMANCES. Please also understand that some of my muses can be difficult to bond with.

★ I will practice mains and in rare cases ship exclusives, but not affiliates or general exclusivity.

★ Duplicates/Variants are, honestly, a bit tricky for me. I’ve had both good and bad experiences with them in the past. Overall I’m trying to be indifferent towards them. I hope you understand that I’m a little hesitant regarding this!

★ I am OC friendly! How could I not be, having my own OCs on this blog? The only point where I draw the line is when it comes to OCs who are children of canon characters.

★ NSFW isn’t very likely to occur here. I will not write smut, should any thread ever go in that direction it will fade to black before anything spicy can happen. I'm not someone to write anything blood & gore related in explicit detail either.

★ Triggers will be tagged as _____ tw and _____ cw so make sure to blacklist yours this way. If you have a rather uncommon/rare trigger that you need tagged, please let me know!

★ Do not take anything from this blog. Be it icons and/or other graphics I’m using in my own posts, headcanons and/or parts of my theme code. I created/wrote/edited these things myself (for some things see credits below) and would very much appreciate it if you could just leave them be. I’ve had quite a few bad experiences with theft in the past, so this is something I feel I have to mention.

★ Lastly, hi! I go by Faye, I’m 30, she/her, from Germany. I’m honestly just a big nerd for video games and I love music, writing, graphic editing, reading and more. I just generally love being creative and am passionate about everything I create. I don’t know what else to tell you here, but if you ever wanna get to know me my IMs are always open, and my Discord is available for mutuals. If you’re reading this, I hope you have a good day!!

CREDITS Lightning Returns Noel Kreiss Raw Icons from @dresspheres FFXIII Oerba Dia Vanille Raw Icons from @dresspheres Lightning Returns Oerba Dia Vanille Raw Icons from @dresspheres FFXIII-2 Serah Farron Raw Icons from @dresspheres FFXV Lunafreya Nox Fleuret Raw Icons from @dresspheres

Evie Frye Screencaps taken by Steph

Serah Farron Icon Border made by @ennakros

All other screencaps and graphics were taken & edited by me.

[awlwren]

I posted 3,146 times in 2022

That's 2,181 more posts than 2021!

8 posts created (0%)

3,138 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@possiblythreefourthspeahen

@tanoraqui

@exlibrisfangirl

@garbria

@uenaina

I tagged 3,146 of my posts in 2022

#funny - 606 posts

#art - 505 posts

#indeed - 459 posts

#everyday life - 434 posts

#animals - 380 posts

#accurate - 358 posts

#speculative fiction - 350 posts

#second time’s the charm - 334 posts

#ffxv - 314 posts

#nature - 267 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#like what is your relationship like with your parent/uncle/whatever when you’re a a couple centuries younger but you’re all millennia old

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

5 Most Recent Songs Ask Meme

I was tagged by @exlibrisfangirl Thanks! Sorry it’s taken so long.

In the Shadows by Beyond the Black

The Chain by Fleetwood Mac

Mama Tried by Merle Haggard

Breathe/2 a.m. by Anna Nalick

Bones in the Ocean by The Longest Johns (performed by Paul from LLR/Desert Bus)

Tagging… @exlibrisfangirl again, @shieldmaidenofsherwood, @garbria, @whumpwriterforlife, @meissashush, @starjunco, @whostarlockeda03, @noirbriar and anyone else who would like to try.

2 notes - Posted December 3, 2022

#4

Fandom: Final Fantasy XV Rating: Teen & Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationship: Titus Drautos | Glauca & Nyx Ulric Characters: Titus Drautos | General Glauca, Nyx Ulric, Original Niflheim Character(s) Additional Tags: Screams from Across the Hall, Medical Torture, Science Experiments, Starscourge, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, Scheming

Summary:

Titus was annoyed. Annoyed with this whole situation, with the rattle of the airships, with the buzzing under his skin pushing him to do something. Fight. Unfortunately, he hadn't found a good opening just yet. In which Titus gets to learn a bit more about who organized the "rescue" and what they want. It's just about as fun as he expected and all too familiar in the worst ways. And some new ones. Drautos PoV for Whumpwriterforlife's "Starving for Truth" Whumptober Day 6: Screams from Across the Hall

5 notes - Posted October 7, 2022

#3

Song URL Tag Game

Rules: Spell your URL with songs, and then tag as many people as there are letters in your URL.

I was tagged by @exlibrisfangirl - thanks! It was fun. ^_^ I hope your pain continues to abate.

A - All God’s Critters (A Place in the Choir) written by Bill Staines

W - Who Needs Sleep by Barenaked Ladies

L - Lullabye (Goodnight, my Angel) by Billy Joel

W - What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong

R - (Rice in the Microwave) It’s a Great Day to Be Alive* by Travis Tritt

E - Edelwiess from Sound of Music by Rogers & Hammerstein

N - Northwest Passage by Stan Rogers

*this would seem to be cheating, but this song is exclusively referred to as the Rice in the Microwave Song among my household (we call/text each other whenever we hear it) and I actively have to look up what the actual name is so I say it counts.

Tagging: @garbria, @shieldmaidenofsherwood, @glaivewaffle (see the pity I took on you?), @whostarlockeda03, @starjunco, @newlyorange, and, at your convenience, @sanzochan.

5 notes - Posted January 4, 2022

#2

Poor little meow meow and eeby deeby for FFXV for the ask meme?

*squints* You’re fishing for a specific answer here, I can feel it.

Eeby Deeby: Once this would have been Drautos, but having to write him so much has reluctantly made me slightly more sympathetic to him and move him out of this category. I’ll go with Verstael Besithia instead. Man chose evil scientist as his personality and went all in. Each one of those clones deserve to get their satisfaction from him, and all the citizens of Niflheim that fell to the “vanishing disease” and all the citizens of Lucis to MTs. And probably more.

Poor Little Meow Meow: Drautos has not quite earned this spot yet either, despite your hopes. :P He is in limbo. This one was much harder; I’m not as familiar with the whole cast as I should be. Maybe the astrals? I like pondering blue/orange morality, and where they might have come from, I guess. But I don’t care enough to write about them specifically yet. Let’s go with the Lucii. Yes, they are assholes, and cause a hell of a lot of collateral damage, but it’s interesting to think about how much they are slaves of destiny as well, a destiny they knew they wouldn’t live to see, and what it must be like to be stuck inside the ring/statues of the old wall for so long. They can be my “faves” in that I‘d probably enjoy writing about them, even if I think they need some perspective. (And maybe freedom)

6 notes - Posted February 16, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Favorite Character from 10 Fandoms

I was tagged by @shieldmaidenofsherwood and @exlibrisfangirl. Thanks for thinking of me! No thanks for making me make decisions. :(

Rules: List your favorite character from 10 different fandoms and then tag 10 people.

Rather than try to actually chose, I'm just going to do the last 10 characters I used their tag to find fic for on Ao3, from most recent to least.

Nyx Ulric from Kingsglaive/Final Fantasy XV. RIP to your feeds; this man has captured my attention for almost a full year now. Wow. He is trying so hard to save his friends in spite of everything, but also isn't afraid to chew people out who need to hear it. There are so many blanks to fill in, too.

Elrond Peredhil from the Hobbit/LotR/Silmarillion. A very old, but enduring fave from back when my dad read the Hobbit to me when I was eight or so and started my love for Tolkien. He was wise and smart and helpful, and gave people shelter. Instant fave. Nice to see him getting some more love lately!

Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan from the Vorkosigan Saga. All you people here on tumblr made me decide to start the series and I adored her and her husband and so was very disappointed to see less of them as the series shifted to their son, not that he isn't fantastic! But I've always had a weakness for the previous generation, so this is nothing new.

Luke Skywalker from Star Wars, my original blorbo, as the children say. I got introduced to Star Wars when I was six and it has been an obsession ever since. What can I say, I am basic and weak for main characters. I was heavy into the EU and so I started to draw away when Episode II came out and I could see it killing itself trying to cope with contradictions, but Luke, with such a burden always trying will always be a favorite. 4b. Mara Jade also has gotten a character tag search, but she is in the same fandom so she doesn't get her own number. But don't neglect her!

Jason Todd from Batman comics. I fell sideways into this fandom through an old mutual who loved him, and since that's how I came into the fandom I have stuck with him. I tend to latch onto a character and stay loyal, so here I am, through some very bizarre characterization and storyline choices, having learned from this man and fandom how to pick and chose fanon and canon very harshly. Definitely a character that when written well is very very good, and when written badly (or how I don't like) is horrid. 5b. This is basically a (hopefully more mature) carbon copy of how I got into BtVS through a friend obsessed with Spike.

Clark Kent from Superman comics/shows (yes this counts as separate fandoms). Another oldie. My grandparents had the 1940s cartoons as some of the few brother-approved VHS tapes they had, so I watched a lot of it, and then STAS came out and I was hooked. What can I say, I love characters who always try so hard to be the best they can be, and the reminder that even the Man of Tomorrow, for all his powers, can't do everything.

Meliara Astiar and Vidanric Renselaus from Crown & Court Duel by Sherwood Smith. Yes, both of them, shut up. I got on a nostalgia kick and they have a few excellent fics on Ao3. Ultimate culture clash, all the tropes and they make it work.

Trafalgar Law from One Piece. (No, I am not caught up and will not be until Wano is done.) He...he also tries so hard but in a different way. He tries to be serious in Luffy's world and it never works and it's great. Trash man trying to be creepy and trying so hard. And he's genuinely badass, he just cares too much and it cracks me up. And then his backstory breaks my heart.

Eve Baird from The Librarians (tv show). Mama Baird knows what she wants and knows her skills and is doing all she can to protect her idiot Librarian and equally chaotic LITs, but isn't afraid to admit when she needs to learn from them as well.

Alberich from Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey. Another nostalgia lookup, with even less fic. I like mentors, okay? I like older people learning and teaching and I always have, even when I was young. I actually haven't read much of this series, but I got his two books and enjoyed them, and didn't do much with the rest.

I'm going to chose to interpret the lack of women on this list as a critique of the books I read and not solely of me myself. But it's a good trend to see as I try to figure out what to procrastinate by reading next. (as is the appalling lack of explicit POC. Ouch.)

Again, these are the most recent character tag searches I've done on Ao3, not my top 10 characters, because this took less decisions, honestly.

Absolutely no-pressure tagging of @garbria, @whumpwriterforlife, @starjunco, @sanzochan, @whostarlockeda03, @noirbriar, @newlyorange, and @maychorian, along with anyone else who wants to go. I would love to get more character reccs, honestly. It's gotten me started on two series that I've enjoyed but haven't gotten far enough in to seek out fic yet for risk of spoilers. ^_^

10 notes - Posted April 10, 2022

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