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chiliconsharls · 4 years

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I was supposed to post a gifset of my favorite ship of the show for the JATP Week for Day 3 but I realized I've done plenty of gifsets and I haven't done the mandatory ship manifesto so, I guess this is it.

DISCLAIMER: like I did for my AlexReggie post, I'll mention again that this is me discussing why this OT3 can be enjoyed in fandom spaces rather than this is me actively asking JATP writers/producers to make this ship canon. That's not what shipping means to me.

So, let's dive in into the softest, most wholesome OT3 I have ever had the privilege of shipping:

Luke/Alex/Reggie

Ok, so first off, I wanna start by saying that if you think that polyamory inherently means something sexual or dirty then please kindly fuck off this post and my blog altogether.

The definition of Polyamory on Wiki: (from Greek πολύ poly, "many, several", and Latin amor, "love") is the practice of, or desire for, intimate relationships with more than one partner, with the informed consent of all partners involved.

It is a way of expericing both romantic and sexual attraction, a way of living. And as so, there’s nothing wrong with teenagers being polyamorous because there’s nothing wrong with loving more than one person at the same time. It doesn’t always have something to do with sexual activities.

So, circle back to this Power Trio: our main himbo ghosts.

Luke, Alex and Reggie have a lot of common settings of your basic Power Trios, but to their own degree; the Comic Trio being surely the most fitting for them as they are indeed all himbos in their own right (yes, Alex is SO included even though he’s the one who holds the braincell most of the time).

However, I maintain that other than the obvious Rock Trio (which I will get on in a beat), the most evident trope for Luke, Alex and Reggie is the Brawn, Brains and Beauty:

“Brawn — body or the impulsive, pleasure-seeking one [Luke] Brain — mind or the academic, reasonable one [Alex] Beauty — heart or the one who ties them together, as the calming, healing influence [Reggie]”

Luke and Alex aren’t antagonistic towards each other at all as you would expect from most of these common tropes (especially Freudian Trio; which is also very fitting for them as they all have each contrasting personalities), but Luke and Alex have the type of personalities that would ensue them getting conflictive towards each other. Enter Reggie, who’s a happy bean and hates conflict.

They’re also obviously a perfectly balanced best friends trio, which is super uncommon. I’ve talked about how Alex and Reggie seem like actual best friends more than they do with Luke on their own but that’s only because Luke suffers from his being the male protagonist so the plot forces him to be on his own (or with Julie) oftentimes and so he leaves Alex and Reggie to develop more their Power Duo friendship on screen.

But it is no secret that Luke is, to his core, the central and focal point of their bond. He’s the one who, according to the plot, ties them together as he is their Leader character.

And Luke is a good one at it, too. Even if he’s not as bright or as emotionally sensitive as the other two, Luke fights for what he believes in and what they all want and he protects them. And Alex and Reggie pay back by being the most loyal and caring they can be. So it’s great.

Now, I'll get on the absolute softest side of them as both their canon platonic bond and why I tear up imagining them as something else than that:

The Family of Choice aspect

Luke, Alex and Reggie are together because of their shared interest in music and dream of making a life out of it, sure. But things happened along the way that made them have a deeper bond than that, and it's what forged them, almost by fire, closer together and no, I'm not just talking about the poisoned hotdog that drove them to an early grave at just 17: all three of them have lost their families one way or the other. And in doing so, the three of them found a family in each other. (Which then they end up adding Julie to it and it's an absolute blessing).

Luke ran away from home after a heated fight with his mom, which took an emotional toll on him and we learn that even though they had a difficult relationship, the Pattersons loved their only child enough to still commemorate him on his birthday even 25 years after his passing.

And even if we don't know a lot about them, we know that Reggie's relationship with his parents was also hard on him because they were a "fight away from a divorce", which implies that their arguing escalated to the points that even Luke knew about them.

And then you have Alex, who probably has the hardest backstory with his parents and their stopping "being cool" after he told them he was gay.

So you have three boys who are very inclined to love and appreciating family (Luke writing Unsaid, Emily is an evident example of how much his mom matters to him, Reggie being the first to ask to see his parents after they come back and then Alex voicing his 'I was always trustworthy' and the implication that he trusted his parents enough to tell them about his sexuality) losing that ground and safe place and deciding to build one of their own with each other:

The symbolism of them being a ‘Rock Trio’ - guitar, bass, and drums

As it has been discussed a few times before on this site: Kenny Ortega lives for symbolism and he likes implementing imagery and semiotics into his stuff. So, yeah, I absolutely believe you can look into their instruments as a window to who they are as characters and how they blend together -- like their music does.

You have Luke in guitars (and vocals, but that’s not key here): Guitar is in charge of harmony. And it being a lead guitar is also very up-in-your-face. The guitar makes its presence known, it is obvious, and usually a central focus--- it’s Luke through and through.

Then you have Drums: Drums is in charge of rhythm. It provides the ground they all follow, the stability, it is the backbone. It’s loud when it needs to, but it can blend in the back, too. And drums is usually placed behind, laid back -- if that doesn’t say Alex, I don’t know what does.

And there’s the bridge between both: Bass. “It bridges the gap between treble (guitar) and percussion (drums), providing a rhythmic and harmonic function at the same time”. (x) It serves both elements constituting music. Bass is low, quiet, and often underlooked but it is essential in a band. You just can’t be without bass -- Just like Reggie, who’s an odd mix of both Luke and Alex.

Another set of “Rule of three” that these himbos are is the Hands (Luke), the Head (Alex) and the Heart (Reggie), meaning that Luke is the one who takes actions, Alex is the sensible one and Reggie is the sensitive one.

All in all, they’re the whole set together. You can’t just have one without the other two, either as friends or siblings tropes-- they’re just that tight.

You just can’t pin-point if either of them love one above the other, it’s all equal. And even if you feel like one is third-wheeling, it’s still alright. You know why? Because third-wheels provide support and comfort. Just like these three do for each other.

#alex x luke x reggie #sunset curve #jatpweek #jatp #luke x reggie x alex #luke x alex x reggie #reggie x luke x alex #reggie x alex x luke #alex x reggie x luke #i really just put the WHOLE SETS of ways this ot3 can be tagged as huh #ot3: we're the only family we need #long post #meta #luke patterson #luke #alex #reggie

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simptasia · 4 years

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Cats 2019 😌

Oh, thank you, I’m gonna gush about this movie without even a DROP of that “i knoooow it’s bad” stuff, y’all know that I know. Okay maybe a few drops sneak in, in a back handed way, but MOSTLY this is me gushing and fawning

For context, since i’m putting this in the tag, the prompt was this was somebody gives me a topic and I respond with what i like about it. Like, the opposite of that “send me a thing and i’ll tell you what i hate about it” one

sometimes, like half the time, the CGI actually slaps. like, the close ups are amazing. proper look at some of these cats and it’s like, wow

mr. mistoffelees is precious. he’s my favourite and he’s adorable and his song makes me cry! specifically the bit where old deut is back and it cuts to his happy “oh my gosh i did it” face. triumphant! heck, i just like that whole song, as like the character thing that it is. and yeah anyways, misto is a cutie pie, he’s so shy and awkward and nervous, i wuv him uwuwu

misto is my fave but munkustrap is actually the best character in this movie. i cannot gush enough about robbie fairchild’s acting, singing and dancing in this. he is the backbone of this movie and i adore him! there’s a reason i’ve reblogged a bagillion gifsets of him being so expressionate, he’s so good! you can tell robbie loves being a part of this. and like, very often munku will absolutely be the best aspect of a scene

plus he’s beautiful too. munku, misto, victoria. beautiful kitties

now that i’ve adjusted to the art style, i find these kitties adorable. i love the ears and tails, they make me happy. i like how misto’s tail curls and the movement of everybody’s ears

i really like the music, shoulda mentioned that first. like, when its good, its really good. memory is of course a powerhouse. skimbleshanks is the movie’s highlight, so fucking good. i like mr. misto’s song, fight me. jellicle cats is a fucking bop. rumpleteazer & mungojerrie, I Just Like It. robbie’s performance in... well the whole movie... but also in old deuteronomy is beautiful and soothing. i’ve actually gotten every song in this stuck in my head.... SKIIIIIMBLEEEESHAAAANKS THE RAAAAILWAAAY CAT

legit, making that number include tap dancing was an actual stroke of genius and i cannot praise steven mcrae enough. whomst is also australian, im so proud. i also like skimble’s pants

OH ALSO regarding the music, another thing i love about this movie is that it introduced me to the concept of this musical. i never had any exposure to cats the musical before this movie happened. all i knew before was a couple of references i saw and i had heard memory. but i didn’t know that memory was from cats. and like, think of all the great songs i wouldn’t be aware of if this movie never happened. i’ve also, by extension, become enamoured with the 1998 version of cats too. because of this! i wouldn’t have had a reason to care before! i had no interest! so besides the fact that i actually do like this movie, there’s that

this is true of the stage musical thing, but a lot of cute and fun character moments are gleaned from like background stuff and facial expressions, that sorta thing and i find it really fun to notice stuff (or see somebody else point stuff out). like it’s all very simple but still with some depth, ya know?

the dancing in this is so good. so so good. especially munku because his actor is a magnificent dancer. it’s also funny and cute how misto clearly isn’t as good a dancer as everybody else, so they have him doing clumsy doofy stuff in the background. but im not insulting laurie davidson’s dancing, he’s actually good considering he had to learn for this movie. i just have to praise the dancing in this movie because i’ve seen people say that “the dancing isn’t impressive in this movie because it’s CGI” and i WILL EAT YOU WHOLE. no n no no people HAVE to know that the actors are actually doing that. robbie and francesca are professional ballet dancers, most of the people in this are. the movements are real, they just painstakingly overlayed CGI cat stuff over it. the stuff that isn’t real is like, stuff humans can’t do, like the big fuck off leaps, they used wires for that

Rumpleteazer’s Lesbian Energy Is Palpable

Munkustrap’s Chemistry With Everybody Is Stunning

victoria, misto and munku are OT3 and they’re bicons in my heart

oh i already mentioned the music but i just wanna say i think beautiful ghosts is a lovely song/motif/character thing. i haven’t mentioned victoria much, i think she’s rather sweet in a like endearingly dumb way. and her singing and dancing is, of course, lovely

the sets are practical, they built that! bruh

i have to give my respect to the poor overworked effects artists who worked on this movie. they were pushed so hard and for so long and i think they did a great job and they don’t deserve even a drop of the scorn they have received

i love misto’s jacket, it’s so good. and the pencil as a wand is clever!

the last scene is refered to as a living hell by a lot of people but i love it because just. watch munku’s face the whole time. so good. just watch munkustrap, he makes everything better

ooh on that note, i like how they made it so munk lives in a flat thats literally right by the junkyard. i find that a nice touch and fitting

i like the nuzzles <3 (furthermore i love how misto is so much taller than victoria so he has to bend down so far for a couple of those nuzzles)

i dunno, you can tell most of the people doing this were like really into it, like really loved doing this movie. like these performances are good, y’all! and like, these cats come across as so happy to hanging out and dancing and being together (for the most part, there is bickering and... cattiness too) that it’s like infectious. it makes me smile!

and there’s like a bagillion little things here and there that i like, like my list could go on even more. for example, shout out to that one cat that kept smiling when skimble was spinning upwards into the air (due to being kidnapped) probably under the assumption that skimble can just fucking do that djksakjdsa

so yeah i can’t exactly call this a Good Movie but i can genuinely call it a movie i enjoy, that i adore even, because i’ve never liked anything ironically in my life! also im autistic and this has become my special interest, so choo choo, this trains a chugging. i’m having a lot of fun, and i think that’s good enough

and i feel like it’s already on it’s way to becoming the world’s most expensive cult classic. like, friends getting together and watching it and having a good time, for one reason or another. and i like that. i hope in like 5 to 10 years time, people are gonna be endeared and nostalgic for cats 2019, cuz that’d be neat

#cats 2019 #I like The Parts Where I'm Not In Pain #this praise is in no way an endorsement of tom hooper #who is a genuinely incompetent idiot who should be kept away from musicals #this is all despite the movie's shortcomings #but hey some of the Bad Choices can be a laugh too #i really do think there's more good aspects than bad aspects in this #once you get used to it #like my first viewing felt like a fever dream #it really does take getting used to #but adjusting to this... universe. it's better now #and i think the second half is better than the first half #espech the last ooh half an hour or so? great stuff actually #sunnibits

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thickenmyblood · 4 years

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I love how you really put a lot of thought into how you regard and read fanfic as well as how you respond to questions about how you feel aout it. Can I ask what are some parts/ideas in fics that really made you go wow, this is well planned or like I never would have thought about this or I forgot that this plot point and device were even a thing! I hope this makes sense

I love you, kind stranger. Thank you for reading my delirious posts and giving me the chance to scream about fics, which is always a pleasure.

Note: If your fic is in this post and you don’t want it to be, let me know and I’ll take it down.

Zeitnot by thereshaegoes

I love the idea of time travel, so when I read this fic’s summary I bookmarked it instantly. At first, I thought it was going to be eight chapters of Laurent waking up the day of the battle of Marlas, but the author really surprised me.

I loved that someone died at the end of each chapter (at first, at least) but what really made me go ‘oh’ is when Lauret realizes the Damen from “this new reality” is, in fact, his Damen!

Damen not being with Jokaste was weird to me, but I shrugged it off as a personal choice the author had made. Then, when Damen was talking about abolishing slavery, I was still in denial. ‘Oh, well, some people don’t like to write Damen as a slave owner, which is cool’. And then, when the big reveal finally came, I was just… amazed. I literally put my phone down and went, ‘okay, this person really knows what they’re doing when it comes to writing’.

I love the little plot twists. In my head, a plot twist most basic example is ‘oh, X is a traitor’ but… this? This is so much better.

Between the Shadow and the Soul by Anonymous

This work was… insanely refreshing, innovative, transgressive, and outrageously good. It does feature a lot of sex scenes, but at the same time, it felt like sex was the least important part of the story. I don’t know how to explain myself when it comes to this fic (and God knows I’ve tried) but… The sex scenes aren’t there just for the smut of it all, if that makes any sense.

Auguste as a narrator is so unusual, and yet it made the fic so painful and enjoyable! I loved the way it left you wondering just how accurate his POV was. I loved the sex scenes with actual characterization. This author never, not even for one second, stopped focusing on the dynamic between Laurent, Auguste, and Damen. It could be argued that the Laurent/Auguste bit weighted more than the overall OT3 bit, but still… I had literally forgotten what sex scenes were for until I read this fic.

Sex scenes, especially in this particular work, are not parentheses in the story. They’re not there for the reader to take a break from the “actual plot” or “narration”. They are what holds the story together, and they’re opportunities for the reader to learn more about the characters

Cherry Wine by SteeleStingray

Yes, I’m back on my bullshit. Yes, I’m talking about CW again. But I’ll make it short because there is no way you don’t know how I feel about this work. If you don’t, check out this comment (which, by the way, is not even a fraction of what I wanted to say to the author when I read the fic).

What I found innovative and made me go “is this allowed?” about CW is not the idea of an OT3, but rather this particular take on a relationship that consists of three people. I’ve read a few published books that feature similar couples (all of them suck, and when I say they suck I mean it) so I was very hesitant to read this because of that reason.

Usually, when people write OT3 they pepper in a lot of stuff I don’t like to read about: extreme jealousy, misunderstandings, cheating, weird dynamics that feel stilted, awkward sex scenes where one of the three just sits in a chair and watches the other two like some voyeur from Juan José Saer’s stories. Guess what doesn’t happen in CW?

Another thing I liked about this work is that it reminded me that themes in fiction aren’t limited to one specific work. This author really likes nicknames. At the time, when I had only read CW, I thought it was just a one-time thing. Turns out, it’s not. An emerald-coloured nightmare also features nicknames. I like this idea that you can tell who wrote something based on little details and narrative choices. It’s like the author is winking at you, going ‘ha, did you get it?’

Ink on Paper by deripmaver

I don’t usually like fics with non-linear narrative because I’m a lazy bitch who can’t keep up. I’d never really seen the point in using flashbacks, scenes from the past, or anything like that because my writing style (oh, fuck off, my writing style, who the fuck do I think I am) is more about references. And then I read this fic. And I was like, ‘okay, I’ve seen the light of not writing everything linearly like an idiot’.

The Mannequin Gallery by marrieddorks

Yes, I realize I’m talking about all my favorite fics. I feel no shame.

This fic is a Modern AU. Everyone who has ever written a Modern AU knows that one of the trickiest parts is finding characters professions that make sense with who they are/what they like/what they’re good at. This story features Damen as an influencer. That’s it, that’s my whole tweet.

It reminded me that even when you’re writing a Modern AU (or any sort of AU, really) it’s important to know what the essence of the characters you’re writing is. The way even Jord’s job makes sense… And how it feels like the author didn’t just steal the characters’ names and use them to create a random story (which is valid, too)... and… Okay, this has nothing to do with a plot twist or a narrative device but have you read this Nicaise? Have you? You haven’t read Nicaise until you’ve read this fic.

(and that's why) you're so beautiful now by iwasgonegonegone

This fic is 612 words. It has no plot. One of the tags reads, “listen they're in love and they're cute and that's all i have to say” and I… yes. This fic inspired me to write plot-less stories again. Not only that, it made me enjoy writing them.

Lately, I’ve been talking to a friend of mine about a new pairing we both like a lot. We go back and forth for hours sometimes just talking about what they’d do, details about the worldbuilding, a billion ‘what-ifs’... and I love it. If one of us sat down to write a story based on all our conversations, it would be a character study fic. It would have, maybe, some plot to it, but… Plot would feel like an excuse to talk about their relationship. And I love that. I fucking hate plot, I hate it, and this… Yes. This fic is like a little slice of life. The author has mentioned before that they enjoy writing poetry (more than longer pieces of fiction) and this story reads like a poem. You know when you read a poem and you get this weird tingly feeling? Read this and feel that, you’re welcome.

The Life We Live by homewithyou

I’ve said before that I don’t go looking for mpreg. Sometimes, mpreg has come looking for me, and I’ve closed my door on its face. I read this fic mainly because I never pay attention to the tags on AO3 (healthy, I know) and I was too busy making myself toast to read the summary.

I was five paragraphs in and this bit hit me like a fucking electric hammer to the head: “...which had been going haywire more often than not since the pregnancy began five months ago.” I was like, ‘wait, did I—am I reading—why am I—’ and then I just shut my mouth and continued reading. I’m glad I did. I’m glad I didn’t let my narrowmindedness stop me from giving this fic a try. I’m glad people out there are writing stories that they enjoy, about topics a few others would deem controversial.

This also applies to the Lamen/Auguste fic I mentioned above. What’s the point of writing if you’re not going to take risks and be honest about what you like to write about? It takes honesty and commitment to write anything that strays from the norm. And so I’m glad this person posted this story, because it changed me in a small way (‘what if I shut the fuck up and read more mpreg instead of instantly clicking out?’).

This is another perfect example of how plot is poison and you don’t need it in your life (unless you enjoy poison. In that case consume the plot, write the plot, sniff the plot. And die). A morning in bed, just nuzzling and talking… living life… Again, this made me realize that you can say a lot about two characters just from a morning in bed. It made me want to write 25 pages of dialogue in bed (this and Manuel Puig’s book titled Kiss of the spider woman, which I recommend fervently).

Plot? In this house? We don’t know her. You’re a strong, independent writer. You don’t need no plot.

For a more general response, I’d say that Steele’s worldbuilding is impeccable and made me look at the setting of stories differently.

Foreshadowing is always amazing, but I haven’t read a lot of fics where it’s a prominent element (which is not to say authors aren’t good at it, I just don’t read enough fics to give you a good example of this).

I really like oxymorons and when writers use funny adverbs. GallaPlacidia’s adverbs are to die for, so definitely check out her stories if you’re interested in that.

I also love the way xlydiadeetz writes archs. She does this thing where she divides the story into different… timelines? archs? I… don’t even know. Amazing.

I hope this answer made sense.

#anon #thereshaegoes #steelestingray #deripmaver #marrieddorks #iwasgonegonegone #homewithyou #this is my trying to tag #i... suck at it as you can tell

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paintedrecs · 4 years

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Since you've semi-recently gotten into "Gargoyles," do you have some fanfic recommendations for it? (And yes, you can include your own fics if you want. We don't mind.)

Hahaha honestly I don’t have a lot of other recommendations - when I was close to finishing the show, I got impatient and checked the David Xanatos/Owen Burnett tag on AO3, which <em>literally had six fics in it</em>. I was surprised and disappointed, and I spent a few days idly writing a fic in my own head. Since there was nothing out there for me, I had to create my own content.

At one point, I told @mad-madam-m, “I'm talking myself out of writing a Gargoyles fic that 1 person (me) would read.” She replied, “Why would you talk yourself out of that.” I said, “.....huh, fair point I guess.” A few days later, I’d posted an 11k fic.

The funny part is that M, who had not seen the show at that point, has now written 10 Gargoyles fics (going on a 30k+ 11th) to my 4. So really, she played herself.

I’ve poked around in a few other Gargoyles fics - basically scrolled through the whole tag and checked for anything that sounded like it had sufficient Owen in it - but I’m...kinda picky about my pairings, and I’ve gotten weirdly attached to the rarest possible dynamic in this fandom. (Polyamorous Xanatos, married to Fox and dating Owen, but without any romantic/sexual OT3 trio action.)

And I’m also very picky about how people write Owen, because there’s this odd tendency to separate Owen Burnett from Puck, treating them as different people/personalities. Owen IS Puck. Puck is Owen. Just because his face and name changes doesn’t mean he does.

I wrote nearly 37,000 words to try to properly convey my love for this incredibly complicated, fascinating character. (Each subsequent fic was because I felt like I didn’t quite do enough in the last one. I still have a few more in me, if I can ever get around to writing them.)

So...my recommendations...really are just my fics and M’s. Sorry!! It’s sad for me, too. :(

Here they are, though, if anyone’s interested.

My Fics

Then Fate O’errules (30k)

This two-part series has my original Owen POV fic (11k), and an 18k Xanatos POV follow up, since M wanted to know what Xanatos was thinking during all of their relationship drama. (These fics are, incidentally, the first time I ever used the E rating. Gargoyles is an oddly inspiring show.)

I’ve left this as a complete series, since it covers everything I wanted it to, and I consider it a full story.

However...I’ve been dipping back in with timestamp-style fics, so everything I’ve written for this pairing all fits within the same universe: canon-compliant, with the very slight and (I think) fully believable addition of Xanatos being romantically/sexually involved with Owen.

But a Dream (5k)

Technically this has an unhappy ending (unusual for me), but it fits between chapters of my longer series, so it’s just a glimpse of a tougher point in their relationship, when Owen was stubbornly breaking his own heart and Xanatos was massively failing at communication. I honestly really like what I did with the snapshots of their dynamic here, regardless of the angst.

Spirits of Another Sort (2k)

Another quick timestamp between episodes, because I couldn’t stop thinking about Xanatos putting so much effort into trapping a trickster, when he already had a far more powerful one at home. I also have a LOT of emotions about how incredibly desperate Puck is to stay with Xanatos, as Owen. I love exploring their love, as messy and complicated and painful as it is.

[Pending fics: Another short timestamp, from earlier in their relationship, set in the dojo. An outsider perspective on this unusual Xanatos family dynamic from David’s dad, Petros. And, if I ever manage to go back to it, a fairy tale AU that I fully outlined months ago.]

Mikkimouse’s Fics

To my incredibly great fortune, M ended up liking the Xanatos/Owen dynamic as much as I did, so she’s written a few lovely fics for this pairing, now bringing the grand total in the AO3 tag to fourteen.

The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth (2k)

M and I had a conversation some time ago about A Midsummer Night’s Dream, because how can you talk about Puck (and Oberon, the douchebag) without bringing up that play. M then produced this very wonderful snapshot from later on in the Xanatos/Owen relationship, when they go to a play together and run into unexpected emotions. It’s very tender and true to them. I love this one a lot.

Important Questions (592 words)

Xanatos gets drunk. Owen is indulgent.

Explanations (195 words)

A very short, very sweet glimpse of the Xanatos family. I love seeing Owen’s softer side, especially with young Alexander.

Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be (5k)

While all my fics are tightly focused on the Xanatos family - primarily Xanatos/Owen, with Xanatos/Fox and Alex in the mix - M has really run with the wider Gargoyles world. She’s particularly great at writing Elisa, who’s one of my favorite characters in the show (which might not be visible from my fics, since uh...Owen doesn’t particularly like her, and I’m largely writing from his perspective).

M has a fantastic grasp on Elisa, though, and has fully sold me on the idea of Elisa and Xanatos eventually becoming really solid friends. This fic has achingly great Xanatos/Owen pining, but it’s mostly about Elisa (sniping at Xanatos but grudgingly getting along with him because he’s frustratingly brilliant and ridiculously charming), and it’s A+.

New Friends and Stranger Companies (3k)

Another stop along the “how the effff do Elisa and Xanatos become best friends??” journey, with Xanatos showing up at Elisa’s apartment after the events of The Gathering. There’s some Owen/Xanatos and Fox/Xanatos, but it’s mostly about Elisa & Xanatos starting to see (to Elisa’s dismay) how much they have in common. There aren’t many people in the world who know what it’s like to be a human hopelessly in love with a very powerful...non-human.

It’s messy and complicated and Elisa begins to really get a sense of the kind of guy Xanatos truly is, beyond his immense wealth and evil plots and fondness for messing with her easy-to-mess-with roar-happy winged boyfriend.

Concerns (200 words)

Some episode timestamps, because this really is the kind of show that inspires you to fill in the gaps. First, a brief exchange between Xanatos and Owen after they’ve discovered Goliath and Elisa (their two biggest harassers and meddlers) are off on some Avalon World Tour, leaving them free to do whatever they want.

That Shrewd and Knavish Sprite (2k)

And an exchange between Hudson and Owen during The Price, when Owen got his stone hand and Hudson turned out to be a lot more perceptive and difficult than the extremely easy to predict Goliath. Also an introduction to another unexpected friendship I’m super on board with: Owen needs friends, and Hudson makes weirdly perfect sense. (They’re definitely not there yet in this fic, but I’m hoping for a sequel.)

Gargoyles Three Sentence Fics (575 words)

Some of M’s early explorations of Elisa and Alex, whom she wrote wonderfully even before watching the show.

Ill Met By Moonlight (5k)

An Elisa & Xanatos friendship? Weird, but it works. An Elisa & Owen friendship? ...Not really going to happen.

One of the things I really like about this show is that it has all these different layers of relationships. Xanatos can be deeply in love with both Fox and Owen, but that doesn’t mean that Fox and Owen are going to feel that way about each other. They get along and definitely grow closer over the years, especially with all three of them being Alex’s parents, but they’re different kinds of people who live different lives and who both happen to have fallen in love with the same man.

Similarly, Elisa and Xanatos becoming best friends doesn’t mean that Owen and Elisa will ever be close. You don’t have to like all your friends’ friends - being an adult means recognizing and knowing how to navigate those complexities.

So here we have Elisa waking up tied to her least favorite person in the world, a sentiment that Owen has no interest in refuting. But they can still work together, and Elisa can still feel and express concern for Owen when she realizes he’s not quite as put together as he always appears.

(Also really great action writing. M is fantastic at that.)

Gentles, Do Not Reprehend (1.2k)

Along with Elisa, M has really made Alex her own. She’s working on a 30k plus Alex-centric story that I am super excited about, and this is an initial window into some of how that will look. I lovelove the unusual and wonderful Xanatos Family structure, and M does such a great job of building it out in funny, emotional, believable ways.

#gargoyles #xanatowen #david xanatos #owen burnett #elisa maza #fox xanatos #alexander xanatos #hudson #goliath #Anonymous #mad-madam-m #i would edit those italics tags but every time I edit posts on here it breaks my read more #so sorry #ugh tumblr

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cassyapper · 4 years

Text

anyway my like last/second to last reblog made me think about this so caesar crusader au woot woot also it got kinda long so here’s a cut for those who dont wanna scroll through all that <3 also i didnt proofread so sorry i just dont care enough </3

first things first let me get the set up;; caesar joseph nd suzi all live in the same house u can interpret it as ot3 or just caejose and suzi is there to vibe w them and help joseph convince caesar to get into trouble, it’s however u want it

then either cause ot3 or suzi agrees 2 be a surrogate, holly is born, joseph’s still the dad like genetically but she’s raised by all three of em essentially and still ends up just as bubbly as she is in canon, except there is no absolute fuckign way she doesnt know hamon because caesar would never, and i mean NEVER, let his kid grow up w/o such a useful trick up her sleeve

then holly gets married, joseph embarrasses both suzi and caesar by how hostile he is towards sadao, caesar is more likely to cuff him over the head bc of it, so there’s that. doesnt change much ig but makes joseph thinks a LITTLE bit more before lashing out JKF;JFJ;S

jotaro comes along and he is caesar’s BOY ok. caesar just gets him. his quiet and calm demeanor (ik caesar isnt necessarily like that in general but around kids he is and as he gets older he’d give off that vibe more as he mellows out) made jotaro feel rlly relaxed around him and as a result he’s v open to him. joseph and suzi ofc have a relationship w jotaro as well but it isnt hard to see there is a bit of favorites playing, especially once jotaro grows up and really starts closing off to most ppl

caesar tries to encourage him to open up more to his family again, but this just ends up with him getting cut off as well. it’s sad ):

in the meantime tho joseph meets avdol and develops his stand. with avdol and caesar combined, they can kinda wrangle joseph into being productive w his energy, but theyre not full-proof. nothing will ever be full-proof against joseph

caesar nd avdol would get along rlly well me thinks. caesar would teach him sum italian and avdol would teach him so arabic. caesar wouldnt have a stand, but since stands r kiiiiinda described as just more intense versions of hamon, caesar can see like outlines of stands if he’s looking at them through one of his hamon bubbles. he only figures this out w avdol’s help. theyre buds

then they find out abt dio thanks to joseph’s stand and they all kinda. get srs. it’s time to search and all that for this fucker. caesar’s pissed cause his grandfather died for no reason now then, same w joseph. avdol helps them navigate the stand world as they search

honestly all is relatively well mostly but then. sdc begins

caesar hasnt heard from jotaro himself for like two years when holly calls them in a panic over him being in jail. og just caesar and joseph were gonna go, but then avdol brings up jotaro mightve developed his stand, since stands r kinda genetic, so they bring avdol along too cause he’s the expert here

they get there, jotaro calls his mom a bitch and is otherwise disrespectful and moody as fuck, and caesar is frankly just disappointed more than angry/frustrated, th opposite of joseph. this makes jotaro feel worse tho KJFN;;N

avdol gets him out tho, they head out. caesar scolds jotaro for snapping at holly and joseph when the only things they ever did were show care for him, and jotaro snaps at HIM in return. fuckin teenagers. caesar changes tactics then and tells jotaro about how he used to be a street thug and all that, and how he cut himself off from his family in an effort to keep them safe (as did his dad mario zeppeli and joseph’s mom djkndje;dn why do bad coping skills run in the family), but it didnt work and instead it just put them in more danger and unjustified/meaningless emotional turmoil. jotaro gets thoughtful over this

then jotaro heads to school and accepts his kiss from holly w/o much fight, just wordless grumbling. it’s a start, caesar guesses

then jotaro comes home with a fucking bloody body only an hour later BHILDFHUDHUJN;

avdol talks abt the fleshbud, caesar is concerned cause jesus h christ, that is a child, kakyoin was only 16-almost-17 when he got fleshbudded, it’s been months, holy shit ??? jotaro must have the same thoughts cause he goes to pull the fleshbud out to everyone’s panic

they decide to let jotaro do it tho and jotaro does, just like in canon. kakyoin’s still rlly rattled but w caesar nd holly both telling him it’s ok and jotaro’s weird ass “why did i save you? who knows.........” thing, he calms down

then holly gets stand sickness and everyone freaks out, even jotaro! kinda. he reacts much the same he did in canon except maybe a lil more frantic cause he had literally JUST decided to clean up his act and now his mom is dying. he wants to show her he knows better now. it’s rough.

caesar considers staying just to watch over his daughter esp cause he doesnt have a stand so it’s like, what would he even do, but then jotaro and kakyoin say theyre going and caesar is like “ok no. ur children.” “that’s my mom. im going either by myself or youll let me go with you.” “christ”

so caesar tags along just to keep an eye of these crazy kids and yeah

this is ending up as a whole fucking fic draft or some shit so im gonna stop here but if anyone is curious on my thoughts on how caesar would continue to affect things from here, lemme know nd ill elaborate. im PRETTY SURE...caesar being around would lead to avdol and kakyoin living cause hamon’s healing abilities, nd since he doesnt have a stand he kinda just ends up as team medic SOOOO....

anyway thanks for reading all thsi if u did JKD;JN;

#he shouldve lived. im thinking about this forever #cass cries #jjba

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obscure-sentimentalist · 4 years

Text

Because some interest was expressed...

Part 1: AO3 Tag At Large

Backstory in brief

I didn’t intend for this to get so detailed and comprehensive--honestly, it just started because I had a particular question and some free time to go digging for the answer. And I did get my answer, but in the process uncovered a wealth of other ways to expand my study. It’s been a ride (complete with a few anxieties thanks to some researcher part of my brain), but overall a fun one, and hopefully the resulting data-cronch will be intriguing.

As noted, this is the first part of a planned three-part data series. This installment will cover statistics for the contents of the Flommy AO3 tag as a whole, while the second part will zoom in a bit and break it down into smaller categories. The third will be a bonus post where the dataset will be narrowed to examine how it compares to the tag at large, which is how I began and previewed bits of my work before broadening the scope.

Below the cut, you’ll find a breakdown of the data collection and some information on the measures I examined, before we get into some stats. There are a number of charts included, as well as written overviews and additional facts. I’ll admit that it’s... a bit, even after being selective with the charts and data to highlight, but if you have questions (or are curious about any stats not included here), let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

Methodology

The overarching goal of my study was to examine and catalogue the contents specifically within the “Tommy Merlyn/Felicity Smoak” relationship tag on Archive of Our Own. All works featured in these results are tagged as (or otherwise wrangled under) this relationship tag; though it’s doubtful that this is the case, any works featuring this relationship that are not tagged in this way (and thus do not appear) will not be counted.

As of data collection on August 5th, 2020, there are 441 works (inclusive of hidden works viewable and accessible only with an AO3 login) within the Flommy tag. Aside from the individual work name and author, each entry was catalogued with the following additional variables:

Publish Year

Year in which work was initially published

Update Year

Year in which work was most recently updated

Rating

Author-assigned content rating (G, T, M, E, or Not Rated)

Work Length

Categorized as Oneshot (single chapter with an expected chapter count of 1) or Multichap (expected chapter count does not equal 1)

i.e. Works that only have a single published chapter but more are anticipated (so the chapter count reads as 1/?, 1/3, etc.) are categorized as Multichap

Completion Status

Works marked as Complete in the AO3 system are counted as such; all others are counted as Ongoing

Additional Relationships

Works may have Flommy as the only romantically-tagged (/) relationship, or additional ships; works in the latter category also had the other ships logged

Since this study was more quantitative and centered on AO3 tagging, more audience-based measures such as kudos, comment, and hit counts were omitted from the dataset. Also would like to remind that this is something I started because I was bored and curious, and I am just one person handling this data, so please keep this in mind in terms of data validity and human error.

Publish Year and Update Year

Breaking the data down by year was, oddly enough, an afterthought for me, but one I’m glad I did eventually think to add. This provided a glimpse at various trends in Flommy works over the years.

The first two sets of charts will feature both Publish Year and Update Year, as there were a few interesting datapoints I found when comparing the two of them. Moving forward, though, yearly data will be shown in terms of Publish Year, unless noted otherwise.

I pulled together this first graph to see if there were any major differences in either curve as the years went by, and overall, they share a similar shape--to be expected, given that a number of works published in one year may also have been last updated in that same year. Either way, both show a gradual increase in Flommy-tagged works until 2017, before plummeting in 2018 and continuing with a coasting decrease as of August 2020.

However, there’s an interesting shift over time between the two yearly measures: while there are (understandably) more works first published than last updated within the same year from 2013-2015, this becomes about equal between 2016 and 2017, before reversing in 2018-onwards. This goes to show that, while fewer Flommy works are being published these days, there are still some older works that are getting updated even now. People are sticking with Flommy, in some way or another.

Below is another way to compare these two measures, in terms of share of works:

The chart on the left (Publish Year) shows that the majority of Flommy-tagged works were published between 2013 and 2016--about 55%. However, the Update Year chart gives us an exact 50/50 split between the first four years of the tag and the last four, proving that the tag activity is still going strong!

Some other Publish and Update Year Fun Facts:

Because I’m too used to examining change year-over-year (YOY) for other purposes, I pulled some of those stats to accompany the line chart, focusing on Publish Year

The smallest change YOY was from 2016 to 2017, experiencing a 7% increase in published works; the largest was the 176% increase in 2014 over 2013

The decline in published works that began in 2018 has indeed slowed in 2020. 2018 had a -55% decrease YOY from 2017, and 2019 followed suit at -52%; 2020 is only down -21% from 2019, and that number can only improve as the year goes on!

12% more Flommy-tagged works have already been posted in 2020 than were posted in 2013, the first year of the tag. As the two years with the fewest works, that’s at least something!

Rating

There are more than a few ways I could break this one down, but I think this one covers the gist of this particular measure:

As might be expected, T is the most common rating, accounting for almost half of all works. The remaining ratings (aside from Not Rated) are all within a very close range of each other, but those in the E-rated category do have the edge to take second place, which, I’ll admit, also isn’t much of a surprise.

Some other Rating Fun Facts:

Took a look at some YOY changes in Rating:

E is the only rating that experiences two consecutive massive increases: 300% in 2014 over 2013, and then another 500% in 2015 over 2014

Actually, 66% of all E-rated Flommy-tagged fics were published between 2014 and 2016

...For a rating into which I rarely-if-ever personally venture, it certainly has a wealth of stats.

Work Length and Completion Status

Combining these two under one header, as they’re pretty tied-together and didn’t yield too many significant results. About 71% of all Flommy-tagged works are Oneshots, which assures that completed works will hold at least the same share within the Completion Status measure before factoring in Multichaps (which brings it up to about 81% complete). I instead put these measures against the others in the hopes of finding some interesting call-outs; after making up a few charts, there was really only one that I felt had a story to tell.

Let’s take a look at the Work Length trend over the years:

While single-chapter works hold the significant majority share, their reign over multichapter works doesn’t fully begin until 2016. In 2013, the Oneshot count was less than half the Multichap count, and the following two years showed a less than 10 work-difference between the majority category and the other. And while the year is not yet complete, 2020 is currently tracking towards following a similar pattern to the early years of the tag.

Additional Relationships

This one is going to serve as our jumping-off point for Part 2, and get us into the motivating factor for my research. Here’s one chart to say it all:

...Yup, that’s less than a quarter of Flommy-tagged works that a) have Flommy as the sole romantically-tagged relationship, or b) have other romantic relationships tagged that are not Oliver/Felicity.

That’s an answer in-and-of-itself, but my research question was two-fold: how else does this break down? How many works tagged for both pairings are compilations, such as oneshot prompt collections where the pairing varies by chapter; how many are OT3s; how many fall into a different category, whether a platonic pairing is improperly tagged or one pairing is the endgame or any other reason that doesn’t fit in any of the other categories?

We’ll get this breakdown--and a zoomed-in look at the measures covered in this installment--in Part 2, coming soon.

#The Great Flommy Tag Analysis 2020 #flommy #this project has become a monster but it's fun but how on earth did this happen

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animeperanima · 5 years

Note

I went to sleep in the meantime but for the send me a character thing: Caesar and/or Gyro? I love my Zeppeli boys and I'm Very interested in your Italian Takes

Caesarino tesorino

Fav thing about them:

the fact that he goes from a highly skilled and controlled individual to Italy's greatest fool as soon as Joseph is thrown into the mix. he looks fancy and graceful but he has a mirror specifically to teach at card games! it's the duality of man *insert italian pinched fingers emoji*

Least fav thing about them:

probably the fact that he doesn't get to do shit in part 2 until he goes to fight Whamuu. because of how the genre was structured poor Caesar got completely overshadowed by the protagonist

Favourite line:

"I can't let my life sputter out. This is the Zeppeli family spirit, from the past to the future! It's the human spirit!"

I love the idea that leaving something behind for someone else to bring into the future is what it means to be human. I've seen a couple stories with this concept and it's close to my heart.

brOTP:

maybe not really a bro relationship but I do love him and Lisa Lisa. he became very close to her and changed deeply due to her teachings. he admires her and she respects him, despite both of them putting up walls for the sake of propriety and self preservation it's clear to me that they cherish each other.

OTP:

Caejose, man. it was my first Jojo ship and it's still in my top 3, they were just too much for me to handle. I feel like they balance each other out: Joseph would have been an inconsiderate brat all his life without Caesar and he in turn would have been a stuck up dipshit.

nOTP:

I haven't really seen him shipped with anyone beside Jojo (as it should be, the boy was smitten) but maybe Caesar x Suzie Q? it comes up sometimes with the OT3 but I just don't see them working as anything more than friends.

Random headcanon:

Caesar lives with the biggest catholic guilt you could ever imagine. he feels like he lost his chance at Heaven because of all the crimes he committed and the vengeful intent that fuelled his youth. he spends a lot of time thinking about his actions and the impact they have on those around him, the balance of good and evil that he has brought in the world.unrelated but on top of being religious he is also supersticious. he will gladly pet a black cat but then he'd turn around and change path to make sure the cat doesn't cross the street in front of him. just in case.

Unpopular opinion:

the boy ain't from Naples, he feels like a Florence boy to me. just please, imagine the many instances of Caesar's "maremma maiala, Jojo" it would be way too funny. also Joseph would pick up on the fact that Caesar's accent is different from those around him and he'd have a field day with the weird C sounds.

Song I associate with them:

You Will Never Know by Imany

I've said this in the tags a bunch of times but I don't think Caesar ever confessed to Joseph or even really told him how much Jojo meant to him. Caesar's arc really is all about a road being cut short and this song works perfectly with that.

Favourite pic of them:

stupid sexy motherfucker, I hate him

Gyro/Jennifer Lopez kin

Fav thing about them:

he is just so competent??????? he knows what he's doing and he does it well. I love how creatively he solves problems, the whole first stage of the race had me screaming, it was just too good. steel balls ain't a functional weapon but somehow he always pulls through with them and them alone?????????? I.... I may have a thing for people who are the best at what they do.

Least fav thing about them:

the fact that he just kinda.... forgot about the kid who was on death's door. like.... you'd think it would be a higher priority on his list of things to worry about. (to be fair, i flew through Steel Ball Run, I wanna re-read it properly once I've read Stone Ocean too; so maybe I'm wrong and Gyro did indeed give a rat's ass about the poor kid)

Favourite line:

"Eat shit, asshole! Fall off your horse!"

"I've got no choice. We're cornered, so I have to teach you. First off, Johnny, let me tell you one thing. Starting now, you can only say the words, 'There is no way I can do this!' four times, and four times only. Alright? Four times."

modern!au Gyro but he's not a doctor, he's a motivational speaker/life coach

brOTP:

I feel like he and Hot Pants could have been wonderful as friends. thankfully there are a few fanfics that have just that. Hot Pants would just be so done with Gyro, entirely done.

OTP:

Gyjo, clearly. which is funny because it has such a horrible ship name but it just works. seriously, you just have to look at how many times Johnny ended the race in a better position than Gyro despite not really caring about the win and the fact that Gyro hasn't slapped him yet to know that fool is head over heels. (yes, I am salty about Johnny; I love him but I am salty anyway)

nOTP:

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh, boh

Random headcanon:

at first he started doing his gags to annoy Johnny; he was used to none of his jokes ever really landing so he started enjoying getting a rise out of people when he kept them coming until they just couldn't take it anymore. turns out that Johnny is a really weird guy with very few friends or people who, y'know, treat him normally so he absolutely loves Gyro's shitty jokes. Gyro was surprised to say the least but having someone actually enjoy his gags is much better than anything else.

Unpopular opinion:

translations that spell his name J.Lo are extremely valid and my faves. I know that Gyro keeps to the part 5 tradition of naming Italian characters after food but J.Lo makes more sense with his real name (Julius could also be Giulio, so it's pretty close) and it's a fricking Jennifer Lopez reference. have you seen how luscious his hair is? his poses????? that's a J.Lo if I've ever seen one

Song I associate with them:

Blitzkrieg Bop by The Ramones - purely for the sound, it fits his shenanigans

and Brother Under The Sun by Hans Zimmer and Bryan Adams - YES IT IS THE SOUDTRACK OF SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON, NO I WILL NOT BACK DOWN ON THIS. this just.... the music and the lyirics and the setting all scream "Gyro to Johnny"

Fav pic of them:

#jjba #character asks #gyro zeppeli #caesar zeppeli #jojo's bizarre adventure #it took me ages to answer sorry #but i really had to think some of these through #i love the zeppelis so muc #it's hard to do them justice #also i'm sorry i keep serving angst whenever i'm asked about my faves #but that's just my way of loving the #*them #and also..... canon gives me a lot to work with #thanks araki

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haledamage · 4 years

Text

Love Yourself Challenge

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favourite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc. ) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

tagged by @queen-scribbles, which is appropriate because a lot of things I’ve written lately have been directly because of her encouragement/ruthless enabling <3

I’m really glad this is narrowed down to only the last year, because otherwise there’s no way I would have been able to narrow it down to only 5. As it is, I still couldn’t do that and I’m kinda gonna cheat :P As such, we’ll start with:

Rhitober and Rhicember!

While these aren’t just one fic (hence why it’s cheating), they’re both major writing challenges that I gave myself and completed! Rhitober was a challenge to write something every day for a month, and Rhicember was a series of winter/Christmas/holiday prompts I did over the latter half of last December. They are various pairings and fandoms (Pillars of Eternity, Dragon Age, Wayhaven Chronicles). I think I’m gonna do Rhitober again this year, but I’ll have a lot more characters and fandoms to choose from then!

I’m actually going to single out one in particular as well from the Rhicember stuff because it deserves special mention.

Smitten

Pillars of Eternity, f!Watcher/Rekke, 3300 words. Kai kisses Rekke, then spends the next few weeks panicking about it before they finally sit down and talk about it.

Boy, Kai/Rekke really blindsided me. I had a prompt (I think in Rhitober, actually) and they were so obviously flirting in the whole thing and then it just snowballed from there. I love writing terrible first kisses; fairytale, fireworks-and-true-love kisses are great, but so are the awkward I-don’t-know-where-to-put-my-hands kisses :D Rekke being so clearly in love with Kai and being much more emotionally wise while Kai is panicking because she has caught feelings and doesn’t know what to do with them is such a fun juxtaposition. Plus, considering Laura Bailey is my voiceclaim for Kai, the scene where she’s talking to Xoti is just “Laura gives herself relationship advice” and that’s fantastic.

The Officer’s Ball

SWtOR, f!Trooper/Aric Jorgan, ~9000 words. Havoc Squad are invited to a fancy dress gala and things don’t go as planned. Pre-relationship, sweet sweet UST goodness while in tuxes and ballgowns.

One of the longest things I’ve ever written that didn’t involve multiple chapters. I have always wanted to write something like this but never found the right setting/opportunity until Ves and Jorgan came along. The flirting between Ves and Aric, the banter between them and Elara, the way the three of them work together so well as soon as things go sideways, this was so fun to write.

The Last to Know

Pillars of Eternity, sometime after Deadfire, 1800 words. f!Watcher/Edér Teylecg. Someone makes an offhand comment that makes Kai and Edér rethink their entire relationship and realize things they probably should have realized a long time ago.

Two people who have been living together for years, who sleep in the same bed, who are raising a child together, who share household assets and list each other as next of kin and are wearing the Lovers’ Light rings, are shocked to learn that people think they’re married. Are even more shocked to learn that maybe they want to be. I love these idiots so much.

Home Sweet Home

Pillars of Eternity, also sometime after Deadfire, ~7000 words. f!Watcher/Aloth Corfiser/Edér Teylecg. Kai has to go visit her family and brings Aloth and Edér along for protection and moral support. Some spoilers for endgame events of both PoE games.

You know, I’m surprised it took so long for this OT3 to happen, but I think that’s because Kai and Edér were busy being oblivious about their feelings for each other. You have not seen the last of these three together, that’s for damn sure. This fic snuck up on me and possessed me and would not let me do anything except write it until it was finished. The end result is surprisingly cathartic, watching Kai finally face down her terrible abusive family and stand up to them feels like a culmination of several years of character development for her. This whole thing is pretty much Kai, Aloth, or Edér doing something badass and the other two looking at them like:

#rhi writes #tag meme #I've done a lot of writing in the last year! I'm very proud of that #considering it was less than three years ago that I finally got over my crippling social anxiety to share my writing at all #the fact that there are so many things on this list is a real testament to how much consistent encouragement and positivity #can do for a person's confidence

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amaikana · 5 years

Link

another fluffy OT3 fic! (been a while since I write one :3) --- Rate: K+ Pairing: OT3/norrayemma Tag(s): Date Night, Fluff, Romance, Inspired by Honeyworks’ Song Note: the italic parts at the separations are me quoting the song’s lyrics :3 ---

You received a voice message (18:06)

“Hi, Emma. I’m sorry. I don’t think I can make it tonight. There are still quite a lot works that I need to get done here. I’m so sorry. Please tell Ray that I’m really sorry too.”

‘To repeat the message: press 1. To reply the message: press—’

Emma clenches her phone.

“…Stupid Norman.”

Does being an adult means to be patient? All the incomparable things are being put on a scale

But because we have ‘love,’ we can still be ourselves Yet we still get struck by the anxiety

* [Ne, Aitaiyo] ((Hey, I miss you))

Emma pouts silently as she gripped the mug in her hands which contains her already cold coffee. From the doorway, Ray—her other boyfriend who’s just gotten back from work and still clad in his formal suit—sighs and approaches her gently.

“Hey. C’mon, don’t keep pouting like that. It’ll make your face all wrinkly faster, you know?” her boyfriend tries to joke. “What’s gotten you so down, anyway? Aren’t you the one who’s most excited for tonight?”

“There’s no ‘tonight,’” Emma grumbles.

“Huh?”

“I said ‘there’s no tonight’! Norman can’t make it! He’s still at work. The plan’s cancelled!”

For a moment, Ray doesn’t say anything. Then, suddenly, Emma feels something landed on top of her head. Ray’s hand. A hand that ruffling her hair without a care in the world, as if she hadn’t just spent a full half-an-hour attempting to stylize it like one of those fancy hairstyles she often sees in magazines.

“Ugh! What are you doing, Raaay?! You just ruined my hair!”

Ray chuckles beside her. “Then just go style it again,” her boyfriend says easily.

“E-eh? Didn’t you hear what I just said? The plan’s canc—”

“Hurry,” Ray cuts her. “I think it’ll only take about forty minutes to drive to the office. The traffic is usually quite packed at this hour, though. So I probably should just use the train, it’ll be faster that way.”

“The…the office? Wait. You mean Norman’s office?!”

Ray doesn’t answer her. Instead, her boyfriend grabs two sets of coats and scarfs from the coat rack and starts dressing himself up. Before opening the door, her boyfriend turns back at her.

“Oh, by the way, can you head to the cinema ahead of us and buy the tickets? I think it’ll take too much time if we go together from here, so Norman and I will just meet you there.”

Baby Girl, your eyes, and nose, and lips Hey, I wanna touch you

The office is almost empty the moment Ray steps into the building. Most of the employee already went home, only a few still choose to stay behind. He presses the elevator button to a floor he remembers well, a part of the office that he and Emma frequently visited.

“What are you doing, staying up ‘till this late?” he says as a greeting. Not surprisingly, Norman is the only one left on that floor.

His boyfriend jumps in surprise and turns at him with an annoyed expression.

“Don’t startle me like that!” Norman complaints. “What are you doing here, anyway? Wait. What time even is it? Shouldn’t you be at the movie with Emma?!”

Ray raises his eyebrows. “So, you’re saying we really should celebrate our anniversary with only the two of us?”

Norman averts his eyes, starting to look a bit guilty at the sarcastic retort. “It’s not that… I mean, it’s just—”

“Well, whatever. If that’s what you want, so be it. Emma and I can still have a good time with only the two of us.”

Ray dumps the plastic bag that he’s been carrying on top of his boyfriend’s desk carelessly. Norman stares at him questioningly.

“What is this?”

“That? Oh, nothing. Just a few cookies that Emma baked this afternoon. Figured you might want some snacks while pulling an all-nighter again.”

He turns around and begins leaving. But before Ray could even take a step away, a hand reaches out, stopping him.

“W-wait!”

Baby Boy, your hands, and habits, and love Hey, I miss you

“W-wait!”

Norman doesn’t know what he was thinking. His hand just automatically reached out the moment Ray started leaving.

His boyfriend turns back around. “What?”

“U-um…”

Ray snorts. A beat later, Norman feels a hand landed on top of his head, ruffling his hair messily.

“Idiot.”

For a second, the thoughts about all the paperwork he wanted to re-read and revise for the nth time again entered his mind. For a second, he hesitates. But……

He shrugs, smiling up helplessly at his dark-haired lover. “…Thank you. Let’s go?”

The more we think about each other, the more it feels our distance grow

The moment Emma arrives at the cinema, her heart drops a bit, realizing her two boyfriends haven’t arrived there yet. Though, taking a deep breath and a firm step, she puts on her best smile before she walks up to the cashier.

“Three tickets for this movie, please.”

The ticketing employee looking at her confusedly. “You’re alone, Miss? This one will start in a few minutes. If you’re waiting for some people, you might want a different schedule, or—”

She shakes her head. “No, it’s fine. They’ll arrive soon.”

Still wearing her cheerful smile, she takes the tickets.

Best smile for best occasion. Also for the people she loves the most.

Baby Girl, your eyes, and nose, and lips Hey, I wanna touch you

It took them about five minutes walk from the office to the station. From there, it should be around twenty minutes before they arrive at the nearest station to the cinema.

The whole way, Ray practically dragged Norman on his feet. Snapping at the sleepy man every few minutes and receiving weird stares from the strangers on the street.

Ray groans for the nth time. He knows that his boyfriend must be very tired from pulling all those late working hours this whole week. ‘The overworking idiot probably even did it without really realizing,’ Ray grumbles inwardly.

But…still! It shouldn’t be this bad, right? Right?!

Ray can feel some white hair strands start tickling his cheek again as the head on his shoulder lolls slightly from the train’s movement. He bites his tongue. Luckily, what would’ve probably been an embarrassing yelp didn’t manage to escape his lips.

‘Stupid! Idiot! Stupid Norman! Why at a time like this?! Why in a public place like this?! Ugh, wake up! Wake up, idiot! This is so embarrassing!’

That’s what he silently complaining, but…

Awkwardly, with his probably now very flushed face, Ray moves slightly and adjusts his sitting position so that his boyfriend can lean on him more comfortably.

He steals a glance at Norman’s fancy watch.

“Still about fifteen minutes until the station…” he mumbles.

Ray sighs, averting his eyes and silently tangling his fingers to his lover.

‘Better put up with this, then.’

Baby Boy, your hands, and habits, and love Hey, I miss you

There’s patience. And there’s “how freaking long anymore do I need to wait for my two stupid boyfriends to arrive” patience. Besides…will they even able to make it here on time?!

Emma doesn’t care whether her probably annoying groaning would earn her another weird stares from the strangers around again. At this rate, she really will strangle them.

“Aaaaargh, stupid Ray! Stupid Norman!”

Just as she said that, her phone rings from a chat notification. She lits up as she reads the sender name.

Ray (21:09) “Emma, I can’t get this idiot out of the taxi. Help.”

Emma frowns confusedly. “…Um, what?”

Swinging back and forth, I recalled it Back when we first gazed at each other’s eyes *

“Are you kidding me?!” Ray groans.

He has tried everything: from tickling, to pinching, to slapping his boyfriend’s face and practically shouting beside his ear. Still, Norman wouldn’t budge!

He has somehow managed to drag his boyfriend to get out of their train and get onto a taxi. But the moment they stepped inside the car stupid Norman immediately slumped onto him again. And now they have arrived, he can’t get his boyfriend’s head off of his lap!

Ray grimaces and glances at the taxi driver apologetically. It’s probably their luck that the dark-skinned woman driver only chuckles and waves him off from the front seat.

“Ahh, young love~ How sweet~”

Feeling desperate, Ray finally resorts to texting their girlfriend.

Emma (21:10) “Eh? What happened?”

“Aaargh, stupid Emma! Just come here already!” he grumbles.

On his lap, Norman’s head lolls again, somehow facing his stomach now.

‘This is so awkward…’

And I remember that moment, When I first touched you

Emma understands what happened the moment she finally sees her boyfriends—who are still adorably cuddling inside the taxi, she notes.

She chuckles. ‘How come Ray doesn’t realize it?’ she muses.

Emma shakes her head. “Norman~ C’mon, it’s wake up time, baby!”

Ray stares at her flatly. “I told you. He won’t budge even though I tried everything on him! How do you think he would wake up if you’re just calling him like th—”

Her boyfriend’s ranting got cut off by a sudden kiss to his cheek. The reaction is immediate: Ray flushes as bright as tomato and starts stammering.

“W-what– wh—”

Emma bursts out giggling. But even her giggles got cut off by another sudden unexpected peck to her cheek.

“This one’s for our best girl.” Norman grins at her before giving a small kiss on her nose.

“You– You were messing with me?!”

The still-red faced Ray starts pushing Norman unceremoniously out of the car. Her white haired boyfriend lands himself on his butt. He whines petulantly at her and Emma eventually can’t contain her laugh anymore—doesn’t mind that it makes her already re-stylized hair all messy again.

They’re basically making a ruckus at the parking lot now. And it takes Norman suddenly asking about what they’re actually supposed to be doing here for them to remember again that the movie they were planning to see together is about to start soon.

…Or rather, already started now.

“Why did you even buy this schedule?!” Ray complaints at her as they’re all running inside the cinema.

“W-well, the sooner the better right? Besides, it’s certainly better than having to wait another few hours for the next schedule, right? Right? Norman! Hey! Defend me!”

“Um, well…I was hoping I could go back home to change my suit first, though…”

“See?! That was an idiotic choice! Idiot!”

“Stop insulting me, stupid Ray! Are you actually my boyfriend or my bully?!”

Halfway through the cinema entrance, they all suddenly remember that they forgot to pay the taxi.

…Which sets another troublesome task, as they need to run back to the parking lot and run again to the cinema.

“Ah, young love~” the taxi driver woman shakes her head.

‘Yeah, it is,’ Emma silently agrees.

It really is.

Hey, I fell in love with you Hey, let’s fall in love again

#norrayemma #tpn full score trio #tpn fic #tpn ot3 #the promised neverland #yaksoku no neverland #fanfic #fanfiction

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smollandtoll · 6 years

Text

HC: Crosbeauty AU OT3

Listen, we know we’ve done a Crosbeauty AU before, but this one has OT3 so it’s totally different. Right? right! LET’S GO!

This HC was a lot of general ideas and moments so I did my best to make a plot out of it?

Imagine if you will, young Sid attending school for stage makeup in Toronto. He spends the majority of his money at Sephora and on rent for a tiny downtown apartment that he splits with Flower. Living the dream!

(Sid and Flower originally met in first year while doing their tech theatre practical courses - Flower couldn’t make a makeup bruise look semi-realistic to save his life and Sid couldn’t get his legs to stop wobbling long enough to climb the scaffolding to change the gels - so they traded favours all semester.)

Whatever is left over goes to food or camera equipment. Although it hasn’t been bad at all lately, his youtube subs have been climbing steadily, past the point of making a little side money and into the area where he is shakily not doing any work other than school and making/editing his videos.

(It helps to have a CBC darling hanging around their apartment and willing to be in his videos as a model as often as he wants. Tanger is such an attention whore, and only gets to wear full suits on the period piece he stars in - so any chance he can get to be seen in his chic clothing and any excuse he comes across to look beautiful is one he jumps at)

In any case the story really begins while Sid is WATCHING his usual youtube roll in the morning - friends, acquaintances, people he’s a fan of, whatever strikes his fancy. It’s then that he sees that Anna - a Russian beauty vlogger in her own right - has updated her channel with a new personal video: THE BOYFRIEND TAG.

Sid is stoked because the video looks like it’s in English - not all of Anna’s are which forces him to use youtube’s dodgy translation closed captions OR just leave emojis in the comments. He also has been kind of dying to see who could possibly get to date Anna, she’s absolutely impossibly beautiful, and funny, and kind of evil. They’ve chatted online before (exchanging tips and giving each other compliments) and her boyfriend - Evgeni (a name in which Sid is unsure he even knows how to pronounce properly) always sounds like a very kind and generous man.

The thumbnail just has the title and a pair of clasped male and female hands so Sid’s interest is instantly PIQUED. He has been so curious about Evgeni and now FINALLY he gets to see.

So of course he loads up the video and does what everyone does and skips to the part where Geno actually comes in and sits down looking flushed and awkward, hat on backwards, waving stiltedly to the camera while Anna positions him exactly how she wants him in the frame. Sid thinks he’s beautiful - not in a traditional way but he looks kind, and has a mobile face, made for emotions. He doesn’t look chiseled or like an instagram model, he looks like a real person who loves Anna very much - enough to appear on a video for the world to see even if he seems a little uncomfortable with the idea. Sid guiltily scrolls into the comments to take the general temperature of the reactions to her boyfriend and find the predictable mishmash of supportive comments Anna has liked and trolls - pretending to be helpful or no - telling Anna she could definitely do better.

Sid would restart the video and watch it properly then, learning Evgeni has a warm voice, heavily accented, and often forgets words in english and looks to Anna with puppy dog eyes to aid him. They seem to have a lot of inside jokes, they seem in love. Sid thinks they are wonderful and probably hopes reverently that one day he might have something like what they’ve created together.

So anyway he definitely sends her a heart eyes emoji and then follows it up with another message: “.......OK UR MAN THO 👀.”

Much later he gets a reply from Anna that is a long string of blushy emojis and the simple:

“You like? He like your video. Always ask if watching ‘boy with mouth for sin’. 😜”

Sid: Am I being invited to a 3way on a different continent?

Flower: I deal with the amount of shit you have in our bathroom I'm not dealing with whatever the fuck that is.

(Flower is a liar though, that shit in the bathroom is half the reason Vero puts up with him sometimes. Sid always lets her pillage whatever she needs when she stays over last minute - also his ring light is A+++.)

Meanwhile Anna is telling Sid about how she could never get G to do a lip exfoliant and apply chapstick regularly but she showed Sid's video to him and then he was like RELIGIOUS WITH HIS BLISTEX. All mouth activities have gotten like 500% better.

Anna: we owe you at least bj.

Sid: I’m definitely getting hit on.

Anna: you also teach him how to style hair, his same as you, but very thin in spots

Sid: oh, I have tips for that!

And then they definitely all meet at vidcon. Girls are like SWOONING over Tanger of course. He and Sid are sharing a booth (how does vidcon work? I’m not doing research for this, I’m going to pretend it’s like every other convention and popular makers have booths to sell merch and meet people???) and Flower is there to like get food and water for them, take photos and some video, and awkwardly wave at people who recognize him from the background of some of Sid's videos.

(usually he shows up as just his disembodied voice yelling in french about whatever he's just burnt and Sid freezing on camera and being like "...................................FLOWER." and Flower's voice just like "....shit sorry Sid!" - youtube commenters who speak french relish in translating what he’s saying in the comments, a particular fan favourite was the time he tried to make a chocolate souffle for Vero’s birthday and could be heard muttering on and off through the whole video, so much so Sid added a disclaimer at the beginning that his roommate was being very loud and worried about his girlfriend and that the viewers should all take pity on him)

So, anyway we’re sure Anna SWANS over, just all intensely long legs, super high heels, hair flowing EVERYWHERE looking like she just came off a runway or a movie set to just EMBRACE Sid in a cloud of delicate perfume and soft hair and cheek kisses. Sid of course freezes like a deer in the headlights while Anna greets him excitedly and apologizes for her shitty english that is sounding like ….pretty great to Sid.

It’s then that Sid notices she’s towing a mildly blushing (and plushy lipped) Geno by the wrist. He’s incredibly tall (although some of it might just be an optical illusion enhanced by his long thin limbs) and looking a little freaked out by the crowd - but when Sid catches his gaze he looks happy and hopeful and maybe a little surprised.

"Oh you're the boyfriend." "I'm big fan." THEY SAY AT ONCE PROBABLY.

Anna: Sid, Zhenya. Zhenya, Sid. (introducing them like she hadn’t just met Sid herself a moment ago) Boys are going to get along so well, can just tell.

Then, so much blushing.

We want Flower and Tanger knowing SOMETHING was going on but not exactly what...just watching with dawning beautiful comprehension, eyes pinging back and forth between these statuesque russians and their clumsy awkward darling Sid.

Okay so at some point G and Sid are going to get left alone together, in a hotel room above the convention centre. Probably Sid’s, probably for a nap or something ridiculous like that, or maybe Anna just slips out to go get her curling wand, because while Sid has a lot of beauty products his hair is pretty much wash and wear.

Anyway, somehow Sid ends up giving G a once over with his kit. It probably comes up naturally, like while Geno was poking through his entire makeshift rig Sid set up in the best lighting of the room. Humming thoughtfully at the stacked palettes of eyeshadow, running curious fingers over the fluffiest brushes. Sid inquiring about Anna’s supplies, if Geno ever ends up in her makeup like this, if she’s ever pinned him down and dealt with his eyebrows (Sid guesses no by the state of them, even though the wild & natural look is in right now). Geno would mumble about how he doesn’t let her - she does crazy things, looking like a mermaid one afternoon or a frosty queen the next - he doesn’t want to look like that.

Sid: What do you want to look like?

Geno: *deep self conscious shrug that mostly only conveys that he’d probably like to look not like what he currently does*

And then before Sid can really think about it he’s offering to try, nothing outlandish, something basic, to highlight his warm eyes maybe, clean up the lines of his mobile mouth. Basically the Tanger special - scratch that, even less than Tanger, Tanger likes to look carved and flawless like a Kardashian.

There’s always a gentle intimacy about doing someone’s makeup, focusing intently on the features of their face, feeling the down on their cheeks against the heel of your hand, touching their hair for stability. They’re quiet together as Sid works, just the sweep of his brushes and the click of the compacts, a quiet instruction to look up or down, to pout and smush. Normally Sid talks through doing makeup on others, explaining to them or to his viewers what he’s doing, but this moment seems sacred somehow.

Through it all Geno’s eye contact doesn’t waver. It’s strangely, deeply intimate, and Sid tries to recall if it felt like this when he did Flower’s makeup before, his hapless guinea pig. Tanger was always on his phone, or instagramming the whole thing live and his attention was diverted, and Sid never felt this out of control even as he was the one holding the pencil against someone elses’ eyeball. It’s an unwavering, magnetic kind of eye contact, and as Sid leans close and smudges under one eye with his thumb, other hand bracing the back of G's head/neck that’s when Anna probably returns and they spring apart like she’d just caught Sid giving her boyfriend a lap dance.

But after processing what she’s seeing she flings herself onto the bed excitedly: "YOU GET RID OF DARK CIRCLES? I ALWAYS TRY, HE NEVER LET! WHAT ARE YOU USING?"

He and Geno probably share a meaningful look before looking away shyly and that’s the start of a beautiful friendship, relationship, throuple or something. Anna being there breaks the tension, but there’s still something hovering in the air every time they hang out. It’s probably all very torrid at first, Sid talking to Anna on a level like friends but separately talking to Geno about other deeper things - worried it might be crossing a line, worried it’s already crossed the line long ago that he feels a lot of attraction for G - but like Anna is SO BEAUTIFUL. And Geno and Anna flirt around him all the time, even while Anna leans against him while they talk and Geno makes sweet, sincere eye contact and says startlingly vulnerable things.

Sid is confusion.

To Anna, it’s completely transparent exactly what’s happening. She’s completely in favour of making this twosome a full blown party. Sid is sweet and generous and quietly funny and can do a smokey eye better than anyone she’s ever met before. And it’s really cute watching Evgeni get all flummoxed and romantic - not that she doesn’t still make him like that, but it’s all new all over again, and he’d do anything for Sidney’s pout which Anna doesn’t have any problems with taking advantage of. Zhenya’s had a very sweet and quite evident (although barely acknowledged) crush on Sid for a while, poking his head in when she’s watching Sid’s latest videos, concentrating intently doing his first ever sugar scrub to Sid’s exacting instructions, suddenly paying more attention when Anna mentions a new comment from Sid. It’s all been very tame, but very promising, and in person Sid is even more of a joy.

We want Sid eventually -when they live in the same place, trying to make their dynamic work in the real world outside of extended vacations to visit each other- constantly doing little things for Geno's face, like a teensy bit of mascara and some foundation a bit of stippling to fill in his frankly sadly patchy beard hotness quotient up 100%. A few years later, the stippling extends to the temples.

Anna just looking on adoringly or like...Sid and Anna mildly squabbling over what look to do next while Geno just watching videos of animals snuggling and waits for them to be finished.

BONUS

Tanger was actually the one that got Sid into vlogging. Tanger loves looking at himself? and hearing himself speak? and ranting? so he like had a vlog already. It was kind of performance art, kind of show reel for casting agents at the time.

So basically he kept bothering Sid to give him touch-ups like on the day to day and Sid eventually was like "wtf man."

Tanger without bothering to explain further: VLOGS

So then Sid was like naturally interested in the makeup ones and there were no boys? at least no boys doing like chill guy makeup, and glam, AND theatre???? So he started Crosbeauty and the rest is kind of history.

#headcanons from the icy void #Sid/geno/anna #sidgenoanna #hockey RPF #OT3 #I'M SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG AND WAS KIND OF SO-SO

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juniper-and-lamplight · 6 years

Text

Recent Reads - May 19, 2018

Multifandom--Dirk Gently, Sherlock Holmes, Harry Potter, a bit of Star Trek--and a mix of old and new, as usual. I've already recced some of these fics individually, but life's too short not to be effusive about the things you love, so I'm including them here too <3 Recs under the cut...

The Answer to a Question - @a-candle-for-sherlock - 22k, T, Holmes/Watson

"These are the stories behind the story we know: what really happened to Watson's marriage, and what made him follow Holmes to Reichenbach; what secrets were hidden in the mountains, and what a dead man wrote to the man he left behind." This fic made me Feel Feelings and also made me (almost) late for work.

To Join These Men in Holy Matrimony - A_Candle_For_Sherlock - 10k, T, Holmes/Watson

"Sherlock Holmes is a contradiction, an enigma, a force; at once the most generous spirit and the most self-contained man I have ever known. I've known more of him, I think, than anyone on earth. Yet for years I'd learned nothing about his boyhood, nor his fears, nor his future hopes, nor his father’s name. I never felt it as a lack until I knew he loved me." A moving story about family, forgiveness, self-acceptance, and historical queer marriages.

The Narrator - candle_beck - 8k, M, Holmes/Watson

"Watson is a degenerate gambler, a reluctant romantic, and the least reliable narrator in the history of the written word." A brief, gritty glimpse of my favorite Victorian disasters.

where the falling angels meet the rising apes - @cosmicoceanfic - 26k, T, AU (crossover, Dirk Gently & Discworld)

"A story of Death and the boy who could see him, through the years." In my sadness over finally finishing the Tiffany Aching books, I allowed myself to indulge in Discworld/Dirk Gently fics, and this one was an especially satisfying blend of the two universes. Highlights include Dirk & Bart's friendship, and Farah having a stare-off with Death.

you could bring my healing - cosmicocean - 38k, T, Dirk/Todd, AU (fantasy)

"Where the whole thing takes place in a fantasy world that is not unlike but not quite mostly for legal reasons Ankh-Morpork, Dirk is generally an existential dragon, Todd is a washed up electrical lute player, everyone is kind of awkward and useless except maybe for Amanda, and there is a boatload of fantasy references, plus one (1) Star Wars one." Sheer escapist delight.

Start at the Beginning - @dont-offend-the-bees - 61k, T, Dirk/Todd (AU, fake relationship)

”Y’know, make it up. Pretend to be in a relationship with someone. Can’t be that hard to fake, right?” it was still a stupid idea, but Todd was actually pretty invested in it now. He leaned forward, folding his arms. “C’mon, think about it- you got any other desperate homeless friends?” Takes a wacky ensemble piece and transforms it into a different sort of wacky ensemble piece. Sparing use of fake dating tropes makes this fic all the more enjoyable.

Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder: A Lovely Sentiment, But Rarely Applies To Anniversary Gifts - DontOffendTheBees - 7k, M, Dirk/Todd

"In which Dirk and Todd celebrate three years together- but forgot they were supposed to be doing that." Featuring: Todd Brotzman's "funhouse of self-loathing," Dirk & Todd's mutual uselessness, Amanda & Farah's mutual exasperation, winks to Douglas Adams canon, and a clever meta twist.

How We Go Together - ekb112 - 3k, E, Kirk/Spock

"'Have you ever been in love, Spock?' A series of moments in Jim and Spock's relationship." I like a semi-annual spot of K/S. It's a classic ship for a reason, and this fic scratched the itch just right.

Easy As Breathing - electricteatime | @kieren-fucking-walker - 1k, G, Dirk/Todd

"Their days start together. Warm and close, but all elbows and knees, tangled in covers and noses buried into hair. It takes time to swim up through the pull of sleep to break the surface, but when they come to they wake up to each other." A lovely soft distillation of a relationship.

Dress You Up in My Love - electricteatime - 3k, T, Dirk/Todd

“'So, what? Your solution is a pair of skin tight leopard print pants? How is that better than anything I’ve worn?'

Dirk just grins wildly at him, it’s the most like himself he’s looked in days. 'Put them on.'” A fluffy missing scene fic with a wonderful sense of interiority. (How is electricteatime is so good at characterization?!?)

A Flame Undamped - Frayach, read by wench_fics - 5k, 40min, M, Harry/Draco

"A happy ending. Because I can finally imagine one." Hurt/comfort doesn't even BEGIN to cover this sequel to The Price We Pay for Wings. No one does pain and poignancy--and sometimes, healing--like Frayach.

Saturn in Retrograde - gooseflesh - WIP series, M, Dirk/Todd

"As with most things in Dirk Gently's life, things are fine until they're not. A mystery and minor inconvenience for Todd Brotzman takes a terrifying turn when Dirk insists on investigating, and it'll take more than a hunch for them to hold onto to all that they've built." I'm not typically an angst gremlin, but I can't stop reading this WIP, even as the characters' situation worsens exponentially.

Death by Kittenshark - howldax - 1k, G, Dirk/Todd

"'You know,' Dirk says sternly, 'if you murder me, there will be nobody around to feed you.'" Cats (even cats who are also sharks) are gonna cat. Charming and fluffy.

i was born in a summer storm (i live there still) - janeseyre - 10k, G, Farah & Todd & Dirk

"Farah confronts the vestiges of her past as she, Dirk, and Todd travel east to visit her mother. It turns out Farah isn’t as over her father’s death as she thought she was." A deeper look into Farah’s families, both biological and chosen; full of lovely little smile moments and Farah getting the closure she deserves.

The Burning Heart - @may-shepard - 119k, M, John/Sherlock, AU (post s3 fix-it)

"Although he’s certain he’ll never get over Sherlock, John plans to move on, and build a new life with Mark, unaware that Sherlock is not quite as dead as he appears, and that Mark is hiding secrets of his own." As is my habit with zeitgeist-y fics, I didn't get around to this one until well after the rest of the fandom, but I'm glad I did. Here's to an assassin plot that's actually plausible and compelling!

The Easiest Way - nntkiwff - WIP, T, Dirk/Todd, Farah/Todd (“basically OT3”)

"'Is that everything?'

'Yes, essentially,' Dirk says, as Todd is saying, 'I don't have magic powers.'" A slow burn WIP, set immediately after the return from Wendimoor, featuring multiple perspectives (including Ken!), in-depth characterization, and some excellent lines, like this one about Farah: “She says all of this as though she is ashamed of being cursed, instead of proud that she blew up an evil warlock.”

Blood Magic and Rebirth (or, The One Where They Are All Feminist Academics) - @notcaycepollard - 1k, G, gen (Harry Potter)

"Moon cups, Luna thinks. Moon cups and blood magic. And she remembers the old itch under her skin, and a music box fluttering into a flock of birds, and wonders just how powerful it could be." This is 1000% headcanon for me now.

A Little Bit Scandalous - @oneprotagonistshort - 1k, E, Dirk/Todd

"Dirk Gently was self-aware enough to admit that he had… a thing. A quirk. One of those idiosyncratic little peculiarities that made up a tiny part of his personality. A kink. He just liked that extra edge; the need to be quiet or someone might hear, the blood pounding in his ears while he stayed hyper-alert for footsteps, the way Todd kissed him so urgently that he lost his breath." I especially appreciated the characterization behind the kink in this one.

Relative Distance - Quesarasara | @itsnotgonnareaditselfpeople, read by @lockedinjohnlock-podfics - 45k, 5hrs, E, John/Sherlock

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." One of the author's tags on this fic is "What if everyone just acted like a damn adult for a change?", which really clarifies how the fic differs from the later seasons of the show.

it's an institute you can't disparage - @shortcrust - 19k, T, Dirk/Todd

"Todd wakes up beside Dirk Gently four years to the day after having met him realises - abruptly and with categoric certainty - that he wants to do so every day for the rest of his life. What the fuck, he thinks." Hilarious, insightful, and absolutely nails a) the ridiculousness and pathos of Todd Brotzman mired in needless self-doubt, and b) my favorite Ship Dynamic: compatible disasters.

there's cell reception on this widow's walk - strix_alba - 2k, T, Farah/Tina

"In which Tina sort-of-kind-of asks Farah to stay with her in Bergsberg, and Farah kind-of-sort-of wants to say yes." Awkward flirting, Farina styles! Tina mentally describes Dirk & Todd & Farah as a “bunch of hot, uptight weirdos,” which is p e r f e c t.

Just Like That - @sussexbound (SamanthaLenore) - 8k, E, John/Sherlock

"For the first time in what feels like years he WANTS." The perfect combination of unf and feeeels.

Further fic recs | Fic Bookmarks

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fanfiction-wordsmith · 7 years

Photo

So, I wrote this in response to a new to Nonnie on my fanfiction blog and thought the information might be helpful for others, so wanted to post it here!

A sort of introductory guide to things that will help a new reader enjoy their journey through the vast world of fanfic without bumps and messes! Fairly long with my thoughts intertwined! Enjoy!

Pairing | Ship | Shipping | OTP

pairing–refers to the primary relationship in the story (some stories have more than one)

ship–the root of this term is ‘relationshp’, and implies a romantic relationship not platonic

otp–'one true pair’ (alternately, some fans have a NoTP), and it is a heartfelt love for a particular pairing in a fandom

ship/otp/pairing is UNIVERSALLY accepted to refer to a romantic/sexual relationship. It is RARELY used to depict characters as ‘just friends’, and to be honest, in most fandoms I have written for it’s frowned upon because it creates confusion in labeling. It’s best to presume any fic that has a 'ship’ name, 'otp’, or 'pairing’ listed that these things denote a romantic/sexual relationship between the two characters.

These terms are generally listed as character a/character b, and there’s a whole lot of crazy nonsense about who is dominate and who is the top and who is the bottom and all of this stuff that has actually caused fanwars and such which is completely ridiculous and I’m not even going to get into here.

Examples:

pairing: Yamada Ryosuke/Chinen Yuri

ship: Yamada Ryosuke/ Chinen Yuri

otp: Yamada Ryosuke/Chinen Yuri

or simply Yamada Ryosuke/Chinen Yuri <–this is a relationship tag, not a character tag. A character tag will not have the / in between them. The / denotes they are in a relationship, whereas if they were not they would be listed as Yamada Ryosuke, Chinen Yuri

Personally, I don’t put that much thought into which character is listed first, so A/B denotes absolutely NOTHING about the characters in my story or their sexual preferences.

It is VERY COMMON among all fandoms to denote this as SHIP NAMES instead of A/B. So if character A is Sally and character B is Robert, the fandom will refer to them commonly as 'Salbert’ or 'Robly’ or any combination of the name.

In this case there will be no note such as pairing, ship, otp, relationship, etc.

On my post that spurned this entry, an anonymous reader had been taken by surprise when my two male characters were involved in a romantic/sexual relationship. In the tagging and intro to that story, the fact that I called it a 'Yamachii’ (the ship name of the two characters) story is in and of itself meant to tell the reader that it is about Yamada and Chinen in a romantic relationship. This is a very common practice.

If you are going to read a lot of different fandom fics you’ll want to be very sensitive to this as A LOT of fics involve m/m or f/f or m/p ships. If you see terms like those above from your fandom then you need to open the fic with the understanding there’s a 99% chance that the content of the story will be about a relationship that is romantic/sexual in nature.

I couldn’t be sure if my reader was bothered merely by the content being simply m/m being in a relationship or if it was more along the lines of the explicit sexual content that appeared later in the story.

This is where the commonly used rating system comes into play:

(there’s been a movement to use a fanfic created rating system due to copyright issues from the whatever arrogant association thinks they can own the combination of letters below--it isn’t nearly universal enough for me to outline it here, as I find most writers are still using these ‘cease and desist’ provoking letters to signify their rating.)

Ratings:

G–non-offensive, suitable for all audiences

PG–some content may be included that isn’t geared for those who are younger or sensitive (like language for example) but these fics will not include, or if it is included it will be very MILD: overt language, sexual content, or violence

PG-13–content includes mild language and sexual content, depictions of violence

R–content includes adult themes–language, situational, sexual, violence, etc. but does not contain explicit depictions or words

NC-17–strongest rating, story will contain graphic or explicit sexual descriptions, language, and/or violence, must be 18 or older to read the story

and the additional term:

NSFW–'not safe for work’–stories that contain any element that is explicit in sexual nature that would make them sketchy to read while in a public setting where someone could potentially see (originally work, but now is understood to be coffee shops, libraries, etc.) Often stories will have a rating, as well as be labeled NSFW depending on the content and language expressed in the story

Since my story was labeled both NC-17 and NSFW the reader would know that there is explicit content, and in all probability in relationship based fics, it’s okay to go into it assuming it is sexual in nature.

It may also be beneficial to know some stories label 'relationship types’, though keep in mind–not all authors will feel the need to denote these kinds of details depending on how accepted they are in the fandom. However, the most commonly used types are m/f (male/female), f/f (female/female), m/m (male/male), and mp/OT3 (multiple partners or 'one true’ 3–>or more!) If you see these denotations it is commonly accepted that you will understand that these are referencing a romantic/sexual relationship and not a platonic one. Some stories will be labeled ‘femslash’ or ‘femmeslash’ (f/f) or ‘slash’ (m/m) as an alternative.

Author’s Warnings:

Along the same vein, most authors will also use warnings:

BDSM (or any combination of those four letters because not all stories will contain all of the elements) = Bondage Domination Sadism Masochism: Any story with the presence of bondage, dominance/submission, humiliation, punishment, pain play. Ideally, any fic with these attributes will be clearly labeled only because it freaks out people who are not necessarily looking for this kind of setup.

bondage (part of BDSM but the most common aspect of that which is used most often on its own)= use of physical restraint to heighten sexual experience–not when one character is kidnapped and tied up or things like that–this is universally used to denote its use in a sexual context.

character death–I know that a lot of authors HATE to put this warning on their fic if there really is a death in it, but I find that any author worth their weight will soldier through this for the sake of their readers. There are a few kinds of stories that will be greatly impacted if the death is revealed–in that case most authors will put a lot of effort into ensuring that the reader understands where the story is going.

kink/squick–something within a story that the author has no issue with but is concerned that some readers may be completely freaked out by. This is often listed in context with sexual content, though it can be multiple types.<–subjective and your 'issue’ may not be listed by the author

triggers–this is where an author will point out any elements of their story that could potentially offend or bother their readers, or at worse actually trigger a flashback or panic attack in someone who has survived trauma. This is VERY subjective and even the most conscientious author can miss a label inadvertently because whatever the trigger is they never imagined it as one. Common trigger warnings include suicide, slavery, rape, torture, self-harm, abuse, death, incest etc.

note about triggers: because of the subjective nature of triggers it’s important that a reader not put all of the responsibility onto the author to protect them from content that will be problematic for them! If a reader realizes that the story is moving in a direction that will become a trigger for them, they are responsible for hitting the back button even if it’s not labeled with a trigger. Trigger warnings are a KINDNESS from authors, because they often compromise the delivery of certain elements of their story when they reveal them–which I’m not gonna lie, I sometimes struggle with. I always put them, but I understand why some authors do not. Let’s look at it this way, main-stream published works do NOT put 'warnings’ on their content for this reason AND the fact that they take ZERO responsibility for handling reader’s choice to read the book.

consent warnings–this includes

consensual (not actually denoted as a warning–simply here for reference) all parties are capable of making conscious decisions and are in agreement to the sexual contact

’dub-con’ (dubious consent–a kind of situation where the consent is questionable, can be true in the story for many different reasons including plot device (think of two people who must engage in activity against their will but agree because it will be mutually beneficial), because their judgement is impaired by drugs or alcohol, or even because they are not mentally capable of making a consensual decision.

Despite this having a kind of overlap with rape for the sake of clarity–it is almost always labeled as two different warnings.

non-con/rape–no consent, sexual content exists in the story that is unwanted and/or forced, does not always end in rape which is why the rape tag exists as an additional warning

I thought if you’re new to reading fanfic I would also put together a list for you of some common words, tags, and labels you will see!

Types

(basic insight into a story’s tone, a single story can be more than one type, please know this is not an exhaustive list!)

angst–basically a way to say the author is going to use the characters in the story to rip your heart out, stomp all over it, and attempt to destroy your spirit with fiction. Like the author wants to torture you with their words by destroying all the good and happy things in the universe. (sometimes angst stories will offer a bit of comfort before the end of the story, but if the amount of 'fixing’ is extreme this would be better labeled as hurt/comfort instead)

a/u–alternate universe: any plot, setting, or personality in the story that goes against the known canon for an established work.

Example: Harry Potter being a normal guy who runs a business selling magic supplies.

It is generally understood that this is pretty much ANY 'real person’ fic all the time, so most authors of that kind of fic do not mark it a/u unless it is something like the Idol/singer/actor/figure is no longer an Idol but a businessman or bartender, or works at a cafe, or something like that.

crack–a story that is so completely outrageous, unbelievable, and utterly insane that you couldn’t take it seriously if you wanted to. Generally, these are written to be fun, with no other motive, and should not be taken seriously–though, admittedly, I’ve read some crack fic that I find I could actually label a/u–so I don’t tend to speak in absolutes.

The authors of these fics are shameless (believe me I’ve written a few!) and meant to be addictive to their audience. (the 'crackfic’ idea is that the only way the author could have produced such a monstrosity is to be high on crack)

crossover–when a story has content of any sort from more than a single fandom. This would be like a story about Percy Jackson attending Hogwart’s.

dark–the fic contains elements that are morally sketchy or evil, often these kinds of stories have disturbing content (and shouldn’t be confused with 'angst’)

rpf/rps–real person fiction/slash, stories that feature a real life person, celebrity, historical figure, etc. This kind of fic is controversial, though I can admit I’m cloudy on why.

Right now on Broadway we have the smash hit 'Hamilton’ which is technically a (*gasp*) 'rpf’ and no one who is a fan of HISTORY is losing their crap over it. Just saying. I’m pretty put out by the way 'rpf’ is treated across multiple fandoms to be honest, and I think people should just click away if they don’t want to read it instead of being all butthurt over it.

fluff/fluffy–a story that does not contain angst, often comforting and uplifting to read. Really, generally, they are full of happy, joy-filled, blissfully sweet scenes that are meant to be read with a smile. (can be combined with other attributes to better define it: fluffyromance, fluffysmut, fluffydomestic, etc)

genderbend/swap–a character is changed from canon sex to another. Can be portrayed multiple ways, whether meant to be shocking if done through magic or something like that but often it is just where the author has taken the character’s gender that is canon and written it so that they have always been another gender.

hurt/comfort–so this one isn’t always labeled, but it is meant to denote a story that may contain angst and suffering, but that it will ALSO contain equal amounts of support, love, and comfort.

self-insert/reader-insert–relatively new to the fanfiction scene, and more popular in certain fandoms over others, these fics are written to allow the reader to imagine themselves in the story.

A lot of authors will refuse to add any details at all to the insert character, though I’ll admit, I often add details because it feels too flat without them–and to be honest, I am probably not doing it the commonly accepted way lol

smut/porn/lemon/lime–story contains graphic depiction of sexual contact

And finally, a few terms that will help you navigate the fanfiction world:

headcanon–an author’s personally applied thoughts and characterizations to the established canon. Often this is meant to denote that while the idea isn’t known within the canon–there is little to no reason why it couldn’t be true. There’s no such thing as a wrong headcanon–as they are specific to each fan within a fandom–so if someone is blasting about it being wrong you can tell them to simmer down, because it’s JUST a PERSONAL interpretation.

OC–original character created by the author that plays a primary role in the story

OOC–out of character, personality of a canon established character falls outside of the accepted norm. This has different levels of acceptance to be honest, and it varied widely from fandom to fandom.

one-shot–a single story that reads as a stand alone. Generally, but not always, they are not continued as a chaptered fic is, though they can be created within a collection that features the same world established in the first one-shot. These are not related to other stories by the author–if they are then they are generally considered 'outtakes’ instead.

canon–in agreement with original source, understood dynamics and facts of the content according to the original book, movie, show, manga, anime, etc.

prompt–a story idea that is given to help an author write a story

drabble–okay, so this is really open to debate right? Because even fanfic authors can’t figure out what the crap a drabble is most of the time. It was ORIGINALLY a story that is exactly 100 words in length.

Most author’s basically say 'screw that’ (I do, sorry, not sorry) and use the word to describe any small headcanon, musing, or tiny fic that isn’t big enough to be labeled a 'one-shot’.

There is another word that is sometimes used for works that go over 500 words which is ’ficlet’ but I honestly don’t see this used often, despite being acceptable.

I find, personally, the difference in a 'one-shot’ and a 'drabble’ to be whether there is exposition and resolution to the content.

Whew, that was a lot of info and you read this far, then thank you! I’m sure I have overlooked some terms and ideas here, as no single list can be completely exhaustive of something as broad at fanfiction, so if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to let me know!

#fanfiction #writing #fanfiction guide #reading fanfiction #writer #author #helpful writing #writing help #resources #resources for writers #some goodies I love #fanfiction writing

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sandpapersnowman · 7 years

Text

[PREACHER SECRET SANTA] i must be dreaming (or we’re onto something)

woo!! posting a little later in the day than expected but it is all in the name of Quality bc my gf has spent the last like 4 hours editing with me and she singlehandedly polished this stone into a Gem :’)

for the lovely @homelygrantaire who asked for ‘con artist cassidy/jesse/tulip’

it’s also on ao3 with proper tagging and links!

explicit, all fun and consensual, ot3!

This is the third hotel room they've been in since the talk happened, and they all came clean about their feelings and they all kissed it out.

But that's the furthest they've gone.

Yet.

"'Con artist' implies, like, betrayal," Cassidy says. "That's what 'con' stands for, y'know? 'Confidence'? Like, you gain someone's confidence, y'know, their trust, and then you fuck them over."

Tulip rolls her eyes.

"Okay, but it doesn't have to mean complicated shit," she replies. "If I tell someone they can trust me and I'll pay them back tomorrow, and then I don't, that's still a con."

"Sure, but what's artistry about that?" Cassidy scoffs. "That's, like, a con trick or something. Or just being a dick. Con art would be an elaborate plan to pay them back, and then paying part of it, but later they let you in their house to make a phone call and you steal a bunch of their shit."

"That's just robbery, Cass."

Cassidy thinks for a moment.

“Yeah, I guess it was,” he mutters, like he’s done that exact thing before. Of course he has. "Okay," he accepts, "what about this?"

He sits up on the motel couch and shuffles his ass to the edge; it's the position that means he's got it, the next thing he says is gonna be genius.

"The shell game," he says. "Or cups, or cards, or whatever. You put a ball under a cup and shuffle the cups around and have someone try to follow it."

"Yeah," Tulip says, "you let them win a couple times and then when you get them to make a bigger bet you swap out the ball without them seeing, or swap the card, or whatever."

"Yes! That's con art."

"Slapping some paper cups around is art but a good lie isn't?"

"I never said that," he says quickly, and points at her. "You know I love your lies.”

She snorts.

"Since when are you the expert on con artistry, anyway?" she asks. "Last I checked the only thing you were an expert of was getting on Jesse's nerves."

He snorts too, and, speak of the Devil, Jesse returns from a convenience store run.

"Jesse!" Cassidy barks. If he reels Jesse into the conversation first, he'll take his side, right? "Help us settle something."

Jesse sets the bags of microwave meals and alcohol on the big desk every motel always seems to have.

"One of these days," Jesse sighs, "you're going to run out of things to argue about, and I'm gonna come home to dead silence and have a stroke."

Cassidy and Tulip both snort, a mimicked, almost-identical sound that's arisen from spending so much time together, perfectly in sync, and Jesse smiles between the two of them.

"What is it now?"

He takes his jacket off and tosses it on the bed before he sits beside Tulip. Only one of her legs is hanging far enough off the end to touch the carpet, sitting with one crossed over the other.

"First of all, it's not an argument." She kisses him 'hello'.

Jesse freezes up against her.

He knows that Cassidy is in on this now, and none of them have any problems with it. It's great; it feels like all of his and Tulip's rough edges have been sanded down just enough for Cassidy to slot himself into their world. It's good.

But he's also more than aware that they've all been dancing around the actual sex part of all three of them being together. The way Tulip has brushed his hair back with her fingers and re-crossed her legs so her ankle catches his is just a bit too much contact for a 'hello'. It’s definitely instigating something.

He can feel Cassidy's eyes on them and that makes him blush more than Tulip's mouth does.

She finally pulls away, casual as can be, and returns to their conversation as though Jesse's not sitting on the edge of the bed with his fists in the sheets, looking halfway toward debauched.

"And second," she continues, voice as level as a gun to his head, "it's not a who's right, who's wrong thing, anyway."

Cassidy is smiling at them both with that big, lazy grin that shows all his teeth and looks dangerous if you can't catch the spark in his eye.

"Okay," Jesse says. "So what is it?"

Neither of them speaks. Glancing from one to the other again, he realizes that now they've both got the same expectant look.

"What?"

Cassidy scoffs. "Do I not get a kiss hello, Jess?"

Oh, the offense in his voice.

Jesse swallows. "Didn't know you wanted one," Jesse says, instead of 'you big dramatic baby' or 'you scheming fuckers' or 'I'll give you a lot more than a kiss if it'll wipe that smirk off your face'.

Cassidy stands smugly (and if anyone can be smug just by standing up, it's Cassidy) and puts himself at the end of the bed, his knees almost touching Jesse's. He isn't straddling him, or crowding between his legs, but the way Cassidy stands over him, waiting, says that he won't be bending down to kiss him until they get more comfortable.

Jesse chooses the less nerve-wracking option and slides his hands over Cassidy's thighs, slowly, and barely curls his fingers as though he'd like to pull him closer.

Cassidy follows the ghost of the motion, brings his knees up on either side of Jesse's hips as though he did go through with it, and Jesse breathes a shaky exhale when Cassidy settles his weight on his thighs.

"You alright?" Tulip asks quietly.

It's obvious now that this is a thing, something Tulip and Cassidy have both conspired about to ease Jesse into the thing without him having to directly address how bad he wants it. They know him and the second either of them pushes too far, they know he'll tell them to stop, but in a hundred years he'd never ask for any of it out of fear or anxiety or something).

"I'm good," Jesse whispers to her, but his eyes haven't left Cassidy's grinning mouth, unfamiliar lips thinner than Tulip's but equally inviting, screaming please, Jesse, kiss me.

Cassidy waits until Jesse's focus flicks back up to his eyes like he's asking permission, and then he closes the distance. Jesse's mouth is every bit as warm as he'd hoped, and after a few hesitant seconds, Cassidy tilts his head more to make it deeper, more involved, and Jesse groans into it.

They've kissed before, drunk or at Tulip's request or just a good morning peck on the cheek while they're both still too tired to overthink it -- but never with such blatant intent.

Cassidy's hands move from staying safely at his own sides to lightly hold onto Jesse's shoulders, and that is the right call because Jesse's hands press, up his thighs and then his hips and finally settle with one hand on his lower back and the other cradling his side. He’s holding him closer than they've ever been as he pulls Cassidy flush against his chest.

"Shit," Cassidy groans into his mouth.

Jesse feels cool fingers at the back of his neck, but they aren't Cassidy's. Tulip's fingers thread into the hair at the base of his skull and tug, not painfully but not gently. He lets her separate them so she can guide Jesse’s mouth back to hers.

He feels Cassidy's fingers next, his knuckles light over Jesse’s collarbone as he starts undoing shirt buttons.

Jesse continues kissing Tulip, but feels his way to Cassidy's front for the hem of his shirt -- nothing buttoned or tucked in like Jesse's, just a gaudy T-shirt he stole from the last laundromat they passed through, and when his hands move under it, Cassidy's hands move to meet his instead to help him get it off.

He had closed his eyes kissing Cassidy, and then Tulip, but he opens them and pulls back so he can take Cassidy in. He's seen him shirtless before, but never with an excuse to really look.

He can't help running his hands over Cassidy's tattoos while he looks at them; some seem much, much older than others, and he briefly wonders which is the oldest. Some are smooth, properly done so they don't leave scar tissue, and others are raised only enough to notice when you're running your fingers down them or rubbing a thumb softly along its edge.

"I like this," Cassidy says, breaking through his haze. "Sweet, speechless Jesse."

Jesse swallows against his dry throat and tries to laugh, but Cassidy is pushing him back so he can undo the rest of his shirt buttons.

He hesitates at the last of them, hands directly above Jesse's belt buckle.

"Do you want me to...?"

Cassidy runs a thumb over the smooth metal on his buckle. Do you want to go the rest of the way with this? Are you comfortable with that?

Jesse sits up on his elbows and looks down at himself, and where Cassidy’s hips meets his. It almost looks ridiculous because they’re both hard and still mostly-dressed, but he wants the image of them seared in his head.

He nods. Cassidy beams.

He opens Jesse’s pants and pushes them under his ass, and they both laugh when Cassidy has to shuffle completely off the bed to get them down over his feet. Cassidy takes his jeans off while he’s up, and God, Jesse can see half the detail of his dick through his thin, beat-up underwear. His face goes a few shades redder, and he covers it for a moment by pulling his undershirt off.

Cassidy is grinning at him when his shirt is discarded and he can see again. His grin redirects itself to Jesse’s left.

“Tulip?” he asks. “You joining us?”

Jesse had almost forgotten she was there, even with the weight dipping the bed in beside him.

“Jesse?” she asks. “Your call.”

“Yeah,” he says without hesitation. “Of course, if you want.”

She slides off the bed and turns her back to Cassidy, both of them now directly in front of Jesse and both looking like they want to eat him alive.

“Unzip me.”

Cassidy obeys easily, like he’s spent his whole life waiting to hear those words.

He ducks his head to kiss her cheek as he pulls her zipper, and something ugly and possessive rips through Jesse’s stomach out of habit, but then Tulip’s smile goes soft at him, and the feeling is forgotten in favor of heat.

“Slower,” Tulip whispers, and Cassidy obeys that, too.

His mouth moves down to her neck, kissing past her jaw and pecking under her ear as he makes his way to her collarbone. His hand stays on her zipper, almost to the end of its length, and the other rubs up her arm. His fingers tuck under one dress strap and help it fall, and his mouth follows that, too, open and wet over her shoulder and back up.

Cassidy’s fingertips distort the fabric at her sides as his hands slide under to help push her dress the rest of the way off.

(Is this the first time Cassidy has seen Tulip topless? Jesse imagines it can’t be, not with the constant close quarters lately, but like this? In this context?)

His hands slide over her ribs, prominent when she stretches back to lean into him. His fingers fit perfectly into the divots they make in her skin, thin and long like he could hold her lungs in place for her if she wanted him to.

The two of them are a vision together, both naked except for a pair of horrible bright green briefs and a pair of (definitely stolen, he remembers Tulip slipping them in her bag at a mall) deep blue lace panties. They have the kind of visual contrast he and Tulip have never had, Jesse always too tan for his hands to stand out so prominently on her skin. Similarly, he thinks the two of them are just differently built enough that Cassidy will look like even more of a noodle against Jesse’s thicker frame, he’ll have to lean down just enough to kiss him when they’re both upright.

Again, his and Tulip’s rough edges, huh?

“His fingers are fuckin’ cold,” she warns, and both the boys laugh. Jesse knows that already, from less intimate situations, but he appreciates the thought.

Cassidy gives her neck one last kiss, with a shaky scrape of his teeth that makes her shiver.

“Stop teasing,” Jesse groans without meaning to.

He doesn’t even know which of them he’s talking to.

“Go on,” Tulip tells Cassidy, over her shoulder, with a kiss to the corner of his mouth.

Cassidy’s hands drag and hesitate to leave her skin, but return to Jesse’s like a magnet when he moves himself back up onto Jesse’s lap. There's something strikingly hot about Cassidy being so close that he can taste his breath while his dick is jammed up against his stomach.

"Hey," Cassidy says. The nerves in his voice aren't hidden, but he doesn't look like he’d bothered -- it's a good nervous. The kind of nervous that will fade into security and familiarity, and isn't that the sappiest fucking thing to think of while his hot new boyfriend is rubbing himself down onto his lap?

Jesse smiles. "What's the plan?" he asks, glancing at Tulip. She hasn't returned to the bed yet, and despite the brief moment of I can do this, he's not sure he can handle Cassidy one-on-one yet.

"The plan is relax," she chides. "You trust me. You trust him. Means you trust us."

She crawls forward to his side again and kisses his cheek, then the corner of his mouth, and then her small hand is tipping his face up to hers so she can kiss him properly.

"We've got you, Jesse," she whispers.

Cassidy kisses the opposite corner of his mouth, the one Tulip didn't kiss, silently agreeing with her. He takes a shaky breath in, and it's even shakier out.

"Do you want to -- " Cassidy starts to ask, and rolls his hips down in a way that clarifies exactly what he's suggesting. "Y'know, you could -- "

"Not yet," Jesse answers quickly. "Not right now." God, one day. He'll fucking dream of the day he fucks Cassidy, but that isn't today. "Just hands, maybe?"

Cassidy nods and kisses him again. "You want me 'nd Tulip to both do it?"

That's the worst idea Cassidy has ever had, because Jesse holds back a moans at just the thought of them both, each with a hand on his dick and him watching both of them slicked up with lube and precum.

Watching himself spill over two sets of knuckles while they both kiss him stupid, hopefully.

"Jesus," he croaks. "Sure, yeah, if -- yes."

Tulip does something like a giggle beside him, and kisses his cheek again. "Yeah, Jess?" she asks, low and purposefully sultry. "You want both of us to jerk you off?"

His hips twitch into an involuntary grind against Cassidy, and his breath hitches the same as Jesse's.

"Yeah," he says again.

Tulip grins, the same dangerous show of teeth that she perfected when she got her braces off in 4th grade, and looks to Cassidy.

"Scoot."

Cassidy does as she says and slides himself more to Jesse’s right, slipping his knee between Jesse’s thighs to straddle just one.

He opens his legs more so Cassidy can comfortably settle back down, and Tulip mirrors his position over the other side of his lap. He's got the two most beautiful people on the planet in this hotel room, each straddling one of his thighs, and all he can think to say is a mindless, groaned-out "Fucking Christ, shit."

His hand twitches up to rub Cassidy through the single layer of cloth keeping his dick from being actually touching Jesse’s skin.

"Can I -- ?" Jesse starts to ask, but Cassidy is already nodding.

"Yeah."

Cassidy kisses him again as Jesse tentatively cups his hand around him. It’s not mindblowing -- Jesse has to get past the odd angle and all his nerves, first, but it’s something.

“You couldn’t have worn something cuter?” Tulip asks, referring to Cassidy’s God-awful, also-stolen underwear. “We could put CGI over those.”

“Sorry,” Cassidy says sarcastically, “I didn’t realize I needed to be dressed to the nines to sit on Jesse’s dick.”

There’s a split second where Tulip tenses, worried that Cassidy might freak Jesse out, but he gives a bark of laughter instead.

“They’re fine, Cassidy,” he says, and squeezes him through them with more confidence.

Cassidy bites his lip to shut himself up, but it doesn’t stop the flush spreading over his face.

Jesse’s other hand slides up Tulip’s thigh, and he gives her a quick kiss.

"Don't worry about me," Tulip sighs, even as she presses her hips forward.

“Shut up,” Jesse says good-naturedly, as he slides his hand between her legs. His fingertip pull lace back so he can slip his hand into her panties.

She rocks down against his fingers with a grin, and keeps rocking her hips -- he presses up for her, not dipping into her but giving her more pressure, more to use.

His attention starts to wane from Cassidy and focus on her, and she smacks his arm lightly when she notices.

“Jesse,” she scolds, “focus on Cassidy.”

He feels guilty that he can't multitask and actively get them both off, but Tulip's still moving her hips and he can feel how wet she is. As in most things, Tulip can handle herself.

“Fine,” he sighs, sounding exaggeratedly put-upon. His wrist already aches from holding the same tense position for Tulip to grind down on, but he wouldn’t care if it broke his wrist.

He kisses Cassidy again, and slides his hand up to his waistband as well. “Can I?” he asks again.

“Yes.”

Cassidy sits up higher on his knees so he can pull his briefs low enough for Jesse to touch him properly. While he does that, Jesse uses that time to really focus on Tulip.

She’s always been a hair trigger, and at times like this, where Cassidy is waiting on him too, he’s especially glad for it. She’s almost at the edge when Cassidy’s finally got his underwear down properly, and he admires her with Jesse while she shakes. She’ll need more than this, she’s always needed to cum two or three times to feel truly satisfied, but they can work on her again later.

She’s breathing out curses and her hand has moved to push Jesse’s harder against her when Cassidy leans over to help; he kisses her neck and up her jaw, while one of his hands starts roaming over her chest again to help give her just that little bit extra.

Jesse uses both hands, one still rubbing between her legs and the other sliding over her thigh and ass to help her shove forward into his fingers.

Tulip peaks with a strangled moan and Cassidy kisses her through it, scraping teeth over and over like flint against her skin.

Her whole body shakes as she dismounts Jesse’s thigh.

She falls down to his side, still panting. Jesse’s hand follows, sliding between her legs again to feel her, cum-slick and hot as the sun, and knowing that just because she can’t hold herself up anymore, that doesn’t quite mean she’s done.

They both ignore their own wants in favor of watching her, as she squeezes her eyes and legs shut while Jesse keeps stroking her. The new angle is easier on his wrist and allows him to press and push her further than she needs. As sensitive as she is now, moving his fingers too much would only hurt her, so he stills them and just lets her rock into his touch for those last few ruts she needs while her hands grip at the blankets with white knuckles.

Jesse’s hand is still trapped against her, making the pressure even worse, her body squirming like she can’t stand it. She reaches down to force his hand harder against her, still trying to get him closer, harder, more.

After a few more seconds, her hips stutter up one last time, hard enough she arches up off the bed, and she cries out one more overstimulated ”Fuck” before she collapses again.

She spreads her legs enough to push Jesse’s hand out of her underwear. He smiles at her.

“Jesus,” Cassidy groans against his cheek. The twitch in his cock that must be painful answers Jesse’s question of whether Cassidy and Tulip have gone this far yet.

Jesse lovingly squeezes Tulip’s thigh, a promise to finish up with Cassidy so they can join her all fucked up and half passed out. They smear tacky against her skin, but the lazy grin on her face says she doesn’t mind.

He tries to wipe his hand off on the blanket, but Cassidy catches his wrist before he can. He brings Jesse’s fingers to his mouth and licks at them, sucking the taste of Tulip’s wetness off and putting on a show for Jesse, gazing up at him like he wants a lot more than fingers in his mouth.

“Oh, fuck off,” he mutters, a pang of want hitting him at the same moment Cassidy’s mouth closes over a knuckle. Cassidy laughs around his finger and lets go.

“Come on,” he begs, rutting his hips up to push his cock through Jesse’s fingers again. Jesse wraps his fingers around him again, tighter, turning his full attention to him now, and stroking him feels as natural as breathing now that he’s gotten more used to it.

Cassidy pants against his mouth between kisses, but as Jesse keeps going, gets a little rougher, hand sounding a little more lewd as it moves, Cassidy can’t even keep up with that. He buries his face in Jesse’s neck and bites. Not hard enough to draw blood, he’s thankfully got slightly more self-control than that, but enough that it stings. Jesse pulls him closer and thrusts up against him too, because God, he wants Cassidy just as bad as Cassidy wants him right now.

Cassidy’s trying to swear against his skin, but Jesse can only make out the vowels and teeth of it. He catches something that sounds an awful lot like ”God, fuck, don’t stop”, though, and it’s only moments after that that Cassidy goes tense and spills himself over Jesse’s fist.

He keeps fucking up into Jesse’s hand as he cums even as Jesse loosens his grip, unsure of how sensitive he’ll be.

His teeth detach from Jesse’s neck, and he hears a long, satisfied ”God” on his pulse.

Jesse’s hand is gross, cum and sweat clinging to his skin, and that he wipes on the blanket. He’ll have to leave a better tip for housekeeping. Oops.

“We were supposed to be getting you off, Jess,” Cassidy finally says, still trying to catch his breath against Jesse’s neck.

“Sorry,” he sighs, certainly not sorry. He slides his hand around Cassidy’s waist and holds him there, arm slung around him. It’s strange; Cassidy is almost as cold as he usually is. Vampirism will do that, he guesses.

He’s still the hardest he’s ever been in his life, and Tulip has regained enough functioning thought to notice.

“C’mon,” Tulip says to Cassidy.

She’s wobbly as she sits back up, still barely shaking while she arranges herself so she can lean most of her weight on Jesse. Her hand slides over his hip and over his thigh, barely scratching her short nails over his skin. He’s still wearing underwear, and she tugs at the band to start pulling them down.

Cassidy barely moves; he stays on Jesse’s thigh, but lets his weight slide so he’s kneeling at Jesse’s side with a leg thrown over his. His face is still pressed against Jesse’s neck, though now it’s smeared sweaty and lazy over to his shoulder as he’s gotten more comfortable and limp against him.

“Tell us what you want, Jess,” Tulip says.

“Anything,” Jesse blurts out. “Just want you,” he sighs. It’s a general ‘you’, and he makes sure Cassidy knows that by squeezing him with the arm wrapped around his waist.

He feels Cassidy smile against his skin. He tucks his thumb into his waistband too, and they carefully maneuver his ratty white briefs down his thighs.

“Nice,” Cassidy says out loud. Jesse’s been leaking since Cassidy sunk his teeth into him.

“Right?” Tulip says. “At least he’s good for something.”

Jesse tries to laugh, tell her to shut up, maybe, but he’s already too overwhelmed to do much more than huff and put his arms around them both.

Tulip’s fingers wrap around him first, at the base of his cock, and Cassidy’s wrap around him above hers, and it’s… Hot... But awkward.

“Maybe -- “

“No, yeah, let’s -- “

“Yeah.”

Tulip and Cassidy wordlessly come to a solution, and then Jesse feels them thread their fingers over him.

His long-time girlfriend and brand new boyfriend are holding hands around his dick.

“Oh my God,” he moans, half because it’s ridiculous and half because it’s the hottest singular thing that has ever happened to him.

“That feel okay?” Cassidy asks.

“Yes,” he answers.

Their hands move slowly, a surreal kind of pressure that’s nowhere near what Jesse would need if it wasn’t the most incredible feeling, and probably the most emotionally climactic sex he’s had since him and Tulip got together for the first time.

He doesn’t last long at all -- between both of their hands around him and both of them tugging his head back so they can kiss at his neck, he’s amazed that he lasts as long as he does. It’s their hands stuttering against each other that pushes him over the edge, both trying to move faster for him but not managing the right rhythm.

He groans one last time into Cassidy’s hair, arms tight around both of them. He forces himself to watch, as much as he wants to shut his eyes against the feeling of it all washing over him. He doesn’t dribble over their fingers as much as he’d expected, too worked up and tense for it to come any softer than a slow gunshot up against his stomach.

He lays back, dragging them both down with him, and he tries to take deep breaths so he’ll stop seeing stars.

Tulip removes her hand, but Cassidy’s stays for just another moment, just a couple more admiring, overstimulating strokes that squeeze a few more fat drops out of him. His dick looks as spent as he feels.

The room seems too still while he’s dizzy from it all, and he’s just starting to feel like he can think again when Cassidy breaks the silence.

“Who’s getting the cum rag?”

“Gross,” Jesse groans, because that’s the worst thing to call it, even if it’s the most accurate. “Also, Tulip.”

Tulip groans too. “Why am I getting the cum rag?”

“Because you’ve had the most time to recover from sex brain. And the… The sex legs,” Cassidy explains, either agreeing with Jesse’s unspoken logic or just not wanting to be the one that has to get up. Jesse nods regardless.

Tulip groans again, but rises on shaky legs to go get it. Jesse barely hears the water running over the sound of his blood rushing in his ears.

She tosses it at them, her part done, and collapses back against Jesse.

Cassidy, the gentleman, wipes Jesse’s stomach off for him. He even sits up and tries to wipe his own dry jizz from where Jesse had smeared it on the blanket, as much as he can, and then tosses the washcloth back toward the bathroom.

Jesse pulls him down to lay next to him too.

"That's gotta count," Cassidy says, tucking himself under Jesse's arm. "He was confident making him go to the store wasn't a trap."

"But he got something out of it too," Tulip reminds him. "He didn't get ripped off, he got jerked off."

Cassidy and Jesse both snort, Cass with a proud "Good one!" and Jesse with a slightly disgusted but decidedly not-bitter "Gross."

"So a con would have been making him get us off, and then we just, like, didn’t get him off?" Cassidy looks up at Jesse with a snort. “He tried to do that anyway.”

Tulip snorts too.

“Just… Jesse can fuck off,” she says, like they’re not talking over his chest. “If he hadn’t been trying to do that and we’d just left the room or something, that would have been a con. Or something.”

She nuzzles her face down against his chest to get herself comfortable.

“I can’t think straight, who cares?”

Jesse and Cassidy laugh then.

“Is that what the argument was about?” Jesse asks. “What counts as a con?”

“It wasn’t an argument,” Cassidy and Tulip mumble in sync.

Cassidy turns so he’s more on his back, leaning on Jesse’s arm like a pillow and bringing his hand to his own chest to thread their fingers together.

Jesse kisses his temple.

Somehow, all tangled up, they sleep through the night.

#preacher secret santa #homelygrantaire #amc preacher secret santa #unholy trinity #bolded text /#caps /

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nightblink · 7 years

Text

Blink Reads Oathbringer - Chapters 77-82

Some rather short chapters in this one, which leads me to believe that events are accelerating towards Shit Hitting The Fan very quickly, because things have been going far too well for the mission as a whole to continue that way for much longer.

Also, Shallan finally faces a truth.

Chapter Seventy-Seven – Stormshelter

….considering we're back to Kholinar chapters, the positioning of this new graphic, and what's happening in Kholinar, I'd say it's safe to assume that this Sja-Anat, Creator, Corrupter, The Taker of Secrets is the Unmade suffusing the core of the city. Well then. 'With one touch she corrupts.' uh. Not good, not good-

Oh, hey, we finally get a Truthwatcher's recording! They're…. shit, they're calling to attention the still-fighting 'parsh' and saying that something 'must be done about' them. That's- but how did you come up with the concept of enslaving them, of all things?!

Another everstorm. How many does this make now? I've lost count. Ooops.

Ayyyy, and he's meeting up with the rest of Team OT3! And for once remembers noticing how Shallan – or perhaps Veil – snuck glances at him. With OT3 glasses on, this is excellent material. Without…? Eeeeuuuugh. You can definitely see the psuedo-framework of a love triangle, but while Veil's eyeing Kaladin for his attractiveness (“brooding good looks”), Kaladin still has an idealized vision of Shallan in his head and hasn't gotten to the point of knowing her as a person where I'd be comfortable with them in a relationship.

Elhokar's gotten so much better. Even though I have a bad feeling that this will all turn south soon, I'm glad he's been doing so well recently.

I feel like between Kaladin's reports and the evidence shown with the loyalty of her men and the proof in the Wall Guard's defense, order, and discipline, Adolin's definitely considering offering to solidify Azure's position as highmarshal, even if he has to forcefully shut up those who'd complain about a woman not only fighting, but in command.

“You boys done comparing your swords?” Oh, Shallan's definitely thinking OT3 thoughts…

Hmmm. Kaladin describes some of the lighthearted banter between Shallan and Adolin as 'nauseating', and 'Kaladin liked them both… just not together.' Could be taken as romance-repulsion, but considering his own interactions with the both of them, it feels more like jealousy – though of their closeness/friendship or their romance is debatable (as well as for which one, which… more pairing fodder).

[squints] Huh. So, going with the visions, definitely nine Unmade… but do they predate Odium, and were changed by his influence, or are they, in essence, Splinters of his?

Oh, shit, two Unmade in Kholinar? UM. Ashertmarn being the other one, basically encouraging hedonism/The Revel, as opposed to the Corruptor, Secret-Taker.

See, the way Kaladin describes it, I feel like he and Shallan are growing into friends, if rather rockily since neither of them are actually any good at it? And Veil-Shallan is confusing her “goddamn he's hot, I'd tap that” feeling(s) with actual I-want-to-be-with-you attraction. It's not quite a love triangle, but I worry that it's going to cause serious complications nonetheless.

Shallan's adopted family isn't the same as yours is, Kal, let her be with her differences. Besides, in giving them purpose, and a different avenue to explore their lives, even those you knew like Gaz aren't the same as they were before.

Ooo, that's… I'm with Adolin on this one, you do not want to let the city fall. Not only would you lose the tactical advantage of the Oathgate, but all those people! The refugees, the Kholinari! For once, Kaladin is thinking of the practicalities; Adolin is considering his home and people.

….that cremling is an important tidbit, isn't it. I'm wondering if the 'bug' means they were bugged.

Ahhh, and here's Shallan thinking about her personalities basically as people separate from herself, once again (which. They're not, they're part of you, even if you can't bring yourself to realize that – the part that wants to be a hero, the part the thinks Adolin too predictable, the part that wants to live unconstrained by the responsibility and structure that you carry with you. It's still a facet of you, even if you've given it a face so you don't have to 'deal' with things yourself.)

tbh, I want to see the Impossible Falls. Sanderson, please tell me there's a sketch of that later in this book.

(Your father's son, in more ways than build and blood – and part of that is the Blackthorn, even with how terrible he was. The sun scorches even as it provides.)

...honestly, if he saw the picture of Kaladin on the page after, with Veil's touch of lust in its strokes, he'd probably just agree.

[hums very happily at Adolin confirming Shallan's skill as learned effort and worthy of praise, noting her hard work] She needs compliments like that – things that confirm that her skill is beyond just the innate, but attributable to practice and the dedication that she's put into it. It'll help her self-confidence and feelings of worth in herself, Shallan, as well as reinforcing a good viewpoint, especially so when he speaks of Radiants – her – creating art once the war is over.

I'm so glad that Evi taught her sons that it was all right to touch, to hug and to have physical contact – Adolin himself seems a very tactile type, even beyond just my headcanon, and can you imagine if he was deprived of touch? He's probably not granted it much beyond his immediate family anyway, which makes me doubly glad that Shallan is accepting of this particular idiosyncrasy of his.

Oh, Shallan. Those abysmal feelings of self-worth are only making your personality problems worse, and infecting your relationships besides…

Ooooo, he's noticed, even though she doesn't realize it. “Who do you become?” indeed.

“Thank you for being you, Adolin.” '“Everyone else was taken already,” he mumbled.' E x c u s e me while I go scream about this man and his own tendency to change himself to fit the situation and how his own feelings of self-worth likely suffered though all the rejections of him.

….I was going to be good about this and then she described him as being like a sunrise which is literally part of my character tag for him on l-c and-

And we're back to the slipping of personality. Hello again, Veil-Shallan. Gotta agree with you on that one, sometimes the storm and rain are preferable – both literally and metaphorically.

Huh. This openness and vulnerability…….. huh.

“Maybe.”

Maybe.

Well, I have to say that I agree with Vathah here. Better cremation than being soulcast into a statue. That's just creepy. I wonder how that particular tradition started, though, and if it's only practiced in Vorin lands, or all across Roshar?

!!!! VATHAH'S A SQUIRE. VATHAH'S A LIGHTWEAVER SQUIRE. AWESOME.

Chapter Seventy-Eight – The Revel

Another Truthwatcher recording, and the Radiants can somehow deprive the Fused/Parshmen of that 'Voidlight' energy? How? Where does it come from? Does it act in the same way as stormlight, or does it differ from stormlight in about the same measure as, say, hemalurgy does from allomancy? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS, BRANDOSANDO-

'Shallan would be easier [to abandon].' a) Veil is ruthless, but we already knew this. b) This is a reflection of Shallan's thinking, and I worry that she's subconsciously – or even consciously – wanting to subsume her own personality with the ones she's given life to, since she thinks they're more 'worthy' than her true, broken core self.

The windspren are corrupted here too. Syl might not be able to even masquerade as a normal windspren if she'd be setting herself apart by sheer virtue of non-corruption. Again with the smell of mold, though, this time in the wake of the Everstorm as opposed to association with Parshendi or chasmfiend blood! Hmmm, not there's another question – is it just greatshells that have a mold-smell to their blood, or is it all of the standard Rosharan fauna, because that could be an indication of whether they're bonded to spren or not.

Kaladin notes that Azure looks 'very Alethi', but I still have that niggling suspicion of Nalthian in the back of my head, and we know that not only are Returned able to use Stormlight as sustenance in place of Breaths, but they'd be nearly the only non-Rosharan Cosmerans generally taller than even the Alethi...

The people under the influence of the- Ashertmarn, the Reveler, the incarnation of hedonism and gluttony – are definitely under the influence from what we can tell, there's definitely the feeling that these people wouldn't be acting this way if they were 'themselves'. They're drunk on it; most likely, this Unmade's touch is what was affecting Aesudan.

'They moved like fish in a school' – for all that Veil disdains her true, core personality, Shallan's way of viewing the world and her method of description still slips through, informing one as to who the base is that the mask is built upon.

“We were only doing what she asked.” WHO. The queen, the Unmade?

….so. Azure refers to her sword as a her, and doesn't deny anything when Kaladin calls the sword a Shardblade. Points granted towards her being a Radiant.

“I flew.” [SNORTS] It's not as if the truth sounds like anything other than a joke to these people who don't know of Randiants, so why not?

“They're Alethi” - With the way she said that, I'm counting it as points against her being Alethi, even if it turns out she is and just spent time amongst Westerners like Kaladin is thinking, but I'm especially suspicious when she asks her question.

...well, shit. And here we were maybe just about to get some answers. These POVs are bouncing back and forth really quickly, and that's not striking any confidence that this is going to turn out well…

...well. That inner ring is just delightfully creepifying. Thank the Heralds for Pattern, as the Unmade's influence was threatening to break through even Shallan's cracked-yet-fortified mentality (though now we have more confirmation that Veil is there in an attempt to avoid truly facing what she's done).

!!! Voices! Voices that aren't the Unmade speaking to her, and her shadow pointing the wrong way – some sort of influence from Shadesmar! She's lucky that whatever-it-was warned her too. The Mindnight Mother was one thing, trapped beneath Urithiru and just really starting to spread its tendrils, but this… that has been accumulating power, and if she'd sprung the trap they'd all be doomed.

Chapter 79 – Echoes of Thunder

Okay, so the Truthwatcher proposes that the Unmade can be captured, given a 'special prison' and 'Melishi'. But. wtf is Melishi?

Ooop, there's another colour saying, and Azure used it instinctively, like we've seen Zahel/Vasher doing and confusing the hell out of all the Alethi around him. Yeaaaah, I'm pretty convinced that you're a Nalthian of some kind or another.

“Who are you?” That's a long story and perhaps not appropriate when the Voidbringers are attacking, you two!

'his own men' Because of course he's already adopted them and been thinking of them as 'his men', even when he's not their commanding officer – though he yells out orders as if he's the Highmarshal or Prince himself.

EHEHEHEHEHEHEHEH. It's going to blow his cover like nothing else, but come on – try to Lash a Windrunner, will you?

….or, amazingly, managing to use only his senses – that have adjusted to flight – and not any Lashings that would alert the Voidspren.

Oh but I am living for these midair clashes

Oooooo, so, for the Fused/Voidbringers, it's not the spine that an opponent should aim for, but whatever that 'brittle' thing is around the area of it's heart – a gemheart, most likely. Mmm, but while Kal managed to avoid the attention of the Voidspren, there's not way that his stunt (much less surviving said stunt) managed to go unnoticed.

….ooop. Looks like you're standing out as the first to kill a Voidbringer on the Wall, Kal, even before Azure. HEHEHEHEHEHEH. And of course he slips back into command-mode like he's back with the Kholin army, rather than amongst a ragtag group defending Kholinar.

[squints at Azure] ….that cloak… did you try to Awaken it.

AND ANOTHER COLOUR SAYING. YOU'RE A NALTHIAN, I SWEAR. You're just really good at outwardly looking like an Alethi, enough to convince all the Wall Guard.

HEH. At least with that proclamation of authority, she's now decided to listen to him – maybe even trust him.

We shall see.

Chapter Eighty – Oblivious

...that title isn't referring to Kaladin's very-Demi perception, is it? [ba-dum, tiss]

[blinks furiously while attempting to figure this out] So. This Ba-Ado-Mishram must be one of the Unmade, given the last input from the Truthwatchers and the obvious intent now to capture her, since she'd the one prolonging the conflict and providing the source of power to the Parsh(men?(endi?). But that 'she provides Voidlight' - !!!!! that doesn't come from Odium himself, but one of the Unmade?

“After fleeing the Oathgate platform, she'd met up with Vathah” - you mean, after he dragged your broken body away from the base of the platform. Jfc, but Radiants can tank some serious damage. And '[g]oing back home would have left her too much time to think' – too much time to be Shallan, thinking of the Unmade and whatever-it-was that addressed you from Shadesmar and even perhaps needing to face who you really are underneath all the masks, mmm?

...methinks your informant/contact is compromised, Veil-Shallan.

[winces] Yeah. Not in the way I'd thought, with the cult, but a more “normal”, yet no less deadly influence. Of course there would be gangs that prey on the weak and manipulate the desperate.

Oh ho ho. So Veil has a limit – she wanted to be the Hero, but when that dream/mirage collapsed, so did she, leaving Shallan – the core, the Real One – without mask to divert away the pain of a death she's going to mark herself responsible for. Veil's the 'streetwise one', the 'darkeyes', the one who tries to be the folk hero, but at her core she's still Shallan – and Shallan only has her mind and imagination with which Veil draws herself; there's not real experience or reality behind the fiction of 'Veil'. Shallan keeps her Veil-mask's speech patterns when she talks to Muri, too, reinforcing the image of Veil as a mask, no matter how strong the created-personality is.

Oh, Shallan. The trauma never stops for you, does it? You tried to paint yourself as a hero, but it backfired in our face spectacularly.

Chapter Eighty-One – Ithi and Her Sister

...have we heard about an Ithi before. Who is this, what is it referencing-

Truthwatcher recording again – I think this makes mare recordings from them than from any other order thus far. As to the 'unintended side effects'… that'd be dullform, I'd bet a handful of spheres on it.

[hums and smiles] A regal name indeed.

Oh Beard. [cackles] Gotta keep up with the story, even if the details shift a little...

!!! The walls are covered in a metal that Kaladin doesn't recognise? Is it aluminum? I bet it's aluminum, isn't it. On top of that, they were brought by Wit? Yeaaaaaah, I see what you're doing here, Sanderson.

But as an aside, Azure has had dealings with Hoid before, and didn't mention what she called him.

She also doesn't pause in jaw-dropped wonder like everyone else when he mentions the abilities of the Oathgate. Mmm, you know and definitely are more than you're letting on, Azure.

Chapter Eighty-Two – The Girl Who Stood Up

Sorry to burst your bubble, last Truthwatcher recording, but… that's not gonna happen. This war will last a while yet.

Shallan's fragile shield is cracking, breaking, leaving her with nowhere to hide – and finally admitting to herself that the masks are a lie to pretend even to herself. It almost seems a harder truth for her to admit than the fact that she killed her mother.

Wit. Thank god you're here, Shallan needs someone with her right now, some point of contact, no matter how small, or she's just going to curl up and wither away.

“I haven't lived her life.” “No. You've lived a harsher one, haven't you?” Another truth that she'd prefer to run from, as that life was suffering, that life broke her – she'd much rather be an assured, streetwise con, but that's not who she is. No matter how much she tries to Be The Mask, Veil isn't truly real – a part of her, yes, but not the separate, competent person she'd rather be, if only so she wouldn't hurt so much.

Oh no, no, don't you start suppressing this again-!

Oooo, more details about the story. Wit knows an older version, less changed by time, doesn't he; or perhaps even the events that became the story in the first place?

'“Skip?” Wit said, aghast. “Skip part of a story?”' Thank the heavens for Hoid injecting some small measure of levity into this moment. Shallan needs as much light as she can get, even while facing the darkness she tries to repress.

Oh. Oh, Hoid. From freezing in shock at her hug in the warcamps, and now to this.

[hums] Not quite Prometheus or Pandora's box, but there's a little bit of those feelings – the bringer of light, of terrible storms but of a brightness that changed the world forever.

“I see only one woman here, and it's the one who is standing up. Shallan, that has always been you. You just have to admit it. Allow it. … It's all right to hurt.” [breathes out low] W i t. Oh, Shallan, he's right, and finally you're hearing it aloud. You can live, you are worth protecting, even if you can't see it right now yourself. Perhaps not soon, but now that you've heard it… perhaps you can work on accepting it.

Adolin. You stayed up all night with worry for her, didn't you? And even that hug – reassuring yourself and her, you're making yourself The Stable One once more, but you can tell there's something wrong, can't you? So once again, you go for the levity rather than pushing her to explain.

Hah – and then the real levity approaches, because honestly, Kaladin at the head of yet another group of people that he's managed to adopt? Priceless.

#blink reads oathbringer #oathbringer spoilers #adolin once again confirmed built tall and broad af; yaaaas #why can't this awkward not-really-love-triangle just be an ot3 already #oh yeah because SOMEONE HAS PERSONALITY PROBLEMS #I continue to worry very much for Shallan #very very much

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