#i really love writing haunt and being haunt and

[thanergetic-hyperlinks]

I feel that the big core engine of TLT is Harrowhark's success against the genre she's in and the conventions around characters like her. As in, “this mad lesbian who should be doomed by the narrative is actually going to persevere and prove herself right by being an obstinate little bitch, thank you very much”.

Psychotic, amnesiac, haunted by about three entities, gaslit by your coworkers + your God + your very own previous self? Nevermind, ultimately you WERE right all along.

There is a literal point in Harrow the Ninth where the people who love her and care for her say “you've been in denial about grief and this is the point of the narrative where you begin the hard work of acceptance”—and then goes “no, I'm not accepting shit, erasing Gideon from my mind wasn't a noble, romantic and misguided gesture but step 1 of a fucking plan that not even God can stop” and she just… goes on with her plan!

Tamsyn really said, this psychotic lesbian WILL get the ending SHE wants, even if that means the whole universe was wrong about her. She's not losing on my watch. She's hubristic but she's right. I'm the one writing this goddamn book.

There's something so beautiful about that.

(This interview was after Nona was announced, so she really does mean Alecto here.)

I think Tamsyn is partially doing a power fantasy here, but it feels refreshing because 1. you never see power fantasies for mentally ill lesbians, 2. everything still has a cost, and there's plenty of tragedy around the main storyline.

She really said “I'm gonna offer a brutal deconstruction of the Bury Your Gays trope, but it's still gonna examine how fucked up the required necromancy is”.

You know, the thing that really gets me about the locked tomb books... It's that in any other series, Gideon sacrificing her life for the greater good and to protect Harrow with the bonus that they'll always be together in a way--in any other series, that's pretty much the good end. That's where the author would have been like "and Harrow would never forget this. She would remember Gideon's sacrifice for the rest of her endless existence. She would carry Gideon's will and power in honor of her."

Even by Homestuck logic, a big part of the root of TLT writing, Gideon's death was heroic and therefore irreversible by pretty much every method.

But that isn't what happens. Everything after the first book is pretty much "No. You weren't allowed to die, that decision was made for you by people meddling in our lives. And besides, I told you not to do it and you did it anyway, so now I need to undo it. You die when I say you can die and not a moment sooner."

And it's very refreshing.

[babybearnation]

oscar + rookies with rockstar reader?

you didn't specify which rookies so i'm gonna do all four "rookies" i write for! also this is very stereotypical, i'm so sorry haha

gn!rockstar!reader

cw: suggestive (liam)

oscar piastri:

probably not super into rock music but absolutely listens to the stuff you or your band creates because duh you're involved

thinks you're hot anyways, but if you play an instrument, that's even hotter to him and he's totally down to watch you practice

got lando into your music and now lando will always playfully run up and fanboy and ask for your autograph every time he sees you

loves your piercings and tattoos and will often times zone out and trail his fingers along them in a perfectly formed path - he knows the layout of your tattoos like the back of his hand, he's spent that long looking at them

is the best person to bring along for getting piercings because he doesn't even flinch, he'll just ask if you're okay and then hand you a fizzy drink or sweet when you need it

always backstage at your concerts because he doesn't want to run the risk of people noticing and focusing on him instead of you and your performance, but he'll always congratulate you after each one

liam lawson:

he's so fucking obsessed with the fact that you're a rockstar, i'm not even joking - this man is so down bad for you

he plays guitar already but if you also play guitar, he'll beg you to teach him your songs on your electric/bass guitar because he is so obsessed with your shared hobby

recommends your music to everyone because he thinks it is legit the best thing ever and he's convinced everyone needs to consume it

definitely finds your tattoos and piercings hot and will often times zone out and get a boner just from looking at them or sometimes even thinking about them

cannot watch you get pierced - not only does he flinch and cringe and unintentionally make things worse, he also makes stupid ass comments like "you've got a hole in your face" which... thank you for stating the obvious, liam

you get him to sit on stage during one performance and you have to do it every performance after that because he hypes up the crowd and boosts your moral so well

ollie bearman:

honestly was a bit gobsmacked the first time he found out you were a rockstar like... how did you hide that from him for so long? (easily, actually. he's very oblivious)

banned from touching your instruments because you know that he'll probably break something within the first fifteen seconds, but you let him stay and watch you practice

rarely listens to your music but that's because he doesn't want it to grow old to his ears - he always listen to it pre-race, however, as he finds that the chaotic energy of it really boosts his motivation

nearly fainted when he saw your tattoos for the first time - he's in awe and adoration and he can't help but stare at em, occasionally grabbing whatever part of you is tattooed and tugging it towards him so he can look all over again

watched you get pierced once and panicked so badly after seeing the needle go through that he had to wait outside so he didn't throw up or panic any harder

loves watching your concerts and loves being in the crowd with all of your fans because he finds your community and its sense of camaraderie to be so fucking fun and exciting

kimi antonelli:

not into rock music but he does go around telling everyone that you are the best ever despite the fact that he rarely ever listens to any other rock music

not interested in learning the instruments you can play, but he does actually have really good skill with them and you silently mourn the amazing musician he could've been

rarely listens to your music like ollie, but, unlike ollie, it's because he's not a fan of the genre - he will listen to your new albums a couple of times, but they're not on his regular playlists - he still highly recommends your stuff though!

admires your tattoos whether they are elegant or haunting or both and he often thinks about getting one but, after watching you get tattooed once, he swore against it for the time being

unlike with tattoos, though, he can watch you get pierced with no problems, especially if you barely flinch - he finds it fascinating, to be honest

in your crowd and very proud! he's not super loud (okay why am i rhyming) but he's mouthing along to the lyrics of your songs and chatting with your fans around him like its his full time job

jack doohan:

lowkey very fucking into this - you/your band will be his #1 artist on spotify wrapped, his fave song of yours is #1 and he's just.. actually so obsessed with you

loves to watch you practice playing your instruments and he'd be willing to learn but he finds it too hard to keep practicing with how hectic your schedules are

pierre is so fucking tired of hearing the same three songs of yours come out of jack's driver's room - he's learnt all the lyrics to these songs now and he's begging jack to switch it up, even if it's just to three other songs of yours

thinks your tattoos are so fucking cool and is always down to accompany you to appointments - he's also a good distraction for you because he's chats away with the tattoo artist like they're life long besties

the inverse of kimi, jack cannot watch you get a piercing, it terrifies the fuck out of him and he has to wait outside the room until you're done because otherwise he's gonna be so stressed

doesn't like being in the crowd at your concerts because he'd rather watch from the side of the stage, admiring you from a more unique angle than the typical fan experience would allow - you once invited him onto the stage and kissed him at the end of the concert and everyone went wild

© all rights to babybearnation 2025.

[traincat]

Hi! I was rereading your fics and noticed that in Sticks and Stones you mentioned referencing Claremont's F4 run. Now it's haunting me because I can't find where their origin is brought up 🥲 So sorry if this has already been asked/answered, but perchance do you remember which issue it was 😅 (if not or even so, do you have any other good F4 origin moments?)

No worries, I've got you. It's a little hard to find if you don't know where to look.

This is a flashback from Fantastic Four v3 (1998) #11-12, which recontextualizes the crash and turns it into a horror story for more than just Ben. Claremont is really interesting as a Fantastic Four writer, and he loves thinking through the implications of Johnny's powers. Here, Johnny absorbed the heat from the shuttle crash, but he can't hold onto it and he goes Nova. The only reason he doesn't kill Reed and Sue accidentally is because Ben shields them with his rocky body. It's a really interesting interpretation because it sets up this dynamic between Ben and Johnny where they can fight with each other because they can't really physically hurt each other unless they're really trying. Ben has a degree of protection against Johnny's flames, and Johnny is fast and fiery. Claremont loves Johnny's powers, though, and he puts a ton of thought into what Johnny can and can't do with them. He also writes a very introspective Johnny. He's one of my top writers of all time for Johnny characterization.

(Just don't go into his run expecting the plot to make sense. It won't. But the characters are fun and the interactions are all really charming. He introduces three new female characters who are all great, too.)

In terms of Johnny's relationship to his powers -- specifically a negative relationship, not just the joy we usually see from him -- I also really recommend the Burn! storyline, which encompasses the first six issues of the Human Torch (2003) miniseries. It's kind of an origin story? It starts before Johnny goes to space with the others and then picks up after the crash, when he returns to high school suddenly not the loser weird kid. Fast forward a few years and his old high school enemy looks him up to ask for his help solving a series of mysterious murders involving the victims being burned alive. Fun stuff, really great ruminations on Johnny, his understanding of fire, and the amount of control he has to exert every day.

(Human Torch #3) You're going to have to put up with a lot of very early 2000s art. It's worth it.

Also not really an origin story but useful in understanding Johnny's origins is the Sue and Johnny power swap arc.

(FF #520) To save Sue's life, Reed swaps her powers with Johnny's, but the timing is pretty bad. Galactus takes Johnny as his herald, while Sue struggles with keeping Johnny's powers under control.

But okay, Fantastic Four origin stories, a crash course. This isn't totally comprehensive, just kind of a collection of my favorites and ones I find interesting.

Fantastic Four (1961) #1: The mother of all origin stories. Pretty one and done. We have to beat the commies to the moon! Cosmic rays! Shuttle crash! We've changed in horrible and fantastic ways! The world will never be the same! It's worth reading if you haven't read it before, but it's no Amazing Fantasy #15.

Byrne's retcon: Byrne doesn't particularly do anything interesting regarding the crash, but it's useful to know the changes he did make to the origin, because they were a point of contention for a long time. In Lee and Kirby's run, Sue and Reed are established as next door neighbors and childhood sweethearts. It's all very sweet. Byrne, though, LOVES an age gap with an older man and a younger woman. This is a theme you'll see repeatedly if you follow his work. Byrne retconned things so Reed first met Sue when he was renting a room at her aunt's house when he was in college and Sue was twelve. It's not great, but it does introduce the concept of Sue and Johnny living with their aunt after their father's incarceration. No run previously had ever mentioned such a thing. While the age gap was both immediately retconned out (Simonson did it as soon as he took the reins, establishing Reed and Sue as college friends, but it didn't stick) and eventually retconned out (Fraction retconned it so that Reed did stay at Aunt Marygay's boarding house but that Sue was over eighteen), the boarding house origin stuck. Not much to do with the actual "getting powers" aspect but interesting in terms of where Sue and Johnny were living when they met Reed and Ben.

Fantastic Four Mythos: Now we're cooking. Mythos is a beautifully illustrated oneshot retelling of how the Fantastic Four gained their powers. It's gorgeous, fun, and emotional. It's probably my second favorite origin story after Claremont's take.

Mythos posits that the emotional state the four were in at the time they were cosmically irradiated is responsible for their powers. Sue was trying to hide, Reed was trying to reach her, Ben was shielding Johnny, and all Johnny could think was that it was hot. It's an interesting interpretation. Sidenote, I'm pretty sure the new Fantastic Four movie is drawing inspiration from Mythos, just based on the visuals.

I love him so much. Idiot baby.

Fantastic Four: First Family: Oh boy where to go with this one. I don't dislike it, and I think it explores the origin in a much more realistic way, but I wouldn't say it's my favorite. First Family is a miniseries that takes a more grounded approach to the origin story. After the crash, the four are imprisoned on a military base as they adjust to their powers.

I think there's a lot of interesting ideas in this version, but I wouldn't really recommend it to any new readers as an origin story. I think it's more of an interesting way to examine things after you're already basically familiar with the FF's early days if you want to see a more grounded take on the origin.

Fantastic Four: Season One: Another miniseries retelling the origins. Is it good? Not particularly. Is it shiny? Yes. Does aged up Johnny work as a pinup model before the accident? Also yes.

It's giving the Chris Pine leather pants desert photoshoot. Again, not my first pick for an origin story by far, but if you want to read some mildly campy nonsense, you could do worse. If you don't want to read it, which is like, probably the smarter idea, please note that Johnny registered the domain name hottieonfire.com and that he's obsessed with the whale from the American Museum of Natural History. Samesies.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #1-5: This feels like the equivalent of going "want to make some bad decisions." Ultimate FF is NOT good. I know I've said that a hundred times. I've also read it a hundred times so who's the idiot now. I do think the origin is an interesting take on things, though, and like First Family it's more grounded in the exploitation of the Fantastic Four by the military. So not good, wouldn't recommend it as baby's first Fantastic Four origin, but not completely not worth reading.

Origin stories I don't recommend:

Fantastic Four v2 (1996): This is when the FF got bubble universed. It's basically a retelling of the early days that doesn't add anything new or interesting.

Fantastic Four: Life Story: Life Story was an interesting experiment. The idea was to have a six issue miniseries where each issue took place during a specific decade -- issue #1 would be the 60s, #2 would be the 70s, etc -- moving the characters through those decades aging in real time and dealing with both the major storylines of those decades as well as the real world events that were happening. Like I said, interesting experiment. The actual comics, though, and I'm counting the Spider-Man one here too, were bad. Like so bad. I'm going to give you the only thing of note in it here and then you don't have to read it. (Don't let this fool you into thinking the rest of the comic is progressive in any way; the writer decided Jewish Ben should say pork was "the food of the Gods" and also that Romani Dr. Doom should put people in concentration camps. Whole yikes.)

(FF Life Story #2) That figure sitting in bed with Johnny sure looks like a guy. Interestingly, for your value of interesting, "perpetual bachelor" Johnny dies in 1986 in issue #4, and issue #5 immediately opens with T'Challa creating a cure for AIDS. Take that one as you will.

One final kind of a rec. This isn't really an origin story for the Fantastic Four as characters, but rather a retrospective meta take on the creation of the Fantastic Four as a series. Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules is an Eisner winning miniseries dedicated to the fictionalized "real people" who inspired the Fantastic Four, positing that one night at a dinner party on Long Island, two comic book creators encountered a family fight so epic it inspired them to create a comic book. Deeply introspective, it's take on Johnny and the Mole Man (yes really) really shines.

(Unstable Molecules #3) Sorry to turn this into a "Johnny is flaming" discussion once again. It just kind of comes up naturally when you look at his origin stories.

[thisusedtobeafanpage]

finished cobra kai, here are my thoughts (spoilers ahead)

- I was originally mad that once again robby wasnt given the chance to win, but I ended up crying when thry offered him the job anyway 😭 robby my beloved he deserves everything

- seeing tory win and her knowing that she had earned it also made me tear up, same as her being given the chance to build her career alongside robby, im so glad my girl finally got to be happy :,)

- Even though my favorite is robby i was SOOO thrilled to see miguel win. AND IN COBRA KAI. AGHHH NOW THATS AN ENDING. the whole thing had me going crazy.

- On that note, seeing daniel in the cobra kai gi was CRAAAZY i loved it so much

- its so right that Johnny got cobra kai back, and was able to get closure on something that had been haunting him forever (it was definitely pulled out of their ass that the senseis had to fight to break the tie, but oh well i don't watch cobra kai expecting awesome writing, and I loved that he got to win :') )

- the training sequence with johnny and daniel with you're the best around is probably my favorite bit, these last episodes had a great soundtrack

- The characters that annoyed me earlier in the season definitely got their redemption (demetri and daniel were both insufferable at the beginning)

- I wish hawk got more screen time but thats my favoritism speaking, i loved seeing him be all needy with his best friend and with a MUCH BETTER mohawk (the american one was hideous)

- How did literally no one find out about kreese and silver fucking exploding ⁉️ you're telling me an explosion of that magnitude didn't make the news⁉️ and atp silver and kreese were well known so⁉️⁉️⁉️ I kinda wanted them to find out, but im not too mad about it

- Daniel and Johnny didn't fight ONCE during these last episodes, thats gotta be a record. I loved with my entire soul seeing them be besties y'all dont get it

- All the callbacks to the first and early seasons got me so hyped AAAA i watched the show a million times so i missed NONE (i kinda thought the homeless lady was gonna show up when Miguel and Johnny were eating) I loved seeing the cashier at the store and the guy from the pawn shop cheering Johnny from a bar

- Johnny got his closure in every way and it makes me so emotional, he built a new family, and fixed his relationship with the one he already had, Kreese and him finally had a sincere talk (that had me crying mind you), he won the tournament, and got his dojo back, getting alongside that the money he needed to buy a home. agh i love him

- I cackled at the last scene with johnny killing the fly LMAO

overall im really happy with the ending, felt appropriate and I while i would change a few things I still enjoyed it thoroughly

i will miss cobra kai forever :,) been here since it was on YouTube

[folatefangirl]

You rang? Okay I'm not going to put absolutely every one I can think of but starting with the ones I've actually finished:

Wonderbook by Jeff VanderMeer: One of the best writing advice inspiration books I've ever read. It's also filled to the brim with cool art and diagrams and excerpts and I love them so much. I always pick this one back up when I'm dealing with a really bad block. 5/5 stars, absolutely amazing and weird and a great way to shake the brain out of habits that aren't working anymore, though as with all art/writing advice books, YMMV and all that.

The Man Who Played With Fire by Jan Stocklassa: Absolutely absorbing read about a true crime case more people should know about imo. So most of us know of the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson, right? Those books were published posthumously and so most people don't know that Stieg Larsson's true passion was connecting the strings of white supremacy among Nazis and Nazi sympathizers in Scandinavia who had escaped justice after WWII. It was a personal project for him. He ended up connecting this to the assassination of Olof Palme and investigating who might have done it. It's a really fascinating read and I highly recommend.

Dreamland by Sam Quinones: Goes in-depth into the pharma aspects of opioid use disorder and the epidemic that was perpetuated by capitalism and systemic failures within US Healthcare and safety networks for our communities, the money and marketing involved, and how it especially targeted American youth through avenues such as sports medicine and so on. It's really horrifying re: how much it exploits people at the bottom to prop up the people at the top.

Night by Elie Wiesel: Memoir of the author's experience during the Holocaust. Easily one of the greatest and shortest books that I will never read again because of what is in it, but I recommend to everyone at least once. It is beautiful and haunting. Note the author has other books in this memoir series that address his recovery i.e. this is the darkest one and has the content that is hardest to stomach, so you might feel better after this rec if you also read the others.

The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee: Really good nonfiction book on cancer that is definitely in accessible language to folks who aren't in medicine as well. It also goes into the industrialization of cancer medicine and how certain businesses knew things were causing cancer (tobacco) and still pushed their products as good and healthy. Very well-written!

The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman: Barbara Tuchman was one of the first female historians ever widely recognized for her work, and she really deserves it for her ability to write about history and actually make it interesting (I still need to read one of her medieval history books lol). Anyway, this books covers roughly the first few months of WWI in a really detailed and well-written way and discusses aspects of the war in a way probably no history class ever discussed. Like yes, we know it was horrible and used trench warfare and chemical warfare but why was it between the countries it was with and also why did they end up in such horrific circumstances? Barbara covers that. (And also, we still very much use chemical warfare today, despite it being a crime against humanity. So worthwhile to read a book about the reasons why we consider it such a crime, imo.)

The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan: Also comes as a documentary if you'd prefer that format! It's a really good book about the reciprocal relationship between humans and what we grow and focuses on four plants: apples, tulips, potatoes, and cannabis. Pollan's central thesis is that plants influence us as much as we influence them. Anyway, as a certified plant-lover, I really enjoyed reading this from start to finish.

Good nonfiction references:

The Flavor Bible by Andrew Dornenburg: Excellent reference for any cook who enjoys improv and/or is short on ingredients and so is forced to improv. Basically lets you look up any ingredient and see what flavors and ingredients pair with it best.

The Elements of Eloquence by Mark Forsyth: Another great writing reference and repository of writing advice for any writer. Essentially details every rhetorical device/means of making figurative speech in an index with examples.

Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes: Excellent resource for anyone writing a romance novel or long-form shipping fanfiction re: how to effectively plot a romance novel and have it hit all the elements and beats that you'd like to include in it.

Honorable mentions I have yet to finish but know are good:

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann (specifically, I've heard this book goes into some true crime aspects and specifically FBI investigation procedures that the movie didn't emphasize as much since the movie rightfully wanted to feature more of the Osage cast and culture, rather than make a spectacle of their dead, which is very fair imo)

CALLING ALL READERS I really want to get more into nonfiction books and would love some recommendations.

Nonfiction books I loved include:

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (loved the firsthand account and humor)

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green (loved the philosophical moments)

Poisoner in Chief by Stephen Kinzer (fascinated by the horror)

Into the Planet by Jill Heinerth (fascinated by the firsthand account and horror)

Please let me know where to go from here!

[tunastime]

12? 👀

wrow hi guys! sorry it took me so long to get back to these again, I had some more free time open up between doing d&d campaign things and submitting applications! let's see what we have

MWAH. another FPC classic LOL. surprised this did not make my top 5 tbh. this song was half the reason I built a d&d character the way I did, but also worked pretty well for my new mcrp character Haunt! they're a hero of the wilds origin knight who is mostly a sentient suit of armor. at least. that's what they say if pressed >:3 featuring also a character of a friend of mine!! haunt and xylem get pretty close in the events proceeding the server, so take a little bit of exposition about them and haunt's past! (851 words)

“Have you ever been scared?”

Haunt smears sealing wax onto the recently fixed drape of chainmail over their knee. It jingles tunelessly against their leg, metal against metal greave as they pause for a moment, gloved hands stained, slightly glossy in the sun. 

“Of course, I’m scared constantly,” they hum flatly. From in front of them, a few feet away, Xylem snorts. He tips his head back in that signature way that implies, more than anything else, that the sardonic response Haunt’s just threw at him as a knee-jerk reaction isn’t really the answer he was looking for. He frowns a little at them, the soft features of his face pinching in a way Haunt has learned to read. It’s a serious question. Haunt didn’t lie—their answer was as serious as the question. Something else, though, hangs slightly with the rest of his question, like a scale balancing.

Terrified? Scared to death? Scared of death? Haunt, have you ever been really, really scared?

Haunt takes in a breath. Sometimes they forget they need to be doing that.

“One time,” they start, hands returning to the familiar chainmail. “At least one time.”

They don’t need to look up to know that Xylem is pinning them with a look that ushers them to go on.

Like stepping into a dream, the pure-white sand of the colosseum spread out before them, below them, as they looked out of their room and into the empty pit below, like a mouth, the rows of empty seats like teeth, like a beast. The colosseum was a beast Haunt alone had learned to tame—or, not tame, per se, but cohabitate with, cosign wins and losses alongside. The seats would be full today, and every voice would ring out their gifted name—the man with no face, no name, nothing to lose.

Haunt. The Ghost of the Colosseum Floor.

Their boots made dull prints in the sand as they stepped into a blinding array of lights, fading to slats inside their helmet as they shut the visor, obscuring the colorful arrangement. The world dulled only slightly as they made their way toward the center of the ring. It was a usual pattern, for a usual fight, for a usual day, and Haunt felt something familiar, and confident, and proud weasel up in their chest as bits of cloth and petals scattered at their feet, as their name reverberated through the crowd in waves. They turned slowly in the sand, the weight of the world resting at the crest of their shoulders, stretching and twisting as they pulled their sword, Requiem, free of its scabbard. The sound of metal rang out across the empty field. They dragged their gauntlet-clad palm over the blade’s fine edge, and the enchantments across the silver-black metal shimmered in time with their own armor—two, pointed, dog like ears curving back from their temples and the sharp, imposing visor over chestplate, pauldrons, deep red cape. A knight, glittering in the sun, soaking praise.

If Haunt had not caught the flicker of movement, they would have been swallowed alive in that moment. 

They turned. Their eyes widened as if it would do anything to help understand the shape that scrambled toward them, snarling and angry and teeth as large as their forearm, twice as wide. The breath they tried to take caught hard in their throat as they scrambled forward, boots hitting packed sand and dust as they pushed themselves. The creature made no move to stop. Its feet raised clouds of dust as Haunt gasped for breath, trying for useless cover in an empty field. Their heart beat frantic against the base of their throat. What a horrible, painful respawn this would be. Blood on the colosseum floor. First kill, and it was them. 

But not today.

They slammed their heel into the ground. The jolt nearly cracked their ankle as they whipped around on their own axis, Requiem still heavy in their hand. In one, jerking, shaking motion, they swung the blade back behind their head, and straight up. The beast slammed into them full force.

As their blade caught buckling resistance, it parted flesh, and blood, and bone, as they were shoved backwards, nearly crashing to the ground, knee buckling as it hit the earth. Haunt skidded several feet as their blade caught the creature’s pelvis and refused to give further. It sunk against the blade with no movement, its guts spooling like yarn. Gore splattered their armor as they yanked free of the massive shape and hit the ground, scrambling back, seeing stars.

Haunt wasn’t sure if they could vomit, but maybe in that moment, whatever crawled up their throat was almost bile. They tried to blink back the vignette of their vision as they stood, shoving Requiem into the nearly-solid earth below them to stand. As they did, they removed the blade, drew their hand across the side to pull gore from its surface. Flicked off the blood. The crowd roared. They spun the sword in their palm, blood still dripping from their helm.

The prickle against the back of their neck told them this wasn’t over.

Not yet.

[moons-among-distant-stars]

you know what’d be sad?

if once when chloe’s older, she dreams of rachel as she was in life, not cold and scared and alone. and for once she is in her own body, as it now, older, bearing new scars and some more weight on her bones, hair a faded green. and she sees how young rachel is. how terribly child-like her face looks. it glows like the sun but it looks much too young. and she just sits there for a while, chloe and rachel, on a train to nowhere, nothing wrong. and when she wakes she is crying, and max is there, and chloe says to her “she was so young, max we were so young” and max knows, chloe doesn’t have to explain anything, she holds her close, lets her cry. and later in the morning, when the feeling passed and she’s drinking coffee and looking out the window. chloe price sees a deer outside, a doe. not a faun stumbling along but a doe, calm and happy in the morning sun. “hi rach” chloe says and the doe looks up at all, stars in her eyes. They stand there for a moment, just chloe and the doe. in the morning sun, going nowhere. but after a while the doe turns and bounds off into the forest. and chloe price lets her go

[yinyuedijun]

also dash is it too crazy to get a comm of the sad depressed incest couple I invented? AGLDHSKSJ I just have strong vision for the fic aesthetics and they've been stuck in my head for 2 years

[tetzoro]

the day the earth stood still is the day i felt your presence leave it, and then every day after that.

[chasedeys]

I need your thoughts bc i’m trying to write a story & obviously we ‘know’ how joemarr’s relationship is but do you think joe and ja’marr (separately or together lol) are closer to tee or justin?? AND how do you think their relationship is with both guys. because for me sometimes it’s like joe is tee’s big brother but idk… help. please.

hello!!! (so very sorry this took. so very long. but it's here! and i rambled way too much but at the same time nothing of substance on this sort of 😭)

in a completely non pushy very excited way what fic are you writing hehe any mention of a joemarr fic in progress and i perk up like a lemur. no pressure though keep it all to yourself I'm just nosy lol

and i feel like you are completely free to decide who's closer to who based on your own fic's direction?? like me personally it depends 😭 cannot be definitive for the life of me. i myself have totally sometimes Cartoonify friendships just for the Sake of the Bit you know? but like not too much or it just gets disrespectful and annoying and i try to stay true to their character or whatever really i don't actually know these people lol

the Vibes that i sense and also some i've made up completely in my head are kind of like this:

over the years, i feel like joemarr have grown wayyyy closer to tee and have grown apart from justin. and that's to be given really considering they're now teammates with tee and justin is in a whole other team making whole other moves than them! and that's okay! they aren't made to be forever linked together, they're their own people, making their own marks in the league! but they're always going to have that 2018-19-20 lsu insanity with them and i am always going to mention that in my fics! and nobody's going to forget that college run i fear 2019 lsu is kind of legendary lmao these three are always going to be asked about each other and their pasts linked to each other no matter what and that's honestly really beautiful if you think abt it.

ja'marr and tee -> god these two. i think ja'marr is just. so obsessed with tee. just. incredibly fond of tee. unwilling to let him go. incapable of being chill about him (like he is about anybody who has somehow hit certain standards that only he knows). and i went on a spiel here where i suggest you read bc it's weirdly more well written than what i wrote here 😭. basically, i think he looks up so much to tee because tee is someone who he gets to let his guard down and be just a team player with. does that make sense. it really honestly boils back down to comparing it to justin and that sounds bad but i don't know how to explain it better?? that sounds kind of wrong tbh arhgrhgrh. it's like with tee he doesn't have to keep clawing for his spot or compete as much or whatever. like tee is clearly such an amazing wr, clearly a wr1 caliber player like ja'marr, yet he doesn't fight with ja'marr over his looks or plays or spot like justin does with him, which has to be like a breath of fresh air for ja'marr and he's said it himself all 'tee is the most unselfish player'. like that means something to him. ja'marr cares so much for tee's opinions, tee constantly singing ja'marr praises and ja'marr being so sooo silent whenever tee goes on a rant abt him like he doesn't know what to say he just hugs tee with one arm and says appreciate you so quietly (HE DOES THIS A LOT WHEN HE GETS COMPLIMENTED BTW. DO YOU NOTICE THIS. and there's so many fucking clips of them just wrapped around each other after a tuddy just!!! so cute.), and ja'marr known outrageous mother hen ja'marr chase making (speculationnnn) tee change agents and taking him to his massage therapist (in his fucking houseeee i went on a rant here god this is still so crazy to me) and nagging at tee in his mic'ed up moments so many times that feel good play good thing like. he tries to big brother tee so much when tee's the one big brothering him you know 😭 it's so funny god their dynamic is so fucking funny to me. (ja'marr tries so hard to be mature and captain-like whatever and he is good at it you know but 😭 with tee and joe and like all the bengals vets like mike h and sam and even with yoshi whos the same age as him yk it's so very clear he's the baby lmao.) he's trying so hard to take care of tee, keep him safe and well and healthy and with him, doesn't want him to leave. OH AND they went to this showroom thing where they shopped for stuff and ja'marr went with tee (!!!!!!!) and asked tee's opinion for a belt or something and tee was all dude just choose whatever you want it's soooo cute god they're so cute to me (there was also that fucking loverboy beanie im obsessed with that ja'marr didn't even glance at im so pissed. im so fucking pissed what do i have to do to get him to wear a cat beanie this shit is serious to me) like ja'marr wants to know what tee thinks!! he values his opinions!!!! even for fucking clothes!!!! god. and he knows he plays better with tee with him on that field okay, he says that with tee he doesn't get double teamed as much, and he while he's proven that he plays just as well without tee, that piece of comfort having another wr1 with him (his best friend!!!) has got to be something he wants to keep for eternity (ahahaha, verbatim ofc).

joe and tee -> joe dotes over tee lmao you can't deny that man is besotted (ja'marr is too actually 😭 they both are it's completely understandable but at the same time you just have to close your eyes and wince bc that's embarrassing. please chill the fuck out you do not need to laugh that loud over a single sentence from tee. but again: completely understandable because tee is tee. like that batman hard knocks ep. tee said one fucking sentence and joemarr just. rolled over showed their belly panting it's embarrassingggg) he's soooooooo starry eyed over him, so shamelessly coddling (?) that game hug nuzzle the first time, the broncos game where it looked like he bit his neck, this pre season's training camp (?) laughing sooo freely with tee, every sentence out of him these past few weeks on tee staying in cincy 'tee is a NEED', etc etc like i know you said he's acting like tee's big brother which i agree with completely 100% but it's also like he can be such a little brother with tee!! it's like he can let go and not be a responsible person with tee idk does that make sense. joe totally acting like tees older brother but the thing is tee is doing it right back he's just chiller about it like he doesn't have to think too hard on it unlike joe who thinks he has to be this guy 24/7. it's like joe is unused to having such a down-to-earth sane (still hilariously unhinged but sane you know) guy who makes good choices when he's been stuck with guys like ja'marr and justin who are kind of. well. so he can let up and have tee take care of him for a change! well this isn't like this 100% of the time obviously but you get where i'm going with this right (god I'm so sorry this is a mess) also tee's like. really fucking funny and sweet and joyous to be around is there really any surprise that joemarr are smitten with him lmao. i think joe tweeted something abt playing with tee for a long time when they got drafted together?? kill me. no really kill me.

who do you think brought up that tee should just change agents to ja'marr's lmaooo do you think tee brought up his agent being so fucking argumentative that ja'marr tells him to tell him to fuck off and just switch to his. and then they all go dead silent about this including ja'marr because it was one of those things that he said without thinking. like literal light bulbs going off above their heads at the same time before they start scheming shit calling lawyers and ja'marr's agents at like 2 a.m trying to figure shit out 'playing chess'. or did ja'marr and tee discover this first like 'oh??? we can?? do it probably??' and call joe frantically like can we do it and joe hangs up on them without saying anything and the got so fucking offended only for joe to turn up in their place (either one idk) one minute later probably breaking the speed of light and boom. ja'marr has his claws on tee and he's not letting go ever.

joe and justin -> while yes i said that joemarr grew apart from justin i feel like joe is like the type of person to just. be shameless in reconnecting with people he's grown apart from. while ja'marr is. very petty. lmao. i think joe is just very shameless when he reaches out to people. he, like ja'marr, is insanely loyal and values friendship to a concerning degree. he keeps contact with practically any person he grows attached to and texts them regularly and by that i mean that even if he gets ghosted or there's a ridiculously long period of dead silence between them he still texts first like 'hey bro long time no talk u in town do you wanna watch the new spongebob movie tomorrow' and bulldozes through the awkwardness like he doesn't even see it. which works with justin!! who i think kind of sucks at keeping in touch with people (like ja'marr, see below sooo sorry this is so shittily structured) and he hangs out with a lot of people during the offseason no? (its sooooo fascinating to me how he's sooo introverted and technically a hermit but he's also suchhhhh an outgoing little busybody you know and constantly reaches out to people first? like to gronk????? who does that.) including justin who has the same agent! having the same agent works wonders in keeping the connection no doubt too lmao. the paris fashion week thing etc. i think i've said it before but joe falls in love with every teammate he's ever gotten close to and that very much includes justin jefferson who helped him achieve his Insane Ambition of getting the natty so he's not letting him go even the slightest bit really. also qb-wr connection is practically something otherworldly really so really something to keep in mind when writing quarterbacks with former teammates they've thrown to lol. especially joe, who's kind of crazy 😭. i mean look at all his wristbands and sweatshirts and moving to lsu and hanging on to the playoffs by the skin of his teeth and all that jazz. he does Not let go easily. truly an interesting man to write.

ja'marr and justin -> those type of near aged siblings who fight over the weirdest shit and get stupidly competitive over everything and disgustingly annoyingly overly smug over a win that they get into stupid fights one minute only to slam open the other's bedroom door the next hour saying excitedly 'bitch i got free coupons for ice cream' and the other immediately goes 'DAMN RIGHT let me drive' completely forgetting that they were fighting and then the cycle repeats all over again. you can see just how disgustingly close they were together during lsu and that's not really something that just goes away even through time you know? but i do believe they've both grown individually as people and maybe they wouldn't get along as well now as they do then because again, they've been pitted against each other over and over and over and fucking over oh my god but the love they have for each other is clear as they really when you take in account all they've been through together. and i've said up above how their entire thing has been drenched with Competition and that's different with ja'marr's thing with tee and that's not to say that he doesn't enjoy the competition with justin he clearly loves it lmao he wouldn't be such a good player in the league if he hates it lol. more said down below because again, very shittily structured :)

justin and tee -> they should date idk (i think i had a fic idea for them somewhere in my writing tag ehehe)

on the lsu trio specifically lol didn't know how to insert it up above so:

i think justin and ja’marr are both the type to be shit at replying to texts 😔 like sure they'd text you and stuff but. they ignore so many texts whether intentionally or not. they've both said they don't talk with each other etc etc haHAhaaHHAa pain. if i may Speculate: they both probably tried texting on the regular but suck sooooooo bad at it it just peters off (is that the right fucking word oh my god why is the english language so fucking difficult that is literally a NAME) pathetically like ja'marr texted tuesday 8 p.m and justin replies on saturday 11.59 pm to which ja'marr replies to that at wednesday 1.25 a.m do you get me. and they can't standddd this type of shit 😭 kind of low attention span kind of deal and also losing interest on the text convo and having so much shit going on irl that they just don't really text anymore??

joe is like the opposite of this he replies to texts late max 2 days tops but he’s just shit at text talk. absolutely 0 flair to his words. desperately needs to learn tone indicators but people he texts have grown completely used to this and either accepts they will never understand him or, like ja’marr and justin and tee, somehow understands him 98% and bulldozes through his awkward texting and also shits on him liberally. but even if people reply to him late he'd just continue with the convo completely dead serious abt it uncaring how long you text and never the one to end convos and that's weirdly how he keeps such close contact with people he hasn't seen in years??

that's not to say that justin and ja'marr don't vibe with each other anymore lol it's kind of difficult to let go of what two years of practically living in each other's pockets being the Best at what they do. it's just they've also grown so much apart and bloom into way different people than who they knew each other to be. the random ass rarri truck comment is still so confusing to me though like. are you two okay. what was that. did your agents tell you to do something. could you two please interact irl again so i can obsessively analyze whatever the fuck you got going on actually. maybe make out on camera too idk.

also they have such the shittiest friendship humor that only people in their circle would get you know 😭 constantly shitting on each other (ja'marr does it in front of cameras while justin knows pr talk and actually exercises it well. hence the amount of people shitting on ja'marr for saying shit they themselves have said and joke about their friends. pisses me off.) and outrageously competitive people who are undeniably the best at what they do getting compared to each other constantly and their history of ja'marr technically having beaten justin during college and coming into the league with justin breaking several type of records while ja'marr breaks a whole different set of records etc etc just 😭 do you get me. i am so Sensitive about these two pls nobody touch me about them im sorry..........

joe and justin having the same agents and then tee and ja'marr having the same agents is kind of crazy tbh. tee and justin should date just for this quartet to go straight into Messy.

disclaimer this is all pure Speculation and just me making shit up tbh using my Noticer Glasses that gets cloudy from my own delusions so take this with a grain of salt!

ALSO during college i think it's like. justin was really close to joe bc they're the same year (?) right seniors or whatever closer in age and they're clearly best friends. but justin and ja'marr were like twin flames, same position, and they're kind of insane abt each other during college lmao that one clip post natty win of justin leaning back to ja'marr is like burned into my head. and ja'marr was sooo unsure abt joe at first and joe was kind of way too intense without saying a single thing to ja'marr but just staring at him while justin was like the bridge between these two!! that's like a whole other thing about joemarr and justin that's sooo fun to write about truly i love Speculating lsu days crushes and justin being a little shit about them. (lsu ask i swear i'll finish answering you one day auguauguhsuhg)

[volivolition]

wiggles my fingers at you ouuuu… you want to tell me about solace so bad…

HKJGG wiggles my fingers back lovingly!!! i really do, i fuckin LOVE solace :3 hey did you know i really like making fake skill descriptions?

SOLACE

Follow the north star. Find light in even the darkest places. Cool for: Optimists, Recovering lost souls, Sweet summer children

Solace is the skill you tucked away long ago, at the bottom of Pandora's box. The little one that tells you: despite it all, there is still hope. It needs a lot of nurturing -- and it's far from being the most helpful for police work -- but taking care of it is basically self-care. It enables you to find the glow in yourself that you often ascribe to gold lungs or brilliant halos in others. It encourages you to wake up and watch the sunrise, to play board games with someone you love, to forgive yourself and let yourself be a gentler kind of animal. Constantly looking forward to a brighter future, it also helps shield your morale from damage.

At high levels, Solace gives you a heightened sense of childlike optimism - which isn't always the sense to lead with in this precariously harsh world. Always looking for the bright side will blindside you with naivety. At low levels, however, you may just extinguish whatever keeps your soul alight. You've already lost her once. You may not survive the desolation if you let her disappear again.

[sysig]

Delusions (Patreon)

"Could I have your hand, sir?" Max didn't move, which Dexter was, sadly, getting used to.

"Sir?" Max jerked, then turned and stared at him, lost and blank. "Your hand, please."

Max's hand lifted shakily, and he laid it gently in Dexter's upturned palm. Dexter gave a quick and quiet "thank you," then turned it over in his own hand, observing him closely.

Too closely - his knuckles were rough and his fingernails were dull and cracked in places. His once-soft, not-a-day-in-his-life-subjected-to-hard-labour hands were now, already, toughened and split and scarred in places, especially the heel of his palm. He turned it over again, this time to stop looking so intensely. He had only wanted to give it a cursory glance to begin with.

"Do you know what I see, sir?" he asked as conversationally as he could manage, running his fingers along Max's abused flesh. He seemed to be at least half paying attention, his eye gazing down between them, and he'd occasionally twitch, encouragingly Dexter thought. He seemed to want to curl around him, then stopped and shook, his hand squeezing into a fist. Dexter coaxed him back out, encouraged him to hold himself lightly.

"What do you see?" He was almost startled by Max actually continuing their conversation, that happened so rarely now, shaking and quiet as it was. He took a deep breath, was he really going to do this?

"I see a hand, with five fingers." Max remained quiet, though his brow curled, and a guarded look came into his eye, though he still wasn't looking at Dexter. He felt a pang of guilt, but he had to try. "What do you see?"

Max's eye unfocused and began to water. He looked up, but not enough to reach Dexter's gaze in return, instead staring through his chest, and he felt just as hollow and empty as he must look to him.

"Do you take me for a fool, DAX?" Quiet and as close to angry as he'd heard since they'd been here.

No, not angry.

Betrayed.

He swallowed down the stinging lump at the back of his throat. He had to put on a brave face, had to keep his composure if he wanted Max to get better. That was the only thing he wanted, more than anything.

"Of course not, sir. Genuinely, what do you see?"

Max pulled his hand away and turned his body, his bandaged side facing Dexter. Shutting him out, pointedly. Dexter's empty hand curled into a fist, he was no better.

"Please, don't..." Max took a shallow, shuddering breath, and several beats before he spoke again, even quieter. "Don't ridicule me." Dexter could hear his breath catch, and he wanted nothing more than for this all to just stop.

"Sir, I didn't-"

"I've had enough of that." He shook his head stiffly, the action strange and wrong, like he had forgotten how. He stilled, his head turned even further away. "More than enough."

[asterdeer]

tear the pitch apart

not really please be nice-ish but i'm submitting a pitch to a literary festival pitch war and i need to be the most specialest goodest writer so the pitch war runners will say nice things about me in front of 50 people and maybe decide to agent me. haha what

A farm boy follows a thief on an interplanetary petty crime spree in search of a mythical deep-space monster. The Monster At the Bottom Of the Universe is a sweeping space opera about the myths we tell to keep ourselves alive — and what happens when those myths come true.

it has to be 280 characters or less (i'm presuming including spaces a la twitter) and this feels so shallow and uninteresting to me but i don't have ROOM for more and i'm trying to follow their pitch construction formula. would you read this book, is the second line too cheesy, is it too vague (I CAN'T HELP IT), should i temporarily change the 41-character book name so i have a little bit more room to pitch the damn book rather than its title, do i need to start from scratch

[the-first-spinjitzu-master]

Okay it’s 3am and I have to be at my first day of work at my new job in seven hours.. but I just had a THOUGHT.

So hear me out- Jay can control electricity. Obviously.

But has anyone else considered the idea of him being able to basically mind control other people?? Or hack their bodies?? Since humans literally run on electrical impulses??

Now I know Nya can’t draw the water out of his lungs, but that doesn’t mean that using your element inside someone else’s body is impossible. Maybe that’s just confined to other elemental masters. And of course I haven’t seen DR yet (two episodes away from finishing Crystallized!! I’ll have caught up with DR by this time next week for certain), but I’ve heard a lot of discussion about Jay coming back as a villain in S2… can you imagine how absolutely batshit of a villain Jay concept would be if he came back and just mind controlled people?? And it would totally tie into his cult leader antics as well (I’m still so sad that the League of Jays was pretty much abandoned after the first couple episodes… it was such a funny concept and could’ve actually been used for some fantastic plot/character development … but… alas :( )

Anyway. Basically all that to say I just got smacked in the face with a new Villain Jay idea and I’m soooo going to start using him for fic stuff. Maybe I’ll even tie it in to the AU concept I’ve been working on for a while.. maybe..

[vacantgodling]

not to be weird and sappy on main, but frfr i'm so glad i have found a community of people who think my work is good

[poisonousquinzel]

Thinking about how likely it is that BTAS Ivy grew old n spent all of that time fully believing that Harley died. That despite all her efforts and desperation to save her and get her away from Joker she didn't, she couldn't, and she lost her. That Harley died the same day that wretched man did and it became just yet another thing linking her to him for eternity.

thinking about how BTAS Ivy loved her So much and never got the chance to grow old with her, to see her heal and recover, to heal and recover with her

thinking about how much they deserved their happy ending but never got one. how we're seeing & getting their Less Platonic moments in the newer BTAS comics with the impending knowledge that the narrative has already decided it's a fate they'll never truly get to indulge in and savor, that it will always be destined to end in tragedy.

how for some universes a happy ending is given, growing old together is just the future we know is already there awaiting them... but not for them, not for btas harlivy... not the originals, for their story will always be a tragedy.