#i was just engrossed in this story and in love with this fantasy world

[helioptilie]

‘I’m really sorry, I tried this time, you know how hard I’ve been trying’ ‘I don’t think it was ever the marshmallows fault I wasn’t paying attention’ ‘something is wrong with my brain-I’m afraid something may be really broken’ ‘ percy jackson i am in tears

[roanofarcc]

GETTING EVEN

pairing. tyler owens x harding!reader

summary. after tyler owens saved your ass, you return the favor. (part 2 to this fic) 

warnings. descriptions of injuries and tornados. reader is the daughter of jo & bill harding (from the og movie!). hurt/comfort (tending to each other wounds? hot). tyler’s the number one loverboy and I stand by that.

a/n. fun fact, my sister's mother-in-law also survived a tornado by hugging a light pole!

word count. 3.7k || masterlist

You stabbed a piece of pancake on your plate, determined to ignore your mom as she spoke from the stove. “Would it be the worst thing in the world?” 

“Yes,” you and your dad answered at the same time, meeting each other's eyes with a small smile. 

Your mom, Jo, sighed deeply and spun around to face the two of you, one hand on her hip. “He’s nice! He’s handsome and-” 

You groaned, feeling a teenager again, mortified that your parents are bringing up any aspect of your love life. Ever since Tyler Owens had helped you to the hospital after a tornado took you and your friend by surprise during a chase, your mom wouldn’t let you go five minutes without bringing him up. 

You were back in town, staying at their farm as another slew of storms were forecast for the surrounding area. Your team was due in later that night, all crashing with your parents, which was their idea. They wouldn’t admit it outright, but that was one thing they missed the most about their storm-chasing days, the friendships formed within their team. Your mom brought out her aunt’s recipes and cooked a big dinner, and your dad was harassed into telling stories of their storm-chasing adventures- which he secretly loved. 

Since the storms were predicted to be pretty wicked, you knew Tyler and the rest of the Wranglers would be around. And while you would rather die than tell your mom, you were excited to see him again. The competition between the two of you for an arbitrary ‘best storm chaser’ title was left behind after you woke up in the hospital to see him still there with you. Instead, your relationship inched more toward friends; though, your mom seemed convinced it was something more. 

“Look, if our daughter isn’t interested in running away with some tornado-wrangling cowboy, I don’t think we should encourage her to,” your dad, Bill, said. 

“I don’t have time for a relationship, anyway,” you added. You were too engrossed in your research to think about a relationship, serious or not. You were content with your team. And your mom’s little fantasy would require Tyler to be interested in you, which you found unlikely.

Yet, your mom persisted. “We did it,” she said, pointing between herself and Bill. “We balanced both work and a relationship. It’s not impossible.” 

You snorted. “Yeah, and you two almost got divorced.” 

Your dad laughed into his coffee mug, hiding it as your mom huffed. 

The thrill of storm chasing, running down backroads as a twister roared beautifully across the ground, wasn’t the only reason you did it. That was only one part of the job. Then there was the research. But the hardest part was trying to help people. Tornados were wondrous but dangerous. They ruined lives, tearing through towns. And while warning systems and radars had advanced significantly since your parents' days, nothing was perfect. That’s why you were the first people to rush into a crowded town directly in the path of a storm and do what you could to ensure people’s safety. 

When a member of your team noticed one of the storm cells you were watching was heading towards a little downtown area not too far from your parents’ farm, you all decided that was where you needed to be, instead of chasing after the storm further west. 

You were close, beating the storm to town, and when you arrived you realized the Wranglers had the same idea. The second you stepped out of your truck, the harsh winds knocked into you. The sirens just started, warning the people of the quickly approaching storm. People were running down the sidewalks, hurrying into buildings to shelter. 

You jumped into action, hurrying some slightly dazed people to safety, along with your team. The storm inched closer, and you knew you only had a few more moments before you needed to take cover yourself to ensure you didn’t get whisked away. You’d lived through enough tornados to know what to do with little fear, but ever since your close call with your team member Frankie, earning you a couple stitches on the back of your head and a newfound appreciation for Tyler, your nerves were a little heighten; you become a little more cautious. 

You turned on your heel to hurry towards one of the buildings, but you caught sight of the tornado wrangler on the other side of a parking lot, searching for something. 

Pressing your lips in a hard line, ignoring the drum inside your chest that started to beat a little faster with the closeness of the storm, you took off after him. 

“Tyler!” you yelled above the howling wind that threatened to knock you off your feet. Rain beat down against your skin, soaking you to the bone. You called his name once more as you neared, finally earning his attention. 

“Harding? What the hell are you doing?” 

“What am I doing? What are you doing? Taking a mid-day stroll?” 

He shook his head, forced his wet hair out of his eyes. “Some kid’s dog got spooked, ran this way, but I can’t find her.” 

You glanced up at the sky, the dark clouds giving the allusion of nighttime. There was a little tremble in your hand, but you steeled your nerves. “Dogs are smart. She’ll find her way, but we’re goners if we don’t get a move on.” He frowned, clearly torn between helping a lost dog and saving himself. “My team and I will help you look after; I promise.” 

With a sigh lost to the wind, he nodded and pointed toward the building others had filed into. “There’s a basement in the library.” 

Together, you two took off in the direction of the library, but the storm rolled in much quicker than you anticipated. It came in with a vengeance, peeling objects off the ground, big and small, with ease and tossing them all around. You ducked, nearly missing a chair that once belonged to one of the downtown restaurants' patios. Your heart started to race uncomfortably, inching toward fearfully. 

Tyler grasped your hand, tugging you to the side as more debris whizzed past you. The rain made your grasp slippery, but you squeezed his hand tightly. There was too much distance to cover, and the tornado was determined to put every possible obstacle in your path. 

It became harder to run but you felt so sure you and Tyler would make it; that was, until the tornado came around the block, tearing into a building and sending the debris in your direction. You didn’t even know what hit you until you felt Tyler’s hand slip from yours and your chin collided with the pavement. A cry of pain fell from your lips, but you rolled over quickly, in search of Tyler. He wasn’t far, just out of arms reach, on the ground. 

You half crawled over to him, tugging on his shoulder until you noticed the look of pain twisted on his face. Your gaze trailed down to his leg and found his foot stuck under a heavy beam plucked from the building the tornado tore through. 

“Shit,” you whispered, grasping the beam with your slippery hands and desperately trying to lift it off. It wouldn’t budge, crushing Tyler’s ankle. 

“You gotta go!” he yelled, trying to wave you off with his hand frantically. 

You stared at him in disbelief. Adrenaline pumped through your veins and the rain clouded your vision. There wasn’t a chance you were going to leave him. Your chest felt impossibly tight, pulling more and more with an indescribable fear you’d never experienced before. Using some kind of strength you didn’t know you had until that moment, you managed to lift the beam just enough for Tyler to pull his bloodied ankle out from under it. 

“Come on,” you cried, trying to help him to his feet. He grunted in pain, pale and breath labored. 

“We’re not gonna make it,” he wheezed out, talking about the library the tornado was already upon. You made a sharp turn, bee-lining toward the building you landed directly in front of. 

There wasn’t even time to get inside. Instead, you half helped half dragged Tyler to where there was a large light post cemented to the ground. It wasn’t much, but there were no other options. Tyler sat on the ground, pulling you down quickly beside him before he wrapped his arms around the pole. You hooked one arm too but kept your other pressed against Tyler’s head. You could take another hit, but you weren’t sure he could. 

You closed your eyes, sending a silent prayer that everyone would be okay. The storm roared, stinging your ears and tugging on you harshly. But, somehow, the both of you remained hugging the light post until the tornado dissipated after an excruciating amount of time. That was the thing about tornados, when you were chasing them, they never seemed to last long enough, but when you were in them, they never seemed to end. 

Shaking from a mix of adrenaline, fear, and cold you unwound your arm from the pole before you brushed your hands along Tyler’s shoulders, drawing his attention, and making sure he was still there. 

You two sat nearly nose to nose, droplets of rain decorating his face, falling his lashes as he tried to blink them away. “Are you okay?” you muttered, voice shaky. 

He let out a breath and tried to shift in his position, but his face twisted up in pain once more before he cursed under his breath. You glanced at his ankle, his jeans were stained with a smear of crimson, but the rest was hidden under the fabric. 

“I think it’s just a sprain,” he said, trying to shrug it off but you saw through him. You struggled to your feet and moved to help him, but he tried to stand on own. He leaned heavily on the light pole, trying to hide a wince. 

You heard his and your name being called in the distance. You hooked an arm around his torso, gazing at him for a moment. “Come on,” you said, gently guiding him back towards the road. As soon as you stepped out onto the sidewalk, you spotted your team and a couple members of Tylers. 

“Holy shit!” Frankie gasped, running towards you. “What happened to you two? We thought you were right behind us?” 

Tyler tried not to lean on you, but you felt his grip tighten on your shoulders with each step. “I think we need to take him to the hospital,” you said, worry seeping into your voice. 

Kate and Javi snapped their gaze at Tyler, who shook his head. “No, really, I’m fine. I think it’s just a little sprain,” he repeated. 

Kate looked at you, half ignoring Tyler. “What happened?” 

“His ankle was crushed under some debris.” 

“I’m right here,” Tyler said. “And I said I’m fine. I don’t need to go to the hospital. But we’ve gotta find that dog-” 

“You mean this lil’ guy?” Boone asked. He and Lily stood with who you assumed was the kid who lost the dog, but who was now cuddling it in his arms with a wide smile on his lips despite the destruction all around them. “He came runnin’ out just a minute ago. Smart dog.” 

You smiled softly, looking at Tyler who sighed in relief. “I told you.” 

“I think the nearest hospital is…” Javi trailed off, looking at his phone with furrowed brows. “Twenty minutes south, just off the interstate.” 

“I’m not goin’ to a hospital. I’m telling you guys, I’m fine-” 

You huffed loudly. “Are you always this stubborn?” 

At the same time, Kate, Javi, Boone, and Lily all replied, “Yes.” 

You realized you probably weren’t going to convince Tyler to get his ankle checked out at the hospital. “Fine,” you sighed. “But you’re not gonna patch yourself up in some grimy motel, got it? My parents don’t live too far from here. You all can crash there.” 

“Are you sure?” Kate asked. 

“Positive. My parents were thrilled to have my team staying. They won’t mind a couple more people.” 

“Wait,” Javi said. “Your parents. Like, your parents as in Jo and Bill Harding?” 

You chuckled. “Yes.” 

He and Kate exchanged a look that bordered on giddy. 

Tyler shifted at your side, pulling out his truck keys and you thought he was out of his mind if he thought he was going to try to drive with his clearly busted ankle. You reached over and snatched the keys quickly. “You’re riding with me, cowboy,” you said before tossing the keys at Kate. She caught with between her two hands, eyes slightly wide before a smile broke out across her lips. 

“I’m driving!” Kate said before she quickly turned on her heel before anyone could protest, Javi following close behind her. 

“You be careful with my truck Sapulpa!” Tyler shouted. 

You all arrived at your parents' place and helped a limping Tyler out of your truck. He tried once more to hide just how much pain he was in, but it didn’t work. As you walked up the driveway, he smirked, a little lopsidedly. “Already taking me home to meet the parents, huh?” You wanted to smack him but decided his sprained ankle was enough punishment already. 

Instead, you rolled your eyes. “Don’t you be talking like that in front of my mom. She’ll start planning the wedding.” You were only half joking. You knew the second she opened the front door and saw you standing side by side with Tyler’s arm slung around you, even though it was strictly to keep himself upright and pressure off his ankle, her imagination would run wild. 

He was quiet for a moment before he cleared his throat and said, “At least let me buy you dinner first.” 

You didn’t get a chance to respond before the front door was swung open and out stepped your mom. Her eyes flickered between the two storm-chasing teams all trailing behind you before they landed on you and Tyler. You saw the little twinkle in her eye, but it vanished when she noticed the state everyone was in, soaked clothes, a little in pain, and in a slight daze. 

She hurried down the step, grasping your face and gazing at the nasty cut on your chin from where you collided with the road. “Everyone okay?” she asked, eyes drifting over to Tyler. 

“Not exactly,” you replied. “Tyler’s got a busted ankle. I think everyone else is pretty okay. But cold and hungry.” 

Your mom clapped her hands together. “Well then, let’s get you all fed and cleaned up then. Come on,” she said, ushering everyone inside and exchanging greetings. 

You helped Tyler into the bathroom before you dug around for the first aid kit underneath the sink. 

“You know-” Tyler started but you glared at him. 

“If you tell me you’re fine one more time Owens…” He held up his hands in defense, pressing his lips together. Once you found the kit, you sat on the floor and carefully rolled up the leg of his jeans. Whatever damage his ankle took was hidden under his boot. “This is probably gonna hurt,” you said. 

You tried to be as careful as you could, tugging off his boot, and he tried to act like it didn’t hurt like a bitch, but the way his eyes screwed shut and hands clenched into fists in his lap told you otherwise. As soon as it was off, he let out a shaky breath and you assessed the damage. His ankle was swollen, bloodied, and overall in pretty bad shape but considering he could put a little bit of pressure on it told you it wasn’t broken. He was right about the sprain, but it was a fairly bad one. 

Working quickly but carefully, you cleaned up the dirt and blood before wrapping his ankle. “Feel any better?” you asked. He nodded as you stood to your feet. “Good. Are you hungry? I’m sure my mom’s made enough food to feed an army-” 

“Wait,” he said, grasping your hand, turning you back around to face him before you could reach the door. “You fixed me up, now it’s your turn.” 

You furrowed your brows. “What?” His eyes dropped down to your chin, where you’d smacked it against the road when you fell. “Oh. No, it’s just a little scratch-” he cut you off. 

“Are you always this stubborn?” he teased, using your own words against you. With a sigh, you slumped your shoulders in defeat. 

“All right, but at least sit down. Your ankle’s not gonna heal otherwise.” He listened, retaking his place on the toilet lid as you sat on the edge of the tub right beside it. He grabbed an alcohol swap from the kit and grasped your face with one hand. His fingers were cold from the rain but gentle as they tilted your head upwards just slightly so he could clean the cut on your chin. 

You couldn’t help but study him. The brightness of his eyes and how they narrowed when he concentrated, and how he pulled his bottom lip just barely between his teeth. Something twisted in your stomach, and you were suddenly very aware of just how close he was. You had been nearly nose to nose with him earlier, in the aftermath of the storm, but the calmness of your current setting made the closeness feel different. The way his hand softly held onto your face made your breath hitch, and it was impossible for him not to notice. His eyes flickered up from your chin, awkwardly covered with a band aid, and met yours. 

“Thanks for saving my ass out there,” he said, voice just above a whisper, like he too didn’t want to break the calmness that was steady in the room. 

You tried to ignore the patter of your heart that quickened as with his little smile. “I owed you for saving mine.” 

“Guess we’re even know, huh?” 

You nodded, words lost on your tongue. Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but you dropped your gaze onto his lips for just a moment before you met his eyes, searching for something. But your wishful thinking died with a startling knock on the door that caused you both to flinch back and away from each other. 

“Everything all right in there?” your dad’s voice sounded from the other side of the door. 

You cleared your throat, quickly standing to your feet. “Y-Yeah. We’ll be out in a second!” A shaky laugh left your lips as your turned to Tyler, who stared back at you with cheeks slightly pink. “We should…” 

“Yeah, y-yeah.” 

After everyone showered and cleaned themselves up, your mom and dad handed out plates and everyone dug in. With full stomachs and dry clothes, the collection of storm chasers all crashed around the house. You lay in your childhood bed, squished alongside Frankie while two other members of your team were asleep on an air mattress on the floor. You tried to sleep, but all you could think about was Tyler, who was just downstairs in the living room. The rest of the evening consisted of you two tip toeing around each other, bordering on avoiding each other in the company of everyone else. 

With a quiet groan, you slipped out of bed and headed toward the kitchen, careful to be quiet. Your mom’s words followed you, gushing about Tyler. Would it be the worst thing in the world? You had said yes, but you didn’t really mean it, how could you? This was Tyler. Sure, he was a little reckless and you’d seen him get a little rowdy at a country bar, but he was also the kind of person that looked for lost dogs in the middle of a tornado and who stayed by your bedside at the hospital until you woke up. He was obnoxiously great. You didn’t know how to deal with it. 

In the bathroom, just hours ago, you wanted to kiss him. And a part of you thought he wanted to kiss you too, but the moment was broken too fast for you to know for certain. 

You poured yourself a glass of water before leaning against the counter, eyes focused out the window at the sliver of moon that poked out from behind the clouds. Somewhere behind you, the floorboards creaked, causing you to spin around with a start. 

Tyler paused, wincing at the noise he made before he whispered, “Sorry.” 

You didn’t do it on purpose, but it was like at the sight of him your lips automatically tugged upwards in a smile. You felt a little ridiculous about it but tried to play it off by clearing your throat. 

“I told you that couch was uncomfortable,” you said, voice low to not wake the snoring Wranglers in the next room. 

“It’s not,” he replied. 

“You should be elevating your ankle.” 

“I know, I know. Doctor’s orders, right?” He smiled too. “I was just grabbing some water.” 

You said nothing as you reached back into the cabinet and pulled out another glass before filling it at the sink. You handed it to him, your fingers brushing for just a second before he took the glass with a quiet ‘thanks’ and you pulled away. 

“I should…” You pointed behind you, ready to retreat back to your bedroom and let your Tyler-occupied mind slip away. But he caught your elbow and set down his glass of water. He didn’t say anything as his hand slid up your arm to your shoulder, then to your cheek in a similar way he held you earlier. You were back to being nearly nose-to-nose for the third time that day. Only this time, it was Tyler whose gaze flickered to your lips before he closed the short distance. 

Softly and quietly, you pressed your lips against his, pressing your hands against his chest. His hands were warm on the sides of your face as his lips moved against yours. You parted after a moment, breathing a little heavier, and your chest beat with something new. 

You leaned in once more, kissing him a little harder but pulling back quicker. “Good night, Tyler,” you breathed out. 

He beamed, cheeks rosy. “Good night, Harding.”

[dailyrothko]

Hi! I was wondering if you had any opinions on the play Red by John Logan? Really admire the Rothko work you do!

First of all, thank you.

Secondly, I think I maybe in a weird position to critique this. I have read almost everything written about Rothko that I know exists. All the books, all the articles I could find and all the interviews I can put my hands on where people who knew him talk. I actually have you guys to thank for this because until this blog got popular, I didn't know much about his life other than the basics. But, feeling some responsibility to my "Audience" and chosen subject, I tired to educate myself in this niche.

Because of this, one naturally forms a picture of the person in your head based on these collected impressions. I think most people don't really know much about him, at least until recently.

I am thankful that the play was an entrée into the art for a lot of people. Like the Rothko episode of Mad Men, many people are brought to awareness of the Rothko through these other mediums and I think that's really cool.

The thing though is that John Logan wrote the movie Gladiator, and you can tell. I see nothing bad about that kind of drama, it just doesn't jibe with my impression of Rothko, While Rothko was sensitive, upset at times, neurotic and opinionated, careful and studious, but he was not this bellowing pontificator that I feel is represented in the play. Again there's nothing wrong with making a drama of it, it's just something that I divorce from Rothko's actual character. I used to have a job reading movie scripts for an actor and you find a lot of common devices people use to make the drama effective, and I feel Red uses a lot of those to good effect. Every play or movie I have ever seen about an artist takes the task of making a largely internal process, external enough for the audience to become engrossed in.

Rothko was sensitive, well-spoken intellectual man. Many of his friends speak of his great tenderness and generosity towards them. The play seeks to pit him and his assistant as two poles of the art world, the new encroaching on the old. Again, fine as a dramatic device but Rothko painted alone, and he talked about painting to no one, ever. Anyone who knew Rothko says he never discussed his art. So any conversations in the play are entirely fantasy.

So, basically I think the play is entertaining and hopefully gets people interested in the art, but I wouldn't take it like a biography of Rothko! And that's really my main point, not to knock the play but to point out the differences between fact and fiction.

Here's some context:

"When I've seen my father portrayed, I've sort of winced, because it doesn't sound like him or come across like him. He was a very warm, humorous person, I remember him telling me silly stories as a child. - Kate Rothko

"As I see him, he was a very loving, essentially feeling man. He was loving and lovable. He liked to put on a rough show. I mean he liked to talk tough. He presented to me a softness. And I was full of my Oriental, religious view of things. I never attempted to talk to him about it because he didn't respond to it. I took it that it was his concern with the world which was from boyhood because of his parentage and finding the same ugliness and stupidity in the art world as in the world that made him so convinced that life wasn't worth living." -Wallace Putnam

Mark is often presented as off-putting; however, he really was quite warm, nurturing and could be very funny." - Regina Bogat

"(Rothko had) a genuine charitable impulse. It grew out of real sympathy. I don't think it was a put-on in any way, nor for self-aggrandizement...there are numbers of cases in which while he was alive he helped persons and always anonymously. He never wanted it known, nor did he ever talk about it." - Stanley Kunitz

*forgive typos, my brain does not see them until weeks after the fact

[a-small-writer-in-a-big-world]

I feel like I write a lot of angsty things for the roommate series so here’s something fluffy:

Simon loves to read.

I’m not talking just reading as like a downtime thing, he gets into books and consume anything that pertains to it. He’ll buy an entire series, he’ll a book front to back in a matter of a day or two, and will analyze it so much that he even has a note book full of notes on it (he doesn’t like to write or put tabs in the book)

And it’s not just with books. He wouldn’t admit it but he almost loves comics more than he likes books because of the medium and how easy it is to consume

He’s stayed up late just reading, especially when he can’t sleep and if the book is really good his nose is stuck in it.

Sometimes he uses reading as an escape, but truly he’s fascinated by the stories told and the worlds created (he’s a fan of fantasy and fiction, will sometimes pick up a non-fiction book)

You like catching him when he’s reading because unbeknownst to him, he has a very expressive face when he’s reading. You can almost see when a plot twist happens, or when there’s a part he doesn’t like just by the expression on his face. You’ve noticed that he rubs his fingers over his lips when he reads and now because you’ve seen his dog tags, he tends to put one of the disks in his mouth when he reads.

It’s adorable, you think, how engrossed he gets into the stories. You like watching his little expressions and habits when he reads.

But the best part is when you ask him to talk about the book or comic he’s reading.

It took a little bit for him to get past his shyness about sharing his thoughts with you. At first he said short little things about it, but the more you told him you wanted to know what he really thinks, he started to open up more.

Now when you ask him, he’s pulling out his notes and practically giving you a full presentation. He gets excited and riled up talking to you about the current book he’s on and his feelings towards it is.

His eyes light up he smiles a little bit more and he doesn’t see so tense, and though he’s not particularly animated, you can tell that he’s invested.

He’s happy.

Simon loves telling you everything you want to know, he loves that you’re interested and that you’re the one who asks. It makes him feel warm, it makes him excited and it takes everything in him to not kiss you for every encouraging word you say to him.

Doesn’t matter what both of you are doing; whether it’s cuddling, about to go to sleep, or just sitting in the couch, he’s always so ready to tell you everything he thinks about the book/comic

(Added bonus if you’re an aspiring writer, he’s your number one supporter and will pester you to let him read your work, will help if you ask but mostly just wants to read it even if it’s “bad”.)

[peachesofteal]

i would love a book recommendation list from you whenever you have the time to write one up :-)

Hi! I put together a list of everything I've personally read and enjoyed. Please remember these are my personal recs. To each their own. These are fantasy/high fantasy recs only, and one science fiction because I cannot resist talking about Dune.

Mistborn (7 books split into two eras) and The Stormlight Archive (4 books) - Brandon Sanderson - Just read them. I can't even begin to cover the way I have consumed the Cosmere (his multiverse). Complex magical systems that make sense. These are my number one recommendation.

The Poppy War (and it's two subsequent books)- R. F. Kuang - technically it's military-ish fantasy. The magic blends really well and I didn't put these down. I loved how Rin was more morally grey. It teaches, too.

Wheel of Time (sixteen ish books) - Robert Jordan with an assist from Brandon Sanderson at the end - one of my favs. Typical hero stuff but I love the world and the magic system. I watch the show too, and would recommend if you want to get a little excited about reading them. This series ruined me for a while, it was really hard to get into anything else.

Malazan - ten books - Steven Erickson. I read these a while ago but they’re very engrossing.

The Priory of the Orange Tree (and A Day of Fallen Night) - Samantha Shannon - I devoured these! Really liked them. Sometimes the pacing is a little weird but… would recommend.

All Souls Trilogy - Deborah Harkness - okay it’s historical fantasy but definitely check these out. Witches, vampires, demons… dark haired love interest and Deborah Harkness really weaves the history so well, I loved them. She has an additional book in this universe that I didn’t like so much BUT she has a new one coming out soon and I’m excited.

And finally... Dune - Frank Herbert (only, NOT the books his kids wrote. So six titles, ending with Chapterhouse: Dune) - Science Fiction. If you’ve seen the first movie you more or less than know the premise but I promise you there is so much more. I am aware that some interpretations of this story reduce it to a white savior narrative but that’s simply NOT the case and you would have no idea unless you actually read the full six books.

Last thing: I don’t recommend jumping from series to series. Take a break or read a romcom. These stories are deeply detailed and very engulfing. Learning new worlds, magical systems, religions, races, etc when you change books can be confusing and do a disservice to the book and yourself. “The first book” in a lot these can be hard to chew or digest because you’re learning so much, so keep that in mind! 🩵

[cherrys-and-whine]

Hey! I’m on the hunt for a long-term roleplay. I’m in the GMT timezone(UK/Ireland) and I have been roleplaying for years now. I write in third person past tense and my replies usually range from 2+ paragraphs. I am usually very active other than when I’m in work, but expect multiple replies per day!

I am open to non fandom roleplays( SOL/Historical plays etc). If you have any original ideas please let me know! I sometimes shy away from fantasy if the idea of too obscure so just a warning but fully open to slice of life or hearing any ideas you have! Happy to explore simply plots and world build to came then something fun for both of us! Some tropes I’d like to expand on: 🫶🏻

* Enemies to lovers

* Friends to lovers

* Arranged marriages

* Childhood sweethearts/Girl next door

For my fandom writers; I am happy to write canon and OC’s, male and female characters but I do stick to mxf pairings. I am open to any ideas you have and want to world build and plot with you! Let’s get invested in our characters and our story and post reference pics etc. I love getting engrossed in the writing.

Now for my fandom writers I write the following fandoms:

* Harry Potter (All Gens)

* Bridgerton

* Marvel/DC

* Hunger Games(including Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes)

* The Artful Dodger

* Peaky Blinders

If you have any other plots or fandoms in mind let me know! I might have just forgotten to list them! I hope to hear from you, have a lovely day :)

[mamthew]

Some thoughts on Metaphor: ReFantazio. I avoid spoilers for the most part.

It’s maybe impossible to overstate how much I love Persona 5. It’s my favorite game of all time, and directly started me down the path to being a radical. It’s got some flaws – many of which were fixed in its rerelease, Persona 5: Royal – but it’s such a fantastic package in terms of story, gameplay, art design, music, and thematic resonance that it’s hard to fault it for them. I’ve played and enjoyed subsequent P5 material, but none of them are nearly as devoted to a political message as the original, meaning that even though they’re all good, they ultimately fall short of what I love about the initial game.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is a 2024 RPG by a good number of the folks who made Persona 5, and you can immediately tell. It has a very similar art style, uses many of the same sound effects, has a similar battle system, and is built around the calendar/social links/social stats system that the Persona series is known for. It is essentially a Persona game, but set in a fantasy world rather than contemporary Japan, and without Persona’s emphasis on Jungian psychology and the tarot. It’s also thoughtfully political, but in a way that’s maybe less engrossing and blisteringly relevant than Persona 5. That said, what it does have to say is worth engaging with, as it uses its more traditional fantasy setting to comment on the ideological underpinnings of RPGs as a genre and games more broadly, as both an artistic medium and an industry.

In many ways, Metaphor is “Persona does Final Fantasy.” It’s clearly an homage to Final Fantasy at its core. It may have Persona 5’s battle system, but it’s got FFV’s job system, and it’s reworked the “one more” mechanic to feel more like the Brave/Default system from Bravely Default, or the Conditional Turn-Based system from Final Fantasy X. The job system is especially interesting. There are 14 basic jobs, with each job having 1-3 class change upgrades that unlock at specific Social Link levels with the job’s corresponding character. Every party member can use any job, but have very individualized stat spreads that make certain jobs more viable than others. For example, Strohl starts with the Warrior job, which hits hard and doesn’t do much else. He could use the Mage job, but his physical attack is like double his magic attack, so that would probably be a waste of his massive attack stat. That said, some players might opt to train him through Mage anyway, because at level 20, Mage gets a skill that increases MP by 15%, which they could equip to Warrior so he can use more of his big hits that spend MP. I, on the other hand, trained him in Pugilist, which has powerful physical moves that spend HP instead of MP. It’s a bit more risk/reward, but Strohl has considerably more HP to spend. And that’s one of the seven party members, each of which has their own unique stat spread.

That customizability is fun and rewarding, but limited by the use of a Persona calendar system. I’m less inclined to experiment and try training characters in weird directions when I only have ten in-game days to reach the end of the current dungeon and only have about an in-game year to reach the end of the game. Due to the FOMO brought on by the time constraints, I spent about eight hours just mindlessly bashing enemies in old dungeons in order to unlock all the jobs, which was pretty decidedly unfun, and I ultimately only got to play around with maybe half the fully upgraded jobs in the end. Persona’s time-management (which often translates to some occasionally brutal resource management in dungeons) has always ratcheted up the games’ tension and forced a level of deliberateness in decision-making. That works fine in Persona, but dampens the freedom of choice I associate with job systems. The calendar generally feels like a weird thing to keep. On one hand, the narrative and mechanics have been built around it, but on the other, part of what I enjoy about the calendar in Persona is the mundanity of it. The changing of the seasons, interspersed with real-world holidays, as experienced by a protagonist who is attending high school and therefore at the mercy of the calendar, all help to complement the familiar contemporary setting of a Persona game. In Metaphor, there are no seasons or holidays, the weeks have five days instead of seven, and the one-year cutoff for the action is arbitrarily enforced by a spell rather than by familiar societal norms, so the days tend to blend together. This calendar has all of the anxiety of Persona’s system with none of the novelty, and that’s not a great place to be in.

That said, what Metaphor loses in variety from the calendar it gains from its much larger world and its travel mechanics. Each chapter of Metaphor is set in a different city, and the characters must travel to each city using their gauntlet-runner, a land-based version of the classic Final Fantasy airship complete with a pilot who’s clearly Atlus’s take on a Cid. Each city has several dungeons, landmarks, and surrounding towns that the party can travel to and explore as side-jaunts to juggle as options within the time-management system. Some of these can take several in-game days to reach, but traveling has its own activities that raise social stats, craft items, or even develop social links with party members. In Persona 5, many of the side activities had their own unique content but wasted precious days to do, and travel-time feels like a way to alleviate some of that sense of waste, by limiting you to just “bedroom activities” like reading books, cooking, tending to plants, doing laundry, cleaning the floor, bathing, or inviting party members to hang out. You have to go to the extra dungeon either way, so you’re stuck on the gauntlet-runner either way, so you might as well raid the pantry, use the shower for a small Exp bonus, cook some fermented meat with Hulkenberg, do some laundry with Heismay, and then read a fantasy novel while you’re there. Much of the traveling system feels like an iteration on the central premise of Persona 5: Strikers, allowing the characters to go on a road trip and see a bunch of cities but without the dearth of things to do outside of dungeons from which Strikers suffered.

Metaphor is in most ways an improvement on Persona 5. It’s a much bigger game, with a more strategic battle system and prettier visuals. That said, its dungeons are generally a bit less interesting. They’re more straightforward, without the verticality that made especially Persona 5: Royal’s dungeons shine. They’re also less colorful, less surreal and – I guess a bit ironically – less metaphorical. That makes sense, since all the dungeons are actual locations within the game’s world and must therefore follow the world’s logic, but it’s weird infiltrating a giant fantasy airship and being struck by how much duller it is than Persona 5’s Diet building – a real-world place known for being boring. The music, too, is less interesting than Persona 5’s. It’s still technically solid, and there are certainly some bangers, but because the soundtrack is aping Final Fantasy in genre and instrument choices, it’s much less engaging than the acid-jazz of Persona 5. Metaphor also has less to do than Persona 5 or especially Royal. The game doesn't require that you grind up relationship points with social links, which cuts out a lot of the frustration of the social link system, but also means that there's no reason to take characters on dates or to the movies or to play darts. The world feels less varied because the activities are much more clearly laid out by which social stat they increase.

Both this game and P5 are punching way higher than their weight class in terms of budget and team size. They’re both essentially AA games that have been catapulted into the AAA space, and both are a generation or more behind in terms of actual graphical power. Both games made up for that discrepancy with stylish artistic flair, and while that papering over succeeds in both games, the stylizing of Metaphor feels less relevant to the game than with Persona 5. Persona 5’s intentional use of color and effects make it feel both pulpy and like agitprop material, which are two of its major artistic influences. Metaphor’s stylings, however, mostly make it feel like Persona 5, which clashes a bit with its more classical fantasy setting. I’ve seen a number of people complain about the game’s graphics being outdated, and I think the fact that it retreads so much stylistic ground is why the unimpressive graphics are more noticeable this time around, even though it’s much better graphically than any previous Atlus entry. The game’s reuse of many Persona sound effects aggravate this issue. Those sound effects feel punchy and contemporary, and work great in the context for which they were created: a game that turns rpg genre conventions on their heads by using a contemporary setting. Here, in a game that’s purposely leaning into more classic genre conventions, they instead feel lazy and out of place. The game clearly had great sound designers; there are plenty of new sound effects as well as the old. I wish they’d had those sound designers replace the reused sound effects as well. The game's localization, however, does set it apart from Persona 5. Metaphor is another JRPG to outsource its localization and English voice work to the UK, rather than the states. Most of the characters are voiced by UK voice actors, and they all do an outstanding job. Honestly, the weakest link voice-wise is the protagonist's voice, which was clearly directed to try to be fairly flat and unaffected. Still, I'm just so happy to have a voiced protagonist that I didn't mind all that much.

Metaphor opens by posing a question to the player: does a story have the power to change the world? I figured when I started the game that this question was referring to Persona 5, and the difficulties of creating a story with a specific, clear political message and having to deal with its audience agreeing with the message and longing for that change but not working to bring it about – or even worse, a chunk of its audience refusing to acknowledge it as political at all. While Metaphor was clearly inspired by that initial tension, it addresses a much broader question than that: why do video games – works in a medium that tends toward fairly radical political theming – seem to attract audiences that refuse to engage with their theming? Much of the game’s use of Final Fantasy elements is in service to this question, since Final Fantasy is sorta the seminal RPG. The game’s antagonist, whose name is frustratingly spelled Louis and pronounced Luis, represents in some ways the ideological underpinnings of Final Fantasy and is even designed to look like the FF1 Warrior of light, with long flowing white hair and curved horns. The main plot of the game involves a powerful spell that forces the kingdom to hold a democratic election. When the king is assassinated, his voice thunders down from the sky that the crown will go to whomever the most citizens believe in their hearts should be the next king in about a year’s time. The protagonist enters the race because he opposes the two frontrunners – Louis and the head of the very racist Sanctist church.

The protagonist often reads from a utopian novel and communes with the novel’s imprisoned author, a man named More, probably because he represents the demand that society improve and offer us more. The novel discusses the workings of an idealized version of our contemporary liberal democratic system, and all the party members fight in some way to try to realize that system. The novel itself was banned and all its copies burned, while More was arrested and sentenced to exile for writing it. While both the protagonist and Louis love the book, they had vastly different takeaways from it. The protagonist and his party see the book as calling for a society built around caring for its citizens, protecting and providing for those without the means to protect or provide for themselves. Louis, on the other hand, sees the book as calling for a society built on “true equality,” where all are forced to fend for themselves and only the strong survive. In both cases, the circumstances of one’s birth theoretically don’t matter, and leadership isn’t decided by a bloodline, which makes both visions look preferable to the world of the game: a heavily racially stratified monarchic theocracy. With the crown up for grabs, both characters have the opportunity to try to realize their visions of this utopian system, if they can convince the populace to back them.

This conflict is, deliberately, the conflict at the center of liberal democracy: is our system meant to be more individualistic or more collectivistic? Does the “liberal” mean that individuals must fend for themselves without a societal support structure? Does the “democracy” mean that the strongest must sacrifice the fruits of their advantages to provide for those without the same advantages? That the game takes the side of the whole over the part is unsurprising, given that it was made by the folks who made Persona 5. And hey, that’s the side I agree with more, so no skin off my back. But, using liberal democracy as the basis for its core theming makes Metaphor feel considerably less radical than Persona 5 did. Most of the oppressor/oppressed relationships in Metaphor are ones for which we have answers, which stands in stark contrast to the real-world-inspired conflicts in Persona 5, and when the characters look to the utopia of the novel for a solution, they’re looking to the answers we already have. And as Persona 5 already told us, those answers are insufficient.

That said, what feels backwards about the game’s theming becomes more interesting when we consider it instead as a metacommentary on the politics of RPGs. Louis, the villain who looks like the Ur-FF Protagonist, is an individualist to the extreme. His vision for a perfect world is one where all compete to live and only the strongest survive. That’s barbaric to most folks whose brains haven’t been poisoned by weird sectarian internet communities, but it’s also pretty much how RPGs operate: you keep fighting guys who are weaker than you to make yourself stronger until you’re the strongest, and then your character uses that strength to change the world the way they want. This is – crucially – also how this RPG operates. The protagonist might oppose Louis’s vision, but he still has to do so on Louis’s terms. It turns out that the conflict at the heart of liberal democracy is also the conflict at the heart of many power fantasies: we imagine ourselves being strong enough to make the world fairer, but in doing so, we engage with an individualistic framing. When looking at the metaphor of Metaphor, we can think of the protagonist as the story of a game and Louis as the narrative told through its mechanics; ultimately, what a story says is still constrained by what the game does. So the question of whether a story has the power to change the world is complicated by the introduction of the constraints placed upon a story by its medium. Why didn’t Persona 5 change the world? Metaphor implies it’s because its audience is primed to see its brand of power fantasy as apolitical – not even about the world to begin with.

I think increasingly often about a time I got into an argument with the admin of a Persona 5 Facebook meme page. He’d posted a meme complaining about people’s need to inject politics into Persona 5, an otherwise apolitical game. I found this absurd. The game in which you infiltrate the Japanese Diet building to stop a fascist from stealing an election is apolitical? The game where the personification of humanity’s tendency toward rebellion leads the party into battle to destroy the god of wealth at the center of a panopticon? It was beyond comprehension. But an art form that constrains most of its narratives to center around accruing power through conflict in order to elevate oneself as an individual has maybe inevitably attracted an audience that’s allergic to the idea that fiction can and usually does say something about the real world. And when I say “allergic,” I don’t simply mean “unwilling.” We’ve crossed into a political moment where the arbitrarily-defined level of “woke” in a piece of media determines whether a chunk of people will deign to engage with it at all, but based on my googling, Persona 5 is hilariously considered “not woke” (though Royal is simultaneously both “woke” and “anti-woke,” the remake of Persona 3 is too “woke” to bear, and Metaphor ReFantazio is under scrutiny but they seem to be leaning toward “not woke”). So the line in the sand is whether or not a game comments on the real world, but that line is drawn by people with shockingly low media literacy.

One element of the story that confused me clicked into place once I considered this angle. The game’s world is plagued by huge and brutal monsters called “humans.” In the game's world, the word “human” refers only to these monsters, while the sentient denizens of the game’s world call themselves “people,” or refer to themselves by their fantasy races. It’s bizarre to hear characters talk about “humans” and mean big weird giants that massacre towns and aren’t recognizably human at all. But when we consider this through the lens of a metacommentary on games, this choice comes to make sense. In an RPG, the player is a human roaming through a world of non-humans. They’re infinitely stronger than everyone around them, and in the end, only the human’s decisions matter. Everything exists to placate the human, and if the human refuses to engage with a story on its terms, then that pretty much destroys everything the story is trying to do. Those characters who exist solely to make the human feel something become fodder, to be ground up and discarded by the human. If we look at the relationship between art and audience from the perspective of the art, the audience becomes something like a kaiju, applying its own warped reading to the text, forcing it to submit to that reading. A story only gets to change the world if it first wins that battle with the human, and humans are getting increasingly combative. Obviously, there’s story reasons for the word choice that I won’t spoil here, but they align pretty nicely with my reading.

I really enjoyed Metaphor. It took me 110 hours, and I managed to complete all the social links, beat the extra boss, and unlock every class with the protagonist. A run that doesn't do those things probably could finish it in like 85-90 hours. Either way, it's shorter than Persona 5. I still prefer Persona 5; its politics are much sharper, obviously, but it also has a much bolder and more unique style. But anyone who really enjoys Persona or old-school Final Fantasies should give Metaphor a shot, since it's a pretty fascinating merging of the two, and it uses those associations to comment on the video game medium, the purpose of art in fomenting societal reform, and the shortcomings of liberal democracy. And if you haven't played either, it's a long, complex, standalone RPG in a new ip, which makes for a pretty good jumping-on point to Persona, from which it takes many of its mechanics.

[findroleplay]

Hey! 💫🎀 I am open to non fandom roleplays( SOL/Historical plays etc). If you have any original ideas please let me know! I sometimes shy away from fantasy if the idea of too obscure so just a warning but fully open to slice of life or hearing any ideas you have! Happy to explore simply plots and world build to came then something fun for both of us! 🫶🏻

For my fandom writers; I am happy to write canon and OC’s, male and female characters but I do stick to mxf pairings. I am open to any ideas you have and want to world build and plot with you! Let’s get invested in our characters and our story and post reference pics etc. I love getting engrossed in the writing.

Now for my fandom writers I write the following fandoms:

* Harry Potter (All Gens)

* Bridgerton

* Marvel/DC

* Hunger Games(including Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes)

* The Artful Dodger

* Peaky Blinders

If you’re interested my discord is leesh8293

-

[marimayscarlett]

Dive into a world of gothic allure as an elderly vampire lord sweeps you off your feet to his New York penthouse. 🧛🦇🥀

Explore the captivating fantasy of being his object of obsession. 😩 The vampire lord, with his smoldering gaze and commanding presence, becomes fixated on you.

With his silver hair and timeless elegance, he will mesmerise you with his refined manners and poetic words. 📜

🌃 As the nights grow longer and the passion intensifies 🔥 , you delve deeper into the secrets of his world, discovering the dark history that binds you together. Will you succumb to the seductive power of the vampire lord, or will you find the strength to resist his alluring embrace? 👀

Ja ok doch wem wollen wir etwas vormachen? Was für ein Widerstand, bitte?! Richard kann mit uns machen, was er will.

(Warning: shamelessly catering to my romantic vampire needs here, self insert scribblings)

Thank you dearest Näd for this and your unwavering and equally obsessed support in our little fantasy crossover here (grüß mir deinen Werwolf-Mann) 🤍🤍🤍

The saga of the charming older vampire lord continues... for more context, here is his potential backstory, an attempt for the lore behind his vampire existence as a part one so to speak.

🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇

How would we meet?

A large exhibition hall in a historic museum, shortly before the museum's closing. The sun has already set on this winter day, and the moonlight illuminates the dust dancing through the air. A young woman, her reddish-brown hair tightly pulled back into a bun, with bangs falling across her face, leans over a desk, the sleeves of her loose shirt rolled up.

She is completely engrossed in her work, transcribing the text from an old book into her notebook, consulting various entries in her dictionary, and carefully turning the centuries-old pages. She barely hears the slow footsteps approaching and only looks up from her work when the person stands before her desk.

Her gaze is caught by gray eyes under striking eyebrows. The man before her is impeccably dressed, his long gray hair gathered in an elegant braid. Her breath catches briefly—why, she's not exactly sure.

"Good evening. You must be Maria, the one in charge of the exhibition on medieval manuscripts.."

"Yes, that's me. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr..."

"Kruspe. But please, just call me Richard. I must say, the way you handle these artifacts with such care and reverence is truly admirable."

"Ah, this name rings a bell. So I guess you're the one who lent this beautiful manuscript to the museum? I just believe each piece has a story to tell, and it's our duty to ensure they're heard."

"Quite poetic, Maria. I couldn't agree more. Your passion for art is evident."

"Well, it's hard not to be passionate when surrounded by such beauty and history."

"Your enthusiasm for this topic seems to be quite strong. It's quite... captivating to see."

"Oh, thank you...That's very kind of you to say."

"It's merely an observation. Anyway, I won't take up any more of your time. I'll leave you to your work."

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Richard. If you have any questions about the exhibition, feel free to ask."

🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇

How the obsession evolves:

Richard finds himself lingering around the museum more often, drawn to Maria's presence. He battles with his desires, knowing the consequences of succumbing to his vampiric instincts - as it already demanded a loved one of his as a victim over a century ago.

Maria notices Richard's frequent visits and begins to feel a mixture of curiosity and unease. Despite his polite demeanor, there's something unsettling about his gaze.

One restless night, Richard's longing for her reaches a tipping point. He stands outside her home, conflicted yet unable to resist the pull any longer. With a heavy heart and trembling hands, he makes a decision that will change both their lives forever, and takes her while she sleeps with him to his New York penthouse, determined to not let her go.

Maria is faced with the task of coming to terms with her new life situation - her new home, a modern golden cage, with a man who anticipates her every wish, who tries to make her life as comfortable as possible, yet... remains silent. He barely speaks to her, and inside him, the conflict between obsession and guilt simmers. It's as if he's denying himself access to his greatest longing. At night, she hears him restlessly pacing on the rooftop, and even though she tries to initiate a conversation, gently understanding his melancholy, she only meets with a few polite words and sad eyes - as if he's punishing her for his decision.

Richard's wrestles with the fear of repeating past tragedies, haunted by memories of the girl he loved and lost to his own monstrous nature. But one night, he gathers his courage: he reveals his dark nature to her, shares with her his past - and contrary to the expected rejection, he encounters understanding and deep emotions.

[missjukebox8bit]

GET EQUIPPED WITH: New Chapter of The Roboticist's Daughters

I finally did it! I finally made a second chapter of my Rollinka fanfic The Roboticists' Daughters before Pride Month ends! Four hours before AO3 goes down! Great timing!

Because AO3 is going down I will also be posting it under the cut!

The year was 20XX A.D.

Wasn’t it always?

It was two years before Dr. Albert Wily first waged war between man and machine. The world did not yet know the man made horrors and wonders that lifelike robots would bring, but it was not a time without hardship. They still had to worry about the natural horrors. Katyusha Cossack had been fighting a battle against one such powerful enemy for a long time, one that had taken many lives and split apart many families, and though she had many rematches that ended in victory… her game would eventually come to a premature end.

Leaving her family to find a way to continue.

Mikhail Cossack slowly walked into the doorway of his apartment. It wasn’t particularly big or fancy, but it was home. A home he shared with his daughter and… no, just her now. It was going to take a while for him to get used to that. He steadied himself on a counter. Without Katyusha, this place felt empty, hollow even. Everything he saw reminded him of her. The turquoise fur coat she loved so much was still hanging up by the door, and he knew the matching ear-rings were on the nightstand by the bed they used to share. Resting on the couch is the stuffed frog she had won for their daughter in a claw machine… Part of him wished he could just leave this all behind and start over-

Wait… where is his daughter anyway? He didn’t see her come in… His heart started racing and he looked around the room frantically, until he heard a voice. “Papa?” The scientist jumped and his head turned to the source of the sound. A little blonde girl in the middle of the apartment, wearing her papakha and clutching something to her chest.

He breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled. He walked up to his daughter and affectionately patted her hat. “You have a talent for slipping away when I’m not looking, little Linka. What do you have there?” But when she showed him what it was, his heart sank. It was an old DVD of Don Bluth’s Anastasia . It wasn’t a favorite of his. He hated the historical inaccuracy, the glorification of the Romanov family, and the blatant demonization of communists. But that was far from the main thing on his mind right now. Because to Kalinka, this film was significant because-

“Mama said she would watch this with me when she got all better.”

It was already hard for Mikhail to tell her no when she looked up at him with those adorable puppy-dog eyes of hers, but in his current emotional state there was no way he wasn’t immediately dropping everything to sit down on the couch and watch a princess movie with his daughter as she cuddled her little frog doll. 

The mood in the room was tense at first, but as the film went on, Kalinka was engrossed in its story. Mikhail was familiar with the history of the real Grand Duchess Anastasia, and it was not quite as wholesome and fantastical as this film portrayed, but… he saw how his daughter’s face lit up as she watched the screen, how wide she smiled seeing the beautiful palaces, the music, the dancing… and it was then he realized, he would do anything to see that smile on her face forever. And it made him smile too.

By the time the film was over, Kalinka was getting drowsier and drowsier. Mikhail gently scooped up his daughter and led her to her bed.

As he tucked her daughter into bed, wild fantasies filled her head.

“I want to be a princess, papa. Like Anastasia!”

The doctor felt weary. “Things didn’t end happily ever after for the real Anastasia, sweetheart.”

“But it would be really fun! We could live in a big pretty palace, and we could have a big ballroom, and we could have a lot of robots be our servants and I could be friends with them!”

“You want a robot to be your friend?” he chuckled.

“Yeah, I’ll make friends with all the robots!”

The doctor admired his daughter’s optimism. Robot AI at this point was only smart enough to just barely simulate human speech, let alone have real emotions. So a robot that could actually be your friend? Technology like that was surely at least a decade away. But given the circumstances, he thought he might as well indulge her science fiction fantasies. “What kind of robots would live in your palace?”

She thought about it. “One of them could be a vacuuming guy, who vacuums, and he’s called uh… Dust Man!” She said, very proud of herself. “And there could be another guy who like… makes it rain when you want it to rain, and his name is uh…” she held her frog plushie up. “Toad Man!”

“Do all their names end in ‘Man’?” he asked teasingly.

“Yeah!” She thought about this for a second. “But, it would be fun if there was a girl one… We’d be bestest friends.”

Mikhail was amused by Kalinka’s ideas… but he had to admit they didn’t all sound so bad. Maybe a new project would help him get his mind off things.

“Can you sing me that song, papa? The pretty one from the movie.”

Mikhail smiled. “Of course, my princess.” And started singing her what would become her favorite lullaby.

“ On the wind, 'cross the sea, sing this song and remember

Soon you'll be home with me, once upon a December… ”

Kalinka yawned and curled up nice and cozy in her bed.

“I’m gonna turn out the light now, princess. Maybe I can build a robot that can do that for us too.” Mikhail joked.

“You could call him Bright Man, and he’ll have a biiiiiiig lightbulb on his head…” 

Mikhail chuckled at his daughter’s wild imagination.

As the lights and her eyelids fell, Kalinka drifted off to sleep, and the last thing she heard was her father’s voice.

“You are the most precious thing in my life. I promise that I will do anything in my power to make you happy and keep you safe, my princess.”

--------

Kalinka opened her eyes. She was still curled up, but not on the couch, or in her father’s arms, or on her bed. She was on a bed, but somebody else’s. And as she stared across the room at the owner of said bed rummaging through her closet, the reality of her situation came flooding back to her.

The year was 20XX A.D. It had been roughly five years since Mikhail Cossack made his promise, one week since he proved just how far he would go to keep his promise, and half an hour since the situation had been mostly resolved. But there was still the fallout to deal with.

“I know we have a first aid kit in here somewhere…” Kalinka was watching closely as she sat up on the edge of Roll’s bed, helping herself to some leftover soup and rice balls they set out on a tray. She thought it tasted a lot better than what she was given at Wily’s Castle. There was also an E-Tank on the tray. She picked it up hesitantly, she thought these were just for robots, but she took a tentative sip. She instantly perked up. It tasted like sparkling blue raspberry juice…

After the Cossacks were let into Light Labs, Dr. Light had taken Dr. Cossack to the living room to rest (and Proto Man went with them, Dr. Light seemed to have something he wanted to talk to him about), while Kalinka was set up in Roll’s room. She seemed to have dozed off.

“There it is!” The robot girl turned around with a first aid kit in hand and her eyes widened. “Oh, you’re awake! I hope I wasn’t too loud…”

“N- no, not at all! Don’t worry about it.” She felt a sharp pain in her arm.

Roll knelt down to Kalinka’s bedside. “Sorry, I’ve done a lot of repairs on broken robots, but it’s been a while since I’ve had a human patient…” She inspected the Russian girl’s arm. “Your wounds don’t seem that serious, just a couple bruises. Dr. Cossack seemed to absorb most of the damage.” She took an ice pack out of the kit and applied pressure to her arm. “You’re not feeling feverish at all, are you? I could get you some Coldkiller X…”

“N- no, I’m fine! This is really nice of you.”

“It’s no trouble at all! It’s the least I can do after… everything today.”

“Do you really need to do all this for me? Shouldn’t this be enough?” She swished the E-Tank around in her hand.

“Those only heal robots, unfortunately. For humans it’s basically just a tastier version of Monster Hunter Energy. No, we have to do things the old fashioned way.” She bandaged up the girl’s arm.

Kalinka shyly stared at her. “Umm… hi.” Kalinka waved at Roll with her other hand weakly. “I never really got to introduce myself. I’m Kalinka.”

“Oh. Oh! Right, sorry. Where are my manners?” the robot girl shook her head, then held out her hand to Kalinka. “My name is-”

“Roll, right?” The girl smiled as she held Roll’s hand. Roll looked at her, kind of stunned. “DLN. 002,” she continued. “The housekeeping robot. One of the first two of Dr. Light’s Robot Masters to be unveiled to the public.”

“You know about me?” She was… a little surprised. Sure when the Robot Masters were first introduced and she was one of a set of twins, she caught a lot of attention from the media. But after Mega Man put a stop to three different major attacks from Wily, she was increasingly sidelined in favor of her brother. Rock and Roll got stopped in the street a lot by Mega fans, but they rarely paid her any mind.

“Oh yeah, I’ve read a lot about you in Father’s scientific journals!” She blushed. “Sorry if that’s weird, I just… really like studying robots, and I thought you always seemed really cool… it’s nice to meet you.”

Roll smiled. “Nice to meet you too!”

Kalinka’s smile turned gloomier. “I just wish our first meeting could’ve been for some other reason than this… There was supposed to be a Robotics Convention this week, but we had to miss it because of…”

Roll looked at her sympathetically. “Look I’m… I’m really sorry about… all of this. If we had known what Wily was up to, we would’ve made sure you were safe way sooner.”

“No, it’s ok! It’s not your fault! It’s that jerk Wily’s fault.” Kalinka pouted and crossed her arms. “Making Proto Man take me away from school, using me to get Father to pretend to be evil, and make those two new robots to fight Mega Man…”

Roll’s eyes widened. “Woah woah, back up. Proto Man kidnapped you?!”

Kalinka nodded. “Yeah, but he told me he only did it because Wily said he'd explode if he didn’t.”

Roll scowled skeptically. “Yeah, he would say that, wouldn’t he?”

Kalinka waved her arm defensively. “You don’t get it. I wouldn’t even be here if he hadn’t fought off the robot guarding me.”

“Oh yeah, who was that? Quick Man? Snake Man? Don’t tell me it was freaking Bubble Man-“

Kalinka shook her head. “None of them. It was… someone else.” Kalinka thought back to the robot she had seen. She started to pout and curl up into the fetal position on the bed. “I thought I knew every robot that’s been released to the public, but that one… with her dark spiky helmet, the weird coily fingers, a stringy spark plug tail… I’ve never seen or heard of anything like her. She was scary.”

Roll searched all her memory databases for a robot that matched that description, but curiously found nothing. “Did she give you her name? A serial number?”

Kalinka shifted awkwardly in her seat. “She didn’t say. I tried to talk with her, but she didn’t seem to want to say anything about herself at all. I only know she was a she because that’s what Proto Man called her when he was rescuing me.” She brought a finger to her lips in thought. “But he could’ve been wrong, it’s 20XX, it’s not great to assume things like that just from looks...”

Roll was worried. Kalinka was clearly affected by this experience. “What did they do to you?”

She side eyed the robot girl. She was scared, but something made her feel like she could open up to Roll about all this. “She didn’t hurt me, if that’s what you mean. Not yet anyway. But Wily told Father and me that if I tried to escape, or if he let anyone know about his plan, if we didn’t do exactly what he said then… it would be game over for me.” The Russian girl started shaking. “You don’t think she’d follow us here, would she?”

Roll frantically waved her hands back and forth. “N- no, of course not! Mega Man will take care of it, just like he always does! He’ll save the day, and then we’ll get you home. I bet your mother will be excited to see you get home safe-”

“My mother passed away when I was four.” She looked like she was about to tear up.

Roll felt as if some obscure glass part inside her just shattered. Oh great going, Roll, your bedside manner is phenomenal today. “I am so… so sorry for your loss.”

“It’s okay. I was really little... It’s just been me and Father and my brothers as long as I can remember…”

Roll rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. “Yeah… same here. I mean it’s not really the same because I never had a mom to begin with but… It’s just always been me, Dr. Light, Mega Man, Cut Man and the others. It’s kind of lonely being the only girl in the family, you know?”

She smiled a little at this. “Yeah, I don’t really know any girls my age at all.”

“Me neither.” It felt nice to talk about this with Kalinka. Roll had never really been able to talk to anyone like this. “... Do you wanna-”

“Do you wanna be friends?!” Kalinka shouted a little too loud before she caught herself and started awkwardly twirling her hair. “I- I mean, if you want to…”

“Yes!” Roll agreed with no hesitation. “I would love to!”

Kalinka smiled widely at her. The two girls had only known each other for a short time, but something about them just seemed to click.

And it was at this moment that they were interrupted by a knock on Roll’s door. “Come in?” Roll said hesitantly. And when the door opened she frowned at the person she saw. Kalinka on the other hand seemed happy to see him. “Proto Man!” Even if Kalinka seemed to be on good terms with him, Roll still couldn’t get a read on this guy. What was his deal? Why did he act like an enemy sometimes and help them other times, but never stay long enough to explain what his problem is? To his credit, Proto Man seemed to sense the hostility. “Your uh… father wants to speak to you.”

“Mine or hers?” Roll asked, venom in her voice.

“Yes.”

--------

The roboticists’ and their daughters gathered in the living room. Proto Man walked in with them, but had since beamed away while nobody was looking. He felt awkward about the whole situation, and probably wanted to avoid confronting Roll about it. Kalinka wished he had at least waited long enough for her to say goodbye. Her injuries were minimal, but Mikhail was a lot worse for wear. His whole back was bandaged up and his arm was in a cast. Nonetheless, he looked a little happier seeing his daughter again. “Kalinka! Are you okay, my dear?”

Kalinka looked worried at her father’s appearance, but forced a smile. “I’m fine, Father. In fact, I should be good to go back to school really soon.”

Mikhail winced. “About that… I’m not letting you go back to that school. The faculty should be ashamed at what they let happen on their watch, I need to enroll you somewhere that I can be sure won’t let that happen ever again.

Kalinka looked surprised, but not necessarily disappointed. “Oh… okay, that’s fine. I didn’t really fit in at that school anyways…”

Mikhail gently rubbed his thumb on his daughter’s face. “Don’t worry, my princess. They didn’t appreciate you there, but I’m sure you’ll do great at Pajitnov Academy.”

Kalinka’s face lit up at this. Today has really been a rollercoaster of emotions for her. “Pajitnov Academy? The school with the best robotics program in all of Russia?!”

“And the lowest kidnapping rate! It’s difficult to get in, but I’m sure I could pull some strings after I explain our… situation.”

“Oh Father, you’re the best!” She went straight to hug her father, causing him to wince more. “Ow, ow, not so tight!” She released him and chuckled nervously. “Hehe, sorry…”

As she thought about this, Kalinka’s face fell for a second. “But if I go to that school, I’m gonna have to spend a lot less time at the Citadel…”

Mikhail sighed. “That’s fine, sweetie. I’ve had time to think about it, and I think it’s time we stopped shutting ourselves away from the world in that fortress. If I hadn’t been so reclusive, perhaps people would’ve figured out something was wrong much sooner… And besides, the Citadel is in a bit of… disarray lately. With Dust Man out of commission, it’s going to take months to clean out everything Wily did to it…”

And with that sentence it was like a switch had flipped in Roll’s head. Mostly because a switch did flip in Roll’s head: the switch that told her it’s time to fulfill her purpose. She raised her hand proudly and shouted out “I could help with that!”

Everyone turned to look at Roll, who had been silent this whole time. Dr. Light was the first to respond. “R- Roll? Are you sure…?”

“Dad, cleaning is literally my thing, I was built for this job! If I can’t keep a house tidy, then you might as well recycle me for scrap metal.”

That thought didn’t exactly make Thomas feel very good. “I- It’s a very big house, dear…”

But Roll was more determined than ever. “So we’ll get some of the mechaniloids to help, it’ll be fine! And…” She turned to the Cossacks, and made eye contact with Kalinka. She was making those puppy dog eyes. “... I want to help make up for all the trouble we caused. This is what friends do, right? Help each other.” Kalinka smiled at the word “friend”.

Dr. Light was still hesitant, but took a deep breath and smiled warmly. He laid a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “You’re right. You have a good heart, Roll. You and your brother are cut from the same cloth, after all. Would that be alright with you, Mikhail?”

Mikhail shared a look with his daughter, who nodded enthusiastically. “Of course, Thomas. Thank you for your kindness, Miss Light.”

Dr. Light laughed heartily. “Perfect! I’ll have some arrangements to make, but I’ll make sure you’re perfectly prepared for your first big mission.”

Roll was giddy with excitement that she was able to help out. “Thank you so much! I won’t let you all down!”

--------

Technically speaking, the official name for Dr. Light’s breed of hyper intelligent robots was “Numbers”, but market research found that “Robot Master” ended up being much more appealing and cooler to the average consumer. The only issue with the title is most people weren’t quite sure what it meant.

Some say it’s because they were masters at their main skill. This certainly applied to Roll, if there was anyone on Earth who could clean a room better than her, she hadn’t met them yet. Some of the Wily bots would tell you that they’re called such because they will be the masters of the new world once humanity dies out. Roll didn’t like that one as much, she didn’t mind humanity and running the new world sounded exhausting. And some would say the name just sounds really freaking cool, which Roll could not deny.

But one other distinct possibility is it refers to their ability to take command of armies of lesser robots. This was not a feature Roll had used much before, it was mostly something Wily’s rogue robots did, but today was different. Today, a few weeks after the fourth Wily incident, there was a job that needed to be done. A job she couldn’t do alone.

Roll stood in front of a crowd of worker robots, putting on a stoic face and stomping around like a drill sergeant, holding her broom as seriously as a 9-year-old girl could.

“Alright, mechaniloids. We’ve got a job to do. Wily’s forces outfitted this citadel with lots of tricks and traps. But we’re not going to rest until this palace is safe and spotless , do you hear me?” She punctuated her last line by getting right in a Metool’s face. It nervously nodded.

“Good. Now you all have your tasks. The Foojeens are going to help me scrub all the floors. Pointans, plug up all the pitfalls. Bunby Catchers are in charge of spike disposal. And the Met Corps will do… whatever it is you do, construction or something?” A Pickelman shrugged at this.

“Now I don’t wanna see any funny business or loafing around, okay? The Cossacks are counting on us to fix up their home, and we are going to do it right! Let’s show them what Light robots can do!” Roll dramatically swung her broom and accidentally exploded a different Met, to which she backed away in shock. “Oh crap, I didn’t mean to… you guys don’t feel pain, right?” The crowd of robots shook their heads, or whatever they had that resembled heads. “Okay, that’s probably fine then. Now… Light bots, ROLL OUT!”

The robots got to work right away renovating this makeshift death trap into the home that it was meant to be. Roll was more focused than ever on making sure every inch of the floors were squeaky clean. To most people, this would be a daunting and boring task. But Roll was not most people. She was made for this, and she took it as seriously as Mega Man took fighting Wily’s forces, and enjoyed it a heck of a lot more. Her broom was her weapon, and the dust and grime in every crevice was her enemy. She was in her element, in the zone even, and nothing felt more exhilarating. And besides… she’s doing this for her friend. And that made her feel even happier.

--------

“Alright, we’re almost here…” Roll led the Cossacks into their home with their eyes closed. Their injuries were healed by now, but Roll insisted they wait to see the results of her efforts. “Aaaaand open!”

They opened their eyes, and they almost couldn’t believe them. The old castle looked cleaner than it had in years. Kalinka looked on in awe, every hallway and corridor was shining like a diamond, the ballroom in particular looked gorgeous. “Wow! It’s beautiful!” Kalinka flapped her hands in excitement. “You did such a great job, Roll! Thank you so much!!!”

Roll wiped some coolant off of her forehead. “Eh, it was nothing.”

Mikhail’s reaction was more subdued, but he was similarly impressed. “Certainly not nothing. The old place looks good as new, you even took care of some of the mold we’ve been trying to scrub out for a long time.” He smirked. “I would expect nothing less from Thomas’s pride and joy.”

“Aw, shucks…” She didn’t feel like she fully deserved such praise. If anyone was her dad’s pride and joy, she knew who it was, and it wasn’t quite her… but she appreciated the compliment. “I’m just happy to help after everything.” She watched happily as Kalinka sprinted around the wide open space, gawking at every sparkling corner of the room. She had such a big smile on her face. Roll was glad she was able to make her smile. In that moment, she felt like she would do anything to see that smile on her face forever.

As she was lost in thought, Roll was taken by surprise when Kalinka ran up to her and grabbed her hand. “Come on, let’s go see the roof!” Before her systems were able to process what was going on, Kalinka was pulling her along through the system of lifts and ladders that led to the upper level of their castle.

--------

Eventually, the two girls had finally gotten to the upper level of the castle, and rested just on the edge of a floating platform, overlooking the snowy countryside below. Roll hadn’t paid close attention to it when she was working, but now it was her turn to be in awe. “Wow. It’s a really beautiful view up here. You’re lucky to live in a place like this.”

Kalinka grinned proudly. “I know, right? When I was really little, I told Father I wanted to live in a castle. So he made his robots build this for us. Just to make me feel like a princess.”

“He must really love you a lot.”

“He does! He’s always doing things to make me happy. Even… all of that from before.” She rubbed her arm nervously. “He did that to protect me… He wouldn’t have done all that if he didn’t love me a lot.”

Kalinka made a face, but Roll couldn’t tell what it meant exactly. “So, now that you have your home back, what are you going to do?”

Kalinka pushed some hair out of her eyes. “Well, I’m starting off at a new school really soon. You know how that is.”

“Psh, of course I do!” She did not. Roll had been homeschooled by Dr. Light her entire life, she had no experience whatsoever with real schools. But she had watched Rival School Musical and she was pretty sure that was about the same thing. “Are you nervous?”

“A little bit. But I have a good feeling about this. There will be a lot more kids that are into the same things I am. Robotics is just scratching the surface, I’m also gonna be taking some piano and dance classes, that’s going to be really cool!”

“Well that’s awesome! I hope you have a wonderful time.” Roll was happy for Kalinka, but it felt bittersweet. Kalinka was the first real friend she had ever made, and now it’s going to be a long time until they could see each other again.

Almost as if she read her mind, Kalinka continued on. “But don’t worry, we’ll still be able to talk and stuff! I’ve got a really good cell phone, I can give you my number, and my e-mail, and my dorm address when I figure that out! I’ll make sure you won’t forget about me!” She playfully elbowed the robot girl, which made her smile. “And I have summers off, I can come visit then!”

Roll liked the sound of that. “That sounds great-” Kalinka cut her off by pulling her new friend into a tight hug. “I’ll be back next year, okay?”

Roll was surprised, but hugged back. “Thanks, Kalinka. Don’t keep me waiting.”

Roll stayed for dinner that night, and they had a nice conversation, but before long, it was time for Roll to say goodbye to her new best friend. She felt a weird pain in her chest area, almost the same as whenever Mega Man leaves for a mission, but slightly different in a way she couldn’t place. But she knew it wouldn’t be long before she saw Kalinka again.

20XX will pass. But 20XX will be here before you know it.

[convulsionofhonesty]

top 10 books of 2022

i read 50 books this year and i’m going to share my top 10 and what i loved most about them (in no particular order)

1. writers & lovers by lily king - this book legitimately changed my life by reminding me of how desperate i am to lead a creative life. there are certain books that make you want to be a writer. this is one. featuring clean-cut, economical prose that gets straight to the point, and the point is diving into one of the most compelling characters i’ve had the honor to spend a story with. i read it twice this year because i will never be ready to part with this main character.

2. last night at the telegraph club by malinda lo - this was a reread for me and i appreciated it infinitely more the second time. the vividness of the writing strikes me as a particular triumph of this work. you can feel every emotion, see and hear every setting. that and a deeply engaging narrative make it one of those books that i continue to think about constantly.

3. crush by richard siken - my favorite poetry collection i have read, and reread, both within this year. he is one of those writers that reminds you how amazing it is to be a human that can feel and say so much. sharp images, glorious repitition, and stunning formatting that has inspired much of my own adventure into the world of unique poetic structure on the page.

4. homegoing by yaa gyasi - probably one of the most ingenious books i have ever read. to this day i fail to understand how it is possible to cover so much in so few pages and not leave the reader feeling like something is missing, but she certainly does it. sweeping multi-generational story where each chapter reads like both an exquisite short story that could stand on its own and a part of the richly woven whole. phenomenal novel that i wholeheartedly believe will be a classic in the future.

5. the idiot by elif batuman - another character that weaseled her way into my brain and has never left. a plotless, indulgent, meandering character study that struck such a cord with me. i read this at the exact right time in my life and for the week that i was making my way through it, there was no distinction between the narrator and myself in my mind. i don’t know how to explain this, but i was narrating my own life through this character’s eyes. captivating.

6. piranesi by susanna clarke - an exemplary work of fantasy that explores the nuances of knowledge and gratitude, balancing expertly between critiquing the pursuit of knowledge and power and exalting wonder, curiosity, and science. a book written in journal entries which flows perfectly and never feels choppy. leaves you thinking differently about the world.

7. open water by caleb azumah nelson - a short novella you can read in a day, and you will have to, as it is so enchanting and haunting that you cannot stop. it fully took over my mind until i finished it. it features second person narration which creates an unmatched level of closeness between reader and narrator. triumphantly evocative, intimate, and precise prose. the most poetic novel(la) i've had the pleasure of reading since on earth we're briefly gorgeous.

8. the great believers by rebecca makkai - the highlight of this book is the dense prose; every sentence feels perfectly chosen and hits you just as hard as the last. there is never a break, never a breather from the stunning writing. for that reason it is a slow book to move through, but in the best way. also accomplishes using dual pov/timelines in a way that does not detract from the fluidity of the work. very heavy subject matter but imbued with hope, gratitude, and affection.

9. the starless sea by erin morgenstern - prior to reading piranesi, this was my favorite fantasy read of the year. the world is so engrossing and the formatting of the novel is unique and inventive. vivid world builidng and a meandering, cris-crossing plot that enthralls from the beginning. an ode to humanity and the interconnectedness of the stories we tell.

10. babel by r.f. kuang - a lengthy novel that is well worth the time it takes, featuring a slate of morally ambiguous young people bumping up against the limits of their social power. similarly to piranesi, it embraces curiosity, drive, passion, and learning while chastising the intrenchment of power in academia. kuang cements herself as figurehead of the historical fantasy subgenre, tapping into its full potential.

[illarian-rambling]

Ant story? Come on dude, you can’t drop that lore and then not explain

Ok, so I'll start by just posting what I have in my notes app, which was taken directly off my discord

Watching an ant documentary and now I want to write a high fantasy war drama about ants a lá watership downI'd do my best to keep the fact that they're ants hidden or just write them as people doing ant things in an alien world It's gotta be like Shakespearian in scale tho A leafcutter woman attempting to abscond with one of the queen's harem before they're raided by warriors of the wandering bullet tribe, only to be beset by cordyceps and imposter caterpillars Will they make their own kingdom? Will they perish tragically? Will their loyalty to the queen override their love for one another? Who knows There's gotta be some weird hive mind shit called the Order or something that's just pheromones At the end they all die in the end to human loggers because im imagining this in the rainforest I think making them humans and letting people figure out that they're supposed to be ants would be more interesting than straight watership downing it They can have a little more society, some traveling bee merchants as a treat Bullet ants will play the viking role, spiders will be demon like figures I could make the actual humans giant ants, but then again, ants can't see well so might might just describe them with smell I'd def go with leafcutter ants as protags tho because they already do agriculture

I typed this while highly engrossed in a very riveting documentary. Will anything ever come of it? Not anytime soon, but maybe someday. I'd have to play it as serious as a funeral to get both the cosmic horror and dramatic irony inherent in animal stories.

Thanks for taking my bait and letting me talk about it!

[fictional-library-tournament]

Prelims round 1, poll 18

Propaganda

The Archives, The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss

I swear I've wanted to get here as much as Kvothe

There's a huge door in there and we have no idea what's behind them. Also one dude just lives in there

Death's library, The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett

Death’s library contains the life stories of every person, living or dead. They write themselves.

The Royal Academy Library, Ascendance of a Bookworm series by Miya Kazuki and You Shiina

It has cute magical rabbit library assistants that help the librarians/patrons with finding books, working circ desk, reshelving, securing the library, etc. On the surface, it's a school library focusing on materials for Royal Academy students and archives of research/curriculum material from its professors. Some other neat magical aspects of this library include automatic humidity management (to prevent moisture damage to documents), time-stopping shelves (to prevent old documents from rotting away), sunlight protection magic (keep natural lighting from large windows while protecting documents from light damage), magical lighting (will start showering down multi-colored lights to let students realise the time if they're too engrossed in reading), sound-dampening carpets, and instant floor cleaning. The protagonist is also helping invent new magic tools for the library including a function where books automatically teleport to their spot on the shelves. Explaining fully how amazing and critically important this library is to their world would be spoilers. There's a lot going on in certain hidden/forgotten about parts of this library. Let's just say when the symbol of a true king is possessing a certain divine magical book that acts as the keys to the country, knowledge is power. The author and protagonist are both extreme bookworms, so a lot of love went into the design and description of this magical library.

They have magic bunny robots that get books for you. Also it’s a low fantasy story about a librarian who dies and decides to reinvent the printing press in the medical world she lives in. There’s also political intrigue I guess.

It’s a series all about books and libraries, and told from the pov of a librarian who died and decided to reinvent free public libraries and printing presses and books in a fantasy world

Highbrary aka Library of Congress, Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson

It’s just the library of congress like from real life except secretly it’s the central stronghold of the network of evil librarians that rules the world as we measly humans know it to be. It’s funny. The book is good. That is all thank you and goodnight

The library of congress is the home base for the librarians in the book series. It not only is the normal library of congress building, but there is also a tunnel system underneath that houses the more magical items that normal people are not allowed to use.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What if you gave Edward from Twilight the Auryn and a responsibility to reimagine Fantastica, because I feel like the end results would be hilarious. And also do you think any of his family is coming to rescue him when he's lost all concept of who he is?

I mean, that's the thing though, Bastian's father in the real world was becoming increasingly worried his son was missing for several hours but a) didn't know his son was in a book b) probably couldn't enter the book if he tried.

Going to Fantasia is a solitary journey that's just you and your imagination, I was never given the impression that you could go after anyone or that someone could travel with you. The only people that can help you are yourself and the friends you make along the way during the journey (e.g. Atreyu).

As for Edward, we'll have to back up a bit. We know the Neverending Story changes per whoever is reading it, as it's intended to draw you in and sus out who can add to the world and save them from a lack of existence.

In Bastian's case, it was the tale of a boy he would always have wanted to be, Atreyu, who is kind, brave, a heroic warrior, who undergoes many trials as expected in a fantasy novel. It's the kind of story that Bastian not only loves to read and escape in, but wants to be himself (hence, when he goes to Fantasia himself, he immediately starts transforming himself into someone much closer to Atreyu: handsome and skinny, brave, heroic, a warrior, wise and charming).

What I'm getting at is that this has to be a book that engrosses Edward so that by the time he meets the Childlike Empress, he's invested.

I imagine it's the story of fantasy Bella Swan. (We'll place Edward before he actually meets Bella Swan).

The Neverending Story for Edward opens up on a beautiful young woman in a poor provincial town who believes she's very unordinary, plain, and isn't like the other girls. She's kind to others to a fault, sacrificing her own needs and wants for the sake of others, and is overlooked by everyone.

One day, her father falls ill and so she goes on a journey to seek the Childlike Empress who is the only person left who may be able to save him. When she reaches the Ivory Tower, Bella is devastated to hear that the Childlike Empress is ill herself and seeing no one. She is told that there is a person that Bella must find who can save both the Childlike Empress and then her father. Bella goes on a perilous journey to find said person, nearly losing hope several times along the way and growing as a person as she faces dangers she never imagined.

In despair, Bella returns to meet the Childlike Empress in defeat, noting she found no such person, "oh but you have" the Childlike Empress says and then Edward gets the truly surreal experience of being talked to by a book.

Like Bastian, it won't shut up until he gives the Childlike Empress a new name, which he eventually does, at which point he finds himself in Fantasia.

There, similar to Bastian, some of his first efforts are to change himself. He becomes human again, gallant, handsome, wise, a prince in every aspect, everything that is worthy of Bella in the novel (losing bits and pieces of himself along the way of course). To his dismay and anger, Bella doesn't love him, seeing that he's losing himself constantly and that what's left of him is a caricature of a man. Edward, too, forgets why he ever thought he loved Bella or the idea of this woman, and gets high on a power trip.

"I will declare myself emperor!" Edward says and... I imagine Bella does try to stop him but I'm not sure raising an army as Atreyu did is in her wheelhouse.

Edward might just kill her to obtain his goal at which point he damns himself and becomes one of Fantasia's many emperors.

[apatheticlexicographer]

BYLER FIC REC WEEK 2023 DAY 5: FULL AU recs

breathe (in the air) by clearskiies

mike-centric; no plot. 1970s AU, the party are in their 20s. mike and will’s friend groups meet at a music festival and they spend the whole time attached at the hip. there’s a lot of internalized homophobia angs,tbut mike doesn’t lash out at will over it and their flirting is sweet. elumax are going through their own shit in the background too. multichapter, ongoing

wheeler news by solarhazard

will-centric; some plot. social media fic where mike is a famous musician and will runs a stan twt account for him. his world gets flipped upside down when mike notices him and they start becoming friends. it’s so dumb but so fun. multichapter, hasn't updated in a while but it hasn’t been officially discontinued to my knowledge

Nocturne by lilacline

mike-centric; plot. mike rescues a small brown bat from a weirdly evil plant and nurses it back to health, befriending it in the process. side note: bats aren’t supposed to understand human speech, mike. that’s not normal. that’s not a normal bat you have there, mike. considering it’s tagged as a vampire AU, i’m sure u can see where this is going. mike is a mess (affectionate) and he’s filled with Queer Terror. will has only just appeared as a character (...officially) but he’s already melting all 3 of mike’s braincells. mike is actually the best brother ever to holly and i would die for her. multichapter, ongoing

A New Fight by Tea_For_One_Please, and both of its sequels

alternates between mike-centric and will-centric; plot. a star wars fusion AU where will is a stormtrooper who defects to the rebellion and becomes a member of mike’s crew. el escaped the jedi massacre and teaches him to wield the force. the first fic takes place about a year before episode IV, the second concludes directly before episode IV, and the third is set in the gap between episodes VI and VII. since this is a fusion AU the canon events of the star wars timeline happen as usual, with the party’s story taking place in the background. you could probably read this without having seen star wars, but it wouldn’t make much sense. i was so engrossed that i read all three 30k~ long fics in one sitting. multichapter, all entries complete

with honor, we hound by hiscleric

mike-centric (so far, may have will POV); plot. as of now there’s only been one proper chapter of this, not including the prologue, but i can already tell it’s gonna be sooo good. it’s a fantasy/cleradin AU which is always a win, and the writing is lyrical. will was the youngest prince of the kingdom, who mysteriously vanished one day. mike is a knight and the heir to a noble family, but secretly wished to be a scholar. there’s a prophecy, a quest, and what seems like it’s gonna be a secret identity plot with will. literally what more could you want??? multichapter, ongoing

ground control to major tom (your circuit’s dead, there’s something wrong) by andthentheybow

alternates between mike-centric and will-centric; plot. another star wars AU!!! there’s only one chapter out so far, but it’s the setup for a heist story so i just know it’s gonna slay. this one is set several centuries after episode IX, rather than in tandem with star wars canon. mike is a bounty hunter and will is very… mysterious ;))) i can’t wait to see what comes of it!!! multichapter, ongoing

A Flower That Resembles You by perexcri

will-centric; plot. a byler fantasy AU that’s not cleradin??? gasssp :000 i won’t spoil to much but it’s got childhood friends to strangers to friends to lovers, really pretty depictions of magic, hella quantities of angst and yearning so sweet and tender it makes even my aro heart ache. the mortifying ordeal of allowing yourself to love and be loved… effervescent. multichapter, complete

Ley Lines and Shadows by Aabh

will-centric; plot. fantasy AU! will is a baker who lives in a tiny town. the town was cursed years ago by a now-dead witch. he helps a stray cat after it gets attacked, but as he spends more time around it it becomes clear that it's not a normal animal. the ominous dreams that plague will's sleep only add to the feeling that something is…off. the writing is flowery and fits the fairytale setting nicely. there's a mild sexual content tag on the fic, but i believe that refers to a single paragraph. there's nothing explicit and they're adults. multichapter, complete

another one bites the dust by losingcontrolnow

will-centric; not really plot. high quality zombie apocalypse content!!! i like more hardcore apocalypse stories than the stuff you usually get in s5 speculative fics, so this AU makes me very happy. the contents of the fic itself don't make me happy because, duh, it's a zombie apocalypse AU, but it's soooo good. oneshot, complete

didn't i (blow your mind this time) also by losingcontrolnow

mike-centric; no plot. you know spiderwill, you love spiderwill, but for your humble consideration: spidermike!!! featuring yearning (both), pining (both), oblivious idiots (both), and sudden onset superpowers (just mike). mike is exactly as much of a mess about, well, everything as you would hope and he is so so dear to me. longshot, complete

[sandshadow9]

You know what puts me down? It feels like this fandom cares more about dragging Tui and her work through the dirt as much as possible so they can act like they're "superior" to her or "better" than her, and they do this by nitpicking as many flaws in her work as possible, even flaws that aren't actually present in her books to begin with. Thoughts on this?

The quick answer: Yeah, I completely agree.

The long answer: Buckle up because I’ve been thinking about this topic for a while actually and have some thoughts. Ultimately reading a book is like having a conversation, and everyone will experience it differently. What some people find annoying others may find charming, and what some may think of us a frustrating plot hole others may not notice or care.

I will start by saying that, indeed, this fandom loves to drag Tui, and I myself like to pick apart her books to see how things work or don’t work, but at the end of the day I have immense respect and admiration for her. Tui’s writing is extremely immersive, full of personality, and engaging. Wings of Fire is one of the few series I’ve read that fully engrossed me in the world and characters. 

When it comes to reading books, there is definitely a bias towards seeing the things that can go wrong. When things are done right, we don’t really notice, but Tui does a lot of things right. There are a lot of factors that go into making a good book/series and I’d like to point out some of the maybe lesser appreciated aspects of the WoF books. 

Emotional scenes and tension: Tui is supremely good at writing those heart wrenching scenes, as well as those endearing scenes that steal your heart. Perhaps I speak for myself, but I cannot think of any scene that came across as melodramatic or weak in the emotional sense. She does not hold her punches. There have been several emotional scenes in these books where I had to just stop reading and stare at a wall for ten minutes, many of them in the Darkstalker Legends book. Writing intense emotions in characters is hard enough, but Tui manages to make them compelling and believable. 

Characters: I think this is the main reason most people are in the fandom. We all have at least one little creature that lives in our heads rent free. In my opinion, Tui really put her whole ass into the Arc 2 characters, but in general, when Tui is writing from the perspective of any character, she’s does an amazing job of pulling you through their emotions and perspective... although due to the point below, sometimes the character development can kind of slip away from her. 

Plot: For better or worse, Tui puts the plot ahead of everything. This isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing, it’s just what Tui decided to focus on, and when she does, she does it extremely well. Keeping a story moving at a good pace, while keeping things interesting, is pretty much a necessity for any good story. While some books in the WoF series are stronger than others, Tui is able to keep the plot moving both within a single book and across each arc. I can’t tell you how many books I’ve read, YA and adult fiction, that can’t even manage to do that. When I read WoF I was glued to the book. I’d have to force myself to slow down when reading because I’d finish them in a day if I could. The downside to this, as mentioned in the above point, is that sometimes the character development that happens in previous books is lost. 

Writing style: What can I say? Her descriptive language is amazing. She knows how to make the most basic scenes interesting with her writing. There are many times when reading that I wished to myself that I could write like that. I think some people might not completely agree with this point, as Tui loves to use all caps and a modern sounding language in a fantasy world, but I personally don’t really mind that, but I can understand that some may find it unappealing. 

Conflicts: In terms of writing, “conflict” is another one of those super important components. They can be internal or external, and whether you agree with how the narrative handles them or not, Tui writes conflicts that stick with the reader.  Tui also knows how to keep things surprising and unpredictable but in a well written way. Seriously, how many of us were floored when the Prophecy turned out to be fake? Or when we learned that it had been Gill that Tsunami killed? Or that Turtle had been the one to turn Anemone into an animus? That is some good drama and conflict!

                               Other factors

This section is mostly about other factors that I, personally, keep in mind when I think about the series as a whole.

Timeline and publishers: This woman was pumping out a book each year. That’s a wild pace. I have been trying to learn more about publishing contracts, the agreement between authors and the publishing company, and haven’t learned much other than each contract is unique. Some authors have more creative freedom than others as certain contracts allow the publishers to request changes to the text. The main goal of publishers is to sell the book and if they think the text has content that will negatively impact sales, they may have the power to ask for it to be changed. I have no idea what type of contract Tui has, or if there was a contractual deadline for each book, but it’s something that should be considered. I bring this point up because it may explain her priorities and why certain elements had to be set aside in favour of finishing the books rather than fleshing them out. For every published book there is probably another novel’s length of deleted scenes and paragraphs.

                                Conclusion

Ultimately Tui’s strengths can create imbalances in other areas. Her prioritizing of Plot can mean world-building and maintaining character development falls to the wayside. Also, perhaps the biggest issue that fandom notices is that Tui asks complicated questions in her books but then tries to give black and white answers when really, no direct answer should be given. In the first arc we get questions like Am I enough just as I am? Even if I’m not the smartest or bravest or strongest or fastest or biggest, can I change the world? In the other arcs we get questions like Is there such thing as pure good and pure evil? And when faced with someone who continues to make choices that hurt us and others, even if we love this person, at what point do we offer compassion and when do we draw the line?

This post isn’t intended to discuss whether or not Tui succeeded in answering these questions - I’ll leave that for others. What I do hope came across in this post is that Tui does indeed know what she’s doing and I hope that we can all take a moment to appreciate the things that made us love this series to begin with ❤️