#i will say. i do currently have like 4 or 5 other projects i’m working on

[orikixx]

Blueprints & Heartbeats (9/?)

Part: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Featuring: Nanami Kento

Cw: fem reader, wc 2.8k words, not proofread

Summary: academic rivals to lovers! a mixup in the architecture group project forces you to team up with Nanami Kento, the serious and stoic student. But maybe, he isn’t as brooding as you thought?

Author's note: to the anon who motivated me to continue this.. thank you😭 I’ve been working on it for a while so I hope you guys like this💕

It’s almost 4 pm now, and Nanami is mentally beating himself up over whether he went too far, opening himself up like that to you. He’s pacing around his dorm, nervously eyeing his palette, colorful oil paints laid out in neat, deliberate swatches, a few small brushes and a glass of water waiting nearby.

You knock on his door, a little hesitant. It’s not as if you haven’t been here before, but this time, it feels… different. The air surrounding you is buzzing, barely able to contain your excitement as your foot impatiently taps against the pavement. “Wonder what’s taking him so long,” you murmur, raising your hand to knock again, yet this time, it lands on his broad chest.

“Good afternoon, y/n. Sorry for the wait.” The moment you look up at him, there’s a big smile plastered on your face, and you happily step inside. Nanami looks at you, dumbfounded, until he finally closes the door. “You’re such a dork, Kenny”. He sighs at that, trying to be as little awkward as possible when you hug him, your small frame lost in his.

Nanami feels like he’ll never get used to you, even as you sit on the stool he’s set in front of his own, looking like you belong exactly in his dorm room. “You’re staring so much, didn’t even start drawing me yet!” “I’m.. figuring out your proportions.” He mentally curses himself for that, knowing that with the amount of time he’s spent observing you, he remembers every single detail about your face.

Suddenly, you light up. “Do you need me to do any specific poses? I can think of a few.. interesting ones”. Nanami groans loudly, causing you to giggle.

“You’re so uptight again, is something wrong?” Your eyebrows furrowed, a small pout on your lips, as the man in front of you suddenly won’t take his eyes off the canvas.

Nanami feels blush creeping up his neck, and he remembers his conversation with Gojo, thinking about how maybe he should get over himself and ask you out today.

“I’m all good. You just look very captivating today, even more than usual.”

“You can’t just say that!”

Nanami is unsure of what to respond to that, having mustered up all his courage just to tell you that last sentence. He blushes furiously now, picking up his graphite pencil and starting to roughly sketch your features. When his eyes finally dart in your direction, he can tell you’re blushing as well.

You try relaxing your face from your former pout at his sternness, not wanting to make this assignment any harder for him. “So.. do you have any other friends, that I don’t know of?” You hear Nanami sucking in a breath, and try your hardest to keep a natural expression.

“Not really, no. You’re the only one who stayed long enough to make me open up.”

You smile at that, though it’s a rather sad statement. “Would you mind keeping that expression for me?” Nanami’s eyebrows are now furrowed, staring at your face with concentration.

“The smile?”

“Yes, it makes your eyes appear lighter.”

You smile harder at that, and when Nanami finally looks at the canvas, picking up a small brush, you can see a small smile forming on his lips as well.

Nanami feels like his heart might explode out of his chest. The girl he’s been wanting for… well, too long, is currently giving him fuck me eyes without even realizing it. He tries focusing on the drawing instead, soft oil strokes on white canvas, when you speak again.

“You think it’s time for another brainrot lesson?” Immediately, a loud groan follows, making you laugh. “Whatever you want, y/n. Just stay still.” “Whatever you say, Kenny.”

You ponder for a moment, thinking about which brainrot should you teach the poor man this time. “Alright kento, you got two options yeah? When John Pork is calling, do you pick up or not?” “Who is John Pork?” Nanami sounds so serious it scares you, and you hold your laugh in.

“I’ll show you later. Now, since we’ve got plenty of time, what do you know about low taper fade?” “As far as I’m concerned, it’s a haircut, correct?” “You sound terrified, Kento”. Nanami gets up from his stool, now towering over you.

“Such a bratty little thing.” His fingers come up to trace your cheek, almost, before he stops himself. “Stay just like this for a moment,” Nanami says, surprisingly soft. You, of course, obey, looking up at his face, body looming over yours.

Nanami observes your face, trying to etch it into his soul. “Can I..” he murmurs softly, rough fingers brushing against your jaw. You nod, and he gently traces your cheek. You can feel blush spreading all over your neck, surely dusting your cheeks pink.

“Kento?” You look up at him, heart thrumming so loud he must be able to hear it as well. “This is necessary for the process, y/n.” He whispers that, hazel eyes lingering on your lips as his fingers trace your temple.

Your face is on fire now, eyes gleaming as you try catching Nanami’s gaze, yet his eyes are glued to your lips. “You know, you could kiss me if you want to that bad,” you say softly.

In just a moment, his hands are off you, and he’s facing away. “Fuck, too far? I didn’t mean to Kento, I was just-“

“For the love of god y/n, you sit here looking like a fucking angel, and then you say these things..”

Nanami pinches the bridge of his nose, and you sit there, speechless, for the first time.

“You.. what?” Nanami sighs, finally turning back to look at you. “It would be so wrong of me, to kiss you without even asking you out first..” You stand up, feeling his warm body almost touching yours, and you sigh.

“Well then, you better ask me out Kento, we don’t have all day”. Nanami notices, of course, that although you put on a confident front, your fingers nervously twirl the edge of your tank top, and your eyes are somewhat worried, looking up at him.

He tries to stay composed, ears bright red when he takes your hand is his bigger one, bringing it to his chest.

“Would you like to go on a date with me, y/n? I would love to take you to out, if you would allow it.” He braces himself for rejection, even though he knows you feel the same, as your big, gleaming eyes now happily squint at him.

“Fuck yeah, took you long enough, silly boy,” you say happily, arms immediately wrapping around him. You smile so hard your face hurts, burying your face Nanami’s chest, squealing like a little girl until you feel his hands on your shoulders, gently prying you away. You pout at him, crossing your arms and huffing as he chuckles. “Now..” he murmurs, leaning down and finally kissing you.

You stay still for a second, caught by surprise, before your hands immediately tangle in his hair, latching onto his lips like your life depends on it. One of his hands cups your cheek, moving lower to trace your the curve of your jaw before settling at your nape, drawing you deeper into the kiss.

The kiss is slow, deliberate, a taste of something sweet, long desired. Nanami’s lips are firm and surprisingly soft, tasting of coffee and something that’s just uniquely him. You can’t help yourself but bite on his lower lip, making him gasp and let go of the kiss.

You whine at the loss of his warmth, hands moving from his blond locks to grip onto his broad shoulders. Standing on your toes, you whisper in his ear- “You’re so annoying, I barely got to taste you”. Nanami blushes furiously, his hand wandering down to squeeze your hips.

“How am I the annoying one, when you sit here, looking at me with these tantalizing eyes?”

It’s your turn to blush, burying your face in his chest again. “Ugh, you have to stop doing that Kento!” You whine, and he chuckles, kissing the crown of your head.

“Come on, I need to finish your portrait.” With a sigh, you slump back onto the stool, and Nanami sits down at his. He picks up the brush again, continuing the gentle strokes on the canvas before speaking again.

“I’m sorry if I have been.. harsh, with the kiss. It’s a little embarrassing, but I have been craving you for so long, I couldn’t help myself.”

You smile, using all your willpower to not get up and kiss him again. “It’s alright Kento, really, I wanted you for a while as well,” you say, happily watching his cheeks changing shades of red.

“I can’t focus when you tell me things like that y/n. It makes me want to.. never mind.”

“You’re so shy it’s almost funny,” you say with a giggle, making him groan. “Do me a favor, just this once, and talk about anything else, please?”

You can’t say no to his defeated face, so then Nanami quietly cleans his paint brush, listening to you ramble about some show you’ve started watching recently, and how you think he’d like it.

After about an hour of rambling on your side, and hums of agreement on his, the portrait is finished. Nanami carefully places the canvas aside, the oil paint still wet, sticking onto his fingers. It’s almost 6 pm now, and you remember promising Gojo you’d meet up later today. You get up from the stool, quietly walking to stand by Nanami as he washes his hands in the kitchen sink.

The smell of the paint lingers in air of his dorm room, and you sneakily wrap your hands around his waist, hugging him from behind. “Would you mind staying for a little while more?” “Can’t, I promised Satoru I’ll see him today,” you say, smiling when he turns around to look at you. You rest your chin on his chest, looking up at his chiseled face.

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow. Will it be okay if I will pick you up at 7 pm for our date?” “Of course Kenny”. Nanami hums, and you let your body melt against his, his arms wrapping around your lower back as you savor the warmth.

“I can drop you off wherever you two are meeting, if you would like that.” “Awww, Kento you’re so mushy already, love that,” you say and giggle, laughing when he groans and buries his face in your hair. “Seriously though, I wouldn’t mind, thank you” and with that, you plant a small kiss on his cheek.

Still in his embrace, you pull out your phone, calling Gojo. You bicker for a couple minutes, eventually agreeing to meet up at some café downtown. When you hang up, Nanami is already there with his car keys in his hand.

“Are you ready to go? Or do you want to stop by your dorm first?”

“You’re too sweet Kento, and I’m good, we can head there now” you poke his nose before opening his dorm’s door, standing there as you wait for him to exit. “Ladies first,” you snicker with a small smile as he passes you, sighing and shaking his head disapprovingly. After he locks the door, he swiftly opens the passenger seat door for you, humming when you murmur a thank you.

Nanami gets in and starts the car, and once he’s on the highway, he puts his palm on your thigh, thumb brushing the soft skin. “I’m honestly surprised, I thought you’d only be driving in the 10 and 2 position,” you snicker and put your hand on top of his.

“Maybe I’m careful, but I can’t help myself when a beautiful woman is sitting right beside me.” You smile at that, stroking his palm as he stares at the road ahead. After a little while you get to the café, and Nanami pulls over just long enough for you to kiss him and say thanks. “Text me when you need pickup, okay?” “It’s okay, I’ll just walk ba-“ “Just text me.” You sigh, and with another kiss you part ways, as you see Gojo waiting for you at the entrance.

You sigh internally, knowing what’s about to come as you walk towards the white haired man. You approach him, and before even entering the place, he immediately jumps on you with a hug.

“What the fuck was that kiss? Girl you better tell me everything” Gojo almost yells that, and you quickly hush him down, walking inside.

After getting your matcha, and Gojo his overly sweet latte, you two sit down. “Okay so before I start you gotta promise not to yell again, I can’t have everyone here staring,” you say with an eye roll, and he eagerly nods. “Whatever you say, just fucking tell me already!”

You almost laugh at his whiney tone, before telling him about everything that happened with Nanami today. You can tell he’s having a hard time containing his excitement, and when you tell him that Nanami insisted on picking you up as well, he damn near cries.

“There’s no way, he’s definitely obsessed with you y/n” “Stop that, we just kissed!” You bury your face in your hands and whine, cheeks burning as you remember the feeling of Nanami’s lips on yours. “Either way, you clearly like him more than you let on,” Gojo says with a big grin.

“What’s up with that smile? You look creepy as fuck,” you snicker, watching him dramatically feign offense. “Can’t I be happy that my best friend finally got a normal boyfriend?” “He isn’t even my boyfriend yet!” You sigh, sipping on your matcha and leaning back in your chair.

“Oh you want him soooo bad, you’re just clueless to it idiot,” Gojo says, grinning again. You decide to stop fighting with him, and change the topic.

“Did you and Kento, like.. tell something to the professor? When you handled her?” You ask, your voice quieter now. “We did, I thought Nanami told you she won’t come near you again” you sigh, facepalming as you remember that night.

“He did, but we’re supposed to have a class with her tomorrow so I’m wondering how it’s gonna go..” Gojo sighs, grabbing his phone. “I’ll text him, we’ll find a way to handle it before class” he says reassuringly, shooting Nanami a quick text before putting the phone back down.

After another hour of the two of you yapping about absolutely everything, you decide it’s time to go. You send Nanami a text, asking if he’s still okay with picking you up, and he immediately replies that he’s on his way.

Gojo leans over the table, peeking over to read your texts. “Fucking lovebirds, I told you he’s obsessed!” Saying that grants him a smack on the head, making him huff and puff as you two walk outside, and he waits with you until Nanami gets there.

When his car pulls over, you both say goodbye with a quick hug, and you happily walk over to the car, getting in and landing a small kiss on Nanami’s cheek, much to Gojo’s delight, who’s still watching you and how flustered the man beside you gets.

“Thanks for coming Kento, you really didn’t have to,” you say softly, a big smile on your face. You feel like a kid, getting excited to see him when you’ve left his place only a couple hours ago, but you can’t help yourself.

“Of course y/n, it’s my pleasure. I want to make sure you get back safely.” He starts driving, and again puts his hand on your thigh. You don’t say anything this time, you simply play with his fingers for the entire drive. When he stops in front of your dorm, you unbuckle your seatbelt and turn around in your seat, now facing him.

“Have a good night Ken, hope you have sweet dreams”. You lean in, and he cups your cheeks, warm lips enveloping yours, and you whine into the kiss. His tongue prods at the seam of your lips, asking for entrance, one that you grant him, moaning softly as the muscle invades your mouth.

Fingers gripping his hair, you break the kiss, panting, your eyes gleaming. Nanami blushes, his breath eventually slowing down. “You too, pretty girl. I’ll see you before class.” You nod and hug him, and then leave the car, entering the dorm building.

You can hear him driving off, and enter your dorm room. You take a deep breath, and finally allow yourself to happily jump around and squeal happily. You can’t believe this, that Nanami actually did all of this just for you. The way he’s changed, everything he said today, sounding all too poetic coming out of his pretty lips.

You sigh dreamily, getting into your pjs, and comfortably cuddle under the thick blankets of your bed, wishing you had asked him to stay over. You may miss him already, which you find slightly embarrassing, but you know you’ll see him tomorrow morning, and you just can’t wait.

Divider credit: @soulari

Taglist: @yourname-exee @realalpacorn @zayuriluvs @galactacium @queenofthekill @nuhahani @nanamineedstherapy @des-todoroki @linaaeatsfamilies @darkstudentsaladbakery @sttaejoon-blog @sosole

[codgod]

oh yeah started thinking abt slimeriana zombie apocalypse au again last night. i thiiink i’m gonna try and get back into writing it and just post each chapter as they’re finished rather than stockpiling them to post all at once. i think i’ve got the plot figured out enough by this point for that

[thesophistiicate]

hey im 20 year old female. recently i have recognised that i practice negative self talk a lot. any advices how could i stop or atleast reduce it?

how to cure negative self talk 🤍💭

the way we speak to ourselves can majorly impact our self worth and ability to reach our goals. i remember when i first tuned into my inner monologue… i was shocked and disgusted at how horribly i was speaking to myself all day every day. i had no idea! so i began researching how to stop it and implementing as much as i could. it definitely takes a lot of active work but i’m happy to say that years later i currently hardly ever have negative thoughts about myself (or others) anymore, and when i do it’s really easy to catch and deal with.

1. tune into your thoughts

it’s common for negative thoughts to run wild through our minds without us actually even noticing. the first step is to take some time to tune in and really notice what you’re thinking. the best time to do this is in “trigger” moments, like when you’re stressed, facing something challenging, looking at yourself, reflecting on a social interaction etc. how you talk to yourself in these moments will be very revealing.

2. actively reframe negative thoughts

flip any negative thought you have into an opposite, positive thought and/or speak to yourself with compassion and nurture. a common one for me when i was stressed while working and feeling stuck was “ugh i’m so stupid!” i changed it to “i’m smart and capable of solving problems”. it will feel silly at first but the more you do it, the more natural it becomes. with time you won’t have the negative thoughts at all.

3. journalling/writing morning pages

morning pages are from “the artist’s way”, which i recommend everyone read and try at least once in their life. but you write 3 pages of free flowing thoughts first thing in the morning (ideally). no self editing, anything that crosses your mind goes down. this is where a lot of your deep negative thoughts tend to spew out, and this allows you to see them, confront them, and view them as the silly little thoughts they are. your negative thoughts are from shame and fear; you need to express them and get them out. shame thrives in darkness but will shrivel under the light.

4. practice mindfulness and staying present in the moment

so often we spiral into negativity due to overwhelm. guided meditations helped me a lot (you can find them on YouTube, Spotify, insight timer etc). you’re essentially trying to re-wire your automatic brain response so you need to be able to stop running on autopilot and actually tune into what’s happening inside by gaining some control over your thoughts. it’s literally like training a muscle so is difficult at first, but you get better at it the more you do.

5. eliminate distractions and consider a dopamine detox

we numb and distract ourselves in a variety of ways. whether it’s constantly surrounding ourselves with people, scrolling social media, binge watching tv, over-using substances or other indulgences etc… these things are fine in moderation (and actually can be necessary to overall wellbeing, i think being constantly self aware can also drive you crazy and you’re allowed to have a break) but take note of how often you are actually numbing yourself out and promoting disconnection with your mind. you need to be able to face your thoughts.

6. notice how you think about others, too

i’ve mentioned before one of my worst qualities to overcome was the fact i could be very judgemental and arrogant. i actually found this was directly related to my negative self perception - after all, what we think about others is usually actually just a projection of how we feel about ourselves, our insecurities, our fears. so i also made an effort to stop judging others and instead find positives to focus on. this worked so well to overall retrain my mind toward positivity (and also started attracting much more healthy and positive relationships into my life too).

and consider tailored support if necessary

if you struggle with any of the steps on your own, a therapist, counsellor, coach, or other professional may able to be help with more personalised guidance 🤍

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

Looking for Community Perspectives on Destiny‘s Themes and Main Conflict for a Cultural Project!

Greetings everyone!

I‘m currently working on a personal project that ties in Destiny‘s themes and main conflicts with encouraging people of my ethnicity to tell our own stories, even if they include thematic elements that may not be traditional in Western media or have been actively discouraged by oppressive powers in the past!

My focus will be on how others perceive portrayals of social issues/powers we have struggled against as they are depicted in fiction, and to bring Destiny to the table, I want to connect it back to the Witness as a main antagonist and people‘s understanding of the role it plays in Destiny‘s main narrative!

I‘m coming here to ask some questions and have a space for people to engage with the thoughts of others in order to understand what people take away from the story of Destiny! These questions are asked for the purpose of steering my further research and conclusions; nothing will be published and identities of those who participate are not recorded!

My main questions are:

1. What do you think Destiny tries to say about the nature of existence and humanity’s place in it with the philosophies surrounding the Veil and Traveler?

2. What do you think Bungie‘s intentions were with creating the Witness and it’s beliefs to be the main antagonistic force in the Light vs Dark saga?

3. How do you view the Witness‘ relationship with the Traveler and Veil (and what can that tell us about humanity)?

4. What stands out to you about the religious influences in Destiny‘s story and how do they enhance and/or diminish the narrative it is trying to tell?

5. Has any aspect of Destiny changed your worldview and why?

6. Do you believe the Witness to be an evocative villain? Why or why not?

7. Do you have personal experiences that affect the way you view the Witness?

8. Why do you think Bungie decided to make the Precursors and the Witness separate?

9. Why do you think Bungie made the Witness a collective of a civilization’s ethos instead of a singular being/person?

10. Is there anything about the Witness‘ design/influences behind it that you would like to point out (especially in regards to its nearly human look?)

11. What can be taken away from the Witness‘ methodology for obtaining disciples, what it seeks in a potential disciple, or the relationship it has with its disciples?

12. What lessons can be learned from the Witness‘ formation and the affect it had on the universe?

13. Do you have any resources (novels, shows, philosophical concepts, mythologies, etc.) that relate to Destiny‘s main themes or my inquiry in general?

Feel free to comment, reblog, or tag this post with any of your responses to any of the questions (or even any additional thoughts that are related!!) You don’t have to answer every question, so feel free to choose the ones that speak the most to you!

I also open my dms with welcoming arms as well if you have any follow up questions or resources that might aid in my project!

All and any help, even the mere act of sharing this post, is deeply appreciated as this project is very dear to me and I could use all the insight I could get!!

Thank you all for your time and I’m excited to hear from you guys!!

[animalsalvationassociation]

Calling all Octo-Agents!

Yes! You! Please read till the end, and if you don't have the patience/energy for it rn, come back later! It'll be worth it I promise!

So the holidays are now pretty much over, (except for New Years ofc, but I digress.) meaning I've been looking for new ways to improve my Au. You see, it's come to my attention that I'm not as organized or as thorough as I thought I was.

I've created a lot of lore/characters for this Au, but not very many people really know what's going on anymore. Even I get lost, and it's been a little frustrating ngl. So, seeing as this blog is officially over a year old, I think it's time to "fix" my mistakes and take a new approach.

Ya'll might've noticed that I've been slowing down on content. I haven't been spending as much time on my art, meaning the quality (well I wouldn't say it's gotten worse) hasn't been as strong as some others I've created in the past.

(Don't get me wrong, I'm not making a resolution for the new year, that's dumb and we all know those never last.)

So here's what I'm promising instead since this clearly is the only thing I'm allowed to work on at the moment (not saying I don't have other projects, but if I want to actually publish this story at any point I'm going to have to spend as much time as I can on it, meaning I have to make some sacrifices - RIP my FNaf's & Undertale fanfics)

1. Full Character Redesigns

Taking all the core characters (The Octonauts / Octo-Agents / Y.N. & Fae / The A.S.A. / C.L.A.D.E. / etc.) and giving them a full reference sheet with details, headcanons, and an updated design.

Creating family/relationship tree for those characters (parents/siblings/love interests/etc.)

Family/Team “Photos”

Crossovers (I will still be doing multiple crossovers and soon they will get their very own redesigns!)

2. Updating the Master Post

3. Updating the “Pinned” Blog Post

For reference this will no longer be the current top post with all of the A.S.A. members, but a poster I will create for the fanfic to make the blog appear cleaner. (I won’t delete that post I’m just going to unpin it since the designs are old and not as useful as they used to be)

4. Asks will open January 1st, but I will not start answering any asks before February 1st!

That is so I can properly prepare and reevaluate the blog’s content so there is more information available to anyone who wants to ask questions for the Octonauts/Octo-Agents.

5. A.S.A.’s Rating & Genre (Fanfic)

This story will now be classified as Cryptozoological Fiction, with partial Horror / Science Fiction & will be drawing straight from Folklore & Mythology. (For “Sci-Fi” don’t think space/aliens, think Cryptids in a scientifically evolved world.)

The rating is now PG-14

(Poll Results)

6. Fanfiction

This is really for the fanfiction itself. I’m still trying to figure out how to go about this. As of this current moment I have 1, maybe 2 chapters written out, and soon I hope to have more. However I am my own editor/beta reader, so it might not be as polished as I’d like to be, but I’m just going to have to accept that.

Unless I can find a bunch of people who can do that stuff for me, for fun, that’s the state this story will be in. You’ll have to have patient with me, I’m using all the tools I have at my disposal (Grammarly, Google Docs, LibreOffice, etc.) but I am a human with heavy ADHD and reading/comprehension disabilities, so please be kind.

7. Weekly Posts

I will still be posting weekly, just not on Tuesdays. I realize it’s only been stressing me out to post on that day every week and so I’ve been abusing my attempts at a proper sleep schedule because of it. I still work a very busy retail job and will have to get a secondary job sometime soon, so unfortunately you’ll just have to add me to your notifications if you want to know when I’ve posted.

8. The Future . . .

This one is for anyone who’s gotten this far. I want you to know that the Octonauts still mean so much to me. Even if we aren’t getting updates anymore, the community is still somewhat alive even if it's only a few of us. Maybe one day we’ll get our kickstart, but for now I will continue making content until I’m satisfied with the story and it’s ending. If I stray every now and then, that’s just because I have the attention span of a goldfish with a million hobbies and fandoms that constantly need attention. I love you guys and I promise to do my very best to make my mark on the internet, even if it’s for a silly kids show about talking/walking/nerdy animals who save fish every day.

9. January's Posting Plan

Week 1: Finishing the Octonaut's Headcanons

Week 2: My Christmas gift to the Community

Week 3: Silly Y/N & Fae Content (No it doesn't make sense, deal with it)

Week 4: Screencap Redraw

Week 5: Starting Redesigns

If you made it this far . . . here's a cookie and the secret formula.

🍪🍾

[harpersdragons]

Theft in the Family...By Jason Todd Chapter 3

This chapter is a bit shorter, Exams are stressing me out xD

I have Chapter 4 done, it'll be posted once I finish chapter 5

The last week had calmed down some for Jason. He was slowly gaining control of the other gangs in Crime Alley, so now his job is mainly enforcing his rules and continuing his climb up the metaphorical food chain.

Currently he was on a rooftop overlooking the usual corner the working girls frequent.

He feels his half cape/cloak thing (Jason still doesn’t know what to call it, ok) waving gently in the breeze. It felt nice to have a moment of downtime, even if it was in the middle of the day.

Just as he was getting used to the (very rare) almost peaceful atmosphere, a child’s yelling cuts through the air.

Jason rushes off in the general direction of the sound.

He arrives just in time to see a large man slamming a kid against the wall, one hand wrapped around the kid’s throat.

Jason growls, jumping into the alley. He rips the man away, pushing himself in between the kid and his aggressor. “Leave. Him. Alone.” He draws one of the swords on his back, leveling it at the man’s chest.

Instead of scrambling back, the man stares at the sword and chuckles, pushing it away and drawing a gun. “The kid’s comin’ with me.”

“Yeah, nope. Not happenin’, jackass.” Jason draws his own gun with his other hand, this time aimed at the guy’s head. “Don’t think I only brought a sword to a gunfight. Besides, I guarantee you, I’m faster.”

Jason spares a glance behind him, and his heart nearly stops as the kid sits against the alley wall with a dazed look.

Fuck

That’s Damian.

Alright, fuck mercy. This guy is dead.

He uses the flat edge of the sword to knock the man’s gun hand wide, closing the distance between them. He uses his body to pin the man to the wall, and sheathes both weapons.

With his hands free, he wraps one around the guy’s throat (we’re gonna call him Chad now), and the other wrenches the gun from Chad’s grasp. “See? I’m faster.” Jason almost chuckles, before his tone turns dark again. “Do you know who I am?”

Chad barely manages to nod, and gasps: “Phoenix.”

“Good. Do you know what my main rule is?” Jason doesn’t even give him a chance to answer this time. “Do /not/, under /any/ circumstance, mess with kids.”

The man looks truly scared for the first time in this interaction. “I—I’m sorry! I didn’t know he was yours! He’s a Bristol kid, look at ‘em!”

“/All/ kids are under my protection. But you won’t get to make the same mistake twice.” Jason draws his gun again, aiming not at his head, but his groin. A cruel smile splits his face, not like the man can see that though.

The man whimpers, and Jason glances back at Damian again. The kid is still dazed, but he was standing and watching the scene play out.

“Get outta here, kid, I’ll catch up and make sure ya get home safe in a sec.”

Damian seemed to struggle to understand the instruction, but when he did, he stood firm. “No.”

“Kid—”

“No.” Damian scowls at him. Jason rolls his eyes, but mentally shrugs. The kid was raised by Ra’s Al Ghul, he’s seen worse.

With that, he turns his attention back to the weeping man in front of him. He debates saying something else, but decides against it. No need to draw this out any longer.

He takes a step back, and fires. The man screams, collapsing to the ground in a crumpled heap.

Jason holsters the gun (he’ll finish the man off in a second) and steps over to Damian. Kneeling down, he reaches out a hand and runs it through Damian’s hair, searching for injuries. “Y’alright, Habibi?”

“I have had worse.”

“I know, kid, but my question stands.” His glove comes away bloody when he reaches the back of the kid’s head, and Damian flinches slightly. “Alrigh’, I’ll take you home and clean you up, but you’re telling Bruce. Where even is the Old Man anyway?”

“I presume he is back at the diner, where I left him.”

Jason rolls his eyes, picking Damian up and settling him on his hip. “‘Course ya ran away. Now I’m gonna have Bats after me.”

A bark sounding through the alley snaps Jason’s attention away from his brother, and he sees Bruce and Ace running into the alley.

“God dammit, speak of the devil.” Jason mutters, eyeing the duo warily.

“Give me my son.” Bruce speaks lowly, clearly eyeing the distance between them.

Jason scoffs, “You lost him. I found him.”

The man on the ground groans, and Jason is reminded of his unfinished business. Without taking his eyes off Bruce, he fires another bullet into Chad’s skull. Bruce flinches at the gunshot.

“Give him back, before I call the cops.”

Ace growls, stalking forward. Bruce drops the leash, and the dog lunges forward.

Jason turns, making sure his body is between the snapping teeth and his brother.

Just before biting, Ace stops, his nose twitching as he sniffs the air, and his tail waves in the air. The growls turn to whines as he noses at Jason's leg. Something in Jason melts a little at the sight of his childhood dog.

“Ace!” Bruce calls, but the dog ignores him in favor of Jason.

“I think you have broken the dog,” Damian comments, and Jason pets Ace before pulling out his grapple gun.

He fires the grapple, watching Bruce’s eyes widen as he feels the familiar tug of the line hooking. Bruce lunges for him just as the gun pulls him into the air. In the short trip in the air, Bruce has pulled out his phone and is frantically talking to whoever he called.

In the same moment, Damian wraps his arms around Jason’s neck, and Jason remembers that this would be his first experience with grappling. With flying.

Jason smiles at his brother when they land on the roof, before realizing he wouldn’t be able to see it.

Jason grapples back to his apartment without saying another word.

When they enter (through the window, of course, no doors allowed), Jason sets Damian down and starts taking his gear off.

The hood and cape are first to go, followed by his masks and gauntlets. When he turns back to Damian, the kid is pouting at him.

“The hell are you pouting for, I thought ya wanted to see me?” Jason grabs the med kit from under his sink and walks over to his brother.

“I thought you would come back with me.”

Jason sighs, “We discussed this, Habibi. I can’t go back. Besides, Bruce doesn’t even know it’s me who has you. There’s gonna be a fuckin’ manhunt now.”

“He took your book,” Damian’s pouty face somehow… gets more pouty..?

“The one I gave to you?” Jason had to suppress a chuckle, but goes about cleaning the cut on Damian’s head.

“Yes.”

“What’d ya do to get him to take that from ya? He never took my books.’

“I may…or may not…have attempted to stab Drake.”

Jason scowls at him, “What did we talk about, Damian?”

“You said not to kill or maim anyone! It was just supposed to be a light stabbing…” The kid is sulking now. It’s almost cute, if Jason weren’t a little pissed at him.

His phone ringing cuts off any reply he may have had. He fishes it out of his pocket, answering it and setting it to his ear before going back to cleaning the cut on Damian’s head. “‘Sup?”

There’s silence on the other end of the line, before a faint voice comes through. “...Master Jason?”

Jason almost drops the phone in shock, and it takes him a second to remember how to use his voice. When he does speak, he’s choked up. “Hey, Alfie.”

Alfred takes a shuddering inhale before continuing. “It is good to hear your voice again, my boy. Although I do have a rather urgent reason for calling. We seem to be missing the child you delivered to us three weeks ago.”

Jason raises an eyebrow at the kid in front of him, finally putting down the gauze and medical supplies. “Are you now?”

“Yes. You wouldn’t happen to know where he is, would you?”

“Nope, not a clue. You should probably keep better track of your birds.”

Alfred sighed, seeming to realize the bluff. “Shall I inform Master Bruce that he is taken care of?”

Jason chuckles before answering. “Nah, let him panic. It’ll do him some good. Besides, finders keepers. Kid’s mine now.”

Jason can hear a hint of a smile when Alfred speaks next. “Hm. Well, try to have him back at the Manor for Sunday crepes. You are welcome to join as well.” It’s Thursday. That gives him four days with his baby brother.

And four days to make Bruce panic, which is always a plus.

He will have to move safehouses though, he wasn’t exactly watching out for cameras on his way here.

“Will do, Alfie. I’ll drop him off Sunday morning.”

They exchange goodbyes, then Jason drops the phone on the couch.

“Wanna explain why ya ran away?”

“I wanted to see you, Akhi. I had not heard from you since you dropped me off.”

Jason sighs, sitting down and pulling Damian closer to him. “You could have asked Alfred to contact me, kid. It’s not safe for you to run around Gotham on your own.”

“I can protect myself!”

“Like you did today?”

Damian scowls, “It is not my fault he caught me off guard.”

“Dames, no matter how highly trained you are, the people here will still win the fight when they are two to four times your size. You have to stay with an adult.”

Damian just huffs in response, and Jason gives the argument up. He’ll just have to keep a better eye out from now on.

[aristocratic-otter]

Ok, I'm determined to post today, even though I'm way behind on responding to y'all's posts. I'll get to them, I promise! I'm about to return to work, and I'm far more productive on work days than I am on vacation (weird as that sounds). So I'll catch up soon.

This week may not have been the most productive, but it was amazing nonetheless. I got to meet Rainbow! and seven lovely fandom friends! It's been a wild weekend, just in time to have to go back to work :(

Here are six-ish sentences from some of my WIPs!

First, thank you to : @hushed-chorus, @wellbelesbian, @martsonmars, @you-remind-me-of-the-babe, @ic3-que3n, \

@thewholelemon, @artsyunderstudy, @bookish-bogwitch, @monbons, @rimeswithpurple,

@skeedelvee, @larkral, @noblecorgi, @roomwithanopenfire, @prettygoododds,

@whatevertheweather, @youarenevertooold, @ivelovedhimthroughworse, @messofthejess, @blackberrysummerblog,

@nausikaaa, and @emeryhall for tagging me over the last few weeks!

Here’s one snippet from 5 of my WIPs. Cupid’s Shield and Stars, Flowers, and Children are both currently on extremely smutty parts, so there was nothing safe to share. (That probably sounds a little weird, given the most recent posted chapter in Stars has the boys at 12 years old, but don’t worry, the boys are 18+ in the chapter I’m working on, chapter 13) (chapter 10 of Stars should go up this week).

From Saving Simon Snow (also has a chapter that just needs editing and will probably go up this week) (why do I seem to finish chapters in all my WIPs at around the same time???): 

“This is not what I—I don’t—Fuck!” He stops, and closes his eyes tightly, lifting his chin towards the ceiling. 

“Simon, I—” I reach out to him. It’s a mistake. His eyes snap open, and their blue is electric. He puts up both hands as a block to mine and I snatch my hand back. 

“No,” he says, then repeats it. “Nononononono—I can’t—” He’s tearing at his hair worse than before and I want to untangle his fingers from his curls and kiss his each digit to soothe him. But he doesn’t want me. 

From Snow Fox: 

I’d say the man across from me is a snake, but that wouldn’t be fair to serpents. 

I dig my fingertips into the brocade of the armchair. Tarleton can’t see my hands beneath the folds of my dress, so I’ll allow myself that much of a reaction. My face, which he can see, is perfectly smooth and placid, like my mother’s. She’s sitting to the right of me in the other armchair from my parent’s sitting room. Tarleton has turned around one of the plain wood kitchen chairs and is sitting on it backwards with his arms folded over the wooden back of the chair. He’s smiling at us with all his teeth. And none of his eyes. 

From TikTok Dancer: 

This is not good.

I watch as Snow dips and spins, and I worry. 

He told us that he wanted to dance alone today. I didn’t question it at the time…Snow has days like that, where the dance is everything and he needs the solitude to focus on nothing but dance. I think those are the days that he mourns what he’s lost. At least, his dance always seems a little sad, on those days. We still film him, of course. The work he does on those solo days is some of his most brilliant and gets the most hits and likes on YouTube and TikTok. 

But this dance…it scares me. 

From The Rat and the River (Chapter 2 just posted! Here’s a teaser from chapter 4)

I hope that the need for haste doesn’t make them careless. I suppose it hasn’t yet. 

I try to stay as unobtrusive as I can while I watch the team prepare. I can feel the bite of worry in my gut. Snow’s done this dozens of times without the slightest problem, and I try to comfort myself with that, but my peripheral nervous system is not listening to me. My fingers feel cold and faint shivers pass over my skin in waves. 

It’s minor enough that I can hide it, fortunately. I don’t need to put the burden of my fear on him. 

And from my new project, untitled as yet, the following (forgive me…): 

Penny

Simon looks like he’s seen a ghost. Well, I guess he has, actually, seen a ghost.

I know I speculated that Basilton might be dead, but I don’t think I actually believed it. There’s no denying it now, though. Basilton is quite clearly a visitor. I wonder who he’s here to visit? His cousin maybe? Or his best friend?

But no. The whole room watches in shocked silence as he paces unerringly towards my best friend. 

Tags and zen hugs to: @chen-chen-chen-again-chen, @bazzybelle, @dragoneggos, @erzbethluna, @palimpsessed,

 @frjsti, @fatalfangirl, @melodysmash, @moments-au-crayon22, @moodandmist,

 @mostlymaudlin, @onepintobean, @raenestee, @tea-brigade, @upuntil6am, 

@whogaveyoupermission, @carryonsimoncarryonbaz, @krisrix, @shemakesmeforget, @confused-bi-queer, 

@nightimedreamersghost,  @thewholelemon, @angelsfalling16, @mooncello, @shrekgogurt, @cosmicalart,  

@cutestkilla, @theearlgreymage, @alexalexinii, @Iamamythologicalcreature, @ileadacharmedlife, 

@thehoneyedhufflepuff, @best--dress, @j-nipper-95, @letraspal, and @facewithoutheart

[becauseimanicequeen]

WHAT I’M CURRENTLY WATCHING

It's been a while since I made one of these lists. But here I am with a new one, including the queer shows I'm currently watching. (As always, they're in alphabetical order, because that's just how I am, lol).

4 Minutes (Thailand):

This show is my current obsession. Period. The content on my blog being 99.999999999% about 4 Minutes right now says it all.

Addicted Heroin (2024) (Thailand):

I've seen both the original as well as Stay With Me, which were both fine. I was curious enough to see what Thailand would do with it, which is why I'm watching. And I'm loving it, so far.

I like Hero, even though he's an idiot. And I like the supporting pair. Hero's dad, though... No.

Battle of the Writers (Thailand):

I still have no idea what this show is about except for a couple of writers, two of which have a history together. But, I got to see three of my Playboy babes, so that's a win for me.

First Note of Love (Taiwan):

I'm spoiled with my beloved Taiwanese QLs right now. I'm even more spoiled that I have yet another very rare show where I can actually listen to the music played and sung without muting the damn thing. And I'm spoiled fucking rotten because I've got Charles Tu on my screen again.

I love everything about this show 5 episodes in, and it makes my Mondays a lot brighter (and my Mondays were fine before this, btw).

Happy of the End (Japan):

I like my Japanese shows dark and complicated. So, I'm obviously loving this.

Hidden Moon (Thailand):

I'm only one episode into this one so I don't really have much to say other than that I like the vibe and that it's visually stunning so far (always a plus for me).

I Hear the Sunspots (Japan):

I'm a bit torn with this one. But I love the representation of the deaf community because my great-grandfather was deaf.

(Kind of unrelated, but kind of not: My great-grandfather didn't know sign language, he just read lips. And he was always most comfortable around people who treated him like just anyone else.)

I Saw You In My Dream (Thailand):

Considering I only started watching this because I saw a gif of Ai wearing a Dream Theater shirt (which was my dad's favorite band before he passed away), I wasn't expecting much. But it's surprisingly enjoyable.

The only critique I have is that they ended this week's episode right in the middle of Ai and Yu kissing. Not that I think they'll go all the way in that particular scene. One of them will probably stop. But cutting the scene there... That's just rude. (I'm joking... But kind of not.)

Kidnap (Thailand):

I'm just one episode in so I don't have much to say other than that I love that Papang is in it. I always need more of him on my screen.

Live in Love (Thailand):

This is another one I'm only one episode into (the second one comes out today), so I don't have much to say other than that I really like the vibe so far.

Monster Next Door (Thailand):

I'm a simple girl. I would watch Big in anything as long as he's kissing boys, because this boy knows how to kiss boys.

The On1y One (Taiwan):

Again, I'm spoiled with my beloved Taiwanese QLs right now. And this one is everything to me.

I knew it would be amazing (it's from the same director who made Your Name Engraved Herein) so, no surprise there. And if I wasn't so busy screaming about 4 Minutes during the little spare time I have now that I'm in the middle of a big art project, I would be screaming about this show.

I only needed 10 seconds of the first episode to be hooked (them looking at each other was all I needed to be sold). 6 episodes in, and I'm in heaven.

Seoul Blues (Korea):

This is from the same creators of Blue Boys and Bad Guy and I'm watching it solely for the chemistry and the... how should I describe it? Mellow vibe?

The Trainee (Thailand):

I had a hard time getting into this one. Mainly because I can't relate to the whole office environment thing (I've always worked for myself). But somewhere around the end of the second episode or the beginning of the third, I was sold. Mostly due to the dynamics between the characters and that everyone is unique and flawed in their own way. Plus, the colors are amazing.

It's been a while since I had at least one new episode to watch every day (I think it was sometime before the summer), so I'm starting to get back to normal again. And I love it here.

[bisexualnerd]

Writer tag game

I wasn’t tagged, but I saw the game randomly posted by another user so I want to play anyway! (red for fic links and blue for series links)

1. how many works do you have on AO3?

35 (and only one draft because I don't really like working on multiple projects at the same time)

2. what's your total AO3 word count?

395,306

3. what fandoms do you write for?

I write the most for Batfam, mostly Tim and Jason but usually, the whole fam (more or less) is also there.

I write a bit more for some other fandoms but there are only one or two fics for each (2021 Produce 101 - Chuang Zao Ying, Hollywood Undead (but these fics are not finished), Julie and The Phantoms (1 fic - finished), Arsenal Military Academy + The Legends (they are kinda connected in 1 fic) and I have like, one translation project too.

I'm hoping to write Star Wars fics one day too. Really like the whole time travel thing and Obi-Wan is my beloved.

4. what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Monster Under My Bed (The Monster Down The Hall)

"Back Away From Him."

if i lose everything in the fire, i'm sending all my love to you

Cold

A Pile of Sleeping Birds

5. do you respond to comments?

All of the comments, definitely. I really enjoy reading and replying to them and sometimes, I even come back to re-read the comments to feel validated 🤣

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I write angst a lot but I have a thing for happy endings. But if I look at the fics individually and not like, as a part of a bigger series, it might be i have so much to say but you're so far away. But if not just the ending but the whole plot in general, it can be any fic really (I would recommend Restless Heart Syndrome, And Now You're Home, The Monster Under My Bed (The Monster Down The Hall), and What The Heart Remembers).

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

They all have some sort of happy endings (though some fics that are a part of a series might not but the series will have happy endings). But since all I have talked about is Batfam, I would recommend this from Julie and the Phantoms. I don't write romance often, but this is just a short soft, cute love story of two ghosts (Reggie and an OC based on his real-life wife) plus some humour in the band - ‘Cause I’m Not Too Far And You’re My Favorite Place. I was very satisfied with how it turned out and I still come back to re-read for my own enjoyment a few times so I hope you guys will give it a chance.

8. do you get hate on fics?

My most controversial fic would be Hold Me Close, Don't Let Go (Watch Me Burn) but it's not like people showed hate to me. They just didn't like the story and how I wrote it so there were some unpleasant comments. The newest one, I think I did well with my response. It's a rather heavy fic because I went through a really rough time when I was writing it (along with many others) so if you want to read it, be careful.

9. do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I don't. My fics are all rated G or T (mostly because of swearing and violence, and also some with suicidal theme or idealisation because I did have a really bad time).

10. do you write crossovers?

Just for two fandoms, Arsenal Military Academy & The Legends, because they share the same lead actor and actress so I thought it would be fun to write something about reincarnation. It's Then and Now, Forever and Always.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think I'm famous enough for that.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, into Chinese, actually. It's The Monster Under My Bed (The Monster Down The Hall). The link to the translated fic is in the fic.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Not really. I planned my current series How To Steal A Brother with my friend Den and she is also my beta-reader for this series but I still write all of the stuff, which she reads and corrects the mistakes for me later.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

That's hard to choose. I really like Robin (Dick Grayson) and Starfire. It was like my first ship ever because I watched Teen Titans as a child. I also like Marinette/Adrien, very cute but the secondhand embarrassment is not very healthy for me (at least she has gotten better at interacting with him). The Doctor (10th) and Rose was one heartbreak that got me crying like a baby in 8th grade.

So honestly, I don't think I can pick because those were the three that came to my mind first, but I still have like a few dozen left.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

The Hollywood Undead fic - When Gravity Pulls You In. It was a really fun idea but then I ran into a big writer's block and I haven't recovered for this fic. I have been writing for Batfam again but I doubt I can go back and finish this one (at least anytime soon).

16. What are your writing strengths?

I don't think I'm too good with dialogue but I do have a strength in describing and like some sort of metaphor (English is not my first language so this is a difficult question to answer). I don't know if this is also considered a strength but like I said, I don't really write many fics at the same time so I can manage them pretty well. Most of my fics are completed before I move on to another one.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Dialogue. And I forget a lot of stuff so I have to go back to the earlier part so the plot won't be inconsistent. And of course, I write in English, which is not my mother tongue, so sometimes, I lack vocabulary or my grammar can feel weird.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I mean, I would add translation or explanation very subtly in there. But I saw a Star Wars fic where the writer had like, floating texts or something for the conversations in Mando'a so like, I will research on that if I need to write in another language.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Batfam. Tim-centric.

20. Favourite fic you've written?

Damn, that's like asking a parent for their fav child on national television.

In terms of like, wording and metaphors and descriptions and all the technical stuff - And Now You're Home - because some of my fav paragraphs are in here. In terms of logic, time can never change for the flying bird under the summer sun because I went crazy with all the planning for the whole time-travel-but-nothing-changes-the-future thing. In terms of plot, i'm so out of touch with everyone, and everything's a blur to me. This was one of my earlier ones but when I came back to this earlier this year, I found it so enjoyable and fascinated. I couldn't even believe I wrote this one. But it is a part of a series so you might want to check out I've Got You Brother.

This has been fun and I have been shamelessly PR-ing my fics. I don't really know who to tag so anyone else who wants to play, go ahead and have fun!

[starstruckodysseys]

20 questions for 20 writers !!

thank u to @localdisasterisk for tagging me in this! i honestly do not know how many writers i follow so um. ill tag my pibe fic besties @wheelsupin-azarathmetrionzinthos @angelwiththeblue-box @fatestitcherr @incorrect-play-it-by-ear and the rest of u can fight amongst yourselves

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

48. i don’t know if its more concerning that almost half of them are from the past five months or that almost half are play it by ear. its the same almost half but still

2. what’s your total ao3 word count?

143,389. woof

3. what fandoms do you write for?

obviously play it by ear. everyone knows that. also d20 occasionally and project sekai. unfortunately

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

toya and mizuki’s step by step guide to romancing a shinonome — i will be so real with you guys i specifically crafted this one to be popular. and then i fell in love with it along the way. but it did start as a science experiment

let me take you with me (just like this) — WHY. this is my second pjsekai fic and my fourth fic ever posted. it’s not at all reflective of my current style. help

kiss it better — yeah. same issue as the other one. this one’s better though lmao

say you miss me (say you want to kiss me) — honestly? just impressed a honakana fic made it up this high. love my girlies

the moon is crumbling (but that’s okay) — yeah everyone pretend to be surprised the ruikasa fic got this high up. it was a new concept for me, though, so i’m pretty proud of that

5. do you respond to comments?

i used to, but not really anymore unfortunately. to be fair, i will point you all to the fact that most of my recent fics are pibe, and then to the discord where we all scream about them together

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i don’t usually. write sad endings. bc i don’t like them. okay that’s not true i just usually don’t. i guess the moon is crumbling?? if i had to choose?? it’s more bittersweet than anything, but people did say they cried, so…

7. what’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

99.9% of my fics are getting together fics. it’s just the same ending a million different ways. you tell me

8. do you get hate on your fics?

not publicly!

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

i would simply be too powerful if i could. this is for your safety actually

10. do you write crossovers?

in the sense of characters across universes/media interacting? no. in the sense of “i am going to put my blorbos in every single other setting i slightly enjoy”? absolutely. putting them under a microscope. researching and recording how they react to their surroundings

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

not to my knowledge!

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

i simply do not think there is a demand for my fics in other languages. not in like a depressing way, it’s just that i’m writing for like five people including myself, so. yknow

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

no, but if someone wanted to… 👀

14. what’s your all time favorite ship?

i’ve never written for them (yet, at least), but by sheer volume and span of time i have to say souyo persona4. my silly boys. i’ve never scoured the entire tag for a ship multiple times on ao3 like i have for them. i have so many thoughts about them that have never seen the light of day but they exist!!

15. what’s a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

stares awkwardly at feed your anger like fire… i’ve tried!! but it turns out that sometimes you get stuck on clothing designs and stop writing and then lose passion for the project and then stop updating for three years because you were too ambitious and also you hate your old writing style. not that i would know anything about that

16. what are your writing strengths?

i think i’m really good at dialogue, or at least banter. unfortunately this makes me very judgmental but that’s not important. also i can create a vibe well i’ve been told

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

in general? i SUCK at character description, or at least knowing where and when to place it. i also always worry about characterization and if my characters sound too similar

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

i used to read so many fics that centered around using another language (shoutout bmc fandom when i was. in that. a dark period of my life, but alas) and honestly if it’s done well i think it’s cool!! i’m not going to get into the intricacies of bilingualism on account of being an english only speaker but it is rad to me

19. first fandom you wrote for?

wrote for? probably warriors. yes the cats. i had a whole fanfic for my oc. shoutout to… honestly i don’t remember her name but she was a real one! wrote for and posted is another story, by which i mean i don’t remember At All. probably bandori tbh, bc i don’t remember if i posted fanfic on my wattpad

20. favorite fic you’ve written?

either the venn diagram of curses and crushes (which is still my favorite fic title ever) or soaking in the glory. one of them is a 3k word expedition into the play it by ear canon space and the other is a 7k word fever dream i went into a fugue state to write in two days. honorable mention to the like the sweetest cup of chai series which i hold so close to my heart. silliest besties of all time

[arysgarden]

read this if you're nervous about the new year

[Author's Note: I wrote this in December and hoped to adapt it into a video essay in January, but BME life is busy, and I have not gotten the chance to curate it in the way I envisioned. Perhaps this will be made someday, likely with edits and new reflections or revelations. Maybe that video will speak to, and be in conversation with, this transcript.

It would be careless to not acknowledge the hell that the United States, where I reside, is becoming with the recent changes due to the Trump administration. This letter is more pointed towards emotional and interpersonal hardships, rather than political anxiety, though I anticipate you too, reader, are disheartened and anxious about what the next few years hold for our falling empire, now that we've crossed over to 2025.]

I concluded my last exam at noon on the 18th of December, and all that awaited me on my Google Calendar was the event “no work! no thinking about work” in uppercase, lasting a week. I’m bad at being bored. My YouTube watch later is 581 videos. Every break I say I’ll make a dent in it, but the number always rises again. Most of the videos in that playlist yell at me to “make systems, not goals” and “level up [my] life,” “rebrand [my] year,” “reinvent [myself].” Or they’re productivity challenges where the creator films themselves waking up at 6 am, 5 am, 4 am.

I watch the videos, perhaps type a few bullet points into my Notion for “later reference,” and then I remove it from my Watch Later (580 to go) or close the tab and go the next, where a similar video awaits. I set forty-three alarms starting at 4 am and ending at 7 am, spaced unevenly between the three hours, some three minutes apart, some fifteen. I wake up at 10:30 and stay in bed until my mother yells for me from downstairs. I have a Google Calendar event telling me to work out, and I watch the current time creep to the intended start. I get distracted talking to my parents or watching another video (579), and when I check again, the current time is halfway through the event. So, I drag it further down to overlap with my other goals (edit resume, update LinkedIn, look at fellowships), and reshuffle the order of the day, perhaps shorten some of the expected time for “update LinkedIn,” or overestimate my ability to start work again after family movie night inevitably ends at 10:30 in the evening (“Research 10:30 pm – 2:30 am”).

The day passes, maybe I tweak the wording of a few bullet points on my resume, but it’s not enough to tick the task done, so I scrawl in a right-facing arrow into the checkbox of my to do list from a ripped-out page of a random notebook and rewrite the task in the next day’s list. This continues.

I entered Winter break feeling decidedly un-human. My friends consider me to be lively and interesting and involved, so when I say this, the idea is dismissed as preposterous. What do you mean you feel “boring?” You work two jobs; you’re on board for two clubs; you are constantly ping ponging yourself between groups of friends and making promises to squeeze in a catch-up dinner on a Thursday night or study with friends in the library (frequently double-booking, triple-booking yourself). You always have a funny story to recount or a witty joke tying back to Tumblr 2018. These things make your interesting. These things make you human.

I used to think of myself primarily as writer before I entered college. All I had was a melodramatic half-complete collection of free verse love poetry for a high school crush and a few multi-chapter drafts of a novel I had spent most of high school developing in my head or rewriting the beginning of every November for NaNoWriMo. I started a little literary magazine and made a close friend from working closely with her on that project. I watched dozens of videos from authortubers on how to write certain archetypes of characters, the top ten mistakes for newbie writers, and how they formatted their novels on Google Docs because I couldn’t justify spending $50 on Scrivener when God knows when (or if) I would finish a damn draft. Even if I didn’t have the energy to write, the time to write, I was editing others’ pieces or thinking about writing.

Even as my view of a career path fluctuated violently during that period (STEM kid turned to human rights enthusiast and potential immigration or international lawyer), above all, I was a writer. Even in my college interview files, the student who conducted my interview wrote that you could tell I was a writer just from hearing me speak. I’ve been told I talk in poetry. 

But I haven’t written anything substantial in years. The closest I got was a creative ethnography piece titled “brown girls are a lot like stars.” But it was for class, and for some reason, that felt illegitimate.

Other than mentioning my abandoned works in progress occasionally in conversation with a friend and adding “plan my book with me” or “how to write [X] characters” videos into my egregiously long watch later playlist (589), I didn’t even lend much mental energy to thinking about writing. I gave up on the literary magazine sometime at the end of my sophomore year, a (frankly) unfair choice because we had all the submissions and promised writers to curate it, but I could barely lend any mental energy to it anymore. I no longer dreamt of potential plot lines and magic systems; any drabble I forced onto the page felt awkward, clunky, and never quite touched the reader in the same way it did its creator. It feels wrong to call myself a writer when writing no longer feels like home.

~ depression ~

What do you do when the few things that consistently give you joy feel like work? Another task on the to-do list to scrawl a right-facing arrow and deter to the next day. And the next.

What do you do when you enter the new year as an unrecognizable person?

2024 was a year of exciting beginnings and messy, webbed endings. It was always moving, pulsing—I didn’t really let myself take a break. I entered junior year, the year of my biomedical engineering requirements, burnt out, and that smoothed over to depression. I had candles and friends, and that kept me afloat…and then life decided it had a few more lessons for me, so the depressive episode got worse, and the ever-present exhaustion morphed to waking up at 6 am, all jittery, and passing time in front of books and computers without absorbing any of it.

My friends checked in on me frequently, provided me avenues to talk and process my emotions. I visited a therapist a few times and found grounding in her words. My grief consumed me. My anxiety consumed me. I would speak to make myself feel better, and immediately regret it, picking apart wordings and sitting in projected shame. Friends, family, my therapist praised me for how I was handling it all, but I didn’t see strength. I didn’t feel quite “there” at all. During lunches or boba catch ups, the conversation would lull after the jarring updates, and silence would uncomfortably settle over us.

And I had nothing to say.

A friend who stayed over for New Years asked me “What was your favorite book you’ve read this year.” I paused and thought hard, embarrassment flooding warmth down my neck. “I don’t think I’ve read a book this year,” I responded. On my 2024 Bucket list, the first item was to have read 50 books. I’ve started a few. I’ve read 0.

I can’t fully blame the tumultuous term I had because, well, there were 8 other months I could have read just one book. In all fairness, I got a fair bit of the way through This is How You Lose the Time War before finals season hit my sophomore spring, and I put down the book, resolving to read it from start to finish (it’s one of those books, I think ought to be read in one sitting). I packed it in bags on train rides and brought it to my summer dorm, but I didn’t pick it back up again. Most of the books on the shelf of my childhood bedroom, I also had not read.

I could give you excuses about how I sought break in every sliver of free time during the weekends or in the afternoon between two commitments in some sorry attempt to make up for the lack of formal break I awarded myself. But ultimately, it was a choice: I sought ephemeral pleasure and left behind my goals. Even more important, I let myself fall into an autopilot; I stopped thinking critically. I just floated, and studied, and took homework quizzes, and reviewed Quizlets. I took walks, and I napped, and I played minesweeper. I was a student, but I had slipped out of my skin and refused to put it on again. I left behind being a person.

There’s not many poetic ways to describe the un-humanness of depression to someone who hasn’t quite experienced it before. And even if you have, I’m not certain our two experiences sing in harmony. But I think Fleabag displays what I mean best. Sat in the confessional with a gin in tonic in hand, the Hot Priest mistakes Fleabag for not knowing what she wants.

[Fleabag confession scene]

I am a free will believer, but damn if no other scene has made me exhale a little. Because that’s why I have an irrational aversion to watching new movies and reading new books or listening to new music, especially when I become like this; why I play songs on repeat to scratch the itch, and switch to a different, familiar tune when the last becomes boring. To consume new media means to consume new information and form new opinions about it.

Like my frustrated sigh before I walk to choir practice, despite the fact I know I’ll be happy once I’m there, or the grimace when I brace myself to start a shift at my job with people I love and in a space I really love, labors of love when exhausted can just feel like labor. And when the hobbies that ground you, that in a sense, define you, no longer feel like things you get to do, but rather things you have to do, then what is left?

And when things you have to do are informed not by what gives you joy, but rather things you decided you have to do, then how are you any better than the mannequin of an existence Fleabag describes? But rather than the invisible hand of God, you’re being pulled by expectations set by influencers who live drastically different lives to you, who push a culture that never treasures the art of boredom or life sat still and is infused with overconsumption. A life that makes every day another hill to push a stone up over, another challenge to overcome in fear that we’ll waste our years of youth and sit in regret.

Regret is not a challenge you can buy yourself out of, or slap a challenge over. Regret, in its simplest form, is a failure. Failure is final. All you can do is push forwards from it and make peace with the fact that beating yourself over it only wastes what little time you have left.

So, I’m entering 2025 as a version of myself that feels radically different than how I entered 2024. That’s the goal, right? To grow. It’s the underlying thesis of the twenty-four goals written underneath “New Years Resolutions:” to maximize productivity, create routines, build systems, eat cleaner, journal, meditate, grow, and grow, and grow oftentimes without a clear direction, but because you must, because that means you’re winning.

To be driven, to grow, and to push for growth is how you ought to live life, and so, I don’t mean to oversimplify my point by demonizing productivity culture and the overwhelming saturation of content providing advice and solutions for people achieving their goals. I have lofty hopes: I’m pursuing an incredibly interdisciplinary research topic, I want to get an MD-PhD, and I juggle quite a few commitments on top of academics (which are a priority for me too).

But towards the end of 2024, every day felt like a new hill. And some of the challenges I faced changed parts of my identity that I didn’t realize were really all that important.

Even if I hole myself in for a break and recharge; backwards walk into and zip up the skin suit; let my creativity thaw, and find my joy in the smallest of beauties, like a December rain or a the smoky scent of a January morning; even if I shook off the sadness from my coat and removed my wet socks, I feel unbalanced at the start of this new year in the same way I’d imagine an onion feels when placed in a pot of water. To set down new roots and allow a stalk to spring up from the center. Not uprooted in the conventional sense, but stepping into a year of change without a full grasp of the girl I’m running away from.

“And I know that scientifically nothing that I do makes any difference in the end. Anyway I’m still scared. Why am I still scared?"

It used to be my fear of stagnancy that primarily drove my insatiable desire to change. I was afraid that if I didn’t remind myself every week that I needed to be better, I would simply never learn, never open the news, never read a book, just continue to sit in my cycle of “I’ve always wanted to” do [X] and…never try.

And so, I wrote twenty-point-long to-do lists that went relatively unmarked or created ornate notion pages that went forgotten for 2/3 of the year, digging my heels in other form of procrastination that whispered promises of growth, but just went forgotten in my notes app. And I hated my exhaustion, adding more things to the to-do list to catch up, to punish myself for failing. In the end, it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. I just felt guilty.

But it’s okay, because it has to be, because I cannot change what has already happened, and luckily, I get eighty more of these start-overs to agonize over choices and write down large hopes.

On New Years Eve, I took a walk in the brisk late afternoon with my friend, and the sky was a gorgeous periwinkle. It wasn’t cold enough for our breaths to fog up (unfortunately climate change has robbed me of New England October snowstorms and consistently white winters), but we sat by a pond nearby my house. Spare the occasional car that drove past, the neighborhood was quiet, and save for the few neighbors rushing into their homes from their cars or cleaning out the garage for the new year, we were the only ones outside as the evening of New Years Eve approached. She smoked a cigarette, and I took photos of her by the pond, despite being a mediocre photographer.

It was calm and not weighed down by the normal melancholy that follows a winter walk. I did not know that this would be possibly some of my last moments with this friend, and I almost took it as an omen for healing in the new year. When you’re desperate and tired and counting down days to the next big thing, it’s easy to elevate mundane moments to deeper meanings.

When she called me in line to a plane I had no clue she was taking despite dropping her off at the train station just earlier that day, I refused to make it an omen for the next year. I hope she’s okay. I hope she knows I love her like a sister I never had.

Just as I thought I had swum out of my depressive episode, these past few days I have felt the water lick at my ankles and threaten to pull me back in along with the sand I place my feet on.

It doesn’t matter that endings and beginnings stamp regular, mundane days and happen at inopportune times and sometimes overlap with each other, something about formally written in ends and beginnings in the changing of the years provide a small solace in its reminder that we ourselves can forge these opening and closings of chapters in our life. It’s promising and hopeful, and while I love a laundry list of new year’s resolutions like the next person, this new beginning feels like unstable footing. Parhaps that’s why you’re watching this video too.

I think the New Year scares me because it so starkly reminds me that I have limited control, and at the very least, I knew myself, and that was 60% of the equation. But I do not know the person I am stepping into 2025 as. cannot tell you if she’s better than the one I stepped into 2024, or how she defines the line between forgiveness and self-respect. I do not know what will give her purpose this year, what gives her joy. I do not know if she’ll find herself pulled back into the sea. I do not know if she’ll lose herself again.

Just because I swam to shore once, can I be sure I won’t get trapped in the undercurrents? How can I trust that I’ll get back to the dry sand, when every time it’s easier to fall into the water and it’s harder to keep myself afloat?

Because it is exhausting to be a human. It’s exhausting to show up every day and learn new information and form opinions and to keep up with the news of genocides and killings and presidents who have no respect for most of the country he is set to govern. It is exhausting to constantly have things to say and to show up and be there for other people. It’s exhausting, and liberating, and beautiful, and I am so, so tired.

I’m tired of breaking up my sleep in hopes that I won’t snooze the alarm. I’m tired of picking myself apart and making every day a hill I just have to get to the top of, or at least not buckle under the weight of the boulder I’m too tired to push up. I’m tired of being strong and worrying about whether I’m healing the right way. I’m tired of doing the emotional labor of being a human, even if I know it is a privilege, even if I check the closet doors every night to make sure I’m not robbed of it.

So, on my laundry list of new year’s resolutions to actually learn how to crochet (I’ve had bundles of yarn sitting on my dorm room floor for months), or to adapt habits I’ve been “trying” to incorporate for years, or to write, I think of my friend by the lake with her cigarette. I think of the then-smoky January dusk, and I steal a resolution from her, scrawling at the bottom of my title page in squished print: “Try 5 types of chocolates.”

I think, at the very least, I can manage that.

[ink-flavored]

Get to Know Your Moots Writeblr Interview

This looked fun, and I love answering lists of questions

Tagging: @foxys-fantasy-tales @noblebs @ceph-the-ghost-writer @auntdarth @damageinkorporated @srjacksin @wyked-ao3 @alesseia and anyone else who wants to do it!

Blank Questions for those who join me!

-

On the Tumblr Writing Community

How long have you had your writing Tumblr/Writeblr? A fast and loose estimate is fine!

I’ve been on Tumblr since 2014, but I didn’t make this writeblr sideblog until 2019.

What led you to create it?

Mainly because I crave organization, and I felt weird posting my fanfiction to a blog where I didn’t really talk about writing. Plus, I didn’t feel like anyone on my main would have been interested in hearing me talk about my original writing either, and even if they were, it would have been drowned in everything else I reblogged. I wanted to have a place that was 100% dedicated to writing to keep my blog topics more organized.

What’s your favorite thing about the Writeblr community?

I love talking about writing, for one, but I also love how many varied ideas you see in this community. There are SO MANY incredible WIPs waiting to be discovered here, of any genre you can think of, featuring ideas that make you salivate. The world-building some of you people have going on is fucking amazing, and I’m eating it.

What’s one thing you’d like your mutuals to know about you?

I love talking about stories, including yours! Come say hello if you feel at all inclined to!

Is there anything you’d like to see more of on your dash?

More people going crazy and/or stupid about their own stuff. Be your own biggest fan, and others will follow!

The kinds of writing I always enjoy seeing more of, in general, though: poetry (literally any kind of poetry), fantasy (high & urban), sci-fi (hard & soft), crime (bonus points if set during the Prohibition), romance, erotica (bonus points if kinky), detailed world-building (bonus points for fiddly politics, more bonus points if it’s inspired by other cultures than the generic European template), and any of these things in combination with each other!

What tips/advice do you have for someone who made a Writeblr today?

Reblog other people’s work if you want them to reblog yours, always send someone an ask if you reblog an ask game from them, don’t be afraid to self-reblog no matter how annoying you think it is, but most importantly, do whatever you want forever. Have fun.

Lots more under the cut!

WIP it Good

Which Works-in-Progress (WIPs) or writing projects are you noodling about, lately?

Mainly my [currently untitled] urban fantasy anthologies and Pride & Justice. My anthologies are getting outlined for my own make-shift “write as much as you can” challenge I’m doing in parallel to NaNo this year, and I’m basically always thinking about P&J at all times whether I like it or not.

How long have you been working on them?

My anthologies are only officially around… a year or two old, probably? I had the initial impetus to start them ages ago (like, closer to 4 or 5 years ago), but didn’t start working on them as an actual project until relatively recently. Hell, I didn’t have the idea for an erotic urban fantasy anthology until December 2023!!

As for Pride & Justice, it will celebrate its second birthday on August 9th! It’s the only WIP I have such a specific date for, since it originally started as a fanfic I did for AUgust2022.

Do you remember what inspired them/what got you started?

For my anthologies, I’ve always loved urban fantasy, but pretty much all the urban fantasy I could find growing up was lacking in some way (to me). Either the fantasy elements were pasted onto our already existing world—usually “in secret” or with some other excuse to keep the “regular people” from finding out—or it was a genuine fantasy world with more advanced technology, but always a detective story. Seriously, what’s with urban fantasy and detective thrillers? They’re cool, but there’s so many of them…

I craved something closer to a “slice of life” urban fantasy—what would a fantasy world with our current level of technology and manufacturing actually look like? How would people live, what would a city be like, how would things like magic change what a sufficiently advanced culture looks like? And then, of course, the crazy magical sex????? That’s the logic I’m working from with both my anthologies, a sort of “what-if” combined with a slice-of-life peek into urban fantasy lives.

For P&J it’s a lot simpler: the fanfiction I wrote simply didn’t want to be a fanfiction. It wanted to be something bigger, more original, with more room to breathe. I gave it permission to be itself.

How much time, in your best estimation, do you spend thinking about them?

All of the time. Forever. If I am thinking about something, it’s probably my WIPs.

When someone asks the dreaded, “What do you write about,” question, what do you usually say?

I reflexively answer “fantasy, and I dabble in sci-fi and contemporary fiction.” Sometimes I clarify I write both high and urban fantasy, because most people assume high fantasy. I usually also mention I write poetry, and sometimes I’ll mention my Magnet Monday schtick.

What do you want to say (if it’s different from what you do say)?

Well, if people could get really cool about me saying “fantasy romance and erotica” that would be neat. I think we’re still a little ways off from other people’s reactions not being 1) smiling stiffly but politely before changing the subject or 2) making a rude face before changing the subject.

Let’s Rotate Blorbos

Name any characters you created.  Side characters, protagonists, antagonists, characters who’ve never been written, the first original abomination you ever pulled from your ass; whomever you’d like!

List them all? We’d be here a while.

I have an OC Roulette that I spin when I need to pick a character at random for whatever reason, so I’ll just list the ones currently on it:  Pride, Justice, Kindness, Ollie, Sofia, Dante, Honesty, Lust, Xinya, Yu-Qi, Jao, Han Lao, Sita Zhai, Asim, Mira, Cahaya, Priscilla, Henry, Yvonne, Harlan, Hayden, Lenora, Teconia, Seraph, Park, Jamie, Kiran. And the OC Roulette list will surely expand as I come up with more blorbos.

Who’s the most unhinged?

It depends on how you define unhinged, I guess? Yu-Qi could be considered unhinged because she’s a God-Dragon who does not care much what you think of her and does literally whatever she wants, whenever she wants. Priscilla enjoys violence to a suspicious degree, to the point where her husband just sighs and shrugs about it. Honesty is an Evangelical Christian angel with the one and only mission to carry out God’s Word. Take your pick, really.

Who comes the most naturally for you to write?

Can I just blanket say “the protagonists”? Generally, I use the POV characters for a reason, and it’s because I find them the most comfortable to write. I very rarely write multi-POV stories, and when I do switch POVs, it’s usually for one very significant part that the regular POV character isn’t present for or something. So—Pride, Xinya, Asim, Priscilla, etc.

Do you ever cringe at them?

Honestly, not really. Sometimes I get nervous about people accusing me of self-inserting or whatever, but then I remember that those people are stupid and lame. Of course my characters are going to be at least a little like me—I created them. Some will be more similar than others, but I put a little bit of myself into everything I write, including the characters. And even if they were self-inserts, who cares? I can do whatever I want, and don’t need to cater to pissants.

How much control do you feel you have over your characters?  AKA, do they ever “write themselves,” refuse to cooperate, or do things you didn’t expect? To what degree? Are some less cooperative than others?

They fly off the handle sometimes. The most persistent example is from The God-Dragon’s Wife, which was supposed to be about a monogamous couple, but a prominent side character started hassling me to make it a polycule so she could join in. I am now rethinking the entire plot to see if I can make it work.

In general, though, I feel like my characters exist somewhere in between “totally under my control” and “completely unrestrained.” I can drop a character into a scenario and act them through it, and there are absolutely times where I go “nah that’s out of character,” and have to change something. But for the most part, it’s like… observation. If I have a good handle on a character’s personality, arc, and motivations, I can just watch. Wow, look at ‘em go…

Do you enjoy people asking questions about your characters? And do you have a preferred means of receiving said questions? For example, as Asks, as replies, as reblogs, as tag notes, as comments on AO3, etc.

YEAH!!!!! ALWAYS AND FOREVER!!!!!!

Honestly, no preferred medium for questions. Send me an ask, reply in a post, DM me, message me on Discord (if you have it), leave a comment on my website, whatever. I love talking about my characters, and if you also want to talk to me about my characters, well that means I love you too.

On Writeblr Engagement

What makes you want to follow another Writeblr account? Do you follow ‘em as you see ‘em, or take time scoping out the blog to make sure you align with its content? Do you follow based on WIPs, or vibes?

Usually I scope out a blog and see if their WIPs are interesting enough for me to want to see regularly on my dash. Sometimes I’ll see a post from someone looking for other blogs that post [x] genre or [y] content, and if they match up with what I do, I’ll skim their intros (if they have them). I don’t like horror, so I’m not gonna follow people who only post horror stuff. I really like fantasy, so I’m more inclined to follow people who post fantasy stuff. If I see a particularly interesting WIP, I’ll follow the person even if it’s not the kind of thing I normally read. It all depends!

What makes you decide against following?

Genres I don’t like to read and my personal squicks, usually. Maybe the WIPs didn’t grab me. Some writeblr blogs are also people’s main blogs where they post a lot of other non-writing things, and I usually don’t follow those since I’m here for the writing first and foremost.

Do you interact with non-mutuals often?

Sometimes! Usually it’s my mutuals who talk to me the most, so I interact with them the most. As a general rule though, if you talk to me, I’m gonna talk to you back, no matter what our following status is.

Do your mutuals’ characters occupy space in your noodle?

If I know enough about them, yeah! I have plenty of other people’s OCs floating around in my brain from time to time, especially if they’re a regular occurrence on my dash.

[landofzero-archive]

Battle on the Sugoroku Board - Prologue

(Location: ES Hallway)

(One day during the first thirds of February (1). Corridor in front of the NewDi office.)

Natsume: ……PheW, finally the chaos of the end-of-year and New Year period has calmed dowN.

It started with the SS Qualifiers, the new stage for the special program for the end-of-year and New Years SSVRS trial, Maizuru Manor (2)—thougH it feels we’ve been tooting our own horn.

I wondeR if we can finallY return to normal activities.

Now theN. I’ll go beat up the Senpai who is still breaking labor law (3) during the end-of-year and New Years period, and enjoy a belated vacation–

UmM?

(Location: NewDi Offices)

Tsumugi and Ibara: ………♪

Natsume: (“Viper”......!?(4) Why is he herE!?

CoulD it be that he’s trying to imprint something onto Senpai when I’m not therE—)

Ibara-kun. What do you neeD from NewDi?

Ibara: So you’ve returned, Natsume-kun ♪ 

I’m sorry to be bothering you! As the representative of CosPro, I’m currently talking to His Majesty the acting director of NewDi, so please don’t worry about it, Natsume-kun ♪ 

Natsume: ………!

Ibara: My my my! A snake glare! (5) Lately, I tend to be forgetful of the fact that I’m a ‘Viper’, so I’m greatly indebted to your consideration in reminding me of that!

Natsume: That isn’T what I’m trying to do. Can you not string me along at your pace like thaT?

Enough with this tedious talk, just say what you want tO say.

Tsumugi: Don’t be such a grouch~, Natsume-kun. You know, since another agency’s representative came all the way to NewDi~?

Come on, smile, smile ♪ 

Natsume: Shut up, workaholic. (6)

If you don’t rest already, you’re going tO end up in a hospital, you know.

Tsumugi: No way!?

Ibara: You seem to be quite irritated~ It looks like you’ve been equally busy!

Well, this isn’t something that needed to be kept a secret, so I’ll let you in on it. I was just thinking of enjoying seeing Natsume-kun being left out in the cold! (7)

Natsume: You’re a rotten character, huH.

Ibara: AHaHaHa☆ That’s a good look on your face!

Putting that aside. Are you familiar with “NETV (Netteibi)”, Natsume-kun?

Natsume: Net……What?

Ibara: “NETV” —A recently started streaming broadcasting service that’s aimed at overseas folk.

It can be said that unlike a streaming program that is enormously funded with investments of shares in large quantities, it’s a streaming service from a company from this country with a moderate budget.

While niche, there is a demand from overseas. An Idol programme—- or some such is what “NETV” is trying to produce.

As such, I’m simply here to inquire if NewDi would like to cooperate by arranging participants.

Tsumugi: That’s right! Even though Saegusa-kun said it was a ‘moderate budget’ but, from my reading of the plans, the budget allocated is surprisingly quite substantial.

I was thinking that it’s a good chance for a new agency like NewDi.

Natsume: How suspiciouS……of this “Viper” to approacH us with talks of work.

There haS to be something else to it. OtherwisE, CosPro would surelY have exclusively monopolized this delicious project.

Ibara: What nonsense--- to say there is 'something else'. Just like divination, statistics and calculations are all there is to it.

I’m not trying to make a boring joke like “There is nothing hidden to 'fortune tellers'”— or something. (8) There are some things I haven’t explained, but it’s only because I’m unable to disclose everything.

The truth is, CosPro also has investments in this “NETV”.

It was an old connection from the time around when I was just starting out as a manager. Thanks to that, if the program is not a success, it’ll be a total loss.

In other words, this proposition is an idea meant to at least minimize losses. Because a cross-agency programme would be good publicity.

CosPro is extending the opportunity to participate to NewDi to push the program into success—

How about it? It’s not a bad proposition, right?

Natsume: ………

Tsumugi: As for me, I’m thinking positively about appearing on “NETV”.

I didn’t get any bad impressions from when I was looking at documents. It felt like it was influenced by a proper production company.

The only problem is, “NETV” is an online internet program, so not a lot of huge agency idols will participate.

……That said though, NewDi isn’t a huge agency.

This is a chance that won’t come again for us as we are right now. Net programs are still in its infancy stages right now, so long established agencies would not be expanding into it.

Natsume: ……I seE. ThougH there are undeniably fishy parts to it, it doeS stand to logic.

HoweveR. If you do anything suspicious, I won’T be silent about it.

Ibara: My my, please do not say that! Let us be mutually supportive of each other as coworkers in the same job!

Well then, I will be returning on a later date to explain the project! Take care until then!

TL Notes

上旬 - the first ten days of a month, or the first thirds of a month.

He’s listing past Switch events. Maizuru Manor is the orphanage from the 2023 MaM new year story; Poltergeist during the NEW COLOUR campaign.

He actually says ブラック労  (Black labour) here which is the term in Japan for worker exploitation in the form of extreme working hours, verbal abuse, or even power harassment/bullying. The companies using this form of employment are called ブラック企業 (Black Companies).

Technically, a 毒蛇 (Dokujya) is just a ‘venomous snake’; the term does not imply any specific venomous snake species but as the fandom usually knows this particular nickname of Ibara’s as ‘Viper’, Mod is following suit. Viperidae snakes are called クサリヘビ科 (Kusarihebika), and the viper itself is 鎖蛇 (Kusarihebi).

蛇睨み - literally, ‘snake glare’, is a reference to a Pokemon move. In the English version, this move is called ‘glare’. This move paralyzes the target. It can only be learned by snake Pokemon.

‘Workaholic’, written in katakana, is basically read the same way as the English word.

The JP text says Natsume was ‘left out of the mosquito net’, basically the equivalent of ‘left out in the cold’.

This is a pun. The beginning of the word for 'fortune teller' 占い師 (uranaishi) is phonetically similar to the word 裏 (ura) which can mean a lot of things such as 'opposite', 'hidden side', 'hidden shadows', 'more than meets the eye', 'rear'... to that effect. Mod has translated every instance of 'ura' in the lines leading to this bit as 'something else', to insinuate the pun.

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[stereden]

Statement regarding all my fics and fanworks

Okay folks. I don't want to be making this announcement, but since I just found out that someone was putting my fic(s) on youtube without my permission, here we are.

I do not give anyone permission to put my fics, in any format, on youtube or any other platform than AO3.

I do not give anyone permission to repost my fics anywhere, add them to anthologies, or post them on any other website.

I especially do not give anyone permission to make money out of my fics, be it by monetizing videos on any platform or selling fanbound editions (personal or gift copies are alright, selling outright is not. Please refer to points 4 and 5 of the Renegade Bookbinding Guild's code of conduct to see what I mean by that.)

So if you see my work anywhere other than AO3, with or without credit, please let me know as soon as possible so I can report it and get it taken down, especially if the person in question is making money off of my work.

However!

I have stated repeatedly in the past that podfics, translations and fanart are fine, but I prefer to be asked first in the case of podfics and translation - mostly so I can tell you if someone else is maybe already working on that particular fic's podfic/translation in a particular language. I also require you to put a link back to the originals with the "inspired by" tab on AO3 and to state clearly that you're podficcing/translating my work. And please tag me in your fanarts, because I will absolutely flail at them!

In regards to the pirate code/lore, because I've been asked multiple times in comments/on tumblr/on discord:

While I'm super happy that you're enjoying my worldbuilding, please note that the pirate code, its tenets and the oaths and associated traditions, as depicted in my fics, are my original creations and not something I've agreed to let others use in their stories as is, since I'm also using them in original writing projects that I'm working on.

I don't mind if any of you want to use some elements of my works as inspiration for your writing, like the idea of a pirate code or pirate culture and traditions, but please do not use the specifics as described and worded in my fics. Create your own instead, or research historical pirate traditions for more inspiration!

When it comes to the main Watashitachi wa Roger kaizoku desu (we still stand proud) series/verse and cast (AKA anything to do with Shanks and Buggy, or original events or characters mentioned in my fics that aren't in canon) I'm currently not giving anyone permission to write in the verse because I have plans for them, I just haven’t gotten around to writing them/posting them.

Outtakes focusing on other characters reactions to the mess that is Marineford, or "characters reading the fic" fics are more than fine (and I’m super flattered and honored!), again as long as you ask me first, link back to me and let me know where to read it, but expanding on things like Depa or Buggy's capture by Shiki are things i'm planning on doing in the future so please leave those to me

The same goes for my OC's, though I might give permission in specific circumstances, but once again: ask me first.

I know the saying goes 'better to ask for forgiveness than for permission'. Not in this case. Ask the youtuber mentioned earlier how I responded to that.

[xiaomusmash14]

Demon Slayer MLP Poll

Okay, so I wasn’t planning on bringing this up on here, but after seeing what @whily3starly has done with turning the entire Kamaboko Squad into My Little Pony characters, I got a confession to make: I’m thinking about making a new blog dedicated to turning Demon Slayer characters into MLP ones.

It’s probably not much of a secret to y’all that I am a huge MLP fan (if evidenced by the lack of human OCs in my corner), and if I had the capacity to make loads of posts about it, I could go on and on. For almost a score, I grew up being into ponies, practically nonstop. It only grew larger when I discovered My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and it pretty much stuck with me afterwards. Even as I went into various other fandoms, MLP had always been there in some way, shape, or form, so it’s hard to not be attached to. For the longest time, it had been the hyper fixation that stuck with me throughout it all.

Hell, I’ll admit it: Fire Emblem Fates, the game in the series people are familiar with and DON’T seem to like (and with good reason, I won’t deny them that), is ironically one of those things I mixed with MLP and did more characters on than any other piece of fiction. Heck, I turned almost half of the Nohrians into MLP characters and a few Hoshidans as well, all for the sake of doing a paper animatic when I was 14 or 15 (I never finished it, but it had a bunch of papers be used). I cannot just drop it and be like “I can live without it” for more than 5 seconds (and if I do, it’s not fun), so there’s an idea of just how strong that hold is.

Then came Demon Slayer.

I think you guys know where this is going.

Never had anything even remotely come close to holding its grip on me until that came along, which is saying a lot for how much knowledge I have outside of that medium. At the beginning of 2023, I decided to work on turning Demon Slayer characters into My Little Pony ones, which I made into a huge personal project (which is on hiatus for the time being due to *ahem* a bunch of bullshit happening earlier). Long story short, I haven’t shown much of it yet, but I do have a lot of Demon Slayer MLP artwork in my photo gallery that I want to post.

I don’t just wanna post it randomly on here, though. There’s so much of it that I want to share, from the lore to the background, behind the scenes, etc, the works! I’ve sort of slowed down on Demon Slayer MLP after a number of events happening (including someone deciding to make a bad decision to make a terrible joke, and not the kind where it’s just a bad punchline, I mean the offensive kind where it disrespects multiple people), but I have plenty of content to at least make some posts going into the AU.

I’m hoping to kickstart it sometime next year in 2025, but I’m planning a separate blog where it’s solely focused on my Demon Slayer MLP AU. Once I have that figured out, I’ll have it catch up to where I have it currently and go from there. I’ll do a series of polls and allow everyone to vote on who gets to be revealed first, and whoever gets the most votes will move on. As it stands, I have about 40 characters done (and counting), so it should be plenty enough for now to work with.

I’ll shortly post a few polls determining which characters to show first. If anyone wants to vote, it’ll be in my Demon Slayer MLP blog, and it’ll be up for three days; hopefully all of them come through and don’t just abruptly end each other.

The top 3 characters from the polls after the week is done will move on to the second round, where the top 4 will move on to the final round. Whoever wins that final round will be the first character officially announced to start off the series in 2025.

I’ll put the link for all the polls in my next post so everyone can click on it if they wish to join. Alternatively, if you guys directly find the polls themselves, you can just vote from there! Stay tuned, everyone!

[cosmiccannibalcamille]

YOUR Venus in Virgo Love & Money HOROSCOPE

What: Venus in Virgo

When: Aug. 4 - Aug. 28, 2024

Who’s Impacted: Virgo, Pisces, Sagittarius, Gemini, Taurus, Libra—in that order

Takeaway: Precision, pragmatism, and being efficient with your affections, creativity, and money is about to get 10x sexier.  

     A major shift has happened: Venus, the planet of love, money, relationships and creativity, has entered earthy Virgo, doubling down on the need for efficiency and productivity. (Mercury is also in Virgo, and currently retrograde, btw.) Ever the workhorse, Virgo loves to be of use, toiling away at tasks simply for the sake of getting them done. Venus, however, loves to take it easy, preferring relaxation and reveling in the pleasures of good food, beautiful art, and pleasing company over plodding. This, therein, lies the crux of this would-be wonderful transit.

     This week—the week of Aug. 5—brings only two transits, one of which involves Venus and Mercury Retrograde in Virgo on Aug. 7. The other? Sun in Leo sextile Jupiter in Gemini—also on Aug. 7—and it’s a great transit. In fact, both of these transits are great for spreading love, joy, and sweetness. Which we so desperately need right now, given the current sh*t show state of the world. Anyway! Since Venus entered Virgo late on Aug. 4, it is ~technically~ a part of this week’s astrology. (At least, I’m including it in this week’s astrology, given the limited number of transits.)

     Despite what some astrologers might say about it, I consider Venus’ shift into Virgo a good thing. Yes, the planet ~technically~ struggles in the sign, for previously stated reasons, but Venus in Virgo is so, so good for getting practical about your money, creative endeavors, and relationships. It also helps you cope a little better with the first leg of Mercury Retrograde in Virgo. 

     As we bid adieu to the fiery flamboyance of Venus in Leo, we shift gears and welcome the precise and pragmatic vibes of Venus in Virgo. This transit, which lasts from Aug. 4 through Aug. 28, brings an impactful shift to the area of your life ruled by Virgo. While Venus in Leo thrived on dramatic declarations of love and grand romantic gestures, Venus in Virgo is all about the little things that make a relationship work. Think of it as moving from the passionate poetry of Shakespeare to the precision of a well-crafted spreadsheet. Virgo's energy encourages you to take a closer look at your relationships and finances, seeking to refine and improve them through practical means.

     Virgo’s energy encourages you to break down your one-on-one interactions, your spending / earning habits, and your creative projects into manageable, daily acts and seemingly scrupulous to-dos. However, it’s easy for Virgo to fall into the trap of fault-finding, as the sign craves order, tidiness, and functionality. Imagine Venus in Virgo as the ultimate helper, tending to and tidying up the details in your money habits, romantic interactions, and creative ventures that Venus in Leo may have seen you ignoring. How can you show your loved ones you care? How can you bring order to the alleged chaos of your love life or finances? What needs to be tidied up, tended to, or systemized?

     Venus also helps us uncover some of the lesser-known qualities of Virgo. While Venus in Leo saw you boldly boasting about your own power, passion and attractions, Venus in Virgo makes your affections shyer, more diffident and reserved. But that doesn’t mean your love life will be boring! Yes,Virgo is often associated with meticulousness, order and virgin-like qualities, but when transiting this mutable earth sign, Venus coaxes out the sensual, nurturing, and sweetly fussy side of Virgo. 

Get the FULL SCOOP on Venus in Virgo, including KEY dates for love & money, and YOUR Horoscope on The Cosmic Almanac: