#i'll see if i can at the very least make some winter stuff

[ladybugkisses]

happy christmas everyone! ✨🎄🎁 if you don't celebrate it, i hope you have a wonderful wednesday!! ✨

[loverofpiggies]

Oh, you watched Fiona and Cake, great!

I am curious, what were your thoughts about like Winter King or first opening? Or like about overall more mature stuff than in og adventure time

So now that I'm doing a huge rewatch of the OG Adventure Time, I will say I adore both in their own ways.

It was really cool seeing the more mature stuff in Fionna and Cake, sort of like the show 'grew up' with the audience, you know? And do NOT get me started on how much my heart was destroyed by Simons entire plight through.

See I never managed to finish the first show, mostly just got distracted, but on my rewatch I can tell I at least got through six seasons. I like how spaced out the original show is, and it makes the really sad shit with like the Ice King hit like a ton of bricks when it happens. It really feels like you're watching all these wacky people live their lives, and occasionally the horror of the Mushroom War reminds you of its effect, through Marceline, and the Ice King, and every character who was forced to live through it. I don't know, it's really nice!

Okay I'm gonna ramble so I'm putting a read more!

I was wondering if on a rewatch I'd get frustrated the way later seasons of Steven Universe made me get frustrated, but it never felt like that at all. It's just been... fun. It's just Finn and Jake on adventures, occasionally having to set down their fun and recognize the horror of things around them, and it's just. DAMN it's just done so well.

I just got to the episode where Finn meets Prismo and makes the wish, and accidentally ends up wielding the power of the crown, and all it did was break my heart. Like I was sitting there, and for a split second I was like 'wow that crown corrupted him really fast!' and then I remembered.... he was like 13 when he got the crown. He was still a child, and when Simon got the crown, he was what, in his 40s? He was just a kid, and couldn't possibly be able to handle or combat the crowns power. It just punched me in the gut.

So I very much enjoy how spaced out and silly the original Adventure Time is, because its such a unique world I love seeing more of it, and I feel like it makes the heavy scenes hit so much harder. With Fionna and Cake, I love how tight the story is and how structured things are. They're both SUCH good shows, with different ways of writing and different vibes and I adore them equally at this point.

ALSO THE WINTER KING, holy shit don't get me started, but I will rant about this mofo

(These are keychain designs but I decided to put them together on a little canvas)

Firstly, I fucking LOVE the Winter King, and I'm really sad we didn't get more of him. I do wonder if the fact that Fionna's universe wasn't 'canon' during all the universe hopping, that if somehow the multiverse will reverse some things and 'repair' the damage. I'm not even saying that because I want to see the Winter King again, it just absolutely sounds like something that could happen in Adventure Time. Hell, look how they made Fionna and Cake just-- real! Thanks Prismo you're a cool guy.

But in terms of the Winter King as a character, and in terms of his universe? I want SO much more detail. Where is Finn, where is Jake? Marceline either left the Winter King or got killed, so I'm curious there too. The juxtaposition of genuine confidence and whimsy, and the mans incapacity to feel remorse or even real deep sadness (him saying 'Oh! The dead one?' when Simon asked about Betty was... holy shit) he was just an EXTREMELY interesting character, and I so badly want to see more of him.

Also dude was just funny. The fact he straight up admitted he thought about kissing his alternative universe self was so fucking funny, and plays heavily into his narcissistic behavior and tendencies.

On TOP of that, the idea of how he ended up cursing Bubblegum specifically would be so interesting. I read online people assuming when the Ice King did his spell, it was more like "I want Princess Bubblegum to love me, so I'll do a spell so she can understand what I'm feeling and then she'll marry me!" but then the 'understand what I'm feeling' is actually just... "Hey, I feel absolute madness, here, take it off my hands!' and might have just been a huge accident. We certainly can't trust Winter King's words about it.

I don't know. He was so fascinating, and the way he put feelers out to see if Simon would feel the way he does (Specifically talking about making an Ice Betty, then realizing Simon was disturbed so he shrugged it off with a laugh, being like 'no thats immoral obviously haha') and the fact that he was so cautious and smart about avoiding telling Simon how he conquered the crown? Like he would be glad to help and teach Simon how to keep his sanity AND his power... but obviously would have never spoken his secret the more he realized Simon would morally object to it.

I dunno. This character was in the show for 20 minutes and he was so fucking interesting I almost feel robbed. I hope maybe we can get some Adventure Time comics about the guy at the VERY least!

[feral-lore-creature]

💙 Prometheus Fics I Adore 💙

Just here to share some Prometheus (Alien) fics I love to re-read. 😌

Forbidden Gifts by Ardath_Rekha On Ao3 (Has not been finished) - This fic actually has the Last Engineer x Elizabeth Shaw ship! It's such an extreme rare-pair, and it's very well done! I love this ship with my whole heart, istg. - The bridging done between the prequels & the main film is interesting, and the whole story takes you on such a journey. The only thing I remember of reading this the first time was that it was a perfect vibe for mid-winter. - I won't spoil anything, but it does something really interesting with David's character, so for any David sympathizers (*cough cough* @elecctromechanika ) this one's pretty fun! - Is super internal-dialogue centered, and I love it for that! - Just as a note: there is a sex scene in here, but the author warns you thoroughly, and you can skip it if you please.

Those Whom Fortune Favors + Intrepid by JShale on Ao3 (Intrepid isn't finished, but the first one is!) - Those Whom Fortune Favors doesn't need much artistic liberty when going in, as it keeps the same isolated feeling & story as the movie. - Elizabeth's characterization is so fucking on-point. It's always the little things that make each character so distinct from one another, and makes them layered. - Intrepid is basically TWFF, but from the Last Engineer's P.O.V. & adds really interesting perspective I think I needed to recognize how severely a language barrier can warp your perception of a character.

Alone by @wingedmidnight on Ao3 (My apologies if you don't want to be tagged! I'll get rid of whatever upon request. :3) - This fic is OC & David centered, but I love it a lot because of that. It's a very interesting take, seeing the world through a different human's eyes while exploring the weird world of Alien. - David also doesn't turn out to be a creepy little murder machine! No war crimes here. Love that for him. - If you don't like shipping, romance, or sexual tension (the latter of which happens in the both of the above listed, seemingly only on Shaw's side in TWFF-) this one's better suited! - The world building is so creative! Not just in environment, but in the personalities and culture of the Engineers. - Not finished, but I don't mind. I love re-reading it either way.

Curiosity is a Virtue by MewMidnight fanfiction.net (Is also not finished) - There's definitely Elizabeth x Engineer stuff in here, but I'm a little less focused on that. There's also like... one chapter of smut, but it can be easily avoided, if that's not to your taste. - Shaw is as curious as she always is here, constantly seeking answers. - I enjoy the little chunks of world-building in here, but it's mostly funny to watch the other Engineers gawk over Shaw and David the whole time. - CiaV is a far lighter read by comparison, for multiple reasons. It's just such a nice ride.

Figured I'd make this list to give a bit of love (and life) back into this niche corner of the Alien fandom! I hope you give at least one of these a try, and happy reading! 💙

[blueishspace]

Looped Sun 2

Loop #16

They didn't stop looping in time, but at least they had eachother. Grian had to admit that it was almost fun with Scar around, definitely felt less lonely with someone else to talk to.

Loop #19

It took 3 loops for Scar to suggest having some fun with this, spice it up. Grian hadn't expected stealing Martyns and Ren bit would be their objective this time but he didn't mind. Getting to be king and screaming "red winter is coming" was actually quite funny and being all shady in Last Life was nice too. As Secret Life comes to an end Scar whispers.

Scar: Alright alright, let me be king next time ok?

Grian laughs at the suggestion just in time for-

Loop #21

Grian had noticed soon that not every loop started the same exact day a while ago but he never expected to wake up already during Limited Life.

Surely things couldn't get weirder then that.

Loop #26

He spoke too soon. This time around he woke up as he was singing a piece of paper, a declaration of indipendence, while wearing a very weird blue american indipendence outfit together wih people he had never met before.

He just went along with it of course and fighting against a weird masked guy for indipendence had been a breath of fresh air but Scar was still missing and Grian was very confused the whole time.

Well until ...

Scar: Thank you Soot, however I think that I could run this country far better!

Grian: Scar? Where were you!? ... What are you doing!?

Scar: That's why I'm going to run myself! Vote for Scar 2020!

To be fair it took some times for things to go badly.

Grian: This is your fault you know that right?

Scar: Hey! Look! At least the country didn't explode or something-

*Boom*

Grian: ...

Scar: ...that wasn't me.

Loop #31

Grian: Damn I didn't bring enough tnt to rig the enchanter. How did I forget??

Scar: Don't worry! I got some!

Grian: Oh thank... where did you get it?

Scar: I kept it in my second inventory from last loop.

Grian: Your what?

Scar: We have a second inventory now! Didn't you notice!

Grian: I see it now ...how?

Scar: It keeps stuff safe from one loop to the other! Cool right!?

Grian: ... Like an enchanting table? But for loops?

Scar: I guess?

Grian: How are you not freaking out about this!?!

Loop #33

This time they woke up early, back in season 6! Grian doesn't understand why Scar doesn't care because he does! Why can't someone explain it to him for ender sake.

Loop #36

Someone explained it. He and Scar woke up somewhere completely different and it was confusing and scary but they finally got answers.

Grian: So our universe is part of a big big big tree?

Anakin: Yes, like every other.

Grian: And the tree is what, under maintenance?

Anakin: Basically.

Grian: And so we are stuck looping?

Anakin: You don't need to pretend to be calm, I can feel your emotions in the force.

Grian: So... we are stuck? Forever?!?

Anakin: Not forever forever, until the tree is fixed-

Grian: So possibly for billions of years!?!

Anakin: Some of the older loops have been going for trillions even.

Grian: ... I'll... I...need to think.

Anakin: I'll write some useful terms down so you can read them once you aren't... You know.

Grian: Guess I have all the time in the world to come to terms with it... Scar is going to hate that he didn't get to meet you.

Loop #37

Scar: ....soooo what you up to?

Grian: Memorising these terms Anakin gave us.

Scar: Ooh sounds...fun!

Grian: Every loop has an anchor, without it the loop can't exist. I tought I was the anchor but it's not possible because I was sent to a different loop last tims.

Scar: So am I the anchor?

Grian: You were missing for the first loops Scar... the only option that makes sense is that both of us are anchors. But even then...

Grian underlines the term "co-anchors" a bunch of times.

Scar: Does that mean I'll get to meet Anakin Skywalker?

Grian: Probably? One day?

Scar: Wooooho!

Loop #38

They were waiting for the moon to crash when Scar posed the question.

Scar: Do you think we can just... stop the moon?

Grian: Hmmm... I guess I never tought about it, why?

Scar: I don't know, just thinking.

Grian: I have an idea...

Loop #43

Scar: Grian what are you doing?

Grian: You remember how last loop started in s7?

Scar: ... Yeah?

Grian: I decided to keep something in my pocket this time around.

Grian took out a golden gauntlet with 6 colored glowing stones.

Scar: ... The button?

Grian: The button.

Grian snapped and the moon disappeared.. He then carefully removed and pocketed it again.

Grian: Well, I'm surprised it actually...worked...

Scar: But what happened to it?

Grian: I just made it really really small.

Loop #51

This was unbearable, Grian tought it was weird when this loops Timmy was acting like an incapable child, then he became worried when he saw that Scott was a pacifist who wouldn't hurt a fly, and then Cleo started burning down literally everything and he started to question his life choices. Everyone was barely themselves, it was like they had been replaced by very cheap imitations.

(Poor Grian had to walk into fanonland)

Loop #67

Scott Smajor liked to think he was often in control of the situation. Not many people liked that about him but if he died it was by his decision.

He didn't feel very in control at the moment, back in the Last Life with Grian and Scar being completely different from what he remembered them being... And he didn't like it one bit.

Scott: Ok ok, stop it!

Grian: What do you mean? We aren't doing anything wrong!

Scott: It isn't right! You are supposed to be in a team with Jimmy and Martyn and you Scar should be alone on a mountain!

Scar: ...

Grian: ...

Scott: ... Sorry that was-

Grian: You remember too?

Scar: New looper! New looper!

Scott: ...uh?

Prev Next

[ficoandleo]

For both: What do you like to do for the holidays?

"Which holidays? Like, all of them?"

"They mean Christmas and New Years."

". . .Oooh, you're some kind of. Westerner or whatever where you still think everyone in the world celebrates Christmas because you do. Wow. Okay, brace yourself, may wanna sit down for this one?" Leo pauses a bit for dramatic effect. "This is Japan. We're not a Christiancountry. We don't really celebrate Christmas here."

"He's right. It's not even a public holiday here. Nobody gets the day off unless you need it for religious reasons and winter break usually starts the day after for students. Most Japanese people don't celebrate Christmas in a major way unless they're some kind of Christian or they've got foreign family."

"Well Christmas is like a 'hang out with your friends or your lover "holiday"' so I always spend it with Sho-chan?" Of course, Leo spent most days with Sho before coming to Darkwick. Even after coming, they spend a lot of time together. "And I like doing streams for it--I've done a gift opening stream, I've made videos showing off and rating what's in the year's KFC Christmas menu with Sho-chan and our friends, I've done little walks around Christmas markets and showing off lights and displays, I'll show off whatever Christmassy food Sho-chan made if it looks like it'll trend. . . . I mostly just use it as a vaguely 'special stream' day. If people don't have friends to spend the day with, they can hang out with me and Sho--before we spend time with our friends, obviously♥

"Christmas Eve though is like a romantic day because. . .capitalism and the economy or something. It's actually cooled down in recent years but there's always stuff going on then to capitalize on couples, like really nice light displays and promotions in stores and restaurants. It's kind of like Valentine's Day for Japan. So I like to stream then too--for the singles. It's like going on a little 'date' with me. . .♥ I let the audience decide what we should check out for a while at a market or what light displays we should go see. But I've hung out with Sho-chan on Christmas Eve streams too--adds a little fuel to the 'oh my god they must be dating!!' fire and gets some buzz and rumors going~ Once the stream's done I'll do something with Sho if he wants--like we'll take advantage of couples gifts and promotions and stuff in shops or walk around and see if there're any cool decorations and displays to look at and take pics or whatever. We don't do a ton because restaurants are usually booked or super busy and Sho wants to cook for the impending Christmas party with our friends anyways, and he makes a ton of food so he gets started the day before when he can.

"After that I basically don't eat until like New Years because I had way too much food even when I'm not eating that much of it and I have to make up for it. But then it's New Years and I go see my parents--or, they came over last year--and we spend time together doing whatever they want. They still like to give me otoshidama even though I'm a grown man, but some of my fans do it too, digitally, so whatever. Aside from that we watch the first sunset and we do a shrine visit to get our fortunes and make wishes--trad stuff. But sometimes they wanna do stuff we didn't really get to do when I was young--so we'll fly kites or play games or just whatever they're in the mood for during the four day new years period.

"I don't normally stream at all with them, but they said they'd like to be on stream with me at least once so. . .maybe if I can't do anything cool for Christmas this year since Darkwick's shaping out to not have much to see, I can get a permit and do a New Years stream with them. It won't get many views but people might go for it since I don't really talk a ton about my family on stream? I might save it for after graduation."

". . .since coming to Japan the traditions are very different. Like Kurossa said, Christmas Eve is a sort of romance-focused day, so. . .ugh." Romeo scowls, glaring off to the side for a moment. Finally, he decided to open up, closing his eyes, pale cheeks dusting with pink. "The Boss doesn't really go for things like that. Highly romantic displays. But he would do things for me anyway, even after we got to Darkwick. We would go out, or he would give me gifts with more. Amorous intentions. And I enjoyed that, even if it wasn't traditional for me. . .I'm not expecting anything to happen this year, though. Christmas was more lowkey but he still let me enjoy Japanese Christmas traditions despite not being very interested in anything but food and presents anyway.

"Back home in Italy we had an elaborate nativity scene we would put together on the 8th--probably my favorite part of the Christmas season aside from gifts. It had moving mechanisms, even pumps for water for a moving river, and it wasn't just the manger in the barn, but essentially a whole town surrounding! We put up a tree too, of course, but that was far less interesting!! We would visit Christmas markets and so on too, and on Christmas Eve we would have fish for dinner--an old Catholic tradition where you abstain from meat for that day--and gifts were exchanged, and then we'd go to midnight Mass, of course. On Christmas we ate meat. They always made sure I ate far more than I ever wanted to. . . . The entire atmosphere is very different from Japan's, aside from the abundant decorations and lights. . . .

"New Years is even more different. Still he indulged me with things like shrine visits and fortunes, despite being able to guess what my fortune would say. Let me experience Japan's most important holiday. We even bought kimono for it. It's quite a bit. . .fancier, or maybe more solemn than Italian celebrations of the new year, where we have fireworks and parties in the streets. Ah, I still wear red underwear though."

"Yeah? Does your fancy, special new years underwear stay on your ass by the time the new year rolls around?"

". . .he keeps it on as long as he can bear it, and we've always made it to midnight before they end up somewhere else or ripped apart."

"Wow, proud of him!"

"Of course, since coming to Darkwick things are a little different. If we're still in probation I'm sure they'll have some sort of fortune slip giving and shrine set up in Hotarubi like they did last year, and I'll still go for my New Years Wish. I suppose watching the first sunrise from the deck of the ship will be nice too. We'd have a Christmas party with the rest of Sinostra, or drop by other Houses to see our friends. We'll exchange gifts. . .but the way I've been spending Christmas since I got here was trying to catch that fucking Reindeer. . . ."

"Oh yeah, you did mention there's some kind of rein--"

"The present-giving Reindeer! I'm going to catch it this year!! This will probably be my last chance, so it has to be this year!! Of course it manipulates time, so I always still have time for the party itself even after failing to catch it the previous years. . .but this year, I have to catch it. . . ."

"You're so fucking loud sometimes, I swear. . . . Anyways I think that covers everything? TL;DR: I stream and hang out with my friends on Christmas and spend time with my fam on New Years, and Romi-sama has a party and tries to catch some Christmas anomaly on Christmas, and then just does Japanese traditional stuff on New Years with Tai since he's here."

[shroomishthecuck]

Devlog #1

Rough Beginnings

Hey. Welcome to my first devlog. Stuff's been pretty slow, and unfortunately it'll only get slower because school :/. Thankfully, winter break is coming up so I'll hopefully get some more time to work on the game then.

Anyway, here's some gameplay footage. It's not much but it's something at least.

(the beginning is really laggy for some reason that's just the video tho the game runs fine)

Here's some screenshots of random stuff so anyone who's better at programming than me can tell me everything that's wrong with my code

Lastly, here's some unfinished spritesheets I have

Problems that I don't know how to fix

Whenever I change scenes in the editor or try to load the game an error pops up that says the name Animation_Component conflicts with something else. It's not a big deal and doesn't effect gameplay but it's really annoying.

Whenever you go from moving horizontally to moving diagonally Elliot twitches a little. It's weird lmao.

Any guidance on how to fix these (and how to make my code not suck ass) is appreciated :)

I guess I'll talk about the game's backstory now

It all started with a game jam. I'm pretty sure it was hosted by Firith Studios. It was an autumn themed one with a limited color pallet, and I thought of the idea of a Wario Land 3 esque platformer staring an elf trying to find the presents stolen by the evil king of Halloween. Each level would've had three hidden presents that would serve the exact same purpose as the treasures in Wario Land 3. Unfortunately, I don't have any of the project files for that old game anymore so I think it's lost media.

Anyway, I eventually picked up the concept again and decided it'd be better as an rpg. Thus began the age of me and my friend making random doodles and coming up with new characters in health class. This was basically the Renaissance.

And now, here I am, making this stupid ass game about a stupid ass elf for real. Crazy.

Other progress

I've also been working a lot on the game's soundtrack, and have been constantly thinking about the plot. Other than that, though, not much has really been done for this. Unfortunately, I'm very busy and also lazy :(

It'll get done eventually tho. I am NOT giving up on this shit

Plans for the future

I'm definitely gonna want to go through the Godot Docs more. I barely know anything about the engine and my code is probably horrible. I definitely want to start working on the battle system by the next devlog, and maybe even finish it. That'd be pretty cool. Other than that, a lot is still pretty uncertain. This is my first game and I'm kinda just winging it. Planning isn't my strong suit :/

See you next week :)

[gauloiseblue]

Ok so, you don't have to do this if you're not accepting requests. But I am way too insane about IOFAB and idk why. It has been in my head since the beginning of May. I couldn't focus for weeks, that's how good it is (it didn't really help that the Kendrick v Drizzy beatdown happened).

Can we have more stuff in the IOFAB verse? Maybe something from König's POV (this guy has to be aware that he's just making her hate him even more)? Maybe life after the last escape/shooting incident can't believe the guy actually did multiple rounds with a bullet in his shoulder that's gotta hurt, pregnancy, or kids? Or maybe domestic horror fluff (if that's actually a thing)? Or something about how he managed to keep reader as his lawfully kidnapped wife (this guy definitely put trackers in her ring)? I just realized that I keep referring to reader/darling as his wife even though they ain't married yet Or maybe even an alternate timeline in which deals with what would happen if they did meet but those guys had to actually disclose that they found those survivors which would mean König would not be able to have her?

IOFAB König is so different from the other yandere Königs because he actually shows his hand right in the beginning. Like he's not just some oWo shy guy that is a yandere that goes “maybe I should keep you here with me so that you wouldn't leave me, schatz haha jk... unless 🙂”. He just straight up “You're with me now. Sooner you accept it, the better it will be for you”. He wouldn't hurt reader but he definitely wouldn't hesitate to drop kick a kitten or even his children if they would somehow aid her in her escape.

Something something he would put the world at her feet but wouldn't ever let her see her family ever again. Something something you could put the world through eternal winter and starvation but he won't ever let his goddess go, not even for 6 months. Something something he would hunt her down in their next life. Something something God never blessed him so he's taking one of His blessed angels for himself. Something something he's worshipping the ground her chained feet walk on. Ok now this is getting too long. In short, this guy warrants the “Why are you like this” microscope and “You're not a human nor a dog but a secret third thing” and you don't have to but if you want to, please please please please please can we have more IOFAB?

Zero, you're now officially the number one fans of IOFAB XD idk if I should be glad or concerned about it.

I mean, if you wanna theorize about their future and stuff, I'll gladly answer it. But for me, the story already ended here. I don't really plan to write a continuation of it. Maybe I'll write a lil bit of it in other people's POVs but that's it.

As for König's POV, I think we've covered a lot about his psychology. Like, of course he knew she hated him, but it wouldn't last. If he keeps on giving her what she needs (tolerance, space, care, etc), she'll eventually come to love him, or at least tolerate his presence. It's like a 'trust the process' situation.

I won't really write about pregnancy and kids, because it's more fun when I let the reader decide what's best for her. My actual HC is she'll only have 1 kid, and it's a boy. That's it.

There are 3 endings that I've thought about, it's either; (1) she manages to escape with the help of the maid (The Handmaiden storyline, wlw), (2) she's staying with him until the end (Göth's dream), (3) she's rescued by the third party, there's a possibility that he or the reader dies in this scenario (the realistic ending). But I won't make either of them canon, bc where's the fun in that?

As for the AUs, I haven't got the right idea for it. I think yours is good, but I honestly don't know where to start 😅

Personally, in my humblest opinion, I think shy yandere shouldn't exist in fiction. I fucking hate it, because it's very manipulative in the cheapest way. Like, they'd appear "harmless" like a weirdo, but would go 180° at any given chance. And what makes me hate them the most is that they'd go back to their shy shell when they're being cornered. They can't and won't take any responsibility for their actions. Oh, he kissed you without your consent? Well, that's your fault bc you seduced him (even if you didn't). Every time I read about a shy yandere man, I just wanna bash his head with a bat. Like, you're not fooling anyone with that attitude. Just take what you want and admit it, even if it means you have to be ruthless.

I must admit, IOFAB König does hold a "secret third thing" vibe, because I don't think he exists irl in terms of personality. He's like, if patience is taken too far, and if patience is the source of horror. He doesn't really worship her, but he views her as the rarest and the most exotic thing. If you ever read about the exotic animal keeper, or the curator of the rarest arts, then you'll understand why he behaves that way. They're very patient, and they're very possessive of their treasure. If the tiger that they keep bites their arm, they won't put it down. They'll find a way to tame it—they'll try to win its affection instead. If one particular art requires so much maintenance, and so much cost to keep it in good condition, the curator would pay for it. They won't abandon the art piece, because they know how much it's worth. That's how König views his wife.

I know it sounds like he's objectifying his wife, but sometimes humans love their things more than other humans. I'm just using that feeling as the base for IOFAB König.

Maybe I'll write about the domestic horror stuff, but I still don't know how, so no promise 🤔

[bucky-h0e]

A/n: Bucky's celebratory day! This is a long-term fic, so make sure to check out the Serendipity Masterlist for more Alpine and Bucky! I am open to requests and love hearing feedback - don't be shy!

So we get to see a little bit more of Alpine's character, other than the absolute chaotic mess that she was introduced as. This ended up being a lot more angsty than I wanted it, but I like how it went, Alpine's character needed a bit more development.

warnings: some absolute pure unfiltered fluff and angst (mainly angst), Alpine being a little sweetheart, Bucky nearly cries (for good reasons), mentions of both Bucky's and Alpine's trauma, an extremely angsty father's day (i am so sorry it just sort of happened)

Alpine's First Father's Day Celebration

Now, mother's day was a success. Much to Bucky's disappointment, Alpine and Sam had gone out for dinner that night, wanting some 'mother-daughter' bonding

Sam outright refused to acknowledge it as such

but seeing these two bond and grow closer over this celebration, Bucky was nervous about father's day

would he say he thought of Alpine as a daughter?

yes

does he think he deserves the absolute pleasure to be considered her father?

no

he did a lot of bad things in his past life and a part of him

a very small but frustrating part of him

would do it all again if it meant that Alpine would be in his life

it scared him and he hated that part of him

the part that was okay hurting people as long as Alpine was in his life one way or another

it was this type of thought that would cause Bucky to fear that the Winter Soldier still remained within him

despite everything he had done and all the help he had received, no matter how many therapy sessions he went to or how many people he apologised to

he still thought of himself as a monster

and he wasn't sure he'd think of himself any other way

which is why, on the days leading up to the first father's day they would celebrate together

Bucky avoided Alpine

she was livid

normally, she could just walk into his apartment

unafraid of him kicking her out, or of him attacking her out of pure instinct

she knew he wouldn't hurt her on purpose

or at least, she thought he wouldn't

so when she skipped across the hall, put her hand on the handle to twist and push it open, only the faceplant into the locked door

she was fuming

"JAMES BUCHANAN BARNES"

was her nose bleeding?

oh most definitely

after going back into her own apartment to stuff her nose full of tissues, she steps back out into the hall, knocking on the door

once

twice

thrice

"Bucky? You in there old man?"

silence

honestly, this man

she checks her phone in case he had gone on a mission late last night but normally he'd wake her

he knows she worries about him

when three more knocks went unanswered, she called Sam

he hadn't heard from him either

but he had heard that Bucky asked for an emergency therapy session

which surprised her because Bucky HATED going to those

"Sam, I'm real worried. His door is locked, LOCKED! I'm just looking for the spare key now then i can-"

"Hey, you still haven't gotten him a father's day present, why don't you run into the city today and see what you can get? I'll meet you later on, I just need to do something first."

she wasn't stupid

she knew what Sam was doing

she knew what he was thinking

Bucky had relapsed

impossible

Bucky would not have relapsed, not after everything that had happened with Zemo and the flag-smashers

after all the stress he had been through in those first few months of them meeting, everything that happened with Yori...

no

Bucky Barnes had not relapsed

he just needed some time to himself

to be reminded of who he was

and who he wasn't

what he wasn't

"Alpine? Al, you there kid?"

"Yeah! Sorry! I just panicked for a minute because I totally forgot i hadn't got him a present, thanks for the reminder. You'll check in on him right? Before you come and meet me?"

she could feel Sam's tension be released when she responded

"Yeah, yeah. You know, he's probably just being a little princess, jealous of all the time we're spending together. You know how much of a drama queen he can be."

Alpine can't smile at the joke

not when she knows it's only there to try and trick her into a false sense of relief

no, she wasn't stupid.

but she'd play the part anyway.

"Tell me about it, never thought I'd see a 106 year old super soldier be jealous of little ol' me, guess I'm just that amazing"

they say goodbye and Alpine takes one last glance at Bucky's door

worth a try

"Buck... I don't know if you can hear me, you might be in your room. If you are then you know, fuck you for making me talk to myself."

on the other side of the door, Bucky smiles

"I just... I want you to know that you're okay... and it's okay to not be okay... but you are. I know you are. Whatever this is, it'll pass and you'll work through it because you're James fucking Barnes and..." She pauses for a second because jesus christ

she is deadass about to tell Bucky she loves him

that he is her family

that he is her hero

that she would do anything for him

but she can't

because she would actually die of embarrassment

Alpine is not good at emotions

"a-and so, get your shit together, because i'm not giving up until you remember that James Barnes ain't no ones bitch!"

with that she very quickly leaves because ew, emotions

Bucky can't help but smile at her words of encouragement as he listens to the sounds of her footsteps getting further away, the elevator dinging as it opens for her, the almost silent, barely there sob that leaves her mouth as those same doors close

it's an hour later that he breaks out of the shock he was in when Sam knocks on the door, frantically calling for Bucky to open the goddamn door

he does and can't even register that Sam is furious with him for going no contact with both him and Alpine for two days

and Bucky stands there and takes the verbal abuse

because he made her cry

and he deserves Sam's angry shouts

and he needs him to knock some sense into him

because if Bucky knew one thing after hours of torturing himself with hateful thoughts

it was that he never wanted to be the reason for Alpine's tears

ever again

Now, Alpine hadn't meant to cry

in fact she was pretty sure that the last time she cried at something not induced by stress or laughing to hard

she was a child

back at home with... them

and she will be damned if she ever cried about anything not stress induced ever again

so in the short elevator ride to the lobby of their building, she had straightened herself out, wiped her tears and faced the city with a determined attitude

she would find Bucky a present that reminded him of who he was

she had introduced him to a lot of things in the 21st century

but nothing seemed to connect

that was until they watched The Hobbit, of course Alpine ended up falling asleep and Bucky stayed up like an actual maniac to watch all the movies in a span of 9+ hours (with bathroom breaks, he was sure he could have binged it but he also wanted to put Alpine to bed, so ended up having to pause it just to tuck her into his bed before returning to finish the movies)

She had heard Sam say that Bucky had claimed to have read the book when it first came out

when she heard that, she'd been looking at trying to get a first edition book for her dear friend and father figure

keeping tabs and making friends with local antique bookshop owners just to be able to get a chance.

what harm would it do to do the rounds whilst she brain stormed some other ideas for him

on her trip, she'd managed to get a few books she thought he'd might like

the harry potter series, eragon, the lion, the witch and the wardrobe

she would spoil him with love and affection (a very different route to Sam who was cursing Bucky out at this point)

the first few shops had unfortunately been duds in her search for the first edition Hobbit book, and she had started debating on just getting him a newer version of the series until the last shop she walked in

"Ah! I was just about to call you missy! I have that booked you've been looking for!"

She could have screamed

she did scream

so loud the other patrons thought she was actually getting stabbed

"NO YOU DON'T!"

she couldn't believe her luck! on the day she truly really needed it, she had found a first edition book, one exactly like the one Bucky would have owned

the yellowing pages, hardback cover, faded title

used, loved, a timeless piece of history

sure the pages were slightly ripped, it had very obviously been well loved but still preserved

as she looked through the pages, she smiles at the pencil marks - whoever had this book must have loved it

the only issue was the price

"$200?! I can't persuade you to lower that?"

"It's a rare collectable my dear, if you don't get it now, someone else will."

Alpine had the money

she had savings for rainy days and emergency funds just in case the worst happened

again, she wasn't stupid

but $200 on a book?

she sighed once again, flicking through the pages

could she really justify spend-

hold on a hot damn second

was that

she frowns, looking at the faded hand written ink

"Sorry, can I borrow your glasses?"

the old bookstore owner nods, allowing the girl to use the glasses to look at the name handwritten on the cover page

'PROPERTY OF James Buchanan Barnes'

Alpine had never handed money over so fast

out of all the first edition books to get, she had managed to somehow find Bucky's copy

it belonged to him and she would have sold her entire soul to the devil just to be able to get that man his own property back

she had to get back to him

father's day was in a couple of days but this discovery could not wait and if Bucky Barnes had his door locked still then Alpine was grabbing the emergency axe in the hall way to smash that mans door down

she never ran faster in her life

that was a lie (but a story for another time)

by this point, it had been a fair few hours.

Sam had been and gone, having knocked some sense into Bucky before leaving to report that he had in fact NOT relapsed into the Winter Soldier

Now, the grumpy old man waited outside his apartment for Alpine to get back, sighing and huffing with every minute that passed, pacing back and forth, watching the elevator move between floors

he had heard the door to the stairs slam open, the panting and gasping before the rapid footsteps and a frantic

"BUCKY!"

He turned, running down the hallway and crashing into the young girl, grabbing her and stabling them as he hugged her

"Al, I'm so sorry kid. I can't explain what happened, but I promise I will never-"

"Bucky shut up and listen to me."

fucking

rude

he frowns at her, like the fucking audacity

"I'm trying to apologise for being a jackass here."

"Oh, well in that case- carry on mr i'm going to ignore my best friend in the entire world."

"I heard you crying-"

"Oh fucking ew never mind."

he sighs, grabbing her face gently in his hands as she tries to full away because ew fucking emotions

he smiles at her, watching as she relaxes, confusion on her face before her breathe hitches when he places a gentle and very hesitant kiss on her head

"Al, I can't promise that something like that will never happen again, because my brain is messed up, I'm messed up" He shushes her when she tries to interrupt him, smiling at her

"But, I can promise, that as soon as I come out of that.. place.. I will make it up to you in every way possible. You, my annoying little neighbour, are one of the best things that's ever happened to me and I'll be damned if i ever make you cry again. If I do, you can beat me to a pulp."

they both laugh because Alpine can't fight for shit

she wouldn't even know where to start

"Can I make you watch Real Housewives instead?"

"Anything you want."

They definitely spend about ten minutes just hugging each other

they spent two whole days apart, these touch starved babies are desperate just to know that they still have each other

Eventually, they move to Bucky's apartment, deciding that they deserved a good movie night and they still had to watch the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World franchise (they'd been putting it off for a few weeks because Bucky wasn't convinced that a movie on dinosaurs would be something he was interested in - but Alpine seemed to enjoy it_

Alpine had managed to get distracted by the dinos, laughing and letting Bucky know of the inaccuracies of the franchise

Bucky had managed to calm down, keeping an arm around Alpine, not wanting to let her go just yet, still feeling awful about having made her cry

it wasn't until Bucky mentioned that he did enjoy the fantasy side of the franchise that Alpine gasped and sat up straight from leaning on Bucky

he frowns and watched her as she runs to her bag dumped by the door

he was going to her a coat rack just so she'd stop dumping her coat and bags on the floor as soon as she got in

"Were you in here, when I spoke to you through the door?"

Bucky glances at her

"Depends, do you want me to have been here?"

Alpine thinks back and then nods, "For the last part"

Bucky grins, "Bucky Barnes ain't no ones bitch?"

Alpine grins back, "Bucky Barnes is his own bitch, with his own bitchin' thoughts and his own personality and likes and dislikes'" she nods firmly grabbing the book from her bag

"And, Bucky Barnes, has his own goddamn property back."

she holds it out to him and he pauses, eyebrows furrowed before he takes the book

"Al, you didn't have to-"

"Shut up, and open it. Cover page."

he does and he freezes

this was the book he had shipped over from Britain when it first came out

this was the book that he read at night

this was the book he reread for months

this was the book he left behind when he was sent over to Britain for active duty

this was HIS book

his past

his memories

his handwriting

it had survived all these years

it had survived and somehow so had he

and as he looks at Alpine, who was nervously ranting about how she just saw it and knew he had to have it back, how it was a father's day present albeit early

he knew he was going to be okay, just as she had said

If a piece of his past had managed to survive this long without being put on display in a glass case in a museum, without being caged or made to do something other than it's purpose

then he can continue to heal outside of influence of third parties

she's still ranting as he stands, making his way over to her and wrapping her in his arms, holding her tightly, his flesh hand delicately running through her hair as his tears build

he forces them back, not wanting to panic his neighbour turned daughter

he feels her arms hesitantly wrap around his waist, though she's still tense

one day he'll find out why, he'll find out her real name and he'll help her heal like she had him (more than she would ever truly know)

but for now, he'll cherish the relationship he shares with Alpine, and he'll celebrate every father's day with her, with no worries on whether or not he deserves to have this

because one thing is for sure

Alpine does not care whether or not Bucky Barnes deserves her affection, she want's to give it and that's what she will do. Whether he likes it or not (spoiler alert - he loves it and he loves her)

"So if we could spend next years father's day not in a maybe kind of argument that would be great, because this was a really emotionally exhausting day and I don't think we need to do this type of thing for a hot while."

"Of course. If Sam asks, Father's day was better than mother's day."

"Sure, sure, so long as you say I found that book in a dump because i spent maybe $30 on Sam and $200 is a lot more."

Bucky laughs and nods before processing her words

"$200?!"

and as Bucky tightened their hug and Alpine started nervously laughing and trying to get away from him to avoid this punishment (is it really though?)

neither one of them would rather be anywhere else

[gothic-thoughts]

Oddly Intriguing

Bucky Barnes x Black Gender Neutral Reader Fluff

MeetUgly, Drabble

CW: rude Bucky (plz he'd never🥰❤)

A peaceful walk down the street was interrupted by a tall man bumping into me so hard that I turn, box braids swinging over my shoulder. He huffs,

"Watch it."

“You watch it.”

My words make him turn to me with raised eyebrows while I stare back at him waiting for an apology or some half-assed one at least but upon further inspection of his face and body, my eyes widen slightly realizing that he was the fucking Winter Soldier, the scary muscular and attractive he was. Ugh, you're so lucky you're literally.... I quickly shake away my thoughts and continue down the street. I still feel his eyes on me, an intense stare into the back of my head as I made my way into the corner store.

I quickly find the breakfast aisle and saw the cereal that I ran out of this morning sitting on the top shelf, of course between two boxes to make it hard to grab as if height wasn't a problem already. just out of reach of my fingertips. As I lift myself onto my tiptoes and consider asking a worker for help, a strong forearm arm reached up from behind me and effortlessly grabs the box as I planted myself back onto my feet. I turn around to see the metal-armed man looking down at me with a neutral expression as he handed me the box.

"Here."

I take it, “You again?”

"You're welcome."

"Did you...follow me?"

"I didn't have to help you with the box."

"It's just that you crashed into me on the street a minute ago.”

"You didn't die, did you?"

So he's got jokes? I turn on my heel and walk away without another word. After a moment of silence from behind me I hear his boots stepping heavily from behind me as he caught up before he was in my peripheral, essentially walking with me.

"Sorry." I mock, grabbing a case of Oreos as I walk past, "I didn't like your apology; and you're a, overall, shit person.”

He sighs, “I'm not, okay?"

"Tell that to the girl you almost killed with your brute strength, Winter Soldier."

"Alright, I'm sorry."

I walk away again, stepping onto the line for the register with his footsteps following close behind as if he was getting something. I roll my eyes. God, he doesn’t quit, does he? He lucky he’s cute.

"This is a very off day for me." He shoves his hands into his pockets, "I was out of it while walking; I actually didn't see you and I'm sorry."

I look him up and down, feigning disinterest, "Hm."

"Come on; I'll treat you to a cup of coffee so we can discuss this."

I snicker, “Discuss what? I already decided that you're a dickhead,” I hand the cereal and cookies to the cashier, “That’s still following me for some reason.”

“Okay, I’ll give you that.” He chuckles, “But if we discuss this a little more, I think can convince you that I am not a dickhead.”

“Doubtful.”

“Let's start here; I'm Bucky."

"Bucky, huh?"

"Yeah, that's what everyone calls me since, well....you know..."

"1940?" I laugh.

"I was gonna say since the dawn of time but that's more specific."

 He actually managed to get a chuckle out of me before I grab my stuff and start to walk out the store and back the way I came. I adjust my box braids in a way so they’d hide the heat in my neck and face, just in case he somehow caught a hint of red under my dark skin.  Considering his offer, I hum while biting the inside of lip then shrug. He’s been pretty nice to me this far. And despite his potential temper problem, he seems pretty chill. Not like he’s not fine as hell too, not like I can go home anyway if he keeps following me like this.

"So, how about it?"

“Well, I can’t exactly go home anymore since this weirdo I met is following me.”

"That means your available. So coffee?"

[intersexalastor]

civilian dabitwice au where touya's ice and fire are both activated by distinct emotions. while touya's fire flares up in joy, rage, and profound sadness, ice is chiefly fear. and touya just never activates ice because fear is just not an obstacle for him, i.e. he's never felt it strongly enough that he's even accidentally used that part of his quirk.

all this to say that one day he does use it, already hitting the mid 20s milestone. endeavor's campaign for "i have changed for the better and now i am a Good Father(tm) and i believe i am entitled to that spot in your life i previously forfeited and you should be giving me a second (or 12309348th chance if you're touya lmfao) chance" is not going over very well, at least in the touya demographic. and something has set the two of them off. touya is doing something he's never done before and sending his Very Good Friend jin bubaigawara his home address and asking him to pick him up (which is a bitch because now he's gong to have to explain that yeah, he's related to endeavor and yeah he never planned on saying anything bc fuck that noise) because he thinks that this is really it and he can't fucking take it anymore and if he doesn't leave now he's going to blow his top and really go up in flames for a second time in his life.

and idk. the fight drags on and touya is angry enough to fuck off outside in the dead of winter with no protection from the cold. and endeavor follows, exasperated, holding in his fist a jacket that he demands touya put on (under the guise that he's being a "good dad" by doing so)

they carry on and on as they get further from the home. and enji is truly dumbfounded because his worldview is abysmally narrow. he just can't wrap his mind around touya in general. years of neglect his own ego can't build the bridge between the kid who worshiped the ground he walked on and the young man who has enough metal in his face to cast a small knife and a permanent scowl scrawled across his features. surely touya of all people would forgive him and they could be the Father and Eldest Son duo fantasy he's let himself imagine since becoming No. 1

anyway. mistakes are made. in the middle of a heated exchange, jin pops into view. and to make a long story short, jin's city slicker ass does not recognize in time that he's on a frozen body of water and only manages to say "uh. that doesn't sound good" at the audible crack under his feet before he falls through the ice and into the river that will sweep him under the rest of the ice and drown him.

it happens so quickly that touya literally never realizes it happened at all. it's only enji that sees it and recognizes it for what it is. touya shoots out onto the ice like lightning before enji has a chance to stop him. there's another loud crack and enji is sure he's about to see touya drop like a stone through the ice, but it isn't so. the ice is far sturdier now than it was just a few seconds ago, and shards of it poke out of the ground like needles.

it's pure luck that touya's ice only stops jin from being carried down river and doesn't outright kill him. in a rare use of quirk, touya uses his flames where he can see jin struggling and shocks the ice enough for him to break through, slicing his hand up and somehow helping drag jin out of the ice, though much of that goes to the credit of enji who's snapped out of his stupor. and the ice that is creeping along and snagging at touya's legs go unnoticed by touya, but not by enji. the ice does not fail all three of them in such close proximity, and enji does not venture a guess as to just how thick it's become.

it's mostly enji who gets jin back to the home. touya just isn't that strong and he's bleeding anyway. and now it looks like jin will be spending the night as they stave off hypothermia. and some sweet stuff happens between jin and touya but i'll talk about that later because i'm sleepy.

[bonesandthebees]

I should say that I’m not really a fae stuff reader, but I could not resist, so I am glad you went through the important rules, even though I think I knew most of them already. Also, Alicent needs to know these things in order to be cautious.

Rhaenyra is clearly very bored (and maybe a little bit in love, too soon?), so she draws Alicent towards her tree the second she sets foot in the garden (or is that just the tree itself? I think it would have happened earlier then).

Also, since she is part of the summer court (and the spring days are getting hotter), does that mean it’s about to be summer? Does that make her stronger or give her more control over the humans/human world?

Anyway, I love how playful she is. There’s still the fae trickery, but this human is interesting and willing to talk and has some wits, so it’s more fun (also, pretty gay). I do feel like she could trick her if she really tried because [although I haven’t been trying very hard to trick you,”] fae can’t like. So she isn’t trying that hard (and could change that if prompted).

She does want Alicent to keep coming back, and being married to the king in a different place would make her unable to visit.

You could also claim she’s just trying to win her trust to eventually get her name, that would be a fae thing to do.

Also, [“No, not my father. It almost was, but the King at that time decided my aunt’s claim was stronger. She’s been our Queen for the last few centuries.”] I’m sorry but this is my favourite bit. The fae aren’t sexist so the person closest to the king gets the throne even if she is a woman. (And poor Alicent can barely believe it).

I’d love to see more if this is you feel like writing it, but I’m already very content with what we got.

(2/2)

-🌲

lol yeah part of the reason I decided to go through the rules is because while fae aus are incredibly common in the dsmp fandom to the point where you can assume most people who read fic will be at least vaguely familiar with the setting and basic worldbuilding of a fae au, I don't think they're really a common thing in the hotd fandom? at least I haven't seen any in the ao3 tag so far. so I didn't know how familiar readers would be with the concept and decided to give a quick rundown just in case

I'll say in my head rhaenyra didn't specifically draw alicent towards her tree. it was more like she was just casting a wide net of influence trying to draw any human that came within range to her tree because, as she said, she was bored. alicent just happened to be there at the right time and place.

also, I don't think the fae don't have influence over the seasons in this world. because the way seasons work is already so strange in the world of westeros, I don't think the fae can really do much to change them. in contrast, the change of the seasons has an affect on the fae. as summer draws closer, rhaenyra will gain more power and strength when she's in the human world. but if she were to pop into westeros during a winter she would be a lot weaker.

rhaenyra is definitely having fun with alicent. and yeah, if she wanted to she could probably trick alicent into giving up her name or at least goad her into a deal, but rhaenyra's done that to humans plenty of times before. it's another thing she's bored of. this human is very pretty, looks to be around her age (at least the equivalent since fae age at a different rate than humans), and is fun to talk to. if she tricks alicent, things will be ruined because alicent won't want to talk to her anymore.

also, I don't want to say the fae were completely past sexism. in my head at least there was a very long and drawn out debate still as to whether rhaenys or viserys should inherit the summer court throne even though rhaenys had the very obvious claim. but the decision was instead made in rhaenys' favor, and that set a precedent that has really helped the fae since then move past a lot of sexist ideas and notions. so like, rhaenys had to fight for her throne, but since she secured it things in the fae realm are a lot better for women compared to westeros.

poor alicent though can barely believe it she's like wait what. a woman. huh. that's possible.

I'm so glad you're enjoying it so far thank you spruce!!! I definitely hope to write more soon (although right now I'm trying to push through the next chapter of under the hanging rose, so after that I'll probably hop back over to this)

[artemisbarnowl]

What is life like in Melbourne? I’m looking into moving there from the UK and would love some insights and whatever else from people who live and work there 💕

I've only visited the UK briefly as a tourist so I'm not sure how to compare them in a way that's going to give you useful info. But I'll give you info at least. Please sit comfortably and we'll begin.

Melbourne has 5 million people in it, but is also quite a large sprawling urban area, so it doesn't feel really packed and busy. It sits on a bay, so it doesn't get freezing but does have the '4 seasons in one day' jokes which are true. I never really got in the habit of checking the weather in the morn before I left for work until I moved away from melb where the forecast was such that I could dress appropriately without surprise.

When I talk about what I love about Melbourne I mean inner suburbs and CBD (which is a beautiful grid and shining example of urban planning for the now that is weighed down by no plans for the future). Public transport connectivity is decent (comparable to London imo) but wait times, delays, and travel times on trams and buses might be relatively crap depending on your experience. It's no Moscow metro (my beloved), but you can probably get to where you're going somehow. Also e scooters have popped off. Further out there's no trams and there's more big gaps between train stations (the train lines are arranged like spokes of a wheel around a central city circle. There will be another city loop slightly overlapping the current one in service next year). This is what I despairingly call The Suburbs. Where you probably need a car to get around and it's like at least 20 mins drive to Anywhere for dinner, groceries or fun activities. Mostly Melbourne is not overly hilly so bikes are an option but infrastructure such as bike lanes is really hit or miss depending on area. Especially good in the inner north. Melb inner suburbs are very walkable and I love love love that. I lived in the inner north and could walk into the CBD to do whatever.

In terms of culture things I think Melbourne is the most international of Aus's capitals in that it has a lot of different people but also that there's a lot open late. Sydney probably can and will make the same claim. But that's it. The rest of Aus is a country town. Major shops will probably close 5.30 or six mon to wed but there's plenty of stuff that's open later. You can always find a bar* or 8. There's plenty of different cuisines in gourmet or fast food dining. There's a cafe in the CBD that's open 24 hours where I can sit outside and have a pot of green tea WHENEVER I WANT. Bookstores open til 10pm. There are lots of events throughout the year and lots of cultural institutions to visit on a whim for free! Some are paid also obvi but I find it difficult to be bored when I can go to the museum to see taxidermy or the NGV for art for free whenever. I am a zoo member which means I get to hang out in a beautiful park/garden which creatures for free whenever I want. Again as you go out further this becomes less true. Fringe cities at the ends of train lines are likely to have what you need to live but less fun activities less often. Not nothing though!

Melbournians really do love wearing black. Especially in winter. They also love strategic Grey. I thought people were exaggerating until I left. A head to toe black outfit is uncommon enough to be remarkable where I live now. Even in a regular boring office where people wear very muted colours I'm the only one who does it. There is no functional difference between the a mourning outfit and one of a Melbournian. it's common wear sneakers with a lot of seemingly formal or corporate outfits, but not thongs with jeans. That's some weird Sydney nonsense.

Being around the bay there's plenty of places to swim in summer! Most of the bay is bordered by beach, most famous and reachable from the city is St Kilda beach. Which is excellent and beyond reproach if you're not Australian and 'fine' if you are. Traveling down towards Mornington Peninsula they get better. 5km makes a difference to the grain of the sand. Some are more fine, can get more coarse and shelly as well. Never stony. Only a little bit of seaweed here and there.

There are parks in the heart of the city (nothing huge like Hyde though) and little wildlife corridors or reserves in most suburbs but it's not an especially Nature city. It's only one hour by train and bus or by car to the Dandenongs (a low mountain range, not to be confused with hugely underated immigrant suburb of Dandenong in melb) though which have cool temperate rainforest national park, lots of gardens (huuuuuge rhododendron garden up there), little b&bs, english style cafes (miss Marples in Olinda is the most famous) and lots of walking and biking. I say one hour but Melbourne as an area reaches right to the base of the range, which is why you can get a bus from the shops. There are national parks that are native woodland or grasslands closer to the heart of the city but these are less special to me because that's the standard nature I see every day of my life. There's a pink lake in south melb which is fun. But I love tree ferns and fresh damp dirt and the tallest flowering trees in the world!!

If you have more specific Q's feel free to ask. I am a city gal at heart but did live rurally originally and frequently do short stays (2 weeks to a month) in rural or remote areas so I am used to comparing amenities and connectivity.

*Melbourne has regular bars but also is very big on rooftop bars. Sydney has some, but other cities hear rooftop bar and think 'bar inside but with views or on top floor of building. Probably formal'. Melbourne roof top bars are on the roof. In the open air (maybe some shade sail) and it's very much a casual thing. Jugs of beer or sangria, chips, feels like a good barbeque rather than a refined cocktail bar. Those are often in basements.

[hesbuckcompton-baby]

BAND OF BROTHERS TERROR AU. TELL ME. NOWWWW

OK!!!! I'm not going to put everything in here because I don't want this post to end up HUGE (EDIT: this post ended up massive anyway), so I'll talk about the main components and some stuff I like, and if people want me to go more in-depth and discuss other side characters I will.

Tagging people who commented on the original post in case y'all want to read @latibvles @fearlessjones

Herbert Sobel is the original captain of HMS Erebus - he is the Sir John Franklin figure, he's incompetent, and whilst many of his higher-ups know he is ultimately not suited to such an expedition, they let him lead anyway because they like him, and they hope he will finally get some glory amongst all his failure. However, perhaps his key flaw is his keen dislike for the captain of the HMS Terror, Richard Winters.

Ok, I KNOWWWW people are gonna think that Nixon would be a better fit for this role, because he arguably resembles Crozier much more, but WAIT. For those of you who haven't read the book, it is said that the HMS Erebus has absolutely NO alcohol in its stores because Franklin does not drink. If this is the case here too, and Lewis Nixon is stuck as Sobel's commander, this will send him insane over time. Nixon and Winters are very competent leaders, so for this AU to work I need to break them, and what better way than to weaken Nix from months of withdrawal at sea with Captain Fucking Sobel? Combine this with Winters refusal to indulge him with his own alcohol stores, and now there's a wedge driven between the two before they're even stranded.

But even so, Winters needs something that will impede his own leadership, and for him, I think that's his sense of responsibility for his men. Winters is always striving to find a solution that will cause the least amount of damage to his men - he wants them safe, and he doesn't care if they have to turn this ship around and head home to do it. But he can't. By the time they get stuck in the ice, there is no possible solution he can come up with that won't result in his men's suffering or even loss of life, and this leaves him jaded, wearing him down as the situation becomes even more dire and he has to watch more and more of his men killed by the cold, sickness, and the Tuunbaq. This will get to him, and it will impede his ability to think rationally.

Right, now for the Lieutenants. On HMS Terror, you have First Lieutenant Harry Welsh, Second Lieutenant Buck Compton, and Third Lieutenant Henry Jones. Whilst Welsh and Compton are very competent, much like their captain, Jones has risen through the ranks due to little more than wealth and connections. Whilst he could not purchase his commission, his family manage to pull the right strings, and now he's here with very little experience and absolutely NO respect from the men, already making way for the system of leadership to be undermined before things ever get serious.

On the HMS Erebus, Captain Sobel (And eventually Captain Nixon, once Sobel is killed) have First and Second Lieutenants Ronald Speirs and Carwood Lipton. These two are excellent in a crisis, and when the crew becomes despaired as Sobel's incompetency and Nixon's declining health as a result of his withdrawal, they are given the heavy burden of trying to raise morale and keep the men's trust as the situation grows ever more dire.

Chief Surgeon of the HMS Terror Eugene Roe has gotten a lotttt more than he bargained for with this expedition. Yes, he takes his job seriously, and yes, he came here to help people, but more than anything he just wanted to be a part of something real, to see the Passage with his own eyes and know he had helped to make a difference. But now his surgery is crammed with victims of the Tuunbaq and men displaying very unusual symptoms that he doesn't quite understand. He's losing sleep and he's losing hope, and he doesn't know quite how to cope with the knowledge that he isn't as good as he thought, and he truly cannot save these men.

Captain's Steward David Webster believes he's made for more than this. He's educated, no small feat when half the men on the Terror can scarcely even read, and he feels his skills are wasted running around after Captain Winters. But he comes from a high-ranking Naval family, and if he ever wants to make something of himself there's little option but to work his way through it unless he wants to be stuck doing this forever. As time passes, he begins to grow bitter at his position, which is why when Caulker Roy Cobb begins disparaging Winters' leadership, his words begin to make sense to Webster.

I've planned roles for all of the notable characters in BoB but I do not want to write a fucking novel on this post, so please let me know if you want to see more!

[toujokaname]

Card shuffle / Episode 8

Author: Akira

Characters: AkanP, HiMERU, Kohaku, Niki, Mayoi, Tatsumi, Aira, Rinne, Hiiro

"Um. Shiina-san. I know you're hungry, but please don't eat my haaair."

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[ Read on my site for a better viewing experience using Ois~su ♪ ]

Season: Winter

Location: MDM Stage

AkanP: Hmmm~...? Everyone, it looks like you don't understand this project as much as I thought you would? What should I do?

HiMERU: It's more accurate to say we "haven't been told" rather than implying we "don't understand." Please don't insinuate that the fault lies with us.

AkanP: Sure. But, um, since it's almost time for the show, you'll have to understand quickly, okay? I know you might not get the difficult stuff, but I'll explain it properly ♪

HiMERU: .........

Kohaku: I can practically hear HiMERU-han's stress gauge shootin' through the roof...

HiMERU: It's okay. Thanks to Shiina, HiMERU is used to his goodwill going to waste.

Niki: And so I'm the one who takes the brunt of it...!

HiMERU: If you can't do anything else, won't you at least be an outlet for stress relief?

Niki: Uwaaah! Mayo-chaaan, HiMERU-kun's bullying me~!

Mayoi: Hwehh?! Wh, wh-why are you coming to me for comfort? It's not like we're supposed to be particularly close or anything, right?!

Tatsumi: ...Actually, an explanation is in order. At the risk of repeating the same question over and over, how exactly will the Matrix matches function?

Our precious friends, including Mayoi-san, are also feeling anxious about it.

Mayoi: Ah, y-yes, unusually aggressive speech from Tatsumi-san... Even though he usually has the aura of a holy, loving figure, being neglected like this must be stressful.

Niki: *Munch munch munch ♪*

Mayoi: Um. Shiina-san. I know you're hungry, but please don't eat my haaair.

HiMERU: Apologies, our dog misbehaved.

Aira: I could run and grab something to munch on?

Rinne: Akan-san's gonna explain anyway, so just shut it and listen, okay?

AkanP: Right. It'll be quick, so bear with me a moment. Here, umm, Sheena-san[1]? Sheena-san, here's some candy for you ♪

HiMERU: You're in the middle of work, why do you carry such a thing with you?

AkanP: When you have little kids around, it's inevitable...

I basically only produce girls in ES, but surprisingly, sometimes blunders can be smoothed over with a sweet treat.

HiMERU: Female idols, you say. They don't get recognized at all in ES, which is why useless producers are pushed on to them.

AkanP: Please don't call me useless~... It hurts my feelings.

So, um, it's been a while since I've produced boys, so please forgive me if I make any mistakes.

HiMERU: (Been a while? Does that mean it's not the first time?)

(Well, despite seeming young, only an experienced producer could accumulate so many negative rumors...?)

AkanP: At any rate... I didn't have enough time to work out the details of Matrix, but as I was struggling with that, a very talented girl helped me out.

Her name's Anzu-chan, do you know her?

Hiiro: Of course. It'd be rarer to find someone in ES who doesn't know her.

Aira: ES takes pride in her being a super talented producer, after all!

AkanP: Right, it's amazing for such a young girl... Well, she said she'd help me, so I asked her to think about the details of the competition.

So, I think we're pretty much on track there, right?

HiMERU: Anzu-san must be very busy with her change in position starting in the new fiscal year, and yet she has been burdened with all this unnecessary work...

Niki: Change in position? Really? Where does HiMERU-kun always get that kinda information?

HiMERU: Primarily from the well-informed Deputy Director, but also from HiMERU's own personal research. He's rather adept at that sort of thing and enjoys it.

Rinne: Yup, the Great Detective Crazy:B's proud of ♪

AkanP: Hehe. So, um, what was I saying...? Right, this Matrix is set up as a fateful showdown between Crazy:B and ALKALOID

These two rookie units will compete to see which are the superior idols.

Tatsumi: Although there's nothing fateful about it. Well, I understand the point.

HiMERU: There is a lot of personal history involved, however.

AkanP: Yup. So, um, what did Anzu-chan say again...

Oh, right. Maybe the challenge in this Matrix contest should center on proving one's prowess as an idol.

By pitting idols against each other like this, we'll find out who truly excels at it, right? Um, do you understand what I'm saying?

Tatsumi: Prowess as an idol? Yet another vague statement...?

AkanP: To be specific, see, this time it's supposed to be ten matches. Well, I mean, I made the call on that.

So, in Matrix, I'd like to ask you to compete with the ten elements necessary to be an idol.

Aira: The ten elements necessary to be an idol?

AkanP: Yeah. Um, for example, in the first match, you'll compete in "singing ability." There's also, uh, what else, "acting ability" and "attractiveness"—

Basically, each match will test those ten crucial elements for idols.

After ten matches, the unit with the most wins will be considered the superior idols.

Aira: It's kinda rude to call it surprising, but it does sound surprisingly interesting. Feels like some sort of variety show.

AkanP: Right? Sounds fun, doesn't it? It's amazing, really, how the plan started getting interesting after Anzu-chan chimed in—

She's been a big help! I'll have to buy her dinner or something later.

HiMERU: At this stage, are you really making her help you free of charge...

AkanP: She's the type of girl to decline compensation... She's not assertive at all. Hehehe, she reminds me of my younger days.

HiMERU: Isn't it a rather disturbing future prospect for a talented producer to end up as a landmine producer...?

[ ☆ ]

AkanP says "Shiina" in hiragana instead of kanji, indicating some stiltedness in the way it's said.

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[flingmetothemoon]

After hearing about what mortals do on Christmas day, Marya took on a trip back to Transylvania to shop at monster markets for crafted crystal ball sized pearls and crystal stars lit by fire wisps, wooden spider web threads, twigs, liles and laurel leaves for making wreaths, and lastly but not least, a tree freshly planted onto a large gardening pot. Teddy comes along to the trip to have some adventure time with Marya away from crime stuff.

Then they come back home and Marya sets the stuff up for the Lobo manor as Christmas decor so the Lobos don't have to. After she is done, the living room tree glows in the dark like a light projector. The crystals are used as ornaments and the treetopper crystal star even floats and slowly turns to make auroras thanks to Marya's ring magic. Teddy is fascinated by such beauty!

Art inspiration: As Christmas was getting closer, I mused about how these 2 cuties would spend Christmas time, and this is one of the scenarios I came up with lol. It was also an opportunity for me to get creative with fantasy settings, so here I came up with a Christmas tree containing spider webs and magical glowy gems.

These ornaments would look so GORGEOUS and even waterproof, meaning the tree can be watered on with causing electricity difficulties. The real tree in the house would've smelled so amazing! Maybe that's why is was Marya's idea: To expose the Lobos to the more earthy smells of the world. Sure she could just let them use the money they have to the decor they're already used to, but they just can't beat the real natural stuff! The spider webs is used as natural twinkle light strings that is also sticky enough for the gems to stick onto. I'm sure the sticky spider webs would be a pain in the ass to wrap/unwrap around the tree itself, but hey, it's fantasy, logic can be broken! XD

Also out of all the types of flowers I could think off, why lilies? Because I have a funny feeling hearing the lily word would remind Marya of... Well... Lili. I think she'll feel very bad for what has become of that girl because of her, and taking a liking to lily flowers is her way to atoning herself for that incident. :C

For anyone wondering Marya is shown out in daylight without burning, I hc that when the weather chills during winter, Marya discovers she can now walk out in the sun with little to no sunburn and she has been happily enjoying life to the fullest since then. Taking walks, hanging out in flower fields, napping on the sunkissed ground, etc. Of course while the sun still makes her skin feel slightly warm and her powers are still significantly weakened, her skin doesn't start smoking and inflaming the moment she steps one foot outdoors compared to the summertime. It's as if she had already found the cure to her curse without trying. :3

She should be careful though bc on the other hand, while vampires easily catch on fire from being exposed to the hot sun, I'll also like to explore the concept of the reverse occurring and vampires instead turning into ice when exposed to the freezing cold night for too long. Geez! Body temperature regulations sure isn't vampires' strong suit amiright? XD

As you can see here, Teddy's outfit is white pajamas with a grey wolf head on the center of his top. Marya's pajamas is actually based on a post the official Universal Monsters Instagram posted on the 20th and the last slide pic shows her in a Christmas edit wearing what it looks like Santa pajamas with an elf hat! 😍

If you see a comment on there saying "DRACULAS DAUGHTER ACKNOWLEDGED 👀👀👀👀👀👀💖🥳" That's me! :D

Here's my manip of what I think the pic would look like colorized ↓

[rosebloodcat]

Ramshackle Fits A Little Too Well

(Or, Crewel learns what can happen to a dorm when there is no one taking care of it for 50-some years)

AN: I started writing this one on a lark, but I really liked it so I figured, why not post it? There are a lot of little background things that I haven't gotten into in this story but I may get to them in a later chapter. But I'm down to explain if people ask, so go ahead if you want to know what's up.

I mostly wanted to get into the horrors of a house that's been abandoned for years at a time in this chapter, and I'm quite pleased with them so far.

Maybe I'll get to the rest of the cool things later. XD

AO3 Link!

Crewel wasn't a fan of the Ramshackle Dorm. As far as he was concerned, it was an eyesore on the esteemed Night Raven College's campus. He'd never understood why the Headmage hadn't had the place torn down and replaced with something more useful to the school after the dorm had been shut down.

Although, at the moment, he supposed it was a good thing that he hadn't done that.  Since it gave them a place for the magic-less puppy to stay after the school carriages accidentally snatched him.

(They needed to have that checked out. The carriages picking up people who weren't even students was a problem.)

He was uncouth and unrefined, but at least he seemed to be sensible.

The puppy had taken time to approach each teacher after class and warn them that some of his assignments may be turned in late throughout the year, as he had to do repairs to the dorm he was staying in along with the work he needed to meet the school's criteria. And the unspoken fact that he would be doing all that by hand on his own, as the barely tolerated familiar staying with him would be all-but-useless for such a task.

Crewel did have to give the puppy credit. He wasn't afraid of hard work or getting his hands dirty.

But he had begun to wonder if, perhaps, such a task would be too much for a single student to manage alone.

The buckled floor he'd found when the student led him to the mostly cleaned sitting room certainly suggested it. (Sort of cleaned? It seemed cleaner than the great of the place at the moment. The whole place was still repulsive.) It was the first of many clues as to the house’s state.

Though he couldn't help raising a brow at the chairs lying on their sides near a very large garbage bag. And with the windows wide open as well, the curtains he knew had once been there were gone.

Upon closer inspection of the heaps, he could see rubber gloves and a rather sharp-looking knife lying there as well. The puppy caught the look and let out a huff.

“Yeah, you’re gonna want to sit on the plain wood chairs in here, Prof. Anythin’ with cloth on it is a giant mold patch now thanks to the leaky roof and the cracked windows. I’m carving as much of it off as I can to throw it out.” He rocked back on his heels, nodding to the garbage bag. Well, that explained that. “Might be able to salvage the wood parts, but the cushions are goners. Grim is outside with Ace studying because this shi- er, stuff was making him sick. I’ve been tying a rag that I got from the school store over my face to keep from feeling the same.”

Ah, mold. Yes, that made sense for how old the dorm was and how long it’s been since anyone was staying there. Of course, there would be-  Wait.

“Leaking roof?” he asked, a trickle of alarm in the back of his mind. Water leaks could do a  lot of damage, but when it froze and melted during the winters…

“Oh yeah, the roof’s got a lot of them. Found out during the storm a couple days ago. Had to dig through every closet I could find to get enough buckets for ‘em.” He let out a gusty sigh, scratching at his still-growing mustache. He glanced upward with a grimace. “I’m dreading when I finally get to clearin’ out the top floors of this place. Which is why I wanted to ask you about stuff for clearing out mold.”

He pointed to a door further down the hall, his jaw setting.

“Especially for the bathroom down there. I think one of the old students forgot some medicine in the cabinet when they left the dorm. I wouldn’t be surprised if it could get up and walk by now if it felt like it, so I need something strong to get rid of it. Even if I can’t use the bathrooms very much right now.”

“And what makes you say that?” Crewel asked. Surely the bathrooms weren’t that disgusting.

“Cause the pipes might blow if do.”

What.

“The pipes have probably frozen over multiple times over the years. So it’s probably messed them up a lot.” He continued, not even noticing the way his new teacher had frozen. “If you send pipes into full use after something like that, it can cause the weakened seals to burst, and you can’t just patch ‘em or else you might end up breakin’ them up in your hands. I’d love to hire a pro to take a look at ‘em and see how much can be safely patched and how much would be better off replaced but…”

He shrugged helplessly at Crewel. He didn’t need to finish the sentence.

Because of his arrival, he had nothing but the clothes on his back. And he certainly had no money to do all the repairs and refurbishing that Ramshackle needed to be inhabitable for a student. Surely the headmage was allowing some form of budget to cover the boy’s efforts to restore the dorm? He wasn’t expecting the boy to do it all out of his own pocket by working at the school store, was he?

The boy certainly couldn’t ask his parents to help pay for it all…

“And how much of this is our esteemed headmage helping cover?” The puppy tilted his head in confusion. He felt his heart sinking. “The headmage has given you a budget for this work, hasn’t he?”

“No? He hasn’t really said anything about helping cover the repair costs for this place. Ace, uh, one of the Heartsyble guys, has been helping with food ever since he got booted from his dorm for eating a tart from the communal fridge without asking first. Most of it’s dry stock but… Yeah.” He looked a bit uncomfortable, glancing back toward the kitchen.

(By the Seven, he didn’t even want to think about the state of the kitchen if the rest of the building was anything to go by.)

Crewel was rapidly re-evaluating the knowledge he’d had about the dorm, the skills of his student, and the stupidity of the headmage for just dumping a student there without even considering the health and safety risks of them staying there.

He took in a breath, held it, and then slowly let it out.

“We will make a list. Of the essentials needed for this building to be comfortable, and safe to live in for however long you’re going to be here. I will call the needed people to get price evaluations and speak with the headmage about setting a repair budget for your work.” He looked down at the student in front of him, who stilled at the sharpened edge of his gaze. “If you are going to be doing the work restoring this building yourself, then you need the funds to do it right. Now, show me the rooms you’ve been looking at using and we can start building up the basics.”

This was going to be far more work than he had been ready for, never mind a lone, magicless student that had been abducted and left to (practically) fend for themselves. (The dorm barely counted as a safe place to stay in its current state.)

And Crewel fully planned to make Crowly share in the misery as well, until he put in the work to fix it.

(Crowly was not ready for the list of extreme hazards that their student was facing being thrown on his desk by the furious Crewel. But it took very little persuading to set a budget to rebuild the dorm. They could justify why the abandoned dorm needed this much work to the school board later. For now, they needed to ensure their student wasn’t poisoned by airborne mold spores or worse while they were stuck at the school.)

(Cab was just happy when Crewel told him that both a plumber and a handyman had been booked to come by in a few days to take a look at the bathrooms and Kitchen.)