#i'm about halfway through the sight no spoilers

[yellow-computer-mouse]

hollypaw's first day of apprenticeship

@egor-thewoodsman

[cuffmeinblack]

Idk if you're still taking requests but if you are, how about an angsty turn fluff where Ominis finds you right after the last battle and comforts you after the realization of everything happening finally hits you and you break down. Like you've already realized that you're in love with him and don't want him to realize that you're crying but he can see through it right away.

The end and the beginning

Ominis Gaunt x reader

Tags: angst | hurt/comfort | admission of love

1k words

A/n: My brain sort of stopped working halfway through this but here we goooo soppy love story.

⚠️ END GAME SPOILERS ⚠️

Your head swam as the adrenaline pumped through your body, your breathing growing ragged from the physical exertion. The body in front of you was crumpled, bloody, crushed by your magic. You didn't feel remorse, but the sight was more than you thought you could bear in that moment, so you looked away and forced down the bile rising in your throat. The cavern was silent, the battle long over—the professors must have returned to the school to secure the building and protect the students inside, in the eventuality you were unsuccessful. There would be one missing, though—your mentor, Professor Fig. Tears welled in your eyes as you remembered the man, trying to push back the memory of his gruesome demise.

You needed to get back to Hogwarts—there was someone you needed to find. Like a child who sought their mother in times of dire need and emotional turmoil, you craved the presence of only one person. You walked as quickly as you could back along the rocky path, trying to ignore the pain in your leg—there would be time to visit the hospital wing later. 

The castle was eerie, the corridors empty apart from a frantically running prefect who ignored you completely. You guessed the students had been sent back to their common rooms, so you headed down to the dungeons. By now your eyes were heavy and you wished you could simply sleep, but you didn't think the adrenaline would let you. You'd likely be ambushed by Professor Weasley at some point and made to retell your story, but you hoped for at least a few hours respite before that ordeal.

The common room was busy and loud, the chatter anxious. Upon entering the room, heads turned toward you with open mouths as the talking ceased, the silence stretching out uncomfortably. You were used to attention by now, but this was ridiculous. You didn't much care, carrying on your frantic scanning of the room until you recognised a familiar fluffy chestnut-brown head rushing toward you. 

"Sebastian?" you said weakly as he pulled you into a tight embrace.

"The whole castle is talking, is Fig really dead?"

You nod solemnly.

"Sebastian…where's Ominis?"

You feel a warm hand on your bruised arm and turn to see Ominis standing behind your shoulder. Your heart flutters in your chest as you try to contain everything you want to say to him, the moment you realised when you came close to death that you were completely and utterly in love with him. You'd never imagined your own demise, let alone your very last thought, and it has surprised you how intensely the feeling had come.

You wanted to be alone with him, away from the prying eyes which all seemed to be focused on you. Ominis seemed to read your mind.

"Let's find somewhere quiet?" he asked.

You reply by taking his hand and leading him through the crowd of students toward the stairs and climbing them to the top and perching on the stone step on the landing. Ominis sat beside you and held your hand until you were ready to speak, his face a picture of worry. You wanted nothing more than to touch him and kiss him, to remind yourself that he was real and you were alive.

"I'll need to find the professors soon, they need to know that I'm okay…and it's over," you said with a shaky voice.

Ominis' hand tightened around yours.

"Are you okay, really? I can't tell if you're hurt."

"Nothing that can't wait. Ominis, Professor Fig is dead. I tried to…," you whisper.

"Don't blame yourself, please," he said.

His voice was so tender, you hadn't realised that he might have been worried about you. You had hoped that he felt the same but neither of you had ever broached the subject, preferring only to show a mutual respect for one another, ignoring the tension that rippled through the air whenever you were alone.

"I thought I was going to die," you said, trying to remain calm.

Silent tears fell from your face as you looked at Ominis. He was so beautiful, and your heart ached with longing. His hand found your head and cupped your face, stroking the tears away with his thumb. How had he known?

"Ominis…"

You were going into shock. Your hands were beginning to tremble, then your body started shaking uncontrollably as the tears fell more rapidly from your eyes. You were embarrassed to be showing your vulnerability in front of Ominis. You had intended to tell him how you felt, instead you were falling apart. He moved close to you, your legs pressed together and pulled you into his arms, burying your head against his neck as you tried to steady your tremors and control your breathing.

"You're alive. We're all alive thanks to you," he said, stroking your hair as your tears fell freely into his collar.

"Ominis," you sniffed, "I need to…tell you something."

"What is it?"

"I love you. It took me nearly dying to realise it, but I love you," you say with a nervous laugh.

"I love you, too."

The reply caught you off-guard, and you took a deep shuddering breath as you lifted your head to look at him, the tears stopping as suddenly as they had come on. You were so desperate to show him how you felt, it was overwhelming. You kissed him lightly on the cheek and he turned to meet you, locking lips with you with a force you hadn't expected. His hands were in your hair, his hold on you firm but not forceful as he kissed you deeply, telling you he felt the same without words.

[shadowthief78]

Lyney/Reader

Genshin spoilers under the cut, for 4.0 Fontaine Archon quests.

Containes unexpected kissing and the barest slightest tiniest slight yandere Lyney, might not be canon compliant bc I got stuck halfway through trying to do quest stuff and came to write this instead.

I thought I was in a bit of a dry spell but it turns out I just needed some catboy coded manipulation to get back in the swing of things. I think all three of them would be subtly manipulative like this and I love it. Hopefully I can write more of them soon :D

This came out a lot cuter than I pictured. I don't really think Lyney would be an overtly violent or threatening lover.

The first time Lyney kisses you is right after Crowell dies. Your eyes widen, still focused on Lynette's, while her brother presses his mouth against yours in a kiss decidedly not appropriate for someone the prime suspect in a murder trial. The basket of food you brough knocks awkwardly against your knees, tilting you forward at an uncomfortable angle.

The supervising garde coughs. Lyney releases you. You steady yourself against him.

"I brought you food. Freminet was worried you would get hungry," you say, uncovering the dishes. Lyney's little brother had practically thrown bowls at you while you struggled to fasten your cloak. "Some might be a little wet. It's pouring out there."

"Thank you," Lynette says, taking the basket. "I'm going to the dressing rooma to share."

"Sorry it's mostly leftovers," you say, watching her bow bob as she leaves.

Her exit leaves you and Lyney in the half-light of backstage, the spotlights casting eerie shadows on the props. The garde moves a few steps away.

Lyney seems to realize how stiffly you're holding yourself. "Sorry," he says, releasing your elbow. "Overwhelmed, I guess. Crowell..."

You knew Crowell—were the one to reccommend him for the job, in fact. You glance at the curtain covering everything.

"Freminet's worried about you. Says there's too many visitors for him to handle."

Lyney sighs. "Poor Freminet. He didn't have anything to do with this. I feel terrible about it all, I'm not there to support him..." He catches sight of you again and gasps. "Oh, archons, what am I doing? You're soaked through and through. I was so busy worrying about this I completely forgot my manners. I'll find you a change of clothes somewhere."

Someone in the dressing room offers you a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate. Lyney continues hovering at your side, fussing. "I don't deserve you," he says, once his troupe has largely wandered off to rest. It's closer to dawn than sunset and you've mostly dried off. He sits at the edge of the pile of cushions you're propped up on, fiddling with his shoelace.

"I haven't done anything," you mutter, eyelids itching to close.

"That's not true," he says. "You keep the house in order, take care of Freminet, patch up all our costumes, organize the troupe, bring us food..." He trails off looking at you. "The kiss."

You look away. "Overwhelmed?"

He makes a frustrated noise. "Yes, but- Ah," he sighs, collapsing backwards closer to you. "I really did mean it. I just... probably should have waited for a better time. I hoped, after today's show, that, you know..." He dissolves into groans again. "Freminet adores you and so does Lynette. After this is all over, do you think maybe we could perhaps, ah, continue that?"

You see his face pressed to the cushions, rough fabric against his smooth cheek. He looks at you softly, like a dream, poised like a cat about to pounce.

Him. Lynette. Freminet. They all want to catch you somehow.

[jyndor]

spoilers for farha, which you all should watch but is very, very brutal even if it is not terribly graphic.

tw: infant murder, settler colonial violence. read with caution.

the scene where the one israeli genocider doesn't end up killing the infant is such a powerful scene for a number of reasons. but one aspect of it that sticks out to me is that when his commanding genocider tells him not to "waste a bullet" and he can't go through with curb stomping the fucking newborn to death, he ultimately condemns the baby to a crueler death - to starve to death, alone in the night, beside his family's bodies.

it is of course a crueler death, and I am sure the soldier is aware of what will become of that baby when he places the kerchief over his face and walks away. but this moment is not about the soldier being decent or kind at all, of course - if he was halfway decent he would die rather than kill that baby.

he doesn't care what will happen to that baby as long as he doesn't have to bear witness to it. to cover the baby's face is to cover his eyes to the cruelty of his and by extension israel's actions. it makes him uncomfortable to think of curb stomping a baby to death, but not of starving him. of leaving him alone and screaming.

he doesn't even consider for a second disobeying the order and shooting the baby, putting him out of his misery - as horrific as that would be.

because it isn't about the baby for him - it is about HIS comfort. he's comfortable with ethnic cleansing, he's comfortable with terrorizing a woman who has just given birth and her family, it is not at all about shame or horror or a tiny spot of decency in him. he's just not comfortable with having to step on a baby and kill him.

he is more comfortable with letting that baby starve out of sight than he is taking direct action against him.

this is the liberal zionist or frankly the liberal colonizer even beyond zionism - because it's all connected. as long as they do not have to be the ones to crush the infant to death under their boot, as long as they can shield their eyes from the brutality of their country, they'll take that option.

I think about israelis living so close to the gaza strip, living in relative security and having food and shelter and yes bomb shelters because THEY are citizens of a settler colonial state and people who are being colonized are going to resist the violence of occupation.

I think about how generally they are so removed and detached from the brutality of what israel does to palestinians, and how after oct 7th, many people who considered themselves liberal zionists went completely apeshit racist and genocidal, and this is according to actual peace activists in israel, actual anti-zionists in israel, actual leftists in israel. the ones who have refused to cover their eyes to the realities of the occupation and the genocide.

you see it on social media - people who consider themselves non-zionists or liberal zionists have been laughing at hateful genocidal zionist memes, and centering their own pain, and it reminds me of how liberals in the united states will do ANYTHING not to witness the horrors of us imperialism when it threatens their comfort.

this is not unique to zionists, this is a symptom of settler colonialism. I do believe that sometimes liberals can do better than that, but they often end up useless as allies to resistance, actual resistance, when it fucking matters the most.

so many liberal americans will continue to watch their favorite racist shows or buy disposable vapes or support joe biden, and they'll make all kinds of excuses about why they have to but the truth is this: they value their comfort more than they care about genocide.

I mean frankly even I do to some extent. I pay my taxes. I'm not gonna go to prison on tax evasion because I want to make a point about genocide. I wish I had the courage of my convictions to that level but I don't. I know that I would never go serve in the military even if it was conscription, I'd go to jail for that but that's never been a real concern for me here.

meanwhile, there are people who do not have the comfort to lose. in the film, farha does not have the privilege to choose comfort. she can close her eyes, she can look away, but she hears the baby cry and cry and cry until the baby passes away. she has no choice.

in choosing his own comfort, the soldier unknowingly condemns a child to witness trauma he can choose to ignore. now farha, a 14 year old girl, has to live with not being able to free herself from her sanctuary/prison to save the baby.

a 14 year old girl injures herself to save a baby, but a grown man covers a baby's face and lets it starve so he can live with himself. he still murdered that baby, but he'll tell himself that he didn't.

people often say they know what they'd have done if they'd lived during the holocaust or other atrocities. but honestly these same people don't do shit now. they cover their eyes.

if you're going to accept the deaths of innocent people, at least say that your comfort, your security, matters more to you than their lives.

because it clearly does.

anyway go watch farha on netflix.

[seeminglydeathlessredshirt]

Ramblings on Bioshock Infinite

So, I've decided to start writing down how I feel about what I'm playing here rather than wait for my friends to be online so I can infodump at them.

Anyway, Bioshock: Infinite. The original was pretty alright. I didn't get all the way through it because I was getting a bit tired of Rapture and some other little annoyances, but it was a perfectly decent experience. Skipped past 2 because once again, not in the mood for spending a dozen more hours underwater, and went right to the one that people fuss about all the time to see what the fuss is all about.

I shouldn't have gone out of my way to see what all the fuss is about.

Spoilers for an 11-year old game will follow, but I do not recommend going out and checking this out yourself.

To its credit, the game does have a very strong opening. The welcome centre/church you arrive in offers absolutely gorgeous visuals and a strange yet interesting blend of Christian motifs and the weird sort of reverence built up around the founders of America. "Gee," I thought, "maybe this will be a game that finally tackles religion in an interesting and nuanced way that doesn't just feel like it was written by a 14-year old who just discovered Reddit." Unfortunately, it doesn't(if anyone knows a game that does, please let me know.) After a level where you walk around and take in the sights of Columbia(an experience that feels like walking into a veritable wasp nest. Either one, take your pick), you're thrust into your standard action game plot shenanigans. Kill a bunch of guys while someone rants at you over an intercom, go through various setpieces, all that good stuff.

Is the killing actually all that fun? For a certain stretch of the game, yes. You have some okay abilities, a good selection of weapons to choose from, and takedowns are pretty cool as well. The skyrails scattered around some maps are gimmicky, though a welcome addition(the irony of a game like this leaning heavily on what are basically rollercoasters is not lost on me.) But somewhere past the halfway point, it takes a steep nosedive. The weapon list gets bloated to hell and back, and a combination of the carry limit of two plus the tendency to only ever give ammo for everything you don't want to use drags it down. Enemies also seem to get substantially spongier and more numerous, which makes fights incredibly unsatisfying. Bioshock was already firmly in that grey area between immersive sim and combat sandbox, and Infinite is neither of those. Everything feels so much less versatile, there's no thinking outside the box to be done here.

As for the rest of the story, you may have heard about how centrist it gets, and I am sad to report that everything they said was true. What really gets me is how it's already setting up the "both sides are the exact same thing" even before the characters would have any reason to think that. They're literally basing this entire viewpoint off of "oh, the workers are being violent about overthrowing their oppressors, that's super bad, right????" This game also does try to tackle things like racism but I don't exactly have a good eye for whether or not something tackles that matter maturely, so all I'll say is that it feels very surface-level and inconsequential. "Inconsequential" can sum up everything else in this paragraph too because it's all eventually abandoned for !!Dimensional Shenanigans!! This is what the last few levels are taken up by entirely and all it accomplishes is covering over a weak attempt at social themes with an even weaker attempt at sci-fi themes. The ending is certainly a bit more batshit than you'd expect for your standard seventh-generation slop, but it can't salvage this. The fanservice just reminded me of a somewhat better game. I would make a joke about this game only having two characters, but then it goes out of its way to say "yes, there really are only two characters."

I am not playing the fucking DLCs.

[detective-and-dreamer]

(last updated: September 3rd, 2024)

Hello! I'm Rachel (you can also call me Ray or Shay), they/she/he, and this is my Fallen London blog. Personal is @honeyed-ink.

I've technically been playing since 2010, but I dropped it between 2016-2024 and missed out on quite a bit. That being said, I'm not concerned about spoilers for the game or any others in the same universe, even though I haven't played those yet.

Feel free to message me here or ask for my discord, or to send calling cards to Lenora or Selina through the links in their names below. Emory can be reached through Nora; for any of my NPCs, just ask me directly and we'll figure something out.

Character info below!

PCs (and one sort-of PC):

Lenora V. Kenward, the Disarming Detective (she/her, #Lenora V. Kenward)

Lenora (or Nora to friends) came to the Neath in 1894 and soon threw herself headlong into solving a case of great personal importance, never allowing her career or relationships to fully distract her. Now that she has succeeded, she needs to figure out how to move forward with her life...

Ambition: Nemesis (finished! I do my best to tag spoilers but sometimes forget, and at this point her story has moved into a stage where it's not possible to fully avoid them.)

Profession: Consulting detective

Selina Beckett, the Wide-Eyed Dreamer (she/her, #Selina Beckett)

Selina arrived to the Neath in the fourth 1899, having been told of the city's many wondrous sights. It would have resulted in culture shock even if London was still on the Surface, but she's adjusting well. There's just the matter of the task she's been asked to complete at the Orphanage...

Ambition: Light Fingers

Profession: Music-hall Singer, eventual Silverer (Oneirotect)

Emory Hayes, the Resourceful Navigator (he/they, #Emory Hayes)

Emory (or sometimes Altan to immediate family) was born in the Neath and has been a zailor all their life - but certainly never a corsair, if the Admiralty's asking. He met Lenora when she requested assistance on a case and ended up being dragged on a thrilling chase halfway across the city. They quickly became friends with benefits, and eventually partners. Since Nora fears the Zee but has found herself needing to zail to various places, she gifted her yacht to Emory and has him take her wherever she needs to go. They've also started compiling as much knowledge as they can on Monstrous Anatomy.

Ambition: N/A

Profession: Monster-Hunter (Teratomancer)

NPCs:

Constance Statham, the Candid Columnist: (she/her, #Constance Statham) Lenora's somewhat inconvenient aunt, who raised her and Lucien following their parents' death at sea. She writes a gossip Society column for the Gazette and is a member of a lesbian polycule ladies' book club.

Lucien S. Kenward (no title yet): (he/him, #Lucien S. Kenward) Lenora's younger brother, a recent arrival to the Neath. He suffered some incident along the way that neither of them will speak of, and has amnesia as a result.

Aubrey Hayes, the Exuberant Rogue: (he/him, #The Exuberant Rogue) Emory's father, who moved to the Neath roughly a decade after London fell. An infamous pirate and duellist, but mostly just out to have fun.

Erdene, the Gilded Corsair: (she/her, #The Gilded Corsair) Emory's mother, a former urchin of Khan's Shadow turned pirate captain. Regularly seen dripping with stolen jewelry.

William Delaney, the Taciturn Explorer: (he/him, #The Taciturn Explorer) Aubrey's best friend, who came along with him to the Neath and has been doing his best to see every corner of it. Emory's honorary uncle and currently a member of their crew.

Khasar (no title yet): (they/he) Emory's reflection. Looks more monstrous than he does, but they're generally friendly. Often found in Parabolan waters or wandering in dream-cities or their ruins.

Evelyn Marlow (no title yet): (she/her) Chief gunner on a New Sequence ship. Joined roughly a decade ago, following an event that ended with her personality slightly eaten away by gant.

Some of Emory and Nora's other crew members can be found here.

Visual references for my main ocs can be found here, and other lore-related posts are tagged as #oc reference.

[violetren]

Just took my nephew to see Strange World and it was a great movie. After so many mommy issues driven Disney movies it was fun to see a daddy issues driven one.

There is actually so much I could say on it.

Like how one of the key messages actually felt like it was aimed at the parents rather than the kids - don't let building a legacy for your kids actually get in the way of being there for your kids in the now because they are your real legacy. Alternatively: don't lose sight of the fact that your kid is just as much an individual as you are.

And the more general theme of: seek to understand and work With your ecosystem instead of destroying it because short term gains will only meet long term destruction.

Or how the whole "I'm not you dad" plotline would have been called queer coding in any other movie except in this one on of the main characters in that plot is literally already out to his family who loves him unconditionally.

Which brings me to the one scene that prompted me to make this post. Spoilers. Duh.

There is a scene maybe halfway to two thirds of the way through the movie where Ethan (our mixed race gay child protag) is talking to his long lost grandfather Jaeger (old self absorbed white man, kinda protag).

It's a catch me up on your life tell me who you are type convo so there's a pretty rapid fire "what do you do for fun, what do you like, WHO do you like?" Flurry of questions.

Ethan has a massive crush on this guy in his friend group and so when asked about romance gets all stuttery and flustered which makes Gramps push for details.

At this point my queer ass was white knuckling my seat because sure he's comfortably put to his family that has been there but Jaeger HASN'T been there he's been cut off from civilisation for 25 years and is the bad father of the movie if anyone was gonna be the homophobe it'd be him. If this had come out when I was nephews age This is where the grandad would call it a phase or get mad or play along to retain cool status and then go get mad at the parents. This would have been a dark moment of heart break.

But then with no hesitation Ethan starts gushing about this boy and how he hasn't been able to ask him out because he's so awkward around him, and the grandad's literal only response is to give him well intentioned but fucking awful advice as to how to ask this fella out (Which Ethan appreciates but also instantly calls out as an awful idea).

I unclenched purely from shock, because it went good.

It was just another light funny scene but also and this is crucial it wasn't a shoehorned in coming out moment.

There was no formal coming out, just used he/him pronouns when talking about his crush like super casual and realistic like in a scene whose actual function was to show that while Ethan thinks adventuring stuff is cool he isn't "like his grandad" (a major fear of his father's) he is instead a smart young man who is already starting to see his own path in life doesn't look anything like his father's or grandfathers.

Anyways I fully recommend everyone go see Disney's new movie about sustainable living and daddy issues just as a massive fuck you to Disney who has been making active decisions to give it less attention than recently renewed long held licenses and the 504th Christmas short from basically every franchise they own.

[dysfunctionallygrey]

Who the fuck was gonna tell me how gay all the units in pjsk are?!???

I got bored over the summer and decided to download pjsekai again (there's a story behind that but it's too long.) Before this, I knew like 3 things about it: 1. Its a rhythm game, 2. Also a gacha game 3. Emu Ootori. I haven't heard much of people talking about the story, but I did know a few ships (Ruikasa) and that a number of them would have queer ships. (what are you gonna do it's fandom)

I was not however, prepared for the sheer MAGNITUDE of ships and ship material.

Prepare for a long ass post underneath because if theres one thing I enjoy it's yappering. Also spoilers for a few main stories ig.

Jesus Christ what the hell miku why are you turning all the units gay.

I'm not much of a shipper but God, are homosexual tendencies like a requirement for a sekai?????? My god these bitches gay, good for them. And this is coming from someone who hasn't finished all the stories.

First of all More More Jump.

I'm not that big of a fan of Idol Groups but the Sapphic squad™ has really captured me.

I had to rub my eyes in disbelief for a moment everytime they interacted because

The MOMENT Shizuku and Airi walked in and opened their mouths my immediate reaction was: oh?

And then as the story went on i was like: Oh!

OH.

Suddenly my favorite Vocaloid song is Romeo and Cinderella.

THE WAY AIRI SAID HER NAME I CAN'T. THEY CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER SM "You're my Idol." IS THAT SLANG FOR I WANNA GET MARRIED TO YOU AND RUN OFF TO THE COUNTRYSIDE WITH TWO CATS THESE TWO ARE KILLING ME.

I was rendered speechless.

The only consisyent thing to come out of my mouth was "Oh."

Oh spelled backwards is Ho which is one half of Homo therefore the other half is Minori and Haruka.

And dont let me get STARTED on them.

I ddid a quick deep dive into both Shizuairi and MinoHaru.

Let me just say that Haruka was probably Minori's awakening. Actually that is my hc now Haruka was Minori's awakening thank you all goodnight I will be expecting my Nobel Prize tomorrow.

There is so much ship material between these two it is actually insane, PLUS all their cards????

I saw some clips of some event stories and damn. I know these aren't meant to be ship fodder but it is so damn easy to put this stuff through a shipping lens.

Speaking of Len

Vivid BAD Squad???

Not a single het person in sight.

I already had the AnHane tag open on a separate tab halfway through but the way I JUMPED to open the AkiToya one and I hate to invoke the lord's name thrice but Jesus H. Christ what in the hell

I had to open my phone and text my friend if I just witnessed a gay divorce in front of my very own eyes and she confirmed.

I couldn't even make a "girls are fightinggh" joke because my mouth was AGAPE.

OPEN.

AJAR.

The fly nearby was too distracted to come into my mouth because of what it just witnessed.

And Toya's Backstory.

Their Bond???

THEIR RECONCILIATION?????

It only needed to be outside and raining and I would've been SOLD.

The music. The emotion. The words. Akito's speech. GOD. It legitimately made me tear up.

And that marks number 4. I'm not religious anymore but there's smth about these gays that make me start shaking aggressively as if ridden with rabies.

Anyways

This iis getting too long.

I was originally gonna write smth abt AnHane too but that took also a hell ton of words.

And of course I had a few words to say about everyone's favorite gay clowns and no I'm not talking about your friend group I'm talking about Wonderland x Showtime.

I have yet to finish the n25 story. But judging from the overall tone and the look I feel like it's smth I would love.

Insert sentence about Leo/Need here.

Jk I actually love those girls Saki is one of my favs and I am in LOVE with Shiho's cover of Lost ones Weeping.

Part 2 sometime in the future

[wordsandrobots]

Had a pretty bad day so I'm going to boast about something.

I didn't mention it at the time but posting Chapter 14 of Ragnarök in G Minor on Friday took it past the previous high bar for individual Wishing on Space Hardware fic-length set by The Ares Affair (72,872 words vs 69,850). And this latest story isn't even halfway done. That'll come next week, and take the total word count for the series over 550,000 words.

(I'm hoping to land at about 555,000 because who wouldn't?)

Which is nice, and a good reminder of why, exactly, it took me half a year longer than expected to get Ragnarök finished. Because that did kind of disappoint me, but looking at it like this, it makes sense. There was a *lot* to get through to tie the overarching story together and give everybody some sort of key moment. My problem with writing fic for Iron-Blooded Orphans is that I want to write about ALL of it, and every single character, so it was probably inevitable that it wouldn't conclude with anything less then a doorstop of a fic.

Chapter 14 also marked the end of the character arc I started with the first IBO fic I wrote and I want to write a brief commentary on that. I'm planning a proper 'author's note' essay when the whole series is done, but this . . . this is something more specific.

(Behind a cut because it is talking about endgame stuff for Wishing on Space Hardware, which is already a post-canon fic for Iron-Blooded Orphans, so, yeah. Take heed and beware ye spoilers.)

I can't remember when exactly I decided one of the climaxes was going to be a three-way fight between fun-house mirror versions of the Devil of Tekkadan. Like much of WoSH, it fell out of the ever-expanding churn of ideas IBO left me with. But it's an obvious thing to do: take the legacy of the anime's protagonists and fracture it against itself for the sake of drama. Because whatever else, we are talking about a group of deeply traumatised child soldiers and there remains the potential for a lot of bad things to follow the hopeful ending of the show.

Embi is all the worst parts of Tekkadan. Violent, arrogant, selfish, reckless -- he's the vessel into whom I poured all that and more, to the point of having him actively reject the better parts. Heart-sickened by the death of his brother, the bonds of comradeship fray until he can't stand the sight of his former squad-mates, much less the miraculous returnee from the dead who catalyses the events of WoSH. At the same time, he can't stay at his worst. He struggles with new connections because they threaten to pull him from his grief. He doesn't want to move on. Embi roots himself in an old dream of being like Mikazuki, in the life of a mercenary soldier. Fighting is all he knows and beyond it lies the terrifying prospect of hope and trying. He'd have much preferred to burn up over Mars. At least that would have been a safely familiar ending.

Ordsley suffers the myth of Tekkadan, transformed by people who saw what a group of Martian children 'achieved' and wanted to surpass them. Yet the curse inflicted on him -- for he is of course a werewolf, turning with the influence of the crescent moon -- is to become unwilling legatee of Mikazuki's reality: the beast and the boy, the contradictory dreams of someone trapped by a system that sees people as raw material. For the smart young man at home on the proper side of history, it's a hell of a shock to reckon with the humanity of those condemned for their rebellion. Here, finally joining the survivors on the battlefield they once called home, the pieces click, for at least a moment. There are no easy answers in a world that offers children a choice between killing and starvation, but perhaps in the middle of the fray, it is easier to understand why they call each other friend.

Then there's Shino. The lovely, blood-thirsty himbo I thought it would be interesting to pluck from his canonical fate.

I know when I decided to shatter his prosthetic. The middle of last year, after reading writing by amputees, talking about how they are depicted, how that feeds and feeds off narratives fundamentally disconnected from their lived experiences. Still, I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I'm not trying to speak to those experiences. The canon has sci-fi prosthetics. It's detached from the real world. It's just, the ways it also problematises them . . . the way, particularly with the addition of 598 and his cybernetic eye, that dovetails with the propaganda drive from militaries to gift high-tech limb replacements to those mangled in the course of fighting . . . I don't regret pushing myself to dip my toe in those waters.

You see, I wanted to tie together the strands of Shino's trauma. His instinctive reach for quid pro quo in his relationship with Yamagi, finally answered with the truth of everything positive he left behind on his first 'death'. His great bête noire, that failure of his last-ditch effort to save Tekkadan, coming full-circle as he's given another chance, another challenge, met this time with greater experience and maturity, and the knowledge of when not to fight. Third-best no longer, bolstered by all those who taught him what it takes to fly.

And as he gets to prove his mastery -- in ways beyond Embi's suicidal commitment and Ordsley's engineered supremacy -- he also reckons once more with that pernicious belief he is only fit to fight.

There isn't an answer, you know. Those doubts about ourselves, those demons, don't go away even when we let them go. We just learn to carry on regardless. To accept the possibility that we can live anyway, and to stop throwing the best parts of ourselves under the bus in our rush to distance ourselves from the worst.

So the arm is smashed to bits, the fate of the mobile suit pilot, the soldier, the body spent in violence. But Shino finally sees his younger self in a positive light and does what nobody else was able to for Embi: tell him it's OK to leave. Whatever it takes to be happy, even if that's a million miles away. He treats Ordsley as Ordsley, not Mika 2.0, reinforcing Ordsley's newfound balance. Above all, throughout everything, he is not alone. This final fight is spent with Eugene right at Shino's side, backing him up, trusting him. The Ryusei-Go is Tekkadan as a community, the part that truly never wilted. Because the reason Shino can have this moment of catharsis is that he is loved. So many people, building him up, giving him a future.

Everything he would do for them, unhesitatingly, and has, more times than he will ever realise.

I don't know if it's character development, exactly. Honestly, I don't know if the chapter actually encapsulates these things the way I wanted it to. I've read it too many times to see it straight any more and, even with a lovely band of readers I am privileged to have commenting, I'm doubting myself a lot these days. I don't sit well on my laurels, with the things I've completed, the word counts and the tick-marks. I worry it's still not enough. Put a fair of myself in Shino, there.

But I think it's good. I think it came out the way I wanted it to. I think it's the right thing for the story, to take a giant mecha battle, the tragic, inevitable conflict, and flip it around into an act of firefighting. I think I should be proud I got here, even if I never expected to when I first sat down at my keyboard to explain why the hot bisexual anime boy was still alive, actually.

So I'm make a note, to myself, that I did. That I should be proud. That I am, of me, for doing that.

And if you're reading this and you're going to be reading the rest of the story -- I'll just say, Shino himself is going to tell you why his vivid pink robot arm needed to be demolished by a giant sword. There'll be another, eventually (they do have a cyberneticist on speed-dial), but for now, well. You'll see.

[kimium]

Based on our conversation the other day, because I love hearing what things you love, please list and describe your top 5 favourite moments in Twisted Wonderland so far (from the main plot or side events💜)

I am so excited to answer this, friend! I loved having our conversation together earlier this week as I am always ready to discuss Twisted Wonderland.

To clarify to everyone: I only play on the English server so I will only talk about those events. I'm also going to stick to the main story/events. Vignettes are an entirely separate list.

Also, spoilers for Twisted Wonderland!

My Top Five Favourite Moments in Twisted Wonderland

5. Leona being "volun-told" to help - Fairy Tale Gala

We start this list with an event story! Fairy Tale Gala is one of my favourite events, mostly due to aesthetic and story. Leona is also one of my favourite housewardens! So, naturally, this scene had to end up on my list!

What makes this scene so memorable to me is not just the humour of the situation. Of course, one aspect of Twisted Wonderland that is endlessly funny is how the housewardens (minus Kalim) don't jump to help others. This is especially funny in the Fairy Tale Gala as Leona is "volun-told" that he's the one picked to walk on the runway. I loved his grumpiness upon realizing that he has to go through with the plan.

4. How Yuu persuades Leona to help - Book 3

Another Leona centred scene! I love Yuu, post Leona's overblot, deciding "Yes, I'm not scared of Leona. Yes, this means I'm going to be the biggest, loudest nuisance possible until he agrees to help" is priceless. It also WORKS?? I can't even imagine what the rest of the dorm was thinking. They're recovering from Leona's overblot and now this? I bet everyone's relief that Leona agreed to help was palpable the following day. Though, Leona is a bit of a tsundere, so he was bound to help out anyways ahaha.

3. Rook delivering Vil's moisturizer/lotions - Book 6

I want everyone to know that this encompasses the entire set-up to the punchline of the joke which is "Rook flies halfway across the world to STYX, trespasses, and is nearly killed on sight all to give Vil his moisturizer/lotions." What adds to this punchline is Idia's entire reaction. The sheer humour of Rook going "Oh no, I'm not here to break my housewarden (boyfriend) out of STYX." and proceeds to reveal the truth of his visit? That's comedic gold.

Of course, Vil ends up using it to escape which Rook obviously knew he'd do. However, Rook left the breaking out to Vil and sincerely only came to give the product to Vil.

2. Yuu crashing into Octavinelle - Book 4

I love this scene because it's a stroke of luck/coincidence that Yuu gets Octavinelle involved. There is something about a character desperate for help only to receive it from their prior enemies that makes me happy. Especially when no one expects it. Easily, one of my favourite tropes. I know eventually all dorms help, but Octavinelle is one of the more antagonistic dorms in their book. That makes their decision to help Yuu out all the better for me.

Yuu finding out "Tsunotarou's" identity - Book 5

One of my all-time favourite trope is a dramatic identity reveal. I live for them, especially when the reveal happens in a moment of crisis. So, by far my most favourite scene in Twisted Wonderland is when Yuu finally learns the identity of Malleus.

As someone who loves Malleus, I was waiting with anticipation to how Yuu would discover the truth. Especially when I knew Malleus would arrive to watch the dance competition. The story did not disappoint me. The other's reactions to Yuu casually calling The Crown Prince to Briar Valley "Tsunotarou" lives rent free in my mind. I have replayed that scene multiple times and every time it makes me happy.

And there you have it, friend! I hope you enjoyed my list! I await your own list of top five favourite scenes from Twisted Wonderland! Please, let us know!

[bethanythebogwitch]

So I have some thoughts about Digimon Adventure 02 The Beginning. There will be spoilers.

Overall I enjoyed myself, though it wasn't nearly as good as Last Evolution Kizuna. And that's kind of my first gripe about the movie. The new Adventure universe entries all feel disconnected from each other. 02 was very obviously a sequel to Adventure, as was Tri, but you don't need to watch Tri to understand Kizuna and you don't need to watch Tri or Kizuna to understand The Beginning. I would like more consistency and following up on plot points. The whole central plot of Kizuna, that Digimon partnerships are temporary and will eventually end, was not present in this movie at all. This movie also brings up several concepts without following through on them. It also felt rushed compared to Kizuna. I think expanding the run time to 2 hours instead of the 1.5 hrs we got would have benefitted the movie greatly by fleshing out the characters of Lui and Ukkamon, giving their story more of a resolution, and addressing the unanswered questions. Specifically I want to know who the great being Ukkamon gets his powers from is and what's up with that very disturbing giant form it took. The movie also didn't really give a lot of the 02 cast much to do. This is very much the Lui and Ukkamon movie, guest-starring the 02 cast. I think what I want out of a 02 follow up is resolution on some of the hanging plot threads (the dark ocean in particular) and more character development to see how the kids we see in 02 will become the adults we see in the epilogue. And evolutions for SIlphymon and Shakkoumon.

I am definitely enjoying the continuation of the Adventure universe, but I am annoyed by the fact that each new entry ends with sequel hooks and dangling plot threads that the next entry does not address. Things we still don't know include (from Tri) who evil Gennai was and what his goals are, what happened to the original chosen children besides Daigo and Maki, and what are all the resurrected villains from the reboot doing, and (from Kizuna) how the partners that vanished will come back in time for the 02 epilogue. I think these are all great points that can be followed up on for good stories. Have a confrontation with evil Gennai, tell a story about Taichi/Tai and Yamato/Matt bringing back Agumon and Gabumon. I'm also not sure how Ukkamon trying to give everyone in the world a Digimon partner to make them happy squares with Kizuna saying that all Digimon partnerships will eventually end. That's another great opportunity to tell a story connecting the two. Maybe Ukkamon isn't as powerful as he thinks and can't make permanent bonds, maybe Ukkamon is too short-sighted to see the consequences of his actions, maybe someone else (evil Gennai or the dark ocean perhaps) is manipulating Ukkamon for their own goals. Maybe you could tie Tri and 02 together ore by letting the reboot from Tri bring back characters like BlackWarGreymon and Oikawa.

Ukkamon's power to grant wishes is another thing I think deserves more attention. The most obvious answer I think is that Ukkamon's power comes from the world of dreams seen in the end of 02. However the very dark (though seemingly innocent) way he grants Lui's wishes and the very Lovecraftian transformation he goes through gives me dark ocean vibes. My personal theory is that Ukkamon is an innocent creature related to the world of dreams that is being corrupted by the dark ocean or that he is some halfway point between the two worlds (they are implied to be counterparts, the world of dreams representing good dreams and the dark ocean representing nightmares). Again, this is very good potential for storytelling. I guess what I'm saying is: fanfic writers, start your engines.

I saw some people saying that this movie retconned Tri and the 02 epilogue. I did not get that impression at all. I think the only thing that would have to change about Tri is that the adventures of Daigo, Maki and co would have to take places closer to the original series than what was shone in that series. The epilogue is still perfectly viable as a conclusion to what we see in the movie. We even see the characters beginning to work toward the careers they have in the epilogue and a tease to the start of the Miyako/Yolei x Ken relationship. I'm in favor of this. I can definitely see why a lot of people want Tri and the epilogue decanonized, but I think that 9 times out of 10 it's better to take something that didn't work and build new, better stories on it than to just retcon it away.

Stuff I like about this movie. The action is visually impressive and the animation in general is excellent. I like Miyako/Yolei getting more to do since she was definitely the most underutilized in 02 (though Iori/Cody got the shaft this time around). I like the movie showing more of how the characters got to where they were in the epilogue. I like the cameos from the international chosen children and shots showing the beginning of a new generation of chosen. The emotional core of the story, though a bit rushed, was strong. The ending showing that even without digivices, the bond between human and Digimon is strong enough to stay was heartwarming and a very nice aversion to this franchise always trying to cram in a tragic ending to its stories. And that one scene (if you saw the movie you know which one I'm talking about) was scarier then anything we got in the entirety of Ghost Game and Survive. Overall, it was a good movie, I just wish it could have done just a bit more.

[imagineitdearies-old]

Will you continue duty and sacrifice?

Yes of course!! And I'm about halfway done with the next chapter :) To all those who are dying from anticipation here's a little excerpt below the cut (spoiler obv!):

The next time he surfaced, it was dark. Light from the dying hearth gave just a bit of light, enough for Aemond to note the eye patch his mother must have left him on the nearby dresser. 

A heavy arm was thrown over his side, with slow, deep breathing in his ear. 

The lack of his alpha’s scent disconcerted Aemond once again; he shifted to his back a bit, making sure it was truly Lucerys pressed against him.

But there were the alpha’s signature brown curls and wide shoulders, and those full, pink lips, which currently hung half-agape. That small, slightly-upturned nose, and dark lashes fanning over cheeks that were still a bit rounded, despite the otherwise sharpened bone structure of his face. Aemond felt his entire body relax at the sight.

His movement disturbed Lucerys’s sleep it seemed, dark eyes slotting open in the next second. 

Then Luke’s lips curled into a drowsy smile as he beheld Aemond in return. “You’re awake,” he murmured.

Aemond impulsively kissed the words from his mouth, snatching a taste of their warm, languid affection. Then huffed a laugh at how Lucerys froze against him in surprise. “You’re here,” he whispered back, before turning and settling on his side again. A pleased hum escaping him when, after a pause, Luke’s arm curled back around him.

He slept through the rest of the night warm and at ease.

Lots of big conversations to be had in this chapter (which have been KILLER to write, ugh, the amount of times I've deleted whole paragraphs), but this little moment was a nice break from them 🥰

[never-ending-fanfic]

Okay both Hiding Food and OCD intrigue me a lot 👀🖤

About OCD fic read here

And about Hiding Food well lucky for you my friend, I already started it!

Heads up, the title doesn't make sense anymore because I changed the course of the plot halfway through and never bothered to change the name, but I'm gonna answer to that anyway ♥️

In fact that was the first fic I worked on after joining the fandom! And, strangely enough, it's kinda similar to your series... (though I serious have no idea HOW? I swear I started this fic months before reading yours, so what kind of hole in the Matrix is that?)

The story starts after Kallus joins the Rebllion properly, becomes a proper rebel (if that's even a thing). He's happy to finally be on the right side, his relationship with Zeb and the rest is great. He's a part of the Intelligence, so he mostly stays on Yavin, sometimes joins the Ghost and Zeb on missions.

Being a new rebel after many many years in the Empire, he obviously misses some things about it, like the spotless organisation. Everything in the Rebllion is a mess. He's a little overwhelmed when it comes to things like the cantina. In the Empire he got used to living off of simple meals like ration bars and the variety of choices in the Rebellion is strange and overwhelming (I think the Rebellion would have choices for many species diet, you know). He picks on a strategy of choosing whatever Zeb chooses.

But Zeb leaves on missions and is not always available on base and when he's not there, Kallus simply gives up on trying to face the cantina lunch all together.

And he finds familiarity in going hungry for a bit, so it doesn't bother him as much as it should. He gets tired quickly, his head hurts often and he notices a few other small changes, but that's nothing to be concerned about (spoiler: it is). He doesn't care about that, since when Zeb comes back, he will go back to eating normally.

But he doesn't, because suddenly the mere sight of food makes him nauseous. That is a little alarming, he has to admit. But he's determined to keep that to himself.

No more spoilers, but ut is hurt/comfort, so it has a happy ending in my mind. I might publish it when I finish

Thank you for asking! ♥️

[killdeercheer]

Studio Ghibli Reviews: Tales from Earthsea (2006)

Sigh, so this was one I gave the benefit of the doubt to, even after hearing so much vitriol for it. And honestly, I don't know what's sadder: actually watching it and seeing how rough it was, or learning about its backstory and feeling so bad for everyone involved. Tales from Earthsea was the directorial debut of Gorō Miyazaki, Hayao's son, who had been previously responsible for managing and directing the recently-opened Ghibli Museum. Gorō, a landscaper, had only a passing interest in animation, but his lack of expertize in museum-work seemed to Hayao to be a blessing in disguise. The older Miyazaki wished to adapt Ursula K. Le Guin's 1980s novel series Earthsea, which had heavy fantasy elements and was an inspiration to the filmmaker. But there was a problem: Hayao felt that all the creative juices possible for an Earthsea film were used up in his previous work, and he decided to pass the torch to his son as a sort of experiment. And when I say "pass the torch", I mean he basically threw the project at him and contributed no help whatsoever. Whatever he expected for Gorō, it must have been quite a lot: there's a now famous story of Hayao walking out of the theater halfway through a test-screening to smoke a cigarette, and later commented "I saw my own child. He hasn't become an adult. That's all. It's good that he made one movie. With that, he should stop." With the release of the film, it became apparent to fans of the novels that this Earthsea film was anything but, with a jumbled plot and elements inserted from a completely separate work Shuna's Journey (by Hayao). Le Guin, after much hesitation at the idea of an adaptation to begin with, responded with disappointment. "It is not my book. It is your movie. It is a good movie." But... is it though?

Plot: Earthsea is a fantasy world where humans and dragons shared a common heritage, with the ancestors of the dragons choosing to remain freeborn creatures while the ancestors of humans chose to settle down and own property. With sightings of dragons fighting each other, it becomes apparent to the Kingdom of Enlad that a growing darkness is threatening to swallow the world. After unexpectedly murdering his father the king, the timid and unnerved Prince Arren flees into the wilderness and meets a traveling wizard-in-disguise called Sparrowhawk. The experienced man shows him pity and kindness, and introduces him to the wider world and all its corruptions and slavery. Along the way he encounters a mysterious scarred girl named Therru, on the run from slavedrivers led by the evil warlock Cob. In the middle of all this conflict, Prince Arren has to face the struggle within him and learn to do... something or another. I don't know, this plot was confusing.

- this review will be mainly spoiler-free (if you even care) -

I'm gonna try to keep this brief but fair and honest. I didn't like this one. But it did start out really strong. This mysterious and mythical world is opened up before us with dragons and sailing ships and a very apparent Hellenistic/Roman aesthetic throughout. Those aspects I appreciated, because I'm a bit of an ancient history nerd and I can get invested in a fantasy setting. And I was also ready to be invested in whatever the king and queen and their subjects were discussing, and then out of nowhere the film takes a sharp turn with the killing of the king at the hands of Arren. So, for the remainder of the film, we focus on this character. Prince Arren is not a good character. Throughout the film he is battling with this apparent split-personality complex where one minute he's shy and gentle and the next he wants to kill somebody. During his initial murder, he steals his father's sword and cannot for the life of him unsheathe it. This is eventually explained towards the end of the film, but to be honest I have difficulty remembering the explanation, or whether it truly gets resolved or not. Something about one side of Arren is his "light" or what have you? Honestly, this feels like something I'd understand if I read the books first but I shouldn't have to do that if it's explained well in the film! Ugh. And I hate his design. Studio Ghibli has set a great example for how human characters are portrayed with realistic proportions and expressions but Arren looks so uncanny with his doe-eyed face and weird button-nose.

The other characters don't fare any better. His child co-star Therru is really not given much to do. Half the time of the film she is bitter with Arren for his aid against the slavedrivers, and when she finally opens up to him we get only one moment of positive character interaction before she's captured and tied up by the very same slavers. And that's another thing - I heard in one review that in the film the characters so very easily find each other in this apparently vast magical world and... yeah, it's true! It feels like the whole film could take place in my small localized neighborhood! The villain, Cob, had a lot of promise but he just felt kinda flat? And he reminded me of that Momo Meme lady which was distracting.

I think the only saving grace of a character was Sparrowhawk, and even that's being generous. He disappears for much of the film to go on a sidequest against Cob (they have history, which is conveniently explained only in shouting monologues, ugh). But he was charming and a good foil to Arren's nonsense and I do like wizard characters in these sorts of films so that's a point in his favor. He has this relationship with a woman named Tenar who I think is supposed to be a witch or something? (she raises Therru, who is orphaned) and that was very nice to see, but even that doesn't really go very far plot-wise in the film. But Sparrowhawk was probably the only character I actually liked... Oh! I liked the Cloak Vendor Lady! She was cute.

The English dub was quality, as expected, but that still didn't detract my thoughts of the characters. Timothy Dalton (Sparrowhawk) and Willem Dafoe (Cob) were highlights for me. I don't even know who tf the child actors are. Googles them We have Matt Levin at Arren and Blaire Restaneo as Therru, and the latter is apparently a pop singer? I guess that explains why she has a song in the movie but that part went on for too long and I didn't really care about it so sorry. I was surprised to learn that they got Cheech "sans Chong" Marin to play one of the slavers called Hare... who was just blond Kurotawa and half as good. It made me wish I was watching Nausicaä! smh

Let's see... artistically Tales from Earthsea is pretty competent. The animation is quality for Ghibli, despite some of the character designs, and the background art really stole the show. Again, all those Greco-Roman motifs were neat to see. The world felt lived in and ancient, and that's definitely points in its favor. It's just a shame that all this art went into a film I don't desire to watch again.

Surprisingly, Joe Hisaishi did not compose the score for this one! That ?honor goes to Tamiya Terashima, and from what I remember it was a nice soundtrack. Really utilized the fantasy themes within it, but unfortunately I don't have any recollection of the actual tunes so... uh oh.

Yeah, I think I'm rambling at this point. The long-and-short of it is, Tales from Earthsea is an overly-ambitious film that doesn't take the time to fully explain its lore to the audience, and when it does it's poorly executed. The heart of the main cast is just not there, with Prince Arren being (to quote my friend Trey the Explainer) a "wet blanket" who I could care less for. The number of things I like could be counted on one hand. I feel immense sadness for Le Guin for what happened to her novels, and I feel empathy with the fans who apparently have yet to see a true adaptation that captures the heart and spirit of the books (and actually portrays its brown and black characters as such, yeesh what I wouldn't give to see a black person in a Studio Ghibli film). Overall, I'm glad I at least watched it, if only to be able to say that I've watched all the Ghibli films some day. At the very least, Gorō has made another film that is supposed to be good, From Up on Poppy Hill. We'll see. And we'll see how I fare with Earwig and the Witch, another of Gorō's. If I end up liking the story of that one more than Earthsea despite the quality of its CGI, I'll eat my hat (and I have several to choose from!)

[thepixelelf]

I posted 4,880 times in 2022

1,280 posts created (26%)

3,600 posts reblogged (74%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@jminwook

@woozi

@bisexualgyu

@ only-aroha-would-know

@xuseokgyu

I tagged 4,119 of my posts in 2022

Only 16% of my posts had no tags

#stickynotes.tpe - 756 posts

#seventeen - 678 posts

#golden child - 377 posts

#asks - 291 posts

#astro - 272 posts

#major ursa moment - 169 posts

#woozi - 168 posts

#anonymous - 158 posts

#kpop scenarios - 148 posts

#kpop imagines - 148 posts

rise of the major ursa moment tag 😎 I switched to being ursa halfway through the year so it's fun to see that up there. also omg uji being the only individual person on the top 10... truly I am weak for him

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#and the way seokmins death was explained in 1251 so efficiently and yet made the audience 'figure it out' in the simplest sense— wonderful

@97-liners jackie got my longest tag and it was worth every letter 💕

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

and the universe said,

When soulmates are suddenly thrust upon the world, you are one in a million who wishes they weren't -- and that's before you meet the person (people?!) making your life much harder than it needs to be. And before someone asks you to sign an NDA.

genres: comedy disguised as romance and romance disguised as comedy, soulmate au, technically an alternate universe but they're still idols, fluff, angst?, short chapters

relationship(s): SVT ot13 x reader

warnings: 18+ (there will be no smut but perhaps suggestive parts and multiple references to/jokes about sex and I honestly just don't feel comfy with minors reading my writing of that stuff sorry). coarse language. everybody's a little bit very stupid. individual chapters will have their own warnings

See the full post

593 notes - Posted September 23, 2022

#4

First to Fall - SVT 95 line (Completed!)

What happens when two friends who are ‘bad at love’ want to prove each other wrong?

Genres: romance, comedy, idiots-to-lovers, university au

Pairing: Reader & S.Coups (feat. Jeonghan & Joshua)

Warnings: language, absolute dumbassery

Note: this is a recast of an smau I have posted before

•••

Profiles

1. Taemin from SHINee

2. Scout’s Honour

3. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

4. Boom

5. First Date Types

6. As if

7. Wait What Happened

8. Awkward Silence

9. You Have No Idea

10. Emergency

11. No, Maybe

12. I Need To Tell You Something

13. Should’ve Gone First

14. I Don’t Know

15. Priorities

16. Missed

17. Standby for Backup

18. Starstruck

19. I’m Gonna Do Something

20. Because

21. A to B

22. Let’s Talk

See the full post

651 notes - Posted January 11, 2022

#3

powerpoints I think seventeen would bring to a ppt sleepover

scoups: Exactly How Many Minutes After Midnight Each of You Texted Me on My Birthday

jeonghan: Cheating at Everything: Is it Really a Crime?

joshua: When To Quit a Bit (I Wish I Knew)

jun: Good Soup :]

hoshi: I *AM* a Tiger (NOT CLICKBAIT)

wonwoo: Why Cats Are Better Than People

woozi: Top 300 Best Animes Of All Time

dk: My Friends as Pizza Toppings and Combinations

mingyu: Receipts of Every Time You Guys Have Cyberbullied Me (Mostly Instagram)

the8: The Art of Shutting the Fuck Up Sometimes

seungkwan: 12 Slides of Secrets Y'all Have Confided to Me And I Will Only Skip Over Yours if You Admit I'm Your Favourite

vernon: cat videos 🐈‍⬛🐈

dino: I Am Underappreciated in This Household

832 notes - Posted December 1, 2022

#2

Or, Would You Rather it be Me?

Genres: romance, soulmate au, university au, (no angst isn’t that crazy?!) Pairing: Reader & Vernon (Seventeen) Words: 7.9k (00:31) Warnings: language. (spoiler: the characters make out and shirts are taken off but it doesn’t get described past that) Notes: well well well well well… what’s this? a soulmate fic by casey thepixelelf with no angst in sight? it must be christmas! oh wait, it is (was)! happy (EXTREMELY LATE I’M SO SORRY) holidays mia @ memesolvernonchwe​ !! hope you like it :)

set in the Words that Bind Us universe

A detested soulmark, a friendship over a decade in the making, and an unexpected proposal from one friend to another... what could possibly go wrong?

See the full post

840 notes - Posted March 11, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Bouquets for a Friend (From a Friend)

Genres: romance, ceo au, secretary/personal assistant au Pairing: Reader & S.Coups (Seventeen) Words: 1.6k Warnings: cheol gets drunk off-screen Notes: another recasted fic because ceo cheol has me in a metaphoric literal chokehold sorry

Your boss gets flowers quite often. This time, when he does, he wants to get rid of them, and who are you to turn down free flowers?

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wow that svt powerpoint post really climbed up last minute 😭 really happy to see or would you rather it be me here, though, because I feel like that's the post I worked the hardest on in this list. not surprised about #1.... it was a repost but I should've expected carats' weakness to ceo cheol lmao

852 notes - Posted July 3, 2022

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[madamefluffnstuff]

A Morning in Elsweyr (Drabble)

Fandom: Elder Scrolls Online

Pairing: Bastian Hallix/Fem!Khajiit!Vestige

Rating: K (All Ages)

Warning(s): Lots of Fluff, slight spoilers for the Elsweyr DLC. Bastian and Khajiit MC are in an established relationship and thus share a bed.

Words: 826

AN: I love Bastian dearly and I'd bring him everywhere with me if I could.

Also don't @ me, there is, in fact, a Breton/Khajiit couple in Malbal Tor. And several other interspecies couples in ESO with Khajiit. So shushie.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The first thing Bastian realized as he awoke was that he was not in an inn, but the Hall of the Lunar Champion. The second thing he noticed was that he had definitely overslept. He could hear the merchants pitching their wares, and the smell of Amajhan's fragrant cooking wafting up towards the house. As he adjusted to the late-morning sounds, he pinched his nose and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

It was then he became very aware of the distinct sound of stone grinding on stone.

He shifted a bit and looked in the direction of the sound. It was his sweetheart sitting cross-legged on the floor next to the cooking fire in the middle of the room. She stared very intently at the tiny mortal and pestle in her clawed hands. Every so often, he'd notice a whisker twitch or her tail tip flick as she concentrated on the grinding.

Eventually that position began to make him feel stiff, so he made a motion to adjust himself. She must have heard him because her ears tilted in the direction of the bed, and her gaze followed. Her whole face lit up as she realized he was awake.

"Ahh, Bastian, you're awake!" she said as she set the mortal and pestle down. In a heartbeat she was by his side, bumping her forehead against his cheek and pressing her nose to his. Her whiskers tickled his face and he chuckled as she greeted him.

"Yes, I'm awake. Good morning to you, too," he smiled.

A purring noise rumbled in her chest. "This one was about to make some tea," her thick Khajiiti accent rolling off her tongue. "Go freshen up and I'll make you some as well."

She started to make her way back to the cooking fire, her long tail swinging gracefully behind her. It took Bastian only a few minutes to find a fresh change of casual wear. The sweet and earthy scent of the tea was a bit strong, but not at all unpleasant. His sweetheart waited until he had seated himself comfortably across from her and handed him his cup. He thanked her and they simultaneously took a drink of breakfast tea.

"By the way, what time is it?" Bastian asked.

"About halfway between dawn and noon," she answered without missing a beat. "You seemed tired after we went through the Rimmen Necropolis yesterday, so, this one decided to let you rest."

He hummed and took another sip of his tea."I appreciate that. Definitely needed it."

"This one needed it as well, truth be told. The undead situation was worse than expected," the Khajiit woman let out a tired sigh. "So I was thinking... Perhaps... we should take the day to rest up."

Bastian blinked. "Don't we need to go to The Stitches and meet with your friend Taznasi?"

"Well, yes. But she said it wasn't a matter of urgency. Besides, this one knows Taznasi can handle herself if things do go wrong. She is a reliable sort."

While he had never met Taznasi himself, Bastian had heard the stories. Truth be told he was a bit intimidated by her.

If the stories were true, perhaps with good reason.

He thought a moment and realized she was right: he was incredibly sore and physically tired from fighting necromancers and skeletons. Not to mention all the trekking through Scar's End and Talon Gulch the previous day. Perhaps a day off was due.

It was decided they would get a few household chores done first, so the rest of the day could be spent relaxing. With the added muscle aches of the dungeon delving from that week, the bed was a very welcome sight.

The khajiit plopped herself on said bed, and the mage soon followed, surrounded by the numerous pillows and blankets (or a "nest" as she called it- the cat-folk had a tendency to nest). As soon as he turned to glance at her she pounced on him.

It took a moment to get comfortable, but soon enough the couple were a tangled mess of limbs, snuggled into each other's chests. The Khajiit woman nuzzled her cheek against Bastian's forehead, an enthusiastic purring emitting from her throat. Bastian, in turn, wrapped his arms around her shoulders and gave a gentle, comforting squeeze.

He could never get over how soft her fur was as he circled his thumbs into her muscles.

His eyes widened a bit when he suddenly felt her warm, wet tongue scrape across the side of his head. It took him a moment to remember grooming is as normal to khajiit as breathing. He let her finish another swipe before he gave her a quick peck on the nose. Now it was her turn to look surprised. A few blinks on both sides quickly turned into joyful laughter from the couple.

"Ahziis arina jer, Bastian.*"

"I love you too, my dear."

~

~

* "I love you, Bastian" in Ta'agara.