#i'm gonna write a fix-it for this au

[naffeclipse]

What if Eclipse from AP was a naga? And this took place in the deep jungle of the amazon, where photographer y/n is trying to take pictures of the wildlife?

I'm vibrating at the speed of sound over this ask while also nudging my naga au

Naga Eclipse from AP would have the tail of a Green Anaconda, with an olive green scaly color dotted with black, framed by burning-like flares of orange along the length of his slithery body. He's also decorated with orange-yellow striping on either side of his long, slipper form. His upper half is scaley with a lithe deadliness to his musculature and decorated by frills surrounding his head with brighter orange-yellow colors, almost hypnotic in their gradient hues. One eye is deep emerald green, and one is midnight blue.

Lucky you—you're out on a once-in-a-lifetime expedition to explore a jungle closed off to the public, funded by Fazco, and occupied by two researchers who will be your bunkmates for the next few weeks. You're itching to take photos of the large river, including swamps, marshes and streams, and whatever wildlife is out there.

The few locals you did meet before you left to hike the rest of the way to what would be your new, isolated home warned you of a dangerous snake—a large, mythical beast. You take note of the local folklore. You understand the truth is hidden in there somewhere, and you are well aware of the dangers and diseases you could be met with in such a harsh environment, but you're determined.

It doesn't take long for you to feel eyes watching you when you first venture out by yourself. You take beautiful pictures of freshwater fish, big and beautiful, unlike any you have ever seen. Of course, you have hundreds of snapshots of the local flora, the trees, the floating meadows, the thick vines that drape each branch and hang thickly about the ground. You almost forget that you eerily don't feel alone.

But you swear something moves in the water—the ripples stop as soon as you look. The stillness is suddenly stiff, lifeless. Even the birds have stopped chirping.

You lower your camera and carefully put it away. A trickle of fear slips into your heart. You turn away from the river's edge only to be met by a low hiss and a creature, unlike anything you witnessed in your travels, spooling itself neatly out of the water, blocking your path to the base. An incredible creature with long arms and a great, serpentine tail that seems to stretch for yards and yards. You can hardly breathe in his presence—he's otherworldly with his frills and scales and fangs.

His eyes contain a mesmerizing shine as if staring into a fire as it burns or watching the ocean as it laps up against the beach, drawing your attention, demanding you don't look away. You couldn't anyway. Half-frozen, you struggle to keep from collapsing. He beckons with a sharp talon. He hisses softly for you to come closer, mouse. He wants to see you. You try to beg no without revealing how terribly you tremble. He doesn't let you go. He insists. His eyes flash with an allure. You almost step close when he murmurs that you need to be good.

But then your sense of survival kicks adrenaline into your heart, and you turn to run—

He strikes faster than your eyes can follow. Two loops of his green and orange tail surrounded you in an instant. You're dragged to the ground, your arms pinned under his mass, and the back of your head cradled by his large palm as powerful muscles squeeze you in the slightest—a gentle rebuke for thinking you could get away. You're hyper-aware of the terrifying bulk of muscles as you lie trapped in his coils. One strong twist and your eyes could pop out of your skull, and every bone protecting your heart and lungs would crumble to shards. You gasp. An urge to kick your legs and struggle erupts in your panic; a sinking feeling tells you it would only make things worse.

He coos over you, hissing and humming in an ancient song of the jungle you have no name for. When you whimper, he shushes you and strokes your cheek. He tells you how lovely you'll be. When you talk back to him, somehow finding your tongue amid your horror, you find out his name. Eclipse. He moves you more upright, resting you on his tail so you're not petrified by how vulnerable you feel lying down, but he never loosens his scaly bindings. He hovers over you. You gaze into his stunning frills of yellow-orange and wonder how a being like him came to exist. He studies you as you study him. He grins at how you shiver when he traces your collarbone with a sharp fingertip.

You remind yourself that you can still breathe. He hasn't crushed you—yet—but you don't like how wide his smile is. Sometimes, his jaw stretches a little too long as if dislocating from his skull, ready to devour you. His eyes gleam with a ravenousness as scales twist around you, holding you close enough to smell the slick green water he had been in and deep musk.

He tells you that he'll see you again very soon—away from other humans, lest you bring him a fine gift for a meal. You can only flex your fingers, silently pleading in your heart that he won't unhook his jaw and eat you alive.

Then, he unravels himself from your limbs. But before he lets you go entirely, he leans in close, his serpentine tongue flickering close to your neck and by your hair, tasting the air around you as you muster all your strength to not scream. He inhales deeply, pleased, before he murmurs, "Sweet mouse. You are mine. Say it."

You don't understand, but you echo his command, and when he taps your chin once in what might have been a loving gesture, you force your jelly legs to solidify before you run and run, all the way back to base. You slam the door to your room behind you. You touch your ribs, your arms, still caught in the heavy sensation of his loops as if he were upon you right now.

The stories are true—there is a giant snake in this jungle, and he wants you. You're afraid to discover if Eclipse's intrigue with you is only an exotic way to satisfy his hunger.

[fandom-zoomer]

I think I may have come up with the best worst tma time travel “fix-it” au (imho)

Inspired by Ketakoshka's 'dread spawn' idea in their dread child jon series, Dribbledscribbles' origin story for the dread powers and extinction entity interpretation in their extinction!jon fic (and some more of the latter in their post-eyepocalypse fic too), as well as my own love for making unholy (aka fun) fusions of things and sandboxing eldritch interactions with the 'mundane' . . .

. . . I have created a post-canon, Somewhere Else, time travel ""fix-it"" story that I think might be unique (at least I've never seen any fics like it– but if I'm wrong then please please share the link!! or dm me if it's your own work hehe but no pressure!!)

(mag 160+ spoilers after this point!)

(i'm about to wax poetics here (hopefully coherently)—so you can read the story-ramble OR you can scroll to the TL;DR at the bottom to skip it & spoilers to read the nutshell & see if you're interested :3)

so get this...

The big Change happens right? But this time the Extinction is a bigger player in the game than canon, and ultimately deeply marks Jon throughout the eyepocalypse.

So when the finale happens, since Jon is now connected to the epicenter of the whole show, his 'death' and the panopticon's destruction has the simultaneous effect of baiting the Dread Powers into the Hole (via his voice in the spools of tape)– and also killing everyone trapped by the Dread Powers in the world via Jon the walking detonator thanks to being entrenched in the Extinction's influence. —Combining both his best and worst plans and realizing his worst nightmare: killing everyone and spreading the Powers to an unknown number of worlds to wreak even more havoc.

How did this happen?

Simple—but first some backstory for context.

The Extinction was more of a 'lurker', much less "outgoing" than its 'siblings'. And when it was "grandiose", well. . . it tended to leave no survivors. Thus its unrecognition by those like Robert Smirke or Jürgen Leitner.

To go back even further, the Dread entities were originally one cohesive entity with many faces and limbs. Its faces reflected the same developmental complexity as the sources of their manifestation. So those with the most diverse species feeding them held the widest capacities. Namely: the Hunt, End, and Extinction. But being a singular entity, it didn't mean much.

But as human species' family lines develop and grow more complex cognitive ability, more esoteric Dreads developed, and more faces become more complex. And the Extinction was right there from the beginning as more species died out one by one. Quietly. (...maybe? 👀)

Over time humans discovered the Powers and bonded with them, then started to classify them. From here, the Dread entity fragmented into Dread entities.

They developed their own 'consciousnesses' distinct from the hive 'mind' they once were. And, eventually, sapience. Self-awareness. Desires. Personalities. But they were still connected, part of the 'system'.

The Extinction and the Web (newer, but always sapient) are a quirky pair, the Web seeking control over everything and the Extinction seeking ultimate entropy and change upon its catastrophe.

It's hard to distinguish the Extinction exactly, its work misidentified for others with few under its own unique umbrella. Things 'unique' to it get missed due to being a misnomer and not getting clocked. (But that is the nature of the Dread Powers after all.. being a fragmentation of their original singular mass.)

...

The Extinction represents the fear of disaster that will bring about the end of everything—everything you know, love, need to survive. Everything you built, worked for, hoped for. The destruction of stories and of life, of the very history written by your land—your home.

Your community. Your society. Your species.

You.

Annihilated in totality.

The Extinction represents the fear of those that come after you to replace you—worse than you, different from you. Leaving you and your history and stories (the driver of your continued existence) forgotten forever. The fear of life moving on after you, ignorant and apathetic. Your story meaningless, irrelevant.

Your community's story. Your society's story. Your species' story.

Your story.

Erased and written over.

The Web represents the fear of being controlled, fate being out of your hands—by malevolent authorities out of reach, by abusive companions or relatives, by invisible forces far beyond the human comprehension. Spinning, winding, twisting, pulling each decision in your life made for you. Until destruction of the self by your own hand.

Your struggle for change futile. Your feet following the same path. Your fate determined for you.

You forfeit control—your feet march you to your bitter demise.

The Web represents the fear of being conspired against. Scheming, plotting, planning your downfall. The loss of everything you hold dear, worked for, bled for. Spinning, twisting, scripting lies about you. Your credibility falls to pieces, your world shatters, and your story distorts.

You are kept alive by the spreading of your story. And the people have decided to trust the manufactured tale.

You are forgotten—twisted into an image of something wrong.

...

Sometimes they're at odds. Where one seeks to manipulate the threads of everything endlessly, the other seeks to destroy it all so thoroughly, with such finality, as to mutate it– the schemes, the pawns, the gameboard itself.

Sometimes they're complementary. Where you watch as you lose everyone you cared for one by one, spiraling down a path darker into entropy, the irreversible nightmare, and wondering if you ever really had free will in the first place– if anyone did.

What if the end for you really was just another game to them? What if this wasn't their first round? What if you're just the next step in the grand scheme, larger than even your own universe?

Alright, now with that out of the way, let's bring back the question.

How did the Extinction change Jon, and how did this cause the altered result of the finale?

The Web has been there since the near beginning, pulling Jon along and guiding him to his next milestone in the plot. She had known the world would come to an end one way or another, and wanted to bring it about on her own terms so that she—they all—could escape it.

So when the Web saw what the Eye was doing, she had an idea. So she aided their acolytes, seeing her sibling as the perfect way to bring all of them together for the final step. And the Web set her own card onto the board: Jon.

Jon had a natural disposition for the Eye; from stubborn curiosity to the reckless pursuit for answers to even the coldest cases. Whether he knows it or not, his mind is a gaping maw for horrible knowledge—chasing after experiences disguised as answers to his burning questions so dreadful they leave scars on him like sigils of a looming doom.

While he has no affinity for the Web's machinations, he is still hers. She has no issue with guiding agents from across the court, she knows how to share. Especially when it benefits her. Jon archives each event, every little detail, with such care and readiness that he makes the perfect vessel to pull them in—to guide them out. He'd flourish best as her tool in the Watcher's sphere.

After the Watcher's Crown and the Dread Powers came into the world, the Extinction started to make its presence known. It seeped into other Domains and fed on the people's dread for permanent catastrophic change, on their fear of ruin and total desctruction. And as Jon traversed them and lived through their fear, so was he marked by the Extinction.

It seeped into his skin like oil and burned through his veins like acid. It tainted his trails with the radioactivity of human hubris and greed, twisting and mutating both the mundane and Dreadful as he passed. It closed its grasp on him with the tightness plastic rings and infected his Perceived routes with the stench of mountainous landfill and the thickness of city smog.

The Web and the Extinction had a complex relationship, but in this moment they guided the Archivist in synchronous song like a soldier being led to his final mission: dropping the nuclear bomb.

Did Jon know?

...

No.

The twines of manipulation layer labyrinthine over everything, above and below and through every angle and dimension. Even the Nigh-Omniscient Antichrist and his All-Knowing God will never fathom its depths.

He might never know that he helped start the Extinction's ritual: Raze the Earth.

Or that both the Web and the Eye knew and did nothing. (honestly, the latter's only there for the show)

So when Martin stabbed Jon and Melanie lit the gas mainline, the threads around the world snapped and the glowing light of humanity's greatest sins exploded over everything—

—and they prayed—

—and they wept—

—and the Dreads rushed out torrentially. (pulling a few strays with them)

Now for the part you were all waiting for (well I was)—the Heart of this AU

The Dread Powers and the ones who were dragged with them were transported Somewhere Else– a parallel world in a parallel universe. But they were. . . Changed from their previous/original selves.

The tag-alongs—Martin & Jon of course, but also Annabelle Cane, Oliver Banks, Simon Fairchild, and Arthur Nolan—replaced their parallels at birth, and gained partial or full amnesia to their past lives. But their personalities are altered, reflecting some aspects of their pre-finale personalities.

Except for Jon. Jon, the Pupil of the Eye, the Warhead of the Extinction, the Spools of the Web, the Archive of the Dreads and linchpin to their escape. . . was significantly destroyed in the center of the storm. He got it and so much worse—a stick so short its existence was inverted.

While they did get reach the new universe, they had to reconstruct their linchpin/Archive that they're still connected to so that his total destruction doesn't tear them apart as well (being an Extinction avatar that's now deeply connected with them, he's capable of "taking them down with him").

When Jon was reborn, he was literally thrown into the world like a meteorite, landing with an explosive blast that rendered the surrounding area a lifeless wasteland in moments. High radioactivity and a deathly curse left few flora or fauna returning before wasting away soon after. Those that 'survived' did so by being infected by the Extinction or Corruption.

It would permanently remain uninhabitable, and it would take months before the withered stillborn spawn of the sapient eldritch Dread Entities would crawl out of the jagged crater on its own, none the wiser to its tragedies.

TL;DR

The Web manipulated Jon's attempt to put a stop to the Entities' reign, utilizing the Eye's easy influence to help the Dreads escape the world and into a fresh new one before they were also destroyed in the Extinction's "Raze the Earth" ritual (set up by using Jon to weave toxic-filled veins throughout the world he was traversing that'll explode at once 'grand finale' style).

Jon, now deeply binded to the Entities' purest forms and still an Extinction time-bomb, was mostly destroyed during the trip to Somewhere Else and the Entities had to reconstruct him so his death wouldn't destroy them too. This led to Jon being reborn a near completely different being (with some of him preserved) as functionally the direct spawn of the Dread Powers, replacing his parallel counterpart from the new world.

[diino8081]

frozen liberation au

THE BEGINNING

chapter 8

(chapter list)

content warnings for threats, blood mentioned and in the art, a little swearing

the snow rumbles in the wind as the group make it outside. zane stands by the door, looking out at the frosty expanse.

"took you guys long enough. it's freezing out here!"

kai raises an eyebrow. "you're a nindroid? the cold doesn't affect you?"

"that's the point." he grins. he's still pretty mad at kai after what he did to boreal. "where's our exit by the way? i hope we don't have to walk too far."

a few of the group members groan. cole walks up beside him. "zane, you're kind of a dick, you know that?"

zane smiles smugly. "courtesy of the ice emperor."

"sure buddy." cole continues past him and ahead of the group. "come on, we took the land bounty. it should be over here somewhere."

did cole just- ugh that's no fun.

he follows along, feet crunching under the snow with each step. his interface tells him that his internal temperature is lowering. it's odd but shouldn't be a problem.

"it's over there!" jay calls, pointing at somewhere to their left. he turns to find it parked off in the distance just barely hidden in the forest.

oh wow. it's so... small. and old. small and old. first master, did they really use that thing to get around? he sighs, trudging towards it.

zane notices behind him that every time he steps he leaves red in the snow. that's fun.

if he had the staff then he could probably use it as a pen. he'd need more blood though.

come to think of it, where is the staff? he looks around the group. ah, nya has it. it doesn't seem to be powered though.

he can see the two formlings as well. of course they're coming along. he wishes they would just- no! snap out of it. they're good. (apparently).

he approaches the vehicle, entering to the main cabin. but the minute he does, something locks around his wrists. he looks down to see them cuffed. "really?"

lloyd smiles. "just being cautious."

he sighs, moving to take a seat by the window. man, he can't wait til they get to ninjago. he wonders what they'll do with him. prison? back to the same old ninja work? maybe even expelled from the monastery to live a normal life.

wouldn't that be nice. he absentmindedly looks outside, seeing an army of trees staring back. the engine revs and they begin to reverse into the snow covered plains.

zane watches the palace grow smaller and smaller until it's just a speck in the horizon. guess that's his life of luxury over, he sighs.

he watches for a few more minutes but eventually decides to close his eyes.

when he opens them again he sees that they're just outside a village. he might've attacked this village before actually. heck, he definitely did. best to stay away from the windows, he decides.

he stands up and looks around, the rest of the team are outside. he sighs. but he has to stay inside. there's nothing inside! he's bored already. fsm this sucks.

maybe he could run a system diagnostic? he still needs to figure out what's causing the glitch. -- other than nya throwing him into a wall, of course.

yeah, that works. hopefully they don't take too long.

zane sits back down with a sigh, beginning the process.

things seem to be doing ok in terms of processing and memory. his energy levels look to be a little lower though.

he checks his power source.

that's... no.

no that can't be right.

the core isn't being actively powered. he's just running off leftover energy!

could it be something to do with his ice? what took his element away? the scroll? but it's been 60 years and nothing happened! why would it only start now?

could it be negative emotions? he lost them when... yeah. fsm he hates this.

he'll figure it out later.

he gives it about... 4 months at best til he's out of power for good.

his eyebrows furrow. he... can make it work. hopefully.

but what if he doesn't? what if he's dying? and for good this time?

his gears hitch.

he's going to fix it.

he has to.

zane looks down at the cuffs on his wrists. honestly he should try to get them off, they're kind of annoying.

he stands again and moves to search the bounty. there don't seem to be any good tools he can use to pick locks. not even a paper clip!

what kind of ninja even are they?! he looks at the metal bindings in disgust. are they even metal? they look like metal.

embedded in the sides of the cuffs however is a strip of dark, almost black material. he can see specks of yellow in there too.

oh you have got to be kidding me.

it's vengestone.

he sighs. well, that's another thing to add to the list. 3 things that could've stolen his powers away.

though, he lost his powers before being cuffed. did lloyd bring them with him? no. he would've used them if he did.

this is... confusing. to say the least.

he hears a shuffle by the door.

a young voice emanates from outside. "hey! look! look! asha's doing it!"

he turns to see a small child, about 10 by the looks of things, with long dark hair. they stand at the door grinning to something outside.

what does he do in this situation?! does he hide? if this child sees him then his cover is blown! but he can't just let them intrude!

the child turns to look at him. too late.

they screech a bit before gaining composure. "um. hello!"

"hi...?"

"who are you?"

"i'm..." shitshitshit "i'm popsicle!"

popsicle?! he mentally punches himself. of all things--!

"i'm asha!" they smile. "what are you doing in the metal house, mr popsicle?"

he panics.

"the ninja saved me from the big mean ice emperor! i'm just waiting for them to come back!"

nice save.

"the ice emperor!" asha scowls. "i don't like him. if i ever see him i'll throw 500 snowballs at his face!"

he tries to stifle a laugh but fails.

"500 of them? really?"

wow, this kid is out to get him. good thing he's popsicle right now, else he would be in deeeeep trouble.

"i could probably do 501." asha ponders.

he chuckles.

another voice whispers loudly from outside. "asha! your mother is coming! get out of there!"

"uh oh." asha perks up. "well, i've gotta go mr popsicle. it was nice talking to you!"

"asha! let's go!"

they pause. "wait! one more thing."

"hm?" zane questions.

asha seems to fumble with something around their neck before holding it out in front of them.

it's a necklace?

they walk up to zane and gesture for him to put his hand out. wait. really?

he hesitates. "are you sure?"

asha nods confidently. they don't seem to care about the cuffs.

"it means luck and good fortune." they smile.

he holds onto it.

"wow, i--" he feels his gears hitch. "thank you."

"it's no problem, mr popsicle."

asha walks quickly back to the door. turning to wave before disappearing forever.

what just happened?

he stands there, dumbfounded, before looking at the necklace in his hand.

it's got a silver chain that drapes into gold. an intricately carved sunflower displaying a yellow gemstone at it's center.

it feels special. he grimaces. first master does he even deserve this?

this child-- asha's kindness.

is he worthy?

he sits back down again, staring at the pendant in his hands. he frowns.

zane is tired.

< previous

+ masterlist

> next

[psitaniumpsichosis]

~ Spoilers obviously ~

Here he is, Razputin Aquato! Lead vocalist of the Deluded Deluge and our favorite Psychonaut!

This band is just a tiny part of the Time Travel Terrors AU, a big passion project of mine that I've been working on for the past week or so :)!

If the font is too hard to read, tell me and I'll provide a transcription ASAP! Read more cause there is a tiny ramble oops

Quick note on April 21st, this au has been mostly abandoned. I've put my focus more into the Psichosis Timeline, which includes a handful of things from this au.

The only reason I've kept this posted is preservation!

OCs mentioned:

Ginnifer Barkys and Henry Zanotto-Fullbear Jr.

These two are a fun one. In the TTT au, Bob and Helmut adopted two children back in the day, Valley and Henry. Valley was a lot like Bob, a very withdrawn and shy girl who preferred plants over people. Henry however was a rambunctious, buckwild kid with no sense of self preservation.

After the Deluge, Bob fell into a depression and the two (at the time) teenagers had no choice but to leave once it got too hard to sustain themselves and stay on Bob's good side. They both ended up living in France and having families-- Valley having Ginnifer, and Henry having his Junior -- affectionately called Littlebear.

After the two returned, with their families in tow, they were able to reunite with their fathers-- only now, the previously non-psychic children showed psychic abilities!!... Well, okay, Valley did. Henry is still just nuts.

Ginny is very reserved but is extremely snappy, specializing in herbaphony and always carrying some mutated, psychic Venus flytraps in her bag. She's not afraid to beat Littlebear senseless.

Littlebear is a mini-Henry, but is a psychic-- specializing in Pyrokinesis. He has synesthesia, frequently describing the sensations people's voices/any music gives him.

Esther Cruller

Esther is, as you can assume, the granddaughter Ford Cruller. Turns out he had at least one kid running around he was unaware of, and Esther-- suspiciously-- popped up shortly after the first incident of the Time Travelling Terrors.. hmm...

Natalie O'Pia

Natalie is one of a set of twins, her brother being Nikolai O'Pia. They're Cassie's grandchildren, her daughter being their mother and a well respected Psychonaut. Their father is a mystery to them, but.. it's better they don't know about him just yet.

~~~~

More tidbits because I'm brainrotting

- Raz and Lili aren't dating, but they're very close friends-- Lili bullying Raz lovingly for his very obvious crush on Littlebear.

- In TTT, Lili's mother is Otto Mentallis' youngest daughter. Otto had three children, but the other two have been MIA since the Deluge.

- Raz has one more older sibling-- a sister named Jackie. Her original name was Vanya, but she changed it after leaving the family at 17(when Raz was 4).

- Otto completely erased empathy and most negative emotion from his mind with the astralathe after the Deluge, hence his strange behavior and lack of guilt or trauma. He had many reasons to do this, but Raz intends on going in to figure it out himself.

[fourthclone]

i got two replies out , woo . now i'm going to sleep .

[itstimeforstarwars]

After writing the first scene in the next chapter, I wrote down three things that I needed to put in the scene. I now have four more pages of this scene but none of the three things have made it in.

[ddeongies]

🌼 is back to yap about unfinished business 😁 first of all, i am a sucker for fics based on the entertainment industry bc it gives the characters more room to work around vs the strict nature of pure idol industry. phew the tension is so thick and we don't even know the extent of their baggages 😮‍💨 yeji is so hot here. toxic yeji wow that's a first! i want to say use ur mouth and resolve ur past but that's hard and requires a lot of hurting and going thru the past so yes let's use ur mouth for other purposes aka kissing ur ex (?) i'm excited for this!!! such a contrast from nmau and thank u for that! i trust the angst with a happy ending tag. let the toxic spicy juicy ryeji unfold!

hello my flowery friend! yes please yap away yapping is my love language :)

yeah i feel like if you're writing specifically about the idol industry that's a very specific reality (also there are story reasons for them being in entertainment but not being idols 😉)

my goal with every fic is to make yeji hot (which shouldn't be hard bc actual yeji is the hottest person in the world), so i'm glad it's working with this one too!!

and yeah, we really don't see toxic yeji a lot! but i feel like there's so much potential there (and i swear there's nuance to it that we'll see starting in chapter 2) and also it's so hot. she really did choose to use her mouth for one thing and that thing definitely wasn't having a mature conversation LOL

it's been really funny writing both nmau and unfinished business at the same time like sometimes i hop back and forth between docs and between very different ryejis and it gives me some whiplash :P

[mittensmorgul]

!!!

[heronchildlove]

Guys guys guys guys guys guys

Heronchildstairs True Beauty!AU except they both get the girl in the end

[msmargaretmurry]

"hunger still burning" any ship! what about. the ducklings

ducklings! i think the ducklings are very cute but have never really felt a desire to write them because they feel like they lack the inherent drama that pairings i end up writing have. however, "hunger still burning" feels like a dramatic title, so obviously if i wrote this fic i would have invented some drama!

for some reason what has manifested in my brain for this is a like... dystopian climate fiction-y alternate timeline. like, hockey at the end of the world-style where the hockey is still happening but the world where the hockey is happening has really Gone Thru It and is still Going Thru It. there's something about the west coast that inspires climate fiction in me, which might have something to do with how seasons aren't real in southern california and might have something to do with all the wildfires. it's also probably partly @birdcage's fault. regardless! this fic would be a dystopian climate fiction-y alternate timeline.

bear with me while i get a little weird here, but i have this universe that i've been conceptualizing in my head for ages where the worldbuilding is based entirely on twitter shitposts (this is not all of them, but you get the picture) with the vague intention of maybe writing something set there someday. perhaps this fic is set in this universe. things are weird. there are orbs. we just don't know what happened to nevada. the climate is all fucked up; basically all resources are privatized and at a premium; the drought is never-ending; there are strict rules about consumption for everyone but the most elite.

you know what socal really doesn't need under these circumstances? professional ice hockey. TOTAL energy drain. and yet they've managed to keep their foothold, in part because as temperatures rise, a ticket for a few hours inside an ice rink to watch a game is a pretty hot commodity (careful, though, a ballot measure might be coming for their arenas any day now) (just kidding, as if the general populace gets to make decisions about public funding anymore) -- and also because professional athletes serve a purpose beyond entertainment, now; they get to play their little games and live their relatively pampered little lives and provide a laughable sense of normalcy to the huddled masses, and they are also constant experiments in the quest to optimize the human body.

(this "optimize the body, save the world" venture definitely started as the brainchild of some tech bro with too much money and an echo chamber the size of antarctica [pre-melted version] -- something about optimism the body meaning optimizing the use of resources and some other bullshit. it's definitely not going to save anyone, but everyone with power is too bought in at this point to be swayed.)

ANYWAY. sorry, you asked for ducklings and i'm over here up to my eyeballs in speculative fiction. so let's put the ducklings into this world. trevor, performatively blasé about living through a long, slow apocalyse, always cracking jokes about it. but jamie makes him want to give a shit what happens to the world. jamie, more concerned and also more resigned to the way things are, but trevor makes him want to want more. the two of them watching the sunset from the roof of their apartment as the sky turns colors no one ever thought a sky could turn, before all this. i don't know if there would be a real plotty plot; i think the story would largely be just about them surviving in this weird, grim world together. something about the alienation from the self that happens when your body no longer belongs to you, and the way that love can bring you back to yourself. something about how the optimal human experience has little to do with the body and so much more to do with the soul.

[the-everqueen]

hey! just popping in to ask, how’s the gay coworkers au going? could we perhaps get a hint as to what’s to come? 👀

i almost said "it's going!" which is less than true because LA guard dog and wereverse have been getting all my words this month (or at least the words that aren't going into article revisions). pero i'm really excited about the next bit of gay coworkers because as someone who adored Nick Robles' art in the waking hours run but hated how the story resolved...well! let's just say i am tackling the problem of Ruin and what he signifies for Coco. >:)

[nyandereneko]

Discover

Word Count: 461 Summary: “Right here, right now, they could just be themselves, together. And perhaps that was the true discovery that’d been awaiting them all along.” Author’s Note: Day 2 of this promptober list! Kind of chaotically written and short notice, I threw this together before work but I was inspired by the “discover” prompt to tackle the concept in my Elden Ring AU of Nova finding out about Vax’s true nature as a Silver Tear for the first time…if you don’t know a lot of the lore or get what I’m talking about don’t worry about it, I think he piece is still enjoyable to read even without context lol. But thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!

*****

In the wake of such a monumental discovery, the reality was still a little hard for the enigmatic duo to wrap their heads around. He a sentient Silver Tear, the truth of his nature carefully concealed and manipulated by the ones that had taken it upon themselves to breathe life into his once silvery flesh. She a sentient Star, a fallen cosmic being of untold power and potential that sought the warmth that flows and grows at the cold edge of the universe, a space beyond the chilling Age of Stars where nebulas and neighbors coexist in glittering bliss.

For Vax, the fear of her rejection and scorn still loomed over him like a suffocating shade, not to mention the terror she could inflict by exposing him should the mood happen to strike. She wasn’t that treacherous, that traitorous, was she? The talented Night Maiden had never given the Black Knife a reason to question her motives or doubt her sincerity, and with the way things were going it didn’t seem like she was going to start any time soon. 

For Nova, the fear of him rejecting her directly, compounded with the stress of accepting the reality of the more brazenly forbidden, arguably sacred boundaries the Nox were challenging with their cosmic interference, was enough to make her dizzy. Her head swirled and vision danced with spots of incredulity and disbelief, bombarded by convoluted thoughts and misguided truths that left her grasping for even something as meager as the fraying edge of a lingering thread. If she could just hang on, clench her fists a little tighter, open her heart a little wider, maybe she wouldn’t be swept away by the chaos of the unknown.

“It’s still me, you know,” he whispered quietly, carefully, into the still cold air.

“Of course it is—you’ve always been you,” she affirmed, pressing her palm over his heart. One of his hands found hers as she continued, “from the very start. This doesn’t change anything. I just…know more about you now. Know more of you…”

“Can’t hurt to get to know each other a little better, right?” He tested the waters with a nervous smile. 

She returned his timid curiosity, fingers twisting in the wispy folds of his shimmering cloak. She rested her heavy head against his comforting shoulder, and he wrapped his uncertain arms around her, grounding himself with her weight, her very presence. Her tail twitched, betraying her anxiety as he cradled her closer, tucking her against him like a precious treasure. Her ears parted under his chin, forming a fluffy cushion as he nested his cheek upon her head.

Right here, right now, they could just be themselves, together. And perhaps that was the true discovery that’d been awaiting them all along.

[winter-spark]

Why I started both rewrites back to back, idk. But now I'm having a hard time focusing on one at a time. Maybe I should start rewriting the Apartments one or try to come up w/ a new one altogether... 🤔

[darklight-owl]

Man I love your Villain Flora AU sm...!! Let Flora kill ppl!!

Speakofwhich, how would you compare her first kill with her last as part of the Bison Wranglers? :)

AAAA OMG YAY :D I'm glad you like it uwuwu

Tbh I say "Let Flora kill ppl" but she tries to avoid killing whenever she can. She's got very good aim and can usually immobilize people without actually killing them and uses that to avoid getting a Higher Body Count.

I haven't scripted a lot of BW scenes (consequence of splitting my attention between this, CoU and uni *cries*) but I'm thinking her first kill would be something out of impulse that would take a while for her to get over. Then she'd decide she doesn't want to do it anymore and try to look for non-lethal solutions to things which is when she starts actually pitching in with her ideas for operations (and as a result starts climbing the ranks bc they work)

Obviously murder is easier when she's not the one doing it so her last kills (if there are any) would be carried out by subordinates when she's already Commander. As shown later on she really does not have the strength to shoot someone point blank. She's not completely cold-hearted by the time Layton gets to Steam Bison, she just does what she's been convinced needs to be done.

[nostalgia-tblr]

wow it took me 440 words to get these characters from "i maybe don't hate you that much after all :)" to "I am going to BITE YOU because I can't think of a good enough insult to express my hate with" i am SLIPPING D:

[cousticks]

deep-felt need to draw The Dudes vs. very lacking ability to draw because visual art is not my strong suit