#in case anyone decides to check out the songs but wants an idea of what they're about to hear

[loregoddess]

When you get this, list 5 songs you like to listen to, publish them, and send this ask to the last 10 people in your notifs

Hmm....

"Follow the Nightingale" by KOKIA

"Aaj" by Bloodywood

"Himinndotter" by Wardruna

"Yuve Yuve Yu" by The Hu

"PHENOMENON" by OTYKEN

No idea if I'll get around to sending asks out, but if anyone feels inspired to share 5 songs they love, then by all means please share! (I love discovering new music)

[hanayanaa]

V ISNT DEAD GUYS!!! : )

ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR DENIAL WITH PROOF AND EVIDENCE KIDS

1) well okay, first off, the classic rule that if a character dies off screen, they're probably not dead. classic time tested rule!

2) they made so much merch of her, not to mention she's literally the face of the franchise as one of the first characters liam made for the show. They aren't going to kill off such an iconic and integral character this early on. remember, we still have SEVERAL more seasons to go!

3) the lyrics of eternal dream, which are supposedly about V's inner thoughts and wishes, states that she is tired of this dream (life), which is more of a nightmare for her. I'm going to annotate the entirety of it on genius sometime this week hopefully /srs, but the last line is "I can't end this dream", a desperate cry, for she can't escape her living nightmare, where she is hurt and used and traumatized so much, but also, in our case, potential evidence of her coming back? nola klop, her va, also said that this version isn't the whole song, since she mentions being excited for the full version. and since it's about V, a full version, along with that line, implies she will return. mostly that latter point though, ill admit the single line might be a stretch LOLL but i figured eh might as well include it...

4) J's still off reading about stock prices or whatever in tessa's space ship lol. J's doing J things and she might've gotten bored and went exploring and ended up finding and saving V. we literally have no idea what she's doing besides getting a command to look after tessa's vehicle, which she can probably do from a relative distance. she's stated as a workaholic, but that means she'd also probably get bored quickly if she has nothing to actively do, if there isn't anything for her to be actively guarding, she might wander off while simply occasionally checking the ship. (I also want more J too she's so fucking funny)

5) she had her eyes closed during the final scene where we see her! If she had kept them closed, then she should be fine in regards to getting bootlooped at least. maybe she was scared, or was embarrassed in a way, not wanting herself or anyone else to see her in this raw, vulnerable state she hates and fears so much. and unless the sentinels tear out her heart/core, she'll probably be fine and can regenerate herself. (side note: alice has an id card like nori and yeva, doll's mother. she was one of the patient zero drones who were purposefully infected with solver in order to see it's effects and conduct research, so she'll probably be back as well, considering she's most likely a solver user. beau might be back, i can't say for sure, all depends if she decides to revive him or not. the disassembly drone corpses in cabin fever labs were probably because alice used a combination of sentinels and solver manipulation to take them down and remove their hearts, which we can see she keeps in an old oven, which is why they can't regenerate themselves anymore and are effectively dead. the hearts are the "worm" thing uzi mentioned would come out of V if alice cut her up.)

6) while the show itself has a lot of gags, it's also brimming with genuine love for detail and lore, like they're fucking around, but they're also not fucking around. V has a lot to tell us still, since she's been extremely mysterious and quiet about her own personal past, probably due to trauma and being terrified of being vulnerable, since she was so often hurt when she let her guard down. a lot of things about her aren't really directly mentioned, and are just IMPLIED, the most prominent examples being her genuine inner thoughts, since there are many zoom-ins to her face and expressions, but we are only left to guess on what she's really thinking. so they're not going to let her go just yet; in fact, i think the next episode will be one centered around her (probably more flashbacks? who knows, but i think since she's been important, but not centered on really until now, she'll recieve her own time in the spotlight.)

7) similar to the point above, her character arc is far from over, and if she were to die now, it'd be a crime against her character and the entire story. she was and still is a vital part of the team, but everyone else was so wrapped up in their own plans or infatuations that poor V ended up getting almost completely ignored. even though she loves everyone deep down, and protects them with her life, she never once got a thank you, or asked how she's doing, or anything. all she got was mostly light arguements and insults back-- the last thing uzi said to her was "you, ew! you're mean!", while the last thing V said to uzi was "uzi, I trust you." one could argue that because of her snarky attitude, she's kind of walking into these scuffles, but...really? no one ever stopped for one second to think about that person right next to them and think about who they are beyond that snark? not even N, who's been with her since the beginning, and openly admitted to having a crush on her? or tessa, her superior, who presumably rescued her from the dump, gave her clothes and hair and companionship? she squealed upon seeing N, but didn't give a single glance at V aside from an argument near the end of the episode, and a reflection of V looking solemnly back in her helmet. i genuinely think that because of these mistakes, she'll come back... eventually, at least, so hopefully they can learn from their mistakes and treat her better this time around, for they are getting a second chance, and everyone can slowly start healing together. V has a very broken heart, so for her to fully heal, i unfortunately don't think that will happen for a long time, but she can begin the process slowly, if her teammates start treating her more kindly, as a peer, someone whose thoughts and opinions and feelings matter too, rather than just someone to be snarky and argued with.

to summarize, she has an almost 99.9% chance of coming back because she's the face of the franchise, along with having a bunch of merchandise, it'd be kind like of shooting yourself in the foot to kill off the literal most iconic character, the literal icon. the final lyrics of eternal dream and the mention from her va that this current version isn't even the full length version, implies V will come back, especially since the song is from her point of view. lastly, her character arc is far from over, since while being a vital part of the team, her teammates have been ignoring her for the most part ever since episode 2, even though she's been there with them this entire time. bringing her back gives everyone a chance to make it up to her, and brings both parties to a point of healing. lastly, her character arc aside, she has much to tell us about the lore, since she is implied to know and be hiding a lot, but since she is so mysterious due to her painful past, it is hard for her to open up. the last two points are connected, as if she is more comfortable, she'll open up more, revealing more about the lore and story along with it.

Out of all the characters ive loved throughout the years, i genuinely do think she is the most tragic one. considering the only real decision she was ever allowed to make was sacrificing herself to the sentinels, possibly in an attempted suicide to finally end all of the pain welled up in her heart? yeah.

she's probably one of my favourite characters of all time, even though ive only recently watched it, she has already made a permanent mark on my heart. i really, truly do hope that she comes back, because she deserves it. she deserves to heal and be appreciated for who she is, and she deserves a space where she's comfortable enough to let down her walls and be her honest self again. i think if she comes back, we'll see a much more vulnerable and timid side of her we haven't seen before except for occasional rare moments. she'll still be snarky, but it'll take her a while to recover from the initial shock of all her emotional turmoil surrounding her sacrifice, as well as get used to all the new attention she's getting. after that, however, she'll recover and start healing and come back as a stronger, happier, and still very snarky V. ♡

[sturniolo-mairead]

"Slut!"

LetsTripTour!MattSturniolo x Popstar!Reader

a/n: in this fic i dont use y/n, i may in some future fics if i cant come up with a name 😭🙏🏻 Hope you guys enjoy, its my first fic!

in which Matt Sturniolo announces his girlfriend of 6 months. Presley Evans, global popstar! Nick and Chris are shocked because they didnt even know. Shes on tour down the road from the triplets' tour. he has the camera footage that would be on the big screen of her stage. They decide to watch her tour on their screen and they figure out she wrote quite a few songs about him! they soon meet up at matts hotel room later on.

warnings: use of the word slut, like a lot 😭🙏🏻

Matts pov:

"Next question, 'does anyone have girlfriends or in nicks case a boyfriend' Well i'm very much single" my brother said. Shit. I've had a secret girlfriend for 6 months now. We have talked about going public. She said shes okay with it. It's just difficult because shes a global superstar! It's been stressing me out. I think i'm just gonna say it. I'll tell everyone here.

Presley pov:

Im about to go on stage. I talked to matt last night about going public with our relationship. It's kind of getting exhausting having to sneak around. I've been a target for slut shaming because of how many guys ive dated, but i got into the industry when i was 15! It's not my fault. My managers say it's good for 'traction' or whatever. I sent matt the camera footage that would be on the big screen of the stage. Im performing in a stadium tonight, it's my all stadium tour. I just hope he tells his crowd, thats coincidentally, down the road from the stadium. He could connect his phone to the screen behind him and his brothers and show them my show, but i don't know if he will. I understand his anxiety thats going to come with going public, especially him now going to have paparazzi following him and his brothers everywhere, and me. He's gonna be more worried about me than he's ever been before because of his female fan base, they'll send me death threats and hate, more than i normally get. It's not like I'm not used to it though. I just hope he does whats right for himself and how he's feeling. I don't want him to feel pressured to tell everyone because I am ready to.

Matts pov:

"Nah i'm still single, sadly." chris said. I stayed silent. I could just spit it out. "Matt? we all know your single" chris teased. "actually.. I do have a girlfriend." i spat out. "WHAT?" nick said, he was as shocked as he should be. "yeah, we've been talking and we think we want to go public. She is a celebrity," i went on, "her name is Presley, Presley Evans." The crowd went wild. "SO ALL THOSE TIMES IVE SCREAMED HER SONGS IN THE CAR YOU DIDNT THINK TO TELL ME YOU WERE DATING HER?!" I laughed, "i guess not, I have camera footage thats om the big screen of her tour thats going on right now, i could put it on?" i suggested.

Presley pov:

"Presley! Time to go in 5!" one of my managers told me. "Okay! coming!" i say, Matt told me he'd text me if he told everyone, and he hasnt texted me. Im starting to lose hope when, Ding! i rush to check my phone. Twitter. Not matt.

'Matt Sturniolo comes out saying hes dating global superstar Presley Evans!'

holy shit. he did it. I laugh and squeal as i jump in my bedazzled heel boots. "Presley? what happened? are you okay?" my manager asks. "HE DID IT!! HE TOLD EVERYONE!!" i scream and jump around and laugh. "Presley, are you serious?!" my manager says, she seems angry? "whats wrong?" "Presley! this could be so bad! you'll become a lightning rod for slut shaming!! His fan base is mostly girls, they'll be angry! You could be in danger! You didn't even ask me if it's a good idea!" My manager yelled. I hate to say it, she was right. I probably should've informed her i would do this. But she is not allowed to shit on my relationship. I wanted it to go public. "Listen, Trina. This is my relationship. I know where you're coming from, a place of worry. But i know i've been through worse. You were with me since i was 15, you know how strong i am. I appreciate the worry, but let me do my thing. Ive been hiding my relationship for 6 months. Putting Matt in the shadows. Im done doing that. I love him. Thats never going to change. Let me do things- no. Let me and Matt do things our way. Now i have to get to the stage. Thanks for the input." I finished. I walked away, I had on my white bedazzled heel-boots with my skirt that was tied on one side up, showing my whole thigh. the rest barley covered anything which was good because i had on a white bodysuit under. I had on a corset top. It was all white, the whole outfit. I looked amazing, i checked myself out as i walked past a mirror. I heard music start up, somebody came and handed me my mic as i walked toward the piece of my stage that moved up and down. I stood in the center preparing to go on.

Matt pov

I put on her show on the screen. I hear music start. Just in time. Everyone's eyes are glued to the screen. I look around, nobody recognized the opening notes.? I didn't either. As far as i know, theres no songs about me. As far as i know.

"Flamingo pink"

I really don't recognize this song, i feel terrible that i don't.

"sunrise boulevard, clink clink. being this young is art."

"who do you guys think this song is about?" nick asked. I know of all her exes. They all treated her like shit. I am determined to be different. I think this is a love song? she has some love songs, then breakup songs after because they put her through hell. I'd never do that, I will never.

"Being this young is art Aquamarine Moonlit swimming pool"

This could be anything, we're both still very young. Shes 20, Im 19. I turn 20 soon.

"What if all I need is you?"

So it is a love song.. i wonder which ex it's about? Maybe Johnny Orlando? (no hate to Johnny Orlando fans just needed an ex lmfao 😭) We all just stand and admire her. She looks gorgeous. Fucking beautiful, How do you fumble her? Shes like a goddess. "Maybe this songs about you lover boy" Chris says, jesus christ i hate that fucking nickname. "shut the fuck up chris! And i don't know, i don't know if she has songs about me" I say, I wish she had written a song about me.

"Everyone wants him,That was my crime The wrong place at the right time. And I break down, then he's pullin' me in. In a world of boys, he's a gentleman"

she always refers to me as a gentleman, she always says everyone wants me too.. "HOLY SHIT!" I scream, i didn't mean to, i just did. "What?!" nick said, "THIS SONGS ABOUT ME!!" "BITCH WHAT?!" "oh my god" i say.

Presley pov

I open with "slut!", a song about matt. I never tell him any songs a write about him because, well, theres a lot. I don't wanna seem creepy, but constantly writing songs about one person could be taken that way. I hope he catches on though. I always say everyone wants him and I always call him a gentleman. "And if they call me a slut. You know it might be worth it for once. And if I'm gonna be drunk. Might as well be drunk in love" I finish the song. I don't know what matts thinking, i don't even know if he was watching, i put on my best show nonetheless, just in case he was. I didn't want to disappoint him. Should i tell the crowd the songs about him? Maybe i will. "Hello! and welcome to the "Slut!" tour!"

A/N

cliffhanger! Okay so i've had this idea for a long while now i've just never gone through with writing it but i finally have! This gonna be a series and it's gonna be like every song she performs is a different chapter! This chapter is "Slut!" and thats also the name of the album! I've taken songs that already exist and made a whole new playlist/album type thing! Each song will be a surprise as the next chapter title! In total im thinking 19 parts as there are 18 tracks and then 1 extra chapter for after the tour when taylor and matt meet up 😉 I'll also be working on making my masterlist so you guys can easily access this series! See you next time 💕

[project-sekai-facts]

This post is going to be a very brief overview of this year's April Fools Day event. I'll only be looking at content that has been posted on the official social media accounts for now, which isn't much but it's what I can access at the moment. Home screen translations from @/pjsekai_eng on Twitter were also used. Next year I'll do a much more detailed analysis because things like Area Conversations will be more readily available.

Summary

For April Fools Day, a new school called MIKUdemy has appeared in Shibuya, which all the characters in the game, including Kanade and the main Virtual Singer(s) for each unit, have been invited to attend for a year. The school's headmaster is Mikudayo. A new song called Be The MUSIC! was released, featuring all 26 main characters.

The characters were all placed into classes of six or seven students. These classes were as follows:

Pure Heart Class

Students: Ichika, Shizuku, Toya, Emu, Kanade, Miku (N25)

Pure Heart Class, a heartwarming and peaceful space ♪

A comfortable class with a calm and fluffy atmosphere. Do other classes worry for them because "There's no Tsukkomi!"...?

Other info:

Ichika feels a bit embarrassed about being called “pure”. She also finds being in the same class as older students to be strange.

Shizuku feels that N25!Miku is like a little sister, and keeps checking in on her.

Since Shizuku and Toya both like reading, the former asks the latter for recommendations. Toya tells Shizuku about Where’s Wally.

Toya thinks that he might be able to compete in the school’s ball game competition if he takes part in the (alcohol free) Dizzy Bat game.

Emu arranged an anime screening for everyone. She also wants to try playing a conch since the school has one in the music room.

Kanade wonders about how everyone is able to handle going to school in daylight. She also wants to talk to Toya about music composition.

Solid Heart Class

Students: Shiho, Airi, Akito, Nene, Ena, KAITO (WxS)

Pragmatic and stoic! That's Solid Heart Class!

This is a class of pupils who are calm and objective. For some reason, they seem to care about the Pure Heart Class students...

Other info:

Shiho understands why Ena and Akito aren’t fond of being in the same class and she is glad she didn’t end up in a class with Shizuku. She likes her class because it has a lot of stoic and independent students.

Airi is worried about Shizuku’s class because they don’t have anyone to play the role of tsukkomi.

Akito is annoyed that he is in the same class as his sister, partially because you can’t tell who’s being spoken to when their last names are used. He thinks Toya’s class must be nice but admits it doesn’t suit him.

Nene is a bit nervous about being in the same class as upperclassmen. She also mentions that Akito and Ena fight like children.

Ena says that WxS!KAITO makes her uncomfortable because he is so much nicer than N25!KAITO. She also worries about being able to wake up in the morning, and decides to let Akito wake her up in the worst case scenario. Airi tells her to not do that.

Passion Heart Class

Students: Saki, Minori, An, Rui, Mizuki, Rin (MMJ), Len (VBS)

When you have an idea, act on it immediately! This is Passion Heart Class!

This class is full of action-oriented students! When walking by the classroom, please watch out for flying drones and energetic students.

Other info:

Saki thinks the named classes make the school seem fancier. She says that at Mikudemy, you can find “something special”, and she wonders what it might be.

Minori wants to invite Rin and Mizuki to attend the Idol History class with her. She also decides to complete in the school’s dizzy bat competition to get better at variety show activities.

An thinks the lessons at Mikudemy are really fun and she thinks she wouldn’t mind studying for exams. She is going to compete against Haruka and Mafuyu in basketball for the ball sports competition.

Rui says he never thought he’d see the day he felt comfortable at school. He quickly befriends VBS!Len because of his similarities to WxS!Len. Mizuki mentions that he’s unexpectedly a good big brother-figure.

Mizuki wins some discount coupons for an ice-cream shop and invites Saki and An to go with them to buy some.

Cautious Heart Class

Students: Honami, Haruka, Kohane, Tsukasa, Mafuyu, Luka (L/n), MEIKO (VBS)

Thoughtful yet firm! They're Cautious Heart Class!

The pupils in this class have outstanding leadership skills. Their warm compassion towards others is remarkable.

Other info:

Honami plans on making the most of her year at the school by studying hard. Tsukasa thinks she would be good on the kick rounders team, but she’s not so sure.

Haruka wants to try out dizzy bat at the upcoming ball sports competition.

Kohane says that having someone as mature as MEIKO in her class makes her shy.

Tsukasa thinks being invited to Mikudemy is a sign of destiny. He invites Mafuyu to have lunch with the rest of the class, and she thinks he’s really loud.

Mafuyu thinks it’s nice that she got to try out some instruments in the school.

[ghost-proofbaby]

nine people i'd like to know better

being a bit of a cheat since i haven't been keeping up with my notifs, and doing a nice little conglomeration of the tag games going around that both are regarding getting to know people better! thank you so much for tagging me @rosewaterandivy, @onegirlmanytales, and @emma-munson in these sweet fun games <3

favorite part of your daily routine?

probably checking in with all my friends, asking about their days and making sure they know i love them. that, or calling my pets stinky as i feed them first thing in the morning, and genuinely arguing with them as they meow/bark at me during the process

last song?

favourite lyrics right now?

"i'd give you my life, if you'd promise you want it." - black ice by maya hawke

favorite color?

a deep maroon or emerald/forest green. gimme allll the deep reds and pretty greens please

last three books (or fics) you've read

'if he had been with me' by laura nowlin (tiktok made me do it), 'my roommate is a vampire' by jenna levine (cute read), and then catching up on most of @icallhimjoey's fics (wes' way with words is driving me insane)

currently reading

'assistant to the villain' by hannah nicole maehrer (10/10 so far!)

relationship

painfully single. probably forever. it's cool. i'll just spill all the love i have to give into my friends' cups and my writing.

currently watching

i've started two different half-assed rewatches as of recent - strangers things, and the walking dead. the goal is to finally watch the entirety of the walking dead since i stopped around season 5? or just... whenever negan was introduced (yeah. yeah. that episode with glen. he was my favorite. i never watched another episode.)

last movie

i rewatched the entire og hunger games trilogy!!!!!

at a movie theater, which arm rest is yours?

the one closest to my friends, or the one farthest from strangers.

sweet/spicy/savory

gimme all the sweets as of recently, surprisingly. (i've never been much of a sweets person growing up)

last thing i googled

'weird old people smell' (please don't ask)

currently working on

a top secret thing that i haven't decided if it'll see the light of day yet. :pedrosmile:

what 'old person' things do you like?

well not their smell i'll tell you that i really love learning people's histories, or about their days. i'm a yapper. i love chatting with all the old people that come into my job.

vintage or new?

depends, but usually vintage.

are you scared of the dark?

yes, but also no. idk. it's a work in progress in my ripe old age of 24.

candles, essential oils or incense?

candles or incense. i do enjoy essential oils, but i never use them (outside of spellwork)! i love my incense quite a bit, but my roommates aren't overly fond of the smell most times haha

random fact/story you want to share about yourself?

i frequently keep small 'mourning' boxes for major times/changes in my life. i have one for my first love, one for my childhood pet, etc. i'll keep things like physical photographs, letters/notes people have written me, small tokens of defining moments, all that fun stuff. i don't open them very often, but i like having them there, in the back of my closet. always just in case.

jesus. that was terribly long and terribly boring. my bad!

i'm tagging @maladaptive-menace, @hellfire--cult, @emmaisgonnacry, @corroded-hellfire, @littlesubbyflower, and anyone else who wants to join in <3 no pressure to do so, of course!! i also have no idea who's been tagged already and who hasn't so my bad if you already have!

[alba8688]

Texas

Eddie Munson and Corroded coffin get the deal of a lifetime and as soon as they graduate they head to California but get lost in the way meeting new people one nights stands that Eddie left behind in Texas where they got lost and after 5yrs he meets that one night stand again giving him the surprise of his life ..

Warnings throughout the story mentions of smut and everything smutty,fluff angst ,Eddie munson and fem,Fem and other character ..

No ones pov

In a beat up van ,1971 Chevrolet Beauville Sports van to be exact in a road somewhere in Texas where Four friends heading to California to live up there dream of becoming Rockstars .

But what they didn't know was that they where heading the wrong way all because Jeff decided to trust a map Better than his own GPS on his cellphone, now here Was Eddie driving to God knows where .

Well he thinks he is driving to California but in reality he is really lost but he doesn't realized it yet because he is too lost in his music .

Especially now That Metallica started playing on the radio .

Eddie was paying less attention to the road .

Just heading straight like Jeff told him .

His fingers drumming on the wheel to the beat of the song .

Eddie raise up the volume not caring about his 3 friends sleeping in the back seat.

It was Metallica so that was his excuse in case they woke up .

🎶".Born to push you around

Better just stay down

You pull away

He hits the flesh

You hit the ground

Mouth so full of lies

Tend to block your eyes

Just keep them closed

Keep praying

Just keep awaiting

Waiting for the one

The day that never comes

When they stand up and feel the warmth

But the sunshine never comes, no

No, the sunshine never comes

Push you cross that line

Just stay down this time

Hide in yourself

Crawl in yourself

You'll have your time

Eddie was so lost in the song that he was playing his air guitar, that for a moment  there he forgot he was driving and the van swerve but Eddie got the steering wheel again and got control of the van again .

He looked back to see if his friends had noticed but the were all sleeping peacefully.

God, I'll make them pay

Take it back one day

I'll end this day

"Holy shit !" He laughed ,and continue driving .

But this time he tried not to get distracted by the music .

I'll splatter color on this grave

Waiting for the one

The day that never comes

When they stand up and feel the warmth

But the sunshine never comes

Love is a four letter word

And never spoken here

Love is a four letter word

Here in this prison

I suffer this no longer

I'll put an end to

This I swear

This I swear

The sun will shine

This I swear

This I swear

This I swear."🎶

Eddies pov

"Saddle up ?" If we weren't in a hurry I might had stop there for something to eat that im starving but right now we are in a tight schedule having to be in California in a few days .

We could have taken an airplane but our private jet wasn't working this week .

Yeah no we are too broke too afford a damn airplane .

We didn't know if this was a crazy idea just heading out to California to meet up With Robert Davis from Loud Records he had seen us playing at The Hideout on a Tuesday before school

Was out .

He said he like our music and he thought we could be something big .

He gave us his business card and told us to have something original from us to play for him

And his team the next time we saw him and  the day after we call  him and now here we where in my van on our way to California a place where we don't know anyone .

A new beginning for my band and myself .

It was hard at first because I didn't want to leave my uncle and friends behind but I promise them I would be back .

I promised my uncle I was getting him out of that job I promise to buy him a new house and new car and I was planning on keeping my promise but first we got to get to California .

I check the time on my cellphone it was way past 10pm and I was actually getting tired we haven't stop To rest unless we had to pump gas .

Our rest time was when the next person had to

Drive and the next was me an hour ago .

I should have slept More when I had the chance but I was too busy watching cat videos instead of sleeping.

And now I regret my decisions.

It felt like I was driving for hours when I'm reality only an hour had passed but I was already so damn tired .

We been driving for two days already and we where supposed to be there by today so I don't know what we did wrong. I think one of us made a wrong turn  because all i saw was  grass and what seem to be like wheat or cotton fields .

"What the Fuck ?"i squint my eyes to read the sign that we passed by .I had to do  a double look because I thought I read "Welcome to Austin Texas ."

Suddenly the Van's engine begins to sputter and  there was a loud bang coming from the engine I pull over to the side of the road turning off the van and got down to check what was wrong with it .

"Jesus Christ !" There was smoke coming out from under the hood .

"You got to be Fucking kidding me !!" I shouted almost pulling the hairs from my head

This can't be happening right now !!

"This is bullshit !!" I kick at nothing almost tripping with nothing from antics.

"Why we stop ?" a sleepy Gareth and Jeff get down confused as to why we where parked in the middle of nowhere followed by Anthony our other band member.

"Why?!?"WHY!!! I was hysterical the van broke down and we where in Fucking Texas Far away from fucking California .

"Jesus Christ !! What you do to the van dude ?" Gareth pops open the hood of the van and more smoke comes out .

Gareth starts coughing "Yeah that's not working ." He tells me

"Where the Fuck are we ?" Jeff looked around at our sourroundings

"Austin Texas ." I tell him

"Texas ?"Anthony question me

"Yup Texas ." I say popping the p

Both Gareth and Jeff looked at me as if i was stupid or I had insulted them .

"What the fuck are we doing in Austin Texas ?"

"I don't know man." I sat down in the middle

Of the street trying to think of what to do we where in the middle of nowhere and then I remember that a few miles back there was a bar maybe we should Go there .

I got up and grabbed my bag  from the van.

"Get your bags we are walking ." I told the guys

"To where ?" They both asked at the same time .

"I saw a bar a few miles back maybe they could help us or we can wait till the morning to

Find a mechanic .

So that's what we did we got our bags and made sure to lock the van because Gareth's drum set was in the back .

Jeff ,Anthony and I brought out guitars with us .

So now to walk 5 miles back to Saddle up .

Hopefully we can find a mechanic .

@dashingdeb16 it’s here let’s see how it goes

Next chapter

[snowdice]

Folds in Paper: Book 2 (Chapter 3: Peel It Up and See What's Underneath) [Folds in Time Universe]

Fandom: Sander Sides

Relationships: Janus/Patton, Remus & Roman, Logan/Virgil, Roman & Patton & Logan

Characters: Janus, Patton, Emile, Remus, Roman, Logan, Virgil, Remy

Summary: Janus is trying. After spending months trapped in time with his enemy turned... something else, Janus is trying to find meaning in a world where he or anyone else could rewrite history with one simple mistake.

During his leave from the Time Preservation Initiative, the time distortions that have been causing disastrous ripples in time have not gone anywhere. His partner's past is more mysterious than ever and old and new alliances are shifting. Can Janus figure out what is going wrong with time before that time is up?

The problem with time travel… you never how long you have before the clock strikes 12.

Chapter Summary:

Things are harder, better, but harder.

Notes: Time travel AU, mystery, enemies to lovers, alcohol, sexual innuendo, character with depression, character with ptsd

This is a fic I’ve been writing on study breaks that you have probably all already seen at this point. I’ve slightly edited it for wording and grammar, but not for content from my previous posts. Feel free to send in asks to direct it because I’m not 100% sure where this is going and you can help decide if you feel so inclined! You can see the process I went through to build this at this link.

I also have a playlist on youtube (because Spotify didn’t have one of the songs I wanted).

Previous Book(s)

Book 2: Part 1 Part 2

They sat down in the living room. Janus let Emile have the entire couch and sat on one of the matching armchairs himself. There was a squeaky sound when he sat. The plastic covering the chair had been delivered in was still on it.

Emile had a pleasant, open but curious expression on his face and Janus suddenly had an idea what it felt like to be his patient.

“I,” Janus began after a moment, shifting uncomfortably on the squeaky chair. “I don’t know how to start this conversation. I talked about what I wanted to say and possible ways to say it with Dr. Figueroa, but I… I still don’t know. I guess I should start by saying that I did something horrible that I need to apologize for, and I’m not sure if apologizing will even be enough. The problem is you don’t even know what that horrible thing is.” Janus stared at his feet. “So, first, I should probably explain what I did. I just don’t know where to start.”

“Maybe start with what happened before it,” Emile suggested. “Just lead up to it. It might help explain why whatever it was happened too.”

Janus took a breath. “Okay,” he said. “That day was just like most. We both woke up early. I was going to the TPI and you were going to where you worked your residency. We ate leftover pizza for breakfast because both of us were exhausted. You because it sucks to be a resident and me because I’d been working on a big case. I was getting…frustrated with the case. That was my first mistake: being impatient and angry. It was just a thief, but a slippery one. She’d stolen a half-broken time piece and was using it to rob banks within about a 50-year time frame. I had an idea of where she might go, but no one would listen to me. Or at least,” Janus quirked a half smile, “that’s how I interpreted it. They said they’d look into my idea, but they were being extra cautious because of how close in the timestream her actions were to most of the agents’ lives. I was so tired of the case and so egotistical. I decided to check it out on my own without being cleared by the TPI. I went back in time without thinking of the consequences.”

Janus took a breath. “That was the worst thing I’ve ever done,” he continued. “I’m not sure how, but somewhere in the course of my self-appointed mission…” He trailed off. He didn’t know how to say it. He really didn’t

“What happened?” Emile asked when he didn’t continue.

“I…” and his next words probably sounded like crackly nonsense to Emile’s ears because he couldn’t get his thoughts straight. His tongue tangled around the shape of the words. “I don’t even remember living in that town or the fact that Mom used to work at that bank,” he choked out. “I didn’t think, and I didn’t check and…” There was a long silence. “I erased you,” he finally managed to say in a whisper, but in the quiet of his barely lived in house, the words were loud.

There was more silence. “But I…” Emile said after a moment.

“I went back and fixed it,” Janus said, “but I… didn’t do a perfect job. I don’t even know how much I messed things up. It would have been one thing if it’d just been me. If it had just impacted my life, but I did it to you and I don’t even know how to start to apologize.”

Nothing was said for a long moment. Janus didn’t look at him.

“…Huh,” Emile finally said.

Janus risked a glance at him. He didn’t look irate, but he did still look confused which was probably the reason for that.

“I’m sorry,” Janus said. It was really the only thing he could say at this point.

Emile tilted his head to the side. He took off his glasses and cleaned them with the edge of his shirt with slow circles. Since he was 15, Emile only cleaned his glasses with specially designed wipes, but he’d held onto the habit of cleaning his glasses with his shirt anytime he needed a moment to think. Janus wasn’t sure if Emile even realized he was doing it, but he knew it was a signal for Janus to be quiet for a few seconds.

The glasses were perched back on Emile’s nose after a few seconds. “I think I remember that,” he said contemplatively.

“…What?” Janus asked, and he was no longer avoiding looking at Emile. He was now blatantly staring at him.

“Well, I didn’t know what it was,” Emile said, “but I did have a very odd dream on the day you mentioned and suspiciously I had said dream in the middle of the day and woke standing up.”

“A dream?” Janus asked.

“A very vivid dream,” Emile said. “I don’t believe you actually erased me completely from existence. My life was simply shifted slightly. I was someone else working as a social worker someplace else for about 5 hours and then I was suddenly back in my appropriate place.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about that?” Janus asked, but then immediately winced at his own hypocrisy. “Er… never mind.”

“I didn’t know it was possibly real,” Emile said. “Honestly, I thought I was just really tired. I’d been overworking myself a lot. I took the rest of the day off after that.”

“You shifted reality for a few hours, and you didn’t realize it?” Janus asked.

“Like I said, I was really tired and nothing seemed to be wrong…”

“Wait, but things were different,” Janus said. “Didn’t you notice things were different.”

“Not… really,” Emile said. “Like what?”

“Like…” Janus said. “Like a whole bunch of things!”

“Like…?”

“Like you had a different job title and you worked different hours.”

“I thought I’d fallen asleep standing up or had a vivid audio-visual hallucination at work from stress. I asked for a switch a couple of weeks later.”

“You used to hate time travel, but then you took a job at the TPI.”

Emile gave him a droll look. “I still hate time travel,” he said. “I literally just said that not 5 minutes ago.”

“Well then why would you work for the TPI?”

“Because time travel is so confusing and distressing that people doing it on a regular basis as a career need psychological support. Plus, Lia asked for my consultation when developing the mental health part of the Agent Management Office,” Emile continued. “Considering I already knew quite a bit about time travel from being around you, she knew me personally, and I’d finished my residency, she decided to give me a job offer when my advice panned out.”

“W-well,” Janus said. “You were allergic to pineapples.”

“You mean my childhood allergy?” Emile asked. “That has since resolved itself in my adult life?”

“It has?” Janus asked.

“Janus have you considered,” Emile asked, “that some if not all of the inconsistencies you were seeing in my life had to do with the fact that you hadn’t spoken to me in 3 years?”

“I… uh… hadn’t considered that,” Janus admitted honestly.

“You were unconsciously looking for information to support your incorrect world view,” Emile said sounding very much like a head doctor and not like a brother, “and you found some.” He sighed. “It makes sense that after having faced a traumatic event where you essentially thought you’d killed a loved one that you weren’t thinking clearly.” The head doctor analysis voice slipped just a bit. “I just wish you’d talked about it with someone.”

“Sorry,” Janus said, because no matter which way this conversation had gone and no matter the revelations, the point was an apology. “I’m sorry.”

Emile sighed. “I would have forgiven you even if you had erased me,” Emile said. “You didn’t mean to, and you did your best to fix it. You did fix it even if you were an idiot about it.”

“What about for being an idiot and not talking to you for three years?” Janus asked.

“I already did forgive you for that Janus,” Emile said pointedly. “What did you think the last 6 months were?”

“Pity?”

Emile gave him his disappointed and exasperated headshake. “Promise to never do anything like that to me again,” he said, “and I’ll forgive you.”

“I promise,” Janus said immediately.

“And in the future, you’ll talk to me if you have any issue even if you think it’s horrible.”

“I think I’ve learned by lesson on that one.”

“And that goes for other people too,” Emile said. “If anything goes wrong with someone, you talk to them or if that’s too hard you talk to someone so they can convince you to talk to that person.”

Janus nodded.

“Great!” Emile said. “Then you’re officially forgiven for everything. Though I expect you to go to therapy and keep working on making yourself feel better, so these things don’t happen again.”

And Janus… didn’t know how to feel about that. He should probably feel happy and thankful or at least relieved, but if he was being honest, he just felt kind of empty in that moment like an old well that had finally run dry.

Fuck his head doctor and fuck Patton. Wasn’t this supposed to make him feel better? Everything was fine. He hadn’t actually erased Emile permanently from the timeline, in fact, he’d apparently still existed in some form in the alternate timeline Janus had temporarily made. Emile had forgiven him both for erasing him and ignoring him even though that was far more than Janus deserved. This was something he’d never even dared dream would happen, but it had been exactly what he’d wanted.

Yet, he still didn’t feel good, not really, not like how he remembered feeling before all of this happened.

Though was that really a surprise? Things were not like how they were before. He and Emile were no longer close. There was love and affection there, but they didn’t really know each other. The last six months had been nice. He’d been able to pretend for a bit that everything was back to normal, but in the moments he hadn’t been able to pretend that, it’d been a bit stilted and awkward speaking to his brother.

Beyond that, Janus was just used to misery at this point. It was his default state. Not being miserable took effort and energy he didn’t always have. He felt himself slipping into sadness or numbness even during times he should be feeling good. He’d noticed himself experiencing a sense of desolation when Emile cooked his favorite meal or in the middle of watching a ballet performance Emile had suggested they go to and which he’d been looking forward to in the days before. Even now when he should be so happy, so ecstatic, the emotions did not come. Everything should be okay, but it wasn’t.

“You doing alright over there?” Emile asked, and Janus didn’t know how long he’d been silent.

Instinct said to say yes and force himself to move on, but he wasn’t going to break his promise that fast. “Not really, no,” he admitted.

“That’s okay,” Emile said. “Anything I can do to help?”

“I really don’t know.”

“Why don’t we go taste the soup your arch nemesis,” there was a light teasing tone to his voice, “made for you. Some of the vegetables won’t be completely cooked yet, but I’m sure it’s already good.”

“Yeah,” Janus agreed. “Yeah, okay,” he got to his feet, the chair making that plastic squeaking sound again. “Maybe we could unwrap the furniture in here before you go home.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Emile said with a smile.

[mimikoolover]

no one cares but i thought i’d mention how jikook became my biases because at the end of the day i’m here for them because of who they are as people not because of what i perceive their relationship to be. anyway when i first heard about bts it was because a youtuber who was a massive weeb (shamefully so was i) mentioned them in a favourites video so i thought i’d check them out. the song mentioned happened to be spring day which wasn’t actually the first song i heard from bts, it was the second (the first one was fire) but i instantly liked their music. regardless i was so drawn to bts i wanted to find out more but i never heard about kpop before and had no idea about anything pretty much. my first bias was yoongi because i related to his lyrics a lot and i loooved his rapping (still do) but at this point i hardly knew their names. having 7 people in a group/band seemed a bit overwhelming cause i’m used to 4 or 5 in western groups and i was never into groups before this time anyway. i decided to look into all 7 of the members obviously and watched ot7 content, mainly the dance practices first because they seemed so cool to me as someone who used to dance, still loves dance and just in general i think dancing is one of the super cool aspects of kpop that you don’t see from western acts especially back then you didn’t. i looked up who the dance line was (tbh i could tell anyway) and because i didn’t really know anything else about bts i decided that the best dancer will be my bias (when i found out what a bias was and how everyone had one). unsurprisingly my bias happened to become jimin. i couldn’t believe how good a dancer he was (still is) and obviously him being strikingly handsome helped too. at this point i still couldn’t put all their names to faces which isn’t surprising cause i struggle with that anyway and they really kept changing up their looks and hair colours often back then. for this reason i decided that since i chose jimin to be my bias, i will watch videos of just him to learn more about him then when i know him well i’ll move onto another member. so i was watching a bunch of jimin videos and i was recommended a jikook compilation video. i was thinking now that i knew jimin, watching that video will help me learn about another member so i watched it and it was a typical shipping video (this was pre-gcf in tokyo btw). it was a bit jokey and honestly a bit wild but i enjoyed it so i watched more jikook videos to see more about jungkook. at the same i was listening to their albums and watching mvs and run and gayo back then so by the time i finished with the jikook vids i knew all of them well. after all this i loved both jimin and jungkook so much i just decided they’d be my joint biases and that’s been the case ever since.

i know no one’s reading all this but i want to say again i love jimin and i’m no anti. i don’t particularly care what anyone thinks so i’m not giving the satisfaction to the anon who keeps messaging me calling me an anti cause i know how i feel but if anyone’s read this i hope it was helpful lol

[dmagedgoods]

🌳, 🌠, and 💗 Eneas, and 🌸 for both Sal and Eneas if it hasn't been sent already?

Oof, they were great as well, thank you so much! 💕 Eneas 🌳 Compare your OC to themself from 10 years ago. How has their mental state changed since then, how have they aged and grown up? Would they say they’re in a better place than they were back then or do they need help? What advice would they give their younger self? What advice would their younger self give to them now? Eneas was mostly the same 10 years ago. Let’s do 230 to 240 years instead, that’s a more interesting difference. Despite hiding it from view as best as he could – afraid it might cost his life or something worse –, he was incredibly angry. He bowed, he smiled, he was all charming from a very young age, because pleasing those around him became his only chance not to be thrown back into the gutter or to be killed like a worthless piece of meat. Underneath, he carried a storm of fear and pain, and rage. With the things he had to do against his will, every idea of morality and goodness became meaningless and could only seem like another form of cruel mockery from those righteous people on their high horses who had it so easy to be radiant and clean and who would damn someone like him in a heartbeat. And he bowed and smiled, all charming, singing his song, playing his violin, fulfilling his duties, getting ready to provide them joy and pleasures of every despicable sort, locking away his own agony and shame. Should he have been more courageous? Stand up against them and fight? Would death have been better? He wondered often. Unfortunately, he never has been courageous and he never has been strong. But he has been smart and he has been tough. So, all he did, was grit his teeth, the anger in him growing, and this burning wish for revenge. Sometimes those emotions broke free. One time he killed a man because he lost control over them. But he managed to escape from the place before he got caught. And behind their backs, he learned, and studied, and grew and started to use his talents against them. In many cases, he got the revenge he searched for. Today, Eneas is quite powerful. It was a long way, but he managed to master his abilities as a sorcerer and mind mage. With this power came a new security, step by step. Today he is calm, his schemes and lies, and tactics of manipulation are refined and a dangerous weapon. He still bows and smiles and makes charming compliments. People tend to love it. And now he does too, in control behind his masks, watching attentively. His emotions – while still stronger than those of most – are kept in check and are much more stable. Indeed, he is in a much better mental place. His younger self would look at him in relief and fascination, seeing he is still alive and independent, and even powerful. Rather than giving advice, he would ask him what to do. Older Eneas would gently tell his younger self to not lose hope, and promise that he will find a way out as long as he does not refrain from going the necessary steps. Further, he would stress that he must not trust anyone, no matter how much he wants to. Before taking his leave, he would hesitatingly add one single thing: That, when the time has come, he should go back and search for his family. Even to only see them again, should he decide against showing himself, will bring him greater peace than the never-ending uncertainty about their fate. 🌠 Who was your OC’s first friend? Do they remember them or are they still friends now? Talk about some of the people your OC has lost contact with over the years. Do they have any regrets about losing these people and would they revist them if they could?

This one I answered here. 😊 💗 What would your OC say is their best feature? Why? What do their friends / family / lover(s) / people they know think is their best feature and why? Eneas chooses his talent for music and his imagination or creativity as his best features. Without both, he would be long dead. Others would probably name his ability to tell stories so vibrant they come to life, his voice, the way he truly listens, or his charm. 🌸 What does your OC’s voice sound like? Their laugh? Are they good at singing? Do they have an accent? His voice may be one of the most attractive parts of Eneas. Velvety, smooth, and rich, it can caress as much as intimidate, and easily captivates those listening to him. It’s pleasant and compelling, deep when he speaks, and with a wide range to reach higher tones during singing. In most situations, it stays calm unless he truly panics or gets overwhelmed by emotions or is very excited / passionate about something. Since he speaks very clearly and pronounced, it often sounds like he is talking with the faintest accent no matter the language. His laughter sounds inviting and pleasing. But in certain situations, there is a sharp edge to it. Eneas would rather give up on his appearance than his voice since it plays an important role in everything he does. Not only is he a skilled and highly talented singer, he loves to draw people in by telling stories, by making compliments, and just by using sweet or poisonous words to manipulate those around him. Eneas’ voice claim is the beautiful Steve Barton and his role in one of my favorite musicals (“Tanz der Vampire”) partly influenced his character too. Here are listening examples: X, X. ~~~ Salvadore: 🌸 What does your OC’s voice sound like? Their laugh? Are they good at singing? Do they have an accent? Salvadore has an appealing voice, pleasant to listen to, modulated and controlled in most cases, and more on the deeper side of the spectrum. There lies confidence in this voice and strong authority when he speaks in front of crowds, gives orders, or when he explains a plan. It can appear sharp and condescending but also has the potential to become very low and very warm in private moments. When he is overwhelmed with emotion, it often sounds husky. Salvadore’s voice becomes quiet when he gets angry, dangerously so. Only very few people manage to get a heated reaction out of him every once in a while when they make him mad, it needs a special connection for this to happen. His anger usually is very calm and very cold and this reflects in his voice. He speaks clearly and completely without any kind of dialect. In languages that aren’t his native one, of course, he has a faint accent. Despite of his love and talent for music, Salvadore’s singing-abilities are very limited. He can carry a simple melody in most cases, but this is all. Sometimes he hums and sings in private, but only to himself. Salvadore is very eloquent, one of his most important strengths and favorite pleasures is captivating speeches. He loves to talk in front of people and knows how to use his voice to capture interest, point out issues, and how to cause enthusiasm for a goal. In private Salvadore also enjoys reading to people who are dear to him.

[womaninwinter]

For the rosary fic (my beloved): 11, 16, 20

For The Intruder: 7, 12

And 8 and the wild card question for whatever fic(s) you desperately want to talk about

aaaayyy bestie, you're predictable (we love that for you)

11. Was there a scene that you hadn't originally planned to include? Why did you decide to fit it in?

Bold of you to assume I planned this. Lol, okay, I do have a plan for the rosary fic, but I did not really have one when I started. I didn't intend for it to be so damn long for one thing. It was supposed to be like 4 chapters, one for each set of decades. So the decision to write one chapter per decade for the sorrowful mysteries (and maybe also the mysteries of light??) was totally unplanned. But I decided to do it because the Hollow Boy arc just couldn't be compressed into one chapter, there's too much of Lockwood's perspective there that needs to be unpacked. And also, as I was writing, I realised I wanted to explore Lockwood's journey to the Faith, so that definitely required more space. Another unplanned scene was Lucy's visit to St James' church. I added that in because I really felt that she grasped the idea of the rosary too quickly and more context was needed.

16. What was the easiest scene to write?

It's been so long that I don't remember, but I think the opening chapter was something I knocked out in an hour. The idea came and it flowed. The rest has taken more work, as the themes I'm weaving in have become more and more complicated.

20. What is something you wish more people noticed about this fic?

I think people are actually pretty good at noticing the stuff I'm proud of in this fic. Catholicism is overthinker central after all. I can't think of anything that's gone under the radar.

For The Intruder, I've answered 7 here.

12. Was there a scene you wished you could have included? Why didn't it fit in?

I think so far I've managed to fit in everything that I wanted to do, although it remains to be seen if that will continue to be the case. I did have a scene where Holly checks Altwood's injuries, but I cut it because I didn't like it and it wasn't really conveying anything new about the characters. So no is the answer to this one I'm afraid. In general I don't cut a whole lot because I tend to draft in my head.

For a fic I'd like to talk about, I'm going to pick Gutted, because I haven't been asked anything about that yet.

8. What inspired the title for this fic? Is that usually how you choose titles?

I like my fics to have punchy, memorable titles as a general rule (this is why I try to avoid song-lyric titles, and also because I'm a snob). I also love a good double meaning, so Gutted ticked all these boxes. It reflects the physical event (Lockwood getting impaled on a metal spike) and the emotional ramifications — "Gutted" being slang for "bitterly disappointed or upset" in UK English. As for inspiration, it just kind of came to me in a flash: I was turning over possible titles in my head and this occurred to me and I was like, yep, that's it.

26. Wild Card! I'll tell you a fun fact about this fic!

Fun fact: as soon as I'm asked for a fact, I forget all the knowledge I've ever contained. Anyway, here is a sort of fun fact about Gutted? I was in a very rough place mentally when I wrote the first chapter (as is probably obvious to anyone who's read it lol), and I was feeling very bad about writing fic in general actually (something I have since gotten over, again obviously), and I deleted it, and my whole AO3 account, shortly after posting. Then I calmed down a bit, and retrieved the deleted version, remade the account and posted it again, along with chapter two. So, for anyone that remembers back that far, that's why my fic vanished for a while and then came back.

🎬 Behind-the-Scenes Fic Asks 🎬

[mastabas-and-mushussu]

Hi, I’m dusting off this blog after years because I have some queer pagan thoughts to ponder.

I was researching the song Savage Daughter because I needed to figure out if it was racist or not, and I saw a comment that really got me thinking. It makes sense that women find it empowering, it’s meant to be that, but something about the intersection of women’s empowerment and paganism always gets my hackles up. Or at least makes me uncomfortable. It’s a learned response after running into too many TERFs or ideas that punt people down the TERF pipeline, no matter how well-intentioned, but I have to ask myself: independent of all of that, why doesn’t it empower me? Why does it just make me nervous?

I grew up being a woman. I’ve liked girl power songs, I listened to Taylor Swift and Beyoncé in middle school. I’m not a woman anymore, or at least not just a woman, but that doesn’t mean I hate girl power songs. So why does this make me uncomfortable, feel like it isn’t for me?

My current theory is that I’m used to the patronizing “nonbinary people and women” type groups. You know that they really mean afab people and women. Every single workshop I’ve gone to in town, every drum circle, every Web of Life meetup- it’s all women, it’s a woman’s space, women’s interest, like I’m surrounded by the idea of a uterus making you spiritually inclined. Even aside from the fact that I’m not Wiccan and don’t fall under the widely accepted umbrella, even aside from the fact that I’m an anthropologist and the Goddess Chant makes me cringe, it’s obvious on some level that the people around me are only open and relaxed because I can’t pass as masc to save my life. If I were a bear with a mustache it feels like those spaces would go cold like a sword in a quenching trough.

I feel like the more settled I get as an adult queer, the more I start wondering where I fit. Where I can talk. Women deserve to be safe and proud. Men deserve to be safe and proud. Everyone deserves to be safe and proud. I’m not saying I want a secret society of queers where we check your gender identity card at the door- the best way I can explain it is alchemy.

The perfection of the Great Work involves bringing the disparate parts together as a whole- not deciding to cram all of the parts into one mold or another, not stripping them of their unique assets to force a fit. Because, fundamentally, you can’t. The ingredients are what they are, they combine how they combine, and it’s that synthesis- that perfect stew, the way the lemon reacts with the peaflower and the satisfying clink of ice, that brings the recipe together into something wonderful. The sheer amount of women-focused spaces and Divine Feminine workshops feels like drinking straight vanilla extract. There’s something missing.

In case anyone wants to put words in my mouth, I just want.... more. People can keep what they already have, but I feel like there’s something unbalanced. You don’t have to destroy what exists to make that balance- you can create, too. I’d be willing to, but even then- I don’t want it to be my project. I’m one person in the middle of nowhere. It’s more widespread than me, than here.

I’m not going to find a community of solely Levantine pagans, and even if I did I don’t think I’d want to. We’re too small, and even if we weren’t I think the best way to support the wheel of civilization is to get out there and talk to it. I want to talk to heathens. I want to talk to demigirls. I want to talk to furries, to Zoroastrians, to Catholic priests. I even, scandalously, want cishet men with dad bellies and sports hats at the tarot workshop. I wonder if they feel unwelcome like I do.

I’m flinging this completely unedited into the void, so! That’s all folks. Have a good one.

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #21

The friends who will help me to build the Dance Dance Revolution pad will not arrive until tomorrow, but that is okay, because I spent my time doing something much more important. And this important thing that I am speaking vaguely on - I would do it again and again and again, without hesitation.

Given my neurobiology and life experiences, often I feel like I don't belong here - in this time, in this place, or on this planet, even. By and large, people like me are not accepted by broader society, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to whatever happens once my "meat mech" runs out of juice. For a variety of reasons, sometimes I am overcome with the desire to leave prematurely; I have a very strong feeling of wanting to go "home" (wherever that is; I have no idea, but I do know that it isn't this particular mossy wet space rock), and my brain is very good at trying to convince me that no one would miss me if I left.

But then I remember that I have superpowers:

I have the capacity to make someone laugh. To make someone feel seen. To be the reason someone smiles. To be the reason why someone out there can feel understood and cared about, even if it's only for a little while. To reach for those who need a little help. To be patient and to wait. All humans have these superpowers, and more. And all humans forget, from time to time, that they have these superpowers. That's okay too. Usually something comes along to remind them. I certainly need a reminder from time to time.

That being said, one superpower that I definitely do not have is the ability to ZOOP off to some far-off place to prepare tea for someone. As one of my friends so aptly put it, according to TV and movies, we were supposed to have some person named Scotty to beam us up and down to places whenever we want by now (this is a joke; it's okay if you don't get the reference. all the same, if your position at the Edge of Creation allows you to check out Star Trek, you totally should - it's good stuff!), but that is definitely not the case, and that is sad. Oh well.

I am small and my voice doesn't count for much in this place. But all the same, the world needs more of whatever good things I (and anyone else) can do, so even though I'm very tired, in pain, and very sad almost all the time, I'll stay here until my body decides on its own that I'm all done here. Why not? After all, the good things that we do end up multiplying in ways that we cannot see, expect, or fully understand.

Besides, the longer I chill out here, the more stories I'll be able to bring back to wherever feels like home once I'm all done, right? And maybe whoever is waiting for me will be proud of everything I've loved, all the weird ideas I unlearned, all the things I've created, all the stuff I tried to fix, and all the people I tried to help along the way.

I wonder if you're aware of all the people you've helped just by existing, whether you intended it or not. You're not the monster that they said you were. You're not the monster that you think you are.

I've got another little song for you today. Maybe you'll like it. I'll include the way I translated it afterwards:

-------------- Remember that everyone is putting on a brave face and trying to stifle their overflowing tears.

So don't be tempted to use the kind of power that comes from being cruel. No one seems to understand this, but heroes don't need power. Just trust in your authentic self. And, even if your hands seem so small, behold:

All of the love you've ever given and received and all of the curses that have befallen you, too These are what give you the strength to protect everything you hold dear.

On some days, your sorrows might attack you from every direction, and overwhelm you to the point of falling to your knees, barely even able to draw breath. But remember: so many things in this world come in opposing pairs: Joy and tears, despair and strength… Even when you are overflowing with doubt and worry, Remember that love and gratitude shatter all barriers. Look at all of the things that your strong hands have carried up until now, and understand:

All of the love you've ever given and received and all of the curses that have befallen you, too These are what give you the strength to protect everything you hold dear.

Stories tell of a coveted sword But all those who find it discover with disappointment that it is riddled with rust. Not wanting to expend the effort to restore it, they leave it behind as though it is worthless. Little do they know that it still has the power to tear the darkness apart.

All of the love you've ever given and received and all of the curses that have befallen you, too These are what give you the strength to protect everything you hold dear.

So don't be tempted to use the kind of power that comes from being cruel. No one seems to understand this, but heroes don't need power. Just trust in your authentic self So that the shadows, recoiling from your gentle brightness, ask in terror: "What even ARE you?!" --------------

I know that this letter is short, but I think I'll end it here; I'm short on sleep and very tired, and I don't wanna ramble on ya.

Remember that you also have superpowers, okay? And not just the ones that let you bend timelines and allow you incredible feats of physical and magical prowess.

Please remember you are loved. Please stay safe out there as you do your things.

Your friend, Lumine

[sapphonoticeme]

for kpop ask game: 1 2 and 6

this turned out to be a long and pretty personal answer so keep reading at your own risk

1. How did you first get into K-Pop?

this is actually interesting!! :D because the first time i got interested in kpop was back in 2016 (i remember because bts's 'blood sweat and tears' just came out). i just kept hearing about it and one day decided to check it out, which in my case meant watching like four bts's MVs (because they were the only band i had any idea about) and deciding that kpop is really fun and i want to get into it. but i ultimately failed to - i just couldn't understand how any of this worked and i had no idea how to discover new bands to fall in love with other than type 'kpop girl groups' into google (which i did and watched red velvet's 'rookie' as a result; i really didn't enjoy that MV and that significantly lowered my spirits (which might've not been the case if i knew that kpop groups often change their concept and sound from comeback to comeback; but i didn't even know what a comeback was)). i did somehow find a group i liked (and i even vividly remember one of their MVs but i can't remember their name to save my life so i might never rediscover them) but sadly the fact that i didn't understand how the hell this whole kpop thing worked really got to me back then and i ended up losing interest because it was just too difficult to enjoy (and me not understanding english at the time didn't help).

this time around howeverrrrr i'm much less of a control freak and more patient and much better at research, so i feel pretty comfortable!! what sparked the interest this time was me befriending a girl who turned out to be a blink and at some point i just asked her for some kpop recommendations out of curiosity. and the thing is, i never Actually lost interest, it just kinda went dormant - i tended to instantly like people more if i learned they liked kpop, i liked seeing kpop stans pfps on social media, i was excited for bts to become POPULAR popular in the west, and i even went in the reply sections of very popular tweets to watch random fancams on purpose just because i really enjoyed this type of content (mainly because i love choreography). but the point of no-return was when one of my new friend's recommendations turned out to be i-dle's 'hann' and i fell in love. with the sound, then with the visuals (when i watched the MV after just listening to it), then with the lyrics (when i watched again with the subtitles). they just had everything. and from then on i had no choice but to become a full kpop stan

2. Who is your ultimate bias, and why do you love them?

probably soyeon? i think if i had one chance in my life to do a fansign with an idol, i would choose her. she just has such a way of creating music and concepts and stories that seem very personal but also strongly resonate with me and i am so grateful for them. i really needed her in my life

it also just seems to me that she really tries to be a good person and has this as a priority. she's a notoriously strict producer but she always tries her best to not actually hurt anyone. which doesn't sound that impressive but i really think her approach to this says a lot about her because she's very passionate and precise about her job and it's very easy to choose to sacrifice others' comfort when you're given the power to do so

i just think she's a genius and a good human being and she brings me so much joy

6. What's your favorite K-Pop music video, and why?

i have many music videos i have feelings for but this has to be i-dle's 'oh my god'. it's just so hard to do better than this one

i absolutely read the song itself as being about queer love because that what makes the most sense for me (and you have to do quite a bit of mental gymnastics to Not read it like that in my opinion) and while the MV is less explicit in that way, it's still Quite Gay

and the horror-ish, religion-esque aesthetics of it are so up my alley. and it's just so beautiful in general

and This minnie

and This soojin

i just love everything about it

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Dark Forest Resident: Nettlebee

Aliases / Nicknames: Dad, Horrible Father, Poor Thing

Gender: tom

Sexuality: bisexual

Family: unnamed mother, unnamed father, Dawnkit (son), unnamed former mate

Other Relations: unnamed mentor, unnamed apprentice

Clan: Thunderclan

Rank: warrior

Characteristics: kills his son to protect him from a slower death

Number of Victims: 1

Number of Murders: 1

Murder Method: snapping neck

Known Victims: Dawnkit

Victim Profile: his sick son

Cause of Death: mauled by foxes

Cautionary Tale: listen to your medicine cat

Story:

He was a good father.

When his mate from Windclan told him that she had fallen pregnant with his kits, and that their relationship had to end before it got them caught, he was sad but agreed, and asked if he could take in the kits. She agreed, so long as he never told anyone where he got them.

So when Dawnkit, the only one in the litter, was weaned, his mother gave him to Nettlebee one night, who later claimed to have found him abandoned while taking a walk due to restlessness.

Dawnkit was sad at first, of course, but he was too young to really remember his mother, and quickly his only worry was not winning games, something Nettlebee always made sure that he did.

They played every day, and when they weren’t playing, they were cuddling, cleaning, doing everything together. A queen had offered to take Dawnkit in, but Nettlebee had politely refused, pointing out that Dawnkit didn’t need a mother any more than a father at his age, and Nettlebee was more than ready to be that father.

Everything revolved around his little son. If he was on the dawn patrol, he would wake up extra early just to wish his son good-bye until he got back. When he did get back, the first thing he did was enter the nursery and check on Dawnkit.

Then the worst thing happened.

Dawnkit fell sick.

Nettlebee stayed with him in the medicine den, only leaving when it was absolutely necessery, and many times hurrying back when his son wailed for him. He wouldn’t patrol, wouldn’t go to battles against the foxes that had made their home in their territory. 

Dawnkit had greencough, and it was clear to be a bad case.

Worse, there was no catmint to be found in any of the territories. Not even the backup herbs were working.

One night, on the few occasions he was convinced to leave, Nettlebee padded over to the fresh-kill pile. While he took food, two she-cats watching him began to talk. They were saying how horrible the situation was, how Dawnkit likely wasn’t going to survive, and how the sickness would probably take many painful moons to kill him.

They didn’t know Nettlebee could hear them.

He pushed the words away. He pushed the....ideas away.

But he couldn’t escape them. The pain was too much for the small kit, getting frailer each day. He was constantly coughing, hacking up mucus. Nettlebee would try to tell him jokes to cheer him up or distract him, but Dawnkit stopped seeming to notice that he was there.

The medicine cat had told him to wait, to have faith, that they or Starclan had a plan. But they had to say that. They couldn’t say ‘we should kill this kit to save it.’ Nettlebee knew that they had no idea what to do, that they only wanted to calm him.

He couldn’t let his son die, but clearly Starclan had decided his fate. If Dawnkit was to die, he was to die painlessly and quickly. Nettlebee snapped his neck.

Later that day, the medicine cat would return cheerfully, with a mouthful of catmint a kittypet had gathered for them, saying how Dawnkit could be saved now. Then they froze and demanded what had happened. 

Instead of answering, Nettlebee ran. He had killed his son. He had killed his son for nothing! They had the herbs! They had more catmint than Nettlebee had seen in three moons!

He knew where he wanted to go, following the scent of fox. When he spotted their den, he wasted no time in running in.

Additional Information:

--Based on the song Coma Baby. Instead of doing a character that is both angsty and disturbing, I’m splitting it in two, one angsty, one disturbing. This is the angsty one!

Link to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1T-MGCol5Y

--Though she gave him up, Dawnkit’s mother did care for him to some extent, and grieved when the news of his death was brought up at a gathering (or later when her Clanmates returned from a gathering).

--Nettlebee when to the Dark Forest partly because he killed a kit and partly because he refused to listen to the medicine cats--meaning that even if the murder was in good will, it was still ignoring two important aspects of the code.

[speakeasy8]

[001] Fujii, K. (through the eyes of his manager, Zuzzu)

Sooo...this is from the staff journal on Kaze's app mostly updated by his main manager, Tomonori Kawazu, or more affectionately known as Zuzzu. I've been catching up on it slowly (there's 2+ years worth of entries). I'm reading it in its original language because even though the app seems to be available in multiple countries, I haven't seen any mention of English entries or the content of the diary among Kaze's international fanbase.  So I figured I'll share some of the more interesting entries I find here.

Do lemme know if there are already official translations available and it's just me who doesn't know about them so I don't keep doing all this work for nothing, yeah?

Oh I checked and found that Kaze's team has given blanket permission for stuff on the Kaze app to be reproduced. It's only when people rip the stuff in there for unauthorized reuse (like pictures to be printed on t-shirts, etc to be sold as unofficial merch and what-not) that they put their foot down. So in case you're wondering, this thingy that I'm doing here is a-ok in their books, since it's basically content reproduction, which they do not seem to consider as rights infringement. As far as Kaze goes, anyway.

Note that this is based on whenever I get to making more headway into the journal itself and only on whatever entry I come across that I find interesting enough to want to share so it's not going to be everything and it ain't going to be regular. Far from it. Hope y'all understand.

Also, this probably isn't necessary given where this is and there's only like 5.5 of us Kaze fans in here but if anyone wants to share this outside of Tumblr, I'd appreciate it if I'm asked about it first. Thank you!

This particular entry was posted 31 Dec 2020.

Good evening, one and all!

The other day, I talked about working on two music videos in a single week in this Staff Journal. As today is the last day of 2020, looking back on what the year was like, it dawned on me that it was a year where our concerted efforts lie mostly with shooting these videos. We've released seven of them so far so I thought we could take a short trip down memory lane and recount what crazy 2020 was like for us.

It's been just about a year.

Since Kaze's first individual concert that was held at LINE CUBE in Shibuya, that is. This was the show Kaze decided to first announce to the world his original song, NaN-NaNw. It goes without saying that the first music vid that's going to be released would also be that of NaN-NaNw. As someone whos's been making and uploading videos on YouTube all by himself all this time, it's a matter of course that he has very clear ideas on what he wants in this first music video.

Calling ourselves Team Kaze, a small team of staff all came together and brainstormed on everything right from the concept, to the director, to the location.

Call it great timing, but we were able to find ourselves a director willing to take on the job and we were able to have a series of in-depth discussions with them.

See, not only is the entire song in Japanese, it's also sung in a rural dialect. But. The location is NYC. (Kaze himself wasn't too particular on the location though.)

The final story concept was something that came about after many in-depth back-and-forths between Kaze and the director to brush it up. Casting auditions including for the role of the angel were held at the location city right up to the last minute when, three days before we were due to travel to the shooting location, the original director had to bail on us for reasons I'm not able to disclose.

※Please refer to the vlog on YouTube to find out a bit about the progress we were able to make with said director and the concept of the song itself.

Remember, this was Kaze's very first music video. And it's slated to be shot at an overseas location, no less. But here we are, served with this shocking news, three days before we had to show up on set.

"Let's just give up on NYC and rethink the concept from scratch while we search for a new director. I mean, we could just delay this whole thing, couldn't we?"

Were some of the suggestions brought up within the team at the late night discussion table. But Kaze wiped everything clean off it when he said:

"Ah can't think o' another concept that'd work wit' this song."

By the way, just so you know, I actually tabled a suggestion where we go to India with a skeleton crew and shoot with just a single camera instead. But it got voted down pretty quickly which was just as well. Lol.

SEP Nakagawadani-san, Itabashi, the cameraman Kamiike-san, the lighting engineer Takahashi-san and Chris, who took over directorial duties, accompanied us on this journey with its beginnings full of ups and downs, starts and stops. The location coordinator Chika-san and Michael were also a huge help.

(Img taken from Kaze's app)

Here's a little anecdote from the shoot I thought I'd share:

You know the emotion-sharing scene where Kaze was in this room surrounded by a whole bunch of the cast who were all dressed in white? That was actually the very first scene shot which Kaze was initially none too happy about. He complained to me, "Ah never once imagined that the very firs' scene o'mah very firs' music vid wud see me lip-syncing in fronna whole buncha foreign peeps ah've ne'er met X(." He sounded nervous and I probably didn't imagine that hint of agitation I detected in his tone, either.

Also, because shooting was around Christmas season, NYC was alight with decorations. Which complicated things for us as the music vid had absolutely nothing to do with the holiday and we now had to be extremely careful to avoid anything to do with it getting into any of the shots.

When shooting the opening scene of the music vid, the image Kaze, the director and the cameraman each had for it in their respective minds were all different so tensions were slightly strained until everyone eventually came to an agreement.

Reckon it can't be helped, since the original director is no longer on board.

The last scene shot was at the subway. After wrapping up, everyone in Team Kaze and the film crew all felt as though we've created something pretty dang awesome.

And we weren't imagining it either because as a result, NaN-NaNw  won this year's MTV Video Music Award Japan for the R&B category. I can't even begin to describe how happy this made us all.

(Img taken from Kaze's app)

This song and its MV turned out to mark a good start for us all so it felt like all the things we went through for it paid off.

After we've returned to Japan, without waiting for the music vid's release on 24 Jan, we went on ahead and dove headlong into pre-pro for MOH-EE-WA.

Since MOH-EE-WA is a song with hip-hop vibes to it, we figured we could engage a director who's at home with the genre, preferably someone young? Were some of the things Kaze and I talked about and it just so happen we were fortunate enough to have crossed paths with one Spikey John earlier, who not only hail from Okayama just like Kaze, they're pretty much the same age, with Spikey having been just one school year above.  We met him some time in early Jan.

But, whether it was the folly of being about the same age, or both being extremely dedicated to their craft, as things turned out, they were pretty far from smooth-sailing. Having been able to meet the man was a highly fortunate thing in itself still, though. Lol.

Basically it's like this:

The ideas Spikey thought were great, Kaze didn't see eye-to-eye with.

The things Kaze wanted in, Spikey didn't think much of.

For someone who's usually pretty chill, Kaze got uncharacteristically worked up by the communication issues he seemed to be having, at one point going, "There's no way ah can work wit' someone ah can't co'municate on equal terms wit'. Wha he expect me ta do? Git down on mah knees an' beg?"

And from Spikey's end, it was, "Yanno, maybe I'm not the right guy for this."

So while trying to placate Kaze on one hand, on the other I spoke with Spikey to help him gain a better understanding of Kaze. It took several meetings but the two were gradually able to close the gap between themselves and understand where the other was coming from.  Once they've gotten to the point where they've gained respect for one another, well, I'm sure you were all able to see the work that resulted for yourselves.

After the video's official release, Kaze well and truly considers Spikey as one of his bros and Spikey proclaimed himself a Kaze fanboy.

(Img taken from Kaze's app)

Goes to show how important it is to trade ideas, even if they clash.

Whoa, seems like I've been going on forever about this and I'm not even near the end yet. Mind if I took a break? I'll continue in the next entry, promise!

Oh right, since we're looking back on the past, I figure I should let you all in a bit on how Kaze and I met.

"Oh hey, so I've been pretty into this young dude on YouTube lately," Asako Miyazaki, the guitarist-cum-vocalist of SHISHAMO, the band I was managing back then, told me one day. That was how I first learned about the existence of one Fujii Kaze. If memory serves, that was probably around the end of 2017.

Back then, I was just like, "Oh, is that so?" But half a year later, in the summer of 2018, I found myself reaching out to him, and was promptly rejected as he told me, "A bunch of people who claimed to be from the industry have already gotten in touch, so I think I'm good, thanks."

Me, dejected: D8 T___T

So I placated myself by thinking that it didn't have to be me, that he'd for sure be able to meet someone worthy, who could do proper justice to his talent.

But Asako, bless her generous soul, wouldn't hear of it and urged me to not give up, telling me , "Dude. Don't just throw in the towel. Keep trying."

"Wow. That's really big o' her. Me, ah wouldn't be able to find it in meself to jus' han' mah own man'ger over ta someone else," was what Kaze said when I told him about it later. But really, this is just one of the countless things that make Asako an extremely cool person.

After that little push from behind, I gathered up my will to try again and eventually managed to get to a point where he was willing to meet with me at Okayama Station to hear me out.

There, we settled into a cafe and spoke at length and, on that very same day, he brought me home to meet his folks.  In the days after, I made a few more visits to Satosho to explain to Kaze and his folks my ideas and hear what they have to say as well. We communicated a lot and, well, here we are.

They say that fate or destiny is what brings people together and I can't stress enough the truth and importance of that. Thinking back on what led us here this New Years Eve has just renewed my conviction of it.

Lastly,  I'd like for you all to know that the warmth you have so generously shown us was what kept us going throughout this whole year. Trust me when I say we can't begin to thank all of you enough. Really, thank you all so very, very much! I hope you'll continue being generous in your support through 2021, as well.

Looking forward to seeing you all in tomorrow's piano livestream!

--

[rexobibang]

Artists FAQs

Artists FAQs

What kind of art is accepted?

We accept any type of art, including (but not limited to): traditional art, digital art, manips, banners, icons, wallpaper, gif sets / picspam, vids, podfics, and fanmixes. If you want to do physical art (crochet/knitting, pottery, bookbinding, etc), that is TOTALLY OKAY and accepted too!! 

If you have a question about if what you do would be accepted as art for the Bang, please ask a mod!

What constitutes “finished art”?

For writers, we ask them to complete (bare minimum) 50% of their work. We ask the same of artists: sketches. IF you’d like to go beyond sketches and provide line art, or even full colored art? I’m sure your writer would be over the moon. 

WAIT! What about [me]? I’m a [fanworker]! What’s my bare minimum?!

Right, everyone has different art types and not everyone has a “sketch”. How about this for a breakdown of what could be considered a bare minimum? This should be all right for a 10k/Mini Bang fic. If you have feedback on this, please reach out to a mod and let us know. We are still adapting this rule (2025 is our first time enacting this).

Traditional Art: At least a sketch, black&white

Moodboard: Minimum, three images

Gifsets / Picspam: 2 gifs/4 icons

Poetry: A pair of haikus or 8 line minimum

Podfics: 5-20 minutes in length, depending on writer’s track

Fanmixes: 5 songs

Fanvids or Fanedits: 30 seconds minimum

For physical art, please speak to a mod and we will work with you on your bare minimum. I think concept sketches might be sufficient, but I believe we might need to work with you depending on your project and your writer.

I’m a [fanworker]. Why do you keep using the phrase “artist” or “fanworker”?

Because mod Karma is writing all these FAQs and documents and they are old school and bangs are typically writer and artist. Mod Karma is trying to be inclusive and capture all types of artists – podficcers, poets, fanmixers, etc – at once and yeah. Cut me some slack lol I’m sorry if you don’t like the term. You can provide feedback on any of the check-in forms.

Wait, writers don’t have to have a finished fic? What do they give us?

For 2025, Art Claims will happen the first weekend in May (May 2-4). Mods will match up fanworkers with writers that following week and emails will go out once we have made matches. So you can reasonably expect that by the second week in May that you will have your writer. 

If all goes accordingly, a writer should provide their draft to you within this timeframe (between the second and fourth week in May). The last week in May is when fanworkers have the ability to drop out without issue, 100%. If there are issues with your writer, that’s taken on a case-by-case basis.

By art claims, a writer should very hopefully have at least 40-50% written. That should give you enough to work with:

We will flag anyone who has not met the 40-50% threshold to let you know ahead of time. We will also request that those writers submit at least a document with a brief outline/blurb of what they expect the shape of their story to take so you have an idea of where the story is going. That could be bullet points, a paragraph, however the writer best plots. 

When you connect with the writer, they will hopefully be able to provide you with more details.

Okay, that’s a little weird. What can I expect from this bang?

Above all things, mod Karma believes in collaboration. A fanworker and a writer should be able to meet each other halfway and create something together. That’s not to say a writer should be able to dictate to the artist what they want to see. And the artist shouldn’t just take the story and ghost the writer and create in a silo. What should happen, ideally, is that an artist and writer come together and create something together. With input from both sides. Truly a collaboration. 

If that’s not your thing, then you can both (as a team) decide what works best for you. But communication is key. Please don’t ghost each other. That would make us cry. :(

How many stories can I sign up for?

Honestly, as many as you think you can handle. We won’t stop you. You can sign up for 10 Mini Bangs, or 3 Mega Bangs. Or just 1 Big Bang. But, please, for the love of all things soft and squishy, take care of you and your mental health and your body first. No one wants you to burn out for the sake of fandom. It’s just an event. It’s just fandom. You are more important. 

What’s the drop deadline for fanworkers (for 2025)?

May 23-25, 2025

How do claims work for the Bang?

So claims work by a Google Form. We send it out the first weekend in May (2025). We ask artists how many fics they would like to claim, how many pieces they believe they have time to create (1-5+) and if they mind being paired with another artist on a story. Last year, we had more artists than writers, so we did something called Bonus art (so a Mini Bang got 2 pieces of art, but the Bonus art wasn’t required if the artist couldn’t finish it). We also ask if there’s anything the mods should take into consideration when making matches.

Then, on a scale of 0 (Triggering AF) to 5 (GIMME THAT RIGHT TF NOW), we ask artists to rate at least x-amount of fics a 4 or 5 to match with their top pick. I say x-amount because I’m not sure how many we may get in 2025. In 2023, we said 2 fics. We provided the summaries via PDF and Google Slides ahead of matching. We provide the title, the track, and rating. We also state if the writer would prefer not to receive a certain type of art. 

How do I post my finished art?

This will be determined between you and your writer. Art can either be embedded in the story on AO3 or can be posted as a standalone piece on AO3 that the writer will link to. But it must be posted to AO3.

I don’t have an AO3 account.

We can hook you up with an invite.

Can I share my progress art?

Yes, but only during the promo period(s). Please see the timeline for those date(s).

Can I write as well as produce art?

Of course! We have a role for that!

Can I also sign up to pinch hit?

Absolutely! We’d actually really appreciate it, just in case.

Can I pull out if my writer doesn’t appropriately tag/warn?

If your writer fails to disclose all warnings on their fic and it makes you uncomfortable (including trigger or just flat out squicks), please reach out to a mod. We take tagging very seriously. 

Short answer – yes. You may drop that project. We can rematch you with another writer if you would like.

Is there a discord? (Do we have to join it?)

We have one! You can join it here.

And you are not obligated to join it. Our primary method of communication will be email. Please verify with your team, once teams are assigned, how they would prefer to communicate. Please also be aware that some artists (and writers!) may not have Discord.