#incidentally i think i've used that tag before

[utilitycaster]

Not a longtime follower, I saw in one of your posts you imply to dislike Otohan as a character. Can you elaborate (or direct me to a post where you did elaborate and I missed)?

Oh there's not much to elaborate on. She's boring. Her mechanics are great and she serves as a formidable threat to Bells Hells but in the same way that a giant razor-sharp swinging axe does: lethal and frightening, but not a particularly good compelling conversationalist. We know virtually nothing about the Apex War so "Legend of the Peaks" carries very little weight. She never actually had any real conversation with Imogen, just a weird appearance in a few of her dreams and a bunch of confusing threats in an attempt to perhaps exalt her (?) when in retrospect I actually think Imogen probably exalted in Gelvaan and that's what led to her nearly killing a couple of people. I don't know why she specifically joined the Ruby Vanguard or began recruiting others, how she got involved with the Paragon's Call, her past relationship with the Raven Queen, why her tactics on Ruidus specifically changed from "preserve Imogen" to "kill 'em all" or like, literally anything about her. Like...I've been guilty of this in my home games but sometimes you come up with a sick-ass NPC build and forget to figure out like, the rest of their deal, and even if that's not true and Matt had a rich backstory for her that simply didn't come up, she felt like that.

[charrlote365]

SAND, SEOYEON AND S*X Reference Idol: fromis_9 LEE SEOYEON Word Count: 13.077 Tags: Romance, massage, Kpop idol, fromis_9, Lee Seoyeon

As the sun set below the horizon, painting the desert in hues of orange and pink, I couldn't help but dazed at how surreal our honeymoon felt. Here I was, in the middle of nowhere, with Lee Seoyeon, the love of my life and, incidentally, a member of fromis_9. The expansive desert stretched out before us, an endless canvas of dunes that seemed to go on forever.

Seoyeon's laughter echoed through the air, her unique husky voice making the sound even more enchanting as we hiked up yet another sandy hill. Her joy was infectious, "CAMPING, CAMPING, CAMPINGG!!~", she kept singing loudly while jumping around in the sand, and despite the sweat trickling down my back, I felt like the luckiest man alive. Fate indeed works in a mysterious way, who would have thought that our paths would cross like this, leading us to this moment?

"Hey, look at that cactus!" Seoyeon exclaimed, pointing excitedly at a tall, spiky plant standing high amidst the sand. She ran towards it, her oversized white shirts waving around. I jogged to catch up, grinning at her childlike enthusiasm.

"Be careful, babe," I warned playfully. "Those things can be pretty prickly."

She turned back to me, eyes sparkling with mischief. "Are you afraid of cactus? Just be afraid of me ~, because I can bite! Happp!! hehehe~"

Before I could respond, she stumbled, her foot catching on an unseen rock. Time seemed to slow down as she was falling forward, right onto the cactus. My heart skipped a beat.

"Seoyeon!" I shouted, rushing to her side. She sat up, a look of shock on her face, now adorned with tiny cactus thorns. Despite the situation, she started to giggle, her husky laugh vibrating through the air.

"Well, that didn't go as planned," she said, her laughter bubbling up. I couldn't help but join in, the absurdity of it all hitting us both at once.

"Let's get you back to the hotel," I said, helping her to her feet. "We'll have you de-thorned in no time."

We made our way back, the heat of the day giving way to a cooler evening breeze. Back in our room, the light was soft and warm, casting a comforting glow on Seoyeon's face. She sat on the edge of the bed, still giggling intermittently. I fetched the first aid kit, trying to suppress my own laughter.

"How many staycation stories start with a cactus attack?" I said, sitting beside her with tweezers in hand.

She grinned, her eyes twinkling. "Not many, I bet. But it makes for a great story, don't you think?"

"I do. And it's all part of the adventure," I replied. "Just our little secret."

She smiled, her eyes filled with warmth. "Our secret staycation in the desert. No media, no fans, just us."

I started to gently remove the thorns, one by one. She winced occasionally but kept her spirits high. "Does it hurt?" I asked, pausing to look into her puppy eyes.

"Um, a little," she admitted, her voice sulky. "But it's okay, it's worth it for the memories. Besides, it’s kind of funny. I mean, who else can say they hugged a cactus on their honeymoon?"

"Of course, the great and the only one, Lee, Seoyeon," I replied, chuckling. "You never cease to amaze me."

She giggled, her husky voice making my heart flutter. "You know, this reminds me of that one dream I dreamt few days ago, I tripped and fell into a bush during a festival performance. The fans thought it was part of the choreography."

I laughed, imagining the scene. "So, did you play it off like a pro?"

"Of course, even in my dream I'm still that great dancer of fromis_9" she said with a wink.

I continued to carefully pull out the thorns, the process surprisingly hard. Her laughter made it easier, turning what could have been a painful event into a bonding experience. Occasionally, she would make a funny face, and we would burst into laughter all over again. And for every laugh she does, the more I fell deeper for her.

"You know," she said softly, "I've always been in the spotlight, even in my childhood. My life is always about performing. But now that I'm with you, I can just be myself. Even with a face full of thorns."

I paused, looking at her with nothing but love. "And I wouldn't have it any other way," I said. "You're perfect, even with thorns and all."

She smiled, reaching out her hand to touch my right cheek. "Thank you for always being there, for making even the craziest moments special."

"That's what love is, right?" I replied, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "Being there for each other, laughing through the chaos."

By the time I finished, her face was free of thorns, and she looked radiant despite the disaster. We sat there, in our little desert oasis, enjoying the warmth of our love and laughter.

"I need to take a shower," I said, standing up and stretching. "Make sure you don't get into any more cactus-related trouble while I'm gone."

She laughed, her husky voice following me into the bathroom. The warm water felt amazing after the long, adventurous day, and I took my time, savoring the moment of solitude.

When I stepped out of the bathroom, I was greeted by a sight that made me burst into laughter. Seoyeon was laying on the bed, her face and upper chest covered in gummy bears made from honey.

"What on earth are you doing?" I asked, still chuckling.

She looked up at me with her silly face. "Honey is supposed to be good for healing scars, right? So I thought these gummy bears might help." She explained playfully.

I couldn't stop laughing. "You do know you look like a walking candy store right?? Come here, you."

I got on the top of her and slowly picking off the gummy bears one by one, popping each one into my mouth. She squealed in mock protest, her eyes sparkling with laughter.

"Yaaa..Stop eating my medicine!" she scolded jokingly, swatting at my hands.

"But they taste so good," I replied, grinning. "And besides, you're already healing. Laughter is the best medicine, remember?"

She rolled her eyes but couldn't hide her smile. "You're just the worst."

"And you love that about me right," I said while leaning myself down to kiss her. Despite of her small face, her lips are rather thick, they wrap my lips like a warm blanket, our saliva mixed all together and it tasted like honey thanks to the gummy bears I just ate. Our tongues were slipping against each other like they're going to melt to be one. I then stopped and walked away from her, she was wondering why I didn't continue. "Where are you going? Let's continue, I still need your love to heal, you know?" She lamented.

"Yes, mam! wait a minute, I have something you will like", I said as I reached into the first aid kit bag again, this time pulling out a small bottle of essential oil. "You know what this is right?," I asked, pouring a few drops onto my fingertips. Massaging her body with oil has been our routines. She loves it when her body is sticky with oil and when I rub her body, she always squeals and giggles.

She raised an eyebrow, Pretending not to know. "What's that? I know nothing about that, I'm innocent, officer", while trying to avoid eye contact with me.

Ignoring her respond, I started to take off her white shirts and bra. I could see her breasts which upper part filled with bruises and scars from the thorns, and also red line mark on her shoulders from her bra straps. I poured some oil onto her body and gently dabbed the oil gently on her shoulder where the thorns had left small marks. She shivered slightly at the touch, a giggle escaping her lips.

"That tickles," she said, her voice husky and playful.

"Sorry," I said, grinning. "I'll be gentle." I continued rubbing the oil to her neck and her face cheeks. Looking at her silly face up close which now filled with some scars and bruises from the fall, I couldn't stop myself to kiss her lips again, wanting her to know that I will take care of her from now on, no matter what. I closed my eyes slightly and used my lips to rub over the oil on her scars slowly, she felt ticklish yet aroused from all the kissing and started hugging me tight. Her breasts pressed against mine so tightly that I could feel her heart beat getting faster.

"This feels nice," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. "Thank you."

"Anything for you," I replied, my heart swelling with love for this incredible woman.

I continued rubbing her body with my lips. I kissed her nips which laced by oil, and rubbed the other nip with my finger. She let out a little moan. Her breath is getting uncontrollable and she started biting her finger. Her eyes were locked on me, they're filled with trust, love, excitement and lust. Just looking at her expression made me filled with pleasure.

I sneaked my right hand into her pants and started rubbing her pussy. I could feel sticky substance already soaked her underpants. I licked my finger that's laced by her love juice and put it back inside her. She shouted as 2 fingers in were too much for her.

"Ups! Sorry. We just started and you're already soaked, Seoyeon-ah." I teased her.

"Shii.. just be quiet and get it over with, I'm still in pain, you know..", she replied with pouty mouth on her face.

I stood up and removed my bathing robe, letting them drop to the floor. I went back on the bed and slowly took off her jeans. She couldn't say anything as her heart beat faster, knowing what's going to happen next.

I raised her legs up and opened them wide. I could see her pussy bare open and I couldn't hold myself to suck and bite her clits slightly hard. She was surprised by it that she screamed so loudly I was afraid people in the next room might hear us. Luckily, I realized no one's gonna hear us since we're in a hotel that's close to be nowhere on the map and she continued to moan loudly. I continued licking her pussy like I was a cat licking butter and put my middle finger into her pussy. Her pussy neck is so short that I could feel her womb gate with just my finger. I teased her womb by squeezing them inside and she started pulled my hair yelling how good it felt. I kept teasing her womb and I could feel her pussy wall suddenly got tight as she arched her back and sprayed her love juice all over my face and the bed.

As if it wasn't enough I put 2 fingers back into her and rubbing the upper part of her pussy, teasing her g-spot with every thrust. She felt her high coming again and within seconds she reached her climax for the second time and her body shuddered roughly. I licked and sucked her pussy to clean it from her love juice, including the thick, white liquid oozing from her that tasted like cheese, my favorite delicacy. lmao.

"Hmm, your pussy is so tasty", I teased her while she was still gasping for air from her second orgasm. Yet suddenly, right after she stopped, she raised up and gripped my hard rock penis. "Ouch!", I yelled as I didn't expect her move. "Now it's my payback", Seoyeon said while looking at me with sharp gaze after what I just did to her. She suddenly bit my penis tip hard making my knees weak and I shouted "Yahh! Seoyeon-ah!! Please be gentle!".

"Just be quiet and man up", she replied with a little giggle. She then sucked my dick like its a boba drink that she likes. Every suck feels like my soul getting suck into her mouth. My penis barely fit to her small mouth that it felt as tight as her pussy. Her mouth walls wrapped my dick with its warm, wet and intensely. Slowly but sure, I feel the tickling sensation turned into ecstasy, my head's got lighter and just like that I spurted my sperm inside her mouth. I grip her head and push it closer and deeper into my crotch as I went high up to heaven. My sperm flowed so much that it started to spill on the bed. She then opened her mouth to show how much sperm I just unloaded roughly into her tiny mouth.

"Wait, lemme get the tiss..", but before I could even finish my words she replied "I already drank it", with her giggle and husky voice, delightly. Aftermath was a mess with our bed was wet, stained with our body fluid. We quickly cleaned them up as we didn't want to be fined by the hotel and even used the hair dryer to dry it up quickly. It was so tiring, that still naked, we lay down on the bed, with no energy left in us.

As we laying side by side, facing each other closely, we leaned in for another kiss, I felt the warmth of her breath against my lips, mingling with the sweetness of the honey and the floral scent of the oil. The room was filled with the scent of the desert, a blend of flower oils and our fluids, lingering reminders of our wild day. Her eyes, shining with love and amusement, held mine as we shared this intimate moment.

Cuddling her close, I whispered, "I can't wait to see what other crazy adventures we'll have."

She smiled, her husky voice soft in my ear. "As long as we're together, I'm ready for anything."

And as we kissed, sealing our promise, I knew that no matter what the future held, we would face it together, with laughter, love, and a spirit of adventure that would see us through anything. In that moment, our secret honeymoon in the desert felt like the most perfect beginning to the rest of our lives.

[daresplaining]

hi! i went through your sensory shenanigans tag looking for an answer so i apologize if you addressed this already and i missed it, but random senses question: outside of DD: black armor, has matt's ability to sense radio waves come up anywhere else? i vaguely recall it being mentioned in waid's run but it seems so out there -- even for hypersenses -- that i was wondering if other issues had gone further into it or not.

That's a really interesting detail to point out, and I actually completely glossed over it on my first read-through:

Daredevil: Black Armor #4 by D.G. Chichester, Netho Diaz, Andrew Dalhouse, J.P. Mayer, and Clayton Cowles

What Matt seems to do here is identify the specific sound/feel(?) of the Avengers' emergency channel, and then tune a radio to that channel to contact them. I have my doubts.

There are, of course, many instances of Matt overhearing people listening to the radio or communicating through com-links, simply because he's within hearing distance. We also know that he perceives sounds at frequencies outside of the normal human range of hearing:

Daredevil vol. 2 #63 by Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, Dan Brown, and Cory Petit

Related, we've also been told that he can feel radio waves:

Daredevil vol. 4 #1 by Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, Javier Rodriguez, and Joe Caramagna

(and also, incidentally, radiation):

Daredevil vol. 1 #43 by Stan Lee, Gene Colan, Vince Colletta, and Artie Simek

The question is whether he could not only hear/feel a specific frequency, but could actually identify what it was being used for. The idea that he can use his head like a radio to tune in to broadcasts seems pretty far-fetched. There have been times in which he has used technology to make this happen; he had a radio receiver inside his cowl for a while back in the day, which let him tap into police broadcasts. However, here is one possible example of him managing this feat organically, from a very early issue guest-written by Wally Wood:

Daredevil vol. 1 #10 by Wally Wood, Bob Powell, and Artie Simek

This wording is a little unclear; it's possible that, rather than performing any radio magic, he is just hearing this message being sent because it's happening nearby. But it's difficult to tell. In any case, it is an extremely Silver Age take on Matt's powers that, I agree, seems pretty unbelievable. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I think D.G. Chichester is one of the all-time greats when it comes to writing Matt's senses. And I love his concept of "the city's secret transmissions": the specific soundscape of New York that only Matt experiences, which would include things like radio signals. But he will also occasionally introduce an idea that is just plain nutty, and I'd say that this is one of those instances.

[somestorythoughts]

Eldritch Echo - Part 7

I return. There are explanations here! The kind that answer the what and not the why, but explanations nonetheless. Someone also asks if they can eat the Chancellor, but I promise he doesn't actually want to eat him. That much corruption definitely tastes nasty. Also @mezmatch I'm not sure if I've been tagging correctly but hope this is visible.

In Coruscant, CMO Blood ignores the way the wall across from him peels away from the emerging face with stone eyes and needle-long fangs. He’s stitching a gash in the leg of one of his Corries and isn’t about to pause to look at a dramatic ARC.

“Sitrep?”

“I’ve finished with the Guard. The slicers developed something, but they were debating how to send it out last night. I don’t know if they’ve decided yet. And you?”

“I’ve got the files. Three copies with me, three with the medics you directed me to on Kamino. You sure we can’t-”

“I didn’t know you wanted to be a cannibal so badly.”

“I don’t, I’m just saying that if we ate him we’d be extra sure he wouldn’t survive.”

“A beheading is just as effective and less gross.” Blood replied, leaving the unconscious vod so he could wash his hands. “Give me one of those copies and then keep yourself busy for the next two hours. The meeting is in two and a half, and we need you to play your part in this plan.”

ARC Trooper Fives grins, eager and angry. “Don’t worry Blood. I’ll be there.”

…

In the Marauder, Wrecker approaches Echo, who’s been reading for the past hour. “We’re gonna talk about what we know about your thing. I thought you’d want to know, and since you’d probably listen in anyway I should just invite you?”

“Thanks Wrecker.” Echo replies. He’d been listening to their conversations as much to know if they wanted to kick him out as to see how their investigation was going. As a twin he’s used to looking strange from time to time, but there’s strange and there’s forcibly and painfully altered before being used to kill vod. He’s growing comfortable with his new limbs and his new team, but he hasn’t fully reached comfortable yet. And he thinks it’s mutual, maybe especially now that he’s been messing with them.

But hiding it isn’t a long-term solution, not on a ship this small. The Bad Batch says they like weird. If they’re honest about that, his tendency to occasionally grow claws and turn blue shouldn’t be a problem.

He catches Hunter’s eye when he follows Wrecker in and the Sergent shrugs. Crosshair gives Echo his usual scowl, which he uses for everything from inconvenient terrain to burned coffee, so that’s probably not too bad. “Any chance you’ll just give us an answer?”

“It’s payback.” Echo grins, needle-sharp for all of a second. “For those two times you forgot I hadn’t memorized your plans yet. And the smell of the ship. It’s also entertaining.”

“Your plans are the same kind of crazy don’t deny it.” Hunter sighs. “Can you at least agree not to lie if we ask?”

“I never lied. Not for these questions.” And it’s true. Crosshair may have gotten nowhere with his questions, but every answer Echo had given had been either blatantly ridiculous or true but vague. He’d gotten a lot of entertainment out of it this week.

“We should start by reviewing what we know.” Tech states. “Echo has some form of deviancy from the Prime that expresses itself in multiple ways. They mostly appear to be physical but has also included using his shadow to eavesdrop and talk to us when he was in another room.” He paused, then glanced up. “Incidentally, could you use that to scout ahead?”

Echo made a so-so gesture. “Depends on the terrain. I wouldn’t recommend it over someone scouting ahead in person, but it’s helped before. And I’m not separate from my shadow, I can’t pay attention to what’s in front of me and what’s in front of my shadow at the same time.”

“That is good to know.” Tech replied. “We have seen multiple examples of your shape changing in small ways, not enough to indicate your limits, though from your comment about your prosthetics I believe you either cannot alter them or are still learning how to. Is that correct?”

“Yeah.”

“Could you elaborate?”

Echo tilts his head back, frowning. He’s tried to put words to this before, he likes words, and he’s trying to remember what he’d thought then. “The changing is a bit like a reflex. You can stop it – we all did our best too while we were on Kamino – but it’s also partly automatic. My body’s still adjusting to the prosthetics so they don’t change as much on their own, and I’m still adjusting mentally, so it takes a little more effort to do something like this.”

He raised his right arm. The scomp end split apart into something like a flower, Torrent blue with red stripes.

“There are more of you then.” Hunter states.

Echo smiled, bittersweet. The sweet glowed under his irises, the bitter ached in his throat and bruised his skin as if it was trying to do more than metaphorically suffocate him. “It’s never a good idea to assume you’re entirely alone in the universe. The first pair were decommissioned within their first year. The Kaminoans like uniformity, and from what Ninety-Nine told me that first pair was way off the mark. He said it was as if all of us that came later got the message somehow, our differences were quieter as tubies. But we’ve never adhered to uniformity well.”

Echo, who found comfort in the kind of quiet minute detail-work that was essential but considered boring, who had been threatened a time too many with decommissioning, and who was often overshadowed by his louder twin, had been an exception to that norm. Not anymore.

“And who’s we?” Crosshair asked.

As fun as this game has been, he might as well wrap it up. “We’re twins Crosshair. Myself and Fives, Cobalt and Cerulean, you know that absurdly cheerful medic in the 212th? He’s another.”

“But what is a twin when we’re all clones?”

Echo shrugged. “We just are. You know how you know how to reassemble a blaster, effortlessly and thoughtlessly? It’s like that but without the endless drills. Or the way most batches pick oldest and youngest by vibes. Each twin in a set was decanted on the same day, and when we find each other, we know. Fives I, I don’t remember meeting him and if he says he does he’s lying but, we’ve always known. Someone suggested there was Force stuff involved and it’s as good an explanation as any, but I don’t think any of us knows the why of it.”

Tech and Crosshair shared a glance before Tech said, almost hesitantly, “I read the report of ARC trooper Fives’ death. But you always talk about him in the present.”

Echo’s next breath shudders. “I, I would know. He’s the other half of my soul and I would know if he was truly gone. There was this shiny in Torrent a bit before the Citadel called Dogma. He’d lost his twin a few months before being sent out and I think the only thing keeping him going was his remaining batcher and his extreme loyalty to the Republic. He told him that he felt his twin die from all the way across Tipoca City. So I’d know.”

The squad glances at each other uncertainly and anything they might have said interrupted by a beeping from the console. Tech hurried to the pilot’s seat and Hunter sighed. “Mission time boys.”

Echo shoved up from the seat. Time to get to work.

[gascon-en-exil]

AO3 Wrapped (Writers' Edition)

Found a list for this here, and following in the vein of a mutual on another platform I thought I'd go ahead and answer all the ones that I can to commemorate my first year as an actual fic author.

1. How many words have you written this year?

209,263...on AO3, anyway. I'm not counting my blog or YouTube scripts for any of this.

2. How many works did you publish this year?

6

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

Hard to pick. What Burns Between Us kicked everything off and has been the blueprint for all the stories that have followed, but I think I might actually like To Make as Much of Vices as Virtues a bit more. I somehow wrangled an even longer fic laden with flashbacks and relatively dark content out of two NPCs who don't even have official art. Also, because of this fic I can say that I've written the only Papp/Roque smut currently on AO3.

4. What work of yours has the most hits?

What Burns Between Us

5. What work of yours got more feedback than you expected?

To Make as Much of Vices as Virtues, because it's as mentioned such a tiny pairing. A lot of those comments came from just two people, but still.

6. Favorite title you used

Children Believe What We Tell Them is such an ironic twist on a classic film line (in translation, anyway). Given the subject matter of that fic I was tempted to go for a more familiar reference to Disney's Beauty and the Beast, but Cocteau worked a lot better for me in the end.

7. If you use song lyrics, which artist’s songs did you pull from the most?

I don't, but I do pull titles and original/incidental character names from literary sources: Wilde, Whitman, Chopin, Faulkner, and even Freud among others.

8. Pairing you wrote the most for this year?

Osvald/Partitio, a.k.a. the first of the many ships I've had that managed to inspire me to write fic. I'm still not entirely sure how that happened.

9. Favorite pairing you wrote for this year?

It's either them or Papp/Roque, and while I had to fill in more substantial gaps in canon to flesh out the old man yaoi I do think I'm going to have to say Osvitio again for this one.

10. What work was the quickest to write?

Through the Long Moonlit Night, which I rushed out in roughly ten days to get it done in time for Halloween. That was on me for getting inspired to write a monster fic with less than two weeks to go for it to be timely.

11. What work took you the longest to write?

To Make as Much of Vices as Virtues was around three months total, and it also took more initial planning compared to What Burns Between Us which largely follows the motions of canon.

12. How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year?

Oof, I don't even want to think about it. Eight or ten, at least...including a couple of non-Octopath ideas.

13. What’s your longest work of the year?

To Make as Much of Vices as Virtues, at over 77K words.

14. What’s your shortest work of the year?

Polymorphous Perversity, at just over 6K and my first actual oneshot.

15. What WIP are you taking into next year with you?

I do have both a short Papp/Roque piece as well as my first stab at Temenos/Crick (with Osvitio) in the works that I may or may not finish before the end of the year. The big one in the planning stages currently though involves Osvald trading places with himself in a different universe to explore weird new facets of his character...and also to make Partitio cry some more, because that's what I do.

16. What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag?

Alternate Universe, unsurprisingly. My first fic establishes a partial AU running alongside but still distinct from canon Octopath Traveler II, and all the rest follow it in one way or another.

17. Your favorite character to write this year?

Roque Brilliante, because he's such a humorously terrible person and yet isn't hard to wring pathos out of either because at the end of the day he's a sad old queen who got dumped on so much he decided not to have any morals. He absolutely doesn't deserve the happy ending that the game gives him, and I've kept it that way by never writing a proper redemption arc either...but he has a husband and son who love him in spite of his many, many flaws so he gets that ending anyway.

18. The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year?

Osvald Vanstein, especially for his PoV segment of Wooing That Drifting Imagery. Canon doesn't offer much in the way of post-revenge flaws for him, so coming up with some that both matched his in-game character as well as the time period while also maintaining his relentlessly analytical voice was quite the challenge. I've gotten feedback on how off-putting Osvald's "benevolent" sexism comes across that I have ideas for how to tease at in future fics, so that's good. Additionally, I've received two comments calling my Osvald autistic/autistic-coded which...I guess? That definitely wasn't my intention or even anything I was thinking about. Canon Osvald is coldly rational to a fault and struggles with expressing himself even when he's saving the day with magic laser beams made of the Power of Love, so I just ran with that. (Him having a colossal dick on the other hand is purely for the comedic value.)

19. What’s one pairing you want to explore next year?

I've already mentioned that I want to try out Temenos/Crick for at least one fic. Hikari/Agnea may show up in some of my projects as a background element too. Aside from that, more of the same - although I've always thinking of strange new ways to explore those ships.

20. Which work of yours have you reread the most?

I reread my fics a lot, but proportional to their length I think I've looked back on Wooing That Drifting Imagery the most. It takes a lot of risks on the conceptual level: Partitio in full drag getting some kind of partial gender euphoria, Osvald's PoV, the kinky sex scene that goes sour, the prominence of my OCs.

21. How many kudos in total did you get this year?

148

22. Which work has the most comments?

What Burns Between Us, both in quantity and in number of unique commenters.

23-25.

All regarding collaborations and gifts, N/A

26. What’s your most common category?

Does this mean fandom category? Octopath Traveler II is currently my only category then. That may or may not change next year...although if I do get pestered into writing Fire Emblem fic it's probably not going to be exactly what anyone expects.

27. What do you listen to while writing?

Nothing specific; I'm not a very musically-oriented person. That's the main reason I don't do the whole Spotify Wrapped thing.

28. Favorite work you wrote this year?

Probably Wooing That Drifting Imagery, because of the risk-taking and all the New Orleans references I got to slip in.

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

Hard to pick. Possibly the ending of Chapter 5 of Wooing That Drifting Imagery:

Stepping forward, Partitio places his arms around Osvald’s neck and leans gingerly against the man’s shoulder, careful not to smudge the powder on his face. “What are you doing?” His hands are on Partitio’s waist, but he seems unsure. “Only…seein’ what it feels like to hug my husband.” Above him, Osvald’s breath catches. He wonders if they’re feeling the same thing. Partitio closes his eyes and inhales deeply. There are memories of sweat and dirt and darkness and the shame of need, of clinging to a muzzled prisoner with fire in his eyes and heart for protection from the unrelenting elements and the cruelty of man. Those memories are set aside – not wholly out of sight, but off in a corner. In their place emerges not one of Shrevelin’s fabrications, but something else both new and strangely familiar. There’s Osvald and his solid, gentlemanly warmth, and the faint fragrance of springtime that enfolds them, and the layers of fabric that separate them solely as a matter of modesty and not of the scorn of the world. Perhaps, when it’s only the two of them in this moment – which will fade like sunlight vanishing behind the trees into dusk, but linger still in the mind – he can be she. Osvald is her husband. She is his wife. “I’m ready.” Osvald takes up his hat and his cane, and offers his arm. Together, they stroll into the New Delsta sunset.

I liked writing this subtle transition where Partitio "sets aside" the memories of the start of his relationship with Osvald, internalizes the Mrs. Vanstein role to match how he's currently dressed as a society wife, and starts using feminine pronouns for himself...even if it's dropped several sentences into the next chapter out of anxiety over being in public. This is also the first time that Partitio refers to Osvald as his husband, when both of them had rejected marital labels for each other in the previous fic specifically because they're firmly stuck in the heteronormative mindset that they can't marry because Partitio isn't a woman. Well, now he sort of is.

30. Biggest surprise while writing this year?

That I wrote fic at all? If not that, then how well my fics have been received in this corner of an already small fandom. I love getting to read comments and bookmark notes and so forth saying how much people like my writing even though I'm still technically an amateur.

[hibiscesque]

Fanfic Writer Interview

@chuuyaspinkmotorcycle16 tagged me (<3) and I almost tagged her wrong here because she has the audacity to use a different username than on Twt.

How many works do you have on AO3?

Nineteen visible, five hidden! Hoping to get a few more in before 2025 pray 4 me.

Your top 5 stories by kudos/likes:

Just gonna do the SKK ones because no one on here follows me for DC Comics or THG.

Post-Coital Miss (4,237 words) Oneshot, M - A (nonexplicit) fic where Dazai is That Dormmate who keeps the rest of the ADA up with his loud sex shenanigans with Chuuya and Atsushi contemplates the merits of taking after his mentor and jumping into the river after being chosen to confront him.

Less Like You (22,909 words) Twoshot, E - My scar sex fic—both of their scars, not just Dazai's. I don't really know how to encapsulate it in a blurb but it's actually not about the sex at all it's all a front for the feelings. So many feelings. (Too many feelings). Transzai because I love Twitter user ardenistired.

Supersonic Boom (67,502) Multichap, T, Complete - High school AU except Chuuya is the dedicated "good girl" student and Dazai is a delinquent "bad boy" truant instead of the other way around because you can pry that iteration of them from my dead, cold hands. Featuring Dazai's dastardly schemes, ultimate badgood romcom wingman Albatross, homeless Chuuya, and illiterate-but-also-smarter-than-the-teachers Dazai.

Places of Worship (8,250 words) Oneshot, E - Praise kink but it's also lowkey trust kink because Dazai enacts a dastardly plan to get Chuuya to break up with him because he realizes he's falling in love with him. Once again the sexytimes are incidental (but also very steamy).

nothing, the wind, the sky (64,790 words) Multichap, M, Ongoing - Started writing this at a lowkey dark time in my life. It's really heavy and honestly I'm not sure I recommend it? It deals with themes of suicidality, CSA, empathy fatigue, suicide survivor (the loved one, not the suicidal person) trauma, financial trauma, human experimentation/medical trauma, trauma bonds, codependent relationships, forced mental health care, and that's just what I can remember. It was originally supposed to be four(?) chapters but it has a plot now that's actually related to the events in BSD.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! They make me so happy and I want to express my gratitude.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I actually don't usually write angsty endings. There's only one up that's not hidden right now, Deliver Us From Ev—. It's exactly what it says on the tin. A traumatized Dazai with no concept of healthy boundaries and consent manipulates Oda into having sex with him on his 18th birthday. It's non-explicit, non-sexy, lowkey kinda brutal, and I've been told by commenters that it left them genuinely upset and a little disturbed.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Supersonic Boom. It was SO soft and cheesy I didn't know if I was cringing or melting as I wrote it.

Do you write crossovers?

Anyone who thinks they can write a crossover after Magic and Mystery dropped is just kidding themselves. /lhj

(No, I don't haha).

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

No real hate! One nasty comment once, though.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes. Porn as a vessel for complicated emotions to the point the porn is the tangential part. Next question.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

OMG Malaika reminded me about the thief website crisis of summer 2024 that was wild. So yes.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

She has a private Twitter account so I don't know if she'd want me sharing it, but a lovely individual translated my The More You Grow series of teen SKK shorts into Russian on Ficbook. Link to the original here and the translation here. <3

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I've done trades!

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

The controversial trenchcoat man and the redhead he's definitely not in love with.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Right now, all of them. ���🗿🗿

What are your writing strengths?

I wasn't quite sure how to answer this one. I just write by applying what I learned through the osmosis of a childhood of reading books for 4+ hours every day in ways that make the brain termites happy lol there is no craft involved. I went back through some comments on my fics to see if there were any trends and the most common kind things people have said were "I like how you write the SKK relationship dynamic" and "I like your writing style".

What are your writing weaknesses?

Including enough description. I am a very, very dialogue and character-heavy writer because that's the part of writing I enjoy and honestly a lot of the time I forget I even have to set the scene.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I'm not opposed to it but I never feel confident in doing that unless it's a language I know myself. When reading other people's fics, I enjoy it when the writer is doing it on purpose to emphasize the lack of information or confusion their character is garnering from the words, but to be honest I get frustrated sometimes when there's a really emotional conversation going on between two characters and suddenly I can't understand what one of them is saying.

What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Don't laugh. Shenny The Big Bang Theory.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

No ❤️

Tags: @moonsmessyart, @monkey-banana41, @chupenguin, @oswinaltava, @neontoad

[the-bar-sinister]

All Teeth and Tongue (3051 words) by thesavagesabretooth Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Bepo/Buffalo, Bepo/Trafalgar D. Water Law Characters: Bepo (One Piece), Buffalo (One Piece)

Additional Tags: Crack Treated Seriously, Character Study, Kissing, Human Male on Male Anthro | HMOMA (Furry), Fluff and Angst, Banter, Developing Relationship, Implied Relationships, Background Relationships, Polyamory, POV Bepo, Flirting, Awkward Flirting, Rare Pairings Summary: After Law becomes the new Corazon Bepo is in the awkward position of finding his place in the Donquixote family. A little bit of time with Buffalo makes things more comfortable.

(I can't imagine anyone has ever used this ship tag before. Just go with it, okay?)

-

It had been a heck of a strange week for Bepo, with events and emotions that he was still moving through and processing. The Polar Tang had been destroyed by Blackbeard, and Bepo had only narrowly been able to save Law, himself, and their new crewmate, Komurasaki, who they'd picked up on Wano. But that rescue hadn't been complete; all he'd been able to do was get them away from Blackheard— to keep Law out of the water long enough for them to be picked up by a ship.

The ship of the Donquixote pirates. 

That hadn't gone the way Bepo expected. And thank goodness it hadn't. Bepo had expected a frantic last stand— instead, Law and Doflamingo had repaired their relationship. Smoothed over what had been called a 'misunderstanding', and Law had been welcomed into the family, along with his surviving crewmates.

It was strange. Bepo didn't know how to feel about it. He'd never met the Donquixote family when they'd been Law's enemies, and now, admittedly they just seemed… friendly. Rough around the edges, bloodthirsty, like pirates tended to be. But weirdly nice.

He was still figuring out what the new situation meant for him, but he was willing to throw himself into whatever Law wanted him to do. And today, that had been fighting a bunch of marines who had had a ship surrounded.

After the battle was long over and the island's treasures picked clean, Bepo found himself asked to sort through the looted marine weaponry in the hold along with Buffalo, a member of the family that he'd so far only spoken to incidentally.

Somehow despite him being on the larger side, standing at over ten feet tall and draped in a large fur coat that hid his broad shouldered body from view, he didn't exactly project that size. His soft-featured face and large expressive eyes flicked from weapon to weapon as he bounced between piles to pick up different marine weapons with genuine curiosity.

"Hey, I think this might be a named sword!" He cheerfully announced, turning with a sway of his dark and braided pigtails, holding up a large blade before dropping it with a rattling thunk on the pile. "...nope. Never mind. It's just a big one." 

"We could give it a name," Bepo joked, looking through the pile of guns. It was strange— and not unpleasant— being around the Donquixotes who ran on the larger side in general. Buffalo seemed to naturally give an impression of boyishness. Bepo, meanwhile, an 8 foot tall bear mink surrounded by small, easily frightened humans, had made a practice of making himself seem smaller on purpose.

He was thinking maybe he could break out of that habit going forward.

"Big Bastard the Sword," Buffalo laughed, his smile blooming wide on his face before he leaned towards Bepo and the pile of guns. "I've always liked guns more, me and Baby 5 used to practice with all sorts of 'em with her power. Wonder why nobody ever names guns like they do swords?"

He put his hands on his hips for a moment, thinking visibly, before he bent down and grabbed a large flintlock rifle in his hand. The nails were painted, a dark green that matched the dress shirt visible under his coat. 

Bepo scratched his ears and thought about the question too. The shiny green of Buffalo's nails caught his eye and distracted him for a moment before his mind snapped back.

"Probably because most guns are mass produced?" he guessed. He didn't make any particular effort to get out of the way as Buffalo leaned in toward him and the gun pile.

Buffalo held the gun up and aimed it at the far wall with a laugh. Despite it being a hefty rifle, he held it easily in one hand and aimed down its sight with practiced ease. 

 "I mean, so are a bunch of swords, right? There's a guy, Kaidou. Doffy used to do some work for him, and he mass produced swords like nobody's business. So why hasn't anyone made masterwork guns like they make masterwork swords?" 

Bepo thought about that, too, and the ease and comfort with which Buffalo held the gun influenced his answer. "That's a good question. I mean, I guess most people treat guns like they're interchangeable. Just point and shoot. Like there wouldn't be a difference if you made a masterwork versus some mass produced one."

"I dunno about that," Buffalo lowered the gun to lean on it, his coat fluttering as he caught Bepo's eyes. "I've spent a lot of time with guns, and like—my best friend is a gun, kinda. I mean, she can be any gun she's ever seen or heard about. There's a lot of little differences between one of good make and one that ain't…"

He pointed to the sight on the gun. "Like the calibration and accuracy of the sights. Or the rifling and how it spins the bullet, or range and quality." 

"I don't use guns much," he admitted, pausing as he sorted through the bunch of standard issue marine pistols. "But I feel like you're probably right. All that seems like it would make a big difference. Your best friend's a gun– you mean Baby 5, right?"

"It sure would! So they should start giving them names too!" Buffalo finished with a grin, before looking at Bepo with an excited nod of his head. "Yeah! Baby 5. Me, Baby and Law all grew up together, you know?" 

"He talked about that a little," he nodded. "But not much. What was it like growing up together?"

Law had never talked much at all during their time as the Heart Pirates about his childhood, and the people he'd lived with before they all met. It had come as quite a surprise to Bepo to learn that he'd had friends.

"It was fun," Buffalo laughed cheerfully, hopping up onto the pile and grabbing a sword to practice swinging with as he glanced over at him. "We all came from pretty bad places, but Doffy took us in and taught us how to survive. Law, Baby 5 and I were all part of the same 'group' of kids around the same age, so we kinda did everything together. Heck, we used to think Baby 5 was gonna marry him! He was probably the only guy in the world Doffy wouldn't have killed for it." 

"For real?" Bepo laughed. He wasn't a swordsman, really– he knew a little– but he picked up one of the other swords as well and looked it over. "I mean about marrying Baby 5. I knew about the…. tough backgrounds. Me too."

Bepo wondered for a moment what it would have been like if he'd washed up on Spider Miles a year or so earlier than he'd washed up on that other beach…

"Oh yeah, for real!" Buffalo mimed swinging the sword. It was clear he had a little practice, at least, probably from Diamante from the way the man talked about swordsmanship. "Baby and Law were really close. They'd bicker a lot, but that was just them joking around. All three of us were like that, thick as thieves and always joking around together—sharin' secrets. Kissing. You know how it is. Baby 5 was practically attached at his hip until he ditched us."

He looked up at Bepo with a waning of his smile. "You too, huh? You'll fit right at home here, then." 

He scratched the back of his ears, the sword hanging loose in his other claw. "I'm already kind of starting to feel at home, admittedly."

Law's almost immediate comfort had made a huge impact on his own. He hadn't understood quite why Law had been so comfortable, but it was making more and more sense. Especially if he'd been that close with them here— kissing. It flustered him to think about. "But uh, kissing huh?"

Buffalo seemed both delighted by Bepo's increasing 'feeling at home' and by the question. 

"I mean, yeah? We were close. At some point Baby 5 had seen people doing it around the gang and decided she wanted to give it a try so she convinced us to all practice together." He grinned sheepishly. "And I mean—it's fun right? Especially with people you like. Law used to really suck at kissing, though. LIke, all teeth." 

The first time he'd kissed Law, Bepo had been the one who was all teeth. It had been awkward to start. But now it made more sense how willing Law was to keep trying— and the amount of advice he had to give.

"No wonder he managed to teach me," Bepo chuckled, his ears flicking. He had so rarely seen this side of Law that he was hearing about. There were moments of it, sure, when Law was wild, and passionate, and free— but so often in the time they'd known one another he was aloof, and melancholy and drawn in. He hoped he'd get to see more of this Law. He was deciding that he liked him, and he liked his friends.

Buffalo held out the sword, a short sword of what looked like Wano-make. "I call this one Law's Tooth. In honor of Law's bitey-ass kisses, and his patience in teaching you!"

He nudged Bepo playfully. "You should show us sometime. You know. What he taught you." 

Bepo chuckled and bumped him back as he felt the insides of his ears flush with heat. "I should? Not many people I've met are interested in kissing a bear."

Buffalo tilted his head quizzically. For a moment it wasn't even clear if he'd noticed Bepo was a bear, at least until he spoke up. 

"I mean, you're a bear man, but you're not a bear. You know what I mean? That'd be like saying kissing Derringer's like kissing the daily catch."

He grinned, tossing the sword in his hand, "I'd kiss a bear mink." 

Bepo was so pleased to have his personhood recognized he almost failed to notice that he was being flirted with. Most people didn't bother to see a distinction between him and a bear. They didn't pay any attention to the shape of his limbs, the stance of his posture, the human touches to his facial features. To his hands, and eyes. They just saw a bear. Maybe, if he was lucky, a talking bear.

The warm bloom of recognition pleased him before it was abruptly replaced with a different recognition— that he was absolutely being flirted with.

This was almost entirely a new experience for Bepo, and his mouth tried to catch up with his hindbrain badly, leading to something mushed coming out of his mouth that wasn't quite words. His ears flicked embarrassedly as his jaw snapped shut. "Ghrlla? I mean– yeah? You would?"

Buffalo laughed, his laughter high and tittery like a giggle as he bounced on his heels and nodded. 

"Well yeah, of course I would. Honestly, I'm surprised you're the first Mink to join the Donquixotes, Bepo." He winked at him. "Lucky us, you're pretty handsome!" 

He made another rather stupid noise, and found himself rubbing his shoulder against Buffalo's. This was direct. This was definitely flirting. This was not just Bepo's early Mink upbringing convincing him that it was more appropriate to be close with people than it really was— he was sure of that. He told himself that.

It was almost too much for him. "W-well, you're pretty handsome yourself," he grumbled.

He watched Buffalo's cheeks darken as glanced over at him with a bump of shoulder to shoulder "Me? Handsome? You're making me blush!" he ducked his head. "Thanks, Bepo. Heh, we Donquixotes are a real striking bunch, you fit right in!" 

"Really striking," he agreed. He scratched his ears with his free hand, still rubbed up against Buffalo's side. "You think I fit in, huh?"

Buffalo's fur coat rubbed back against him as Buffalo nodded, raising a painted nail to his chin with a bit of perhaps theatrical 'thinking about it' as he looked Bepo over appraisingly. "Hmmm…" 

He shifted from foot to foot as Buffalo appraised him, lifting his chin maybe to give him a better view of himself.

Buffalo nodded once, his braids bouncing on either side of his bright-eyed face as he flashed a broad smile. 

"You know, I think you really might. You've got the look of a real Donquixote, Bepo! He playfully nudged his side. "Watch out, I think you're gonna be a rrreeeallly REAL popular guy!" 

"Popular? You think so?" He tilted his head. "You mean like, uh, in terms of kissing?"

Buffalo blinked his large doe eyes at him, broadly smiling as he nodded. 

"Well, yeah! In terms of kissing for sure. And I kinda also mean in general. You're a pretty friendly guy, you seem real interesting—you're handsome. You're just gonna be…ya know, like….popular." 

He laughed embarrassedly, and grumbled. "I haven't been much of a popular guy before. That's probably why I'm a bit awkward."

"No? Not even in your crew? Huh," Buffalo seemed a bit surprised by that. "...I mean, before I joined the family, it was like that a lot for me—not exactly a popular guy." 

He put a hand companionably on Bepo's back as he bent down to rustle in the gun pile again. "It's hard to get used to when it isn't what you're used to. I'm not gonna make fun of you for being kinda awkward about it."

"Yeah, not even in my crew," he said with a shrug. "I mean, except Law of course. Thanks for not making fun of me."

Hoping he wasn't as awkward as he felt, he started sorting through the gun pile again as well.

Buffalo looked up at him with an earnest, open expression…it seemed genuine. "thanks for not making fun of me too, Bepo! You're one of us—and even if you weren't, I wouldn't make fun of a guy for being different." 

He shook his head. "I wouldn't do that either. Hey um…" he hesitated for a moment, but finally pushed through his nerves. "Did you still… want to kiss a bear mink?"

The Donquixote assassin lowered the pistol he'd found with a broadening of his grin. "....boy would I!" 

Bepo didn't let the moment go to waste, moving in until they were chest to chest, and, careful of his teeth and snout, going in for a kiss. He wasn't exactly capable of a simple peck on the lips– that really just ended up being pressing his nose to someone— so like when he kissed Law he went in for an open mouthed lick.

Buffalo had leaned down to meet him, his face warm as he met Bepo's tongue with his own, moving carefully and curiously to navigate the kiss that was still pretty new to him. Still, one of his warm hands rested against Bepo's back, gently pulling him closer. Bepo didn't mind the slight difficult, taking the kiss slow. He had no idea if Buffalo would enjoy it, but he did his best. 

It struck him as funny for a moment how different the height difference was between him and Buffalo versus him and Law. He wasn't used to being the short one. 

He tried to slip his tongue carefully into Buffalo's mouth.

Buffalo parted his soft lips, meeting his tongue with his own as it slipped into his mouth as the man made a curious murmur. He didn't pull away, or seem repulsed in the least. In fact his arms hooked around Bepo in a hug made warm by his fluffy coat. Bepo let himself be pulled close, putting his arms around him in return as they kissed. 

It was strange, kissing someone who wasn't Law. Kissing someone who he'd basically just met.

It was fun. It made him feel wanted. Liked. Accepted.

He licked Buffalo's lips as he let the kiss break, and wondered if he could see how— not unpleasantly— flustered he was.

Buffalo's cheeks had a deep, reddish flush to them as he rubbed his neck with a lopsided and flustered grin. 

"Wow, that was somethin'! You're a hell of a kisser you know! Wowsa. I gotta tell Baby 5 , she'll wanna try that." 

His ears flicked and he returned an open mouthed grin, his sharp teeth showing. "Really? It wasn't too weird?"

"No way," Buffalo laughed, tittering away again before he put his hands on his hips. "it was fun. And not any weirder than kissing anyone else, you know? Everyone kisses different. Derringer tries to bite off your tongue sometimes."

He paused before he said "that's a joke. Mostly." 

Bepo laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll keep it in mind. But… I'm glad. Feel free to get another kiss any time."

He rubbed up against the other man affectionately. 

Buffalo nuzzled up against him with a wide and cheery grin. His body under the coat was broad shouldered, long limbed as he leaned close with a flush "Trust me, I'm gonna! I like you already, Bepo. I'm sad we lost Law for so long, but knowin' he was with you makes that feel a little better!" 

"I'm… glad I could bring him back." Bepo said, still embarrassed. It was embarrassing, and strange how much he liked these people. The ones that Law had spent so long trying to get away from, and had so easily fallen back in with. "Sorry it took so long."

Buffalo laughed cheerfully. 

"Don't worry, we aren't holding it against you guys." he shook his head "Law's always been a stubborn jerk, you know? It took as long as it took for him to come back around on us." 

"Yeah," Bepo smiled. It made him feel better to think of it like that. It took as long as it took. "Uh. Speaking of that, we should probably actually sort this stuff, right?"

Buffalo blinked in surprise, and put his hand to his mouth with a gasp. "Shiiioooot. Shoot, fuck. You're right, or Pica'll get PISSED! Let's go, Bepo!" 

He laughed and patted him on the back. "We can do it, no problem. C'mon."

As they sorted through the stolen loot, Bepo thought again, maybe he did fit in here.

[pragnificent]

Ooh also ⭐ something about identically different too please

So what I'm thinking about is like, how I was pretty far into the series before I consciously realized that what I'd done in this AU was actually a social class flip, and that's what resulted in the role swap.

Will is southern Old Money and the closest thing to nobility (derogatory) that the US has; Hannibal is peasant stock, whose family has benefited from (the extremely mixed bag that was) Soviet social improvements, and among other things he and Mischa are the first members of his family that grew up being taught how to read (his father was literate but only learned as a young adult). Which, ya know, kinda comes with the implication that growing up rich makes you Worse, which is TRUE actually. However, it's not really the class difference that were the deciding factors in Will becoming a serial killer and Hannibal opting not to do so (until...) so much as a matter of expectations.

Canon Will, I've always felt, was able to escape a lot of abuse simply by staying out of his old man's way. He's playing in the woods, staying at the library until it closes, anything to avoid his father, and his father is putting very few expectations on him because he just doesn't give a shit about Will. There's physical abuse but it's mostly neglect, and that gives Will the room to become Observable Weird to others, but also to build his walls and his coping skills.

IDAU Will, on the other hand, simply doesn't have that kind of freedom. There are very firm expectations about not only what Will is doing with his time, but how he looks, speaks and interacts with others, and deviance is getting beaten out of him behind closed doors. He's masking in a way that canon Will never learned (or cared) to do, but he's a fucking powder keg of suppressed emotions and trauma. And his father is Worse for some of the same reasons, and there is no way for Will to get away from any of that, because instead of being a no-account drifter who just kinda incidentally has a kid he never really wanted tagging along after him, Will's father is Focused on Will and making sure that Will behaves Properly and does not Embarrass the Family. And eventually, of course, it gets to be too much for Will and he kills his dad, (and good for him!) but unfortunately now Will has realized there there's one surefire way to bleed off all of that bottled up tension, which is by making it someone else's problem in the worst possible way. On the other hand, Hannibal grows up in a Soviet orphanage, as here he has no surviving family to come and retrieve him. He's under a lot of scrutiny, he's kept very busy (usually in work that involves caring for the interests of others), and a LOT of effort is going into fostering pro-social behavior in all of the children there. He doesn't get the chance to kind of withdraw from the rest of humanity and grow happily weird in all of the idiosyncratic ways that the canon version of the character did.

So Will is Worse in this universe because he wasn't left alone to be Weird in the specific ways that canon Will is Weird, but the opposite is true of Hannibal.

[titleleaf]

[cw discussion of animal illness/medical crises; emotional manipulation; talking about scams and scammers]

Jsyk: I do not and will not boost or reblog fundraising posts on request or when they’re directly linked to me by people who I don’t know, often people who don’t even follow me. Mutual aid posts are a big part of the social media ecosystem especially on tumblr but there are also plenty of scams that exploit genuine sources of affinity within marginalized communities (disabled people, trans people, people with precarious housing situations, etc) in an incredibly cynical manner.

I just received a request like this from a blog that was

all of two days old

filled with an apparently random selection of fandom posts and memes, all reblogged without any kind of tags or commentary, even a fandom name

...with no other kind of original posts whatsoever, not even shitposts or personal posts, nothing

not following me or anyone else I know

using an icon meant to evoke all kinds of immediate emotional reactions of affinity and sympathy — sweet-looking blue-haired smol bean picrew in front of the trans flag

The request itself could have been perfectly genuine — request for financial help with vet bills for a sick cat, "please help, save his life, I need to raise money in 2 weeks for surgery" — but it's surrounded by a thicket of screaming red flags.

(Payments made using PayPal’s “friends & family” functionality aren't covered by purchase protection and cannot be reimbursed, even if the payment was made under false pretenses. Cool.)

This shit is incredibly shady and incredibly manipulative. Lots of stuff to evoke strong emotions and sympathy; repeated calls to action and a super short timetable to save a poor cat’s life — all of this stuff is plausible by itself but these elements of the request are not incidental. The request itself is calculated to provoke a sense of intense urgency -- worry for the poor cat, sympathy for the owner -- and a sense of shame if you catch yourself hesitating to donate or spread the word. (What kind of heartless person doesn't want to help a cat? Wants to let a cat die? Wants to kill a cat? What kind of bad leftist ignores a poor trans person's cry for help? I'm a trans person and a cat lover, and when my cat was in the hospital I was inconsolable.) By itself, urgency isn’t a red flag -- emergencies have a way of emerging suddenly, pets get sick, shit costs money -- but combined with everything else about this post it absolutely is one. In the comments on the post it only took one person saying “hey, watch out, this post has some red flags for a scam so I’d hesitate before reblogging it” for comments to be turned off entirely.

Do I know for a die-hard certainty that this post was fraudulent and the OP was running a scam? I absolutely do not, and I'm not interested in teaching anyone how to scam better either. But if you *do* have a genuine fundraising post for any cause, even an urgent one: don't do it from a nearly-blank blog and don’t message random strangers about it, even if you think it’ll get your post more traction. You have no way of knowing their financial situation or if they're in any kind of position to donate, or whether they themselves are in tough financial straits.

I'm not anti-fundraising or anti-mutual-aid -- people on this site helped me pay for top surgery without going into crazy medical debt, that would not have been possible without the goodwill and generosity of other marginalized people -- but I've also ignorantly passed on scam messaging and been tricked out of money I seriously needed, not just by strangers either. The vast majority of scams function through high-pressure tactics and emotional manipulation. This shit is 101-level social engineering and you're going to encounter it all over the place in life, not just on social media. Learn about social engineering, keep your eyes peeled for potential dishonesty, and don't fall for it or spread this kind of messaging around to victimize someone else.

[sssssaarn]

In relation to that essay I wrote about not being plural, I have found/heard of some terms that are pretty close to describing my experiences, but they all have their own problems for me, personally. I'm not researching very intensely into terms, and I am mainly sharing this for others who might find these terms better to describe themselves than I did!

Under the cut because it kind of got long, oops.

The first is polymind, the definition (from the official wiki page) is as follows: "people who are able to distinguish their subpersonalities so well to the point they are perceived as unique beings."

There are a few problems with it (for me, personally), those being that: 1. It has been tossed around in syscourse as a 'non-harmful alternative to endo', despite the original creator specifically saying it did not coin it to 'replace' anything, and also not having syscourse opinions.

2. Because of its involvement in syscourse, its definition has become less clear, with some even saying that it's for 'systems who just don't want to call themselves systems'. Ignoring the fact that labels are a completely personal choice + preference, and you should not force any one label onto anyone, I feel like if I called myself polymind it would incidentally give others the wrong first impression. (That being that I'm anti-endo, which I'm not.)

3. I wouldn't use the word '(sub)personalities' to refer to these beings in my mind. Because the 'characters' I have in my brain get very individualized based on how much I write about them, and so they're not my personalities, they're facets of my writing. Also, having them be called personalities just brings to mind 'multiple personality disorder', the older and widely considered offensive term for DID (before it got renamed to DID). (I am going to repeat that this is personal preference for me, and I am aware that the more widely used term in the community is 'minds', which I do like -- but it's more this specific word in the definition that I can't relate to.)

The second term is multiself, its definition (from the coining post) is this: "Multiself is an umbrella term for any singlet/singlet adjacent being that experiences multiple identities/selves."

This term actually fits me pretty accurately! Since I experience 'myself' through stories, and especially through characters, I tend to view myself through the lenses of characters, even if I don't necessarily identify as them. For example: Saarn is a character I identify as, whereas someone like, say, V1 from Ultrakill is a character I don't identify as but can see myself in in some ways. If I wrote a lot about V1, I would begin to be able to 'think' more like it.

The main problems I have with this term is that 1. It was coined by a radqu.eer. I do not want to get involved with that community whatsoever, but unfortunately even if you just use the identity and try to separate it from its origins, people will still make assumptions about you if you use it. I don't want to have to tag every post I make with 'antiradqu.eer multiself' because that honestly would just be a pain. I've also said this before but making a giant post (or DNI, or BYI) about my opinions would just take too long and would be a pain to update all the time. Plus, who would read all my opinions on increasingly niche discourses?

2. Because it is a much more recently coined term, and thus isn't popular, there isn't much of a community. The tag for multiself is mostly just coining posts -- which aren't necessarily bad! But there's just not a lot of actual discussion (like if you look into the polymind tag for example, you'll see a lot more discussion from others of their experience being polymind). This means that it would be harder for other beings to understand what multiself actually is, and more likely for beings to brush it off (similarly to polymind) as 'systems not wanting to call themselves systems'.

The third term is soulbonding, its definition (from this carrd) is: "Soulbonding is when a person, often after forming a strong connection to a fictional character or world, can communicate with characters in their mind."

And yeah, out of all three of these terms, this one is probably the most accurate! I would love to use it, but again, it does come with its own problems (I think 'baggage' would probably be better to call it, at this point, since most of my problems aren't even with the terms themselves but with people making assumptions about them).

1. It has sort of been absorbed into the plural community, despite there being evidence that not all soulbonders consider themselves plural. That's why I had to specify in my essay 'non-plural soulbonding'; otherwise, again, people would make assumptions.

2. Because of its absorption into the plural community, the actual soulbonding community itself has basically... Died. There are still people posting in the tags, of course, but there aren't any popular, active Discords or forums I could find. Mainly, it seems like most soulbonders stick to isolated parts of the web. This presents the same problem as multiself, where it can be harder to find or understand information about it, because no one is actually talking about it!

3. The term has gained a heavy spiritual connotation, as in "I'm literally communicating with this character that's in another world" or something similar to that. I'm not talking down to spiritual soulbonders (that'd be hypocritical of me), but it doesn't relate to how I see the characters from my writing. And I think the 'soul' part of 'soulbond' only adds to this connotation.

Out of all these terms, soulbonding is probably the one I'm most likely to use, even with all the misinformation or assumptions about it... But it would be and is exhausting to explain the same things over and over again. (Another reason why I wrote up my original essay, I was tired of saying "I'm not plural, even though I have some similar experiences to plurals, please stop recommending me to 'do more research' because I already have identified as a system and it didn't fit me".)

Then again... I guess dealing with misinformation around these terms wouldn't be much different from the misinformation already around alterhuman, otherkin, otherhearted, etcetera. Maybe I just need to get over myself.💀

Again, these are all personal opinions! If I accidentally got any information incorrect here, then please politely tell me, instead of sending hate, or whatever. Hate is not a very effective way to get people to listen to you.

[bombcollar]

I was tagged by @go-go-devil!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

I currently have 151.

2. What is your AO3 wordcount?

327,526

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently the most recent fics I wrote have been for Cadence of Hyrule but I've also recently written for Iconoclasts and Pokemon.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Ferris Wheel (Bugsnax, Snorplo) - 248

Gemini (Bugsnax, body horror) - 169

Imitation Beef (Bugsnax, continuation of a canon scene) - 165

Imago (Elden Ring, Miquella wakes up as a big bug) - 154

Field Notes (Bugsnax, AU, cosmic horror) - 148

5. Do you respond to comments?

I always try to, even if it's just to say thanks.

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

oh god probably one of my bugsnax fics... bugsnax really was ripe for angst. Both One Last Dance and Weary end in the implication that everybody has succumbed to the snax. I tend to leave things on more ambiguous notes than angsty, so even if the characters are in a sad or desperate situation it's uncertain what's going to happen to them next.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Sleep is Dark Souls III fic that implies the age of dark is actually a good thing and Lorian and Lothric survive to see it after all they've been through. I know I have written other happy things but this one is very hopeful.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I've gotten a couple shitty comments or ones where I was just like, I have no idea what you're trying to communicate to me, but they're extremely rare and I just delete them if I do get them.

9. Do you write smut? If so, which kind?

I do not write smut. Just not my thing.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest crossover you’ve ever written?

Not often, I have a few Fromsoft crossovers but I did write a Bugsnax/Nier Automata fic that never got finished. That's Between My Teeth.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, quite a few. Ao3 user Dashana in particular has translated a number of my Iconoclasts fics to Russian. I will probably never say no to having a fic translated if it helps it reach a larger audience, especially because I tend to pick niche fandoms or subjects.

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

I have, with @malicious-fisheeves and with @wheeled-jack as well as some other friends who don't really use tumblr.

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

I really don't feel that strongly about ships much of the time but I do really like Wally/May from Pokemon RSE/ORAS and Gwyndolin/Darkmoon Knightess from Dark Souls.

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

Ugh I have this Mochi Mayhem rewrite thing in the works but I just can't seem to make any progress on it. I may put it out there unfinished but the problem is I have a big chunk of the beginning done and then a scene at the very end and nothing in the middle lmao.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I've been told I'm really good at building dread. I personally think I'm good at writing platonic and familial character relationships, and writing characters who might be antagonists but who are complex and sympathetic.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I have some trouble when it comes to writing incidental side characters that might serve a purpose for one scene but aren't really that important.

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

I really enjoy writing dialogue, it's one of my favorite parts of the process.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I wrote a Rayman 3 fic about some OCs of mine probably back in 2003 or something. It was about these griffin-like creatures that had the powerups tested on them and it fucked them up because they were flesh and blood rather than made of cloth like the Hoodlum enemies are. They were trying to escape the facility they were kept in. Unfortunately I do not think it's still posted on my old ff.net account so it may be lost media.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

I'll always be extremely proud of Monarch Sunrise (the bugsnax timeskip cruise fic) for the sheer scale of it (as far as my fics go) and for all the help I had plotting and editing it.

This is a tough question to answer though because I'm really happy with many of them. I'd say my favorite thing I've written lately is Lyre Lyre, my Octavo backstory fic, because I think it does a good job of laying out his situation in a concise and entertaining manner, like he's telling this story to a crowd.

as for tagging folks uhhh how about @wheeled-jack @mumagi @disco-descent

[geneeste]

20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by @mrv3000 like, last year, but we'll just pretend that isn't true!

1. how many works do you have on Ao3? 53

2. what’s your total Ao3 word count?

It's about to be higher, but currently 236,415 (89k of that is co-written with @machawicket, though, so I can't claim it all!)

3. what fandoms do you write for?

Arrow, Stargate SG-1, Bones, Timeless, Pitch, and a few others that are sort of incidental to the main ones.

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

I'm pretty sure all of these are going to end up being Arrow fics (Genie's note: ha! I was right!):

Our Version of Events falling in reverse Chips and Dip (With a Side of Sparkle) Cabin in the Woods The Male Prostitute in the Club With His (Word Redacted Due to Content)

5. do you respond to comments?

I try really hard to!

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

I was going to say Forfeit (SG-1), but honestly I think it's a toss up between that and time's right but the clock's wrong (Arrow).

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

This one's tough, because my angst to happy ratio can be pretty hight in my fics, but in terms of, like, purest fluff, probably How the Day Sounds (Arrow).

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have, especially in the Arrow fandom because it's probably the biggest (and therefor has the most potential for toxicity), but it disappears fast.

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

LOL yep! I do write explicit smut, but even that is pretty vanilla (which is not to say that's bad, and maybe one day I'll write kink, but I haven't yet).

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I imagine a lot of crossovers, but I rarely write them. The only one I've done (to my recollection) that didn't involve characters from different shows but still in roughly the same universe was The Male Prostitute in the Club With His (Word Redacted Due to Content) (Arrow), in which Oliver Queen met his doppelganger, Jason from Hung. It was ridiculous, and fittingly, my first fic in that fandom.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. Honestly, for the most part my fic is too short for most people to bother with, I think.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? 

I wish!

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

Absolutely! There's obviously Our Version of Events with @machawicket, and I wrote a few SG-1 fic with @danveresque back in the day. I really enjoy co-writing, although I'm almost always the one slowing us down.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Sam/Jack from Stargate SG-1. It was my first love and the only one I come back to over and over.

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

I am reserving my 5th amendment right not to incriminate myself.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I like to think I'm pretty good at characterization and nailing a character's voice. I also enjoy writing dialogue, although I don't know that that makes me good at it. I'm also pretty good at hitting the emotions I want to hit in a scene and also writing emotional complexity.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Writing consistently and to completion is a big weakness -- a result of poor executive function skills and high perfectionism, ha. I'm also great at coming up with big sweeping plots and terrible at executing the details of them. And, until recently, I clung a little too much to thinking fic needs to be realistic and grounded -- now I understand that fic can be as ridiculous as I want, because what matters is how much fun I have writing it and whether it gives me the serotonin I'm seeking (as @mrv3000 put it).

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

I'm incredibly impressed by folks who might be polyglots who can do this. I, sadly, cannot.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I honestly don't remember! I have a notoriously bad memory of my childhood and I got into fandom very early. But the first fandom I published a fic in was Stargate SG-1.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

This is like asking who my favorite child is. I don't think I can answer with just one! Favorite funny fic is probably Cabin in the Woods (Arrow). Favorite fic where I just slid easily into the character's voices? Probably the devil's right there in the details (Timeless). Favorite (and only) remix? reclaim (the destiny rules remix) (Stargate SG-1). Favorite angsty fic (of which there are maaaany), probably god himself would call it justice (Arrow).

I'm trying to remember who recently I know has been writing -- I'm going to zero-pressure tag these just a few people, but if you're writing, consider yourself tagged! @annerbhp @mylittleredgirl @sharim28 @joracwyn @starrybouquet @anretc @tielan

[javelinbk]

hii, im sorry if you already answered a question like this, but i was wondering (because of that little flower princess post), do you have a list of McLennon Songs™ aka songs you feel like they wrote about each other - whether for the band or through their solo careers? no tinhatting intended, i'm just curious what you think, i feel like it changes person by person what we consider relevant :) thank you and have a lovely day!

Hi anon! Well, despite the flower princess post, I generally don't like to take songs too literally... but let's face it, there's certain songs that you can't help but think about John and Paul when you listen to them, right? Sometimes I like to listen to songs like If I Fell and And I Love Her and pretend that they really were a secret couple at the time and blow my tiny little mind. And there's certain songs (Jealous Guy, This One) that I struggle to think of being about anyone else. Although when it comes to John's 1980 songs, I'm normally stuck in a loop of 'Is it about Paul, or May? Or Paul? Or May?' (incidentally, May says that he wrote a lot of the Double Fantasy songs when he was with her, but then changed the lyrics years later)

In terms of a list of songs, I'm sure it's the same as everyone else. I do have a 'mclennon songs' tag if you want to see what I've rambled about before. The one thing I really like is when they use certain patterns or details in their songs, like 'yesterday' or the repeated 'I love yous', or just the matching riffs in Let Me Roll It/Beef Jerky. Leaving little shoutouts to each other in their songs just seems very them.

Hope that helps, anon - enjoy your pain!

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

@lacunasbalustrade OKAY SO this scene is one which I have since deleted and will never happen which is Sad because it has some incredible moments in it character-wise.

so all you really need to know is that in this story, Adira is the main character (who looks like Megan Follows, incidentally), Neil is her adopted uncle (originally a prickly sort of guy who had a marked aversion to his nieces, responsibility and religion, but who warms up to his nieces and religion and figures out how to deal with responsibility without spiraling into a depressive episode ANYWAY-). Neil is also a doctor. Emily is Adira's adopted sister and Neil's actual niece. Tom is Adira's love interest/at that point husband I think. I never fleshed out the scene within the timeline enough to know.

anyway, skipping past lots and lots of exposition, we get to where this scene originally came from.

my dad once had a dream. he's probably forgotten it by now but I remember when he described it to us: very vividly, a dream in which he and others were taking shelter in an old shack, and he saw clouds moving at a tremendous pace. he had just enough time to think 'oh that's gonna be wild wind' before, instead of the wind hitting, he woke up. that's all of the dream, but as he described it i could picture it in a way i still can even though it's years and years later by now. I've had a very similar dream since. it felt apocalyptic.

in this scene, Emily, Adira and Neil are trying to shelter from a violent storm. Adira is waiting for and expecting Tom back, but Neil is casting a very worried eye to the sky and telling her that she needs to shelter. she's terrified for Tom, who will have no or very little shelter. she keeps watching for him.

"you need to come in!" says Neil, because it's getting wild and the storm front is racing towards them. "like, two seconds ago!"

she turns around. "not without Tom," she says.

"you'll be killed!" he says, and without waiting for her to object he straight up grabs her and drags her inside to safety. in the process he is required to hit her to get her to stop fighting him, just on the off chance Tom is there. they shelter while the storm rages. Emily is fuming, and the moment it's deemed safe enough to come out, she snaps and yells at Neil, how dare he strike her sister, &c., and he retorts coldly that it was to save her life. Adira is refusing to contribute to the question, since she fully expects that Tom, who wasn't back in time, has been wiped out by the storm, so she's busy grieving. turns out in the end that he found somewhere else to shelter and wasn't injured, and everything is happy, but I really liked the way Neil and Emily's argument played out. Neil has a tendency to have two sides to him: the warm, loving, deeply feeling side of him, and the cold clinical side, like when he tells Tom things he doesn't want to hear about Adira's health. he's... really not good at combining them, and it's always a fun dynamic when he feels pushed into doctor!Neil for whatever reason. he can be utterly heartless, even though he'll pay for it in the feeling later. he's sabotaged several relationships due to this disparity, including but not limited to an engagement that was broken due to circumstance and he was the one that then kept them apart later. (this is its own post in itself, The Relationship has defined his life in a way and he only gets closure a couple of decades later after some pretty brutal emotional things are said to him by Her.)

anyway i hope i sold this moment to you. i probably didn't, but it's so special to me even though it's never going to happen in the story

tagging @stealingmyplaceinthesun neil mention

[echthr0s]

I feel like I've made this post before but I can't actually remember if I did or not, so. if I repeat myself I repeat myself (wouldn't be the first time)

I of course get why "why aren't more alter/nonhumans talking about x experiences?" is a common refrain but one response I don't think I've ever seen is "well. what's to say?"

like part of the reason I take so well to tumblr is because it's got scrapbook vibes. I can have a tag for a facet of my self-conception and just throw things into it as I'm called to -- visual art, music, poems, a textpost that resonates. I can express how this thing feels without having to scrounge together some ineffectual words to try and explain the ineffable or whatever

similarly, I just am not that sort of individual. Grey, who was here before me, was that sort of individual. I am continually amazed by his facility with words and his ability to make poetry out of fucking anything. that sort of thing is far more incidental and rare for me than it was for him. he was very cerebral in a way that I cannot access as well, just as I am very sensory and visceral in a way that he didn't seem to value as much. this means I have a lot of feelings and sense impressions and imagery when it comes to my self-conception but words? yeah, not so much

some of us are just not essay-writers, to put it simply. in dialogue with others I might be able to contribute a few insights, and if I'm asked a direct question I find that to be excellent reason to expend the effort of explanation, but mostly I exist in a lush and multidimensional complexity that I find increasingly difficult to satisfactorily express

[loumauve]

thanks for tagging me, @novastellaris

Were you named after anyone? accidentally, not on purpose. very much to the dismay of my mum. (my dad forgot that his mother's middle name is the same as the name they picked for me)

When was the last time you cried? earlier today, or maybe late last night? been crying a lot lately, ever sínce my other grandma passed away. I'm always glad when I end up crying over a moving scene in a fic, or some lyrics in a song instead, ngl

Do you have kids? not unless my plant children count? I have quite a few, not as many as I used to, but still plenty. (I think current count is 55, though it used to be over double that at some point)

What sports have you played/do you play? I played soccer in kindergarten/elementary school (still salty over being the only one dressed in pink) but that was nothing serious, and then my asthma got worse and was no longer able to run for long periods of time, plus the hip issues I was born with flaring up a little every now and then. spent ten years in the circus though, which is kind of like sports? poi and juggling, dancing (mostly hip hop, swing, tap), mini trampoline stuff (where I nearly broke my nose and made a bloody mess of my friend's math homework), a lot of balancing (walking/doing tricks on the ball, unicycling, some tightrope walking.. incidentally the same tightrope I smashed my face into during my over-enthusiastic front flip off the trampoline), trapeze.. all kinds of stuff, really. loved it, still remember that time so very fondly even if it left my body a little too wrecked for comfort (my wrists are a mess and my ankles still roll every so often, my ribs still feel bruised whenever I gain too much muscle around the bottom of them, lol) also have dabbled in climbing, mostly indoor bouldering, which I really should get back to, these days the social anxiety gets the better of me though. inline skating which I love and my hips and knees hate, sadly enough.

tldr: I love all kinds of being active and moving around, it's just that my body doesn't agree with most of it.

Do you use sarcasm? a lot of the time, more so when fed up and grumpy or defensive

First thing you notice about people? clothes, maybe? hair, perhaps. faces, but also not in a way where I really remember them? I'm not sure, actually. but the first two are the things I tend to remember the most even long after I've last seen someone

What is your eye color? blue-grey, depending on the lighting it can be either near completely blue or really grey. idk

Scary movies or happy endings? both, preferably together. though, I'm not a fan of artificially happy endings, sometimes bittersweet and a little sad is the best you can get and that's fine with me. more true to real life that way anyhow

Any talents? hm. maybe it's finding all kinds of wonderful knick-knacks and integrating them into my flat to make it wonderfully chaotic and cluttered, but welcoming? (it prevokes either extreme joy or utter despair in visitors who come to my place lol) not sure that counts as a talent though.. I guess I'm real good at getting back up every time life does its best to crush me into a smudge on the sidewalk? can you call that a talent? it's either stubbornness or just straight up spite, definitely not a pretty sight but I make it work, somehow

Where were you born? Dresden, home sweet home. (home of old-ass architecture, the beloved Frauenkirche and Zwinger, eternally indebted and cursed by the river Elbe, sadly haunted by right wing politics) born and raised here, only lived elsewhere for a year and a half, or so. missed it terribly while I was gone, a blessing and a curse, really, but I don't think I'd ever want to move away again, no matter how haunted some places are for me now. I'd miss the river and the Elbsandsteingebirge too much.

What are your hobbies? a little bit of everything. collecting hobbies is another talent of mine. most hobbies last me a few weeks at most before they rest in limbo until I pick them up again, but here's a few: book binding, sewing, painting, video games, board games, reading, dissociating to the perfect (at the moment) song on loop for hours/days straight, sometimes (very rarely these days) writing - fic and poetry, dreaming (a fave, ngl. wouldn't mind if my life was nothing but), finding the most amazing terrible horror films to watch, collecting dice and rolling them until they all show the same numbers, collecting and looking at Magic: The Gathering cards and building decks that I then never end up playing with because I have nobody to play with (rip), making DnD characters that I will never play but have entire backstories for nonetheless, taking care of (and multiplying) my various plant children

Do you have any pets? not at the moment, I used to keep garden snails for a bit, but then I felt bad for them never experiencing the outdoors so I released the latest batch of them to where I found the parents originally. I hope they're alright out there. I'd love to have pets again, but I'm allergic to most furry beings, and my flat isn't a good place to keep non-furry animals either because it gets really cold and draughty in winter and far too hot and stuffy in summer, and I'd rather not subject any critters to that. plus, most of everything in here vibrates whenever I used the washing machine since I live in what used to be an attic space with wooden beams all around, so anything that needs structural integrity (like an aquarium etc) is out as well. I guess at the moment I do have a few visitors though, two tiny spiders that live in my bedroom and bathroom respectively, tucked away in corners where they don't bother me and I try not to bother them, and I regularly get bird visitors outside my bedroom window since I'm still putting out bird food that's left over from me feeding them over the winter, so I have a flock of 8 or so pigeons, a few crows and a few more magpies. not pets, but daily companions nonetheless.

How tall are you? 164 cm, which according to google is around 5'4''

Favorite subject in school? English (as a second language), Art, and maybe Biology? used to be German but then German became all about remembering boring dates and I lost interest

Dream job? no idea, I go where the winds of life blow me. I mean, in an ideal world (where my knees don't suck) I supposed I would have loved to be a graveyard gardener for the rest of my life. that was my favourite time at work ever. OR if we lived in a different time, maybe a lighthouse keeper. sometimes I still dream of that, or of roaming some deep dark woods and I feel so very at peace