#iole writes

[avoidingcertaindoom]

Whumptober Day 1 - Panic Attacks

Started off the month with a fanfic since I was getting back into the world of Vampire Academy, we'll see if I return to this universe by the end of the month. No. 1: RACE AGAINST THE CLOCK Search Party | Panic Attack | “If only we could hold on.” (Icysami x Renegaderr, Strangers.)

~~~

Sometimes she dreamed she was underwater. Deep down, so far below the surface that light was but a gauzy, weak veil. She didn’t need to breathe in a dream, but she still felt the weight of so much water. Surrounding her, weighing her down, pinning her in place like the infinitesimal waste of space she felt like in waking hours.

But it was waking hours, at least for her kind. There was light, crisp and bright, and she was simply in the bathroom at a gala hall. The tap wasn’t even on so there was certainly no water.

But she still couldn’t breathe. Why couldn’t she breathe?

Jill watched herself in the mirror, red faced and shiny eyed. Not a curl was out of place, and even five seconds from tears as she was her makeup had remained immaculate all evening. If only she could stop the trembling, erase the haunted expression ruining all that hard work making her presentable. She had to go back before people started whispering more.

She had to pull it together. 

She had to--

Something groaned under the polished marble of the sink, and she forced the death grip on its sides to release. She retreated to one of the stalls instead, shutting the door and curling in on herself as she tried not to cry. It wasn’t the first party she’d been made to attend since returning to court. It was leaps and bounds safer, even, since Li-- the queen had gotten the law repealed. She had endured all the dirty looks and cruel whispers out of necessity, because surely now that was the worst that would be done. Eddie had sworn it. She should be fine. 

But then Eddie wasn’t here anymore, was he?

Not Eddie. Not Trey. Not Sydney, or Adrian, or even Angeline of all people. They were all gone and happy an thriving and she--

The door to the bathroom opened. Finally managing to suck in a breath that felt like ground glass in her lungs, Jill listened to footsteps as someone went around the bathroom. The stalls had longer doors offering more privacy, so all she could see was a shadow through the crack. Still, there were two distinct pauses.

One where the steps were loudest, right outside of her stall.

Her heart pounded so hard she could feel it everywhere. From the black spots dancing in her eyes to the crescents forming where her nails bit into her palms to the burning hollow in her throat.

The steps receded, and before she could release the long fought for breath a new set took their place. Lighter, more delicate with sharper impact. Thinner, taller stilettos as opposed to the standard high heels.

“Is… everything all right in there?”

Oh, now she had to get over herself. First she’d been an anxious wreck, then she damaged the water pipes. Now she’d been absent so long the Queen herself had come to get her.

Someone must have said something.

Hell, everyone did. They noticed she didn’t belong, of course they’d gossip openly in her absence. It was lose-lose. She’d embarrass the Dragomirs whether or not she showed her face.

She ought to just fake a smile and go back out. It shouldn’t have been on Vasilisa to collect her like a child throwing a tantrum. Jill just had to relax-- to breathe-- to-to say something.

She opened her mouth.

Silence.

Vasilisa shifted her weight. Jill could just see her pretty, perfect face. The annoyance, the disappointment. The disgust with her, with their father, that she had to call someone like her a sister at all.

Something dropped onto her shaky hands, wet and warm.

“Jill? Do you need a--”

The damn burst, an eruption of pain in her chest sharp as a gunshot, and Princess Jillian Mastrano-Dragomir was reduced to a sobbing, heaving mess. She tried so hard to apologize, to beg Lissa to leave her alone and go back to the party, to do anything but weep and wail. 

If anything was said under her tears she couldn’t tell. He stall door rattled until it was forced open--by Rose, of course it was Rose. Why wouldn’t it be, if Lissa had to see her reduced to this she may as well. 

They both tried to get her out of the stall to get a closer look, see if she was injured or something, but she couldn’t do more than listlessly follow where she was pulled. She just had to be so weak and useless in front of the sister who didn’t want her and the person who’d insisted she could handle the weight placed on her shoulders. 

She wanted to go home--no, not even. She wanted to go back to Palm Springs and Amberwood. To actually being a nobody, to the family that had chosen her, to the only time since being dragged into this new life when she’d almost felt happy. 

Lissa said something to Rose, and after a moment of hesitation the Guardian stepped away and left the room. Stroking Jill’s hair, Lissa spoke again, and this time it managed to get through. “It’s okay, it’s gonna be okay Jill. Just breathe…”

Warmth settled over her in a fog and she managed a deep breath before registering and shoving at her. “Don’t- Don’t do that!”

Lissa balked, and held up her hands defensively. “I was just trying to help--”

“Stop it! I know what you were doing!” She shook off the spirit laced comfort and tried to push to her feet, swaying. “You don’t need to compel me, I get it. Just go back out and I’ll fix it, I swear.”

The Queen rose gracefully, almost like she was floating. The white swan to Jill’s ugly duckling. If only she didn’t look so concerned. “You don’t have to fix anything. Rose is grabbing our stuff and letting the Guardians know so we can leave.”

“No, no! I’m sorry, I promise I can stop, or- or I can go. I didn’t mean to--” The room was spinning. Jill tried to swipe under her eyes, but she was still crying and only succeeded in smearing makeup the tears had yet to touch.

Lissa produced a tissue and stepped forward, gently moving Jill’s hands and patting at her face. “It’s fine, I wouldn’t have asked you to come if I knew you were upset.” Jill laughed bitterly, head hanging in Lissa’s grasp. “How would you know? You never ask.”

Stupid. What a stupid thing to say. Her eyes flew open as Lissa’s hands stilled. “I didn’t mean-- I --”

“No, I’m sorry.” Her voice was low, as were her own eyes as they traced the red marks in Jill’s palms. “We--I. I keep trying to put it off, like it’ll be easier later or you and I will magically get on without discussing what there is between us. It’s been unfair to you to ignore everything, especially what with all you’ve been through.”

Jill’s lips trembled. “You’re the queen. You have more important things to worry about.”

“And you’re my sister. My family. I can’t keep making others take care of you when I barely know where to start.”

“This is Court. You can’t make the world stop spinning because I’m scared of my own shadow.” She pulled her arms back to hug herself. 

Lissa let go of her face. “If all I can do for you is give you a safer space to breathe, it’s the least I can do.”

Sniffling, Jill looked away and caught sight of them in the mirrors. She almost felt caught off guard at how… normal it looked? She couldn’t be in the same room as Vasilisa without feeling self conscious of how much grander a presence the elder Dragomir had always had, but now it almost felt like they were on the same level. She even nearly recognized herself in the profile of Lissa’s sympathetic expression.

Jill pressed a hand to her chest, imagining a ragged wound there that she’d never truly been alive to see or feel, but that always seemed to ache when she tried to imagine her place in Lissa’s life or Moroi Court at large.

“Does…” She swallowed, eyes darting to the dainty crown that was almost hidden in Lissa’s pale blonde waves. “Does it ever get easier?”

Lissa sighed, and suddenly it was so easy to see just how tired she was. It reminded her of something she’d grown to see in Adrian before their bond was numbed by his medication. Maybe it was Spirit, or just the way they were, or both, but they carried themselves and faced the world as bright, brilliant sparks equivalent to living stars. But to burn so bright meant to burn out, and frequently. Sydney had once gone on a tangent about how many of the stars they saw weren’t actually there, but the remains of light traveling to reach them through space long after the source had died.

Lissa smiled sadly, and Jill wondered whether there was ever a chance that her radiance was anything but a remnant of what could have been. “Maybe one day we can figure that out together.”

They walked out with Jill acting a silent part of Lissa’s retinue, chin held high while Lissa bade everyone farewell. Rose touched her arm and raised an eyebrow as they reached the car, getting a brisk head shake in response.

Her purse buzzed, phone forgotten in all the tension, and she pulled it out on the way home to a message from Adrian.

It was a photo of Declan, trying oh so hard to maneuver his foot into his mouth.

Lissa and Rose had to start from scratch to try and figure out why this time she couldn’t stop laughing rather than crying.

[artianaiolanthe]

Currently 87/1100 of my boop goals completed (I Have Been At Work Stuff Happens), will update accordingly

My name is Iole, I'm an ace nb creator with too many ideas and too little of an attention span.

When the hellsite finally burns to the ground you can find me at IoleAllia@mastodon.social or .art (art blog specifically)

I run several rp blogs, an art blog ( @iolesgallery ) and one generic writing blog (@avoidingcertaindoom) primarily focused on Trufulla, which has everything from queer protagonists to fantasy plague mechanics to endless mushroom jokes. Relevant info can be found under my "trufulla tag".

I also write under an ao3 account by the same username, and am currently working on a twilight rewrite (hopefully more respectfully and definitely with more diversity).

I'm also an artist, and most of my art is related to my roleplay/ask blogs, which I will list out in the tags. I also have a tag just for my ocs, simply put as "iole's ocs" for easy access.

Thanks for checking me out, thanks for following, and a special thanks if you're here to send me asks and I promise I'll try to get to them asap. If you'd like to support me or are interested in commissions I have things open at https://ko-fi.com/alliaiole

If you'd like to get my art, writing, and otherwise related stuff in one place while supporting me financially (or not, I'm not gonna paywall everything), feel free to hit me up at my Patreon

[padfoot-lupin77]

If I say think of a fictional guy who had to kill to survive, whose story relates to the sea and who is absolutely in love with his wife and thinks she is the most incredible person to have ever existed, who is the first character you think of?

[larkral]

Visible at Sea

A short (for me) In Other Lands fic for @petedavidsonscock. Dipping my toes in the waters of writing IOL because I'll stop writing magic school fic, like, never?

He vaults up onto the rock. There isn't room for two, and Martinique says something indignant about not being dry yet and how come Elliot gets to make all the decisions, but he shakes his hair out and not-so-gently nudges her back into the water.

A rescue followed by another rescue.

[yellowraincoat]

A fun fact about me is I BOUGHT tabs,,, just to annotate In Other Lands, and now there are approximately 200 tabs in this ya book and I’m still not done and I am 21 and going to grad school this summer

[avoidingcertaindoom]

A clip from an Immortal Coil ficlet I haven't been able to publish yet for several reasons. Slight body horror tw

“It’s not like fingerprints change,” He snorted, flicking a wrist to demonstrate before pausing and looking down at it, eyes narrowing.

She took a swig from a metal bottle in her bag and flipped a page. “Anyway--”

“Why does my hand look like that?”

“Don’t worry about it. Now it says your parents--”

“What’s wrong with my hand?”

Delia pursed her lips, knuckles white on her bottle while she considered her words. “You don’t remember when you woke up that first time?”

“Yeah I do, you stabbed me in the forehead and carted me over here before your dad could get home.”

Enoby’s lips twitched, concern suppressing the almost laugh, and his gaze dropped entirely on the near empty bowl. So much more interested in food for once than anything else.

“There were a few… other issues, besides you waking up at all,” She said, muttering that last part. “I had to improvise. In several ways.”

“Improvise?” He started picking at the bandage he’d left wrapped around his arm, getting a peek of thick, garish stitches.

“Something like that.”

The thick sutures almost entirely distracted from the difference in the skin it connected. Both a similar enough pale shade, but the half that led into a hand had a much more sallow quality. And the one that went up to his shoulder had inked lines that ended abruptly at the join.

Alexei dropped the arm, face blank.

“A few things were missing,” Delia set aside her now empty bottle and shifted how she was sitting, a dull scrape sounding as one of her legs dragged underneath. “I didn’t know if you’d be more or less comfortable without them so I used what I had.”

“Why are you asking so much?”

Her mouth shut with a click, having to regroup her thoughts away from the whys or hows of what she’d done. But why the questions? “Your family? I was thinking if we figured enough out you could see them again and get back to…” She gestured, a loss for words.

“Normal goings on,” Enoby offered. “Whatever you’re up to when you’re not camping out in a bakery basement.”

Alexei snorted. “Right. Wouldn’t it have been easier to get rid of me in pieces then, if you’re kicking me out?”

“That’s not--”

“Not kicking you out,” Enoby interrupted, reaching over and starting to refold one of the quilts strewn around him. “Just giving you options, you know? Personally, my aunt might give me a pass on hiding a guy in the basement, but she’d have more questions than we would.”

Delia scowled. “Don’t you want to go back home anyway? They’re probably worried sick.”

“And seeing me like this isn’t going to make them feel better.” He rolled his eyes. “You did a favour to them I suppose, but a reunion would undo it. I can leave if you want, but otherwise you’re stuck with me.”

“Stuck with you.” She repeated, ears twitching.

He smiled, a somewhat bitter look in his eyes overtaking the apathy. “See? You do have a heart.”

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[silversoulstardust]

penat fikir nak post apa untuk speak your language day, jadi jom la kelirukan pengguna roman alphabet dengan pengguna huruf jawi 😈

جوم ممرتابتكن توليسن جاوي

كلاو كورغ نق تلهو باهاس ملاو زامن دولو٢ اداله براساسكن داري باهاس سنسكريت تتڤي سجاق تانه ملاو ملاك منجادي حوب ڤرداݣاغن ڤاد أبد ک-١٤ دان ڤداݣغ ارب ممباوا اسلم دان القورنسرتا توليسن جاوي. سجاق درڨد إتو اورغ ملاو مغادڤتاسيكن توليسن جاوي كدالم باهاس ملاو

[the-rogue-mockingjay]

Girl help I have more gpose ideas than I can actually do anything with

[fantasybooktournament]

favorite tags:

#in other lands#sarah rees brennan#fantasy book tournament#iol#in other lands sarah rees brennan#elliot schafer deserves to be loved#SRB!!!!!!!#in other lands fans lets go!!!! (@ionlydrinkhotwater)

#oh no#oh no oh no#iol becauee i can guarantee it wont win (@rabbitsinwonderland)

#this is the meanest match-up imaginable for me (@eveyalecia)

#oh no! i love both#trc may be a first love but in other lands owns my whole heart (@realbacchus)

[avoidingcertaindoom]

Whumptober Day 8

Sleep Deprivation | isolation chamber | forced to stay awake | "leave the lights on"

~~~

They didn't even know what they'd done wrong this time.

Some would call it a punishment, but it seemed their father's preferred method of keeping them out of the way. Sure, they often found themselves thrown into their room after outbursts or faux pas or even looking a little too unhappy at the dinner table.

But when Najira tried the handle during what they assumed to be morning, the door wouldn't budge.

At first they hadn't been too despairing. They pulled out their box of hidden tokens and lit one of the spare candles they had managed to squirrel away for such occasions, and marked the passage of time by the melting wax. They practiced their penmanship by the weak firelight, then gave up and started folding the scrap paper into bugs like those pinned in cases against the walls. They even twice soaked spare rags in water from the pitcher on their nightstand and held them gently to their ears, locked in the most recent design of “earrings” intended to elongate their ears into something more befitting a high elf than one with only half of elven blood.

But they had been through half their saved candles before they started to actually worry

They tried the door again, unable to move it an inch, and quickly knelt and laid on the floor to try and get a glimpse of any light moving underneath.

A silly thought honestly. When they were much younger and much more terrified of the dark room, with a window bricked over to prevent even a sliver of sunlight, they'd sobbed and howled and screamed until they were hoarse. The room was soundproofed so their yowling wouldn't disturb their then baby brother, and vice versa. If there was anyone there great pains would've been taken to keep them from being so noticable.

So Jira retreated back to their bed and laid down, eyes focused on the door. Whenever they felt their eyelids start to droop too far, they got up again and went around the room, touching the shadow boxes on the wall and mumbling names, changing the pattern every time they rose again.

There wasn't an exact science to it. They hadn't even bothered counting the rituals, so they were in the middle of tracing a lantern fly when the doorknob creaked.

They were too far from the door to rush out, so they turned to face the servant, who jumped as soon as their mismatched eyes met theirs the second the door opened.

“Young Lady Aisura! You should be in bed.”

They said nothing, staring back at her blankly.

She shifted on her feet in discomfort, and set down the tray she'd been carrying. A fresh jug of water, a small pot of a fruit concoction masquerading as tea prescribed to help their “growth”, and a few pieces of flatbread.

“Is it morning already?”

“Not quite… the sun should be over the horizon soon.”

“I missed my lessons yesterday.”

“You didn't have any. Your father had guests.”

“Am I--”

“Young Lady, you need to go back to sleep. Goodnight.”

The servant shut the door again. Jira waited, gnawing at their lip, before going to try the handle again.

Locked.

Instead of going to their bed, they rested their back against the door and slid to the floor, knees pushed to their chest. They picked up a piece of the flatbread and nibbled morosely, resigning themself to another day--maybe more--with only the display cases for company.

[artianaiolanthe]

Something something "wants to write a post about Mal TD's villain arc but doesn't want to sound completely ableist and obtuse about the realities of Dissociative Identity Disorder"

[padfoot-lupin77]

Okay sure romantic fanfictions are cool and all, but can we please appreciate/make/hype up non-romantic fanfictions? Fanfictions about the friends who grew apart, becoming friends again? Fanfictions about the siblings who were raised separately, learning to live like family? Stories about mc and the grumpy parent figure that has unofficially adopted them? Stories of characters’ childhoods?

[stellarwaffles]

Hi!!

The only piece I painted was Luke’s wings! I used nailpolish and I think actual paint might have been a better choice bc it started chipping off :(

I bought all of the pieces from bricklink except for Luke’s head, which I got from a 2nd hand lego store near where I live. I’m not currently at my computer, but if you want I can try + get links for everything? (It might take me a bit to find Luke’s head though)

I would suggest getting different legs for Elliot though bc if I remember correctly those specific legs, despite looking like just normal jeans, were weirdly hard to find. There’s a bajillion different lego jeans. Any of them would work

In Other Lands minifigures

[marofdawn]

IOL is literally the best levi fanfiction i’ve ever read by far and im always searching for others that are as well written. was wondering, what are your favourites?

Thank you so much! It means so much to hear that, seriously :’). I never thought people would like my fic this much. It has really helped me become more confident with my writing.

I’ll name a few of my fav Levi fics; although, I’m sure most of these have been recommended thousands of times already 😅. They’re just that good. Also, I actually haven’t read too many Levi x reader fanfics, so this list might be small. I’d love to hear suggestions from others too :).

-

Content Warning: all of these fics include 18+ content

To Sing a Song Of Steel by CaptainDegenerate - I absolutely love the plot and worldbuilding in this story. I was not expecting the plot twist either. You can tell everything was planned out so meticulously. Also, the ending may or may not have made me ball my eyes out 😃. Very heartbreaking story, but I love the angst 💔. I’m currently reading Of Tea and High Buildings from this author too and I like it so far!

As the Spark Dies by wellitcouldbeworse3 - gosh this one absolutely broke me LMAO, like I was genuinely inconsolable for a whole week… it was so gut wrenching. I’m a sucker for zombie stories though, what can I say? I honestly thought the way this story was planned out was genius. The foreshadowing was done so well and the reader’s nickname was so cute and fitting. I don’t think a fanfic ever made me cry this hard before lmaooo. I just love angst, as you can see. Other fics I love from this author are The Feeling’s Mutual and Spite.

Death’s Door by SongsOfApollo - this is a fanfic I will wait patiently for. I don’t care if I’m old and in my 70s - as soon as I see that AO3 email notification, I’m jumping right in. Seriously though, this was my first Levi fanfic and probably my favorite characterization of him in any story I’ve read. I feel like this author’s Levi is the most accurate one I’ve read and that’s what made me obsessed with it. Also, the reader is a medic and you can just TELL the author has some experience in that field or has done a ton of research on it because it is just so well written.

-

Honorable Mentions (aka, fics I haven’t started yet but would like to when I have more time):

- Dust, Diamonds by maokitty

- we all bleed red by littlerequiem

- Percolate by heichoe

-

If anyone else has recommendations, please let me know! :)

[sarahreesbrennan]

I hesitated on this because awkward, but if you happen to be or want to be in SFWA, today's the last day for the Nebula nominations. As I'd love to write more in the In Other Lands world... my IOL novelette Tears Waiting to be Diamonds could be nominated.

I only recently worked out the In Other Lands books I'd like to write, because I was in 'U Fool, Nobody Will Let You Write Books Anymore' mode, and now... am full of tentative hope and fear for Long Live Evil and the future. So even though promotion is a terrifying thing (Irish voices say 'your one thinks a lot of herself!') I throw this out there.

[liaa--qb]

Your take on darklinas is 100% correct. Saw so many darklinas in team black stans and they were shitting on Aegon and Aemond. How can someone like Darkling if they like Rhaenyra as if Darkling wasn't far worse for girls than Aegon. Yes they type whole big paragraph about Daemon did nothing wrong and he never groomed anyone. I am not fan of alysmond but I assure you I don't find them more problematic than Daemyra, Rhaenicent. They said Aemond killed Alys's entire family but I don't think she ever gave fuck about her family.

Iol😂 Ik that btw n firstly let me tell u that in book Alys didn't give a single shit about whatever family that was.That wasn't even her family !

That was house strong who was keeping her only as wet nurse servant just bcz she was a strong bastard herself if talk about book only. She wasn't any princess there😭. Wtf TB Stans think while making these bullshits which wasn't in the book. Atleast should make something sensible.

I already told that dere relationship was not any romantic which some Alysmond Stans want it to be. It was just kind of toxic profit n gain relationship bet them. But she was only with Aemond for her profit n survival. She clearly gets pregnant with his child. Most logical reason is only that she would also hold the power in throne. That's it.

Alys was a witch who killed a man just in secs...do u really think that she would make herself as a crying hostage to a 18 yrs old boy😭. She would have killed Aemond easily if she wanted to right there while slaughtering whole house strong but she didn't bcz she would easily get profit from removing every other man from her strong family. Whole wealth indirectly goes to her or larys.

TB be saying anything rubbish as we don't even get much about her in book. She was neither team Black or team green. Now what tv series would do about her ? I can't say that......but Ofcourse they would say thousand non sense reasons on daemon which even GRRM would die on hearing.😹

N about Darklina stans🤦🏻‍♀️...they r really stupid. Their whole ship is extremely problematic. Even alysmond or every ship from hotd itself is less problematic than darklina honestly 😂.

Darkling literally abused n harmed Alina physically and he gave small girls to get r*ped by King for his own need🤢

n the audacity those idiots have to say anything about any ship way less problematic than them. It's funny when Darkling Stans would say they like Rhaenyra. Even Aegon was less harmful than him like bitch.. be fr😂which drug u guys r taking

I don't hate or not any anti Darklina. I don't even like that book. It's so fucking boring😭.Ship is very much ok. Like you can ship the fuck u want. I used to ship it too but if u r liking a problematic ship urself then u should better keep ur mouth shut about any other ships. They are embarrassing sometimes

(Believe me only thing I shipped it because they have that light and dark dynamic, if it wasn't about that. I would have never shipped them either. Plus Ben Barnes was the reason I went to watch that show 😑)

As I said they can't even like their favourites as they are🤷🏻‍♀️ so don't take them seriously. I am waiting for that clown show when they are going to say Daeron is a r@pist while writing big stupid paragraphs on ' how Maegor was correct'. U can see that very soon.