#like on one hand i have solid concepts and tons of fun ideas but on the other idk even if my main Big Bad is an actual

[cerulean-crow]

I was a creepypasta and mlp grimdark kid- I absolutely loved them and they definitely shaped my interests in horror and gore that I have now! I am not immune to the nostalgia of these infection au’s, and honestly I am thriving. I love reading everyone’s ideas and seeing everyone’s art, and I got inspired to try my own hand at one!

I’ve been calling it the Crystal Heart Contagion. I am not sure how far I’ll take this but it’s fun to draw and think about. I considered going a bit crazy with actual gore, but this was just supposed to be a concept page and I wanted to keep it simple and just flesh out some ideas I had bouncing around in my head. Besides, I actually really like body horror that doesn’t involve a ton of gore- and like that note says, has an air of beauty alongside the disturbing elements.

Again, not sure how far I’ll take this- so I’m just gonna jot down some thoughts and notes! I’ll put ‘em under the cut because I am very wordy <3

Also I try to tag my stuff as best as possible because I know not everyone loves horror and these Mlp horror au’s as much as I do! I don’t want people to interact with my posts if it makes them uncomfortable, so if I miss a tag please let me know.

The Crystal Heart Contagion is transmitted when infected crystals come into contact with one’s bloodstream. The afflicted will experience body pains and stiffness at first, hemophilia, and symptoms like lethargy and migraines. The crystals will begin to form in clusters on the skeletal system, eventually breaking through the skin and, after a long enough period of time, will completely petrify the afflicted in solid crystal.

I imagine that one’s teeth, hooves, and horns are where crystals will begin to break through first. I like the idea of stylizing manes as they crystalize- but that’s exploration for another day!

I am currently thinking of the infection more like a parasite of some kind. Parasitic crystals that feed on magic and rely on living creatures to carry them farther in order to spread themselves.

The infection originally didn’t do much to change one’s personality, they would just get weaker and weaker as they were overtaken by the crystals. It was only when the infection started again, when Equestria was home to many more different species and overflowing with way more magic, that the crystals would begin to mutate at a rapid rate. Those afflicted would begin to show signs of aggression that would have them attacking others, thus leading to further spreading.

Some physical details I like is the eyes hollowing out and resembling geodes! Crystals emerging from the spines, horns becoming crystallized, and crystals forming over teeth and jaw to create fangs are all stuff I would love to flesh out in further detail.

I also love the idea of the chest ripping open to reveal a crystal heart held in a crystallized ribcage! I think I will forever be influenced by the Angel Trap in Saw 3

The idea of this infection is still developing and I’m still doing a lot of research and thinking on the words to describe it. My original thoughts took inspiration from a parasitic infection and rabies. My brain also likes thinking of it like a mold in how it spreads or thinking of the crystals like a coral reef (mostly as a visual inspiration)

The background and timeline is all still a work in progress. I haven’t rewatched the full series in so long and I’m implementing plenty of my own headcanons- so it’s all very vague right now.

The original idea is that the infection started during King Sombra’s reign. He created these parasitic crystals and unleashed them upon Celelstia and Luna’s army with the hopes of dwindling their numbers and expanding the reach of the Crystal Empire further through the Frozen North. When he was sealed away, Celestia and Luna would bring several of the infected back to Equestria for study. They would hide them away deep underground beneath a mountain, where the lack of nutrients in the rock would eventually cause the crystals to stop forming and enter some kind of hibernation.

Celestia would later build Canterlot after the banishment of Nightmare Moon, and she would use the very kingdom itself to block off the caverns and keep them hidden for everyone’s safety.

The Crystal Caverns would become known again during the Canterlot Wedding when Cadance and Twilight escaped from them. However, nothing would ever happen after the fact, and Celestia and Luna would continue to hope that with Sombra sealed away and the crystals dormant for so long, that this infection was truly no more.

When I first got this all in my head, the idea was that Flurry Heart’s Crystalling was what caused the parasitic-crystals to get a kickstart of energy and begin spreading again.

That is the part where the timeline starts getting really wonky. Cause I think I’d want Twilight to be running her school and have the young six around, but that’s in season 8 and the crystalling was in season 6. But I can honestly fudge the timeline however I want, it’s an alternate universe after all.

I think that Celestia sacrifices herself in order to save Luna and help as many people flee Canterlot as possible. This was when I still very early into thinking this au through and a potential story that could be told with it- and with the worldbuilding I’ve been doing over the last few days I don’t entirely know if it still fits. I love the scene in my head that comes from it though- so I decided to keep the sketch of crystallized Celestia in the end.

I love the idea of crystals on her head mimicking sun rays! And her forelegs and wings becoming one so she staggers around like a wyvern. That’s definitely a design I would love to flesh out if I get the time.

I am having fun!

[desertleviathan]

I've included every Job I've heard people mention as speculation, no matter how unlikely I personally find it. Propaganda after the cut is all just my own feelings, and includes some very minor spoilers for recent MSQ events, Astrologian Job Quests, and the Shadowbringers patch 5.3 Dungeon:

CALCULATOR PROS: They have had some fun with Math Bosses, haven't they. It is a theme present in the game, and with precedent in earlier FF games. CONS: I can not imagine any configuration of this job that would function within the timing of FFXIV's combat. Applying simple Astrologian buffs is already tricky enough. Also, this was a real balance-demolisher in its main prior appearance.

GAMBLER PROS: FFVI has proven fertile ground for Job design concepts, between the Monk and Machinist revamps. And Setzer's armor is already in the game. CONS: Even more RNG dependent than Dancer? I don't much like the sound of that. And Astrologian has already claimed Cards as a primary tool.

GEOMANCER PROS: It canonically exists in setting. And it is on the dwindling list of Jobs in FFXI that haven't been reinterpreted in FFXIV. Probably a pretty strong contender, except... CONS: The Astrologian quests kind of ate its lunch, explicitly stating that they are heavily overlapping arts. That will be a common theme with entries on this list, Astrologian seems to be made of pieces of a ton of prior Mage jobs.

GREEN MAGE PROS: The presumptive favorite in most of the chatter I'm reading, because of a symbol on a thing in a very "we're teasing new content" feeling MSQ cutscene that matches the design of Green Mage in one of the Tactics games (I think?) CONS: Ok great but what the heck even is a Green Mage? Their whole shtick appears to be long-duration buffs and debuffs that would have been categorized as Black or White Magic in other games... and FFXIV has been very steadily removing those kinds of powers, aside from a handful of DoTs. If they crib this aesthetic, the actual mechanics will likely be something entirely unanticipated, or possibly overlapping with one of these other options, rather than a Buff/Debuff Mage. Or maybe they've just been removing long duration powers from other classes to... consolidate them? I really doubt it, but maybe.

NECROMANCER PROS: It's a solid concept, an RPG classic, and the Necromancer Boss in the Heroes' Gauntlet dungeon looks sick. Rumor has it that all the bosses in that dungeon were concepts once considered as alternate branches of base classes in the same way Arcanist splits into Scholar and Summoner, before they ditched that design. In which case it probably would have split from Thaumaturge? CONS: Rumor also has it that cultural considerations in certain key markets made this something SE didn't want to pose as a heroic archetype. Also, pet jobs. They've been pretty steadily gutting the pet mechanics of Scholar and Summoner, and I can't imagine they'd be in any hurry to add another full scale Pet Job. Maybe a Limited Job though. Also, in FFXIV the art to animate and control the dead seems to be closely related to the summoning of Voidsent, and Reaper is already doing the Demon Magic thing in a big way.

ORACLE PROS: I'm gonna be real with y'all, can't actually think of any. I see this as having zero chance. But the name keeps coming up in conversation. So maybe I'm wrong, and the apparent fan support will keep the idea afloat. CONS: Like Green Mage, it's mainly been a place to dump debuffs that originally belonged to other magic types. And the theme of prediction and prophecy has been thoroughly raided by Astrologian.

PICTOMANCER (A.K.A. Artist, Painter, Ink Mage, etc.) PROS: As I mentioned under Gambler, raiding FFVI has been a solid move, and Relm Arrowny's power set deserves a less-buggy reinterpretation. Also Ink Mages are the only common enemy in the Heroes' Gauntlet that doesn't match a job we have available. Also Yoshi P's TMNT shirt at the first fanfest may have been hinting at Leonardo's dual swords and a Ninja's scouting armor sets for Viper, but it could also have been a reference to the Renaissance Masters that the Turtles were named after. He's clever like that. CONS: The only reason this isn't my #1 guess without hesitation is that pesky Green Mage emblem. I have a theory though that Green Mage and Pictomancer might get combined and have the "green" be about painting landscapes, in which case it might also be borrowing from Geomancer turf a little. Who knows!

PUPPETMASTER PROS: Also on the short list of FFXI jobs that haven't been reinterpreted. Mammets are a big part of this setting and there would be a lot of cool aesthetics to potentially draw on. CONS: Pet jobs. I just can't see them ever doing another full Pet Job. Also the FFXI version was a blend of technology and martial arts, not a caster per se.

TIME MAGE PROS: One of the missing FF classics, with a lot more potential spells than you expect, since it also usually deals with Space Magic. CONS: Haste powers and traits became a huge balance headache in FFXI and I can't see them rushing back into that. Also, once again, Astrologian already swiped several key ideas.

[open-hearth-rpg]

#RPGaDay2024

Amazing Adventure

One of the most challenging things for game designers is offering a solid, easy to get into, slowly building, and comprehensive starter adventure. Back of the core book ones have the additional pressure of being there forever. I’ve seen some that have become classics– which many people can bond over. Isle of Dread for Expert D&D back in the day was one of these. I’ve also seen ones that aren’t great– with broken rules references, dropping in too many systems, railroading, or focusing too narrowly. 

The original Coriolis quickstart adventure which came out before the game had some of these problems. It listed several things on the character sheets which weren’t in the rules presented. But more importantly it offered a sci-fi bug hunt scenario which a) was boring and b) did absolutely nothing to sell the actual setting. The earliest Modiphius Conan 2d20 qs adventure, despite being based on a Howard story, was insanely boring: basically a series of linear fights, no social interactions, little other skill use, and almost no choices on the players’ part. 

But there’s one intro adventure which I love. I’m recycling from an #RPGaDay prompt from back in 2015, but my answer still holds: Auspicious Beginnings. 

What is it? A tutorial adventure for Weapons of the Gods, the wild wuxia system. WotG is, IMHO, a hot mess but I love the vibe of it. There are legendary stories, tales of factions, explanations of philosophies, discussions of gender, and descriptions of nations throughout the book. They contain a mix of fiction and description.

But more importantly players can buy connections to those ideas and stories. You can purchase a link and become part of these fables- creating a destiny, showing the GM what you want, and encouraging you to play within those archetypal elements. It’s cool and something worth stealing for other games.

But I had a hard time following the system beyond that. It uses the kind of dice tricks I’m not fond of- pattern matching and the ability to flow dice out of your pool to the side and then back again later. Fireborn and some other games have done that and "it's not my bag." (tm) And the combat’s super involved, though I suspect it does simulate the feel of a legendary encounter. 

But forget all that. Ignore what I just said, because Auspicious Beginnings is wonderful.

The PCs heroes arrive at Only Two Devils, a frontier city with a reputation for the exotic. The city has several striking key NPCs and factions associated with them (like Ironhand Nan and the Sheathed-Blade Empty-Hand Prosperity Society). The Governor has elaborate rituals for city entry and stiff requirements to access the more interesting spots. One or more members of the group need to get to the secret markets to secure a special lost item. To do so, they need a sponsor. Therefore they have to participate in a grand contest- not of fighting, but tests of skill. Like leaping from spear point to spear point carrying a flag while avoiding arrow fire. If the group can succeed, they’re adopted by one of the factions- which leads to a fight and a jump off for further adventures.

The contest’s brilliant and colorful. It’s intended to showcase and ramp up the use of the game mechanics. That holds true for other systems besides WotG. You can use this as a model to show how to do cool stuff. The characters are awesome- the Pre-Gen PCs, the rival contestants, the leaders of the faction. The setting’s vivid and full of amazing hooks. It has twists, ways to buy into the setting, and great advice for running any Wuxia game.

I’ve used this set up straight or in modified form about a half dozen times. I’ve come up with all kinds of crazy new contests. My favorite is racing hungry monkeys to gather fruit from a private garden. There’s a ton of inspiration here and it’s fun to come up with new ones tuned to the players’ builds. Use Auspicious Beginnings for any fantasy game with stunting concepts and athletic tricks for the players (like Exalted or Hearts of Wulin).

[got-into-worm-by-mistake]

Arc 9, Reflections

Well, that was interesting. A bit of a palette cleanser from Arc 8, a look at all the characters we've been glimpsing here and there from a closer angle. Some key worldbuilding around the Wards, the city, the rules of the setting, foreshadowing on Slaughterhouse fucking Nine. Nothing special, but good, and solid.

The reveals of some details that I see come up in fanfic a lot - Missy's crush on Dean, Dean and Vicky's on and off back and forth, the reveal of Shadow Stalker's weakness to electricity and her nutty predator/prey bullshit.

We get teeny bit of foreshadowing for what I know will come later (Flechette - later foil - ending up with Parian, and a mention of Flechette's cluster trigger buddy Marche, who I gather shows up in Ward, rather than Worm? Or does she show up in Worm too?), and of course, the very, very very fun sight of the Undersiders absolutely wrecking Shadow Stalker after making her chase her own tail for a bit.

Nothing, nothing could possibly be more fun than that, that's for sure. (Well, tons could be more fun, but still. Very fun).

One thing that is different about Worm - though I doubt Wildbow invented the concept, since I have seen similar structural choices elsewhere to one extent or another - is that it has this dual 1st person/rare 3rd person other POV thing going.

Like, lots of stories have just the one 1st person POV. And plenty of stories have one 3rd person POV, or like, 2-3 3rd persons and that's it. Some have a whole massive cast of 3rd persons. ASOIAF is the most famous example to hand, but far, far from the only.

But Worm - and presumably all of Wildbow's other stuff - does this thing where they have a ton of 1st person, and then have these occasional 3rd person bits, to fill out on scenes the MC wouldn't see, provide worldbuilding and charcter background to the reader, and round out the narratives of stuff we did see.

And I expected that with the Arcs and Interludes approach, but I have to admit, the idea of a whole Arc where every chapter was a 3rd person Interlude-style thing... not what I expected. It works though, really well, and it doesn't like... break the experience of reading it.

It's a solid arc. necessary foreshadowing and fluffing and expansion of the story.

[bunbun206]

mmm Styleman for the ask game? (Stan, Kyle, and Cartman)

The ask game in question

I have actually already done Kyle

Stan:

Sexuality Headcanon: Oh he’s bi. Don’t have much explanation for it. It’s just that he is.

Gender Headcanon: Oh he goes by He/she but I don’t think he goes by any labels for it. He just lets it exist I guess. He also dresses pretty androgynous but like what I mean by that is just he wears graphic tees and jeans.

A ship I have with said character: Besides styleman and stylennyman I also like Stutters, and Stolkien. Both are very cute ships that don’t get talked about often.

A BROTP I have with said character: Besides the ultimate brotp that is Style I like the idea of Craig and Stan having a bit of a friendly rivalry. I think that’s fun.

A NOTP I have with said character: I don’t have one for him. A lot of the ships I seen with him are pretty solid

A random headcanon: He listens to Prince daddy and the hyena. He tried to get Kyle into once but Kyle ended up calling it garbage to his face.

General Opinion over said character: I use to think he was really boring and couldn’t pinpoint what the hell his personality was when I was doing my sp binge but as I continued I contemplated his character a lot more and now I really like him. Not my favorite character but I like him. I’m actually extremely mentally ill about him. It’s insane

Cartman:

Sexuality Headcanon: Oh this homie is gay. He’s very repressed and has tons of internalized homophobia but he’s definitely gay like can’t see him in any other way.

Gender Headcanon: I think gender is interesting for him bc I feel like he’s genderfluid but he has no idea what that is. As long as he says that is what he’s going by that is what he is right now. Only really changes his pronouns though to exploit some sort of system like in cissy. I can also see him as just cis. Never questioning never changing.

A ship I have with said character: I have quite a lot actually but I’m only saying three. Clydeman, Stanman and kenman. All three of these are so good but I don’t see much about them especially Clydeman which I adore. Oh never forgot kyman my absolute favorite ship.

A BROTP I have with said character: I love platonic kenman their friendship is actually is the thing that stood out to me the most when first bingeing sp more than any other friendship. I also enjoy him and Jimmy. They seem like good buds. Also him and Bebe being gossip buddies is a fun concept.

A NOTP I have with said character: I said this before but the only Cartman ships I’m iffy on is Candy and Buttman.

A random headcanon: He keeps a little sketchbook to doodle in class and if he actually tries he can draw well but he never actually does.

General Opinion over said character: What can I say I love him. He’s my second favorite character. He’s like a science experience and I want to look at him under a microscope or punt him bc I also hate him. Everytime I watch an episode with him in it I get second hand embarrassment. God I can’t with him.

[albatris]

so i think i should make one of those wip comic sans powerpoints for undertow (are those still a thing? I'm pretty sure those are still a thing)

mostly just cuz it'd be a fun way to introduce everyone, plot be damned

like. magic roadtrip! strange mysteries! but that's not important here's these bastards

would that be............. a thing you guys would like to see with your eyes

I know I don't really talk about wips beside ATDAO but I probs should bc I definitely have them........ they exist......... kind of

[princesssarcastia]

im having fun with a dumb concept, come and see

thinking about how in unpretty’s batman | bruce wayne meta, bruce actually like, enjoys having sex with women (and men but that’s less relevant to my point), which makes the character like 20% less sexist and terrible overall.  and how he’s got a great relationship with a bunch of models because he’s a weird guy who actually treats women like people.

also thinking about how there’s all those batman meta posts floating around relating to the fucking hilarious idea that pretty much everyone in gotham actually knows that bruce wayne is batman, they just don’t say anything because he provides an invaluable service to the city and is actually a solid dude.

so now I’m putting my hands together and thinking about an amazing concept, where bruce wayne, who instead of like wholly playing off of the way society objectifies women and expects women to act around him in a real sexist way, actually treats women like people and like, enjoys not only having casual sex, but also just spending time with women who are, in fact, people with personalities and stuff, and are not just arm candy.

but of course, some of it is still about the cover story.  and my thought is, what if like 40-60% of the model/young starlet/socialite scene in gotham knows that bruce wayne is batman but they don’t say shit to anyone because he’s:

A) actually really sweet and they don’t want to do him dirty like that, B) capable of treating them like people in a way the media and a lot of other men in their shared social circles aren’t, C) providing an invaluable service to the city not just as batman, but also as bruce wayne with a shit ton of money to give away and influence to get shit done, all of which are things these women can recognize and protect, and very distantly, D) because he’s actually pretty great at the whole dating/sex thing

im imagining like, bruce needs an alibi so people can’t put two and two together and get four, and there are twenty women ready to go and provide one, no questions asked because they already know the answer and know it’s for a good reason.  these women are integral to the protection of his secret identity.  also imagining that whenever they see something hinky going on, they just...casually-except-actually-really-not-casually drop hints to him, or fucking feed him information, so he can take care of it.  occasionally he can even reach out to them for information about stuff, they’re just cool like that.

would love to write read fic about this concept, feel free to write it for me so i don’t have to write it for myself.

[uesp]

This is why I can't play Morrowind rip

I don’t blame you. There’s a lot of games I can’t play, even some I used to, for reasons like Morrowind’s navigation issues. A thought that enters my mind a lot for games with those issues is “this game does not respect my time”. Whenever I think that, I’m just done with it now. I tend to find I’m happier for it.

To be clear I don’t dislike Morrowind, I do in fact like it quite a bit. I also understand that it is a product of its time, popular concepts in game design evolve with time, with a lot of what I would consider bad ideas falling to the wayside with time (along with some game design ideas that should really be given more tries, although that’s super tangential).

At the same time I’m willing to admit to things I dislike about the game. Morrowind is not sacred, it can be criticized. I don’t like running into unjustified difficulty walls (without taking advantage of exploits). If a game encourages you to explore, and exploring the world is arguably what Morrowind MOST encourages you to do, getting cut off by enemies who are arbitrarily too powerful is terrible design. That’s not to say I dislike a game expecting you to get more powerful to expand what areas you can explore, far from it. But it should be a fairly natural process of discovery. It should be clear that I’m heading into danger.

One good example of this is Red Mountain. Red Mountain in its entirety is gated off by a giant glowing and ominous wall with only one easy entrance. As you approach it the weather becomes increasingly grim, before the entire world turns a sinister shade of red. That sets the tone. It tells me, without necessarily saying anything (although NPCs also warn you), that what’s in there is going to be much more dangerous, and that I shouldn’t go that way unless I’m sure I’m ready.

A random human living in a cave being considerably more powerful than a different random human living in a similar cave is comparatively bad. Sadly, I feel that this is much more common than the warnings with Red Mountain.

To change topics, the Dark Brotherhood NPCs constantly attacking you whenever you rest if you have the Tribunal expansion (which most people will have at this point, as most copies of the game you can easily acquire come with it by default now) is absolutely awful design of the highest level. If you aren’t familiar, when you start a new game or load a save after enabling the Tribunal expansion, there will be persistent, respawning enemies that attack you when you rest until you go to a higher level area to put a stop to their attacks. They start spawning immediately, and they become increasingly dangerous if you just try to put up with the attacks.

What were they thinking? In my opinion, the implementation of these Dark Brotherhood assassins to get you to start Tribunal is a solid contender for the single worst developer decision in any Elder Scrolls game. I’m sure there have been worst design choices in games overall, but I think it might be an honorable mention on a list of all-time worst game design decisions. I have actually tested this with a group of people who have never played Morrowind before, and the DB attacks were consistently a wall they couldn’t get past. I don’t think a person can pick up Morrowind today without either having a game guide (like the UESP), using mods to fix this, or just dropping the difficulty down (a feature hidden in the menu). That’s really, really bad.

I know we’ve been talking about this in other posts, but while talking about things from Morrowind that make it harder for me to get into now, I would be remiss to not go more in-depth with my problems with it (especially since that was the anonymous message’s primary gripe). As Morrowind does not have quest markers, you are reliant on directions NPCs give you. Directions like this...

"The burial caverns lie to the south-southeast of the camp, a north-facing door in a little hill halfway between us and the slopes of Red Mountain. Go north from the camp to the water, then turn east. At a rock cairn on the beach, turn and head straight south until you find the door. The spirits of our ancestors guard the caverns. They will attack, and will kill you if they can. Force your way past them, or evade them, get the bow, and return to prove your worthiness."

Those are actual directions you get during part of the main quest.

Honestly, I can often remember where to go or just instinctively pull up our interactive map if I need it, but if I didn’t have foreknowledge of Morrowind locations, this would bother me immensely. I don’t have unlimited free time, I would like to do the parts of the game that are fun and rewarding, not search mindlessly through Morrowind’s ash and fog-covered countryside for a gray door on the side of a gray rock. When a game doesn’t respect that, I have a hard time playing it. TES has a special place in my life, but I can absolutely understand how things like this are deal breakers for people.

But to change tracks, and to end this post, I would like to leave you with something I absolutely love about Morrowind. A lot of games play with the trope of you having to prove you are “worthy”. Morrowind absolutely does, you interact with a ton of characters who outright despise you, and barely tolerate you enough to send you to complete some task to prove your worth, before sending you off on a dozen more missions to continue to prove yourself, before sending you to other groups who you then have to prove yourself to. However, Morrowind lets you throw up your hands at their demands and snide comments and go “You are all garbage people, and I dislike you all immensely. I don’t need you or your perfunctory approval or your stupid artifacts. Now I’m going to go kill the monsters none of you could because I am AMAZING and HARDCORE and YOU ARE NOT. And I’m going to do it all while FLYING because I am too good to walk on the same dirt you all are confined to.”

And honestly, every game should let you do that.

[ghostwriterofthemachine]

2021 fic review!!!

Tagged by @jasontoddiefor !! Thank you for the tag!!!

✨ total number of completed works: 27 this year!! 48 altogether! 

✨ total word count: ,,,,,,h u h it seems like it’s around 105,000 words which is Insane to me.

✨ looking back did you write more, less, or the expected amount of fic this year?: Waaaaaaay more. My Hero Academia was absolutely fantastic for my creative drive, apparently. 

✨ your own favorite story of this year?: HMMMMMM  Singing, When You Don’t Know How to Pray is up there, because I had a blast writing it and I think my characterization is really solid.  Between You and Oblivion (There Stands a Cat) is also up there, because I packed a lot of information into a very small fic. 

✨ did you take any writing risks this year?: Yeah, honestly!! just like. Writing more. Posting shorter things. Getting over the fear and just banging out a decent 1.5k for a concept and throwing it online for the world to see. 

✨ do you have any fanfic goals for the new year?: Longfic. Finally, finally gunna try to tackle longfic. 

✨ most popular story of the year?: Hands down   Things that Haunt Our Hallways, I am still floored by the response to that one. 

✨ story most under appreciated?: ,,,,,,maybe  bread in peacetime ? It has soft friends and bread!!! Or  A Pretty Heavy Covenant to Make With Someone Powerless, if only because I want to find more people who have the same taste in angst as me. 

✨ most fun to write?:  May Be Found, If Sought . Not only was it a giftfic I was very excited about, I got to use urban fantasy ideas I have been sitting in my notes since high school. 

✨ most unintentionally telling story?: A fun fact is that the texting conversation which happens in  Let’s just sit together here for a bit is near-verbatum a texting conversation I had with my best friends in undergrad. I was Tenya in that situation, because I very much empathize with my stressed and responsible son. 

✨ biggest disappointment?: Not the fic itself, more my motivation for it: I had a ton of ideas for Sharp Objects which have all gotten buried in Star Wars Burnout Island. 

✨ biggest surprise?:  Recounting What We Call It. Was not expecting more than 5 people to read the Very Niche Headcanon fic which was created at least slightly out of spite, let alone for people to also enjoy said headcanon. 

✨ my favorite part of fandom this year?: New friends and new fandoms!! Getting into fun new media!! Also, getting some distance from SW, which I really, really needed. 

Open tags, please anyone do this who wants to ^-^

[davidmann95]

Comics this week (4/21/2021)?

Superman: Red and Blue #2: I got the sweet David Choe variant cover I was hoping for! A win. The Seagle/Douleau/Brosseau story was...odd, character-wise, the Brown/Cowan/Stanisci/Sotomayor/Sharpe story was a fun adventure with some neat ideas but felt surprisingly light given this was the first use of Val-Zod in however long, the Phillips/Zarcone/Leigh story was the exact story you’re always going to get with every Superman anthology ever from now until the end of time, and the Howard/Napolitano final entry was fun and also happened to nail pretty much exactly how I’d like Cyborg Superman to be portrayed. The clear standout however was Dan Panosian’s Luthor story, a total hoot.

Justice League #60: We’re starting to get rolling on the vibe of the team dynamic here if not especially the plot, but keep giving me those pretty Marquez drawings over Bendis-chatter and those delightful V/Xermanico Justice League Dark backups and I’m more than good.

Catwoman #30: Ok I kept saying I was waiting for V and Blanco’s tack for this run to reveal itself, and that it’s “Selina WANTS to be in a nice Brubaker/Cooke run where she’s comfy, but dopey Batman shit keeps creeping in around the edges and fucking with her equilibrium” is basically EXACTLY what I want to see. And that double pager from Blanco? Baby.

Batman vs. Ra’s Al Ghul #6: I’d reread this if I thought it’d explain anything that happened, but I know it wouldn’t and for that I’m grateful. Could this live up to being the sequel to Batman: Odyssey? No. Is there still an extended sequence where Neal Adams characters, who speak and act like Neal Adams characters, perform a science demonstration? Yes. God, yes.

Haha #4: I liked this one! Definitely the least Ice Cream Man thing Prince has written since he started that, which I note mainly because everything else about his work remains at a steady rate of high quality so it’s that variation that most stands out.

Radiant Black #3: Ok, it’s got me sold through at least the three remaining issues of what’ll be the first trade. This is the most the superhero stuff and the personal work have felt like they meshed, and also the most interested I’ve been in the former thus far.

Ultramega #2: Aw yeah, we’re on that good worldbuilding kick I’m here for.

Orphan and the Five Beasts #2: This issue pivots on the most hilariously nightmarish twist I’ve seen in comics in god knows how long and I am enthralled, even with Stokoe firing on all cylinders I don’t know how he intends to match this issue in the remaining issues.

The Many Deaths of Laila Starr #1: The title on critics’ lips this week, this takes a well-worn “what if a higher being had to live among us miserable meatsacks and learn how rough things can be down here” premise and manages to not just reinvigorate it, but set it up with legs that look like they’ll be carrying it forward for a ways to come. The star of the show is Filipe Andrade, who pivots sharply between rendering the divine mundane and the standard bursting with energy as serves the scene; he actually gave me a bit of a Nick Dragotta vibe here, though the end product is something entirely his own. Not quite my favorite of the week as I know it was for a lot of folks, but I’m in for wherever the long haul takes us.

The Mighty Valkyries #1: I’ve been hoping since Gronbekk started that we’d see more of her clear potential as she was hopefully given more opportunities, and this issue represents a titanic leap in that direction - I was already impressed, but there’s a steady hand and conceptual boldness here that’s leaps and bounds beyond what she was already doing and I’m so glad this book is back to give her the chance to flex these emerging muscles.

Carnage: Black, White & Blood #2: The Zdarsky/Checchetto and V/Fernandez stories are both solid, but this isn’t anybody’s best work.

Avengers #45: Ahh, this is what I was starting to miss from this book. It isn’t good, but it’s definitely the exact kind of high-concept brain droppings Aaron’s versed in that effortlessly short-circuit any normal sense of good taste I might possess.

S.W.O.R.D. #5: I’m following multiple X-Men books, and enjoying seeing threads cross between them. Incredible. Is this what it’s normally like for people who dig these? I can’t see it being enough to build an entire comics-reading identity around them, but it’s a treat nonetheless.

Way of X #1: As someone with complicated feelings on X-Men: Legacy and very uncomplicated feelings on how great Doctor Nemesis is I was really looking forward to what Spurrier would do here, and honestly? One issue in and this feels a lot closer to what I want out of Hickman’s X-Men than that book itself has often delivered. This feels like the perfect balance of what I want out of these books and what people who like X-Men comics *not* by Morrison or Hickman want, and while there’s no way it’ll get the audience it deserves I hope it’ll at least get a sizable enough fraction of it to see it go as long as all involved please.

Eternals #4: An extremely good and dense issue, maybe my favorite in a week with some stupendous competition, that I just don’t have a ton to say about - its virtues are self-evident and we already know that this book is great and the specific kind of great it is. My biggest personal item of note that’s not immediately obvious is that it’s with this issue that it clicked for me for the first time that the expressions Esad Ribic gives his characters remind me a bit of Steve Dillon’s.

[bexterbex]

A Soul to Mend His Own | Ch. 71

Warning: 🥵🥵🥵

Warning, PLEASE CHECK TAGS IF YOU SEE SOMETHING YOU DON’T WANT TO READ THEN DON’T READ. | Tag lists are closed | INBOX OPEN

Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Will tag as I go along, Will update tags, Slow Burn, Influenced by Star Trek and other Sci-Fi themes, References to We Happy Few, Tons of References and quotes to George Orwells 1984 see if you can find them all, The First Order is the new Big Brother,  but who is really surprised, Blatant Nazi Symbolism, Interrogation Themes, Eventual Smut, Eventual Romance, Really just drawn out Slow Burn, Don’t repost without permission, Torture themes, Suggestive Themes, Execution themes, Disturbing Themes, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Verbal Abuse, Controlling Kylo Ren, Physical Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Kylo Ren is Not Nice, Kylo Ren Has Issues, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, Possessive Kylo Ren, A character shamelessly based on Zelda

A Kylo Ren x Modern! Reader in a soulmate au with canon divergence. —————————————SLOWBURN————————————–

He is already the Supreme leader, searching the universe to find you, his Empress. Your name on his wrist has been the only constant in his life, while you have doubts about his existence and his acceptance of you. He isn’t in the database and why did the name Kylo Ren cover Ben Solo?

MASTERLIST

Chapter 71: The Answers You Were Seeking

The ship came into the hangar, so you were finally back on the Supremacy. You attempted to get up, but your legs were failing you. This amused your guard dog. He came face to face with you, “Does Kitten need help?” He seemed to enjoy teasing you.

You just held your arms out in a silent demand. Enjoying the feeling of him picking you up in his strong arms. Inhaling his natural scent as you tucked your face into his neck to hide from the outside world. You wanted to stay in your little bubble with him for as long as possible. “If I am an Empress, shouldn’t I be carried everywhere, always?” You imagined him carrying you.

He chuckled, “That can be arranged if you want it, but you other royal carriers might disappoint you.” You felt his hands shift, holding you more securely against his chest as he entered the hallway.

As much as you tried hiding your face and avoiding the people you could hear them shuffling out of the way and saying “Supreme Leader” and “Empress.” You just wanted him to look at you, him alone. You were his, and no one else’s. You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding when you entered your chambers.

Instead of heading directly to the bedroom, he brought you into the dining room where dinner was waiting for you. It was at that moment that you realized that you had worked up quite an appetite. Your nerves from before your consummation had completely dissipated. He set you down, in front of a glorious-looking feast. “I thought that a little Kitten like you would be hungry after playing with her guard dog.” You could hear the smirk in his voice as he teased you.

You tried to put a poker face as you teased him back, “We didn’t exactly play.” No, you didn’t play, not per se.

“Didn’t you have fun,” it was more of a tease than a question. He knew the answer, but you two were just in a rather flirty mood.

“Oh, I had more than fun.” It’s true you did have more than just fun.

He leaned forward and scooped you up into his arms and onto his lap, “You’re too far away. You’re a Kitten that is meant to curl up on my lap.” He buried his head into the crook of your neck, delicately kissing the bruised skin there.

You chuckled at his neediness, “And who set me down there, hmm?” You buried your face into his chest. For the next hour, you spent time feeding each other, slowly with many kisses exchanged for bites of food. Once finished his hands roamed your body while your arms were wrapped around his neck. A hand made its way down to your bruised heat, testing the delicate flesh. You winced and whimpered at the feeling, still sore from you earlier escapades.

You could see Kylo contemplating your reaction to his touch. “We’ll have to get some bacta on that if we want to have any more playtime tonight.” He grazed his nose against you affectionately. He then carried you into the bathroom and set you on the vanity where he untied your dress, exposing you to him. He reached behind you and into the medicine cabinet and pulled out a bottle of what you assumed to be bacta. It was a warm liquidy, gelly substance that he carefully applied to your bruised cunt.

You thought the sensation to be rather unpleasant. It wasn’t like lube, but more like aloe slathered everywhere down there making you feel rather gross and not quite sticky. “When should I be healed enough?” You had no idea how this worked. This was an entirely new concept for you.

He thought for a moment before responding. “An hour to two max. You aren’t bleeding and as far as I can tell you haven’t torn anything, just bruised and overstimulated. It’s best to let it work undisturbed so, for now, we will have to do something else.” He then carried you out of the bathroom with your dress still hanging open. His eyes seemed to dance across your marked flesh as he took you upstairs to the lounge where you both settled down on a couch.

His arms wrapped around you keeping your against him, hands teasing and ghosting over your bruises. Almost as if he was silently worshiping you, appreciating the offerings he had left all over your body. You had a couple of hours to kill before you went back to your rounds of lovemaking. “Can you tell me why you didn’t tell me that making me Empress meant that we were going to get married? Because you just up and left before explaining that.” You wanted some answers, you just hope you could tiptoe around him so you wouldn’t ignite his anger.  

His fingers wrapped themselves in your hair, his palm against your skull, and his lips against your temple. “Because I thought you might say no, so I didn’t ask. I was worried you would leave me Kitten, and then I would have no one to guard.” You could hear the hint of fear and sadness still lingering in his voice. You were the only thing he truly had in this galaxy. You knew it would devastate you as much as him if either of you left. It was better to be bound to each other than to live without the other half to your soul.

You turned your head and tilted up to kiss him, “I’ll accept that answer.” More kisses before asking, “How did your fight with the scavenger go? I watched the transmission, but I want to know how you thought it went and what your feelings are.” You knew there was much more to the fight than what you saw in the transmission. You knew there was a bit more to their ‘relationship’ in general that he hasn’t told you yet.

He let out a deep sigh as he turned to look away from you, to look at the ceiling while lost in thought. “It wasn’t easy trying to find her. Her friends tried to stay one step ahead of us and it worked until it didn’t.” You now fully turned to face him.

“The fight itself wasn’t that difficult until the defective stormtrooper shot at me and distracted me. She stabbed me, but she did not hit any vital organs thankfully. Managing to impale me between my liver and stomach. But as you can see I am alright…” he then trailed off as if lost in thought.

You brought a hand up to caress his face, trying to bring his attention back. “But what about her motivation? She wanted you to join her, to leave me.” You almost wish the vision in front of your blaster was actually her, so you could have killed her instead of him. He has already seen lifetimes of battles and death, and you just wished you could take just one away from him, to save him from that pain.

His voice became slightly agitated, “Yes, its true she wanted him to join her, but I didn’t want to. The only person I want in the universe is you. She believed she knew Ben Solo, but she didn’t because he still wanted you, he would have never have gone with her if it meant losing you. She was lost in her own delusion. I, Kylo Ren, have always wanted you, and just you.” His confession made your heart soar. You rolled onto your side and rested your head against his chest. Showing him how much you cared.

“I’ve always wanted you too. It’s why I am here, it’s why I have stayed. I don’t want anyone else.” You felt his hand rub up and down your back, making you feel all warm inside. You hated that you needed to break this tender moment with another heavy subject, but if you didn’t do so now, you don’t know when you would be able to get the chance again.

“But what about your mother? She just wanted her son to come home.”

You could see his demeanor shift, this wasn’t a conversation he really wanted to have, “In the end, it was something I would always have to do. It was always going to be Ben Solo or myself. She knew this too. She lost her son long ago, this was just the final act. In the end, I think she realized that I am still her son. She and Han Solo may have been gifted Ben Solo, but Kylo Ren is the man they made.” You could hear the anger and hurt in his voice even if you weren’t looking at his face. The man lying next to you had killed both of his parents, to be with you, to make Kylo Ren triumphant.

Your memory recalled her words, her warning, “But what was she saying about this not being the last of it? What is coming?” To say you were worried was an understatement.

He peered down at you, his eyes were like black steel with his brows furrowed and his lips hard in a solid line, “I do not exactly know yet, but I feel it in the Force. Something powerful has awoken, and I need to stop it, to protect you.” His hands grabbed your face, “I will protect you. I had a feeling on Mustafar that a key might be there, I will find it. I will find out who it is, end them and I will protect you.”

His reassurances were sexy, something about his need to keep you safe was something that aroused you. Which wasn’t a great feeling at the moment, as your wetness mixed with the gell and made you uncomfortable. You whimpered at the feeling, your belly warm but your brain disgusted. This caused Kylo to reach between your legs, testing the tissue there and it seemed to pass inspection as there was no more pain. Only a pleasured gasp escaped your lips as his fingers stroked you. “Hmm, it seems like you are ready to go Kitten. Shall I go clean you up so we can play again?” You let out a whimper in response, as his fingers still roamed your heated flesh.

He picked you up and carried you down to the bedroom instead of the bathroom. He set you down on the bed and left you to walk into the bathroom. Your body did not like the separation from him, as you whined as he left you. He turned on a switch in your brain which caused you to be needy for his touch. He returned with a damp washcloth and proceeded to wipe away the bacta, his stokes and attention to detail caused your slick to almost gush out of you at the attention. You rolled your hips up trying to cause friction, this caused him to chuckle. “Needy aren’t we Kitten?” You heard a wet slap as the washcloth was abandoned on the floor.

He quickly lifted you, ridding you of the wrap dress entirely before his fingers began to massage your clit in circular motions. Your hips attempting to follow his rhythm. “Can we try something Kitten?” He seemed to be the coherent one between the two of you. All you could do was nod in response, words failing you.

His touch ceased on your clit, on your cunt all together, which caused you to cry out in frustration. But then he brought your wrist to his lips. His name was now being kissed and sucked like the many, many love bites that littered your body. Suddenly it was if your body didn’t need anything else. You cunt seemed to pulse in pleasure at the sensation. Reacting as if the most wonderful touches were being performed on you, but they weren’t. Kylo was just nipping and sucking on his name on your wrist. It was like the ultimate key to getting you to orgasm as it didn’t take long before you were seeing stars. Your back arching as you came, Kylo’s name on your lips. You felt like you were going to blackout again, but Kylo’s lips on yours brought you back from the edge of it.

It took you a few minutes to regain full consciousness again, full coherence. When you did you threaded your hands into those dark raven locks and deepened the kiss rolling your hips up to meet his, which somehow were now completely bare. In your lack of awareness, he stripped down to his nakedness and your hips rolled up to meet his hardening cock. “That was amazing,” you said rather out of breath.

A smirk graced your lover’s face, “Mmm I could tell.” His hand reached back down to your now messy cunt, “You are absolutely sopping wet Kitten.” He kissed you hard, as one of his fingers entered your wet hole, earning a moan from you. “I guess we shall have to do that often. But let’s see if you can return the favor.”

He flipped you both over; you were now straddling his thighs, his cock in front of you. You saw its angry red, swollen head, and the shine of pre-cum on the tip. You wanted to eat it rather than ignore it, but he brought his wrist to your lips. You were supposed to mark your name as he did his. And you complied.

Kylo hissed in pleasure at the sensation, his hips rolling up, his dick bouncing. You continued to lick, nibble, and suck on your name. You even went as far as tracing the letters with your tongue. If you thought you were a mess, then he was a disaster. Moaning and panting your name and nickname. His hips trying to find fiction for his cock. It didn’t take long for his hips to stutter and his cum to shoot out in pulses as he orgasmed. Your name a shout on his lips, his voice haggard. His cum painted both of your chests with the splattery aftermath.

You decided to be a lady and clean his semi-soft cock with your tongue before you traveled up to his chest, rubbing your breasts against his, smearing the milky white substance. When you were satisfied with the completion of yours and his painting you licked up the evidence from his chest before flopping down next to him and beckoning him to do the same. He took his sweet time as he licked up and down your breasts, making sure both nipples were absolutely glistening with saliva.

One of his fingers tested your hole again as he positioned himself over you. “Mmm Kitten, you will be the death of me,” he said as he pushed his index finger into you, to his knuckle. He hooked into you and teased your walls.

You moaned back. “Death by sex doesn’t sound so bad to me,” you mused as he plunged another finger in you, trying to get you ready to fully take him again. Without this prep, you would surely tear right in two.

You heard him chuckle, the sound you loved so much, the sound you were pretty sure you were the only one who got to hear it on such a regular basis. “I suppose you’re right. If I had to choose how to go out. Dying with my cock buried in your tight cunt would be the best way.” His voice was sultry now, a velvety sort of sex that could get you to do almost anything.

It didn’t take long for him to get you ready. Your body responds quickly because he was right, you were made for him. He lined himself up once more, teasing you with his engorged head, just pushing your flaps around and only putting the tip in. “Please, just fuck me Kylo. I can’t take it anymore,” you whined earning a quick deep thrust from his hips, fully sheathing himself in you. You threw your head back in pleasure and released a loud moan.

It didn’t take very long for him to pick up a steady rhythm of his hips snapping consistently. You attempted to help him by meeting his thrusts, but he was buried so deep inside you it didn’t really matter. “So…  tight..” was what he struggled to get out as his thrusting deepened. You could feel his cock twitching between your walls of pleasure. Enjoying the feeling of being fully engulfed in your heat.

You attempted to respond to him, “So… BIG,” you shouted as he found that spot, your g spot. The head of his cock relentlessly pounding into it, causing you to see stars. His pace and power only picked up as he was locked on target. The sounds of skin slapping and panting filling up the room.

You could feel the orgasm starting, “Kylo…. I’m…” you couldn’t even get the words out. Your brain was a solid clump of mush. He was almost literally fucking your brains out.

His thrusts causing the bed to quiver. “Cum with me,” his voice was thick with ecstasy. You followed orders as your walls clamped around him, his hips stuttering. His panting and moaning almost overriding yours as you came together. Eventually both your hips stopped as you both exhausted your energy, reveling in the orgasm together. Kylo collapsed on top of you, keeping his dick inside you, something you didn’t know you liked until he did it the first time. Your cunt being very happy at not being left empty. Loving the feeling of the weight of his dick inside of you. You also enjoyed the post-sex lazy kisses that he seemed to give you. A silent thank you for giving him his orgasm like you were a goddess blessing his fields with rain.

The next few days were filled with work and plenty of sex. Adlez and Olivia-Rose were rather pleased and horrified at the state of you in the morning. Kylo and you had another few wonderful rounds of sex. Your body looked more bruised than alright, but you assured them that it was fine. Three days after your wedding night, Kylo got a call to return to Mustafar, something there needed his attention. Something you wished would just disappear.

A/N: So....I take it y’all like smut? 

[writerbyaccident]

An Enchanted Cage: Part One (Yandere Draco MalfoyxReader)

Request: Yandere! Draco Request Hey there! I've been following your work for a while now and I have to say I love the content you post! If you're up for doing anything harry potter related, would you consider writing a short about a yandere!Draco who caught feelings for a (preferably female) muggle at a young age and feels conflicted because his family has always preached that muggles are so beneath wizards--"Like animals." but it gets him thinking about how animals can be pets still and he’s able to convince his parents to take her in as one. Maybe that relationship would change if his muggle turned out to be a muggle-born witch instead, but they wouldn’t figure that out until they were closer to hogwarts age.

So I don’t really write about little kids as yanderes, so like with my recent Damian Wayne piece I’m keeping Draco around high school age for this. Specifically, he first met the reader when he was a young kid but didn’t really get obsessed with her until years later. Also, I started writing this and I couldn’t stop and I’ve still got a ton of ideas for it (but also I want to go to bed) so I’m making this into a multipart fic! Hope you all enjoy!

Part Two Part Three

           When Draco first met you, he didn’t know what you were. How could he? He was only nine years old at the time, and he had never even met a Muggle before. From everything his mother and father had told him about the creatures, he had always pictured Muggles as permanently covered in dirt, with knotted hair and yellow teeth. They would have raspy, guttural voices, more like that of a dog than of a proper human being. Not that they would actually speak all that much, of course. No, most of what came from their mouths would be animalistic snorts and growls. Looking back, it was easy to see how his child’s imagination had exaggerated the things his parents and their friends had told him. He was too young to grasp the subtleties of the differences between your two groups, filling in and stretching things with a child’s extremism. And besides, it wasn’t as if anyone bothered to correct him.

           So when Draco stumbled upon you that summer day, he naturally assumed that you were a young witch who must live nearby. You may not have been wearing robes as he was, but then again, he knew of several pureblood families who didn’t insist that their children wear robes at all times. His parents did, of course, but the Malfoys had a reputation to protect. But even some similarly aligned families were flexible these days, especially when their young children were simply at home, playing outside and liable to get dirty.

           Draco had been wandering his family’s grounds, a common pastime for him when he didn’t have lessons with his tutor or when neither Crabbe nor Goyle were visiting. It was a beautiful day, one he didn’t want to spend inside the manor. At some point though, he must have unwittingly walked past the wards, his Malfoy blood allowing him to cross them as he pleased. Draco didn’t even notice though, simply assuming that he had walked further than he had previously. But he certainly noticed when he spied you playing in a creek.

           You were alone, like him, but you didn’t seem to mind. No, you were laughing joyously, splashing about in the shallow water. Even then, at that age, Draco found himself thinking that he had never heard someone laugh like you, so pure and carefree. He merely watched for a moment, wanting to join you but unsure how to ask. After all, all of the friends he had were the children of his parents’ friends, brought over for play dates and shared lessons. He didn’t really know where to start on his own. Thankfully though, you didn’t seem to have such reservations.

           “Hi!” you shouted, waving at him.

           “Hello,” Draco answered back. “What are you doing?”

           “Looking for pretty rocks, wanna help?”

           “Okay,” he said, joining you in the ankle-deep water.

           Draco spent the rest of the afternoon with you, and he would have been happy to keep playing with you, but you said that you had to get home for dinner. By the time he got back to the manor, he realized that he must have passed through the wards, something he wasn’t supposed to do without supervision. Draco didn’t want to get in trouble, and he definitely didn’t want to be forbidden from meeting you tomorrow like he promised.

           “Hello dear,” Mother said to him, smiling in amusement at the sight of his dirty robes. “Did you have fun today?”

           “Yes, I found some rocks.” Holding out his hand, he showed her the ones he had brought home, and she ruffled his hair lovingly.

           Draco spent the rest of the summer this way, meeting you every day he possibly could. You were unlike any of his other friends, so unabashedly open and friendly, not at all snobbish or reserved. And unlike Crabbe and Goyle, you weren’t merely a follower either. The two of you became incredibly close during that time, so when Draco was about to leave on a two-week holiday to France, he found himself reluctant to leave. He was only nine though, so he didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter. And to make matters worse, you had previously revealed that you were spending the summer with your grandparents, as you did every year, so by the time he returned, you would be gone.

           By the time summer returned, he was worried that you might not come back. So much could have happened after all, your plans could have easily changed. When he found you waiting for him by that same creek then, he was grinning from ear to ear. Another summer passed, and it was as if you two hadn’t even been apart. He still didn’t reveal your existence to his parents though. They controlled so much of his life, he just wanted this one part to remain his own.

           When the next summer began though, his last one before he would begin attending Hogwarts, Draco finally decided to tell his parents about you. You were his age, after all, and he was sure that you would be going to Hogwarts as well, so Draco wished to see if perhaps you could to Diagon Alley with him. At the back of his mind he was somewhat concerned that you might be from a unsuitable family, whether too poor or aligned with blood traitors, so he concluded that it would be best to start with his mother. Even if you were from an undesirable background, if he got his mother on his side, she could surely convince his father to let the two of you remain friends. After all, you couldn’t help who your parents were, and he and his family could be a good influence on you. But when he finally told his mother about his years-long friendship with you, things turned out far worse than he ever could have imagined.

           “A—a muggle?”

           “Yes, Draco,” his mother replied stiffly.

           “She can’t be a muggle! She’s—she’s not like them at all!” Draco cried.

           “There are no other wizarding families near our home, Draco. Not even half-bloods.”

           “But—but she’s not some savage animal. She’s not dirty or idiotic.”

           “Well,” Narcissa sighed, “I suppose Muggles are just like any other breed. Some likely are somewhat more civilized than most.”

           “What do you mean?” Draco asked confusedly, this being an entirely new concept to him.

           “A bit like how purebred dogs have more aptitude for certain skills, perhaps. Or how cats with Kneazle ancestry are more intelligent than ordinary cats, and pure Knealzes are more intelligent than both.”

           “Really?”

           “But that doesn’t change what she is, Draco. She is not a witch, not one of us. A Kneazle still cannot compete with a person.”

           His mother’s words from that day stayed with him, stayed with him for years. Draco clung to them whenever he was tempted to run to the creek, whenever he found himself missing you. No matter how much he repeated them though, he couldn’t quite seem to hate you the way he knew he was supposed to. There was simply too much history already there, and while Draco found himself getting angry with you at times, at how you had tricked him and wormed your way into his affections, he couldn’t truly despise you. But still, he stayed away for years, forcing himself to focus solely on other things.

           Then, one day during the summer holidays, right after Draco finished his fourth year at Hogwarts, he saw you again. He had arrived home just the other day for the holiday, and he was welcomed back with a batch of truly glorious summer weather. Determined to enjoy it, Draco wandered the grounds, happy to be back home. Without even noticing it though, he was walking in the direction of the creek. Or perhaps a part of him did notice, and was simply that desperate to see you.

           “Draco? Draco Malfoy?” a hauntingly familiar voice called out to him. “Is that you?”

           Turning towards the sound, half hoping and half dreading that he had imagined things, Draco saw you for the first time in years. As he took you in, Draco felt as though his heart had been petrified, as though he had fallen from his broomstick and now had nothing solid beneath him. You looked so much the same, and yet so different. You had the same eyes, so warm and inviting, the same smile, so genuine and friendly. But you were also undoubtedly older, with a fittingly more mature face and overall expression. That wasn’t all that Draco noticed about you though. Regardless of how much he had told himself over the years that you were nothing more than a filthy muggle, that you were unworthy of the slightest glance from him, Draco found himself stupefied by your beauty. Skin so enticingly smooth and soft, lips so temptingly plump and parted, curves so alluringly sculpted and feminine, for a moment he understood what Potter must have felt like when he faced that Hungarian Horntail. But as you continued speaking, Draco was pulled out of his thoughts.

           “I can’t believe it, I haven’t seen you in years! I was almost convinced that I made you up! How have you been?”

           “Um—” Draco stammered, pausing to clear his throat. “Well, I’ve been alright, I suppose. Busy with school and everything. I’m sorry it’s been so long, things—things have been rather mad.” You pursed your lips ever-so-slightly at that, clearly sensing that Draco was hiding something, but, Draco noted with relief, you decided not to press it. That was one of the many things he missed about you, Draco suddenly realized, how kind and understanding you were.

           “Same with me, honestly. This term was so difficult, I really needed this holiday.”

           “Me as well,” Draco said, smiling gently at you. The two of you spent the next few hours catching up, though Draco was of course careful to keep things rather vague on his end. It felt so natural talking with you again, so right just being with you. And so, Draco found himself returning the next day, and each one after, in order to see you. Logically speaking, he knew that he shouldn’t be doing such a thing, that his parents would be ashamed of him. But each time he attempted to keep away, it was as if he had been placed under the Imperius curse, the only order given to him that he needed to be with you.

           “I wish we went to the same school,” you mused one day.

           “I know,” Draco agreed, “how on earth did you ever survive without me?” You laughed at that, and while Draco relished the sound, harvesting it away, he wasn’t truly joking. As bright as you were for a muggle, you still didn’t possess any magic to protect yourself with. And while you were undoubtedly more intelligent than the average specimen of your kind, you were also so much more innocent and vulnerable as well. You lacked the ferocity, the brutality that Draco was sure the rest of your kind held, and so he was terrified of the thought of you leaving him. You needed him, he was sure of it.

           But, in the end, it was your next comment that truly put things in perspective.

           “I’d love for you to meet the rest of my friends, they’re brilliant. Though, you might meet Peter soon.” At the sound of another male’s name coming from your lips, Draco froze where he stood, watching in horror at the far-away smile that had appeared on your face.

           “Who?” Draco snarled quietly, fingers clutching his wand tightly in his pocket. You failed to hear your friend’s change in tone though.

           “He’s this boy in my year, we’re fairly good friends. He and his family are staying in a cottage close by for few weeks, so we were planning to get together.”

           “Oh,” was all Draco said in response. Truthfully, it was all he was able to say in response. There mere thought of another boy near you possessed Draco with enough rage to cast an Unforgivable Curse, and the fact that he was a muggle only made it worse. Draco was certain that your supposed friend couldn’t be like you, couldn’t be nearly as brilliant and kind and caring. No, Draco was sure that he must have been the worst kind of muggle, the sort that his parents had always warned him about. This boy wouldn’t—couldn’t—appreciate you the way Draco did. He would take you away from Draco, further and further until he never saw you again. This disgusting muggle boy was about to come and take what was his, what belonged to him. Draco refused to let that happen.

           Less than an hour later, Draco pushed open the parlor door roughly. The two elder Malfoys’ attention caught, Lucius put down the letter he had been reading, while Narcissa set down her book.

           “Mother, Father, I have to ask you for something.”

           “Yes, dear?” his mother responded. “What is it?” Pausing nervously, Draco walked over to one of the armchairs across from his parents, sat down, and took a deep breath.

           “Is everything alright?” his father asked, brows furrowed.

           “No,” Draco answered honestly. “It isn’t, but I know how to make it alright. I’m just not sure if you will understand.”

           “Sweetheart, we’re your parents. We love you, of course we’ll understand.” Draco acknowledged his mother’s words with a small nod, then turning to his father.

           “I—I need a new pet.”

           “That’s all?” Lucius said with a slight smile. “You nearly had us worried, Draco.”

           “But, not just any pet.”

           “Oh?” Lucius replied.

           “You see, close by, there lives an elderly Muggle couple. And each summer, their granddaughter visits them.” Draco paused, unsure of how exactly to put this, eventually deciding to just come out and say it. “I want her.”

           “You want,” his father spoke slowly, “some Muggle girl as a pet?”

           “She’s not like other Muggles, Father, not really. She’s more intelligent than the rest of them. And she isn’t savage or repulsive.”

           “She isn’t?”

           “No, she—she’s beautiful.”

           “Beautiful?” Lucius scoffed.

           “Yes,” Draco answered carefully. “And yes, she is a Muggle. And I know that Muggles are little better than animals. But animals have their own kind of beauty, don’t they? And animals are kept as pets, aren’t they?”

           “I suppose,” his father agreed, only somewhat reluctantly.

           “And like I mentioned, she’s better than other Muggles. It—it’s almost as if, if the majority of Muggles are wolves or mutts, she’s a purebred spaniel. Or if the rest of them are feral cats, she’s a Knealze.”

           At her son’s explanation, Narcissa’s eyes widened slightly with recognition, recalling her words from years ago. It had to be the same girl, she realized. And if it was, that meant Draco truly desired her, if he still wanted her after all of these years.

           “Lucius,” she said softly, taking her husband’s hand in her own. “I think that we ought to give Draco this girl.”

           “You do?”

           “My love, the Dark Lord has finally returned after so many years. Before long, he will have restored the world to its proper order. And with that, he will have put the Muggles in their place. Once things have been made right, I highly doubt that Draco will be the only one with such a pet. It’s not as if he is asking to marry this girl, after all. We have raised our son well, I am sure that he will keep his pet in her proper place.”

           Narrowing his eyes in thought, Lucius looked from his wife to his son. Both of them gazed at him imploringly, and he felt himself beginning to give in. Lucius could never deny Narcissa anything, not since the day he married her. And ever since he first held Draco in his arms, Lucius knew that he would give his son the life he deserved, the life he was entitled to as a Malfoy.

           “Well,” Lucius began, “we will have to be cautious. The Dark Lord hasn’t conquered the wizarding world yet, after all. And this girl will be your responsibility Draco, no one else’s.” Heartbeat quivering too fast to count, Draco nodded eagerly. Releasing a breath that he had forgotten he was holding, Draco felt happier than he ever had before. Already he was considering every little detail, from where you would sleep to what you would wear to how exactly he would train you. It would take some time, he knew, especially seeing as he didn’t want to resort to a love potion or the Imperius curse. No, Draco wanted your devotion to him to be utterly real. He deserved nothing less, after all, considering how he was saving you from the savagery of your kind. You might not understand that at first, but you would eventually. Draco would make sure of it.

[dolcetters]

get to know the mun ~!

repost, don’t reblog.

———  basics! ♡

(PEN)NAME: hannah / red / raven

PRONOUNS: she / her

ZODIAC SIGNS: virgo sun, scorpio moon

TAKEN OR SINGLE: hella single

———  three  facts! ♡

i horde art-of books like a dragon. current count around my art desk is 42 but i have maybe 4 or 5 over in my bookshelves that won’t fit in my desk drawers. if i hear an artist i love/follow is kickstarting a book, i’m on it. and i’m currently trying to slowly collect the Spectrum: Fantastic Art series as well as the annual Illustration series published by Shoeisha. in addition to art-of books, i also love collecting enamel pins and old fashion keys. i really love keys.

my favorite pokemon types are ghost types, and i tend to prefer sticking to the first 2 generations (though i have a handful of later generation pokemon i like, the designs just don’t tickle my quite as much). my FAVORITE would probably be haunter, if i had to choose. also i’ve had pokemon: moon for... cripes, 3 or 4 years? and i’ve barely gotten past getting my rowlet because i kept starting the game over because i really wanted a female, goddamnit. she’s mine, now. ...i just gotta actually give myself permission to play the actual game l m a o.

my webcomic is totally gonna give it away but i have a fascination with forests, trees, and especially old/ancient trees. i can’t quite put it into words, but the concept of a living thing being so MASSIVE and looming, winding, tall and beautiful whilst being thousands of years old... like... what stories can you tell? what have you seen? what have you lived through, felt, sheltered--just... a really love trees and what they can symbolize and/or bring to a story. and the idea of an old forest... auhaufhdskgd.

———  experience ! ♡

been RPing since ye ol’ neopets days (i wanna say i was 11-13?). went from there to RPing in various chat spaces on deviantart, then mostly did one-on-ones  with my bestie, JM, over skype and nowadays discord. think i joined the tumblr RPC early my freshman year of college? with this blog, actually (the original blog is now archived but same handle, same muse). aaaand a decade later i am stillll hereeeee.

———  muse preference !  ♡

can’t say i have one, really? i’ve written a super wide range of personalities over the years and tons of canon AND OCs alike. most of my tumblr muses have been canon, but this is mostly because OC blogs tend to take more leg work (icons, detailed bios, etc; seriously you guys are badasses) and since i started RPing around here in college going forward i generally just... don’t have the free time anymore to dedicate to the stuff OC blogs need. my free time goes toward my comic and other art because i really would like to make THAT my career, and i can’t justify to myself spending time i could be putting into that into an RP blog. --and i really hope that doesn’t come off as “dissing” OC blogs because seriously you guys are fucking incredible and in a lot of ways i do envy you because i wish i had the time and headspace to write my OCs around here--i love dol, but christ, sometimes it comes to the end of the day and you realize he’s not your own actual character and it all just feels super hollow lmfao. i continue to be in awe of the OCs i encounter around here. one of these days i’m gonna write a strongly worded letter of love.

———  FLUFF / ANGST / SMUT! ♡    

FLUFF: fluff is my shit. let me write disgustingly wholesome sweetness all day. i’ll give all you bitches cavities. you’ll hate me for it. my blog doesn’t come with dental, i’m so sorry, i’ll make it up to you somehow. GOD, i’m fluff deprived right now.

ANGST: i’m chill with angst so long as i get breaks. >xD it’s great for development and character exploration and all that jazz but as soon as we get grimdark for grimdark’s sake, i start checking out. i just. i can’t. i’m too tired, the world’s on fire, how ‘bout yours, that’s the way i like it and i never get bored.

SMUT: my willingness to write smut is 100% dependent on my relationship with the other mun, tbh. i was a bit looser with this when i started RPing and i kind of regret that in the sense that i think i let myself get pressured into it because tumblr RPing was newww and my partner and i were excited about our shiiiip and suddenly things were happeniiiiing, and now i’m like. ...idk, i just need to feel completely safe and in transparent communication with the mun before we can do that. it doesn’t help that i’m sex-repulsed and, while there’re some aspects of smut that i don’t bat an eye at there are others that’ll squick me out real fast. i got nothin’ against how often or unoften anyone else partakes, but ya gurl just needs that solid ground on a mun-to-mun level, y’feel.

PLOT / MEMES: i’m totally grand with either, my guy--i love plotted stuff with a basic “outline” of events that we just let our characters find their way through like they were on a roadtrip OR just ... throwing them to the wind and seeing what happens organically. sometimes meme-starters can take real interesting character turns, sometimes plots just up and die... LONG AS WE’RE HAVIN’ FUN.

tagged by: stolen from @aemiliiu​ because eeehhhhHHHHH??? it mundai.

tagging: i stole it, you steal it

[destressjournal]

DCOM Rankings #92: Teen Beach Movie

This received a lot of hype when it came out, though not nearly as much as camp rock or HSM. But it tried to be the next big DCOM Sumer musical. And from my knowledge I think it was pretty popular, again, just not as much as previous musical movies.

Still, I remember a high school friend saying that she was obsessed with the movie, and even though I didn’t watch Disney channel anymore, it still intrigued me. So I was curious to watch it for this ranking. My thoughts are as follows:....

The first half was good, the second half fell flat.

Ok review is over!!

No I kid.

So let’s talk about the overall story and themes. You got a girl with a dead mom (of course) who wants her to fullfill her dreams and be successful, but never really specifies beyond that. From a young age, Mack carried that journal with her as her one true reminder of her mom, and got it in her head that she needed to be successful like her aunt that raised her, as if that’s what her mom meant. Over the course of the movie, she figures out that she likes being on the beach and surfing, and wants to stay where she knows she belongs. And she realized that was probably what her mom really meant.

I love the concept of a girl thinking that she needs to be something her whole life, because her dead mom said so. I think it’s so powerful how kids can just attach to that as if it will still make them closer together. And take those words to heart. That to me is great (thematically, not actually) and the way it’s portrayed at the beginning of the movie is pretty solid, with its own DCOM cringiness. She was willing to leave the town she loved to “become successful” like what her mom wanted, and if she didn’t fullfill that, it’s like she’s severed her last connection with her.

I WISH THIS WAS SHOWN/SAID IN THE MOVIE A FUCK TON MORE!!!

Idk I feel like we should have gotten more context in the beginning, I felt like we were kinda thrown into the movie world a little too early. Maybe not, idk. Now I’m second guessing myself. I guess I just wish Mack explained this more to Brady to make him understand why she needs to leave their beach town. Because throughout the movie she kept saying she needs to leave because “she has to” and that’s pretty much it. She could have said “cuz this is what my mom wanted and I want to make her proud of me” OOF, right in the feels. Maybe she can say “has to” near the end when she isn’t sure anymore and is tired of explaining it. Maybe it’s me just not being attached to any of the characters that much that I need them to be more motivated.

But let’s move onto something else, the movie and movie world. So it’s based loosely on west side story. Now I don’t know that much about west side story, and I know that I need to edumacate myself, but i think the overall theme is there, right? Two different groups of people, two people from those groups fall in love and start a gang war. But I don’t know any of the specifics other than that. But yeah this movie within a movie is supposed to be set in the early 60’s, and there are times when it kinda looks like it, and there are times when you don’t believe it at alll...I think mostly because beaches look the same regardless of time period but yeah. The editing for this DCOM is not very good, and you know they’ve been trying to add more visual effects over the years and 2013 was still in the early stages of that for TV, so I’m not going to be too critical of it, but it’s mostly how the characters dress and talk doesn’t seem very 60’s a lot of the time. But hey what do I know? I wasn’t alive in the 60’s.

I do NOT like the weather machine side plot though. I thought that was really really stupid. But I do understand that there needed to be a common enemy for the two groups to work together to fight, but mad scientists and a weather machine is the best they could come up with??? They were in the movie for like 5 minutes total I would say. They have 0 motivation, they are only used to get the two groups to get along, and they are used as an excuse for the storm. That’s it. The villains are just devices and not actual characters. Like I don’t need a sob story for a villain to get behind them, just someone at least interesting...I mean, I know the movie within the movie is supposed to be really cheesy and dumb, but you can still have interesting characters.

I do however like the way that Mack and Brady call out some of the bull crap that’s in these movies sometimes, like how they suddenly know what’s going to happen next even though they couldn’t have known, in order for the movie to move forward. It’s so meta haha I like it a lot. At least the writers have some idea of what’s up.

The characters. I did mention it a bit earlier. Mack is probably my favorite (again, it’s not like she’s my favorite character ever, like by any means). And the main biker girl I forget her name. She is really cute and her mannerisms and looks are perfect for the time period I think. The boy characters kinda suck. I mean Brady has a point that he didn’t realize Mack was even leaving until the night before she was supposed to leave. Like,I feel like that’s something you should mention when you meet someone you wanna date??? “Oh by the way I have to leave in a year for school so I’m not going to be here long” like was it that effing hard to say???

Sorry off topic. Brady just loves surfing and having fun on the beach, and that’s about it. Oh and he loves this movie a lot so when they get trapped in it he already knows the context. So that’s basically it. Mack is pretty much the only real character in the entire DCOM and everyone else is just used as a prop to get her where she needs to go. BUT it doesn’t mean I hate all the rest of the characters, in fact I find pretty much all of them to be entertaining, except for the villains who are really useless.

Let’s talk about the aunt and the grandpa for a second. So they made a deal that mack would stay with her grandpa for her first two years of high school, and then she would go with her aunt to this new school for her last two years. Alright, cool. I thought grandpa would have more of a presence in the movie, or talk more to Mack about....well anything. But I guess not? He just stands there and watches Mack get swallowed by the wave and seems to be told to act sad. Sorry my mind is all over the place. Anyway, Mack says at the end of the movie that she wants to stay where she is and the aunt is like okay, even though her character was all stiff and huffy and uptight. Like you’re not even gonna put up a little fight??? Things don’t go this well in real life, I hope kids know this.

Okay ranting over lol. The songs were pretty good, not the absolute best I’ve ever heard but they’re good, just not catchy enough I guess. It’s just trying too hard to be HSM but it’s fine I guess. At this point nothing can top the HSM songs, so I won’t knock off too many points for that. I really do like the twist in the middle where Mack and Brady mess up the movie, but it basically ends up not mattering later (something I’m also mad about) but for a while I was like ooooooooo spicy! And I also like how Mack gave the biker girl advise about boys and standing up for yourself and doing things because you want to, not cuz someone else told you to, which directly applies to her own life. Clever stuff man.

Alright time for an overall grade. I gave this one a straight B because even though I did rant about this movie a lot, I felt weird giving it a C. There is slightly more going for it than against it. It’s still a fun summer movie, and it’s not meant to be taken too seriously, just like camp rock 2. And that’s alright in my book! I just wish this one put more heart and meaning to it, but it was definitely itself entertaining with some classic DCOM cheesy and cringey elements.

One last thing I forgot to mention: I guess they don’t allow lip kissing anymore (I’m sure I mentioned this before) all the main character couples do is hold hands and hug and stare into each other’s eyes. Like who the eff made that decision that all kissing was banned? (Cheek kisses are still a thing but wtf) I’m just ugh did parents complain or something? Is kissing seriously too gross for Disney channel, even if it’s just a peck? What the poop?? Ughh second rant over.

So the next DCOM looks like a snowboarding movie which is like the complete opposite of this movie about surfing, just thought that was funny! I’m going to challenge myself and see if I can get the rest of these movies done by September 1st, but at the rate I’m going now, I doubt it...but we’ll just have to see. Wish me luck lol

[fyrapartnersearch]

historical dramas, alternate universes, video game fandoms, nhl & the crown

hello!

I’m going to make this fairly short (or at least try to haaA). I am looking for 1-2 new rp partners! I work two jobs and have a pretty active lifestyle so please understand this is a hobby for me. My posting speed ranges from once every couple of days to once every week or so, but I'll always let you know when I'm busy or hitting roadblocks. Some of my stories have really slowed down so I'm looking to have a rp going that is at a pace of at least 1-2 replies every couple of weeks.

I love detailed plots and stories; crafting good posts is a huge part of why I love rping. I match/mirror my partner’s length and put a high amount of importance on compatibility as writers. Good grammar, punctuation, spelling is A Thing for me. I put 110% in. I write fully lit to novella style rps with my posts ranging from 900-1800 words average. If you want a partner that’s invested in writing together and all the joy that brings, I’m your person!

I am looking for original period piece/historical drama roleplays full of drama and angst, fallout related roleplays, roleplays centered on fictional NHL players, slice-of-life or modern romances, and a few more.

what do I write?

I can write f/m, m/m, and m/f pairings- doesn't really matter to me so long as the plot and characters are compelling. I love smut just as much as anyone but I need a good story and solid character development to go back on. I want to feel something when we write and I hope you do too! I don't have a ton of limits when it comes to kink etc aside from the basic ones, but generally each of the characters I write have varied and different interests and preferences. I'm interested in writing the following fandoms right now:

Transformers personified: Essentially, utilizing characters from the Transformers universe to make characters and stories based off of them/using them in a personified manner. We could depict the war as a political one, or with warring armies, or anything we wanted to do. I'm most familiar with Transformers Prime, and I would be really excited to talk this one over with you!

Disney personified: Similar to the idea above, we take stories/characters and springboard them into our own content and plots. Let's talk it out!

The Outer Worlds: Admittedly I haven't finished the game yet, but I would love to do some character and world building here. Canon characters could be brought in if needed.

Fallout: New Vegas: I can do OCs for this, or I can play several canon characters such as Arcade Gannon, The King, and Cass. Either way, I'd be more than happy to plot with you in this world. I'm also interested in playing out a story related to Fallout 4, where I can play Elder Maxson or Paladin Danse, or we can write OCs.

X-Men: Give me all the plots utilizing Jean Grey or Wolverine, those are my favorite canon characters to write. I can also write OCs. I would also love to play Wolverine against a Jean Grey. All in all, I am a happy camper with this one.

The Crown/British Monarchy: I have a niche interest in the British monarchy and figures related to it, specifically George VI, Elizabeth II. I'd love to take the concepts and maybe the figures and write out some stories, historically-based or not, that involve some of the character types, situations and challenges faced. This idea is really flexible and I'd love to do some world-building here!

Mafia 2: I can write a pretty decent Vito Scaletta and I'd love to write him against your OC. We can take the premise and play with it, maybe make a spinoff or a sequel, something like that.

The Man in the High Castle: I would love, love, love to write something set in this universe. We'd definitely have to do some worldbuilding here but I would love to figure something out based around this universe and the characters in it.

Right now I also have a huge interest in doing period pieces/setting slice-of-life stories in different historical settings. I'd really love to do some plotting together and come up with an intriguing original story. I would love to do stories with the backdrop of the first or second world war, the great depression, the turn of the century, etc etc. I think so many of my plot ideas would be much more interesting placed against different historical settings. I'm most familiar with 1900-1960s backdrops but I would love to explore earlier (little women, or pride and prejudice-esque) eras as well! Pleeease get @ me if you're interested in a healthy dose of history with whatever twists we can come up with :) Here are a few plots/prompts to get started:

**** (m/m) sugar daddy: My oc is a law student studying in your oc’s country in order to get their degree abroad. They’re from eastern Europe and uh. broke af. They settle into an arrangement with your oc where your oc agrees to ~pay him for his company~. We could take it anywhere- your oc could whisk mine off his feet and ‘save’ him or. Be toxic & trashy and make my oc’s life hell.

****(m/m) the guardian: Your oc is a newcomer to the NHL but is quickly making waves- think Connor McDavid style. He’s young and impressive, but mostly, impressionable. he starts to get battered around by both his teammates and opposing teams. After a few hard hits and fowl play within the game that have cost your oc bench and recovery time, the team’s coach calls in reinforcements to boost the team’s morale and serve as a protector to your oc. My oc is a player who hasn’t got the talent part but has got a huge heart. Not to mention… huge hands. Good for makin’ fists. Good for fightin’. My oc protects your oc during the games, coming to your oc’s aid, picking fights for your oc and protecting him on the ice. As such, the two players grow attached to one another.. perhaps too attached for the captain to be comfortable with. Possibilities for a love triangle and other complications, for sure

***(m/m) too good to be true: Our ocs start out in the WHL, both as promising wingers. Their good chemistry is vital to bringing back their team’s success. However, one of our ocs starts to get too attached to the other, and when an NHL draft separates them, one of our ocs is all too eager to cut contact and try to forget. The two excel in their NHL careers without one another, and end up on NHL teams with a history of deep rivalry. Occasionally, the gloves hit the ice, fueled by the tension of unresolved feelings and the pressure of the respective teams to keep up the rivalry. The two are reunited when they are both chosen to play nationally for the same team, and are forced to reconcile what they have both buried so deeply within them.

***(m/m) big money: These two ocs play for rival teams in the nhl. while their teams have a history of tension, our two ocs take it to the next level. Audiences are more excited to watch these two fight than they are to watch the game itself. There’s a market in the violence between these two, and a reputation to maintain on both ends. If the public found out that these two were secretly seeing one another, their careers would both be over.

My oc has serious commitment issues. They often go around leaving individuals after 4-5 dates, with little to no explanation of why. Your oc falls for mine, and is the first to confront my oc about their shitty habits.

Your oc is a huge fan of my oc’s hockey or political career. Your oc wins a contest to meet and have dinner with my oc. While my oc expects a boring night out, my oc is completely surprised by how well they hit it off with your oc.

My oc, your first oc and your second oc all grew up together. Your first oc has always been pining for my oc’s attention, and is thrilled when my oc and your first oc finally get together. They develop a long term relationship, but my oc knows it would devastate your first oc if they told them that they have been seeing your second oc for most of the relationship.

My oc and your oc are in an arranged marriage. My oc is actually a spy on your oc's national government. Espionage, reconnaissance, and betrayal abound.

My oc is royalty (think British monarchy) and yours is, absolutely not; either a reporter, a soldier, maybe a business person. My oc has taken interest in yours as a friend to keep them grounded... or as a thin veil for a romance that absolutely no one would approve of.

As for general OC ideas, here’s a list:

street racing, fast-and-furious-esque setting

small town canadiana or americana

fun, fluffy romance based modern settings

light worldbuilding - new to this but wanting to learn

WWI / WWII history based

something based around the Titanic (I know, so cheesy)

alternate history — I would love to work on doing some worldbuilding with you and creating some kind of retro-futuristic alt history IE fallout before the nukes dropped.

estate drama — something akin to Downton Abbey but with our own spin on it

honestly whatever you can pitch to me that isn’t high fantasy :)

I can expand on and work with any of these ideas, these are just topics. Whatever I do with you, I promise it’ll be fleshed out, with tons of opportunity for drama.

how do we get started?

Pleaaase send me an email at ehmmywrites@gmail.com; I can give you my discord if we hit it off. Please give me some of your thoughts/an idea of why/what you’d like to write with me! I can write over discord or email or both. We can sort out the brass tacks there and figure out if we’re a good match. :) Thanks for your time and I hope I hear from you!

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Final Fantasy VII Legacy || Nomura, Complex?

This is the 3rd out of 3 articles. Find the second here.

It’s time to get down to mythril tacks. At this point, I have talked about what this game meant to me when it was released and how it’s newest installment fared as a game. Finally, it’s time to talk about the impact the Remake has on what has unexpectedly become a robust and diverse universe. What does this mean for us at large, the players? This is a no-holds-barred SPOILER frenzy about anything and everything in the Squaresoft/Square-Enix pantheon. This means not just the games in the orbit of Final Fantasy VII, but the entire catalog at Square-Enix. To be honest, this is just the introduction, I don’t know if I even have an intent of going so far beyond the purview of the Remake, but in the spirit of the Final Fantasy gatekeeper, Tetsuya Nomura, I refuse to limit myself.

It’s been almost exactly a month since I started writing this article. It took so long to come back to this because I kept finding more and more content related to Final Fantasy 7 that I either forgot about or didn’t even know existed. On my own shelf sits Advent Children, Dirge of Cerberus, and Crisis Core. I decided to watch Advent Children immediately after beating Remake. As a movie fan and amateur critic, the film is littered with terrible film decisions and was clearly the work of people who spend much of their time penning and creating video game stories. It’s a series of cutscenes without a controller attached and at a certain point, you realize Advent Children was never meant for film fans, but for fans of the game. Specifically for fans desiring an epilogue and more directly fans of Cloud, Tifa, and Sephiroth. The story is almost unintelligible because there is tons of connective tissue left to be assumed by the viewer. It is at once too far removed from FF7 in both linear real time and in-game universe time to be recognizable, and simultaneously inexplicable in what has transpired and why. It takes a crack at explaining it from moment to moment, but largely, it looks like they were looking for excuses to push the characters to act. I am not trying to review the film but rather my intent is to create a modus opendai for the gatekeeper, Mr. Nomura. The more I learned about the world of FF7 that was being created over the years, the more it seemed to lean on the stylings of this one man. In a way, Nomura launched Squaresoft and himself into a whole new stratosphere of fame and broke all expectations. In my first article, I mentioned that for a certain generation of fans, it was the perfect storm, but I would later find out the cause of the storm was Nomura breaking open lightning in a bottle, releasing his brand of design on the world with a multi-million dollar international company backing him.

If I may, let me take a parallel series by the same creator infested by the meta of his own other original creations, namely Kingdom Hearts. In its inception, it looks like two producers at Square were trying to make a 3-D adventure platformer game with characters as popular as Mario, but only the biggest brand on earth, Disney, could possibly beat the king of platformers. Nomura was… walking by and pushed himself into the conversation, and they decided if they could do it, they would let him direct. (Read more here) Yada yada yada, Kingdom Hearts was created. While I can’t seem to find (and didn’t look too hard to find) proof, I can only imagine that with KH having a tenuous new relationship with big-corp Disney, they focused more on a simple game that was straightforward. KH is very much a disney product with a little bit of artificial Nomura sweetener. With its unbridled success, Nomura was unleashed. Kingdom Hearts 2 would go on to be, in my opinion, one of the most unintelligible video game stories ever inscribed to plastic discs. But the power of Nomura’s story-telling is that we all understand it differently. He creates bedrocks, little story islands of unshakable facts that are connected via a salty sea of undefinable liquid moments. Cast out to sea, rudderless and deprived, you try to bring to your mouth this brine only to be dehydrated faster than if you had just sailed the sea and died in the sun between fact islands or lived long enough to tell the tale. And that metaphor is my tribute to Nomura. Long, winding, hard to remember, and just clear enough that you think you got it, but you still have problems with its construction.

It has now been over two months since I have last visited this article. What is keeping me from continuing? The incomplete nature of my knowledge of Final Fantasy VII lore. Unlike the Kingdom Hearts sea, VII is like a series of interconnected caves, and the more you unearth the more you learn. And therein lies the problem. The Nomura-verse is composed of both his methods and his circumstances. His methods, we have discussed, but his circumstance is game development. Unlike movies or books, games obviously have an interactive capability, but they also have a variable development cycle. Some titles come out quickly, others span decades. They also consist of different teams, story writers, directors, and a myriad of producers. This in turn can make it much harder to make a solid universe, especially when new additions start off in a place where a continuous story was never meant to exist. Nomura is at once hindered and strengthened by his circumstances. He can’t tell a better story because the development cycle of his vision is variable, and success is based on sales and popularity. Without success, he can’t create a new addition, and often in games, the end is meant to tie the whole thing up. Were there to be a sequel, a whole new story is thought up and tacked on wherever it fits. Gamers are pretty forgiving of this concept. Still, at the same time, Nomura probably wouldn’t make a concise story because it's not his style. For comparison, see the Dark Souls series. A game that both has deep lore and an involving story, but at the same time, the game doesn’t require you to know a single point to continue moving forward. This is almost the antithesis of Nomura’s style. In Souls, they let the player decide to explore its story caves, but doesn’t confront them with it to continue advancing. This is a strength of  video games. A strength that Nomura keeps using to his disadvantage.

Yet, Final Fantasy VII still excelled to unparalleled heights. It engages you in the same way all of the previous games in the series have, but with a slight departure on the strict fantasy theme, instead a merger with steampunk or semi-future. The series was changed forever, and so was gaming. Instead of doing the Dragon Quest method, expanding on the same universe design with different stories, Final Fantasy was emboldened to try completely random approaches with vector entries like VIII and X. For longtime fans, or fans of their original design, Every future title, MMO or Single Player, would go on to be successful, but not fully realized in their original context. Even the return to form in IX was much more playful than any of the original six entries. Gaming franchises have since become playgrounds for developers. Once they are accepted by fans, developers are emboldened and experiment with what would normally be a new IP, but instead use the financial shield of the famous namesake to move forward with new ideas. And in the case of Final Fantasy, when this concept of change works, it means that every numbered game becomes a wildcard. It’s a double edged sword for a gaming franchise that dates back to the 8-bit era. It has fans over 40 years old by this point and they may be willing to buy anything new. But this isn’t new to you and it isn’t a revelation for me. Final Fantasy VII Remake causes me to reckon with these demons I had buried years ago. It rips off a scab I thought had healed. I had given up on the past, a past where I was excited for a singular story, contained in a single universe, in a single title. I had given up on the glory years of Final Fantasy, but the Remake took me back and said, what if we told you everything you remember about the original was true, and everything we added after that was also true, even though you probably didn’t play it or even know it existed. Even if you do your very best, you probably won’t be able to track the story or interconnected characters if you aren’t in the know. It’s like joining a group of long time friends that are constantly referencing inside jokes, all of them just winking at each other, nudging you in the ribs and asking, “Do ya get it?” Truly, the Remake series thus far makes me feel lost at sea when what I wanted to feel like was coming home.

This retrospective has left me feeling broken. Based on the end of the FFVIIR, I sought out to reconcile all of the loose ends to all the connected media. However, spending time with the prequel Crisis Core for over around 40 hours, I realized this was a crapshoot. None of it mattered. It didn’t enrich the characters, it only made the story longer. It just added wibbly-wobbly, timey-whimey “facts” to an otherwise complete(ish) origin point. The FFVII universe can’t handle the weight that is put on it. It’s a faulty bridge over a treacherous pass. On the other hand, that same bridge for some is a point of excitement. You tread the boards, one by one, testing your weight, hoping to get to the other side intact. And I think that is why we keep trying these games and why they keep getting made. We don’t want the fun to end, despite the fact that it has nothing left for us to be excited by. It’s a closed loop that we keep looking for something new in. By the end of the Remake, we are somewhere between ⅓ or ½ way across the faulty bridge, dangling between where we have been and where it is taking us. At this point, I am too mentally exhausted from trying to make sense of it all. Yet I am incapable of not enjoying it, the mental somersaults one does to understand the interconnected mess that is Final Fantasy VII. It’s too dear to me. I got on the bridge for so many reasons, but the biggest one is to be on the other side with all of the other fans who dared to play and dared to complete the game. To be in the know, to wink across the room. I want to be in that hyper-critical utopia where we all have one thing in common: We played Final Fantasy VII in 1997. And we all have something to say about it.