#little blobs verse

[quintessenceofdust88]

Here's some fluff with pregnant uncle Buck and the biggest baby Buckley-Kinard cheerleader, a.k.a Jee-Yun Buckley-Han:

“Uncle Buck?” Jee's soft voice cuts through the quiet of the evening, and Buck smiles down at her.

The two of them are lying on his and Tommy’s bed, already in their PJ’s - well, Jee’s in her unicorn themed PJ’s anyway. Buck’s wearing a pair of Tommy’s sweatpants and also one of his husband’s T-shirts which are slightly bigger than his and fit more comfortably over the sixteen-week bump that’s his constant companion. Jee-Yun has her tiny hands pressed against said bump, looking in awe at the swollen curve of Buck’s stomach.

Ever since finding out her uncle’s pregnant, Jee-Yun has been his biggest supporter. The first thing she does whenever she sees Buck these days is rush into his direction for a hug, placing her hands on his growing bump, happily saying “Hi, babies! Remember me? It’s your big cousin Jee-Yun!”. Buck’s heart fills with joy every time that happens, and he’s ridiculously happy that his niece is so excited about the prospect of being a big cousin. 

“Yeah, Jee-bug?” Buck answers softly, running a hand on her soft hair, thinking he should probably get her settled for bed soon. Actually, he knows for a fact it’s a little past her bedtime, but what’s an uncle for if not bending the rules a little bit? 

Especially considering that sleepovers are a rare treat for Jee. Tonight, Maddie had a shift and little Kevin has the flu, so Buck immediately offered to take her for the night so Chimney could focus on their youngest. His brother-in-law had tried to protest at first, but Buck insisted, claiming Jee’d keep him company since Tommy’s on a shift. 

They’ve had the sweetest time, baking a cake and watching a movie. The whole time, Jee-Yun has been babbling about things she learned at kindergarten (and Buck can’t believe she’s going to elementary school next year; when has time gotten away from him like that?), but Buck thinks she might be about to return to her favorite subject of the moment: her little cousins. 

And sure enough…

“Do the babies like chocolate ice-cream? Mama says Kevin wanted lots of chocolate ice-cream when he was in her tummy!” She asks, and Buck chuckles; she’s been doing that a lot, comparing Maddie’s pregnancy to his, trying to figure out the rhyme or reason of babies growing inside someone. 

“Not chocolate ice-cream, but you know what they made me want the other day?” Buck asks conspirationally, leaning closer to her, and Jee-Yun’s eyes widen in curiosity. 

“What?!’

“Oreos dipped in orange juice” He says, and her instant reaction is a delighted giggle followed by a grimace.

“Oreos with orange juice?! Gross, uncle Buck!” Jee decides, and Buck boops her nose playfully. 

“I know it sounds super gross, but you know what? I kinda liked it; or, the babies liked it anyway” He answers with a chuckle, remembering the horrified face Tommy pulled at him when he caught Buck dumping the Oreos in his glass of orange juice, and how he wisely decided not to comment on it. 

“Can I try it? Maybe I’ll like it too!” Jee says eagerly, and Buck has no doubt she’s about to bolt from the bed to try it. But he has no desire to be thoroughly chewed out by Maddie in the morning.

“Maybe tomorrow, okay, munchkin? It’s bed time for little girls now” He tells her, and Jee pouts, but only a little. She’s smart enough to realize it’d be pushing her luck to try and delay her bedtime even more.

“Is it bed time for the babies too?” She asks innocently, and Buck laughs in delight. 

Come to think of it, he could go to sleep already. He’s thankfully past the point of his pregnancy where he felt sleepy all the god damn time, but still. It’s no piece of cake, growing two babies, and Buck is enjoying all the rest he can get.

“Yeah, I guess the babies could go to sleep too” He told her, and Jee smiled.

“Then can I sleep here with you? I promised uncle Tommy I'd take care of you and the babies!” She pleaded, and Buck isn't able to say no, not when she looks at him with those expectant eyes. God, he hopes he grows a spine by the time the twins are her age, or they'll get away with murder if it depends on him.

“Oh, well, if you promised uncle Tommy…” He teases her, already lifting up the covers so she can get under them, and she does so with a happy squeal that just about melts Buck’s heart. 

Jee settles herself on Tommy’s side of the bed, a content sigh leaving her lips as she snuggles against him, and Buck puts his arm around her, pulling his niece closer to him and opening up the story book he’d left on the nightstand earlier. 

“Tell me a story, uncle Buck?” She asks sleepily, and Buck places a small kiss on her forehead before starting to read ‘The Ugly Duckling’ (a story that always spoke to him as a kid who wished to belong, and he’s so glad that for his niece it’s really just a story).

His voice is the only sound in the house, and Buck can feel as Jee’s head gets heavier against his shoulder, indicating she’s more asleep than awake by this point. He’s about two pages away from finishing it when he feels it; a tiny kick from inside, pressing lightly but surely against his stomach. Before he knows it, Buck’s sitting up in bed, cradling his bump. 

“Uncle Buck?! Something happened to the babies?!” Jee asks, more excited than worried when she sees the wide smile on her uncle’s face. 

“Y-yeah, Jee” Buck answers, still in awe, still delighted, as he feels another kick a little more to the right than the first one; probably the other baby, he realizes. “C’mon, put your hand in here”

Jee doesn’t need to be told twice; her tiny hand rests beside his in his belly, and she stares at it intently, holding her breath. She’s rewarded by her patience in less than two minutes, when Buck feels another flutter of movement (and, wow. It’s weird, to feel them moving inside him like that. The best kind of weird, but weird nonetheless). Jee clearly feels it too, because she lets out a delighted gasp. 

“The babies! They’re moving, uncle Buck!” She tells him, as if he wasn’t aware, and Buck chuckles. “I think they like your story”

“Nah, munchkin” He says, his heart feeling impossibly full as his two tiny blobs (he wanted to murder Tommy the first time he referred to them like this after the ultrasound, but the nickname has grown on him) kick and move around, giving clear signs of life inside him. He hugs Jee tight, pressing a kiss against her forehead. “I think they want to say good night to their big cousin”

“Oh!” She answers, as if that indeed explains everything, and squirms away from his arms so she can scoot down on the bed and press a tiny kiss against his T-shirt. “Good night, babies. I love you so much. I can’t wait to meet you!”

“Me neither, Jee-bug” Buck whispers to her as if it’s a big secret. “Me neither”

[Now on AO3!]

(@parrishjeanna tagging as requested! I hope you enjoy! <3 <3 <3)

And if anyone else would like to get tagged in other works for this verse (which I'll temporarily name 'Little Blobs verse'), please let me know! It's meant to be a very fluffy verse, at least at first hehe <3

[fujouppy]

watched whitepine 1. i think i want to gather all my thoughts on part 1 before moving on to the next installments but oh wow im excited to see where this story goes

[penbensie]

👻💚🌻

Danny Phantom x Into the Spider-verse! Decided to add the little blob ghosts I’ve seen everywhere.

What do you think he’s listening to?

[dcmainlybillythoughts]

Consider if you will: Billy gets hit by some spell that sort of shows the gods who are in his head All the Time. Not exactly though, mote like misty gray human shapped blobs. Like someone took the Smooth tool in photo shop to them to erase all the details and faces. They still have different body shapes, postures, and voices though. Everyone can see all seven- wait seven?

Everyone there, especially those who don't normally have bodies of their own are Very excited to be there with Sort Of Bodies. Mercury immediately jumped on the table and started to sing while doing the Freestyle Dance Teacher dance. Atlas and Zues are brawling in the back and Hercules cheers. Achilles talking to Billy who is Not Responding while trying to figure out how to copy the dances Mercury is doing on the table. Solomon is simply giving some long winded lecture that Billy is already tuning out as he introduces each of his patrons to his coworkers and says, "and yes. They are always Like This. 24/7. Actually I'm surprised Hercules isn't trying to over power Mercury's singing with his own."

Hal points to the 7th and final figure who is yet to be introduced, A very small and skinny figure tucked between Marvel's cape and his legs, face to blurred and smooth to know but clearly glaring and body language frightening, and asks who this one is and what power they give. Thinking fast and maybe with a touch of help from Solomon sending a bit of extra power, Marvel says, "oh this? He's shy and doesn't like his name being given out. And he may not be the strongest or the bravest or the fastest, but he is undoubtedly one of the most important blessings I have. The Heart and Mind of a child. He keeps me honest and nags me about doing the right thing simply because it's The Right Thing. He also reminds me of the beauty and wonder in the world in small and simple ways. Like the time he got so excited about finding a 5 leaf clover that he made me preserve it and keep it in my pocket because the 5th leaf *clearly* means it's *extra* lucky. Or he'll point out things like how pretty the sun set is or how nice ice cream is on a hot day and just. All the little things that remind me of why I fight in the first place. He's a good kid, even if he didn't get to be a kid for very long." Billy feels a bit awkward patting his own(?) Head but he's got to sell the illusion.

Everyone is awwing almost enough to not notice when Murcury starts singing "FROM THE WINDOW, TO THE WALL!" And gets the the shit smacked our of him by Achilles before he can finish the next verse.

This is so cute. Imagine that when Cap was introducing Billy he put emphasis on his job by telling them "He is the only difference between me and Black Adam" because that is why Shazam picked him.

Also I am living for the chaos the gods are bringing to the table, or on the table if you're Mercury.

[vase-of-lilies]

… for the tiny tiger au. How about Wanda and Nat freaking out thinking that R got out. Which we did, we’re alone outside. But instead of running like they think we did, we found a baby fox and start poking it and what not to see if it’s alive (cause it’s sleeping) and thinking it’s cute we bring it back to mommy and mama who are in hysterics trying to find out where we went, only to turn when tapped to find us covered in mud/dirt presenting the new friend we have to them, wide eyed kan we eep em? Mommy mama pweeesss?

Nat and Wanda don’t know what to do side eyeing one another because they don’t want their baby to cry, but also. It’s a fox.

Muddy Buddies

Paring: Mommy!Wanda Maximoff x Little!Reader x Momma!Natasha Romanoff

Warnings: this is a dark AU, wandering off into the woods, finding a friend, fluff, heavy MD/LG, needles, rabies shots

A/N: This immediately reminds me of this video I saw where this kid found a raccoon and is crying because she can’t take him home 😭 Another small drabble for Into The Tiny Verse:) Also, I'm so sorry. I am so tired so if it sounds like a 10-year-old wrote this (my vocab sucks when I'm tired) then just- Idk bear with me here 😭

Your little self was none the wiser when an opportunity to go outside came up. You didn't have any intention of escaping from your new caregivers, all you wanted to do was go on an adventure with your lion! And when this opportunity came up, you took it.

Natasha had just returned from her trip to town, grocery bags in her arms. Usually, she was much better at keeping an eye on you when Wanda was busy, and when she didn't see you come running to the door to say hi to her, she figured you were asleep or with your mommy.

At this point, you were now a couple feet into the forest surrounding the cabin. Not wanting to scare your mommies, you never lost sight of the house. That is until a little hint of orange just a little further inside the trees caught your eye.

Your curiosity moved your feet closer to the unknown blob of color, and once you saw it you let out a soft gasp. Your hand covered your mouth and you moved just a little closer.

It was a baby fox!

Looking around, you grab a stick with some leaves still on it and you kneel down next to the still fox. Is it dead? Your head pushes. Why isn't the mother here? Another question you ask yourself. With the stick in your hand, you gently poke the soft bum of the fox. The animal twitches, and you jump in surprise. Dropping the stick, you crawl to it, not caring about the mud on your pants or hands.

The small fox squeaks, and opens her little eyes, looking up at you. However, it did not run away. Instead, she yawned and got up from her position on the muddy forest floor. She stretches and even approaches you. Carefully, you hold your hand out and you smile as the fox's wet nose sniffs your fingers.

"Aren't chu jus' the chutest ting?" You whisper, scratching the fox's chin. "Yous name is Butto! (Butter)"

Butter lets out a small whine and a raspy bark, and you pick her up. She looks around as you stand up with her, and she slightly starts to struggle. You hold her comfortably tight, and you walk quickly back to the cabin.

Upon entering the cabin once again, you hear your mommies' worried voices. They shouldn't be worried... I'm right here! They don't hear you come in through the front door, too focused on reviewing the camera footage from outside of the warm abode. The two women don't even hear you enter their office!

Holding Butter and Leo (your lion) in one arm, you gently tap Wanda's shoulder to get her attention with the other hand. Her head snaps to the side, her eyes widening when she sees you. "Tiny! Oh my- Oh, and tiny's friend..." She says with a hesitant laugh, pulling her hands away from your muddy self and your muddy friend.

You tilt your head at her reaction to you but shake it off to ask the more important question at hand. You look up at the woman with doe eyes, "kan we eep em? Mommy mama pweeesss?" Wanda and Nat look at each other, surprised to say the least, but not wanting to hear you cry if they take your friend away.

"Who- uh- who is this, little one?" Natasha says, looking down at the fox in your arms.

"Her name Butto'" You say nonchalantly, as if it was just a new stuffed animal.

"Butter?" Wanda confirms and looks at her wife, eyes wide and asking for some type of support. Natasha can’t help but chuckle, and she kneels down in front of you.

“Tiny, I know this little one looks like a friend, but these little guys are tedious. They aren’t very friendly,” Nat frowns, starting to take the fox from your arms.

“Nnnnooooo! No she fren, mama, she nice,” you protest, pulling yourself away from the woman. “She tan stay wif me in m’room, and she can snuggle wif us!”

Wanda and Natasha devise a plan to get the little fox away from you and back to its mother, and they do that by putting you outside with Butter. In the backyard of course.

Butter in fact wasn’t nice. She scratched you, bit you, and made you cry, but your intentions on keeping her never wavered. Your little brain was just seeing another friend, and that’s all you thought this little fox was.

Wanda offered you a deal. “How about we make a trade?” She asks with a smile. “How about I take Butter, and you take Pancakes?” Your mommy pulls a plush fox from behind her back, and you tilt your head. “Just like you need mommy to take care of you, so does little Butter, and we need to get her back to her mommy.” Wanda says, and you start to understand.

“Butter has mommy too?” You ask, tears forming in your eyes at the thought of being taken away from your caretakers. Wanda nods softly and takes Butter from your hands.

“Yeah, so let’s get her back to her home and we can play with Pancakes all night. How does that sound?” Wanda asks you, finally pulling the baby fox from your scratched up hands.

Natasha had contacted Bruce Banner. He may be a human doctor, but he knows where this little fox can go to get real care. He even said that you and your mommies could visit her too! While Wanda held you in her arms, Natasha was distracting you while Bruce gave you a few rabies shots, and a few other vaccines to help you stay healthy after touching a wild animal.

You were not a fan of needles, and the two women knew that.

As you waved goodbye to Bruce and Butter, you sighed softly. “Butto’ sc’atched me,” you sniffle, looking down at your hands that now stung.

“Oh honey, it’s ok, let’s go get you cleaned up for dinner, ok?” Wanda says, picking you up bridal-style and taking you to the bathroom to wash up.

Once your bath was finished, Wanda bandaged your hands and arms and got you all warmed up in your pjs. After dinner, your mommies kept their promise and you played with your new (fluff-filled) friend until you fell asleep!

“We need to watch her carefully…” Natasha chuckles, stroking her knuckle over your sleeping face.

Wanda nods, “Agreed!”

[eccentricallygothic]

Can you write a dark!alpha Steve Rogers where his men start to speak vulgarly about his omega!assistant. You know just being very sexual and gross and Steve is just like absolutely not she’s my wife and decides to put his men into place.

Instead of punishing them he brings his omega in and has her suck him off for a good while. By the end her eyes are all watery and her lips are swollen (and maybe she was wearing lipstick that’s all smudged now) driving the men mad. As a final warning that omega is his, Alpha Steve takes his cock and cums all over her face. He makes her leave it on as she goes back to serving his men coffee and refreshments during the meeting.

Man, I hate how I love Steve. So sorry that this is thousands of years late. Hope you see it and like it still. Feedback is much appreciated. Unedited 🩷

Warning(s): Exhibitionism, dacryphilia, abo verse, m!dom, f!sub, blow job, deep throating, lowkey dark!Steve.

The rims of Omega's mouth felt puffy and numb, the corners of her jaw in pain that was ever-growing; courtesy of her Alpha's inhuman girth. 

Another thick, hot tear trickled down the corner of her flushed face and hung clinging to her skin for a few moments before dropping against the fabric of her pencil skirt with a loud pat. 

Such a sound is rarely ever loud enough to be heard in such a manner. But the dead silence in Steve Rogers' office provided that and the sound of her gagging the perfect atmosphere the ability to almost bounce off the walls. 

Her eyes were bloodshot, nose red and flared as she tried her best to breathe through it and move her mouth along his frankly monstrous length from her spot on the ground between Steve's legs. 

Steve; her husband, her Alpha, her owner. 

Omega did her best to fight against her tight little gag reflex that even after all this time of being together got easily triggered by his fat knot. 

At least, in the beginning. 

Because his wife was all about adjusting to him and his tastes. 

That had been her designated spot in their dynamic from the beginning.

Submit to Steve's authority and obey him without question no matter how depraved his demand or order may be. 

It didn't matter if his potential business partners sat across the table with their breaths heavy and eyes wide at the sight of her fucking her throat on her boss and husband's cock, nimble fingers gently playing with his heavy ballsack.

Omega's task at this moment was to suck Steve's cock and nothing else.

It didn't matter if her mouth felt coarse, or if her throat was trying to force itself shut due to the shame she felt in this humiliating position, the boss didn't care if his precum and your drool was dripping down his assistant's chin and making a mess on the expensive blouse he had bought her.

What mattered to Steve was that he was making a point. 

This girl, looking so pretty with her dark lipstick smudged all over her face and his cock along with her own fingers, lowering her face on his cock obediently until its imprint appeared against the delicate skin of her throat, a bubble of his precum that she would occasionally inhale on accident popping out of her nose as her claim mark nearly glistened next to the fancy pearl neckpiece that she wore, was his.

Body, mind, soul.

And none of these rich pricks would be allowed to entertain any fantasies about her.

As Steve pulled her face off him by her hair and grunted while pumping himself faster and faster to aid his thick, hot release, he knew his territory was marked when the shiny white blobs shot out of his tip and landed against her pretty face.

Omega was gasping for air as her eyes fluttered close, pussy thumping and clenching around air for more. 

Him. 

Steve hummed when he was done emptying his load on his beloved's messy red face until his cum coated it like a literal cosmetic mask.

She rose to her feet without protest or question about her own need when ordered, having been trained to always put her husband and Alpha first.

For good things came when he was pleased.

The slick between her legs was noticeable as Steve tasked her with going about her part in the meeting, slapping her ass for good measure as she walked by.

The sound reverberated off the walls in a manner that was nothing less of a warning. 

A threat. 

The men felt embarrassed under Steve's eyes when Omega bent to fetch the refreshments and as though it wasn't already noticeable enough, unknowingly made show of the huge damp spot that had appeared on her ass, extending downwards in thick streaks.

It was honestly commendable how she was managing with carrying out her orders as well as she was irrespective of how hot her insides were as they bubbled over and created an actual puddle in her panties that grew heavier by the passing minute. 

All of that was for Steve.

And no one else. 

Certainly not these pathetic men who could only enjoy an Omega out of force or payment. 

And never how Steve had while simply lounging in his chair. 

No.

They could never even hope for something similar. 

Steve made sure that they didn't.

For after they had left and he praised his Omega before taking her home to reward her for being such a good girl for him in more ways than one, he had made a phonecall. 

And the men were never seen again. 

They were made to vanish into thin air.

As though they had never even existed to begin with. 

[howtotrainabraincell]

Head cannon bc I can - The Assassin's belief in spooky stuff

A/N: In 3-month pre-honor of Spooky time (which is the best time) I'm gonna write a drabble about how I think certain assassin's would react to spooky stuff like ghosts, wendigos, vampires, etc. Thought it would be funny.

Ezio Auditore - He grew up religious so probably has that faith over fear mindset despite what he believes later on in life through being an assassin/meeting the garden tool known as juno (who doesn't get her name capitalized bc I don't like her lol). I mean exhibit A: This Florentine man just jumps off of a very high building and nails a superhero landing. The FAITH that this man had in his KNEECAPS to NOT SHATTER over the FEAR of his (very nice) legs snapping in half like pocky sticks. I mean COME.ONNNN. WILL LEGIT PERFORM AN EXORCISM IF HE GETS SPOOKED. He'll speak in Latin reciting Bible verses, he'll bust out the Holy Water and get the rosary, the whole shebang. He thinks that vampires are lowkey cheesy but is flattered when people think that he's one (because of the sexy factor around the bloodsuckers ya know) because they think he's HAWT. Wendigos freak him out because WHY DO THEY MOVE SO FAST?! He also does NOT mess with ouija boards and refuses to even be in the same room as one, cause the man's not trying to have the dang spirits of the borgias come after him again (cesare was annoying enough the first time, okay?). Werewolves? He's indifferent to. He likes dogs, he likes people (MOST of them), so long they don't bite him (too hard *wink wink*) that's all he cares about.

Altair Ibn La'Ahad - Vampires? Meh. They better stay away from him and his love or they'll get a fang omelet. Werewolves? So long as they don't have fleas or parasites, he doesn't see them as a problem. Altair does NOT believe in ghosts, and he is NOT amused when the others try to scare him and make him paranoid of the "other side" ooooo. He thinks it's all bullshlatta haha. However, when he's been smoking hashish...it's a different story. This cannabis product has a THC concentration of 5-15% so man is getting into the kite territory lol. He WILL get paranoid, and he WILL think that ghosts are on the front lawn PARTICULARLY the ghosts of French and English soldiers that he's fought. Will go get his love if she's there and pull her into his lap muttering in Arabic about "Stupid ghosts of the fallen. Not touching my woman." He'll beat Jacob's ass for moving the ouija board around and scaring the others but mostly because he didn't see Jacob, he just saw a big black blob coming at him and swung. He will also once again beat Jacob's ass for trying to scare him while pretending to be a ghost wrapped up in a bedsheet. Just picture him trying to strangle the poor top hat wearing British boy while Desmond and Evie try to talk him down and Altair's love gently tries to pry him off.

Love: (laughing softly as she pulls at his arms) Altair Habibi don't hurt him it was just a prank.

Altair: (yelling in Arabic) He's a ghost! I don't need any more of them in my life!

Desmond: Guys come on don't fight again.

Evie: (trying not to laugh) Uhh Mentor if you could kindly not strangle my dear brother to death, I would be grateful.

Ratonhnhake:ton/Connor Kenway - Being Native American he has been privy to myths and legends of mysterious beasts and malevolent spirits. The one that freaked him out the most as a little boy however was the myth about the wendigo. A myth that one if his tribe's elders had picked up from an Algonquian traveler passing through Boston. An insatiable beast created from humans and the hunger felt by them in desperate times with little to no food. He has heard multiple legends ranging from the spirit possessing those who are without food and influencing them to consume their fellow humans in cannibalistic practices, to the wendigo being a demon that possesses people for unknown reasons. How the beast is allegedly 15 feet tall, can wind walk, is extremely intelligent, and stores it's victims for food storage eating them at its leisure. But imo he's not afraid of them because think about. Connor vs a wendigo? I feel sorry for that wendigo lol. Man has fought bears, cougars, mountain lions, defied gravity, taken on an entire army and held up the middle finger to cannonballs meant to send him to his Maker. Requiescat In Pace to that wendigo haha. Vampires are lame to him he does not see the appeal, but he does find their teeth funny. (He has been exposed to a wide variety of different teeth via animals that he's hunted, but creatures that look human who have teeth like animals is funny to him).

Jacob Frye - Tell.me.WHY I just KNOW that Jacob would so totally take out the ouija board and put it in random places to scare the others lol. This would lead to Evie playing detective and staying up all night to find out what was going on, only to find that her baby brother is trolling everyone. Needless to say, Jacob's ears get boxed. He likes to play around and goof off about ghosts lurking about, but being serious he does not believe in them. Nor does he believe in contact with those who are passed on. He thinks that a place can carry bad things that have happened there, and the aura can be off, he believes the same with people as well. He could sense Starrick's craziness all the way in Crawley... It goes without saying that Jacob DEFINITELY believes in mental illness. He'd probably try to fight a werewolf to test his strength. And a vampire too. Would also probably carry treats for werewolves if he knew any and give it to them in their wolf form lol. Once the fight commences (and his inevitable loss follows) Jacob would ABSOLUTELY try to recruit them into the Rooks. He could use as many members as possible to say nothing of those with supernatural abilities. Would TOTALLY flip his flat cap over a vampire's ability to heal quickly. Like he would pull his signature Frye arm break and the vampire's arm would just *pop!* right back into place. He would lowkey be jealous because if he could do that think about how many fights he could win!

Evie Frye - DEFINITELY think that she would wonder if vampires were out there and she would be SO EXCITED if she met one. She would want to pick their brain about their experiences and hear the stories of however many lifetimes they have lived. In the game she is somewhat interested in the other side and the occult so she might dip her toes into the crystal ball and ouija board territory. She does it maybe once or twice and then quite because she doesn't get results from it (plus Jacob won't stop playing with the planchette piece using it as a monocle). She didn't like the ouija board because the rules of "Don't play alone" both annoyed her and made her weary. She would rather play alone due to the nature of serious questions she would ask about the afterlife (I honestly kinda think that she might try to make contact with her father through the ouija board but would be deterred when she heard that it could possibly be demons instead of her loved one). She's not really superstitious but she does take rules (within reason) seriously (and she tries not to break them if Jacob can behave himself lol). She has contacts everywhere and then some so hearing things through the grapevine she eventually hears the good old "things can get attached to you and follow you around" when messing around with supernatural things. This made her completely drop contacting the other side because this poor woman is already harassed by and followed by Blighters and Templars 24/7 365, okay? She doesn't need any ghosties or demons following her too. She finds the concept of the wendigo fascinating but has no plans to hunt one (unlike Jacob). The idea of werewolves makes her cringe because while she likes dogs the hearsay about werewolves having painful bone breaking transitions from human to wolf, disturbs her and fills her with sympathy for anyone who is one.

Arno Dorian - Ghosts? What ghosts? You mean the ones that haunt him on a daily basis? The ones that haunt him in his dreams? The ghosts of choices he didn't make, mistakes he made and regrets he has? Arno isn't afraid of ghosts. Not at all. Is interested in the anatomy of werewolves but is concerned about if they have parasites and fleas. (It is my own personal cannon that after the events of Unity a stray cat started harassing him like "Hey drunk sad human feed me". Eventually this led to Arno adopting the little furball). He thinks that wendigos are nothing special because they just remind him of customers at the Cafe Theatre hopped up on caffeine, he just stands there and is like "Madame/Monsieur calme-toi. Vous faites une scene." (Calm down. You're making a scene.) Doesn't put much stock in mummies but he is fascinated by the history of Ancient Egypt and their burial practices, he admires how so much care was put into their final goodbyes. People do in fact think that he is a vampire because look at him...I'll wait...enough said. He has the timeless sexiness of a vampire not to mention it just...suits him? He finds it amusing nonetheless and is actually flattered to be considered a "seductive master of the night". Werewolves he would just give them treats from the Cafe in hopes that they wouldn't bite him (Mademoiselle Whiskers - his cannon kitty - love bites him enough lol).

Bayek of Siwa - Somewhat accustomed to ghosts actually seeing as he is well acquainted with the Duat and members of the dead. He does take them there and deliver them to Anubis after all. Not afraid of them but does not want them to invade his personal life especially if they're the ghosts of the members of the order. (Man fought so hard to kill them all and then he might have to deal with them haunting him? No thank you. He's had enough.) CAN and WILL knock a vampires fangs out of their head if one ever tried to bite him because one: RUDE and two: he's not trying to catch immortality. He wants to go to the afterlife one day and I think we all know why. But besides that, he also has almost been bitten on numerous occasions by snakes, hippos, crocodiles, and even hyenas. Senu has NEVER bitten him (I refuse to believe that she even gives him love bites just lots of wing hugs, beak nuzzles, and she sees him as the sweet baby that he is so she cleans him like one lol). He gets a kick out of hollywood mummies and actually likes Boris Karloff in The Mummy, but all of the powers and curses and people being terrified of a dead body wrapped in linen strips gives him a little chuckle. He finds it quite silly to be honest. This man sees werewolves as big dogs and would probably befriend all of them because he seems like EXACTLY the type of man who has THE GIFT (aka the talent to befriend all animals). Man is a certified Egyptian Disney princess that Disney has denied us.

Desmond Miles - Man LOVES 80's horror change my mind but he does. That and 80's music so I'm not convinced that he'll scare easy. Not to mention the kind of life he lives as an assassin being in constant danger and living in paranoia with a lovely sauce of constantly looking over his shoulder (this poor baby I swear). Werewolves are cool to him because he loves dogs. Have a feeling that when Halloween rolls around, he busts out the old classics such as The Wolf Man with Lon Chaney (The Birds, Dracula, Abbott and Costello, etc). Vampires are cheesy but don't you DARE tell me that this man has not attempted to do the Dracula accent because he HAS. He's probably even binged vampire diaries (well what he could before ubisoft pulled a bitch move) and it's possible that he's even dressed up as a vampire too lol. His girlfriend lost her mind when he tried to kiss her with fake fangs in but they fell off making him a one toothed vampire lol. Ghosts aren't scary too him at all I mean...have you seen what he went through with the Bleeding Effect? Ain't no way he's phased by ANY kind of ghost that tries to do a little spooky brew haha to him. He'll just stand there exhausted with a cup of coffee as one tries to scare him and be like: "Great. What else is new?" Depending on which ancestor of his he's bleeding through the Bleeding Effect his reactions are a mixture of his own Desmond reaction and whoever he's bleeding.

[desultory-novice]

Apologies AU - Good Ending Drop

Hey, everyone. It was my goal to finish Apologies in tandem with the Tournament, but for health reasons, I won't be able to as I planned. Because I tied the story to the tournament and don't feel like untangling it again and making everyone wait more, I'm going to give you all the ending spoilers, as I promised I would if I became unable to finish the story.

What I'm about to describe is THE Good Ending. The True Ending I had planned out almost from the beginning!

-

In the main-verse...

Susie, who sees too much of herself in Adeleine, decides to take matters into her own hands to bring the girl's older brother back.

She takes the vial of Dark Matter Swordsman DNA that was harvested from King Dedede. Meta Knight catches up with her and argues against it. It's foolish, dangerous, and liable to be nothing but painful to all parties involved. But Susie anticipated interference and asked Zan to bodyguard her. When Zan arrives (late) to the lab, the argument has caused the vial to begin to react to all the negativity in the room. Zan recognizes its contents as Dark Matter and insists on calling Lord Hyness, who in his own quirky way, analyzes their problem and suggests that while the contents are too weak to survive on their own, a resurrection could be possible, using Void's powers to mimic a hive queen, supplying whatever creature emerges the power to survive on Popstar without burning up into ash...

-

In the tourney-verse...

White-Haired Noir is at peace with his life and has come to accept the death of his precious little sister many years ago, but...a part of him still wishes to make Adeleine happy.

Using his fairy-born dimension sight, he discovers an Alternate Noir who is 98% percent compatible with main-verse Noir. This is the Purgatory!Noir from the Re_Birthday post. And he drags this unstable, utterly clueless Noir out of this peaceful void without his permission and secretly "volunteers"  the massively confused, un-alive but un-dead teen boy for the Kirby OC Tournament.

It is White-Haired Noir that is the "good" voice on phone and in Noir's head, encouraging rationality. His goal? Get Noir some friends. Get him to face up to/open up to people about his past. And get him caring about his life enough that he wants to live...! 

White-Haired Noir has seen what the main-verse Star Allies are attempting and knows that the odds of them actually bringing "Noir" back instead of just an emotionless monster are low without a compatible "Noir Soul" (haha) to inhabit the new vessel.

Over the course of many in-tourney events, including Noir learning to have faith in the sibling bonds he built with Gooey despite being Dark Matter at the time, learning to separate himself and Adeleine as individuals instead of clinging to her to his own neglect, privately opening up to King Dedede, who put the pieces together post-possession, about some awful stuff Noir put up with for years in secret from Raquelle's father (who privately loathed Neichel AND her kids and took it out on Noir) to "pay" for Adeleine's good life...

And lastly, using the power of wishes to interrogate if THIS Noir's true wish is to die and be free, to have never been born, to have had a normal "perfect" life, or if he simply wishes for a second chance to be with those he cares about... White-Haired Noir determines that Tourney!Noir is ready and reveals his plan to him. Noir confesses to him that he really does want to live and be with his family again and offers up his stronger soul for Susie and the gang's vessel.

-

Back in the main-verse...

The experiment is a success! They have brought, well, something back. It is not quite like Dark Matter Swordsman in form, nor is it exactly a human boy. It looks a little bit like a spiky haired-Gooey.

After some tense questioning of the emotionless, memoryless, unresponsive goo, it...suddenly seems to awaken. With the voice of a deeply shaken and scared young boy, the violet-eyed blob questions the mad scientist, cultists, and masked man surrounding him... Where the hell is he? And where are his little brother and sister?

Meta Knight welcomes Noir back to the world of the living.

Later, after Noir has time to dress himself in an appropriate scarf, Adeleine and Gooey are brought in and it is a happy and tear-filled reunion all around as Noir confirms that, while this form is strange, it's not dangerous and he's not in pain. He is then re-introduced to King Dedede, whereupon it's revealed that even though Noir likes him, he's still a snarky teen punk at heart, as he sasses the king horribly. (Dedede has gained another kid, but at what cost? XD)

...And that's it.

That's the ending to Apologies I've held onto for nearly a year.

For reading through all that, here is a short comic I drew a while back of the reunited family having a snowball fight in White Wafers.

-

(Not to unnecessarily over-explain the story but because the comic is a little vague, I have to tell you that no, Noir does not ever return to human after his revival. I meant it when I wrote in several places that their parting on Shiver Star was the last time they'd see each other "...in this form." This is merely meant to depict a moment in which Adeleine, seeing her brother alive and smiling and laughing and having real fun for the first time in so long, is able to imagine his old self smiling and is at peace that her brother is finally free from the hurt and misery he bore up with for so long.)

(...And yes, he has a long, silly tongue just like Gooey. Which is why he hides all but his eyes behind the scarf. Gotta keep up that cool older brother look even as a little goo creature! While Noir can't become human - frankly, he doesn't miss having a human body, given the stuff in his adolescence and being over-stressed, underfed, under-slept and just overall sick all the time in his later teens - he does eventually acquire the ability to shift into his old "Swordsman" form for short bursts of time.)

-

(Lastly, you might wonder how I could have had this exact ending in mind from almost the beginning when so much of it is tied up in recent posts like the tourney? ...Well, originally what was going to happen to allow Noir to be properly resurrected into the Dark Matter Goo body is that the Dream Rod from Star Allies was going to appear in response to a grieving Adeleine's wishes to see her brother again, bringing Noir-as-Swordsman back. At least for a LITTLE while, as it would be revealed that with Zero dead, Noir, who was entirely composed of Dark Matter at this point, couldn't survive on Popstar. Every moment he was there, his body was burning.)

(Still, he lasts long enough to have one final talk with Adeleine that helps heal him from the torturous events of DL 3 - in which we learn a highly disappointed Zero drove Noir to the absolute breaking point, shattering his mind and his newly regained soul. Adeleine also tells Noir she has finally realized everything he did for her during their childhood and apologizes to him for not seeing it before. With dawn on the horizon, Noir asks to look over Adeleine's sketchbooks with her before the end... He dies one last time, peacefully, while Adeleine finally gets to properly mourn him.)

(Then, all the "main-verse" sections proceed to happen as stated above!)

-

(...Okay, okay. One last thing. There was also an alternate ending planned where Magolor, taking advantage of the fact that Merry Magoland was built on a nexus point, finds a way to reunite Adeleine and White-Haired Noir - still a teen in this version - using his theme park as a union point, as special birthday gift for Adeleine.)

(I was kinda fond of this one for reuniting the timelines, but it opened up a lot of questions such as, if Magolor made it so that Noir and Adeleine from two different dimensions can see each other as long as they're both in Magoland, could others from the WH Noir-verse see the main-verse this way? It invited too many questions, so that's why I scrapped that one and just let White-Haired Noir grow up instead.)

[brucewaynehater101]

Grandpa Drake would be a himbo except he looks a little too much like a noodle, he looks like milo thatch but with black hair or a black haired pre serum steve rogers, this does not stop him from absolutely getting into drag down knock out fights at bars when he spots some jerk who is harassing a woman or, even worse, has drugged a drink. And while he may be a bit air headed at times, he is a savant when it comes to pharmaceutical science and the general realm of developing medicine.

Grandma Drake looks like a little music box ballerina, she is small and fine boned and as mention previously, is completely capable of breaking a person's femur with a kick. She is fiercely loyal, incredibly intelligent, and likes to be prepared. She is the type of person to have a full first aid kit, a snack, a bottle of water, and a tire repair kit in her bag ready for an emergency. While she can and will knock out anyone who's messing with her friends or family, she'll try verbally eviscerating them first because she doesn't want to be kicked out of the bar or banned. The majority of the time her verbal battles are won and result in her opponent being in tears.

Grandy is something like a piece of the void of space and stardust in a mostly humanoid shape or sometimes an amorphous blob. They enjoy pretty things and are a noted patron of the arts across the galaxy as well as being dedicated to their duty and to their duchy. The way to immediately annoy Grandy is by being rude to service workers. Grandy developed a crush on Grandma Drake when they saw her dancing on stage. They dated for awhile but Grandy had to return to their planet to fulfill their responsibilities and Grandma wasn't ready to leave earth. The break up was amicable and they were still friends. Grandy fell for Grandpa after they saw how they made Grandma laugh and liked how Grandpa inspired such joy and they both looked just so pretty when they were happy that they felt compelled to ask out the Drakes. They courted both of the Drakes and this time when they asked the two to come with them to space the Drakes figured why not? Janet was all grown up and married after all, Mary was also married and living happily with her beloved, and, as far as they knew, David was dead. They figured they could come back to visit sometime. They left an an emergency beacon with Janet and told her to use it if she had important news for them. Jack accidentally broke it at one point and hid the pieces which is why they didn't return to see their grandchild when he was a tiny baby. Janet found out later when she tried to use it to get her parents' attention regarding their coming grandchild. Jack was on very thin ice for a very long time. (Had Grandpa, Grandma, and Grandy known about what David was up to, the Drakes would have done their very best to kick their son/step son's ass into the next year or hired probably lobo or some other intergalactic mercenary to do it for them since they were getting up there in age. They also left behind a sizeable deposit with a detective agency to continue to investigate Jack Drake every year and give Janet the report just in case. The agency wouldn't follow the Drakes outside of the states so this is one of the reasons that Jack pushed for lots of trips abroad.)

Grandpa and Grandma are the most beautiful beings in the galaxy the eyes of Grandy until they see their adorable adopted grandchildren. Then the grandchildren as well as grandma and grandpa are the most perfect examples of beauty, wonder, and joy in the eyes of Grandy.

Grandma, Grandpa, and Grandy all get along very well with Ma and Pa Kent. None of the Drakes are particularly well versed in the kitchen, they can cook in a pinch but it's not their favorite thing to do, so they don't infringe on Martha's kitchen dominance.

Of course Alfred was in a thruple with Martha and Thomas, personally I don't believe there's any reality where he wasn't.

I can't find the OG posts this is referencing. If I do, I'll add the link back in later ^^

The last point I 100% agree with. Alfred/Martha/Thomas all the way. It makes Alfred's angst even heavier (especially if the three were hiding their relationship from Bruce, and thus the kid never knew Alfred to be another parent figure. He was still considered family, but the change in roles was definitely a transition stage for both Alfred and Bruce).

Anyways, thank you for expanding on the AU some more!!! I especially love the way that Grandy is described. Their form seems so beautiful.

Hmm... In this AU, Dick, Cass, and Tim are Grandpa Drake's bio grandkids. Does the grandparent thruple recognize their siblings (Duke, Jason, Damian, maybe Babs and Steph) as their grandkids as well? I'd imagine so.

Also, have the G.T. (grandparent thruple) recognized anyone else as their kids/grandkids through adoption? It'd be hilarious if they considered Starro as their kid and thus Jarro is their grandkid (not sure how to make that work, though).

I would love to see more adventures of G.T. in space, getting to know their grandkids, and hanging out with Ma Kent and Alfred.

[popculturebuffet]

Into the Bobbins Verse: Your Guide to the Works of John Allison

So this is a little side project that's been bubbling in my brain. So Next Month, grod willing, I begin a retrospective i've wanted to do since I started this blog that i've put off for various reasons: Wanting to do the comic it's a spinoff of first, loosing most of my copies of said comic, my terrible scheduling skills, etc. I will be covering the comic book Giant Days. All 57 issues across two volumes, all the specials all of it.

But while gearing up for this i've not only fallen in love with giant days all over again but John Allisons other myraid of works he's slowly been putting back up online. And it's great stuff: i've mad it a concious goal to both get the rest of giant days AND bad machinery in print and whatever else I can grabble before inevitably the number of books avaliable becomes too small and the prices shoot up.

So I want to share that love with all you fine people paticuarlly my friends and patreons, as well as have a nice catalogue handy of John's MANY works for personal refrence and for anyone to use.

So for this guide i'll be going in a rough chronological order rather than release order, but 9/10 you can read most of these without having picked up another work. Before we can dive in though

WHO THE FLIP IS JOHN ALLISON

John Allison is a british author and very loveably weird man. He has a penchant for snappy dialouge, being unapologetically british in his settings and nicely bouncing back between slice of life, mystery and supernatual shenanigans, sometimes in the same comic. He's been at this since 1998 working primarily on the web with various web comics, cycling them out when he gets a new idea or when something has run it's course, breaking into print with his ongoing series Giant Days and since doing a few series there on and off. He's got a quirky sensebility and the bulk of his earlier work is set in the quirky english town of Tackleford before branching out to the small hamlet of Tregdin and the bustling real life town of Shefield. He is by all accounts a very nice guy, interacts with his fans regularly and is again a very deeply weird man in the best way possible, once saying he'd prefer any crossovers he does to be unexpected ones like Giant Days meeting Rom Space Knight.. and proving it by releasing his planned but shelved Batman Giant Days one shot to promote that books library editions on kickstarter.

So with that i'll be going in rough chronological order and telling you where you can read them.

DAS COMICS

Bobbins Classic:

Avaliable on Keenspot

I'm only mentoning this one for historical reasons as it was Allison's first.. and it shows. Bobbins dosen't look great for the bulk of i'ts life, only getting better when John switched to using Adobe Illustrator which while mildly dated, helped the art considerably.

Bobbins is an unfocused comic about a bunch of 20 somethigns working at a listings magazine in Tackleford. I'll talk more about it's cast in the next entry as their mostly just undefined blobs doing random shit: it's an early webcomic and thus has that throw shit at the wall and see what sticks sensiblity a lot had, with reality being loose, plot twists being thrown in and a lot of characters that go nowhere, with John having not quite figured out what he wanted. By the end he decided to abandon it leading to his breakout work. But more on that in a minute as for the strips anniversary.. he did a remake

Bobbins.Horse Avaliable At: scarygoround.com

Bobbins.Horse was intitally just a fun experiment: John went back to the original and wanted to fill in a major gap important to Bobbins sequel Scary Go Round: How goofy well meaning weird ray of sunshine Shelley Winters became best friends with the younger, wild and tatooed sass mouth Amy Chilton. In doing so he realized there was a lot of raw potetial in his old concept, and decided to do a bunch of comic strips. It's a soft reboot: parts of the original are still canon as John eventually found the format too limiting for how much his art had evolved, but it expands on loose concepts from a bitter young man into the detailed characte orinted stuff Allison would go on to make.

Bobbins.Horse is a good time and a solid entry point that follows Shelly and Amy. Amy at the time is a just turned 18 teen with a history of acting out caught in a divorce between her uncaring mom and doting but strict fater who dosen't know the real her. In the middle of writing a sex and the city style collumn, throwing a halloween party, dealing with Shelly's high school boyfriend she's outgrown and other shenanigans, are their friends and co workers: Tim, a sideburned decked soon to be inventor and gentlemen whose not intrested in Amy's obvious antics, Holly, SHelly's friend and local asshole, Rich, Tim's horny best friend and Ryan, Shelly and Tim's muttual close friend from high school, a wistful weirdo and layabout slowly getting out of the hole he's trapped in.

Bobbins.Horse is fantastic stuff, nicely segues into Allison's big work on which he formed the core of this unvierse and is one of my faviorites. Check it out. Also check out expecting to fly, a two issue comic allison did that's on his gumroad page (I'll link it in the next entry) that gives the origins of Shelley, Ryan and Tim.

Scary Go Round Found At: John's Gumroad Store

Scary Go Round was John Allison's big breakout work. The work that would help define his career. It defined his cast and who it didn't define it created. Scary Go Round is the swirling primordial core from which all of Allison's later works sprung.

It was originally intended as a full spinoff, with John not bringing his original cast back. This lasted all of one story before they quickly came back and his killing off Bobbins lead Shelley outraged fans enough to lead to a long and fantastic arc where Ryan, in his grief and with advice from a creepy old man, brings Shelley back from the dead. With this arc Scary Go Round had it's clear direction: A mix of slice of life and supernatual elements with Shelley, Ryan and soon Amy at it's core. Tim was at it's core at first but eventualy left.

Over the comic a massive amount of new characters came in to join the crew: Hugo, a track suited sandwich owner and wannabe mogul, The Boy, Tim's hormonal shy assitant, Erin, Shelley's resentful sister, and Esther, a perky goth who would get her own series soon enough. We also got Desmond fishman, a literal fishman who despite the verse leaning more towards the grounded these days, sticks around and has gone on quite the journey.

The comic did well.. but started to slip as Allison started to loose intrest, in part because he was stuck with a large cast, some of whom he cared about more than others. Introducing teens to the cast was a good idea, but he admitted regret to not giving them their own comic and instead trying to mash the two groups together. He eventually ended things and came up with a few spinoffs. The first would be his first mainstream hit, the second his biggest mainstream hit and the third.. well it sure did happen.

Avalible: Three Web Issues are at scarygoround.com, print issues are avaliable wherever books are sold probably and in digtial on amazon and are part of comixology unlimited if your intrested in binging this one.

Giant Days is John's most succesful work. That's not hyperbole, he says so on his own website. It's also the one that brought me to the dance, having gotten the first volume digitally for only a dollar and quickly devouring every inch of his work that was around at the time.

Giant Days follows Esther to college, quickly picking up two new friends; Daisy, a naive and optimistc but wise puffy haired girl from a small town and Susan, a cynical detective/med student who never lacks a sharp quip. Joining them as they grapple with college are Ed, a sunny naive programmer with a hopeless crush on Esther, McGraw, ed's best friend and susan's former friend who it's complicated with and workman extrodinare and Dean Thomas, an obnoxious entitled ass who sorta oozed his way into the boys lives. Our cast deal with the ups and downs of University life.

The comic started with three more experimental issues that got the format down: tight one in done stories that made up a larger narrative and were more grounded slice of life shenanigans without the supernatural stuff of Scary Go Round or Bad Machinery. There were still some growing pains: the first issue took on a more scott pilgrim bent than any of john's other work and the third included Erin before John decided to not use her after all due to developments in other comics. Still it was set and he wanted to do the project: while it was originally set up as a failsafe in case his next flagship bad machinery failed, it was something he wanted to do, he just didn't have the bandwith to draw it himself, having moved on from illustrator mid scary go round. Thankfully he found Boom, found great creative partners in Lissa Tremain (for the first 6 issues ) and Max Sarin (everything else), and the rest is history. Giant Days is a wonderful comic with loads of character, gorgeous art, and a nice combo of one in done single issues that merge into one long epic.

Destory History:

Avaliable: ScaryGoRound.com

Destory history like Giant Days takes place in the gap between Scary Go Round and it's more direct sequel Bad Machinery. Like Giant Days it was made in case the big shifts with Bad Machinery didn't quite pan out. Unlike Giant Days Though while Allison returned to it once or twice it didn't take off. Following Shelley in London as she journeys thorugh time it only got one story that has yet to be fully concluded as Allison just hasn't felt it.

Avaliable At: gocomics.com or in print

Bad Machinery was John's first mainstream success and helped him get to giant days which in turn boosted Bad Machinery's profile despite BM's publisher, Oni Press, turning it down, a decision they no doubt regretted.

Bad Machinery takes place 5 years after Scary Go Round. Ryan and Amy are now playing support as a teacher and local antiques dealer (And to my delight a married couple), as is Erin as a local reporter. The bulk of it's main cast are precicious kids who debuted towards the end of Bad Machinery: Charlotte Grote, a spacey ragamuffin with a mind for mystery, her tough but kind bestie Shauna, the shy ,nervous and Imaginative Jack and Jack's best mate nad pain in the ass Linton. Joining them in the series proper are Mildred, a wild child with a scientfic mind, and Sonny, a shy boy of few words, and eventually claire, a girl with a lisp, some pyromania and a kind soul.

The kids would solve mysteries as they slowly grew, often with a supernatual bent while dealing witht he perils of growing up: rivalries, bullying, family drama, relationships, growing apart.. all the pain of adolsecnse that got increasingly grounded. There was still magical mysteries, but as the kids grew their problems did and eventaully they outgrew the format, with John ending the series. He's since returend to the former mystery kids giving three of them their own spotlights we'll get to. It's a great run and well worth your time if you like kids getting into shenanigans and danger, which I know is most of my audience.

That and Murder She Writes:

Avaliable at: John's Gumroad

Two one off stories john did that follow Lottie and Shelley. Shelley was largely absent from Bad Machinery apart from mentions of her, to help let the new main characters settle in, but was given a few one offs to show she'd become both a succesful author and Charlotte's mentor.

New Bobbins: Avaliable: Via Gumroad or John's Patreon

New Bobbins was an experiment that didn't quite work out, updating us on the old guard at the same time as Bad Machinery. Due to both pushing the timeline forward more than he wanted to for BM and getting all dramatic, John Quitely canceled this revival, but did bring it back to wrap up loose ends. In fact he intended to end his comics as a whole, only keeping giant days, but realized he coudln't part. This era also includes Mordawaa which is also on gumroad and I won't go into due to spoilers.

Epheimera

Avaliable: John's Patreon and for Heavy Metal Hearts and Flowers, Archive.Org

Various bibs and bobs I thoguht lost but... nope . YOuc an find most on john's patreon if you fancy and the graphic novel heavy metal hearts and flowers, which It hought lost, is on the internet archive.

Avaliable: In print or digital

Not super necessary to the lore but a fun side story about two friends documenting strange stuff. Need to read this one in full sometime.

Avaliable: First arc: in Print via Darkhorse or digital via amazon. Other Arcs: in print and online via scarygoround.com.

Steeple was like By Night a break from the usual group of Allison Regulars, with an all new cast following prelate Billie and her new friend Maggie.. who happened to be working for the chruch of satan. It started as a mini series at dark horse that john continued on his web site that dark horse printed, ending earlier this year when Dark HOrse decided they were done, though with hints john would pick up the characters again.

It follows the small town of tregdyn, where monsters rise from the sea, a preist hunts them, the local santatic minister thinks he's a super villian and his helper brian is a kind of werewolf. It's a return to the more supernatual stuff tha'ts fun, engaging and good stuff. It eventually firmly became bobbins canon, with Lottie doing a guest spot to find a missing shelley and shelley eventaully dating the local preist what hutns monsters.

Avaliable: Print and Digital

Wicked Things is the comics equilvent of a failed Pilot. It's still canon, but due to the independent publishing scene drying up slightly, it failed to get the sales to go to full series. As such it follows Lottie a few years after bad machinery, on the cusp of university.. only to loose it when she's framed for murder, this 6 part mini covering her working with the london police as the quirky kind of consultant you see again these days with Elsbeth or High Potetial. Had the series come just a few years later it probably would've been a big hit. Probably. Lottie gets aquitted but who framed her is left dangling.. and that becomes the catlyst for Lottie's next adventure

Avaliable at: badmachinery.com. Yes I know it's confusing bad machinery isn't on there.

After a pilot and the crossover, John went full hog into Charlotte's next phase of her life: at a crossroads and working as a barista, a meeting with new zeland immigrant Glenn, a careers advisor working the grind of the job to have a place to sleep, finally lights a fire under a restless Lottie. Quickly solving her bestie Clarie's school issues, teh duo head to sheffield, and Lottie quickly decides rather than be a detective to become a problem solver, fixing people's issues while trying to avoid finding a longterm solution for her life and dragging Glenn in as he's good at presnting stuff. IT's one of my faviorite thigns John's done, nicely evolving Lottie and CLarie, adding in glenn for flavor and even bringing back Dena. No one asked him too but it works out. The series is currently running through a direct sequel to wicked things, Wobbly Head and Solver as a whole stands on it's own well enough to jump righ tinto. Please do

Avaliable At: badmachinery.com

John Allison's latest pilot and what seems to be a bold new ongoing that's both a prequel and a sequel as Jack from bad machinery, who god already wasn't all that fond of, gets the short end of the stick again: he's sent back to the 90's, can't say anything about the future and is left stuck not remembering WHY he was sent there and with only a college age Shelley as an ally. It's a eerie yet still deeply funny work and I can't wait to see more of it at some point next year after Wobbly Head concludes.

Avaliable: in print and digital

Taking place around the same time as solver, GBBO reunites Allison and Sarin for a quick and breezy four part murder mystery at UK Bakery Tent. Shauna is invited to participate but soon witnesses an attempted murder with her new friends and fellow bakers Sunil and Jil. Now Shauna has to both try and solve a mystery before anyone else is poisoned, and not get eliminated while almost everyone around her is a suspect.

So there you go. A bunch of good poitns to start with, a bunch of great comics all outlined. Get out ther eand start reading and thanks for reading this

[quintessenceofdust88]

Hello everyone! Here's the sequel for Oreos and Orange Juice (a.k.a the fluff piece with pregnant!Buck and Jee-Yun). Brought to you with extra doses of fluffiness (almot 2,000 words!) and uncle Tommy being the literal best!

It’s almost nine when Tommy finally drags himself through the door, throwing his keys in the bowl and being instantly met by the bright laughter of Jee-Yun coming from the kitchen, followed by Evan’s excited voice as he tells her a kid-friendly version of a funny rescue they performed the other day. 

Even though he’s exhausted from his shift, Tommy smiles. Jee-Yun is always a joy to have around, and the sweet child’s laughter echoing through the house gives him a wonderful glimpse of their future which is coming sooner and sooner. 

“Morning, you two” He says softly, entering the kitchen, and both of them look at him with the same excited eager Buckley signature smile. 

“Uncle Tommy!” Jee says, throwing herself against his legs, and Tommy easily lifts her into his hip. 

“Hi, princess Jee” Tommy greets her while crossing the kitchen to place a quick peck on Evan’s lips, and it’s deliciously domestic. He can’t wait for the day he’ll do it with their own kids, one twin in each arm. “How was your night? Did your uncle Evan let you up past your bedtime again?” He teases, and Jee’s giggle is all the confirmation he needs.

“Only a tiny bit, right, Jee?” Evan tells her with a wink as he slides a plate of pancakes in his direction, and Tommy could just about kiss him. He places Jee back in her chair and sits beside her. 

Evan joins them on the table with a bottle of syrup and, for some reason, a slice of cheese over his own chocolate chip pancakes. At this point, Tommy has learned better than to comment on his cravings, so he just presses a kiss to his cheek, earning a blinding smile in return.

“So how was your shift?” He asks Tommy, and he swallows the bite of pancake (delicious, as always; Tommy is absolutely spoiled by his husband's cooking) in his mouth before answering.

“It was okay, nothing major; two med-evacs. What about you guys, did you have fun?” He asks, and then tenderly nudges Jee's cheek, wanting to bring her into the conversation. “Did you take care of your uncle and the babies for me?” He asks her, expecting a small giggle. 

What he doesn’t expect is the excited gasp she lets out, swallowing her bite practically unchewed. 

“Uncle Tommy, you’re never gonna believe what the babies did last night!” She says excitedly, and Tommy can’t help but smile at her enthusiasm. 

“What was that, princess?” He asks curiously, and she and Evan exchange a conspiratorial glance.

“They kicked my hand!” She answers, bouncing in her seat, unable to contain her joy. “It was just like when Kevin kicked Mama but there were two of them this time, it was so cool!”

“Wait, really?! That’s so special, Jee!” Tommy tells her, his heart fluttering warmly in his chest as he looks at Evan for confirmation. 

The babies hadn’t kicked before; they had started moving about two weeks prior, and the doctor said kicks would probably start any time now. He knows Evan has been impatient about it, almost as if he was expecting it to be a confirmation the babies were okay.

“It was just as we were falling asleep” Evan tells him, his smile wide as he caresses his bump and proudly speaks of the kicks. “They’d been pretty quiet during the day, but I guess Jee inspired them, didn’t you, Jee-bug?” 

“Yeah! Uncle Buck said they were telling me good night!” She recalls, her smile never leaving her face until she looks at Tommy, and then it falters slightly. “Oh, but! I'm sorry you weren't there, uncle Tommy! They're your babies too, I bet you wanted them to say good night to you first!”

And, well; even if Tommy is slightly disappointed to have missed it, he can't have Jee apologizing for it. He kneels down to her level, a kind smile on his face.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, darlin’” He reassures her. “The babies will kick plenty of times, I'm sure. I'm glad they did it for the first time with you; it means they know they have the best big cousin in the world, don't they? Pretty smart babies if you ask me” He says with a wink, and Jee's smile can light up a whole firehouse.

“You're the best, uncle Tommy!” She throws her arms around his neck, and Tommy hugs her close to his chest for a few seconds before letting her happily return to her breakfast.

As he gets up and goes back to his own plate, Tommy glances at Evan, only to find him drying tears from his cheek. Tommy smiles teasingly at him, offering him a napkin; Evan takes it with a glare that loses all its effect because of the love in his eyes.

“I blame your children; they're making me hormonal” He says with a wet chuckle, and Tommy chuckles, pressing a kiss to his temple before sitting down.

“I blame the crying Buckley gene” Tommy teases. “I'll bet you anything that Maddie will cry when you tell her about the babies kicking for Jee”

“Oh, Mama will cry!” Jee pipes up, her face covered in syrup, and the two of them laugh at her certainty as Tommy bends over with a napkin to clean her face.

“See? And she's not pregnant anymore. It's the crying Buckley gene” Tommy reaffirms, and Evan shoves his shoulder playfully.

He chuckles and pays attention to his plate again, at least until he feels Evan's hand squeezing his. Tommy looks up to see him looking so earnestly at him that his heart skips a beat.

“I am sorry, though. That you missed it” He says, almost pouting, and Tommy finds it so adorable that he kisses it right away (Jee coos at them, and Tommy slightly blushes).

“Me too, a little. But you had the best company for it, sweetheart. And I'm sure they'll kick plenty of times before they're out here” He reassures him, and then tenderly places his hand on Evan's bump. “Hear that, little blobs? You kicked for Daddy and Jee-Yun, so no pressure, but if you wanna kick for Papa too…”

He keeps his hand on Evan’s bump for a while, and the three of them are silent, staring in expectation. Tommy’s about to lift his hand, making a joke about trying again at nighttime to clear the disappointment in Jee’s eyes, when he feels it. It’s a soft thing, almost like a tap against his hand, but it’s there. It’s one of their babies, moving around and pressing their tiny foot against Evan’s belly, and Tommy’s feeling it. Evan gasps in delight, clearly feeling it as well (duh, Kinard, he tells himself. If he can feel it, Evan has to be feeling it at least twice as strong), and his hand joins Tommy’s over his bump. 

“You guys really love your Papa’s attention, huh?” He teases, softly caressing his belly. “Hi, little blobs, Daddy’s glad to see you’re awake” He coos at his bump, and before either of them can say anything else, they’re joined by the little force of nature that is Jee-Yun Buckley-Han, her hand looking even tinier than it is when she puts it over her uncles’ massive ones.

“The babies are kicking again?! They’re saying hi to you, uncle Tommy!” She says excitedly, and Tommy feels the kick again, two this time, one beside the other, almost as if one twin is nudging the other to also say hi to their expectant family. 

“And to you, Jee. I keep telling you, they already love their big cousin” He tells her, and Jee presses a soft kiss to Evan’s belly. 

“I love you too, babies. When you’re out here, I’ll teach you lots of fun things, I promise!” She says excitedly, and Tommy doesn’t doubt it for a second. Apparently, neither does Evan. 

“They’ll be so lucky to have you, Jee” He whispers to her. “Just like I was lucky to have your Mama when I was a kid”

As if on cue, the doorbell rings, and Tommy reluctantly excuses himself to open it, but smiles when he sees Maddie on the other side. She pulls him into a hug, her usual way of greeting him by now, and Tommy can’t deny that he loves how she basically adopted him as her brother too. He grew up an only child, desperately wishing for a sister like Maddie; it feels good to have one now. 

“Hey! I was just going home from work and thought I’d pick up my little nuisance. She wasn’t too much trouble, was she?” Maddie asks, and Tommy closes the door behind them as she comes in. 

“None at all; in fact, she’s been a great help. Come see for yourself” He invites, and Maddie raises an eyebrow, but follows him into the kitchen. “Jee, look who’s here for you, princess” He announces, and both Jee and Evan look up, but this once, the little girl makes no move to run to her mother. 

“Mama! Come here! The babies are kicking! They’re saying hi!” She tells Maddie excitedly, and Tommy chuckles at how eagerly Maddie kneels down by Evan’s chair, her hands resting against her brother’s bump. “Uncle Tommy says they’re smart and know I’m the best big cousin, so they have to know you’re the best auntie too!” Her logic is sound, and Maddie sends Tommy a grateful look that has him blushing and rubbing his neck awkwardly.

“Hi, blobs” She says affectionately, and Tommy’s pretty proud of himself that the nickname stuck (he’s sure Evan isn’t). “It’s your auntie Maddie! Can you say hi? No pressure, though, I just thought-”

Tommy can tell the exact moment the babies respond to her voice, because both her and Evan gasp. They look at each other in that infuriating way of theirs, where it seems they hold an entire conversation through their gaze. Tommy may not know what they’re saying to each other, but he knows it’s only a matter of time before they get emotional. And… yeah, sure thing, before long both of them have tears running down their faces. 

And damn, he’s starting to think Buckley genes are contagious, because he has to dry his own eyes at the sight in front of him. This is bigger than him, Evan and their twins: it's family, like the ones from commercials or Hallmark movies, and Tommy never dreamt he could find himself in one of those.

He’s ridiculously happy that his children will be born surrounded by this much love. They have two doting parents, an honorary grandpa (Bobby's own words, and yes, Evan cried when he said it), a horde of very lovingly aunts and uncles, , and the most special big cousin in the world in Jee-Yun (not to mention Kevin and their other bunch of cousins, like Christopher, who texts Tommy at least twice a week to make sure he’s ‘taking care of Buck right’ and hangs out at their place at least twice more, wanting to make sure his Buck is okay). It's love, and caring, and what else could he wish for his little blobs?

Yeah, Tommy thinks; if there’s anything in the world worth shedding some tears for, this is certainly it.

[Also on AO3!]

[More from Little Blobs Verse]

Tag list: (let me know if you'd like to be removed or if I missed anyone! Also if anyone else wants to be tagged, either on my fics in general or just the Little Blobs' Verse, let me know! ♥)

@bidisasterevankinard @unhingedangstaddict @silversky9 @music-is-the-voice-of-the-soul @asmugfirefighter @rubydaiquiri  @racerchix21 @actuallyitsellie 🩷🩷🩷

[olenvasynyt]

Thank you @zenkindoflove and @crazy-ache for the tag!

2024 Fic Writer End of Year Roundup

Answer and then tag three or more creators to keep the game going!

1. How many words did you publish on AO3 in 2024? 

82,697

2. How many fics did you complete this year?

2, I’m a lil baby fanfic writer! I finished The Trees Have Eyes and Gold Of The Richest Kings

3. How many in progress or ongoing fics did you start this year?

2 on Ao3: I got A Court of Embers and Sunlight in progress, as well as My Poor, Sick Mate.  And I got several more WIPs in progress that I have not put out on Ao3 yet

4. What was your favorite thing you wrote?

I think chapter 5 of A Court of Embers and Sunlight: Through The Eyes of A Child!  I love love love backstories / characters when they were younger and I’m a sucker for angst and bittersweet stuff and that chapter was just so nice and bittersweet!  Little baby Lucien reading a children’s book with LoA!  And Eris watching over his baby brother 😭💕 I’m proud of the writing too, I feel like I get too obsessed with being perfect and writing really nice prose and stuff but this chapter was so easy for me to get out, and I’m proud with how I set up the different POVs.

I’m also proud of The Trees Have Eyes!  I like my nature descriptions and world building, and I’m proud of Eris and Lucien’s dynamic.

5. What piece was your most experimental or different from your usual style?

I would say My Poor, Sick Mate: I’m not a super fluffy writer, I loveeeee writing angst and I feel like fluffy domestic stuff doesn’t come as naturally for me but it was so fun to write and I’m excited to get out the second chapter! I also wrote verses for the children's story LoA reads to baby Lu in A Court of Embers and Sunlight and I've never written a poem in a while so that was different for me too

6. Did any fics surprise you - either while writing or their reception?

I am so surprised with the reception Raivis in ACOEAS is getting haha!  He’s barely been in the fic so far but he’s got a fanclub going and it makes me so so proud omg 😂 I laugh so much seeing people’s reactions.  And I’m honestly so happy for the reception ACOEAS is getting in general

7. Do you have a fic you wrote and loved that went under the radar? (This is your sign to reblog/repost it!)

My comments for My Poor, Sick Mate have been so quiet so check that out if you like sickfics and Elucien!  Also The Trees Have Eyes, it’s got brotherly dynamics, Lucien’s Day Court powers, and big brother Eris being sassed by little Lucien haha

8. Who is an artist that inspired you

So so many agh this fanbase has so many amazing artists! @bonecarversbestie with your amazing and cute blobs, as well as your dedication, organization, and passion! @works-of-heart and youre incredible Elucien art and comics, I'm OBSESSED with your lighting! @queercontrarian and your gorgeous fashion character designs! @jadedbug and your STUNNINGGGGG Elucien art with amazing detail in outfits! @elleybug and your heartbreaking and stunning Autumn Court art. @sassyhobbits with your amazing Lucien, outfit details, backgrounds, etc!

9. Who is an author that inspired you?

Oooh so many!  @zenkindoflove really inspires me with Eris, I feel like we write him so similar and the way you write Eris’ dynamic with Alexius is just incredible.  You’re so good with writing relationships and love and feelings and I admire it so much! @the-darkestminds, I love your world building and angst and politic intrigue!  @crazy-ache, your depiction of Elucien is one of my favorites ever, their dynamic is so perfect in every single one of your fics!  You worked so incredibly hard on ACOWAR Elucien’s version and I’m jealous with how quickly you put it out too haha.  @yaralulu and her Tamcien fics are so so sweet, I love the gentle love and gay stuff, and I loveeee your stuff with Autumn and Lucien and Eris!  @clockwork-ashes, I love your Autumn stuff too, you write Lucien and Eris so so well!  @highlordofkrypton, I have only read a few of your stuff but I am so excited to dig into your other fics and I love our talks about fanfiction!  You are so smart and well-read and we have very similar tastes and interests too haha.

10. Who is a new author you discovered?

(By new I mean new to me haha) @clarafae for Elucien, @letstrytoohard for Gwynriel, @yaralulu, @clockwork-ashes, @bonecarversbestie and your lovely Elain haircut fic and other fics I need to catch up on, @jules-writes-stories with Azris!

11. Did you do any collaborations? How did it start?

No collabs, I’m anxious

12. What accomplishments are you proudest of?

I’m proud of finally putting out ACOEAS because it’s been a draft of mine for literal years!  I’m also proud of how many words I’ve written, and how quickly I released The Trees Have Eyes!  I’m also proud of getting back into drawing and painting, and I’m so glad I have this fanbase to inspire me to create!

13. What did you learn about writing or creating this year?

You are not going to be perfect, and that’s okay.  I have a big issue with perfection and I will procrastinate if I’m not completely happy with my writing or art.  I learned that I just have to push through and write whatever comes to mind instead of sitting in my own head, worrying about if it sounds good.  

14. Any advice you’d like to share with new or aspiring writers?

My two biggest pieces of advice are 1. write giant paragraphs of summary that explain what will happen in the chapter you're working on as your draft.  It can be so blunt and sloppy but sometimes it's better to just get the scene out of your head and describe it to yourself as if you're explaining it to a friend.  And speaking of friends, my second piece of advice is to find other writers to talk to and get advice from!

15. What are your creative goals for 2025?

I want to fucking get these WIPs finished and released lmao I got way too many!!  I also want to draw a lot more!  And I would love to finish ACOEAS by the end of the year but I’m afraid that won’t happen, I have been so slow with uploading haha

No pressure tags: those who were mentioned!!

[highhhfiveee]

melodic stoner thotz

i’ve ALSO been having this silly thought about stoner!mike (who we haven’t seen in so long, i’m so sorrrrry). pls enjoy these unedited, unproofread thoughts that i typed instead of doing my work.

i listened to brie larson’s version of black sheep the other day (plus roomie and i watched the new scott pilgrim show, 8/10) and i started thinking about popstar!reader. hear me out;

you’re in a girl group, one that i currently have no name for, and you’re starting to gain traction in the states after releasing your debut album; you make high energy pop bops that emphasize on being true to yourself and standing up for what’s right with three other girls you’d met in the hallway at auditions. you’re grateful for the opportunity of course, but it’s not exactly what you’d wanted for your music career.

you have little creative control, and you’re told to sing and dance and dress a certain way; it’s a dream and a nightmare in one, and sometimes it has you wanting to leave the group all together, starting from scratch with music you actually loved.

you’re thinking about marching to the execs with your grievances when your manager sends a message to the group chat: WE’RE OPENING FOR [unnamed band that’s as big as say…the 1975 lmao] ON THEIR FALL TOUR!!!

you loved [unnamed band] and to support them on the North American leg of their tour is something you know you’d be idiotic to walk away from.

the city mike and abby live close to is stop 4 out of 10, and you’d been doing good with keeping up your charade of happiness. you sing and dance your ass off every night, knowing that you’re here and you can’t waste a moment of it; millions of aspiring musicians had wanted this but you’d finally made it to the stage.

you rarely ever fumbled during performances, a perfectionist at heart, but during the verse of one of your mid tempo songs, your eyes somehow gaze past the blinding stage lights and focus on abby (who you don’t know as abby of course lol), shouting every single word back to you with silly shimmies and head bobs.

you laugh, consumed with butterflies at the fact that she was enjoying your set so much. you’re enthralled by her energy, and it causes you to miss your cue for the prechorus. you giggle it off though you’re flustered, singing, “we have a lot of songs, my badddddd” to the melody of the music.

it makes the crowd explode with laughter, and you use that to propel you through the rest of your set, still looking towards abby as you present the outro during your final song. “thank you all so much, we love you! [bandmate 1] and i will be by the merch table once we’re off stage, and we hope to see you some of your faces there! are you all ready to see [unnamed band]????”

the crowd roars, and you watch as abby and the guy next to her disappear through the throng of people.

abby rushes straight for you once you’re sat at the merch stand, her cheeks flushed as she holds out her t-shirt for you. it’s one from your group’s first small tour, one where you’d gone to small cities throughout the country for as much exposure as possible. it was a size to big for her, draping down to her thighs. “y/n, i love you!!! can you please sign my shirt?”

“of course, cutie. i saw you dancing to [song name], is that one of your favorites?” abby nods excitedly as you scribble her name on your shirt, accenting it with a heart. you glance up at mike, who just stands behind her observing your interaction. he’s high as shit of course; he’d been a blob next to abby, really, bleary eyes and stationary, but seeing him this close revealed to you the stoner boy of your dreams.

“i take it you’re a big fan too?” you point the end of your marker at this chest. he’s wearing the same old tour shirt as abby, but his fits him well. he can’t believe your focus has moved to him now, and even though he should feel cool and calm off the edible he took before your set, your enticing gaze has him grasping for straws inside his mind.

“uh well, i…i really do it all for her, but you guys do have some solid songs. got some on your album that make me feel all powerful and sexy when i listen to them.” you both chuckle, and you motion for him to give you your hand.

you scribble your number onto his hand in red ink, musing, “well, i always love to hear what people think about our stuff. maybe…when i’m done with tour, you could tell me more over a joint or something?”

mike’s mouth goes dry, drier than it already was, but he’s nodding all languidly, leaving you with a small smirk when you give him his hand back. “yeah, yeah. sounds like a plan.”

this is kind of messy but do you all see the vision????? a full fic would be wayyyyy more structured and detailed, but i just NEEDED to get this idea out and i wanna know what you all think 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔 (it would be like safety net with more smut and a tinge more angst, but definitely fluffy as hell too. like you confide in mike about the reality of your situation and he encourages you to fight for what you believe in, like one of your group’s songs ;-; still there’s lots of drama between you and the other members and the LABEL and so many entertainment people——me thinks it would go kind of nuts)

[ardenrabbit]

Hello!

A Long and Slow Recovery - are we past the halfway point? I am so excited to see how everything turns out. Did you do a lot of research to delve into Xie Lian’s experience with recovery? It’s very well written with regard to his mental and emotional struggles. Also , I just love how you write Hua Cheng and Xie Lian’s interactions.

Those Worthy of Following( new name change!) - I gushed about it in your comment section but need to emphasize how much I love that opening chapter with the dual between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian. And this dynamic, of Hua Cheng being the prince, and Xie Lian being the bodyguard, is A+++. Xie Lian is so calm and kind and powerful. He was so fierce about Hua Cheng not talking down about himself. Like,yes gege, please show your Hua Cheng how precious he is, haha. I ❤️ reading Xie Lian showing his protectiveness of Hua Cheng, even from the man himself. I’m also keen to see how Feng Xin and Mu Qing will take to Xie Lian in this verse too.

Is there anything else you can share about it that’s not spoilers? If not, that’s fine too!

Your writing is just delicious - a pleasure, something to savor and come back to again and again.

Thank you!

Omg thank you so much 💕😭💕 Your comments are always such a delight!! It's so validating and encouraging and I hope you know that!!

We are indeed past the halfway point in alasr! I honestly just kind of know what happens in a big blob with like half a dozen bullet points, so I don't have a final chapter count ready, but Chapter 20 is basically the start of the second half of the story. I originally thought the fic was gonna end at just about the New Year celebration, but it turns out his recovery is taking a lot longer than that, and his recovery isn't even the only one we're dealing with now, so I got ambitious. The premise also uh deserves a little more closure and resolution than that lol, so Arc 2 is gonna be a little higher stakes than we've had so far.

I'm so glad you're enjoying how I'm writing Xie Lian and his recovery! Haha I did research a variety of other conditions and disabilities and read accounts from people who have them, because that's just good research. Honestly, though, inspiration for the vast majority of Xie Lian's mental/emotional struggles have been sourced from firsthand experience :)

I'm mentally and physically disabled and have been my whole life, and I wasn't even diagnosed with anything (I was somehow just diagnosed with Teenager) until I hit rock bottom about it in adulthood. I've gotten to a better place with the mental stuff, but even though it's no longer an active threat to me, my bad days can still leave me nonverbal, disconnected from reality, and sometimes catatonic. The physical stuff has been getting worse over the years, and even though I can still walk independently with a cane when I leave the house (as long as I rest a lot), I still fall down just walking in my own home. I keep having to remember that my chronic pain and fatigue isn't normal, and I keep getting evidence that I'm worse than I thought. I've had to reorganize my life around all of it and I'm uh. Not taking it well lately lol.

So alasr is my self-therapy project. Xie Lian is going to get better and I'm not, and that still kind of pisses me off lol, but it's nice to vent and see someone else get a happy ending. So...yeah, at least writing alasr has helped distract me from my own pity party, and Xie Lian's anger, despair, guilt, and forced optimism are cathartic for me. It's not just about me, though; obviously I'm trying to stay in character for him and write in the context of his specific circumstances. But I guess I relate to sick fic stuff lol

Fully aware that that was a lot of oversharing 💜

But ANYWAY, AS FOR ✨ THOSE WORTHY OF FOLLOWING ✨ I'm so glad you're liking that one so far too!! I craaaaave protective badass Xie Lian and I needed a different brand of angst and drama from alasr for a while lol. I love writing violence tbh. I don't wanna spoil too much, but I definitely wanna confirm this:

TWOF is NOT a post-canon reincarnation fic. I'm personally not up for writing that kind of loss of all their canon experiences. And there are probably some really well-written takes on it! It's just not personally my speed. 😅 This one might seem like a post-canon reincarnation fic in the first couple chapters, but it'll make more sense soon.

It IS angst with a HAPPY ending, I promise!! What I'm planning right now gets really rather sad and it might seem hopeless at some point, but I promise, I'm confident in my plan to make it genuinely happy and fulfilling!

I'm exploring a trope about which I've had some general hangups, but I honestly enjoy taking tropes and tweaking them to my preferences. I think a lot of people can already guess what trope I'm talking about, which is fine with me! If it means the buildup and foreshadowing are working, I'm happy it fits!

What I'm panicking about with this wip is that I've convinced myself that I need to earn a doctorate in Tang Dynasty battle and siege tactics to write it credibly lmao. I spent three hours the other night researching ancient Chinese fire starters and the differences between Han and Tang era tea preparation (to little avail). This one is gonna take a lot of research for my own peace of mind but I hope it pays off!

Mu Qing and Feng Xin are gonna be okay!! Someone commented on ch2 that they liked that Mu Qing got hurt because they hate him and I'm like...I didn't think I'd framed that as a good thing..... 😅 That was something a Bad Guy did.......... 😅😅😅

Thank you so much for your kind comments and all of the fun engagement!! I'm truly so honored that you've enjoyed my writing so far! 💖💖💖

[kradogsrats]

Fic: Coins for the Eyes

sfdjksdljfl so I haven't written any Ouroboros-verse (Viren-Harrow bodyswap scenario AU) in forever but I wanted to get this out just in case all my "Claudia finds coined Kpp'Ar and it crumbles the last unstable pillars supporting her worldview" prayer circle manifesting for s6 actually works.

—

The next day, Claudia stayed in bed until after the noon bells, sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest and her folded arms resting on top of them.

She’d been only a child when Kpp’Ar disappeared. She barely even remembered those weeks, now—Soren on the edge of death, Kpp’Ar vanishing without a word, their mother dwindling to a speck on the horizon. Then her own first attempt at magic, followed by many, many more as she threw herself into the only thing that had made her feel like the future might hold something besides loss.

They never found out what happened to him. Her father’s duties as high mage seemed to crowd out every chance he had to investigate, and the Puzzle House was sealed by royal decree not long after she and Soren navigated it. After King Harrow was crowned, it seemed like everyone was determined to never speak of Kpp’Ar again. He became just another person who abandoned her without explanation—another ghost haunting her heart.

Ten years later, and she’d finally found a clue. A clue her father may have had that entire time.

He must have still been looking for Kpp’Ar, hoping to work out how to save him. It was the only explanation that made any sense, but it still hurt—he’d never said anything, even knowing how much it ate at her that Kpp’Ar was gone. If he’d told her, they could have worked on the problem together—she could have helped. She was smart and strong and eager, and they could have done so much if only he’d let her—

Like he let you help with saving King Harrow from assassins?

She shook the nasty voice out of her head, squeezing her eyes shut. “Stop being such a child,” she said aloud. “Maybe you weren’t strong enough then, but you are now. So fix it.”

It was Kpp’Ar she had first gone to with questions about magic. She had learned not to do the same with her father unless absolutely necessary—even after he started properly teaching her, he had little patience for explanations and tangents. Now they were both gone, but there was still someone who might be able to give her answers.

After finally dressing and coiling her hair into a severe knot at the back of her neck, she stepped out to face what remained of the day. She stopped by the high mage’s office, but Aaravos was nowhere in sight when she pulled the mirror’s cover away. Rather than wait for him, she scribbled a note on a scrap of paper and stuck it face-first to the glass with a blob of half-dried glue.

She spent the rest of the afternoon in the library, prowling the shelves for books on metallurgic magic and elven runes. When she felt like she couldn’t read anymore without screaming, she climbed up to the battlements and watched the sun slowly sink below the western horizon.

Aaravos was waiting when she returned to the office, his sunset-fog eyes and elegantly arched brows visible over the note stuck to the mirror’s face. She pulled the paper off and let it fall to the floor, picking up the slate and chalk.

The pinprick lights dusted over his indigo skin twinkled as he raised a hand, the usual glowing letters trailing behind his fingers to hang in the air. You say you want answers. You need only ask.

“Good evening to you, too,” Claudia muttered under her breath. The chalk squeaked as she wrote on the slate: Have you ever seen something like this? Then she drew the coin from her belt pouch and held both up to the mirror.

He motioned for her to bring the coin closer, leaning in to examine it. She turned it so he could see both sides—Kpp’Ar’s twisted face on one, and the strange, split-wheel symbol on the other—switching between them when he gestured with a twisting motion. His face was so close that his nose seemed like it might brush the glass, close enough that she could see the pale curve of his eyelashes and the stray hairs that fell across his face, all highlighted by the glow from the bright notches of light across his cheekbones. His eyes flicked briefly up to hers, and he slowly straightened.

I have, he wrote. For once, he didn’t wait for her to ask before offering his explanation. The complete essence of a human trapped in gold, body and spirit. A cruel, if effective, punishment for enemies.

Claudia swallowed against the tightness in her throat. She closed her hand around the coin, holding it tightly for a moment before tucking it back into her pouch.

When she looked back to the mirror, Aaravos was watching her. It is someone you care for.

She nodded slightly, then sat down in her chair and rubbed the slate clear. He was like a second father to me, she wrote out. I’m a mage because of him.

It wasn’t something she’d ever admitted aloud—that it had been Kpp’Ar who truly nurtured her love of magic, not her father. She never doubted that her father loved her, but he’d shown no interest in teaching her until she was already getting in trouble for messing up spells she’d learned on her own. When he finally saw she had talent, he’d trained her rigorously in building and using it. Kpp’Ar had spoken of magic as something to love—powerful, but also wonderful and weird and sometimes silly. Something fun, not just a tool to be used for greater ends.

I’m sorry. Aaravos looked at her with sympathy, his face somehow softer and more genuine than ever before. It hurt some, to be looked at that way, but she also felt a little better. Like someone cared.

Rather than continue to meet his eyes, she wiped the words from the slate again and busied herself with writing. Who could have done this? After a moment, she added, Can it be undone?

He can be freed, though it is both difficult and costly. The next part of Aaravos’s reply came slowly, with clear hesitation. As for who: I will say only that the spell cannot be cast without the aid of a powerful relic, of which kind there is only one.

She stared at him, perplexed—was she supposed to somehow know the relic he spoke of? He held her gaze at first, but then his eyes shifted slightly, focusing on something behind her. A shiver ran down her spine, and she turned slowly to scan the room.

Her eyes immediately fell on her father’s staff, propped against the doorframe.

“No,” she said reflexively. She turned back to the mirror, shaking her head. It couldn’t be that. It couldn’t be. It was a mistake—she was tired and upset, and it made her misinterpret things. Aaravos would correct her.

Aaravos only looked back out at her, that same knowing sympathy on his star-speckled face.

“No,” she said again. “No, no, no—that’s impossible. Dad wouldn’t. He wouldn’t.”

She began to shake, her vision swimming. Her chest tightened like a vise until it stopped her breath. The slate and chalk slipped from her numb fingers and hit the floor with a crack she barely heard.

That her father could have done this to Kpp’Ar—not just kept secret from her what had happened to him, but lied to her for more than half her life—she couldn’t even process it. He’d barely investigated Kpp’Ar’s disappearance because he’d known what happened all along. He’d let her think Kpp’Ar had abandoned her. Like her mom had abandoned her.

Like he eventually would, too.

Aaravos was still watching her when she looked up again. More glowing letters drifted in front of him. Are you all right?

Claudia wiped her eyes angrily and nodded. She picked up the slate, making a face at the long crack that had formed across one corner, and one of the larger pieces remaining of the shattered chalk.

How can I free him? she wrote, calm and precise.

I can help you, but not like this. He gestured expansively to the glass and glowing words between them. We must first be able to speak to and hear one another. I know a small ritual that will allow that. After completing it, we can begin.

She rubbed out her words and wrote again. What do I have to do?

Aaravos smiled.

[bagheerita]

finally finished DS9 and decided to post some thoughts in one big blob

I was honestly about to give up on season 7 and put the rest of this show to the side for a few months, but then Ezri and Worf have a 3 episode arc sorting out their relationship, only talking to each other because they're marooned/imprisoned, and I was so charmed by them being loud and messy that I managed to bull my way through to the end. I love the two of them as friends, they are adorable. 

I actually really like Damar and his arc, and it’s pretty rare I say that about a character who killed my favorite. 

I feel like the reason Section 31 exists, and they keep forcing episodes about it upon me, is because they wrote themselves into a corner with inventing the changeling disease to kneecap an unbeatable enemy and didn’t know how else to fix it/end the war except with secret secret spies. 

Ezri has this whole speech she gives to Worf about dismantling structures of power and I feel like they needed to end the show before anyone was like, hey the Federation kind of sucks and we should definitely do that. 

Garak’s mom showed up and everything was good in the world again.

Ezri and Julian are like “can’t deny the chemistry.” lol babes that's called being a young attractive allosexual. "Chemistry" is what Worf and O'Brien have in all the scenes where they're mocking you.

I’ve never felt the truth of the phrase “I support women’s wrongs” so intensely as I do with Kai Winn. I love her and I want to give her everything. I didn't love her getting assaulted by Dukat, but when she knows everything that's happening and chooses the pah-wraiths anyway, yes fuck it up. When she poisoned Dukat I was like, hot damn if this character dies as a footnote in someone else's quest for power I will forgive everything that this show has put me through because of him. But we can't have nice things. I did like that her last act was to choose to take their victory from them, and give Sisko the clue he needed to beat them.

I do love Martok but I feel like he’s going to be about as good a chancellor as Robert Baratheon was a king. 

Odo is The Last Unicorn, but with brain-melding: he’s going to share his experience of loving a mortal with the other immortals. I still don’t “get” him and Kira as a couple, their relationship literally went from -20 to 100% after a single all night conversation locked in Jadzia's bathroom and no actual onscreen development, but at least I believe that they believe they’re in love. 

Why the ever loving fuck is Julian so obsessed with the Alamo. Every time they bring it up I want to grab him and Miles and shake them. I get that it's supposed to be some sort of metaphor for fighting a hopeless war, but really? You want to go up to the fake room where you can do/be literally anything and you're going to repeatedly reenact a battle where you die to defend your right to have slaves and practice settler colonialism??? Even in the last episode they’ve won the real war and they’re still obsessed with reenacting this old battle. They also spend that one episode trying to figure out how to win the Alamo… babes, that actually happened: it’s called the Battle of San Jacinto- learn some actual fucking history, your side won the war. This isn’t about metaphors anymore, the metaphor has failed, now Julian just has a neurosis.

The Dominion War plot line goes on for way too long and there is so little internal emotional catharsis. (Maybe because for me the things that were supposed to be cathartic just induced more rage? 🤔) The ending was fine as far as character wrap ups but felt pretty rushed considering how long it took us to get to this point, and I really think they needed more time to handle the denouement. The overall pacing of the episodes/seasons is terrible: you wasted like a season and a half puttering around, with whole episodes where you forgot to mention the war; you added in mirror-verse episodes without bothering to use them for story or character development; Quark is one of my favorite characters but there are too many episodes about Ferengi shenanigans that do not impact the actual plot; there are whole scenes and arcs dedicated to a character who does not (within the internal logic of the show) exist. And then you slammed all the development into the last half of the last season. I'm not surprised now that I forgot this entire show after watching it while airing because it’s emotionally exhausting. I've compared DS9 to SGA in the past, but the Dominion remind me of the Ori: You've killed the enjoyment I found in this show and have made it a chore to watch.

I do like that what ends the war is Julian’s determination and Odo’s compassion. You've proven the Founders wrong, but this entire plot thread was so poorly handled that I don't know that anyone remembers one mention from four seasons ago about why this war even started and, honestly, standing on a planet where you just murdered millions of children it's kind of not enough. I like that they let Garak kill the last Weyoun, and I adore the scene where he lets Kira take the phaser, but honestly he deserved more. It wouldn't solve anything, and I think there's a nice parallel in Garak's fears inspiring him into attempting genocide being incredible grounded in reality and the Founder's similar fears being negated, but he deserves it, the head Founder deserves to be torn into tiny pieces by grieving Cardassians, and I deserve to watch it. (I also desperately want Garak to find out about Section 31 and the changeling disease just so he can be like, "Oh so when I try to commit genocide I get 6 months in jail, but when the Federation wants to commit genocide that's okay?")

I don’t know who on the production team is so invested in Mark Alaimo getting a paycheck, but by the end Dukat as a character has long outlived any interesting qualities he may have had at one point. The final battle shit with the pah-wraiths was pretty underwhelming; except for the deeper exploration of Winn's motives that this season has allowed for, "The Reckoning" was such a better structured episode. (At least at this point they've let Kira go off and be awesome without being forced into episodes with Dukat. The sheer amount of abusive old men sexually attracted to much younger women in this show is frankly unnecessary; I will never be able to unhear Curzon say he flunked Jadzia from the symbiont program because he wanted to bang her, and Dukat’s relentless pursuit of Kira especially/even after we learn he sexually assaulted her mother is disgusting.) 

I have mixed feelings about Sisko, and his character having a “white savior” role with the Bajorans. Like, I guess it’s a cool twist that he’s a black white savior, maybe that's the best the 90s can do, but also can we decide to not write stories where we give foreigners positions of power over recently subjugated peoples??  I was feeling pretty yikes about it especially after the beginning of this season and learning that he was basically genetically bred by the Prophets for the position, but… I dunno, I’m probably not someone who can or should have a deep opinion about this. I do like that arc for him as a character outside of what it means for the Bajorans, but his ending feels too open. I wish we got to know more about what he learns from hanging out with the Prophets, and I wish that the great "sorrow" he suffers from disregarding the visions felt more concrete. Kassidy is really the only one sad about this, Sisko seems excited to exist outside of time. (And I feel like a lot of the "yikes" of the character could have been fixed by making the character be Bajoran? You wouldn't need to invent a reason why he was chosen by the Prophets. He could even have been raised on Earth and still have those ties, and I think it would have made the pull between his duty as an officer and his duty as the Emissary more interesting. Also can you imagine if Jake and Ziyal were both half Bajoran and hanging out with each other??? But they don't pay me to write shows.)

Why do Miles and Julian have the gayest final montage? It's literally the first of the montages and they start it up over "The Way You Look Tonight" and I was just like... wtf did I accidentally put in a fan video? Miles is the only person in a relationship who has a montage without any mention of their significant other, though I guess Worf's does jump from his first meeting with Sisko straight to season 5 clips so they didn't mention Jadzia either. I love that Miles and Julian have such a deep friendship, and I feel like this show could use more interrogation of the concept of love and the fact that platonic love/friendship is just as important as romantic love, but the production has spent so much time "no homo"ing every relationship they can think of that it just comes off as bizarre. 

All the bts things I’ve read about this show pretty much amount to the production being like “we had no idea what we were doing with this character” which, when combined with the failure to manage season structure and some of the utterly bonkers episodes this show threw out there, leads me to believe that pretty much anything I enjoyed about this show comes from the actors. This is definitely a show I feel like I’m going to be “rewatching” through fanfiction and gif sets before I ever rewatch the entire show again.