#mari nbd

[vulturereyy]

You ever have a d&d session your character comes out of irrevocably changed Jesus fucking christ what a series of events

Sorbet may be coming back next session as a full oathbroken or vengeance paladin

And she will almost certainly no longer be the champion of selune, self stripping herself of the title until her hands are raw so help her gods

[unluckiestclover]

i dont get why cis women are scared of shaving their faces

[urdnotcadash]

not me contemplating completely changing up an OC i've had for... 5 years.

[queer-ragnelle]

So, regarding your novels, what made you write backwards? I'm so curious about it.

TL;DR I started writing in Mordred and Galahad perspective. I then became possessed by the "older" characters and went "back" in the timeline to write their origins (starting with parentified Agravaine). I did this several times until I ended up with Ragnelle/Gawain as book 1, "the beginning," of what turned into an Epic many books long.

Let me give you a timeline...

1900s: I am born and develop Arthurian brain worms.

21st century: The worms declare Ragnelle/Gawain are my favorites and I write their Wedding multiple times for fun based off what can be gleaned from Wikipedia and retellings as I have no medieval resources at my disposal.

February 2020: I think Mordred and Galahad would make neat narrative foils and write a short story about them playing chess.

March 2020: The plague. I'm furloughed from my job. Writing becomes my full-time focus. I write 60,000 words in Mordred and Galahad perspective, plotting their story to be a trilogy.

June 2020: I'm back to work but I'm still writing. With money and curiosity at my disposal, I begin hoarding Arthurian books. Local quirky secondhand bookstore owner had an Arthurian fixation in his youth—I clear his shelves. He asks if I'm a medievalist major and I have to break it to him I'm just a High School drop out at the mercy of the Tell-Tale knights chattering in my head. I learn more lore. I splurge to buy the Vulgate cycle. I'm forever changed.

Late 2020: Reading medlit and retellings and watching all the movies super charged the brain worms. The Vulgate especially. I develop an obsession with circumventing the Orkneys/Welshmen blood feud with the power of gay sex. (Joan Wolf did it first in her 1988 book The Road to Avalon with Agravaine/Lamorak.)

January 2021: Historical research shows that Islam didn't exist yet during the 5th/6th century I'd been writing in. I order Zoroastrianism by Mary Boyce to make sure I'm depicting Ragnelle and Gromer's religion properly. But it's nbd their page time is minimal as background characters right? ....right?

2021 continued: The Agravaine/Lamorak brain worms take on a life of their own as I'm hospitalized and bedridden. Chronic pain and isolation become my themes. I write endlessly on my phone from bed. 2/3 novels are completed and readable straight through with a third book in pieces. These are currently at a combined total of nearly 140,000 words. (Plus the notes file with scenes I haven't moved yet...whoa.)

Late 2021: I rediscover old Ragnelle/Gawain stuff and decide to write about their wedding. Again. But this time with legit sources. Except Ragnelle isn't some ambiguous character of color, she's now very specifically Persian [Iranian] Zoroastrian. So the whole thing takes place in Persia and research goes crazy. Someone gives me their college log in so I can download and hoard essays and textbook PDFs. I do beta-read trades with people in facebook groups (bad bad idea) and yet...

End of 2021: I get sample edits from various editors including one guy who insulted my "lack of education" and said emulating J. R. R. Tolkien's old style didn't work anymore and I should take inspiration from The Hunger Games....for my queer romance in Persia. Right. Anyway I pay the $100 for the pages edited so he'll go away and continue searching for my unicorn editor....

2022: Ultimately facebook group scouting finally yields results as I stumble upon a fellow Ragnelle/Gawain enthusiast who would become my editor!! Editor says I have to cut the giant book into thirds, so what is now book 1 ends up chopped.

2023: I'm still revising book 1, now titled The Moonlit Knight, with my editor. All the while I'm drafting book 2, sporadically cheating to write in other books including an Elaine and Perceval book that appeared out of no where, and scouting out beta readers. One beta reader came via a tumblr mutual who connected me through instagram. A second beta reader discovered in a discord server. Another beta reader from a different discord server. So on and so forth.

Early 2024: Beta reading continues, until I have readers for every angle I require; queer people of all flavors, Zoroastrians, Arthurian enthusiasts, Jewish readers, people with DID knowledge etc! Slowly but surely I work through revising the book with all these wonderful people to a final 95,000 words!

Mid 2024: But now...it needed a cover. I commission a tumblr mutual and work for weeks with them on that, still editing/revising and having betas read book 2, Sunshine's Lady, which is currently almost 132,000 words long and half edited/beta read.

September 2024: I still haven't published. lol. But the process takes a long time and has a lot of moving parts!

So why do I actually recommend this method? Well, this has been hugely helpful to write foreshadowing. Forgetting for a second the blueprint drawn from Arthurian Legend itself, I know how my story with my version of the characters is going to go, so I can set all of that up way in advance. It's all well and good to know (spoiler) Arthur dies at the end, but it's never been about the conclusion so much as the journey there and the unique perspective of whichever character the author has chosen to focus on. I mean, Godfrey Turton's The Emperor Arthur is Pelleas point of view. He's instrumental at the battle of Camlann. It's the same with Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles and our one-handed friend Derfel, the reasoning for which isn't revealed until book 3. The world is your oyster! Fixate on your special character and set that shit up and pay it off!!!

Knowing what you're writing toward is extremely helpful during the drafting process. Even if it's only vaguely shaped it'll develop detail as you revise. Other than Derfel's missing hand, the best example of this I can think of is in Realm of the Elderlings series by Robin Hobb. It has a huge fanbase on tumblr for a reason, it's just an insane amount of set up you're not even aware of until the impact slams into you many books later and you're left going, "Whoa.....it was there the whole time." Mind blowing. I want have half as much narrative resonance as that.

Another thing that came of this is, since I wrote Agravaine/Lamorak first, and I'm obscenely Ragnelle obsessed, she pops up in their pov as a hag, only for them to not realize she's one and the same as Gawain's bombshell wife they "meet" later. I wrote this as the lads first, but it's extra funny now that, actually, the reader will experience Ragnelle's perspective first. Hottie uncursed Ragnelle does know she met them before, but feigns otherwise. So it's very fun to see the same encounters happen a second time a few books later. Agravaine is like, "Okay granny whatever. Bye... :^/" and Lamorak is like, "That granny was weird but I like her! :^)" meanwhile the reader is like, "AHHHHH! I KNOW HER!!! YOU FOOLS DON'T KNOW HOW IMPORTANT SHE'LL BE AHHH!!!" At least, that has been the beta reader reaction, which is gratifying. Even better, the books can be read out of order, so actually if you read Agravaine/Lamorak before Ragnelle/Gawain, it works in reverse, too. So if the reader knows who Agravaine is from reading his perspective, when Ragnelle or Gawain runs into him, the reader will realize who he is before it clicks for the point of view character. I had a lot of fun developing all of this across the series for multiple characters, it certainly happens more than once.

Wow that was long but I hope it makes sense and gives you an idea how it all went down. Thanks for taking an interest and I hope you enjoy my books when they're out. Take care! :^)

[celadons-penultimate]

Marvel has such great potential in STRANGE ACADEMY. A live-action or animated adaptation alone could be a huge win, whether it closely follows the comics or not, as long as they give us the diverse, inclusive stories that JK Rowling's Wizarding World fails to.

Strange Academy's diversity is a central feature, not an "exotic" aside. It unites people across various cultures, so you see Norse runic magic, Voodoo practice, Aztec nahual lore & more, performed not just by fictional creatures, but women, people w/ melanin & LGBTQ ppl.

Strange Academy's headmaster is Dr. Jericho Drumm aka Doctor Voodoo & various fan favorites act as instructors to the young mages, to humorous effect: Wong, the Ancient One, Magik, Scarlet Witch, Nico Minoru, Agatha Harkness, Talisman, Daimon Hellstrom, etc

Strange Academy's prominent students INCLUDE:

-Zoe Laveau (zombie/necromancer/aspiring lich? & descendant of Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau)

-Germán (Nahual animal mage)

-Iric & Alvi (Asgardian twin sons of Amora the Enchantress)

-Emily Bright (newcomer on an interesting path)

-Doyle (nbd, just a son of The Dread Dormammu™)

Strange Academy is set here in the United States, not another dimension or some other fictional locale; specifically, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

You get plenty of charismatic flavor & mystic color, whether you're reading about the mortal or mystical aspects of magical school life.

Rather than typical YA-style focus on a singular "chosen one" & companions, Strange Academy offers engaging ensemble narration that addresses multiple story lines w/ due respect, all while managing to offer impressively dynamic & flamboyant magical feats.

In short, if you're a fan of Marvel, a fan of magic users & a fan of YA stories that AREN'T transphobic or otherwise characterized by bigotry (whether implicit or overtly stated), you might want to set aside any...other options, in favor of Strange Academy. 😌

[kestrelteens]

hi mari! I love your nostalgia loving conversions so much! I was just wondering: most items are quite shiny. I prefer them more matte, so I used pforests shine remover on them, nbd. But I was wondering if that’s on purpose? Your previews don’t look shiny, so maybe the lighting in your game is different? It’s most noticeable on the sofas, the blanket and the pillows.

I’m looking forward to the kitchen conversion!!

hiii, thank you so much <3

I personally haven’t noticed the shine, it could be due to me focusing on other aspects or maybe because of reshade in the preview screenshots, I was pretty burnt out from the set towards the end ‘cause there were so many items, I wanted to finish it asap or it would have dragged out way too much, so that could be the reason! if a lot of people are bothered by the shiny items I could update them as soon as I have time :))

[terriblygrimm]

loled to myself this morning at how everyone on earth makes priscilla out to be a vicious heartless golddigger and decided to do 1 second of research into the matter to conclude that as expected, the internet is hysterical and off base. to me, she seems like she’s just out there trying to do her best and handle her enormous life.

disclosure: i did this for my own knowledge because i was curious. i’m not out here trying to engage trolls or tell anyone what to think.

read that she was really hesitant abt priscilla but ultimately thought coppola did enough research and made it “spot on”. she cried when she saw the film. she elaborated by saying that when you live with someone so famous during a crucial part of their life you go through many ups and downs and experience their struggles and fears alongside them. also that all of her/their privacy is hard to give up and hard to share so she doesn’t want to give out too much because she wants some of it for herself - that’s theirs and theirs alone. which, ultimately leads someone with common sense to believe (who didn’t already assume) that the elvis & me novel (and priscilla) are just the most dramatic snippets of their relationship (without lots of context).

she also went on to say that she vowed not to remarry as long as elvis was alive because she didn’t think he could handle it - and not only did she not, but she also kept that promise long after his death. saying she never wanted to remarry after him, that no one “could ever match him”.

i also knew next to nothing about lisa marie and the drama surrounding the estate and/or their relationship - but again, one quick search and applying my years of doing estate work as a paralegal makes it clear that priscilla was challenging the validity of a purported amendment made in 2016 which removed her (and barry siegal) as co-trustees (and instituted lisa’s children instead) to the graceland trust. which fine, lisa probably did want that, but it was stated that in the amendment, lisa’s signature was not her “usual signature”, her name was misspelled, and the amendment was never given to priscilla during lisa’s lifetime which was an expressed term of the trust. it was also never witnessed or notarized. so, given that, questioning its legitimacy is an entirely expected thing to do. it’s hardly insidious 😂. especially during such an emotionally difficult time. a contract is a contract. even if lisa did want to change the doc without priscilla knowing, she was legally required to give it to her and she didn’t. also, a settlement of 1 mil plus a graceland burial is hardly “gouging” of her daughter/granddaughter’s money. graceland is worth what? 718 million? and ppl complain about priscilla getting some money after keeping elvis’ legacy alive and graceland relevant for the past 50 yrs? lordy. not only that but the attorney for riley even stated at the proceeding’s conclusion that everyone is unified and happy and ready to move forward.

but funny how the narrative of “evil priscilla sues her granddaughter” became so popular. this instance is the most uneventful, run of the mill thing lol. obviously we don’t know the absolute truth or facts of the situation (and i did not look up the proceedings), but if a document isn’t witnessed and notarized it’s always ground for suspicion. also, if someone’s signature isn’t their usual signature, it arises the question of coercion or signing not in your right mind. so, like i said, entirely expected and nbd.

priscilla is also human and fallible, so i’m sure she’s made mistakes, bad business dealings or even acted recklessly or spitefully over the course of her lifetime, but she continually speaks to how much she loved/loves elvis, lisa and the family legacy. she clearly still burns a candle for elvis and does her best to keep things moving forward and alive and relevant. i don’t blame her for wanting to make sure things are secure and in order as she gets older.

i also know practically nothing about lisa, but it seems like she was troubled (?) to some extent (she reminds me of britney spears a little in that way), so i’m sure some of priscilla’s “controlling and hovering” over her life was misconstrued protectiveness and burden-bearing. i’m sure mistakes were made, but i highly doubt she was the manipulative vulture ppl make her out to be. (it’s like the britney situation - everyone advocated for her “freedom” when in reality she’s clearly ill and her state rn is pretty questionable imo).

i also don’t blame priscilla for not having issue with priscilla being made. it’s controversial but it’s 2023 and she probably figured it was timely and likely to get good reception. she’s surely had an incredibly difficult life, and wanting some of her truth (the ugly truth) to also be known and added to the legacy must be validating. because elvis was a flawed person, a product of his time, and likely very cruel at times.

anyway those are my two cents and i think the internet is a plague. not looking to engage stans or fact police, just wanted to get my thoughts out there. not tagging.

[nologiconlystyles]

Tag Game

Rules: Tag 10 or more people you want to get to know better.

As always, thanks to my darlingest sunshine @sun-lt for the tag ☀️🌻☀️🌻

Relationship status: hopelessly and eternally enamoured, aka married 💍

Favorite color: blue

Song stuck in head: Saw Giant Rooks in concert last week (I think? time has no meaning anymore) and I am obsessed; What I Know Is All Quicksand has been in my head on loop ever since

Favorite food: gotta be sushi 🍣

Last song listened to: Somebody Like You, Giant Rooks

Dream trip: tbh, probably just a l'il jaunt to all my long distance girl friends? So, Quebec to Seattle to New Mexico to Sweden to Dubai, nbd ✈️

Last show/movie: oh fuck me, Marie got me hooked on 911 and I'm currently binging it and blowing up her phone with my meltdowns

Spicy, sweet, or savory?: s a v o r y, all day, e'ryday

Last thing googled: timbits flavours, because I took a box to work and they only gave us five varieties?? and I was sure there were more in existence.

[iamtaran]

WIP Title Game! oh good lord

rules: in a new post, post the names of all the files in your wip folder regardless of how nondescriptive or ridiculous. let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet and tell us about it!

thanks @allyunabridged for the tag! Lmao I stared down the barrel of not one, but two google drives to gather these and all I can say is

😬

IN AN ORDER ONLY THE GODS UNDERSTAND:

The Twilit Gate (BG3, when in want of more fey bullshit in your BG3, do it yourself!!! TavxAstarionxGalexliterally everyone i'm gay alright???)

Island (The Guest/손 AU, horror and survivalism; Hwa Pyung, Choi Yoon, and Gil Young follow Park Hong Joo's and Park Il Do's machinations out to open sea, to an island with long forgotten history where the real struggle for survival begins.)

But For Grace (SW:Preq's, modern-character in GFFA aka "what to do when you accidentally change things and the Chosen One dies?", started as a silly question but now I'm committed; Qui-Gon Jinn lives; what would happen in a galaxy without Anakin Skywalker?)

The Mage's War (DA2 + DA:I, what if Bethany Hawke was the Herald, Modern/Avvar OC, playing Fade chicken with the Dread Wolf nbd, put on my tinfoil hat for this one re: the Fade, the Abyss/Void, Forgotten Ones, etc.)

In God's Eye (Vampyr, human!Jonathan, ekon!McCullum, Mary lives, I'm a hobby WWI & Spanish Flu researcher so hold your britches I have FEELINGS)

For Want Of Two (Vampyr, wanted more mythological beings & nemrod lore so I'll do it myself gdi, put-that-thing-back-where-you-found-it-or-so-help-me-god.gif ; JxMcCxOC)

Lights All Hung On Nothing (Star Wars Preq's to Clone Wars era, modern-character-in-SW with a big twist, Force + time fuckery, Ani + Obi focus, the butterfly effect changes everything)

The 72nd Cycle (SW: Mandalorian, AU - Grogu is not the only Force sensitive prisoner Gideon had captured. Without room in his ship for multiple students, Luke tags along, not expecting the sad Mando's ride Boba Fett (w h a t) to show up and offer the poor guy use of his bacta tank; well, soon-to-be-his. He just has to kill its current owner, Bib Fortuna, first. You know. On Tatooine(WHAT!!). Meanwhile, on Tattooine: Cobb Vanth gets the nagging feeling his life is about to become much more stressful.)

A Heavy Thing (KOTOR, amnesiac Revan works a shitty food service job on Taris and definitely isn't a Jedi/Sith/Soldier, I mean, clearly. Slice of life becomes tragedy becomes adventure becomes mystery becomes ??? RevanxCanderousxCarth DON'T LOOK AT ME)

Life, Happening (The Shining/Doctor Sleep introspective piece on Danny Torrance, life & death, what it means to be gone, and not gone.)

Led To Water (Mandalorian, Din takes off the armor having broken his Creed and, unsure what to do next, returns to Kuiil's homestead to brood and sweat manfully through his existential crisis; his friends help him through it.)

Mando'ad'ika (Mandalorian/Original SW movies, The Mandalorian is taken into custody and now Leia has to deal with a sweet but stressed frog lady, a green gremlin with too much Force power, and this intimidating tin can who won't budge. Since Han laughed at her, she decides to make it his problem, too.)

Time Travel, & Other Ways To Die (Mandalorian/SW:Bounty Hunter video game, Din & Jango centric, whilst trying to get to Grogu on his magical big rock, Din & Grogu end up chucked through time onto an outlaw space station. Jango Fett's no good very bad day begins. Coincidentally, it coincides with Din Djarin's SUPER no good very bad day. They most assuredly do not bond over this.)

I am, or was. (Dragon Age: Inquisition, a spirit takes an interest in Solas after he helps it in the Fallow Mire and begins following him around like a lost puppy. Which would be cute, if it weren't possessing more and more alarming vessels to do so. The Andrastians are starting to get a bit twitchy.)

Rookie, Shiny, Soldier, Spy (Mandalorian/Clone Wars, Din Djarin accidental time travel into the Clone Wars AU. Caught without his 'gam on a battle field and forced once again to wear trooper armor, he is Not Impressed--and why do all these guys look like Boba?)

This Prodigal Son (Hades/Dragon Age: Inq, Zagreus goes through the wrong Chaos portal. Magister Alexius finds a powerful spirit in the Fade and, as is his way, decides fuck it, we ball. Also his way, it doesn't go very well for him.)

Send me a title via ask and I'll post my favorite bit I've currently written!

Lmao this was wild to throw together given how many WIPs of age past are staring me down; these are just all the recents. Go ahead and chuck some WIPs out there if you're interested @singoallala @narwhalninja @mauverawrites @in-a-trans-like-state @terresdebrume and @jackironsides ! And if you don't/aren't currently writing, everyone loves to see the pet tax paid C:

[goosetrainer]

Mari's Tera Raid Guide #14 - Meganium

I have a Rabsca and I have a Skeledirge. Have I said that I love Skeledirge in raids? Because I love Skeledirge in raids. You should get a Skeledirge. For the raids. Do you want a Skeledirge

Rabsca lv.100

Ability: any

Nature: Modest (/Rash)

Item: Shell Bell

Tera type: Bug

IVs: max HP, defense, special attack (speed?)

EVs: 252 defense, 252 special attack, 4 HP

Moveset:

-Bug Buzz (level up)

-Lunge (level up)

-Iron Defense (TM)

-Calm Mind (TM)

Usage:

Meganium only wipes away your stat modifications once and quite early, at 79% time left. We're going to take advantage of that!

Use no more than one or two Iron Defense to open, then keep doing Lunges to charge the tera orb while keeping Meganium's attack boosts at bay, until you get your stats wiped. Do not terastallize for now. After your stat reset, start with 3 Iron Defenses, then 6 Calm Minds. You could need to heal with a Heal Up cheer once or twice between Calm Minds. As soon as you have your +6 defense and +6 special attack, heal again if you're very low on health (~ less than 50 HP), then terastallize and use only Bug Buzz for the rest of the battle.

Quite easy except for the occasional critical hit.

TL; DR: 1-2 Iron Defense, Lunge until player stat wipe (at least 3x); 3 Iron Defense, 6 Calm Minds (heal with cheer as needed), terastallize, Bug Buzz spam.

Pros:

-common pokemon

-extra common tera type

-ability is nbd

Cons:

-lots of turns to set up

-----

Skeledirge lv.100

Ability: Unaware (hidden)

Nature: Modest (/Rash/Quiet)

Item: Shell Bell

Tera type: Ghost

IVs: max HP, defense, special attack

EVs: 252 defense, 252 special attack, 4 HP (probably also viable with 252 HP/252 sp.atk./4HP)

Moveset:

-Torch Song (level up)

-Shadow Ball (level up)

-(Slack Off (egg move))

-(Hex (level up))

Usage:

GUYS I love this reptile. It's a bit harder to obtain if you're playing solo and without NSO, but iirc you should get a copy of each paldean starter with their hidden ability with Pokemon Home, so you can breed that one. Unaware 'dirge is just a beast in high level raids in general, I keep a fire tera one always ready. Ghost tera Skeledirge was also the only non-legendary pokemon to be confirmed able to solo the mewtwo raid! How cool is that!

Ahem, anyway. We don't have many defensive options on this one, because we're letting Unaware do most of the work. But, since it's an ability, it gets nullified on the turn in which our stat modifictions get wiped (if you haven't read above: once, at 79% time left). To avoid dying, we have to make it so Meganium reaches that point with no attack boosts, and to do that... we wait.

DO NOT MOVE UNTIL YOU GET YOUR STATS RESET AND YOUR ABILITY NULLIFIED. "Do not move" means NO ATTACKS and NO CHEERS.

I know it seems counterintuitive to just waste a whole fifth of the time bar, but it works. Once this phase is over, you're safe to go. Use 6 Torch Songs to max out your special attack, then terastallize (not as soon as your orb is charged, wait after all 6 the Torch Songs. Don't wanna lose the resistance to Seed Bomb before you're done setting up) and simply use Shadow Ball for the rest of your life.

I only included Slack Off for the emergencies (2 or more critical hits while you're setting up) and Hex for if one of your ally NPCs happened to apply a status condition to Meganium (poison, paralysis etc). In that case you can use Hex to deal more damage than Shadow Ball would do, but it's not so necessary. Meganium goes down comfortably in 7-9 Shadow Balls, plenty of time left.

TL;DR: wait until your stats get wiped, then 6x Torch Song, then terastallize, then Shadow Ball spam.

Pros:

-so easy T-T

-this is probably the dumbest strategy I've posted since I started

-very useful pokemon you should be using on raids in general

-an Unaware Fuecoco is available for free with Pokemon Home (don't remember the details but they're not hard to look up)

Cons:

-tera type must be changed

[kkglinka]

Giving away prompts here:

1) Ava finishes harrowing Reya's realm, focuses on Bea's location, and promptly drags Mary and herself into the middle of a pride parade. Oh, well, I guess we better grab some flag capes ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯ (Spectators assume it's all part of the show, so nbd).

2) Ava's back, they're lowkey a couple because why waste time, but because the OCS has to be super careful with new recruits, what with the entire church being infiltrated by cultists, the in-group are super tight about privileged information. Like, god is real, there's probably more than one, Ava really is jesus 2.0 but that either means christianity itself is totally bogus, or we've got a for-realsies prophet (cue jewish laughter), the OCS+ArqTek probably are the start of a new church (oops), but don't scare off the newbies. Cue newbies fetching a very drunk Ava and Bea directly from a gay rave (Bea's high on E but Ava fixes that real quick), awkward armoring and van ride to follow (mostly because everyone was unnerved by Bea's initial sky high manic grinning) but also because Ava's like, I 100% guarantee Reya doesn't have a problem with it. Because I'll punch her in the face if she does. :):):)

*waves* Be free, fleeting notions! Goodbye! Good riddance! Do not plague me again!

[strawberryjamsara]

I love your ocs please talk about them (if you haven't already)

Okie dokie so!

I’m kinda workshopping this premise of a magical girl academy and the first season is the groups antics before they graduate and put on separate teams with some veterans.

The main character is Elena!

Elena has the special ability to talk to the generic monsters in this series (which I’m calling ‘shadow creatures as a placeholder name) and she has a little pet blob named Meep!

She was sorta pushed into becoming a magical girl by her parents, but found her own passion in hoping to meet and make peace with shadow creatures on the job! She also originally starts off with a boring store bought transformation, but her school rival/Gal Pal Courtney helps her make her own! Speaking of Courtney…

Courtney comes to magical girl school to earn money and provide for her family. Think Uraraka MHA. She befriends Elena because of her interest in Meep, and begins to bond and have friendly competition with her. Unfortunately, shortly after graduation she’s dragged into the villains organization and now has to fight with Elena!

Shiro is Courtney’s childhood friend, and another member of the friend group! She’s got a ton of passion, and is willing to follow her best friend to the ends of the earth, but conflict arises when during school and post graduation, she notices the two of them drifting apart culminating in… well, you know.

Elmira is another school friend of the trio! She has the very good motivation for magical forking that is ‘prove my parents wrong’ which like. Good for her, but it leads to her growing resentment of Elena as she watches her surpass her and leads to her joining the same base as her upon graduation. Oh and shes a clone, nbd.

Now for some veterans! These are Malerie and Mary, the group Elena and Elmira are assigned to after they graduate! Malerie is an autistic queen, and Mary is her chill punk girlfriend, and a pretty cool mentor.

Annnnnd here’s the team Shiro and Courtney get assigned to! To be honest these guys were repurposed a bit from some old ocs, so meet Alice, Marina, Jay and Emma. Three magical girls, and Jay, a magical boy who discovered his identity while in school! Marina can be a little strict, but she mostly just wants everyone to be their best, and Alice is her rebel biker gf! And Emma decided to become a magical girl because she thought shows about them were cool. Also they’re childhood friends!

Ms Lotus is the main fours teacher! She has a low tolerance for nonsense, but she’s extremely caring! Little do the characters know she’s working for the villains with a deal ongoing for them not to hurt her students!

[nehswritesstuffs]

Cora Week 2023 - 6 - Fantasy AU

It’s Cora Week, everyone, so time to celebrate our favorite doomed puppy clown with some fic!

Prior fills: Smile [FFN/AO3] - Gun [FFN/AO3]  - Season [FFN/AO3]  - [...]a change[...] [FFN/AO3] - Family [FFN/AO3]

1062 words; I was given an opening to write a fantasy AU and I’m running with it; basically everything’s the same except for the addition of one weird detail that could make or break the show nbd; I flirt with very recent manga spoilers with this one so please be forewarned; this is by far the longest of the fills and that’s alright since I wanted to make it LONGER but restrained myself because that was not the purpose here; technically contains stuff from the prior fill but not really

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“You must remember,” his father had said, so long ago now. It had been a quiet night, with Mother embroidering by the fire and Doffy already asleep from the day’s adventures. Father had pulled Rosi aside and set him on his knee like the proud papa he was. “You are only Human, Rosinante, but a very special Human.”

“Cousin Mjsogard says we are gods,” the boy parroted. “What does that mean?”

“It means that your cousin believes a lie, no more,” Father replied. He sighed, which he often did while talking about cousins and aunts and uncles and neighbors. “You, your mother, and I… we were all born as Humans, just as much as many of the people in Mary Geoise. It is something to love about yourself, to embrace, to love…”

“…and Doffy too!��� Rosi’s face fell as he saw his father’s expression grow weary. “Is… is Doffy not a Human?”

“He is not, unfortunately,” Father said. “His birth had been foretold for a long, long time—no. He is not Human, not like us… and even then, not like you.”

“Like me…?”

“Yes.” Father’s face was so incredibly sad as he stroked his younger son’s hair. “You are the only one immune to Doffy’s power. It is not powerful now, but given time and practice, it will be deadly to others. You must learn how to protect him and those around you, or else the tales will come true.”

“What tales?”

“The Death of Joyboy and the Age of True Darkness.” Father stared at the fire for a moment, thinking. “It is why we shall be moving in a few weeks.”

“…moving?! Where?!”

“That remains to be seen, but you mustn’t tell, because Doffy mustn’t know until we are preparing to leave,” Father said. “This is a big change, and it will hopefully help you as you care for your brother.”

Rosi pondered that. “What is Doffy…?”

“That, my child, is something for another day.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Rosi was seven when he finally learned what his brother was.

“…a cockatrice…?” the boy wondered. He frowned almost exaggeratedly. “What’s that supposed to be?”

“The books in our old library said it was a powerful creature that could kill by looking into its eyes. Sometimes touching, sometimes breathing.” The older boy sifted through the trash and found some bread that wasn’t quite terrible, passing it to his brother. “They’re a type of dragon.”

“…but why…?”

“A cockatrice is supposed to be born when it’s time for the Celestial Dragons to defeat Joyboy,” Doffy said. “I was supposed to be the one to bring in the True Age of Dragons… but Father went and ruined it.”

“Why would you want to destroy Joyboy? People ask him to come and free them.”

“Exactly.” Rosi shivered as Doffy’s face got real scary. “Only the powerful get to truly be free. That’s what I’ll be: the most powerful person in the world. Greater than I—”

“No…!” Rosi dropped the bread and put his hands over his brother’s mouth. “We’re not supposed to!”

Doffy shrugged Rosi off and huffed indignantly—he knew his brother was right. “All I need to do is get strong, and then I can find Joyboy and look at him.”

“Why… why would you want to do that…?” Rosi picked up the bread and saw it was still close to edible. “He could be old already, or not even born. He could be a she, or an it, or a they—do we know if Joyboy is even Human? Already a slave?”

“All I know is this,” Doffy took off his sunglasses, his glare piercing and scary and full of rage, “is going to bring the New Age, and instead of the Dragons at the top, it will be me… us…” Something rustled in the garbage and both boys looked—the moment the elder brother saw the rat it began to convulse and froth at the mouth. Rosi turned away as Doffy reached for a rock, the sickening thud confirming that the poor rat had been put out of its misery. “Father can roast this over a fire.”

Rosi was certain he did not like rats, though he did pity them.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“He’s done a convincing job, Young Master, but how do we know this man is telling the truth?” Diamante frowned. He, Pica, and Trebol were in Doflamingo’s office, with the strange mute man who claimed to be their leader’s long-lost younger brother sitting off to the side. The three Elite Officers were wary of this man—he looked so much like their leader—and wondered.

“Indeed,” Trebol agreed. He sucked up a drip of snot into his nose with a snort. “Identifying marks can be faked and information learned.”

“Then let’s try something that can’t be faked or learned,” Doflamingo stated, voice even and dark. The Elite Officers all shuddered as Doflamingo went past them and stood in front of the stranger. “Stand.”

He did, then scribbled something on his pad of paper: What do you want?

“Look me in the eyes.”

Doflamingo took his sunglasses off and stared at the man. He stared right back, meeting his mangled gaze head-on without so much as a falter. Tears began to well in his good eye and he palmed them away.

“It’s him,” he said, trying not to sniffle. Doflamingo put his sunglasses back on and hugged Rosinante. “Welcome home, brother.”

“He survived?!” Diamante gasped.

“He’s not writhing in pain…” Pica marveled.

“Most people are rendered helpless in an instant!” Trebol puzzled.

“Not my brother—he’s the only one it doesn’t work against… always has.” Doflamingo led Rosinante towards the Elite Officers with a grin. “Gentlemen, I do believe we have a new Corazón for the Heart Seat after all.” He felt Rosinante tug at his shirt and he looked at the writing pad.

Rendered helpless? I thought your glare killed.

“Not anymore,” Doflamingo replied sadly. “It hurts, it tortures, but it’s not like it should be. You can thank our fool of a father for that.”

But you—Rosinante stopped writing when his brother’s hand rested on his.

“You have a lot to learn about the last few years, dearest brother,” he whispered. “Don’t worry—I’ll make sure you stay at my side… at the top…”

Rosinante gulped and nodded, though inwardly was doing a dance for joy.

He was in.

[ryttu3k]

Thoughts on His Dark Materials 3.07 and 3.08 - The Clouded Mountain and The Botanic Garden. Spoilers for the entire series, both TV and book!

Will be going through the tags tomorrow. Blacklist 'hdm spoilers' if you want to avoid!

Lyra’s 'fall': Honestly the whole story scene was... almost perfect, I kind of wish Mary had mentioned her first kiss and the marzipan connection when she was younger. But man, just the way she's telling the story, the way Lyra seems so completely entranced, how she and Will are both very clearly cognizant about how this will be relevant to their own lives... It's such an important scene, and aside from wishing Mary had mentioned the connection to that first kiss, that first memory, it was done beautifully.

Mrs Coulter and Asriel: Who gave Ruth Wilson the right to make me literally cry over Marisa Coulter, thank you, that is rude. God. The combination of lying for her life but also grabbing onto the bit of truth in there - she probably was being honest when she said she hated how loving Lyra felt. She had been transformed by her love, but it was awful to her. She had been completely in control, and now there was someone else she would live for? Disgusting, could not recommend. ...and she still made that decision in the end. 'Cesspit of moral filth' she may have been (and she was! She was objectively an awful person!), but that seed of love still was stronger.

Asriel's speech was genuinely emotive. Asriel having to confront himself was fab. I like the detail how Mrs Coulter already knew who she was, so she faced Metatron directly, but Asriel had to go through that mental battle first to get to the point where he could act.

And goddamn, no words for the actual Abyss scene. No words. It was beautiful and I literally cried, especially when Mrs Coulter's expression just became almost peaceful and resigned instead of that snarl, and oh god the scene of Lyra and the monkey reaching out to each other. Like, yes, the relationship was... tense, but I think Lyra knew, at that time, that her mother loved her. In the end, she loved her.

The final battle: It's not... really over, is it? They've defeated the Kingdom of Heaven, yes. They've defeated Death, with a door that will always be open now, that will always be an escape. But the Magisterium - and other forces in other worlds, like the Temple in Ogunwe's world - still exist, and frankly, they weren't exactly acting on evidence of Metatron in the first place. They've stopped death, but the Republic of Heaven is a hell of a long way away. The Magisterium is still going to act under the Authority's name, and who cares if he's dead?

(As a side note, it does amuse me how just... blase that is. "Huh, here's a weird box. Huh, there's an old man inside. Oh, he dissolved. That was odd. Let's move on." Similar level of blase in the book, too, so that was entirely accurate. They just killed God nbd. I do have further thoughts on how that scene was handled, see below in the 'as a standalone series' section, but I'll go into that there.)

The daemons: Okay back to the monkey. God he really was Mrs Coulter's soul, wasn't he? In the beginning, he showed a lot of the cruelty and animalistic anger and emotion that she never let herself show, got to be nice, good, respectable. Never mind her screaming anger at the injustice of her life, she'll never let herself even acknowledge it. She'll bury it down. She'll hurt it. ...and then she starts to change. And then she starts to love, and feel vulnerability. And then her daemon goes from demonstrating her suppressed rage, to demonstrating her suppressed love, because both are just as dangerous when you need to be in absolute control of yourself and your emotions. Honestly, that's why I loved that scene of the two of them from 3.06 so much - it was Mrs Coulter beginning to come to terms with herself, with everything she's pushed on to her daemon over the decades, to recognise they're a part of her too. And when she goes to meet Metatron, she knows that even though she's locked everything tightly down again, that part of her still exists. It's through her daemon that she's able to give Lyra one final message - that she's loved.

For the others: Kirjava my beloved I audibly gasped when I saw her sweet little face! Just a little darling, and I'm glad Will has her now. Also may have squealed a bit when Mary's showed up. "There you are!" Stelmaria, and joining in on the battle without hesitation, because even if Asriel ignored his own daughter, Stelmaria has always loved her and Pan. And Lyra and Pan - the reconciliation, where Pan was being stubborn as hell, of course he was, he's Lyra's soul, but there was just that longing from both of them... Honestly, I am nervous, since I've heard that things don't really get any better in Book of Dust, but for now it's just that sweet little reunion, where it was just that easy, honest, "I love you" because they both wanted to be back together so badly.

Mary: God I love her. I want her to be my cool aunt. She was curious and compassionate and warm, she looked after those two lost kids, she talked to them as adults. I did feel genuinely sad for her, having to leave a world she so obviously loved, but I suspect she'll do fine afterwards. I think Simone Kirby was my favourite cast member after Ruth Wilson?

(Also, she's queer! Hell yeah.)

Lyra and Will's love: Super unpopular opinion that may be coloured by being aro af here, but... I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that they separated, and I don't think they were necessarily each other's One And Only True Love For Ever And Ever. The prophecy wasn't about a true love's kiss restoring Dust. It was about making that decision to experience. Yes, first love can be powerful, but it's not the be-all and end-all, and if one or both ended up falling out of love, finding someone else, living the rest of their life with them, being able to love them wholly and entirely, with Lyra/Will just being a fond early memory... that's okay. You're not bound forever to the person you had your first kiss with when you were fourteen.

I don't know. It just strikes me as odd and kind of uncomfortable that so many people say that they're True Love Forever. They're kids, experiencing their first romantic relationships, with all the emotional highs, Big Feelings, and, er, screaming awkwardness ("Er... you know, Dust and, uh... trees." Oh Will). They could very well move on. It happens, and it doesn't lessen the fact that they restored Dust through their choices. It was right for them then.

I will now bravely submit to being tarred and feathered, haha.

That said, the 'every atom' speech, that last kiss through the window, the montage of them meeting in the park... I was sobbing.

(Also, honestly, from how lonely Lyra looked returning to Oxford. Will is back with his mother, and he has Mary in the same city. He has support structures. Lyra has lost both parents, complicated feelings and all, she's lost Roger, her best friend, and she's lost Lee, who loved her like a daughter. She still has Iorek and Serafina, but Iorek is likely preoccupied in Svalbard, and Serafina probably has Witch Things to do. Lyra only has Pan.)

The HDM series as an adaptation: So, now some thoughts on how the series did! Looking at it from two different perspectives - how it went as an adaptation of the books, and how it went as a series standing on its own.

As an adaptation, it absolutely made changes, yeah. Did it still feel like His Dark Materials, though? That's the most important part, and in my opinion, yeah, it did. It told a story about how free will and independence and self-actualisation will always defeat the suppression of information and controlling others through fear. It told a story about how it's not a bad thing to grow up and change, that working out who you are is one of the most important tasks you can undertake. It told a story about how what you do in this life is what's important, not promises of a Distant Hereafter. So yeah, in that case, absolutely still a successful adaptation.

Also, let's face it, a lot of the changes they made were just due to the reality of the medium. Yeah, Lyra and Will were older now (Lyra talking about how they ignored her for thirteen years places her at roughly 14-ish by the end, Will is maybe a year older, so they're not twelve-year-olds). That's... pretty unavoidable when you have actors who do inconvenient things like ageing, haha. It still fit the story about that transitional period from childhood to adulthood, it just wasn't literally puberty. And things like showing much more of Mrs Coulter's personal storyline, I think, was an incredible decision, because they had an actor in Ruth Wilson who could absolutelybring it, and it made her one of the most compelling characters to watch I've ever seen. Changes like Lee passing through the door instead of joining the final battle - that worked. Changes like fleshing out Ogunwe's character - that worked, because it showed the influence of the Kingdom of Heaven even in other worlds. Yeah, it's not literally book-exact, but they weren't random changes, they were changes made to fit the medium.

The Lord of the Rings films do this too. They're not exactly word for word, but they still fit the spirit of the story, and the medium, and they're still incredibly successful adaptations that fans of the books can find a lot to love in.

Also, when they do hit things word for word? Goddamn, chills. I'm incredibly glad they kept the 'every atom' speech, because it really does feel like the most sincere declaration a young teenager can make to her first love, and it's sweet and honest and heartbreaking. (I also really liked that they kept the 'cesspit of moral filth' description!)

Definitely wish they had kept the line about creating the Republic of Heaven in their own worlds, though. That's, um, kind of an important theme.

The HDM series as a standalone series: So, as a series? Obviously I can't comment from the perspective of a non-book reader, because, well, I have. (Fun fact! I first read HDM when we first moved here seven years ago. We didn't have internet for two days, so I went, "Well, why don't I have a look at that trilogy I bought for ten bucks at a book fair a few years back?" The internet came back on when I was halfway through TAS. I did not stop reading.)

Just from going by the subreddits, though? Yeah, there are... issues there. Obviously it's brought in a hell of a lot of new fans, a lot who now plan on reading all the books now they've seen the series. But there are enough questions being asked to make me think that maybe the series didn't explain stuff as well as they could have to someone who hadn't read the books. There were so many posts blasting Lyra, mostly, about her decision to go into the Land of the Dead to find Roger, because they saw it as selfish and irrelevant in the scheme of things. (And it was selfish! Lyra acting on her instincts without knowledge of the prophecy is what enabled her to fulfill it in the first place, and the fact that it was a selfish decision just indicates that she's a flawed character! Characters are allowed to be flawed!)

For this pair of episodes, the questions I see over and over were - why do they have to separate, when Will's dad clearly could stay in another world for years (because the series didn't sufficiently express that John was actively dying and wouldn't have survived much longer anyway, I feel he should have explained to Will that he had been dying already when he was shot because he was in a different world), and who was that old dude in the box, anyway.

If you're doing an adaptation of an existing series, you really do need to cater for two audiences - the source material fans, and the new fans, and the sheer number of questions people had about elements that weren't fully explained in the series indicates that it may not have completely succeeded in telling a narrative to the new fans.

Still, overall - beautiful job. Not perfect, I'd probably put the series as a whole at 8.5-9/10, but damn, they did the near-impossible, and made a beautiful, compelling TV series out of His Dark Materials. Well done to them all!

[theresalwaysfanfiction]

Ok so was anyone hearing Dean’s Theme in the scenes when John opens up to Mary about Henry and the scenes with Henry?

Like nobody is talking about that.

Maybe it’s been in other episodes so nbd? And I somehow just missed it?

[norrussells]

i wish you the happiest of birthdays!! hope you have a good day 🥳🫶🏻

aw Mary tysm 😭😭 and you too ofc!! my day was great overall i just had a 2 hour exam to stress over but it was nbd hahahah just shit timing 💗💗💗