#ohhh probably one of my favorite events

[eorzeashan]

Benkei! That still doesn't make any sense! What does being interspecies have to do with me being taken as a bridegroom?!

...Not that I'm complaining...

[enden-k]

So I can't stop thinking about the character joining lines like you mentioned earlier. Like, I've thought about them all day, just who would interact with who, what they would say, etc etc. My favorites that I made up are probably 1) Klee joining Jean and immediately going "I promise I didn't do it this time" and Jean is a suspicious "what do you mean?" And 2) Faruzan joining Wanderer and complaining about how he broke her gadget in that one sumeru event ("you still owe me an apology, young man!")

It's honestly made my day a little better <3

ohhh i love the faruzan one, that would be so funny her lecturing him akjsbcjk

but yea theres sm potential ughh like wanderer and childe joining and wanderer is just all dry "this is a joke"

the oldest archon and the youngest archon interacting!

or kaveh joining haitham and kaveh goes

rlly wish we had these interactions like hsr, it would be so cool aaa

[jessicas-pi]

DIRECTOR'S CUT ON COMMIT TO THE BIT but only like the first two chapters i am so far behind 😭

girl I wish I had been as productive as you think i've been 😭 there's only two chapters so far-

(But, hey, good news! Chapter three is verging ever closer to probably being done! And it's only taken me about... eight months... hahaha *dies on the inside*)

Anyway, i'll do what I did with the other ask and just go through it and talk about stuff!

Okay, so this fic was originally called "The Con" because it involved winning a lot more bets via subterfuge and holding hands. That changed and so I renamed it!

Oh yeah! And so, this fic was partly inspired by the song Summer Nights from Grease, where the guys and girls are enthusiastically listening to completely different stories of the same event. I flipped it around so they had completely different reactions to the same story and Sabine and Ezra were very UNenthusiastic and that was what the scenes with their friends were based on!

Aylan (the vostress kid) definitely heard some obitine stories from his dad and finds the parallels very amusing.

I know i've said it a few times before, but it always delights me to mention that the three Togruta sisters (Chisica, Am-lee, and Khenna) are based on me and my sisters.

OHHH fun fact! Originally the conversation where they split up the profits from the bet and the conversation where Sabine brought up fake-dating were two different conversations! The first one was as-is in the fic, but the other one happened like a week later when Sabine was hanging out in a tree coral with some of the girls and watching Ezra doing lightsaber forms and maybe drawing him shirtless a little bit and they hype her up to "ask him out again" and she goes over and interrupts him and they end up having the fake-dating idea conversation while he's not wearing a shirt and she's blatantly checking him out (and at one point actually half-reaches-out to touch his abs before she catches herself) and he's just "????" the whole time. It was funny, but I decided it was too early in the (fake) relationship for her to be so obvious about it, and I needed Fenn Rau to overhear the conversation and that was easier if they were on the Ghost, so I combined the scenes.

Oh also! Originally, both Vinn AND Tarik were gonna get kicked out of the friend group for being nasty but then I decided to make Tarik less nasty and give him a redemption arc.

ok, reading on, la de da...

The post-stargazing scene! So, I had to keep dialing things back because my shippy writer brain was moving their relationship ahead WAY faster than it was supposed to go. For example, in this scene, originally, they were going to share Sabine's bunk and definitely not cuddle or anything, it won't be weird at all, but again--just too soon. I made up for it with excessive cuddles in the end of the chapter & in chapter 2.

KATKA CAMEO!! Ok so for those who don't know---katka is an OC from my Teenage Rebellion AU. She's Gar Saxon's niece but she's utter sweetness (with a slight twist of crazy) and totally on board to stick it to the Empire. In the TRAU, she also has a massive raging crush on Ezra (albeit an Inquisitor iteration of him), so when I needed a random character to be envious of Sabine here, I figured I'd reuse her lol.

Oh yeah! Another condensed scene! Where she tells him about the Mandalorian ways of saying "I love you" and where she asks him to fake marry her used to be two different scenes! Like with the other one, I added the second one to the first. I went through a few versions of the fake-marriage-proposal, including one where Aylan came along with Ezra to Mandalore and was the one to suggest they tie the knot, apparently unaware it's all fake (but actually 100% aware it's all fake because his psychometry revealed it)

not to brag or anything but "Ezra did not regret fake-marrying into money" is one of my favorite lines i've ever written.

(btw, I still crack up when I remember that in your comment on chapter 1, you called Ezra a repressed victorian maiden for panicking over being able to see sabine's arms and legs. and I think everyone should know that You Are Right, Ezra Is A Repressed Victorian Maiden.)

OK ON TO CHAPTER 2!

i had so much fun with this chapter because they're both full to bursting with love for each other and neither of them will admit it until the last possible moment. I think that might actually be why Chapter 3 is taking so long--they're not hiding their feelings anymore so there's no more poetic internal monologues about how much they adore each other lol

Ah yeah on the topic of repressed feelings--the line "Kanan is fairly sure it’ll take at least five years and possibly a child for Sabine to admit that she’s actually in love with her husband" was supposed to actually be what happened. Sabine and Ezra were going to go on pretending the marriage was fake for years and finally one night when they were cuddled up, Sabine blurted out that she was in love with him and he was like "Yeah. I know." and she was like "wait what?? how did you know?? I was so subtle about my feelings!!" and he was like "Sabine, you kissed me good-night ten minutes ago. you're constantly calling me extremely romantic pet names in mando'a. we have two children and only one of them is adopted. your feelings are about as subtle as a paint bomb to the face." and she was just like "....oh." and then that was the end of the story! BUUUUT then I decided to do a love confession during the Lothal arc, and that led to the... surprise... at the end of chapter 2, which led to there needing to be a THIRD chapter!

OH HAHA OK MORE FUNNY STUFF. So the part with sabine's nightmare that leads to the "two besties chilling in a bathtub...?" scene was ALSO split up into two different events! I've been thinking about doing some edits of both chapters of CttB because I didn't really stop to edit either of them before posting (and a good chunk of chapter 2 was literally written the day before I posted it), which I mention because I was considering reverting the two scenes back to their original versions because the og tub scene was pretty funny. It's hard to describe in brief words, but basically... yeah it's too hard to describe, just take my word for it, it was pretty funny. (it involved Ezra singing along to We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together with a shampoo bottle for a microphone and Tristan playing a petty revenge prank that goes sideways.)

The cut between Ezra worrying about Sabine being upset about his feelings for her and thinking "what would she think if she knew??", and sabine's pov opening with "Sabine can't stop thinking about kissing his stupid face" never fails to make me snicker.

Oh hey I just got to the thrawn pov and that reminds me. at one point I was thinking about having a scene including Ezra and Thrawn's conversation aboard the Chimaera and thrawn REAAAALLLY pushes his buttons about Sabine, using the information that he figured out about their marriage. Actually, if I do that edit, I might write that scene.

Poor Hera--she keeps unintentionally being responsible for all of the sabezra relationship development lol.

OOH SOMETHING ELSE! So, originally, the love confession was WAY different. First of all, it wasn't in their room--it was in one of the caves. Sabine still went looking for Ezra, but she found him by following a Loth-wolf. And he actually confessed his feelings first! In this version, he was afraid he was going to die and impulsively blurted out that he loved her. Then he got nervous and started rambling a little and she shut him up with a kiss. But I changed it--I wanted her to be the one to take the leap and 'fess up, and if I set it in her room, I could have the funny Ketsu scene afterwards.

And then True Love's Kiss woke someone else up! (aka kanan got yoinked out of his comatose state by telepathic TMI)

oh yeah and to anyone wondering, that "another dawn breaks" line from the Kanera scene was ABSOLUTELY a reference to A New Dawn.

Oh and that Ketsu scene---that was actually a scene I saved and reused after cutting it from a different WIP of mine! There were two variations--the one I ended up using, and one where she accidentally interrupts the very first kiss and they're both like "OH COME ON!" because they've been waiting for this moment FOREVER and like ten seconds in, it gets interrupted, and Ezra decides that, darn it, he's been waiting for this for so long, he's not going to wait any longer! and he just pulls Sabine right back into the kiss and uses the Force to shut the door in Ketsu's face. I did this version so that I could include dialogue!

I'm just now realizing that I actually skipped over the entirety of Family Reunion and Farewell, I went straight from Jedi Night to Happy-Ever-After. But in my defense, plot-relevant episodes don't matter much when it comes to crack fix-it fics.

And... I think that's all my thoughts I have on this! Thank you for the ask!! :)

*roll end credits*

[ragnarokhound]

30, 31, 36 for the writing ask game pls!

(also adore your ask box line shsjjdjdjf)

:D thank you for the asks! (And hehehe thank you, when I did my avatar rebrand I thought it was time to update that too)

30. Describe a fic that almost happened, but then it didn't.

Ohhh man, haha, this fic has actually been on my mind a lot today, I've explained it to three separate people lmao.

So okay, I have this old WIP from last year. It was going to be the next fic I wrote after my first Jaytim fic, I was going to write it on PURPOSE with a PLOT and PINING and EVERYTHING. The WORKS. It was my first attempt at writing Jason's voice too - he's the POV character - and instead I wrote Hurt/Comfort lmao. This fic was heavily inspired by listening to "This Losing" by the Airborne Toxic Event on repeat during February of 2023, and was going to feature a friends with benefits situationship that quickly spirals into Real Feelings that Jason is having trouble grappling with because he's afraid of scaring Tim with how intensely jealous/possessive he gets. With how much he loves him :')

Eventually I'll write it... someday...

31. What was the most difficult fic for you to write (but in the end you made it)?

Oh, Hurt/Comfort for sure. That fic was SO nerve-wracking because uhhhhh I'd never written BDSM before! Not really! Not a full on, planned out scene! And on top of that, Hurt/Comfort is experimental with it's choose-your-own-adventure style two endings, so once I was done with writing Hurt I had Comfort to write as well, lmao. I'm pleased with it, but in retrospect, imo it's pretty vanilla for what it is (this may be relative lol), and I feel like I've improved as a writer since posting it :)

(I really enjoy writing panic attacks and bad mental spaces tho, and I still really like the small moment in the bathtub when Tim is sucked into his short flashback uwu sorry Tim, but I had to do it to em)

36. How do you come up with fic titles? What's the one you're most proud of?

In the grand tradition of fic authors everywhere, most of my fic titles are song lyrics or other quotes o7 Usually they're taken from the song I'm listening to the most while writing the fic, and usually I use the lyric I feel best captures either the vibe or a specific beat in the story.

That being said, Sit, Stay, Speak is probably my favorite original title, because it's out of context spoilers for the story as well as a funny dog pun :D Jason is going to sit in Tim's apartment, stay put, and speak to Tim without realizing it; and Tim is going to speak to Jason without actually speaking. His apartment, his life does the talking for him - and Jason hears it. I am genuinely quite proud of Sit, Stay, Speak, every aspect of it was agonized over, but it was worth the effort.

[the1975attheirverybest]

Hey babe! Not 1975 related but I'm just curious.

What's your favourite dish from childhood? Or just from middle Eastern cuisine in general? I'm currently trying to branch out from the ones I know (mostly Persian, Uzbek and afghani food) and I was wondering if there was anything specific to your culture or family that you liked? I've been trying to get in Palestinian and Jordanian food more recently as well.

Oh man how long do you have? We could discuss this forever hahaha.

Okay so, my favorite childhood dish is probably freekeh. (It also comes in a soup type thing and while the soup is good, it’s not AS good as the main dish.) it’s relatively easy to make for a skilled cook like yourself I think.

It’s a specific kind of green wheat cooked and then you serve it with a roasted chicken (or lamb or beef if that’s what you prefer). So think like quinoa, couscous, etc. sort of a grain bowl situation. Here’s the trick! Do NOT skip out on the garnish. The garnish is what brings it together. A bit of parsley goes on top. Toasted pine nuts (my grandma would also toast almonds and cashews sometimes). It’s usually served with a cucumber yogurt dip. Similar to a tzatziki vibe. Absolutely life changing.

The most important Jordanian dish and actually the most important part of being Jordanian is Mansaf. This one is a bit tougher only cuz I don’t know if you can buy blocks of fermented yogurt in England lmao. They look like rocks and you usually gotta soak them in water overnight then blend them up into a sauce. I’ve never been able to buy them here in the US, but ethnic markets usually have them in sauce format, jarred or in packaging of some sort. It’s called “Jameed” and it’s what you pour over a dish of roasted lamb and white rice. Again with the garnish. Same as with freekeh parsley and toasted pine nuts. The way that the jameed tenderizes everything and then the crunch of the nuts….ohhh man 💗 this one is quite culturally significant. It’s what we serve at weddings, family gatherings, important events, or like when in-laws come to visit or whatever. Literal feuds in between villages have been started over whose Mansaf is better and who has the better fermented jameed. A couple once divorced over it I shit you not. I mean they had bigger issues in addition to the mansaf but yeah lmao

I hope that was helpful though I feel like I just overwhelmed you.

[allwaswell16]

- 2023 Fic Fest Participation -

Number of fests: 5

Number of fics: 8 out of 13

Favorite fest/fic: @louisrarepairfest because it's mine lol. I get so excited not only to write for it, but of course, to read all the fics that get written for it. It feels like the greatest gift ever! I ended up writing 3 fics for my fest this year. My fav of those is probably: One 

Fests you would love to do again this year (if they come back): Obvs @louisrarepairfest and the newly reformed @1domegaverseficfest

Tagging: @voulezloux @enchantedlandcoffee @letthemusicmoveyou28 @justanothershadeofblue @nouies and anyone who wants to do this, just say I tagged you!

Fics & thoughts under the cut

Do You See What I See for @faithinthefutureficfest

T, 2k, Louis/Harry | vet Louis, humor, stray animals

I don't know what to say for myself here. I had already signed up for another song for this fest, but this one didn't have anyone signed up for it so I said I'd write a second fic for the fest. I apologize to SIBWAWC for writing the silliest fic ever for it. I have so so so enjoyed the comment section for this though hahahahaha! Loved everyone's screaming :)

Bitter Ends Turn Sweet for @faithinthefutureficfest

E, 30k, Louis/Harry | songfic, famous/not famous

Well, this is the fic I actually meant to write for this fest lol. The first time I listened to Chicago I was at an 11 waiting to hear what it sounded like and as I listened this whole story appeared in my head. And I was just like...nah, not gonna write a long kid fic, am I? Turns out I did.

All This Time for Knot in my Name (multi-fandom event)

T, 1k, Louis/Harry | omegaverse, flower shop

So this has a complicated backstory that I won't get into lol, but I noticed this event happening to counteract AI and was like ohhh that's very cool and when I went to the collection I saw @louisthiccsexyglitteryass already had fics there and I was like ooh there are already 1D fics there? So then I felt comfortable joining in, too!

On That Note for a defunct fest that is now @1domegaverseficfest

E, 6k, Louis/Harry | omegaverse, office au, epistolary

Someone suggested a prompt based on a Reddit post that I liked about co-workers who only spoke through random notes on their Dropbox folders. And I saw a post on Tumblr about feral omegas and so I put those things together for this. And I really loved the omega friendships in this one. And it was fun to write the little notes that went back and forth between Harry and Louis.

Ace of Hearts for @sevenseasofharryandlouis

E, 10k, Louis/Harry | pirates, sequel

I had been saying I would write the sequel for Ace of Spades for a YEAR when I saw this fest and asked if I could join way after sign ups closed because 1) it fit the theme and 2) a deadline was the only way it was going to get written lol

Crush for @louisrarepairfest

T, 1k, Niall/Louis | co-workers, office

I decided I wanted to write rare pairs I hadn't ever written before and Nouis just felt right for the prompt. I found the prompt on Tumblr about how some office himbos tried to cheer up their co-worker who had just been dumped by her boyfriend. And they thought maybe mac & cheese would help.

Daydream for @louisrarepairfest

T, 2k, Zayn/Louis | girl direction, coffee shop

Another rare pair I'd never written AND I'd never written girl direction before. I got the prompt from a fic I read in another fandom about two strangers who see each other at the coffee shop everyday and what happens after one of them doesn't show up one day. But then I started writing and it all got chaotic and a bit different than that prompt lol. I think it turned out really fun though!

One for @louisrarepairfest

E, 4k, Louis/Tommy Shelby (Peaky Blinders)

SO. Obviously a v rare rare pair. BUT I had been wanting to write Louis/Cillian Murphy for years and couldn't figure out the right story for it. And finally it occurred to me that what I wanted to write was Louis/Cillian's character on Peaky Blinders lol. And then it all fell into place. I really enjoyed writing this as a historical Peaky Blinders fic and playing around with the structure a bit which is why the title is One. You follow Louis from the start, then one month later, then one week later, then one day later, then one hour later...and it actually really worked!

[kafus]

OHHH my god vee and nova have a genuinely chilling backstory... I am also obsessed with the designs- when vee is older do they get a favorite food? if so what is it? also how does communication with nova work? do they talk in a human language or did they make up their own?

the excitement i felt seeing this ask literally hours ago vs having to be with family and then taking a nap... finally i can WRITE!! SDFKFSDL

when vee is older do they get a favorite food? if so what is it?

vee eats basically the same routine meals for years on end and it's not that she hates the food but i don't even think she particularly views food as something to be Enjoyed or Shared with people, she just doesn't have exposure to that. i think in the hypothetical where she and nova escape and are given the chance to heal and grow up, she would be kinda overwhelmed by food for a while/have a weak stomach and have to adjust over time. i have no canon event to reference here as i haven't thought that deep on it but i think vee would probably attach to like, one of the first meals ever made for her by another person who, you know, isn't related to the abuse of her childhood asdfksadf like if she were to have dinner made for her by a friend that would be her favorite comfort food for the rest of time. it's symbolic. do you feel me SDFJKDFS i'd have to think harder on what that would actually be or in what situation it would be made in though

also how does communication with nova work? do they talk in a human language or did they make up their own?

nova talks in human language similar to how some very intelligent psychic type pokemon talk in the anime (mewtwo etc) though it's implied that the way he was raised (socialized by humans) definitely helped with his ability to do this since espeons can't Usually do that from what we know about canon pokemon lore. fwiw vee just talks out loud to him and nova talks in her mind because i don't think espeon mouth can make those sounds LOL. nova kinda hates talking to anyone that isn't vee though so he ends up restricting that communication to her and therefore from the third person it looks like vee is just talking to her silent pink cat who is staring at her and making facial expressions :skull:

[slumped-in-the-arms-of-fiction]

N I C O L E

For the fic meme 😘

Ahhhh, you're so cute, I love you 😍😍😍😍 Thanks babe, excellent letter choices 😉

N: Any fic ideas brewing that you’d care to share?

Ohhh, so many. Too many. I tend to get a bolt of inspiration, start writing, and then get waylaid by another idea. But one I am making some inroads in at the moment is a weird little ✨time✨ fic, but I don't want to give anything away for that. We'll see if it works out LOL

I: How many fandoms have you written in?  Do you have a favorite?

*joints start creaking* back in my LJ days I wrote for Supernatural mostly, but d(r)abbled in a few others like True Blood. But yeah, three mostly – SPN early seasons, Gilmore Girls and Hellcheer, the latter two being the only ones on AO3. I got into writing later than most and also took a massive break. Hellcheer is my absolute 100% most favourite ever, in case no-one realised 🙃

C:  How did you come up with the title to [insert fic]?

I'm gonna just pick one, lemme see. "Those were days of roses" is a line from the Tom Waits song Martha, which I just adore – in it an elderly man contacts an old flame to see if she remembers him. The short little fic is just a chance meeting when Eddie and Chrissy are middle-aged and haven't seen each other in 20 years. I tried to imbue the sense of melancholy from the song into the fic, but gave them a little more hope, I think.

O: What are your thoughts on people writing fanfic of your fanfic?

Uhm, sure, go for it! I don't think anyone would, I don't think any of it would particularly lend itself to it, but inspiration strikes from anywhere!

L:  Which of your fanfics was the most emotionally challenging to write?

Most of my Hellcheer stuff is a bit of fun and not really emotionally taxing, I think. But my GG fic Not Time's Fool, maybe? I wrote the spaces between canon, so trying to see how Rory and Jess could move forward with those events took a bit of meditation on my part on why they would and how they could.

E: What character do you identify with most?  Is there a certain fic of yours that captures these qualities particularly well?

I don't know about identify, but there are some qualities in Eddie that feel like me. Or maybe that's just the Eddie I write – I probably write him lighter than canon tbh 😆 While I didn't stand on tables and act out so dramatically, I have always been someone who is a bit of a clown, who has a sarcastic comment or dumbass quip. Which fic shows that best? Fucked if I know. Maybe my New Girl fic, or Mary Jane?

(Also the sense of bottled up rage, or rage that simmers under the surface that Eddie has in some canon scenes. That's me too LMFAO)

Thanks for the ask, my love! If anyone else wants to read more waffle like this, check out the ask meme!

[princess-of-purple-prose]

Welcome to Night Vale episode recs

Welcome to Night Vale episode recs—for new listeners and for fans that fell off! I’m thrilled to see interest spiking in my favorite podcast after certain site-wide events, so this is a list made to make Night Vale's large catalogue less intimidating. WTNV is a master of both impressively plotted arcs and phenomenal one-offs, and there's something for everyone, whether you've never heard it before or haven't listened in eight years <3

Requisite warnings: Welcome to Night Vale is an absurdist horror-comedy, and it goes heavy on themes of unreality, especially in regards to perception, derealization, time and memory, existential dread, and body horror. The premise is that the listener is a citizen of the town, and Cecil often addresses the audience directly, not to mention frequently implies they’re in danger. The series is also (United States-centric) political satire about government surveillance, gun laws, and general conspiracy. Year One specifically is heavy on themes of anti-indigenous racism, which I believe were resolved insensitively. Please be cautious, and honestly, if anyone has questions about specific warnings/episodes I'd probably be down to answer!

On to the episodes! I’ve sorted them here into recs for new listeners and for returning ones. The list is quite long (26 recs in all—longer than a season!), so I’ve put it under a cut, but TL;DR: Year One is the best for people looking to get into the feel of the series, and returning listeners should consider relistening to some old arcs and poking into the new ones to see what’s changed in Night Vale, both town and show! The official transcripts page lets you sort by arc and by year, and I personally love the now-archived cecilspeaks on Tumblr for transcripts up to 176!

For new listeners

Recs to pique your interest! These are mostly one-shots which represent the ethos and storytelling of Night Vale :)

1, “Pilot”: An absolute classic, and one of my favorites even after so long! The first episode is literally amazing at setting up the general tone of the show and the town, not to mention dropping about a dozen future plot threads at once!

2, “Glow Cloud”: ALL HAIL—ahem. There’s a glow cloud and a wonderful end monologue :)

3, “Station Management”: Sneaking this in because this is the ep that really dragged me into the show! I could go in depth, but I know my audience; simply go forth knowing it features Cecil being a poor little meow meow <3

13 and 45, “A Story About You” and “A Story About Them”: The first parts of one of the most intriguing arcs of the series, told in second-person with an engrossing break from usual format and eeriness aplenty!

71, “The Registry of Middle School Crushes”: A family heist!!!

94, “All Right”: One of Night Vale’s most technically impressive episodes—listen to this one with headphones!

101, “Guidelines for Disposal”: Another personal fave. Something about this one really, really strikes at my heart, and I think it perfectly showcases Night Vale’s ability to balance its silly surrealism with haunting, lovely narrative

131, “Brought to You by Kellog’s”: I can’t possibly explain this one. Just listen to it

132, “Bedtime Story”: Oh man. Ohhh my god. Do you want to feel feelings about a boy who wanted to know everything

133, “Are You Sure?”: Another technically stunning episode; you have to relisten to this one for it to achieve full impact. Consider reloading once you’re done with your first listen, and again after your second :)

142, “UFO Sightings Report”: A lovely episode that offers glimpses into the lives of various Night Vale citizens. It ends heavily, but comfortingly all the same

159, “Cat Show”: You know how Cecil has a floating nightmare cat?

168, “Secret Blotter”: Extremely fun episode which goes off the usual format by a tad to great effect

All in all: I think Year One is the absolute best for exploring the ambience of the town and familiarizing yourself with recurring names and arcs, and even in a town where time doesn’t work, it’s best to start at the beginning! But there are so many Night Vale episodes famed for their prose and panache, and for good reason—shop around for what interests you!

For returning listeners

Meant to be a list of refreshers plus things that make you go “hey WHAT happened while I was gone???”

16, “The Phone Call”: Don’t we all wish we could recapture the experience of hearing Cecil squeak “Neat!” for the first time... (To new listeners: Have you heard Carlos the Scientist’s (season one) voice before? Have you heard Cecil being smitten and mortified? Would you like to?)

27, “First Date”: Listen, I’m trying to get y’all in the cecilos mood again, is it working

49A and B, “Old Oak Doors”: Possibly the best climax to any arc ever. This live recording goes so, so hard

67, “Best Of?”: Okay, I have a huge multidimensional timeline charted for Cecil, and this episode does heavy lifting for about 60% of it

110, “Matryoshka”: This episode will undo you. Talk about reckonings. Genuinely impactful writing, and a gorgeous resolution to one of my favorite arcs

111, “Summer 2017, Night Vale, USA”: THE episode for returning listeners. I’ll let the episode summary speak for itself: Everything is the same. Everything is different.

135, “The Mudstone Abyss Part 1”: Hey, remember that Kevin guy? Wonder what he's up to these days!

144, “The Dreamer” and the rest of the Blood Space War arc (144-149): This arc will fuck you up irrevocably and you will not regret it

171, “Go to the Mirror?”: Very possibly one of the scariest episodes in the podcast, thanks in no small part to Cecil Baldwin’s stellar voice acting and the sound design

182 and 192, “It Sticks with You” and “It Doesn’t Hold Up”: In line with 171, these episodes will make you fucked up about Cecil Palmer

195 and 196, “Silas the Thief”: Just trust me

212, “The Campus”: Wanna dive right into the current arc? Here you go!

My bias is especially clear in this set, and for that I apologize, but I really think it’s worth refamiliarizing yourself with some of the long-running plot threads to get the max enjoyment out of the current arcs, which so far have been high-octane and recalled a lot of early elements of the show, not to mention Cecil and Carlos backstory!

Closing notes

I know this is a long list! It was a struggle paring it down as much as I did—half my favorites aren’t even here :’) I hope my enthusiasm for so many episodes makes it clear how dearly I hold this show to my heart; Night Vale has been a second home to me for years now, and I hope you give it a chance to be yours too <3

[disquiet-dream]

Ok, playing nextfest demos now:

Goblin Cleanup: It's what it looks like. it's Viscera Cleanup Detail but fantasy. But also you're playing a goblin in a maid costume so that's at least an 8/10 already.

Beyond These Stars: "City builder on the back of a space whale" is a good concept, never really been able to get into city builders though so there's not much I can appreciate aside from that. It's cool though.

I Am Your Beast: Ho-lee SHIT this game is fun. I really need to play more fast paced shooters, I haven't played many but I loved every one I have. That aside, the writing is a biiiit heavy handed, but only enough to bother me in like. One short bit, in the demo, so it's probably fin.

(Also the whole like, "Ohhh it's a soldier who killed people but he feels bad now" is like. Not the best thing. But the fact that the premise of the game is literally him killing a bunch of people from the same organization because he'd rather do that than go back to them is like... on the more tolerable end of that, at least. Still not my favorite thing, but what can you do.)

Pinball Spire: Fun! Kind of frustrating controls because I don't know pinball well, but it's neat. Was also genuinely surprised it's not a roguelite but like, I'm happy to see more weird games like this that have like. Actual level design. Wasn't enough in the demo to see if it actually qualifies as a "metroidvania", so I am curious about that, but we'll see.

Tactical Breach Wizards: This is the first game I downloaded (I'm a fan of the dev) and idk why it took me to long to open it. Reminds me of Into the Breach in that there's a lot more pushing enemies around than just hitting them. Anyway, it kicks ass and I did this in it.

(To explain: I set up an attack that's supposed to be "if the enemy runs past this they get shot", except instead I just pushed the guy doing that so the line ran past them, shooting one enemy while pushing all the others into walls and killing* them)

(*you're only knocking people unconscious or pushing them out windows with slowfall magic on them, but shh.)

Aaaaaaand I started writing this post hours ago, but considering the events of my day I don't think I'll get to more, so that's it for now!

[ginnsbaker]

Hi J!!!

I’m reblogging your answer to my ask - it’s now one of my favorite Tumblr interactions. I am so flattered by your response! BTW, i’m posting another ask since my reply was too long for a comment lol

Re: Scenes from a Mariage

Yes, please, do check it out! Some say it pales in comparison to the original Swedish TV series, but it is still an absolute ride. It’s one of my favorites. As if life isn’t challenging enough - I love angst in all my media consumption lol

But in retrospect, I think it’s more in line with ILGOSS than in If I Bleed. Nevertheless, it still highlights those extremely flawed love interests with a chilling and heart-wrenching dissociative state who hide behind 10-foot concrete walls. It’s amazing. Please let me know what you think of it once you’ve watched it!

Re: Mirror Image & Confrontation Scene

I actually do come from a homophobic and religious Filo family - so my past relationships were doomed from the start, allowing me to feel all this heartbreak I read and watch about. But as you know, us Filo daughters might bend but never break! So life is a lot better now that I'm grown 🤍

Also, The Prophecy by TS is the eldest daughter's anthem. 🙋🏻‍♀️

Re: Matt & Confrontation Scene

I actually haven't finished Sorry for Your Loss yet. I know in some of the chapters of If I Bleed, Leigh wonders if she pushed Matt to the cheating.

But I wonder if Leigh sometimes feels that if she had accepted more love from her partner and had allowed herself to be loved the way people wanted to love her, would Matt have felt safe enough to confide his darkest fears and sadness to her. Knowing that he has made enough contribution to their relationship and he can ask for something in return.

I know that's not a healthy way of looking at a relationship. But I think no matter how perfect two people are for each other, there are still some vulnerabilities or needs that we hold back because we feel we are undeserving of that much attention. I wonder how that would play into y/n's and Leigh's relationship

P.S.

If you’re familiar with the “Graduated from the Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain School of Promotion” meme, it was from their press tour of Scenes from a Marriage 🤣

Good evening, O!

Ohhh! I remember seeing gifs of Jessica and Oscar in events, with Oscar sensually kissing her arm O_O so that's the movie they made together!

Yeah, I'll definitely let you know when I see the film :) I hope I'll have some time this weekend.

Oh yeah, mine are homophobic too, but that's because of their beliefs. I was literally raised in a Christian household, was very active in church activities and ministries since I was twelve, so it came as a shock to them when I came out. I really do hope it gets better for us. I'm embarrassed to admit that I haven't listen to album #2 of TTPD as much as the first one... so I haven't listened to The Prophecy O_O The thing is, I haven't moved on from the first compilation and I'm so obsessed with Guilty as Sin :))

I'll probably file away my thoughts on Leigh and Matt in the actual series for later. I'll bring it up next week :)

P.S. I had to google that, so no :P

[milogreer]

DA PIZZA GUYYY (for the send me a character game)

Anonymous asked: guy 🍕

THE ONE AND ONLYYY ↳ send me a character!

My first impression: i actually accidentally skipped the confession audio in chronological order so my first guy audio was “unwinding after a long day” and, like… i was conflicted. i thought he was A LOT. really funny, but a lot. i didn’t hate him but i also probably would’ve been fine without another audio. back to back with that one was “tries helping you sleep” which was still like.. hmm… puzzling feelings out…. and by the end of it when he made a suite life of zack and cody reference i wanted to push him around. so i think i liked him, but it wasn’t anything super serious

My impression now: jesus fucking christ. so like four days after those two ^ i had gone back to the confession audio bc i realized i’d skipped it. i can pinpoint the exact moment i passed the point of no return with guy and it’s at 1:58 when he says “and you know how i feel about a slot, ehh~ 🤪” because i tweeted it with the caption “i do quite like him… kind of annoying” LMFAO this one really brought a lot of character to honey and basically every line was like he was talking about me personally and it was UNREASONABLE. fell very deeply in love with him after this and even though he’s recently fallen from #3 to #5, i still love him very very much

A favorite thing: HE’S SO FUNNYYY humor is the number one thing i look for in people and guy has it in fuckin spades. speaking in references and quotes is something i’m very familiar with so it always makes me giggle when i recognize one 🤭 and his silly little “unhh 🤪” noise after he makes a dirty comment gets me too hehe, i catch myself doing it irl sometimes now 

Least favorite thing: please for the love of god i need him to talk about his creative writing degree. i want to know his favorite genres and i want to hear about his works in progress!! like i’m fine with guy being a less developed character with little to no angst but his degree is established in the timeline and definitely comes through in the way he talks sometimes, so let us have more of that!! i wanna knowww

Favorite interaction they have with another: WHEN HONEY LEAVES HIM SPEECHLESS IN THE CONFESSION AUDIO. obviously the cameos in gavin and asher audios are really good but ohhh my goddd when a yapper is left speechless by a kiss >>> honey’s surprise kisses are everything to me bc they seem very put together and always thinking two steps ahead so when they’re impulsive and it throws guy off his game i go CRAZY

A character that I wish they would interact with more: everyone talks about david/guy bc of david and honey being so similar but what about asher/guy, huh!! what about THAT trainwreck! they would set the building on fire within the hour. 

A headcanon: he is definitely lactose intolerant but he refuses to let it get in the way of the joys of life (pizza and ice cream). he’s also been practicing his signature since he started college for when (not if!) he becomes a best-selling author

A song: who i’m singing to by bug hunter !! i love bug hunter 💕 his stream of consciousness is just sooo guy

An unpopular opinion: while i do want more character development/lore when it comes to guy and honey, i don’t really want any angst out of them … at least not, like. wrt their relationship or major life events or whatever. if honey’s had a bad day at work or is feeling self-conscious or if guy tanks a pitch or he’s struggling with writer’s block then that kinda thing is fine, but i don’t want heavy angst 🫠

[misc-obeyme]

I'm with everyone else on my first thought being about you when i saw the new card 🤣 I'm debating if i should keep pulling bc i kindaaa want luci, but I'm not crazy for him y'know? I just like the art, but i have two copies of Barb so far

And yes, the last event I ended up finishing at 117 in rank. I haven't ranked this high in a while but my luck was great with the cards and it was the anniversary so i really wanted to be up there. I only go crazy and grind for the anniversary events, or if my fave is in the spotlight. This event i think I'll be chilling, I'm sure I can get all the cards by the last day

anyway how do you think everyone determined what foods are human safe for mc? Like has it just been learning from past humans trial and error?? Do they only use common ingredients?? Like mc DOES canonically eat devildom food (that one brain dish belphie likes is my first thought... Quetzacol...?) so idk??

they just have potions at the ready in case mc wants to try a new dish (i am an extremely picky eater but curiosity might beat me on trying food)

imagine if mc has dinner plans at purgatory hall or the castle and lets the brothers know in advance, and they get all excited to make a devildom dish that isn't human safe 💀

imagine craving something really bad for dinner that night, but mc can't have it. I could be bribed with takeout and ice cream if they want it that bad. Like "yes you can make this dish, but you are responsible for making sure mc eats". Reminds me of my mom making separate dishes for me and my brothers (usually non spicy ones)

Also the first day open at my new store was wild (i think we made $7000 in sales??), and trying to train everyone is hard. I think I'm possibly the favorite manager as well?? I'm the first one everyone seeks out when there's a problem 😭 But that might be because the majority of the team is the same age as me and feels more comfortable. Apparently I'm the 'chill' manager LMAO (I'm just anti social and tired). But this means I'm running around like crazy, I need a step counter at this point. My knees are dyinggg (our printer for online orders is on the second floor until we set up the portable one 💔)

anyway i hope you have a good day !! Or night !! i saw the post about barb/mammon and i was like "aw shit, another ship for me to be crazy about." BUT IT SOUNDS LIKE SUCH A GOOD SHIP, I LOVE IT, OKAY BYEEE

- ✨ anon

LOL it means so much to me that so many people think of me when it comes to Barbatos cards!

No, I totally get it the art is so good! Lucifer also just looks good in those casual skateboard outfits!

OHHH nice!! Congrats on getting such a high rank! I sometimes get higher if I go hard in the beginning, but I usually don't maintain that lol!

Ah yes, quetzalcoatl brains. Belphie you little weirdo we love you. I think they are implying that this is some kinda snake, but Quetzalcoatl is an Aztec deity who sometimes takes the form of a feathered serpent. So it's kinda like, what even are quetzalcoatl brains?!? I'm going with the snake theory because nothing else makes sense.

But anyway, I assume part of is trial and error... I can't imagine they haven't tried out all kinds of things on Solomon and possibly other humans who somehow ended up in the Devildom. I mean it's not like you know how a whole different species is going to react to food until you feed it to them, right?

But they do seem to be aware of some things already, such as lunatic pudding and the golden hellfire newt syrup or whatever it's called. So if they know some stuff, then they must have had humans trying it before.

As for MC trying new stuff, I think it's probably okay. I mean they have seven demons at their disposal on a regular basis. And if the brothers can't fix whatever the problem is, I'm fairly certain Solomon or Barbatos (or both) could. I do think MC would be taking a risk with some things, but hopefully they have enough help and their own magical knowledge to help them out!

I personally would fall victim to all the suspicious dishes. I like to try everything, no matter what it is.

I kinda like the idea of the brothers being excited to have something not safe for humans when MC isn't around lol. Like that sounds adorable! They're all guys guys we can have bloody bat legs for dinner because we won't have to worry about them turning MC into a vampire!

I also like the idea of them just having different stuff. Like I would absolutely be like I don't care, have all the bloody bat legs you want, as long as I have something else that I can eat!

I've often thought about what human world dishes I'd make for them if I had to cook. I can make more elaborate things, but I tend to fall on my easy staples because... well, they're easy. You can be sure I'm making them fried eggs all the time. Maybe I'll even put them on some avocado toast! Maybe I'd make a Devildom variant with cockatrice eggs and uh... whatever the equivalent of an avocado would be. Bread seems to be the same? Hmm.

Wow congrats on the high sales!! Training can be tough for sure, especially in a group situation! I don't doubt that you are the favorite manager~ if they're seeking you out, it's definitely because they trust you to help them! Ah, but I hope your knees feel better soon...

Honestly, I'm amazed at how many people seem to be interested in the Mammon/Barbatos ship?? Here I thought I was the only one lol. I just really like to consider different characters together and the way their relationship could go... I find it fascinating...

I hope you have a lovely day/night as well!! 💕💕

[oathofkaslana]

jean for ask game !! <33

YAYYYYY HAI EVEREST <3 my jeantual (short for jean mutual)

First impression:

ohhh....... she's sooooo boyfriend im obsessed w her.......................................................................................

Impression now:

white woman save me save me white woman white woman save me save me white woman........ god i looove jean :') she was my original mond blorbo and she has so much heart and she's literally just trying her best and but that leads her to making awful decisions sometimes and i Love her so so so bad i think she needs a break and like. a week-long vacation to a different nation w barbara. i can fix her And i can make her worse AND i can accept her for who she is ok. range.

Favorite moment:

a lot of lil moments actually but quick moments: her intro w lisa n dajnjkdsa, her patroling w lisa and the traveler being like "... what is a librarian doing on patrol???" and jean being like "she's capable", THE MOMENT IN THE WT WHERE SHE ENTERS THE LIBRARY EARLY MORNING W/O HER CAPE AND LISA SHUSHES HER AND POINTS AND SLEEPING COLLEI AND THEY BOTH SHARE A SMILE BC ITS THE FIRST TIME COLLEI'S ACTUALLY RELAXED IN MOND START SCRUIENYING SO SO HARD. THEY TALKED ABOUT HOW THEY WISH SHE WOULD FEEL SAFER IN MOND :'''''''). also that one moment in the first gaa event where the island starts raising and she like grabs klee's hand to shore :''''

Idea for a story:

HER AND BARBARA OTHER NATION ADVENTURE!!!!! probably inazuma or like. somewhere not close to mondstadt bc they need to be away from people they have to keep appearances up with. i just want them to bond :(( they make me so so sad. i want barbara to write an album based on her trip w jean and then jean helping barbara out w the songs and lyrical input and telling barbara all the things she likes about her songs and how proud she is of her STARTS FUCKING CRYING.

Favorite relationship:

dear god i have a lot. obvious ones are barbara, lisa, and klee. but i also have a soft spot for her and kaeya and diluc. :'') i actually adore jean and kaeya's friendship.

Favorite headcanon:

if i had my way she would come out as a butch bisexual i need her to cut her hair riiiiight now.

[maleksrami]

What is your favorite childhood memory?

What is your favorite smell in in the world and why?

What does "coming home" mean to you?

If you could see one artist live (in history of music), who would it be?

What is your favorite book?

What country would be on your bucket list?

Hope these questions help a bit xx

hi! thank you for these cute questions :)

i’m not sure i have a very specific favorite childhood memory, but lots of really precious ones. for example, i grew up with siblings and we used to play in our old backyard a lot. one of our favorite things to do on hot days was run around in our sprinklers to cool off. my sister and my brother and i would get in our bathing suits and just run around the grass while the sprinklers ran and it was very chaotic lol. sometimes we skipped the sprinklers and our mom would just spray us with the hose lol. eventually our parents got us a slip n’ slide and ohhh boy, our summer days kicked up a notch lol. i’ll always remember how fun and carefree that was. i miss being a kid 🥲

my favorite smell in the world is probably cinnamon. it just makes me feel warm, especially when i get to bake something with it and the whole house smells like it. or even just sprinkling a tiny bit over vanilla ice cream is such a treat!!

“coming home” to me just means safety. belonging. whether it be in the literal sense like “I’m where i live and i’m comfortable here” or the figurative sense like “I feel at home in this other place or with these people” (i.e. a concert, a vacation, a social gathering). I can feel at home in different places and sometimes without even knowing I would until I get there. I can feel at home watching a piece of media or listening to music.

when i was around 19, i got really into Nirvana. I’d choose them if I could pick an artist or band in history to see live. I actually kind of did once! when I was that age, I went to an event and saw the Foo Fighters perform there and Krist was also on stage with them! so i was technically watching three members of Nirvana (counting Pat Smear of the FF of course since he was a touring member with Nirvana too) and i was freaking out about that. I wished Kurt had been there.

never let me go is my fave book. it’s been a long time since i read it, i should reread soon!

ireland is my dream bucket list country. it looks so beautiful and i am very irish, i think it’d be nice to visit a place where i have familial ancestry and history ☘️

have a good weekend 💛

[justveeing]

Hey sorry if this is a little weird for you but I grew up watching Star Trek (courtesy of my parents) and they watched most the Picard content and whatnot but I had only ever been mildly interested in it, I saw some of the movies w Jim in it when they rolled around in theaters for their anniversaries and such and bought my mom some Spock merch for birthdays since he’s her favorite but probably somewhere around a month ago I saw the comic you did for the K/S event and it made me S P I R A L. I’ve watched all six of the original movies with William Shatner in them and I’m going through the first season of TOS (can’t wait for amok time as you might be able to imagine) and naturally as much fanfiction and comics like yours that I can get my eyes on and I just wanted to say holy fuck thank you I’ll be forever in your debt 🖖

HOW DO I ANSWER THIS OHHH MY GOD (,: I just got so giddy!!! I don't even remember why I started watching TOS, one day I was like "Imma sit my ass down and watch this I guess" and now I am here! So I totally getchu!

I am super giddy. Seriously! What!

Also also are you referring to my TOS comic or my SNW comic? because I love both dearly!!!!! and to know it moved you this much!??!!? AHHHHHH