#out of the 3 annie was my least favourite

[hyuneskkami]

› 𝐊𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐍 𖤓

╰ 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲 ✩ . . .

⊹ ࣪ ˖ a/n ☆ hi ceri!! thank you sm 💓 this is officially the first ask of this event, congrats heh <3 anyway, I hope these hcs don’t disappoint!!

▸ leo, annabeth and you are the power trio on the argo II—the three brains behind the entire quest

▸ leo thinks with his heart, and annie with her mind; you manage to strike a balance between the two and make empathetic, and logical decisions in crucial moments

▸ you also spend quite a bit of time with percy and grover, since I hc you guys to be childhood bestfriends, for some reason

▸ you also love love love spending time with nico and hazel! hazel treats you like her elder sister, while nico looks after you like his younger sister

▸ no matter how bad the situation is—on a scale of apollo to lester—you always manage to walk out of it unscathed (which is pretty surprising, owing to the number of sarcastic comments you’ve made at the wrong people)

▸ you’ve occasionally had library dates with all the girls! <3

▸ you’ve never regretted a single moment with your found family, especially since they’re always there for you, no matter what! if they ever find you going through something alone, you bet at least two of them are coming over to your room to eat your favourite ice cream with you binge watch your favourite show’s newest seasons

kozumesphone © 2024 | don’t repost my works onto other platforms, or edit and post them even on tumblr, without asking me first • don’t steal my works, steal my heart instead • reblogs and comments are more than appreciated !

[reisakumaproducer]

Rei Sakuma 2024 Card Reviews

I thought it would be fun to review all of Rei's new cards from 2024. I'll just be sharing what I like about each card, as well as scoring them out of ten. Here are my reviews <3

The Demon's Seductive Fangs - January 2024

10/10 - I love how Rei has his hand over his heart here. He's surrounded by the rest of his unitmates and is simultaneously "revived" by them. A single pose captures this perfectly. Overall, I really like this card and it looks good! Plus it came out on my bday and it's responsible for an inside joke between me and my friends

Scent That Leaves Impressions - February 2024

10/10 - It's a 3* and he's still serving cunt regardless

Mystery and Exhibition - March 2024

8/10 - This one is alright. There isn't anything jaw dropping incredible about it for me but it still looks quite good. I really appreciate how the unbloomed is from the conversation between Midori and Rei. It's a sweet moment. I think it would've been cool though if Midori was featured in the unbloomed, rather than it being from his perspective

A NIGHT of Salvation - June 2024

7/10 - The long-awaited Rei undead event 4*! Again, this one is alright. Nothing too crazy but still looks good for the unbloomed and bloomed versions

Lost One of the Legends - August 2024

6/10 - I really like the white streak in Rei’s hair. The magic looks really cool and makes the card feel unique compared to other event 4*s. Not sure how I feel about the unbloomed though. Rei’s face looks off to me, I think it might be the angle? Idk :(

Cherished Time - August 2024

10/10 - I ADORE this card. The outfit looks cozy and it gives off grandma vibes. I love the return to the glasses + ponytail combo from his repayfes card. This story is about Rei pretending to be a transfer student at Yumenosaki, so seeing a reference to repayfes is a nice touch. This card is pretty unique compared to other Rei cards simply because it tries out a new concept for him, and it works really well.

Song of the Unyielding Moon - September 2024

10/10 - Do I even need to explain myself? It's a Sakuma bros childhood card. Plus I LOVE the outfit in the bloomed card and I love cats. Rei casually wearing a suit in his childhood shows how quickly he had to grow up. This card is everything I would've wanted from a Sakuma bros lookback scout. It's perfect

Encount!! ★ Sunrises x Stars!! - October 2024

7/10 - I like how Rei looks in the unbloomed :) he looks nice in the Helios art style. The bloomed version is okay to me.

Sleeping SPARK - November 2024

7/10 - Honestly out of all the Rei anni lims, this one is probably my least favourite but I love the concept behind it. I love how Rei is put in the Spark category despite him being the opposite of energetic. It feels like a nod to him being "ressurected". The way Rei's bangs go across his forehead reminds me of Ore Rei. All the Yumenosaki Studco presidents are also in the Spark category, which makes the resemblance to Ore Rei feel purposeful to me

Intrigued Egoist - December 2024

10/10 - The unbloomed is Rei being pathetic AND it's from one of my favourite scenes in the story (the drinking trio shenanigans). I love the bloomed so much. We rarely get to see Rei in pink and this is such a fun take on the demon concept for cards

Since Rei's new 5* is a New Years one, I'll consider that a 2025 card. Anyways, these were my ramblings about each Rei card released this year. I really like the cards we got!

[asturniolos]

you too - matt s.

chapter one (intro) ; mystery boy

chapter 2

chapter 3

chapter 4

in which;

living out of an apartment in the city, it's your second year of university and things are going smoothly. one morning, your best friend annie tells you about a new boy attending your university; matthew sturniolo. he's hot, smart, and exactly your type. you don't think much of it, but once you meet him yourself, you can't seem to get him out of your mind- or your bed- and neither can he. but how long can you keep matt's triplet brothers, chris and nick, from finding out?

warnings - none (for this chapter !)

6:45am

my eyes slowly open to the sunrise slightly peeking through my window and the sound of birds chirping as i roll over, tap 'snooze' on my alarm, and sigh when i see what time it is. i rub my eyes and try to fight the tiredness flooding my body. as much as i love being to able to study literature at my dream university, waking up this early for lectures sucks.

today is tuesday, meaning i have almost 2 hours with my least favourite professor; mr bryan. luckily, my best friend annie, short for annalise, is picking me up afterward for brunch at starbucks. i would drive us there but unlike me, annie got her license the second she turned 16. i tried to get my license three times but didn't pass once and am way too scared of failure to re-try it. we're both 19 now and she's basically been my personal Uber for the last few years.

i rub my eyes once more, pulling the sheets off my body and standing up. i instantly walk to my bathroom and splash a hand full of cold water onto my face to help wake me up.

as I start to brush my teeth, i decide the silence in my apartment needs to be broken with some music. i walk back into my room and grab my speaker off the top of my dresser as well as my phone, opening spotify and clicking shuffle play on my liked songs.

valentine by COIN starts playing as a smile is suddenly plastered on my face.

"perfect.", i whisper to myself, turning the volume up by a few and walking back to the bathroom.

~

7:42am

blue.. or pink?  i tilt my head at my reflection and struggle to decide which long-sleeve shirt to wear.

"y/n? you there?"

screw it. i'll just wear a hoodie.

"...y/n?"

"sorry! i'll meet you out front in 5.", i apologise, remembering i'm on facetime with annie.

"ok.. don't take too long, i have something to tell you. and it's literally freezing out here. love you!"

"bye! love you too, annie!", i exclaim, making a kissy face at the camera before hanging up. i place my phone in the back pocket of my jeans and pull my favourite grey hoodie down from my dresser, sliding it slowly over my head so i don't mess up my hair too much. i grab my airpods and a random lip gloss from my bedside table and stuff them in my bag with my macbook and textbooks. glancing in the mirror once more, i hear a honk outside followed by annie impatiently yelling my name. i quickly turn my speaker off and rush into the kitchen, snatching my apartment keys off the counter and walking out the door.

~

as i stumble down a few steps and almost drop my bag on the concrete, i finally reach annie's car. i pull open the passenger door and hear bodies by dominic fike blaring. i get in and throw my stuff in the backseat as annie quickly turns the volume down and turns to face me.

"you're not gonna believe what happened this morning." grinning from ear to ear, annie turns back to face the road and puts the car in drive.

"ooh what is it? has mr bryan finally retired?", i reply with a giggle.

"better."

"better? no way."

annie giggles too and continues driving.

"well? tell me!", i say.

"there's a new boy. and he is definitely your type."

i roll my eyes sarcastically and look away from her. she says my name and i look back at her with half-fake annoyance plastered on my face.

"annie, you know i don't want anything to do with guys right now after what happened with the last one."

"just pleaseeee trust me on this, y/n! seriously, he's so hot."

"that's what you said last time! and the time before that!", i smile at her effort to hook me up with this mystery-boy.

"no this one's different! he's cute, and funny, and genuinely smart. he's studying filmmaking!", annie says in an attempt at being convincing.

"ok ok, what's his name then?". i try to hide my slight intrigue when she mentions film making; i was originally going to study filmmaking but chose literature instead as i felt i had more of a passion for writing.

"matthew - well, matt. i don't think anyone really calls him matthew. i mean, besides his triplet brothers when they make fun of him.", annie giggles.

"triplet brothers?"

~

before reaching our university, we drove for another 15 minutes listening to music and talking about this 'matt' boy - who i was slowly getting more and more excited to meet..

note ⋆｡˚

sorry this chapter is suuuper short, chapters 2-5 have already been written and are way longer- this one’s just kind of an intro to the series!

this is the first fic i’ve written since like 2020 so hopefully it’s not too terrible, trust it will be getting a lot better !! :)

[sundayshorrorshow]

Hiiihiiii!!!! Would you do a ranking of all the Stephen King books you read from favourite to least favourite in your opinion? :D

Bestie, you have blessed me with a question so great and I THANK YOU so so so so very much. I hope I do ranking right I'm not really sure if the way I do it is right but THANK YOU so much for asking.

Carrie #1

Always number one. I read actually read Carrie when I was twelve. I had seen the movie adaptations but I've never actually read the book until then. At that point I was really struggling and just in a very dark place. Reading the book made me feel much less isolated and alone. I love Carrie so much I have four copies of the book and I've actually hand written paper essays about the book.

Misery #2

I had actually never seen the movie before I read the book so that was really nice. I really like how it sucks you into the world. It's slow at times but that makes sense, Paul Sheldon was literally stuck in one room with broken legs. I really like how psychological it is. There is no supernatural monsters, the monsters are all real. I love seeing the back and forth and I love seeing Paul struggle with feeling sorry for Annie at times. I also love the refrence to The Shining, she calls Jack Torrance crazy. Great winter read!

Cujo #3

Cujo is a great summer read! It's very sad if you're sensitive around animal sickness and death, I cried a few times especially since Stephen King sometimes wrote in the perspective of Cujo. I really love how he chose a Saint Bernard. They're MASSIVE dogs and (from my experience) they're really sweet and really good with kids so to take that and corrupt it I loved seeing it. The ending is VERY DARK.

The Shining #4

Of course, husband Jack Torrance. I really love The Shining. It took me forever to read but not because the writing was slow, my reading skills have gotten so bad sense I've been working alot and under alot of stress. There where scenes that genuinely scared me and a book has never done that for me. I really like the meaning behind The Shining, I like why it was written. I think the hotel was a really good setting.

The Green Mile #5

Perfect. Wonderful. That's all I really have to say about it. It's just an amazing read. I'm definitely gonna reread it because last time I did I was thirteen. I don't remember much but all I know is that I loved at ATE that book up.

Firestarter #6

Like The Green Mile I read this book when I was younger and it is AMAZING. I'm a sucker for people with psychic powers. If you love Stranger Things, READ FIRESTARTER.

Doctor Sleep #7

I will say, I did not finish this book. Like I previously mentioned it wasn't really because of the writing or anything I just haven't been able to read books in awhile. At first I didn't want to read it because I didn't want there to be an explanation for Danny and Dick's shine, I thought The Shining was perfect. But I read it and honestly it's pretty good. I liked seeing Danny continue through the cycle of abuse other than break it.

The Dark Half #8

I didn't finish this one either. I love the concept, I think it's very clever. I love how it's all about writing. I like how it's got crime elements. But I also just kinda mentally checked out.

Bag of Bones #9

I was really hoping I'd love this book, but I didn't finish it because it bored me. This was the book my mother read while she was pregnant with me and it's her favorite so I wanted to read it because I miss her and all that. Anyway, I didn't make it past chapter 4 I wanna say. I will probably revisit it though.

I really hope my reading gets better. I'd love to read more of his books because he has A BUNCH.

[kimtaegis]

oh, annie dearest, the treasure that you are 🤍

i genuinely come back every so often to this side of the internet and catching sight of you on the dash feels like passing by that one house on your childhood neighbourhood road that was your favourite with all the pretty flowerbeds at the front, prettiest gate, how delicate and homey the structure is. you remind me of a place that's so safe, even if just from a distance after all these years. (on and off, i think i've been orbiting your community for about 3+ years now? i don't have the best grasp of time, but that sounds about right.)

i even think my last message similar to this was about a year ago; that, at least, checks out. i think i remember because i was going through a very particularly rough time in my life then — and i was sort of needing a certain type of energy to calm the nerves down. i think it was during a night (for me) where you were interacting with people via asks and... i don't know. you existed, as a voice over text on tumblr dot com slash dashboard, and you brought me so much comfort of simply how warm you are that it brought my tears at the time to a stop. it was so soothing, witnessing your energy; i hope you know that. thank you for who you are, and how you became to be the person you call you.

please know there is one little soul on a twin sized bed out there, cozied up in blankets, sending you thoughts of genuine care and adoration your way. take care of yourself, dearest 🤍

even though it’s been a week since you sent this, I’m still at a loss of words. how in the hell do I deserve this kind of message, I can’t wrap my head around it. from the bottom of my heart, thank you so, so much for taking time out of your day to write me such warm, loving words. I genuinely don’t think I deserve them, but nevertheless I’ll hold them so close to my heart, take them with me into the new year, and come back to them whenever I need them most. it’s just insane to me that I (probably) don’t know who you are and you tell me something so incredible that friends of many years wouldn’t say to me. you really deeply touched me and I am so grateful that I can – even though I’ve never tried to be – such a person here that can make you feel this comfortable and fond. it makes me so very happy and proud to know that this is what you think of me, it’s the highest compliment I could ever receive (I’m tearing up haha). thank you isn’t enough to express my gratitude, but still – thank you for sticking with me and for all your love, I’ll treasure it forever 🤍

[heybaetae]

maybe 5, 6 and 21?

5. What do you dislike most about making graphics / gifs?

not knowing when/if my photoshop OR laptop will crash in the middle of making something before i’ve made any saves to it. i got a new laptop last christmas but there’s something that makes it crash suddenly at least once a day and it has happened plenty of times while ps is running. luckily, the program manages to recover the unsaved file when i reopen it but it’s very annoying when i’m concentrated lol. other than that, i hate when i’m trying my best to color something and i simply have to give up. or the quality of something is so bad that i can’t make it look good. after you’ve gone through screencapping and waiting for the files to load and convert to frames, some decent time has gone by and it suuuucks to just be like…nevermind. it happens often.

6. Your favourite graphic and or gif creators

my current fave thing on this whole site is this comp @kimtaegis made me for my bday a few weeks ago 😭 annie is in my list of fave gif makers obviously. i also have a huuuge soft spot for @jiniekook’s work!!! @bladesrunner makes some of my favorite tv/film gifs and i recognize her coloring every single time. @userjiminie is incredibly talented and makes some of the coolest conceptual sets i’ve ever seen! @userjungkook97 pours so much love into her gifsets and i get really excited whenever she posts something new. @userarmyhope literally never disappoints with crisp, clean gifs and perfect coloring. of course @jung-koook for her dedication to churning out massive sets almost daily. this is not even close to everyone whose work i adore, but it’s off the top of my head at the moment. <3

21. How much time do you spend on a single graphic / gif?

depends on what it is! a more elaborate comp can take me up to a couple days or more, especially if i have to search for and download a lot of footage. for example, my recent jungkook bday set took me about four days to finish, but i started it early enough that i was just taking my time and i used easily accessible content from youtube. if i need something from a dvd or a concert, that can take me a while to locate. i’ve spent ages reverse image searching very questionable screencaps just to find the origin of something for a tiny gif in a compilation set lol. but a basic gifset can take me a half hour to an hour or longer depending on how many gifs i’m including and how big they are, since bigger gifs take longer for my actions to process.

Ask a graphic / gif maker

[apothecary-apologises]

ghosts for the ask game!! (obvious i know but hehe ghosties mutuals)

Favourite character: Mary

Second favourite character: Thomas Thorne

Least favourite character: of the main cast Alison, I don't dislike I just like her least. Of all the cast ever the Toby Nightingale I genuinely find scenes with him in difficult to watch.

The character I'm most like: Robin, I can just go off on my own to watch mice and I like chess (I'm not good)

Favourite paring: Mary/Annie because I just love them so much, but Thomas/Captain is an honourable mention

Least favourite paring: Captain/Havers, I just feel like there isn't loads there and I simply don't care for it. (There nothing wrong with it I just don't personally like it)

Rating out of 10: 9/10 it's so almost perfect, but there are tiny bits that annoy me about like 3 episodes so it's dropping marks.

[jewelledfoxes]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks @medusasfinalgirl for tagging me!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 16 atm! (1 anonymous) Which is wild to me. English was my least favourite subject in school.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 198,609 which, again, absolutely wild.

3. What fandoms do you write for? At the minute, just stranger things. But my early fics were Game of Thrones and Bridgerton.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? I'm just going off ST fics so:

(Anything You) Want - friends to lovers mutual pining Nice (Just Ain't My Type) - silly celebrity rivals au (I Don't Have To Tell You But) You're The Only One - AYW college sequel This Be The Verse - on a theme of parenthood Stay - AYW Eddie POV

I only consider 2 of these to actually be amongst my "best" fics tho.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes! I definitely try my best to respond to everything as quickly as possible. I feel very honoured that there are people out there who take time out of their day to let me know they enjoyed. Makes my day every single time!!

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Oooh okay, Haunt Me, Then! (kinktober spectrophilia fic) for now, but it's very possible that She's Got A Boyfriend Anyway (classic cheating-on-Jason fic) might beat it when I get round to finishing it.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I don't know if any of my fics have particularly strong happy endings, but off the top of my head it's got to be This Be The Verse.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Defo not on hellcheer ones! Everyone's so nice here!!! <3 My very first fic got SO MUCH hate on it but that's because I wrote it when I was 17 and it WAS terrible.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Really never thought I would, but more of my fics have smut in them than not these days lol. Idk, something about hellcheer just really made me go ...these two should be going at it.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I don't, and I'd be very surprised if I ever do tbh.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Nope!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope again!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? I haven't, and I'm not really sure I can ever imagine myself co-writing.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship? I mean, I've not written 13 fics for any ship other than hellcheer so that's something. In terms of longevity, Katniss/Peeta and Finnick/Annie still have the same effect on me as they did when I first read the book at like 13 years old.

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? What a stressful question! I doubt I'll finish off Hard to Forgive (Hard to Forget) because it would be one of those proper multi-chapters (40k words ish by my estimates) and I just don't think I could do it.

16. What are your writing strengths? Hmm I'm not sure. I used to be quite good at setting a scene but I think I'm losing that a little. If I'm honest, recently I've been really proud of the sheer volume of what I've been writing and my willingness to venture out of my comfort zone.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? God, where to start. Weak dialogue, my repetitive writing style, difficulty writing endings, complete inability to do anything concisely. But I genuinely feel like I'm slowly improving bit by bit!

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I did French and Spanish in school, French to a slightly higher level than Spanish, so I'd feel comfortable including either of those at a school level (like them trying out saying things like "at the weekend I like to go to the park" and "I have two brothers and no sisters" in a class) but wouldn't want to risk anything more complex!

19. First fandom you wrote for? The Hunger Games. I never posted it anywhere, but I still have my old drafts for fics that I look back on every now and again just to see how far I've come!

20. Favorite fic you've written? So hard to choose! This Be The Verse because it felt so immensely personal to write or Cherry (sapphic hellcheer) because it was a long time coming. Both are eclipsed by a soon-to-be-uploaded kinktober foot fic that I will reveal is called Heart and Sole (and yes it's as dumb and silly as the title implies)!

Okay that was fun! I'm not 100% sure on who I follow writes but I'm p sure @gingertumericlemon, @bibiche007 and @achilleanenjolras all do, so would love to hear your responses if you fancy it!

[oatflatwhite]

ur a gem and ily 💛 okay round 2.

rank lotr movies in least favorite to favorite order? vegemite yes or no? ever been to lane cove nsw? (my old home <3) are you afraid of spiders? how do you take your oreos? night owl or early riser? favorite soundtrack to anything? best board game? cheese and crackers or hummus and pita? favorite type of food (italian, indian, etc.)? dream vacation? list of all the places you’d like to travel?

HI annie sorry i sat down to play a bit of hades and it turned into a 3 hour grind sesh

two towers > return of the king > fellowship (but they are all masterpieces)

vegemite YES always

omg what the fuck yes i have!!! i used to a few suburbs closer to the city for a while!!!!!!!! i visited the library a couple times and the aldi :')

little spiders are nbd. big/hairy spiders no thank u

i twist my oreos and eat the half without cream first then the half with

i used to be an early riser but now not so much. i wouldn't call myself a night owl bc "late" for me is still like. 11pm

i listen to the pacific soundtrack when i'm studying lmao but i don't know if it's my favourite? lotr obviously slaps. lately been into barbie also!

i have lord of the rings monopoly so that. even tho no one ever wants to play it with me

hommus and crackers??? is that an option. i always have it with jatz

oooh fav type of food that is so hard! it's always what i'm in the mood for!! i love most stuff. lately i've had some rlly good japanese tho!!!

dream vacay would be probably some kind of roadtrip around ireland and the uk!!!!! i've been there before but only spent a few days in each capital city so would love to just vibe out at my own pace

ok so i'm just going to mention places i haen't been before - i would love to go to norway, finland, iceland, poland, russia if it wasn't a bit cooked, and greece :)

ask me anything!

[del-uxie]

yesss another distraction from the horrors 😈

1.Are you a VtM player, storyteller, both or neither? If neither, how do you get your VtM fix?

both! ive ran 20th anni for about a year and then 5e for about a year, though currently im not storytelling any VtM (though that may change soon... hint hint). im in another vtm game that runs id say about once a month also which is pretty fun, and another one thats been on hiatus...then i played in one before that too. ive been in a lto haha

2. How and when did you get into VtM?

funnily enough it was this fucking video

basically. after watching this i was like "hmm, i should play the original deus ex". so i went off and did that and had a really good time with it. then i was like "hmm, there are probably some other good immersive sims in that chart in that one section of the video." and i realised vtmb was among them. my dad owns it on dvd from forever ago so i just bought it on steam since i trust his tastes and the rest is history pretty much

3. Which edition do you play/ prefer?

i prefer 20th anniversary in a lot of ways. after trying out 5e, it streamlined a lot of things that didn't really make sense, and i dont really support the direction the company is going in atm either

4. What's your favourite clan? Why?

Ah Oh

i think it would have to be the tzimisce tbh. id say theyre probably the most original/exciting of the bunch? and the most Obviously Monstrous i guess. like nosferatu generally dont choose to be Like That, but some tzimisce do, and i think thats really interesting. they kind of encapsulate their side of the sabbat really well.

5. What's your least favourite clan? Why?

i think the ventrue. if you want a social disciplines clan the toreador/followers of set/etc. are just a lot mroe interesting. the best kind of ventrue is a business major that gets bullied the rest are kind of boring unless you do something fun with it (e.g. anarch ventrue)

6. Which clan haven't you played/ developed but would love to try?

tzimisce duuuh but theyre usually banned in camarilla games...sad

7. What is your favourite discipline? Why?

honestly auspex is probably one of the most versatile and interesting that i use the most often. people sleep on it but it can give you a lot of info that you couldnt get through mundane skills

8. Describe your worst Messy Critical and/ or Bestial Failure that you've played/ seen/ suffered

not the same but most of our botches have been terrible car crashes. theyre so funny

9. What's your favourite piece of VtM Media? eg. Games, books.. The TV series...

hmmm vtmb. but vtm redemption comes pretty close through its story and corny factor alone (please dont actually play it the gameplay sucks)

10. What's been your favourite interaction throughout your VtM experiences? Can be in game, playing video games.. anything.

i liked the pc/pc yaoi that my brujah and the groups malkavian had it was so juicy and drama filled... i think pc/pc romances can be really special and exciting if everyone is on board

You and Your Characters

11. How many characters do you have?

i think too many to count if you include all my NPCs. i would say honestly about 60?

12. Who was your first Character?

audric from my first vtm game was probably the one i realised in full capacity since hes the prince! though he was Technically an earlier vampire oc

13. Do you have a comfort character? What makes them special to you?

hmmm i think probably tony. hes just probably the goodest hearted and most active(?) out of all of my pcs and so incongrous with the world around him. that makes him really interesting to me. plus he has juicy yaoi times often

14. Who is the (in character) oldest and the (in character) youngest? Would they like each other?

audric is probably the oldest and i think gabbie is the youngest vtm character i have? hmm i think they would get on well as long as audric didnt find out gabbie is a thinblood hes still a bit Paranoid

15. Do any of your characters have a trait or flaw of your own? If so, what is it?

well the majority of my characters are transgender so... i cannot help it. it is how i am...

16. Do you have a character that was created from a dumb/ silly idea but now you can't imagine not having them?

well i only used him for one session but i miss meethix my scene kid sabbat fledgling who believed he was his warrior cats character in a human body. but i can imagine him not existing so i guess this doesnt count </3

17. You suddenly switch places with one of your characters, which one would you prefer to be?

hmm all of my vtm characters have shitty lives. i think tony though honestly where we left off in his last session he had it about as good as a vampire can get.

18. One of your characters takes your place, which one would you prefer to control of your life?

i think dusty honestly a. she would be really happy and b. she would be really motivated to fix all the shit i have going on. maybe she couldnt replace the person i am right now but she would take my life in a good direction even if it changed a lot

19. Which character is least spoken about? Speak about them now!

hmmm i think melchora i dont talk about her much... shes a former executioner cappadocian who took a big nap because her malkavian buddy said the deluge was coming and she trusted him. turns out he was right but not in the way either of them expected. now theyre two really old fledglings hanging out in modern nights.

20. Is there something specific that influences you for your character creations?

honestly not really. i usually have a few ideas and iterate on them then leave it until inspiration strikes. its worked for the most part

This or That 21. Tremere or Salubri?

fuck this is so hard i think salubri though

22. Ventrue or Lasombra?

lasombra is this even a question. fuck the ventrue

23. Banu Haqim or The Ministry?

ministry theyre kinda underrated

24. Caine or Lilith?

lilith 🤤

25. Blood Sorcery or Thinblood Alchemy?

blood sorcery 

ᴠᴛᴍ ᴀꜱᴋꜱ; ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀʏᴇʀ ᴇᴅɪᴛɪᴏɴ

We all know everyone's characters, but what do we know about the player behind the Kindred? Let's find out!

These lean more into the TTRPG side of the game but I've tried to make them more inclusive to those who haven't had a table top game!

1.Are you a VtM player, storyteller, both or neither? If neither, how do you get your VtM fix? 2. How and when did you get into VtM? 3. Which edition do you play/ prefer? 4. What's your favourite clan? Why? 5. What's your least favourite clan? Why? 6. Which clan haven't you played/ developed but would love to try? 7. What is your favourite discipline? Why? 8. Describe your worst Messy Critical and/ or Bestial Failure that you've played/ seen/ suffered 9. What's your favourite piece of VtM Media? eg. Games, books.. The TV series... 10. What's been your favourite interaction throughout your VtM experiences? Can be in game, playing video games.. anything.

You and Your Characters 11. How many characters do you have? 12. Who was your first Character? 13. Do you have a comfort character? What makes them special to you? 14. Who is the (in character) oldest and the (in character) youngest? Would they like each other? 15. Do any of your characters have a trait or flaw of your own? If so, what is it? 16. Do you have a character that was created from a dumb/ silly idea but now you can't imagine not having them? 17. You suddenly switch places with one of your characters, which one would you prefer to be? 18. One of your characters takes your place, which one would you prefer to control of your life? 19. Which character is least spoken about? Speak about them now! 20. Is there something specific that influences you for your character creations?

This or That 21. Tremere or Salubri? 22. Ventrue or Lasombra? 23. Banu Haqim or The Ministry? 24. Caine or Lilith? 25. Blood Sorcery or Thinblood Alchemy? 

BONUS QUESTIONS! You have been given a chance to play your perfect Chronicle, let's build it!  26. Who is your Storyteller? 27. Where and when is it set? 28. What is your sect? 29. What clan are you going for? 30. Your Coterie is yourself plus four other players. Who are they? (Can be anyone!)

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #627

Top Ten Oscar Runners-Up of My Lifetime

Hooray for Hollywood! It’s the Oscars this weekend, so I thought I’d write about them. I’ve done it before and by crikey I’ll do it again.

So one of the things I like about the Oscars is the way they sort of exist as something we can push back against. Because the films that usually win – at least for the last, I dunno, twenty or thirty years – are sort of “Oscar films”. Generally speaking, Jurassic Park is never going to win an Oscar, y’know? Star Wars lost to Annie Hall in 1978, and even setting aside the Woody Allen of it, I’ve seen both films and Star Wars is not only better but is more important in terms of the history of cinema and its importance to popular culture. So it should have won, but of course it didn’t, because an out-and-out sci-fi film has never won, unless you count Everything Everywhere All at Once last year, which of course is a sci-fi film but is a very different sort of film to Star Wars (although, in fairness, we should acknowledge how bloody weird it is, and therefore give the Academy some credit).

Anyway, regardless of whether a film “deserves” to win or not (because what is art if not eternally subjective?), part of the whole sport of the Oscars – and, indeed, any major awards ceremony, from the BAFTAs to the Brits to that time I won a Promax Gold – is disagreeing with the eventual victor and wishing that something else had won instead (I’m sure there were other really good promos made in 2013). And that’s what I’m celebrating today – the films that didn’t win.

I want to make clear though: this isn’t an “alternate universe” thing, where the runners-up are the victors. Nor is it to say that these films are, really, any better than the winning films. What I’m doing is ranking my favourite films that lost out to a Best Picture Oscar. And, of course, to lose Best Picture you must first be nominated for Best Picture. So these are all films that were in contention, but didn’t get to take home the naked bald man. Again, I’m not saying they were the best – although in most cases I do actually think they’re better than the eventual winner – they’re just my favourite of the non-winning nominees.

Partly by accident and partly by design, I’m only picking one film per year. And to make my life easier, I’ve just gone for ceremonies that I was actually alive for; although I doubt I was paying too much attention to the 1982 Oscars, to be fair, as I was probably about ten weeks old. And that’s that! There are some very famous – infamous, even – runners-up here; again, I think that’s both part of the fun and part of Oscar legend.

And the nominees are…

L.A. Confidential (1997) – lost to Titanic (1997): Confidential means a lot to me because not only is it bloody good but it’s the first film my now-wife and I ever saw together (even if, er, we weren’t going out at the time). Regardless, it’s just fantastic, a dark sunlit noir full of interesting flawed characters, a dense conspiracy-addled plot, some shocking twists, and a nuanced dissection of power and the media.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) – lost to Gandhi (1982): where to start with E.T., the heartwarming, heartbreaking fantasy sci-fi fable that’s also autobiographical and also so utterly about being a kid in the eighties? Every single aspect of it, from the cinematography to the junior performances to the special effects to the music to, well, everything, just hums with quality and empathy.

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) – lost to Spotlight (2015): it’s so unlikely to consider that Fury Road might have won that I can’t be too sad it didn’t. I do think, though, that George Miller’s achievements marshalling the chaos into a film so propulsive, so beautiful, and so batshit should have been rewarded with Best Director. Anyway; the best Mad Max by a mile, which is really saying something.

Toy Story 3 (2010) – lost to The King’s Speech (2010): an animated film has never won Best Picture, and almost certainly never will since the Best Animated Film category was created. But the second-best Toy Story deserved to romp home; a melancholy tale of ageing and obsolescence, of our children carrying on without us, about the need for all generations to let go of the past, to chart a new future, and also about collectivism and social order and authoritarianism and togetherness and the families we build. And cinema’s second-best Ken.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994) – lost to Forrest Gump (1994): when I was a Baby Film Nerd, the big dialogue was Gump versus Pulp Fiction. Everyone knew that Tarantino was robbed, and that this soppy, small-c conservative pean to being a Boomer did not deserve Pulp’s gongs. But then you get older and you realise that the tragically uplifting masterpiece that is Shawshank is a better film than either of them.  

A Few Good Men (1992) – lost to Unforgiven (1992): I don’t think Rob Reiner has won an Oscar, despite making (deep breath) Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, The American President, and lots more besides. This courtroom drama is a precision-tooled piece of moviemaking, harnessing star power and screen charisma, turning Aaron Sorkin’s script into cinematic perfection. Unforgiven’s still pretty good, mind.

Goodfellas (1990) – lost to Dances With Wolves (1990): if there was one guy who was always the bridesmaid, it was Scorsese; the list of films he directed that were “best runner-up” is pretty long. Here, though, we have his sumptuous crime epic, a dissection of mob life and excess that is just a minute-by-minute marvel to behold. More like Greatfellas, amirite?

There Will Be Blood (2007) – lost to No Country for Old Men (2007): we were properly spoilt for choice when it came to deeply dark neo-Westerns at the 2008 ceremony. The Coen brothers took home the laurels, but Paul Thomas Anderson’s brutal, widescreen expose of the American dream is both sumptuous and stunning, with a complex and compelling central performance by Daniel Day Lewis (who did win an Oscar).

Beauty and the Beast (1991) – lost to The Silence of the Lambs (1991): the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture, and the only one before the Academy upped the number of nominees from five to a maximum of ten. Arguably Disney’s best film of the renaissance era, it marked the fully-fledged Broadway-isation of the franchise, with huge musical numbers that felt like they tripped off the stage – plus, of course, requisite fantastical Disney magic that could only be animated. Anyway, it’s amazing.

Apollo 13 (1995) – lost to Braveheart (1995): Ron Howard’s best film is an unsentimental procedural about very smart people doing very smart things in a moment of high drama. Manages to be tense and compelling even though we know what happens at the end. Just exquisitely made from beginning to end, with tremendous performances.

Okay, so one more thing, maybe you noticed; but I decided to omit from consideration the first two Lord of the Rings films, The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. This is because Return of the King cleaned up in 2004 (Christ, twenty years ago), and I think we can all agree that it was accepting on behalf of the entire trilogy. So it feels a bit churlish to complain that the other two films didn’t win, even if they were actually my favourite films from their respective years (and even though my overall favourite of the trilogy is still Fellowship). So I’m letting them slide today, because really, spiritually, they were winners in 2004. Even though in actuality they were big fat losers.

[your-averagewriter]

The Rumbling: Part 3

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Summary: After being brought into the woods by the Cart Titan, (y/n) is reunited with some old friends. Sitting around the campfire (y/n) grows tired of them arguing. (This is still Jean x Reader but Reiner is my favourite character so I’ve brought him into this quite a bit, sorry)

Warnings: Swearing, canon-level violence, blood, saying god in a non-religious way (I think that’s all)

SPOILERS FOR EPISODES 81 - 85 (MAYBE 85 I DON’T KNOW)

Word count: 1.7K

-

Walking towards the fire I look at all the people standing around, enemies, friends, higher-ups and children even. I heave the bag of potatoes over my shoulder and drop it down with a thump right next to Hange. I walk over to Jean as he stares at Annie and Reiner. Reiner looks so defeated and lifeless. His eyes are filled with despair rather than the confidence I was used to seeing in the cadet corps. He isn’t smiling like how I remember he did, no signs of happiness grace his face and I don’t blame him, why would you be smiling at a time like this? You’d have to be insane I think. I wonder how much I’ve changed in his eyes. I wonder if he’s thinking about the creases in my face, developed from stress. I wonder if he’s noticed how I’ve cut my hair? Those are all things a brother would notice. At least I’d hope so, I wouldn’t know. I miss him so much...but that’s not allowed. I’m not allowed to associate with him, be friends with him or even console him. My thoughts are interrupted as Hange breaks the silence. “Wanna stop glaring at each other and lend me a hand?” She says slicing the potatoes and throwing them in the stew. The man across from us scoffs before speaking. “Sharing a meal with enemies of war, huh? I’m curious: what changed your mind?” He says holding on to a bottle of something, probably something strong and alcoholic. I sigh as they all start arguing with each other. “I’m gonna go get some more supplies,” I say quietly slipping away from the situation. No one acknowledges me leaving as I’m concealed by the towering trees. Dragging my feet behind me I start feeling the effects of the day. The long tiring day that is now drawing to a close, thank god. The sound of shouting fades out and the light from the fire is out of view not even poking its way through the trees. Once I reach a tree that I deem far enough away I slump down against it and thread my hands through my hair. The overwhelming pressure placed on me finally sets in. I haven’t had a moment to myself since falling off of the wall when the Rumbling started which I wouldn’t say was a peaceful moment. I can’t believe this is happening. Luka is dead. Floch is a terrorist. I am basically a fugitive. All of my friends’ lives are now in danger and I can’t help but think that it’s my fault. I know there was nothing I could really do, god knows I’ve thought about it enough. But I still should have done something, there must have been something I could’ve done. I relax my legs, letting them rest on the ground whilst I grip the hair on the back of my head. Pulling it so hard that a tingling burning feeling envelops my scalp. I sigh as I realise that if we ever come into contact with Eren one of us is gonna have to kill him. It won’t be Mikasa or Armin, I can say that for sure. It won’t be Conny, or Jean. It narrows down to either me, Annie, Reiner or Hange. No, I’m not sure Hange could do that to the others. There’s a high chance I’m going to have to kill him. I throw my head back against the tree and struggle to hold a strangled scream within me only letting a few tears escape my eyes as I cover my mouth with one of my hands. Why does this keep happening? Why are there so many battles, why are there so many deaths? I can’t keep going like this, this was meant to be the end. Jean and I were going to get married and live in the interior putting the military behind us. We were going to live happy lives and now I don’t even know if we’ll live through tomorrow. Hearing a stick snapping, suddenly, I pull out a dagger I keep in my boot and lazily hold it in front of me not really caring anymore. I lean my head back up against the wood and raise the dagger with tired eyes. The figure comes into view, they’re tall but that’s all I can tell from their shadow. I think it’s a man but I can’t be sure. I stare at the hidden figure as it gets closer. Finally revealing itself I lower my dagger and slide it back into my boot and resume my position against the tree. Reiner Braun. Now, why is he here? “Are you here to kill me?” I say sarcastically but tiredly. “No.” He says with a hint of a chuckle. “There’s no way they just let you leave the campfire.” He walks towards me and slumps down against the tree next to me. “They probably haven’t realised I’m gone yet.” He says quietly. I chuckle. “Wow, master of deception,” I say wiping a stray tear from my lip, silence surrounding us. “I missed you,” I whisper to him leaning my head on his shoulder. “Me too.” He says just as quietly placing his arm around my shoulders. Tears fall down my face as I recall all the times we’ve spent together similar to this. Times when we were cadets in the meadow. The times on top of the wall sitting and eating shit rations. Times when we comforted each other in the safety of our beds. “Why did everything have to become so complicated?” I ask him, my voice wavering as tears trickle down my face. “I’m sorry.” He says. “It’s my fault.” “Yeah, maybe.” I say knowing that if he didn’t do what he did, someone else would’ve. We sit there in silence for what seemed like an eternity but couldn’t have been anything more than a few minutes. I regret my words before they even leave my mouth. “We should go back, they’re probably worried about us.” “You.” He says unfaltering as I look at him in confusion. “They’ll be worried about you.” He says. I sigh quietly. “C’mon… let’s go back.” We start walking back, the shouts return to earshot and I’m filled with dread. I don’t want to deal with this, or what comes next. I almost hope I don’t make it at this point. “Do you ever wish you could just die?” I break the silence with a heavy question. With no reply, I answer it myself. “I do. I’m not sure if I can deal with what comes next.” “You can.” He says sharply still looking forwards. I scoff. “You don’t know that.” “I do, you’ve made it through worst. I’ve seen it.” “Yeah, with you…and Bertholdt,” I say frowning. Silence fills the conversation again as we’re both reminded of our fallen friend. “I’m still here.” “Yeah.” I allow myself a small smile. “I hope it stays that way.” Arguing fills the air, Jean shouting along with the Marleyan general. I sigh as the forest is slightly illuminated by the campfire showing us how close we are. We walk forwards into the light and I’m bombarded by a sudden silence, ironically. They’ve been shouting for the past ten, twenty minutes and now they’re silent. I smile, acting as if nothing has happened but I come to a halt as Jean stands in front of me. Reiner’s already sat down next to the two kids out of the way but I’m faced with a furious Jean. “Where have you been? Where did you go?” He asks loudly, worried. “I went to get supplies but I got lost in the dark, no need to worry,” I assure him, smiling. “Why didn’t you say?” “I did! You were all just too busy shouting and arguing that you didn’t hear me.” I say slightly irritated although them being unaware gave me a few blissful moments of peace. “Why was he with you?” Jean asks pointing to Reiner. “I don’t know, you tell me.” I say. There’s a pause in the conversation, everyone unsure on what’s going to happen next. He walks over to Reiner and kicks him in the fast forcing him back against a tree. “Jean! Get off of him! What is wrong with you?!” I run after him as he goes to punch him again. I grab his arm and he ends up punching me instead (accidentally). I fall back onto the ground and my hand flies up to my face feeling blood on my lips. I winch touching it as everyone rushes over to me trying to check if I’m okay. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you!” Jean quickly apologises kneeling down next to me checking if my face is okay. “You know what, you know why Reiner was with me?!” The feeling of spite fills my mind. “It’s because he’s clearly the only one who actually cares about me here!” I say standing up defiantly, looking down at the others now crouched on the floor. “None of you cared when I left, none of you cared when you realised I was gone, none of you actually cared about me!” I pause for a minute as no one says anything, “Forget it, it’s fine.” I say walking over towards Reiner. He’s slumped against the tree nearly unconscious and his face is bloodied. I crouch down next to him and wipe some of the blood off of his face. “Are you okay?” I whisper to him and his eyes flutter open. “I’ll be fine. Just…Just need to rest.” He says finally going unconscious. I walk away from him and back towards everyone else and they freeze as I get closer. “I’m going to bed,” I say quietly and I cringe at how I sound. I sound so…defeated. I drag my feet behind me as I make my way towards the makeshift bed - basically just a sleeping bag - I kick Jean’s away from mine as we had placed them together originally. Finally relaxing as the others talk amongst themselves quietly I lay on the floor looking up at the trees and stars with my hands and arms folded under my head. “Goodnight,” I say thinking of all the friends and cadets that have died in battle. Marco, Miche, Hannes, Ymir, Erwin, Bertholdt, Sasha, Luka, the list goes on. I stare at the stars once more before closing my eyes succumbing to sleep and giving in to the darkness hoping it doesn’t get light again.

-

Hey, I hope you guys enjoyed reading and if you’d like a part 4 then just comment.

I love Reiner so much which is why he’s in this chapter a lot (it won’t all be centred around him).

Tag list:

@studywithrosie01

@janinazoe100

@ifimnotabushimnoone

[lesbianwithchainsaws]

what about troy barnes

Hell yeah. Thank you!!!

Favourite thing about them:

Troy caring so much about his friends. Also him initially not wanting to be a nerd, but slowly accepting that more because of Abed. His character arc is so good

Least favourite thing about them:

That he left </3

Favourite line:

Don't think you can think your way out of this with your thinkingness!

or

No one gets Abed. I got him a little

brOTP:

Annie and Troy. They needed more moments between them

OTP:

Trobed

nOTP:

As always, the only one I really hate would be Pierce. Also I feel like him and Annie actually dating wouldn't work

Random headcanon:

He gets easily scared by horror movies, but he still watches them with Abed a lot

Unpopular opinion:

I wish there would've been some more stuff with him and Shirley as friends. It would've been nice to see imo. But I don't have any huge unpopular opinions

Song I associate with them:

Are songs from the show or Childish Gambino songs cheating? From the show, I mainly think of the Christmas episode where he raps with Abed. Also I'm not super familiar with Childish Gambino songs, but I did hear 3005 on a community related playlist and I really like it and makes me think of Troy

Favourite picture of them:

Troy dressed as Reggie my beloved

[yulgurr]

I haven't drawn my girl in so long but I love her so much!! 😭 I'll take this opportunity to talk about her

1. Fave tea: Bergamot! It's also Sylvain's favourite and they are twins. As for snacks, anything sweet, she loves sweet things!

2. Her table manners indeed live up to Lorenz's standards, she's a noble lady and knows proper etiquette. She actually lives up to all Lorenz standards

3. She's not very sociable, so when it comes to sleepovers it would probably be with Mercedes and Annie. Camille is somewhat friends with them; they don't talk much though.

4. Cami likes to study with Sylvain, pre-timeskip Cami is most comfortable with him (out of all people💀) and with Dedue, as both don't really talk much and don't need words to communicate. As a girl liker she's really awkward with ladies

5. Least fave chores of her would be attending to pegasi and horses, mostly pegasi as she's terrified of heights. Fave chore would be either weed eating plucking or anything in-door really.

6. Between Shez and Byleth, kind of both? But I'd say Shez. In 3 hopes they would be girlfriends🥺

7. She did grow up in the CoS faith and she follows it, post-timeskip is not as religious though

8. She would do pretty well at fishing tournament actually! It's her side hobby

9. She carries around a "suspicious tome" with suspicious spells in suspicious language. She is curious to translate it and learn cool spells but she keeps this book a secret as it. well it looks suspicious and is usually on fire

10. She wanted to live a life different from a standard fate of a noble woman with a crest, and she actually manages to do so! When the war began she gathered the courage to run away instead of returning to the Gautier territory

11. Her dream class would be brawler! She wanted to be a strong woman.

12. She'd love to keep fish. A big tank with fishes. Or an owl, as long as she doesn't have to do much to look after it

13. Camille is not made to be a mounted unit, but in my 1st playthrough Sylvain was a mounted unit and she'd name his horse something silly like Mr. Boop or something.

ok i'll continue some other time, i just wanted to talk about her

Questions for people with FE3H oc's, in no particular order:

1) What's their fave tea, and do they have a fave snack to go with it?

2) Do their table manners live up to Lorenz's standards?

3) Who would they have a sleepover with, and what would they do during it?

4) Who would they most like and most hate to study with and why?

5) What's their fave and least fave chore?

6) Would they get along with Byleth or Shez better?

7) Did they grow up in the CoS faith, and do they follow it now?

8) If at the monastery at the time, would they take part in the fishing tournament, and how well would they do?

9) Do they have any sentimental keepsakes they carry with them?

10) As a child what did they want to be when they grew up, if different to the path they ended up on?

11) What combat class do they secretly wish they could be?

12) What animal would they keep as a pet? (Ignoring allergies, I'm asking what they'd like not what they could have) - mounts don't really count for this

13) If they're a mounted unit what would they name their mount?

14) Do they prefer form or function?

15) If they could visit a country outside of Fodlan, where would they go?

16) Who could they win an arm wrestle against? A game of darts? A game of chess?

17) What sort of things do they find funny?

18) Are they an early bird or night owl?

19) Sweet or savoury?

20) What are they afraid of? Including phobias

21) Are they more likely to get laugh or frown lines?

22) How did they decide on their personal/post skip outfit, and was the price or the aesthetic a bigger factor in their decision?

23) What skill or ability are they proud of that they don't get to show off often?

24) What is their fondest most treasured memory?

25) In a modern FE3H au, what would they be instead?

[alhysl]

Cornelia Funke Interview

I had, back in 2013 or so, a literary blog I'd post book reviews on. I was a teenager, with two or three people actually following my reviews, but I loved reading so it was pretty fun nevertheless.

Then one day, I thought, why not ask one of my favourite authors, Cornelia Funke, whether I could interview her for an article?

I was 14, with zero background in journalism, but I'd been reading her for a while and I was absolutely passionate about her work. So, without much hope, I contacted her via her website and she actually, and very kindly, accepted to answer some of my questions.

While I deleted the literary blog I'm talking about, I did keep the interview in my e-mails and I think it's a shame to not share it with other people again (especially the Inkworld fandom here which is small but wonderful) since Cornelia was really sweet and took the time to give very elaborate and enlightening answers.

Now, this is old, from June 2013, so a lot of the information given is outdated and irrelevant by now, but there's so much that's still fascinating and that I love about what Cornelia said.

I'd also like to point out that some sentences have been edited for clarity.

So, have fun reading it, and feel free to react and ask me questions about the interview and my experience conducting it!

[Interview done on 19.06.13 via e-mail]

Q: I know that you are currently working on Book 3 of MirrorWorld. Do you have any other project going on ?

Cornelia Funke: As this series seems to be growing into at least five books the research is so intense that I stay away from any other bigger project. I'm doing short stories though, for younger readers, as they may otherwise think I forgot them behind the Mirror. I'm also working on several Apps ( though I prefer to call them Breathing Books :) ) for my worlds, as I was not very happy with the visual interpretations the movies did so far. MirrorWorld is done, Dragonrider is next, and we'll also soon start with Inkworld.

Q: What is the last book that you've read and loved ?

C.F.: I am mostly reading research for MirrorWorld. I just read the most enchanting Canadian Folk Tales and several books on Russia. As for fiction, I have just been through all the Sherlock Holmes stories as I had to write one myself for an Anthology and I got completely addicted. Then I read R.L. Stevenson on writing and travelling and ....as you see, I am a bookeater with piles everywhere in the house :)

Q: The classic question: what are the 3 books that you would take with you on an island ?

C.F.: The Once and Future King, by T.H.White

The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

The Rain King, by Saul Bellow (though of course I could name a hundred other titles here and I would feel each time that I forgot a favourite one)

Q: Did you want to be a writer when you were a child? If not, what was your dream job back then ?

C.F.: No, I wanted to be an astronaut. Quite seriously – until I realized I needed to get military training for that. It was the time of the moon landing and Star Trek after all :) I think I was also quite disappointed by the space ships they had come up with so far. An echo of this childhood passion is probably my addiction to Dr Who and the TARDIS in my Writing House.

Q: Who are the authors that inspired you ?

C.F.: Every author I ever read, both the good and the bad ones. Sometimes the bad ones teach you even more what you want to achieve as a writer. Among my favourite writers are Dickens, Kipling, Tolkien (though I like T.H.White better), Somerset Maugham, Maupassant, Astrid Lindgren, Toni Morrison, Michael Ondaatje, Graham Greene, Heinrich Heine, Ted Hughes, R.L.Stevenson, Mark Twain, Neil Gaiman, David Almond, Margaret Atwood, Annie Proux etc etc etc as you see I like many and very different printed dishes.

Q: In what circumstances do you prefer to write ? 

C.F.: I can write everywhere by now, at airports, train stations, in hotel rooms, cafés, restaurants, waiting for a friend on a park bench....I always have a notebook and a pen with me and all my friends know that I love them to be late as these minutes give me the best ideas. But there are three places especially dear to me: my Writing House in Los Angeles, my daughter's apartment in London and....the Getty high up on the hill in LA.

Q: When you're writing a novel, do you know exactly how it's going to end, or is it also a surprise for you ?

C.F.: No, I need and want the surprise! Otherwise I get very bored!

Q: In which of the worlds you created would you prefer to live ?

C.F.: MirrorWorld. For at least ten lives :)

Q: Who is your favorite character from your books? Who is the one with whom you identify the most?

C.F.: Hmm... now they are all listening and they will all be terribly sad if I don't mention their name. Therefore, allow me to name a few (and tell the others that the selection is quite random): Prosper from Thief Lord, Dustfinger and Elinor from Inkworld, Twigleg from Dragonrider, Longespee from Ghostknight, and then of course Jacob (I can't get enough of him, maybe because he reminds me of my son Ben). As for whom I identify the most with, that is easy – Fox. And sometimes, the Dark Fairy :)

Q: I literally fell in love with the Inkworld saga and Dustfinger has to be my favourite character. How did he come to you?

C.F.: He just stepped into my mind, with the marten on his shoulder. I was not sure about his profession though, until I saw some fire eaters on a medieval market in Germany. He also brought his name. I never had to wonder what he looks like or who he is. He was just there – one of the easiest characters I ever wrote about, and always very close to my heart.

Q: Why did you choose Venice as a setting in The Thief Lord? What does that city represent to you ?

C.F.: I had the idea for the book in Venice and I thought it would make the most perfect setting because it is such a perfect place for children – no traffic to watch for, a labyrinth of alleyways to get lost in, a time machine built from water and stone. I love to set books in a real place to enable my readers to follow the story and literally touch it. There is so much magic in reality. It all comes from there. I did a similar thing with Ghostknight, which I set in Salisbury, England.

Q: Your books inspired many movies and plays. How do you feel about your stories getting adapted?

C.F.: For many years I allowed every kind of adaptation just because I felt it was such an honour to be interpreted by other artists. I feel slightly different by now. So often the interpretation was so different from what I had seen in my mind. So often all the work I had put into a book was shrunk down, simplified or simply changed. All this made me develop my version of MirrorWorld last year and it was the very first time I had the blissful feeling that other artists made me see my world even more clearly. As a friend of mine said when she saw the MirrorWorld App: "But this is more you than you!" After this experience I will be much stricter with adaptations as I now know how good they can be!

Q: If another movie was made based on one of your novels, which one would you like it to be? And would you like Brendan Fraser to take the lead once more? (I, personally, would like that very much)

C.F.: :) Brendan is still the most brilliant SilverTongue who ever read my books on tape, but for MirrorWorld and Jacob Reckless he would definitely be the wrong cast. I have no actor in mind for Jacob so at the moment I couldn't imagine a movie for this world. As for the other InkBooks – I am not sure I would allow an adaptation. The first movie taught me how much can go wrong although everyone is passionate about the project and although so many brilliant actors and artists were involved, it doesn't show at all what I saw when I wrote the books.

Q: Words are of great importance in your books. Do you see them more as tools you can use to create your stories or would you also say that they have a life of their own?

C.F.: A brilliant painter is nothing without paint. A brilliant carpenter is nothing without wood. The words are what I weave the carpet from and only if I choose the right one will the carpet fly! And yes, they for sure have a life of their own! As does the story!

Q: Is there any advice you can give to aspiring authors like me?

Always carry a notebook and a pen with you. Grab the ideas when they show themselves, as they will hide again. Never tell a story where to go. Let the story tell you – though sometimes you may have to fight with it about the direction. Always be curious about everything – inside and outside :)

I am impatiently waiting for your answers,

Yours truly,

Alice

Love from one bookeater to the other from LA,

Cornelia

[just-ornstein]

N and/or T for the ask game? c:

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice): Since I already answered this one for Deltarune I'll be answering this one for my second primary interest, The Sims 2! :) 1. I wish Simmers cared less about what other people think on what they do in their Sandbox game at times. The most interesting stories and gameplays were those of Simmers who just fully played their game the way they wanted to. For example, Alpha CC often gets kinda looked down upon in the Sims 2 fandom nowadays and while the more realistic look definitely isn't my cup of tea I love how much time these Simmers put into their Sims and general enjoyment. Heck my favourite Sims Streamer plays with Alpha CC haha! Or heck, if you want to pair Buzz Grunt with Brandi Broke, please do that, have fun! Who cares how random some of it is.

2. I honestly would love to see more stuff related to Veronaville, Belladonna Cove and Desiderata Valley. The fandom really loves Pleasantview and Strangetown and while I definitely love those towns I feel like the other ones can be quite interesting as well sometimes and do deserve some love.

3. Would love to see more fanart, especially of the spin-off games, who get so little attention but are quite interesting. While it's quite easy to find when you know where to look, there are so many characters that would look so nice in art! :'D

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending, about anything at all (gender identity, sexual or romantic orientation, extended family, sexual preferences like top/bottom/switch, relationship with poetry, seriously anything): Answering this one for The Sims 2 and Deltarune hehe! I'm always bad with coming up with these from the top of my head so I may be forgetting a few but here are some that immediately pop in my mind:

For The Sims 2: - Tybalt Capp, Hal Capp, Orion Tricou, Annie Howell, Nervous Subject and Tank Grunt are all gay. Nothing can change this for me haha. I refuse to ever pair them with a Sim of the opposite gender. - Daniel Pleasant and Mary-Sue Pleasant both made mistakes in their relationship and will likely never manage to work out romantically. The best option for them is to get a divorce and once they've had the time to work on themselves I can see them becoming very close friends again, but that's also where it stays. - All of the Tricou Sims were Vampires and Jon Smith isn't a good person despite what his personality may tell you. - Veronaville is doomed to follow a similar fate to what they were based on, meaning many people will die. The only difference is that they may be able to write the ending to their tale. - Sims biology works very different, hence pretty much anyone would be able to have a biological kid, regardless of gender. This means two female Sims or two male Sims can also have biological kids. I mean heck, the game gives me this option, why not run with it? Sims 2 biology is way too much fun not to see what kids will look like! xD - Romeo Monty, Hermia Capp, Puck Summerdream, Hal Capp and Unborn Baby Broke (who is named Skippy in my game) are trans. I also really like the headcanon of trans Jenny Smith.

For Deltarune: - Jevil, Spamton, Berdly, Noelle, Rouxls, Diamond King and Swatch are all trans. (Of course Kris, Seam, Mettaton and Mew Mew are in canon, but I'm just mentioning headcanons here). - Darkners are NOT one or two days old. I really dislike the headcanon that they became sentient the moment their fountains were open. I feel like they are all AT LEAST as old as their Light World objects are, if not older. As of right now I headcanon while some Darkners came with their objects, some existed long before them and once an object came into the world with their properties they became connected to it. Upon being connected to an object their strengths and capabilities increase. The Fountains are moreso a bridge if anything that makes it possible for Lightners to properly interact with them or see them. - Spamton and Jevil were in a sense written to be each other's counterpart. A balance so to say. Hence while their first instinct is to dislike each other, they grow especially close and inseparable over time. - Kris is selectively mute and has a form of autism. They are capable of speaking at times, but when they can't they use sign language which most people around them know by now. Ralsei, Berdly and Noelle also have a form of Autism. - Both Spamton and Jevil have a form of Tourettes and ADHD. - The reason Rouxls enjoyed long dungeon walks is because of the fact he got to speak to most of the people King Spades inprisoned. This includes the Diamond King, with who he became especially close. - Rouxls was once married to King Spades. When King Spades turned out the way he did he stripped Rouxls off his title, but a part of him couldn't bear to part entirely with him, hence he got turned into the Duke of Puzzles. - Jevil is the direct cause of Seam's injuries, which happened during a performance and were the final blow that made King Spades decide to have Seam imprison him. - Seam is likely one, if not the most powerful entity we'll ever encounter in the Dark World. - The Weather People from Chapter 3 are siblings, twins to be more specific and I will die on this hill unless proven wrong lmao. Which knowing my luck will probably happen. :'D - Noelle was the one that caused so much destruction to the first half of Chapter 2. It's why Queen knew she was powerful and wanted to protect her from it, she's witnessed it first hand! - Spamton is not and has never been an Addison which is why he always struggled to fully fit in with them or sell properly. He looks an awful lot like them, but he still isn't an Addison. His hair also was never fully white. - Noelle is a lesbian, Susie is bi, Kris is pan, Berdly is bi, Ralsei is pan, Spamton is pan (which with Sweepstakes seems to be confirmed as canon?), Jevil is pan, Rouxls is gay, Queen is bi, Tasque is a lesbian. Aaand I can go on like this for a while haha. - After the events of the game Spamton sort of becomes Kris's adoptive uncle and Jevil Noelle's adoptive uncle. - Kris and Berdly become a couple somewhere in college. - More of a theory as of right now, but I headcanon there are multiple Knights, with there only being one TRUE Knight. - Another that's moreso a theory as of right now. But I think Ralsei is aware of the Player, knows outside knowledge and actively despises us. This is why he wants those moments alone with Kris so he can speak with them, one on one without having someone spying on them. I also don't think Ralsei is evil, but he will end up doing questionable things that will end up hurting his friends without him realizing it. - I refuse to believe Kris and Berdly dislike each other, especially after Sweepstakes. I feel like the two have a rival-like relationship and love to tease each other. But at the end of the day when all is said and done they regularly love playing games with each other and probably have the weirdest Minecrap server out of everyone haha. I mean heck, when you give the gift to Berdly Kris runs over to him of their own accord to hand it over haha. - I like to think Berdly is pretty good at painting and drawing!

Sooooo, that's all for now lmao! If I remember any that I might have missed, I'll post them somewhere over time! xD