#paolini was NOT playing around

[ljf613]

Okay, but Galbatorix building an army of men who feel no pain while the Varden's ultimate weapon is a child who feels too much pain!!!

[woso-dreamzzz]

Leaving VII

Alexia Putellas x Teen!Reader

Summary: Olympic chaos with your sister

Y/NPutellas.S has started a live video. Click to join!

"-Got two backpacks," You're saying as Alexia clicks on your video," I think one of them might become my racket bag because the one I'm using right now is falling apart."

You shove the bags away, glancing around the space as you drag more towards you.

"There's a toiletry bag as well which is full of stuff I probably won't even use."

You pause as you scroll through the comments.

"What sport am I competing in? Oh, I'm doing tennis...Who will be the hardest to play against? Iga, always. I train with her most of the time and I think I've only beaten her a few matches this year. She's scary. Coco always gives me a good competition too. I think she text me a few hours ago but I haven't answered just yet."

You go back to showing off your haul.

You're very complimentary of all of the shoes but you seem confused as to why you've been given so many socks.

Alexia takes a screenshot of a weird face you make while trying on the bucket hat and hastily makes it her profile picture.

"I'm not a fan of the opening skirt," You tell your followers," It's not really my style. I'll wear it because I have to but...What's that? My sister's here?"

You crowd a bit closer to your phone, brows furrowed as you scroll up looking for Alexia's comments.

She feels triumphant at the look of horror on your face when you see her profile picture.

"Alexia!" You shriek," Change it back! My eyes aren't even open! Ale, please!"

Alexia does not change it back and you swear under your breath at her.

"I'm telling Mama!"

Alexia Putellas: Go ahead, you little snitch

"I'm not a snitch!"

Alexia Putellas: Yes, you are

"Don't listen to her guys! She's such a liar!"

You've always been more active on social media than Alexia and fans eat up any content you post on your TikTok. Most of your fans are just people that watch tennis but you've gone viral overnight when you posted a video of you and Iga reuniting at the Olympic Village.

Suddenly, everyone wants content from you and you're posting more than you ever have before.

A lot of it still centres around your tennis, out on the practice courts with the rest of team Spain but there's more domestic things like you retaping your racket grip and showing off everything in the Olympic Village.

Something in Alexia snaps when you make a video complaining about how uncomfortable your cardboard bed is. Suddenly, she's stitching your video.

Her camera pans across her normal hotel bed and ends with her giving a thumbs up to the camera with a smug grin on her face.

Her own fans go crazy over her posting something outside of sponsorships and it's strange to see that some people don't even know who you are.

woso.alexia.engen: Who was the first person in the video???? -> captainklittle: Alexia's little sister! She's representing Spain for tennis!

A second stitch appears hours later, piggybacking off a video of you complaining about your lack of AC. There's no sound apart from the very deliberate flick of Alexia's own AC switch.

It seems every complaint you post, Alexia finds a way to show off how much better she has it in a hotel outside of Paris.

You decide, perhaps a little pettily, to show off what she's missing.

"Hi, guys!" You say," I know a lot of people were wondering about pin trading so I thought I would bring you along for the ride! I've already got a Poland one from Iga and a US one from Coco but I've been wanting a Team GB one and I'm also meeting up with Paolini so she can give me an Italy one."

It's another live video and thank god there's a break in training, so Alexia can jump onto it again.

Jenni and Misa crowd around her at the same time, curious as to what's going on with you.

"I was talking to Carlos at breakfast and he was telling me that the coaches have ordered us all mattress toppers because the beds have started to affect how we're performing."

Alexia Putellas: Sucks to be you, doesn't it?

"Alexia, I swear to god if you keep bullying me then I'm telling Mama and she'll fly out to whoop your ass!"

Alexia Putellas: 🤪

"And Jenni I knew that it's you that just sent that because Alexia doesn't understand emojis."

"Fuck," Jenni mutters.

"Wait, give me the phone. I'll fix it," Misa says.

Alexia Putellas: Who's Jenni?

"Misa, I know that's you as well. Stop trying to cover for each other and I'll tell Mama and she'll whoop all of you."

Alexia doesn't get her phone back for the rest of your live but she does get a strongly worded text from Eli after it's over to grow up and not let her friends bully you.

Alexia calls you a snitch.

You remind her that she should stop bullying you.

"Look who it is!" Jenni cajoles as you come running out of the village to crash into Alexia," Baby Putellas!"

But you're not really listening to her as Alexia presses her forehead against yours, whispering fast Catalan to you as you giggle.

"Aw..." Misa continues where Jenni left off," Look at them! Two sisters! Reunited!"

You and Alexia push each other away, turning your back and pretending that you weren't hugging just a few moments ago.

You turn back to her quickly, hand out. "Can I have your pins?"

"What? No! They're mine!"

"You're not even in the Village! You can't use them!"

"Yes I can!" Alexia splutters out," I've been trading them!"

"Yeah? With who?"

"Jenni!"

"Liar! You've got the same pins! Come on, Ale. Give them over!"

"I will...for a price."

As Alexia lays out her terms, you bring everyone up to your room.

Jenni and Misa split off briefly to check out the dining hall but Alexia comes straight up with you.

"It's actually cardboard," She says, poking at your bed frame.

"Yeah? Do you think we were all lying about that? It's proper cardboard. You can draw on it if you want."

A smile splits your sister's face open.

"Never mind. I don't want you drawing on my bed."

Alexia pokes it. "Do you think it's true? That two people can't get on it at the same time?"

You shrug, rummaging through your bedside table. "I don't know. Why?"

You never get your answer though.

Arms are around your waist suddenly and you're being hauled backwards as Alexia slams herself onto your bed, dragging you back with her.

You may not get an answer but Alexia certainly does because the moment the two of you land, there's an almighty ripping noise and your bed goes to ground very quickly.

"Oops," You sister says.

"Alexia!"

"Sorry?"

"You don't sound very sorry at all."

"Yeah...You're right. I'm not sorry in the slightest. Hey! Stop hitting me!"

"You're lucky I'm not beating you with my rackets!"

"Hey. Hey! It's fine! You can get a new bed."

"Jenni and Misa are going to take the piss out of me! How could you do this, Ale?"

As annoying as your sister is, she at least has the decency to push the blame off onto her friends as you both hastily raise your bed up again and wait for Jenni and Misa to arrive.

They seem to have the same idea as Alexia, jumping onto your bed without so much of a greeting.

But, as planned, the bed collapses under them and the shock of their faces is enough for Alexia breaking your bed to be worth it. Their faces are even funnier as they head downstairs to ask for a new one for you.

Behind your back, Alexia passes you a handful of pins.

JenniHermoso10 has started a live video. Click to join!

"Forward! Forward!"

"I am going forward!"

"More forward! When I say forward, it doesn't mean shuffle! It means walk forward! You're a person not a pigeon!"

"And here we have Olympic football player Alexia Putellas and Olympic tennis player y/n Putellas, attempting to climb onto the rings," Jenni narrates from behind the camera.

"It's not going well," Misa says, as Alexia nearly throws you from your spot on her shoulders," Alexia is clearly struggling."

"I'm not struggling!" Alexia insists, yelping as you twist her hair in your hands.

"Forward!

"This is as forward as I can get!"

"That's such bullshit! Move closer!"

"I can't!"

"You can!"

"I don't think they're ever going to make it," Jenni says," It's like they can't-"

"Stop! Ale, stop! Left a bit. No! Too left. Right again. Left! Right! Left!"

"Left, right, forward, back," Alexia mutters," Make up your mind."

"Left and...got it...Wait! Don't let go!"

You haul yourself from your sister's shoulders onto the centre ring, positioning yourself perched on the sliver of the yellow ring that enters the black one.

"Alright," Alexia says," Give me a hand."

"What? No! You'll pull me off!"

"Give me your hand!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

She braces herself on the lower rings and grabs your hand, pulling herself into the centre ring before you can even shove her off.

"Oh," She says," That was pretty easy." Alexia grins at you but the smile drops from her face when she notices the pensive look you're wearing. "What is it?"

"I've just realised," You laugh in disbelief," When Mama said she wanted a picture of us and the rings. I think she meant in front of them. Not in them."

"Oh."

[chaoskirin]

Don't Use GenSlop on your Book Covers!

I am absolutely baffled by the number of AUTHORS willing to use AI art on their book covers. This seems counter-productive. I will not buy a book that uses AI on the cover because it VERY STRONGLY suggests that the writing content is also genSlop. 

Like, why shoot yourself in the foot like that, when there are literally SO MANY WAYS to make an amazing book cover without compromising your integrity? 

It's not just indie authors I put on the shitlist, either. Paolini is on there for the cover of Fractal Noise. He's arguably the one who opened the door to these creativity leeches, because his book was the first.

And there's so many authors who are proud of "taking down" artists, like we were ever on a pedestal to begin with. Dude. We never made enough to survive. By taking us down, you're taking us from "barely scraping by" to "dead in the gutter." The truth is, extremely successful artists will be fine, because their names carry them through and get them work. People want art in Michael Whelan's style, for example. The people GenSlop will hurt are the artists that didn't even make $15K/year on their artwork. 

The most frustrating thing I've seen going around is the whole "LOL artists will need to get a real job now!" and this just reeks of the gutting of arts programs in schools in the 1990s and 2000s. It means that little boys consider "football" a career to aspire to, but not "book cover artist." To me? FOOTBALL is the hobby, and the people who play it professionally get paid WAY too much to do it. To me, art is ten THOUSAND percent more valuable. 

But I'm not going to go around hoping NHL players get "taken down a peg." Even if wishing for that is INFINITELY less cruel than hoping artists go hungry because you think they're gatekeeping. 

I will not buy your book if the cover is AI. I will not buy your book if you even HINT you're supportive of AI. I will not buy your book if you decide you need to be "devil's advocate" or say something like "the AI debate isn't black and white." It is. AI is bullshit. Use of it is theft. You are a fucking criminal in my eyes if you use gen AI on a book cover, and I will assume your writing is AI-generated, too. Full stop. 

There are so many ways to get a quality book cover without breaking the bank or underpaying artists. Those ways existed BEFORE GenAI, and they exist now. You have no excuse for that shit. Knock it off. 

[unibat]

Saphira: “You can thank Brom for the saddle.”

Eragon was one of those movies I was exposed to before I knew anything about the books. Of course, after the backlash the movie received (typical) I decided to go ahead and read the books too.

Of course, the books were better. They always are. Books explain things more in depth and also fill in the gaps with information movie media is limited to (usually because of budget)

I enjoyed Saphira’s design in the movie. I enjoyed the movie. Had I not seen it, I wouldn’t have known anything about the books.

I enjoyed working on this piece. There were so many different things I played around with, especially with the textured brushes in CSP.

I hope you like it!

Sai/ CSP (16 hours)

Eragon (c) Christopher Paolini

Art (c) Me

[authadia]

The Inheritance Cycle has truly reawakened my passion for reading in a way that feels different than any other passion I've felt in my life. This is probably because of my new ADHD medication but it really brings me so much joy.

Christopher Paolini is so incredibly good at describing scenes and settings that I can truly imagine them. I remember reading this series back in my teenage years and I remember just barely skimming it. I remember the big bits, like major character deaths or whatever, but not the little things. Not how Farthen Dûr looked, or the area around it. Not how Nasuada actually looked, or that time that Eragon got hit on by some sorceress.

I hope I can find more sources of joy in other things, too. If digging up old favorites is a trend, maybe I need to start playing Skyrim again, or drawing on an easel. I'm sure my drawing tablet will suffice, though.

[fritzes]

tennis ramble idea: say one positive thing about each player in the top 40

atp:

jannik sinner: I love how committed he is to The Process and improving

carlos alcaraz: he's so positive on court but he also knows his own limits and when he can't be like that

skip

daniiil medvedev: he's very honest

novak djokovic: he's living his best life right now and really prioritizing what's most important to him, both in tennis and outside of it

taylor fritz: he proved the haters wrong!

casper ruud: even when he's struggling on court, he never takes out his frustration in a destructive way

felt a little conflicted, but I'm gonna skip

alex de minaur: he's so funny. like legitimately, every interview he gives has me chuckling

grigor dimitrov: I admire his commitment to flirting with everyone

tommy paul: his tennis is so pretty

stefanos tsitsipas: uh... his situationship with daniil is funny

holger rune: if he has opinions, he'll make them known

jack draper: his improvement this year is genuinely insane

hubi hurkacz: he unironically wears paddington slippers

I genuinely couldn't think of anything sooo skip (just one of those players I don't like for no reason)

frances tiafoe: he's just so fun and I love how friendly he is with everyone

ugo humbert: he plays piano!

ben shelton: he's so smiley and giggly when he plays doubles and I love it

arthur fils: his title runs this year are crazy impressive

karen khachanov: he peaks exclusively against francisco cerundolo

alejandro tabilo: when he's on, he's ON

SKIP

alexei popyrin: he had maybe the most iconic summer hardcourt swing ever

tomas machac: best backhand on tour for real

sebastian baez: he wins a bunch of random 250s and does nothing else and I respect him for that

jordan thompson: he's peaking in singles and doubles

felix auger-aliassime: he always has good sportsmanship and seems like such a genuinely kind persn

francisco cerundolo: he's a good sport about the h2h against karen

giovanni mpetshi perricard: his serve scares me (affectionate)

jiri lehecka: lots of my mutuals love him so by extension so do I

flavio cobolli: he's just such a cutie

nuno borges: he beat rafa in a clay final

alexander bublik: dgaf (except the times when he randomly does gaf)

matteo berrettini: doesn't seem too bothered by being cursed

nicolas jarry: his son is adorable

brandon nakashima: peaks against fellow americans and then goes into hiding for the rest of the season. truly an icon

matteo arnaldi: just a lil spider scuttling around the court

tomas martin etcheverry: I love how excited he gets to play novak

jan lennard struff: winning his first title at 33 was iconic

wta:

aryna sabalenka: she seems like such a genuinely fun person to be around

iga swiatek: she's so insanely talented, genuinely mesmerizing to watch when she's really on top of her game

coco gauff: always proving the haters wrong

jasmine paolini: her rise in the rankings this year was incredible

elena rybakina: I love her game so much, it's just so clean

jessica pegula: she's always randomly beating top players and I love that for her

zheng qinwen: medaling isn't for everyone but it is for her!

emma navarro: she keeps things interesting

daria kasatkina: the tennis world would be in shambles without her vlog

danielle collins: she's always honest and open

skip

barbora krejcikova: winning a slam and doing pretty much nothing else is quite the season to have

anna kalinskaya: may not be very good at converting championship points now but I think she has a really high ceiling

diana shnaider: has so much potential and a really nice game

jelena ostapneko: simply iconic

mirra andreeva: I love how much she's genuinely a fan of tennis and how she fangirls over players like andy murray

beatriz haddad maia: I admire her commitment to not playing straightforward matches

marta kostyuk: I really love the glimpses we get to her friendship with her coach (sandra zaniewska), they seem really close and it seems like sandra is the only one who can really communicate with her on court

donna vekic: randomly peaked during the summer and also against aryna sabalenka

victoria azarenka: she's so resilient

madison keys: she hits the ball so hard

karolina muchova: best volleys on either tour

magdalena frech: I don't know much about her, but it seems like she really broke through this year!

ludmilla samsonova: exclusively peaks against elena rybakina

linda noskova: really established herself on tour this year (also, I love her friendship with karo)

elina svitolina: her commitment to her foundation is genuinely inspiring

ekaterina alexandrova: beat iga once and disappeared for the rest of the season. you go girl

yulia putintseva: locks in so hard against top players

katie boulter: she seems so friendly with everyone

anastasia pavlyuchenkova: literally just chilling with her 2021 olympic gold and slam final

maria sakkari: WILL WIN INDIAN WELLS ONE DAY

leylah fernandez: I love her attitude both on court and off court, she seems very positive and kind to both others and herself

dayana yastremska: had quite possibly the funniest ban in all of tennis

elise mertens: doubles queen who also does really well in singles

anastasia potapova: did not let getting double bageled by iga stop her from maintaining her top 50 rank!

amanda anisimova: great comeback season, and also has some incredible powerful groundstrokes

wang xinyu: went from a last minute replacement in olympic mixed doubles to winning silver

hmm... I'm just gonna skip

marketa vondrousova: zero consistency but it doesn't matter, she literally won wimbledon

lulu sun: her wimbledon run this year was amazing

[dude1818]

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

Last week I read To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini. Full disclaimer, I had no idea that was the same author as the Eragon series until I got to the acknowledgements at the end. This was a thousand pages of hard sf space opera, and the whole time I was thinking "I should check out this guy's other stuff too!"

Imagine The Thing, but more futuristic and set on a potential colony planet. You're halfway through that story, and the alien has started attacking your research crew, when suddenly another race of aliens shows up and now you have to team up with it to fight the new aliens. That's the first hundred pages of this book. So many things happen in this story

The overarching background of the story is the war between humanity and these aliens, the Wranaui. It takes place in the 23rd century, and humanity has settled a handful of stellar systems so far and has found relics of sapient aliens, but not met any yet. The main character, Kira, is a xenobiologist who discovers the alien (more of a symbiotic exosuit) that kicks off the war. The story follows her and the spaceship crew that picked her up as they travel from system to system trying to figure out what the suit is, why the aliens attacked, and how to stop them

Sidebar: there's a really cool FTL system in this world, which makes it possible to travel between stars in realtime months. That's still long enough that crews are in cryo for the trip, and FTL communication can't go faster than that, so you get to have your cake of a multi-stellar civilization and eat the isolated worlds where things can change drastically during your travel time too. (One of the appendices is the introductory chapter to a textbook on FTL and UFT; it's so cool)

I feel like this book could easily have been broken up into two or three, there's so much happening. Around the halfway point, the (non-suit) aliens go from being a symbol of death that appears randomly in the sky into multiple defined kinds of aliens, with their own fleshed out motives and sub-factions that can be reasoned about. It all connects, but that seemed like a change in focus that would've been a reasonable pause point. (The last 10% is a much harder diversion from either of sections, but I'll put my thoughts for that under the cut because it's spoilery)

Overall I really enjoyed it. There are more works in the series that I'll definitely be checking out. The xenobiology and especially the physics were incredibly well thought out, and I haven't seen someone play with travel times in such an interesting way before. There were some weaker aspects, especially on the politics side (if Kira goes "surely we can tell the military what we've discovered and they'll apply that information in a way that's beneficial to humanity and humane to the aliens" one more time I will lose it), but at least that mostly seems to be an in-universe character flaw (spoiler alert: the military does not). It is kinda funny how Kira makes a big deal about trying not to see the soldiers who get in their way, but narratively we need a bunch of alien mooks to kill, so they have to come up with a contrived reason (alien brain backup tech) to make that not count as murder

Spoilers for the ending:

Context: the final bad guys are a different group of aliens called the Corrupted that are a sapient gray goo, and are derived from the same tech as the suit symbiote. Kira merges with their central body and takes it over, self-destructing their army and converting them towards positive life-preserving ends. That felt a little shark-jumpy, but is fine

How that played out was super cringey though. First an uncomfortable sex scene before the final battle in which she wonders if she can still get pregnant while the symbiote is attached; then she learns that the suit was supposed to be a self-directed terraforming tool called the Seed; then as part of the positive gray goo, she positions herself as the Mother, a weird archdruid-in-space. It all just gave me the ick and didn't feel like it matched the tone of the rest of the book at all

[mystiika]

𝐓𝐀𝐆 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐃 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑!

𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐑(𝐒): honestly lately i've been a fan of a nice rich green colour, think in or around the range of hex 1a4926

𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑(𝐒): vanilla/french vanilla for sure, i also like most apple things

𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐂: i listen to any genre i can get my hands on so i like almost everything, the most recent interesting one as of late is probably egg punk

𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐄(𝐒): i am not really a movie person tbh ! but i think my most watched movie is sound of music ( 1965 since it was my feel good/sick movie growing up )

𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒: i don't really have one of these, there's not many i've seen more than once or twice

𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆: breaking point by leon thomas ( yes the actor who played THE best character on victorious aka mr leon thomas iii )

𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒: i just finished the first season of a soccer/football anime called bluelock

𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐄: the lego batman movie which i think is self explanatory

𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆: i usually have a few going but my main focus rn is on inheritance by christopher paolini

𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆: cyberpunk: edgrunners, lucifer, & skymed for stuff with other people. for myself i'm catching up on a few animes rn mostly. next up is the faraway paladin, rising of the shield hero, & then s2 of jjk

𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐍: on tumblr i'm organising myself now that i'm back from hiatus, figuring out what blog maintenance i need to do like fixing/finishing dossier pages etc etc & trying to work through my inbox. irl i'm trying to catalogue my books into a library app i found, sort through the mess that is my phone image gallery, & continue sorting through my chrome bookmarks bc i make new ones all the time but never put them where i need to lmao

tagged by: @smokedanced ty ! i'm also tagging @miidnighters since they tagged me in another one that's pretty similar so ty to you as well ! :) tagging: @yxkanna/@cxldblxxded @ensuists @velvetineblue @parameddic @liightbringr @dxsole @lovepurposed @starsweepers @wolfvirago

[hydropyro]

Writer Interview Tag

Thanks for the tag @tavyliasin! I just finished reading yours and @redroomroaving's entries <3 I feel mine will also be quite heavy, though I don't struggle with the kinds of things you two beasts /pos do.

I will tag @dude-wheres-my-ankheg, @insanefan, @firlionemoontav, and @dark-and-kawaii,

Questions and answers below the cut -- potential mention of SA

When did you start writing?

I started writing before I could actually write. I would scribble lines onto paper or type nonsense into my grandma's computer and then 'read' it to her.

I was (am?) hyperlexic, and by second grade I had a high school reading level. In school we would do AR tests, and I had to check out books from the public library, as the in-school library did not have books that were challenging enough. This is also when I began to carry around a pen and paper and write my own stories.

The first I remember distinctly was a story about a butterfly who was lost. I don't remember the plot at all. I also wrote, and still have, a spiral bound 'book' that I wrote as a second grade project where we researched a topic (owls) and then wrote a non-fiction story about it.

As far as Fan Fiction goes -- last year! I did rewrite the ending of 'Lucifer' when that came out because they did it wrong -- but last year after playing Baldur's Gate 3 is when I first wrote a piece of fan fiction. And I am deep in these trenches.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I really enjoy crime and psychological horror. The 'Hannibal Lecter' series by Thomas Harris is a particular favorite of mine.

I also was enthralled with 'Animorphs' in third through fifth grade, and had read any and all that I could get my hands on. I was not a huge fan of science-fiction, though there were a few individual stories that I enjoyed. I also read the 'Warriors' series by Erin Hunter. Another beloved series was 'Inkheart/Inkspell/Inkdeath' by Cornelia Funke, the 'Eragon' series by Christopher Paolini, and the 'Purple Emperor' series by Herbie Brennan. Fantasy/(low-fantasy might be the genre) was a particular favorite of mine.

My favorite book, though, which I read in fifth grade -- originally because none of my personal choices were deemed challenging enough -- was 'The Iliad' by Homer. I don't remember which translation was used, but it was not in prose format, so that may narrow it down.

I used to read a lot. These days, I don't read much. By seventh grade when I started my first 'real novel' I was afraid of being too heavily influenced by things that I read. In eighth grade I stopped reading fiction entirely for this reason, after a teacher (vice principal) confiscated my work and viciously accused me of plagiarism as the things I was writing was 'too mature for someone my age to even know about' (Take the hint, mandatory reporter). From that point on, I only read Biographies/Historical reports. 'Operation Valkyrie' by Pierre Galante is thrilling.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

Other than my 8th Grade vice-principal, teachers were always very encouraging of my writing. The school librarians, especially. I have had my work compared to 'The Hunger Games' specifically (though I don't agree with) and I was asked to take a test that would analyze a piece of work and tell you what well-known author it was most like. I had Hemingway.

I don't try to emulate anyone, and actively avoid being 'inspired' by any works, as I previously said. As an adult, I think I could better use other work as 'inspiration', where as a child it was more 'copying', which didn't sit right.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

From second grade, all through high school and into college, I carried around a spiral ring notebook (always college/narrow ruled! Never wide ruled!) and pen everywhere I went. When I say everywhere, I mean it quite literally. Over the years I have had hundreds of notebooks full of dozens of stories. Most of them have fallen into obscurity, but a precious few are near and dear to my heart.

I write, and have always written, where I am currently sitting. In school I would write during lectures rather than take notes (some teachers had a small problem with this, though I explained that I need to do that in order to focus. I guess ADHD wasn't as well-known back in the early 00s) and my grades were excellent, so I was allowed to continue. By middle school my father had purchased a metal clipboard case for me to carry, so I could write during sport events when I wasn't competing.

These days I write mostly at my kitchen table, where my laptop is set up, or in bed with one of my spiral-ring notebooks -- though if inspiration strikes while I am out and about I have Word and Google Docs on my phone. I prefer to handwrite and then type it out, rather than write directly on a computer.

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

i wish I knew how to answer this question. I have been asked many times over the years.

The best way that I know how to explain my 'process' is that -- I don't write. (Obviously I do just follow me for a moment). I don't 'build' characters. The only time I use baby name generators or the like is when I have an inconsequential side character that needs a name for a paragraph. My characters are 'born', and they tell me their stories. I just record them.

As a child I spent a lot of time daydreaming -- called Maladaptive Day Dreaming by my psych professionals. While doing chores I would be living in my stories, and these experiences would inspire scenes. Walking through the forest while camping -- scene.

Though, I will note, that the hearing of my characters is not a hallucination. It is more like -- a memory of a conversation or experience and I am recalling it.

My hallucinations are very different.

Things that I have found are more likely to get my characters talking is TV shows with strong character development. I wrote a great deal during my 'Supernatural' and 'Lucifer' days. Baldur's Gate 3 has also helped get the creative juices flowing -- though my fan fic is, obviously, directly derived from that source material.

What is your reason for writing?

A sweet and simple answer is -- they make me. The characters and the story make me. My mind is never quiet, and there is a catharsis in allowing the story to flow from my brain and out through my fingertips.

The reason my therapist may ask me to give is more -- intense -- and one I had not realized was the likely case. Feel free to skip to the next question.

Stories -- my characters, the worlds I build, the relationships they form -- are my safe place. There were times in my childhood that I would have eagerly left my home to go to 'Abser' -- lightyears away.

They are the friends I could never have because we moved every year -- they could never leave me. They are the safe, strong, and capable adults I never knew.

They were my punching bags. I was a quiet and sweet child -- straight A student because school was safe. Star athlete because I was admired and loved there. Even when I went to church to a god I didn't believe in because it got me out of the house, I was the best worshipper -- i knew all the trivia at Sunday school. And so torturing my characters once I was forced home was cathartic.

They were my avatars. They could love and live and hate and die -- when they were raped as children they could grow up into successful, happy adults -- not damaged at all. They could have loving parents who would move Heaven and Earth for them.

And, they could live out the -- more mature -- fantasies that I had and hid away out of (appropriately placed, I later found) fear that making them known and -- god forbid acting on them -- would lead to ridicule and abandonment.

In seventh grade I created a character named Kacie. She looked like me. Protagonist. Loving family. Strong woman. There was another character I didn't like much, called Leon. He was mean. Aloof.

As the story developed -- Kacie didn't, so much. But Leon told me his story. Raised without a mother by a man who hated, abused, and neglected him and his little sister -- doing anything and everything he could to protect his little sister, even if it put him in danger -- hiding behind his art trying to white knuckle his way through life -- addict -- hedonist -- angry at life itself -- and utterly alone in the world.

Of course, it is art so his experience is much more extreme than mine -- (sorry, Leon).

ha, ha, fan fic though!

Still the above -- they make me -- but playing with these little dolls that I didn't make, but that I made my own -- is just fun. Sure, I'm probably expressing more yet-to-be-discovered trauma as well, but man do I love to justify my favorite devil and make Alakvyr and Abdirak kiss.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

For my personal work -- when I graduated high school my librarian gave me a notebook and wrote on the inside cover 'Never Stop Writing'. I have yet to use that notebook. When I finished the first draft of my complete novel I was brave and sent it to my family to read. They had never read my work before. My step-dad, who is my hero, said he 'couldn't put it down'.

For my fan fiction work, I love that other people also love them! As I said, I don't percolate on ideas, and for my fan-fiction I hardly even edit. I word vomit -- try to fix some grammatical issues -- and throw it out into the world. When writing fan fiction I wanted it to be solely for the passion of writing -- not perfect.

I love to hear when people catch the little references I put in (think 'call it a ninth sense' that Raphael says in game) and when people tell me that I 'captured' an established character well. Especially Raphael and Abdirak.

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

Firstly -- awe

Secondly -- I don't know if I want to necessarily be 'thought about' by my readers.

My original work has very few readers -- and though those who have read it have given raving reviews except @summerwarlock who beta read my work and gave an incredibly helpful and extensive review (still raving, but also helpful tips and critiques) no one has asked me questions or wanted to 'better understand' me, my story, or characters. So, as far as fan fic

Think of me as a fan! A fan with gremlins in my head and gloriously agonizing brainrot -- but a fan.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Original Work: hahaha hahahahahaahhahahaha who knows? Probably the same as fan fiction, though.

Fan fiction: probably character development/character study. I love to pull characters apart to deeply understand who they are and why they do, say, think, and feel as they do. One of my favorite things to write is Raphael justifying himself -- and I feel especially successful when people read it and say 'holy shit, he's right'.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

Original work -- I was held back by fear of being judged for writing the story the way it needed to be written. I have a character who is a power-mad king. An absolutely shit-pile of a person -- but I wrote him fairly bland. Other characters would tell you 'oh he's awful' but I never showed him being awful because 'what if people judge me for thinking this'.

Fan fic has helped me a lot with this, as well as Summerwarlock's tips. And so, the hedonistic, rapist, abusive king will do those things because it is in character. Sorry -- all the other characters.

For fan fic -- yes and no. I write for myself. I write because I enjoy it and fan fic is my passion project. I don't even edit my work, remember. I just passion all over the page (muhahah) and throw it into the ether. I love that other people enjoy my little weirdos as much as I do.

How do you feel about your own writing?

Original work -- oh, pure shit. Let's move on.

Fan fiction -- I'm a gods damned genius. No, that's a joke. There are some lines that I write that I think 'fuck yea, that came out of me?' but other than that, they're just silly little dolls I'm squishing together, so I'm not too concerned.

I do enjoy sharing it, though, especially with those who write similar things as I do. The Abdirak group I'm in are full of great, loving people who -- as writers themselves -- aren't afraid to give helpful criticism or ask questions that may make you think differently about your work. And they are also wonderful cheerleaders, as I hope I am for them.

I am a passionate person, but I am a very reserved person, so I worry sometimes that the depths of my adoration don't come across -- but I truly do adore you all, and I am so grateful to have found and been accepted into this community.

[coiled-dragon]

What inspired/lead you to become a fanfic writer?

Gosh... I dont really know entirely, but I think it was just... reading fanfic from a young age. Like, one of the first real ships I enjoyed was Sephiroth x Cloud and I found fanfic of them on personal websites and stuff. It was how I interacted with FF7 at all really, I didnt know where to read about it, never had the game myself to play, and it was before the age of YouTube Lets plays. So fanfic was just something I knew existed and how I interacted with a lot of media for a while.

I learned of more fanfics, and more places that hosted them like FFnet back in the day! And I just... started writing them as a pre-teen/early teen (for Beyblade btw) and then eventually posted some on FFnet when I was probably 17...

It was just so normal to come to a media, and wonder 'what if this happened?' and daydream about it, and write about it, and its so common in fandom places.

It just grew out of me! A seed planted by those early fanfics of 'what if', and fostered by a creative drive that ive had all my life.

Part of it would also just be.... being inspired to be a writer. I always thought of writing as something casual whereas illustration art was the Real Deal for me, but god! I roleplayed a lot in forum style RPs, and then I remember being SO SO inspired by Christopher Paolini who had written Eragon at, iirc, 16? I was like 'what!!! you can DO THAT???' LOL

I did used to want to publish a novel, and then focused more on my art, and then fell back in love with writing as I grew up and aaaAA

LONG answer but ultimately: FanFic has been something ive been around a lot, and ive always enjoyed writing in general, so it was natural that I ended up becoming more and more focused on writing fanfic <3

[somerunner]

Tagged by @lightflame. Alright, I'm ready to answer these questions. I'm usually on mobile, but for a long post like this I'd want to be on a laptop or PC. Wanted to make this a post that's just as long.

Last song I listened to: "AA EE OO" by japanesecoffee. The artist primarily makes songs using audio samples from the Twitch streamer Jerma985, and they're all pretty catchy. In the past few months I've picked up a new artist's songs, then listen to them a full half of the time I spend listening to music, and then after a couple weeks put them into more even ratios with all my other songs. Put another way, I briefly obsess over artists and then listen to them in ever-decreasing amounts as I replace them with other artists. This artist is just the most recent, and I think it's been about a couple weeks. Other artists I got into around the same time are Jazz Emu and Phil Makes Noise.

Last book I read: "Fractal Noise" by Christopher Paolini. It's good, but a little longer than it should be. It could have been cut down by about a quarter and still tell the story it wanted to tell. However, it's a story about grief and stubborn determination, so maybe the slow pacing was integral. I enjoyed it personally, as someone who's read Worm I'm pretty used to slow and confusing pacing decisions. I'd also recommend it to anyone who's read Worm; however, they should be warned that it's got the same overall tone minus the jaded view of the narrator. By that I mean it's largely depressed in tone and half-inspiring, half-discouraging, and leaves a bittersweet taste in your mouth when it's over (as in, "I really wish that the avoidable suffering was avoided, but I'm impressed by how far the characters made it").

Last film I watched: The Phantom of the Opera (2004). A girl I know wanted to get a watch party together and watch it since she's seen it a bunch of times. I was the only one free. It was really good, and I was surprised by how much I still enjoy musicals. It's been a while since the last musical I watched.

Last TV series I watched: "Severance," several months ago. If we're talking full TV seasons. If we're talking the last full episode watched, then that would be "Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan," an anime. Both of these are very good but extremely different. Google says that "Severance" is a thriller, but I would say it's got enough humor to count as a comedy-thriller. Very surreal, and very high quality. "Life Lessons..." is a comedy about burnout and had me cackling on every episode. I don't have premium Crunchyroll so I'm stuck on the third episode for the time being.

Last video game I played: "4D Golf" by CodeParade. I finished the game in about 10 hours, and it is incredibly good. If you play any mini-golf game, play this one. The developer and composer did a great job, and really makes imagining 4D space intuitive. There aren't that many 4D games out there, and I've only played "4D Golf" myself, so I think this should really be more popular for what it is. Plus, I made my own 9-hole level collection (called it "Unfun Dunes" because it's not very polished). If you're interested, check out the devlogs that CodeParade made on his Youtube channel. They're super interesting and are what got me hyped about the game in the first place.

Last thing I googled: "Grandline 3.5" -- so I was watching a Youtube video about a funny grappling experience by Zee Bashew (funny video, I recommend it -- called "Grappling in AD&D is wild"), and one of the comments mentioned a comic called "Grandline 3.5" which, from the name and context, sounded like a D&D retelling of One Piece. It is just that. I read a few pages and might pick it back up later. I was interested since I've read Darths and Droids up through the original trilogy, and it was pretty formative for me. I read it in high school. I quit reading it a little ways into the retelling of Rogue One, but it's still updating and as far as I can tell is just as good as it used to be. Long story short, I'm always interested in D&D webcomics, especially ones told in the style of Darths and Droids (where it's an established story, but the characters are being played by a D&D group, and they're constantly going off the rails). Yes, I know that Darths and Droids is actually not the first of its kind. That would be DM of the Rings. However, I only found DM of the Rings through Darths and Droids, and Darths and Droids is much longer and just as entertaining. Also, I've never played D&D but I might when I have time and a group.

Last thing ate: Rice and cheddar cheese. Usually I eat spaghetti and cheese. Yes, this is really unhealthy, I should eat vegetables, etc. etc. I eat vegetables maybe once a week, and fruit about the same amount. However, I can also easily run a six minute mile and can run at nine-minute mile pace for over an hour on a good day. Never mind, I take it back. That just means that if I took better care of myself, I could be doing even better.

Amount of sleep: 6 hours (complicated). So, I actually took a lot of naps the day before, so it's more like 8-10 hours total. But uninterrupted? 6 hours. And normally, I get about 8 hours. I'm not sure what I should be getting, though, since I usually stay up late and wake up after I've slept through a class or two.

Currently reading: "Bacon Master of the Apocalypse" by Frank Morin. It's been a few months since I've read any chapters in it, and I started it before "Fractal Noise," but I don't know if I should count serial webfiction that is still ongoing.

To pass it on, I'll tag @king-of-the-oreo, @atlasaurelius, @roosinii, @sirswooshnoodles, and @zarohk. There are other active mutuals that I have, but I've tagged them before in other stuff so I want to make sure I've tagged most mutuals once before wrapping back around. But feel free to reblog if you see this post!

Tagged by @bagadew (Also tagging in @waermeflasche because you tagged me weeks ago and I didn't get back to you)

Last song I listened to: Soap by The Oh Hellos. I burn CDs and listen to them in my car. (The first few I tried to give themes and titles, and select the perfect song orders, but ended up kind of bad and the other was cursed and wouldn't play even though I remade it three times, so I just switched to throwing a ton of songs together on "Random Mixes" and enjoying.) I was listening to my very first random mix on the drive home from work and this one came up. It's a pretty snazzy song. I think Theseus and Hello, My Old Heart are my favourites from the band.

Last book I read: Can I do a couple? I just recently finished Play of Shadows by Sebastien de Castell. It's the first book of Court of Shadows, the sequel series to his Greatcoats series. Greatcoats is one of my favourite series, filled with swashbuckling action, clever humour, and an absolutely miserable protagonist, Falcio val Mond, who always manages to get back up and keep going anyway. I read everything de Castell writes, and after a string of books with severe pacing problems (check out The Malevolent Seven for a book that doesn't have a second act) and other problems (I have a hard time seeing any book topping Crucible of Chaos as the worst book I've read this year), he finally seems to be back. The book didn't pack quite the emotional punch of some of his other books, but it definitely made me want to jump up and cheer for the heroes at the end.

The other book I just finished is The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden. I liked her Winternight Trilogy (look it up and be prepared for some absolutely gorgeous covers, with prose to match), so I was excited to see something new from her. This book was about World War I, with some fantasy elements used for magic realism. (Portraying a soldier's struggle with addiction and PTSD through the lens of him losing his soul to the devil was a brilliant idea.) I most subsist on a steady diet of fantasy books, but this one had me hungering to read a few more historical books. I might have to pick up some books about the Halifax Explosion.

Last film I watched: I haven't watched much on my own for a while, but my friends do a movie night every Sunday. The last two times I tuned in, we watched Jesus Christ Superstar and Pokemon 3: Spell of the Unown. They were both fairly cute movies. I liked Judas's actor.

Last TV series I watched: I've been making my way through The Office for the first time. I'm on Season 3 and this happened to me, actually. There was some stuff I was like, "Wow, that was funny. I should tell my coworkers about it," but then I realized that I can't be the guy who tells his coworkers about this funny new show called The Office.

Last video game I played: If visual novels count, Umineko. I've been working my way through it slowly for about five and a half years and I'm finally closing in on the end. It's peak fiction and the greatest love story of the twentieth century. It's also funny I picked a game this insanely long for my first visual novel. Other than visual novels, I just finished Pokemon Legends: Arceus, after putting in 104 hours this year. Completing the Dex is my favourite part of any Pokemon game, so having it be more involved and include a big checklist made the game basically crack for me. I've also been casually playing some Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005) with my brother. Every time we play it, I'm always amazed by how good it is and how much content it has. I want to take command posts forever.

Last thing I googled: "Dandadan Aira". I just started the manga the other day and I like her best, so I wanted to double check her full name, I think? Other than that I'm mostly looking up when books are available at my local stores. I've been religiously checking when The Book that Broke the World will be available and I'm not even sure if I'm buying it.

Last thing I ate: A few snacks from my snack drawer. I also had a Quaker yogurt bar at work. I bought a big box of them last year, but I had to throw them out because of the Salmonella. (Chewed through a lot of them before that came out, though, including eating three on an airplane.)

Amount of sleep: Supposedly seven hours, since I went to bed right after finishing The Warm Hands of Ghosts last night. The only problem is that if I get to bed at a good time, I sleep fitfully, so I'm either sleeping poorly or sleeping well, but not getting anywhere near enough sleep.

Currently reading: I started Empire of Silence, the first book of The Sun Eater by Christopher Ruocchio, at work today. I've had the first three books sitting on my shelf for a year or two and I finally got around to starting it. (I'd resolved to do both this series and Kushiel's Legacy this year, after having both for so long, and I got that one done at the start.) I'm not very far in, but I enjoy the writing style a lot, even if a lot of the worldbuilding is obviously cribbed from Dune. (Whoa, look, mentats.) I've heard it picks up a lot in the second book, so I'm excited for what's in store for me.

Passing this on, I'll tag @somerunner @lyssq @soulsinshadow @lunawithsocks and @dancerladyaqua. (They also have currently watching and sweet, salty, or savoury as questions, which I didn't do.)

[rockislandadultreads]

Book Recommendations: More Sci-Fi Titles 

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

Multiverse travel is finally possible, but there’s just one catch: No one can visit a world where their counterpart is still alive. Enter Cara, whose parallel selves happen to be exceptionally good at dying—from disease, turf wars, or vendettas they couldn’t outrun. Cara’s life has been cut short on 372 worlds in total. On this Earth, however, Cara has survived. Identified as an outlier and therefore a perfect candidate for multiverse travel, Cara is plucked from the dirt of the wastelands. Now she has a nice apartment on the lower levels of the wealthy and walled-off Wiley City. She works—and shamelessly flirts—with her enticing yet aloof handler, Dell, as the two women collect off-world data for the Eldridge Institute. She even occasionally leaves the city to visit her family in the wastes, though she struggles to feel at home in either place. So long as she can keep her head down and avoid trouble, Cara is on a sure path to citizenship and security. But trouble finds Cara when one of her eight remaining doppelgängers dies under mysterious circumstances, plunging her into a new world with an old secret. What she discovers will connect her past and her future in ways she could have never imagined—and reveal her own role in a plot that endangers not just her world, but the entire multiverse.

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal--an experience that shocks him to his core. Two centuries later a famous writer named Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour. She's traveling all over Earth, but her home is the second moon colony, a place of white stone, spired towers, and artificial beauty. Within the text of Olive's bestselling pandemic novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him. When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness, he uncovers a series of lives upended: The exiled son of an earl driven to madness, a writer trapped far from home as a pandemic ravages Earth, and a childhood friend from the Night City who, like Gaspery himself, has glimpsed the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe.

The End of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird

The year is 2025, and a mysterious virus has broken out in Scotland--a lethal illness that seems to affect only men. When Dr. Amanda MacLean reports this phenomenon, she is dismissed as hysterical. By the time her warning is heeded, it is too late. The virus becomes a global pandemic--and a political one. The victims are all men. The world becomes alien--a women's world. What follows is the immersive account of the women who have been left to deal with the virus's consequences, told through first-person narratives. Dr. MacLean; Catherine, a social historian determined to document the human stories behind the male plague; intelligence analyst Dawn, tasked with helping the government forge a new society; and Elizabeth, one of many scientists desperately working to develop a vaccine. Through these women and others, we see the uncountable ways the absence of men has changed society, from the personal--the loss of husbands and sons--to the political--the changes in the workforce, fertility and the meaning of family.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

Kira Navárez dreamed of life on new worlds. Now she's awakened a nightmare. During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she's delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move. As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn't at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human. While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity's greatest and final hope...

[magnetiix]

PEOPLE I’D LIKE TO GET TO KNOW BETTER

Alias/name – Willow

Birthday – April 17 (3 days from now!!)

Zodiac sign – Aries baybeeeeee

Height – 5′4″

Hobbies – Drawing, writing, playing video games -w-

Favorite color – Green green green green green

Favorite book – Gosh idk,,, I really really love the Eragon series by Christopher Paolini

Favorite food – Mee hoon kueh - look it up it’s good

Last film/show – 放开我北鼻 (Let Go Of My Baby) - a Chinese variety show where male idols take care of small children for like 3 weeks it’s really cute

Inspiration – Mostly music and scenery, though revisiting Mega Man and other fandoms through video games/playthroughs helps a lot. In terms of writing/authors, I’ve mentioned it before, but Xiran Jay Chao, Rick Riordan, Christopher Paolini, Robert Frost, and Theodore Roethke.

Story behind url – I was really into the trend of word corruptions for URLs back in the 2016 era, as well as double vowels, so I took “magnetic” and futzed around with it a bit by adding an extra i and replacing the c with an x.

Tagged by: @machinesandman

Tagging: @overx @thegatesofinfinitespace @galaxofmuses​ or steal it idk

[littlebirdy-bat]

omg thank you for the tag :)))

favorite color: muted blue

last song: Francesca by Hozier

currently reading: Eragon by Christopher Paolini (yearly reread)

currently watching: House MD

currently craving: strawberries

coffee or tea: tea but only iced tea I dont like hot drinks

hobby to try: archery. I did it a little bit in grade 8 (thanks hunger games) but I want to properly learn this time

current au: Im playing around with the idea of a no capes, rich boy Tim x reader fic

No pressure tag (I want to know more about you cause I think you're cool): @idyllcy @nightwingmania @bluejayscrying @garpen

(you both actually rewrote my brain chemistry with the idea of no pressure tags)

Hi, hello, howdy, thank you for the tag @batsycline69

rules: answer and tag nine people you want to get to know better and/or catch up with.

favorite color: Never not pink

last song: Danny Phantom by Medusa

currently reading: Milkman by Anna Burns

currently watching: Gilmore Girls

currently craving: Toffee ice cream and tacos (separately)

coffee or tea: 1000 times coffee

hobby to try: I’ve always wanted to try scrapbooking but just know I would never be able to commit to a lay-out

current au: Idk if a MILF plotline counts but currently my mind is occupied thinking about Wally West having a thing for Dick Grayson’s controversially young ex-stepmom.

No pressure tags for: @suburbanstreetrat @wandalfnation @monst @luffyadolover @poiscnivyism

And anyone who sees this and wants to participate!

[modern-inheritance]

What are some headcanons/MIC Canon things about Arya as a kid?

Soooo many! Unfortunately my brain isn't cooperating now (or for the weeks since you asked this, sorry for the delay Books!!) but I've put in the ones that stick out the most. I'll definitely revisit this and add more via reblogs as time goes on!!

Young Modern Inheritance!Arya

Arya frequently climbed out of windows and into the trees instead of leaving via doors. It drove Islanzadí crazy, since if there was an argument between them and she was distracted in any way for a millisecond Arya would scamper out the window with a parting shot and wouldn’t be back for hours.

Glaedr frequently compared Arya to (and called her) a wild hatchling. Oromis and others who had contact with dragon hatchlings tended to agree with that comparison.

Arya played with Faolin a lot, forming a strong friendship with him well before she left for the Varden. He was around 4-5 years older than her and lived in one of the smaller villages not far from Ellesméra’s outskirts. While not quite as much of a wild child as Arya, they both were rambunctious and got into all sorts of adventures and trouble together when they weren’t occupied with lessons. They tended to spend nights outside just to keep playing in the morning.

Young Arya hated brussel sprouts. Like it was a physical fight for islanzadi to get her to eat them. But if Oromis made them, she’d eat them. Neither Arya nor Islanzadi know why his tasted better.

It’s hit on in The Promise, but smol Arya seemed to have two different almost personas. The first is when she’s with her mother out in public: Quiet, wide eyed and drinking in everything around her, always trailing a respectful step or two behind. Paolini mentions in his (I think) Post-Brisingr audiobook interview that one of the reasons Arya is so quiet at times is because her mother would speak for her when she was younger, overruling or speaking over her (I think he was saying Islanzadí was extroverted while Arya was just naturally more introverted). Islanzadí in MIC does the same, but Arya balances this by approaching people directly when her mother isn’t around to speak her mind, set the record straight, and started doing this from a very young age. When able to be herself, young Arya was a wild child, asking questions, climbing all over everything, making things.

Arya was taught primarily by Oromis and Glaedr in general education as well as swordplay, but much of her swordplay was taught by Brom and she developed her own initial style by mixing theirs while practicing on her own. Her firearms training was more taught by Brom and a few other elves.

Rhunön learned pretty quick that she couldn’t chase Arya out of the forge. She mostly let Arya watch as she worked, occasionally letting her help with refueling the forge, making charcoal, and other small tasks before teaching the kid how to do basic repairs on equipment. As a side note, Rhunön was the one who helped develop Arya and Elf Squad’s spidersilk jackets. In Arya’s case she also implemented the remains of a very battered armored leather jacket that someone in the Varden had gifted her. Rhunön has a soft spot for Arya, but she’s not ever going to admit it. Arya learned a LOT of mechanical and engineering stuff from Rhunön as a kid, leading to her future successes in sabotaging Broddring artillery and helping build artillery for the Varden and helping to maintain some of the remaining dwarvish tanks that the Varden had at their disposal.

It’s not solid yet, and not exactly young Arya, but there is some sort of relationship between Islanzadí’s side of the family and one of the Forsworn. I’m not trying to be cliché! Lords-of-the-Empire had a good idea for it and it’s been in the works a long time to iron out the cliché bits. No promises on when or if that will ever be out.

As mentioned in The Promise, Arya constantly followed Brom around when he would come back to Ellesméra. Asking him stuff about the war both current and past, examining his gear, getting stuff like books and materials from him from the outside world, and as she got older they would spend hours talking out the most recent issues mechanical and political that were plaguing the Varden.

Arya’s skill with teleportation spells started young. Young elves and elflings are very strongly connected to magic, their emotions and states of mind occasionally bleeding out through subconscious spells (Again seen in The Promise). Arya’s first (accidental) use of the spell nearly killed her, and to prevent such an accident from happening again Oromis taught her the theory behind it and the words so that it would be less likely to slip. Despite her age Arya understood it and, after years of carefully supervised practice, became a master at pinpoint teleportation. Which is why she’s so miffed about ‘messing up’ when Saphira’s egg appeared to Eragon, and relieved when it was later shown to be meddling that caused the massive deviation.

Glaedr occasionally ‘babysat’ for a toddler/young Arya. It reminded him of watching over the hatchlings during the Rider years, especially with the girl’s wild streak.

Thanks for the ask as always, Books!! :D Always appreciate your support and questions!! I'll definitely keep adding to this as time goes on, so keep an eye out!

[jacksons-goddess-gaia]

Ramen and Hobbits~ Monsta X Imagine

❖ Monsta X, Jooheon x reader

❖ Imagine, fluff lots of fluff, hint at smut

❖ wc: 1391

❖ Tag List: @atiny-piratequeen​ @queen-of-himbos​ @gettin-a-lil-hanse​ @kimnamshiks​ @atiny-dazzlinglight​

❖ Masterlist ❖

. ⋅˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ ⋅˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

Let me know what you think!

. ⋅˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ ⋅˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

Jooheon sighed, if this was one of his favorite animes, he was certain there would be a large tick mark right on his forehead. Tired, just getting over his cold, and behind in work, this "Ramen cafe" was the last place he wanted to be. Slurping noodles while laughing over the video games, or perusing seemingly endless lines of books.

This cafe at one point must have been a book cafe, or library, mused the young rapper, fingers tracing down the weathered leather spine of an early translation for J.R.R Tolkiens Silmarillion.

"Do you like Tolkien? If you like his works you should check out Christopher Paolini's Eragon. It's written in a more modern style since the author is from this century but still an impressive work." Turning Jooheon blinked at the shorter figure beside him. 

Surprised to find anyone in this remote dusty corner of forgotten shelves, and slightly irritated that his piece and quiet had been disturbed by this unknown intruder. Their obviously foreign accent making him brace, ready to have to interpret for them to the best of his ability, Idol smile spreading onto his lips with a forced tightness. However, the minute your sparkling eyes met his, Jooheon found himself merely staring dumbly, all words and tension gone.

You were dazzling, earth-shatteringly beautiful as you placed a heavy bound book in his hands, explaining about the young female dragon and boy within its pages. How your eyes sparkled, the way your teeth winked at him as you spoke, the cute way you got more excited when he nodded numbly to what you were saying, pushing hair behind your ear as you practically bounced on the balls of your feet.

By god, you were so cute. Jooheon couldn't resist the goofy little smile as you beamed up at him, his heart skipping a beat as a small giggle left your curved lips. When you suddenly stopped speaking and just looked up at him expectantly for a few moments, Jooheon realized he had not truly heard what you were saying. Blinking rapidly to clear his fogged Jooheon laughed nervously, a blush coming to grace his dimpled cheeks and ears.

"Uh I-I'm sorry what was your name again?" He asked rubbing the back of his head as he stalled for time, glancing down to discern the title on the book you had handed him. The way your cheeks flushed however nearly had him blanking out a second time. As you told him your name Jooheons smile only grew.

"Thank you, I appreciate your recommendation, but to be honest I've never read Tolkien either. Could you tell me a bit about it?" Jooheon could have listened to you talk all day, the way your eyes lit up, how excited you were as you explained who J.R.R. Tolkien was, the way he had built these worlds and how he had influenced today's fantasy novels, and on; his arms slowly becoming laden down with the books you recommended. It was such a magical moment as your hand brushed his offering to help hold the heavy texts, heart skipping a beat, skin tingling where you had touched him. But he shook his head beaming, how your small form would fare under the pile of heavy tomes he didn't know.

"I got it, I'm big and strong see?" He winked at you flexing to make you laugh and instantly, losing control of the stack in his hands. Luckily your hands were as skilled as his rapping, for you quickly snatched the book out of the air and helped him prevent more from tumbling out of his arms.

"Why don't we go set these on the counter for you?" You laughed, shaking your hair from your eyes. It was only at that moment that Jooheon noticed the worker's badge on your dress, the words store manager emblazoned above it in gold English lettering.

"Thank you." He said in English eyes crinkling as he smiles.

"Hmmm actually perhaps we should take these to a table instead, less chance of someone recognizing you." Surprised at your open acknowledgment of who he was, Jooheon let you guide him to a table half-hidden behind a bookshelf, yet with a nice view of the computer area, where the rowdy voices of his members echoed out into the air between slurps of ramen and noisy chewing of tteokbokki.

"You know who I am?" He asked surprised, though, in all honesty, he knew he shouldn't have been.

"Am I not supposed to?" You asked surprised, eyebrows raising. "Monsta x is well known, plus your members have talked about you a lot when they visit."

For some reason knowing you were close to his members enough to have spoken about him thoroughly with them made him grumpy rather than happy. The odd feeling was wiped away though as you offered to bring over some snacks.

"I'm technically on break, but if you'd prefer I leave you alone to read-"

"NO!" Jooheon caught himself as he blurted out the words. "I mean no, I'm pretty hungry. What would you recommend?"

Jooheon was double startled when he pulled out his card you refused to take it, laughing and saying not to worry about it, before disappearing with his order into the kitchen area by the front desk.

"It's on the house don't worry about it." You giggled setting down two trays of the best ramen and ramune, once again pushing his card back. A small smile slipping across his face once more as you both ate, your fingers holding the chopsticks worked hard not to make a mess were so adorable to him.

"Here like this." Chuckling after you let a slice of chashu fall once more into the bowl, Jooheon scooted closer arms wrapping around you with ease, adjusting your fingers upon the two long sticks. Neither of you aware of the suddenly extra loud yelp from the members as Minhyuk spotted him at just that moment, smacking Kihyun repeatedly and pointing.

"Oh thank you!" Your blush was adorable and Jooheon made sure to tell you so, poking your cheek and serving up his best aegyo.

Unaware of his member's incredulous stares, Jooheon spent the next few hours leaning in and discussing books he'd never before had any interest in before now.

"It was really nice getting to meet you finally!" Your words eased his sadness at parting, as you locked up the store behind them.

"I'll make sure to read these so next time I visit you can tell me about the next part! Ramens on me too." Your beaming grin warmed his heart, waving to you as he left, books stacked in his other arm.

"I didn't think we were allowed to take books out of the cafe?" Wonho eyed the stack of books in his arms curious.

"She said I could since no one had taken interest in them in years. They're her favorite-" "Please tell me you got her number." Chuckled Changkyun, however as Jooheon stopped in his spot the others burst into laughter.

"It's fine one of us can give you-"

"No! I'll get it from her next time!" I'll woo her on my own thanks." Despite many offers, Jooheon was insistent, though later on when his schedule kept him from visiting and his members teasingly bragged about talking to you he did regret it...just a bit. However the beaming smile on your face when he eventually walked into the cafe proudly carrying the finished novels. The boys thought that your meeting, at last, was a wondrous thing, your personalities blended so beautifully, as well the mutual support and mutual adoration was adorable. That was until the only thing they became able to do when they went out was your cafe, where Jooheon spent hours following you around or huddled in a corner going over books or whatever else caught your fancies that week. But for you and Jooheon, your budding relationship was perfect. Even the secret after hour ramen and chill sessions that went from innocent snuggling and video game playing or reading to uh...well the intended Korean innuendo of ramen and chilling. "Can you be the elf princess to my ranger king?" He asked holding you close as you wandered down the streets together towards home.

"Cheesey!" You teased him, but of course, in the end, you agreed.