#read chapter 5 first!

[ranilla-bean]

The Iconoclast: Appendix

This is the appendix for my fic The Iconoclast, in which I will discuss some of my cultural and historical inspirations for the worldbuilding.

Disclaimer: I'm certainly not an expert on or practitioner of all the cultures I took inspiration from. In outlining my influences I hope to show my admiration and give appropriate credit to them.

Contents

Intro

Religion

Martial culture

Talent show

Miscellaneous

The Iconoclast is set in the same world as ATLA, about 800 years before the era of the cartoon. I was inspired by 10th-11th century societies; the Fire Nation is inspired by the Khmer empire, Kyoshi Island is inspired by Heian period Japan, and so on. Of course, the aesthetics of Hari Bulkan are heavily inspired by Angkor—Virtual Angkor was a huge help in visualising the city. 

The immense population of Angkor was sustained by intricate water management techniques. The Khmer built reservoirs to collect water and sustain agriculture through the dry season. However, the impressive structures of Angkor had a dark side: they were built by enslaved labourers. Enslaved labour was extracted through human trafficking and debt bondage. In The Iconoclast, I integrated the institution of slavery with the caste system.

The exception to my adherence to periodisation was in the Inuit traditions that inspired the Southern Water Tribe, as the 10th-11th centuries appear to have been a period of migration eastwards across the Arctic for Inuit people. In addition to this, periodisation in Inuit history is more difficult to reconstruct due to the colonial destruction of knowledge. As a result, I took broader inspiration from pre-colonial Inuit culture.

Religion

The Fire Nation is based on the Khmer empire, which in this period adhered to Hinduism before the uptake of Buddhism. The cult of the Devaraja (lit. “god-king” in Sanskrit) arises from the specifically Southeast Asian branch of Hinduism. The Devaraja is regarded as the avatar (in this case, a human incarnation) of Vishnu. The Khmer king was marked out by dress: he wore a golden crown, or a wreath of flowers. His palms and the soles of his feet were stained red. He wore a sampot patterned all over with flowers—the more flowers, the higher the status.  

I conceptualised Zuko as being seen as an incarnation of the sun. Following Hinduism, this would be Surya. Fanon tends to use “Agni”, in fact the god of fire. Either way, as a non-practitioner of this religion, I’ve personally avoided using gods still worshipped today in my worldbuilding. My inspiration has largely been in the philosophy of religion.

Such philosophical ideas include: dharma, avatara, ahimsa, and brahman vs. atman. I found the Bhagavad Gita highly informative in developing these concepts—themselves debated in Hinduism—as well as ideas about the dilemma of Arjuna and the imagery associated with Krishna. I had an enlightening conversation with my friend Tana, who convinced me of the need to address the legacy of caste and casteism arising from the text. Ideas of caste carry certain baggage in the western world that I wanted to pare back, hence the differing terminologies of ��in-” and “out-caste” used in The Iconoclast.

The philosophies of Hinduism overlap with and develop in slightly different ways in Buddhism, which I explored through Choden. One instance is the Hindu notion of the Chakravarti, an ideal universal emperor (lit. “the one whose wheels are turning” in Sanskrit). A non-secular Chakravarti would in fact be a Buddha, someone who has reached enlightenment. Since Choden is the one who introduces this concept, I used the more literal term “the Turner of the Wheel” to disambiguate from “Buddha” (which immediately draws certain connotations), and also to draw a more direct relationship between the Arjuna imagery associated with Zuko.

This religious worldview stands in contrast to animism of pre-/early Shinto Japanese religion and Inuit spirituality, as reflected by Suki and Sokka. Princess Mononoke was in fact a huge inspiration! I conceived of the kami in the context of Shintoism before the major influence of Buddhism; Suki also worships at a kamidana shelf.

For the Inuit, all things have anirniq, “breath/soul”, which lingers even after death. Therein lies the tension: between the need to hunt for survival and the vengeful soul that the act of killing liberates. The website I used as my source has a great quote on this: “the great peril of our existence lies in the fact that our diet consists entirely of souls.” These souls must be placated through ritual and observance of taboo. 

Importantly, I was interested in how each practitioner of religion approaches that philosophy in their individual ways, so none of the characters are perfect “representatives” of an ideal embodiment of that religion. Zuko is wary of his god status. Choden’s obsession with Zuko as Chakravarti makes her an outlier among the airbenders. Sokka trusts his “material” technologies of survival (i.e. weaponry) over spirituality, even though he practises the rites still, such as the smearing of lampblack and ritual words.

Martial culture

Sokka’s weapons generally mirror the ones he had in the show, with some additional embellishment. The snow knife is used to cut snow, but applied into a martial context by Sokka. The metal is sourced from a meteorite and cold forged; my inspiration was the Cape York meteorite, which Greenlandic Inuit used to fashion tools. Sokka’s club is made of jawbone, the strongest bone and stronger still from a herbivore. I combined the caribou and wombat into the “caribombat” for this, a nod to both an important Arctic animal to Inuit culture and to Sokka’s antipodean roots.

Suki is based on early samurai. She uses the fans from the show, but instead of the katana (which we see her wield in “Appa’s Lost Days”) she uses a tanto, which is a kind of predecessor of the katana and can be used as an offhand blade or a weapon in its own right. Women could also carry a smaller version of this blade for self defence. Her armour is Heian period do-maru armour, which was a lighter development on older styles of armour, made of scales of lacquered leather. I was particularly in love with the idea of her having a helmet and a men-yoroi mask, which was used as facial armour.

Zuko’s fighting style is inspired by bokator, a Khmer boxing style. He uses the short sticks instead of the dual dao, which can become truly dynamic weapons!

Talent show

Suki’s performances are based on the Japanese tea ceremony and bianlian from Sichuanese opera. The preparation method of the Japanese tea ceremony—whisking powdered tea—is in fact borrowed from the Chinese Song dynasty, which fits the time period of the world. Bianlian involves a performer very quickly changing a series of masks to a secret technique. It’s way more fun to watch on video than to read, I admit!

Osha’s dance is… meant to be the royal Cambodian ballet. The dance evokes the apsaras, dancing celestial beings in Hindu culture (incidentally, they are depicted on the walls of the fire temple on Full Moon Island). And just like western ballet, it takes years of training and skill to master!

Miscellaneous

Druk is, in this conception, a naga instead of… whatever unholy mix of cultures’ dragons LoK drew him as. Nagas are found across South and Southeast Asian cultures, and in Khmer culture they are typically represented as serpents—sometimes with multiple heads. They are associated with water, prosperity, and various other positive connotations. There’s a whole rabbit hole I don’t really want to get into about why I’m putting a water-associated creature in the Fire Nation (East Asian dragons are associated with water too!) but I do want to point out that there is a natural phenomenon on the Mekong called “naga fireballs” so… I’m running with that. 

Full Moon Island is Crescent Island… before the eruption that turned it into a caldera.

Osha’s name is not a health and safety pun; I’m not American and I call it WH&S, it was a total coincidence. It means “shining” in Sanskrit—apt for a Fire Nation character, I think. 

[acourtofquestions]

Aelin.

He had no voice here, but he spoke her name. Threw it across the gulf between them.

Slowly, she turned to him.

It was her face—or it would be in a few years. When she Settled.

But it wasn't the slightly older features that knocked the breath from him.

It was the hand on her rounded belly.

She stared toward him, hair still flowing.

Behind her, four small figures emerged.

Rowan fell to his knees.

The tallest: a girl with golden hair and pine-green eyes, solemn-faced and as proud as her mother. The boy beside her, nearly her height, smiled at him, warm and bright, his Ashryver eyes near-glowing beneath his cap of silver hair.

The boy next to him, silver-haired and green-eyed, might as well have been Rowan's twin.

And the smallest girl, clinging to her mother's legs ... A fine-boned, silver-haired child, little more than a babe, her blue eyes harking back to a lineage he did not know.

Children. His children. Their children.

With another mere weeks from being born.

His family.

The family he might have, the future he might have. The most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

Aelin.

[frobby]

Nothing is stronger than the bond between a girl and a piece of media they brushed off 10 years ago that they now realized is the greatest thing ever made

[ghostdata]

you don’t fall in love in a week you need to learn the person does their laugh sound funny how they take their coffee or tea do they eat a weird flavor combos do they have a strange tv show they’re obsessed with do they wear their socks to bed that’s love

[sayakxmi]

Saiouma Puella Magi AU, but Kokichi takes Madoka's role and Shuichi takes Homura's.

For one, Kokichi's too naturally distrustful to just hear "I can grant you any wish :)" and not think ok where's the hook. So he just does what no one ever has & essentially interrogates Kyubey, so he knows it all even before he gets to make a contract. So, some of his classmstes are MGs & he won't become one himself BUT he still ends up tagging along to just protect them in his Kokichi ways. (Though I'm entertaining Kokichi lying about being a magical girl, because, well, it's Kokichi).

(I also got a small idea of Gonta being a magical girls and Kokichi originally tagging along him into labyrinths, Gonta also makes him a magic gun from the toy one he had, and at some point witches out & Kokichi manages to kill him with that gun. So he always has that spare Grief Seed on himself, bc it's still his best friend & he can't handle the idea of just giving it away or using it himself (he does anyway in the end).)

Shuichi prolly ends up being a new kid & it isn't like MadoHomu, the ppl who reach him first are Kaede & Kaito, classic. Kokichi's there, too, but he's his usual sus self. He's actually discouraging ppl from making a contract when they find out magic and miracles are real, which absolutely includes Shuichi. He's very vocal abt it, but he won't explain stutf, bc 1) he's a liar, so who'd believe him? and 2) he doesn't want them to witch out upon finding out the truth or, idk, murder everybody Mami-style.

Anyway, fast forward, bad things happen bingo & by the end of the run most charas are dead, there's Walpurgis nachting, and he makes his wish to bring back the ppl who died notably not as magical girls. Contract signed, he fights & fails, rip. I also thought it was similar to how he thought he could end the killing game by himself - he though he could finish Walpurgisnacht by himself, too. And he failed in both times. Whatevs.

Shuichi doesn't actually make his time travel wish for Ouma specifically, he wants to save all his friends. Timelines are messy esp at first bc he either tells then or it backfires or just makes himself look very sus bc he's trying not to tell them. He also realizes why Kokichi hadn't told anybody aby witches at some point, bc, yeah, it messes them a lot, assuming they believe it.

Still, Kokichi ends up one of the few people who are nearly always giving him a chance, not necessarily out of belief, but out of pragmatism - bro can stop time & knows the truth, that's just too useful. So they often work together & Shuichi grows closer to him but still we ain't there yet. But the thing is, Shuichi's time travel still makes Kokichi more & more powerful with each timeline, bc Shuichi usually goes back after Kokichi dies, so the universe figured out this guy's life's important. Anyway, another notable thing is the iconic Homura kills Madoka scene, but it's Saiouma with guest stars of Kaito & Maki. It's Walpy, it's not defeated yet, but the training trio are spent & just kinda accept their fate of turning into witches together. And then, boom, Kokichi appears & steals their Soul Gems for a sec & he's like did u know you can cleanse your Soul Gem with a darkened one? But it's a lie & he quickly tells them so, he just had a spare Grief Seed after cleansing his Soul Gem & he needs them to do some stuff. Shuichi can travel back in time & fix things, and Maki & Kaito are needed to fight Walpy here. He actually questions what happens to the timelines Shuichi leaves behin, and ofc he doesn't know. There's a chance they remain, so Kokichi needs Maki & Kaito to fight Walpy here.

Kaimaki leave, and Shuichi finally looks at Kokichi & realizes sth is Wrong. Kokichi struggles to hide how he's trembling & grimacing, and it's Kokichi, so obviously it must be extremely bad. Shuichi dreadfully realizes something worse, and he weakly asks Kokichi why aren't his wounds healing. And Kokichi just falls, laughing weakly, and Shuichi catches him & searches for his Soul Gem and, God, he knew it. It's nearly completely black. Kokichi laughs & admits he lied abt having two Grief Seeds, he only had one he never wanted to use. But they'll have the second one soon, so no need to worry. He asks Shuichi to maybe destroy his witch form as it's hatching, so he'll have the Grief Seed without any fighting… and he admits that he hates fighting, he hates this magical world and all its violence. He says that Kaito was right in calling him a coward, even here he just can't handle the idea of fighting any longer, he's so sorry. And Shuichi tells him he ISN'T a coward. He was scared, but he always followed everybody, trying to help, and when push came to shove he would always make a contract for the benefit of others rather than himself. He's a lot of things, but a coward isn't one. Kokichi actually tears up hearing that, and Shuichi promises he won't let him fight ever again, and especially he won't let him turn into a witch and hurt anybody, because he knows it's the last thing he's ever wanted. Even now he only accepts turning into a witch to help them fight to keep others safe. So Shuichi won't let him. Kokichi probably apologizes and thanks him and then he dies.

Keeping Kokichi from fighting starts off as a side quest that gains importance with time, bc it's something Shuichi won't compromise on (ah, trauma), which leads him to occassionally neglect others a bit, which makes them more likely to get hurt & ironically Kokichi more likely to make a contract, especially since he gets more powerful & Kyubey is more interested in him with each timeline. And that also makes him witch out super quick. Shuichi's paying more attention to him & over time grows resentful of others for how they're treating him. To Shuichi it's no question that Kokichi cares & is just doing his best to help, but nobody realizes that.

But the biggest obstacle in keeping Kokichi from fighting is actually Kokichi himself, bc he's too smart and nosy, lmao. Even if he knows nothing, he will find out quickly. Doesn't help that Kyubey wants him to make a contract.

Also, obviously Kaito is Sayaka-coded and Maki could be Kyouko-coded, so that's a thing, BUT it's usually Maki that witches out. Kaito is usually pretty close, but Kokichi intervenes & he survives, but Maki later cracks on her own (and since in the new timeline Kokichi isn't there, Kaito's the one to die, so he's still the secretary). So it's Kaito who gets the dramatic sacrifice. I imagine he genuinely hoped you could bring somebody back if you tried Very Hard & Kokichi called him a moron bc obviously it's not possible. If it was there'd be far less witches that there are. But it's Kaito, he doesn't listen to reason. So, Kokichi follows him to the labyrinth. At first Kaito's mad cuz what if Kokichi being there ruins the plan? Maki hates his guts! But eventually he gets hit pretty hard, and Kokichi is near immediately by his side, trying to help him get up, which kinda makes Kaito short circuit a little bc wait Kokichi's trying to help? But witch!Maki attacks them & Kokichi pushes Kaito away & gets caught himself (and choked until unconsciousness, naturally). Anyway, Kaito gets him away, Shuichi catches Kokichi & Kaito makes up his mind about going down with Maki & asks Shuichi to tell Kokichi that he's sorry. He doesn't get him, but he got hurt trying to protect him, so he'll believe in that if nothing else. F.

As for The WishTM, in the last timeline Shuichi lashes out at Kokichi for his willingness to just become part of the system. In no timeline has his wish actually helped, it did NOTHINHG, which OUCH but it also makes Kokichi think out of the box more & he becomes the Law of Cycles. And Shuichi realizes what is happening & freaks out bc Kokichi's doing it bc of what he told him & like Homura they end up having a momentTM in space & Shuichi remembers. He feels a lot of guilt even tho he also questions whether anything was real, but if it was, he pushed somebody he far too realized he loved into erasing himself from existence.

[petite-phthora]

This yours?

[DP x DC fic]

[Love at first... murder? - part 12]

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Part 1

Ao3

---

Somewhere else, in a seemingly abandoned building on the outskirts of the city, a figure shrouded in darkness and wearing a dark cloak plots.

In front of them is a whiteboard. It’s covered in pictures, sticky notes, and illegible texts. Some of the notes thrown about that are legible are ‘fight…’, ‘draw blood.’, and ‘DEATH!!!’.

There’s a crude stick figure drawn in the corner of the board, it’s impaled. Other small doodles can also be found all around the board.

Most of the information and pictures are connected by red strings, like you see in movies.

In the middle is a picture of 2 people sitting on a motorcycle, the arms of the person sitting in the back are around the waist of the person sitting in the front. The picture has some arrows pointing towards it and the people in the picture are very obviously circled.

Though the face of the person driving the motorcycle is obscured by their helmet, the other person seems to be heavily blushing and grinning broadly.

“Yes… yes! That’s it! I know what to do…” They seem to be speaking to themselves.

Quickly, the person scribbles down a barely legible ‘sacrifice!!‘.

They start cackling.

“Mwuahaha!”

It’s an evil laugh they’ve been working on for quite a while now, and they’re pretty proud of it.

However, the effect is slightly ruined when a fly enters their mouth, cutting off their cackling with choking as they gasp for air, grasping at their throat.

A few good thumps against their chest, with some coughing out their lungs, helps them dislodge the fly from their throat and they spit it out on the ground. They take a few deep breaths before straightening up again.

“Curse you” the person exclaims, angrily waving their fist at the fly as it flies away.

---

Bruce’s face gives off nothing as he stares at the streets down below. He’s dressed as Batman, crouched at the edge of a building with Damian by his side as Robin. Spoiler, Black Bat, Nightwing, and Red Robin are further back on the rooftop.

They watch in silence as another group of the Joker’s goons passes by. They’ve been all over the city, wandering around, not doing anything obviously illegal.

They don’t stay in one place and they don’t seem to have much of a purpose. No attacks… No stealing… No smuggling or transport of goods… No, instead they’re inspecting every single inch of the city.

They don’t seem to have any weapons on them. All they’re carrying on them are some flashlights. While most don’t give anything away with their body language or expressions, some seem to give off a bit of anxious energy.

Spoiler claimed she even saw some of them climb down into the sewers earlier and then climbing out again sometime later somewhere else, but this time ‘dejected and stinky’.

One thing seems clear to the Bats.

They’re searching for something… or someone.

“This basically confirms that not even the Joker’s henchmen know where he is. He’s missing.”

“I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing”

“Good… thing?”

“It’s… something. That’s for sure.”

“We don’t know if he’s really missing. For all we know it could be a trap. What if the Joker is hiding, pretending to be missing to have us bring our guard down? Besides, how could he be missing? He’s the Joker. No one’s just gonna kidnap him”

“For all we know he could be lying dead in a ditch somewhere”

“I highly doubt that”

“Everyone, focus” Bruce speaks up, having them draw their attention to him.

“It’s unclear whether the Joker is simply hiding away or missing. Instead of focusing on the why, we need to focus on the where. Missing or not, we need to find him and get him back to Arkham. Oracle, have you managed to find out anything from the footage yet?”

“Nope, still nothing. All the files from the moment he enters Crime Alley are wiped and any attempt at recovering them only brings back corrupted files.”

 “We need Red Hood. Where is he?” Bruce asks.

“He still has his phone on silent and he has removed the trackers and cams. We haven’t placed any new ones on him yet”

“Let’s visit him on his turf then. And keep an eye out for anything suspicious in the meantime. Oracle, try recovering the missing files. If that doesn’t work, go back to the breakout footage. Perhaps he left some kind of clues about his plans or whereabouts behind there.” Bruce states.

“Roger that.”

---

Red Hood has his arms by his sides as he gazes down upon the street below from the rooftop of a random apartment building in Crime Alley.

He’s lucky to have avoided the Bats so far. But he doubts his luck will last for long.

Red Hood stiffens as he suddenly feels something clamp down on his arm. As a reflex, his other hand has already drawn his gun.

He slowly raises the arm he felt something clamp down on and looks at it, only to make eye contact with a girl with black hair and blue eyes who has sunk her teeth into his arm and is now hanging off of it.

The teeth are sharp, as the girl seems to have some small fangs. They’ve gone through his jacket and sunken into his skin.

It doesn’t really hurt all that badly though, probably hasn’t even drawn much blood, and that’s one of the only reasons Jason hasn’t flung the kid off of him yet. Another reason is the fact that it’s a kid.

They both stare at each other for several seconds.

As Jason takes her appearance in, he notices that she seems rather familiar. In fact, she looks like a more feminine version of Danny, or if Danny had a twin.

The person hanging off of his arm looks younger than Danny though, probably a teenager around 13 or 14, if he had to make a guess.

Slowly, he puts his gun away and takes out his phone with his other hand, watching the random girl’s eyes follow his movements. He raises it level with her face and snaps a picture, quickly sending it to Danny and ignoring the girl’s curious gaze while she’s still hanging onto his arm by her fucking teeth.

---

Meanwhile, Danny checks his phone to see Red Hood sent him a message. He opens it and is greeted by a picture of Ellie in human form biting down on Red Hood’s arm with the caption ‘this yours???’

---

Taglist:

@i-always-say-yea   @uraniumwizard    @why-must-i-be-like-this   @griffinthing

[gregrulzok]

Ok also like SPOILERS for Fire Punch but I really have to talk about this uhhh

...

Togata is literally the best written trans character I've seen in... Like. Ever?

Which is ESPECIALLY remarkable cause he wasn't written by a trans person. It's literally insane how well written Togata is.

Because they establish him as a character first and he's actually immensely appealing - among the other fucking weirdos that inhabit the world of Fire Punch, Togata is definitely also messed up but he's a lot more sympathetic and likeable.

And then the way his gender is revealed isn't some big joke or a gatcha or a "It's a woman that wants to be a man!!!" type bullshit. It's literally "He's lying to you, he's a man pretending to be a woman!"

Which like. Yeah. As a closeted Trans Guy that's literally what I see myself as. The fact that a literal mind reader looked at Togata and went "Yup that's a man, he's just masking as a woman" is SO fucking big brained even if that was ultimately meant to be an accusation.

And Togata himself is so scared and confused and unwilling to accept it, but he clearly understands he's a man, he clearly knows he wants to transition - he's just lost because he physically can't, and he has no idea what to do with himself.

And the scene where he tries to describe it to Agni, the anguish on his face, the constant reiteration of how painful and confusing and awful it is to be stuck in a body that doesn't fit you - that shit hit me like a ton of BRICKS. It's such a nuanced and detailed look at the trans experience and I have no idea where Fujimoto even fucking got that.

And like. I've seen a fair share of trans characters. And even when I really like them there's usually an aspect that just sticks out like a sore fucking thumb and kinda mucks the whole thing.

Like. Nate from Tiger and Bunny? Started off as a gay stereotype and only improved when the writers realized they were fucking up. Grell? An actual gay stereotype that pretty much became trans by accident. Ayukawa from Blue Period? A lot of muddy waters which isn't a bad thing but it also means it's not actually explicit. Crona? Not explicit. Saiki? Debatable and not focused on. Don't even fucking get me sTARTED on the borderline gross shit BNHA pulls, eugh.

The only other 100% good trans characters I can think of are like, Yuu (and Shou) from Stars Align and Alluka from Hunter X Hunter.

But Togata kinda takes the cake since he's a lot more integral and his struggle is more deeply explored.

Anyway Fujimoto did an incredible fucking job, is my point.

[canonicallyobserving911]

First Child (Buck) & First Baby (Buck and Eddie)

Fanonwriter2023 on AO3

Where CANON and FANON collide!

FANON Future Buddie Fanfic Series

New Buddie Fanfic

Part 15 - Chapter 5 is now available on AO3.

First Child (Buck) & First Baby (Buck and Eddie) - Eddie’s been a father for almost 14 years and Buck’s been a legal guardian to the same child for 4 years. However, after a court hearing, Buck will become a father to their first child and the title of legal guardian will be given to someone else. Also, one year and three months later, Buck and Eddie will welcome their first baby into the world.

First Child (Buck) & First Baby (Buck and Eddie)

Currently 101.3K Words and 5 of 7 Chapters have been posted; Rated: Mature

Chapters will be posted one at a time.

___________

Here's a snippet from Chapter 5 of a conversation Buck and Eddie are having while they're lying in bed.

___________

Eddie reaches over to the nightstand on his side of the bed, he opens the top drawer and after he removes an 8”x10” box, he turns over and says, “My love?”

“Yes babe?”

“I got you an anniversary present.”

“You did?”

“I did.” He replies then he sits up in bed and hands it to him.

Buck sits up too and after he removes the navy-blue and white wrapping paper, he opens it and when he looks inside, he becomes speechless.

“I researched it and I learned the first wedding anniversary is known as “The Paper” anniversary and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to get you. I hope you like it.”

“Eddie! I love it!” He replies as he reads it. Once realization sets in, he turns his head, looks at his husband and says..." 

What did Eddie give Buck for their first wedding anniversary? 👀

____________

First Love Confession -Buck and Eddie share their first real and meaningful love confession.

First Date - Buck and Eddie go on their first date.

First Kiss - Buck and Eddie share their first kiss.

First Argument - Buck and Eddie have their first argument.

First Couples Therapy Session- Buck and Eddie go to their first couples therapy sessions.

First Time - Eddie and Buck make love for the first-time.

First Morning After - The night after Buck and Eddie make love for the first-time, they spend their first morning after together.

First Relationship Reveal - Buck and Eddie’s first relationship reveal.

First Mourning - Buck and Eddie experience their first mourning after a loss together.

First Marriage Proposal - Eddie and Buck’s first marriage proposal.

First Fiancé Introductions - Buck and Eddie’s first introductions as fiancés.

First Wedding Planning & Preparation - Buck and Eddie’s first planning and preparation for their wedding and honeymoon.

First Civil Marriage Ceremony - Buck and Eddie’s first civil marriage ceremony.

First Honeymoon - Buck and Eddie’s first honeymoon.

First Child (Buck) & First Baby (Buck and Eddie) - Eddie’s been a father for almost 14 years and Buck’s been a legal guardian to the same child for 4 years. However, after a court hearing, Buck will become a father to their first child and the title of legal guardian will be given to someone else. Also, one year and three months later, Buck and Eddie will welcome their first baby into the world.

__________

Their Firsts, At Last - 400K Words; Currently 14 completed works and 1 in progress: A multi-part fanfic series about the romantic “firsts” Buck and Eddie share as they journey through life in an established relationship and their lives as a couple will include some of Buck’s individual “firsts” too. It’s filled with the FANON love, romance, fluff and domesticity their relationship should have been allowed to experience in CANON. The second part of the series title was adapted from the song “At Last” by Etta James.

This series of FANON future speculation fanfics is being written on a continuous timeline that begins with the start of season 7 (if it were to start in September 2023). Each part ends at a specific point in Buck and Eddie’s relationship so the next part can begin with the ending of the previous part. Therefore, parts 1-6 should be read prior to reading part 7 and the series will continue in that manner until it’s complete.

Parts 1 - 15 are available on AO3

Part 15 has 7 chapters but they will be posted one at a time. Currently, Chapter 1 - 5 are available on AO3.

[moxiepoxart]

I can’t help but feel like the final Edens Zero chapter was a slap in the face to Shicca fans. Like, the relationship exists solely to drive Pino’s revival and isn’t about Shiki or Rebecca at all. It reminds me of all the NaLu fanservice over the years, very little of which I’ve felt furthers NaLu as a romance. But then again, I’m probably not the guy to listen to, because I’ve always felt that for NaLu to happen, NaLi needs to happen first. Lucy needs that kick in the pants that Natsu is indeed interested in romance, and I dunno what other trigger is needed than him getting with Lisanna. He just saw their Edolas selves with a daughter, and barely an arc later, Lucy’s NOT the only snow doll Hakune’s spell creates?!? Yeah, that romance ain’t happenin’ without a MAJOR kick in the proverbial nads to Lucy.

I truly think NaLu will probably get Shicca'd (like just throw a baby at them) but with no meaningful development in the last 100+ chapters so using Lisanna wouldn't be enough. (Also i feel Lisanna needs to do more than a background ship tease). Lucy and Natsu simply need a conversation. A unision raid is my wish, they can't sync their power cause they aren't on the same page. Just something beautiful and symbolic of them being united on what their relationship is. Platonic or not.

[prolibytherium]

Dungeon Meshi is the horniest manga ever made

[a-writing-otter]

WIP Wednesday - Chapter 5 of The Redemption and Subsequent Death of Bill Cipher

“Oh, hells forfend, what could you possibly— Oh! Billy!”

Bill keeps his hands jammed against the outer ring of the summoning circle as he glares at Copernicus.

“Sweet Moses! Don’t ’Oh! Billy!’ me, where in the hells have you been?!”

Copernicus has the decency to look a little sheepish as he brings his hands to his center.

“I told you, I’ve been busy.”

“Well, I’ve been…” Oh, how does Bill even begin to describe this? These past few weeks and suddenly he feels things for these humans, feels an affection for this world.

“Look, I’m calling all of this off.”

Copernicus lets out an aborted laugh.

“What do you mean you’re ‘calling it off’?”

“What I just said. I just—“ Bill wants to touch his face, but he needs his hands down on the summoning circle to continue this conversation with Copernicus. “I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t want to destroy this realm or take over the universe or—“

“You’ve gone soft.” It’s accusatory and Bill winces.

“I’m saying that maybe it’s not worth it.”

“Oh, no, no, no, no! You grew to care about these humans and now you want out!”

The thing is that Bill can’t even refute that argument because that is exactly the reason, isn’t it? The twins are cute and charming, or whatever, and Ford’s… Ford and he likes Stan and Question Mark and Melody and—

“You’re not using me anymore. I quit.”

Silence meets his words before a slow, steady laugh erupts from Copernicus’ body. It gets louder and louder until he’s cackling. His eyes are narrowed and Bill imagines that there’s sharp teeth in a smile that doesn’t show.

“Billy, you don’t get a say in this. You never got a say in this.”

All the blood in Bill’s body runs cold, fingers curling against the dirt in the circle.

“What do you—?”

“Billy, you don’t think I didn’t think of a contingency if you suddenly grew a conscience, did you? I worked too hard for you to back out of this on a whim.”

Bill flashes his teeth like an animal.

“I’m not letting you use my body, use my brain anymore!”

“Oh… Oh, Billy, do you think it’s really that easy?” Copernicus floats closer, gripping Bill’s jaw. “Do you think you can just bail on me without consequence? We made a deal, darling, you’re mine until I decide you’re not.”

Bill rips his head with away with a growl, eyes narrowed on Copernicus.

“You’re out of your mind!”

“To be completely fair, I’m in your mind and, besides, you’re out of your depth, Cipher!” Copernicus pulls away, arms thrown wide. Suddenly, his form starts to warp. Black and inky, it ripples and twists until it’s an amorphous purple blob, three pairs of arms sticking out of the shape with dozens of eyes split across it.

“Gods know how long I kept that form to please you, but if we’re playing this game now, there’s no reason. I was hoping you’d play nice, but it can’t be helped. If what you really want is out, then you’ve got another thing coming. You’re mine and, if you won’t work with me, you’ll be my bait. You’ve already played so well for so long, you only need to do it for awhile longer.”

Bill rears back and almost breaks his grip on the circle before leaning forward again.

“What do you mean?!”

“Oh… Oh, are you really that stupid after all of this time? Thirty-five millions years and you lost all your common sense. Darling, this was never about you. I used you, you have to know that.” He puts a hand to what might be his cheek, it’s a little hard to tell in this form, but that patronization is still evident.

“You were so easy, a few flattering words and you came crawling to me. Was it that way too with your little genius? I told you we could rule the world, that I would help you, and you just crumbled. It’s no matter now, even if you want to back out, you can’t get me out of your head. You’re stuck with me and if you close your eyes, your body is mine. I’ve already have so much fun with it, it’s just a shame that you woke up too soon before I could do anything.”

[spoonsbutbetter]

Chapters: 4/6 Fandom: Bridgerton (TV) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Eloise Bridgerton/Cressida Cowper, Benedict Bridgerton & Cressida Cowper Characters: Cressida Cowper, Eloise Bridgerton, Penelope Featherington, Bridgerton Family (Bridgerton), Benedict Bridgerton Additional Tags: WOMEN!!, i love when girl best friends kiss and love each other, Girls Kissing, women love women and that's all i'll say on the matter, this might become plotless, 5+1 Things, Lesbian Cressida Cowper, demisexual eloise bridgerton, biromantic eloise bridgerton Summary:

Eloise loves calling on Cressida as a friendly joke, but there is always some sort of honesty in every joke, and sometimes it takes a little bit to realize where the truth lies.

(Or Five Times Eloise Calls on Cressida and They Realize Something New About Each Other + 1 Time Eloise Calls On Her For Real)

I was absolutely in a chokehold over Eloise and Cressida using courting language for each other and I created this

Disclaimer: this will definitely NOT follow canon, I just want these guys to kiss a bunch lol (I want them to kiss a bunch because I am projecting me and my girlfriend onto them lowkey)

[acourtofquestions]

And if he found her, if he freed her …

Rowan did not let himself think beyond that. To the other truth that they would face, the other burden.

Tell Rowan that I'm sorry I lied. But tell him it was all borrowed time anyway. Even before today, I knew it was all just borrowed time, but I still wish we'd had more of it.

He refused to accept that. Would never accept that she would be the ultimate cost to end this, to save their world

Rowan scanned the blanket of stars overhead.

While all other constellations had wheeled past, the Lord of the North remained, the immortal star between his antlers pointing the way home. To Terrasen.

Tell him he has to fight. He must save Terrasen, and remember the vows he made to me.

Time was not on their side, not with Maeve, not with the war unleashing itself back on their own continent. But he had no intention of returning without her, parting request or no, regardless of the oaths he'd sworn upon marrying her to guard and rule Terrasen.

And tell him thank you-for walking that dark path with me back to the light.

It had been his honor. From the very beginning, it had been his honor, the greatest of his immortal life.

An immortal life they would share together somehow. He'd allow no other alternative.

Rowan silently swore it to the stars. He could have sworn the Lord of the North flickered in response.

[cervidame]

Chapters: 13/? Fandom: Bridgerton (TV) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Eloise Bridgerton/Theo Sharpe Characters: Theo Sharpe, Eloise Bridgerton, Bridgerton Ensemble, Original Characters Additional Tags: Theo Sharpe-centric, Class Issues, Autism Spectrum, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Unreliable Narrator, Slow Burn

Summary: Theo goes to his first ball.

[isaacathom]

i have genuinely so many thoughts about how the book Lieutenant Hornblower was adapted and how most of the changes work, when accounting for the fact it must necessarily leave Bush's POV in order to work as television, and how those changes end up fucking over Bush's character in the movies, and how he was further pilfered by the series' decision to maintain characters like Styles and Kennedy. There is so much going on in there. Unfortunately, I don't yet own a copy of Lieutenant Hornblower, and having to constantly borrow it from my library is a faff and prevents me using post its to mark important passages. :(

[plushri]

For my own happiness I have to abandon my mum

My Solo Exchange Diary, Nagata Kabi