#saw this in the archives today and really liked it so I wanted to share!

[astarion-dekarios]

"My Brother"

In the early part of an evening of our lives,

my brother and I felt like we were trapped

in a net made of glue; New Orleans humidity

was the same as the temperature-ninety. After

drinking some cheap wine, I noticed he had

drifted off to sleep with ashes hanging from

fifty per cent of his cigarette. The breeze

coming from the window was getting cool;

he sneezed; I went to cover him with a

blanket, and of course put the cigarette out. The

ashes fell on the floor, and dissipated to the

command of the wind before I could reach them,

so I just threw the blanket on him, put what was

left of his ashed-cigarette in the ashtray, then

went to sleep. I was sixteen, he was two years

less, but more curious; he was the one who found

a way to get into our house “without a key”, camou-

flage Mrs. Katy’s lemon pies until they “disappeared”,

and find someone of age to purchase wine for us. But

on the other hand, I soon proved to be a “partner in

mischiefs”-I mastered all his antics. He was good in

biology, being the first to explain to me what the pro-

cess of photosynthesis was, and I was a wiz in mathe-

matics, mentally computing what our change should be

“before” the grocer added it up on his register. We

supplemented each other perfectly. My brother and I

did practically everything together; we went to school,

church, parties, fishing, swimming, played ball, and to

secure our togetherness even more, we dated girls who

were sisters.

Years later, in the late part of an evening of my life, I

sat staring (after drinking a bottle of Don Pernignon Cham-

pagne) across the room. I noticed that the breeze had become

wild and colder, but this time it did not interfere with my

brother or his ashes, for they both were resting well in the

hermetically sealed urn on my altar.

--Arthur C. Ford, Sr.

[milkloafy]

REST AND RESPITE — DAN HENG

⋆｡˚ ❀ summary: dan heng finds himself growing fond of your outgoing and talkative nature. one day, when you’ve holed yourself in your room, he can’t help but worry about you. ⋆｡˚ ❀ wc: 1.0k  ⋆｡˚ ❀ a/n: shhh i haven’t played 2.1 or 2.2 update yet so dan heng is still chilling in the express to me <3 wrote this while sleep deprived and accidentally made dan heng softer than planned :> 

After the events that transpired at the Xianzhou Luofu, Dan Heng decided he needed the time to rest and reflect. He hoped March 7th and Trailblazer had a successful mission—he would surely join them again soon—but he knew he wouldn’t be giving his best effort if he were to go in his current state.

He decided a few moments of peace and quite would do him some good.

Unfortunately for him, however, you also stayed on board the Astral Express for the next mission. 

Peace, he would still get. Dan Heng enjoyed your presence and the two of you had gotten closer over the years. But quiet… That was another story. Ever since you had joined the Astral Express, the halls wer filled with sounds of your laughter. On the nights you and March 7th had a sleepover planned, Dan Heng found himself needing earplugs, to put it kindly. 

Despite the noise not being his typical preference, he noticed himself finding comfort in the liveliness and warmth you brought. Which is why, when a day came where he did not hear you chatting with Pom-Pom or Welt during your scheduled afternoon snack, Dan Heng began to grow concerned. After only brief contemplation, he walked down the hallway and knocked on your door, your favorite breakfast bar in hand. 

“Y/N?” he called through the wall.

“Oh— Come in,” you said, your voice distant. 

When he opened the door, he saw you curled up on the small sofa inside your room—your conversation area for guests, you had told him. You had a blanket wrapped around you and a slow-paced instrumental piece playing from your radio. 

You waved as you looked up at him with a smile. “Hi there.”

“Hello.” Dan Heng extended the breakfast bar out to you. “I noticed you haven’t come out to eat yet. Thought you might be hungry.” 

Your eyes brightened as you accepted the snack, expressing your thanks with a bow of your head.

“Is everything okay?” he asked once you took a bite. Though you didn’t look terrible, he still was unable to shake his worry. “You have been quiet today.”

You let out a small laugh, though it sounded unnaturally forced. “I’m sure you’re grateful for these few moments of silence.”

“Not when your wellbeing is in question.”

Your gaze warmed as his thoughtful words, patting the cushion next to you and beckoning him to take a seat. He obliged, feeling the warmth radiating from your body as his right arm pressed against you. Dan Heng quite enjoyed the warmth. You offered him the corner of your blanket and he shook his head, smothering a chuckle of amusement. 

Once the two of you settled in, you said, “I’ve just been having bad dreams all night.” You paused, as if deciding how much more you wanted to share. “They were about my time…before the Astral Express.”

Dan Heng nodded in understanding. You did not have to say more. The Express welcomed all types of people, each with vastly different backgrounds. Everyone came from unique places and sometimes they were not the best ones. He was unable to verbalize this feeling of empathy out loud to you, but he hoped you sensed that he was there for you.

“I’m not really thinking about it anymore,” you assured, your tone rushed. “Now I’m just exhausted but haven’t been able to sleep.”

He hummed to himself. You seemed tired, even a bit troubled. Perhaps even someone like you needed time alone. But something told him that, for this particular situation, that didn’t seem to be the case.

Clearing his throat, he spoke up. “If you think it will help, you are welcome to join me in the Archives today. I still have some entries to input, but if you would like some company, I’ll be there.”

You straightened up in your seat, eyes wide with excitement, before a flash of hesitancy crossed your face.

“It…won’t be bothersome to you?” 

“You’re never a  bother,” he said firmly. “Though, perhaps your slumber parties with March 7th while I’m trying to sleep may be.” 

That earned a laugh out of you. “Well, if you joined us one night, maybe you would see the appeal. Even Caelus joins sometimes!” 

Dan Heng smiled at that. “Perhaps you are right.”

You nodded and said matter-of-factly, “Don’t knock it ‘til you try it.”

He chuckled, happy to see a glimpse of your normal self coming out. Seeing you dejected and downcast was something he hated to witness, though he knew everyone had those moments. They were inevitable, after all. But Dan Heng wished he could always be there for you during those times.

It was natural to feel that way towards a good friend, he told himself. If he said it enough, maybe he would be convinced. 

So why did he feel his heart race when you asked him to help you up from the couch? And why was he glad you didn’t let go of his hand even after you stood up?

Dan Heng wet his lower lip as he glanced at your connected hands. They were not even interlocked—just barely brushing—yet he still reacted in such a way. He looked over at your face and noticed a bashful smile gracing your features. It was a sight he wasn’t exactly used to seeing, but it was pleasant nonetheless. 

Perhaps similar thoughts flashed through your mind about him. Did your heart also race when the two of you made close contact? Did your stomach flutter at his touch? He wanted to ask, but chose to hold back for now. You were distraught and vulnerable from your difficult night, and he thought it was more important to help you feel calm and well-rested first. 

But as he caught you sneaking glances at him before looking away with a coy expression, Dan Heng knew he wouldn’t be able to hold back for long. Still, patience was a virtue and he was confident that it would pay off. 

Soon, he promised himself. Dan Heng caught your eye and this time, you didn’t look away. He smiled and you returned it tenfold. Very soon.

[louisisalarrie]

ALRIGHT SO I was reminded of this today by a lovely mutual when we were discussing the crazy times of early larry. This… well… this was a great time to be in the fandom. It was chaos. I’ll link the original post I found of this back on my blog from 2013 as well, but I want to add my commentary throughout this post just to explain to all you newer larries what the HELL happened here (and that original post is missing one VERY important picture…)

So… if you think we are excellent detectives now, back then we were constantly finding things because there were so many things happening. The boys and their mothers used Twitter as a place to openly chat and talk shit and Jay and Anne were always tweeting each other about larry and everything… but, these tweets were still in the public eye. It just was a different time, and larrry content was still high on Twitter.

However, there were many more platforms available that the boys could use without being directly in the fandom’s eye. This included Pinterest / Blogspot.

Now, we only ever found Harry’s, and we searched for the other boys ones but couldn’t find anything and I doubt they had them. It was very on brand for Harry to have a Pinterest, so, let’s have a little look, shall we?

I screenshotted the first picture below today. This is Harry’s blogger account. This is still up, although the account hasn’t been active since 2013.

The below photo is from the original post about this whole Pinterest thing. We all clicked on it. It was verified and I saw it with my own eyes. It’s not photoshopped

So anyway, let’s start with his blog before we jump into Pinterest. His blog is adorable! There are more articles than just the one below (screenshot taken today, the link to this blog is here)

So anyway, back in the day, he really didn’t receive many comments or anything. It was a pretty quiet little blog, that sadly, didn’t last that long.

So let’s have a squiz at his Pinterest, shall we?

It was lovely to find his Pinterest. Seeing all the things that he liked, that sparked joy for him… it was truly lovely and such a cool way to connect to our boy. Obviously, by the follower count, it was a little more well known when this screenshot above was taken. However… the earlier screenshots from his Pinterest were a… a time to be alive. When we first found it, we went through his boards, and some photos he’d uploaded and pinned. Have a look…

And so… we were all kind of like okay. Wow. What if this is really him? But…. There’s nothing proving it’s him. And then, we got this photo (which I never see floating around anymore, and we hadn’t seen it prior to this). AHEM WHAT IS THIS SIR THIS WAS TRULY WILD

We lost our minds. There was so much stuff on his profile, a picture of a curly haired kid in suspenders, a lot of pride and larry and Louis stuff in a folder called “be happy”, but alas, the mobile app will only let me post 10 pics. But, there was also this little cheeky dig at you know who, which I loooooove

And oh!!! Remember louis’ black tie 21st that Harry threw??? THIS was one of his boards before Louis had turned 21. There was no way a fan guessed he’d be having a black tie 21st.

BUT everything Louis related, whether it be his 21st or that chihuahua or the photo of them together, got deleted soon after we found it. Obviously we freaked out, tumblr had a meltdown, we had some pretty solid larry evidence on our hands. But the old stuff and anything related to Louis or Harry’s sexuality, got deleted and Harry continued to use it for a little while after. Then, the whole acct was deleted. Which… interesting… why would you bother deleting the whole acct? There wasn’t just larry stuff, there was a heap of things that Harry shared and pinned and loved and it was really cool. Would have been a nice little archive. But the larry evidence was too strong. So it got deleted and we only have screenshots, unfortunately.

But, I can assure you, we all clicked on that Pinterest link and we all saw it with our own eyes. It was verified. It was him. This was real. I scrolled through all of those photos. We also found a tumblr very similar, under the same username, but it disappeared around the same time too.

However, the blog didn’t have anything larry on it, so it’s still up. But yeah. There you have it. Some more larry lore that I forgot about until today. Hehe. Original post with some more commentary from my tumblr in 2013 here

[theredqueenandthebloodwyrm]

I see we’re just reposting things without sources for some reason?? I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it’s because the tweet used the magic word “Zionist” which is taken to be “irredeemably evil and vile person”. For context, the context which that tweet purposely left out (and yeah I’m going to say it’s fucking purposeful) is this article by the NPR. Inside this article the allegedly pro-Palestine posts on social media were fucking videos of the Hamas on October 7th. So, yeah if you’re reposting antisemitic stuff (blatantly antisemitic too), fuck you.

The images that came out of Israel on October 7 were brutal and graphic, and the images coming out of Gaza for months now are constant, also brutal and horrific. All this violence is being shared on social media, and as KQED's Lesley McClurg reports, that's affecting the mental health of Americans with loved ones in Gaza and in Israel. A warning - this story contains descriptions of violence. LESLEY MCCLURG, BYLINE: Some of the footage Shoshana Howard (ph) saw on social media months ago still haunts her. A video appears to show a Hamas fighter pulling an Israeli hostage from the trunk of a jeep. CNN aired a clip of the video. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Her face is bleeding, and her wrists appear to be cable-tied behind her back. MCCLURG: It looks like blood is seeping through the back of the woman's sweatpants. SHOSHANA HOWARD: And that broke me - and then seeing friends calling it liberation. MCCLURG: Howard, who is Jewish, couldn't believe people she knew were writing comments online that, to her, felt inhumane and anti-Jewish. HOWARD: That's when I started to have night terrors, and I was ending my days going into my closet and just would cry. MCCLURG: She couldn't stop thinking about her cousins living in Israel. As the days passed, it became harder to focus on her life and work in Oakland. HOWARD: Like, I just was so fragile. MCCLURG: And then recently, she felt shamed by a friend who told her her grief doesn't matter when so many Palestinians are suffering.

Is it “making the argument” to point out the hypocrisy of saying the Houthis (a terror organization) are protecting international laws and human rights when there’s documented evidence of Houthis perpetrating slavery, diverting humanitarian aid, and so on? Or you know, is it providing necessary context that readers might want to know?

And the comments below that tweet are awful (with a few exceptions rightfully pointing out accuracy of said community note and how slavery is in fact bad).

Antisemitic Tweet #1: This is what all community notes have become now. Total Zionist propaganda machine.

Antisemitic Tweet #2: There's been an influx of "community notes" that are clearly just people trying to protect the narrative.

Antisemitic Tweet #3: It's like the Israeli Bot accounts that change the community notes to favor Israel.

Already reblogged multiple posts explaining what's wrong with the Houthis with sources attached, so linking those now to save space (rather than adding ten different links).

This? This is what you say on October 7th, 2023?

Shaun: Lot of reaping being condemned by the sowers today. Shaun (cont.): I'm talking about politicians who stridently oppose all options except those which lead to violence and then act shocked violence occurs. Their condemnations of violence are worthless while they ignore their hand in the apartheid causing it.

October 7th was an attack against civilians where hostages were taken, people were murdered, people who advocated for peace were harmed, killed, and so on.

I also noticed a tweet not too far down from that one which said the following:

Lots of people in these comments very mad that Palestinians aren't being victims of occupation in the right and proper way.

No, people are mad about civilians being massacred and taken as hostages by a terrorist organization. The lack of empathy is something.

[choicesficwriterscreations]

October Creator of the Month: Tessa-Liam

Please welcome this month’s Creator of the Month: @tessa-liam

Each month, CFWC highlights one of our talented fanfic writers or artists. The writer or artist is selected at random. More info can be found on the navigation page. Past COTMs can be found here.

Tumblr Blog Name: Tessa-Liam

How do you want to be known on Tumblr? Tessa

Quick Links:

Tumblr Blog

Masterlist

1- When did you start playing Choices? What was the first book you played?

Christmas 2017, I was scrolling FB and saw an ad for Choices featuring The Royal Romance Book 1. I downloaded the app and started reading TRR right away.

2- When and why did you join Choices fandom?

I was hooked on that series and was waiting for a new chapter to release. I was desperate for more and my sister suggested that I try searching Tumblr for fanfiction in 2021.

3- How did you pick your blog name?

Liam was my LI, so I joined his name with mine!

4- Pull up the first post in your archive, and tell us about it!

My very first post was the masterlist to @ao719's series ‘The Invitation’. I found her treasure trove of Liam Rys/TRR stories very quickly! I couldn't get enough!

5- Do you write fanfiction, create fan art, or are you one of those really gifted people who do both?

I write fanfiction. I wish I could draw…the best I can do is create moodboards.

6- How long have you been creating for Choices and for any other fandoms?

I started writing my own stories for Choices pretty much at the same time I found the app. Publishing those stories started with prompting and encouragement from Anitah [@ao719] & Emmy [@txemrn]. I posted my first on October 28, 2022, ‘October Weekend Retreat’. I have also written for ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Twilight’ & ‘The X-files’. These stories are all published on AO3 with other pseudonyms

7- What is your favorite Choices book, and what is your favorite Choices book to create for?

My favorite book(s) to read and create for: The Royal Romance Series. Favorite = book 3

8- Share your first Choices fanfic or fan art that you posted with us. Do you still like it, or would you change it if you were creating it today?

I do still like it! The changes I would make…I would add more ‘Would You Rather’ questions and dialogue.😁

9- What is your favorite piece of fiction or art that you created?

My favorite: ‘All is Fair in Love & War’ …and I won an art commission (my center pic) for it from CFWC, by ArtbyAinna (IG).

10- Do you have a fic/art that you didn’t expect to be well received, but it was? What about one you expected to do well but found it could use a little more love?

I am always honoured whenever anyone takes the time to read, comment, or share my stories!���

11- If you could write only angst, fluff, or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?

Definitely angst❣️ I love writing/drama about a group of characters in a series with various sub plots and relationships over time.

12 - Do you ever recognize yourself in any of your MCs or in your writing?

Yes! My OC Sophie Taylor from Marabelle.

13 - What element of writing/art do you struggle with most?

Writing…Definitely 😏 smut! ….but practice makes perfect, right!? 😉

14 - Do you have any neglected work you really want to finish?

Oh geez, so much!? My one drive is well stocked! 😂

15 - If someone you know in real life (who isn’t involved in fandoms) asked to see your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you show them first?

Yes! My sister. No, not necessarily…I know she reads AO3, cuz she posts there too!

16 - Are there any writers (published authors and/or fanfic writers) who influenced your writing? Are there any writers that influence you?

Anitah @ao719, my fellow Liam stan definitely inspired me to write TRR stories here on Tumblr. She is a phenomenal writer!💖

17- Which one of your stories would you most like to see as a movie/series?

Marabelle …it's still a W.I.P. right now and I have so much story to tell!

18- Do you write original fiction or create non-fandom art?

I have started a framework for a novel and have created storyboards for it.

19- What other hobbies do you have?

I love horses and am learning dressage. Reading, writing, politics.

20: BONUS - tell us anything you’d like (if you want to)

I adore royalty in real life and follow news on William & Kate. They toured Canada in 2016. I was in Victoria, BC on vacation when they were here, but I couldn't get anywhere near that area of the city. 🤷‍♀️

[blackcherryvelvet0909]

Ramen Nuzzles (Ruggie x Female!Reader)

Note: A bit of an older piece, but I saw it while sifting through the archives and decided to share it. I don't write for the bugger that much, so I hope y'all enjoy! This piece takes place sometime in the future after you and Ruggie graduate NRC

You stand in front of the living room window, watching as droplets of rain pour from the sky and onto the ground outside. Though you often enjoyed such weather for how it put you at ease, the emotions you felt now were frustration and disappointment. Today’s plans were for a night out on the town: dinner and a movie, followed by milkshakes at the local ice cream parlor. You and your boyfriend had been planning it for weeks - it was going to be the perfect day! And then came the sudden rainstorm, which washed your plans down the sewer drain. You glared out at the streetlights, their glow hazy through the rain-splattered window panes. It was almost as though you blamed them for your sudden change of day.

The rain wasn’t the one at fault, however; honestly, it was just the icing on your cake of despondency. While the weather would have caused a bit of hassle, the real problem was your bank account: practically empty. You nor your boyfriend expected the air conditioning unit to shut down, the entirety of it so old you were forced to replace it. Combine that expense with the usual bills, groceries, and gas on your daily commutes, and you both were fresh outta cash. Leona was right: life really wasn’t fair, was it? Sighing to yourself, you let go of the curtain, letting it drape back over the window, shielding yourself and your small house from the outside world.

Just as you’re about to turn around, a pair of arms wrap around your waist, pulling you back against a warm chest. You feel a familiar nose nuzzle into the crook of your neck, their frown pressing against your exposed skin. Subconsciously, you reach back, running a hand through dirty blonde locks, fingertips brushing the base of a fuzzy ear pressed flat against the head of your hugger.

“I’m sorry about tonight,” he mumbles into your skin, sounding just as pitiful as you feel. “I guess I should have picked up a couple odd jobs to make sure we had enough, just in case something like this happened. I thought about it, but-”

“It’s not your fault, Ruggie.” You turn to face him, eyes taking in his depressing expression. He looks defeated - you probably looked the same just seconds ago. You wrap your arms around his shoulders - thankfully it wasn’t much of a struggle, as he isn’t much taller than you. “Stuff like this happens, and there’s nothing you can do.” You brush a strand of hair away from his face, fingers lingering upon his cheek as your gaze meets his. “I wouldn’t want you to work more than you already have; you do so much already.”

Ruggie seems like he’s about to protest, but the words die on his lips. He knows exactly what you’ll say: how good of a boyfriend he is, how hard he works, how proud you are of him. You’re always so sweet - a guy can only take so much before his head explodes from how flustered he gets. So, he simply lets out a sigh and nods.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He untangles his arms from around your waist, reaching his hand back to scratch his nape. “Soo…I really don’t know what else to do tonight. We can always reschedule, but…guess we’ll just be kinda sittin’ here.”

A smile tugs at your lips, releasing Ruggie from your hold. “We don’t necessarily have to have a normal night. We could always have a date here.”

Ruggie let out something between a scoff and a chuckle. “How’s that? We don’t exactly have anything special to cook here - doubt we have money to even rent a movie.”

He does have a point. There isn’t much in the pantry, besides the food you have lined up to cook for supper during the week, plus some lunch stuff. Also, like Ruggie said, you couldn’t rent a movie. However, you do have cable, plus a DVD player and a decent collection of DVDs. Hmm…you have an idea.

“C’mon.” You take his hand in yours, intertwining your fingers and giving it a little squeeze. “I’ve got an idea.”

By the hand, you lead Ruggie across the room and into the small kitchen. As you let go of his hand, you open the pantry and fish out two packets of ramen. Ruggie eyes you curiously, watching as you close the pantry and place the packets on the counter next to the microwave.

“Can you get down two bowls?” you ask. “Grab some forks too.”

Ruggie lets out a small “mhm” as he does as you ask. Once he places the bowls on the counter, you empty the two packets into separate bowls, setting the little flavor pouches to the side. You don’t even have to ask Ruggie to fill the bowls with water - it’s basically instinct for him. You then put his bowl of ramen in the microwave as he fills up the other, setting the time for three minutes. You close the door and press the button that says “start,” bringing the microwave to life. As Ruggie sets the other bowl back on the counter, you turn and lean back against it, smiling up at him as you speak.

“Did work go well today?” you ask.

“Yeah, as good as it usually does,” he replies. “Nothing too exciting - had to convince a cricket to stop bothering a boy though.”

You two go back and forth like that for a short while, enough for one bowl of ramen to be done cooking, and another to be put in the microwave. Ruggie insists that the first bowl be yours; for him to have you eat before him is one of the many ways he says he loves you. As you stir in the flavoring of your ramen, Ruggie speaks up again.

“So, what exactly do you have planned?”

As you reply, you toss your empty flavor pouch into the garbage can. “I thought we could just eat ramen and watch movies. We can either see if there’s anything good on TV, or we can bust out the DVDs.” Your smile turns a tad mischievous with your last sentence. “And I just might have a little something special in mind after we finish our main course.”

Ruggie snickers as you mention the main course; ah, yes, cheap ramen: the most elegant of main courses. Still, his ears twitch in interest, raising an inquisitive brow at you. “And that special something would be…?”

You give him a small wink as the microwave beeps. “You’ll see~”

“Shishishi~” Ruggie’s wheezy little chuckle makes your smile grow soft once more. It’s one of the best sounds in the world - if not the best. “Alright, keep your secrets. It better be a good surprise though - gotta reward your hardworking man, y’know?”

“Mhm~”

***

The credits rolled across the TV screen, paired with a song you recognized, yet couldn’t recall the name. You sat up and stretched, popping your back with a sigh. You stood up from the couch, two empty bowls in hand, spoons that rested inside dotted with the remnants of ramen. You walked back to the kitchen and placed the dishes in the sink to be washed later. Your feet then carried you over to the pantry; you reached out and opened the doors, fishing out the items you would need. Flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, cocoa powder, cooking oil, sprinkles…before you could tote the latter three ingredients to the kitchen counter (you really think you could have carried them all in one trip?), Ruggie was at your side, eyeing you curiously.

You couldn’t help but laugh at his sudden appearance. “Just can’t take the wait, can you?”

“Aww, c’mon, humor me!” Ruggie’s ears flattened against his head, his face forming the biggest fake pout your eyes have ever beheld. “I’ve been a good hyena.”

“Have you now?~” You couldn’t help but muse at his attempt to convince you to spill the beans. Well…he was going to find out soon enough anyway. “Yeah, sure, I’ll tell you - it’ll be a lot more fun if we made them together.”

The pout was gone in a flash, replaced with a triumphant grin, tail wagging behind him. He pumped his fist as he mumbled “Score!” under his breath. You let out a small chuckle at the sight, right before you instructed him to fetch the butter and milk from the fridge. He did so without question, the ingredients on the counter in a flash. His inquisitive eyes scanned the items before him; what could you be planning?

“We gonna make a cake or something?”

“Something like that, yeah.” You bent down and opened one of the bottom cabinets, getting out a mixing bowl. Along with the bowl, you retrieved two smaller ones, a whisk, and a large measuring cup. Placing those items next to the ingredients, you continued. “We’ll need a pot and ladle later, plus the cooling rack and paper towels, but that’ll come later.” You began to measure out the flour in the measuring cup. “By the time the dough rises, we’ll have already finished another movie.”

Ruggie let out a small growl - something between frustration and anticipation. “Alright, quit keeping me in suspense!” His whine caused your smile to widen into a smirk. “What’re we making?”

“You remember when we went to your grandma’s for a visit last month?” Ruggie nodded. “Well, while you were washing the supper dishes,” you glanced over at him, “I maaay have finally gotten her to share her recipe for doughnuts.”

Ruggie’s pupils grew as big as saucers. For a moment, he stood there in stunned silence - it made you giggle and bat your eyelashes in feigned innocence. Before you could tease, Ruggie pounced, pulling you to him for a kiss. It was honestly he who teased you in the end, as he broke the kiss before you could really sink into it. The wide, happy grin on his face made up for that though.

“I fuckin’ love you!” he beamed, tail going nuts behind him. “You’re the best, you know that? Best girlfriend ever!”

You let out a giggle - he was just so adorable when he got excited. You leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Why, thank you! I try~” You then stepped back and faced the counter to continue your measuring. “I was going to make these for you tomorrow for breakfast as a surprise, but since today didn’t work out like we planned I thought it’d be fun to make them together.”

Ruggie seemed to agree. He was the best little helper, passing you each ingredient and tool you needed. His gaze was glued on your hands as they mixed the ingredients, and later kneaded the dough. When your hands grew tired, he even took over, right up until you told him to stop. He placed the dough back in the bowl, which you then covered the top with a layer of plastic wrap.

“It’ll need to rise for about two hours before we can start shaping the doughnuts,” you said. “We can just leave the bowl here on the counter.” You turned to face him again; the hyena looked as amiable as a child on his birthday. “It’s your turn to pick out a movie.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that!” He quickly made his way out of the small kitchen, though paused just before he exited. He turned his head to look at you and asked, “Do you wanna play that board game we bought last week?”

“Yeah, I’m down for that! Just set it up on the coffee table - just move the stuff there to the recliner.”

Ruggie gave you a thumbs up before he scampered off - and then came right back. Though your smile remained, your expression grew puzzled. He wore that charming smile of his as he approached; what could he want now? He placed one hand on the small of your back and the other behind your head - and then he dipped you down and kissed you again.

You were not slow to respond this time. You ran your fingers through his messy dirty blonde hair; a hum of satisfaction rumbled in your throat as he deepened the kiss. Your nails gave the back of his ear a gentle scratch, and Ruggie practically purred in thanks. A good long minute later, he broke the kiss, though his forehead lingered against your own for a moment longer. His eyes gazed into yours, smile no longer charming, nor mischievous. You could only describe his overall expression now as happy, content.

“I love you, [Name].” He let forth a small, mumbled laugh. “I don’t think you’ll ever know just how much.”

“Maybe not.” You gave his ear another scratch; Ruggie had to catch himself, lest he collapsed on top of you for how nice it felt. Your lips formed a small amused, fond smirk at the reaction. “But I’ll certainly try to give you the same amount back.”

Ruggie’s orbs seemed to sparkle a little at your words. Could they even do that? Who cares?

Ruggie lifted you back up. His hand took yours, now being the one to lead you to the living room. Once there, he let you go so he could grab the board game from the bookshelf tucked into the corner of the room. He set it on the couch, then helped you clear off the coffee table. As Ruggie laid out the game onto the polished surface, you read the instruction manual. It wasn’t necessarily a new game: it was monopoly, but the so-called “cheater’s edition.” Besides a few new cards and game mechanics, there wasn’t much difference; you both just thought it would be a fun experience.

As you tossed the manual back in the box, Ruggie inserted another movie disc into the DVD player. He then made himself comfortable on the floor, his legs folded in a crisscross, hands placed on his knees. The two of you shared a smile from across the table, very much ready for your night of movies, board games, and doughnuts.

[jscwrites]

Please Follow this Backup Blog for Vendetta-IF

Hey guys, it's jsc, the author of Vendetta. I'm making this blog to backup all of the stuff I've posted over on the vendetta-if blog because I can't access my main account. Until I can access my account again, this will be the blog I'll use to interact with all of you and post updates. And in the worst case scenario, this will become the main blog.

So, please, follow this blog as I will be posting updates and answering asks like usual here. Also, for those who want to share their fanarts and other fanworks, please tag this blog too so I can see it. I'll also start reblogging some posts and asks from the Vendetta blog here in hopes of preserving them as much as I can. So, be prepared for a little blast from the past as we walk down the nostalgia road, I suppose.

I'm really sad because just earlier today, I checked my followers count and saw that we were 30 followers away from reaching 4K Followers in the main Vendetta blog, and I was thinking about what to do to celebrate it. Plus, there are also so many awesome fanarts and asks that I don't want to just be gone, which is why I'm making this blog to reblog all of them.

For those who are new and wondering what my story is all about, please check out the intro post I've reblogged. I might need to make another intro post in the future if I never get access back to my account, but for now, I hope it'll suffice.

IMPORTANT LINKS

[ORIGINAL INTRO POST]

[VENDETTA BLOG ARCHIVE]

[DEMO | Latest Chapter: 6 Part 1 | 272.8K words total] 

[FORUM] 

[PATREON] | [KO-FI]

[DISCORD]

CHARACTER RELATED MASTERPOSTS:

[CHARACTERS LIST]

[ARTBREEDER PORTRAITS] [ROs] [Other Pt. 1] [Viktor] [Other Pt. 2]

[CHARACTER PLAYLIST]

ADDITIONAL LINKS

[PUBLIC SIDE STORIES LIST]

[AO3 WRITTEN FANWORK] -> Currently 3 works

For those who are interested in what happened, I'll tell the details under the cut.

So, a few hours ago, I decided to open my iOS Tumblr app to check on notifications and stuff, as I usually do. But instead, I got hit with the Tumblr error messages over and over as it keeps trying to load in.

At first, I just thought it was my cellphone Internet connection, so I tried logging in on the desktop. At first, after I input all of my login credentials, the page loaded, but it brought me to the viewing page of my Vendetta blog as a non-user. I tried again, and this time, it said that my account got terminated. I never got any email from Tumblr about this, and it came as a shock because I just used my Tumblr earlier today to reblog some fanarts with no problem and I have never really used my account for other non-IF related stuff.

So, I scrambled to ask my members in Discord whether my Vendetta blog is still up, and thankfully it still is. But, my main account is somehow gone. The problem is, my Vendetta blog is actually a sideblog to my main account, jsclarissa.

As you can see here, when I tried searching for my main account, it says "Ghost blog! This blog does not exist." despite me having used that account to respond to comments and send asks to other authors before.

I have sent a support ticket to Tumblr support and also tweeted them on Twitter. I really hope they can give me my account back as I'm pretty sure this is some kind of technical issues on their end. I'm just worried about how long it would take them to respond and of course, the worst case scenario that it actually got terminated, so, I'm making this account.

Even if I got my account back, I'll still reblog stuff from the main blog here and maybe I can finally have a more personal blog where I can talk about stuff that is not really related to Vendetta.

[imonthemoonitsmadeofcheese]

Destinytober24: Day 2 - Tower

In the Destinypedia article on the Tower of Woe (from the Scarlet Keep strike) there's a quote at the top:

After much investigation, this has been determined to not be an actual quote from anywhere within Destiny that anyone has been able to find.

Link to Ao3 if you prefer to read it there

"Tower of Woah? …It's not that impressive."

"What?"

"You said it was the Tower of Woah. It don't make me go woah."

"There are times when you are completely incomprehensible."

"Pot. Kettle."

"Hmmm…"

"Don't guardians normally have to fight their way in here?"

"Yes."

"But we just walked in right through the Scarlet Keep and no one bothered us."

"Yes."

"And there ain't nothin' shooting us as we go up this elevator right now."

"Correct."

"But when I looked this place up in the Hidden archives there was footage of-"

"You have been infiltrating the Hidden archives? Again?"

"Well you said we were goin' here. I wanted to research it."

"You could have simply asked me and I would have shared the relevant files."

"But then I wouldn't possibly come across any irrelevant files. The amount of times I've stumbled across the most profitable-"

"Do. Not."

"Right. Sorry. Point bein'… the footage I saw had Hive Acolytes shootin' Guardians in this elevator from those holes in the sides."

"Alcoves."

"Sure, whatever. They were in there in those Al-Coves shooting guardians as they came up the tower like they was fish in a barrel. No cover. Shoot before ya get shot. But there ain't no one shooting us here. Last Guardians through can't have got rid of all the Hive in this tower. Those fuckers move back in hours after you clean 'em out. Sometimes five minutes if you time it right."

"Yes. But they are not here now."

"That's my point. Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why ain't they here tryin' to kill us?"

"Because I sent them away."

"You what? You can… command them?"

"The lesser Hive are easily compelled with sufficient magic and force of will, yes. The spell will last for the next four hours, which is more than enough time for us to make a full circuit of the tower and take care of anything we might find."

"Holy shit. I didn't know you could do that. That's… hot."

"Hmmm…"

"Wait… You said the lesser ones. What about the greater ones?"

"This is why I requested your assistance."

"You can't take on the greater Hive?"

"I can, and frequently do. However this is one of those situations you have mentioned before… where it 'makes sense to bring a friend'… just in case."

"Buddy system. I get ya. Surprised you didn't just bring one of the Guardians."

"I usually do. I will in future, if you prefer."

"No. I do not prefer. I like this. You know I like this."

"I do. Hence your invitation."

"Just not used to you… bringin' me along for… Moon shit… that's all. I like it. I hope we do it more. I'm happy to come with ya for anything, you know that."

"I do."

"Hey… wait a sec… is this… a date? This is a date, isn't it?"

"What? No. Why would it be a date? How does that even make any sense?"

"Creepy Hive tower… you scared 'em all off so we can be alone… maybe we fight something nasty together… murder is a form of love for Hive so us killin' something big together is kinda-"

"No. We are here to set wards and confirm the tower's energy is not being put to even more nefarious uses than it is routinely. It is not a… date."

"Not with that attitude."

"Ugh."

.

"Hoo-ee! Four Ogres, six Wizards and nine Hive Knights… It may not be the Tower of Whoa but it sure is the Tower of Ass-kicking today."

"Tsch."

"That was fun. You should take me out on dates like this more often, Moondust. You really do know how to get someone's blood flowing."

"Hmmm… Yes. You should use your ghost for that."

"Nope. Not gonna."

"Do not be ridiculous. You are likely to lose consciousness from blood loss before we even get back to Sanctuary."

"Nah. Brought a first aid kit. Gimme a bit and I'll have myself patched up. It'll be fine."

"A first aid kit? Why would you bring a first aid kit? You have a ghost."

"Because you don't."

"What?"

"Rule number one about hangin' around Lightless, is you bring a first aid kit in case they need it. My ghost can't do shit if you get hurt."

"Do you… always bring a first aid kit when you are… with me?"

"Uh… yup."

"Really."

"Well… yeah, Moondust."

"That is… extremely thoughtful and… kind."

"Really? Wild. It's almost like I like you or something."

"Or something."

"Hey… you sure this ain't a date, Moondust? Cuz when you're up close touchin' my face all gentle like this, it really is very nice… and it almost looks like you might wanna kiss me right about now."

"Do you never stop talking? Even now… with our lips so close together… you are still… talking."

"Yeah well, if you want me to shut my mouth so bad, maybe you should shut it for me."

.

"Ok I take it back. It is the Tower of Whoa."

"Tsch."

Link to the entire month's worth of prompts on Ao3, posted daily.

[endieinwonderland]

From The Archive: When It's Over

Pairing: Paige Bueckers/Media Manager! Reader

Warnings: Angst

It was a secret that needed to remain hidden. As the head of the sports marketing team and Paige as the captain of the women's basketball team, you both understood the stakes. If anyone discovered the truth, it would unleash a storm far worse than hellfire on both of you. This shared understanding was why, when Paige knocked on your door last Friday, avoiding eye contact and staring at her feet as she ended things, you weren't surprised. But that didn't mean you were ready for it.

"I don't know where your head's been lately, but I really need you to lock in today, kid," your boss's hands gripped your shoulders firmly. The stern, disappointed expression that would have sent you running home in tears a few years ago had become all too familiar over the past few days.

Professionally, you’d never had a worse week. Your hands shook constantly, making it impossible to take clear pictures, and your tear-filled eyes prevented you from seeing that your photos were blurry until it was too late.

Every click of the shutter felt like a failure, each misstep a confirmation that you were falling apart.

Your boss’s voice softened slightly, though the urgency remained. "Look, I know you're going through something, but we've got a job to do. People are counting on us."

You nodded, trying to muster some composure. "I know. I'll get it together." But even as you said it, doubt gnawed at the edges of your resolve.

She gave you a brief, encouraging squeeze before letting go. "I'm counting on you," she said simply, turning back to the task at hand.

You took a deep breath, willing your hands to steady, your vision to clear. You couldn’t afford to let this week define you. It was time to lock in, just like she said.

The problem was that doing so was rather difficult when what, or rather who, you were trying to focus on was the reason your chest had felt so tight all week.

This was the first official game of the season, and your team had promised at least three news outlets that by the end of the 40 minutes they’d have cover shots for their articles about the game.

Realistically, you knew this meant photos of Paige, but with your newfound inability to even look at her, you wondered if a picture of Johnathan the Husky would suffice.

For a fleeting moment, you seriously considered shifting your focus entirely, filling your memory card with shots of the mascot, relying on whatever your partner shot to fulfill your assignment. But you knew that wasn’t an option. The publications wanted Paige, the world wanted Paige, and your job hinged on delivering her in every frame.

Paige. Her name alone sent a shiver down your spine. You tried to steady your hands, adjusting the settings on your camera, but every time you caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of your eye, your focus slipped. Her confident stride, the way she commanded attention on the court, it was all too much.

You positioned yourself at the half-court line, trying to angle your shots to capture the game without letting your eyes linger on her. The crowd’s roar, the squeak of sneakers on the polished floor, and the rhythmic bounce of the ball blended into a cacophony that should help you drown out your thoughts. Yet, every cheer for the guard felt like a personal attack on your composure.

Through the lens, you saw her in action—swift, agile, unstoppable. It was almost offensive how unaffected her game seemed when your photography had taken such a blow this week.

Each shot she took, each defensive maneuver, you were supposed to capture it all. Instead, you found yourself focusing on anything else: the scoreboard, Geno’s animated gestures, you even caved in and took shots of Johnathan, who was currently entertaining a group of kids sitting in the bleachers.

But you couldn’t avoid it forever, and when Paige makes a particularly impressive play, driving through the defense with a grace that left everyone in awe.

You instinctively snapped a photo, and for a brief moment, you were lost in the brilliance of the shot—a perfect still of her in motion, the intensity in her expression almost palpable. Then reality crashed back in, and you felt the familiar weight pressing down on your chest.

“Get it together,” you whispered to yourself, trying to shake off the unease. But the lump in your throat didn’t budge, and the weight on your chest only grew heavier. Every second wasted felt like a countdown to disaster.

Then, in another sudden burst of speed, Paige broke away from the defense, sprinting down the court. You followed her through the lens, your finger poised on the shutter. She leapt, going for a layup, and you captured the perfect shot just as she scored. The crowd erupted, but your heart pounded for a different reason.

As Paige jogged back to her position, the whistle blew for a timeout. The players dispersed toward the sidelines, and you took the opportunity to review the photos on your camera.

Your hands still trembled slightly, but the last few shots were good—really good. For a moment, a flicker of hope ignited in your chest, sparking dangerously when you heard a voice behind you.

“Hey, did you get a good shot of that layup?”

You turned, startled, and found yourself staring at the other photographer, who was face-to-face with Paige. She was breathing heavily, a sheen of sweat on her forehead, but she was smiling.

The sight of her up close, the intensity of her gaze, even when not on you, was almost too much. You felt your throat tighten.

“Uh, yeah,” you heard the girl say, holding up the camera, casting you a nervous glance. “I think I got it.”

She steps back slightly, allowing Paige to move closer. Paige glances at the screen, her eyes bright with curiosity. “Looks great,” she says, her smile widening.

“Thanks, but we’ll probably use hers though, we both know she’s the real pro,” she said, tilting her chin towards you.

For a moment, it felt like the world narrowed down to just the three of you, standing there in the midst of the bustling gym.

Paige’s response was nonverbal, a mere shrug, as she turned her attention back to the younger girl in front of her, effectively excluding you from the conversation until the sound of the buzzer filled the gym, calling her back to the court.

----

The gym had erupted into chaos as Paige's final three-pointer sailed through the net, securing UConn's victory at the last possible second. The crowd was a roaring sea of cheers and applause, but all of it seemed to fade into a hush when Paige turned towards you, her eyes searching the sidelines for your face.

"Did you get that? Please tell me you got that," she shouted as she sprinted towards you, the excitement vibrating in her voice, her face flushed with the thrill of victory and the sprint. Her hair was a wild cascade, damp with sweat, sticking to her forehead, yet she seemed oblivious to everything but you.

You nodded, your heart pounding not just from the adrenaline of the game but from her intense focus on you. "Oh come on, you know I did!" you called back, flipping through the images on your camera to show her.

She reached you, breathless, her hands on her knees as she caught her breath, then straightened up to peer at the camera’s screen. Her face was inches from yours. As she looked at the images, her smile grew, and she reached out to touch your arm, a light, lingering touch that sent shivers down your spine.

"These are incredible," she whispered, her eyes not just bright with victory but with a warmth that seemed reserved just for you. Paige moved impossibly closer, her proximity sending a flush through you. Then, impulsively, she pulled you into a hug, her body warm against yours, her heart beating fast against your chest.

____

Your arms instinctively wrapped around yourself, a subconscious effort to hold onto the warmth of the memory. Your camera, once a bridge between you two, now hung heavily around your neck.

You stood there, a silent observer, as Paige melded back into her world on the court—a world where once you had shared a special place. Now, you were just another face on the sidelines, capturing moments that no longer felt personal but were merely part of a job.

The weight of the camera was a physical and emotional anchor, pulling you back to reality, reminding you of what your role here was supposed to be, even if your heart lingered somewhere back in a past that seemed both incredibly close and painfully distant.

[nnnyxie]

Feeling a lil down about myself, what would you think about Izu x chubby reader? Reader isn’t necessarily insecure but does have bad days, maybe some of Izu‘s fans were being extremely horrible to reader or something because of their weight (I live for protective!Izu) and reader just shuts themselves off and is rotting away in a pile of blankets in their apartment while Izu dosen’t get what’s going on at all- he adores reader and isn’t all like „oh but your boobs and ass and thighs“ he just adored READER you know??? Often when I read x chubby!reader they only mention their curves and thighs and what not but I don’t think reducing plus size people to curvy plus size people is very inclusive so idk if that makes sense but yeah kwnfksld

#𖢥 izuku anon

baby i am loving these requests and i’m happy to give you chubby rep!!

i sorta based it on how i get when i’m insecure about myself so i’m sorry if it isn’t what you were hoping for :(

some days it’s just hard yk?? people get mean and it can really fuck with your brain. it makes it hard to look at yourself sometimes.

especially when you’re with a pro hero. people think that you ‘don’t belong together’ just cause you two have different body types. and it’s sickening how people think that way.

it makes you feel awful— all of the hateful comments you get under your posts gets overwhelming and sometimes you have to archive them all together. sometimes you even have to deactivate your account because they get so overwhelming.

izuku always wonders why you do that— you never give him a real reason. just a ‘i don’t feel like being on social media right now’. he knows it’s not the truth but, he doesn’t want to pry. he doesn’t want to make you uncomfortable by hounding you for answers.

but tonight— tonight was awful. the first thing you saw while opening instagram was a picture of you and your lovely boyfriend, something a fan posted. the fan was nice!! their post was a cute edit and it was an appreciation post!! but the comments— the comments were sickening. they were filled with so much hate, it made you physically ill. and today you weren’t ‘feeling’ yourself so the comments didn’t exactly help.

you deactivated your account again. now you were thinking about just deleting it all together. it won’t stop the hate but it’ll stop you from seeing it. either way— you decided to try and push those awful comments away and read, maybe it could lighten your mood.

it didn’t. the thoughts kept coming back— you couldn’t even read a full paragraph. it felt awful. you felt awful. maybe a shower would help?

as soon as you stepped foot in the bathroom, you stepped right back out. it hurt to look at yourself. it made you cry. you weren’t particularly insecure but these comments were ruthless and they just really got to you this time.

when izuku got back home from patrol, he found you in your shared bed, you were curled up in a pile of blankets with nearly all the pillows surrounding you. he heard your crying— and was immediately concerned. why wouldn’t he be?

“love, what’s the matter? did you watch the neverending story again?” he sat beside you and pulled the blankets down so he could full see your face. this wasn’t your ‘sad movie’ cry. this was entirely different.

“hey, what’s going on?” “it’s nothing— i uhm just read something sad is all.” you were a very poor liar.

“be honest with me, please? is something going on?” he was now laying beside you, holding you from behind. “i just— do you really want to be with me? i’m not—” you choked, crying more at the thought of him leaving for someone ‘better’ (there is no one better). “of course i do. i love you. why wouldn’t i want to be with you?” “how aren’t you… how aren’t you disgusted by me?” “why would you ever think i’d feel that way towards you? i love all of you. and everyday i find more to love about you.”

then— it clicked. he remembered.

“is this about that post? bakugo sent it to me… he told me to look at the comments— baby if i knew this was happening sooner i would’ve done something about it. why didn’t you tell me?” he rubbed your arm in comfort, he knew all about being insecure— of course he couldn’t relate to where yours stemmed from but, he knew how awful it felt to feel like you aren’t enough for people. “i didn’t want you to be mad at them. they’re your supporters.” “they aren’t my supporters if they’re treating you this way.” he took a breath, he was upset. not by you— never. but, by the hateful people. “i love you, and every part of you. i’ll never be disgusted by you and i’ll never want anyone else. i only want you.” god you loved him.

“can you turn so i can see that pretty face?” you turned to face him. izuku had a smile but, his eyes welled when he saw the tear streaks that ran down your cheeks. he cupped your face, swiping his thumps to wipe away the stray tears that still fell. “you’re the most beautiful person i have ever met.” you cried again, not because you were upset— but, because, he was just so wonderful to you. izuku held you, letting you cry into him.

“i’ll address it.” “you don’t need to.” “i’m going to.”

don’t mind the neverending story part…. i just rewatched it today and cried abt the horse scene… artax :(

[sugar--brown]

Being back in the family

I decided to start posting my one-shots from ao3 here to share with the fandom more!

This one is from the first prompt of @drcarmillaappreciationweek

Words: 2,189

Summary: Dr. Carmilla is captured by The Mechanisms, while they bicker like usual, she reflects on her relationships with each one of them. This is mostly self-indulgent because I like to think Carmilla is still a sweet woman despite everything.

Story under the cut.

Almost forgot: @yourlocalmechanism-dr-carmilla

When Carmilla came back to her senses, she wasn’t feeling really well. In fact, she felt more dizzy than anything else. Her head was killing her, she could feel her brain trying to escape her skull. She painfully tried to open her eyes, but it didn’t help her much because her sight was full of big black spots. She blinked, once, twice… She continued until her hearing came back.

“Told you we could capture her if we stick together!” cheered a gravy voice, which Carmilla found it quite familiar.

An icy cold waterfall suddenly fell on her head, drenching her to the bone. That helped her to finally focus on her situation. First: she was aboard a ship. Second: it wasn’t any ship, she was aboard her daughter Aurora. Thirdly: all the kids were here staring at her. And finally: she was tied up to a chair.

Mmh. What was going on here?

“So…” started Ashes. “What now?"

“What now?” parroted Jonny. “What now?! We are doing whatever we want with her!”

Oh. That was what was going on: Jonny dragging everyone into one of his nonsensical plans for revenge and fun. Or fun and revenge? It really depended of his mood. It wasn’t the first time Jonny tricked her or trapped her. But it was the first time he succeeded to enrol everyone to do it. Even the Toy Soldier was here in the back of the little crowd.

“You have no idea of what you are doing, aren’t you.” sighed Nastya.

“Y-yes I do!”

Oh, he sure didn’t.

Everyone raised an eyebrow at that. But as usual, Jonny ignored them. Carmilla started to kick her feet in the air. The chair was high enough for her to not touch the floor, smart. Today was a good day! Her joints were feeling good, she was back with Aurora and all her kids were paying attention to her.

“My question still stands: what is the next step here?” asked Ashes.

“I already answer: whatever we want.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“You just suck at being creative!”

Carmilla knew to recognize a petty argument when she saw one. So, she ignored Jonny and Ashes – who had started throwing hands – and focused on the others. It was nice to see that Raphaella and Marius had settled in the family just fine, she hadn’t been much around – sadly – since she hadn’t mechanized them. But that didn’t matter because they were having fun watching Jonny and Ashes brawling, eating pop-corn.

Talking about kids settling well in the family, Carmilla noticed Tim shaking his head disapprovingly, already taking out one of his guns. His eyes seemed to perfectly work now, which was good. Eyes were difficult to work on and tended to be painful. Was it because of Nastya’s work or Raphaella’s? Whatever, it was good work if Tim was up to deal with Jonny’s shenanigans!

It was a relief, because Carmilla never saw such a brutal and painful mechanization. It had broken her heart that her children hadn’t trusted her enough to ask for her help when Jonny brought back his favourite – dying – mortal from a war. They had tried to handle everything themselves, and it’s only after a lot of failures that Brian had called her.

But it had broken her heart even more when she saw in what state the poor boy was. She had done her best to fix everything. But she had been limited by time, resources and the anxiety of her family, who didn’t want to have anything to do with her at the moment.

Seeing Tim in such a serene state was enough to brighten her day!

“I don’t want to interrupt anything, but we have a more serious problem.” interrupted Brian, grabbing Jonny and Ashes by the collar like kittens. “Do I have to remind you that she’s a vampire?”

Mh. They were really mad if they act like she wasn’t right next to them. But she was very curious about what they will do next. So she didn’t move a muscle and let her kids continue their little plan.

“So what?” grumbled Jonny, trying to escape Brian’s grasp. “What this has to do with anything?”

“It means she will need blood soon.”

Everyone blinked at Brian for a second, and Carmilla nodded solemnly. She drank some not long ago, so she should be fine for a while. But it was true that at some point she would need a bit of blood or thing would get… messy.

“I Have A Cup Of Blood If That Can Help!” chirped the Toy Soldier.

“Why do you have a cup of blood?” frowned Ashes, finally escaping the Drumbot's grasp.

“With a straw too!” added Toy Soldier, finally taking out the blood cup with a straw from… somewhere? Where did it come from? Better not questioning the functionality of the wooden doll.

Carmilla had tried to study Toy Soldier. It had been eager to let her dig in its gears. But she had found nothing out of ordinary. It was a superb automaton, but nothing which could explain its immortality.

In the end, they had spent more time talking about the other mechs and their own issues in her lab than anything else. These calm moments had been closed to heaven for the doctor. And a good start of her introspection.

“How is she supposed to drink it?” asked Nastya, raising an eyebrow.

That was a good question, as always, from Nastya. Her sweet, sweet Nastya. Her little princess. Her little pragmatic engineer, always struggling to connect with people but so good at understanding them. Carmilla couldn’t overstate how lucky she had been to meet her.

Nastya would never believe it, but she was a great fit to their little family.

Once upon a time, Jonny wasn’t coping well with his first millennia of immortality, and neither Carmilla nor Scuzz had been able to help him. And at the exact moment, just the moment when Jonny was deadly jealous of Aurora, Nastya appeared in their lives. Or more precisely, Carmilla saved her life.

They had fought, they had argued, they had caused mischiefs together. And in the end, Jonny had been calmer than either (aka: he stopped biting before talking) and learned to string Jonny’s heart strings as well as her viola’s.

“We need something to keep the straw near her mouth…” wondered Raphaella, a piece of pop-corn flying out of her hand when she waved it excitedly the moment she had a very new and absolutely very good idea.

Carmilla liked Raphaella. She was an upbeat and smart woman. She may have mechanized herself, but she wasn’t less her daughter than any other of her siblings. They had much time to bond, though… Carmilla regretted that, but it wasn’t like she could. She would never again sacrifice her oldest children’s comfort for another kid’s.

Maybe they could talk about science during her… prison time? Did this situation count as been in prison?

“I don’t think another of your very dangerous gadgets is the solution here.” tempered Brian, again the voice of reason.

Brian, the last piece she added alone in their little family. The weight to balance everyone else. To be fair, she didn’t pick him like the others. She didn’t spend years at his side to see if he would fit with the others. It had been a coincidence, a request, and a gut feeling.

But she never regretted it. Brian had been the one stepping up when she failed all of them. He was their anchor in the storm, whatever in which mod he was. Honestly, the moral system she had to build on the whim hadn’t much impact on his free will… And it was another proof that Brian was more than a nice and calm soul.

“Are you in boring mod?” asked Ashes, in a teasing tone, hiding their smile by munching on a cigar.

Carmilla smiled along, looking away in hope no one caught her. But she couldn’t help it. Ashes’ sarcasm and serious face when they were telling a joke always amused her. The first time she had seen Ashes using it as a weapon, it was during their first meet.

Carmilla had been surprised to see a kid at a blackjack’s tournament, so she had sat at their table and played with them. A few jokes later, Carmilla had lost all her money and more. And Ashes had won more cash than they had ever seen in their life, and as bonus, a mother.

Ashes was the perfect quartermaster. The one able to bond with each one of crew’s member. The one stepping up when Jonny was too upset to be a good first mate. The one who everyone turn for comfort and good advice.

The one who stood up against Carmilla.

“I’m not in ‘boring mod’.” groaned Brian. “I just think it’s not a good idea either way.”

“Hold on. I have an idea.” said Jonny, grabbing something in a cupboard.

Ten seconds later, the blood cup was strapped to Carmilla’s chest, letting her having free access to the straw.

There was a moment of shock. Everyone blinked, confused, at Jonny who stand tall and proud like he was some kind of genius.

Her little wild child…

Jonny always had been unpredictable like that. Scuzz had groaned, snapped and complained about it all day long. But Carmilla had found it endearing. No, it was more than that. She had seen herself in him. Her young, rebellious, lost, self.

She hadn’t been able to resist, and she had adopted him after he trapped himself in the worst situation possible. She had taught him how to fight properly, how to travel space and foreign planets, how to play music…

Carmilla hadn’t a favourite child, she loved them infinitely and equally. But if someone wanted to point a favourite, they would probably choose Jonny. Because she let most of his terrible and nonsensical behaviours slide with a chuckle.

But it was just because was the loudest and the one craving attention. All of them had terrible and nonsensical behaviours.

“There is 77% probability that you gave someone the idea to do the same on you in the near future.” provided Ivy with her usual equal tone.

Jonny glared at her, completely missing the joke. Ivy was the one considering doing it to Jonny in the near future. But most people couldn’t tell when Ivy was joking.

Her smart little bookworm! Always a step further than anyone else. She could recall when they all organized a chess tournament aboard Aurora out of pure boredom. It had ended with Jonny eating the pieces, Nastya trying to cheat with the help of Aurora, Ashes hiding multiple queens in their sleeves, Brian digging out some obscure and questionable moves and Ivy throwing the chess plate across the room in frustration.

But who could blame them? Ivy was too good at it for the others to have fun, and the others were too wild for Ivy’s enjoyment. It was a fond memory for Carmilla, but she doubted any of them remembered this particular event.

“Hang on, let me put a movie.” said Marius, bypassing Jonny in a jog.

“What?! Why?!” exclaimed the first mate.

“In case she gets bored.” shrugged Marius like it was common sense.

It was… it was strangely nice of him. Carmilla understood the comfortable chair for her joints and the blood cup for her vampiric hunger. But putting a movie for her in case she got bored… It was a step further. It wasn’t just nice, it was caring.

Marius was the one she knew the least about. Even less than Tim and Raphaella. The majority of her knowledge about him came from The Bifrost Incident shows she sneaked in to check on them. And even their, Jonny and Toy Soldier was the one attracting the most attention.

But he seemed sweet, able to keep his mind pragmatic while without denying a bit of fun either. Someone interesting. Someone able to fit. Someone she could call son.

If he allowed her to. He had been an adult and immortal long enough to not need someone like Carmilla around to help him settle. But if he did, she would be overjoyed to provide!

“She’s our prisoner!” shouted Jonny, indignant.

“Since when are you ordering everyone around?” asked Nastya, rolling her eyes. “Marius can do whatever he wants. We already followed your terrible plan.”

“Because I’m the captain!”

“FIRST MATE!” shouted back everyone with a grin, making Jonny pout like a child.

Carmilla took a sip of the blood. Yes, Jonny was the first mate. Because there was already a captain. It had been her, back in the days. But now…

She gave a knowing look to one of Aurora’s camera which was staring at her since the beginning. Aurora was her own captain, and the captain of The Mechanisms.

Because she was her special little girl. Her oldest child. The only one Carmilla wasn’t deeply uncomfortable around, because Aurora was never scared of her and was knocking sense into her mum when she failed to act like a mother.

Yes, Doctor Carmilla had ten children, and she loved all infinitely and equally.

[starwarsmum]

Day 16! @maribat-calendar-events gives us a prompt of Strike a Pose

Marinette's day was looking up - she had been suffering relentless teasing from her friends after the article had been shared around. Adrien had taken great pains to apologise that she had been mistaken for his girlfriend again which would have hurt if this had been two months ago. As it was, she was mostly just annoyed that his public relations team wasn't handling it.

But now that school was over, she was looking forward to seeing Damian again. Was she surprised that he was the son of a billionaire? Yes and no - she would challenge anyone not to be a little surprised by a new friend coming from that much wealth, but she had noticed that neither he nor Cass had given his full name. Besides which, he had mentioned that his father owned a company, and if it was big enough to be international…

All of which was to say that she didn't blame them for not telling her. Hell, she hadn't mentioned her own business, although that may change now that she knew they could be discreet. She stood on the steps of the school, checking her phone for any new messages.

“Marinette!” She grimaced internally as she turned towards Adrien. He smiled at her and she wondered how long it was going to take for Damian to come and get her out of whatever conversation Adrien felt the need to have. “Listen, I'm sorry the reporters still have the wrong idea, but I talked to Natalie and she said you could come to the photoshoot today! You know, because you said you wanted to go to one sometime?”

“Oh, um, that's really kind of you but-”

“Adrien!” Lila called out to the blond boy and he tensed slightly when she grabbed his arm. She gave a smarmy look to Marinette who simply rolled her eyes. “We should get going to our photoshoot, we don't want to keep everyone waiting. Marinette, you don't want him to get in trouble with his dad, do you?”

“I was just waiting for someone,” Marinette said coolly. She heard someone call her name and turned automatically. A smile spread across her face as Damian approached the trio, drawing everyone else's eyes to them. “Hey Damian! I'll be with you in just a sec.”

“So, do you want to come to the photoshoot?” Adrien asked, eyes almost pleading as he tried to pull his arm out of Lila's grip. She was ready to say no when Damian interrupted.

“You are Adrien Agreste, are you not?” Two pairs of green eyes met and Adrien seemed to get smaller the longer they looked at each other. Damian finally looked away, almost like he was dismissing the model. He turned to Marinette with a smirk on his face. “There are people who are under the impression that you are romantically involved with him.”

“Don't remind me,” Marinette said, burying her head in her hands. “So you saw the article too, I take it? I'm so sorry they got you involved in all of this. Never mind, we should probably get going, didn't you say you had visitors coming today?”

“Tt, they are already here,” Damian sniffed, glaring at a black car that sat on the street. Marinette could just about make out two dark shapes in the front seat of the car and was immediately curious. “I must apologise in advance, they are exceedingly annoying and have also seen the article. Perhaps I could speak with you privately for a moment?”

“Sure,” Marinette said, fairly certain that she was blushing but powering through it. They stepped away from the others and she waited for Damian to say whatever was on his mind. She also allowed herself to properly drink in the sight of him, noticing that his shoulders were slightly tight and a little frown line marred his usually relaxed brow. “Is everything okay?”

“Tt, I am fine. My obnoxious adoptive brothers arrived this afternoon and have been insufferable in regards to the article,” he admitted, glaring again towards the car she had spotted. “Am I correct in saying that the blond boy is the son of our leading suspect? Because if that is the case, I strongly advise that we accept his offer to accompany him.”

“Ugh, do we have to?” Marinette was only half joking - the idea of watching Lila drape herself over Adrien was no longer as heart wrenching as it once had been, but it was still annoying. She was rewarded with the amused twitch of his mouth and grinned at him cheekily. “Fine, but if I have to suffer through it-”

“Sorry to interrupt but Mari, do you want to come to the shoot?” Adrien had approached them, interrupting Marinette mid-sentence. He looked slightly nervous and even more perturbed about something. “Only we need to get going, so if you want to-”

“Okay, where is it? Damian and I will catch up with you there,” Marinette said, resigning herself to a very awkward afternoon. “Maybe we can straighten out this whole ‘pyjama girl' mess at the same time.”

“It's so crazy that people think that you and Adrien are dating,” Lila tittered, shooting Marinette a smirk. She changed it to a smile as Damian gave her a sharp look, pretending it was a friendly remark. “It's just so unfortunate, you know? I would hate for it to stop anyone who wants to date her eventually. Not that that's a problem right n-”

“Tt, Marinette is perfectly capable of explaining herself and the situation. You have my word that it does not prevent those of us who are interested in her from pursuing her.” Damian stared Lila down, even as Marinette blushed again, a warmth spreading through her chest.

“W-well, we'll get to your photoshoot as quickly as we can,” Marinette said after another beat or two of silence. Adrien nodded, still looking at Damian strangely, and gave her the address. He waved at her awkwardly, following Lila to the car that waited for them. Marinette hardly remembered that they were there, she was so focused on Damian.

“Your friends seem like imbeciles,” Damian said as Adrien and Lila drove away, and Marinette snorted. A smug look flitted across his face and she poked her tongue out at him. He looked like he was about to say more, but just then the doors to the car that held Damian's companions opened and his smirk changed to another scowl.

“Lil D! I thought we were, uh, doing research tonight? For work?” A taller, blue eyed, dark haired man looked over the pair, and Marinette blinked up at him. He blinked back at her and then a smile spread over his face as a squeal erupted from him. “Ohmigosh, you're so cute! Dami, you didn't tell me pyjama girl was so adorable. Hi, I'm Dick.”

“Nice to meet you,” Marinette said, accepting the offer of a handshake. He made a soft noise of delight, and she giggled slightly nervously. “So, you work with Damian?”

“Huh? Oh! No, we're his older brothers,” Dick said, gesturing to the tired looking man who stood behind him. “B didn't want Dami here by himself so he asked us to join up with him after our sister headed home. So, how did you two meet?”

“As interesting as this conversation is, we have somewhere to be,” Damian interjected, stepping between Dick and Marinette. “Since you are both insufferably still here, you may give us transport to our next destination.”

“Sure we can give you a ride, lil D,” Dick said, apparently unbothered by the blatant way his questions were ignored. He ushered the two teenagers over to the car, the tired man grumbling as he followed along behind them. “Dami, you can sit in the front if you want so you can give me directions.”

“Tt, I can give you directions from the backseat just as easily,” Damian retorted as he slid into the car and motioned for Marinette to follow him. As she did, Marinette couldn't help noticing the look the two men shared, the tired one looking more awake suddenly. “Besides which, you should know enough of the area with a navigation system that there is no need for me to give you more than an address.”

The car lapsed into silence as Dick got the address from Marinette and started driving.

_ _ _

Dick sat at the back of the photoshoot, watching with amusement as Damian chatted with Marinette. She had introduced herself properly on the drive and proceeded to give Damian what Dick could only describe as heart-eyes. He had exchanged several glances with Tim to make sure he wasn't imagining things.

But, sure enough, Marinette and Damian had been glued to each other's sides for the entirety of the photoshoot so far. Tim had latched onto the coffee available as soon as Damian had used his name to bully their way past security but Dick had been far too interested in watching the situation unfold to stop him.

Marinette had been chatting with the photographer, an Italian man who spoke loudly and talked a lot about pasta. He heard them mention something about paparazzi and the photographer seemed sympathetic about the fact that Marinette seemed incapable of escaping the spotlight. He had just finished photographing the Agreste kid and his coworker when he snapped his fingers and pointed at her.

“I know just what you need! You need a fresh narrative, from someone less biased. Here, we should take some photos of you with each of the boys in question and then release them with a small article giving the facts! Quickly, come and stand next to Adrien. Miss Rossi, you are finished now ma bella, you may go!”

The girl that had been dealing herself across Adrien shot Marinette a poisonous look but Damian was the one who stepped forward.

“I do not think it is necessary for Marinette to take pictures with Agreste,” he said. Dick's eyebrows shot up but nobody was looking at him so he was free to continue watching. 

Now, Dick wasn't as good as Cass at reading body language, but both Damian and Adrien had pretty obvious facial expressions to work with. The blond had looked pleased when the photographer had dismissed the other girl and offered him Marinette as an alternative, but his face had dropped when Damian had immediately tried to veto the idea.

“Ah, I see! So the article was not entirely wrong about little Marinette's romantic prospects, eh? Do not worry, it will only be photographs that show what a - how did you say it to me, Adrien? Oh yes - what a ‘very good friend' she is. I was thinking perhaps back to back, yes?

“But when she takes her photos with you, if you wish to take a different direction we can,” he finished, pulling Marinette around Damian to place her with Adrien. The friendly effect that he was aiming for was somewhat ruined by the vaguely adoring looks the model kept shooting Dick's apparently prospective sister-in-law. “Adrien, eyes on the camera please!”

The moment the photographer was happy with a photo, Damian stepped forward and pulled Marinette away, throwing an arm over her shoulders almost possessively. The two teenage boys exchanged glares but Marinette was a grinning, blushing mess. 

The photographer thanked Adrien for his time before turning an excited look on Damian and Marinette. By the gleeful look in his eyes, the following photos were bound to be memorable.

[tgrailwar-zero]

Morning everyone, ready for the big day?

The sun rose on the Transient Megalopolis, and you prepared yourselves for the Flaming Bout.

After a good night's rest and a decent morning that quickly became a bit more frantic once you realized how the time was slipping by, you made your way to where the bout was supposed to be held.

Today was the day. And it was a 'big day' indeed!

Even on a decent time-frame- and you all thought you were getting there pretty early- the streets were crowded as they amassed around a huge arena.

Just wave after wave of people. Compared to your past memory, where each individual was more of a 'vaguely colored mechanical thing'- and even your recollection of the Nameless City which had primarily human-like citizens, you saw all types here. Humans, robots, beast-men… the works.

You supposed that in a virtual world where you could look like anyone, these kinds of disparate appearances wasn't exactly odd, but it was surreal in a way. It was hard to tell who was a competitor, and who just looked incredibly intense.

The good news was, you really didn't stand out that much. In a vacuum, a 'shadow person' was rather ominous and actively strange. in this situation? Well, if you ever wanted to assert that you looked 'relatively normal', now would be the time to do so. Nobody could really argue.

Still, there wasn't much time to admire the diversity of the Solar Cell, as you were being actively squished between your Servants as they tried to push through the waves of people.

CONSTANTINE: "Just… stay close to the Masters! If they got lost in this wave of people, I don't think we could find them easily!"

NERO: "It's not like we have a choice but to stay close, Rider! I barely have room to wiggle my fingers! I forgot what massive crowds came here for the Bout!"

SABER: "Still… it's pretty exciting, isn't it? This is a major event! Ah-- hey, Rider! That's my foot!"

CONSTANTINE: "That wasn't me! Wait, there's a break in the crowd Push! Onward!"

You shoved your way through the crowd, as you heard various bits and pieces of excited chatter.

"Hey, did you hear? Keeper Ptolemaios is here!" "Seriously? I don't think I've seen him anywhere but the Archives or the Library…" "I wonder... do you think something happened?"

"So many strong fighters… maybe this is a good year to get into betting…" "Dude, you still owe me 50 PPT, what the hell are you gonna bet with?"

"Mm? Where's Protector Quetzalcoatl? She's always here, right?" "I thought I saw her… I think she changed her hair?" "Ah, that was her?!"

"I've got a good feeling on the Man-Slayer this year... I just know it!" "No way! Tri-Star's got this in the bag!" "You're kidding, right? I heard that the Jaguar Boss brought in a last-minute fighter that's supposed to be a total killer!"

The constant noise was only tempered briefly by the sound of a heavy object slamming into the ground. Eyes whipped towards the source, as you saw DURYODHANA and IZOU proudly standing before the crowd.

DURYODHANA: "Make way, citizens! The ruler of the Transient Megalopolis is coming through! Move it! Shoo!"

IZOU: "Y'hear that punks!? Queen Cleopatra's comin', so back off and start gettin' respectful!"

They parted to the side, as a stately, beautiful woman stepped between them. Your eardrums practically burst from the amount of yelling that emerged from the crowd, which basically confirmed the identity of this person.

CLEOPATRA VII THEA PHILOPATOR. The final Pharaoh of the Greco-Egyptian Ptolemaic Dynasty.

And… the Lair Servant of the Transient Megalopolis. The 'Pharaoh'.

You saw her briefly shoot a look at her two guards, sharing a hushed conversation.

CLEOPATRA: "You boneheads. We really need to work on your introductions…"

IZOU: "Really? I think I nailed it. What, you think I should'a asked 'em to bow?"

DURYODHANA: "They moved, didn't they? I say mission accomplished. No need to coddle them, they adore you after all."

CLEOPATRA: "…You're both lucky you're strong and handsome, you know that?"

She sighed, before smiling and waving to the crowd of people, that-- despite the brusque announcement from the two guards-- were absolutely ecstatic to see the Pharaoh of the Megalopolis in person. And considering that DURYODHANA and IZOU were fighters as well, you could assume some of that excitement was shared for them as well. She made her way through the crowd, before vanishing, and the normal bustle returned… unfortunately.

MUSASHI: "Gaaah! My foot!"

CONSTANTINE: "That time was me, sorry! Are you okay? Ah- wait, we're losing the little one!"

'LITTLE GUY': "We're going awayawaaaaaay-!"

NERO: "I've got you! Oh, look! There's that damned Jaguar! Ahead! Ahead! No, we're drifting left! No, no, noooo--!"

Eventually-- EVENTUALLY-- you managed to reach JAGUAR MAN who was waiting by the entrance. She smirked, folding her arms.

JAGUAR MAN: "The crowd got you, huh? That's the city for ya. You're lucky you're newbies- at least you don't have to worry about paparazzi or superfans hounding you. Welcome to the Flaming Bout. Glad y'could make it. Anyways, let's get down to brass tacks. Twin-blade and Shady here--"

You're assuming that she's talking to MUSASHI and you.

JAGUAR MAN: "--Head down to the locker rooms as soon as possible and get checked in. Your friends better find seats quick, this place fills up fast for people not in VIP sections."

CONSTANTINE: "We're not allowed down?"

JAGUAR MAN: "Sorry, handsome. Don't worry, the fighters are allowed up to mingle when they're off call, so you'll have plenty of chances to waste time together. Just make sure you don't miss your bout. Here you go."

You received: [ Flaming Bout Tickets (1 Fighter Ticket, 1 Manager Ticket, and 3 Guest Tickets) ]!

[ You lost 400 PPT for your Entry Fee! You currently have 770 PTT! ]

JAGUAR MAN handed you the ticket marked 'Manager', while MUSASHI took the ticket marked 'Fighter' and the other three took the remaining. MUSASHI's ticket was bright red with a golden border. Your ticket had a sleek black design with a golden border- it looked important. Best to make sure you didn't lose it. The guest tickets had simple flame patterns.

With a petulant look, NERO stared down at her ticket.

NERO: "…I want a VIP ticket."

JAGUAR MAN: "Tough luck. If you had your War Monitor status, it'd be a cinch, but now you've gotta run with everyone else... Still, knowing you, you'll probably find a way into the Lounge somehow."

JAGUAR MAN: "Anyways, I'll see ya down below. I've got high hopes for you, 'Null Zero Samurai'."

She winked, before heading inside the building, leaving you and your group.

[noffy96]

Kustardweek day 2 Dragon

didn't have as much time to flush this out as much as i wanted too. But the idea is at least out there, maybe someday in the future I or anyone else can make it more detailed. Still enjoy

Don't mess with Science

Chapter 1

word count: 714

Status: complete

Chapter Summary:

As they frantically tried to reverse the flow There was a loud clank flowed by smoke. Not wanting the forest to catch on fire, he sank down to his knees to yank out the batteries. The glow expanded outward along with a large burst of wind and a loud crack blowing him away from the machine.

or

Sans and Red are testing a new machine they built. A mishap turns Red into a dragon

written for Kustardweek2024

Or read below !

He looked over the equations once again. Then back at Red who was tinkering with the machine. They had teleported their latest invention outside. To the clearing in the woods away from worried humans.

He was sure Papyrus would also have something to complain about it, but at least it got him out of the house. Meeting Red had reignited his love for research and science. Their experiments went as much wrong as they did right.

But talking with someone who could understand his ramblings was so much fun. Their latest invention would allow you to share magic signatures. Letting you use magic not normally available to you. Today they were gonna do a small test run.

In the lab, they had been able to change the magic signature of a rock to ice. But plants were alive, so a step harder to crack. Just to minimize the side effects they thought taking the machine outside where it could hover above the flower they were looking to change would be better than trying and replant it hoping they would do that right. And for it to be in its natural state, there is less chance of side effects.

He checked the warning lights, and they read off the numbers as he signalled Red.

“All looks good over here”

“Same for me, think we can start?”

He double-checked his list and the position of the machine.

“Looks like we are ready”

With that, they turned the machine on. For a few minutes, everything seemed to go normally. But then the numbers on his screen started growing exponentially. Red started cruising, And a glow was starting from the flower.

As they frantically tried to reverse the flow There was a loud clank flowed by smoke. Not wanting the forest to catch on fire, he sank down to his knees to yank out the batteries. The glow expanded outward along with a large burst of wind and a loud crack blowing him away from the machine.

He got up with some difficulting coughing out the dust that he had inhaled. Only for the ground to shake, He looked up to see a giant red-coloured dragon right in front of him. Feet stomping wildly before falling over with a whine.

His eye flashed, intent to defend himself if need be. But when the dragon opened his eyes he saw the familiar eye lights of his boyfriend

“Red?”

He screamed coming closer, as the giant dragon let out a whine,

“Change me back..this feels awful”

Red's voice came from the beast's giant maw. He blinked surprised as he came to a stop beside his boyfriend.

“I mean of all the things you could look like, you look like a dragon...That's pretty cool…maybe you could even fly, certainly have the wings for it.”

There was a loud growl and he took a hurried step back

“I can feel myself breath, the fleshy organs in my gut, I have lungs…I shouldn’t have lungs! It feels awful and weird and fleshy and if I move anymore I will hurl. And if you laugh I will do it all over you”

He quickly raised his hands in a playacting gesture. Red's giant claws came to rest over his snout with an angry yet sad-sounding whine. Tail curled in close like it was trying to comfort him.

“Sorry, i really didn’t think-”

“Just shut up and fix me please”

The giant head turned away from him but then made an unhappy noise. With a sigh, and eyes slowly filling with worry he placed a gentle hand on what he supposed was the dragon's shoulder Giving a gentle but firm pet, Then after a few seconds, he decided to lean over and kiss his forehead.

“I'll do my best”

Red seemed to relax a little bit. As he walked away he could hear the quiet murmurs of

“Fuck I can feel the scales sliding over my bones, it is like having dunked them in slime”

He started reading out the machine wondering what the hell went wrong that his boyfriend turned into a dragon. He heard a panicked noise when some smoke had risen from his lover’s nose. He just knew, that it likely would take longer than he initially thought.

[antimony-medusa]

Hi! To preface: I don't think there's any one right or wrong answer to my question necessarily, but I value your opinion as a level-headed adult in this fandom who can probably provide sensible input on the issue I'm having, so I thought I'd ask.

If a CC asks for their character not to be drawn (specifically referring to fanart, which they likely saw on Twitter) in a sexualised way, what does that mean for written fanwork content? Is it "wrong" (putting this in quotation marks since that's a loaded word, to say the least) to write nsfw content about said character and post it on Ao3, considering the differences in visibility/CC knowledge of those platforms, as well as the general consensus/expectation that CCs don't generally read fanfic anyway? Where is the line between "you should respect the CC's wishes" (avoiding the word "boundaries" since that's also very loaded in mcyt spaces) and "you can do whatever you want forever; fanworks are created by and for fans, not for the creators" drawn? Does "just don't put it where they can see unless they go looking" (i.e. correctly tagged on Ao3, not on a CC-frequented site like Twitter) apply? Would it be better not to do it at all, or only create and share said content in private spaces like Discord? Or is this all a "there is no single 'morally correct' answer, make your own personal judgement" thing?

(Sorry for the long-winded question but this is genuinely something I'm struggling with right now, lol. As I said I value and respect your opinion and views about these kinds of things in fandom, so if you have anything to say on the matter I'd appreciate your input!)

Alright so, obligatory warning for discourse on this one right at the top, and possibly also long post. These tend to be me rambling.

This is a situation that I think it's fair that a lot of people disagree. Your personal comfort level with making NSFW content in general is not where my comfort level is, we can come to totally different equilibriums. And then you add in creators expressing that they don't like seeing NSFW content of their characters, and people end up in a whole lot of different places, whether that's a complete no on shipping or NSFW, or people feeling fine to consume it but not create it, or only if it's archive locked, or only specific ships or smps, or whatever. I think it's fine that we don't all agree on this, creation is a fickle beast and we are in a weird place as a fandom of being not rpf but kinda cousins, and we can get *really* close to the creators with twitch and twitter, so people's comfort level in meshing all the parasociality and roleplay and real life of it all can end up in a lot of different places.

I just think that the most important thing for the fandom being a healthy place to spend time on the internet is that we don't go aroud sending hate/abuse to those we disagree with. a) i don't agree with internet mobs or suicide baiting or anon hate in general, b) the number of times I have seen internet games of telephone happen when it comes to this subject is unreal. To use an example from literally today, I saw someone saying that Pac of qsmp pacmike was uncomfortable with shipping art and fic and we all should stop shipping immediately, and once I tracked it back to its source, it turns out that what had happened was the creator said that he wasn't a fan that all the art was of him in the jumpsuit that used to be his skin, he has a new skin now, which turned into sexy jumpsuit art was the problem, which turned into pac hates all sexy fan art, which turned into "pac is being bombarded with nsfw art and shipping and he hates it". Now he might actually also not like NSFW art, but that's not actually what he was adressing, but it was certainly what was being circulated! So like, people warning me off of certain subjects— how do I know that they're actually accurate or if twitter just went twitter on a passing mention of something someone said on a twitch stream?

So I think it's way way way healthier for us as a fandom to sometimes disagree on the subject of "what we're drawing/writing about" and when that happens we implement Don't Like; Don't Read, and we just ignore that, or block if necessary. Don't Want To See it? Simply Don't See It. It's a bad idea to start hate campaigns for sinners, and half the time it's based on bad information anyways.

But in cases that you do know that the creator doesn't want to see that, you found an accurate clip? So this is a case where I think that there's no single moral answer to this that everyone is gonna agree on. We're all coming at it from too many different cultural backgrounds and different streamers in mind and comfort levels with NSFW in general. I don't think there is a firm answer that is gonna make you morally safe. But my personal feelings is that in cases where we know the creators doesn't want to see that, I think the important part there is that the creator never sees that, not that we stamp it off the internet entirely.

I do think, personally, ymmv, that you are not necessarily doing anything morally wrong with drawing or writing NSFW of someone's character, even if they think it's weird. There's a long history of creators saying "you can't do [this] with my characters," and it happens to be you can't [make them gay] enough to make me uncomfortable in general principle with saying creator of the character gets to call the shots in all settings forever. This happened with Anne Rice and with the supernatural fandom and like— it's the internet, we get to make the characters be gay together. This is the making sex jokes about fictional characters website, and Ao3 is the making porn about fictional characters website. I think it's fine if it exists on the internet, the question comes down to one of what we're forcing the creator to see, or what we're putting where they'll stumble upon it. Like, examples from real life— if you have a friend who's vegan, it's polite to not spend time rhapsodizing about how good meat is around them, and if you know that meat makes them sick, it's polite to do a meatless meal around them. That's a human person you want to be okay around you. But that's their boundary for their life, not yours, so even when you're being polite you have no obligation to go vegan when they're not around. And they have a politeness obligation to not walk into a steakhouse and freak out because there's meat there. They have a boundary for their life, and I'm going to respect it, but my life is a different story, and they need to take reasonable steps to protect their boundaries and not just expect everyone else to conform to them.

Or walking by someone on the street and waiting till they're out of earshot and then going "jesus christ that guy was hot" to your friends— that's fine. That's normal human behaviour. What becomes rude is when you make it hot guy's problem and yell at him. Being attracted to someone in your own space is not a problem. I'm aroace, I am not going to be in a relationship with anyone. I'm not going to ban having crushes on me, as long as you don't make it my business. Talking about an attractive person in your own space is not a problem. Being sexual in your own space— and again we are talking about fictional characters, the way I see it, these are lies we're telling about folks that are not real, who live in little minecraft worlds— that's fine. The problem is if we start catcalling people about it.

When you walk into fandom spaces you are walking into a space where we all like taking fictional guys and telling stories about them and a good portion of those stories are going to include kissing. That is not necessarily baseline normal for like, all of humanity, but people talk about tv shows they watch as one of the classic work small talk techniques. Fandom takes the "I hope ted gets together with jessica" "no he needs to work on himself first" discussion and writes stories, is all, to share with each other. Privately. On our special private website where there's a button you can click to hide your work from search engines and another one to hide it from logged-out users. If you log into the website and search things up, no tags blocked, what you find is on you for saying "I will see literally anything that exists on this subject in a space meant for literally anything". You will find gore. You will find kissing. You literally just opted in to seeing it. That's on you.

So like, there's my little defense of nsfw work existing in general, I think it existing is not a problem. I do think that we should keep it FAR AWAY from streamers. They get to set the rules for their spaces, and if someone doesn't want to see sexualized fan art, I do think we should make sure that in a reasonable way, they never have to see sexualized fan art/fic.

So like me personally, I'm going to hit that Ao3 button to hide my work from search engines, and anything NSFW (or shippy, depending on the person) is not going to go into the main tags on tumblr or twitter or anywhere I'm aware that the creators ever check that tag, and I'd probably archive lock it if the creator had publically mentioned being uncomfortable with it, and if I was regularly posting NSFW I'd block the creators on social media with any account I discuss NSFW with. I want to make sure that I am talking to my friends about the cubitos, not catcalling someone.

And I would probably err on the side of caution when it comes to social media sites that creators are on? Okay so the fandom has a habit of saying that NSFW and Shipping is BAD and can't exist, on the one hand, but on the other hand it says that anything that isn't Bad Wrong Shipping/Explicit NSFW is fine, which leads to like— extremely sexy thirst trap art being drawn and then the creators are tagged. People putting family dynamic fics that really pushes that envelope in the main tag. Gahhhhhh????? No? Don't do that?

I think it would be healthier in the fandom if we did a lot more going "this is for the fandom, not the creator" and we don't tag creators on twitter, and we took our little kissing fics, or gore, or kidfic, or neurodiverse headcanons, or anything else it might be not for the creator to see, and we kept it in fandom spaces and away from creators. But Ao3 is that fandom space that you have to opt into, it's literally archive of our Own, for fans, in that space as long as you tag it you're good.

So the TL;DR of this all is that my opinion is that if you tag it correctly on Ao3 you're fine. Maybe archive lock it. Keep it off twitter. Don't make it the streamer's problem, and you're good.

[choicesficwriterscreations]

April Creator of the Month: Aallotarenunelma

Each month, CFWC highlights one of our talented fanfic writers or artists, and this month’s creator of the month is the lovely @aallotarenunelma! The writer is selected at random. More info can be found on the navigation page. Past COTM's can be found here.

Quick Links:

Tumblr Blog My Masterlist

How do you want to be known on Tumblr? 

Aallotar is fine. I am agender. My pronouns are they/them.

More below...

1- When did you start playing Choices? What was the first book you played? 

I saw the app being highlighted a lot in Google Play in 2017, but it was only at the end of February-beginning of March 2018 that I downloaded it. It was when Perfect Match 1 started releasing and shortly before Bloodbound 1 began releasing. Time is flying!

There were already a lot of books, and it was a bit overwhelming. I chose the series that was being heavily advertised: The Royal Romance.

2- When and why did you join Choices fandom?

I joined the Choices sub-Reddit in July 2019, then the Tumblr fandom in April 2020.

I first joined the sub because I wanted to discuss the books and the characters, and hopefully befriending other players. It was lonely to read the books, and having no one to share my opinions and theories with. Then, I took a step back from it and after lurking a bit, I joined the Tumblr community. 

3- How did you pick your blog name? 

When I joined Tumblr, in April 2020, it was initially to be a Writblr. I was writing a story about a heroine named Aallotar. Its title gave my blog’s URL. My blog’s title is its English translation: Aallotar’s dream.

In the end, my blog turned into a bit of everything.

4- Pull up the first post in your archive, and tell us about it!  

This is my very first post. This is my original writing, conveniently mentioned right above. :)

5- Do you write fanfiction, create fan art, or are you one of those really gifted people who do both? 

I define myself as an artist because I create. This is how I express myself. It doesn’t matter if the pencil I use is to write or to draw as long as I create. Before I started learning how to draw, I was always saying that I was drawing with words. To me, this is what writing is. I draw and paint with my words to depict stories that my characters want me to tell.

I mostly write, but I also create fan art, such as sketches and various kinds of edits: quotes, sprites, moodboards, etc. 

6- How long have you been creating for Choices and for any other fandoms?

For the defunct app Lovestruck, from December 2020 to October 2021.

For Choices, since April-May 2020. 

7- What is your favorite Choices book, and what is your favorite Choices book to create for?

My all-time favourite Choices book is Veil of Secrets. I adore it!

I heavily create for the It Lives Anthology - the three books - and also for Immortal Desires. I love these books so much that I made a crossover, and most of the characters from the Anthology and from ID have met and even befriended each other.

8- Share your first Choices fanfic or fan art that you posted with us. Do you still like it, or would you change it if you were creating it today?

My first Choices fiction is a Blades one: Of Stardust and Light.

I still love it and I wouldn’t change anything - except the typos and the clumsy grammar/syntax, due to the fact I am not an English-native speaker.

For a long time, I thought it was my masterpiece, that I wouldn’t write something as good or even as better than this. But I proved myself wrong in the end.

The other reason why I wouldn’t rewrite it now is because I have definitively stopped writing for my Blades pairing, Tyril x Soile. I made it official a few months ago, and this decision is final.

9- What is your favorite piece of fiction or art that you created? 

It’s really hard to choose only one, but I do have a soft spot for Répondez, S’il Vous Plaît ! #3 because this is where I tell about my OCs’ Ash and Skylar’s meeting. It was a story I wanted to write for a long time and I love it.

Chronicles of a Crimson Summer deserves to be mentioned as well. This is the longest story I have shared here, and it’s a real balance of angst, fluff, and funny moments. Also, because its birth was extremely painful, so for all of these reasons, I am glad I wrote it and shared it.

10- Do you have a fic/art that you didn’t expect to be well received, but it was? What about one you expected to do well but found it could use a little more love?

I never expect anything I share to be well received, whether it’s a fiction or a drawing. I’m only sharing it, hoping that at least someone will find it and enjoy it. Even better if it helps the person in any way.

That said, sharing my art remains a lot more difficult than sharing my writing, so any art reblog is leaving me a bit confused, due to my imposter syndrome.

Most people here who are familiar with my stories have read some of the funny stories I have shared, as well as the fluffiest stories I have ever written - sometimes too fluffy for me. 

However, this isn’t only what my writing is about. Darker Than Night has generated so much indifference that it saddens me.

This series really shows what my writing is, minus the layer of humour that you can usually expect. It truly deserves better, just like In Joy and Sorrow, that actually gives a good idea of what my writing really is.

11- (WRITERS) If you could write only angst, fluff, or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why? 

I usually share a lot of fluff here, because the world outside is hard, so I want to uplift people with sweet and funny stories. However, my original writing is usually angsty with some funny and fluffy moments to alleviate all the angst a little. So, I’m choosing angst. Definitely. To me, writing angst is comforting.

11a - (ARTISTS) If you could only draw one style or type of art for the rest of your life, what would it be and why? 

I could easily do oil pastels for the rest of my life. It’s an easy technique to learn, it’s very forgiving, it’s calming, and I love how it looks.

12 - Do you ever recognize yourself in any of your MCs or in your writing?

I am agender and aspec, so in any non-binary and/or aspec MC / OC of mine can be found parts of me, regardless of how they define themselves on those large spectrums. Representation is highly important to me, so this is one of the recurring themes in my writing.

Also, the witty/sarcastic and playful characters are easy to write because I know them too well!

13 - What element of writing/art do you struggle with most?

Finding the right word is difficult, either in English or in my native tongue. I always want to capture the emotion, the feeling, the landscape with the perfect word. I’m still learning in my daily life.

Regarding my art, at the level I am right now, that would be shadows. Sometimes, they look great, but they often don’t. Practice makes perfect, so this is what I do whenever I can.

14 - Do you have any neglected work you really want to finish?

I tend to have only one WIP that I see to end. One reason for this is that I usually write my stories in a notebook, before I type them down to share them. The state of the notebook is not always great; I even sometimes struggle to re-read what I corrected!

If it’s about my original work, then, yes, I want to finish that one novel’s second draft.

15 - If someone you know in real life (who isn’t involved in fandoms) asked to see your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you show them first? 

It has actually happened with one of my siblings. At that time, I was only writing for Blades and had maybe like five stories posted. I let my sibling read them because we are close. For other people, I think it would be on a case-by-case basis, but most likely not. I'd rather make them read my original writing, if my shyness isn’t getting in the way.

16 - Are there any writers (published authors and/or fanfic writers) who influenced your writing or art? Are there any artists that influence you?

Émile Zola and Arto Paasilinna are my all-time favourite writers.

I am learning from every fanfiction writer I am reading. First, because I read in a foreign language. Second, because I believe you learn from everyone every day.

In terms of art, I don’t think I have a particular influence. I am still exploring my style.

17- (WRITERS)  Which one of your stories would you most like to see as a movie/series? 

It would be In Joy and Sorrow. I created this It Lives in the Woods AU series to give a life to my first MC, Riikka. The one she couldn’t have. In this series, I talk about close friendships, coming outs, being bilingual/bicultural, how to navigate a romantic relationship as an aspec*, how to deal with bullying/harassment, etc. I talk about timeline collapse and time-travelling as well.

And because there’s the most delightful OC ever, my all-time favourite: Ash. He truly is one of a kind and his friendship with Dan is really something special.

*aspec: a person on the aromantic and asexual spectrums.

18 - (ARTISTS) Which one of your creations would you like to see a fiction written about? 

I don’t have any yet that would justify the honor of having a fiction being written about.

19- Do you write original fiction or create non-fandom art? 

I started writing when I was 10 years old. It was thanks to an assignment for my native tongue class when we were studying the structure of a fairytale. I really enjoyed writing one, so I kept writing over the summer. Little stories about everything and nothing.

I wrote my first novel when I was 13, but never dared to send it to a publisher. I kept writing novels - and not sending them, I have a nice collection, now! - and branching out in other forms of writing, in hope to develop as a writer: rpg forums, poetry, (fan)fictions, creative writing course, etc. I took a ten year break from writing (fan)fictions before returning to them.

I am working on the second draft of a novel about grief, and I have three other different novels already outlined.

Regarding art, I mostly create non-fandom art.

20-  What other hobbies do you have?

Except writing and drawing; I paint murals and do oil pastel; I do theatre; I design and crochet my own clothes.

I enjoy watching old films, Hollywood era and silent ones included, but modern films as well, if they are excellent.

I love learning foreign languages, listening to music and going to gigs.

I am also a true race car enthusiast, preferably Formula races - F1 to F4, Formula Regional included.

I also enjoy going for walks in nature and travelling.

21: Tell us anything you’d like (if you want to).

I want to thank CFWC for highlighting me, and giving me the chance to talk more about my characters, my stories, my writing and my art. This means a lot, especially as this month is also when I’m celebrating my 4 year Tumblr Anniversary.

Thank you for your support throughout these years!

I want to thank so many people, but I’m also scared to miss any of them!

Thank you to my friends, old and new. 💛

Thank you to everyone who has read and reblogged my stories and left kudos and comments on them. It has been helping me so much in believing in myself and my writing.

Thank you to everyone who has reblogged my art and my edits and left comments on them.

Thank you to every talented person who has gifted me a piece of their beautiful art, written or not, anonymously or not.

Thank you to everyone who has asked about my characters and my stories.

Thank you to everyone who has sent me positive and uplifting messages.

Lastly, thank you to every single person who has supported me these past months, in many different ways. Your kindness and your presence have made a difference, and I am grateful for those and for you all.

And a special shoutout to my fellow rainbow creators! 🌈