#sorry it's so long

[jellybracelet]

Every sighting of Sam's jelly bracelet - 1x14 Nightmare

jelly bracelet series

[ok-boomerang]

Hey Lena!

Zutara Drabble # 5 & 8, please. ^.^

“Wait a minute. Are you jealous?” & “Wanna bet?”

Katara knocked once, briefly, on the Fire Lord’s office door before pushing it open and inviting herself in. She and Zuko had worked together for so long—had been friends for so long—that they no longer had the need, or the patience, for a semblance of formality.

Katara supposed that on some unlucky day in the future she might walk in on him practicing his Iroh impression, or worse (better?), with his pants down. But per usual, the Fire Lord was merely at his desk, head in hand, as his glazed-over eyes scanned some boring parchment.

“Hey Zuko,” chirped Katara, feeling herself almost expand upon seeing him, upon seeing the transformation of his face when his eyes fell on her—the subtle widening of his right eye, the easy smile that pulled at the corners of his mouth.

“Hey,” he said in response, setting his parchment aside and giving her his full attention. A piece of hair had fallen out of his top knot. “My favorite ambassador—"

“Mhm, whatever,” she joked back. “Funny how I become the favorite every time the fishing waters treaty is up for renewal—"

“You’re always my favorite, I just happen to point it out at specific times.”

Katara rolled her eyes, even though she felt her cheeks warm a little at Zuko’s words.

“Anyway,” she said, shrugging off that impossibility, “I’m just delivering the report on the healers in Fire Fountain City.” She handed him another piece of parchment, which Zuko took with some hesitation.

“The report on the healers—?” he muttered, eyes scanning the page. “But I didn’t need this for a couple more days—”

“Yes, well, Tanriq invited me to the Fire Lantern Festival tomorrow evening, so I got it done early.”

She watched as Zuko’s eyes stopped scanning the parchment, but he didn’t look up.

“Tanriq?” For some reason, his voice had gone up in pitch.

“Do you know another Tanriq?” Katara asked, curious at Zuko’s confusion.

“The—the ambassador from the Northern Water Tribe?”

“Of course,” said Katara slowly.

“You’re—together?”

“No,” she said immediately, and then chided herself. “I mean—I’m giving him a chance. So…maybe in the future? We’ll see how it goes—”

“It’s not going to go well,” Zuko interrupted her.

Katara blinked at him. “Huh?”

“I mean,” Zuko said, bringing his hands in front of him on the desk and rolling them together. “I just mean—it’s just a little odd, the two of you—the Fire Lantern Festival—"

“What’s so odd about it?” Katara asked, half surprised and half curious about the issue Zuko saw that she couldn’t. “I like festivals.”

“Right, but do you like them with Tanriq? I—I dunno you will.”

“Sure, he’s a little boring—”

“He doesn’t know you at all!” Zuko interjected, and then quieted, shifting his eyes. But he continued. “I mean, will he know to take you to the food stalls that sell ocean kumquats? Will he take you dancing early enough so you don’t miss the tsungi horn players?”

Katara laughed. “I can tell him not to!” she pointed out. “You don’t need to be worried for me, I’m sure we’ll have a fine time—”

“Wanna bet?”

Katara stared at him. “Do I want to…make a bet about whether I’ll enjoy myself on a date?”

“Um,” said Zuko, shifting in his seat so that the chair squeaked. The panic on his face did not match the regality of his formal robes. “No, that was uncalled for, sorry,” he said. “I—I—”

And as Zuko stuttered, and Katara stared at Zuko’s rapidly reddening cheeks, she came to an unlikely—but perhaps possible?—conclusion.

“Wait a minute. Are you jealous?”

She hadn’t meant to say it out loud. She had to fight the urge to clap a hand to her mouth in horror. And if Zuko had looked skeptical whatsoever, she would have curled in on herself and scurried out the door like a goat dog with its tail between its legs. And then possibly quit her job and moved to the Foggy Swamp.

But Zuko didn’t look skeptical. Zuko did not calmly and coolly reject her suggestion. Instead, he noisily backed up his chair, stood, buried his hands in his hair, and yelped, “Me?! Jealous?! No—no, definitely not!” And then he laughed like an unhinged hyena leopard.

“I—” Katara started, over what sounded like the beginnings of a panic attack. “I—um,” she said, reminding herself that she was a waterbending master and teacher to the Avatar and she was not scared of anything—“I won’t go with him. If you—um—if you don’t want me to,” she said, knowing that her tone had drastically changed from teasing to serious.

Zuko’s laughter died down and he matched her serious expression. “Katara, no—I would never try to insert myself in your personal life—I’m sorry, I just got, um—” he paused, but didn’t finish his sentence.

“Can I take your bet then?”

“What?”

“But for the other side. I bet you I won’t have a nice time with Tanriq.”

“I—look—I was being childish—of course you’ll have a nice time—”

“Maybe,” she said, and Zuko’s face fell for the briefest moment before he schooled it to one of impassive regard once more. “But I think I’ll have a nicer time with someone who knows me better, like you said.”

Zuko looked away from her and stretched his arm behind him to rub the back of his neck. “I think you should go with whoever you want to go with,” he muttered.

Katara wanted to scream. But…she did want this more than she wanted to scream. “You,” she said, only a smidge of frustration in her voice. “I’d rather go with you.”

Zuko’s eyes snapped to hers. “Oh? Is that—is that—is that right?”

“If, um, if you want to,” she murmured, suddenly feeling her mortification rise. What if she’d gauged this wrong? She did get along with Hu in the Foggy Swamp. She could totally start a new life there.

“Yes,” Zuko said immediately. “I mean—yes. I do want.” His eyes were boring into hers.

“Um, great,” she said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “So…I’ll tell Tanriq nevermind…and you’ll just need to tell your guards—”

“No,” Zuko said, leaning forward now, and Katara felt her blood thrill. “Many of the festival goers will wear masks. We can too.

“Really? But I don’t have a mask—"

“Don’t worry, I have an idea for us.”

[sourtomatola]

Achievement! "Heart of the people!"

intro comic | Prev | Next

Comic Masterpost

[drwernicke]

my old cotl art

[moonworshippinglesbiandotcom]

i saw a really good post about the significance of food in the hunger games universe but i don't think i managed to reblog it. i wanted to further refine that point and add to it by providing a very brief recognition of the significance of bread specifically in the hunger games universe.

in both the modern world and ancient world, bread is seen as the quintessential food to an extent; it has come to stand for sustenance (think of "give us this day our daily bread" from the bible, and other famous phrases that use bread metonymically to represent food or sustenance). the name of the country in the hunger games universe comes from the latin phrase panem et circenses which means bread and circuses (or bread and games depending on the translation) and is, itself, metonymic and represents the fickle nature of the romans as they became mostly concerned with being fed and entertained. the same, obviously, can be said about the people of the capitol, whose only concerns are being fed and entertained, with little regard for the health and welfare of those who labour for those quotas to be met. there's also mentions of the different types of bread in the capitol, and how these breads are here, ultimately, to line tables. they are complimentary but they are not the whole meal.

in the districts, bread is a barrier between life and death. katniss' life, as well the lives of her mother and prim, is saved by two loaves of bread. the same things that garnish capitol tables fill up district tables. there is no space or disposable income or freedom in the districts for the luxury of the capitol. bread to the districts is not just the quintessential food, it is the food, period. it is the one thing that they can rely on, and it is ultimately what they are rewarded with when they choose to sign up for tesserae, and when one of their own wins the games. bread does not just occupy the dining tables but also cultural rituals. we see this in tbosas when sejanus breaks into the arena to sprinkle bread crumbs over marcus' dead body, to provide sustenance for his journey in the afterlife, a cultural practice brought from district 2. we also see it in the marriage rituals of district 12, what katniss calls the toasting, where the married couple toasts bread together and shares it, thus almost consummating their marriage.

what i'm trying to show (quite poorly; i apologise) is the importance of bread in the districts compared to the capitol; in the districts, bread consumes everything because it is the most readily available foodstuff; it can be made, though blandly, with the grain they receive, and each district has a different way of expressing their individuality through their bread. bread, and the general sense of lack, is one thing that seems to bind the districts, regardless of the attempts at class divide and they only make apparent the overwhelming difference between the capitol and the districts. bread permeates every aspect of life for those in the districts, from their nuptials, to signing up for the hunger games, to their funeral rites. in the hunger games universe, bread serves as a social marker, and it stresses the fundamental difference between the capitol and the districts.

[rosegoldenatlas]

Ok pal, tell me about those OC’s of yours.

OHOHOHO WELL NOW THAT I HAVE AN EXCUSE.....

Buckle in because this will be a long one

For context; they are all set in a fictional world I made set in a classic medieval fantasy type setting but with my own spin on a magic system and diff govts etc.

So I'll start with the ones who have gotten the most attention over the years, Rose and Atlas (yes my user is based on them, the names are funky due to a cultural thing I can't get into right now bc I will have to write two essays instead of one if I got into all of that)

Atlas and Rose were adopted siblings from a small northern seaside town. Atlas was adopted first when he was very young and was taught how to sail and fish from his parents. His parents were retired map makers who sailed the southern oceans to map out the thousands of islands there. But now that they were stuck in one place for so long they felt suffocated by the responsibility and lack of travel. So they began to make small one month trips alone once or twice a year while Atlas was being watched by his aunt. They quickly exhausted all of the places one can go in a months travel, so they extended it to two months, then three. Until Atlas was an early teen who rarely saw his parents. During this time his aunt was teaching him how to cook and take care of the house.

Then one day, his parents came home with a young child, Rose, who was only a few years old. They had stayed for nearly three years before craving adventure again. But this time their aunt had something to say. There was a long drawn out argument that led to the aunt feeling abandoned by her own sister (Rose and Atlas' mother). They left and the aunt didn't take it well, having a hard time raising two children by herself with only a fishing job. Atlas began to teach himself carpentry and woodworking to help with the money. As time went on Atlas began to realize that his parents weren't going to be seen again and stepped up to help raise Rose and take care of his aunt, who had just gotten a serious leg injury.

Because of the injury and the serious stress he was now under, he turned to magic to try to heal his aunt. In this time, magic was a very taboo practice due to the heightening tensions between the humans and magical creatures in the east (including fae). Sadly, all he could find were half burned journals on elemental magic. But even so, he began to teach himself in secret along with all of this other stuff hanging in the balance.

When Rose was a late teen and Atlas was nearly thirty, they had an argument. Atlas was being overprotective and secretive over what he did and Rose was sick of it. Using the argument over him keeping secrets as an excuse to talk to him about how he would refuse to let her help out with the responsibilities around the house. Rose stating that if their parents didn't leave that he wouldn't be pike this. Atlas claimed that knowing that didn't change anything and that they weren't coming back so what was the point of playing 'what if?' Rose stole some of Atlas' money in front of him and walked out.

Thinking she just needed to cool off for a bit, he went to his room to cool down as well. But when she wasn't home when the sun went down, he went to town to look for her. After a bit of asking he found out that she had stolen a skiff and had begun to sail west.

He panicked and immediately returned home to pack a bag and rented a small boat to sail after her, after all he knew where she had probably gone.

Rose wasn't the best sailor, because of Atlas' insistence that she didn't need to do hard work and that she should just be learning how to do everything around the house first, like he did. So when she was caught in a storm she didn't know what to do and was tossed around the ship in the winds. Finally hitting her head against the side of the ship and passing out.

When she woke up she discovered that she and her boat and washed up on an island in the middle of the ocean. Three humanoid sea monsters inhabited said island, Vivian being based on a sea serpent, Moon being based on a jellyfish, and Sam being based on a siren. She had gotten a very serious head injury that would have eventually lead to her death if Vivian, who knew healing magic, hadn't helped. The three had told her that they would fix her ship for her if they got to sail with her to The Seven Kingdoms (where Rose's parents are presumed to be). She agrees and after a few days they begin to sail there.

Atlas' trip to The Seven Kingdoms was a lot easier for him, he was a talented navigator and sailor by this time and was lucky enough to not be faced with any major storms in his path because even though the route Rose had taken was shorter, he knew it was almost constantly assaulted by severe storms and had opted to take a slightly longer way, assuming Rose had done the same.

They both made it the The Seven Kingdoms at around the same time to fin that their Parents had stayed there for the past few years after getting a well paying job as advisors to people who went on long distance trading trips across the world. In a fit of rage, Rose had convinced the three sea monsters to terrorize the boats that their parents had advised. Letting them return only to tell people not to listen because they sent the ships directly into monster territory.

Then Rose asked her parents to return home with her and Atlas. Which they refused quickly, claiming that Rose and Atlas had grown up well and didn't need them anymore so they were free to travel. Atlas, knowing this would happen, rented a place for them to stay for a while and looked for work. It took only a week of this for Rose to grow stir crazy. Atlas suggested that she get a job in something she enjoyed. She considered this for a few days before she heard stories of pirated that had raided some trade ships from The Seven Kingdoms' ports. She realized that she could do that, become a pirate, and became obsessed with the idea. She could use that to also help save hybrids like Moon or Vivian from villages that casted them out (rising tensions between magical creatures and humans cause many villages to ostracize or even harm hybrids or any other magical creature).

While Rose, Vivian, Moon, and Sam planned out how they would do this over the next two and a half years, Atlas had made an entire life for himself, making friends, getting a stable job, and even gaining a partner.

When Rose turned 21, she proposed the idea to Atlas. He immediately turned it down, warning her of the dangers and all of the trouble it could bring. But she was going either way, over the years her and her friends had saved up enough to buy a new boat and weapons and food and everything they would need. When Atlas refused a second time, Rose had decided to tell Jim about her near death experience, using his gear of her being hurt like that to convince him to join her on this.

The next day they were sailing away, Atlas had locked himself in his quarters below deck as soon as he could.

For a while there was a routine; visit a new village, collect the magical creatures that had been ostracized or harmed, maybe steal from the town to tech them a lesson, and relocate the people to somewhere safe.

But then they came upon a village who was having land disputes with fae, leading to battles with them. The crew saw the borderline torture subjected to fae and other beings that had nothing to do with this and grew angry. Burning down the village before they left.

Then a new step was added to the routine, before leaving the village, stuff will be damaged, be it ships, fields, houses, or people.

Atlas, who had simply waited these ventures out before, had started to desperately talk Rose out of doing these things, not every village was like the one from before, he would say. But the comments would slide off of her.

So while she would burn down the villages, he would quietly sneak off the boat to help people escape, using what little he knew about elemental magic to put out fires on peoples houses or making ice to cool the burns on their skin before running back below deck before she would notice. Using magic slowly becoming more accepted in areas in the west because of him using of to safe people so often. To the point of it- in some areas- becoming studied broadly.

When nearly a year later, Vivian found out about this, he had kept it a secret from Rose. Vivian didn't agree with Roses methods completely, so while he didn't help Atlas safe people, he didn't out him either.

Though, Rose did find out eventually, sparking an argument that lasted several days and ended with Atlas being dropped off back at The Seven Kingdoms.

Atlas got back with his partner and friends, but with so many bad memories associated with The Kingdoms, he convinced his partner to move north with him. They ended up in the islands of Reshyr, mostly comprised of small villages on the northwest. He found that they had been one of the villages Rose had used to stock up on food at, staying on some barrier islands for several days. While she was doing that he had helped many people rebuild on the main isle. They had been people who saw what he did with magic and now studied it, making friends with neighboring fae to learn as much as they could. So when they saw him they welcomed him, showing Atlas what they had done. They gave him and his partner a home and asked him all about magic. After he shared all he knew, he offered to help them learn together.

For a while the town learned and learned as much as they could, implementing schools to teach children magic as well. When Rose eventually found out about this, she visited, not to burn down the village, luckily. But to ask Atlas to join her again. She was planning on trying to reap the benefits she could from a war in the east between humans and fae that had just started. And with her crew ever expanding she knew she could get a lot. Atlas refused firmly, not letting her try to guilt trip him again. She begged for a few more days before leaving.

Now, Atlas is leading the people of Reshyr in studying magic and even was able to (with insane amounts of help) convince The Seven Kingdoms (considered the richest collection of countries) to begin making extravagant schools for learning specific types of magic. Rose visits every do often to ask him to join her crew but Atlas is happy here.

There is so much more than just these two but it is getting late and I doubt you want to read much mor about my little brain guys.

Thanks for reading!! Feel free to ask questions lol :))

[rweoutofthewoods]

My preferences regarding my account and fics

I want to put down what I allow regarding my fics all in one place, so I don't have to keep answering questions and reminding people. So here are some ground rules and things I prefer/appreciate when it comes to my account and work <333

On AI

Do not repost my fics anywhere (wattpad, etc). DM me first if you're interested in creating translations, etc. but they have to stay on ao3 and link back to the original work. Details on podfics and translations are here

Please don't not share quotes or screenshots of my fics if you don't credit me. Not on Twitter, not in edits, not on insta, tiktok, etc. Inlcude a link or my username and the work title please! Just like you should always give art credit, give writing credit too.

Don't ask me weird, invasive questions. Try to stick to questions about fics or writing in my inbox, and don't press me about things I haven't freely spoken about. I love to give advice if I can and talk fics and writing, but don't push personal boundaries.

Yes, you can bind my fics, but only for personal use. And feel free to show me pics!! Nothing excites me more than seeing your beautiful binds, and as long as it's not for profit I encourage and adore it.

My DMs and inbox are always open, if you want to DM me go ahead and don't apologize for it!

Please do not put my work on GoodReads!! Storygraph is okay as long as it’s marked as not a book and no rating or reviews are visible!

On taking requests: you can always drop ideas into my inbox, I’m happy to hear them but I can’t promise I’ll write them.

And some general FAQs

How often do you update? As god intends it. Usually once a week sometimes less sometimes more.

How do you write so much? It's just mental illness babe, I don't have any more of an explanation. I just try to write a bit every day with varying degrees of success.

Where did x fic go? It's private. That's always the answer. They still exist, I might even go back to it one day but for some reason I wasn't happy with it and privated it. It might come back or might not.

When will you update xyz? I most likely don't know. If you're curious about a certain fic you can search "#fic: (insert fic title)" and I've most likely answered about my plans for it and whether an update is in the future or not. IF you search the tag and don't see anything about it, feel free to then send me an ask about it.

[sga-owns-my-soul]

Trinity au? 🔥

okay so. i have Big Thoughts about trinity and specifically how rodney was treated and this fic is the result of those Big Thoughts. the thing that bothers me about trinity is rodney is treated like he's infallible so often. everyone expects rodney to always have to answer, to always come up with a solution to save the day. rodney is a scientist. he is head of science and research and suddenly he's supposed to keep not only his entire team of scientists but also an entire base of marines safe and alive????

by the time trinity happens, rodney has already lost a lot of his team. he has had to watch them die in horrible, terrible, painful ways. and he's expected to always have an answer to fix any problems anyone could even imagine. this is a terrified, broken man who has an unimaginable weight forced onto his shoulders, and then you put him in a position where, if he's right (which, being wrong isn't an option for rodney) then he could save not just the lives of everyone he's suddenly very responsible for, but everyone in the galaxy. hell, everyone in the universe. OF COURSE he gets lost in it. who the hell wouldn't???

and the thing is, elizabeth KNEW this would happen. hell, john knew too!! she straight up SAYS you have to protect rodney from himself sometimes, but john loves him and can't say no and rodney asked john to trust him (bc if rodney can make this work maybe john won't constantly do stupid suicide missions all the time to keep them safe) and how is john supposed to say no to that????? so john (and caldwell) convince elizabeth that yes, rodney should be allowed to continue his work

and then he fucks up

and they act like rodney is the only one to have ever fucked up!!!!!!

exactly one person died from trinity (which was horrible and i'm not dismissing that death) and it was before rodney convinced them to let him go back. you know who else insisted he was right and everyone else was wrong and that he knew better? carson, about his work with michael. you know how many people died from that????? but no, no one got mad at carson bc he's carson and we love him but it's so easy to get mad at rodney bc he's an ass but like

he has every fucking reason to be?????? like if you actually look at his character and what he's put through and what he deals with I WOULD BE AN ASSHOLE TOO!!!!!

wow this post got away from me anyways this fic is entirely about me wishing john realized he was being a dick and stopped treating rodney so badly bc rodney!!!!! didn't!!!!!! deserve it!!!!!!!!

[plaguedoctorjester]

Toony Cowboy. Design is still work in progress, but loony toony cowboy here.

Dump Description and Up-Close of some Doodles under cut.

I'd draw comics but that takes a lot of energy. So that's a maybe...

The Doodles

Bonus out of context comic on the original comic.

Description

This Sun is a comic-relief character after undergoing a lot of traumatic events within a short-period of time back when he still worked for a FazCircus with his Brothers (he calls them Brodners) Moon and Eclipse as a trapeze artist. He is an abandoned animatronic alongside Moon (Eclipse mysteriously disappeared like the cryptid he is). After abandonment, he became an outlaw.

He's a hopeless romantic who struggles with verbally expressing his thoughts and emotions. So majority of the time he settles with stumbling around life as a super dumb dude because thinking takes too much processing power.

He's also enchanted with loony toon powers, so he can now consume food, cry, utilize a hammer-space, and make facial expressions. Plus other rubberhose animations and toony effects.

Due to his trauma, he is unable to handle high emotional situations (angst and tension). He needs to isolate himself to process it, but sometimes that makes it worse. Coping Strat: Run away from the stress either normally or by ragdoll flinging himself. Attempting to stay will make him ramble incoherently and make the situation worse, from his POV anyways.

He likes pies and bakes different flavors based on situations. Pumpkin Pies means he's sorry.

Btw, the character next to Sun here is Eclipse. Eclipse is an anomaly. I'll talk about him later.

[themeepyfreak]

One of the reasons that I could never warm up to Hook that is completely glossed over in the fandom is how much he screwed Baelfire over with seemingly no remorse. The narrative tries so hard to write off Hook as a good person and Baelfire’s friend in the later seasons that I don’t think people really don’t understand how despicable his actions were.

First, he either convinced Bae’s mother to leave her family or assisted in Bae’s mother leaving her family. I don’t blame Hook too much for that since the majority of the blame is definitely on Milah, but Hook didn’t need to antagonize Rumple and threaten Bae’s only other parent. (They did have Hook address that this was wrong of him on the show though which is more than they usually do.) And even if Hook told Bae that they wanted to go back for him, the truth is that they did not. Bae was 4-6 years old when Milah left, and Rumple killed Milah when Bae was 14 years old in London, so Hook and Milah were together for 8-10 years (common law married at the very least) in which they never actually came back for Bae or even informed him that his mother was alive. If Rumple hadn’t become the Dark One, Bae would have died fighting the Ogres, and there would have been nobody to come back to. I doubt they actually had any intentions of going back to Bae; Hook just said that to give Bae a more positive outlook on the mother that abandoned him.

Then, he built up Bae’s trust for the sole purpose of gaining information to kill his father. He did save Bae from the mermaids and sheltered him for a while, but all of his niceness (until he got attached to Bae) was to gain Bae’s trust so that Bae could give information on his father. Hook’s friendship with Bae that they boast about in later seasons was dependent on a lie and mostly faked on one side.

His main offense that is glossed over the most in canon is that he abandoned Bae and sold him out to Pan. This is debatably one of the worst abandonments in the show, and it is never talked about.

- First, Hook does this within the same day that Bae found out about his mom abandoning him and his dad killing his mom (rubbing salt into the wound). And despite how it appears in the show, this was not a split second decision since Hook (or his crew) had to physically call up the Lost Boys to get Bae. The Lost Boys were mainly on the island and didn’t lurk near the ship without being prompted (or else Bae couldn’t have been on deck when Hook was playing friends with him in fear of being seen). When Hook was giving his “I can change” speech to Bae, the Lost Boys were already called or else they wouldn’t have been there immediately afterwards. Maybe Hook would have hidden Bae if Bae agreed, but he had already sold Bae out by that point.

- Second (and why this abandonment is one of the worst), Hook intentionally sold Bae to a known psychopath that he knew would mentally, physically, and emotionally torture him. Hook knows the Lost Boys and how bad Pan is. That’s why he and his crew are always on the ship rather than on the island. That’s why he tries to avoid Neverland even if he is stuck in the realm. That’s why he hides Bae from the Lost Boys in the first place. Not to mention that selling Bae out was for a selfish reason (to be in Pan’s favor and gain access out of Neverland) and can’t even be argued as being in Bae’s best interests.

- Third, knowing where Bae was and that Bae was suffering, Hook left Bae in Neverland for centuries, perpetuating the initial abandonment. How do you think it felt for Bae to see Hook enter and leave the island/realm over and over again for hundreds of years, leaving Bae on Neverland over and over again? (Part of me wonders whether that’s why Pan let Hook off the island in the first place, to be able to lord about it to Bae.) I strongly suspect that Bae tried to petition to or stowaway with Hook (since he was trying to escape), but Hook refused him and turned him back to Pan (since Hook was in Pan’s employ) which had to hurt worse.

Maybe I could let it go if Hook showed remorse or it was addressed in canon, but instead, the opposite happened. Hook painted this picture of him and Bae as friends (even though most of their friendship was Hook using Bae for information) to bond with Emma after Bae “died”. He lied by omission of all the pain he caused Bae which is never clarified in canon. After Bae actually dies, he tries to rewrite his and Bae’s history again when describing their “friendship” to Henry. And the worst part is that nobody can contest it since Bae is dead in all of these scenes.

Not to mention that when they find out that Bae is alive in Neverland (which Hook did not seem happy about in the slightest), Hook decides to go after Emma, the woman that he knows Bae loves and that loves Bae (since Emma wasn’t quiet about that at all). They are trying to find Henry, and Hook is purposely baiting Bae with talks of his and Emma’s “dalliance” (which implies way more than a kiss). Hook makes it into a competition, as if Emma is a trophy, and continues pursuing Emma in front of Bae even though Emma said “No” countless times. And despite supposedly backing out of the competition after Neverland, he still continues to harass Emma until they kiss immediately after Bae dies and get together in the end. Whether you’re a Swanfire fan or not, the entire thing is rude and disrespectful to Bae.

[murderoushagthesequel]

Follow Me

from @jegulus-microfic's prompt, beach (860 words)

ok this one REALLY got away from me, and the more i tried to edit it down the longer it got so sorry this one is over the goal wc. but in other news. i need to draw this immediately. also i'm giving this a keep reading cuz it's long <3

“Alright, Captain, we are approaching the affected ship,” Longbottom calls. James nods, taking a deep breath as he always does before a rescue mission. McKinnon and Pettigrew ready the boat for rescue. It’s only a small yacht, but they said it could be holding up to fifty souls. As the yacht comes into view, James internally panics. They aren’t too late, are they?

Reaching the boat, however, James finds it empty. Confused, Longbottom guides them around the other side to see a small island with seemingly every passenger lying on the sand. How they got there, James doesn’t know. There doesn’t seem to be one lifeboat anywhere. The team docks their boat and Pettigrew immediately disembarks to start asking questions.

“Sir, this woman says there was one man who pulled the passengers off the boat and brought them here.” Pettigrew says, returning to James. 

“Only one man?” James asks in surprise, surely that isn’t possible. “Where is he?”

“He swam to the other side of the island before getting out of the water, Sir.” James nods and immediately starts walking around the beach. He knows he should stay and do his job, but his curiosity overtakes him. His crew is more than capable of taking care of themselves.

As he comes around the bend of the beach, he stops. He can’t bring his legs to move any further. Standing before him is a man with glistening pale skin, every inch adorned with freckles. His hair: jet black and wavy, curling slightly at the nape of his neck. He’s standing with his back to James, drying himself off with a towel. James quickly looks away, to preserve the man’s modesty, and clears his throat.

In record time, the man is in front of him, handling his face and looking at him quizzically. He feels he’s being studied. As James catches a glimpse of the man’s eyes though, he couldn’t be bothered to give a single fuck if he tried. He’s vaguely aware of his mouth falling open, and then promptly being shut by the man’s slender fingers as he stares into his eyes, focused on James. 

They’re the color of the ocean, but much more than that. James will never quite be able to describe all that he can see looking into these eyes, but he knows they hold oceans of knowledge, literally and figuratively.

“You are one of those ‘humans,’ no?” the man finally asks, stepping away. He has a strong accent, but where from, James can’t place.

“Um, yes?” James replies, rather confused. “Aren’t you human too?” The man flashes a grin in reply and James nearly falls to his knees at the sight. He clearly can tell the effect he has on James.

“No,” he replies. “You are quite a nice-looking human, though.” James finds himself blushing from the strange compliment. It feels special coming from him. James stutters through a thank you and the man seems to ponder something for a minute before speaking up again. “What would you say if I asked you to follow me?”

“I’d follow you anywhere,” James replies instantly. He’s a bit shocked at his response but the man acts as if this is perfectly normal.

“Wait here,” he says, and James does. He doesn’t even know this man’s name, yet he awaits his return without a single thought of the people on the other side of the island. He watches the man dive into the water without returning for a few minutes. When he does, he throws his head back, letting his hair fly out of his face, and James is transfixed yet again. 

“Well?” the man says, and James realizes he’s been staring for too long. He shakes his head and wades into the water. “Follow me,” he says, and James complies, despite knowing he can’t breathe under water. When he opens his eyes, stinging from the water, he sees the man looking perfectly at home in the ocean. 

As he scans down his body, it all makes sense. The man no longer has legs, but a glittering deep blue tail. James gasps and then realizes his mistake when he can’t breathe anymore. “Shit, I forgot,” the man says. He swims over to James and grasps his face in one hand.

“Yes,” James manages to say before his lungs begin filling with water. He somehow just knows what the man didn’t have time to ask. 

He lunges forward and captures James’ lips, breathing life back into him. James gets caught up in the feeling, pulling the man closer and trying to push back with as much force as possible. He gets so lost in the kiss that he doesn’t notice his own body has changed. That when the man pulls away, he can breathe again, and his legs are gone. Rather than be terrified, or angry, as most would, James sighs a breath of relief. Something tells him this is where he was meant to end up.

“I’m Regulus,” the man finally says, a clear blush painting his cheeks. “Follow me.” And James does. He swims down deeper and deeper after Regulus. And he never returns to the surface again.

[bardic-perdita]

4, 6, and 10 for durge creator asks?

I realised while typing this that I needed some visuals, so apologies in advance for the badly edited drawings XD

How did Durge come to be? Why them? Was it a vibe you tried to capture or a specific visual you wanted to represent? Did you borrow them from previous works or were they handcrafted for this story you have in mind?

For this question, I'll talk about both Zeke and Shrike (as you had asked about Zeke before)

Zeke was a demon hunter OC from a previous fandom with his own unique lore that I adapted for BG3. He went from being a demon hunter that used a weapon imbued with the soul of a demon (called Caedes) to being a Warlock/Ranger that signed away his soul to a devil (called Caedes) so he could help the devil that raised him. He was created as a durge for in-game shenanigans, but as he was born in the Moonshae Isles it had some interesting lore implications— namely a devil adopting the spawn of Bhaal as his own son to fight the gods. His whole backstory is completely non-canon and is a bit of fun between me and my buddy. He's affectionately referred to as 'silly durge' or 'our dumb son', which just makes him dating Gale much more entertaining.

Shrike is my serious attempt at playing a resist durge. I was curious about how a paladin trying to resist their urge would work, whether their oath or urge would prove strongest. It was also decided early on that they would romance Astarion. Most of their history remained pretty vague until I played more of the game, so their pre-tadpole story only really developed fairly recently. Not that Shrike remembers any of it.

Personality or looks, what came to you easier?

Always looks first. I knew I wanted an androgynous tiefling with an autumnal colour palette, mainly to contrast Breoch's cool-toned/wintery palette. Shrike's personality is much less developed than Breoch's, namely because I haven't had them occupying my brain for as long, so I'm only now reaching a point where I feel I could write fic for them. I find Shrike far easier to draw how I want them than write for them in character.

Is their personal story represented in their overall design? Do they carry any mental scars or physical alterations from the shit that happened to them?

Shrike has a few subtle hints about their story in their design (which I will need to make clearer when I finally draw their ref sheet).

The most obvious feature is their eyes: they originally had two flaming red (dragonborn) eyes, but lost one to Volo. It's surprising how much the blue eye softens their face— much like how their personality softened when they were no longer Bhaal's chosen.

They also have red spikes along their tail, similar to the spines on the Slayer form. Plus it's a subtle indicator that they're not a 'true tiefling'

Their horns are tipped with red, blood-stained some might say, and the markings on their face appear more like veins or flowing blood that moves and changes similar to Orin's skin. At least, that's my excuse for drawing them differently every time

Finally, I deliberately didn't give them any scars apart from the one from Volo. They usually fight in plate armour meaning that injuries are rare and, as they have Lay on Hands, they would usually heal a wound before it scars.

Now at risk of making a long post even longer, here's a bonus Bhaal's Chosen Shrike in their Bhaalist plate armour:

[jo1sstuff]

TMAGP episode 4

Violins With violent strings, The world is filled with blood.

Deep in the woods, A trader's goods, The world is filled with blood.

Songs so dear That reek with fear, The world is filled with blood.

To pay its price, A sacrifice, The world is filled with blood.

My fingers red, I pay its debt, The world is filled with blood.

Slashing, ripping, Strings are singing, The world is filled with blood.

Bardwell's sleep, And tunes so sweet, The world is filled with blood.

Covered hands Make bloodied stands, The world is filled with blood.

Fed by slaughter, Notes grow stronger, The world is filled with blood.

Why does it feed When we bleed? The world is filled with blood.

Others die, Such painful cries, The world is filled with blood.

My nephew dear, Please lend an ear, The world is filled with blood.

Violins With violent strings, I am covered with blood.

[milkywayes]

really I was overdue for another wall of text about garrus

[glorfindel-of-imladris]

6, 10, 11 for the writing asks!

6. What is your darkest fear about writing?

My darkest fear in relation to writing isn't in the writing itself, but in losing the ability to write.

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

I love that I have been haunted by pieces of writing many times over the years. Sometimes it's a beautiful line, sometimes a good imagery, and sometimes just a general vibe that the entire thing has.

There are things that haunt me in the sense that I read them once in passing, but when I wanted to read them again, I can no longer find them. There is a poem I have been looking for for years now, and it has lines about the delicate way dust settles on furniture in an empty room. I think it was a poem about loneliness. There is also another poem, this time at least I know the author (Szymborska), about how the author watches a world that goes on living, in its beautiful and uncaring way, even after the loss of the author’s beloved.

The most recent piece of writing that haunted me was, would you believe it, a manga. The title is "Old-fashioned Cupcake". Have you ever read or encountered something that makes you get that feeling that nostalgia gives you, but the thing itself isn't really nostalgic? Difficult to explain, but it the closest feeling I can use to describe while I was reading it. Needless to say, I loved it a lot.

As for my own writing, there are fics that sit with me longer than others. Lórien Dreams was one of them for a long time. Recently, A Place Between Time and Sorrow also sat with me for a while. I was obsessed with this image of Erestor with his hair down surrounded by bluebells, a promise of a sweet future, to comfort Glorfindel while he is tired and heartbroken.

11. Do you believe in the old advice to “kill your darlings?” Are you a ruthless darling assassin? What happens to the darlings you murder? Do you have a darling graveyard? Do you grieve?

Absolutely! It's understandable to be attached to a line or a scene or a character, and sometimes I cling to them for a long time, but I am always all the better for it when I eventually get it done. I don't think I'm ruthless about it, but I like to think I know when it's necessary. I don't completely delete them. Usually my darlings are lines or scenes, seldom characters, but that's lucky because I can cut them out and just keep them in another document. I guess that's like a darling graveyard, but I like to think it's more of a nursery. Sometimes they spawn new stories of their own, it's like propagating cuttings 🌱

[jaymber]

Hello I have a question about Vaea and you might’ve explained it before but how did the situation with relic turn out for him? from what I can tell Johnny got his body back or a replacement of some type?

Okay, so the story's a liiiittle long, but it roughly goes like this :

In my timeline, it ends with a Don't Fear the Reaper/Temperance Ending : Vaea powers off the entire tower (and everyone in it) thanks to his most powerful ultimate hack (which would've killed him and technically did, but Johnny was there to take over), and choose to sacrifice himself because he can't bear the thought of Johnny being no more.

He joins Alt beyond the Blackwall, and teaches her everything she doesn't know about the world, and netrunning, in the 50 years she's been stuck deep within Cyberspace so he won't get absorbed.

After almost 10 months in irl time (which means years in Cyberspace), Alt trusts Vaea. He's free to fight off everyone trying to breach their space. Independent hackers, mostly.

Until one day, Netwatch tries to make contact. They know he's not Alt. They know he's V. They make a deal: V's escape back to the real world as an AI against info on Alt and her space. He accepts.

Except he tells them lies, except Netwatch had planned to sell him right back to Arasaka. He's not human anymore. He's got no rights anymore. He's just into a netrunning killing machine, in exchange of Kerry and Johnny's safety.

Learning they're still alive, Vaea tries to make contact with them. He's punished the second he hears Kerry's voice on the holo.

He's tasked with various meaningless gigs… until one day he's asked to take the Afterlife off the map. Forever. A bomb, how poetic. And Vaea does, not to lose his loved ones. But Rogue survives, and that can't do. Vaea is sent down to finish the job.

Except she wasn't alone. Johnny was with her. In a single glance and a few words, they recognize each other. Their minds are still in sync. Johnny quickly understands in crypted words he's forced to do it. He incapacitates Vaea and, with Vik's help, rips everything branded Arasaka off this new body of his.

They need to find a way to free Vaea from Arasaka. They try the usual way at first: through violence. When it doesn't work, and they both almost die, Kerry has enough, and takes it the legal way. He acquires Vaea (since he's an AI now, he's more an object than a human legally) in exchange of putting some money into Arasaka's dwindling stocks. Michiko agrees (both Yorinobu and Hanako died in this timeline), maybe because she's also threatened. The two others won't stop until Vaea's free, and wouldn't mind ending the Arasaka lineage with her death in the process.

And what about Johnny's crimes, huh? Well, they settle on the fact that this Johnny's just an AI as well, not the real one. This Johnny's Arasaka tech, just like Vaea is, and why would Arasaka trial their own tech? Do they want the public to think the Relic program isn't safe?

Next came the body issue: V was in a decaying body, Johnny was in V's body.

For V, he used the knowledge he gathered from Alt and, with the help of other netrunners (8ug, Sandra and Nix), they made their own version of Soulkiller.

For Johnny, they went to Lizzy Wizzy's ripperdoc, who made Johnny a new skinsuit made of RealSkinn and metal.

They were both Soulkilled, so Vaea could regain his body, and Johnny get into his new one. The process wasn't perfect. Vaea lost some abilities to speak French (he still can, but forgot lots of words and grammar), Johnny lost some abilities to play the guitar (he still can, but often has to pause, look at what his fingers are doing, etc.)

Johnny was fine (albeit a little traumatized with a second time Soulkilled). Vaea's mind was severely damaged. He had to get a neural implant to function normally.

And that's about it, I think 😌