#the basu tag

[mirrorshards]

SMALL preview for my part of the joint comic I did along with @triplefaggot based on @basu-shokikita's fic for her birthday :3

you should read the fic, it's hilarious, find it HERE

and for the full comic check HERE

** I will say that the rest of my part is a bit racy so you've been warned

[mirrorshards]

It's true she's even on vacation and we still forced her

but forreal it's legit SO FUNNY. easily one of my fave mtl fics she wrote. anyone who loves toki being a weird gremlin should go read it

My friends @mirrorshards and @triplefaggot are holding me at gunpoint to post this Skwistok fic so here I am, doing that, on my birthday.

If you like Toki being a weird and obsessed Skwisgaarfucker in denial you will like this. :)

Link below:

[ratanslily]

Happy Basant Panchmi ! 🏵️🌼🌻💐

Basant Panchami marks the beginning of the transition period from winter to spring. Basant = spring, Panchmi = fifth day of lunar cycle. Goddess Saraswati is worshipped during this festival, so I dressed up our Saraswati in her honour🌼

[plenaurum]

Okay so, I’m replaying KCD and doing Amrit’s route after Ratan’s and Killian’s and may I just say…

I hate the idea of ‘canon’ LIs so bad. I really do. That almost defeats the purpose of the entire app—to choose your own story. So I don’t tolerate the ‘who is the canon LI’ talk because the whole point is that there ISN’T one.

With that being said, even though I know Amrit and Amala are ‘destined’ for one another, for some reason I still ain’t feeling it. Their scenes are hot and all and I feel the passion, and I’m sure that Amrit and Amala love each other, but it’s like this: would Amrit have chosen Amala if he didn’t know about the prophecy? If there was no ritual involved? Would he have chosen Amala if she wasn’t a Basu? If her status were lower? If she wasn’t committed to the Dozen?

And I also don’t like the idea of someone pre-deciding who I should end up with, which is why I love the other routes when Amala is like ‘idgaf what the prophecy says, EYE do not want you.’ I don’t like the idea of someone being entitled off rip. I do not like any of that.

So. Sorry to the Amrit lovers I’m really not feeling it 😭

Edit: Scratch what I said about Amrit (my notions about canon LIs still stand).

[mirrorshards]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BASUUUU 🎁🎊🎈🎉🥳🥳🥳

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BASUUUU

Here is your DARKEST FANTASY made real by @mirrorshards and me

Guess who drew who hehehahhuh

xoxo Basu we love u forevors and evors <3

@basu-shokikita @basu-shokikita @basu-shokikita @basu-shokikita

[sunshineandviolets]

I was tagged by @queerdetectiveblue & @grapecaseschoices to make some ocs as barbies !! thanks darlings <3 , lets go barbies 🥰💕

Shivani : "This barbie is an anxiety ridden scientist learning to stand up for herself " Ananya: "This barbie has years of eldest daughter rage built up" Crystal: "This barbie has no thoughts, head empty, will face her opponents with kindness and a sunny attitude " Shanaya: "This barbie is a bubblegum pop princess, hopelessly in love with love" Rekha: "This barbie is a boss ass bitch who here for the fun, drama & good vibes" Cerise: "This barbie is calm, collected, horror storytelling enthusiast"

Tagging (no pressure x): @sosolenoo, @veeple, @maburito, @nerdferatum, @ava-du-mortain, @dumortains & who else would like too join <3!!!

[raye-sim]

rehearsal dinner on new year's eve

[mirrorshards]

i asked @basu-shokikita what she wanted me to draw and then i went crazy

[ratanslily]

Doran and Deviya, circa 1900s, Calcutta, India [recolourized]

[a-cloud-for-dreams]

rip gabrielamala you were robbed of a cunty CG set like this

[agattthaa]

Rain

Paring: Unrequited Ram/Deviya; Doran/Deviya

Word count: 1.016

Warnings: unrequited feelings

Summary: Until it was the time for change, Ram would continue to simply watch as the rain fell down.

Rating: T

A gift to my dearest Tanu. I hope this was what you wished for. Thank you for all the amazing arts you always do for me, I hope this make you half as happy as your edits make me.

Tagging: @rc-catalog @ratanslily

The death of Mrs. Doran Basu was received like a rain to all the dozen members.

Some were sad for the lost of a Basu family member as some got sad for the lost of the sunshine when the sky was completely covered by the heavy and dark rain clouds.

Some were indifferent to it, as it didn’t change much in their lives since the ceiling of their houses covered their heads and the fact they didn’t know the woman made her loss a simple fact to flown down with the rain.

Some others, the smallest parcel, got hopeful with the news. Like people got hopeful that the rain would bring renovation to the earth, that the rain would bring abundance and fertility to the land, that a Basu was now a free man again, one that could get be married again.

And everyone who had eyes to see could notice that Deviya Sharma was a part of the smaller group. And Ram had two very functional eyes.

Of course he knew. He knew Deviya better than anyone else. Their lives had been tied together although only his heart had been tied to hers. So ever since the first time he had been in the same room as Mr. Basu and Deviya he knew.

That particular shine on her eyes only existed around the older man. Not around her tiger, not around her friends, not around Ram. Only around Doran Basu. Only for him and no one else. And that knowledge should not be able to hurt Ram, not as much as it did.

But it did.

Even if his feelings were reciprocated, he highly doubted that his brother would have allowed him to marry Deviya. His responsibility for the Doobay Family and for the temple of The Dark Mother were greater than any second son could ever even imagine. But that responsibility, that honor, was also an obligation, something that prevented him for doing the things that he wanted, to reaching for the things and for the one that he so desperately craved for.

But that responsibility was not the thing keeping him apart from Deviya.

Deviya was the one doing that.

She and the love that she caried. The love for another man.

Another man that could now be married to her. Another man that could give her everything that Ram never could. Another man, the one she actually loved and that so clearly loved her back.

Because, how could he not?

How could someone ever look into her eyes and not love her? How could someone ever see her smile and not be ready to move mountains on her name? How could someone hear her laugh or hold her on their arms and not be ready to give her anything she asked for? How could someone be around her almost all the time and not be ready to die for her? How could someone not love Deviya Sharma?

With the silly jokes she made when she was bored on meetings or the way every time she was telling a funny story she always was the first one to start laughing, even before she got into the funny part. With the way she was always ready to fight or sacrifice anything for her friends, even for him, even for Ram. With the way she defended the Sharma Family name, putting it above her own goals and happiness as if she was born to protect it. With the way she had been ready to die and be born again to protect their people, their country, to free them.

So how could someone not love Deviya Sharma? How could someone who had the honor, the blessing, of being loved by her, not love her back?

Simply. They couldn’t.

Because Doran Basu loved her back, and that was the worst part.

If he didn’t, maybe in a couple of years Deviya could forget about Doran Basu. Maybe she could accept Ram’s love without needing to give it back, and that would’ve been more than enough for him. Because he could care enough for the both of them, because he could love her enough for the both of them. Maybe one day she could even love her back.

But now that was an impossible destiny. Their fates had been sealed.

Deviya was the head of her house. No one could stop her from doing as she seemed fit. And no one would even try. Marrying with a Basu was the best alliance anyone could make, and surely the new head of the Basu family would not get in the way for that union, she would even be happy about it. About the happiness of her friend. The happiness that Deviya seemed to emanate ever since the news arrived.

The couple would probably only wait until after Holi to get married, although knowing Deviya and how she liked to do things as soon as possible, they could get married on the next day after Doran’s mourning period was over. And then, on that day, Ram would be the one to marry the only one he had ever loved to someone else.

What could ever be more torturous than that? Than watching the one you loved fall in love with someone else? Than having to see that that love grow each day more? Than being the one to make that love official for the entire world?

One day he would have to watch that.

One day he would be forced by his obligation to marry Deviya to the man she actually loved. He would be forced to watch the happiness she would feel to be called Doran’s wife for the first time. He would watch her children grow from afar, looking like the perfect mix between Deviya and the one she actually loved. He would watch as she grows old on another man’s side and as she was thankful for an entire life on his side.

One that he would.

But until that day arrived, he continued to watch as the rain fell down, bringing to him nothing but despair.

[a-cloud-for-dreams]

HELPP @annn-starrr 😭😭

the feminism leaving my body when Doran Basu show up...

[gogomeaty]

I stole this from someone else's post to make my own post

To play:

- Decorate the tree in the post you were tagged in (and you can leave a little message in there for the OP, that will be opened on Christmas Day); 🎄

- Create your own tree, post it and tag others; 🎄

- Tell us how you'll be spending the holidays (or don't tell us, also fine 😉);

- Link to the post(s) that tagged you so that others can decorate their trees too! 😍

My tree:

Tagging (no pressure): @twigg96 @ir0n-moon @nsfwitchy @robinsnest2111 @miroyuuu @impsynia @basu-shokikita @klokateer15647 @a-dope-fiend

[ninja-muse]

2024 Year-End Reading Wrap-Up

Reading-wise, I think 2024 was about diligence. I kept reading even when I felt slumpy. I managed my goals of minimum one book off my physical TBR per month, minimum 20 non-fiction titles, and 75 of the books I wanted to get to. I didn’t do so great at keeping my book acquisition down, but at least I got rid of as many as I took in (and a lot of the books I bought were used or cheap). I even took in fewer reading copies and managed to pass on a fair number of them! I didn’t quite get to my 2023 total of 128 books and I didn’t quite manage 45,000 pages, only 44,865, but that’s okay. They’re kind of wild goals and I got darn close. Of the 126 books I did read, 29 were off my TBR and 38 were reading copies. That means that 59 were library books, which, thank goodness for libraries! This is why I donate to mine every year.

What I didn’t do so well on were most of my other goals. (2023 for comparison.) I’m still steadyish on Canadian and female authors, steadyish on classics, up on authors of colour (!), but sadly way down on gender-diverse authors. I’m going to have to find more enbies and genderqueer folks I want to read, but that’s hard as it still seems like most non-binary fiction goes towards the dark and grim and realistic and most of my reading choices goes towards the light and hopeful. I will happily take suggestions.

I’m most bummed, though, about breaking my StoryGraph reading streak of 567 days. I went home for Christmas on a late-night flight and the next day, I was just not awake enough to read dense non-fiction. I am looking forward to outdoing myself on this new round.

Yearly total: 126, excluding rereads and picture books Queer books: 37 (29%) Authors of colour: 19.5 (15.4%) Books by women: 77.5 (61.5%) Authors outside the binary: 3 (2%) Canadian authors: 12 (9.5%) Classics: 7 (5.5%) Off the TBR shelves: 29 (23%) Books hauled: 47 Books unhauled: 47 ARCs acquired: 40 ARCs unhauled: 46.5 DNFs: 10 Rereads: 3 Picture Books: 11

Outside of the stats and goals, I think my choice to mostly leave Tumblr was a good one. I’m feeling a lot less pressure to read The Right Things or whatever everyone else is, and less pressure to be constantly posting, though I do miss seeing what you all are reading. Please, please, feel free to tag me in reading wrap-ups and reviews, especially if you think it’s a book I’d be interested in. I do check my mentions regularly. (Friendly reminder that I’m ninjamuse on Storygraph and LibraryThing, if you’d like to follow me there.) And not posting as much as helped me get more writing done. I’m not quite finished the first draft of the cozy fantasy WIP, but I’m within sight of it, if I manage to get my mojo back after Extreme Retail Season.

My goals are 2025 are fairly reasonable and predictable. 126 books and 40,000 pages, and I've set up StoryGraph challenges to encourage myself to read 50 new releases and 50 backlist titles. I'm going to try for 20 non-fiction again too, though this year that was very much by the skin of my teeth. And of course, the enby author thing. And I'm going to finish the dang WIP and restart an old one. Wish me luck?

Click through for more book recs and breakdowns:

Books Reviewed Eve - Cat Bohannon I Love Russia - Elena Kostyuchenko The Briar Club - Kate Quinn Evelina - Frances Burney How to Become a Dark Lord (and Die Trying) - Django Wexler The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport - Amit Basu The Disenchantment - Celia Bell The Dollmakers - Lynn Buchanan Submerged - Hillel Levin A History of Ancient Egypt - John Romer

And if anyone’s interested, here are the rest of my year’s highlights: Top Five Fiction (not ranked) Rose/House - Arkady Martine How to Become a Dark Lord and Die Trying - Django Wexler The Briar Club - Kate Quinn Navola - Paolo Bacigalupi The Disenchantment - Celia Bell Top Five Non-Fiction (not ranked) History of Ancient Egypt, Volume 3 - John Romer Malady of the Mind - Jeffrey A. Lieberman Sociopath - Patric Gagne I Love Russia - Elena Kostyuchenko The Demon of Unrest - Erik Larson Most Impressed By: I Love Russia - Elena Kostyuchenko The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport - Amit Basu Evelina - Frances Burney Nicked - M.T. Anderson

Most Disappointing: Wordhunter - Stella Sands Bad Glass - Richard E. Gropp The Black Bird of Chernobyl - Ann McMan The Dishonest Miss Take - Faye Murphy The Voyage of the Damned - Frances White Longest Book: A History of Ancient Egypt, Volume 3 - John Romer Best Queer Book: A Desolation Called Peace - Arkady Martine

Did I beat 2023? No, but 126 is really close to 128. Did I beat my Best Year Ever? No. That would be 2021. Did I read more classics? Yes Did I read more Canadians? No Did I whittle my TBR shelves down any? No. Was it a good reading year? Average. Breakdowns by month:

January February March April May June July August September October November December

[dalberadiata]

Tagged by @basu-shokikita for top 6 albums

It's quite difficult to choose, but this six albums have showed me something new at a certain time of my life.

Tagging @plusvanity @lizenzluchs @svgarcaine

[a-cloud-for-dreams]

THE SCREAM I SCRUMPT WHEN I SAW THIS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH TYSM LILI CHAN I LITERALLY HAVE NO WORDS YOU KNOW I DON'T PULL OUT THE MEMES FOR JUST ANYTHING BUT

YOU'RE SUCH AN ANGEL OML TYSM FOR MAKING THIS I WILL NEVER BE NORMAL ABOUT IT AND FOR NOT BLOCKING ME FROM ALL OF MY RAMBLINGS ABOUT THEM MWAH 🥹💗💅🏽🫶🏽

― "Any love I showed you is yours to keep. I'm sorry."

✦ Pairing: Gabriel x Amala (MC) ✦ Book: Kali: Call of Darkness ✦ Tagging: @rc-catalog ✦ Note: My third submission for "RC Catalog Vday!" I used the prompt of "star-crossed lovers" again. I made this for my beloved friend @a-cloud-for-dreams <3 Your love for this ship is infectious, and I love to see your posts and talks about them. I hope you like this, dearie! I also used your edit of them :)