#this is for organization purposes and to get me thinking about the things I've written again

[hillbilly---man]

A list of my works on AO3

(they're all Saiki K fics at the moment but I'll add fandom categories to this post if I ever get a new interest lol)

It doesn't fit my plans; it's something I don't understand

Published July 11, 2021

Summary: Saiki is fascinated by Satou Hiroshi, and the people around him start to see that this might be more than just a platonic curiosity.

What is this feeling called love?

[Notes: Bittersweet ending. Nobody gets together. My insistence on theming these early fics after songs is pretty embarrassing now. I'm not proud of my writing here but the story is ok. I might rewrite it someday. Not bad for my first fic since like 2003 though]

Something Changed

Published August 11, 2021

Summary: Aiura wrote a letter to her soulmate the night before they were supposed to meet.

She's predicted a lot of things... how could she have gotten this one wrong?

[Notes: Another sad ending. The format of this is almost entirely an excited letter about the future Aiura imagined that would never come to pass. Not really much of a story happening here tbh]

Won't it be strange when we're all fully grown?

Published August 28, 2021 (INCOMPLETE)

Summary: With graduation quickly approaching, the psychics of PK Academy (and Akechi) worry that they'll drift apart. Luckily, they come up with an idea.

"Let's all meet up in the year 2030!"

A lot can change in a decade.

[Notes: Kind of like a psychicker class reunion where they're all adults with jobs and everything catching up. Future chapters were going to have almost a Scooby Doo vibe (with a twist reveal at the end about Aiura's husband!) I abandoned it because I posted some art and someone called my art creepy and it made the whole fic feel bad to think about. Maybe I'll get back to it someday. It's cool to see how quickly my writing improved. I was also super proud of how well I wrote Akechi's dialogue here]

Hotel Valentine

Published September 24, 2021

Summary: Toritsuka Reita is a pretty lucky guy. He somehow managed to not get expelled from PK Academy, he graduated, and he's avoided creeping on any living girls for a few months. To celebrate, the PK Psychics paid for a one-night stay in the fanciest hotel in Tokyo so Reita can creep on the ghost girl of his dreams. Pretty lucky, right?

Too bad things aren't going his way. He's being ignored by the staff, he's bored out of his mind, and he can't find the ghost girl anywhere. Some vacation, huh?

[Notes: Spoiler: Toritsuka's a ghost stuck in a nice hotel. This is based on a concept album that most of you have never heard but hear me out! It really has nothing to do with the Cibo Matto album of the same title except that the chapters are named after the songs and there are fun Easter eggs for fans of the album. Another slightly sad ending but not too bad]

Coffee & TV

Published August 27th, 2022

Summary: The new silence in her house felt heavy on Kumi's shoulders. Everything reminded her of Kumagoro... especially her grandson Kusuo, who has been coming to visit more often than ever before.

[Notes: this is my least popular finished fic and I understand why. It's about grief and the loss of a grandparent. It's about the unique pain that a psychic would have after failing to prevent that death. There's a sad twist that TBH I think I was a little too subtle with. One of my favorites]

Friendly Fire

Published January 8, 2023

Summary: Being an adult is great until the Problems start. Good grief.

30-year-old Kusuo's psychic powers have been pretty well controlled for over a decade. Why are things starting to go haywire all of a sudden?

[Notes: Friendly Fire my fucking beloved!! In this fic, Saiki gets essentially psychic multiple sclerosis and has to deal with some complicated emotions. I don't think it's a masterpiece or anything but it was cathartic to write and I'm in love with the versions of these characters that I wrote here. So much so that I'm writing a sequel just so I can write more of them. Also, FINALLY a happy ending!!]

Ramen Ikouze?

Published April 28, 2023

Summary: After being dragged to get ramen with Nendou every week, Kusuo starts to realize that it's not so bad after all.

[Notes: I love Nendou, he's so good. This fic is very cute and about their friendship. A couple of fun twists]

Saiki has Plans?

Published May 2, 2023

Summary: Saiki mentions having plans after school, and the overactive imaginations at PK Academy work themselves into a fuss trying to imagine what he could be doing.

[Notes: This fic follows around a bunch of Saiki's classmates as they gossip and snoop to find out what he's up to. It's my most popular fic for some reason]

A Bright Flash

Published May 13, 2023

Summary: Saiki develops an annoying new ability, and through some comedy series logic is forced to tell Teruhashi about it. She tries to be a good ally to her "newly psychic" crush.

[Notes: Teruhashi accidentally finds out about Saiki's new power and he's like "fine. I'm a psychic. But it's just this one power and nothing else."]

Heat Wave

Published June 6, 2023

Summary: There's a historic heat wave in Hidariwakibara, and some of our favorite PK Academy students end up running into each other while taking refuge from the hot weather.

A series of four standalone (but connected) stories taking place at the same time:

Aiura has a vision of disaster, and she and Nendou try to stop it

Yumehara gives Toritsuka some advice to improve his game

Akechi meets Teruhashi's brother

Saiki really wants some shaved ice from the kakigori stand where Mera is working

[Notes: The summary explains it well but also I weaved so many connections between the chapters (that are all happening at roughly the same time). It was also a lot of fun writing interactions between characters that didn't get much in canon. Also you can tell it was hot as hell when I wrote it because I definitely gave Saiki some kind of psychic heat intolerance lol]

Immunity

Published July 6, 2023

Summary: She didn't know why, but Kokomi was finally able to see the truth.

Why Saiki seemed to appear and disappear without explanation. Why it seemed like he always knew what she was planning. Why he wore those weird hairpins.

It was all so obvious now.

Saiki had psychic powers.

[Notes: The veil is lifted suddenly and all the truths that Saiki kept locked behind his mind control were revealed to Teruhashi. He and Aiura have a chat with her about it. Also this was the first fic of mine that an IRL friend read (to my knowledge) and his comment was something like "I don't know anything about your boy but he sounds autistic and gnc" and I took that as a fucking compliment! You know you've written Saiki right when people can see that shit from space]

The Disastrous Financial Situation of Saiki K

Published August 9, 2023 (IN PROGRESS)

Summary: Adjusting to his new limitations has been annoying, and now Kusuo (age 31) needs a car to get around.

Unfortunately, taking time off work has drained his savings.

How is he going to get the money for a car now?

[Notes: This is my sequel to Friendly Fire but it's a lot lighter in nature. 100-Yen-Man goes around doing stuff for Saiki's friends. There are mentions of his disability from Friendly Fire and it's plot relevant but I think you can catch on even if you didn't read the original. I haven't updated in a while but I am actively working on it!! A Yumehara and Makino chapter next and then a Toritsuka chapter after that. TBH this isn't my best work and it's pretty unpopular but I'm having fun and that's all that counts)

[leighsartworks216]

Dragon's Treasure

dragon!Sylus x blind!oracle!Reader

Series Masterlist - Chapter One - Prev Chapter - Next Chapter

I have been SO SO SO excited for this chapter. I've had it written for so long and I've just been so excited to see y'all's reactions to it

Warnings: choking, fear, crying, blood, swearing, near death experience

Word Count: 1,697

Main Masterlist

AO3

Tag List Form

Jewel provided what few soft things he had to be added to your “hoard”. It didn’t amount to much, but a couple pillows already made for a massive improvement compared to the hard stone.

Dissatisfied with how small your hoard is, he said he would go find you more. “Feel free to explore,” he’d said. “If you find something you like, it’s yours.”

So with him gone and you with nothing to do, you decide to take him up on his offer.

You feel around from one pile to the next, trying to make sense of his organization system. It’s rather chaotic. The piles melt and blend into each other, with no proper barriers separating one from the next. Coins seem to wind their way through every stack. You almost feel bad for how clumsy you must be, bumbling about, displacing the treasure, but surely he already thought about that. If he hadn’t… well, that’s on him.

You pause with interest as your hands come across something delicate. Fine chains linked together with small dangling teardrops. The teardrops feel different from the metal of the chain. Smoother, somehow softer. From the rest of your time exploring, you figure they must be some sort of gem. You wonder what kind they are.

Beside it is another delicate treasure, and another and another. It seems you found the jewelry. You feel along the chain of the first. It doesn’t seem wide enough to slip on over your head, but- aha! A clasp! You carefully unhook the ends from one another and wrap it around your neck. It takes a few tries, and your arms ache from holding them up so long, but you finally manage to get it on. The teardrop gems rest on your collarbones and chest, tickling your skin with the strange sensation. You’d never worn anything like it before, but it’s so lightweight it doesn’t bother you at all. You run your fingers along it, trying to picture what it looks like. You wonder what Jewel would think of it.

Spurred on by sheer delight, you dig back into the pile. You find more necklaces, bracelets, rings - even things you don’t know the purpose of. You slip some of them on, giggling to yourself at the way they twirl and dance on your skin with your movements.

Suddenly, you feel something more solid. It’s got more surface area than the necklaces and bracelets you’ve found so far, and it’s much larger than any of the rings, though it’s shaped like one. The top edge has protrusions stemming from it. The inside is plain, with little variation, but the outside is set with gems galore.

You place it experimentally on your head. It’s not as light as the necklace, but it’s not heavy enough to weigh you down too much. It feels… powerful.

You’re about to move on to the next pile when you hear footsteps. But they’re different - they scrape along the floor, move too uncertainly, too quickly. This isn’t Jewel.

What are you supposed to do in a situation like this? Logically, you should be running to meet them, begging them to get you out of here. But you don’t. Besides, even if they did get you out, where would they take you? You can’t go back to the city. You don’t want to go back to the city.

Torn with indecision, you’ve only just stepped away from the pile of treasure when the footsteps echo around the cavern.

“Wha- Are you the dragon?” The voice is masculine, but lighter than Jewel’s. Despite that, it doesn’t sound too young.

You shake your head. Your heart is racing. “No, I’m not. I’m-”

The man gasps. “The oracle!”

Fuck, this guy must be from the city if he can recognize you so easily.

“Wearing… the dragon’s treasure.”

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

You hold your hands out placatingly. “Sir, please, allow me a chance to explain.”

“Explain?! You- You fucking traitor! No wonder you predicted doomsday, you’re working with the fucking dragon to bring it about!” His footsteps stomp roughly on the stone floor, approaching you quickly. Each thud sends a pang of fear straight to your heart. He kicks away treasure in his path, goblets and coins that clink against each other and thunk against the ground. You back away as fast as you can.

“I’m not a traitor! Astra predicted it!” You stumble on something. You don’t try to guess what, you just keep going. You can hear the man’s angry breaths, huffing out of him like a bellows. He’s much closer now. “Please, I didn’t do anything! I’m just a messenger!”

Large hands grab you by the shoulders and shove you to the ground. The air is forced from your lungs as your back collides with solid rock. Your head spins as it hits next, less than a second after. The crown on your head clinks as it bounces off, rolling away before it tips and rolls on its edge, over and over again in a rapidly increasing crescendo. Legs cage you in. Hands grip you hard enough to bruise. They jostle and shove you against the floor.

“You want us to die! You fucking monster! You- You want to kill us all!”

You gasp for air. Your lungs fight against it. You try shoving at the man’s chest. Try squirming and kicking him off. Try clawing at his hands to let you go. “I don’t-”

The echo of a smack reverberates in the large hall. Your head is tossed to the side with the impact. Pain ripples through your jaw. You think you bit your tongue for all the blood pooling in your mouth. “Shut up!”

You think you’re crying. You can’t tell. All you do know is the all-consuming fear rising in your chest, burning you from the inside out, choking you. You want to scream, but who would hear you? All you can do is try fighting back again, but your hits are sloppy and too weak to get the brute off of you. And all it earns you is another punch.

“Where’s your partner in crime, huh?!” he screams in your face. Spit splatters over your cheeks. You recoil in disgust. “Where’s the dragon, huh?!”

“He’s not here!” you scream. The words grate at your throat. You don’t think to worry about how awful it sounds, as the hands lift from your shoulders to grab your neck. They squeeze tightly. You thrash even more as you take one last gasp of air, cut off as your windpipe closes.

He jostles you, shakes you, digs his nails into your skin. You try shoving at his face, but he just shakes you off each time. “We trusted you! All of us! You were supposed to keep us safe! Tell us how to prosper! And all you did was predict death and ruin! Well, no longer! I won’t let you speak your cursed prophecies into existence anymore!”

You can’t breathe. You can’t fucking breathe. Your mouth gapes open like a fish, but you can’t- Nothing is coming in. You can’t get anything out either. No cries, no pleas, no last prayers to Astra.

Your lungs ache. They scream. They burn in your chest alongside your fear.

Tears pour from your eyes with no resistance. Stream down your cheeks to the ground below. Drip onto loose coins. Gather on the man’s fingers as his thumbs dig into your pulse.

Your heart rampages against your ribcage. Pounds in your ears. Each beat sends a jolt of pain through your lungs as it begs for them to provide it oxygen.

Your head is fuzzy. Mind spinning. Sense becomes distant, blurring at the edges. Thinking becomes impossible. Only two words repeat themselves over and over as consciousness begins to falter:

Jewel…

Help…

Your hands fall limply to the ground. You can’t fight anymore. You can’t… can’t………

…

………

You see… a man. He’s dressed unusually. You can’t make out the surroundings, but you feel how warm and safe this place is. He looks like the fiend in your last prophecy. His hair is stark white. Eyes a bloody crimson. But he looks human.

Could it be…?

Air shocks back into your lungs. It hurts. You gasp desperately for oxygen, but you can’t get it inside of you quick enough. Can’t get enough in your lungs to satisfy your body’s needs. You choke on copper and spit. Something touches your shoulder, rolls you onto your side.

“Easy,” a familiar baritone soothes. You can make out the sharp ridges of a clawed hand holding your bicep. “You’re alright now.”

Splatters of blood and spit hit the floor as you cough. Your whole body shakes with the effort of breathing. Even once you manage to breathe normally once more, your throat hurts like hell and your head still spins.

“He-” You wince sharply. That one word alone was akin to scraping burning coals over the back of your throat, all the way down your esophagus and into your chest.

“Don’t speak,” Jewel says. Though, with the danger tinging his words, it sounds more like a command. “He’s dead. He won’t hurt you again.”

You reach out toward his voice. He helps you sit up. The world feels as though it’s tilting in an odd pattern on an ever-shifting axis. You grab onto him. You feel like your whole body is spinning, prone to falling into an abyss at any moment.

Jewel doesn’t complain, doesn’t pull back. Instead, he wraps a rough arm around your back to pull you against his chest. He’s firm and solid and here. His chest moves with steady breaths. Heart beats a rhythm like a war drum. It’s all you can focus on as your lungs relax, heart stablizes. All you care to think about as the pain in your neck persists, the ghosting weight of hands still threatening to press down and tighten once more.

Blood dribbles down your chin. Even more down your neck to your collarbones where the man’s nails dug in. It tickles. It stains the gold and gems you wear.

“That fool should know better than to touch a dragon’s treasure.”

---

Tag List:

@the-golden-jhope @armycaratlover @sylusfluffymeow @cheesemachine44 @nyx2021 @angel-jupiter @thelittlebutton @pikachuzhc @pomegranatepip @cordidy @an-ever-angry-bi @thejysemongko @deusfoundry @that-lost-one @always-just-red @22carolina08 @lunaizhere @sine-nomine0 @beautifulthingsiadore @lalaluch @nothankyew @terriblesoup @jeleryyy @nezuswritingdesk @anaathxma @ssushi @mina7820 @monophobix @mentaltrouble2201 @mskaylacharite @nerrivm @ichosesparklingtorment @schnittled @animegamerfox @flamedancer13 @leiakitty @loliesaregreat @seris-the-amious

[ask-whitepearl-and-steven]

Have there been other white diamond Steven aus that have tried to rip off this au like yours?

... define 'ripping off'?

Because I honestly don't think I've ever come across a creator 'ripping off' anything as much as I'm technically 'ripping off' of the original show. (Derivative works, yay!)

If you mean 'writing about the concept of a Steven that's White Diamond's son' then... I don't really own that. Neither do I own the gem placement that my own Steven has, and neither do I own any of the other story tropes.

The reality of the matter is, even when writers 'copy' things from others, they often aren't doing so with malicious intent or on purpose. Especially younger, less experienced writers - they tend to copy because they lack the confidence to expand their creative reach into something totally their own. It's scary to build everything by yourself! I get it! I often see younger, teen writers rely on the story someone else built and use that as a jumping off point because it feels safer. (Maybe this is why less experienced writers tend to fall for the get-story-quick scam that ChatGPT offers....)

Speaking of ChatGPT - if anything is a ripoff, it's that! It's literally ripping off of everything it doesn't have permission to train on. It's convincing young, potential writers to quit writing and to put on the exciting, glittery hat of the Mid(dle) Manager. They learn to delegate instead of learning to write. Instead of creating stories, they're just making demands that a machine do it for them. In the end, nothing of consequence gets written.

Compared to that, I'd much rather that other fanfiction and fanart people 'rip off' of me directly. That's natural. That's organic. That's how we learn.

[fus-mar-hoz]

for the asks: do you believe it's worth it joining a party/organization if you've still not cleared up where you fall ideologically (as in, i haven't read enough theory to know if i agree the most with M-Lism or left communism etc etc). i have asked a couple of more experienced people about this and they have all said that it's better to wait and educate oneself first and then get organized, but i feel like even if i am still a "beginner", it could still be an invaluable experience. i don't know. i would love to hear your opinion

I think it's rather the opposite. Organizing oneself and joining a party can be a significant life commitment that exceeds a decade, but it doesn't have to be, you can just leave a political party, especially in a liberal democracy such as your case. The distinction between these currents lies not only in theory, but in the way the modern currents in their specific areas of intervention apply it and carry it out. The best way to learn about democratic centralism is not to pour over the organizational diagrams of the parties of the third international, but to participate in it yourself. The best way to learn about the forms and methods of agitation is not to scour the internet and archives for memoirs, but to do it yourself. I joined my party considering myself an anarcho-communist, and my own ideological development and education was slingshotted forward into settling securely in Marxism-Leninism not because my comrades sent me Stalin's anarchism or socialism (in fact I don't think I've read it in full yet), but because I learnt and educated myself organizing, applying all that has been written on marxism-leninism to our reality. My criticisms of anarchism, though philosophically grounded in what I've read on materialism and idealism, etc, sprung from my experience comparing anarchic forms of organization and practice to the party's, through our participation in spaces organized horizontally.

You don't get organized following an ideological current because it's the pinnacle of your own private intellectual development, you study theory and weigh these currents against each other to better improve and sistematize the things you do while organized. All of this theorizing is only and should only be done with the everpresent purpose of organizing the proletariat. More secondary intellectual pursuits, while not incompatible, are not the horse, nor the cart, they're the cart's accessories. What makes these currents more correct or more wrong is not the sense they make to you in a vaccum, but their viability in the current set of conditions.

[mejomonster]

Some of my favorite writing tools

Just Write: a website, or an app you can download. My favorite thing about Just Write is it only lets you backspace a few spaces. So if you need that motivation to just KEEP writing, to not edit until you're done, Just Write is perfect. It's just text, limited backspace, no distractions. You can copy-paste text when you're done writing or download it as a txt file. I usually type // after I make an error that I want to edit later, since there's limited backspace. I bookmarked this on my phone's Home screen, so it looks like an 'app' and I can just click to open the site.

My Noise: this is a website and app too, I just use the website version. Like with Just Write, I bookmarked this website to my phone's Home screen so I can just click to open the site. It has a ton of sounds you can play, I find many of them help with focus: there's classical music, the sound of water, white noise, adhd focus sounds, coffee shop ambience, binaural beats, tinnitus relief, Dark Dungeon (noises of fictional settings), and all of their sounds are customizable. I usually use Irish Coast or 88 Keys just because the sounds of water and pianos tend to help me focus most. There's a ton of sound options on here. Good for if you haven't already made a focus-music playlist, or if making such a playlist would distract you from writing, or if you just need to pull up a noise quickly.

Lite Writer: an app. I write on my phone a lot, so this is the app I organize everything in. It lets you import fonts, so I can use a font that's difficult to read (to prevent myself from going back and editing/re-reading while writing), and then use an easy to read font when I edit. It has customizable colors (I just use regular dark mode). It lets you make project folders, and then txt files inside each project folder, and number the chapter txt files so they're listed in order. It lets you export project folders as txt files (or other types of files), so I can write a book chapter by chapter in 1 project folder, then export the whole book to edit in a different program. It lets you upload cover images for each project folder (which visually helps me), it's layout is very minimalist (which helps me focus - I get distracted so easily I can't write in something like Google Docs because there's too many non-writing-area things to look at). It also counts how many words you've written each week/month, and in which project and which individual txt file. So you can see how many total words are in a project folder, what the individual chapter word counts are, and how many words you've written total. The app also lets you search for a word within an individual text file or a whole project folder, so if I change a character's name (for example from Varric to Varris) I can just use the search tool to search 'Varric' in my entire story, and then use the replace tool to put 'Varris'. I know you can do this easily in a Word processor program on a computer, but it's nice to be able to do it in Lite Writer while all my chapter files are still separate txt files. Lite Writer also lets you set up an auto backup to locations of your choice, and auto saves, so you can get backups of everything you wrote in multiple places even if you're not actively remembering to back up your writing regularly. The app is free, I believe I paid a one time fee so that I could use a few optional features (like text to speech audio file export, more visual options), but it was a ONE time fee. I paid once for additional features (I think maybe 5 dollars) and then never had to pay again. Which is worth noting, since I hate monthly subscription models. I think the app is useful if you write on your phone or a tablet, not so useful if you don't. I use the app for pasting in writing I've done online (on Just Write) so that all my writing is saved in one central place, and to re-order chapters, to add story notes within the project folder, so for organizational purposes. It's my favorite organizational writing app for the phone.

[sywritesstuff]

If you're like me, you bounce around a bunch of different platforms and applications in the writing process. My hot take is that this is totally fine. No one ever said the writing process is perfectly streamlined! That being said, I've shared some tools I use for different parts of my process. For the most part, I use them consistently for the purposes mentioned below:

→ Miro

I use Miro for my first pass of plot and character arc outlines. Miro is a free software that acts like a digital board, where you can arrange sticky notes and all sorts of features. I prefer using an online board as opposed to a physical one, because I’m constantly reworking my beats and moving things around, and it’s more efficient to do both digitally (in my opinion). I keep my plot outline separate from my character arc outline at the very early stages, because I’m essentially ideating how the two can be married. At the end of the day, I believe the most compelling stories always fall back on character emotions and motivations propelling the plot. Tools like Miro help me map the journey towards that end goal.

→ Notebook

My notebook contains my brain dump. I dedicate a single notebook to a project, and it basically becomes a collection of unfiltered thoughts. I’ll dump character tidbits, sequences for each chapter, feedback from my writing accountability buddy, and questions I want to address in the next iterations of my WIP. This is helpful for me, because I tend to struggle with rapid thoughts, so the notebook helps me focus on the idea itself. Later, I’ll always have the opportunity to categorize them in another platform as I’m writing.

→ Google Docs

In the past, I was writing chapters on Google Docs. This was helpful at the time, because it’s free, it tracks key metrics I care about (mainly word count), and it’s easy to share your work with anyone. But there are some drawbacks. The biggest one for me is having to format everything for a manuscript. This’ll be more relevant later down the line, but sometimes I get really bogged down by little things like spacing and indentation. It really distracts me from focusing on the sentences themselves. After seeing it pop up on Instagram a couple of times, I decided to purchase Scrivener for desktop. It is super functional, and I probably only use like 2% of its max capability right now. But it’s been super helpful for organizing my chapters and scenes, writing out little summary cards, color-coding progress status and POV, bullet pointing margin notes, and most importantly, pre-formatting my WIP as a manuscript. I definitely think Scrivener is worth the long-term investment if you find yourself writing and publishing multiple projects.

→ Scrivener

Even though I’ve transitioned to Scrivener for the actual manuscript, Google Docs still comes in handy for me. Right now, I mainly use it to 1) track feedback and revisions on a chapter-by-chapter basis, and 2) maintain a treatment of my novel. A treatment is essentially a full-length document that details everything that happens in your story from start to finish. They can be as short as 3 pages or as long as 50 pages. I could keep and maintain these documents in Scrivener, but I already had these written out on Docs, so I’m sticking to them. Later down the line, I’ll likely shift over to Google Sheets to track revisions.

What tools do y'all like using? Please feel free to recommend any! Tips on Scrivener are also welcomed!

[thekatebridgerton]

Rewatching s3 I realized that I never actually gave my opinion on the full season to you guys.

Mostly because it was good, every single Penelope and Colin scene was well written, well paced and crafted to bring their relationship full circle. In fact if I could edit s3 into a movie I'd cut everything off and leave the 1 or 2 hours of accumlated screentime that Penelope and Colin had together. Nicola and Luke really brought their A game.

Lord Debling wasa solid character, I really liked him, at first I thought he was going to be like Theo and have no purpose other than make Colin jealous, but he stood his ground as a well developed character ( for the few episodes he was in), I'm sad that he seemingly disappeared after Penelope and Colin got together and I genuinely wish he'd have found a good bride who would write to him and take care of his estate in his absence.

Francesca's storyline with John was also very complimentary, I once said I wanted to see how Eloise related to Francesca who didn't mind being a debutante just like Daphne and I am glad they gave Francesca her own unique charm as well as her own brand of awkwardness, not as obsessed with being perfect as Daphne but also not as antagonizing as Eloise. John was just the right ammount of kind and special that you can see how much Francesca really loves him. ( I'm choosing to ignore what I know of the books and look at Francesca's meeting with Michaela as just another awkward moment Francesca suffers in front of an extrovert .. mostly because I think its weird that neither John or his staff told Michaela he was married and to a Bridgerton sparkler at that, the whole ' and you are' felt really out of place and made me scratch my head)

The featheringtons actually felt more organically integrated into the plotline because this season they are in the position of being the female lead relatives so their shenanigans actually feel more plot relevant. And add levity to what would otherwise be a very dramatic series of episodes

Now on to the things I made fun of: every scene Benedict had with Lady Tilly, is very skippable, and honestly not plot relevant, after 2 seasons of watching him hoe around, a third one is just overkill. Also lady Tilly catching feelings and Benedict activating ' I want my freedom' mode is so hilarious. Gosh I wish him a very sexually frustrated and abstinent season 4.

Eloise friendship with Cressida also felt like filler. I know I've been saying Eloise needs friends since forever but I meant Kate, or Edwina or Sophie. Cressida Cowper was..a choice. And one that ultimately added very little to Eloise character development. But hey at least Eloise tried to make friends this season, I call that a step in the right direction.

Overall it was a good season, I'm sorry if I complain a lot about the parts I didn't like, but for the most part, it was good watchable content with a few snags that can be ironed out in fanfiction. The dresses were amazing and I hope their wardrobe department gets a raise for the hard work they put in these 2 years of sewing and pattern making. Hopefully one day I'll get a documentary about the Bridgerton wardrobe department process of selecting fabrics and making dresses. It would be lovely to see.

So far that's been my very belated season 3 review. And that's the tea

[svaints]

Thinking about it, Rollo wouldn't like what todays dating standards are. I mean no one really does. He'd probably not give a shit about them either unless it was brought up but let us just think and pretend.

This is written AFAB, for AMAB or other, my asks await.

𝕽𝖔𝖑𝖑𝖔 𝕱𝖑𝖆𝖒𝖒𝖊 | 𝕿𝖚 𝖒𝖊 𝖒𝖆𝖓𝖖𝖚𝖊𝖘

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫: 𝐀𝐅𝐀𝐁

𝐓𝐲𝐩𝐞: 𝐒𝐅𝐖

"This is the girl i'm talking to...look dude...see?"

"Are you serious? what a hot shot...I can't believe she'd even agree to go out with you!!"

As one guy hits the other for the "joke" and laughs it off during our study all I think is how this over someone having a pretty face...for someone they're going to end up hurting and wasting their time because they'd care less knowing what their middle name is and why violet is their favorite color. It's not the first...hearing boys gawking over someone who seems worthy of a quickie behind the nearest isolated building. How ridiculous.

Not me....not ever. My girl is my one and only...there's so much i'd say about her, if only the way she looked at me didn't stop my heart from quickening the moment I see her and it's suddenly just us...stopped me from telling her the things I love about her.

The way she's always looking after me, knowing I'm up late working on something for school or for my own purpose makes me feel the most I've been cared for.

Kisses, oh the kisses how fun is it to have her lips pressed against mine as our breaths get heavier never tasting one another enough to stop...on my cheek, forehead, nose, lips, jaw, neck, and shoulders...each leaving a mark of her love and passion for me.

Her hands combing through my hair as we hold one another to feel the warmth and comfort of our bodies as we talk or be. Her chest rising and falling against mine, our hearts beating in sync.

The lines around her smile, her eye creasing showing how happy she is in the moment, how her cheeks flush when I hold both her hands to my lips and kiss them, the way her voice suddenly gets softer for me when i'm upset, how she leans closer to me and I automatically wrap my arm around her waist makes her feel safe...with me.

It hurts when she's away, time passes by so slow without you..

I see the way you look at me..and I can't help but fall for you every time. The photo of you on my desk, phone, wall don't do any justice compared to when you're in front of me.

You know, in french, we have a sweeter way to say, "I miss you."

Tu me manques...

It means, "You are missing from me."

You're a part of me, like a limb, organ or blood in which I cannot live without.

I wish I could see myself in your eyes, my love. How do I look? What do you love about me?

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

It's so annoying to see people in the tag comparing Byler to other queer ships that didn't happen like no Byler is unique and wasn't made by bad writers. Idk if you were in one of those fandoms but it would be amazing if you could explain to all those people why Byler was written differently because I am tired of the classic: "they are queerbaiting you,deal with it". I am like :" wow they queerbaited the Lgbt+ community and the heterosexuals too then because a huge majority of the GA audiences who see Byler aren't from the Lgbt+ community". They also made the "main" ship do unlikeable that it lost at least 40% of their supporters between season 3 and season 4.

Well, I can see where they're coming from, even if I don't agree.

I have never been involved in a fandom before, but I have been a fan of shows/movies where I thought "so and so would make a good couple" only for nothing to come of it. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, though. This is the first time I've ever thought it was going to happen, and I've felt that way since season 2. Each season since has left me disappointed, as I don't want it to be a final episode "twist" in order to avoid losing fans, but it's still only become more and more obvious to me that it's inevitable.

I think a lot of fans get caught up in headcanons, particularly between seasons. As a result, they end up forgetting what is actually canon, and they create elaborate predictions that just don't fit the reality.

Yes, queerbaiting is a thing. I'm not familiar with many of the fandoms that this is used with, but I'll give the fans the benefit of the doubt on it. If a show hints at a queer couple, that's not enough for it to be queerbaiting. But if they continually build it up, only for it to go nowhere, then it might be. If they actively use it as a means to market the show, then it definitely is.

Without knowing more about specific fandoms, it's hard for me to make any direct comparisons. I suppose, should, somehow, Byler not be endgame, then I'll probably understand a lot better. However, I will also be extremely confused and will have lost considerable respect for the Duffers as writers.

However, Byler is a unique animals, as far as I can tell. It's something that has had seeds planted to it from the very beginning of the show. It's not some response to fans that the producers felt they could then exploit for marketing/merchandising purposes. It may not have been obvious back in season 1, but the clues were there. There was no retconning done to make Byler fit. There was no sly stoking of the flames in the fandom to get fans excited about it. That all happened organically as more and more people caught on.

I don't think the Duffers are dumb. They built a slowburn same-sex romance between main characters over the course of an entire top-tier series. As much as it annoyed me that it's taken this long, it does make the most sense, both in-universe and as a matter of mass appeal. Both the fans and the characters themselves had to come to terms with teen boys falling in love in the 80s. That's not something to be rushed if it's to be taken seriously.

Will, the one we've been told was gay, has come to terms with his feelings, only to come to the conclusion that it's not meant to be.

Mike, the one we've seen to have more-than-friendly feelings for Will, is still not ready, yet.

Season 5 will be the catalyst for Mike to realize what his deep feelings for Will really mean, so he can show Will that love is something for him to experience.

[purpleheartskies]

s6 part 1 will be out in a week. I wanted to share some thoughts about what we've gotten so far. S6 SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Trailers, character promos, interviews, etc... they're all marketing. They're usually not gonna give away major or important plot/character spoilers. They can also include misdirects. Regardless, their main purpose is to build hype about the show.

Trailers are out-of-context dialogue and scenes edited together.

Although written from the characters' povs, some of the promos so far had some major mistakes. Jon said the promos aren't canon. In their podcast posted this week, Xolo and Jacob said that the Netflix marketing team wrote these promos. They made it sound like the actors all (at least the younger cast) didn't like/agree with their characters' promo scripts.

Interviews are interesting too. Sometimes they're intriguing, sometimes they're misleading, and sometimes they're just fluff. Regardless, the actors and writers won't purposely give away or talk about spoilers, until after the release. So far, I've been intrigued by some things that Hayden, Jon, Billy, and Xolo have said. Tanner has interestingly been contradicting himself, and sometimes Xolo even looks at him like he doesn't agree with him.

I think I'm most intrigued by Billy's admission in this interview (at 11:30). He has wanted Johnny to evolve and has felt every season he has left something unresolved. It's pretty obvious to those fans who pay attention to the actual canon and details that Johnny, the deadbeat abusive alcoholic father, indeed has something left unresolved: ROBBY. In another interview, Hayden said that Johnny will go through the most growth this season. Obviously, this was expected because they had to wrap up Johnny's story eventually.

Now, this doesn't change my mind about Johnny. I still want to throw him away, lol. To me, he is too far gone. They made decisions for him that I eventually wanted to see Robby walk away from. That could have been a possible storyline too, and a healthy one in situations like this. I used to root for a Johnny-Robby relationship, but I stopped after s5. It's really gotten to the point that the message is "It's okay if you give your kid trauma after trauma after trauma... you can magically grow eventually and they'll forgive you, no matter." That's a bad message to send imo. Seems like most of the stories that tackle generational trauma take this approach. Don't get why they don't show the parent making amends and healing the relationship as the journey. Why not send the message: "Don't let things get so bad in the first place. Work on yourself, and help your kids recover from the trauma that your behavior has already caused." That can also still make for good comedy and/or drama. Billy and Tanner would have elevated such a story too.

Does this mean that I think Johnny can't be redeemed? The perspectives on redemption are subjective. For me, Johnny's a lost cause character. But from a storytelling standpoint, I'm curious what is to come. Johnny already foreshadowed in s5e10 that he'll lose everything. That's usually what happens in stories. That big loss late in the story that shakes up the character's world and gets them to stop believing in their "lie" and accept their "truth". In Johnny's case, he's been running from the past, using other kids as second chances, and not making amends with Robby. In this interview (and in another), Billy commented that things fall out from under Johnny. Good! Karma's a bitch! I hope this bitch doesn't leave Johnny alone next season.

I still believe, and will always believe, that the baby plotline wasn't written to last for Johnny and Robby. Neither were Johnny's relationships with the Diazs. The story just isnt organically built out that way. Johnny and Robby seem meant to end the series as just father and son and being friends with the LaRussos, but no Diazs. (Given the baby plot is continuing, it's very possible the baby isn't Johnny's. He was impotent or turning down sex for most of the season that Carmen got pregnant. This would be an organic way to handle a lot of the setups so far. Carmen is also absolutely a flawed character, like all the other characters. Fan choose to deny it, though.) This is of course based off of the notion that the characterizations will be explored and have proper considerations as the story resolves, as would be the case in storytelling. There are too many layers coming together in a way that indicates this. Josh said in an s6 interview, "all the tie ups should be satisfying, from a storytelling perspective, whether they're happy, sad or murky."

Anyway, I'm also curious how they'll handle Robby getting back into school. Robby seems to cut his hair at one point in part 1. He has the shorter haircut in that one shot of him in school. Robby's hair seems to have a journey as part of Robby's character journey. Maybe he cuts his hair after he gets back into school, as an indication of a new beginning. Based on the Hero's Journey, s6 part 1 should be The Road Back to the ordinary world. Him being back in school can fit this stage, as his future/educational prospects are being restored. Though, I hope he gets some better resolutions for how the school fight was handled. My main wishes for Robby returning back to school are that Robby is validated for what he has experienced and that these adults who claim to "care" about him finally step up and stop failing/scapegoating him for that fight. After all, this is the last Act of the story.

I liked the Barnes clip. The focus on Robby's reactions was interesting. Hopefully, Mike can be a mentor to Robby and focus some 1:1 time on him. Oh, and a random thought I had yesterday after Sean Kanan posted the bts pic of him and Tanner. If Mike's wife really has left him, is it wrong to ship Mike Barnes and Shannon? lol One main issue is the implied drug use by Barnes in the s5 finale. But if this issue didn't exist, I like this ship. And, Mike would probably/hopefully be a good stepdad to Robby. Anyway, it's just a fun thought. Regardless, I hope Mike becomes a good mentor to Robby. I of course hope Johnny, Robby, and Shannon finally have at least one scene together and that Shannon has more scenes in general in s6. Wouldn't mind a scene of her and Mike interacting, so I can see if they have chemistry. lol

Anyway, just a waiting game till the 18th. Wonder what news and leaks come out between now and then. The s5 leaks were so bad... both because they were major spoilers and because... that plot and how things went for Robby.

At least, there will be new Robby content and more story to pick apart. I hope s6 part 1 will be better for Robby than s5. That he starts to be validated, his experiences start to be explored, and the adults stop failing him.

[sarahsmi13s]

💜 Get To Know Your Moots 💜

thank you @desert-fern and @startrekfangirl2233 for the tags!

everything under the cut because i yap

What’s the origin of your blog title?

my og username used to be part of my email when I first made this blog, but after coming back I changed it to what it is now to match all of my other social platforms! Sarah Smiles by P!aTD is one of the only songs that has my name in it and one of my friends in middle school mentioned something about it one day and it just kinda stuck!

OTP(s) + ship names

I'm not really a huge canon/canon shipper unless they were already together, just never has really been my thing until sorta recently. I've written some Hangman/Rooster (hangster) in TGM. Buck/Eddie (Buddie) in 911, the writers just better not fuck it up. I did ship Buck/Tommy (Tevan) since they were canon, but that storyline is over now so they're just a little moment but not something I'm holding out hope for lol. I'm also a Lucy/Tim (Chenford) in The Rookie, and I hope the writers can bring that couple back and do it better. Astarion/Gale (Bloodweave) in Baldur's Gate 3. Shadowheart/Lae'zel (Shadow'zel) also bg3. and Wyll/Karlach (Wyllach) -- all of theses ships are canon to me if my tav/durge isn't interfering but then I have a set up for that don't worry 😂

Favourite Colour

I am a big purple girlie -- all hues but I have preferences towards lavender, royal purple, and the bluer shades! have been since I was little! but I love greens too, sage and forest are my go to's. but I also adore a good yellow! I rarely come across a color I don't like, if I'm completely honest. all colors are great, they just sometimes get grouped wrong

Favourite Game

as mentioned above, I have been playing Baldur's Gate 3 a lot. only 1 completed play through (though I held out at the epilogue party bc I couldn't say goodbye just yet and I did start a new run with that tav for fanfic purposes and cried remaking her) and I have about 4 others (3 tavs and 1 dark urge). and you can ask the servers I'm in... I can't shut up about them I'm also sort of getting into the sims, mainly just to build and have casual fun. and I'm looking forward to getting into dragon age (thanks to @horseshoegirl -- lucky has gotten me hooked). I also love the resident evil games though I haven't played them. and then the long list of games from my childhood that I watched Markiplier and JackSepticEye play. I also love a good card/board game

Song stuck in your head

currently it's "Would You Fall in Love with Me Again" from Epic: The Musical -- it won't leave

Weirdest habit/trait

um in Baldur's Gate, i have to organize the camp chest by putting things in designated boxes. bc I loot everything 😭 and I have so much food that I'm glad doesn't go bad in game because I've brought raw meat and veggies from act 1 all the way into act 3. outside of that, I don't know -- I assume by organization habits may translate? but I don't really know

Hobbies

writing, the occasional reading, playing video games, cooking when I have the things I want to cook available, bugging my mom, annoying my friends on the internet (only half joking 😂)

If you work, what’s your profession?

currently not working, but I have an associates in law enforcement, though I don't know what I would with it at this point in my life. it just doesn't feel like me anymore

If you could have ANY job, what would it be?

there's so many things: if I could find just get a grip, and build my own story, I would love to actually write a book (though I'd need to mature a little more in my skills I think). voice acting has been a big aspiration as of late as well, I blame this in on bg3 and the absolutely brilliant work done by the VAs on that work

Something you’re good at

oh jeez making me be nice to myself... I'd like to say I'm a good writer, all of my moots are (this is a fact and I will fight them on this) I have a lot a room to grow, but who doesn't? I do like to think I'm a pretty good cheerleader for my friends (I feel like I've been slacking lately though) and I'd also like to think I'm good at character analysis, and tearing apart fan fiction like I'm an English teacher

Something you’re bad at

a lot but if I had to pick, maybe like sticking to routines? which is weird, because I like having them, but they are very hard to change so I always revert back to before

Something you love

my friends (online and irl), family, writing and indulging in my friends story ideas to help them as best I can, video games (I'm a whore for story driven ones), food, music, YouTube, movies/tv -- I could keep going but I'd be here all day

Something you could talk about for hours off the cuff

baldur's gate 3, 911, the rookie, some bits of the mcu (phase 1 to early phase 4), my fanfics and ocs, things I just blab to my mother about that I won't say here because it's a long list

Something you hate

my feet always being fucking cold and my inability to finish a fic atm <- there's more but again... we'd be here all day and this is my main issue other than my brain on occasion

Something you collect

fanfic ideas (my wheel is collecting drinks on tab), bg3 tavs (I'm playing through every romance and writing fics for it -- but after that I'm not stopping so tavs galore), and random shit I probably don't need

Something you forgot

a lot of stuff I learned in math, I was good at it at the time, but now? I don't remember the fancy equations. and until now, to move the little "today" magnet on my calendar

Love language?

all of them, honestly, though I'm more of a gift giver than a gift receiver. touch (gimme cuddles, hand holding, kisses, hugs -- all of it), quality time (we could literally sit in silence doing our own thing and it's great), and words of affirmation (I just really need verbal reminders some times alright? my brain is loud) are the big 3

Favourite movie/show

right now? probably 911 and the Rookie but NCIS and pre-season 11 Criminal Minds are a love of mine (nothing wrong with the newer stuff, I just have feelings connected to the early stuff). also I miss Adventure Time and Gravity Falls. movie wise: movies Glen Powell is in, but that's a given. Marvel movies (again phase 1 to early phase 4 -- haven't watched a lot of the new stuff yet) and when I was kid, I scratched the disc for Finding Nemo because I watched it so much

Favourite food

I'm pretty picky, so a lot of my favs are basic. but since I've started cooking things myself/helped cook -- I've ventured out more. but fajita quesadillas (steak and chicken), pizza (rolls and bagel bites included), grilled cheese, turkey and cheese sandwiches are generally safe options. then I've recently tried salmon, so good. and chicken and dumplings in my current go to cold weather food.

Favourite animal

outside of your classic pets (dog, cat, bunnies, bird, fish): foxes, wolves, otters, highland cows, ball pythons, probably more that I can't think of. (the fictional owl bear, they're cute don't judge me)

What were you like as a child?

I think I was relatively normal as a kid. went to like a "headstart" preschool which helped me be academically ahead, I guess? I'm not really sure, but I was a relatively smart kid and that preschool helped with that I think. I played sports, softball and basketball mainly. I loved (and still love) swimming. I played pretend a lot, which maybe is why I love writing so much. relatively well behaved, dropped a few "f bombs" though (it was like twice and my sisters bring it up still). and like I mentioned before, religiously watched Finding Nemo -- my mom would but it on because it was the only thing that would keep me occupied. the wiggles were another big one (I was hyperfixating, but no one knew it yet)

Favourite school subject

going off high school: math probably, I was good at it. I liked science a lot too. history was fun in high school -- mainly because of the teacher (she dressed up). English (lit) was okay, I just didn't like being told what to read and the teachers (8th and 11th grade) analysis was always bullshit out of the lesson plan and if you had something different it was just flat-out wrong and didn't even let you explore your own train of thought -- just told you that you were wrong with no explanation. (my 7th, 9th and 10th grade teachers were great though loved them)

Least favorite subject

adv physical science -- teacher got sick, not her fault but she was out for the last half of the years and it really hurt our grades for a bit because the regular phys-sci teacher wasn't grading us right, and it left a bad taste in my mouth for pays-sci English (lang) -- I write how I talk, which I know isn't really correct, but I just, it felt like it didn't make sense they way she taught it. (most of my subject issues are literally just me with grudges against the teacher bc they weren't helpful)

What’s your best character trait

I feel like I'm a kind person, or at least I do my damnedest to be. I try to be as helpful as I can when in positions to do so. I'm always trying to make sure that I'm mindful of others. I put my all into things, I'm very passionate. I listen and give advice when I can. I'd like to think I'm funny.

What’s your worst character trait (I get a little deep... sorry 😅)

I'm sure you noticed above, I'm very unsure of how people actually perceive me so it causes a lot of "I think" or "I'd like to think" statements. I'm often very in my head, and I care a lot about how others feel/think about me -- which I know isn't inherently bad, but it's not very good either. I beat myself up a lot, and I can get myself in really not nice headspaces. I also tend to bottle up my feelings, which isn't fair to me or others that may want to help -- but I don't want them to feel like it's their fault even though it's really not and I don't want them to feel like I'm trying to get them fix me or that I'm just fishing for validation (no one that I'm friends with has ever said this or made me feel that way, it's entirely my own head). but I preach communication, but I lack the practice in it because I'm scared to upset people -- I'm just a mess 😅

If you could change any detail of your job right now, what would it be?

probably the fact I don't have one 😂 it's a pretty easy fix though

If you could travel through time, who would you most like to meet?

oh that's a tough one -- some of them, there's a language barrier. others, I would end up screwing over the timeline with. so maybe like, just going back in time and talking with my pop who died when I was little, just so I can have that little window of extra time with him

Recommend one of your favorite fanfics! I have been an awful reader lately, fandom jumping is hard. I'm behind on everything but I've been privy to so much background stuff with my amazing friends! and I will tag their work (finished and wips) and please check out the one shots and other works that these people have done as well you won't regret it

Top Gun

Damn Those Dog Tags by @horseshoegirl - it is a finished work, but I haven't finished reading it. I highly recommend that you check it out if you haven't because Lucky poured her heart and soul into this and it is just a beautiful piece!

Set Me Alight by @horseshoegirl - a work in progress and i have loved being a part of the process in seeing this come to life as she writes this! i highly recommend this as well!

You Are My Soulmate by @startrekfangirl2233-writes - a work in progress. i believe this is the first thing a read of star's before we actually talked! a lot of ups and downs in this piece! i recommend giving it a shot

star has so many other yet to debut pieces, and I love them all so be on the lookout for them!

A Gun Amongst Daggers by @desert-fern - a finished piece, but again, I haven't finished reading it. another one I was lucky to witness the process of and I adored it all! please go show it some love fern really put her all into it

Anatomy of an Arsonist by @desert-fern - a work in progress and I have loved being a part of watching this story evolve and grow. she's put so much love and detail into this, I highly recommend

You Catch S.W.A.T Officers with... Muffins? by @desert-fern - a cute little one-shot with Nix that is just absolutely adorable and sweet, if you need a feel good this is where you go!

Anything by @topguncortez , @sebsxphia , @roosterforme , @teacupsandtopgun and so many others are highly recommend as well. And again, please go show anyone tagged here some love on their works if they are your style! they all have so much work that I couldn't possibly but it all down, and search out for smaller pages too -- they're deserving of love too 🫶🏻

Baldur's Gate 3

there are so many that've just been reading through on the search page so I'll be tagging the accounts I see a lot!

@moonselune

@astarionancuntnin

@reverieblondie

We the Stolen by @fangbanger3000 (only on ao3) - I adore this story, it's so captivating and interesting! a definitely rec if you're looking for something unique (please please please! ready the warnings before proceeding)

there are so so so many others if you're a bg3 girlie (gender neutral) give the tags a scroll, you won't regret it

911

@achilles-rage -- has plus!size and race inclusive readers! please please give them a look if you're needing a little love

@megalony -- all of their 911 pieces are very emotional and I think capture the characters in a unique way that is still true to them!

~~~~~

no pressure tags: @horseshoegirl @teacupsandtopgun @sebsxphia @achilles-rage @lovinglyeternal @bradleybeachbabe and anyone that wants to join!

[zannolin]

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

i have MANY. oh so many. but let me take a moment to recommend a few that have especially haunted me lately or deserve more love, and i am gonna give a RANGE here because i contain multitudes.

-> my beloved sister @beautyofsorrow / Daxs10thHost is out here writing everything from lisa frankenstein to jennifer's body to star trek aro femslash erotica and absolutely killing it every time. if you like my writing you should go thank her bc you owe everything i've ever written to liv seeing as she's why i started writing in the first place.

-> @blusandbirds / lil3 on ao3 is a longtime beloved friend & fic writer. everything she puts out is so fucking good. will always sing her praises <3

-> self-evident truths by thatsparrow is a really fun national treasure fic which i oh so rarely find. i felt like i won the lottery when i clicked on it.

-> The Glass Jar by mediumorange is a fantastic post-canon fic for brokeback mountain. there are some lines in here that changed me fundamentally.

-> the year of the goat and your kid back by derryfacts2 is in fact THE greatest it fic ever. imo. it's not at all what you expect but i cannot recommend it any higher. trust me on this one.

-> there's daggers in men's smiles by @pinkgrapefloyd will always be a rec. my favorite cobra kai fic ever.

-> chamb3rs and bloodofgods on ao3 have written some of my favorite stranger things genfic (especially platonic madwheeler <3) of ALL time and honestly just my favorite stranger things fic of all time ngl.

-> Flower of Lemon and Feather of Shrike by SummerPhlox is another fav cobra kai fic. it's about yasmine and moon and why the hell yasmine's character is Like That in later seasons of cobra kai. do yourself a favor and read this and become certifiable over background female characters, it's good for the soul.

-> every day i take ten minutes to sit and stare into the middle distance thinking about the way you love me by @strangeswift. you think i'm exaggerating about this but i'm not. i'm really not. THE byler exes fic of all time perhaps.

-> a cruel summer with you by astrobi/wiseatom/andiwriteordie is i imagine a fic many people are familiar with but i cannot stress how obsessed i am and i have only read the first chapter. btw. (i'm self-banned from reading more until i finish mutual distrust but i think about it on a weekly basis.) byler summer camp au....save me byler summer camp au.

-> i have already sung the praises of love me on purpose many, many a time. but i reiterate: this fic haunts me. this fic has made me cry on more than one occasion. this fic gutted me like a fish and put all my internal organs back one millimeter to the left. what the fuck honestly. can anyone hear me???

-> it's brutal out here by @stillokaynextcrisis is a music/rockstar/band au for the star wars OT that i am currently obsessed with.

anyway thanks for coming to my ted talk. i could recommend like a bajillion more but this is getting long so instead i direct you to my bookmarks on ao3. go forth and find works for niche fandoms or pairings and give them love. for me.

truth & dare ask game!

[ilyastudies]

I saw that you use a tablet, a desktop, and paper notes. How do you conciliate those notes?

Is there a mechanism of making primary notes on one resource and then passing those notes to other while reviewing them?

hi! thanks so much for asking! here are my favorite methods for sharing notes between devices :). i personally have apple devices so i can fairly easily airdrop and sync things between devices, but i also frequently work at the library desktop computers where i can't do that! so here's my tips and tricks for sharing notes between devices

for context: i've been mostly doing digital notetaking recently, but i also like to scan my paper notes as well!

i'm going to be dividing this post into 2 methods! (there will be some overlap). syncing already written notes and syncing notes (in progress) between devices

for already written notes:

the first step i would take is export your notes as a pdf or any other file type. if they're handwritten try going into your notes app (for ios) or downloading a pdf scanner app for your phone! if your notes are digital check the sharing options in your app to see if there's anything about "exporting".

personally, i like to use either discord or notion. i have created a discord server with only myself that i use just for sharing links/files/anything between devices! i like discord because there's apps for pc, mac, tablets, and phones; and even a web app! discord is really nice and fast, and you can make different channels (as pictured below) for organization. as long as your file size isn't too big, you should be fine.

my second app i like to use is notion! notion is such a beast in itself, but i like to use it to upload files and images and links! below are two ways i have used it: to upload pdfs/files, and to upload goodnotes (my notetaking app) links to the pages i'm writing on! similar to discord, notion has apps for all devices, but it also works great just by itself on the website (no app required)! it's really great to access it from all my devices.

another way you could share your notes on different devices is through the cloud! (yes, discord and notion are both through the cloud). google drive, microsoft onedrive, icloud storage, etc. are great tools that you can use to upload files and see on multiple devices. i personally like discord and notion more, just because they're already apps i frequently use, but if you can't get either one cloud-based storage platforms are also a great idea! they definitely have more security than discord or notion, because your files may be at risk of being deleted!

for the purposes of sharing notes to reference on another device when writing an essay, or something of similar vain, i really love discord and/or notion and they both work great!

for syncing notes in real time:

pretty similar to the last one, i would say notion or google docs (or microsoft word on the web i believe has similar functionality, or onenote, anything similar!)

if you want to be writing notes on one device and have them sync up quickly on another - i think any word processing software is the best bet for you.

both notion and google docs you can access them on any device, and/or on their websites too!

google docs is a lot more straightforward, but since notion is so powerful it provides a lot of flexibility for your notes! here's an (old) example of notes i've taken on notion. (i personally really like how easy it is to make columns!)

i hope this helped a little bit! please let me know if you have any more questions :)

also! notetaking is very much an individual thing, if something works for me and doesn't work for you - that's okay! we're all learning and just have to figure out what's best for ourselves.

[garf-lover96]

my long ass elaborate ranking of Will Wood's (and The Tapeworms') albums!! (Everything is a Lot ranking list)

for the purpose of making this i've been listening to this whole album like non stop for the past week. i even made my parents listen to it with me (my mom liked it and said that she'd go to see the songs live if she could!). it was actually pretty difficult to rank all of them but i think the top 3 will remain unchanged forever, they're some of my all time favorites from will wood!! the way i'll do this i think is i'll write down all the things i like about a particular song, maybe a favorite lyric and a favorite moment or something. or just some general rambling. also i split Everything is a Lot into Everything is a Lot and Destroy to Enjoy, like in the remastered album!

———

1. Skeleton Appreciation Day in Vestal, NY (Bones)

first time i heard this song was over a year ago so i can't tell what my exact first impression was but it did almost immediately become my favorite song ever. I LOVE IT SO MUCH IT'S INSANE. also fun fact, memberoflottiescult really likes this song!

my main thing with this song is that it sounds like?? you know, bones?? it sounds like skeletons. the melody is like something a skeleton would've come up with. i can't explain it but it is hearable. best song ever

2. 6up 5oh Cop-Out (Pro / Con)

it was one of the first will's songs i've ever liked on spotify. ughhhh the energy, the general mashing of the piano and it sounding like it's about to fall apart any second lol!! the high ass notes. perfect, so perfect. i was listening to this song while purchasing a meter long plush goose. the song is like a brother to me

my favorite part is the spoken "am i being detained? am i under arrest? read me my rights please! I WANT MY PHONECALL" it's uhfhdfhkf. showstopping

3. White Knuckle Jerk (Where Do You Get Off?)

it took me exactly one (1) full listen to this one to absolutely fall in love with it, holy fuck. one of the best things i've ever heard. every time it's on i have to loop it a few times

my favorite parts are the "i wonder how i woke up in the middle of my surgery and i watched them botch my heart. only the second worst thing that i could've thought was 'this won't have to end if it doesn't start'" and "i'll never know what it's like to love you" because ummm???? the emotion in his voice omfg, i love it when this happens. it's so perfect (reminds me of julian devorak..........)

4. Lygerside Daydream

had me hooked after the first listen as well. i love the melody and i love how the lyrics are written here. i, too, want to blow the seeds of dandelions and wish for nothing more. such a sweet sound. one of my favorites as well. nice to daydream to, ha!!!

5. Front Street

idk how to explain this but the pace of the song, like the way the lyrics are sung is so satisfying. just the sentence structure and stuff.. uhhh i really don't know how to describe this, but i love it a whole lot. the piano melody here is amazing as well it so???? I DON'T FUCKING KNOW it's just good

6. The First Step

so nice to sing along to!!! "and i hope i don't choke on my vomit tonight" and "take my anxiety and my sobriety, i'll kill two birds with one stoner. so if you see me please, take my keys i don't wanna be an organ donor" are my favorite parts:3 so satisfyingly said

7. Chemical Overreaction / Compound Fracture

one of my first ones too i'm pretty sure. the chorus really pulled me in. fast and fun. i think i showed it to my godfather once. the spanish part scratches my brain so good

8. Cover This Song (A Little Bit Mine)

very nice to sing along to as well. i love the melody on the very first verse. i love the part with the piano solo so much

9. Everything is a Lot

i love the melody sooooooo much, "all the moments you've lost, all the money it cost" part is my favorite. shouldn't be overlooked!!!!!

10. Red Moon

i had to come around to it a bit but i actually love it. love the "the constellations form infinite paisleys in the sky" part, such a nice sound. satisfying lyrics in general

11. Thermodynamic Lawyer Esq. G.F.D.

nice to listen to when i want to have something screaming into my ears. loooove the fact that liar liar was sampled in the beginning, i really like that movie. i used to be obsessed with jim carrey also. i binged pretty much all of his movies as a little lad

12. Jimmy Mushrooms' Last Drink: Bedtime in Wayne, NJ

the kalimba kind of bothered me initially but i got used to it. i enjoy the melody. don't have much to say about it

13. ¡Aikido! (Neurotic / Erotic)

it's not horrible by any means, it just kind of doesn't do it for me. i usually skip it

14. Destroy to Enjoy

satisfying rhymes, i prefer not to listen to construction work as a past time

———

this took so long to put together, i kept forgetting about it or rearranging it...

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

We have Kitson dates! We have a venue! I've actually slightly surprised myself by how excited I am about this. I mean, we've known for a while that he was doing Edinburgh this year. And I did see him live when I was in London last year, so it's not like it'll be my first time seeing Daniel Kitson perform.

But weirdly, once I was able to actually look at my schedule and look at the Kitson's announcement and see where it fits in, that was the first time it felt entirely real that I'm going to see Daniel Kitson perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival! At The Stand, which for practical purposes is really annoying because it's far from everything else, but I did suspect he'd be at The Stand, and the reason I suspected that is that that's where he usually goes especially if he's doing a messing-around-type show, and that makes it actually pretty exciting to me, for non-practical reasons.

Edinburgh Fringe Festival featuring Daniel Kitson at The Stand! That's the venue of... actually, I'm not going to pretend I don't have a folder on my hard drive of screenshots of all Daniel Kitson's Edinburgh blurbs. Sure I have a folder on my hard drive of screenshots of all Daniel Kitson's old Edinburgh blurbs. Here are all the ones from The Stand.

Dancing - Show he wrote in 2004 to only be performed at that Fringe Festival, separate from his tour show that year. Zaltzman & Oliver's Political Animal was in the same room right afterward; Kitson would sometimes stick around to perform at Political Animal, and in the version of Dancing that's on Bandcamp, John Oliver was in the audience before getting up to Political Animal after. CMG established.

Daniel Kitson's 2005 stand-up show didn't even have its own title, which is very annoying for people who keep their hard drive so meticulously organized as to have an entire sub-folder for old Kitson blurbs. Because these people also have sub-folders for all his shows, and organized by year but labelled by title, and the 2005 one is just untitled. Because on Bandcamp, it's just titled Midnight At The Stand. Which cannot be its proper title, because 1) I know this material was performed in places besides The Stand (there are a lot of bootleg recordings of that) in previews and things, and 2) you can clearly see from the blurb that it started at 11:30 PM.

Honourable Men of Art 2006 - Chocolate Milk Gang show that Kitson created as the anti-Late 'n' Live, when he got tired of compering drunk crowds at the Gilded Balloon, so he took his toys and went to The Stand to do nerdy things like play Scrabble on stage with his CMG friends, and refused to do it on weekends:

It's the Fireworks Talking 2007 - it's amazing how little information is in the blurb, given what an incredibly well-written show it is, that apparently when he wrote the blurb in April he didn't even know whether it would be stand-up or story show:

Honourable Men of Art 2008 - He's lost some friends since 2006 (Russell Howard, John Oliver, Demetri Martin), but back at The Stand:

We Are Gathered Here 2009 - at least the blurb on this one bore a vague similarity to the theme of the actual show:

Where Once Was Wonder 2012 - I think this might be my favourite stand-up show ever, by anyone, in the world:

2014's split month, with A Variety of Things in a Room for the first half and Fuckstorm 3001 for the second half - reunion show with the remaining (straggling) members of the Chocolate Milk Gang, both shows enormous messing-around fun, though I think A Variety of Things in a Room, in particular, is incredibly underrated, as it had so much in it and was so well put together, for a show that was only ever performed like 8 times:

The time in 2016 when he did basically the same thing he'll be doing in 2025, which is a bunch of new/WIP stuff and improvising - you will notice that this is when he switches from the very late starts (those previous blurbs show start times of 11 PM or later, mostly midnight), to oddly early starts, as he'd very nearly turned 40 and decided he didn't want to stay up all night anymore:

Good For Glue 2018 - Daniel Kitson's gotten just over 40 and decided to recapture his roots by making himself and his audience stay up all night again:

Everything Smells of Orange 2019 - A rare middle-of-the-road start time, but this is another show like the one he did in 2016, where he didn't have a finished show but just messed around on stage:

And that is the entire history of Daniel Kitson at The Stand. It's not the entire history of Daniel Kitson in Edinburgh - he's done theatre shows in other venues, mostly the Traverse Theatre and Summerhall. And, fun fact, his first two solo shows were at the Pleasance Courtyard. And even earlier than that, he did that show out of the back of a truck that was in a documentary, and did that Gilded Balloon showcase where he was extremely rude to the audience all month with Andrew Maxwell and Trevor Lock.

But this is, nearly, an history of Daniel Kitson's stand-up in Edinburgh. And that is what didn't fully hit me until I saw the announcement today of his 2025 run (The Stand, 10 AM): I get to partake in history! The specific niche of history that I find obsessively fascinating! Daniel Kitson at The Stand, Edinburgh Fringe!

...I mean, it's not the actual Stand. He's in Stand 3, which is in a building across the road from Stand 1. Stand 1 being the famous club with the cowboy mural from the Stewart Lee TV show and things like that, which was the room that hosted Kitson for most of those previous shows. This year he's in an off-shoot. The same off-shoot room from 2016, when I assume he also booked this late. But still! It's the venue with the history! It's exciting! And it's okay, I am seeing Mark Thomas do a late-night show at Stand 1, so I'll still get into the iconic room and get to see the cowboy mural and feel historic.

Anyway. At the moment, I have my eye on the idea of going to Kitson's show five times. There are five days when his 10 AM show will fit neatly into my schedule, assuming it ends at 11. He hasn't told us yet when we can buy tickets, and I'm hoping it won't be for another four days, as this Friday is my last day of work before summer break, and I'd like to be at home so I can fully participate in the other historic tradition: trying to snap up Kitson tickets the moment they go on sale, before they all sell out.

Fuck, this is cool. Also, did I mention that I only have four work days left until the beginning of September? This is my first year working in a school, and will be my first summer break since I was a teenager. My job is really hard and I am so excited to stop doing it and go to Edinburgh instead.

[thegeminisage]

21, 32, 38 for the writers ask game? 👀👀

- dl anon

HIII thank yoooou

What is something that no one has caught about one of your fics?

okay, this is Extremely Dumb, but it's time to come clean. here is a fact: the oc riley i created for argent's Very Traumatic Backstory in anchor died the day derek was born. here is my crackpot theory which may or may not be true: derek is riley reborn, which means they got a second chance. IF you believe in that sort of thing. i don't know if i do and i don't know if they do either. big if true though bc that means he walked over his own grave

honorary mention for gambler's knife: one person did actually catch this, but ONLY one, so it feels worthy to mention here that i switched tenses in this fic on purpose, which made it absolute hell to write. all of the flashbacks are is present tense, and all of the present-day sections are in past tense. the mix-up was to sort of uh...highlight the nature of trauma. there's always a bit of a barrier between the reader and past tense, but not so much with the reader and present tense. what happened to jim on tarsus iv many years ago feels real and more immediate to him than what's happening to him right now - at least, until kodos dies, at which point the present-day writing FINALLY switches to present tense again. i can't tell you how many times i accidentally fucked up and used the wrong tense, but only one commenter made note of it! i'm not mad or anything, i'm just very surprised nobody else noticed.

Out of all your fics, what is your favorite title?

i don't think i'll ever hit on a better title than how arthur got his groove back, but runners up are anchor and gambler's knife just because of how they both wound up being so thematically central to the story - in the case of the latter, the titular knife was NOT EVEN IN MY OUTLINE, it just sort of worked its way in there organically and then wound up being the most important theme and feature of the fic, and stars, metaphorically, in one of my favorite paragraphs i've ever written:

Tarsus IV: where Jim had landed when all his other options had run dry. A final stop for the ne'er-do-wells, a last resort for the unlucky, who had nothing left to lose. Nothing he had done in Iowa could help him escape the mark his father's story left on him; it followed him like his shadow. But after Tarsus IV had been pulled out of his boot and handed to him hilt-first, Jim had at last become something else. Someone defined by a new kind of mark—one he'll tuck back in his boot for emergencies and carry with him for the rest of his life.

i don't mean to sound full of it but genuinely who wrote this because this was insane. i was so unwell when this fic came out of me. my prose is normally fair to middling at BEST i don't know where this came from.

Fic idea you're most excited to get to?

so obviously i am most excited about the rookanis fic that still doesn't have a title, which is sort of a...novelization/re-imagining of the rook/lucanis romance from the game? i guess? that's what everyone else is doing but whatever, two cakes. anyway the part i am chomping at the bit to get to is the part where lucanis uses emmrich's necromancy to talk to zara's corpse. i absolutely cannot say what question he's going to ask her before it goes up on ao3, which will be 1000000 years from now, but a very long time ago i hallucinated a Very Clear Vision for something absolutely vile, and i cannot rest until it is put to paper. gdoc. whatever. the wait is going to be so unbearable aghghggh

thank you again for asking <333

[fanfic author asks]