#this is the MOST worldbuilding ive ever ever done and it is SO FUCKING FUN

[hideyseek]

Sir, what's "weilan sex intermediary fic", bc I've seen you rambling abt it and I'm so confused + curious kjskskjs

from this list of wips

omg, a great question hyde, thank you for asking!

so after i posted my fic for the guardian 520 day exchange i was complaining to a rl friend that i wanted to write but wasn't untired enough to pick up any of my weilan longfics and i didn't know what else to do, and they were like (joking): i think you should write a crack sex fic about how bees fuck interact with plants so plants can have plant sex reproduce. and i went (extremely serious): OH MY GOD I CAN REALLY DO SOMETHING PAINFUL WITH THAT ACTUALLY

the rest under a cut bc oops it got so long

anyway. this fic takes place in a world where high-ranking men (ministers, military generals, etc) will check for childbirth / fertility / heir-having compatibility with a potential spouse (wife) by making sure a pregnancy takes before actually committing to a marriage. but it's also seen as improper to be physically intimate in any way (casual skin-to-skin touching included) before even getting engaged, which is where intermediaries come in (the bee, in the original situation). intermediaries are employed by specific houses (kind of socially parallel to fancy brothels) to service individual members of the potential couple — basically the guy jerks off into a cup that the intermediary collects and delivers to another intermediary who does a *gestures vaguely* insemination process of some kind. and sometimes if the guy is having trouble, the intermediary helps.

perhaps you have already guessed, but in this fic, shen wei works as a sex intermediary (cue pun on "envoy" lol). zhao yunlan is some kind of high-ranking guy who keeps requesting shen wei and then not going through with the marriage (because nothing takes and also because he's got the hots for this hot, professional intermediary), until now, when zhao yunlan is looking to be engaged to zhu hong, and part of him wants it to go through. which means: so much shen wei pining, zhu hong getting the guy instead of shen wei (i am SOOOOO excited to play with this reversal), lots of shen wei vs his wants vs his duty themes, and a really deliciously high-stakes version of the hot-and-cold game (physically close but emotionally distant) that we see shen wei play with zhao yunlan and shen wei's own desires in early canon. and also porn of course 🥰

there are a couple excerpts on my writing blog here, but here is another snippet hehe:

He’s showing off, just for Shen Wei, in this ritual that is intended to be unwatched, private, hidden. Not known even by the person who all this is meant for. Kunlun-jun makes a sound like he’s close. Shen Wei jolts back into himself. He’s here for a purpose. Not just to watch. Shen Wei’s hands shake when he reaches for the cup. 

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

since ive been really obsessed with it I was thinkin about making a post thats like "Rhysand is like what if Count von Krolock of the tanz der vampire musical was a swagless cishet man with no self awareness who didnt even have a weird gay son" but then I was like, honestly how come neither Tamlin nor Rhysand ever had kids from their dillydallying before they met Feyre. yeah yeah I know bc fae are supposed to be borderline infertile but 1) thats not true, points towards Beron and Tamlin's Shit Dad 2) theyre both like 500 years old, even if the odds of having kids are astronomically low if they were just fucking around without protection, they would both atleast have one. And yeah, i know about the fuckin Safe Sex Tea too but idgaf about that, the worldbuilding of acotar is bland and unimaginative it makes me wanna cry, these fae should be like quiverfull family levels of weird about having and absolutely refuse the notion of birth control except it would be less horrible an damaging by virtue of them only having like 2 kids a century, if that. Also, even with the Safe Sex Tea I feel like if you knew that you were borderline infertile and you didnt have to worry about stds bc you lived in a world without actual disease, you would be wayyyyy less careful about protection during sex anyway

Anyway, sorry about that rant, I have terminal worldbuilders disease and it flares up when I encounter this kind of thoughtless bullshit, back to my initial thought of "how come those ancient horny bastards didnt have kids before Feyre" beyond the possible in-uinverse justifications of how they could have them despite the bullshit worldbuilding, it would just be interesting. and fun. Yknow, maybe not for the first book since that would maybe ruin the romance a little but from acomaf forward its like, why shouldnt they aside from the fact that sjm did not at any point stop to consider the implications of making her characters this fucking old

Oh man, speaking of sjm not considering the implications of things, given her track record of writing the contrasts/parellels between Rhysand and Tamlin, I feel like if she had actually done this she wouldve made Tamlin be like, not present in his children's life at all, he just pays them the fae equivalent of child support and maybe they exchange letters or some shit and Feyre would be like "thats so cruel and cold of him!!" but then Rhysand would tell her about his kids and he would be like "pshhh, I would never pay child support! But I give them positions of power in my court and take the boys (and girls hashtag feminism) out for a game of faeball every month" and Feyre would be like "oh, thats so much better my bestest and most handsomest highlord <3 <3" but all us Rhyshaters would forever make fun of him for it. Feminst King Rhysand Who Doesn't Pay Child Support 😍

[skitskatdacat63]

Tysm for the tags @monacobasedgirldad @schumigrace @fernandoalonzoo sry im a bit late getting to this lol

Are you named after anyone?

My great great grandmother(I think??), though she was named Katarzyna, and I was born Catherine, but go by Catie obviously(this lowkey annoys my mom lmao, especially bcs if I were to have a nickname, it was supposed to be Cate.)

When was the last time you cried?

Today, over classical music. I think I cry at least once a day 😭 I am very emotional

Do you have kids?

Nope :)

What sports did you play/have you played?

I played soccer when I was a kid. Also does marching band count?

Do you use sarcasm?

All the fucking time, literally constantly. And also we sarcastically bully each other in my family, so I have to pull myself back from accidentally insulting people 😭

What is the first thing you notice about people?

Hmmmm, I feel like ive done this tag game before bcs I remember writing this exact answer. But usually I notice if someone is a good conversationalist or not. Like do they like to lead the convo, do they like to listen to the other people, do they talk too much, too little, are they awkward about it? It's just very interesting to me, bcs I think that kinda thing really does instantly show you if you're going to be compatible with a person(as a friend or more etc.) Cause I talk a lot a lot, and I think it's difficult to get along w people who are untalkative but also people who talk an equal amnt if not more djkfkglg.

What is your eye color?

Just brown!

Scary movies or happy endings?

Scary movies definitely. I mean im not opposed to a happy ending obviously, but that's not really what im always looking for in a movie, I guess? Rn I'm trying to think of my top movies, and man, not a lot of them have happy endings 😭 But I literally just watched two horror movies the past wknd so! Even though they make me paranoid

Any talents?

I think I could go on a rant about anything if you gave me a bit of time. I really think I can just talk endlessly. Is that a skill? Or is it just annoying..? But yeah I'm not sure, but I think I'm pretty good at absorbing information and being able to go on and on about it.

Where were you born?

America rahhh 🦅🦅 I like my state a lot even though I feel like all my peers keep saying "ugh I don't want to be in [insert state] anymore" Smh how dare you

What are your hobbies?

Mostly drawing! I draw both F1 fanart(pretty much all selfmade AUs tho) and ocs. I like writing lore and worldbuilding and meta, but not really writing itself. I like reading fic and watching movies as well. And I think one of the main things I do these days tbh is read about history and keep up with politics. I get more and more involved with it as the days go by, but unlike drawing, I don't really have an outlet for it sigh sigh. So that's why a lot of AUs involve history and random other things, bcs its fun to involve my interests with each other!

Do you have any pets?

Yes I do! Two cats and two dogs. The cats are named Jin and Frank. Jin is basically me in cat form, he's so anxious 😭 and Frank is like my brother, he's such a little bastard who loves to hiss all the time. My dogs are named Maisie and Ruby. Maisie is a menace to society, but she is also the most beautiful dog ever, so I forgive her. Her name makes me laugh bcs she's named after this book character, Maisie Dobbs right? So her name tag says Maisie Doggs

How tall are you?

Around 5'4

Favorite subject at school?

Politics >:) But I'm pretty interested in philosophy as well rn. Unfortunately my love for foreign languages has been slipping in the semester or so, bcs my professors on that side kinda suck. So I've been putting more energy into my other major, and now all I can talk about is history, politics and philosophy, etc etc. It's just a lot of fun and very interesting to me!

Dream job?

Man, sometimes I wish I could just be a student forever, I just want to keep learning all about the world and other things. But I'd like a job that's not too static, something that pushes me out into the world a bit, maybe smth in the government or like a non-profit idk yet!

Ahhhh I'm doing this a bit late so I'm not sure who's done it yet, I feel like mostly everyone has :,) I tag anyone who's interested, like seriously I'd love to see people's answers who I haven't yet!!

[from-the-clouds]

Word vomit incoming 😂

I started succession and i blame you 😂 and like this is the most unhinged show ive ever seen, i’m only 4 eps in but what i actually wanted to say is that this entire time i can not stop thinking about texas sun’s reader and how i kinda imagine her being a member of a similar family except everyone is as unhinged as in succession and she’s the closest one to being a normal human being. And just like i feel that at some point (if we ignore the outbreak and pretend they had more time) she has to have a conversation with joel about their family having a wealth consultant and i think thats just such a hilarious convo to have with someone and she’d think joel is gonna make fun of her and just like little snippets or similar plot here and there, like WHAT HAVE YOU DONE IM UNHINGED 😂😂😂😂

hahaha i LOVE FORCING PEOPLE TO WATCH THIS SHOW. it's so unhinged like i truly went into that show watching it thinking it was about one thing when it ended up being about a completely different thing.

so im lame and i like to fill out extensive character sheets before i start fics so i have THOUGHT about all these things you are talking about and if you're interested they are all below the cut. worldbuilding/backstories are genuinely one of my favorite parts of writing fic

so weirdly i think her life is somewhat inspired by succession but i also was really pulling from phoebe and holden caulfield from the book catcher in the rye (i was obsessed with it in high school). i always thought holden's sensitivity towards his little sister phoebe was really sweet and that's what made me write reader and her brother the way i did. BUT in general, pieces of media about rich people living in nyc will always have a lot of similarities.

i feel like her family is not nearly as rich or famous or as fucked up as the roys. like i wrote her dad as a criminal defense attorney, i could see him making headlines for taking on cases with a lot of media attention but she wouldn't have to worry about being in the public eye. i also don't think her dad forced her and her brother to compete with each other to be involved in the business or to get his approval -- a lot of the tension between her and her brother stems from how they both responded to their dad's abuse and neglect. her brother stuck around and tried to mend his relationship with their father, but she was like 'fuck this, im out'.

but the wealth consultant!!! lmao. i feel like joel definitely got hints that she was rich but she maybe never rubbed it in his face or she tried to (poorly) play it off. like her ass went to private school and played tennis i think he gets it. but i did imagine that she had cut herself off financially from her dad at that point, just to prove she could do it alone. BUT i still think her dad would've left her money after he died. and maybe that's when she'd be a little more forthcoming about the differences in their upbringings. he might've teased her for being kind of spoiled but i also feel like even though she was spoiled there were a lot of things she DIDNT get growing up. but yeah, he would've ultimately been fine with it because without the outbreak, he probably could've ended up being a stay at home dad 😂😂😂

[coolbeansbuddyofmine]

Helurrrr

🌈is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with?

💞what's the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language

💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

yasmeanie <3,

well, i'll get to it then. the rainbow is answered so i'll just do the other two! i will /try/ to be concise but again, no promises.

💞what's the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language

considering who's asked this question, i suppose the fun answer would be vibes. and i guess that encapsulates what is the most important part to me---the mood, the tone, the themes they just need to feel right to me. i personally enjoy writing more emotional, character study-esque, introspective fics which is partially from my literature background in literary analyses. don't get me wrong, plot and characters and world-building is fun and all, but i think the emotional crux of the fic is most important to me which is why my tags are less technical or setting-based, and more like 'angst' or 'hurt/comfort' which tends to deal with the emotional gravitas of the work.

i think part of this is done through figurative language, so language is important to me. i think, first and foremost, i'm a poet and that translates to my prose and my fics, which tend to be more poetic, metaphorical filled with grandeur; purple prose if you will.

so yay emotions!

💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

oh fun!

so i have adhd and ive been working on multiple projects at once (as per usual, typical coolbeans honestly)

and here are the final chapters of my two favorite unfinished multichaps currently (with blurbs!)

so this is chapter 8 of the office au i've been writing for f4! i'm pretty far through but im still sorting out some plot details and trying to find time to write it all!

so this is my uber-fave (and only) fiery priest fic that im hella obsessed with right now and i'm soooo close to finishing chapter 4 i just need to power through for a couple hours and i should be done.

as for my up and coming work(s), i have lots of fun things !

this is for my despised beloves strangers again the show i cant get enough and it ripped my heart out of my chest and stomped on it. i want to give my baby hara the justice she deserves bc everyone in that show did her dirty and i will redeem her myself so be it. i said fuck canon and redid the ending as i deserve to

this is lawschool fic bc i saw something on pinterest and was inspired. it's all fluff pointless romance really.

this one i've had in my reserves since december when i watched the show and i WAS obsessed bc my man yim siwan needs to portray more green flag cuties but i also wanted horny daebeom

these two are what i like to call my sister fics. they're the folklore and evermore if you will. the sidecouple angst in two different flavours. if you've read beware the villainess, the first is like where she finally manages to get him freed, a post canon work, and the second as the title states, is canon divergence and still angsty but more adultier flavoured. more hurt.

i love love yona and yohan from beware the villainess this is them in case u dont know they are my favorite grumpy saintess queen x sunshine wizard simp

i've been really into manhwas since early last year (honestly if u follow me dedicatedly anywhere on social media, you'd probably already know this) and i have some i want to write for!

love,

rosey posey <3 (coolbeans/ro)

link to the original post if anyone else wants to ask me more! i'm finally back (proper) for the better i think <3 ask me more things im currently accepting prompts <3 !!!

[the-ipre]

4 and 7 for the writers asks

4. What detail in [insert fic] are you really proud of?

ok this is gonna be from hold my body down one of my trigun fics (its really good go read it) where wolfwood dies and comes back to life and drags himself and his cross across the desert to get to town, and then at the end vash washes his feet because they got torn up from the sand and he couldnt feel it. i am a guy who was not raised religious but i had a Lot of fun with the religious imagery and !! shoutout to the one person in the comments who caught the biblically accurate foot washing alsdkfj it was on purpose !!!

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

a) everything ive ever done in my sore must be the storm magical girls campaign (have u thought about hope and despair and the temptation to abdicate social responsibilities being put at odds with having a social network providing chances you would not have had otherwise? would you like to? also this pigeon is fucked up and doesnt have bones. i love him)(if u read any of the fics i wrote for it im kissing u with tongue or giving u a hearty handshake and my most sincere thanks)

b) my trigun fic the divine act of creation, i thought very much about how vash and wolfwood would both navigate their transness when it comes to how they have had their bodily autonomy stripped away !!! and so wolfwood is non-op and on t because like !! he doesnt want any more surgeries !!! even if they are his choice !!! but hes got his Blue Juices and his body is mutable and hormones is a way that he is more able to control !!! and then vash is top surgery because like ! guy who has got so many scars, these are ones that he chose to have and its his way of making his body his own. happy transgenderism tuesday.

[relaxxattack]

I have tried to read Homestuck like 4 times and i cant get past the begining so I'm just gonna read the fanfics and absorb the plot that way. It's actually quite fun to try and disect what's common fanon and what's actually canon. Anyways, this is also a request for good Homestuck fanfics that someone who hasn't read the comic could read and enjoy (or just fics with cool worldbuilding i'm a sucker for worldbuilding)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you came to the right guy! ok uhhh lemme look what i have

(warning i have a large bias for davekat ive read more davekat than anything else. theyre canon though dw)

in order of easiest to get into and read (imo)

LOVE LETTERS IN DIGITAL INK - secret identity shenanigans with rose and kanaya. rose runs a blog where she talks about her huge crush on the new next door neighbor. she does not know said neighbor follows that blog and has had a celebrity crush on her for forever.

FREE KARKAT (NO SERIOUSLY HE'S ASKING NICELY) - i just think its cute. trolls are mermaids au, the strilondes all live together, includes dave going through a sexuality crisis and karkat going through a quadrant crisis, as all davekat should.

THIRTEEN AND A HALF MIXTAPES - really cute human au with a mystery and a road trip scavenger hunt! karkat steals into the city with his friend nepeta to fulfill the mixtape mystery tradition. they make lots of friends who join their journey along the way, and supposedly the guy at the end of the mixtapes wants to meet karkat really badly.

DOC SCRATCH'S SCHOOL FOR SUPERNATURALLY GIFTED ADOLESCENTS - superpowered kid school au. not much more even needs to be said about this. it's pretty fun and very cute though, and the story itself is pretty brilliant.

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE - magic school! only the magic is science and every mythological creature is real and demons are on earth. this is like if percy jackson and simon snow fused and tried really hard to masquerade as a college au. i just finished this fic and i absolutely loved it.

DAYVHE'S BROKEN DIAMOND CLUB - instead of being all-human this one is all-troll! if you want to know anything about trolls this fic is fucking good for that (although if you dont already know shit about trolls it might take a sec to pick up). this fic just Keeps Going but i promise its so fun and so worth it.

DETECTIVE PONY - the most well done dirk strider character study ever written. this fic also got canonized by the homestuck crew later. the basic premise of this story is that it is a gift written by dirk strider for his friend jane on her birthday-- he is modifying the preexisting novel pony pals detective pony. explanation of that here. it's a fantastic read.

THE FOOTSTEPS - i read this one years ago and it made me sob a lot. i should disclaim that the main character was actually a piece of shit in canon so this is very much an au.

[timeisacephalopod]

Regarding ideas for after Inimitable, perhaps WinterIron Space Au? Setting it on another/multiple planets would leave plenty of room for worldbuilding. If Space is too open of a prompt, mermay is going on right now, so perhaps something with mermaids? No matter what you end up doing, I look forward to reading it! I always enjoy your writing.

I kept this around because I wanted to write a mermaid AU for you (and because I don’t typically write creatures like that so its a challenge). After seeing The Shape of Water I told myself I ain’t no monster fucker here I am writing a fuckin Shape of Water AU featuring Tony/ Rhodey. I have no clue if you even like that pairing but Ive had the idea floating around for some time so here goes. Sidenote: This got ridiculously long.

***

Rhodey is probably lucky that Sam has his back otherwise he’d be late to work every day. He has no idea how he manages given that he gets up on time every day, leaves with plenty of time to get to work every day, and yet he still only manages to punch in barely on time. “Rhodey, you seriously need to get your shit together,” Sam mumbles at him, handing him his punch in card. 

He sighs, punching in, and sticking his card in the right slot. “I told you, I always leave with time to spare but this always happens,” he says. “Thanks though.”

Sam gives him a look but allows Rhodey his excuses before they set off with their daily tasks. Its the same shit every day and Rhodey has to deal with the fact that he’s smarter than everyone else in this fucking building. Sam too- while all the white guys were trying to figure out the math he and Sam usually have all their problems solved and then they’ve solved unanticipated problems with the new math before anyone even figures out the initial problem. But being smart and black isn’t exactly easy and even when Rhodey did manage to convince someone to listen to his solutions they resented him for having a solution to begin with.

So he and Sam clean things even though they’re way more qualified to do the jobs around them than the people currently working literally any other position. But Sam makes the work fun at least so when they’re outside of the prying eyes of those around them they talk about everything and anything under the sun. They’re talking about which color is the beset color when they’re interrupted rudely.

They get their orders to go clean a usually classified space and Sam exchanges a look with him before they shrug and move off to do their jobs. “You ever wonder if they send us to do these jobs because they think we’re too stupid to understand what we’re looking at?” Sam asks in a low voice as they move down the hall with their cleaning cart.

“I know for a fact that’s why we get these jobs,” Rhodey says.

“Too bad no one else likes black people either- it’d be kind of nice to sell these assholes out to prove a point,” Sam says.

“Probably not worth the results though,” Rhodey points out. “Better to just deal.”

Sam lets out a long sigh and they let themselves into the room they’re sent to clean. Rhodey’s eyebrows shoot up and he doesn’t have to look at Sam to know he’s had the same reaction. “What the hell happened here?” Sam asks softly.

Rhodey looks over the large amount of blood and water in the room and shakes his head. “I have no idea,” he says softly. They slowly set to work, cautious in case whatever it was that resulted in all the blood was still around. It takes awhile before Sam lets out a yell and jumps back, catching Rhodey’s attention. He looks over and raises an eyebrow. “Is that…?”

“A finger? Yeah. That’s… nasty,” he says. Rhodey wrinkles his nose and grabs a bag from the cart and carefully holds it open for Sam. He looks at the finger, than the bag, and back at the finger again before he raises an eyebrow. “You expect me to pick that thing up?” Sam asks and Rhodey shrugs.

“You found it, you deal with it,” he says.

“Yeah, I found it, you deal with it. I did my dues almost stepping on that thing,” he says.

“I am not touching that thing. You found it, your problem.” Rhodey rustles the bag a little and Sam gives him a dirty look, gingerly leaning forward so he can pick the finger up. He all but throws it at Rhodey, who lets out a loud yell and fumbling a little but ultimately catches the severed digit in the bag. “You are nasty. You can take this thing to its owner now, I want nothing to do with it,” he says, wrinkling his whole face in disgust.

Sam rolls his eyes, “fine, but you get stuck dealing with the mess,” he says and Rhodey sighs. 

“Fine,” he mumbles. A quick glance around tells him its not that much work, but its enough work that its time consuming. Sam runs off and Rhodey sets to work on the floor, mumbling to himself as he sets to work mopping. 

He’s almost done the floor when he notices movement out of the corner of his eye. At first he thinks Sam might have taken pity on him but he realizes the movement is from the wrong part of the room. When he looks over he doesn’t find anything so he goes back to work. It takes a few more moments but the movement happens again and this time when Rhodey looks over he catches what caused the movement.

Its… shocking to look at. Some kind of fish… man… thing. The red and gold scales are quite striking though, and so are the long, gossamer fins fluttering around his body. Its the gash in his side that catches Rhodey’s attention though because its darkening the water around it as blood leaves the body of the man in the tank.

The fish looks down, covering the wound with his hand before he swims off. Rhodey frowns, unsure what to do.

***

Its a whim to cook more eggs than he usually eats in the morning and its more of a whim to eat lunch in a room he isn’t supposed to be in but he also knows no one will look there for him. Its rare that people paid much attention to the help around them. He sits at the edge of the pond like space in the middle of the room, curious to see if its connected to the tank he last saw the fish guy in. He settles in, eyes on the tank as he eats his eggs.

That’s probably why he doesn’t notice the fish man sneak up on him, swimming quietly enough that Rhodey jumps when a scaly hand reaches out of the water and snatches one of his eggs off the side of the pond before swimming off, far less quiet about his retreat. Rhodey settles himself back in after a moment of watching the water before he turns his back to the pond again. Its on a whim that he looks over at the tank and he’s surprised to find his companion there, watching him with the egg in his hand. 

Rhodey shakes his head, smiling a little before he turns back to his food. He notices that the mermaid doesn’t eat the egg until Rhodey does. It’s an obvious test to see whether or not the food is poisoned and its smart. It doesn’t occur to him until he’s on his way home that the fish had also intentionally watched his reaction to his stolen food. He wonders if he passed the test.

***

Tony really hates that Rumlow guy. He seems to think Tony has some secrets to unlock and even if he could communicate with these people in a language they’d immediately understand he wouldn’t give them information on principal. He doesn’t like being treated like shit for no reason. He does, however, rather like his lunch dates with the dark skinned man that feeds him… well, something. Whatever the oval object is it tastes much better than whatever the hell Rumlow tries to feed him. Plus he’s sure that the food is drugged because he always feels groggy after eating. Rhodey’s eggs- he had eventually learned his name thanks to that friend of his calling after him- at least help him avoid eating Rumlow’s food. Not much, but enough that it gives him more strength to figure out how the hell to get out of here.

Rhodey is feeding him eggs and chattering about his day- he’s figured out quickly that Tony understands even if he can’t respond- when the door opens. Rhodey lets out a soft string of curse words before he grabs his bag and runs off around a corner and Rumlow marches in. Tony sinks into the water a little, glaring at the man. He bit one finger off, he’ll go for his hand next. Fucking prick.

“What are you doing near the edge of the water?” he asks. Tony growls at him for lack of a better response. 

Rumlow rolls his eyes, “get him out,” he says to his goons. They exchange a look with each other because they aren’t too stupid to miss the fact that the water is Tony’s territory. No one really fared well with him in here even with the fucking collar around his neck. He’s working on picking the lock on that.

They do eventually manage though because Tony still has whatever drug he’s being fed in his system and by now they’re used to this. If he were faster it wouldn’t be a problem, but he’s not so here he is, on the ground outside of the water gasping a little for breath. He can breathe outside of water but not much and not for long so he tends to save that for the real emergencies. When Rumlow asks him a question he knows Tony can’t answer and proceeds to electrocute him with that stick thing it quickly escalates to that emergency status. If not for his superior hearing he would have missed Rhodey’s small gasp but his hearing is built for water- he hears better than humans. Its a good thing now because Rhodey would have just given himself away if that weren’t true.

When Tony get prodded with that thing for the third damn time he notices the egg. He’s lucky Rumlow hasn’t noticed yet, or his goons, but he does notice a third human hanging back a little, examining the situation a little. His skin is a little darker than those around him and Tony has come to recognize that this gives him a lower status. He’s not sure why exactly- in his experience the darker skinned ones tended to be nicer. In his own home the pale parts of his skin are mostly irrelevant. They live too deep to see it most of the time and really only rise up high enough to see the colors of their skin during mating seasons. Tony happens to know he’s quite pretty- his striking colors are rare, but its fin color that matters, not the rest. But he supposes humans don’t have fins so they have no choice but to care about the rest.

“You need to stop, he has to go back in the water,” the man tells Rumlow but he’s shaken off.

“Shut up. You’re only here because you’re supposed to be an expert on sea life,” he snaps. “And when this one is dead you can be an expert on him too.”

Tony lets out an annoyed squeak and gets electrocuted for his efforts but the slightly tan man pulls Rumlow back. Bad idea considering he nearly gets prodded too. “You can’t kill him! He’s a rare species, you need to put him back in the sea!” he yells.

“You better stay in line or-” Rumlow starts but the other man rolls his eyes.

“Or what, Rumlow. You pulled me out of a war zone- you think you can do better than me watching my family die?” he asks. The room grows uncomfortably silent for a few moments before Rumlow, to Tony’s surprise, backs down.

“Put it back in the water. I’ll put in the order to euthanize it,” he says, looking at the other man as he says it. The other man offers a protest that’s quickly shot down and Tony is tossed unceremoniously back into the water.

When the brown man looks over to him Tony looks pointedly at the egg. Rumlow and his men are leaving, but he’s hoping he can communicate with this one. He follows Tony’s gaze and his eyes widen a little before he turns back to Tony, who looks pointedly to where Rhodey is hiding. Thankfully for him Rhodey is half leaning around the corner and jumps back behind it right as the other man looks over. He considers this for a moment before he nods to Tony, “I wil be back for you,” he says softly before bending and tossing him the egg. Tony catches it and disappears back into the water.

***

Rhodey is skulking the area around the classified room out when he feels a tap on his shoulder. He jumps, spinning around and relaxing when he recognizes the man. “Uh, hey?” he asks more than states.

“My name is Yinsen and I’m going to make the assumption that you care about the fish in that tank. You feed him.” Rhodey nods because he doesn’t know what else to say really. “We need to get him out and you would know this building much better than I would. And we have two days to do this.”

Rhodey swears under his breath, “I… might have some help we can use,” he says, hoping to hell Sam will go along with this.

***

Sam frowns at him, “why the hell do you care about the fish guy?” he asks as the man takes an egg gingerly from the side of the pond.

“Because he’s nice. He doesn’t seem to care much that I’m black,” he says. He listens to Rhodey, he knows this because he once gave a suggestion for getting that collar off and he followed Rhodey’s suggestions immediately. There was no hesitation, no condescending looks, nothing. He just listened and followed Rhodey’s advice.

“I don’t care if you’re black either,” Sam points out and Rhodey rolls his eyes.

“You’re also black, that doesn’t count. He listens though, and he’s intelligent. Plus they’re torturing him in here, you can’t tell me you’re alright with that,” he says. Sam is a better man than that, Rhodey knows. Off to the side Yinsen lets them work it out while he unpacks some things from a bag. 

He goes to hand the mermaid a sandwich before he pulls it back fast, “wait, this has fish in it, is that cannibalism?” he asks more to himself than their current companion but his musing are interrupted by a hand sticking out of the water. Apparently not. Yinsen hands the sandwich over and turns back to Rhodey and Sam. “Are we all in agreement?” he asks and Rhodey turns to Sam, raising an eyebrow. 

Sam lets out a soft sigh. “I’m going to regret this,” he mumbles.

*

Rhodey is in too deep with his fish stick but Sam doesn’t want to tell him that. He brings the damn thing lunch every day and its clear that this is an expected activity that, in the fish’s defense, it clearly enjoys. They plan based on Rhodey and Sam’s knowledge of the building and Yinsen’s knowledge of their fishy friend which is, admittedly, not much.

They’re prepared to move the mermaid when it reaches out to Rhodey, gently, holding its hand out. Rhodey frowns at it for a moment before it shakes its head and makes a ‘come here’ gesture that has Sam prepared to launch this thing off a building. Rhodey, damn idiot, goes over though and the fish reaches up and carefully presses its hand to Rhodey’s cheek. Sam lets out a yell when the fucking thing lights up and Rhodey gasps softly. He steps forward to help a guy out but Yinsen holds him back. It takes a few moments but Rhodey pulls back. 

“He used to live in the Mediterranean Sea. In our language his name translates roughly to ‘Tony’,” he says. Yinsen gasps softly and Rhodey grins. “I knew you were smarter than Rumlow gave you credit for,” he says.

“Yeah, fuck Rumlow. And honestly fuck this psychic fish, lets just get this thing the hell out of here so we can go back to our regularly scheduled lives,” Sam says, waving a hand around.

“Can you-” Yinsen starts, walking towards Tony but he quickly pulls back, giving Yinsen a suspicious look. Yinsen looks hurt about it but Sam rolls his eyes.

“Dude has been tormented and tortured by scientists, he probably isn’t too keen to let you test out his… powers,” he says. The fish- Tony he guesses- gives him an appraising look then before seemingly approving and swimming away from Yinsen a little and towards Rhodey. Well isn’t that just freaking sweet. He shakes his head and moves the laundry basket closer to the pond.

“Alright fishy, get in the basket,” Sam tells him.

Rhodey gives him an offended look, “you could at least use his name,” he says.

“I don’t care about this fish’s name, I just want to get him out so I can go back to not worrying about being killed by Rumlow or something equally awful,” he says. “So in the basket,” he tells Tony.

Rhodey nods to him and Tony dives back into the water, prompting Sam to make an irritated noise. He resurfaces a few moments later lacking his metal collar though so Sam guesses that disappearance was necessary. They have to help him into the basket, which is only made more difficult by Tony’s clear preference for Rhodey but when Sam spies a few gnarly scars on his body he can see why that trust extends only to one person. They achieve their goal though and that’s when the move onto the second phase of the plan. Getting him through the building.

Thankfully Rhodey pushes the damn cart because Sam is too nervous to do much more than focus on being normal as they move through the halls. They’ve prepared for this of course, but preparation doesn’t do much to actually prepare you for the real thing. They make their way around the final corner when the alarm starts going off and Sam swears along with Rhodey and they start running. Sam all but throws himself in the back of the van, yanking the basket in as Rhodey tries to shove it into place. A gun goes off close to them and Rhodey yells, giving the basket one last shove before they’ve successfully got it in and he slams the doors shut.

Tony sticks his head out of the wet towels he’s currently housed in and Sam shoves his head back into the towels, “don’t stick your head out to be seen! Jesus Christ,” he mumbles just as the lights go out and Rhodey throws himself into the passenger seat.

“A little late,” Yinsen tells Rhodey as he steps on the gas.

“Just on time, we were a little early. I know my way around these systems, I could probably do a better job building them,” he says. Probably is giving the idiots who ran this place way too much credit. Both he and Sam were much smarter than any of the morons hired to work here. It had been easy to rig the system to go black for a solid half an hour while they made their escape. That and if they didn’t black things out they wouldn’t make it past the electronic gate.

*

Releasing Tony had been difficult, especially when they nearly got found twice but they managed. Tony hadn’t wanted to go, lingering way too long looking at Rhodey before he finally takes off into the sea.

*

It takes a long time for him to find Rhodey again and when he does he’s older. He lives by the sea now though so Tony works on getting as close as possible. The first thing he leaves for Rhodey sits there for almost a month before he finally finds it. Its a fluke that his second gift is found within a week, and after the third gift is found Rhodey knows to stick around for awhile.

When Tony finally catches him there he swims over enthusiastically, probably scaring the hell out of the kid he got stuck bringing with him but Peter will stay far enough behind to be safe. He’s heard the stories, seen Tony’s scars, he knows better than to be seen by humans. Rhodey grins when he sees him though and Tony reaches out immediately, pleased when Rhodey leans forward to offer his hand. He pulls Rhodey closer, laughing mostly to himself when Rhodey looks briefly alarmed.

He presses as close as he can, carefully pulling Rhodey’s head towards his own until their foreheads touched. Its a lot easier to do this that way. I’ve been looking for you he thinks at Rhodey.

[kosmicdream]

hey!!! i just read to the most recent update of ffak (my favorite webcomic ive ever read tbh) and i kinda wanna try making my own. did you have the whole story planned out before you started or is it an ongoing thing? also how did you make the website for it? thank you for making such a cool comic!

Thank you so much!! And let me try to figure out a way to answer this properly. My process is a bit complicated to explain because it is very organic. Its almost like I am never done writing it, because I am always letting it grow/stretch and explore as I think about ffak every day, and every night before sleeping I’ll try to brainstorm things I havent thought of. So spending that much mental energy on something, you never really get ‘done’ with writing a story. Even when i eventually finish ffak, im sure i will be still working on it (or things I would have wanted to do.)

However!! Before i started working on ffak, when it was just called HELP! i established many things narratively that I stuck to and have not changed about the story. So I think the process of this comic, in a simple way, could have been broken down like this in.. stages?

1) I laid down the basic framework of the world, such as the functions of king worms specifically, the aiguille family, helpers, several characters (some havent even appeared in the comic yet!), king leadman, as well as antony/rome’s narrative arc/dynamic. that way their character arc was already figured out before the comic started and I knew it would be the central ‘root’ of the story. I knew how i wanted Rome to be introduced, and how he would meet canary, not knowing the connection between canary and his brother. I had a rough idea, even from here, how their character arc would come to a point (and basically what sorts of things the story would likely eventually close on) I also knew the general setting was on moons and how the humans got there, and how advanced society was, and what the red lights “really" were and what they meant..i figured out what ‘vein’ was here.. ect.. many worldbuilding things!!!It might sound intimidating, but this process happened very quickly. I basically figured this out in the.. day? before i started working. I have had a lot of experience with roleplaying so i think that helps with me making quick decisions. I knew i had enough to work with that I didn’t feel intimidated to start actually drawing it out-- especially because i had the rome/antony thing already set down. 2) Then when I actually started to work, things started to develop very quickly. I knew basically all i needed to for Hekatons before i got to introduce knife (their origins, history, involvement in present day politics) and before ch6 i also wrote all of the “supporting cast” (at the time) which included dylan, fork/spoon/knife, paper/scissor/rock. So i ws able to write Thumb and Heel, and set up the overall dynamic of what the world was like in the present day. (also Spoon/Scissor’s connection.) Cash was actually written in the first batch of characters oops, but her design really became more detailed during this stage because of scissor. 3) then things got more complicated as i dug deeper into the past, and wanted to include crimson. So!! I fleshed out the origin and true history of this world. basically as soon as crimson appeared I had everything in place and felt comfortable enough to include crimson, who borrowed many things narratively from a character i roleplayed for years. Anyway, i figured out all of the deep past of the world and decided to draw it out since it was so interesting in ch 9/10. I think this was around in the 2nd chapter when i figured this out, but my memory is fuzzy. I know by the time i did the flash forward scene in ch2 i had decided many things and so all i had to do was get to them in the comic to cement it in. 4) I forget when exactly (maybe around in chapter 5 or 6) , but i decided to bring in a very old story i wrote in 2009 for good leadman’s origin story-- as i thought it would be cool to make good leadman the protagonist for this old comic i wanted to do, and that helped make the background for heel and thumb more “believable” to me because they were already symbolizing this old story i had written the entire thing of. Oh that’s something else to mention, because that world was part of a collection of stories- i was able to develop DMTIA that way because i already had this cast and just decided to merge the stories into the FFAK setting. I think when i did this, it pretty much was the final big thing to make me understand everything i needed to know about this world. All the story arcs felt pretty realized and I could see how the ending could go at this point.

I guess to summarize, is that i let things grow but also had things planned from the start and once i commit to an idea, it doesnt change. Even if it might appear somewhat frustrating to work with, i like to use them to make my next decision. sometimes that means i dont get to do all i want to do, but i still have a lot of flexibility in this setting like i wanted to have from the beginning.

Even now when i feel like pretty confident that I’ve explored every nook and cranny, I’ll decide to revisit a older storyline or facet of the world and strengthen or build on that. That’s why i ended up with so many fucking side characters because I’ll brainstorm for them for a day or two and suddenly have a lot of material i know wont even “technically” go into the story even though its there. (like, Spot for example was not meant to be so interesting, but i wrote a huge fucking story for him that obviously wont get really any attention.)

So.. its ongoing and it is also not ongoing and hasnt been for quite a long time now? (after two years of constant work it felt.. really complete and done in a lot of ways. we are now currently on year three, moving to year four!) I think the best thing to do is to keep in mind what kinds of methods for writing make you feel comfortable and is your natural brain-pace. I like working with an aspect of fluidity and room for growth and flexibility because i don’t like being boxed in or “outgrowing” my project too fast. So keeping that in mind, i designed ffak to be a comic where it could grow with me and change. that’s pretty much why i decided worms would be a great subject and theme to work with because they are characters that naturally, evolve and change based on what they eat and absorb. plus the themes in ffak just are so fun to work with i will never be bored of it. structuring a project with these things in mind for when i run into walls or feel unmotivated have kept me engaged. I think that is part of why i cannot let it go because I still feel really excited to write and contribute ideas to it.

However, Chapter 12 really feels like I’m settling back down to my original plans and taking my time and patience to communicating all the structured planning ive put into it. I’m not letting it grow the same way anymore because it doesnt need to. I feel comfortable with understanding its voice/style and pacing and im no longer recovering from the uhh.. shock of it existing? I promise that once you actually start making a comic, its a wholly different experience than just it being in your head. and it will sound, look, and feel different than what you thought it would be-- that in itself has influenced a lot of change in ffak because honestly at first i was not expecting to draw it so explicit. that was difficult to get used to but im happy to have embraced that aspect of my work.

So HMM.. I made a strong spine or foundational backbone in the beginning before i started, then fleshed it out as i was in the process of making it, and i always continue to leave room for it to grow. just not grow in EVERY aspect anymore. i also dont chop down branches, but i try to hone in on specific things to make them more clear. i think chopping stuff down and removing things is generally not the best to do because its easier to build up and work with what you have than make big retcons after youve already started or established. also the challenge of working with limitations makes you feel that needed bit of pressure to really commit to your work in the moment of making it and i feel like its helped make me more serious and confident about what i write about. I never feel lost on what to do because if I cover and figure out something, that’s how it is. I make it work regardless! 

everything is done with careful consciousness to the overall balance and product of the story, while also not suffocating it in a box of limitations of what it could be. i treat it like a living thing in my mind and heart and that means i work to have thoughtful conversations with it and myself about what its needs are, what my needs are, what i want to do with it and what it wants to be.. ect. its almost a spiritual thing really. i feel like its important to always reflect and engage with your art and art process to feel a stronger connection and purpose behind what you are deciding to do and what it means to you. i am probably repeating myself a little here but!!!!!! its worth saying!!!!!!!!! 

I also really think it adds to the interesting and fun “layers” to the story, as there has been different stages to its development and it brings in different feelings with each layer. But then the older or more ‘’foundational’’ ones pop in and they seem to give off a different atmosphere (antony and rome) vrs some of the newer additions (like jacket) who are more for shallow, fun decoration or an interesting potential to explore in the future. Like, Jacket is not a character that has a lot of foundational plot connected to him, but he’s an interesting development in terms of the potential of a worm and symbolizes that early-ffak-mindset of growth and experimentation. so i think it makes him a really unique and fun character because he embodies a lot of new and old aspects of ffak’s narrative and my journey with working on the comic.

I could go on and on, but I hope this sort of gives some insight to my process and how I write/work. because in a lot of ways, it isn’t linear. just like how my comic is! sometimes this makes ffak very disorienting for people to read, but if you keep in mind that ffak is very organic and personally tailored to my mannerisms  and with that in mind, it makes a lot more sense why it is how it is and the patterns in it become much more apparent. Anyway! thank you for reading and good luck working on your own stories! it can be challenging but i think it is absolutely worth the effort. 

Also i did not make the website, my good friend Tegan did. :3 i do not know anything about websites.

[sometipsygnostalgic]

JUST FINISHED GRAVITY FALLS

weirdmageddon was amazing! FAR better than most finales tend to be.

i wanted to know what the zodiac thing was all about though... i’d never seen it before but it was obviously important to the fans who had theorised about it.... couldnt we at least see what it would have done???? it didn’t have to be the final conflict!

ANYWAY i dont have as much to say about gravity falls as adventure time for obvious reasons so im going to rank it... Without further ado, it’s time to heavily overthink about cartoons!!!

Animation: 5 out of 5 hats - this is one of the most BRILLIANTLY ANIMATED childrens cartoon shows ive seen. there’s no weird inbetweens, the lighting for each scene is absolutely spot-on, it looks and feels amazing! honestly gravity falls looks like one of the strongest arguments for using script-driven shows instead of storyboard-driven shows, because cartoon network has never in its life produced something that looks this good.  When it used 3D CGI it was implemented smoothly. The characters had no absence of body language and cues either, it was never boring to look at. Disney does it again!!!

Humor: 4 out of 5 hats - While I dont think this show is the literal funniest thing I’ve ever watched, it is consistently entertaining throughout the entire series which is more than I can say for the two cartoons (AT and SU) that i’m unfairly comparing it to. Humor is one of GF’s strongpoints, because the jokes it throws at you out of complete nowhere will always have you on ground. I laughed SO hard during this marathon, and the jokes are obscure enough that I’ll probably do the same thing on a rewatch. The animation helps significantly too. The character designs alone, especially Mabel and her sweaters, allow for plenty of visual humor. Soos is the sort of character that you dont know what hes going to do next. Grunkle Stan conning people got some of the hardest laughs out of me. Wendy is just.... Wendy reminds me so hard of early Marceline, except she will occasionally do something really cool cos shes from a family of lumberjacks. Let’s not forget Waddles, the MVP in the humor department.

Story: 3 out of 5 hats - If I made this post yesterday, I’d have ranked it 2 out of 5 hats. I never felt that there was any “story” to gravity falls, only some kind of ARG that added nothing to the experience because none of the questions were solvable until the answers had been revealed. But the second half of season 2 ups the ante on story by focusing on the Pines family and their relationships to each other, and you can feel tension rise especially when Dipper starts to hang aound Ford a little too much and you sense that poor Mabel is gonna be left in the dust just like Stan before her. Weirdmageddon also was way more entertaining than I expected! And how it ENDED? Oh jesus! The show’s final scenes were heartbreaking, if I’d been following for longer I might have started crying.

Characterisation: 4 out of 5 hats- holy crap, it’s just so much fun seeing the Pines family play off of each other. Each group has an entertaining dynamic, whether it’s playful like Mabel, Soos, and Wendy’s shenanigans, or more serious like Stan and Ford’s conflict. There was barely any time throughout the entire series that I was annoyed by how someone was acting, or thought that it was out of place and agitating. I think I might be giving this point a rather generous score because of how feelgood it was, rather than complex or deep, which in many areas it wasnt. For example earlier in the show the conflicts felt dumb, like the Jurassic Park episode where everyone was acting vaguely out of character to cause a sense of drama? idk. But later on it got more heartfelt, if predictable. Where else do I think it can do better?

Worldbuilding: 2 out of 5 hats - Yep, the area where I think Gravity Falls does the worst is worldbuilding. For 2 big reasons: The wasted potential of Gravity Falls itself, and the way its inhabitants were used. Maybe I’m just spoilt by the AMAZING job Adventure Time and Steven Universe do with this, but the land of Gravity Falls fails to be as interesting as Ooo or as realistic as Beach City. Idk, i think it’s more ENTERTAINING than Beach City but more because I get more laughs out of the show than recent SU. The issue with Gravity Falls’ civilians is that unless you’re a Pines, youre a straight up Cartoon Character. That rules your characterisation and your purpose for existence. This is fine and yes there are some memorable characters but they never have those hilarious moments of humanity, like the episode Root Beer Guy where the title character gets into conflict with his wife cos she thinks hes too involved with his actual realistic mystery novels, or the Graybles ep where Starchy ran away from the candy kingdom to get rid of a tracker in his tooth cos he knows  PB was spying on him, and he runs a little club conspiring against her like some kind of real life political group. His club and Kim Kil Whan having King of Ooo memorabilia lmao. I’m getting too into this but its moments like that which make Adventure Time feel great. 

As for GRAVITY FALLS ITSELF, yeah because the world doesn’t feel as real as it could be I never wanted to see what it had to offer next, and there’s never explanation for all of this. The journals play a much smaller role in the series than Dipper’s reactions over them would have you think. The closest thing to an explanation is the pondering over whether a spaceship caused the weirdness in GF or was drawn to the area because of this weirdness. But is it magic? Is it science? Is it different dimensions? Fuck knows! Is there any hint about the truth? I’m not sure! Yeah, not all things need to have answers, but it helps fire off the thinkpan. In Adventure Time the Land of Ooo’s weirdness is linked to an apocalypse that helped bring magic back to the land. The hint is that the magic potential was always there, because there were magical societies around millenia before humanity. Did magic disappear because of a comet hitting the planet? Is magic actually based on scientific principles? Like GF, not all these questions have direct answers, but unlike GF, you have enough incentive and evidence to construct your own theories. It lets you get absorbed in the lore of Ooo, of the characters inhibiting it. This is my own perspective anyway. 

I think the most amazing mysteries I ever saw unwravel were Simon and Marcy’s adventures, and more relevant to my own experiences, PB’s age. Like there was puzzle pieces and hints around indicating Peebles had been around way longer than 18 years or whatever but we finally got confirmation in Season 5.2 where we saw consecutive episodes showing her in the past. The theory was that she was younger than 1000, but could be any age older than about 50. The Vault was a shock origin story for not just Finn having had a past life as a girl without an arm (THE ARM BEING ANOTHER ADVENTURE TIME THING THAT EVENTUALLY GOT some really back and forth PAYOFF), it was an origin story for peebles and the candy kingdom! but why would she make it?? ? yeah this was all stuff we were able to construct theories for, and accurate theories, because the evidence was there and more significantly the Writers were putting it together at the same time. It almost felt like we were having an INPUT in the story because of this natural way it evolved over time. That’s why AT’s mysteries are far more engaging than those of Gravity Falls, at least for me.... but maybe the same thing happened to GF fans????? Because I wasn’t there to put the pieces together, to study the Pines family or the Bill Zodiac which.... was almost as much a copout as Finn’s arm but its ok cos the stan deleting his memories shit was a decent end anyway. I just dont know why theyd  put a mystery like that IN there if it was always going to be a red herring???

To conclude this description which..... ended up being another reason to talk about Adventure Time again, I want you to know that I REALLY enjoyed Gravity Falls. It reminded me of Over the Garden Wall in how it’s told, the characters it has, but much larger and grander than OtgW ever was. 

My favourite characters were Stan and Mabel. Yeah, Dipper and Ford were very interesting characters too, but while they’re among the top of their trope, they still feel like an overdone trope to me.... especially dipper and his Issues,,, Stan meanwhile I liked that he was a runaway fuckup nobody as a child who became a professional conman after his parents kicked him out. That was an interesting backstory.  

Gravity Falls, all in All, gets 3.5 out of 5 hats. To keep it real. Spend them wisely.

[ajkal2]

homestuck fic recs

So I’ve been meaning to do a homestuck fanfic recommendation post for literal years, and as hiveswap is coming out (finally) I figured now is the time. Here are my personal favorite fics from the homestuck fandom, those I would select and place in an anthology to hand down to future generations. Read all of them, they are all beautiful and wonderful and perfect.

Like One Sundered Star by @sunderedstar - 1.5M words (so far) (yes thats a million) - lots of ships, starts with a focus on pale johnkat - superhero au - This fic, is amazing. The characterization is on point for every single character, and it features p much the entire homestuck cast. The plot is so so well developed, the humour is beautiful, its just a monster of beautiful words.

(note: this fic has recently been completed (but not fully posted yet) and im just. This is the end of an era, holy fuck, and sunderedstar has done so so well to finish this BEAST and i will probs cry when i read the end and just. Congratulations to sunderedstar, youve done so well and this fic is so beautiful and how did you keep track of everything and ill stop here but just wow.)

Spellbound by @toastyhat - 64k words - beta gen - magic au (?) - toasty always does such good worldbuilding, and this is no exception. The fleshing out of the cultures, the integration of aspects from canon, all wonderful. Also, again, great characterisation.

The Serendipity Gospels by urbanAnchorite - 130k words - terezi and gamzee focus, most beta trolls make an appearance - No Sburb, exploration of alternatian society - I couldn’t have a rec list without putting this one on. This is a candidate for best fic in the fandom, even though its abandoned. Such good worldbuilding, all the little details that make it into here are so wonderful. Emotional, and you really get to see these characters stretched to breaking point, pushed and pushed and held until they reform. Its abandoned, as it was simply too great for this world.

The Great Escape by elanor_pam - 67k words - karkat-centric - pre-Sburb karkles gets kidnapped by pirates - A grand exploration of child characters under pressure, and how trauma affects trust. This one makes my heart ache, as, like any good story, it’s a rollercoaster. Now I have to go reread it, excuse me.

Sea Salt by @khemi - 25k words - dirkjake, x2 multiplier - Merstuck - I loved the perspectives in this, the voice was so interesting. Also very well presented characters and romances, amazing descriptions, and generally a good fic. (also check out all the rest of khemi’s work, its awesome)

a thousand years by venusianeye - 22k words - dirkjake - close to canonverse - Amazing. I love love love all the symbolism in this, the use of god tier powers and abilities, as well as all the references to other stories and interweaving of worlds and repetition of motifs, this is just amazing. Venusianeye works have this dreamy, etheral quality to them, and its frankly beautiful. Strange, and poetic, and beautiful.

Sing A Rainbow by @khemi (again) - 48k words - Dave-centric - soulmate au - This one is a special bunny. Yes, the writing is beautiful. Yes, the characters are great. But this one is on this list because of the world. This fic takes that soulmate au idea (when you see your soulmate, you can see in colour!) to a whole new level. Ever wondered about ace people in a soulmated world, or about how the soulmate system would affect society? Wonder no more! Khemi deals with the problems of a simplistic ‘true love!’ world amazingly. This one will make you cry.

Sinking Fear In Quiet Steps by roachpatrol - 2.9k words - focuses on dirk and dave as siblings - post-canon (back on beta earth) - I love this fic. Its short, but the character focus and the relationship development that it shows are just awe-inspiring. The small character details are amazing, and this fic really delves deep into what makes these silly boys tick, and how they’ll fit together, and the similarities and differences between the versions of them in different universes.

Dave Strider’s Stupid Fucking Jawline by @cumulativechaos - 11k words - davekat - high school au - This is, in my opinion, the best davekat fic out there, if not the best fic full stop. It is so so fudging funny, and ive reread it so many times i could probably quote sections verbatim. The characterization of every single party in this fic is beautiful, and the way it sets up punchlines and fluffy moments and- it’s just amazing. Check this one out.

Who’s Asking by sunflowerwonder - 2k words - dirk-centric - canon-verse pesterfic - sunflowerwonder does the BEST pesterlog fics, and this is one of the best of the best. The dialogue feels like it’s been ripped straight from canon, and when reading it you can just picture the expressions they are making.

Honourable mentions (wouldn’t quite make it into the anthology but still amazing and worth a read):

Family Never Ends by a heartless saDIST (This fic has been orphaned, and so I sadly cannot trace the author) - 227k words - BroDave - moviedirector!Dave AU plus a bunch of other changes - I cannot with good conscience recommend this fic. This will rip your heart out, stomp on it a few times, and then nuke it. Do not read this fic. But at the same time, I can’t make a rec list without mentioning this fic. It’s characterizations are great, the plot is breathtaking, but this fic stays with you. And the ending is downright cruel. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Hopeless and Heartless by @lateniteslacker - 234k words - dirkjake - modern fantasy/demon hunters au - Good world, very very good plot, a solid au. Twists and turns and twists and turns.

Independence Week by @toastyhat - 9.5k words - dave-centric - no-sburb yes-powers au - This one requires a bit of thought, which makes it even more enjoyable. It’s a bunch of time travel shenanigans told in chronological order. It’s also a fun time to read, with some great moments and plot twists that keep you interested.

Crash Standing by askerian - 128k words - davespritekat - post-sburb au - This fic is awesome. The pesterlogs are great, the characterisation is just awesome, and I love the way Byrd develops into his own person, not just another Dave. A wonderful read.