#this may be a snippet for a bigger project

[dragonbma]

And if you look to the left you’ll see double major, stick boy, and the random thief they found on the roadside-

Doomed academy buddies ^^

[hemlock-dreams]

PleSe may I ask for a tiny morsel of the written word depicting bartender Petey taking care of business when some customers get too rowdy? Saw the "80s theme" and immediately thought he'd look amazing tossing out the trash (ideally covered in blood cause can't make an omelets without breaking eggs but bartenders don't tend to break faces sadly)

Here yo go! Have a snippet from the upcoming Chapter 2 of Pick Your Poison!! Hope you enjoy!!

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Wade sees Baby Boy snatch a bottle that comes flying at him out of the air without looking. 

Damn, they threw the thing at mach speed, too. Wade’s got to hand it to the kid; those are some impressive reflexes. He follows the easy catch by spinning the glass with enough flair to make a schoolgirl swoon, setting it against the bartop like he’s the main character.

The jackasses in the back don’t even notice, hauling each other over the tables in a messy, drunken sprawl. Wade hasn’t seen this much fumbling since prom night.

It’s embarrassing. He should do Weasel a favor (and indulge himself) by shooting them in the legs for interrupting plans between Wade and his future paycheck. But the look of intense concentration on Baby Boy’s face is distracting. That’s the furrowed brow of a man who is about to fuck around and find out.

Boo. Three more days and Baby Boy would have passed the cutoff mark. 

Wade usually likes hedging his bets on the underdog for the thrill, but four against one is bad odds for anyone who isn’t Deadpool, even a civvie with so many tough-guy tattoos. 

“And he was this close to being the final girl,” Wade mourns performatively, sparing a glance at Weasel to gauge how the man is feeling about the prospect of watching his civilian pet project get snapped in half. But the asshole just looks vaguely amused, which piques Wade’s interest.

So he turns back around just in time to watch Baby Boy march right into fucking around territory, straight up walking toward the group of heavily-armed mercs, no weapons, no foreplay, no nothing– just moxie.

Damn. He’s stupid. Wade likes that in a guy.

“Hey,” Baby Boy says, wrapping a hand around the leg of one wooden chair as the one with a bad haircut raises it over his head. 

Their kerfuffle is interrupted as four extremely drunk mercs with more bullets than brains pause to reorient their attention on Baby Boy.

“You know the rules. Sit down, or take it outside,” He continues, tugging on the chair like he’s trying to take it from an unruly toddler. 

There’s a collective laugh from all four bozos as they forget their beef to unionize against a new, soft, and squishy target.

“Oh yeah?” The short one smiles, revealing a row of really ugly teeth. Wade’s fist immediately itches to plant itself into that mouth, just for offending his eyes like that. “Who’s going to make us, you?” 

The edge of Baby Boy’s mouth curves, “If I have to,” he says, and it can’t be mistaken as anything but a taunt.

Bold move, Cotton. 

The rest of the bar, normally oblivious to a few broken pieces of furniture and some blood, takes notice of the audacity. Wade can practically hear eyeballs turning and the collective bating of breath. 

“That’s cute. He thinks he can take us.” Bad Haircut snickers, drunkenly swaying into the conversation. He gives Baby Boy a once-over, expression turning lewd, “Then again, maybe he can…in one of the back rooms.” 

“He does have bigger tits than most of the girls here,” His unfortunate-looking friend leers, staring at Baby Boy’s admittedly mouth-watering chest. Motherfucker is tall and top-heavy, built like a linebacker, invading the kid’s space like he’s looking for a touchdown if you get Wade’s drift. “Got a pretty face, too. What do you say, sweetheart? Why don’t we go to the back and we can apologize to you real good.”

Baby Boy’s hand constricts halfway into a fist before he forces it to relax. He looks like he’s barely holding himself back, and coin flip on whether this is going to be very funny or very sad, but either way, Wade’s on board to be entertained.

“Yo Weasel,” Ugly Smile calls out, eyes locked on Baby Boy, lurid and alcohol-glazed, “You mind if we take your bar boy for a spin?”

His grin promises an unpleasant time, but Wade isn’t worried. Maggie’s is a shithole for sure, with morals looser than Wade’s jaw, but some things are still too far. Not that it keeps these loser shitheads from defaulting to it when they need to compensate.

“You break it, you buy it,” Weasel replies gamely. Which, dang, cold. Always nice to be reminded why Wade kind of likes the guy. 

Baby Boy’s mouth twitches into a smile, and Wade’s entire body goes on alert, “Take the chair out of my rent, then.”

Ready, set, action. An invisible hand slams the clapboard, and everyone bursts into motion.

The chair in question swings and misses. Baby Boy fluidly sidestepping both Bad Haircut and his buddy, grabbing the support and using the momentum to hook the wooden back over Linebacker’s neck, flipping the chair and twisting both mercs like puppets before sending them crashing to the floor. 

Bad Haircut is scrambling up, but Linebacker is pinned to the floor by his chair necklace, anchored by Baby Boy’s leg as he presses down hard enough to snap the wood and drive the remaining air out of his lungs.

The bigger they are, the dumber they fall. Linebacker is immediately out for the count, but a broken chair is still useful, and Baby Boy is apparently the creative sort.

The snapped leg turns into a baton, and Baby Boy leisurely sways out of pistol-whipping range when Bad Haircut pulls out his gun, dancing back in to drive the splintered wood under the merc’s armpit on the outswing.

Screaming in pain, Bad Haircut stumbles back only for Baby Boy to grab his wrist and haul him forward, twisting his arm in a fancy maneuver that ends up with the gun on the floor and kicked safely out of reach.

Interesting.

Then it’s a pas de deux, with Baby Boy’s back against Haircut’s chest, using the impaled baton as leverage to toss the man over his shoulder and straight into Ugly Smile. 

The merc falls out of the way, only to run into Baby Boy’s fist as it buries deep in his guts. Even at a distance, Wade can hear his ribs break. Doubled over, Ugly Smile is coughing up blood and vomit when a tattooed hand cradles the back of his head and slams his mouth into the table once, twice, three times. Then it’s lights out.

It’s over almost as soon as it began, and as the dust settles, Wade is reevaluating the merits of his earlier bet. 

Yes, they were drunk, but Wade still expected it to be fast, if not messy. He hadn’t been counting on class. He hadn’t been counting on Baby Boy to be the one last standing, let alone to have shut them down so completely it barely merits the paragraph.

And the kid isn’t even done. He’s locked eyes with the fourth guy, jaw flexing like an attack dog straining against its leash, but the dumbass looks like he’s turned over a new leaf and become a law-abiding citizen in the few heartbeats it took Baby Boy to clean the floor with his buddies. 

When the guy doesn’t make a move, Baby Boy leans back, completely relaxed, eyes flat, no sense of triumph in the aftermath, just…disappointment– like he’d been craving something more and been left wanting.

Wade can’t resist a low, appreciative whistle, clocking the way Baby Boy’s entire body reacts to the sound. His head snaps in Wade’s direction, and the whole room vignettes as he stares Wade down, eyes flashing like he wants to crumble his spine like a cookie. 

Lust stabs Wade’s gut all the way to the hilt.

“Changed my mind, Weas,” Wade breathes, feeling the tension drain from the room and right into his dick. “You should keep him.”

[infernothechaosgod]

Writing and posting abt my project for oswald's 100th birthday has me feeling a little nervous sometimes because while Im the only one working on it now I know that in the future i will want other people to help me, mostly Voice actors for the characters

So it makes me in a way feel weird whenever i post a snippet of my script or idea, im not fully sure why's that it kinda makes me feel like im spoiling the fun for someone else...despite working on it alone and putting my all into it right now

if I may ask

Do you wanna hear more about my project? I think its fun to share it and my ideas sorrounding it but without someone answearing it leads to me feeling a bit guilty

Id love to share more info about it with someone (without bigger spoilers ofc)

[kawareo]

Durgetash smut! At last!

Rated E for Explicit

This is connected to my bigger fic Unsaved but can be read without knowing anything, please mind the tags!

snippet under cut!

"Trying to get me drunk, Gortash?" Durge asked, comfortably splayed over the same sofa he was sitting on last time, cup in hand.

"Me? Never." Gortash smiled as he topped off Durge's cup again. "I'm simply being a good host to my dearest ally~"

"Mhm. Nothing but good manners, aren't ya."

"Clearly."

"I like your style, Enver Gortash," Durge suddenly blurted, grinning at the human. Perhaps he was just a tad drunker than he let himself show...

Gortash sat down next to him, pleased when the spawn moved to make space all by himself. Perhaps he was going to be easier to train than he initially assumed... After all, the thing seemed so thrown off guard by the smallest amount of flirting, the moment it was reciprocated.

"Oh? And what would that mean, Dark Urge?" He moved closer to him, lifting his own cup to toast. "To our alliance?"

"To our alliance." Durge didn't clung their cups together, simply rising hid own in a mirrored gesture. "May it last long and end in abundance of blood."

He emptied his cup again, seventh, if Gortash was counting correctly, and leaned closer to him, turning over on the sofa so that they were facing eachother. Gortash wasn't sure if he could keep his composure as well as he did if he hadn't had his coat... Not with just how predatory the Bhaalspawn's eyes were.

"I like how smart you think you are," Durge purred, leaning closer, closer. Gortash managed to not lean away, even as the assassin took a whiff right next to his neck. "I like how you think you know everything. And i really like what you did to that guard's eyeballs back in House of Wonders."

[california-112]

5, 14, 25 for end of year questions 👽👽

From this game

5 - TV show of the year?

You already KNOW it's TXF. Don't lie. I've only had those funky little FBI agents since August, but if anything happened to them I would [remembers some jokes only make my mental health worse] make a whole bunch of GIFs then write a six-chapter seasonal fic where they're both happy and get to have good time.

Look out for that over the next week or so!

Anyway yeah. The X Files. The show ever, I can't believe I waited this long to get into it, it's so good and so silly and occasionally very profound but more often just silly. And it has a great and active fandom that's getting bigger by the day! Yay!

(Aside: Everyone: Drop GIF requests if you have any! I need something to procrastinate on so the above six-chapter seasonal fic gets finished ^^' They may even get made next year!)

14 - Favorite book you read this year?

My favourite book that I actually finished would have to be Tempest Pilot by Jim Sheddan and Norman Franks. It's a memoir of Sheddan's career in the RNZAF during WW2, and let me tell you, this man was insane. All sorts of hilarious escapades, on and off duty, it's a brilliant read which cuts right to the bone in places. He was one of the first people, if not the first, to successfully ditch a Typhoon, and even then came away with pretty bad injuries. I highly reccommend it, particularly to anyone with an interest in the history of air side of WW2, or aviation in general :)

25 - Did you create any characters (in games, art, or writing) this year? Describe one.

Oh, interesting! I've actually made quite a few minor characters across various stories/projects, but the favourite that comes to mind is as part of my main WIP: 'Maps' Mapleton.

Despite the nickname, his surname is pronounced as 'Maypul-tn'. He appears briefly as a reoccuring character during the immediately post-WW2 period of the project, a member of the squadron that my main character, Red, is temporarily attached to, and he acts sort of like a mentor. Here are some bits where he appears so far!

(Pspsps @hogans-heroes, some more snippets...)

Thank you for the asks, and Happy New Year! 🎆 :D

[myymi]

picture frame

Sonic sighed as he fell onto the couch, grunting when he landed on his tail in an awkward way that caused it to bend weirdly. He shifted to fix it, glancing over at the table as he did so. He wasn’t sure why he did it. His eyes landed on the picture that sat atop of it—the centerpiece, he thinks is what Tails calls it. It was of the two of them, Knuckles, and Amy. Back in their younger years, after their first adventure as a group.

Amy was in the foreground, one arm holding up a peace sign as the other stretched to hold the camera with a big smile on her face. Her quills had been a lot spikier back then. She started styling her quills to mimic a more human-esc haircut when she moved into Station Square, but the spiky style would come back if you saw her early enough. He’s not sure why she felt like changing from the green and orange combo to her red dress, but she probably had her reasons. Knuckles was a bit behind her, a confused scowl on his face as he stared at the camera. They hadn’t properly explained what it was. At least—not in a way the echidna would understand. His stance was stiff and awkward, still a bit unnerved by Amy’s presence. Couldn’t blame the guy, not after spending, like, 13 years alone on a flying island. Perched on Knuckles’ shoulder was Tails, the only one who could get away with touching the echidna at the time. Actually, that’s a lie. Sonic could get away with getting a good punch if he pushed the right buttons. The newly 6 year old had an even bigger smile than Amy, brown fur still fighting the gold to be the more prominent color as one of his arms looped around Knuckles’ neck to keep him up there with the echidna's hand holding his legs. His other hand was holding Sonic’s, who had his trademark wink and grin combo while his other hand was holding up a thumbs up. Tails had grabbed his hand because he had tried to do ‘bunny ears’ behind Knuckles’ head, and the little guy apparently didn’t want that in this photo. That’s fine—he got him a later time, anyway. Sonic sat up and grabbed the picture, running his thumb over the frame. It was very detailed, but surprisingly cheap. And when he says cheap he actually means free, because Tails had made it himself. He didn’t want their first group picture to be stuck in just any old frame. It had to be a good frame, you know? Most of the carvings were just thoughtless swirls and whatnot to fill the space, but a few emerald drawings were freckled around. The main focus was the corners of the frame, each painted their respectful colors. The kid had taken the time to carve out specific shapes that he felt represented them all well enough. A chili dog for Sonic, the Master Emerald for Knuckles, and a piko piko hammer for Amy. The fox was so focused on getting his friends’ symbols down perfectly he’d forgotten to carve out something in his own corner. And, well, Sonic just couldn’t let that slide. Tails was the coolest guy around and if anyone deserved a special symbol in a picture frame it was his little buddy. So one night, after making sure the kid had fallen asleep, the hedgehog snuck out the frame and carved out his two tails. It was a bit rougher than the other symbols. Sonic never was good with tedious things like that, especially when he did it with his hands. He struggled enough with writing, but it thankfully wasn’t too noticeable. Tails had been so confused by it when he woke up the next morning, but shrugged it off. He probably assumed he just didn’t remember craving it. Sonic kept quiet about it, because he knew if he told the kit he did it he’d try to give the teen credit for the entire thing. He didn’t understand it, but Tails had this thing where if he didn’t do something 100% by himself he didn’t think he deserved the credit for it. Even if he had done 99.9% of whatever project it is, he’ll claim whoever did the 0.01% was much more deserving of recognition.

this is a snippet from a bigger fic, but that may take a minute for me to finish so here you go

[chairofchaos]

Evening friend!

You bring chaos to my life so here is a little chaos for you

2, 3, 5, 8, 19, 26

And just for fun because I know it will probably hurt me 40

Feel free to answer what you want and ignore the rest 🤍

GOOD EVENING.

Thank you for letting me bring chaos to your life, and for bringing me some in return. In your honor, I will answer all. Seemed like the most chaotic thing to do. I considered making separate posts for each question but then again that was a lot of work so just... bear with me. This is a long read, but hopefully, you will find it worth it.

2. Anything that you'd like to write but feel like you're unable to?

Yes. I am currently bouncing around multiple Greek/Roman tragedy adaptations of our beloved ACOTAR and TOG characters. I do not feel prepared to write these yet. I want to do them justice. That semester of studying tragic plays of the ancients has stuck with me.

3. How would you describe your writing style?

I don't even know how to answer this, but my best shot is this:

The vibe must be chaotic.

It must be written as fast as possible.

It should be entirely unplanned.

If it is planned, it should be entirely overwhelming and likely a bigger project than I should ever take on *cough cough* LETTERS *cough cough*

It's not a style as much as it is entirely based on my whims. And that's not always great. In fact, it's something I don't really enjoy about myself (comment on this and I will edit it out of this post so fast I SWEAR).

But I enjoy the product. I think there are at least a couple of you that do, too, so hopefully we can all enjoy that little piece of chaos together. If not, I'll just enjoy the pain I create on my own like a good little fanfic writer.

5. What's a tag you never want to use for your works even when it applies?

I don't think such a thing exists. I don't like surprises? Idk, this doesn't really make sense to me. Clearly I have no problem tagging things Dead Dove so we all know what I'm up to lol

8. How slow is a slow burn?

Somewhere between 100 and 100k words. I genuinely do not care. Depends on the medium? The pacing? A slow burn described in a poem is going to look very different than a slow burn in a fic the length of The Iliad and the Odyssey. Or Wheel of Time (that's a long series, right?). I don't care. It's all great. I love slow burns. Haven't written one because I think those characters should be enjoying each other romantically on page 1, but I LOVE reading them.

19. Share a snippet from a wip without giving any context for it.

UNANSWERED STARS YOU BEAUTIFUL HUMAN. Is this what you expect to hurt (I haven't looked ahead at the other questions I'm doing this straight through, no edits, no takebacks. Welcome to Chaos- you get two.).

Eris was no saint, either. Cauldron knew he kept his mate up some nights. But the Cauldron also knew Azriel would get out of bed in the middle of the night and take off into flight, not returning until he knew Eris would also be awake. After the first time, they would rarely talk about where Azriel went or what he did. Instead, Eris would press a mug of overly sweet coffee into his hands and they would sit together in silence on the front porch, Azriel’s head on Eris’ shoulder and their hands clasped together. - {Working Title is Coffee and Psychotherapy. THIS ONE IS ACTUALLY FLUFF YOU CAN THANK DUSK-MUSE AND NINTHCIRCLEOFPRYTHIAN}

And maybe more along the lines of what you were expecting:

Azriel found the most enjoyment in the training and teaching of others. In his time as spymaster, he regularly found time to work with young soldiers, for which many have since thanked him, crediting him with saving their lives by instructing them in his limited spare time. In the years since the war, Azriel enjoyed collecting books from all over the world. The collection he amassed was the instigator for a library to honor his mate. - Death, and All That Follows (This may or may not be a sort of extended epilogue to something I wrote recently.)

26. What would you describe as OOC?

This is possibly a wild take: I don't think I care what is out of character for characters I write. It depends on the fic, sure. But I think perspective forms our understanding of characters, and seeing them in a new light can often bring a different, even "OOC" type attitude to fics which I often enjoy. I am very much an advocate for "Don't Like, Don't Read" not only for plot points but for characterization as well. If you don't enjoy the way someone writes your favorite (or your least-favorite!) character, don't read it. The beautiful thing about being a part of a fandom is the diversity of experiences within it.

I did not read Nesta's journey the same way you did, or the way your friend did, or the way my best friend did. I brought my own perspectives, my own experiences, to my interpretation of her actions, words, and thoughts. I came out of the other side loving her, and loving the way she loves. I recognize myself in her. I know I'm not alone in that. I know that there are a great many who do not like her in the slightest.

ACOSF Nesta was presented very differently to ACOTAR Nesta. (For the purposes of this argument, we are removing the debate about The Author Herself because I simply don't care at the moment and that's a much larger topic.) I don't think that anyone's interpretation of Nesta is "wrong" or "bad" because we all bring a pair of glasses to reading, and that glass is made of our experiences. That's the filter through which you consume the work. My glasses are different from yours. That's okay.

Little tangent while we're on the topic: I don't care if your glasses are different. But if you break those glasses to use the shards of glass for the purpose of hurting other people, that's a problem. I have a problem now, and so do you. Because of the inclusion of the argument above, it needed to be said, and so here it is: Don't hurt others because of your glasses. Theirs are different. Please learn to recognize that, and that it is okay to view pieces of media differently. Tangent over.

So TLDR on OOC: I don't care. If you want to write a piece where character canonically named Bubblegum Sunshine Princess because of her (in-canon) overwhelming joy and love of the outdoors and her kingdom's candy trees is a murderous assassin filled with rage and the destructive flame of a thousand suns, go right ahead. There's a very good chance I would love to read it.

40. Write a 9-word fic.

Title: This is a Thing [REDACTED] Learned. The title will be longer than the fic itself, and that's the beauty of The Thing [REDACTED] Learned. Thanks.

A/N: (Stars. My dearest friend. You expect pain here? Now I want to prove you wrong...)

Pairing: Your OTP. Or my OCs. Or is this about my life? Or yours? Who knows. I'm not currently well lol

...........................................

Knowledge came with no promises, no love, no you.

...........................................

All the love, Stars. You're the best. <3<3<3<3<3

[autumnwhistles]

Last Life: The Unofficial Musical – help required?

As some people know, I'm working on making a musical version of Last Life! Throughout making the first song, some people have asked if there was any way to help, and after some thinking I've finally organised my thoughts. The roles I'd love some help with are below:

(The first song is here in case you want to know what style I'm going for, and there's more information about it in the pinned post on my profile.)

Subtitling – some people have already offered to help with this (thank you!). Self-explanatory, just adding the lyrics I've posted to Closed Captions at the right timestamps.

Promotion (ie on Twitter because I don't have an account and don't really want to get one tbh) – also self-explanatory, this would basically be reposting with permission to let it reach a wider audience.

Creative help – mainly helping to streamline the plot, as I feel right now there's a lot of it but not all of it is necessary, and also want to set more things up early on and give more people attention. This might work better as a group thing so ideas can bounce off multiple people – I was thinking of making a Discord server to discuss this?

Vocals and voice acting – if needed I can sing everything, but it would sound weird if everyone was me, and with dialogue (which there will be some of) it'd be even weirder. Especially for bigger voice/dialogue parts, acting and singing experience would be preferable (and for singing, specifically styles where you have to act through your singing eg musical theatre), and you should have a decent microphone to record it through. It doesn't have to be super fancy, just no device mic etc. If people are interested, they could tell me what type of singing they like to do/what range they have etc, and I'd probably ask to hear a recorded video clip (around 1 min, maybe more) of singing something as well*. With voice acting parts, it depends on how big it is – if it's bigger, it would be nice to hear some sort of clip (maybe I can send the dialogue when written) as well. The character doesn't have to have the same person singing and speaking for them (though they shouldn't sound completely different). Depending on how many people are interested, I might hold auditions via google forms (submitting something)?

Instrumentals – the sound engine I use is pretty good, so that would mainly be used for accompaniment, but for solos/parts where the instrument is in focus, actual playing would really enhance it. Instruments I can see being subject to this are the violin, viola, flute and oboe, but others may come up. This would generally be on a song-by-song basis though.

Possibly someone to help manage this, since I'm not used to organising bigger projects and I'm not too great on keeping everything organised.

I'll take care of composing, lyrics, production, and the singing for some characters (the number again depending on how many people are interested). I'll try to release more content/snippets as well so people (especially those involved in vocals) know more of what's going on.

(everyone involved will be credited obviously!)

*If you want to help with this but just by eg adding some vocals to the chorus part, this probably isn't necessary though!

[smolghostbot]

Random Robot Snippet

Is it obvious I've been in a robot mood for the last few days? Here's a random word-vom I wrote about a tiny discarded robot being repaired.

Word count: 900ish

CW: POV description of a robot in disrepair, some robot-themed body horror (maintenance while awake) but portrayed softly.

-------------

2%

You stumble through the street, wishing it wasn’t night. All of the businesses are closed, and your solar panels aren’t picking anything up from the street lamps…

1%

You curse your size, the smallest model of family companion, only six inches tall. Six inches that move at a negligible speed as you try desperately to find anywhere to charge… but you know deep down that this is the end for you…

0%

You desperately stumble in view of the sky, hoping that maybe, just maybe, you’ll recharge when the sun co

-

-

5%

System Status: Critical

You wake up. You weren’t expecting that. As you take in the fact that you’re alive, you notice an odd sensation by your arm. Ah. It’s missing. The wires that previously sent power to your fingers have been spliced into a power plug, which must be where you are getting charged from. You notice additional problems as your warning system slowly warms up. Namely, that your chassis is open, exposed to the elements. It just now occurs to you that you have no idea where you are. The room is dark, and you appear to be on a wooden surface, sat in a slumped-over position. Several tools are nearby, as well as spare wires. You begin to panic, your cooling fans turning on automatically to control the heat coming from your processor.

You hear a voice, talking. The words are hard to hear over the roaring of the fans, but you can make out some of them. “Project”, “Replacement”, “Help it”. The voice seems to be speaking to no one, you can’t hear the reply, but they sound adamant. Finally, you hear them move away from the door, as the room returns to silence, and you fade into sleep mode to charge faster.

-

50%

System Status: Stabilized

Your internal clock is broken, you lost internet access long before you were discarded. You have no idea how long you’ve been here. How long since you were in the street. Hours? Days? Longer? The solar panels making up your “hair” have finally activated, but at an extremely low generation rate. That must be what woke you up.

You’re now laying flat on the surface from before. Your pressure sensors feel something. You boot up your optical nodes, and see… gloved human hands, almost as big as you are, poking at your now-exposed chest cavity with rubber-tipped tools. It feels… odd, the sensation of having your insides meddled with while still awake. You take in the form of the human, their tied-back hair, their oil-stained coveralls, clearly from working on something bigger, and presumably more important than you.

Their face, covered by a welding mask, turns up to look at you, clearly noticing the blue lights from your optical nodes, and they speak in a muffled voice. “Oh, hello! You’re awake! Can you… can you speak?”

“Yes. Where am I?”

“Oh good! Sorry, I know this must be scary, this is my robot workshop. I guess you could think of it as… a bot hospital. I found you sitting in a dumpster, but I know your model had AI, I couldn’t just let you be discarded!”

Discarded, you think, taking extra time to process the word. It wouldn’t be the first time.

“Where is my arm?” You ask, as your optical nodes glance over at the missing appendage, and the mess of wires in its place. “What are you doing?”

“Oh! Your arm is safe, I was doing repairs on it, and I figured ‘Hey, the chassis needs power anyways, may as well give it a jump’. I’ll put it back when you’re fully charged. As for this,” they say, pointing to your open torso, “Just a bit of an upgrade for you. On the house,” they say with a wink.

Your fans calm down as your processor slows to normal levels. This human means well? You don’t understand why they would care for an outdated, defective unit like you, but that hardly matters if they’ll help repair you. You stay awake as they continue to poke and prod, occasionally causing a power flicker but always apologizing. The way they treat you… it’s almost as if you were a human yourself. Now that they know you’re awake, they speak slowly and softly, narrating what they are doing and why. “I’m removing this, but I’m replacing it with this better one, okay?”

“Okay”, you reply, not that you have much of a choice. If they wanted, they could be, no, should be scrapping you for parts… but they don’t. Finally, it burns at you enough to ask.

“Why are you helping me?”

They go quiet at this. You worry that you said something wrong, something to upset them. Instead, they lift their mask and look at you, a gentle gleam in their hazel eyes, as they respond. “I’m helping you because you were hurt. Nobody should be thrown away like that.”

You think to argue, to tell them that you were defective, replaced by a newer, more capable model, but you hold your metaphorical tongue, afraid of upsetting this human who currently has access to your most vital parts. “You don’t believe me”, they say. You don’t. After a moment, they speak again. “That’s okay. Whether you believe me or not, I’m going to help you, okay? So just be patient and trust me.”

And, with no other option, trust them you shall.

[magpies-gold]

Back From Mysterium

I did a very small couple of posts before this, but Saturday at Mysterium blew my expectations out of the water, and so I decided I needed to circle back around and try again as a much bigger post.

First, foremost, and coolest - yes! I got to meet Rand Miller (bonus infamous RAWA just to the left as well)! Even better, for once in my life my social anxiety didn't turn me into a non-verbal lump and I was able to say a grand total of two full sentences and a greeting. If you know me at all, then you know that that's quite the accomplishment. Usually @timmcosplay has to do the talking for me when I inevitably choke on my own tongue, but by a quirk of fate we got separated (he wanted to get our Book of Ti'ana signed and got yoinked into a different line up from me, who wanted photo evidence) and I had no choice but to attempt to be a functional human. My theory is that I've talked to Rand's face so many times during the intro to Riven (I always talk back) that it was just second nature to say hello the second he looked at me. Genuinely, though, he's so kind and so patient and I'm stoked that he made time to meet all of us and then spend a couple hours even after that being a presenter and answering heaps of questions.

Tim may have not been with me directly, but he was still creeping in the sidelines getting photos of me getting photo'd and briefly chatting. ;)

Ultimately, we were split into three groups and everyone ran through the events of the day in a different order.

Tim and I were on Team Ytram (or Team Forg as I insisted on calling it) and had little Rivenese froggos on our badges.

After the meet and greet, we got lunch. It was simplistic fare, but the fact that we got hot dogs and Cool Ranch Doritos out back of the Cyan HQ means that they were very special hot dogs and Cool Ranch Doritos. Legendary!

And then... they actually allowed my wee goblin self and Tim to go through the iconic archway entrance and to scramble around their actual studio. I've seen pictures of the place on the internet before and knew how neat it would be to some degree, but now I know where everything is!

In no particular order....

Iconic signage and that giant honkin' Moiety dagger that Adam Savage apparently worked on?? It is truly large in person!

Costumes from Riven! Including Catherine's dress, which I remember my mom was always cooing over when I was playing the game on my clonky PC in the late 90's, and Gehn's costume, with Tim posing (and having not totally slightly held up the rest of the group by getting detail shots for cosplay purposes, no, no, he wouldn't do that....)

Art! Design sketches and THE MAP.

The infamous elevator wherein you'd better know your D'ni numbers if you want to get anywhere (I would get stuck).

And then... artifacts!

They had THE LEVER from the beginning of Riven. Did it never occur to me that the lever was a real lever? THE LEVER IS A REAL LEVER.

Plus there were goggles and books and Gehn's gun (AKA the only Game Over inducing object in Riven) and more character design sketches with actual costume fabric swatches! That last bit made Tim make high pitched glee noises, as someone who both designs and makes costumes himself.

There were presentations after all of that. Trailers, talks, a non-profit project to digitize over a hundred hours of behind the scenes footage from the making of Uru and Riven and other things, which we got a sneak peek of. They showed off a snippet of the remake of Riven. There was just so much. It was hours and hours and I was practically vi-bra-ting by the time we finally were ushered back to the bus and back to Spokane.

I will never entirely get over the fact that I was able to go see all that with my own two eyeballs. As someone who's been enamoured with the universe surrounding Myst island for the full 30 years of its existence, ever since I was 8 years old, who used to make big calligraphy posters of passages from The Book of Atrus and The Book of Ti'ana and tape them up all over Thorhild Central School whether my fellow students and teachers wanted me to or not, and who was so solidly influenced by the idea of books as literal doors to other worlds that it became a foundation for how I view my own characters and stories (namely that I'm no god, and they do have a life all their own), this is a treasured memory.

[elvenbeard]

WIP WEDNESDAY

Yes I'm actually doing this on a Wednesday wooo :D

I just went back through all my tags of the last month and man, you guys ;__; <3 I'm not good at keeping up with tumblr atm and I don't have something to share every week, so I think once a month a WIP Wednesday might be a good compromise XD Thank you for all the tags!!

@theviridianbunny @dreamskug @ouroboros-hideout @lokiina @therealnightcity @chevvy-yates tagging you all right back!

So, with that off of my list of works in progress, as is answering all the tag games and quizzes, some projects I'm working on atm:

Writing: Love is stored in the olive jar (WT) - Chapter 13

It's done, but still needs a lot of editing, as it got very heavy on dialogue in the end and I want it all to flow more nicely and make it a bit more scenic XD Too many instances of "she looked up again" or "he paused for a moment/second" xD But I'm getting there! Here's a snippet from the already somewhat polished beginning:

“Alright,” Fuentes said as she finally caught her breath again, “I suggest we cut straight to the chase.” “Yes,” V nodded, “Thank you again for taking the time.” “Of course,” Fuentes nodded, “I have to admit, I have been thinking about you and your case a lot these past days. Even with the limited knowledge I have so far, I still believe I may be able to help. If you are willing now to tell me more about your condition now, of course.” ‘Willing’ wasn’t the word V would use, it was more a necessity at this point. “I will,” he said, “But only if you can provide me with a certain level of security.” Fuentes shifted in her chair slightly and frowned, then she opened one of the drawers of her desk and pulled out a tablet. She turned it on and began to search for something on it while maintaining eye contact with V as best as she managed. “You’ve come here today as my patient. As far as I’m concerned, everything, anything that we discuss, falls under the doctor-patient confidentiality. My contract with the Little China MedCenter binds me to treat your data and information with utmost care and discretion. All data we store is locked away securely, all in accordance with your Trauma Team policy. I can resend you the patient information papers and contracts, although I think most of them you should already have…” “I care less about the MedCenter than about what you personally do with the information I’m going to give you,” V said, and Fuentes stopped her search, narrowing her eyes slightly. “I’m not sure what you’re alluding to,” she said, still polite, but significantly more tense than before. “Nothing,” V shook his head carefully, “This is just not something I tell random strangers on the street… no offense, of course. If I have to play with open cards, I need you to as well.”

In which Vince hates doctors but has to trust one now, boo XD

Writing: Some drabbles :3

Inbetween the longfic I still have some ask prompt drabbles to fill that I'm looking forward to tackling soon! And in a sudden burst of inspiration I wrote out a long although not very serious convo between Vince and Johnny the other day xD I'd love to turn it into a (VP) comic maybe, but I'm not sure yet XD

Art: Nothing new since last time, slowly chipping away at some bigger projects inbetween

VP: Currently no concrete plans for a bigger project

Although I wanna do more "days in the life" for Vince!! And I wanna play around more with some poses though and have a very soft set to share that I gotta edit a bit still ;_; Tomorrow probably!

Also, I'd like to turn the interface thingies from my recent "V as NPC" projects into shareable templates, that is also on my wip/ to-do list! Just wanna gather some in-game reference shots first :D

Modding: 👀👀👀

I'm working on a little something maybe, and I'm so excited :DDD Just gotta relearn how to do Archive XL, it's been half a year xD And I fought MLSetup Builder so fucking hard, but now I know how to edit MLMask Setups, so that's a victory at least XD And I have a base for a very kitschy coat :3

But yes, so much to that so far! See you again in a month or so probably with an ever-growing pile of wips xD But maybe some more writing, maybe some more art, and maybe a finished mod after too long 👀

[the-travelling-witch]

hi hi holly!! ask games are always fun 👀 you can choose which ones to answer akjdjs

💖 What is your primary writing goal for this year?

🫘 Spill the beans. What's a new project you're doing this year?

💥Is there a chapter, scene, or WIP you're most excited to write? Share a snippet or tell us about it!

they sure are!! plus, i just like yapping about my writing ideas jshhs thank you for asking <3

💖 What is your primary writing goal for this year?

very generic, but my main goal is writing more and more consistently. i really want to establish some kind of routine that i can stick to, so it becomes more of a habit.

at the moment i still have to kind of force myself to do my hobby (dumb as it sounds) bc it’s really intimidating for some nonsensical reason, which makes the very idea to start something super exhausting ㅠㅠ

i also really want to work on and complete one of my longer/bigger projects!! there are a lot of cool ideas in my drafts (if i may say so myself) but they need the long format to shine + it’s always been a goal of mine to write a series <3

🫘 Spill the beans. What's a new project you're doing this year?

as i’ve already mentioned in a tag here and there, i’ve found the motivation to revisit a multi-chapter angst idea from last year. i’m currently still reworking the structure and pacing of the notes i made at the time but the core idea is still the same :>

i haven’t written any actual chapter yet, so i can’t show any snippets but i can spoiler some of the main themes that inspired it!! the one that’s really prominent for me atm is the motif that you cannot change your fate and if you try to outrun it, fate will only double down on it~

other projects would include the aventurine fic i’ve told you about, another idea for mermay, the twst pokémon au, my modern au and at least one of the event ideas i wanted to host ^^

💥Is there a chapter, scene, or WIP you're most excited to write? Share a snippet or tell us about it!

i’m sooo excited to write the last chapter of every draft jshsh (big fan of finishing projects, i should do it more often /j); no but fr, i obviously like writing the culmination of all my plotting and scheming as well as the resolution, even if it also puts the most pressure on me to do it well!!

as for things i can share, i’ve talked before about a fic for barbarian! bakugo; it was supposed to be a one-shot and now i somehow ended up with a draft for a 5 chapter fic (how does this always happen?). the first draft for chapter one has actually been done since october but i wasn’t happy with how it came out at the time, so i’ve had zero motivation to edit and/or proofread it ^^;

i really like the prompt/au though, so i would like to finish it one day; here’s a snippet :]

The Fair Folk and the Barbarians of the Dragonrider Clan have never had much common ground, even back in the day when they were still peaceful neighbours. While the events that caused it have been lost to history, the bad blood which has run between the two fronts ever since was undeniable, leading to stubborn isolation on both sides as an ideal breeding ground for nasty rumours.

In case of the fae, who had concealed their presence in the thick forest to the west of the barbarian’s territory, rumours eventually became myths and their very existence was called into question, often being dismissed as a cautionary tale for reckless children.

Bakugo Katsuki, next in line for the position of clan leader, had been one such rash child but even from a young age on, he never seemed to believe in the stories the elders of his tribe would tell. And even if they were true, who would he be to lose to some fragile little pollen ball?

So when the now young adult stepped into a stone circle on a hunt deep in the forest, he thought nothing of it.

You, however, were keenly aware of the people that lived outside the border of your home. So when one of them waltzed into your world at the most opportune moment, who would you be to let this chance pass you by? Especially when you recognised the man for who he was.

sooooo do i have your attention already jshhshs

writer goals ask game

[squirrelno2]

So if anybody's wondering what I've been writing lately. this is what ate my brain. we're not talking about how many hours steam says I've sunk into the video game this snippet is about or how many words I've written about the various ocs I created because of it. we are NOT. Spoilers of the mildest variety for the Sith Inquisitor storyline of SWTOR, and there is a thing in here that just says "cool name" in brackets because it's not at all important and right now i just need to share something of what i've been doing without worrying about making up ancient sith names or whatever. anyway enjoy the archaeological besties vibes

She must have come from a Dark Council meeting; Darth Imperius swept in in a flurry of deep purple robes, her overlarge epaulets threatening to clip a shelf of fragile artifacts before she saw Talos wincing and veered away.

“What is the point of having me in charge of research and history and ancient Sith artifacts if they are going to drag me away every five minutes because some idiot Republic soldier thinks they’ve found a new superweapon? Honestly. Marr can handle this on his own. Or even get that new Sith, Arkous, on it considering it’s his job and the bastard hasn’t even been to one Council meeting. I have work to do.”

She paused, looking at Talos with an expression a little more like a lost child than he’d ever admit.

“I do have work to do, don’t I?”

“I have been studying several possible sites for the lost tomb of [cool name], and have narrowed it down to these three locations – my Lord, are you all right?”

“Fine! Why wouldn’t I be?”

Talos weighed his options. Should he tell her she was swaying slightly? She looked exhausted, but to say that in front of their subordinates would potentially undermine her.

“Perhaps this would be best to discuss in the conference room,” he said. “We can make the projections much bigger in there.”

“Of course,” Darth Imperius said. She narrowed her eyes at him, as though she knew it was a ploy to get her to sit, but they both knew this way she saved face. Talos took another risk.

“May I offer you anything as we go over the project? A drink, perhaps?”

“You’re bordering on obsequious,” she warned him with a petulant roll of her eyes. “But do. You know what I like.”

Talos wasted no time in preparing a mug of what was more sugar than caf, an indulgence his dark lord never admitted to out loud but which was clear enough to all those who’d spent time in close quarters with her. She took the cup from him and cradled it to her chest for a moment, her stiff outer layer of clothing lying discarded on the floor behind her as she slumped in her chair.

“The Dark Council gets progressively more tedious every time I attend,” she grumbled. “Effecting change, my ass.”

Talos coughed to hide a laugh. “My Lord.”

She smiled as she sipped her caf.

“Show me what you’re working on,” she requested, leaning forward to get a better view.

They discussed the prospective dig for a while, weighing the pros and cons of sending teams to all locations versus simply scouting them out. In war, even archaeological digs could be shows of power, and sending Reclamation teams to each site would be one – but did they have the manpower to protect such efforts? And would digs at the two non-tomb sites provide enough to justify it? They were all historically important locations, likely to have much to offer, but that was an academic’s view. Sith Lords had to seek out Sith power, specifically.

“What do you think?” Darth Imperius asked finally.

“The wisest use of our resources –“

“No, Talos,” she cut him off. “What would be best, or most fun, from a historian’s perspective?”

“My Lord,” Talos said. He glanced at the projections again. Three ancient structures, where hundreds of people at some point had likely lived and worked. Yes, a Sith Lord had once taken over one of them and built their tomb underneath it – but all three sites could reveal so much of the past.

“All three?” she said when he looked back at her. She was smirking, but gently.

“It would be an opportunity on a massive scale,” Talos admitted. “Especially given the chance to compare findings across three such similar sites.”

“Well, there you are, then,” Darth Imperius said. She stretched her arms above her head. A few assistant archaeologists passing by the conference room window paused, staring obviously at her frame. Talos sighed as Darth Imperius winked at them, rolling her shoulders back to push her breasts forward.

“My Lord,” he said reproachfully.

“What? They can look,” she said. “Anyone stupid enough to try and get involved with me, it’s better to find out now while they’re still junior.”

“It takes a great deal of time to train them,” Talos said. “Especially to your standards.”

“I’ll play nicely,” she said fondly, relaxing once more and taking another drink of her caf. “I always do. Has Ashara been in today?”

“She and Xalek are working with the new holocron,” Talos said.

“Together? Alone?”

“After the Incident, I took the liberty of installing surveillance and alarms in the holocron room,” he said. That had been unpleasant. Ghostly possession wasn’t anything new, of course, and it was hardly her fault, but Ashara had still felt terribly guilty about the damage to the building. “Should something go wrong, we will be alerted immediately.”

“Lovely,” Darth Imperius said. “I’d say that maybe they’ll come out as friends, but that’s too much to hope for.”

Talos again coughed to hide his laugh. He had one more thing to tell her, but he didn’t want to bring it up. He never did.

“There is one other matter, my Lord,” he said. “The newest shipment of slaves.”

Darth Imperius sat up, her face cold.

“I told them not to send us any more,” she said.

“Unfortunately, it seems there is a legal provision for it,” he said. “It requires a change in the charter. As it stands, I took the liberty of freeing them already, claiming it was on your orders.”

It was an egregious overstep of his power. Anyone would be well within their rights to shock or even kill Talos for it. He knew what Darth Imperius’s reaction would be, yet he tensed anyway.

“I am… most grateful,” she said softly. “Have you arranged anything for them?”

“Those who wished to leave are being given a credit stipend from the stores you set aside for such purposes,” Talos said. He wondered now if Darth Imperius had given him the power to withdraw money from there for just such an occasion. He’d been flummoxed at the time, but then of course it would all be part of her long-term plan. “Many have asked to stay on with your division.”

“Talos –“

“I made no such suggestions,” he said hastily. “But you command loyalty, as always, my Lord. Why should they not choose to follow you of their own free will?”

She laughed softly, shaking her head.

“They will be undereducated in our affairs,” she said. “See to it that they’re given a proper grounding in history and archaeological techniques.”

“I have already drawn up a lesson plan which awaits your approval,” he said.

“Thank you, Talos,” she said softly.

“You are quite welcome, Exchei,” he told her.

[celestialscribbler]

OMG WITHOUT GIVING AWAY ANY SPOILERS WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE PART ABOUT DOING PIP IN TIME? 😁😄😃😀

This project has been so much fun, from designing the layouts, figuring out juicy plot points and weaving them into a bigger narrative or just indulging in my wittebane brain rot but thinking about characterization makes me absolutely feral (actual discord message shared above). The show only gives us snippets of who Phillip and Caleb were at this age so there's a lot of room to decide what makes them tick and lead them down the canon path they ended up on. What makes people the way they are, what makes them change, mind games, poor communication, how siblings influence each other and how new environments can enforce or modify thought patterns, how they'd react to the unexpected and why. And it's not like i really overthink every scene like this but when it comes together it's just so satisfying. I may not always be the best at conveying what I have in mind, and it took me a minute (all of chapter 1) to figure out what i wanted to do with Caleb, but thinking about character is the best.

[lets-zofifi-stuff]

⛄❄Howdy!❄⛄

I'm Zofifi, your friendly neighbour fanfic writer.

The list will be extended as needed.

⚠️My AO3 works are going to be locked for not registered users to hopefully prevent them being used by AI without my permission. If someone cannot make an account or if their country has AO3 blocked, dm me and I will give you a PDF of any of my works.⚠️

🌞The list of my fanfics (DCA)🌛

Death Games and Robots 🏛️⚔️- You are a regular citizen of the Roman Empire. You receive a horrible prophecy according to wich you are going to be loved by some mysterious and powerful creatures. Also you may or may not cause some unspecified cataclysm. #dca roman au

The Smallest Miracles 🦋✨- Two fairies, one witch, some gibli aestetic and no romance. Inspired by ayyy-imma-ninja's fairy AU and petrixmuserb's fairy friends AU. #fairy friends au

Diving in stars, all alone 👽🪐 - You were a test pilot for prototype FTL space drive. Shockingly, it worked, sort of, and you got gliched outside of the solar system, and your ship systems get fried. You find a big alien spaceship with only two inhabbitants. They are as trapped as you are but maybe you can help each other out. #space pilot au

There are drawing references for it on artfight^^

Siren's Kiss 🌊💕- Inspired by art by paper-lilly. Mermaids rescue a strange land animal from drowning. They have no idea it's actually the most dangerous creature on earth (a human). But it's cute. ( ˘ ³˘)♥︎ #siren's kiss au

The mask is becoming you 🎭👤- This doppelganger assassin is very bad at their job and the humans they were supposted to kill turned out to be far too cute. (Mashup of DCA and That's Not my Neighbour) #dca mask au

Friends Stick Together 🔥❤️- A short fic about the fire and the rescue. Co-created with gniteruirui and sinistersincerely.

Friends Stay Forever 🏠🌚- Sequel to ^Friends Stick Together^. Everyone need o calm down after the fire. Mostly comfort and domestic fluff.

Friends Keep Secrets 🤫💖 - Everybody in pizzaplex keep their secrets. You are the friend that can be trusted with them. Independent prequel to "Friends Stick Together"

#fireproof friendship au

Summoning Unearthly Forces (Responsibly) 😈❄ - a comedy OC & Demon!dca story made for oreoexe as a secret santa gift. - Alice got lost in the forest. In the old bandoned cabin she found something she would never expected.

Sinking hearts 🚢💞 - based off the movie of "Titanic" (1997) It is dawn of the XX century and the develompment of automaton technology booms. Lately the press cannot stop talking about the unusual cooperative project between Afton's automations and White Star line to built the most luxurious transatlentic that ever sailed. You are but a poor rouge who just won a third class ticket to that ship and you are ready to start a new life somewhere far away. #dca titanic au

🌞The list of fics I am a co-writer of🌛

(Except of Friends stick together, that one is listed above)

How to Capture a Nymph's Heart: Satyr's Guide to Romance 💚🐐- three satyrs try to woo a forest nymph, but they are bad at it, written together with: Amarythia, Amymaleneart, and Ravenwriter16.

Furever home 🐺🏠- a lost warewolf meets kind and handsome shepheards, written together with: Amarythia, Amymaleneart, Ravenwriter16 and Robinette-green.

Birds of paradise 🦚🌈 (collection of snippets from wine and feathers AU), written together with Missterious-figure (au's owner), Amymleneart and Inkydoughnut. #Wine and Feathers AU

I need a harpy-sitter 🐥🍼- (side story of a bigger fic, "Coming home to roost") together with Amymaleneart (au's owner)

My AU's that don't have a fic (yet):

Trick or treat AU 🎃🍬

Psychic AU - The reader posses psychic abilities. During the visit in the pizzaplex they immediately sense something that something supernatural is going on, and the anxious mess that is the daycare attendant is connected to it. Together they began investion.

Space Titan AU - You find an ancient war mashine, giant robot with two AI's, constructed centuries ago by advancent race of aliens. You accidentally wake them up.

I have a sideblog @automatonsintogas dedicated to "Death Games and Robots" fic. I post there any fanart I get of it, fun facts about the world, breadcrumbs and links to new chapters, and such.

MY CURRENT PROFILE PICTURE IS:

Me! Made by @helloruirui TY! 💙 (psst, you can commision them too!)

DNI: 🚧🚧 Homophobes, trasphobes, other LGBTIA+phobes, rasists, ableists, queer gatekeepers (individuals that claim asexuals, aromantic, intersex, nonbinaries etc don't belong in the community), anti-proshiping activists (individuals harrasing people about so called problematic ships, l instead of just blocking/filtering tags. Not because im alright with all the ships out there but a lot of evil is made by people who think they fight for the rightious cause while all they do is hurting people for nothing.), people who say that Poland is an eastern european country (it's central Europe, google it before saying something stupid), AI artists and writers

@ Links to my other socials @

You know, in case this site perishes one day

Bluesky🦋 Artfight⚔️ Twitch💬

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

I know I said a while ago that I wanted to write some of my thoughts on the New Percy Jackson show out, but as time went on, I found myself having less time to actually sit down and watch it. However, now, I have finally finished the show (perhaps more than once, lmao), and I have a lot to share about it! Far more than I originally thought I would, to be honest. Honestly, I spent a couple of days watching everything over again and ended up starting and ending my first embroidery project since the pandemic started, which felt pretty good as it helped me absorb a lot more information as I worked. And, while I would love nothing more than to just word vomit everything out of my brain, I find myself physically incapable of leaving everything out of order now that I’ve had the time to properly think things over (certainly not due to the fact that I’ve been plotting story ideas for the last few weeks and can’t think of leaving anything disorganized right now). Instead of nonsensical paragraphs, I figured I would take things in four separate sections - my opinions on the characters, the castings I hope we get in the future, my favorite quotes, and a small snippet of how I would see things going down if I were to write this AU.

So, without further ado, I’m going to start off strong with…

My Character Takes:

Right off the bat, I adored Percy (Walker Scobell). I may be biased as I chose Walker as my sort of faceclaim for Bentley, but this child has Percy’s personality to a tee. I knew from watching him act alongside Ryan Reynolds in The Adam Project that he would be perfect not only for Bentley, but also for Percy and, when I finally got to see him as Percy, I knew I was right. From the iconic first line to the final moment of the series, he had me hooked. Though I missed the absolutely iconic “This is a pen!” quote from the movie, I feel like they got pretty much everything right for Percy. So many of his one-liners made me pause to laugh because I wouldn't have heard anything that was said afterward if I hadn’t, but he also has the right amount of seriousness and professionalism in certain scenes to make Percy come to life. I doubt Rick Riordan could have found a better Percy if they tried, and I can’t wait to see him in season 2. 

Now, for Percy’s parents, Sally and Poseidon. Sally (Virginia Kull) was brilliant, and her interactions with Percy felt perfectly motherly and sweet while also having a vivid personality all her own. Watching back over the show after seeing it through the first time, I picked up on a lot more subtle hints at her mental struggle as a “single” mother of a demigod (she did remarry, and I’ll touch on that in a moment). I feel like watching it back over sort of gave me the full picture and I love that little touch. Now, Poseidon (Toby Stephens, Dame Maggie Smith’s son) was also incredible. I feel like, although we didn’t see much of Poseidon initially, the way he acted was very telling of his situation (being unable to see or interact with Percy without Zeus’ permission for fear of starting another huge war), and it felt like there was a definite desire and regret that he couldn’t have stuck around for his son (if not for Sally as well). 

As for Percy’s stepfather, Gabe Ugliano (Timm Sharp), I feel like they may have tamed him a bit from the book as a way to avoid triggering anybody who grew up in an abusive household, but they still kept him on the despicable side. I always hated him, but I do feel like they could have made him worse. Instead of the bigoted, poker-playing asshole we meet in the books, we get a bit more of an idiot who wastes his money on online poker and sits around all day. I like that they kept his ending the way it was, but I sort of wish it played a bigger role in Sally's story going forward. Who knows; maybe it will in the future, but I wish they delved more into his character being genuinely a disgusting human being rather than just a loser.

Now, even though I don’t want to go too into detail on them because I don’t want to spoil anything in case you care to watch this show later on (highly recommended as there’s no need to read the books to see what’s going on), I want to touch on some of the campers and Percy’s friends. Ironically, I’ll be starting with Clarisse LaRue (Dior Goodjohn). Clarisse is the take-no-shit-and-start-shit daughter of Ares, the god of war, and is also the counselor of his cabin (Cabin 5). She’s very combative, competitive, and aggressive, which we find out is because she wants her dad to favor her despite her being a girl and all his “favorites” being boys. As stated in the show, he doesn’t even really like his kids, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to gain favor. Dior was a great choice for Clarisse, and I have to say, I think she did her great justice. The actor they had in the movies (well, movie as she was only in one despite her character being in more of the books) was good, but she wasn’t nearly as aggressive, feisty, and tough as Dior’s. Honestly, 10/10.

Luke Castellan is one character I couldn’t wait to see come to life, and Charlie Bushnell did an amazing job with him. He is the son of Hermes, the god of messengers, travelers, and thieves, and Luke is, like Clarisse, the head of his cabin (Cabin 11). Luke is one of the best, multi-faceted characters in not only the books, but in this show as well. Though he doesn’t appear in many episodes, I feel as though his character is one we’ll definitely be watching closely as time goes by. Regardless, Charlie did amazing in his portrayal of Luke, and I think he handled everything really well!

I know a lot of people weren’t thrilled when Leah Sava Jeffries was cast as Annabeth Chase (daughter of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy - Cabin 6), but I trusted Rick’s choice in casting her as he said he knew she was the best choice for Annabeth. I have to say, he was right; she was incredible! Her interactions with everyone, the subtle ways she showed that she knew more than she was letting on, and her acting overall was great for Annabeth. I love that they included her Yankees cap as well, something I wish they had in the movies. Leah was amazing, Annabeth truly came to life, and I’m very excited to see how everything pans out!

Speaking of pans, we have Grover Underwood, a hopeful searcher for Pan, the god of the wild, satyrs, and folk music. While Grover is not related to Pan, his goal is to become a searcher so that he can follow his family’s legacy of searching for the missing god of the wild. Now, I actually loved the way the movies made Grover, but I think they did pretty well with him in the show as well. There is a certain scene I wish they had kept from the movie, but with how they made Gabe Ugliano in the show, I’m not entirely surprised they took it out. It would have been hilarious, though! I do have to say that Aryan Simhadri did an amazing job and that I was very pleased with his performance overall!

For the Greek gods that we met this season, I want to start off with the now-passed Lance Reddick, who played Zeus, the god of the sky, thunder, lightning, kingship, honor, and justice (Cabin 1). It’s sad that he never was able to watch his character come to life on screen, but he did a pretty great job in the one episode he was in. The looming threat of his presence throughout the episodes was a very effective build-up to actually meeting him in the end. He was a good choice for Zeus and, while I’m upset he won’t be in any future seasons, his acting was great. I’m sure they’ll find someone to do him good justice in the future, but those will be big shoes to fill as far as the rest of the cast will be concerned, I’m sure.

As I’ve already touched on Poseidon, I’m going to skip over to Hephaestus, the god of fire, forges, sculpture, metalworking, stone masonry, carpenters, technology, artisans, and volcanoes (Cabin 9). Hephaestus is pretty much an outsider from the Olympian family as he doesn’t really bother with the drama of Olympus, and Timothy Omudson does a great job of showing this in his simplistic, yet interesting approach. I found myself wanting to sit and talk with him - get his take on everything, in a way. Unlike some of the other gods we hear about/meet, he seems to think fairly reasonably and is pretty sympathetic, something I really liked about this portrayal of Hephaestus.

Ares is next on my list and, while I was never a huge fan of the character as the Greek myth was originally labelled as a protector of mistreated women and this version Ares was just an asshole, I feel like Adam Copeland made me like him. The first time I watched the episode we meet him in, I just sat there laughing at his personality, but the second time around, I had to wonder how on earth I found myself genuinely sort of enjoying watching him. Though I’m still not big on him overall, as his treatment of his own children is pretty shit, I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy seeing him. Also, when he talked about different wars in the diner, it felt like I was listening to my dad in history class all over again, and I kind of enjoyed that. Anyway, he was chaotic and crazy, but he has great taste in motorcycles, and I actually enjoyed him overall. Adam Copeland did a great job not making me fully hate him.

Finally, I want to talk about Hermes, who was played by none other than Lin-Manuel Miranda. When I saw that he was on the cast list, my immediate thought was Apollo, but I ended up loving him as Hermes. I wish we had seen more of him, but honestly, that’s just my Hamilton brain screeching to be let out, as I know he wasn’t supposed to be in many, if any, of the episodes this season because they were following the books. Honestly, though, Lin was incredible, Hermes was incredible, and I hope we see more of him going forward!

Future Castings:

Firstly, I want to say that my biggest hope is to see Sam Claflin as Apollo! His personality in The Hunger Games was all I needed to see, honestly. He would be perfect for Apollo, and I hope that’s who we get, but if not, I’ll just have to trust the process.

My top pick for Thalia Grace (and a semi-popular one I’ve seen floating around) is Momona Tamada.

I could see Zoë Saldaña, Tessa Thompson, or Danai Gurira as Athena. I don’t have a solid choice, but I could see them working really well as they have to play Annabeth’s mom, and they all could pull that off pretty well.

For Aphrodite, I have a variety of ideas. Gemma Chan could be pretty good, but so could Florence Pugh, Elizabeth Olsen, or Indya Moore. I feel like there are so many ways they could pull it off, but regardless of who they choose, I’m sure it’ll be great. (There is no official artwork for her, so I’m using the picture from Rick Riordan’s website, but she is known to change her appearance as she pleases)

One character I’m sure we won't see for a while, but I’d still enjoy, would be either Sadie Sink or Erin Kellyman for Rachel Elizabeth Dare. I doubt either actress will end up being chosen, as it’ll probably be a while before we get to season 3, but they were my top choices for her.

Now, I don’t have many ideas for anyone else, but I’m sure the cast will be amazing no matter what.

Quotes:

I had a lot of quotes from the show that I absolutely loved, but I forgot to write down which episodes they came from as I wrote more in the second time around and they got a bit jumbled on paper. I remember who said most of them and I was originally going to write that in as well, but I think I could use some of them later on, so I’ll just leave them nameless for now. Some of them, you can tell who could be part of the conversation if you pay attention to the names mentioned, but others are up in the air. Besides, the quotes alone are great, in my book. The different formats symbolize different people talking, as I couldn’t figure out a better way in the larger conversation points, but the ones where there’s only one person are just plain text.

--

“She fought valiantly, and she met a hero's fate.”

“She met a pinecone's fate.”

--

“So you're not a monster, what are you then?”

“A survivor.”

--

“It's not here.”

“We know. Yeah, glory's fine. Revenge is more fun.”

--

“Why is there half a goat in your pants?”

“Oh, it's... Oh! Oh, boy, she didn't tell you about... You didn't tell him about me?”

“You're early.”

“So the important thing is not to panic.”

--

“Look, this is a bad idea. They will see this as impertinent.”

“I am impertinent.”

--

“Not everyone who looks like a hero is a hero, and not everyone who looks like a monster is a monster.”

--

“He was a god.”

“You fell in love with God? Like Jesus?”

--

“I want him to know who he is before your family tries to tell him who they want him to be. He is better than that. He has better things in him than that.”

--

“This is Percy Jackson.”

“Yeah, Grover, I heard him the first time.”

“But did you?”

--

“It was your father who warned me to stay away. Said it was awful watching you struggle and feel powerless to stop it. But that sometimes… that’s what parenting is.”

--

“Are you stalking me, Annabeth?”

*shrugs* “Yes.”

--

“Look, I get that Nancy has issues, I’m just getting tired of her taking them out on me. I feel like… maybe it’s time to do something about it.”

“You could make an appointment to see Mr. Kane. He’s really good at talking-”

“I was thinking more like shoving Nancy in the nearest dumpster.”

“Oh.”

--

“I have a job!”

“Losing at imaginary poker?”

--

“Give me a second, I’m just starting a fight on Twitter.”

--

“I warned you, if you're not careful, you'll find out who I am.”

--

“Poseidon has ignored me my entire life.”

“You are his son!”

“I am Sally Jackson’s son!”

--

“Two things you never wanna be are small and scary at the same time. Things that are small and scary...get squished.”

--

“So, do we have a deal, or am I killing all three of you so I can eat in peace?”

“Ok.”

“Great!”

--

“Do you know what that feels like? To be so close to someone you love, knowing neither of you has any choice but to keep hurting each other?”

--

“I’m gonna kill him.”

“I knew I was gonna like you.”

--

“Is there a Greek god of disappointment? Maybe someone should ask him if he’s missing a kid.”

--

“This thing, Zeus's master bolt, we need to get it back, right?”

“Yes.”

“And it's gonna be hard to get, yes?”

“Extraordinarily.”

“And if the mission required someone to push me down a flight of stairs for it to succeed... you'd want someone who won't hesitate when they do it.”

--

“He isn’t here. My father, he just… didn’t show. I mean, ignoring me is one thing, but he doesn’t get to ignore you. I’m gonna make him come down here. I’m gonna make him see me. I’m gonna make him see us both.”

--

“No one comes ba~ack.”

“Dude! Don't make me come back out there!”

--

“You really don’t want the bolt?”

“Why would I want that?”

“To start a war between your brothers.”

“Why would I want that?!”

“Jealousy!”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s all candy canes and rainbows down here. I don’t really do jealous.”

--

“Take your victory. Just spare my son.”

--

“Obedience doesn’t come naturally to you, does it?”

“No… sir.”

“I must take some of the blame, I suppose. The sea does not like to be restrained.”

--

“Ares is a moron. Perhaps you noticed?”

AU Idea:

I know I've said before that I didn't have much of an idea of what I'd write if I did this AU, but I think watching the books come to life a bit has altered that. I've gone through some of the books again and sort of figured out what I would want to see happen, so I figured I would put it all out here while I'm at it. Some things in my original post have changed, such as their parents, but I also have a basic timeline down as well. I feel like the vibes would be very similar to that of Camp Wanamaker as I plan on keeping things mostly around the camp at first, but there will be some big exploration further down the road as I develop an actual storyline. I do plan on going more in-depth on topics that haven't been brought up in the show/movies as I figure that would make it easier not just for me, but also for you. I have a lot of ideas, but I'll try to work it down to the first couple of chapter ideas as I haven't gone through the whole story's plot yet.

For starters, I think I would have Royce be the new kid at camp - an almost sixteen-year-old who was brought to camp by an adult demigod who rescued him from a monster on a field trip (Butchy, son of Zeus). He's pushed head-first into camp activities, and soon finds himself getting stalked by a pair of younger demigods who have been at camp for some time and have already been claimed (Bentley, son of Apollo, and Kona, daughter of Iris). The kids eventually corner him outside the Unclaimed Child portion of the Hermes cabin (where he'll reside until his godly parent claims him) and encourage him to try different cabins until he finds a good fit. Despite claiming the whole thing is nothing but a dream he'll eventually wake up from, Royce allows the pair to drag him around, starting from the top and working his way down.

Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon's cabins are all quickly dismissed, but before he can get much further, things at camp slow to a stop as the Hunters of Artemis arrive, having been told to stay at camp until the return of their leader and goddess, Artemis. Kona is quick to tail the Hunters, trying her hardest to find acceptance within the female-only group while some others stray to their original cabins to visit their former siblings. Upon asking why the Hunters seem to be a group of relatively young girls, Bentley brings Royce to his older half-brother Miles (head counselor of Apollo's cabin) who explains that the Hunters are maidens (which can be human, god, demigod, or nymph) who have sworn loyalty to the maiden goddess Artemis. They reject love for as long as they live and, in return, gain eternal youth and semi-immortality as long as they don't break their vows, or are slain in battle. There are some who leave if they fall in love, but very few do.

Not long after, the campers and Hunters are pushed into a game of rather brutal game of Capture the Flag, where Royce encounters a small group of Hunters who take pity on him as the new kid, a tall brunette girl with a silver circlet on her head giving him a hand up when the others in her group leave the area (Vivien, Hunter of Artemis and daughter of Hecate, goddess of magic, crossroads, necromancy, and the night). During dinner that night, Royce meets her at the fire as he puts in an offering to his still unknown parent and asks the girl some questions, trading names and finding out her previous cabin before she suggests he not push his luck befriending any of the hunters as they won't be around for long, and heads back to her table, leaving him more than a little intrigued.

I do have a bit more written out, but for now, I'm going to keep it there. However, I'm still going to show some of the parental changes I've made since my last post about this idea. There are only three, but they're there. I also have some plans to add in some of my other characters that I don't write as much, if at all, but they'll come in later on as I haven't quite decided where to put them.

Kona has gone from the daughter of Poseidon to the daughter of Iris (goddess of the Rainbow and messenger of the gods). I changed this because, although I love the idea of Kona just railing people with water when they do stupid stuff, the thought of her being this artsy, hippie-esque little girl who habitually makes friendship bracelets for new campers, who enjoys going around scaring people by turning the world black-and-white or momentarily blinding them with sunbeams. It's also known that children of Iris are great with art/creativity and have a strong connection with pegasi, so I can just picture her trying to use paint or something to give each of the pegasi cutie marks like in My Little Pony or giving them dyed manes/tails.

Vivien has a change of pace as well, going from the daughter of Athena to the daughter of Hecate and a Hunter of Artemis. The Hunter part is a relatively big plot point in the story as, like I said, they give up love in favor of aiding with the Hunt. However, I'll dive into that when I write the story. For now, I'll focus on the Hecate part. Hecate is the goddess of magic, as I've said before, and where Vivien is a collector of crystals in every universe and is great with magic in my Hocus Pocus AU, I feel it's a great fit. Another thing nudging me toward this is the idea that Hecate can be a tough parent, and her children must prove their worth and study hard to master their skills in magic. I feel like Vivien's already established, rocky relationship with her mom in my other stories would come into play in this as well, perhaps playing a role in her decision to become a Hunter.

Another change that I didn't mention in the snippet above was Mick. Mick was originally the daughter of Hephaestus, but I've since changed that as I feel it makes more sense in the way I've fixed it. Now, she is the Roman descendant (otherwise known as a legacy) of Minerva (Athena's counterpart) and Vulcan (Hephaestus' counterpart). Her mother, Mack, was the daughter of Minerva, and her father, Brady, was the grandson of Vulcan. This means that Mick is not at Camp Half-Blood in New York (the camp for the children of Greek gods), but at Camp Jupiter in California (the camp for the descendants of Roman gods), something I feel suits her fairly well and gives her a deeper storyline with not only Butchy, but also her usual friends.

Final notes:

Now, in case you haven’t noticed, I adored this show as a whole! One of my nephews who hasn’t read the books, finally had the chance to watch it, and loved it nearly as much as I did, which is pretty telling. I love that even people who haven’t had an interest/read the books, are loving this show. It’s just great! I have to say, the show is pretty good at explaining everything as they go and making everything feel as though it’s flowing properly. As if it weren’t obvious by now, I highly recommend watching the first season! It’s a great show overall, everything felt realistic, and it gave me a lot of ideas for the future (which, as you can probably tell, might include a Percy Jackson AU of some kind). Anyway, I loved it and plan on going back to rewatch it more as time goes by, but for now, I’m going to end my ramblings and go back to my little one-off story that I haven’t touched in what feels like forever!