#this was awesomeeee

[starsscarmyceiling]

Cal/Merrin fic recs? 🥺🥺🥺🌹🌹🌹

ARE YOU KIDDING ME ANON YOU JUST MADE MY WHOLE LIFE! I would love love love LOVE to give you some recs over here!!!

Okayyy, first of all, @merricalfic is always a great place to start! I feel like here in the Merrical fandom, there are so many authors writing passionate and amazing fics for our fav space ginger and space goth lovers duo. There are plenty to die for, so here are some for ya!

Alriiiight, prepare yourself because it’s about to get looong!

Authors that I would just suggest you go and read all of their works:

believe_in_alderaan (@believe-in-alderaan) Yess, Bex has a series of oneshots called JFO Ficlets and Drabbles which is a series of just the cutest collection of our idiots falling in love!

Missuniverse5000bc and lightlark (@misfitz-7) Let me tell you…these two (who write a lot of amazing fics both together and separately) are like the real MVPs of this fandom. They have written SO many fics for us and I could not be more thankful for them!

myfaenwy (@myfaenwy) This author has a series of oneshots called But when I hold you I hold everything that is which is a very well written series that is just friends to lovers FLUFFY CUTENESS!

Oneshots:

you part the waters by januarys (G, 3k) Okay, I literally just read this, and it is so good! It is so well written it is almost astounding. The way this author has with words. It’s a first kiss story for the ages because I feel like this author captures Cal and Merrin’s dynamic so well (i.e., all of the unspoken understanding—that right there, is like the most Merrical shit ever imo)

Marriage; (noun) by Missuniverse5000bc (T, 15k) Okay, I know I already gave this author a shoutout, but I also literally just read this and it is fresh in my mind and I am dying. Our two fav oblivious idiots not realizing they are together but everyone else does at its best! And a few other delicious tropes to boot!

heart undenying by sunsorbit (@sunsorbit) (T, 10k) This is very well written and the tension dear freaking lord sweet baby virge Cal is like WHAT IS THIS WHAT AM I FEELING because the Jedi are a bunch of repressed weenies…so yeah he discovers what it means to feel attraction and it’s great.

you’ve broken new ground by sunsorbit (M, 6k) Okay, same author as above, same story, but from Merrin’s POV. Basically her being like omfg when is Cal going to notice that we are super attracted to one another WHEN??

A Failed Insurrection by aslanbrooke (T, 4k) Although this is based off a very heavy topic, this modern AU with both Cal and Merrin as police officers, is very well done. There is definitely some domestic bliss for our married babies with their own babies!

Funny Feeling by believe_in_alderaan (NR, 1k) Again, I know I already gave Bex a shoutout, but I put this one in here specifically because it is based off of a prompt suggested by yours truly AHHHH it’s so fluffy and cute oblivious Cal realizing in battle that he is in love with Merrin we love to see it.

Oneshots (Rated M & E):

I separated these out if smut is not your thing, but HEY if it is…😏😏😏

Let go of what you fear by Namesonboats (E, 3k) Okay so this is written by my giiiirl @namesonboats (also another author I am going to shoutout a lot sorry not sorry) and I mean, I am a sucker for one of the only other couple of modern AUs out there. It is very spicy and I love it like Merrin goes over to Cal’s apartment and tells him some great news, but then is just like…um yeah why haven’t we boned like yesterday??!!?!??

a different world by freedomatsea (@freedomatsea) (E, 2k) I mean, we love some awkward virgins doing it in the back of a space craft.

The Bad Girl and the Bounty Hunters by MaraLan (@darkowl-records) (E, 4k) Cal is kidnapped and guess who comes to the rescue??? OH YEAH. Ooooomg there is a line in this one and I am like…wow…that was good. That was very good for all of us.

Synchronous Orbits by FlyingMachine (M, 5k) Set after JFO, and it explores how Merrin and Cal grow close with one another (and yes there is some spicy stuff in there too) but it is amazingly well written and there are also a ton of fluffy and cute moments.

The Cave by ParaCord (M, 3k) Cal and Merrin get stuck in a storm, and they take refuge in a cave…so what do you think is going to happen hmmmmm? (they do it)

Multichaps:

What We Fight For by YamadaJisho (M, 61k) Okay, this one. This one and I cannot emphasize this enough, THIS ONE. OMFG. THIS ONE. SO. FUCKING. GOOD. First multichap Merrical fic I read and WOW. Set after JFO, Mantis crew sets up with the Partisons and they slowly fall in love as they do their part to save the galaxy.

A Path Forward by Namesonboats (M, 36k) Okay, another one by my girl, so good. Binged it in one day. Slow burn set after JFO. Oblivious idiots falling in love. Deals in serious issues of loss and what it means to carry on a legacy that is no longer around. SO GOOD.

Paths Aligned by Namesonboats (M, 77k) *DJ Khalid voice* ANOTHA ONE! Well HEY, look here QUEEN WROTE A SEQUEL!!! Set after A Path Forward and WOWIE I could literally talk about this fic alllll day (also binged this one in the same day lol). Cal takes on a purpose that I feel is so realistic; this should literally be canon. Lots of fun cameos by other SW universe characters. Sexy spy mission. Falling deeper in love. You know, just Merrical things.

Above Dathomir by RepeatOdyssey (M, WIP, 159k) Pretty sure this is the most popular fic in the fandom, and for good reason! An AU where Cal landed on Dathomir after Order 66 instead of Bracca. Very angsty slow burn, but hey, you know I am a fan of those. So good, really gets into their characters, and by the time they finally meet, you’ve already been taken on this amazing journey. Cute, awkward space cupcakes falling in love with a galaxy wide war and rancor attacks to just add to the angst.

Cultural Differences by MaraLan (E, 5k) (This is smut, obviously with the E rating) Lots of fun teasing between these two. They wanna bone and they know it. Author implements the game mechanics into the boning and I could not be happier about it (akaaaa Cal uses force slow and let’s just say he’s QUITE proficient).

Now, I am 100% sure that this is not even beginning to touch on all the many more amazing fics out there in our fandom, so Merricals, please I implore of you, if you love a fic and it is not on this list, please let me know on this post or send me a DM. There are a few fics out there on my “to read list” that I can think of already, so I will definitely update this list accordingly to spread the word of beautiful fics that need recognition!

Thank you so much for asking me anon! I loved compiling this list together! Hopefully this was helpful! 🥰😘🤩

Edit: there are some peeps I missed tagging, so if your fic is on here and you aren't tagged, just lmk!

[officialkendallroy]

maybe life is just about going to the cinema

[starlingstalk]

Kai got his hopes up. But Cole ended up as the wrong prodigy.

+ wayyy too many colors watercolor 6 brush thank you for your service I cant do anything without you

[calamarispiderart]

you really are pathetic.

[wowa-bublord]

It's a reunion. :) little painting study, grayscale vers and sketch under cut hehe

[autism-corner]

christmas grill

[newtknewit]

Cinderkin Hunter by @skeptical-rainbows!

AAA THIS WAS AMAZING!! THANK YOU SO MUCH @skeptical-rainbows! I was blown away by the finished product, this is truly a MASTERPIECE. If you somehow know me but not them, please go check them out! I'm super happy with how this commission turned out, I cannot thank them enough!

[glowpart2]

this picture of me and my cousins on my family’s farm in canada is very girl pictures .. so i must share

[vaperarmand]

i have to say i'm a big supporter of the cynthia erivo ariana grande rpf yuri that's taking place right in front of our eyes. thank you for putting in the work ladies 💪

[daily-gustavo]

Day 101

Featuring @alextydaisuda123's Cloud Tower.

[emosyzoth]

Okay

[codecicle]

ur one of the qsmp guys (in my mind at least) so i figured id ask u this but do u think itd be like achievable to like get into some of the qsmp stuff at this point. idk how crazy it got lore wise or how long it got but its always looked cool, issue was jrwi hyperfixation had me shackled. but its released its hold a little so i was just curious :3

Of course!!!! Fair warning that the QSMP is a HUGE project! So there's a lot of content to consume and understand. However, I think it's very very achievable if you'd like to try :-)

Starting off, QSMP actually planned for this to happen! They knew it was a huge project, so to help people get caught up they made a channel called "QSMP Info"

This exists to summarize the major lore/story beats of the island. It doesn't give you the full experience, but it definitely explains a good chunk of the plot ^_^

I'd also like to mention that the appeal of the QSMP was found in the various languages and constant streams. You could wake up to see the morning crew going live, then go from there to the usual daily streamers, then the evening group would log on, etc etc. There was always somebody live and having fun on the island with their friends :], so there's lots and lots of vods 2 sort through

I'd recommend picking a group of streamers from each and sticking with it. For me, I tried watching just one or two streamer(s) per language. Slimecicle, cellbit, baghera/etoiles, and roier/mariana were my mains! You don't have to stick with this (and I'm pretty sure this isn't the approach everyone went with), but it definitely helps it feel less overwhelming

Here's a good reddit post with tons of links and info:

Here's the major vods document:

Here's links to organized/in-order vods:

[ACT 1] [ACT 2] [ACT 3] [ACT 4] [ACT 4.5] [ACT 5]

I'd say pick the streamers that look the most interesting or appealing to you and just roll with it! (lmao) I'm obviously biased (my url is a qslime reference, and my special interest is his character + juanaflippa and codeflippa), but don't let me influence you on which POVs to settle on :-) everyone on that server was talented and funny as hell, and ABSOLUTELY worth a watch.

Welcome to the island!

[mar64ds]

^ when the robot character is actually loveless and it's cool and awesome btw

[tawfee]

shadoww noooooo

[clannfearrunt]

Manager had to fire our newest part timer because he wasn’t... working? And was being rude and standoffish to everyone. Today manager shows us the angry texts he got from this guy. Apparently our store only hires “weirdos, transfags and gays”. Upon receiving this message I forgot my audience and responded, “AWESOME”, with utter glee. Anyways we’re receiving harassment phone calls

[starryskiesahead]

So…

I may have just found a new anime to obsess over.

Yep. The Case Study of Vanitas is easily one of my new favorites.

My goodness, I don’t ever think I’ve fallen in love with a piece of media this fast. From the first episode, I adored every second, every minute of it. I fell in love with the animation/visuals, the music, the character dynamics, the worldbuilding and lore, the story…I’m just so invested in it and love it absolutely. Noé and Vanitas have an absolutely amazing dynamic and their relationship is one of my favorites that I’ve ever seen. They have easily earned their spot in my Top 5 fictional faves.

Parts of it actually kinda surprised me? For one thing, it's a lot more comedic than I expected. Like I mean. A lot of times it gets dark and fucked up bc all the characters are traumatized and have their own tragic backstories that are made of their trauma and suffering. But it's also not all serious and grim all the time like I initially thought it would be based on my initial assumption. There's a lot of cute, comedic chibi moments (iconic tbh), which I didn't expect from this anime. Also the OP, which I expected to be chock-full of darkness and blood and symbolism and motifs and action and angsty visuals, is essentially VaniNoe going on a date.

In that aspect it's completely different from what I expected but also not too far off from what I've expected, a guy and his soulma-er, partner going on dark fantasy adventures around 19th-century-steampunk France. I really like the concept of Vanitas being a doctor curing the curses that corrupt vampires' true names into malnomens, turning them into forms like monsters - when he pulls out The Book of Vanitas and activates the magic grimoire, it sends a flurry of beautiful, sparkling magical constellations to purify the afflicted like he's a magical girl in a mahou shoujo anime using her special attack to save the day from the monster of the week.

ALSO also... holy shit never before have I shipped ANY fictional pairing as hard as I’ve shipped Vanitas and Noe. I don’t even ship hard 99% of the time AT ALL, the closest was two of my OCs, who are my own original characters so they don't count.

BUT THESE TWO?

THEY’RE JUST SO PERFECT AND BEAUTIFUL AND AMAZING AND AWESOME TOGETHER AND WHY THE HELL AREN’T THE TWO OF THEM KISSING YET?!

like.

I mean I get that Vanitas x Jeanne is canon (don’t care for the ship that much, but I can accept it I guess though I’ll never be super into it) and Noé could have a thing with Domi, but honestly? They’ll never hit the way Vanoé does for me. Even if they never become canon in the end, their relationship, while not necessarily romantic, is nonetheless a dynamic I treasure and the way their personalities play off of each other is my favorite part of the series.

(And even if you disagree with me and don’t see the romance you can’t argue that their relationship certainly did come off that way to a good deal of the fandom, judging by all the Vanoe content I’ve seen. Honestly with the dancing scene, the way they look at each other and are super pretty in each other’s POV, the fact Noé wants a taste of Vanitas’ blood so much when blood-drinking is usually framed as a sexual thing in this series, the first ending song being them reaching out to each other while lyrics like “you made me whole” play in the background….yeah I think someone has to definitely know what they’re doing at this point, right?)

This anime was a blast from start to finish. I was instantly entranced, enthralled, enchanted by it, and I simply can’t get enough, so I ended up binge-reading the entire manga in one day. And I loved and adored it as well! The cover art with all the watercolors is so *chefs kiss* stunning, lovely and beautiful and the mangaka did amazing with it. So talented, wtf?

Love it! 💙🩵💜💖

I do have some criticisms such as I feel the story (mostly in season 1, I feel like it got better around season 2) is kind of…jumping around between plots a bit? I was expecting the main conflict to just be. The problem of cursebearers that Vanitas and Noé mostly go around curing, with a few extra shenanigans here and there. Like the whole thing with Roland and the Chasseurs and the whole encounter at Dr. Moreau’s lab felt like it was a bit rushed or resolved kinda quickly for my tastes? and the ending of S1 with the encounter between Lord Ruthven and Noe right about as we’re about to begin the Gévaudan arc, and just an episode after Jeanne and Vanitas’ little date…And like I mentioned before, I don’t really care for this pairing - though I like both of them as individual characters, and I can accept that this is canon, but I don’t particularly have too much investment in the ship. No hate to anyone who likes it though. And well it’s important enough to the story to not be really ignored, it’s also kinda just. Okay. They like each other. At least it’s a subplot and there’s other things going on, so for me I don’t have to be too into VaniJeanne as a pairing to enjoy the story. Also I’m personally really not fond of the fact both of the times they kiss were forced on each other. But that’s just my two cents. (Toss in Noé and Dominique into the equation and the shipping/romance love square does get more messy/complex, though like I said, I’m glad it’s not a constant will-they-won’t-they love drama thing all the time (no hate to ppl who like it, but not personally fond of those). Relationships are definitely a very important part of this series, and that includes the romance stuff but at least to me it doesn't feel like constant dragged out melodrama all the time.) Also I lowkey do wish Jeanne and Domi got more chance to shine in the first season outside of their connection with the guys. They do get good character development in season 2, and though a good amount of said development does seem to be pretty linked with their relationships with Vanitas and Noé respectively, I can forgive it as after all, the relationships and dynamics are an important part of this series and at least they have entertaining, fun, and likable personalities and their own backstories and lore outside of just being "the girls who are there to be the guys' love interests".

Honestly the pacing to me feels much better in the manga than in the anime - idk if it’s the different format and the fact that I can read it at my own pace, but it just feels less fast and easier to understand. I know for the anime some people found it a bit confusing, and while I partially agree/can see it on some parts it’s not THAT confusing for me and I can still understand the plot okay. But that being said, I think the manga is a bit better at this and in some ways, easier to follow than the anime.

Also, while I love the chibi comedy moments, I feel like sometimes they can be a bit overused from time to time? Especially when it's shortly after a mostly serious moment, it kinda throws me off. The truly serious, dark moments, focusing more on the characters' backstories and trauma, at least don't get interrupted randomly by the chibis, but still it does feel a little jarring when the style randomly switches.

That being said, the problems or flaws this series has/my criticisms don't really take away my enjoyment at all, and I still loved and enjoyed the experience as a whole even when there were somethings I wasn't too keen on , so I can honestly still say that it was such a wonderful, magnificent experience for me. I do hope there'll be Season 3, but I think there's not enough manga chapters to adapt into the anime and the author is on hiatus I believe. Either was, this series has sunk its fangs into me and won't let go, and I look forward to seeing it the whole way through and being there for this journey, beginning to end, I am TOTALLY hooked.

I'm totally along for the ride, and until then, will be looking at all the fabulous Vanitas and Noé art by all the amazingly talented artists out there (keep up your good work, love you!)

(Also Noé might now be my #2 favorite character of all time, up there with Arlo from Number Days. Yes, he's simply that powerful.)