#this was written spur of the moment

[starlightlangdon]

Something sweet because I’m missing Jimmy this holiday season 🎄

Warnings: ( FLUFF, mentions of pregnancy, mentions of toxic family dynamics )

This year will be your third Christmas with Jim, and Jim’s third Christmas being away from his parents for the holidays. He went no contact with them 6 months into your relationship. You took him out of PV and neither of you looked back. Each year away gets easier for him but some days hurt more than others.

Despite how toxic their family dynamic was, he still misses them. He was a good son through everything, and that’s why he had to leave… because it almost killed him.

Jim always woke up earlier than you. You set an alarm last night so you could wake up early to open presents. More specifically so that you could wake up before Jim saw the Christmas tree. You put a surprise under the tree before going to bed and you didn’t want to miss his reaction.

But you must have slept in because you are woken up to the sound of crying.

Your eyes fly open, confused and startled as you look around the room. You find Jim standing in the doorway of the room. He’s holding in his hands the surprise you left him. In one hand is a kids size wrangler jacket, just like the one he loves so much. And in his other hand is your positive pregnancy test.

“Jim..?” Your tired voice finally rings out into the room with worry. Is he upset? Is he not happy about this like you were last night? He looks over at you, seeing that you’re awake, and a smile full of emotion spreads onto his face.

“You’re pregnant..? This.. this is real..? You’re pregnant?”

He sounds cautiously optimistic. Despite the evidence in his hands and knowing that you wouldn’t lie about something like this, he has trouble believing it. He always has trouble letting himself get excited for things. Tears now fill your own eyes and you nod, smiling back at him.

“I’m pregnant.”

He lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. It’s a sigh of relief and gratitude. You’re pregnant. It’s sinking in for him now. He lets out the sweetest laugh you’ve ever heard leave his lips. It’s one of pure joy. He places the jacket and pregnancy test onto the dresser and jumps onto the bed. He snuggles up behind you, wrapping you in his arms and burying his face in your neck. “You’re pregnant.”, he mumbles against your skin. “We’re… we’re going to have a baby..?”

A tear falls down your face. There’s no one you would rather have a child with. No one else you would rather share a life with. You take one of his hands and place a gentle kiss on the top of it.

“This time next year we’ll have a baby.”

You can feel him smile against your neck. He mutters in a mixture of disbelief and awe, “A baby.. at Christmas…”

You nod, your smile growing.

“Our baby..”

[doodlethedrawer]

I've seen a few people now say that people won't be able to make dramatic winner art/animations out of Joel, and that couldn't be further from the truth

Yes, Joel doesn't take anything seriously. That what makes him terrifying.

Think about it. He's stuck in a death game and he is having fun. When everyone is chasing him down in the finale, he easily uses the teleport power to evade them while barely trying. He can taunt and laugh at them, confident he can't be caught, and he's RIGHT.

Joel feels no fear. He plays the game. He revels in the chaos with a smile on his face. If that is not an epic setup for a villain I don't know what is. It also creates a fun dynamic between him and the other winners. He doesn't care, he can taunt them with memories he's now regained ("Weren't you and Scar friends Grian? How's your soulmate Pearl?") and it throws them off because never has a winner been untouchable like this before. He has no guilt to grapple with, but everyone else does. That gives him innate power over the others

Joel himself is a wildcard. He enjoys the game as much as the watchers. He can adapt to anything, as proven by the series he won in. He has loyalties, sure, but in the end he didn't really care about killing Grian. He thrives when others struggle to survive, and he LOVES chaos.

In conclusion, Joel is the life series equivalent of Bill Cypher. In this essay I will-

[eskawrites]

the funniest part of the celebrity fake dating au is that dustin spent years teasing robin and steve for being blatantly in love, when in reality anyone with eyes could have seen that robin and nancy were head over heels for each other the entire time

[bookshelf-in-progress]

Long-Running Story Ideas That I Very Much Wish I Could Actually Write

Original Fiction

Shadowstruck

Lily Between Worlds

Cardinal's Map

Paper Wings

A Beautiful Tomorrow

Henry and Mouse

Starfall

The Dust That Falls from Passing Stars

Cinderella retelling

Starfall novel

Arateph

The Princess and the Pea

Rapunzel

Snow White

Cinderella

Half-baked ideas for Little Red Riding Hood, The Goose Girl, and the romance of Auren's parents

Other Fairy Tale Retellings

The Tattercoats Retelling

Traditional East of the Sun, West of the Moon retelling

Political Goose Girl retelling

The Servant's Crown

Twelve Huntsmen retelling

[osamudadzai]

I just need to talk about her before I explode I made another bungou oc and I love her a lot I’m not gonna lie

[lesbianasfuckwomen]

Iwaizumi wondered.

He wondered a lot, about the trees, (how did the leaves grow up there?) about the ye olden days, (what did they do too survive?) about reincarnation, (would he come back if his life was not fulfilled? What, he'll fucking respawn?)

Most of the time Iwaizumi found himself pondering over the question, why.

Why why why why.

It filled his brain with multiple whys (why is earth round? why is the sun bright? why do we exist?)

Why was he in love with Oikawa Tooru?

Why was he in love with the man currently standing at the podium?

Why was he in love with the man currently staring into the eyes of the woman walking down the aisle?

Why was he in love with the man currently reading his vows?

Why was he in love with the man currently kissing the beautiful woman?

Why wasn't it him?

Iwaizumi wondered about a lot of things.

How, what, would, why, where.

Where did it all go wrong?

[horatiocomehome]

introducing myself to the ISAT fandom is kinda funny bc I've barely even looked through the main tag so far I've just been following people organically from the one person who got me into ISAT and then people in my notifs / on my dash

I joined the main discord and spent about 30 seconds looking through it before muting

I feel like I'm a cat being introduced to a new housemate by letting me sniff it through the door first so I can get used to it before I get fully involved lmaoo

[sipulidae]

oh wait i did 'finish' something lately. i made a little avatar/pngtuber for myself to use during calls with friends thanks to a post showing how to "play with toys" and i like how it turned out.

[lexa-griffins]

My own clexanya au idea contribution:

Lexa is the Queen of a heavily militarized kingdom. Anya is her right-hand woman, the high general of her army, the one who taught a small princess Lexa how to fight when she was barely an adult herself. Anya has loved Lexa for as long as she can remember, proudly watching her become the Queen and standing by her side. She has not confessed her feelings, perhaps she never will, but she is happy to be Lexa's closest confidante and the one she turns to when times get tough.

Lexa has never loved anyone, does not know the feeling, or so she thinks but the truth is she finds so much comfort in her mentor and if she had to describe what love feels like, what she feels for Anya would certainly be what she would describe.

Clarke is a young knight, recently appointed to train in the Queen's private guard. From the moment Clarke enters the throne room she enchants Lexa and becomes hated by Anya. Secret smiles and brushes of hands between the knight and the queen have Anya be extremely hard on Clarke's training, waking her before dawn, sparing and fighting with her so hard the younger girl limps, reminding her its her duty to fight and die by the queen, hoping that maybe Clarke will find it too much and give her position, letting her and Lexa be.

Instead, Clarke grows more and more as a soldier, persistent and resilient, and as she grows Lexa's clear infatuation with her grows bigger.

"She has grown well as a soldier." Lexa comments, eyes not leaving the mock fight betwen Clarke and another soldier.

Anya tenses her jaw, "She is a good fighter, although I find her mouth too smart to be a decent knight with the position of protecting you."

"Well, I like her." Its clearly an admission, a confession of sorts, one that knocks the wind out of Anya, "she reminds me of you." Lexa adds, with a rare smile.

Anya nods, distant, swallowing hurt. Quietly, she whispers "Then why not me?"

Lexa turns to her, face closed but with warmth in her eyes, "Who says it can't be her and you?"

The queen turns her back to the training, returning to the inside of the castle with her handmaids following suit. Anya stays, watching her leave before she turns back to Clarke delivering a final blow, one Anya taught her over and over again, winning her the mock fight.

Why not us both?

It is when Lexa and Clarke are finally together that Anya starts to distance herself from the Queen something that deeply hurts Lexa. Clarke knows Lexa loves Anya too, she doesn't care, but she does not want to see Lexa sad like this. So she goes to Anya and extends her hand, asking for a compromise, that she does not need to like Clarke but for Lexa's sake, dont abandon her. Anya angrily says she would never abandon her Queen but Clarke isnt talking about Lexa the queen, she speaks of Lexa the human, the woman who loves them both. Anya shakes her head.

"I can love her enough for the both of us. She doesnt need you."

Clarke sighs, staring down. "If I leave her, will you return to her?"

Anya tenses, "if you leave her you'll break her heart."

Clarke nods, "and you will mend it. She is not happy without you. But if you believe you can love her for the both of us, then perhaps she'll learn to be happy without me."

Anya nods. The next day, she confesses. Her and Lexa spend the night together, and she could not be happier. Lexa looks over the moon. In the morning, after her and Anya share a kiss goodbye so they can go to their duties, Lexa runs to Clarke's quarters, excited to tell her the news, to be with the two women she adores.

But Clarke is gone. A note left on her bed, telling Lexa she has decided to give up her position. That a new battalion leaves in a week to the front lines of a small battle on the frontiers of the kingdom that she will lead it, wishing her all of the happiness she deserves with someone who loves her as much as Clarke does.

Anya is happy when she learns of this. She can love Lexa for both of them, she knows she can. So why, oh why isn't Lexa happy with just her? Why is she crying on her chest instead allowing Anya to love all of her pain away?

[ariquar]

“Keep the turns gentle, and no aerial maneuvers,” Ariquar says for what feels like the seventeenth time since he's called the dragon before him into the temple gardens. Belqoriik’s white wings shuffle as he keeps his neck low to the ground so Ariquar can reach around him. He turns one large, sky-blue eye to Ariquar and the human apprentice beside him. He's young, red-haired and freckled, hair pulled back with a strap of cloth around his forehead. He's obviously nervous, but hiding it with the way he's clenching his fists at his sides.

“I will not drop the hatchling, Dovahkiin. I have not dropped you, geh?” The dragon’s lips curl upward, almost as though he's smiling.

“You have not,” Ariquar agrees, pulling one of the saddle straps tighter. Belqoriik only shifts to aid in the adjustment, pulling his neck slightly away. Once the strap is tightened, Ariquar shows the human man to the stirrup, continuing his conversation from before. “But I have more experience riding on your kind, saddled and unsaddled.”

“Hm.” Belqoriik turns now, making sure his neck is straight and even so the human can find his place. Ariquar helps in that, showing him where to latch himself in.

“Think you're ready, Orrin?” Ariquar asks. Orrin — that's the human’s name, Belqoriik remembers — nods once, his hands gripping the handle of the saddle.

The design was the result of Ariquar and the dragons working together to find something comfortable for both the rider and the dragon — long leather straps wrap around the neck and chest, secured over the shoulder of the wings. The seat rests at the base of the neck, rather than near the head, and only the dragons who either bear short spines or were willing to have them modified have been fitted for saddles.

Orrin settles in lower. Belqoriik thinks about jokingly shaking him just to see his reaction, but decides not to once he feels just how nervous the poor boy is. His legs are anxiously tapping his sides, and Belqoriik hums low in his chest to calm him.

“Drem, youngling. I will not drop you. Your kinbok would have my head if I did.”

“It is something truly unprecedented, to fly. For humans.” Orrin says. His voice is low, and Belqoriik thinks that he may be controlling his volume so Ariquar doesn't hear.

“Humans are not built for flight. But neither are elves, and your kinbok handles it quite well.” Belqoriik says. He takes a step forward. Orrin grips the saddle tighter.

“He's got the soul of one of you, though.” Orrin says. Belqoriik laughs, a rumbling, crackling noise like ice breaking near the Windhelm docks.

“That does nothing for his body. He is as fragile as you, when it comes to this.”

Orrin seems to relax at that. But still his grip is strong, holding on while Belqoriik begins to move forward in earnest toward the newly-constructed flight platform of the temple gardens. It juts out to serve as a place for dragons to pick up speed before taking off — nearby there are also newly built perches of sorts, hewn from metal and stone. Orrin gets one good look at one of the dragons perched, watching — and then he's shaken from the view as Belqoriik jumps, wings spread to glide downward. The dive is faster than Orrin expected, whipping his hair back and pressing his heavy coat to his body, and then —

Belqoriik flaps his wings, and it feels as though Orrin is being tossed for a moment before he gets his bearings. After several more flaps of his wings, Orrin seems to catch the rhythm of it and braces for each movement. Belqoriik arcs his neck just so to get a glance in Orrin’s direction, then he tilts his wings to turn in the air.

Down below, the sprawling camp of the reachfolk looks miniscule. Orrin looks over the other side of Belqoriik’s body, taking in the long, winding rivers and open wildlands.

He's seen so much of Skyrim, but it’s never been put in this sort of perspective. It looks small in a strange way, yet vast in another that he can't quite comprehend.

“Settled?” Belqoriik asks. The wind is loud enough that Orrin isn't sure his voice will be heard over it, but he tries to reply, shouting in the affirmative.

Belqoriik tilts a wing again, turning into a slow descending circle. A slow and easy way to get the human on his back more accustomed to flight, rather than taking him up into the clouds and the chilling, biting air there. Perhaps he will convince Ariquar to allow him to fly this human further out, into the hills and valleys across Skyrim.

(It is a strange thing to want company. Even stranger to want it in the form of mortals — though, Belqoriik, like all of the dragons staying under Ariquar’s banner, have found that mortals make such interesting conversation despite their short lives. Or, perhaps, because of that very reason.)

Their flight lasts only as long as it takes for the sky to become clouded. Before the weather can turn wet and cold, Belqoriik flies them back to the temple, where he lands in the gentlest way he can muster. Humans and mortals are all so fragile.

Orrin undoes the saddle straps, climbing down onto the solid ground once more. Ariquar is there to greet him, steadying him with both hands.

“How did it go?” Ariquar asks.

Orrin runs his fingers through his own hair. It's gotten tangled from the wind — he'll braid it before the next time.

Next time?

“It went well.” Belqoriik says. “Your youngling-apprentice settled into flight quite easily.”

“Is that so,” Ariquar says, rubbing his bearded chin with one hand. Something in his eyes tells Orrin that he's planning something. Orrin says nothing in response, only holding onto the hope that he'll be chosen for the next flight.

Belqoriik reaches out with his long snout — white-scaled, nearly pearlescent on sunny days — and taps Orrin in the back just as he and Ariquar turn to head back into the temple walls.

“You have bravery, to fly such heights.” He says, and Orrin seems taken aback.

“Thank you?” He says sheepishly, and Belqoriik grins at him, all of his dagger-sized teeth on full display.

“When the weather is warmer and you will not freeze to death, I will take you into the skies once more. Higher, then, so you can truly see what you mortals have never been able to.” He nudges Orrin again, who now reaches out and puts a hand on the end of his snout.

“I will look forward to it. And I will be less terrified.”

[sheepyweepy]

You were both laughing over a joke Belphie cracked about Devildom housing prices. Beel was about to go into his next deadlift set but he was weak from laughing, crouched over the bar.

"As if we could even afford a house in this economy in the first place. The bank wouldn't even approve us for a mortgage," you finally manage to say, wiping a tear from your eye. It was as Beel was standing back up properly, and you were about to head for the water fountain when Belphie said something that made time slow.

"Well, hey, if you both get married, you'd for sure be approved. Solution: marriage of convenience." Belphie snickered.

It would be a lie to say you hadn't thought about that. After the long fight with your own feelings, you were losing the battle to your growing crush on the gentle giant. The same man who froze for just a second. Just like you did. Your eyes met for a split second.

And then your comedy coping skills kicked in.

"Hahaha, yeah, right, I want a marriage with love," was your stilted response between forced laughs, and you quickly scurried away to get water.

"You don't need love for marital benefits," Belphie called after you but there was no one to hear him.

Beel was lost in thought cheeks flushed and eyes trained on where you'd been. With a shiver, he pushed down the red climbing up his cheeks and got back to his workout.

Meanwhile, your bottle was overflowing as you wondered if that had been too forward.

[hanzajesthanza]

a collection of some thoughts and anxieties around creating witcher books content in the same space of the games and netflix adaptations 🤔

its difficult to be a fan of the witcher books that deliberately creates and share books-only content (meaning content that’s not interexchangable with or cannot be mistaken for games and netflix content, or content that cannot be understood by with games-only and netflix-only fans) because the books fandom is much smaller, and for that reason it feels like you’re doing something “wrong” if you make books-only content, because the amount of interaction will also be much smaller than if you created or shared games and netflix content.

it’s difficult to see the amount of interaction you’re receiving in a proportional manner, since the term “witcher” is now applied to many different mediums with fanbases that widely vary in size. netflix-witcher or game-witcher posts can reach over 100,000 or 10,000 notes, and books-witcher posts just do not have that kind of audience — if you reach 1,000 on a books-witcher post, that’s an amazing, “viral” amount, and 100 is already an “i’d like to thank the academy” type of honor. but if you go from making games content to books content and the number of people interacting with your post drops, it’s not due to the quality of your work degrading — it’s due to the number of ‘people who are familiar with what your work is about’ dropping.

another difficult part is that creating content about the books is that it almost has a different timespan to it, on both sides, first of the fan creating the content — the “bigger” projects at least — requires careful thought, planning, mulling over, fact-checking, detail-checking… even the smallest doodles can get really deep into the canon content, and book fans tend to enjoy that.

this is of course not always the case, as we have memes, funny textposts, and fun little 5-minute “i was bored at work” type doodles which get passed around. but the books have a lot of material to check with, and for fans working on something “bigger,” this takes more time — for instance, there are no canonical visual designs generated for the characters and settings of the books, so a books-only fan who is interested in drawing characters in a scene from the books cannot reference a visual to create their designs (unless taking from official art or other fans’ designs). they will instead typically (hopefully?) reread the passages in which these characters and settings are described. same goes for fanfictions, doubly so if you value being canon-compliant, in-character, and using canonical places, descriptions, and names. and also for “meta” type posts or analysis.

and this is really because a lot of the fans of the books do care about canon, want to dive into and deconstruct and discuss what is canon, the parts of the books we love. a majority of fans of the books are likely not willing to fudge the details and make it all up, they want to do something by the books that they love. that’s why we’re here in the first place.

due to the long time it tends to take to create a books fanwork, that also leads to another anxiety about not producing enough fancontent for the books, when really the work you put in is just leading up to a “bigger” project, so it’s unfeasible to post a completed work every day. (i’m not saying this is the problem of only fans of the witcher books, i’m aware of the hellish way in which the internet treats creators and artists, but for me personally, i feel like this anxiety is tied to being a fan of the books as opposed to being a fan of the games or netflix).

and on the other side of things, of the fans appreciating the fanmade content. a majority of books-witcher fancontent lives for years in fans of the books minds, since there is not this constant churning of new content. my visual memory remembers artwork from five+ years ago because it means so much to me. these works are NOT intended to disappear forever once you post them. moreso, they become part of an archive of fanworks (indeed, scattered across various websites, but…)

this all, of course, varies widely by personal inclinations and the internet sites you tend to engage with the fandom on, but the major trend which i have seen is that the fans of the books experience time in the fandom in longer spans — in “fan lifespans”: how long you’re engaged with (or obsessed with) the media at hand, in “content lifespans”: how long content is valued, remembered, shared, in “content time”: how long content runs for (relevant to time-based mediums like, a tiktok vs a long video essay), and more…

and because of all of the above, perhaps the most difficult thing to see is that sincere joy and passion of the fans of the books who are just so obsessed with whatever you’ve just created or shared.

with all of this being said, i think we have to stop comparing ourselves to the games-witcher fandom and the netflix-witcher fandom. the books are not the same thing and the fans do not have the same fanculture.

so to all fans of the witcher books who create books-only content:

you’re doing just fine.

know that the other fans have your back and understand the “research,” “big project,” “long-form” method of creating fanwork. novigrad wasn’t built in a day, and good things take time.

the work that goes “unseen” is part of your own personal journey as a fan and can be a really valuable experience of getting closer to the books, so don’t feel the need to rush it for the sake of getting new things to the other fans. just have fun and enjoy taking your time :)

[pikslasrce]

a poem abt dressing for warm weather judt bc its sunny only to realize your mistake too late

[teenagemutantninjatrauma]

I’m not saying I wanna make a How To Train Your Dragon tmnt2k3 au, but IF I DID.

I think Donnie should be Hiccup. I am so normal about that idea okay listen shush

He’s the inventor, he’s the pacifist, he is a frickin. Hiccup kinnie if I ever have seen one

No love interests, just 1) Leo being the stern leader everyone looks up to who has to constantly course correct his brothers, 2) Raph being a very hyped up warrior who eventually gets to ride a Monstrous Nightmare, and 3) Mikey being the first one to discover Donnie’s dragon and then pushing him to save said dragon

“But Trauma, you can’t make a httyd au post without telling us what kind of dragons each of them would have” boy am I glad you asked! I am not at all basing these on their weapons, they already get dragon forms based on their weapons, so I’m gonna get a little goofy with this

I think Leo would ride a Light Fury or whatever the white version is called. Great dragon for stealth missions and quick, deadly attacks, but a very graceful creature as well.

Raph would looove a Monstrous Nightmare - a dragon that can set itself on fire?? Badass! Needless to say he is a fire hazard but MAN does he look cool!

Mikey would either have a swarm of Terrible Terrors, a Night Fury, or a Zippleback. Something that on the surface level seems hard to handle but that he has a great time goofing around with.

With Donnie I’m indecisive, maybe he’d have a Stormcutter. Guy would be absolutely fascinated by a four-winged dragon, especially one so closely resembling a bat, and I think, having seen how easily gentle the dragon is, it would look after him :)

[infernalmelancholy]

it was meant to be just a quick little one-shot i swear

[necromancy-savant]

I would write down my recipes but they don't have real measurements; it's all based on vibes