#this while funny is sort of harrowing

[raisinzone]

reblog to have a very happy every surface sunday!

[wileycap]

Things that definitely happened Post-War in ATLA a.k.a. assorted headcanons that really boil down to "wouldn't it be neat/funny if...":

Zuko fought an inordinate amount of Agni Kais, to the point that some of the junior officials ended up thinking that it's custom to fight the Fire Lord every once in a while. He was notable for both never losing, and never seriously injuring his opponent.

Aang and Katara helped with the reformation of Ba Sing Se. They became friends with Joo Dee. Katara helped her regain her own memories, and her own name. Some of the women formerly known as 'Joo Dee' formed a theatre troupe, which produced highly subversive counterculture plays. Their anti-authoritarian nonconformist plays became a huge cultural movement, though they did face a fair amount of criticism from the more traditional groups. Aang loved them, and the patronage of the Avatar definitely helped them grow. They also produced a play on the history of the Air Nomads, at the request of Aang. Aang, of course, helped write it.

Sokka once hit his thumb with a hammer. This led to the invention of the nail gun, powered by pressurized air. Aang spent over four days bending air into canisters and pressurizing them. The invention never saw widespread use. The day after it was complete, Sokka drove a nail through his thumb.

That one old guy who ratted out Haru for being an earthbender stubbed his toe every single day for the rest of his life.

Lieutenant Jee resigned his commission. He requested that Zuko accept his resignation in person, and Zuko was happy to oblige. The moment his resignation was official, he went on a 45-minute tirade attacking the Fire Lord, which was never written down in its' entirety, but was described as "extremely vulgar, even for a sailor" by attendees, and mostly had to do with their time on Zuko's ship.

Toph actually ended up having a great relationship with her mom after a long and harrowing process. She competed in a couple more Earth Rumbles, and her mother was in the audience, cheering. She never really got along with her father, after the whole "hire two guys to kidnap her by any means necessary"-thing.

Momo started several diplomatic incidents. Future historians would forever puzzled by the many mentions of this mysterious 'Momo' in official documents, with the theory that Momo was the Avatar's pet being dismissed by the leading historians. Clearly, Momo was some sort of rebel leader - perhaps a Water Tribe extremist?

[harrowsphiltrum]

i’m sorry but the visual of harrow actually eating pieces of gideon to complete the eightfold word is actually really fucking funny. like bitch is chewing and swallowing while cytherea stands there like 😐. cam is in the corner 1) bleeding out 2) grieving 3) watching the reverend daughter chow down on the still-warm body of her cavalier while shaking and sobbing incoherently. exactly how much of gideon did harrow ingest? was it like a tasteful mouthful, or did she just sort of… go to town? did she tear chunks out with her teeth or her hands or a mysterious third method? what exactly happened there. tamsyn. hey tamsyn. tell us about the cannibalism tamsyn.

[dammit-tazmuir]

So I'm still relatively new to the fandom and I'm not sure if there are common "fanon" or widely held theories about the pre-Resurrection names, but I did try looking around and didn't see any so...

Hear me out. ✨Even more Biblical symbolism.✨

I don't have strong thoughts for Ulysses, Cassiopeia, or Nigella. And with Cristabel's new name (still?) having ties to "Christ" I wonder if she's closest or even was allowed to keep her old one (which, yeah two C—s without clear hierarchy would have gotten confusing, but could be another reason she was only "the nun" instead of given the same name treatment as the others), or perhaps hers was more Greek (Cassandra, for being the one who kept telling John things he didn't want to believe?).

But for others, I suspect...

Alfred / "A— Junior" was originally Andrew, after the first apostle to join Jesus. More importantly, Andrew was the brother of Simon Peter, who was the most prominent apostle, generally considered in Catholicism to be the first Pope, the first bishop of Antioch, and a lot of other stuff that could make him an interesting parallel to Augustine (not that I think he shares a name, just potentially some indirect parallels). Also the literal meaning is "manly/man", see Augustine below. -

Titania / "T—" (on her papers) was originally Tabitha, after a woman who was literally brought back to life. (This was done by Saint Peter, so not the most direct parallel with the above thoughts on Augustine, but with him being part of the very original project with John, not fully disconnected either.) -

Pyrrha / "P—" was originally Priscilla or Prisca, who notably shared a home for a time with (Biblical) Paul. (It means "ancient", but that's hardly unique here, though I guess her being the last surviving member of the original aside from John and Alecto is worth something there.) A secondary guess would be Phoebe, who's mentioned in Paul's epistles; the name means "bright, pure" and also has Greek meaning (moon goddess and grandmother to Artemis), so it would kinda hit both the major name origins in this series. Or as a third guess, while I think parallels would be shared/split rather than having this instead of the other Peter thoughts, something like Petra could also work, though that might be too similar to Pyrrha to consider. -

Gideon / "G—" was Gabriel, the archangel and messenger of God who announced the births of John (the Baptist) and Jesus. The name comes from the words for "God" and "strong man" or "hero". -

Augustine / A—, the First Saint to serve the King Undying, was Adam, sharing a name with the Biblical first man, first of humanity. The literal meaning is also arguably "man", which makes for a bonus with A— and A— Junior having that much more similar names. -

Lastly, the one I'm most utterly convinced of, Mercymorn / M— was Mary. Perhaps Mary-something, mimicking the "two names" format of Mercymorn (ex: Maryanne, Mary Lou, Marilyn), or maybe a name from a Marian title (Mercedes would be especially amusing), possibly both (Marisol, Marigold). But 10,000% her name comes from the Virgin Mary in some form.

For starters, the first time Harrow sees her, she's described as

"Virginal" as one of the first words ever associated with her, with further description making her sound very much like the kinds of paintings one would associate with Mary.

But much more interesting is her role in Dios Apate, Major. Both

and

She was the both the one who managed to get the sample despite John trying to be careful about that and had been intended to be the genetic mother of the baby, but not to carry. While certainly not literally "virgin" here, she's still in a very real sense a sort of "virgin mother of (space) Jesus".

Any of them could be adjacent or have nicknames, of course. G— could have been "Gabe." The idea of P— being called "Prissy" is funny enough to me that I'd fully buy it. A— Junior could've gone by "Andy", etc. But I feel like all these have some solid merit, especially Mary-Mercy.

[icedragonlizard]

I'm probably going to be obliterated for this, but I'm bold enough.

I think it eventually deserves to be said, anyways.

Consider this the follow-up to a post I wrote a few days ago.

For clarification, I'm not at all trying to say that the whole Mecha Knight thing in Planet Robobot wasn't messed up. Overall, it was messed up. Yes, what Susie did to Meta Knight was indeed quite bad.

But it's very clear that the Kirby fandom has absolutely blatant double standards when it comes to this sort of thing.

While it's understandable to find enjoyment in milking angst out of such an incident, I believe that people exaggerate Mecha Knight.

Some people love to go on about how Meta Knight suffers from horrible medical trauma after Planet Robobot. About how much he hates Susie's guts, will never ever forgive her, and wants her to die. About how this was basically the worst thing to ever happen to him.

But if I'm being honest, I don't think Mecha Knight was that much different from all the times that King Dedede has been possessed.

Where's all the talk about Dedede being traumatized from all his possession incidents? Hello?!?!? Do people just act like he's not that traumatized or that he easily toughs out his possession incidents while Meta Knight was just messed up so darn bad by being a robot?

Actually, I have seen people talk about Dedede being traumatized by Dark Matter, but it's absolutely nothing like talk about Mecha Knight. Still double standards.

To be fair, I can somewhat understand the big discrepancy of how Mecha Knight is treated compared to Dedede's possessions. After all, Meta Knight is quite literally the Kirby's fandom blorbo (aside from Magolor, I guess) and turning someone into a robot against their will can very much indeed be a lot more nerve-striking in comparison.

But was Mecha Knight really truly so much worse than Dedede's possessions? Does it really deserve to be treated like it's such an unfathomable, unspeakable, harrowing tragedy... compared to Dedede's incidents being treated like they're no big deal at all?

... In my opinion, no.

Meta Knight shook off roboticization pretty quickly after the second Mecha Knight fight. He's then quick to get on top of the Halberd while the rest of his crew gets it up and flying. Funny how it's that instead of him just sitting there crippled and helpless after the robot armor breaks off of him. I dunno about you guys, but he looks fine!

While I myself do imagine that he'd certainly have been somewhat messed up and traumatized by being a robot, and while I do imagine he would be mad at Susie over it for a while, I sincerely don't agree to the extent of how some people depict it. It didn't ruin his life like some people think. It hurt him, but not ruin him. He's been through bad stuff before. If you ask me, it's more like a "regular Tuesday" for him instead of being the absolute total life-ruining experience for him. He's been able to heal from the incident and is doing just fine.

And for the record, I don't buy into the "Meta Knight hates Susie SO MUCH and wants her dead" headcanon. I don't necessarily headcanon them being friends, and I think he was initially angry at her, but his anger at her slowly fades in my opinion.

Can we please not overlook some of Dedede's possession incidents? Let's not pretend that Taranza is an innocent little guy and that he hasn't hurt Dedede before. Although I believe that being used like a puppet by Taranza was far from Dedede's worst possession incident.

I like to imagine that Dedede suffered from true traumatization from 2 out of the 3 times he's been possessed by Dark Matter, as well as the time he's been possessed by Fecto Forgo during Forgotten Land.

He's been able to heal and get better, but it did hurt him at first.

Dark Matter lowkey turned his stomach into a set of jaws, and then formed a giant unnerving eyeball onto his stomach. That had to hurt, methinks. It also wouldn't help if one were to interpret that Dark Matter was preying on Dedede's flaws, making him easy to possess.

When Dedede was possessed by Fecto Forgo, he was ordered to hurt his own waddle dees. He couldn't have felt good about that afterwards, especially with how much he's shown to care about his waddle dees to the point he goes out of his way to save one singular waddle dee from the stampeding Beast Pack after he's been freed.

In my opinion, if Meta Knight has been messed up by Susie, then I think that there's no way Dedede hasn't been a little messed up one way or another by the Dark Matter and Fecto Forgo possessions as well. While I certainly believe he's been able to heal and overcome them, I think he was hurt over them initially after they were over. For me, it's basically the same of how Meta Knight had a phase of being traumatized by what Susie did to him until he's come around to heal.

I prefer to think that the incidents are similar instead of just "OMMGG poor meta knight was screwed up so darn bad, and dedede's possessions weren't really a big deal, they were much much less bad."

And I don't at all call for anyone to hate on Taranza, Dark Matter, Fecto Forgo, Yin Yarn or anyone else that has possessed Dedede. They don't deserve that, in my opinion. Just like how I think Susie is honestly not deserving of the level of hate she's received for Mecha Knight.

Was Mecha Knight a messed up incident? Yes. But let's not pretend that some of Dedede's possessions weren't messed up as well. Mecha Knight is certainly more nerve-striking... but from an objective standpoint, it's not significantly worse. And I think Dedede has overall faced more trauma than Meta Knight has, since the former has been possessed much more times. Sorry, but I don't think one robot incident outweighs multiple possession incidents. I just don't.

HAL doesn't at all appear to treat Mecha Knight like it's so much worse than all of the times that King Dedede has been possessed.

Oh wow, this is getting a bit long, but yeah that's basically it. I just felt like it needed to be said that it's almost absurd that Meta Knight being turned into a robot once is all it takes for the fandom to metaphorically riot on the streets while ignoring Dedede's possession incidents.

I'm well aware that I might be playing with fire while writing this. But I'm bold. I'm gonna brace myself for however some people react to this. Not sure if it'll get to the point where I'll be forced to delete this.

The double standards in this fandom gets on my nerves.

[deadmountaindaughter]

ianthe is so vriska coded its not even funny. she has a metallic prosthetic arm, she has done innumerable crimes against her friends, and while vriska just killed people to help eridan feed the lusus she just legitimately eats someone at one point. kind of. but also literally. to be fair it was in pursuit of ultimate power which just makes her even more vriska coded. she and harrow are FUCKING KISMESES AND IF I SEE SOMEONE SHIPPING THEM LIKE MATESPRITS I WILL DO SOME SORT OF ACROBATIC etc etc. she cares about precisely one person, her sister, and she still manipulates her constantly. its also been theorized that she only actually cares abt corona out of self interest and that would be SO in character. she will team up with you and give you a makeover and help you a lot in an overly indirect way but its always just because she thinks it will help her own plan. shes gonna grow, like, necromantic bone horns in AtN and tazmuir is gonna describe them as "asymmetrical and mismatched, with curved and spiky tips" or something and we wont even need any more description to know exactly what they look like

[colonelpancakes]

Watching The Dragon Prince Season Six Part Six! Moment of Truth. Under the cut as per the usual! This episode will reveal my habit of using more pet names for characters the more distressed I become!

I’d just like to say that every time the intro plays, I experience a few seconds of intense fear as I wait to see if it’s Callum again. They've done it twice now I am fully expecting them to do it again.

Oh dang, that is a beautiful opening shot of the sunrise. Absolutely stunning.

Ohh, Callum honey. I know the feeling, it sucks.

Aww, Raylaaaa. I love her trying to cheer Callum up with the crown, it's so sweet…

Ohh... poor Callum... Yeah, that would be a blow to anyone’s self esteem. Especially when we know from The Frozen Ship that Callum's been struggling with the idea that he had already permanently ruined himself by using dark magic.

(Also again, the voice acting is amazing.)

Oh, you know, that’s a good idea! Since they don’t really need to kill Aaravos they just need to stop him from being freed and the main threats to his status as imprisoned are Claudia finding the pearl or Callum getting possessed. If it’s in the Starscraper being guarded by Celestial Elves, then that’s both problems solved! Claudia doesn’t know where it is and it’d be pretty difficult for a possessed Callum to go get it, especially not before anyone could stop him. Good thinking Rayla!

OH GOD.

...On the one hand that’s really bad and a serious problem but on the other hand that is so fucking funny. The magic prison you've been carrying wrapped in an anti-magic blanket through the freezing cold is a giant M&M. Sorry. There is no good way to deliver the news, huh.

Oh, Callum… The way his voice shakes and he sounds so out of breath like he’s having a panic attack. Poor baby.... 🥺

Oh, Honey…

And of course it makes him feel worse because to him, if it really was Aaravos influencing Callum without him knowing, then it’s confirming that, not only is there the possibility that he could one day become a threat to his friends safety, he actively is a threat to them. And if it was simply an accident, at the very least, there’s something he can do to prevent another accident. If it's an accident, then it's something that he did and something that he can make an effort to not let it happen again in the future. Whereas if it’s Aaravos, there’s nothing he can do. The thing he could have done to prevent Aaravos possessing him is not use dark magic but that ship has sailed. He’d be entirely helpless and it’d be his own fault.

Also, it goes without saying but I’m going to say it anyways: Give Callum’s VA an award, the voice-acting is so good, the franticness, the hyperventilation. It’s so good.

Ooh, I love this style of flashback. I love the way that it’s the same artstyle as the credits and how it makes perfect sense since in-universe, Viren’s writing all this down on a piece of parchment. Also, I think that this is first time we’ve heard Lissa’s name in the actual show! I love how you can already see that Claudia got her hair-texture from Lissa while Soren got his from Viren.

Soren with his little dragon plushy!!!! I'm going to start crying...

Hmm. I know it’s probably just coincidence, but the fact that Soren seemingly had a terminal respiratory disease makes me wonder if maybe he had the same condition as Callum’s father, since Callum said that Damian had “some sort of terrible breathing sickness.”

THE QUOTE FROM HARROW!!!! OUGH! “Claudia and I are still searching for a creative solution." "Call it what it is. Dark magic." vs "I found a creative solution. I suppose I should call it what it is, dark magic." The growth.

Oh?? I’ve always been curious what it is about the staff that enhances dark magic since it doesn’t come from a specific primal source. Usually, it comes from taking the life force of living things, but how does a staff help with that? Hmm…

Okay, I’ve questioned this before but. What is up with Kpp’Ar’s arm? It’s clearly injured… Is he using his own blood for spells? It feels like such a random detail to add without explanation. I wonder if we’ll find out...

Ah, so Harrow isn’t king yet. Interesting… I guess that makes sense since Kpp’Ar doesn’t appear in any of the Magma Titan flashbacks.

I think I remember Kpp’Ar having given up dark magic from The Puzzle House (please forgive me if I'm wrong my memory is shit), but I wonder what could have happened to make him veer away from dark magic and the staff to the point where he won’t consider using them to save a child… The royal family doesn’t have Aaravos’s mirror yet so I don’t think it could be that. I am so curious about this man...

KPP’AR MAN, COME ON! I get that you’ve seen some things but you could at the bare minimum be a LITTLE more tactful than that! If there’s some reason that the staff can’t be used, you could, I don’t know, EXPLAIN IT to Viren? Instead of just leaving him sobbing in the room with no explanation as to why you are letting his son die? ...I see where Viren gets it from.

Sksfjalkjslkf  I forgot about the monochrome so when the scene switched back to the Starscraper I was like wait what the hell is happening?

Kosmo, man, I’m not sure this is helping, but also, Callum petting Sneezles for emotional support… I love themm…

Callum, honey… Ough... I am going to cry I love Callum so much. Sweetie…

Ssakljfsalkfj Rayla trying gently elbow Kosmo away from Callum.

Callum, honey, sweetie, darling, sweetheart, love… The fact that he’s just utterly given up on himself and on his ability to continue. That he thinks he’s just too far gone, that there’s nothing left so there’s no point in even trying… Ough. And the implications of refusing to get rid of Aaravos’s control considering the fact that he made Rayla promise to kill him if he ever got controlled again and she did. Oh, honey… Callum’s arc this season is repeatedly punching me directly in the stomach.

Plus the voice acting, again. The way he sounds so dead and empty and almost apathetic, like it’s already over, like there’s just no point to anything anymore. AHG.

Once a dumb sibling always a dumb sibling.

“Truth is everything. But before you give it to another, ask yourself, are you giving them clarity, light, and purpose? Or are you shifting a burden to someone who needs all their strength?” I really like Astrid and I like how they're not going the "lying is always bad, telling the truth is always good in every situation no matter the context" route and instead acknowledging that it requires more nuance! Also, I love how Astrid is animated here, her body language is very expressive and fun.

OH? Oh that explains why it was monotone I had been thinking that it was just like, a sudden style change to portray the emotions or something skjfaslkj. That make a lot more sense.

Also, I like the clarification of how the future-sight works! It seems kind of like Clearsight’s ability in Wings of Fire where she can see all of the possible futures that diverge from her decision. Kosmo can see the possibilities that arise from his decision of whether to tell the truth or not and then pick the best option once he’s seen the diverging paths. It’s probably my favorite form of “prophetic” ability and I especially appreciate it being used here since it lets Timeblind elves like Kosmo exist while still holding true to the themes in the show about the nonexistence of destiny and how the choices you make impact the future.

Okay, I still feel like being Timeblind would suck. I can only imagine Kosmo feeling super awkward repeating what he said in the vision and like. I don’t know but I feel like it’d be creepy to have the people around you constantly parrot what you’ve already heard them say like they’re reading from scripts and you know what they’re about to say and the exact tone they’ll say it in a second before the words come out of their mouths. That would entirely creep me out.

Self confidence restored!!

Continued in reblogs, curse the tumblr image limit

[vindikaetion]

Trick or treat!! 🍬🐜…🐜…🐜….

Hehe you get TREAT! :)

I've had this in my google docs for a a few months while I work on a few other projects, so thought I might share. This is for @alkalinefrog 's Spiderman AU, which you can find here! <3 (Go check it out rn the art is SO GOOD)

-

"How good are your reflexes?!" Hiccup suddenly shouted, cutting off the weird sort of stand-off between Spiderman and Hiccup's kidnapper.

The white eyes of Spiderman's mask squinted. "Superhuman?" he replied in confusion.

Okay, that somewhat alleviated some of Hiccup's concern over his absolutely batshit insane plan. Somewhat, being the key-word, because he was about to place his life in the hands of the quipping superhero who Hiccup's boss thought was a menace.

"No funny business," the man growled, tightening his fist. Hiccup let out a choked grunt as all the air in his lungs was forcibly pushed out, but he mustered all his strength and coherency to keep his hands covering the exposed circuitry. "Unless you want to meet the pavement face-to-face."

"Counting on it," Hiccup wheezed. Before the man could have a chance to prod him, Hiccup ripped out one of the many wires that programmed the suit to keep him hanging.

If anyone were to ask after the harrowing experience, Hiccup would tell them that he had very bravely kept his voice calm and even. The truth was, the moment gravity took hold and he went plunging to the ground, Hiccup shrieked;

"You better catch me!"

A beat passed, then two. Hiccup kept his eyes shut, every inch of his body tense. It would do little to help if Spiderman was unable to catch him, but human instincts cared little for realistics.

Hiccup had one other near death experience in his life. It was the same brush with death that had claimed his leg, and it oddly felt a lot like this. Weightless, with every sense focussed and sharp. As if an eternity decided to stand still in this very moment, with the sounds of sirens and shrieks in the air. Though it lacked the sound of honking and metal crashing, it was startlingly similar.

Except this time, instead of a solid impact sending his world into utter darkness, a firm yet soft body collided into his.

Hiccup's stomach lurched as the world suddenly swooped, forcing another shriek past his lips. Arms tightened around him.

Someone laughed beside his ear. "You're seriously crazy, but can't say I don't respect it."

Hiccup could hear the twipping of Spiderman's webs shooting between buildings and the relief in his voice. The most prominent sound was the wind whipping past their cheeks, but he couldn't bring himself to open his eyes.

"Thanks," he squeaked. He chanced opening his eyes, just to let out a rather embarrassing sound. All his pride went out the window, cinging to Spiderman with as much strength as he could muster in his scrawny body, eyeing the rapidly approaching ground in alarm. "Can't say I ever want to do this again, though."

"Great!" Spiderman said joyfully. "That makes two of us."

[senka-mesecine]

what would the platoon boys give the reader as a birthday present?? And what gift would they like to receive on their birthday?

---

― Hey, rich boy being rich, Chris would have the innate urge to give something classically pricey and something that bears the typical marker of wealth; a piece of jewelry, an expensive token, a fancy dinner at an equally fancy restaurant, a whole ass car, you name it and this is a habit that never truly goes away even though it ends up augmented by his time in the war and he is infinitely more likely as a result of that time he starts giving things that are more personal in nature, bordering on being handcrafted or a souvenir or keepsake that survived along with him throughout his deployment, something with genuine gravitas as well as being, well, beautiful. Sometimes, though, you yourself don't get just how much gravitas his presents to you actually bear, or how he might've spent whole days and nights clenching this one particular, seemingly pretty yet inoffensive knick knack in the palm of his hand while on guard in a trench or a foxhole, waiting for an attack, and now it's hanging off of your neck as a birthday gift, almost like a war trophy of sorts. Maybe even a war trophy you'll never realize is a war trophy. There's two sides to every story much like there's two sides to Taylor himself. He might just bring it up if you ever take the thing off.

― O'Neill is one of those assholes who jokes how for your birthday he wants a blowjob and for his birthday he also wants a blowjob, but this is mainly an obnoxious, irritating, overly sexualized bit of salacious banter and locker room jibe he makes to cover up the fact that he is actually unusually sentimental and thoughtful and is downright the type to do something exceedingly romantic for your birthday, planning for it way, way, way in advance, being the one to bring it up and heck, whatever you do for his will downright make his face drop, causing him look like a sad frog about to get emotional over shockingly small gestures of affection. How on earth did you end up on R&R in Hawaii with a bouquet of flowers on the beach with a round of Mai Tai's at dusk you don't exactly know, but it sure happened, almost like a lot of preparation, legitimate devotion and thought went into this and almost like Red is innately and nervously over-eager to please and does a surprisingly great job doing so, being smarmily proud of himself once he does. Yeah, you're looking out into the Pacific Ocean with the prettiest sunset ever. Of course he'll brag about this to everyone else later too.

― If Red merely jokes that he'd like a blowjob for a birthday, Bunny really means it. And heck, this includes any sexual act under the sun, both for his birthday and yours and always, and if that sounds childishly crude now, you could end up wishing he sticked to that instead because the gifts this kid ends up giving are grizzly to say the least and the more you look into them and think about them objectively, the more harrowing they become. Here's a wonderful, specialized silver zippo...that I burned a hooch with one time. He's a camera and it's a good camera too...but the pictures that used to be inside the reels border on war crimes. Here's a decorative enamel pendant that...has a human molar inside of it. Here's your name tattooed on his body...and possibly somewhere not all that appropriate. Bunny lacks the sense of propriety necessary to deduce what's a normal gift or he simply doesn't care and finds the shock value funny, but he's a bit like a cat proudly dragging the corpse of a dead mouse or a slaughtered bird in front of your feet expecting you to impressed and give him a big, snuggly, congratulatory pat. Should've just given him a blowjob instead, Jesus Christ.

― Wolfe would much rather receive praise on his birthday than literally anything else in the whole wide world; just the very fact you remembered and took time to congratulate him without a shred of irony, mockery or any malicious intent behind it profoundly just bloats something inside of him even though he seems infinitely nervous and flustered merely accepting the congratulations, not used to the attention or even the respect, thinking you'll turn around any second, say siike and end up making fun of him one way or another; by extension, he's almost ready to put up his guard and be aloof and stand offish when there's no reason to be. How he reciprocates your commonplace kindness is so vastly out of proportion though, it might just make you a tiny bit uncomfortable, because Mark's the type to get you a hugely overblown gift in reciprocation for basically almost nothing but you being nice to him. You merely remembered the man, now you're saddled with...what's that...why did he give you a diamond encrusted pair of earrings with a signet ring to match? Is...this Tiffany's? Why have you been approved to go on a vacation too? You never asked for a break. You're at a loss for words.

― Gifts!? Gifts!? Gifts are a purely civilian effort of tactical distraction to embroider these poor, blind, naive suckers into continuously ritualized, soul-sucking acts of spending money on nonsense big business can't sell every year with the sole intention of upholding the social contract of normality to prevent people from realizing how MESSED UP everything actually is and stop them from opening their third eye to the world at large and seeing all the awfulness, the lies, and the horror, the horror, the horror....and while Rhah might rant against birthdays, Christmas, the holidays, love, relationships, family, friendship, duty, sacrifice, the things he says and the things he actually does can often be two wholly opposing things. Meaning that he could very well be against birthdays, but he never said he's against your birthday. In fact, he's so weirdly devoted and passionate about it he'll downright ask you what it is you want with the most fervent, dedicated, near worshipful tone of voice imaginable like he's prepared to give you anything in the world. Like he's borderline inquiring for the privilege to pay homage to you; just as well, whatever you give Vermucci's somehow pedestalized like you just grabbed a star from the sky and handed it to him. In fact, if he can wear the item on his person at all times and just give it a kiss every now and again, he will. Crazy, for someone who was seeming that contrarian.

― King thinks Rhah's whack and he'll say he's whack pretty openly because King can appreciate the whole birthday thing as an idea. He gives a good gift and he knows how to receive a gift too in a rather stable-minded, jovial, relaxed manner as well. Nothing extreme going on here. No dramatics. In fact, he somehow has the most normal and level headed disposition out of the bunch where swapping presents is concerned. He'll downright ask when your birthday is too in case he doesn't know when it is because he's interested and he wants you to know that he is, seeing no purpose in being all mysterious or covert about it. You ain't playing hide and seek, are you? He'll tell you he'll get you something with a big smile to, just as easily telling you his date of birth as well because it ain' no classified big ass secret and he isn't going to treat it like one neither. Like, there's actual communication happening here on a mutual level, which can be oddly refreshing because he's friendly, warm and very open on the matter to the point it is in fact, absolutely endearing. The fact that King cares and cares so openly and consistently, without any personal hang ups. What he likes to get is records, music, something to relax with, something to smoke and he is very transparent about that as well. Like, why hide it? Why make things hard if they can be easy?

― With Elias it is something spiritual, something protective, something with an almost religious connotation as well as a deeply sentimental one. A crucifix matching the one he wears. A charm he personally made for your birthday that he swears is magical (a comment delivered with a wink so you'd understand he might be joking...but is he?) a pedant that is near shamanic in nature and hey, you might be superstitious or you might not be, but nonetheless having something his close by does soothe you and make you feel oddly better --- safer --- like he's always nearby. You swear, however crazy it may sound to put trust into what's effectively a placebo effect, that you started dreaming about him from the moment you got this gift; a notion if you ever bring up he might simply smile cryptically at and in equal measure? Whatever you get him works by sheer virtue of it being your gift, given by your hand. Downright, you might give Elias Grodin a lock of your hair and the very next day it'll be in a locket hanging off of his neck right next to his cross and dog tags like the most cherished possession he has in the whole wide world. He's all for symbols and symbolics, you see. And he is humble and appreciative. Astoundingly so. To the degree he'll appreciate even the smallest gestures out of you, possibly infinitely more than any big one.

― Barnes pretends like he doesn't care about birthdays as a concept. Doesn't remember anyone's and doesn't want his remembered either because this isn't a social club. Truth of the matter is that he in actuality seems like the type of man who has every soldier's exact date of birth memorized in his platoon to a T and that includes yours as well. He doesn't forget a single thing. Ever. About anyone. He just looks at a face and knows when they're born and where they're born because he's wordlessly meticulous like that. Heck, probably remembered their blood type too. And what he gets you? In a civilian life or otherwise? Well, he gets you precisely and exactly something he deduced you want and need through sheer observation alone. Never indicated he will. Never mentioned it. A conversation about this never happened. Hey, you might not even know it's from him because the present could just wait for you somewhere where you'll be most likely to find it, you, and nobody else, but you've been given it and that's that on that. Somehow, the most thoughtful present imaginable is there, without a note or without explanation because he expects no thanks or ass kissing. What he wants? Just as likely that whatever you quietly leave for him will be just as quietly accepted. Almost like whatever's from you is by default silently cherished. It's actually weirdly...well...intimate.

[microchive]

either cam or gideon for the character thing!!!

GAH!!!! picking gideon because you already did cam also i want to talk about gideon nav my best friend gideon nav

favorite thing about them: how do i even begin.... i love that she isn't a hero and doesn't become one through the narrative, i love that she is so blatantly posturing all of the time and she builds herself up to be this big confident sexy funnyman because she needs that to keep herself afloat but what she is in reality isn't any lesser! she is funny and she's shy and nervous and she's so powerfully butch to the bone in a way that avoids all negative stereotypes but still manages to highlight the pitfalls butches find themselves in. she has so many layers and people reduce her to some kind of himbo when in reality she's objectively both too mean and too intelligent to be a himbo. i love that you can sense from the very beginning that she is sitting on a massive broiling lake of sadness and for all of her posturing she is both incredibly delicate and one of the strongest characters in the story. i love that she sucks so bad and died a virgin like christ jesus and even missing half her soul she remains consistent not in her outward personality but in her ability to shield her soft underbelly through some sort of performative attitude but EVERYONE can see right through her except gideon herself because everything she does is loud and annoying. she's impulsive and passionate and. incredibly annoying. i hate her and she's my favorite person ever

least favorite thing about them: probably the war crimes but it's not like she's passionate about war crimes she just doesn't gaf. this is just what a lesbian situationship will do to a guy

favorite line: literally all of them man everything she says makes me laugh.... here are some standouts though: - "If my heart had a dick you would kick it" - "I have lots of fealty in me. I fealt the Emperor with every bone in my body. I fealt hard" - "You've got two short minutes left before I punch you right in the butthole" - everything she says when talking to ianthe

brOTP: her and camilla ooooohhhh..... also her and pal. gideon works so well with the sixth house because they're just as annoying and generally peculiar as her they're just more lowkey about it

OTP: i'd have to say griddlehark because i have never stopped thinking about them ever but i do enjoy gideon x camilla (i forgot their ship name) because the cav4cav shit is so good godddd they're just two sides of the same coin, the same story with different upbringings they would help each other out

nOTP: not a huge fan of gideon and corona just because i think corona needs to chase someone who doesn't like her for enrichment purposes and gideon's schoolgirl crush on corona probably doesn't translate well into an actual relationship (let's be real though none of these relationships are going "well") but it is an interesting dynamic

random headcanon: i think she is really gross. genuinely. she picks her nose and doesn't wash her face and harrow gets on her ass about it which i guess is reasonable. also more intense but i definitely think both gideon and harrow have food issues but while harrow copes by being intensely picky gideon has some textual evidence of binge eating which makes sense to me character wise and also would explain why she developed muscle on planet malnutrition

unpopular opinion: i don't really have any once again?? i guess i like to imagine she isn't as attractive as she thinks she is but a lot of people write and draw her as a lesbian adonis which i understand because thats how she describes herself lmao. i think she's kind of cute in a weird way and tamsyn describes her as boyishly pretty so in my mind she's the kind of hot a straight man would never agree with. she is still the hottest person in the world to me

song i associate with them: I HAVE SO MANY. main ones are: father by the front bottoms, dance in room song by sipper, bodysnatchers by radiohead, suffering jukebox by silver jews, knife in the coffee by car seat headrest

favorite picture of them: this fanart: (this artist does such a delicious gideon ohhh i need her.) https://www.tumblr.com/bastardnoodle/741903153830723584/im-in-the-middle-of-reading-harrow-and-i-miss-her?source=share

[redux-iterum]

Oh!! Maybe this is a silly question, but do you have a preference between tumblr asks and A03 comments?? Because on one hand, the tumblr asks are definitely good for the sort of casual air and call and response type deal, but A03 allows for commenting on specific chapters, which is good for organization and referencing specific scenes.

Anyway, I’m not very good at taking breaks it turns out. I wanted to say I REALLY enjoyed the choice to kill Ashpaw alongside Swifttail (and maiming Brightpaw) in this rewrite. One thing I took notice of immediately within the first book was that, while everything has been tightened up and streamlined and Just Completely Improved, the VAST majority of plot beats are the same— which means that while I know the general direction the story is going to take, there’s always that slight hope that “well, maybe this will be changed…” I held onto this, like I’m sure many people, with Tigerclaw, since he was so different and I absolutely adored his relationship with Fireheart. Keeping that plot point the same, but making it more emotionally devastating, meant that all of us in the ‘know’ of the original plot were reacting VERY similarly to Fireheart— the evidence was piling up, we knew there was no other way it could go, and yet we still didn’t want to believe it.

and, from the other direction— something happens that is different from canon and thus COMPLETELY unexpected. Like Ashpaw! I didn’t think Brightpaw would take Swifttail to do it, after he got his name and just given the age gap between them in this rewrite (making him siblings with Cinderpaw was so cool), but I assumed Brightpaw would take one of her siblings- I was predicting Brackenpaw, honestly. I was sure she would still go through with some sort of dog plan, but some apprentice was gonna have to come with the mirror canon. Thornpaw is too much of a rules follower and Snowpaw… he is too precious. I did not want it to be Snowpaw. Brackenpaw seemed plausible, he’s sort of similar to his sister in enthusiasm. ASHPAW, however, was not on the list, of course he wasn’t! So finding him torn to pieces was HARROWING. Those slight twists to canon help keep everyone guessing and also allow for some misdirection for us readers, because even when we KNOW something is coming… there’s a small chance it’ll change, allowing us to be In Denial About It. Really cool way of making the story have suspense even when we know most of the plot beats in a logical sense

Also, also, aside, sorry there is no order in my mind, if it was chapter by chapter comments I would do better I prommy, but I love how you characterize the kits on this story. From what I remember in canon, kits in the background usually act very similar (ie they are all rambunctious babies and personality develops, if at all, as apprentices) but in your rewrite you came SEE each kits personality as soon as they exit the nursery, and you can see that same personality grow over time. Cloudpaw is a wonderful example, with how he is a blunt, sort of quiet but confident kit, who doesn’t take well to being scolded, and that… follows him, to being an apprentice. He grows around it. I love the way that he responds to people being surprised by his tracking abilities with just simply ‘it’s obvious.’ It’s SO funny but it also FITS JUST RIGHT!! Because you set him up to be like that!! He has a character arc!! He’s having one right now and I get to see it!! His actions make sense and have a through line!! Erin Hunter could NEVER

First, your initial question: comments or asks are equally fine with me. AO3 comments are easier to respond to, but they don't get answered as often as asks do. So it's entirely up to you!

Secondly, these are so many nice things in a row, goodness. I'm really glad to hear all of this, thank you. I don't have much I can respond to it with except a huge "THANK YOU FOR READING AND SHARING YOUR LOVE FOR THE STORY". I have to credit Lynx, our editor, for two of the big plot points you gushed about: Tigerclaw's relationship with Fireheart and Ashpaw's death were both her idea, and they worked out wonderfully. It's as much a compliment to her as it is to me that you loved them both so much!

[imagineitdearies]

Ahhh! So I don’t think I have ever cringed so hard while also being unable to stop reading before in my life. Ch19 was awful, but I pushed through. It was actually the summoned devil from Helsik that got me.

That was ROUGH.

That being said, I’m so happy part 3 is here and immediately went to read more! Also considering re-reading to get me through having to wait 😅

Hi aeyoh! It's funny how everyone has their comfort levels and boundaries when it comes to different types of dark content, isn't it? I'm sure some readers would call ch19 worse, while others like you found "true and simple pain" more harrowing.

And that's sort of a parallel to the chapter itself! When I decided that Astarion's "screams sounding sweetest" was due to his inability to dissociate during pain (not that he can't handle it better than the average rando, especially long-term), I thought giving Tyrus the opposite issue--he quickly learns to dissociate from pain, but struggles to ever do the same during sexual abuse--would be a nice juxtaposition to show how people have different reactions to and traumas from the same abuse.

I'm so excited to be sharing part three with everyone! Updates may be a bit slower thanks to my annoyingly low mental health for the last week or so, but this fic (and you readers) remain a bright light in my life 💙💙💙

[mermaidsirennikita]

what are your top 10 favorite film releases of 2024 THUS FAR?

I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED

Blink Twice—I will be honest, as much as I wanted to see this, I was a bit worried because I truly expected it to be like... good, but very hard to watch. However, it was good and entertaining and harrowing! Brilliant performances all around, love a thriller that centers women of color, solidarity, and survival. Kinda funny at points, which was hard to do with that plot. Channing Tatum was... really good???

Trap—Another great thriller! Launched a thousand fanfic and dark romance ideas in my head alone!

The First Omen—I ADORED this film. And as I also love the original, I didn't expect to at all!!! It was scary, it was feminist, it was honestly (and I liked Immaculate but this is true) better than Immaculate. Great movie.

The Fall Guy—A very fun romcom that actually became more fun as I rewatched it lol

Rebel Ridge—Extremely well done. It felt like a 2024 Rambo, but much more aligned with what the original Rambo was (anti-cop) than the sequels.

Monkey Man—Aaaaah man. Just a thrilling, moving, visually stunning movie. Dev has always had IT as an actor, but as it turns out he's also a brilliant director!

Challengers—BUT OF COURSE. Maybe my favorite movie of the year, tbh. Tightly-paced, well-written, brilliantly acted, HOT.

Lisa Frankenstein—Such a good romcom!!! Funny, sweet, ridiculous, emblematic of our times, the sort of teen movie I want the teens to have

Tell Them You Love Me—This was a documentary but RIVETING, and while a tough watch, very important

Argylle—I remain an Argylle Warrior. So funny, so irreverent, SO ROMANTIC FRANKLY

[toweringclam]

Harrow Nova's mental illness

Harrowhark's mental illness is such a vital part of her character and I think any AU that doesn't address that is Doing It Wrong. However, under different circumstances, her issues would likely manifest in different ways. But how? As is, it's somewhat difficult (by design) to pin down what exactly her delusions are, since most of them have some material support in the story, and I think that's very important to Harrow Nova.

Basically, everything she sees and believes should have enough support in the story itself that it becomes difficult or even impossible to truly separate what is true from what isn't. Vibes only here. Like does Harrowhark have a truly special relationship with Alecto? Probably not, actually. Alecto loves everyone, and she loves with teeth. That sort of thing.

So what are Harrow Nova's delusions? Granted we're working with a very tiny sample here but I think the answer is clear:

Grandeur, manifesting as being chuuni as fuck.

Chuunibyo ("eighth grade syndrome" in Japanese) is often seen as a punchline. Kids who think they can throw fireballs or give themselves more heroic epithets than Achilles are funny, right? Well...what if they're serious? Most kids know it's fake and are just trying to be cool, but what if they actually believed it? Based their whole life around it? It happens, it's not good, and mocking them online is NOT HELPING. (It's not funny, stop it)

But think of the tone of Chapter 40 with that in mind. Read it with the knowledge there are two different layers of unreliable narrator. Try looking at it from another character's perspective. The weird little gremlin got out of her cage and is now swinging around a pelvis on a chain, calling it a holy relic. Worse, she's somehow got her hands on a sword. She declares herself with a bunch of titles and challenges the Cavalier to a duel. He draws to defend himself, and everyone scolds him.

This is normal for Harrow. It's probably an escalation, but no one acts like it's her fault. They react with pity, not scorn.

So while mainline Harrowhark developed religious and persecutory delusions due to her station, Harrow Nova developed grandiose delusions from hers. From talking to people who suffer from grandiose delusions, they can actually serve as a defense mechanism. The world is cruel, but if you're The Special, you WILL get through this.

Is that actually the Chain of Samael? It could be. Does it have any special powers? Probably not, but maybe. WE know the creche slaughter happened, and she thinks it did, but wouldn't it be in Priamhark and Pelleamena's best interest to try to gaslight her on that? Is she officially a cavalier secondary? Is she even that good a fighter or do people just not want her to hurt herself?

From her perspective, it's moot. This is her reality. Those are questions for Gideon's perspective.

[talenlee]

What Disgusts Jod?

Hey, you know, in the Locked Tomb, is Jod an ally?

SPOILER WARNING: If you’ve read the books you know this question is deliberately stupid and if you don’t see that sentence and know why it’s funny I asked it, you probably will learn something about the books you didn’t already know. I figure if you’re say, halfway through Harrow the Ninth, you may want to hold off on this question.

CONTENT WARNING: We’re talking about queerness in the universe of the Locked Tomb, which means talking about some of the genocide stuff there.

Okay, so straight up, Jod has sex with two people in the series who have different genders to one another. At the same time. Like, dude makes out with a dude and a girl and then a threesome ensues and it’s just part of the story, because this is a normal book series. Asking if he’s queer is a non-starter, he absolutely is. That’s a given fact.

The thing is, there are plenty of people who aren’t allies. Ally is a term we throw around a lot these days like it’s a category of Near Queer But Not Actually, which I guess it needs because there needed to be a term for people who didn’t want to put on some colours while still flying the flag. You know, a straight person who wants to make it clear they’re not an asshole so they dedicate themselves to the task of Being An Ally or declaring themselves an Ally. It’s a complicated term to relate to because in my opinion, Allyship is not about things you know and do but a position you’re willing to take. ‘Cos like, if you’re an Ally, if you’re in the alliance, then you need to be part of that alliance, and that allliance?

There are a lot of gay guys who aren’t allies. There are a lot of bi guys who aren’t allies, ‘cos allyship is about more than being included in the list of acronyms. Famously, there have been a lot of guys in positions of power in the history of the world who have in fact worked against the alliance because they prefer the power and hate their peer group. Check out Roy Cohn’s story sometime.

The origin point for all this was that I got thinking about models of morality that care about matters of principle versus matters of disgust. Most people make moral judgments off disgust, not because they’re bad people but because it’s a powerful default and our society does a lot to code things it considers unethical as disgusting, and things that aren’t disgusting as not unethical. Employers stealing money from their workers is just a mistake or a misfiling or an oopsie, but workers stealing from their employees are slimy or sneaky or greasy or dirty. They’re probably going to use it to make drug pregnancies or something. From there I thought about the things in the universe of The Locked Tomb that might reflect on what we could deduce that Jod thinks of as disgusting, and it turns out it’s a short list. Jod thinks defying Jod is disgusting and everything else is… y’know, tolerable. We’ll get around to it.

I think it’s interesting to consider then the morality of this necromantic universe is a man shaped by our society, given freedom to operate how he wants, and yet still a creature shaped by his experiences in our world. I think it’s very reasonable to imagine that, originally, Jod wasn’t particularly queer, and that his queerness transpired over time as he faced down an eternal reality stretching out in front of him.

It’s a kind of question about what you think human minds do when confronted with infinity. It’s not uncommon for religious perspectives I’m familiar with to think that there’s a sort of perfected, absolute mind in the core of how your mind functions, and that version of who you are is kind of fundamentally capable of existing timelessly. That’s a vision of the mind that also sees it as disconnected from the material considerations of the meat that makes up our bodies: the idea that in heaven, for example, people aren’t autistic or disabled any more, which is one of those ideas that betrays a concept at the heart of faith where there are certain people and ways people exist that are wrong, and disordered, and need to be cleaned up.

In some cases, this is a thing that works out okay because, y’know, I don’t imagine people who lose legs wouldn’t like to have a leg back, but the idea of a perfectly ordered person that we’re all paperjam prints of is both very Modern Christian, and also, kinda deeply messed up. It’s something that The Locked Tomb even interrogates, with the conception of the soul (a thing that carries a sort of fundamental you-ness that doesn’t even necessarily care about your body), and yet the way that the soul is influenced by the the physical and material elements of the brain (such as the distortions in Harrow’s brain that speak to her schizophrenia, which is connected to the body and not necessarily the soul). I’ve talked about this before, in the way that The Locked Tomb considers dualism. It’s this idea of the soul as a non-bodied version of the person that comes to bear in the conception of how Jod handles being eternal.

How much of Jod is the way he was brought up?

Jod is ten thousand years old, he is ancient beyond human conception, but he is still recognisably and familiarly Just A Dude. Jod is a dude who is endowed by nature with immense importance but by social expectation the role of Guy Who Sucks. By watching Jod in the story, especially how he tries to explain himself and justify the way he did, you know, genocides, it’s clear that there is an attempt to at least project a vision of being An Actual Person, that the eternity of him was still marked in places that may result in being, oh, say, pretty reasonably a 40 year old in the 2020s who maybe at some point was really heavily into Homestuck.

If we assume Jod’s a person and Jod’s able to maintain some sense of continuity of being a person like we’re familiar with them over that lengthy a period of time, then, if there’s an eternity to him, then it’s reasonable to expect that whatever we see of Jod’s sexuality, it’s something that he was always at least a little bit built on there, built on what he was and always thought. Not saying he was always all over the place like that, indeed the only vision we get of his prior life is a bit low on the hot sexy times. Then again, counterpoint, most people who run sex cults don’t describe them as sex cults, because they want to play down the sex cult angle.

Does Jod feel shame like that?

The world Jod runs is pretty creepy and horrifying. It has, functionally, feudalism and lorded monarchy. It’s a place where a replication of the Catholic church stands by to safeguard a monument to his sins, where the greatest force in the universe is all turned on the task of killing the descendents of people he’s mad at, and in the context of the society he shapes and rules, the idea that the Blood of Eden don’t deserve genocide because they’re descended from people, some of whom definitely deserved some murders. The moral framework of Jod’s world is a great example of a fascist state, or what Plato considered as an ideal society overseen by a philosopher-king. The whole of power is filtered up to one person, who considers their job to be the task of being the ruler, and therefore, the whole of the society’s best behaviour is a reflection of that Philosopher King.

And of course, as with anyone else who contemplates this model outside of Plato’s ideal of hey, just always get a good Philosopher king, the whole of The Locked Tomb is about what if you get an eternal Philosopher King who’s a guy who sucks?

This is a world built out of this man’s disgusts. Its hatred of beaurocracy, its distrust of failsafes, its demand of rituals – you know, if people would just do things the way they’re supposed to be done and all of it through an impenetrable fog of what satisfies his emotional perspective. And he wants to fuck people of all sorts of genders, so the world shaped by his wants, his personal reactions to right and wrong, and what power permits him to do and demand. He is allowed to do the things he can do because he has the power to do it and in his society, that attitude of power flows downhill. It’s fascism, even though he’s queer.

Which, you know, this all works out like oh, hey, diversity win, this tyrannical Catholic abomination against all life is a pansexual man of colour! We love, as it were, to see it.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[loneamaryllis]

Some recs for @hprecfest

Day 1: A favorite fic under 5k

Harriet Potter Is by setepenre_set (Gen, T, 2k)

A short fic that's packed full of feels and awesomeness. Harriet gets sorted into Slytherin and that changes everything. I love the writing style of that fic!

Day 2: A comfort fic

Succor by pluperfectsunrise (Fem!Harry/Snape, E, 40k)

One of the first Fem!Harry/Snape fics I read, and I keep coming back to it. It's a soulmates fic that spans the entirety of canon. I love the way their relationship evolves over the years, and I especially like the say the author writes the intimacy between Harriet and Snape.

Day 4: A fic with art

The Curse of Anteros by @danpuff-ao3, illustrated by @mrviran (Harry/Snape, E, 53k)

This fic is such a whirlwind of tight, exquisitely crafted writing and all the Snarry feels one could want. Plus extra hot smut! And the art is incredible. Harry and Snape have to defeat a curse while also dealing with their attraction to each other... I don't want to say more, you should definitely go read the fic!

Day 6: An unreliable narrator fic

Forget-me-not by Elffaw (Harry/Snape, M, 1,5k)

The atmosphere in this fic is so ominous. When reading, you *know* something is wrong, and you keep wondering what until you reach the end... The author did such a good job at crafting the mystery!

Day 7: A canon-compliant fic

Year of the Thestral by @perverse-idyll (McGonagall/Snape and McGonagall/Hooch, E, 115k at the moment with two more chapters planned)

Let's say canon-compliant-ish? There's nothing in canon that says it couldn't have happened... This fic is a brilliant exploration of Snape's last year, with incredible writing and the best Snape descriptions I've ever had the pleasure to read. It's dark, it's harrowing, it's funny at times, and it will twist your soul into bits and leave you wanting more.

Day 8: A canon-divergence fic

Epitaph by sheswayout (Fem!Harry/Snape, M, 22k for now with more chapters planned)

Fem!Harry so obviously canon-divergent, and then Snape lives and Harriet starts visiting him in the hospital. It's a fic that looks at what happens in the wake of war, and how Snape and Harriet can go forward and perhaps do so together. It's soft and calm and self-reflective, and I love it.

Day 9: A rare pair fic (less than 2000 fics on AO3)

A Most Unexpected Turn of Events by @hirukochan (Fem!Harry/Snape/Voldemort, E, 62k with more chapters planned)

The perfect threesome. No, you can't change my mind. Hiruko is great at writing complex characters and hot smut, and this fic is a stellar example of both!

Day 10: A fest fic

Predetermined by brightened (Snape/Harry, E, 9k)

This fic features Snape as a smut writer, and just for that you should read it. It also has excerpts of the books Snape is writing, creating a narrative within the narrative, and it's so much fun to read!