#who has been named since I first posted this and its sequel

[physalian]

When To Keep Your Writing Stiff (pt 7)

Part 6

Part 1

Gonna shoutout a specific fanfic, “Salvage” (ATLA) for writing that is even leaner than mine is, and mine has zero fat whatsoever. This was really good. I particularly like how some scenes were only 2 or 3 lines long as an example of what I’m going for here.

When I say “stiff” in the following examples I’m specifically talking about a lot of the same syntax, few similes and metaphors, few ‘said’ synonyms, very little, well, “life” in the prose. And this can be good in a few situations.

1. Your narrator is in shock

Shock doesn’t all look the same, but the kind of shock I mean is the one where the person is really quiet and un-emotive, they’re probably not speaking or reacting much to whatever catastrophe just happened and probably not responding to their name or anything spoken to them. Their body is pretty much going “uhhhhhhhhh factory reset!” when whatever it is, is too much to process.

A asks them a question. Once. Twice. B stares ahead. There’s a brown stain on the wall that looks like a thumb.

So if they’re narrating, they’re probably going to be giving the absolute bare minimum, need-to-know information and won’t be thinking about the best adjectives and adverbs. Especially if you normally write with fluffier prose, a jarring shift like this can really help sell the shock and dissociating of the character, something so traumatizing that it effects how the story is told.

2. Your narrator is depressed

Somewhere between New Moon’s 4 pages of just Months to show Bella did absolutely nothing in a depression rot and normal prose (though it was effective, particularly in the movie when they could draw out the words on the screen for longer and did the whole spin-around-her-depression-chair montage).

January came. It rained a lot.

They’ll probably either narrate very thinly, or listlessly. They might focus on a random detail and start going on a long ramble about that one detail that isn’t at all important, but it’s either all they can think about or all that can move them to feel anything in this moment, like:

On the bedside table, that coffee mug still sat there in a thin sheet of dust. What had been liquid now long since dry and gluey. It still sits there, collecting cat fur.

This might be the best place for sentences that all sound and flow exactly the same, but use it sparingly.

3. Your narrator is having a panic attack or trapped in a traumatic situation

Different from shock in that while they are physically capable of moving and interacting, they can’t let themselves describe what they’re seeing and feeling in grand detail. Maybe they’re moving through the horrific aftermath of a battle and all they can describe is the mud under their feet and how it squelches. Or they simply say that “there’s bodies everywhere” because looking too long or too hard at who those bodies belonged to is too much.

4. You’re writing something that has incredibly fast pacing

This post was inspired by a fic I just wrote that spanned about 5 months in about 18k words. Narrative was skipping days ahead between paragraphs at some point as my character was processing the end of an abusive relationship. It sped up and slowed down where necessary, but compared to its sequel that I also just finished (22k words across 7 days), I’d covered a whole month in about 2 sentences in the first one.

See nearly any part of Salvage (or my fics if you feel like it)

What happened in that month didn’t matter, only what was before and what’s different now and how this character realizes how their life is slowly changing, some things they never noticed that are suddenly right in their face or things that quietly slipped away.

—

TLDR; sometimes the lack of emotion and sensory details and frenetic, dynamic syntax is the point, that can sell the reader on the narrator’s mental state far better than picking the juiciest adverbs. If it’s so impactful to them that the physical telling of the story is changed, you’ve done your job.

[honeyxmooncalves]

This may be a very controversial post but I have just found out that Hogwarts Legacy 2 is supposed to coincide with the new HBO series, which will be set in the 1990’s. If this is true and HL2 is set around that time, I personally may not enjoy it as much. Personally, I would 100% prefer a direct sequel to HL1 and not a retelling of the HP books. I just feel like there is so much from HL1 that has been left undiscovered, like Anne’s cure, Sebastian’s future, even the ancient magic a bit, because if there was another Ranrok, the whole gameplay could occur all over again. I even thought it could be cool exploring more about Ominis’ family, and maybe there being a prophecy about Merope Gaunt, and subsequently, Tom Riddle/Voldemort, which could potentially link to the HBO series. If it was set in a more modern time frame as well, it might not be as exhilarating to play since we already know about the First and Second Wizarding Wars. Another possibility could be a few years after HL1 gameplay, exploring Dumbledore’s family, his fight with Grindelwald and their time at Hogwarts. I just personally feel that a modern Hogwarts Legacy would skip all of the past stuff from the first game, and the ancient magic, and so would not be very related to Hogwarts Legacy 1, and so I don’t see how a retelling of the first wizarding war or even the second wizarding war and Harry’s time at Hogwarts could be considered part of the ‘Legacy’ and its plot line. Don’t get me wrong, I do think that a game based on the first Wizarding War would be really interesting, but having and MC could meddle with canon, and is not related to HL, so would be better off being named The Order of the Phoenix, and not considered a sequel to Hogwarts Legacy. Furthermore, it feels too soon to let go of the characters that we met in HL1, some of who (Sallows) still have plot to uncover and solve, and I think personally it would be unsatisfactory to leave such a huge part of HL unsolved.

If you disagree with me, I totally respect that, I just needed to rant cos I was upset at the prospect of saying goodbye to 1890s HL and the lovely characters from it.

[harry-on-broadway]

Fancy Dress

Word Count: 3.4K || Rating: M

A/N: So this was supposed to be posted in time for Halloween, but better late than never I guess. It can be read on its own, but I've been thinking of it as a sequel to last year's Harryween one-shot. It's not much, but I hope at least a few people enjoy it. 🫶🏻

***

“Gonna dress up for me again this year?” 

Those words had echoed through your head since he’d whispered them in your ear as the first glimpses of dawn pushed through the cloudy London skies. His body, warming yours as he inched closer to you on your pillow, threw off heat, stronger than any radiator you’d ever encountered, and you scooted closer to him in an attempt to ward off the chill of the room. 

“What are you talking about?” Your voice was hoarse, still thick with sleep. 

“For Halloween.”

“You hate Halloween.” You twisted in his arms to roll over and face him. “You’ve made that clear many times.”

“A man can change his mind.”

You sighed. “What happened to ‘Tour’s over. Let’s do something quiet this year?’ Hmm?”

Harry traced a line down your spine and you shivered under his touch. “Doesn’t have to be a big deal. Can be just the two of us.” 

“Well, I’m planning on dressing up as ‘woman who wants to snuggle and eat candy with her boyfriend.’ Accessories include sweatpants and a hoodie, as well as candy and an Apple TV remote.” You felt his laugh against your hair. “Best news of all, it’s a couples costume,” you continued. 

“Oh is it?” 

“Mmhmm. And if you don’t want in, it’s OK. I’ll just call my other boyfriend.”

“Your other boyfriend?!?!” Harry easily flipped you so you were lying trapped underneath him and began pressing feverish kisses against your skin as he tickled your sides. “You better take that back.” 

“Giovanni would never do this,” you laughed.

“He has a name?!” 

You laughed even harder as Harry doubled down on his efforts, forgetting about Halloween all together. 

***

Harry didn’t let the topic rest over the next couple of weeks, sending pictures of costumes – some tame, some a little sexier – throughout the day, earning a fair number of eye rolls from you. 

“What? I’m just trying to brainstorm.”

You looked up from your computer. “Why is this so important to you? Halloween’s never been a big deal. And it’s essentially been a work event for you for the past two years.” 

“I mean,” he shifted in the seat. “Last year was really…nice,” he said thoughtfully. “I liked getting to spend time with you.”

“You liked having sex,” you corrected. 

“Which technically counts as spending time with you.” He ignored your glare and turned thoughtful. “I’m just kidding, but really, I liked getting to spend a fun night with you and would love to do it again. If you feel the same way.”

You softened hearing how much that night meant to him. “Doesn’t it feel less special when it’s not a surprise?”

“I’m going to be honest, love, I really don’t care how it happens as long as you’re naked in my bed.” There was a slightest hint of a blush across his cheeks, and you felt a heat flame across yours as well. You’d been together for awhile now, with no plans of leaving each other anytime soon, but such an intimate admission felt vulnerable.

“You are such a boy,” you chided, not willing to let him onto the jolt of pride you felt at being so openly desired by him. “But we’ll see how I feel.” 

“I can work with that,” Harry said, turning back to his phone, a sly grin on his face.

***

The invitation arrived a few days later. A friend of a friend who he hadn’t seen in ages was throwing a “fancy dress party,” which despite your early assumptions was not a black tie affair. You weren’t that enthusiastic about going, and you could tell Harry was forcing himself to be excited, not wanting to let a friend down. 

“It’ll be fun,” he said, sounding more like he was convincing himself rather than you. “We don’t have to stay the whole time either.”

“Whatever makes you happy, babe,” you said, kissing his cheek. “Pick out whatever costume you want and we can go from there.” 

Picking the costume was easier said than done and the two of you spent much of the next week bickering over who had the better idea. Harry’d been pushing for Barbie and Ken, but you’d dismissed the idea as overdone. And your own suggestion of Paolo and Isabella was shut down by Harry who said he didn’t get the reference. It wasn’t until you all were flicking through the channels on the couch when you all came up with your idea. 

“It’s perfect,” Harry said, grinning at the screen. 

“And super easy,” you added. 

Which is how you all found yourself walking into the party dressed as two characters out of The Notebook, thanks to the blue dress you’d found in the back of your closet and the white button down Harry had pulled from his. You’d offered to splash some water on him to add authenticity, but he declined. 

You weren’t sure what you were expecting but the party was a surprisingly low-key affair. Classic simple costumes – vampires with plastic fangs and lipstick blood stains and black cats with felt ears – mixed with some that were more of the moment, ranging from a half-assed Barbie and Ken to what appeared to be Harley Quinn and the Joker. 

“Told you,” you whispered against his ear, as he passed you a drink, looking on as a Barbie walked by looking for her Ken, earning you an elbow to the ribs. 

“Nice look,” Johnny said, fixing a drink of his own. “How did Harry convince you?”

“It was actually a group effort,” you said, with a laugh. 

“Felt a little like fate. We were watching TV one night, the movie was on and it was like a lightbulb went off,” Harry said, wrapping his arm around you. 

“It was easy too,” you chimed in. 

Even though you all had been together for a while, Harry’s circle was so vast that you still hadn’t met many of them, making the party a little nerve wracking, a bunch of faces that weren’t familiar yet. But Harry stayed by you the entire night, hand in hand, steering you around the party, introducing you to his favorite people, and shielding you from the ones he wasn’t as fond of. Going into the evening, you all had made a pact to stay for only an hour, but two had passed by the time either of you looked at the clock. 

“OK to stay a little longer?” he asked and you’d nodded, before turning your attention back to Erin and her story about a costume contest gone wrong. 

Three hours in, you found yourselves on a couch in the back of the house. The room had unofficially been designated at the quiet zone, with a few people taking calls or a breather before returning to the party. Harry flopped down on the end of the sofa, pulling you onto his lap before sighing contentedly. 

“Are you tired?” You rested your forehead against his as pressed a gentle kiss to the bridge of his nose. 

“A little.”

“Well that’s too bad,” you said softly. “Guess I won’t be able to give you your treat tonight.” 

At the mention of the treat, he perked up tremendously. “I mean I’m not that tired. I’d hate to miss it after you put in the effort.” His eyes were steely as he held your gaze. 

“You don’t even know what it is!”

“Doesn’t matter. I don’t think you could ever disappoint me.”

You grinned and shifted in his lap, causing your dress to slip up and you guided his hand up your bare leg to rest just under the hem of your dress. His fingers groped blindly and when they reached the edge of your lacy undergarments his eyes widened. 

“Oh fuck,” he whispered against your neck. 

“Do you like it?”

“Do I like it?!”

“I mean you haven’t seen it yet…” 

“I’ll bloody well be pleased with anything you wear,” he breathed against your neck. 

“Thirty more minutes and then we’ll head out?”

“Fuck that, we’re leaving now.” He gently pushed you up and out of his lap before standing and nearly dragging you to the door.

Harry made a beeline for your coats and bags, and when he had them in hand he caught your eye and nodded towards the front door. You held up a finger and signaled for him to wait before enacting the second phase of your plan. Slowly, you walked up to the first person you could see, thanking them and chatting some more about the party. You repeated this for the next person and the next and the next, until you finally found yourself reunited with Harry. 

“Ready?” you asked. 

“It’s not funny.”

“What?” you asked, feigning innocence. 

“Making me wait when I’m…” Your eyes drifted down to his pants. “How bad is it?” he asked, almost wincing. 

“Not bad, baby, but we should probably do something about that.” 

“You don’t say? Please, for the love of God, get in the car.” 

You laughed, enjoying having him beg for you. “Whatever you say.” 

What followed was the most tense car ride in recent memory. Harry’s leg bounced up and down, his hand gripped tight on your thigh as he looked ahead. His breathing was even and measured but the intensity in his eyes told you he felt anything but. You smiled, pleased with the effect you had on him. 

When the driver pulled through the gate, Harry thanked him, quickly and politely, and you did the same, scurrying along when Harry all but pulled you up the path, jamming his key in the lock and throwing the door open. You closed the door behind you, securing the deadbolt when Harry spun you around and pressed you against the door. 

He held your face, angling it to look up at him and he took a shaky breath, before pressing his lips to yours. The kiss was surprisingly restrained, almost chaste, but you savored the way he felt so close against you. Again and again he kissed you. Lips, neck, cheeks, no part of you went unnoticed. You wanted to show him the same affection, but he wouldn’t give you the chance. His hands found your shoulders, pulling your coat off, and then working the straps of your dress down your shoulders, his lips trailing in the wake of his hands. 

After a few moments, you managed to pant out a single word. “Upstairs?” 

Harry pulled back, his lips plump and pink from his efforts, his hair messed from the way your fingers had been threaded through it. “Yeah,” he managed to nod, looking dazed, and you took the lead this time, pulling him towards the stairs. 

In your haste to get to the bedroom, you tripped, over the step or your own feet, you weren’t sure, and landed face first on the carpet, Harry tumbling down after you. 

“If you wanted me on top of you love, all you had to do was ask,” Harry muttered, as you shoved his shoulder. “Are you OK?” 

“I’m fine. You?” 

“No worse for wear. Shall we try this again?” He pushed up from the stairs and offered his hand, which you gladly took. Slower this time, you all continued up the stairs and into the bedroom, where Harry sat on the bed, pulling you onto his lap. “Sure you’re good to do this.” 

You nodded. “Yes, I just need a minute to get ready.”

“Get ready?” Harry arched his brow. “Tell me more.”

“You need to close your eyes.”

“Close my eyes…OK.” He shut his eyes and you wriggled out of his grasp, walking over to your dresser and doing your best not to make a sound as you fished around for the headband you’d stashed there earlier. 

“What is this?” Harry called from across the room. “Some sort of Notebook roleplay? Do you have a thing for Gosling too?” 

“Hush, or you’re not getting your treat.”

That silenced him and you double checked to make sure the accessory was secured on your head. You shimmied out of your dress until you were wearing nothing but your second costume. If you were honest, costume was a liberal description of the flimsy Halloween store lingerie you ‘d been wearing all night. According to the package, you were a dark angel, but the only thing angelic about it was the halo that was precariously perched on top of your head. You stood in front of the mirror, surveyed yourself and tried to summon the confidence to tell Harry to open his eyes. 

“Are you taking your clothes off? I thought that was my treat!”

It was almost funny how outraged he sounded, like a petulant child robbed of a promised prize. 

“Oh I think, you’ll like what I’ve picked out for you,” you shot back. At least you hoped he would. Once you contorted yourself into the black wings that came with the ensemble, you turned to face him, still sitting on the bed with his eyes shut. You padded over to him, wrapping your arms around his neck, as you climbed astride him. Once you’d settled into his lap, you uttered the word he’d been waiting for. “Open.”

His eyes flew open and you had to fight a laugh at how comical his face was. Eyes wide and mouth open he was like a teenaged boy who’d yet to see a pair of breasts, as he glanced between yours, covered in a sheer, lacy bralette and your face. 

“Fucking hell what is this?”

“You said you wanted me to dress up…”

“Yeah, I did. I did say that,” he said, wetting his lips, his eyes transfixed on your chest. 

“And I didn’t really know what to dress up as since you weren’t doing a show this year and we didn’t really have a theme and I couldn’t think anything on my own and this was the only thing left at the store and –” 

He cut you off with a kiss, more passionate than those he’d first given you in the entryway. “It’s perfect, love. Better than I could have imagined.” 

He held you tight against him as he kissed you, his fingers tangled in your hair and yours in his. You tightened the grip of your legs around his waist as you returned his kisses with a passion you didn’t think you’d ever felt before. In the heat of the moment, you rolled your hips, dragging your center over his lap and feeling every inch of his growing erection through the flimsy fabric of your panties. You moaned at the sensation and did it again. He felt even harder than before and you shuddered involuntarily at the thought of him inside you later. 

“You like that baby,” he huffed against your mouth. “Does my angel like that?” he asked as he bucked his hips. 

“Yes. Yes, please,” you replied, practically begging for more. 

“Going to be good and let me take this off of you?” His hands were on your hips, stilling your movement. 

You closed your eyes and bit your lip, nodding, not trusting yourself to speak. Suddenly you felt Harry’s teeth against your shoulder as he used his them to pull your bra strap down, the movement scratching at your skin in the most delicious way, before Harry trailed kisses down your arm, soothing the sting away. He repeated the action on the other side before placing a kiss on the side of your breast and wrapping his tongue around your nipple. Hands still on your hips, he gently pushed you, encouraging you to rock back and forth on him once again. 

You were so sensitive that even the smallest action had a massive effect. The combination of his mouth and the rhythm of your hips moving in time together had you feeling the beginnings of an orgasm deep within you, a feeling that was only magnified as he moved across your chest to your other breast. 

“Love,” Harry said after a moment, pulling away from you. 

“Yes?”

“I-I-” He started again. “We need to do something otherwise I’m not going to last.” His cheeks were red, whether from passion or embarrassment, you weren’t sure, but you nuzzled against his neck. 

“That’s alright, baby. I’m all yours.”

“Yeah, you are,” Harry said, almost as if he didn’t believe it. “Wanna get up for me?” 

You climbed off of him with wobbly legs, nearly landing on your ass – and taking Harry with you – in the process. But Harry scooped you up in his arms, helping you get comfortable on the bed, as you all laughed off the moment of clumsiness. 

“Do you want to take this off?” you asked, gesturing to the cheap black wings that were shedding all over the white sheets. 

“No, I kind of like them,” Harry said. “It’s uh…kind of sexy,” he mumbled, against your neck. 

“Noted.” 

“May I?” He’d hooked his fingers around the waistband of your panties, waiting for your nod of consent, which you readily gave him. He slowly pulled them down your legs, tossing them somewhere behind him, before moving his lips down your body. 

It was almost a ritual at this point, the way he explored you as if you were uncharted territory each time he had you naked in front of him. You’d been told this wouldn’t last forever, that all couples eventually tired of each other, that sex became a routine thing, a means to an end. That may be the case, but you secretly hoped that you and Harry were the exception to this rule. 

He’d made his way down to your thighs at this point and you opened your legs wider, inviting him in. Your back arched when you felt his fingers inside you, testing the waters. 

“So wet for me already and I’ve barely done anything. Careful love, this will go to my head.” 

You made to kick him, but he dodged your attack and managed to hit that spot in the process, drawing a cry from you. 

“Was that good?” You could hear the teasing smirk in his voice. 

“You know it was.”

He crooked his fingers, earning another moan from you as you tried to pull him up to you. “Ready so soon?” he asked, as if he wasn’t already aware. He lined himself up with you and thrust forward with no preamble. 

His sheer size still took your breath away – quite literally – and you breathed heavily at the feeling of him, all of him, inside of you. 

“Easy, love. Slow,” he said, calming you as he gave you a moment to adjust, waiting until your breath had steadied before gently rocking forward.

You angled your hips up, meeting his pace and trying to drive him as deep inside of you as possible. You brought your legs higher around him, giving him more freedom to move and his pace accelerated. 

The sounds coming from your bedroom were, quite simply, ugly. Between the moans and groans and heavy breathing, the grunts that meant move over or shift this way that you all inherently understood, the sounds of sweaty bodies rubbing against each other. It was brutal, but you wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“Love, I’m going to come,” Harry said, words urgent against your ear. “I’m not going to be able to hold on.” 

“It’s OK baby,” you said, encouraging him. He was always so selfless, you wanted him, just once, to take a moment for himself. “Just let go.” 

His hips stuttered, once, twice, three times in quick succession and you felt the tell-tale warmth and wetness of his orgasm between your legs. 

“Oh, fuck, I’m so sorry,” he wheezed. “I’ll make it up to you. I promise.” 

You sighed softly, contentment radiating through you. “You don’t have to. Sometimes it’s nice to just…” 

“Yeah…” 

The two of you lay there like that for a while, ignoring the stickiness of the sweat, and for you, the itchiness of the costume pieces that were still on you. 

Finally, Harry rolled off of you, and you cuddled into his side. 

“That was a very nice treat,” he said, voice hoarse. “I think we both need more treats.” 

“I’ll second that. And I promise next year will be even better.” 

“Next year?” Harry said aghast. “I think you deserve one of your own right now.” 

***

talk to me! || master list

[evanbuckleyrecs]

Buddie AUs over 20k

To catch up on recommending fics in my bookmarks, I'll also try to make some lists instead of posting one fic per post. Though some fics might also still get their own posts even while added in a list.

To start, here are some finished Buddie AUs with more than 20k words

(I made this list in March so it doesn't have any newer fics. Soon I want to spend a day dedicated to catching up to new fics and adding posts to my queue here)

what if you're someone I just want around by ReallySmartLadyMarieCurie

20k, Rated T

"Eddie pauses in his typing, glancing at Buck and trying to figure him out. He seems so eager to help and to please, so willing to take some of the burden in order to make others happy. It’s the sort of presence that Eddie’s been craving in his life. One that he’s missed since Shannon’s fatal accident. And he’s incredibly handsome. He’s got conventional good looks and a beautiful smile, but that pink little splotch above his eye, which Eddie guesses is a birthmark, is really what brings it home."

Or, Eddie Diaz is a successful boxer who's been making a big name for himself in recent years. Buck is a fan, but he certainly never expected to end up at Eddie's house after the man calls 9-1-1 when his son gets sick.

I love the way you spoil me, baby by rosebuddiekin

33,8K, rated E

“I, uh, I was actually at that coffee shop to meet with someone else. You see, for the past few years, I’ve been a sugar daddy on a site that connects people looking for similar things. I was supposed to meet with a prospective baby that day, but then I saw you. And I felt drawn to you, so I messaged the guy I was supposed to be seeing and told him I had to cancel. I just, I thought you should know. That I should be upfront about it from the start.”

Eddie’s fork drops to his plate, making a small clatter. He can feel that his mouth is agape. He’s very glad he hadn’t taken another bite or sip of anything while Buck spoke. Because what the actual fuck? Buck… is a sugar daddy.

OR: Buck is a sugar daddy who wants to spoil Eddie rotten and take care of everything for him. Eddie has never had that sort of relationship but is willing to give it a try. There is plenty of adventure along the way.

Sunny skies & summer high by prettyboybuckley

Sequel to a one shot, 43,8K, rated E


"Well, I kind of want to kiss you right now but that's usually something that happens at the end of a first date, right?" Buck asks, doing a weird movement with his eyebrows in an attempt to be funny.

Eddie chuckles, wrinkling his nose a little.

"I guess, yeah," he mutters. "Think we're doing this a little backward already anyway, so are there any rules to follow?"

He's got a point there, and even then Buck has never really been the kind of guy who follows rules, so he ends up leaning over the center console as he uses one hand to pull Eddie's face towards him. It's a short kiss, a simple peck hello that Eddie chases after when Buck pulls away again.

OR: Buck and Eddie sneak around behind Eddie’s family’s back, spend the summer together, smoke a lot of weed, and fall in love along the way

Kiss me before It's over (if only for a minute) by Bob_loblaws_lawblog

54,2K, Rated E

Evan Buckley is living out his childhood dream as the star hitter for the Philadelphia Phillies. He’s climbing the ranks, improving his stats with every single game – he’s unstoppable.

That is, until the Los Angeles Angels get a new pitcher seemingly out of nowhere. Known for his strong arm and tricky curve balls, Eddie Diaz is one of the few pitchers in the nation who consistently makes Buck strike out, and its infuriating. Even from the sixty feet that separate them between the batter’s box and the pitcher’s mound, the weight of Diaz’s gaze is enough to make Buck’s blood boil.

Because Buck doesn’t get nervous on game day, he never feels calmer than when he steps up to the plate with the bat in his hand – it’s where he belongs. But when he sees Eddie Diaz standing on that mound, his stomach flips and nerves spark across his skin.

Because if there is one thing Buck knows for sure, it is that he hates Eddie Diaz.

… Until he doesn’t.

Traded by princessfbi

23,7K, rated M

Really, it was Lena’s fault. She’d been the one to demand a video when Eddie had finally caved and sent an SOS to the group chat asking if anyone was willing to trade.

“Is anyone interested in trading jerseys with me? Preferably for a smaller size,” Eddie had said because knowing his coworkers, one of them would’ve been a smart ass and gave him an even bigger size. “I ordered an XL because I’m usually a XL but… the way it fits makes me look like I’m fucking one of the players.”

Eddie wasn't trying to go viral. He just wanted to trade his jersey. But then something called Booktok got involved.

Bartender!Eddie Diaz x Hockey Player!Evan Buckley

Snowed Inn by brewrosemilk

31,1K, rated M

Rivaling for a promotion, journalists Evan Buckley and Eddie Diaz get sent to a small town where they are each to write a piece on a once illustrious inn and its rich history. For two talented and overconfident authors, it sounds like an easy assignment - but in between a violent snowstorm, blocked roads, heated stares, and a struggling inn, Buck and Eddie may just have to abandon their rivalry and accept each other as partners.

Don't play games (come my way) by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels

43,1K, Rated E

Buck hates Eddie Diaz.

Ever since his publishing company and Eddie's merged, the man has been nothing but a pain in Buck's ass. The way he nitpicks all of Buck's company emails, the way he spends half his day bickering with Buck, the way he makes Buck's stomach flip and the way he's started haunting Buck's dreams... yeah, it's one hundred percent hate. Definitely. Buck's sure of it.

Because what the hell else could it be?

Falling slowly; sing your melody (I'll sing it loud) by princessfbi

55,3K, Rated E

Buck didn’t like him at first.

Eddie Diaz was all hard lines and strict rules with a bone structure that could cut through glass and scared away his fans. Which... if you asked Bobby, was the point but still!

He also yelled at Buck which was fine. It’s not like it hurt his feelings.

It didn’t.

It didn’t, Maddie!

It also definitely didn’t turn Buck on either. Nope.

Stop it, Maddie!

After a traumatizing home invasion, Bobby Nash decides to hire a bodyguard for his lead singer.

Musician!Buck Bodyguard!Eddie

More fics to be recommended soon!

[homestuckreplay]

its time......................... to GET my pour on

(page 980-983 & SBAHJ 8)

^ I’ve been a lot more attuned to parallels between John and Jade since getting an ask about it a while back, and their identical victory dances are a very cute one. Check out these absolute goofballs. <3

First and most importantly, the eighth instalment of Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff (/sbahj/8 in the Collection) was posted on around November 29. I just read it today, and it features either Sweet Bro or Hella Jeff trying to pour a glass of milk and struggling to tilt the carton enough, while the other watches through the window and then laughs at a squirrel’s giant acorn. The milk carton features a jpeg of a guy in a helmet who I can’t place, but who looks like something out of GameBro or Grand Snack Fuckyeah.

The squirrel has appeared before in SBAHJ #4, which was also the other strip to incorporate edited photographs, with a picture of Barack Obama. In many ways, #8 is a direct sequel to #4, as both feature the blue character looking through a window, and both feature the squirrel with some kind of treasure. It’s cool to see Dave growing as an artist by establishing these consistent character traits, but out of universe, #8 doesn’t appear to relate to anything happening in Homestuck at this time.

Back in Homestuck itself is the real Jade strife animation, set to the great track ‘An Unbreakable Union’. Bec, we learn, is a dog crackling with lightning and radioactive green energy, who constantly warps in and out of space (?). So the radioactive nutrients in the irradiated steak are probably good for him, and Jade is just caring for his needs the same way he cares for her - she seems very comfortable with his weirdness, which must be a daily occurrence for her.

Bec’s drawn in the same stark, eyeless outline style as John’s dad, Rose’s mom, and Dave’s bro. Due to his design, his being alive, his strife with Jade and his care for her afterwards, Bec seems to have filled the guardian role since Grandpa Harley’s death. This makes him the only guardian with an actual name. This could indicate that Jade has a genuine understanding of Bec, seeing him as he actually is, not as the idea of an authority figure.

The strife itself (p.980) is interactive, but linear. Each round has only one option, always beginning with AR (a nod to Jade’s rifle). We can click that option, and then gain access to Jade’s gun. Clicking on or close to Bec shoots a bullet, while clicking elsewhere does nothing. This happens four times, and on the fifth and final winning round, Jade controls the gun herself after we click the command. Unlike the sylladex escapade (p.808-812), this is a case of Jade and the player working in harmony.

But some pretty weird stuff happens to Bec during the fight.

ARRAIGN. Bec vaporizes this bullet and is unaffected.

ARSENALIZE. Bec turns into a green radioactive energy field. Both Jade and Bec become really small, jump onto the bullet, and ride it to the other side of the island.

ARTILLERATE. Bec becomes a galaxy; he and Jade apparently travel through deep space back into the Milky Way, onto Earth, and land on the frog statue.

ARMAMENTIFY. The screen turns black while a Bec-shaped silhouette of Jade’s island remains. Scenes from John, Rose, Dave and Jade’s stories flash by on the black space while Bec’s silhouette remains.

ARF. Jade shoots away from Bec, playing fetch, and grabs the blue package while he chases the bullet. Bec catches it in his mouth, runs back to Jade and drops it on the ground. She tosses him the irradiated steak. They both hug and celebrate.

Bec is a good boy but he also has far more extensive powers than Jade’s, which makes me wonder if he’s ‘from’ Skaia the same way WV and PM are from the ominous and luminous planets. A regular creature living on this island probably wouldn’t get this powerful. In fact, Bec might be the source of Jade’s powers – if his body can turn into a portal and can cause visions of other characters, Jade could be prognosticating by looking through Bec. Jade definitely doesn’t have control over Bec’s powers, and I’m not sure Bec does either. However he came to it, he feels like a passive yet deadly nuclear power source that acts instinctively, with no intent beyond the dog desires of ‘play’ and ‘protect’. If Bec was an advanced intelligence he’d never fall for a ‘go fetch’.

Jade then falls asleep near the frog statue, and Bec picks her up and carries her to bed, tucking her in so gently. Good dog. Best friend. It is probably the most wholesome dynamic between any two characters in Homestuck, and it’s sweet to see Jade interact with her living pet so soon after Rose’s bittersweet reunion with her dead one. Andrew Hussie recently did a Q&A with MSPA community members which has some cool stuff in it. Here’s one excerpt:

The wild and unusual commands are the ones that really make it feel like a gaggle of whimsical readers is in charge, imbuing the narrative with a sense of freedom, a feeling that the hero could do truly anything. The essence of freedom in this sense is the uncompromising subjugation of restraint. It is possible that this is also the exact opposite of what a good story requires! [full interview here; emphasis mine]

Homestuck does have that whimsical, anything could happen feeling to it, but it does also have this really earnest core of themes that are common to a lot of stories – family relationships being one of the biggest. It’s unexpected that Jade’s pet is a dimension warping dog but beneath the outracing bullets and radioactive steaks is a relationship that’s no different to one in Marley & Me. So it’s interesting to know that there is a conscious effort to keep this story recognizable in some ways, even while it’s very experimental in others.

So now we’ve seen all four guardian strifes, and can lay out some quick comparisons! John (p.90), Rose (p.388) and Dave (p.836), all fighting humans, were overcoming an obstacle and facing hostility, while Jade (p.980), fighting a dog, was playing a game. John and Jade were trying to collect a package, John and Dave were trying to collect Sburb Beta discs, and Rose was trying to leave the house and reconnect to Sburb. John and Rose’s strifes contain the same music they played on their instruments – ‘Showtime’ and ‘Aggrieve’ – while Dave and Jade’s have brand new music tracks.

John, Rose and Jade all have interactive strifes, where A-command words can be selected in any order (John, Rose) or linearly (Jade) by the reader, before a non-interactive ending. Dave’s strife is not interactive, as his bro destroys the command menu. This suggests to me that while Jade is the most aware of the fourth wall out of the kids, Bro is most aware out of the guardians. But more generally, the differences keep the story fresh. It’s playing with patterns instead of working to formulas, being actively written instead of churned out like a sitcom episode. I think that contributes to it feeling like something to be a part of, not just something to passively read.

> Jade: Wake up and open your birthday present!

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I remember you mentioning A court of Thorns and roses in your posts once when talking about malleus character archetype. Have you read acotar series? If so I really want to know what you think about it. Your post is how I found out this series. It's pretty meh 😕 to me but I would really like to read your thoughts on it 😊. Also are non twst related ask allowed? If not I'm truly sorry😥. You can just ignore this ask

Oh god 😅 That was such a long time ago that I can’t even locate the original post where I made that comment…

To summarize what I said then, I had expressed that the way Malleus is presented to us reminds me of the bad boy supernatural love interests in romantasy novels. I believe the online book community colloquially refers to these characters as “Shadow Daddies” and I find that hilarious. To clarify, I do NOT mean to say that Malleus is Yuu’s “canon” love interest or anything like that. When I say that Malleus is “like” a Shadow Daddy, it’s just in the tropes they share. (For example, being overpowered, brooding, and misunderstood as a “bad guy” when, in actuality, he has a heart of gold and is just lonely.)

… I’ve actually seen multiple posts comparing Malleus and Rhysand, if you can believe that 💀

The rest of my response isn’t really TWST related, so I’ll put it under the cut for ya ^^ I tried to keep my thoughts concise and free of spoilers.

But to your question! Yes, I actually have read the first three books of ACOTAR but not the novella (A Court of Frost and Starlight) or the sequel, A Court of Silver Flames. I got into the series because it was highly recommended within its genre, but I came out of it really disappointed. I continued reading hoping that it would get better, but it really did not.

Maas has this really melodramatic and yet simultaneously juvenile way of writing dialogue that does not mesh well with what I’m looking for in a romantasy read. She’ll have characters give exposition or speeches that go on for like 10 pages straight and also have supposedly wise ancient fae cracking potty jokes like a middle schooler trying to impress their friends. It makes the books a lot longer than they have to be. In actuality, the plot involves a lot of running around and having all the right questions answered by conveniently placed chess pieces. I also did not enjoy the vague world building (like several side characters are never given proper names and instead are always referred to by title) and the near-constant mention of mating bonds. What I did like was how Maas wrote action scenes and descriptions (even if they often veer into purple prose). She also comes up with some unique concepts—but the execution of those concepts isn’t great, so the ideas are left sort of shallow and floating there waiting to be fully realized.

Romantasy and fairy tale retellings are some of my favorite things to read, so I was sad that I didn’t think that highly of this beloved series. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book I’ve been able to seriously get immersed in 😔 ACOTAR’s explosive popularity has led to many other authors trying to replicate Maas’s success, which has flooded the market with horni fae books and even similar titles (“A [noun] of [nouns] and [nouns]”). (And as someone who does NOT find Malleus attractive at all, you can imagine I’m not thrilled.) I have really mixed feelings about that… While of course I don’t mind if people enjoy ACOTAR or ACOTAR-adjacent books, I dislike that it makes up the bulk of what is marketed to me. It makes it a lot harder to find something that’s more suited to my tastes.

If anyone seeing this post is interested in trying out ACOTAR, I caution you that it is a “new adult” book, meaning it is intended for older teens (I would recommend 18+, honestly). There is a lot of violence and… explicit intimate scenes… in the series.

[noctusfury]

The Story Behind the Portraits (A HTTYD/Riders of Berk Theory)

Hello, my fellow Furians! And welcome to another HTTYD article!

Today, we’ll be diving into the background and mystery behind the Portraits of the Chieftains and their Heirs!

This is a continuation, sequel, and expansion of my original post here.

We know very little about Berkian history aside from the fact that Berk has been around for 7 generations (8 if you include the Gang... maybe?) and that Berk celebrated their 400th Anniversary (more on that in my previous article here).

Other events and people in Berkian history that were mentioned were the Dragon Wars (for 300 years), the Berserker Wars (during Stoick’s father’s and grandfather’s time), the skirmishes with the Outcasts, the Rise of Alvin the Treacherous, even about the fame of Hamish the First. There are mentions of other noteworthy people that were part of Berk’s history (at least, I assume they’re part of Berkian history since Fishlegs mentions them), but to regale you of them when I haven’t watched the series in a while isn’t worth it.

However, there is one glaring absence among the row of portraits on the wall: there is no portrait of Hamish the Second and his son. Why?

Let us go through the events of the Riders of Berk episode “Portrait of Hiccup as a Buff Man” to find out, since that is where we will receive the story of Hiccup the Second.

We know that Hamish the First was a famous chieftain in Berkian history, said by Fishlegs to have been: “the most successful and wealthiest chieftain in Berk’s history, who amassed a fabulous and massive treasury.” 

However, there may be some conflict over who was actually Hamish the First, since according to the Wiki, the blonde Viking is NOT Hamish the First, but actually the first portrait on the wall, the dark-haired Viking, and that Hamish the Second was named after him.

Of course, I’m not sure if the animation error is true or not. If Hamish the First, according to the Wiki, truly was the first chieftain to take his portrait in this, then it doesn’t make sense that Hamish the Second would put the treasury spanning from the First Chieftain into a secret place several generations later. But could it be that his (the first chieftain’s) son is really Hamish the Second?

I don’t know. It’s difficult to tell. I’ll leave that to you guys, and I’ll think about it a little more. I might even write another article about this apparent discrepancy.

While it may be a stretch, it's possible that Hamish the Second switched the portraits and that the first chieftain’s portrait was actually the portrait posing as the two Hamishes (the blonds) while the true portrait of the Hamishes was put into the First Chieftain’s portrait spot.

Anyway, back to Hamish the Second’s background.

After leaving behind a literal golden and colorful legacy, Hamish the First stepped down (or died), leaving Hamish the Second to succeed him as the 5th-Generation Chieftain of Berk. After that, he hid the majority of his father’s treasure hoards and created the labyrinth and riddles for the next “hiccup” to find in the future. We don’t know the later events or accomplishments of his reign — or anything else about him, for that matter — before the succession of either Stoick’s grandfather or father.

But here’s where it’s gets even more hazy.

The Case of the Missing Portraits

If you count all of the portraits in total, there are only SIX of them, including Hiccup’s portrait! We’re missing Hamish the Second’s portrait with his son.

Where is it? What happened to it? Why is it missing?!

In the intro to the HTTYD 1 film, Hiccup stated that they have lived on Berk for “seven generations,” so whether you include his own generation as the 7th generation, or if the 7th generation is Stoick’s generation while Hiccup’s generation is the 8th is its own topic altogether.

Though you could argue that only Hamish the Second's portrait is missing, since if you HAD included that, it would've been 7 generations of portraits, including Hiccup's portrait with Stoick, and, even IF Hiccup was the 8th generation instead of the 7th, there wouldn't be an 8th portrait until the coming-of-age of Hiccup's OWN children.

We get an interesting hint by Fishlegs as they observe the line of portraits:

So according to him, Hiccup is one of the “few” who wasn’t killed by their successors  — which usually implies that regicide was somewhat commonplace. Of course, “few” could just imply more than 3-4 individuals, and it’s possible that only a few in their history were actually killed by their successor.

Another theory is that Fishlegs is talking about successors and predecessors in general throughout the Archipelago in all of Viking history.

It’s not really stated what “the elite few” is referencing, whether it’s concerning the Berkian chieftain bloodline, or is including the chieftain bloodlines of other Tribes as well.

What do you guys think?

At any rate, let’s start with Hamish the Second.

Hamish the Second

Hamish the Second is definitely a curious individual in Berkian history, shown to be a nod to Grimbeard the Ghastly's son, Hiccup the Second, in the Books. Both are friends to dragons, both were Runts, both loved their fathers despite their grievances, and both their fathers were successful pirates who collecting a massive hoard of treasures.

Since after his father's death, Hamish the Second, being a brilliant engineer and nasty trapper and riddler, used his (presumedly) secret relationship with dragons to build a massive complex to hide his father's treasure (most likely due to the infighting over the said treasure, as was seen in HTTYD Book 2) and protect it from thieves and raiders.

That was his first job and project as the 5th(?) Chieftain of Berk.

So, if Hamish II became the next Chief, what happened to him and why isn't there a portrait of himself with his own son?

Well, we simply don't know, unfortunately. There are some theories and plausibilities that could explain its disappearance.

1. Hamish, much like his Book counterpart, perished at a young age — most likely as the victim of what Fishlegs mentioned as "being one of those killed by their successor."

2. Hamish could've died as a result of an accident, disease, injuries, battle, or even a shipwreck or a storm.

3. Hamish's secret of befriending dragons could've been discovered and was either killed or exiled for "betraying Berk". (Of course, this is assuming that Berk hadn't tamed dragons back then since Hamish the First obviously had time to raid and pillage to get this massive hoard of treasure without much problems with dragon raids. And the flashback with Stoick and Hiccup in HTTYD 2 and HTTYD 3 seem to support that.)

4. Hamish could've been killed or forced to leave due to people seeking his father's treasure.

5. Hamish could've had a son but, like Thugheart from the Books, decided to overthrow Hamish II and got rid of him.

6. Hamish, not wanting to endanger his dragon friends, pulled a Valka-move and either made it look like dragons killed him, or, like what Hiccup tried to do in HTTYD 1, decided to quietly leave Berk without telling anyone.

There might be more, but those are the main ones.

Heck, perhaps even one of these two portraits IS Hamish the Second and his son, presumedly Stoick's grandfather. Who knows? 🤷‍♂️

At any rate, for any or a combination of these reasons, this resulted in a tragic early death before having an heir, or he did have an heir but died before his son came of-age, thus the portrait couldn't be made.

Considering Hamish the Second is based off of Hiccup the Second from the Books, let's just assume the chieftainship was left vacant after his disappearance, for whatever reason it may be.

Of course, if this is true, does this simply mean that the portraits got switched? If so, then we can continue with the theory that a relative of Hamish the Second, Stoick's grandfather or father, became the new Chief of Berk — assuming there wasn't an upstart before that who tried to take advantage and take the throne for himself.

This would effectively make Stoick's family a new dynasty, even if they're part of the same family. Assuming that they're not just a family of Vikings that the residents voted in and that the official line of Berk ended with Hamish the Second.

If it's TRUE that the Hamishes WERE, in fact, the FIRST and SECOND Chiefs of Berk, then that would change things a bit.

For instance, if we were to be loyal to the Books, after the deaths of Grimbeard and Hiccup the Second, and the disownment and exile of Thugheart, Chucklehead would become the new Chieftain of Berk.

Meaning that after Hamish the First's death, and Hamish the Second's early death/disappearance, Chucklehead would be the next Chieftain of Berk.

And if you look at the portraits, the one on the right looks like what Chucklehead would look like, doesn't he? 👀

Conclusion

To conclude with this rather long article, regardless of Hamish the Second's fate, or what timeline he truly hails from, he left a seat vacant, and the absence of his theoretical portrait of himself and his heir is likely due to his early death or disappearance, or, if he HAD an heir, or contenders, they might've dealt with him and got rid of the portrait.

The only reason why I didn't mention the possibility of his secret — that of his friendship with dragons — being found out, and that's what caused his downfall, is that if that had been the case, then why didn't they destroy the portrait of Hamish the First and Hamish the Second as well?

If the Hamishes were the First- and Second-Generation Chieftains, then the next chieftain would've been [insert Viking] (I'm going with "Chucklehead").

If not, and it was during Stoick's grandfather's or father's time, then it's possible that Stoick's grandfather and father were part of the continuation of the dynasty left vacant by Hamish the Second. Assuming they're not a new dynasty altogether, which is unlikely.

<><><><><>

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this article. If you have any thoughts about this mystery, or about Berkian history, please feel free to give your thoughts.

Thank you for reading. I hope you have a good weekend.

Long Live the Night!

— Noctus Fury

[epickiya722]

If you don't mind me asking, can I ask your top favorite fics that you've written (feel free how much that you want to list)? Why they're special to you? Is there a specific inspiration when you wrote them?

Thanks if you want to answer....

I'll tell you, all my fics are special to me and most of the time, I find myself having fun writing them. Writing isn't just a hobby, but a way for me to release pent up feelings I have or express an idea that came to me.

To name a couple...

Beware of the Bunnies - It's the first fic I wrote for "if Miruko was Midoriya's mentor". It was fun writing that fic, especially when it's a fic for my two #1 faves. I honestly didn't expect the amount of attention I got for it!

Not Red, Black - I sometimes like branching out from writing warm-hearted, funny fics and this is one of those times. Another AU idea I had, but if Miruko and Midoriya were eldritch-like creatures and related. Unlike its prequel, this one stepped more in horror imagery and I think the direction the fic took.

Forbid a Woman from Being Great - Yes, another Miruko fic and one I actually wrote out of spite. When it comes to this fandom (as with any), is how double standard they can get. With Miruko, I have seem people hate her for being "too aggressive" or "too mean", but praise other characters for those same traits or even give excuses for their behavior. Or with fanservice, the same people who complain about it also thirst over the male characters getting bloody and shirtless. I don't hate characters like Dabi, Shigaraki or Hawks but I can't stomach how their fans act when it comes to Miruko or any other character really. It was actually a Hawks fan that irritated me enough to write this fic as well as get me out of the writing funk I was in.

An Absolute Menace - This is a fun little fic. It's part of a series of Class A and occasionally B partaking in antics. With this one, writing Koda as this troll was new, but fun.

Let's SK8 Over the Rainbow - This is actually a SK8 series that I wrote and it's still one of my favorites. It started off as a headcanon (Reki allowing Koyomi to paint his nails) and then spiraled into a collection of short stories themed around colors and I love colors so much. One of the fics, You're Lime Green Jell-O, I dove into expanding a character that only appeared once in SK8. Her name is Miki and she has green hair and I remember seeing her and going "You, you're getting some personality, a story, etc." Best decision ever. I just loved writing Miki and I think it was the first time I wrote a whole story for a character that only had two lines in canon.

Tu es le Moment Auquel J'appartiens - Another series I adore. I wanted to write some jealous Vanitas since I don't think I had seen a lot of Vanoé fics where he was the jealous one while Noé was more oblivious. Not at the time, I don't know about now since I haven't read a VNC fic in a long time. The title translates to "You are the moment I belong to" which is a line of lyrics from the anime's first ending song that I love so much.

It's the Pink Hair, Isn't It? - Do not get me wrong! I do love the AUs I see where Sukuna and Yuji are brothers, but the idea of this fic came from what if they were identical strangers and not related in the slightest. Even funnier, in the fic, Kenjaku and Suguru are siblings that look like twins, but Kenjaku is older. My favorite scenes probably have to be Kenjaku and Yuji interacting and Sukuna and Yuji meeting. I've also been cooking up a sequel so I can write more of Kenjaku and Suguru being siblings and Yuji's brothers and I do mean all nine older brothers. (I relate to Choso so much.)

Your Heartbeat Is My Comfort - Ever see a beautiful piece of fanart and you want to write a fic about it? That's what happened here. I saw this FushiIta art post here and it was like BAM! I had to write a fic. It was also another I didn't write something comedic, but more somber, bit of tragedy yet comfort in there.

Maybe Someday We'll Meet Again - I'm all for the Teacher Geto AU! However, this fic came from a what if scenario had Suguru and Yuji had met when they were younger and I always how Kenjaku was even aware of Suguru's technique. So I put both ideas together and thus this fic was born. It isn't dark, but little less comedic than others and I tried my hand at focusing on more of Yuji's strangeness and innocence here along with Suguru's character before he became a curse user.

You Are My Special - Again, another time I went for less comedy and fluff and tried with something else. I actually don't know how to categorize this one in terms of genre. SPECIALZ was stuck in my head for a long time and it got when I really started thinking about the lyrics and decided why not try writing something from Kenjaku's POV about Yuji? It may have took forever to write, but I'm glad I did. I actually wanted to write a companion piece of sorts but from Sukuna's POV about Yuji.

The Pink Sky and Cherry Blossoms - I actually just posted this fic and I'm glad I waited to answer this ask because of it. I was rereading the manga and came to Uro's fight with Ryu and Yuta and instantly fell in love with her character and thought about how would it have been like if Uro met my other favorite, Yuji? They have some similarities going on there and it was eye-opening writing those into this fic, especially with Uro's character. I wasn't around when that arc came out, so I didn't know how the fandom acted towards her, but for me, I just felt there's more to her than the surface. She's the Miruko of JJK to me as Yuji is the Izuku. Just as I would love for Miruko and Izuku to be a duo in a big sis-lil bro/mentor-mentee way, I love the same for Uro and Yuji.

The Craving That Paints Your Lips Red - The last fic I wrote for 2023 and a sequel to another fic, I wanted to try my hand at the horror again. But more tame, but still "Oh my gosh". I'm writing a post about it, but I have thoughts about Yuji and Sukuna's relationship and sometimes I have this feeling that Sukuna wants to corrupt Yuji, kind of like shape him to be the next him almost. Not for certain, but it's an idea that kind of struck me. For this fic, I wanted to explore a more horror fic side of Yuji housing the King of Curses. The best part of this fic for me is how I unintentionally stuck with the idea that Yuji keeps getting back up no matter how many times Sukuna tries to break him.

That list got longer than intended, but again, I have a lot of fics I have enjoyed writing! I'm glad to have talked about them and I thank you for asking! 💜

[fallenhanari]

Hello! Sorry if this is abrupt, but I’m a new follower of yours, and I’d love to hear more about all of your Amnesia WIPs if that’s alright! It’s one of my favorite otome games and I love to see it getting new fan content 😄

Plus I’m also considering starting to write fanfic for it myself (but am still nervous about putting my writing out there lol)

Omg anon, you just made my day. I've been getting back into tinkering with a couple of these WIPs this past week actually, so they're fresh in my mind too. Amnesia was one of the first otome games I played when I was getting back into them after a break a few years ago, and I'm so attached to the worlds and characters honestly. And Shin unexpectedly became a big muse for me for a while, though I do have stories for multiple other characters even if he features most often lol. He's not even my favorite overall, but something about him just absolutely compels me to write, it seems. I'd also love to see if you get to putting any future writing you do out there!! Honestly, just the act of writing can be really fulfilling if you're not ready to share - I have some WIPs for other fandoms that probably won't ever see the light outside my docs since they're more for me than for posting - but there's such fun in sharing with the community too. Fandoms for specific console/PC otome games tend to be on the smaller side since most players spread themselves across many games with time, so all the writing we can get out there is exciting imo. Anyway, moving to what you're here for haha. So for Amnesia I have four WIP documents in various states of worked on. I'll break them down under a cut since I might just ramble on a bit much, knowing myself lol. Also heads up for mild smut discussion though there won't be much detail.

Shin/MC Sequel (E-rated, PWP, post-canon Heart World) This one is the oldest file, but I haven't actually worked on getting down concrete ideas for it until literally this week, woops. Last year I posted my first Amnesia fic which was a PWP/smut oneshot for these two involving Shin initiating a kind of sex game to try to ease MC into more direct intimacy then getting in over his head by the end with her. Right after finishing writing and posting I decided I wanted to do a sequel fic where MC proposes a similar type of game and gets a bit of a taste of her own medicine. Where the original focused on edging, this one would focus on overstimulation. At the time I quickly got distracted and in too deep with another WIP in this list, but I reread the posted story recently and got back in the mood for exploring those two in that vaguely post-canon verse. If the smut writing wants to cooperate with me I might be moving forward with this one soon enough~ And though none of them have documents yet, I have started considering some other ideas to explore in this series, mainly one for their first time having penetrative sex and one where Shin bottoms for MC for the first time. I just find the particular dynamic I wrote them with here weirdly comfy to settle into, so it makes me want to explore their evolution of intimacy more and more! Math Fools (E-rated, PWP, poly, tentatively Spade World but probably doesn't matter if there or Clover World or AU) This one has the least meat to it so far, but it's probably obvious who it's featuring by the name lol. There's a particular scene in Ikki's story in Amnesia Later that I was reading and made me stop to create a new document. Ikki, Kent, and MC engage in silly roleplay shenanigans and all get hilariously into it, so of course my brain went and extrapolated that into a potential smut scenario. In its current state the document is a literal single sentence: "So y’all are into roleplay now huh? Ikki, Kent, MC, I see all of you." And that basically is the extent of my thought into this one so far. I have no idea what kind of roleplay they might get up to, and it's even possible I'd turn this into a sillier comedy fic instead of smut if that's where the characters took me when I started writing. But they're all absolute goofballs together, and I think it'd be fun to explore one way or another! Not Even a Real Idea TBH (G-or-T-rated, post-canon Spade World, pre-poly, fluff and silliness) Despite the title, this is moderately more developed than the last one! I just didn't have a title idea when I made the document and have yet to change it since I still don't have one and didn't want to just make it a throuple title only lol. Since it's post-Spade World, Ikki and MC are our established couple here. Near the end of Ikki's Amnesia Later story, there's this part where the best way I can describe it is Shin being very earnest toward and observant and fond of Ikki and MC's relationship, while Ikki is a complete menace toward Shin in every capacity. I don't even remember the exact content of the scene as I think about it right now, but that was the whole vibe that came across to me. And I just think Spade World MC totally has the capacity to become a bit of a menace toward Shin too if she wanted. So these two start teasing Shin in various slightly flirty ways after talking to each other about their mutual interest in him. And Shin isn't really getting it for a while, too much a shipper on deck to realize they're individually and together flirting with him and sort of courting him in their strange roundabout ways. So they probably eventually end up having to be direct with him, and then the throuple antics can begin. This one truly is vibes-based and not so much concrete writing/scenes/ideas yet for me, but I think it'll be neat lol. It could be a longer oneshot or a smaller multi-chapter thing; I haven't fully decided for it yet. I think I'll need to go back and replay the scene that got me thinking on it to iron out their dynamic before I get into it.

And I'm now hitting a new character limit I didn't even realize Tumblr had, so uh. Look to a quick reblog to see the last WIP and the end of my message to you anon! Sorry for the weirdness lol

[esperfruit]

Welcome to Yu-Gi-Oh! GReduX

Preface:

Yu-Gi-Oh! GReduX is an idea I first conceived when I was 17 and I decided to revive it.

It’s a sequel to Yu-Gi-Oh! GX that later turns into a sequel to Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V and also is deeply connected to Duel Terminal. As I have a lot going on, I don’t have the time and energy to turn this into a fully-written fanfiction so I am telling the story through blog posts and art. It is still in a very raw state so this pinned post will be updated over time when I have something to add. This post will also only cover the “post GX" section of GReduX, that being Act 1 and 2. Act 3, the post Arc-V and Duel Terminal section that involves time-space travel shenanigans, will receive its own post sooner or later and will be linked to this one.

This project usually uses sub names but I can also use dub names whenever I feel like it.

I will use the tag “ygo gredux” for all posts connected.

Feel free to ask away when you want to know more about GReduX.

Premise:

GReduX starts not long after Judai and the others graduated and a new semester at Duel Academy has begun. One day Principal Samejima calls Professor Chronos into his office, who was accompanied by his younger sister, the nine.year-old Bianca de Medici, as he recently became her legal guardian after their parents died in a house fire one month ago.

Samejima informs Chronos of an exchange program with the new promising duel school, Terminus Academy. The program sends two students and one teacher to the other academy for one year and Samejima suggested sending Chronos, Tyranno Kenzan and Rei Saotome as Duel Academy’s representatives. Kenzan and Rei have already agreed to the program and Chronos was more than eager to teach at this Terminus Academy to show what Duel Academy has to offer as its greatest professor.

Not long as the group of four arrived at Terminus Academy, they met new and old faces and Chronos learned all teachers at this school are people he knew in the past with the principal, Rantaro Yamikage, being an old friend of his. As a sign of their friendship, Rantaro offered Bianca to become a student at Terminus despite her only recently finishing elementary school. Both Chronos and Bianca agreed to that offer with Chronos being excited to teach his beloved sister about the game they are both so passionate about. 

Soon they would have to realize that Terminus Academy is a more than an extraordinary duel school filled with exceptionally powerful duelists in terms of skill and personalities.

The heroine of this story is Bianca de Medici or Bianca Crowler in the dub. A nine-year old girl, who lived in Italy and just recently witnessed her parents burn to death right before her eyes by a serial arsonist. She is now in the care of her older brother Chronos, who she loves and admires dearly but could not see often due to his job at Duel Academy. 

Bianca had never been a social butterfly and preferred talking to her deck than with other humans thanks to being born with autism and the ability to communicate with Duel Monster spirits. She was a model student in terms of grades but never had any human friends and was even bullied by other kids and got frequently in trouble because of her violent outbursts whenever she was being picked on despite being very shy when unprovoked.

At the age of six, she had a dream of being visited by Duel Monster spirits of the Ice Kingdom. The spirits, who she immediately formed a deep connection with, asked if she wanted to be their friend and she agreed without hesitation. They also requested to form a contract with her that asks her to become a powerful duelist with them at her side in exchange for their protection. After the contract was sealed, she woke up with a deck of Duel Monster cards next to her, the Ice Kingdom, and a silver bracelet with an ice blue stone in its center at her right wrist. Ever since, Bianca, a dueling prodigy, has been seeking power alongside her new spirit friends with White Blizzard Dragon as her ace, while finding out what powers lie in the bracelet she received from her otherworldly friends.

At Terminus Academy Bianca starts off as very emotionally stunted and still traumatized from the house fire, developing  pyrophobia as a result. In that state the young child has to prove herself as a powerful duelist and student under a group of teenagers with similar abilities as her. Fortunately the class she attends has a strong sense of unity and she can count on her brother Chronos and her friends from the Ice Kingdom to have her back.

Terminus Academy:

A duel school founded by Rantaro Yamikage one year ago. It’s much smaller than Duel Academy as it has only three classes with 16 students each. It was built as a counter project to Duel Academy as the students wear similar uniforms to DA in black and orange and are not split in different houses but share one huge apartment complex not far away from school as their dormitory.

The purpose of this school is researching young duelists with the power to talk to duel spirits or show the potential to. Every student was scouted by Rantaro himself when he traveled around the world. The students do not have to pay any fees and every cost is covered by the school, they only have to show good results as students in order to stay at the Academy.

Terminus Academy is located in the fictional city of Resort Valley, named after it being a very popular health resort filled with all sorts of places for fun and relaxing activities. Rantaro chose this city as the location so the students would have a healthy and welcoming environment and as an opportunity to perceive other activities outside of school.

The Academy offers everything a school needs to and more with an always clean and safe building, latest equipment, healthy food and a card store with new and old packs so students will always have a chance for good deck building. Terminus also holds various events for their students and helpful courses for them to make their school life educational and fun. Whenever something breaks, it would be repaired or replaced in no time. How a school this small could have such a huge budget even with its undercover funding from Kaiba Corporation is one of its greatest mysteries.

In only one year, Terminus gathered an exceptional positive reputation from students, parents and outsiders alike. A near flawless learning environment, student satisfaction and dueling performance at an all-time high made it become more popular than every of Duel Academy’s branch schools and came to rival DA itself, gaining the attention of many journalists and as well of Industrial Illusions. 

Class 2-C:

The class of sixteen Professor Chronos was assigned to teach over the year:

Bianca de Medici/Bianca Crowler

Tyranno Kenzan/Tyranno Hassleberry

Rei Saotome/Blair Flannigan

Midori Tachibana

Alexander Muller

Hazel Cortex

Lien Cai

Constantin Sokolow

Dejan Kovac

Diana Sergio

Martin Kanou/Marcel Bonaparte

Esra Farhani

Grant O’Brien/Grant Brodie

Jason McConnor

Marlee Reed

List of reference sheets HERE

Every one of them being a very talented duelist in their own right with many of them being able to talk to spirits or awakening to it later. Midori not only being the class representative but also the Academy's head girl. As a group of eccentrics filled with dreams and determination, these teenagers (and that one elementary schooler) are a very chaotic bunch, getting in all sorts of trouble and hijinks. And while having their differences and arguments, they have a very strong sense of unity and stick together through thick and thin as friends, managing to overcome every challenge.

It turns out many of them had forged contracts with their deck just like Bianca did and have gained similar protection. When the world was dragged into Darkness at the end of GX, many students of Terminus, including Class 2-C were unaffected by Darkness as they were put into a safe, dream-like state by their cards where Darkness could not reach them.

While being a member of Class 2-B, the student Nigel Setanta became a part of this group over time thanks to his friendship with Jason.

Staff:

Aside from janitors, cleaning and lunch staff and housekeeper, who runs the card store for both school itself and the dormitory, the Academy has the principal, three teachers and a nurse:

Rantaro Yamikage

Professor Chronos de Medici/Dr. Vellian Crowler

Dr. Kakeru Yamamoto

Napoleon/Jean-Louis Bonaparte

Dr. Dahlia Thorndyke

Currently there is also Asuka Tenjoin/Alexis Rhodes at Terminus for an internship for her goal to become a teacher.

Chronos, Rantaro, Kakeru and Dahlia were close friends during their time at university in Domino City and Rantaro purposefully arranged them being reunited again through hiring Dahlia and Kakeru for his Academy and organizing the exchange program. Napoleon, teacher of Class 2-B, applied for a job as teacher at Terminus shortly after leaving Duel Academy and similar to Bianca, Rantaro offered Martin to become a student as well, Chronos and Napoleon meeting again was a pure, yet ironic coincidence.

Kakeru, teacher of Class 2-A, was Chronos’ best friend during university times and he especially is looking forward to doing everything with his friend again, who had changed a lot since graduation unlike him. This group of educators turns out to be a miniature version of Class 2-C in terms of being chaotic yet sticking together.

Spirit Contracts: 

Duel Monster spirits from another dimension called Duel Terminal, which closely resembles a computer program, have gained the power to transcend into other worlds and can influence them to certain degrees. The most effective method is making contact with humans that show immense potential as duelists and can communicate with them. They then form a Spirit Contract, which allows the spirits to manifest into Duel Monster cards and an item the duelist will always carry with them, be it a bracelet, a pendant or anything else.

With the item at their side, the duelist is under protection of the spirits from Duel Terminal with said protection showing their effects in  many different ways, for example Bianca not being injured by the flames or poisoned by the smoke of the house fire. The Monsters can also become truly tangible in duels with another duelist with a Spirit Contract and cause real damage, which usually only occurs when the duelist is either in danger or loses control over their powers.

If a duelist with a Spirit Contract has become especially powerful, they can be able to perform a “Terminal Draw”, which works similar to a Destiny Draw, in being able to draw a specific card of their deck archetype from their deck in a pinch and when the duelist has reached the absolute height of their strength, the Terminal Draw can even be compared to a Shining Draw. 

The reason the spirits from Duel Terminal are contacting humans is that Duel Terminal became completely jumbled in its own timelines with events being undone or misplaced in time and at worst threats that had have been previously been defeated are suspected to return in even greater and more terrifying capacity that will not only affect Duel Terminal, but every dimension and the only way to bring everything back into order is to cooperate with humans from another world, who can not only help them reclaim their former strength but to surpass it as well.

Rantaro Yamikage, a scientist for Kaiba Corp. at the time, had noticed shifts in time-space caused by Duel Monster spirits influencing the human world in unexpected ways and thus decided that this matter had to be studied at any cost and founded Terminus Academy with the approval and secret funding by Seto Kaiba himself.

Everything went well as expected and Terminus was formed in no time with construction and organization done by Kaiba Corp. and student scouting by Rantaro until one day Rantaro had been contacted by spirits that call themselves the Fabled…

Act 1:

Act 1 covers the first half of the school year with everything and everyone being introduced. It is more on the comedic and slice of life part with the students getting into wacky hijinks that somehow also manage to get the teachers involved. Bianca also learns to open up and become friends with her classmates despite the age gap. Jason becomes friends with Nigel and assimilates him into the chaos of Class 2-C. 

Bianca gains a reputation among the students and proves herself time and time again to be a very powerful duelist with defeating countless of them. Her Ice Kingdom deck, which she is the only owner of in the world, caught the interest of Pegasus J. Crawford, paying Terminus Academy a visit as a result.

He was very fascinated with the students there and decided them to be the test users of the new summoning method Industrial Illusions and Kaiba Corp. had been working on when it was finished, Synchro Summoning.

Bianca had become quite cocky with her winning streak so Midori, the Academy’s strongest duelist also called “The Empress”, decided to humble her by defeating her in a duel in front of the entire school and succeeded at doing so.

At first Bianca took the loss very poorly but with some uplifting from her peers and her spirit partners, she regained her composure and managed to grow even stronger from that experience by learning Fusion Summoning.

After a school trip to Italy for 2-C, Synchro Monsters were finally complete and it was decided that Lien would be the very first person to ever Synchro Summon in an official duel against Bianca. 

Her Flamvell and Neo-Flamvell, who she had a Spirit Contract with, evolved and adapted to Synchro.

In the duel Lien successfully summons the Synchro Monster “Ancient Flamvell Deity” but the duel had to be terminated as all her fire-themed monsters had brought Bianca to a breaking point and she suffered a panic attack from her pyrophobia.

Despite the termination, the test was a success and Synchro Monsters were now ready to be introduced to the world.

Jason and Nigel’s friendship blossomed further and Jason realized thanks to Nigel that he doesn’t have to screw himself over in order to rebel against his parents but can also strive for his own path with the power he has if he finally puts it to use. That resolve evolved the Mist Valley deck he contracted with into Gusto and thus formed a friendly rivalry with Nigel, swearing to surpass Ritual Summon expert one day.

At the end of this half, Bianca is confronted with the arsonist, who killed her and Chronos' parents. To get his hands on the valuable Ice Kingdom cards, he trapped him and Bianca in a life-or-death duel in a burning building with the Laval deck he contracted with. 

Despite being confronted with her fear of fire, the rage of being faced with her parent’s killer took over and she went all out against him, taking him down with her deadliest Fusion Monster, “Glazio, Devil of the Ice Kingdom”, freezing him to death despite his pleas for mercy as the attacks in this duel were real.

Act 2:

Eight months into the exchange program, Principal Samejima agreed to Rantaro’s proposal to hold a tournament between Duel Academy and Terminus Academy at Terminus’ campus, the GX Tournament V2. Students and teachers from both schools face up against each other as well as students from the same school.

Much to Samejima’s dismay, the tournament was being dominated by Terminus with all the best students he ever had had already graduated or are part of the exchange program.

Mysterious incidents seem to occur during the tournament as many of the participants' behavior suddenly began to shift into aggressive and even violent, including Chronos, who almost hit a student from Duel Academy, who tried to steal a deck, if not stopped by Dahlia.

The situation started to get out of control further as more and more duelists turned violent and downright malicious. Said duelists also developed breathing problems, high blood pressure, tearing muscles and chronic migraines. Neither Rantaro nor Samejima were able to provide answers and so Class 2-C including Nigel, Kakeru and Napoleon began to do their own research while Dahlia and Emi Ayukawa/Fonda Fontaine took care of collapsed or contaminated duelists. 

Everyone wonders why Rantaro strictly refuses to stop the tournament at a time like this and with how out-of-character he acts, his warm and welcoming demeanor switching into cold and strict with his kind smile now having something eerie in it.

Bianca gets challenged to a duel by Midori, who had turned violent as well. Bianca had her rematch against The Empress with finally surpassing her with her new Synchro Monster “White Blizzard Impact Dragon”. Midori then collapsed after the duel and was contaminated as well.

When Chronos raised his hand against Bianca when she tried to stop him from hurting another student, Kakaru finally had enough and challenged Chronos to a duel to bring him back to his senses.

Even though Kakeru fought with everything he got, he was crushed under the might of Chronos’ “Ancient Gear Chaos Giant” with whom he severely injured Kakeru with after his victory. 

White Blizzard Dragon told Bianca they were able to witness a dark energy possessing Chronos that forces his Ancient Gears, who he had formed a Spirit Contract with not long ago, to use their powers to harm others.

After Kakeru was hospitalized, Bianca and the others confronted Dahlia, who had been acting suspicious for a while and she finally decided to tell the truth as she can’t bear seeing everyone she cares about getting injured:

There is a supernatural virus going around that infects others through duels. It makes the infected severely violent but also inflicts health issues that are very likely to kill its victim over time and take over their dead body if not treated. The virus is called Evilswarm and was brought in by none other than Principal Rantaro Yamikage.

His goal is to spread Evilswarm as far as possible through GX V2 with his true motives being unknown. He blackmailed Dahlia to turn Evilswarm into a bacterial state and infuse it into his primary test subject, Chronos. Sick of Rantaro’s madness, Dahlia already created an antidote for Evilswarm and it already proved itself as effective as she secretly tested it on Midori, who had been cured but is still bedridden. She tells everyone that the infected need to have the Evilswarm weakened in them before the antidote gets injected or it won’t work. Dahlia also informs Bianca that Chronos might not have much longer to live if he isn’t cured soon with how long he had been infected.

Without any hesitation, Bianca rushed to Chronos and challenged him to a duel to save him. It pushed both of them to their limits and Bianca witnessing her brother's health fail the longer the duel went broke her but she forced herself to keep fighting for his sake. What gave her the final push was hearing the plea of his favorite Ancient Gear Golem, Sirius, to save his life at all cost. Bianca defeats Chronos with the combination of the very first Terminal Draw, a Permanent Spell Card that deals effect damage, two of her Fusion Monsters and White Blizzard Dragon, allowing him to finally receive the antidote and be brought to the infirmary.

It was finally time to grab the problem at its root. While Terminus’ and Duel Academy’s best united to defeat and cure all the infected, Dahlia and Lien confronted Rantaro, who sneaked into Dahlia’s underground lab to destroy the antidote, the recipe to make it and to later kill genius pharmaceutic Dahlia so Evilswarm could never be cured ever again. 

Bianca meanwhile was with her brother at the infirmary, watching over him. When she was suddenly approached by the Ice Kingdom spirits, who told her that Lien’s Flamvell contacted them for immediate assistance because Lien was in huge danger, she rushed to the underground lab as fast as possible, led by her Monsters and followed by Napoleon and Samejima. When she arrived there she saw both Lien and Dahlia laying on the ground, severely injured.

Napoleon and Samejima brought the two of them to the infirmary and gave them the antidote just in case. The infuriated Bianca then confronts Rantaro, who gladly accepts the challenge of Terminus’ new strongest student, saying once someone as powerful as her is infected, he’d be unstoppable.

Before the decisive duel could start, Chronos arrived, dragging himself to the place with his duel vest, still severely weakened. Despite his critical state, he had to help Bianca take down Rantaro no matter what. When being asked by Chronos why he was doing all of this and what happened to his precious and kind friend, Rantaro only gave vague answers but he proved that this good-hearted Rantaro had been gone forever even before the whole exchange program even began.

In this 2 vs 1 duel the de Medici siblings struggled more than ever because of Rantaro’s Fabled cards, which he had artificially modified into the dreadful ArchSeraphim, who all possess downright unfair effects with his Ace Monster being “ArchSeraphim Overlord Abyss Shadow”, a Fusion Monster with 6000 ATK and 6000 DEF that reduces the opponents LP to 1, can only be defeated by Battle with a Fusion Monster and is completely immune to opponent’s card effects.

In this near hopeless situation, Bianca performs a Terminal Draw and Fusion Summons the siblings’ ultimate Monster, Ancient Gear Blizzard Dragon, a combination of both their Aces and reduces Rantaro’s LP to 0 with the help of their Monster’s piercing damage dealing effect and Chronos’ previously set Limiter Removal.

When Rantoro was defeated, he just laughed about the absurdity of his situation and congratulated the siblings and everyone at Terminus for their glorious work, admitting he couldn’t be a prouder principal and that Terminus truly will initiate a new age of dueling. Before Chronos could receive any answers on asking once again how Rantaro turned out that way, a dark energy surrounded the principal, seemingly eating him alive until nothing of him was left.

Bianca could only look at this for a short time until Chronos collapsed thanks to his still critical condition.

The aftermath of the Evilswarm Incident was the cancellation of GX V2 despite Samejima reluctantly admitting that the victor would have definitely been Terminus. Everyone involved was properly treated to make sure Evilswarm was completely eradicated. Terminus Academy had to take care of reparations for the damage caused by Rantato. Dahlia took over the mantle of principal and had to announce that Terminus had to close down for at least one year to take care of financial and legal matters, giving everyone injured during the incident time to recover. The students were allowed to return home during that time or stay at the dormitory.

Rei and Kenzan, returned to Duel Academy, the teacher and two students chosen by Rantaro for the exchange program were taken under custody as it turned out they were spies for Rantaro. Asuka finished her internship and left as well to finish her studies.

The bedridden Chronos and Kakeru made up again and were taken care of by Dahlia, who they forgive for her involvement in Evilswarm as she was forced into it and she did her best to make up for her misdeeds. To their surprise, Chronos was writing a letter of resignation to Duel Academy. When asked about it by Dahlia, Kakeru and Bianca he told them he does that so he can give Dahlia an application to become an official teacher at Terminus after its great re-opening next year.

[yernemm]

FNAF Movie :^)

Just watched it and I wanna write down my thoughts.

First bit of this post is mostly spoiler-free, I'll put spoilers under the read more.

If you're a fan and you're planning on watching it anyway, DO NOT READ ANYTHING ABOUT IT. TL;DR: it's good, we've waited so long for this, you'll enjoy it, don't spoil it for yourself :^)

First of all, I really enjoyed it. It felt very genuine, like it was made for the fans. Despite having a couple scares, it wasn't really scary. People who just wanna watch a horror film but don't really care for FNAF might be a bit disappointed there. Though as a FNAF fan, it's exactly what I hoped it would be tone-wise. It has a horror theme to it but doesn't take itself too seriously. It's pretty funny too, and has a lot of references to various things from the games and community (I'll elaborate in the spoilery bit).

There's a lot of small details sprinkled in throughout the movie, and I definitely missed some of them. I'll probably be rewatching it asap whenever it's available online.

Spoilers below (I have a lot to say about the lore) \/

FINAL SPOILER WARNING, IF YOU MISCLICKED, LOOK AWAY NOW. I WILL BE SPOILING THE FNAF MOVIE !!!!

I'm very interested about the canon of this movie. Although it seems like an adaptation of the first game, the plot and some major characters are very different. Game canon has always been pretty unclear but this movie contradicts a lot of what we thought we knew. It could be a retcon, or it be its own movie canon (that the potential movie sequels will follow). I'm very curious about the theories that people will have about it.

Here's some major points:

Mike Schmidt is Mike Schmidt, not a pseudonym for Michael Afton. Does Michael Afton even exist?? Who knows. Either way, William Afton immediately recognises his surname and immediately offers him the Freddy's job upon reading it. This could be because he knew Mike's brother, though I would've assumed that William was just killing random kids during MCI. Specifically picking Mike for the job due to this connection was very interesting. Also, what happened to Garrett? Like, yeah, William killed him, but he's not one of the ghost kids.

Abby / Vanessa -- who even is Elizabeth Afton?? The general theory before the movie came out was that Abby was the movie version of Elizabeth. Name is an anagram of Baby, she's Mike's sister, etc. But we now know that Mike and Abby are not William's children. Instead, Vanessa is William's daughter. It sort of makes sense, Elizabeth has been portrayed with blonde hair before and there is a loose connection between Security Breach Vanessa and Elizabeth. (Her actress is also Elizabeth Lail...) The timeline also lines up, Vanessa/Elizabeth was a child in the 80s, since the FNAF movie is set in 2000. One small problem though... Vanessa is alive. Is Elizabeth actually Vanessa's sister that died in the 80s, similar to what happened to Mike's brother? Why does William blame the missing children incident on Vanessa during the final confrontation? I have no idea. I'm really curious to see how this all connects.

There's a weird previously unseen springlock suit in the storage room??? It almost looks like an early version of Baby, based on the face... And Abby almost gets placed into it. Interesting.

I gotta refresh myself on the game lore, I do wonder how much of the game lore still makes sense if you assume the movie is also canon. Maybe the Schmidt family (Mike, Abby, Garrett) can work as the Afton children (Michael, Elizabeth, Crying Child) with William Afton actually having a different family to what we assumed (Vanessa). Though, assuming movie Vanessa is the same as game Vanessa, with Security Breach taking place likely 25-35 years after the events of the movie (which was confirmed to be in 2000), she would be in her 40s / 50s in SB. Maybe she just looks young for her age ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I suppose it's possible that in the 2030s, an unrelated woman who looks strikingly similar to Afton's daughter just decided to work for Freddy's. Maybe Afton controlled SB Vanessa because she reminds him of his daughter. Who knows.

Moving on from the lore, here's some other things I wanted to mention:

Chica's magic rainbow in the mall

The diner that MatPat works at is named Sparky's (reference to the Sparky dog hoax from early fnaf days)

Also... MATPAT IS IN THE MOVIE. And he says something like "Lunch is more important than breakfast, but that's just a theory." (or the other way round)

Dream theory being a book and major plot point

After the credits, there's a robotic voice reading out letters (similar to that one fnaf minigame). At first I thought it read something like HOME (I didn't quite hear the rest). But it could just have been SAVE THEM or HELP THEM like in the minigames. EDIT: After rewatching this part, it definitely says "COME FIND ME".

They actually played TLT's FNAF song in the credits.

There's some loose parallels to things that happen in the books, like foxy for Abby around arcade machines, similar to what happened to Charlie in The Silver Eyes.

Balloon Boy toy jumpscares were hilarious.

The animatronics teaming up to build a fort for Abbie was hilarious.

I just love how goofy this movie was in some parts...

The ending does establish some plot points for the sequel with Willy getting springlocked and Mike telling Abbie "you never know what may happen" when she asks to return to Freddy's.

What happened to the aunt's body?? Like, the people who broke in got stuffed so they are accounted for. Presumably golden freddy didn't take the aunt's body when he and Abby went back to Freddy's. So did Mike and Abby come back home to their dead aunt lying on the floor????

They used the profanity budget for the movie's age rating to let the pharmacist call Mike an asshole. Love it.

WILLIAM ALWAYS COMES BACK

But Cupcake was the real villain all along.

That's all I remember for now. I might edit this later if I remember more. Very cool movie :^) 👍👍

[meetinginsamarra]

My fave Sherlock BBC AUs - Artists

Around mid-month I’ll do a fic rec list with my fave AU genres or tropes. Summaries are taken from OP on AO3.

ACTORS

“Performance in a Leading Role” (-series, +7 sequels) by Mad_Lori @madlori

Sherlock Holmes is an Oscar winner in the midst of a career slump. John Watson is an Everyman actor trapped in the rom-com ghetto. When they are cast as a gay couple in a new independent drama, will they surprise each other? Will their on-screen romance make its way into the real world?

“Lifetime Achievement” (part 9 of Performance-sereis) by Mad_Lori

John Watson has just won an Oscar and gotten engaged in the same day. Now what? (Sequel to "Performance in a Leading Role")

“To the Sticking Place” by blueink3 @blueink3

Renowned Shakespearean actor Sherlock Holmes has finally burned all of his bridges in the theatre industry save for his constant director, Greg Lestrade. John Watson has made a name for himself in the musical theatre circuit, but age and injury are working against him. Can they reinvent themselves for an all-male Macbeth without killing one another?

“Much Ado about a Whole Bloody Lot” (sequel to Sticking Place) by blueink3

"What do you mean John has to kiss her?"  "Sherlock, that's generally what happens when one is starring in a romantic comedy." Or, Sherlock goes to see John in his first role post-Macbeth and he's really not all that happy about it.

“Floating through a dark blue sky” by Lediona

Of course, I’d seen his films and always thought he was, well, brilliant -- but, you know, a million miles from the world I live in. Or, when John is the owner of a travel book shop and the famous Sherlock Holmes stops in one day.

“Fading Stars and Black Holes” by lurikko

Sherlock Holmes, known from movies A Scandal in Belgravia and Don’t Make Me Choose, comes back to acting after two years. He’s starring in a romantic comedy about two men who move in together for practical reasons and stumble into a surprising friendship. The only problem is that his co-star is John Watson, a man whom he hasn’t seen since he left their shared flat two years ago, leaving John only a note. During the time they have been apart, John Watson has gotten to himself a wife, a child, and a divorce.

“The Short and Tragic Death of John Watson” by Calais_Reno @calaisreno

Thirteen years ago, Sherlock starred in a television series about an alien boy stranded on Earth. Now Molly has written a reunion episode and he's expected to join his old costars and recreate the role of Alex Tribble, now an adult returning to rescue his old friends from an alien threat. Having had some success since playing a teenage alien, Sherlock is reluctant to reprise the role. And there's another problem no one wants to discuss: John Watson, who played his best friend, is dead.

Warning: Nobody dies. John isn't dead. If you came here for angst and MCD, you won't find it. If you came here to find a cheesy, self-indulgent story with a ridiculous, contrived happy ending that I had way too much fun writing, here you go.

“Take Two” by Raina_at @raina-at

Six years ago, Sherlock Holmes, then a promising young actor, broke John Watson's heart. When the production John is working on needs a new lead actor two weeks before press night, they turn to Sherlock to save the production. Working together after six years won't be a problem. After all, both of them are professionals. And both of them have moved on. Or at least they think they have.

WRITERS

“How Novel-series” (14 fics) by StarlicghtAndFireflies

starting with A Novel Meeting

“Who should I sign it to?” The familiar question rolls off his lips easily, but somehow it feels more meaningful this time. He’s never met a fan quite so dedicated, quite so willing to lug an entire armful of books to get them all signed, quite so handsome even when he blushes. “Er… Sherlock,” the man replies. AU in which John is an author, and Sherlock is a fan who comes to his book signing.

“Poetry and Prose” by Jberry

John is a crime series writer. Sherlock writes serious poetry. Sherlock takes time on his writing blog to give John Watson a hard time about his writing, though he's secretly read all his books and in love with the author. Mistaken identity, new love, a little angst, fluff that progresses into... Well. You'll just have to read it, now won't you?

“Writer’s Block” by lookupkate

John has been writing detective novels for years, shitty, romance filled detective novels. That is until his last. Now he can't write a single chapter. When Greg seats him next to an asshole genius he doesn't have the slightest idea that it is exactly what he needs.

“Fortune Favours” by simplyclockwork @simplyclockwork​

On military leave, John Watson discovers that his sister has signed him up for a blind date book event. The set-up is simple: one person brings a book and ends up on a blind date with whoever chooses their contribution. To say that John is reluctant to attend is an understatement. Luckily, sparks fly between him and a stunning new author when he makes an unorthodox selection from the book choices.

PAINTERS

“Oxidation” by abbykate

as oil paintings dry, the process is not evaporation as there is no water in the paint to disappear; instead, the oils in the paint are oxidised causing them to harden over years in a process that never really stops.

“Bloody Brushes” and by jawbonesandjumpers

Sherlock Holmes is a world-renowned art critic and collector who rarely finishes any of his own work. He is brutal and ends more artists’ careers than starts them, and he abhors the state of the art world today. John Watson is a recluse who was invalided out of the army and paints the horrifying scenes of his nightmares. When Sherlock stumbles across one of his works, he becomes obsessed with his paintings and wants nothing more than to meet the man behind the canvas.

“Pastel Paints” by jawbonesandjumpers

Sherlock finds his muse and John paints an angel.

“Art of the Reasoner” by Tellytubby101

A world in which Sherlock is an artist, not a detective. Though that doesn’t mean he can’t help solve crimes. AU.

[zelenbug]

OOPS WELL ID BETTER PUT OUT WHAT I HAVE

sequel to headcanons post yipie

first some additions because i suddenly just brained with (on two separate occacions) and it made everything make sense to me

goth teensys whole "watching over the dead door" job is specifically because thats what his family line has been doing for generations. goth teensy is just bad at it because he cant pay attention and keeps forgetting about it, his bros just dont feel like it, and theres a sister who just COMPLETELY refused to have anything to do with the dead door business (all of this is just built off a single cut origins line lmao ("No. You are on it? Oh, one of your bros is on it… Phew!")) this job is also the reason goth teensy went to a fairly prestigious magic school (alongside ales who dropped out). goth teensy did get through it but he hated it. and of course kept forgetting about the Potions That Make Your Brain Function another note is that goth teensy does have a real name that turns out is just really embarassing. and he keeps literally just forgetting it. at this point goth teensy IS also his actual real name, to him (which originated from what the other kids in school tended to call him)

and another one. so the specifics of uglettes mean family is that theyre actually mostly a bunch of snobs. they invite teensy royalty to fancy dinners and scrutinize uglette, and the other family members, for not being all perfectly proper and etiquette and stuff. some of the kids go against the mold of being all nice and presentable and no fun allowed, but instead were just mean, and two of those (uglettes older siblings) actually named uglette that. purely because they thought itd be funny. well at least its better than them naming her poor other sibling Buttface. whos since eventually picked out a new better name for themself and ditched the place anyway uglette was mostly babysat by normal older siblings who didnt scrutinize everything but also werent mean, but she still ended up growing with self confidence issues that she never really grew out from. thankfully her hubby has enough confidence in her (and also himself) to make up for it

-

now for other characters.......

joe - not from the glade, not from earth, brings earth culture to the glade anyways. his bar diner thing has such mysterious delicacies as "Ham Sandwich" and "Hot Dog". most glade people cant understand what hes saying or what the mysterious writing on his sign is, the truth is he literally just prefers to speak in english (he can speak wandaye but just doesnt prefer it). inexplicably his english accent is like, native level (i came up with this literally a few days ago as of publishing this post in the middle of january; he also has a kind of doofy nasally voice per what he seems to sound like in r1 dos, which just kinda sounds like tarayzan in the same version) murfy can understand him though. and magicians cousin andrew (who also brought over earth culture to the glade except it england culture specifically). rayman also can somewhat

also tangent. murfy has been on earth several times he goes there for vacations (via portal). his engilsh also doesnt even have a wandaye accent. by this i mean he has Literally The Rayman 3 Voice, Like Voiced By Billy West In The Game Rayman 3 Hoodlum Havoc and rayman has been on earth too, mostly to chase the rabbids, then he kind of got stuck there for a bit. he felt like he got stuck there for a long time, finally managed to come back, turns out on the glade this was like a few hours. and like, he comes back just when globox and uglette finish rescuing all of their children from the rabbids (by beating all the rabbids there) and they go "oh hey youre back from your grocery trip" and immediately ban rayman from babysitting because the one time hes babysitting alone (without uglette, or globu or anyone) the rabbids show up and kidnap people. yes the implication is that globu would have stopped them.

actually i didnt cover him?? globu: hes one of globoxs numerous siblings, so also a red wizard. at baby years old he was remarkable for being bald (like globox), but also that hes colored kind of weird, kind of brownish and greenish. then globox surpassed him in being colored weird. anyway globu as a kid was much more well behaved than globox, and not nearly as much of a Silly Man, but still ended up moving into globoxs village eventually instead of living with the other red wizards cuz he still fit in better with globox. nowadays he babysits his numerous nephews and nieces. he tries to avoid ever getting into any trouble (and somehow succeeds), refuses to participate in any adventures, and hes happy enough with that RUMOR (in universe): globox and globu have similar names because they include some ancient wandaye word referring to being BALD?

begoniax: i hate her canon lore so im tossing that into the stratosphere. MY canon is that she was working on a beauty potion for herself, but it kept failing and failing and failing and just making her look worse until she went frankly nuts, and now all she wants to do is kill anyone who slightly inconveniences her. or turn them into toads (with the "beauty potion") only so theyd be easier to stomp into a little puddle. no gross lore implications or gross dialogue shes just bananas and hates everyone in sight

oh and razoff. united with begoniax in wanting everyone who wanders too close dead (but for trophy hunting reasons instead). he wants to hunt down anyone who winds up on the territory of his ginormous mansion in the middle of a swamp where he lives alone with some rats that feed on all of his spare vegetables. his rich parents moved here from aeropolis and he inherited the mansion just to act like a total pathetic loser in it he IS a decently good hunter, but most of his trophies are fake and he just ordered some other people to carve them out of wood. the statue with two ssssams was quite expensive (ssssam himself is still alive but he was wandering by once and did very nearly get shot)

golden teensy, i talked about that one before under a drawing post. He Remembers Everything thanks to the power of already having a really good memory + just the incredible magic skills. which allow him to glow and remember everything and not much else. i dont think he would be skilled at combat or anything hes just spending it all on being a walking lightbulb for some reason. and having a forever super photographic memory. he keeps having to explain to goth teensy why he cant help with his situation

tarayzan: basically raymans cousin, with inexplicably the exact same hairstyle (color aside) as him. he was accidentally created by holly (music nymph) (who is, remember, a literal bird in my hc lore) while she was trying to pull off some other big magic thing. he immediately ran off closer to betilla's area, and she tried to raise him too to little avail. hes now kind of feral and lives in the jungle and wears 1 caveman piece of clothing and jumps really really high, hes surprisingly nice though he just has no knowledge of manners or how to be normal really. it took everyone too long to realise his mom was a bird. since hes in the jungle he gets fleas but he just eats them

-

gumsi: his dad, who was the king of the knaaren, super abruptly died and the only heir was his little baby. who was just given the role of the king anyway for some bizarre reason instead of having an adult take the reigns for a while. little baby king gumsi seems okay with this though, he just yells at the grown ups and throws tantrums when hes not given his very specially prepared idk rat soup or something idk what knaaren eat besides brains. his reaction to learning reflux super died was something along the lines of WELL OK SO DID MY DAD

green teensy (the one thats playable): he is BEYOND sick of minimus (the main one from ubiart) commanding him to do random nonsense. green teensy is not even like some random average guy, hes forced to be in whatever castle minimus picked for himself again and sweep all the floors and order him pizza and whatever. green teensy just really really really wants to steal that crown for himself, never actually succeeds so hes stuck there filled with resent

globette: no relation to globox (sort of related to uglette though. but even the built in Relatives Sense didnt help globox with knowing that), nobody knows who she is, she just kinda showed up one day when everyone was doing these tournaments and like. she looks cute and nice on the surface, acts like it sometimes, but actually freaks people out. she acts weird (like this). she barely talks (sounds the same as tily inexplicably). shes best friends with dark globox, somehow. globette is not her actual name she just got this nickname for the same reason as dark globox, she refuses to tell people her actual name for some reason

lividstones, also as a group not like one character necessarily. theyre what happens if a human gets pressured by the nightmares to start bullying people for fun, and stop ever bathing, and just overall align with nightmares, which inexplicably morphs them into weird green waluigis. sometimes they change their mind on their behavior but even if theyre nice they remain as weird green waluigis. thats what the nightmares do to you i guess

-

reinterpreting the other doctors. romeo is fine so hes kept as is otto gets to exist with some reinterpretations and hes basically just this guy from high anxiety. just uses various inventions and doohickeys on you

also otto is freakishly upright for a teensy especially of his height (barely shorter than romeo who DID get hit with forever back pain). hes the only one of the three doctors that gets any actual results (romeos entire methods is just "dude.... have you like tried this plant") but he scares everyone and every sylkin in the area refuses to go anywhere near his office and would rather receive medical treatment elsewhere

the third one is getting destroyed and completely reinterpreted no more racist teensy. so hes just, no specific nationality, hes annoyingly polite and cosntantly floats, his entire method of healing you is based on magic and various rituals that somehow manages to be complete bunk even in a world where magic is everywhere forever. hes like one of these middle aged women that unconditionally buys into healing crystals, even here in the glade those scams exist somehow. he doesnt practice normal healing magic or healing potions he just goes by with fake healing rituals that dont actually do anything also nobody ever even learned his name. romeos like "dude you, like, never even told us your name" "I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience, but I simply do not consider my name a piece of information that is important to share with people, as I believe my job title is enough." "dude i thought we were, like, friends"

[quasarlasar]

MELISSA AND THE ALLIES OF GAIA ART DUMP 2 - THE WATERSPOUTS

More art of the storm avatars Melissa encounters in Episode 9 of the story I posted on Wattpad, this time the waterspouts.

The first image shows the fair-weather waterspouts. They are summoned by a cumulus congestus cloud that turns out to be a weaker form of the supercell encountered later in the episode. They're quite playful and fairly harmless, to the point they hi-five the fishermen controlling them with their little sub-vortex arms. A pair of fishermen on a charter boat have been using them to suck up entire shoals of fish and deposit them on the boat for them. Since this is basically a complete misuse of nature (and cruel to the fish besides), Melissa has to stop them.

The lead waterspout, however, seen in the second image, is a true tornado, summoned by the supercell in its full-powered form. It has a stark white color, and means business. Melissa tries to stop it like in the legend of Pecos Bill lassoing a tornado, except this time by wrapping it up in fishing line. The tornado's subvortices resemble fish fins, with a pair like pectoral fins and another pair like a caudal fin. The caudal fin I imagine rotates with the rest of the tornado like the blades of a propellor, churning up the water. It turns out the fins are semi-solid and can catch a fishing hook.

As you can probably guess, this doesn't work out well for Melissa. The tornado's just too powerful, and sucks Melissa out of the charter boat. I have no idea what EF rating this guy would have, but it's strong enough to lift the charter boat high into the air and crumple it up like it's a wad of tissue paper.

Fortunately, Melissa is able to soar all the way up the supercell's updraft and free it from the evil weather magic artifact that's controlling it. It's explained more in the story, but supercell avatars are ridden by basically going inside them and piloting them like they're some giant mothership/airship.

Here's a sketch of the supercell again, but in profile, showing how her anvil is very elongated when seen from the side (I feel like my original drawings made it look very rounded like there's no wind shear...it really would be elongated downshear). It is mentioned in the story that her original pilot is a man who wore a cowboy hat. I'm thinking of having the pilot show up in a sequel, where he will be revealed to be this stormchaser who unwittingly stumbled upon the Allies of Gaia doing a mission with their storm avatars. He was originally sentenced to have his memory wiped, but he ended up loving the idea of riding storms so much he became a member. I imagine the supercell (who Melissa will call "Mr Thunders") was actually given the name Empress by her original pilot.

My original idea was that the pilot would basically be someone who looks like Pecos Hank but with the personality of Reed Timmer, but then the Twisters movie trailer came out and did exactly that with one of the characters. So I'm not sure yet what his personality will end up being.

In any case, I was totally listening to the song released for Twisters, "Ain't No Love in Oklahoma" by Luke Combs, while drawing these. That, and, "Vicarious" by Tool. Both could potentially be anthems for storm watchers, lol.

[classicequinox]

Fic FAQ: Where your love has always been enough (for me)

Hello, I thought I'd compile the most frequent questions I've been getting for this fic here for easier viewing/in case you have the same question! :)

WARNING: SPOILERS ABOUND

Do avoid reading if you're not up to date with the current chapter, or if you'd rather wait and see how things go as new chapters are released!

1. How old are all the children?

Their ages will of course increase with time since this fic spans so many years, but as of chapter 19 (Shouto's birth):

Touya: 10

Fuyumi: 6

Natsuo: 4

Shouto: 0

Keigo: 9

Emiko: 9

Geten: 6

Hana: 10

Tenko: 5

There are some differences from canon since this fic was planned long before all the children's ages were confirmed in the manga!

2. When is Hawks going to appear ?

As of chapter 23: very, very soon...

3. Is Touya/Hawks going to be a thing?

Yes, they most definitely are! Don't worry I wouldn't be so evil as to tag them for only that angsty DabiHawks scene set in canon :')

4. When is AFO going to do something/why isn't All Might doing anything about AFO?

No, I haven't forgotten that AFO exists (and neither has All Might) but unfortunately, there are only so many plotlines that can be actively followed at once :') Let's just say, AFO is up to his usual scheming behind the scenes and All Might is actively dismantling various of his organised crime units.

(That being said, we should get a little preview of AFO in a couple of chapters from C23!)

5. Is Izuku going to make an appearance?

Definitely!

6. Are any of the Todoroki children also from Enji's canon timeline/going to travel back in time from the future?

Unfortunately not, for 2 main reasons:

1) It's a little universe breaking since the way the branching timelines work, even if the kids travel back, it'd be this AU timeline's version of them who would travel back rather than their canon versions (who would still be stuck in their sucky canon childhood with canon Endeavour)

2) It'd make for a whole story of its own that wouldn't fit into this already very giant fic :')

BUT on both those notes, I'm very willing to break the universe's space-time rules and explore the delicious feels in a spin off! It's still a long way to go (I'd probably want to complete the main fic first), but I imagine any of the kids (Dabi, anyone?) would have a pretty interesting reaction to being thrown into this AU

Feel free to let me know which characters you'd most like to see in that scenario :)

7) How long will this fic be?

Good question :') While my headcanons stretch out across the kids' childhoods and deep into their teenage years and beyond... in the name of good storytelling to avoid bloating this fic too much, this story will likely end pre-canon, albeit with a long canon era epilogue.

Projected total chapter count (subject to change): ~35-40

Before I get a lot of screams and angry yelling: I do still intend to flesh out and post those headcanons I mentioned as stories in the same series. Whether as a single actual slice-of-life sequel or multiple character-focused fics or a mix, I haven't yet decided, but there's that!

---

Feel free to ask if you have questions that aren't listed here! :)

[solarpunkani]

Solarpunk Ideals and Aesthetics in Sonic Colors

--according to one Solarpunk Sonic fan specifically but dude trust me on this.

This post is the sequel/follow up to my previous post on Sonic the Hedgehog (the character) and Solarpunk Ideals, feel free to give that a read for some context! But for a basic run-down--Sonic the Hedgehog (the Dude) embodies several core Solarpunk tenants in his personality, Dr. Eggman is the antithesis to Solarpunk both in personality and in resulting actions, and I'm such a big nerd I had to split this post into 2 parts and they're still long as hell.

Special reminder: I am a Sonic nerd, have been for 10+ years now. I also have Write Too Much disease. I am going to talk. A lot. Prepare yourselves.

Special reminder part 2: Sonic the Hedgehog is not a perfect franchise, and it's owned by a corporation in the capitalistic hellscape we call life and I promise you I am aware of that. I'm not saying SEGA is Solarpunk, I am saying that parts of their franchise have Solarpunk elements. If I post this and someone skips this paragraph to instead rant at me about some unrelated shit that SEGA the Corporation Guys did That One Time Months/Years Ago I may snap. You have been warned.

Shout out to @modern-solarpunk for being a beta reader for this! Thank you for making sure I was actually being legible and coherent with this.

Let's dive right in.

Sonic Colors Let's Go Let's Go

Sonic Colors came out on the Nintendo Wii in 2010, with an alternate version made for the Nintendo DS. I’ve only played the Wii version, so we’re going to talk about the Wii version. We later got an 11 minute 2D animated short about the game, to celebrate the release of Sonic Colors: Ultimate (which was basically a remake for the Switch). Basic plot synopsis below.

Dr. Eggman claims that he’s turned over a new leaf and has created the Egg Planet Park to make up for his past deeds. Sonic is inherently suspicious, so he and Tails sneak in and start busting up Eggman’s latest evil plot--tying down planets and kidnapping alien creatures called Wisps and harnessing their powers to charge up a mind control ray and make Earth the star attraction of his space theme park. Sonic and Tails promptly set about stopping him, destroying the Eggman robots on each planet and freeing as many wisps as they can while they do so. Feel free to check out this video to see all the cutscenes.

“Ani, what’s Solarpunk about that? A space theme park made by chaining down planets is already pretty unrealistic--” let me get there.

First off, the storyline has resistance and anti-industrialization baked into it. In a sense, we’ve got anti-colonialism too (though by all means DO NOT take this as me comparing the immeasurable harms done to colonized peoples by their oppressors to little fictional alien dudes getting their juices sucked out. But Eggman literally is colonizing several planets). Since Sonic is fighting a villain who’s trying to turn all of space into his robotic wonderland, we are too--and we see this guy as the villain, since he is, which can make people think about how these themes play into other aspects of life. Or at least I did in the fifth grade. Bear with me here.

If you don’t wanna watch 50+ minutes of cutscenes originating from 2010s-era script writing, let’s look at a quote that I feel boils the solarpunk-adjacent parts of the storyline to its bare essentials.

In the 11 minute animated short, Rise of the Wisps, there’s a bit more. First off, we see the aliens resisting a bit more--in fact, there’s a group of little Wisp freedom fighters working to save other wisps before they’re… harvested, I guess is the word for it.

Do they have names? No. But in Sonic Colors we don’t even really see any Wisps with characterizing traits aside from Yacker, so I think having the next few be a band of freedom fighters is pretty cool.

Asides from admiring the visual style of this short (because man Sonic in 2D animation just feels right to me), there’s a quote that I feel fits the Solarpunk outlook on community and problem solving.

“When the problem seems too big to solve on your own, you do what you can. And maybe ask for a little help from your friends. Right?”

Like if I put that in the middle of any other Solarpunk post no one would bat an eye but I’m literally quoting Sonic the Hedgehog here.

The series as a whole, especially Sonic Colors in my eyes, is imbued with hope and standing strong in the face of difficult challenges--leaning on your friends for help when you need to accomplish bigger and better things than you can do on your own. In Sonic, that means defeating giant mech bots or mutated lizards trying to crash land on Earth or purify the world of an out of control zombot virus. For us? That can be restoring a native landscape, vouching for clean energy, starting a community garden, and fighting for what we believe in.

Now let’s talk aesthetics

The Aesthetics of Sonic Color

So we’ve got 5 planets (Sweet Mountain, Starlight Carnival, Planet Wisp, Aquarium Park, and Asteroid Coaster) and two parts of the main park (Tropical Resort and Terminal Velocity) that are playable zones in Sonic Colors. But what’s the most Solarpunky area to me?

Planet Wisp

Planet Wisp is described in the fandom wiki as “a beautiful natural planet full of vegetation and tall trees. The Area takes place during daytime, though stars can also be seen in the sky.” Another page on Planet Wisp says “when seen from space, it heavily resembles Earth,” but its not very big--described as “tiny” in the game. However, it has a wealth of “untouched, unspoiled and unmatched natural beauty”, full of blue-gray rocky canyons and mountains with valleys and fields, rock pillars, etc. covered by plants. The trees are extremely tall, with platform-tops and no other main branches. There’s also lakes and creeks. There’s a minimal level of urbanized civilization--mostly tree slides made from branches and roots and platforms and such. Overall, simplistic stuff--”its untouched nature being largely preserved by the Wisps’ harmonious way of living in nature.” which sounds great! Except this is before interference by Doctor Eggman. Afterwards, “Planet Wisp has large amounts of factories under construction, tearing apart the original plant life and rock and replacing it with red metal.” Eggman Empire-style structures like towers, half-pipes, and roads are clustered around the landscape, and there’s an unknown purple liquid polluting several bodies of water. So! Not all that great! 

‘Ani why do you find that Solarpunk?’ two reasons

A: We the player are literally here to defy the people building the factories so the planet can continue to be full of vegetation and home to its native creatures.

B: it’s pretty, okay? It’s fukin cool.

This map is so cool it was also featured in Sonic Generations (2011) and Team Sonic Racing (2019), so let’s find some pics!

But most of all, the music, you guys.

And here are some other versions of these tracks from subsequent games (Sonic Generations, Sonic Colors Ultimate) and tracks inspired by the Planet Wisp location (Team Sonic Racing)

These tracks. Especially the original ones, but oh my god these tracks. I cannot emphasize enough I feel like. These tracks feel like you uncorked a bottle labeled ‘hope, positivity, relief’ and put it to your ear. And what is Solarpunk about if not hope.

Speaking of Solarpunk and being about hope, let’s talk about the main theme for the Sonic Colors game--Reach for the Stars. If you couldn’t tell by the title alone, this song is also the embodiment of hope--in more of an upbeat, ‘we’ve got this together!’ kind of vibe, but it’s still important to me and also feels Solarpunky (at least Solarpunk-adjacent) so let’s talk about it!

(I ran out of audios I can add so we're getting Youtube Videos instead)

“I’m gonna reach for the stars, although they look pretty far! I’m gonna find my own way, and take a chance on today!” - as Solarpunks, we are reaching for the stars (the sun in particular I suppose) to find hope in a brighter future and share it with others. We’ve all got our own way of doing it, with solutions varying based on individual situations as well as what community efforts can yield, but even still we are daring to dream of a brighter future than the one most often visualized in popular culture. No matter what, we’re gonna keep striving to make changes and create a brighter world for ourselves and those who come after us.

“Just take a chance, we’ll do it right again (we’re gonna reach for the stars!) Just take my hand, we’ll take a chance tonight, reach for the stars, tonight!”

You know what else Solarpunks go crazy about? Community building! You know what else Sonic Colors covers musically? Community building! Or, more so, being open to other people’s viewpoints and communicating to resolve problems, but still!

Now keep in mind, this song is literally based around Sonic and Tails trying to communicate with an alien via a translator, but my point still stands let’s look at some lyrics.

“I’ve been here before, and I know that we must stand up tall! I’m not scared to ask when I’m not sure; we can overcome it all!” - what is community if not being able to lean on other people? Community support, mutual aid, working together to solve problems big and small, Solarpunks have got it!

“If you could tell me how to lend a hand, I would try to understand! No words could say how much I care! Together we can take a stand!” 

And let us not forget the refrain! “Speaking from nowhere else except your heart, you’ll never know if you don’t try! Listen and see the voice I carry with me: ‘Speak with your heart! Speak with your heart!’” In my humble Solarpunk opinion, this feels pretty solarpunk. One of the main things about being Solarpunk--at least, in my experience--is unabashed enthusiasm about our ideas and the colorful sustainable future we’re envisioning! Encouragement from others is what brought me to this space and what draws others to join and stay in Solarpunk spaces! From our art to our writings to our technological concepts and even our arguments all come from sincerity and passion about what we’re doing and the future we want! 

And keep in mind, these are the opening and ending themes of the game! These are the songs where the writers are trying to bottle up the essential vibes of the game into a few minutes of funky tunes! You open up the game for the first time, you hear Reach for the Stars! And after a wonderful story and the satisfaction of finishing a game, you hear Speak With Your Heart! Even the titles alone wouldn’t feel out of place in a discussion about Solarpunk ideals!

Final Words

The Sonic franchise has its flaws, but it sure does speak on hope and resistance. Is Sonic Solarpunk? Maybe not entirely, but I feel it’s got some core elements that are Solarpunk-aligned, even when it’s not always front and center like it is here. I’m not going to pretend that Sonic the hedgehog as a franchise is the pinnacle of a Solarpunk story/game--but it’s got some nice elements that could inspire other stories, and uses those elements in a way that makes people feel like they can and should take action against darker industrializing forces in their life.

Or at least it did for me, as a fifth grader. Maybe that’s not a lot. But if it can help open the eyes of a handful of kids and teens and make them feel hope? Make them feel like they could maybe find the courage to do something? Maybe that’s all we need from it.