#who put a gay romance is my murder mystery?

[theoriginalfool]

Hint lore is the most devastating lore

[lesbioniccommando]

I dunno! I had a funny/bad feeling about the new life is strange pretty much from the jump. A new adventure starring Max about a decade later … and she has a new power, and finds herself in basically the same scenario as the first game. Someone close to her is murdered and she’s gotta get to the bottom of it. And now, thanks to previews from journalists, we are privy to what deck nine was afraid to mention in any of their trailers or tweets but was pretty obvious to anybody with a brain paying attention - Chloe is not involved. At least not in a major capacity. By the sound of it, the choice (to honor your decisions from the first season, of course!) is that Chloe either died or, following the destruction of Arcadia Bay, grew apart from Max and broke up with her, allowing her a blank slate for this new game to paint upon. New love interests, even. A new mystery, a new school, a new town. Isn’t that what you want from this series?!?!?!

DONTNOD is no friend of mine. If you followed me way back when, you probably remember plenty of posts and poorly put together rants and such about how they were my biggest enemy. Regardless, the team at DONTNOD - writers, artists, voice actors - created Life is Strange. They created these characters. And then, facing success, they decided to not create another game starring Max but instead chose to treat the series as an anthology - LIS 2 would follow two brothers in a road trip across America with little references to the first game, but it was largely its own thing. Max and Chloe’s story was done. Whatever the end, it was yours, and it was yours to decide whatever happened afterwards.

DONTNOD was no longer with their publisher Square Enix after this game, for one reason or another. The LIS brand stayed with Square, offloaded to a new developer, Deck Nine. It’s surprising how many people still don’t know this, but I’d say that’s probably intentional on Square’s part! So they release Before the Storm, a prequel with a different voice for Chloe (consequence of a VA strike) and a bit of a rushed ending. But it’s fine, largely. I found some of it pretty effective at the time and there was plenty I didn’t like, either. But it was fine. For whatever reason, it felt fine to have this other team play with these characters, because ultimately it wasn’t more than a fun little diversion.

True Colors. LIS 3. New town, new protagonist, new power - more closely following the structure of the original. I liked it well enough, though again.. bit of a rushed end. If this was the way the series was gonna continue, I didn’t mind much - DONTNOD was still out there releasing their own games, to mixed or muted positivity, but they’re all out there making their art. Did this game underperform? I dunno. Maybe to Square it did, because their next title..

Double Exposure. ‘Back to our roots’ with Max and all those other tired buzzwords. I can’t help but feel cynical towards it on a base level. Here are the new stewards of the series going back to formula, cracking the glass to get the fire ax, digging up the past for that sweet sweet brand recognition. Did you like Max? She’s back!! Is this how it should’ve gone down? Is this what the original artists and writers and such would’ve wanted? Who knows. The brand must continue.

And look.. maybe I’ll eat these words. Maybe the game will actually be quite good, touching, effective. Maybe Chloe and Max get back together and Santa comes down to give me a present and I wake up with a million dollars in my bank account. But it’s pretty rich to have these new developers, these beneficiaries of a hostile takeover and IP law and corporate nonsense, try and get us - the FANS - to buy their new shiny game while going “yeah, this is the ending to your old story. Deal with it. Try our new one!” .. I dunno. I feel childish for writing this out, for feeling this hurt, but I’m sure I can’t be the only one. Of all the romance stories in gaming, let alone all the gay ones, we can’t get one? This one - oh, but I’m sure it’s so BRAVE and TRUTHFUL and HEARTWRENCHING and PLEASE REVIEW OUR GAME WELL - I’m sure it just has to be this way. It’s whatever man!!!

Bae > bay > deck nine

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 6/11/2024

sibling visit!!!!!!!!! but who cares about that my cats finally greeted each other calmly and politely!!!!!!!!

listening

WET DREAM by SNOW WIFE, off one of my sister's playlists. i have since added it to my playlist titled "SOMEBODY COME FUCK THIS (GAY)". sounds like early kesha?

-

reading

oh right i read a brace of temeraire books last week. we're in australia now. excited to see what sort of bullshit we get up to. i do really love these books and am astonished at home much they Feel like period-typical books, but i am too busy going :D :D :D while reading to have tuesdaypost thoughts about them

-

watching

thank you @rae-being-naughty for this rec bc i inhaled A Murder At The End Of The World in one evening. limited series on hulu that is set in Legally Not Elon Musk's Compound with Legally Not Elon Musk.

"A Murder at the End of the World" is a mystery series with a new kind of detective at the helm -- a Gen Z amateur sleuth and tech-savvy hacker named Darby Hart. In the new limited series, Darby and eight other guests are invited by a reclusive billionaire to participate in a retreat at a remote and dazzling location. When one of the other guests is found dead, Darby must put to use all of her combined skills to prove it was in fact murder, all against a tide of competing interests and before the killer takes another life.

oh my godddddd do i love a horrible little woman. sopping wet cat pathetic fuckup of a woman. enormous friends at the table clementine kesh vibes here but slightly lesss malicious. now! normally i am a girl's girl. i love women. but my god did darby royally fuck up her former lover.

one of the better hetero-appearing romances ive ever seen-- we fall in love with bill just as much as darby did, and his death drives the show in a way a fridged wife would in a different show.

i like how it is not a show About hacking, and darby became a hacker somewhat incidentally bc she needed to hack to get what she wanted. super tense, beautifully shot, balances current-day and flashbacks well, the twist is honestly bonkers but it is a very fair mystery.

-

playing

got clorinde :) now i have to collect one billion starfish to level her up :(

her story quest was so cute! a really fun visual novel take on ttrpgs/larping! everyone got little character art! i like her more uniform-braid-style outfit in the character art more than her actual outfit but oh well. im sure they'll release that one as an alt outfit at some point

also pulled dehya! pyro claymore wielder! goodbye diluc u were a mainstay on my team for a year but there's a hot girl who fills your same niche now

-

making

my sister was here so a lot of sibling bonding (going to lesbian bars, moving furniture up my horrible stairs, art museums, weeping over impossibly well tended five hundred year old tapestries and carpets, etc). i had an Excellent slice of key lime pie cheesecake at House of Pies-- i do not typically enjoy cheesecake, i feel like it's often too rich and leaves a weird coating on my tongue. alarmingly green but the tartness offset the cheesecake in a very pleasing way.

look at my new desk's woodgrain again

[tobias-wants-to-write]

Hey just letting anyone whose interested know: I have a side blog for short original stories. This blog is for original stories but its more about my books I want to write or are currently writing like Alma's Grave. (By the way if you want to hear more about that or want updates just send me an ask)

My side blog is @here-have-some-stories. I have about three stories on there, two of them complete and one of them still in progress, but chapters come out like chapters on A03.

The first one is Silent Laughter. Silent Laughter is a short horror about a sleep paralysis demon and a boy named Jimmy I think. I forgot my own characters name. He's pretty much alone in the town and is slowly being hunted and tormented by the demon. A lot of it is cliches but I'm actually kind of proud on how it turned out. That one is complete so if it sounds interesting and you wanna go check it out, you can read the full thing right now.

The next one is Massacre Masquerade. This ones my favourite. I actually care about the story and I love the characters. This one is about a kind of alternate universe where there are modern day knights. The new knights who are just about to start their jobs are having a masked ball as a celebration. The disasters that are not accidents start to happen and people get murdered. The building gets put on lockdown and no one can leave until they find a clue of who did it. The murderer planned multiple "accidents" though, and while everyone is locked inside, more murders occur. The main characters are Deacon, Leon and Bailey. The entire thing is a murder mystery, and I'm proud of this one as well, even though this is the other one that isn't complete. I've already planned everything about this story and I'm excited for when I get it finished. If this sounds like the type of thing you're interested in, then go check it out and rate my writing skills. Also it is a gay romance as well, but that's not the main point its just a bit on the side which is how I like my romance

My other story is a two parter called Paper Love. Paper Love is heavily inspired by that one queer animation about those drawings who are in love and try to be together, I can't remember what it's called. Paper Love is about two drawings, one a fairy and the other a steampunk elf and they could see each other from across the room since they are hung up on different walls, and even though they don't know each other, they're pretty much already in love. And yes, this is also queers. They're my pretty little lesbians. Go read it if you want.

I also have two short stories I wrote in English that I felt like posting:

The Slide - Something about murder that happened on a slide (read the warnings)

Just Need Time - Something about depression and getting help with that

If any of this sounds interested, feel free to go and check out that blog. I very much welcome it, and not a lot of people have read it so I'm trying to find more people to read it and give me feedback on whether its good or not.

[conkers-thecosy]

Hi Conkers!

I've just read the ask where you mentioned your original works, could you tell us something about them? I read more fiction than fanfiction so I'm always looking forward to the next good story 😁

Hope you'll have a lovely day, and no pressure to answer this anytime soon (or at all, if the mood doesn't strike!)

Thank you ❤️❤️❤️

Hullo!!

Thank you for sending this, but I hope you know what you've done by asking me about them! 😂 Brace yourself!!

Okay, so I have a few ideas for original stories, but the two that I've started are "The Prince & The Botanist" and "All's Fair". I write exclusively queer fiction and romance, because when I was a gay little kid growing up there wasn't a lot of variation, and certainly no fantasy novels with queer leading characters! (Which I suspect is why I projected so much onto The Hobbit and LotR, and Bilbo in particular)

"The Prince & The Botanist" is my murder mystery! It's about a reclusive botanist, Dante Morsatra, who has isolated himself from the rest of the nobility, and started up a sort of school/apprenticeship for the common folk. He's considered pretty odd, and the Court all give him a wide berth and let him get on with it, until one day someone who antagonised him and made his life miserable growing up is brutally poisoned. One of the princes of the realm, Lucien Advaris, is put in charge of finding the culprit, but after meeting Dante he decides to use his knowledge of botany as a resource, all while keeping an eye on his prime suspect.

Despite having started this wayyyy before I started writing fic for The Hobbit, I'll be honest and say this one is extremely bagginshield coded! To the point where I actually considered turning it into an AU, lol.

"All's Fair" is my captured princess/enemies-to-lovers story! Alenia is my leading lady, a lonely princess who's waiting to come of age so she can be wed in a political marriage arranged by her father and older brother, but the realm is at war, and shortly after her father rides out to lead the failing armies of their country, they lose. The enemies are at the gates and take over the capital in a single night. Virion, the new ruler of the country, decides to keep Alenia and her older brother, Alosrin, alive as hostages to make the transition of power easier and not rouse any sympathy in the people who don't currently seem inclined to fight back against the new regime. Virion finds Alenia much easier to deal with than her older brother, so the pair of them end up speaking often, playing chess of an evening, and eventually making a deal to benefit them both!

*Sighs happily*

Thank you for asking me about them! I have such an itch to work on them at the moment (specifically "All's Fair") but I want to finish BTTW and Soldier, Poet, King first, at the very least! In the meantime, any chance to info-dump about them is helping to soothe my muse while I focus on other things, haha!

Hope you're having a wonderful day!!

[ferociouslycreativemystery]

Thanks for the tag @realmoftenderness!!

9 people you'd like to get to know better

Some tags of my own. Of course no pressure, but I would love to read it if you do write smth 😊 @juuret @sp-aace @sevenmilliongoldfish @samwisegamwise @a-simple-space-gay @greencloakedfae

3 non romantic duos

1. Merlin & Arthur

Shock! Horror! Blasphemy! No, but I 100% get where people are coming from making them romantic. I have begun writing out my reasons for preferring them as platonic many times before, only to not end up posting anything, but suffice it to say: it makes so much sense! Doesn't compel me though.

To elaborate a bit further, I enjoy a very particular moral and emotional dilemma in this series, namely: are you willing to sacrifice the hard-earned peace among your friends and family to find peace within yourself? Or to give that peace to others? What do you consider to be the meaning of life, and how is power able to corrupt that ideal?

This dilemma would be undermined if there wasn't any peace worth preserving to begin with, i.e. if Arthur wasn't genuinely satisfied with the status quo of his and Merlin's friendship. If their friendship is the most ideal it could be, Merlin has a greater reason to choose the reality of that before pursuing a hypothetical destiny and revealing his magic. Displacing the emotional choice onto two hypotheticals—fulfilling destiny or pursuing a romantic relationship—just isn't as compelling as a conflict to me. What's anyone waiting for then, if no one likes the status quo to begin with?

That's why I absolutely adore their platonic dynamic in canon!! Honestly this is THE story of all time.

2. Nell Jackson & Charles Devereux

Okay, he may have a slight crush on her, but that's not important. Look at these goofballs! They bring out the best and worst in each other in the most unproductive ways. Absolute chaos gremlins. Delightful.

3. Withnail & I

Disasters. Pitiful when they're sober, even worse when they're drunk. They have families. The salvation from this downward spiral is only a phone call away. But like the unemployed actors that they are, they need to perform their misery, even when their only audience are each other. It's a race to the bottom, and my guys are competing to be the one who drowns in a puddle with the most conviction. So absurd it's hilarious. Infinitely quotable. Stupendous.

A ship that might surprise others: Oh, Idk if I have one of these 😂 I tend to enjoy sticking very close to canon, so if there isn't clear romance there then I'm unlikely to ship anyone at all... Muriel x Eric in Good Omens if I have to name one, but I don't think that's particularly surprising.

Last song: currently working on an edit, but apart from that the last song I listened to for the sake of listening to music was Children of the Universe by Molly, because I am a terminal eurovision fan and love it whenever the UK sends anything remotely associated with doctor who :P

Last film: Last weekend I watched Gloria! and OH! MY! GOD! I loved it!! It's about musically trained orphans (now adult women) rehearsing to play for the pope, and their rebellion against the conductor/priest who manages the institution they're living in. The music and editing were so well put together and the story felt incredibly human and hopeful. As a fan editor it made my heart sing! Highly recommend!!

Currently reading: Interference - Book One, a doctor who novel in the Eighth Doctor Adventures series. It's going so slooooow cause I have a lot to read for uni too, but the topic is kinda related so I actually find the themes in the book give me new ideas for how to approach my subject :) Who ever said fandom was a waste of time?!

Currently watching: I've been rewatching Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries while I've been ill because good lord the charisma and chemistry of the leads are Off the Charts!

But my parents introduced me to Magpie Murders yesterday and I think I'm really gonna love that too, along with the standard murder investigation they cut to a dramatisation of the in-universe murder mystery novel that was written by the 'real life' murder victim, based on the people in his actual village—the last chapter and therefore resolution of which is missing. How fun of a story structure is that?! I love stories that play with the concept of story telling.

Currently consuming: fuckall, aka no cough drops for a change :) a cup of tea sounds nice though, might go make one of those

Currently craving: not to be ill? It's better now though, my throat no longer feels like an open wound and I've had a full night's sleep. Can't wait to regain my appetite so I can finally enjoy the chocolate bars I got but haven't felt like eating for 5 days.

[landwriter]

Hi, hello,

I'd like to hear something about the skin wip

Hi, hello! Skin is my actual Lighthouse AU after someone sent me this super funny ask registering their displeasure with my choice of fandom for the Seventies SF AU, named Lighthouses. I'm very easily encouraged. Even when being discouraged for something I'm not actually doing. I laughed about doing one and then went and wrote in Untitled 1:

Lighthouse Keeper AU - Hob is lighthouse keeper, Dream is human or else eldritch sea creature - or SEEMS human but is a selkie/changeling who will return? Either star-crossed romance or like, gothic romance - lots of gay sex and desire and the sea, old-timey language, lanterns, etc, wailing wind, Forbidden Acts Isolation, alienation from other men, being Slightly Off, loneliness, exploring where you shouldn’t Hob fucks selkie who is also Dream?? Why would Dream be lighthouse keeper? Maybe he murders them but like, Hob found his skin or something and he has to pretend to be a human lighthouse keeper Hob finding journal entries suggesting imminent and terrifying demise of former keepers, can link them to Dream in some way

I also wrote 'all dialogue should be in iambic pentameter' but we'll pretend I didn't.

What can I say about it? I think it can be best described by the fact I scrolled through the WIP as it is now, a collection of scraps and research curios and a couple half-written scenes, and came across:

Beware the shore on haar and hoolan night, beware the sea of star-lost whalers’ plight

Which I have no, and I mean NO recollection of writing, but has no results when I google it. That's sort of the energy I want for the whole thing. Gothic horror fever dream. Claustrophobia and a locked-room mystery. Men driven to terror and mad loneliness and violence. Letters that arrive too late. Thievery and suspicion and revenge. Greed and possession. Becoming/loving the monstrous.

Some of the notes I evidently left myself that don't read as unhinged at allllll under the cut, if you want to read more about it still:

Smalls lighthouse - great oak stilts slime!!! rocks!! smoking! salt water wind, stabbing kind of rain, the way wind buffets first and moisture on it secondary, white waves, seabirds hanging in the air like mobile above a crib, carving with a knife, bleeding - nicking finger, dream looking over as he sucks it - is whittling the selkie/monster form alcohol maybe something weird where dream refuses alcohol and hob finds out something wrong with their water supply - dream is just drinking saltwater hob giving season of the mists style toast sailors have used tobacco pouches made from sealskin ‘where did you put my skin? where did you put my skin?’ bonding over lost sons hob sends pigeon or message otherwise thanking for relief, noting supply shortage, or smthn. days later gets message back being like, no relief sent. protean forms - changing easily - from god proteus - a protean selkie?? Fiddler's Green is an after-life where there is perpetual mirth, a fiddle that never stops playing, and dancers who never tire. In 19th-century English maritime folklore, it was a kind of after-life for sailors who had served at least fifty years at sea. important that lighthouse is decaying, used to be nice, now is not gothic theme of ascent/descent with ladder images of death etc claustrophobic, sunless environment, action at night or in fog - no sun imagination over reason

I've never done gothic before and I'm super excited to explore it with this story! I'm going for something like, old and musty smelling, sort of The Terror, lighthouse-edition, except with less death and more monster-fucking. A sluttier The Lighthouse (2019).

[xenosaurus]

I have a page for my worldbuilding projects that’s a huge WIP, but in the mean time, here’s a list of the ones I can remember off the top of my head!  I’ve done my best to split these by genre, although some obviously fit in multiple categories. You can also browse through my "original stuff" tag for things that haven't made it as far as a concrete project, if you can tolerate the mess.

UPDATE: Tumblr changed their tag system, so I had to fix the links.  They SHOULD be working, but chronological links don’t cooperate with mobile, so I’ve made them general links.  Please add /chrono to the url if you can, a few of these are very weird out of order (looking at you, Boar’s Blood).

Urban Fantasy

Witchmouth General; comedy about a hospital in a city that is mostly monsters and aliens

Freedom Over Gold; a comedy-drama about a trio of homunculi killing their masters

Immortality and Tax Fraud; a comedy about gods who possess people and the hosts that are still resisting them (slightly NSFW)

Mundane Motherhood; a slice of life/recovery story about a woman who adopts a kid who was being raised to fight demons

The Empty City; a drama about a limbo world entered in dreams by people who compete for “days”, which give them another day of life in the real world

The Mortal Forge; an adventure story about a group of cursed people putting together an expedition to find a legendary cure

Tethered; a slice of life story in a setting where everyone has a familiar, starring two teenagers who are “tethering” their familiars, allowing them to become more physical and sentient

Fallen Angels in YOUR Area!; a comedy about a group of angels who are banished to earth for gaining too much individuality

Arlan Kingslayer; a comedy about classic high fantasy book characters being brought to the real world and not wanting to leave

High Fantasy

Boar’s Blood; an adventure story about a magical society built on the grave of an undead dragon that is rapidly falling apart (NSFW)

The Phoenix Bride; an adventure story/romance about a woman exploring an ever-expanding magical tower to confess her feelings to the woman who created it

God Hunters; technically closer to magical steampunk, an all-women drama about monster hunters (NSFW)

Scales and Bonedust; in a setting where some humans live in dwellings draped over the backs of dragons, a man and a dragonling try to find their way home after their whole community is killed

Rabbitheart; a fairy tale of sorts about a young jester (and would-be sorceress) trying to reclaim her familiar to earn a princess' hand in marriage, with a large section of backstory about the setting's version of Arthurian lore

The Mayfly; a dark fantasy about a mortal half-elf prince learning the truth of elven immortality

Whalefall; merfolk dark fantasy about a "bloodsalt knight" (a soldier who bites themselves to draw attacking predators to the blood and away from their school) who is separated from her people

Mark the End; trope manipulation on 'everyone grows up and has babies' endings where the children are the reborn god-monsters their guardians fought as teenagers. heavy on monster lore and character drama

Vampire Prince Walter; a romantic comedy about childhood sweethearts (who have since become a vampire and a werewolf) being arranged to marry each other... as long as their fathers don't find out they like each other too much to spy on the other.

Science Fiction

New Apocalyptia; a comedy about a world where all movie apocalypses happened at once (slightly NSFW)

Salt Water; an adventure story about a group trying to reach the bottom of their world’s incredibly deadly oceans, also mermaids and surfing as a death sport

Peppermint Circuits; a gay love story set in a world where everyone has a chip in their brain to influence their behavior (slightly NSFW)

Spycaller; a murder mystery about humans who interact with the intergalactic community from within mech suits

Superheroes

Superfish; a traditional coming of age superhero story about an LGBT group for college-aged sidekicks

Isaac is Okay; a very gentle story about a timetraveling superhero that traps himself in the past to raise his younger self away from their abusive father

Villain Risk; a superhero drama about an illegal hero team being arrested, told after the fact by a social worker, a kid in juvenile detention, and a shapeshifter who killed a cop and stole his life

Fate and Switch; a soulmate au fakeout about psychically linked superheroes who have been brainwashed, and their partners’ attempts to find them

Tooth and Nail; a superhero/kaiju mashup about bioengineered superheroes fighting monsters, and the protagonist’s attempts to protect his new apprentice from the horrors of their work

You Can Keep the Mask On; a superhero story intended to be told through sexual encounters between characters, obviously (very NSFW)

Overpowered; a comedy about a city's extremely, well, overpowered supervillains

Abelsons; a superhero story focusing on the "support" members, such as the people who make costumes and the medics

Bonus Individual Posts

that one about the destiny orphanage that one about the silkworm aliens

[snugglesquiggle]

i feel a lil bad asking this right when a lot of people are excited for hostile takeover, but for financial reasons, i might need to start putting some of my energy into more serious original projects again.

i'm not pausing HT — i don't think i could stop thinking about those lezbots if i tried — but being able to take breaks to work on other things tends to be good for my energy levels in general.

and honestly, when i first started, i thought HT itself was just going to be a quick break from those projects, and now i'm four months in and my plans keep growing >.>

anyway, the purpose of this post is that i wanted to gauge interest. i know most people follow me for murder drones stuff, but do any of the original stories i'm considering interest you?

more detailed pitches for each of these can be found under the cut. honesty is appreciated.

a note before i pitch them — when i write original fiction, i post it to my site and a site for original fiction called royalroad. i'll probably reserve my ao3 account for, yknow, fanfiction.

the plan is that while the stories will eventually be available publically, supporters to my patreon will get to read several chapters ahead of everyone else.

Aurora Moonrise

It is the nature of comets to dazzle and destroy. These eldritch spirits from beyond the stars grind kingdoms to dust with joyful ease. Only the power of a daughter of the moon can repel them. There are none left. Aurora knows she is different. Her father is a plain man, and her mother is a mystery. Her prismatic hair, her divergent mind, her inability to weave common enchantments — it must come from her mother's side. But her mother is gone and no one will say why or where or anything. It's enough to make her want to fight someone. And Aurora fights — people, animals, spirits, it doesn't matter. She doesn't want to hurt them, but it's thrilling. She'll just have to become a knight — knights get to fight things, right? And knights get answers to who their parents were. When a cursed storm leaves Aurora glowing in the light of the full moon, she awakens new powers she can't control. Powers unheard of, except in those old stories. But the word on the lips of churchmen is witchcraft — communion with unnatural spirits that spells doom. Will she defend humanity? Or is she a threat to it?

pitching this one is hard, because the most interesting thing about is a twist reveal at the end of the first arc. at first, you can see it's framed to suggest — and Aurora initially believes — her mother is a "daughter of the moon", but of course, she's actually a comet.

as the poll option suggests, her inhuman heritage makes urges her to fight and hinders her ability to understand the basics of human social interaction.

this would be a long story, lighter in tone than the others, and structured like a fantasy trilogy, about Aurora journeying across the land doing what she thinks heroes do. along the way, she picks up several party members with their own weird baggage. all of them girls, of course, and it gets very gay by the end — but it's slow going because, yknow, aurora doesn't understand romance, either.

i'm very excited about this project — just thinking about it is enough to get me bouncing. you can actually read a four chapter teaser right now, and i have over 70k words of notes past that, with the whole thing outlined start to finish.

Thy Wretched Mask

Everyone wants to peel off their skin and scream into the night. You're just supposed to keep a handle on that. Beca's trying. Now on the run, she'll just have to get it right in a new town. She's got nothing to her name save a pet raven, but a little pickpocketing will change that. Maybe a burglary or two. As long as she doesn't tear someone's flesh apart in broad daylight, she could keep things controlled. It's a lonely life, but friendship is only temptation. She should just keep to herself. So why does she listen when the woman from the shadows talks? They're making an offer that could lift her off the streets for good. The catch? She has to kill someone. Again. That's definitely too much temptation.

once again, the most interesting parts of this are a surprise. Beca isn't human; she's saddled predatory instincts she doesn't understand. the "fungal possession" comes into play several chapters in. it gets intense enough that i believe it's one of the few times i've teared up while writing something, and it's so far the first and only time i've written something that explores topics of plurality, which is pretty personal to us

i say HT is the first time i've written romance (and it is), but TWM came close, and would have gotten even closer if i continued it.

i've already written over 20k words of this (unpublished), but due to the writing exercise it began as, it requires substantial rewrites; i cringe when i try to reread it, and it honestly makes the prospect of returning a bit unexciting.

this would probably only about the length of a novel. (original projection was novella length, but i think i want to flesh it out more.)

of all of my potential projects, i think this one is probably the biggest thematic overlap with Hostile Takeover. but uh, it's dark enough to make that look like a sappy romance >.<

Running Out of Skin & Time

Tomorrow, a lord will be flayed alive. Once his flesh, freely given, is woven into a vast frame, enchanted scars will turn him into a living portal, a gift that could turn a blightstricken town into a bustling trade nexus. Apnoe has woken up beside the same dead girl three nights in a row. The lord's flaying is tomorrow — same as it was for the last three nights. She's the only one who's noticed. Assassins lurk in the flaying festival's crowds, and when they strike the lord dead, the whole town watches their dreams crumble, and then Apnoe wakes again as if from a dream. She knew this quite well; on the first night, she had killed him. Scarred flesh grants magic. How deep a wound did it take to make every living soul in the city relive the same day? It wasn't Apnoe's, and she doesn't know why only she remembers, but then again, most scar magic treats her differently. After all, she's dead half the time. Apnoe would kill to end this nightmare — but it seems the only way out is saving a man who'll die tomorrow anyway.

of all the options, this story is the least well flesh out (no pun intended), but it has a lot of potential. a "time loop" where a character relives the same day over and over is something not enough stories explore well

(if it means anything to you, the inspiration for this fic was literally just thinking "what if the Shibuya Incident was a time loop?")

i call this "superhero fantasy" because, while i havent figured out the tech level (it's industrial, but how modern?), the magic system gives everyone unique and specific abilities that are easiest to imagine as superpowers.

the time loop effect itself is the rube goldberg interaction of half a dozen powers, and part of the fic is puzzling out just how it works, as well as puzzling out how to overcome the various powers arrayed against the lord.

it would be a very complex, cerebral fic, all about power progression and fight scenes, but at its heart, i want it to be the story of two dead girls who love each other enough to unravel fate itself

A Chimerical Hope

Duskroot is destroyed. A minor stronghold, its enemies were cunning and coordinated and its allies didn't lift a hand. As vultures at a corpse, mercenaries hunt for survivors. Awelah escaped Duskroot. She lost everything. Vengeance drives her, but can she kill a angel beyond death? Ooliri's mission is to aid the refugees. He has to prove he belongs in a family of medical geniuses. But healing isn't enough — can he bring the dead back to life? Makuja seeks safety among the refugees. Death and servitude leaves her gaze empty. It's easy to be a follower, but is there a purpose worth living for? First, the three need answers. A grand scheme is unfolding, and Duskroot was only the first step.

unlike all of the others, this isn't an idea for a story, or a plan for a story, it is a story, one i've written 100k words for. you can read it here

it's set in an expansive setting i've spent literal years thinking about with giant insects empowered by virulent mutant bat blood and cold black corruption pouring out from a hole in the sky.

it's also, shamelessly, only avoids being called naruto fanfiction by dint of sheer weirdness

Aurora Moonrise may be the story i'm most excited about, but ACH is the one with the most ambition and purpose behind it. if i could only ever tell one story in my life, it'd probably make it ACH. it might be over a million words if i ever finish it

but i also think it's probably too weird to get very popular.

And so on

if you can't tell already, i have a LOT of story ideas. before i ever watched murder drones, would you believe i was literally already working on a story about killer lesbian robots on a inhospitable frozen planet haunted by a creeping cosmic horror?

and i'm kind of tempted to work on a story about modular mushroom creatures that live underground. or a fricken pokemon mystery dungeon self-insert i've already finished one chapter of.

and of course, i have several other stories i could continue working on.

but like, the stories i've listed are the ones i can honestly say i might work on right now. and, practically speaking, the stories that might genuinely takeoff, if i dare hope.

[poisindonottouch]

Queer reads: Cat Sebastian

Continuing my queer books you should read, for day 23, I bring you Cat Sebastian. 

Cat Sebastian writes historical romances, set in the 18th century, the 19th century, and the 20th century. I prefer her books set in the 20th century, by far. (I’ve read her other books, and I have a soft spot for The Queer Principals of Kit Webb, but I found the other ones... forgettable. Like, I read them all, and can’t remember the plots. So, uh, not my favorite.)

But these ones. These ones are excellent. 

The three Cabot books take place in the 1958 (I think?), 1960, and 1973 set in the US. They follow a person from the politically famous Cabot family (think the Kennedys), and three queer members who don’t quite fit into the family. Tommy Cabot Was Here and Peter Cabot Gets Lost are novellas that are more about the vibes than the plot, but I love everything about them. Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots is a longer novel, and is also heavy on the vibes, light on the plot. But they’re so sweet, and so soft, and the writing is so good. (also, A+ on the spicy scenes). 

We Could Be So Good takes place in New York in 1959, and shows slice of life in the queer world before Stonewall. The two main characters are Nick and Andy, and they’re idiots for each other. I love them so much. I read this book when it popped up on my kindle at 10 PM the day before it was released (thank you time zones) and stayed up till 3 AM reading it. 

The Page & Sommers books are set in the UK post WWII, and are murder mysteries. Agatha Christie, but make it gay, according to Cat Sebastian’s website. Aside from the murder, it’s also sweet and soft, and James and Leo are also idiots about each other. 

If you haven’t read any Cat Sebastian, or you’ve only read the regency books, check these out. They’re so good. 

[theoriginalfool]

I don't draw fan art, idk why I just don't. Unless it's a surprisingly niche murder mystery puzzle book with a gay romance hidden in it without nearly enough fan art. Then yeah, yeah I'd draw fan art

[thestrangearchives]

putting my stranger things band au out into the world

weve got steve on main vocals/guitar

robin on bass/backup vocals (although there are a couple songs where she takes main)

and max on drums

do they have a specific genre? who tf knows i chose these songs for their lyrics and story but i imagine some would be modified to create a more uniform sound

now for the album in order(please hear me out on some of these):

Dear Reader- Taylor Swift (steves song to dustin)

BNBG- Djo (steve meeting eddie and discovering hes bi)

To Love a Boy- Maya Hawke (robin song!! self explanatory)

Change- Djo (steve reflecting on who he used to be vs who he is now)

Dial Drunk- Noah Kahan (steve gets arrested for xyz and his parents wont answer)

Somebody’s Baby- Sidney Gish (robin song 2!! start of her crush on nancy)

Acolyte- Slaughter Beach, Dog (90% written by steve before eddies death and finished after)

Run the World!!!- Dayglow (written by max! they all call it their fun song but its definitely still more about her ptsd and depression)

Strange Time- Matt Maltese (steve wrote this soon after eddie died)

Coffee- Chappell Roan (duet between steve and robin about their shared ex, nancy. they all ofc still love her and are very close friends but this was written during a rough patch post ronance breakup)

Brother- Fenne Lily (co-written by max and steve about their relationship)

ceilings- Lizzy McAlpine (steve keeps forgetting that eddie has died)

Francesca- Hozier (stobins soulmate song! written by robin because she knows steve feels guilty about dragging her into the upside down but she doesnt regret it because now she has him)

vague storyline is that steve starts getting into music to cope with all of the upside down shit sometime between end of season 1 and season 2. he starts seeing eddie after season 3 and is head over heels for him before eddie (still) dies at the end of season 4 and is (obviously) heartbroken.

after max heals she starts learning the drums to help process emotions better and also around this time robin and nancy start a budding romance. steve learns about max playing the drums and starts having jam sessions w her and later on robin also joins and its just very cathartic for them all. nancy and robin are kinda on again off again until steve and robin write Coffee together which firmly puts them in the past and they remain good friends after. (i love ronance i swear but for whatever reason in this au i just dont see them lasting longterm) (also i feel bad because the story of Coffee feels like it makes out nancy to be a villain and i love her i swear)

after a few years steve, robin, and max decide to start playing local bars and small shows and eventually are discovered and release their first and only album. the album gets wildly popular and they tour for a bit but none of them really wanted fame and decided that they really just preferred making music in their living rooms. they do pop up shows at small venues every now and again and they still consider themselves A Band.

likely they get rediscovered on tik tok or something and everyone is coming up with theories on the story of the album(stupid shit like ‘he said eddie in acolyte right’ ‘no dude he said annie steve isnt gay god some people’ or some weird love triangle involving steve robin and some mystery person) so they all make a video talking about the history of the band and steve comes out and opens up about how some of the songs are about eddies death (which starts another fire once people find out that steves eddie is eddie munson because obviously everyones heard of the hawkins murders at which point steve releases a video basically telling everyone to not talk about shit they know nothing about and to fuck off and leave him alone and after that the band is never heard from online again) happily ever after the end :) i just needed this out of my brain

[door]

for the book worm post: 5, 20, 47!

hi! thank you for these asks, i'm not having a good day and it's a blessing to be distracted. (here is the ask post)

5. Favorite science fiction sub-genre(s). (dystopian, superhero, aliens etc.)

this will not come as a shock to anyone who has met me, but it's mystery. murder mystery of the golden age type in particular. i love a "locked room mystery but the room is a space ship." the british library put out a sci-fi mystery story collection which i greatly enjoyed called future crimes if anyone else is interested.

20. Where and how do you find new books to read?

alllllll over. i pay attention to what my friends are reading. a few years ago i dropped a bunch of near-strangers from twitter into a discord chat with me and forced them to talk about books and that is still paying mad dividends. (i also get to go to a lot of gay weddings.) i read reviews in the nyt (which i have access to through work), on blogs and in newsletters, and for nonfiction i watch my professional org's official reviews (lots of places publish these and i highly recommend seeking them out if you have a particular area of interest!) in particular i recommend my friends becca and ray as reviewers, and always enjoy it when fahye drops a list of recs.

i pay for storygraph which gets me recommendations in a variety of categories. i hunt for queer mystery/romances a lot on hoopla (which my library has), because people rate things on it, books are available immediately, and i prefer the search interface to libby's. i also browse a LOT. i am good friends with the folks who own my local record/book store, so i pick up a lot of things on faith from them. i never ever pass up a used bookshop. i am a picky bitch and i know it but i try to keep my eyes and ears wide open all the time for books.

47. What are the last three books you read?

Death in the Spires by KJ Charles (looooooooooooved it)

A Bontanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons by Kate Khavari (borrowed to listen to on the drive to a conference with my coworker but genuinely had a great time and will be reading the next one. i'm weak for an interwar setting and a main character who will poison herself in the name of Science)

Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall (queer regency fantasy romance narrated by Puck. very fun)

[aemiron-main]

Posts Made Before Seeing The First Shadow

(click here for the TFS section of the google doc)

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the posts I made AFTER seeing the first shadow)

Edward Creel is Vecna And Henry Creel is Innocent: The First Shadow, Edward Creel, Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde, and Carl Jung’s Theory of the Shadow (x)

Edward Crumbs in the TFS Audition Tapes (x)

Leave No Trace: Henry Creel’s Questionable Hiking Etiquette (Did Henry Bring The Shadow Particles To Dimension X? Does Soteria Inhibit The Replication of Shadow Particles?) (x)

Will Scott Clarke Be In The First Shadow? (x)

TFS and The Fact That Joyce Didn’t Know Who Bob Was In Highschool (x)

Is Scott In Bob’s Audition Tape? (x)

The Ones Like Us That Don’t Punch Back (x)

Bob and Mr Baldo- Was Bob Abused As A Child? Was There Ever Really A Mr Baldo? (x)

TFS and The Radio Weirdness In The Auditions vs The Creel Murders Radio Weirdness (x)

THEORETICALLY: More Proof That Scott Will Be In The First Shadow (x)

The Shadow(s) of The Past and TFS vs LOTR (x)

A Silly, Terrible Play (x)

The First Shadow Poster vs El’s S4 Poster vs the Other S4 Posters (x)

The Shadows of the Past Have a Very Long Reach (x)

The First Shadow and Tommy (x)

Creelarke and The Black Cat on the First Shadow Loading Screen (x)

The Broken Windows On The TFS Poster (x)

Another Post About Tommy and The First Shadow (x)

Scott Clarke and The Black Cat In The TFS Animated Trailer (x)

TFS Auditions, Henry, and The Flickering Lights (x)

I Knew It- Betty Olsen Is Bob’s Adopted Sister (x)

TFS and I Dreamed A Dream vs Dream A Little Dream of Me (x)

The TFS Black Cat vs Doris Driscoll’s Black Cat Clock (x)

Scott In TFS: The Key To The End vs Key To Solving The Mystery of What Happened in Montauk (x)

Bob Being Abused vs Not Putting Up A Fight (x)

George, Betty, Henward, Hearing Things and Radio Waves (x)

A Freshman?? Something Weird Is Going On With Henry’s Age And EVEN MORE FIRM EVIDENCE FOR MULTIPLE TIMELINES Featuring A “Canon Event”!! (x)

Lord Henry and Lady Patty- Does This Mean That They’re a Romantic Couple? How Does Stranger Things Treat The Type of Relationship That Exists Between a Lord and a Lady? (x)

They Didn’t Just Forget About Alice in TFS and Alice vs Scott (x)

Smaller Initial Post About How They Didnt Just Forget About Alice in TFS and Her Possible Connection To Scott (x)

Henry and Patty and George and Creelarke: Have I Changed My Mind About George? (x)

The First Shadow, Timelines, Alice Creel, and Swapping Family Members: New Thoughts On Alice Creel vs Karen Wheeler Regarding the Edward Timeline- Karen Wheeler Might Be Alice, Just Not In The Way Anyone (Including Me) Thought She Was (x)

Alice, Sweet Alice, TFS, and Karen (x)

Mr Baldo vs Father Newby (x)

Initial Post About The TFS Casting and Mike Jibson Resembling Sam Owens and How That Could Tie Into The Edward Timeline (x)

“Henry Meet Demogorgon”: Interesting Wording Choice (x)

Henry Being Subtitled As ‘Boy’ During NINA vs Orderly Henry and the Henry Age Weirdness During TFS (x)

“Future Vecna” (x)

Ruth, Nevada, Parallel Timelines, and Edward (x)

TFS and the Final Bow Poses: Both Poses Are Familiar (x)

TFS, Hand Positions, The Shadow, and S2 Will (x)

Edward Scissorhands and TFS (x)

Alice Creel’s Weird Age, TFS, and Interview With The Vampire (x)

Caught A Body At The Munsen Trailer (x)

Henry Getting Nina’d During TFS and Why It Might Be Tied To Scott Clarke’s Absence (x)

Claudia’s Cat: Fake Cats and Fake People (x)

Patty-Henry vs Stobin- Prom Queen vs Prom King  (Henry Is Painfully Gay) (x)

A Budding Romance: Even More Patty-Henry Straightbait/Gay Henry Evidence (x)

You Don’t Have To Do The Play: TFS, Dark of the Moon, The Confession Booth Scene, and Gay Henry (x)

Edward Crumbs in the TFS Audition Tapes (x)

More Patty-Henry and Stobin Thoughts: The One That I Like and She’s Not Even Real (x)

A(L) SILLY, TERRIBLE PLAY: Weird Al, Scott and The First Shadow (x)

Brenner’s Dad and The Weird Grey Hair (x)

The Cure, Scott, and Moving From Nevada (x)

I’m The Mistake vs You Feel Like A Mistake: Joyce Vs Betty Parallels (x)

Project One: Digging Into The Code On The TFS Website (x)

[ls-daydreams]

~Writeblr Intro~

Photo © Cate Brodersen on Unsplash

Hello, everyone! I'm a tumblr ancient who's been lurking around writeblr for a while now, but never actually made an intro post or interacted with peeps within the community, so here I am!

☆ ABOUT ME ☆

name: Laura  |  birthday: 26.09.1997  |  pronouns: she/her

languages: Romanian (native), English (fluent), Korean (conversational; been casually learning on and off for about 6 years), can somewhat understand Spanish and Italian

studies: BA in Scriptwriting, MA in Film Production Management

interests & hobbies: sudoku, crosswords, cooking & baking, tennis, collecting things, losing myself in canva edits & spotify playlists

what i’m doing now: working as a newbie librarian, trying to write my first novel, losing my mind over my characters

☆ ABOUT MY WRITING ☆

what i like: everything. i love me some nice variety in my genres, themes, and mediums. being absorbed into new worlds and learning from my peers is why i enjoy reading and why i’m a writer

what i write: in two words, murder gays. in more words, i usually write psychological thrillers intertwined with romance and mystery. after i’m done with my massive old-ass WIP (Metanoia, my beloved), i’ll dabble into taking the idiots-in-love into other genres (i already have some ideas for dark fantasy, sci fi & dystopian stories)

recurring things: characters who are demisexual/on the ace spectrum, deep connections between two people who can truly understand only each other, obsession, the concept of beauty in ugliness, death (as rebirth, as a companion to life, as a cause for grief), generational trauma, nature vs. nurture, loneliness vs. solitude

mediums: my current WIP is a novel, but i also write film and TV scripts and like to come up with transmedia experiences too - check out Forget-Me-Not for glimpses of those.

Below the cut are more details about some of my works~ I hope to make loads of friends, read all of your wonderful stories, and meet all of your OCs, so please interact with this post and I’ll check you out! I follow from my main, @sarcasticjuiceboxes ​! Bless you for reading this~

METANOIA - novel & eventual TV series

themes - nature vs. nurture, familial relationships, the illusion of choice

summary: Set in the tiny fictional town of Plain River, the story follows 25-year-old Malachi Azevedo as he tries to regain his memories after an "accident" erases the first 18 years of his life. Stuck caring for his ever-ailing mother, plagued by intrusive thoughts of self-harm, and constantly feeling like an impostor living in the wrong skin, Malachi latches onto The Void - a familiar voice in his head - to cope. He’s convinced The Void was someone important to his former self and tries to find him despite everyone around him denying such a person ever existed. It's this desperate search, along with his fight for independence, which lead Mal down a rabbit hole of love, violence, and hidden truths and force him to finally reconcile with the person he used to be.

warnings - blood, gore, depression, amnesia, abuse, kidnapping, gaslighting, attempted suicide, murder, death

word count - x

status - currently writing

FORGET-ME-NOT - feature film

summary: Haunted by never-ending tragedies, reporter Seo Joon decides to end his life in an almost derelict bath house. It's there he runs into a pair of odd strangers who force him to pick a side when they get into a violent fight, Seo Joon accidentally ending up killing one to save the other. A connection immediately forms between Seo Joon and the rescued stranger, Yul, who convinces the former to put off his initial plans.

It's only the next morning that Seo Joon learns two things: Yul is a photographer working for the police, and the man they killed was completely certain Yul was a serial killer trying to claim him as the next victim.

themes - grief, peculiar love, beauty in ugliness

warnings - murder, suicide, death, blood, panic attacks

word count - ~26k words

status - complete

story & more details (character profiles, inspo, etc) here | mobile friendly here

FLAT 27 - short film

summary: Detached from society and impaired by his deteriorating mental state, writer Ryan latches onto one of the last things that can still keep him going - his novel. He fixates on trying to finally finish it, but the incessant noises in his head prevent him from concentrating as he hasn't slept for days on end.

His inspiration is finally awakened when he overhears a tormented cello playing from the neighbouring apartment. Ryan grows dependent on the music to write, believing his neighbour, Damien, is playing specifically for him, and they're bonded through their art despite never exchanging a single word. When Damien starts to show a disconnect by refusing to play as usual and inviting a third person into their "bubble", Ryan is tempted into a depraved act that finally brings him face to face with his delusions.

themes - obsession, solitute vs. loneliness, real vs. manufactured self

warnings - insomnia, stalking, unreality, death

word count - ~3k words

status - completed (script), in production (film)

story & more details (character profiles, inspo, etc) here | mobile friendly here

More works available to check out - web here | mobile here

Thanks so much for reading! Hit me up and let’s get a-friending ♥

[sophia-sol]

Some time ago I saw a production of Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap with a friend. I'm generally the sort of person to look up spoilers beforehand so I know what to expect going in, but The Mousetrap has a long history of specifically asking the audience to come in unspoiled, even though it's from long before the current anti-spoiler culture, so I thought it might be fun to play along and go in with my expectations untainted.

And to continue that tradition I'll put the rest of my thought behind a cut!

It was an enjoyable and well done play, overall. Good set design and staging, well acted, and a fun mystery with a collection of intriguing characters all stuck together in one place.

At the intermission my friend and I had a good time talking through our thoughts on who the most likely suspect was, and there were a number of options. We agreed that Trotter couldn't be the guilty party, though, because that would not be narratively satisfying.

So I was very disappointed to discover in the end that it was in fact Trotter.

Some other aspects of the plot kind of niggled at me too. Like, why didn't the police pretending to be Metcalf do anything to stop Trotter??

Trotter suddenly being super crazy at the end, despite no previous signs, was also unsatisfying. That didn't feel integrated at all!

Plus, the anniversary gifts…. why didn't the two of them fess up earlier that that's why they were in London? When your own spouse is accusing you of murder, that's not a time to continue keeping secrets simply for the sake of romance!

I was also disappointed by the multiple points where the audience is expected to laugh at a man for acting gay, plus there's one joke that was made that expects the very idea of a person engaging in cross-dressing to be funny….and the whole audience laughed heartily at it. I hate that this happens every single time I go see theatre that has cross-dressing in it! Whether it's intentionally played for laughs or not, cross-dressing is somehow inherently hilarious to a normie audience, and it is infuriating to me.

In the end I'm glad I went to see the play for the experience, but it is not the strongest of mysteries, or even a particularly strong Agatha Christie story. But I do recommend going to see it live sometime if you ever have the chance!