#will probably write more once i think of more stuff about inspector

[nesoenaj]

a long post on some of my tf2 oc (inspector) facts/lore/stuff etc if anyone wants to read because its late and im bored lol

the main premise i had thought about the inspectors job is that she is tasked with scoping the hard to search parts that the administrator cannot see. its true that the administrator sees all, including ways that arent observed by a camera obviously, lol

id always envisioned if the inspector was in the game that she would be involved in a sort of 1v1 mode where the player would have to stealthily (or just charging in there) get the intel without her finding (and. killing) the player. i know tf2 isnt a game exactly based on stealth, but it would be fun to figure out a way to capture the flag with someone who is absolutely trained to just get people

although in sort of the real lore of the game, the inspector will defend what work the administrator is doing behind the scenes of the gravel war more than hunting down mercenaries who are capturing the other team’s intel

the inspector used to work for a uk branch of red/blu as a spy, so being an inspector REALLY works out well when checking for spies

the inspector doesnt really like the spy all that much. ill leave it up to you why that is (just kidding will probably draw it out when i figure out more of inspector’s storyline)

the inspector doesnt really get to hang around the other mercenaries (being much like miss pauling and always having to tend to something), but when it does happen, often gets along with the demoman, heavy and engie

the inspector gets along with miss pauling really well! its hard for her to consider whether or not they are really friends or just getting along in the circumstances that they are in, but they will share a few short conversations with each other when they have the time about various topics

the inspector will be tasked with guarding sentries when engie is not working and/or when it’s night with engie, which leads her to fall asleep on his shoulder or on the sentry more times than she would like to admit. lol

despite seeming cold and almost robotic, the inspector does have hobbies! including listening to music, reading fashion magazines/gun catalogs and drawing

in the inspectors previous work, she loved dressing up when she was off work

the inspector has a habit of being almost too quiet, so freaks the mercenaries out when she just appears and starts talking to them about their work lmao

the inspector gets homesick at times and enjoys making a cuppa tea (☕️🧐🇬🇧) or having a full english breakfast

[looptroupe]

HI GORGEOUS!!!!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOUR WIPS AND AUS IM REALLY INTERESTED 🙏🙏🙏

Foams at the mouth

I’m in the middle of writing up a whole HC post for someone asking about a highschool AU but I’m gonna take this opportunity to sidetrack the conversation towards something I’d love to genuinely see from the series… a HEAVY (film) noir lean. Think: Bogart, Framed, Gilda, Vertigo… probably pushing the era back 40’s, 50’s way (Maybe even some 30’s lean in there, if I could get away with it) instead of the general 60’s vibe Lupin has going for it.

I think there’s a TON of potential there. I mean, I’m aware something like this was pitched (and never picked up, sigh…) so there IS sentiment there, and the idea has been thought about, but instead of TWCFM’s ‘serious Lupin’ I’d love to see a true noir ‘serious Lupin’. I think you can put these characters into a serious setting without making them straight up evil, and I’ll be honest, I think it would be way more appealing than the stuff they’ve been releasing lately (besides Zero. I have to admit that I loved Zero).

I’d want the gang to actually feel like criminals, though. Cutting shady deals in illegal bars, Lupin running his mouth to big players about whatever new heist he has up his sleeve. I’d take them back to being Miyazaki-esque ‘living paycheck-to-paycheck’ rather than ‘insta-rich Lupin funding his hedonistic spirit’ because I think that would work better in this universe: Lupin is constantly getting them in hot shit with the big leagues because he can’t keep his mouth shut. Jigen has shot ten guys this week who have come knocking at their hideout’s door looking for trouble. Goemon’s sick of digging graves and is antsy to finally be who he dreams of being. Fujiko’s got her eyes on a bigger prize, like always.

Zenigata’s an underpaid beat-cop-turned-inspector who has been trying to climb the ranks for a long while. He’s ambitious, but a little too soft for his own good: he’s hopeful in a way that most of the guys in his squad aren’t, and that makes him the perfect candidate for when the commissioner has to shill a shitty 9-5 case on an unsuspecting worker. A file lands on his desk, and he flips through it with this eager fire, like he’s just been asked to take on the world, and Lupin and his gang smile up at him from the pages.

Lupin is a crook, he learns. Part-time petty thief, full-time smooth-talker: a man with a legacy to live up to and not a whole lot to show for it besides a reputation as a lady-killer and a particularly long unpaid tab at the seediest bar in town. His sticky fingers have landed him in more trouble than they’ve gotten him out of, and recent reports say that he’s managed to get under the skin of the most notorious once-criminal-now-film-director in town… the very criminal that underhandedly paid Zenigata’s boss to start an official investigation in the first place.

Jigen is a gun-for-hire. Babysitter, bodyguard, hitman… whatever you need, he’ll do, however begrudgingly. He’s not a guy you mess with: and his reputation is actually pretty good in criminal circles. He’s well-respected and well-liked. Or, he was, until the monkey-faced man at the bar implicated him in a crime he didn’t commit. Now, he’s babysitting without pay, and he’s starting to get a little sick of having to put bullets into the faces of old friends who decide his bounty is worth more than his loyalty. Figures.

Goemon’s a man slightly-less-out-of-time. A famous Japanese-American film star, he’s known world-over for starring in Samurai flicks alongside his leading lady, Fujiko Mine. The thing is, Goemon is classically trained in swordslinging, and when Lupin offers him an opportunity to be the very person he’s been portraying on screen, he’s more than happy to throw his reputation away. He never cared much for fame, anyway. There’s just this one little hitch: he’s enamoured with the sword he last used on set, and he won’t take no for an answer when he asks Lupin to retrieve it for him.

Fujiko has her eyes on a prize a little more exciting than Zantetsuken: the film empire she’s helped build herself. The tabloids can’t get enough of her, and she knows that a marriage to the most famous director the world has ever seen might just secure her a place in history. The thing is, the man she’s trying her best to seduce has stopped paying her attention since his beloved priceless-antique-turned-prop-sword went missing, and she’s determined to get it back for him. Because what would make him fall quicker? Ah, there’s just one catch: Lupin is kind of charming, and the life he’s living is… exciting. Tempting. Fujiko likes playing with fire, but she’s starting to get a little too close to this one particular flame. The heat has her cheeks burning… Or maybe that’s Goemon’s doing.

They’re a strange little bunch, the Lupin Gang. But man, do people have a habit of underestimating them. Zenigata included. Because what he thinks to be a simple case of theft soon turns into something more sinister as the layers of movie-magic veneer begin to peel away. Maybe Lupin was onto something, targeting this guy, and maybe this hotshot director isn’t quite as reformed as he says he is.

He went to court recently, after all. Say, how much did he pay the judge to overturn that guilty verdict? Zenigata would like that sum as a pay rise once this has all blown over. That, and some fresh smokes.

((Mmm someone should hop on board and help me develop this I think. Could be a fun little exercise on the side… if it’s up anyone’s alley >:) ))

[oodlyenough]

fic 20 questions

1. how many works do you have on Ao3? 127...! I have had the account since 2009, lol.

2. what's your total Ao3 word count? 707,519

3. what fandoms do you write for? Generally I only write for one at a time, which is currently Ace Attorney. Not counting the odd one-offs for ask memes over the years, the other big ones were Arcane, Borderlands, Doctor Who and the wizard books.

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

Commutative Law (Arcane)

Window of Opportunity (Arcane)

Where the Air is Rarefied (HP)

Prestidigitation (Arcane)

Contingency Planning (Arcane)

Lmao, 4 of 5 written in 2022. You can see the power of writing m/m in a popular new fandom VS my entire other library at the time. Admittedly at some point I made a concerted effort to try and knock HP down from top spot, which was successful. For now. Jayvik fandom has quieted down a lot.

5. do you respond to comments? Yes. Sometimes it takes a while because if it's a particularly thoughtful comment I try to give a particularly thoughtful reply, and it can take time to gather my thoughts.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I'm going to discount oneshots because the tone in one-shots tends to be more consistent throughout the piece rather than being about the "ending" yknow.

So probably King and Country, a Doctor Who fic cowritten with @go-ldy way back when. Technically a happy ending if you factor in immense amounts of off-screen couples therapy lmao. But we had originally written something much simpler and happier, and it didn't fit the story at all, so we went back and wrote something heavier for the closing chapter, which is why it sticks in my mind.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I think probably Anachronism, the 95k Borderlands epic. I had always had a rough image of the four main characters happy together by the end, and it was also my swansong in Borderlands fandom, so I wanted it to be an optimistic, happy ending (especially in contrast to whatever the hell is going on in the canon there now lmfaoooo). Plus the rest of the fic was quite angsty, and the ending was hopeful and happy.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not in recent memory. Once upon a time I got a couple disgruntled comments in Doctor Who fandom, and perhaps funniest of all found people complaining about my fic on LJ in French, unaware I read French.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Nope I'm a big baby who gets too embarrassed. I've written some pretty soft-focus M rated stuff but nothing I think could rightly be called smut.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I wrote a short joke crossover between Doctor Who and Inspector Spacetime, the Doctor Who parody from Community. I don't think that one made the leap from Teaspoon to AO3 actually.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I'm aware of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes, a number of times. It's very flattering. Mostly Borderlands fics and mostly into Russian iirc, but there's been a few over the years. Sometimes people ask, and I say "sure, drop me a link!" and I never hear back, so I'm not sure if they forgot to link or just never finished translating to begin with.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? My longest and best DW fics with @go-ldy way back when! Not so much since.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? I'm gonna be real it always just feels like whatever I'm into at the moment. And, actually, not necessarily something I write fic for -- like Pricefield is an all-timer for me, easy, but I have never written fic and I haven't read all that much either. If I were narrowing to tree, one of "each" lol, probably Doctor/Rose, Pricefield and Narumitsu.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Don't have any. I know I will never finish them (RIP Fixer-Upper and Silly Love Songs) as I've lost interest in those fandoms.

16. What are your writing strengths? I'd like to think I am good at packing emotional and/or character beats into a concise scene or story. Adding missing scenes or elaborating on canon scenes to give some additional depth or meaning without really deviating from the source.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Definitely plot. I will get stumped on the technicalities of things for ages -- I might know an emotional scene I'd like to write, but hell if I know how to get them there. It's why I primarily write one-shots. Also I struggle with any kind of scenery or set description.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I avoid it as much as I can. (Which so far has been entirely, lol.) I don't speak any other languages well enough to write dialogue in them and feel awkward relying on Google translate or hitting up random friends to do that work for me. I am more likely to use the "said something in [language]" approach.

19. First fandom you wrote for? I actually can't be sure but I think it was 101 Dalmatians. The animated one. When I was like, 7.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? I'm gonna cheat and do one per fandom:

Anachronism (Borderlands) -> biggest, most complicated, plotty fic I have ever written, with four main characters and every combination of relationship between them as the focus. Took 3 damn years. Very proud of it.

Unravel (Ace Attorney) -> total recency bias here but I'm very happy with it and it scratched a very particular itch for me, fleshing out a relationship and characters that exist mostly in the fringes of canon, something I used to do lots of but haven't in recent years

Contingency Planning (Arcane) -> an emotional sucker punch fic in my humble opinion, happiest with it

Out of the Howling (Doctor Who, with @go-ldy) -> actually I had a hard time picking a DW fic. But this was our last together and most complex, so it wins. Also the Master is fun as hell to write.

I am supposed to tag people! I am not sure who else has already been tagged. Do it or don't, I'm not your boss, happy new year 🎊 @annalyticall @heavybreathingcatt @sandboxer @mutxnts @tinsnip @tlonista @themirokai

[finiansmile]

First Post

12/9/2023

Hi, I'm Finian, and this is my first blogpost! I'm really into like every single artform, and my main passion is gamedev! I learned it in highschool, I'm working on it in college, and I hope to make it a career someday.

I'm very critical on myself, and I am very embarrassed to share any art I make, but I've wanted to make a blog for a little while. I think personal writing is fun. I recently received some advice that making a blog might strengthen my portfolio, so I was like "what the heck" and now here I am.

With that out of the way, this post will be about what I consider my first finished game. I did some stuff in highschool, but that was all in a website called code.org. I worked in Unity in my final year, but I served the role of mentor more than developer.

This game was created for my final project in my ENC1143 class, and shall be called my Multimodal Artifact. The assignment was to share what we'd learned over the year in any form of medium we wished, so I made a game. I've only previously done 2D games and I consider myself acceptable at pixel art, so I made a simple 2D platformer. All of my artwork was done in Aseprite and all code was written in Unity, with Visual Studio.

My intentions going into the game were mainly to let the player interact with the sign pictured above, which is something I've never done before. I also wanted the text on the sign to have a scrollbar. I started with an unanimated player sprite, and I made an incredibly simple ground texture, which I stretched to represent a wall. I coded the player's movement and interaction with the terrain. Once I was satisfied with the player's movement, I created some simple animations for idling, running, and jumping.

I then created a tileset of which I am extremely proud, as I've been struggling with grassy and leafy terrain for years. This is the second tileset I've ever made, and the first to perfectly link with itself.

Once I had my tiles in order, I replaced my gaudy primitive, and created the first area of the game as seen in the first image, albeit with significantly less foliage. I created enough level to comfortably house five signs; about half of the game. Finally I began work on the sign itself. The sign was probably the most important part of the game, as its writing is what I was mainly being graded on. There are nine signs in the game, each containing small pieces of the whole final assignment. I created a sprite for the sign in about 20 minutes, and tackled the text with a scroll view. I watched a very helpful video on how it worked, added my TextMeshPro font asset, and made a sign visual behind it all.

My sign was done, from a visual standpoint. I could finally tackle the code, which I did within two scripts. The first script, "Interactable" would be attached to the sign sprite via a child. The script was actually pretty simple, using OnTriggerEnter and OnTriggerExit in tandem with a circle collider 2D to detect if the player was near enough, and an if statement featuring the UnityEvent Invoke in its body. Invoke calls a function from another script, established in the inspector. In this case, I attached a script to the Canvas which disabled and enabled the sign GameObjects.

I also added to the sign sprite a key icon, again of my own making, to make sure the player definitely knows what to press. It has an animation which activates when the player walks near the sign.

Both the coding and the visuals for the sign are finally finished! My final steps for this game were: 1) finish designing the level 2) add some scenery 3) if I had time, a pause screen and maybe even a start screen

This was a single-level game, and since it was an english assignment that needs to be graded, I figured it ought to be very linear and very non-punishing. There are no enemies and no dying, so the difficulty had to come from platforming. The player can jump exactly three tiles high and seven tiles far. The game features one six tile wide jump and no necessary three tile high jumps. The first area, already completed features very easy one to three tile wide gaps.

The area has the player go from the left of the level to the right, and eventually upwards and back to the left. Within the first zone, it is possible to fall After every new challenge there will be a sign as the player's reward: after the first jump, , two-tile wide jump, series of one-tile wide jumps (pictured above), series of two-tile vertical jumps, and finally after the first four-tile wide jump. There are some punishing jumps in the upper layer of this zone, which cause the player to lose some progress if missed.

Before making any level past the first sign, I added a second tileset. I took my preciously mentioned first ever tileset, which was a greyish castle brick, and changed it to match my current palette. It's not perfect, but any imperfections are so slight nobody would notice unless they were specifically seeking them out. I added this tileset because I felt continuous jungle would start to get bland, and because I really wanted to get some use out of it. I think it fits in really well.

The second area of my game is a platforming section based off of the loss comic, a suggestion provided to my by my wonderful girlfriend. I think it's a lot of fun to involve others in the gamemaking process, and I think it's fun to work with a specific challenge in mind. I thought of something really fun to do with that idea almost instantly, and got to work.

For those who are unaware, the loss comic is a meme from 2002, which features this character format: I II II I_

I tried loosely to stay within that format, I don't think it tracks very well, but the intention and setup is there.

I wanted my third and final segment to be the most challenging, and I wanted it to be inside of the castle/temple setting, in hopes of making the play subconsciously go "oh, this area is different." Each area of the game has its subtle distinctions, but the distinction here is the least subtle.

The final area features a great deal of wide and high jumps, as well as the first and only head-hitter in the game. In the final set of jumps it is possible to fall back down to the start of the section, and the very last jump isn't very difficult. I think it sucks when you think you're almost done with everything in a game, and you mess up at the very end and have to start all over. I didn't want the player to feel that way, hence the easier last jump.

The level was done! My signs (the part I get graded on) were done! I could have some fun with the rest of the game, not that I didn't have fun with the entire previous process, this final bit was just leisure. I love programming.

I started with controls. I put the controls of the game as well as some arrows to point you the right way on rocks, which would not only fit well in the game's environment, but also served well to fill up empty-feeling areas.

After the rocks, I created some bushes. I considered making hanging vines, but I forgot about it somewhere in the creative process. There's obviously not as many of them as the rocks, but trust me when I say these suckers get some crazy mileage. They're everywhere, rotated for the walls and ceiling, flipped, darkened to appear more in the background, placed somewhat behind rocks. These four bushes were super important to the decoration of this game.

After the bushes, I adjusted the hue, saturation, and light of the tilesets to make them appear as background elements. I created the background of the game as a repeating tile. I am not confident in my ability to create a full artpiece, rather than smaller assets, and my wonderful girlfriend added some pixels which I feel made it look significantly better than my rendition. I hue shifted it, and it works excellently as the game's background.

My initial rendition (black was empty) and the final rendition

The final thing to do was to add a pause menu, which is also something I had extremely limited experience with, but found to be super easy. The code is just about the same as making the signs appear and disappear.

The game was not without its bugs, however. There were two that I wanted to fix: 1) sometimes while walking, the player would randomly get snagged and stop. I believed this to be an issue with the ground's collision 2) sometimes upon landing, the player would fly straight through the floor! I also believed this to be an issue with the ground's collision

I had the ground's collider set to a Tilemap Collider 2D, which is a collider designed specifically for tiles. The way a tilemap collider works is that it assigns a square shaped colllider to every individual tile, and would combine all of those collider together in order to save space if it were more efficient on the system. In my game's case it was not more efficient to combine them. However, combining them is exactly what would fix the first issue, the player snagging on the ground. I added a Composite Collider 2D to the tilemap, and viola! No more snagging. The player would still fall through the ground on occasion, but it happened to me so rarely I figured it would be a nonissue. I added a line of code that would set the player's position to the initial spawn if they went too far beneath the map, as well as the reset button in the pause menu which would do the same.

After these fixes I had my incredibly generous roommate playtest for me. He probably played for about thirty minutes, and he relentlessly fell through the map. It was amazing to me how often he just perfectly fell through the ground. Clearly, this was a bigger issue than I anticipated. Thank goodness for playtesters!

After some research, I realized the composite collider actually created an outline of the tiles, rather than completely filling them with collision. The player would fall through the ground because while falling, their velocity would continually increase. Since the collision of the ground was so slim, the player's high velocity would sometimes cause their collider to be on one side of the ground on one frame, and the other side of the ground on the next, not allowing for any collision to happen. The slim outline of the composite collider was not cutting it. There is a setting on the component labeled "Use Delaunay Mesh" which, when clicked, converts the collider from an outline to a full mesh.

The orange lines represent the collider

A Delaunay Mesh is a mesh based on Delaunay Triangulation, which is a complicated math term which can be simplified to mean the mesh has the least amount of big system-taxing triangles possible.

My roommate once again playtested for me, this time with no bugs at all. His thirty minute experience turned into a three minute experience. Magical!

There's more I would have liked to do, but my time ran out and I needed to turn the assignment in. I think I would have liked to make a starting screen, and maybe some hanging vines. If I had as much time as I pleased, I would've added walljumping and maybe some destructible decorations to make the player feel more involved.

I think the game was a success. This is my first game I can say I've actually completed, and I feel proud of how far I've come. If I were to do this again, I'd probably study the games "Getting Over It" and "Jump King," as in hindsight these games were fundamentally very similar.

The end! Thank you for reading my silly blogpost! This took way longer than I thought.

[mybones537]

Time chapter 3

Moriarty the Patriot x reader

I have posted this on Wattpad under the same username mybones537

“Sir is there anywhere more private we could go to so I can give you a proper check over so I can make sure nothing else is wrong?’’  I ask as I pack my stuff away into my bag.

“Of course. We can go to my carriage” Sir said as I helped him up. The crowd makes way for us to pass. I helped sir into his carriage.

I give him a check up, I can see his heart is under a lot of stress but it is expected. He is a man in his mid 40s and overweight.

“So Doctor (last name) is everything alright?’’ Ma’am asks with a worried expression.

“Well most things seem to be fine but sir your heart is under a lot of stress” I begin to explain, “I’d suggest to lose some weight and eat more healthy, so less fatty foods. If you’d like I could come around once a month to check if everything is alright’’ I suggest as I pack away my medical tools. “That would be much appreciated. Here is my address, how does the 5th of every month sound?” sir says as he writes down his address.

“That is fine with me” I say as I’m about to climb out the carriage.

“How much do we owe you for your services?” ma’am asks as she takes out a pouch full of money.

“Nothing at all” I replied.

“Then please take this as a symbol of our gratitude” Sir said as he handed me the pouch.

“I can’t possibly accept this. What about you?’’ I ask, I feel absolutely terrible about taking the money.

“Oh please. I am a Duke, this is practically nothing to us. Please accept this as a token of our appreciation. I insist” 

“I… Thank you. I don’t know what to say” I accept it gratefully, knowing I’m going to need it while I’m stuck here.

Just as sir was about to say something else there was a knock on the carriage door. Ma’am opens the door. 

“Excuse me, I am Detective inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard. We heard a disturbance in the area when we were at a crime scene nearby. Is everything alright?” Lestrade asked while not even giving a second thought. 

“We’re alright now. You see Inspector I had a heart attack and Dr (last name) here saved my life” Sir said while gesturing towards me. Lestrade looked my way, he froze. There was a look of recognition in his eyes.

Shit… He knows 

“Dr (last name) could you be so kind and come with me?” Lestrade asked nicely. 

“Of course. I’ll be there now” I said goodbye to the Duke and Duchess, took my things and climbed out the carriage. 

“Please come with me, to talk somewhere more private” Lestrade said.I nod my head and walk with him.

Shit. What should I do? He knows. Or Does he? Maybe he just wants to know about the heart attack.

(name) don’t fool yourself. Like come on you saw his face when he saw you. 

Okay don’t panic. 

“After you” the Inspector opened the door.

“Thank you” I walked in. I see we walked into an old building that no one could possibly live in.

“Why are we here?” I asked as I looked around. I see a small old beautiful painting of a white lily. 

“It's somewhere private so we can talk without any reporters prying in” Lestrade spoke as crossed his arms over his chest.

“Does anyone live here?” 

“No. No one has lived here in a long time” 

“Well then I’m taking this” I pick up the painting and carefully put it in my bag, “so what did you want to talk about?”  

“You look like the body at a crime scene that went missing. Care to explain?” 

“That’s very strange” I try to make it look like I have no idea. I look over at Lestrade to see him raising a brow, “Okay! Look I have no idea how I got there I swear!”

“Then what? Why were you wearing strange clothes” he said sceptically. 

“Listen if I told you, you’d probably think I’m crazy’’ 

“You’d be surprised what I have heard before” 

“I doubt you would’ve heard of this”, I spat

“Try me” he uncrossed his arms and put his hands in his pockets.

“I’m from the year 2023” I said as fast as possible.

“Excuse me but did I hear that right?” Lestrade asks dumbfounded.

“Yes.” (I explained what happened)

“So you’re telling me that you got hit by a ‘truck’ that knocked you over a bridge, you went unconscious and woke up at the crime scene?” He summarised what I said.

“Yeah pretty much”

“I was definitely not expecting that”, came a voice from upstairs. Giving both Lestrade and myself a fright.

“Oh my god! … did you know someone was there?” I ask Lestrade.

“I hadn’t the faintest clue” he said, “ Holmes get down here this instant!”

A man slowly walked down the stairs, he was wearing a navy blue suit, white shirt buttoned down his collarbone and he had his navy hair up in a ponytail. 

“Who the hell are you?” I asked in a monotone voice.

“I, my dear, am Sherlock Holmes. The world’s only consulting detective” he smirked.

[heartshattering]

(I've tried to write this multiple times but keep getting interrupted...)

Anyway

Had a really good day yesterday, probably the first day in a while that was better than just "okay". I was happy and felt positive about myself.

Last night ended up being tough though. I fell asleep eventually but it wasn't until 5 AM. The later at night it got, the more stressed out I felt, which means I gave in to some compulsions and just felt uncomfortable and frustrated for hours in bed. I'm not sure if there was really a cause or if I need to accept that every once in a while there will randomly be some nights where I just don't feel right. I still feel like I handled things better than I would have before, but I still hate tossing and turning in bed and not knowing what exactly is keeping me up or what to do. The only thing I can think of is maybe I didn't give myself enough time to wind down last night but I still relaxed and did self-care things so I don't know...

Then today I've been home alone with my mom all day which is always "fun". We had an inspector come over which wasn't expected (they tried calling my mom and couldn't reach her) and now my mom has been in a shitty mood because of the inspector's comments like saying the house is a fire hazard and telling us we should move. Ever since the inspector left she's been non-stop complaining and rambling and is in one of her moods where she starts coming up with dramatic ideas like saying we need to leave the country or buy entirely new furniture. It's hard to hear myself think and she's asking for stuff again so I'm stopping here

[pebblysand]

[CHAPTER 19 RESOURCES]

hi all! i've seen a lot of messages/comments asking about the political/historical events referenced in chapter 19, and the research i'd done about it. as such, i thought i would write this short post to give you more resources if you're interested in digging further. i will however caveat the below by saying that the aftermath of 9/11 (and particularly the iraq war) is my political roman empire; it's a topic that truly fascinates me, and about which i've done a lot of research/thinking throughout the past 20 years, and something i'm always coming back to. so when it comes to the below, this is mostly made of the media i've consumed semi-recently, and that i remember. i couldn't possibly tell you what i was watching/reading ten years ago about this when i was getting obsessed by dick cheney 😭.

- on 9/11 -

it's relatively easy to find out literally anything you want about 9/11 from an american perspective. there's so many resources out there, feel free to pick your own. i myself recently watched 9/11: inside the president's war room on apple tv, which was comically bad pro-bush propaganda, but does give you some insight on bush's bizarre state of mind. having said that, for this chapter, i actually needed to figure out what it would have been like in the uk government, and i felt that this podcast episode from westminster insider was very good at doing that.

- on iraq -

the war in iraq, be it from a uk or a us perspective, is one of the most destructive, outrageous government lies and cover ups in history, and certainly of the 21st century. we really don't talk about it enough. it also not only destroyed the public's trust in government institutions, but killed and injured thousands of civilians (as well as soldiers) only to lead to the rise of isis and the perpetuation of instability in this region of the middle east. i could probably rant about it for literal decades, but here are some resources if you want to be outraged yourselves.

note that most of these are from a UK perspective, which was a deliberate choice on my end as i was writing this chapter from that perspective. i've also watched/listened to stuff from the us (and france, probably), but that was a long time ago and honestly i wouldn't have the references.

film/TV:

(fiction) official secrets with kiera knightly isn't bad. it's a bit dramatised but it goes over the story of a GCHQ analyst who leaked secrets to the press before the invasion.

(documentary) once upon a time in iraq from the bbc is genuinely incredible. it is the story of the war told through the point of view of those involved in it, from american soldiers, to journalists, to iraqi civilians. i thought it was very well made and did a great job at showing the perspective of people you rarely ever hear from.

(documentary) everyone always recommends fahrenheit 9/11 which i think i saw a long time ago and i suppose it was good, although i don't think it taught me anything i didn't already know.

podcasts:

most of the "research" i did for this chapter was actually through podcasts, so here is the stuff i listened to.

the fault line's entire first season bush, blair and iraq is INCREDIBLE. it's both very good at setting out the basic facts about the war and the chronology of the iraq invasion, but also at explaining how we got there, the lies both administrations told the general public, and how global group-think led to intelligence services to believe in intelligence that was ridiculously unreliable. i would say that this was my main source when planning out this chapter, and the research put into this podcast is truly top-class.

british scandal did a series of episodes on the david kelly scandal - a british weapons inspector who committed suicide after giving an interview to the bbc accusing the government of lying to the public about WMDs. this led to a bogus enquiry into the british government and the bbc, and a report that basically concluded the government didn't lie, which was of course not true. in tone, british scandal is a bit more casual and less journalistic than the first podcast (maybe a bit easier to digest if you're not into deep stuff though), and although i was mildly aware of it, i'd actually never done much research into this particular story before, so i still found the episodes quite interesting.

politics weekly UK and politics weekly america from the guardian did two very interesting episodes on the aftermath of the iraq war 20 years on, last march. i thought both were interesting, but the america episode was particularly good at explaining the liberal case for war, and how/why so many left-wing liberals fell into the pro-war side, with very good intentions that later turned out to be catastrophic. i already knew of this, and knew i was going to have harry take that side going in, but i used this podcast a lot to refine his position and what i was trying to get across in the chapter.

shock war from radio 4 is a good overall source with rather short episodes, if you can't be bothered with longer ones.

anyway, i hope this helps! thanks for reading and enjoying this chapter as much as you have, reading your comments, DMs, etc. has truly been incredible.

[fangtastic-vampyra]

Reaaally hate how it seems I have to be "watched" by people from the system the whole rest of my life.

It's MKULTRA MILBAS targeted individual stuff. You know the people that they go after?

Those that would stick their neck out for somebody else.

You know. Yes. So. I have to do a Stinkin' re-assessment sometime next week, ish, Im like "Im in for a life sentence. Schizophrenia gets worse when you get older. Very few people "get better" [or whatever they think] whatever that means, not understanding why I keep having to do a reassessment." I mean, I really hate Drs, of all kinds, I can take care of my Fecking self, and I want them to Bugger off in general. It was creepy asf. What is so hard to understand, stop thinking shit in my head, voices, v2k, and then, making me feel like shit with uh military, weapons? thennn tormenting me in my sleep. LIEK IF I FELT BETTER, I WOULD BE BETTER. a poisoned, drug, prescription or otherwise, filled body, with emo. pain, and trauma, and not enough healthy meals, and shit, prolly aint going to be around very long. plus parasites and what have you. I CAN BE A SCREET DR. JKKK. Just a herbal supplement recommender. :] {been studying those since I was 16, got a lot of time behind me on that particular interest, yah, thats why got me all into trouble, rebelling against norms, well if Punch Line really is my ..mm.. hear voices saying dont go out with her buut...what could i get out of it? it will probably, if i dont try, end up like harley and me, im fubar.. F.U.B.A.R.} And that? Was Mr and Mrs Smith.

And she mentions the Govt program medicaid enforces it every 6 months. I'm like nooooo. Even though I know it's fake, and thats fake, I have too much rage, to not be on meds, but I don't think they're quite ready to let me only be on one anti-"psychotic" umm Vraylar and Seroquel, are my two, and we lol we -- are doing great.

Yes Im a plural, also. DID... MPD.

Anyway-- I think I "actually am" schizophrenic.. Not just a Fake illness.. But Idk maybe it's just damage from previous incarnations. Some lady read my palms and said I was reincarnated. Neat.

Meanwhile, I've gotten into some sick sort of reminescensing/revenge thing. Prolly the first male "plague rat" -- Waheyyy. Emilie Autumn fan. They want them young, to study, and observe, if ya know what Im saying. AND. They dont like to let folks go. Once they have ya. Since these bastards, think they are some type of Woman Inspector. I dont want Pig Ass Hybrids for my kids anyway, fuck off. I am no longer young, and a Cantankerous ass bitch, and One day, THOSE Fuckers, are going to compensate me, for all my TBC, and everything else. TBC/Thought Broad Casting.

WTF..!! THEY CRASHED MY BROWSER, I HAD TYPED LIKE FIVE MORE PARA. Yes. they got access to my puter. UGH!!

WELL HOW ABOUT THAT.. AND....GAWDDAMN.

Note to self/other authors, authoresses: WRITE IN WORDPAD.

Or something similiar.. There use to be one that had a black background. White makes me feel like I got a lined loose leaf paper with no.2 in a uncomfy plastic chair. YES. UNCREATIVE. Like. In a fecking institution.

Uhm what had I said... Mum also said people get sacrificed to the devil a bunch more than most think. She's kinda uh weird. yes. Used to be into goth, and horror, and metal, when she was Younger, and witch craft, lord knows umm, now shes just, Blonde hair, blue eyes. And everything else, normal, she wants to be Barbie. IDEK, this Family wsa NOT ready. She was just another Handler, my dumb ass thought fighting, was the answer. I want to SUE the pants off MKULTRA ( and associations/etc, off them.) If you know what I mean. Abuse. Trauma. Mum says it happens to boys just as much. OHHH WELL. IDK about that. Shes just another brainwashed handler. Tho.. pretty insightful if you can actually get her to say anything. Lol we're munsters, I got out the sun synchronization, or something ugh.

Im just nursing a wound. Not caring about anything else, but trying to stop the pain. I dont uh see any point in living this way? My head is aching like someones been smashing rocks against my skull for the past hour. "Okay ill stop" Like they harass and make fun of me as AFAB UNDESIRABLE. Fat and whatever, though they did it um. And call me a he/she, they did that to. And I just uh, want to punch something in the face that something is God, Idk, until it stops moving. yes. then i can be god. >.> IDK, like whyyyy me.

Why all of this. WHYYYY.

He says we are all equal, he says his thoughts are higher than our thoughts, he says the enemies are not flesh and blood, but spirits. Yes. SAYS humans are more close to him than angels, says this and that, that we have power as humans over the animals, and the demons. idk. somethings not adding up. i think he's a f*cking rapist. celebrating the black majick curses he places onto children. a pervert, a predator. yes. i try. to calculate what is going on here, i hadnt known what i know now, i rebuke the thoughts i had as a child, the gnashing of teeth, in hell, and that, i dont want to end up there. AND? I think he's a bully. There's always been a man.. sigh.. tiresome.. voice over my shoulder harassing me.

WHAT I WANT: To be the Court leader of the Neutral guise. Or herd or pack or whatever. *LOL.*

What should my name be? Circe.

brendan used the word "blessed" in association with the amount of food we have. Im used to high quality meals, this is like, yuck, sort of. I wish I could remember shit, I want to give up. There are no plans, Im jsut saying "i want to" im tired of hurting, im tired of suffering, tired of aloneness, tired of rejection, maybe showing vulnerability will help? Why are men attacking me? Idk, i think they are scared of me.. Tbh. I will get my one desire, to be my true self. And theres nothing they can do about it." If " they try to mess it up, I have my ways.

{Wow, have the inkling of intimacy / u might be a d00d, on ur page, I MEAN, AMAB, and got scammers messaging me "hot photos" and shit lololol. Im too lazy to remove. if they're not a native English speaker, some of the messages are pretty funny...}

[queen-mihai]

I think they should all be making $25 an hour. $30 even.

The argument against giving poor people more money is so absolutely moronic that it's hard to even believe.

RICH PEOPLE END UP GETTING THE MONEY ANYWAY

Business owners are business owners. They own the business. The money comes to them. When you buy something from the business, the owner gets the money. And as a matter of fact, with more of us having more money, there's a good chance the rich people would have MORE money.

It probably wouldn't even get to them any slower. There's no freaking downside to giving people enough money to thrive.

"But what if they abuse.."

BITCH we've figured out ways around just about every problem mankind has ever faced. The only damn thing that would happen is people who used to not be able to afford treatment could finally afford it. Plus when people can afford to do shit other than sit around the house all day, drugs start to look pretty damn stale and stupid for the most part. As long as some lawmakers "trying to make a point" don't start fucking up the execution on purpose.

"But this has never been tri.."

It's been tried. It's been proven. Name it. Somebody somewhere has shown that good policies work popular policies are popular for a damn reason. Stop listening to whiney politicians who can't keep their job if people actually get out and vote. Those "leaders" don't have your best interest in mind. They don't have you in mind at all. They want to forget you exist, coast on their title, and keep collecting money until they can't anymore.

"But where's the money gonna come from?"

MOST of it is gonna come from capping corporate salaries. Hire a team of economists and accountants and have them come up with just how much any specific executive should ACTUALLY be earning. Then, have the lawmakers make that the law. Then, have the IRS, backed by our overly militarized police force, enforce that law. The rest comes through taxes on the wealthiest people and actually enforcing those taxes instead of just writing loopholes and calling them laws.

"Isn't that 'big government' though?"

Duuuuude you've gotta see. The amount of mental health crises that are tied to fears about money is too damn high. Giving people money will help so many things in so many different ways that you barely need all that much government.

Here's a story for you.

I once ran a group of over 600 people online.

I had like 2 active mods.

We barely ever had to boot anybody. DO YOU KNOW WHY?

Because when a group is run well, when it feels nice PEOPLE WANT TO KEEP IT NICE. You can hire fewer police because people will self police. You can hire fewer IRS agents once rich people get used to the new system because actually paying their taxes made them RICHER. You can give people jobs like inspector of food safety if anything and just like have them making sure everything is running OK. Probably help the businesses they inspect make more money too because safe food is good and good food makes people wanna buy it and people buying more food makes the business more money.

Maybe you wouldn't need so many agencies spying on people if people actually had money cuz then what are they plotting?

Half of the stuff we are used to these days is only a thing BECAUSE of the shitty system we're used to.

You want to shrink the government? Give people money enough to thrive and watch the need for huge expensive government services dwindle.

It's not big government. Because giving people money would help shrink the government.

It's not fiscal responsibility. Because the best ones to decide what people need to spend money on is the people themselves. Plus these systems pretty quickly pay for themselves.

It's not even "making sure the right people get money and the wrong people don't" because those "wrong people" who may be living in America? Yeah they're spending that money IN AMERICA. So guess who gets it? Americans. Rich Americans.

It's only EVER about suffering. The rich CAN'T STAND for anyone poorer than them to be happy. If they can't monopolize the very concept of "joy" and keep it for themselves, the world is falling apart. I'm not talking Michael Jordan rich. I'm talking jeff bezos rich. Jeff doesn't want people to be happy. If he did, he wouldn't have his workers peeing in bottles.

No. jeff Wants people working for him to suffer because if he creates a hole in them, then the hole he has in himself might not feel as big.

Same with musk

Same with zuck

Same with any of these idiots who can't think of anything better to do with their life than to keep collecting money.

My answer to somebody who doesn't want a barista making $15-20-30 per hour?

Stop drinking the kool-aid. musk ain't about to make you rich. He's lying to you. So are the rest of the billionaires

[beautysurvives]

destiel, nsfw, moc!dean, part 2 of this post

He commits to the bit twice as hard now, insisting that he can’t take off his “lab coat,” and resisting every method of bribery until he’s managed to get as naked as possible while keeping it on.

Luckily (and he knew this already) Dean is turned on by the trenchcoat for reasons neither of them can really fathom. Cas once asked if it was because it sort of looked like a cape, seeing as Dean has been in love with superheroes since his first copy of Batman.

Dean did not tell him that it probably had more to do with the fact that it was his. That, for all its dorkiness, it had come to represent him. Cas is hot, ergo, so is his coat.

So he just snorted and said, “Columbo meets Constantine meets… Inspector Gadget. Yeah.” References which, at the time, Cas didn’t understand.

But he’s always understood that Dean likes certain things about him. More than just the way he looks. More than the sex.

It’s not that they’re soulmates — Cas doesn’t even entertain the thought. But something else. A quality in Dean that meshes perfectly. If there’s a version of that for humans and angels, it’s something God never bothered to write down. It’s them.

Cas could feel it so intensely when he first touched Dean’s soul in Hell, when there was neither vessel nor flesh to keep them separate. He’d assumed then that it was the fulfillment of his purpose — the perfect performance of God’s will — that made it feel so right. After, he pushed away the memories, which Dean clearly didn’t share, of all the time they had spent together in embrace, fleeing toward the hole in the gate that Michael himself had opened for them. Healing Dean from the ground up. Being him, for a moment.

Purgatory brought it all back, but it was dulled by Cas’s guilt. Guilt which was only compounded by the judgmental gaze of Dean’s vampire guide — his replacement.

In Hell, there was no one left alive to witness them. No one to see Cas’s fatal mistake — the errant claim he’d laid on his charge. That’s all it was to him then. All he could allow it to be. A mistake, leveraged. Zachariah’s words:

He thinks it means something.

Let’s use that.

And then, when he was human — oh — suddenly it was all so vivid. So physical. Dean’s body against his. The car closed over them like a coffin. Lights passing by the windows every so often. Cars passing, strangers, families, shaking the earth underneath them. One of Dean’s mixtapes. Finding a rhythm.

The whole world was so harsh and cold and sharp. But Dean was soft and giving and kinder than anyone Castiel had ever met — even when he was, as he likes to say, being a dick.

There’s not a single corner of Heaven that’s ever felt so safe to Cas as laying in the backseat of that car.

He wishes all the time that he could go back to that — humanity.

Not feel so… numb is not the word.

Still, this is nice. Cas doesn’t need memory foam (How does it remember?), but it’s nice. And it’s nice to make Dean feel good. To connect to his mind and feel what he feels. To remember the backseat, remember what it’s like to be hungry, what it’s like to be full. How these feelings change the nature of the body.

They’re still just grinding, with the very inadequate saliva-as-lube, because neither one of them is willing to stop long enough to reach for anything better. It’s not as much the contact of their half-hard dicks that Cas enjoys — though it is good — as it is the contact in general. Dean’s hands on his bare skin. Dean’s desire. Dean’s everything.

Cas says, “I could probably stay for more than just tonight.”

“Awesome.”

“Maybe for the week.”

Dean moans, pulling him back into the kiss.

“Dean,” he says after a while, moving his hips while he talks. “Maybe we could try something.”

“If you’re gonna say rope stuff, don’t bother. I am sick of getting tied up.” It’s a smooth transition to Cas on his back. Dean all over him, spreading him open. Coat, suit jacket, dress shirt splayed along with his broken wings. Dean goes for his throat.

“No,” Cas says. “I was thinking…” Dean bites down. “Well, it’s gonna sound strange but. My grace…”

Dean stops. “What about it?” And then, when Cas doesn’t answer, he raises himself up. “Sam told me that burning through that stolen grace nearly killed you — fuck. Cas!” His voice rises to a panicked pitch. He starts to scramble off. “We’ve been using it all night.”

Cas locks him in place. “No, it’s fine, Dean. It’s fine.” He’s not trying to bolt anymore, but fine doesn’t seem to cut it.

“I’m not anywhere close to as burnt out as I was then. I think…” He stops talking, because the face of that angel still haunts him sometimes. “I think this one is maybe stronger than the last one,” is the best he can manage.

“Oh,” Dean breathes and starts to settle down. He melts back into Cas like a sigh. Then, coming back to himself, he slaps Cas’s arm. “Why’d you get me all worried then?”

“Well, that wasn’t my intention.”

“So, what then?”

Suddenly, Cas’s angel blade is in his hand. Dean’s eyes track the up and down of his throat as he swallows, and Cas knows he understands. “I just need a vessel— a- a container. To keep it in.”

He feels Dean stiffen, muscles hardening, taut, holding his breath. The mood returning to what it was before Cas spooked him. “You want me to… take your grace.”

Cas nods. It’s too obscene for words.

“So you’ll be powerless?” Dean feels heavier suddenly. Weighing down on his lower half with intent. Breath warm on Cas’s nose. He wants this — really wants it — but he’s scared.

“Not completely. We’ll just remove a little bit, just to— I’ll heal the wound… I… It will make me feel more—”

“Human,” Dean says, low and hoarse.

“Close to it.”

Dean hasn’t been fully human for quite a while.

Dean says okay on Cas’s lips.

He gets up and turns off the light. Settles himself back down, balancing on Cas’s thighs, letting their dicks cross and slide against each other.

He takes the blade from him, gentle. It glints in the near darkness. He takes his empty hand, guiding it to his hip.

Cas pulls just a little, pressing his fingers hard into Dean’s flesh, urging but not forcing. Dean could ask him if he’s sure, but he doesn’t. Dean’s an expert with any kind of knife.

“How deep?”

“Not very. Just enough to draw some blood. Not much.”

Cas holds him tighter just before he does it. A short breath comes out of him that sounds almost like a laugh. This is a very stupid idea.

There’s a thin red streak, and then the cloudy blue-white glow of angel grace, frothing out, smoke billowing around it.

“Open your mouth,” he tells Dean.

So he leans down, opens his mouth above the wound. Cas can feel it, warm and wet and stinging. Dean’s soft lips, his thrumming heart. His tongue swipes down around the edges.

Distantly, Cas thinks he hears his angel blade hitting the floor. The hand that was holding it is suddenly in his, fingers interlocking.

Dean catches a tendril of it. Blood on his tongue. Grace swirls in his mouth. He doesn’t know what to do with it.

Before he can panic, Cas frees his hand to heal himself. Then it’s under Dean’s chin, cupped.

He says, “Spit.”

So Dean spits. The room’s only source of light glows softly in Cas’s palm.

Dean stares into it for a moment, but then he’s using it to look at Cas, studying him in the dimness. To check in, he thinks at first.

It doesn’t flicker, but like candle light it seems alive, painting Cas’s face in roiling brushstrokes. Bright, deep eyes dancing. At full power, Cas could see himself the way Dean sees him. But like this, he can only guess.

He doesn’t break his gaze as he reaches down between them. He wants him to stay here, be with him in this.

It’s a strange feeling — and he can really feel it. Wet and dry, there and not. Spit, blood, precum, grace, stored inside the space between them. Kept intact by their proximity — Just like the pb&j. Cas closes his eyes, a moan tearing out of him as he takes both of them in his hand.

“Yeah,” he pants. “That’s much better.”

Dean makes a strangled sound, eyes wide. His hands go to Cas’s shoulders, the back of his neck, groping their way into his hair. He gasps. Forces out a trembling, “Oh God.”

The lengths of their shafts pressed together. Cas’s hand cradles their wet, responsive heads — and even the lines of his own palm stimulate him. He does to them both what always works on Dean.

It feels the way it sometimes feels to be healed. Skin made of something thinner, softer, more ephemeral. More vulnerable. Touching something powerful.

“Oh God,” he repeats, and, “Cas,” he insists.

“Fuck me. I’m gonna…”

He stops Cas’s hand, tosses it away. It falls to the depths below, with the angel blade. He grabs hold of Cas’s dick — that makes him buck wildly, almost kick Dean off — lowers himself down onto it. Let’s his head, slick with their creation, lubricate him til he’s wet enough to start taking him without resistance. Slowly, up and down, inch by inch until he’s good.

Cas is a mess. He holds him close and fucks him as hard as he can — which isn’t very, because every small movement makes him twist with ecstasy.

“You good, buddy?” Dean asks once, holding back giddy laughter.

Cas can’t even form words.

Dean kisses him, and the moment his tongue reenters the scene, Cas is gone with a spark and a sound like a muffled explosion. One last hard thrust and Dean is seeing stars.

[transmasc-wizard]

an opinion on scrivener (by a normally very picky individual)

I've seen a lot of people talk about scrivener, mostly in a mix of positive and negative; it's too expensive! It's great for organizing! It's too complicated! It's XYZ!

It's only natural for I, someone who has had scrivener for about a year now, to want to add my opinion, so... here I am! This is somewhere between a review and a basic how-to? Idk. When have I ever made sense.

Note: this is not in any way sponsored. Literature & Latte/Scrivener does not even know I exist.

Another note: I believe the iOS/Mac version of scrivener is, in fact, more complicated than this, but the same stuff probably applies. I wouldn't know, because I'll burn in hell before I have an Apple product.

Onwards!

So, once you open a scrivener document (specifically the "novel with parts" template, but they're all very very similar), this is what you see. The corkboard-looking thing is, in fact, called the corkboard. The teal band off to the side (which iirc I changed the colour of, I think it defaults to grey) is the binder. If you look above the corkboard, you'll notice there are three little icons; the middle one is selected (and yellow), and sets it to the corkboard. On the right is the editor (actual page with words) and on the left is the outliner (more on that in a second).

You can write in the little notecards; this creates a synopsis that can be viewed in the inspector (more on that in a second, again), in the outliner, and in the corkboard, like this. There's also labels and statuses and stuff, but that's more than just The Basic Basics, so... moving on.

Now I've both gone over to the outliner, which lets me see the synopsis, label, status, word count, target, progress, and target type of each document, and have also opened the inspector (that column on the right) by clicking the blue i in the top right corner.

All these features are fine and dandy, but this is the love of my life:

The binder, my beloved. It lets you have individual documents for ANYTHING you want, plus folders to keep them separated & grouped. I have not had to worry about keeping track of 48763847 word docs for one story since getting scrivener; it's all!! right there!! In little folders!! I like organizing things, ok? This is my happy place.

So, above we have the actual scrivener editor! It's pretty similar to word's page, all things considered, with the exception that there's no page breaks. If you go up to "project" in the top of the screen and click "project statistics" you can see page count, but scrivener focuses on word count. WC is more accurate toward story length, anyway, as page count can vary vastly depending on font, font size, and spacing. (Also, I have the page colour changed to a light pink, but it defaults to white.)

Those are all the main screens you'd use if you had scrivener; there's also focus mode/full screen, but that doesn't usually get as much use.

The actual review-ish part of this post:

Scrivener, if you couldn't tell, is my favourite program I've ever used. (I've used word and google docs, btw). It has the most functions, is AMAZING for organization (which is great as a fantasy writer with a lot of Stuff), is great for progress tracking and project goals (something I didn't really touch upon hear; short version, each individual document can have a goal, plus each chapter/part/etc, plus the manuscript as a whole), and is much easier to use than it's reputation says it is.

I didn't even go into detail on keywords, labels, custom icons, the auto-save and auto-backup (every two seconds without writing), document notes, snapshots, custom meta-data you can track, the name generator, the trash function (you cannot accidentally delete a doc), or the thesaurus!

Overall, if you're interested in scrivener, I strongly suggest trying out the trial. It's 30 free days of use. To be clear, that means if you don't open it that day, it doesn't count as a day in your trial. You only write 2 days a week? You'll have that scrivener trial for 15 weeks.

Scrivener doesn't work for everybody! I most strongly suggest it for my fellow organization lovers, but really, if you're interested, I encourage you to give it a try.

[malarki]

Harry Potter FanFiction I greatly enjoy (it’s just tomarry and sevitus)

Fair warning, I’m not good at describing stuff, and most of these are not complete (yet) but if you have similar tastes as I do then you’ll definitely like these stories.

Meddling of a Mischief Maker - by Athy

https://archiveofourown.org/works/5380535/chapters/12427268

I enjoy this fic because it shows a more human Voldemort with him still being an asshole as per usual. They do a good job of having Voldemort believably change into a not crazy murderous bastard haha. It also has Sirius interacting with Voldemort and for some reason I find those scenes hilarious in any fic I read.

“Harry's being a horcrux is a bit reworked here in this AU Story set during the summer after 5th year. A Mischief Maker intervenes in the Ministry during Voldemort and Dumbledore's duel, changing the course history. MorallyGrey!Dumbledore, Sirius, Restored Souls, HP/TR”

Draw Me After You (Let Us Run) - by ToAStranger @toast-ranger-to-a-stranger

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22327684/chapters/53334382

This story is a delight, it’s tone is very good and they do a great job of writing in the characters ‘voices’ for their pov’s. I especially like the posh way Voldemort talks and acts. This story is also hilarious on top of just being a very good slowburn, AND it has Sirius, which as you might have guessed, I love dearly. They also don’t bash any of the characters, and instead make them well rounded but flawed individuals, which I really appreciate.

“Harry Potter,” comes the soft, sibilant hiss of a voice he has heard in his dreams, in his nightmares, in his waking hours for years.

Slowly, carefully, Harry twists over and pushes up onto his hands and knees. He stays there, short breath fogging in front of his face, and his pursuer lets him. Harry has no doubt of that; he’s being allowed this respite. This small moment to catch his bearings, heart pounding in his ears, blood singing.

“It seems I have finally caught you.”

Consuming Shadows - by Child_OTKW @childotkw

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7040089/chapters/16011331

I’ve read two of childOTKW’s fics and both of them are fantastically written and attention grabbing stories. This one was the first one I read, and it has a very interesting take on lily Potter (one which I really enjoy) and the plot can leave you on the edge of your seat at times. The characterization is great, and the process of Harry and Tom getting to know each other is done very well.

“His attention skipped passed the students and moved to the politicians’ pavilion. His gaze locked with crimson, and he nearly faltered under the sheer hunger in those eyes.

It unnerved him how fixated the man was on his dirtied, exhausted figure.

But what troubled him more was the slight smirk he could make out on the man’s lips. It was almost pleased.

On the night of the attack, Lily managed to escape with her infant son, but at the cost of her husband’s life. Distraught and distrusting of her friends, she fled to France with Harry, to raise him away from the corruption in Britain and the rising influence of the Dark Lord. She trains him to the best of her abilities, shaping him into a dangerous, intelligent and powerful wizard.

But when Britain re-establishes the Triwizard Tournament, and Harry is forced to return to his once-home, he finds himself questioning whether he really wants to kill the Dark Lord. Voldemort finds an unexpected challenge in the child, and as his intrigue and amusement grows, so too does the desire to possess the spark in those defiant green eyes.”

A story that is kind of similar but not really: The Train to Nowhere

You Belong To Me (I Belong To You) - by child_OTKW

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11270490/chapters/25203408

This is a story inspired by the manwha ‘At The End Of The Road’ by Haribo. A comic I read before reading this, which is very good I recommend it. They do not take the exact plot from the comic though, obviously changing significant details for it to work properly as a Tomarry Fic, but one main thing stays the same, which is that this is a body swap. Honestly I really enjoy childOTKW’s works, and this is no exception. The characterization is wonderful as always, and Harry is Fantastic. Plus I’ve always been a fan of time travel fics. (Fair warning this is another slow burn and Harry centric)

“What I find absolutely fascinating,” Riddle said, stalking closer, “is you.” He marched forward, backing Harry up until he was pinned to the cool wall of the common room. “Do you know why?”

“No. And I’ll be honest here, Riddle, I don’t particularly care.”

The taller boy grinned at him, small yet infinitely pleased. “That. Right there.” One hand rose and brushed some of Harry’s fringe from his face. “Nathan Ciro was a spineless little boy too afraid of his own shadow to dare even glance in my direction. But you…”

He leaned closer, “You look at me like you want to stab me.”

“After an accident, Auror Harry Potter wakes up in the body of fourteen year old Nathan Ciro, a tormented Slytherin who recently tried to end his own life. Seeking answers to his strange predicament, Harry returns to Hogwarts, and causes quite the stir through staff and students - especially when they come to realise he is not the same boy as before.

He tries to avoid suspicion, but as his quest for the truth draws more and more attention to him, Harry begins to think that he might not like what he will discover.”

Some Bonus AU tomarry

A Thousand Paths Among The Stars - by Haplessshippo @haplesshippo

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12015060/chapters/27191238

This is a star trek au and it’s honestly my favorite tomarry au fic. Granted, I am a huge sci-fi fan. There’s also a bit of a twist at the end, or at least it surprised me, due to the way we usually expect tomarry plots to go.

“Harry Potter, newly appointed Captain of the Marauder and son of the famous Captain James Potter, was falling apart at the seams. His crew didn’t respect him, he was lost in the empty expanse of space, nightmares plagued his sleep, and his Commander deserved the Captain position more than he did. Good thing multiple attempts on his life and a vicious warlord after his head was all it took to turn it all around.

Alternatively, that space fic in which Harry Potter almost dies too many times, Tom Riddle slowly becomes the most smitten fool on the ship, and the rest of the crew are all just a bunch of assholes with popcorn watching the show. And exploding ships, don't forget the exploding ships.”

The Matchmaker - by TanninTele

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16507676/chapters/38664089

I am ALSO a huge true crime fan, and this story has a criminal that kinda reminds me of one that might appear in Hannibal (but with less murder). I enjoy the characterization, though tom is pretty tame in this compared to more cannon fics, considering he’s not the criminal and instead an investigator. Harry is also different from how people usually portray him, but I still like it.

“'The Matchmaker' is a serial abductor whose modus operandi consists of pairing two same-sex individuals together in a coffin, six feet underground - buried alive. He isn't a killer. He's a kidnapper with morals, and Detective Chief Inspector Tom Riddle finds himself obsessed with solving the case.

Unfortunately for Tom, the Matchmaker is just as intent on knowing him.”

And on to the Sevitus Stories

Far Beyond A Promise Kept - by oliversnape

https://archiveofourown.org/works/547431/chapters/974693

A classic, Harry stays with snape and unintentionally proves all his assumptions wrong and makes snape care about him. Both the stories have this aspect, but this one has snape a bit nicer from the get go. Probably because it takes place during the third book, so they’ve only known each other two years. It’s quite wholesome though, and I rather enjoy the progression of their relationship.

“Snape never wanted anyone to know of his promise to Dumbledore, but has realised that he can protect Potter much better by taking a less passive role in the boy's training. Actually liking Harry Potter has never been part of his plan. mentor/guardian.”

Crime And Punishment - by melolcatsi

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24102232/chapters/58018174

Snape and Harry have way more of a rocky start in this one, and Snape having to pick Harry up from the police station Really Doesn’t Help Snape’s opinion of him. This story very realistically shows the progression of their relationship, going from enemies to family, and near the ‘end’ (it’s not finished) it becomes very wholesome with Snape trying to help Harry with his mental and physical health after years of abuse/ neglect.

“Harry is accused of burglary. The Dursleys leave him to rot. Dumbledore sends Snape to remedy the situation. Harry finds himself in the care of an irate Snape. Not slash, gen-fic w/ focus on Sevitus relationship. Angst galore. Warnings: coarse and suggestive language, mentions of abuse/neglect. Un-betaed and un-Britpicked.”

[namtanlovesfilm]

axelle judges non bl shows > Remember You

summary: A genius detective teams up with a colleague to investigate a case that hits close to home, but the duo becomes entangled in a cat-and-mouse game.

where to watch: netflix | dramacool

grade: 8,5/10

pros:

- the acting was really solid. I had only seen petch in his role as gus in diary of tootsies which was EXTREMELY different from his role here, and even though he already demonstrated some talent in that, here he really impressed me. I loved seeing the shell around tanwa slowly melt away, and petch played him incredibly well & in a very nuanced way. bell was also great, though her character is less nuanced, she still did great in emotional scenes. but probably the biggest surprise for me was tay tawan, who for me was BY FAR at his best in that role. he managed to capture the volatility & fragility of the character SO WELL, while also looking mysterious & scary at first. it gets me really excited for his future roles bc it’s amazing to see him finally coming together as an actor. and finally, kudos to the actor who plays inspector thanat who was lowkey my fave & really well done as well.

- the characters were all very nice, as I said tanwa was a very compelling main character, paytai was also so fucking layered & complex I was crying over him, and aye was also a really great feminine presence that I enjoyed very much (even though everyone else hated it her for no reason than the fact that she was annoying for like 2 seconds at the beginning & that she’s a woman.) I even greatly enjoyed the side characters.

- the ship was really cute tbh. I loved how slowly but surely they evolved, with no drama, no betrayal, no weird morally grey stuff, just longing & trust. they had just the right amount of screentime imo, enough so we root for them but not too much so we can still focus on the investigation.

- the cinematography & filming was good, not life-changing but that was definitely a really nicely executed show for sure :)

- the writing was honestly really solid. the plot twists are weirdly not surprising at all, yet you’re still on your tiptoes for some reason? I think this show is more about watching stuff unpack rather than being surprised about the stuff that’s being unpacked if that makes sense, which changes a lot from most other thriller/investigation shows. and once again, the balance between the characters & the crime stuff was done really well imo.

cons:

- the beginning of the show is a bit slow, and it could’ve easily been 13 episodes instead of 16 without sacrificing anything important. it would’ve greatly helped the pace & overall made the show feel more polished imo.

- there were some inconsistencies that made me feel like this wasn’t the most tighly run show tbh. it only half bothered me, but does keep me from giving it a higher grade.

would I rewatch it: honestly yes

Overall even though the first few episodes are kinda slow, this is a really good show! I genuinely really enjoyed it & would absolutely recommend it :)

[zaharya]

Scrivener 3 – Main Tutorial (Part 2)

I hope you find this guide useful! To enable me to make more of these, and make them available for everyone, please consider supporting me via KoFi! I love sharing my stuff freely and don't want to paywall anything, but I also have to eat – every contribution helps and is greatly appreciated!

This is tutorial 2 (part 2) of my neurodivergence-friendly tutorial series for Scrivener 3. It's intended for people who are new to Scrivener, as well as people who are already familiar with it, as it covers the major features in quite a bit of detail.

Important note: All my tutorials are based on Scrivener for MacOS! Though minor, there are some differences between Scrivener 3 for Windows vs for MacOS, so you may notice a few small discrepancies if you use Scrivener with Windows. Further, all tutorials are based on my own personal workflow, and all screenshots are from my personal files, so please don't distribute those elsewhere. My workflow is not universal (duh), and if you use certain features differently that doesn't mean one of us is doing it wrong. You do you! Lastly, this tutorial originated on Discord, which is probably noticeable in how it's written – I am not changing that, since many people have insisted that this was exactly what made it easier to follow than the official Scrivener tutorial.

A continuously updated Masterlist with all my Scrivener 3 tutorials can be found here.

(Part 2 begins below the cut.)

Main Tutorial (Part 2)

[Direct continuation from where Part 1 left off.]

Copyholder

Now I've already talked about layout and the Split modes further up, but that's not the end of our layout options in the Editor. Besides Split mode to show two files/scrivenings, you can also use the Copyholder to display notes, a snapshot (we’ll get to that), another scene – whatever. To do that, you right-click on the file you want and go to Open -> in Copyholder. You can change the position of the Copyholder with a right-click into its frame.

Similarly, if you choose Open -> as Quick Reference, the selected file will open in a small, floating window. Many options to have many things open at once – neat shit.

[There are a couple other options for the Editor (including Typewriter mode, Focus, and Composition mode); they are covered in the Extended Tutorial.]

The Inspector

So, finally, all to the right we have my favourite thing: the Inspector, with five tabs. [Reminder at this point that this is just my personal workflow. Ok? Ok.]

Notes

The first tab (outer left icon) is Notes. With Notes selected, up top you see Synopsis. I use this to roughly outline my scene. Sometimes there's no more than a sentence or two in there, in this case now it's a fairly detailed one.

Under that you see the Notes, and you see that not everything is in the same font. I put many things in the notes, the three main ones of which you see in the first image above:

something that'll potentially go into the author's notes when I eventually post the chapter with that scene in it; aka my thoughts while writing, how i felt, something funny, idk — really whatever, just author's notes

shit I wanna remember without having to think about it every time; here, who's in the scene and the age of the three most important characters

in the serif font you see deleted sentences! meaning sometimes while writing I'm like "nah, i wanna say this differently" but I also am not sure how, so instead of deleting the thing outright I cut-paste it into the side notes and keep it. Sometimes it gets used later, sometimes it won't.

Every now and then I'll clear out the side notes, for which (in some projects) I made a dedicated Deleted Passages root-folder to collect it all in. Whenever the side notes get too full, I cut-paste the whole blurb into the deleted passages file for that scene. Though, admittedly, it's quite rare that I keep multiple and organised files of my deleted passages. Usually it's just one huge thing where I never find anything.

Still, I've legit brought back whole long sections of text from this deleted passages log. Like, sometimes I'd bring back up to 700-1000 words that barely needed edit, it just had to go somewhere else and I wasn’t there yet. And I still do that, even though I by now discovered the Snapshot function. We’ll get to that in a bit.

Bookmarks

Moving on to the next Inspector tab, we're not with Notes anymore but with Bookmarks! So, wtf are Bookmarks, how do they work, why the fuck do we care?

In essence, a Bookmark allows you to open linked files in the Inspector. That’s neat because your Editor can stay where you were and you can continue writing, rather than clicking away from your scene there to check your notes — which then means you have to find your spot again once you return. Nobody likes that. 

(Yes, you could right-click on your desired internal file to open it in the Copyholder. That’s effort though, plus now you can’t use the Copyholder for something else. Anyway, moving on.)

There are two "types" of bookmarks: Project Bookmarks (PB) and Document Bookmarks (DB) -- yes i'm abbreviating those because I'm lazy. You can easily switch between the two like this.

And because Scrivener is amazing, both of these do exactly what it says on the tin.

Project bookmarks are accessible from everywhere and anywhere in the project. No matter which folder, file, or scrivening you're in, PBs are always there for you, like the kind of reliable person that is too mentally stable to be friends with any of us and brings us tea when we’re cold.

"Okay, great, but why do we need that?"

Well, no matter what you’re writing (thesis, novel etc.) there are probably certain things you’re gonna look up more than once (if you’re anything like me and your memory is as sound as sieve at least). General notes, outlines etc. seem like the obvious choices to be linked as PBs — you’ll likely need them over and over, and a PB lets you access the thing(s) from anywhere quickly. Neat shit.

Document bookmarks on the other hand are specific to the file where you created the bookmark (shocking, right? I’d never have guessed that). So if you bookmark a thing for the third scene in chapter 14, the DB won’t show up anywhere else. 

"But V, you just said that we can make things accessible from everywhere, why would we not just do that?"

Right, sure, fair point. Until there’s this side character which is kinda prominent in those two scenes but not really anywhere else and you keep forgetting whether you gave them armour or not, or whether they’re tall or tiny, and where did you say they came from again? Are you sure you want to clog up your project-wide bookmarks with the half-empty character sheet for Obscure-Sidekick #36? Exactly.

Now, though I’m sure it’s already quite obvious from above: What exactly do you actually save as a bookmark?

Internal Bookmarks (IB) are any files from within your Scrivener project that you select over the Binder-menu thingy you see in the image. Those are the notes, the outlines, the character and location sheets, the research you’ve imported — whatever, you could even link another scene that is really closely related to the one you’re working on with a DB.

External Bookmarks (EB) are the logical counterpart of IBs, meaning anything that isn’t in your Scrivener project. Is there this one website you always inevitably open while writing? Bookmark it.

EBs also include External File Bookmarks which allows you to link a file from your computer to keep it on hand; like the PDF of that one Review article that covers the entire theory for your thesis and you’re tired of going back and forth while trying to paraphrase.

Now those of you who paid attention saw a thing named Matching Text. The way this works is that it’ll compare the text of the doc you’re currently in with the text in all the bookmarks and show you any matching text. I’ll admit I have not yet found a good use for this, except if you’re writing a research paper and wanna check that your paraphrasing holds up. I’m sure there’s a point to it and it’ll reveal itself eventually – until then we'll gloss over this here.

Metadata

Moving on from Bookmarks, we go one further to the right to the little tag icon: There we have General Metadata, Custom Metadata, and Keywords.

General Metadata is literally just that; ordinary metadata. Boring, moving on.

The only preset that I saw for Custom Metadata is “Event Start Date” – I added Event End Date myself by clicking on the three little dots which opens the settings. You can pick your date format (short, long, full, including time, custom etc.) and there are three other types of metadata (Text, Checkbox, List) that I haven’t explored yet. 

I assume if you have something that can either be true or untrue for a scene a checkbox would make sense.

Keywords are really quite simple: To set it up, you either use the menu bar (Project) or click on the three little dots in the Keywords field and choose Show Project Keywords. Now in the beginning that’s obviously empty – so you fill it with ... well, with whatever you want! 

I sorted mine by character and location, but you do what you need for your project. The left little plus is to add a keyword on the same level (sibling), the one to the right of it creates a sub-keyword (child), and the minus to the right of that deletes whatever is selected.

You can shift the keywords around as much as you like, can drag and drop them into each other to make them child-keywords etc. Though personally I’d create it as linearly as possible because then it makes a pretty rainbow by default! Whiii!! Of course you can also change the colours so… ANYWAYS

To add a keyword to a file (folder, scene, whatever), you either open the Project Keywords and drag-and-drop (works with multiple at once!) or you click on the three little dots again and choose your tag you wanna add.

Now why is this cool? It’s cool because a) if you go into the Project Keywords, select one and then click the little magnifying glass (bottom right), it’ll show you all the files/folders that have that Keyword in the Binder (neat shit), and b) COLOURS!

Corkboard view, for example, looks like this:

And Outline view looks like this:

You can also display the actual text of the tags, I chose to have them as colour chips. You can pick and choose what is displayed in the outline; word count, progress, synopsis etc. Further, Outline view also gives you the option to display any Custom Metadata you made.

–––

Due to Tumblr having a maximum limit of 10 images per post, this is the end of Part 2 for the Main Tutorial. Click here for Part 3.

All tutorials, supplementary posts, and what they contain are listed in the Masterlist. Thank you for your attention, I hope it was helpful, and if you have questions send an ask or message me.

Part 1 | Part 3 | Tutorial Masterlist | KoFi

[eyeballjazz]

gosh I LOVE whenever you talk about the crews (midnight or problem sleuth) because your ideas are always so unique and detailed but in a realistic way? like they're all very specific but also mundane so it all feels so natural and REAL, it's always so fun! Plus your writing is very pleasant so seeing that "read more" under your replies always makes me go FUCK YES

You said you had fun with the last ask so here's me asking you to share more headcanons you have! Could be domestic, silly, sad, whatever, I'm just giving you an excuse to talk about them whever you feel like it!

#1 and first of all THANK YOU SO MUCH! I’ve delayed replying to this not only because I wanted to cook up a good answer but because your words are so sweet and I wanted to spend longer just reading and rereading them. Thank you thank you thank you!

I got a few little ones and then some big ones for ya:

Problem Sleuth and Hysterical Dame both are from Brooklyn and have harsh Brooklyn accents, though Dame’s is much more pronounced. She sounds like a slightly less congested Fran Drescher. Sleuth, additionally, loves the Beastie Boys and thinks he could’ve been one if he’d had half a chance at it.

Droog loves Sting. That’s it, that’s the headcanon.

Droog is native Italian, from part of Tuscany that is just 1 kilometer from the official bounds for the Chianti region. The fact that he’s not actually, truly, from Chianti haunts him and makes me laugh a great deal.

Now for a big one:

What war did they all serve in?

This one I’ve gone back and forth on. While I love studying war I’m not any kind of expert nor do I have any relation to military culture. But, because I write Intermission stuff as period pieces (the adults all live in a pseudo 40s and 70s mash up, all the kids live in the early oughts and that’s why none of the StabDads knows how to work a computer despite all their kids being online constantly) the setting of mid-20th century America requires there to be some war that people are living during/living through the aftermath of. I have a whole thing about the 20th century being one long war but anyway.

There was a large scale global conflict that Team Sleuth and the Crew all experienced. The Crew saw more intense, violent conflict while much of Team Sleuth saw less direct action and often sunnier outcomes.

Hearts, Slick and Droog were all infantry men whose issues with authority prevented any of them from moving up the ranks. Clubs was a technician and occasional mechanic, he learned everything he knows about bombs between his years as a soldier and a few jobs working in plastic factories back home.

Hearts was a cook as well as a renowned fighter in his unit. Slick came in and went out buck private despite some award winning violence in the field. Droog was considered for a promotion to officer because of his neat habits and efficient performance but later denied when his more anti-social and unstable qualities showed through.

For both Slick and Droog The War is much more like WW1. They met and became friends/fell in love in the trenches and saw the intensity of suffering and combat on an almost daily basis. For Hearts and Clubs The War is a little more like Korean, they were stationed far from home and were effectively playing cat and mouse with the enemy. Clubs experienced and learned from chemical warfare, while Hearts saw much more guerrilla warfare.

On the Sleuth side, Ace Dick is the only person to have served in as intense a fashion as the Crew. He enlisted young and made the rank of sergeant before retiring to become a detective. Of all of them his time was the most like WW2, in the European theater. Though he maintains his rank in retirement, Ace has relaxed out of the rigidness that made him a good officer. His hard disposition however has not degraded even one iota.

Problem Sleuth had a gay li’l stint in the Navy where he mostly ferried trade vessels along the coast. The action he did see was at the distance of sea battles, so while it was intense it was not as close and personal as the Crew or Ace.

Hysterical Dame did not serve but instead worked as a riveter and community organizer back home to get more women into the workforce as well as to provide for the families of soldiers who had been lost. That picture of Rosy the Riveter eating a sandwich with her piston driver in her lap? That was Dame, just with much more buoyant and gorgeous hair.

Nervous Broad was a nurse and was stationed abroad for most of The War. She saw a lot of very bad and only very occasionally some good. While she was in the medical corps she met Pickle Inspector, who was a contentious objector and refused to serve when drafted. Because of this, he was dumped into the medical corps at the front lines and like Broad saw some very awful things. They both don’t like to talk about what they saw more intensely than the others.

Post war they all assume the roles we’re already familiar with, most of them using the combat training they already received to do their work as detectives and/or mobsters. Broad, Dame and Pickle Inspector all learned to handle firearms (and in a Pickle Inspector’s case a whole sniper rifle) post-war. As a treat.

And, while I really don’t come to fandom spaces for sad things (the world itself is hexing enough) I do have a sad headcanon for Hearts:

His parents had an awful marriage and his father was often abusive to both him and his mother. She, in turn, eventually did away with him but not before long years of hard times for herself and her son. Once Hearts was big enough to help with the manual labor of running their small farm she took his father out during a particularly bad fight. It was a brutal night that would have seen one or the other of his parents gone from the world, but his mother won out in the end and she and Hearts lived better and better once his father was out of the picture. Hearts, to this day, sends money to his mother and believes she is the strongest woman on the face of the Earth. And he’s probably right. She still lives up in the hills of Georgia with her gun.

Momma Boxcars loves Tavros and insists that he and the other kids come spend part of their summer with her out on the farm.

Like Hearts’s mom, Droog’s parents also love their grandbabies. They immigrated to America after Droog put together enough money to bring them over from Italy and keep them living in style in the city. They were not good parents to him, in fact they have a very fraught and often vicious relationship, but they are wonderful to their grandkids and often tell Droog how much more they love Karkat and Arabia than they ever loved him. Again, I find Droog’s pain and inconvenience hilarious, and he’s fine despite all this. He actually thinks of them as ideal parents, being as he is an ideal sort of person by his own metrics.

Again, thank you for your lovely words and for the excuse to gab away about all these clowns, this was so fun!!!

[ashenpages]

Current Projects & Emoji Voting Key

Quick disclaimer: I’m a romance writer in all aspects of the term, so most of my works will contain mature content. Engage at your own risk, you know the rules, you’re responsible for curating your own experience of the internet, blah blah blah.

This post serves as a current mock up of fic ideas I’m either actively working on or considering working on next. You can drop me an ask about any of them, or just vote via the emoji combo I’ve assigned them.

Voting lets me know you’re excited about an idea and makes it more likely I’ll actually work on it. You can vote anytime, there’re no deadlines or winner announcements, just me gauging your interest by what I see in my ask box most often.

You can also ask me about the original stuff I’m working on currently. The current WIPs are Medusa centric and the emoji for them is: 🐍

Support my original work on Ko-fi and Patreon.

- Lupin: 🤑🤠💍  These are all oneshot ideas, between 5-15K each. If you want to vote for a specific idea, send me the emojis and the number of the idea.

Born from the idea that Goemon and Zenigata probably couldn’t be an item, my brain decided to come up with how I could write for them. Goemon’s teaching an ikebana class as part of his training, and Zenigata shows up as a student on forced recreational leave for his health from the ICPO. Zenigata wins the samurai’s heart through flowers. But what happens when Lupin and Jigen find out? (Only good sexy things, I promise. These beans are in a healthy polycule--be gay, do crimes) (WIP)

Jigen/Lupin, but it's Jigen deciding to seduce Lupin while wearing his own Lupin disguise. The thief is waaaaay too into it, and some artistry is taken with the sex so that they don't mess up the disguise too much during their encoutner.

Jigen/Zenigata/Lupin where Jigen has some fantasices about Zenigata, but is pretty sure they'll never happen. Tells Lupin about them. Suddenly the fantasies are coming true, in the middle of a heist, and Jigen doesn't what to do except get swept up in the moment and enjoy. Plot twist, it's Lupin dressed up as Zenigata granting all his gunman's dreams. Plot twist again, Zenigata catches them at it.

Zenigata/Lupin, where Lupin keeps doing good things in illegal ways and Pops has to find a way to punish him for it. Good thing for Pops Lupin's a masochist?

Trans!Lupin and Trans!Jigen premise: Jigen cares for Lupin after the master thief has top surgery, since Jigen has Been There and Done That. Caring, sweet, and a little sexy. Lupin is a much better patient than Jigen.

The one time Zenigata caught Lupin in an alley and kissed him and it was Jigen in disguise. Things get sexy anyway, and Zenigata has crushes on two thieves now. Lupin and Jigen "kidnap" him later for an evening of taking care of their inspector.

The background plot of Jigen's Gravestone where we see Jigen think he's done for and try to leave Lupin. Our thief has none of it, and we get to relish in the inherent eroticism of Lupin sitting in sniper fire, knowing Jigen's got his back. This is the moment I think Jigen finally believes he can be with Lupin forever.

I love the idea of something longer and more plot driven like a Lupin special where Lupin ends up in hot water and Jigen and Fujiko have to work together to save him. Jigen and Fujiko have such an interesting relationship. They're both partners of Lupin, they don't really like each other, they constantly screw the other over, but when it really matters they take care of each other. I'd like to see that highlighted a little more and also give them space to call each other out and bicker. Nothing sexy between them, but maybe a really interesting threesome with Lupin and Fujiko in a strap on once they save their boy.

- Sonic Vampire Novelist Coffee Shop AU: 📚☕💐

Shadow is an immortal vampire who has seen the world change for the worse too many times. These days it feels like he only lives for his coffee dates with Rouge, another immortal who loves each new era they encounter, warts and all. He has to admit that the book series she got him into speaks to him, at least. If someone in this era can understand him without meeting him, it can’t all be bad. But he hardly expected the goofy blue barista at the new coffee place to understand him the way those books do.

This is a novel length romcom romp with some big feelings about what it means to watch as things change, grow, and die. Expect lots of Big gothic feelings from this one, emotionally charged kissing, and overly-adoring sex. But also expect shenanigans from everyone in the coffee shop, which include Rouge, Amy, Tails, Knuckles, Cream, and more.

- Sonic Blazamy, "Like the Sun": 💖🌸💎

Amy Rose has been in love with Sonic for a while.

Or has she?

When the Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, and Silver are trapped as the fuel sources for Doctor Eggman’s newest evil scheme, Amy teams up with Blaze, Rouge, and Cream to save them. With Sonic out of the picture and Amy fulfilling his role, was she ever really in love with him? Or did she just want to be like him?

This is a novel length epic romance with lots of competent women and lots of romantic Blazamy content. Expect flowery hopes and dreams, badass self-actualization, and glancing hand touches that give way to cuddly and sweet sex.

- Persona 5: 🗡🍛☕

After bringing down the Metaverse twice, Ryuji didn’t think graduating high school and figuring out what to do with his life would be so hard. Akira’s back in town, and the gang’s more-or-less all in Tokyo, but everyone else seems to have a plan while Ryuji just floats. How’s he supposed to change the world when he’s not a phantom thief anymore?

This is a novel length fic that addresses how powerless one can feel being just one person in the face of all the corrupted systems and bigotry the world has to offer. It’s about holding on to what you believe in, working through the doubt, and fighting your way to a better tomorrow with the power you do have. The whole gang is queer, featured relationships being Mako x Ann, Ryuji x Akira, Futaba & Yusuke as platonic life partners. Akira is polyamorous and omnisexual, Futaba’s asexual and aromantic while Yusuke is demisexual and very romantic, Makoto’s a lesbian, Ann and Ryuji are bi, and Haru’s pansexual, demisexual, and aromantic. They’re one giant band of queer Phantom Thieves, and even if they’re not really doing the Metaverse thing anymore, they’re still gonna save the world!

Also, I’m gonna make Makoto not a cop. That super didn’t age well. Zenkichi and his boss can work on making them better/abolishing them for other better organizations.

- Hades Game: ❤️‍🔥💀

Oneshot. I just really need to elaborate on the threesome you can have with them in-game, okay? Healthy and canon poly relationships are so few and far between, so often I have to do a ton of groundwork to explain why it’s working in the fic, but NOT WITH THESE KIDS!

Get ready for Meg helping Zag and Than be better at expressing their feelings, lots of kissing, and probably pegging.

- Castlevania Animation Trevor/Sypha/Alucard: 🧛🏰🛌

Castlevania gave Alucard a threesome last season, and I just really need S4 to give me him being taken care of by his partners. They’re probably not going to give it to me, so I’ll need to do it myself. This is just an everybody loves Alucard oneshot, with the gang’s signature banter (to an extent), Sypha being sexy, and Trever being remarkably sincere. This fic is gonna feel like that Ann Hathaway picture with Trevor kissing Alucard and Sypha holding the end of Trevor’s whip while she leans her head on Alucard’s shoulder adoringly.

- Devil May Cry Nico/Lady/Trish: 💋✨😈

Nico’s gay, okay? Like really, really gay. And Lady’s bi and not into men who make her pay bills, but very into women who make amazing guns for her and demonesses with hearts who fight by her side. Trish is ace, but loves people and is pretty attached to Lady at this point. Plus it’s cute when Lady blushes and says nice things like they’re insults. I don’t have super solid ideas for them yet, and I envision these more like a polycule where Lady’s with Nico and with Trish but they’re not with each other more than seeing it as a threesome, but who knows what might happen. This is probably 1-2 oneshots depending on ideas, but might turn into a series of oneshots if people are interested (or I can’t control myself and inspiration strikes).

- Post FMA:B Blind Roy & No Alchemy Ed: 👀👑🙏

This is actually an old novel-length fic I wrote ages ago and didn’t post that didn’t turn out well because I was new to writing sex when I first wrote it. The plot is good, and is all about Roy learning to work with his blindness to reclaim his ambition of being Fuhrer and changing the system to something that actually cares for its people. He and Ed reconnect, fall into bed, and both set about working through their respective traumas about being “useless” having lost their sight/alchemy. They go to Xing as an ambassadorial party to offer Amestris’s collaboration on Al and May’s Alkahestry experiments--and uncover a plot that might threaten both kingdoms.

- Age of Calamity continuity Mipha x Revali: 🦚🐟💘

The first time Revali noticed Mipha, it was in the heat of battle. She stole his mark, taking them down with a flurry of quick blows from her spear. Violence rained from her like water--and then she healed him on her way to her next battle. No questions, no conditions, just pure kindness. The usual need to measure himself against those around him was quiet in her wake. And Revali couldn’t understand it. But how to get to know more about her? A fish and bird may fall in love, but where would they live?

This fic could be a oneshot or novel length depending on how far down the hole I fall. I need it to cover time, but it could be done in linked vignettes or with actually covering events in detail. I may elect to do a oneshot just to get it done and out of my system faster. So much fic to write, so little time.

Expect trans!Revali, polyamorous Zoras, scary competent Mipha, songbird Revali, love confessions that are made up entirely of berating Link for not loving Mipha the way she wants him to, and breaking these characters a little outside of their assigned roles in BotW and Age of Calamity. Background Link x Zelda, and Urbosa x Zelda’s Mom.

- Epic desert romance about Urbosa and Zelda’s mom: 🏜🏝⚡

I just think Urbosa should kiss women and Zelda’s mom should get more development and maybe a name or something. Also, lightning imagery/metaphors/play.

It also went way over my head that Riju wasn’t Urbosa’s daughter the first time I played BotW, so now I want to write about the Gerudo queen who refused to produce an heir. The Gerudo are fascinating and have a very interesting cutlure, but I think it could be examined from a nonbinary perspective that rejected pregnancy and wanting to find a husband. Not in like a hateful way, but in a way that examines if that’s really right for everyone. There’s that shop in town that sells Voe armor, after all. Maybe finding a husband and having children isn’t something you have to do if you don’t want to. And Urbosa really doesn’t want to.