#edit 2: added twin flame

[insoukokuhell-434]

Soukoku Fic Rec - FLUFF :]

The format I’m using is:

Title - writer (ao3 link) Fic length Time period (teen/mafia skk, 22! Skk, all ages) Additional tags (Tags in bold added by me for extra info) TW

Some fics have parts of the summary/ comments added for additional info

30 Kisses - setosdarkness

19.2k ALL AGES - AU AU - Modern: No Powers, Childhood Friends, High School, College/University Fluff and Humor, Developing Relationship, Getting together, Poet Chuuya, Port Mafia Boss Dazai, skk's unconventional mating rituals, Ficlet Collection, 30 kisses challenge

From summary: "30 kisses between Dazai and Chuuya, starting from highschool, all the way to adulthood.

It starts when Dazai steals Chuuya's first kiss and Chuuya convinces himself it's just how alien mackerels greet each other…"

it must be because i love you - communist_sasuke

5k MAFIA SKK (15, SB), 22 SKK Mutual Pining, Love Confessions, Falling In Love, Fluff and Humor, Dazai is Whipped, Developing Relationship, Post-Corruption Ability Use, First kiss

From summary: "(Or: A series of incidents in which Dazai and Chuuya can't gather their thoughts around each other, and a couple of clues as to why.)"

Chuuya Nakahara's Guide to Winning Gay Chicken - Zombiemarker

9k ALL AGES Gay chicken, canon compliant, they're both idiots, Kouyou is the best

From tags: World's longest running game of gay chicken, because they're both emotionally stunted teenagers who are far too competitive for their own good, at least it works out for them

Happily (n)Ever After - Memos

14k  22 SKK + flashbacks Romantic Comedy, Light Angst, Bad Decisions, Alcohol, Suggestive Themes, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Assault With Flowers, Don't Be Like SKK Kids, Drunk marriage, Reconciliation

Twin Flame - insi 

10.2k 22 SKK Soulmate AU, Dazai is Bad at Feelings, Chuuya is Bad at Feelings, Non-Sexual Intimacy, It's okay they're working on it, Ambiguous Relationships, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Light angst

Summary: Soukoku go through a soulmate au speed run

A chance to start again - Root (Fyki)

4.4k 22 SKK Mutual Pining, Getting Together, First Kiss, Fluff, Introspection, they work they shit out

Without Words - StarshipDancer 

11.5k 22 SKK Caring Chuuya, Domestic Fluff, Light Angst, Getting Together, Moving In Together, Literal Sleeping Together, Cuddling & Snuggling, video game references, sticky notes, Love Confessions, Idiots in Love, Soft skk, skk’s Unconventional Mating Rituals, 5+1 Things TW - Dazai-Typical Suicide Mentions 

The Only Present Worth Having - StarshipDancer 

3.5k 22 SKK Birthday Fluff, Arcades, Flowers Language of Flowers, Getting Back Together, Soft skk, Implied Sexual Content

castles out of couches - halfbloom (diphylleias)

14k >22 SKK Established Relationship, Living Together, Domestic Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Light Angst, Snippets, No Plot/Plotless, cute cohabitation chronicles, Implied Sexual Content, Healing

partners -  setosdarkness

39.6k ALL AGES Canon Timeline + Post-Canon Slow Burn, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Mutual Pining, oblivious to love, Idiots in Love, Enemies to Friends to Lovers Wedding Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Cuddling & Snuggling, Literal Sleeping Together, Breakfast in Bed, Stuck in the Rain, Moving In Together, Food Fight, Marriage Proposal, Actual Marriage (LOL), Crossdressing(the origin of ojou-sama chuuya)

From tags:

"they go to wedding fairs because they're broke": the fic

"dazai tricks chuuya to signing the marriage register": the fic

"soukoku is married since day 1": the fic

"chuuya overreacts to dazai possibly getting injured": the fic

Wet Bandages - StarshipDancer

3.7k 22 SKK Domestic Fluff, Literal Sleeping Together, Morning Cuddles, Couch Cuddles, Established Relationship, Idiots in Love, Fluff and Angst, Implied Sexual Content, Caring Chuuya , Soft skk, POV Chuuya

A Night In - StarshipDancer

4.3k 22 SKK Domestic Fluff, Light Angst, Surprises, Valentine's Day, Established Relationship, Soft skk, Idiots in Love, POV Chuuya

Moving Pains - cactusnamedbob

1.9k 22 SKK ADA Chuuya, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Literal Sleeping Together, Sleepy Kisses

realizations in a shared hotel room - setosdarkness

4.6k 22 (Post-Canon) this is a "soukoku gets quarantined together" fic, Fluff and Humor, Sharing a Bed, Feelings Realization, Protectiveness, Domestic Bliss

Only for You - StormDew2

9.9k MAFIA SKK (post 15) Literal Sleeping Together, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Kissing, First Kiss, chuuya gets banned from drinking so dazai gets him some wine, Underage Drinking, Light angst

A Game of Honesty - StarshipDancer

3.1k 22 SKK Established skk, Domestic Fluff, Literal Sleeping Together, Lazy Mornings, Teasing, Sleepy Kisses,  Idiots in Love, soft skk, POV Dazai    

for the rest of the hour - photography_tea

1.3k 22 SKK in bed thoughts and fluff, Because They Deserve To Be Happy Dammit, reference to dead apple

Please like/reblog if this helped u find a fic, I'd be delighted to know asjsj <3

I haven't included many "literal sleeping together" fluff fics , check out this list if you want some of those :]

Soukoku Fic Rec Masterlist

[taegularities]

from sparks to fire to ashes to a breeze… 👑

candles & flames: breeze 🤍

dropping Sunday, May 4th, around 6-7pm EST. editing, so if it takes longer, i'll postpone by a day or two!

it's going to be around 25k long, but y'all know me – might end up with more, but let's see :D we're 2 scenes in (from around 8) and already at 5k-ish. around 20k long!!! take your time reading it, but please don't forget to give it lots of love once you're done. since we're saying goodbye to them, it'd mean the world <3

this has been on the schedule for so long!! thank you for missing and loving them!! once it drops, and even before then, please hype it up a lot – life has been insane lately and there is a ton to do; so i'd love and need to know that the effort i'm putting into c&f is really worth it and that you guys are around.

if i feel like you aren't, i'll probably shift my focus off again and might have to keep the story stored in my brain bc it's a lot of work, y'all already know :') but i am hopeful you'll come through. 🥺 and i hope the wait's worth it, as always.

this is the last (bonus) chapter <3 see you then 🤍

teaser under the cut! 💕 let's talk about it :]

–

Jungkook plumps down on the carpet, knees pulled in and arms around them. He tilts his head with a tender smile, chest rising before he asks, “Did you have time to think about it? Going home?”

You remember a time not too long ago when you’d sit here like this, too; despite the couch in the back, you’d play with the twins and Hana right here, on this warm carpet, and Jungkook would join after work. You’d place your head on his shoulder and whisper-converse with him.

Sometimes, you’d fall asleep and wake up in his arms, in your bed, with the children secured in theirs. You never needed proof for how gentle Jungkook handles you — but if he could carry you into your room like a feather without disturbing a moment of your sleep, you were at utter peace, right?

He did that to you. He still does; his presence calms you, though it stirs your heart, too.

You want to put your head on his chest again, slumber there. Instead, you nod and say, “I did, yes.”

“And?”

“Hana wants to go.”

His eyes move to the side, down to the floor, then back to you as he tries again, “And what about you?”

You shrug a little. “Can I really refuse my daughter’s wish?”

He moves closer; a very small distance, but noticeable to you. His eyes are intense as he emphasises, “What’s your wish, love?”

Yours? You have a lot of wishes.

Whispered upon falling stars and eyelashes. You can’t utter most of them now, though, can you? But maybe you should. Maybe, rather than the universe, it could be him granting you what you desire.

He can read your thoughts anyway. Because he encourages, “You can share your mind with me. I’m your husband, baby.”

You nod; let something in you break and break until your fingers move, up to one of his knees. He immediately puts a palm onto your digits, holds onto you as you say, “You are.”

“Only yours.”

You inhale deeply. The tears are less these days, but never truly gone. You blink before they can reemerge, quickly adding, “I will go if you want to go. Your wish is my wish.”

“It is?”

“Of course. I am yours, too.”

A rosy colour dusts his cheeks, as if he’s falling in love anew. But his gaze betrays him; still sad when he wonders, “Then… Can I say something very kitschy?”

You feel yourself melt just a little. A hint of a smile graces your face. “Always.”

“My wish is… that I want you back.” He drops his head the moment your heart sinks, too. Even from here, you see the damp waterline. “I want you to be mine the way you were. I wish to give you the same joy I used to. I just…” His voice shakes. “I need my girl back so badly.”

And then, another whisper, stuck in a loop, “I miss you.”

You nod again, tell him, “I know.” Because if you said anything more, you’d cry. You know you would.

He looks up at you, the rims of his eyes red, big eyes trapping the tears in. He sniffles; closes his lids, as if preparing for something. And then asks—

“Do you still love me?”

Do you?

Does he truly need to ask?

His presence still calms you, though it stirs your heart, too.

–

we'll be back <3

[inklingofadream]

Ink's 2024 Fic

We all survived another year, and with another year comes a new wrap-up to become my pinned post! Exact word count is tricky this year because of how AO3 counts published works you just go back and edit, but to the best of my reckoning in 2024 I wrote 96,424 words.That's an 86.417% decrease from last year, shocker.

2024 has been turbulent. We went from "I can't believe Mom has to have a root canal 5 days after major surgery" to "I'm so glad the root canal happened exactly when it did" in a matter of weeks. That was in March. The ENTIRE year has been like that. All this to say, if at any point in 2024 I didn't respond to you, stopped responding, or completely forgot something else important, it was probably because something was on fire. Nothing personal, just chaos.

That's also why I don't have a whole lot of commentary about a lot of what I wrote, compared to past years. This year, it was all TMA, and spread across 9 distinct works.

I'm listing my longest ongoings last to give the shorter ones the space to breathe. Completion status, word count, and any standout relationships are listed, but check the tags and warnings on AO3 for full details. The rest of the descriptions here are a mix of summary, excerpts, and liner notes.

from spite- 600, complete, Martin/Elias; I read The Bloody Chamber as my yearly court-mandated pre-Dracula season vampire book, and "The Erl-King" grabbed hold of my brain and said it was Martin's turn to be romantically menaced by Elias. It hasn't entirely let go, to be honest, and very well may inspire future melancholy iterations on the same ship in the future.

Martin is a sheet of ice, and Jonah's hand at his waist, his chin on his shoulder, twin flames that threaten to melt him. Jonah smiles by Martin's ear as though he heard the thought; it isn't difficult for him to circumvent the silent treatment, if it pleases him. "Look."

from what has been broken- 14k, WIP, Jon&Gerry; Last year I wrote a fic about Trevor and Julia just Keeping a very much alive Gerry and then kidnapping Jon from the Circus. This continuation is... mostly hurt at the moment, admittedly. The comfort is coming, I promise!

The Vampire Saga Route 1- 80k, 8 works, Jon/Martin, Georgie/Melanie; The most recent fic in Route 1 is actually a Christmas special Sutton wrote. Christmas special aside, this is the version where the vampire!Martin dilemma was solved with the power of friendship and everything is great forever. No misunderstandings and no ominous dangling plot threads, promise. 🥰🤞

The Vampire Saga Route 2- 43k, 8 works, Jon/Martin, Tim&Danny, Jon/Elias; Sasha tried very hard to resolve this version with the power of friendship 😔

The Archivist and the Adventurer- 45k, 10 works, Jon/Martin; My fae au got an eensy update this year! More importantly, the update introduced Gerry! If you're new, this au is technically complete- right now I'm adding oneshot chapters that take place in the main plot's happily ever after. With Gerry! More Gerry in 2025, hopefully! I want this thing out of my drafts!

Little Archive- 93k, WIP, Jon&Gerry, Jon&Beholding; Egregiously neglected this year, tbh. I swear, in 2025 I'm getting the next Plot Development out into the world. You guys will like this one, promise. For real promise, it's delightful.

Beneath the Stains of Time- 128k, WIP, Jon&Daisy; I really wanted to finish this one this year, but alas. In recompense, the entire outline as it currently sits on my whiteboard:

47J 48S-a 49Ml-b 50J-e 51T- h 52E- g 53D Never

sitting pretty on the throne, nothing more i want (except to be alone)- 225k, WIP, Jon/Beholding, Jon/Jonah, Jon/freedom; Also nearing the end! I didn't actually think I was going to get it done this year after about March, so I'm less bugged I didn't.

The First Annual Archive Team Group Getaway To Put Jon In His Place- 76k, WIP, Jon/Tim/Martin/Sasha, Georgie/Melanie; This au gets bigger every time I turn my back. It will be getting no additional installments until I finish the main fic. So now I just have to. Finish it.

[throne-for-queens]

I am disappointed.

There were some things I was expecting to see; Like new RENDITIONS of ALL of the song.

RE-RECORDINGs, UNPLUGGED, REMIX, new VIBE for sex drive, new VIDEOS for songs that were not singles, official lyrics and VISUALIZERS and some UNRELEASED. Suffocate is from 2015 but fits the nu-metal genre he mentioned on Pistolero. It even goes well with Roulette. Lana del Rey song, she just posted one with Quavo, rapper from ATL who too had with Migos the whole Latino vibe going on. Their collab went well with Waste Love too.

A music video for El Diablo PT2 & an update on the lyrics of songs like Burning Memories. A PT2 to his comic book. A photography COFFEE TABLE BOOK from 2018 & 2019 when he looked like a whole Papi. A listening party at an actual 'hotel Diablo' lounge. Cleveland has plenty of beautiful Downtown Art Deco restaurants he is rumored he already have fully rented for other private and public occasions. If he wanted a haunted vibe, there are also plenty of abandoned SAFE Art Deco Buildings Downtown CLE he could have rented, he has direct contacts with the mayor afterall.

Even the merch is not original, could have added cigars and cigarette cases and a line of short sleeve shirts.

Maybe pre-recorded interviews or Q&As and skits could have been nice touch to add.

This was supposed to be big deal. This was his fave album.

I feel like as long as he is with MF, he cannot make the free unapologetic art he wants, he has to walk on land mines to keep the twin flame image alive.

The thing I like the most is the fact he called this part two a Floor 13 EDITION. This makes me hope there will be other editions in the future. Maybe there is the chance he can base full albums on songs out of HD.

I think calling it a part 2 was definitely misleading because I was expecting an entirely new album altogether. If anything he should have called it an extended version or re-release of HD with a bonus track. I also think he wasn't expecting the sort of indifferent reaction to the tracklist, because on his insta story he offered another song with no clear instruction on how to get it. More like come up with your own goal and make it happen, but that's not really clear considering everyone has different versions of what they're able and willing to do.

[roserysttrpggarden]

Homebrew Class design For Dummies: Part 2: Getting Started

Hi there~! Welcome to the second edition of homebrew class design for dummies, in case you haven't seen the first part of this. Welcome! This is a series of blogs where I go over how to make-what else, a homebrew class for Dungeons and Dragons Fifth-Edition. The previous post discussed the "planning" phase, going over the classes role in and out-of combat, their area and other minutia. This entry will cover the level 1-3 foundation, along with some other design concepts to help your class get off the grounds into becoming something amazing.

But First!

Before we get into making our class, there are a few key ideas you should keep in mind when designing a character option for 5e, some of this ties back into advice given in part 1, but bear repeating here.

Very basics

These things don't require much of an explanation, but just things to well...Keep in mind

Strong and weak saves: Each class has a strong (Constitution, Dexterity and Wisdom) and weak saving throw (Charisma, Intelligence and Strength) make sure to give one of each to your class.

Ribbon features: Ribbon features are like seasoning, while not adding much to the fully course, they enhance the classes flavor, a bad example of a ribbon feature is "Druidic" simply put unless your DM actively gives you a use for it, it is a completely useless feature. So make sure you're ribbon features actually come into affect when roleplaying the class.

Amount of features: Typically classes gain 2 features at these early levels, the only exception in official 5e is paladin at 2nd level, where you're given a fighting style, spellcasting and your divine smite, which all play form core pillars of how the paladin, use with caution.

Dead levels: Dead levels are those levels where you get nothing, nada, bupkis. Spellcasters have the most dead levels due to them getting cantrip enhancements + higher level spells as they level up, use them where appropriate. These are typically seen at later levels of a classes progression.

Bounded Accuracy:

In laments terms, bounded accuracy is meant to keep DC's around a bounds the designer intends for (In 5e's case 0-30) this is why, not including magical items or feature such as the barbarians capstone, this applies to whether you're attempting to break down a door or stabbing a vampire. Bounded accuracy is also accompanied by 5e's horizontal progression system, meaning that rather than your numbers going up, you gain more features to make you better at certain tasks (Damage, healing, etc) rather than bonuses to hit, to damage, etc and such, there are some exceptions (Advantage, Bless) but

Keep an eye on these

Weather you're designing a spell, subclass or a new class in our case, there are a few things in game that you should keep in mind

Barbarian Rage

Bards Magical Secrets

Druids Wild Shape

Fighters Action Surge

Monks Stunning Strike

Paladins Divine Smite + Auras

Rogues Sneak attack

Sorccerers Metamagic (Quicken + Twinned spell)

Warlocks Eldritch Blast and Pact Magic

Wizards Spell Mastery

All of these features not only serve as foundations for their respective classes, but also grant the class a huge deal of power. And in a game where 5e's multiclassing system is a thing, keeping these features in mind is helpful, for an example, say your class allows you to easily get off weapon attacks as a reaction, which, while possibly mediocre on its lonesome can get out of hand when paired with a rouge multiclass, due to how sneak attack can trigger multiple times if using a reaction attack (Since it triggers once per turn, rather than once per round) it's fine if you want to have interesting synergies between classes, just make sure you don't break anything in doing so.

While not class features, some other character options also grant players with them a great deal of power by virtue of their existence.

Feats: Sharpshooter and Great Weapon Master

Spells: Aid, Booming/Green Flame Blade, Counterspell, Conjure animals/Woodland Beings, Pass without trace, Wish.

Laying the foundation

With all of that jargon out of the way, lets begin laying out the first three levels of a homebrew class.

Level 1:

Level 1 is effectively the rookie stage of your classes career, whether they trained at a mystical academy or bonded with sewer rats, the first level of your given class should lay the framework for your class going forward, to give some examples, barbarians at 1st-level are given rage as their core feature, alongside a complementary feature in unarmored movement, rogues get sneak attack and expertise, fleshing out their role as a sneaky skill-monkey archetype. spellcasters (Besides the paladin and ranger) also get their spellcasting at this level.

Level 2:

Level 2 is where your character is starting to get a grasp of their abilities, similar to level 1 many classes get some of their most defining features here at this level, such as Druids Wildshape, Rogues Cunning Action, Clerics Channel Divinity, the list goes on.

Level 3:

Level 3 is where your character has gotten the grasp of their abilities and now can truly be one of their own, this is where the fullcasters get their second levels spells and where the martials get their subclass of choice, speaking of subclasses:

Where do I put the subclass?

A likely question you'll have have when making your subclass is "Where do I put it" or "What level should they get it, while non of what i'll state is definitive, some general guidelines for 1-3rd level goes as follows:

A subclass at 1st-level is generally done because it is absolutely crucial to the classes fantasy, say for instance your class is about you harnessing the power of a curse (Ex: Ross leisers accursed) getting your subclass at first level would make the most sense, to use base game classes as an example sorccerers, warlocks and clerics get their subclass at 1st-level because said subclass defines the source of their magic. Warlocks for instance derive their magic from a pact, which grants them their magic, hence a subclass at first level.

A subclass at 2nd-level is (offically) only use for both druids and wizards, both representing you coming into your own, such as training in a specialized school of magic. But also on a mechanic level, its done because 3rd-level grants a massive power spike for full casters by granting them second level spells.

A subclass at 3rd-level is typical of many martial and half casters, narratively it has a similar beat to a subclass at 2nd-level, being your character coming into their own as that respective class. Though I assume martials get their subclass at third is to balance the power between martials and casters, due to the previously mentioned power spike.

Subclass Progression

Last thing in relation to subclass, while you can simply use the wizard, fighter or paladin subclass structure for your subclass, feel free to go out of the box (Within reason) with it, want your class to gain its final subclass feature at 20th level? Go ahead! Just keep in mind that subclasses only give you 4-5 features maximum. Though more can be done if you want to put more emphasis on the subclass as a part of their identity.

The Avatar

Now for the moment you've (Maybe) been waiting for, using the knowledge bestowed within this article I shall showcase the first three levels of the Avatar class.

Divine Spark is your avatars subclass, determining the source of your divinity, similar to a cleric divine domain. While I haven't written down any features of their subclasses quite yet, I have four planned for the class so far (With more likely on the horizon) You also gain the Legendary strike ability, which not only increases your weapons damage dice by one, you also give temp hp to your allies when you score a critical hit.

Godly Conduit acts similarly to ki on the monk, you gain a number of conduit dice equal to half of your avatar level + your charisma modifier, which you can use to either leap a number of feet equal to 5 times the number rolled, or gain an expanded hit range with your weapons for a number of rounds equal to the number rolled. My favorite feature so far is the epithets, which are described bellow:

I cannot wait to show off the epithets sometime in the future. I am super proud of how they're turning out as of now. My hope is that they not only allow for a customizable avatar, but also help redefine how you utilize weapons.

at 3rd-level you gain a ribbon feature, exceptional figure, which makes it so that you cannot suffer disadvantage on any strength-based ability checks you make. Alongside that, feasting now counts as light activity for you and your allies while resting, meant to emulate the giant appetite many heroes of myth have, and I love the idea of an avatar and their allies after a long fought battle just pigging out to their hearts content.

You also gain another subclass feature at 3rd-level to for one last power spike in the starting levels.

Summary

To summarize everything covered within this entry, when laying the 1-3rd level foundation for your subclass, you should

Keep the basic rules of design in mind.

Create features that lay out what you want your class to be doing.

Give them a cool roleplay feature to help with your classes theme.

Determine where your classes subclass should go.

Get to Writing.

That's about all I got for this entry, next time we will go over features after 3rd level, going from 5th to 20th level, make sure to follow me if you're interested in that but until then. Thank you for reading, stay cool and go make some homebrew

Homebrew Class design For Dummies: Part 1:

Indestructoboys Homebrew Design Masterclass

Where to put my subclass by Indestructoboy

Two videos on Bounded Accuracy: 1 2

[deck16]

I ran the first chapter of a homebrew Guild Wars 2-themed campaign in Pathfinder Second Edition. This post talks about how it went.

Overview

The time: 1325 AE, around the time that Guild Wars 2's Personal Story begins.

The place: The Stronghold of Ebonhawke and surrounding areas.

The starting premise: The heroes are adolescents living in a long-term refugee camp inside Ebonhawke, consisting mainly of those displaced by the Ogre Revolt. The heroes will start with small quests to help out the camp, and in doing so, discover and face greater threats to Ebonhawke.

I tried to keep close to the Guild Wars lore, but I'm certain I will have made some mistakes.

The first chapter dealt with these major themes:

The difficult road to peace. Animosity between charr and humans, featuring Separatist and Renegade forces. The heroes confronted hatreds both violent and more subtle.

Complex moral choices. When is it right to do harm for a greater good?

Found family.

The first chapter ran over approximately 30 sessions over the course of about 6 real-world months. Characters went from level 1 to 4 in that time.

We played using Foundry. The screenshots in this post depict actual Foundry scenes, albeit with post-hoc recreations of character positioning.

The Player Characters

I won't name names because I don't want to over-share characters that aren't mine. I will instead refer to them in this post by class. The party was:

Male charr fighter

Male charr kineticist (fire)

Nonbinary sylvari druid (art source)

Female human cleric

Female human psychic

(See more about the Guild Wars races here).

I made custom rules for these ancestries:

Humans were PF2e humans, with a few extra Guild Wars options added.

Sylvari were lightly-modified PF2e ghoran, with a few extra Guild Wars options added.

Charr I created as an ancestry from scratch.

No asura or norn. No-one chose those races, so I didn't need to make custom ancestries for them.

No custom rules were made for classes. Some were natural fits: kineticist as elementalist, psychic as mesmer, fighter as warrior. Cleric and druid did not fit the game's classes so well (unless you include the Guild Wars 1 monk), but in my opinion they fit the game's genre just fine.

All PCs were refugees living in the camp. Non-sylvari characters were aged around 13-16 years. The humans were twins, who emerged from the Ebonhawke asura gate with no memory of their past.

They started out as a group of friends, and that developed as they adventured together.

Player Character Arcs

Fighter

Fighter was the group's self-appointed leader. He called them "The Great Warband". He was brashly over-confident, optimistic, cheerful, and naive. This personality would be worn down by harsh realities of the world.

Of most impact, he wanted to be able to join Psychic and Cleric in a human-only public speaking competition, going so far as to appeal to the human government. This would lead to double tragedy: his request was officially denied by a harsh panel of Ministers, despite an emotional appeal. Worse, Separatist thugs would ambush the party and beat Fighter badly for daring to make the appeal, causing him to lose an eye (on the player's suggestion!) and some amount of his childish innocence and optimism.

Supported by the twins, fighter makes his case to Lord Faren and a number of human ministers.

Kineticist

Kineticist was stoic and sensible. Devoted to Mara, the camp, and his friends, he worried over intra-group tensions. He kept his fire-magic a secret from non-party onlookers, lest he be mistaken for Flame Legion.

Moral but pragmatic, he was tested when he had to perform dark deeds for the greater good, the prime example being when he was forced to kill a Flame Legion charr cub who was moments away from activating a dangerous flame effigy.

Kineticist moves to kill a charr cub before she can light a flame effigy.

Psychic

Psychic was head-strong and confident; and a skilled talker. She was independent, always wanting to tackle problems directly rather than seek aid. She resented the deference other members of the party had to adults, thinking her comrades were as capable as any adult.

While far from being evil, she was the party member with the least compunction when it came to doing harm. To her, the ends justified the means. She fiercely protected her sister Cleric. Sometimes this would put her in trouble the rest of the party would have to help her out of. Other times this led her to cruel acts, such as killing a non-combatant Separatist child who sneered with delight at the party being in danger.

Cleric

Cleric was kind and hopeful, but also a realist. She accepted that dark deeds sometimes were needed, but did everything possible to avoid them. A devotee of Dwayna, she sought to help those in need.

Non-confrontational and empathetic, she clashed least with other party members. Pragmatic and phlegmatic, she was affected least by the dark moments of this first chapter, as she was always motivated to do measurable good no matter how small that seemed in the grander scheme.

Sometimes I would use maps that were more "mood-setters" than actual battle-maps. Here's Gwen's courtyard. Druid's animal companion Thunder was a Krytan Drakehound that originally belonged to Gwen. Gwen was happy enough to give the animal away to a better owner.

Druid was non-violent and carefree, even to the point of taking a mostly-support role in combat. Though technically younger than the others, Druid believed themselves wiser, and sought to guide the party. Mainly, they wanted the party to be less hot-headed and less risk-taking. The advice wasn't always welcomed: to some characters at some times it felt more scolding than sage advice. Late in the chapter, Druid decided to shed some of their more idealistic ideas for a harder stance, the ramifications of this as-yet mostly unseen.

Story Arcs

Several story arcs were interwoven together chronologically. I am going to present these by theme, to be less confusing.

Some elements of the story are not fully explained; I am only including things the players are aware of! No spoilers here for the next chapter!

In an early adventure, the heroes were sent to gather scrap metal from a charr war machine. They needed to fend off Gwen's gang who were hoping to do much the same.

Chores

A charr called Mara Trenchleap was the group's defacto parent figure. Leader of the refugee camp in Ebonhawke, she assigned duties to the PCs.

Early adventures dealt with doing chores to help the camp. Collecting devourer eggs. Chasing away pesky skritt. Helping members of the camp. Fairly innocent stuff.

Many of the chores would lead into the story arcs below.

Later they would help Mara prepare for an attack on an Inquest lab (explained below). They would help her find old comrades, and help secure weapons and equipment.

A skritt called Rikkitiktikka shows the party to her then-abandoned scratch. Don't worry: the heroes would go on to rescue the lost skritt from an Inquest lab, find them meaningful employment with the charr legions, and collapse a cavern that links the scratch to an area populated by dangerous Destroyers.

Gwen Thackery-Stubbs

Gwen Thackery-Stubbs was an NPC and daughter of a noble. She was about the same age as the party. Skilled with her father's pistol, she led a small gang of children. She and her gang would often rival the PCs during early sessions.

The party kept things from escalating, so this rivalry did not escalate beyond non-lethal fights. In fact, Gwen would later seek the party's help as her father was investigated by Ebon Guard for smuggling weapons. The party helped destroy some evidence, but it was not enough to keep her father free.

Ultimately, her father was arrested, and Gwen chose to live with the PCs in the refugee camp. Now devoid of money, her old gang had little interest in her, which cemented her allegiance with the PCs and especially Psychic who she looked up to. She even joined them as an NPC party member (at the player's insistence) in the final dungeon, where she did well as a gunslinger.

Later in the chapter, the heroes assaulted the main Separatist HQ in Ebonhawke. The Separatists were away, leaving younger delinquents from Gwen's old gang to guard the place. Despite being badly outnumbered, the party prevailed thanks to the advancements they had made since first tussling with these gang-members. It was mostly a fiery slaughter at the hands of Kineticist.

Separatists

The party interfered with some Separatist plans, especially those to smuggle weapons. Mostly this involved infiltrating various Separatist hideouts within and without Ebonhawke. The PCs also stopped crazed Separatist gunman, and managed to sabotage a Separatist public rally for support.

The party parleyed with Flame Legion. No good; it ended in a fiery fight. Despite outnumbering these Flame Legion five-to-two (there are two non-combatant cubs pictured), these were adult charr and so more mighty than the adolescent PCs.

Flame Legion

Curiously, a Flame Legion shaman was acting this far afield from Flame Legion territory. This shaman had displaced a group of skritt by causing volcanic activity and fire creatures to appear in their cave system.

The party destroyed a large Searing crystal held by the shaman. They killed the arrogant and dangerous Shaman and his Bladestorm comrade in a close battle. In a less-dangerous but darker battle, they killed one of the shaman's cubs as she tried to activate a flame effigy; leaving the shaman's mate to flee with the remaining cubs.

By collapsing the cave system in a bottleneck, the party sealed off the dangerous fiery areas of cavern, allowing the skritt to safely move back in.

The party confronted an icebrood Son of Svanir out on a frozen lake. Knowing this was far too dangerous to fight, they disrupted the ice beneath it, causing it to sink into the chill waters.

The Sentinels and the Inquest

The party would discover that the Sentinels were working with the Inquest to study the Brand. Inquest researcher Materialist Zirri was operating from Sentinel's Perch and used a private asura gate to travel to various Inquest labs.

The party took a job to investigate why one of those labs was not contactable. This lab was in the Far Shiverpeaks, and was unpowered. The party dealt with escaped troll specimens, restored power to the base, reprogrammed golems, and even dealt with some icebrood outside the facility. They rescued surviving Inquest researchers and freed a number of skritt.

During this, the PCs learnt more about Zirri and her research. It quickly dawned upon them she was Inquest -- a fact she had not mentioned. Moreover they discovered evidence and journals that the lab was experimenting on live branded specimens, including from Mara's old 'band: Trench Warband. They told Mara about this.

Mara's history was presented as a little combat, where players took the roles of Hastati, Mara, charr troops, and even branded monsters and the brand itself!

Trench Warband

Part-way through the chapter, Mara told the PCs about her history.

During the Ogre Revolt, she was a part of Trench Warband. Some of her warband were on patrol on the far side of the newly-created Brand. Her Legionnaire -- Hastati Stormtrench -- set out to rescue them, and ordered Mara to collect weapons and the rest of her 'band mates as reinforcements. When she did so, she detoured to help humans stop branded from entering Ebonhawke, knowing that the Branded could spread like a disease from creature to creature. This delay left the Legionnaire without reinforcements, leading to loss of life in the rescue mission.

During all this, Mara's leg was injured and was amputated to prevent her from becoming Branded. While she could still walk with a prosthetic, her reduced mobility saw her removed from the warband.

The PCs met Stormtrench in passing. They became wary of him due to his Inquest allies. They became highly suspicious of him when they met him outside the caverns of the Flame Legion shaman (see above), seemly waiting for some liaison with the shaman. Hastati became irritated when he believed the PCs had fragments of the Searing crystal (which they did), and demanded them. He and his soldiers chased them through the cave, but the PCs managed to lose him.

In Nolan's recreation of Regent Valley, the heroes worked with Mist-exploring asura to force a dangerous aatxe back through its portal deeper into the Mists.

Nolan Mullenix

Nolan Mullenix was a nobleman from Divinty's Reach, and a philanthropist who donated to Mara's camp. To express her thanks, Mara had the PCs do chores for him.

Nolan took a particular interest in the twins, due to their strange origin and their magic talents.

Early on, this included a journey to the ruins of Rin, where the party saw the ghosts of Ascalon. They also ventured into an old Ascalonian tomb.

Later on, they entered Nolan's "sanctuary" in the Mists, which he had modelled to look like pre-searing Ascalon. He tasked them with clearing out some Mist-entities from a corner of his sanctuary. In doing so, the PCs met a group of asura Mist-explorers and after a brief confused combat about who were the real Mist creatures, they teamed up to banish a nasty aatxe and some its shadow-minions.

Later, the party participated in a two-person-team magic duel, as well as a public speaking competition. Fighter lost his eye in challenging the human-only nature of this competition (see "Player Character Arcs" above). The twins won the Ebonhawke regionals, going to the finals in Divinity's Reach. Much of their preparation they did in the peaceful environs of Nolan's Mist Sanctuary, with his permission.

Nolan was friendly to everyone, including the PCs. But they were wary of him, largely because of his power. Not only could he carve out areas of the Mists for his own use, but on a number of occasions the PCs witnessed him using powerful mesmer abilities.

Vistawhiff

Castella Vistawhiff was an Ash Legion spy who was initially encountered when she was investigating Gwen's father on suspicion of arming Separatists.

Vistawhiff would take a liking to Fighter, as Fighter would volunteer any information when asked. Their relationship spoiled when Vistawhiff requested help from Fighter, but Fighter would not abandon the twins during their public speaking performance during the Ebonhawke regionals.

The Necromancer

Early on, the PCs found evidence of a necromancer named Kofi Duskwynn working as a mercenary in the Ebonhawke area. They eventually discovered she was working both sides -- Separatists and Renegades -- taking money and corpses from each to assail the other with necromantic minions.

The PCs explored a dungeon where she had operated from, and witnessed her deal with Separatist forces on a few occasions.

She worked with the Separatists on a new plan. Using a number of special amulets, they planned to create Risen within the charr camp inside Ebonhawke. This would leave the Ebon Guard little choice but to shut the camp down.

The PCs caught wind of this plan, but it would not come to fruition as Kofi abducted Separatist children. Equally furious and scared, the Separatists abducted charr cubs to offer in exchange. They marched on Kofi's lair, hoping to trade, but prepared to fight. The PCs were close behind on all of this, following the Separatists to across into Shiverpeak Foothills to Kofi's lair.

Kofi had not just abducted Separatist children. She had taken Renegade children too. Both Separatist and Renegade forces met outside her dungeon and fought. This was Kofi's plan: the dead would become her army, which she would grow with conquest, all to please Zhaitan who she was sure would conquer all of Tyria sooner or later.

The PCs dove into the fracas to save the charr cubs. From there, they entered Kofi's lair, encountering more squabbling Separatist and Renegades, rescuing more children, and ultimately killing the Necromancer.

In the final battle against the necromancer, Dorothea sneaked ahead with invisibility, allowing her to get the drop on the necromancer when combat broke out.

Chapter End

The story ended with the party split, though this was as-per their choice.

The twins, along with Fighter and NPC Gwen, went to the public speaking competition finals in Divinity's Reach, and won. The prize was a large stipend which could be used for their education.

During their competition, they witnessed Hastati Stormtrench lead a century of charr soldiers through the streets, escorted by Seraph. Announcers calmed the crowd, saying they were heading to the Ebonhawke gate to apprehend "the renegade Trench warband". Though concerned, none of the PCs left the competition.

Meanwhile, Mara was preparing to attack the Inquest lab with some of comrades. She hoped to free her Branded comrades by killing them. Kineticist and Druid were helping make sure the camp would operate as normal without its usual leader.

Vistawhiff had told Legion authorities about Mara's plans, as relayed to her by Fighter. Stormtrench mobilised to strike first, and Mara's plans were halted by his unexpected presence. Mara confronted Stormtrench. Druid tried to help Kineticist escape the scene, but Kineticist would not abandon Mara. Druid's interference led to Druid being skewered by some strange phantasm-like charr conjured by Stormtrench. (Druid would later be stabilised by a charr soldier.)

Kineticist offered himself and the Searing crystals to Stormtrench in order for Mara to not be executed. Little did Stormtrench know that one crystal was left behind, in a hiding place behind the hiding place.

Time Skip

Some time will pass before Chapter Two begins. Probably many months or even some years. What have the players said their characters might do during this time?

Fighter turns vigilante, carving "S" or "R" onto any Separatist or Renegade he can find. He specialises in finding those that try to flee from Ascalon.

Kineticist was spared from execution. Hastati sent him and Mara as prisoners to different work camps. Kineticist was unable to seek Mara, but will have some contact with any who might come to his work camp.

Psychic and Cleric both use their competition prize to study. Psychic studies under Nolan. Cleric seeks a more political angle, and manages to find a position working as Count Anise's assistant.

Druid wandered Tyria, trying to comprehend all that happened.

The Setting

I've always liked Guild Wars as games. I know the setting fairly well. Both of these things made it a good choice for use as an established setting.

It's also a setting that is expansive, yet with plenty of regional detail. It has a living history but with a fairly slow burn, and not a break-neck cavalcade of different world-ending threats. This gives me, as GM, a lot of work with.

A dungeon opened into a secluded valley where moa foraged at a river bank. This valley was purely scenic.

Exploration

One thing I love about Guild Wars 2 as a game is the sense of exploration it fosters. (Check my retrospective if you want to hear me harp on about that.) It was something I wanted to capture in this campaign.

I put vistas into some of the adventures. Literally, I slapped the icon on certain maps. It was fun as a cheeky reference, but it also spoke to the exploration aspect of Guild Wars 2, which I really wanted to capture.

Capturing a sense of place and space is hard in a TTRPG. This was something I tried to do. I went to the effort of getting still shots for many minor scenes. Some screenshots, some not. I curated some of the more iconic music themes from the game. I think it paid off.

A simple cross-the-bridge-in-the-storm scene proved very dramatic. Excellent mileage for something I quickly whipped up with PF2e actions like Crawl, Balance, Grab an Edge; along with Hazard rules giving some random nasty effects to the swaying bridge. The party enjoy a Vista after completing the crossing.

Expository Shortcuts

My players had a mix of Guild Wars 2 experience, from near-zero to quite extensive. This actually worked well both ways.

Working in a well-known setting allowed me, as a GM, to take expository shortcuts. In a typical homebrew world, every person, place, or thing is an unknown to the players, at least initially, and GMs have to work to establish those backgrounds. In a known setting, there's so much to work with that comes "pre-installed" with meaning.

The players learning they were in an Inquest lab meant nothing to the players unfamiliar with the lore. But to those who were, it opened up a whole new bevy of thoughts and concerns. All without me having to lift a finger.

The other fun aspect is that the players that know can explain the lore to the players who don't know in-game and in-character.

This simple mood-setting scene was used a few times. It's a screenshot from Guild Wars 1, in pre-searing Ascalon, and despite dated graphics it still conjures a certain peace. As a scene, it was used for travel, to allow a bit of light role-play between scenes. Later, I'd use this scene after Fighter's brutal beating at the hand of Separatists. He narrated taking the party out of Ebonhawke to the sight of his mother's grave, where he gave a heartfelt speech.

Arcane Influence

There were two major influences for this campaign. The first obviously being Guild Wars 2. The second being Arcane. Arcane's influence was mainly in the story structure: an initial chapter where the characters are adolescents, a time skip, then a continuation of story with them as adults. The first chapter has been the adolescent arc.

Duration

I didn't intend for this first chapter to take as long as it did. As mentioned, it ran over approximately 30 sessions over the course of about 6 real-world months. I think my initial idea was to do half that.

Was it a problem? Not really. While I would prefer my estimations to match reality it was never really the case that the campaign was dragging its feet or meandering without direction.

Part of the of the problem may have been down to my desire to run sessions even when there's known to be low player presence. I made more than one "side quest" adventure for just two or three players. While that makes for a less tight campaign, I think routine and reliability-of-play are imperative for a healthy TTRPG group.

The biggest problem was that PCs went from level 1 to 4 over this chapter. I didn't want to go much higher with them as still adolescents. That's a long time to languish in lower levels, especially for the casters, and that's a mistake I apologise for.

Levels

I am developing a philosophy with PF2e that somewhat mirrors one I settled on way back in 3.5 edition Dungeons and Dragons. Adult humanoid NPCs are, on average, about level 4.

(Yes, this even works with non-combat NPCs. In D&D 3.5e that could be handled with NPC classes. In PF2e, non-combat levels are the way to go.)

I think I kept this sense of scale well. At first the heroes could only contend with other juvenile foes, like Gwen's gang of delinquents (in fact, her gun was quite the frightening novelty in such battles). Later, the heroes could tussle with adults, but they would have to outnumber any that had decent combat training. The PCs might be able to take on some of the weaker "weekend warrior" Separatists, but they could not contend with properly-trained Separatist or charr adults without outnumbering them.

I think it's important to do this sort of thing so the players can intuit what's dangerous and what's not. It seemed to work: they knew serious threats like Sons of Svanir, ettins, and ogres just by seeing them, and either fled or approached with extreme caution.

It's also great for a sense of progression. When, nearer the chapter end, the heroes were able to trounce Gwen's old gang it was clear how far they'd come even with only two levels.

Monsters are a bit of a mixed bag. I wanted a bit of variety, so I did allow some monsters that I thought would be ordinarily too powerful, but just made them weaker versions: that devourer is a juvenile, that spectre is faded, that elemental is lukewarm. I think that's forgivable.

In an especially dark moment, Separatist forces return a charr cub hostage to Renegade forces, along with an armed and timed explosive hidden on her body! This drove home to the heroes how duplicitous the Separatists could be... whether driven by desperation, racial hatreds, or both.

Darkness

Guild Wars 2 is, mostly, a hopeful setting (it's in the theme tune!). As explained above, this campaign was fairly dark.

Partly this was the Arcane influence. The time-skip needed to happen with some uncertainty and looming troubles. Player characters needed to be challenged and maybe even broken. Mentor NPCs needed to meet bad ends.

Overall I do not feel I was wrong to use a darker tone, but I do feel a bit bad about it. It was just a bit overpowering. I don't think there needed to be less darkness. I think there needed to be more lightness: more clear wins, more happy NPCs, more nice moments. A softer mix that could provide a harsher contrast.

Conclusion

Overall, I am glad I ran this campaign. It was a fun TTRPG romp. And there were some memorable moments and powerful RP scenes along the way.

I am always glad when a campaign of mine reaches a chapter-point. To me, it's that same relief as when you see that little "Saving..." notification after a brutally difficult stretch of video game. The progress is "locked in".

I don't like to see campaigns fizzle out, with stories and character arcs left forever hanging. A chapter-point brings enough finale to a story to mitigate this fizzle-factor.

But that doesn't mean I'm content to leave the story there. I hope one day to return for Chapter Two!

[zoeology31]

Jhoan Durán #CleatWatch, 2024 Edition

The tracker returns for a second straight year after a delayed start due to the oblique strain, because Duran is still nice to look at and his cleats are still fire. Post is updated with every appearance and I've been adding reference pictures as they become available. This has taken on the vibes of the orchestra on the Titanic but I am nothing if not committed to the bit.

(2023 edition here)

(All image credit once again to the Twins photography team on gettyimages)

Duran continues to use the same model cleat he's used his entire major league career, the Nike Alpha Huarache Elite 3 Mid, according to the very helpful website whatproswear.com. The Nike Huarache line is very popular among baseball players, and Duran in particular seems to prefer the mid-height model with its high ankle strap.

As I noted last year, players seem to use older or backup gear during spring training before switching to their new custom stuff when the season starts. Poring through photos from Duran's abbreviated spring training, I noticed the northwoods and DR flag cleats from last year, plus the red palm tree cleats seen above, which is probably a spring training-specific design.

4/30/24: Duran's road choice this year is an updated edition of his bicolor cleats but with the colors flipped, navy on the left and red on the right. We'll call them bicolor 2.0. Featuring "Durantula" written across both straps, his logo on the right ankle, his #59 on the left ankle, "God" written on the right toe, and the grayscale portrait on the left toe. He wears these with both the away navy and gray pinstripe uniforms.

The artist Duran works with posts some nice closeup pictures of the shoes themselves on Instagram, so that'll do for now in lieu of any good action shots.

Seen on: 4/30, 5/10, 5/17, 5/19, 5/22, 6/2, 6/8, 6/9, 6/21, 6/26, 6/28, 6/30, 7/8, 7/10, 7/13, 7/14, 7/31, 8/5, 8/15, 8/16, 8/18, 9/2, 9/5, 9/7, 9/17, 9/18, 9/20

(Detail on the bicolor 2.0 cleats)

5/3/24: My only complaint about Duran's original flamethrower cleats were that they weren't custom enough, and man did he deliver this year with the flamethrower 2.0. This year he wears them with the home white, home navy, and cream Twin Cities uniforms. The red-yellow flame gradient on the toes is back, as is the solid red heel, but the negative space in between is now black with white sparkles to represent the crowd's phone flashlights during his walkout entrance.

The really fun part is the velocities of his five fastest pitches from last year: "104.4mph" on the left heel, "104.5mph" and "104.8mph" on the right, and "104.6mph" on each ankle strap. Like, what a flex. I love it.

Seen on: 5/3, 5/4, 5/6, 5/8, 5/24, 5/25, 5/27, 5/28, 5/30, 6/12, 6/14*, 6/18, 6/19, 7/2, 7/23, 9/25

(Detail on the flamethrower 2.0 cleats)

5/12/24: Custom Mother's Day cleats! Most players sport custom pink gear in addition to the modified caps each Mother's Day. Duran went with solid hot pink cleats with red and navy flower patterns, and six different women's names in light pink script on the heels and ankle straps. Wife, presumably mother, and other relatives and/or in-laws, probably?

That's all for now, though Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com literally just wrote a piece on the flamethrower 2.0 cleats, which motivated me to get this writeup out. He also mentions custom cleats for the City Connects (revealed June 10th, debuting June 14th, as announced by the Twins), which is 👀. More to come!

6/14/24: As I was hoping, Duran pitched on City Connect debut night, though he had his flamethrower 2.0 cleats here. Lots of Twins players had custom cleats tonight, including Correa, SWR, and Buxton, but probably not everyone's have come in yet.

6/16/24: Custom Father's Day cleats, paired with the City Connects. These are solid light blue with baseball-themed graphic patterns: baseballs, gloves, hot dogs, popcorn, and "Dad" with heart outlines. Like the Mother's Day cleats, there are seven men's names written on them, this time in white on the outer front part. Brother, presumably father, and other friends/relatives?

Duran's kids also threw out the first pitch to him in the most adorable ceremonial first pitch I've ever seen.

7/7/24: New cleats! I'll call these the cherry bomb cleats because they're all-red, there's fire, and it's that time of year. The white Nike logo across the ankle strap has flame effects, the white inside swoosh logo has a paint drip effect, and his #59 is in white on the heel. Duran's worn them with the cream Twin Cities alts, the home navy, and the home white, so they seem to be a straight replacement for the flamethrower 2.0's.

Seen on: 7/7, 7/24, 8/3, 8/9, 8/14, 8/24, 8/25, 8/27, 9/1, 9/11

7/20/24: We have the City Connect cleats! These dropped on Instagram on June 20th, a month before Duran actually pitched in another City Connect game. They're another entry in Duran's fashionable asymmetry collection, with a yellow base and a two-toned blue ankle strap and heel segment reminiscent of a sky-water horizon line.

The left cleat has two-toned blue flames rising along both sides, with "10,000 Lakes" in white on the outside. The right cleat has a detailed drawing of Goku in Super Saiyan Blue mode on the outside, because many baseball players are massive weebs. I mean, hey, Carlos Estevez already does the Kamehameha pose after every save, so why not Goku shoes for Duran.

Seen on: 7/20, 8/30

9/17/24: Duran wore his earrings while pitching for what I believe is the first and only time. Like many players, Duran wears consistent everyday jewelry, in his case a chain and some nice diamond stud earrings. Unlike most players, though, he never wears it in-game, only during practice and in the dugout/bullpen. I always wondered how the logistics of that worked, like does he put his earrings in his pocket before warming up?

9/26/24: After going back to the flamethrower 2.0 cleats for his prior appearance on the homestand, Duran's last outing of 2024 featured brand new cleats, paired with the cream Twin Cities alts. They're all-cream with a black tongue and red laces, easily his least customized regular season cleats since 2022. The cream soda cleats do keep with Duran's overall trend of simpler designs for his late-season gear.

Bonus: Also dropped on Instagram mid-season are closeups of several of last year's cleats, including the first gen flamethrower and bicolor, as well as Mother's Day and Father's Day cleats that we did not see in a game last year.

[openheartfanfics]

Newly Added Fics

Sep 11 - 17 

🎭 Angst  |  🛸 AU  |  ☁ Fluff  |  ♥ NSFW  |  📚 Series  |  📷 Edit  |  📱 TextFic

Bryce x F!MC 

Moonlight - @eleanorbloom 📚 [extended: wip] 

Part 2

PUSH MY LUCK - @kat-tia801 🎭 When Bryce goes home for Ines’ wedding, a friend points out some truths he’s been denying. [3.11; FWB; Wedding] 

Shooting Star - @chocopeppermintcake ☁ Bryce and Casey see a shooting star. 

Ethan x F!MC

Cape Cod - @jamespotterthefirst ☁ His pregnant wife is a tad bit uncomfortable at the beach and Ethan is willing to do anything to help. Feat. The Gang [Vacation; Pregnancy] 

Cold Inside Out - @estellaelysian ☁ Ethan gives Alishka his jacket when they return from a party. Set in book one.  Follow up to Knots.

First Look - @dr-addieramsey ☁ It’s their wedding day and they share their first look [Wedding] 

Forget You - @takeharryandgo ♥ Meredith is finally, resolutely done with him. Well, almost.  Set shortly after book 2, ch 8. [2.8; Fighting; Broke Up] 

In Key - @utterlyinevitable ☁ It’s moving day. Ethan has come to help the gang pack up their apartment. He’s reminded of how much she doesn’t like change. [Domestic; Hurt/Comfort]

Interruptions - @lucy-268 ♥ Smut-tember. It’s been three months since the twins were born. And Ethan is ready to resume his marital activities. [Domestic] 

Let me hold you Tonight - @chaoticchopshopheart ☁ Takes place after Ethan checks Louise into the Rehab Centre and tell her he doesn’t want her in his life. He is at his most vulnerable. This is a big moment for Ethan and PB as usual has skimmed over it. [2.16; Hurt/Comfort] 

Lilac x Ethan - @jamespotterthefirst 💒 newlywed masterlist 

NSFW Stats ♥

Missed Opportunities - @perriewinklenerdie 📚 [extended: wip]  All the times when Ethan could have told Claire he loved her but didn’t, and one time he did. Told through Ethan’s eyes. [In Love; Ethan’s POV] 

5. Fantasies  |  6. Boys and Men

7. Colorful Drinks  |  8. Sense of Calmness  

10. Popcorn

New York & New Beginnings - @headoverheelsforramsey 📚 [mini: wip]  Meera is in a convention at New York when she receives news that leads her and Ethan’s life to a new beginning. [Convention; Gala; Pregnancy] 

Part 1 📷  |  Part 2

Newlywed Wends - @danijimenezv 💒

NSFW Stats ♥

Newlywed Wends - @genevievemd 💒

NSFW Stats ♥

Newlywed Wends - @crazy-loca-blog 💒

NSFW Stats ♥

Newlywed Wends - @a-crepusculo 💒

NSFW Stats ♥  |  11th Edition

Newlywed Wends - @jerzwriter 💒

NSFW Stats ♥

Newlywed Wends - @josiesopenheart 💒

NSFW Stats ♥

Newlywed Wends - @monsoonblooms12 💒

11th Edition

Now You Know - @perriewinklenerdie 🎭 Ethan confesses his love to Claire as she fights for her life after the attack. Set in Chapter 11 of OH2. [In Love; Confession; 2.11] 

Perfectly Imperfect - @cryomyst​ 🛸📚 [extended: wip]  An AU story in which my MC had enough of Ethan when he kept antagonizing Bloom, breaks up with Ethan and gets together with Bryce. The story starts off as we come to the end of Bryce’s residency, my MC comes to realize just how flawed of a human being she is, and she makes a decision. [Wedding]

Chapter 4

Ricochet - @txemrn 📚 [mini:wip]  Almost two decades ago, he gave love a chance–and she betrayed him. Now after all of this time, Dr. Ethan Ramsey and Dr. Tatum Erikson realize that their past feelings might not exactly be ancient history–especially now that they are forced to work together. [Meet Again; Wedding] 

A New Boss (a prequel of sorts)

Part I: “Like Moths to the Flame”

Part II. “So Far Away, but Still So Near” feat. Sienna x Raf

The Big 4-0 - @genevievemd ☁ Ethan reluctantly celebrates his 40th birthday.  [Birthday; Ethan POV] 

The Way I Loved You - @josiesopenheart 📚 [mini: wip]  Josie makes a tantalising proposition to Ethan about how to spend their two months together before she joins the diagnostics team. [1.17] 

1. The Proposition 

With You - @jamespotterthefirst 🛸♥ They sleep together in Miami after their first kiss.  [1.10; Miami; Confession; Oral] 

Garrett Thorne 

Quid Pro Quo - @lucy-268 🍘♥ Cringeworthy smut.

Harper x Tobias

Restrained, No More - @satrangee-ray ☁ Do opposing energies clash? In special cases such as theirs, I think not.

Love Triangle

Delaying the Inevitable - @jerzwriter 📚 [extended: wip] Ethan x F!MC x Tobias

Chapter 21 Almost…

Rafael x Sienna

Ricochet - @txemrn 📚 [mini:wip]  Almost two decades ago, he gave love a chance–and she betrayed him. Now after all of this time, Dr. Ethan Ramsey and Dr. Tatum Erikson realize that their past feelings might not exactly be ancient history–especially now that they are forced to work together. [Ethan x F!MC Meet Again; Wedding]

Part II. “So Far Away, but Still So Near” feat. Sienna x Raf’s Wedding

Sienna x M!OC

Delicate - @liaromancewriter ☁ Max and Sienna plan to spend the day together and discover that they can still surprise each other.

Eyes on You - @liaromancewriter ☁ Max and Sienna enjoy a cozy breakfast for two, but words and feelings previously left unsaid surface to force a decision.

Maxenna - @liaromancewriter 📚 Series about Max and Sienna's friends-to-lovers relationship; Open Heart adjacent plot. Primrily text and pic fics but prose fics will be added for specific parts.

The Gang

Foot in Mouth - @twinkleallnight ♥ Smut-tember. Feat. Ethan, Harper, Naveen

Part 2

Tobias x F!MC

Hidden - @perriewinklenerdie ☁ Claire and Tobias sneak around at the hospital. Anything to steal a moment alone.

Their Plus One - @jerzwriter ♥ While in Jamaica for an old friend’s wedding, Tobias asks Ethan to help him make Casey’s birthday one to remember. Feat. Ethan  [Wedding; Threesome] 

_

SUBMIT OPEN HEART FICS & WRITERS HERE

[captainrexisboo]

In A Single Night Chp 3

HEY Y’ALL!  Flashback Chapter. Theres actually going to be a few of these, so strap in!! Y’all are gonna learn all about this au whether you want to or not. Onwards!!!

Warnings: wound description. family angst.

Chp 2 if you missed it ❤️

Tag list in the replies! Let me know if you would like to be tagged! All Comments Are Welcome!!! HERE WE GO-

EDIT: CHAPTER 4!!!

“Where is he?” Cody burst through the door to the doctor’s ward with explosive force, slamming the thick slab of oak into a thankfully sturdy table, clanging sterilized metals in their glass containers and having the overused hinges make a terrible scream. The two doctors in the room had just sat down from stitching their patient, long coats blotted with still wet red stains, and were jumping right on their feet again to the young soldier’s frantic scrambling, “What in the nine hells happened, he was just on patrol, just outside the wall-”

“Cody, Cody-” his cousin, an assistant to the surgeon, came up to him while hurriedly removing his working gloves, tossing them onto the stool he had sat on. He shushed Cody gently, placing clean, steadying hands on his shoulders and gently putting their foreheads together, “It’s alright, he’ll be okay.”

“Kix, where’s Rex?” The young Sergeant had a fearful glaze in his eyes, hands grasping onto Kix’s wrists as if to anchor himself to reality, swallowing the thick lump in his throat, not allowing one anxious tear to fall from his dark sepia stare. Kix squeezed his hold on Cody’s shoulders, keeping calming eye contact with a matching gaze, both in concern and color, before letting up and nodding in the direction to follow.

“Be quiet now, Codes. He’s asleep for the time being, as soon as he wakes up he’ll be in a world of pain,” Kix nearly pulled back the separating curtain, before his shoulders raised, turning to eye his older cousin, “It’s pretty bad...by soldier standards, it’s not anything we can’t handle, but...just brace yourself. It’s still rather grisly.”

Cody could feel the grave undertone in Kix’s voice, causing him to hold onto his breath. He gave Cody a single, slow nod, chin coming back up to point. A silent word to continue pulling the curtain back. Kix obliged, not before taking in a breath himself, the curtain pulling back with a shrill sound to rival the hinges of the medical ward’s doors.

Well. It was certainly Rex. The same shock of blond hair, heavens knows where that trait came from, but with the seemingly signature Fett jawline and nose they all seemed to carry...except that his nose had been uncentered from some brutish force, cracked back into place by the medics and turning a sickly puce, matching a bruise as big as Cody’s fist on the soft underside of his jaw. A bright red swell that was violet towards the center nearly shut his right eye, and there was thick stitching across his chin. Above the neck, Kix was right, nothing worse than an unsupervised sparring match with a bad partner. It was Rex’s shoulders and torso that had Cody turning ashen. Skin was torn and ripped, showing vulnerable muscle underneath, twitching with every strained breath Rex took in his sleeping form. Where there was skin left, Kix and the head doctor stitched together what looked like deep claw marks. Deep bruises and various scratches littered Rex’s form, but the worst damage was definitely the mauled gashes on his right chest, and left stomach. 

“What… what bite is that?” Cody pointed to Rex’s left shoulder, clearing the hoarseness of terror from his throat. This was his Corporal, his twin, looking half dead on the thin cot before him. What the hell had happened?

“Well,” Kix looked down, a little sheepish, and for the briefest distraction Cody let himself wonder how his cousin could look so embarrassed in this situation, “The doc says...he says bear attack.”

“... Bear attack?”

“Uh,” Kix looked back up, only to shoot his gaze right back down to Rex’s tightly wrapped up ankle, “Y-yeah.”

“Look at that,” Cody pointed to the giant, odd shape, in something he can only think of like a squared off crescent, voice pitching near menacingly low, “You’re a Fett, Kix. We’ve been hunting since we could toddle, does that look like a bear bite?”

“What else could it be?” Kix spat, his stress from working on close family punching through his words, “You’re ‘the great Jango’s son’, why don’t you tell me? Have you seen that kind of a bite before?”

“I’ll start calling Jango my father when he starts acting like it,” Cody snarled back, looking off and raking his nails through his hair. He brought his fingers down to pinch the bridge of his nose, breathing deep and shutting his eyes tight. He let out a ragged breath, “I’m sorry, Kix, I just…”

“I know,” Kix paralleled Cody’s breathing, “It’s family.”

The moment grew heavy, the two of them finding some small, bitter comfort in the shared understanding that was their closely interwoven family. Cody clapped a hand to Kix’s shoulder, pulling him in to press their temples together, continuing to look at Rex’s resting form. He pointed vaguely to the wrapped ankle, the bandages down there free of any blood spots, a wordless question passing through the action.

“Bad sprain,” Kix mumbled, wiping a hand over his face as if to rid the dread from his expression in a single action, “We think he was running and tripped, that’s the only spot below his stomach that’s been wounded.”

Cody pushed off of Kix’s head, a wry puff of what could have been laughter breathing past his lips. If Rex was running, it couldn’t be a bear. You don’t run from bears, any hunter, Fett or not, knows that. Instead of lighting the fighting flame again, Cody sighed low, squeezing Kix’s shoulder, “And did anyone see this bear? The bear that happened to come up near the wall, a solid four hundred meters from the forest perimeter, and attack my brother who kriffin’ decided to run away-”

Oh, Cody was going to lose it. Nothing was adding up, nothing was making sense, and his mind was getting more muddled the longer he spent looking at Rex.

“Were there tracks, anything like that, anything else that confirms that this was a bear attack?”

Kix fell silent, looking back at the sprained ankle. Cody had his answer; no. They were making an assumption based on the singular fact that they don’t know what else it could’ve been- it was the best they could do until Rex woke back up.

~

“I guess a bear?”

Cody could only stare. He was ready to rip his hair out, match Rex’s closely cropped cut, “Really? A… are you sure?”

Rex shrugged, hissing a bit at the movement on his shoulder. He was bandaged up now, the salve the doctor and Kix had tenderly soothed over him as a disinfectant finally dry. He cleared his throat, voice still weary from his extended sleep, “I don’t know what else it could’ve been, Cody. It was covered in thick fur, had massive claws, and stood upright-”

“Did you run from it?” Cody cut in. He had to know, just for this to make a lick of sense.

“I…” Rex took a pause, blinking to himself, biting his lip, “...I don’t remember. I was just startled, and then I fell, when the thing…it...”

He trailed off, shaking his head, “No, that can’t be right.”

“What?” Cody pushed, near teetering at the edge of his seat, not bothering to hide his desperation, “Rex, just tell me, whatever you were going to say.”

His blond twin lifted a questioning brow, starkly dark compared to his fair hair atop his head, “Why, Codes? It’s not that important-”

“Rex. Please.”

Cody kept at his pleading stare, and Rex faltered. Cody ordered, he was their squad’s staff sergeant, he never begged. He looked at people with hardened fire in his glare and a stern scowl, not eyes as wide as dinner plates and a pathetic pout. Rex was so shaken at this  demeanor, he couldn’t do much else other than comply, “...well, like I said it stood upright. I… it felt like whatever it was locked eyes with me, and then… it started sprinting. Like a man.”

~

Cody refused to talk about the beast that attacked his brother after he heard what Rex had to say. It was clear no one truly knew, and no one would ever truly know, so he certainly wasn’t going to beat himself up over it. Rex had healed amazingly quick, tender yet sturdy scar tissue forming after about two days of changing bandages- while happy to spend some time with Kix, was elated to leave the medical ward so quick. He was let into training again a week later, like nothing had happened, and after a week more, the incident was nearly gone from Cody’s mind until he saw the gruesome scars that decorated Rex’s form when in the showers, or changing in the barracks. All was well.

Until Rex went missing a full month after the attack.

[sonicasura]

SonicAsura's Doodle Collage #1

I got a new photo editor app on my phone. So I decided to take some pictures and edit them with my new filter, fix the lighting and color. Older drawings are at the bottom and newer are on the top. This will go from left to right per person. Most are OCs except for two characters.

Photo 1: Willow, daughter of the Subcon Snatcher. In an AU(Alternate Universe for short) the Prince married a different woman finding out way early that Vanessa was insane. Didn't spare him or his unborn daughter being cursed into ghostly forms or that same curse taking his beloved's life in the process. Inherited the same magic as her father but can manipulate the space around her. Much friendlier and prefers company unlike her father. The 'bitch' side does come out when utterly pissed or dealing with someone she absolutely hates. Added expressions along with the concept of her 5 fingers can compress together to three powerful claws or reverse.

Photo 2: Evdam, Project Adam and Eve. A chimera created by Tartar to revive the human race after rising rides resulted in their extinction. Created from residual human genes and strands of both Inkling and Octoling, he can shift into a hybrid animal form that can be mistaken for a stingray. Able to adapt to any weapon and weapon set in a flash makes him a deadly force in turf battles. Overly very kind and helpful, considers Marina as a mother and still adjusting to the world outside of the Underground Laboratory he was born in.

Photo 3: Zamaten, a Relican/Relic Golem which is Knack and Soulamaru's race. Part of a subspecies called Centaurion, which are golems with -taur like bodies or forms, Zamaten being a Horned Scorpion. A friendly but very shy individual when it comes to new faces unlike his older twin Urshina. Very energetic that he often join kids during their track practice when he doesn't even go to school.

Photo 4: Zamaten's older twin, Urshina who is a Coilinith which is a twin species to Centaurion. A naga-like race, Urshina is one closely related to the Coil Cobra. Very lazy and often seen sleeping around sunstone or on the beach where it's nicely warm. Despite being friendly, he won't hesitate to steamroll those who get on his last nerve. Other than slithering, Urshina will bite his tail and roll around in the shape of a wheel or Ouroboros.

Photo 5: A redesign of two Mario villains: Count Bleck from Super Paper Mario and Phantom from Mario Rabbids. These designs came from an idea where characters from another franchise would look like if they were Stands. Added horns to Bleck's hat, purple sideburn flairs and now has a blue flame flair tail. For Phantom, I added some rock elements based off his original concept for the boss fight in game which was switching music, added tears to the end of his clothing, gave him a big fluffy rabbit tail, pawpads and made the sonogram more of a pattern with a less spectral lower half.

Photo 6: An experimental Inkling drawing. Been a long time since I last drew any Splatoon characters. Wanted to draw a new hairstyle but also that same style show up slightly in their respective Inkling form.

Hope you guys have a good week! Stay safe and continue following Covid procedures! Cases are cropping up and no one wants to get worse. Until later folks!

[fericita-s]

Beginning After The End (Part 2)

Part 1

Thank you @the-spaztic-fantastic​ for being the best encourager on this - from brainstorming to editing to some specific ideas in this chapter that I don’t want to spoil but that include drugs and nightmares and Hubert comforting Thea. Oh no! I’ve said too much!

Sasha chatted on the walk to the stones, telling Hubert about her aspirations of studying music at a conservatory somewhere in Europe and Thea could already feel a headache taking residence at the spot where her backbone met her neck. Sasha was a talented violinist, and she loved that her daughter wanted to study music, but the idea of anyone else sailing away from her was like getting kicked in the stomach.  

“My grandparents in Denmark said I’m welcome there anytime and they would arrange for private tutors. And Aunt Linnea in London has said the same. Perhaps mother will let me go this year.”

Hubert looked over Sasha’s head at Thea and raised his eyebrow in question.  Thea shook her head and felt the panic rise in her chest at the thought of her daughter leaving on a ship.

“I hope you’ll play for me while I’m here. Letters can’t convey the beauty of music, though your mother and your father both tried when writing of your talent,” Hubert said.  Thea was grateful for this change in topic even as the panic continued to vibrate through her.

Is that why Agnarr and Iduna were always so different? Why they closed the gates and kept their daughters hidden? They knew the cost life demanded. The scars it left on the living.

They stopped walking when they reached the stones, dark and bleak against the sky in the bright sun of the morning.  Thea saw Maddie and Ingrid holding hands at the stone bearing Iduna’s name and Henrik, Sigrid, Greet, and Oaken standing by Agnarr’s in a tight circle. Everyone with their partner, looking at death and huddling together, warding it away from their own homes.  Thea hugged her arms around herself as she neared them, feeling the loss of Elias’s guiding hand on her waist keenly.

The men shook hands and the ladies hugged and then they all stood silently for a while, staring at the stones.  No one seemed to know what to do or what to say, and Thea thought Agnarr or Elias would have known how to say the right words, to lead the right ceremony, to soothe and comfort and offer hope.

After a while, Henrik cleared his throat.  “Hudson’s? My treat.”

The group walked slowly back down toward the town proper and there was no chatter this time.  They made a somber procession.  The Market Square was still draped in black banners and the flag of Arendelle lay limply on the pole at half mast.  Thea felt a satisfaction in that, the entire kingdom mourning like she had been mourning since the king and queen came to her home in the fall of the previous year.  Both had looked so stricken that Thea knew what they would say even before they sat down with her in her own sitting room to tell her about the wreck of a ship that had been found, the pieces splintered and shattered among a skerry far to the north.

Iduna had hugged her and Agnarr had stuttered on words of promise about giving Elias the honor he deserved and setting up their children with a life-long pension.  Thea had only said “But he always comes back,” and hadn’t cried until they’d left, her hands on her middle where a new baby was growing.

Halima greeted them and brought drinks around even though it was still mid-morning. She put a hand on Henrik’s shoulder as she set a pitcher in front of him and he put his hand to hers and squeezed.  

“Thank you, Halima.  Join us?”

Halima shook her head. “No, they’re best remembered by their closest friends. Let me know if you need anything.” She walked to the front door and bolted it from the inside, then excused herself to the back rooms. 

Thea watched as she walked away, a sadness to the slump of her shoulders that had been there for many years. Once, Halima had spoken to her of a young man who had been lost in the Northern Expedition, who she hoped had somehow been able to survive within the thick mist that shut out the Northern lands. Looking at her, Thea wondered if that was a worse fate than knowing your loved one was dead - to have a small flame of hope burning up any ability to move on or find new love. She reached for Sasha’s hand and held it tightly. 

Henrik sighed. “Agnarr has the place cleared out for us one last time.”

Thea watched as Maddie brushed tears from her eyes and Ingrid put an arm around her.

“To King Agnarr and Queen Iduna,” Henrik said, raising his glass and standing up.  The others got to their feet and raised theirs as well.  

Their voices joined together in a “Skal” that was probably the least celebratory Thea had ever heard, but it seemed to cheer Henrik a bit.

“Do you remember my last night here before going to Oxford? When we had to rearrange the seating and keep refilling Agnarr’s glass in the hope that he would finally tell Iduna he loved her?” Henrik took a sip of his drink and then wrapped his hands around it, squeezing tightly.  Sigrid leaned into him and put her head on his shoulder. 

“I was not here for that, but I can see why it would have been necessary,” Hubert said, a fond smile coming to his lips.

“Oh, it was very necessary,” said Greet. “That man loved her so much, but could not figure out how to do anything about it!” 

“That’s not entirely fair.  All those elaborate gifts? He tried.  Iduna didn’t or couldn’t understand,” said Maddie, and then whispered something in Ingrid’s ear that Thea didn’t hear.  

“That was the first night I met some of you,” Thea said as she put her glass on the table.  “I remember seeing the king run his hand along Iduna’s back and hoping that he wasn’t ruining her reputation forever.”

Greet laughed.  “I tried to get her to do far more to him that would ruin her reputation.”

Thea shot a glance at Sasha, who looked slightly embarrassed to be hearing this about the king and queen. She put her hand back in Sasha’s as she spoke.  “I didn’t understand Arendelle then.  Or how they were together. But later I did. When we’d paint together and talk, or watch Elias and the king together doing their wrestling or swimming.”

Thea had surprised herself by saying Elias’s name out loud and hated that the conversation, which had just been turning to happier memories, was newly awash in grief at the mention of her husband.

“Where are your children, Henrik?” Greet asked, after the silence had stretched out unbearably long.

“Home in London. The boys are nearly old enough to oversee the business now,” he answered.  “A little younger than you, Sasha.”

Oaken took an impossibly long drink from his glass and then wiped his hand across his mouth. “The business, it is good, ja?”

Henrik shrugged, but Sigrid nodded and added “Yes, very.  Ice exports are very much in demand.”

“Interesting,” said Hubert. “We should discuss it sometime.  I’m transitioning away from ambassador duties to the more sedentary life of growing the national rail system.  Which includes as a priority ice cars for transporting perishable goods.”

Henrik tipped his glass towards Hubert. “Certainly.  Perhaps another weekend in Paris?”

Hubert visibly paled and coughed before reaching for his glass. 

“No? Are you settled down then? Abandoning world travel for the delights and comforts of home?” Sigrid elbowed Henrik and Thea thought this was the best tribute to Agnarr and Iduna, for friends to be sharing stories and talking, instead of standing silently, paralyzed with grief. 

“No, I’m not so lucky as you. My sister Sara keeps hoping I’ll put an end to my days of being a bachelor.  And I should tell you, I had to avoid the attentions of a woman whom I think you are all very familiar with.  Unpleasantly so.”

“Who?” Greet asked, leaning forward. “A woman from Arendelle?”

“No, but one who made quite the impression on Arendelle during a certain birthday ball and garden party.”

“Lady Alexsandra?” Greet asked, and it was nearly a shriek.

“Worse,” said Hubert.  “She tried to arrange a match between myself and her daughter, newly eighteen.”

Sasha pulled away from Thea at that, straightening up. “Ugh! Eighteen! You’re past forty!”

“That's what I said, though far more diplomatically,” laughed Hubert.  “I can assure you neither Alexsandra nor her daughter are any more pleasant about being told ‘no’ than you would expect.”

“Did that work? Being nice?” Henrik asked, laughing.

“No.  It was more satisfying to be rude anyway,” Hubert said, laughing along with Henrik.

“And did that work?” Sasha asked, eyes wide in horror at this story of a girl her own age being offered in marriage to a man her father’s age.

‘No,” Hubert said, still laughing. “So I suddenly stopped being able to speak German.  Then French.  Then English.  They only stopped their pursuit when stymied by my Flemish.”

“She was the worst, I can well believe she’d try to arrange a match with little input from the groom,” said Greet.  “Thank goodness Iduna was our queen instead of her.”

“Quite the legacy she left, where we all shudder at her name,” said Hubert. “And you have her to thank that no one knows your full name, Sasha.”

Sasha sat up straight in her chair, aghast. “What?”

“We named you Aleksandra for my grandmother, but she was called Sasha.  And Elias and I vowed we’d never tell the king and queen your real name.” Thea said, raising her eyebrow at Hubert who shook his head and shrugged.

“But - but they’re my godparents!” Sasha spluttered, unbelieving.  “How did they not know my name?”

The rest of the friends laughed and Thea squeezed Sasha’s hand while Hubert looked at them both with an apologetic smile.

***

“Their twins are about Vadik's age.  They moved out of the town when they were born and further up in the mountains,” Thea explained later when Hubert asked about Maddie and Ingrid’s family.  Maddie had been even more reserved that usual and hardly spoken at all in the time the friends spent together. 

“Two at once? What a blessing.”

But Thea cringed, his words calling to her mind the double tragedy they had been observing that day. Two gone at once, beneath the waves, to be splintered and crushed in all the ways she had imagined Elias had spent his last moments. Maybe two at once was a blessing.

 But mostly it was nice having Hubert there, and so little had been nice lately.  When she hadn’t been tending to her own grief, wild and unruly like the cloudberries on a skerry, she had to tend to her children’s needs and to the elder Mr. and Mrs. Calder’s before their deaths.  Two at once.  A blessing.

Hubert led her and the children on walks to the waterfall and to the top of the clock tower.  He asked to be shown the aquaculture projects he had been instrumental in setting up a decade ago, and then withdrew his request without protest when Thea said “We won’t be sailing.”  

And then, a month into his stay with them, when she was starting to wonder if this was a permanent arrangement and realizing she didn’t mind if it was, Hubert proposed.

***

Hubert arranged everything.  He suggested they get married in Antwerp so Sara could be present and assured Thea that the ship would deliver them all safely.  As Thea packed trunks and asked servants if they preferred to travel with them or stay behind to keep the family home in good order, she tried to avoid thinking of being on a ship.  But it came unbidden: the water roiling below and the winds whipping the sails, cracks of wood splitting apart and masts torn in two.

The night before they left, she lay in her bed, sleepless and thinking of the first time Elias had taken her sailing.  They were officially courting by then and she no longer tried to disguise her appreciative looks at his form as he manned the sails on their small craft. When the wind blew sprays of water onto them, he had shaken his head  and whooped.  “Is there any better feeling than this?” He had shouted, and even though he was so close she could reach out and touch him, his voice barely carried over the wind.  

When they tied up the boat and walked along a skerry, she ran her hands under his loose shirt and he took it off in a swift motion.  “Better for sailing anyway,” he said, and winked at her. He dipped his head low to kiss her and his lips tasted salty with the sea. 

Her hands trembled to touch the bare skin of his back and at her light touch, he gasped.  “I was wrong, this is the best feeling,” he said and Thea agreed, telling him so with her hands splayed out and pressed more firmly into his back and then daringly dipping further down to feel the curve of him rather than only the hard planes of his back.

***

She woke without realizing she had slept, and already felt sick with nerves at the thought of her whole family on a ship together.  Sasha boarded first, running up the gangplank with Vadik close behind.  They had missed this, she knew.  They loved sailing with their father and had been excited at this change they were making as a family.  Thea held little Elias but Hubert took him from her so she could walk unencumbered across the gangplank, and then the nursemaid took the baby from him.  Thea gripped the railing and stared at their home on the waterfront until it was a speck in the distance.

What was hard during the day was unbearable at night.  Sasha and Vadik loved sleeping in the hammocks on board, and though Hubert had given her the largest quarters, all Thea could do was pace and pace.  The baby had never slept so soundly, lulled by the rocking, and she knew she didn’t need to be holding him for his sake.  But she clung to him, reminding herself why she couldn’t fly apart into a thousand pieces, like Elias’s ship had, flung across miles of shoreline and skerries. 

A light rap on the door drew her out of her macabre thoughts and she crossed the room to open it.  Hubert was there, holding some wine.  

“I thought you might like a drink?” He drew out another bottle, this one small.  It looked medicinal, though Thea couldn’t read the label. “Or perhaps something stronger? This would let you sleep.  I can be sure the children are cared for.”

Thea allowed him to take the baby to the nursemaid and by the time he returned she was sitting on the edge of the narrow bed, clutching herself tightly and rocking in motion with the ship.  He sat down next to her, leaving space between them. 

“I know this is hard. I wish there was another way to get where we’re going.”  He placed both bottles on their sides on the bed and she wished he would just make her drink something.  Deciding was too much right now. 

“I think I might go mad.  All I can think about is all of us sinking to the bottom of the ocean.”

“And you don’t want that?”

Thea looked up sharply, surprised.  “Of course not.”

Hubert shrugged.  “Sometimes people want to die after their loved one does.  I know Sara had that despair for some time. She was widowed after only two years of marriage to her love.”

“No,” Thea said.  “I want to live,” and she was somewhat surprised to find it true.  

The ship pitched forward suddenly and she began to tumble off of the bed, but Hubert’s arms caught her around the waist and then pulled her back onto the bed, against himself.  

“Easy, easy,” he muttered, in the same way Thea might have calmed a horse or a colicky baby.  He took one hand off of her to reach for the smaller bottle.  

“Drink this.  I’ll stay with you and make sure all is well.  The nursemaid has the children.”

Thea opened her mouth as he poured the contents of the bottle in her mouth and she swallowed, tears coming to her eyes as another swell pitched the ship forward and the sound of creaking boards brought goosebumps to her flesh.

“It’s too hard, it’s too hard,” she muttered and Hubert held her tightly, telling her of his parents and how they had sailed from Prussia to Antwerp following a fast courtship and then lived happily for years in the home they were sailing to now.  She fell asleep with his mouth inches from her ear, his arms around her waist.

***

Thea woke and saw Elias sitting across from her, in the chair she knew was left behind in their family home in Arendelle.  He was smoking a pipe but the air smelled like saltwater.  The smoke from his pipe was turning into crocuses that lost their petals as they slammed to the floor and shattered.

She tried to sit up but her head weighed too much and she could do no more than roll to her side.  Elias took the pipe out of his mouth and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.  “I know you miss me, but you can’t come here.” 

He stood up and walked towards her, each step sounding like cannon fire.  He put his hand on her cheek but she couldn’t feel it and she moaned and closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, Elias was standing in front of her, frantic.  

“You shouldn’t be here! It’s too dangerous!” Rain was pelting him and his coat was torn at the shoulder. “The ship is falling apart!” 

Again, she tried to sit up but this time her legs wouldn’t move and when she looked down at them and then back up, Elias was gone. 

“Elias? Where did you go?”

Hubert answered.  “He had to go, but I’m here.  I’m here.”

Thea closed her eyes again. “Will he come back if I close my eyes?”

She felt Hubert’s hand on her cheek and it made her cry.  If Elias had been real, she would have felt him.  Wouldn’t she?

“He can’t come back.  But he loved you very much, and he loves you still.”

***

A letter wouldn't have arrived faster than their passage, so when the family arrived in Antwerp, Hubert’s sister Sara met them at the pier, surprised and happy.

“Hubert, are those your children?” she asked, incredulous.

“They will be,” he answered, and Thea knew she had done the right thing. 

***

She had felt shattered at Elias’s death and, now in a home that didn’t overpower her with memories, she was aligning the fragments of those memories so they didn’t pierce her in a way that cut off her breath. She hoped she would figure out how to fully come back to herself before Hubert tired of this half-life woman he had married, before the children tired of her melancholy and moods. Before she lost herself totally and led a life that was worse than death.  But she wanted to live.  She just had to figure out how.

[themariobrosdotnet]

The Top 3 Pokemon TCG Expansions of the XY Series

“Pokemon - A brand that continues to surge forward in fame and popularity!” 

The Pokemon trading card game (TCG) has fascinated every single gamer out there and makes competition play more accessible to anyone who ever wanted to try this. With the addition of the XY Series, Pokemon again succeeded to draw the attention of gaming enthusiasts worldwide. 

In total, there are 13 XY series of sets, and these were introduced somewhere between December 2013 and September 2016. Out of those 13, here we have compiled the top 3 Pokemon TCG Expansions that one cannot afford to miss. Let’s get into it. 

XY Evolutions

The Pokemon Trading Card Game legacy evolves with XY Evolutions Expansion. This was released on 2nd November 2016 and came with a bang. With the exhilarating power of Mega Charizard - EX, Mega Venusaur - EX, and Mega Blastoise - EX, this expansion restores the very first Pokemon TCG into glory. In addition to this, Evolutions also features some of the wild surprises such as Machamp BREAK, Dragonite - EX, Mega Slowbro - EX, and Ninetales BREAK. This surprise adds a pinch of spark to the trading card games and makes it super exciting for the gamers.

The classic fierce-battling Pokemon and the old-timey trainers are recreated in the XY Evolution Cards. All you have to do is ask professor Oak to begin the game and you are all set to create a benchmark with Pokemon TCG: XY - Evolution Expansion. This mainly includes the following:

More than 100     cards

4 Latest     Pokemon BREAK

A recreation     of the retrograde Pokemon trading cards

12 New     Pokemon-EX along with Mega Evolution Pokemon

XY Evolutions - Theme Decks

Evolutions Expansion came with two theme decks, namely - Mewtwo Mayhem Theme Deck and Pikachu Power Theme Deck. Find out the detailed information about these theme decks here.

Mewtwo Mayhem     Theme Deck

This deck is all set to pass out the chaos! Featuring Onix and Hitmonchan delivering the hits, Mewtwo smacks both body and mind. This themed deck of XY Evolutions includes:

1 Deck Box

2-player     playmat and rule sheet

1 metallic     coin

60 Pokemon     Cards

Damage     counters

1 card     checklist

1 code card     to get this game started online

Pikachu Power     Theme Deck

Pikachu - a little thunderbolt that never gives up is ready to charge up your trading card game. Make your deck extra powerful by adding Raichu and Electabuzz and beat any foe instantly. This features:

60 Pokemon     Cards

2-player     playmat and rule sheet

1 metallic     coin

Damage     Counter

1 Deck box

1 code card     to get this game started online

1 card     checklist

2.                  XY Fates Collide

What if your gaming card can see the future and can shape it to combine two worlds? Surprised?? Don’t be as reality shifts and is reinvented in the Pokemon XY Fates Collide. This expansion was released on 2nd May 2016 and had totally shaken the gaming world. Though the word ‘BREAK’ isn’t mentioned in the name, this is the 3rd edition of the XY BREAK Series. 

It features the card - Mega Alakazam-EX who can see the future and has the ability to turn the tables. In addition to this, you’ll also find the Legendary Pokemon Zygarde that can take too many forms and thus makes the game worth playing. As the name implies, this game joins the two Pokemon worlds and their fates are sealed with each other. 

XY Fates Collide Cards includes:

Over 120     cards

13 New     Pokemon-Ex along with Mega Evolution Pokemon

5 New Pokemon     BREAK

XY Fates Collide - Theme Decks

This XY Series TCG Expansion features 2 theme decks - Sky Guardian Theme Deck and Better Ruler Theme Deck. Let’s find out their detailed information here.

Sky Guardian     Theme Deck

Set the storm of your battle free with Lugia, a legendary Pokemon of the Sea, and burn through the opposition in a flash with the mystic flame of Delphox and fiery wings of Moltrex. 

Battle Ruler     Theme Deck

Add the pokemon of order and control - Zygarde and rule the battle like a pro. Get Battle Ruler Theme Deck of XY Fates Collide Expansion and call down the thunder. With Serperior’s rushing coils and Lucario’s fist of justice, you can easily seize the moment and set your game on fire. 

3.                  XY BREAKpoint

Released on 3rd February 2016, XY BREAKpoint Expansion presents the battle between the twin worlds. Along with the Shiny Mega Gyarados-EX, more Pokemon are driven into the rift from time to time like Luxray BREAK, Greninja BREAK, and Mega Scizor-EX. They all have immense powers and are enough capable to mend the rift and save both of the worlds from a collision. With this expansion, Pokemon does BREAK again in style.

Compared to the predecessor, this expansion of the XY series has a better pull rate for the booster pack. This pack gives your collection a boost and takes your game to new heights. In XY BREAKpoint Cards, you’ll find:

More than 120     Cards

11 New     Pokemon-EX together with 2 Mega Evolution Pokemon

5 New Pokemon     BREAK

XY BREAKpoint - Theme Decks

This expansion comes in two theme decks - Wave Slasher Theme Deck and Electric Eye Theme Deck. Find out the details here.

Wave Slasher     Theme Deck

Get this deck now and slash your foes in the battle arena. Call Greninja and Slowking at any time flow like water and bend like grass while playing this trading card game. 

Electric Eye     Theme Deck

A playable 60-card theme deck features lightning-type Pokemon including Luxray and the powerful Electivire. Aptly named, this deck allows you to command the gleaming eyes of Luxray and stare down your rival with hypnotic mastery. Like all other theme decks, it also includes - a luxury deck box, a custom coin, damage counters, TCGO deck access code, and one 2-player mat. 

Final Words:

Unarguably, Pokemon TCG gave the fans an interesting way to enjoy their favorite gaming brand. These above-mentioned expansions, be it Evolutions, Fates Collide, or XY BREAKpoint, are out of the box and feature a unique thrill that spellbinds the players and leaves them with the desire for more. 

[thehoodsweetheart]

Twin Flames.

A/N: This is something that popped up in my mind. I was feeling a little uninspired lately but knew I wanted to get some type of content out. Tell me what you guys think. Should this be something I continue? I hope it’s not total crap.

Summary: Sometimes you can’t shake a person, no matter how much you try to let go. However, you hand can be forced. This is the case with Isis and Erik. (I don’t want to give up too many details).

Word Count: 2.1k

Warnings: ??? There are none. I write for Black audiences, Black women in particular. My main characters are Black and that’s that on that. Isis is and will remain a Black woman. 

------------------------------------------------------------

      Isis sat perched up in the middle of her oxblood colored crushed velvet couch legs folded beneath her as she diligently clicked away on her MacBook Pro. Isis was dressed in a black mesh panel Ivy Park crop top with the matching leggings. Her wash and go was on day 2, which was honestly her favorite due to how much volume the fizziness gave her hair. Isis’s fluffy coils created a large halo like fro around her head almost like a crown. It hadn’t even been an hour since she landed in Los Angeles from her 21-hour flight from Johannesburg and she was getting straight to work. The soft murmur of Martin re-runs played on the wall of her condo from a projector and providing most of the light in the room. The projector was Isis’s idea after debating with her best friend, who also happened to be her roommate, over an obnoxiously sized flat screen TV.

      She glanced up from her work on your laptop to give a soft laugh at Martin & Gina sneaking into Tommy’s apartment attempting to find out if he was apart of the CIA. It reminded Isis of how nosy her own best friend could be when she felt like Isis was hiding something from her. It was no offense to their friendship. Isis was an only child and somewhat of an introvert. She grew up with the struggle of overly sharing or not sharing herself at all with ‘close friends’. She learned fast it was best to be picky with who and what she shared of herself. Isis was private in nature and her current job only added to it. Isis was awarded the once in a lifetime opportunity of being part of the visual director team and personal photographer to Beyoncé. Yes, the one and only Queen Bey.

      It was 11:11 PM, which Isis considered peak working hours. She knew that she’d be awake editing pictures until well after 3 AM. Isis wanted sort through all her captured footage from her last trip and edit the best images. Seemed like a simple task but any artist will tell you it’s the most challenging part. What if a photo she absolutely hates is one that her client loved? Or Vice versa? The longer Isis looked at the image the more flaws she could find, but wasn’t that the beauty in art, photography in particular?  

     Isis played around with the gradient and shadows of the picture trying to highlight its depth using Adobe Lightroom. She was so fixated on editing that she didn’t even hear the front door open, but the sounds of giggling and the door slamming sure caught her attention. Her best friend Brea was home and she were not alone. Brea was accompanied by a large male figure that towered over her petite frame. Isis gave them a quick glance before returning her attention back to the work before her. Despite not getting a clear view of Brea’s male ‘friend’, Isis felt an odd sensation of familiarity. Isis knew Brea hadn’t even noticed she was there yet because she was too focused on her male companion who was actively kissing and groping her.

“Aye, who is that?” His gruff voice questioned. Brea shot him a confused look before turning on her heels to face the couch. She let a loud gasp followed by a squeal.

“OH MY GODDD ISIS!!! YOU’RE HOMEEE!” She ran over to Isis giving her a bear hug, completely disregarding the laptop on her lap. Isis let out a small chuckle, fumbling with her MacBook Pro so it wouldn’t crash onto the floor, yet still trying to reciprocate Brea’s embrace.

“I know…finally right?” Isis’s light voice followed. She spent two weeks in South Africa, and she had only been home for four days prior to that after a trip to New York. During those four days, Brea was away on a business trip for the NPO she worked for, so it was safe to say they hadn’t had a chance to see each other in a solid four weeks.

“Soooo, how long do I have the pleasure of having my bestie back?” She nudged my elbow.

“We never know. Until duty calls again I guess.” Isis shrugged.

“Well you have to tell me about South Africa! Any fine niggas?” Brea attempted to whisper the last question. Isis couldn’t help but let out a hearty laugh, which Brea soon joined in on. Leave it to Brea to be so bold in front of her male company.

     Erik cleared his throat catching Isis and Brea’s attention silencing their laughter completely. Isis’s eyes locked with Erik’s. She finally zoned in on his face. This was Erik that Isis has heard Brea talk so much about in the past months, but nothing of substance. Brea just pretty much boasted on his good looks and sex drive but no concrete details of the ‘mystery man’. Not even a screenshot of a picture of the man had been offered from Brea. The three seconds that they held eye contact felt like nearly an eternity. Her heart began to pound in her chest so much so she could hear it in her ears. It was as if they could see through each other’s exterior and see straight to the core. Brea’s guest was indeed handsome…strikingly handsome yet familiar.

     Erik’s face was one Isis would never forget. His face was etched in marble in her mind. Her mind worked like a camera, her favorite vice. Capturing faces in a moment, associating them with particular narratives. Every face held a different story; all worth discovering yet Isis wasn’t much of a storyteller. She was the observer obsessed with the details of stories in a calculating way. This one in particular was mysterious and how it intersected with Isis’s was less than complicated but not in the least bit simple.

*********

           They met what seemed like a lifetime ago during one Isis’s summer visits to the Bay, on Isis’s father’s birthday. It was the summer before high school. She met Bria that same summer during Summer Bridge, a requirement for the private high school they attended. He was her favorite boy cousin’s best friend. Despite her introverted ways, Isis and Erik linked as if they knew each other their whole lives. It began as a platonic friendship. It soon became obvious that they had crushes on one another but they didn’t say anything about it in respect to her cousin. Then her cousin died and Erik moved away the same year causing them to lose contact. But before he moved he told her, “Don’t trip, I’ll find you one day. I feel like I’ll always find you. No matter what lifetime it is.”That was the summer before her senior year of high school. And find her is exactly what he did, multiple sporadic times.

      It was actually puzzling to say they never kept consistent contact with one another. Like the summer after her first year of college when she landed an internship in New York at the Staley-Wise Gallery, and Erik casually sauntered through the crowd of the gallery on a busy afternoon. He was notably different. More mature in his looks and moved more guarded than the teenager Isis once new, nonetheless his magnetic pull drew her in almost immediately. It was that force that never allowed her to shy away when she was near him, even if she tried. Isis was uneasy with idea of being attached to Erik, because life had a way of showing her that her best bet was on herself. Despite this, he made her feel safe. He was there when the gallery closed. They chilled with each other like there was no time lost between the two. Any time she was free during his two week stay, Erik made sure he spent it with her sparking that old crush letting it fully ignite. When he asked her, “You saved yourself for me?” It wasn’t much of a question. He knew she did.

           Years passed and after graduating from undergrad, Isis moved back to Los Angeles. Isis like every woman has experienced a fair share of cat calling and unwanted extra male attention. When she experienced it one particular night, the ‘I have a boyfriend’ and ‘your man don’t let you have friends’ debate was brought to an abrupt end with a ‘Nah’ from a male voice behind her. Isis wanted to roll her eyes because she knew she didn’t have a man but she didn’t necessarily want to entertain the new unknown voice because he played superhero. She was in luck to find it was Erik. Isis was stricken with awe. She was sure their last encounter would be the final one. Isis came to terms with that.

      Erik and Isis practically bound. What else could explain their unexpected reconnections? Their most encounters recent were in Johannesburg. It seemed like a lifetime had passed since she’d seen or heard from him. She knew of him being in the navy and his plans for Wakanda. Part of her thought he was dead. When attending a museum on a much needed off day, pictures of South Africa’s neighboring country Wakanda acted as a friendly reminder of her old friend.

“What do you know about Wakanda? Almighty Isis.” The familiar predatory voice purred in her ear. Isis whipped around to see a vastly different appearance yet Erik in the flesh.

********

     Isis raised an eyebrow as a sly smirk crept onto her face. The same smirk that Erik held, mirror-like with arrogance. She turned her attention to her best friend. Isis waited for what would be a proper introduction. After all, Brea was oblivious to Erik and Isis’s acquaintance.  She had no clue that Isis and Erik’s once-in-a-blue moon meetings sparked a flame consuming the flesh and spread like wild fire only to be put out not long after it starts. Neither Erik nor Isis was accustomed to the immense connection they possessed, like a shared soul internalizing each other’s pain without explanation, knowing things about each other that never needed to be verbalized. Something about it always savoring the essence of its natural flow and it was still so foreign. Yet, Brea did not know that her Erik was Isis’s N’Jadaka.

“Sorry, I’m being rude! Ice, this is Erikkkk” Brea sang his name. Isis chewed her inner cheek to keep from cringing. She wasn’t sure if it was the way Brea said his name or the thought of Erik fucking her best friend.

“Wassup” Erik said with a nod. Isis coach herself mentally not to roll her eyes. Should she tell Brea? Would it even matter? Could she even be mad at Erik? They never had anything exclusive, ever.

“Hello.” Isis kept her response curt.

“Yo…You look hella familiar like I know you from somewhere.” Erik tilted his head dreads falling more into his face as his tongue ran over his gold fangs. If he wanted to be petty, Isis could match all energy.

“Doubt it…Probably Instagram.” Isis said with a shrug gaining an uneasy look from Brea. Brea was accustomed to Isis being more polite in general, after all she deemed Isis as the ‘nice’ friend.

     If this situation couldn’t get anymore awkward, Isis phone began to ring illuminating with the name Aaron and a picture of her and a handsome chocolate man making goofy faces with the Snap Chat dog filter. Isis sucked in a deep breath breaking her gaze from her phone immediately locking eyes with Erik. She couldn’t believe the situation that was unfolding before her. Her secret on and off ‘fling’ was in her home with every intention on fucking her best friend, despite having a two-week long mind-blowing sexscapade with Isis in South Africa just days prior. Her best friend had no clue and her current situationship was hitting her up for the late night action.

“Don’t ignore my brother-in-law. You know the drill.” Brea laughed. It was too late. Isis missed the call. Isis could only let out a nervous chuckle while avoiding looking at Erik altogether.

“Whatever Bree. I’ll get out of you guys’ way.” Isis said fanning them off while quickly texting Aaron she was on her way.

       She sat her laptop down to get ready to leave. Isis quickly gathered her tote, which was packed with her essentials since she had landed that night. It was no need for Aaron to leave the door unlocked she had a key. He was far more invested than she was but she did care for him.

“This picture is dope. These scars look so familiar.” Brea squinted as she studied Isis’s MacBook Pro.

“Ehhh, you know ritual practices…just something I saw in South Africa.” Isis said looking directly at Erik with a smirk. She took her laptop from Brea as she headed towards the door. “You two have fun!” Isis shot them a wink.

[cneyes]

Reylo/ Stages of a twin flame relationship

Ok, edit my old post about the comparison of: the development of the story of Rey & Kylo/Ben with the stages in the relationship of soulmates,

I added the images we saw in the trailer & really now more than never I'm sure that the evolution in these characters is like the stages of the relationship of the soulmates.

Really check it please...

Here is 1/2 part:

2/2:

[unrivaled-super-hottie]

QZGS Masquerade 2019 Reveals

The guesses are in for Masquerade and now it’s time to reveal everyone! There were 22 guesses (+1 late guess I tossed in for fun), and one author remained unguessed throughout the whole event!

(Please note the collection will be de-anoned by 11/15 at 11:59 pm EST so if you still want to keep your fic on anonymous to the general public who doesn’t know about masquerade, please add it to the general anonymous connection on AO3 in addition to the masquerade collection)

Read below to see results/statistics for all the fics

(later on i realized i forgot to ask for a discord ID/ao3 name on the form but luckily I knew the first place at least)

First off for the guessers:

The one who guessed the most authors correctly: TheDefenestrator [ni(redacted)@gmail.com] with 16/21 correct guesses

Honorable Mention:  Dayadhvam [da(redacted)@gmail.com] with 13/21 correct guesses

The average number of correct guesses was: 4.826086957

Median number of correct guesses: 4

Both of them left cool deductions so please check out the raw spreadsheet at the end of this post!

Now for the fic which will be revealed in order of most to least guessed

disclaimer: In my comments, when I said I guessed someone, I’m referring to my active speculation I made as I read a fic before I checked the form submissions. I did not actually make an official guess that was part of the statistics

Number of Correct Guesses: 9/21 (43%)

Most Incorrectly Guessed as: Lauchis and eloboosting (2 guesses each)

Correct Author:  Battle_god_Ye_Xiu

Host Comments: Look i guessed this was you almost immediately because  I saw Zheng Xuan tag + the words “soft family” (you like using soft a lot, with ur “uwu soft angst” )

Number of Correct Guesses: 9/22 (41%)

Most Incorrectly Guessed as: Autumn_Rain, DesertRain, Syncogon (2 guesses each)

Correct Author: desikauwa

Host Comments: Everyone said you have a really distinctive style and I agree, especially the paragraph length + dialogue. I enjoyed the rarer Fang Rui content!

Number of Correct Guesses: 8/22 (36%)

Most Incorrectly Guessed as:  swanfrost (3 guesses)

Correct Author:  Shirou_UOHS

Host Comments: Shirou I think your writing is really distinctive and I guessed you right away because you love sibling stuff and YOU LITERALLY DREW FANART OF THIS AND POSTED IT ON THE SERVER. SO SUSPICIOUS. I think you would have been guessed more, but kiri (desertrain) gave you some cover because both of you use “gege” in your fics and you were guessed a lot for the other fic. 

(Also for the swan as most incorrectly guessed, RNG was 2/3 of those guesses so not as accurate..)

Number of Correct Guesses: 7/21 (33%)

Most Incorrectly Guessed as:  fayah (4 guesses)

Correct Author: sakuchii

Host Comments: So many people guessed me for this one! Probably because Su Muqiu/Ye Xiu, jokes on you all I wouldn’t be that obvious. I didn’t guess this one to be you off the bat but apparently you had something stylistically distinct because a lot of people did correctly guess!

Number of Correct Guesses: 7/21 (33%)

Most Incorrectly Guessed as:  syncogon (4 guesses)

Correct Author: Dayadhvam

Host Comments: Most people concluded that this fic was written by someone familiar with Chinese because of the references so I’m not surprised Synco was the most guessed. This was one of the fics I knew who wrote it almost immediately as I read it because Journey to the West references!! I remember one of the first posts I saw from you in the server was you explaining LJY’s old username. I laughed that your profile pic on discord this whole event was Innocent Eye Fang Rui, I wonder if that helped anyone guess/suspect? 

Also can I say the dialogue for this was great and this was my favorite fic out of the masquerade

Number of Correct Guesses: 6/21 (29%)

Most Incorrectly Guessed as:  Shirou_UOHS (5 guesses)

Correct Author:  DesertRain

Host Comments: So many people guessed this off the usage of “gege” which was why Shirou was guessed so often! (Also Shirou under suspicion for Ye Twin fic I’m guessing) For the first 4 guesses you had a 100% guess rate even by RNG and it made me laugh a lot, congrats on not ending up as most guessed despite your early lead!. Also “no beta we die like su muqiu” is the best tag you win just for that

Number of Correct Guesses: 6/21 (29%)

Most Incorrectly Guessed as:   Missing_Ninja_History (4 guesses)

Correct Author:    eloboosting

Host Comments: I think this was one of the easier fics to guess because so few people in the fandom write porn. Gma (Missing_Ninja_History) was probably guessed the most because she recently posted TKA nsfw rare pair fic lmao. Also Tread (havingonlydreams) was guessed twice since she wrote nsfw hanzhang before. Zoe ( Battle_god_Ye_Xiu) tried to convince everyone this was possibly her fic but absolutely no one believed this except 1 random rng guess.

I may or may not have been converted to HanZhang by this fic.

Number of Correct Guesses: 5/21 (24%)

Most Incorrectly Guessed as:  senata_isivelia (3 guesses)

Correct Author:    qyff

Host Comments: I think your style was somewhat distinct but SO MANY people guessed you for another fic! Not one of the ones I was 100% sure of off the bat, but is it weird that I suspected you just for the triple question marks? haha

Number of Correct Guesses: 5/21 (24%)

Most Incorrectly Guessed as:  Dayadhvam,  qyff, and  rimenorreason (2 guesses)

Correct Author:  Swanfrost

Host Comments: I thought your summary style should have given you away so much more! The block quote + one line zinger is so you. Also I was happy to see so many good gen pieces for masquerade! The fluffy feelings here also vaguely reminded me of your other fic, I guessed you pretty much off the bat when entries were coming in

[From this point onward, we’ve reached the top 50% of well-hidden authors!!]

Number of Correct Guesses: 4/21 (19%)

Most Incorrectly Guessed as:   DesertRain (4 guesses)

Correct Author:   Missing_Ninja_History

Host Comments: This was another one of those fics I guessed off the bat because of your copious use of dashes and the “Happy birthday, Qiu.” near the end. That last part basically ruled out most of the more Chinese-knowledgeable writers. I also felt under 2k words would be a breeze for you so the early submission just gave me the strongest gut-feeling this was you. Felt so validated when I checked the forms and was correct haha 

This was also a somewhat popular guess for the two authors that didn’t have previous fic history

Number of Correct Guesses: 4/21 (19%) 

Most Incorrectly Guessed as:  qyff (10 guesses)

Correct Author:   qq_riri

Host Comments: So this was THE most successful fake-out fic out of the bunch, because qyff is so well known for liking MF + QYF. I just read from you that you did this on purpose and it worked so, so well /slow clap

Number of Correct Guesses: 4/21 (19%)

Most Incorrectly Guessed as:   jellysunfish (4 guesses)

Correct Author:   DancingBloomTKA

Host Comments: The way you formatted BOLDED poetic lines in between your storytelling was really obvious, even if you tried to hide it with adding the spacing lines. I think Jelly was guessed because they also do this, but you do single lines so I immediately suspected you!! I just didn’t expect you would join the event with IRL and stuff keeping you busy, I’m glad you did! 

Also I totally noticed in the server you asked “Who’s the “Time to let my inner demons out” in Dying Flame? Li Xuan?” How shameless, asking about your own fic. I feel this should have made more people suspect you rather than throw them off, but alas I don’t think many people noticed this except me.

Number of Correct Guesses: 3/21 (14%)

Most Incorrectly Guessed as:   swanfrost (3 guesses)

Correct Author:   wackernagel

Host Comments: This was a really cool rarepair! Unfortunately it also was one of the things that outed you haha. That and you accidentally kinda said when you finished your fic and your wordcount woes and tried to bluff it off with editting but apparently some people remembered

Number of Correct Guesses: 3/21 (14%)

Most Incorrectly Guessed as:    Missing_Ninja_History (6 guesses)

Correct Author:  Lauchis

Host Comments: This was the third most misdirected fic. Maybe because Gma (Missing_Ninja_history) wrote Wu Xuefeng rarepair before? I like how you stole Tread’s headcannon post but Tread (havingonlydreams) was suspected for so many other fic instead that everyone just chose to blame Gma. Also thank you for using the title I was trying to bait people into using!!  Unfortunately we only fooled one person with this :(

Number of Correct Guesses: 3/21 (14%)

Most Incorrectly Guessed as:   senata_isivelia  and DancingBloomTKA (4 guesses)

Correct Author: rimenorreason

Host Comments: Since you and Senata both had no fic history, a lot of people actually did tend to guess which two fics you two wrote but mixed up the correct order haha. I didn’t guess this one right at all tbh :’D

[From this point onward, we have the top 25% most well hidden authors]

Number of Correct Guesses: 2/21 (10%)

Most Incorrectly Guessed as:  lauchis (4 guesses)

Correct Author: Fayah

Host Comments: This was mine! I did a few things to throw people off - I never wrote Tang Rou before so I picked her as a subject. I just rushed this in 24 hours and hoped that was enough to make my writing not sound so much like myself. I also never use long (parenthesis) lowercase titles so I hoped that it helped throw some people off too. Vaguely I tried to implicate Syncogon because she wrote WangRou before and the lyrics were from the TKA live action which I haven’t watched but she has posted about listening to the OST repeatedly.

I never expected lauchis (who also ships wangrou) to join the event and give me even MORE cover. Thanks lauchis :)

Number of Correct Guesses: 2/21 (10%)

Most Incorrectly Guessed as:   Fayah and Autumn_Rain (3 guesses)

Correct Author: Syncogon

Host Comments: This was really obvious to me and I was surprised it wasn’t guessed more because you’ve actually written fem!YX fic?? And talked about this fic in the server. YOU’VE ALSO LITERALLY USED THE “Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex“ TAG BEFORE!!!!!! This guess rate is a true miracle, this wins the “most surprised that it wasn’t guessed more.” Maybe because you have 41 fic and people gave up before going to page 3 and seeing your very first fic that was fem!YX 

Number of Correct Guesses: 2/21 (10%)

Most Incorrectly Guessed as:   Battle_god_Ye_Xiu, qq_riri, sakuchii  (3 guesses)

Correct Author: senata_isivelia

Host Comments: I figured you would do well since you had no other fic. I also helped secretly beta this fic though I don’t know if that actually would have affected people’s guesses. Not surprised that Zoe (Battle_god_Ye_Xiu) got guessed frequently for this because YuHuang. One of the times you got correctly guessed was from RNG but I’m really surprised someone did guess you accurately!

Number of Correct Guesses: 1/21 (4.8%)

Most Incorrectly Guessed as: fayah (4 guesses)

Correct Author: havingonlydreams

Host Comments: I’m so surprised everyone thought I wrote Liu Hao fic??? I’m honored because I enjoyed the perspective, but still baffled. Tread, I’m really disappointed you weren’t 2nd place because you really deserve it - you had some Zhang Jiale level luck in this event. The one person who guessed you cited RNG as their reason. 

Number of Correct Guesses: 1/22 (4.5%)

Most Incorrectly Guessed as:   havingonlydreams  (8 guesses)

Correct Author: Autumn_Rain

Host Comments: This is probably the strongest accidental masquerade misdirection that happened because I know you had no clue Tread (havingonlydreams, who is strongly associated with Thunderclap) would participate. I did not expect to see/read this pairing but it was a really fun fic!

Only one person (Fenes/The Defenestrator) guessed correctly and saved my ass from having a two-way tie for first. Congrats on the Zhang Jiale award!  

Number of Correct Guesses: 0/22 

Most Incorrectly Guessed as:   Autumn_Rain (5 guesses)

Correct Author: jellysunfish

Host Comments: Our masquerade winner! I think your spacing made people think Autumn_Rain. I definitely couldn’t pin you down either, so congrats! I’ll DM you when I start working on the art :)

[Raw Data Spreadsheet + Deductions if guesser chose to include]

[Raffle Ticket List]

And the winner of free Nitro is Syncogon!

Thank you so much to everyone who participated! I hope you had fun. Also feel free to slide me your feedback/suggestions/if you would be interested in doing this again next year :)

[lovehaswonangelnumbers]

New Post has been published on https://lovehaswonangelnumbers.org/3368-2/

Taurus at the Speed of Sound ~ May Monthly Horoscope

by Eric Francis

Dear Friend and Reader:

Earlier this week, we experienced the first of seven Sun-Uranus conjunctions in Taurus (that was Monday, April 22). News events are moving at a dizzying pace, and defy comprehension. At the time I’m writing this article on April 25, it’s been just over a week since the Notre Dame Cathedral fire, and a week since the release of the redacted version of the Special Counsel’s report. It seems more like a month.

As of this writing, there are now 20 Democratic presidential candidates, with Joe Biden’s entry into the race. Also today, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin met Kim Jong-un, the Korean leader, for a summit meeting in China. Putin is moving in on a power vacuum abandoned by Trump’s failed attempts at courting diplomacy with Kim.

Texas executed John William King for the 1998 killing of James Byrd, the first time in modern Texas history that a Caucasian man was executed for the death of an African American man. This was the infamous dragging death by a white supremacist.

Pres. Trump denied that he ordered then-White House Counsel Dan McGahn to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller III. He said that McGahn had lied to the Special Counsel about this during the investigation.

McGahn, one of the star witnesses in the Special counsel’s investigation, has been subpoenaed to testify before Congress, but Trump brought a personal lawsuit to block his testimony. The president also vowed to fight any subpoena of documents or testimony by congressional oversight committees, in effect daring the House of Representatives to impeach him.

On that note, if he is impeached, Trump said he would fight it at the U.S. Supreme Court. He is clearly referencing his impression that he would get a 5-4 win on any case he brings, but there is no such course of action provided for under the Constitution. (What actually happens during an impeachment is that the chief justice presides over the trial, with the Senate serving as the jury.)

Contents of the report of the Special Counsel, 448 pages long, are gradually percolating through the news. The report details the astonishing extent of Russian meddling in the election, which came in the form of a social media propaganda campaign dating to 2014, and hack and dump operations of email and confidential documents stolen from formal Democratic Party offices and Hillary Clinton’s personal office.

Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, this week falsely summed up the operation Wednesday as consisting of “a couple of Facebook ads.”

On the Personal Side of the Equation

We live in a restless time. I keep reading articles about the impact of lack of sleep and sleep hygiene. Part of this impact is coming from being inundated by radio waves, which are invisible light waves; these burn melatonin. So too does exposure to blue light, which is a fact of looking into screens all day.

But there is something more, a sense of agitation, nervousness and fear, as if we’re heading toward an edge that we cannot see.

Despite all the discussion about global warming and climate change, collectively our societies are doing very little about it. Economic success is still measured in growth — corporate profits and the value of the stock market. Many people are struggling — really struggling — to make ends meet as everything gets more and more expensive.

Economic woes are always an issue; we hear about them in good times and bad. But we are living in the New Gilded Age, when there are more billionaires than ever before. Money is energy, and much of it is stagnant at the moment, as companies and individuals hang onto huge cash reserves. There is fear of loss and little imagination about what to do with vast sums of wealth that exist.

As I’ve written many times, my studied impression is that the internet is what is driving consciousness: the sensation of what it feels like to be alive right now. Inundation by internet is the primary factor behind the social crisis, the anxiety epidemic, the sexless relationships, and a general state of psychic chaos.

Reader Responses: Uranus in Taurus

I recently asked my readers how they were responding to Uranus in Taurus. Here is a sample of the responses:

“It’s quite an upheaval. My trust in God has increased and at times is still quite tested. Due to a lingering concussion that hasn’t healed I haven’t worked for several weeks. I am far out on a limb in completely new territory. I have a sense that I am learning many things that I’ve needed to learn for a while. I am also in brand new territory that’s missing some of the old markers.”

lived at ages 4-6, (big stir), all the moving from home to home before I was in 5th grade… my inner sense of personal sovereignty and authority has had its challenges as I feel that speaking in honesty and truth can fucking stir lots of pots. It seems to put people I care for in uncomfortable wonder about my authenticity in relationship to them, cause I’m challenging them.”

“Quite a lot has shifted for me but the one that really stands out is as a 57 year old man who is pretty conservative in physical expression and exercise, I started going to a weekly free form dance and have progressed from slow soulful movement to full on dance machine!”

“Everything about personal awakening resonates, though that started about 3 years ago. Building on that theme now, Uranus seems to be about burning through convention to see what remains, like the alchemical calcination phase, and using what’s left to (re)build something new. This is showing up in my career, which is being guided towards creating a new, spiritually-based business model from what survives the fire.”

“On the 15th my shelf of greenware fell over and every piece broke. My shelf of essential oils came out of the wall; luckily only one bottle broke. I found myself reading about broken vessels, specifically oil bottles and the shards with drops of oil representing light and the connection to everything. But the break through this week, and I think that is what Uranus in Taurus is offering, is that these material things do not matter except for what they represent. Throwing pots is a meditation for me. It is the process that is important, not the creation of the material, but the creation of the spiritual body. Part of my path, it seems, is renunciation or detachment to the material plane. Creation of the spiritual body is most important.  I also learned that you cannot have a loving connection to others without a loving connection with God/creator.”

Beltane New Moon Coming May 4

The Beltane New Moon on May 4 is an intriguing chart. I’ll have more to say about it in Monday morning’s edition, and in the upcoming Planet Waves FM (where I will continue my coverage of the Special Counsel’s report, and ignoring the presidential race). The horoscope below is based on the Beltane chart — shown in the graphic below.

With love, Eriv

~~~~~~~~~

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