#everything else i have to add feels too heavy to put on main

[chronophobica]

liminal space of not being disabled enough to function at society standards vs not being abled enough to keep up

[that-smallinjured-bowylamb]

MY NAME IS. BRUTUS.

Damn fourth fic of the day, yeah? Why am I listening to these music while writing? Idk. But let me do my thing ‼️‼️ P.S. All this while it was 5pm in the evening too🙏

Gender Neutral reader

Genre: as you can tell with many others in the singer!reader au posts, Romantic.

Involvement: Main cast

Warnings?: cussy [yk what time it is ‼️‼️], comedy cus I can't live without it, if you see mistakes I'm probably half brain-dead for not noticing it, OOC[just in case], and uhmmm other things idk help me I'm multi-tasking through apps [texting my friends in whatsapp, TikTok, going back to Tumblr, and random ass research that has nothing to do with any of my works 🙏‼️], idk what else to add.

Ayeee shoutout to @sparklybasementcherryblossom

Thank you for reminding me I had this in my playlist!!!

So you see, you've been getting popular recently... but who cares? You're actually getting paid for it so, Letts cook up another one ‼️‼️‼️

And you thought of one thing.

Brutus...

Oh, that name. With so much envy driven into madness. Yes. That one.

You are going to have so much fun with this.

For the next performance.

They have no idea what's coming for them.

You've already set up the stage, and set in the camera for streaming. You've already had a few people in your otherworldly band, so you were happy to do more.

☆~~———~~☆

You've set up the play, it was like everything before, everyone had sat down to see the play, you had new additions for this music, though.

Because it's gonna get loud.

Riddle, Ace, Deuce, and Trey all sat in front since yk, they're your first friends in a dorm?? And so on with Leona, Ruggie, Jack, Azul, Jade, Floyd, Jamil, Vil, Rook, Epel, Idia[tablet], Ortho, Malleus, Silver, Sebek, and who else could be companions of yours.

You've started it.

Now they'll hear it.

The music begins...

It went silent before it got louder and louder.

You hear the chorus of women, humming, singing random incoherent words.

And no one fucking understands.

The beats sounds heavy, like any other songs you've recently played, but this one has something, unspoken, heavy, feeling.

I've been watching him for my entire life,

I hate the air he breathes,

his foolish decrees,

His words so contrived

And I hate the way the townspeople gather outside,

They hang on every breath,

Cling to his chest,

Home to his heart full of pride.

Whoa, now that was a surprising start, your voice seemed exhausted, angry in a way. It's like speaking through your teeth with unbridled rage.

The oracle told him to beware of the Ides,

And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't wishing,

For an untimely death or demise.

You've spat out those words like venom.

DAMN. Right off the bat?? Chill [Name]! Ruggie would've been scared if it weren't it being a music play.

Or am I just wishing just wishing I could be like you?

That the people would see me too as a poet,

And not just the muse.

The envy in your voice pours out for everyone to see.

Rook was wondering if it was pointing to him...

Vil felt a strange feeling of Deja vú.

Oh, it's not true,

I don't wish harm upon you,

You reassured in a mocking way.

Riddle was thinking on what the implications might be... Trey was attentively listening, could you be envious as well? Cater stresmed again, in a more hushed tone.

From birth,

We've been like brothers of different mothers,

within the spirit of the same womb,

May the Gods strike me down if I forsake you,

You sounded desperate, in what way, though?

Frater Meus, you're beautifully made,

And to you,

I'm forever grateful.

I'll never forget that you showed me to make art,

And I know the love you showed me came,

From a pure and noble heart.

Okay... weird thing to say when you literally wished for someone's death...

Idia seemed interested, Ortho likes the emotions put into this, Malleus is wondering why your singing all the time, Vil explained its a form of expression.

I love you,

And if you want, I'll call you king.

You said in a hushed tone.

All are listening closely like a secret being told

But why do I lie awake each night thinking,

"Instead of you, it should be me"?

Jamil looks at you like you've hit amnesia, no shit???

Something wicked this way comes,

And as I set to face it,

I'm unsure.

Should I embrace it, should I run?

The words weigh heavy, lingering in the air, crashing down in suffocation.

What motivates me?

Hatred? Is it love?

What's more wrong:

That I too wish to be great

Or,

My mother wished she'd had a son?

Your voice grows frantic, in a desperate dance.

Everyone is worried on the implications of what it could've meant, jealousy.

You gasp.

And even if I can't be the one,

Maybe I could at least help

Make way for him,

Until the day that he comes?

In a crazed manner, your expression was manic.

Maybe my name could also be known,

That I helped return good to the people,

And restored greatness to Rome?!

You raised your voice slightly.

Making some flinch in surprise.

A chant of 'Brutus' in the background.

A scene of Brutus killing the man she envied.

MY NAME IS BRUTUS,

AND MY NAME MEANS HEAVY,

SO WITH A HEAVY HEART,

I'LL GUIDE THIS DAGGER INTO THE HEART OF MY ENEMY.

Oh! Uhm...

MY WHOLE LIFE,

YOU WERE A TEACHER AND A FRIEND TO ME,

PLEASE KNOW THAT MY ACTIONS ARE NOT ONLY MOTIVATED ONLY BY,

ENVY.

I, TOO, HAVE A DESTINY, THIS DEATH WILL BE ART!

Your voice grew louder and louder, enough to awake the sleeping students.

THE PEOPLE WILL SPEAK OF THIS DAY,

FROM NEAR TO AFAR!

THIS EVENT WILL BE HISTORY,

AND I'LL BE GREAT TOO,

I DON'T WANT WHAT YOU HAVE,

I WANT TO BE YOU...!

The intensity of your voice increases, never ceases. The envy boiling in your tone like a forbidden spell not to be chanted.

The audience is left hypnotized with its intense tones and harsh words, it's like sharpening knives grazed on their ears.

I always knew I could be the one,

Though, I feel the endless pain of being,

And I am scorched by the sun.

What.

-Malleus, probably.

Of humble origins,

And born of the cursed sex,

My name is Brutus,

But the people will call me Rex.

Hushed out a voice from the last verse, a rasp sound in the throat.

The women hum and chant in incoherent voices.

The music ends.

Well done.

The audience was quiet, then finally.

"Wooo! That was amazing!!" Epel yelled.

Everyone erupted into an applause.

You're talented, [Name]. No matter what it is your good at, whether your confident or not.

You'll be recognized by the others.

The End.

OOUUFF DONEEE!!!

Enjoy !!! :>

[insomniac4000]

hiiii i was wondering if you could do an enemies to lovers / rivals to lovers sorta fic for harry? love your works !!

Moving on- Harry Lewis

Harold Christopher George Lewis, even his name was pretentious. You hated him, hated his smug smile, hated his lazy attitude, hated his stupid jokes and most of all you hated the fact you were now moving in with him.

“Maybe it won’t be that bad?” Your friend suggested as you helped you place things into boxes.

This was humiliating, your boyfriend cheated on you and now to add insult to injury he was kicking you out of his flat. Sure it was his flat and you had moved in over a year ago but he was the one who did wrong so why did it feel like you were the one being punished for simply being a victim. The worst thing was because you needed a place quickly you didn’t have too much of a choice on where to go. You kept telling yourself this was only temporary, just until you found a more permanent place but the idea of being stuck with him for a couple of months didn’t sit right with you at all.

Harry.

Your cousin suggested it, Josh. He knew that Harry’s housemate and fellow Youtuber Calfreezy had recently moved out of a flat with Harry so there was a spare room there. Josh was the one to ask Harry, you were sure if it was anyone else asking Harry would have told them where to go but because it was lovely Josh Harry agreed. You weren’t too happy about it though but you had no choice, you needed somewhere to live.

“Not so bad? The guy told me to jump off a building!” You reminded your friend Mac. You nodded in understanding out turned to you and looked pensive.

“I mean he was drunk at the time babe. I really don’t think he meant it.” You gave your friend an ‘are you serious’ face.

“I can’t believe you’re defending him,” you replied slamming shut your suitcase. You sighed before getting your phone from your jeans pocket and looking at the time, five eighteen, your ex told you he would be coming back at seven and by then he wanted you gone.

It took an hour to pack up everything and have a little cry. Josh told you he was hiring a van and would be theree at six thirty. At six twenty eight your phone buzzed, it was Josh. Lovely dependable Josh. You and Mac grabbed a box each, not too heavy and made your way down into the lift to the main front door of the building, you rolled your eyes when you saw two figured instead of one, what was he doing here?

“Hey!” Josh smiled and took the box from you, you gave a muted response and opened the door wider, Mac placing the box you was holding down in order to wedge it open.

“That’s a fire hazard,” Harry commented. You looked up at his stupid face, bottom lip protruding as usual.

“Yeah well maybe I want the place to burn to the ground. Or you can stand here and hold the door open while we do the hard graft and bring all the boxes down.” You snapped, this was going to be excruciating and you hadn’t even got to the flat yet.

“Come on guys, let’s just set the stuff down to the van,” Josh suggested and made his way into the building. It took for four of your twenty minutes to get everything into the van. You created a system whereby Mac was bringing things by your flat door, you and Josh ran everything down to the van and Harry would put it in the van ignoring you every time you told him to be careful because there was something fragile inside. After the fifth time you snapped.

“Why are you even here if you’re not going to be useful?” You sighed exacerbated. Harry places his hands on his hips.

“I don’t have to be here at all darling,” he replied his voice dripping with venom. You were about to retaliate but Josh got in there first.

“Come on we’re nearly done.”

You could have sworn you heard Harry mutter something under his breath as you and your cousin walked away but you didn’t want to poke the dragon, he wasn’t worth it.

Everything was bought up to the flat safely, Harry scratching his head as he stared at all the boxes sitting in his hallway. “I have no idea how you’re going to fit all this shit in that room.”

“Well some of it is kitchen and bathroom stuff.”

“There’s a perfectly well stocked kitchen there’s no need to add your crap to it,” Harry whined.

“It’s not crap. It’s a slow cooker, an air fryer. You might stop ordering Nando’s five times a week and get healthier.” You retorted.

“You calling me fat?”

It didn’t get better from there.

Can you not scream at your monitor like it murdered your dog?” You moaned one day bursting into his room.

Harry spun around in his gaming chair, pulling one headphone off. “Sorry, did my job interrupt your mid-afternoon existential crisis?”

“You do realise some people actually sleep before 2 a.m., right?” you snapped, opening the fridge with more force than necessary.

Harry scoffed, spinning back to his stream chat. “Some of us work past 3 a.m. Ever heard of content creation?”

“Oh, please,” you muttered, grabbing a carton of oat milk. “Yelling at videos and games isn’t a job.”

“Tell your cousin that. Why are you even still here? Shouldn’t you be sobbing on someone else’s sofa by now?”

You flinched. It was quick, barely a flicker but he caught it. You were hoping he hadn’t

Harry sighed. Too far.

The next morning, he found your curled on the sofa again, a hoodie sleeve pulled over your hand as you held your phone. Your face was blotchy. Silent tears streamed down, and you didn’t notice him standing awkwardly in the doorway for a few moments as he decided what to do. You had just seen a picture of your ex and the girl he had cheated with, you were flaunting it now. Harry decided the need for tea was greater than the need to avoid human interaction so he went to the  kitchen. You still didn’t notice him, you was too deep in your grief. You was only snapped out from your thoughts when you felt the shadow in front of your, you looked up surprised to see Harry not looking like he wanted to punch your lights out.

“I made tea,” he said, holding out a mug like it was a peace treaty.

You blinked at him, then wiped your face quickly. “Thanks.”

He didn’t say anything about the crying. Just placed the mug on the table and returned to his room.

It was a start, you still made a lot of jabs at each other but you made a conscious decision not to flood his Netflix and hog the sofa. He tried to keep shouting to a minimum after a certain time. You had even ordered a couple of takeaway’s together, you didn’t eat together but it was a start.

One evening, he came back from a gym session soaked from the rain, shaking off his hoodie as he kicked his trainers into the hallway corner. You was in the kitchen, slicing chorizo quietly. The flat smelled like garlic and tomato and he had to admit to himself it smelled good.

He tossed the wet hoodie over the back of a sofa before going to take a shower, when he had re-emerged it was gone.

“Where’s my hoodie?” he asked, looking around the room

“It’s drying up in the bathroom. You left it dripping on the floor like a toddler,” you said without turning around, voice even.

“…Thanks,” he mumbled, his annoyance about it being moved melting.

You nodded once. “There’s pasta if you want it.”

Harry hesitated. “Yeah. Alright.”

You sat in silence at opposite ends of the table, the sound of rain tapping on the windows between them. You didn’t look at him. He didn’t look at you. But when he reached for the salt, you passed it to him before he could ask.

The shouting didn’t stop entirely, he was still Harry but now he wore headphones with better noise-cancelling and tried to keep volume down. And you stopped blasting sad girl playlists in the morning and made coffee instead, make Harry a tea as you did and kept it warm.

He started leaving biscuits next to your tea mug.

You folded his laundry when you did yours.

And he didn’t say anything when you left a Post-it note on his monitor one afternoon:

“Off apartment hunting so hopefully will be out of your hair soon. Glad it’s not been as terrible as I expected though.”

Harry’s heart thumped a little, he wasn’t sure why but thought it was better to ignore it.

You got the flat. As you told him about it he tried to listen. But part of him didn’t want to because then he’d have to tell himself it was happening.

"It's tiny," you said, twirling your phone between your fingers one evening as he sipped your beer on the sofa. "Barely fits a bed, let alone a life."

Harry nodded, not looking up. "Bet you’ll still manage to clutter it with all your candles and matcha powder."

You gave a small smile. “I move in on Friday

“Oh. Right. That’s soon.”

“Yeah. I thought it’d take longer. Guess I got lucky.”

He didn’t reply. You didn’t know what else to say. You said nothing more about it, you filled your boxes back up and both buried your heads in the sand.

On Thursday night, you cooked. It was nothing fancy, just some beef tacos and you and insisted on doing the guacamole “properly,” while he grated cheese too aggressively.

You opened wine. Then tequila. Then more wine. Then more tequila.

It was late when you found themselves on the floor of the living room, backs against the sofa, your legs stretched out and his crossed in front of him.

Your cheeks were flushed. His eyes glassy. The bottle sat between the two of you like a third, very persuasive friend.

“So,” you said, slurring your words, “you’re free of me tomorrow.”

Harry gave a lopsided smile. “Yeah. I get to shout at FIFA in peace again.”

You laughed quietly. “I am going to miss those weird little biscuits you keep putting with my tea.”

“You mean the nice little biscuits,” he corrected.

You hummed. “Maybe. You grew on me.”

Silence hung between the pair of you, heavy and half-drunk.

“I could… help you move,” he offered, not looking at your.

You turned to face him, brow raised. “After what happened last time?” You smirked

“I ‘ll be good this time I promise.”

You leaned your head back against the sofa, eyes closed, smile lingering. “D’you know what’s mad?”

“What?”

“I think I’ll miss this.”

Harry swallowed. “Yeah. Same.”

You turned your head to him slowly, eyes finding his. “Really?”

“Yeah,” he said, voice lower. “You’re… alright. For someone who cried into my cereal and stole my charger every day.”

You laughed again, eyes shiny now, and he realised your hand was close to his on the carpet. Close enough to touch.

You noticed it too. Your fingers curled slightly, brushing his. Neither of you pulled away.

The air shifted.

“I was about to say something stupid,” he said, glancing down.

“Say it,” you whispered.

“I just…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Kind of wish you weren’t going.”

You blinked, breath catching. “I kind of wish I wasn’t either.”

You were staring at each other now. The way people do when you know something’s about to happen and you’re too tired; or too drunk to stop it. You both leaned in, your lips met. He tasted like lime and tequila and something warmer underneath, something you couldn’t name but had been craving without realising.

When you finally broke apart, their foreheads stayed touching.

“Well,” you breathed, dazed. “That was…”

“Yeah,” he said, his voice husky.

You smiled. “Definitely going to miss that.”

“Oh we’re not done yet.”

[paperandportraiture]

Little practice using potters pink (maimeriblu), smalt, titanium buff, and Florentine green ( from poems about you) in a Paul Rubens cold press sketchbook. @adorkastock pose reference.

There's a lot of issues in this sketch, but I kind of want to iterate on it and make a larger finished piece from it? Though now I'm realizing that I was using the adorkastock sketch app, which serves you random poses, and have navigated away from that page, so I might never be able to find the reference again. Going off of this sketch might not be good enough though. Oops.

Babbling about process, materials, things I want to practice, paper, etc under the cut.

Colors:

I've traditionally stuck to very clean paints (m graham and Sennelier are my usuals) on hot press paper but I'm in my texture era I guess.

I wanted to use my lapis lazuli Baikal from poems about you, but it's expensive and I've been using it a lot in these little sketches lately so I used smalt instead, which also granulates like mad but is a much brighter blue than I was in the mood for, which I think you can tell. The overall colors don't hang together that great. This isn't helped by the random green willowy stuff I added at the end. I just wanted to make it more of a scene for some reason, and then because the green was so different in both color and texture I had to make her dress at least reflect some of that green. And then I had to add green into her shadows. Admittedly the shadows until that point were way too blue and the green probably helped some - if I had either wanted to spend a lot more time tying it together or had started with the green as part of the vision, it'd probably actually be pretty good.

Underlying sketch/drawing:

The sketch here turned out looking okay, but I have to admit that I sat down with the intention of practicing getting a sketch scaled to the page correctly. It's a full body pose and I wanted the entire thing in there, and positioned in the rectangle of the page nicely. Clearly I did not succeed - she doesn't even have the bottom half of her legs. I think my main issue with doing this is that I always want heads to be bigger than they are. If I lay down shapes focusing on the body first, when I start in on facial and skull details I end up going way too big with them and then adjust everything else to fit, which often puts half their limbs off the page. Maybe I should try starting with a head that feels super small, putting in a higher degree of detail than feels safe, and then blocking in the body.

I mean the actual thing I should do is just more quick figure practice. Do the actual timed ones and everything.

I also struggled a lot with the drawing of the book and mug. I'm happy with where they landed (the mug is too small but at least it's recognizable) but it was a major struggle. Objects just have much harder angles than people. More practice needed in just getting the form down of made objects.

I should also work on putting clothes on the pose reference models. @adorkastock is such an amazing resource and when I'm just practicing I don't usually try to add outfits, but I think that's something I should work on. I also feel like I used to be a lot better at this - I think the fact that I haven't worn a skirt since 2018 means I have forgotten how fabric drapes.

Painting technique:

I might say that I overworked the painting here, but I think the actual issue is handling the extreme granulation. These paints reactivate a lot more than I'm used to, so I ended up pushing pigment around super carefully a lot, so that contributes to a sort of "overdefined" look. It'd be possible to balance it out by building up midtones, but with how re-workable everything was, that felt very risky and like... I'm not going to that much work for this kind of practice. I think in my enthusiasm to play with granulation, I am using too heavy of a hand.

The tacked-on green willow stuff is just funny to me, I know it doesn't fit in well.

Paper:

Okay this $10 watercolor journal from Paul Rubens is shockingly good. I don't like perforated pages but I know a lot of people do and I guess if I ever really want to take any of these out, its easy. I just like a sketchbook to come with the emotional security of "nah dont worry, this is for practicing and you can hide it away forever if you'd like". Not to mention since I don't usually tape the edges in a sketchbook, when paint bleeds into the perforations its just so ugly.

But it's 100% cotton that behaves exactly how I would expect (side eyeing you, bee paper). And so comparatively cheap! It works! It does the thing!

When I got into watercolor (2019? ish) I feel like there just weren't decent cheap paper options, especially not in a bound sketchbook, but maybe it just took me a while to find them. I literally learned basic bookbinding to make my own sketchbooks with paper I liked.

Student grade cellulose paper just doesn't work - paint literally does not behave in the same way so if you are trying to practice watercolor technique, you kind of...can't actually do that on "student-grade" cellulose paper. But you totally can on this stuff, it's great.

The binding is a little weak, but that's small potatoes at this price.

I don't love how regular the grain is, I feel like it makes too much of a pattern and I can't un-see it. Then again, since I'm way more used to hot-pressed, maybe this is just me being picky. Is there cold pressed paper that has a texture that is enough to give granulation something to play around on but subtle enough not to bug me?

Anyway, if I can find that pose again I might try a full piece. Maybe put in an actual planned willow or plant stuff background. Put actual thought into the whole composition.

Probably wouldn't use the same palette - I think I'd actually build it around the florentine green and potters pink, but maybe bring in a warmer yellow? Not sure what blue though - I want to keep messing with heavy granulation but I think the smalt is the wrong temperature, and the baikal lapis lazuli might constrain the available values too much. With the green maybe I don't need to worry about it though. Also the mug in the reference is a bright aqua color and tbh I like that in the overall color impression, which actually suggests that the lapis I have is too grey. Really I think this mean there will be multiple blues involved (reader, did you know that you are not actually limited to using at most 4 paints at a time?). I might have a cobalt teal that granulates a little.

I think I would have an easier time with the colors if I weren't also trying to get a lot of granulation. Maybe I should scale back that desire and just use potters pink to get that effect in there?

Side note - I do really like potters pink for its hue, which I'm surprised by because its such a soft color. It's known for having a super weak tinting strength and essentially being a way to sneak granulation into warmer colors, but I think I've been mixing this hue at a weak strength often enough in portraits that it's actually a really convenient color for me.

[coolingrosa]

Sorry for the onslaught of questions, but could you tell me how you learned to write so beautifully? Like the complexities of characters' emotions, how you describe things, tips to improve vocab, some good book recommendations, the way u use idioms and sayings so perfectly and just everything else you do? Ur writing is just so good that it actually makes me feel things 😭😭 I need to become like youuu

This is a very heavy duty question and I’ll try my absolute hardest to answer this!

First things first, I do want to clarify that if you’re asking about the writing of chapter one, I want to make a note that a lot of the flowing text and descriptions was written by my co-writer- BarnacleGirl. We have a system where I write the rough draft, and dialogue, then hand it over to her to polish and add on some additions. However, that has not been done for chapters 2, 3 and the prologue. Those three mediums have not been touched by her writing and is simply mine. So if you’re specifically wondering about the details in chapter one, send in another ask directed at her and I’ll get her to answer it for you!

If you have the right idea and meant to send it for the whole fic, I’ll continue!

Character writing hasn’t always been my best work in the past. Nobody starts off writing complex characters with compelling morals until they grow a bit and experience a lot of life. What really taught me how to write was putting myself into each character and making them human. I give my characters the bad parts of myself- the good parts- parts that my friends see and that I don’t. Situations I’ve gone through are sprinkled through my writing and the emotions written on the pages is real because it’s taken from a real person.

This isn’t me saying that if you haven’t gone through hardships, or put yourself into characters, you’ll make flat ones. However, making human characters comes with human qualities- even bad ones.

Killer isn’t a good person.

He’s not. He just isn’t. He’s one of the main characters for the story and sympathized with but with his actions he’s not considered a good person.

But guess what? Dream isn’t a good one either. Nobody is.

Because the idea of good and bad people is an unreachable concept that we as human beings can’t follow. Everyone is going to mess up and hurt somebody on accident- maybe even on purpose. And in return- you’ll deal with hardships and heartbreak too. And the people you hurt or are hurt by will all see you in different lights. You’ll be a good person to many and a bad person to equally as much. So declaring a character a overall good or bad person doesn’t carry the same weight as real life dynamics.

Erasing the idea that characters have an archetype of good and bad really helped me make good characters and kept me out of my box. You can have characters who are horrible to some people but kind to others- characters who love very hard but show it terribly. But that’s what makes these individuals people. The bad traits and the mix of good create who they are. Their good actions and bad actions have to make sense for what they are thinking. Nobody is born evil. People become evil and even your most horrifically evil characters still have to have human traits remaining inside to make them one.

When I get an idea of a character and their vibes, diving into their emotions becomes easy because I can better envision myself in their place. Sometimes this can get emotional, but building that connection with your characters can really help you type out their thoughts and feelings like second nature. I advise you to use a lot of drowning and fire metaphors for emotions- as a rush of cold and heat is the two most common sensations when someone is feeling a strong emotion.

Tips for vocabulary: use a thesaurus LMAOOO

I’m SO bad at vocabulary. I don’t know what so many words mean and I constantly have to find replacement words for some of my text so don’t worry if ur ashamed about doing that- I do it all the time. My favorite thesaurus is word hippo, as it has so many different variations.

I unfortunately don’t have any book recommendations as I haven’t read a lot recently- but my writing style right now is heavily based on on the book All the Light we Cannot See. I’m not a huge fan of the book, but the writing style in it is impeccable and totally influenced my writing when I read it in sophomore year. Roseverse was also directly inspired by For the Forgotten Ones on ao3 and while it didn’t inspire me writing style wise, it did motivate a lot of my world building.

I also really appreciate you liking my work- it makes me really happy! However, there’s no need to become exactly like me in writing, as writing styles are just as complex and different as art styles. How you write is unique to you, and a statement of what you bring to the table. There’s beauty in that. Never be ashamed of your own writing style or skills. Keep wanting to improve, of course, but keep your love for writing centered around what you can make with YOUR hands. Because someday, your personal writing style and art may amaze another person out there who will want to write just like you.

You’re capable of amazement. Never forget that.

[aro-osomatsu]

same static anon from before! im taking a break from final projects to ramble about your latest posts, the tenna/static miku/osomatsu trio is so awesome i love it. silly guys who are associated with red and are the stars of the show and cling to the past and are afraid of change my beloved. also your little add-on to the analysis about how the song relates to osomatsu as a character made me want to jump for joy because you are so right about everything!!! this song is extremely him coded and it drives me insane. same with tenna, its shocking just how much the song fits him. also have you seen the broken green crayon and green balloon partially covering miku's face in some of the blink and you'll miss it shots? the potential sokudomatsu connections to be made there are very fun. your passion about this subject fuels my passion for it and it makes me happy to see you talk about it! have a good day or night, whatever time it is for you :D

awww welcome back anon!! i hope you do well on those projects! ^u^ i always love getting a chance to talk to other people about this stuff!!

but alas my yapping has been imprisoned to beneath the cut! for it became far too long

anyway YES!! one of the biggest things that stood out to me about tenna was how much his fear of being left behind due to redundancy & the heavy themes of nostalgia and "the good ol' days" reminded me of both "static" and osomatsu-san! (there's even a silvagunner remix about it!!!!!!)

i could probably write a separate post about how tenna by himself parallels iyami just cuz they both envoke that same theme of chronic nostalgia. characters who's personalities and identities are linked to their bygone heydays, both incapable and afraid of change, doomed to a fate of lonely irrelevance due to their "static" natures *wink* (could probably also say something about how both deltarune and osomatsu-san's identities revolve around nostalgia and meta commentary for their respective mediums but i am not eloquent enough for that lol)

to get back to The Point tho... yes, i've seen and adore the secret frames!!!! it seems like the color green just throws everything else out of balance, and it's definitely a factor that contributes to my reading of the song as a big s1ep24 reference. especially with how none of the other colors have the same individual importance as green and red do!

and if you really wanna read into it: you could say that the way the colors are representative of people, but are still exclusively shown as still objects or background images, reflects the main singer's mentality of refusing to let anyone grow or change and prioritizing keeping everyone stagnant but together over letting them grow away from her... like im sure it was mainly a way to make it a subtle but noticable reference but im always willing to make it deeper than it is ^_^

the fact that they're just objects also really highlights the feeling of loneliness throughout the entire song... like, they're actually all just stand-ins for the real thing because the people they represent aren't actually even there anymore, but she's still pretending they are. she's still trying to act as normal, unwilling to let go of her own balloon, to close her own book, to put down her own pen... the bouquet holding the flowers together is empty without them, ect.

tl;dr the secret frames make me go coo-coo crazy

to conclude my thoughts: i am like 99% sure that this song (or at the very least the pv) is an intentional ososan reference, but it's also juuust subtle enough that it's not truly a fansong and the references aren't visible to anyone else... so basically whenever i remember that people don't know it's an ososan reference i scream and cry pathetically on the floor then i explode and die. and it's permanent forever

ANYWAYYYY here's some more shitty crossover art i drew recently as a reward for reading this far ♡

[thrreliefish]

Just finished paranormasight!

No spoiler review:

It was really good! Solid game, solid atmosphere, really cool cinematography

The way they use dramatic pans and multiple angles of the character sprites is really nice, makes it feel almost like you’re playing a movie!

My main problem is mostly the way I

//personally// played it, I suggest for anyone else interested in playing it:

Play it in one week, take heavy notes, remember everything mentioned at the beginning.

Spoilers Ahead:

I really enjoyed the Meta parts of it, such as turning down the voice to deal with the foot washing curse, having to end a route with characters in a specific location so that they can bump into other characters in their own routes.

Very fun puppeteering of characters.

Sadly I had a lot of breaks inbetween play sessions, and I regretfully hadn’t started to take notes when playing mystery games yet, so there were plenty of times I didn’t pick up on what was happening.

I’d like to live blog my next mystery game perhaps, just as a way to keep track of clues maybe, I mostly didn’t do it for the past couple games out of fear of being spoiled, but I’m like 80% sure no one sees my posts enough for that to happen.

I’d say my favorite characters were Richter, Mio, and Harue. But the whole cast was pretty stellar in my opinion, I’d put the cast around equal or above AiNI in general writing and usage.

(though I’m still more fanatic about Aitsf.)

General investment wise, I cared about all the characters, though I was actually rooting for Harue to get what she wants. And each of the routes had interesting arcs.

One thing I personall rate mystery games on is whether or not they can give me a physical sense of //dread.// (generally in relation to figuring out the truth, but spooky also counts in my book)

I can solidly say that paranormasight achieved this for me, through out the game there were a multitude of anxiety, and physical stress inducing situations, which I take as a total win.

I’m sincerely bummed out about this, but I had to look up a guide for a few parts, mostly for meta narrative mechanics I forgot about. I can not emphasize enough how much you should play this game in a week and take heavy notes.

I found the interactivity of having to look through the files to piece together clues very fun.

Though a part of me wishes there was some type of clue board you could keep track of information on, since one of my difficulties was forgetting something and not having a way to go back and look for it without leaving the part I was in.

One segment I really enjoyed was the part at the end where you have to piece together the story of the taiko, beech, reed, canal and light. Reading through the stories to piece together the timeline was very fun!

Though my first couple guesses was me trying to figure out which one had

killed first or been activated first.

Funny thing, once I heard about Ashino possessing someone with strong spiritual power, I immediately thought Mio had been possesed the entire time and was stringing us along. Luckily I was wrong.

Last thing for now:

I don’t look too much into the mystery games I play, so I got caught a bit off guard by how genuinely horrific some of the plot points were. I think it was handled well enough, I just personally got caught off guard.

Anyway, all in all a really solid and stylish game, with a fascinating mystery and interesting characters, though it wasn’t always a personally fully enrapturing game for me, I’m glad I played it and will likely recommend it.

8-9/10 ⭐️

Quick Addendum:

9/10 ⭐️ is the quality of the game and writing.

8/10 ⭐️ is my personal level of enjoyment.

And 10/10 ⭐️ for the art direction cause DAMN.

The characters are drawn //so//expressive and alive, with eye catching yet realistic designs. And man the Faces!! They’re so pliable in a really nice way, the amount of characters who have a pouting talk expression is so nice. And the mouth movements add such a layer to it all!

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Prequels are Hard, but This One Nailed It

As all Star Wars fans know, prequels are HARD. You have a less developed version of a beloved character and it's very easy to either be too predictable or to make the character significantly less interesting in comparison to their more mature and experienced version. Add to that the potentiality for "baby warrior swings a BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG sword" simplicuty of character given Viv's off-page future/history (depending on which direction you're coming at it from), and it's kind of miraculous that this book was as awesome at it turned out to be. But it was awesome, it had BOOKS and PASTRIES, and they threw in a necromancer for funsies. Let's talk Bookshops & Bonedust.

Hello, if you're finding my blog for the first time, please be aware that there are MASSIVE SPOILERS below the break.

Being the dumbass newbie who gets skewered on mission one absolutely sucks. But where most baby warriors would hear "Newbies who rush in die most of the time" wouldn't take any time to reflect on that as they convalesce, Viv actually does, and spends her entire time in Murk remembering that she's young and dumb and probably should look before she leaps now or else Rackham might not take her back. I appreciated that impetus to learn and develop a new habit.

I also adored that Viv had a good example of a life after being a soldier of fortune in Maylee. Maylee was such a fascinating combination of experience and vulnerability in everything from her understanding of where she and Viv were in their lives and still choosing the joy in the time they had to being so delighted over the book of fancy pastries that she was willing to leverage her clout to support Fern because it was important to Viv. The foreshadowing for Legends & Lattes in Maylee just in general was amazing, and the whole theme of "at another time and in another place, this might have been perfect but we're in this time and place so we make do" was just weirdly heart-wrenching? Like, we KNOW Viv has a happy ending coming, but it doesn't actually soften the intensity of the here-and-now feelings, and that is SO LIFE I can't even. This whole relationship was fascinating, and I loved getting to see this summer romance.

Then we come to Fern, the absolutely delightfully foul-mouthed proprietor of the titualr bookshop. I very nearly CRIED when we got the first description of this little shop. HOW could you keep BOOKS in such terrible conditions??? But the love and work that Fern and Viv put into the shop, and the sheer delight of watching Fern read people and match them to books was fun. I also appreciated the combination of subtle homages to classic and contemporary books and book trends--the bundles of mystery books with themes on the wrappers was just delightful.

This is also where we shout out Potroast, because POTROAST IS THE HERO OF THE NOVEL AND NO, YOU WILL NOT CHANGE MY MIND ON THIS. Sassypants gryphets are my new favorite thing.

Finally, we come to Varine. I generally am not a necromancer girl, but Varine is delightful because she's just living her best villain life. She's not terribly complex, she's not terribly well developed, but she doesn't NEED to be. She NEEDS to be scary and fun, and both those boxes were ticked.

At this point, I want to highlight another seriously awesome thing that a good friend of mine point out: This book is super woman-heavy. The named male characters are more plot devices than actual people, and all our main characters are badass ladies. Even the irascible Iridia--head gatewarden and indisputable authority in the town--is female. This entire book is badass women politicking at and supporting each other and all I can say is...MORE OF THIS PLEASE. More women-dominated cozy fantasies with sassy gryphets. I love this and I hope Baldree keeps writing in this universe, because I would happily dive into more of these books.

Overall, Bookshops & Bonedust was a delightful read that didn't really feel like a prequel. It had none of the prequel weaknesses or pitfalls, and was just a sheer delight to read.

[weekend-whip]

Band au!!

The ninja: A VERY popular band with huge turnouts for their concerts. Their music can vary a lot, but they land solidly in the alt-pop/rock area when they aren’t doing any sort of solo acts.

Kai: Basic electric/acoustic guitar, but he’s the lead vocalist and absolutely SHREDS when a song calls for a saxophone. Master of improv and is able to continue on with confidence if something goes wrong at a show. He likes it when he gets the chance to scream and jump.

Music type examples: I/Me/Myself by Will Wood, some of Bleacher’s more popular songs, Grandson, Bruno Mars, and a lot of FoB type-stuff.

Jay: Plays a little of everything, but his one true calling is the main melody on electric guitar. His fingerpicking skills are unparalleled. Girls throw themselves at his feet. It’s so sexy how fast his fingers move. He’ll also record some solo tracks on uke!

Music type examples: Complicated guitar melodies, All Time Low, and for uke think of stuff like ToP’s House of Gold and The Judge. The Orion Experience’s The Cult of Dionysus.

Cole: Bass guitar, and a little slap bass. He CAN NOT improv, he’s too scared to. Out of all of them he practices the most. He can do some solo piano stuff too, but not keyboard. Mostly stays back and lets the others take the spotlight, but when he gets really into it he might go up front and dance around with Kai.

Music type examples: I don’t know a lot of bass-centric songs, but he enjoys a lot of songs like Love Grows Where my Rosemary Grows. Autoheart. IDKHBTFM.

Zane: Keyboardist with experience in violin. When he gets in The Zone you cannot pull him out of it for anything less than the venue being on fire. He enjoys both fast-paced and slower music, and will sometimes join in on vocals.

Music type examples: Jake Wesley Rogers, Golden Hour, Cody Fry

Nya: Drums. She wants to hit things. Smack. Anger management. People are SO into it.

Music type examples: Anything with heavy drums and drum solos.

-

Jesse: Up and coming artist who does a lot of stuff with his sister. Can’t play any instruments too well so she makes tracks for him to add vocals to! He opens for the ninja a lot at their concerts.

Music type examples: Jake Wesley Rogers, other stuff you have already talked about, Bruno Mars if he’s feeling confident.

-

Olivia: Popular solo artist with a cult following. Leans heavily into the alt-rock and electronica scene. Sometimes she’ll hire the shark army as background players. Dances a LOT.

Music type examples: Paramore, P!atd, All Time Low, Daisy Grenade, K. Flay, and SPECIFICALLY Black Sheep from Scot Pilgrim vs. the World

Antonia/Bridget: Managers for the ninja/Jesse and Olivia respectively. God help them.

Jamie: Stage hand and photographer for both! He focuses too much on Olivia, though. Is it hot in here or is it just him? Has nothing to do with the drop she did while dancing and how she looked into the camera- no way.

Nya: We're really calling ourselves "The Ninja"? Kai: It's quick, it's catchy, it fits nicely on merch!!

Nya: Jay, I need you to stop being so hot while playing guitar Jay: It's not like I can turn it off???? *plays a riff* Nya: Pls your fans are starting to bruise with how hard they're falling at your feet Sunni: *lying on the floor* One more solo please!! I can handle it!!

Cole: All right, guys, let's rehearse one more time— Kai: Oooooor we could just jump onstage and just do whatever!!! The crowd loves spontaneity, that's why Jesse opens for us Jay: YEAH, FREESTYLE! Nya: *loud cacophony of drum slamming* Cole: PLEASE ANYTHING ELSE BUT THAT

Zane: I just think we should be incorporating a lot more violin into our songs— Kai: Zane. We're a pop-rock band. Save it for the solo album. Cole: Well, hold on, maybe it could put some extra spice into our music? Kai: When you can match a violin to my sister's erratic drum playing, then come talk to me Cole: Tch, bet Jay: *popcorn*

Jesse: *coming off from his act* You got a pic of my good side, right?? Jamie: Uhhh— *tries to run, drops several photos of dancing Olivia* W-Wait, I can explain, I— *drops even more photos of closeups of Olivia's smirk* WAIT JUST HOLD ON— Miranda: You had one job, man!!!! Antonia: At least get them autographed so we can sell them Jamie: *dies*

Olivia: —and then I struck a pose and threw him this sneaky little smirk and I thought he was gonna drop the camera, teehee Bridget: Bridget: We're doing a concert, not a runway model show!!! Olivia: I'M MULTITASKING

Nya: ...Do you ever think the band could use more...green? Kai: Not unless I'm wearing it *plays Careless Whisper on sax*

[acourtofthought]

I still believe that the next book will be Gwynriel and that Elucien will close the Acotar series.

More honestly, I don't really care as long as SJM doesn't make Acotar 5 a book like Acofas.

I want an end to the confrontation with who Elain ends up with more than anything else at the moment.

I think Acosf is preparing Az's next book, for sure. Right now I'm more curious about Az, for sure.

But I love Lucien too much to be sad that Elucien came first, despite her having a lot invested in Acowar, that's for sure.

More in the interpretation of the books, I still think that Elain is left aside in the central story, in how she will leave Nortuna and have her romance with Lucien.

That's a mystery, maybe SJM pushed Elucien so far and the angst is so much that I have no idea how they will end up together.

Furthermore, I would have liked an extra focused on Elain.

But I love all couples and whichever comes first I'm happy with.

Maybe! Unless Gwynriel and Elucien are not the last two books of the ACOTAR series.

It's tough to say whether SJM has decided to add onto this world now that she's contracted for additional books and whether the new series her publisher has spoken of will feature any of these characters.

Now that she's added the possibility of time-travel into the mix, does that mean the characters of the NC will pop up elsewhere in her Maasverse? Does that mean they'll travel outside of their world? And if so, does it make sense for them to do so in the next book but not in the final book since it doesn't seem like Elucien are connected to the time - travel plots?

In terms of who will close out the series, I would be surprised if it were Elucien because I think most of us agree that the majority of Elucien book will not take place in the Night Court and because of that, it will feature characters outside the IC. Does it make sense to close out the ACOTAR series in Spring? In Day?

Feyre and Rhys kicked off the series (though we initially thought it was Feyre and Tamlin) and Rhys has always been the driving force for everything that has happened. Regardless of who gets a book, they still seem to be the sun around which the others orbit. So wouldn't it also make sense if a book that centered around the Night Court ended the series so the main side characters would be that of the members of the IC? Rather than the main side characters being Jurian and Vassa, Helion and maybe Eris to close out the series?

I see arguments for both sides.

And we were definitely given intriguing information for Az in SF, "Az is different in a lot of ways". But that's still not more interesting to me than how Lucien will find out about his real father being Helion. What "secrets" Elain might have been good at keeping. What Elain really thinks of Lucien.

And yes, I do realize people think because SJM didn't put a heavy spotlight on Elain it means SJM lost interest in her but when we're literally told, "I think she's got you beat for secret keeping" then SJM continues keeping her thoughts a mystery by not giving her a POV, isn't that a purposeful way of giving her character more intrigue?

There's many different opinions in this fandom and no one is coming out of left field when they say "Elain's book is next" or "Az's book" is next because there is enough to support both of those ideas.

I don't think SJM has pushed Elucien so far apart she doesn't know what to do with them. She had Nesta push Cassian away and sleeping with many others at the start of their book. Elain hasn't even kissed someone else so if she could pull Nessian back from where they were only to end up mated and about to married by the end of SF, she can do the same with Elucien.

SJM has only pushed Elucien apart for as long as she has because that's where she wants them start their journey. Would it make sense to have Elain softening towards Lucien before her book? Before we have her thoughts on everything she's been feeling?

Not really.

Any Elucien and Elain progress will most likely remain stagnant until their book, when we're able to finally hear her thoughts on how she's feeling about everything and she can leave the Night Court. That's the part of the argument I don't understand when people talk about how Az had more buildup in SF than her (when he actually didn't but I digress). What are readers honestly expecting from her character until her book? We know she's got to further explore her powers, we know she's good at secret keeping and the characters continue noting how stealthy she's become, we know she's not fitting in at the Night Court despite her attempts, we know she's still processing her trauma, we know she continues shying away from Lucien but not why, we know Amren and Rhys have said to the others she shouldn't be underestimated though that's what they've all been guilty of. So what buildup did Az really have in SF that we now have overall been given more information about him than Elain?

Even if Az gets the next book, I doubt we'll be getting progress on Elain and Lucien's story. Shouldn't we learn about the things she's been going through and how she really feels about him when she has her own POV rather than Az's?

[nyxlaufeyson]

Paranoia (Pandora's Box) - Chapter 11

Main Masterlist - Pandora's Box Masterlist

A/N: Ok so like it's totally not been months idkwym (I'm incapable of a schedule)

Losing yourself isn’t easy.

 At first Pandora didn’t even realize that was what was happening. After a couple months of relative normalness, she hadn’t seen it coming.

It started slow, simple enough to where she didn’t question it. Her nightmares got just a little more descriptive, a little more worrisome. She pinned it on stress from one of her missions.

The first time she really took a moment and questioned what was going on was after stepping out of the shower and seeing the number one woman of her nightmares in the mirror. It had been a long day, and she figured she just needed to rest.

But things never seemed to improve. The nightmares just got worse, she kept seeing things, and on top of that, there was a constant pain on her collarbone. 

Despite all this, Pandora did manage. She still completed her missions, still hung out with her friends. But after each incident, she felt a little layer form over her eyes, pushing her away from reality.

Part of her wanted to reach out to someone and tell them what was happening, but most of her didn’t. She had always handled everything personal herself, not wanting others to get lost in her chaos. So what if she had some trauma? Everyone there did. She wasn’t special. Only, it wasn’t trauma or grief, or anything she had thought it to be.

That’s not to say the team didn’t notice. Most of them did. But they too, suffered in silence. They understood what it was like to have a burden so heavy that it suffocates. So before they realized the depth of Pandora’s struggles, they didn’t pressure her to talk to them about it. Besides an added emphasis on taking time for oneself, their dynamic was normal.

Loki went about things a bit differently than the rest of the team, as expected of the outlier. He would try to subtly ask questions about it in a conversation. Pandora, most of the time, worked around them. 

What he did know was that it had to be connected to Helheim. He knew that her nightmares were getting worse. There was an increased frequency on the amount of times he ran into her in the middle of the night making tea. When that happened, he always stayed in her company until she made her way back to bed. 

As much as he enjoyed spending late nights with her in silence, he understood that they stemmed from nothing but negative thoughts keeping her awake, and he wanted those to end. 

But not even Loki could understand the depth of her troubles as Pandora’s mind and body fought each other, anxiety creeping in from every angle, suffocating her. At this point, Pandora knew that there was something wrong, but she was too afraid of reaching out. After all, it was just paranoia. 

There was something to them-the nightmares-that just put her on edge. She could feel them. Yet she pushed the feelings down and told herself she needed to grow up, that everything was in the past. 

Despite trying to ignore the nightmares, visions, and downright panic attacks, everything got worse.

One day, coming out of her room to grab a snack, she noticed a swish of long black hair in the corner of her eye. She flung a knife towards an unsuspecting Loki, who luckily was able to stop it. 

Everyone in the room turned towards Pandora as her hands fell to her side and her jaw fell open. “Loki- I’m sorry, I thought you were…”

“Enough, Pandora, you need to tell us what is going on with you. If you don’t want to tell everyone you at least need to tell me.” Loki said. He didn’t appear to be angry, and that just made her feel even worse.

Pandora sighed and looked down. “Everyone here is burdened, and I’m no different. This is my burden to bear, Loki, I cannot add to everyone else’s worries.”

He frowned. “The burden is crushing you, everyone here sees that. Sometimes you need to hand off bits and pieces of it to survive. We all are worried for you.”

She looked around and saw that everyone else looked upon her with worry. “Alright,” she stuttered, “let me sit down. I should tell you all at the same time. Is everyone here?” 

After everyone had been accounted for, they sat at a table, all eyes on Pandora. Loki sat right beside her, trying to be as comforting as he could. 

“I don’t even know how to begin. Loki, Thor… I lied. I know who is on Helheim. The only reason I couldn’t say was because it’s quite probable that I’m the only person who knows of her besides Odin.”

Loki and Thor looked confused. “Why would Odin not tell us then?” Thor asked. 

Pandora winced, she didn’t want to be the one to deliver this news. But if Odin would never do it, she would have to. “Because it’s his biggest secret.”

They waited for her to continue. “Her name is Hela. She’s the goddess of death, and former princess of Asgard. She’s your sister.”

Her words were followed by silence. So much so that she had to fill it. “I’m sorry to bring the news, but It’s-”

“Why is she in Helheim?” Loki asked. It was a relief to Pandora that he believed her. 

She hesitated before answering. “She became too power-hungry when Odin began to wind down on the wars. She tried to take over everything, and nearly succeeded, had she not been banished.”

Natasha was the one to speak next. “Is this why you’ve been so on edge?”

Pandora nodded. “Somewhat. I see her in my sleep every night, but I can feel them. It’s as if the nightmares were real. And It’s not only at night, I’ve seen her watching me in the mirror, whispering from my walls-” She had to choke back a sob, “I’m just so tired of it and I don’t know why it’s happening. All my life, it has never been this bad. It’s almost like she’s haunting me.”

Loki rubbed her hand in support, as she took a steadying breath. “I’m sorry for not coming to you guys about this earlier. I always try to deal with my own problems myself first.”

“You’re part of a team now. We’re here to help.” Steve said, sending her a supportive smile. 

Thor finally spoke up. “Thank you for telling us, Pandora. Is this why you threw the knife at Loki?”

She nodded. “Hela has long black hair similar to Loki’s. I was caught off guard, in my head. I apologize, Loki.”

Loki smiled at her. “Already forgiven.”

Tony snorted. “And they say Loki's the adopted one.”

A bit of humor was what Pandora needed, and she realized that she was tired. 

“Thank you all for listening, but I need to get to bed. I can answer more questions tomorrow, hopefully things will be clearer in my head then.” She said, and everyone wished her goodnight.

Without asking, Loki got up and walked her to her room. When they got there, and he began to leave, she grabbed his hand. He looked up at her. “Could you… Stay? I don’t want to be weird, but I really would feel better if-” 

“Of course.” He said, without hesitating, and they sat together on the bed. 

Tears began to fall from her eyes. Loki pulled her into a comforting hug, and she finally cried, crying each layer of glaze that had pushed her away from her friends, letting her see clearly once again.

~~~~~

Although many people say sleeping with other people you trust reduces nightmares. It was truly a shame that in the early hours of the morning, when everyone was asleep, that in her pitch black brain, a singular face decided to show up with a few choice words: “You have a wonderful brother,” followed by the haunting giggle of her little brother.

TAG LIST (If you want to be added or removed, comment or inbox. If you want to only be tagged for this series/or just oneshots, etc... make sure to let me know. Make sure your tag settings are on.)- @anukulee @mischief-dream @iceeericeee

[reallyprofoundkryptonite]

The sillies…

Anyways. Decided to start working on body headcanons! I’m adding soldier in the first one too (this is supposed to be a photo for Krogan’s file! Krogan doesn’t know what a camera is and the flash spooked him lol)

And I figured I could throw in my 3k word document on Lycanwings for more context as to what exactly Krogan’s other majority is :

I will also add a few other silly headcanons for the au.

I put Demo as roughly 41-42 in this au, which works out great because Krogan is 23. The cover story for Krogan’s appearance is that he’s Tavish’s son that was born out of wedlock and Demo never really knew about until very recently (mostly since they have some similar features so it is somewhat believable.)

Krogan has a quite odd accent to the other mercs, he rolls his J’s to where they make more of a jshh sound instead of your typical j, as well as having some off amalgamation of a Russian/Slavic and a mix of a few other accents that is quite unfamiliar to anything else (since he fluently speaks and was around people that spoke Norse in his old world.)

He does also speak some ancientt offshoot anscestor language to modern Russian. He understands the vowels and punctuation and wording of modern Russian, but not quite what is being said per se (it would be easy for him to learn though.).

I might do a Christmas peice though soon… Krogan has never seen a Christmas tree and the mercs have a nice big tree in the main room of the base >:]. Krogan was also a sort of gift, is what Demo calls him. Krogan showed up on exactly October 31st? Which is also Krogan’s birthday. They didn’t know that then of course, but they make up for it next year. (This also means Krogan is freshly a 23 year old when he arrives.) He is technically a Norse pagan and celebrates Norse pagan holidays, which Swissmas is considered Yule/snoggletog where he’s from, though he’s never actually celebrated. He didn’t really have anyone to celebrate with.

He thinks he’s not the best at giving gifts, but Krogan whittled each of the mercs a little wooden figurine the first year. Soldier got one of an eagle, made out of American pine (as the founding fathers would have wanted), Tavish got a little frog, since Demoks bomb jumping reminds Krogan of frogs. Medic gets one of archemedes, made from a small chunk of birch. I’m indecisive with Heavy, might have his figurine be one of his mother since she’s so significant to him.

But yes. Other thoughts. Since Krogan is still arguably quite young by even partial lycanwing standards, over time he will slowly get more scales on his body, like on his arms and legs. They don’t really need care, but he does polish them because it makes him feel pretty.

Tavish and Jane are the only who get to actually see him without shoes or without his feet being bound. Except spy. Spy is spy and he sees and knows everything. (Krogan doesn’t care because it’s just spy being nosy as per usual.)

It is a whole note in his file that Krogan is seriously… traumatized and suffers from PTSD and severe night terrors. He doesn’t tell anyone what they are about, and the few times he has tried, his descriptions to Demo are usually jumbles of sound and colors and smells that are all in your face with the feeling of dread and terror that this one singular figure gives him.

Demo found out that a better way for Krogan to express his fears and dreams is through art, though what he’s seen through the dark, heavy shadowed drawings of a man wearing a black dragon skin cloak and wielding a bull hook is that the individual in the man’s past that ripped him away from something at some point. There is a sort of dread that lingers from the way Krogan draws him. Stark shadows where the only thing you can see of the man’s face is a set of beady eyes that seem to search his soul for every single infraction that he’s ever made.

Tavish hopes he does not ever have to meet that man. For Krogan’s sake, at least.

(Backstory. The man is the one who owns and branded Krogan. The branding itself is a completely disgusting thing to the team.)

Soldier though. Soldier still sees the men, women and children marked with numbers in The Camps whenever he sees the brand. It is not a good feeling, anything other than pure rage that makes him want to find the man and take him down himself. No one should be dehumanized to anything but property. Not on his watch.

Anyways. Rambling over. Thoughts are going brain blast rn!!

[contes-de-rheio]

During the first semester of this year, in fact until August, I tried to put my to-do list in an app. I had hope to be able to carry it everywhere with me, with limited additional weight to my backpack, and the idea of being able to sync it in my phone and on any device was appealing. But by the end of August, I had to put the idea to rest. It was never going to work for me. There's nothing easier to ignore than a notification, but there's nothing that can nag more at me than an unread notification. I was losing my mind, and feeling unfocused both at home and at work.

To be fair, I don't think you should be always focused. That kind of productivity is the achievement productivity books are selling you. They can be obnoxious afuck with it. But as my life is shared with my family, my work and my hobbies, I need to be able to keep track of what I must, should or want to do.

So I went back to my organiser. It sounds very fancy. It's not. It's an A5 binder, I filled with doted paper.

I use a mix of influences, but mainly I take inspiration from the original Bullet Journal method, and from Getting Things Done. From the Bujo, I took the idea of collections, of a key code and of very few trackers. From the GTD, I took the weekly review, the in-tray and always starting a task description with a verb. So what does it looks like ?

Here are the basic bones. Six tabs, with 1) routines, 2) weekly view which is gone since I began this post's draft, 3) In-tray, 4) collections, 5) references, 6) archives

The routines contains 2 things: stretching exercises and my trackers. I reduced it to only two trackers, one for tasks needed to be done regularly (I'm not sure I'll keep it), and one to see when I write or "touch" my writing. The notion of "touch your writing (every day)" was introduced to me by Lionel Davoust, to take in account everything around writing that isn't properly speaking writing (editing, correcting, but also plotting, research, brainstorming, sorting...). It helped me to be more forgiving to my failure to write.

The weekly view was supposed to be very simple. Set with the week number at the top, it was directly followed with the list of the main tasks I wanted to accomplish during that week. I only opened the next week during weekly review. The repetition with the In-tray, made it too heavy to manage, and I started to ignore my organiser (that's always the sign something doesn't work). I probably will use that now-empty spot for something else, maybe even dedicate it to learning Japanese.

The In-tray lists every task I can think of, or comes across (except emails answers where I use the unread option in my mailbox). During my weekly review I will go through them and scratch tasks I've (forgot to mark as) done, but also tasks that are no longer relevant. I also add a color code to identify 3 groups of tasks: Professional, Personal, and the ones related to my daughter and partner. (sorry for blurring so much, but privacy is key)

I will only show the index of the collections. Some contain too much sensitive data to show more. Collections are what I want to keep permanently (birthdays, travel lists, embroidery projects lists...)

The reference has only two things atm: the key, and a set-up cheat sheet, because I'm lazy.

Finally the archive is something I use when I need (want) to keep old collections, that are no longer relevant, but worth keeping for legal reason or as memorablia. Currently, I have the detailed calculations of our nanny payslips, and the comments I made for my worst quarter at work (worse in the sense it was too much to handle alone, and I nearly burned out).

That's it. It's been going well so far, and I don't really feel lost on what I could do next, which was plaguing my momentum before. Hopefully, it will last, but I've learned that I shouldn't get too attached to a system. It'll work until it breaks.

[spainkitty]

Part II Chapter 8 (Chapter 20 of the series): A simple glass of almond tea and now there’s only two.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/56921545/chapters/168345994#main

It's been forever and a day since I updated and I've missed this story, and my angery mabari Lanil, sO much! My life finally feelz like it's on track (not quite financially yet, USA is a hellscape), and the itch to write is breaking through again! I've had a relationship come and go (horribly and terribly), started two new continuining education courses, done two months of physical therapy, and survived several months of early morning kitchen shifts (530 am is a horrid time to be awake... or alive).

As to this update: This is a heavy CullenxLanil chapter! You have been warned lol. There's a surprise! King Alistair and non-Warden Cousland cameos, a game of chess, and Dorian's suffering and teasing. Since it's been so long, I'm going to add a little sneakpeek under the cut!

“You’ll have plenty of opportunities for [King Alistair] to get to know you and love you as much as we do at the celebration,” Ambassador Montilyet told Adaar earnestly. Cullen groaned under his breath.

“A celebration?” Dorian asked, eyes lighting up. “With actually decent food, and clothes without patches or holes, and perhaps music? That kind of celebration?”

“Yes, exactly that kind. Since so many gathered for the Memorial, Josephine decided to follow the Orlesian tradition of holding a ball,” Adaar said. “Josephine wanted to celebrate the dragon slaying we did down near Redcliffe, too. She merged them together and somehow did it in the most charming way that it didn’t even seem a matter of convenience.”

The Ambassador waved a hand in an elegant ripple through the air. “It was nothing compared to what I've had to do in the Antivan court.”

“And we should celebrate the dragon,” the Iron Bull said. “It was a good fight! Mmm, that little gurgle it makes before it breathes fire… Taarsidath-an halsaam.”

“What’s that? Sounded like gibberish,” Sera asked, nose wrinkling.

“Wait, don’t—” Adaar tried to interrupt, but the Iron Bull was already answering without a single qualm,

“I will bring myself sexual pleasure later, while thinking about this with great respect.”

There were several choked sounds or weary sighs around the table. Cullen actually put both hands on the table to hold himself up, his head bowed, but it couldn’t hide the bright red flush that burned from the tops of his ears to past his collar. Sera, of course, burst into high-pitched laughter. Lanil stared at the Iron Bull’s profile, too shocked and amused to do anything else.

“Wait, really? No way! Say it again so I can remember that!” Sera nearly shrieked.

Next to her, Dorian’s face was buried in his hand, but she could feel his barely repressed chuckles. On the other side, Solas was looking skywards, mouth moving silently in what was very likely elven. Her lips twitched, laughter bubbling up from her chest, but held back.

“This is getting out of hand. Please, focus,” Cassandra snapped, her face bright red.

Sera only laughed harder and tried to repeat the phrase, mangling the pronunciation in between her snickers.

“You all are acting like children. Do you really think we should deviate in such a way from the topic at hand, the Iron Bull?” Madame de Fer said, tone like steel and silk. There was one thing Lanil respected about her, and it was definitely how dangerously polite she could sound.

“Of course, ma’am. Sorry, ma’am,” the Iron Bull said, so contrite and so serious, it was remarkably like hearing a naughty little boy being scolded. That was Lanil’s breaking point; she barked a startled laugh and turned away to smother the sound behind her fist.

“Thank you, Vivienne,” Adaar said. Despite how composed she sounded, Lanil caught sight of her lips twitching, too. “I take it everything went well on the Coast?” she asked, gaze scanning over Lanil, Dorian, and the Iron Bull.

“It was easy,” Lanil said with a shrug. “Cleared them out, found the port they were using, took it back. We left the Blades of Hessarian to clean it up and make the port easier for the Inquisition’s use. The Iron Bull wanted to go kill another dragon we found on an isolated island, but I’m even more glad we told him ‘no’.” She cut a glance at the Iron Bull. “I’m never going dragon hunting with you.”

“You’ll give in eventually, Bruiser, you know we’d have a good time,” he teased. The Iron Bull gave her a little wink, and she snorted loudly. Incorrigible, she thought. He abruptly glanced at Madame de Fer uneasily. “At dragon hunting. Fun at dragon hunting.” Madame de Fer’s eyebrow rose and the Iron Bull ducked his head. Maybe a little corrigible.

“The more you say it, the more it sounds like a euphemism,” Solas pointed out in a tone so dry and flat Lanil had to press her lips into a thin line to hold back more laughter.

[owlseeingchaos]

Welcome to the blog!

I'm Owlkhemy (she/they preferred, but no real issues with anything else)!

As I've stated back on my main @owlkhemy, I don't like to get too fandomy on main. So here's a non-main blog for me to fangirl in! Yay!

As with my other blogs, general warning here for the bucketloads of swearing I tend to do. Also a warning that some of my interests get a little... dark or heavy on occasion, so I'll do my best to tag them accordingly. If there's something I've forgotten, please let me know! I love tagging stuff properly.

A long, loooong list of all the stuff I'm a fan of is below the cut. I'll be updating it as I go along and inevitably add things I've forgotten. I'm willing to talk about any of these, so feel free to pop into my askbox!

(Anything with a blue asterisk is something I haven't actually read/played/watched all of, so please be patient with me if I get something wrong. In most of these cases, I've done a thing I like to call "consuming by proxy" - I've read a wiki extensively or watched a Let's Play or something.)

The "current fandom nonsense" indicator in my bio is which one you're probably going to incessantly see for a while.

Queue is set to 4 posts a day. Initially I was going to say "hopefully it's enough", but more and more I've come to find that I actually don't do enough browsing on here to keep up with much more than that...

You will very quickly find out which characters are my favourite in everything. For the sake of your sanity, don't question why that might be too much in most cases...

The Long-Ass List of All My Interests!

Video Games:

Super Mario Bros. and its various subseries

Sonic the Hedgehog (I've only played the Genesis games, Heroes, Colors, Unleashed, and the "Storybook Series")

Crash Bandicoot, particularly the Radical games and Nitro-Fueled

Namco arcade games (my top four are Mappy, Sky Kid, Phozon, and Bosconian, so I'll probably focus on those)

Petz, especially Petz 5. I have a sideblog for my Petz nonsense, @hydrargyrykennelz .

I also like Petz Dogz/Catz 2. I had Petz Dogz 2, but they're literally identical except for dogs or cats.

Pac-Man, especially Pac-Man World (mostly PMW2, PMW3, and World Rally, which I've played more of than the first PMW)

Undertale* and Deltarune (and Undertale Yellow*)

Minecraft

Spyro the Dragon (I've played the demo of the original and Ripto's Rage, most of Enter the Dragonfly, and quite a bit of A Hero's Tail)

Star Fox, probably mostly 64* (it's on the list! I Will be playing it at some point! I practically have to or else I'll die at this point /j)

Yume Nikki* (also on the list; done extensive wiki reading and watched the occasional gameplay clip)

Bejeweled, especially Bejeweled 3, though I've also played Stars

Kirby* (I've played a bit of 64)

The Legend of Zelda (I put 5-10 hours into my roomie's copy of Tears of the Kingdom and have plans to play Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask)

No Straight Roads* (also on the list; I've done a good amount of wiki reading)

Team Fortress 2* (also on the list, but not an urgent one; wiki reading)

Speedy Blupi/Eggbert, which I played constantly as a kid

Bendy and the Ink Machine* (did extensive wiki reading)

Cuphead* (wiki reading, plus i was really into Casino Cups)

Cult of the Lamb* (watched a playthrough)

Dislyte (I've long stopped playing but it's very interesting still)

Pikmin (watched playthroughs of all of them except Hey!, have played Bloom)

Web Series:

ENA

Happy Tree Friends* (I've only seen a few episodes, but I did read the entire wiki at one point)

I have passing interest in analog horror, even though I'm both an absolute scaredy-cat and dysprosophobic

Webcomics:

Awful Hospital

I read all of Poppy O'Possum before it was cancelled

I also used to be a pretty avid reader of Handplates

Other internet stuff:

I also have a passing interest in lost media

I spend a lot of time on TV Tropes (unfortunately), mostly to absorb random facts

I am a furry (and, if you want to get more specific, also a scaly and a feathery)

Other stuff in general:

Gravity Falls remains the only show I watched as a child that still has a bit of a grip on me, so the occasion content from that will pop up here.

Real life:

Science. I'm literally about to get my bachelor's. Emphasis on biology and chemistry, because physics and I have a mutual respectful hatred of each other.

Birds, especially owls (as my various usernames would suggest)

Insects and arachnids

Opossums

Really, just wildlife in general, actually?

Space.

Photography

Art

Music

Writing

I haven't read any books in a hot minute, but I like fantasy and sci-fi

[commenter2]

I watched a video by Youtuber T.M.M. that went over what Lantern Corp Superman's villains could be a member of, and in it he brought up the idea of the kryptonite the villain Metallo has possibly being effected by the powers of a red lantern ring.

This makes me wonder how each individual light/energy of the emotional spectrum could effect kryptonite since that substance has always been easily effected/changed by nearly anything, like how there is magic kryptonite and kryptonite that is safe to Kryptonians but dangerous for something else like plants.

I got some ideas for what I think could happen and I will use Superman as the main example.

Crimson/Red Rage Kryptonite can make any Kryptonian that gets near it grow angry to a point they can act villainous like how it would make Superman act like Regime Superman or Ultraman, as I always recall them being so angry. Red Lantern Supergirl would be immune to this, since a lot of people seem to have forgotten that she was a Red Lantern for a time.

Orange Avarice Kryptonite could give Superman a big appetite, both for food and power, as it can also give him a power similar to his villain Parasite. Unless something is done or until the effects of the kryptonite fade, he will constantly want more energy and power from people.

Yellow Kryptonite (which interestingly was never a real thing) could make Superman paranoid and on edge. The more expose to it the more scared he will become, to a point he will act like Flashpoint Superman.

I don't see the Green light doing anything to regular kryptonite. Same with black lantern and white lantern energy so moving on.

Blue Hope Kryptonite has a calming effect on Superman. I also could see it being able to heal him and negate the effects of actual kryptonite when nearby. He has to be careful though as too much exposure could put him in a heavy relaxed state, to a point he ironically doesn't want to do anything.

Indigo Compassion Kryptionite I think could negate the effects of other emotional spectrum infused kryptonite. Of course Superman has to be careful as too much exposure could make him feel too compassionate, to a point he will cry and freeze up because he feels guilty about all the people he couldn't help.

Violet Love Kryptonite can make Superman love everything, which can annoy people since he could possibly keep hugging them, to a point it becomes creepy like this

Superman: Bruce! (hugs Batman) Batman: ow Superman: Bruce Batman: Yeah? Superman: You're my BEST FRIEND! Batman (grimaces) Superman: I'm going to give everyone here a HUG! Flash: RUN! (is stopped by Superman's hug)

I made some original Lantern Corps a while ago and I'm going to add them here while I'm at it.

Gold Pride Kryptonite makes Superman act cocky, making him a bit like Homelander or worse, Lex Luthor. He will always try to show off and try to make people think they aren't as good at him in things. When someone does, he can go as far as sabotaging them just to look better by comparison. Too much exposure or if his ego gets big enough before the effects of the kryptonite wear off, will make him do anything to protect his pride, even kill.

Silver Happy Kryptonite makes Superman get into a good mood, sometimes too good that he forgets to fight the bad guys just to enjoy the flowers.

Grey Sadness Kryptonite makes Superman depressed and not want to fight.

Brown Disgust Kryptonite makes Superman act like a slob both by having bad manners or make an unnecessary mess just to stop a simple crime from happening.

Beige Stoic Kryptonite can actually strip Superman of his emotions, making it another way to negate the effects of emotional spectrum kryptonite. It can still be dangerous if he wasn't under such influence beforehand as it would then make him only rely on logic to do things, which could possibly put others in danger as he will think killing would be the best result of stopping a crime or wouldn't bother trying to help someone if there was less then a 51% chance of success.

Do you think such an idea would be fun to see in the comics?