#it's taking so long because I'm also fleshing out/actually writing out backgrounds

[trollplaying]

Updated the select list so all the trolls names are at least on there and Annie's bio has been updated

total bio update progress: 4/11

[erisweekofficial]

We're thrilled to shine a light on @zenkindoflove!!! Amanda is an absolute gem in the Elucien fandom AND Eris fandom and has also blessed us with Alexius, her incredible OC for her Eris x OC fics.

Alexius stands out as one of the few male OCs in the community, and the dynamic between him and Eris is nothing short of captivating. Think forced proximity, delicious yearning, witty banter, political intrigue, and all the tension you could dream of. You can see them in both Summer Heat (which has Elucien) and Pull Me in Deeper, which... y'all you gotta read this asap😍🤭��� Also the mods are begging you to read Taste of You, a short and delightfully smutty one shot.

And PLEASE admire this amazing art of Alexius and Eris!

Read more to learn about how @zenkindoflove was inspired to create content about Eris AND her extremely helpful tips for writing content about him. (We're taking notes)

What inspired you to start creating content about Eris?  I became curious about writing Eris after he was featured in some of my Elucien fics. When I started my multichapter Elucien fic Summer Heat, I decided that I would give him a male love interest in that fic and create an OC - which ended up being Alexius who you see featured in all of my Eris work. I originally intended for it to be a background relationship, but I decided to experiment and write the scene of their first meeting (a very smutty scene) just to do some character exploration. I didn’t intend to include it in the fic, but then once I wrote it, I knew that it was something special and Eris x Alexius became a true B storyline in that fic with a fully fleshed out love story. After that, I wanted to expand and write fics that focused on them which I've written several now and more to come for Eris Week! It's a bit niche. Hardly anyone writes Eris x Male OC but I'm obsessed now.

What's your favorite piece you've created featuring Eris and why? 

That would be my Eris x Alexius multichapter fic - Pull Me in Deeper. I love it because it was a way for me to explore Eris’ character when he is out of the watchful eye of his father and others in Prythian. It’s also just a fun action/adventure/romance story and I got to explore more lore and character building for my OC Alexius as well. Alexius was designed to be, in my opinion, the perfect person for Eris and that means often standing in contrast to a lot of his personality traits and pushing him outside of his comfort zone. So it was an incredibly fun dynamic to explore. And it’s two gay men who are on a quest to find out (*spoilers*) if unicorns exist XD.

How do you approach writing dialogue for Eris? 

I tend to lean into Eris being more careful with his words - so he is sharp, concise, and efficient in his word choice. Depending on who he’s sharing a scene with and the context, he can be severe and short or he can be long-winded and eloquent. And of course, he has banter and jabs a plenty. So I try to balance all those sides of him depending on the context.

Do you have any advice for other creators wanting to make Eris content? 

Eris inhabits a unique space in canon where he is truly a free agent when it comes to relationships. So, I would recommend if you want to write romances with Eris to lean into self-indulgence and write the pairing/story you really want to tell and try to let go of what you think will be popular. And if that ends up being Eris x OC rather than a canon character, know that it can actually be such a rewarding experience even if you don’t have a built in audience. Creating an OC to pair with Eris has been immensely fun and has broadened my creativity. Eris is a complex, interesting character with so many layers and building someone to fit him and find out what is underneath all of those layers can lead you down quite an obsessive path. But a fun one. 

Please give us a name for one of Eris’s Brothers

Kian. He is the third oldest and is more of a scholarly type. Now that second brother Conan is dead, he is next in line after Eris.

Please give us a name for one of Eris's Dogs.

Lithia. She just had puppies in PMID and Eris is worried about her. 

[evilbihan]

It's interesting how the game never calls Bi-Han a "traitor". Sure, some of the characters do, but the game itself never refers to him that way.

One of his gear pieces is called "Wayward Son" and that is what he is, someone who strayed from the right path and lost himself in his own ambition. He made one wrong choice, one he regrets, if you listen closely to his intros with some characters, like Shang Tsung or Kitana, and it's ridiculous how certain people try and write him off as an evil turncoat who is lost beyond redemption. Liu Kang will try and (at least partially) succeed at bringing him back to the light. I don't get why people are trying to deny Bi-Han any character development and pin him to that one mistake he made or force the traitor role onto him when that's never who he was to begin with.

Bi-Han is the one getting betrayed, constantly, throughout his life. His father kept secrets from him, his brothers turn their backs on him when all he wanted was for them to be part of the future he envisioned for their clan. Even Frost wants to eclipse him and will undoubtedly betray him at some point. His own allies want to kill him after he helped them escape from captivity. Bi-Han has no one he can trust. He's entirely on his own. That may be his own fault to some extent, but I genuinely can't understand how people can be so blind to his suffering or worse, want to see him suffer even more? He's already bearing the consequences of his actions and it's painful to witness.

To get back to the point I made in the beginning, has anyone else noticed how the invasions mode nodes and encounters also never call Bi-Han a traitor or anything of the likes? I've seen Tanya's nodes and even some of her seasonal skins referencing her betrayal in previous timelines, even if nothing hints at her being a traitor this time around. In Bi-Han's encounters, the game only calls him "Ice Fighter", "Chill Initiate", "Snowfall Brother" or "Matchless Cryomancer", always refering to two things, Bi-Han's skills and his affiliation with the cold. That is who he is and always was. A cold, ruthless fighter. That hasn't changed in the current timeline and it makes no sense how some fans claim he was ruined because he made one bad decision.

When equipping Johnny as the announcer voice, the most negative thing he has to say about Bi-Han is that he's bossy, as opposed to how he speaks of actual villains like Shang Tsung ("Hate this guy" etc.). There are no references to his supposed "betrayal" which is why I believe it's only going to be a small part at the very beginning of his character arc that won't hold much relevance for the future, especially as the story develops more, except to serve as a reason for Kuai Liang and him to be enemies.

The way the game speaks of Bi-Han always sounds bittersweet to me and so do the names of his skins/gear pieces. It's almost like a parent talking to or about a stubborn kid that won't take their advice. One of my favorite examples is the kombat league skin that was added this season named "It's cold outside, Bi-Han". It reminded me of Liu Kang telling Bi-Han to "come in from the cold" and I think it's heart wrenchingly beautiful how even outside of the story mode and intros the tragedy that is Bi-Han's story is being acknowledged by the game through all those small subtle references.

One could argue that I'm reading too much into these details but I think some of you don't do that enough. There's 20+ characters on the main roster, the story would have to be dozens of hours long to give all of them in depth background stories and fully flesh them out so we can empathize with their motives. It's hard to understand Bi-Han's character unless you start looking at these small bits and pieces of lore and unfortunately, not enough people do that.

[lost-inanotherlife]

LOST S5 Rewatch: Random thoughts.

Some thoughts I have after I completed (FINALLY!!!) my LOST S5 rewatch after 15 years (give or take):

I'm a "S1-2 are the best LOST seasons" girlie through and through and I haven't changed my mind about that but I will say that S5 is much better on rewatch. One of the arguments against LOST is that the show, eventually, focuses more on the characters rather than the plot and/or more on the spiritual/symbolical meanings rather than the actual mysteries. Well, I've come to the conclusion that people who feel this way absolutely need to rewatch S5 because S5 is plot-plot-plot-plot, explain-explain-explain. S5 is a whole big recap + exposition of the events of the past 4 seasons. Emotions and character developments are either reduced to zero or even completely moved to the background. In hindsight I can see how this was a necessary move in order to "end" the series with the overhated S6. Do I have to like it? No, but do I appreciate how the writers have tied up the vast majority of the loose threads before... "moving on" with the more emotional part that is S6? Yes, I do. It IS a remarkable writing feat, ngl.

Speaking of characters and exposition... kudos to the actors and the people behind the camera work because they really carried the (scant) emotional load of this season. First of all, some characters (I'm looking at you, Kate and Sayid) have been completely assassinated this season and I just hate it. If I still care about them is because of the work that was done in previous seasons and the work the actors have put in this season to TRY and make their characters... feel like they're actually fleshed-out characters rather than cardboard cutouts of bygone characters. Aside from that, on a more general note, it must've been quite hard to act if the dialogues are... one exposition after the other. I'm specifically thinking about Daniel and Jack's dialogue in "The Variable" and how it was butchered. It's a KEY dialogue, absolutely CRUCIAL and YET most of it is Daniel re-explaining the whole LOST plot, basically. It's kinda difficult to convey emotions this way and I think the actors did their best with what they had.

I feel like, this season, the audience was given the hard task of connecting the emotional dots of the story and I'm not sure I like that. I mean, on one hand that was, in hindisght, a good thing because S5 gives us lots of juicy "fanfiction gaps" that are quite rare in a show like LOST. The major one is, of course, the "Dharmaville Years". They're basically ambrosia for fans and fanfic writers because they provided the comfort of domestic life with the drama that are the lives of Sawyer, Jin, Juliet, Miles and Daniel. On the other hand... MEH. I personally want to SEE how the characters develop their relationships or these don't feel "earned". This is why I said that the actors did the heavy lifting because, for instance, Josh Holloway has very good chemistry with Elizabeth Mitchell + they put in the work, as I've said. So they're beliavable to me, BUT I'm still left, as audience, to build their relationship with my imagination because the writers gave us crumbs. I guess that ymmv on this but this is how I personally feel about the subject.

My favourite episodes are "316" and "Follow The Leader". I hope I'll be able to finally write some serious meta about those two episodes because they are That Good, so good they make me want to write long essays about them. Least favourite episodes are "He's Our You" and "Some Like It Hoth", sorry you guys have to sashay away.

S5 confirms Juliet Burke as one of the most important characters in the show and I really liked to see that, although it was also very difficult to see it because her story is pure tragedy. My only "J'accuse!" is that they've reduced her story to Sawyer's new love interest and I'm sorry but no. Thanks to the power of subtext + previously established character arc + my own personal wishful thinking I've managed to trasform S5 Juliet in a character that's more than mere love interest. But I only have to thank myself for the work that myself has done. And my fellow Juliet lovers in the LOST fandom, you guys are the best.

S5 confirmed, to me at least, that Ben Linus is the NECESSARY addendum to the trite "Man of Science vs Man of Faith" dichotomy. I really need to write something about his relationship with Jack specifically this season because it's driving me crazy. I don't want to take the shine off of Ben and Locke because that would be stupid and, frankly, impossibile (Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn acting together is a thing of beauty. They're so talented yes, but also they have insane chemistry and it's just pure joy watching the two of them together on the screen), but Ben and Jack is an underexplored topic. I mean, S5 opens with an episode called "Because You Left" where basically Ben manipulates an actively suicidal Jack into thinking that everything that happened was HIS (Jack's) fault because he left the island... I think Ben's influence on Jack goes wildly unnoticed, partly because Jack himself "dumps" his failutes onto his "inability" to believe John but... is this really true? Ben's captivity in the hatch was what really put Jack and John on opposite sides so perhaps there's something more behind the man of science and the man of faith... or, maybe, there's someone, a man... "behind the curtain" setting the stage for the actors to enter it...

I have more things to say but that's enough for today, I feel like I've blabbered enough! I want to thank you all! This season was so much more enjoyable and fun to watch because I had you guys to share my unhinged thoughts about LOST in the year of our lord 2025 with! <3 thanks! <3

[oblivionax]

I finished watching House of the Dragon season 2, and I need to talk about it.

DISCLAIMER: Contains spoilers! Bear in mind that I didn't like the show. Nor do I hate it, but this post is probably going to be a rant. So, if you liked it, feel free to skip my post and/or not agree with it, be it fully or partially.

And a casual reminder that it's not only my personal opinion, but also an opinion of a person who has a degree in film studies and screenwriting, so I know what I'm talking about. Visually? Stunning. Writing? Well, about that...

Here goes nothing. The series had a great potential that was not fully used, in my humble opinion. The idea is very good, but execution could've been much better. Many scenes are painfully long, and many are fillers bearing little to no message/significance. The characters regress, and to me, season 2 was somewhat weaker than season 1. I'll admit I can't say I liked season 1 more, however. It suffered from the very same issues that only grew in season 2.

Some character development was abandoned in season 2, Daemon being the brightest example. His visions in Harrenhal are too redundant and feel practically useless. All that to show that he eventually fully pledges fealty to his wife and gives up on the crown. Like, not because he decided to, but because he was seeing visions? Huh?? That's lazy writing if you ask me.

And let's take a moment to talk about his visions: I think when he picked up the crown and returned it to Viserys after the latter dropped it in season 1 was a beautiful moment meant to show his evolution as a person. Season 2 showed me that it didn't matter as if it never happened. Look at him. He feels soooo guilty now for... for what? He did make amends with his brother, did he not? He supported Rhaenyra. And don't tell me he pretended to. That's a season 2 thing that appeared out of blue. Those visions never advanced the plot. In all honesty, I see them as a waste of time and budget. Like yeah, cool seeing those same actors, yeah, cool, Daemon feels something.

But then, why go through the same character arc he went through in season 1?? I also hated the vision where he slept with his mother. Like, why??? It'd make more sense if it meant something like he doesn't really love Rhaenyra, he loves himself, and he marries her because he sees himself in her because they're literally flesh and blood. Perhaps he views her as a part or an extension of himself, an appendage. That'd be interesting, but it would've been shown differently. And, besides, it's not the intention of the scene where everything is ridiculously simple. But why include his mother? To show he's dumb? Or horny? Both? It served no purpose.

Aemond was dumbed down as well. I liked it when he was looking for Aegon to crown him in season 1, telling him how important it is and how he'd love to be king himself, but reminded it was Aegon's duty as heir. It was somewhat... nice? Though in his own rough manner. Yeah, he has quite a temper, but he also was said to be educated and cunning. Smart. Where did that go in season 2?

In season 2, he's a man-child. Wasn't he supposed to like feel guilty for having killed Luke? Wasn't he actually aware of the consequences of his actions? No, he pretends he doesn't care. Or maybe he's so dumb he actually doesn't. It pains me. He had a great potential.

The same goes for Aegon himself and Helaena. Especially Helaena, who basically became the background character. A queen who... who's just there? Yeah, she was shocked at how peasants hated her, but did she at least try to change anything? To learn more? No, she was just sitting around, sad and powerless. We never see her interact with Aegon, too. And that's terrible. Doesn't she at least try to speak to him? Advise him?

Unlike Aemond, Aegon was more like Viserys, though this wasn't well shown I find. There was but like one moment where he said something about not being willing to cause more violence or something like that in the beginning of season 2. And that's it. I know, he's supposed to be a rebel, a wayward son, young and all that. But still, he took his role as a king quite seriously. Well, that's what they attempted to show, at least. After his injuries, we see what remains of him, which is not too different really. He's literally mourning his cock. Excuse me?? And where's Helaena? Their daughter? It's as if they no longer exist.

Oh, and let's not forget the ending where everyone is just staring into the horizon during the last 20-30 minutes of the episode. Anticlimactic, even considering the budget cuts. Perhaps, especially considering the budget cuts, because the story felt painfully stretched this season. Many scenes are unnecessarily too long. About most of them, I had a craving to cut them out (if I were editing the show). The pacing is odd, as if they needed fillers to meet the required running time for each episode.

Rhaenyra is frustrated, and that's frustrating to watch. She's a queen, but she listens too much to her sexist advisors who are supposed to be loyal regardless of her gender. They've sworn themselves to a woman but have no compassion for her. I know they probably seek to control her. But she's strong. She freaking has a dragon. I'm not saying she should threaten them, but what would they do if she did? Basically, she complains the whole season about being a woman.

Her kiss with Mysaria was really unnecessary. What did that even mean? I hoped it'd be a platonic hug of understanding. But nope. It was... awkward. And didn't seem to do anything as later they looked like it never happened. Then her meetings with Alicent, especially the last one... so flat. Why? Alicent has no choice, certainly, but why would she be so stubborn? Only to return and go "actually you know what, I've changed my mind" to Rhaenyra, who's like "great timing, you're a tad late." That made her look not desperate but kinda... stupid.

Oh, and another one of the issues from season 1 that festers in season 2 is the unstable tone. They're trying to be funny sometimes without being too funny, but it looks so off. One moment, you're trying to set a dark and dramatic tone. The next, it's a joke. Naturally, as a viewer, you'd be confused at how you're supposed to feel. Humour is usually used in drama to enhance immersion, make characters more human, build a connection and empathy between them and the viewers, and most importantly to give more emotional weight to dramatic scenes. Unfortunately, that's not the effect they're getting in House of the Dragon, which is a great shame.

I have too many questions, as you can see. Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read me, and feel free to comment or even DM me. I'd like to hear what you think and whether you share my opinion or not.

Have a great day!

[asordinaryppl]

A3! Backstage Story Translation - Chikage Utsuki SSR - Today's Star: Toujou - Part 1

this is a request by taruchikas, who also provided a video of the story! tysm!

[Violin performance ends]

[Clapping]

August: You can even play this now? You really can do anything, that's amazing.

April: … They taught us the basics long ago.

August: That's true. I pretty much sucked at it, though.

April: And that's why you were excluded from this mission.

August: Is December and my mission to infiltrate the dormitory just a distraction, then?

August: December will be happy to take it easy.

April: Anyway, there are only a few weeks left till the mission. I need to be able to play a little better than this until then…

August: You're supposed to be an orchestral apprentice, aren't you?

April: Well, to put it in plain terms, yes.

April: I may not be going as a musician, but I am a student at a music school. If I can't play well enough, people will be suspicious of me should something unexpected happen.

August: You're as earnest as ever. I can really see why you were picked for this mission.

April: … I'm going out.

August: At this hour? December will be back soon, I was thinking we'd have dinner…

April: No need. I'll just grab something on the way if I get hungry.

August: … See you later.

-

Sakuya: I'd like to discuss next month’s schedule next…

Chikage: Rehearsals for the supporting character spin-offs will probably have started by then.

Sakuya: That reminds me, the poll results were announced yesterday, weren't they?

Citron: So curious to find out how they ended!

[Door opening]

Manager: Utsuki-kuuun! I've finished the tuning~!

Itaru: A violin… Guess that means it's Toujou from the Quartet play.

Sakuya: Toujou was pretty cool!

Citron: Oh, I cannot wait!

Itaru: What will the story be like?

Chikage: I was thinking of leaving it up to Tsuzuru if possible.

Tsuzuru: Me…?

Chikage: It's not that I’ve already thrown in the towel, or that I don't care. I simply want to act out the story Tsuzuru writes.

Tsuzuru: Thank you very much. But I still wonder what would be good…

Tsuzuru: That reminds me, there was a story you and Itaru-san talked about back during the performance.

Izumi: If I'm not mistaken… It was about Toujou and Machida's time as students?

Chikage: Ah… We did talk about that, but it was just for the sake of role building.

Masumi: But you had asked Tsuzuru to come up with first names for them. And even asked him about their age and background.

Izumi: Eh, is that true?

Itaru: Well…

Chikage: We may not have had that many scenes, but because of that we had to think about fleshing out our roles ourselves.

Tsuzuru: I also found it interesting, so expanding on that and making a story out of it might seem like a good idea.

Itaru: Can people nearing their 30s even bring out the sparkle of youth…

Chikage: It'll be quite a challenge.

Tsuzuru: Ah, there's something I'd like your opinion on… Can I include a scene where Toujou plays the violin?

Tsuzuru: I actually wanted to add a scene like that back then too, after I found out that you can play the violin.

Tsuzuru: You declined back then, so that didn't happen…

Tsuzuru: Toujou is the main character this time, so I'd like to include it if possible.

Manager: Eh, you weren't planning on playing!? I got so excited when I heard that Toujou had won that I even tuned the violin…

Citron: I'd also like to see Chikage playing the violin!

Masumi: I don’t think it’s something you should limit yourself on.

Chikage: Well, as long as we do it with finger-synching. (1)

Sakuya: Chikage-san, you’d look picture-perfect even if you just stood holding a violin!

Itaru: Ah, I have no instrument playing experience whatsoever, so I’d appreciate it if I had as few performing scenes as possible, TY.

Tsuzuru: Ehh…

Izumi: Well, we can probably do something about that during the production.

Chikage: You little…

Itaru: Teehee. (2)

Chikage: You're too old for this.

Masumi: And you're gross.

Itaru: Tough crowd.

part 1 | part 2 | part 3

NOTES:

(1) pretending to play the instrument while the music plays in the background, apparently more commonly known as fingering

(2) this is てへぺろ (tehepero). he's like, winking and sticking his tongue out

[steddieasitgoes]

Pulling triple duty with this one.

Written for @steddiemas Day 29: Holiday Parties and @thefreakandthehair Spicy Six Winter Fanworks Challenge. It's also a holiday sequel to my big bang fic Signed, Sealed Delivered, I'm Yours

My prompt for the Winter Fanworks Challenge was: “If I wear that sweater to work, my boss will kill me."

Tags: Established relationships, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, Mailman Steve, Platonic Soulmate Steve Harrington & Robin Buckley, Slice of Life

wc: 4003 | Rating: T

Read on ao3 | ao3 collection

The Brookbridge Post Office holiday party is a tradition that dates back long before Steve joined the ranks. Every year Warren splurges on renting out a private room at a restaurant or banquet hall before passing all the planning off to his assistant of the month. The only rule, as far as Steve’s aware, is that it has to be tied to some charity organization so that he can write the whole thing off later.

This year is no different as the invitation he finds shoved into his work locker has the Toys for Tots logo front and center. What is different is the attire section that requests all guests break out their best holiday sweaters for the occasion.

Steve’s not sure what constitutes a holiday sweater, but he has a closet full of knit red and green ones that’ll surely work. No sweat off his back. Especially since he’s also done with the toy shopping.

The holiday party isn’t Steve’s favorite way to spend a random Saturday in December, but he always sucks it up and goes. Usually drags Robin along with him so they can stand in the corner getting drunk off free drinks while making fun of Tommy and his gang of mini-me’s as they try to hit on everyone’s plus ones.

It’s not the highlight of their holiday season by any means, but it's a tradition they’ve had going for years now. One he’s not sure he wants to break this year even though he could take Eddie as his romantic plus one. Which is exactly what he tells Robin during their Saturday movie marathon.

They’re sprawled out on the couch, Dumpster between them, with Christmas Vacation playing in the background. They’ve seen it enough times to quote the entire thing from memory so neither minds the interruption. It’s not like they ever actually watch movies on their Saturday movie afternoons anyway.

“Are you kidding me, Steve?” Robin snorts, lobbing a pillow at his head. “Of course, you’re taking Eddie!”

“But we always go together.”

“Only because you never have a date!”

“So, what? You’ve been going all these years as my pity plus one?” Steve asks, nudging her with his knee.

“I’m sorry, did you think I liked hanging out in some stuffy banquet hall listening to Hagan and his little groupies try to hit on me?”

“Don’t forget the year Warren hit on you.” Robin retches, startling Dumpster from her slumber. The cat yawns before slowly climbing off the couch and down the hallway in search of somewhere quieter to sleep.

“Take Eddie. It’ll be fun!”

“Don’t you think two months of dating is too soon to be taking him to work events?”

This time it’s Robin’s bony knee that jabs into the meaty flesh of his thigh.“Jesus, Robs,” he hisses, pulling the hem of his shorts up to check for instant bruising.

“You’re dumber than I thought if you really think you and Eddie have only been dating for two months. What about all those months before, huh?” Steve doesn’t say anything, just rolls his eyes in silent protest. She’s not wrong, but she’s not right either. “Besides, it’s not like he hasn’t already met some of the people from work when he goes to the post office.”

“I mean, yeah, I guess you’re right,” Steve sighs. Still, there’s something lingering in the pit of his stomach. A gnawing, unpleasant weight that he can’t shake. He takes a moment to collect his thoughts before he brings a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Tommy’s going to be there, though.”

The same Tommy who has been a Grade-A douchebag since getting removed from Steve’s route and put back on sorter/greeter duty. Steve’s not sure why he doesn’t just quit if he’s so miserable but every day he finds himself on the receiving end of a lackluster death glare.

Also, the same Tommy who gave Eddie the nickname “Mr. Dreamy.” The same Tommy who relentlessly hit on Eddie until he finally got thrown out of his house once and for all.

The same Tommy who has no idea that the guy Steve is seeing, because yes, Tommy knows Steve is seeing someone and teases him about it daily, is said, Mr. Dreamy.

Bringing Eddie into that is a recipe for disaster. One Steve’s not sure he even wants to subject himself to, let alone Eddie.

“On second thought,” Robin says, scrambling to sit up. “Can you take two guests? I will suffer the gross gazes and bad pick-up lines of your male coworkers just so I can see Hagan’s face fall when he realizes you’re dating the guy he was after.”

Steve laughs despite himself, shaking his head. If there’s one thing Robin loves, it’s being a fly on the wall for some good, old-fashioned drama.

📬 🎄 📬

With Robin officially denying his plus-one invitation, Steve sets out to ask Eddie.

It’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, he knows this, but something about it also feels like a Big Deal — with a capital B and D. Sure, they’ve branched out from their routine lunch dates — they have a standing Sunday brunch double date with the girls and make a point to go out at least once during the week, plus Steve regularly stops by the shop now, but it's different inviting Eddie to go to a work event with him.

It’s another step in their relationship.

One toward a more permanent future and Steve doesn’t want to fuck it up by scaring Eddie away.

So he spends a week testing the waters. Asks Eddie about his holiday plans over Toasty Treats’ legendary holiday turkey sandwich on Tuesday. Brings up Tommy’s latest fuck up over chili leftovers on Thursday to gage Eddie’s feelings about him (“Jesus H. Christ he really is an idiot,” he laughs, clearly poking fun, but not in the teasing way he does with Steve that always makes his cheeks heat up). During brunch on Sunday, he goads Robin into sharing a fun anecdote from last year's party where one too many cocktails had her and Steve taking over the karaoke machine serenading guests all night with off-key renditions of Christmas carols.

When Steve steals a glance at Eddie he finds him smiling and laughing along with the story.

And just like that the seed is planted.

Steve finally gets the courage to ask the question he’s been dancing around for a week on Tuesday over leftover Chinese takeout.

“Course I’ll be your plus-one, Stevie,” Eddie answers mouthful of Chow-Mien. “I’ll be your plus-one anytime, anywhere, any—”

“Alright, you sap,” Steve laughs, leaning over the table to steal a kiss.

“Does this mean I’m finally going to see the back room where the mail sorter fairies work?”

“Unfortunately not. The party’s at the banquet hall in town.”

“Dammit,” Eddie sighs.

“Oh, and you have to wear a Christmas sweater.”

“Love me a good theme!”

📬 🎄 📬

Turns out, what Steve considers a Christmas sweater is very different from what Eddie considers a Christmas sweater. A fact he’s currently in the midst of learning as he glances around Eddie’s bedroom.

“Stevie, sweetheart, love of my life,” Eddie says, clasping his hands in front of him as he rocks on the balls of his feet. “That is not a Christmas sweater.”

Steve glances down at the knit sweater he’s wearing before fisting the hem and pulling it away from his chest to get a better look. He’s not sure what Eddie’s talking about. It’s totally a Christmas sweater!

“Yeah it is, Eds,” he defends. “It has a reindeer and a tree on it. That’s pretty Christmas.”

Eddie gawks for a moment before scrubbing a hand down his face. Steve knows he only does that when he’s frustrated so he braces for whatever he’s going to say.

“Objectively speaking, yes, it is a Christmas sweater. But it’s also not a Christmas sweater.”

This time it’s Steve who gawks at Eddie. He’s used to Eddie getting worked up over random things, but this is a new one. “Okay Christmas Sweater expert, what is an appropriate Christmas sweater then.”

“I’m glad you asked,” Eddie grins before stalking over to the pile of clothes on his bed. He shuffles through the clothes for a moment, tossing a few shirts to the wayside before he shouts victoriously and turns around clutching a red sweater in his hands. “Now this is a Christmas sweater.”

Steve can’t help the cackle that escapes him the minute his eyes land on the sweater. It’s a red monstrosity with an upside-down snowman sprawled out over the entire thing. A plastic carrot of some sort protrudes off and hanhs low, blending with the tinsel on the hat and two blue ornament balls that also dangle low

“If I wear that sweater to work, my boss will kill me,” Steve says through laughter.

“Oh come on, it’s not that bad!”

“Eddie!” Steve squawks, brows knitted together. “It’s literally a dick and balls!”

“Warren is a buzz kill,” Eddie sighs, tossing the sweater aside. Without another word, he reaches for another sweater from the mess on his bed and turns around. “What about this one?”

This one is green with a gingerbread man smiling in the middle. It looks innocent enough except for the fact that the gingerbread has bloodshot eyes and the words “let’s get baked” are stitched in big white letters followed by a marijuana leaf.

“Are you trying to get me fired? Again!”

“Hey,” Eddie scolds playfully. “I didn’t get you fired, I got you demoted. And we agreed it was both our fault. Don’t be putting the blame on me! Besides I’m just sticking with the theme.”

“Baby, the theme is Christmas sweaters not whatever this is,” Steve says waving his hands in the air.

“These are Christmas sweaters.”

“I mean, yeah, they’re technically Christmas sweaters but they’re not appropriate!” Steve laughs. “Where did you even find them?”

“Are you forgetting I work with artists all day? Me and the guys make them.”

“You made these?” Steve asks, snatching the sweater from his hands to get a better look.

Up close it's easier to tell that they’re homemade. The stitches are slightly askew, a missing thread or two here and there. Overall though they’re store-like quality. He didn’t even know Eddie could sew let alone sew an entire inappropriate Christmas sweater. If the tattooing thing doesn’t work out, maybe he and the Hellfire guys should start a clothing line.

“That’s pretty impressive actually.”

“So, does that mean you’ll wear one?”

“To my work party? Absolutely not,” Steve laughs.

“Come on,” Eddie whines. “Nowhere on that invite does it say it has to be appropriate!”

“I’m pretty sure it’s implied! Maybe you can get away with that at the shop's holiday parties, but Brookbridge is full of stuck-up employees. Warren might be sleeping with his assistant but I don’t think he’ll appreciate this,” Steve says, lifting the gingerbread sweater.

“I guess that means I should change then.”

“Wait, you’re wearing one of these right now?” Eddie nods, coaxing another chuckle from Steve. “What does yours look like?”

“Thought you’d never ask.”

With eyes shining with mirth and that crooked smile, Steve loves so much, Eddie slowly peels off his leather jacket revealing the Christmas sweater he’s been wearing. It’s hunter-green and looks incredibly soft to the touch. Unfortunately, the words “Well Hung” are stitched in a bright green across the chest. Four baubles are stitched on underneath in various sizes trying their best to make the phrase Christmas-appropriate instead of the innuendo it is.

“Oh my god,” Steve wheezes, doubling over in laughter. It takes him a minute to compose himself and when he does Eddie is standing there beaming with pride. “S’clever and definitely true.” Eddie’s smile grows even wider at that. “But yeah, I think you should change, baby.”

“Ugh, you’re no fun,” Eddie groans.

“Hey, I’m plenty fun,” he says, quickly closing the distance between them. Steve gets his hands on Eddie, wrapping them around his middle and pulling him flush with his chest before searing a kiss to his lips. “But I don’t want to give Tommy any ideas. Don’t think he’d back off if he saw you advertising yourself like this.”

Eddie hums in consideration before reluctantly agreeing. Wiggling out of Steve’s grasp, he yanks the sweater off and tosses it onto the bed with the other rejected sweaters. Then, he sulks over to his closet to search for another sweater. A few minutes pass, nothing but the sounds of plastic hangers clanging against the metal rod filling the room before Eddie turns around with a huff.

“So, turns out I don’t have any appropriate Christmas sweaters.”

Steve laughs, shaking his head. “Don’t worry, I have a spare lying around. We’ll just stop by my place before heading over.”

📬 🎄 📬

They get intercepted by Debbie as they’re trying to leave, costing them an extra ten minutes they don’t have to spare. That added with the detour to Steve’s place and the inevitable quickie that follows when they realize Robin isn’t home makes them an hour late to the party.

But it’s not a big deal. Hardly anyone but Betty even realizes they’re late. And the only reason she notices is because she’s smoking outside the door when they get there.

“You clean up nice,” she says like she does every holiday party. Tossing the cigarette to the floor, she snubs it out with the toe of her boots before slowly dragging her eyes up Eddie. “You do too, Eddie, right?”

“Uh, yeah, I’m Eddie. And thank you, ma’am.”

Betty tsks, waving her hand in the air. “None of this ma’am crap. Just Betty is fine. Steve’s told me lots about you. Have you made a decision on that P.O. Box yet?”

Steve has to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from snorting. That day doesn’t leave the best taste in his mouth considering how it ended, but it did start out with a lot of promise.

“Oh, uh, I don’t think it’s for me. S’much easier to have my mail delivered to me. Especially when he’s doing it.”

Betty glances at Steve and gives him another slow once over before winking at the both of them. “M’sure it is,” she laughs. “You boys better get in there. Don’t want to miss the fun.”

📬 🎄 📬

The banquet hall is decorated just as it always is. A giant Christmas tree sits in the middle. A handful of tables surround a small dance floor. There’s a buffet of food on one end, the donation table on the other. A small band is set up on stage, serenading the crowd with a mix of Top 40s and holiday hits. No karaoke machine this year much to Eddie’s chagrin.

After a round of drinks, Steve gets to mingling, introducing Eddie to the handful of coworkers he actually likes. The introductions are brief and his co-workers are quick to share embarrassing stories about Steve’s early days on the job with Eddie who listens and laughs along.

Eventually, Warren finds them, his wife draped lovingly on his arm while his assistant throws daggers his way from the bar. Steve puts on his best smile and expertly navigates the small talk, making a point to compliment Warren’s wife and joke about her being out of his league. Warren’s quick to excuse the both of them after that.

“He gives me the creeps,” Eddie shivers, watching as he guides his wife through the sea of people with a hand on the small of her back all the while making eyes with his assistant across the room.

“He’s definitely a douchebag,” Steve agrees.

He takes a sip of his drink as he scans the room. They’ve been here for almost two hours now and he hasn’t spotted Tommy once. Usually, he’s the center of attention at these things. Dancing up a storm and making it a point to flirt with everyone’s plus ones. Maybe he’s already staked his claim on someone and is getting lucky in the bathroom, Steve thinks before shaking the thought from his head. Who is he kidding, Tommy doesn’t have that kind of luck.

If he’s honest with himself, he’s sort of bummed that Tommy hasn’t made his presence known to him yet. Not because he wants to see him, he’d be happy going the rest of his life without having to share the same room with the guy, but because he wants to show Eddie off. And, okay, maybe he also wants to see Tommy’s face fall like Robin wanted to.

📬 🎄 📬

Steve is swaying with Eddie on the dance floor when the devil that is Tommy shithead Hagan finally materializes. He’s beyond tipsy, uneven on his feet, and freckled face flushed redder than Steve’s ever seen it. His eyes are glossy and his lips are curled in a way that sends alarm bells blaring in Steve’s head.

Trouble is afoot.

Afoot? Christ he’s spending too much time with Eddie.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Harrington.” He practically spits before whipping his head to stare at Eddie. “And oh, look what the postman dragged in. Yesterday’s mail!”

“I’m sorry,” Eddie says, taking a step toward Tommy. He gives Steve a mischievous look before cocking his head to the side as he gives Tommy his full attention. “Do I know you?”

“Oh don’t play coy in front of your little boy toy, darling,” Tommy slurs, reaching out to rest a hand on Eddie’s shoulder.

It takes all the strength in Steve’s body not to reach out and yank his arm away. Thankfully, Eddie does it for him, shrugging the offending hand off with more force than necessary.

“Oh come on,” Tommy scoffs, more of a whine than anything else. “Don’t pretend like we didn’t have the best times when Harrington got himself demoted. What’s it like getting my sloppy seconds, Harrington?”

“Watch it, Tommy,” Steve scolds, taking a step closer to Hagan. He’s not going to make a scene, he’s not. But he’s also not going to stand here and let him talk about Eddie like that.

Eddie scoffs, shaking his head. “If I’m anyone’s sloppy seconds I’m Steve’s. And they are very sloppy if you catch my drift.”

Steve bites the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. He knows he shouldn’t encourage this, but it's hard to be the bigger person when Tommy is standing right there purposely antagonizing him for his own gain. Sue him for wanting to play the game just a little.

“Sorry, Tommy, but Eds here is right,” Steve says, placing a delicate hand on Eddie’s shoulder before squeezing it. “Don’t you remember, I got demoted for hooking up with a “bombshell” in the van? Well, guess what, you’re looking at him.”

“That— that’s not what happened,” Tommy says, directing his words at Steve, not Eddie. “You weren’t with him! Aaron said you were with…”

Steve watches the metaphorical gears turning in Tommy’s head as he trails off. Can tell the moment things start clicking. He really had no clue that the guy Steve had been seeing was Eddie. Steve watches the stunned look spread across his face the same way it spread across his all those months ago when he caught Tommy leaving Eddie’s place. The gross realization that they actually do have the same type after all.

“Why don’t you keep moving Hagan,” Steve says, nodding his head in the opposite direction.

“Nah, I think I’m good right here, actually,” he says, confidence returning.

This guy just doesn’t know when to quit.

“Tommy seriously,” Steve tries again. “Go bother someone else. We’re not interested.”

“Oh, so you’re speaking for him now too?”

“Please,” Eddie scoffs. “You know I’m not interested in you. Never have been and never will be.”

That does it.

Steve sees the moment Tommy’s confident facade breaks. The rosiness of his cheeks grows into an angry red, flooding his body. His eyes, once glossy, are now laser-sharp and squinted. His fingers curl into fists at his side as he readies himself.

Steve’s faster though, stepping in front of Eddie at the same moment Tommy lunges. It would be easy to put an end to this once and for all. Give Tommy the gift of a black eye or bruised rib with one skilled punch that Steve would love to throw. But Tommy shithead Hagan isn’t worth losing his job for, so he reigns in his own anger and instead gets his palms on Tommy’s chest to hold him back.

“Don’t be stupid, Hagan,” Steve says. “Warren’s watching. Do you really want to lose your job for good this time?”

The words are supposed to knock some sense into the guy, calm him down. But it does the opposite, riling him up even more until Steve can practically feel his skin vibrating under his hands. Thankfully, Aaron and the rest of his minions are there in an instant, pulling him away and holding him back.

They try their best to calm him down but Steve can see Tommy’s anger growing by the second. He’s only seen him this angry once before — two months ago when Warren removed him from the route. He doesn’t need to see an encore performance so instead he reaches for Eddie’s hand and drags them away from the impending doom.

📬 🎄 📬

“Part of me still thinks you should have let him have it,” Eddie laughs, shoveling a mouthful of chocolate chip pancakes into his mouth.

“Tommy’s not worth it.”

“I would have been so pissed if I missed you deck him,” Robin says, working her way through her own mountain of pancakes.

“That’s the real reason you didn’t punch him, isn’t it?” Eddie teases.

“Oh yeah,” Steve deadpans, rolling his eyes. “Promised Robin I wouldn’t punch anyone unless she was there to witness it.”

“Does she also have to refrain from punching people,” Chrissy asks.

Robin shakes her head. “Why? Is there someone I need to punch in your honor?”

“Not yet,” Chrissy says, nuzzling into her side. “But if Eddie makes us go to the Birchwood Holiday party in these tonight, you might need to. Debbie’s nephew is in town and he keeps staring at me from the window.”

“Again with the sweaters,” Eddie huffs, letting his fork clatter to the table. “They’re cozy and hilarious. You guys are just boring! Besides, people are going to love my sweater. You’ll see. They’re going to be all the rage one day.”

“Debbie already thinks they are,” Chrissy giggles. “I saw her wearing the one that says “I’m So Good Santa Came Twice” the other day while she was taking out the trash.”

“You gave Debbie one?” Steve shouts, nearly spitting out his orange juice in the process. Robin does spit out her drink, through her nose as usual as she chokes on her own laughter.

“She cornered me and I panicked! I didn’t think she’d wear it!”

“Look on the bright side, Eddie,” Robin says between shrieks of laughter. “With Debbie’s help, every suburban mom in Brookbridge will be walking around in one by next Christmas.”

“It’s a good thing you know a great delivery man,” Steve teases. “Because they’re going to be flying off the shelves.”

“I’ve made a terrible mistake,” he groans.

As the table erupts into another fit of laughter, Steve can’t help but tug Eddie towards him before giving him a soft, syrup-infused kiss. And if he whispers something about feeling inspired by the inappropriate sweater Eddie’s picked out for him to wear later, well, that’s between him and Eddie and whoever’s bedroom they end up in when they leave Murray’s.

Besides, he still owes him for not punching Tommy himself at that holiday party.

And Steve always delivers.

[marthawrites]

Out of the 56 books I read in 2024, here's my personal favorites!

Favorite horror(s):

The Troop by Nick Cutter

I read this a YEAR ago and I still think about it OFTEN. This is definitely my favorite book by Nick Cutter. I read his other books too but they don't compare to this one. It's incredibly creepy, unsettling, and HIGHLY disturbing. As much as it absolutely had me cringing out of my skin, I couldn't put it down. Fans of body horror should check this one out for real - body horror galore! For better or worse, this book is sticking with me for a long time!

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

This is another one I read a year ago and I still think about it often as well. The worst part about this book is how I could actually SEE it happening. It's... not for the faint of heart. The author's writing style is really great, though, because she never goes into heavy detail about things, which is both good and bad because it lets your own imagination fill in the gaps. This is truly truly a disturbing read and the way the female "heads" are treated will haunt me for a very long time. The way ALL the heads are treated is horrific, but for me it's the women especially.

Favorite thriller(s):

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus

This book was so incredibly gritty and real. Fast paced, claustrophobic, terrifying, and it got its hooks in me quick. It was also super emotional in a few parts and had me crying real tears at least once. I still think about "beaky" and how devastated the main character was about it. The ending has stuck with me, as well as all the growth the main character went through during his incredibly traumatic event.

The Only One Left by Riley Sager

So far this has been my first and only Riley Sager book, but I plan on changing that! This book was WILD. The twists and turns never ever stopped and it had me experiencing whiplash until the very last page. Honestly I'd LOVE to see this adapted into a movie. I think it would be so so great to see on the big screen. It, surprisingly, had a happy ending and it left me feeling a little empty and complete at the same time.

Favorite (dark) romance:

Lights Out by Navessa Allen

This one definitely isn't a romance book for grandma - unless grandma is into some freaky shit. The fact that this was one of my fave reads of the year probably says a lot about me but WHATEVER LOL. It even gave me a book hangover for a couple days. I see a lot of people say it's dumb and cringy but idc because I loooveveved it!

Favorite series:

Crowns of Nyaxia

Oraya and Raihn MY LOVES. This series had everything I could ever want and I'm definitely gonna give it a reread sometime this year. Enemies to lovers, grumpy sunshine, angst, pain, a relationship that evolves organically and not forced or cheesy like some other romance stories can spin it. On top of that it has WONDERFUL complex characters and relationships - agh! The world building, lore, everything. Such a fan of this duology and author!

Top favorite of the whole year:

Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig

First, this was probably the best spooky read I could have done for October. Second, holy HECK. The way this author was able to create such a wide cast of diverse characters is insane! Each character had a unique voice, background story, and motives throughout the whole book. Dang! Anytime I talk about this book I always praise the characters he made because he (and they) deserve it! Objectively I have nothing negative to say about any of them. The story itself was such a unique take on vampires also, and on greed, and on working THROUGH the dark when the dark was at it's worst. Truly one of the best books I've read in a long time. I will be giving this a reread too!

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

Jazz for two

I'm so glad we got to watch this in a week because I don't think I could handle the weekly viewing. What a mess.

Let me start by saying that I read the source material and although that doesn't help at all, it's not why this show doesn't work for me. These are my immediate thoughts after watching. There will be webtoon spoilers.

Two things really bothered me about this adaptation.

First thing was the character of Seohon. This boy has absolutely no agency here and is submissive to every other character. The second is TaeJoon's (TaeYi's brother) storyline.

I could argue that these two things are connected by way of Seheon father. So here is the family background in the original.

-Seheon lives with his mother and not his father. In fact his father abandoned the family and that's why in the WT he can't play piano at home because his father was a piano player and mom doesn't want to be reminded of him. -Seoheon only sees his father occasionally at his office, he's a piano teacher, where he gets to play. -The father was TaeJoon's teacher and they got involved. He cheated on his wife with him. He was not homophobic. He left the family to be with TaeJoon. I'm not gonna go into why they broke up and TaeYi's brother commited suicide because there's a lot more characters that influenced this. Suffice it to say that in the end he was caught by someone else and basically left him.

So why they added the bully father is beyond me but I guess it makes the fact that Seoheon is so submissive more plausible. I can understand why they wouldn't want the dad and the brother story line here. But I don't get why they thought that adding the homophobic brother was a better choice.

I'm gonna echo @lurkingshan feeling here regarding episode 7. That episode made absolutely no sense whatsoever. None of it is credible. They both do a 180 in a matter of minutes. And because of the way they wrote Seheon here, it just makes him look stupid. I'm not gonna compare with the original because it really doesn't matter. It's just bad writing here.

If the main couple is rushed, don't even get me started on the second one. It's just not believable. They removed so much from their story that it just looks like Do Yoon has to be out of his mind to actually fall for this guy. And yes, the original is also a bully/victim romance, if anything he's even more violent, specially toward Seheon, so I'm not saying it's a good couple either way. But at least in the original Jun-Ha is multi dimensional and you can actually empathize with him in moments. Although I wasn't a fan of them in either media. And also this romance takes a while to actually happen so it's definitely easier to buy.

This story is full of traumatized and flawed characters. And I knew from the start that it would be hard to adapt into 8 episodes of 30 minutes. To do that they'd have to cut a lot and honestly I'm still in disbelief about what they chose to keep. All the character are so superficial so none of it lands for me. There's no emotional connection for me to grab on to. It's not enough to give a character a traumatic past. That alone does not a fully fleshed out character make.

Nothing about this story rings true for me and this is not a defense of the WT because that also is not perfect. It's way too long and there's too much shagging filler but I really liked the characters in it. They were much more complex and it all read much more believable. There's also a couple more characters that are pretty important in bringing the whole story together.

There's obviously a lot more things wrong with this but this is already long.

[If anyone else read the original and I made a mistake here please let know. I don't think I did but I've read it a while ago and didn't really wanna go back after watching it]

[cellsshapedlikestars]

do you plan out your stories in advanced or do you just start writing and hope for the best? I'm trying to get back into writing but I always end up completely deviating from any plan I made beforehand

My writing process is chaos, anon.

For a tl;dr: I just start writing and hope for the best

For a longer explanation of my process, see below the cut. Also, I feel dumb saying this, but spoilers for my own fics, especially the mysteries (which are better examples for plot planning than my romcoms)

1a) I get an idea, something super basic. Like, "time travel murder mystery" or "Sansa and Jon reluctant roommates". The idea then usually forms into a series of scenes or one particular scene in my head - for example: Sansa is dead, Jon goes to her funeral, later is questioned by police as a suspect, then time travel. Or, Sansa is already having a bad day and arrives at her brother's house only to find he's also letting his friend stay there and they were both unaware & kinda pissed about it, which starts them on the wrong foot as she threatens him with a knife.

1b) OR I watch a piece of media, go "wow they fumbled this great premise hard and I want to fix all the things I didn't like" and then I take the inciting incident and build my own story from there. (See: Doona. Business proposal is different, I actually liked the show, but Jon and Sansa did not fit the main leads' personalities so I had to change everything after the inciting incident. Plus I just find it more fun to come up with my own story than following the source material to a T)

2) this idea does not leave my brain, even if I want it to. I don't think you can force this step, tbh

3) I write a first chapter to get the idea/scene out of my head so I can get back to writing the story I'm already in the middle of. I post the chapter to exorcise it from my mind

4) this does not work

5) People in the comments are excited, which makes me excited! I obsessively think about it until I have a vague idea of how I want the story to go. Usually I have an end goal and some important story beats. Nothing is set in stone, and 99% of the time I don't even bother writing an outline, because I know I won't stick to it. The only "outlines" I make are just a string of ideas in the general order I want them to go in

6) I think of scenes I want, then work backwards to how to connect them

7) when I write a chapter, I know what I want the chapter end to be/the cliffhanger, and I write until I get there. Only once or twice have I had to cut chapters in two, but I try not to do this, even if the chapter ends up being pretty long.

8) sometimes you have to throw away ideas/scenes you thought were set in stone. Sometimes you start writing and those scenes Do Not Work anymore, and that's ok

For example, in mongrel heart, there was supposed to be this big, super dramatic showdown with Ramsay, like this big action movie scene. But when I got there, it felt totally wrong for the vibe of the story, so I went with a more intimate/personal final fight. The scene I had envisioned was totally gone. I had to add Oberyn kind of at the last minute, because I had come up with this elaborate world in the background, and needed to wrap that up.

For you on the run, I wrote the first chapter because "Sansa is kidnapped in a library" would not leave my head. I then posted it and had to scramble to come up with a plot. I knew the why, I knew I wanted it to be for Sansa's own safety, but WHO is out for her? I honestly don't think I decided for certain until she's back in winterfell.

In help me out of the shape I'm in, the bad guy was going to be ol' Bobby B, until I started writing chapter 4 when it switched to Joffrey because I had started fleshing out that case more and liked the horror of it being someone Sansa had "dated" more

Anyway, the gist is, I write as I go, and I go where the story takes me as I write. I'll be completely honest and say that a lot of the time, the excitement in the comments makes me excited to write and fuels my creativity. (this can backfire though. The few bitchy/negative comments on trojan horse kinda ruined the momentum for me on that one, which is why I'm not as actively writing it, despite REALLY liking it and thinking those comments were kinda dumb/narrow minded. And I'm not even talking about the rando anon who seems to have made it their mission to be negative on multiple jonsa fics, those people I don't even take into account. It was the ones from people who CANNOT escape a POV trap and make me so frustrated that I don't want to write anymore lol. I feel like how grrm must feel in these moments). But yes, the basic gist is: chaos and my obsessive brain that needs a creative outlet

I know this method isn't for everyone. I know there are authors out there who write an outline before they ever write a sentence, and they post their first chapter with the chapter count already out, bold and confident in their outline. This is not me. I could never aspire to this level of control

Anon, I hope you keep trying! Write those stories! Be creative! Remember the number one rule of fic: it's FUN, so have fun and write what YOU would want to read!

[fandomfluffandfuck]

I have dyslexia as well so I listen to podfics a lot! Can I ask how you write so perfectly with dyslexia? No need to answer if you don't want to, jus curious about your process :-)

Hey, sweets, it's no problem, don't worry!

I'm gonna take this opportunity to do what I do best and... overexplain. (Which--the overexplaining, overwriting that I do--I'm convinced is due to dyslexia. It takes a lot of words, which I don't feel naturally attuned to, to communicate the thoughts I have in my head. I struggle with words and sentence structure, and it all comes out tangled, so I just keep trying until I have monster paragraphs, lmao.)

Yeah, I'm dyslexic! Very dyslexic, lmao. And I do a lot to work around it, trying my best to write (mostly) coherent words, but also, I don't really think about the process I use all the time because... it's just what I have to do, y'know? I've always had to have work arounds. Like, I've obviously been dyslexic my entire life, but I didn't get a diagnosis until late, late middle school, and at that point, the "accommodations" I got at school were entirely useless. Like, oh, wonderful, preferential seating. Sure. Yeah. That will definitely help with my dyslexia. Thanks.

I also remember, just as a side note, that it was during that time when I was refused accommodations like extra time for tests, reading aids, note-taking aids, etc. all which would've been EXTREMELY HELPFUL because I was doing "well enough" in school. So, clearly, I didn't "need" them, if anything, they would be "wasted" on me when they could go to someone else who was actually struggling (which, I get, public school funding is shitty and there aren't unlimited resources, but I'm still slightly salty, lol. Just because I didn't appear to be struggling on the outside didn't mean I wasn't struggling. It's similar to having "high functioning" depression, like, it doesn't matter if I can function if I still feel like fucking shit constantly). I was also so, so close to not being diagnosed in the first place because, according to the doctors I saw, I was smart enough that it wouldn't matter.

That's a reoccurring theme with my dyslexia, actually!

People never believe me!

Which, sure, is a compliment to other people. But it's a backhanded one. I don't want to be complimented by pushing everyone else down.

ANYWAY-

The process.

The process starts--background wise--with practice. The shit answer. I know. But, really, practice. I've been writing stories for a lot longer than I've been posting fics. I've written lots of fiction (short stories and nonshort stories), I used to write poetry, and I'm a life-long journal-er. I used to read a lot, lot of books, too, despite the challenges with my dyslexia. It'd just that now I write so much for fandom and with higher education challenging me, I find it hard to have the time or the energy to read and deal with more words than I already do.

So, I have lots of practice on my side, active and passive, but I also have other things...

I type all my fics, and I use fonts and font sizes extensively. I tend to use bigger font sizes overall, not like wildly huge fonts, but not 11 or 12, either. It depends on the font itself--some fonts have larger letters than others. Something about the letters being more visible and having smaller sentence chunks on each line helps me anchor the letters in place.

I also will plan my fics in one font (probably whatever the program is set to by default), then flesh out the plan more in a different font, after I'll actually go and write out my fic in a new font, and when I'm ready to make edits and add final touches I use a new font, again. I tend to bounce between Arial, Verdana, Open Dyslexic, and Comic Sans. Yes, I write smut I comic sans regularly 💀💀

I've seen research that says, yes, fonts can affect dyslexia and research that says it doesn't do shit so... 🤷🏻‍♂️ Either way, I feel like it helps me find mistakes because it tricks my eyes into thinking the words are new, lol. That, and I find it more comfortable to write in dark mode, I don't know why or if it's doing anything specifically to my dyslexia, but I get less lost in the words when in dark mode.

While I'm doing all that font changing, I'm also, as I mentioned, writing and re-writing, which means reading and re-reading. I go over my fics A FUCK TON. Pure repetition irons out a lot of shit by brute force, lol. I have friends who will write essays for school and look over it once, maybe twice if they're feeling spicy. I can not comprehent that. Not me. If I haven't re-read it, once I'm at the final editing and final touches stage, at least six times then... it's not going to be posted. I'll also change fonts between re-readings. And when I put the fucking thing into AO3, I re-read it again.

(I'm sure a beta reader would be very helpful, but I'm also very protective over my art--writing, drawing, sculpture, or otherwise, and so I haven't played with that, lol. You'd have to ask someone else about their experience there!)

While writing, reading, re-writing, and re-reading, I'm also reading out loud to myself.

Everything.

All 👏🏻of 👏🏻 it 👏🏻

I say all of it.

It helps me with flow and writing style, sure, but really, it forces me to realize mistakes and lessens my mistakes. You mentioned podfics and while I haven't gotten into podfics I am a fucking podcast, music, audio guy. I find audio so much easier to process than written words.

(You might find this poll of interest, I do, lol)

Aaaand, while all of this is going on, I also, of course, use a grammar program. I use Grammarly because it was most accessible (re: free and recommended to me by an English teacher) in high school. I keep in mind that it has batshit insane suggestions sometimes, and I have all their bullshit AI helping tools turned off, but... it does help a ton.

In conclusion, something that I am working on myself is that sometimes when I'm having a bad day with my dyslexia--maybe I'm tired and I can't focus, maybe I have a headache, maybe my eyes are fried from staring at a screen all day, maybe I've done too much reading for college, maybe my threshold for frustration has been exceeded and I just can't deal with the challenge that writing presents that day, or whatever--I can't write and I need to accept that. I'm not gonna be able to produce something good, maybe not even something presentable, every time I sit down to write.

That's fine!

That's how writing works for everyone! That's how writing works for me, someone who struggles with letters and numbers and writing and reading and the whole fucking thing. That's okay. Let it happen. Let it go. Try again tomorrow.

Uhhh, I hope some of that, any of that, was of interest? Helpful? Maybe?

[eldritchlittleblackdragon]

Can I ask you 🥘, 🍥, and 🍙 from the fic writer ask meme?

@lathander-paladin Absolutely!

🥘 What category do most of your fics fall under?

Technically already answered here, but to summarize: I mostly write OC/Canon romances, usually longfics in those instances. I've written quite a few gen fics as well that run the gauntlet in terms of what they're about - crossovers, expanded scenes/predictive stuff for things that weren't actually out yet, alternate universes, fleshing out background characters, etc.

I mostly tend to play a lot of video games so the fandoms I write for tend to reflect that - I watched a lot of anime when I was younger so there's quite a bit of that too (I still watch anime, just less often. I do play a ton of anime style games though.)

🍥 What's your favorite fic you've written?

This is a tough one, but I'd have to say my Obey Me Fanfic, The Devil You Know/The Devil You Don't. There aren't very many chapters published, but there's a lot of planning/background/lore about it that I'm very fond of, and I have quite a few scenes written for it that just haven't been published because they're later in the story.

It's simultaneously extremely self-indulgent, but also just endlessly fascinating in terms of the work that goes into the planning side of things. It's the fic I've shoved the most things I like into it -a reincarnation plot line, an all powerful immortal/monstrous being in love with a human, an element of forbidden romance, filling in gaps in canon and/or changing things up a bit, etc. etc.

🍙 Is there a fic you wish had gotten more attention?

The fic I mentioned in the previous question for sure! While I've shared it with my friends and have had a lot of fun with it, I wish it had gotten some more attention when I started posting it to AO3, mostly because I just love writing it so much so part of me hopes that will kind of rub off on people and they'll end up loving it too.

I have written a small number of reader-insert fics (they're not something I do super often, but it's something I occasionally get in a mood for) and they tend to get way more attention than any of my other fics combined and I just... wish my non-reader insert fics got more attention in general. My gen fics especially tend to not get read very often by folks, which is a shame.

I think the fact most of those fics are longfics that either don't get finished or take a long time to update might be part of it tbh - I know people are kind of reluctant to touch something that isn't finished or updated regularly.

[goldenflowers]

Okay now EYE must ask you - how are you liking BG3??? How far are you?? Tell me about your Tav!!!! (Please and thank you <3)

hi!! 💖 i only started the game a few days ago and it was an impulse decision i made after having previously told a friend of mine that i definitely wanted to play it but that it'd probably take me a while to get around to it (and, because i thought i wouldn't play anytime soon i hadn't really been trying to avoid spoilers). but, i have the PC version and while it generally runs just fine, my computer is kind of slow and the game is so big that it took hours to download and install. so i kind of went ahead and started to come up with a whole character idea during that time LOL. sorry if my explanations of things get a bit too rambly/disorganized. i'm actually not very far in the game at all yet, i've been spending a ton of time doing stuff in the druids grove and i'm supposed to go find halsin but i haven't even gotten karlach in my party yet! i've recruited all the main companions except for her but i am excited to meet her. gonna put the rest of this under a cut for length.

my only background with DND is that i listened to the first campaign of the adventure zone and i've watched the legends of vox machina show. i also have a friend who's super into her own DND campaign and another friend who's told me a lot about dimension 20, specifically fantasy high--and i've considered trying it out for her but haven't gotten around to it yet! i think she actually told me the same thing about the episode lengths making it easier to get into than critical role, because i had tried critical role and it was just so long that i couldn't stick with it. but, yeah, i've also looked at the forgotten realms wiki a bit but i've never actually played DND. i have played skyrim and final fantasy 14 and some other similar RPGs with customizable blank-slate protagonists, and in those types of games i always have to make OCs to roleplay as--usually i'll think up a basic idea to start with and then flesh the character out as i get into the game. they're never really self-inserts but i do often project onto them a little.

so, in games like these my first character is usually an elf that specializes in elemental/destructive magic. idk why, that's just what i've always liked. in ff14 i started out as a black mage without knowing it was the hardest class to play LMAO. soooo i went into this planning to create a high elf sorcerer, but as i started writing out ideas and thinking about what to do, i ended up creating a half-high elf bard. they're transmasc/nonbinary and in my head they use he/they pronouns, but i picked the nb option in the character creator and that causes npcs to actually use they/them in dialogue which i think is so cool. i love that the character creator is so inclusive in regards to gender.

anyway, i named them elenion, which is something i took from the lord of the rings universe because i'm a huge nerd. in LOTR it's an elvish word that basically means "of the stars". here's a screenshot i took when i first started. let's just ignore the fact that this hairstyle clips into elf ears (and also that the face preset is from a mod i downloaded).

i didn't really give him a tragic backstory or even the most interesting story haha--i'm wanting to do something bigger and angstier with another character on a second playthrough when i'm more familiar with the lore and world of the game. and i'll probably also end up changing or expanding on some things about this character later, but for now i just kind of made a normal guy with normal problems. i had this idea that his father, a human who attracted the attention of a beautiful elf woman, was also a bard and was a very successful musician in his youth. so elenion has always shared his father's passion and dreamed of being like him, being able to effortlessly tell incredible tales and inspire crowds of people through song, but no matter how much he studies and practices he never feels good enough. if he seems confident it's usually just because he's gotten really good at faking it. he's also pretty reserved and often avoids having to talk about himself by asking a lot of questions. see, i kind of wanted to specifically find a way to not roleplay the usual sort of loud, flirty, goofy bard, lol. not that i dislike those kinds of characters or anything though!

however, bards are meant to be super charismatic, witty, and persuasive and of course the game strongly encourages that with the dialogue options and skill bonuses you get. so my way of explaining this is to have elenion be a bit like raine from the owl house, in that they may be shy, but they're very firm in their ideals and are no pushover when it comes to protecting themself or their allies. they're clever and have a snarky side to them, and they're genuinely friendly and caring in a way that gives them a sense of quiet charisma. which reminds me that one of the spells i gave them at the start was sleep, and it's made me imagine that when they were a kid they tried calming a crying baby by playing a lullaby on their lute and accidentally ended up casting their first spell.

oh, and, i also wasn't really sure at first where in the world i wanted elenion to come from but i decided on something pretty quickly after getting multiple of those dialogue options suggesting that the protagonist is baldurian! i pictured them growing up in a somewhat small town with their family but moving to baldur's gate as an adult, hoping that if they left the comfort of their home and started to journey out into the world a little they'd eventually find their spark and become the bard they wanted to be. unfortunately they've had little luck so far because even after all this time they can't see that maybe their whole fixation on trying to be just like their father and achieve the exact same kind of success that he had is holding them back. the fact that their father died the year after they moved away hasn't helped either. and now, in the middle of traveling to a historical site that they'd wanted to see in person and use as inspiration for a song, they've been abducted by mindflayers and are struggling with the massive upheaval that this has brought into their relatively mundane life.

so. yeah. my tav for this first playthrough may not be the most unique or exciting character but i like him! i like figuring out what kind of choices he'll make and thinking up new ideas for what he likes and how he sees the world. also, i find it funny how in your reply to my ask you said you thought you'd be into gale but then you fell for astarion--because i thought that i'd be all over the edgy, brooding, snarky vampire man, but it turns out gale is so charming and funny that i'm probably going to romance him first. i'm also pretty intrigued by shadowheart and wyll but i'm so early in the game that i can't even say who i think my overall favorite companion will be because they all seem so interesting!! even karlach despite the fact that i haven't actually met her yet, i've seen a bunch of cool gifsets of her and my brother told me he's been romancing her on his playthrough. i really need to go find her soon.

i'm sure you can tell from everything i wrote here that i am definitely enjoying the game LOL. i can already tell that there's just so many different things to do and see, that i will both need and want to do a lot of different playthroughs and that it's going to be something that sticks with me. nothing wrong with using guides and walkthroughs btw! i do it too because i'm worried about missing too many things and have the world's worst sense of direction even with a minimap. honestly i probably need to look up some guides for certain mechanics that i don't feel like i've really figured out yet. there's a sarcophagus trap in the ruins early in the game that got me SO stuck and got my whole party wiped and then i looked up a video and found out you could turn off the whole trap system by pushing a switch... i felt so stupid askjdfgf.

anyway, i think this got to be way too long of a reply so i will stop here! but if you ever wanna tell me more about your tav or anything definitely feel free to and i hope you're having an awesome day!

[fantasticalleigh]

Hey, I love your work, esp your Dramione stuff! I noticed the tags on some of your posts and I was wondering: are you planning on turning Sweet Sacrifice into original fiction? I would be interested in seeing more genre romance in the mainstream

Aw, thank you! I've had the intent of adapting Sweet Sacrifice away from Harry Potter lore and into its own original work for a while now. (I talk about it some on my writing blog here and here.)

I sort of started on this already by working on an AU comic loosely based on Sweet Sacrifice since last year. It covers some of the same ground but the plot has been reduced down to mainly just being about Caius and Isolde (formerly Draco and Hermione) because if I cover anything else from the actual fic plot this comic would be like a hundred pages long. I'm working on chapter 2 of the comic right now and it's at 13 pages currently and about to get very NSFW, but I don't know if I plan to make a chapter 3 to the comic because it's really intensive work, but we'll see. This is mostly for fun but it's also helped me consider how the story might go now that I've stripped the HP elements from it and am trying my hand at world building and developing these characters further into something of my own and not relying on someone else's lore.

(I'll post more of chapter 1 of the comic but I don't think I'll post it here. So far what I've shared of it has been mainly on WordPress and DeviantArt but the full pdf is up on my Patreon.)

As for writing, I would really love to give Sweet Sacrifice a do over and make it a proper horror novel starting at a point before D + H/Caius and Isolde meet. I really want to flesh out the doomed village better and really delve into life before/during the werewolf's haunting before we get into the whole mated life thing.

I like the idea of doing it on my own and just compiling it into an ebook and "publishing" it on my own site. If I did it any other way I'd probably have to change specific/significant aspects of it to keep it from getting flagged or rejected or something, considering the themes running throughout the fic. I don't want to buckle on it remaining horror/dark romance (and the romance is questionable, at that). I don't see my type of work ever hitting mainstream (and I don't think I'd want it to either, to be honest). I don't like the idea of having to really water down the things I write to appeal to a larger audience when I already have you and many others as an audience (who already know what you're in for)!

I'm sort of taking a break from writing it right now because I've been feeling burnt out at how long the chapters have gotten and I still need to figure out the rest of the plot but the intent is absolutely there so I'll get to it soon, I hope.

TLDR: Yes, absolutely this is something I want/plan to do! I've got this story shredded between my teeth and I'll rearrange these letters to tell it in as many ways as I can, and make it my own.

(This was a really long answer to your question I'm sorry T-T ) but thanks for asking!

bonus: i don't think i've posted these here yet but bottom left is a WIP shot of the SS ch. 2 cover and image on the right is a pre-background/text flats layout of one of the final pages from chapter 1. Putting this bit under a read more bc of the sensitive material.

[magpies-gold]

Alpha Base - Elliot I've been very fascinated with my book's villains for the last couple of months, and mostly that's because they (especially Heinrich) are kind of new! Every attempt I'd made to write Alpha Base in the past had been one where I just didn't have a lot of great insight into the bad guys and I was kind of weakly making them up as I went along. This year they all kind of clarified and brought the missing half of the plot with them, so I've been a bit excited about them.

But! There are other characters who I've long ago, years ago, fleshed out, and yet I never did nail down the looks for them. First up, my protagonist, Elliot. I've drawn her before, but I was never entirely happy with her look and I've changed it a few times. This here is the appearance I went with in a full illustration I did earlier this year featuring her and one of her adopted dads in the Comm. Station (which also happens to be her home). I think this one finally feels right. I think I'll stick with it.

As for where she fits into the story, first I really have to actually explain the premise of the world. I'm sure I've mentioned it in past posts and commentary, but once more with feeling: Alpha Base is a very unique location. It was once a active military outpost during an interstellar war far from Earth, but became trapped in a bubble by an alien weapon that misfired: that weapon should have killed everyone in the base, but instead it failed to trigger the fatal blow and instead just cut the population of the base off from everything outside, leaving them trapped. There's no way in to Alpha Base and no way out. There are no stars, no moon, no sun. It's an absolute closed system and the denizens have been eking out an existence for somewhere in the range of a century by the time our story starts. They've become absolute masters of recycling and reusing what they have, but there's only so far that that can take them. Their time is limited. The environment is hazardous: the atmosphere isn't breathable without oxygen support (hence the masks), background beta radiation is higher than what's comfortable and safe (hence the protective clothing), and over time, the combination of that and the hopelessness of their situation takes a toll. The population's been on a decline for decades, what technology they have is down to basics and reaching the end of its serviceable life even with the rather extraordinary creativity that they put into repairing it all. Within their lifetimes, something is just bound to give and turn the whole place from barely habitable into a forgotten graveyard.

Now, there used to be more efforts to escape back in the beginning, but none came close to being successful. Over time, it became more practical to instead play the waiting game, try to live as long as possible, and hope for rescue instead. The line of reasoning employed by those in charge is that the escape attempts of the past wasted valuable resources and shortened the base's lifespan as a whole, so they had to be ended. Of course, the real reasoning is more nuanced and goes deeper than that. Some of it's fatalistically philosophical: some don't believe that they should ever escape just on principal. Alpha Base is home, the outside world isn't, and those from Alpha Base are too fundamentally different to integrate into outside society (if there is an outside society; they have no indication of who won the war or if the war even ever ended). Some of it's political: a handful in Alpha Base have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, because within the base there's a power and control structure that would break down if people could just leave. At any rate, escape is discouraged.

But, with the hastening breakdown of their society, interest in escape has begun to creep back in. A rebellion of sorts, an underground, sprang up - one based on the idea that if they were all doomed anyway, why not go out swinging? Why not try again to break down the wall and find freedom? What do they really have to lose?

Among the most infamous of those rebels were Elliot's parents. A lot of the details of what happened when she was small are kept from her, but she knows the story that everyone knows: that her parents died attempting to organize an effort to crack the shell. They infiltrated HQ, betrayed Alpha Base Command, found and stole top secret information that gave them some hope in hell of success, and that that information, whatever it entails, is still out there in the hands of the rebel underground, an underground that Heinrich, particularly, has been hunting down for twenty years.

After her parents' deaths, Elliot was raised by her uncle, Jacob, who, despite being the brother of a rebel, largely escapes scrutiny by being extremely useful. He's a masterful tinkerer and repairman, a collector of junk that he spends his days rebuilding, repairing, repurposing and distributing back into the population. He loves to help, loves to fix, and never hesitates with his hospitality. Likewise, his husband, Herrat (Herratt? I can't decide if it's got two t's or one and I keep switching between), holds a position of some prestige in the base as the Communications Master - acting in a practical fashion as a central distribution hub for important official communications to the base and, in a more symbolic gesture, as the eyes and ears of the base looking outward, monitoring the airwaves for any sign that the Earth Forces in the universe beyond are attempting to contact them. Some (like Paul, for example) think that that latter duty is absolutely pointless and nothing more than sentimental. Others believe that there is no more important job: that continuing to keep an ear tuned to the outside is the hope that keeps the base alive. Elliot is learning from both of them, and it keeps her curious. She has her uncle Jacob's love of tinkering and fixing, and Herrat's sense of duty and care towards others. She loves to read, she loves to learn, she loves to help, and she's well-loved by the vast majority of people in the tiny little town that is her home.

But she's still the daughter of rebels, raised by the brother of a rebel and by a man who embodies the kind of hope that's almost taboo.

While she, herself, has never done anything to cause trouble, it means that she and her family are still watched carefully, particularly by Heinrich. Her parents' betrayal of the base is something that Heinrich especially took very, very personally, for reasons that she's never been entirely sure of. Ever since she was three years old, he's been a constant in her life, keeping tabs on her family and her and on how she's grown up. It always seems like he's watching for someone among them to slip up and admit to some crucial information that he needs to finish his crusade. But that information, to her knowledge, doesn't exist.

She's never been interested in causing trouble and doesn't know of any rebel connections in her immediate family, and so despite the threat, Heinrich has never been very scary to her like he is to the rest of the base. To them he's practically the bogey man, the one you tell scary stories about late at night. To her he's like the weird uncle who she's kind of fond of. In a textbook way she knows that he could be dangerous to her and her family, and she does watch what she says around him, but in the day-to-day they get along fairly well. She likes books and he'll bring her books. She thinks the history of the base and long ago Earth are fascinating, and he keeps the key to the HQ Archives and can vet what information she gets her hands on, so he shows her harmless things.

It's an uneasy peace that always has the threat of shattering, and which the rest of the base keeps an eye on, but for most of her life it's been comfortable enough.

And then comes the event that became known as the first skyquake, a phenomenon that marks the beginning of the end for Alpha Base, and everything in Elliot's life rapidly starts to change.

[the-down-upside-finch]

@my-cursed-prince I'm making a separate post about this because I might explode if I don't start ferally rambling

First of all. If you're interested in religious stuff in fiction (trauma or otherwise) I am happy to tell you that I once did a workshop (I was the "presenter") on how to create and build fantasy/general fiction religions. I'm probably a bit rusty on that info now, but it's something I still consider myself well-versed with haha

Anyways, gonna ramble:

RELIGIOUS TRAUMA MY DEAR FRIEND... Most of my stories have a dose of this because they say write what you know, and my religious background consists of me being one religion, attending the church of a different religion, and living in a place where basically everyone is of ANOTHER different religion. (Fun fact, my roommate once ranted to me about how she wasn't part of a cult and proceeded to convince me that she actually is part of a cult.)

OKAY SO. While religion isn't necessarily part of the main plot in Pentad of Un, it does come up frequently! In chapter 22, I go a bit overboard on providing information about one of the religions in the world (Abvolism) because it was actually a meta joke at one point and I just never changed it aduhsfdshfdgsiu so yeah. I think it also comes up a bit towards the end of chapter 6, but it's mostly just an introduction to the different beliefs that Adif, Jelro, and Shayrow have.

The cult that's brought up in chapter 30 doesn't get covered very in-depth thus far in the story (and I'm not sure if it ever will be relevant enough for that), but I do have some notes on it in terms of what they believe in and whatnot. The short of it is that it's a cult of merfolk that follow the old practices of accepting "sacrifices" (ships and whatnot) to take to the ruler of the Depths, who is referred to as "Bythsos" in Merrow languages. Basically, Hell is at the bottom of the ocean and merfolk in this cult sacrifice souls to make sure they aren't getting yoinked out of existence.

Faith plays a HUGE role in Stained Integrity, but it's a little different here because having faith in The Astrals (Stell, Lune, and Sol) and The Wyrds (Spinner, Allotter, and Inevitable) is literally known as "the faith" because there isn't much else that anyone worships.

BUT THERE IS A VERY DANGEROUS CULT!

They are known as "Destringers" for the way that the claim that they can escape fate by "taking control of their thread." For context, "thread" and "life" are used interchangeably in this world, as Spinner creates each soul's life-thread, Allotter decides how long each thread will be, and Inevitable cuts the thread when it's time for a life to end.

Destringers preach the idea that your life can be separated from the thread, meaning that you choose when you die and are not bound by "fate." Yes, they claim that you can be immortal... for a small price.

The faith itself has two main categories, for lack of a better word. For general services and worship, the temple cousins and contemplatives give orisons (prayers) to both The Astrals and The Wyrds. Some temples are standalone, while others double as covensteads where practitioners of astral magic train and provide their skills to anyone in need of their services (such as healing magic).

There are also standalone covensteads, since practicing magic is not necessarily tied to being of the faith, although they are connected.

As it stands in this world, "practitioner" almost always denotes that the individual is female. A man practicing magic is so "abnormal" that it creates this vicious cycle where men don't want to practice magic, so practitioners remain mostly female, and so on. (Please bear with me, as this is an extremely complex circumstance of this world that gets fleshed out and addressed in the story.)

But there is a whole additional layer to the faith: the Diviner, and the Astral Weapons.

The Diviner is considered by some as the last/only descendant from The Astrals, and they alone have the power of prophetic sight. (I'm still working on some of the nitpicky lore.) They are the one that chooses the Astral Weapons: Stell's Spear, Sol's Bow, and Lune's Blade. (Basically, the Diviner chooses a successor each time one of these individuals nears the end of their thread.)

The Astral Weapons are each gifted with power from whichever of The Astrals that they wield the weapon of, and they're supposed to use their power to maintain balance across the lands. They aren't necessarily considered deities or anything, but because they directly represent The Astrals and Their will, they are usually regarded as a higher power of sorts.

...I kind of went off-topic but yeah. I'm super big on this kind of worldbuilding, and you'll definitely see the effects that religion has on the characters in my stories.