#smol incredibly basic descriptions of them

[stellarcobweb]

lowkey tempted to make a document or page or something that has the basic info of TMA neomyth stuff

just to have as a reference (it helps me make sure im not making shit up)

[onthevirgeofdestruction]

35 Q’s for Fanfic Writers

From this post

I’m having a shitty, rude alter-y, crap night so I’m just going to answer all of these to distract myself and focus and to not bother anybody just making my own post and putting it under the cut btw, notice to anyone not aware: since I’m moving I won’t likely be updating anything until I’m done doing so.

1. From one to five stars, how would you rate your writing?  (No downplaying yourself!) 3/5? Could use more editing and description and can be weirdly paced.

2. Why do you write fanfiction? Because it’s better than focusing on pain 24/7. 

3. What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works? I don’t seem to have a specific narrative voice that people recognize but I’m pretty proud of mostly organic dialogue. 

4. Are there any writers that inspire you? as a rule i never look up to anybody for inspiration but there’s some stuff in my ao3 bookmarks I fawn over.

5. What’s the fic you’re most proud of? Right now, none of them. It changes normally, anyway. If get too proud then I’d get my ass kicked by RSD if someone didn’t like it so it’s safer this way

6. What element of writing do you find comes easily? Dialogue. 

7. What element of writing do you struggle with most? Organic description, poetic language kind of stuff. I can paint a scene but I’m not so great with bring out out a feeling with description alone.

8. Which character(s) do you find easiest to write? Janus and Virgil are probably tied. They both have things I struggle with but I don’t have to go back and do much adjusting of language and tone with them. Though admittedly my Virgil is signifigantly more foul-mouthed than canon and I tend to prefer pre-AA feral asshole Virgil.

9. Which character(s) do you find most difficult to write? Patton. I write him the least, so people can probably tell. I love Patton, I really do, but it’s so hard to keep away from fanon Patton. 

10. What’s your favorite genre to write for? Angst w/ H/C obviously. Or if you’re talking about regular book genres, Fantasy. I fucking love fantasy world building.

11. Who or what do you find yourself writing about most? Trauma. I blame Daeram. As if Ayri isn’t a giant Angst Demon.

12. Tell us about a WIP you’re excited about. Slopes. I’m really into it. I’ve got three one shots running right now. Patrons can read the first part of the unnamed cat remus one, there’s also a coffeeshop au tropey nonsense one like eglantine & lycoris, but Slopes is addiction angst. Mmmmm. Virgil is addicted to coke and alcohol and will listening to his friends even be in time? Who knows, especially not me, but there’s already over 30k. 

13. First fandom you ever wrote for? InuYasha. Or was it Harry Potter? Or shit, The Blue Sword? Fuck, I’ve been writing for a long time, I really have no idea.

14. What’s your favorite fandom to write for? Sanders Sides. The characters are the perfect dynamic for writing since they exist in balance of each other and the popular, easy to project on archetypes featured are incredibly fun to do basically any scenario with.

15. What’s the weirdest fandom you’ve ever written for? Weird storywise? Kingdom Hearts? I can’t even follow the plot anymore. Weird Fandomwise? Sanders Sides. Its simultainiously the fluffiest and angstiest nonsense at the same time.

16. Any guilty pleasure trope(s)? Vampires. Gay ones. Gay Vampires. I also love calm tol and angy smol.

17. A trope you’ll never, ever write for. Any tropes that normalize incredibly toxic behaviour or tropes that are inherantly ableist, but I can’t think of any.

18. Wildest fic you’ve ever written? Incorrigible continues to be complete nonsense.

19. Do you prefer canon-compliant, AUs, or something in-between? AUs. I mean closest I even have is canon-divergence other than a single short.

20. Gen fic or shippy stuff? I like it when there is gay nonsense along with a plot that is treated as more important than the relationship the most. But I like both. There’s more shippy stuff in tss so i read more shipping action by default.

21. Favorite pairing to write for? (platonic or romantic!) Anxceit/Sleepxiety, but in general, give me darksides or give me death/j

22. Do you listen to anything while you write? Almost everything I write has a special playlist I listen to to help me write it, but otherwise I listen to my Nyan playlist, an alter is picking the tunes, or a voidfam playlist. I never have music off. When my internet is down I just listen to the songs I own or Anxiety’s theme on loop.

23. Do you prefer prompts and challenges, or completely independent ideas? I’m fine with all of them. I love working with prompts but I tend to deviate. And I’ve never done a challenge since I can’t do deadlines and bad things happen bingo never sent me a card and I applied three times.

24. One-shots or multi-chaptered works? I am generally multi-chaptered stuff, but I’ve been working on a few one-shots lately that are much longer than most one shots.

25. Have you ever daydreamed about side adventures/spin-offs from your fic? Tell us about them! I was originally thinking of doing some little 13-year-old Dreaming!Roman (y’know, the one with a job) shorts but it turns out I just had an alter of that little bastard and that’s why I inexplicably know more about him then I ever even considered. I still might do them after Dreaming is done. But that’s paced so slowly who knows when that might happen. Otherwise I put stuff in my notes and just do shorts of it if I’m like “oh you know what’s cool???” but since I can’t daydream maybe this question doesn’t apply to me.

26. Is there anything you’ve wanted to write, but you’ve been too scared to try? I want to do more autism stuff, and I’ve had it demanded a few times, but I’m scared of being that explict about it for some reason. Possibly because I might be, possibly because I’m scared of doing it wrong even though I’ve accidentally coded multiple characters autistic. I’m scared of explictly tagging them as such, too. 

27. What’s the nicest comment you’ve ever received? That I can remember off the top of my head? I’m going with one from @a-genz-with-trauma-and-kins. It really helped me out and was just so kind and literally the best christmas gift I got in 2020. 

28. How well do you handle criticism when it comes to your writing? I can handle it alright but Daeram is a little fucking pissbaby about it. Constructive criticism helps people get better, so I appreciate it. I can’t handle critism that is incomplete, though. “i just don’t get it” or “I don’t know I don’t like it” kind of things. If I can’t understand the why to fix it then things get out of control. And then I spiral and RSD for like four days minimum. If it came from an anon or a troll, too, It might not bother me for as long. Things that are just like “this is shit and you should feel bad” just make me laugh. Couldn’t even bother to read it long enough to insult me proper? I don’t care.

29. Have you ever gone outside of your comfort zone for a fic? How did it turn out? I have a few times. Mostly in shorts and prompts, I think. I think they turned out okay. They’re not particularly inspired or anything.

30. Tooth-rotting fluff or merciless angst? Depends on my mood. Am I triggered? give me the fluff. Am I vibin? Angst. 

31. Do you have any OCs? Tell us about them! Fuck, fam, no, I can’t, I have so many. I have multiple original stories and some of them have very large casts and like holy fuck. Or do you mean in Sanders Sides fandom? Um, Morgan and Thorn in PD. The lesbian and her himbo dynamic. I love them. They’re dorks. Morgan is strong person with sharp tongue and soft romantic heart and Thorn is just so kind and so dumb and so exciteable he’s like a puppy. They were just filler characters and I got attached to them. Felton even gets redemption for being an ass later in PD, like oof i never intended to include so much OC content, especially for names I just picked randomly. 

32. Summarize a random fic of yours in 10 words or less. nope I’m doing all of them because these are fun plea for my new self: 2 gay vampires, 4 humans, 1 braincell dreaming while I wake: trauma child needs therapy and so do you break: big oof, oh dragons, oh why, go virgil go rebuild: virgil is so not okay there’s more virgil to deal painful death: gay teens drink themselves into a new religion stargazing: whoops we didn’t realize people actually cared whole castle: everyone will throw down for kid!patton, even you incorrigible: found family with a shot of psychological horror and crack dangerous instincts: wholesome crime syndacite action  slopes: addict gets mugged and thinks that’s just fine with him conflagration: logan avoids everything ever like a champ cat!remus: bored fae shifts gay pining from one person to another  caffeine cyptids: caffinated gay panic goes faster than regular gay panic eglantine & lycoris: more tropes than you can toss a shoe at storytime: overpowered virgil also overreacts literally always

33. Is there anything you wish your audience knew about your writing or writing process? an alter and I write together and I have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen, what I’m writing about, or even what year it is. I often don’t even remember what I wrote. There’s no outline. I have an idea and I pick things at random for it. There’s just notes and an evil gleam in a demon’s eye. The only reason I know more than readers is because I take a long time to edit and some of these stories have fucking alters up in my head who can tell me things. Daeram tells me nothing. The writing demon supposedly has all this knowledge but I have absolutely no clue because he does not talk to me, he just fronts and slams out 9k in a few hours or we cofront to write and I’m like “oh no she didn’t” while typing 

34. Copy and paste an excerpt you’re particularly fond of. i’m fond of the entire painful death series and I tried to find something I really liked without spoilers in stargazing and I couldn’t so here’s a random thing from incorrigble: “So, what do you do with your friends?” Patton continued on with a megawatt smile. “Grand larceny,” Virgil deadpanned and glared at Patton, who was taken aback. Remy and Andy just broke out laughing while Virgil tentatively sipped his still-too-hot-cocoa. 

35. Ramble about any fic-related thing you want!  slopes my dudes slopes i have learned so much about cocaine! like wow! I thought for a minute it was going to end with MCD around 30k but it swtiched from whump to hurt/comfort and I still don’t know if it’s going to be MCD but look at that funky little coke/alcohol addict go, it’s a medical wonder he’s alive! It’s not like there’s what seems to be a little talked about interaction between alcohol and cocaine that causes a toxic chemical to build up in the liver which can result in liver failure and sudden death at basically any moment! Which is part of why it may result in MCD but this time no ghosts! maybe it’ll be h/c with whump elements or maybe it’ll be whump with h/c elements we can’t know for sure

[kae-karo]

texas smash babey

anyway can't believe it took me a week to post these but here are some Great™ pics from MHAcon texas smash last week special shoutout to @dabidevito the very incredible shiggy, baku to my kiri, and long todo (as well as the one doing all my eyeliner for me thank u so much), @/texas_fatgum/texasfatgum (on insta/tik tok) who saw me as kiri & screamed KIRISHIMA!!! super excitedly and then asked to take a pic, and the wonderful smol child named isabella who gave us the adorable mina drawing. honestly the most wholesome event I've attended. v v wholesome stories below the cut

on the literal first day, ten seconds after we arrived, a smol child ran up to us as kiri and baku and asked if they could take a pic with us it was very sweet

shoutout to the todo and dabi (katie and micah) who ran up to us and went KIRIBAKU then proceeded to chat with us for like half an hour

there was a panel with kurono and overhauls voice actors and they deadass were the funniest people and SO chaotic. kuronos voice actor was talking abt how he transitioned from the more gangster style voice to smth a little less Like That and his literal description for his thought once kurono takes off his mask was "he hot". overhauls va got all of the 8 bullets' vas in a twitter chat as soon as they were all announced and then they all got pizza. it was a q&a session and at one point a kid raised their hand, and kuronos va asked their name and the kid just rattled off their question instead and both of the guys were like THAT'S A REALLY LONG NAME at the exact same time, then high fived

a kiri (I think? I cant recall but they had red hair so probs either that or a todo) and a deku who just like. kept enthusiastically waving to me?????

the person who complimented my red contacts (as kiri) and said they really took the cosplay to the next level and they hadn’t seen anyone do that before (I literally turned to rose a minute later and was like.....okay so clearly they havent been on tik tok lmao)

the vendor person who caught my attention long enough to gesture at me, then their own shirt, then give me a thumbs up (cause I was wearing a red riot shirt)

on the second day I was hawks and rose was shiggy and as soon as we walked in someone was like "oh I love ur hawks". this happened several times (or some variation, like people just going HAWKS)

THE LOVELY PERSON WHO WALKED INTO THE BATHROOMS WHILE ROSE WAS FIXING HER HAIR, SAW ME, AND WENT "OHMYGOD YOU'RE HAWKS?????" then covered their mouth and was deadass speechless for several seconds

the dabi who said they liked my flower and vine tattoo :')

the person who not only came up to us and went SHIGAHAWKS? (to which I immediately responded I PREFER DABIHAWKS BUT YEAH) and then asked if rose was supposed to be texas shigaraki (yes. yes she was)

the person who came up and asked us to sign their wooden block that they had a ton of other cosplayers sign??? very wholesome

ONCE AGAIN ISABELLA WHO GAVE US THEIR MINA DRAWING AND SAID THEY THOUGHT WE MIGHT LIKE IT AND ALSO THEY LIKED OUR COSPLAYS

extremely special shoutout to the person who showed up in a SHIRTLESS HAWKS COSPLAY with some extendable/retractable FUCKIN MASSIVE WINGS that were probably a good 7ft across, u a real one my dude. they took pics for like 2hr with people, had their own music going, and the postmates driver who dropped off our food saw them from two stories down and asked us about them. also shoutout to the kid who was with their parent and, as they left the big-wing hawks and passed us (I was in hawks as well) said "normally he's not shirtless, he's wearing a shirt like that"

the todo cosplayer (we later found out this was katie, the todo cosplayer who found us a bit later) who asked the gran torino va if midoriya was all mights secret love child

the people who asked various vas if they believed the dabi=touya theory, and the amajiki va who deadass said "isn't that basically canon?"

shflshdkhskf I almost forgot the panel on bnha Theories hosted by pretty reckless (idr which social media they're on sorry rip) like we were hit with SO MANY theories all at once it was a challenge to really think through them all but it was a BLAST

seriously I cannot express how many amazing and adorable cosplays we saw. tons of dekus and todos and bakus, someone had this BOMBASS shinsou wig, another person had an incredible mei wig? someone made a full mei-during-sports-festival costume and it was awesome. there were so so so many amazing shoes like I cant even begin to say how many shoes rose and I pointed out to each other. the baku with red/yellow/orange camo jeans and a dope black hat??? the nejire in her hero costume? a ton of excellent dabis??? bonus points to the ones with red feathers in their hair. lots of togas in full costume. the smol child dressed in full amajiki hero costume??? the dope-ass tetsutetsu hero costume??? the tokoyami and dark shadow cosplayers??? that villain!todo. a fair few hero costume bakus (truly incredible those gauntlets are a Whole Thing and I applaud you) and a few hero costume kiris as well. literally so so many wonderful people they were all incredible

like. I've heard horror stories of bnha cosplayers, attending cons, etc. but every single person we interacted with was super kind and respectful and wholesome, I genuinely had such a lovely time and I'd absolutely do it again???

[ffxivaltaholic]

LF-RP - Makael Vari - Balmung | Crystal Server

THE BASICS ––– –– –

Occupation: Assassin for the Garlean military, Freelance Assassin for the right coin. 

Hobbies: Lavishly spending gil, collecting weapons, alchemy, studying people.

Race: Viera 

Sexuality: Unknown

Relationship Status: Single

Languages: Eorzean (Common), Bits of other languages

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Color-Wheel: Black, White, Orange, Purple, Red, Gold

 PERSONAL ––– –– –

Residence: Garlemald

Place of Work: Everywhere, he rarely stays in one place.

Birthplace: Golmore Jungle

Travel Experience:  Allot.  He’s been all through Eorzea, Othard, Garlemald and various other places.

APPEARANCE ––– –– –

Height: 6′4 ft.

Build: Toned but slender

Age: 28

Gender: Male (A bit androgynous looking)

Skin tone: Dark ashy grey

Eye color: White  

Hair color: Black

Distinguishing Marks: Tattoos on his face and back, various scars from combat and training, multiple piercings on his ears.

Common Accessories:  Weapons (primarily his throwing knives and Senbon Needles), various poisons and alchemist ingredients, gil.  

 BODY LANGUAGE ––– –– –

Walk: Silent, very smooth and elegant

Voice: Somewhat androgynous depending on what he wants to get out of a conversation. Naturally it’s very smooth and slightly masculine, but lowers in tone depending on his mood and situation. He is capable of fluctuating the tones and pitch to sound more feminine if the situation calls for it.

Tics or Mannerisms: Has a habit of fiddling with a coin or weapon in his hand when waiting for something. Highly observant and will analyze every person in a room before acting. Can come off very confident and a bit arrogant.  Very specific about his appearance, especially his grooming and accessories (Earrings are a big one).

Smells After: Has a slight scent of chemicals. 

Posture: Depends on the situation, but usually relaxed or confident.

Disabilities: None

RELATIONSHIPS ––– –– –

Partner: None

Parents: Mother and Father - Both deceased as far as he knows. Adopted parents are alive and well. 

Siblings: None

Children: None

Extended Family: None

Pets: A black raven-like bird that follows him around.

Other: He has no interest in relationships and considers the idea simply a tool to complete his work and a convenient way to get others to drop their guard.  Anything that can be seen as interest is purely an act and there is most definitely an underhanded reason for him to take interest in anyone but himself.

 PERSONALITY TRAITS ––– –– –

* Allot of these are going to fall in the ‘In Between” category because they highly depend on the situation, whether he is working, and whether acting a certain way will benefit him. He is a sociopath, and while he has a conscience, it’s very very weak and he lacks general empathy towards others. 

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted

Disorganized / In Between / Organized

Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded

Calm / In Between / Anxious

Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable

Cautious / In Between / Reckless

Patient / In Between / Impatient

Outspoken / In Between / Reserved

Leader / In Between / Follower

Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic

Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic

Traditional / In Between / Modern

Hard-working / In Between / Lazy

Cultured / In Between / Uncultured

Loyal / In Between / Disloyal

Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

Addictive / In Between / Nonaddictive

 RP HOOKS ––– –– –

Garleans:  Kael was raised in Garlemald and quite comfortable around Garleans and conscripts (though he does look down on them a bit as he’s a citizen). More often than not he’ll be quite welcoming to other Garleans and citizens though.

Freelance Work:  Need someone to disappear? Want to settle a dispute without getting your hands dirty? With enough gil he can take care of those issues.  Kael has little care for the type of work if it pays well, even if it’s simply a job to frighten someone, or full on murder, so long as it doesn’t turn him against his home.  (Need a villain for a plot? This would be a suitable hook for that. He doesn’t need a large role, I’m quite happy to have him a supportive role to the plot.)

Alchemists:  A fair portion of his work involves alchemy and poisons, which he needs to restock as well as improve upon.  Meeting and trading ideas with other alchemists is a pivotal advantage to his work and general life style, so Kael will often seek out those well known and talented in the field.

Other Criminals in the Shadows:  One can never have to many connection in the underworld.  While he prefers to work alone, if the pay is right, he has no issue completing a job with others so long as they don’t try to remove him from the equation after to take his share of the profit.

Plots:  This option is available for discussion.  I quite enjoy playing a role in the story and plots of others.  If you need a villain or a threat in your plot, he can certainly fill that roll!  His involvement is subject to the discussion however as I will not involve the character in inappropriate scenes.

 LOOKING FOR ––– –– –

Plot Heavy RP:  In either a main or supporting role. (See above) 

Connections in the Underworld:  Always a benefit, and interesting encounters, not to mention good for work.

Entertainment: Kael gets bored easily, and sometimes likes to screw around with random people, playing mind games and digging for information that may be useful. For some the interaction could be completely harmless, especially if he finds them amusing, for others it could be a risky encounter. 

Slice of life:  Even an assassin needs a day off, and if caught in a good mood, he can be somewhat pleasant to be around... In small doses.

Garleans: Kael was raised in Garlemald, he’s a proud citizen and will often seek the company of other Garleans when he’s bored and wants to merely socialize.  Many of his tricks and antics are mellowed around his brethren and interactions with him can actually be quite pleasant and friendly. It’s always good to make friends on the right side of the war.

 ABOUT THE MUN ––– –– –

Who I am: A smol nerd who works allot (Customer service yay... LOL), but try to make time to log in and do stuff.

Server: Balmung, Crystal Datacenter (Always up to visiting other servers)

Time Zone: MST (Mountain Standard Time - Prairies) 

Availability: Random. My work gives me different shifts all the time, so I tend to set up rp like an appointment. On the positive, no matter your schedule, at some point I can match it. 

Writing Style: It can vary, depending on what is going on. I try to be detailed and descriptive, but it depends what I have to work off of from a response. I prefer 1-2 paragraphs, but I’m not overly picky. 

Platforms: In Game and In Discord. I don’t mind either since I can check discord at work.

 Restrictions ––– –– –

No to ERP, No to Smut, No to immediate shipping. This character is not meant for that and I would prefer to avoid the subject over all.  He’s an egotistical narcissist, other people mean little to him, and I wish to build him more as an active role in plots and character development for both himself and others. The chance of him actually warming up to someone enough to form a relationship is incredibly slim and would take a great deal of time and rp to even consider.

If you and/or your character are under aged, I would prefer you avoid this character and look at some of my others.  He’s a villain of sorts, he does bad things and he’s not the type to involve yourself with, especially in regards to any mature content.  (This is excluding plot situations that do not have any mature content, for example, as a minor role in a plot involving a kidnapping and rescuing by other players, but it would have to be clarified in detail prior to my agreement to join, and contain no sexual content whatsoever.)  

No permanent death.  I am certainly open to injuries, including life threatening, he is a bad guy after all, but he’s new and I would like to enjoy playing him for a while before I even consider the idea of killing him off.

Contact: Direct Message here, or in game if you catch me online. I don’t give my Discord out until I’ve at least spoken to you a few times.

[bakusquadup]

Same anon as before!! Some detailed descriptions of them would be absolutely awesome if you wouldn’t mind!! :D

Hey friend! I’m happy to provide some descriptions for you! All of them are under the cut.

Onishi and Yamamoto are at the top of the list because you mentioned them last time, but I included everyone else in PP just so I could have all the info in one place (it’s kinda a lot of characters, sorry). I still can’t believe anybody would consider drawing them 😭 Enjoy, I guess?

-Shelley

Just a note: I’m using feet and inches here because I’m more used to it, but obviously everything would translate to centimeters because most of them are Japanese

Onishi Tokito (aka RedBolt)

Body: SMOL boy. He’s not even five feet and yet he is full of rage (he’s about 4′10″, but tells people he’s 5′0″). And even though he’s small, he does have three years of UA hero courses under his belt and has enough muscle to get by. He has crimson red skin

Features: His hair is a slightly darker shade of red than his skin and his eyes are a slightly lighter shade of red and seem to glow slightly (they also reflect light like animal eyes). His hair is mid-length and shaggy, curling up at the ends naturally, but he will sometimes spike it up into a mohawk just because he thinks it looks cool (it doesn’t) and makes him taller. His eyes are wide and rounded, which makes him look younger than he is

Personality: He’s incredibly high-energy and is usually stuck in one of two moods: angry/bitter or smug/sarcastic, so he’s either smirking or frowning all the time. On the rare occassion that he genuinely smiles, the corners of his eyes crinkle up and he has one dimple on his left side. He has a big sense of pride and likes to pick on others when he does better than them, but despises having the favor returned

Hero Costume: A baggy black jumpsuit that cuffs at the bottom like a pair of joggers and has a sleeveless top. He wears a thick red belt around his hips with small bags hanging off that hold small metal items (like screws and washers) and hand cream (because his hands dry out from using his quirk too much). In the colder months, he throws his favorite zip-up sweatshirt over top of the costume (it’s also red, he really likes red)

Quirk: “Red Lightning.” The true nature of his quick is hard to pin down, as it has the thin, branching sparks of electricity and its shocking capabilities, but it is a pale red and it seems to flow like a liquid. He’s speculated that it’s a combination of lava and electricity, but he doesn’t really care enough to figure it out

Other Info: He gets super competitive, even with things that he knows he’s bad at, so he’s known to cheat at any competition that he feels he needs to. He’s probably only ever said sorry twice in his life

Yamamoto Kei (aka Midas)

Body: Super tall and lanky. He stands at about 6'6", but he also hunches, so it’s more like 6'8" when his posture is good. He’s a certified bean pole that shot up in first year of high school, but never gained the weight to fill out his frame. He’s so pale, his skin seems to be transparent sometimes

Features: He has two different colored eyes, which are slanted and narrow. His right eye is gold, which is his natural color and the other is a muted brown. The brown eye is a piece of tech that a support company built for him when he lost his left eye in second year during finals. There is a thick pink scar running around the outside of his left eye, which he likes to show off because he thinks it’s badass. His hair is just above chin length, dark brown (almost black), and perfectly straight. His fringe covers his gold eye because he likes to hide it and he can see better out of the artificial eye

Personality: Yamamoto is pretty low-key most of the time. He speaks in a low voice and really only contributes to conversation when he feels he has something worth saying (although, sometimes those important topics are just a dumb meme). The only one that’s able to really rile him up is Onishi because he draws out Yamamoto’s competitiveness. He does have a slight wild streak as he loves anything thrilling and may act a little crazy when it comes to seeking those things out

Hero Costume: He wears many separate items so if he needs to solidify one of them with his quirk, not everything solidifies right away, limiting his mobility. Has loose black shorts with thick gold stripes that run down the outside of his legs. Under that, he wears black compression sleeves with two royal blue stripes and one thinner gold stripe between them. The compression sleeves are tucked into knee-high black boots with fabric soles to allow him to slide on smooth surfaces, but sometimes they will appear gold when he needs to activate his quirk on them (the weight it great for kicking enemies!). On top, he wears a matching black tank top with the same gold stripes. He has a royal blue belt that clips around his waist with a gold buckle shaped like a crown. He also wears the same compression sleeves on his arms and a pair of royal blue fingerless gloves

Quirk: “Golden Touch.” Pretty much self-explanatory. He is able to turn the things he touches into gold (any part of his body, not just his hands), but it acts more like a golden shell rather than solid gold. He can also remove the gold whenever he wants without injuring a living thing inside it. If he keeps his quirk activated, it will not only solidify the thing he is directly touching, but whatever that item is touching as well. For example, if someone grabs his jacket sleeve, he will solidify his jacket and then eventually the person holding him (although, he tries to avoid this because his clothes become much heavier). He can use this to skate along the ground by creating a path on the ground and sliding with his specially-designed boots

Other Info: He will sometimes pin his hair up during hero training because of its length (he doesn’t like the sensation of it flopping around while he’s running). Because of this, he always has bobby pins in his pockets and the girls have started going to him if they need some

Amy Coleman (aka Oracole)

Body: Tall and lean. She’s just under 6′0″ and has a dancer’s frame with long limbs and toned muscles. She has naturally tan skin, but does not tan more if she’s out in the sun, only freckles a little

Features: She has white-blond hair that previous went down to her waist and is naturally straight. She would wear it in a tight ponytail, until it got singed off by Endeavor. It is now chin-length, so she curls it in the morning to get a wavy texture and more volume. Her eyes are piercing ice blue and angle down on the outside. Her brows are darker than her hair, closer to dirty blond. She has a spattering of very faint freckles across her nose

Personality: She’s very outgoing and loud; always willing to make a friend and needs to know what’s going on at all times (basically, a typical American). This can often be her downfall, as she ends up as somewhat of a gossip. She feels that any information she gained without the help of her quirk is fair game for her to talk about. She’s generally high-energy and gets riled-up easily, except when she is using her quirk, in which case she makes a complete 180

Hero Costume: She wears a dark teal fitted jumpsuit with a high neck, ¾ sleeves, and white white piping that runs up her limps and down the center of her torso. Over top of it, she wears a black corset-like/belt thing around her ribcage. It’s wide and has two clasps that hang down and connect to the bags strapped around her legs (also black). She wears black, steel-toed combat boots on her feet that her father bought her from an army-navy surplus store back in the U.S.

Quirk: “Third Eye.” When her quirk is activated, she gains the ability to see into the future or events that are currently happening for which, she is not present. She does not use it to see far into the future and it tends to get unreliable and multiple possibilities arise, but she will use it for events within a couple minutes to allow for preparedness when fighting. She also uses it to keep an eye on her teammates in the middle of a training session. No, she does not use it to cheat on exams

Other Info: Whenever she gets too excited, her American accent becomes more pronounced and she starts making grammar mistakes. Her accent is always a little present, but it becomes much worse. She will also occassionally swear in English (Onishi has started picking up on them and copying her)

Suzuki Youta (aka Umbra)

Body: He’s about average at 5′7″. He has some muscle, but he’s also on the scrawnier side because he relies on his quirk most of the time. He hasn’t built up the bulk that some hand-to-hand fighters have. His skin is pitch black, so it’s sometimes hard to see his features unless in direct light

Features: His hair and whites of his eyes are also black, but because they aren’t matte like his skin, they reflect light and are a little easier to see. His hair is short on the sides and a little longer on top, puffing up when it gets frizzy. It’s difficult to discern his appearance head-on without pointing a light directly at his face, but he has narrow eyes with monolids and a rounded nose. When looking at him from the side or back, he just appears to be a silhouette 

Personality: Suzuki is a man of few words, speaking very little except to Inoue and choosing his words very carefully. He has a keen eye for detail and analysis, so he is very good at determining someone’s weakness and how to take them down or make them improve. For this reason, he is often sought out by classmates for training tips, but the attention makes him uncomfortable

Hero Costume: It’s literally just a jet black body suit. It has some structure to it, like bubbled-out sleeves and slouchy pants, but it’s meant to blend in with his skin. The only item he carries with him is a metal flashlight that fits into a pouch on his suit. He’s going for an aesthetic and damn, if he’s not gonna stick to it

Quirk: “Shadow Manipulation.” He can manipulate his shadow to do as he wills it, including things like grab people, holds falling structures, slide under doors to see inside the room, etc. If he is standing in the shadow of a larger object, such as a tree or something, he can control the larger object’s shadow, but only if the surrounding area is light. This means, he cannot control anything in total darkness (he’s basically useless) or on cloudy days. He needs a very defined shadow, which is why he carries a flashlight, so he can at least make a small shadow to work with. He’s best on very sunny days

Other Info: He doesn’t get very animated, except when talking to Inoue. Sometimes, classmates will sneak up to conversations between the two of them in a hopes of catching one of Suzuki’s rare smiles (his teeth are also black, don’t get too excited though)

Inoue Yumiko (aka Alchemia)

Body: 4′11″ and besides that, pretty much average in every other way. She has an average build without much muscle because she mostly relies on her quirk. She has a medium-light skintone that is more warm-toned

Features: She has cute, rounded features with a small rounded nose and wide, dark-brown eyes. Her face is very circular. She has dark brown hair with a slight wave to it that comes down to her mid-back. In comparison to her classmates, she is probably the most “ordinary” looking

Personality: Pretty much everyone likes Inoue. She is kind, smart, and humble, so most of the class likes being able to work with her on anything. She has a tendency to be indecisive, which is unideal for hero work, and she sometimes has a hard time speaking her mind because she doesn’t like conflict

Hero Costume: A sky blue and grey outfit with wide-leg shorts, a sleeveless top with a slouchy, layered neck and thigh-high matching socks that tuck into a pair of high-top sneakers. The outfit has silvery triangles that go around her hips, the cuff on her shorts are silver, and the soles of her sneakers are as well

Quirk: “Morph.” She can transform anything she touches into a different shape/molecular configuration so long as it has the same chemical makeup (i.e. no making diamond from iron, sorry). She has the easiest time just changing the shape of something, like turning a steel pipe into a sword, but can do more complicated transformations when given more time

Other Info: Her younger sister is a first year in the general studies department. She (the sister) didn’t want to be a hero and doesn’t really have a quirk strong enough for it, but she wanted the connections that came from going to UA

Himura Kenji (aka Obsidian Fire)

Body: Taller than average at about 5′10″ and with a lean build. He is trained for hand-to-hand combat, but is more agile than just strong, so he does not have the bulk of somelike like Mirio, for example. He has relatively pale, cool-toned skin

Features: He has short, inky-black hair that he normally slicks back with gel (he’s not ugly, so it looks good on him, but it’s still douchey looking). His eyes are firey red, narrow, and many would describe them as “boring a hole through your eyes” based on the cold intensity behind them. He is classically handsome, with high cheekbones, a narrow nose, and sharp jawline, but he’s also one of those people that once you know their personality, they aren’t as attractive

Personality: Selfish and competitive. As he has gone through training at UVA, he’s slowly developed a superiority complex and often treats those he deems unworthy significantly worse (he especially hates Quirkless people). He is rather talented and intelligent and, because he puts on a mask for the public, people tend to like him initially. Most of the hero course hates him, but students in the other courses usually like him

Hero Costume: His top is fitted and long-sleeve and has a thick black lapel, similar to a tuxedo, and there are two black bands around his wrists. For his pants, he wears solid black with grey kneepads and a pair of low grey boots (shapes similarly to Timberlands) with tungsten soles. His clothes are all made from a high-tech breathable fabric that can resist extremely high temepratures

Quirk: “Heat.” Pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Himura can produce heat from his hands in the form of a dark red glow. If he directs it in a very specific beam, he can cause it to stretch further. Currently, his maximum temperature is just over 4000 degrees F, so hot enough to melt most metals, but not things like Tungsten. In first year, it was closer to 2000 degrees

Other Info: Himura actually has a close friend in the support department. The two of them collaborate on a lot of stuff and he is probably the only person at UA that Himura will be a genuine person around without acting like a complete asshole. No one has figured out why he’s so special

Ishigaki Kaito (aka Dagger Fin)

Body: He’s about 5′9″ and he’s partially a shark, so he has a giant shark head with gills and his fins come out in the water. Because of the shark head, he’s pretty thicc. Bluish-grey skin that matches his quirk

Features: What do you want me to say? He’s a fucking shark man (think great white). He doesn’t have any hair. His eyes are jet black

Personality: Ishigaki (who insists everyone call him Kaito) is very outgoing and excitable. He doesn’t have the best social skills as he’s on the dorky side and has a hard time conveying what he means, but he’s easy to like and fun to talk to. He’s definitely not the brightest bulb, but he makes up for it with raw enthusiasm

Hero Costume: It’s basically just a wetsuit made from a more breathable, thinner material so he can swim faster

Quirk: “Shark.” I mean, it’s pretty self-explanatory. He can do basically anything a shark can in the water and some of it out of the water. Highlights include: High speed swimming! Multiple rows of teeth and powerful jaws! Sensing electric fields!

Other Info: When coming up with a hero name, he first chose “Shark Boy,” but he got yelled at for stealing the name of an American hero. As a joke, he still repeatedly tells people he’s “just a Shark Boy, looking for his Lava Girl”

Fujii Megumi, Megu for short (aka Lancette)

Body: Another smol child. She’s not super short (about 5′0″), but she’s very skinny. She has some muscle on her body and it’s quite defined because she has so little fat. She’s albino, so she has very white skin

Features: As mentioned before, she’s albino, so she has blond hair that is practically white with eyebrows and eyelashes that match. Her hair is very straight and thick and goes down to her butt to help her quirk. Her eyes are wide and constantly look like a deer in headlights because they’re so big. Her eyes are a light reddy-pink color

Personality: Megu is slow to open up to people, generally wary of strangers and quiet around those she hasn’t spent much time with. Once she has opened up to you though, she has a quick temper and hotheaded personality. She often winds up in arguments with Onishi because he likes to push at her buttons or Ishigaki because he’s a little inept at talking to girls. Sachi is her closest friend in the class and she would do absolutely anything for the people that she cares about. Her loyalty runs deep

Hero Costume: A full-body light pink fitted suit with overlapping white rings along her hips, shoulders, ankles, and wrists.

Quirk: “Dagger Hair.” She can sharpen her hair into blades that float around her and can grow and shrink at will. Because it hardens into a nearly impenetrable material, she can also use it as a defense

Other Info:

Mifune Sachiko, Sachi for short (aka Sachi)

Body: She is about 5′5″ and is on the curvier side, again with the normal muscle that someone would have from constant training. She’s half-black, half-Japanese because her dad’s American, so she has a darker skin than her classmates

Features: She has dark brown, almost black eyes that are almond shaped with long lashes. She has very curly, black hair that comes down to her shoulders and she parts in the middle

Personality: Sachi doesn’t like to be involved in drama, so she often comes across as a silent observer. She’s generally more mature than some of her classmates (*cough* Onishi *cough*) and is more laidback. She’s more open and accepting of differences between people and because she thought she was quirkless for a while, she doesn’t discriminate. Because of her relaxed attitude, she can come across as cold and uncaring

Hero Costume: Her costume leaves a lot of exposed skin so she can touch people (must be her actual skin, not clothes), so she has neon yellow biker shorts and a matching high-necked sports bra. A black cursive S runs along the right thigh of her shorts. She also wears a pair of distance-vision goggles that help her see what villains she may be attracted to from afar 

Quirk: “Attraction.” She can make anybody that she thinks is attractive into a zombie of sorts, so long as she touches them. Their minds and eyes will go fuzzy and they automatically move to protect her. Many people misunderstand her quirk and think it either applies to anybody or think it only applies to men, but she’s pansexual and it’s just whoever she thinks is cute. Just for fun, here’s a list of people in the class that her quirk works on: Yamamoto, Amy, Mirio, Hadou, Inoue, Suzuki, Himura, and Reader. She thought she was quirkless until she was about 12, because she didn’t get the whole attraction thing until then

Other Info: Because she’s got bigger boobs than many of her classmates, she dealt with quite a bit of harrassment her first year at UA. Some of her classmates didn’t like that and so developed the Sachi Protection Squad (Ishigaki, Megu, Suzuki, and Inoue). She doesn’t really need the help because she can kick-ass, but they like doing it anyway. Also, she knows English because of her dad, so Amy and she can be seen whispering in English to each other sometimes

[daretomarvel]

What are your top 10 gryles fics?

Oh wow, anon, you have opened up a can of worms XD I’m going to make a Top 10 list here, but there are so many more than 10 that I love. If you run out and want more, have a glance through my gryles bookmarks on ao3.

Also, I started to make this list before I remembered that @writsgrimmyblog recently put together a Top 10 that is shockingly similar to the one that I would have put together. I don’t want to repeat what’s already been done, so I’m going to STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you go through this post, and then once you’ve had your heart-strings tugged by all of those incredible works of art, I’m going to choose 10 different ones for you to cry happy fandom tears over try out! (Seriously though, if you read nothing else, read If This Is Love by @magicalrocketships, A Relentless Maybe by @justamousethings, and Such Sweet Sorrow by @jiksax even though I’ve technically disqualified myself from reccing them)

ANYWAYS, and in no particular order other than that in which they popped into my head, TA DA!! A non-overlapping gryles Top 10 *dramatic drumroll crescendos in the distance*

1. buried heads by @ihavea1dbloghelp

angsty post-tour sex set post-wwaI have this fic bookmarked on ao3 as solely “ :’( ”, which I stand by as a descriptor. Incredible, amazing, I’m not crying there’s just gryles emotions in my eyes, etc.

And if you haven’t already, hard recommendation that you drop everything immediately and read every single thing on this masterlist

2. Manchester Tarts Have a Cherry in the Center by @cyclogenesis

Warning that Harry is underage in this fic, but it’s one of my all time favourite things to go back to. Young Harry working in a bakery and somehow being endlessly charming yet also smol and soft and I want to wrap him in a blanket (or maybe fuck him senseless in the back of a bakery - I feel the dilemma Nicholas). I also like to imagine that this is what Nick meant when he said they’d met before the GQ dinner and no one can take this from me ;)

3. Something Great by @zelda-monkey

I’m about to out myself as the one (1) member of the Caroline Flack defence squad, but I loved this fic for its treatment of her. Essentially the premise is haroline-to-gryles via what was, in hindsight, a very unwise threesome :P It’s so well written, and does such an excellent job of portraying a young Harry who is somewhat confused but not upset about his sexuality, and is Really Really Into Nick (relatable, young Harold, relatable)

4. Can’t Escape the Magnetic Side by @glitterbootsandyellowshorts

Incredible solo-Harry-at-Nick’s-season-of-X-Factor fic, could not recommend more highly (plus bonus Aimee Philips being a fucking legend)

(plus you should read literally everything else they’ve written, especially Monday the Thirteenth, Like a Lightning Strike, I Could Take the Back Road, and Darling, Hold My Hand hahahaha “top 10” as if I’m not a cheating cheater who cheats)

5. When We Were Young by @writsgrimmyblog

I realize that it’s vaguely hilarious to be like “everything I want in a fic set in solo-Harry era!” when I literally prompted this so that it would be everything I want in a fic set in solo-Harry era, but…..the statement remains true XD Excellently written, and Writ’s got some of the best dialogue in the pairing. Somehow one of them makes a very in character joke or off-hand statement and suddenly I’m curled in a ball in a pile of feels.

Also have a look at these fics/ficlets, because holy fuck: The Morning After, Only A Kiss, Blinded by the Sun

6. Accio My Heart by @waspabi

Post-war Harry Potter AU that masterfully handles all of my favourite characters from the 1D/BBC Radio 1 fandom, and intertwines them with the hp universe that I so know and love? YES PLEASE. It’s actually magic, I can’t recommend this highly enough.

(When you’re done with this masterpiece go through the rest of their ao3, you will not be sorry)

7. Doodle of a Surface Life by @junkshop-disco

Not that it was anything approaching a surprise considering the author, but this fic blew me the fuck away. I read the chapters that are up all in one go, and I’m waiting for the final chapter with both anticipation and dread, because I want to read it desperately but I also never want it to end. This is one of those fics that stays with you, that you’ll be thinking about for days, weeks even, after you’ve read it, and I cannot express how in awe I am every time I think about it.

Another author where you should 100% just go to their ao3 and read everything they’ve ever produced. It’s all mind-bogglingly impressive.

8. We can be crazy like that by @river-b 

A beautiful fic set in 2014, centered around the idea of Harry whisking Nick away to Paris for the weekend. Basically they have a lot of sex and I have a lot of emotions, and it’s a wonderful ‘I think this might be worth it after all’ vibe that always makes me feel warm and happy inside.

9. Made Room for Me by @goseaward

I love this fic. I can’t even remember when I first read it, but I’ve gone back again and again, because somehow it’s just always read very true to me. The description is “Nick wasn’t opposed to a relationship with Harry. He just hadn’t really considered it.” And I think that’s absolutely perfect, because sometimes I look at pictures of gryles out and about and I’m like……you know, Nick’s often not the one with heart-eyes. This shows their relationship developing in a way that really really worked for me, and I can’t recommend it enough.

10. One Vacancy by @wardowedidit

Sometimes I think I’m over my obsession with soul-mate AUs, and then something like this comes up again and LOL as if anyone can ever really get over an obsession with soul-mate AUs. Anyways, this is wonderfully, wonderfully done, and has the amount of angst and mutual pining that I live for. Reread forever.

I could go on and on and on, but I hope you enjoy this little snapshot of all the fabulous writing out there for this little ride-or-die pairing, we are truly hashtag blessed.

[extrology]

50 Shades of Park Chanyeol

<<Main Planets & Asteroids Used + His general chart. Skip this section for general description>>

Moon (what needs) - Cap (order, stability, old-fashioned/traditional partner/relationship, control) |

Venus (how acts in love) - Cap (order, stability, old-fashioned views, control)|

Mars (sex) - Cancer (motherly, giving, soft and caring, emotional)|

Neptune (unconditional/idealised love) for Caps (traditional, strict, organised, ambitious) |

Pluto (req for intimacy) - Scorpio (passion, danger, power, mysterious aura) |

Lilith (desires in love/sex) - Pisces (emotions, creativity, softness)|

Eros (what turns on) - Scorpio (passion, danger, power, mysterious aura, Erogenous zone - Genitals)

Juno (marriage) - cancer (soft, caring, emotional bond, feeling of belonging and home)

Anteros (the kind of love he receives overall) - aries 1st (strong and wild love for his personality)

Companion (who’d be the perfect long term partner) - Cap (stable, traditional, ambitious)

Valentine (what would sacrifice for true love) - taurus 2nd (all his material possessions)

DC (ideal type looks/aura) - virgo (clean, organised, perfectionist, intelligent looking)

his ideal type to date would be the really cold queen with beautiful feminine features

a woman who doesn’t care much about romance and is all about power, career, incredibly high standards and who loves a man with high position. Romance for her is just business

he’d love her stable and traditional side, I feel like Chanyeol would get along with a Capricorn woman incredibly well as his Moon, Venus, Neptune and Companion are all Capricorns. They would understand each other well and there would be few conflicts in the relationship

basically Chanyeol dreams about getting himself a hang off that fem fatal girl. (Quite a challenge considering his cancer mars but he’s got fame and status so why not. He wouldn’t be very happy in such a relationship for too long as it would seem too cold for him. He seeks emotional softness but it’s a nice challenge for his ego)

Now about the girl he’d fall from the first sight AKA how to look to catch his attention

A girl with high standards, sleek style, all details perfect, clean and planned out. Manicure, hair & eyebrows on fleek, classy and minimalistic outfit. A woman who has control and looks like she has a hold of her life.

he would generally fall for a person with powerful aura, confidence and stability

The traits that would naturally awaken his sexual attraction or would make one seem like waifu material (his inner husband would come out and he’d want to settle down with such person)

Someone with large, charming and doll like eyes who provoke vulnerability. Usually smol, a bit to the chubby side, light skin. Such face and looks would instantly make others want to protect this cancer. It would be Chanyeol’s weak spot. She’s delicate, has a motherlike caring aura and it seems like there’s no end to her kindness. She shows her affection by cooking, listening to all your troubles, making all kinds of gifts and just giving all of herself to the world.

caring, loyal and sensitive. Somebody who’ll show their love by actions. Sweet, creative and understanding. A family oriented woman, might be a bit jealous or sometimes overly emotional

(Might sound strange that such an innocent looking being would bring out the beast in Chanyeol but he’d most likely want to protect her and his emotional hunger for unconditional love and cuddles would take the better of him.)

Chanyeol would be very unstraightforward with his love and would confess only later when he was absolutely sure

would go after his crush in very subtle ways

he doesn’t flirt if he actually likes his crush, just stares at her and imagines things in his mind (would talk the same way he does with everybody else, I feel like he had to learn flirting as an idol though :/ and the reactions probably fed his sag ego :/ But if he was genuinely attracted to somebody I doubt he’d be this brave. poor cancer mars men)

shows his affection by providing warmth, stability and protection from the rest of the world

will try to charm his crush by acting like a gentleman

he seems aloof and caring at the same time (basically his ultimate charm)

hates mind games more than anything (and he will definitely see through all your lies)

alpha-male

sugar daddy material

naturally takes the lead and will show his crush he can take care of her/him

doesn’t like his sex life being dragged into public

wants long-lasting relationships

very mature approach to love

likes traditional type of relationships

a lot of feels but doesn’t like talking about them

lowkey super possessive (ofc doesn’t show it)

career > love

runs away from problems by working

doesn’t show when feels down

if he’s feeling down, listen to him, avoid giving advices, try to distract him or just leave him with his thoughts and music

after sex talks would be the best way to get out of him why he’s been down lately

he actually loves intellectual after-sex conversations, could spend hours on end just laying and talking in bed

enjoys challenges and proving his love with actions

during sex will want to stimulate his lover's emotions and connect to him on emotional/intellectual level

a subtle and sensitive explorer in bed

will try to please in the best way he can

nurture his feelings since he’s quite sensitive

likes gentle, sweet sex, doesn’t mind being submissive

doesn’t like it rough, keep it romantic

most likely addicted to sex

although faithful, can get bored as he likes to change things up

but family is his soft spot and would be a great husband

just by looking at his chart you can see he’s going to be an incredibly great father and husband. (Even though he MIGHT not look like it now) Quote me on this.

He’s going to be a soft, outgoing and fun dad for his kids, but a great traditional manly husband who has a soft spot for his wife. Tell me that ain’t perfect.

jupiter, in 7th especially libra, points to having a lot of relationships before finally settling down

I’m almost sure he had a lot of girlfriends (but his genius detective mind is too sharp to get caught for it unlike poor Jongin)

[Masterlist]

[howlsmovinglibrary]

The Last Namsara by Kristen Ciccarelli

*I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

To be honest, I didn’t really expect much from The Last Namsara, beyond the fact that the artwork on the stall at YALC was incredibly beautiful, and it had��DRAGONS in.

So when what I ended up with was one of my favourite books of 2017, it was a pleasant surprise, to say the least.

The Last Namsara is a wonderfully lyrical book, half epic fantasy, and half fanciful fairy tale – and I mean this literally, as the book alternates between the main character’s narrative, and the retelling of the Old Stories, the myths of her kingdom. It follows Asha, a dragon slaying princess, whose past mistakes have earned her the title Iskari, after the Goddess who is associated with death and destruction. The novel starts out as her redemption story, as she plans to atone for her crimes and escape her arranged marriage by bringing her father the head of the First Dragon. But as the corruption of Firgaard is slowly revealed it becomes about Asha redeeming not just herself, but her entire country.

In a slightly different format, I’m going to recount what I loved about this book, but then go into an issue with the novel which I think needs to be disclaimed before people decided to read it. I want to be as honest and representative of it as possible.

What I loved about it:

Asha. Asha is amazingly well rounded female character, by which I mean ‘my smol angry baby’. She’s a fighter, which means she could easily fall into ‘strong female character’ territory, but while it’s fun to watch her punch things (in particular her dick of a fiancée), the story goes into much more detail than that. She's ruthless, irate, and guilt ridden, and watching the book explore the conflict between the hard, cold mask Asha tries to uphold and her own doubts, sadness, and pain, was incredibly interesting. I loved watching the way she developed over the course of the novel, having to unlearn a lot of assumptions she has made about her life and her country, and to in its place learn to place her trust in other people.

The mythology. From the initial story about Namsara and Iskari, I was hooked into the world. The power of stories and the place it holds within Firgaard is such an interesting one – from the way they got told and then retold in a new light, to the destabilising power they wield, to the fact that can be used to lure dragons, as if they hold a literal magic. I loved how enchanting the stories themselves actually were, painting a bigger, sinister picture in each localised telling, and how this was reflected in their role in the story. (I’m now going to go read aloud in a wood somewhere and see if I call a dragon).

The writing. This book is, to me, reminiscent of Uprooted, in that it has a lovely descriptive style that seems very otherworldly and almost like a folk tale. There is a lot of repetition, from the text level, to motifs that reoccur throughout, and the imagery is amazing, both deceptively simple and slightly hypnotic.

The dragon came, slithering out of the red-gold silt like the treacherous thing it was. Sand cascaded down its body, shimmering like water...while it's slitted gaze fixed on the girl who summoned it. The girl who'd tricked it with stories.

...Hell, there was very little I didn’t love about this book. The plot is a gift that just keeps on giving, going far beyond the point where I expected it to conclude, and filled with interesting concepts, from the toxicity of dragon burns to sacred flames to epic histories of heroism. The writing was arresting, and I found myself barely breathing during certain scenes. And I also really enjoyed the love story, which I felt was written beautiful, but this is now what I need to focus on – I will try to give minimal spoilers, but I think it’s something that needs to be discussed before you decide whether to read the book.

Disclaimer: The Last Namsara features a romance between a slave (Skral) and a member of the master class.

Normally, this is a big NO for me, and I recognise that this comes weighed down with a lot of problematic literary and historical baggage, particularly when written by a non-POC author. I did not know when I started reading that this would be a feature of the book, which is why I wanted to people to know before they decide whether to read it or not.

What follows is spoilers, but may help you make a decision:

Torwin and Asha are never romantically involved while Torwin is a slave. In fact, bar their first interaction, they only ever interact once Torwin has escaped slavery and is freed.

Torwin’s master is Asha’s betrothed, and he abuses both of them. I’m not going to pretend that one type of abuse undoes another, but it at least means they start out as allies, both subject to systematic oppression, and places them on a more equal footing.

Asha’s interactions with slavery are forcibly deconstructed and changed. As a member of the ruling class, and in fact one of its higher members, Asha has a lot of privilege that she is forced to unlearn. Now, no book should get a cookie for helping its protagonist learn not to be racist, but the book is very interesting in its use of point of view. From the first few chapters, it becomes clear that Asha’s country is corrupt and oppressive, even if Asha can’t see it. The fact that her weapons can only be used ‘to right wrongs’, that killing dragons is a wrong and freeing Torwin is a right according to the blades objective morality, signals from the get go that, even if Asha’s narrative focalisation does not condemn right away, the world and the book in no way sanctions what happens in Firgaard, including slavery.

In this vein, Torwin repeatedly calls out Asha’s racism and privilege. He calls out that she refuses to call him by his name. He calls out her naivety in believing that slavery can be miraculously stopped overnight. He calls her out for her deliberate distancing and dehumanisation in the first few chapters. While he may fall in love with Asha, at no point does he let her position of power go unnoticed by either party, and he deliberately deconstructs her perspective and fights her at every turn.

Extreme spoiler.

Torwin has a lot of agency in the story, moreso than Asha does, initially. He is the leader of a slave rebellion, and is instrumental in a revolution of which Asha is entirely ignorant of until it happens. Whereas Asha is quite passive in the first half of the book due to her own ignorance, Torwin actively influences her and people around her to have more of a prominent role in instigating change.

Extreme extreme spoiler.

Asha decides later in the book that all the slaves need to be freed, in order to appease the objective morality that I mention above – basically to get dragons back on their side. Obviously, this is a white saviour moment (even if the cast don’t necessarily seem to white). This is when I started to take issue with the book, and begin to feel uncomfortable. However, what I find interesting is that barely a chapter later, Torwin calls her out on it. He calls her out on using it as a tool without truly understanding the experience of slaves, and for being naïve in thinking it will fix all the Skral’s problems overnight. I like that he basically lampshades her white saviour moment, and identifies as such – and I think it shows that, while the author is exploring problematic content, they are at least trying to do it sensitively (whether they succeed or not is a judgement I will leave for own voices reviewers).

Extreme extreme extreme spoiler.

Torwin gets ‘given’ to Asha as a soulmate in the final chapter of the book, in line with the mythological workings of the world. Asha flat out refuses to accept, saying she doesn’t want that kind of power over him, that it’s unfair to do it without his consent, and that the god in question is just placing Torwin into a new form of slavery just after he has escaped another form. This shows a lot of self-awareness, both on the behalf of the character, and on the author behind her. Again, no cookie for unlearning racism, but at least by this point it makes clear that both characters will only enter a relationship as consenting equals, which is an important point to make when attempting to write a slave/master romance.

Obviously, as a white reviewer, I cannot excuse this romance and say ‘it’s fine’. I think it certainly has problematic elements that mean I’m very conscious of giving this book a positive review, and I think the final judgement should be reserved for own voices reviewers. The white saviour moment was the key action that made me extremely uncomfortable, and I’m glad that it was throughly deconstructed, and was done so in Torwin’s voice.

A large proportion of this book is amazing. I love the world and its mythology, and the dual perspective in which it is written, where you see the world as it objectively is, then as it is seen when filtered through Asha’s narrowed and privileged perspective. I like that these two perspectives are both there, and both clearly different. I also have to be honest and say that I really enjoyed it, and I think lots of people will enjoy it too. 

While some problematic tropes regarding race and slavery are used, I don’t personally think they go unquestioned or without severe interrogation. But obviously, I'm not the authoritative voice on that. I think, given the trajectory of the latter half of the book, more will be done to interrogate these ideas further in the second book, and that it can be enjoyed with both the reader and author being aware that those tropes are present.

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

[reasonablywittyocsbest]

FRESH NEW OCS, GET YOUR FRESH NEW OCS

Two students, one villain, and two detectives!

If you’re interested in learning more about my children full profiles under the cut

Name: Hikaru Nagahi

Age: 15

Height: Tol

Occupation: Student (UA)

Hero Name: D-Taiyo (Dark Sun)

Quirk: Light Manipulation

Quirk Description: Their skin produces a chemical that allows them to absorb, manipulate and intensify light, but only the light stored in their body. The side effect of this is that their skin is iridescent and they never can stop glowing completely. As they use the light stored in their body they become less and less shiny until they return to their original coloration. The light replenishes most quickly in sunlight, ok in artificial light, and very poorly in moonlight.Overuse of their quirk can lead to heat stroke.

When it comes to manipulation of light, it is not fine enough to produce illusion, but they can produce disks, beams, etc, use it to enhance movement, create shields briefly. Though that’s all when they’re fully trained.  

Etc.: Always a shy, anxious child. Despite their flashy looks they just want to be left alone. This unfortunately is not what happens.  They have always drawn attention from people on the streets, which makes them very uncomfortable; though, their parents rather enjoyed it. The only child of a rather boring middle class couple, after they started garnering attention on the streets, their parents decided their child was going to be a hero and they pushed this vision on them. And being a people pleaser at heart and a perfectionist who refuses to fail even at things they don’t particularly want to be doing, Hikaru has just kind of gone along with it. Up to and including their acceptance to UA.  Due to their anxiety they are very good at making plans but struggle to improvise. Their sin would be Wrath. Their virtue would be diligence 

Eventually they will find their own motivation to be a hero in a deep outrage at anyone who would disrupt the peaceful lives of the general populace for their own selfish gain. Who do they think they are,really, how fucking arrogant.

Name: Sven Fukuzawa

Age: 15

Height: Smol

Occupation: Student (UA)

Hero Name: Tvåsi (Two sided)

Quirk: Bi-functional Goo (bi-goo)

Quirk Description: His body produces a purple goo that can heal or harm depending on his will. When he activates it to harm it turns red, when he activates it to heal it turns blue. while his entire body produces the goo, it is easiest to produce from his hands, though the strongest form is in his saliva. The goo is most effective against living biological things, less effective against natural minerals, and completely ineffective against synthetic substances.  His quirk runs off of starches and sugars, so he eats a lot of them to fuel it, If he over uses his quirk he goes into something like diabetic shock.

Etc.: Being the youngest child of seven, the other six of which are girls, by a gap of five years, he was both spoiled and babied by basically everyone.  Due to his family’s wealth he has had access to the finest education, and the ability to try out what ever activities and hobbies that happened to catch his eye. He was particular to dance and ballet, though he has some skill at the piano, painting, and probably more. He considered going into medicine because of his quirk’s ability to heal, but eventually decided he would make a much better rescue hero, since his goo can also destroy stuff.  He is one of those teenagers that looks 12 when they enter high school and by the time they graduate they’re 6′2 and have stubble. He is half Swedish, on his mother’s side.

He has a happy, carefree kind of personality, having never faced hardship in his entire life. He is spoiled, but always willing to share anything he can. His naivete is his greatest shortcoming.  His sin would be gluttony. His virtue would be charity.

Alias: No More!

Real Name: Shizuko Haranaga

Age: 23

Height: Smol

Occupation: Villain

Quirk: She can make things Not Exist. Going so far as being able to even make people forget it, what ever or who ever it was, even existed. If she wants. She is capable of bringing them back, but it is harder and requires a lot more effort. The more loved/popular/known the person/thing shes trying to make not exist the more difficult.  She can also make parts of things no longer exist, which tends to be easier.. If she uses her quirk too much she gets temporary amnesia, it recovers over time but can be distressing for her.  Physical contact is required, the bigger the thing, the longer she must be touching.

Etc.: Her quirk manifested in a bad sort of way. There was a kid in her neighborhood she did not get along with. They were playing a the neighborhood park and he shoved her. She got mad and grabbed his arm, which she proceeded to make no longer exist.

The police were called in, there was an investigation, and the ordeal took its toll on her. Her parents were warned that since she had such a dangerous quirk they would need to be very strict with her. Around the neighborhood she was treated as dangerous, people would gossip about how unfortunate her quirk was, and she withdrew.

Despite people badmouthing her quirk she was fascinated by it, and spent a lot of time experimenting with it.  Vanishing things in her home. Seeing if she could make one of her parents forget, and not the other. Bringing objects back and putting them in a different place.  The more her parents cracked down on her the more rebellious she became. When she was 16 her parents had another child, and fearing she would be a danger to him, she was kicked out of the house. She had already been falling in with a bad crowd and this only pushed her further along the path to being a villain.

Though, it could be argued her true slide into villain-hood started much earlier. It was when she was 10 or 11 when she realized she could bring things back. She went to see the boy whose arm she had vanished, to try and get it back. It didn’t go well and the boy was furious.  it was pretty traumatizing for her too.

She has a very pessimistic, sarcastic, gloomy kind of personality. She struggles to form attachments to people or objects, since she feels like all things are impermanent, and fleeting. Probably due to her ability to control if things exist.  Her hobbies include crime and eating snacks with the strangest flavors she can find. Her sin would be sloth. Her virtue would be humility.

Name: Noriko Kikiyoshi

Age: 25

Occupation: Detectively

Quirk: Tell the Truth!

Quirk Description:  It is impossible to lie around her. She can expand and contract how far it effects, and can turn it off completely. When it is active she also cannot lie. If she has it active too long she gets a real pounder of a headache.  The kind that makes you lay in a dark room wishing for death until it goes away.

Name: Tomoko Kikuyoshi

Age: 25

Occupation: Detective

Quirk: Psychometry

Quirk Description: When she touches a person or object she can see the past of it/them. The further back she tries to see the more difficult it gets, and the less defined the memories get.  Faces and the written word are generally more unfocused. If she over uses her quirk she has the same side effect as her sister.

Etc. Noriko and Tomoko are the twin daughters of a detective and a crime novelist. Her mother is one of the more popular crime novelists in Japan, and her father was a detective. Her father was killed in the line of duty by a villain who managed to get free while the police were escorting her.

Both Noriko and Tomoko have grown up to become detectives as well, inspired by their father’s legacy.  To their mother’s delight, she loves having detectives in the family to get crime details from.

Noriko is very polite, kind, and sweet.  With a very dark sense of humor. Which she delivers in the same upbeat manner she does everything else. Due to her quirk she often finds herself traveling all over the country to help in various investigations. A couple times she has even been invited to other countries to help with difficult cases.  She loves how busy the work keeps her, and being able to provide assistance in a way only she can. Her sin would be Pride.  She is very good at guilting people to get her way . In her spare time she enjoys collecting cute figurines, brightly colored things, and horror films of every description. Her sin would be pride. Her virtue would be temperance. 

Tomoko, in contrast to her sister, is more roguishly charming, with a dry sense of humor and a penchant for teasing.  She is the typical class clown/prankster archetype but grown up into a real adult with a real job.  A real job which she takes very seriously. Despite her laid back personality, everyone in the department knows she puts in more hours than anyone.  Her is dedication less to solving crime and more to serving victims. She willingly volunteers to work difficult cold cases. And has a fantastic track record, her quirk allowing her to get new information the police may have never had before.  She often drags her coworkers into things, willing or not. Her sin would be gluttony. She enjoys physical exercise, strange things she finds in second hand shops, and very, very bad movies. Her sin would be gluttony. Her virtue would be humility. 

Both sisters are on good terms with many of the heroes on Tokyo and beyond, since in this brave new world cop work and hero work are bound tightly together. They have often found themselves out on the town with sidekicks of every description.

The two live together, more for convenience than anything else. Noriko travels so much it made more sense to share an apartment than for her to have her own. The two own a very stupid ginger cat. They make it a point to watch very, very bad horror films together when Noriko is home.  They are united in their love of incredibly spicey food.

[34rhinos]

Tagged by @vistas-of-reality​ (thanks for the shout-out! :3)

1. Who are you named after?  

I don’t really know, I’m definitely the only Ian in my family on both sides. I think my mother just really liked the name.

My brother and I both have middle names after basically famous conquerors (”Christopher [Columbus]” and “Alexander [the Great]”, respectively), so that’s just another theme I guess.

2. last time you cried?

Kind of a weird story, actually: I had just arrived back to the US from Dubai, and I had a really long trip and a long day following that with a friend in San Francisco. We got to her house and found that the guest bed/couch thing was just gone(?). So I had to sleep with her in her bed, and so the two of us were curled up on opposite ends of her bed. I was about to fall asleep and the realization that I had left a whole life in Dubai, including friends who had become family, a beautiful home, and people who loved me, behind me, and that I might not have the exact same life with the exact same people ever again. It was a really overwhelming experience and I felt incredibly lonely, even though there was another person like four inches from me. (I wrote a song about it, you should check it out at soundcloud.com/ian-al-schamma [shameless self-plug]).

3. Do you like your handwriting?

Yes? Stylistically it’s pretty cool looking in my opinion, but it often borders on messy and is consistently difficult to read.

4. What is your favorite lunch meat?

Is a hamburger considered lunch meat? If so, then hamburger.

5. Do you have kids?

No

6. Do you use sarcasm?

Yes, but not in ways one might conventionally use sarcasm.

7. Do you still have your tonsils?

Yes

8. Would you bungee jump?

I’m apprehensive about falling great distances that could kill somebody but also yes.

9. What I your favorite kind of cereal?

Ciniminis, though I believe most people call them Cinnamon Toast Crunchies I think. Trix are pretty dope too.

10. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?

Yes.

11. Do you think you’re strong?

This is kind of a complex question for me, since compared to my own weight I’m well above average, and I spend a lot of time doing strength conditioning; but I’m also pretty underweight weight and I have nothing to show for the hours I spend at the gym, so compared to most of my peers I’m like smol. I guess the answer to that is “yes?”

12. What is your favorite ice cream?

I’m a fan of Pistachio and Rum Raisin

13. what is the first thing you notice about someone?

It sounds super cheesy, but the first thing that defines a person in my mind is their smile, and then also some people have a sort of fire behind the eyes (you know what I mean? I don’t just totally sound silly, right?)

14. Football or Baseball?

If by Football you mean Soccer, then yes. If by Football you mean American Football, then yes I guess.

15. what is the least favorite thing about yourself?

Sometimes I just can’t get a hint, and that makes me come off as too strong or not strong enough. I can also be a real asshole at times.

16. what color pants are you wearing?

What colour are my go-fast-pants? 

17. Favorite smell?

I can’t describe it but it’s kind of fruity with hints of sandalwood and musk? That’s what I remember the perfume description saying anyway.

18. Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone?

My brother

19. Favorite sport to watch on tv?

Does e-sports count? Rocket League is pretty fun to watch.

20. Hair color?

Naturally when I don’t stick stuff in it, it’s a dark brown.

21. eye color?

Also dark brown

22. Favorite food to eat?

Depends on the day and the mood. I could go for a steak one day, and hot pockets on the next.

23. Scary or funny movies?

Definitely funny

24. Last movie you watched?

Alien? That’s the last one I remember watching at least.

25. What color shirt are you wearing?

None to match my go-fast-pants

26. Favorite holiday?

I like Christmas. It’s a fun time where people are warm to each other and there’s music and gifts and time with loved ones and good food. Then I came to the US.

27. wine or Beer?

Definitely a wine-guy, to the shock of my german-speaking friends and family

Hey, if @pregnancyattack, @penguinsandpalmtrees, @volchitsa-of-winterfell @tinysparkledeer, @royalmrseccleston, @nbizalea, @makinglifeinterestingsince1994, and @youthemanblue want to try this, I’d love to see your answers.