#I could yap forever about my thought process

[bugpoolz]

who up androiding their javert

He has a pen :) that he spins; the thought process here was truncheon -> cylinder shaped (and a truncheon would probably not be the most useful in 2038… when everyone has guns,,, PLUS androids aren’t allowed to wield weapons or something but anyways) -> pen (cylinder shaped)

Android Javert’s weapon of choice would be a sleek dagger that he keeps in the inside of his jacket. And he throws it with crazy accuracy and it’s incredibly scary

I tried to make his outfit different from Connor with a detective-y cape thing but i don’t think it would work since it obscures his triangle thing. I don’t think they would allow that

more yapping below if anyone cares (it’s a tad bit long. Just a little.)

I’ve been thinking about it (somewhat) but I think I’ve figured out a timeline that works

I condensed it as much as I could but the timing is Kind of questionable

But anyways! Valjean does NOT go to jail because he is an android. He would either be a gardener model like Simon or one of those construction models like Luther (I’m leaning towards construction because Valjean’s strength.. but then again I have no idea how strong android gardeners are so I don’t know) ands his serial number (which is supposed to be like really long but I shortened it for conveniences sake) is 24601 😁

One day he sees a woman struggling to feed her 7 kids and she looks so desperate that Valjean deviates and tries to steal a loaf of bread for her. He gets caught but the store owner is baffled at the fact that an android!!! Is breaking the law!!! That he hesitates for a second to call the cops (or cyberlife???). But that’s enough time for Valjean to book it.

“But wait Kaden Androids don’t have names how does Valjean get his name” good question! I have no idea! The woman with 7 kids’ is meant to be his sister, who’s also conveniently named Jeanne Valjean. Let’s just say he was like “okay, you’re the catalyst for my deviation. I’m gonna take your name :) but identity fraud is bad so I’ll change it up a little” and Jeanne becomes Jean. Cool!

Anyways (new drinking game take a shot every time I say anyways) Javert just got assigned his first case! Yay! He was sent by Cyberlife to investigate a faulty android in the world’s first deviant case. He talks to the shopkeeper, he interrogates the woman and her kids with a little more force than necessary, and files her name away because there has to be something about that woman to make a fully functional android go rogue!

But in the end, Javert’s unable to find Valjean, and thus fails his first mission, which would probably be incredibly upsetting if he could feel emotions. He doesn’t want to fail, because he wasn’t built to fail, so he makes it one of his objectives to find the first deviant.

Meanwhile, Valjean is on the run! It’s maybe been a week or so since he deviated? His face hasn’t been broadly broadcasted because Cyberlife is trying to keep it all hushed up that androids can go deviant. He hasn’t had the bright idea to cut off his LED yet, so he’s just meandering about.

He’s experienced his fair share of discrimination at this point, and he is TIRED! Valjean is this close to calling off on all humans forever until the bishop gives him a place to stay, is nice to him, gives him spare blue blood , EVERYTHING. In place of the candlesticks is probably just normal money. But yeah

Valjean’s like, “you’d help me!!?!?! Even though I’m visibly an android??!!?!?!”

Anyways he’s on his merry way to a different town to get away from the police, he puts on a human disguise and gets rid of his LED, somehow reconstructs his face, gets a fake mustache, changes his hair to a different color, all that fun identity stuff like faking an id & drivers license, his birth certificate, papers, etc.

Somehow, he becomes the mayor of a town, after like a year of living there. And Valjean’s understandably very nervous, and tries to deny it and people are just like “wow father Madeline is so humble 🙏🙏”

Some random deviant thing happens nearby the town and enter Javert! He’s the lead investigator for all deviant cases (with the power of being incredibly efficient and proving himself to be trustworthy he is allowed to work alone and without a partner)

So yeah, Javert’s sniffing around the scene & decides that maybe some townspeople saw the incident? And it would help with the case?

So he goes to the town & finds out about Madeline , and cue the brain neuron activation when he actually sees the mayor for himself.

by every single god and holy presence above, Javert’s facial recognition doesn’t clock Valjean immediately, but he is suspicious so he files a report claiming the the mayor might be that one deviant

And then Valjean meets Fantine, who is human, and has lost her job due to androids.

She turned to becoming a red ice dealer, and has a seething hatred for androids. She’s also super sick (partly from living in some random hole in the wall apartment and partly from the not very safe drugs she’s dealing… chemicals or something)

Then the whole cart crash thing happens but instead with cars and Valjean lifts a whole car up by himself and Javert’s like “well shit it IS that deviant” but before he does anything like arresting Valjean he gets a report that they found a deviant android that just so happens to be the same model as Valjean

Cue “punish me Monsieur le Mayor” & everything that happens after — Fantine dies & Valjean promises to get Cosette. Javert is furious and tries to corner Valjean in the hospital but gets overpowered (javert has the chance to shoot him, but doesn’t for some reason)(cough, software instability ⏫, cough),, and Valjean gets away

Uhhh some rapid fire stuff im not sure where to put

Thénardier has upgraded to a shitty hotel instead of an inn. Good for him. He also does weird illegal creepy stuff with androids like taking them apart and selling the parts for cash. He recognizes Valjean as an android but doesn’t do anything about it because 1. Valjean is super buff and scary and 2. It could be blackmail later 😮😮

Javert has not failed a single mission EXCEPT for those concerning Valjean

Javert’s mind palace person is Valjean (it makes him extremely angry seeing Valjean in his mind, where he’s supposed to be free) and his appearance updates every time he sees Valjean

Javert calls doesn’t know that Valjean is named Valjean, he calls him “that deviant” — however, he has noticed that the deviant had a very strong reaction to the name “Jeanne Valjean”

The Amis are androids (I don’t know them all tbh. Sorry guys you can decide who’s what), so amending this: Enjolras is DEFINITELY an android. They try to lead a revolution in the span of 3 days but unfortunately they’re not Markus so they fail

Marius, Eponine, and Cosette are humans; Cosette doesn’t know her father is an android (somehow)

Javert lowkey doesn’t even have to wear a disguise to the barricade he just pretends he’s deviant (everyone’s extremely hesitant to let him in because he’s known as the “deviant hunter” but Enjolras lets him in)

Gavroche is a human kid (and symbolizes that bonds between humans and androids are possible… something like that idk)

Pre-deviancy/myriel Valjean has blond hair & a middle part, when he changes his appearance in m sur m he makes his hair a dark brown & adopts a side part; after the trial when he’s on the run he changes his hair to white

At the barricade, when Valjean frees Javert, they!!! Interface!!! They do the android equivalent of a kiss!!! Because I said so!!! And that’s the exact moment Javert deviates and yes I am packing this scene full of valvert bullshit and no you cannot stop me

When they’re sharing memories Javert gets an epiphany and he knows that Valjeans not lying about his intent & now Javert ALSO has to deal with feeling emotions for the first time; he also learns that Valjean’s name is valjean and that when he said “Jeanne Valjean” as in the woman, Valjean thought he said “Jean Valjean” as in the deviant and they have a moment

and maybe Javert refers to Valjean as a ‘he’ instead of an ‘it’ for the first time 👀 maybe he does that

And then he jumps off a bridge! Bro really experiences emotions for the very first time and immediately kills himself. But hey Valjean and Javert have one thing in common :) their first emotion is soul crushing GUILT

and then all that other stuff happens.. oh and Valjean shows the barricade boys that he’s an android so they let him in,, he just somehow snuck into the barricade without being noticed by law enforcement I don’t know anymore

I do intend on making actual art of this au and not just shitty doodles 😁👍 by the way

Feel free to add onto this!! Please tell me your ideas because I think my brain is going to explode if I have to think about this anymore.

[thefablefoxart]

@snootweed for the amazing idea! Here’s some red dead horses as men (and one woman because I love Taima very dearly)

[dollyforever]

dolly talks about... existentialism and shifting ✶

Today's yap session will be

shifting/existence/obsession/something related. And my personal theory on reality shifting!

What I say might not make sense, but there's some sort of special feeling about knowing that a stranger is willing to read other's thoughts, because they care.

If these topics freak you out, don't be scared. Before discovering shifting, they would send me into a spiral as well. In fact, I'm specifically going to talk about how shifting and spirituality has healed a very big part of my anxiety, the one regarding life and death.

Hmm.. where do I start? I found my old journals some days ago and read through some pages from when I was twelve. I hadn't been diagnosed with ocd and anxiety yet, and I was going through a really bad episode of obsessing over my existence. I had recurring thoughts over my life not being real. I always tried to cling on to any little piece of proof that reminds me that I am real. I didn't specifically write it down (my ocd would never let me write the bad thoughts down because then "they'd become real") but the multiple pages with repeating numbers reminded me of what my mind once looked like. And when my beloved grandmother passed right before I turned 13, the whole universe/death obsession came in. I was scared of dying. Of life after death. Of life outside of earth. Of not knowing. I had nightmares about my dad's stolen edition of "Sapiens" from the library, because in it was the history of humanity. About how small being human actually means, considering some species have been around since, basically forever. Philosophy (which by the way, now is my favorite class of all time) had me hyperventilating before class because we would talk about nihilism, moral skepticism, absurdism, the meaning of life. It all freaked me out, so much that I couldn't sleep for days.

I always talk about me "discovering shifting" this november/december 2024. But that's not entirely true (let me explain). I had heard a bit about shifting in 2020. Never really sparked my interest. In 2022, I stumbled upon a shifting video, and was very interested. In fact, for two weeks, it was all I could think about. It consumed me. Because it meant that maybe, my being isn't just life and death. And eternal darkness afterwards. And that perhaps, I can find meaning outside of what I percieve through my senses. That there was a possibility that I wasn't fixed into this system of suffering through life and then dying.

After two weeks, however, I watched a video of someone "disproving" shifting (I HATE the word disproving, because shifting hasn't even been proved!). The comments talked and talked about psychosis. And schizophrenia, and lucid dreaming and delusion. I instantly fell back into my old mindset of what being alive means. It felt terrible. And I don't like to consider that a part of my journey. But it was. Because for months after this, I taught myself to accept and live with the fact that it's alright if this is all there is to life. I believe this was one of the best decisions I've ever made, even if I don't think like that anymore.

Again, I rediscovered shifting this winter. I was going through the hardest moment in my life and finding out about it again brought me immense amounts of hope. I love the community, I love the silliness of scripting, I love hearing other people's romance stories in their drs. I love all of it. But most of all, I loved the process of pondering on the meaning of life taking shifting into consideration. Until now I have heard about two theories to "explain" shifting, the consciousness theory and the multiverse theory. I believe in a mix of the two, in the sense that we are omnipresent beings. I think that we are everywhere and everything all at once. While I do believe that shifting is the act of focusing our consciousness into another reality, or more so deciding what we want to be and acting as if that's true (aka law of assumption). So in a sense, I think that whatever happens in regards to shifting is in our heads. But I also think that there are an infinite amount of realities, or ways of conciousness, that we can move our conciousness to. I also think that our subconscious plays an important role in shifting. I've heard about people shifting to study something in their dr for an exam in their cr. In their dr, they study information that they passively heard during their lectures. Even if they weren't actively listening, their subconscious mind happened to know exactly what they had to memorise in their dr. In my case, I've never heard about the plot of, let's say, Lord of The Rings. If I shift to my dr and read it, the plot won't be the same, because my subconscious doesn't know the plot.

Does that make sense? I can't even understand it myself. I could be wrong and I'd love to discuss it in the comments if someone believes otherwise.

But I love to be aware of the possibilities of the universe. I am not stuck in one place. I can leave/live whenever and wherever I wish.

Whatever shifting means, whatever life means, it really shouldn't matter enough to worry you or upset you. It's all pretty crazy and it's hard to explain it, which is why many people succumb to argument against the possibility of shifting.

But you and I both know it's very real, and that's the only thing that matters.

[formulakracing]

post ausgp '25 thoughts 🏎

howdy y'all!

i had to get off tumblr last night following the shit show that was the australian grand prix. since taking some time to process, i have a lot of things i want to cover & yap about—

i was utterly gutted for isack

on that note, anthony hamilton consoling him almost had me in tears because isack really needed that

kimi p4! he seems like a promising talent and i hope that he continues to thrive this season. i will be rooting for him!

did george really know how he ended up as p3? or was he just there for the ride? either way, i was content for him. it definitely boosted his confidence from all the of negative media attention last year

ferrari fumbling their strategy? nothing has changed. i was a bit disappointed but it is the first race of the season!

lewis having the lead for just a moment brought me so much joy

the water radio moment nearly had me in tears. poor charles was drowning in that car—

on that note, glad to see that sassy charles has never left!

max pulling that tractor throughout the race and earning p2 was a miracle in itself

i hope pookie (max) can win a couple races this season and enjoy being a new father (happy for max and max only btw. he seems to really enjoy being a dad)

mclaren...

ohhhhhh mclaren... 🚬

although you swear up and down you don't prioritize one driver... it's clear who you favor more and zak brown when i catch you... when i catch you zak brown—

someone get mark webber on the phone. i can't bear it a second longer.

side note

can we discuss oscar's perseverance?

he was not going to dnf that race

i was happy he at least earned some points. the cheers from the home crowd nearly brought me out of my bed and on my feet

lance p6!!!! YEAHHHHH!!!

happy for lance but sad that peepaw (fernando) dnf'd

I NEED TO DISCUSS ALEX HOLDING OFF LEWIS FOR A MINUTE—

WHY HAS THAT NOT BEEN DISCUSSED MORE?

ALEX ALBON. THE DRIVER THAT YOU ARE. HELD OFF LEWIS FOR NEARLY THE ENTIRETY OF THE RACE.

LIKE DID PEOPLE FORGET HOW GOOD OF A DRIVER ALEX IS OR....???

ALBOINTS! ALBOINTS!

I WAS NEARLY IN TEARS

ALEX ALBON I LOVE YOU

FUCK RED BULL FOR TEARING YOU DOWN AND THROWING YOU AWAY!

i will forever be an alex albon apologist. same with lance. and same with esteban. some of y'all are so fucking cruel.

lando win (cool ig)

just to be clear i'm not mad at lando lmfao

i am mad that mclaren didn't let them race till the last possible fucking second

we truly went through all of that for a nor-ver-rus podium. it was borrrrrinnngggg until like the last 15 or so laps

the podium celebration was awkward and the new graphics are so ugly

that purple did not look good

lando's interview following the race was a wee bit too long imo

they could have spoken to the other drivers or something—

max was plotting something in the background of the george interview or he was disassociating (lmfao real max, real)

yuki tsunoda... it is our year. we will get you on the podium this year. i am so sorry vcarb and red bull keep fucking you over.

carlos seems to be so free now that he is at williams. the mf crashed and before i knew it, he was prancing around in the paddock with jeans and a smile

(i love his dynamic with alex btw)

NICO P7! THIS MF WON THEM MORE POINTS IN ONE RACE THAN THEY EARNED IN 2024

i am truly hoping that next week will be a better race. i want to see how the new rookies do!

also

i think this race showed us that mclaren is fast (fork found in kitchen) max is truly a hell of a driver, & that ferrari is the same as it's always been

the drivers i look forward to watching this season -> max, oscar, isack, yuki, nando, lance, lewis, pierre, charles, carlos, alex & esteban

who i think will win the chinese gp -> max verstappen

who will probably win the chinese gp -> *sighs* lando norris

who i WANT to win the chinese gp -> carlos sainz. i want him to succeed at williams so badly. williams constructor's this year with the alex + carlos duo. i can feel it in my bones. (i am delusional)

[portraitofalinkonfyre]

Emergency request? I’m not sure if this will count as an emergency request but I’ll let you decide if it does. Anyway, this year has been hectic so far. I started a new job at the beginning of the year and now I’m needing to find a place to move. While I did find a place, I’ve severely underestimated everything that went into buying/ moving. There’s SO much paperwork, and it’s LONG paperwork too, so many additional costs and expenses being thrown at you left and right on top of the down payment and closing costs, not to mention that I’ll still need to get utensils and furniture while still having enough for bills and mortgage. The whole process can take months to go through, too. Thankfully, I’m blessed that I’m not doing it alone, but it’s still been greatly scary and stressful and sad and exhausting and exciting at times. It’s a whole roller coaster of emotions honestly. And I think I’ll have to leave my childhood cat with my parents, too.

Anyway, sorry for the long yap. I know many people experience this, but if this counts as an emergency then I’d like to request a little moving out/ in fic. I’ve been overwhelmed lately and I haven’t really even thought about who I wanted it to be with even while writing this. Honestly, I’ve been kinda a Dark simp, way before linked universe, but I’m not sure if he’ll make a good fit for this (though I think he would make a good house husband, having someone love him for once would change him and I will forever die on that hill.) I’m kinda thinking about something sweet and cute about the reader and them buying a place and moving in together, whether it’s just slice of life stuff, cooking together, decorating together, etc. If Dark doesn’t work for you, then I’d be happy with Wild or Twilight as well. I just know they’d make good house husbands! Thank you so much, though! If everything goes well with the current repairs and paperwork and finances, I’ll get to start moving out in March!

Omg no this totally counts!! I'm not at the moving stage yet because I'm still in college, but I totally understand the stress that comes with transitioning to a new place. Don't ever apologize for sharing your feelings, and I truly hope that everything works out for you in the end. You've got this!!

(Also it's no problem to write for Dark. I haven't done him before, but I did a fair bit of character study for this request, so thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to practice my skills <33)

Our Way Out

Pairing: Dark Link x Reader

Warning(s):

Notes: Honestly I had tears in my eyes when this was done. Partly inspired by THIS lovely work <33

Masterlist

You weren't sure what exactly had drawn you to the house on the hill. It was small, pale in color, and the floorboards had definitely seen better days, but it was home, and that was all that mattered.

The deck creaked under your boots as you stepped to the front door, fumbling around the interior of your satchel for the key, which was a bit hard when it was absolutely stuffed with various vegetables, but you prevailed, raising the small item to the light before using it to open the door. Ever since moving in two weeks ago, your boyfriend had always teased you for letting it loose in your clothes and other belongings, but he could go suck an egg because you were an adult, damnit!

"I'm home!" you called, stepping over the foyer and into the home. Shutting the door with a thud, you bent to place the satchel down and begin the arduous process of removing your boots–

–until a pair of arms curled around your waist and a heavy weight settled on your back. Your stomach flipped when something nuzzled the shell of your ear, and a rumbling baritone filled the small space.

"Did you get the carrots?"

"Big and thick," you flashed Dark a sly grin over your shoulder, resisting the urge to grab a gentle handful of stark white hair and pull him in for a kiss. Fortunately, the allure of a good joke was too much, and you giggled cheekily: "Just how you like it, right?"

There was a huff of breath, accompanied by a nip to your ear, but not even an act of Hylia could keep the amusement from his tone. "Actually, I believe that's–"

"Shut your mouth," you interrupted with a guffaw. "Admit it: you fell right into that!"

Silence.

Boots half-on, you turned in his grasp, allowing your back to be pressed to the thick oak of the door. Dark skin, pale hair, eyes that glowed with the ferocity of a thousand bloody moons, and the first thought in your mind when you looked at him was nothing short of beautiful. Dark's ears perked when you cupped his cheeks, thumbs stroking over smooth flesh. Unlike so many others, he wore his scars on the inside, bared secrets shining in blood-bright irises.

For a beat, nothing was said.

Dark's lips ticked up. "I think I'd prefer a different kind of falling."

You couldn't help the laughter than bubbled from your throat. "Pfft– shall I get the bandages?"

"You wound me," he said, pointing in that faux way you loved so dearly. His arms loosened, hands coming down to rest on your hips. He didn't squeeze or pinch or try to entice you into some other salacious activity, but you knew he was feeling you all the same. That was fine; his hips were better anyways.

Still, you grinned, never one to resist the allure of a terrible joke.

"Want me to kiss it better?"

His smile was diamond-sharp and twice as pretty.

"I'd love nothing more."

"No."

"But–" you hefted the portrait–an heirloom that had watched over your family for the past few centuries–into your arms in an attempt to make him waver. It did not. "–it's an heirloom! It's too pretty to go into storage!"

"Absolutely not," your boyfriend's glare narrowed until his eyes were mere crimson slits as he viewed the item with what you could only describe as unadulterated hatred. Gods, he could be so dramatic sometimes. Who gave a fuck if the Hero of Time was depicted in one of the corners?!

You set the portrait back on the ground before Dark got the brilliant idea of punching the offending depiction into the stratosphere, cleverly maneuvering it behind you before turning to face him once more, arms folded across your chest. "How about this: we cover him. I've got rags. And tree sap."

"You truly believe tree sap will fix this?" he all but hissed, leaning ever-so-slightly to the left to shoot metaphorical daggers at the portrait

"That's rich

"It's him," oh dear, you knew that voice, the one he used when he was about to go full demon.

"It's a tree!"

"You're a tree!"

You pinched your temples. What in Hyrule was he trying to do, intimidate you?? After literal years of knowing each other, it would take more than his 'scary' voice to faze you. A lot more. "Then why are you the one always getting wood in the morning?"

Full stop.

Dark blinked, the frustration bleeding from his expression faster than sand in a hourglass. His mouth opened, then closed, and you felt an unexpected flash of pleasure when he seemed completely and totally without a rebuttal for that one. It wasn't like you were making things up, either, considering he was the one who woke you up with all the subconscious humping. Who knew the evil (you begged to differ) reflection of the famed Hero of Time could be such a... well, you couldn't quite conjure a term to describe his lust, but it was great. And addicting.

Cheeks darker than his name, Dark's brow furrowed as he fought to regain control of himself and, by definition, the situation. "You... I... we are not keeping that."

You raised a brow. You didn't budge. "You wanna bet?"

His eye twitched.

"I don't like this," Dark hissed, fingers intertwined tightly with yours as he tugged the hood of his navy cloak even further down his face. Being the 'scourge of Hyrule' wasn't necessarily a well-respected title in Hyrule, so you had to take extra precautions when going out to make sure he didn't get challenged to a duel in the middle of the street or, worse, denied premium discounts on account of the whole 'being evil' debacle, though it was a bit of a shock seeing your boyfriend snap his fingers and instantly become a mediocre white man so you two could traipse through Castle Town like the troublemakers you were.

"Link, I'm sorry, but you don't like anything," you whispered back without any heat.

"I like you," he said without missing a beat.

"Aww!" you exclaimed, clapping a hand over your heart, startling several passersby in your excitement. "Oh my Goddesses, honey, I–"

"Don't mention it."

"–was going to ask for the rupee pouch so we could get candles, but I like you too."

He looked ready to rebuff your statement, until the works sunk in a bit and he raised a hilariously black eyebrow, brown-black eyes narrow in confusion. "Candles? Why?"

"It's so we don't stumble around at night if one of us needs to pee," you explained, feeling quite proud of yourself for thinking ahead. That, and how pissed he had gotten two nights ago when he awoke hours before the sun and discovered you had 'vanished without a trace', though watching him skid through the front door, sword in hand, on your way back from the outhouse was unfairly hilarious once you realized some eldritch horror had indeed not taken refuge in your home.

Dark's pale nose wrinkled. It looked strange when his skin was so... pasty, but you loved him nonetheless. "You forget that I don't need to perform your Hylian..." he grimaced but not at you. "bodily functions."

"But I do, so we're getting candles," you said, gently pulling him in the direction of the Bazaar, which you hoped to whatever deity was out there actually was in stock because, hands-off as he may appear, Dark had the terrifyingly-sweet tendency to stop at nothing to get something when he truly thought you wanted it, and you really didn't feel like watching him vault over the counter to threaten the clerk. Again.

"Then let us buy these accursed candles," he said in a tone that sounded more griping than anything, but the way he was holding hands with you told a very different story.

You grinned, laughing softly when he leaned in to press the softest peck to the apple of your cheek. "Don't worry, we'll be in and out of there before you know it."

Three hours later, you were beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. What had originally been a quick run to the Bazaar had devolved into a full-blown shopping spree involving nearly half the shops of Castle Town. Dark, despite his whining, was a surprisingly good sport when you strong-armed him into picking between two multicolored futons, convinced him to rent a horse and cart to carry home the spoils, and most importantly, offered a full sentence of advice on what rug would fit your newly-acquired home.

By the time the sun began to dip into the orange horizon, the cart was nearly sky-high, piled with all sorts of furniture and knickknacks. Grunting, you hefted the last of the shield mounts up and over the edge, clapping your hands together in satisfaction. Your boyfriend, who had been amusing himself with hitching the poor horse to the cart, turned to survey the damage. His gaze slowly traveled up the frankly impressive mountain of items, then dropped to you.

"Happy?" he asked, though there was no judgement behind his eyes. he genuinely wanted to know if you were satisfied, and it made your heart stutter in your chest, though you masked it with a big grin.

"Very!" you exclaimed, walking over to wrap him in a tight hug, uncaring of the fact that you were quite literally in the middle of the street. Granted, it was a lot less crowded than before, but that didn't mean there weren't children around to regard your purchases with wide, sparkling eyes, or adults to do the same, but instead for the respected purpose of gossip. As you pressed close, cheek practically molded to his chest, Dark's hand came up to pet your head, smoothing your hair down in a way that had you practically melting in his arms. His eyes were uncharacteristically soft as he gazed down at you.

"Good."

Without warning, he scooped you into his arms, hopping onto the driver's ledge of the cart and taking the reins--ignoring your yelp of surprise–gently snapping them to get things moving. "Ah, ah, don't move," he chided when you attempted un-wrap your legs from his waist, wrapping an arm over the tops of your hips to keep you pressed firmly against his front like a errant animal. "You're perfect where you are."

Dear Hylia, you were pretty sure the entirety of Castle Town was watching you ride, butt first, through the streets, which was definitely not how you wanted to be remembered should you return-- ah, and now his forearm was dropping perilously low on your backside. "Link."

"Yes?"

You buried your face in his shoulder because, Goddesses, the bastard knew what he was doing. "I'd really appreciate if you didn't feel my ass up for all of Hyrule to see."

A haughty sniff was his answer. "I have no idea what you mean, beloved."

You pinched his thigh. "Eyes on the road, hun."

"My eyes have not strayed."

Yeah, sure.

You huffed and, a second later, the arm returned to its previous place over the tops of your hips. "Better?" Dark asked softly, and you could have sworn he sounded vaguely apologetic. The town was beginning to fade into the road, giving way to familiar forest, and a sense of comfort washed over you.

"Much."

It wasn't that you didn't like being touched by him, but the position was already enough and, honestly, you really didn't want to draw attention to either one of you, lest someone realize that, beneath the black hair and even blacker eyes, he looked eerily similar to the Hero of Time.

"I love you," you murmured, turning your head so your lips brushed the skin of his neck. A soft shiver wracked through him when you pressed a soft kiss to the pale flesh.

"And I you," he responded without missing a damn beat, sneaking a tender peck to the top of your head. "To the end of time, and beyond."

"Charmer," you teased, cheeks pinking; he had this way of surprising you at the most random moments, and it was one of the things you loved about him.

"You bring it out in me," said Dark Link, scourge of Hyrule and your terrible, wonderful lover. His body was warm against the buffering chill of the approaching dusk, and you found yourself snuggling closer to escape the wind, mind straying what you had planned for later.

"I was thinking tea, for when we're home, and you can help me get all the stuff inside. We've got enough ingredients for soup, too. How does that sound?"

"I'd love nothing more," he responded, skillfully guiding the horse down the narrow path to your home, which you had chosen specifically for it's closeness to civilization, yet significant distance from the main road, which maintained the illusion of solitude. "And after?"

Dear gods. He was insatiable. You bit your lip to keep the laughter at bay. "We could... christen the futon?"

"And the dresser, I'd expect."

"Naturally," you shrugged. "But if I get butt-splinters, you're dealing with them."

At the mention the words 'I' and 'butt-splinters', Dark paused. "...Perhaps we shall have to return for a mat–"

You cut him off with a laugh.

"Hey."

It was dark out. A beam of silvery moonlight streamed in through the window, casting an almost ethereal glow over your boyfriend's face. He had shifted to his regular form as soon as your feet touched solid ground, and you couldn't have been happier when it only took two short hours to drag everything inside, though the approaching night had forced you to be lazy and retire early to recuperate–christening the futon would have wait, likely when it wasn't in the middle of the dining room with a thousand other things stacked atop it–but when you cracked your eyes open to find him very obviously watching you sleep, you couldn't help the concern that befell your expression.

"You're awake," he rumbled, voice heavier from disuse. It was a well-known secret that he didn't need to rest like you did, but he was usually more... discreet when it came right down to it.

"So are you," you reached up to rub your bleary eyes as they adjusted to the lighting. Dark shifted so he was on his side, fully facing you with a fist propped beneath his cheek, sheet pulled down just enough to reveal a very generous peek of his chest and stomach. You could have sworn the red in his eyes was pulsing. "You didn't have another dream, did you?"

It was yet another well-known secret that, when he did find it in him to 'rest', it was often plagued with things terrible enough to have him shooting up with a breathless gasp, then jumping from bed to stalk the home for enemies. Most times, you could get away with wrapping him in a tight hug, but there was never complete certainty, so you had begun asking.

But Dark merely shook his head, watching you with a neutral expression. "No," his voice, still rough from 'slumber', rasped. "Thinking."

"Of?"

"You."

Aw, really? How sweet! You found it in yourself to smile, scooting up the pillow to copy his pose, the last traces of exhaustion still clinging to the back of your mind. "Me too," you admitted softly, keeping your voice low so as to not disrupt the fragile air between you. 

Dark blinked. He hadn't been expecting that answer. "Truly?"

"Have I ever lied to you?" You asked. It was a joke, because, really, you hadn't, and he knew it too. You let your hand drop from beneath your cheek, scooting forward until you were a hairs-breath from each other; eyes searching, hearts yearning.

Inky arms wrapped around you: one slid to cradle your head while the other traced the divots of your spine through your tunic. Soft breath fanned over your skin, and it was with no shred of hesitation that your leg slung across the curve of his hip over the thin sheet. I would die for you, whispered his eyes, because he would always be a man of action than words.

Me too, you hoped the kiss you planted on his nose conveyed.

His grip tightened. You allowed a laugh to bubble from your throat. "We're not sleeping tonight, are we?"

"Not unless you want to," Dark said smoothly. He didn't sleep, but he understood that you had to. Usually. The way he stroked your back was giving you ideas that dared not be ignored. 'For you, I'll wait an eternity' went unsaid.

And, when he kissed you–like a lover, like the only person in the world–you believed it.

Y'all have no idea how close I was to writing smut 😭

[lovefromsunlight]

no thoughts just mer neil x diver andrew but andrew was never medicated and neil’s father was dead from the get go, so the main two canon things that stopped their healing process is removed. i could yap for forever that andrew’s medication was his final straw, he needs to be in control and have autonomy and his medication took that away from him. he even had that control during the worst part of his life, and he DOESNT have that now. that’s haunting. and neil’s last straw was that he could never be still because the fear of his father and his men was always chasing him. he was never safe. and so when you remove those two things it’s a whole fic just about andrew and neil’s healing process without anything detrimental to stop it.

oh and MERMAIDS.

that’s the pitch for my fic THANK YEWWWWW

[aberooski]

🌻🌻🌻

GIMME THE NOVEL LENGTH YAP!!!!!!

Alright! *cracks knuckles* let's see that I've got in the vault to yap about..... 🤔🤔

OOH! Okay! So this is something that's relevant to stuff I've brought up before but haven't gone super into, but it's a fic idea I have that I genuinely MUST do like for my own sake at this point.

So, as we all know, I firmly believe that if there had been a way in episode 32 to save Syrus after the fact if Zane sacrificed him to Illusion Gate to defeat Camula, he would have done so. SO this idea is about that.

Spoilers for this fic idea beneath, I guess, lol

So, Zane is faced with the ultimatum of either saving Syrus and putting the world in greater danger by losing his key, or sacrificing Syrus to save the world. And Syrus campaigns for Zane to sacrifice him because as we know, at this point he still believes he's worthless and that it would be a waste for Zane to save him over the world. And he struggles with it for a hot second, but then he remembers something that changes everything.

The Gravekeepers.

Because in this timeline, and this comes from a conversation/brainstorm sesh I had with somebody a while back, Zane knows about the Gravekeepers because Banner took him, Atticus, and Fujiwara there to test them before Fujiwara died and Atticus disappeared and he thought it was all a dream or just not real until he's told, probably by Alexis, that Banner took them to the Gravekeepers too. Obviously, with the way Darkness works as established in season 4, Fujiwara being erased from existence essentially also fucked with Zane's memory of that time too so when she tells him it's like o shit me and Atticus really did go there!

I'm also changing how the Gravekeepers function and stuff because like, they're so odd. Like they're so oddly placed in the show and the whole two halves of the Shadow charm thing that really doesn't pay off in any meaningful way especially with how fast Atticus is brought in and he just has the other half and they never tell us how when or why he got it and it was stupid and Jaden should've just gotten the whole charm if they weren't gonna give us that payoff but I digress 😑

ANYWAY, so back when Zane and co were there, the Gravekeepers mentioned that their realm is sacred ground where souls go before they pass on, "the resting place of souls before they move on tp the next", because that's what the Gravekeepers do in this timeline, they look after lost souls and ferry them to the other side.

And he knows Banner knows how to get there.

So he realizes that if he sacrifices Syrus to Illusion Gate, before his soul is offered to the Sacred Beasts, it'll end up in the Gravekeeper dimension for a short time. A window of time they can use to get there and retrieve Syrus's soul before it's lost forever. The window is small and the chance is slim, but this is Zane. He comes to the conclusion that logically, it's worth the risk.

There's still a chance he can win the duel and save his brother, so he's going to take it. So since it's season 1 and he hasn't gone full Edgelord-Supreme yet, he tells Syrus he'll get him back, and blasts Cyber End Dragon with Cyber Barrier Dragon and wins the duel, losing Syrus, but also rescuing Crowler in the process because that's what the duel was all about, after all.

After the duel, the others are in shock and are extremely upset and just in disbelief that Zane could have done something like that. But they're not in his head, they don't know why he did it just yet.

But Jaden definately yells at him, angry and hurt and in total disbelief that he could possibly do such a thing! Getting him to understand is difficult.

Alexis also is just appalled and hurt and betrayed. She's spent so much time desperately searching for her brother, begging the universe for even the slightest clue and confiding in Zane about this and taking so much solace in his reassurance. She'd do anything to see her brother again (because Atticus isn't back yet in in this timeline), and as if how he's been treating Syrus for years already wasn’t bad enough, now he's sacrificed him seemingly forever. She'll understand when Zane explains, but she still won't like it.

Bastion regrettably understands the logic, but still can't believe he really sacrificed him.

Chazz understands the logic too but is just like damn, that's cold. But also, his brothers wouldn't have hesitated to sacrifice him if it were them, so he feels for Syrus.

Chumley is in shock.

Crowler is distraught, he's just activated dad mode and the whole point of the duel was to rescue him. So from his perspective, Zane just sacrificed his little brother for his sake. Despite the fact that he can follpw Zane's logic when he explains himself, dad is disappointed in him for taking this big of a risk.

Banner just pets Pharaoh. He knows why he did it, but he puts on the upset face so as not to look suspicious. He's unsure about Zane's actions tho cuz it's very risky of him. They can save Syrus, but the window is very slim in the grand scheme.

Zane understands why everyone is upset because they don't know his reasons at first. He doesn't really react to everyone being angry and upset at him, he begins to explain then just walks up to Banner with purpose and DEMANDS Banner take him to the Gravekeepers.

Banner plays dumb and acts surprised and like he doesn’t know how or what he means.

"Don't play dumb with me!" Zane grabs him by the shirt, the others gasp behind him, and he gets real mad. "Atticus and I (since Fujiwara's memory was erased), you took us there before he disappeared. I know you took Jaden and the others there too, now take me back!" - something like this, at least.

Banner relents, and after some yknow, internal J-Squad drama, they head off to go and rescue Sy! So Banner takes them back to the Gravekeeper realm where they end up coming face to face with the Gravekeeper Chief again, where he tells them that if they want Syrus's soul back, they're going to have to duel him for it. Jaden volunteers himself very persistently, but ultimately, Zane takes up the challenge.

Sadly, this means I'll have to write at least 1 duel, which sucks, but I'll figure it out somehow. I mean, I managed during Sustained By Hate so I mean askskskskks 😅😭

The problem is that because this is the Gravekeepers and they play Shadow Games, if Zane wins, they get Syrus's soul back and they can leave. But if he loses, I'm sure we all can guess where this is going, all of their souls will be on the line. But that's not going to deter the J-Squad, no siree bob! So Zane takes on the Gravekeeper Chief and with his victory, reclaims Syrus's soul!

There's a nice reunion and we all go home! But there's still several mysteries that are yet to be solved involving Atticus, and a certain suspicious professor. And because Camula wasn't sacrificed to Illusion Gate, technically, she's still out there and could come back any time to challenge them for their keys... dun dun DUUUUUUNNNNNNN 😱

----------

So anyway, that's the basic idea! I've always wanted to write something circa season 1 but for some reason I've never done it, and this concept is something I've been thinking about for a long time now that is now just gnawing at my SOUL for me to do! Plus, it'll force me to work with characters I don't really use as much and challenge me to work with different dynamics and force me not to lean on certain characters as much. Because Syrus and Atticus aren't there, Hassleberry isn't there because it's season 1 and I've loterally never written a long fic without him at least APPEARING so that'll be new! Alexis and Chazz's dynamic can't be as close as they usually are in my fics because they're set later in the series or are aus and all, CHUMLEY WILL BE THERE AND SOMEHOW I'VE NEVER USED HIM EVEN THO I ADORE HIM SM AND MISS HIM EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE?????????? Plus it'll force me to really focus on Zane and get into his head and I think that'll be a really fun challenge for me as I, as we all know, haha, do not like him!

Also, new fanfic timeline beginning???????? I don’t really have a fic timeline anyway cuz Angel's Tears and Sustained By Hate don’t exist in the same time line and I mean, maybe a 1 shot or 2 could be in the Sutained By Hate time line but ugh, there's no continuity to it it's all so messyyyyyyyyyyy

But omg no, the rewrite timeline?????? Omg wait?????? No don’t let me go off the rails aaaaaa

Anyway!!!!!!!!!!! Aaaaaa I've genuinely been wanting to yap about this, it's in the early stages of planning. I've still gotta work out some of the finer details and stuff, but this shit is happening I stg!! 😤😤😤😤 I can't keep getting away with presenting all these sick ass fic ideas and then not doing them for like 3 years or something aaaaaaaa rip the gx pirate au and OUAD 2 I'm coming back for you I PROMISE! TRUST! 😭🙏

I also had a few scraps of an idea for a GX x Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch au, one of my favorite games of all time, that would be sick as fuck that I dunno if I'd ever actually do for fear it could end up becoming too similar to Sons of The Stars in some ways if I didn't handle it right and do some things differently than I'd normally want to do them by way of like casting and chracter things and such tho but that's neither here nor there atm and I've yapped long enough and I should probably go to bed tbh but aaaaaaa

Anyway, hope this was an enjoyable doctoral dissertation of a yap for u my friend!! Thx for enabling meeee!! 🙌🫶

[tyrrible-twos]

Happy FFWF :)

I know for your current fic, one of the cool parts is you using your music knowledge for the AU. How do you go about research in general and deciding which real-life musicians and songs equate to their Jayvik counterparts?

Hello!! Thank you so much for the ask. I hope you're prepared for the absolutely Biblical yap session you've inspired. I've been chewing on this for hours. I hope that somewhere in this yap I answer the thesis of your question because I'm pretty sure I've talked around it.

The short answer? Chaos and listening until something hopefully sticks.

The long answer:

A lot of my general ideas and vibes came from like general Music History knowledge from college, as well as having also taught high school Music History.

So I knew from the beginning that I wanted the piece they created to either be based on something from the Romantic Period (19th Century) because it's characterized by really emotional and programmatic pieces OR something like VERY contemporary. Early ideas were something from Bartok or Stravinsky. I particularly like Russian composers from the Late Romantic just as a general rule. (During this time, nationalism became a Thing(TM), even in music and national song styles happened. The Russians cooked every time. So much hidden political protesting in their music.) I also really love Rachmaninoff but wasn't super familiar with him beyond his really famous works (both of his piano concertos).

This is all a really long way to lead me to how I got here. I did some Googling, like any good researcher, and found a couple reddit posts with some links in the r/ClassicalMusic community. I did a lot of listening. At this point, I was going into PYETM with a dream and some Vibes, and really, it was the vibes that spoke to me here, and it's how I settled on the Rach Cello Sonata.

I listened to a couple different recordings at this point. These were also suggestions from several Reddit posts/Google searches to give me a head start. Even if the music is the same, the expression is different performer to performer, and it's really the music that started to develop the plot rather than the other way around. I heard the way the conversations between the piano and the cello developed throughout the Sonata have shaped so much of the plot arc and pacing. Every thing from the minor-minor-Major-Major movement cycle to the antagonism and longing.

I have listened to the pieces in this fic .... too many times to count. The first several times, I just approached it as taking notes about my own thoughts and reactions. I really treated it like college, where I was analyzing pieces. Just so many so many hand written notes.

Then, I found this really great article to supplement my own opinions and also just to double-check myself, which pointed me in the direction of some of the descriptions I used. I really like that it was written by someone that isn't necessarily a professional musician, and the lay-people terminology helped me bring it to life in a way that (I hope) is accessible to people who aren't necessarily musicians either.

The rest of the music featured, like the guitar piece and the Brahms and the Bossa Nova vibe session, followed pretty much the same process. Lots of deep dives into classical music and latin/latin jazz music communities and listening to various pieces until one stuck out and I got that "lightbulb" moment, followed by double-checking my work with Wikis or articles as available.

I hope this has answered your question and that this information has actually been interesting. I could yap about the background work for this fic forever.

[edenspoem]

I haven't been able to stop thinking about 'no valentines for eden'!! The way you've written this story is so incredibly romantic, it's like poetry straight out of the gothic romance era. I saw someone say that it reminds them of Carmilla and I agree! "Love is a rooting thing; you look once, and you never want to stop looking." Wish this story was also on ao3, but I'll yap here if that's ok.

I love that reader is blunt with Ellie. She makes her intentions clear. "You're lonely. You starve for some sort of company, right?" I felt that reader could sense this in Ellie, because she feels the same. A vampire who deviates from a 'hoard' is bound to a life, a probable immortal life, of solitude. Of forever grief and hunger. It's a comfort that hurts, to be beside someone who lives a temporary life. A human who will die, a human with human relationships. A human who lives the life of a hunter and prey, just as the reader does. Watching her is as if looking into a reflection, seeing the coldest parts of herself, the human parts that live on past first deaths. A mistake waiting to happen again but the reward of blood so sweet, of skin so soft and company as warm as hers, makes it worth it. "You loved her. But she was taken from you." Ellie is lonely and in the reader, she probably sees all of the potential. A friend, a lover, someone to come home to. A vampire who makes her world just that much bigger outside of her routine life. Someone who sees her and someone who allows themselves to be seen in turn. She thinks she knows the reader. "Just act like a human and don't get fucking caught." And maybe the reader could feel her getting close. Maybe it's a betrayal in and of itself that she would ask a vampire to deny their nature. "It isn't enough. It was never going to be." Tomorrow comes and hunger aches. To a vampire, human relationships seem so inessential, don't they? The reader may have grown past the need for them. They invite hurt. Loss. But Ellie is a prize. The reader loves her and Ellie wanted her, hunted and preyed upon, bled and gutted. She will see the reader as they are. Finally.

"She turns slowly, and without a word. Stares without a drought in her waterlines. Your reflection consumes you in them, as both hands consume her at the sides, cupping her delicate, mourning-blue face. You could eat her. Sweet as an apple: round, shining, blooding whooshing to the surface. But you would begin with her lips. From her lips, to her love, as you did your girl before."

I would give you a million kudos. This was absolutely amazing. Standing ovation material and I'm so serious.

My theory is Ellie is going to look more into vampires, but maybe this is wishful thinking on my part in hopes of a part two. I can't stop coming back to this story, it's so so good!!!!

THIS. IS. INSANE. THIS. IS. THE. LONGEST. ASK. I'VE. GOTTEN. ABOUT. A. FIC. I. WROTE. HOW INSANE IS THAT. NEW FAVORITE PERSON ALERT. you a03 yappers are probably the best.. avid tumblrers aren't this keen on sharing their thoughts. so i really really appreciate this! and fyi i am in the process of making an ao3! just gotta.. wait until i'm invited..

as you pointed out: "You loved her. But she was taken from you." and i don't know if it's noticeable to anyone, but that was intentionally written to foreshadow/loop back to readers past lover (that looks like ellie) because in a sense that's all reader can think of when looking at ellie. but the fact that it's written "You loved her" in a past tense is sort of a double entendre because she did love that girl in the past, but there is a point where it seems reader stops loving ellie and falls in love with the idea of loving ellie because she looks sm like her past lover. i did this a lot actually. lots of references to the past.

but you did sum up a lot of this in an interesting and.. well, i won't say correct, because i want this to be open to interpretation. but in how i view the world, pretty similar. i wanted to show how unhealthy the relationship was going to be from the beginning. and i've never written a love like that, so, yeouch. it really warms me though that you can pull all this from something i've made on the internet. we don't see that kind of thing anymore. best commentary ask ever. i will be bookmarking this or smn to remember it forever ♥ until i die because i personally am not a vampire!

again, as i keep promoting it, please go read no valentines for eden everybody. i actually put my whole ass and soul into it these past five months of capricious silence ♥

[caffeinatedattorney]

Here are my thoughts about batman unburied: fallen city because no one asked but I wanna yap a bit lol:

It feels so much different in a bad way. My og post got deleted, if you saw it no you didn't. And I tired to like it? I heard it, thought about it, but it feels like something heppened along the way and there is less going on than in the first or second season. I think the team was smaller, the eps were def shorter and the story doesn't get to go in places the other two seasons could.

Harvey and bruce have this cordial relationship, kinda of reminds me of btas but without the trust. Harvey's gf is suspiciously into Bruce and harvey hates it. There's a twist to it of course and it's how his gf is actually thalia and it's strange bc. It's not like you expect a twist, after the twist.

It's a court of owls plot. Batman has to grapple with his parents death being a conspiracy and not some random act. Harvey doesn't matter past the first half. He makes a joker voice which I attribute to the reduced cast and I hate it so much.

Then! That's when you find out Harvey's gf who's been helping you is actually thalia al ghul and that the court is controlled by the one who cannot die, drum roll, ra's al ghul.

And, okay, I'm a big fan of noir batman and I've never been the biggest fan of the bigger conspiracy plots aside from a few times. But this feels like a worse version of gotham knights where at least the characters didn't speed run their arcs to get to the point.

The court feels so weak in this. Batman just met them and they're folding to an earthquake and aerosolized adrenaline. The talon is another of Bruce's allies and although I appreciate the emphasis Bruce Wayne rather than batman but how the hell does the court know every single detail about Bruce's life and routine and behavior but don't figure out he's batman? Am I missing something????

Then, the al ghuls part is so cartoony. They really speedrun the ra's al ghuls whole point in two eps where thalia and him argue about protecting people and ra's is a huge asshole and obvs thalia betrays him and she disappears and I love her but wow.

Barbara gets some cool moments where she fools some cops and her whole hacking thing. But man why does she have to drag Jim Gordon? Why wasn't he involved in other first place if he's so burned out? It feels so, bad considering he's only mentioned in the riddler season and the first season. Why is he here?

And it might just be me, but this feels, like a regression? For Bruce? Barbara as oracle is there so you'd think Bruce would know better than try and protect everyone? Idk maybe the fact harvey appears only now makes it seem to me like it's earlier in his journey. It's a fine switch up, but harvey highlights how... Inmature this batman is?

They took stories that occur in the early years (ra's, harveys denting) and combined it with one that happens way way later in his career (the court of owls and the conspiracy) and it's so... Strange. Like there's both missed potential and too much at once for the sake of hitting the next plot point.

It doesnt do anyone any favors. I wanted to like it. And ra's is compelling. The idea of the court using harvey agaisnt Bruce (turning him into a talon maybe? ) is cool but this feels... Like a misuse of what they can do. It's off.

Then ra's, you don't have time to process and digest the fact he's an old guy, who has a way to live forever, the fact he believes he can change the world with a strong hand, the fact he wants to duel batman, the fact he has a daughter, the fact he's been here before and founded(? ) the court. There's a lot going on and it's dizzying.

Oh well.

[mochiwrites]

It's 3 am and I have a sudden urge to yap about how much I love songbird's blood so that's exactly what I am going to do ‼️‼️

I love Songbird Blood so much that it lives rent free in my head all day every day. When I'm going to sleep 6/7 days I think about it while I'm about to go to sleep. I love to think about silly little things that could happen (I'm like 99% wrong most of the time) but still I adore daydreaming about songbird blood so much.

The addiction to your writing had me yapping to a friend and now we both are addicted to your writing a conversation goes like this

"Omg did you see Mochiwrites posted a new work?"

"YESSSS I LOVED ITTT"

"yap yap yap"

"more yap yap yap"

I think I'm that far into a rabbit hole of your works :,) but that's okay because who wouldn't want to be!! You are the reason I installed Tumblr by the way (and like 1/2 people I have my notifications turned on for)(I don't know if you remember getting an ask about something called traveling thieves and you were like "Sorry I think you got the wrong fanfic author" (don't ask how I remember I don't know myself) but that's the other person I have my notifications turned on for (I don't know why this has become a mini ramble about another fanfic writer but back to topic)

I would like to say that your 1 am ramble about you might be quitting Songbird Blood a little while back made me cry slightly (I don't know if it's okay to add this or not :,) ) but I hold Songbirds Blood very dearly to my poor little heart and the idea of it being left on a cliffhanger forever made me feel sad things

Songbird Blood is one of my top 3 best fanfics I've ever read (my top 3 don't have an order sadly I could not choose) it is one of my comfort fanfics (crazy because there is very little comfort in it) I love to hear songs and go oh woah that song fits SB Scar or little poems. Even sad things like Grian not being able to live as long as Scar and Mumbo.

I've even gone on my rants about the totem of undying in SB, there are so many possibilities that you have made and it's so cool to think about all the magical and cool items you have inserted into the world

I love to go back and reread old asks about songbird's blood or relook at fanart because they are stunning ‼️ I love how much thought you have put into an idea it's amazing to see how much songbird blood has grown in its 2 years of being around

Oh wow, it's actually been two years since Songbird's Blood was first turned into a series on ao3 that makes me feel slightly old that means I found Songbird's Blood when I was like 13... I'm 15 now 😭🙏

Mochi I'm so addicted to your writing your user pops up after just typing "moch" that's not even the finished word of Mochi

Your writing has me walking around the room mid chapter every update because that's how good they are, I have to stop and process how beautiful your writing is! Your writing is better than real books I've read you are so descriptive and the words you use have such an impact that the readers reading them are just so MAWH 🙏🙏

I would love to add more but I've been typing this for an hour (it is now 4 am) and I'm getting sleepy but in conclusion, you have such a special and beautiful way of writing, it leaves me shocked and always coming back for more (I stalk your account multiple times a day) I adore songbirds blood and every other thing you have written it makes me so happy whenever you post! You deserve all the cats in the world and I hope you enjoy this ramble and it makes sense because I'm too tired to proofread it ‼️)

I'M SO SORRY I'VE LEFT THIS UNANSWERED FOR SO LONG WAHHHHHHHHHHH

I don't have the words to Properly answer everything in this but djghfjghfjg uwawawawa thank you <3333

[brofightiscancelled]

yapping about how i approached translating karamatsu's brand new world. just discussing the localization liberties i took and other things i think are interesting. i just love yapping sorry

part 3/4 because i forgot about tumblr post image limits lol

CHAPTER 8

as you probably know if you watch anime, in japanese they say いっただきまーす before they eat a meal. english has no colloquial equivalent so they usually just translate it as "thanks for the meal!" because something like "down the hatch!" comes off as quite goofy and old-fashioned. luckily, THESE characters ARE goofy and old-fashioned, so i get to use it.

if it were solely up to me i think "cuz I'm the oldest" would've been a more natural english-speaking sibling thing to say here. but source material LOVES saying eldest so i left it as that

todomatsu says "you're kicking up dust" here. this is where cultural knowledge in translation is important.... i just kind of assumed that this is colloquially used the same way as "making a mess", but im not actually sure, this was just a guess. so i wish i had that cultural knowledge lol

admitting my weakness: i have no idea what bro was talking about here. i made my best guess based off what nonsense i could glean from this as well as the chinese fantranslation. sorry

admitting my whimsy: i had no reason to localize todomatsu into talking annoyingly here i just kinda wanted to. sorry

CHAPTER 9

the dialogue here is more literally "The one who showed me that was--". this doesn't sound that unnatural, and i probably could've stuck with it (if it was song lyrics i definitely wouldve gone with that lol), but i thought "something I learned from--" felt a bit more natural of a sentence to be cut off (i feel like an english speaker would say "ichimatsu was the one who showed me that", y'know?)

in the first panel, ichi says "let's go/return home". but it doesnt fit in this itty bitty speech bubble, and also is not quiiite as colloquial in english? (in this kind of casual context i think it would be more like "let's head out" yknow :?), so i just did "let's go". but then later he literally does say "let's go", which i can't use again, so i shifted this to "c'mon!" even though it's slightly less faithful of a translation for that phrase... but it's for da sake of the overall meaning. welcome to da translator's dilemma

personal pronoun moment! though the karamatsu we know and love uses オレ, a confident and bold personal pronoun, high school karamatsu uses 僕, a polite and reserved pronoun. again no english equivalent so this kind of subtlety in characterization is just kinda lost foreveerrrrr and needs to be made up in other ways

(as a side note ichi uses the same おれ pronoun in hs as in the current day, though. it fits his casual, laid-back high school personality and also his current low-energy, slacker personality. da versatility. very interesting)

a little look into my sick and twisted mind process

"remaining empty / will you be this way forever?"

remaining is too long to fit in this speech bubble, so im shortening it to "staying empty"

"will you be this way forever" doesn't sound very natural to me. "do you plan on" feels more direct and accusatory (as asserted by ichi's use of よ here) so let's use that

"do you plan on staying that way forever?" is a very nice sentence! but i already used "staying" in the first speech bubble. curses

the last thing ichi asked was "why are you still alive", and is about to say "just die", so i think bringing back "living" here wouldn't be too off-base, right? it's a similar meaning.... even though it wasnt insinuated in the text.....

it's fine no one will know

this translation is from the source material. but a bit of potential double meaning here that maybe was lost: 逆に means like, "on the contrary" or "conversely", so can mean something closer to, "(if you just plan on staying empty), you might as well just die instead!" which i think is a slightly different vibe than "actually" and is also neeeat

okay one more part to come just for chapter 10 i guess

part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 4

[ricochetfuel]

HAI SAW UR REBLOG, PLS RAMBLE ABT UR SONA/CHAR/WHATEVS!!! IDM!!! WOULD LOVE TO HEAR, WHETHER YOU ANSWER THE ASK OR SPAM MY DMS!!! IDM!!! YAP (i've never used that word before & don't rlly know what it means, so mb if i use it wrong)

HI YAY LETS GO!!!! :333

fig hates her mom bc she manipulates the villages/groups for their own safety but fig just sees it as plain manipulation and hates her for it bc they dont know their own feelings, rather what rosemary makes them feel, in a sense??? she's also best friends w pepper (red guy) and they met each other when fig tried sparring with him to prove her worth but pepper just made her sit down and basically gave her a life lesson. now there locked in and always best friends forever and ever. fig also caused the gap in hickory's teeth on accident bc he tried sparring w her and she STILL hasn't forgave herself for causing it (even though hickory forgave her)

fig's also set on the concept of uniqueness and wants to break the manipulation her mom causes so people can have their own thoughts and feelings that aren't influenced by rosemary, making them unique, but they're like this for a VERY specific reason

rosemary makes them feel the same because she's scared of change and such because of past conflicts and trauma with her suitors so she makes everyone feel null and stuff so she doesn't have to deal with different opinions and shit. but fig doesn't know about her mothers past, therefore putting a divot between them and the gap stretches because fig Is hardheaded and set on what she wants

fig is an opportunist and takes the chances she gets despite it possibly negatively impacting her goals but fig doesn't care, as long as something is different and disruptive to her mother's quaint cycle of no change. it's important to fig that things change instead of continuing in a wasteful cycle of repetitive mulch that feeds the machine, but she cant change that without hurting the mother and daughter's relationship even further

she does love her mom a lot, but she also hates her and despises her for the choices she's made for her groups/villages and she wants to overthrow her mother's position in government without hurting her in the process, but everyone knows that's an impossible wish for fig to ask for. pepper tries to explain that its not going to work without someone getting hurt, but fig doesn't listen in hopes of finding something that contradicts anyone's statements against her own

fig's egotistical and impulsive, even going as far as saying she's selfishly full of pride, but she has her perks that make her a good person. fig likes to help others despite her own situation at home, but that's because she knows helping people provokes a change, and that only pushes her personal goal forward. without meaning to, she's following in her mother's manipulative path

shes just a girl trying to promote change while she battles with self improvement and in the process she accidentally becomes what she never wanted to be in the first place and that thought destroys her

she tries to become anything other than her mother yet she messes up somehow along the way and becomes a spitting image of what she wanted to end in the beginning,, despite everything, it's still you

something something it's still you. despite everything, its still you something something

she wanted to fight pepper (her best friend) at first because she wanted to prove to her mom that she didn't need protection like she did with her past suitors when nobody saved her from them but in the process she befriended him and that's when her mother knew she couldn't save her daughter anymore. she fell too far gone from her hands and now they're coated in blood of the girl she never could be

her mother, rosemary, never got to be a child because she's the oldest daughter of their lineage and she had to be married off because of the superstitions around having a girl as your first born so she never had a childhood to call her own

so you can imagine her anguish when her daughter rallied against her protection and fell from her grace like a fallen angel descending from the golden gates, yes????

and rosemary is cursed to live every day with the emotions she deprives from her people for their protection and nobody knows that, not even rosemary herself

in a sense she is immortal, driven by the feelings she is null and void to

everybody supports rosemary except her kid who sees through her façade and hates her for manipulating the groups to her liking. her kid wants her to change but rosemary doesn't want to because if she changes, then ppl wont like her anymore. her kid wants ppl to choose for themselves but thats against what rosemary believes in. she wants ppl to fall in line so they're safe but her kid wants uniqueness.

pepper is fig's best friend who tags along every trip and looks really dumb but he's VERY smart and coordinated, plus he's tall as shit and beefy. he's like a security guard. but fig is super smart too, street smarts specifically, and knows her fair share of fighting methods. together, they're linked. best friends who hold each other up

they didn't grow up together like most ppl do w their besties, fig just spotted him from her mom's pickings of guards for the groups, and honestly picked him out and went at him, trying to prove that she's stronger to her mom. however, pepper told her to sit down and pick on someone else that she can actually handle. then fig immediately looked up to him and now they're best friends since

peppers just awesome. fig has a stereotypical tough gal persona but she isn't scared to show her emotions or interests, which is what made pepper so adamant on becoming friends w her!!!! peppers like "oh word this is different from anyone else whos tried being my friend" and they clicked immediately

[vally-vall-vall]

Man I love Green Day so fucking much

Personal little yap but I honestly cannot stress enough how much this band means to me. How much their music has affected me and continues to affect me over a decade later. How much they affected my thinking and were a literal gateway for me to formulate my thoughts about things like queerphobia and capitalism. How deeply they radicalised me and how I couldn't be more glad that they did.

"Babe, what radicalised you?" Green Day. Green Day radicalised me, bitch, cry about it. Little twelve year old me barely had the words to describe why I felt different among my peers. I wasn't openly rejected but wasn't accepted either, whether this was by my social circles, teachers or family. I was queer, (although I didn't even realise it back then) I had undiagnosed adhd, I had undiagnosed autism, I had interests that didn't align with that was taken as a norm. I felt I was treated differently as a girl because of my country's deeply rooted misogynistic approach to women, I saw the racism and discrimination all around me in subtle or grand ways, I saw the political corruption and the unfairness of the adult world and while my 12 year old brain didn't have the cognitive ability to properly comprehend all of this yet, nor to mention describe it, their music did it for me.

American Idiot was six years old by the time I was introduced to them by a friend of mine (and years later I realised I actually had a fat fucking crush on her) and fuck me listening to it was an experience I know I will never ever get again. The only way I can describe it is the way former addicts describe their first hit of heroin. Just this *bliss* that no matter how hard you chase, you can only ever experience once.

That album was everything to me. American Idiot, Homecoming, Holiday, Jesus of Suburbia especially. Every single lyric of that 9 minute song is engraved deep into my grey matter and will stay there forever because I am yet to find a song I relate to this hard after fifteen years since hearing it.

And there's nothing wrong with me

This is how I'm supposed to be

In a land of make believe

That don't believe in me

Fuck. That's perfect. I could fucking cry from catharsis right now the way I have cried many times before over these four lines. It perfectly narrowed down the feelings I had about being subtly rejected by everyone around me while it was also hammered into me to accept and believe in those who didn't believe in me.

Home is where your heart is

But what a shame, cause everyone's heart doesn't beat the same

It's beating out of time

Do you?? Want to kill me?? Do you want me to lay down and die right now?? From the near palpable relief that my dissociation and disconnection from fucking everything around me is felt by other people and that I am not alone?? That the way I feel rejected by people I should call my home, judged for my differences, shunned for my quirks, is not something that makes me unlovable? That other people feel this?? That I?? Am not alone here??

And it goes ooon and ooooon. "Everyone's so full of shit, born and raised by hypocrites" The rage, the pain, the eventual indifference and the need to run away from a world that judges you, shuns you, calls you lesser, but also expects you to give yourself to it as some kind of weird fucking social sacrifice to keep the system going despite it's blatant flaws that caused you to become and outsider in the first place.

The years of my life as a troubled teenager and young adult that followed had me go through the level of emotions of this song like it was some kind of process of it's own. The rage and anger, the frustration, the eventual indifference, the stubborn refusal to change and conform to the system, the way the pressure eventually breaks you down, the need to just but being unable to. Fucking run away from it all. Again, I have never heard a song as relatable as Jesus of Suburbia and I doubt I ever fucking will, and I'm not even fucking American.

I love Green Day so fucking much.

I knew from the very first day I was introduced to them that they were a political band (and I really?? Wonder why you'd think they aren't?? Are you stupid???) although I had no idea American Idiot specifically was a response to the Bush administration until 2021 when someone took their precious time to explain it to me in detail. And fuck me, I thought I couldn't love them more at the time, and somehow I did after I found this out. I cannot stress enough that the reason why I started paying more attention to US politics (and by extention, the world politics) was fucking Green Day.

They drove me to hyperanalise the political sphere of my country to realise it's corrupt as fuck and full of bigots, cowards and hypocrites. They drove me to think all people are equal, men or women, white or black, straight or queer. They drove me to the realisation that capitalism is a fucking lie created to exploit everything for profit. They caused me to call for equality, for peace, for the defunding of police and the military, for fighting for the queer, the sick and the disabled. They taught me to stubbornly dig my heels into the ground and demand a better world for myself and everyone I share it with. They are what drove me to vote. They are reason why I happily stand against misogyny, sexism, racism, queerphobia, why I am so opposed to capitalism and oligarchs, why I'm so passionate about the environment, decent education, free healthcare, I could go fucking on and on but you get the point.

They were the voice that I didn't know that I had or that I needed to have. To feel like a person, like I'm seen, that I do matter and that my desires and views are valid. Call me parasocial the way I talk about a fucking band, but without them and their influence, I wouldn't be myself and I am so eternally grateful for this.

I don't know what kind of person I'd be if I was never introduced to them the way I was, but definitely not the way I am now. Not to say I wouldn't be a good person if this band didn't radicalise me, but I definitely wouldn't be as passionate about everything I spoke of as I am now. Green Day changed me at my core, has and continues to influence me to this very day, makes me feel seen and understood, be it through their old songs (Jesus of Suburbia, She, Basket Case, 21 Guns) or their newer songs (Bang Bang, Still Breathing, One Eyed Bastard) or just the way all of the members fuck so damn hard. And never in my 26 years on this forsaken Earth have I ever encountered any piece of music or media that would make me feel quite so seen and *normal* about myself the way Green Day has.

Not to mention the band members are so fucking cool too. "We're bisexual and we hate America" might as well be their motto. They've all been at the front rows of advocating for the rejects of society before it was "cool" before it was normalised to say you support the queers and the immigrants, the disabled, the radical. When they would open up donations and support charities aimed at aids/hiv research, openly opposing conservative ideas about sexuality, gender roles, the control it wants to have over everyone through the spread of fear and misinformation. All of them oppose this to this day, staying by their creed for literally decades, altering their lyrics to fit present-day issues, speaking up again the Elongated Muskrat and Trumpy, supporting Palestine, opposing the war in Ukraine, opposing the overturning of Roe v Wade.

If you're looking for a band to fuck with, here you are. Never budging, never relenting, never shying away from saying and doing the right thing no matter the consequences or backlash it may bring them

I just fucking love Green Day, man. I could continue to yap about this band and the deep love and respect I have for everything they're involved in, be it queer rights or their deeply relatable, cathartic music. Fuck. I just love Green Day

[whump-in-the-closet]

Still not entirely sure about sending asks (specifically just questions, even though that’s the literal purpose. To overshare unnecessarily, feels like I need a reason too otherwise it’s annoying. I am working on it, but yay social anxiety and overthinking :’D), but if you don’t mind me asking a somewhat-off-but-still-on-topic-question, what are your thoughts on worldbuilding?

Hope that’s not too broad, but do you have a favorite part? The finding inspiration? The fleshing out of ideas? Plotting a storyline? Do you care about the intricacies or is it more broad and left too imagination (basically hard vs soft worldbuilding)?

On that note, what are some of your favorite things you’ve created? That you could yap about forever (you can most definitely info dump or keep your secrets, whichever you prefer)? A character, an item, an idea for a story, lore, shitposts that happen in the world you build (what I mean by that is thinking of dumb things that would happen. Like Florida man, but fantasy or whatever genre you like), anything!

Feel free to answer as much or as little as you like, completely understand if it’s random and all but curiosity about other people’s brain worlds (and late night inhibitions being enough to trump aforementioned overthinking) is a strong motivator. Plus learning people’s processes with thinking and developing things is really interesting and fascinating, to see how their brain works (if that doesn’t sound strange lol)

ANYWAYS, hope this isn’t too strange or worded weirdly/awkwardly (not the best with telling how my words are, but I mean everything with positive intentions and curiosity to clarify) and that you have a wonderful day/night and are taking care of yourself and staying hydrated and all that jazz :]

-idk

This is like one of the best asks ever thanks for this yapping opportunity because I’m gonna take it and run

I fuckin love worldbuilding. I used to be a lot more intentional when I was younger, like with a whole notebook dedicated to magic systems and religions and politics and then would build a story from what’s there. It would also bug me if I didn’t have every answer already figured out abt the world before I started writing. But then guess what? I never got very far into my writing lmao

So for the past two-three years I’ve leaned more towards a “I have a vibe and I just wing it”. There was a post I think on here that radically changed my mindset. Basically it said “you don’t have to explain everything because not everything is explained in real life” so yeah, I already hated exposition and now I just go from a character driven stand point instead of a setting inspired one. Characters are definitely my favorite part about writing— they’re very much a part of me shattered into a hundred pieces. I like getting into their minds and think like they do and just let them carry the plot. Now for a traditional book or novel, ehhh idk how well this works but for my erratic “write what you want when you want” shit that I’m on, it works.

Oh! Also I usually start writing from a vibe these days. Like I’ll see something— last night it was a car’s taillights being swallowed up as it drove up a hill— and Itll trigger some itch that u need to scratch, yk? I don’t think I’m a fantastic writer or anything, but I get invested into an idea and I’m like “shit now I have to do this” and it may take literal months to write it but eventually, it does

[colouredbyd]

DALIA OH MY GOD??????/?? I'm in love with ur writing

“I’ll love you whole, when you’re ready,” he continues, breath warm against your temple, “but if all you can give me today are pieces, then I’ll hold them all. I’ll love you as you are. No fixing, no conditions. Just you.”

This line is everything — unconditional, unshaken love spoken so softly it echoes. It’s the thesis of the story, the quiet promise at its core. So reminiscent of She Will Be Loved, reading this fic while listenting to the song hits hard. Its SO them!!!!

“See?” he says softly. “Even when you’re hiding, you still leave a trail.”

“And you’ll always find it?” you whisper, throat thick.

He leans his forehead against yours, soaked and breathless. “Every time.”

CLOSE THE BOOK. TURN OFF THE LIGHTS. THIS IS THE LAST LINE OF MY HEART. YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO END ME LIKE THIS.

"He never stopped loving the sweetness. He just wanted you to have it first — to taste what your childhood kept out of reach, to learn that softness could be safe, that someone would wait in the rain with hands full of kindness just to be near you, that someone would stay even when you break, even when you cannot ask."

This is so beautifully layered — a quiet act of devotion written like poetry. It captures the way love doesn’t always fix, but it stays. And how James offers warmth in the cold. Feels so deeply inspired by the quiet aching love in She Will Be Loved

"Simply to show that no matter what the world took from you, you will be loved."

A perfect, resonant close to a story about healing, presence, and sweetness rediscovered.

dalia analyses: she will be loved

cw: dalia yaps alot alot alot

oh my god anon please come here right now and let me HUG YOU FOREVER 🫂💌i’m actually sitting here with my hand over my mouth rereading this over and over like… how do i even begin to say thank you in a way that touches how much this meant to me?

this fic — all three parts — has become something much more personal than i anticipated when i first began writing it. and your message reminded me why i needed to tell the story in this way, with this level of emotional rawness and tenderness and truth

when i first wrote the opening installment, i thought that would be it. i had something to say — about loving someone through their brokenness, about choosing softness over fear, about the aftermath of pain and the small, sacred spaces where healing starts

and when i posted the second part, “till all that’s left is glorious bone,” i felt like i’d said enough. i’d left the characters in a place of tentative hope, the message had landed: that after the unraveling, something gentle can still remain, something worth keeping. i tried to show that through the braid — how even something torn can be gathered and woven again

but then came the messages. so many people reached out asking, pleading for a third part

and at first i hesitated, not because i didn’t want to return to these characters — i love them deeply — but because i genuinely wondered: what more is there to say? hadn’t we already reached the resolution? hadn’t we given them their happy ending?

but then i realized: that’s not how healing works, and it certainly wasn’t how mine did.

this series has always carried heavy themes — abuse, emotional neglect, suicidal ideation, fractured families — and i felt like ending it on an entirely healed, wrapped-up note would be untrue to what it really was

because healing isn’t linear, it’s not a perfect arc, sometimes your bones ache again when you thought they had settled, sometimes your scars sting, and sometimes you fall back into the dark even when you know where the light is. and if i was going to be honest about all that, then i needed to be honest about what recovery really looks like too

i wrote the third part because i needed to tell that truth too.

this story has always been about the long, slow process of healing. and that means acknowledging the setbacks, the relapses, the nights when you feel the pain again, deep and terrible in your bones, and you think: maybe i haven’t come that far after all

it’s about surviving not once, but again and again and again. it’s about learning to accept love while still learning to love yourself. it’s about being terrified and hopeful at the same time.

and more than anything, it’s about the kind of love that stays. the kind that doesn’t demand perfection. the kind that waits. that holds your pieces. that whispers, you’re not broken — you’re becoming.

that’s what the line you quoted means to me. “i’ll love you whole, when you’re ready. but if all you can give me today are pieces, then i’ll hold them all.” because that’s the love i wish more people had. it’s the love i’m still learning how to give myself

and the truth is: this story is deeply rooted in me. in my own childhood, in my own quiet aches.

the reader — her guilt, her fear of burdening others, her longing to be chosen and her inability to ask for it — she’s me in ways i didn’t realize until i was halfway through writing. the softness james offers her… that’s the kind of safety i always wished someone would offer younger me

this fic poured out from something raw and personal, and that’s probably why i love it as much as i do. it may not be my fluffiest, or even my most polished, but it’s my favorite because it’s the most honest.

and that’s why i wrote the third part. because the story didn’t end , there was still more to say — about what comes after the moment of softness. about how you carry that softness forward, even when it hurts, about how you keep choosing life, even when it’s heavy. about how you will still, always, be loved.

but i needed to show — needed her to know — that love still finds you there. that you are not disqualified from being held gently just because you are still hurting. your pain doesn’t make you unlovable. the relapse doesn’t erase the progress. you are still allowed joy. you are still worthy of softness

so no, this story isn’t fluffy. it’s hurt/comfort at its core. but it’s also hope. it’s the kind of hope i’ve had to cling to, the kind i hope others can hold too <3

thank you, anon. thank you for seeing it. thank you for hearing the message in the quiet. thank you for understanding that this wasn’t just a story — it was a reflection. a memory, a lifeline, and thank you for loving these lines the way you did. you held them so gently and i’m so, so grateful.

with all my heart, dalia 🌷🧸💓