#I think I will eventual update this with the old timeline too but I wanted to get this part clear first because its more complications

[dailybrandonrogers]

A Summary of Bryce Tankthrust's Timelines within the BRCU

The intention of this post is to review all major events involving/centred on Bryce Tankthrust across the BRCU timelines. Following the conclusion of BRYCE, a lot of considerable changes have been made to the overall nature of the pre-BRYCE Timeline theory that have immense and confusing implications. This will be a hopefully more concise attempt at deciphering the current state of the Timeline by only investigating one character, albiet a very significant and important one, and how her personal life as played out so far to our understandings.

As always, here's my BRCU Timeline reference!

Before the list commences, there's a few things that need to be explored.

Bryce Tankthrust's Birthday

Utilising her the publication date of the first video she featured in, her fanon birthday has been declared January 12th. Her birth year however, isn't as a clear anymore. The previous widely accepted assumption was 1971. This was initially inferred in Blame the Hero where in Episode 3, Bobby Worst mentions he is 7 years old. Later, there is a jumpcut that informs 40 years have passed, implying he is now 47 years old in the year 2033. However, the 1971 assumption operates under the impression that Bobby is 47 in the 2018, not 2033, throwing another spanner into the works. Otherwise, he'd be born in 1986.

Approaching this from a newer angle, Bryce is at least 10 when she meets Bobby, and 20 when she begins working for CallCo Phones. Utilising this logic, she has to be 20 or older by Episode 3, in which we see a 1990 NYE party being celebrated

The Current Timeline

Late 1960s

Bryce Tankthrust is born.

Bobby Worst is born.

Late 1970s

Bryce Tankthrust begins learning the Double Diva Diversion.

Bryce Tankthrust meets Bobby Worst at school. She cuts out her heart for him, and after a seemingly random and unprecedented interruption by Abraham Lincoln and Adolf Hitler, she grabs a dropped book about dictatorship and decides to run away with Bobby. Initially discarding the heart in a trash can, she retrieves it 20 minutes later.

Bobby Worst becomes an orphan after his father disowns him, and gets thrown into an orphanage.

Late 1980s

Bobby Worst is released from the orphanage at age 18.

Even Later 1980s

Bryce Tankthrust meets Donovan.

Bryce Tankthrust and Donovan begin seeing eachother.

Donovan dies after falling off a cliff.

Tammy Tankthrust is arrested and thrown in jail.

Bryce Tankthrust begins working at CallCo Phones

Bryce Tankthrust's heart (her own, that had been surgically reimplemented at age 10) fails. Gloria transplants an experimental mechanic heart into her; it is successful.

Bryce Tankthrust and Bobby Worst Reunite.

Bryce Tankthrust commissions Gloria to make a robotic reconstruction of Donovan.

After he was fatally injured by X, Bryce Tankthrust gives her heart to Donovan, so that he can perform surgery and give her his murder victim's heart.

Bryce Tankthrust murders the CEO of CallCo and his wife, and assumes his position as CEO of the company, now revamping it into Thankthrust Tellies.

1990

Bryce's heart (the one she got from the Accountant) fails, and she suffers cardiac arrest on New Years Eve.

Bryce Tankthrust moves offices.

Bobby Worst murders Delorio and the majority of Tankthrust Tellies' workforce and harvests their hearts to create a stockpile for Bryce. In the process, he undergoes a metamorphosis of sorts.

1990 - 1995

Bryce meets with the Angel Investment Firm, and declines their offer to take on 50% of her company.

Bryce Tankthrust rekindles with Gloria Goopty.

Bryce Tankthrust meets with the Angel Investment Firm again, and this time signs the contract with them.

Bryce Tankthrust moves offices again.

1996

Tammy Tankthrust is released from prison. Bryce and her mother also rekindle.

1996 - 2016

Bryce Tankthrust kidnaps the son of previous Tankthrust Enterprises employee Donna Phitts, and preserves his youth to make countless clones with hearts readily available for harvesting and utilising.

2020

Joe Biden wins the 2020 presidential election, and Bryce Tankthrust finishes her tenure as president of the United States of America.

2021

Joe Biden is inaugurated into office, and Bryce Tankthrust undermines the course of the election by initiating a capitol riot on January 6th.

News gets out that Bryce Tankthrust staged the incarceration of Bobby Worst when footage of the two of them conspiring is hacked and released to the public. As a result, all the stocks for her company plummet, and she is rendered bankrupt.

Queen Elizabeth II, who still holds a vendetta against Bryce, kidnaps Bobby Worst knowing it'll cause her significant grief and heartache.

Bryce Tankthrust and Donovan team up with the Mingeworthies to save Donovan, and defeat Queen Elizabeth II.

A heart begins growing inside of Bryce.

Bryce Tankthrust revitalises her company endeavours and continues business as per usual.

Bryce Tankthrust and Bobby Worst get married.

2023

The Angel Investment Firm terminate Bryce's contract upon learning she is no longer heartless. This also entails killing her directly consequently.

Bryce Tankthrust, Tammy Tankthrust, and Gloria Goopty initiate their contingency plan, and murder all the Angel Investors in a scheme involving Bobby Worst and Donovan.

Current Day.

[feathersandfarmers]

I did a thing!

Teenage Kip with her family! Kip would be around 16 by the 2nd movie's timeline so I really wanted to update her appearance!

I might update Kip's design eventually...since i think i'd like to change the colors up a bit...maybe change up a few things... but this is my design/colors for now!

Okay so! Kip is 16 years old in Dawn of the Nugget's timeline. She mainly lives on Willard's farm, and helps out with the new apple farm! She'll go visit her aunt Melisha and her new "goofy-ass boyfriend" (Dr.Fry). Very often, she'll swing by Chikin Island to see her other family! A.K.A the chickens! (oh and the rats too!) Molly is always overjoyed to see her "Auntie Kip!"

As a teen, Kip is still the loveable, curious, and kind goofball she was as a child. She's more confident, more articulate, and a lot more responsible.

A bit about her design: I wanted her to look enough like her child-self...but grown up! (duh) Her hair has gotten neater (Guess she discovered what a comb is) and she had gotten her aunt Melisha's tall genes.

She now wears she red bandana around her head...i wanted the ends to stick out at the top of her head so it would resemble Ginger's comb (this is to symbolize she's part of the Rhodes family! hehe)

The orange stripes on her shirt also symbolize her affiliation with Ginger. The blue stripes, as well as the blue bell-bottom jeans, are to keep consistency her the blue overalls she wore as a child!

(I'd like to draw a full-body artwork of teen Kip, but she'd be wearing yellow shoes...again! reminiscent of her yellow galoshes from childhood....but also to have "yellow feet" like Ginger and Molly do

[shepherds-of-haven]

Sorry if this has already been asked before, but have you ever thought about writing a sequel to SoH? I know you said it would be a stand-alone book, but I think a sequel where we explore different continents would be extremely cool. I just love these character so much and idk if I’m ready to say goodbye. I know we still have a bit left but still…

Hi there, this message has been sitting in a long queue of messages I've fallen behind on answering for a while now, but I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to send it! It ended up being extremely thought-provoking for me, and you may have single-handedly made me reconsider my stance on a Shepherds sequel! XD

I always planned on this entry being a standalone game, though I was toying with the idea of eventually writing a sequel that follows a separate cast of characters (aka different protagonist and companions, though with room for potential cameos with the old characters). Pretty much like how Dragon Age does it! I won't go into the potential plot details now, but I was thinking it might take place sometime between 10-15 years in the future, and it would follow "a new generation" of Shepherds in a different locale. I've sort of hazily cobbled together ideas for the story/main premise, but companions outside of the main protagonist have eluded me at the moment--I really need to focus on this game, its DLC, and my next book first, so I haven't given it too much thought!

However, your comment has unearthed some feelings I've been having about a potential sequel, too! It's hard for me to feel like I'd be ready to say goodbye to the cast, as well... It's so easy for me to write them because they've been in my head for so many years, and starting an adventure in the world of Blest with different and new characters admittedly feels a bit strange. It's like having to hang back a grade while all of your friends graduate high school and then looking around at the incoming freshman class like "welp, I guess you guys are my friends now! 😒" lol. I'm torn on the issue: I don't want to not challenge myself or refuse to move out of my comfort zone as a writer--in short, I don't want to be the kind of writer who recycles the same characters and material because doing something new is daunting to me, and I don't want you all to feel like I'm making endless sequels/trying to recapture old magic and should just move on to something new, either--but I do love my cast and I'm not sure yet if I should definitively say, "No, their chapter is done with this game and it's on to the next!", because I can see so many adventures happening to them even after this story is over!

The problem lies with endings--there are so many different endings planned for this game that I hesitate in treating any of them as the true or canonical one, but otherwise trying to account for all of them in a sequel feels quite impossible to accomplish when I wasn't planning on a continuation--along with other logistical concerns that I can't get into at the moment. Like, what if you end the game with all of the Shepherds except Halek dead? What if your friend ends the game with all of them alive, but the MC is dead? This game alone is already 1 million words, but a direct sequel would probably wrack up hundreds of thousands of variations based on all of these choices in its first chapter alone! 🤔

That's why I figure DLC is the happy medium here: you can expand on or create new content and adventures for the characters, but slot them into the timeline wherever you wish, like in between Chapter 7 and 8, etc. And episodic adventures might keep things small and streamlined enough that I can update them more consistently, rather than hacking away at one giant sequel game!

Aaaaaanyway... All this is to say: I have a lot to think about! Absolutely nothing has been decided yet (not even close), but these are just some of the things I've had rattling around in my head. Thank you again for your sweet and honest words: I'm glad you're so fond of these characters and would miss them. I would, too! But whatever ends up happening, I know this game won't be the last time we see them. :)

Thanks again!

[with-love-from-hell]

An update.

(Created June 9th, 2024)

Hello my lovely readers (both old and new). It has been a very hot minute since I have posted anything and I recognize that. I just wanted to give a short little update on some asks/comments I've been getting recently about my very low activity outside of reblogs.

A lot of stuff has happened personally over the past year or so that has left my thirst for writing completely dried up. I won't go into a lot of details, but there have been a lot of changes in friendships, amongst me training to be a supervisor at work (and completely changing my location of practice and working through a company merger), some more internal conflicts about whether me and my partner are having/adopting kids, amongst many other things. The time I would usually spend writing was during downtime at work, where I had no charting and many cancelations, and that has not been the trend lately- plus there is now a security blocker on my computer that completely blocks Tumblr from use, as well as Google Doc, which were previously the only two places I would draft my writings.

This is not me saying goodbye to writing all together. I still really love and enjoy it, but am needing to find some more free time and get back up the motivation to continue writing, which I have been hoping for over the past 9 or so months, but never happened. Because of this, I haven't moved my blog into "Hiatus", which I'm thinking I'm going to do now to avoid shame over having it open reciecing requests, and feeling too overwhelmed to even respond to them.

So for now, I am putting my blog into Hiatus.

Tips on Kofi are still accepted, but I will absolutely not be asking for any since I know I haven't been giving my all to writing lately, plus there are much more important things your money can be going to rn, like victims of the genocide in Palestine and Palestinian liberation.

In regards to my ongoing series:

I will eventually return to Melancholia, I really just don't know when. I likely will need to do a re-read of everything I've done with it and the parent series before that happens though, which is a lot to go through. I'm not making any promises, but my goal is to finish the series- I will say that much.

As for 5-sides: I completely stopped writing this one for now because I am going through a re-write of the series. Mostly because of the friendship shifts which resulted in 1 individual in the series being removed from my life, plus some shifts in other dynamics in that group. In addition, there were some things I felt I rushed and I could have done better at writing or incorporating devilgrams into the story, so I want to go back and comb through that one as well. I know this one didn't get much engagement because it's OC/my insert content, but it means a lot to me and I will be taking time to re-do it.

As for requests: I am going to put a pause on them until Melancholia is finished (which, like I said, doesn't have a clear timeline). I will also remind folks who do send in requests once they do open back up:

I am not your therapist, so please don't ask me for specific help with a problem you're having. I'm professionally trained and licensed as a therapist, but it is unethical (and illegal) for me to provide services without any agreements, HIPPA compliant technology, or respect for licensing laws that vary state to state, and even if it was, it is not something I want to do in this space. If you need help, please utilize Google or Psychology Today to find any services in your area.

Please keep requests somewhat simple and generalizable to a wider audience. I'm don't necessarily like writing for an mc with a Laundry list of diagnoses/problems occurring at once that seem *very* personal to the individual requesting, as I have many content enjoyers who want to relate to the writing I produce for free. This also takes up a lot more of my time researching to ensure I'm depicting everything correctly. This type of request is much better suited for a commission, given how much time and personalization goes into it. That doesn't mean you can't request writing for a specific diagnosis or problem (such as an eating disorder, self harm, or trauma) though. That I do encourage!

I am a person with a life outside of Tumblr. I have a full time job, an elder pet who needs significant attention, and a decent sized chunk of family and fiends that I am engaged with regularly off of the internet. Please don't harass me about your requests unless I have given you a clear timeline and am not providing updates. If you're just checking in that I have recieved them, I will reply to that and inform you that status of your request. However, you DO NOT need to send me a ton of messages asking the same thing when I had clearly indicated I was/am going to be working on it or that I'm not quite in the space to work on it, but would inform you when I was or tag you in it when its completed. This makes me far less likely to want to write your request. While it doesn't happen often, I've gotten it about commission requests a few times over the past few months and I just wanted this to serve as a gentle reminder.

I do look forward to getting the motivation to write again, and I appreciate all my readers who have supported me (not just with comments, likes, reblogs, and engagement, but financially as well when times were tough). I am so grateful for all of you and I appreciate so much that you all enjoy my writing enough to want to see more. I hope you all understand where I'm at, and can respect that while I take the time that I need ❤️

[jessilynallendilla]

So I just read Danny Phantom: A Glitch in Time and...it was ok

Had this come out when I was a kid and just watched Ultimate Enemy I would have gone absolutely feral over it

this show came out in 2004 so not quite sure how to feel about the updated technology IMO it would have been cool to have a time capsule of the show than the common floating timeline you see in comics

unlike with DC graphic novels you can tell the person that wrote this is actually a fan of the show and not a rando corporate pick the plot is plausible and the characters stay in character

A loyal tribute that brings in new lore and character growth

it also retcons the hated movie Phantom Planet

And it leaves enough to be curious for the sequel

People either seem to love it saying it's a good continuation the more serious take they wanted or hate it saying they're tired of villains being complex and redeemable and not pure evil anymore and the plot seems too much like tumblr fanfiction

I made notes as a read it so spoilers under the cut

Dash Kwan Paulina and Star are ghost hunters 

Tucker has instagram/twitter “Spectregram” fans 

The Fentons supply the town’s ghost hunting tech unasked 

Tucker’s wiki “click-a-pedia" has him listed as married to Ember 

Danny and Jazz just accept their father is such a bungler he can’t even kill a guy by abandoning him in space 

Dan was strong enough to dent the only thing that can contain him and just it being knocked off a shelf was enough for him to break out (why Clockwork the Master of Time never foresaw this happening moved it from a table to a more secure location ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  ) 

So uh... Dan just absorbed “ate” Clockwork  

Ecto energy can reach atomic bomb levels so dimension ending threat there 

Since the Disasteroid his powers have been fading their theories match their personalities Tucker-science Sam-government Jazz-trauma  

“Do you have any childhood trauma you wanna talk about?” (like Jazz as if you weren’t there) 

Vlad found a primordial source of ecto energy and just kept that information to himself for a rainy day 

Jazz has a magical girl transformation for her ghost fighting suit 

Vlad is just “ignore those clones” (there in clothes so did Vlad just buy multiple copies of Danny’s favorite outfit how did he know his size) 

Vlad is such an old man who doesn’t know how to use modern computers 

“not a place of honor” ah the nuclear waste warning (we don’t really get much more exploration of this or the seven ancients) 

Sam is a horse girl 

Valerie still holding that grudge huh 

In Pariah’s Keep Danny is suffers from bad memories and holds Sam’s hand to comfort himself 

The Keep is Fright Knight’s domain  

Danny just forgets humans are the ghosts in the Ghost Zone (in line with how often he forgets what powers he has) 

Fright Knight calls Pariah his master 

Vlad is such a loser he keeps getting his shit kicked 

Maddie “That’s not my Danny.” 

The Ghost Zone and human world were split in half an unnatural divide 

Danny is still a C student (io don't think he's going to be an astronaut)

Ghosts are manifestations of human emotions not separate entities (take that Fartman) 

Eventually they start to lose their human identity it’s why some are less human 

Vlad has his own “Where’s the rest of it?” meme 

They figured out all ghosts run on some emotional drive or purpose  

Danny realizes his purpose is protection but now there’s no longer the monster of the week threat or his parents he never asked himself what he wanted 

Now instead of constant fighting he’ll help the ghost achieve their desires they just want to keep doing in death what they did in life and heal the rift 

Fight for control Clockwork 

Vlad finally grew as a person realizing it was his action and drive for power that drew everyone away and has making amends as his new purpose 

Dan just doesn’t want to be alone (makes sense the “no more painful human emotions” +Vlad’s anger and abandonment issues so he’s all the emotions and pain) 

Dan is destabilizing flashing back to his pre Dark child form because he’s a being outside his destroyed timeline  

Danny is the GOAT 

Clockwork needs to fix what he can of the time streams and Danny has two choices Post Disasteroid+no powers or Pre Disasteroid+powers  

Danny gives up being accepted so he can fix the realms “I’m Danny Phantom, proctor of humans and ghosts!” 

They are back to being invisible losers and Sam is just happy goths aren’t popular anymore 

The city doesn’t know how they avoided the Disasteroid but the Mayor declares ghosts are responsible for everything the city will now have a branch of ghost hunters and Danny Phantom is again public enemy #1 

Clockwork transfers Dan from Vlad into one of the empty clones he’s Vlad’s responsibility now he’ll be too busy to help again 

Clockwork’s powers are finite (so he isn’t omnipotent and all powerful) but he still feels something wrong in the stitches he feels weaker now 

And Valerie has a Time Medallion and is pissed (but there was a Valerie in the crowd at the Mayor’s speech so the two Valeries might meet up in the sequel)  

Jazz is ecstatic she was right about ghosts being emotions based  

[aloneditee]

Sephiran and Zelgius Timeline UPDATED

Instead of just having a jumbled idea of the timeline of sephiran and zelgius's relationship I decided I was going to spend my day off writing up my idea of how their timeline works based on cannon information with my own little headcannon flair because i can and you can't stop me.

*THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO @theia-eos FOR COMMENTING WITH THE RADIANT DAWN ARTBOOK TIMELINE I HAVE USED IT TO UPDATE THIS TIMELINE WITH MORE ACCURATE INFORMATION* I also had to remove some sentences because tumblr gave me a fuckin character limit while editing this for some reason

Key:

Bold = explicit canon

unbold = rough estimate canon/ guess

italics = headcanon

urple = sephzelg highlight reel (gay thoughts)

red = year

Complete timeline after the keep reading thing:

625: Misaha’s assassination and the serenes massacre → lehran villain arc. Lehran presents the medallion to ashnard and enters daeins service under the guise of a “wise man”

626: “daeins sudden change” → this is likely when the bloodpact began its effects and the deaths of the daein royal family. I THINK THIS IS WHEN SEPHIRAN AND ZELGIUS MET

Zelgius was serving in the Daein army under general Gawain for a few years. While sephiran is serving as a wise man under ashnard's father he meets zelgius and zelgius confides in him and they agree to be with each other when zelgius eventually leaves the daien army.

Later that year Gawain dips out of Daein with Elena. Zelgius despairs that his Master left him. Zelgius would then enter sephirans service.

627: Ashnard becomes the king of daein, (This was originally when I thought zelgius joins sephiran but I found out Gawain actually left BEFORE Ashnard became king according to the radiant dawn artbook).

I assume Sephiran leaves Ashnards service after Ashnard gets what he wants. Seph doesnt fuck with his bad vibes.

627~635: Sephiran and Zelgius do a bit of travelling and make plans for big evil or something. Sephiran still being a travelling sage and zelgius being a knight not connected to any army until he joins the Begnion military perhaps a decade later

During this time sephiran scaffolds information about himself and his past to zelgius. I do genuinely think that sephiran eventually opens up about everything to zelgius (and vice versa) including him being lehran and the origin of the branded.

634: assuming ike is around 7 when his mom died, this would be around the time point where Gawain touched the medallion and lehran and zelgius saw the aftermath. 

The reason why I think ike is 7 years old here (*he's born in 628*) is because that is how old soren would have been too according to his own timeline (based on his support convos), and those two met the day before the gawain medallion shenanigan occurred

Idrk when seph and zel join begnion as dukes. Based off of the artbook zelgius was actually born into a begnion family before fleeing to daein so maybe he reclaimed the cador family name or something. Sephiran claimed to be from a long line of mages (Persis) and somehow become a noble through this so called mage lineage.

637: sephzelg 10 yr anniversary

635: Sanaki is born. Sephiran may or may not be a senator at this stage

Sephiran begins to rise up the senate ranks through rizz and zelgius rises up the army ranks

At some point between 635-640: sanakis parents are killed by the senate probably

640: sanaki (5 years old) becomes the empress of begnion and sephiran becomes the “senate leader” aka prime minister 

the event lekain talks about when sanaki would stfu during formal proceedings and they discover sephiran has insane babysitting skills occurs right after sanaki becomes the empress i think

645: beginning of mad kings war. At this point in time sephiran and zelgius would have been together for around 18-19 years

Black knight shenanigans. Sephiran travels tellius and gathers intel

Sepiran gets captured in crimea by daein military, probably waited for zelgius to go save him hence why he wouldnt fucking move when ike rescued him lmao

Black knight scraps ranulf, sephiran steps in and tells black knight to stand down

Sephiran eventually returns to begnion, tells everyone to get their fucking shit together, sends zelgius to go help ike (black knight still be existing). Zelgius’ group stays in daein while ikes group goes to crimea. BK does multiple warcrimes in the meant

646: Nados castle falls on the black knight. Sephiran rescues him and uses is epic healing skills to get zelgius to recover before the battle between ikes team and ashnard in the final chapter

646: End mad kings war. Sephiran annoys the shit out of ike by laughing at him for no reason. The black knight is “defeated”. Sephzelg 20 year anniversary aww

646-648: new evil world ending plan just launched

648: war part 2 electric boogaloo

Summer 648: Black knight return arc, sephiran is set to go to daein and tell jarod to stop being a cunt or something but gets thrown in jail before he got the chance to????

Autumn 648: Sephiran captured by the senate while zelgius is at war doing war stuff

Zelgius saves sephiran from jail part 2 electric boogaloo and the two of them start a cheeky uprising in bengion.

Zelgius and sephiran made a pact to die together in the tower. I think they made this agreement way in advance and they knew that was the end goal no matter what happens.

Winter 648: zelgius vs ike gay on gay violence. Zelgius dies. Sephiran either also dies or lives. pain and suffering

~1848: Ashunera returns. Lehran may or may not be there to greet her. Hope he dies soon

[lxkeeeee]

Epiphany

Venti x Male! Dendro Archon! Reader

Prologue

My horrible attempt of rewriting my old Venti x Dendro Archon Reader fic 'Stolas' and make it follow canon storyline as possible with canon characters and events. I'll also remove some nsfw scenes because I didn't like it (past me was very horny okay)

I'll try to add some of my og ideas to it too.

Please don't expect to much for me to actually completely follow the timeline because I don't remember much of the lore and I don't have the energy to dive into it TvT

Also romance is kinda fast paced? I really like the "I fell in love with you at first sight" and "he fell first but they fell harder" trope idk why.

Sorry for the horrible grammar, English isn't my first language. And sorry for the spelling mistakes, I'm too lazy to check this. Maybe I need a beta reader? Nah, no beta. We die like men.

Anyways!

For the prologue, I won't be using [y/n] to refer to you yet, since the timeline is still after the archon war.

Warnings: mentions of war, blood, and death. Fem-aligned dni.

Epiphany

(n.) A moment when you suddenly feel that you understand, or suddenly become conscious of something that is very important to you.

Thousand of years ago, after the Archon War...

"Barbatos." A masculine yet silky voice softly calls out.

Barbartos, the newly crowned Archon of Anemo looked behind him to see his dearest friend Stolas, the newly crowned Archon of Dendro. Barbatos' grin widened to see him. As of now, the Seven newly crowned Archons are gathered in one setting, celebrating the end of an era and welcoming a new one—one without war and chaos, one without bloodshed.

Barbatos knew the Dendro Archon only during the war, the God of Dendro actually offered to help him and his friend take down Decarabian when he was still a wind spirit and he was suspicious of him at first but the God of Dendro assured them that he isn't doing this for cruel motive, he simply wanted to form bonds with other nations to offer assistance during the war.

“I can't offer much but I believe that knowledge is power."

Is what the Archon of Wisdom have said back in the day, Stolas provided them with numerous knowledge when it comes to strategies, medicine, weapons, and more.

With the resistance's will and along with the knowledge the Dendro Archon shared to them, they emerged victorious.

Unfortunately, many lives were lost. Including Himmel—Barbatos' dear friend.

Barbatos wanted to personally thank the God of Wisdom but unfortunately Sumeru was far too away from Mondstadt. He opt to let the wind deliver his message instead. The shock on his face when Stolas replied via through flora—specifically through his very own windwheel aster. He almost fell into the pond in windrise when the flower just started talking, only to realize the familiar voice of the God of Wisdom. They talked about the war, Himmel's death, how he took the form of his friend.

Eventually they exchange messages through the flora and fauna around them.

Suddenly, the Anemo God didn't hear anything about his dear friend for a long time.

It made him worry, He just shook his head and dismissed the horrible thoughts.

Many years went by, and not once did he heard from Stolas. A part of him thought that he perished during the war.

A part of his heart ached with the thought, whether he admits it or not, he found the God of Wisdom to be quite charming. He often finds himself thinking about him.

Stolas on the other hand, he was very busy with his own nation. He wanted to update Barbatos on how he's been but he didn't find the time to.

He also wanted to focus finding a way to create a replacement for him. He can feel his power being drained.

Not only that, he has to protect his own nation from the corrupt gods, fortunately, he had his own protectors. Which were originally wandering spirits that were killed during their human life.

Those spirits promised their loyalty to him and to the people of Sumeru.

The war has ended, 7 Gnosis were given to the Victors.

Barbatos' heart still ached for the loss of his friends, Himmel, Amos, and Stolas.

Only to have his eyes widen when seeing a familiar figure at the Venue he was going for the celebration.

Their eyes met and grin immediately etched into the God of Dendro's face.

"Well, well~ If it isn't Barbatos." Stolas mused and Barbatos swore his heart skipped a beat when he heard the familiar charming voice.

Nevertheless, he just gave a grin on his own.

"If it isn't the God of Dendro~ I thought you might have kicked the bucket a long time ago." He joked and Stolas can only laugh, Barbatos' heart skipping a beat once more.

"I apologize for not keeping in touch with you sooner Barbatos, I was simply busy with my own nation."

Barbatos pouted, "Well, good thing you're still alive then! I was really worried you know?" He says as he placed his hands on his hips.

The God of Wisdom just simply let out a laugh, the scene putting the Anemo Archon in a trance.

"Beautiful..." Barbatos softly says, clearly unaware of what he is saying. Stolas' laugh immediately pausing as his cheeks became dusted with pink.

"What?"

"What?"

They both say at the same time before they looked away from each other.

"Shall we go inside? The others might be waiting for us." Barbatos nervously suggested and Stolas just gave a small cough before composing himself, "Yes, we shall."

It's been many years after the Archon War, civilizations have now recovered after that event.

But it seems not everyone managed to recover.

Barbatos, the God of Anemo is currently sitting on top of the many fallen structures of old Mondstadt, his heart skipped when he heard a familiar voice called out to him.

"Barbatos..." A voice softly calls out.

"Ah! If it isn't Stolas, I'm surprised you visit..." His voice dying in end when he saw the figure of his dearest friend.

The Dendro Archon, who used to be so bright, so alive.... Now looks so pale, and weak. The once bright [e/c] eyes have turned dull.

Barbatos immediately rushes to his side, immediately supporting the tall male, who can barely stand.

"Oh my Archons! What happened Stolas?!" Barbatos worriedly ask as carefully placed the tired Dendro Archon into one of the newly sprouted tree inside the the room they were in.

"I may have overused my power a bit, thankfully I can still recover..." Stolas nervously says as he let out a weak chuckle.

"Sumeru would have a new God soon, I god created personally by me."

Barbatos can only look at the Dendro archon flabbergasted.

He knows how smart and wise the Dendro Archon is but to to entirely create a new God?

"I cannot simply leave my people without a ruler, not during the time where they are vulnerable."

Barbatos caress the soft cheeks of the other male, making the said male chuckle.

"I'll be asleep for awhile, will you still be there when I wake up?" Stolas softly asks, eyes beginning to drop. Barbatos simply chuckle.

"Of course~ Dream of me would you?"

This time it was you who chuckle, "If my dreams are all about you, perhaps I wouldn't want to wake up." Stolas teased, eyes already fully closed, good thing for Barbatos because his pale cheeks are dusted with red.

Barbatos playfully scoffed, "Despite being weak to the brink of passing out, you still have the strength to flirt."

You chuckled, "Goodnight Barbatos." He softly says and Barbatos noticed the roots of the fauna and flora around them began to wrap around the now sleeping Archon, as if it's embracing him.

Barbatos smiled, "Goodnight Stolas, sleep well and dream of me."

Previous | Next

Me rn:

[polyhexian]

An iteration of the eventually au where Raine and the CATTs actually accomplish…whatever their goals were ahead of time, and Belos dies and the government goes through an upheaval before the show timeline even starts.

The story pivots from "Jasper does what he can to protect Hunter from the sidelines" to "Jasper leverages every favor he's ever done for the CATTs as he negotiates to get and then maintain custody of his son".

Raine and the Martlet's relationship would be a big theme here. Raine has an entire government to reorganize and a public to placate, and here's the Martlet finally cashing in favors to…demand the CATTs hand the Golden Guard over to him. Raine doesn't know what to think of this, and Raine does not have time to think of this. There's some back-and-forth, some negotiating, because custody of the kid IS a weird thing to ask for, and Raine is trying to make sure the new government isn't as tyrannical as the old one. They want due process and trials (they would've wanted Belos to stand trial, but Belos refused to be taken alive, so that's not happening). So Raine is like "I get he's an imperial lackey and you hate him but idk if I can let you just have him for whatever weird revenge scheme you've cooked up, it'd be better to make him stand trial" and the Martlet is like "so your new regime is gonna punish a 16-year-old for being abused and manipulated?" and Raine is like and "well legally speaking he IS an adult so it wouldn't be out of bounds to make him answer for his crimes" and the Martlet is just like "I will break every bone in your body."

It'd go quicker if Jasper was up front about being Hunter's father, but…idk if he'd come clean about his identity. Intense paranoia has kept him alive, after all, but also there's a big push to punish Belos's followers so he'd rather no one know he was the Golden Guard, and if anything about grimwalkers comes to light and people start freaking out about THAT…yeah, no, he'll be the Martlet for the rest of his life if he has to, to keep Hunter safe. He'll tell Hunter everything once his son is safely in his keeping, but no one else needs to know. So he doesn't play the parent card.

But he doesn't have to. With the amount of favors the CATTs owe the Martlet, one unwanted orphan child soldier (and possibly one artificial magic staff) is too cheap of a price to turn down, especially since it saves Raine the headache of figuring out what to do with said unwanted orphan child soldier. Jasper is just relieved to finally get ahold of Hunter, but also infuriated by how easy it ultimately was, after all the talk. He knew he was the only person who prioritized Hunter's wellbeing, but literally no one else cared enough about Hunter to stop his supposed rival from taking him. This is all still pre-series; Hunter has no friends, no allies, no mentors or decent adult presences in his life. It's literally just Jasper looking out for him.

Hunter, meanwhile, is going through it, especially since there's multiple ways he could be going through it. Was he present during the coup? Was he out on a mission and got taken by surprise upon his return? Did shit go down while Hunter happened to be on Belos's bad side and afterwards he was found where he'd been locked in his room and neglected for a week?

However you wanna slice it, he gets tossed in the Conformitorium with the other Belos loyalists, awaiting trial or execution or whatever's in store for him. He's emotionally reeling, his entire world has fallen apart, he has no idea what he's supposed to do at this point, he has absolutely no one looking out for him, he's scared and alone and so, so tired and then he suddenly starts getting regular visits from his archnemesis.

The Martlet is strangely supportive, treats Hunter like a person instead of imperial scum, keeps him updated on what's going on politically, genuinely wants to know how Hunter's holding up or if there's anything he needs, brings him books and things from his room (Sprig)…he's gentle and understanding and protective, even. (The prison guards aren't kind, but they only get to be cruel once before the Martlet finds out and kicks them in the teeth.) The Martlet is upfront about the fact that he's trying to get custody of Hunter, and promises he's not going to let him be imprisoned for life or executed, the Martlet will get him out of there one way or another. And Hunter sits in his cell between visits, wrestling to reconcile everything he thought he knew about the Martlet and his uncle and the empire and remembering a time not too long ago when the Martlet made him an offer after a rescue in a cave, and realizing…there might actually be one person in the world who really does care about him.

Obviously they still have issues and ups and downs and whatever, but like. It's a bit overshadowed by the fact that they're not out of the woods yet. Jasper is actively (instead of passively) fighting for his son's safety, and Hunter finds himself forced to rely on a man he thought was his enemy for protection.

OUGGHHH. If it's before he's thirteen hes not the golden guard yet, but it's much more interesting if it's after. So Hunter is thirteen when this happens.

I mean I do gotta say from raines point of view this shit is sus as fuck. Raine doesn't initially know that hunter is a kid. My personal thought is that in canon they don't know this until becoming coven head; in eventually they do at some point beforehand because they're a lot more active in rebelling here.

And so like. Raine barely knows Marty. He's some obsessive freak with a bird willing to kill strangers to earn favours, and completely fucking obsessed with someone Raine's just found out is a teenage boy. Like they gotta hit a point where they're like okay absolutely the fuck not. They do NOT trust his mysterious intentions. They carry a very genuine risk of something I don't think Raine would let happen even to the emperor's attack dog.

All that is to say, I don't think he's getting hunter without 1. Admitting he's his dad 2. Stealing him

Because he's so fucking consumed by paranoia- kind of rightfully so tbh- yeah he's never going to burn an ace up his sleeve if he can hold it a little longer. So he plays his favours which gets hunter out of trouble at least. They're not going to charge him with anything. He gets him out of jail. So he's on. Like. House arrest. So, for the DRAMA:

Hunter is staying with Raine and they're bringing him along with them everywhere so 1. he can't run off 2. Jasper can't fucking kidnap him

Just. The drama. Jasper fucking following Raine around like give me the kid. Give me the kid. Give me the kid. And Raine is like sure, the second you give me a good reason to. Jasper is like because I'll tell everyone all the fucked up shit you've had me do. And Raine is like yeah okay but who is going to believe you. Hunter just doesn't know what the fuck is going on, but jasper is really nice to him and keeps bringing him snacks and.orimjsing he's going to get him out of all this

And of course you get the EXCELLENT dramatic concept of jasper getting sick of it and kidnapping him in the night only to have to actually fight Raine. Fuck yeah. And also like. What does Hunter do during this. Does he take this opportunity to make a run for it?! Does he help Raine or jasper?? Does he hide?? Who wins?!

[asyastudieskorean]

9/20/2023 — Hello, studying world. Today I start my journey of learning Korean with my first university Korean class (online). We didn't have any work on the first day, so all I did was read the syllabus (the most basic, non-informative syllabus I've ever read, ha), set up my new desk space, and updated my student bio on Canvas. I haven't been a college student for about 3 years, so it felt like I accomplished a lot. When the readings and assignments start coming in, I'm sure reality will hit.

I've always wanted to learn Korean, and my goal is to reach a near-fluent level, but I know it'll be hard, especially with my full-time work priorities. Eventually, being able to teach and work in translation is my goal. FYI, Chinese, Thai, and Japanese are on my list, too, but I'll be realistic and focus on one language for the foreseeable future.

Last week, as it so happens, I had to move from my family and childhood home, and I am lacking in the positivity department rn, so I think having a place to chronicle my studies and the progress I make will be good for me. I tend to start a new blog on here when I'm having a hard time, and it helps.

So, the plan is to take two full academic years of Korean (that's 3 quarters per year at my university). That's just how much Korean the school offers. I graduated in 2020 from this same university with a BA in English with a focus on professional and creative writing, and I really enjoyed the overall experience studying here.

I spent a whole lot of time obsessing over grammar, reading new and old literature, trying to understand poetry, and just enjoying the inner peace I felt when writing fiction. It was maybe my most happy time because I had no other real responsibilities or worries besides school. All I did was read and write.

Anyhow, fast forward to now, after pondering different language learning options (which are limited in my area), I decided to take my Korean classes at the university level because the classes will show up on my official university transcripts, and I imagine that will be best when I apply for future Korean-related jobs. I am also hoping that by taking university-level language classes, they will have some sort of superior level of... intensity? accuracy? efficiency? Something like that. Granted, this route isn't the best for my finances, as there is no aid for non-matriculated post-grads, and the cost of a single class is quite ridiculous. But alas, here I am, with an empty wallet and hope in my eyes.

Upon reading the syllabus today, which could basically be summarized as "TBD," I realized the textbook I bought, the textbook I waited over a week for, the one listed on the online course materials list, is, in fact, not the correct textbook.

And, icing on the bitter cake, the correct textbook appears to be a rare Pokémon that isn't available anywhere except the dark corners of eBay, where shipping will take at least 2 weeks. Like how did other students get this? Did they order it two months in advance? Meanwhile, I have my first assignments and readings due Monday.

I quite literally just sent an email to my professor and asked what I should do, so we'll see what she says, but I really wasn't hoping to be that one student, emailing the professor about an issue on day 1.

Since this is my first post here, here also is a tiny bit about me:

My name is Asya ("Asia"), and I'm a 24-year-old English grad based in Washington; no, not the one followed by DC, but the state with a lot of rain and trees. Twilight? Starbucks? Amazon? Yes, that one.

Since graduating in 2020, I've been a freelance editor and writer. I'm taking Korean both for passion and for work purposes, and I really should have started sooner. But I guess we're all on our own timelines.

I've been on Tumblr for a long, long time, but I've never been part of the studyblr sector. I'm glad to be here. :)

[void-botanist]

July Camp 2024

It's time for another NaNo-free camp!

My goals

Continue my project of turning my old, bad, extremely long novel draft into blackout poetry by completing the next four chapters (about 65 pages)

Settle on designs, names, and backstories for goth squad

Solidify the surprisingly nonsense timeline of AOM

Possibly put together a NaNo-style stats tracker because that is the one single thing I miss from the website (I want to do it eventually regardless but maybe I will get it to a shareable state this month)

I might get some writing in too if I feel like it but I haven't been in a writing mood lately so we'll see.

I will be posting updates but probably not excerpts. I think when I finish turning Spinder and Georg into blackout poetry I might put it up on itch.io as a free download. It will be 443 mostly black pages but it would be cool if anyone wanted to read this disaster novel in this extremely improved format.

If you wanna be on the taglist for July Camp or any of my goals, let me know! Also thanks @kk7-rbs for showing me this blackout poetry maker <3

[starsapphirecorpss]

I really should update these but!!! These are my guys!!!

So I was an Undertale/CoDZ kid so AU's are a part of the inspiration (in the sense of I don't have to create a new character from scratch, I made Ari before I gave DmC a chance, and only made Zona after that fact).

Here comes a wall of text so have fun with that :))

Arizona - Small spring/Great Oak

Armani - Warrior

Ambrosi - Immortal

I liked the idea of having an alliterative name, and I like to keep my names for demons Italian/Latin due to works like The Divine Comedy, as well as the sheer amount of religious talk in the cultures.

Ari is a goofball, he likes to play and hop and frolic. He's protective of the people close to him. He only really causes mischief, and pranks. He doesn't want to hurt anyone, only cause them a small amount of inconvenience. If a joke goes too far, you'll often find that he's the first to jump in to help resolve the problem. He often steals pens from Dante, spare Devil Breakers from Nero, and tools from Nico. He's sweet, and he's kind, playful, and dumb. While his Demon Form is much stronger, he often uses it to help people feel better. He's a huge fluffy boi, and that makes it easy for others to calm down and feel safe around him.

Zona, however, is much colder. Yes, he wants humans to be free of such a, shall I say, abusive ruler in Mundus, but Zona used to be something of a feral Demon. (I can't personally decide if this part of his Backstory is that Vergil tamed the feral Zona, or if Zona was injured and became indebted to Vergil after the Nephilim helped him.) But he is Vergil's Right Hand Man, hanging just behind the blue Nephilim and waiting to do his boss's dirty work. He enjoys playing with the creatures Vergil needs dead, and the fact that Dante is Vergil's twin does NOT save the red Nephilim. Throughout the course of DmC: Devil May Cry, Zona is curt with Dante after Vergil invites him to help The Order, and is polite with Kat, Vergil's Right Hand Mystic. However, after the twins fight at the end of the game and Vergil disappears into his portal, Zona turned tail and ran off, meeting back up with Vergil after the events of Vergil's Downfall. At this point, Vergil has become the Demon King, and he formally appoints Zona as his Second In Command, his confidant. (ALSO ZONA IS SOOOOOOOOO GAY FOR VERGIL ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️)

AAAAAAA THATS SO COOL!!!!! I LOVE HEARING DmC OCS ESPECIALLY BC THERES SO MUCH TO WORK WITH!!!!

ARI SEEMS LIKE A JOY TO BE AROUND I LOVE UR OCS DUDE…

this is my OG timeline Oc! her name is Asmara and she is Nero’s mom! (the quality is FUCKED BC TUMBLR HATES ME)

She’s a succubus and Vergils VERY ESTRANGED ex-gf.

She’s 400~ years old and from Indonesia. She was the firstborn of a king and queen in Indonesia, making her a princess. She is the oldest sibling and sister to 3 brothers.

She was turned into a succubus in her 20’s.

She was hiding in Fortuna when she met Vergil. At first they didn’t get along, but the two eventually begin to care for eachother as time goes on, which leads to them jumping into a relationship.

Vergil breaks it off because he thinks she’s weak and making him soft, and leaves her, telling her he never loved her. (He’s lying).

She’s forced to abandon Nero, as she’s being hunted down by the King Asmodeus, and since everyone in Fortuna fucking hated her, they told Nero how much of a whore his mother was.

Since she’s been turned succubus, she still technically has Human DNA, which is recessive to Vergil’s dominant genes, making Nero look almost nothing like her.

She is really kind and motherly, but more of a mama bear character. If you mess with her son, or her loved ones, she’s hunting you down.

Her weapon is a copper whip that is embedded with the spirits of her ancestors. She also has the ability to produce sparks from her palm (which are rather weak but become MUCH stronger when channeled through her whip)

She was eventually captured by Asmodeus and was trapped until (in my AU) Urizen killed him, which set her free. Not knowing who Urizen truly was, she ran away, not looking back, searching for her son.

Reuniting with everyone is definitely… an experience.

She keeps her distance with Vergil. She (unfortunately) still loves him but knows better than to fall for him a second time. They don’t go out of their way to interact, and every conversation they have is extremely awkward.

With Nero, she is a great mother, supportive and caring and just wants to make sure he’s happy, but she doesn’t seem to understand that it’s gonna take some time for him to process everything he’s going through.

She’s cool with Dante! She enjoys his quips and finds him funny.

She helps out at the orphanage and all the children call her “Mama Mara”. She is extremely proud of all of them and loves them all as if they were her own

now for my trainwreck; Ángel

(i never properly drew them lmfao)

Ángel is my DmC OC, and as their name suggests they are an angel!

Their full name is Virtue Ángel Amare de Pluma, but since Dante didn’t bother trying, it’s just Ángel.

(He still pronounces it as Angel, too)

Ángel is a Virtue angel, and their job specifically is to save the souls of every from Limbo City, since the demon menace has been cleansed. They are rather stubborn and close minded, and truly unknowing of the Human world, or what humans are forced to live through, making them come off as a huge bitch, but they truly do have only the best intentions in mind. Due to how they were raised as an angel, they view themselves above humans, and sees it as a simple fact, though they are kind to them, they are quick to cast out or judge those who aren’t believers. Their personal ‘pet project’ is saving Dante’s soul.

Dante, of course tells them to fuck off, but realizes that Ángel is really the only person who can somewhat relate to him.

Their relationship starts off really rocky. Imagine the Jehova’s Witness knocking at your door every 4 AM and telling you all your sins. Yeah.

Ángel finds Dante’s overall horniness abhorrent and repulsive. Dante keeps flirting with them because he finds it hilarious how flustered he’s able to make them. The two warm up to each other slowly. Ángel does become a more accepting of Dante’s nature even though they deny it vehemently, they refuse to have anyone believe that they enjoy his sin. And Dante learns more of what it is to be a Nephilim, and about being an angel. Like how everyone gets along in this universe; its mostly trauma dumping until the become friends.

Ángel’s relationship with Kat is much better! They are always kind to her and the two get close rather quickly. Ángel is always there to protect and support Kat, no matter what. Kat is actually the person to make Ángel realize the beauty, rather than responsibility, that humanity is.

all three end up in a poly relationship teehee

[ecosystem-administrator]

Reintroduction

Timeline: 2.0 beginning

Mayhem Moondrop returns to Gridania for the first time in a decade, looking for a fresh start as a registered adventurer.

(I'm posting this during FFXIV Write, but it's not an entry; instead, I'm going to pin it as an introduction to my Warrior of Light.)

Luckily, they were too surprised by the sight of the Moogle, so soon after waking from another dizzy spell, to react to it out loud. As they watched it bob in the air and steal the wine of the merchant who’d joined them at an earlier stop, it became clear that they were the only one on the cart who was seeing it, and they didn’t want to start the process of returning home by convincing onlookers that they were prone to conversing with thin air.

“Have you chanced to witness anything suspicious, kupo?” The little creature hovered and dipped anxiously in the air, and after a moment’s consideration Mayhem shook their head, hoping their fellow travelers would think they were still clearing away the cobwebs. They knew what Moogles were, of course, having grown up in Gridania as a child and heard plenty of stories about them, but they’d never glimpsed one up close, and certainly never before been able to see through the glamours that concealed them when they didn’t want to be found. Maybe that, too, was related to the strange dreams and dizzy spells they’d begun having after the Calamity a few years ago? The fits had only grown more frequent when they’d returned to the Shroud’s denser aether, enough so that they’d decided to take this carriage for the final leg of their journey back to their childhood home.

The Moogle seemed disappointed but not surprised by this response, and flitted off into the woods after a bit more chatter: Mayhem watched them go, hoping that they’d have a better opportunity to converse in the future without looking like they were losing touch with reality.

The gregarious merchant who sat across from them had by this point moved past the sudden inexplicable emptiness of his wine bottle, and resumed engaging them in conversation. Bremondt, as his name turned out to be, seemed a pleasant enough fellow to pass the time with, and as the two young Elezen tucked into a corner of the cart didn’t seem eager to join in with any stories of their own, Mayhem was soon caught up in laying out their pre-adventuring background for him. They explained about the theater troupe they’d traveled with before the Calamity, first as a guard, then as a stagehand, and eventually taking small parts onstage as well. “Unfortunately, the Calamity made things too difficult for us to keep on as a group,” they sighed. “I admit I’ve been a bit at loose ends ever since; coming here to register as a guild adventurer seems like the best idea I have for a fresh start.”

“Plenty of folks lookin’ for just that, these days,” Bremondt agreed. “Did your traveling theater band ever come by Gridania, or is this your first time down this way?”

Now, Mayhem hesitated. The players had been on their way back to Gridania for the first time in a few years when the Calamity had struck, having picked Mayhem up on their previous pass through the region, before they’d hit their full growth and back when they were still going under their childhood name. So they hadn’t traveled here with the troupe, but it was far from their first time being here among the trees. Not that they felt they owed a near-stranger like Bremondt the entire truth of their story, but was it really worth coming up with a lie over something so minor?

Luckily, the man seemed to have taken their pause as a response in and of itself. “Ah, don’t mind old Bremondt,” he answered, waving off his own question. “Everyone’s got a couple dozen things they want to keep to themselves, don’t they? I don’t need to pry into what your history with the place is or isn’t, but let me update you on the latest developments, as someone who runs these roads pretty regular-like.”

Mayhem let him go on a bit about the state of the roads and the forest, the beast tribes and the merchant guilds. It had been almost a decade since they’d left the city - maybe more than that, with how hazy time had gotten for a little while in the immediate wake of the Calamity. Most of the guilds had been handed over from the masters they remembered growing up to one apprentice or another; everyone had known Beatin was the only real candidate to take over the Carpenters’ Guild, but there had been a bit of rivalry among the leatherworkers, and it was interesting to learn that the haughty and exacting Geva had been the one to come out on top in the end.

Not that they were going to let on to anyone just how well they knew these people. They’d changed enough in both name and appearance that they didn’t expect to be recognized as anything but a newcomer, and so a newcomer was what they would pretend to be. Instead they chimed in politely just enough to encourage Bremondt to keep carrying on as the carriage wound its way up toward the gates of the city, until at last they rolled to a stop.

“And here we are, lad,” Bremondt said, dismounting from the cart with a grin. “Didn’t mean to talk your ear off quite so much, but I hope some of it helped you get settled. I’ll be headed for the markets and then back on the road once I’m done there. If you don’t mind, what’s the name I should be listening for the next time I come? There’s something about you, I don’t doubt you’ll be the talk of the town soon enough.”

Mayhem grinned back at him and jumped down as well, then bowed with a flourish. “Neither lad nor lass, actually, but always a performer to the core. My name is Mayhem Moondrop, and I do indeed mean to be memorable.”

[wishing-stones]

how did you come with the plot for r&r? its so nicely written and i constantly struggle with coming up with plots for multichapter fics despite desperately wanting to write one, so im wondering what your process was?

This one got long

Originally, the plot came about from a one-word prompt done for my oneshot collection. The story wound up with more background to it than I intended, and I decided to try and fill it out a little more. I'm kind of old-fashioned, so I used a plot diagram and slapped the important bits in there before thinking about what all else I'd like to put in a story like this.

Picking a villain was pretty easy; who is stupid and/or ballsy enough to pick a serious fight with Nightmare? XGaster, who could be made a main antagonist easily. He also has the added bonus of having a personal investment in fighting Nightmare (Cross) That gave me my conflict, and filling out what needed to happen between that and the resolution got handled too.

I knew I wanted this to be a reverse harem sort of dealio, so everyone needed to have their own arc with the reader. Everyone needed to have character development. To do that with Nightmare meant having to include his brother, and it gave me an avenue to do their resolution and also include the stars. Killer and Cross needed to come to an understanding, but after realizing that would only really come about after they go to blows, they needed a doctor.

Enter Baggs, who I have sort of stuck with the Bad Sanses for a hot minute in my own sort of personal plot space and in general thought mess. Formally including him would also just be a nice little self-indulgent thing since he's a seriously bastardly brainrot. It also gave me an excuse to work with him more, and, unintentionally though it was, introduce more people to him and his AU.

With the cast figured out, I could start placing little scenes I wanted to happen in the appropriate places on the timeline. As I wrote it, some things were off-the-cuff, some things popped up early, some things got nixed, and a whole character who I hadn't originally intended to include got included anyway due to source material being released between plotting and writing (XChara.)

The actual ending got pulled out of my ass because I only had a couple bulletpoints for the post-fight resolutions. There's a couple whump lines there I'm especially proud of.

That being said, there's a couple continuity errors that need fixing and places where things didn't quite go according to plan, so always be prepared to compromise and fix in post. I also never had a beta reader and basically went "FUCK IT WE BALL" with every update. (I did re-read them and fine-tune them after the initial write before posting them, but that's it.)

In short, the process was: 1. Come up with the initial idea 2. Refine the idea (Starting point, rising action, conflict, resolution) 3. Place the idea on a plot diagram 4. Figure out scenes you want and place them accordingly 5. Figure out how characters are (or are not) going to change and place the catalysts for the actions and where/when their arcs will conclude/when they have gone through their development 6. Pad it out-- make scenes connect and plot points make sense 7. Start writing. Keep writing. Pace yourself. You'll finish it eventually and with a roadmap, you'll always know where you're going. Feel free to embellish on the details and don't be afraid to move things up or back in the progression of the plot if it makes more sense while writing it.

And if there's anything I've learned from this, it's that:

a. Your audience is a lot nicer than you think they are. You are absolutely your own worst critic. b. Don't be afraid of mistakes, just go with the flow. You can edit things in post when you re-read it, even if that's after you posted it.

I really hope this helps!

[salt-volk]

post707883411295043585 thats part of the problem tho is yall assume that just bc stuff doesnt come out on time means theyre not working on it. as if they just sit twiddling thumbs. shit isnt slow bc they need more motivation. its slow bc they have a bare bones staff of maybe 1-2 ppl & all else is contracted work they barely have the cash for.

"right now basically nothing ever gets done" & you think adding a few dates to a list would fix that? you think they dont know theyre falling behind? that its not obvious? as if they dont already have internal set dates they aim for that just havent been shared w the userbase? 

they dont need more motivation or accountability. they need more staff & more funds. all the accountability in the world cant add extra hours in the day. you can be working as hard as you possibly can & still not meet deadline bc its just not humaenly possible w the resources you have. look at the underlying problem instead of just surface optics.

they could put dates just to placate yall. but it would be an empty gesture. theyd still be just as behind as always bc the dates are not tackling the base issue. itd be the same old shit but more to get mad abt as they still fail to meet dates you asked them to set.

some of yallve never worked on large amateur creative ventures & it shows lmao. youd be amazed how fast a few months can go by & youre only doing background shit so theres still no visible progress you can share publicly. you worked every single day but still feel theres nothing tangible enough to show for it. a few months can go by fast esp when you dont have just one job & are juggling 10 different tasks w simultaneous importance bc its just you or mayb 1 other person taking on 6 ppl worth of work. 

 just remember were all looking from the outside. theres always backend stuff goign on we never know abt. (i know. ironically im making assumption too. but its based on so much experience w these sorts of teams. dv has all the signs. plus context clues given on stream & rare times staff communicates. textbook understaffed scope creepy amateur project tbh.) 

if this were neopets or some shit own by a large company w hundreds of employees maybe itd be different. but some of yall are always gonna be miserable if you dont manage your expectations. see it for what it is instead of what you want it to be. & sometimes look at whats been accomplished. they DO get stuff done. theyre not dropping 80 updates a month, but to me it looks like they make slow steady progress. miss goals but do follow up eventually. they are literally completing tasks. & show signs of taking feedback into account. just not at the speed ppl want. 

criticism makes for a better convo topic bc negative emotional response sticks in the brain longer. but were always gonna have bias if we dont appreciate good shit too. sometimes theres an attitude like "okay cool i like this, now wheres the NEXT thing" or "great finally an improvement, now why isnt THIS other thing fixed?". moving on to the next thing so quick you dont notice the effort of whats in front of you.

but once you match dvs pace & get what postion theyre coming from its not terrible. i have plenty of criticisms from a project management perspective. but in terms of other aspects ive a more lenient view considering what theyre likely working w (esp not having a dev or anyone who codes as part of core staff. im surprised theyve been able to keep afloat this long even lmao)

you dont hold an amateur experimental musician to the same standards as an international pop star w a whole team behind them, yea? but the amateur is not inherently worse, or less worthy of support. you can still enjoy both, just recognizing theyre different things. i see the vision of the amateur & choose to support patiently knowing its got a different pace than the pop idol. theyre at different spots in their career timeline & will have their own unique issues based on that. but both can be plenty good. context matters.

  TLDR; there is much staff can do better at ofc (namely communication & interpretation of user feedback (like not knowing in the first place that "roadmap" usually implies dates -_-). but imo dates are not gonna fix shit bc lack of "motivation" is def not the core issue. such focus on the dates is thus unhelpful. i think some of yall dont get where dv is actually at & then put up expectations that are built to fail bc of that. not saying to let everything slide. but yk. appreciate the good where it happens. have patience. be aware what the underlying problems actually are & contextualize. tempering realistic expectations will make you much happier & able to enjoy the game for what it is.

or idk. i personaly used to be one of the main harsher critics so much i almost quit dv entirely & this perspective helped ME at least lmfao. now i play regularly much less stressed/angry abt it. ymmv.

[roguemonsterfucker]

I had a friend who went through awfully similar through that person/company too. TW for child death; but she had a small child that ended up passing away from a respiratory illness. Her kids favorite animal was a wolf, so in her grief she went to order something from then too. She also paid everything up front.

But quite a bit of time kept passing, and kept passing, and kept passing. After a couple of years their was nothing. My friend went to send a message to see what the status of everything was and wanted to ask about how long to expect it this to take. It got ignored. A couple months later she tried to send another message and nothing. Rinse and repeat on that a couple of times. Eventually she shot a message on Insta asking for a refund and shortly after she had asked for a refund her account got blocked.

It's been quite a long time since i last talked to my old friend, so I'm not sure if they ever did get that refund, but even if werepups/asia wasn't a scammer, at the very least they have the worst customer service skill on the face of the planet.

I'm sorry if this message is too downtrodden and heavy just given the subject matter. But I guess I just wanted to chime up and say you weren't alone in how they were doing people dirty. I don't know if they still make them anymore but if they do then I feel at the very least people deserve to know what they might be getting into if they go to give their business to Werepups

Ugh, that's so awful. My deepest sympathies go to your friend.

And it is interesting that they paid fully upfront as well... More support for my theory that she only finished orders that weren't paid yet. =/

It is weird that they got blocked on instagram. That's where I was finally able to get a response. I first used email, and I got replies during the first year of waiting saying they were "six months behind." Then they stopped replying to emails.

Then I started messaging them on facebook. I got a response, but not a timeline. And then no response later.

Finally, I think I actually commented on an instagram post and that's when I got real replies, but by then I was just so fucking over it because four years had passed at that point. So I asked for a refund and they agreed.

Except I didn't get any updates on the status of the refund for a while. Not until I messaged then saying basically "hey, I don't have the same paypal I used to pay so a refund may be complicated, so instead I'm willing to take that new blank werepup kit you're selling for almost the same as I paid and call it even." Got a fast response there and they sent it. The kit cost $140 and I'd paid $150 (for a mini werepup).

I think they were very happy to pay me off without having to actually give me money.

But it was soon after that that I finally heard about the status of my werepup and found that it had been made.

So even though I got that kit, I can't even fucking look at the thing. Too many bad memories. I ended up selling it to my mom, who makes reborns, but she hasn't even done anything with it yet.

I'm still hopeful to get a werewolf doll at some point, but not one that Asia Erikson had any part in making. She may not be a scammer but she's a scummy person and I don't want her getting another cent from me.

Her brother tried to defend her in some of the Alternative Reborn facebook groups and he was generally just really shitty to everyone who felt scammed by Werepups, making all sorts of excuses.

Four years. There's no excuse, not when other people were getting their werepups in that time who ordered after me.

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Hi BPP! You seem kind if level headed about most things so thought you might have some advice. Since getting into bts I've mainly used twitter to keep up with things, but have long found it too stressful with the fanwars, the negativity to bts, some army loving dicourse too much and demands from some about streaming/voting (which I do anyway, but the guilt trip posts start to stress me out) etc plus reactions to anything seem amplified there. I've tried several times to curate my timeline, only follow official accounts and trusted update ones, but still a lot of nonsense ends up reaching me. I've even tried deleting the damn app, but always end up back because I've not found anywhere better for updates yet. Maybe its because I already suffer with anxiety that a lot of these things effect me more then they should, but with all the enlistment stuff I really think I need to find better places to spend my time. I used to use tumblr years ago (before I was into bts) and since blowing the cobwebs off my account and going through my old posts I remembered how much calmer being a fan on here felt, so I'm thinking this might be a good platform to try and spend my time on instead. My only concern is that I'll miss actual news and translations as twitter just seems a better platform for that real time. How do you manage your fandom experience? And are there any good blogs here you'd recommend? I just don't think I can handle each of their enlistment periods putting up with both kmedia nonsense and armys instant reaction to it like you said on one of your previous asks. I know it won't do me personally any good and if I'm just stressed all the time I'll start associating feeling stressed with the boys, which I dont want. Honestly finding your account where you actually discuss things in a calm manner has felt a blessing when I've been both over stressed by twitter and feeling a bit lost on tumblr so thank you.

***

Hi Anon,

I hear you on all this, but I think the way I 'manage my fandom experience' might not work for you because going by everything you wrote, I suspect we have very different personalities. Plus the way I stay updated is mostly from actually talking to people, friends in Korea and outside Korea, rather than checking in with update accounts and things like that. Like most of the time I'm online for k-pop, I'm online with friends on Daum... not Twitter or Tumblr. This is what I sort of organically developed over the years and during significantly crazier times in k-pop.

Occasionally I get asks wanting advice on navigating k-pop or fandom in general, and it kinda stumps me because fandom is just a microcosm of wider society so just do what works for you out there, in here. It's a process of trial and error, but eventually you'll create an environment you like staying in.

You're also doing all the right things already. You seem self-aware of your limits and how staying longer in an environment you find toxic could impact other things such as how you view the tannies + the fandom. You mentioned checking out different online platforms and I agree with you that Tumblr better allows you to isolate for what you actually want to see, way better than Twitter does. Tumblr, rather than Twitter, is the best platform to create an echo chamber which is essentially what you're asking Anon. I don't follow many accounts here and most of the accounts I do follow are pics accounts for the rapline and jikook, but one account I'd recommend that updates with current events for all BTS members very promptly, is @jung-koook.

On Twitter, I have notifications set on the official BTS accounts and usually add new events to my calendar right away (but this is also something I do generally for other events to stay organized). The people I follow on twitter outside of official accounts are friends who I've known for an average of 3 years (from all sorts of fandoms), as well as some producers and music magazine editors. I look out for people who seem genuinely interested in the music over anything else. I have a fairly big account on Twitter but I'm also a vintage twitter user (think circa 2007) and so I'm very comfortable navigating the madness happening on there daily. And this brings me to one big point: if you plan to spend any time in fandom, any fandom, you might have to work on your tolerance.

Basically, you can try to curate your online environment as much as you like, but so long as you're dealing with people or are anywhere you expect to interact with strangers, then you need a higher tolerance baseline. I answered another ask recently where I said fandom probably skews higher than the normal distribution of freaks in a population, so no matter the platform you're on, you're just going to have to expect to see weirdos. Like you might be surprised to learn that even with my apparent 'reasonable' approach with this blog open for less than a year on a 'calm' site like Tumblr, I've had my fair share of weirdos and manufactured drama. It's unfortunate, but also just par for the course.

The basics: block people you don't want to interact with, mute words you don't want to see or that add to your anxiety. You don't need to explain yourself, but also understand you'll still see things you don't like. With my personality it's easy for me unlook weird shit and focus on what makes sense to me, but for others I can understand if they need hard limits on that sort of nonsense.

*

TL;DR

Tumblr is better for creating echo chambers than Twitter. Tumblr is better for controlling what you want to see than Twitter is.

One account I'd recommend following here is @jung-koook who posts frequently and promptly for all the members.

On Twitter I have notifications set on the official BTS accounts. I mostly only interact with a handful of friends on Twitter though I have a fairly big account on there.

There's no shortcut to creating a space that works for you. It's trial and error but you seem to already be doing all the right things.

Develop a higher tolerance for weird. Fandom brings in all sorts of people, pay attention to things you like, block things you don't, and eventually you'll find your people. That's not a platitude, it actually generally works.

Goodluck Anon. 💜