#Which is why I think modern aus where he has no power over any of them and is just Some Guy whose a Criminal are sooooo fun

[just-j-really]

While I'm on the subject of Dreamling-does-tropes-wrong:

Hanahaki au where Hob's the one with hanahaki. Because I think however you set it up Hob refuses to play by the rules of the genre and the potential there is like catnip to me.

"The cure is confessing your love" variant? Hob's just like "Well fuck this actually" and tells Dream he loves him the moment he starts coughing up flowers. And there's so much potential there!

-Poor Hob tries to confess to Dream every time they interact and something keeps getting in his way- he falls in love in 1689, in 1789 they get interrupted, in 1889 he gets halfway through a confession and Dream YOU DAREs him, in 1989 he gets stood up. In 2022 Dream shows up at his table in the New Inn and Hob just blurts out "I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU" before Dream has the chance to actually say anything.

-Modern day, post-reunion, Dream doesn't want to intrude on Hob's life but he does want to see him more so he decides to go for the totally rational move of using his Dream-powers to spy on Hob- which means he gets a front-row seat to Hob slowly succumbing to hanahaki the second their meeting ends. All of Hob's friends/coworkers/acquaintances are REAL worried for him, but he's just like "it's seriously nbd I'll just tell him next time I see him." Dream is also REAL worried while spying from afar, but eventually goes to Hob in person to beg him to confess to whoever he's in love with. (Could be very serious and emotional, could play like that one "just tell them you love them" "alright. hey, I love you." "yes, like that!" meme.)

-Hob blurts out a love confession at... literally any of their canonical meetings, and the rest of the fic is dealing with the fallout. I think the simplest way to do this is 1889, with the confession standing in for "I think you're lonely." I think the most interesting way to do this is 1489, because so much would change. I think the FUNNIEST way to do this is 1589, yes Hob is still married.

But then you can also do the "the cure is having your love requited" variant, where Hob suffers through several centuries with an incurable lung disease. One of his most treasured dreams is that someone will come up with a cure (but for Plot reasons it keeps just not happening, like someone does come up with a cure but the side effects just aren't worth it if you can technically survive having flowers in your lungs. And/or he's never found a doctor he trusted not to freak out if he died and came back on the operating table).

And then you've got options such as:

-Dream falls in love in 1689, and either they start up a relationship right then, or they spend several centuries where Hob thinks they're in a relationship (his feelings were returned, of course they are!) and Dream thinks he's pining hopelessly for Hob, who could never love him

-Dream Does Not realize that Hob is in love with him (and in fact thinks Hob just keeps getting hanahaki, over and over, for different people, and wonders why Death saddled him with the world's Messiest human). And then he falls in love with Hob.

-Dream DOES realize Hob is in love with him. Unfortunately, he falls in love with Hob (or more realizes that what he was feeling WAS love) while fishbowled. Fortunately, Hob notices the lack of flowers, gets worried about what that means (because if his Stranger returns his feelings then why isn't he here? the flowers can't be gone because he's dead, Hob refuses to believe it). Cue a fishbowl rescue!

-Dream falls in love with Hob post-fishbowl, but is in denial about his ow feelings and assumes Hob found a workable cure sometime while he was fishbowled, or got over him. He's VERY SAD about this and can't figure out why. Hob is busy googling 'how to ask out a guy who i empirically know likes me back but only looks at me mournfully when i try to flirt'

Like I want to write this fic so bad but there are so many directions i want to go with it...

[toomanyideasandfandoms]

Okay okay okay so I have a VERY hot take...

I don't think the Sovereigns would like the creator. Cuz like it's more likely that the creator is the one that made humans, not the dragons before it. Because why would you create the dragons, and then later on just throw away the idea and push the dragons away when you could have created another planet to put the humans on instead, right?

Neuvi is the exception because he was reborn off on a human body and is technically created by the creator. HOWEVER, imagine that it's the dragon's authority that helps Neuvi realize the creator is the real deal. Like sure, the subtle power that they notice from the creator is there, but like with the authority itself (and being in tune with it as much as he would be when he obtains it), it would be MUCH more obvious.

That brings up the question as to why the archons aren't able to tell, and that's because of their own mind blocking it. How most people work is that whenever they think something is true, it takes a LOT to be able to like change their mind on something if they were wrong. So imagine that they hear of the impostor going around, but whenever they meet them, they feel that power and that pull. But because they've conditioned themselves to think of them as the impostor and not the actual creator, they stay stubborn and just push off that doubt in their minds.

Y'know who wouldn't be like that? FOCALORS (and Nahida cuz Irminsul). Think about it, she barely hears about any sort of like rumors or any badmouthin the cause she's been inside the Oritrice, and because she is made out of water (Oceanid stuff), they're more in tune with the authority. So without that block, they can tell right away during the trial on the "impostor" that they are in fact the real creator, which is why it will ALWAYS say they are innocent, no matter what.

Anyways, kinda went off on a tangent there sorry-

🍌anon

See this is where I ended up deep diving in the wiki by accident at one point that caused me to have this big brain moment.

So we know the Primordial One exists right? This is a canon god that created humans after essentially taking over Teyvat with the Heavenly Principles. That's canon.

So if the Primordial One is already canonically the one who created our characters (essentially)...what the fuck did our creator create?

My answer, Teyvat itself of course. But also the dragon Sovereigns themselves.

But I can already hear you asking, then how did we get to the modern canon of gods? Simple, Teyvat itself is an entity that can control and influence the elements, albeit very little. And with that influence the Heavenly Principles can't fully erase the authority of the creator, instead they rewrite history to favor them.

Saying the Dragons grew tired of being under the creator and chose to rebel, causing the creator to summon the Primordial One (which causes the creator to gain the title of Primordial Mother) to gain aid from. Then we essentially have our original canon mythos that's in the game itself. Essentially it's the same as with any history, written by the victors instead of what the full truth is.

And for why the archons can't recognize the creator is simply because the Heavenly Principles just won't allow them to. Because they've stolen (or attempted to for eons) the authority from the creator.

And here's my own hot take when it comes to the role of the Heavenly Principles, they aren't the creator's friend. They're more like a parasite that's trying to take over what the creator had originally made. Though the reasons I haven't fully thought up honestly. Could be jealousy, a twisted version of obsession, honestly it's up in the air for now.

But I like your hot take! Honestly most aus I've seen where the Heavenly Principles are on the creator's side would fit this very well. Actually it would be interesting if someone did an au where the isekaied protagonist is the reincarnation of the Primordial One and has to deal with the fact that they are trapped in Fontaine because the rage the Hydro Sovereign has would keep them there for all eternity just so he could enact justice on their past life's actions.

[sukunasweetheart]

can i just say i love your fics SMMMM my serotonin boost fr!!! what do we think abt him with an s/o who has a lot of admirers 👁

THANK YOUU here is a treat 4 u <3

sorry i ended up doing too much and also going off-topic a bit oops

it ended up becoming modern au!sukuna 😭 forgive me (gender neutral reader)

sukuna is so used to being the one overshadowing the others - he's used to being the one admired, revered, respected, for his power and intelligence. it's safe to say he'd also be used to seeing people fight each other just for a lick of his attention - desiring for even just a glance from his way. so it's a given that he's not used to feelings of possessiveness or jealousy.

but now that he has you, someone who always has others admiring you from both closeby and afar, he's beginning to understand those petty sensations and thoughts. he's obviously never one to be insecure about your popularity, on most occasions, he even likes to make a show of it - he enjoys seeing them gnashing their teeth with envy as he flaunts his relationship with you in front of their faces - "see this? all mine," he seems to say, as he openly kisses you in public.

but when it catches him on a bad day, perhaps following a bad argument, he sees you with someone who is obviously interested in being more than just a friend to you (which you're not aware of, frustratingly so), and he starts feeling sick to his stomach. with everyone else who came before you, sukuna would simply tell them "don't like it? then leave," whenever they voiced complaints to him about their relationship... but now it's the opposite of what he wants. just the thought of you being with someone that isn't him gets his heart dropping to the ground, making him feel restless.

he knows he isn't the best at being soft. nor at using the kindest words when he gets heated. he'll always be more selfish than selfless, and he's not the most emotionally intelligent. it's unlike him to use words like 'i'm sorry' or 'i love you' so he's uneasy for the moment where you might find someone who'll be everything that he isn't amongst your sea of admirers, and that you'll leave him and never look back.

it's simply so humiliating, feeling this way... he's not sure what to do about it. you seem to be seriously upset this time around, and he knows brushing past it or glossing over it using his usual charm (which is a bad habit that he has) isn't going to work. you're not acknowledging him or responding to his texts properly or saying good morning or goodnight and it's driving him insane because he misses it... you're not looking at him. he's the one gazing at you, longingly.

sukuna will pin you down eventually, somewhere, somehow, and trap you so that you're not able to avoid him any longer. he'll drag you away from your stupid little crowd of spectators and talk to you in private, where'll spend ten minutes trying to apologise in a strange, roundabout and aggressive way because he knows it's his own damn fault. you know him, so you're able to recognise that he's trying to say sorry. your gaze is still elsewhere, looking off to the side instead of him. and that bothers him immensely.

"why won't you look at me?" god, he sounds so sad and pathetic.

truth is, sukuna now simply withers out and dies a little without your attention. what can he do to have that spotlight upon him once again? why are your eyes on anybody, anything, that isn't him? pay attention to me, and me only.

when you finally spare him a glance, he feels like breathing again. and he'll fight tooth and nail to keep that gaze of yours on him. fuck your insignificant and measly admirers. he's all you need, and sukuna's going to make sure of it. (he'll compromise for you, if he has to.)

he's definitely overstimming you in bed that night, in order to catch up on all the lost pride and attention that you'd deprived him of.

tagging; @gojos-thot-patrol <3 hope its to your liking.. even tho its not as angsty as i originally intended it to be haha

Masterlist

[violettavonviolet]

Merlin & Gravity falls fic recs

all fics are finished and fantastic! the word count goes up progressively, I've noted the ratings but do check the tags!

all fics marked with a star haven't left my brain since I read them.

Merlin

A Future Lined in Gold

predilection

Summary:

Gwaine's soulmate has magic. He knows this because his soulmark glows.

This wasn't as much of a problem until he started spending more time in Camelot where magic is banned, and where even someone catching sight of his soulmark could have him beheaded.

(A Merlin/Gwaine soulmate AU.)

6k gwaine/merlin teen

Secret Whistle

thenerdyindividual

Summary:

Merlin can't understand those stupid complicated hand signs Arthur uses on a hunt, but they figure out another way to communicate.

or: 5 times people were confused by Arthur and Merlin's secret language, and 1 time everyone understood.

6k merthur gen

Secrets

platonic_boner

Summary:

In which everyone gradually finds out that everyone else knew all along about the magic.

7k teen merthur

Co-Dependent

vintagemocha

Summary:

And then it hits Uther, like a fork of lightning: "Fine, then, no Merlin for a week."

"Oh, no," one of the knights, Sir Leon, gasps.

Arthur, whose jaw has been hanging open this entire time, finally regains his abilities of speech. "What?" he says. "No Merlin?"

+++

As punishment for Arthur's disobedience, Uther bans all contact with his manservant for a week.

It works out about as well as you could expect.

8k humor gen

The Authoritative Guide on Being the Bloke

writeonclara

Summary:

In the four years he and Merlin had been together, Merlin never so much hinted that he had a blog.

Well, at least not to Arthur. Everyone and their dog knew about it, except Arthur.

Arthur sighed and clicked Previous 10 Entries. It was a little like reading a biography about all of the things you would never, ever want to share with anyone.

ON SHAGGING THE BLOKE

Sort of like that.

OR: Merlin has a blog. Arthur finds out about it.

9k Merthur modern

Loyalty Before Royalty

CaffeinatedFlumadiddle

Summary:

"Where did you get that?" Arthur asked, but he already knew the answer. 

"Gwen."

"...and the horse?"

"Gwen."

"What about the-"

"Gwen." Merlin interrupted. Arthur nodded. At this point, he wasn't sure why he even bothered to ask. He was pretty certain his wife was going to knight Merlin any day now. He looked Merlin up and down for a few moments before accepting it all with a sigh.

"As long as you get my armor to me tomorrow...I don't care." He finally said, turning away. Merlin cleared his throat. 

"Gwen gave me tomorrow off."

"For the love of God." 

Or

I hate that Gwen and Merlin's friendship kind of withered away in the later seasons so here's a oneshot about her and Merlin abusing her new royal powers because that's what happens when your best friend becomes queen.

10k gwen& merlin gen

Good Fortune

platonic_boner

Summary:

Arthur makes Merlin a lord, and Merlin does an astonishingly good job of running a village.

11k merthur gen

Guarding the Guardian

CaffeinatedFlumadiddle

Summary:

“Mordred, right?” Arthur asked, kneeling in front of him. The boy nodded, eyes wide as he looked at Arthur as if he might bolt at any moment. “What are you doing back in Camelot? My father won’t like seeing you again.”

“He’s hurt.” Mordred whispered and Arthur glanced over at where Merlin was unconscious. A sudden realization dawned on him.

“You healed him,” He said slowly “With magic.”

Mordred nodded. Arthur’s mind raced – thinking of all Merlin had survived in his encounters with bandits and sorcerers. Before he could ask if Mordred had been responsible for all of it, there was a groan as Merlin shifted, eyes flickering open.

“Arth – you!” He choked, sitting up quickly to grab Arthur’s arm as if he could yank the prince away. Mordred grinned.

“You’re awake!” He beamed and launched forward to hug him. Arthur watched as Merlin stiffened at the action – eyes widening before desperately trying to push him away.

“Arthur. Arthur, get him off of me-”

Or

After sneaking Mordred out of Camelot, he occasionally returns to make sure Merlin is doing okay. Arthur isn’t sure why this child is so concerned about the wellbeing of his servant… Nor Merlin's vehement attempts to ignore it.

16k gen humor

Whispering Your Name *

CaffeinatedFlumadiddle

Summary:

The Dorocha. They are the voices of the dead, my child. And, like the dead, they are numberless.

Or

A different take of the dorocha. Instead of them being faceless screams that attack you, they are actually figures of the dead. Merlin doesn't quite realize how much death affected him until him and the knights go to close the veil.

22k angst gen

Thick as Sorcerers

CaffeinatedFlumadiddle

Summary:

Arthur watched, unable to fully comprehend the events that had seemingly just crashed and burned in front of him rather than calmly unfold. He turned to look at the other knights who only shrugged as Mordred sank lower into his seat, lips pressed into a pout as he picked at his food. 

“I…” He started and paused, taking a moment to gather his thoughts “Why do you want Merlin to like you so badly?” He finally sighed. Mordred stopped playing with his food, glancing up before looking at the door the servant in question had exited through 

“Because he’s Merlin.” He said as if that provided any sort of answer. 

Arthur didn’t deserve this. He did his best to be a good person. Maybe this was some kind of divine intervention saying he needed to up his charity game. He needed to give the lower town a bigger tax break or something. Perhaps ride out and save three more damsels than usual. 

"He has a point," Gwaine piped up as he inhaled another mead "He is Merlin."

Or

Merlin hates Mordred and Mordred is determined to put an end to that. Arthur is convinced that this child is after his man.

23k merthur merlin & mordred

um, excuse me? i was dying *

great_stone_dragon

Summary:

Gideon is a fourteen year old boy who wants to know the real tea. Camelot has a lot of secrets to offer.

1. The prince's manservant has magic and everyone knows (except the prince)

2. The prince is in love with his manservant and everyone knows (except the manservant)

OR

The Office if it was merthur in Camelot

30k humor gen

How to kill a king

Naelyn

Summary:

"That is how you deal with your problems! By politely stating your aim and waiting for your turn to come, instead of coming here with your weapons and no word of warning! D’you reckon it’s easy for me? Not only do I have to deal with the mess he,“ Merlin pointed at Arthur with his chin, “leaves behind him, but now I also have to deal with unplanned assassinations? This world has become a crazy place, isn’t that right, Gwaine?”

or:

Arthur's assassins seriously lack style, and Merlin tells them as much. The knights are stunned. So are the assassins. Also, Merlin's mad at Arthur, and so he is determined to ruin his day as much as possible. In the meanwhile, Gwaine's just living his best life (isn't he always?).

38k merthur crack

Next to You (It's the Rule)

LunaMyLove

Summary:

Arthur and Merlin have a special relationship. They always have, even when they were prince and servant. While many question it when first noticing, eventually it becomes an understanding in Camelot—and even among some other countries—that where there is Arthur, there is Merlin. And, where there is Merlin, there is Arthur.

Or

Arthur and Merlin's relationship as witnessed and explained by others.

Also, or

Five times someone realizes that Merlin is the Queen, one time Merlin realizes it himself, and one time he owns it.

62k merthur crack gen

Canary in a Cage

CaffeinatedFlumadiddle

Summary:

“Lady Morgana,” The lord said, his brows furrowing as he took a step back “Pardon me for the assumption, but I was told the king’s ward never left the East tower?” He asked and gestured vaguely around the gardens. Morgana smiled and Merlin smirked from his hiding place as he watched Arthur consider swooping in to save the man, but clearly thinking better of it. 

“Ah, of course.” Morgana said “You must be confused. There are two wards of the king. I’m afraid you won’t be able to meet Merlin today.” 

Or

Uther took in Balinor’s child as a baby and claimed him as his ward. Merlin thinks he’s being held hostage, but whatever.

108k merthur

Gravity falls

to you, who bears my name

masterdipster

Summary:

In a world where most people have names printed on their wrist, Dipper Pines is born with a cipher.

22k Billdip teen and up

Five Minutes Older

thesnadger

Summary:

Mabel ends up trapped in 1979, without her brother and with a broken time machine that she can't fix herself. Luckily, her Grunkle Stan is there. Of course, he's a lot younger now...he has a mullet, he's living out of his car and he doesn't know he's her Grunkle. But he's not planning to let this weird, sparkly little girl end up alone on the streets.

27k time travel

Five Years Older

Nicnac

Summary:

When twenty-seven year old Mabel Pines stumbles across a banged-up time tape in the park, she tells herself that she's much too mature and responsible now to use it to go on a crazy adventure through time. 

Hahaha, yeah right.

46k time travel

The Small Things

Nicnac

Summary:

Stan had definitely showed up empty-handed, but he somehow ended up leaving with two five year olds in tow.

Eh, he'd been to worse memorial services.

55k series

The Whole of Us (is greater than the sum of our broken pieces)

Nicnac

Summary:

Stanford Pines was going to make his legacy by becoming the man who changed the world. Children weren't really part of the plan. 

At least, they weren't supposed to be.

144k teen and up

[kyouka-supremacy]

Dazai?

Eheh Dazai

Favorite thing about them: I really like how as a character he was able to deeply touch so many people!! Seeing so many people finding relief in being able to relate to and emphasize with the character makes me happy.

Least favorite thing about them: I mean, his personality? I don't like how his many flaws are written to be interpreted as strong points / good traits for his character to the point no flaw is actually a flaw, it makes the reading experience very frustrating for me.

Favorite line:

brOTP: Mmmmhh, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about Dazai. Soukoku, probably. The Buraiha trio makes me emotional a little. Souheki, but in a very passive-aggressive, over-competitive, one-sided rivality, can't-stand-each-other way. Dazai and Kyouka. Dazai and Atsushi too I suppose, though I prefer them romantically. I think he makes for a lot of interesting dynamics with virtually all the characters, but none compells me in particular tbh.

OTP: Odazai is plain canon to me, idk what to tell you. I think they make for a beautiful, tragic love story. Get you a man who is willing to change the path of his whole life for another man just like that, nobody does it like them (actually, wait, I can think of another man... ). Although I always distantly liked them, dazatsu has grown on me like, an INSANE amount in the last few months. I'm not sure what happened. I think it was an unfortunate (lol) coincidence of growing a little fonder of Dazai and just wanting to give more space and agenda to Atsushi. Like to me a lot of what dazatsu is really is about giving Atsushi more agency and autonomy and independence and overall just respecting him as a complex, full fleshed out character. I don't see ANY kind of power imbalance in it I keep finding people talk about. Dazai pushes Atsushi to be better every day, and Atsushi does exactly the same for Dazai. Atsushi admires and respects Dazai, and Dazai admires and respects Atsushi equally. I really don't know why the ship isn't more popular and instead just gets discarded most of the time tbh. I feel like everyone should sit down a second and actually give Atsushi the dignity to choose for himself. And fyozai!!! The investment in this ship mostly goes on waves for me but despite that I firmly believe that they really make for an engaging and interesting dynamic to be interpreted romantically. The epitome of “You're both just enabling each other's mental illnesses. You're both perfect for each other. Never change. Just never involve anybody else in what you've got going on.”

nOTP: Nothing comes to my mind.

Random headcanon: Not canon related, but in modern aus I feel like he'd be one to always end up working at ceo roles and he would HATE it. He fires himself and starts working at some cheap frozen yogurt place and one month later he'll find himself as the ceo of the most important oil company of the country AGAIN without him even realizing it / despite his active efforts to avoid that. And he HATES IT. He fires himself again but the loop only repeats forever. He's just that kind of person for whom all doors open automatically.

Unpopular opinion: ............ I could be here forever. I regretfully fail to relate to a lot of characterization / readings of the character I've seen the fandom give him. I really don't want to dwell on this so I'll just mention something mostly unrelated to his characterization: I wholly can't share the take of him being physically built like??? At all??? Which got REALLY popular a few months ago. Dude feels like he never lifted a finger his whole life, I really don't know where the idea comes from???? And I personally don't take his manga visual portrayal as a telling factor for this; pretty much all the characters have the same body type, it's impossible for me to base the buff Dazai assumption on how he's drawn in the manga. Just one thing about his chracter though stop making him matchmaker for ss/kk he really isn't stop don't do it please

Song i associate with them: HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE associating him with my favourite vocaloid song ever but. Meltdown by iroha is a very Dazai song. So many other songs though... Parade of Liars by ryo. Abstract Nonsense by Neru. God-ish by Pinocchio-P. So on and so forth.

Favorite picture of them:

Favourite panel from the manga:

Favourite illustration:

Favourite illustration in the anime art style:

Favourite Mayoi card:

Send me a character?

[moodywyrm]

modern au hcs i have about the salt lake crew cuz why not i felt like sharing:

abby's secretly into cosplay but she won't admit it; manny's celebrity crush is sza; nora's a "no shoes in the house person" (she almost stabbed owen when he came over for a group get-together); mel's lowkey a disney adult and its adorable (her fav film is frozen); owen and jordan are both filmbros but in different ways - owen's the annoying kind (yk the kind 🙄) while jordan is genuinely passionate about films and film history and gives fun facts during movie nights; nick makes tiktok stitches like this one https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT88SYgkG/ ; leah's one of those drunk girls who hypes up other girls in bathrooms, like she'll see a pretty black girl with gold charms in her hair and start crying cuz she's so beautiful (abby & nora had to drag her out)

this is one of the cutest asks I've ever gotten oh my god? lemme expand on your beautiful thoughts. while I have beef with the salt lake crew, I also appreciate them and I think, had we started with them, we would have all loved or tolerated them.

abby + cosplay is so full of possibility omg. I imagine it started as an appreciation for cosplayers because she thought it was super cool! and then slowly. she started doing outfits inspired by her favorite characters. and then recreations. and then next thing she knows, she's dragging Manny to comic con to be her lil protector/buddy while she dresses up as Spiderman, or Junker Queen, or Samus. she has literally had craft nights where the crew helps her work on her cosplays. mel is the best at it, helping her form foam armor pieces. owen is passable only because he has experience building and fixing shit (the boat). Jordan is laughably bad any it but he tries <3

manny's celebrity crush is Sza AND Kali Uchis. He genuinely thinks he could pull them and, honestly, maybe he could. but abby loves telling him they're out of his league (they kinda are). he has like, Pete Davidson rizz. if that makes sense.

Nora is 100% a no shoes in the house girl. it's how she was raised! her house is fucking Pristine, man, which is honestly such feat because girly is a busy ass nursing student. and you're right about Owen! shit head wears shoes inside houses WITH CARPET. I will say rn, it's pretty much impossible to not wear shoes inside the house in my place bc we have two dogs, but we have tile so it's not as bad. however with carpet? evil. vile. Owen and his nasty ass nike sneakers tried to step onto Nora's pristine cream carpet and she nearly smacked him with a pair of tongs that had just came out of hot oil. as she should. he learned, and has never tried it again (mostly because Mel reminds him every time)

Disney adult Mel!! I know Disney adults get a lot of hate, but I feel like she'd be really sweet about it. like whenever she wants to go, she offers to pay for the others food and stuff, if they can't, she always brings them little gifts. like pins and stuff, shirts, ears, plushies!! she has a special pair of mickey ears that a frozen themed, Owen got them for her on her birthday <3 (this is me taking my powers as a writer to turn Owen into an actually good partner for Mel and not a piece of shit <3). one time, Mel got Abby to disneybound Gaston and it was so cute!! she has disneybounded as Anna and she looks so cute in it <3

the filmbros. oh god. Owen is 100% the type of guy to love Quentin Tarantino films and think they're the peak of cinema, all the while hating Jennifers Body. Jordan however, king, he loves Jennifer's Body and 100% listened to Leah and Nora spend like three hours talking about the nuances of girlhood and queerness in the movie. Definitely watched and appreciated Barbie with them, even dressed up in all pink! borrowed some of Leah's clothes to do it <3 he loves channels like Dead Meat, because I feel like he especially likes horror movies? will defend the slasher genre with his life, hates torture porn movies. big fan of sleepaway camp!

I don't know much about nick but I can say this is accurate, I feel like he also does those videos reacting to weird white people recipes? like how long does it take for them to add a block of cream cheese to the crock pot, or the weird obviously fetish content ones? and he just makes this really stoic disappointed face like. fr.

drunk girl Leah!! I imagine the salt lake crew occasionally goes clubbing, and you're so fucking right about Leah. they all get kinda tipsy, but Leah takes two shots of vodka and starts falling in love with every fem presenting person in the building. gives the good compliments too. how beautiful they look in the party lights, the shine of their hair, the twinkle of their eyes, the highlighter! the outfit! is literally fawning over every fem person she sees and Jordan is just like yeah go ahead. mostly because he knows she loyal and also, she's literally just so cute. disclaimer that it's never in the like, fetishizing wlw for men, Leah literally just compliments every girl she sees ever. especially in the bathrooms! if she sees you crying, she is the first one at your side, offering to beat up whoever made you sad, holding your hand, helping you fix your makeup, the works. drunk girl Leah is a gem to humanity and there are leagues of girls out there whose nights have been saved by this drunken sweetheart. there have been. too many times where abby has had to physically throw Leah over her shoulder to get her out of the bathroom because they need to Leave and she's starting conversations with everyone who walks through the door.

this is so cute!! thank you for this ask nonnie!! and I got your ask about it being duets and not stitches <3

[albentelisa]

Hi! What do you think would happen if Jim was born as Gwen and Arthur's kid, but somehow still meet Claire and Toby?

Oh, that's what I call 'let's give Jim an even messier biological dad'. So, in this AU, Jim is a baby when Gwen dies, so technically he doesn't remember her well enough. Much like in the canon, Arthur starts a crusade against the supernatural and pretty much neglects his son, visiting him only occasionally. Morgana, on the other hand, spends way more time with her nephew (partially because of guilt, but she also genuinely loves Jim). Jim grows a bit, and much to his own horror, Arthur realizes that his only son takes after his mother too much when it comes to curiosity about magical creatures. Jim keeps sneaking out of the castle into the forest and befriending all kinds of magical beings there (including Nari). He also sets free inhuman prisoners rather regularly. And Arthur, instead of reconsidering his stance, is now bound by fear that he will lose the last memento of Gwen. He goes to Merlin looking for the best working solution to keep Jim away from 'dangerous beasts', and this is where those two commit something unforgivable. They put Jim in a time stasis until Arthur obliterates all non-humans.

Unfortunately, nothing goes like planned as Arthur dies and Merlin goes to sleep without giving any instructions how to release Jim.

Barbara in this AU is also from Camelot times. She's Jim's nanny and secretly a witch. She is furious when she learns what Arthur has done to his son and swears to find a way to free Jim. She isn't a powerful or knowledgeable magic user, so it takes her centuries until she manages to do it several years before the beginning of the events in Trollhunters.

As Jim is still a kid, he has less trouble adjusting to the modern world. He is still sad because most of the people he knew are not around anymore (though it's easier with Barbara, who is a true mother figure to him, around). Besides, Jim dreams to become a noble knight which is impossible in the modern world.

On the other hand, Jim still befriends Toby like in the canon, though he doesn't tell him about his origin right away (that happens only after Toby learns about trolls).

As for Jim and Douxie in this AU, those two never met in Camelot times, because technically Jim should be older than Douxie (he would have been an adult by the time Douxie became Merlin's apprentice if Merlin had never trapped him). However, as Jim is physically and mentally the younger one now, Douxie takes over the elder brother role for him when those two meet. It happens soon after Barbara breaks the time stasis as she is friends with Douxie. Initially, Jim is a bit afraid of Douxie as he is Merlin's apprentice and Jim fears that he might be back to that time trap. He opens up once he realizes that Douxie helped Barbara with finding the way to free him.

I think that most of the canon event will still happen. The differences will be:

Jim knowing about the supernatural. He's also not a big fan of fighting for 'the glory of Merlin'. That is his main reason why he wants to refuse the mantle at first. However, later Jim realises that no matter what kind of words are used, the amulet is still meant to protect.

Jim still have some chivalrous mannerisms from his Camelot times and Claire finds it cute. She also teases him about being a prince (as he's is one) and Jim wants to die of embarrassment.

Douxie is obviously involved earlier and Barbara knows about Jim's trollhunting from the very beginning. Barbara still starts to date Strickler and Jim is reluctant to tell her that Walter is a changelling once he learns that. So Barbara still gets bond to Strickler by Angor and only learns the truth later.

When it comes to awaking Merlin, both Jim and Barbara (especially Barbara) are against it. Jim gives in after realizing that they have no other choice.

Morgana doesn't want to harm her nephew, but she thinks about trapping him somewhere so he isn't involved.

Merlin doesn't expect his last Trollhunter to be King Arthur's son. After all, he knows that his champion should become a half-troll, but doing it to his friend's son can be quite a betrayal. Not that it stops Merlin though (or make him think for an alternative).

the reunion between Jim and Arthur in the past is a royal mess. Jim don't even want to confess to his father he is his son (and honestly, both Blinky and Strickler are better in that role).

Jim also can't succeed Excalibur at first because he connects that one to his father too much. He also doesn't want to be a king as he doesn't want to become like his father. Though Aja's example makes him reconsider.

[virtualcarrot]

[KKIR] Modern AU - Teaching Pains Pt5

Part 4

Prompt 5 : Exes/Memories

.

Iruka's bleary eyed and still half-asleep when a similarly out of it but powering through Kotetsu hooks an arm around the back of his neck.

“Sooo… You and Kakashi-sensei stayed up late together at the gym, uh.”

Iruka doesn't react. In all fairness he's too busy trying to figure whether or not he’ll capitulate to the early hour and abstain from one of the cheap donuts on the counter. On the one hand, he’s vaguely queasy. On the other hand, it’s free food, and also sugar, which should give him the necessary boost of energy to hang on until his brain gets fully online.

Before he can decide, Anko makes a grand entrance, her drill sergeant voice announcing her arrival. “All right, losers! The bake sale's ready and the Headmaster's office’s shut off from the public. Y’all ready to be productive members of society or are you gonna keep mooching off our hard work?”

With a coffee in hand and a coworker hanging off his shoulders, Iruka blinks back slowly. He barely registers Kotetsu hiding his face in his shoulder with a groan.

Ignoring them for the coat rack, Mizuki hangs his bag with a huff.

Anko meets Iruka's eyes and grins toothily. “Why, hello lover boy,” she drawls. “Have fun yesterday?”

Iruka pulls a face. “It's not like that and you know it.”

“Oh, do I?”

Faced with her too sharp eyes and growing all too aware of Mizuki's presence, he hides in his drink. “We were sparring,” he mutters into the mug.

“What was that?”

“We were sparring.”

Kotetsu releases him with a snort of laughter. “Is that what the kids call it, now?”

Sometimes, being on friendly terms with your coworkers is a curse.

“I assume most kids aren’t familiar with kumite, so I’d say: yes,” Iruka retorts curtly.

He doesn’t really like bringing up martial arts around Mizuki. There are old wounds they’ve rebuilt their friendship around that still remain tender. But he can’t let this sort of insinuation go unanswered either. It’s unprofessional, for starters, and also he could really, really do without the risk it might reach Kakashi’s ears if Iruka doesn’t nip it in the bud.

Much to his relief, Mizuki doesn’t sour at the topic. He draws closer instead, eyeing Iruka up and down the way he used to when they were kids and he was looking for injuries. “Are you alright?”

Iruka ducks his head. “Yeah, don’t worry. He went easy on me.”

He pauses, remembering his surprise of the previous evening, the warm feeling of making a pleasant, unexpected discovery.

“He’s actually really good, uh,” he adds, somewhat breathily.

Ever the realist, Mizuki gives him a little smile. “It’s more likely that you’re too out of practice,” he says gently, which Iruka can’t really dispute. “But it’s good that you had fun.”

Then, because they’re not actually paid to gossip, they all leave the teachers’ lounge and go open the school to the public. Mizuki falls into step with him while he goes to round the last arrived volunteer students--for a value of volunteer where Iruka just ended up conscripting additional kids until they had enough people.

That Naruto didn't put up more of a fight feels like an admirable growth of his character, truthfully.

“You should be careful,” Mizuki says, breaking the companionable silence.

In the process of a mental review of the performances and workshops they've got planned for the next day, Iruka has trouble following the non sequitur.

“What?”

“Kakashi-sensei. You had a tense relationship, and he's been mellowing to you--which is great. But it wouldn't do for people to think it's in return for… services. Or that you'd compromise your students for that.” At Iruka's stricken look, he waves a hand in the air with a rueful smile. “Don’t worry, I don't think that. But you know how tongues wag.”

Which is of course the moment Iruka’s phone chooses to chime with a new text. Any cheer he might have derived from Kakashi asking about his morning freezes over. He hastily shoves his phone back into his pocket. Mizuki gives him a pointed, knowing look but is kind enough not to comment.

Thankfully, Iruka doesn't have time to ruminate. Visitors may be slow on the first hours of open day but that's all the better to ready them for the later inpouring. Future students, their parents and concerned family members number that crowd, along with the visiting families of their current ones; the true bulk of it, though, are the random bystanders excited for the free spectacle Ebisu sets up with the kids every year. If only for Sasuke, Lee, Tenten and Neji’s feats of gymnastics and martial arts, the trip is worth it.

By the time the rush fully starts, Iruka has already broken two fights between Ino and Sakura, yelled Shikamaru awake from a nap, reminded Chōji that the cakes from the bake sale are for sale, and stepped in to support Hinata before she passed out at the prospect of talking to a group of total strangers asking for her opinion on the school curriculum.

After which lunch-time arrives.

He distributes the complimentary sandwiches the school provides their little volunteers--but not the teachers--and then takes a very hypocritically cake-filled break in guise of a meal. It's more sugar than he enjoys, but he didn't have time to cook the evening before and knows from experience that the local shops will be crowded from their own visitors looking for something to eat.

Somewhere past two in the afternoon, Kakashi shows up with takeout coffee from Iruka's favorite place. Iruka's never resented someone more for making him like them.

“Isn’t today a university day?” he asks, washing the lingering sweetness from his mouth with a blessedly dark roast.

It's a bit rude, by way of greetings, but Kakashi doesn't take offense. If anything, his eye curves in that congenial arch like Iruka's just the most entertaining thing he's been given to see.

“Had two free hours ahead, thought I'd check how it's going,” he replies, with the sort of nonchalance that tells Iruka those hours were probably not supposed to be nearly this idle.

“Office hours?” he can't help but ask, trying to ignore Suzume adjusting her glasses at them a few classrooms over.

Unperturbed, Kakashi chuckles. “Office hours,” he confirms with an expectant smirk.

But Iruka doesn't segue into his usual rant about responsibility and student needs. Leading a group of wide eyed pre-teens and their flustered parents across the hallway, Kotetsu's just sent a thumbs up behind his back and with it, made his spine freeze.

He doesn’t have time to linger anyway. The gymnastics performance is drawing near, which means it’s almost time to begin corralling the interested visitors towards the gymnasium that a not insignificant proportion of them won’t fail to miss, and that’s in spite of Izumo’s indications on the PA system and the many printed signs they’ve tacked all over the school in preparation.

To top it all, Iruka hasn't seen Naruto in a while which never bodes well.

He heaves a sigh at the thought. “Sorry, Kakashi-sensei, I’ve got to get back to it. Really appreciate the coffee, though.”

Kakashi takes one look at the milling visitors and nods. “Sure. Don’t let me keep you. And good luck.”

It takes all of Iruka’s willpower not to smile in thanks, lest he look too familiar, though he doesn’t get long to brood over it. He’s barely walked past one classroom that he's caught by a family of four asking about the facilities and the disciplines taught and whether there’s a waiting list they might sign on to make sure their daughter of six years old gets in when she’s of age. He wants to sympathize with wanting to do good by one’s child, but his experience teaching the kids of such parents, pressured towards performance like the adults around them think they’re coal they might compress into diamonds, makes him deeply skeptical. And anyway, there’s no such thing as a waiting list, which he tells them, before directing them to a few booklets in the library and drafting Sakura to lead them there and answer any further questions.

Finally free, he slips away.

The good thing about having been a troublemaker in this very school, is that Iruka’s well versed in its real estate of hiding places. The downside is, he’s grown complacent in updating that knowledge.

By the time he’s about to give up and rejoin the event, Iruka’s no closer to finding Naruto. At this point, he has half a thought that Naruto should hope he doesn’t find him, because he won’t make any promises as to the kid’s life expectancy once Iruka gets his hands on him.

Fate must really be conspiring against Naruto, then, because Iruka’s doing his last check in the remote corridor leading to the Headmaster’s office when he catches sight of a blue and orange sleeve hiding behind a cabinet with pictures and diplomas of former headmasters.

He sneaks closer for greater impact when he yells.

“Naruto!”

The resulting screech of horror is deafening.

Sitting on the floor with one hand clutched to his heart and his bag at his feet, Naruto laughs nervously. “Aaah, Iruka-sensei, you found me,” he says, rubbing the back of his head.

Iruka gives him the sort of even look that Naruto should know means this situation can go either way, and it’s all up to him.

“What are you doing here?” he asks.

Naruto looks away with the jitters of someone readying a lie, and a bad one at that. Iruka crosses his arms sternly to dissuade him.

It’s enough that Naruto slumps, sullen, and draws his knees to his chest. “It’s just… There are a lot of people.”

“Ah?”

“Lots of… families…”

“Ah.”

Iruka steps around him and the cabinet, and slides down the wall until he meets Naruto on the floor.

“Can’t be easy,” he says casually, looking at the faded paint of the wall across.

“It’s fine,” Naruto mutters to his knees.

Iruka nudges his shoulder and doesn’t say anything. He remembers when he lost his parents, how it was to be young and alone and counting only on himself. Sometimes, a mere presence was enough to help. That, and warm food, which is his usual approach, but he doesn’t have any to offer Naruto at the moment. He makes a note to take him out for ramen sometime soon.

On the loudspeakers, Izumo informs them that the first performance of the afternoon will start in five minutes.

“Hey, Iruka-sensei?”

“Hm?”

“Do you think I’ll pass this grade?”

Truthfully, the question is one Iruka has been pondering himself. While Kakashi’s tutoring has noticeably improved Naruto’s grades in physics and chemistry, and given him confidence to tackle the other disciplines he had given up on, he still has a long way to go.

Iruka sighs. “I don’t know, Naruto,” he answers honestly.

Naruto hugs his legs tighter. “I’m not stupid, you know? It’s just difficult. But I’m really trying my hardest.”

“I’ve never doubted that,” Iruka says, because it’s true. He’s watched Naruto sit hours long in front of his textbooks, hair in even greater disarray than usual as he pulled it every which way in frustration. Truthfully, Iruka sometimes suspects part of his learning difficulties might be closer to disabilities, but he’s been having trouble communicating it to the head of the orphanage, who’s a bit too convinced that Naruto’s just acting out in a bid for attention--which he is--and would by extension benefit from being ignored so as not to reward his behavior--which he doesn’t.

Daikoku isn’t a bad man, but if anything Naruto’s been a harsh lesson to Iruka on the limits of his good intentions.

“I don’t want to repeat the year,” Naruto admits in a small voice.

And Iruka gets why. Kakashi’s guidance isn’t the only reason worth crediting for Naruto’s improvement these last months. Working in a smaller group, out of the more merciless dynamic of a full classroom, has finally given him an opportunity to bond with his classmates. He has friends now. And a rival. Which is kind of a friend, Iruka thinks.

He ruffles Naruto’s hair affectionately.

“Then let’s keep working hard to make sure you don’t, eh?” he says. “Come on, let’s go. Ebisu-sensei’s going to lose his mind if he’s missing one of his stars when the show starts.”

Naruto seems only slightly mollified, but that’s to be expected. Some things take time.

He does get up after Iruka, who counts it as a small victory.

~

Part 6

@kakairu-rocks (I'll finish the fic past the official allotted time of the event but at least these fills will have been posted on time)

[bright-omens]

Do you have any miles headcannons it can be angst or fluffy or a little bit of both. It's up to you

Haha. You gave me too much power. Also, I wasn't super sure if you meant general headcanons or, like, x reader kinda ones, so you get general hc's (if that's not what you wanted, I apologize and will write whatever it is you actually wanted lol). Anyways! On with the headcanons :D

TW: Angst, slight mentions of SH, mention of panic attack, mention of drugs, mention of sex

Fluffy headcanons

He absolutely adores the piano. I think it's canon that he at least knows how to play the piano, but I feel like he really likes it and kinda uses it as a stress reliever of sorts

I feel like he'd also just like the sound of a piano being played, which is what made him want to learn in the first place (The mental image of him serenading his lover by playing the piano. I ascend)

Personally, I feel like he's neurodivergent in some way, so when he gets really excited or happy, he stims in very subtle ways. Like, watch the scene where Miles is telling everyone to go to Tiger's race, and that's what I'm talking about

He's the type of friend that's there for his friends no matter what. He will drop everything just to help them if they need it

He is a little shit though and he will mess around with them and tease them if they do something stupid

I honestly feel like his mom is actually really supportive of him being gay and encourages him to wear what he wants and to do what he wants to do (y'all saw how she kept Simon from the party right? I know she said it was because he was spreading rumors about her son, but part of me feels like it's because she knew and didn't want him to be exposed)

In a modern AU, he's a Swiftie and also loves Lana Del Rey (but only specific songs). I take no critisism

I feel like he definitely had an attraction to Adam at one point, but then Nina showed an interest in Adam, and he backed off. Adam never knew that Miles liked him, and was confused as to why Miles started acting slightly differently when him and Nina got together

Miles did get over the attraction though, so it's not like he was heartbroken or anything

He ends up knowing a lot about cars after dating Tiger

I also feel like Tiger was his first actual relationship. Before Tiger, it was all just one-night stands

Angsty Headcanons

After the Tiger incident, he has trust issues

It takes him a while to fully trust someone again (especially in a romantic sense)

He's back to one-night stands and uses it as a coping mechanism

He also falls further into drugs for a while

We never see his dad in the movie, so I feel like he just kinda...left him and his mom, which really upset him when he was younger, but now he really doesn't care

He kinda went into a really dark place after the whole Tiger incident

Once he realized that he had no friends, he had a panic attack on the train and just cried the entire time

When the letters were first revealed, he briefly considered harming himself

If he ever does get a boyfriend again, I feel like he'd do his best to keep said boyfriend at arms length. He'd feel terrible for it, but he just wanted to protect himself

He misses his mom and his friends, and will cry himself to sleep sometimes because of how much he misses them and wishes he could see them all again

That's all I have! Sorry this took so long, I've been busy and swamped with work these last few days and I hate it lmao

[destinysbounty]

hello i am here to make you talk about avery more. please answer at least 3 of the following:

what are three(+) songs you think describe avery?

what are three(+) songs you think avery would listen to?

who are the three canon characters she's closest to and why?

who are the three canon characters she dislikes most and why?

what's her favorite animal + has she ever had any pets?

if she existed in a no-powers/modern au, what job would she end up with?

what's her go-to drink at a restaurant? how about with at-home meals?

is she more of a morning person or night person or somewhere in-between?

how tall is she in comparison to the ninja?

if she had to fight one of the ninja, who would she pick and why?

(If anyone would like to see some really good art of the aforementioned OC Avery, alongside @oracleofdiscord's OC Estrella, check it out here!)

Who are the three canon characters she's closest to and why?

Lloyd: Avery is a time traveler from a post-apocalyptic timeline centuries into the future, where all the OG ninja are dead/gone and Lloyd is an old, wizened, and immortal ninja teacher. Future!Lloyd didn't like talking much about his past, not wanting to dwell on painful memories, so until she got thrown into the past Avery didn't even know any of the other ninja even existed in the first place. She had a pretty complicated relationship with future!Lloyd, struggling to connect with him on a deeper level due to both of them putting up emotional walls because of their respective traumas/baggage. But now that she's stuck centuries in the past and Lloyd is the only familiar face left in her life, Avery is making a much more concerted effort to connect with and understand him.

Pixal: Avery was thrown into the past circa s4, so she initially only knew Pixal as "that one AI chick that lives in Zane's head". But during s9, Avery joins the Resistance and becomes really close to the surviving ninja, Pixal especially. Her life lived in a post-apocalyptic future has given her the unique qualifications to know exactly how to survive in the wake of the SoG's insurrection, experience that proves vital to the Resistance's efforts. This put her and Pixal in a position of protecting the others, something that fostered a deep bond between them. Pixal would put up a strong front for Nya and Lloyd, but with Avery should could be vulnerable and open about her grief over "losing" Zane. And in turn, Avery opened up about her own losses and traumas as well. The two of them became extremely close during this time, and although she's never acted on it Avery may or may not be harboring an eensy-teensy crush on Pixal.

Jay: Avery and Jay...understand each other, so to speak. Both of them are victims of Nadakhan, both of them having learned the hard way how he can twist your hopes and dreams against you. Centuries after the Teapot of Tyrahn was lost, Avery foolishly tracked it down and used it to wish for an elemental power of her own (since she was insecure about being future!Lloyd's only student without powers). And since Nadakhan is an asshole, he gave her an incredibly broken power that causes her physical pain every time she uses it. That is to say, she can control/produce a highly corrosive acidic substance, but she isn't immune to its effects. And although she's learned how to control it in a way that minimizes the damage done to her body, it's still left a lot of scars on her hands and arms. Jay sought out her help as part of the Ninja Replacement Team, during which time she confided in him about the origins of her power (while leaving out the time travel stuff). Avery and Jay aren't exactly besties - their personalities are just similar enough for them to find each other extremely annoying - but they do also understand each other's trauma in a way that gives them a very profound connection. It also helps that, like Jay and Nya, Avery also remembers the erased pirate timeline. She would ideally be close to Nya for those same reasons, but the tiger widow venom looks visually very similar to Avery's acid and seeing Nya die from it was extremely disturbing to her. Avery's always been afraid of hurting people with her powers, hence why she tends to push people away, but with Nya that ambiguous fear feels a lot more real.

Who are the three canon characters she dislikes most and why?

Ronin: in the Shadow of Ronin video game, Ronin uses an artifact called the Obsidian Glaive to alter and erase memories, and even create false ones. Although it was destroyed during SoR, someone from Avery's future timeline was able to put it back together. One by one, Avery's friends and fellow students were warped, their minds twisted and manipulated by false memories, with the intent of turning Lloyd's own students against him, until only Avery was left. In fact, it was one of these memory-warped students that actually threw Avery into the past in the first place. During the events of SoR Ronin uses the Obsidian Glaive to give the ninja amnesia, and Nya calls Avery in to help with the situation. The moment she sees it in Ronin's hand, she kinda goes feral on him and tries to acid-splash his face off. Although they're able to keep the peace and work together when the situation calls for it, things are still extremely tense and awkward between the two of them.

Nadakhan: for reasons explained above, Avery really, really doesn't like Nadakhan. Her efforts to defeat him in the future were very similar to Jay's efforts in s6, and the entirety of Skybound absolutely decimates her mental health because of it. Avery doesn't have many fears, but she's absolutely terrified of Nadakhan.

Time Twins: at the end of s7 they got lost in a time stream, and ended up far in the distant future - the same future Avery comes from. They are what caused that world to become a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and also restored the Obsidian Glaive to use against Lloyd and his students. They're the ones who turned Avery's friends against her, which likewise resulted in her getting thrown into the past. But since she never told the ninja about her origins, they didn't think to clue her in to their adventures during s7. When she found out after the fact that they'd fought the Time Twins without her, she got really upset about her missed opportunity. To this day, she still fantasizes about getting her revenge on the Twins.

If she had to fight one of the ninja, who would she pick and why?

As mentioned above, she and Jay are extremely similar - similar personalities, temperaments, traumas, tendencies to cope with humor...but the problem is, they're a bit too similar. And because of this, they are very good at annoying each other. She would fight Jay without hesitation, especially during his late-season uwu softboi era. She can and will throw hands with him at the slightest provocation, and he feels much the same about her.

Thanks for the ask!

[saibugslegacy]

Idris Ask Game

We have finally reached the last piece of the price of committing to the bit. I'll add these to my Masterlist eventually but for now here it is. Questions by @rypnami

1) if your mc was an animagus, what would their form be? if they are, what is their form?

This is gonna sound pick me but i genuinely think Idris’ would be a lion

2) if they could choose what animagus form they would take, would it be the same? or would they want to have a different animal form?

I dont think theyd be picky but theyd be super excited its a lion

3) does your mc have a favourite colour? why is it their favourite?

Gold! No particular reason, just gold and teal

4) in a modern au, would your mc use social media? what would their preferred platform be? why is if their preferred one?

PINTEREST. Idris would be on Pinterest and Instagram literally 24/7

5) did you consult wand lore when choosing their wand? if so, why did you pick what you did? if not, would you ever change wand details to match your mc?

I did! Idris has a yew wand with thestral hair core because the wand is rumored to have power over life and death

6) what is your mc’s diet? are they vegan, vegetarian, do they eat whatever? Why?

Not really a specific outfit, they will literally eat pretty much anything

7) what is your mc’s backstory as to why they didn’t join hogwarts until 5th year? or did you retcon that part of the story when creating them?

Idris (and Percival) didnt go to Hogwarts because their father kept sending the letters back with the reply saying his children would not be attending. Then he died and the twins were stuck in an orphanage. Professor Fig personally showed up to tell them about Hogwarts and magic and they decided to go 5th year

8) what house is your mc in? why are they in that house?

Gryffindor because they are a brave, noble, bold, and self-sacrifing fool and have an impulsive/recklessness problem

9) were you inspired by characters from other media when making your mc? if so, which characters? and how did they influence your mc?

Not from media, but Idris is inspire by another older character of mine named Castor

10) does your mc have any special abilities? (legilimens, parsletongue, metamorphagus, etc) how do they choose to use these powers? did you give them powers for fun, or does it relate to their backstory/plot?

Nothing except the Ancient Magic and some light necromancy

11) what is your mc’s blood status? how does it affect their time at hogwarts? how does it affect their home life?

They're both half-bloods but it doesn't affect them that much. The most it does is that they were raised muggles and have to try and uncover their father's legacy

12) did your mc open the repository? why or why not?

They did not because they knew they didn't want that much power

13) if your mc opened the repository, how did absorbing all that power affect them, if it did at all?

N/A

14) what does your mc think of the keepers? do they trust them? why or why not?

Idris has a lot of blind faith in the Keepers and has a habit of defending them, even thought they're manipulating them and talk down to them all the time. Think Harry and Dumbledore

15) how does your mc’s story continue after 5th year? how do they cope with everything that happened with ranrok, sebastian, etc?

No Spoilerrrrs

16) did your mc learn the unforgivables? why or why not?

Idris learned all three. They didnt like it but they had other things to worry about and were going down a path where the unforgivables may be necessary

17) did your mc turn in sebastian? why or why not?

They did not. For….reasons :)

18) what is your mc’s family like? do they have siblings? do they still have parents?

They had two parents who were amazing parents and a little sister Annabelle but all three were killed by Ranrok and their father did lie to them their whole lives

19) does your mc have a love interest? who is it? why did your mc fall for that character, if they do have a love interest?

Amit! Amit is so sweet and so smart and cute and that is EXACTLY Idris’ type. Amit infodumped about the astronomy tables and Idris was making heart eyes the whole time

20) does your mc have a favourite spell? if so, what is it and why do they like it the most?

Probably protego, it's their strongest spell

21) if you could change anything that the mc does in the game, what would it be? why would you change it? how would you change it? (ie; a line they say, an event of a quest, things of that nature)

I wish we could unlock like, new AM powers. They can hardly do anything outside of the finishers but we see Isidora and the Keepers doing all kinds of cool shit

22) does your mc have any pets? if so, why do they have the pets they have? and for fun, what are their pets’ names?

Idris gets an owl over the summer so they can stay in touch with people, specifically a snowy owl. They also get particularly attached to a pink Puffskein they rescue so they name her Flower

23) when designing your mc, why did you choose the appearance you did? has it changed at all since you first made them? would you change anything now?

I cant explain it but its like they came to me in a vision. I had such a clear image of what i wanted them to look like

24) where is your mc from? where is their family from?

Their father is from Scotland and their mother is from South Africa

25) what is your mc’s favourite season? why is it their favourite?

Spring, because its so colorful and they love the sound of rain

26) how about your mc’s favourite holiday? what makes it special to them?

Does the first day of term count-

27) if your mc wasn’t in their current house, where would they have been sorted? why do you think they’d be there?

They were a six minute hat stall between Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. For this they ended up in Slytherin the same reason Ambrose did, their willingness to do anything, ANYTHING, it takes if they feel they need to. Everyone else be damned.

28) does your mc have a favourite childhood toy? if so, what was it? do they still have it with them?

They have a little wooden doll they like to use as a figure model that their dad hand made them

29) what kind of music would your mc like? is there a reason?

RIP Idris Valley you wouldve loved Chappell Roan

30) last but not least, just tell us something you love about your mc!

I love love love that they're a fashion designer, also that they do not conform to gender at all with their style, they will wear dresses and skirts and such if they look good

[ekebolou]

Okay, wait, so...

@astronicht brought up the whole 'Cole-and-Nika-as-lesbians' thing and its been kicking around in the back of my head while I work on the Butcher story because, like...

I know Kostas is a sausage fest. I could change the rules of world to make it less so (because technically there's no stricture against women or female-leaning folks in the Academy or the military, like there was technically no stricture against Midraeic people, and both categories were far more common in the past and had important roles to play in the development of those institutions - in the case of women it's just a cultural sway started by Keadar-Ainjir that has resulted in more inequality among the genders) but it is an imperfect world and this is one of its imperfections.

And I have been thinking about the lesbians thing like a modern-day AU, but...

But I've also been thinking about how difficult it is to understand how insanely a lesbian Cole and Nika would break the power games of Kostas-world because I don't get to talk too much about women's perspectives in the narratives. But, like... Aodhnait, for example - Aodhnait is struggling against the sexism of her family and her father and their historical office, not a greater social dynamic. Ambassador Hawath is struggling far more against being a foreigner - and the Adineh Do Not Give A Shit about gender in the same way the Ainjir do, it's way more about Roles and Lineages than individual genders - and while it's important that she presents as a woman to the Ainjir it's because of the people she's dealing with, particularly the upper echelons of the Military and the Royal Family that it matters to the degree it does.

Midraeic people are unique in Ainjir specifically because they are organized along much more 'typical' patriarchal lines - it's a part of their 'foreignness' how they feel about women and sex and etc.

Women's power in society has faded in Ainjir because of Keadar-Ainjir's banishment of religion, where their greatest official social reservoir of power was (his first wife knew- his first wife knew and it's really a very tragic story). But, like...take Aunt Grainne, for example. All of the land - the fixed assets of all kinds - of that side of the family are in Grainne's hands, not her husband's. And she ultimately has full control over which of her four kids (if any) it passes to. And there's a lot of pressure to do the 'normal' thing - the traditional primogeniture thing - she really can do whatever she wants, including dissolve the whole thing and set it all on fire. I mean, this is the problem with Seolgaire (the extensive family that sponsors Nika's entry into the Academy) - they basically still live like pre-unification Ainjir petty nobles, and it's all intermarriage and bonded families and blood debt and thaneship and really intricate, fucked-up lines of adoption and inheritance which is why you could conceivably marry your sibling and it would be okay because you're technically related in any way but everyone would really disapprove but fuck them once you have both reigns in hand on that inheritance you can do what you want (provided you're the female member of the family).

So 1) Cole being a woman would place him much higher on the consideration list for his mother's family's lands, regardless of estrangement. He would HAVE to be considered, if only because if he came from behind and made claims they would have to be listened to and that could fuck up a lot of stuff for Grainne's 4 kids. That means Cole isn't a nobody from nobodyville with nobody blood. The skids to his life are effectively greased.

2) Look, Nika being a fourth daughter instead of a first son really changes the dynamic - there is a question of whether s/he would even go to Academy - but let's say s/he does. This is a version of Nika that faces no barrier to accepting the lessons that Catillia tries to teach. There is no sense that her role as First Son requires denying her own wants, desires, or interests. Can you imagine how Unhinged an unrestrained Nika who had decided she wished to go to Academy and Excel would be? There are no alternate dreams to compete, because the roles open to Midraeic women in Midraeic society are limited, and she would already have to have decided to Burn It All Down to go in the first place, so this is like a totally off-leash, historically violently ambitious Nika. God they would love each other.

3) Yes, it would be unusual in that day and age for women to attend Academy - even, one could say, verging on a revival of sort of bad-taste tradition everyone feels icky about reviving - but they would kick so much ass. With Cole's independent legacy to support them? Just absolute wrecking balls (figuratively and literally).

4) What if Oops! All Lesbians! (just a wholesale gender flip) - Arguably worse (better). At this point this is just one of those lesbian prison exploitation films except everyone's into it and The Gays Bury You at the end.

I don't mean for this to be like a foreclosing-possibilities thing, but the Kostas world is kind of my home turf, so I thought I would present these thoughts. I think other people would be better at conceiving of the modern AU lesbians thing - I keep picturing a coffee shop AU, too? I dunno, maybe I just like coffee shops run by lesbians and am bad at fanfiction (true) even of my own material.

[thekatebridgerton]

Why do you think so many people consider sir Phillip "problematic" and are completely quiet about book! Benedict, who is far more problematic than Phillip?

Do you want the honest answer or the diplomatic answer? Because I might lose a couple of followers for this. So please note that this is my personal opinion and in no way reflects the fandom or Benophie and philoise shippers in general

The honest answer is that a lot of people apply an internalized mysoginy double standard to historical fiction way too much to be healthy.

In fact that's the whole reason I came up with my genderbent Philoise au. Because if Phillip had been a woman, his actions wouldn't look problematic, he wouldn't be 'trapping' Eloise in a life she didn't want in the country with kids that aren't hers (which lemme tell you, in a post pandemic society, sounds like a modern woman's worst nightmare). If his actions were taken by a woman, he'd be a much more typical romantic heroine.

Similarly with Benedict, he did try to trap Sophie in an arrangement she didn't want. But it's just easier for the modern reader to think of Benedict's proposal as romantic than Phillip's because, in Benedict's case, Sophie the female lead doesn't 'lose' anything by being his mistress or by marrying him. She stands to gain both family, home, love and security away from Aramintas clutches

And There in lies the double standard, people can let go of Benedict's problematic behavior, because at the end of the book, the one losing his freedom and his society comforts in the altar of love, is Benedict. That seems like a fitting sacrifice, because he's a man. He's stereotypically able to handle it with the romantic hero buff. But not for Eloise, because she's a woman.

Wheras Eloise 'Loses her freedom' she's seen as giving up more in the altar of love than Phillip is. Because he gets to go on with his life with only the most positive of changes. He gets love, comfort, a mother for his children (same as Sophie) wheras to the modern reader it looks like Eloise gains nothing from the relationship that she didn't have before. And in fact is seen as being losing out on the life she could have had as the spinster sister of a Viscount. So it's easier to be harder on Phillip because of that

Wanna talk problematic?: Here's a rundown of my top 10

1)I personally don't like Benedict much until the end of AOFAG he's pushy, borderline uses his position of power to trick Sophie into situations she doesn't want to be in and ultimately behaves like a spoiled brat denied candy when Sophie insists she doesn't want to be his mistress and side note could you believe I've seen people get annoyed at Sophie's 'hipocrisy' for insisting she doesn't want to be his mistress while being evidently attracted to him, I mean have you seen the entitlement in which Benedict approaches the mistress arrangement with? Seriously? (But then again Benedict's entitlement is purposefully highlighted because getting over it is the whole theme of the book)

2) Anthony, gosh I love him, as a character but the man was willing to marry the sister of a woman he seriously wanted to sleep with. Just because Edwina was a socially acceptable choice. He was also going to marry her fully prepared to cheat on her with any mistress available from the get go. And if you want problematic talk about the scene where he gets mad at Kate for overhearing what I stated above. Kisses her quite passionately may I add. And then throws the key to the room on the ground, to vindictively watch her humiliate herself to pick it up and take her only chance to escape him and avoid further humiliation. Anthony's most problematic scene for me? That one. Takes the cake.

3)Colin, also love him, but have you read Romancing Mr Bridgerton? Colin has the worst temper of all the Bridgertons. Especially with Penelope, like seriously, the guy can get violent pretty easily whenever Penelope does something he doesn't like. But on a scale of one to 10 yeah he's on the low scale

4) Phillip, lied to Eloise about having children and wanting a monther for said children. But considering El was supposed to be Marina's cousin, why didn't Eloise know Marina had children with Phillip?. He's got a temper but he's not on Colin or Anthony's level of mean. And excuse me if I don't consider how bad he did in his early years of marriage with Marina as a strike against him. Thats like me saying Anthony was super problematic after Edmund died because he went full rake and didn't know how to deal with his siblings. Sorry but yeah Phillip isn't that bad

5)Gareth fully planned to trap Hyacinth into marriage. As in the whole ruinning her was premeditated.

6) Simon. Ok Simon isn't problematic, we can leave him alone. He's just not okay with getting married or having children and will do everything to avoid it including taking the risk of killing a Viscount and lying to his wife about why he doesn't want children, that's not problematic

7) Gregory. Also not that problematic. Stupid as hell, yeah. Problematic, no. Lucy probably wanted him to be a little more problematic if I'm being honest. Maybe take Hermione and ravish her or something. Instead Gregory was all about sticking to Lucy like a loyal puppy and honestly, persistently pursuing an engaged woman he knows will marry a gay man, isn't even in the top ten of behaviors I have problems with. Maybe if Haselby had been straight, I'd be like 'oh my gosh Gregory you can't just go after Lucy she's going to get married next week, why didn't you get your head out of Hermione's grass sooner' but meh it's not like Gregory did anything I personally consider jerk behavior

8) honorable mention to Michael who fell inlove with his cousin's wife and later married said cousins widow because *puts on reading glasses* oh yeah, he was goaded into teaching her what being wicked was like. But yup not problematic at all

My point is that, all your romantic heroes are problematic as hell in one way or another. And that depends on what kind of thing you personally consider romantic when you're reading fiction.

I can freely admit I love my male leads, the more problematic the better. You should have seen me at 16 totally obsessed with Edward Cullen and that phase I went trough where I was seriously into Darth Maul ( good times)

But we're not here to deep dive into my psyche of why liking problematic characters who's behavior I'd never tolerate in real life has provided me a great deal of personal growth, helped me recognize toxic traits in real life men and given me a good idea of the difference between reality and fiction as well as developed my critical thinking skills.

And that's the tea

[useyourtelescope]

yuletide 2023 recap!

This yuletide exchange was fun, though as usual I am still making my way through the collection (here's hoping this year I actually finish reading all the open tabs in Jan/Feb at least).

For my gift, I received a gorgeous fic for The Borgias - some Cesare/Lucrezia hurt/comfort post-season 3 with lots of my fave tropes, you can read that on ao3 here:

One Touch of Your Hand

I wrote five fics - 2 for Only Murders In the Building (Gen) & 1 each for Nancy Drew (Nancy/Ace), The Borgias (Cesare/Lucrezia) and Why Didn’t They Ask Evans (Frankie/Bobby). I did end up with 3 unfinished treats sitting in my drafts, 1 of which I wrote about 3k for, but it was probably wishful thinking that I might have completed them in time too. The published 5 are the most individual fics I’ve managed for Yuletide, or any exchange for that matter (though it’s about 1k short of the total words I’ve done for an exchange thanks to the long fics I wrote for Yuletide 2019). 

Summaries of the fics themselves and thoughts on writing them below the cut:

A Whole New Direction - OMITB, Charles & Mabel & Oliver, Banter Post S2, ~800 words [ao3 link]

"I know yesterday we said we’d kind of shot ourselves in the foot podcast-wise by limiting ourselves to the building only, never mind whose idea that was—“ “It was your idea,” Mabel and Oliver replied in unison. “But never mind! I thought of a way we could continue the podcast without betraying the original premise.”

I enjoy writing their banter so this was a fun quick one; the main section came easily, it was just trying to decide where I wanted to end it that took the most time.

Co-Location - OMITB, Gen (Charles & Mabel + some Oliver), Canon Divergence in S3, ~1k words [ao3 link]

Charles offers a solution to Mabel's apartment-hunting woes.

This is a bit more sentimental than the general vibe I go for with writing the show (though not as angsty and internal as the Will POV post-Oliver’s heart attack fic I wrote for the last exchange I did), but the idea lent that way and I had to follow. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to end this one either, but when my beta mentioned that perhaps next season in the show Charles might not be able to stay at his apartment after the latest murder and would have to go to Oliver’s, the image of all three of them having to sleepover together made me laugh so I had to work that in.

Got A Lot To Learn - Nancy Drew (TV 2019), Nancy/Ace, Post-Canon Fluff, ~1.7k words [ao3 link | tumblr post]

Nancy and Ace approach a minor relationship milestone soon after breaking the curse.

This was my assignment! My recipient wanted something in canon which gave me an excuse to return to the the idea of Nancy learning ASL for Ace/his dad, which I thought was really sweet when they mentioned it on the show but the timing of that reveal meant it was angsty and I wanted it in a cute scene. Still getting the hang of writing the characters/universe but hopefully I'll be able to play more with them later this year (maybe even with the unfinished ND treat I started, though Nancy/Ace was more background in that one).

Power Over Me - The Borgias (Showtime TV), Cesare/Lucrezia, Explicit, Modern AU - Alpha/Omga, ~15k words [ao3 link | tumblr post]

Cesare has always been protective of his sister. When she unexpectedly has her first heat he worries that he might need to protect her from himself.

This got a bit away from me lol! It's not a trope I expected to write but the recipient's prompt really clicked as Cesare/Lucrezia do have that intensity that lends itself to this type of AU. It was still supposed to be a 5-6k thing initially but then I got the idea of putting Cesare through it on his special shopping trip for Lucrezia lol and started to consider more about the character arcs and showing more of Lucrezia's side of things and it snowballed into a much longer piece. That meant I had to leave aside the other Ces/Lu fic I started writing as a treat for this Yuletide, but even though I think that'll be shorter the storyline is more complicated so this was probably the better one to pick to finish for a deadline and a fun experiment for me.

The Very Thought Of You - Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?, Frankie/Bobby, Mature, Love Letters & Reunions, ~6k words [ao3 link | tumblr post]

A few months into their marriage, Frankie has to return to Marchbolt without Bobby. Finding the telephone insufficient for maintaining their usual level of intimacy, she starts to write to him.

There was a note in the recipient's letter about how they show each other their affection and they prompted letters for another ship which gave me the idea of Frankie and Bobby writing to one another. I was originally going to mostly focus on their time apart and just see a little bit of them reuniting at the end but once they were together I wanted to spend more time with them in the same place and thought it made sense to follow through on some of those spicier letters with giving them a bit of alone time too so it became 6k rather than 3 lol, but most of it flowed quite easily. It was just the letters and some of the historical aspects I spent time rewriting, especially Bobby's letter since that's the emotional point of the fic.

All in all, I really liked all 5 I managed to complete, but probably going to take a little exchange break for a bit and write whatever is flowing easiest rather than trying to write for a deadline.

[f0xgl0v3]

These are design concepts for my OC Calliope, I mentioned her in my first post (where she looked WILDLY different but my art style flips on a dime sometimes) but yeah! These are just some concepts for things like her face, hair (which I find hard) and basic layouts for things like moles & scarring. She is meant to be a Demigod and I have her placed at Camp Jupiter at the beginning of her story (arc? Idk)

But uh yeah! Her name is fully, Calliope Augustine Varus (yes; THAT Varus. I’ll explain that more, and this probably puts her teetering on the Mary sue status- and she is partially what I have scripted for my DR) but she’s meant to be the Granddaughter of Michael Varus, a daughter of Dionysus (yes- the Greek aspect, not Bacchus) and a legacy of Janus. Also born on June 21 (because that’s my birthday and i like it; and it’s a great plot device in her backstory- ‘it’s my tea party, I get to choose the rules’/j. Maybe I’ll say some bad excuse.)

Her whole spiel is that she went to Camp Jupiter at a younger age (not as young as Jason for her actual character and not DR but probably younger than 12. I’d put her as maybe nine) her mother was increasingly worried about the monster issues, as she chose to move from New Rome and not in any Demigod populated community; and Calliope already began learning about her powers from a young age (It’s mentioned in tLT that the reason monsters begin hunting demigods is when they start learning of their powers; Percy did his whole fountain thing. And it’s a good reason as to why Frank got 16 years of smooth sailing) but she learned her powers from a younger age; combination of her mother and Janus things (I’ll explain her power distribution and a thematic role in her powers) and Dionysus things- because Dionysus totally finds some way to hang out with his children before they get to Camp, he had a good relationship with Castor and Pollux and he cares about them a lot. But instead of Helen (the mother; probably should’ve said that, but Helen’s her name) bringing her to Camp Half-Blood. I’d like to think on Calliope’s birthday (me and my friend decided birthday trauma because that would be a time Dionysus- or none of the gods could watch their kids) Lupa comes over and is like, ‘Helen, pookie, hand over your kid. It’ll be safer in the legion’ and Helen is there like T-T, ‘Okay’. Obviously; it’s far more like, intricate than that- but it pretty much is an okay enough bad summary. But yeah- Helen scribbles down a letter of recommendation, grabs one her mother (who was totally the Augur previously, making her Michael Varus’s lover/wifey/idk, and the Augur that told him, ‘Michael don’t do that it’s not time’ and it doubles as ‘Michael we have a small child and you have one more year until retirement don’t get yourself killed now’) and tucks them with her small child; that pearl necklace in the drawjng is also from this time period of Calliope’s life. But uhhh whatever; something, something, Lupa training. I usually only see her when thinking about her in HoO as a Modern AU (If it was taking place during 2009, her birthday would be probably moved back; and she would be a 2009 scene girlie. But she only is thought of in a world with MY head canons, MY re-imagining, and MY storyline. So she is hard to try and re-work to fit in the OG. Maybe I’ll try once and post it here and giggle with everyone on how much I’d probably butcher her.) but yeah; as a modern AU that has my re-imagining and head canons, back on track- so, she does her training, gets to the legion, fun letters of recommendation and I think she shows some special ability to get in the first cohort (again; in line with my head canons for the re-imagining of the legion. I’m plugging it a lot but it’s something I’m putting a lot of effort into) but she gets in, and naturally becomes friends with Jason’s friend group but still is kind of an outsider to that. Next important thing is Octavian joining the legion- they had seen each other around New Rome and talked with each other a couple times, they were friends; and just became better friends once he joined the legion (I put Calliope at around 17 for the majority of HoO) once he gets his Centurion position (I have to figure out how I wanna think abt the Augur stuff) but he promotes Calliope to Optio (or Optio centuriae specifically, it means she’s pretty much the second in command for Centurions- I’ll probably talk more about them in my Roles post for CJ Re-imagined). And then she doesn’t really matter until Jason’s praetorship, during the barely mentioned mutiny; of course. Because she’s meant to be a good friend to Jason, but I have her fatal flaw as being like two-faced, for a Janus related one. So I feel like she went behind her friends backs to discreetly fuel the mutiny, but just teetering the line enough that she wouldn’t be traced back to it? If that makes sense; I want it to be a reveal. Uh, yeah- she’s mostly thought of in relation to my DR. And I’ve ran out of words, byeeeee!! I’ll talk more in a

part 2!

[zonerobotnik]

Allright, let's make this a bit of a game.

What would you see, and under which circumstances, in the following Varian ships.

As long, detailed and honestly explained as you can.

Rapunzel

Cassandra

Eugene

Andrew

Juniper

Hugo

Nuru

Yong

Faith

Vex

Willow

Arianna

Gothel

Zhan Tiri

The four sisters with red hair who like to braid

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III

Dipper Pines

Mabel Pines

Hiro Hamada

Uhh…so, this is going to take some thinking. Mostly because I am confused by what you mean, exactly. Uhh…

Rapunzel:

Well, obviously, I love to fall back on the whole "Destined Sun and Moon" thing with them, but when that's not an option, I like having her recognize he has a crush and growing closer to him.

Or, even better, them meeting in a way different from canon and falling in love by chance.

Then there's the case of "The Love Doctor", where it's purely sexual and otherwise they're friends.

Varian flirting with her while he's being a villain is also really fun, with her trying to convince herself she hates him for what he's doing but slowly falling in love.

Or, in the case of "The Secret of the Black Rocks", they're both trying to deny catching feelings while stuck together for long periods of time while on their way to the Dark Kingdom.

Cassandra:

Honestly, I prefer AUs where Varian is nineteen so it's not as questionable to be with her, a 23 year old woman. While the concept of "teenager" didn't actually exist until the 1900s, apparently, it's just better for them to be closer to the same age.

Though, I do enjoy writing fics where Cassandra has to contend with Varian's overprotective dad and the age difference, haha. So much drama!

They make a cute couple, when she's not being a cold-hearted wench that uses him for her own ends.

Eugene:

Varian is his stalker. Literally his stalker. At some point, I will write a modern AU where he is actually being as creepy towards him as Marinette is to Adrien in "Miraculous Ladybug", because he is a massive fanboy and stalker. Why did he have some of his hair from a ponytail that got cut off years ago? Why did he have his broken knives, his boot, his old, damaged satchels? Why did he have such perfect Wanted posters when the old guy that makes Wanted posters couldn't get any of them right?

Varian's stalker tendencies towards Eugene aside, I could see them actually being a cute couple, once Varian was older or in an AU where he's nineteen and not fourteen. I really like exploring his fanboy side about Eugene, even in "Untouchable", where he was stalking him by watching him through the rocks with his powers for years.

Andrew:

Typically, I prefer them to be platonic. But, in situations where they aren't platonic, if anything happens before he's an adult, then I fall back on Asshole Andrew, who is the abusive asshole that features in a lot of my old V&7K fics, though I have yet to actually have him do anything to him during their time together taking over, usually having Andrew get revenge on him after Varian is on his journey. But, generally, I prefer to keep it platonic. He needs an older brother-figure he can count on.

In an AU where they aren't platonic but he's still not an asshole, I can see Andrew being a complete gentleman and starting off by flirting with Varian by complimenting his works and then he'd show off his own and they'd gradually fall in love over time while spending time together.

And then there's their messed-up relationship in "Your Biggest Fan", where Andrew is basically his prisoner/sex-slave/guinea pig for all his crazy sex gadgets.

Juniper:

Gonne be honest…never even once. I just can't really see them as a couple, so I have no idea for how it could go.

Hugo:

Hugo is Varian's fan, whether he admits it or not. It's just hard for him not to admire someone that brought a royal family to their knees before magic intervened. No self-respecting criminal wouldn't admire that kind of accomplishment.

Going by concept Hugo, Varian and Hugo make jabs back and forth while Hugo is blatently obvious about his criminal acts and Varian is trying to hide who he used to be. They don't even admit they like each other until the very end of their journey, and so they don't do much until they're settled into Corona. Hugo and Varian trade off on who is the dominant one in the bedroom and the kitchen, because Hugo is too determined to prove he's better than Varian to admit that Varian's cooking is way better. Varian humors his burning scrambled eggs because he loves him too much to tell him they taste bad.

Going by my own lore, Hugo and Varian are friends-with-benefits while Varian explores things in the bedroom with other people and Hugo internally screams about wanting him for himself and cursing convincing him that it was normal for scientists to have open relationship and free love.

In an AU where Hugo meets Varian while he's a villain, maybe got caught trying to steal from the castle when Varian was in charge, he would probably start off strip-searching him to make sure he didn't take anything and then interrogate him with truth serum and then convince him to "stick around" to try to get Hugo's boss "Donella" to "come for a visit". He would flirt with him and, if he's an adult in this AU, totally seduce him into banging.

Nuru:

Honestly, I have never actually thought of them being together in any way but platonically. Maybe that will change, eventually, but right now I don't have any ideas.

Yong:

Not a single shippy idea for these two. Absolutely none. I ship Yong with Kiera and that's it. No one else.

Faith:

Varian and Faith first met when Varian was working on chores for Cassandra and they bonded over frustrating adults and living up to the expectations and dealing with disappointments from their family. During Varian's criminal stint, Faith spoke in his defense until her mother told her to stop, for her family's sake, and later helped Varian with the takeover.

When Varian is Royal Engineer, she supports him by bringing him snacks so he doesn't have to leave his important work to get food and they grow closer and he asks her out one day, which she is flustered about but agrees. Rapunzel catches wind of it, "helps" makes the day "special" and while Rapunzel is cleaning up the mess, they sneak off to have an actual private first date.

They go on several dates for a year before Varian asks her to marry him and she accepts.

As a married couple, they're both doting parents and Varian is a doting husband both in and out of the bedroom.

Vex:

Aside from them meeting briefly in TREL, I haven't thought of how things might go for them as a couple.

Willow:

No. Absolutely not.

Arianna:

Canon-wise, I could see him getting together with her after Frederic passed away to spite his grave. I don't see him actually having romantic feelings for her, especially if he's a villain.

For other situations, see "It's a Deal, Then" and there's mention of them being in bed together in "The Love Doctor" but, again, not romantic.

Gothel:

No. No, I'm sorry, I can't, I just can't. I try, all I see is her in a mother-figure role to him. It's not happening.

Zhan Tiri:

Zhan Tiri would approach him in disguise to try to take advantage of him, either for his alchemy or the Moonstone.

The four sisters with red hair who like to braid:

I have not and will never ship them with Varian. Ever.

Oh, we've got some crossover stuff here.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III:

…No. I don't ship it. At all. Aside from daddy issues and inventing, I don't see them actually finding anything in common. But, then, it's been a while since I watched the movies/series.

Dipper Pines:

Dipper and Varian would absolutely nerd out and get into trouble together and spend time together, and then Dipper starts catching feelings and chewing his shirt and Rapunzel gets it out of him and bullies him into confessing to Varian.

Once dating, they pretty much do the same stuff as before, but there's kissing involved and some screwing.

Mabel Pines:

Mabel would start off picking Varian as her new Crush-of-the-Week but realizes after a while that it's not a crush, and he likes her back, and she starts to panic because she has commitment issues and she starts hiding from him and Dipper talks sense into her and she starts actually dating Varian, but she wants to "take it slow" because commitment is scary to her.

Hiro Hamada:

Weird to put this here and not Gideon, since I have never, not once, written anything with Hiro or Hiccup, but okay.

I think they'd be cute friends, but I don't really see Hiro being into romance. Maybe it's just me, but he's always seemed to be disinterested in that kind of thing. But then, I've never seen the series. Maybe he falls in love with someone. Dunno. Honestly, I don't know enough about Hiro to think of anything.

Did that answer your questions well enough?