#a real legend(tm)

[humanransome-note]

Me to Myself:League cinematics are not indicative of game play or story telling, you don't actually want to play it

Me to Myself:League cinematics are not indicative of game play or story telling, you don't actually want to play it

Me to Myself:League cinematics are not indicative of game play or story telling, you don't actually want to play it

Me to Myself:League cinematics are not indicative of game play or story telling, you don't actually want to play it

[bon-uoq]

Dark Pull (Majora's Mask)

[Full under the cut]

poor lad really needs a break </3

[welcometoteyvat]

thinking about it again and my favorite sumeru subregion is probably the girdle of the sands (newest one, released 3.6) just because of the heaps and heaps of zoroastrianism refs and iranian mythology sprinkled all over the place it’s absolutely so cool. also sorush. 

[ad-ciu]

Guth: Reading Irish Myths & Legends

Now that I am a Real Grown-Up Academic (tm), I have been trying to find a way to support my students and the general public by making medieval Irish literature more accessible to people who, be it a lack of time, disability, or any other factor, find sitting down and reading the original texts challenging.

What I settled on was creating a Podcast where I sit down and read out of copyright translations of Irish legends which I have called Guth: Reading Irish Myths and Legends.

If that's all you need to hear, you can go check it out right now! It is on Spotify (here), Podbean (here), and YouTube (here), and should be on Apple Music in the coming weeks. Alternatively, it is embedded here:

For those of you who need a harder sell, or want to know more about it, check out below!

So, why Guth? Well, I have encountered several different Podcasts and YouTube Channels out there which are doing something similar, recording audio of them reading medieval Irish legends. While several of these are quite cool, there are issues.

In terms of more benign issues, to get around the issues of copyright, people in these alternatives tend to retell stories, and while that is very cool as an example of something like an oral tradition, it means the stories are often being altered and changed by a non-expert audience. Elements that are not very important are being given great importance, areas that are very important are cut, and sometimes things are incorporated from other texts to make an unspoken composite (or, alternatively, sometimes people cut a section of a text out and retell it independent of its broader context).

These aren't bad, but, it means these other Podcasts and Videos aren't really suitable for my purposes of supporting my students and giving people access to the actual stories.

In terms of the big problems, there is at least one Podcast on a similar topic being presented by someone who I have reason to suspect is faking having a PhD. Further, there are at least two people putting out content like this that are actively forging content and passing it off as authentic who just so happen to also be Fascists. So, not ideal.

I hope Guth can serve my students and interested members of the public by providing a solid academic perspective on a text. Each episode I open with a discussion of our manuscript sources and the date of the text (a lot of other pieces out there will describe tales as 'ancient', when in actuality they're a 14th century scribe just vibin'). I then read the text exactly as it is translated, including using reconstructed Old Irish pronunciation for all the names that appear in the text. Lastly, I conclude with a brief discussion of secondary scholarship I think is particularly relevant for the interests of the public.

All of that to say, I hope people enjoy Guth, and that it can serve people who are interested in the actual medieval tales rather than the various retellings that are circulating out there.

[evilminji]

Actually? WOULD Earth be the ones to petition Oa?

They are interstellar Space Interpol. You don't usually call them on different parts of your OWN settlements or systems. You call them in when someone is breaking THE Laws. Not necessarily YOUR laws, though obviously by breaking THE laws they clearly ARE. But THE Big Laws(tm).

Like Geneva Convention for Space type laws.

You have discovered Planet or King X is committing WAR CRIMES. Call Oa. Tax fraud? That's an inter-personal planet side issue they can't help you with. Pointing Nukes at your nursery settlement and threatening to blow up the infants there unless you give them sex-slaves?

Knock-knock! Taste HARD Light Constructs!

But if so? Then how would the situation get so out of hand on Earth? With the G.I.W.? Simple. Tell me, Mr. President, what do you know of the current day to day life of villagers in rural Siberia?

That they exist? Could you even NAME their village, if I referenced specific individuals? Likely not. And no one would realistically expect you too.

There are countless planets out there! With Leaders busy with local industrial conferences and infrastructure bills. Farming regulations. Talks with that planet a few stars over. Very busy. What do THEY know of Earth? Why would they NEED too?

But! As we know, Ectoplasm is EVERYWHERE. Not just earth. And? Thin spots are not just an Earth-centric phenomenon. Other planets most CERTAINLY would have them too. And depending on the species? The culture? To quote the wise sage Bill Wurtz "you can make a religion out of this!"

After all, chosen few, returned from death... glowing and more powerful then before? Immortal? It's a pretty reasonable conclusion to come too. They are clearly Gods Touched. Some sacred task they must complete.

It would likely even shape the ghosts of the region themselves. After all, they TOO, would believe they were chosen for some Important Religious Task. Be it study or collecting rocks. To what end? Unknown. Who are they to question The Gods?

But! Oh happy day! The old tyrant is no more! A chosen Hero! They go to greet him! Honor him, as you do. Traditional gifts and ballads. Maybe some sacred rocks. A fancy hat. But? Oh? The Champion is wounded! Gasp! Still? But the fight with Pariah happened-

And then they are given Grave Warning(tm). Don't go to Earth. Heretics attacking people. KILLING souls! Trying to KILL the king of all the Infinite! He is somber because his living parents were hurt. Preventing the END OF ALL THINGS!!!??

WHAT!?

These "People In White" tried to EXPLODE the very FABRIC of all realities!? Several of them faint. Truely, these Fentons MUST be chosen by the Gods! Heros. Legends. Such bravery in the face of such HORRORS. Please, let them be brought to their Living counterparts! The hospitals are quite good!

And you know what? Fuck it. Danny will take that. Because his Mom n Dad got hurt. BAD.

They learned he was Phantom at probably the SINGLE worst time imaginable and still chose HIM. Chose THEM. The GIW were coming for him. Gonna hurt Jazz. And his parents told them, with fire and blood, it'd be a cold day in hell before they let them so much as TRY it.

They BLEW UP their own life's work. Went literally scorched earth. And now? They're not doing so good.

Because the Zone isn't made for the living. No food, no water, and no real human-safe medical supplies. They've run out. Danny will take what he can get. He'd even go to Vlad but... his Portal's gone too. And the Buzzards said he looked... spirally. Very... "suicide runs until everything BURNS".

So, yeah. No one's doing so great.

Alien planet it is.

They are greeted with fanfare and respect. The best medical teams on the PLANET. The King and his family is there, to welcome him. It's... it's beautiful. Hardly some perfect utopia, but the air is lite. Art everywhere. The stars vivid and so easy to see, at night.

The King kinda reminds him of Mr. Lancer to be honest. Balding and a bit round around the middle, stern but endlessly fair about it, wants people to do their best and succeed in life. Maybe that's why Danny finds himself opening up. Because... because here is a real, honest to God, KING king.

Somebody who was actually TRAINED to do all this King stuff.

Unlike Danny.

And Danny? He's scared. People expect him to Lead now. To know what he's doing. To somehow just... suddenly KNOW how to do all these things he's never even heard about. He only barely just died. Has BARELY been keeping everybody safe.

BARELY stopped Pariah.

He doesn't know what to do. But he pours his guts out. All the things that have bottled up. And King Not-Lancer listens. Somber and thoughtful. There is little, if anything he can TRUELY do to help. But... there ARE things he can do. Lessons on statescraft, while he's here, for one.

As for the other? Well, as King, he does have the local Lantern's Call Sign. Not to be used lightly, mind you. But what Danny describes? And from what the Sacred Ones have reported? THAT must be reported to Oa. He can show Danny how to do that.

(He does)

[The Lanterns of Earth get a VERY exciting call from Oa. Are every different shade of pissed. But? Whoops! Looks like they ACCIDENTALLY put the Watchtower into a complete Quarantine! Well, dang. Guess we're all stuck here for two weeks!

Reset it? *sound of smashing computer terminal* Yeah, don't think that's gonna work! :)

WHO WANTS TO PLAY 20 QUESTIONS?? We'll start! :) Who here has heard of an organization called, and I quote, The Ghost Investigation Ward? :) ]

@hdgnj @ailithnight @nerdpoe @the-witchhunter

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Anne Baxter (The Ten Commandments, All About Eve)—her soft, gentle voice in "all about eve", those gentle eyes with something odd behind them, the way she flips from Sweet Innocent to Viper on a dime......there was something Built Different about anne baxter, man, and it makes her so good for playing people who are Built Wrong. also one of my favorite batmen villains (her joint episode w vincent price is a delight) and of course I'm obsessed with her columbo episode where she bosses around edith head and does fabulous movie star things for no good reason. and i would be REMISS if i didn't mention her slink—oh the slink—in the ten commandments...................pardon me i must go think of sinning again

Waheeda Rehman (Chaudhvin Ka Chand, Pyaasa, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam)—90+ films and counting, an absolute legend of Hindi cinema. When I see her in Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam it makes me want to chew glass

This is round 3 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Anne Baxter:

The prettiest murderer in that film. Just so beautifully evil as Nefertari.

Anne Baxter was part of my Bisexual Awakening. My family has a tradition that every Palm Sunday we watch The ten commandments on TV together... And starting from a very young age, I essentially developed a crushes on Anne Baxter's Nefertiri & Yul Brynner's Ramses. Dude, the woman was HOT! They both were! My crush definitely wasn't helped by the fact that Anne Baxter's costumes were a bit on the sheer side. She had a way of capturing you with her eyes, and I never understood why Charlton heston's Moses didn't just have a threesome with Nefertiri and Ramses. LOL

Her Nefertiri in The Ten Commandments was FORMATIVE TO ME. If not the hottest old movie lady, then she definitely played the hottest old movie character. if that makes sense.

Look. Listen. I only *just* discovered her on a post from the Have You Seen This Romcom poll blog. Saw she had the same last name as me and went OOH hi hello. Went to her IMdB and saw she was born in Indiana like moi. I am now even more intrigued. Been eagerly telling my partner this, and he was like "maybe you guys are distantly related?" And after 2 hrs of going down the tumblr tag + her imdb photos, I'm In Deep(tm) and I can't stop looking at her like 😍 When I go to my grandma's house, bet your ass I'm gonna check my grandpa's genealogy and see if we're somehow related. Sorry that's not really propaganda I just got real excited, esp when I saw that the submission deadline was extended (bless your soul). Narrowing down the movies where she's hottest in was Hell tyvm. I've only just discovered her, she looks gorgeous to me in every movie still I see of her gdi lol.

Waheeda Rehman propaganda:

Linked gif

Linked gif 2

[sapphicseasapphire]

IT’S ME, I’M THE FOOL.

This whole time I’ve been saying that people with God Powers TM are Marked. They all have something on their face! (Except Legend, what’s on his face is just scales, don’t be confused).

But this WHOLE TIME I’ve been drawing Sun without her Marks. Like. She’s literally Hylia. She has God Powers, she should have them. Anyway so this is my Sun redesign for real this time. Just pretend that she looks like this in my “I am Sky” comic.

Anyway so here’s some information about her under the cut.

I don’t have a big story for her like I do for Flora because Cryptid Sky’s story barely changes Skyward Sword like at all. He’s formed that the very very end, after the Goddess’s Silent Realm, so most things involving Sun remain the same.

I will say that she didn’t always have her Marks. When she was born as Zelda, her face was clear, like every other Skyloftian. But when she fell to the Surface and began a quest of her own, when she discovered her divine origins, she started to remember. She’d pray at the springs to recover her memories and her powers, and one by one, her face would be Marked.

By the time that Link had secured all of the Sacred Flames and forged the Master Sword with them, Sun was already lost. And in her place stood a Goddess.

I don’t think that people give her enough credit for all she’s been through. Sun deserved so much better, she lost her life to Hylia’s plans just as much as Link did. And when Link merged into Sky, he was merely mimicking the transformation that his dearest friend had already gone through. Sun’s soul is still split in half, still shared between herself and her Loftwing, but in that empty part of her core lies the domineering presence of Hylia herself. Her life as she knew it is over. Is she Zelda anymore? Or is she Hylia?

She loves Link SO MUCH. When she first comes out of their thousands-of-years long slumber, she’s in shock to see that he’s gone. She falls from the amber shards and lands squarely in Sky’s arms, and Sky envelopes her in his soft wings, holding her as if she’s the most precious thing in the world. In the haze, she doesn’t realize the change in her dearest friend. But when she opens her eyes, she’s devastated.

As far as she’s concerned, it’s her fault. She used Link. Forced him to go on this quest, forced him into the Silent Realms, forced him to wield the Master Sword and the Triforce. She’s the reason that he fused with Aepon; she’s the reason that Link is gone.

But Sky laughs the same as Link would, relief in his eyes when she gathers the strength to stand. She holds her hand in his own, and it feels just like the hand she knows. His face is the same, for the most part: his hair is different and he’s got red spots on his cheeks, but the more she looks at him, the more she sees Link. And as they make it through the Temple together, as she watches Groose fawn over him, she realizes that he’s not gone at all.

He’s changed, just like she is. But just like she’s still his Zelda, Sky is still her Link. The guilt still worms its way into her chest, but as long as Sky is smiling, she’s able to see past it.

Sky does not smile for very long, as a certain Demon Lord shows up mere moments later to ruin their happy ending. To be honest, Sun doesn’t remember much of that night. She remembers the anger in Sky’s face as his body trembled on the ground. She remembers the cold cruelty of Ghirahim’s voice against her chest as she was carried away from her Link- her Sky. She remembers feeling so weak and helpless, cursing the Goddess- cursing herself- for being so useless.

And then all she knew was pain. Blinding, burning agony that enveloped her entire being. She thought she was dying, weightless and alone and scared.

The next time she opened her eyes, she was inside the Sealed Temple. Groose held her. Sky was nowhere to be seen.

She cried into Groose’s chest, something she never would have dreamed of doing a year ago, her head still reeling from that feeling of hopelessness, that pain. All at once, she was scared and relieved and safe and in danger. And Groose held her through it.

Sky would stumble into the Temple much later, limping and bleeding and spasming. His right arm would be totally friend and his wings would drag on the ground, feathers in disarray. He’d lean away from Groose and fall into Sun’s open arms. And when it was time to return the Master Sword to her final resting place, he’d do so with a heaviness in his eyes that’s uncharacteristic and a weakness in his body that’s frightening.

Both Sun and Sky take a long time to recover from that. And really, neither of them ever do. But as Sky starts to physically heal, Sun starts to see more traces of her dear Link. Being around her closest friend and newfound lover is healing, and after the adventure they’d had, they don’t leave each other’s side for a long while.

Sun is very protective over Sky, just like she always was with Link. They exchange Loftwing feathers (Sky gives her his own). And just five days after they’re reunited, they’re separated again.

Okay okay okay. This was less about Sun and more about Sun AND Sky, but they’re pretty much inseparable I think. From Sky’s perspective, there’s a lot of confusing feelings that I’ll get into when I actually write a fic (I’m starting a fic!), but Sun just loves him so much. I have a little comic series which is actually a collection of little short stories in a much bigger plot called “I am Sky.” The short comics aren’t all finished (and they can be read as stand alones) but the order they go in is:

“I am Sky” Stories: Pipit

“I am Sky” Stories: Groose (I’m not done with it I’m sorryyyyyy)

“I am Sky” Stories: Zelda

This all takes place after the Demise battle, when Sky is healing and has the chance to sit down and reflect. When he gets the opportunity to learn about himself, the person that his two halves made him. He struggles a lot, but these specific stories have a lot of comfort. He’ll be fine. Probably.

[legendofmorons]

Hi i was wonder if i could request a platonic headcannon or oneshot where the reader is a dragon that adopts the chain. Beacuase it could be very adorable!!! ^-^

-a shy annon

Honestly, that's amazing, and I'm very excited to write this!

Dragon's hoard (chain)

Pairing: Chain & reader

Rating: G

Summary: You are a dragon who adopts the chain. The catch is that you don't know this at first. Somehow, the chain realizes before you, but they think it's sweet. (Even if Legend refuses to admit it.)

Warnings: cursing, implied injury

Other: If I missed anything please let me know

-------

This is written in sections, the scenes are in order of who was collected first. There is a final realization scene

A few quick headcanoms for refrence too

You're a dragon shifter based off of fairytale dragons.

You are capable of half shifting to access fire breathing and wings. You get scales like freckles during these times

You slowly add to your hoard, it's not all at once. You "mark people" as part of your hoard by gifting them shiny things.

You don't realize you have a hoard of heroes until after.

1- Wind

You are on watch with Wind when you feel the urge to gift him the old tarnished spy glass you keep in your bag. You aren't sure now is the tume but you are sure he'd love it.

You've kept the spy glass polished, it's just wethered and about fourth years old. But it works great and you can already see Wind running around with it.

The idea of your gift keeping him safe makes your heart warm. He's such a good kid, you want him to be safe.

And he could use a cheer up after the ankle sprain a few days ago.

So what's the real harm? You have more than one spy glass.

And this way, Wind knows you, care!

How else do friends show affection? You've always exchanged shiny gifts with loved ones. (That probably isn't just a Dragon thing ^TM.)

"Hey, (Y/n)?" Wind calls. "You okay? You look lost."

"Hm? Oh! I was just thinking."

"That's dangerous buissness."

You laugh, shaking your head. "For you maybe."

"Hey now!" Wind protests lightly.

"What do you mean 'hey now'?"

He just gives you a look. Deadpan and unimpressed. He seems to be impersonating Time's 'done with it' stare.

How adorable! He might as well just declare being the youngest sibling of your group.

"How’s your ankle feeling?"

"It's fine, the potion did most the work."

"That's good. I actually have something for you!" You say, deciding then and there to give Wind the spyglass.

"Really?"

"Of course!" You say, "Stay here I have to grab it."

You stand up, walking to your bedroll and bag.

You crouch down and rifle through your bag, thankful as always for the bottomless and weightless charms you have on it. It weighs no more than the materials it's made of, and it fits anything insode of it.

You take a minute to find it- but your hand closes around the spyglass. You pull it out with a triumphant grin.

You close your bag and make your way back to Wind, sitting back on the log beside him.

"Here you go!" You say, holding out the spyglass. "It could probably use a polish, but it's in working condition!"

"Whoah- this looks old! Where's you get it?"

"I found it on a ship wreck at the beach when I went a few years back."

"It has an inscription!"

"Mh- oh yeah! It's stretched up, but it says, 'may you always find a lighthouse'."

Wind nods, "That's so cool!"

You watch the boy take the spyglass with revrence, unlike what you're used to him showing.

"I'm glad you like it!"

The smile he gives you is enough to cement your promise to yourself. You promise that you'll keep him as safe and happy as you can. Forever.

2- Hyrule

Hyrule isn't the best cook. He's not the worst, but if you were home, you wouldn't let him do much more than box recipies.

But the chili he's pulled together is pretty okay. It's not necessarily great, but you don't hate it either.

So after you've eaten lunch and done your turn of dishes, you find yourself sent to forage with Hurule.

Bag on your person. You and Hyrule set out to find some more edible plants.

Thankfully, this is close enough to his time that Hyrule knows the plants.

You let him show you the poisonous plants that you should never pick. You also let him show you the edible plants that taste amazing!

Amazingly enough, you find something that looks a lot like present-day strawberries! Unfortunately, you seem to need sharp nails or a knife to properly pick them.

You have both.

"Hang on, I have a knife for you." You say, reaching into your bag of holding.

"Oh- thanks! I'll clean it before I give it back."

"Don't worry about that, I've been meaning to give it to you anyways."

You manage to find the knife quickly. It's a pocket knife, folded into the handle securely.

You pull it out and pass it to Hyrule.

The knife isn't super huge, about a three inch blade with the handle a little longer. But it's well maintained and has a locking blade.

The handle is wood plated metal. The blade and body are both made of steel.

"This is- really shiny." He manages, taking the knife, "Thank you!"

"Anytime. I have knife sharpeners too if you need them."

"I don't think I do, but thank you."

You just smile.

You turn back to the task of picking the almost-strawberries. You choose to shift into your half dragon half human form, using your claw like nails to easily pick the berries.

Thankfully, this isn't the first time Hyrule has seen you shift between forms, so he just gives a surprised "Oh!'. He keeps his attention on the task, though.

You should probably slip the knife sharpener into his bag later. He's not always great at taking care of himself, and if you can help, you definitely will.

3- Sky

You don't have any grand reason for wanting to gift Sky the shining chain bracelet. You just saw it earlier and thought of him.

It's a delicate chain but it seems sturdy enough.

You've pulled Sky away from the group, standing by the fireplace of the inn you're all staying at.

He just watches you rifle through your bag. "Really, (Y/n), if you can't find it right now we can do this kater."

"Hush now, I just need a minuete."

"Okay."

You find the bracelet after a minute, fingers closing around the silver chains as you pull it out.

You hold it out to him, the silver shining in the firelight. "Ta-da!"

"That's- beautiful." Sky says, reaching out to touch the metal gently.

He takes the braclet then, trying to fasten it on his left wrist. As the only right-handed Link he figures it'll be safer on his shield arm.

"Let me help." You say.

You reach out and manage to fasten the clasp quickly. You drop your hands once you're done, flashing a smile.

"Thanks for the help. And thank you very much for the bracelet. It's beautiful." He says, and Sky is absolutely beaming.

It's good to know you were right. That he does like it.

"Of course. Now come on, I think Wild's done with dinner."

"Good, I'm starving."

You laugh, shaking your head as you lead Sky back to the group.

You sit down between Sky and Wind, gratefully taking the food Wild gives you.

"Nice braclet." Legend says as he nods to Sky, "What's it for?"

"Nothing?" He asks, glancing to you.

"I think the lady I got it from said it's a 'protection ' bracelet. Whatever that means." You explain, still not sure what it does.

"Cool." Legend says.

"That's really interesting." Four says, already getting a look in his eyes that probably means he wants to experiment.

"It is!" Sky beams happily.

4- Wild

You enjoy getting to spend time with Wild. He's fairly down to earth despite his love of shenanigans. And he's all too happy to teach your recipes.

He's helping you search the farmer's market when you see it.

A gleaming gold handled dagger. Wild would love that.

"How much for the dagger?" You ask, turning your attention from the blade to the woman running the shop.

"Two hundred rupees. "

"I'll take it." You say, fishing out the coinage to pay.

The lady takes your payment before wrapping the dagger in its sheath and handing it to you.

You thank her before setting the dagger in your bag for now. You still need to find Wild, you've gotten separated since you came over.

Wild is easy to find. He's haggling with a rather round older man about the price of flour.

You make your way to him easily. Weaving in and out of the crowd until you're standing at his side.

"Hey." You greet.

"Hey." He says. "I just finished here. Did you want to look at anything else?"

"Not really. I got you something though!"

"Oh. Thanks!" He says, flashing a smile.

"Come on, let's get out of the way. Then I can give you the thing."

"Okay."

Wild leads you away from the booth to a bench. He sits down and pats the spot beside him

You sit down as you pull out the cloth wrapped dagger.

"Here you go!" You smile, holding it towards him.

"Thanks, (Y/n)." Wild says, his voice softer than usual.

You watch Wild open it up. You watch him pull the glinting gold dagger from the sheath.

Wild inspects it, and then turns his eyes to you. "It's perfect, thanks (Y/n)."

"I'm just glad you like it!"

You decide then and there that you'll have to make sure he's more used to being loved. Because the way he looks shocked and pleased means he isn't used to it. And he deserves to be.

5- four

You really need the boys to stop being such magnets for monsters. Patching them up is not fun.

But you do prefer patching Four up to patching the others up. The blacksmith has always been good at following directions, and he won't hide injuries like some people. (Couch cough, Time, Warriors, and Twi, cough cough.)

It's nearly lunch when you're almost finished cleaning and bandaging Four. He sits patiently, though, handing you supplies from your bag.

"Can you grab another bandage?" You ask, barley glancing at his face as you frown at the gauze you hold in place.

"Sure."

Four isn't as used to your bottomless bag and instead pulls something else out - a silver hair stick with a mouse like creature on the top. "Oh! You know the picori?"

"Hm?" You manage, looking up to see what he's talking about. You smile when you see the hair stick. "No, the lady I got it from said it was a mythical creature. You can keep it if you like."

"Oh- but I don't need a hair stick."

"You don't have to keep it."

"Can- Can I? Even if I probably won't use it?"

"Of course you can, Four. I'd honestly forgotten it existed it'll be much better off with you."

"Thank you, (Y/n)." Four says.

He sets the hair sticks down before reaching back into your bag to grab a bandage like you had asked. When his hands close around it he smiles softly to himself.

You take the item when he hands it to you, starting to bandage the gauze in place.

"And.... Done!" You declare as soon as you're finished patching him up.

"Thanks, (Y/n), I really appreciate the help."

"Anytume, Four. If I can ever help you out, let me know. Okay?"

"Okay."

6- legend

Legend is a particularly stubborn ass sometimes, and while usually you at least admire that trait, today it's a pain the ass.

Since he decided he can go two days without sleep and lied to people about it. He didn't wake anybody up for watch the last two nights like he was supposed to either.

All of this is why you are put on babysitting duty while Legend is effectively in timeout.

Thankfully, Legend is happy to sit with his arms crossed on the stump you're standing near. He's got his back to the others right now.

You however have an idea.

You've got a ring that helps with sleep, according to the inscription at least. Maybe it will help Legend? He probably has an underlying reason for not sleeping.

You might as well offer it. He can always say no.

"Hey.... Ledgend?" You call, already reaching into your bag in search of the sleep aiding item.

Your hand closes around the ring quickly so you pull it out.

"What?" He asks, sulking as if he's paid to.

"I have something for you."

"Why?"

"It might help you sleep more? I know you're probably exhausted. You're still hylian."

"Yeah. So?" He asks, finally turning to face you.

"Just take this, you grump." You say, stopping in front of him and holding the rin out to him.

"What's it do?"

"It's supposed to help you sleep."

"Does it?"

"I've never actually tried it."

He tilts his head, eyes narrowing as he observes the jewlry. He's not exactly the most trusting, but he does seem to be considering this.

Good.

If you can help him take better care of himself, you're happy to do it.

Legend takes the ring, "Thanks."

"Anytime!"

"If this dosen’t work I'm selling it."

"That's fine." You say.

And really, it is. You had all hut forgotten you had the thing, it might as well go to someone who wants it.

Though you really do hope it helps Legend sleep. The stubborn man needs it.

7- Twilight

You're oddly used to Twi and his extended stints of disappearing. It's not as concerning as it used to be, at least.

Although you've got half a mind to stick him with one of your many shiny objects so everyone knows he has a dragon looking out for him. He could use it, the trouble magnets.

Actually- that's a hell of an idea. You think you'll do that! But it has to be something useful. You don't want to burden him with a useless knick knack.

What do you have that he could use? Maybe a ring that grants unnatural luck? Or an old compass that leads you home? Oh! Or maybe Twilight wants a letter opener?

Those all sound useful on occasion but not like something Twi would actually use.

Oh! You know exactly what you should give him.

You're already searching your bag for it when it comes to mind. You'll gift Twilight a gold-plated mirror that allows him to talk to whoever has the other. That way, if he needs help, he can ask!

Yes.

This way, everyone knows not to mess with him, AND he can ask for help if he needs it. This is perfect!

Now you just have to find him.

Easier said than done sometimes.

However, you think Twilight said he was going to be back before night, and it's nearly dysk now. So he should be back real soon.

So you pull one of the two mirrors in the set out and begin polishing it. It's got to he very shiny. How else will he know you care?

Enough time passes that the mirror is practically shimmering. You've definitely shined it enough.

"What are you doing?" Four asks, asks you curiously.

"Cleaning this mirror up before I give it to Twim"

Four laughs, "Adding to your hoard again?"

"No?" You say, confused enough that it comes out as a question.

You aren't adding to your hoard. You're removing things from it.

"Okay." Four says, amusement evident in his expression.

You raise a brow, but allow it all to pass. There's nothing worth dwelling on.

You hear more footsteps entering the area. You aren't sure who it is, though, so you turn to see.

Twilight is back, a bag of supplies in hand.

"Twi!" You cheer happily.

"Hey, (Y/n)."

"Come here! I have something for you."

Twilight shares a look with four, biting his lip and trying not to laugh. It's not mean he just thinks it's sweet that you like all of them enough to add them to your hoard.

He's also pretty sure you don't know.

"What are you thinking about?" You ask, tilting your head to watch him.

"Nothing much. What did you want to show me?"

"This!" You say, holding the mirror out to him, "It's for you!"

"It is? Why, thank you!"

Twilight takes the mirror gently. He squints as he examines it.

"It's enchanted so you can talk to whoever has the other mirror in the set!"

"Oh- that's amazing! I didn't know you could do such a thing."

"You can. I know a sorceress back home. She loves things like this."

"Well, I love this. Thank you, (Y/n)."

"Now you'll use it if you need help. Got it?" You ask, watching him intently.

He laughs and nods. "Of course I will."

"I mean it."

He nods. He does believe you. He's just not used to having someone go out of their way to make sure he has a way to ask for help.

Because of how much he does back home, most people assume he doesn't ever need help unless he asks. Though they are usually right about that.

"I know. I- really appreciate this."

"Now we should go eat. I know you're hungry."

"Yeah, I am. Let's go eat."

8- warriors

You should know how you ended up here. Really, you should. But it doesn't matter because you're in the middle of a festival dancing with friends.

You and Twilight are doing a mangled box step side by side, laughing the whole time.

"Have you figured out what you want to do for Warriors?" Twilight asks.

You blink, surprised he knows that you want to do something nice for the captain. But then again, you weren't hiding it.

"Yeah I do actually!"

"What is it?"

"I thought he'd like a set of earrings."

"He woukd."

"They protect from people talking badly about you."

"He'd love that for sure." Twilight says with a playful shake of his head and a stumble in his box step.

"Oh be nice."

"I am!"

"Liar." You laugh. "Stay here I'm going to grab a drink."

"If you see Wind tell him to come see me."

"I will!"

You go off to get a drink, passing sacral friendly locals, two goats, and like ten kids.

You don't see the others until you take your drink to go sit on a bench.

Warriors comes over and sits next to you. He flashes you a smile.

"Hey, (Y/n)."

"Hey, wars."

"Twi said you had something for me? Should I be worried?" He asks, cracking a playful smile so you know he's not being serious.

You roll your eyes and shake your head. "No, I just had some earrings I thought you'd like."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. I can show you of you like?"

"I'd love that!"

9- time

You can't be bothered to make some polite attempt at giving Time the compass you have. You just slide it into his bag when he's off doing something.

You aren't scared of him, but you've been nervous about it so this is your solution.

Although you really didn't expect to have him pull you aside while holding said compass in hand.

"What's up, Time?"

"Did you put this in my bag?" He asks.

He dosen’t sound upset at all. He just sounds curious.

The compass glints as sunlight hits it.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Just curious. What's it do?" He asks, biting back a smile.

Why does he look like he knows something you don't?

Probably the adventures.

"It points you home." You explain, "It always points towards wherever you consider home."

"Thank you. This is- very thoughtful. "

"I try."

"I appreciate it."

He smiles at you, putting the compass into his pouch of items. He seems so thrilled.

"I hope I wasn't out of line when I slipped it into your bag."

"It's fine. I don't mind."

"Good."

Bonus

You are in your full dragon form, curled around all of the boys when you realize something.

There's nothing profound to start the realization. The stars are out, and there are fire flies all around. But that's normal here. The boys are bickering, but that's all in play.

What makes you realize something is actually Warriors.

The boys are talking about things that surprised them on this adventure. If you weren't so content you might have joined their conversation.

But you are happy, warm as the fore crackles in front of your pile of heroes.

"I mean, I didn't expect to meet you guys." Sky admits, "I'm used to being- the only hylian."

"That does fall in line with your stories." Warriors says, "But I was more surprised to become part of a dragon's hoard."

The others all chime in their agreement, and thoughts on that. You don't register them though- too caught up on Warrior's words.

Is Warriors part of a dragon hoard? Which dragon is he part of a hoardwith?

Why does that thought make you so upset?

Why-

Oh- he's part of your hoard.

They all are.

Huh.

That makes some of the comments about hoards make more sense.

You should have recognized the signs. Or at least the official actions.

This definitely explains your protectiveness over them.

How did they figure it out before you did?

You'll have to ask later.

But you decide you like this. They're part of your hoard, and their family. They don't seem to have an issue with it either.

You should talk about this later. For sure.

But for now, you are happy just to exist in the moment with your friends.

[artemisandhersilverbow]

I'm still not over Taylor's Fortnight MV... to say it's my favorite visual work she's done would be an understatement. As with all things on this album, she did her research. Her incredible DP - Rodrigo Prieto - who has shot The Man, Cardigan, and Willow MVs. As well as, Brokeback Mountain, The Barbie Movie, Killer of the Flower Moon, etc.

There are so many ways to parse the story of the Fortnight video, but I will mostly focus on Taylor's use of mirroring to make some of the video's larger points.

I am a queer former film student so I wanna note that that's the bias I'll be writing from. If that disinterests you, no worries! This just may not be for you.

Love that we start with silent film era titles. One is black, one is white, perhaps a ying yang visual or simply representing the original album + the anthology. Could also be the light + dark of her two sides represented by Taylor and Post Malone.

The vertical alignment shift in the word Fortnight is interesting because the other time i noticed her doing this was in the closing poem for TTP with, "Some stars never align." Would be cute to have it like a nod to screenplay scene heading: INT. FORT - NIGHT

We start with Taylor, virtually still, but singing. She's handcuffed to an askew bed frame - sans mattress - with bars resembling a prison/cage.

The mirroring she's doing here is reminding us of "real life" Taylor's outfit at the 2024 Grammy's, but with the addition of white gauzy gloves + garter belt (like on tour), it reads more bridal, more bed sheet. That similar clock necklace is set to, best as I can tell, 9pm.

And she's got enough hairpins to... idk... make me spin out? Her make up evokes a little Clara Bow, Greta Garbo, legends of the silver screen, etc.

Taylor stops lip-syncing. Breaking the fourth wall, with direct eye contact, she's forced a "Forget Him" pill and unshackled from her bed prison. Unlike the next instance we get this match shot, it feels like she's telling the audience she knows we're watching and her look has a "this is what I'm forced to do" anger charged to it.

Also, the pill itself seems to break Taylor's reality from here on out. She "forgets him," but perhaps also becomes a different him herself.

She walks over, in her wacky funhouse of a prison room - skewed angles, upside down doors (those who enter from the left walk on the "ceiling" - to an actual mirror. But this mirror looks more like a one-way mirror. Meaning that the subject can see themselves, but so can others they can't see on the other side. Usually so the subject can be observed.

Still appropriate to break the fourth wall as though we are watching her in a way she can't return.

She wipes her face to reveal Post Malone's tattoos under the veneer of her prerfect facade. Once done, she utters the first "I want to kill her." She wants to "kill" Taylor TM?

I'll basically be going forward assuming that Post Malone is established in this mirror shot as a representation of Taylor, perhaps her True Taylor underneath the engineered perfection. This door/portal splits her in two on entry. From one white-clad figure to two black-clad ones. Kind of like the splitting of a prism.

Instead of exiting this upside down asylum, she goes deep into a department - perhaps the Tortured Poets kind. We get an awesome match cut/panning transition where Grammy dress referential Taylor morphs into a Victorian mourning dress. One very similar to the dresses on stage during Folklore during Eras (at the bottom of post). Perhaps also a nod to Emily Dickinson herself.

The way they design the set to make it so her asylum and office are connected feels like a not so subtle call out on how she feels about her chosen industry. Not quite a cheery take on the Lover House for ex. Time also becomes a little bendy, irrelevant when she does this portal walk.

When she enters she sits at a mirrored desk, morphing into Post Malone's silhouette. To the side we have faceless writers, also dressed in black older fashions, that seem to go on for infinity like a mirror trick.

Taylor sits down to start writing, Post Malone is already typing. They're both in black with embellished collars. We see that she has a top sheet with typed words, but under they're blank. Post has a pile next to him, along with his fountain pen, which perhaps are fully done b/c placement on the other side of him. Their desks are also arranged ever so slightly different. So Post-Taylor is a typing machine, Taylor needs to catch up...

But then Post Malone looks up to create this awesome mirrored match cut.

Taylor and Post-Taylor get to work, singing the chorus, camera cutting on their lines in mirror shots respectively.

We see a typewriter jam the same lines from the song, but specifically "I LOVE YOU." Granted, we can't be 100% sure whose typewriter it is, but we see Taylor type "Love You." Perhaps they're mirroring each other in even this task.

Eventually their stories starts leaking blue and orange/gold ether which prisms out to reveal "The Story of Us."

Really great shot of the infinity vanishing point effect from the unidentified crowd, how they're positioned makes them look like they're mirroring all of us watching/sharing our opinions.

This is where I'll stop for Part 1 because it's not ok how late this album has been keeping me up.

But a couple of things to start:

Taylor using very strong, very consistent mirroring techniques to create distinctions from narrator, character, and audience. Even the music is mirrored in the chorus with Post Malone's repetition.

By both wearing the face tattoos under a perfect exterior (the face we know her by), and immediately separating into two characters - one with her face/gender expression as we know it and Post-Taylor who now wears the face tattoos we just saw/is also sporting the face and gender expression we are familiar with him. It's Taylor TM the Brand vs Hidden (in plain sight) Identity Taylor.

Her typewriter emits an orange/golden glow from all of her repeated "I LOVE YOU'S," while his emits blue. Together they're creating the next story vignette: "The Story of Us."

One basic read for this is that Taylor could be owning her male POVs that come up in her songs (Folklore we're looking at you). Another read I have is that Taylor TM is writing the love song framework expected from her as an artist while Post-Taylor injects the devastation, anger, emotion, the heavy blues we often unearth from a song we originally thought was upbeat, romantic, unassuming. And considering these mirrored halves, I think that aligns with her own messages about her music, that people will always going looking for paternity tests - the publicized romance pulled from what we think we know about her. But perhaps the assumed truths of a song could be, and often are, driven by your gendered expectations - "Girl loves boy, sings about that." The hidden in plain sight Taylor subverts what the surface level shows.

The True Taylor is an unrecognizable author. And that writer is producing the meat of the work.

Additionally, I love that she's wearing a dress that feels taken off the Era's stage.

Folklore in particular was a really different writing era for her. She presented the characters and stories as fiction and all the sudden an unknown male collaborator — William Bowery — gets credited on it. I'd love if the message, in part, was hey I'm actually my own male writing partner. Regardless, her other half/POV was able to allow her to write truths so long as they remained unrecognizable.

But she's wearing the mourning dress, looking over at her hidden true half, looking over anxiously. And then begins to write. They're half the story that makes up the whole, one needing the other to tell the story they want to tell. Perhaps it's a call out to Folklore in particular as a solution to being limited by expectations of her signature diaristic-like songs' perspectives. Using it as a way to tell a version of the truth from a POV society or the powers that be in her life would accept it from — not Taylor TM as she is/who she's known to be.

More generally, the "male pov" and the male pronouns, just seem to be called irrelevant smoking guns in the game of knowing the unknowable - what her work, a lot of her work, is referencing specifically. These two writers, as presented, are still both Taylor. Them's the rules here. Ok, see you in PT. 2!

[hwaightme]

Your fan, Mingi (part 1)

(pt.2 here) (your fan ml)

🎤 pairing: mingi x rapper!reader 🎤 genre: slice of life, mix of fluff and angst, music and the industry, slow burn 🎤 summary: a bulletpoint-style wordstream of what it would be like if mingi was stanning you 🎤 wordcount: 3.4k 🎤 warnings/tags: language, reader is an underground rapper, mingi is totally starstruck, producer hongjoong energy, activism, criticism of music industry, dark side of idol life, hongjoong-ah instead of hyung, yunho is supportive friend (TM), mingi being a rebel, sneaking out, potential rap battles incoming, reader with that mic drop, let me know if anything else 🎤 a/n: Hello there <3 thank you very much for your support, feedback and appreciation, it means the world to me! Here is the next installation of the "Your fan, _____" series, for none other than Song Mingi!! Any reblogs, asks and love is appreciated!

You were an established independent artist, having made a name for yourself among the real veterans and rap appreciators.

Years of tracks, freestyles and collaborations that you had published or appeared in under your belt, you were dead set on making a permanent home in the underground scene, deeming it to be the place where real art was made.

As such, you had openly turned down offers to get signed to bigger labels, spitting on their fineprint.

Besides, after trying to connect with you over music, they had always immediately veered off the trail to discuss image, visuals and something or other about them helping you develop your own style.

Blocked without a second thought. What bullshit was this? You? Not having your own style? Please.

You made it this far riding your own wave, making your own connections, and you sure as hell were not about to sell that off to entertainment industry vultures.

It was the managers, the bureaucrats that you did not want to face. The casting directors with ulterior motives.

You were an activist for creative freedom and helping new artists break through properly. You were vocal about these issues, both in general and through music.

You had first hand experience with how hard it was to become an idol, having actually been cast as a young teen and being a trainee for 2 years, but it turned out that the agency was... questionable, to say the least. And thus your independent journey started, and your doubt of any larger music-related organisations grew.

And the last thing you wanted was to, in front of all those people you were fighting for, who trusted you and saw you as a role model, support those who had questionable intentions. No.

You were a wildfire, spinning things around, remixing reality into raw and emotional lines, your only goal being that at least one person out there could find comfort in your songs.

Fully aware of the responsibility you had as an artist, you breathed your work and never backed down until just conditions for all collaborators, agents and assistants were met.

Though this was honourable, you became notoriously difficult to work with, often deemed to be a pain in the ass.

You would only shrug at that - it wasn't your fault that the music industry was full of self-centred manipulators. Your agent kept assuring you that you were exaggerating, but who said that a nice person couldn't have malicious intent?

Maybe you were overly cautious at times, seeing as you did not enjoy letting people close to you.

Were you alone? No, not at all. You had strong friendships with some legends, attended major events, hell, even gave whole press conferences and readily used the media to spread your message.

You even had some friends who were idols (albeit few), and connected with them deeply over shared passions and visions for the future.

But your soul? Strictly off limits.

Though you did, when the moment called for it, elaborate on one verse or other, either giving it a relatable backstory or linking it to a national or global issue, not once did you bare all.

That was not your style.

Neither was it your fans'.

They did not need to be spoon-fed pretentious monologues to understand.

Your fans were a real unit, many connecting with each other and becoming life-long friends. Since you never tried to gather the bigger venues, even if you were touring the country, you had a chance to interact with them. Reassure them. Connect with them. Human to human.

You understood each other. No accessories. That was the most powerful way to bare all.

It was through these concerts that Mingi had gotten to know you, and soon enough you had become his idol, for the lack of a better word, and muse.

One time he had snuck out of the dorms late at night having heard that a new artist he had heard and liked the sound of was going to be opening for another artist.

By sheer luck he managed to swipe the last ticket available, hours before the concert, and was off, having only alerted Yunho that he was "going out".

The event was held at a club, which technically was forbidden for him, but he was feeling rebellious and wanted to immerse himself in the underground atmosphere for once.

He had to squeeze past many bodies to take his place by a pillar off to the left. There were no seats, as he had expected so he perched himself against the structure, waiting.

The opening act was pretty good, as he had hoped, with the teenage boy on stage having a confident flow. There was that yearning in his eyes, hope for something bigger, like this venue was not enough, but maybe with some time and practice that dream could be achieved.

Mingi was about to leave, turning to try and snake through the crowd that was practically pressing him into the pillar, but their screaming that turned into a hypnotic chant, cult-like made him freeze and turn back.

And there you were. In all your glory. Sitting on a high stool that you had dragged after yourself onto the stage, a wired microphone in your hands that were folded in prayer as you bowed your head repeatedly to the audience.

A single spotlight illuminated your form, clad in pitch black industrial-style trousers, chunky sneakers and matching jacket that was zipped up half-way revealing a black tank top loosely hanging off you.

The aura that spread from the stage into the room was unlike anything he had ever felt before, and it only got stronger as you began to perform.

And not just run through the lines as if you had somewhere better to be, no, you were living through the song, riding the beat, eyes ablaze.

The song you had started with, (which he later found out was something you had written in response to some hate your fanbase had gotten), called "Welcome home, to the show", started with a low hum. It reminded him of a rumbling thunder, your voice distorted by intentionally added digital noise.

Then, you broke into a quiet mutter, each phrase so perfectly constructed that it was sending wave after wave, and he was being swept in. He looked around and noticed that all present were whispering along with you, eyes not leaving the stage a single time.

He was also in shock at how few phones there were, being used to seeing thousands.

And after a few more bars, all hell broke loose, and he was ready to rip his heart out and give it to you then and there.

You were captivating, your message and vision resonating beyond the walls of this club. Connecting philosophy, ethics, even politics and popular culture, you were the truth.

You were alive and resurrected those who had broken away from routine to see you.

The concert was as though you were telling a gripping saga, in one breath. No wonder your fans were near mad towards the end, while you finished up with a 'classic' of yours.

The audience begged for an encore.

You were smiling wide, pure ecstasy on your face like you were just coming down from a high. The jacket had long been forgotten, and you were currently wiping sweat off your tattooed arms.

And just when your fans began to quieten down, you raised your mic, and in one motion summoned a beat.

Another roar erupted as you admired your followers. Mingi swore you locked eyes with him, piercing his body.

There it was. A freestyle where you managed to incorporate an impossible flow change, and personally addressed some of the fans you knew personally and spotted in the audience.

After the performance, there was a near total flip in your demeanour. Mingi observed as you settled on one of the seats at the bar, changed in a different top and now sporting a beanie

Both you and your fans were beyond respectful, sharing embraces and kind words like you were old friends. Maybe you were, he still had so much to learn. You looked at each one of them like they were your entire world, recalling and asking about personal troubles they had shared with you before.

Mingi was starstruck, he wanted to learn what you knew. Learn what drove you. Learn how to be like you, even just a fraction.

And that was how you became his definition of an artist, rapper and role model

Needless to say, after the concert he could not just ‘stay the same’.

The members noticed that Mingi was walking around the dorm, travelling and even taking breaks between schedules with earphones in and eyes glued to his screen.

He had also grown to prefer being immersed in his thoughts, more often observing chaos among the members rather than participating in it.

The collection of changes began to alarm the others, as they had no clue what the source of this Mingi switch up was.

All except Yunho, that was. The lad quickly put two and two together, since he was in the know about Mingi's escape to attend a concert, and was homie goals to not spill this information to the others as there had not been any press or spottings.

So during a day when the group was miraculously free, Yunho approached Mingi to go for a drive together, and the latter not suspecting the interrogation incoming, agreed.

While they were navigating around the city, eventually settling for their final destination to be a quick visit to Bucheon, Yunho, passively, in an even tone, inquired:

"So what happened that night?"

Fully not expecting Mingi to BURST. The boy was literally bouncing in his seat recounting the experience, to the point where Yunho had to use "the mom hand" to try calming his best friend.

After agreeing to not act like a car crash risk, Mingi delved into explaining why exactly he had been acting the way he was, happily answering any and all questions that came his way.

Really, he was waiting to fanboy all this time.

He took out his phone and attempted to show Yunho some screenshots and notes, once again forgetting that road safety was a thing that existed.

"Man you really want to Tokyo Drift off this bridge huh?"

So he spent the rest of the drive reading out extensive analysis he had conducted, picking apart your rap and diving into what everything could potentially mean, how the rhyme and structure worked and how he could potentially take some patterns to experiment with.

Yunho was in awe - he could not get enough of professional Mingi, so he was more than happy to hear that he found such a good role model.

It was that sparkle in his friends eyes, the grin that would not leave his face as he talked about a rare video he found on YouTube of you freestyling during a radio show, his pride as he exclaimed that he had found some of your earliest recordings in the depths of SoundCloud, diving into babbling away about how your sound, though had always been unique, had indeed evolved over time.

To Mingi, you were a daring character, not caring for the blueprints or trends, and inspired him to work harder than ever before, hone his skills further so that he could enjoy the music as much as you did. He wanted to live every line.

He already had the ability to feel the music coursing through his body, and move impeccably to every beat, but there was something indescribable about how you created your creations, something unreachable, that drew Mingi in.

He desperately wanted to crack the code - maybe in a way of natural competition, as he was also in the music industry, hell, also a rapper, but when he tried that theory on it did not sit well. Mingi did not see himself ever having even an echo of a thought to surpass you or wrong you – to him, you were in your own unique realm.

The young man had nothing but respect for you and wanted to simply translate that into a deeper understanding of your skills. He knew far too well just how hard it was to make performances like yours appear effortless.

As he listened and listened to studio recordings and compared them to the live versions he had replaying in his head, he noticed how you had even changed up the emotional landscape for the specific audience. There was no limit to how much variability there was.

Seeing how he had won over Yunho and even got him into being one of your listeners, albeit more casual, Mingi became even more bold about his passion for your music and his professional growth.

So, day in, day out he had begun to learn some of your rap, slowing it down, trying to repeat it after you. He had attempted to record himself on his phone to review progress, and then, for the final challenge… he needed Hongjoong’s help.

Upon hearing that the younger member wanted to go to the recording studio Hongjoong quite literally shot up from his sprawled position on the floor, dropping his paint brushes (much to Seonghwa’s rising discontent) and rushing to get ready.

He knew that when inspiration struck, it was a race against time to try recording anything.

Once they were in the studio and Hongjoong checked that all equipment worked, Mingi decided to sit him down and elaborate on what he wanted to do and why.

What he did not expect, however, was for Hongjoong to have a smug expression on his face, leaning back as if he… knew something. And knew it so well that it seemed he could maybe even fact check the information he was being given.

Soon enough, Mingi stopped his monologue to stare his captain down, eyebrow raised.

“Do you want me to text them?”

Mingi.exe stopped working.

What did Hongjoong mean by that? That he could text you? Did he mean to message you on social media? Or to try reaching out to you indirectly through management perhaps? That all seemed more realistic-

“No, for real, I have her number, lucky for you we are what one could consider friends.”

Mingi felt as though he was on some hidden camera prank show, quite literally turning his head to check if that was the case. When the first wave of shock did pass, he managed to mumble:

“But… how? How did you meet?”

“At a speaker and networking event, of all places. It was one dedicated to fusion of different disciplines that fall under the umbrella of creative arts, a few months back.”

“Oh, I think I remember! And wait wasn’t it the event where you presented about combining fashion and music and stuff like that, right?”

“Yes, exactly. So, really, it wasn’t a talk that I exclusively gave. There were a couple of others on the stage with me, and it was like a panel discussion. And guess who was one of the guests there? Your new celebrity crush! We had talked previously on occasion, but after that panel it was a 180 flip.”

“And that is when you got her… number?”

“Yeah. She gave it to me.”

Mingi did not want to admit but he was experiencing an odd pang of jealousy, at how serendipity had led you to Hongjoong and not him. How the older member could consider himself a friend of yours, but Mingi was just a fan. But he could not stay in this state for long – after all, this second level connection was an opportunity. He was sure to be able to reach you now.

A silence fell over the two members.

Hongjoong finally broke the silence with a chuckle, returning to what Mingi had been meaning to do:

“So, you want to record a cover, right? Or what was it again?”

“Yep… there is that one track. From her second album. ‘Dum Spiro Spero’. It blew me away. The title means 'While I breathe, I hope', and it tells a story of a child dreaming of making it on the big stage and working hard, and then finishes with them achieving it. When I first heard it... it just spoke to me."

Hongjoong shifted in his seat and moved to search up the track on the studio computer. Once on, he began to nod his head to the entrancing beat.

“This one is one of the less known ones, isn’t it? How did you come across it?”

“Setl-” Mingi slapped his hand over his mouth, realising that he may or may not have just exposed himself and set himself up for the scolding of a lifetime.

“Setl… setlist? SETLIST? Song Mingi… Are you meaning to tell me that you attended a public concert… without telling anyone?”

Mingi contemplated whether he wanted to drag Yunho into this, but chose not to as he merely lowered his head and gave Hongjoong a sheepish smile.

“Mmm… perhaps?”

“Boy, I don’t even need to ask you to come to my room, everything’s prepped already. You are about to get that breath knocked out of you Mingi.” Hongjoong’s expression darkened as he stood up to approach the younger man. But then the latter had the audacity to stand up too.

Ah, the benefits of having a height advantage. “You were saying?”

“Listen here you big little shit-”

After indeed having to listen through an extensive collection of colourful words and a stern warning to never do such risky things (at least without Hongjoong knowing) ever again, they moved to recording the cover.

Since they did not have the instrumental for your track, Hongjoong had laid a beat that was similar and, in front of Mingi’s very eyes sent you a message asking if it was okay to even attempt to do what they were about to do.

Midway through recording, the phone buzzed with a simple offer. To come to your studio so that the three of you could make something even better.

If it was possible for a human being to literally light up a room, Mingi was sure to be the brightest star. Glowing, he stepped out of the booth, mouth wide open, morphing into the most adorable grin.

"Is... that... is that really them?"

"Yep, and you should be getting added to a group chat right... now."

His phone dinged, and he could not believe his eyes. It was a number, your number, on his screen, a notification saying that he was added to 'triple threat trio' and a quick text of you informing that this, indeed was yourself and no one else.

Hongjoong was genuinely afraid that Mingi was going to hit the ceiling because he jumped that high.

A giggly mess, the young rapper and your fan fell back onto the sofa behind where Hongjoong was seated, and typed out a response introducing himself and adding that he really liked your work.

"HYUNG SHE SAYS SHE LIKES OUR WORK TOO AHH"

"You know I sent her some of the tracks from our album before they were even officially released, right?"

"You did what now?"

"Yeah, but don't worry it was just snippets and I had it cleared with the producer. He knows her too so it was easy enough."

"WHY WAS I IN THE DARK ABOUT THIS!!!?"

"BECAUSE YOU NEVER ASKED?"

"I am going to stop calling you hyung I have not an ounce of respect left-"

"Now that's too far boy one more word and I am asking Y/N to write a diss track about you."

"And I would thank you, HONGJOONG" he exclaimed, still beaming, making a run for it out of the studio and into the corridor, the captain hot on his heels.

The only thing on his mind was that he was going to be recording with you. He would be able to hear you, basically one on one, doing what you did best. And on top of that, you would be creating art together.

[iantimony]

tuesday line go up (derogatory)

hello from the end of my workday. writing this on my office computer as i watch my simulation crash in real time in the background. convergence line go up :(

listening: astonishing legends the body on the moor part 1, for some reason astonishing legends is such good Cleaning And Organizing noise to my brain. i've raised my eyebrow at some of their conclusions sometimes but i love a good unsolved mystery that doesn't focus on true crime what i can say

more 00s, just whatever shit the spotify algorithm spits out basically..."hard and heavy headbanging tuesday afternoon". i think for brevity i am going to focus on posting only the things that stuck out to me or are ear worms at the moment, which for this week is miss murder by afi, the kill by 30 seconds to mars, and out of control by hoobastank, especially the line in the latter after the chorus that goes 'and i may never know the answer to this endless mystery' that for some reason tickles my brain.

reading: Bring Back Those Pumped Italian Sodas (Anna Hezel): i LOVE italian sodas. the candy shop on main street near me does italian sodas and it is my favorite little treat to do a hot girl walk downtown and get a little bevvy to come with me. they whip so hard. bring them back everywhere!!!!!!!!!!!!

elitism is the enemy of the people (Mina Le) and the linked The machine in the garden. (Emily Sundberg) ... discourse(tm) about What Substack Is For, which means nothing to me as a non-substack user. i use a rss reader to follow a few specific substacks but i do not use the platform even a little bit. sundberg seems to disparage the list format (shoutout to miss deb perelmen who i saw in there as an example of things that are pushed on the platform now) (deb's newsletter is one of the ones i follow with my rss feed lol) slash the concept of "list of content I’m consuming" which. looks at my weekly roundup posts. lol. i do understand to an extent, though - does my weekly roundup post make me a Writer(tm)?? i would kinda agree that no not really.

this zine that i think i reblogged yesterday is very cute.

watching: i saw the new alien movie with a friend! it was really good, i enjoyed it, i did look up the jumpscares beforehand because i do not do well with those in theaters especially the big imax ones, but it ended up not being necessary - the local theater here has no imax or any of the big surround sound gimmick things, which i actually prefer, and it also means the tickets were dirt cheap. 10/10 experience. the movie itself was fun, the correct amount of peen/vag imagery that one would expect from an alien movie. important to note that the dehumanization of an android character (who is also the only black character and strongly autism coded) is a big plot thing, it is not Good that he is treated that way and that is also a plot thing but it is important to know going in so it's not a surprise (thanks to someone in a server i'm in for pointing that out, i didn't clock it as being potentially triggering when i saw it but i was like ohh yeah that does make sense to warn people about). really good cast and plot overall, there was only like one point where i was like "whyyy nooo that makes no sense, why would you do that" (without too much spoiling, the gravity turns on and off in a portion and they were just. zooming up an elevator shaft using the lack of gravity. like why would you not be staying near the ladder. you KNOW it's going to turn off at some random point. anyways), but in general the decisions the characters made were really reasonable which made it very fun to watch the consequences of like, yeah, that is also the choice i would have made, shit. the ending made me go EUGH!! in a good way. lots of good easter eggs that i probably missed some of. made me weirdly nostalgic for my dad because when i was growing up he had a life-size hyper-realistic rubber facehugger model. he used to mime getting attacked by it. my mom hated that fucking thing. it must have gotten thrown out or given away at some point. anyways, as the kids would say: it's kino

thank u celestialtourguide for ur dropout login xoxo, i have been watching a lot of 'make some noise'. i love how sometimes you can hear the crew laughing in the background.

youtubesphere:

jimmy robins: The Fallout of Watcher's Betrayal, what sparked me looking more at dropout. also found out from the comments section that sam reich is son of robert reich ??? wild

finished the george r r martin problem. basically: yeagh

dangelo wallace: not gonna link em all but his videos on chapell roan, katy perry, blake lively, and starbucks. pop culture updates that mean nothing to me. good background noise tho

mina le: underconsumption-core, travel outfits, and Paul Mescal’s shorts, the luxury of privacy & the celebrity vs. influencer paradox. my boyfriend is a proponent of the tiny inseam shorts and i wholly encourage it. more of that, please, from everyone.

made in the moment: My Crafty Boston Apartment Tour. as someone who is also just moved into my own apartment alone for the first time and is in the process of making the space feel like mine, this hits interestingly.

playing: dnd as normal. i finally got to go mask-off, was replaced by a doppleganger like six months ago and finally got to pop off and kill some guys and beat the shit out of my friends lol >:b i have also moved the game that i run to biweekly instead of weekly. i just have too much fucking things happening and dm burnout real.

making: evil eye coasters! these made me very nervous because of how streaky the underglaze is! so i did the tedious task of re-coloring in around my sgraffito lines of my [redacted] coasters. clear coated them and crossing my fingers. these coasters are also too thin, two of them are too warped to use as coasters so ill have to figure out what to do with them. maybe drilling a hole (carefully...) so i can hang them up somewhere? the [redacted] coasters are like twice the thickness so i don't think they'll be warped as bad thankfully.

i also. made. mesopotamian foot bowl :) i did not have a reference image at the time because that happened to be when the t mobile towers went down for a few hours last saturday so i kinda just freeballed it but he looks. so silly i love him. i think im gonna have to modify him, i was chatting with the studio owner about it and she was like "if you threw that bowl on a wheel you should hollow the legs out, wheel pottery twists slightly as it dries and that plus the drying rates being different will make them just pop right off", which, i can always glue them back on! but i should give him the best odds possible. bonus lil tushy

i made a BIG BOWL !! it's not really clear from the image but it's the most clay i've ever thrown at once, i think it's like. 2.5 lb?? i didn't actually weigh it first oops i should weigh it. but it's like a foot across at the top. i put it on little ball feet to use as some sort of display bowl i think.

and there's one more bowl that is really unremarkable so no picture for now.

fiber art: made a fucking. magic the gathering card cozy for a friend that my local mtg group is putting together a care package for. it's so fucking stupid i love it. not gonna post a pic of the front, it's just a dark red border to hold the card in. i might outline the swamp symbol with matching embroidery floss (or maybe navy??) to make it pop more, might also sew a small square of fabric on the inside to hide the loose ends. colors were chosen to match his main commander which is braids

eating: FINALLY finished the gyudon. um . didn't cook many more recipes. i was going to do one pot chicken meatballs with greens and deb smittenkitchen's corn bacon and parmesan pasta last night but i spent two hours wandering walmart like my ancestors wandered the desert and came home and just had leftovers lol. the cooking will commence......today after i post this and go home.

misc: the midwest is hot this week! fml! on the plus side i don't think my average energy bill in my new place will be worse than my old one despite the worse insulation based on the mid-cycle energy report email i got, on the minus side now i am not splitting that cost so technically it feels more expensive :( thankfully i have finally been finishing the process of closing my dad's accounts so i will have a little padding in my bank account, plus i think i am supposed to get the fellowship i won deposited soon?? shrug. i booked some flights using credit card points that in retrospect i should have booked with Money because of that fellowship but oh well. i am still in the Everything Is So Expensive stage of moving as i finish getting furniture and miscellaneous home goods, hence the two hour walmart wander yesterday. i still need a couch. i think i am getting a frat house walmart futon for like $150 just because it's space efficient and won't break the bank and will be easy to sell when i move out. i should probably order that before i go visit home for 3 weeks ...... anyways. that's this tuesdaypost done and dusted.

[moon-swag-tourney]

The Bracket (tm)

The bracket is here!! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about it ^^

Also, please let me know if I need to spoiler tag these characters! I already have somewhat of a list, but there are plenty I'm unsure of, so all the help I can get is appreciated ^^' If I'm not confident though, I'll tag as spoilers just in case!

I'm aiming to the queue all of the polls so that they'll all be ready to upload on tuesday the 17th (left side) or wednesday the 18th (right side), however if it ends up delayed I'll be sure to make an announcement

Final thing, a reminder that you can find more info about the tournament under #tournament info !

Since it's kind of hard to read, here's the written list beneath the cut!

Left Side

Yuuki Mishima (Persona 5) vs Yuelia (Fantasy Life)

Kei Tsukkishima (Haikyuu!!) vs Moon Knight (Marvel)

Chan (Midnight Museum) vs Linh Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles)

Lucretia / Madam Director (The Adventure Zone: Balance) vs The Collector (The Owl Hourse)

Princess Luna (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic) vs Princess Yue (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Luther Hargreeves (The Umbrella Academy) vs Della Duck (Ducktales 2017)

Looks to the Moon (Rainworld) vs Moonwatcher (Wings of fire)

Moony (ENA) vs Majora's Mask Moon (The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask)

Bayonetta (Bayonetta) vs Princess Rani (Elden Ring)

Lunamon (Digimon) vs Moon Hare (Japanese Folktale)

Emlyn white (Lord of the Mysteries) vs Hisoka Mikage (A3!)

Soul Eater Moon (Soul Eater) vs Crona Gorgon (Soul Eater)

Asterian (SynthV) vs Kaguya Houraisan (Touhou Project)

Twila (Mario Party 6) vs Diana (League of Legends)

Maya Amano (Persona 2 Duology) vs Vanitas of the Blue Moon (Vanitas no Carte)

Umbreon (Pokemon) vs Clefairy (Pokemon)

Right Side

Moondrop (Five Nights At Freddies) vs Yue / Yukito Tsukishiro (Card Captor Sakura)

Gunpowder Tim (The Mechanisms) vs Fandub Eggman (Snapcube SA2 Fandub)

Lunala (Pokemon Moon) vs Ruby (Animal Crossing)

Moonlight Cookie (Cookie Run) vs Saïx / Isa (Kingdom Hearts)

Usagi Tsukino / Sailor Moon (Sailor Moon) vs Artemis (Greek Mythology)

The Moon (Real Life) vs Gillion Tidestrider (Just Roll With It: Riptide)

Runaan (The Dragon Prince) vs Rayla (The Dragon Prince)

Cure Moonlight / Yuri Tsukikage (Heartcatch Precure) vs Cure Selene / Madoka Kaguya (Star Twinkle Precure)

Lunatic / Yuri Petrov (Tiger & Bunny) vs Sigma Klim (Zero Escape)

Ben Drowned (Creepypasta / Majora's Mask) vs Moon Presence (Bloodborne)

Tracker O'Shaughnessy (Dimension 20 Fantasy High) vs Imogen Temult (Critical Role)

Kiana Kaslana (Honkai Impact 3rd) vs Aruru Otsuki (Revue Starlight)

Murr Hart (Promise of Wizard / Mahoutsukai no Yakusoku) vs Cyana Lucretia (Cosmic Wonders)

Hanako-Kun / Yugi Amane (Toilet Bound Hanako-Kun) vs Judith (Tales of Vesperia)

Sirius Gibson (Witch's Heart) vs Ursula Cabistis / Shining Chariot (Little Witch Academia)

Aurora (The Mechanisms) vs Tyrande Whisperwind (World of Warcraft)

[theredengineapologist]

🚂😈"WELCOME FELLOW TRAIN ENJOYERS" 😈🚂

Finally found time to make myself a proper persona so it's time for a new intro!

Hello y'all! Call me Randy (or Jester)! And welcome to my dedicated TTTE blog! A place for me to shitpost, share my humanized TTTE fanart, and, of course, Trainrot(tm).

As shown here, I am an adult! Which means that some of my posts contain content unsuitable for children! This includes, but is not limited to:

Coarse Language

Horror (Tagged as #tw horror and other relevant tags)

Suggestive content (Nothing explicit (yet), tagged as #suggestive)

I politely ask that y'all use your own discretion before following me.

Also of course, my favorite is JAMES! The ✨SPLENDID✨💋RED💋🚂ENGINE🚂

✨ FOR ALL THINGS REGARDING MY HUMANIZED TTTE AU (TTTE: SUDRIAN BOYS) CLICK HERE! ✨

IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN NON-TTTE WORKS, CHECK OUT MY OTHER ART BLOG @jesterartz

TTTE WATCH PROGRESS + TAG GUIDE UNDER THE CUT!

~ RANDY'S TTTE WATCH PROGRESS ~

Key: Blue = Complete, Green = In Progress, Orange = Not Seen

[CLASSIC ERA COMPLETE (SEASON 1-7)]

[HIT ERA (SEASON 8-11): INCOMPLETE (Seen "Henry and the Wishing Tree", "Spic and Span", "Edward the Great", "Saving Edward", "Keeping Up With James", "James the Second Best", "Dirty Work", "Thomas and the Big Bang", and "Edward and the Mail"]

[CGI MILLER ERA (SEASON 12-16): NOT SEEN]

[BRENNER ERA (SEASON 17-21): INCOMPLETE, Partially Seen S17 (Eps 1-4 plus "Henry's Hero", "The Thomas Way", "The Frozen Turntable", "Away from the Sea", "Gone Fishing", and "No More Mr. Nice Engine"), Finished S18 - S20, Seen S21 Eps 1-2]

[BWBA ERA (SEASON 22-24)]: INCOMPLETE (Seen "Hunt the Truck" and "School of Duck")]

[TTTE MOVIES: SEEN "The Adventure Begins", "The Great Race", "Journey Beyond Sodor", "Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure", and "Tale of the Brave"]

~ TAG GUIDE ~

GENERAL TAGS:

#redengineposts = All Posts made by Yours Truly 😈

#redengineart = ❤ My Art ❤

#redenginepolls = Silly Polls that I have Made 🥰

#poll results = The Results of Polls I made

#trains irl = Real life trains/engines/locomotives! In the real world!

#reblog = Things reblogged from other Tumblrs 🙃

#queue queue b*tches = Things from Le Queue

ART TAGS:

#redengineart = ❤ My Art ❤

#TTTE: Sudrian Boys = All things related to my own TTTE Humanized AU

#Into the Trainverse = Posts crossing over between my humanized TTTE and that of other creators

WRITING TAGS:

#TTTE: Sudrian Boys = All things related to my own TTTE Humanized AU

#randys headcanons = My headcanons relating to TTTE

#randys trainfics = Fanfics I have written for TTTE

#on today's episode of "thinking too hard about trains"... = General thoughts about the Thomas and Friends TV show 🚂

#ttte first impressions = My first impressions of TTTE episodes as I watch them

#ttte episode review = My reviews, discussions, and/or general thoughts about TTTE episodes

[tc-doherty]

Author Questionnaire Tag Game

Tagged by @the-letterbox-archives thanks ^__^

About Me

When did you start writing?

I was writing by kindergarten at least, so…1996 or thereabouts. I do still have some writing from this time. I actually decided to be an author when I was 8 so that would be 1999. :)

Are there genres/themes you enjoy reading different to the ones you write?

I mean probably, I love to read and I read widely. Generally though, if I like something I will try to write it as well even if I'm not good at it. The biggest one I can think of would probably be cozy mystery novels, but I am still planning to try and write some of those.

Is there an author you want to emulate, or one to whom you're often compared?

I read a lot of Mercedes Lackey growing up, and I think that people who are familiar with her work might be able to tell from the way that I approach world building and especially magic. It's not really intentional though, it's just because I read so much of her work at a formative age. I'm not really trying to emulate anyone, I'm just being myself.

Of course I also love fairy tales, folktales, and legends so my work is very much inspired by that kind of storytelling. You'll see fairy tale and folktale elements everywhere.

Can you tell me a little about your writing space?

I have a lap desk so that I can make it easier on my arms when I'm writing by hand. I will use that either at my office chair (the height and incline of my desk is not right for me) or while sitting on the couch. Otherwise, because I use dictation, I'm always writing at my desk.

What's your most effective way to muster up some muse?

I just sit down and write. Writing is its own reward to me, so I'm always motivated to do it. I've never had a problem with that kind of thing.

Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and places you write about?

I shouldn't think so. I never write about the real world, and I never intentionally include references to any real places or people I know.

Are there any recurring themes of your writing, and if so, do they surprise you at all?

My writing is all themes really. There is a running narrative of "home" being the people that you're with, and so finding the "place" you belong by finding the people that you belong with. Also themes of coming to terms with yourself, and moving forward.

There are plenty of themes, aesthetics, and other little Easter eggs that show up in a lot of my work. For instance, I love to write about forests, I love to write about the ocean. I often include gryphons in my work because they're cool! I really like sun/moon imagery, I really like elemental imagery…lots of little things.

My Characters

Would you please tell me about your current favourite character?

I'm legally required to only have one answer, my Main Babe(tm) Ithea! Ithea's got everything. She's elegant, glamorous, and intelligent, she is also very manipulative and loves the power of violence. Her favorite hobby is treason. She uses sex as a weapon. She also uses weapons as weapons. She'll also kill you with her bare hands if you give her the opportunity. She's always smiling. How can you tell if Ithea is lying? Well, is her mouth moving? She loves her partner's kids more than anything in the world, she can, will, and has killed for them. The level of her arrogance is entirely unparalleled. Her goals are completely inscrutable. She lives a dramatic life and dies at 36. What's not to love?

Which of your characters do you think you'd be friends with in real life?

I honestly think I would have difficulty getting along with a lot of my characters. But I could probably hang out with Dante, Gheist, Temitope, and Kadife. I would love to be able to say I could get along with Nelli, and maybe that would be true. She can be a little rigid for my taste though.

Which of your characters would you dislike most if you met them?

Most of them. I love writing about people who cause problems on purpose, and I love writing about people who are very arrogant and manipulative. But in real life I don't like that kind of personality at all. But I also write about a lot of characters that I would personally consider too pathetic and would not be able to deal with.

I'm the kind of person who takes things in stride and continues forward no matter what. I'm extremely even-tempered. People who are too energetic are kind of exhausting for me, and people who are willing to give up annoy me for a different reason. But I'm not really the kind of person that would make a very interesting character, now am I? Hahaha…

Tell me more about the process of coming up with your characters.

I usually start with the sort of relationship that I want to explore, and then I make up what sort of characters need to exist in order for that relationship to logically happen. When it comes to their development I might start thinking with some kind of scene that is the peak idea of…well, the core of their relationship, maybe. From there I can go backwards and forwards to figure out who they were to get there, and what's going to happen because they know each other. But sometimes I just have a very vague idea and I start writing with nothing else. In that case I end up making a lot of characters just to fit the story, because they need to be there.

Do you notice any recurring themes/traits among your characters?

I love writing about women who are ambitious and arrogant and manipulative. I love writing about men who are so soft and sweet. Secondarily, I love to write about women who are practical and down to earth, and I love to write about men who are extremely prickly and emotionally wary. I love writing characters (of either gender) who are way overly dramatic or purposefully annoying.

Also. I mean. Most of them are gay.

How do you picture your characters?

Vaguely. I've talked about it before, I have almost complete aphantasia so picturing things is not really my strong suit. I generally will have a collection of descriptors and traits, and that's why I draw them myself or hire artists to work with. I only picture things in snapshots and even then only with a great deal of effort. I have a lot better idea of how my characters dress than what they look like. I talk about clothing a lot.

My Writing

What's your reason for writing?

I simply love it. There's no other reason.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating coming from your readers?

I love getting key smashes, and things that are in all caps, and other representatives of people YELLING. But I screenshot every comment that I get and I keep them on my computer because I love them all ^__^

How do you want to be thought of by those who read your work?

I don't need to know what they think about me LMAO I write stories that I love, and when other people love them too I'm flattered. But that's the extent of my relationship with most people, if they aren't actually my friends. And people who are my friends will think about me in much different contexts than just as an author, one would hope. If I have to say something though, I do hope that the people reading my work can tell that I was having a good time when I wrote it.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I love writing dialogue, and people often like the dialogue that I write! I know people also often like my characters, and as a character driven author, that is very pleasing to me. I struggle with description because I'm not good at visualizing so it's not very important to me. On a line by line basis I don't think that my writing is particularly beautiful. I'm just not that kind of author. It's difficult to get things out of my writing if you only see one line. But I write about character growth and dialogue, and if you look at my writing in chunks it's exactly what I want it to be.

What have you been frequently told by others is your greatest strength as a writer?

My dialogue and my characters. But one time someone told me that my writing reminded them of The Princess Bride, and I've carried that with me to this day.

How do you feel about your own writing?

I love it! I constantly crack myself up. I know in the grand scheme of things I'm not a particularly funny person, but I think my writing is hilarious. After all, I'm writing for an audience of one (1) person, so if I'm not enjoying it, what's the point?

If you were the last person on earth and knew your writing would never be read by another human, would you still write?

The only thing that will stop me is the cold, hard embrace of the earth. Honestly, even if I knew for a fact that not one of the eight billion people currently on the earth would ever read a single word I had written, I would still do it. I'm not here for them.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely what you enjoy? if it’s a mix of the two, which holds the most influence?

I write purely for myself.

Tagging @did-i-do-this-write @thegoddesswater @mrmissmrsrandom @outpost51 @bloodlessheirbyjacques

@magefaery @italiangothicwriteblr @tryingtimi

Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing everyone do it hehe

[mermaidsirennikita]

Virgin Romance Heroes: A Starter Pack

Although I completely 100% believe that virginity is a construct, I still enjoy a virgin romance hero. Because a virgin romance hero is a hero who is often less likely to feature a lot of the alpha male bullshit posturing you find in romances featuring devirginized heroes.

Though... one could definitely make an argument that this depends more on who you choose to read.

I actually can't explain why I love a virgin romance hero on a serious intellectual level, but I once heard a podcast refer to these books as "breaking in ponies" books, and I feel like that's probably somewhat close to the truth.

(There is at least one book I'm highly anticipating on the horizon featuring a virgin hero, but like. Not out yet.)

Contemporary Virgins

I actually only have one because contemporary virgin heroes are usually in like. College. And, with some rare exceptions, I don't do college romance heroes.

The Bride Test by Helen Hoang

Hero is on the autism spectrum and is incredibly antisocial, hence the virginity. His mom brings a single mother back from Vietnam to be his bride, and he's like "absolutely not", but they end up in a forced proximity situation. What makes this book so interesting to me is that the heroine really doesn't have the full story at first, which leads to a lot of mixed messages--and as a result? His virginity loss is not great for her, but he doesn't even super realize she didn't have a good time and has to learn and make it up to her. Refreshing. Also, Helen writes a good fucking fucking scene.

Historical Virgins

Unclaimed by Courtney Milan

This one has a hero who's genuinely a very good person, which is often difficult for me to deal with, but it works here. He proclaims his chastity (until love, i.e., marriage) to the world, and a very annoying man decides to undo him by hiring a sex worker, our heroine, to seduce him. This is a soft book, and an emotional book, and it's also about a woman constantly trying to stumble into this man's arms so he comes to his senses and fucks her. As a job. It's quality.

Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt

Maybe the best virgin hero book... ever? I maintain? Winter Makepeace, TM, the man, the myth, the legend, is an orphanage master by day and a vigilante by night. Vigilantism is his fucking, to paraphrase Kendall Roy. Until the night he ends up chased to his doom by an angry mob and rescued, with a massive leg wound, by sexy aristocratic widow Isabel. Though she doesn't see his face, she does see his penis, and it is large. He escapes into the night, but oops, Isabel is now supposed to reverse My Fair Lady Winter so he doesn't lose the orphanage!!! Winter is a real "sex didn't super matter to me until I noticed this one bitch" virgin, and by God, I love that. He and Isabel both cry when she blows him for the first time. He tells her, his mouth literally hovering directly above her clitoris, "well I'm sure I'll figure it out somehow". He's also 26 to her 32, which I enjoy.

Something Fabulous by Alexis Hall

M/M roadtrip romcom historical, in which the flamboyant, too much Bonny is experienced (and will let literally anyone eat his ass, legend) whereas his sister's surly, cold fiance duke guy Valentine is a virgin. It's also heavily implied that Valentine is demisexual. They go on a romp of a romance as they try to hunt down said sister fiancee girl, during which Valentine is like "maybe I do wanna fuck? Maybe I wanna specifically fuck Bonny?" Because it's Alexis Hall the spectrum of sexuality and "what sex is" and "what even is topping and bottoming anyway" is super good. Valentine refers to Bonny's asshole as a hungry flower. Bonny is like "PLEASE. STOP."

Hotel of Secrets by Diana Biller

A hero in the vein of Winter, except he's very much chosen to be celibate because a) trauma and b) he's a spy and he's frankly far too competent and busy to worry about fucking. Until he meets our sexy hotel-running heroine, and someone is trying to kill her and she doesn't seem NEARLY as concerned about it as she should be, in his opinion. Features the lovely "competent man slowly unraveling because of local woman" vibe, which is one of the best vibes. She teaches him about sex. He walks in on her masturbating and is like "keep going". It's so, so good.

Band Sinister by KJ Charles

Another M/M historical, in which a very proper and practical boy next door type does in fact have to go next door after his sister ends up in the clutches of a queer found family. It's like "what if instead of getting a cold Jane Bennet broke her leg and what if instead of Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy you had a gay rake and all his friends, a couple of whom he fucks sometimes". This book not only has some really lovely deflowering content (including Latin verbiage) but explores polyamory in a way I super enjoyed.

In Which Margo Halifax Earns Her Shocking Reputation by Alexandra Vasti

A roadtrip historical with heavy Tessa Dare vibes, featuring a slutty disaster heroine and her brother's best friend, a practical man who's been in love with her from a far for yeeears. To the point that he is, in fact, a virgin. The pining brother's best friend can feel really contrived if it's not done well, but it's done perfectly here. It's an excellent opposites-attract romance, a perfect "uptight meets wild", and they do fuck nasty in the woods. So there's that.

Melissa and The Vicar by S.M. LaViolette

A recent new favorite of mine, this is another "jaded sex worker meets virgin" book, but in this case Melissa is just on a vacation because she has a stomach ulcer and needs to de-stress, and Magnus is the local curate who sees her and goes "WOULD". The sexual tension is sizzling. She's seen it all; he's a very lovely man and also a very spoiled brat. She fucks him on a couch and leaves For His Own Good, it cuts to eight weeks later and it's like "THIS MAN HAS BEEN IN HELL. HE JUST RIDES HIS HORSE AROUND LOOKING FOR HER AND HIS EYES ARE ALWAYS RED AND HE CAN'T EAT". It was basically pure heroin, if there's anything I like more than a virgin hero it's a virgin hero who gets left immediately after his deflowering and chases a woman down to be like "you!!! took!!!!!! my precious flower!!!!! marry me or fisticuffs at dawn madam!!!!!!!!"

But also this book does a very nuanced take on historical sex work and its pros and cons for sex workers; Melissa's past is very heavy, and she was sold into the sex trade at 14, so read with caution.

Spookedy Bump in the Night Virgins

Dark Needs at Night's Edge by Kresley Cole

Insane virgin vampire meets sexy lady ghost when his brothers lock him in a New Orleans mansion to detox. This book sounds insane, and it is, but I recommend it all the time because it's so emotionally beautiful and incredibly, incredibly romantic. Conrad's POV sections literally change tenses when he and Neomi really start talking. She doesn't just introduce him to sex; she soothes his mind. And also, she's a fucking fantastic heroine, one we rarely see--unashamedly sexual, tender, selfish, and selfless. A truly complex woman meeting a truly complex man-monster-thing, and taming him. Also, practically breaking his poor untried dick with that bounce and twist thing.

Pestilence & Death by Laura Thalassa

These are book 1 and book 4 in Laura Thalassa's Four Horsemen quarter--the virgin installments, as it were, but the books really should be read in order if Death is gonna make any damn sense. These books are "four horsemen of the apocalypse come to Earth and fall in love". There's a lot of death and destruction. There's also a scene where Pestilence's heroine is like "me deflowering you doesn't mean we're getting married bro" to which he goes "I GAVE YOU MY ESSENCE!!!!" Death gets a blowjob for the first time (during which the heroine is like "this is for you, world") and then immediately has to go pace in the backyard because how is he gonna end the world when he could be getting his dick sucked instead???? Problems.

Mating the Huntress by Talia Hibbert

The reveal of the hero's virginity is towards the end of this one, but like. You should really know going in, because it's much funnier when you're fully aware. She's a werewolf huntress. He's the werewolf who's identified her as his mate and is like, comically determined to please her sexually, as werewolves are. (Where is the Kresley Cole virgin werewolf hero? Doesn't exist, Kresley Cole werewolves are like "oh I am giving a woman an orgasm IMMEDIATELY" upon coming of age.) It's a fun sexy spooky romcom.

Dark Skye by Kresley Cole

The one with the fucksheet. No, the hero in this one is an angel (or he thinks he is but he's actually a demon, it's a thing, point is he has wings and they sure can increase velocity.... during) and his heroine is a sorceress he's been tracking for literal centuries. Because dammit, she may have sort of crippled him and he may have gotten her family killed, but they're MFEO!!! Kind of interesting in that the hero was basically raised in a religious cult and is super fucked up about the heroine being proudly a virago. He has to learn how to check his biases, but by the end he is pulling out the ceremonial sheet with the hole in it through which they're supposed to fuck for the first time, and like... I.... found it........... hot.....?

Heart of Iron by Bec McMaster

Another werewolf virgin, and this one has a good reason for staying one, because if he fucks the heroine she might catch werewolfitude! Semen spreads werewolfitude! A grumpy virgin hero and a flirty virgin heroine in a steampunk setting, with much will they/won't they. Actually has them initially resolve their lust in non-penetrative sex, which was refreshingly "DUH". But then you get into the mating bond werewolf shit and it is... good.

Thornchapel by Sierra Simone

Technically, by book 3 nobody in this series is a virgin, but Sierra Simone really goes for it, as always. We have not one but two male virgins in this series, and they hate each other, and they wanna fuck each other, and they also wanna fuck their friend girl who they're mutually in love with. You get several virginity losses in this series, the most glorious of which is probably Auden's. Because Auden is a virgin, and he's also naturally very sexually dominant, which means he's always coming in his pants while involved in Casual BDSM Scenes With Buddies, and I think that's glorious. It's kinky, it's queer, it's MMF (with an FF pairing in the series as well) everyone is like "Auden do you wanna have sex with us now" and he's like "not until I've EARNED you" and they ask him to elaborate he goes "no".

Fantastical Virgins

A Touch of Stone and Snow by Milla Vane

An epic fantasy romance with a hero and heroine who are both virgins. And they used to be friends, but now it's weird because of like, betrayals and identity and the overwhelmed urge they have to fuck the shit out of each other. The great thing about Milla Vane is that there's always an element of ritualism to her sex scenes, which kind of like. Adds to it.

The King's Spinster Bride by Ruby Dixon

A delightful arranged marriage novella in which both the hero and heroine are virgins, but she's like, nine years older than him? He's been wanting to marry her since he was a kid, and like--he may not be experienced, but he has done his book learning, and is ready to please. As Ruby Dixon heroes are (see: Ice Planet Barbarians, for a fuck ton of alien virgin heroes).

[vintagestagehotties]

Hot Vintage Stage Actress Round 2

Fanny Brice: Dora in Why Worry? (1918 Broadway); Ziegfeld Follies of 1921 (1921 Broadway); Fanny Fiebaum in Fanny (1926 Broadway); Marchesa Vera Di Livio in Fioretta (1929 Broadway)

Dame Gladys Cooper: Victoria in Home and Beauty (1919 West End); Clemency Warlock in Cynara (1930 West End); Desdemona in Othello (1935 Broadway)

Propaganda under the cut. Semi NSFW propaganda below cut

Fanny Brice:

THE Icon (tm), The Legend (tm), no one else is doing it like her

Gladys Cooper:

She’s so pretty I didn’t even think she was real when i first saw a pic of her

The last photo (taken from Peter Pan on Stage and Screen, as is the following quote) shows off the changes she made to the costume, which I think say something about her approach to acting:

“I wonder where Peter got his high boots from. Did he go to Clarkson?” I asked at one lunch. Barrie pondered for some time, and then said: “Well, what do you propose?” Result: I got my own way and played Peter in a pair of old shoes of John’s [her son]. The same with shorts. I asked Sir James where he got them—result, I was allowed to wear an old pair of flannel shorts belonging to Gerald du Maurier. By taking thought—and Barrie out to lunch—I even managed to get the fight between Peter and Hook changed. I said it was “silly” for them to fight with wooden swords, and so it came about that when Franklyn Dyal [Captain Hook] and I had our fights we used real sabers.