#and how long the current draft actually is are both mysteries

[mimicteruyo]

Yesterday: “I will literally never reach the end of this draft.”

Today: “...Hold on. I’m down to the final 10k.”

[sweeetcheeese]

Hi! I love your Druid!Jack au. Can you tell us more about it please? Also I would love to see more of the Hiccup of this Au. How different is he from the canon Hiccup?

AHADFHAHKDA thank you I love this question.

I have lots of ideas for this AU, and a lot of it is still kinda in the draft stage so I really only want to share the stuff that is more or less fact (in this AU). As far as Jack, the basics about him is that he is not a viking, or from Berk originally. He's from a neighboring island close to Berk, and his village was attacked by a group of "vikings" when he was a child. Stoick had heard of the attack, and being it was a territory close to Berk, took a group to investigate to try and determine who this group was and what they wanted. The concern was that this group was advancing on territory and would be attacking Berk next, but upon investigation, their motives were unclear, as they didn't seem to take anything of value, and it appeared as if they just wanted to level the village and kill the residents. (huehue mystery) Jack is one of the survivors they pull from the rubble, he's about 8 years old at this time. He develops a resentment for vikings because he confuses the two groups, and doesn't trust the people of Berk. Even as he grows up in Berk, he always holds some level of resentment towards vikings in general (because he believes that vikings had killed his family and destroyed his village), and deliberately does not call or consider himself a viking.

Part of this resentment is also fed by Berk's bad relationship with dragons at the time he lives there as a child.

Jack and Hiccup meet when Stoick brings Jack back to Berk, and they're both around 8-10 years old. Hiccup's first impression of Jack is that he's surely a wildling or something feral. At first, Jack is taken in by Astrid's family, and this results in him and Astrid actually forming a strong, sibling-like bond later on. However as Jack grows, he becomes more and more independent, and grows up just as this kid that sleeps in the Great Hall, is fed by various families and is just kind of like a stray, and doesn't stay in one place for long. This is entirely his own decision, as he felt staying with one family was too confining and he deliberately did not want to "become a viking".

Jack finds an order of druids, and decides to leave Berk and join them around the age of 13-14. This is set right before the events of the first movie. He visits Astrid when he can, and when he comes back, Hiccup has changed the village into accepting dragons, and their relationship starts to develop more. Also, Jack's view on vikings positively improves, because of Hiccup specifically.

As for Hiccup's differences, he really hasn't changed all that much. The events of the first and second movie still play out (aside from his relationship with Astrid), because its essential to his character development. His relationship with Jack started when they were around 15, and I want to say they get married towards the end of the second movie, or shortly after, so they're about 20-21. With Jack being a druid, the order he's part of requires him to be away for months at a time, mainly in the winter. This puts a strain on the relationship for both of them, and Hiccup is always kind of dealing with Jack being the free spirit he is, while Hiccup wants that freedom but is chief of Berk. On the flip side, Jack wants his freedom but also wants Hiccup. He struggles to find his place between both worlds, and still feels like an outsider a lot of the time in Berk, despite being married to the chief.

That's basically the setup for the AU, and like I said before I have tons of ideas for the current timeline, but that's still in progress XD Thank you for your questions! <3 Here's some extra WIP sketches for this AU too~ (NEHEHEHE ANGST)

[woofwoofwolf]

That which matters more (part 1)

Tighnari x reader.

EDIT AS OF AUGUST 29TH: I'm still working on this fic, but it's going to be longer than I initially thought. (I'm currently at 20.000 words on chapter 9 out of a planned 18, but that will probably become more.) So you can see this as the first draft of chapter 1.

I know I keep saying this but I will most likely be posting soon ish, with weekly updates! I'm working really hard on this fic, so please stay tuned.

Warnings: Fem!reader, (though I think there is no gendered language in this chapter, but I might have missed something so fair warning) reader is aro/ace, (but again idk yet how big of a role this will play.) Minor injuries

1580 words

This is chapter one of a series I'm working on right now, and although I don't think I'm going to be able to finish it anytime soon, I think if people like it on here it might motivate me more to actually finish this? I currently have 5 chapters planned and I've started chapter 3, but I constantly go back and change stuff in previous chapters (the reason why I never post anything tbh) soooo... who knows. This first chapter might also get changed in the future, but I'm actually decently happy with it so far?

Let me know what you think! I'll post this to AO3 in the future.

“Be careful, please,” Collei nervously clasped her hands against her chest, eying the ivy covered ditch you were standing over. “You’re going to fall!”

“I almost got it, just stand back and don’t worry-” You gasped out. Your left arm was fully outstretched, while your right grabbed on to a branch sticking out from the ledge right across from the flower you were trying to pick. “After this we can go back to Gandharva Ville, I promise-”

“Got it!” You said when you finally had the stem of the flower between your fingers. However your  wide smile soon turned to shock as the dry root you were grabbing onto cracked and snapped, and sent you tumbling down a hole, right through the dense ivy.

Collei screamed as a dull thud sounded at the end of your tumble. “Oh my goodness, are you alright?!?!” Her knees fell to the ground to peer into the hole you just fell into, which was thankfully a lot less deep than she had thought it to be. What surprised her tho, was the big yellow cloud that hit her face, completely surrounding the both of you, while you were splayed out on a bed of moss, entirely covered in ivy and pollen. Around you were dozens of the mystery flowers you had just picked. “O-oh no- What do I do!”

A cough signalled that you were still alive. “A rope would be nice,” you groaned.

“Right! A Rope!” Collei sprang into action, quickly looking for a rope in her satchel. “Can you climb out on your own? Oh.. I don’t know if I’m strong enough to carry you.”

“I’m fine, I’m fine… I only scraped my knee a little bit,” You said as you tried to stand up on the slippery moss. Ugh, your leg was going to be sore for a while… “There’s so many of them!”

“I’ll bandage it as soon as I get you out!” Collei said as she secured the rope to a rock.

“No, not that! The flowers!” You pulled the ivy of your arms, making the pollen fly off you, making you cough again. “They sure produce a lot of pollen too… You think holes in the ground like these are their preferred habitat?”

Collei sighed with a small smile. “Well… At least you’re well enough to still be talking. You could’ve hit your head, you know? Master Tighnari isn’t going to be happy.”

She was right, you knew Tighnari was going to lecture you on your detour from your regular patrol, but you hoped that seeing this mysterious flower would distract him enough to not go on for too long.

You grabbed onto the rope, thankfully still able to climb out of the hole yourself. You triumphantly held up not only the flower you plucked earlier, but also two other samples, WITH roots attached. “They’re BEAUTIFUL! I bet not even Tighnari has seen these flower before!” Observing it a little more closely, it was very similar to a Sumeru rose, but the interesting thing that had drawn you closer to it in the first place was the fact that not only did it glow brighter than a regular similar rose, it had also been changing colours from a soft yellow, to a regular Sumeru rose purple, all the way up to a deep red. But it seemed to have stopped now that you had plucked it. Interesting, you were going to have to examine why that was.

Collei sheepishly smiled, but quickly worried herself over your bruised and bleeding knee. You tried not to worry her further by suppressing the coughs that were coming from your irritated throat, but she noticed nonetheless.

“It must be the pollen,” Collei said worriedly. “Oh no, What if it’s toxic?”

You pensively shook your head. “This flower doesn’t have the usual characteristics for that.” You explained. “Besides, you breathed in a good amount too just now, and you seem to be fine..?”

A bit of anxiety crept up in your chest. If Collei got sick because of you, you wouldn’t be able to face Tighnari ever again, nor would you be able to forgive yourself. You were going to have to hurry back to Gandharva Ville and ask the expert to be sure.

Said expert Tighnari was not very amused when you returned that evening, but before the lecture, came first aid. He quickly had baths filled for you and Collei. While Collei went to wash the pollen out of her hair, Tighnari went to re-examine and properly clean the wound on your knee.

“I collected samples of the pollen in some flasks, and brought a few complete specimens with the roots intact. They’re really quite unique flowers. I haven’t seen them in textbooks, nor have I ever seen them on our regular patrol routes. If you bring me a map, I can point out where we found these. If we figure out what made them grow there, I’m sure we could find more of them. I-” You were cut off by another coughing fit.

Tighnari watched you worriedly, taking out a stethoscope. “Could you lift up your top? I’d like to examine your breathing.”

You awkwardly did as he said and breathed in and out as he instructed. “I’ll be fine, really! I just took in a big gulp of dust and pollen, it’s only natural my lungs are irritated a bit. Collei breathed it in a small amount as well and she wasn’t coughing at all. This plant doesn’t have any of the usual characteristics present in flora that produce toxins.”

“Maybe.” Tighnari answered curtly, a blank expression on his face. “I’m going to have to examine the pollen to be sure.”

You were silent for a bit as Tighnari noted some things down on a clipboard. The lack of the usual annoyed and sassy lecture was spooking you a little bit. “Tighnari, I… I’m sorry…”

He sighed and finally looked you in the eye, looking for signs of sincerity. “At least you have the decency to know what you did wrong.”

You nodded. “I shouldn’t have put Collei in that position. Next time… Next time I’ll note the location on a map and ask for you or other forest watchers to come with me.”

“Good.” Tighnari said with a nod. “I know you didn’t deliberately put Collei in danger and that’s the only reason I can begin to look past this. I also agree that from the looks of it it’s part of the same genus as the Sumeru rose. If anything I’d be worried this points to an issue with the Ley lines, but I haven’t heard of any incidents that would point to this… They sure produce a lot of pollen though,” He was more so muttering to himself, than he was explaining anything to you.

“However-!” He pointed his pen right in your face, interrupting his own rant. “Although I’m very happy to see some enthusiasm from you, endangering yourself like that is still absolutely unacceptable.” Ah, there came the lecture. One you absolutely deserved, mind you. “Had you fallen unconscious, Collei would have had to go back to the village on her own to get help. Worst case scenario you could have broken your neck and died. The first and most important skill for a forest watcher to learn, is not the ability to secure the safety of the forest and its visitors, but the safety of themselves. Do you understand?”

“You guys talk as I’m not useful to have around at all.” You both turned to a pouting Collei, leaving your response to Tighnari unsaid.

“Your time as a full fledged watcher will come, Collei,” Tighnari calmly explained. “You’re still young, and besides that we have your condition to worry about. Beyond that you know you have my full trust.”

You self-consciously looked away from the two. You wondered what you could do to earn Tighnari’s trust like that. Maybe the flower you discovered really was a new species? Would that get him to talk to you about it?

“Oh I know,” Collei answered, timidly plucking at her nails. “I’m just saying.”

You interrupted the sweet scene with another set of coughs. “S-sorry.. my lungs and throat feel sore, it must’ve all gotten really irritated by all the dust…” Tighnari hummed in thought. “Best you go wash off all that pollen. I’ll have it examined as soon as possible. If that cough hasn’t gone away by tomorrow evening, please come and see me again. And we’re going to have to schedule you in for more forest safety training.”

You cleared your throat. You were hoping he was going to forget about any punishment. Then again, this probably didn’t count as such in his mind. “Alright. Thank you Tighnari.”

“And, (name),” He said after some hesitation, just before you were to leave the hut. You turned to him, met by his soft gaze.  “Please do know there’s nothing you have to prove to me, okay?”

You felt a warmth bloom across your chest. “…Okay.” With that you turned around to leave, but not before having another coughing fit. You quickly dashed out of Tighnari’s hut trying to muffle your cough with your hand. When you removed your hand you saw that you had coughed up a soft pink coloured petal covered in spit. Gross. Though, you supposed that this petal was what was stuck in your throat and that your cough would let up soon.

[adragonsfriend]

On Writing Ekkreth Stories

So you want to write an Ekkreth story, but it's not working. You can't figure out how to start, it doesn't sound right, it just doesn't feel like Fialleril's do.

I am obviously not the expert on this, but I've have seen one or two people comment on Biting His Own Tale that they struggle to write Ekkreth stories and/or think mine are neat, so I thought I'd take a stab at writing a guide/conglomeration of tips I've figured out.

(This is also intended as an exercise for me to articulate why I make the decisions I do as a writer, because I think that's a good thing to do once in a while, so spoilers for my fic, Biting His Own Tale)

Connect to "Real" Events

Reading Double Agent Vader the first time (it was one of the first Star Wars fics I ever read), I was instantly enamored with the Ekkreth stories. I wanted to read them, understand them, write them. Problem being, no matter how long an hard I thought, I couldn't come up with a single idea. It felt like Ekkreth's tricks were all way too clever and neat for me to ever come up with something comparable and the style was so cool and mysterious that I didn't know how to copy it.

Then I committed myself writing Biting His Own Tale. I started writing down notes and then drafting my main story, and the ideas started pouring out. I had two different ideas for Ekkreth stories to go along with Glittering Chains, I had other ideas for other sections as well. Sometimes the ideas for Ekkreth stories influence my main plot--the story of Ekkreth being beaten inspired both This Story Can Kill You and the section I'm currently posting.

I am echoing Fialleril when I say I don't really think it's possible to write these stories without having some "real" fictional events to relate them to. So pick a fic idea you've always wanted to write, and start writing it. Personally, I'm kind of obsessed with time travel fics. You probably don't even have to actually write that fic, just starting to plot it out will give you ground to stand on.

The Moral of the Story

Ekkreth stories have a point. They're not historical tales meant to accurately recount a true event, though they may do that too. They're not novels, meant to entertain, though they may do that too. They're not comedies, meant to make you laugh, though they may do that too. Ekkreth stories have messages for the Amavikkan people who are telling them and listening to them and creating them.

What do Amavikka people in general need to understand to survive?

What do your characters need to understand to survive?

Are your main story characters living up to the lessons and values of Amavikka culture, or are they failing to do so?

What is the point of your main story? Why are you writing it? What do you want your reader to learn from it?

The intersection of these answers is where your story's moral lies. In Glittering Chains:

Amavikka people in general need to remember that no matter if their depur sometimes appears nice for a moment or favors them over other slaves he is always cruel, and he'll never make them free.

Anakin needs to understand that Ventress is keekta-du and therefore a fellow slave. He also needs to be reminded that all Sith apprentices are slaves to their masters in some way or other. This understanding will influence how he interacts with both Ventress and Dooku later on. Slick needs to understand why the way he went about trying to free himself was cruel to his brothers, and that while Ventress could not help him, Anakin can.

Anakin is living up to the role of Ekkreth by recognizing both Ventress and Slick as fellow slaves he can help. Ventress is very explicitly failing by continuing to follow Dooku's orders and refusing to think on Anakin's warning that Dooku has not freed her. Slick was failing by dooming his brothers for his own freedom, but is moving toward Amavikka values by taking Anakin's offer to help free other slaves.

My point with Glittering Chains was to clarify Slick and Ventress' decisions, and to force Anakin into having a more complicated plan than just "kill Sidious and all the Sith," because I think it's important for him and the audience to consider redemption whenever there is the opportunity.

So my Ekkreth story needs to be about Ekkreth guiding someone to realize they are keekta-du and then show that person deciding to do something about their situation once they understand it.

Figuring out the moral of your story early will help you figure out its structure. I knew I wanted my story to talk about being keekta-du, so I came up with a situation where I thought someone might become keekta-du (a sex slave convinced her owner loves her), and from there I came up with the mechanism of Ekkreth's trick (Ay'leli has to be the one to steal the keys because she has access to Depur's quarters), and Ekkreth's method (getting Ay'leli to empathize with her fellow slaves by getting her to care for one child). From there, I thought up some symbolism that fit both the situation and the moral (Ay'leli is going to have to steal some keys, so there needs to be some chains for her to steal the keys to. Also, Ay'leli's chains are prettier than the others, but just as strong).

Doing it this way, you can get the thematic and literal elements of your Ekkreth story and your "real" story to overlap in interesting ways, because the thematic elements are most important, while the literal elements can, ultimately, be whatever you need them to be. For an example of a connection of literal elements from Fialleril, Ekkreth steals pieces of the actual moon while Anakin steals the death star plans, a connection which comes directly from the "That's no moon," line in the Phantom Menace.

Doing it this way, with the moral first, you can get the thematic and literal elements of your Ekkreth story and your "real" story to overlap in interesting ways, and this kind of connection can also help justify why your Amavikka character would be thinking/telling of this particular story in their real situation.

I promise you your thoughts about how the world works, and how people should act, and what we should value are important and valuable and interesting. You can and should write about them if you feel driven to.

Values you're passionate about are far more fertile ground for cool world building and deep metaphors than quirky world building and random metaphors are for good values.

(P.S. This is not to say it can't ever happen the other way around, it absolutely can.)

(P.P.S. It's okay if you pick your moral and then you realize it needs to change after you start writing. This happens to me all the time, that's why it's called a first draft.)

Consider the Medium: Oral Storytelling

This is a lesson straight from the mouth of my epically cool high school humanities teacher when we read the Iliad. Other real examples of the things I'm about to talk about include the Vedas and aboriginal American stories, so they're not unique to European tradition. When a story is being told outloud, the listeners have to be able to keep track of who is who and who is doing what, and they can't go back and read a section again like you can with a written story. Also, in oral traditions, stories are passed down by memory, and repetition makes memorization easier. We are writing our stories down, but both of these circumstances must still affect the way we write them, if we want them to sound like they are from an oral tradition.

Clarify speakers often, and do it before they start speaking/acting rather than after or in the middle of their dialogue to avoid the pronoun game even more than you would in other writing you do.

Refer to characters the same way multiple times. Their titles can be quick ways to give your audience information about them.

Consider how your words sound. Words that sound good and share a rhythm and vibe are easier to remember. There often multiple different epithets for the characters in the myths to help keep the meter of poetic sections.

Read your story out loud! This is how Ekkreth stories were meant to be experienced. Better yet, have someone else read it out loud and listen for places where they stumble. If you're not comfortable reading aloud, or you don't have a private space to do so, you can use text to speech to listen to it.

Prototypes have to be tested by the people who are going to be using them, in the way they are meant to be used if they are to become useful to those people. You can treat your stories the same way.

Real World References & Questioning your Muse

Consider fairy tales, religious stories, poetry, children's books, bedtime stories, etc. What tools to they use?

What parts of them sound the best? (Do they repeat certain phrases? Do they rhyme? Are they written in meter?)

What kind of stories to they tell? (Are they complicated or simple? Are they super realistic, or kind of mystical?)

How do they introduce characters? (What do they include descriptions of? Physical traits? Character traits? Actions they often take? Their role in relation to other characters?)

Does the character's reasoning always follow real world logic? (If they do, how does their world influence the way they act? If not, what rules are they following instead?)

Ask all the questions you can about setting, characters, plot, style, etc. The answers to the above questions with regard to Ekkreth stories are, as I see them,

There is lots of repetition of descriptions and titles. There is repetition in structure where there is repetition in the story (if Ekkerth asks five different animals for advice, they will ask questions phrased in similar ways, and get responses phrased in similar ways). The beginnings and endings of each story have several repeated phrases, lending a sense of familiarity no matter how wacky the middle gets.

The stories are relatively simple. Ekkreth is going along, finds Depur has done something bad, Ekkreth does something to fix the bad thing, the people run away, Ekkreth taunts Depur and then flies away, this story can save your life.

Characters are introduced by their names and titles and something of the way they act. Ekkreth is trickster, sky walker, wandering traveler; no chain can hold them forever. Depur is the master, the slave owner; he is Ekkreth's enemy. Leia is elder sister, mighty one, Ekkreth's daughter; she can endure anything.

The character's reasoning doesn't really follow real world logic. Otherwise, Leia would just step on Depur in every story. Otherwise, Ekkreth's tricks coudn't work every time. Otherwise, there's no way Depur would be that dumb every single time. They are following a set of rules that teach the lessons and values of Amavikka people while acknowledging their limitations. They can't kill their owners, so Leia can't kill Depur. There are always small opportunities to defy Depur, so Ekkreth always has another trick. Every depur is both cruel and prideful in someway, so Depur will always be fooled by flattery.

Looking at real world examples can also be the inspiration for the structure and plot of your story, Ekkreth's tricks (heist movies might be good for this), or characters (there's a Norse myth about Loki catching a fish which inspired the way I wrote Umakkar).

Try mapping out Kadee's favorite story, "Depur's new clothes." See what changes happen when the person trying to sell the Emperor intangible clothes isn't a random tailor trying to make a fool of him, but instead Ekkreth trying to free the people from Depur. How would Cinderella's story change if instead of a girl looking for a night of freedom from her awful family she was Ekkreth disguised to get into Depur's party? Are they there to steal something? To trick Depur into marrying them? To distract him from the people escaping out the back of his palace?

Use references. Study them, copy them, improve them. In exactly the same way a visual artist must observe real humans to learn how to draw humans, you must observe real fairy tales, folk tales, movies, religious stories, poetry, books, children's books, songs, bedtime stories, etc, to learn how to write your own.

Repetition, Repetition, Repetition...

Repetition is a tool of meaning in any kind of story. The things a storyteller chooses to mention more than once, the things they return to again and again, build meaning and change it with every echo. I've talked a bit about aesthetic repetition (repeated titles, names, phrases), but not about thematic repetition. Making these match up is one of the greatest tricks you can play as an author.

Knowing the intended moral of your story is going to come in handy here. It is repeated at the end of every Ekkreth story that "this story can save your life," not just because it's a good line, but also because that is what Fialleril considers the essential message for Anakin, every slave on Tatooine, and us, the audience.

In my story Elder Sister, Umakkar asks Leia three times, “Who are you, who would stand in the path of the storm?” not just because she keeps standing there, but because it gives Leia the opportunity to change her answer time. Her changing answer shows her figuring out her own identity through the trial of outlasting the storm, and it also displays what I believe is her most essential trait: the strength to endure.

Stories are something you can add to your main story to repeat the themes in the main plot. As Anakin defies Sidious, Ekkreth defies Depur. As the scanner comes to Tatooine, Ekkreth delivers the wisdom of the animals to the people. As Pooja interprets a secret flower language to save the rebel senators, Queen Polana uses a secret flower language to warn her people.

Like wearing the right color shirt can bring out the color of your eyes, the right Ekkreth story is a chance to echo the point of your main story, drawing it into the light.

Review the Source Material

Go back and read Double Agent Vader again, with a critical eye. Pay attention to the way mythology is woven into characters understanding of the world and their emotional journeys. Leia musing on how Ekkreth reminds her of Torhu, one of Alderan's spirits, was a big inspiration for me in writing Rex thinking of Anakin as being like a sea monster. Neither Rex nor Leia is Amavikka or even close to as deeply entrenched in their respective mythologies as Anakin is (his narrative is almost always accompanied by an active story being told whereas they mainly just think about their mythologies), but even they are actively using mythology to interpret their real world.

Also, I meant what I said about listening to Ekkreth stories aloud. There are wonderful podfics of DAV by @darlingsweet that can help you get a feel for how Ekkreth stories are meant to sound.

Finally, Commit to the Bit!

When fics have their own plot and then randomly mention "blah blah blah Ekkreth! blah blah," it actually tends to take me out of the story rather than drawing me deeper in. It's a distraction. It makes me think, wow I should go reread DAV again instead of this.

It's much the same form of imitation that makes a lot of sequels fall flat--where the creators knew they did something good with the original, but failed to appreciate what exactly it was, and so end up including all the surface elements without creating depth (think a lot of Disney's Star Wars content: lots of flashy lightsabers, big space battles, anyone can have the force now, not so much for consistent themes, or the Pirates of the Caribean sequels [or for an even worse example, the Avatar the Last Airbender movie]). It's saying, "Well whenever Fialleril wrote the name Ekkreth it gave me lots of feelings, so I'm going to also write the name Ekkreth in my story. That will cause people to have feelings about my story." I promise you, it won't. Not on its own.

Where Fialleril's writing excels most is in making the mythology matter to the characters. Making it affect the way they think and act. Anakin takes responsibility for his actions and turns his back on Sidious twenty years early, without Luke or anyone else around to guide him towards doing good because of these stories. That is the singular, most basic, and most powerful premise of DAV. It is an argument, not just for the power of Amavikka culture in Anakin's situation, but the power of storytelling and beliefs in general.

Writing full Ekkreth stories is much, much harder than including surface level references. I absolutely do not claim to have mastered any of these tips, my own stories are all works in progress, but effort and connection are the cost of depth, and depth is what creates all those wonderful and terrible feelings you feel when you read the name of Ekkreth.

In Conclusion

These are, so far, my guiding principles when I write Ekkreth stories. I hope they are interesting, and helpful to someone. They are also, I hope, applicable to any story that tries to intertwine myth with reality. Please feel free to add/argue anything I've missed, I'm sure there's lots, especially with the number of people who have taken to interacting with Fialleril's mythology.

(P.S. Obvious disclaimer, but this is the internet: when I say things like "Fialleril does blah blah blah because...," I am guessing. I'm not in their head, I've just read lots of their fics and posts. I'm interpreting the data I have as best I can, and then phrasing my guesses very confidently.)

(P.P.S. Happy Christmas if you celebrate, happy holidays to everyone else. All the holidays I've ever heard of, religious and otherwise, have fascinating stories behind them which you can analyze in depth, if that's anyone else's idea of holiday fun.)

[smalltendencies]

Currently working on a TSP thing where the Narrator is an author who has drafts and scripts scattered all over his home. He works so hard and is proud of each one. They will be published one day, but he has a fear that they won't be recieved like they should.

But unknown to the Narrator, there is a borrower (Stanley or an unnamed borrower... Idk yet) who loves these stories written by the human they see only in glances. They are about scenarios and places they can only dream of. And so every night, when the bean is asleep, they go and read these before they go to sleep themselves; sometimes accidentally being so absorbed in the words they don't stop until the telltale signs the Narrator has woken up causes them to flee.

The borrower is a little shit though (like Stanley lol) and will use whatever writing utensil they have (a piece of lead, some homemade borrower pen with calligraphy ink they borrowed, ANYTHING) to annotate and mark up the pages. A paragraph about why they loved this scene. Underlining their favorite quote. Just showing that someone looks at these endless pages when they will probably not be published for years.

Of course, they don't stop there. Little bastard tendencies makes them also mark out words they hate. Little notes about how they would make the scene BETTER. Why this paragraph doesn't fit with the rest of the narrative. Anything that comes to mind.

While these papers and packets are strewn all over the house on different tables and desks, the Narrator has some uncanny ability to find them the next day. And he is so so confused as to why there is small writing (that he needs a magnifying glass to even see) pops up every night. Is there a ghost? An intruder? Who knows. But they clearly don't know good writing.

Don't get him wrong, he relishes in the happy comments. He enjoys the praise and love in the notes that give him more of an ego boost. But he LOATHES the markouts, the red ink that says he did it WRONG.

Sometimes the borrower can hear the Narrator rant through the walls.

"I don't need the validation of a person who won't tell me their absurd opinions face-to-face!"

"Don't waste my time if you don't even understand the character's motivations!"

"Maybe before writing all over my work, you should sit and think about how this description helps the readers understanding considering the protagonists choice in this moral dilemma."

"This is 'out of character'?! Clearly you have no critical thinking skills whatsoever!"

"Why are you doodling on MY art?!"

The Narrator is just ranting. He doesn't think the mysterious entity can actually hear him. As he slowly deciphers each comment (because that handwriting is chicken scratch and its so small), he will complain, rant, or thank the writer and explain why he chose to do what he did.

The borrower gets bold, and will write above their previous (now marked out) comments. Little snide comments to get under the Narrators skin just for fun. Because all of this is just to make both of their boring lives interesting. He never expected the Narrator to take in a BORROWER'S thoughts. (They have little written fights on sticky notes that last DAYS) Both of them can't wait to hear from the other.

It's not breaking the code as long as they don't get caught, right?

They do get caught. A prank laid out by the Narrator that involves some clear super glue on copied pages (that are also glued to the table Jesus Christ he committed to the bit if he was willing to hurt hardwood) with a note that says something along the lines of "If you know my work so well, why not stick around and tell me that to my face?" What was supposed to be a small inconvenience and joke for a person ends up being near life threatening for a borrower.

And the Narrator finds them the next day stuck and they are scared. More like terrified. This whole friendship they built is crumbled automatically because now the borrower is so scared and the Narrator doesn't know what to do about this whole situation.

[novemberhope]

I guess since I'm doing this OC thing I'm going all out so I answered some OC questions I found (One Piece OCs)

here here here here here here

I ended up picking only the questions that fit in their "universe", so there's bits and pieces from all of these questionaires.

How did you come up with the OC’s name? Neri: When I was young there was an australian show about a girl living in the ocean and her name was Neri. I took that and assuming it comes from Nerissa, it's the name of a nymph. Then I took the name Sirena from the Mako Mermaids show and her last name Kaiyo means ocean/sea Kaiyo Neri Sirena therefore sounds like a good name for a mermaid.^^ Niara: I wanted mostly names that could be associated with the ocean since this is a pirate show. Kaito means "the one flying over the sea" and Niara means "bright, clear water". Azura: Nagisa means seashore and Azura means sky blue. Cordelia: Cordelia means daughter of the sea. Yes, I looked up possible ocean themed names for all of them. Lady X and Lady Y don't have names yet. Lady X was called Vilandra in the first draft but I really don't like it. If she ever gets a name, I want it to be a longer one and kind of mysterious sounding... How old are they? (Or approximate age range) Neri: 18 Niara: 18 Azura: 30 Cordelia: 24 Lady X: no age yet but she would be the oldest Lady Y: maybe early twenties?

Do they have any love interest(s)? Neri: Zoro Niara: Law Azura: undefined Cordelia: undefined Lady X: maybe? Lady Y: maybe?

What do they do best? Neri: swimming Niara: generally just having fun with whatever she does Azura: sword fighting Cordelia: flirting, rolling her eyes, sarcasmn Lady X: telling the future Lady Y: I want her to either have a really cool power no one sees coming or a really cool fighting style

What do they hate to do? Neri: Wearing shoes Niara: cleaning, following the rules Azura: wearing cheap clothes, cheap jewelry and cheap everything and being in dirty, messy surroundings Cordelia: dealing with Buggy the Clown (she came across him in one of the stories my friend and I wrote and she did not enjoy it!) Lady X: knowing something bad would happen and not being able to stop it Lady Y: no answer yet

What is one of your OC’s worst memories? Neri: losing her entire family Niara: being forced to join the navy and then leaving her entire family behind to pursue her own dreams of freedom Azura: her parents being killed Cordelia: living in the streets as a kid on her own both Lady X and Lady Y have sad backstories too but they are not developed that much yet

Is their current design the first one? Neri: I think she had green eyes at first but then I decided on brown eyes. Actually, I couldn't decide on a design forever. Niara: Her hair is still long but not as way too long as it was in the first draft. Her hair went from ordinary brown to a lighter/slightly reddish maybe version (but still brown overall) and the newest addition are her freckles. Azura: Pretty much kept her design. Cordelia: Also kept her design. Lady X: I think she was a blonde at first. Black hair was also considered, then white, then grey, now it's maybe a really really pale blonde/maybe pale grey/white... idk something very pale though Lady Y: was still a blonde yesterday, now I'm thinking oooh but I have every haircolor now except red... xD Also, recently I accidentally added a scar on one of her picrews, so now I want her to have scars?

How many sibling does your OC have? Neri: it is mentioned that she had quite a few siblings since I image that fish people clans are quite big? She did not grew up on Fishman Island (because she was created before I started to read the Manga), so this probably was a separate community in the East Blue (where she met the Strawhats after being the only survivor after humans captured her entire family) Niara: I initially started with four or five but reduced them to three later on. At some point, Rear Admiral Hina was turned into an older sister of Niara XD Azura: She's an only child Cordelia: unknown since she doesn't remember anything and was found wandering around on her own, stealing from people as a kid Lady X: unknown, probably an only child Lady Y: unknown

What is the OC’s relationship w/their parents like? Neri: I imagine her bond with her parents was very close. Niara: She was close with her late mother but does not have a good relationship with her father at all. It didn't take him long to put a bounty on her head when he learned that she had become a pirate. Azura: she was close with her parents Cordelia: unknown Lady X: unknown Lady Y: unknown

Do you ever see yourself killing off the OC? Honestly, I never want to kill my OCs. The only one I could see dying is Lady X for noble reasons but it's highly unlikely that I will end up actually killing a character of mine

has there been any part of having this oc (designing, writing, drawing, etc...) that was difficult? Neri: she was the first One Piece OC so creating her was the hardest. I just didn't feel anything was right for her. Until bamm, all the puzzle pieces just fit. Niara: actually, she was the easiest Azura and Cordelia: not many problems Lady X: she hasn't even gotten a name yet Lady Y: she hasn't gotten a name or much of anything else really so...

Nickname? Neri: Nixie, although nobody called her that so far Niara: Nia, Nini Azura: - Cordelia: Cordy Lady X: lol she's not even named yet Lady Y: same here^^

Devil fruit power? Neri: - Niara: plant fruit Azura: - Cordelia: can create barriers Lady X: I might change that but so far her power is not a devil fruit power Lady Y: undecided

Biggest goal in life? Neri: she just wants to be happy with her friends (who are her new family) and never wants them to be apart from each other for long Niara: to have adventures and see the world and be free Azura: to see the world government burn Cordelia: to figure out her own past Lady X: something to do with the future/secrets of the past perhaps Lady Y: undecided

What was your OC's childhood dream? Is that still their dream? Neri: to see the human world (she lives in it now but still has to much to see and experience) Niara: to be free and have adventures (she does that now but there's still so much to see and do) Azura: to be rich and powerful (those ambitions killed her parents, now she just wants to take those down who killed them) Cordelia: honestly, she was just trying to survive another day (now she wants to find out where she came from) Lady X: to be "normal" (now she embraces being different for the sake of a higher calling - and she would want to save the world - or maybe she's selfish and just want to see the ones she loves being safe) Lady Y: undecided

Were there expectations placed on your OC when they were growing up? Have they lived up to those expectations? Neri: stay away from humans (she failed...) Niara: join the navy and make a name for yourself, have a successful career and take down many pirates (she failed) Azura: marry rich and live a wealthy life (failed) Cordelia: she had no one when she was little Lady X: people were hoping to gain something from her powers, so she ran the first chance she got (another fail) Lady Y: undecided but will be a fail also

[fallowhearth]

Review - Martha Wells, Witch King, 2023

Spoilers, this is not going to be a positive review. I expect others will enjoy this novel more than I did, which is fine. I can only review based on my own tastes!

Kai, a demon in a human body, wakes to find that he has been imprisoned by an ostensible ally. After he escapes, he adopts a random child, finds his friends, embarks on several fetch quests, does a lot of brutal murder, and unravels the mystery of who betrayed him. Simultaneously, the book retells the story of how Kai came to be in his position of power in the human world in the first place.

The premise is interesting enough! But, my overwhelming sense while reading was that I was not in fact reading the canon version, but a very long, self-indulgent fanfic written by a teenager who over-identified with the protagonist and woobified them into oblivion. There was a distinct tone mismatch between some of Kai's actions - the brutal murders - and the focus of the narrator on Kai being comforted and soothed. Part of the reason I say fanfic, is that the novel treated scenes that actually advanced the plot in that way that is so common in longer fanfic - the author technically includes major canon events, but kind of moves through them quickly without much focus, because, after all, the readers are already familiar with them. The author uses these scenes as largely functional connective tissue between the scenes they are actually interested in writing, the comforting of the woobified protagonist.

The characterisation of Kai as both a highly effective killer, and as a highly emotional, traumatised smol bean, would not have been an issue if the narrative had leaned into this tension. It could have been interesting! It's a ripe source of angst and tension, that has been well used in all kinds of stories exploring the monstrous.

Structurally, it also feels like there was about a novella's worth of actual story in this. I was bored by endless scenes of characters standing around narrating logistics and telling each other what they would do next, while the actual scenes depicting action felt bare-bones. There were a few interesting set pieces (exploring a spooky flooded palace filled with corpses! awesome!) but again these didn't feel like the focus of the narrative, compared to the standing around. Characters felt kind of thin and one-note, apart from Kai, who felt thin and one-note, but also dissonant in what was said about him vs what was shown about him.

I also think that the flashback sequences were entirely superfluous. Novels that weave together different points in time can be great, but imo it's a high risk strategy. The flashbacks have to be showing the reader something compelling, both in terms of its relevance to the 'current' storyline, but also on its own terms. This novel did not meet that benchmark. The flashbacks were mostly extended narration of facts we already knew from the current storyline, without much additional nuance, and did not generally complicate the versions told by 'current' characters. There was also not much difference between the younger and current version of the characters. It's kind of strange, actually, how little they grew. Kai as a youth just newly possessed of a body sounded exactly the same as Kai as a fully adult revolutionary hero and political mover. I'm not sure why the flashbacks were kept in the final draft.

This was a disappointing read. I hope others enjoyed it more than I did!

[lonsdalewrite]

Monthly Writing Summary — June 2024

I started this month off strong… only to flop hard after the first ten days. Nevertheless, I got things done! So without further ado:

The Mysteries of the Apricot Sun 🌇

Word count: 50,600

Words added: 6,040

Current chapter: 18 and 19 out of 32 (working on both at once) / Draft 1

Estimated completion: 55%

Snippet:

Darby offered her hand. Hespar took it. Together they twirled around in tight circles, syncing their movements once more. They had to, in order to keep their interlaced dance going. They spun on their heels together, pushed at the other’s arms when she pulled, backed away as the other advanced. It was pure harmony.

Notes:

This month’s writing includes a lot of Darby and Hespar moments. (For once, Hespar is actually consistently around!)

The Claws of the Ounce 🫀

Word count: 56,735

Words added: 2,345

Current chapter: 15 out of 28 / Draft 2

Estimated completion: 52%

Snippet:

“Okay.” Ash went over to sit at the dining table. Her head spun with everything she was seeing and learning, round and round and round. “Here.” Mailhairer slid a plate of steaming rotisserie chicken, a wing and half a breast, towards her. This was followed by a fork. Ash blinked hard, now even more disoriented. He’d been going to throw out the deer leg just a moment ago, right? She hadn’t even heard the hum of the microwave.

Notes:

Mailhairer’s reworked backstory was surprisingly hard to write.

The Gift of Gloves 🧤

Word count: 10,180

Words added: 660

Current chapter: 4 out of 7 / Draft 2

Estimated completion: 49%

Snippet:

It was a hot day at the abdomen-end of summer, one of those days that Taigex wished she could slip out of her fur. Even a summer pelt was too heavy for this sort of weather.

Notes:

Didn’t write much, but I came up with some worldbuilding tidbits revolving around how txentx get salt for their food so that’s something.

Wait. Could it be? 🦋

I’ve been thinking about Forest in a Shadow Box, the hiatused sequel to A Summer with the Immortal, again. Mainly about Machaon, his character is interesting (and relatable in some ways…) Part of the reason I put it on hiatus was because I was trying to appeal to potential publishers by not making the story a trilogy for certain, but now that I’ve decided I won’t be doing trad pub, I guess I can work on it again.

So I decided to rewrite it. I wrote a new opening paragraph for it, plus one sentence of the next paragraph. It’s 90 words long right now. I’m not committing to it as a project yet, but The Ideas Are There.

Tag list (optional as always): @halfbit @emwhyarentyouwriting @ashen-crest @floweryprosegarden @agirlandherquill

[practically-an-x-man]

What was Nikoletta like before she was the Nikoletta we know and love?

Oooh thank you!!

So I actually answered this pretty well here, at least in regards to her powers and all, but that's still the abridged version. For the full changelog, let's see... (fair warning, LONG ramble ahead)

What Stayed the Same:

Her name being Nikoletta Bordeaux

Her living in New Orleans

Her gaining her powers from STAR Labs

Her time in STAR Labs overlapping Abner's

Her powers isolating her, traumatizing her, and leaving her uncomfortable with both other people and herself

Her being known as the Queen of Belle Reve, holding a self-built position of power over the other prisoners

Her uneasy alliance with Waller, where she tolerates Nik operating outside the rules in exchange for getting rid of prisoners Waller doesn't want around

Her finding a connection with Abner, and that connection being built over the Corto Maltese mission

Her saving Abner from Starro (this was literally the first thing I decided, his death pissed me the fuck off, I hate when characters get nerfed right after finding happiness/closure)

What Changed:

Her name... sort of: While real name has always been Nikoletta Bordeaux, originally her hero name as Nyx Bastion was a lot more prominent as the name she goes by in Belle Reve and while out on missions (now, it's in her OC bio but I've never actually used it). In the end, I kinda tossed away "Nyx", and it turned into her nickname being Nik instead. I'm probably going to go remove Nyx Bastion from her OC bio too, now that I think about it, since I've literally never used it and don't really plan to at this point.

Her backstory: Originally, her family was French in origin - actual from-France French, not Louisiana French. She also was not a Woman of Color, mainly because at that point I was still a new writer and worried about accidentally offending someone by writing outside my own demographic. I honestly didn't decide much more of her backstory than that, which led to her feeling very flat and not having much dimension outside her persona in Belle Reve. I'm much, much prouder of her final backstory, and I think it gives her a lot of necessary background for how she was able to make her Queen of Belle Reve persona so successful

Her powers: Originally, her powers weren't shadow-based as much as they were nightmare-based. Any skin-to-skin contact or direct eye contact with someone would send them into a waking nightmare that eventually led them to a brain aneurysm. Some people were mysteriously immune to her abilities, with no apparent pattern at first, until it's discovered that all the survivors had experienced significant mental trauma in their lives and were able to encode Nikoletta's nightmare-illusions without growing overwhelmed. This included war vets, domestic abuse victims, and metahumans with significantly traumatic backstories.

How her powers interact with others: In the current version of her story, Nikoletta is hesitant to reach out to people because she knows her touch will leave a mark. The mark is technically harmless, but inevitable. Originally, her powers made it so the options were either near-certain death or complete immunity, so it was either to gamble or to shut herself down for safety. Once she learns the nature of the immunity and how it stems from surviving past traumas (which honestly makes most of the Squad immune to her bc damn they've been through some shit), she's able to make more of an educated guess and risk reaching out more, but I think think the inevitability of Nikoletta's final shadow-touch is what really drives her. I mean, if it's a gamble, eventually she'd get so touch-starved that she takes that risk, but if it's inevitable then there's no gaps to wriggle through.

Her appearance: And not just talking about the fact that first-draft Nikoletta was white. Originally, her nightmare-powers also caused an illusion over her appearance, where she appeared physically nightmarish or demonic to anyone who wasn't immune to her abilities. This isolated her even further, since direct eye contact was outright dangerous and even indirect glances were frightening.

Her reputation: Okay, her reputation itself didn't actually change much, I just couldn't think of a better way to work this. She still was the Queen of Belle Reve, but since her abilities were a lot more genuinely deadly, the fear she generated was completely real, and very hard to raise dissent against. Nikoletta's final shadow-powers aren't technically dangerous in any legitimate way, and it's all her skill at manipulating social situations that gives her the mystique and power to control Belle Reve. She built a lot more of it herself, when originally a lot more was handed to her thanks to her powers.

Her time in STAR Labs: Originally, she and Abner were in much closer proximity while in STAR Labs, and would talk through the vents to console each other through the experimentation. They had a close connection, though they never met face-to-face. They also escaped at the same time, rather than Nikoletta slipping away years before and not even realizing Abner's time lined up with hers until years later.

Her time in Corto Maltese: Not a whole lot changes her overall, though she doesn't go into La Gatita Amable like she does in the final story. Aside from that, she and Abner would have a heart-to-heart in the jungle where they talk about STAR Labs, and Nikoletta would pull down her sleeve to reveal a perfectly-circular burn scar, left by one of Abner's dots in the escape from STAR Labs. This leads to the two of them realizing they'd met years before, and "Nyx" (since she doesn't reveal her real name in Belle Reve, in the original version) is in fact Nikoletta, Abner's only real friend who talked to him through the vents. I do still like this backstory in theory, but I thought it made things a lot deeper and more impactful for her and Abner not to have any prior history.

Baron and Barbie: Yeah, she didn't have cats in the original version. They were a spur-of-the-moment add after I started writing for her, you had mentioned something about her getting a cat and I just thought it fit so well that I had to include it.

Thanks for the ask!! Out of all my OCs, I think Nikoletta's changed the most, and I actually remember all the changes she went through (unlike most of the others)

[satashiiwrites]

Snippet Sunday

Tagged by @monsterrae1 for a six or seven sentence sunday… and sharing again a bit of the andromeda re-write due to circumstances 🙃. thanks for the tag lovely!

Tagging with no pressure @quietborderline @tkwritesdumbassassins @alyxmastershipper @outtoshatter @westernlarch @missanniewhimsy @whimsyswastry @megasaurus-regina and anyone else who wants to play along.

Banner by radio chatter, chapter art is mine.

Title: An Andromeda Tale, Book One, Chapter One—rewrite edition (DRAFT).

Fandom: Mass Effect Andromeda

Pairing: Endgame MRyder (Reyes Vidal/Scott Ryder) various others

Fic Summary:

Scott Ryder never saw his life going this way, not that anyone ever asked him his opinion. Now he's pathfinder with too many people depending on his young shoulders and trying to figure out what he actually wants for himself. Reyes Vidal, man of mystery, former pilot and now sometimes smuggler. Who knows where he came from or his motivations but he's come to Andromeda to change his destiny. What neither Scott nor Reyes could have predicted is what their lives would be once they came to Andromeda.

Tags/warnings: this is a revised first draft—meaning that things are probably still going to change further. I’ve aged up both Reyes and Scott for this fic by a few years (not hugely).

2818 CE July 2nd

Reyes Vidal, Shuttle Pilot, callsign Anubis 

Location: Andromeda Initiative Shuttle

Status: Increasingly concerned about Initiative short and long term viability

Things were not going as they were supposed to. It's been six months since the engineering and transportation crews awakened to find that the planned arrival in Heleus had not gone according to plan. This was followed by more awakenings than were reasonable, given the dire supply situation. 

A major blow was dealt to the Initiative when the Nexus crashed into the Scourge. Jien Garson and several other high-ranking administrators had all perished in the accident, leaving the Andromeda Initiative without an experienced guiding hand to see them through what had been anticipated to be a critical moment. 

The current administration had made the questionable decision to awaken more and more people than they should have. The resources available with the hydroponics farms were significantly reduced as the entire section had been damaged in the collision that had halted the Nexus—or perhaps the awakenings were not part of the administration's plan if rumors were true about the unauthorized awakenings. 

Decisions coming from the top were slow and of questionable value. Tensions were running at an all-time high between the security and administration teams and everyone else as supplies continued to run low or go missing. Hoarding was starting to be reported, and two humans had been punished severely by security last week for hiding rations.  

Reyes had been one of the first pilots awakened to run exploration teams to and from different planets and had a first-person view of how bleak things were on that front. He'd been the pilot of one of the eight expeditions to explore worlds to see if they were habitable. The system and planet he'd been sent to was a barren wasteland without a breathable atmosphere. 

Two days ago, there had been an announcement from the administration suggesting that people needed to start volunteering to be put back in cryosleep or there would be mandatory re-entrants. 

No one had volunteered, and the atmosphere on the Nexus had been balancing on a knife's edge since. 

Supplies would run out within two months at current usage rates, and selective rationing and meal skipping had been in enforcement for the last two shipboard weeks. Sloane's security forces had been harassing the scientists, who were barely restrained as Corvannis and his cohorts spread malcontent and disagreement with the admins among the other personnel.  

Repetitive threats from the "professional" security staff run by Sloane Kelly had encouraged him to keep his head down and out of the trouble brewing as a valuable pilot with a military background. It wasn't hard to read the tea leaves that a power struggle was going on way over his head. 

The scientist team he'd just picked up from Eos had a defeated air around them and were quiet on the transport despite attempts from the administrative analyst to engage them in idle conversation. Not all of the team had left—three scientists insisted on staying no matter what the analyst had said. 

Leaving the three scientists behind had left a bad taste in his mouth. Reyes wondered if he was leaving them to die on the planet. The last attempt from the analyst to get them to get in the shuttle—that he'd overheard—had been a threat that no further help would be coming and that staying was a death sentence from either the environment or the hostile alien raiders. 

That threat finally got the scientists and engineers to mostly pack it in. As they boarded the shuttle, every one of them refused to make eye contact with Reyes or his co-pilot, Kenax.

He wasn't supposed to have heard what the analyst said. He wasn't supposed to have heard a lot of things lately. 

Scuttlebutt had it that the administration was going to employ the Krogan as mercenaries if things got worse. Reyes had never had a problem with a Krogan and didn't want to find out how painful a disagreement with one could become. His limited interactions with Kesh aside, he'd rather not get anyone's attention that way. 

Entering the course corrections for the Nexus, Reyes takes a deep breath before making eye contact with Kenax. For a Turian, Kenax is a solid pilot with an eye for barely staying on this side of trouble and a penchant for discussing the merits of different sniper rifles. Reyes hasn't worked with many Turians before Andromeda, but it appears that Turian stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason. 

Kenax taps on Reyes' wrist as he finishes inputting the course correction. "Be careful when we get back," he says while glancing significantly back toward the hold where the analyst is trying to get the most senior scientist to engage with him in discussing his favorite types of cheese loudly. 

As if there is any more cheese to be had left on the Nexus to dream about eating.  

Reyes would consider crime if it got him some cheese instead of another chalky protein bar that claimed to taste like chocolate. 

"I plan to stay out of things," Reyes murmurs back.  

"Before we left, there was talk of a meeting to discuss things without admin present—I'd stay away if I was us," Kenax returned his attention afterward flight display. "Us pilots need to stay out of the gunfight when it starts. There'll be enough of a mess to pick up afterward."

"I thought all Turians were genetically inclined to trouble and gunfights…."

Kenax's mandibles flare in the turian version of a smile, stretching the three vertical black lines of his colony marks on the right side of his face until they are crooked. "Us Turians like odds in our favor and keeping our friends at our backs. Kaetus—Sloane's pet—has been implying something will happen soon."

"I'm glad it's you referring to him as her pet and not me," Reyes says with a mischievous and flirtatious wink that he knows Kenax won't take seriously. "I'm going to stay out of things. I plan on helping out the engineering teams with the hydroponics repairs when we get back since the life support repairs are mostly done. It's not like there's any shortage of repairs that a part-time mechanic can't help with."

Not taking the bait, Kenax flares his mandibles into an even bigger smile that resembles staring at a friendly shark. "Yes, your tendency to get completely covered in grease and oil while repairing all things mechanical should keep you out of trouble. It's a good thing I'm not your type. But stay out of the levels below Operations for the next few days."

Exchanging knowing looks, Reyes focuses on the nav panel as they make multiple small jumps to navigate around the odd dark energy tendrils that ensnared Heleus back to the Nexus. 

Reyes trusts that Kenax's connections as a Turian are probably a lot more accurate than the reluctantly forced camaraderie that exists between the three human pilots he shares quarters with. he generally spends more time with Kenax than with the other humans as they have been hot racking until 'more resources can be secured' and more living units provided with power and water. 

Neither Reyes nor Kenax speaks further. They worked well as a team despite never having met before arriving in Heleus and being assigned co-pilots. 

When they reach the limits of Nexus flight control, Reyes hails the flight deck and gets assigned a docking bay which they then guide their shuttle into with minimal fuss and effort. 

As they unstrap from the pilot cradle, Kenax gives Reyes one more significant look before darting his eyes to the human analyst in the back, who was now escorting the scientists out of the airlock and into the bay. "Stay out of trouble, my friend. There are dark clouds on the horizon."

Feeling a forbidding chill that causes a shiver to run down his back, Reyes nods and clasps hands with Kenax in farewell. "And you stay out of it as well, my friend." 

Pausing at the end of the airlock, Reyes watches as his passengers all exit the bay under the close watch of the analyst and several security guards. There is a general lack of people in the area, which is unusual. 

Something is up. 

Kenax glances back again, wondering why Reyes hasn't followed, then turns around and follows the guards out of the bay without drawing attention to Reyes' remaining behind. 

Returning to the shuttle, Reyes grabs his old flight jacket from where he had stowed in his pilot's chair compartment during their preflight checks. It was his Uncle's old leather jacket and is frayed at the cuffs, and he could get a newer Initiative-branded one; however, Reyes swears it still smells of home even though he'd left home behind for Andromeda six hundred and some odd years ago. 

The jacket is one of his few personal possessions and had taken up almost a quarter of the limited extra weight allowance he was granted as a lowly pilot. Pulling the jacket on over his flight suit, he grabs his small flight pack and hits the latch to close the shuttle airlock, initiating shutdown and sleep mode for the engines. 

As the shuttle settles into an electronic version of sleep, he hurries away toward hydroponics instead of stopping at his quarters like he usually would upon returning to Nexus. 

Something tells him to keep his limited personal possessions on him for now and to stay out of the more populated areas where people liked to gather and discuss the ongoings of the administration.

[dreamcatcher-roulette]

I've had your post up in a separate tab for ages, but life 😮‍💨😅

Just wanted to say I appreciate the in-depth response about RAID (and cosmic rays!) and especially the S.M.A.R.T. article - it'll come in handy as I'm quite complacent 😅 about my personal backups (I think my music files have the most "redundancy" via iPods 🤡)

*I dunno if you'll find it interesting, but the OP's schadenfreude in this Reddit post was amusing to me, at least 😅

https://www.reddit.com/r/Netsuite/s/Bxu6bFnrkS

But tbh, even for the outage referenced, 🤡 I would've been more angsty about the potential hours! of productivity lost (i.e. bc users getting anxious about deadlines, etc.) rather than the potential that our data pre-incident would be corrupted or lost.

Anyways, in any case! Thank you for sharing your tangents! I hope you're doing well!

Ahh what a great honour to be a long standing open tab. Funnily enough I started drafting this yesterday and got distracted from it as well. My original response to how I’m doing was going to be “semi patiently waiting for the Dreamcatcher comeback announcement” but since then we got Fromm messages saying probably not until at least June (noooooo) and now I'm also neck deep in ACC, much to my dismay. I have nothing intelligent to say about batteries, they’re complete mysteries to me as well, but they sure do exist. Unfortunately.

Anyway! I do have things to say about backups. Below the cut 😉

The thing about backups is that you can definitely get way deeper than you need to, I think it’s mostly important to be aware and comfortable with your level of risk. The majority of people don’t hold too much irreplaceable data on their personal computers, and the data that does come under that category often fits within free or cheap tiers of cloud backup providers. Before I had my current setup I used to take a less structured approach to backups. I sorted my data into three categories:

Replaceable, which encompasses things like applications and games which can be re-downloaded from the internet (and, if the original download source were no longer available, this would not be a huge deal);

Irreplaceable but not catastrophic, which encompasses things like game saves, half finished software projects, screenshots I've taken etc; and

Irreplaceable and catastrophic, which encompasses things like legal documents but also select few items from category 2 I'm just very personally attached to.

Category 1 items I had on a single hard drive, category 2 items I copied over selectively to a second every now and then when I got struck with a particularly large wave of paranoia, and category 3 items I did the same but with the additional step of scattering them through various cloud providers as well. Now that I have an actual redundant drive setup in a server I have Kopia running on my personal computer to periodically back up everything that isn’t on my SSD, but I still rely on those external cloud providers for offsite backups.

It’s important to note my setup is ultimately designed with hardware reliability engineering in mind but those aren’t the only factors at play when thinking about backups, especially for enterprises. That Reddit thread is hilarious and I can see exactly where both sides are coming from, it’s a common enough disagreement between people of different departments. Senior software engineers tend to be paranoid old bastards who loathe to trust anyone else's code, which is in direct opposition to so many “software as a service” business models these days. But from a business perspective it makes complete sense to always have your own copy of the data as well, even if it isn’t the copy being used. It’s not just loss of productivity (although I agree that’s the most likely extent of any service down time) but often there are legal obligations on keeping records of certain types of work, and, while I’m pretty sure a company could win a court battle to absolve itself of responsibility in the event of a trusted third party being the one to drop the ball, that’s not the kind of argument you even want to risk getting into when there’s such a simple extra safeguard that could be put in place.

My assessment of the risks of my own backup solution of course has a MUCH lower threshold for striking out controls based on cost. I'm a hobbyist after all, this whole thing does not generate money it only takes it. Most notably I don’t have any full offsite backups, which leaves me vulnerable to near total data loss in the unlikely event of a house fire or someone breaking in and just picking up and leaving with the whole lot. The problem with defending against either of these scenarios with a “proper” 3-2-1 backup strategy is that the first server already cost me enough, I don’t want to go investing almost the same amount into a second one to stick somewhere else! And paying any cloud provider to host terabytes is no friendlier on the wallet.

There’s also the issue of airgaps, which is something enterprises need to think about but I do not have any desire to entertain. If a bad actor were to infiltrate my network in such a way that gave them root access to the server hosting all my data I would have no ability to restore from a ransomware attack. Of course this scenario is very unlikely, I’m already doing a lot to mitigate the risk of a cyber attack because running my services securely doesn’t incur additional costs (just additional time, which does mean I haven’t implemented everything possible, just enough to be comfortable there are no glaring holes), but it’s still something I am conscious of when running something which is exposed (in a small way) to the internet. Cybersecurity is also a whole separate but interesting topic that I’m by no means an expert in but enjoy putting into practise (unlike BATTERIES. God. What is wrong with electrical engineers (I say this with love, I work with many of them)).

In conclusion, coming back to how this relates to my dreamcatcher images blog, you can rest assured that my collection of rare recordings is about as safe as my collection of rare albums is, in that, barring a large scale disaster, they should be safe as long as I want to keep them. Which is hopefully going to be a very long time indeed, because I don’t just enjoy the process I also enjoy the content I’m preserving. But the average person probably doesn’t need to put the same level of effort into archiving — Google and Microsoft’s cloud services have much more redundancy than a home setup could ever achieve and can hold all the essentials (like the backup of the Minecraft server on which you met your oldest friends, for example).

[danganronpa-abandoned-hope]

Danganronpa: Abandoned Hope Episode One Script

here's the script for the first episode, as promised! check under the readmore :3. Do remember that it's still a "rough draft", so there may still be some typos and unintentional grammar mistakes. please be constructive with any criticism.

Episode 1, February 13th

Mysterious voice: good morning, sir. We’re very appreciative that you’ve come to talk with us today. We understand that you likely have a very poor opinion of us, but rest assured we have no intention of harming you or your friends. W- No, won’t hurt the young lady here either. We just need your account of the events that took place. Yes we’ll be interviewing her too, so your honesty is of the utmost importance. The sources we have are flawed, some clarity is all we ask. You can provide this, can’t you?

????:: …. I… suppose ….

Mysterious voice: splendid! Could you introduce yourself before giving your account? for the record of course.

????: …. My name is Adaleus Valker. I attended the academy under the talent of “ultimate waltzer”. My talent encompassed everything from organizing events, hosting parties, and of course actually dancing. Admittedly I feel more pride in the hosting part of my talent rather than the dancing part, however the school was looking for a dancer, not a host. The talent program for my year sought to implement pairs with similar talents. I was a last minute addition; the person who originally held my talent couldn’t attend. 

Adaleus, flashback: I still remember the day before it all started. February 13th. We were snowed in so classes were canceled. That was good news to me, I never liked waking up early. Although this morning I stayed in a little too long 

???: *sounds of knocking* Adaleus you in there? It’s noon, wake up!

Adaleus, present: oH SHI *answers door* good morning Mrs Sasaki

Narration: Nozumi Sasaki, the well respected headmaster of this academy. Back in her day she was the ultimate linguist. She’s very good at her job, both as a translator and a headmaster, but unfortunately that means she’s overbearing as hell sometimes.

Sasaki: … Good afternoon. Adaleus I know school isn’t in session today but could you at least wake up at a decent time? 

Adaleus: ah… that’s my bad

Sasaki: just try to get to bed at a decent time tonight, wouldn’t want you to be groggy tomorrow 

 Narration: And with that she walked off 

Adaleus: geez, if I knew I’d get reprimanded like this I would’ve opted out of staying in the dorms

Narration: We were given the option if we wanted to stay in the dorms or not, most students opted out since it’s quite the trek down to the village, leaving only the ultimate class and the headmaster as the only people in the school dorms.

Eun: Hey you, you’re finally awake. I was looking for Sammie so we could get some lunch, wanna join?

Narration: that’s Eun Kocur, ultimate animal trainer. She specializes in birds and is currently keeping chickens and pigeons. We’re pretty good friends. Last month she dragged me along to a bird show her pigeons were competing in. They all won, of course. It would be weird if they didn’t.

Adaleus: yeah sure, food sounds good. 

Narration: we walked over to Sammie’s shared lab, passing some fellow students along the way

Eun: oh hey Umeko what’s up?

Umeko: oh hey Eun! Not much, how about you?

Narration: Umeko Ongaku, ultimate Chorist. She used to be so quiet that it was startling to hear her speak, let alone sing. Especially since she has such a deep voice. Sometimes I’d play the accompanying track for her choir if the usual accompanist couldn’t.

Benjiro: oh? who's there?

Narration: And that’s Benjiro Sasaki, ultimate instructor. One time he mentioned how he was originally going to be a teacher, but disliked small children so much he decided to go into lecturing instead. He really dislikes being singled out due to his blindness, and well kids aren’t necessarily known for their tact. His service’s dog is named Mina. Sometimes we joke about how she’s more sociable than he is. 

Eun: it’s just me and Adaleus, we’re getting lunch

Benjiro: Oh that makes sense, it’s like 12:10 right?

Adaleus: *i checked the clock on the wall* That's actually accurate. How did you do that?

Benjiro: I got a new watch

Adaleus: what? But I thought you were bli-

Umeko: it’s specifically for blind people, dumbass. The face of the watch has raised markers so that you can feel the time

Adaleus: *takes a closer look* oh that’s neat! Did you get it for him?

Umeko: yep! It was supposed to be for Christmas but it came in late. Man I’m such a bad girlf-

Eun: shhh shut up Mrs. Sasaki’s coming 

Umeko: Eep!

Narration: an air of awkward silence befell us as Mrs Sasaki walked by

Mrs Sasaki: hello

Eun: hiya 

Umeko: g-good afternoon 

Adaleus: hello 

Benjiro: hi mom

Misa: *quiet woof*

Narration: Mrs. Sasaki didn’t know that Benjiro and Umeko were dating, and quite frankly neither of them wanted her to know. She’s overbearing as is, I couldn’t imagine it would end well if she knew.

We parted ways with Ben and Umeko, only to run into someone else.

Maricella: hey hey hey Adaleus I gotta talk with you for a sec

Narration: Maricella Tai, ultimate knitter. It’s rare to see her not working on a project, and even rarer to see her without her knitting needles. Everyone here has at least one knitted item from her, currently she’s making everyone blankets. She often jokes about how her knitting needles could be used for self defense in emergencies.

Rina: you didn’t even need my help finding him

Narration: Rina Bellerose, Ultimate Ballerina. I share a talent lab with her. Sometimes we help each other practice for events but to be honest we’re pretty distant. Quite frankly I think she dislikes me quite a bit, but it’s rude to assume that of people.

Adaleus: oh hi what is it?

Maricella: ok so I started your blanket and I was using this one specific shade of blue but I ran out of it completely, is it okay if I use a different shade or would you rather it stay consistent?

Adaleus: oh yeah it’s fine if it’s different. Hey maybe that could be the pattern. One shade of a color followed by a second shade repeated?

Maricella: I. Like. Your. Thinking!! Cmon Rina let’s go!

Rina: you don’t need to run everywhere you know- 

Narration: and thus the sapphic’s left as quickly as they appeared. Finally we made it to Sammies lab. I could hear the radio through the door, playing some music I didn’t recognize. Eun placed a few firm knocks on the door.

Eun: Hey Sammie! We’re gonna get lunch now

Sammie: o-ok hold on a sec!

Narration: the radio was shut off and replaced with a shuffling of sorts. Before long the long anticipated Sammie showed up.

Sammie: ok let’s go!

Narration: Sammie Usuro, ultimate tailor. He’s rather proficient at his talent, usually having a backlog of requests for outfits and fittings. Though for some reason whenever I need my clothes repaired he always gets to it right away. He broke his leg last winter break after falling off a ski lift.

Adaleus: Hey Sammie! How's your leg feeling?

Sammie: ah it’s doing fine. Doctor said that the cast could come off in as little as two months!

Eun: that’s still quite a bit of time

Sammie: Well it’s better than losing the leg due to gangrene. Let’s go get lunch.

Eun: What were you guys thinking about? Personally I could go for anything right now.

Sammie: Honestly that new restaurant down in the village sounds really good.

Adaleus: It does, but how are we gonna get there?

Eun: oh! We could take a sled down then just stay the night in town. We can come back up when school starts back up!

Sammie: Then it sounds like a plan!

Narration: we made our way to the elevator. Yes it was a snow day, and yes eating out was a Saturday thing, but dammit that barbecue place sounded really good. Unfortunately there were issues surrounding the elevator:

Simire: AUUGHRRHR OPEN UP!!!

Narration: Simire Rohim, ultimate badminton player. The winner of several awards and championships, often gone for weeks at a time to play in games. It was… very surreal to see this well respected athlete struggling with the door so much 

Adaleus: What… is he doing?

Icarus: I left my pencil case in a classroom downstairs, but the door to the elevator/stairwell is locked for some reason.

Narration: Icarus Onassis, ultimate volleyball player. He used to be just as into volleyball as Simire was into badminton, but after a season he completely lost interest in sports as a whole. Now he only plays during talent festivals and tests.

Eun: Simire I doubt shaking the door is gonna make it work

Simire: well what else am I supposed to do? 

Eun: maybe get Mrs. Sasaki and ask her to unlock the door?

Simire: oh *leaves to go do that*

Eun: Hey, do you think if we shake him it’ll get his brain to work?

Icarus: hey Don’t make fun of him behind his back!

Sammie: that’s rich coming from the king of shit talk himself

Eun: So would it be ok if I said it to his face? 

Icarus: you-

Mrs Sasaki: What's the problem here?

Simire: the door won’t unlock and Icarus left his pencil case downstairs.

Mrs. Sasaki: Oh I Must have forgot to unlock the door, my apologies.

Narration: but when she went to unlock the door, her key didn’t work anymore

Mrs. Sasaki: That's… odd. It must be the cold weather messing with the locks. I’ll call the locksmiths and have them check out the doors as soon as possible.

Adaleus: damn, so no take out :(

Mrs. Sasaki: Were you really going out to eat in this weather? There’s 100 cm of snow outside!

Eun: well why else would we have the sled?

Mrs Sasaki: that’s for emergencies only, go make yourselves something to eat in the kitchen 

Sammie: :(

Narration: burdened with an unbearable sadness, we made our sorry ways to the kitchen. 

Artemisa, holding a basket of produce: hey are you three getting lunch too?

Narration: Artemisa Spicer, ultimate food chemist. She’s somehow both the most and the least organized person I know. She always has her mask on since she's always in and out of her lab or the kitchen. She was in charge of catering a party I was planning once and she did an excellent job, despite her odd schedule.

Sammie: yeah.. Mrs. Sasaki wouldn’t let us go out to eat

Artemisa: There's like 100 cm of snow out there and you can barely walk!

Eun: yeah but like that’s what the sleds for

Artemisa: no it’s not! I’m making a bunch of soup for lunch anyways, just have some of that.

Adaleus: fiiiiiine 

Narration: we followed Artemisa into the dinning area. Artemisa slipped into the kitchen, leaving us with the other students waiting for lunch.

Gigantia: heyyy mantits McGee what’s up!!!

Narration: Gigantia Ader, ultimate Embalmer. I’m not very knowledgeable of her talent, I personally have seen enough dead bodies to last me a lifetime, but those in the field apparently respect her work greatly. Her personality however…. 

Adaleus: Gigantia we’ve talked about this… 

Fatik: can’t you go a day without harassing someone?

Gigantia: hey tits aren’t inherently sexual!

Fatik: you’re pleading your case poorly

Narration: Fatik Lemaitre, ultimate taxidermist. Again, unfamiliar with the field however they don’t tend to make people as uncomfortable as Gia. They’re often rather cranky though, especially with the bad weather recently.

Juniper: Hey, stop talking about badonkers! Lunch is ready, we made soup!

Narration: Juniper Caito, ultimate orchardist. During the tragedy they cultivated hundreds of orchards, forests, and farms. They’ve probably improved the world the most out of any of us just on the basis of food production alone. Their talent lab is full of plants, I'm surprised that Artemisa gets anything done. 

Fatik: oh what kind of soup is it?

Juniper: soup flavor

Gigantia: oh boy my favorite 

Artemisa: there’s also fresh bread in kitchen if you want it with your soup or a sandwich or something 

Adaleus: Aw fuck yeah bread!

Eun: breads not that good though

Adaleus: sounds like someone’s never had good bread

Eun: whatever 

Narration: the soup flavored soup with the bread shaped bread was very good for lunch. Eun left to go do her own thing, so me and Sammie went over to the library to hang out a bit more. Since it’s basically the entertainment center, someone is always hanging out there

Lapis: oh hey guys what’s up!

Narration: Lapis Ongaku, ultimate soloist. Almost the polar opposite of sister, he’s as loud and fun loving as anyone with the title of ultimate center of attention. He has a tendency to go off and do his own thing, which gets on a lot of people’s nerves. 

Sammie: oh we were just gonna hang out here! That’s ok right?

Lapis: yeah yeah of course! I wasn’t doing anything too important anyway, the internet isn’t working.

Sammie: oh that's odd, then what are you doing on the computer?

Lapis: playing chess against the computer and losing horribly.

Adaleus, thinking: looking over at the computer I witnessed the worst chess strategy I have ever seen play out. It was almost funny 

Sammie: Maybe you should play something else. Oh, how about we play uno? That’s easier!

Lapis: Aw fuck yeah i’m a pro at uno! You’re gonna be sorry you ever challenged me! Then I’m gonna be sorry cause I hurt your feelings.

Narration: we played cards for a couple hours, chatting with people coming in and out of the library. Eventually we went and ate dinner, which was just leftovers. Heeding Mrs. Sasaki’s warning, I went to bed soon after. Though to be honest, had I known what was about to transpire… I don’t think I would’ve gone to sleep.

✨you can now watch from Eun’s Perspective✨

Narration: Well lunch was eventful, it was fun to see Fatik throw a bread roll at Gigantia after one too many puns. Even funnier to see her catch one with her mouth and swallow it whole like a snake. Now what to do now…

Lapis: oh hey Eun! Umeko wants to talk to you

Eun: wait why?

Lapis: idk, she said it’s a girl thing, and since I am not a girl I can’t be privy to this. 

Eun: makes sense, where is she?

Lapis: she’s by her room, probably, she might’ve moved, it’s like a floor it can’t take that long to find her

Eun: fair fair, I’ll go find her

Narration: lapis was right, she was outside her room. Her nameplate is somewhat shiner than the others since they got her name wrong at first. They got a lot of people's names wrong to be honest, how hard is “Eun” to remember geez.

Umeko: oh good you’re here

Eun: Yeah, what did you need? Lapis was really cryptic.

Umeko: yeah ok so uh you know how Valentine’s Day is tomorrow? W-well I wanted to get Benjiro chocolate, but we’re snowed in, so I figured I’d ask Artemisa for help to make them! But she gets really intense when cooking so I kinda need you there for moral support!

Eun: Wait, you’re scared of Artemisa? All 165 cm of her?

Umeko: I’m related to Lapis, I know damn well it’s the short ones you need to look out for! So are you helping or not??

Eun: Well of course I am! Gotta support the gal pals even if they are sniffing cowards

Umeko: aren’t you scared of crickets

Eun: hey! they're freaky little bastards who know and resent their place in the food chain!

Umeko: yeah right, lets go

Narration: we went down to Artemisa’s lab and luckily enough she was down to help Umeko with the chocolate. I did as I promised and stayed for moral support, but unfortunately I became privy as to why Umeko had reservations about this.

Eun: hey why’d you make me put my hair in a ponytail?

Artemisa: the twin tails are unsanitary. Whenever you lean forward your hair gets into anything you’re working in, and I’d prefer it if your hair didn’t transfer germs from your lab into mine.

Eun: Firstly, domesticated pigeons are very clean animals! 

Artemisa: humans are “clean” creatures and yet food safety still applies to them

Eun: But then why didn't you make Umeko change her hair? Or change your hair for that matter?

Artemisa: because her hair isn’t long enough to warrant the concerns I have about your hair. And I don’t lean over countertops with wild abandon

Umeko: Will you guys stop arguing? I’m trying to focus.

Eun: Oh sorry! 

Narration: we finished the chocolates without much incident besides the great hair debate. I even got some of the candy as a reward! They made a variety of flavors, so there's gotta be something in there that Ben will like. Though considering his sour attitude, I can’t be sure that he’ll appreciate anything sweet.

[kingofangst]

I have been tagged by the dear @thiamsxbitch, Thank you so much💙💙. I did not see this until now. So I will honor it and show what I have.

Rules: Post the first lines of your last 10 fanfics posted on AO3. (Sorted by date posted) If you have less than 10 fics, posted what you have.

Honestly and sadly, I have 8 fanfics of different fandoms. 1 discontinued and the others are on hold due to life being a pain. But I am invested in Teen Wolf, Cobra Kai/Karate Kid, Kimetsu No Yaiba, etc. I have been interested in DC universe but I have never gotten to write for it so I have some WIPs for DCU and many, many WIPs for Teen Wolf and others.

Coup De Grace (Chemin D'Aconit series/Teen Wolf AU)

This is my Teen Wolf AU fanfic that follows the canon divergence but with some changes and altering of the canon events. A rewrite series with OC characters and world building of the supernatural world. Currently 2 chapters, working on chapter 3.

The town of Beacon Hills to any outsider seems to be just your ordinary and hospitable town in California.

At least that is what they assume. But Beacon Hills is not your ordinary town. Not to the eyes of the supernatural that reside in Beacon Hills, or those who know of the supernatural. A dead body split in half by an unknown serial killer, a burned down estate in the preserve that used to belong to a prominent family, the arrival of a powerful hunter clan trying to eradicate the ominous threat, and finally, a sophomore teenager who is bitten by a wolf.

Some Stranger Things have happened in Beacon Hills, one that will shape the lives of Florence and Cassian Saint-Claire, along with their loved ones.

Not a Bully

This is a Cobra Kai oneshot I made regarding a "What If" AU for Anthony and Kenny. The change and path it would have been for the both of them or rather Anthony's behavior.

What if Anthony didn't try to fight Kenny that night? What if he stood up to Zack and his fake friends? What if he helped Kenny instead of bullying him?

Vulnerable (Season 1)

This is a Cobra Kai AU canon divergence fanfic I have and while I haven't update it in a while, it is a fanfic that is still ongoing with 3 chapters and I am drafting the 4th chapter.

Cameron Collins; a privileged, wealthy, socialite teenager who lives in Encino and attends West Valley High. He has what others envy. Perfect grades, a large house, immense wealth, exotic party planner, a famous plastic surgeon father and a brand ambassador for Giorgio Armani. Despite how amazing his lifestyle is, he's not those privileged encino brats who hurt or judge others. He places himself as a normal human being like the rest. But when a new dojo by the name of Cobra Kai opens in The Valley, what will this do to impact Cameron's curiosity and mysterious wonder of the dojo that was banned since 1985?

Awaken

This is actually my first fanfic ever written and the one with the most chapters. While it has been 2 years since updated, I have it's next chapters in drafts .

The mysterious kid who was put in the orphanage as an abandoned child, later to make friends with two others named Kaneda and Tetsuo. The lone kid's name is Hasegawa Nimura but prefers to be called by his first name as he isn't one for formalities. He joins Kaneda's new gang called The Capsules in their juvenile years and Nimura was fine with the situation he was in. But there's alot of things that neither Kaneda or Tetsuo know about their childhood friend. Does Nimura know what he's hiding or is he clueless as the rest of the pack? How long will this air of content keep up with him until it all collapses?

Ominous

A fanfic I based off from Crazy Rich Asians. A combination of thr novel and the movie. I have a thing for old money family and aesthetics regarding upper class status within a aristocracy system. On 2 chapters currently.

The Young Family, a well known family only known by Singapore's elite, as well as Singapore's powerful and meritocratic aristocrat family run it's reins between it's conglomerate corporation and investments. The Shining heir, Nicholas Young was expected to return to Singapore after his 6 months abroad after he graduated from Oxford University. Instead he remained away from home beyond the 6 months. Now Andrew Young, younger brother of Nick Young, is doing many steps in keeping the family business strong, as well as being the COO of the giant corporation empire and chairman of his own investment firm while helping his CEO and engineer father be able to take some time for himself. Yet, he still faces issues of reality, and is often overlooked in society. Yet what could be keeping Nicky away from home? And what issues could Andrew be facing that he refuses to bring up?

Collison

During my Ajin Phase when I was reading the Manga. I created an OC being the son of a Japanese government minister who is in between the war of Ajins and Humans.

The world is currently on the topic of Ajins. 46 identified Ajins around the world and two in Japan. The 2 Ajins are under surveillance by the Japanese government and away from society. But what happens when the truth comes out? How long will humanity continue to play chess until it takes one bad day to reverse the board on them?

How is Tokui Ishino, son of the Japanese Minister of Health, Labor, and Welfare willing to break through the dystopian chaos that will run amok?

Unravel

I have a passion for Demon Slayer (Kimetsu No Yaiba), it is one of my favorite anime/manga series. While it has been a while since I last updated it, that doesn't mean it is discontinued.

As leaders of the Demon Slayer Corps, the Ubuyashiki clan is known to lead the demon slayers with benevolence, composure, skill, pride, and determination to protect the lives of the innocent from the monstrous creatures called demons. And while this tradition has continued for century after century, what happens when one Ubuyashiki member, Kazuya, follows a different path? A path of his own agenda.

Toxic Revenge (Discontinued)

This is a BNHA fanfic that I have discontinued. No longer working on the series due to getting writers block on constructing the next chapters and phase for this story. May get a rewrite.

Suzumebachi Ronin, a underground villain who works as a spy and informant of Japan's most powerful villain with a terrifying quirk. With Sensei choosing his successor and the rise of the League of Villains, Suzumebachi now stands with his leader to bring the hero society down to it's knees and create a new era.

But Suzumebachi also has a few agendas of his own as a loyal villain to sensei.

Ho Pressure Tags! @rhyslahey @ksbbb @amatchinwater @thiamblogger @chasing-chimeras @ahscotty

[talietikasero]

Been a while since I made one of these, but here’s a list of all the fics I’ve published on AO3. In order, they’re for Guilty Gear, Tekken, and Portal/Half-Life, and links to each are in the titles.

Ending // Begin // All is Different (1/?)

Aria's original wish was to peacefully pass on, despite all pleas to continue living. One key promise and changed mind later, she may have altered the future she wouldn't know otherwise.

[An alternative story based on the novel Guilty Gear Begin]

Aria of the Sol (3/3)

Five days after the Justice/Jack-O fusion, Aria finds herself waking up in a new body lying in a hospital bed. The same day, she meets her daughter, her son-in-law, and her old Flame (of Corruption.) In the coming days, she tries to make the most of this second chance at life she’s been given – and figuring out who that mysterious voice in her head is.

[Set during the three-week gap between Revelator and -Strive-]

Who Knows What Tomorrow Holds (13/?)

A trio of (unlikely) heroes finds themselves protecting the President of the United States after a hostile takeover of the White House. On top of that, there's the looming threat of an axis of time attaining godhood. It's going to be a long day. [Following "Aria of the Sol,” this is a retelling/reimagining of the Guilty Gear -Strive- story mode.]

[Current chapter (13): After Story 1, part 1]

B-Sides and Rarities (3/?)

A miniseries of extra scenes from "Who Knows What Tomorrow Holds.” The Valentine sisters visit their mother in the castle's prison, later assisting an intelligence director in footage review. The next day, a Secret Service agent shows two of the White House's special guests around the premises.

[An alternative Another Story and arcade routes (script drafts here) are in the works.]

Little (Killer) Queen (2/2)

It's Father's Day, and the daughter of a particle physicist has a surprise planned for him. Later that same year, said girl's family and friends have something planned for her. [Modern AU]

The March of the Gear Queen (1/1)

During the final battle of the Second Holy Order Selection Tournament, Sol claims victory in the showdown against Justice. It’s then that something seems off. To satiate curiosity, the winner spares the fallen.

Do You Wear the Mark (1/1)

The (former) Princess of the Gears finds the letters she addressed to her long-dead mother. Each was dated for the second Sunday of May.

Of All Places to Meet You, It Had to Be Here (2/?)

Two people chasing the same person for different reasons were unaware of how the three of them are connected. An Italian church is a weird place to find out that the seemingly random person you're fighting armed soldiers with is actually a blood relative.

Father of All Machines (1/1)

Despite everything that's happened, all one scientist wants is something he'd spend a lifetime working on.

[Set before the events of Tekken 6]

The Stardust of a Song (1/?)

The year is 192X, and an unnamed American city's home to a cross-town rivalry, with each side under the guise of a name for scientific innovations. What began as a night out takes an unexpected turn as the right hands of both properly meet for the first time. [1920s AU]

[cream-and-tea]

[ID: a picture of a group of peaches lying in a pile with a faint border around the edge, white text in the centre reads CREAM-AND-TEA while smaller text below that reads reintro/navigation. END ID]

hi! hello! salutations! my name (at least on the internet) is creme (she/her please and thank you), and this reintro has been... a long time coming, to say the least. let’s get some quick facts out of the way so i can talk about my over abundance of projects!

i tend to write character-driven stories, complicated relationships of all kinds, queer/nerudivergant characters (hey, write what you know), fucked-up magic systems, and basically everything i touch ends up having SOME kind of fantasy element (whether intentionally or not)

i also write poetry! but that tends not to get posted as much bc of just how personal it is to me

i’m pretty active on here but i'm trying to get better at actually Posting My Writing, i do have some stuff up (mostly from my main wip Lay Me Down) but that’s something i’m working on

(i’m working on… a lot)

i’m currently studying journalism and creative writing in university!!!

i’d love to be published one day (primarily with my poetry and maybe a novel) but first i have to actual finish something lol

i am literally up to read/follow anything. anything at all. i do have stuff i look for and some genres i read more than others but if something has a premise i like/tropes i like/a cool vibe/anything remotely interesting at all i tend to jump on it

i love love love being tagged in tag games even if it takes me fucking forever to do them lol

aaaaand i think that’s mostly it! now onto the main event (aka all my stories i couldn’t shut up about so i had to put them under the cut):

LAY ME DOWN.

[ID: an opening between two trees surrounded by ferns and leading into darkness, with text across it that reads LAY ME DOWN in white letters. END ID]

BASICS. drafting/outlining. fantasy/horror/post-apocalypse. third person present tense, dual POV. book one of the gravespeaker trilogy.

PREMISE. On an earth overtaken by a infectious supernatural forest: a runaway with the ability to see the dead, a star student with far worse than blood staining their hands, the ghost of a murdered girl with a score to settle, and a failed prophet who knows far more than he thinks, must work together to unravel the mysteries and secrets of a deadly library at the end of the world that is just as much prison as it is salvation (that is… if they don’t kill each other first).

CHARACTERS. 

Agnes-Maria white [17 and too good for this place. she is made of bruised skin and bleeding flowers, a girl half dying who will do anything to live.]

Pallas [17 and exactly where they think they belong. there is nothing safe or kind or soft about them even though they want to be, both the knife and the open wound.]

Nina Martin [18 and longing to leave. she is an echo of someone a different girl used to be, and death is only the beginning.]

Fiver [25 and looking for something better. he exists as an ichor-toned lie and wishes to scrub the residue of it from his skin, someone desperate to break the chains of the past around his neck.]

TAG. wip: ghost story

comic sans intro

playlist.

pinterest board.

TAGLIST (ask to be +/-). @vellichor-virgo @transmasc-wizard​ @houndmouthed @muddshadow @just-wublrful @corkywantstowrite @shrunkupthejams @andromedaexists @caninemotiff @lungs-and-gills @lychniscitrus @phantomnations @onomatopiya @deer-in-headlights-stare @arctic-oceans @redbloodprose @definitelynotclayface @cannivalisms @atthenian @dallonwrites

BURN THE STARS

[ID: a photo set in a dark space where a young person stands, face upturned, eyes closed, as their arms reach up, hands cupping an orb of light that casts a golden glow in the space around it. the text across the centre of the image reads BURN THE STARS in white letters. END ID]

BASICS. planning (seriously in the very early stages of planning). sci-fi fantasy. third person past tense (for now), four major POVs (for now). book one of a planned duology.

PREMISE. Exiled from one of the galaxies seven holy ruling families and poisoned with magic she doesn't understand, Apollinaires self-destructive spiral is interrupted by an event that leads her into the path of a sharpshooter with a taste for vengeance and a fervent medic pursuing knowledge no matter the cost. Meanwhile, in the heart of a massive rotating space station known as the Rings, wearing a stolen face and longing for home, reluctant assassin Anandi Alva plans to finally bring the star-spanning church to its knees. While within the palace both a fallen warrior and a girl-king strive to remember what means to be human.

CHARACTERS.

Apollinaire Sibel-Marie Gloria Alphonsine el Belrose, eldest daughter of the house of the seventh saint [the unchosen. the eldest daughter. god-cursed and roiling in flame]

Danny [the trickshot. the wanderer too far from home. saltbitter and stormy-eyed]

Silas Ambose [the “healer”. the seeker of truths. broken heart still beating and trembling hands]

Anandi Alva [the assassin. the tortured idealist. silken tongue and a thousand masks]

Rill [the executioner. the punished. steel bite and starstreaked blood.]

Glorian Apollinaire Alphonsine El Belrose, the first mourner, he who bears the sword and cries with the tears of a thousand people, aka “Alphie” [the chosen. the youngest child. golden crowns and redrimmed eyes]

TAG. wip: burn the stars

pinterest board.

TAGLIST (ask to be +/-). @just-wublrful @transmasc-wizard

MISC PROJECTS

[ID: a backdrop of soft, glittery peach fabric. the text across the centre of the image reads MISC PROJECTS in white letters. END ID ]

aka “things i’m not actively working on but constantly ping-pong around my brain on a day-to-day basis”

SALT BIRDS. low fantasy/slice-of-life audio drama. outlining. follows the lonely keeper of a seaside graveyard when one of the bodies she fishes from the ocean ends up being very much alive. With nowhere else to go the teenager she finds washed up on her shore must stay with her and the two must find a way to live with each other, despite the secrets both are keeping.

guilt, redemption and forgiveness. facing the unknown. stagnation and apathy. isolation. the ocean is real scary you guys (but also cool).

ONE DOWN AT DEVONS MARSH. urban fantasy with heavy litfic elements. planning/sporadically drafting. follows twins Friday and Oliver Walker as they attempt to understand the curse that dictates one of them will die on their seventeenth birthday while also navigating their relationships with each other, their family of witches, the town they live in, and the friends they meet along the way.

family (blood and otherwise). complicated platonic relationships. coming of age, faeries and witchcraft. weird small towns. fate and free will. death and grief. oops! this one is all about MY specific high school trauma!

SUNDOWN LAND. soft fantasy/roadtrip. planning. follows Shrike, a runaway thief slowly dying from a magical disease, and Ariel, an artificial construct who's maker has recently disappeared, as they journey through the ruins of their wartorn country in search of a mystical place both know from a popular childrens story.

finding closure. coming to terms with childhood abuse. generational trauma. personal autonomy. fantasy vs reality. discovering and defining identity. places being personified. it can be a pinocchio retelling if you squint reeeealllly hard.

ALL FALL DOWN. superhero. rewriting and replanning. follows hero and villain duo Tatum and Umbra as their city of New Victoria is plunged into chaos following a series of increasingly violent attacks. forced to work together and battling their own inner demons the two and their rag-tag group of friends are drawn into a much larger conspiracy that could unravel their ideas of themselves, each-other, and the foundation of the very world they live in.

enemies-to-lovers. gray mortality. the dangers of black and white thinking. what makes someone a villain and what makes a someone a hero. found family. the dangers of obsessive hate and revenge. heroes who choose to save the world. healing and recovery. heist bullshit.

GO TO #creme does a writing if you want some examples of my scribblings

GO TO #creme does an art if you want to see my gay little drawings

GO TO #creme does a tag for a look at the tag games i’ve done

GO TO #*stares in podcast rambling* if you want a taste of the OTHER things i obsess over constantly

[acacia-luna-royal]

TAG NINE PEOPLE YOU WANT TO GET TO KNOW BETTER

I was tagged by @rainbowcolored7 Thank you so much honey!! I am so sorry that this is late, life has been hectic but I’ll try not to disappoint!

Okay, so, I’ll do my best to keep this away from being a haphazard mess as best as I can, but I might fail because these questions are hard😭😭Anyway, lets go!

Favourite Colour: Baby yellow and bright yellow, basically most yellows but not the greeny ones or the dark mustard coloured yellows. Blush pinks, burgundy and plum purple.

Currently Reading: Right this moment, KinnPorsche the novel, though it’s a ride and a half and I have to keep taking a breather and I’m not even a quarter of the way through 😭 It’s gonna take me ages! Fanfictions... there are so damn many, my phone hates how many tabs I have open. There’s a mixture of KinnPorsche fanfics and Bungou Stray Dogs fanfics. To name a few KinnPorsche fanfics, there is On The Clock By Serena_Writes and it is so fucking good, I’m honestly hooked! Dropping a baby off at a mafia compound is a good idea, right? By lalala53 on Ao3 or @lesbianiconsteveharrington here on tumblr. It’s a one shot, but my god it is so fucking cute!! It’s just *chef’s kiss* Adorbs! Definitely would recommend! The Modern Way by TheObsoleteOne. This one is just fucking adorable in all aspects! If you want KinnPorsche with cavity inducing fluffiness and heart flutters caused by warm, comforting domesticity, then this is the fic for you! It’s the cutest shit ever! And another great fanfic, which has also got me hooked on the edge of my seat like what’s gonna happen next?, Somewhere I Belong by Jamaican Princess (Rocquellan). There are so many more but I’d be here all day, but these ones I would definitely give them a read as they are so amazing!

As for an actual original book, I’m currently reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, Bungou Stray Dogs novel 55 Minutes by Kafka Asagiri, Trying by Emily Phillips, Child of Fortune by Yuko Tsushima and No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai.

Last Song: Oh damn, where the hell do I start?! I know I’ve been listening to CIRCUS, Christmas EveL and Maniac by Stray Kids on a loop, as well as their other songs, I’m a Stay and I love these babies so much! LALISA by LISA. Mirror Mirror by MILLI, Feat. F.Hero and Changbin from Stray Kids (I mean I loved this song before the KP World Tour, but Us has got me hooked on it even more so I blame him). SG by Dj Snake, Megan Thee Stallion, LISA and Ozuna (was addicted to this song as soon as I saw the video of Bible rolling his hips to it so thank you KP world tour, eternally grateful☺️) Another song I’m hooked on right now is PIECES by Elley Duhé, this song for multiple reasons. More artists I’ve been listening to are Bebe Rexha (I’ve loved Bebe for so damn long), ITZY and DREAMCATCHER.

Last Series: The last series I watched was KinnPorsche (though I can’t stop watching it, it’s the love of my life and I have separation anxiety and KinnPorsche withdrawal symptoms). But before that, I watched Vincenzo; So freaking good!! Definitely would recommend! There’s a nice balance of mystery, comedy, crime, drama and mafia too, it is honestly such a good series. And then All Of Us Are Dead; Now this show, holy fuck, it was so good I watched it again straight after finishing it, it’s THAT good!! Again, would definitely recommend! Both Vincenzo and All Of Us Are Dead are on Netflix.

Last Movie: I honestly cannot remember the last movie I watched, I’ve just been watching series so I can’t remember off of the top of my head but I think it might have been Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness which was excellent! Definitely would recommend this to anyone who is interested.

Currently working on: Okay, I don’t know if this counts but I’m in the process of writing a few KinnPorsche metas (I hope they’ll be metas and not just messes) and they’re currently glaring at me from my tumblr drafts, waiting for me to finish them, which I will eventually get around to, but that’s what I’m in the process of working on right now.

I am going to tag @lutawolf @markswifesblog @isolatedkiller @iffervescent @biochemjess @lobsterjimsourcream @accal1a @yeahmileapo @percyjacksonlover-15 @maleficent-cannoli @luckydragon10 @00vi I just realised that that isn’t nine but it’s fine, and I’m sorry if I’m tagging someone who has been already been tagged and if they’ve already done this. If you have, then don’t worry about it. I could have honestly been here all day answering these questions but that would go on and on so I made it as short as I could. Thank you again @rainbowcolored7 for tagging me, you’re such a sweetheart! 🥰🥰💖💖💖