#and we’re getting the origin story

[grelleswife]

*grasping my fellow like-minded Kuro fans by the shoulders* Listen to me, comrades…we are NOT going to tolerate attempts to make The Cursed Ship popular and widely-accepted on this platform again, or misgendering of our lady Grelle Sutcliff, or sliding backwards into the mire of fandom toxicity, in the wake of this new anime announcement. We 🔥 are 🔥 not. 🔥

[darlingpoppet]

ＬｉｍｉｎａｌＳｐａｃｅｓ— Chapter 3

Hades (Video Game) | Modern AU (College/University) | PZA | Explicit | Chapters: 3/7 | Words: 21,238 (Chapter 3: 6,763)

Summary: Inspired by The Dreamers, except make it 2010s and ｖａｐｏｒｗａｖｅ. Zagreus is a university student who feels aimless in life. His girlfriend dumped him, things between him & his best friend are weird, and he lacks ambition in his studies, all while the optimistic visions of his generation’s future are becoming lost. Until one day, he falls into the orbit of Achilles & Patroclus―a charming, yet eccentric pair who completely alter Zagreus’ outlook on life & death, love & loss, past & future, and the transitions in between. (Chapter 3 summary: Zagreus reaches a stalemate in his relationship with Thanatos. Achilles & Patroclus invite Zagreus back to their place again for what ends up being a highly-charged evening of music, games, drinking, and sex.)

Excerpt:

“Ugh, Pat. Why don’t you go get a glass?”

Achilles scowls as he watches Patroclus take a particularly clumsy swig directly from the wine bottle, accidentally allowing some to escape from the corners of his mouth and run in blood-like rivulets down his chin and neck. Achilles, to his discredit, hasn’t been behaving much better. His own glass has gone untouched for a while now, and he opts instead to pass the bottle back and forth between himself and Patroclus.

“I will get one whenever I next have an excuse to end up in the kitchen,” Patroclus says as he hands the bottle back to Achilles. “Consider every sip of wine a kiss from me.”

“Why consider it, when I can just do this?”

Achilles pours some wine into his mouth, holding it there while he leans over to Patroclus and feeds it to him. Wine dribbles out between their mouths as the transfer devolves into a sloppy, open-mouthed kiss. They struggle to stifle their giggles over the mess they’re making, while reveling in the delectations of the kiss.

If they were anyone else, Zagreus might have felt irritated to be made a captive audience to their impudent displays of affection. But as it is, he has difficulty ever seeing their behavior as anything but endearing. And to be fair, he thinks to himself, as he tips back his wine glass for small sip: they are probably really, really drunk.

“We should let Zagreus have a turn at the game,” Patroclus says as soon as he regains his composure.

Zagreus, whose mouth is still full, tries not to splutter as he swallows down his drink all at once. He titters incredulously.

“What, me? I don’t even know anything about the kind of music you like.”

“Don’t you worry about that,” Patroclus says kindly. “I’ll help you with it.”

“Patroclus, no, don’t you dare—” Achilles starts, his voice sharp with warning.

“It’s all right, Achilles! Don’t you want to make our guest to feel clever? And who knows, maybe you’ll know the answer.” Patroclus grins impishly as he bounds over to Zagreus’ side, taking the wine bottle with him.

“And what if he doesn’t?” Zagreus asks Patroclus.

“And if he doesn’t—” Patroclus repeats; he leans in slowly, his mouth now so close to his ear that Zagreus can hear the gentle intake of breath in his preparation to speak. Zagreus feels the coarseness of his beard, the nearness of his warmth, making his skin prickle; he can catch a whiff of the alcohol, along with the earthy, yet floral sweet smell of his dark brown skin. “—He’ll have to do whatever you say.”

READ THE REST ON AO3 HERE!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/57964459/chapters/148565071

Chapter Navigation: 1 | 2 | 3

[ellie-mars]

I haven’t really talked much about it here lately, but my original web comic Supernovas is still updating, and there are now the first two entire chapters posted on Dillyhub! plus all five of the prologue chapters and a handful of other mini stories, that’s a lot of Supernovas for you!

You can find it on Dillyhub here:

It’s got everything you want! Action! Comedy! Shenanigans and tomfoolery! Aliens! Revolutions! Queer characters of every size, shape, color, and identity! Found family! Space pirates! Starships! Lawbreaking! Comeuppance!

[poppedbubblgum]

IM ACTUALLY NOT SANE RN

[kumapillow]

With ep.6, we’re left with one more chapter in vol.2 to be adapted (an Aoyama-centric one, because bosses can also get traumatized by their former employees 🥲) and also a few gag pages, and there are a few published chapters still not compiled into a volume. I’m still wondering if we’re really gonna get 12 episodes with the remaining source material… 😅

There’s also that drama CD a few years back (with the original cast), with a special track featuring the four of them having a kiritanpo hotpot party-turned-slumber party at Shirosaki’s, so I hope we’ll see that too 😆 tho I hope they’ll have it at Aoyama’s instead haha

[waywardsalt]

need to remind myself that while damien only has one arc focused on him in post-ph so far, there’s like only a handful of actual arcs planned rn and his is probably currently the most detailed and interesting of them

[stergeon]

for the writer ask

💭🚦💛 💌

💭 What inspires you and your writing?

this is a real marketing major-ass answer (from your local marketing major), but i love sharing knowledge and telling stories. writing’s one of those things that’s a bit of a compulsion for me—i’m always writing something. i took a five-year break from fiction writing before i stumbled ass-first into fanfic last year, but even in those years when i was focusing on my career, i was writing guides and trainings and a ton of other stuff—just not anything fun, lol.

writing is also so cathartic. sometimes i set out to tell a specific story, but at other times, a particular emotion gets me in a vice grip and i have to put it to words before it’ll go away. my stories tend to wind up as emotional dumping grounds as a result.

i don’t write things pulled directly from my own life, but there are bits and pieces of myself and things that have happened to me scattered throughout stuff i’ve written, and usually when i’m about 75% of the way through a piece, i’ll realize it’s absolutely related to something i’m currently going through. funny how art works that way, even when you don’t intend for it to.

and occasionally i just have a fire lit under my ass about an issue and i get so hot about it that i gotta compile my thoughts. looking at you, silver snow

🚦 What sort of endings do you prefer to write: ambiguous, bad, happily ever after, etc.?

look, i would love nothing more for them girls (pick whichever girls you please) to have a happy ending where they kiss and are stupid in love for the rest of forever. i love reading those kinds of stories. but in my heart of hearts, i love an ambiguous ending. i like when there are still questions after the story ends. i like thinking about where things could go or how the characters will go on after the events of the story. like, shared space could be read as having a happy ending, but i don’t really think it is. and with the victors; the vestiges, well. you’ll see :0)

come to think of it, i’m not sure i’ve ever written a happily-ever-after, but i don’t think i’ve ever written a 100% bad ending, either. i read too many bury-your-gays stories and watched too many sad european queer coming-of-age films in my youth to ever be happy putting that kinda thing out into the world. i want to write about love with all its ugliness, but not despair or hopelessness. i think what most appeals to me about an ambiguous ending is that lingering feeling of hope. it’s not the same as the kind you get from a happily-ever-after, and something about it speaks to me.

💛 What is the most impactful lesson you’ve learned about writing?

honestly? how to take criticism. i took a creative writing class in high school where we had to read our work out loud and then receive feedback on it from the other writers in the class, and that did a lot for me. going into that class, i’d already been writing for forever and had won some little local writing contests and such, so i was a wee bit of a pretentious douche. but i’d never gotten real critique before beyond, essentially, spelling and grammar checks. it humbled me lol. it made me grow so much as a writer, and i could see where i needed to improve or where my head was wedged way too far up my own ass for others to follow. it also helped me recognize strengths i didn’t know i had, and that was huge. it’s easy to get into a self-doubt spiral when making creative work, and good, constructive criticism can do so much to help avoid that.

to this day i love critique. i like knowing what worked or didn’t work so that i can continue to improve as a writer and do better next time. did my themes land? did something really work, but another part fall flat? i’d love to know!! i try to treat everything i write as practice for the next thing, and frankly that’s helped take some of the pressure off so i don’t go into total Perfectionist Mode.

i know critique is kind of a sensitive topic in fan spaces, but i think that’s because a lot of people have gotten unsolicited criticism that is purely critical and isn’t constructive. but getting good, constructive criticism will do so much to help a person grow as a writer. it’s scary, and sometimes it hurts! writing is very personal for most people, and it stings when things aren’t received the way you think they will be. but i know i’ve grown more from having my failures pointed out (and, very importantly, having the good things about those efforts acknowledged) than anything else.

💌 Is there a favorite trope you like to write?

actually Just answered this in another ask!

[arolesbianism]

Some swap au Olivia and Jackie concepts for the main 3 universes 👍

[akkivee]

i enjoy seeing everyone’s lists of wants for the new season of rhyme anima lmao like they all highballin for the impossible anyway i hope we get an nmcd song thru rhyme anima kinda like how we got tdd working together but better—

[eternal-reverie]

It’s happening I have oc brainrot!!!!

[yshtal]

playing inquisition first really is the move because you can finish the whole entire thing and won’t even realize how much of an absolute fucking slog it is until you start the other two

[orion-kenobi]

so….star wars

on the one hand i’m happy fans of underrated parts of the sw universe are getting some love and there are a lot of stories to be told within the gffa but on the other hand i feel like we’re officially seeing the marvelification of Star Wars. stories outside the skywalker saga are cool and welcome but also. at what point does it become too much and uninspired and just to make a profit.

[demi-queen]

So my brother got a complete book of Brothers Grimm stories (one of the nice ones from Costco), and the first story is called “The Frog-King or Iron Henry,” and it goes something like this:

So there was this princess that was born, who was basically the most beautiful thing in the universe and her favorite thing to play with was this golden ball. One day when she was playing with it by throwing it up into the air and catching it, she missed and it dropped into a well. This well was much too deep for her to get the golden ball back herself, so she started sobbing her eyes out. Then she hears a voice speak, “your tears would make anyone stop to help, what troubles you?” (Or something like that) and she looks up to see a frog. So she explains that her favorite toy, the golden ball, fell into the well and she couldn’t get to it herself. The talking frog then says he can get it for her, as long as she does something for him. So the idiot princess goes “what do you desire? I’ll give you anything- my clothes, my riches, by jewelry, my crown… anything.” And the frog guy goes “I don’t want any of that stuff, all I want is to be your companion, and for you to love me forever. To go with you, to eat from the same table as you, and the same plate as you, etc etc.” Now she really wants this golden ball back, and apparently she wants to go the most convenient route and not ask any of her dad’s servants or anything to help her out, so she goes “fine. Get my ball back, and you will have what you desire.” So the frog gets the golden ball back for her. Unfortunately for him, the princess was never planning on honoring her promise, and she runs off happily with her golden ball, leaving him behind, calling after her to bring him with her. Then, when she and her father are having dinner together, they hear a knock on the door. Apparently princesses open their own doors though, because the princess opens the door and sees the frog standing there. She immediately slams the door in his face in fright, and goes back to her father, who inquired about what that was all about. So she tells him what had happened and he says, “you made a promise, and now you have to keep it. Let him in and do as you promised.” The princess, horrified, goes, “ugh, fine.” And let’s the frog in. She keeps trying to go against her promise, but every time her father makes her abide by the promises she gave. Eventually, she’s ready for bed and the frog is like, “let me sleep in your bed with you.” (Which is pretty creepy) and she just explodes. She’s so mad, she picks up the frog, and throws him against the wall. Apparently, that was the exact right thing to do to break the spell the frog was under. You see, the frog was actually a prince, and heir to his thrown, who had been cursed to be a frog for some reason I can’t remember. This is when you learn about iron Henry (which I think is actually just the englishified version of his name, and it’s actually Heinrich or smth), who was so faithful and dedicated to his prince, that when the prince disappeared, he had iron wrapped around his heart (He’s the prince’s servant btw). Anyways, back to the main story. The prince then is like “you were the only who could have broke the spell!” And goes and asks the king if he can marry the princess. Because apparently the prince is a masochist. The king says yes, and the prince and princess get married and ride away in a carriage, which is driven by Henry. Along the way, they hear a cracking sound and the prince is like, “Henry, why is the carriage breaking?” And Henry goes, “oh that’s not the carriage. It’s the iron that I had around my heart, breaking because you’ve come back.” This is apparently a very reasonable response, because the prince accepts that and moves on with his life, even as they hear the cracking sound a few more times during the carriage ride. The end.

So I retold this story to my mom, and she’s like, “oh, the prince is gay!” And I was like, “what?” So she goes, “yeah, that’s why he didn’t care about what the princess did! He just needed a princess to break the spell and to marry so he could go back to his lover, Henry.” Which I’ve decided makes a lot of sense, and I now accept as the truth. Let the prince and Henry be gay lovers and have the princess be a side character in their story.

Some questions you might be having, because they’re questions I had:

Why is it called “The Frog-King or Iron Henry” if the frog was a prince, and you don’t know anything about Henry until the very end, and even that seems like a very last-minute addition to the story?

Idk, that’s a good question. I don’t really know tbh

How accurate is this translation from German to English?

Another good question that I don’t have an answer to.

Is that really how it ends?

Apparently. I agree, it was a very unsatisfactory ending

Is this what Princess and the Frog was based off of?

I can only assume the answer to that question is “yes,” and people who aren’t German figured that kissing a frog to break a spell was more romantic than throwing it at a wall, and that the princess shouldn’t be the villain in the story.

[quibbs126]

Got Mala Sauce’s fortune this morning, I’m pretty sure this is evidence that she’s going to be part of a plot sometime soon

[sparklyslug]

NOT to be all vulnerable on main here but the thought that Hallmark really never includes much drinking or drunkenness hit me like a bolt from the blue today and iiiiii can’t stop thinking about it?

[sesamestreep]

seeing the Picard s3 trailer and the fact that none of the original characters from s1 are back at all except one and it’s just TNG characters reprising their roles for some nostalgia cashgrab for the show’s dying breath really truly sums up that series perfectly actually, no notes