#barebones for now but it’s fine

[oliveish]

Trudging along no matter how much tries to take me down.

Hello im Vesper/Specter or Liv and you can use whatever you think suits me.

Xenofiction and Warriors cats side blog is @anhingaheart

[herok1ng]

current au verses being worked on : >:)

dnd - based !

modern ! ( im always a sucker for a good modern verse lol )

stard/ew valley ! ( also adjacent with things like harvest moon & fields of mistria )

final fanta/sy xiv ! ( this is partially made already but i havent added the details yet )

final fanta/sy xvi !

final fanta/sy versus xiii (thanks ailli lol) !

sailor moo/n !

annnnnnd adding twe/wy to the mix :) and eventually kingdo/m hearts

current verses i have made but haven't written up / posted yet ( i will soon im sorry lol ) : final fantasy vii , fe:3h , fe: awakening , general fantasy

[impzone]

little doodles about figuring out more about your mental illness after YEARS of a diagnosis!!! boy am i glad i figured it out i just wish it happened before i went on a whole arc about it!

[irisinluv]

Isekaied as the Yandere Villain!? PT 1

All I could do was stare at my reflection. This had to be a joke. I was going to wake up in my bed, right this instant.

“FUCK!”

Ok, so, pinching myself hurts. That’s fine. This is like. Some sort of lucid dream. What do they say to do if you’re lucid dreaming? Oh, that’s right, put your finger in your palm, it’ll phase through!

I resist the urge to scream as my finger meets solid flesh.

You see, I’m not in the right body. Or the right world from what I can tell. No, I’m supposed to be back home, waking up in a panic as I realize my alarm didn’t go off cuz my phone died after I stayed up way too late reading manga.

But of course, I’m not late to work, I’m in a lavish bedchamber right out of the latest webcomic I’d been reading! And by the looks of it…. I’m the crown princes crazy fiancé! As much as I love reading about the Isekai trope, I never wanted to be in one! And come on- as the Yandere Villain!? Couldn’t this at least be original? There’s hundred of stories just like “my next life as a villainess,” why couldn’t I be like… a stable hand or something? Ugh. Ok. Think!

I need to get home. Do the protagonists ever get back home in the stories I read? I pace around my room and rack my brain over every webcomic I’ve ever read, every manga I waited in line for, every anime I binged, even the unfinished manhwas! I can’t think of a single fucking one where they get home?

Well this isn’t going to stop me. I have a cat who’s going to absolutely flip if she’s not given fresh kibble in the morning. She has enough in her bowl for another 2 days but she needs it topped off ok! She’s a princess! I can’t be stuck here! Who’s going to throw her pompom toy for her if I’m not there???

What did all these have in common? What’s the barebones trope layout? Ok let’s see

1) person either died or falls asleep and wakes up in a new world…. Check

2) person is the villain!…. Check

3) to avoid the characters terrible death, person tries to change the story, ends up being new protagonist…

Ohhh… hey…. Do these Isekai characters ever just…. Play along? Even the “reincarnated as a baby” ones, they only play along till they’re old enough to try to run away or rework the political structure of the entire city. Maybe that’s it. Make it to the books natural end, and you’ll wake up where you belong. It’s like when you get part of a song stuck in your head. Play the whole song, and it’ll get out.

Ok, I’ve trained most of my adult life for this- I can totally ace this trope! I just have to stalk the crown prince, act totally in love with him, and be a bitch to the female lead. Then my finance will leave me, I’ll do some crazy dramatic act to try to kill the female lead, and then I’ll be exiled or executed, and wake up to feed my cat. How hard can it be?

Hard. It’s very hard.

Where the hell did he go!? My fiancé, the crown prince Eric, was JUST HERE. I swear! He turned that corner back there and then went down this hall… at least I think it was this hall? Ugh! This is impossible! For someone with such loud shoes and an armed escort, you’d think he’d be easier to follow! Now my feet just hurt. They don’t make these fancy shoes to run around the castle all day. They’re meant to daintily peek from beneath my many skirts as I host a tea party or some shit.

Ok. I’ve got this! I’ll just peek into each room until I find him, maybe I can get a better feel for the layout, or maybe find his office and see if he has a schedule or a day planner or something I can use to make this whole stalking thing easier.

I begin snooping, and it’s a bit of thrill to be honest! Back in my real life, I’m the kind of person to hide a wrapper deep in the trash can if I’m babysitting, sitting on the floor playing a game on my phone after the kid goes to bed rather than “making myself at home” the way the parents insisted as they showed me how to access Netflix. I’ve never been a snooper. Now…. Well. It’s totally on brand for this character! I’m not me, I’m a psycho lovesick fool! I giggle a bit at that as my fingers trail over a shelf of beautiful pottery in some sort of sitting room.

“What’s so amusing dearest?”

I practically screech as my heart leaps to my throat and I whirl around, and see the very person I’d been searching for has snuck up on ME…. That’s so unfair!

“W-what? O-oh! Nothing! I was just- uh, admiring the pottery?”

I stutter out as I try to recall how to act like a human being while simultaneously trying to stop feeling my own pulse in my ears. The idiot has the nerve to LAUGH! Full on snort and everything!

“What are you doing in this wing anyways? Weren’t you meant to be out riding today?”

Shit. I was so busy trying to figure out his schedule, I didn’t consider maybe the body I was shoved into had a schedule of her own. Ok. Play it cool- I’ve got this!

“Yes, well, I decided I wasn’t in the mood and wanted to stay in today instead.”

His brows furrow

“Oh, but you love riding? Are you feeling ill? I can fetch the royal physician for you if you-“

“No! That’s- that’s quite alright! I simply wanted a change of schedule, that is all. Um… what about you? What are your plans for the day?”

He looked a bit surprised at that, and a small smile danced on his lips.

“I was just going to the library to do some paperwork, boring stuff really, and then of course our dinner at its regular time.”

I nod like that means anything to me. Ok think, if I were crazy in love with this man, what would I say?

“Would you like some company? Reading in the library sounds really nice, maybe we could have some tea as well?”

Ok. I’m already fucking this up. He looks confused…. God damnit …. I knew I shouldn’t have skimmed over those early chapters- but the translation was shit ok!?

“Well… I’d actually love that. But are you sure? You haven’t exactly shown interest in reading, and you’ve never requested something like this before…. In fact I don’t think I can recall the last time we’ve interacted outside of dinner or a scheduled social event in… well. Ever.”

Wait…. What? Isn’t my character like goo-goo-ga-ga over him? Are you telling me she never asks to just… spend time with her lover? They only talk during dinner and parties or whatever?

“Of course, I think it’ll be relaxing! Just lead the way!”

My brain is working overtime as I smile politely at him as we reach the library and I pretend to browse for books. I’m missing something here. What is-

Oh. Shit. That’s right. I’m supposed to be really insecure and awkward about him. That’s why she stalks him- she spends all her free time obsessing over this man from the shadows, threatening the competition…. Yet chokes up when it comes to how to act natural. Her inferiority complex is what drives her entire character. And then to him, they’re just two nobles in an arranged marriage who speak on dull subjects like the weather and horse rides…. And who barely interact.

This must have been a real big shake up, she always stays out of sight, they never run into each other by chance. And she certainly never would ask to sit and read with him…. Maybe watch him do his work from a hidden keyhole somewhere, but that’s right…. She IS more of a traditional lady with her hobbies. She was raised to be the perfect noble wife, so naturally, her hobbies include things like dancing, needlepoint, and horse riding. The only studies she’s interested in are etiquette and things that noble ladies are supposed to know.

Well…. Shit. That’s so like me to already have fucked this up. But that’s ok. That’s ok- he’s going to meet the female lead and fall in love and so I just have to be the obstacle they need to overcome. Surely the details don’t matter too much…. It’s my first day in the job ok? Not everyone’s perfect!

I find a book that honestly actually sounds interesting, it’s historical, but it’s giving Hellen of Troy, the closest to a dark romance I think I’ll get from an academic personal library like this. I settle into what looks like the comfiest chair in the central area, and begin reading. The prince and I exist comfortably, the only sound being the scratch of his pen, and the occasional rustle of paper as he flips a document or I finish a page. We continue like this for several hours until he puts down his pen and clears his throat, getting my attention.

“I know it’s a long way from dinner…. But I was thinking I’d grab something light for a mid day meal and then take a walk about the gardens …. Would you care to join me?”

Honestly, some lunch and pretty royal gardens sounds like so much fun, so I agree. As we begin walking, I ponder how I can recover from all this.

You know what.. this can totally still go to plan. This is just me being the evil villain and sinking my claws into him! The female lead will appear, and I’ll reveal my true, nasty side to her! She’ll have to fight to save the prince from his marriage to me!

*insert evil laughter!*

“You’re smiling.”

“W-what?”

“A smile. It suits you. You’ve been doing that a lot today….. I like it.”

Ok and now I’m blushing. I go to reply when I suddenly find myself weightless for a moment, and then hit the ground with a hard thump.

“Ow! What the-!?”

My eyes snap up and glare at this pretty blonde girl who just rammed into me, and sent me flying

“Do you not know how to watch where you’re going!? Owww…. Ugh.”

Ok I’m sorry I’m usually a nice and understanding person but I’ve never been literally knocked over before! Who does that to a person?

Eric helps me to my feet and sends a reproachful glare toward the girl, asking me if I’m alright with most concerned look…. And the girl gasps and says,

“C-crown prince Eric! I apologize! I’d didn’t recognize you!”

She drops into a curtsy and lowers her eyes all demure and modest as if she hadn’t just bulldozed me. I send an incredulous look toward Eric…. She… didn’t see HIM? I’m the one she took out? He gives me an equally puzzled look and so I decide, you know what, fuck it. I’m this evil person in this world…. I need to act like it!

“And not recognizing his highness is an excuse for taking out the princess consort, soon to be crown princess? Are you blind or just daft?”

Oh my god I really just called someone daft! This feels like when you stay up late thinking all the witty comebacks you could’ve used against your high school bullies, except actually using them in the moment!

And Eric is being a sweetie and letting me handle this, waiting expectantly for blondie to answer me, just prompting her,

“Well?”

“Forgive me…. Princess consort…. You are right. My oversight in inexcusable. It appears neither of us were looking where we were going. I hope we can start fresh!”

I scoff- that’s it? Who does this bitch think she is? Yes, I was looking at Eric, but I was going a walking pace, who rounds a corner with so much force that you knock someone over?

Suddenly something clicks- oh shit! This is the female lead!!!! This scene happened in the story, just without the prince here. This is good, that means this is on track. Although I gotta say- I was much more on the female main characters side when reading it. Now, I just feel like she’s one of those mean girls in high school who’s not *technically* doing anything mean. Anyways- what was I supposed to say? That’s right.

“Yes…. Well. I’m sure we won’t be seeing much of each other anyways. If you’ll excuse me-“

Nailed ittttt…. Now her line?

“Well, actually…. My name is Lady Cressida, and I’ll be staying in the place for several months as my father is a foreign ambassador overseeing trade agreements with his highness the king. So I imagine we will be seeing *plenty* of each other. That goes for you too your highness! So please- forgive me, I look forward to getting to know each of you better!”

Oh that’s so cool, seeing her recite the lines from the story. But ok- I have a role to play as well. I scoff and grab Eric’s arm, pulling him behind me as I storm off, playing the part of entitled lover, stuck up and irritated at this ambassadors daughter who DARED to speak to my love.

Yea, this will work, Eric will think Cressida is a genuine sweetie, and see me as being the unreasonable bitch who’s refusing to accept her apology, or apologize for not looking where I was going either. And now I’m manhandling him- totally unlady like. God I’m killing this aren’t I? Minimum wage job and demanding cat, here I come!

What I don’t see, as I lead Eric by the arm, is the cold glare he shoots towards Cressida, before smiling down at our connected hands, an unreadable look in his eyes.

Part 2

[conspiring-limabean]

EDIT: This post was made about the first wave of basic barebone copy-and-paste scams. It is now outdated when it comes to identifying REAL, VETTED gofundmes that exist

If someone sends you an ask asking for help in Gaza, look for vetting done by a real person (do NOT trust ones that simply claim they are vetted if you don’t SEE the vetting), and check that their gofundme address isn’t clearly publicly listed in some other place. Then reblog their post. And block writing-prompt-s or anyone else that runs actual genocide survivors off the platform with poorly researched scam accusations

original post:

so apparently the tumblr donation scam farms are moving in on Palestine; this includes both slapping basic phrases like "Free Palestine" into their blog headers, but also some of them go so far as to claim they are Palestinian refugees who need donations.

Here is your routine reminder that whenever you receive an ask in your inbox requesting donations, check their ass. 19 times out of 20 it'll be a brand new blog who reblogged a few posts to seem older than they are, is sending out spam asks to random blogs, and will be deleted in a few days once they've already scammed people.

Check their blog's age by trying to scroll to the bottom and checking the post timestamps. Turn on post timestamps by going to Settings > General Settings > Dashboard Preferences. On any device, you can also see when a post was made by clicking on the 3 dots at the top right of it. Scam blogs reblog an amount of posts to try to seem like they aren't brand new and pretend to have older accounts, and it’s very successful against people who don’t scroll down enough.

Check the location and area code of a PayPal link where/if it says something like country.x=xx. The xx will be a country code. Most tumblr donation scams are for some reason in the Philippines and will have the code PH. No I am not saying to distrust anyone in the Philippines who needs donations, but if a brand new blog is claiming to be a refugee in the Middle East but their PayPal link is from halfway across the world, then well...

Reverse-image search any of the images they use and find if it was stolen somewhere. Remember that these images are often edited to prevent people from easily doing this, and this is not reliable but can be an easy sign if successful

Be careful with blogs that request people send donations through "Friends and Family" on PayPal because you cannot refund money sent in this manner. This isn’t a dealbreaker as many regular users also request this to avoid fines, but is an addendum to scam blogs when enough other red flags are raised. It isn’t unusual for them to insist on receiving money through FaF to the point that some will refund money not sent through that manner to prevent accountability

Follow scam busting blogs like Kyra45 that might pull up evidence you otherwise would not have access to. I guess I'm going to start bringing back my habit of recording the exact paypal addresses that scam blogs use which has sometimes been the only evidence of a new donation blog being a scam, and no one would know this if I hadn't been tracking them

It is disgusting that people would take advantage of an ongoing genocide for their own gain. Please remember to keep an eye out for yourself and the people you follow reblogging suspicious donation posts trying to steal aid from people undergoing a tragedy

[ghxst-system]

Downloaded octocon and have few things to say

Very barebones app right now. Can't do a tag within a tag, which is very inconvenient when needing to organise thoroughly

EG: We like to have folder for "Call To Front" in which are sub-categories of each role for the headmate to choose from. Also folder for "Age" divided into multiple different age groups and mental vs appearance age

Haven't gotten used to visuals yet so may be based on not being used to it, but the design feels very hard to read and inaccessible for us. The accessibility options are very limited right now. It is visually pleasing and has a few different options for the layout but would appreciate more accessibility options especially as low mobility and poor fine motor skills person. Also no way to search for alter right now which is inconvenient especially as have poor memory and use keywords to find alters through searches

The stealth mode works well based on test

Alter descriptions can be padded out with custom fields. However options for types of custom field are limited to text, number and Y/N rn

Think if want to get app, should wait until few updates to improve but for now seems like very good improvement as it is anti endo. Has lots of potential!

[888-fr]

mass pinglists (& moral superiority for not using them)

There's been concern lately over the newest update announcement that at some point, far into the future or at least after New Year's 2024, mass-pinging as a concept will be retired from Flight Rising. On one hand, there's people worried about this.

There's people who are also, frankly, being wildly vitriolic about those who rely on mass pinglists, disbelieving that anybody could ever be affected by mass ping tools shutting down. They're also out here openly calling skinmakers/G1 collectors/dominance organizers delusional for thinking the things they do are in any way, shape, or form, an important part of the site.

Which like, if people don't use user-run tools like GASP or the G1 pinglist, that's fine! That's your playstyle. But I don't understand where the attitude is coming from that the concerned groups are only a 'loud minority', and that they somehow don't contribute massively to the game as a whole. (The same people, by the way, who call G1 collectors & UMA makers a plague upon dragon society for being an elitist rich boy's club, then turn around and say they're not at all a driving force in the site's economy.) Which one is it? You can't have it both ways. Do these people spend thousands whaling for their perfect XXY G1 wildclaws then hundreds buying gem genes for their fancy showoff dragons? Or are they at best a negligible population in the game, whose activity and monetary contributions to the site are far outweighed by the tens of thousands of 'nice, normal, sane' players who log on once a week to hatch a nest and post on forums once in a blue moon?

There's 825 pages of user-made skins on the site right now. At 50 items per database page, that's 41,250 skins. 41,250 skins that had to be submitted with blueprints that can only be bought with gems.

Let's give these numbers the benefit of the doubt and say each skin was only submitted once, using a 10-print blueprint at 5000 gems, and each accent was only submitted once as well, using a 10-print blueprint at 2500 gems. That's 136,875,000 gems sunk into blueprints - if each individual usermade skin on site has only an average of ten copies on site. (Which is categorically not true, I've had multiple skins print over 300 copies. And I am just one person, and far from the most successful skinmaker on site.)

This is 1,368,750 USD in skin blueprints alone, by the way, using the most barebones and least generous numbers possible. We're not accounting for skins that sell more than one run, or the fact that no skin artist sells their skins to the public at print price (you can add another 30-40% to that number if you want to estimate how much money is actually spent to circulate those skins). Even if none of these artists pay money to buy gems, these gems are coming from somewhere. Even if you, as someone who doesn't care for G1s or never even heard of GASP, never set foot into these places, these gems are still circulating and being sunk into the site. And it helps no one to scoff and say you doubt there's no real impact on anything if all of this goes away.

There's 51k items on the site, and over 80% of them are skins. There's 5k users actively signed up and using GASP - more than the average amount of users logged onto the site at any given point that's not a new breed release or anniversary update.

Are you getting the picture yet? It's not self-absorbed to say that the UMA market has a very real impact on the game economy. It's just numbers.

I need to get my thoughts out about the new mass-ping update somewhere. My thoughts on the actual tool are entirely positive, it's a great change for the site and not one I ever thought I'd see. But there's people worried about the future of tools like the GASP & G1 sales pinglists for very good reason.

I think game economy is a very real concern if you're a dominance participant, a skinmaker, an old dragon collector, a G1 hatcher, an ID hunter, or anyone else whose community relies on mass ping lists. You aren't wrong for feeling this way. I'm sorry people are dismissing very valid concerns about the state of your community out of some misguided 'i don't do this and neither do my friends, so everyone who does must be a loud overexaggerating nitwit' attitude.

[h0lyfrypan]

comforting satoru in the months after the night parade of a hundred demons. you are a former classmate, who graduated alongside satoru and shoko. despite being shot down for months, you persist on trying to comfort him.

mourning, character death, no dialogue, implied satosugu if you squint. ur both not ok. i wrote this because i rely on dialogue too much. it's super short!

Satoru had changed—there was no doubt. After the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, something inside him broke for good. Both of you had quietly hoped Suguru would return, that somehow he could avoid punishment. That day never came, despite years of waiting, and now it never would.

You vividly recall the day your cell phone rang, breaking Satoru's usual pattern of self-reliance. He was a natural at almost everything he tried (it seriously was a piss off), but on the other end of the line was a broken man. He didn’t need to voice the words; you had an innate understanding. It was always that way between you two. You knew Suguru was gone.

Satoru Gojo had a knack for keeping people at arm's length. He was 'the Strongest,' and he didn't appreciate how you could always sense when something troubled him. Your eyes softened when you were alone, the subtle checks to ensure he ate, and your consistent efforts to reach out—through letters, texts, or in person. You knew his Infinity would hinder you, but you persisted. With every brick he placed to build up his walls, you were on the other side with your own set of tools; a determined demolitionist.

The period after was a blur. Was it days? Weeks? Months? Time seemed meaningless as you sat in the morgue with Shoko, the only other person who truly comprehended what Satoru might be going through—but she was mourning, too. After all, you were once classmates and friends. The way she chain-smoked in silence, her lack of words mirrored yours. Occasionally, Satoru joined you both, but he and Shoko only discussed business. He didn't engage with you- and Shoko just wasn't as emotionally attuned as you, and that was okay, you’d never hold that against her. Everyone plays different roles in this world.

It was a while before you truly heard from Satoru again. He had a way of presenting himself as fine, radiating happiness—especially in front of his students. He engaged with them, laughed, stirred up mischief, yet emotionally, he maintained a distance. It concerned you that no one else seemed motivated to try and reach him. Perhaps they weren't as naive as you, believing they could break through. His request for you to watch his house for a few days puzzled you. It seemed unnecessary; surely he could afford to hire someone. Nonetheless, you agreed.

His apartment was cold, barebones, and modern. It suited him—a man rarely at home. Just a space for sleep when he wasn't teaching or battling curses across the country. Old clothing lay strewn about, a few dishes scattered. The ambiance felt solitary. You wondered: was he truly living, or merely existing?

Hours passed, time an elusive, unreachable concept lately. Being here for a few days justified sorting his clothes into the hamper and doing some dishes. There was nothing better to occupy your time, and he might appreciate the gesture. While rinsing cups in hot, soapy water, your mind wandered. Perhaps if you'd been closer to Suguru, you might know how to help Satoru now. Maybe Suguru could have shared the secret, but likely there was none. Suguru wasn't you, and you weren't him. Their bond was special, something you couldn't grasp. That wasn't necessarily bad, though it felt so—Ouch! Your hand under the scalding water snapped you out of that train of thought (maybe for the best).

Cold water relieved the small burn. You searched for bandages around the apartment, not eager to rummage but forced by the forming blister on your finger. As you explored cupboards and shelves, thoughts circled back to Satoru. While tending to your wound on the couch, a question arose: did Satoru always feel this way? When 'the Strongest' is down, who's there to pick him up?

Grieving for Suguru lately made you furious. Did Suguru not comprehend Satoru's willingness to let him return? That Satoru would have done anything to anyone to ensure his safe return to Jujutsu Society?  Suguru's flawed philosophies often left you contemplating and upset. Blaming a dead man for everything was too easy, but unjust.

Surveying the showroom-like apartment, your frustration grew and you teared up. You weren't Suguru, you weren’t strong– but maybe you were strong enough to lift Satoru—if only he allowed it.

Satoru had convinced himself there was no one else. Back in high school, he accepted it. There would never be anyone like Suguru Geto—no one coming close to understanding the weight he bore. To be a weapon before a human, a tool with a face, a means to an end. Yet, you persisted. He detested (perhaps a strong word) how you saw through him, how deeply you cared.

In truth, he wanted that. He just wished it didn't feel so vulnerable. He wasn't meant to be vulnerable—or that's what he felt. He appreciated every ignored text, every rejected hug, every lunch left on his desk at Jujutsu Tech, but fear overwhelmed him. How did you see through him so effortlessly? How could he be sure you wouldn’t leave?

He resented himself for not letting you in. He wanted to, truly, but the walls he built didn't just bar others out; they trapped him too. Coming home to find you asleep on the couch, curled up, blanketless and tear-stained, changed something. Maybe it was your unintended display of vulnerability, the secluded setting, or his own exhaustion. The reason mattered little.

With care to be quiet, he slipped into his bedroom, retrieving the comforter from his bed—the sole blanket in the apartment—and gently draped it over your sleeping figure. Kneeling by your side, he gently wiped away the tear stains from your cheek. It had been a long time since he allowed himself to touch you, or anyone for that matter. His breath caught when you stirred, your eyes meeting his. For once, you were unobstructed by any blindfold or infinity.

Without hesitation, you shifted from the cushion, pulling him into your arms, guiding his head to rest against your neck. He loathed this—knowing you understood his unspoken desires, yet grateful he didn't have to verbalize them. This vulnerability was taxing enough. He reciprocated, wrapping his arms around you.

And then, he cried.

It felt awful, comforting, almost amusing. Only a few silent tears fell before he composed himself, easing into your embrace as best he could from their awkward position. He almost chuckled at himself—for all the fear he harbored about opening up, finding such reassurance in your arms made it seem absurd. Shifting slightly, he settled back on the couch, intertwining both of your limbs and enveloping both of you in the blanket.

As you moved to speak, he gently hushed you with a finger to your lips. You understood, as you always did—this wasn't something he wanted acknowledged aloud. Bodies pressed together, his head nestled against your chest, holding onto you so tightly it felt as though you might meld into one. He was utterly exhausted.

Time remained elusive, now for a different reason. Your fingers combing through his soft hair, the sweet scent of his shampoo lingering in the air. The rhythm of your breathing and heartbeats creates a tempo for this rare and peculiar intimacy. For the first time in ages, perhaps since high school, Satoru didn't feel like 'the Strongest’. He felt painfully human, finding safety in your embrace.

This apartment, that was never quite a home, suddenly felt like one in your arms.

[27potatochips]

The Beginning (but fixed, hopefully)

Ghost rested at the bottom of the container, feeding time had been a while ago and Joseph was napping under his belly, so the only thing he could do now was doze and listen. The guard outside would walk around for a 107 steps, then stop and smoke a cigarette while walking around the container for 55 steps. After that he would continue walking around until shift changed

 Joseph stirred against his belly and Ghost was on guard immediately, the steps had changed. The guard stopped too early. Joseph whined, feeling the disturbance in the air. Ghost softly shushed him, stroking his scarred fingers through the pup’s blond hair and pulling him closer to his chest.

The guard slowly walked away from the container, the sound of a gun being readied accompanying the steps. Then all hell broke loose, yelling erupted as what sounded like a dozen humans flooded into the room. “Hands up! International Merfolk Protection Unit!” A voice barked. The guard cursed and a scuffle broke out.

Ghost pulled Joseph, who was beginning to get scared judging by the shaking and whimpers, closer to his chest and purred soothingly all the while preparing himself for a fight.

The container was opened and a flashlight was shined inside, Ghost gave a rattling hiss, the luminescent markings on his face lighting up. “Easy mate, not here to hurt you.” The flashlight clicked off, revealing the male human behind it, a gentle and concerned look on his bearded face. Ghost hissed again, pushing Joseph further under him.

The human made a strange noise and looked up. “Lads! We got a pup!”

Ghost growled and Joseph whined, his tiny claws hooking into Ghost’s skin. Then something was dropped in the tank and everything went dark.

Soap sighed, sulking in the den in the recovery tank. Had to get himself shot didn’t he? Gaz did say to keep away from the lakes, hunting season, he had said, and teenage boys drunkenly trying to prove themselves men usually didn’t check if the weird shadow in the lake was a lake monster or a protected species trying to mind his own business. He did hear they got a very hefty fine though, served them right, fucking eejits.

Then the doors opened, a whole team coming through. Soap swam up and poked his head out of the water, watching curiously. His interest increased when he saw what the team was transporting, two mer. One very big one (though still smaller than the Whaleshark nearby his normal tank.) and a much smaller one, a pup!

Soap didn’t get much interactions with pups except for the human pups, so this was exciting. He chittered excitedly at the team and tried to peer at what was happening. Gaz, his handler, hurried over and gently pushed him back into the water. “Sorry mate, need some peace to get them situated, found them in a bad situation.” The human said softly. Soap huffed, but stayed low, he wanted to see what was going on, but not if he could cause trouble for them.

Ghost woke with a fuzzy head and a snarl on his lips, where was Joseph? He swung his head around the new environment and was relieved to find the pup snoozing next to him. He moved to hover over the pup protectively as he inspected his new surroundings. They were in a rather big cave that had the look of a barebones den, nothing personal inside and no scent except the faint scent of cleaning materials.

He shook the fuzziness from his head and looked down at Joseph, checking him over. No new wounds or scrapes, and the ones not new were neatly bandaged. Strange. The jackasses that held them captive wouldn’t have bothered. When Ghost looked over his own body even he was taken care of, wounds bandaged.

Before he could ponder it any further, Joseph made a little noise that indicated he was waking up, one tiny eye opened, blinking sleepily. “Pa?” He whined. Ghost’s heart ached, the loss of Tommy and Beth was still so fresh. It hurt to take Tommy’s place, but Joseph needed a father, and Ghost already had experience.

“I’m here, Jo.” Ghost crooned softly, stroking his blond curls. Joseph settled down, nuzzling into Ghost’s scarred chest with a pleased purr. Joseph was safe. Ghost relaxed a little, nuzzling Joseph back with a responding purr. They were safe…

Soap has been trying to get his new neighbor’s attention for two days now, chirping and chittering at the still waters. He was about to sigh and give up for the day when he heard a small chirp respond. He immediately perked up, it was the pup! Only this time looking a lot more lively. The pup's big green eyes looked at him warily, but also curiously. Soap shrunk into himself a bit, trying to make himself look smaller. “Hello lil one! You doin’ better?” The pup was still for a few seconds before nodding. “Mhm, papa is still hurt though.” The pup said. Soap frowned. “Oh, that’s not good, where is papa hurt?”

The pup rose from the water a bit more, tiny claws hooking into the side of the tank they were in. “He’s sleeping a lot and he’s warmer than usual and he keeps making this weird bed in the den.” The pup sounded concerned, but Soap knew what it was.

“Sounds like your papa is going through heat, he has never done this before?” The pup shook his head. “No, is it dangerous?” The pup’s lips wobbled. Soap was quick to soothe. “Oh no, heat is something that all Mers go through, it can look different in different Mer, but its natural. Means he feels safe enough to be vulnerable.”

The pup nodded, but still didn’t seem reassured. “Okay, but… can you still check up on him..?” Those big emerald eyes made Soap melt, so despite it being a bit weird to check up on a Mer in heat that’s not family, he agreed. “Of course, I’ll be over in a minute. Call me Soap.”

Soap heaved himself out of the water, dragging himself over to the edge of the other tank so he could slide in. Once inside the water he could already taste the heat pheromones, but it was not the scent of a happy Mer.

The pup immediately attached himself to Soap’s side, those big eyes staring up at Soap. “I’m Joseph, mr Soap, can you help papa?” Soap hesitantly placed his hand on Joseph’s blond curls and ruffled the strands. “I’ll try my best, Joseph, now, where is your da?”

Joseph led him to a cave that functioned like a den, inside was a Mer, curled up in a nest and sleeping. Soap tasted the pheromones, the Mer was obviously uncomfortable, but Soap could pick up the subtle hints. Grief, relief, a need for their pup, and hunger, he could fix the last two. “Joseph, seems like your dad went into an emergency heat, it’s supposed to calm a Mer down so they don’t die from stress, but it looks like it gave him even more stress. He’s hungry most of all, so I will hunt for you." Soap told the pup, who whined. "I wanna help papa too..."

Shit yeah he should have seen that coming, "Uh, just snuggle up to him, that is the best you can do when he's like this." Soap told Joseph. The pup nodded and zipped to his father’s side, purring softly as he tried to help.

Soap quickly left to go get the pair some food, the caretakers often released fish inside the tanks the first few days to let the Mer’s acclimate and not overwhelm them with humans, but with his own wound he couldn’t really hunt, so he hoped whatever he caught would be enough.

Soap returned with an armful of prey to the sight of Joseph being thoroughly groomed and cuddled by the previously unconscious Mer. He stopped at the edge of the den, and let out an uncertain chirp, not knowing if he would be allowed to help.

The Mer whirled around with a snarl, the skeleton shaped luminescent markings on his body flaring up with light before Joseph wriggled in his arms. “Pa! That’s Soap, he’s helping!” The pup whined. The Mer looked down at his pup before letting out a huff and releasing the little one, pushing him back further into the den the Mer came closer towards Soap, who was getting a bit nervous. While Joseph was absolutely adorable, a full grown Shark Mer was a bit more intimidating.

The Mer’s gills flared as he took in Soap’s pheromones, analyzing them before relaxing a bit, chirping at the prey in Soap’s arms. Soap offered carefully offered one. “Here, for you and your pup.” He said, a bit awkwardly. The Mer glared at him for another few seconds before snatching the prey and inspecting it.

Soap felt himself push out his chest proudly a bit when the Mer let out a impressed chirp and turned to feed Joseph first, cooing over the pup who eagerly devoured it. The obviously wary Mer liked the prey I brought! He cheered inside his head.

Once Joseph was done with his prey the Mer turned back to Soap, who immediately handed the rest over, trying not to purr at the contact. Keep it together, John! He scolded himself. He’s obviously traumatized and grateful for the help with feeding his pup, it doesn't mean anything! The Mer didn’t even glance before scarfing most of it down like he was starved (which he probably was. Great, now Soap made himself sad.)

The Mer looked up from the prey, looking a bit guilty, and offered the rest back to Soap, who shook his head as he tried not to squeal. “No no, I can get my own.” He tried to refuse, but the Mer pouted (How can you get any more cute?! Soap thought) and offered it more insistently. “Hungry, hurt, eat.” The Mer grunted, voice rough. Soap felt his stomach rumble and reluctantly accepted, eating as the Mer looked on with satisfaction.

Only when Soap had eaten all of it did the Mer purr in satisfaction, grabbing Soap’s arm and dragging him inside the den. Soap let out a startled chirp as he pushed onto the nest next to Joseph. Joseph immediately snuggled up to the Seal Mer, making room for his father to lay down on the opposite side of him. “Whoa! At least tell me your name-“ The Mer grumbled. “Ghost. Sleep.” So Soap did, because you try arguing with an in heat Shark Mer.

And done! Phew, i swear this was a pain to post, thank you @azilver for telling me it went wrong! if you reblogged the previous version of this one, please delete it and reblog this version instead, this one is much better i promise <3

Anyways, hope y'all enjoyed. I'm personally very much liking this AU and it's nice to see you all enjoy it too.

Please tell me if you want to be added to the taglist and i will try my best!

Taglist: @queermentaldisaster, @forestshadow-wolf, @bringinsexybackk69, @meowmeowriley, @traumschwinge

[greenhorn-art]

World Champions | Artwork for World Champions by TheDefenestrator by TheDefenestrator, art by Blurb_brain

Fandom: The King's Avatar | 全职高手

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Category: Gen

Words: 71 944

At the end of season 4 of the Glory Pro Alliance, the government finally receives the information it has been waiting for: The other players have caught up. Or, In which Glory has been a government recruitment ploy for remote-piloted mecha operators all along.

About the Book

FONTS: Mundo Serif, Azonix [dafont], Segoe UI Symbol

IMAGES: Illustration by Blurb_brain [AO3]; cover image by NASA ID: 440611 [Rawpixel]; Planet Earth background ID: 6331593 [Rawpixel]; Circuit lines background ID: 3117935 [Rawpixel]; endpapers' image by Eric Eastman [Unsplash]; Swoksaar, Desert Dust, Lord Grim, Vaccaria, and Cloud Piercer [The King's Avatar Wikia]

MATERIALS: regular printer paper (8.5"x11", 96 bright, 20lb), 80pt bookboard, Iris Bookcloth (colour: Black Pearl), Neenah cardstock (8.5"x11", bright white, 65lb), waxed linen thread (white, 30/3 size), embroidery floss (shades 3750, 350, 3845, 370), leather cording (1.9mm diameter), Reeves’ acrylic paint (Mars Black, Phthalo Blue, Titanum White), Americana acrylic paint (glow in the dark), ph neutral pva glue (Books by Hand)

PROGRAMS USED: Typeset in Affinity Publisher, cover/title page/endpapers designed in Affinity Designer/Photo, QR codes generated with LibreOffice Writer, PDF arranged for printing with Bookbinder-JS

BINDING STYLE: quarto, case bound (slightly rounded, with oxford hollow, forgot to use tapes)

.

Fenes' "Glory's tech isn't handwaved" AU. This was great! Funny and creative, and I'm both amazed and full of admiration for Fenes' ability to juggle so many characters.

I was feeling excited and ambitious with this one. Tried some new fun things (double core endbands, painted edges) and used some new equipment (a lying press).

The Text

TITLE/HEADINGS FONT: Azonix says 'SciFi' to me, it's a bold, non-serif, sleek font.

BODY FONT: Mundo Serif, it's a decent serif body font I haven't used before. Felt like it worked with Azonix.

SCENE BREAKS: a special character in Segoe UI Symbol of a black & white icon of Earth, the globe showing Asia.

TYPESETTING: Finished typesetting the fic, left document open on my laptop, laptop's battery failed, file now crashes immediately upon reopening, issue persists with copied versions of file (；￣Д￣) . Thankfully I had a backup file for the typeset with the barebones of the text, so I didn't have to restart from scratch...

Title Page

My thinking: it takes place in space, the world's at stake, and it's the dawn of a new horizon for Earth. Glory and the titular champions are represented by Swoksaar, Desert Dust, Lord Grim, Vaccaria, and Cloud Piercer – the captains of what I'd call the 'big 5' teams. A circuitry board background element hints at the tech/mecha nature of the story's competition. It may not match Blurb's art, but I hope I was able to convey some of what the story is about.

The circuitry image is used as decoration throughout the book. I only used the avatars of the top five teams' captains because too many silhouettes would lessen their impact and readability. (Removing the backgrounds was tedious, but worth it.)

Here's what it should have looked like. The test prints for this and the BB art were fine, but I think my inkjet started running out of ink just when I printed the final copies and I didn't reprint them. (Too impatient, really wanted to finish up and read the book)

The Cover

World Champions is another Big Bang fic, and once again I based some of my design choices off of the accompanying artwork. The dominant colours of Blurb_brain's illustration are red and blue-green.

COVER PAPER: For the decorative cover material I used NASA's ASTER image of Poyang Lake. NASA has some really interesting photography some of which remind me of marbled paper, thought it could be interesting. I chose this image of Poyang Lake because 1) it's in China, 2) the colours were similar to Blurb's awesome illustration (fate strikes again, dropping matching images and artwork into my lap!), and 3) NASA is tangentially relevant to the fic, which takes place in space.

BOOKCLOTH: Verona bookcloth in the shade Black Pearl, a lovely dark navy blue colour. Thought it suited the cover paper and title page. (Bought it for this fic specifically, but the colour goes well with almost all of my decorative papers so it should see a lot of use in the future!)

Endpapers

The final decision that held this project at a standstill for two months. In the end I drew inspiration from the matchups against the final opponent in the story. The image I used is a little chaotic and a little too unrelated to identify why I picked it without an explanation, but this book is for me and I know why, so there. (Note that I played around with the colours and cropped the photo.)

Endpaper inspiration: the maps for the matches against the Infilhites

"a long bridge through an enormous tube-like hall, where light seem to come from every side through stained glass windows. It was visually confusing, limited lateral motion" "a warehouse, crates stacked on and beside metal racks that went all the way to the ceiling." "a house of mirrors, fully enclosed to be sure the Infhillte couldn’t fly out of it." "like a volcano, rivers of lava moving sluggishly down a slope, occasional vents of overheated air nearby." "a series of overlapping bridges between halls and stairways, level after level layered over an open abyss."

Trimming & Painting the Edges

Going all out, a 2-for1 deal: the opportunity to use my lying press for the first time and learn a new technique!

TRIMMING: Used a paring chisel and lying press.

CHISEL: The 1.25" wide paring chisel I used was form a modern manufacturer. (Vintage paring chisels are very thin, enough so that you can bend/flex the blade. But don't do that.) It's long and wide blade made it easier to register against the surface of the press for consistent cuts. Looks like this one below from Lee Valley.

LYING PRESS: My dad's project. Solid black walnut, hand carved screws and internal threads — he even made the tools to make the threads too! The jaws of the press are each 3 7/8" wide. It's big and heavy (though much smaller than full-sized professional ones omg), but there's enough of a flat surface to register the chisel against. A thicc boi, much like this one below from Bookbinding Supplies.

PAINTED EDGES: The idea was to have dark navy edges, speckled with white stars. I used acrylic from a tube to paint the edges — tutorials recommended it over liquid bottled acrylic, and I had an old set hanging around. Had to water it down because otherwise the paint just flaked off.

My test of trimming and painting went well. Then the trimmed book itself came out slightly crooked, the paint required significantly more watering-down than before, and the white paint did not want to be both opaque and speckle-able. Unfortunate, but still book-shaped! And now I have an idea of what to do differently next time.

Also, did not like the glow-in-the-dark paint. Looked too translucent in the light when compared to the white acrylic, and needed a thicker coat to be visible in the dark. (The thickness combined with the translucence and base colour kinda reminded me of boogers... Ended up scrapping most of it off, so there's not much left to glow.)

Endbands

Still in the mood to have fun and go all-out, I attempted double-core endbands for the first time.

TUTORIAL: YouTube @ BookbindersChronicle: Bookbinding 101 Sewing Headbands Session 2. Also watched @ DAS Bookbinding's Double-Core Endband // Adventures in Bookbinding, but I personally found Chronicle's closeup video easier to follow.

I used embroidery floss from a 100pk of assorted colours off Amazon, wrapped around a core of 1.9mm leather cording from Michaels. I drew from Blurb_brain's art for the general colours, choosing a dark base, with red, blue-green, and gold. The specific shades were picked to go with the cover.

[velnna]

Since you probably use more social media than most people, I was curious on what you think of the ones u use, especially now that blue sky is open to the public

Eh, I'm not super well versed on them these days because I mostly use them to respond to notifications, post and disappear, plus I have notifications filtered everywhere so I don't keep track of engagement. ESPECIALLY with bluesky, I've never even opened the general timeline there 😅

Twitter is still my favourite social media and the one I use more seamlessly. I think I see value in it because it's not primarily meant for visual posts and there's people from a bunch of different fields and industries engaging with whatever all at once, plus the line between commenting on a post and making a post yourself is blurred which gives for some funny interactions. It used to intimidate me but now I'm just chilling.

Bluesky I guess is supposed to be the same thing? But I can't bring myself to engage with it idk. Back when it started I could see that the most active people there were the ones actively hating twitter, while.. doing the exact same things on bluesky they did on twitter 🤷‍♂️ so I think Elon Musk aside it's basically the same thing with less users.

I used to be big on instagram but basically stopped using it when they introduced reels, now I just post and disappear. I hate that they couldn't just leave it simple and uncluttered and the fact that reels became so popular pissed me off lmao.

Tiktok is a tricky one for me because I go "viral" easily there and it's my biggest platform BUT it's very addicting and you sorta have to scroll through the main page to find content to make + a lot of the time you need to make content specifically for it. Which is a time sink for me in a lot of ways :') I tend to open it every other month to maybe post something then ghost again

Tumblr is... fine? Idk tumblr definitely feels like both the most useless and the easiest social media to use. Useless in the sense that I never expect anything that happens on tumblr to materialise into anything outside of it. Easiest in the sense that it's just chill for me to post and engage with what people send me without needing to think about it too hard. Trying to get original content to take off here was in vain but fanart does particularly well as expected.. which means it only started being fun for me when I got into BG3 as I'd never been in a fandom before lmao. I like that, just like twitter, it's not only for visual posts, but get overwhelmed at the idea of blogs and formatting and sorting posts, so I only use it barebones and tend to not engage with the main page/timeline either

Engagement-wise, I honestly couldn't tell ya. I think that comes down to you paying attention to each social media's trends and how people interact with it. Personally I'm (very luckily) at a stage where 99% of the time I don't care about whether a post makes numbers or flops, and my platforms are big enough that if I REALLY needed something to do well I could probably find a way to make it loud enough so yknow

Hope this answers your question :'D

[genork-the-fandork]

Aquarius

Word Count: 538 Prompt: Stargazing/Injury A/N: Every time I combine these prompts, I kind of do it in the most barebones way, and it's true for this one, too. I'd like to think I did at least some justice to the idea that popped into my head suddenly as I started writing. I hope Aquarius likes it, too! (Maybe.) @thenaluarchive @allaboutnalu

Natsu found Lucy sitting outside, her bandaged arms wrapped around her knees. "Wendy's looking for ya, Lucy," he said, taking a seat beside her. He made no move to force her back inside, mostly because if he did, he'd probably make her injuries worse. Or at least, that's what everyone kept telling him.

"Just a few more minutes. I wanted to see the stars." Lucy lifted one hand and pointed up at the sky. "Look, you can see Aquarius tonight."

Ah, so that was why. He smiled as he peered up at the sky. "That one?" He pointed.

She shook her. "No, a little to the right." Lucy leaned into him, lining up her arm with his eyesight. His grin widened as she pointed out the constellation. Her face was practically glowing with happiness, the kind he always saw whenever she talked about the celestial spirits. But just as she was about to give some fun fact that he would promptly forget, she winced. "Ow."

"Your arm?" Natsu held her arm gently as she lowered it. She sighed when it was back on her lap, as if the pain had come from lifting it rather than the wounds she'd gotten today. "Should we go find Wendy?"

"No, it's fine." Though she still looked pained, she lifted her head to the sky again. "I want to stay with her a little longer."

He didn't need to ask who she meant. Although he would probably forever know her as the mean fish lady, Natsu was well aware that Aquarius had meant a lot to Lucy, and that she had never given up on someday finding her again. Even he had some fondness for Lucy's spirits, but because they meant a lot to Lucy, they mattered to him, too. "We'll find her, Lucy. I promise."

"I know." Lucy smiled over at him. "Thank you, Natsu."

Natsu returned her smile and gazed back up at the stars with her. For once, neither of them filled the silence with words, choosing instead to take in all the individual stars that they could see from their place in Magnolia. Although the Celestial Spirit World wasn't quite heaven the way he was aware of it, he had to wonder if there was any way Aquarius was still watching over Lucy. They'd been together for years, right? Surely the mean fish lady would always care for Lucy.

Well, in her stead, he'd just have to make sure Lucy was alright.

"C'mon, Lucy, we should go find Wendy. Don't want those injuries getting worse." He stood up and brushed himself off before holding out a hand for her to take.

"Since when you do care so much about getting well soon?" Lucy teased, taking his hand and letting him pull her to her feet.

"Let's just say I owe it to a friend." More like a friend of a friend, but close enough, right?

Lucy tilted her head and flicked a glance up at the stars before looking back at him with a grin. "You're right. Let's go get patched up, Natsu."

Natsu preferred to think that Aquarius was smiling right now, even if it was more likely that she'd start screaming at the both of them.

[imakemywings]

How to Kink Meme 101

I think that for fans who never used Dreamwidth and didn't grow up on LiveJournal, kink memes can be a little intimidating (I know I was intimidated initially). But I've also never seen a format that works better for hosting one that Dreamwidth. So here is a quick guide to get you reading and posting on kink memes (and YES, there ARE still active kink memes on DW--and if your fandom's isn't, make a new one!)

And just to cover upfront: Despite the name, requests and fills generally do not have to be sexual in nature (a kink meme will state in the rules if requests are required to be sexual). You can usually request anything on the kink meme, from the smuttiest smut to the fluffiest fluff and everything in between.

The first step is always to review that kink meme's rules. Most of them will be common sense--don't bash, don't out another poster, stay on topic, etc. But it's always good to check in case there's something you didn't expect (ex: some kink memes require you to put certain trigger warnings in the title of a request).

TO REQUEST:

Find the active prompt post. Many kink memes for larger fandoms will have multiple prompt posts. When one gets too long, mods will close it to new requests and start a new one. They will usually try to make it very clear which is the active one. Here's an example from the Dragon Age kink meme:

Part 8 is where you go to prompt. Other parts may still be open for fills, but are closed for new prompts. Here's another example from the Mass Effect kink meme:

Here, the current post is stickied to the top of the page, and is tagged "current part" to let you know it's the active prompt post.

2. Once you select the right prompt post, make sure you're replying to the prompt post itself, not to someone else's comment. DW pages vary in style, but that reply button can reliably be found at the bottom of the page. Here's another example from the DAO page:

The "reply" option WITHIN that bottom request will respond directly to that comment. The "reply" option in the bar at the bottom will reply to the entire thread. That's the one you want to hit.

Here's another example from The Silmarillion kink meme:

And one more from Middle-earth kink:

3. Okay so you've hit reply and you're ready to type out your idea. The one most important requirement of all kink memes is anonymity. Anonymity in requests, and in posting. Even if you feel comfortable posting with your username attached, you need to post anonymously. You can de-anon somewhere else and even link to that, but the post on the kink meme should be anonymous. That's where this button comes in:

"More options." You hit that, and you'll get the option to make an anonymous post:

And now you're really ready to go. Put something short and descriptive in the title (Ex: "Kirk/Spock Coffee Shop AU" or "Iron Bull get pegged") and give a longer description (as needed) in the body. Requests can be as short as a sentence or as long as several paragraphs--whatever you feel like is necessary.

Make sure to include any "do not wants" here! If you aren't sure what that means, check below.

NB: Generally, it's considered polite to keep a reasonable ratio of requests::fills. That is, if you're making a lot of requests, you should be trying to fill some from others. It doesn't have to be only fic either--if you're better at drawing than writing, a fanart fill most often works too!

TO FILL:

Okay, so there's requests...but say you find an idea you really like and you want to give OP a fill. It's going to be the same deal as before, except in the body of your post you'll put the fic rather than a request. DW has a character limit per comment, so it's not unusual to break even a relatively short fill into multiple posts. Nor do you have to post the whole fill at once--updating as you do with a fic elsewhere is totally fine. Here's what it will look like when multiple fill posts nest:

And that's really all there is to the basics! DW is an older, more barebones site, so if you're accustomed to the newer web, it may seem clunky and hard to navigate, but once you've posted a time or two it will seem very simple and the kink meme community is a lot of fun!

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

"Do not derail" - Generally it's common courtesy on the kink meme not to derail a request. That is, if someone wants "A/B outdoor temple sex" it's considered rude to comment "Would love to see this with A/C!" If you like the idea but want something changed, it's better to just post your own request, even if it's very similar.

Asking for clarification - It's totally fine if you want to ask OP for clarification on a point before making a fill. Keeping it anonymous, you can just respond to the original prompt to see if they meant X or Y, or if they would be okay with Z thing in the fic.

"Bonus" requests - It's pretty common to see "bonus" requests in a prompt. That is, things OP would like to see, but are fine not receiving. You can put as many of these as you like in your requests, and as a filler, can choose to include or not include as many of them as you want. Here's what that might look like:

5. DNW - "Do not wants." This is where you put anything that would be a deal-breaker for you: something that would cause you to not read the fic at all, or not to enjoy it. Again, you can put as many as you want, or none. Here are some examples of that:

6. Commenting!! - If someone fills your prompt, you should make sure to thank them! Even if the fill wasn't exactly what you wanted, it's nice to find something kind to say about it, since someone spent the time to write something for you. And of course, feel free to comment even if the prompt wasn't yours!

7. Multiple fills - There is absolutely no problem with doing multiple fills on a prompt! If the prompt inspires you, go for it! I've definitely written fills for prompts that already had two or three fills. Usually, OP is delighted to have more than one fill ^.^ I think it's really interesting to see where different authors take the same prompt, and some prompts are open to a variety of characters.

8. Fill posts - Some kink memes also have a separate "fill post," somewhere you drop links to fills. This is just a neat way of collecting them, so if you fill a prompt, try to drop a link there, just to get more eyes on it!

9. De-anoning - So you've written a fill anonymously, but you want to share on your AO3/tumblr/Twitter/wtv. Feel free! You can out yourself as the author of a fill wherever else you want, and "de-anon from the kink meme" was a pretty common author's note to see back in the day. You can even comment on the original kink meme fill with a link to other places you've posted it. Personally, I usually come back and drop an AO3 link to any fills I crosspost.

10. Timing - Some kink memes are quite old, with requests going back 10+ years. The OP of that prompt may no longer be checking it, but that shouldn't stop you from filling the prompt if you like it--you're almost sure to find another audience owo

11. Alerts - DW is pretty limited in the "notifications" you can receive from it, but if you have or make a DW account and want to get notified of updates on a kink meme, you'll want to first subscribe to that page.

(I'm already subscribed here, but that little journal will show a green checkmark if you aren't yet subscribed, and you just hit that so that any new posts on the meme will go into your DW feed.)

However, because kink memes operate more on comments than posts, you'll also want to get alerts for any new comments from the active prompt post. Find the active prompt post, and hit this bell button:

You'll get this pop-up:

And you can go ahead with the email notif, or if you're like me and want DW notifications to stay on DW and out of my email, hit "More Options" and uncheck the email notif. This way, any new comments will only show up in your DW inbox as an unread message.

And that's everything! Or at least everything I can think of. If you have another question please feel free to comment. I think kink memes are a lot of fun and I hate to think of anyone unable to participate because they're not familiar with the format.

Enjoy!

Kink memes in this post (+ some others):

Dragon Age main page (Origins, II, Inquisition)

Middle-earth kink

Silm kink meme

Arcane kink meme

Mass Effect kink

Skyrim kink meme

[12pt-times-new-roman]

c3e87

We open on the Bells Hells traversing through the storms on foot, with Kraveris in sight through the cleft valley of a mountain. There's one travel roll left, and they roll another, more severe storm.

As the storm abates, there's another flare -- it feels the same, but every Ruidusborn gets 15 temporary hitpoints (does not stack with the flares from before, as with normal temp hp).

FCG casts sending on Ira (twice), and it's like there's a haze between them and the Changebringer so it takes more effort than normal to cast the spell, and the spell itself takes longer to find its destination, but it does work. "Bells Hells here, on the moon with you. We've got information and treasure. And plans. So many plans. Laudna says hi. Where can we find you?" // "Oh, my. You've finally come along! Welcome to the crimson land of the strange and beautiful. I've been busy watching, learning." // "In relation to Kraveris, where might we find you? Please be specific and brief so that we may speak more in person. Laudna still says hi." // "But where's the fun in that? I'm very interested to talk, but I want to see how interested you are in finding me."

They decide to try to connect with the Volition to get access to the city. Imogen tries a sending to Vesh. "You didn't trust us before. Maybe the dispatching of Admuda will convince you. We need to find the Volition. We're here to help. Outside Kraveris." // "Look. If you must talk, find me in the Jagged Edge, within the Clutch. Tell Jodot that you are of the Vanguard, and looking for a contract."

Then, they head to one of the outposts that stands outside the walls of the city itself.

Fearne notes that she could potentially look like a reiloran because she's been practicing her magic, and they work out that because the reiloran's low-level telepathy doesn't give a direction if the creature is unknown, they can do a bit of telepathic ventriloquism to make it seem like she's actually talking.

That brings up a good point though: couldn't they polymorph into reilorans? The ones they've encountered have been of varying class levels, so some of them have had to be lower than level/CR 11, and it's not like PCs haven't polymorphed into other humanoid creatures before.

As they approach the outpost, they see another figure that they haven't seen before: eight feet tall, clad in leather armor, with furred legs almost like a sasquatch. Fearne disguises herself as a reiloran, and Imogen speaks through her: "New recruits for the Vanguard. Our caravan broke down, and yours was the nearest outpost."

This figure has a deep voice, southern accent, and isn't sure why they'd bring recruits here -- it seems like there are fewer reilorans and more armed (possibly drafted) civilians manning the outpost. But they let them through, their ruse works for now.

The tower, though pretty tall, is also empty except for motion-sensitive lanterns and some barebones provisions.

While FCG ritual casts telepathic bond, Ashton and Laudna go up to the top of the tower. There are crenulated parapets here, fit to take cover behind or put a spyglass through; one of the guards, another of the sasquatch-type people, actually has an Exandrian firearm, and the other is a bormodo with a spyglass.

Chetney learns that the name of the outpost is Tyran A.

While Laudna scouts with Pate, Ashton trades questions with the bormodo. They ask what strawberries, apples, and blueberries taste like. Ashton gets the name of a bar, and learns that the Clutch is an outer ward of the city.

With Pate, Laudna sees something carved into the earth, and a protrusion that looks almost like a warhorn (which indicates that telepathy is more of a short-ranged thing, and they need actual sound to project over long distances). In the city, for as refined as she would've expected, it appears that the surface has been eroded away, dilapidated; the fine details and sharp edges have been worn down, there are no bustling throughfares, and it reminds her of Bassuras. (Almost like the majority of the city's infrastructure and populace is below-ground.)

Orym gathers some information about the "Attrition" (I'm assuming he purposefully mispronounced "Volition," but I dunno if I missed something) -- they can come from anywhere, they can be anyone, "it's just kind of a gut feeling... if you hear something loud and dangerous, you run." The sasquatch-guy points out a ruin that was once an outpost.

The two reiloran guards defer to Fearne because Imogen told them she's the Willmaster, and the facade almost cracks because of the latency between Fearne receiving their telepathy and Imogen talking back to them -- but Fearne just makes the deception check. The reilorans refer to "the Will" as if it's some kind of independent council or agency that hires and gives orders to the Willmaster, but this might also be their name for the Weave-mind.

Breaking news: Sam, after a whole-ass campaign playing a bard, learns how ritual spells work.

As they all gather at the base of the tower and prepare to head toward the city, Imogen puts the circlet back on.

They approach the walls of the city, having gone around the main gates, and find that there are homes and businesses clustered together like eggs on the surface-level. Laughter, and they see a group of children petting, grooming some kind of livestock.

Break time!

They descend onto the main street of a semi-subterranean village on the outskirts of Kraveris, and approach the two children: a reiloran and a bormodo -- Asha and Kolito, respectively. The reiloran is speaking with her actual voice, not telepathy.

They tell them that "the Clutch" is this entire section of the city, outside the walls where the buildings are clustered like eggs. They aren't allowed to go underground because they're "clutch-folk" -- their families aren't important enough to be allowed into the lower layers of the city.

All of the above-ground city is the Keluma-Kraveris, and the below-ground part is the Vatera-Kraveris. "The Crumbles" are the parts of the city where the upper layer has crumbled down into the lower layers, and it's a kind of wretched hive, "where the rough folk live."

They also take interest in Chetney -- "you're so small, but so old!" Also, Chetney continues to be fantastic with kids, which is hilarious to me -- they've never had toys before, only dreams of them, and Chetney makes them some.

Hold up-- Chetney says that the more he makes toys, the less special they get. Did he get Condensed Capitalism, The Feat from Nana Morri?

The guardian of these children comes around the corner, and looks afraid of the Bells Hells. There's a nervousness, a reticence, that belays the relationship that the people of the Clutch have with the Emperium. They say that the Emperium wants to put every resource toward "the coming move," implying that they would draft or otherwise steal away or use their small, seven-year-old children to support their war effort. They also point the Bells Hells to the Jagged Edge.

As they move through town, they see a mixture of the native people of Ruidus: bormodos, reilorans, and the gray-furred sasquatch-like people they saw at the outpost. The majority of them are civilians, thin, living rough, afraid. They scatter, and so do the Bells Hells -- but they botched the stealth roll. There's the sound of scratching on stone as two avadons (giant faceless moon wolves), saddled with reilorans on their backs, trudge through the street. Other figures walk behind it as it moves through, accompanying a wheeled container, heading from the entryway to the city toward the outside. One of the avadons sniffs out Fearne: "you're out in strange places, Vanguard... there have been a number of rising attacks against this city, we're on alert. What is your business? Answer my question, Exandrian. Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

Fearne fumbles her way through the conversation with some decent rolls, but Imogen -- without consulting the party, even though they have telepathic bond up -- takes it upon herself to collapse a building onto the reilorans and every surrounding civilian.

Fearne wildshapes into a tiny-ass fly and tries to get away, triggering an attack from the avadon, and we go into initiative!

They have two choices: either grab Fearne and run, which would let the enemies alert the city, or take everyone out so they can't raise the alarm. It sounds like they're going with the latter, but with some foresight to not cast fireball in the middle of a populated city.

Foregoing the collapsing building plan, Imogen just throws some stones at them, and everyone's engaged and seen at this point so there's no escaping this.

Ashton update: When Ashton deals a critical hit, attacks against that creature have advantage until the start of their next turn. Notably, the wording on this feature -- as Talisein read it -- specified "character," not "creature."

Laudna casts blight through Ashton's hammer, which -- after a spellcasting ability check based on the spell's level -- lets her split the spell and target 2 creatures instead of 1.

Orym update: One of the battle maneuvers he took was riposte.

FCG update: FCG's "toll the dead" is re-flavored to "scramble the dead," and he plays the modem dial-up sound when it happens.

The battle is over and everyone's alive, so they toss all the bodies into the portable hole so that no one else can talk to them later. "We're getting way too good at that -- let's run." Meanwhile, Imogen and Laudna use prestidigitation to get rid of the blood on the streets, and they investigate the cart: it has a 1ftx1ft heavy metal container, which also goes into the hole.

They see a witness in a window, and Laudna sends Pate to intimidate them -- they're an older civilian reilora, spooked. "'ey! You! You don't say a thing. No peeping! Shh. Don't worry; we're all friends here! Look, we even cleaned it up for you! It's a service we provide here. So, what did we learn?"

In the aftermath, they immediately head to the edge of the city. They just barely make a deception check to pass themselves off as people who belong; there are folks talking to each other, gathering -- it's a sense of a military occupying its own city, and it's been like this for a while now. In the Treshi scry ball, they see the faintest blip near the entrance to the city.

FCG casts locate creature on Jodot, and gets a ping within 1,000 feet -- they're far into the city, through this decaying Escher painting that is the surface-level, but they all follow the signal until they come to what appears to be some kind of mercantile district, where hovels, tents, and cabins give way to stained glass, magical lanterns, dyed cloths, and signposts. There are home decor shops, dye shops, gifts -- some have chimneys with smoke. But they eventually come to the outside of a massive kiln, with a structure built around the base of it with a sign carved like the memory of a handwriting. Inside is the clanging of metal, like a workshop.

Inside, it's very warm, and carries the smell of a kiln firing clay. There are all kinds of weapons here -- scimitars with obsidian edges, spears with shards of glass. There are also little knickknacks: models of wuccors, the glass rendition of a dancing reiloran. It's a unique mixture of artistry and weaponry, manned by a tall, rotund, male sasquatch-like creature with stark white hair and heavy goggles, chipping away at a tiny piece of something.

They have a nordic-type accent, I think. The Bells Hells use the key-phrase that Vesh gave them, and they roll insight to see if they're walking into a trap: with FCG's nat20 insight check, they see that the shopkeep is legit.

Jodot walks into a back room, and nearly 5 minutes later, a reiloran shrike emerges: she has dark green eyes with a scar like a C that curves from her eye to the edge of her mouth. As she enters, she's taller than any of them but with a natural hunch to her form. "So. You have my attention -- you said you needed a contract, yes? You wear, ah... deceptive attire. It shows promise. What is your business here in Kraveris? Do you need help smuggling things in, out? What do you want?"

Vesh is speaking with her mouth and voice, like the children from before. She lives among many people, and feels it's best that they all live at the same level. Ashton lays it all out: "We're here to figure out how to stop those who want to release the One Who Sleeps." Imogen clarifies that they're not here to stop reilorans from coming to Exandria, but Ludinus from enacting his plans.

They are not on the opposite side of this conflict from Vesh -- she's not part of the Volition, but she's a liaison between them, so she can show them where to find them. The Volition signals their current safehouse by a different color, and she pulls one from behind a curtain: a deep, royal purple, freshly-dyed. The safehouse is hard to find, so they'll need a vantage point: somewhere in the Banners, a district of the city. She gives them the name of an associate, who will let them through in exchange for wealth. He works at dusk, so they have a few hours, and Vesh can guide them there.

The weapons that used to be built here before the Emperium take-over channeled the lightning from Ruidian storms into attack power.

Stepping back to where she came, Vesh disappears, and Jodot emerges: he allows them to stay in his shop for a short time, so they can rest before heading out again. Chetney offers gold for a gold-plated scythe. Jodot takes the gold and slides it into the kiln, where it'll be melted down, because gold doesn't have much value here apart from being a rare material to work with.

Vesh lets them stay in the basement for an hour to recoup and take a short rest, but they have to be gone by the end of it. Meanwhile, Laudna asks how much the sculpture of the dancing reiloran is -- with a persuasion check, Vesh gives it to her, on the condition that if the Bells Hells are captured and the dancer found, Vesh will give them up.

In the basement of this workshop, they take short rest. Imogen re-attunes to the circlet, while Chetney and Orym investigate the box. The construction of it is familiar -- it's the same as the Cerberus Assembly boxes they procured from the Paragon's Call encampment, and there is a trapped magical lock on it.

Now that sending is working again, FCG wants to contact Frida, and they all wonder why it's suddenly working again. They look at the scry ball, and see that Otohan has moved closer to the center of the city.

They talk a bit about the disparity between classes here on Ruidus, and Imogen expresses that people here might be "better off if they could come to Exandria... they've never seen trees, or anything like that." Orym says that it's beautiful on Ruidus, too, but they want to see what the Dreamers see -- and Laudna recognizes that it's easier to sway those who have been stepped on when they're trying to rally a force against the oppressive Vanguard.

Ashton notes that it's too easy to make assumptions, so they're not exactly infiltrating but they aren't integrating either -- and Chetney, in stride, notes that it wouldn't be the worst thing if half of them got captured. (it would. it would indeed be a terrible thing if half of them got captured. all of them is one thing, but splitting up? disastrous.)

Halfway through this discussion about expendability, Imogen gets a message from Vesh: "wait. Don't move." A half-dozen footsteps sound above them, Laudna casts darkness on the basement, and all they have is the sound of footsteps and silence as we pick up next episode.

[llamagoddessofficial]

Thank you @porculain-skelly for this commission with their amazing OC, there's nothing I love more than two handsome mafia skeletons fighting for someone's hand <3

---

“need a hand?”

... She had been trying to reach the top shelf, stood up on her toes, reaching as high as she could get and only just managing to trace the edge of the dish soap bottle. The voice right behind her made her jump- she immediately fumbled and dropped her grocery bag, startling back and whipping around to face the owner of the voice. 

... 

The skeleton monster in front of her looked, in a word, harmless. Big round sockets, bright white eyelights, a wide smile of pearly white teeth... he held her grocery bag in one hand- he’d caught it, definitely averting disaster. Dressed in a nice blue suit shirt and black pants, he was smiling with a soft, low smile.

“ah, jeez. sorry.” He held her bag out to her. “didn’t mean to spook ya. hope i didn’t scare you a skele-ton.”

...

She let out a tiny laugh, mostly out of a mixture of shock, and relief that the guy who’d snuck up on her like that clearly wasn’t anyone to worry about that. Her posture eased a little, and she accepted her bag from him.

“I-it’s fine.” She let out an exhale of relief. "It wasn’t you. I’m... I’m new in town. I’m a bit skittish right now.”

...

His eyelights flickered to her chest, then back up to her face again. For a split second, it felt like he was sizing her up. But his eyelights settled on her mouth... and something about him shifted. 

She didn’t know what it was. Something loosened, something warmed. Something frozen about him melted. Perhaps in his face, or in his posture, she really couldn’t tell- it was one of those things that you felt rather than saw. But it was like a switch flipped, and a mask of faux politeness disappeared... where before, his smile had been almost customer-service-esque, it now looked like the kind of smile you’d wear around a beloved friend of many years.

He stuffed his hands into his pockets, meeting her gaze. “... i guessed you were new. can’t say i’ve seen you around here before. i’m sans.”

“... Skelly.” She tucked the grocery bag under one arm. “I, uhm... I just moved here a few days ago.”

“oh, really? with your family?” He asked, innocently.

“No, just me.”

“i see.” He smiled. His eyelights, soft and white, seemed friendly. Inviting. “you’re gonna meet a skelly-ton of new friends, i bet.”

... She couldn’t help herself, she let out a little laugh, face brightening. She wasn’t expecting to hear a pun made of her own name. 

“You... I think you already used that one?”

Sans snickered, and shrugged. “ah, what can i say. tibia honest... my jokes have been a little barebones recently.”

That one got a smaller laugh out of her, mostly out of disbelief. His eyelights all but sparkled- he seemed to still enjoy the encouragement.

“how’re you finding the area?”

“... It’s nice. Everyone’s friendly.”

“good.”

She couldn’t explain why. But talking to Sans, in that moment... she couldn’t figure out whether she trusted him or not.

Everything about him indicated there was nothing to be nervous about. Opposite, in fact- his aura felt so trustworthy, it was almost comedic. He was small, soft, borderline cartoonish, with a relaxed and lazy posture. She’d known him for a few minutes at most, and all he’d done was tell silly jokes and rescue her grocery bag from falling on the floor. Surely, a friendly and reliable guy, right?

... But there was just something about him. She couldn’t put her finger on it. She had always been perceptive, and whatever it was about Sans... it was setting off a tiny alarm bell, in the far far corner of her mind.

... She tried to ignore it. Perhaps she was just being overly paranoid? She was always skittish, in a new environment, and she chalked this up to her mind just being on unnecessarily high alert.

(Sans’ expression flickered.)

“... hey. just so you know...” He said, casually, pulling one hand out of his pocket, suddenly holding a little card between his phalanges. He offered it to her. “i know a lot of people and places around these parts. been here a long time. i know moving to a new place where you don’t know anybody can be stressful, so if you need anything, just let me know. ok?”

“... Awh. Thanks.” She said, cheerfully, accepted the card. It had a phone number on it, the fact that the numbers were written in the comic sans font made another smile rise to her face. She put it in her grocery bag- the gesture was definitely appreciated. “It’s nice to meet you, but I should probably get going. I was just gonna grab the...”

She looked up at the shelf. The bottle she’d been trying to reach- it was gone?

“dish soap?”

... She turned back to Sans. He was holding up his hand, and... he was holding up the dish soap bottle. 

Huh? 

She looked, confused, back and forth between the shelf and his hand. Sans had a big smug smile on his face, evidently delighting in her confusion. When had he grabbed that? Didn’t he just have his hands in his pockets, moments earlier?

... He was standing... kinda close to her. Just on the perfect boundary between acceptable and too much, still wearing that polite smile. She could see the stitching on his shirt.

... Skelly swallowed, pulse picking up. Her gaze flickered around his face... he had a nice face. Why... did her own face suddenly feel so... warm? 

...

Sans chuckled. While she stood there, frozen, he passed the dish soap to her. She accepted it purely out of instinct- she didn’t even look at it, trapped by his eyelights.

“nice meetin’ you too, skelly.” He said, warmly, taking a step back. She could suddenly breathe again. “i’ll see you around.” 

Sans turned, and walked away, passing around the corner of the aisle.

... She didn’t need to follow him to know that if she went around the corner and looked... he wouldn’t be there.

///---///

She had barely finished mulling the interaction over, while on her way home that evening, when she encountered yet another skeleton.

She was passing a small bar with a purple flame logo on the front- there was a guy standing just outside of it, his back against the wall, silhouette illuminated gently by the sign’s magenta glow. She couldn’t help but look at him; he was much larger and rougher-looking, big and jagged where Sans was small and round, his eyelights a burning red. A cigarette was perched between his clawed phalanges, wisps of smoke drifting out from between his teeth... the orange glow of the lit cigarette reflected in his single golden tooth, he was pretty attractive. He had a crimson shirt on, dark pants, a very loose tie around his neck- judging by the grouchy expression on his face he looked like he’d just finished a particularly annoying workday.

... He must’ve noticed her stare as she approached. His eyelights flickered over, meeting her gaze... he looked her up and down.

...

His shark grin raised, and he winked at her. She flushed immediately- what the hell? She put her head down, deciding to just ignore him and...

... She tripped.

She barely had time to let out a little squeak of surprise as the floor rushed toward her; quickly, a large arm wound around her middle, saving her from faceplanting into the tarmac, she immediately knew who had saved her as the smell of cigarettes and expensive cologne washed over her. The red-eyed skeleton drew her back up to her feet... a huge hand curled over her shoulder, steadying her where she stood.

She looked up at him. Quite a ways up.

“woah there, doll.” He purred, grinning from nonexistent ear to nonexistent ear. “fallin’ for me already?”

...

“Fuck.” She blurted. “I-I’m so sorry... I’m...” 

Her face was on fire. How absolutely mortifying- nearly falling flat on her face, right in front of an attractive guy. She didn’t even register his pun, she couldn’t look him in the eyelights, she just stared at his chest and wished the floor would swallow her whole.

“easy, easy.” A soft chuckle filtered out of his ribcage, he brushed her shoulder gently. “you gotta pay more attention to where you’re walkin, sweetheart. this is a shitty area with shitty roads. you new around here? i’m red.”

She managed a choked laugh at his comment, still dying inside. “I-I’m... yeah, I’m new. I’m Skelly.”

...

... Then she realised what position he had her in.

Somehow, in the process of catching her and righting her again... ‘Red’ had managed to position her between him and the wall. He was a big guy. Just by standing in front of her, he blocked most of her view of the street.

“I-I...” she couldn’t get words out. Her whole face was colouring even more.

Red was, clearly, enjoying the interaction. 

“... you gotta be careful around these parts, beautiful.” He drawled, casually leaning on the wall next to her, blocking her in even more. “pretty lady like you, all on yer own... some real unsavoury folks might find ya.”

“Un... unsavoury?”

His eyelight glinted, smile getting more mirthful. “pft. yer really new around here, ain’tcha? this place is a rats nest for organised crime.”

She blinked, taken aback. She had no idea.

“Oh. U-uh. Are you...?”

“me? a criminal?” His tooth flashed in the low light. “c’mon, doll. course i am.”

... His honesty caught her off guard. But for some reason, she... wasn’t afraid? Even though he was admitting to being a criminal while not-quite-pinning her to a wall, she wasn’t scared. Just still massively embarrassed.

“... You’re pretty, uh... open about that.”

“got nothin’ to hide.” he hummed. “especially not from you, doll.”

... His tone got a giggle out of her. There was something... oddly charming, about it? And about him. He clearly had nothing to hide, nothing to lie about. His complete honesty was refreshing.

“... I-I... appreciate the save.” She said. “... I need to get home, before it gets too dark, though.”

“ah... course. i should go back in an' pay my tab, too.” Red stepped back. She really, really liked that he backed off as soon as she asked. “i'd say i'm sorry fer keepin’ you so long, sweetheart, but that'd be a lie. see you around?”

She was surprised she felt comfortable enough to tease him. She adjusted her bag on her shoulder. “Not if I can help it, hah.” 

... He clearly liked her tease. He grinned.

“heheh. well, try not to fall for me again on the way home, yeah?”

“I’ll sure try.”

///---///

She thought she wouldn’t see either of them for another few days, at least. Sans and Red, they seemed... well. They just didn’t seem like the kinds of people she would see regularly. Besides, it was a big world, right? No chance she’d encounter them again for a while. It’d give her some time to mull over their interactions.

... Fate had other ideas, though.

It was literally the next day, in the park. She was still getting used to the area, visiting all the local spots, trying to feel more at home in this new place- when she heard her name being called from both directions.

She looked up, surprised, glancing both ways. On one side, Sans was approaching, just as friendly and harmless-looking as she remembered him at the store. And on the other side, Red, who seemed very pleased to see her, striding over.

... Then both of them noticed each other.

“O-oh, hi!” She said, noticing their glares as they drew to either side of her. “Do you two... know each other...?”

Red’s face twisted. “sans.”

Sans’ eyelights flashed. “red.”

... She took that as a yes. They clearly weren’t happy, staring furiously into each other’s Souls- she could feel their auras darkening. 

(She suddenly felt like a deer, pinned in on either side by two equally vicious wolves. She was trying her best to appear invisible.)

... Red’s head cocked. He was all but growling, when he spoke. 

“whatcha think yer doin’ here, shorty? this ain’t your turf.”

Sans’ tone, on the other hand, was calm and easy. As was his face. Completely dissonant with the situation. “i was going to talk to my new pal.” 

“oh? yer pal?” Red shifted his eyelights over to her, his tone easing juuust enough for her to know he wasn’t directing his anger at her. “don’t listen to this snake, sweetheart. you don't wanna be his pal. he’s a serial liar, can’t trust him as far as ya can throw him.”

... Huh? She looked to Sans. He looked calm, he looked easy, his smile was unmoving. But his eyelights were absolutely razor sharp as he looked at Red. For some reason, the fact that he seemed so carefree and controlled in his manner... it was icy. It was just as intimidating as Red’s increasing aggravation, if not more so.

... Fuck. She wanted to shrink. A quick glance around told her people were pointedly moving away from the three of them. This can’t get any worse.

Sans raised his brows in mock surprise. “you’re one to talk about trust, red. you seriously expect her to trust a murderous thug? i’m shocked that you managed to stop thinking with your crotch long enough to string this many sentences together.”

“at least i’m honest about what i am.” Red was staring to bare his teeth, gold tooth glinting in the sun. “i’m not a psycho who likes to cosplay as a halfway decent guy.”

A psycho? A murderous thug? The fact that they knew each other and were describing each other so viciously made her regret being so friendly with them. She felt fear prickling up her spine- just what the hell had she gotten herself into?

...

“this is stupid.” Sans said, breaking the silence. He reached over and gently took her hand- she nearly jumped, but his movements were precise and his tone was sweet and disarming. “c’mon. let’s get out of here.” 

“like hell i’m lettin’ you be alone with her, you crazy fucker.” Red snarled, snatching her other hand and holding it tightly. “we’re getting out of here. right sweetheart?”

Both of them were suddenly looking right at her. Sans, with soft eyelights that hid a terrifying amount. And Red, with blazing frightening eyelights that hid nothing.

“... I-I...” she looked back and forth between them, fear glueing her words to the inside of her throat. “I-I, uh... I’m...”

She had kinda trusted both of them, before. Now she absolutely trusted neither. 

“look, you idiot. yer scarin’ her.”

“i’m scaring her? seriously?”

... It was all too much. She yanked both her hands out of theirs and ran.

...

The two skeletons stood there, equally frustrated and dejected, as she disappeared out of view. They both knew chasing her would only make things worse.

“... crap.” Red grunted.

Sans rubbed his forehead. “... i think we scared her.”

... Red glanced at the shorter skeleton, folding his arms. “gotta say, i knew we’d fight about somethin’ eventually. but i thought it’d be territory, or weapons, or whatever. never figured it’d be a cute girl.”

Sans returned the glance. Now that she had gone, he'd dropped the harmless aura. “do you know where she lives?”

Red glared. “course i do. do you?”

“obviously." Sans’ eyelights were unreadable. "look... we both really like her. maybe it’s best we give her a little space, for now? time to chill out. if we chase her up now, she won't like either of us.”

... Red clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “... aight. fine. but if i find out you’re visitin’ her anyway, i’ll have someone break yer ribs, shortstack.”

... Sans chuckled.

“sure you will.”

[electronickingdomfox]

"My Enemy, My Ally" review

Romulans stole Spock's brain! (or at least, some Vulcan brains)

Novel from 1984, by Diane Duane, and the first of the five-book series Rihannsu.

The plot itself is okay: the Romulans have a new devious scheme (capturing Vulcans to extract the telepathic abilities from their brains), and the Enterprise must stop their plans. Only this time, Kirk will have to collaborate with a bunch of good, renegade Romulans to succeed. It's not terribly original, nor it's the first time that Kirk has allied himself with Romulans in these novels, but as a plot it's entertaining. However, the narrative drags a lot, specially in the first half of the novel, and it takes a reaaally long time to set things into motion. In part, this is due to a "tell, rather than show" approach. For example, there's a lengthy conversation about how the Enterprise and its Romulan allies are going to stage a fake battle between both ships, in full detail. And then a lengthy description of the ships doing just that. One of these two segments isn't needed. There's also a lot of fluff, specially in scenes at the Recreation deck, and plenty of new character introductions, that don't lead anywhere nor have any real importance. A lot of the new character roles could have been filled by the usual crew, anyway. Now, I don't think that a novel should just be barebones plot, but I didn't find these "extra" scenes particularly entertaining nor enlightening. So in my opinion, this novel would have improved greatly if it was cut short. Though the later sections suffer less of this, and are more focused.

The story is notable for introducing a lot of new material about Romulan culture, and specially language (which seems to me even more unpronounceable than Klingon). In fact, most of the time Romulans are referred to as "Rihannsu", which is the name of the race in their own language. I don't know to what extent Duane developed the grammar and vocabulary, but it seems to have a certain structure to it. There's also much emphasis on the power of names over things and people, and some glimpses into the Romulan worship of Elements. A lot of this has probably never been incorporated into the series, but Romulans having several names (of which only the first is revealed to strangers) seems to have its origins here.

As for characters, the most developed one is Ael, the Romulan commander that strikes an alliance with Kirk. At times she comes dangerously close to Mary Sue territory (for example, beating McCoy at a game she had just learned, despite the doctor being skilled enough to beat none other than Spock). But otherwise, she's fine for her role in the story. In many ways, she's both a mirror and a foil for Kirk, suffering also under the weight of command, and the difficult decisions between duty and her crew's wellbeing. Though not exactly a tragic character, there's also a lot of sadness and burdens in her past. On the other hand, Kirk rubbed me the wrong way. Or rather, his relationship with his crew. I found it way too lax and informal, and sometimes it seems he's more like a cool dad for them, rather than a Captain. Kirk in the series had his goofy moments, of course, and Shatner imbued him with much comedic potential. But nonetheless, there was always some gravitas about him, and a respectful distance with his subordinates. Even with someone as close as Spock, he was usually pretty formal. The only one who broke this pattern was McCoy, and that was precisely why their relationship was special. So yeah, I just don't see Kirk trading jokes with Sulu while under enemy fire, or receiving sassy remarks from Uhura, sorry. Also, as happened in The Wounded Sky, there's again a wide array of fancy aliens populating the Enterprise. I didn't mind them that much in the previous novel, since the story is so unusual, that it could have existed outside the Star Trek universe without damage being done. This time around... I've decided that I'm not a fan of this idea. Apart from being too distracting, Starfleet strikes me as a mostly human institution, at least at the time of TOS (after all, HQ is in San Francisco), and Spock often struggled being accepted among the crew. He was THE alien, and this led to isolation and even ocassional prejudices against him. Now, this wouldn't make much sense if the crew were regularly sipping coffee next to a gelatinous blob of tentacles... As for Spock and McCoy, they're mostly okay, though they tend to get overshadowed by the extended cast, and obviously, Ael.

I must be in the minority here, since most people seem to love this novel, but in general, I didn't like it much. Perhaps it's a consequence of having just read John Ford's masterful The Final Reflection, and his fascinating take on Klingons. Perhaps I simply don't care all that much about Romulans...

Some spoilers under the cut:

The first chapters switch perspectives between Ael and Kirk. While Ael reflects on her falling out with the Romulan Senate, because of her opposition to a certain revolutionary research, Kirk is ordered to patrol the Neutral Zone, as part of a task force. Ael has been "exiled" as commander of a shitty starship named Cuirass, crewed by shitty subordinates. But she keeps contact with her old, loyal ship Bloodwing, now commanded by Tafv, her own son. When news of the Federation ships arriving reach her, she sets her plan into motion. After sabotaging the Cuirass' systems, she escapes in a scout ship to Bloodwing. And the latter ship destroys Cuirass, whose crew she considers traitors to the Empire for their collaboration in the Senate's schemes.

After this, Bloodwing rendezvous with Enterprise near the Neutral Zone, and Ael asks permission to come aboard alone, promising some very important info. Then she explains to Kirk what's going on: The Romulan government has started developing a new weapon at the station in Levaeri V. They capture Vulcans and extract their brain tissue, in order to implant the genetic material into Romulans, and thus give them all their telepathic abilities, even enhanced. After leaving Vulcan centuries ago, the Romulans' divergent development made them unable to mind-meld, or do any of that cool Vulcan stuff. But now, with the new research, powerful individuals could read minds, control thoughts and subject any opposition. Ael believes this will ruin the Empire and its old code of honor. And in turn, will cause conflicts with both the Federation and the Klingons. Thus, she asks Kirk to "lend" her the Enterprise, to help destroy the research station. Her plan is faking a capture of the Enterprise by Bloodwing, then towing the starship into Romulan space and destroy the facility along the way. Spock confirms through a mind-meld that Ael's telling the truth.

Kirk is sympathetic with her cause, but refuses to go along with the plan, on the grounds that he can't intervene in Romulan internal affairs. Things change, however, when the Vulcan ship that was patrolling near the Enterprise is spirited away under their noses. Ael explains that its disappearance matches the modus operandi of Romulans. The Vulcans are being taken to the research station (and now I understand why Spock chose to serve in a human starship; Vulcan ships seem to have the worst luck, between being eaten by amoebas and now this...). Kirk can't ignore the matter anymore, now that the Vulcans are in danger, so he decides to go with Ael.

After faking a battle between Bloodwing and Enterprise, they proceed to Levaeri V. Ael's crew take positions in the Enterprise bridge, while Kirk and the rest of the officers play a bit of theater, faking their capture in the brig, to fool the escorts sent by the Empire. Once approaching the station, Bloodwing and the Enterprise suddenly turn against the escorts and destroy them.

In the last part, Kirk sends a large strike force into the station, to free the Vulcan captives and destroy all research with their brains. But meanwhile, the Enterprise is assaulted by a treacherous faction among Ael's people. Scotty, Chekov and Sulu must fight to recover the ship, while down in the station the battle continues.

Spirk Meter: 1/10*. There's a bit about Spock being particularly interested in the proceedings of Kirk's mind, while playing chess. But I can't think of anything else, and even this is really minimal.

There's also some Mcspirk. McCoy likes to study Kirk and Spock while they play chess, to delve deeper into their personalities and psyches. And when Kirk complains that, if Spock and McCoy keep babysitting him, he'll end up taking their hands, McCoy says that's okay with him. But warns him about Spock, and the kind of rumors that could run through the ship. Also, Ael observes that the three of them seem to share a single mind. Though that's downplayed by the comparison with the similar link between Ael and her son.

*A 10 in this scale is the most obvious spirk moments in TOS. Think of the back massage, "You make me believe in miracles", or "Amok Time" for example.