#be warned it's basically a novella under here

[angie-long-legs]

rp blog for angel dust from hazbin hotel

18+ | indie | selective | carrd

♡ performed by phoenix ♡

drafts: 20

queue: 3

inbox: 2

Rules Under Cut

AGE RESTRICTION

This blog is 18+: absolutely no exceptions. I will not RP with minors, nor will I allow minors to follow or interact due to the adult content portrayed on here. If your blog does not clearly state that you are an adult, you will be blocked.

BASICS

My blog is mutuals only and selective. Standard RP etiquette is expected. I don't do exclusives, but I do have mains. I am a slow writer, please be patient with me! I don't do passwords, but rest assured I have read your rules if I've followed you. No limit to the number of threads between us. OC friendly. Crossover friendly but will require major plotting to build a workable verse. I follow duplicates but likely will not interact IC unless it's crack. Currently high activity. Do not involve me in drama or discourse.

FORMAT + LITERACY

Multi-para/novella is my preference, but I am open to single para. One-liners are reserved for asks and crack. I don't expect length-matching - I have a tendency to write a lot and I don't want to overwhelm my partners. However, mutual effort is necessary. Not bothered by literacy skill, however, if your language or grammar make it so I cannot understand you then I won't be able to write with you.

MUN =/= MUSE

Angel Dust is not a "nice" character, to put it simply. He might not be kind to your muse, even if your muse is kind to him. I will always ask if I feel he is about to say anything particularly hurtful or get physically violent. Angel will also portray views or hold ignorance that does not align with what the mun thinks, believes, or understands. This is a work of fiction.

CONTENT WARNING

This is Angel Dust - dark topics and are going to be a common occurrence. Please be mindful of your own wellbeing and/or triggers. Sexual violence, physical violence, abuse, trauma, sex work, substance abuse and addiction are all big parts of Angel’s story, and while I will do my best to tag things accordingly, if this is likely to trigger you, I would advise not to follow.

TRIGGERS AND TAGGING

I tag common triggers such as abuse and violence, but if you need anything more specific tagged, let me know! The only non-standard trigger I ask be tagged if we are mutuals is animal cruelty.

I would suggest not following if you do not want suggestive content on your dash - I try to tag it but it's a struggle with this particular muse. However, I will always tag and censor NSFW and explicit content.

NSFW

NSFW content will be present! However, I won’t write smut unless we’ve been writing together for a while, and usually with some OOC discussion to get a feel for my partner’s ideas, preferences, and boundaries. All NSFW content will be tagged, and anything explicit will be under a cut.

SHIPPING

My main ship for Angel is Huskerdust. However, I ship based on chemistry, so if our muses develop a connection, I’m open to exploring this. I prefer this to be discussed OOC if it starts heading in that direction. And, obviously, Angel Dust is gay - I will be writing him as such.

ANGEL AND VALENTINO

I love writing Angel and Val and their dynamic is intrinsic to my portrayal, but I don’t consider my particular interpretation to be shipping. Writing characters who have a toxic and abusive relationship while also acknowledging love, sex and trauma bonding as a realistic part of that relationship is, in my opinion, a nuanced approach to take when portraying abuse. I enjoy exploring the dark aspects of their dynamic as well as the lighter and more comedic ones - and, consequently, all the horrible grey areas these contradictions create.

Do not involve me in shipping discourse.

SOFT LIMITS

I consider my soft limits to be topics or actions that require permission/prior discussion before implementing into a RP. Please ask me before including the following in any thread of ours: sexual assault, mentions of CSA, suicide, self-harm, one muse causing massive injury to another, or one muse killing another.

HARD LIMITS

These are topics that I will not touch. I will not write: Non-con/graphic descriptions of sexual violence, sexual or romantic interactions with a character who is a minor, incest, zoo, or m/f ships (last one is muse-specific, obviously).

BLOCKING

I only block for age restriction reasons, bad conduct, or for posting content I find triggering to ensure my own wellbeing. If I no longer want to interact with you, I will unfollow or soft block. If we have written before and I decide to unfollow, I will message beforehand. If you prefer to be blocked to avoid accidental re-following, let me know. I have no issue with anyone blocking me for whatever reason, curate your online space as you please! It's just my personal preference to be restrictive with my blocking habits.

[4ragon]

any book recommendations?

Dooooooont fucking do this to me ahhhh okay. Okay. I have read 72 books so far this year and I have been having a blast so you may be unleashing a monster, let me just look through my Goodreads and see what I’ve read. I’ll put it under the cut so no one murders me.

Also. Mostly fantasy, fair warning. I like fantasy.

First!!! Since I finished it yesterday:

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White

Debut novel, it’s a magical murder mystery romance with fun characters and magic and a bisexual main character, I had a blast with it. Plenty of twists and turns, some I predicted and some that managed to blindside me.

Also it literally just came out this year so no one else is posting about it. My library only just got it this month. Someone needs to talk to me about how fucked up some of this is.

(Also, I’d rate it M if it were on ao3. Lots of sex jokes. Suicidal characters. Be aware of that.)

The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson

Okay fair warning, every book in here is 1000 pages long. That is not hyperbole. Also some heavy themes, ie suicide, abuse, slavery, murder.

But this book is a MASTERCLASS in worldbuilding. Like. Holy shit this man puts so much detail in this series. I’ve only read through book 2 (well 2.5) and while it did take a bit to get through the initial hurdle of “I’m going to introduce a million fantasy concepts to you and you have to fucking roll with it” it’s well worth it. A lush world with some amazing characters. I’m enjoying the series.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

It’s a bunch of heists in a magical gritty setting with a bunch of awful people and I loved it a ton. Though it did make me really anxious. So anxious. Heist movies make me anxious. I love these guys.

I do think it’s weird to have them be 17 but I choose to ignore that. It’s got a great cast, and it’s sooooo fun to watch a plot unfold. It’s really good at giving you just enough information to constantly be at the edge of your seat.

Here’s one a bit out of left field: The Color Purple by Alice Walker

A musical version came out and I wanted to read the book before even touching that. And guys. One of the best books I’ve ever read. But. Trigger warning times 1000 by page 1, REALLY heavy. It’s the kind of book that beats you down for a while before things get better.

But they do get better. They do.

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Queer as hell, angry as hell, basically mechs fighting aliens in a setting based loosely on ancient China. I was not expecting the romance to go the way it did but it made me very happy, and I’m so excited for the next book.

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

I’ve talked about this before. I love you Murderbot.

They’re all very short, action packed novellas. More serialized than I expected but that’s part of the charm! Plus Murderbot is such a great character. My favorite is the one actually novel length one but the whole thing is great.

Discworld by Terry Pratchett

This is a whole series you can read in any order. They’re genuinely laugh out loud funny and also heartfelt and beautiful . My favorites so far have been Guards! Guards!, Going Postal and Reaper Man

The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir

I know we’ve all run the “Lesbian necromancers in space” thing into the ground, but also Gideon may be one of my favorite characters in anything ever. She’s so fucking fun. She’s funny and crass in a way I feel like female protagonists rarely get to be. I love her.

Also. I have no idea what the fuck is happening. I think that’s part of the charm. Lots of worldbuilding going on in the background that makes no sense until the end and then you’re like holy shit. I love it.

A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales

So mix Pride and Prejudice with a murder mystery novel and the ridiculousness of a Discworld novel and you have this book. It’s so fun. One of the background characters is clearly a werewolf and it has nothing to do with the rest of the plot.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

I’ve already gushed about this book but it’s so found family. The absolute coziest feel-good novel I’ve read. Plus it’s queer as hell! One of my absolute favorites.

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

This book was just beautiful. Another one with some heavy themes, but I loved it. Aliens and demons, queer, trans mc, about music and hope and found family. Plus it got be back into reading so! It holds a special place in my heart.

Sorry. That was a lot. That’s not even all of them but these were some of my favorites.

[darkdoverpseeker]

Hi! I apologize but this is lengthy!

You can call me Peri. I’m 33 years old (female - she/her). I’ve got 23 years under my belt in writing both stories and roleplaying (started in 2000). I’m a multi-para to novella writer who prefers 3rd person. I only write as female characters and I don’t double. I only use real face claims and I’d prefer if you did the same. I am fine with F/F and M/F storylines.

Some very common themes in my writing are angst, trigger warnings, dark themes and a treasure trove of drama. I really enjoy gritty roleplays that dig into the core of characters. That being said, I also enjoy the fluff, the romance, the funny and the sweet moments. I often will throw characters through the ringer but I often love them dearly. I just believe a good story has peaks and valleys to contrast one another. I am smut friendly but it should never be the central idea. I need to plot and have a story that just so happens to include those passionate moments between characters…. Not a smut filled story that I need to plot around.

Looking for a few long term partners to write a few different ideas on Discord. Must be at least 21+ as SFW & NSFW themes are involved in most of my writing. As I stated, I’m fine with F/F ships but as of right now, I’m really only looking for someone to play a male/masculine character to my female/feminine character. I ask that there be literacy and decent grammar. I’m not perfect and make mistakes but please at least use the correct punctuations. Also, Idc what your real-life gender is. Just be respectful please. And don’t make me carry the entire thing alone! I need something to work with.

The good thing is I have quite a few ideas in my arsenal that we could explore!

Some genres I adore are:

Fantasy

Supernatural

Biblical (Hebrew & Christian - angels and demons)

Romance

Drama

Action

Adventure

Historical (Ancient Greece/Ancient Rome are my bread and butter)

Modern/Urban

Mythology (Greek/Roman mythology is what I know most)

Celebrities

I prefer to create my own characters, world build and so on however, there are some fandoms I’d be up to playing (and the characters I’d play beside them). I’ll also include potential characters to play against:

Game of Thrones (Daenerys Targaryen) || (against Khal Drogo or Robb Stark or OC)

Troy (Briseis) || (against Achilles)

The Last Kingdom (Aethelflaed) || (against Uhtred)

These fandoms can be canon or AU or divergent. Just talk to me and I might be up for it. My partner can choose an OC or Canon character. They can also alter characters as they see fit, I don’t mind. I love taking these stories that are established and making it our own!

Now, I’m not going to list every idea I have here so I’ll just tell you, I have soooooooo many ideas and things that I’m inspired to write at the moment and I’d love to discuss them. Some of them are very well fleshed out and others are stories we can flesh out together and may only have basic ideas to them.

Please, I ask that you be patient and understanding with me as I have ADHD, I’m on the spectrum, I have a full time job, I’m married and I have a young child so my ability to be active varies but I can post most days at least once, sometimes more frequently if I have the time and/or the inspiration.

I'd like to add one last thing. I often shower my writing partners with gifts like manips/edits, gifs, pinterest boards, aesthetics and playlists/songs for our roleplays and characters. I love to muse and talk OOC and create fun headcanons about our characters. I like to do things to help keep the inspiration alive as my ADHD makes it easy for me to lose interest.

If you have any questions or are interested in anything here, please like this post and I’ll reach out as soon as I can! ☺️

like if interested!

[roleplay-today]

Hi! I apologize but this is lengthy!

You can call me Peri. I’m 33 years old (female - she/her). I’ve got 23 years under my belt in writing both stories and roleplaying (started in 2000). I’m a multi-para to novella writer who prefers 3rd person. I only write as female characters and I don’t double. I only use real face claims and I’d prefer if you did the same. I am fine with F/F and M/F storylines.

Some very common themes in my writing are angst, trigger warnings, dark themes and a treasure trove of drama. I really enjoy gritty roleplays that dig into the core of characters. That being said, I also enjoy the fluff, the romance, the funny and the sweet moments. I often will throw characters through the ringer but I often love them dearly. I just believe a good story has peaks and valleys to contrast one another. I am smut friendly but it should never be the central idea. I need to plot and have a story that just so happens to include those passionate moments between characters…. Not a smut filled story that I need to plot around.

Looking for a few long term partners to write a few different ideas on Discord. Must be at least 21+ as SFW & NSFW themes are involved in most of my writing. As I stated, I’m fine with F/F ships but as of right now, I’m really only looking for someone to play a male/masculine character to my female/feminine character. I ask that there be literacy and decent grammar. I’m not perfect and make mistakes but please at least use the correct punctuations. Also, Idc what your real-life gender is. Just be respectful please. And don’t make me carry the entire thing alone! I need something to work with.

The good thing is I have quite a few ideas in my arsenal that we could explore!

Some genres I adore are:

Fantasy

Supernatural

Biblical (Hebrew & Christian - angels and demons)

Romance

Drama

Action

Adventure

Historical (Ancient Greece/Ancient Rome are my bread and butter)

Modern/Urban

Mythology (Greek/Roman mythology is what I know most)

Celebrities

I prefer to create my own characters, world build and so on however, there are some fandoms I’d be up to playing (and the characters I’d play beside them). I’ll also include potential characters to play against:

Game of Thrones (Daenerys Targaryen) || (against Khal Drogo or Robb Stark or OC)

Troy (Briseis) || (against Achilles)

The Last Kingdom (Aethelflaed) || (against Uhtred)

These fandoms can be canon or AU or divergent. Just talk to me and I might be up for it. My partner can choose an OC or Canon character. They can also alter characters as they see fit, I don’t mind. I love taking these stories that are established and making it our own!

Now, I’m not going to list every idea I have here so I’ll just tell you, I have soooooooo many ideas and things that I’m inspired to write at the moment and I’d love to discuss them. Some of them are very well fleshed out and others are stories we can flesh out together and may only have basic ideas to them.

Please, I ask that you be patient and understanding with me as I have ADHD, I’m on the spectrum, I have a full time job, I’m married and I have a young child so my ability to be active varies but I can post most days at least once, sometimes more frequently if I have the time and/or the inspiration.

I'd like to add one last thing. I often shower my writing partners with gifts like manips/edits, gifs, pinterest boards, aesthetics and playlists/songs for our roleplays and characters. I love to muse and talk OOC and create fun headcanons about our characters. I like to do things to help keep the inspiration alive as my ADHD makes it easy for me to lose interest.

If you have any questions or are interested in anything here, please like this post and I’ll reach out as soon as I can! ☺️

[thedamagedss]

Hi! I apologize but this is lengthy!

You can call me Peri. I’m 33 years old (female - she/her). I’ve got 23 years under my belt in writing both stories and roleplaying (started in 2000). I’m a multi-para to novella writer who prefers 3rd person. I only write as female characters and I don’t double. I only use real face claims and I’d prefer if you did the same. I am fine with F/F and M/F storylines.

Some very common themes in my writing are angst, trigger warnings, dark themes and a treasure trove of drama. I really enjoy gritty roleplays that dig into the core of characters. That being said, I also enjoy the fluff, the romance, the funny and the sweet moments. I often will throw characters through the ringer but I often love them dearly. I just believe a good story has peaks and valleys to contrast one another. I am smut friendly but it should never be the central idea. I need to plot and have a story that just so happens to include those passionate moments between characters…. Not a smut filled story that I need to plot around.

Looking for a few long term partners to write a few different ideas on Discord. Must be at least 21+ as SFW & NSFW themes are involved in most of my writing. As I stated, I’m fine with F/F ships but as of right now, I’m really only looking for someone to play a male/masculine character to my female/feminine character. I ask that there be literacy and decent grammar. I’m not perfect and make mistakes but please at least use the correct punctuations. Also, Idc what your real-life gender is. Just be respectful please. And don’t make me carry the entire thing alone! I need something to work with.

The good thing is I have quite a few ideas in my arsenal that we could explore!

Some genres I adore are:

Fantasy

Supernatural

Biblical (Hebrew & Christian - angels and demons)

Romance

Drama

Action

Adventure

Historical (Ancient Greece/Ancient Rome are my bread and butter)

Modern/Urban

Mythology (Greek/Roman mythology is what I know most)

Celebrities

I prefer to create my own characters, world build and so on however, there are some fandoms I’d be up to playing (and the characters I’d play beside them). I’ll also include potential characters to play against:

Game of Thrones (Daenerys Targaryen) || (against Khal Drogo or Robb Stark or OC)

Troy (Briseis) || (against Achilles)

The Last Kingdom (Aethelflaed) || (against Uhtred)

These fandoms can be canon or AU or divergent. Just talk to me and I might be up for it. My partner can choose an OC or Canon character. They can also alter characters as they see fit, I don’t mind. I love taking these stories that are established and making it our own!

Now, I’m not going to list every idea I have here so I’ll just tell you, I have soooooooo many ideas and things that I’m inspired to write at the moment and I’d love to discuss them. Some of them are very well fleshed out and others are stories we can flesh out together and may only have basic ideas to them.

Please, I ask that you be patient and understanding with me as I have ADHD, I’m on the spectrum, I have a full time job, I’m married and I have a young child so my ability to be active varies but I can post most days at least once, sometimes more frequently if I have the time and/or the inspiration.

I'd like to add one last thing. I often shower my writing partners with gifts like manips/edits, gifs, pinterest boards, aesthetics and playlists/songs for our roleplays and characters. I love to muse and talk OOC and create fun headcanons about our characters. I like to do things to help keep the inspiration alive as my ADHD makes it easy for me to lose interest.

If you have any questions or are interested in anything here, please like this post or feel free to message me and I’ll reach out as soon as I can! ☺️

[risingsilence]

I’m currently looking to write some new rp, here are basically all my “rules”, info about how i write and plots from my amino account. comment or shoot me a message if interested.

have some music to accompany you while you’re going through the post~

>I’m used to writing in 3rd person and this is my preferred writing style

>lit. | adv. lit | novella

>please don’t control my character

>with all my plots I assume that they can develop into smvt, if you don’t want that in our rp please disclose it before we begin writing

>if you’re a minor I’m not comfortable writing smvt with you, sorry i’m an adult

>I struggle with mental health a lot, so I’m probably not ignoring you although I will do my best to let you know if I won’t be able to reply for an extended period of time

>my only trigger warning is explicit animal cruelty, please let me know about yours before we begin

>I don’t do sole fluff

>If you want to write something together, send me a message with my plot you’d like to write or message me your own idea I’m open to these as well

Onto plots we go:

>Canon

>Angst rating 1/3

>Ganyu x Xiao (will write both)

Months pass after Ganyu received guidance in her adepti training, however even though she tried her best the memory of the solitary conqueror of demons still clouds her mind. When an opportunity arises, she makes her way to Jueyun Karst where she receives directions as to where to seek Xiao. He is reluctant to let her close at first, but soon enough the two realize that they have much more in common that they have initially thought. Their shared loneliness and the yearning for the human world.

>canon

>angst rating 1/3

>Albedo x Xiao (will write both)

Not knowing where to proceed further in his research of “the meaning of this world” Albedo embarks on a journey around Teyvat. Caught of guard he gets ambushed by a tribe of hilichurls, but a mysterious stranger shrouded in dark mist comes to his rescue. Fascinated Albedo decides to follow and study him, even if the other does not return the sentiment.

>canon

>angst rating 1/3

>Kokomi x Kazuha x Gorou (will write all)

>I do intend this scenario for 3 writers, I’ve written rp’s like that so it is achievable even with longer replies. If you’re interested in this scenario please shoot me a message and we can either wait around for the third person or you’re very welcome to recommend someone

When the vision hunt decree is announced a rebellion forms on the Watatsumi Island under the rein of Snagonomiya Kokomi. Many a great warriors arise among the ranks, but two shine even greater than the rest. Soon to be General Gorou and Kazuha, a wandering soul. Those two soon become the closest confidants to Sangonomiya Kokomi, but behind the closed doors military tactics aren’t the only thing which blooms into life.

>canon

>angst rating 3/3

>Ei x Yae Miko (will write both)

Ei leaves the plane of Euthymia to take in the world outside and witness the great nation Inazuma developed into during her absence. Among the differences however, one thing remains the same, Yae Miko. To that stability and certainty, Ei is soon drawn and the two grow closer than they have been in millennia. But even though the love is sweet, bitterness soon mixes in when Yae Miko realizes she might not be in love with Ei, but the memory of Makoto which is preserved in her.

>canon

>angst rating 2/3 possibly 3/3

>Traveler x Xiao (will write Xiao)

TW! body horror

It’s been a while since the traveler has visited Liyue, but the approaching Lantern Rite and the longing to see familiar faces leads them there sooner than anticipated. Among their stops is Wangshu Inn and a meeting with a certain yaksha. Although neither of them would admit it out loud, their thoughts often drifted to one another while they were apart.

Soon however, something rather peculiar comes to the Travelers attention when they feel up a pair of, what seems to be horns, growing atop Xiaos head.

>au! reincarnation, modern setting, immortal venti

>angst rating ?/3 (depending what kind of back story we can conjure up for them together 😈)

>Venti x Xiao (will write both)

>theme song: Immortal by Reinaery

Venti is an indie musician. Perhaps their music isn’t the most popular out there, but they have a dedicated group of fans. Soon it even becomes possible to rent a cosy venue for their first ever concert.

More people than expected show up and the evening passes in comforting atmosphere. “Comfort” was often the word associated with the music Venti made.

After the show wraps up, to avoid unnecessary commotion, Venti exits through the back entrance where he bumps into someone smoking a cigarette.

Xiao is stunned to run into his idol he just saw on the stage for the first time. Venti on the contrary, freezes in shock, because there is no good way to tell someone you just met, that you have spent hundreds of years looking for them.

FIN.

[rptgossip]

You can do with this what you like but I highly suspect that the new rpc-home-truths is Nolan in disguise. Dude has been a problem in the tumblr rpc since 2015 stealing theme codes and original character ideas and plagiarizing other media sources for his “original rp” plots and claiming it all his own. On top of that he’s known for hella godmodding in threads, harassing and stalking his partners that he gloms onto because they have a male fc he’s super attracted to, blatantly ignores female characters because he’s not interested in m/f romance/smut, ignores rp lore, and has been kicked out of a few groups, like Empire and Corinth Bay to name a couple recent ones that I know of, for his behavior. He’s also been racist and misogynistic with the premade characters and lore he’s created in his own rps. And when he’s kicked out and called out for his shit? Gaslighting for days to paint himself as a victim. He’s still going on about drama from 2015 where he was 100% the aggressor and problem.

I know it sounds crazy and conspiratory. That rpc-home-truths talks a lot like how Nolan does, using “staff” as opposed to “admin” or “mod,” and I bet is about to rehash the whole shit he did from his perspective again. The blog just hid their likes but I saw a few pics of nearly naked buff dudes plus a photo set of Joshua Orpin, who is a fc Nolan has been using frequently since 2020.

Here is the link to his last-known rp blog from Corinth Bay: https://www.tumblr.com/callum-marcoh

His account where he continues rehashing his past problematic behavior from a victim narrative in novella format: https://zachnovak.tumblr.com/

And this thread has a pretty good breakdown of his behavior from a couple people in Corinth Bay: https://binxrps.tumblr.com/post/630553132533940224/wiscowrites-loganlcrmans-jayrpssometimes

Okay this is a lot. I have a lot of thoughts so i’m going to bullet point. But firstly do not send hate to this blog or any of the blogs mentioned above. That shit just keeps the fire going and responding to toxic behavior with toxic behavior gets no one anywhere. Moving on 

This guy has been called out many times over the years. I remember lurking and reading about him over and over again. In cases like these if you're the common denominator you're probably the problem. And you should probably start looking introspectively on what went wrong 

That 2nd link to his blog is wild…. I scrolled through a couple of pages and there's just straight up smut out there in the open? I know I just preached about being open to someone not knowing something but I think everyone should know what the read more button is and use it ? Like i’m all for smut but c’mon some of us rp at work and yes people should know the risks of doing that but the read more button is right there- and on a definitely more important note, it could be super triggering

At this point the proof is right there.  This isn’t a ‘witch hunt’ or ‘drama’ this is a person with some serious issues who should be avoided at all costs. And to have an rpc-home-truths defending them using that vocabulary is disgusting. The internet can 100% have an affect on people's mental health, and Nolan’s actions has affected many people .he should be named, shamed, and blocked

The last part is going under read more it because it discuss triggering topics which are all tagged below 

Speaking of rpc-home-truths its been really gross in their defense of Nolan. One of them posted a scenario that put out a scenario about s*uicide basically victim blaming the ‘mob’ or whoever is against Nolan, Except as an example she used her daughter. And to top it off put in the tags with no trigger warning or tags, and it is still up as of now. I find this disgusting, I am not a mother but why would you put that energy out into the world about your daughter?? Its gross and manipulative. And to not have it tagged? I feel like anyone rping who are decent humans know that has to be tagged. It should have never been posted in the first but at least tag it or warn people in some way so they can choose to ignore it. 

Call me a coward but I have blocked them already( and screenshotted the post in case they delete and act like that it never happened), they have a blog they can defend themselves on but how that was handled has given me enough information on who they are as people and I don’t want to see them or  interact with them.

[twoiinthehand]

Mobile Rules

Under the cut.

Hi friends! I’m Sammi, 25 (she/her). Lot of the basics! If you’ve been around you know most of these, honestly.

All threads will be under the ‘Threads’ button. They will be posted as soon as I reply to them and will show up there. Mun and Muse are 21+, and I’ve 10+ years of rp experience.

Warning: Darker themes will be present here, I don’t have any triggers and tag anything as (tw: long post) for example.

>I typically love to make starters as soon as I see a follow, but might not always happen! All starters are 'first-interaction' with whatever muse jumps out at me first.

>I am selective-ish, which just basically means I follow back on the premise of our characters getting on well. Sometimes I’m quick to follow back, sometimes I’m not, just depends!

>Anything tagged #audiovisual is something I’ve made myself, whether that’s voice acting wise or drawings. Reblogs and likes are encouraged! 

>Given that the twins lead dual-lives, they are rather careful with who knows and who does, and there are exceptions to this. Heroes have every right to go forth and call them out but every day folks, not so much.

>Memes are tagged accordingly and have no expiration date, always open!

>All verses are here 

>I have no issue writing short sentences to para/novella. I have a tendency to lean into a longer reply, but never feel that you have to match me!

>Activity is sporadic because of school, many jobs, and life and things. I do make it a point to log on as much as possible to see what's going on dash/reply wise.

>Formatting? Yeah friend right on! I enjoy doing tiny text and all that jazz, but not always. I will match whatever I see you do. My icons are usually 90 x 90 or so.

>I don’t auto-ship, if anything friends/platonic is assumed at first. As far as shipping is concerned, I’m here for all the ships! But chemistry above all else. Friends, frenemies, lovers, all that stuff. Makes the brain do happy things.

>If any kind of smut comes up, it’ll be under a read more and tagged #nsfvv.

>Any harm from Ro/Lu will be discussed OOC

>Multiship, open to polyam.

>IC does not equal OOC.

Discord is available to mutuals! I respond equally between Tumblr’s messenger and Discord.

Anything I post doesn’t belong to me unless stated so.

I don't do drama, call outs, or passwords. With that being said, if you like my pinned post, it lets me know that you're interested in writing and I'll be sure to reach out to you via meme, DM or ask!

And that’s it!

[fitzwilliamburke]

     location: Eastern Squad offices, floor 66      time: 8:05am, the morning after Hattori’s retirement party           ( solo )

     “Burke.”     

It’s eight in the bloody morning. Eight in the bloody morning and he’s sporting a hangover the size of Missouri from the party at Leaping Lizards the night before and suddenly, for no apparent reason whatsoever, Snow is howling his name from the door of his office, practically storming over to the desk where Fitz is just trying to get his head on straight in peace.

     ‘Yes, Chief?’

     “I’m sure you’ve noticed that something is horribly wrong,” Snow says, his face sober, sombre, as he closes the distance between them and takes a seat across from Fitz. He feels a little like a psychoanalyst, all of a sudden, sitting across from the Chief like this, with him looking like someone’s gone and murdered half his family and-- oh, Merlin, has someone gone and murdered his family? Fitz certainly hopes not, he was hoping for an easy day, at least until the hangover tonic he’s taken starts to do the trick.

     ‘Is there?’

     “What, you haven’t tried to get a coffee?”

     ‘I’m a tea man, Chief.’

     “Of course you are. Damned Brits. Right, well, thing is: someone’s stolen our damned coffee machine, Burke. The LuxBrew 3000. Do you know how much my wife spent on that? Anyway, look, I need someone to get it back and you’re not out on any cases, so I’m giving this one to you. I’m sure it’s the Central Squad, revenge for whoever set those damned doxies loose last night, but they swear up and down they spent the whole morning clearing out their offices, so we can’t rule out the others. Midge says it was still there at 4 this morning, so there’s a chance someone is storing it in their office. You get it back to me by one, you hear?”

     ‘Ah, it’s just, I’ve got all this paperwork to get through,’ he replies, gesturing one hand vaguely towards the stack of unfinished paperwork he has absolutely no plans to get through today. A convenient excuse not to go on a wild goose chase round the entire MACUSA building looking for a bloody coffee machine.

     “There’s something in it for you,” Snow says, and Fitz can already tell from the look on his face that whatever it is, he thinks it’s good. Thinks it’s something Fitz won’t be able to resist. “I’ll give you Friday off. No questions asked.”

And, well, it turns out that after all this time, Snow knows Fitz pretty damned well. 

A coffee machine, he thinks. Not a problem. A Friday off for nothing. It’s not an offer he can turn down, especially if it means he’s got a perfectly good reason not to get any real work done for the remainder of the day. 

     ‘Alright, Chief,’ he says, sitting up, taking his feet off the desk to look the other man eye to eye. ‘You’ve got yourself a deal.’

     location: Central Squad offices, floor 67      time: 8:15am

     “You know just as well as anyone else that we’ve been cleaning doxy shit off every square inch of this place since seven thirty in the fuckin’ morning,”  Kennedy Stokes sighs, one hand on her hip in the space between the lift and the Central Squad’s main office area. He can see, looking past her, that she’s probably not lying -- there’s still the unpleasant lingering scent, and he can see spots they missed on the back wall of the equally unpleasant gray-teal color of  fairy excrement. The pranksters in his own office had really outdone themselves, but Stokes and her ilk seemed to be facing the day with a rather grim sense of defeat, uncharacteristic of any auror who had a trick up their sleeve -- especially a trick like a stolen coffee machine. 

     ‘Then I’m sure you won’t mind if I take a look around,’ he replied, glancing over her shoulder. He couldn’t very well check every desk drawer, or every cabinet in their breakroom, and if they were disguising their guilt this well he imagined it’d be hidden somewhere better than just tucked away somewhere, but he’s at least got to pretend he’s trying hard, here, in case Snow starts asking around to see if he really deserves that Friday off.

He’s made plans, already, spent the last ten minutes and the lift ride up here dreaming about what he might do with a day off, imagining the possibilities, settling somewhere between seeing a show and abso-bloody-lutely nothing. An entire weekend, even, he could get out of town, if he wanted, maybe go to a quiet beach somewhere and find someone cute to--

     “You’re not gonna find anything, Fitz. But alright, sure, be my guest, I guess.”

She moves to let him pass, returns to the stack of files she has been working her way through cleaning off, charming flakes and swathes of the sticky substance off of the pages that had been left open on various desks overnight -- an unexpectedly fatal mistake. Her attitude alone is a pretty clear indicator that if the Central squad is behind this, she certainly wasn’t a part of it: she’s too quick to let him in, too resigned to the fact, and he’s known Stokes for a number of years now -- she’s not that good of an actress.

A quick sweep of the office (it does smell like doxy shit, noxious and cloying, the scent lingering even where those present have managed to scourgify most of the actual residue away, and he’d rather not linger for any longer than he needs to) mostly confirms his suspicions -- it it’s Central, he’s not going to find the evidence he needs here. No LuxBrew turns up under an upturned trashcan or in a desk drawer or anything that might make his damned job any easier.

Not a great start to his day, he thinks, and makes a note to check back in when the office is finally clean, maybe with a Bubblehead Charm to make his search a little easier. 

     location: Pacific Squad offices, floor 69      time: 8:35am

Every single auror in the Pacific Squad office is hungover.

That isn’t an exaggeration, he notes. He’s never seen so many sour looking faces, but it’s clear they all celebrated a little too hard last night, and while the rowdier of the crew might have had the wherewithal to snatch the machine before the worst of the hangover hits, his tempting offer of one of his special hangover tonics to whoever can turn the machine over turns up no results among the miserable faces before him.

There is no LuxBrew in sight.

He’s going to need to take a different approach.

     location: Department Lobby, floor 50      time: 8:45am

The gentleman behind the front desk had been easy enough to persuade to let him see the security logs. An easy smile and, when that didn’t work, the invocation of Snow’s wrath, and he’d been granted access to the book in which every out-of-hours entry into the MACUSA building was logged, which he was now combing through, looking for any familiar name between the hours of four and seven-thirty, when the night-time sign in books gets put away for the day. 

Unfortunately, a third of the people who work in the building get to work early, and so there’s not an insubstantial list of names to go through towards the latter hours listed. 

He’s got coffee on the brain, by now; he won’t drink it, ordinarily, but he’s been thinking of it so much he can almost smell the phantom scent of it as he pours over the log, running through the names one by one, cross referencing them with the list he’s made in his notebook of every auror on every squad in the building who might be under suspicion. Seriously, he can smell it, almost like it’s right under his nose--

A clink of ceramic on marble. He glances to the side, sees the chipped white coffee mug with the MACUSA logo printed on its side, filled to the brim with black coffee.

     “Morning, Burke,” says a voice, and he glances up from the security log to see a face he hasn’t seen in some time: Ishmael Hanson, an old classmate from the Academy, still as smug looking as they’d always been. Files tucked under their arm, the other elbow up on the marble countertop where Fitz is standing and working, they look amused to see Fitz standing here squinting at the visitor log. “Looking for someone?”

     ‘Working a case,’ he answers, tense, distracted. He’d much rather get this over with than chat to Hanson for any amount of time.

     “Wow, this early? That doesn’t seem like your usual work ethic. Need a hand? A coffee maybe?”

     ‘More of a tea man, Hanson,’ he says with a sigh as he turns his eyes back to the never-ending list of names. There’s one -- Aurora Powell, Pacific Squad, came in just past six, that could be a lead...

     “Well, suit yourself.”

And then he realizes, a second after Hanson is gone: he knows that smell. The stench of it on Snow’s breath every damn morning, the odor whirling through the Eastern Squad offices every morning from eight until just past noon, the way it’s seeped into the very walls of the breakroom. It’s not just coffee. It’s LuxBrew coffee.

     location: Mountain Squad offices, floor 68      time: 9:05am

They’ve barricaded themselves in, the bastards. 

They must have re-sealed the wards after the second Hanson was back inside, because for all his spells, all his ward-breaking charms, all his literal physical banging at the damned door, the thing won’t budge, and what’s worse, one of the wards sent of a flurry of sparks at his feet, scuffed his shoe up right at the toe when he’d tried kicking the door in.

Lincoln’s know for his specialty in locking charms and blocking wards, and the squad seems to have put him to good use. Locked door means they’ve got something to hide. Locked door means Hanson knows Fitz is onto him -- or that Hanson was intentionally baiting him with the coffee downstairs just to watch him squirm. 

This isn’t bloody worth it.

He’ll have to find another way in, a way to break through the wards or get into the offices another way. He’s positive the damned thing is in there, he can feel it.

He can smell it. 

     location: Evidence and Seized Property Storage, floor 52      time: 9:35am

    ‘Milly, love, it’s just a bloody piece of paper,’ he insists, leaning on the high desk at which the old house elf sits across from him. One spell -- he’d found the case number and everything, thanks to Fay, but she’d been caught up in other work, and he’d been forced to schlep his way down to floor 52 on his own, to del with the temperamental and notoriously stingy house elves who watched over the labyrinth of old evidence himself, much to his chagrin. One spell, which could allegedly unlock any door, undo any ward, and take down any magic barrier, and it was all he needed to get into the Mountain Squad’s barred offices and take a look for himself for any evidence to confirm his strong suspicion that they were the culprits here.

     “You need form 1-A-456 to remove any evidence unrelated to a current case from Evidence Storage, auror Burke,” she replied, her voice graveled with age but still with the telltale squeak that every house elf he’d ever encountered had. 

     ‘This is related to my case. It’s got a spell on it I need to use.’

     “I don’t make the rules, I just follow ‘em.”

Her voice is decisive, her gaze even, daring him to contradict her and the careful order of bureaucracy, and he withers under it. It’s clear there’s no way he can cheat his way Milly -- she takes her job far too seriously, he knows, to let him get away with it. He could fight this battle for the next two hours, eat up half the time he’s got left to find the damned machine, or he could concede to the order of things, have her help him find one piece of paper amidst the towering labyrinth of evidence storage.

     ‘Alright, alright. Have you got the bloody form?’

     location: Mountain Squad offices, floor 68      time: 11:50am

He had nearly given up. He really had. Somewhere between form 1-C-568, which he’d needed approved by three other aurors in order to even access form 1-A-456, and the fifth trip upstairs to get Snow’s signature on a newly-conjured page, he’d nearly said fuck it and decided that one day off wasn’t worth it for all of this.

But he had it now, the piece of paper tucked delicately into an evidence bag, the bag gripped in his hand. The handwriting is poor, hard to read, but he remembers the events surrounding the Scranton robbery well enough that he can make it out, still. Advanced lockpicking charm. If anything will get past Lincoln’s bolted door, it’s this. 

He stands back, a bit, not wanting his shoes to become the victim again if this goes arse-end-up, and readies his wand, glancing at the paper one more time to make sure he knows the spell. 

     ‘Sera Apertus.’

There’s a pop, then a hiss, then a few more sounds he can’t quite identify, the sounds of wards breaking and locks sliding out of place, whisper-quiet, and damn, he’s impressed that the charm worked just the way he’d hoped it would. The door stands in front of him, still closed but unlocked, now, unprotected. 

He reaches his hand out cautiously, wand still at the ready just in case the charm missed anything, any unexpected curses or jinxes lingering around the general area of the doorway, but nothing happens when his hand touches the brass of the door knob, nothing happens when he turns it except that the door clicks and swings open, letting him in -- finally -- to the Mountain squad office, and to the surprised faces of the handful of aurors inside as they turn around to see who has made it through their wards. 

Wand still at the ready, he faces them down, the culprits, the coffee thieves, the loathsome pranksters who caused him hours worth of strife, and who were now going to win him his well-earned Friday off. 

     ‘Where is it, then?’

     location: Interrogation Room 14, floor 64      time: 12:10am

He has just under an hour. Just under an hour to break Ishmael Hanson, get the coffee machine, and get back to the 66th floor. 

He sits across from them at the interrogation table, a mug of tea in front of him. It’s not very good tea, but with everyone in the Eastern Squad looking for non-coffee caffeine this morning to stunt their lingering hangovers, it’s the best he could find. He makes a mental note to remember to bring in a box from home, hide it somewhere in one of his desk drawers for occasions like this. 

Well: he has, by his calculations, thirty five minutes to break Ishmael Hanson, ten to get the LuxBrew from wherever it’s stowed, and then five to get back to Snow before the deadline’s passed and he’s missed his shot at an entirely luxurious Friday far, far away from this chaos. He’s going to need it, when all this is done. 

     ‘Where’s the coffee machine?’ he says, and across the table from him, Hanson grins.

     “What coffee machine?”

     ‘The one you stole from the Eastern Squad break room, Hanson. The one you were drinking coffee from this morning in the lobby. The one your squad mates confessed to stealing, last night, after the retirement party, before they confunded poor Midge and bribed her into telling Snow the machine was there when she cleaned. Where is it?’

     “Ah, that coffee machine.”

His grip tightens around the mug of tea in his hand. 

     “You’re the big detective here, why don’t you tell me what you think happened, where you think it is?”

     ‘I think you’re an utter prick with a death wish, goading me because you know I’m a better auror than you. I think the LuxBrew is up your bloody arse, or at least, it will be if you don’t tell me what you’ve done with it.’

Hanson presses their lips together, a silent my lips are sealed gesture, and Fitz very nearly throws the mug at them. It wouldn’t even be a waste of tea, he thinks, blithely, since it’s such bloody awful tea. 

He stops himself, though, and it brings his anger to up against a wall, his frustration escapes and leaves him exhausted thinking about the furious running up and down from floor to floor, the back and forth, the hours of unnecessary paperwork, the scuff on his shoes.

He has thirty four minutes to break Ishmael Hanson.

He can’t do it.

So he does what he’s always done, as the tension seeps out of him and leaves him hollow. He finds another way.

     ‘You’ve got to tell me, Ishmael. You’ve seen what Snow’s like when he hasn’t had his coffee. Imagine that, but in perpetuity, for the rest of my life. I won’t survive it. None of us will.’

Ishmael, finally, looks like they’re considering it for a moment.

     “What’ll you give me for it?”

     location: Eastern Squad break room, floor 66      time: 12:58pm

     “What do you want?” comes Snow’s gruff voice from behind the closed door to his office, and Fitz can’t help but think he sounds like he’s likely more hungover than the rest of them, even still, even now. 

     ‘Brought you something,’ he says through the door, and he can hear Snow behind the door rushing to get up at the sound of his voice, making his way out from behind the desk to where he can open the door and stick his head out.

     “Burke. You found it? Please tell me you found it.”

He holds out the mug of fresh, pungent, LuxBrew coffee in one hand, offering it out to the chief, letting a smug grin of self-satisfaction cross his face. Sure, it took him half the bloody day to get through it; sure, he was going to need to take his shoes in to get the leather repaired; sure, he didn’t even give a damn about coffee; but Snow had been right: he was the right man for the job.

And it only cost him a month of Hanson’s paperwork to prove it. 

[sapphicbookclub]

Author Spotlight: A. L. Lester

Today I’m happy to spotlight another author whose book we’ll get a chance to read in our book club! And with that comes a history lesson about heroic women, so read on to learn more!

The Fog of War and three books about women medics in the First World War

Thank you so much to Laura for having me here today for a guest post! I’m doing a bit of a blog-tour talking about the characters, settings and the history behind my new release, The Fog of War, and the bookclub is one of the stops. The book is the first of a new trilogy in my Border Magic Universe. It’s a sapphic, historical, paranormal, romantic mystery set in rural England in 1920. You’ll be able to find the other posts listed on my website as they come out this week.  

The main characters in this book are Dr Sylvia Marks and her friend Lucille Hall-Bridges. They’ve both spent the First World War at the women’s hospital at Royaumont Abbey, in France. Firstly, let’s clarify… that’s hospitals staffed by women. Not hospitals FOR women.  

At the beginning of the war, Dr Elsie Ingles, a Scottish doctor from Edinburgh, went to the War Office in London and offered them her services and that of some of her female colleagues. She was told to ‘go home and sit down’. She didn’t do that. Instead, she went to the French Red Cross and asked them if she could set up an entirely women-run hospital in France. They bit her arm off, basically, and gave her organisation the use of Royaumont Abbey, fifty miles outside Paris. They did excellent work, particularly in treating gas-gangrene, and all the positions from ambulance drivers to surgeons were filled by women. There’s an article about it here and there’s also a book. It was hard, dangerous and dirty work, from setting up the hospital in the almost derelict abbey—that lacked electricity when they moved in—to operating under fire.

Sylvia made a brief appearance in an earlier novella of mine, based on a doctor my grandmother remembered from her Edwardian childhood. Writing a book with her as the main character meant I had to work out more about who she was; and giving her a war-work background seemed to come naturally.

I was also inspired by the Endell Street Military Hospital, run by Dr Flora Murray and Dr Louisa Garrett-Anderson (daughter of Elizabeth Garrett-Anderson, the first woman to qualify as a doctor in England). They ignored the British military machine entirely, went to the French Red Cross straight away and set up a small hospital in Paris…and the War Office were so impressed that they asked them to come home and run a five-hundred bed establishment in London. Again, the Women’s Hospital Corps pretty much staffed the place themselves, entirely with women, a large number of them Suffragists.  

Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett-Anderson were also an inspiration for Sylvia and Lucy. As well as running the hospital together, they were partners and lived together until Louisa died in 1923. Her gravestone concludes WE HAVE BEEN GLORIOUSLY HAPPY and makes me cry when I read about it. You can see a picture of it in this article and read some more about them and the hospital.

Once I began reading around the subject I found it very hard to stop. I came across a book called Elsie and Mairi Go to War about two women who met at a motorcycling club in 1912 and then went to Belgium and ran a first aid post right behind the Belgian lines for most of the war. Elsie was thirty-two and a bit of an adventuress—she liked to be where the action was and got involved with the General Strike a few years later—and Mairi was twenty and much more placid-seeming in the biography. I liked her a great deal—after the war she set up a chicken farm with a dear friend and seems to have been settled and happy.  

To sum up…I thought I’d write a book based in historical fact with some paranormal shenanigans thrown in (because I don’t seem to be able to write much without them tbf). And I did my due diligence because if I’m going to muck about with history and add in time-travel and slavering monsters from beyond a shimmering veil and all that, it seems a point of honour to get the history-bit right. And I ended up losing about two weeks of my life reading around the subject about all these fascinating women, at least two of whom were definitely together.  

It’s a pleasure to have been invited to guest-post and tell you about them!  

The Fog of War

Publisher: JMS Books LLC  

Editor: Lourenza Adlem

Release date: 14 Aug 2014

Word Count: 50,000 words

Genre: Sapphic, found-family, historical, paranormal romantic mystery set in 1920s England.

Content Warning: Mention of domestic violence.

The quiet village of Bradfield should offer Dr Sylvia Marks the refuge she seeks when she returns home from her time in a field hospital in France in 1918. However, she is still haunted by the disappearance of her ambulance-driver lover two years previously ,and settling down as a village doctor is more difficult than she realised it would be after the excitement of front-line medicine. Then curious events at a local farm, mysterious lights and a hallucinating patient’s strange illness make her revisit her assessment of Anna’s death on the battlefield.  

Lucille Hall-Bridges is at a loose end now her nursing work is finished. She felt useful as a nurse and now she really doesn’t know what to do with her life. She hopes going to stay with her friend Sylvia for a while will help her find a way forward. And if that involves staying at Bradfield with Sylvia…then that’s fine with her.  

Will the arrival of Lucy at Bradfield be the catalyst that allows both women to lay their wartime stresses to rest? Can Sylvia move on from her love affair with Anna and find happiness with Lucy, or is she still too entwined in the unresolved endings of the past?

The first in the Bradfield trilogy, set in the Border Magic universe.

Buy : Buy from Publisher  :  Add on Goodreads : Find on author-website

About A. L. Lester

Writer of queer, paranormal, historical, romantic suspense, mostly. Lives in the South West of England with Mr AL, two children, a badly behaved dachshund, a terrifying cat, some hens and the duckettes. Likes gardening but doesn't really have time or energy. Not musical. Doesn't much like telly. Non-binary. Chronically disabled. Has tedious fits.

Facebook Group : Twitter : Newsletter : Website : Link-tree for everywhere else

[lunarmoment]

Welcome to my writeblr!

A little about me:

I’m a writer. I’m a lawyer. Those are basically my two personality traits.

I enjoy writing related tag games, so feel free to tag me—I may not get to them right away, but they are always welcome. Also, any game that I reblog is open to anyone to join; the more the merrier.

What you’ll find here:

I mostly reblog nature photos, writing prompts, random things that inspire me, tag games, and the writings of others. In terms of my writing, I like to bounce around a lot both within and between stories. My major WIPs are:

Collecting Keepers (and its continuation, Keepers Collected) - urban fantasy/action/adventure

The Other Delilah - contemporary fiction

Untitled fantasy series - you guessed it: fantasy (high fantasy, specifically), the first installment is called Under the Frozen Tides

Witcraft - sci fi (light)/speculative/crime (sorry, no blurb yet)

The Heart of Mars - what I like to call “high sci fi” because it takes place in the far off future and not on Earth (the blurb is posted but still a work in progress—trying to see if I should more obviously weave the fact it is very loosely based on Snow White)

The Memory Eater - fantasy (I thought it was going to be a short story, but it’s quickly turning into novella length)

The Poison-Fed Priestess - fantasy (right now, it’s a “sandbox wip,” meaning I don’t have a strict plot so I am just playing around with the ideas at the moment)

More in-depth story blurbs are below the cut for those interested.

Happy writing, everyone!

Collecting Keepers (and Keepers Collected)

In the rewrite stage (with the sequel in the redrafting stage)

Protagonists: Adair Knightly, Clayton “Clay” Slater, Amadeus Thatcher, Felix Ocaña

Antagonists: Cadiean Vakrinos, Sienna Satrappe

Setting: this world

Adair Knightly had no idea her necklace was anything special—that is until Amadeus Thatcher and Clayton Slater, members of a mysterious magic-based organization, sweep into her life and warn her of a grave danger. The golden triangle she wears around her neck is no ordinary trinket. It is one of the nine Deltas that, when brought together, form the most powerful object in the world. Adair is a Keeper of the Delta, and great power draws attention.

Cadiean Vakrinos has hunted these objects for over ten years, murdering Keepers to gain control of the Deltas’ power. Together, Adair, Thatcher, and Clay must traverse across the country to gather information, all while confronting an array of allies and enemies, facing magic scavengers, and uncovering the truth about the Deltas’ power. The race against the clock has long since started, for not only do they have to keep Adair and her Delta safe, they must also stop Vakrinos from collecting the remaining Keepers.

The Other Delilah, standalone

In the research phase (loose outline)

Main character: Delilah St. Clare

Setting: UCLA in the present (or the present whenever I end up writing it—honestly, the pandemic has thrown a bit of a wrench into my original plan)

An old, rich art collector has died, and while cleaning out his antique desk, his grandchildren found the letters and sketches of a previously unheard-of artist. The artist’s talent is obvious and striking, and the discovery sparks interest in the art world. Experts, however, have been able to glean little from the letters, except for the fact the artist was an eighteenth-century Dutch woman.

Delilah is a junior at UCLA double majoring in art history and chemistry. When one of her professors mentions the letters in class, she is drawn into the mystery. She finds herself studying Dutch art after the collapse of its Golden Age, pestering experts, and (attempting) to translate the letters—all while resisting her parents’ attempts to get her to apply to medical school instead of pursuing a career in art restoration. While many scholars believe that the artist’s works are simply lost to history, Delilah cannot shake her desire to peel apart the mystery and discover the truth. Together with a ragtag team of talented and sleep-deprived college students, Delilah will try to discover the hidden details of the artist’s life, the nature of her work, and why no one had heard of her until now.

Untitled Fantasy Story, three parts planned

In the worldbuilding stage

Protagonists: Taiomar, Cassika, Captain Nestall, Professor Banni, and Pagalipakiliran “Pagali”

Antagonist: Big Bad is only a placeholder title, still working on that

Setting: secondary world, also unnamed thus far

Taiomar lives in a large trading town on the edge of the sea, spending his days diving in the shallows for mussels and sweet beads, messing around with his siblings, and—secretly—longing for adventure. One day, a stranger shows up to the local tavern and challenges the patrons to a knife throwing contest. After everyone else fails, Taiomar proves himself to the stranger—a girl named Cassika—in the game of wits and skill.

As a child, Cassika was cursed by the Big Bad’s right-hand man. It’s been decades since the Big Bad was defeated, and the world has largely recovered from the wars, famines, and natural disasters that marked his reign. Still, the threat looms: the Big Bad is not dead. Unable to kill him completely, his conquerors had instead sealed him away in an impossible location. Cassika, however, is fated to bring him back. As whispers flurry and the signs portend that he is ready to rise again, Cassika resists this destiny. She is determined to find his tomb and destroy him.

The Big Bad was locked away in a series of underwater caves near the southern pole. Midwinter is approaching, where large amounts of water will be trapped as ice. The two moons will be positioned perfectly to create a dramatic low tide. Their window is narrow, their task nearly impossible. Joined by a frenetic, questionably brilliant academic, a sea captain with a thousand legends attached to her name, and a mysterious man with an onyx eye and an uncanny ability to read people’s thoughts, Cassika and Taiomar must reach the southern sea when the tides are at their lowest. If they can survive the long, treacherous swim through the sprawling caverns and freezing water, they just might be able to reach him in time—and kill the Big Bad completely.

The Heart of Mars, standalone

In the worldbuilding stage

Protagonists: Dana [Last Name], Mariposa “Mars” Neverossi

Antagonist: unnamed

Setting: non-Earth planet, unnamed thus far

For the majority of the human race, Earth is no longer home. Instead, for generations now, they have lived on a new planet called [name], (number) of lightyears away. Scientists and settlers fixed up the atmosphere, added an artificial moon, and brought Earth flora and fauna to compete with the native stock. Of course, even with every opportunity to build the world from scratch—to construct utopia—society is plagued with the standard vices: poverty, violence, greed, and widespread inequality.

Dana [last name] is a bounty hunter, hired by the often-unscrupulous clientele of society’s underworld to find people who disappear without paying their debts or settling their scores—and getting paid pennies for it. His luck turns, however, when a powerful kingpin named Neverossi offers him a fortune to find his kidnapped daughter, Mariposa.

But Mars wasn’t kidnapped. She ran away.

Mars had never left her parent’s estate before. She has been closely guarded her whole life, monitored and scrutinized and kept perfectly safe. She is too valuable an asset to be left alone. When she was a toddler, her parents had a key implanted in her heart. The key is a complex piece of machinery: the codes are fashioned by her in-the-moment biometric data, and thus the combinations are everchanging and unbreakable. Such protection is only required for what is exceptionally valuable—or extraordinarily dangerous. But at sixteen years old, Mars has no desire to be a key anymore, especially not one that paints such a heavy target on her back. When Dana finds her, he must make a choice: he can finish the job and get paid, or he can help her find a way to remove the key from her heart without killing her.

Removing a complex, deeply embedded device from a living person is no easy task, however, and [Name] is far from the only person after the heart of Mars.

[elriell]

Hi! I’m that anon who said that Elriel’s conflict with Beron could be the winning argument for our ship since they are tied closely with each other based on Rhysand’s warning in Azriel POV. If you decide to answer that question, would you mind if you answer this one instead? As I’m pretty much still stand on that point however I’d like to add and correct some statements that I think I don’t express clearly in my previous question:)

If you don’t mind, I’d like to post my theory here, anonymously, since I’m not confident enough to post my thoughts online yet as I’m afraid I’ll be judged harshly lol. And perhaps other metas such as you would like to elaborate more on the matter since I think it is a vital plot for Elriel’s book. It’s quite long, I do apologize for that:)

Like I said, Beron allegiance with Briallyn didn’t make any sense to me and it also took me by surprise when I read ACOSF. Why?

A. Briallyn lived on the continent and Beron is in Prythian. Wouldn’t it be better for him to seek an ally that is closer to him instead? We know that Beron wants to be an ally with her because he heard about her ambition. And I suspect that Beron wants to be the High King or kill Feyre since he knows that she has his power. But one thing for sure is that he wants more power.

B. If he indeed wants to be High King or kill Feyre then I don’t believe that the other high lords would comply with him. Therefore, Beron wouldn’t stand a chance against the other high lords and lady in Prythian since it is two (before the queen was killed by Nesta) versus six. Plus, Briallyin lived in the continent thus her allegiance was not something that he could hold on to, imo.

So obviously we know that Briallyn is dead and her allegiance doesn’t mean anything anymore. However, from her allegiance with Beron we now know that Beron for sure set to be the other villain of this new overarching plot alongside Koschei. And I also think that Beron would be the main villain for the next book because a villain as big as Koschei would likely be dealt in the last book.

Now, why is it tied with Elriel? I think Rhysand’s warning in Az’s POV explains it plainly, and I can’t help but think that it is a set up, a foreshadowing, of what would happen in the next book, especially since Koschei’s plotline is not foreshadowed enough in ACOSF and we only know of his onyx box which we get from ACOWAR.

If we acknowledge that Elriel is endgame and their story is next, then Beron surely comes to play in the next book. Their relationship will push the overarching plot one step closer to its climax.

FYI, I can’t see Lucien invoke the Blood Duel himself, he is a decent person so he will respect and understand Elain’s choice to be with Azriel since it is definitely where we are going in the matter of endgame. But, Beron, as cruel as he is, will surely make use of the situation to profit himself, to reach his ambition that is momentarily squashed with Briallyn dead.

These are possible results of what could happen with Blood Duel plotline:

1. Beron would ally himself with Koschei as Briallyn did before because he knows he is outnumbered if he declared a war against the Night Court.

2. Beron could convince other high lords in Prythian to go against the Night Court if Lucien was killed in the Blood Duel, I pray that it will not happen though Lucien deserve some peace and happiness with the woman who wants and loves him voluntarily.

3. Eris would rebel against his father's order for Lucien to invoke the duel, and Beron would be dethroned by Eris and he would be the next high lord of Autumn Court.

I personally lean more on number three, because with Eris being the high lord wouldn’t it be one of the key topics for Mor’s book? It is already confirmed that Sarah pitched Mor’s story as one of the books and she admits that she doesn’t know what the novella is going to be. So, it’s safe to assume that Mor will get a full novel, not a novella one. Seeing her sparse appearance and development we’ve seen of her in ACOSF, then it is also logical to assume that Mor will not be the next book main character.

In conclusion, Elriel needs to happen to address Beron's situation and bring the overall plot of the series a bit higher before it reaches climax in the final book. Is it also possible that Beron’s scenario still can be addressed without it being tied to Elain and Azriel? Yes, but, I will say it again, Rhysand’s warning is a clue, a foreshadowing, of what conflict will be covered in the next book. For an author to drop something as big as that but not happening is a lazy writing in my opinion.

In the previous question I also mentioned that Elriel’s story is kinda similar to Iliad. Their set up is pretty much similar to me, however, I don’t think Elriel’s story will end in tragedy since Sarah doesn’t like to read, write, sad endings.

I’m sorry if I come off as ordering you around, but I really appreciate it if you and other metas also put your thought in the whole Beron/Elriel situation since I’m 95% sure Elain book is next and Azriel will be her LI seeing there is no progress with her and Lucien yet.

And I still stand by my point, you and other Elriel metas keep me sane when all of Elriel antis trying their hardest to discredit all of Elriel’s interaction and feeling in order to make their ship endgame. Thank you so much❤️❤️❤️

I have answered the first one under a read more before I read this and realised what you put hahaha SORRY.

Don’t worry I don’t feel ordered around, and I am going to keep this brief because you basically wrote what I would say, and I want to share it like this so people can read it themselves! You have amazing thoughts and I am happy you chose to share them with me! You certainly have a attention to detail.

I think this is for sure an avenue we need to be looking at in future analyses!! 

But yes, I agree wholeheartedly that Elriel needs to happen in terms of the plot. 

[terramythos]

TerraMythos 2021 Reading Challenge - Book 22 of 26

Title: Stories of the Raksura, Volume One (2014)

Author: Martha Wells

Genre/Tags: Fantasy, Adventure, Short Story Collection, Third-Person, LGBT Protagonist, Female Protagonist

Rating: 7/10 (note: this is an average)

Date Began: 8/23/2021

Date Finished: 8/28/2021

Stories of the Raksura, Volume One is the first of two anthologies that take place in Martha Wells’ Books of the Raksura universe. I recommend reading the original trilogy (starting with The Cloud Roads) before these, as the stories are pretty confusing otherwise. If “fantasy adventure starring shapeshifting, winged humanoids” sounds like an entertaining premise to you, you’re in luck! To those interested, I reviewed the main series last year— here’s a link to the first book.

Of the two novellas and two short stories in this volume, my favorites were “The Falling World” and “Adaptation”, both 8/10s.

Individual ratings, content warnings, and minor series spoilers below the cut. 

Content warnings for the book: non-graphic sexual content, violence, brief mention of r*pe, brief mention of suicide, references to domestic abuse, traumatic injury, bullying, mild body horror.

#1 - The Falling World (8/10)

While on a routine diplomatic mission to a nearby court, Jade, Chime, and a contingent of warriors disappear under mysterious circumstances. Left in a precarious position in the Reach, Moon leads a search party for the missing group. The trail leads to a mysterious, ancient ruin hidden in the depths of a mountain thorn… but bizarre dangers lurk within. Finding the missing Raksura will be easier said than done.

Moon paced absently around while the others explored or drank from the pond. They were here, he thought, days ago. Just days. But standing here had the same feeling he got in ancient groundling ruins: that an unbridgeable gulf of time separated him from the people who were once here.

“The Falling World” is a typical Raksura story which takes place between the third and fourth books. If you read the original trilogy and liked it, you’ll like this one. It’s got all the pieces you’ve come to expect: creepy sorta-haunted ancient ruins, vaguely eldritch monster things, fantasy adventure, and Moon being a snarky angst machine. I wouldn’t call this novella required reading. Beyond a mention in book four, the introduction of Ocean Winter (who I don’t really remember), and a tiny bit of lore re: Chime’s weird powers, there’s nothing new here. It’s the kind of thing you read if you liked the novels and want more adventures— and that’s fine.

#2 - The Tale of Indigo and Cloud (6/10)

Umber Shadow is a minor court in the Reaches, but things are about to change. Its sister queen Indigo just “stole” Cloud, a consort from Emerald Twilight. Such behavior is one of the most taboo acts in Raksuran culture. Now Cerise, the leader of Umber Shadow, has to navigate the dire socio-political consequences of Indigo’s actions, and hopefully prevent an all-out war.

Ruby didn’t look happy, but she didn’t argue either. “All right. Just be careful. Don’t let this little idiot trap you into fighting.” “Which little idiot?” Cerise asked, in exasperation. “There are so many of them!”

I have mixed feelings on “The Tale of Indigo and Cloud”. It’s an obvious choice for a novella, as the main books reference this story. Clearly, the titular characters are the namesakes for Indigo Cloud, the court in the main series. The plot is less action-adventure and more political intrigue— which is fine, and a welcome change of pace. 

My main issue is perspective; rather than Indigo or Cloud (or both), the story instead follows Cerise, leader of Umber Shadow (Indigo Cloud’s predecessor). Cerise is well-written enough, and it’s interesting to get a reigning queen’s POV. But this choice creates a layer of disconnect from the emotional tension of the story—Indigo and Cloud’s rocky relationship. The novella comes off as a chronicle of events rather than an involved story. Personally I’d find the tale more interesting if it started with Indigo and Cloud’s meeting and took their POVs. Clearly Cloud was unhappy in his old life and convinced Indigo to help him; that’s an interesting hook that I wish we saw firsthand. That aside, I appreciated baby!Stone’s cameo and the melancholy epilogue related to that.

#3 - The Forest Boy (7/10)

Tren is an orphan living in a small Mirani village nestled along a trade route. While digging through a local junk heap, he and his friend Lua discover Moon, an injured boy caught in an animal trap. Tren’s adoptive parents nurse the strange child back to health. Moon and Lua become close friends, and Tren grows to resent the newcomer. But when a creature from the forest attacks the three children, Tren learns that Moon’s hiding a deadly secret.

He wasn’t a fool; he knew it was jealousy, like the jealous herder in one of Ari’s stories who lost his herd by trying to make it bigger than those his neighbors owned… Moon was big, strong, helpful, good to everyone, and everyone in the house liked him. He also had the added mystery of being a wild boy from the Long Road, without any of the dirty or violent habits a real wild boy might have.

But knowing it was jealousy didn’t seem to help Tren make it go away. It just made it worse, since now he could feel guilty about being jealous.

I liked this one! “The Forest Boy” introduces some early characterization for Moon; in particular, it adds context to Moon’s natural suspicion of others. Poor boy just wants a family— but he’ll always be at a remove from others since he has to hide his identity. No wonder he constantly doubts his place among the Raksura once he finally meets them. Here he finds a potential place to belong, but it comes crashing down just for being himself. It’s especially yikes knowing that this keeps happening well into adulthood. I felt kind of meh about Tren as a character, but hey, it’s a short story.

#4 - Adaptation (8/10)

Chime has been an Arbora for his entire life; the wingless caste of Raksura who keep the court running. But one day, when shapeshifting into his Arbora form, Chime blacks out. When he awakens, he finds his body has transformed into a winged Aeriat. Now with his entire identity called into question, Chime becomes an outsider among both Raksuran castes. But perhaps more troubling is what this shift means for the future of Indigo Cloud.

Someone must have carried him out of the central well; they were in one of the smaller side rooms, the one with a fountain pool fed by a channel in the wall. Chime stumbled to the pool and almost swayed over backwards. Catching himself on the rim, he stared down at his reflection.

He was looking at a Raksuran warrior, tall, lean, with blue scales. Horrified and fascinated, he raised his spines to see if they were longer, and something else extended out behind him. It took him a moment to realize he was looking at the edges of his wings as they unfolded from his back.

We love Chime in this household, so I’m happy to see a short story from his POV. Like “The Tale of Indigo and Cloud”, this was an obvious choice to write, since there’s a lot of discussion in the main books about it. Chime’s horror upon waking in a strange new body, the resulting social isolation, and his first steps toward accepting his situation, are all very compelling subjects. It’s no wonder the poor guy latched onto Moon right away. I think “Adaptation” is too short for its heavy and complex subject matter. Something like this could easily be a novella. But I did like it for what it is. 

Closing Thoughts

This anthology was fine! I basically wanted a little more Raksura content, and this certainly delivered. Short story/novella collections are always going to be hit or miss with me, so I consider 7/10 a pretty good average score. As I mentioned above, only read this if you’ve read the main series, or you’ll be lost.

[blindedguilt]

About Leonard’s 1.3/Modern Verse

 Right I added them to my About like two, three days ago but like,,, it was nearing 3 AM and I forgot about them 😭😭😭 

Modern AU is neat stuff but I REALLY wanna talk about 1.3 because 

OOH HOOHOOHOOHOOHOOHOO!!!!!!!! >:} 

NOTE: 

From here on out, if you want to interact with a certain verse, just put in parentheses or something before the ask.

(Modern) “(ask bullshit goes here)”

(1.3) “(ask bullshit goes here)”

So like,,, more under the cut.

Modern Verse:

A heavily depressed car mechanic estranged from his family. Wants more out of life. Has a mug collection and a fondness for the smaller things in life.

this guy,,,, is just chilling. Expect smaller, more bitterly humoured interactions with him. His roommates are interesting sorts of characters and this guy is the one person who even seems to remotely give a shit about any of it; as such he is perpetually tired and only seems to be paying attention half the time. please wish him good luck 

SO ABOUT 1.3./What it is, for those who don’t know

A lot of my mutuals DO know about it but just in case I mean,,, from the looks of it, 1.3 is one of those things that depending on what side of the fandom you’re on, everyone or no one know about it. a lot of newer fans (particularly those who arrived from Nier) are pretty clueless about 1.3, despite it literally being it’s own canon universe like any other DOD/Nier game…

The biggest difference is is that it’s a novel instead of a game??? Or like a series of novellas basically which is like “hey what if DOD3 was canon to DOD1, or more specifically it’s Ending A was” And it’s just,,, this whole look at what comes from that focusing on the cast of DOD1 characters (AND SOME NEW ONES TOO!!! omg there are new, forbidden dod protags ❤️) in this world where things like pact systems and the goddess seals don’t,,,, really exist. Sure, you can make partners which funky little fantasy beings, namely dragons (Spoiler: there are a lot in 1.3), but uhhhhh it’s kinda like human partnerships (used in a general, non-romantic sense here but… *cough*) where like,,, whether it’s out of necessity, shared interests or just bc the dragon thinks they’re cool they’ll just,,, tag along being like “okay i’ll help you”. sometimes they just chill out together.  But their souls certainly ain’t bound together, they don’t feel each other’s pain and you’re gonna get some FREAKY ass instances like Verdelet with hair, Leonard seeing (and having green eyes, for whatever reason…?) and, god forbid, Caim speaking. He’s actually quite the eloquent little lad 😍😳😍   Unfortunately, 1.3 DOES follow the events of the slightly better-known Shi Ni Ataru Aka manga in a fuckin,,,,,  DOD3 Ending A -> 🤢we dont talk about this one :( -> ❤️‍🔥💕✨DOD 1.3❤️💘💗  hope that makes sense. Anyways it’s a groovy little thing that’s pretty neat.  It was released in like 2014 but is just now getting a translation from yours truly, at the time I post this I have like three stories left to do but till then: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1EQgIx0uv6MMsXClKgdZdgwLze8urV12P?  enjoy.

So, little ones... ABOUT LEONARD’S 1.3 VERSE.

yeah, we’re getting into some ~shit~So uh, where to start. Here’s the description from the Wiki:

Fights to protect a small village - He teams up with a green dragon to protect a small frontier village.  In order to help heal the hearts of the villagers, he gathers and directs an all-boys choir.  There appeared to be some record of him being involved with the Union. 

And here’s what you’ll find on my blog:

The priest and leader to a small refuge village for those who had lost their lives and/or families to the Union. Directs an all-boys choir to give hope to it’s citizens, and is partnered with an elderly green dragon.

It also comes with a very very very clear warning that I want to share here as well:

Leonard in 1.3, like his DOD1 counterpart, is also a paedophile. Unfortunately he is strongly implied to be acting on this in the 1.3 universe. I plan not to bring it up unnecessarily and shall be especially fragile with his characterisation in this verse. Please keep this in mind when roleplaying with him.

What happens within Leonard (And Arioch’s) story - Context about the verse if you want to skip the reading 

Arioch and Leonard’s story is A_4010: The Truly Diseased. I can understand why one might want to skip this one though, while my personal favourite their story ESPECIALLY isn’t for the faint of heart. Read:

While I would HIGHLY recommend it, it’s not for everyone, and I can’t even pressure them to read it if they’re not at least decently confident they can handle the topics presented in this story. So here’s a summary: The Truly Diseased (TTD) follows a nameless half-elf girl (I have given her a fan-name of Agares, however, which if she’s ever mentioned, I’ll probably use lmao) who’s father and village was destroyed by Union dragon hunters for not informing them of a woman who had stayed overnight with a silver dragon. She, her pregnant mother, and two young little brothers manage to escape in search of the fabled “Village of the Green Dragon”, having heard stories from merchants of a small village where they would be able to take refuge from the war. Which, in Midgard, is a big fuckin deal. Eventually they do end up finding this village and it’s leader/priest, Leonard, who welcomes them in and helps in taking care of her mother alongside her — The half-elf girl/Agares begins to fall in love(…? Lust over?) with Leonard for his gentle and caring personality (and his beefy bilf bod), yet even she acknowledges that it’s a pretty one-sided affair with little chance of ever happening. Not that it stops her tho 😭 So things go pretty groovy for the most part until it doesn’t One fine day (evening?) protag’s youngest brother comes up like “hey I got in the choir and my piece of shit older brother did NOT”  And she’s like “….. wow.” “Its bc i can get my balls cut off easier” “that’s mildly concerning but okay” so anyways they all go to the performance thing and the protagonist has some ~unresolved jealousy~ about the attention Leonard’s giving her younger brothers like girl chill. Not like he’s more interested in them than he is you…. right? :’) So like,,, he’s like “this is a new part of the choir blah blah blah” and then the kid gets fucking shot in the stomach lol as it may happen, a little guy ratted out the village to the Union, now they’re killing everyone since,,,, it’s like, a village literally made to stand against the Union did I mention that lmao. This is mildly inconvenient for our heroine, who proceeds to leave her pREGNANT MOTHER AND TELLS HER OTHER STILL-VERY-YOUNG BROTHER TO TAKE CARE OF HER SO SHE, THE FUCKING HOMEWRECKER, CAN GO HELP LEONARD WHO’S GOING BERSERKER MODE ON FUCKIN EVERYONE BECAUSE THEY KILLED A KID. yeah he also got shot by the same arrow too but as it turns out people in 1.3 need to be strapped down and beaten to death with a radioactive brick to feel anything (look at Furiae) The green dragon, very elderly and hardly capable of even moving, extends it wings to cover the villagers and keep them safe from the Union. Did I mention our protagonist ends up not helping like she wanted? Like…… what was the point of that :/  Arioch pokes in lmao While it’s never explained in the story itself, it seems that Arioch and Leonard were pretty acquainted with each other. My guess is that she also came to the village and probably started to try some cannibalism shit before Leonard was like “:( not cool man” and drove her out. It’s funny because the way the novella puts it is like they got a divorce or had a fucking break up or some shit like “What happened between them?” The fuck if I know check their Instagram story or smth idk  Anyways. She,,,, she offers to help fight off the Union with a very injured Leonard who’s fine why ask,,, BUT. She wants payment. Can you guess what?

Leonard hates the idea but agrees and they fight together, wrecks everyone’s shit and then BOOM, YELLOW DRAGON OUT OF FUCKING NOWHERE . heroine realizes that those dragon hunters that destroyed her old village were looking for a crazed yellow dragon and the woman following it. … welp. 😳 oh yeah and her younger brother #2 is dead now (what did she fucking expect?) and her mother’s in labour. Great timing! This’ll be a story to tell the little tike when they grow up. None of that matters anyways since said yellow dragon ripped the fucking WINGS off the green dragon, is eating it alive, and arioch has both her and her dead younger brother #1 held at gunpoint. leonard is there too

“so what’s it gonna be kid, huh? huh?”

Diversity win! 💝❤️💗✨💓😍😍😍😍 that was the biggest fuck you rejection I’ve ever seen in media tbh. the virgin caim headshake vs the chad leonard cannibal-abandonment treatment  imagine falling in love with a guy and he chooses your like,,,, 7 year old brother’s corpse over your own life. Feelsbadman 😔😔😔  i could stop since that’s the end of it for Lenny but I’m not going to Anyways Arioch kills Leonard, and is cut off from her ramblings about what a stupid piece of shit he is by noticing the protagonists mother giving birth ohoh boy Arioch forcibly births the child herself and is stopped from eating the newborn baby by the protagonist, who had just,,, kinda been sitting in shock seeing all this go down. Can I blame her? Having finally snapped, she takes Arioch’s own sword and FUCKING HACKS HER TO BITS WITH IT LIKE OMGGGGGGG and like,,,, you won’t believe what happens next.  Caim and Angelus show up, Angelus starts killing the yellow dragon that was eating the green dragon, and our girl is just kinda “:l” right now. she gouges her eyes out. The end!  There’s also Legna. so….. thats their story in a nutshell, I presume. 1.3 verse, babey! I can’t wait. developing Leonard’s history with the Union, the green dragon and the village, whatever the fuck went on with him and Arioch…. They’re questions that I’d love to expand on in this verse! Having him seeing (with GREEN eyes!) and like,,, not being depressed anymore is going to be something so new and also like- Uncomfortable :/ but that’s the funnest stuff to write for that reason lmao I can’t wait to start!! ❤️

[liathgray]

Marelle is actually coming along well

so. here’s a lil scene

He didn’t remember exactly where the place had been located, but had a vague mental map pointing out landmarks and whatnot like a broken compass spinning drunkenly. He followed intuition because the worst thing that would happen is he couldn’t find it and would trudge back to the inn with a little hint of disappointment.

Past experience warned him that it could end up far, far worse. Last time he was out past the time he should’ve been made him an unwilling witness to casual execution.

He shook himself and pushing the memories as far down as they would go, crammed into a tiny bottle with a screw top lid and maybe a padlock for good measure. They’re burst out eventually, glass and shrapnel in spades, but for now he just wanted some peace.

Nothing would happen. The world turned.

Edward ran his hand along the brickwork as it turned into an iron fence, lacing a pretty looking estate. Two people danced by the light of a lamp through the window. He saw their silhouettes and it made his heart tighten in his chest.

Edward just smiled to himself and put one foot in front of the other like he always did. Always on the move. Always going forward. Always… running.

A honey-glow caught his eye after another block or two and nostalgia swelled up. It was warm and tinted grey. A little less saturated then he had remembered from earlier, but still bright. Inside was just as sun-drenched, somehow importing the rays directly from the source and scattering them about the store.

A middle aged man was perched behind a desk, thumbing through a novella. He looked up at Edward and his face softened curiously.

“What can I do for you?”


Twenty minutes later he left, the bells strung to the doorframe singing at his departure and a small bundle in his hands.

It was ridiculous.

Top to bottom, it was ridiculous. Edward knew that there was no reason to have gotten it in the first place, but the shop had a proud sign proclaiming that they didn’t accept returns.

Oh no… how tragic. Well, he’ll just have to keep this accidental purchase, then.

It wasn’t even a proper book that he’d gotten. It wasn’t some kind of anthology or novel, not essays packed into a leather journal.

It was a play.

He didn’t even like plays. Not really.

He liked getting to place petty bets and swindle his friends out of their deserts.

But it sat comfortably in his hands and it looked familiar enough to lift the weight off his chest.

So he’d keep it.

He took his time finding his way back, milling in a simple, unmotivated type of way. Edward nodded politely to a woman in a slip, a loose coat that was twice the width of he shoulders arranged like some haphazardly sewn curtains thrown over his back with her head out her window, propped up three stories above and puffing away on a stick that smelled rather bitter. She glanced down at him with a smile and offered him a hit.

Edward declined with a dismissive wave and she snickered lightly into the crook of her arm. He wandering in and out of populated areas, dipping between the lively scene of restaurants and liquor stores to the quite spots with an oddly high population of balcony gardens. Residential areas always did tend to be more scheduled in their noise making practices.

There were children, after all.

Edward didn’t dare march himself near Central Command—he planned to steer clear of it even if that meant swerving into oncoming traffic—but he did find himself accidentally swinging past a station stamped with the military police insignia.

He glared at it as he walked like it had personally offered him (it had, to be clear) and turned another corner sharply.

However long it took for him to actually rediscover the fine art of basic city navigation and show up at the inn door, his breath had begun fogging in the chilled air and face surely was a bit flushed.

He padded inside, cargo tucked under his arm carefully because suddenly it was the most precious fucking thing in the world and it was just paper and glue. The clerk acknowledged him with a slow blink and Edward took that as his cue to not bother with any pleasantries, instead striding to him room through the twisted hallways.

Had these been designed after tree roots or something? A poor drunk architect had probably mathematized the hell out of this place and slapped it on a city planners desk before the hangover wore off.

Or maybe it was just really old.

Edward was so close to slipping back into his room. He was so close it was insulting.

Hand on the doorknob, key in hand. He was so damn close but—

“Hey,”

And his soul proceeded to fully leave his body

“Fuck—“

[talpy]

Avatar fic rec post

Hi people, this is an Avatar fic rec post for @kuruccha​ who wanted a primer. Happy Avatar renaissance to you :D

Everything under cut, because boy, there are a lot of fics. Forgive me for being repetitive in my recs, but they are all so good and amazing and *melts in a sea of feelings*

First, some authors who are so, so very good and my favourites by them (fics aren’t in any particular order, authors are in alphabetic order):

Avocadolove  (Tumblr: @awesomeavocadolove​ )

The Problem with Zuko: I love the idea that Zuko finds his way to team Avatar even without the Agni Kai and the rest. One of my favourites fics for at least 10 years.

Another Brother: Zuko was adopted by Hakoda, but he doesn’t remember his past. I really like how Iroh is portrayed in this story, very interesting!

Unchained Melody: Sokka doesn’t return with his body after being spirit-napped from Her Bai. Strangely, only Zuko can see him. I really love how everything is developed here :)

Consider Chaos: series where Zuko finds Vaatu and becomes the Chaos!Avatar. Really interesting premise, cooler effects!

Half a Heart: Zukka!soumates AU. Very interesting choices about world building and Hakoda’s character.

Haircrescendo

Carry On For You: from the series intro “Not the Pokémon AU you asked for but the one you’re getting anyway.”. I like it a lot, amazing adaptions and backstory building for Zuko. It focuses on Zuko and Sokka.

Compassion For All Our Monsters: intro “How Sokka learned to shut up and be nice, and also learn a little bit more about Zuko than he wanted to.” mandatory Sokka-finds-out-about-Zuko’s-past.

Fire Nation Yacht Club: one of the angstiest series I’ve read, I love it and I re-read it like once a month. Intro of the fist fic “Sokka knows three (3) things: 1. The caldera is on fire. 2. Ozai’s really, really dead (and so is his daughter). 3. The only one having a worse day is probably Zuko.”

What We’re Given: such an amazing series! Intro “Started out as a “What would happen if Zuko happened to rediscover sky bison while searching for the Avatar?” and turned into something more than that.” Zuko blasting Aang for not washing Appa properly will always be amazing xD

MuffinLance (Tumblr: @muffinlance​, suggest following for plot-bunnies)

Towards the Sun: Zuko doesn’t manage to escape on the Day of the Black Sun, a very angst novella-length intro ensues. I love this a lot because of the angst and how it sparkled inspiration for other stories with a similar premise.

Salvage: here it his, the original dad!koda fic. Intro “Mid-Season-One Zuko is held ransom by Chief Hakoda. Ozai's replies to the Water Tribe's demands are A+ Parenting. Hakoda is… deeply concerned, for this son that isn't his, and who might be safer among enemies than with his own father.” Lots of feelings and amazing A+ writing.

The One Where Zuko's Hair Matches Sokka's and Other Tales: fillets from tumblr, extra material, general awesomeness all around.

Miscellaneous

The Home I've Searched For by Kayasurin: I didn’t know Azula/Kuei could be that good! Really awesome story, amazing Azula.

The Festival of Four by SuperKat: Aang knows his time is coming near and he says goodbye. Very touching and moving (yes I did cry), amazing Aang voice.

Sunday in the Park with Appa by Dracze: Parks and Recreation!AU, Aang as Leslie Knope and Zuko as Ben Wyatt. I loved how the AU was adapted on the characters and on the format -blogging instead of “watching in camera”.

Like Fire and Water by Setari: Sokka and Katara find their father in Ba Sing Se with his new wife, Ursa. Very funny, especially when Sokka/Katara and Zuko/Azula realise that they are siblings.

the beginning of a new and brighter birth by aloneintherain: from the intro “In a new era of peace, Zuko works to be a very different Fire Lord than his forefathers.”. I love how Zuko tries to make changes in the Fire Nation at the start of his reign.

The Family You Choose by TunaFishChris: the platonic Gang soulmate AU I needed without knowing. I liked it a lot, especially at the end. One of my favourites!

illustrate the remnants of the life i used to live by WitchofEndor: also a platonic Gang soulmate AU but much angstier. This Zuko is simply heartbreaking.

where the stars do not take sides by WitchofEndor: intro “When Azula is nine, she becomes an only child. She hears the Fire Lord call for Zuko's life, and in the morning, her mother and brother are gone. Azula may be young, but she isn't naive. She knows what happened to them. Which makes it all the more surprising when Azula tracks the Avatar down and fights his group of peasant friends, only to find herself staring into an eerily familiar face.” as beautiful as it sounds, really amazing Azula voice.

Doe-eyed by OldeShoestrings: Azula as the big sister of Zuko. I love how Azula is fundamentally the same but how her being the old sister changes everything. I like this a lot.

How to Care for Your Local Fire Lord; A Memoir by The Palace Staff by RejectsCanon: the fire palace’s stuff joins the Zuko protection squad. I salute them.

The Sins Of Our Family by Mangaluva: amazing series inspired by Towards the Sun. Intro “Zuko didn't escape the Fire Nation on the day of the eclipse. Azula decides to invite him to her coronation, setting off a chain of events involving abuse, trauma, siblings, recovery, and rebuilding.”. Really love this portrayal of the fire siblings.

There Is No Fire Lord by OccasionalStorytelling: other fic inspired by Towards the Sun, basically Zuko remains in prison even if he is basically the Fire Lord. The plot soon becomes its own creature and I love how it develops.

Two Perspectives by Sabretoothgooselion: series about Zuko and Kuei, really lovely. As of now there are 2 fics, but apparently more are in the works. Cannot wait!

this love burns so yellow (becoming orange and in its time, exploding) by meliebee: the first year and something of Zuko reign. Amazing Zuko voice, very angst, much approved.

and love will be your teacher by Ford_Ye_Fiji: series on hiatus, AU where Azulon doesn’t die and takes Zuko away from Ozai giving him to Iroh instead. Very very nice, I love the relationship between Zuko and Iroh.

Of Dead Fire and Dragon Dreams by ChickadeeChickadoo: during the Day of the Black Sun Ozai lies to Zuko saying that Iroh is dead. Zuko redirects lightening to him and he finds himself Fire Lord. Very cool story, love Azula in here.

In the Soft Light by CSHfic, VSfic: Zukka, moon-spirit-Sokka!AU. I love this story so much! Zuko is so very an awkward turtleduck here.

How to Disappear Completely by aeoleus & the long way around by ciaconnaa: two modern Au where Zuko is Kiyi’s guardian, very very nice.

kintsugi by discordiansamba: when Zuko is banished he becomes Toph’s bodyguard. Yes it is as amazing as it sounds.

it's the illusion of separation by argentoswan: very nice Zukka!modern Au. Sokka starts working at the Jasmine Dragon, but alas, his old high school bully Zuko works there too. I love how Zuko’s past with the gaang was adapted and how the relationship between him and Sokka develops.

Finding Solace in Parking Lots by RejectsCanon: Zukka!Modern au, Sokka and Zuko find themselves in the same McDonalds’ parking lot having a breakdown. Really really lovely.

Fractures by EvieNyx: instead of being banished, Ozai imprisons Zuko far from everyone’s eyes. When Ozai and Azula are defeated he evolves from prisoner to Fire Lord in one big step. Love the characters and the cliffhangers!

Fight by Electrons: Zuko doesn’t side with Azula at Crossroads of destiny, but that doesn’t make everything much easier. Amazing word-building and lovely dive in cultural diversity. Also, ace!Zuko which is very lovely.

Dragon of the Yuyan by 00AwkwardPenguin00: intro “In which Zuko is fostered/adopted/raised/recruited by the Yuyan Archers of Pouhai Stronghold, and destiny hiccups.” very very cool story, I really like how Zuko is portrayed here.

Always trust Sokka's instincts by Thisisentertaining: whereas Jet shows Sokka an interesting Fire Nation prisoner... a Zuko-joins-the-Gaang-early-Au. Very very good :D

all my skeletons out for the taking by 136108: Azula wins the Agni Kai. It’s still on progress but for now it’s very very good and I can’t wait to read what’s happening next.

Mark Time by foil: yes, another Zukka modern au. This is very very angst, be careful with the tags’ warnings. This story keeps surprising me and I hope Zuko and Sokka will find their happy ending.