#bitb good ending au

[lericekrispie]

I see were are Bitb posting, have some headcannons

Becky's parents lived bc Becky was with Kian and not them. When Kian lives Becky's parents invite him over all the time for dinner. They miss their daughter so much and they try to fill that hole with Kian. Kian doesn't mind having some adults care for him, especially Becky's parents.

Rat had a little sister named Molly and Rand reconnects with the family, and ends up babysitting Molly a ton. To the point where Rand starts calling Molly 'little Mouse'.

If Kian and Rand both live, Kian has trouble playing music without hearing the hell song. But Rand took three years of Piano in Elementary School and can play Mary has a little lamb from memory, so despite how embarrassed it makes Kian the two of them sit down at the piano together and Rand holds his hands over Kians. It's not that Kian can't play music, it's that the songs cursed him with insanity to only want to play that song. Rand makes sure he hits only the right notes for twinkle twinkle little star. Slowly Kian gets better. And they're gay.

Rolan has more control over his body once he recovers. He starts to experiment with what he can do. He gives himself a couple inches in height. He lightens his eye colors. He gets rid of his grey hairs. After a couple of months to maybe a year, he discovers his/her genderfluid swag.

And they're all gay and in a polycule and they love each other the end. :3

[xaeyrnofnbe]

bitb fanart moment

post (hypothetical) good ending bitb character designs under the cut! if you haven’t listened to all 4 episodes don’t look! (please look though it took me so long to finish this. digital art has been a BATTLE for me lately. but i did it)

in an imaginary scenario where after reviving kian, they made all the right decisions, rallied the other survivors, destroyed the queen/elder brain/heart/whatever and freed galloway, before getting the hell out of there. where are they going? not important. roadtrip time. they just kinda drive for like a week or two before finding a safe place to stay. and they stay together, cause they have a bond now or whatever. and they’re gay. you get the idea, they travel around and help each other recover and heal from what they’ve all been through.

after saving the town they found barcode chewing on a giant bug leg or something. he tries to attack rolan. it’s hilarious, he’s been terrorizing all the bug monsters while offscreen. they take him with them after that.

and now they’re on the road, talking through their trauma, listening to music, finding a new guitar for kian, and finally finishing their dnd campaign.

these designs are basically just how they looks right after getting out of galloway- they’re still dirty and grimy but they’re alive! kian got some old rags from the community house, and rolan has a makeshift “disguise” made up of rands jacket and sunglasses. (sunglasses not included bc i couldn’t figure out how to draw them)

btw i’m spreading kian is the shortest propaganda. he’s like 5’6 there’s no way he’s the tallest. don’t listen to the lies. (his canon height)

and now here’s the individual designs (please look at rolans arm i’m so proud of it like actually)

[clownfire]

had a jimmy neutron brain blast moment about how the ages of the bayou boys and stan and ford pines roughly line up. Now I can’t stop thinking about a blood in the bayou - gravity falls au. 

[loutes-toyhouse]

BUTB spoilers

just finished BLOOD IN THE BAYOU I LOVE IT SO MUCH SUFIEBAJFAOUFHUEFUE      

so, thoughts about the ending?

    rand survives and DOESNT die of blood loss,and his sister is completely fine(she did expierence all the hivemind the most though probably isnt holding a grudge against the queen)    

   and ronals also survives, memory is lost but...   he DID knew spell of reviwal    wich means if ronald remembers then theyll be alive, alll tree of the group(also cant see why he cant rewive the people that lost both of their versions, bug and human, like kians gf)!  all mindcontroled people(now with bug anagomy) are just rebuilding,  AND NOT WITH FLESH THIS TIME.  the same way roland repurposed his order to build a life, the replaced build the town to what it was!

    also all the humans are now alcoholics. (i defenetly would be if i knew) 

and they finish their dnd game, but its after a time skip, where everyone is fine, kinda looks like the dnd game they were supposted to have in their first day back in galloway, though with big diferenses

tho im also interested wtf happend to galloway in 2023, i dont think shapeshifter bugs can even age, when they get consious control of their anatomy soroland is completly fine, but also, revived people come back as normal mortals, thus   old meeen   its interesting what would happen if te whole of galloway aclimites to have half immortal bugs as half of their population   will the non bugs die from old age, or will they become bug(perk:no hivemind) instead? kian def would   

   alt is spell of revival, but it costs sanity, and isnt permanent solution to death  tho what if revived dont age though? like william wisp but better integrated in his body

and another minus is that    people could just explode if someone says revival spell nearby    ghhh aging the antagonist of good endings, so i bet everyone will become bug after fear of them wears off

      i hope the whole of galloway gets therapists

[zakaye]

doomed time loop AU

The starting point of the loop is set in the moment after Rat leaves them and they head towards Quickstop.

They all "wake up" at the same time, instantly panicking. They regained the memories of their deaths and of what happened, remembered EVERYTHING, even if some things are more blurry than others.

The second Rand opens his eyes, he starts searching for Rachel, who he just saw.

Rolan's panicking is quiet, but he is barely managing his human form.

Kian stares blankly, the fact that he is alive AGAIN still setting it. Almost subconsciously, he starts to hum his melody. It's ever present, just as it was when he awoken after his first death.

It takes them a long time to calm down enough to be able to communicate with each other. Once they do, they slowly realize that somehow, they are back at the beginning of this whole shit show.

They aren't sure if they can actually change things. They got a second chance, but is it really going to change how it all went down?

They still try.

Rand gets his mom to safety, Rolan goes to the basement instead of funeral.

Kian... Kian still tries to help Becky.

They all fail.

They try, and try and try. And they keep failing.

They are loosing both their minds and hope. How could they not? They've been trapped in a literal nightmare for who knows how long.

Then, one day, Rand starts the loop and both Kian and Rolan are acting normal. Like they never fought the monsters. Like they never saw the world be corrupted and people killed. Like they have no recollection of constant torture that were past few days. weeks. months...?

They don't remember it. Rand realizes that he is the only one with memories now. Did he finally die? He must have, but would death really be that cruel?

Rolan and Kian wake up in the same situation as Rand, being the only ones aware.

The loops has split, separating them from each other.

They have no way of getting back into the same loop. The nightmare continues, but this time, it feels more hopeless than ever.

Over time, as loops keep on repeating, they give up. One could only see their world fall apart that many times before falling apart themselves.

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

HIII I KNOW. A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ANNIHILATION. PERIPHERALLY. ive seen like part of it but i do NOT remember much. except that its one of the prettiest movies ive ever seen. that being said im so eyes emoji abt ur au..... r there any specific scenes frm the movie ur thinking about?? how would the character dynamics differ from either canon?? etc etc etc!!!

GOD I FUCKING LOOOOOVE ANNIHILATION. ONE OF MY TOP 5 FAVORITE MOVIES OF ALL TIME EVER. yes yes yes yes yes OK. so this is. all encompassing crossover jrwi au which means I'm pulling characters from different campaigns. which. usually im not a huge fan of but i think i pulled it off rlly well in a limited sense here bc i have very specific reasoning behind why i put each character where. u will know at least two of them and they WILL cause you psychic damage so trust me when i say the other ones will too. putting this under a cut bc im gonna ramble

BASICALLYYYYY it's gonna follow the plot of the movie pretty closely just with slightly altered character dynamics + each of their reasons for going into the shimmer. so each person on the Current Team has lost someone on a previous expedition, and basically all of them are trying to find answers for what happened to their loved ones.

im gonna talk mainly about the ones you know because youll understand where I'm coming from the best with them but just know I am OBSESSED w the roles I have put gillion and chip in here. god I miss riptide every day .

DAKOTA COLE AS ANYA. Anya is the retired paramedic !! she's the one that. hold everything. gets killed by the fucked up bear. smile. that was just a fun little coincidence for me . ORIGINALLY I was dead set on having the pd representative be william bc im biased and I love him but after rewatching the movie I just think dakota fits in anyas place so perfectly. she's the most outgoing of the group, she's the one that initially invites Lena to join their team (also side note there is a pre-existing dynamic between dakota and chip because they've had MULTIPLE interactions in various what if crossover episodes and their dynamic is one of my favorite things ever). she's also the most aggressive. she's the first one to snap into action mode after finding the body in the pool, she's the one to take josie away from it and has a very protective stance over josie for the rest of the time after that (this is going to be relevant i am gonna talk about josie next) . once the group starts arguing about whether they want to continue further into the shimmer, anya shifts into a VERY black and white mentality, pinning ventress as The Bad Guy immediately for wanting to continue. and then when Lena shows some hesitancy over what she wants to do, anya snaps into a "youre either with me or against me" mindset. she also has this growing sense of paranoia ever since they find the tape of what appears to be the previous crew killing each other, and after she learns Lena is lying to them about her connection with Kane she goes way overboard with tying them to chairs and threatening to kill them. while i don't think dakota would necessarily go that far I DID say this to jonesy when we were rewatching the movie together so. bfu connecting two dots meme

anyway i think dakota is in the shimmer looking for william AND vyncent. parallels to the "dakota leaves for 10 months without telling them" which is why the three of them would be separated in the first place. william somehow finds out about the southern reach and his draw toward a mystery is what causes him to join the first expedition. vyncent goes with him because he can sense it's dangerous (and basically a suicide mission) and doesn't want william to go alone. I have. ideas. for what happens to them in the shimmer but they are vague at best right now and even then. dakota never finds out what happens to them before he's killed by the bear. the bear uses their voices to draw him out btw. smile. he dies protecting thr rest of the group even immediately after his paranoid breakdown.

OK THAT GOT LONG. OOPS. ONTO THE SECOND ONE

SHILO AS JOSIE. ohhhhh josie radek one of my favorite characters in media of all time. God I love her so much. anyway she's the only one of the current expedition with no previous combat training, so she's often seen by the rest of them as someone who needs to be protected. if I'm remembering correctly she's also the youngest. (in this. au. dakota would be older than shilo. feels better in my mind. none of them would be Kids they'd all be adults at this point but I'd put shilo in early 20s and dakota maybe in mid 20s. so . still young.) shilo is in the shimmer looking for his twin brother who went missing. somehow he was able to track down the southern reach and find out emizel was part of a previous expedition, and desperately wants to get him back. he's the one with the LEAST amount of knowledge going into the shimmer. he doesn't realize it's a suicide mission. he just wants his brother back. anyway when they get to the first outpost they find the remnants of the first team's base of operations, with names on a guard patrol rotation and leftover weapons and. a video camera. with a tape in a plastic bag labeled "for those who follow". josie is the one holding the camera when they watch it. the tape shows members of the previous party in the abandoned pool, one guy tied to a chair while the others cut open his abdomen to show his intestines moving around like snakes or worms. in the movie, the guy who cuts him open is Kane, Lena's husband. the rest of the party doesn't know her connection to kane, and she knows now if she tells them they won't trust her (and is proven correct by this when anya eventually finds out her connection) ANYWAY I'm going off track. sorry this is my favorite scene in the whole movie I get distracted. ANYWAY so when they see this, josie is the most immediately horrified by it because she's the only one who hasn't seen anything as gruesome as that before. for shilo. well. he gets to see the one being cut open is emizel. and then later when they get to the pool and find the body still there (again. josie is the one to find this. she's also the one who reaches down into the old dirty water and accidentally picks up the knife. which was still left in the same place they saw it be dropped in the tape) corpse plastered to the wall by all kinds of multicolored fungus and lichen, I think shilo doesn't immediately break down, he doesn't really. process it right away. I mean it's completely unrecognizable. it's not until he accidentally picks up the knife that it all clicks into place in his mind and he realizes "that thing right there used to be my fucking brother" and completely shuts down. runs out of the complex, dakota has to chase him down because they all know its dangerous to go anywhere alone, etc. after this he loses any sense of purpose, the only reason he came into the shimmer in the first place was to get emizel back and now seeing what happened I think he just gets. hopeless. which is the beginning of the end for him . i haven't decided if his exact death is the same as josies but i want it to be peaceful in the same sort of way. "imagine dying frightened and in pain and having that be the only part of you which survives... i wouldnt like that at all" "ventress wants to face it.. you want to fight it... im not sure i want either of those things...." josie radek i am in love with you. anyway. annihilation pool scene for you because I love this image more than anything

[gilded-gheists]

if you think rand is a classic prettyboy and skinny like his reference no he's fucking not.

[plantwriting]

@breach-of-conduct you have broken me I can’t stop thinking about him selkie Kian has my entire heart

Please ignore that you can very clearly tell that there’s something weird with the seal, I completely messed up the coloring and had to literally cut out another piece of paper in the shape of the seal and glue it on top because I didn’t wanna start the whole drawing again from the beginning and then had like no energy to try and make it actually look good.

Image description under the cut

A traditionally drawn image of Kian Stone as a selkie, in the front is Kian as a human wearing his leopard seal coat. He has pants that flare out at the ends and have rose embroidery on them, he is wearing no shirt and has his canon accurate tattoos. He is standing in a very casual pose with one hand on his hip, looking at the camera, and with a star shaped scar on his mouth as per the BITB selkie au I based the drawing off of.

Behind human Kian is his seal form, a very simply drawn and colored seal that’s meant to look more ghostly than actually there, with a blue outline and entire very basic gray coloring. There is no other background, it is left entirely white.

[bungobble-my-balls]

Dollhouse Siblings AU: Backstory

('Dollhouse Siblings' are Nikolai, Lucy, and Q. I thought these characters would be interesting together as secret siblings, so I made up a backstory for them).

So I've decided, since it's gonna take a LONG time to get to the key moments with these three in BITB (dollhouse siblings is more likely going to be an Arc 3 plot point), I'm just gonna post content of them anyway and just not mention any key plot points to avoid spoilers. I originally wasn't even gonna reveal that dollhouse siblings happens in the fic but oh well, I want to have fun with these guys now and not wait years for it.

Good thing is, the dynamic and backstories I made for them aren't BITB exclusive, so they can still be enjoyed outside of the fic. Anyways,

Nikolai and Lucy:

(Lucy is trans in this AU, so I'll be referring to her as 'he' while she's a child. Also Lucy isn't her original name but for ease I'm just going to keep calling her Lucy here)

- Neither Nikolai or Lucy were born with their present hair colours. The two are naturally pale blond, with the same turquoise eyes. Their hair matches their mother, and their eyes match their father. Lucy especially matched him, considering she also sported the same ring shape in her eyes that her father had.

- Nikolai and Lucy were born and raised in a small closed off village in Ukraine. The village was essentially a cult, but their father denied this heavily. He believed the leader of their village was a great man and that he was helping that man achieve great things with his research. Neither of the siblings knew exactly what this research was.

- The youngest children of the village would be taken away every midday-evening to the 'research facility'. Nikolai was no longer young enough to go, so he'd attend the nearby school while his younger 'brother' was taken by his father.

- Lucy was an obedient child, but was also fussy when it came to his appearance. He always complied, up until the point someone tried to cut his hair. In this traditional village all the young boys are meant to have short hair, but to make sure Lucy complied with the 'research' they allowed him the exception of having long hair.

- Nikolai adored the hair his mother had, the beautiful braid, but whenever he asked her to teach him how to make one she just tried to keep to herself and passively ignored him as usual.

No one touches Lucy's hair because of how agitated he'll get about it, so it would usually hang in a long tangled mess in front of his face if not for Nikolai looking after him.

He tried to braid Lucy's hair to look like their mother's, but it ended up coming out not 'quite' right. It was a bit loose and spiky looking. Nikolai instead decided to name the style as his own style, as their own style. He tried to teach Lucy how to braid it, but he could only reach the lower half of his hair, so he usually had low twin braids when he did it himself. Nikolai often did it for him, and the small bonding activity was always nice for the two of them.

- Nikolai was raised to be obedient, but he realised very young how curious he was about the world outside the village. It started when he saw some birds from the nearby forest suddenly fly overhead and far from the village. There must be something else out there, a place they were going to. It was unfair that they had the freedom to just fly away from everything and see more, while Nikolai was trapped here with just his legs and no way of knowing what else is out there.

- When he's able to sneak his little brother away, he takes him to the forest and they play games. He's done this since Lucy was only a few months old. He also teaches Lucy about the birds, and freedom, and how he shouldn't accept a life forever in this place. He doesn't want his younger brother to become brainwashed. He's still young enough to not be fully affected, and it was already rare for Nikolai to 'wake up' and see the truth. He wants to prepare his brother. Maybe one day they can escape together and see what's out there. He doesn't know when, but maybe one day he'll see an opportunity.

- One day, when Lucy is 4 years old, he goes missing. The village stops what they're all doing to search for the missing child. Nikolai goes to the forest, and he runs into a single door. When he opens it, he finds his younger brother inside. Lucy looks like he's playing happily, an unfamiliar expression for him, and he excitedly brings Nikolai into his 'new play room'. Nikolai convinces Lucy that they need to leave wherever 'this' is, not yet realising that his younger brother is causing it. He believes it's some kind of monster trying to lure his brother away. When he opens the door again to leave, it opens not into a forest but into Lucy's room, and they're now facing their mother and father.

- Their Father is absolutely thrilled at this discovery, and Lucy is suddenly praised as 'a blessed child'. He says something about his research finally showing results. Lucy is not the first 'blessed child' this village has had, but they are extremely rare. The few blessed usually join the researchers as they get older. Nikolai is not thrilled to find out that his younger brother will now be taken away by his father even more. He worries that this might cause him to get too involved and stuck here.

- One day their mother approaches Nikolai, and asks him to tell her what he knows about his brother's 'ability'. Nikolai is hesitant, considering it's unusual for his mother to speak to him, or anyone besides their father. She's usually just as quiet and reserved as the two siblings. She eventually convinces him by explaining that she's also worried about Lucy, about their father taking him away too much recently. She says she wants to understand what's going on so she can help, but their father won't tell her anything. Nikolai makes the mistake of believing her, and trusting the maybe his mother is finally deciding to act like a parent and wants to help them.

Nikolai tells her what he understands of Lucy's blessing. He says she can create doors to 'a room', and the doors seem to make Lucy and anyone in the room teleport.

- Not long after, Lucy and his mother are missing. A letter was left for their father, explaining only that she has decided to leave for good. Lucy's ability could help her, so she had no choice but to take his 'blessed child'. She wished the two of them well. Nikolai's mother had left the village for good, and she had taken Lucy with her. Lucy was free, but Nikolai was still trapped. He wanted to be happy for his brother, but all he could think about was the fact that he was still trapped. That they could never go together because he would never be able to find him. That his mother had tricked him.

- After their mother leaves, Nikolai's father is in a pathetic state of grief. He talks about how she was 'the love of his life' and how 'he'll never find a woman like her' (despite the fact that he never acted this way while she was here. She seemed more like his property). Nikolai never liked his father entirely, but he at least respected him, even if he internally disagreed with him. But his father's attachment to someone else has now caused him to crumple into something utterly pathetic at the loss of it. Nikolai can't even stand to look at his Father anymore.

- Nikolai's desire to leave only grows with time as he gets more restless, and as his resentment for his father grows. The stress of everything starts to turn his hair white, and on the day he realises its fully turned white, he also realises he has an ability. Despite now being 12, Nikolai still ends up developing an ability later than expected. (Most people gain their abilities before they even reach 7 years of age). It's a manifestation from his pain of being trapped in this place, the perfect power to finally free him, a teleportation ability. It manifests from one of his own bed sheets. He plans to leave as soon as he figures out how to use it.

(In actuality, Nikolai's father had been secretly experimenting on him in the way he did when he was younger. With Lucy now gone, his father still wanted to have a child that was a success. The village rules didn't allow for children past a certain age to go through the research, considering it a waste of resources, so he did this in secret. Nikolai's hair was turning white over time because of his father injecting him while he slept).

- Nikolai left as soon as he could, but not without causing a bit of havoc first. This village trapped him for his entire youth, it would only to continue to trap every other child that grew into it. He freed them from the cursed cycle. He figured out a way to use his ability to kill multiple people at once. He unfortunately didn't manage to kill everyone, but he was able to free most of them, and the village was so destroyed that he could at least be satisfied with the knowledge that the cage was broken.

This was empathy. He bloodied his hands and soul to set them all free. He was freeing them from the cage they didn't even know they were in. This was a mercy.

His father, unfortunately, got away.

- Nikolai figured that it didn't look right to just be carrying around a bedsheet everywhere. He had worn it around his shoulders as a cloak before, and came up with the idea of turning it into a proper cloak. A little bit of threatening towards a seamster he found, and he had his new look. Despite Nikolai growing as he got older, he never had to adjust the cloak because it would grow with him, as if it was now a part of him.

- As Nikolai got older, he let his hair grow out, considering his village was always so strict about keeping his hair short. He eventually started to tie it in the same way he tied his younger brother's braids years ago. His younger brother was the first person to escape the village, wearing those same braids. He now considers this style to symbolise freedom, and he wears them himself to show that he is also free. From the village, from their brainwashing, from everything. It's also a way to still feel connected to the sibling he lost years ago.

- Now that he was free, he finally left he village to explore the world outside of it. Instead, Nikolai found himself in an even bigger cage. So many people were still trapped, and they didn't even know it. Nikolai set to work freeing whoever he could, and his work eventually caught the attention of a man named 'Fyodor Dostoyevsky'. The man talked with him, and understood him in a way no one ever has. He agreed to join his organisation.

-

So what happened with Lucy?

I'll make another post on that, going into detail on some Lucy backstory and her time at the orphanage too.

I might not go into Q's backstory and how they connect to these two though, considering that might be a more plot relevant reveal for the fic. I will say though that in this scenario, Q is their half sibling. Same father, different mothers.

[valeriianz]

20 questions for fic writers!

tagged by @honeyteacakes <3 (and belatedly, @tharkuun haha)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

25

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

400,576 (+ 100k extra from fics i've deleted/orphaned in the past few years haha rip)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

i am at the mercy of the hyperfixation, and currently it's The Sandman and Dreamling exclusively.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1) Salvation (How to Get Away With Murder) 2) The Red Witch (Good Omens) 3) Bolt in the Blue (The Sandman) 4) Let Me Down Easy (The Sandman) 5) Show Me (The Mandalorian)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

yes and no. i love that people take the time to show their appreciation for a fic and i always want to reply and show how much it means to me... but i have this bad habit of not replying to comments on say, older works or older chapters of a fic. idk why... im just not good at it lol BUT I LOVE AND APPRECIATE EVERY SINGLE COMMENT, EVEN THE LITTLE ONES 💖💖

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

oh, Exit Wounds, for sure haha

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

im a sucker for happy endings so i'd say, everything else lol but particularly Almost Idyllic (The Song of Achilles) due to the build up and Salvation also, because of the events leading up to the ending.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not since my ff.net days haha.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

very occasionally. and nothing too wild (except for that dreamling butt plug one. that was. hmm.) but i typically enjoy writing first times.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

i do not.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

nope. though i have seen ideas/prompts used without credit. it doesn't bother me much.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

nope.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

once, The Red Witch (which btw has been discontinued, pls don't read it lol). it started off just me, then my editor jumped on maybe 5 chapters in once i realized they were much more versed in magick and fantasy than me.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

haha probably Zutara.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

ahhh haha... fuck. idk i want to say none. but my brain keeps whispering about the dreamling road trip au. i thought i had a plot but as i continue working on bitb and other little drabbles... ive realized i might've bitten off more than i can chew. and my only option is to completely sideline it until im done with bitb, or change the story (because right now the research i have to do for it is too much and y'all know how i am...) it sucks cos i do want to write it. but it's difficult when all my patience for research is already going into one fic (bitb).

16. What are your writing strengths?

dialogue and monologuing, probably.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

self 👏 motivation 👏 finding 👏 the 👏 urge 👏 to 👏 write (technically, it's tense. i flip between past and present tense constantly and at this point i just consider it one of my endearing qualities pfft)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

i try to avoid it but when it happens i just use Google Translate and then toss a disclaimer that ive done my best (to which usually a commenter will helpfully correct me and then all is well)

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Inuyashaaaaa (Miroku/Sango omg). exchanging physical notebooks with my friends with fanfics we'd written in school lol

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

truly a tie between Savory & Sweet and Let Me Down Easy (at the moment). the restaurant au was so easy and fun to write (probably because i used to be in the industry) and i reread it a lot. the pacing is fast and i love how immediate Hob and Dream fall into each other haha. Let Me Down Easy was very similar. my major was Media Production in undergrad and although it's been a while since i've held a camera, it was fun putting myself back in that environment. also the angst and tension were just a blast to write and figure out.

(this was an excellent waste of time, thanks again!) tagged, if y'all want, @magnusbae @teejaystumbles @ml-nolan @tj-dragonblade @reallyintoscience @delta-pavonis @staroftheendless

[fates-theysband]

i think in my bitb good end au becky lives too. like she was away from galloway just like rolan was, why shouldn’t she be able to shake the queen’s influence?

[nyxthedragon225]

i’ve read your pd zombie apocalypse au! i really enjoy it and i’m very curious to see where it will go! i don’t have any like direct questions but seeing your au ask made me really interested to hear more about a few if you wanna say anything about them!

- riptide superhero au

- pd college cafe

- riptide notes through desk

- modern riptide

- haunted library pd

- bitb fake dating

- bitb space au

OHOHOHOHOHHHHH YES

okay so first of all tysm for the nice things abt the zombie au :] its going to be a wild ride!

- riptide superhero au, i've already started writing but im gonna finish the whole thing before i post it. basically, chip and jay are supervillains (kinda) and gill is a hero. gill catches chip trying to steal a museum artifact (to return it to someone the museum stole it from (yes this is my anti-international museum propaganda fuck that shit)) and chip&jay slowly show gill how fucked up hero society is and turn him "villain."

- pd college cafe: william is a tired insomniac college student who drops by the new campus cafe and encounters dakota, the new barista. at the same time he meets his new classmate, Vyncent and he's rooming with Ashe, his friend from highschool in an apartment of campus. Also he might have a major crush on all three of them.

- Riptide notes through desk: The Albatrio all share a desk at dofferent periods and one day Chip leaves a note for himself in the desk. This leads to the three of them talking to each other through desk notes and becoming friends.

- modern riptide: i dont actually remember a lot about this one but I think the jist was that gill was a kid in a private school and after he graduated, he moved to a small coastal town called Mana to try and experience life outside the half-cult he was pretty much raised in and meets Jay, who's doing the same thing after getting out of her ultra-military family, and chip helps both of them experience freedom for the first time.

- haunted library pd: William is a ghost haunting the Rockfall Public Library. He doesn't do anything bad, he's more of a library helper than anything, helping people find books by floating them to the people. The town of Rockfall is a very Nightvale kinda place, and it's really just weird af with all the ghosts and supernatural stuff. Dakota and Ashe have lived in Rockfall their whole lives and are pretty good friends with William. Vyncent and Tide move there (Tide is Vyncent's foster dad) and they're both freaked out by all the weirdass shit happening in this town and the others have tk help them adjust.

- bitb fake dating au: in 1990, Kian is a rockstar and fans keep bugging him about his dating life, and Rolan's (very shitty) extended family invited him to christmas dinner and he doesn't want to go alone. They meet through Rand, who's Rolan's highschool friend and Kian's weed dealer, and decide to fake date to solve both problems. long story short they all three end up dating.

- bitb space au: rolan is an alien shapeshifter who, through a series of misunderstandings and shenanigans, ends up as a wanted criminal on the run from the law. He disguises himself as human lawyer Rolan Deep and moves to a small Venus colony called Galloway. He meets Rand and Kian, who eventually find out about the whole "criminal alien" thing because he's very bad at hiding it and decide to help him. Now all three of them are considered criminals because they're all very bad at pretty much everything /lh

[xaeyrnofnbe]

had a very soft thought. had to draw it. this is part of my good ending au btw. they are sleepy

[fates-theysband]

🤪, 🛌, 🎞️, and 👀 with the bayou boys?

thank you!!!

🤪: What is your trait that fanon would exaggerate?

tbh i think the fandom would see "burned-out former Kid What Got Good Grades who actually did try to get out of galloway but due to circumstances outside of their control ended up stuck and is so at the end of their rope with stress that theyre too tired to express it" and think "OHHHH so basically just rand if he didnt smoke weed right?"

i think this because i have at times worried "wait oh god did i just make shiloh 'rand if he didn't smoke weed'?" but no i think they're different enough people

🛌: What tropes show up in fics involving your ship?

well appropriately for the emoji attached to this question i think "post-canon everyone lives au Oh Nooooo This Motel We Have To Crash At For The Night Only Has A One-Bed Vacancy" is a strong contender lmao. i also think there's a lot of like..."we're hiding out while Shit's Going Down outside and well we're not going anywhere anyway so let's have an emotional heart-to-heart"

🎞️: What ‘canon’ scenes would the fandom point to as evidence for the validity of your ship?

it's tough for me to actually think of scenes in canon, everything is always pre- or post-canon for me but like. augh. i cant articulate an answer. i think the fandom would go nuts over how fiercely protective shiloh is over the guys but i can't think of any specific scenes.

👀: How does your ship with your f/o influence both of your characterisations and the world? Would there be any interesting metas written about your dynamic?

literally the metas would be off the fuckin chain. like a big theme in bitb is ending up back where you started despite every attempt you make to escape your past and i tried to construct my s/i with that theme in mind so like. the whole parallels of rolan coming back for his parents' funeral and having to confront the fact that he's been part of the hivemind since he was a kid/kian coming back just to see his friends and being forced to admit he's been living a lie to ease the pain of failing at his dreams and pining after "the one that got away"/rand having to drag himself out of the shell he's retreated into and actually productively face all his guilt over what happened to his sister/shiloh's entire family turning into bugs and forcing them to snap out of their autopilot for the first time in ten years and actually live for themself for once, and then all of those issues playing off each other??? boyyyyy howdy.

[xaeyrnofnbe]

uhhhh jrwi bitb au where everything’s the same up until the point just after kian gets resurrected.

they go to the community house and instead of getting turned away they manage to rally the surviving townsfolk, (rand’s mom and Barc are there. why? shut up. they’re cool now also.) get kian some clothes, gear up at mr dickman’s bunker, and go take out the queen/elder brain/heart.

rachel dies but like it’s alright because rand gets to say goodbye to his sister and he’s sad afterward but otherwise all is good.

without the queen to control or connect them, the bugs are all disoriented and easy to pick off. the group also finds out more of their weaknesses, which makes things easier. rolan is fine because he’s sort of like a second queen (that much is canon actually, i think charlie said it in the rolled) so he doesn’t need to be connected to the hive mind to function, he’s been fine his whole life without the connection so he’s fine now. well, fine is maybe not the most accurate, his eyes are black and he’s got a crazy sharp bug arm and he has scary bug mandibles that unfold from inside his mouth sometimes and he starts clicking instead of talking whenever he experiences heightened emotion, but hey at least they don’t have to kill him.

and the town is officially saved! the boys are gifted a car from a thankful survivor and they get the hell out of galloway. (should they return, they’d be welcomed as heroes. but there’s no way they’re EVER going back there.) and they head back to wherever rolan lives in chicago. barc is with them. they’ve got a lot to sort out: rolan still hasn’t really come to terms with What He Is, rand is grieving the loss of his sister, kian still needs a new guitar, and the three still need to finish their dnd campaign. but hey, now they have all the time in the world to grieve, recover, and to live.

after a while, once they’ve come to terms with it all, they start digging. after kian’s little magical stunt back in galloway, bringing himself back to life with rolan’s help, the three start learning about magic. it’s messy, and they never really get the hang of it, but they know it exists and they may or may not learn a spell or two to help themselves out.

and they realize that if a hive settled in galloway, biding it’s time for several years before springing to life, maybe galloway isn’t the only place this has happened, maybe it’s just the first to wake up. surely there are signs they can find of the beginnings of a hive, disappearances, reports of strange noises, people with melted faces, all things that happen before the main event.

so they rally themselves this time. rolan is their negotiator, he’s the link they have to attempt to communicate with whatever they find. rand has all the firepower and explosives, he’s the one to break through any barriers and destroy the queen. and kian is the one who fends off the bugs, with a sick weapon that’s mostly a flamethrower but also has the capability to spray alcohol and bug repellant. they all cover their eyes and ears (except for rolan, being a bug means he’s immune to getting turned into a bug) and set off in a well-equipped van, decorated to look like pest control, to clear out nests of bug monsters, and to find out more about their world… and maybe even others.

(and maybe with the help of a little magic they figure out how to make portals or something oOoh. this is how crossovers and what-ifs can happen.)

[xaeyrnofnbe]

silly thoughts moment but spoiler warning anyway for the ending of jrwi blood in the bayou

jrwi bitb au where they defeat the queen, save everyone, get out of galloway by the skin of their teeth and just. funny stuff happens ig? mostly just kian and rand trying VERY hard to hide the fact that their best friend is An Insect. like comically. like they cover his freaking praying mantis arm with whatever’s available (blankets and jackets and probably a curtain at some point) and make him wear sunglasses whenever people are around. also it turns out barcode has been hunting the bug monsters the whole time he’s been not present. like they find him covered in bug guts but he’s fine. he tries to eat rolan. everything is weird and different now and they’re all traumatized, (their sanity isn’t as bad as in canon) but they’re OK and they’re ALIVE and now they really should get around to finishing that dnd campaign.