#change of address; CROSSOVER VERSE

[postbearer]

The decidedly unspectacular morning in Smeerensburg hadn't started off that much more differently than most others, although the exceptionally nasty weather did suggest that it was only going to get worse as the day progressed; the sun obscured by a thick, freezing fog, which dragged the already frigid temperatures down even further. Despite this fact, and with little else to do, the postman made his usual rounds as always.

Rounds, which were, as always, entirely unfruitful— at least so far as letters were concerned. Recently, the fair townspeople had begun leaving other things inside their mailboxes, such as rusty knives, assorted pieces of trash, and, even once or twice, the occasional small rodent carcass. Truth be told, Jesper couldn't say whether they were trying to threaten each other or him at this point.

Sadly, without proper postage, the troubling trinkets remained untouched. Sometimes, they were gone the next day, and sometimes, there were more. If nothing else, the experience broke up a bit of the monotony in his routine (while instilling a sense of some unappreciated paranoia on the side).

Around town, there had been talk of a storm. Later that afternoon, it had arrived.

It's still reasonably early, yet the sky is as dark as pitch. Because of this, a lantern on the makeshift desk is placed near the mailman, who's sat behind the post office's workspace. Legs crossed at the ankles and boots propped up against the edge, he gingerly picks at his fingernails with an old, discarded letter opener. Outside, heavy snow works on blanketing the island, and the wind that makes it through the cracks of the dilapidated building bounces the candle's flame around wildly. It's so bad that Jesper briefly considers just calling it a day and turning in when the front door flying open nearly extinguishes the light completely.

Before he realizes it, a yelp is startled out of him— feet hitting the ground while the letter opener is inadvertently and haphazardly tossed somewhere behind him. A moment later, an all-too-familiar form pushes its way inside.

"Heya, sport."

Mogens. Who at least has the good graces enough not to comment on the shriek prefacing this impromptu visit of his. And without giving the postman (now clutching at his own chest) time to respond, he carries right along, shaking the blizzard from his coat as he crosses the threshold. "I hope you don't mind, but I just picked up some, uh, interesting newcomers, and there's no other accommodations for 'em in town."

"Newcomers? What? No, that's not going to happen." Standing up, Jesper gives a quick outward sweep of his hands in a vague, dismissive gesture. "I'm not sure you've noticed; this is a post office, not a hotel. I'm sorry, but I can't just—"

"Great," clearly not listening, Mogens interjects, turning to address the darkness beyond the still-open door. "Come on in, fellas."

@nosomatsu, gets a starter. Signed, sealed, delivered— it's yours

[skylarmoon71]

Miguel O' Hara (Across the Spider-Verse)- AU Crossover - Extra

Cases sometimes took a turn for the worse. In this instance you’d narrowly missed a blast. After they apprehended the unsub, the team had all driven to the hospital to check in on you. 

The doctors had yet to address them and they were becoming a bit anxious. When you boarded the ambulance you looked disoriented. There were clear signs of a concussion, so of course Hotch basically demanded that you get checked out. He knew how easily such an injury could become detrimental.

When the doctor finally came out, she offered them a smile.

“It was just a mild concussion. We’re doing extra tests, but she should be ready to leave first thing in the morning.”

They all released a sigh of relief. It was great news, however the look the woman wore proved that there was something else that needed to be addressed.

“Is everything okay?” Hotch questioned.

She nodded hesitantly.

“Usually we regard the information to a next of kin, or a spouse, but her records show that she has no family living in the area. Her parents are also deceased. Given your job description I feel as though it’s wise that I speak with you privately Agent Hotcher.”

JJ and Reid exchanged a look. Morgan is weary. Hotch nodded, turning to Rossi.

“If it’s okay, I’d like to have a witness with me.”

She nodded.

“Of course, please, follow me.”

Morgan knew for a fact that whatever it was, Hotch would fill them in. He just hoped it wouldn’t be too horrible. He sent a reassuring gaze to Reid and JJ as Hotch disappeared around the corner.

The doctor pulled them into a separate room.

“I’m sure I don’t have to stress how delicate this matter is. Since I am speaking with both of you, we will have to confront my patient together after I’ve explained.”

“Understood.” Rossi agreed.

She nodded.

“During our overall check there appeared to be no issues. Your agent is as healthy as an ox. Her stamina and pressure is next to perfect. Her external injuries however were a lot more severe.” She opened the folder and they were surprised to see images of marks around her body.

“She has two bruises from what appear to be bite marks on her shoulder. They were superficial which is a huge relief. But there were similar marks on her inner thighs and faded marks on her hip as well as near her pelvic area. From what I can see, these were all done to her by another person.”

The severity of the situation hit them like a brick.

“She’s being abused..” Rossi muttered. He almost couldn’t believe it.

Hotch’s jaw was clenched hard.

“Given that she is a federal agent, I implore that you take the necessary steps to get her professional help. If she hasn’t reached out, it must mean that her abuser is of higher status and she’s afraid to apprehend him. I’ve seen too many cases where these monsters get away.”

Hotch had every intention to grill you on this situation. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen any signs. He didn’t spot any significant changes in your behavior. If anything you were much happier. Which he took as a sign that you had recently entered a relationship.

“I’m looking for (Y/N), por favor, ayúdame!”

The voice on the other side caught all their attention. When they walked out, it all seemed to click. Hotch’s steely gaze fixed on Miguel. He gestured to the doctor, and she seemed to understand.

“She’s right this way sir.”

They all walked in silence. The second they made it to your room and the door slid open, Miguel breathed a sigh of relief. Your eyes lit up and he was at your side immediately.

“You’re always so careless.” He lectured. You pout.

“Come on, did you drive all this way to scold me? I’m fine, it was just a concussion.” He stood at your bedside, still frowning, but overall relieved.

The tense energy from the rest of the people present pulled your attention.

“Why all the long faces, I’m not terminally ill.” You joked. You hoped it would gain a reaction, but Rossi and Hotch were still glaring in Miguel’s direction. If you had to guess, they looked ready to shoot him and you didn’t understand why.

“What’s with the death glares?”

Your doctor shifted.

“I apologize, but under certain circumstances we are authorized to notify the police in the event of abuse cases.”

“Abuse? What are you talking about?”

“She’s talking about the multiple bruises all over your body.”

Hotch sounds pissed, and for a moment you’re completely confused. Miguel is too. At least for a while. When recognition finally hits, you both flush. Your cheeks are the very depiction of a cherry. Miguel doesn’t look much better.

Hotch as well as Rossi are confused by the reaction. Usually victims took a defensive stance, but the both of you look more embarrassed than anything else.

“I-It’s really not what you think.”

The doctor looks between you and Miguel, then back at Hotch and Rossi.

“Am I missing something?”

You fidget, and Miguel refuses to make eye contact.

You finally sigh in defeat, reaching for his collar as you pull him down to your height. He stumbles.

“W-What are you-”

Your fingers part his lips and they all stare at his pointed canines.

“Miguel has a condition. I’m sure you’ve noticed that he’s built a bit bigger than the average man.” You pull your fingers back, still mortified that you’ve been caught in this discussion with your superiors of all people. Miguel slowly raises to his full height.

“H-He’s not doing what you think he is. W-We just get a little carried away sometimes when we’re..being intimate..” You almost whisper the last part.

This is beyond humiliating.

Now that it’s all out in the open, the doctor bows her head.

“I’m so sorry for assuming the worst.”

You shake your head, still unable to look your superiors in their eyes. Hotch is relieved to say the least. Rossi laughs.

“You really had us going there kid.”

“I’m sorry sir.”

You’re still blushing.

“You might want to take it easy in the future, big guy.” Rossi jabs playfully.

“S-SHE’S THE ONE THAT KEPT ASKING ME FOR MORE!”

“D-DON’T TELL HIM THAT!!”

You are mortified. Miguel huffs.

“I’ll be outside.” He grumbles.

“Good riddance!” You shout. 

The door closes behind him and you run a hand over your face.

“I wish I could evaporate right about now."

Rossi holds back another laugh.

~

The ordeal was one you hoped to never have again.

The night that follows you’re slipping into Miguel’s bed. You leave a kiss on his cheek, and he acknowledges it. It’s when you begin to trail them lower that he gets where this is going.

“No, we’re not doing anything until your bruises heal.”

He turns, laying on the bed.

“W-What! That’s not fair.”

“I think it’s more than fair since your boss immediately assumed I was a controlling monster."

“I mean those marks were pretty visible. Still hot though.”

You smirk, but he still has his back to you.

“Goodnight (Y/N).”

“Nooo! You can’t just go to sleep, I’m horny!” You see the inkling of red on his cheeks at your statement.

“T-That’s not my problem.”

“LET ME HAVE SEX WITH YOU MIGUEL!!

“G-GO TO SLEEP!!”

Yes, your love was indeed one for the books. 

[denimbex1986]

'Regeneration is key to Doctor Who's longevity as an immortal being, but also when it comes to the show itself.

By introducing a different version of the Doctor every few years, new actors can be brought in to keep Doctor Who alive. It makes sense logistically and it also reinvigorates the series each time with a new face and outlook.

But 60 years in, the process of regeneration became somewhat predictable. It's still exciting, of course, yet with the reveal of each new actor taking place months ahead of their actual debut, these pivotal swaps haven't held quite as much gravitas as they should.

That all changed when Jodie Whittaker's Doctor surprised us by transforming into David Tennant, a face fans never expected to see return again in the role. Then that unprecedented shift came with an even bigger twist during Tennant's final returning episode, titled 'The Giggle', which introduced a whole new kind of regeneration entirely.

Bi-regeneration, perhaps the queerest thing to happen yet across these three already queer specials, split our Doctor into two separate Doctors, one with Tennant's face and the other with Ncuti Gatwa's. According to the Doctor, bi-regeneration is an ancient Time Lord myth, and that's why he's taken by surprise when it does actually happen.

Although the Toymaker and his big pointy laser are responsible for this in part, it seems likely that this was actually caused by the Doctor himself when he used salt at the edge of the universe just one week before, bending reality at a crucial point. If superstitions can now become real, why not myths like bi-regeneration?

It's a game-changing moment in more ways than one, but the most surprising ramification of all this hasn't even been addressed in the actual story yet. Instead, it's on the BBC iPlayer in-vision commentary for 'The Giggle', where showrunner Russell T Davies reveals bi-generation is even bigger than we thought.

When David Tennant and Ncuti Gatwa split apart, it turns out "a whole timeline bi-generated". Wibbly-wobbly terms aside, this essentially means that every previous regeneration has been impacted too, so every 'old' Doctor is now alive somewhere in a splintered timeline.

"I think all of the Doctors came back to life with their individual TARDISes, the gift of the Toymaker, and they're all out there travelling round in what I'm calling a Doctor-verse," said Davies. For example, "Sylvester McCoy woke up in a drawer, in a morgue, in San Francisco… and Jon Pertwee woke up on the floor of the laboratory."

This actually tracks with a previous reveal in the spin-off series Tales of the TARDIS where Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor told Ace that his old face returned because: "Time streams are funny things. In some, I regenerate. In others, I don't. It's all a matter of perspective."

In short, there's an entire Whoniverse out there now populated with all the Doctors we've met before. That's always been true to some degree if you take into account that multiple Doctors exist across the timeline at any given point. However, with Davies suggesting this could "lead to all sorts of things," it's pretty much a given that more old faces will pop up shortly.

Like bi-generation, that's extremely exciting on the face(s) of it. Doctor Who crossovers of this magnitude are few and far between across the franchise's sixty-year history. Opening this possibility up means that David Tennant's return might just be the beginning of way more nostalgic comebacks like this, which could work well when it comes to characters like Paul McGann's underused Eighth Doctor.

Just putting that out there to anyone at the BBC who might be reading this...

However, opening the show up to all these potential returns could nevertheless end up being a dangerous game to play, even by the Toymaker's standards. With Doctor Who recently joining the Disney stable, there were already rumours that the franchise could be "Marvelised", with way more spinoffs extending the Time Lord universe.

Doctor Who is no stranger to spinoff shows, and done right, they can be extremely successful. Think Class, Torchwood or The Sarah Jane Adventures. But we're now living in a world where it's become obvious that we can have too much of a good thing, even with the franchises we love most. Don't forget how the advent of Disney+ brought more Marvel and Star Wars shows than ever, but with diminishing returns.

What starts with rumours of a UNIT series, or even a new show starring Tennant on Earth, could soon become an unwieldy mess that no sonic screwdriver could ever hope to untangle.

That Tennant rumour in particular is one to be wary of. The emotional heft of 'The Giggle' concentrated in large part on the Doctor's trauma, how he's never been able to rest and take stock of all the terrible things he's endured. That's why Tennant's face came back in the first place.

So the idea of undoing his perfect, happy ending by pushing him back out into the stars – or even making him do timey-wimey stuff on Earth – is concerning to say the least.

Just because Tennant's Doctor is so beloved, and just because this return paid off, doesn't mean an entire new side-quel would. But even if that isn't the plan, there's nothing to stop Davies or another future showrunner from bringing Tennant back again in some capacity. At least, as long as Tennant himself is on board.

And that's now true of any past Doctor, which is kind of a problem, dramatically speaking.

Just like how superheroes never truly die, almost any past incarnation of the Doctor is now just a phone call away, which diminishes the impact of death or regeneration and the new start it's supposed to bring.

As mentioned earlier, time travel did always make this a possibility, but by centring the "Whoniverse" as a key concept now moving forward, it blurs the lines even more so that "death" is now less important than ever.

Without a TARDIS of our own, it's impossible to know quite how successful or unsuccessful this soft reboot will be. But if nothing else, the sheer ballsiness of bi-regeneration and everything that's to come of it is exactly why we were so excited for Davies to return in the first place.

Change has always defined Doctor Who, so let's just hope these changes don't end up becoming too much of a good thing.'

[crosshimes-fanwritings]

No Vacant Allowed

Fandoms: Zatch Bell and Professor Layton Rating: T Summary: A 18 year old Japanese girl just want to be a miss independent and a 14 year old British boy just want to help her like a gentlemen he is. Disclaimer: I do not own Zatch Bell and Professor Layton. Verse: Vacantverse Ship: Luke (Professor Layton) / Suzume (Zatch Bell) Crossover Ships Week 2023: Day I (First Meeting) Note: LOL I know crossover week 2023 ended already and late submissions are accepted until August so here is my shitty writing for day 1. @crossover-ships-brainrot. Also, this crossAU takes place in the new Professor Layton game setting (I know NWOS isn't out yet but I don't give a fuck lmao)

Visiting Steam Bison, America wasn't no summer vacation for 18-year-old Suzume Mizuno. She decided not to invite her best friend, Mariko Nakamura, and her high school classmates to fool around in America, which most likely they would if she did request their presence. Suzume has no plans to relax in a foreign country. She was only here for one purpose; to search for her missing father.

Tetsuya Mizuno, the father of Suzume, was last heard from Steam Bison, according to the address on his postcard that Suzume received from him four months ago. When Suzume didn't get a response from her father, she assured herself that he was just too busy. However, Suzume knew her father better. Tetsuya would never take too long to write back to his daughter.

'Why did I bother to come here?' Suzume sighed in grief. 'The moment I arrived on American soil, a group of thugs forced me into this alley and robbed me. The jerks stole my passport, visa, and money.' When Suzume realized her suitcase was also stolen, she scowled in anger. 'Those assholes also took my clothes!'

14-year-old Suzume would cry and beg for help, but 18-year-old Suzume would swear and refuse assistance. She stomped out of the alley, ignoring curious, dirty, and apathetic looks from the bystanders. She's going to search for the thieves on her own.

14-year-old Luke Triton was on his way home from the city hall when he noticed a foreign girl standing on a barrel. She was peeking into an abandoned building's window, and she had an angry expression. Luke approached the girl quietly.

"Miss, that's dangerous."

"I know, it is dangerous. I'm not dumb. Those bastards robbed me."

"How could they do such a thing to a pretty young lady?"

"Pretty?!" The startled girl turned her head towards him, giving him a gape. "You need to get your eyes checked, kid!"

"I didn't mean to offend-"

And because the girl was so flustered with his compliment, she lost her balance and was about to fall on her butt, but Luke caught her in time.

"Are you all right?"

"….I'm fine. Wait a second" The girl glared back at the window. "They were counting money. THEY WERE COUNTING THE MONEY THEY STOLE FROM ME!"

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!" An angry voice bellowed from the inside.

"Boss, I swore I heard Triton's and a lass's voices." A second voice spoke, clearly frightened.

"That fucking kid and his Lovelady! Get them!"

And Luke didn't waste no time. He held the girl's hand and led her to safety.

Suzume was a foolish young woman. She had exposed herself and the young boy by screaming her head off. Well, she did have the right to get angry. Those thugs still have her savings for her trip. She can't shower and change clothes in a hotel. Not until her belongings and money were returned to her.

Gurgled. Suzume's stomach gurgled. She blushed, feeling embarrassed.

"Are you hungry, Miss?"

Damn. The boy must have heard the gurgle. Suzume turned her eyes away from him in shame.

"Yes. Unfortunately, it looks like I'm starving for a while." She added a nervous giggle. "Can't buy food without the money, after all."

"Oh, there's no need to worry, Miss. You can stay with me for a while."

"Huh?" Suzume froze for a second. "No way. I mustn't," She shook her head in disapproval. "I'm a young adult here. I should be taking care of myself."

"My family wouldn't mind."

"Why are you helping me?"

"Do I need a reason to help someone? It's just common decency.'

"…Hold on. I forgot I am in America and speak English fluently. Can you understand my English?"

"I can understand your English pretty well."

Finally! Suzume's two years of learning the English language paid off.

"Oh. That's good! I was afraid that I may be butchering the English language."

"Triton," A policeman caught up with the two. "You're needed back at the city hall."

"Are you being arrested?" Suzume questioned the boy, confused about why a policeman was there.

"Pardon me, Miss?!!" The Policemen responded to her question in disbelief. "Now, why would I arrest Detective Luke, who had helped the police to solve the toughest mysteries in this wonderful city?"

"Wait," Suzume gawked at the boy. "you're a detective?"

"Yes, it looks like the cat's out of the bag, huh? I'm sorry for not introducing myself earlier. I'm Luke Triton. It's nice to meet you, Miss."

"…Suzume.Mizuno," Suzume responded in an awkward tone. "Well, I guess I'll see you around…"

"What are you talking about, Miss Mizuno? You're coming with me. It's too dangerous for a young lady to be alone on these streets."

"How old are you?" Suzume narrowed her eyes at Luke in doubt.

"I'm fourteen."

"Aren't you too young for detective work?"

"Age doesn't matter when it comes to detective work."

"It sure as hell does."

"Miss, you shouldn't use such language."

"I'm 18 years old. I can use whichever language I want, and I'm quite moody right now."

"Umm, we should head over to the city hall now…" The police officer reminded the two awkwardly.

"There's better be food and drinks at the city hall," Suzume grumbled.

"I'm sure they will have refreshments, Miss Mizuno." Luke smiled gently.

A few hours later, Suzume and Luke arrived at a manor. A butler named Doland Noble greeted them at the front door.

"Welcome back, Master Luke. Oh, you brought a guest?"

"Oh, yes. Miss Mizuno will be staying with us for a while."

"That is indeed kind of you, Master Luke. Please do accept the Master's hospitality, Miss Mizuno."

Suzume didn't respond. Her mind was racing. She didn't feel comfortable with this hospitality. It felt wrong to freeload off a 14-year-old boy and his family. Where were Luke's parents anyway? Should he be getting their approval first?

"Are you coming in, Miss Mizuno?" Luke asked, smiling at her.

Suzume stepped away from the front door. She clasped her hands and shook her head nervously.

"Ah, Miss Mizuno doesn't speak English?" Doland wondered.

"She does, Mr. Doland. She's just nervous. Please prepare a bedroom for Miss Mizuno."

"Very well. I shall leave you two be." Doland bowed politely and went back inside.

"…All I need is a shower and a change of clothes, but those thugs also stole my suitcase." Suzume pouted, still quite upset.

"You can borrow one of my mother's dresses. Beth can wash your dress for you."

"No, no. It's fine!" She sighed in frustration. "I have no idea why I'm even here in America. All I wanted to search for my missing father in peace."

"Huh?" Luke's eyes went widened in surprise. "So, you aren't here for a vacation?"

"No. I'm not."

"What is your father's name?"

"Tetsuya Mizuno."

And Luke just took out his notebook and wrote Suzume's father's name.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to help you search for your father, Miss Mizuno." Luke grinned at her. "I will also help you to retrieve your belongings from the thieves. After all, a gentleman must help a lady in distress."

"How cute, Triton," Suzume giggled. "You want to help an old hag like me."

"You aren't an old hag…"

"I know, Triton. It was only a joke. Forgive me for trying to be so mature."

"Well," Luke smiled delightfully. "There is a greenhouse and a garden in the backyard. You can enjoy your time there until you're ready to walk into my house."

Suzume gasped. Her eyes glittered. She felt a little better. This Triton boy knew how to comfort someone well. She smiled brightly at him.

"Okay, Triton! You can tell me about the mysteries you solve!"

Two hours later, Suzume finally tracked down the thieves in a hideout and crashed their meeting.

"GIVE ME BACK MY BELONGINGS AND MONEY, YOU SHITLOGS!"

The thieves froze in fear, gawking at a young Japanese woman in a long pleated dress carrying a baseball bat. Luke was facepalming outside of the house alongside the officers.

"So much for protecting Miss Mizuno…"

"Triton, should we go in and arrest the thieves?"

"I'm not the Chief of Police, sir, but sure."

"Luke, my boy." Luke's mentor, Professor Hershel Layton, stood next to him. "Do you know the young lady?"

"Yes, professor. I just barely met Miss Mizuno hours ago."

30 minutes later, back at the Triton household…

"Are you actually British, Triton?" Suzume asked in curiosity.

"Yes. I'm just living in America because of family reasons." Luke answered. "How did you know?"

"I can tell by your accent."

"Oh, so you are pretty smart."

"Not really…

"Miss Mizuno, would you like to try this puzzle?" Layton offered, giving her a kind smile.

"Sure…" Suzume accepted. She needed to test her brain anyway.

And Suzume indeed did get her passport, visa, money, and clothes back.

"Why I'm still freeloading here, Triton?"

"Because I invited you, silly. That's why."

"Tritoooon," Suzume whined.

And it wouldn't be the first time Luke would hear his surname being called like that. And Layton has a flashback of Anton, Don Paolo, and Descole calling him Laaaayton. The professor smiled and sipped his tea while observing Suzume and Luke interact friendly.

And the adventures of an 18-year-old Japanese girl, a 14-year-old British detective boy, and his unknown mentor began in AMERICA.

Well, maybe they'd meet more new friends in the future.

[aoi-midori]

Fanfic Recs...

so uh…. I learned the hard way that tumblr has a tagging limit when I reblogged that fanfic post from earlier, meaning ... not all my tags went through AND IT MISSED ONE OF THE FICS I REC’D. so fuck it, I’m making my own post: a more detailed one that has all my fav fics and for sure won’t get eaten by this hellsite! there are eight of em, and as i attempted to note with that reblog, all of them can be found on ao3, but i'll be linking them here for easy access! More under the cut!

Embers and Frost by SolarisLupi

One Piece/Rise of the Guardians Crossover, Canon-Divergence

Rating: Teen & Up

Synopsis: After becoming the new Spirit of Summer, Ace struggles with the knowledge that one day he will be forced to leave everyone he loves behind. Jack questions how far he would go for those he cares about. And Luffy, unaware of Ace’s rebirth, is plagued by visions of his brother’s death and other horrors. But those nightmares may be more than just dreams…

complete fic, with 49 chapters and a 414k word count

so yeah, Jack gets stuck in the op 'verse and ace becomes the new summer spirit after his death in marineford. Pitch winds up there too, and he's far more of a threat here thanks to everyone being able to see him, and if you've seen Rise of the Guardians, well... then you know that CAN'T be good. also this is actually part of a series with a kind of prologue that comes right before it that's called Fire and Ice. I'd probs read that one first if you want the context since that one showcases how Jack gets into op 'verse (and also where he first meets ASL trio).

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As N Approaches Infinity by Corisanna

Puella Magi Madoka Magica/Bleach Crossover, Canon-Divergence

Rating: Teen & Up

Synopsis: Despairing as yet another timeline goes horribly wrong, Homura wanders into Karakura. There she discovers that while the spiritually-aware people of Karakura were distracted by Ichigo Kurosaki and Xcution, Kyubey had managed to contract the Kurosaki sisters as magical girls. Drawing the attention of the shinigami could be just the advantage Homura needs.

Incomplete fic, currently sitting at 84 chapters with a 481k word count (last updated March 2021, might be dead, idk)

yeah, so Homura runs into the Kurosakis at the tail-end of another failed timeline, and if you know Ichigo, you can imagine what happens next. his big-brother instincts go into full-throttle here. also Kyuubey is still a little shit as always and it turns out he got up to even MORE fucked up shit than everyone initially realized! so that's fun... oh yeah, there's also a companion fic called Polynomial Expansion that's basically a bunch of bonus scenes from the main fic!

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There May Be Some Collateral Damage by metisket

Bleach/Harry Potter Crossover, Canon-Divergence

Rating: Teen & Up

Synopsis: Ichigo’s been ordered to go undercover at a magic school to bodyguard a kid named Harry Potter, and this would be fine, except that he’s about as good at bodyguarding as he is at magic. And he considers it a good day, magic-wise, if he hasn’t set anything on fire.

Complete fic, with 3 chapters and a 61k word count

I personally love the author's note for this one: "I wrote this mostly because, despite the surprising number of Bleach/Harry Potter fics out there, none of them seem to address the fact that sending Ichigo to Hogwarts is basically the same as swinging a wrecking ball directly into the side of the castle." this fic honestly changed the way I want to write fics and actually turned me on to present-tense. the narration itself is just so good. made me think, "goddamn i want to write like that." also one of the funniest fics i've read in my life. it's basically bleach characters (mainly Ichigo) looking at the HP 'verse and thinking "what the actual FUCK."

~~~~~

RWBY/Zero by orphan_account/TheMaster4444

RWBY/Fate Franchise Crossover (mostly Fate/Zero with a bit of /Stay Night and Apocrypha in there too), Canon-Divergence

Rating: Teen & Up

Synopsis: With the Vytal Festival in full swing, Teams RWBY and JNPR are shocked when an unexpected family member arrives at the school. Elsewhere, Cinder's wild-card teammate proves himself a dangerous enigma, and Arturia tries to prevent a loved one from following her old path while enemies from a past she thought she left behind come for her new world. New players have come to Remnant, and a golden shadow is ready to change the game for everyone.

Complete fic, with 94 chapters and a 574k word count

so as i mentioned in the tags of that reblog, Remnant is literally the remnants of Earth after the fallout from Fate/Zero (so Fuyuki fire affected the entire planet basically). so you've got the surviving characters from Fate/Zero living in present-day Remnant due to the circumstances, and Arturia happens to be Jaune's mom. start of the fic takes place during volume 3 and it starts out a bit slow, but that doesn't last long. once it reaches the volume 3 finale... holy SHIT does it take off. worldbuilding here is absolutely nuts, and the way the author meshes the two series together is downright flawless. also ruby herself gets some really cool and interesting lore here, so that's pretty neat.

~~~~~

∞:∞ by divisionten

Kingdom Hearts/The World Ends With You Crossover (given this is a KH fic tho, there are other series sprinkled in here too, but I won't say what they are bc spoilers), canon-Divergence

Rating: Teen & Up

Synopsis: He got off the pavement, wet, dirty and alone. They left the beach, ready to chase him down. She gripped her Keyblade, twisting it tight enough in her hands to leave marks. It was time to go home.

Complete fic, with 44 chapters and a 201k word count

this one's set directly after the end of KH3, so... Sora's dead! and he's found himself in TWEWY shibuya. but wait, Riku's also dead, but he got sent to TWEWY shinjuku! neither of them are in the reaper's game tho bc of special circumstances... meanwhile just about the entire rest of the kh cast is out there searching different worlds for these two, and let's just say that "getting into hijinks" is a bit of an understatement.

~~~~~

Infinite Nuisance by Luluwoo

Jujutsu Kaisen, SukuGo Slow-burn, Canon-Divergence

Rating: Mature

Synopsis: When a strange incident leads to Gojo being trapped along with the King of Curses in Sukuna's Innate Domain, what everyone assumes would lead to destruction surprisingly grows into something more.

As Sukuna and Gojo are forced to interact and learn more about each other, they realise that hatred isn't the only tie that binds them.

And, as Sukuna quickly realises, he is far from prepared for the unlikely temptation that is Gojo Satoru.

Ongoing fic, currently sitting at 9 chapters with a 43k word count

AND THEN THEY WERE ROOMMATES. quite literally! so these two have no choice but to interact with each other, and that goes about as well as you'd expect (at least at first). also another thing to note here is that Sukuna's relationship with Yuji is MUCH much better than in canon, so they don't actually hate each other.

~~~~~

Firehouse 4 by easyontheredeyes

Jujutsu Kaisen, SukuFushi Slow-burn, Modern AU

Rating: Explicit

Synopsis: For years, Megumi worked hard to become an EMT and carve his own path through the Emergency Medical Services world, outside of his father's reputation and Gojo's connections. All he asked was not to be housed at a firehouse, with firefighters. Apparently, that was too much to ask for. Or Megumi can't stand firefighters. His new EMT job leaves him working with a particularly cocky, arrogant, ironically smoking-hot one named Ryomen Sukuna.

Ongoing fic, currently sitting at 15 chapters with a 145k word count

AND THEN THEY WERE ROOMMATES... IN A WORK SETTING. lmao I kid. but yeah, slow-burn at it's finest here. animosity at first followed by one-sided flirtation, then followed by mutual flirtation... while trying to make each other jealous at the same time. smh

~~~~~

Stars in the Dark by Nshi

Persona 5/Final Fantasy XIV Crossover, Canon Divergence

Rating: Mature

Synopsis: "In spite of… or perhaps because of this, I choose to believe. In mankind's potential. In his ability to find a way forward."

It was supposed to be a proper summer road trip this year. No combat, no god-slaying, no desperate last stand to save the world from certain ruin. But fate has ever had a habit of stringing Joker away from the peaceful and mundane, hasn't it? Not that even he could have ever expected to be hailed as the 'Warrior of Light'. Kind of ironic, really.

Or: a Persona 5 x Final Fantasy XIV crossover fic in which Joker, instead of a much-belated post-Strikers break, gets his ass Isekai'd into The Source and somehow winds up in the role of Eorzea's champion. As one does.

Ongoing fic, currently sitting at 33 chapters with a 415k word count

THIS IS THE ONE THAT GOT EATEN UP IN THE TAGS BY THE GODDAMN HELLSITE. also the fic that I recently just left a MASSIVE comment on to the author, bc holy shit did this one blow my fuckin mind. that word count is no joke, but don't let the long chapters intimidate you. takes place after Royal and Strikers on the P5 side, and at the start of 'A Realm Reborn' (base game) on the XIV side. XIV veterans will know how much of a slog ARR can be compared to the expansions, but the author actually makes it SO much more enjoyable here. THE SCIONS ACTUALLY DO SHIT. not that they don't in canon, but they're actually a lot more involved here, like they join Joker for the dungeon runs! also the camaraderie he has with them all is infectious as hell. oh another thing! Joker can still use personas, but besides Arsene, they work VERY differently in this fic, and it's actually really fucking cool. OH, also there's a side-fic for this one called Among Uncountable Stars that covers scenes and quests that couldn't fit into the main fic. author has also made art for the fic, which they link in the chapters themselves!

[capricioussun]

Undertale Questions

Characters

☯️: Favorite character? Least favorite?

☑️: Character you relate to the most?

🤝: Any OTPs / BroTPs?

🚦: The character you think of the most? The character you think of the least? A character you want to think about more?

💭: Any particular headcanons about anyone you’d like to share?

🕳: Any thoughts or theories on Gaster?

📢: Favorite dynamics/dynamics you’d like to see more of?

Monsters

🏥: Thoughts on healing magic?

⏳: How do you headcanon monsters age?

🖋: Any thoughts on how names work for monsters (like how only some seem to have last names)?

🧬: Do you believe monsters have always existed as the way they appear in game, or do you think they may have changed over time?

📰: Any thoughts on different “types” of monsters and how they work/live together (ie Elementals, Animalistic types, Skeletons, etc.)?

❔: What’s something you wish was addressed in game but wasn’t?

🔬: Thoughts on stats and how they function?

AUs

🪞: Favorite AU? Least Favorite?

🎮: Combine Undertale with the last (other) game you played. What’s your new AU?

🥂: Favorite Crossover idea?

🧮: Roughly how many AUs are you familiar with?

🔎: Do you like making your own AUs or exploring the ones that already exist?

⚔️: If you have a self insert or any OCs, do you have other versions of them for any AUs?

🗒: Anything specific you’d like to see more or less of with AUs?

The World of Undertale

🗺: Do you think there’s more to the underground than what we see in game? If so, have you ever come up with new “sections”?

🪄: Do you believe at least some humans in-verse can still use magic by the time the game takes place?

🗓: How much time do you think passed between when Chara fell into the underground and when Frisk did?

🧩: Do you believe there’s a reason behind why every human who fell into the underground was a child?

🏡: Do you have any thoughts on monster life “behind the scenes”, like how they produce their food, any traditions they might have (in regards to things like religions or celebrations), etc.?

🔁: Any particular thoughts on Reloads and Resets?

🔮: Any thoughts on how monsters were received after surfacing, or what the world in general is like?

Bonus questions!

❤️: What soul trait so you think you’d have?

🤍: What kind of monster would you be?

[believingispowerfulmagic]

All That Was Me verse: what if Regina had gone back to Daniel on Midsummer instead of deciding to stay with Robin?

Ooh, intriguing!

Regina arrives back in Edwinstowe during their celebration. Cassandra is surprised to see her again and she is rushed to the hospital. Daniel flies back to England and is reunited with his wife but both can tell something has changed. Regina once again fakes amnesia and Daniel gets a lawyer who shuts down all interrogations. He then takes Regina home to Boston.  

Regina tries to return to her normal life but it soon becomes apparent to everyone that she’s definitely changed. After a few months, she finally admits to Daniel what really happened. Though he finds it fantastical, he knows Regina must be telling the truth because she’s always so scientific and not given to flights of fantasy. She confides that she wants to go back to Robin and he supports her. The two start divorce proceedings.

In addition to divorcing Daniel, Regina also struggles to adjust to living in a major city again and doesn’t know if she wants to return to chemistry after practicing magic. She reconnects with her cousin Barb, who invites her up to Maine. Regina falls in love with the quiet and having nature around her again. She does get a job at a small lab up there and slowly finds that she still has some passion for her old job.

But she doesn't want to make any permanent plans as Regina wants to try to return to Robin. Her main plan is to return to England the next midsummer and see if she can crossover again. But she knows that would have to depend on if they were able to stop Zelena. If Zelena can cast the curse, Regina isn’t too sure she would be able to find them.

In late October, she gets a call from Daniel. He explains that he got a call from a hospital in Maine looking for her - someone has shown up claiming to know her. He asks if it could be someone she knew from the Enchanted Forest and she believes it might be Snow escaping the curse through the wardrobe. She takes down the name and address of the hospital before heading there with Barb and Joe.

When they show up at the hospital, Regina doesn't find Snow but Robin, who has Roland, Pinocchio and Emma with him. He explains that Zelena cast the curse just as Snow gave birth to her daughter. Charming managed to get her into the wardrobe as the curse arrived. He and Roland were about to be sucked into it when a fairy appeared and sprinkled them with pixie dust, causing them to land in the middle of the forest. He started walking with Roland and found Pinocchio with baby Emma. They were all then picked up and taken to the hospital, where Robin was able to convince them that all three children were his. When a nurse asked if there was anyone she could call for him, he found the telephone number Regina had given Snow to use. They have a tearful and happy reunion, with Regina confessing that she's no longer with Daniel and that she regretted leaving him and Roland. He admits that he regretted letting her go, even if it was to keep her safe. But now they are together again.

Joe helps Robin deal with the authorities, especially when they find birth certificates for Roland and Pinocchio (dubbed August) in the bag Robin has with him. They are able to get a birth certificate for Emma and Robin is named her father. Joe and Barb take him and the children back to their house. Regina starts to look for a house of their own, determined to help them settle into their new life in the Land Without Magic. With Pinocchio missing his father and Roland still upset that Regina left him, it won't be easy but she knows they will make it in the end - which would then be the plot of the sequel!

Send me a plot twist for one of my stories!

[shadowsong26fic]

Coming Attractions!

Which I definitely forgot to do last month, ah well.

As per usual, this is also an Open Question Night post! Aka, while my askbox is always open, tonight I’ll be keeping an eye on it and around to answer in a semi-reasonable timeframe. Feel free to ask about anything in the post, or anything I’ve talked about here on tumblr, or posted on AO3, etc. ...I don’t recall if I have any active memes or anything, it’s been a while since I’ve been super on tumblr...but anyway, ask away!

I do also take prompts, but no promises on when I’ll get around to filling them. I still have a few sitting around from. Uh. Last year........

But anyway, what’s on your mind?

Precipice:

The first Preludes story went up this past weekend! Somewhat later than I’d planned, but there was another project that ended up eating a lot of my writing time/brain, alas. This one features Lavinia, Mara Jade, Kallus, a Legends cameo, and the introduction of another recurring OC. The next one will...proooooobably be Hondo, Kanan, Ezra, Obi-Wan, and Anakin? Assuming that’s the next one I finish.

There will be seven in total, and the other five will involve whatever’s going to go down with Maul; Hera and her contact in this AU; Sidious’s Fifth Titled Apprentice; and...I’m still considering the last two, lol. Maybe something to do with Mandalore; probably something more Senate-focused...I’ll work it out.

As I mentioned in the tumblr post and I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned before, I’m going to continue posting these alongside the first arc or two of Protectors, which should debut...sometime in the next couple weeks, lol.

Most of these, as you may have guessed, are shoehorning Rebels content and characters into an AU that wasn’t designed with them in mind. The gist of it is, S1 of Rebels goes more or less in canon, and then...S2 probably went differently just because of where Certain Key Players were, but I’m handwaving most of the details unless they’re interesting enough to show explicitly (probably in the Maul Prelude, if nothing else). But for the most part (even though this doesn’t, uh, entirely make sense necessarily XD) anything that doesn’t directly involve Vader/Ahsoka/Rex/Force Woo probably happened similarly. Most notably, The Honorable Ones and all plot points following directly on that happen essentially as in canon. The Mandalore plotlines are also essentially the same. ...oh, I probably should address Thrawn, since I need him in a slightly different position a few years later for spoiler reasons...

Leaving that aside...as I said, Protectors will start coming out soon, I’m just finishing up what I want for the first chapter or two, and waffling on how I want to tag some things. There is a...possible major character death in arc 14, but I’m going back and forth on whether or not I actually want to do it, which changes what tags/warnings I include...

But I’ll work that out and get it out before too much longer!

Other Star Wars Projects:

I have a Thing coming out at the end of this month or early next month, for pod_together. I’m pretty excited about it, I’ve listened to my podficcer’s first draft and am making minor edits/etc., but I think we’re in pretty good shape ^_^

Other than that, I don’t have any concrete plans for new SW fic in the near future. I’m going to buckle down and really get some momentum with Protectors and Preludes for the most part, maybe start poking at some ideas/concepts for next year’s SWBB.

Maybe also crossposting some tumblr-exclusive oneshots like I started doing last winter, or picking up with one of the AU outlines that I keep meaning to continue (Ventress + Luke, Let’s Go Steal a Crossover) but...well, we’ll see how time/brain works out this month.

Other Fanfic Projects:

I will have some standalone/fulltext AtLA fic out later this month, I promise XD It’ll be an Avatar Zuko AU, I’m putting the text together and figuring out how I want to structure it, etc.

I’m also genuinely working on a BSG/SG-1 crossover AU outline. It’s. Already quite long and I haven’t even gotten to most of the meat of the crossover yet, lol. But at least the first chunk of that will probably be up sometime later this month, too. Fingers crossed. That’s the plan, anyway.

Original Work:

I haven’t done much in the last month or two, but I’m hoping to get back into this. Both for extant ‘verses and really diving into Arthuriana research because I want to write that one story, maybe really working it up to Publishable??? We’ll see how it goes...

...I think that about covers it! Like I said at the beginning of the post, we’ll also do an Open Question Night, and I’d love to hear about what you guys are working on! What’s on your mind?

[morethanaprincess-a]

@despairfiles​ said: ship bias + crossover edition!

Ship Bias (Please send a theme if you’d like to send one in! It really helps me not run out of ship ideas)

Before I start, two disclaimers: One, this is for canon crossover muses (minus one canon genre that I’ll address in another reply). And two, this is by no means exhaustive of the canon ships I’ve written, want to write, or enjoy on this blog. Instead, I’ve chosen ships I’ve written or plotted recently or ships I’ve been more interested in writing as of late. If our ship is not in this list it doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about it nor do I dislike it.

Now onto the ships:

Sonia/Shirou Emiya (Fate series) - It’s only right this one comes first! Beyond having a writing partner who enjoys a specific brand of angst and will-they-won’t-they, I could already see that Sonia would be attracted to Shirou’s sense of heroism when I watched Unlimited Blade Works. Chest discourse aside, Sonia’s very much attracted to acts of service, a love language she readily performs herself. But seeing it in others, supporting and caring for those who especially need it, that strikes a chord with her. So even pre-Despair, she’s had an affinity for Shirou the more she learned about what he’s endured.

Post-Despair, Queen Sonia lives a tormented existence of wanting to order him out of the Castle and ordering him to shut up and kiss her already. When they first met (well, to Sonia anyway. She doesn’t remember her friend from Japan, Shirou Emiya, yet. Though she’s recalling bits and pieces of certain experiences they’ve shared), she wanted little to do with him and his bitter, condescending attitude. That’s changed the more they’ve begun to warm up to and understand one another, and now it’s taking pretty much all of her resolve and sense of duty not to pin him against the wall and snog him. 

She also doesn’t know he was the one who tried to assassinate her. She might not ever find out, and that adds just another angst factor to that relationship.

Sonia/Ryuji Sakamoto (Persona 5) - This ship exists as a favorite for precisely two reasons. 1. I’m exceptionally weak for the poor/bad boy and rich girl trope. It gives me a valid excuse to blast Billy Joel’s Uptown Girl and MC Solaar’s La Belle et Le Bad Boy on repeat for inspiration. 2. I’ve happened to meet two exceptionally talented, wonderful muns who write Ryuji so well. In fact, I’m pretty much convinced that if a mun has Ryuji as a muse, the mun is likely very cool. Romance, friendship, please give me Ryuji and Sonia interactions. They come from two very different worlds and sets of values but they’re also generally upbeat, cheerful people who are equally interested and pleased to learn about one another. I will not deny that this is a similar ship to my favorite Persona 5 canon ship, Ryuji/Haru. But Haru and Sonia have their differences, which leads me to my next ship...

Sonia/Haru Okumura (Persona 5) - I’ve seen P5 protag/Haru and Ryuji/Haru on my dash, but might I offer the Sonia/Haru ship? Best friends, lovers, both? Both are good. But two patient, sweet, and generous girls who became friends quickly and fell in love slowly? Yes, this is a good dynamic. Sonia would have never let Haru marry Sugimura, either. Even if it took quite a lot of persuasion to make that happen (because Haru deserves better and she loves her). They’d have the constant disagreement of coffee vs. tea as a superior beverage, but they’d embrace and love everything about one another, from their strengths to their perceived faults. The luxurious professional lives they both need to lead as CEO and Queen don’t have be stuffy or devoid of fun, not if they have each other to lean on. And speaking of childhood friends to lovers...

Sonia/Sophie Hatter (Howl’s Moving Castle) - Because @madamhatter​ is Sonia’s first childhood friend turned crush turned lover and I adore their relationship and interactions. Sophie and Sonia have resulted in one of my favorite threads of all time, the oven demon possession. But silliness aside, they both struggle with their respective family dynamics and the pressure to succeed in their various disciplines. Sophie isn’t afraid to be blunt with Sonia and call her out on her bullshit (everything except their growing affections for one another, tbh. Admitting they have crushes on one another? Blasphemy!) and Sonia finds Sophie witty, brilliant, beautiful, kind, and in need of someone who loves her fully and isn’t afraid to remind her of that. With pillow and blanket forts, and British comfort foods shipped in as surprise treats, and always sharing the good scotch.

Besides, Sophie will definitely create Sonia’s wedding attire one day. Why not for their own wedding? It was probably Sophie’s suggestion for adult Princess Sonia to adapt perfectly tailored suits alongside her dresses and skirts for professional occasions, and both of them have some very strong suit game. 

You cannot deny two beautiful, powerful women in expert tailoring. Sonia wears hers with high heels, of course.

Those are the main, current ones I’ve been thinking about recently. Though for no reason but pure curiosity, I wonder what Sonia/Saber (Fate series) would look like. I’m not familiar enough with Fate to give Sonia a Fate verse that makes sense, and I’m not great with magic and fantasy combat scenarios. But I think at least writing interactions between these two would be fun to see. Whether friendship or romance, I’m happy with either.

[theartofimaginaryfriends]

Chapter 6 - The Northern Tower

Fic series: The Final Straw (HP/PJO Crossover)

Premise: After a meeting with the Headmaster, Nova reflects on the day's events.

Masterlist

Taglist: @ilvermornymascot, @lukecastellandeservedbetter, @eva-blog-p

Word count: 1,254

A/N: Me posting at resonable hours of the day? Practically unheard of! I would've posted this chapter earlier, but the US Election was stressing me out, much like many other Canadians. I'm so fucking happy Biden won! In regards to this chapter, I tried my best but it's finally done. Hope you enjoy :)

Fights broke out left and right throughout the day and while Nova expected it, she was tired by the end of charms class. The arguments weren't just demigods versus wizards, Ilvermorny students argued with the Hogwarts transfers. The only fight the Head Girl didn’t bother to settle was one Pansy Parkinson got into with an Ilvermorny girl.   

She failed to mask a yawn during her meeting with the Headmaster. He seemed concerned but didn’t address the matter knowing very well why she was exhausted. After all, it was a part of her job.  

"Do you know why I made you the Head Girl?" Professor Tahamente asked. 

"I would love to say it's because I've been a star student, but we both know that isn't true." Nova joked. "I'm going to go with I'm a vital part of this prophecy." 

"We believe that to be the case." He nodded. "You may be the bridge that the final verse speaks of, but there are more significant matters to discuss at the moment. You know the Hogwarts students well. Is there anyone you can think of that may be the Death Eater?"  

"The only person that immediately comes to mind is Pansy Parkinson," Nova explained. "She was in Slytherin. Her parents were Death Eaters, and from what I know she still believes in Voldemort's cause."  

"Professor McGonagall had the same sentiment about this student," The Headmaster nodded.  

"I'll keep an eye on her." She promised. "I don’t really see anyone else having the motivation. The rest of the students that used to follow him are trying to earn our forgiveness. Pansy doesn’t seem to have changed, thinks she needs to or wants to for that matter."

"Yes, that seems to be the case," he said. A knock sounded on the other side of the door, interrupting the meeting. "Please, come in."  

"Sorry I'm late, Professor," Lucas said, sheepishly, as soon as he saw Nova.  

"Nonsense, Lucas," Tahamente waved a hand dismissively. "You're right on time! Nova just got here early. Come sit, we have much to discuss." 

As soon as Lucas took a seat, Professor Tahamente continued. "I have been hearing reports of fighting in classes and, like the two of you, I have been witnessing it during meals. Something needs to be done about this, but I'm short on ideas." 

"What about a weekly movie night?" Nova blurted. 

"But no-Maj technology-"

"Actually, it does work around magic," Nova stated. "This became a widespread belief so that students don’t bring anything potentially distracting in class. Same thing with Chiron telling us that cellphones attract monsters. He just said that so we'd pay attention in his lectures."

"You tested that, didn’t you?" Lucas shot an accusatory look at his partner. 

"You're surprised?" Nova laughed. "Cree and I have been having movie nights together since fifth year." 

"If you can set it up, I don't see an issue," the Headmaster chuckled. "Where could we host that?" 

"The Great Hall, during dinner?" She suggested. "Friday nights. I'm thinking pizza, we ditch the tables and everyone sits on the floor. Blankets, pillows, and pyjamas are welcomed but not required." 

"That's what we'll do, then!" Professor Tahamente looked overjoyed. "I will let you put up a posting on the houses bulletin boards, and that's exactly what we'll do!"  

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Lucas was still apprehensive.  

"Yes, and it will be fun," Nova insisted. "Will that be all, Professor?" 

"Ah, yes of course," he nodded. "You two may go." 

"Thanks, Professor." Lucas and Nova chorused and left his office together.  

They walked in silence until they reached the northern end of the school. "I'm going to head to the library, but let me know what you need me to do for planning." 

"Will do!" Nova smiled at him. "See you later, Lucas."

She headed towards the top of the Northern Tower and thought about the events of the day. The excitement she felt at the idea of weekly movie nights was fading fast, as the exhaustion hit her. The one thing she hated the most was seeing her friends fight, and her two worlds colliding didn’t help. What made it worse was the memories of Cedric resurfacing.  

Seeing her friends from Hogwarts back in a school setting was the last thing she expected after everything that had happened these past few years. Granted, she never even expected to be a transfer student to Hogwarts in her fourth year.  

Being a skilled healer, Nova was entered into a transfer program to learn under Madame Pomfrey. Because of this, she became friends with the champions, especially Harry and Cedric. As soon as she saw Cedric's body lying on the ground and Harry refusing to leave his dead friend's side, Nova was devastated.   

The whole situation was harder on her than she anticipated. Not only because of Payton's unexpected arrival but because seeing Harry against reminded her of that moment. He reminded her of the few weeks she was able to spend grieving before fighting a war with the demigods. Of course, it wasn't his fault. Nova just felt suffocated with everything that happened in the past twenty-four hours.  

As soon as she reached the top, the witch settled on the quiet balcony. What she needed at the moment was time to think, and this was the only area that she would get solitude for longer than ten minutes. The anger and the fighting she dealt with for nine straight hours had been too much. If she didn’t take time to reset, Nova would lose her composure.  

She sat in the middle of the circular balcony and closed her eyes. Barely bothered by the strong winds, Nova listened to the sound as it rushed past her ears. No one came to the Northern Tower, because it was the coldest part of the school. Nova loved it because of that. She got the space to herself for as long as she wanted, but if someone needed her Cree was always the one to find her here. The one person she never minded seeing.  

"Here's something I don't understand about Ilvermorny." A voice interrupted her peace. "Why have the students buy uniforms if we're only required to wear them on the first night?" 

"We'll probably be required to wear them again," Nova shifted around to find Payton leaning against the doorframe. "It's for school events that they consider to be 'formal' like the sorting, or if someone from MACUSA came to visit." 

"Wow, a real answer." She said, jokingly. "No sarcastic comment? Why aren't you telling me to stay away from you?" 

"I'm too tired to argue." The Head Girl sighed and turned back around to look at the scenery. "Besides, I said I'd give you a chance. I just can't give you a full chance unless you're on Harry, Ron, and Hermione's good side."  

"There's something else on your mind." 

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I promise not to tell anyone." 

"Rumours spread like wildfire at this school, but even if I wanted to tell you I'm not in the mood." Nova stood up, her peace already broken. "Could you just leave me alone? This is my thinking spot, and you kind of interrupted."  

Without another word, Nova walked past Payton and made her way to the dorms. Payton watched her roommate with a regretful look. It was going to take a lot more than she predicted to earn Nova's forgiveness, let alone getting her to break down her walls.  

[sworntoprotect]

THE MEGA RP PLOTTING SHEET / MEME.

First and foremost, recall that no one is perfect, we all had witnessed some plotting once which did not went too well, be it because of us or our partner. So here have this, which may help for future plotting. It’s a lot! Yes, but perhaps give your partners some insight? Anyway BOLD what fully applies, italicize if only somewhat. Long post!

MUN NAME: Pie     AGE: +25       CONTACT: IM, Ask, Discord (mutuals only, by request)

CHARACTER(S): Cullen

CURRENT FANDOM(S): Dragon Age

FANDOM(S) YOU HAVE AN AU FOR:  I have a modern verse for everything not Dragon Age, but I might add some actual alt verses for other fandoms

MY LANGUAGE(S): English (native), Spanish (intermediate), Korean (baby lol beginner), bits and bobs of other languages (namely French and French Patois)

THEMES I’M INTERESTED IN FOR RP: FANTASY / SCIENCE FICTION / HORROR / WESTERN / ROMANCE / THRILLER / MYSTERY / DYSTOPIA / ADVENTURE / MODERN / EROTIC / CRIME / MYTHOLOGY / CLASSIC / HISTORY / RENAISSANCE / MEDIEVAL / ANCIENT / WAR / FAMILY / POLITICS / RELIGION / SCHOOL / ADULTHOOD / CHILDHOOD / APOCALYPTIC / GODS / SPORT / MUSIC / SCIENCE / FIGHTS / ANGST / SMUT / DRAMA / ETC. (I started this and realised I’d be bolding almost everything, so: EVERYTHING)

PREFERRED THREAD LENGTH: ONE-LINER / 1 PARA / 2 PARA / 3+ PARA / NOVELLA. / ALL

ASKS CAN BE SEND BY: MUTUALS / NON-MUTUALS / PERSONALS / ANONS.

CAN ASKS BE CONTINUED?: YES / NO / OCCASIONALLY   - only by Mutuals?:  YES / NO

PREFERRED THREAD TYPE: CRACK / CASUAL / SERIOUS / DEEP AS HECK. / ALL

IS REALISM / RESEARCH IMPORTANT FOR YOU IN CERTAIN THEMES?:   YES / NO.

ARE YOU ATM OPEN FOR NEW PLOTS?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS. (after my paper is submitted, yeah sure)

DO YOU HANDLE YOUR DRAFT / ASK - COUNT WELL?:  YES / NO / SOMEWHAT. (irl makes coping difficult sometimes)

HOW LONG DO YOU USUALLY TAKE TO REPLY?: 24H / 1 WEEK / 2 WEEKS / 3+ WEEKS / MONTHS / YEARS. / DEPENDS ON MOOD AND INSPIRATION, AND IF I’M BUSY 

I’M OKAY INTERACTING WITH: ORIGINAL CHARACTERS / A RELATIVE OF MY CHARACTER (AN OC) / DUPLICATES / CROSSOVERS / MULTI-MUSES / SELF-INSERTS / PEOPLE WITH NO AU VERSE FOR MY FANDOM / CANON-DIVERGENT PORTRAYALS / AU-VERSIONS.

DO YOU POST MORE IC OR OOC?: IC / OOC. (I strive for more IC over OOC, but my queue does a lot of work too)

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WITH FOLLOWING OTHERS?: YES / NO / DEPENDS.  

BEST WAYS TO APPROACH YOU FOR RP/PLOTTING:  Talk with me over IM, asks, or Disco. I’m down for almost anything as long as I see it’s feasible.

WHAT EXPECTATIONS DO YOU HOLD TOWARDS YOUR PLOTTING PARTNER:  Transparency. If you have an idea, let me know! If you’re stuck, let me know! If you want to start something new or scrap something or whatever...LET ME KNOW! I promise I don’t bite and I understand.

WHEN YOU NOTICE THE PLOTTING IS RATHER ONE-SIDED, WHAT DO YOU DO?:  I’m not very good with coming up with plots myself, so I’m typically the weak link when it comes to that. Sorry! But you bet I’ll pull up a plot generator and start throwing things down to see what sticks haha.

HOW DO YOU USUALLY PLOT WITH OTHERS, DO YOU GIVE INPUT OR LEAVE MOST WORK TOWARDS YOUR PARTNER?:  I’m all about equal opportunity, so I try not to leave the plotting work to my partner. Let’s negotiate and find something that makes both of us happy. That’s the point after all.

WHEN A PARTNER DROPS THE THREAD, DO YOU WISH TO KNOW?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS. - AND WHY?: If you want to drop a thread, I’m completely fine with it. I want to know so that I don’t end up replying to something you have no interest in anymore. Saves both of us the time.

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY LEAD YOU TO DROP A THREAD?:  If drafts eat it (as they are wont to do these days) or if I feel it has reached a natural conclusion. I rarely, if ever, drop a thread in the middle. I’ll just let you know I’m going to finish it on my side and allow you a chance to finish on yours if you’d like.

WILL YOU TELL YOUR PARTNER?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS.

IS COMMUNICATION IN THE RPC IMPORTANT TO YOU? YES / NO. - AND WHY?: You don’t need to chat with me every minute of every day, but I like knowing the people I’m writing with. Discerning your personality and your approach to your muse gives me a much stronger understanding of how to write with you, and what vibes between us. Plus, it’s easier to remember different people’s boundaries if I talk with them a lot, too.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH ABSOLUTE HONESTY, EVEN IF IT MAY MEANS HEARING SOMETHING NEGATIVE ABOUT YOU AND/OR PORTRAYAL?: I am all for constructive criticism. Even if you think it’s nitpicky, it’s going to be a great help. Good crit allows us grow as writers and as people in general. However, I am not for baseless accusations, childish name-calling, or outright insults under the name of “constructive crit”. Remember the “constructive” part: we need to build each other up. 

DO YOU THINK YOU CAN HANDLE SUCH SITUATION IN A MATURE WAY? YES / NO.

WHY DO YOU RP AGAIN, IS THERE A GOAL?: I love a good story. While I don’t agree with everything Cullen does (and no one should, for anyone real or imagined), his story is intriguing. He’s a deeply flawed, deeply broken man. I love to take on a character, toss them in every situation I can think of, and watch them evolve and grow.

WISHLIST, BE IT PLOTS OR SCENARIOS:  A real redemption arc, for one. A realistic struggle with substance abuse and recovery. A future of happiness.

THEMES I WON’T EVER RP / EXPLORE:   Rape or sexual assault, unless being spoken about as a past event (as I truly believe that Cullen was sexually assaulted at Kinloch along with the other psychological and physical torture he endured). In-game racism is baked in, unfortunately, but it’s not something I seek out to roleplay as a PoC myself. Finally, while I play Cullen as canon-straight, I will not play out homophobia and most definitely not transphobia. If he rejects your muse for hitting on him, it’s not because he’s being homophobic: he’s just not interested. That also doesn’t mean he’ll never be interested; people can and do change, and I ship chemistry overall. He doesn’t hate your muse for their gender, orientation, or sexual preferences. I feel like I really have to spell this out for people who don’t understand. If you feel personally insulted by this somehow, feel free to address me directly, off anon. It’s probably an issue of fuzzy wording that I’m 500% willing to fix and talk about.

WHAT TYPE OF STARTERS DO YOU PREFER / DISLIKE, CAN’T WORK WITH?: I love starters that set the scene and provide plenty to work with, be it in terms of interacting with the environment or with the other person. If your muse shows immediate disinterest in communicating (and I don’t mean argumentative, which is perfectly fine), I am not going to respond. I might politely ask for more if I feel like it’s a salvageable interaction.

WHAT TYPE OF CHARACTERS CATCH YOUR INTEREST THE MOST?:  Stoic soldier types, bubbly short girls, and semi-mad scientists.

WHAT TYPE OF CHARACTERS CATCH YOUR INTEREST THE LEAST?:  Characters that come across as Mary-Sue / Gary-Stu types. No flaws and barely any room to grow. 

WHAT ARE YOUR STRONG ASPECTS AS RP PARTNER?: I'm very easy-going and I have an unearthly level of tolerance for almost everything. I try to provide partners with as much to work with as possible IC, and will pretty much support your very existence OOC. I believe in open communication so you’ll know what’s going on with me and/or our threads. Also, I typically reply within a week or two. Currently I’m tethered to finishing a big paper so I’m not a good example of that right now.

WHAT ARE YOUR WEAK ASPECTS AS RP PARTNER?: I can get overwhelmed by too much which slows my pace down considerably. I’m also a bit distant and do shut down on occasion; that’s usually no fault of my partners, though. Just my brain being a dick.

DO YOU RP SMUT?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS. (the closer we are OOC, the easier getting here will be)

DO YOU PREFER TO GO INTO DETAIL?: YES / NO / DEPENDS. (it’s not going to be XXX but it will be descriptive)

ARE YOU OKAY WITH BLACK CURTAIN, FADE TO BLACK?: YES / NO.

WHEN DO YOU RP SMUT? MORE OUT OF FUN OR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT?: I prefer to write smut for character development and to mark a progression in a relationship. Plus Cullen is not a “one and done” guy so getting to the smut stage will take a bit of build-up.

ANYTHING YOU WOULD NOT WANT TO RP THERE?:  Hmmm things that he personally wouldn’t go for I guess? Honestly I don’t know. And obviously, no rape/animal abuse/predator nonsense.

ARE SHIPS IMPORTANT TO YOU?:   YES / NO Ships are a great way to further explore a character and their motivations. People do not exist in pure isolation, so I don’t believe characters should, either.

WOULD YOU SAY YOUR BLOG IS SHIP-FOCUSED?: YES / NO. I bolded both because the focus of the blog isn’t ships, but this thirst trap guy is really easy to ship with other people I tell ya hwat. I am severely picky with romantic ships for Reasons, but I don’t eschew any other types of ships. I encourage them!

DO YOU USE READ MORE?:  YES / NO / SOMETIMES WHEN I WRITE LONG STUFF.

ARE YOU:  MULTI-SHIP / SINGLE-SHIP / DUAL-SHIP  —  MULTIVERSE / SINGLEVERSE.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE TO EXPLORE THE MOST IN YOUR SHIPS?: Characters who challenge Cullen into revising his point of view and force him to be a better person. Also, characters who understand his past and they are in no ways obligated to forgive it, but do recognise that he’s struggling very hard to mend whatever mistakes he can and is willing to pay the price for his decisions.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH PRE-ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIPS?: YES / NO / DEPENDS.  - Be a good salesperson and I might buy it.

► SECTION ABOUT YOUR MUSE.

- WHAT COULD POSSIBLY MAKE YOUR MUSE INTERESTING TOWARDS OTHERS, WHY SHOULD THEY RP WITH THIS PARTICULAR CHARACTER OF YOURS NOW, WHAT POSSIBLE PLOTS DO THEY OFFER?: Cullen is a massive stick in the mud, which means it’s incredibly easy to taunt him and get him flustered all at the same time. He’s loyal, he’s intelligent, and he’s largely self-aware. He likes swords and using them. Anything your character hates about him, he most likely hates about himself 100 times more.

WITH WHAT TYPE OF MUSES DO YOU USUALLY STRUGGLE TO RP WITH?:  Those from the start that show absolutely no interest in speaking with/interacting with him. Mun and muse are going to struggle to stick around. I’m not going to fight for attention and neither is he.

WHAT DO THEY DESIRE, WHAT IS THEIR GOAL?:  Redemption. He wants to be a better person and make up for the past as much as he can.

WHAT CATCHES THEIR INTEREST FIRST WHEN MEETING SOMEONE NEW?:  He can sniff out a fellow Templar a mile away (or several miles, in the case of Samson). 

WHAT DO THEY VALUE IN A PERSON?:  Honesty, a strong will, devotion (not necessarily to the Maker or the Chantry, but to a just cause that focuses on protecting others).

WHAT THEMES DO THEY LIKE TALKING ABOUT?:  War stuff, chess, books, trebuchets, dogs.

WHICH THEMES BORE THEM?:  Lectures about anything. He did his time in Azkaban in the Circles. No more. Please no more.

DID THEY EVER WENT THROUGH SOMETHING TRAUMATIC?:  His parents died trying to escape the Blight, he was tortured for weeks/months on end by blood mages, almost all of his friends died because of it, he was manipulated and brainwashed by his superior, he was forced into a near-debilitating substance addiction by his workplace... yeah just a few things.

WHAT COULD LEAD TO AN INSTANT KILL?:  Darkspawn and abominations. 

IS THERE SOMEONE /-THING THEY HATE?:  Darkspawn and abominations. Blood mages on principle. Regular mages (but he’s working hard to remedy this extremely bad and prejudiced thinking). Himself.

IS YOUR MUSE EASY TO APPROACH?: YES / NO.    - BEST WAY TO APPROACH THEM?:  Just be polite and he won’t turn you away. He’s guarded, yes, but not impossible to talk to.

SOMETHING YOU MAY STILL WANT TO POINT OUT ABOUT YOUR MUSE?: You’ll find out by writing together! ;D

CONGRATS!!! You managed it, now tag your mutuals! ♥

tagged by: pirated tagging: anyone who actually read this

[365daysofsasuhina]

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day Three Hundred Fifty-One: Envelope ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: Like Magic ] [ AO3 Link ]

He still remembers receiving his letter with pride. No matter how many times his brother, his mother, and even his father assured him there was no question of its arrival...he still had his doubts. Not that he didn’t believe them...but rather, he didn’t believe in himself.

Only once he read his name and address on that envelope did he know.

The prestige of purity means traditions to uphold and honor to maintain. The Uchiha are a longstanding line of notable witches and wizards, long tied to the house of Slytherin within the walls and halls of Hogwarts.

To say that it brought a feeling of pressure and anxiety was...a bit of an understatement.

Not only that, but his family itself was one of accomplishments. His father, positioned in the Ministry, was well-respected (if not a little feared). And his mother was the author of many a magical tome, specifically those regarding modern charms for everyday use.

Itachi, his elder brother, showed talent and prowess for magic at the tender age of four, and could both cast and control his magic before ever receiving his first wand. A skill that his parents praised him heavily for.

Sasuke...was never quite that advanced as he grew. In most regards, he seemed completely...average.

And it bothered him.

While his typical displays of magic before being properly trained were a sure sign he’d grow to be a wizard, his lingering doubts when compared to his brother meant that he wondered if he’d ever earn a place at Hogwarts. Surely if someone were to look between the two of them...they’d choose Itachi every time.

His mother assured him again and again that such things weren’t what got a person accepted into the school. Proclaiming his father a late bloomer (a secret kept between them), she did her best to allay his fears.

And come his eleventh birthday that hot July day...his letter finally came.

Though he allowed himself to act pleased and excited, he kept the true extent of his reaction to himself, hidden away in his room and laugh-crying into his pillow in relief. Finally he knew for sure...he’d get to go.

His first ride on the Hogwarts Express was taken with his brother, who patiently and eagerly showed him around the platform, and the train. Itachi even sat with him, taking his little brother to the carriage he always sat in with a handful of friends. They were from all houses, and even Itachi himself had somehow defied tradition and ended up in Gryffindor. Though it had been a surprise, neither parent was angry or disappointed. Just...confused.

But Sasuke secretly hoped he’d be in the same house as his parents. He wanted to make them as proud as possible. Maybe there were some things he couldn’t do as well as Itachi, or at all. But being a Slytherin he was sure he could manage.

Upon their arrival, however...he had to be separated, taking the traditional ride across the lake with the other first years. Anxious at being alone, he nonetheless gaped up at the castle in awe with the rest. Everything was a surprise. The castle, the hall, the feast…! And of course, the Sorting.

Slytherin, as predicted.

The common room and dorms were amazing, Sasuke regretting the dark and being unable to see out into the lake from the large windows in the main room. Too excited to sleep, he’d woken after a few hours, groggy and confused.

Classes were another avenue of anxiety. Would he do well? He’d glanced over his textbooks before the year began, gleaning very little given their lack of context.

But it was one of his first classes where he made his first friend.

And not one he expected: a Hufflepuff by the name of Hinata Hyūga. They had Charms together, and just so happened to be seated together, and get along well.

It was the beginning of something he’d treasure always.

She wasn’t his only friend, but she was the first. Her saving his life (or at least a few broken bones) during their first flying lesson was also a plus. He later met those like Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzumaki. An odd little quad with a member from each house.

And oh, the adventures they got into...most of which centered around vanquishing evil, namely the Dark Lord himself.

And the one thing that blighted his family the most.

The excuse he heard over and over was the formation of a clan of witches and wizards centuries ago, all taking the same surname as a sign of brotherhood and solidarity. It wasn’t necessarily a notion of blood, and though the branches intermingled to keep the assembled pure bloodlines clean, Fugaku and Mikoto both were adamant - especially after his downfall - that neither were directly related to the one called Madara Uchiha.

The allegations - unable to be proven - nevertheless stuck. And they typically invoked one of two reactions. Fear...or respect. Or at times, an odd combination of both.

It was a subject that was eventually broached in their circle...namely due to the connection it bore to the loss of Naruto’s parents, and the formation of his whisker-like scars: marks from the blast of the rebounded killing curse that swiped across his cheeks as an infant. Both he and Sakura had been openly suspicious of the boy for a time.

...but not Hinata.

By that time, she’d known him the longest, and vouched for him without question. Even if he were related to Madara, that didn’t make him Madara. And there were plenty of good witches and wizards, she had read, who had come from Slytherin. And if the notion of being pureblood meant believing in the superiority of it, then...didn’t that include her, too?

Her vehement but gentle counters quickly settled the matter.

After all, Sakura was Muggleborn, and Naruto was halfblood. If either she or Sasuke had any prejudice against so-called ‘dirty blood’...why would they be friends?

When Naruto and Sakura excused themselves for the afternoon, the latter having agreed to help the former with some course work, Sasuke had taken Hinata’s wrist as she made to leave the bench they’d claimed in one of the courtyards for their discussion.

“...Sasuke…?”

Expression unreadable save for its somber tinge, he found himself unable to look at her for a time. Mostly due to lingering guilt and feeling awkward at the previous exchange, but...also something else. They were in their fourth year at that time, and schedules weren’t the only things changing.

“...I just...wanted to say thank you.”

Her eyes flickered back and forth across his face, still unable to meet his. “...you don’t have to thank m-”

“Yeah, I do. I…” He sighed, glancing further aside. “...the subject’s a sore one, and...I knew that one of these days, it’d have to be addressed more...thoroughly between us. And I really was afraid of how it would go. Not very many people believe me when I try to explain, so…” Sasuke then dared to look to her briefly. “Your support, it...it meant a lot. And...I think it did a lot, too.”

Softening, Hinata slowly retook her seat beside him. “I’m sorry about how they reacted.”

“No...they have every right to. Sakura has a lot to be afraid of because of Madara and his followers - their plans. And Naruto, well...he lost everything because of Madara. If I have any connection to him -”

“But you don’t. Your parents said -?”

“My parents said, yeah. But the alliance in the clan, it...it led to a lot of bloodline records being lost or fudged. Some Uchiha are even half or quarter blood due to things getting spread thin. In reality...we can’t really know for sure. So...I can’t blame them for being wary.”

“But, Sasuke…” Easing from his grip he had yet to break, she instead gently cupped his hand with both her own. “You’ve already p-proven what kind of person you are. How many times have we s-stopped Madara’s plans? If you ever had any doubts, you had several chances to turn on us. To help him. But you never have. And...I know you never will. Just because you’re Uchiha - just because you’re pureblood, or in Slytherin - d-doesn’t make you a bad person. Your choices are what matter. Okay…?”

Though he listened to her words, Sasuke also found himself distracted by the warmth of her hands on his. A light shade of pink dusted the bridge of his nose and the tips of his ears. “...I know. I guess I’m just...used to being thought of that way. I’ve accepted it.”

“Well...you don’t have to. You’re my friend. I trust you, and I b-believe in you. Just keep making those good choices, and...soon, everyone else will, too.”

“...yeah. Thanks, Hinata…”

Giving him a soft smile, she abandoned her grip and stood. “...well, I b-better get my work done, too. Have...have a good evening, Sasuke. See you in Transfiguration tomorrow.”

“All right. Night.” Watching her go, he sighed once she vanished, not quite ready to leave yet.

...he couldn’t help but notice how cold his hand felt without hers.

                                                   .oOo.

     (This is a sequel to days 28, 230, 299, 316, 324, 327, and 330!)       More Harry Potter crossover because...it's all I could think of for this prompt xD Not much happened, but we got a bit of backstory, and some fluff between the two of them. I wanted to do more but it's late and I'm v tired aha~      Anyway, that's all for today. Golly I'll be so relieved when I'm finally all caught up! Thanks for reading~

[adz]

hi here is my albums of the year list for 2019. i will also put it below under the break. happy nu year friends

ALBUMS I LOVED

Big Thief - U.F.O.F. & Two Hands This band has something so special. It's almost as enjoyable to hear Lenker, the primary songwriter, talk about her philosophy and her connection to her bandmates as it is to listen to their consistently wonderful and gently boundary-pushing music. I've combined these two albums into one list item because they're flip sides of the same coin: spirit and earth, ethereal and corporeal, unknown and known. If you've heard their earlier two albums, you might be put off a little: there aren't any smash hits like Masterpiece on here, nor any doomed ballads like Shark Smile. These albums are a little blurrier, shadows and gleaming bits of light floating past. At times the songs sound less like early Big Thief than they do Adrianne's solo releases: lyric focused, strange sprawling structures, a bit rougher around the edges. At these records' cores, though, the soul is the same true soul. On U.F.O.F., there are sadness-tinged love songs like Orange and an ode to a dead relationship or dead loved one, Terminal Paradise, recut from Adrienne's solo discography. On Two Hands, rollicking rockers like Forgotten Eyes and the titular track nestle up against the tender and painful Wolf and a live staple for the band, Not, a song that builds momentum and tumbles towards its conclusion like a meteor. Whether you're a devoted fan (and I don't know anyone who listens to Big Thief but doesn't consider themselves one) or a newcomer, it's worthwhile to spend some time close to these records. Let them, and they'll grow on you.

Kim Petras - TURN OFF THE LIGHT Easily the best collection of club pop songs this year began as a Halloween-themed mixtape, which I think gives it a willingness to experiment that I sometimes miss in Petras's more standard stuff. The hooks on tracks like There Will Be Blood, Close Your Eyes, and Tell Me It's a Nightmare are as good as anything in her discography, and the most adventurous moments, like the interlude o m e n and the German verse in In the Next Life, not only pay off but fuck harder than basically anything I've ever heard. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Dr. Luke was one of this record's producers. The fact that he gets a cut of every stream and sale is a terrible blemish on what would otherwise be a huge favorite of mine.

Sufjan Stevens & Timo Andres - The Decalogue A forceful, sometimes opaque album. Delicate and opinionated piano music for ballet. One moment of particular transcendent beauty: the track V.

Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising A 10/10, perfect, totally wonderful album. A ton of variety and not a single bad song. By turns upbeat, dreamy, contemplative, creepy, explosive. One of the most beautiful and evocative album covers of the year to boot.

Andrew Bird - My Finest Work Yet I appreciate Andrew Bird's esoteric trips and darkly introspective weirdness, so it surprised me how much I enjoyed this: a bouncy, ascerbic, and delightful return to form packed with ironic turns of phrase and endlessly engrossing little musical details. Bloodless is a legit political statement, a State of the Union address that is somehow equal parts ominous and encouraging. Sisyphus is freewheeling and also political, a common thread here. My favorite is Manifest, a disco-inflected ode to fossil fuels. You could blast it and joyfully sing along without ever realizing how apocalyptic it is.

Nivhek - After its own death / Walking in a spiral towards the house Moody, spacious, and minimalist. Lovely and meditative.

M83 - DSVII A world all of its own. Cinematic, strange, and cheesy. I really appreciate M83's willingness to do absolutely whatever they want when they could easily have made a career pandering to fans of Midnight City and selling songs to car companies. DSVII is spacious and upbeat, steeped in the memory of 70s space western epics. Flutes, pianos, and shimmering picked guitars float over crashing post-rock drums and synths ranging from contemplative sweeps (Mirage) and buzzing pads (Colonies) to swelling vox (Taifun Glory) and precise, retro little bleeps (Oh Yes You're There, Everyday). It's wonderful background music, and the choice tracks (Temple of Sorrow, Mirage, Hell Riders) are great fun and even occasionally thrilling. This album is easy to love.

Thom Yorke - Anima Detuned synths lying motionless in a cold desert fading in and out of life

Foxes in Fiction - Trillium Killer A swirling dream-pop masterpiece. I had the privilege of seeing Warren perform some of these songs earlier this year, and I felt totally transported, like I was physically present in the green holographic world of his back-stage projections. These songs are complex and really special, crafted with care and an ear highly attuned to odd harmonies and little additive details. I love the way stories and thoughts weave together across the album. The catchy, gently swelling music is a brilliant compliment for the lyrics, which are often dark and intense, blurring the political and personal on songs like Say Yes to Violence and Antibody. Aesthetically, this album is a delight, but there's so much depth beneath its glimmering surface. What a wonderful addition to Foxes in Fiction's powerful and lovely discography.

Xiu Xiu - Girl with Basket of Fruit Xiu Xiu always makes me smile. This album is dense and abrasive and very lyrics-forward. Jamie Stewart sounds fucking pissed and I love it. The beats are quick and unrelenting: samples of Haitian drummers led by musician Daniel Brevil. I also can't get over the fact that Angela Seo published her favorite and least favorite lyrics from each song. Jamie wrote this about the record's title, which references Caravaggio's painting Boy with a Basket of Fruit: "When this title is a boy it is fey and lovely. When it is a girl is worrisome and rife with danger. Male martyrs are almost always surrounded by nurses, their mothers, adoring angels and other loving disciples wrapping their crushed and holy bodies in strips of herb soaked cloth and weeping rapturously. Female martyrs are almost always depicted having their skin flayed, breasts branded or ripped off with tongs or being stabbed and they are always, always alone save for her murderers. There is never anyone by their sides celebrating their spiritual life, only fiendishly reveling in their torture of her. It is perilous to be a 'girl.'"

Bats - Alter Nature I was shocked to find out these guys have been around for 10 years. This sounds like an album by a young band, which I mean as a compliment: it's energetic and rough and a little uneven in parts in ways that I enjoy. The sound is either especially intense but poppy post-punk or kind of gentle hardcore. I think there's a lot of crossover potential between those two fan bases here. Their attitude is what I love more than anything else. I don't know how to describe it exactly. It feels like the band are willing to go to weird, sarcastic places and then quickly snap back to sincerity and brutality, often multiple times in one song. I'm not much of a hardcore fan, but I almost wish they'd spent a little more time with that sound: my favorite parts on this record are the heavier bits like the end of Current Affairs.

Olivia Neutron-John - Olivia Neutron-John This album sounds like if you trapped a musique concrete artist in a timeless hell with a couple drum machines and synths for a millenium and then poked a hole in the wall and recorded what came out. Really fun and uncomfortable. I do still think the best format to experience ONJ is in her like 20-minute rambling dance tracks, like 2017's Injury Train.

Liturgy - H.A.Q.Q. A lot of people really despise Liturgy, and if that's the case for you, this album probably won't change your mind, but for what it's worth, it's a little more accessible than their synth-horn-heavy black metal midi extravaganza of a previous album The Ark Work. H.A.Q.Q. does contain weird, tonally distinct interludes (the EXACO trio of tracks) between its transcendental metal pillars, but they're the rare interludes that go beyond merely cleansing the palette and setting the mood for whatever follows. EXACT III especially is a bright and emotionally complete unit. What we're really here for is the metal, though, and this album delivers like nothing Liturgy has released before. Composer/singer/guitarist Hendrix's melodies are unique and beautiful, the riffs and blastbeats are tight, and the stuttering glitches that break up dense passages are welcome even when they're really surprising. HAJJ, PASAQALIA, GOD OF LOVE, and HAQQ are all monster tracks, but the whole album is well worth your time. The lead single, GOD OF LOVE, is a great place to start. This is definitely, easily my favorite black metal album of all time, and probably my favorite metal album full stop.

Blood Orange - Angel's Pulse Dev Hynes' mixtape is by turns propulsive and relaxing, softspoken and hardheaded. It's brilliant and beautiful and although it's not too long, each song is given ample room to breathe. I wish other artists were as effective at utilizing guest artists (some tracks here have three guests, and Hynes is able to manage their time well enough that there's no feeling of bloatedness or a lack of cohesion). I love this album. It might be my favorite thing Hynes has ever done. Listen to: Take It Back, Berlin, Dark & Handsome

Toro y Moi - Outer Peace Chaz's album Boo Boo was one of my favorite albums of 2017, but because it wasn't chillwave enough or whatever, people didn't seem to give it a fair shake. That seems to be the case with Outer Peace, too: it's less of a single unit than Boo Boo and contains more danceable content, but it's a little too moody and eccentric to win over fans of Anything In Return, Chaz's basically perfect 2013 opus. (As a side note, his mixtape Soul Trash, which also came out this year, is good fun too.) Anyway, Outer Peace feels kind of like a more accessible extension of Boo Boo. Parts of it still feel like a deranged early-morning exercise program on college radio, which I like. Try some of the lighter stuff first: Fading, Ordinary Pleasure, and Freelance.

Opium Lord - Vore No genre has better subgenre descriptors than metal. This is a black sludge album, and that's pretty much all you need to know.

Mid-Air Thief - Crumbling Okay so this album technically came out in 2018, but it had a wide release this year on Topshelf Records with like four different wax colors, and also I only found out about it early this year, and I need to spread the word about one of the most delightful, fun, and beautiful albums I've ever heard. On Crumbling, organic strums and synthetic trills form a deeply engaging tapestry. I love every second of it. Combining sounds in this way totally qualifies as left-field experimental shit just because It Seems Like Nobody Else Is Doing It For Some Reason (except I guess Floating Points, see SOTY), but the music itself is actually really accessible. This is what pop music should sound like! We have the technology!! Please listen to this album. Dirt and Gameun Deut are my favorites at the moment, but you honestly can't go wrong.

Angel Olsen - All Mirrors Olsen's gotten grander. Her ballads are longer and involve strings and synthesizers and beat machines. The soul feels the same to me, though. Songs like the title track are powerful and emotive and showcase not just her vocal range but a new range of sonic experimentation that I think complements her songwriting really well. For those who aren't on board with the 7-minute ballads, there are also more lighthearted tracks like Too Easy and Spring. I knew that Chance reminded me of a specific song, but I couldn’t think of the name until I read something by a person named Grimelords about how it’s like her version of Sinatra's My Way. That’s exactly what it’s like.

Girl Band - The Talkies Shoulderblades is an ugly, mammoth, multi-part story. Brilliant genreless repetition like in album opener Prolix and at the end of Couch Combover. Amygdela sounds like if early Preoccupations was fronted by someone undergoing torture whilst also muttering at their withdrawal hallucinations. The vibe here is complex. It's a very consistent album, but the collection of sounds and attitudes is really unusual. Caveat is a great example: a simple beat and twitching synth line turns into a lumbering mess of distortion-and back again, whenever it decides to-at will.

0 Stars - Blowing on a Marshmallow in Perpetuity Timid singing, odd titles, and every-instrument-in-the-room textures on this album belie depth and a very warm heart. "even though my dog barked at a baby, i won't tell her 'no' cause that's just the way she deals with being scared and sometimes i get scared too, and it's bad enough without the shame when i mess things up and you don't come over, i go to the kitchen and eat leftovers just because i'm sad doesn't mean it is fair to depend on you when you're sad too"

(Sandy) Alex G - House of Sugar With Gretel—the best song of the year—as its lead single, House of Sugar set an impossibly high expectation. Although Gretel is certainly a high point on the album, there are many more: Hope is inconspicuous but beautiful, honest, and cathartic, SugarHouse is a devastating jam, and Southern Sky whirls comfortingly from a rose-tinted verse into a chorus supposedly inspired by a dream and tinged with sadness. All but one of these songs are under 4 minutes long, but they're packed with conflict between abstract and concrete lyrics, beauty and strangeness. It's Alex G, so don't be surprised by the unexpected and often outright weird electronic flourishes and transitions throughout the record, but if you can handle its irregularities, this is easily one of the most fresh-sounding and enjoyable albums of the year.

Emily Reo - Only You Can See It A bright, fun, and beautiful album full of bouyant vocals and strange twists and turns. Although I deeply love the poppy stuff here (like the anthemic single Strawberry), my faves are the slower, darker, vaguely occultish songs: Ghosting, Counterspell (a shimmering sequel to 2016's Spell, one of the best songs of the year), and In Theaters, which is one of those songs that builds and builds and then has the most satisfying payoff. It might be my favorite ending of any album this year. I hope you check this one out. Emily is the coolest and this album rocks.

Chromatics - Closer To Grey Of course this came out in October. Chromatics is the only band that is allowed to use canned vinyl hiss. The first song on this record is a Sound of Silence cover and it is amazing.

Mizmor - Cairn I try to approach new music without giving too much thought to the circumstances of its creation, but something about the idea of a mythical lone individual painstakingly crafting beautiful layered music appeals to me, whether it's Phil Elverum of Mt. Eerie, Sufjan Stevens, or this: Mizmor, some dude from Portland, OR making sick, dense black metal. Cairn is a slow, doomy, cinematic album, and maybe these qualities make it easier to notice the incredible attention to detail on individual riffs or little instrumental passages. My favorites were Cairn to God and The Narrowing Way

Laura Agnusdei - Laurisilva Lounge music from hell. Twin Peaks-y saxophone glides over squishy synthetic beats. Lungs Dance sounds like a block of jello having a nightmare. In all seriousness, this is an ingenious and very unique album and I enjoy it a lot. A lot of music I listened to this year attempted to merge organic and synthetic sound in a way that emphasises their similarities. Here, synthetic sounds and recognizable voices/samples/sax & flute riffs are juxtaposed, and the rift is never bridged. And it's weirdly comfortable. This is the most acidic of acid jazz. And honestly, I just really like how wet the synths sound.

~~~~~

SONGS I LOVED (singles for albums that i think outshone the album OR songs that were released not as part of an album OR just songs i heard and enjoyed. this will hopefully prevent me from including an album i don't actually love just because i really dug one song on it)

Arthur Russell - You Did It Yourself Iowa Dream is a great collection of Russell's more accessible unreleased work. You Did It Yourself in particular is such a perfectly weird, groovy almost-pop song, a reminder that Russell was as talented a writer of hooks as he was a mastermind of electroacoustic experimentation. To explore his other side, check out another of his posthumous releases from this year, Not Checking Up.

MGMT - In The Afternoon A gothic post-punk masterpiece that sort of follows from their excellent 2018 album Little Dark Age. This is MGMT's best era ever. My most-anticipated-2020 list is basically MGMT and Owen Pallett's Island. And probably one or two more Big Thief records.

Floating Points - Falaise Floating Points' 2019 album Crush consists mostly of Aphex-Twin-y glitch-beat tracks that occasionally push towards something really interesting and unique. It's a great album, but the organic instruments on opener Falaise set you up brilliantly for an organosynthetic payoff that never arrives.

Honey by Drugdealer/Weyes Blood okay, Lonely on the same album is fun, if a little silly. Lost In My Dream is also totally decent, and Fools is kind of a bop... actually, this whole album, while not totally my cup of tea, is great. If you like 70's-disco-inflected (like, Bee Gees) retro rock, sweet vocal harmonies and guitar licks, and a few indulgences (like saxophone), you'll totally dig this record. I'm gonna spend some more time with it. Honey fucks especially though imo

Everything All at Once - G Jones Something about this song just scratches an itch in my brain. The rest of this album is basically dubstep, and it all sandwiches this one beautiful little song. Better not to question life's gifts.

Perfume Genius - Eye in the Wall Sandunes & Landslands - Eleven Eleven James Blake - Barefoot In The Dark new grimes unfortunately Deafheaven - Black Brick

~~~~~

Honorable Mentions/stuff i like but other people would probably love

Kim Gordon - No Home Record An experimental (but comfortably modern) record by the 66-yr-old Gordon, best known as a multi-instrumentalist/vocalist in Sonic Youth, a band I occasionally appreciate but can't say I love. Parts of No Home Record are noise rock-y, like Murdered Out, and others totally defy comprehension: Paprika Pony seems to have the most buzz surrounding it, which makes sense since it features both a kalimba and a trap beat. Really not a resting-on-laurels type of album. I wish more iconic older musicians made shit like this.

Pharmakon - Devour The rare album that makes me forget about my tinnitus. A dense cloud of distortion and sharply biting microscopic needle creatures that settle around your shoulders and block out all light. Fucking awesome. Listen if you enjoy oppressive painfully pulsing sound textures of industrial noise blanketing completely incoherent screaming.

clipping. - There Existed an Addiction to Blood This is a tough one for me because there are things about this album I can't stand, but many more things I absolutely love. The inventiveness of the production on Run for Your Life, Daveed's absurdly skilled delivery on Blood of the Fang, the harsh noise and musique concrete combining delightfully with rap on songs like La Mala Ordina; all of this is extremely exciting. I really love the last track Piano Burning, an 18-minute recording of, yes, a piano burning. The thing is, clipping.'s lyrical content is more or less the same here as on 2013's Midcity mixtape. It's ultra-violent, filled with graphic descriptions of gang violence and torture, which is fine, but just not something I'm that interested in listening to more than once or twice. They've branched out elsewhere (on their previous album, Splendor & Misery, and on the recent EP The Deep), but to me, it's unfortunate that this super cool and thoughtful album is lyrically (at least, on the surface) just a collection of descriptions of people being murdered. I don't really have any interest in reading more into it than that, because I regret pretty much every time I try to pay close attention, either because it's gross and boring or because it's embarrassing (The Show, for example). I want to emphasize that as horrorcore goes, the writing here is mostly very good. The rhyme patterns like at the beginning of Story 7 are genius. It's just not for me, I guess. I'm gonna keep listening to a few songs, though: Nothing is Safe, La Mala Ordina, Run for Your Life, and Blood of the Fang are excellent.

Field Whispers - Fire-Toolz The Warm-Body is a great song. Hyphen- (and parenthesis-) heavy vapor/pc music/new age/ambient jazzy synth stuff. really nice.

Caroline Polachek - Pang every r/indieheads dude: i like slide guitar now probably the best vocal performance of any album I heard this year, Polachek is just ludicrously good. listen to Insomnia

Danny Brown - uknowhatimsayin¿ When most artists release an album of outsized acclaim, you can with some certainty expect them to mimic its acclaimed qualities later on in an attempt to reach the same level of success. Danny Brown is not most artists, though, and no one who knows him would count on a retreading of the ground covered in Atrocity Exhibition, Danny's nearly perfect 2016 album. uknowhatimsayin¿ is more lighthearted and, I think, a little less ambitious (it's 13 minutes shorter, with more consistent track lengths; there's no "Really Doe"), but not to its detriment. The features are less head-turning than AE (up-and-comers JPEGMAFIA and Obongjayer, the understated genius Blood Orange, and Run the Jewels, the most overrated act in hip hop), but they all fit in neatly. Tracks like Belly of The Beast and Negro Spiritual prove Danny could still rap over a washing machine or musique concrete or fucking whatever. The lyrics are less dense, the beats less experimental and strange, but the lighter energy is kind of nice. Atrocity Exhibition could've lost three or four tracks, but this album feels juuuust right.

HTRK - Over the Rainbow Soft, ambient, moody. Reminds me of William Basinski's Watermusic II, but this album is less repetitive and a little less weird. It's background music for people who hate background music. It's delightful and ignorable. Very nice.

Blarf - Cease & Desist Shockingly decent plunderphonics/noise album from Eric Andre, who it must be pointed out attended one of the most prestigious music colleges in the world.

Ryan Lott - Pentaptych Beautiful, prickly modernist string compositions.

Cereal Killer - The Beginning & End of Cereal Killer Empath - Active Listening: Night on Earth Ithaca - The Language of Injury Mannequin Pussy - Patience Swan's Chamber - Swan's Chamber Avey Tare - Cows on Hourglass Pond Men I Trust - Oncle Jazz Charli XCX - Charli Black Midi - Schlagenheim Michael Kiwanuka - Kiwanuka Methyl Ethyl - Triage Bill Callahan - Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest Better Oblivion Community Center - Better Oblivion Community Center Twin Peaks - Lookout Low Holly Herndon - Proto Laurel Halo - DJ-Kicks Earl Sweatshirt - Feet of Clay Nihiloxica - Biiri Wet Fruit - Wet Fruit

Best mix: Night Bus 4: Memory of Night Bus by CFCF When Hyperballad hits, you will understand. http://www.gorillavsbear.net/cfcf-drops-night-bus-4-memory-of-night-bus

Best album name:

Gross Net - Gross Net Means Gross Net.

Answers my foremost question immediately.~~~~~

A halfhearted AOTD list, in order this time

1-The Age of Adz

2-Heartland

3-Entrañas

4-The Money Store

5-Channel Orange

6-Planetarium

7-Ontario Gothic

8-Konoyo+Anoyo (this is cheating but whatever)

9-Carrie & Lowell + Greatest Gift (also cheating idc)

10-My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

thanks for reading. the world is abundant.

[lokomotives]

Captain Underpants × Bully crossover

Mr Krupp gets offered the position of Vice Principal - at Bullworth Academy.

The school is pretty "rough around the edges" in his eyes, but he's looking forward to an easy career now that he doesn't have to deal with small kids tossing water on him and him waking up in odd places in his underwear.

Then on the first day of the semester, Miss Danvers peaks her head in.

Miss Danvers: "It seems you have the honor of dealing with the first deliquents of the school year."

Krupp (barely paying attention): "Send them in."

"Hey Mr Krupp!" "We didn't know you transferred here too!"

Krupp hears the voices and freezes. He knows them very well. Sitting across from him like hundreds of times before back in Jerome Horwitz Elementary.

George Beard and Harold Hutchins. Newest Freshmen on campus.

Krupp tears out the hair he grew back over the summer.

Turns out the boys' parents were convinced by the principal of Piqua High School to send them to Bullworth Academy on a dual Scholarship - hoping that the older (highly recommended) school would "whip them into shape".

Little did they know that Bullworth is the ultimate playground for a pair of well-meaning pranksters.

George and Harold in at their awkward years and are going through changes typical of young boys - doubt in their artistic skills and mean teen critics to name a few. They are currently in a rut over whether or not to create an angsty Noir-style comic to appeal to their new teen demographic. Captain Underpants and Dog Man it seems are only marginally popular at Bullworth Academy.

George: "You know this could be the perfect time to revist Sad Worm."

Harold: "Wanna project our frustrations into art?"

George. "Heck yeah."

The two are (obviously) favorites of Ms Philips and Miss Peters. They however get into trouble a lot with Mr Hattrick and Mrs Peabody.

Harold (sitting in detention): "Your average blue whale is heavier than an eighteen wheeler truck I tell you!"

George: "Let it go man. I doubt Mr Hattrick is as well versed in cetology as we are."

Gary Smith still attempts to recruit the pair as his lackeys; seeing them as "Dumb little puppets". Harold and George legit like spending time with Petey, which Petey sees as a godsend.

Krupp actually catches on quick about the "grosser" aspects of the school and actually tries to improve them.

Krupp: "Look I'm no chef, but could you like... not spit in the food?" "Why is there scotch in the trophy case?" "Is anyone going to address the broken school bus?" "Mr Burton, I'm firing and arresting you." "Oh god I thought this would be an easy job..."

Melvin is there also; his parents sending him to Bullworth as a second choice once the Elitenati Academy fell through. Melvin hates it at Bullworth and is actively trying to get himself kicked out but isn't having any luck. He barely gets along with the Nerds, but has gained a few intellectual equals in a sense. He has a deep rivalry with Earnest Jones, who Melvin thinks; "Is a four-eyed creep."

Jerry Citizen has been hired at Bullworth for a while (Subsituite Teacher) and is one of the few teachers that the Cliques consider "off limits" since he's such a nervous helpful soul. Jerry tries to be the guardian angel on the faculty's shoulders and frequently intervenes between fights.

Jerry: "Hey... um? Guys? You really shouldn't do that in the hallway. Other people could get really hurt."

Johnny Vincent (mid-punch): "Sorry Mr Citizen."

Gord Vendome (bleeding and in a head lock): "We'll move it to the Hole."

Jerry: *phew!*

The crossover would have slightly more adult humor and themes, mostly because of the high school setting and that the boys are a little bit older. However, Harold and George are still fairly sweet souls and their good nature still shines on through the grime of Bullworth Academy.

Also consider: Krupp transforming into Captain Underpants when the Greasers all tough-guy snap at him.

[trophyeve]

A General Rundown of Permissions for the ‘Eve of the Sakamaki Household’ Verse

Can we ship with Yui?  Yes, but she’s singleship per verse for now unless myself and the people shipping with me decide otherwise.

Can we send shippy memes / etc.?  Sure, we can still explore what-ifs, drabbles and oneshot threads, but the main focus will be on the storyline here!

Can we know Yui has Cordelia’s heart, is possibly turning into a vampire, is surrounded by vampires, etc.?  On a case-by-case basis.  It should be discovered organically if it’s not something your character would be able to know already.  There’s plenty of situations where this would make sense.

Can we have characters comment on the events of the timeline?  Yes, if they “catch sight of”, “overhear a rumor”, “a familiar saw X”, or any other sensible reason, then characters can be aware of and comment on events.  I wholly encourage characters participate in Yui’s life!  

Can we rescue Yui Komori from the Sakamaki household?  Unlikely.  At best, if you succeed in the first place, it’s entirely likely that they will find you, they will take Yui back, and they will kill one or both of you for this.  Or the Mukamis might take advantage of the situation!  Yui is playing a dangerous game as it is even entertaining ways of potentially escaping, but she’s desperate to feel like she’s doing something to survive outside of relying on the Sakamaki’s goodwill.

Can another Yui come and interact with this Yui?  What about characters that aren’t on the ‘dedicated castmates’ list?  Yes - another Yui will be treated as though they’d somehow wandered into one’s world or the other via some enchanted, strange object or doorway in the Sakamaki household.  This allows them to interact, but prevents either Yui from being able to 'escape’ their situation.  The same excuse can be used as appropriate if other duplicate muses desire to participate and engage, but none will ever be regarded as a 'fake’.  They are genuine characters, parallel universes of their own right.  Exceptions can be made if discussed.  This likely will never even be addressed, and Yui will respond appropriately to any Ayato, etc.

Biography Differences

Any notable differences from the default bio will be pointed here as appropriate.

Additional Verse Information

Tag: #v // eve of the sakamaki household

Any extra bonus info links will go here as needed.

Background

Assumes a version of the events of Diabolik Lovers - Haunted Dark Bridal & Diabolik Lovers - More Blood took place.  Some information may be plucked from other source materials as appropriate/necessary, but the focus is on HDB first, MB second.

Summaries: Haunted Dark Bridal | More Blood (Coming Soon)

Dedicated Castmates

Anyone who interacts frequently and wants to be considered a regular piece of the timeline can be added here, within reason!

Sakamaki Household

Ayato (@sadistic-sakamaki​) | Kanato | Laito​ | Shuu (@rxtrase​) | Reiji | Subaru

Mukami Household

Ruki | Kou | Yuma | Azusa

Additional Friends, Enemies, Etc.

OCs, crossovers, etc. that become important and of note.

Dez (@lachrymosestorm​) - “I don’t know her very well, but she’s been helping make the forgeries of Ayato’s signature!  She doesn’t know why I want it, but she’s been really helpful and willing to keep it quiet.  A nice girl.”

Basil (@monstrisanguine​ at first, then moved to <placeholder, searching>) - “He transferred in recently!  He wants to call me his friend already, which makes me happy.  I’d love to be his friend.  He has a very mature air about him…I wonder if I’ll be able to learn more about him soon?”

Yui Komori (@immolatusagnus​) - “She’s me.  Another version of me that’s just as real as I am.  I don’t really understand it, but at least we can help each other out sometimes.”

'Til Now / Story So Far...

    Yui Komori knows her father and his group won’t accept her back.  She knows Cordelia’s heart is the one that beats within her chest and that, somehow, Ayato, Laito and Kanato 'took care of her’ once upon a time.  She lived with the six brothers in a questionable peace while trying to survive.  She was relatively successful despite the challenges of frequent anemia, the occasional mind games, torment and torture, and forced nocturnal lifestyle.  To some extent, she’s even learned to appreciate the Sakamakis.  She almost forgot that she wanted to escape in the first place.

    Unfortunately, during this complacency, the Mukamis showed up.  Making their intentions to obtain “Eve” clear, the Sakamakis determine that Yui sticks to one or more of them at all times to ensure the sacrificial bride is not stolen away. Yui has, so far, successfully avoided becoming any particular person’s “sacrificial bride” or “Eve”.  So far.

     Still, staying with the Sakamakis is changing her.  Afraid of many of these changes and sometimes distressed by her situation all over again, like waking from a trance, Yui has begun hoarding ideas to escape the Sakamaki household.  She herself isn’t even sure if she just wants the option to learn if she’d really do it, if she wants someone to stop her, just needs the fantasy of an escape, or if she’d really risk her life and the Sakamaki’s ire in leaving.

    She’s obtained a copy of Ayato’s signature and so far, working with a classmate in printing additional forgeries has proven successful.  She has to be slow and quiet about it, but she’s making a small amount of money to hoard and hide.  She just needs to make sure she isn’t caught.  Checking to make sure that Shuu wouldn’t be willing to sign a permanent permission slip to leave didn’t meet with any success - not that she expected any.  Checking with Subaru to find out if anyone would listen to him has proven unsuccessful so far as well.

To Be Continued…

[piffyocs]

Legs v: Dimensional Refugees info masterpost.

Ace’s reference post in advance of her pony reboot has reminded me that I haven’t done an info reference for Legs in v: Dimensional Refugees, her crossover verse into a normal MLP setting. I know it’s kind of weird to describe an MLP fan character’s verse as being a crossover with MLP, but the AU setting she’s from is so radically different from the main series that I can take her out of the AU, but I can’t take the AU out of her.

The Tartarus AU is a fusion crossover most quickly described as “A deconstruction-reconstruction rewrite of the Avernum series of shareware RPGs by Spiderweb Software, but with ponies and it goes off the rails.” 

Please be advised that, given the general tone and content of the Avernum side of the source material, the Tartarus AU is inextricable from some heavy themes that My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic would not address with a hundred-foot pole (genocide is the big one). Please also be advised that, although Legs is a Party creature and naturally inclined toward cheerful chaos and More Cartoony Physics Than Baseline, she also has some pretty serious PTSD (multiple wars, multiple assassination attempts, deaths of friends and loved ones due to war and assassins, has been forced to flee her home to protect her children) and is still grieving for her most recent losses.

If any of that is Nope Town for you, I strongly suggest that you skip past this post. Because of that, and because it’s 16 bullet points long, I’m putting it under a cut.

Tartarus was originally a subterranean penal colony. Before that, it was intended to be a mass grave where Empress Daybreaker, tyrant of the entire surface of the world, could dispose of subjects who co mmitted “soft” crimes where direct execution would upset the public. Examples of soft crimes include but are not limited to: Criticising the Empire (just “the Empire”; there are no other surface nations left to disambiguate from) or the Empress in any way, publicly doubting the divinity of alicorns, unintentionally rendering goods or services to a rebel, being on the losing side of a political power struggle, and not fitting in. A sentence could also be lowered to “exile” in Tartarus if that would cause less fuss. Deaths out of sight are deaths out of mind

Tartarus is now a self-governing kingdom under King Star Russet. Most Tartarite ponies are either willing immigrants from the Empire or the grandchildren of the exiles who survived out of resourcefulness and spite.

Legs, along with Tempest Shadow and Moss Rose, assassinated Empress Daybreaker with the assistance of the exiled Nightmare Moon. Her successor, Empress Cadance, was under mind control by Princess Midnight Sparkle for over five years, during which Midnight prepared her army and waged a revenge war against Tartarus. Since being freed by Midnight’s death, Empress Cadance has been gradually but surely making the Empire less of a fascist dystopia. She’s playing a long game, and it’s a precarious balancing act between fixing things and avoiding assassination from holdouts who believed in or benefitted from Daybreaker’s policies.

Queen Legs Dragonfriend has derailed the course of Avernum canon, and the Kingdom of Tartarus is part of the Hypogeal Federation, rather than the only nation left at their cave level after killing off or assimilating most other sapients. (Avernum’s narrative roots in oldschool D&D give it a very... problematic take on goblins, ogres, giants, and sapient “monsters” like drakes. Tartarus is, in this regard, a fixfic.)

The Hypogeal Federation is an alliance of many smaller nations and groups. It was founded with the goal of peaceful coexistence, cooperation, and safe passage that benefits all member states. Many nonponies have emigrated to Tartarus and vice versa.

Due to rising populations, crowding has become an issue, and creatures of all kinds are progressively being forced to expand into increasingly hard-to-access cave systems. A devastating canon mushroom blight has been averted, but a militant hate group calling themselves “the Defenders of Tartarus” has developed. The “Defenders” believe that they would have land and wealth, if only Tartarus had continued the Extermination of Nonponies that the Daybreaker had started. The Kingdom of Tartarus is currently in a state of civil war.

As an unaging changeling queen, over a hive with a very high proportion of well-trained diplomats, Legs and her brood have spent the last sixty or seventy years being the face of interspecies peace talks.

They’re called the Dragonfriend Hive because Legs founded her hive in Denton, a small town that formed in front of the lair of Motrax, an aged and uncommonly social dragon who has been one of Legs’s closest friends since the early days of her adventuring career.

A concerningly well-prepared “Defender” militia attacked Denton in an attempt to kill both Legs and Motrax. They succeeded in killing Motrax, and without a dragon, Tartarus cannot spare the forces to protect such a small and out-of-the-way settlement. Denton becomes a ghost town almost overnight, abandoned by evacuating survivors. The Dragonfriends’ founding hive sits empty.

In v: Dimensional Refugees, Legs and her hive have escaped through a well-hidden world mirror to a recognizable version of MLPworld. They’ve taken on the hive name Palecave because MLPworld’s dragons are Very Different than pony!Avernumworld’s and Legs’s brood shares her pastels-on-white hypopigmentation and heightened vulnerability to sunburn.

The Palecaves’ official cover story is almost entirely the truth, just downplaying the scale of the caves and without the world-hopping: Legs is a long-estranged daughter of Chrysalis who originally founded her own subterranean hive in lands far away enough that an Equestria that canon-compliantly knew almost nothing about many of their geographically-close neighbors would have a very hard time disproving. They’re fleeing species-motivated violence and would rather not go into detail.

Tartarusverse has many different changeling queens with no or distant relation to Chrysalis, and, by default, I assume the same is true in MLPverse, but they’re far away and Chrysalis is a pariah on account of being a chronic backstabber. Legs makes it known that Chrysalis is her mother anyway, because she very much wants to head off any squicky awkwardness with Thorax or Pharynx (who have Tartarusverse alternates) by making it clear they have the same mother. (In Tartarusverse, changelings’ genders are purely social and they can change biological sex at will, and the biggest shortcut in changeling-changeling diplomacy between unrelated queens is to genetically invest in each other’s brood. Emphasis on unrelated. Tartarusverse reproductive-caste changelings can only conceive with each other to begin with, so it’s the diplomacy that’s a pragmatic addition to what they were already doing, not the other way around.)

Because Tartarusverse changelings have a eusocial insect family structure (i.e. the queen is usually everyone’s mom, and "everyone” is usually in the hundreds or thousands), they socially distinguish between clutchmates (hatched from the same clutch of eggs and were raised at the same time) and broodmates (have the same mother). Technically the closest human/pony terms would be “sibling” for broodmate and something like “quatrodectuplets” for clutchmates, (And that would accurately reflect the squick levels being dodged in the above point!). In practice, mammals look at you weird when you say “quatrodectuplets”, so changelings usually use sibling terms for clutchmates and say something descriptive (e.g. “We’re of the same brood” or “we have the same mother”) for broodmates. Thorax and Pharynx are clutchmates with each other, and broodmates with Legs. Due to timeline incompatibilities, Legs is from a younger clutch than Thorax and Pharynx in Tartarusverse, but an older one in MLPverse (in continuities where she had an MLPverse alternate to begin with).

In continuities where Legs had an MLPverse alternate at tall, Chrysalis killed her alternate, and Tartarusverse!Legs in for a nasty surprise when or if Chrysalis recognizes her. (If you’re playing a Chrysalis, this is definitely something I’d want to discuss in DMs beforehand. We don’t need to work this piece of backstory in if you don’t want to, but if you do want us to go with this, then I’d like for us to hammer out some details for how it went with your specific Chrysalis.)

My interpretation of changelings (and thus the Tartariteverse changelings) are, well, my interpretation. If you’re playing a changeling or if your interpretation of changelings would otherwise come up, I’m 100% down for a “different worlds have different rules” handwave.

Legs is poly, and Tartarusverse!Tempest Shadow is her main partner. That relationship takes priority.