#even though the discord is still major wip

[amyrafierceblade]

"Windrippers have evolved into two groups; Forest Windrippers and Cave Windrippers. The main difference between these two aren't so much genetics or inbreeding, because the two subtypes are not a separate species from each other, as much as build, flight type and dietary needs.

Forest Windrippers have evolved into being more stocky, stout dragons with wings better suited for distance flying and hovering, they have shorter snouts, smaller but broader ears, pupils that are more likely to be round instead of slitted, and a wider sclera/smaller iris to accompany their tendency to be in brighter areas, as well as the fact that they are more likely to live off of fresh game, common berries like blueberries and blackberries.

Cave Windrippers, however, are lean and lythe, disheveled and even boney/starving looks being common on a healthy specimen. Their heads are very narrow, able to fit into smaller spots for smaller prey, as well as defined cheekbones, double collarbones(present in both Forest and Cave, its just the first and second set of collarbones are more visible), and hind legs much longer than their front legs + wings are more built for acting as a second set of arms/stabilising/balance for when they stand bipedal instead of quadpedal. They also have longer tails, thinner wings built for gliding and darting, and they survive off of scavanged meat like bats, cave lizards, or, if they're lucky, a Maxillian Hell Beast(who's flesh is toxic and they've learned how to cook it enough with their flames to lessen/negate the toxin) as well as some cave berries(also semi-toxic, you have to stomach through those for years before being able to actually eat them comfortably) and, occasionally, halite rocks which are more used as a snack or supplement than anything else. Their pupils are larger, able to slit further and smaller while expanding wider with less sclera, more iris, and they have phenomenal night vision from living in low level light conditions on the regular.

The earliest known diversification of these two types is around ~18000 or so years ago (examples being: Phantom[Cave, and Gnash[Forest]) as the species started moving from the caves out into the world, however a regression occurred for the Windrippers who stayed(were forced) in the caves, and instead their evolution directed them for cave life instead of forest life.

Both types are wary of water, as it can soak into the stretchier part of their wing webbing(located between the furthest and middle "fingers" of the wings[not to be confused with the thumbs]) and cause extreme pressure + added weight and drag a Windripper to a drowning death in a large enough body of water."

I remade my species base, they kinda changed a lil since the last remake. I've given up on drawing sexual dimorphisim, whoever uses this base gets to hassle with that bit.

Semi-Open species, just ask my permission before making a character. I'll have you read the entire species information beforehand, but otherwise they're free to make, bases free to use, and fully editable per needs/requirements of the design. Don't sell/trade without letting me know though(not permission, just more of a heads up sort of thing), and I do get the option to buy back any character I sell that the purchaser decides they want gone(only if the person is selling the character though, I'm not gonna haunt your dms or emails going "i wanna buy that character back from you" if you still want the character)

At this point, I'm rambling, but uh, yeah, have a look.

[threeking]

... ⠀⠀יִיִ⠀𝃣 ⠀⠀ writeblr intro ⠀⠀ 💌 ⠀⠀ ── ⠀⠀ ;

hello ! my name is third king january but feel free to call me third or january ( or any other nickname you'd like ) ! i'm a twenty two year old black lesbian pursuing a graphic design major with a minor in art history and creative writing—considering media studies—who uses they/them pronouns !

ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧ :⠀ 🍓. i think this may be my third or fourth time trying out a writeblr, but the other attempts didn't go well since i was busy and didn't put a lot of effort into interacting with my mutuals </3. this time around, i really want to be a part of the community and be more supportive of everyone's writing! my goal for this account is to share my wips, any writing, and keep motivated to do more than just stare at a blank document for hours </3.

i'm a big reader and i plan to share some of my recently reads on this blog. please feel free to send me book recs if you think it's something i might like or if you just wanna ramble about something you read that you really liked! my favorite genres are horror, magical realism, fairy tales and fantasy. i love beautiful prose that's almost poetic and ambiguous writing that has you questioning everything until the grand reveal.

my favorite books are: bunny by mona awad, deathless by catherine m. valente, and how to win the time war by amal el-mohtar and max gladstone. the last two books helped me understand the kind of writing style i want to strive for as did poetry !! i don't have a whole lot of fav poems, but worm king's lullaby by richard siken is one that's always spinning in my head.

alongside reading i like manga, webtoons, videogames, and anime. my all time favorite anime is hyouka followed by angel beats and clannad. my favorite webtoon is omniscient reader's viewpoint and i can't recommend it enough. it's soosososo good! ( i started with the webtoon before switching to the novel bc i was too impatient to wait for the updates ) my favorite games are the halo series and oxenfree.

other interests of mine include music, drawing, art, watching youtube videos, journaling, horror movies, and sleeping 😴. i have a few graphic novels / webcomics in my wips so i'm learning how to draw to make them a reality! i also have a video game that's tied to another wip so i'm getting into coding as well !

please never be shy / afraid to tag me in ask games, send me an ask, or even a message! i also have a discord ( username: thirdking ) if you'd like to add me and message me there. also never think or feel like you're bothering me or anything if you wanna say hi or ramble about your interests. i'm always looking to make new friends !! 😁

i ask that minors don't interact or follow !! thank you !!

i have a handful of wips that's been running laps in my head for some time now but these are the ones ( excluding shorter stories ) that aren't multimedia projects or animation ideas, but i may talk about those anyways 😋 since most of these are still in the outlining stage they're subject to change but i'll make sure to update anything to reflect those changes !

📝 𖹭 ⠀ֵ⠀ wip one ; spring ( technically untitled but springs gna be in the final title )

the story follows two ex band mates reconnecting in their adult years after they parted ways when their front man signed a major record deal.

📝 𖹭 ⠀ֵ⠀ wip two ; sisyphus

sisyphus stars three siblings at the center of a conspiracy 1!1!1 the oldest sibling, an astronaut, goes missing during a privately funded space mission embarking to a new planet found in the solar system. i wouldn't call this a greek retelling, but it does a feature a lot of nods to classic greek myths!

📝 𖹭 ⠀ֵ⠀ wip three ; atwe

atwe follows the mother of a teen superhero getting revenge after her kid is killed by an unknown villain. though it's my own special take on superheroes featuring my personal criticisms on teen heroes, it's also a study on family—in particular—distant family relations and saying i love you a little too late.

📝 𖹭 ⠀ֵ⠀ wip four ; march marchen ( title will definitely change )

march marchen is my sort of alice in wonderland / fairy tale retelling that follows an unnamed girl in what might be wonderland trying to figure out who she is and who she isn't. ft parallel worlds, escapism, the fear of childhood, and the fear of adulthood.

📝 𖹭 ⠀ֵ⠀ wip five ; neapolitan ( title will definitely change )

neapolitan is a magical girl webcomic / graphic novel. the story follows a trio of girls becoming the successors of a long line of ice cream inspired magical girls. ft a bright fun palette, gore, and cannibalism! though it's a webcomic, i intend to give it a novelization from the perspective of a different set of magical girls.

if you'd like to be added to a taglist please send me an ask! it'll be easier for me to keep track ! thank you for reading <3

[alectoperdita]

20 questions writer meme.

Thanks to @heyholmesletsgo for tagging me <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

178 (one is a podfic)

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

1,761,591 words

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I'm mainly in YGO only now, but in the past, have written for Lucifer, Sherlock, Gundam Build Fighters, Sailor Moon, and a few other random fandoms

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The sum of our choices (Lucifer post-S3 canon-divergent AU)

Side Deck (YGO post-canon kaijou)

obvious things observed by nobody (also part of the same post-S3 Lucifer AU)

Confirmation Bias (Sherlock, post-Reichenbach Johnlock)

The tomorrows we'll never have (YGO Battle City canon-divergent AU with hints of kaijou and Priest Set/Jounouchi)

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

Yeah, I usually try to. I've definitely fallen behind in the last few months, though. I'm sorry. I try to tackle it when I have energy, but it's a rare commodity and I use it to write usually.

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

These are more open endings than specifically sad/tragic endings, but they could end up there because they're open. It's a toss-up between Chilled to my bone and the recent ficlet where Jounouchi was kidnapped by Hirutani.

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

Most of them are fairly happy because I tend toward happy endings. But I can't really think of which is the happiest?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No.

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

Somehow in the last two years, I morphed into being a majority smut writer. I'm still in the experimental phase, trying to write different kinds of kinks/tropes, but I feel more practiced at it compared to when I started. Overall, my preference is to try and use smut as a way to advance character/relationship development.

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

Yes. It's maybe not crazy per se, but some of them may feel discordant(?) in their source materials. Like I find it amusing to write crossovers between animes and Western live-action properties.

We do ourselves no favors is a Lucifer/YGO crossover casefic.

Going forth by day is an unfinished Sherlock/YGO crossover casefic.

Said the spider to the fly is a Sherlock/xxxHOLIC crossover ficlet.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not yet.

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

Sorta? The Horny Cinderella Incident was an idea workshopped between wahwahwashbear and myself. I wrote the prose for the

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Kaiba and Jounouchi forever 😍

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I try not to give up on WIPs, as it may take a few years but I eventually get back to them. But if I'm honest with myself, I'm probably never going to finish he lit a fire with icicles 😔.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Hmm... perhaps the smaller gestures characters might make that hint at their feelings?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Dialogue, especially in a way that distinguishes between characters via appropriate voice/cadence is something I generally struggle with. I also tend to be verbose even in dialogue, which means they require a lot of editing.

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

Unless the point is for the reader to also not understand the dialogue, I prefer to not do that.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Sailor Moon

20. Favorite fic you've written?

It changes every once in a while but right now it might be Lure. 😈

Tagging @leechysmile, @arien-elensar, @worldendercharles, @chazz-is-a-zelda-fan, @bdeblueyes, @unfriendlyamazon, @kaijous, and any other writers that want to do this one. <3

(Give me permission to tag you on games here.)

[bookish-bogwitch]

Hi.

I haven’t really used this blog much for personal, non-fandom stuff, but thought I’d share an update. CW: mental health and depression.

This past winter I hit the rock bottom what was, in hindsight, a major depressive episode that I’d been experiencing for years. I had no energy, no ability to connect wanting to do something with actually doing it. I was crying all the time and hating myself.

I had a job that I’d once loved—public defense—but that after twelve years had taken its toll. The traumas had started outweighing the triumphs. Between that, and becoming a caretaker for a disabled family member, and random brain chemistry, I’d been on a mostly downward spiral since before the pandemic started.

If I came across as upbeat, it’s because fandom was the one place I could still tap into playfulness and joy. I’d crack myself up online while walking around with a flat affect. There’s nothing wrong with using a hobby to cheer yourself up, but it was such a sharp contrast.

And then there was the doomscrolling. It’s just bad for my brain. The pornbot boondoggle drove this home because I was spending hours a day on here and feeling proportionately crazed. (Note to past self: yes you’re very clever, here’s a pat on the head, but two days of pornbots would’ve been just as funny as twelve.) By the time it ended I was falling apart. Something had to give. I changed my Tumblr password to a random key smash and logged out.

But fandom isn’t bad for mental health just because social media is. I am doing so, so, so much better now, and I credit a lot of it to this fandom. Quitting public defense was scary because my whole identity was bound up in being a public defender--but now I know I’m also a writer. My closest friends had previously been my work friends, and I didn’t know if those relationships would survive if I left--but I knew my fandom friendships would.

Fandom also helped more directly too, by connecting me with friends who all but literally held my hand while I cried and looked for a therapist. Who shared their experiences of depression and recovery and antidepressants. Who cheered on my job hunt, which I couldn’t share with IRL friends until I was ready to give notice. You guys know who you are and I love you.

(Also, shoutout the CO trilogy itself and especially AWTWB for convincing me that it's okay to feel overwhelmed. It would be too much for anyone.)

Between quitting my old job and starting an antidepressant, it’s felt like flipping a switch. I have energy that I thought I'd just lost as part of the aging process. The new job is occasionally interesting, never dramatic, and completely harmless. It feels vaguely useful but never essential. It feels getting forklift certified after being at war. I love it.

Anyhoo. I’ve been putting off coming back on Tumblr. Even though I’ve had countless genuine, loving interactions on here, I really don’t know if I can have a healthy relationship with the hellsite. I’m writing again and want to share my stuff and cheer you on, but moderation is not my strength. Maybe I’ll try some WIP tagging to see if that feels possible to do occasionally and not obsessively.

Social media is the worst, but you are the best. I’m bbbogwitch on discord—reach out any time. Especially if you’re struggling with depression or helping-profession burnout or caretaker blues. You’re not alone.

[blizzardsuplex]

You don't know what you've unleashed El <3 Sappiness in 100 words or less each under the cut!

In general: After being on the outside looking in with Tumblr for a long time, I finally joined somewhere around the midpoint this year. I was kind of active for a month before major events in both my family and long-standing hobbies made me disappear. The me from even a few months beforehand probably would have never come back…but I did, and I couldn’t be more grateful for it. It’s just really fun to be on here, in a way I haven’t experienced for a while—so, if you're reading this, whether we actively talk or not? You’ve contributed to that. Thank you.

Drea @shes-a-voodoo-child: I knew you first as a brilliant writer, but little did I know that you were also a gracious member of fandom/Tumblr, even to someone like me who blundered into a cold call (thank you for not immediately blocking my empty blog, haha!) Nowadays, though, I know you first and foremost as someone I’m glad to call my friend—even if I must admit I still look up to you with stars in my eyes. I only wish I had more interesting things to talk about with you, because I really enjoy whenever we chat things like music or wrestling!

El @spaghettisaurusrex: Honestly, at first I thought you were too cool for me—you teach swordfighting, for God’s sake! But you’re also an incredibly chill, incredibly nice person, who I’m always glad to see in my notifs on Tumblr or Discord. And, of course, thank you so, so much for writing and talking the fairy tale AU with me; it was a fraught journey on my part, but it also turned out one of my fave pieces I’ve ever done. We should write together again next time!

Izzy @limbreaper: So much to say, so little (self-imposed) space to say it. I never thought I’d have a friend like you, honestly, especially considering everything’s that happened. Forever grateful that you’re in my life (if only for now), and I hope you have as much fun talking to me as I do talking to you—and if we drift apart one day, though hopefully later rather than sooner…I won’t forget your kindness sending that message to a stranger. It really did mean a lot. Hopefully there’ll be authentic PH food options where you are some day.

Jackie @tekkers: I’ve admired your GIFs/ZSJ content from even before I was active on tumblr (yeah, I was a tag delver), so to find out that the person running the blog is a really cool person on top of everything? Chef’s fucking kiss. Thank you for listening to me for a couple of hours that one time and offering to finagle with Highspots TV for me. Also, you have great taste in music! We should start swapping recs again (though I don’t know if I’ll ever give you something that I loved as much as Emotionalism!)

K @onlyposersfallinlove: We don’t talk as much as we might be able to, but I hope you know that I’m thinking of you and hoping for you always. Whether your goals be in the spheres of fandom or private life, you deserve to achieve them, because you have the right to be happy. May whenever you read this be wonderful—at least just that day.

Kerri @sublightsleeper: You’re a thief in the night, except you both bring the day when you pop up and also are not a thief in the slightest (unless you want to be, because thief classes are cool). Either way: you’re a very nice, creative person and talented writer, and I always smile when you take the time to say hello!

Pastel @zsjbrightensday: It takes a lot of bravery to post a creative work to any sort of public—and now you’ve done it twice, with even more on the way! I’m really, really glad that you feel safe enough to do so, and I am excited for whatever is next in your WIP list! Also, you’re just a very nice person and I always am happy to get asks from you.

Poke @theaerialassassin: I hope you liked your present! Joking self-aggrandizing aside, you are a great friend and a great person to exchange ideas with and be around. I hope that school and life treats you well, and that you know that, whenever or wherever doubts may creep in, you know you have people to turn to (including both those around you physically and the people in your phone, if you’re so inclined). You’re there for us, too, after all.

Rosa @rosabellebelieve: As I’ve told you recently, I’m so very glad you were active in the notes of Drea’s posts and were receptive to the virtual post-its I left on your desk, haha! You’re wonderful to talk to, and though I wish once more when DMing you that I had more interesting things to say because I just enjoy when we converse, I know that whenever we do it’s a great time. Thank you for being my friend!

Syb @fang-revives: How does your garden grow?—well, it’s almost winter, as you said. But I’m always glad to see your gardening pics cross my dash! I hope that the last of this year’s tomatoes were good, and that when the world wakes up in a few months for spring your plants will be the most verdant verdure this side of the US-Canadian border. Also KENTA is cool I guess (I kid; he definitely is. Have I sent you the KENTA/Marufuji hour long match my friend compressed to sub-8 MB?)

Vera @scissormedaddyass: On top of being super duper cool, you’re a very level-headed person and I deeply appreciate that. You’re also a great writer and just…so fun to talk to/participate in fandom with (let’s go sailing the internet’s seven seas, haha). Very glad I met you. I hope your walks remain pleasant and that the yar-harr fandom you’re a part of isn’t too sad about what happened. ;)

[autisticempathydaemon]

20 Questions for Fic Writers Game

Tagged by our gorgeous, real life Doc, @romirola ily~! Thank you so much for the tag, lovey; this was so fun!

Tagging @bratty-telepath @ejunkiet @k9rage and @caelumsnuff and anyone else who'd like to join!

1 - How many works do you have on AO3?

Fifty, apparently! Thirty-one of those is entirely Redacted-tober though lol

2 - What's your total AO3 word count?

45,673- five words off from a silly number hehe

3 - What fandoms do you write for?

Just RedactedAudio at the moment though I've been meaning to start writing some for Castleaudios!

4 - What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. Let’s get mischievous (and polyamorous) 2. fill my heart with song (and let me sing) 3. I won't cross these streets (until you hold my hand) 4. I had good intentions (and the highest hopes) 5. Baby, baby, baby (you're gonna set me on fire)

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

I do! I'm not gonna lie- sometimes it can take days, even weeks, as I respond to comments in big batches, but I get to them eventually!

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

"cuddles (yet somehow still you disappear)"! Heehee, I finished this and immediately went to the Discord girlies (gn) like "hey babes I just did something mean~

7 -What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Hmmm, that's the majority of my fics, I'd say, but probably "bed (the brightest colors fill my head)"? It made me the happiest, at least~

8 - Do you get hate on fics?

Mmmm, depending on how you define "hate", then maybe? I've gotten comments that were not constructive or kind.

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

Yes with an asterisk. Smut is so difficult for me to write, so when I do, it takes fuckin forever. I definitely have a penchant for the kinkier kind, since the two smuts I've written feature bondage and consensual non-consent respectively.

10 - Do you write crossovers?

Another yes with an asterisk? Claire of Castleaudios fame is a character in "teenagers (scare the livin' shit out of me)" if that counts!

11 - Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of, knock on wood!

12 - Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but gosh, that'd be cool!

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

Not yet, but Veau and Lexi and I have thrown around ideas!

14 - What's your all time favorite ship?

-siiiiigh- You know what it is. You know it's Alexis/Christian. I am going down with the ship, typing away at my laptop on the deck of the Titanic.

15 - What's a WIP that you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

fucking all of them but especially my planned, multi-chapter fics- I get hung up on the outlining.

16 - What are your writing strengths?

-fights the temptation to say nothing- Umm, I'm pretty proud of my dialogue actually. I have a fair experience in script-writing, so I think I've got a good grasp of realistic sounding dialogue that is in the voice of the character.

17 - What are your writing weaknesses?

Smut, angst, and actually finishing what I start lol

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

If I were knowledgable in that language or had a reliable beta who was, then sure!

19 - First fandom you wrote for?

Ummm... shit, was it Rise of the Guardians? It might have been, fuck... My self insert Cupid is flitting around somewhere on Fanfiction.net, smooching Jack Frost... and I didn't finish that multi-chapter fic either.

20 - Favorite fic you've written?

Hmm, that's hard to answer. I'm not super proud of it, but I think my favorite still has to be "Meet me on your best behavior (Meet me at your worst)". It's so OOC for Alexis now that we've canonically met her, but I adore the way I explore not just Christian with Alexis but also Christian with the pack.

[gloryraiin]

Full details below cut

Hello, I don't want to make this super long

I just wanted to let my followers know that I've lost motivation to post my art publicly. I have some art on the back burner that I could post but don't feel like it. When I get on my computer to upload an image I'm flooded with a ton of negative emotions that stop me from posting. My drawing progress has slowed down a ton and the only thing that keeps me drawing is a silly Pokémon Roleplay group.

The state of the internet is a big mess for artist. I can't even call any of the websites I use homebase (DeviantArt use to be homebase for me). I could go on and on but then we'd be here for like 3+ hours.

Even though I don't feel like posting on social media I still like to keep up with my favorite artist so I won't be deleting my accounts or anything.

My primary socials will be: 💜Artfight (only once a year but I've be participating every year since 2017) 💜Toyhouse (My fave site of all time. I love just looking at my characters and other peoples as well. I always have it open in the background) 💜Discord (I chat here all the time. It's basically become my texting app even with the wonky changes on mobile) 💜Youtube (I stream here! Majority of people have a Youtube account so it's easier to reach people than Twitch or Picarto). 💜An eventual website of my own where I'll host my art at (still a wip)

Hope ya'll understand, and I thank you guys for being supportive of me!

[dogmomwrites]

Heads Up Seven Up!

This tag came from @new-royston-cursebreakers, @cljordan-imperium, @talesofsorrowandofruin, @thetruearchmagos, and @iamwritehere, so thank you all for including me in this game! And for your patience lol

Gonna be passing this along with softs tags to @charlesjosephwrites, @zihus, @writewithfire, @aalinaaaaaa, @shay-creates, @i-can-even-burn-salad, and @ainahwrites, as well as keeping this an open tag!

Rules—share last seven lines of WIP and tag seven people. However, since I'm combining multiple tags, I'm gonna share more than seven lines. This excerpt went over pretty well in writing discord I'm in, so maybe everyone else will like it as well

apologies for it being longer than my usual excerpts

“I remember when you took your first steps. You were a year old. I guess that’s common for babies to start walking around, but you were so young. So small. You were holding onto Mom’s fingers as she helped you stand up. You let go and we thought you were gonna fall, but you didn’t. You took two steps. Then you fell. You didn’t cry. You pushed yourself back up, all on your own, and you walked the rest of the way to me. You only fell again when I was there to catch you. Like you knew I would.” 

Riley didn’t look at the camera as he spoke. He stared at something on the desk, barely even blinking. His gaze was blank. His voice stayed low and somewhat dull. 

“You always looked up to me. I never wanted you to stop. I wanted to be the person you looked up to—I wanted to be the person you saw when you looked at me. Do you still see me that way? Do you still see that person when you look at me? Or do you just see me now? Are you still proud of me? Can you still be proud of me? I want you to be.” 

“I remember when you would follow me everywhere. Couldn’t even take a girlfriend on a date without you wanting to tag along. I couldn’t ever make myself say no to you. I got teased for it, for having my baby sister be my third wheel, but I never really cared. You were always so excited to go with me. I liked when you would follow me around.” He shifted slightly, nothing more than a slight tilt of his head, as though confused. “When did you stop? Why did you stop? Did you lose some of your love for me? How do I get it back?” 

His voice dropped even lower and took on a softness that didn’t linger. “I don’t wanna see you get hurt again.” He moved his hands then, nothing more than turning them palmward up and stretching out his fingers while he stared at them. As though seeing them differently than they were. “I still see you as a little girl sometimes in my dreams. I know you’re not anymore. I know you’re an adult now...but...you’re still that little girl with dirt on her face and holes in her jeans. You’re still my little sister. My baby sister. But you’re not a baby anymore. You’re not a little girl.” 

“Mom says you’re majoring in something with computers. I thought you wanted to be a photographer. I guess I have been gone a while. I don’t really know you anymore. I used to know everything about you. All the drama with your friends. I used to know all their names. Where they lived. I used to know how every one of them liked their sandwiches made. Cuz I’d make them for them. But now I don’t know any of your friends’ names.” 

He looked up, back at the wall. “I remember when you wrecked your pink bike and fell off and skinned your knee. You cried. I carried you and the bike back home. We were two miles away. But I remember how you looked at me when we got home. Like I was a god. No. Better. Like I was your hero. When did that stop? You made me feel like I was a hero. Like I could do anything. Fix any problem. Make the world better. Make it safe for you. So you could be safe wherever you went. I’m not there to look after you anymore...I’m not there to keep you safe. But you can look after yourself now.” A small frown furrowed between his brows. “Can you? Can you keep yourself safe? In this world? I know you’re not a little girl anymore, but...but you are. To me, anyway. Maybe you always will be.” 

“I love you. I miss you. I miss the you that I actually knew.” Abruptly, he straightened up and reached out to the phone; the video ended.

[janusofguardia]

Snow Fic

(No, I don’t have a better title XD)

Summary: Janus never liked snow, but it’s what reminds him of home. 

Rating: G

Warnings: Angst, sadness, doubting reality

I’ve actually had this fic cooking in my WIP’s since 2020! One major reason why it took so long is cus I didn’t know how to write snow (it never snows where I’m from), so I had to ask help from friends and the good people of the CT discord server XD

Hope you like it! 

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Janus never liked snow. 

To begin with, it never really snowed in Zeal. It was never too hot either. The Kingdom’s protective magic saw to it that its citizens would only ever experience pleasant weather that was never too hot or too cold. 

It snowed down below though, where the Earthbound Ones dwelt. Janus quickly learned on his first trip there that snow was the worst weather phenomenon he had ever encountered. It was a pain to walk in. It wet his feet and ruined his good boots. And as if the numbing cold weren’t enough, icy powder blew all around and left him soaked, freezing, and miserable. 

To make matters worse, it was always like this. Always. It was a constant blizzard and he had no idea how his sister Schala managed to remain so graceful as she administered aid to the Earthbound Ones. 

Of course, Janus didn’t have to be there, but he chose to anyway because he wanted to be by his sister’s side. Never mind that he was casting a low-level fire spell to keep warm. 

Now, Janus stood in the open courtyard of Guardia Castle. It was snowing and he hated it just as he always did. He discovered that winters here weren’t as bad as the frigid blizzards he had known, but he hated it all the same. Snow was still a pain to walk in, it still left him soaked, and it still ruined his good boots. 

He still didn’t have to be out there in the open, fully exposed to the weather he hated, but he chose to anyway. It was as awful as ever, but if he closed his eyes and focused on the feel of the wind and the cold flakes falling from the sky, he could pretend he was home. 

Never mind that the snow reminded him of the unpleasant dwellings of those who were considered beneath him (Schala would say: “We are not above anyone Janus, no matter what they say. We are all equal in this world and must be kind to one another.”). Never mind that the cold wind stung his face and he was starting to shiver. It felt close enough to home. 

And “where” was home, anyway? Or, “what” was home? “What” even was this “Kingdom of Guardia that stood on the earth yet had tolerable winters and also no humans at all who could use magic” that Janus now lived in and had come to know as part of his “existence”? 

When he first arrived in this realm, he spent much of his time seeking answers and trying to find what had happened to the world he knew and how he could return. Years passed with still no leads, and the young prince soon found himself wondering if his old life was just a dream. Other times, he wondered if it was being in Guardia that was. 

(Am I a Prince of Zeal dreaming of Guardia, or a child of Guardia who simply dreamt of Zeal?)

There was one thing Janus was certain of, and it was that he felt time stopped. Years passed, and though he was growing into a young man, he often felt as if he was still the child whose world was ripped from him. 

The wind howled. (The ordinary kind). Janus closed his eyes. He could almost hear Schala calling him to return to the Land Bridge. 

-----

A/N: And that’s it! Even after learning more about snow (and boy did I learn a lot!) I had to juggle which parts specifically Janus hated, and in a way that suited the vibe of the fic. I’m glad I finally got to post this, and in December too XD 

Thank you to those who helped me learn more about snow! (I hope I got it right lol)

[horta-in-charge]

Content Warning: Contains 18+ Content MINORS DO NOT INTERACT, spoilers for Start Trek Deep Space Nine S6, sex with holograms of ‘real’ people (think that episode where Tiron wanted Major Kira as a program), Dominion War mentions, things that haven’t been written yet and may never will be, implied foursome, human/accidental, time limited!human virus infected aliens, human/Cardassian(s) (Damar and Dukat) and human/Vorta (Weyoun 5), drinking, alcohol, Damar making a holoprogram for sex, self doubt.

Author’s Note: I tried to list everything I could think of for content warnings, if I missed something, please let me know. This is from Damar’s perspective (sort of?)- it’s third person really. @deepspacedukat really got me to write this because of discord conversations. This was not originally on my WIP list but here you go! Oh and one other thing- Damar has no idea she’s only half human... possible angst later if Vic can read holosuite use codes... but that’s not in this fic! Big thanks to tinsnip’s (AO3) ‘Speculative Cardassian Reproductive Xenobiology’ for the terms! As always, if I use your gif, and you would like it removed, please tell me!

Fantasy

It starts as a simple project to ease his mind on nights when he can’t relax with a glass or two of Kanar. Just a little programming, just to see if he can do it. In reality, it isn’t simple at all. It’s a slow and tedious process, but the results will be worth it. Some nights he thinks about what would happen if the Dominion captured Starbase 375, if she would be unharmed, if he could take her for himself. Sometimes he shakes it off because the risk is too great, and sometimes he thinks about his wife, the one he didn’t want to marry even though the state demanded it. 

It hurts thinking how much time he’s spent on it before he can even use the program in the holosuites. How much more time he spends trying to get it perfect, he’s not sure, but eventually he can’t make it any better without a full holoscan, and he has to work off of his memories- his perfect memories of that night. A night spent in bed with her, and two other human men. They were all human that evening and in the morning, there was just her. 

He likes to think about how willing she was that evening, when he was human too. He tries to erase the memories of Weyoun and Dukat, but he’s never successful, even when he takes his pleasure into his own hands in the sonic shower. 

He programs her personality, based on what he knows and the way she acts whenever he’s had the opportunity to watch her, which is rare. The first time he uses the finished program, at least every part of her is finished, it doesn’t go as well as he planned. She’s reluctant, just like she had been the morning after, with two Cardassians and a Vorta in her bed. She accepts him, of course, just like she had that morning, but then she was outnumbered, and in this, it’s part of her programming. So he makes himself a human skin. 

It’s not perfect, and maybe he’s still a touch too gray to be considered fully human, but she doesn’t care. He can feel her arms when they wrap around his neck ridges, but she can’t. She doesn’t know he’s a Cardassian, he’s just her partner, who’s a little chrome colored, but still acceptable. Still just humanoid enough to warrant her time. When he takes her, she feels a human cock, not his Cho’Ch, and while he loves being with her, there’s still the ache that never eases. 

Some nights, he likes to have her on all fours, pounding into her mercilessly from behind, so she can’t see him and he can pretend she wants the real him, not a holoskin. Other nights, he likes to have her take charge and ride him, her tanned, toned thighs gripping him while she bounces on his Cho’Ch, her clear crystal necklace bouncing between her breasts. Sometimes, he rips it off and throws it off the bed, not wanting anything to touch her but him. Other times, he likes to grab the crystal and use it to pull her to him for a kiss. 

How often does he yearn for those kisses, the ones she gave him, the way she rolled her tongue in his wanting, eager mouth. The way she kissed him on her knees, taking him fully into her mouth, doing things with her tongue he’d never felt before. The way she’d rolled back his foreskin with only her tongue before taking him in fully, bobbing her head with abandon. The hologram loves doing this too, but there are times he grabs her head and forces her down farther to his irllun, making her gasp in surprise and grab his hips, but she still enjoys running her tongue along him anyways. Occasionally, he’ll blend the knowledge of her being a hologram into it and won’t let her stop to breathe until he cums down her throat, which she loves. She is however, only the holographic version of the woman he wants, his good luck charm, as she isn’t fond of being called, and he would never treat the real her that way, so he rarely gives into the temptation.

They’ve only done anal once, because the prep took too much time, but he enjoyed that too. Would she ever let him have her like that? Even if he saved her from a Jem’Hadar’s phaser rifle? He tries not to think that she would say yes only because of that, while he sits in his room, or at the bar with a full glass accompanied by a half full bottle. 

Afterwards, when they rest, limbs tangled together, he likes to kiss her birthmarks. They’re tiny and too dark to be freckles, and they aren’t in quite the right spots, but he kisses them all the same and enjoys the look on her face when he does. She strokes his cheek with her thumb, and she likes to kiss his chufa, but when she lies down next to him, she gently rubs her free hand and thumb over his chula before lying her head on it softly, curling into his body. She has no idea what her forehead kisses really do to him, or how much deeper he falls in love with her when she touches his chest like that, but she finds contentment in it. He’ll never stop her from doing it either. 

On the nights he takes her missionary, she reaches up and softly grabs his long, black hair, gently kissing him while he takes her slowly, over and over again. How beautiful she looks, splayed out for him on the blue silk bedding, it’s almost as soft as the touch of her skin on his. Oh, the way she looks at him, into his eyes, he almost dreams she can see the real him, and accepts him the way he wants the real her to. But it never happens, never will happen, not now. Not during the war. Not after either, no matter if the Dominion wins, or not. 

He never leaves the data rod with Quark, and if he comes out with his hair a little ruffled, Quark knows better than to ask about it. Maybe he spends a little too much on holosuite time, but for an hour, once a week, she loves him. And that’s enough. 

[lizhly-writes]

🤡 😈 🛒 🎯 🤩

okay!! let's see.

🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh?

this scene, from my normal orv fan knw au. Everyone gets fancy, exclusive magical powers. On the more meta side of things, our isekai'd protagonist gets access to the full text of the story he's in. My guy, though. My guy gets the ability to scroll through the fandom twitter, and this scene is him discovering this and going "this is useless as fuck."

😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

Hmm I feel like I'm never purposely mean to people in the actual text of the story. If it happens, it happens more in the comments.

Once, one reader of mine commented that they've realized it would be horrible if [x] happened in my fic, and I responded with "Yeah it'd suck if I did that wouldn't it? Lucky i'm not doing that, probably."

"liz you can't do this to me" said my poor, distressed reader, with that punctuation exactly, and that comment still fills me with joy now. love you volt <3.

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

The first thing that comes to mind? Getting hit in the face. I think it's kind of a very immediate kind of violence, you know? There is a certain impact to it that you don't quite get if I just said 'punch'. But getting punched in the face? That's different.

So I feel like there's a lot of people running around in my writing either punching other people in the face or wanting to punch someone in the face. Occasionally, this is seriously meant, but most of the time? It's to ruin or diffuse dramatic moments. Even when people don't actually get punched in the face, I tend to use it as a descriptor or a metaphor or whatever. "feels like he's gotten punched in the face with x" or something.

This didn't used to be part of my writing! But there was this brick joke in Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint about getting hit in the back of the head, which, when I started writing fanfic for this fandom, I called back to. I suppose it eventually morphed and just... stuck.

It's even infiltrated how I actually talk... when I'm talking to people on Discord, I don't suddenly realize things, I'm punched in the face with them...

🎯 Have any of your readers accurately guessed major plot points? Care to share which?

I was going to say "no, I've never plotted far enough in advance for that to happen", but! I've remembered something that technically counts.

I wrote a brief scene of a character mentioning he has a sort-of-girlfriend to his mother. Now, I write and post hideously out of order -- chronologically speaking, it should have come up in a story I had already posted, and as such, the identity of the not-girlfriend should not have actually been a secret. As I did not specify which story the scene was from, or actually, indicate it belonged any of the universes of my existing wips at all, it became a mystery.

@wildcardjoey got it in one, though. Congratulations, you were entirely correct. The sort-of-girlfriend was, in fact, Han Sooyoung, and you found one of the connecting wip snippets as proof. Well-reasoned!

🤩 Who is your favorite character to write?

For fanfic? It's somehow become Kim Namwoon, from Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint. This didn't used to be the case! He isn't actually my favorite character! Since writing my normal orv fan knw au though? He's kind of fun to poke around.

[mairen-marionette]

Top 5 fandoms for the ask game?

Thank you for the ask! Like, in terms of the actual fandoms and stuff- 1. SCP- I've been into for a very long time and it's the one I'm currently most invested in right now I'd say. Like the majority of my Wips are for this fandom, I'm actually properly active in a discord server now, I've met some really cool people, and something about the resurged interest has been fueling me for some time now and I'm loving it. I was into it before I even really looked at mcyt, have always been interacting with it in some way ever since, and now I'm here. And I'm doing great.

2. General MCYT- Inactive as I may be now, dsmp/tftsmp and Hermitcraft will always hold a special place in my heart, The Life Series lives in my head rent free, and I still enjoy watching mcyt stuff even though I've burned out of the things I got really invested in for a hot minute. Especially considering that dsmp and tales are the things that pushed me into being more active on here and how I gained so many of my wonderful mutuals!

3. Lotr + Silmarillion- the things that made me get tumblr so I could see more fan stuff, first watched the Jackson films when I was very young and actually discovered the Silmarillion from ffnet actually (long story there) and while I'm not like, as active in the fandom anymore it, again, is an interest that's ways going to be there in some way I'd say. Hobbit's also lumped in there somewhere but it's mainly Lord of the Rings and Silm. I have the books too. 4. The Silt Verses- I'd feel weird if I didn't put this one somewhere on here, I'd rank it higher because I love it dearly and check the tag daily it's just that I am not too active in the fandom outside of reblogging stuff and going insane. I am not ready for the ending I am not.

5. Star Wars- Another childhood interest of mine that I also ended up using Tumblr for. I've like, largely drifted away sadly but will always love it and will probably cycle back to it at some point.

[appreciatingtokrev]

i don't remember much of the film but he had a very hard life so i can't imagine it ending on a happy note.

i think most mobile players are android but prob works better on iPhones but I've realised that I must have trapped myself with playing it on my phone forever because I saved everything with my Apple ID ;-; damn, which laptop was that and what is your current one now? I guess GI will have some limitations since it is a free game and have you tried updating the game/reinstalling it instead? I don't know much about PS5, only nintendo switch lol. which phone are you thinking of getting?

yikes, that's so bad ;-; i'm really sorry to heard that but hang in there, i hope the anxiety isn't too bad. ah but i feel like a study's buddy need a certain personality so you don't get sidetrack and start slacking off as a duo lol. i've heard it better to goes over past papers with others.

isn't switerzland more mountain based? that's true, your high school era is very long lol, well i've heard that dentists get paid lot more if they goes private but obv medicine/nursing is more rewarding/impactful. that sound complex but i was never a stem major lmao but def interesting. i think on my end, you can goes into lab testing if you study biomedical science.

i no longer listen to kpop at all so you're more of a devoted fan lol, but during my turn, i do remember plastic surgery was quite common, i don't know about now though.

i agreed that silver is appealing because it blends in with more colours, gold just naturally stand out but what do you think about rose gold?

oh nice! which characters had you tried to cosplay? what's the longest explanation video have you watched? also, have you seen anime house? edits are super fun but i know some apps watermark the edits unless you pay for a subscription.

it is shocking at how much wigs can cost a fortune. is it even real hair ? also, do you have uniqlo on your end? I do and every few months, the brand release a range of anime t-shirts, right now they are doing JJK where I brought one and I managed to get the last one for Chainsaw Man too!

ah that's true! i dk if we will have to switch to discord or something else though considering how long our messages are, i'm sure tumblr dm will crash with our essays lol.

still sounds interesting, i actually quite enjoy stuff with a sad/bad ending

oh,, i’m pretty sure you can add your email as additional log-in data for genshin somewhere? maybe on hoyolab? i’ll try to figure it out later & update you on it. there’s got to be a way bc two years ago i used to do piloting + traded some genshin accs and one of the ones i got had an apple ID AND an email address. phew, no clue what my old laptop is (i still have it.. i just. never use it lol) but my new one is actually a convertible, it’s a lenovo yoga... 4? or so. not entirely sure but something like that. i had to get it for school in summer 2021, but i quite like it. yeah, i’ve tried like everything TT. multiple times. except a clean reboot, but i don’t think i’ll do that,, currently still waiting it out and hoping adhkgdfjk. my little brother has a switch i get to use too :D tho there’s a bunch of games that only work on ps5 (or ps4 or sometimes xbox too) i’d like to play so. phones... well. my Ideal Phone does not exist bc it would be a samsung phone with a 4.7" diameter, and that.... simply does not exist. my phone rn is a samsung galaxy a3 2017 btw,, and i’m thinking of going with a samsung in either the a or s series with a diameter of 6.4" because those are the smallest ones you can find... i did think about maybe getting an iphone because they still make smaller phones (or an interely different brand) but then i realised that i have all my fic wips and a ton of other notes on google notes and i very much have to be able to access them still so.

ty, it’s managable TT my study bestie & i work together perfectly, luckily enough :D sometimes someone else joins us too but it still works nicely. they both have the motivation to keep going, and i can’t slack off if they don’t either.

i think a good half of switzerland is just the alps lol. yeah, but to be fair i’ve technically repeated before. usually it’d either be 3, 6, or rarely 7 years depending on which school you go to, but for me it’ll be 8 years now bc i switched 4 years in. still pretty long though if i think about it,, hm personally i’m hardly interested in medicine with live patients at all (that sounds horrible.... i’m just a very science guy TT) and the part that interests me about forensic pathology is the science aspect. so no clue about that stuff lol.

no clue what's going on in the kpop scene, i just listen to some songs asfjfhasj

i like rose gold! more than typical gold too. i'm just not really a fan of yellow gold.

i'm technically working on a low-cost dottore cosplay rn, and i'm also counting that low-cost kazutora cosplay i'm also still working on, so those two. haven't ever gotten to a finished cosplay sadly asfhfjask. i don't keep track of the yt videos i've watched but i'm pretty sure the longest ones i've seen should be in the 5 hour category,, you know those iceberg explanation videos? i had a phase where i'd watch a ton of them, the longer, the better, so those should be the longest ones i've seen. no, i haven't! just checked it out though, seems cool. edits and apps.... okay. i used to make gacha edits. back in 2019 to 2021. i don't think i've ever published one because i never finished any of my edits, but because of that i've had my fair share of experience with editing apps lol. all the ones i'd found always have a watermark on them, but tbh i don't really mind them on edits.

agreed. i think good wings are made from real hair, worse/cheaper ones just plastic. i've never heard of uniqlo,, i just checked google maps and the closest one is 250km away and out of country lol. so, uh no :( tho we've got an animanga store in the city i go to school at which has some merch!

maybe one day.. i'm hardly active on discord (i don't have any space for it on my phone lol who would've thought) and my phone keeps crashing anyway so... at the moment this works just fine xD though do tell me if you've got technical problems on your end, and we'll see what we can do

[vintagesimstress]

Going on hiatus

In case it wasn't clear enough from my last post being a farewell gift, here's the proper announcement: for reasons explained in THIS post, I'm going on a hiatus. There will be no new content coming from me; I'll also be unavailable for instant messaging or tumblr asks (except for the one ask which is still sitting in my mailbox... I’m on it, dear, I’m working on it!). If you're currently my patron, this is the perfect moment to cancel your pledge!

I'd like to use this opportunity to thank you all for all the support you've shown me during past 2 years. Thank you to everyone who commented on my posts, liked them or shared them with others - you made it all feel very rewarding and worth the (not-so-) occasional struggle.

Thank you to all the people who supported me financially in the meantime. No matter how big or small your pledge was, whether you were my patron over months or made a one time pledge, I've always felt incredibly grateful for it, and every 'You've got a new patron' message made me smile in disbelief. In case you're wondering what I did with that money... Well, I've mentioned a couple of times that I'm spending the majority of my time now knitting for my baby girl, and so far everything I needed for it (knitting can be expensive when you're just starting and need a bazzilion of needles in different shapes and sizes!) I bought with my Patreon earnings. So basically, you're dressing my baby in pretty, hand-made clothes :)

Thank you to all the lovely people I've met through the Sims of History Discord. I've met some truly amazing human beings in there, had a couple of very inspiring conversations and learned A LOT about fashion history. Tbh I'm a very unfashionable person irl and have never had any interest in modern day fashion, so I find it very funny how good I became at telling apart different decades / eras of fashion development. That's like... The last skill I'd have ever thought of acquiring - but here it is, unexpectedly. It's been some journey and you all made it feel like an amazing adventure!

Thank you to my few rl friends and family members who knew about my undercover content creator activities. Thank you for all your patience when I was spamming you with pictures of my wips and for your constant positive feedback. I'm sorry if at any point I bored you to death - I swear I didn't mean to.

And most of all: from the bottom of my heart, huge thank you to my husband, who was my constant companion and biggest source of support during those 2 years. He's been the silent hero of my blog, involved in almost everything I ever made for it. From simply getting excited about my projects, through looking through swatches and helping me choose the best ones for preview pictures, to reading my Blender tutorials (even though he's never even used Blender...) - a part of him is in everything I ever posted. And the man doesn't even play The Sims! I don't know what I did to deserve this kind of relationship, but I'm extremely grateful for it all. I know you'll read this post, just like every other thing I've ever written, so, once again... Thank you <3

I hope it's not the last you hear of me. Till then, have a blessed life everyone!

[chainofclovers]

YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT YOUR CRUNCHWRAP FIC, but someone already asked about it so i'd like to hear about your tattoo artist AU 👀

Yay, hello friend!

I left this one in my In Progress folder even though I don't necessarily have any intentions to work on it again. It's there just in case! This is a little snippet I wrote for discord and will share it in full here. The premise: everyone in the universe is in the same roles except Rebecca is a tattoo artist instead of the majority owner of AFC Richmond. She met Ted recently when she tattooed him!

(For the WIP title tag game).

-

This is the last time, Rebecca thinks. The last time she’ll try to meet anyone from an app for a first date at a bar. It’s her own fault—she’d thought it was a good sign that her date was (supposedly) a 40-year-old woman called Beatrice. The name seemed responsible, but she realizes now she’s been thinking of Ramona’s older sister from the books she loved as a child. But this Beezus is a no-show. When she stands to leave, she notices a table in the corner, a loud American voice rising just slightly over all the others.

And calling to her.

“Rebecca!” Ted Lasso says, a huge smile on his face. “Rebecca Welton!” He motions for her to come closer, and she does, standing awkwardly to the side of the table.

He turns to his companions, who she already recognizes as Roy Kent and Keeley Jones. “Rebecca tattooed me this week.” Then he turns back to her. “Rebecca, this is Roy and Keeley—“

Rebecca does two things she did not plan to do: she laughs and says “I know.”

There’s a seat open next to Ted, and he pulls it out from the table, says he’d love it if she’d join them. Just then, Keeley jabs him on his upper arm—luckily, it’s the arm that isn’t still tender from the large black work floral design she inked there two days before. “You didn’t tell me you got a tattoo,” Keeley says.

It’s dim in the bar, but Rebecca thinks Ted blushes. “Oh, well,” he says, “It’s a little personal.”

“What, is it on your bum?”

“No, no, it’s—it’s for my dad.”

“Oh, god,” Keeley says with a cringe. “I feel like an arse.”

“No need,” Ted says cheerfully, and Rebecca wonders exactly how much time he spends on the pastime of triangulation. On Thursday, he’d spoken of sunflower fields, a voice he still hears. “Rebecca, can I buy you a drink?”

“Sure,” she says slowly, and glances at the draft list on the table.

“Hey,” he says quietly, just for her. His eyes are a little shiny, a little drunken but nothing scary. “I was really hoping I’d run into you again.”

[tickfleato]

ANOTHER wip serpentverse loredump purely because it was too big to put in discord. enjoy

DEEP KOBOLDS are one of the oldest civilizations of Serpentverse, and have steadily built up an incredible technological prowess over the ages. This has been by necessity to survive the harsh environment they call home, moving ever deeper into the earth. A deeply religious and secluded culture, they have a great dislike of outsiders, though their xenophobia has lessened in recent years, and they are perfectly happy to trade goods and knowledge - outsiders are not allowed into their caves, on pain of death. This is partially because of a fear of disease, as millennia of isolation means they are not equipped to handle diseases that surface kobolds (and other elves) may not even notice they're carrying. This is compounded with weakened immune systems and a small gene pool due to inbreeding (something unavoidable with their population size and the amount of time spent isolated) which would lead to contagious disease being devastating - part of the reason for the small gene pool is in fact repeated bottlenecking from epidemics, among other things.  

Physically, deep kobolds are smaller than surface kobolds with larger eyes and ears, though they still have a long snout differentiating them from goblins. They tend to have lighter coloration overall, and albinism and other pigmentation disorders are a good deal more common. They're a bit more oxygen-efficient due to adaptations of the lungs and blood cells, similar to groups living at very high elevations. While they are genetically close enough to surface kobolds to have fertile offspring, they are often considered a different species due to other problems with breeding (both physical and cultural). That being said, there have been some attempts over the years to see about introducing genetic material from surface kobolds in other ways, to help expand diversity. Such experimentation may have led to the rumors of deep-dwellers stealing children, though it was never a common practice.

While deep kobolds are able to be self-sufficient for some time (and can even get by for a while without getting air from the surface provided their oxygen farms[1] are still getting sunlight), trade with the surface is extremely useful. Fruits and vegetables, animal products and spices are particularly coveted - they can't afford to waste sunlight and food on more plants and livestock than are absolutely needed. Building materials, chemicals, and more recently, spellplates, are also valued surface goods.

In return, their major exports are both raw ore and refined metals, along with gemstones, carbon, and certain tools and bio-engineered products. There is also, of course, a lot of trade of technology and ideas. Deep kobold ventilation & filtering systems and bio-engineering are highly advanced, among many other things, while the surface offers constructs and spellplate computers, as well as advancements in sympathy and general concept-plane knowledge. There is a strong attempt to get vaccines from the surface circulated as well, but many deep kobolds are averse to the idea - some for practical reasons, some out of xenophobia and superstition.

1. Oxygen farms are large mats of photosynthetic bacteria kept under a device similar to a deck lamp, which is at the bottom of a long solar pipe (which can best be described as 'fiber optics, but magic'). Carbon dioxide is pumped in and oxygen is pumped out. The substrate the mat is grown on is spongy and full of water and nutrients, and is periodically added to as the bacteria wear it down.