#excellence updates

[siriusly-sapphic]

Excellence (Dorcas/Narcissa) Update!

Title: Excellence Pairing: Dorcas Meadowes/Narcissa Black Malfoy Rating: Mature Word count: 47K (11 chapters) Summary: Dorcas Meadowes and Narcissa Black at the start of their fifth year at Hogwarts. Two Slytherin girls with bright, promising futures ahead of them, trying to find their place in a world where nothing less than pure excellence is expected of them. They don’t like each other, never have, and when everything around them is surely changing, that’s something familiar to hold onto, at least. For the time being. Warnings: No archive warnings, see other tags Link: chapter 1 | chapter 11 Excerpt:

“Tell me bets were placed,” Dorcas said, far friendlier than Narcissa had expected. It startled her. She hesitated. She could smell Dorcas’ perfume, so close were they walking. “Rodolphus won a box of Sugar Quills. I had too much faith in them.” “Disappointing, Black,” Dorcas teased, and Narcissa was quite certain this was the first time in their lives Dorcas had smiled at her. It was cruel how beautiful Dorcas was when she smiled at her. She almost forgot to respond. “I will not make that mistake again,” Narcissa promised. Together, though without a word passing between them, they slowed the pace of their steps until they were standing still in the middle of the corridor. Narcissa wanted to know what it was like to kiss her. She couldn’t. She couldn’t do that to herself. It was a silly thought. A silly thought that nonetheless wouldn’t get out of her mind. Dorcas’ eyes fell down to Narcissa’s lips — Narcissa was sure she saw it, even if Dorcas looked away like she’d been burnt by the sight. Narcissa hated to think it might only have been wishful thinking.

[tomaturtles]

Happy Campus Apocalypse volume 1 16th anniversary here's something to celebrate

[muffinlance]

Wait, what’s going on with Embers???? That fic has been on my read later list since 2021, what’s happened with it???

Brief overview, then I'm likely never touching this topic again, because this is not a Drama Blog:

Context: Embers is a super old AtLA fic that was written during the early fandom days, read widely at the time, and was the origin of the widely-used fanon name of "Wani" for Zuko's ship (kind of by default that it was one of the first popular fics to give his ship a name, I think?), even though most fic writers don't seem to realize it's from there anymore.

"What's Going On": I used to include a link in all my stories to it, because I believe in crediting other writers for borrowed elements, and I was using "Wani" in all my fics. But BOY did I not want to be sending readers that way anymore, so I've adopted a new name for Zuko's ship, and removed all Embers links.

None of the criticisms about Embers itself are new; I'm assuming they date back to when the fic was being written, because this isn't an "it aged badly" thing, this is an "actually yeah this gets worse the longer you think about it and I shouldn't have ignored my bad feelings just because some of the worldbuilding was interesting" thing.

An Incomplete List of Why I Made the Change:

I don't actually like the story that much anymore, and don't want to rec it

I tried to re-read it recently to see if some things were as bad as I remembered and it turns out they were So Much Worse Oh Yikes. More specifically, the treatment of Katara and Aang and their respective cultures has... rather a lot going on. One example: The Fire Nation and Air Nomads are both given multiple backstory elements in an attempt to make the average Fire Nation soldier's participation in the genocide/war in large part the fault of the Avatar and the Air Nomads themselves, and also fully justified from the Fire Nation perspective. And I do mean fully. One of its core tenants is "People from the Fire Nation (and only people from the Fire Nation) who don't follow orders Literally Die, therefore murdering pacifists and babies and continuing the war (and their regularly scheduled war crimes) is the only thing it is physically possible for them to do". I cannot emphasize enough how literal that is.

Also the name "Wani" means "Alligator" and is... objectively a pretty lame name for Zuko's ship? Where's the personality, where's the deeper meaning, where's the resonance with Zuko's themes? @tuktukpodfics initially thought I was calling the ship "Wanyi", and that's what I've switched to, because it is Objectively So Much Better. In their words: “Wànyī (萬一): Literally ‘one in ten thousand,’ ‘perchance.’ Used grammatically in Chinese to mean ‘what if’ or ‘just in case.’ I think a ship called ‘The Perchance’ is perfect for a boy clinging to false hope.”

TL:DR; I don't rec Embers anymore, because I don't actually like the story anymore, and there are things about it that get worse the more I think on them. I've removed links to it and renamed Zuko's ship to "Wanyi" ("The Perchance") because our boy deserves a ship name that reflects his character arc.

[mekanikaltrifle]

current V Rising experience:

[saturdaysky]

hunger is whatever shape the moonlight pulls your shadow into.

The cover and first two pages of a comic about Essek and touch, set just after episode 97 and the reveal of his treachery.

There are nine pages. I will post them in batches as I finish them, and each post will be updated with the links to the other pages. 💜

I've had this idea sketched out for several years (check out my user icon, which hasn't changed since I made this account 😉 ), and I am excited to finally sit down and finish it! Here's a close-up of the Rosohna and Xhorhaus panel on page 2.

An absence is also a presence, no?

Poetry source is ONE SIDE OF AN INTERVIEW WITH THE GHOST OF MARVIN GAYE by Hanif Abdurraqib.

[onikasbarbie]

[evilkitten3]

naruto crack au where kakashi manages to successfully drill the "never abandon your comrades" thing into team seven's heads

so when sasuke deserts naruto and sakura immediately desert with him. like he gets to the village gates and they're just waiting for him bags packed like "what took u so long we doing this or what"

he tries to get them to go back bc of course he does. "no you losers this is about me i'm going to kill my brother. also i'll have to kill my best friend for the super sharingan and you two are like the only people i talk to". but they do not listen. teamwork sasuke we will defeat your brother (OUR brother #communism) with the power of teamwork. just like kakashi-sensei said

suddenly orochimaru has to deal with three horrible little goblins with an even more codependent relationship than his old team

[miabrown007]

Felonies and Other Love Languages - Last Chapter

“Can I drive?” Adrien asks, utilising his best kitten eyes as they cross the parking lot. Nino gives less thought to the proposition than he did to whether they should pull over for road-trip treats by the highway. “No.” “Can I drive?” Marinette asks over a mouthful of McFlurry. “Absolutely not.” "M, you can't even drive," Alya points out. "You say that like that would have stopped her before," Nino says, the same time Adrien adds with a grin, "She can't shoot, either." Marinette, like the cool and collected adult she is, blows them a raspberry. “God forbid women do anything.”

[snackugaki]

do you survive an apocalypse because you’re shaped like a dorito chip?

or does surviving an apocalypse shape you into a dorito chip?

something to ponder

[creepyscritches]

Very funny to think that I was taught to read scientific data at 17/18 by a bald soccer coach and I still use those skills in my job 10 years later. Girls we thought we were going to teach middle school art

[siriusly-sapphic]

Excellence update! (dorcas/narcissa)

Title: Excellence Pairing: Dorcas Meadowes/Narcissa Black Malfoy Rating: Mature Word count: 52K (12 chapters) Summary: Dorcas Meadowes and Narcissa Black at the start of their fifth year at Hogwarts. Two Slytherin girls with bright, promising futures ahead of them, trying to find their place in a world where nothing less than pure excellence is expected of them. They don’t like each other, never have, and when everything around them is surely changing, that’s something familiar to hold onto, at least. For the time being. Warnings: No archive warnings, see other tags Link: chapter 1 | chapter 12

[scattergoriesofevil]

Burrow’s End party names

Episode 1: Stupendous Stoats

Episode 2: Mystical Mustelids

Episode 3: Excellent Ermines

Episode 4: Wondrous Weasels

Episode 5: Vicious Varmits

Episode 6: Preternatural Predators

Episode 7: Invasive Investigators

Episode 8: UnCommon Carnivores

Episode 9: Little Guys

Episode 10: Stupendous Stoats

Aabria you did such a good job!

[poop-flying]

MOULDY BREAD ENJOYERS RISE UP 🍞🦠🍞🍞🍞🦠

[crescentfool]

having the hc that minato is ace is incredibly funny sometimes when you think about how ryoji is oh so very bi because it's like. "ah. death stole my ability to be attracted to people," in the same way that ryoji stole minato's eye color and energy level. like wow, thanks ryoji, you just keep finding things to steal from minato!

[paisholotus]

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 8

Narrative

"This mansion is enormous. I've found myself lost in the hallways several times." Yuna giggles. Tommy was sitting in what appeared to be their new bedroom. He glances away from the bed and gets up to stroll in her direction.

 

"Would you like me to show you the kids room?" He said, with a smile on his face. Yuna wraps her arm around his and follows him into the corridor. "Of course. Show me my princess and prince." She said, while Tommy laughed and gave her a head kiss.

 

"I never thought I would find you again, never in a fookin million years. It seems like a dream to me." He opened the kids' door cautiously while whispering. "Well, Mr. Shelby, I can smack you if you like?" Yuna teased as he playfully pinched her side. 

 

They watched the kids sleep peacefully in their beds, as Yuna leaned down and kissed both of their heads. Tommy gently grabbed her hand and walked them quietly out of the room. 

 

"I want to thank you." He said, as they walked back to their room. Yuna looked up at him, confused as to why he was thanking her. If anything, she should be thanking him for the lovely day they've had. 

 

"What are you thanking me for, Tommy?" She asked. He stopped them from walking and held both of her hands. "I want to thank you for allowing the kids and yourself, of course, to move in with me. I want to thank you for letting me love you again. There would be days, weeks, months, and, hell, sometimes years, when I would lay in bed and think of you. I love you so much, Yuna." 

 

Yuna looked up at him with mirth in her eyes. She reached up and cupped his cheeks, smiling tenderly at him. "You don't have to thank me for that, my love. Finding you again and seeing the children love you for the exact reasons I do brings nothing but joy to my heart." She said, rubbing her thumb lightly across his bottom lip.

 

"Even after all these years, I still couldn't bring myself to be with anyone else. Because no other person could have filled the void in my heart that you left. Now that you are here, I want nothing more than to make up the time that we have lost." She whispered sweetly. 

 

Tommy wrapped his arms around Yuna, pulling her up to him and making her squeal. Thomas Shelby looked at his woman with nothing but love in his eyes, leaning down and kissing her lips tenderly. 

 

Yuna wraps her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss, moving her hand to cup his cheek, and smiling into the kiss. They pulled away, their lips still brushing against each other slightly. 

 

"I love you, Thomas Shelby." She said. Thomas held the back of her head and said, "I love you too, Yuna Walker."

[onikasbarbie]