#gee I wonder which wip this is from :)

[jhalya]

💦 When the plot isn't plotting but the smut is smutting 🔥

🍋 NSFW

[sun-snatcher]

Random headcanons I made for my AC3 fic wip that I thought I’d share with the world because why not add a little humanity into them and share it with the fandom anyway:

- Haytham has a distaste for billiards. (Gee, I wonder why.)

- Haytham has perfect-pitch. It was probably discovered during his educated upbringing, which leads to the next headcanon:

- He learned to play musical instruments at his mother’s behest, but he ultimately preferred books and writing. (But I fancy if you seat Haytham before a harpsichord/keyboard he’d be able to play a simple melody out of muscle memory, if he really focused.)

- No one learns of this until a mission pertaining a hidden compartment could only be unlocked via a string of piano chords, with the cipher being a music sheet. Cue Haytham, and a very, very impressed Shay.

- On the topic of Shay: is an excellent gambler.

- I’m talking card games, dice games, whatever. Give or teach him a game that involves easy money and reading people—? He’ll bleed you dry. This man was on voyages across the Seven Seas’ for most of his lifetime, so I fancy he honed that skill to a knife-point in his pastime. He’ll read every unconscious cue and count cards in his head simply because He Can™.

- Downside is, he sucks at chess. Gist prefers playing with Haytham (“Or a brick wall, really,” he’d said once) than playing with Shay.

- That being said, further downsides from his talent in memory/recall is, well— that. He has good memory and recall. That means:

- Remembering things he doesn’t want to. It means everytime Shay steps near the edge of a cliff, he still gets a sickening lurch in his gut from the old memory of falling off that bluff with the Manuscript. It means even after all this time— he still gets nightmares about Lisbon, still mistakes seeing dead faces in the crowd, still recalls the cadence of Liam’s bright laugh as kids.

- As for Connor headcanons, I could go on forever, but I think:

- He’ll never admit it, but Connor always wanted to hear his father say his mother’s name atleast once: even if it’s just, “Ziio.” He never does get the chance.

- He inherited his mother’s smile despite having the fierce Kenway nose & chin , while on the other hand — he inherited the Kenway glare/scowl despite his mother’s kind eyes.

- Has surprised his father more than once on his Seafaring talent— maybe the innate skill skipped Haytham— particularly the one time Connor was given an intricate Sailor’s knot to replicate, and he managed to do it perfectly after only a single look and one try. (Connor likes to credit his mother’s Native genes more, though.)

- Also terrible at board/card games (much to Haytham’s dismay), but makes up for it in athletic games. He is so painfully competitive. Just ask Kanen’tó:kon— Connor is an absolute BEAST in lacrosse. “And he’s also a sore loser,” according to his childhood friends.

- Last but not least, the most self-indulgent headcanon of mine yet:

- In the same way his older sister Jennifer used to call Haytham as a child (as per AC:Forsaken canon), Haytham has very nearly addressed Connor as ‘squirt’ one too many times.

[cer-rata]

Fic WIP: “No One Majored In Chemistry"

“...So yes, I’m going to figure out which one of you it was.” Billy growled into his phone as he dodged and weaved through the crowd of other excited freshmen.

Bruce sighed on the other end. “Are you really saying it’s impossible that you could have gotten into a good school without one of us meddling?”

“Gee, I dunno, acceptance and a full-ride scholarship to an ivy league school I didn’t apply to, with no active requirements to keep it up? Because of my AV experience? Room and board included? UPenn has a 6.5% acceptance rate, and again, I didn’t even apply, Bruce!”

A pause. “...It was Diana. Drop out, and she might actually cry.” Then he hung up, because of course he did. Billy groaned.

Fine. It was fine. Maybe superhero nepotism had gotten him into college, maybe that meant some other, more worthy kid didn’t get a shot. He had to balance that guilt with gratitude: Because someone clearly believed in him, and that meant a lot. Ugh, he couldn’t even yell at Diana about it, you can’t just yell at Diana! Why couldn’t it have been Ollie? Half of his job was giving people someone to yell at!

He was so frustrated that he pushed the door to his dorm open way harder than he intended, and it slammed against the wall, startling the boy who had apparently gotten there first. He spun on his heels away from the window where he’d been setting up some figurines and pointed a pair of accusatory finger-guns at Billy. He looked like a Scandinavian dude, with all of the trappings: Tall, broad shoulders, long shiny blond hair, blue eyes as sharp as Tim’s but somehow much less eerie to look at, probably because he wasn’t being possessed by the ghost of a Victorian street urchin.

“Oh! Oh, hey.” He pushed some hair out of his face and flashed Billy a bright smile.

“I recommend this one, Batson.” 

Billy paused. He didn’t recognize that voice, who was--Oh no. Oh no, Achilles never said anything unless he was asked a direct question, and even then--OH NO.

The guy cleared his throat. “Um…You’re Billy, right?”

Crap, I missed a dialogue cue! “Uh, yeah, yeah, sorry, weird…weird morning.” Billy quickly propped his suitcase against his bed and walked over to offer the guy a handshake, which was smoothly accepted. Billy wasn’t a little guy, 5”7 was perfectly average, but this guy--wait, what was his name?

“Yeah, totally, it’s been a weird morning. It’s nice to meet you, though! I’m Garth.”

Ah, okay. “Garth” had at least five inches on him, and that, combined with the length of the fingers and width of the palm that consumed his hand served to make average old Billy feel kind of small.

“Me…me too. Um. I mean, it’s nice to also meet you, not that I’m Garth. I don’t know you well enough to decide if I want to steal your identity yet.”

Garth let out a surprised giggle and raised an eyebrow. “...Well, I hope to prove that my credit score is worthy of being ravished.”

His smile made Billy’s eyes sting a little bit, but on a level he wondered if that was a product of every one of the degenerates in his mind (and maybe Solomon) trying to get a look at once.

“Aha, I guess we’ll see!”

Garth shook his head a little and smirked. Then his eyes flicked over to Billy’s bed. “Wait, is that your only bag?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I…don’t like having a ton of clothes.” It was kind of true.

Garth nodded. “Hmm. Fair enough. I’m a little bit of a…well…” He gestured to the pile of clothes on his bed. “...I like shirts.”

"Nothing wrong with that, you seem to be good at…wearing shirts.” What?

“What?”

“I dunno man, I haven’t had any coffee, the prompt was: 'Friendly compliment that is also not weird.'”

Garth laughed again and patted him on the shoulder, and it was at that moment that Billy realized that they’d just been standing in handshake range the entire time. He backed up in the direction of his bed a bit, and Garth took that as a cue to go back to unpacking while he talked. 

“I’m from Gotham, my standard for weird is a little warped.”

Billy sat on the edge of his bed and quietly lamented that his feet didn’t reach all the way to the floor. “Gotham is a wild place, yeah. Probably cursed.” Literally cursed, actually.

“Yeah, yeah there’s…yeah. But imma be real, I think Fawcett is much scarier.”

How does he know I’m from Fawcett?

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, that place is a Buzzfeed unsolved video waiting to happen, I mean there’s a reason the Big Red Goober hangs out there so often, right? Magic is spooky, man.”

Billy bit his cheek. “Ah, well, you may have a point, there have been a couple weird things over the years.”

Garth let the silence ride for a beat as he put some sweaters in his closet. “Hey so, big fan of your podcast, by the way.”

Billy chuckled nervously. “How…how do you know about that?”

“How many Billy Batsons can there be?”

“Honestly? A WEIRD number.”

Garth snorted and stretched slightly to get to the top shelf. Achilles noted that his shoulder-to-chest ratio was good for archery (and other things), and Billy tried his best to ignore him. “Either way, I figured you’d be a little more braggy about getting to interview superheroes, that’s kind of good for like, street cred and shit. But I guess being a bit of a shy little guy makes sense, all things considered.”

Billy was about to defend himself against the “little guy” accusations, but Garth turned around and made eye contact again, which derailed him long enough that he lost the window, and Garth continued on. 

“So, what’re you majoring in?”

“Mixed media, with a minor in journalism.” For some reason, Billy felt a little self-conscious whenever he told someone, like it was somehow unrealistic, when in reality it had been made abundantly clear to him that the concept of ‘unrealistic’ did not apply to a life like his.

Garth seemed to think it was cool, even. “Oh that’s great! Makes sense, you seem like the type to be good at all of that stuff.”

Billy fought to keep a blush down. “Ah, gee. Um, wh-what about you?”

“Pre-med and Screenwriting. Dual major.” 

Billy blinked a couple times. “Wow that--”

“Yeah, yeah I know. I kinda…I kinda applied to both departments and didn’t expect to get into either, so when I got into both I kind of panicked and accepted. So. You know. It’s…I’ll be fine, I’m used to juggling plates.” He brushed some hair out of his face and tucked it behind an ear, and for the first time in the fifteen minutes that Billy had known him, Garth looked a little nervous. Only for a moment though, then it was all smiles again. “Hey, that reminds me actually…”

Billy’s eyes widened as he watched the blond cross their room to sit right next to him on his bed. “Uh, wh--”

“How are we going to do this?”

“Do…what?”

“Oh, I do like it when they’re forward.” Zeus, please!

Garth leaned back on his hands.“I have two stressful majors, my mom has been in AA since before I was born, so no drinking, and I like people. Do you see where I’m going with this?”

“Well, theater, medicine, Gotham, parental stress: You’re one rejection letter from turning into a Phantom of the Opera themed, organ-harvesting villain of the week?” Why did I say that!?

He could hear the smug satisfaction in Hermes' voice. “Just a little inspiration, for free. You’re welcome.” AHHHHHHH--

Garth laughed really hard at that one, and any cool vibe he was trying to foster was shattered by the way his cheeks went pink and he snorted. Billy could suddenly see the dork behind the symmetrical features and shiny hair.

“Fuck you! This just means you’re gonna be my first victim, Batson. That kidney?” Billy giggled and leaned away as Garth jabbed a finger right over where his kidney actually was. “Is mine.”

“This is good,” Achilles said, “Generally this is where I’d suggest pulling your shirt up, and enticing him with your wares, but that may be unwise as you’ve neglected your mortal body’s physical integrity, you disappointing, noodly-armed twink--”

“Hey!”

Garth raised an eyebrow and Billy realized with horror that he’d let that one escape.

“Uh--”

“Sorry, just…remembered…a thing--where were you going with that before you claimed my kidney?”

“Oh! Yeah right. So I’m gonna like…be busy, you know? ‘Everybody stares at me, boys, girls, I can't help it, baby--’”

“You did NOT just quote Rent--”

“It’s a good musical! What I’m asking is if you want to like, set up a schedule, or is there a codeword, or do I put a sock on the door, or…you know.” He wiggled his eyebrows and Billy wanted to die. For some reason. 

“Oh, uh. I mean yeah I guess you can just text me? But it’s not gonna be--”

“Yeah don’t worry, I’m a considerate guy, I won’t screw you.”

“Wow, Batson, look at that, you’ve already taken yourself off of the table.”

“That’s not what he meant! Wait, shoot--”

“Who are you arguing with?” Garth asked casually.

Billy slowly turned to look back at him. “...Eheh, whaaaat? Sorry, just, my internal monologue sometimes--”

“It was Zeus, right? I know about the Ganymede thing, I figure I’m within his taste range.”

“He’s not wrong.”

A chill shot through Billy and he frowned. “...How do you--”

“Dami' wanted me to be prepared in the event of, and I quote, ‘Billy fucking up badly enough that you end up with a demon trying to crawl up your ass.’ End quote.”

Billy stared at him. 

“...When you say ‘Dami'--’”

“The stabbiest Christmas elf, yeah.”

Billy groaned. 

[physalian]

Physalian’s Curated Tips on Worldbuilding Megapost

Some of these are *not* mine, they’re from author Randy Ellefson, I’m just interpreting the tips I like in my own words. These specifically come from his book, 185 Tips on World Building. I don’t agree with all of them, because he tends to read as a “you must do this specific thing to be successful,” which is limiting and doesn’t consider when elements work because they’re different, these books are also in the “throw all your eggs in one basket” camp for your one series/mythos, instead of different worlds for different universes.

Ellefson also disagrees with my argument of “everything you build doesn’t have to serve a purpose”. Verbatim, in his book, he says: “There’s no reason to invent something if we don’t have a plan for it.” Which, sorry, no. Easter eggs and details purely for fluff in a one-off sentence make your world feel real.

That said, he does have some useful nuggets I’ll paraphrase below, and some I just went off-book entirely.

1. Pacing your Workflow

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and sitting down to hash out all the elements of your world in one sitting and never deviating from that path greatly limits the scope and variety you could come up with. As I wrote in my “when worldbuilding gets weird” post, the real world wasn’t manufactured by a nitpicky author on a quest to absolve us of plot holes—let your worldbuilding be a little illogical and contradictory and just plain strange and inexplicable.

The best way to do that is to worldbuild when inspiration strikes, or at least leaving your worldbuilding loose enough to add in extra details and spice whenever you come up with something cool. Do a little note here or there, toss it in your “worldbuilding” bin, and you’ll likely end up with something far more unique and organic than following any step-by-step method.

2. Are the Gods Real?

In essence—say you have your fantasy world and your fantasy religions. Decide whether or not those prayers can actually be answered, and to what degree, and how the existence (or just speculation) of your world’s religion impacts scientific thought and endeavors.

You can write a whole-ass religion with all these beliefs and practices, and leave it entirely up to speculation whether there’s anyone listening. Or strike it somewhere in the middle where they do exist but aren’t very hands on, or they do exist, but only for certain groups, or they did exist, etc.

In my WIP sci-fi series, I had a little bit of both. One world where they’re very much real and there’s proof, and one world where everyone sure believes their capital-G god is real, with zero evidence.

3. Species vs Races

Most of the time, in fantasy, they’re different “races” in that they can intermarry and interbreed and create things like half-elves. In sci-fi, they tend to be different species with different lifespans, biological structures, diets, habitats, restrictions, etc. If your world is the latter, something really underexplored in these kinds of settings is how being completely different species can be devastating to romantic relationships that connect on an intellectual level, but just can’t on a long-term scale.

Also an aside—if you’re going to write a racism allegory consider the following: Racism in the real world is a social construct. We are all human and the differences between us are negligible, making all the fearmongering baseless. And yet, in so many stories, fantasy racism is between two legitimately different species or between one group, and one Much Cooler group (mutants, fairies, elves, aliens, supernatural entities). Suddenly the fantasy racists have a leg to stand on because they aren’t all the same species and they are fundamentally different, which… misses the point entirely? Elves vs “Dark Elves” are a whole different ballgame than “Elves vs Humans”.

4. The Planet of Hats

Taken from OSP, and Ellefson. “Gee, I wonder who the bad guys are?”

The bad guys: Blood red eyes, stereotypically ugly features, skulking around in the dark with yellow teeth, claws, a penchant for hissing, and a color pallet of reds and blacks.

The good guys: Conventionally gorgeous, pastels and bold rainbows of color, sunny utopia of a civilization.

Unless the point is to comment on the planet of hats, or be funny, try to inject some variety and nuance in the Bad Guy realm.

5. Determine the Social Hierarchy

Most of us can come up with the lower class and the rich one percenters for our worlds rather easily, I think, because those tend to be emphasized most heavily in fantasy, and your hero/villain will likely fall into either side. But do you have a middle class? What socioeconomic hurdles are in place to keep everyone in their lanes?

What’s the difference between homeless, impoverished, poor, getting by, renting, home-owning, and land-owning? How can you tell, and how does your world’s rich maintain their place, outnumbered by your world’s proletariat? Hunger Games is a fantastic example—some Districts are much more heavily favored and nurtured by the rich than others.

6. Monsters

Similar to whether or not the gods are real—are your monsters real? Does your world have their own in-universe metaphors and allegory for the “monstrous” that are still myths? What does that say about these people? Has that view around those “monsters” and what they allegorically represent in-universe changed?

If the monsters are real, are they actually monsters, or the victims of propaganda? Are the “normal people” the real monsters? Are they all just people creating violent slander against each other?

7. Plants, Animals, and Natural Resources

Stuff like this is, in my opinion, only important to heavily detail and think about if the plot demands it. As in, I don’t need to know about the land’s farming practices if a food shortage or grain disease or fantasy inflation of corn prices isn’t part of the story. A one-off line? Sure. A farmer’s backstory? Sure. Taking a random aside to talk at length about genetic engineering of onions in your book about fantasy spies? No.

That said, if this is part of your plot, mix together some real-world analogues and when it comes to fundamental methods for survival, like farming, think of what would be the path of least resistance for these people to come up with. A seaside village is probably going to survive mainly on fish, mussels, and crustaceans because it’s right there for the taking, as opposed to trying to farm avocados on starved soil. If they are trying to farm avocados, now that’s a peculiar story I’d love to hear more about.

8. Zombies?

Or the general concept of an afterlife, and reverting back from it. Is there a religion around their dead and where they go when they’re gone? Can they come back? Do the people only think they can come back? Are there whole rituals or beliefs around revival or reincarnation or body-hopping?

What parts of your afterlife really are a myth, and what can you prove within the narrative? Does it even matter to the plot if fantasy heaven is real? Do your characters refuse to believe in it, despite evidence to the contrary?

Are the “undead” bound to religious rules, or supernatural? Meaning: If I write about vampires, am I writing with Christian rules (with the churches and the holy ground and crosses being problematic) or something older? If I write about zombies, are they a natural phenomenon, or a plague from the gods?

9. On Practical Planets (Physalian’s)

I just watched a movie where there was a lock-box with a celestial combination lock, and to unlock it they needed to know the specific future date the last people who touched it would have thought of. The problem: That box predates the modern calendar, and the writers either didn’t know, didn’t care, or didn’t think it was important (it wasn’t, but still).

Same principle applies on creating planets: How “real” do you intend to get? We’re already off the edge of the map when we create multiple humanoid alien races, implying a cosmic degree of convergent evolution. The more “real” you get with your worldbuilding, the more questions you open up, the more it starts to fall apart as you put the audience’s ability to suspend their disbelief under a microscope.

Example: Artificial gravity. We can either make spinning spaceships, or just say the ship has some fancy alien tech that magically makes it happen and not explain in any further detail. And people will buy it because this is sci-fi.

When it comes to planets and concerning elements like tides, seasons, weather patterns, different gravitational pulls, whether the air should even be breathable, it can get very overwhelming very quickly if you yourself don’t allow some room for your own suspension of disbelief. So consider playing with elements on non-Earth worlds like how the night sky would look on an inhabited moon, or a binary star system, but also, this is fantasy. Just roll with it.

If you are intending to write a universe with very realistic and grounded physics, you have a lot of research to do and authors like Ellefson have plenty of guidance to help you.

10. Practical Geography (Physalian’s)

Once again: If it’s important to the plot, go ham on your climates and weather patterns and how the geography and mountains shape rainfall and such. The more bearing the physical environment has on the story, the more detail it deserves. Your fantasy city is going to need a source of freshwater and ample fields for food if they farm, vs import.

But also, get weird. Fill your fantasy geography with crazy natural phenomena. You might have a forest of trees that your fantasy woodpeckers bored a million holes through, and when the wind blows, the entire forest sounds like a godly flute. Or you have a river that runs beet purple in the spring because of a natural mineral deposit upriver, perfectly harmless. Or you have a flower that can walk, creeping around the forest floor on its root ball devouring beetles all night long.

Real world physics are fun to play with and can create some interesting problems: Like your heroes crash land on a jungle world with air they can’t breathe, demanding they address this problem that many sci-fi stories overlook, but it’s also terribly constricting. This is fantasy. Get fantastical.

11. Fantasy Politics and Why They’re in Power

100 years from now, I’d love to know how the textbooks describe the evolution of early 2000s American politics. If you have a fantasy dictator, figure out how they came to power, who they stood on to get where they are, and what parts of the populace were so desperate for a world they don’t live in, that they gave this leader the shirts off their backs.

Figure out the answer to “How did we get here?” Let it be illogical, and let our current political climate serve as example. You can have whatever hill you want to die on for your chosen politicians, for the most arbitrary reasons, and most of us don’t have well-thought-out theses on why we vote the way we do. Our views are filtered through the media we consume, and the media we don’t consume.

Let the system be broken and nonsensical—you can’t get any worse than reality.

12. Romanticizing (Physalian’s)

In other words, does your world have an era, a style of design, a way of living, a philosophy of a bygone time that they romanticize? Do they have idolized fantasy celebrities? A type of home or settlement that’s the Fantasy American Dream? What’s being advertised by the fantasy luxury, leisure, and cosmetic brands?

Was there a previous leader who led like no other? Do you have your own “Make Fantasy Land Great Again” group? Do they have merit? Is there another culture one group strives to live like? Architecture or clothing or cultural items they buy en masse to “be like the idols”.

I have a world with cultural artifacts inspired by Italian Murrine style glassblowing and via magic, they can make some physics-bending art pieces. Those artifacts, from that ancient culture, have been stolen and sold to enemy museums and the elite and have become a status symbol, even though the ancient culture just made plates and bowls out of necessity and would be horrified at their legacy.

13. Fantasy Weaponry and Innovation

Necessity inspires innovation, but what if your world never invented cars or gunpowder? For example: American land travel and urban design was built, with rare exception around our oldest cities, for cars in mind, not trains or horses and wagons and foot traffic, because of where we sit on the industrial revolution timeline. Our cities aren’t retrofitted for cars, our roads are wide enough for that sole purpose. Our settlements can be very widely spread apart because they were built with the knowledge of speedy travel in mind. Very few things, especially in the South (where I live) can be considered in “walking distance,” much less safely. You must own a car, you have no other option. The Powers That Be also hate trains because more trains means less need for cars and car companies like money.

Alternatively, how does warfare change depending on how deadly and plentiful your fantasy weapons evolve to be? Modern soldiers don’t prance around in their national colors and fancy feathered hats anymore, standing across from each other and shooting on command. Was there any practical reason for dressing your soldiers in bright, candy red, Britain? Surely must’ve been easy to spot for an ambush. Surely wasn’t practical, or logical, but it did happen.

14. Timescales

I want to address the alternative to the obvious “create a standard unit of measurement”. Show what happens when there isn’t a standard unit of measurement, and let chaos ensue. You should have one for the sake of not confusing your readers, but in-universe, have different cultures choosing to die on their hill of having 25 months when the rest of the world has 23, with the former based on their local natural phenomena and the latter based on lunar cycles.

“Military time” as we call it in the US, is the standard 24-hour clock that still confuses us and has us counting up on our fingers. A system we refuse to change even though it’s fundamentally the same amount of time, is a broken system that we still use because it's too hard to change (like the imperial measurement system).

15. Famous Places and Significant Architecture

Do you have a fantasy Disneyland? What about a fantasy remnant of a fantasy World's Fair randomly in your city? Or a bidding war between rival artists amounting to crazy monuments and art installations around the region trying to one-up each other? Your own Chicago Bean with a real name that no one uses and most of us aren’t even aware exists?

Or for religious purposes, what do your churches look like? Do they tower skyward as a monument to a celestial creator, or do they bury deep below ground and into the ocean, to reach a land or water god? Are they massive monuments or humble temples? Are they beautiful displays of wealth, or little wooden gazebos built by the locals? What does your architecture say about your culture?

16. Languages and Cultural Barriers (Physalian’s)

Whether you decide to write your own language (of which I made a guide for) or come up with a few words here and there and allude to foreign tongues, how do these languages, and the people who speak them, navigate foreign lands? How is the dominant language taught? Is the foreign language looked down on and discriminated against? Is even speaking it or having a name from it considered a crime? Are signs and advertisements written in multiple languages or just the dominant one?

What foreign traits are seen as unsavory by the dominant one, whether it’s clothing, religion, lifestyle choices, names, social behaviors, food, parenting, etc? How does the dominant culture discriminate–through law or social pressure?

Is your culture striving to protect a dying language and offering free courses and resources to learn it? Is there a dialect specific to one class or group or region? Do you have a pidgin or creole (not Creole) that comes from a blending of cultures, by force or by chance?

—

I want to make it clear that I don’t think Randy Ellefson is objectively wrong. He makes a lot of good points—for grounded worldbuilding. As I said above, the more central any one piece of your worldbuilding is to the plot, the more detail and thought you should put into it so it feels believable and it feels like there’s much more beneath the tip of the iceberg than just what’s on the page.

He points out many facets of how a society is established where it is, when it is, and why a people would come together, stay together, thrive together, and fall apart. Lots of elements you might not think about when you’re staring at a blank canvas.

I just think his tips don’t allow for the creative freedom of the weird and illogical aspects that make a world feel organic, and not manufactured with step-by-step instructions. His tips are for world building, not world discovering.

[hopefulwonderlandrunaway]

Hey there! I was just curious—who are some of your favourite 911 Lone Star fanfiction authors at the moment? I’m always looking for good recommendations and would love to hear who you’ve been enjoying lately!

Hi Anon! Thank you so much for the question, so sweet of you to ask! Also, I’d love to know who you are! Don’t ever feel embarrassed around me. I promise I’ll always be kind. That’s of course up to you ❤️

So… my list has shifted a bit, unfortunately. Some authors have gone on a different path that what I normally enjoy, I’ve mentioned them in older posts if you’re curious, but yeah… that chapter is closed.

That said, there are so many incredible authors and fics that I keep on my special little list. These are the ones I recommend to everyone I meet because they absolutely deserve more love, kudos, and comments.

Mari_Marie

@littlemissmarianna

She has 77 stories. I can’t choose which one I like best cause they are all so good: “Long time coming”, “Bait and Switch”, “Breath”, “Rumble and Sway”, “Mi Familia es Tu Familia” and so many more! She’s fabulous. She’s not an author, she’s a therapist 😅

WonderfullyWonderingAlone59

@evanactually

She’s wonderful - I especially recommend “Cat Nap”, “Buddies Babysit”, “Hard”, “Three Days” and “Vertigo”.

Each a masterpiece! They have this light Dom/Sub vibe and I absolutely love how she writes this dynamic. I need more of these, a million more! It’s so healing.

noxsoulmate

@noxsoulmate

“Reunited and It Feels So Good”

“For the Love of Hedgehogs”

“Soothe My Soul”

But honestly, all of her stories are amazing. I just couldn’t add 67 links, ha!

ellay_gee

@ellay-gee

Such a creative, talented mind! Her current WIP is so good, I can’t wait for an update. I’ve shared this story in every platform I’m on. I hope she writes more.

“With a Gun and a Pack of Sandwiches”

These authors, whether they are currently working on new stories or not, are helping me heal from that god awful last season 🥲

Thanks again for the ask ❤️ hope you enjoy them and make sure to leave kudos and comments if you can, they deserve it!

[corduroyserpent]

✨ wip wed ✨

a little something from the next chapter (the first interlude!) of my bingqiu star wars au – An Old Hope Made New

In the moments before Shen Qingqiu crash-lands into the marshy swamps of Dagobah, he comes to the sudden and horrific understanding that should he die here, no one will ever discover his body. Though this is swiftly overwritten by a far more powerful and intrusive thought: AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!! As he frantically smashes buttons and flips switches in the hope that one of them will at least turn off the blinking lights—he already knows the systems are failing, thank you!!—a familiar mechanical voice cuts through the incessant beeping and sickening creaks of his doomed vessel.  The mysterious System that has been his constant companion since his death and transmigration into the world of Proud Immortal Jedi Way says, [Would you like to exchange B-Points for a softer landing?]  Shen Qingqiu releases a wry bark of laughter. “What B-Points? You should know better than anyone that I don't have many to spare!” Sure, he’d gained a good amount from that Felucia quest but he’s always losing the damn things. He needs to be smart about this. Keep cool. The odds of him dying from the crash are relatively slim…probably. He’s all strapped in! And his ship is a Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor which survived plenty of battles in the original source material. Maybe this is just a brief patch of aggressive turbulence? As far as he can tell, there shouldn’t even be a problem with his starfighter. This is the first time he’s flown one and he’s found it remarkably intuitive. Everything was going just fine until he entered atmo. In a blink his scopes went dark, the astromech released a series of panicked bleeps before going silent, and now none of the controls are responding at all.  “Could I try to use the Force to slow my descent?” he wonders aloud.  [Do or do not. There is no—] “Oh, shut up.” Shen Qingqiu waves away the System’s pop-up window. 

gee i wonder what he's going to find on dagobah.....

[crosbyism]

Omg. Tell me about mash fic?? Please??

thanks for the ask, friend!! ♥️ :))))

OK SO, like a year ago i started getting super into mash (as in, the TV show from the seventies) and especially once i hit the later seasons and finished my first watch through (which took a while bc… yknow, 11 seasons, 24 eps per on average), i got super fascinated with mash’s relationship with canon and continuity. there’s a huge difference in minor canon facts between early and late seasons, which ends up summing up to a really fascinating difference in characterisation for most characters? and it’s actually deeply fascinating to look at those differences. on like a metatextual level, obvs those differences exist bc of the group character dynamics needing to be balanced out, the episodic nature of the show and the lack of obsession with canon continuity in tv shows before the 2000s (— if we can pretend we didn’t say that Margaret’s dad was dead and her mom was an alcoholic in season three, we can make them divorced instead and bring him around for an interesting episode in season 9 or 10, and also, who the fuck is going to care or fact check it—). but if you pick up the heavier “misery of war”/hawkeye’s mental break stuff going on in the later seasons and take all of the differences (and the fact that the korean war within the canon of the show takes waaaaay too fucking long, bc obvs it was a commentary about the vietnam war at the time) extremely literally, there’s this sort of interesting potential for a metafic there that plays with hawkeye’s psychological problems and the timeloop-esque nature of canon that really interested me. it’s not very long so far and mostly disjointed snippets, but i do love this idea a lot and would love to finish it up. some single excerpts from this wip i quite like:

It starts with Trapper leaving. No, that’s not right. Is it? No, it is— They’re at the airport bar; Hawkeye’s staring into the glass, and he looks back up, at— BJ. His bunkmate. No, that’s not right, not yet. He’s going to be, but they’re not there yet. He’s still Captain Hunnicutt, BJ comes later. Right now they’re at Kimpo airport, drinking and making merry and stealing a Jeep to get out of here. There it is, now Hawkeye’s got it the right way round again: this is the part right before Radar freaks out again, and then they take the Jeep, drunk all the way back to camp, and tomorrow morning Hawkeye will open his eyes and think to himself: Gee, it’s a wonder I didn’t drive right into a minefield. It starts with BJ Hunnicutt arriving. What are Hawkeye and Radar doing at Kimpo, anyway?

His colonel’s wife is called Mildred. No, it’s Lorraine. No, it is Mildred. Margaret’s father is dead and her mother drinks. No, he’s alive and they just got divorced. Margaret has a sister. Or does she? No, that’s Charles, and Hawkeye’s getting it all mixed up again— His best friend is a faithful husband. He’s a big cheater in an unhappy marriage. Peg’s going to hire a PI the second BJ’s back, Hawkeye laughed the other day when Trapper told him. Either way, he always loves his daughters. Daughter.  One of his tentmates is always from Boston. He just can’t remember whether he has a bald spot or not. Reality is up for grabs. Someone said that to Hawkeye once. Hawkeye thinks it might’ve been someone important. He can’t quite remember. It’s just all so confusing. Is Hawkeye dreaming again? He’d like to wake up, please. Any time now, he’ll open his eyes. He just hopes he’ll be awake when he does.

[timetravelbypen]

Hiya! Fanfic writer asks!

🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

⛔ Do you have a fic you started, but scrapped?

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please! (I already know about this but you should share with everyone, mwahaha)

Hiya!

🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

Hmmmm good question... I guess Meow of the Universe? For sheer ridiculousness?? 😂😅

⛔ Do you have a fic you started, but scrapped?

I did actually start a brief human!au fic where 13 was a busker and Yaz was having a terrible horrible no good very bad day at work (gee I wonder where that came from...) but it was just going in bad mood circles... maybe someday I'll figure it out!

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

Well I've got this fic with Dan... :P

No, I know (and you know): the murder mystery AU! It begins! 1922! A small, close-knit town! A stranger arrives... and meets their fate!! *dun dun dunnnn*

Coming soon to an Ao3 hopefully this year sometime probably. :P

Thanks for the ask! :D

[raywritesthings]

Laurel Lance (E1)

Sure thing, anon!

First impression: honestly I would be lying if I say I remember my first impression of Laurel, which sounds bad, but it's because I came to Arrow via way of Flash so my first exposure to her was that barely-thirty-seconds scene in the first Flash and Arrow crossover. I truthfully probably didn't even realize she was supposed to be Dinah Laurel Lance aka Black Canary until her appearance opposite Cisco in a later episode of Flash that season, at which point I was like "oh cool, they're bringing in Black Canary". Then I was really confused to discover when starting Arrow that she'd been there since episode 1 but seemed to have so miniscule a role in the grand scheme of things. Yeah, that really should've been a sign to run far away from this show while I still had the chance...

Impression now: I love her. Truthfully, I both do see her as Black Canary, but I also see her as a sort of separate entity from the comics itself, with her own unique merits struggles than what Dinah typically has. So while I love her because she's Black Canary and I love Black Canary, I also love her because she's Laurel, specifically.

Favorite moment: Ah man, this is hard to choose. Her fight scenes from the early seasons and some in s4, basically any scene with her and Thea or Nyssa, a lot of her deleted scenes with Oliver (gee, I wonder why those were all cut), so on and so forth.

Idea for a story: You don't wanna know how many WIPs I've got waiting in the wings, anon. But as far as a story strictly about just Laurel goes, I'm kind of tempted to do an AU post s1 where Oliver's spiel about how he's just holding Laurel back is actually super true and she just gets things together for the city and makes it much better without him. Like if he's gonna go sulk and not be the support she needs during a seriously hard time then I'd rather watch her be the hero of this story, thanks.

Unpopular opinion: I have no idea what's popular or unpopular regarding opinions on Laurel these days, but to cover the basics -- She was completely right to call SWAT on the Hood/Arrow that one time given he was an armed and dangerous stranger who violated the boundary she had already verbally set, she should not have had to apologize to her sister for being rightfully upset that she slept with her boyfriend (does this require further explanation??), and people hating on her for bringing Sara back to life is hypocritical bs since those same people were upset about Sara being killed off in s3 to begin with so she literally gave them what they wanted by bringing Sara back.

Favorite relationship: Overall favorite has gotta be the Laurel-Thea BroTP. Nothing tops it, not any of her romantic relationships (canon or fanon) or any of her blood family.

Favorite headcanon: idk that she's still alive? Haha, all my thoughts about Laurel have to exist in headcanons where she's not been fridged and where the people in her life treat her better than they did in canon, anon. In my headcanon instead of her constantly deserving better and being let down, she just gets the love and respect she deserved.

Thanks for sending in!

[runawaymun]

I think you know what story I’m fishing for but this could be in any of them (loved the last ones)

Embrace, tear, safe, trick🥰

Send me a word, if it’s in my wip document I’ll answer your ask with the sentence that it appears in

gosh gee golly I wonder which story you could be referring to...and wow Harmony hon you're bang on the money for this one lmaooo am I really that predictable alsdkghdsghkl.

No embrace, but I do have "hug"

Maglor made a displeased sound in the back of his throat and drew him up into a hug.

it's actually miserably hilarious how many times "tears" comes up in the document when I search it. Here's the first sentence from my random snippets folder:

Lord Elrond brushed her hair back and kissed the top of her head in the way that he did, and then sank down to her level to take her face in his hands, brushing away the tears.

Safe:

She caught his arm as he reeled back for another pitch. “I care about you. I love you. I always keep you safe, don’t I?”

Trick:

The only way it made sense was… maybe it was some sort of trick, like a spell.

[monstersandmagicians]

September Reading Recap

Found this half-finished in my drafts, so I figured I'd post in on ... Feb 1st 2025. that's on four months late. Apparently I read 8 books and I'm no digging out my notebook to check, so here we go.

The Fury and The Reunion - L. J. Smith (books 3 & 4 of The Vampire Diaries)

Last two books in the original quartet, although The Fury felt like the end of the trilogy. Very 90s (everyone seems cool with a highschooler dating a post-grad). Enjoyed the creepy Elena dreams in The Reunion, wished for some better character work, but we all had fun.

(Also made me consider rereading my L. J. Smith series - The Forbidden Game. Have limited library access for the rest of the year, though, so we'll see).

(edit: did not reread The Forbidden Game, might do so this year, might not. Its not a priority, but it would be fun, yk)

10 Things that Never Happened - Alexis Hall

Romance where one character fakes amnesia. Almost brought me to tears several times. Reread the last couple of chapters the following night and barely fought off the urge to reread the whole book. Very much an Alexis Hall novel with insightful things to say about class and society.

My Own Worst Enemy - Robert Edric

Snippets of Edric's childhood in working class 1960s Sheffield. Kinda depressing (gee, I wonder if this slew of books might be linked to my mental crash around this time). Wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but still had some value for me (obviously, this book has a lot of value anyway, but I came here for a reason) - if anyone does have some good recs about life in England's North, probably from the 1970s onwards, send them my way. A mix of upper class and working class would be appreciated.

(edit: the WIP I was reading this for might be set near Liverpool now, but I'm still taking recs.)

Blind Spot - Robyn Dennison

My first thought reading this was that it was a text I expect will be studied in a few high school English classes in the next couple of years, which, considering I picked it up because of its Notable Australian Children’s Books 2024 sticker makes sense. I think I might start targeting these books in particular for my YA reading - looking at the other notable books, there are some interesting looking titles.

Anyway, the book. Dale - who is lucky this book is in 1st person because I have a thing against Dales - witnesses the sexual assault of a girl at a party and is living with the guilt of having just walked away. Also, he's mum has left him and his dad, and now his cousin, who he barely knows, is moving in while she gets treatment for her eating disorder. I think that tell you what sort of novel this is and I wonder what it says about me that I can just handle this in YA form but would have to walk away if it was in adult form, but I digress. This was Dennison's debut, but it is a competent, well structured novel, even if I found the ending a bummer (again, perfect for English class discussions).

Talking of high school, Blind Spot and Wrong Answers Only, plus a splattering of the other OzYA books I've read have left me wondering exactly how different high school (and uni) is in the Eastern states. Like, why is Dale starting Year 12 in term 4? Why is top marks and great UCAT Marco studying BioMed instead of going straight into medicine? Why did the the Year 12s have Muck Up Day after exams? Like, seriously, why? And, are exams worth more of your final grade or something? Honestly, if some Victorian comes in and tells me actually their entire grade is from their exam, like taking an A-Level, I might just bite something. Like, that's an insane way to do it, and not fair to a lot of students, but, also, not fair to the insane person - ME - who would have thrived under that. Also, what's with the smoking?

Anyway, the past is a foreign country, but so is someone else's high school experience.

(edit: so the kid's new school do an actual semester change over at the end of term 4, so I guess that's a thing)

Wrong Answers Only - Tobias Madden

OzYA. For some reason I picked up a book about a series of events that would mess with me and expected it to not mess with me. I literally cannot comment on the book because if you thought the rant above was something, we do not need to unpack the thoughts this book invoked in me.

Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat

Edit: All I had written here was 'another Aussie author', which is a disservice to the talent of Pacat, whose Dark Rise was so good I left my phone on the train. So, what can I say about CaPri? Its a well written debut with a set of trigger warnings as long as my arm. Its the sort of book I only got through because I had been comprehensively spoiled by tumblr, but I do plan on finishing the series this year. If you are going to like this book, tumblr has probably already tossed it your way.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - V. E. Schwab

Reread. Wasn't really paying attention, so I don't really have much to say; my feelings haven't really changed and I wish my copy was a mass market paperback, not trade.

(also relistened to a Schwab interview that suggested that one part of the book I found clunky was intentional, so, that's fun)

(edit: I have no bloody clue what that last sentence is referencing)

[janaedonim]

Meet My WIP: The Gen6 Series

Technically I've been working on this series since I was eight years old.

I saw Spy Kids 3D, the Barbie nutcracker movie, and combined those magical concepts with the idea that one day a strong and kind white boy would come save me from my very repressed life. Because all heroes were strong kind white boys in my 2004 brain.

I sat down at my little Rooms 2 Go desk and scribbled out a fantasy. Tragically, that single sheet of college-rule paper was ruined by a grape juice mishap. But I guess I was determined. I got out a new sheet of paper and started again.

Over the years I compiled tens of school folders and one raggedy accordion file folder's worth of scribbling about this world and these characters. Then I got a laptop and created tens of Microsoft word documents in the same vein.

I think the original concept was a group of friends led by a strong, murderous and deeply angry hero (gee I wonder where I got the inspo...) going on magical adventures. It was also about what they wore and who they dated because I was a rabid fan of The Clique series back in the day.

Lowkey fortunately for me, one day my old Vaio crashed and took with it the full un-backed-up first draft of Book 1.

I was crushed.

But again, I started over. I think that means this story really means something to me.

The series overall started to take shape after this. From my late teen years through my early twenties (and therapy) it became clear that the themes and character struggles sprang from my experience in a controlling, toxic community environment.

It's also definitely influenced by childhood favorites like Sky High, various weird christian media, The Chronicles of Narnia, Shark Boy and Lava Girl, and PJO. Also I've been inspired by all the Problems with HP and the creative solves by people in fandom (fuck jkr).

I really don’t know how to sum it all up, which probably doesn’t bode well for my writing career. I can write a novel, but to distill it all into a paragraph? Beyond me. 

I’ll try.

We’re following our main character, Cash Hamilton, as he and his (large) family are forced to settle in a small southern town. Supposedly, this is a place full of other people with magic. But it’s quickly revealed to be less than a paradise, and instead cult-like secret society for people with “Gifts”.

Photo by cottonbro studio

Over the series we follow Cash as he, his family, and friends rebel against the status quo. Every one of the characters in his group has their own destiny, but Cash has one that reaches farther than any of them could imagine.

As they work to free other Realms from the tyranny of human colonization, each character confronts struggles with discrimination, family, mental health, and becoming the person they want to be. 

There are also a LOT of magical worlds and creatures, extensive world-building, some romance subplots, and in my personal opinion some cool explorations of identity.

Sometime before 2021, I finally finished Draft 1 of Book 1. It’s currently titled “Silver: The First Rebellion”. Previously it was ‘The First Adventure’. 

The story introduces us to Cash, his family and his world. We follow them as they’re forced to flee to the above-mentioned sleepy southern town and he is confronted with the dark, discriminatory underbelly of the ‘Gifted’ community. A vast network of magical communities living alongside the regular world and deeply embedded into every aspect of culture and government. 

But in this world, Cash and his siblings are abominations. His parents are outlaws. And every moment in their new world is marred by discrimination, unfair treatment, and outright cruelty. Luckily, he meets a diverse cast of characters that are also dissatisfied with the world they live in. 

They band together when confronted with the horror of one of the new friends, Janina, being hunted by the government. The adults want to wait and assume they’re safe. But Cash wants to take action.

Must be time to illegally break into a magical world, right? Oh, also, that girl you’re dating? Yeah something weird is about to happen with that.

Each book in the series follows Cash’s arc in his destiny, the destiny of one of his friends, and the struggle to liberate their world.

There’s so much I want to embrace in this series. Like how magical your small town upbringing can feel right next to how horrific it is to experience microaggressions every single day. The hopelessness of having no control of your world as a kid, how you rebel in small ways and big ways.

The series overall is about Cash’s search for his place in this world that is supposed to be where he belongs but where he is continually rejected. I hope to reach YA readers with the message that no one can tell you who you are. You don’t deserve to be treated poorly, especially by the people in charge of your well-being. You are loved and you can make it through anything. You belong. There’s nothing wrong with who you are.

Also, racism bad, gay good.

Where I’m at Now:

I’m currently at the chapter 17 mark in a self edit, and also going back to earlier chapters to change the format of specific scenes based on some feedback from my writing group.

I plan to finish my self edit and then look for beta readers.

After taking in that feedback I really want to save up for a developmental edit because I think I get lost in characters sometimes and have issues with plot.

I’ve finished the first draft of a Book 2 and half a first draft of Book 3. I want to hold onto those until I have a more developed idea of every major event in the series so I can make sure things add up. I also want to make sure every main part of the series is more fully developed before I keep writing.

Writing a series is a beast I have no idea how to tame, so I’m looking for any advice on managing, writing and publishing a series. 

Next up, meet the characters of the Gen6 series!

Also, is there anything else you want to know about Gen6?

Book Two Inspo Board

Whole Series Inspo/Visualization Board

Gen6 Playlist

[professorspork]

You predicted Blake taking over the mantle of leadership when Ruby was too overwhelmed and also Yang's immediate assumption that Ever After was just death and just jhsksksk I saw today's episode and went "ProfessorSpork's characterizations on fucking point!" (Found has been living in my head rent-free since you posted it, you are hands-down my favorite RWBY fic author.)

as;lkslfka;slfasrhearjerkgmeveigh VINDICATIONNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!

but also lmao I correctly predicted Yang's reintroduction would be from offscreen having just projectiled an enemy, too, which hadn't occurred to me. it's the little things xD

so yeah I'm definitely feeling p proud of myself today and also THANK YOU FOR THAT COMPLIMENT THAT IS A WONDERFUL THING FOR YOU TO SAY

(gee what great news that i've just started posting a finished WIP that's gonna take us to like july with weekly updates leave a comment give a kudos tell your friends, I promise it will be filled with even more correct opinions and characterizations on fucking point I'M JUST SAYING)

[teh-nos]

WIP Wednesday!

Afore I forget what day it is I shall do WIP Wednesday, because I can do that this week, having SEVERAL blocks of text to choose from, even!

Here's ~300 words from The Fic That Isn't Called 'Sylvie Bangs The Lokiverse,' in which our heroine is on Asgard and runs into Young Loki and this being some form of shipfic he immediately tries hitting on her (which is kind of why she went there in the first place, so she's not annoyed by that).

This bit is SFW and probably by itself PG-rated or whatever. The fic as whole will be E-rated, though, because of course it will.

(Might cheat and post a bit from the other WIP later because OH EM GEE it feels like I shall never get done with it so I need to show my working to SOMEONE u kno?)

“You look like someone I know.”

“Who?” she asks, wondering what he’ll say this time, if he’ll ever be able to place her correctly.

“My mother, I think.” As if that answer was a surprise even to him his eyes widen and he adds, quickly, “I’m not saying you look old. Or that I’m attracted to my own mother. I just meant… that is… I...” He stumbles over his own words until he trails off into an embarrassed silence.

The clumsiness of all of this surprises her, but he’s young and still perfecting the seduction techniques that she’s grown so used to. Which is oddly endearing in itself, really, so she smiles at him.

“Why you don’t you try that again?” she suggests, gently.

This is a young man who hasn’t done anything really wrong yet, who hasn’t been shockingly bad. Most of the others she’s met and interacted with (or, put more crudely, all the ones she’s fucked) have been haunted by their own actions, their own mistakes. She shouldn’t prefer the ones who carry that weight with them, because she knows they’d be so much happier without all of that regret… but her Loki had that heaviness in him, in the way he carried himself, and so it’s familiar and so she likes it.

But this one is different, at least for now. The story of his life has barely started and the most of the dramatic twists have yet to happen. This is Loki at his most innocent, a combination of words that usually imply deceit or at the very least that a costly mistake is about to be made, but right now it’s true, and something about that is absolutely fascinating.

[leslie-lyman]

Les. These are hands down amazing. And you deserve special recognition for every single one.

Curious about them all. Don’t know which one is favorite… maybe politician learns about plants or new coworker causes dilemma for local chain smoker 😂

xoxo 😘

Okay, Skye, FIRST OF ALL:

You are the sweetest and kindest and most supportive friend and I love you and appreciate you so damn much.

I also keep telling people/myself I’m gonna do a big WIP post after SAMG is done to lay out all the things I have in the works, but then in the meantime I can’t resist dropping lil hints about them and talking about them anyway. 🙈

I cracked myself up with “politician learns about plants,” not gonna lie. This is a WIP only in that I have been marinating on the idea for like two weeks and yelling in some folks’ DMs about it. I have not actually written a word of it but I am extremely excited about the notion.

So have you ever seen this gif of Pedro from that time he was on one episode of Homeland for like six seconds as part of the congressional committee questioning some of the main characters in a hearing?

May I now present to you my idea:

Congressman. Marcus. Pike.

He’s progressive. He’s idealistic. He’s hot as fuck. And he just got elected as the new representative for Texas’s 27th district. He and Reader meet during a lunch break Marcus takes between votes and meetings at the US Botanic Gardens (which are right next to the Capitol). And he learns about plants (among other things). That’s literally all I got so far. 😂

And for “new coworker causes dilemma for local chain smoker,” the chain smoker is, of course, our beloved Javier Peña. He and Steve have a new third wheel attached to their team: forensic accountant Eleanor Hess. The problem is Ellie doesn’t do office hook-ups and Javier Peña knows he’s no one’s boyfriend material. Gee, I wonder what’s gonna happen???

[corduroyserpent]

last line challenge

tagged by @monroeknoxwrites rules: in a new post, share the last line you wrote and tag as many people as there are words (or as many as you feel like).

“Besides, you don’t wish to keep your Immortal Master Shen waiting, do you?”

(gee i wonder which wip this is from...)

i'll tag @luukeskywalker and anyone else who wants to play!