#i have so much commentary this took like three days ANYWAY...

[brightmalcolm]

Prodigal Son + iphones

insp/template

[helenkordart]

This was a bit of an insane project! I decided to draw all the designs from the various official arts we have gotten over the years. A bit of an archiving project! I tried to make them as accurate as possible. It involved a lot of guesswork tho, since most of them don′t show the full designs. Let′s just say that only 5 of these (and I mean five figures, not design sets lmao) show any kinds of shoes.

I do love seeing the design elements that carry over between the designs tho. Ququ is a cold boy and has to have some kind of fur or a scarf. Feng-er doesn′t want a speck of dirt to touch him and prefers high collars and bracers and high boots (the boots ARE book canon tho). I also love that there′s only three designs that have Ququ wear some kind of crown, the rest is just ribbons or nothing at all, despite the jade crown being mentioned at least once. Like no, we want the boy to be cozy and prevent headaches...!

Please tell me which designs are your favourite! Mine is the official manhua design, mostly because it′s honestly such a smart design, especially Ququ. Like you can tell the artist looked at Ququ and his specific disabilities and worked from there. Besides the hair ribbon, my favourite small detail is the arm warmers that look like compression gloves used for arthritis 🥹 That one means so much to me. Also the difference in layers between Ququ (I′m cold) and Feng-er (ew no dirt touch me ew). It′s just. So nice 🥹♥️

If you want the corresponding official arts, I′ve posted them in the thread on twitter! Anyway here′s which is which with more commentary lmao sorry I cannot shut up about these so much thought actually went into making them and this is the only place where I can actually talk about them properly 🥹

The designs from the first discontinued manhua- Some people in the fandom prefer these because they say they feel more adult but no, sorry, sure the art skill might be better but they just. Don′t feel like Fengcuis to me. Like I would′ve learned to love them but I′d never exchange them for the main ones we got. Plus the character designs changed between all the panels, so trying to chase down a specific design was hell. I′m glad Ququ showed up only in one panel so I didn′t have to do that again lmaoo

The designs from the official manhua- I already explained above why I love them so much. Just. These are THE designs for me. I see these little guys and my heart goes doki doki. If (when) I make lil standees, I′ll very probably use these

The designs from my favourite of the manhua covers- you don′t understandddddddddddddddddddddddddd I love this cover so much. To say I′m insane about it is an understatement. Just. Look at the cover art. Feng-er staring directly into the camera, challenging. Ququ looking soooo kissable. Their entwined fingers. Ququ wearing a jade bracelet in the colours of Feng-er′s robes. I′m just. Vrrrrrrr bark bark BARK. Also had to make MORE patterns for this one. Still not sure I did it proper justice tho 🥹

The manhua-canon modern au outfits- I still can′t believe we got a canon modern au where singer-spy Feng-er kidnaps doctor Ququ on a mission-date and has him hold a silly baloon all day and wear a cute little cap with a silly little cockatoo on it and then they wish each other a happy new year during a sunset on top of the ferris wheel AND I′M SUPPOSED TO BE NORMAL ABOUT IT???????????? Anyway Ququ in his tweed collection is so cute. Mwah. Best boy. Feng-er come on tug on his scarf and kiss him. Do it. Now

Designs from the covers of the traditional edition- these designs are pretty unique while still feeling in character, which is cool! Ququ is such a fancy lil lad here. And I′m obsessed with his... frog? Mousie? Front clasp. I made it a little fox because of course I did

Design from the 1st cover of the simplified edition- I don′t have that much to say about these honestly except that they′re very pretty. I love that Feng-er′s top robe is sheer and I love the silver embroidery, even if it took me some time to figure out how tf to draw it

Design from the 2st cover (Ququ) and 3rd cover (Feng-er) of the simplified edition- that Ququ design drives me crazy. He looks so soft and cozy, you wouldn′t guess that this is the meanest most repressed bitchiest man in all of ye olde Sui dynasty. I want to squeeze him. Cute agression overload. Meanwhile I couldn′t figure out what Feng-er′s belt and hem was doing pattern wise so I just winged it lol.

Fengcuis cosplaying a married couple with designs from the Thai vol. 1+2 freebie- God. Funniest arc in the entire book. They′re insane. They′re perfect for each other. Peerlessly matched. One day I′ll draw more of unhinged wife Feng-er because seriously. Their idea of heterosexual marriage is SO funny. They′re so real for that. And the og chibi designs are SO cute. Ququ′s sweaty little face. This was your idea gay boy, suffer

Audio drama designs from first half of season 1- These are so funny bcs the difference of the designs is like. Main covers: beautiful and ethereal. Minisode covers: Ququ is A Tube with a head on top. Slappy fights. Beautiful. No notes. TubeQu is a god′s perfect creature

Audio drama designs from second half of season 1- I said it before but these just feel too generic to be properly them. While drawing them they did kinda grow on me, at least Feng-er, since his expression is kinda perfectly smug. Im still ehhh on the Ququ tho. He′d look better without the crown.

Designs from Thai covers 1+2- oh man lol the thai covers. I was joking that I could not save the Feng-er, but he did grow on me. It might be that he looks proper manic with the chibi base I drew 😂 But he′d look so much cuter with bangs. Idk why the artist did him like this. Meanwhile Ququ is the most beautiful man alive. I mean it′s what he deserves, but it′s still very funny. Also LOVE how big and fluffy his collar is.

Designs from Thai cover 3- besides my other issues with the thai design, the colours on Feng-er just clash lmao I′m sorry, again why did the thai artist have to do him like this 😂 meanwhile the coat on Ququ is not a colour I′ve ever seen him in, but yknow what it works surprisingly well. He continues to be the most beautiful man around. Sorry king is that horrible peacock bothering you

[crumblinggothicarchitecture]

re your commentary on swifts feminism

her song the man has always bothered me particularly how it's been labeled and used as some "feminist anthem" when it's not about feminism. she literally says she'd rather replace the man on top and get to get away with all the bad behaviors men do, "if a was a man" means she'd be the one "flashing dollars and getting bitches and models", being a baller and not a "bitch", and referencing leo dicaprio also feels weird to me given his track record of throwing female partners away the second they hit age 25. if it was really about feminism it'd be a song about getting rid of that structure entirely, not having anyone in a position above someone else especially to abuse wealth and social power but instead it's over three minutes of her wishing she could be in that position instead

Hello! Apologies this took me a whole week to get to <3. I totally agree with on "The Man"(2019) though. This song is such a snobby, classless disgrace.

I always forget that people really believe that to be a feminist anthem… and I just don't understand how people think that?

It's not a song about disrupting the patriarchy. Taylor Swift is singing about climbing the corporate ladder, and wishing, simultaneously, that she was privy to male privilege.

Like she's already privileged, and yet she's singing about wanting even more privileges…. LOL

Swift is not a feminist and I will literally die on this Hill. She's not even a LGBT ally either- but that's a post/rant for another day.

She cares about exactly one thing- herself. Absolutely nothing in any of her songs that she markets as feminist music takes about issues facing women as a whole- or even extends empathy towards other women. All of it is so completely self-centered.

Especially, "The Man."(2019) I'm sorry, Miss Swift, but as a real feminist, I really have no desire to replace men at the top of the hierarchy- I want to destroy the hierarchy.

Also, since you're giving me the opportunity to talk about this, can we talk about how gross this line is: " and they would toast to me, let the players play/ I'd be just like Leo in Saint-Tropez" First of all, she's saying that if she was the man she would be applauded for sleeping around so much, and if she was a man she could be like Leonardo Dicaprio who famously refuses to date anyone older than 25?

Like she's really out here repackaging sexist power imbalances, ones that encourage the objectification of other people, in romantic relationships and singing about how she wishes she could do that without being called out? She's romanticizing Leo's creepy dating life, as perpetually single yet using young girls like accessories, and yet in all of her other songs she is crying about how much she wants to get married and be "pushing strollers." Make it make sense.

Also, uhhh… the men are also called out for being creeps? Why would we stop doing that if gender roles were suddenly reversed?

My aim with feminist activism is to destroy gender roles altogether…

Anyway. She's a fraud.

And you have brought up a remarkably good observation in her music- because this theme extends out well past just "The Man" (2019).

God this song makes me so mad- How does she get away with selling this shit as Feminism??????????????????? She's probably never read a feminist text in her life.

I have this ongoing theory that her idea of "feminism" is just being able to climb the corporate ladder. Like she's just so clearly only imaginative when it comes to business. She really should have just focused on becoming a businesswoman, because she's certainly not a poet or a feminist.

[rorywritesjunk]

There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin

Crocodile brings on a former assistant to manage Buggy and his workload. Buggy realizes he likes it when Taron praises him for the littlest things.

Rating: Honestly soft NC-17 due to what Buggy is doing at the end again. Warning: Male msturbation towards the end again because Buggy can't help himself. A reference to a blowjob. Buggy fantasizes a lot, has self pity. Word Count: 2,165 A/N: My self indulgent submissive Buggy fic.

Title comes from “Take Me To Church” by Hozier.

Chapter 1 + Chapter 2 + Chapter 3 + Chapter 4 + Chapter 5 + Chapter 6 + Chapter 7

Chapter 6

“I can't find the cravat you gave me, Buggy.” Taron brought up a few days later after a meeting. Buggy had tuned most of it out as usual, filling his mind with images of Mihawk or Crocodile beating him senseless to keep him from even looking at Taron. He knew where the cravat was, hidden under his pillow in his room. They didn't have to know what he did with it.

“M-Maybe Richie took it.” Buggy chuckled nervously. “He likes things like that, you know. Just a big kitten sometimes.” He let out a loud bark of laughter, hoping it was a believable excuse, but the way the three were looking at him he wondered if he was a dead clown with that lie.

Thankfully Taron shrugged and moved on from the topic, bringing up meetings the three would have that Buggy would need to be present for even if the others did the talking. He breathed a sigh of relief; meetings where he just had to sit there was fine. The other two wouldn't want him talking anyway, he'd just fuck it up.

Once he was released, he headed for the tent, Taron trailing after him as they went over the planner. Buggy kept glancing back at them, the absence of the colorful cravat noticeable, but he couldn't give it back to them after what he had been doing with it. He would need to get them a new one.

“If uh, you want, you can get a new cravat from my… own collection.” Buggy suggested, nervously tripping over his words as they walked. “Only if you want, I'm not going to force it, you know.”

“Oh?” They glanced up, amused by his offer. “You're not going to just sneak one into my wardrobe then?”

“H-Hey, I was just trying to add some color to your wardrobe!” He shot back as his face flushed from the embarrassing reminder. “If you just dressed flashier it wouldn't be a problem, instead you look like you take clothes out of Croc’s dresser each morning!”

“Mm, you still don't like how I dress?” They asked as they looked back at their planner. “I don't know if I trust you to dress me, Buggy. Not to mention your clothes won't fit me.”

“You wouldn't be wearing my clothes anyway!” Buggy hated the shrieking pitch of his own voice right then. Why did he have to imagine that? Taron in his clothes, shirt unbuttoned, pants snug around their hips and ass. Buggy would prefer them to not have clothes on. He choked on the thought and turned red. Why was he acting like a horny teenager lately?

Taron laughed; it took Buggy a second to realize it wasn't his reaction they laughed at. They were laughing at the thought of dressing in bold colors and patterns, commenting how that wasn’t really what they liked to wear. They preferred darker, neutral colors with very little flair to them. Buggy's commentary on their wardrobe amused them, though anyone else would have been offended.

“Thank you for the offer, Buggy.” They chuckled as they grinned at him. “How about you surprise me with a new cravat, one your lion won't want to take?”

“F-Fine, yea, I can do that! Whatever, I'll find you an even better one than that last one, okay?!” Buggy shot back. “We can go look for it now if you want!”

“We have work to do.” They reminded him; Buggy deflated a bit. “Just some more paperwork.”

“Why, why is there so much?” Buggy whined as he stopped in his tracks and fell to his knees dramatically, pounding a fist on the ground. “I hate this! I've never done this much before in my life! It's not fair!”

He whined and sulked as Taron walked over and stood beside him. He tensed up when he realized how close they were. If he kept his head down they wouldn't be able to kick him in the face, and he had his hair under his bandana so they wouldn't be able to grab ahold of it. If he stayed down they couldn't hurt him. They have to be sick of him by now.

“Buggy.” They crouched beside him, putting their hand on his back. Their voice was gentle but firm. “I know it's a lot which is why I'm here to help you, remember? I'm giving you breaks when I feel you need it, keeping you on task, things like that. It's just a few forms that need your signature.”

He lifted his head up just enough to look at them. They weren't angry or frustrated at his behavior, once again more amused by the pirate's antics. They kept their hand on his back, a comforting feeling for him as he sat up, hoping there wasn't too much dirt in his face.

“After you fill out the forms we can go to your room and you pick me out a new cravat.” They told him gently. “But only if you'll be a good boy for me. Can you do that?”

He nodded, swallowing heavily as he thought of Crocodile kicking him in the stomach to discourage his body from reacting to Taron’s words. Why did they have to call him a good boy like that? He wanted to be good for them, to continue to earn that praise, but the way they spoke to him with a calm voice while he had a meltdown was almost too much for him to handle.

“I can be a good boy for you.” He mumbled. “Really.”

“Good.” They smiled, giving him a gentle pat on the back

“Why are you nice to me?” He mumbled as he looked up at them. “You work for Crocodile.”

“I do but if I used similar tactics on you that he would have used what good would that do me?” They told him as they moved their hand from his back. “You've been so good at getting the tasks and paperwork done that I don't need to threaten you, Buggy.”

“Would you have if I didn't get the work done?” Buggy asked. Taron smiled and touched his cheek. He leaned into their hand.

“Oh, I would have. You wouldn't have liked what I would have done to you.” They told him, giving his cheek a pat. “But you've been so good for me that all I want to do is reward you. I may need to get you better candy.”

He perked up a little at the mention of candy. Taron grinned and stood back up, offering their hand to him. Buggy took it, letting them pull him to his feet. He hated the idea of more work, it was unending, but the prospect of a sweet little treat as a reward was a bit of motivation to get the tasks done, even if he wanted to fuss and whine about it.

The two headed back to the tent and to Buggy’s office. Taron set the stack of papers down on the table before they went to start some coffee. Buggy took a seat and sighed, looking over at Taron as they busied themself. Buggy was still getting used to them, though there was still a bit of distrust. They were close to Crocodile, could they just be softening Buggy up before the final blow? 

He wondered if Taron talked about him whenever they were with Crocodile. Did the two make fun of him when they were together in Crocodile’s bed and talk about how ridiculous he was? That he was pathetic, useless, and that Buggy was kept around just to be  the face of the Cross Guild at this point? 

Buggy slumped forward onto the table, letting his head thunk against it as he let out a pitiful whine. How did he get into this mess? Why did this have to happen to him?

“Buggy?”

He looked up, resting his chin on the table as he looked over at Taron. They had a frown on their face as they carried back his cup of coffee. 

“Something on your mind?”

“Do you talk about me to Crocodile?” He asked with a sigh, dropping his head down again. Taron frowned at the question. Why was he so interested in what they did with Crocodile after hours?

“No, I don’t.” Taron told him as they set the cup down next to him. They took a seat and turned to look at him, resting an elbow on the table with their head in their hand. “He doesn’t think of you when he’s choking me with his cock if that’s what you’re wondering.”

Yes, that’s exactly what I was wondering. Buggy sat up and looked away as his face turned red. They said that so casually to him and he hated the image that popped into his head, the same image he jerked off too with their cravat, of them on their knees in front of Buggy, begging for his cock, and what they said didn’t help. He tried to think of Crocodile beating him into the ground to ignore his cock twitching, but it wasn’t helping.

“O-Okay, you know what, I think I can handle this paperwork without you.” Buggy said, voice cracking as he gave them a dismissive wave. “I don’t need you for the rest of the day. Go uh, have the day off. Enjoy the weather.”

Taron gave him a funny look. “Oh, so no taking me to your bedroom for a new cravat?”

“Later, okay, later.” Buggy insisted. “You, uh, are distracting me, talking about Crocodile, so I don’t need you for the rest of the day. Go… go hang out with him or something.”

They looked at him for a moment and Buggy wondered if they were suspicious of his change in behavior.

“Crocodile wouldn’t be pleased if I left you alone when you have work to do.” They replied as they leaned back in their chair. Buggy hated this, he needed to be alone just for a little bit to take care of this problem. He needed to slip back to his room, grab the cravat from under his pillow, and take care of himself. He actually felt mildly disgusted with himself for this but he had no other choice. “Though I suppose you have been working hard lately, so I’ll give you an hour.” 

Grinning they pushed their chair back and stood up, leaning across the table to grab his chin. “However, you need to be a good boy and take care of the paperwork, do you understand? I’d hate for you to disappoint me, Buggy.”

Buggy stiffened in their grasp, his body reacting to their touch. He was grateful he was sitting so they wouldn’t notice the growing tent in his pants. Taron grinned, giving his chin a squeeze before they pulled back. “You can have one hour alone but then I’ll need to come back to make sure you’ve been good, understand?”

“I-I um, understand.” He choked out, his voice tight as he tried not to whine for their touch. Taron pushed their chair in and headed out, leaving Buggy alone. He was in no position to leave his chair, the discomfort was too much, so he gave himself a few minutes before undoing his pants and slipping them down his knees with his boxers, freeing himself from his clothes. 

He felt pathetic for this, having to jack off after spending time with this person, someone he didn’t really know, someone who wouldn’t give him the time of day. What would they think of him if they found him like this? They’d probably tell Crocodile and Mihawk, the three of them laughing at how pathetic the clown was and how desperate he was for another person’s touch. The thought was horrifying to Buggy. He didn’t want any of them to know. It was humiliating enough to him that he never had sex, but to know that his assistant was having it with Crocodile after spending the day with Buggy? Did they hate him that much that Taron needed to have the thought of Buggy fucked out of them each day?

And that was a mistake because now Taron was in his thoughts, sitting in front of him, watching him touch himself as they urged him to continue, telling him he needed to be a good boy, that he was just so wonderful and doing a good job at pleasing himself. He imagined them putting their hand on his cheek, caressing his skin as they praised him on how proud they were of him for always doing a good job with his work, that he was getting better each day. 

And he was starting to imagine Taron naked, taking their clothes off for him, telling him they wanted to make sure he was satisfied by their assistance-

And someone was calling for him, saying he was needed, and Buggy was cursing at being interrupted. Why couldn’t people solve their own problems?

[kyupidos]

Hi there! I was wondering if you could write a birthday drabble for how the one and only Yuu spends their birthday.

Boyfriend Rook and the Pomefiore crew get all dolled up and see theatre performances (Hell maybe they go to one of Vil's). Afterwards Rook and reader have lunch at a fancy restaurant and enthuse about the performance.

Meanwhile everyone else is trying to get a party ready for NRC's favorite (and only) prefect. Riddle has sorted everyone into teams according to what they need to accomplish. Baking crew, Decorations crew etc. Best Friend Idia's tinkering away at their computer forl a surprise.

(Anyways this is pretty self indulgent... It would be really nice if you could release this on September 28th)

09/28/23’s delivery 🏹✉️ twisted wonderland

one and onlyヽ( ･∀･)ﾉ_θ彡☆Σ(ノ `Д´)ノ,ヽ( ･∀･)ﾉ_θ彡☆Σ(ノ `Д´)ノ ;; summary. ‘your lovely friends and your even lovelier lover work to orchestrate the best birthday for you. ’

2.1k~ words ( went a little overboard.. )

characters. all dorms, specifically pomefiore : rook hunt ;; romantic , others ;; platonic . 🖇️ tags. reader is gender neutral ( you/your ), reader is yuu, many characters show up but only rook is romantic ( and only few are mentioned by name ), may or may not have used google translate for rook’s french, romantic fluff

📡 _a/n. oho, hii!! thank goodness i checked my inbox, or else i may not have seen this 😓 thankfully, it’s the 23rd as i start to write this!! i hope this is a well enough birthday gift for you! i’ve been doing quite a few birthday fics recently, but it’s pretty fun, i must say. anyway..HAPPY BIRTHDAYY!!

. there in front of you stood your darling rook, awaiting you alongside epel and vil, who you knew for a fact he coerced into dressing the way they were at the moment ( well, vil wouldn’t be matching for long considering his upcoming stage performance that you’d be watching, but nonetheless ); he had a certain style of his, one that you could never mistake for another. he took you arm in arm, gently bringing you down the steps of ramshackle. “ah, mon lapin chéri ! you look magnificent, but it’s unexpected after all, the day is your’s!”

epel and vil waved to you as you made your ways to the gate, both of whom smiling and greeting you kindly. “happy birthday, prefect! you’re lookin’ stylish today!” vil nodded in agreement to epel’s welcoming, “indeed, as rook said, you look splendid.” just then, rook giggled merrily like a fool in love, taking your arm gently to twirl you a bit. “ah, correct you both are! mon lapin continues to be beautiful!”

you smile warmly as rook takes you arm in arm again, and now you’re continuing your walk to the magic mirror to watch vil’s soon to be theatre performance. “thank you three, seriously! this is honestly a great birthday already.” rook let out a huff of amusement, eyeing you gleefully in a sense you couldn’t exactly place. “ah, yet the day has only just begun.” you didn’t notice it just yet, but as epel ‘stumbled’ behind to fix up his outfit, those words seemed to be the phrase that allowed the boyish teen to call up a certain ace of hearts to get things started.

“heyheyy, ace..have your housewarden get that party started!”

in all honesty, you did struggle to understand twisted wonderland’s media culture and such, but even despite such an issue, you had no troubles digesting the story behind the performance vil put on. a tale of star crossed lovers, a sort of right place wrong time style of story. you might have struggled to get a reference here or there, but with rook sitting right beside you, he fared well at giving whispered commentary whenever you needed it.

truly, it was a wonderful way to celebrate your special day. clearly, there was a reason this specific theatre was rated so highly by audience and critics alike. you’d surely have to thank rook for managing to get you in, otherwise you’d probably be doing something much less entertaining. suddenly, epel tapped on your shoulder and whispered to you, “i think this part was taken inspiration from the fairest queen!”

you leaned in curiously, “is that so?” rook noticed the quiet chatter and was quick to join in to help you better grasp things, “see, as the one who’s slowly turning ill tries to find ways to look healthy once more, it mirrors a piece of history where the fairest queen concocts a potion similar—but instead, to turn into an old woman.” “ah, i think i’ve heard you mention this before.” “indeed, it is a valuable part of history!”

the rest of the performance, meanwhile, went without much commentary. its end wasn’t full of metaphors or hidden meaning, just a valuable moral with wonderfully done visuals for an onstage show, and of course as the end, the actors all gathered together to bow in front of the audience, you, rook, and epel of course clapping significantly loud for vil. there was also a special announcement regarding a certain someone’s, cough cough, your, cough cough, birthday. having the attention on you was a bit nerve wracking, but at the same time it also felt a bit nice; so it evened out in the end.

finally, you and rook waved goodbye to the other two pomefiore students, as the fully blonde was taking you along for a nice birthday restaurant dinner between the two of you. he made sure it was a place that served exclusively your favorites, and you couldn’t be happier. “just wait until you see their menus, chéri ! i’m without a doubt, you will love it all~” you simpered at that, “i’m sure that i will.”

in the end, all your conversation as you ate your first meals respectively drove back to the performance from just before. “i simply must ask, mon amour, what did you think of the story? was it to your tastes?” of course you nodded in confirmation, “nothing less of amazing, as expected of vil,” rook nodded in the background; no doubt he was impressed by his housewarden’s work as well. “though it was a shame, really.” “oh?” your boyfriend questioned curiously, looking at you to see your face and reactions, digging into his lunch in the meantime. “which bit?”

you thought for a moment, “the sick one of the two, y’know. it was such a shame that his drive for looking beautiful just because he believed it would bring him and his would’ve been lover closer led to that fate.” you then took a chunk out of your meal again, “it’s an unfortunate romance, no?” rook hummed for a moment, a bittersweet smile on his face before he took you by the hand and kissed the back of your palm ever so romantically, “well, if it makes you feel any better, mon amour..”

and then as he slowly lifted his head up for you to see his face to prove to you his words were genuine, he continued on, “i will never leave you even in sickness, as the two lovers once faced, and i wouldn’t dare to do so even in worser conditions. i chose you for a reason after all, mon cher~” his hand still having taken yours, gently so to the point you’d barely notice his touch if it wasn’t right in front of you for you to witness, you couldn’t help but fluster, even if for just a moment.

“oh? those words sound similar to wedding vows. maybe you’re planning to gift me another birthday gift, rook?” rook looked at you even more lovingly than you believed he ever could, with a teasing smile and joking tone, “ah, you’ve caught me, mon lapin! le chasseur est devenu le chassé!”

“hey, don’t joke like that now!”

“come on everyone, let’s hurry this up, for the prefect and rook’s sake!”

a groan of disbelief left the throat of an aforementioned ace of hearts, “we get it, house warden! cut us a bit of slack..” while you and rook spent your time at the restaurant, epel and vil hurried back to ramshackle dorm to give an update on where you were. as of current they were finishing up the last touches, but of course riddle couldn’t help but be strict, even so.

of course, he made quick work to organize everyone into groups; trying to be efficient as possible, having been asked personally to do so by rook himself— only the best for you! so in the end, heartslabyul and scarabia, both being dorms with plenty experience partying, shared the tasks of food and invitations, savanaclaw and pomefiore were on decorations ( in charge labor and the type of decor respectively ), diasomnia was busied with cleaning and making sure everything was where it ought to be, and octavinelle and ignihyde were working on the more work related projects of birthday party planning, like food distribution and matters similar.

floyd sighed boringly as riddle scolded ace in the background, “man, i wonder how rook is doing keeping shrimpy at bay. bet they’re having real fun, huh?” jade smiled at his brother’s antics as he continued to aid azul with counting the platters of food served on the dinner table, the octomer sighing meanwhile. “if you intend to goof off, at least spend it helping out the others. ah, perhaps you could help jamil and trey with the food?”

trey, of course passing by to plate his freshly concocted creations, smiled just a tad too nervously at the idea. “there’s no need to worry azul, we’ve made plenty enough, really.” jamil, who came by just to help in plating things nodded to trey’s words, “the kitchen is doing just fine, don’t worry about us.”

while everyone else engaged in lighthearted banter on the first floor, idia was quick as work in your room, tinkering away at your computer; nothing much, but he did hope it would be a suitable gift for you. what was he planning? why, something diabolical of course, something only a master evil mastermind could dare concoct; he planned to give you access to servers and streams that, though you’d usually have to pay some sort of premium to even get a good use out of, would be perfect for everything you’ve been meaning to get into! animes, games, audiobooks, comics and all the like—it would be available to you now! his constant use of illegal manga websites has finally come in clutch!

ortho stood— or rather, hovered— just behind him, watching him excitedly as the older shroud finished up work. “ooh, this is so exciting! i’m 100% positive the prefect will find this a gift treasurable for life!” idia ‘kehehhe’ laughed away, taking a break from the computer to crack his knuckles. “hehe, ‘m glad rook is managing to distract the prefect for this long, would’ve taken me ages to get this gift going behind their back otherwise.”

just then, a booming voice appeared right at the room’s door entrance— “idia!!” sebek spoke aloud, “what’re you doing here?! will the party be taking place here too? i’ll sweep up here as well then, in respects to the friend of me and my young master!” in the distance, idia could swear he heard “sebek, i thought i told you that overcleaning wasn’t necessary.”

originally idia was planning to respond with a sarcastic quip and then lay about ( he was done anyway ), but then a much more intimidating voice entered the room without warning. “idia, ortho, sebek, here you three are!” “holy crap, lilia?! jumpscare warning, please!” lilia smiled teasingly as he let himself down to the floor, having previously jumpscared the three when he hung upside down from the ceiling, sebek looking to idia in offense for the bat fae. “warning?! how dare you expect such a thing from him, you should learn to respect his presence like with the young master!”

“come on boys, stop fighting,” lilia merely smiled gleefully at the two’s arguing, “it’s time to hurry downstairs, the prefect’s almost home!”

those words were more than enough to cease the banter, everyone’s in the room’s eyes widening slightly at the news, other than lilia, of course. and with that, they all hurried down to the main floor now that all was said and done.

similarly to when you left ramshackle to see vil’s performance, on the way to ramshackle rook had took you by the hand to twirl you. though this time, he put more effort into having you two walk and dance than he did before. “isn’t this fun, mon lapin? things like this take up quite the sum of energy, but it’s still exhilarating~” you shook your head playfully at his tone, “this isn’t much exhilarating as it is calming, rook. we’re dancing slowly, after all.” “is that so? well, i don’t mind however you choose to see it, so long as you enjoy it <3”

slowly but surely the dancing ceased and you slowly approached the stairs, rook taking his hands to cover your eyes as you did so. you were a bit confused, but as you have so far, you figure you might as well go with the flow. “don’t look now, mon amour,” rook speaks quietly but teasingly all the same, “a surprise awaits you, i’m sure you don’t want that ruined~?” you playfully replied, “oh, of course not. i’ll keep my eyes closed.”

the atmosphere inside ramshackle was quiet and still, but if you were to focus your hearing as much as possible, you could probably hear the little shuffling every now and then, and ever so light giggling that was followed by a just as light shushing sound. as you further entered, you noticed rook’s hand slowly move from your face, presumably to turn on the light as it seemed to be dark, and once the shuffling got just a wee bit louder and he moved his other hand away as well, you took that as a sign you could open your eyes at this point.

immediately to greet your sights was a beautifully decorated version of your dorm, specifically tailored by, no doubt pomefiore, to suit your personal tastes. but more importantly, the people that greeted you hurrying away from their hiding spots to celebrate you. they all spoke aloud a their own slight variation of the phrase, but you knew full well what they were getting across as the noise hit your senses all at once.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!”

suddenly, you felt the gloved hands of rook gently hold onto your shoulders, and when you turned your head to face him, he looked at you with a smile of pure genuinity, and he spoke with honeyed words,

“happy birthday, for my one and only lapin.”

[viccharine]

who the HELL is panicking at this disco!!!!

(reblogs greatly appreciated!)

(available on my ko-fi shop!)

process + commentary under the cut!

about the piece: i found myself in a bit of a slump after pushing out so much art in about 2 weeks so this piece took wayyyyy longer than any of my other ones. i knew I wanted the concept of a thermometer as a “cigarette” (do you guys get it. because like. a fever you can’t sweat out. a high fever. right you guys get it right??????) but it took me a LOT of tries to eventually land on a composition i actually liked—do not even get me STARTED on how I incorporated the title. I couldn’t decide on using a font or hand lettering or even where to place the text, it took me a solid two days to get to where it is now and I’m not even 100% happy with it. i tried to mimic a playing card design with the text placement but I’m not sure how well I pulled it off

here are some of the process pics:

the concept itself comes from a lot of the references to addiction in the album as well as the heavy burlesque, early 1900s, circus influence on the album aesthetic (whoever thought of this album theme deserves an award, AFYSCO has genuinely some of the coolest concepts from a design perspective to me)

about the album: AFYCSO is probably one of the best debut albums imo (although that title probably goes to Olivia Rodrigo’s “SOUR” for me)—it’s genuinely in my top three favorite albums of all time, no skips whatsoever on there. regardless of my opinion on Panic! at the Disco (which was pretty much neutral, I never really got into bandom and I didn’t really listen to panic’s music outside of AFYSCO) AFYSCO will always have a special place in my heart, both musically and lyrically it’s SO GOOD

although, I will say that there are some misogynistic undertones (and in some cases just outright misogyny) in these lyrics—I did touch on this topic in my DANCE DANCE commentary so I won’t repeat myself, check that post for more of my thoughts. all in all, the album bangs, but the misogynistic undertones were basically unavoidable if you look at the album in terms of being written by a teenage boy in the early 2000s who got cheated on. hell hath no fury like a woman scorned but the devil himself doesn’t write lyrics like a teen boy cheated on—go figure. im not saying all the songs have misogynistic undertones but I will say there are a couple that are WAY in ur face (looking at you, I write sins)

anyway, that’s basically it, ok byeeeeee!!!

p.s: i was debating mentioning this because I feel like im beating a dead horse, but in light of Brendon Urie’s recent actions (as well as past controversial actions), I don’t support him and feel extremely bad about the people who his actions have hurt—but I don’t think that means much from a person who never really liked him in the first place. again, while I was a BIG fan of AFYCSO, I never really got into Panic! at the Disco (I only listened to Pretty. Odd. recently this month and before that I only really knew the big radio hits). im not gonna pretend like I know everything about what happened with Panic! at the Disco in recent years and truly? I don’t Care to find out—panic! has been disbanded, and while I look at AFYSCO fondly with nostalgia, I don’t feel much about the band itself

p.p.s: AFYCSO almost killed me once because when I had a kidney infection (although I didn’t know it at the time) I had an INSANELY HIGH fever. I thought to myself “haha this is a fever I can’t sweat out!! like the album!!” and then promptly passed out—I wasted my last coherent thought on some stupid P!TAD joke instead of. asking for medical attention. anyway I ended up in the emergency room so I didn’t die but it was a near thing

[polychr0matic]

Pour a little salt. ~ S.B.

Author’s Note: This was just something I wrote because I had a bad day and needed to have something good to come out of it, which I think this is??? Been years since I’ve shared my writing so this may be terrible, sorry. ☹️ It’s also kind of incomplete. Perhaps a series if people respond well? Anyway, happy reading!

TW: Some self-deprecating thoughts and dialogue, Ravenclaw ‘reader’, no use of Y/N, brief mentioning of Wormtail and Snape.

Don’t look in the mirror. Don’t look in the mirror. Don’t look in the mirror. It was the current mantra that was ceaselessly repeating in my head and coincidentally, the only thing keeping myself from tumbling over the ledge into the abyss below. For now. I haven’t the foggiest idea how I got here or how I came to be like this, but it seemed like there was nothing that was going to change anytime soon. Might as well learn to deal. Right?

I inhale deeply through my nose and slowly blink a couple of times, allowing the surrounding world to come back into focus, a welcome distraction perhaps. Same deep blue drapes and bedding, clothes strewn about, spare bits of parchment and quills littered on bedside tables and even on the floor, Pandora’s crystal collection placed sporadically - even though she will say it’s intentional - on every windowsill and lately, popping up in our socks. It was what I was used to seeing day in and day out, never changing, making a mockery of me as if I didn’t already know. Tiresome. Frustrating. Pointless. Could not have chosen three better words in my humble opinion. A sigh soon escapes and I shake my head vigorously in an attempt to get back on track. So much for a distraction, eh?

With a quick, and stupid, look back over my shoulder, I catch a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror and I struggle not to react, only managing to take in the ghastly bags under my eyes and the monstrosity, that some might call hair, piled on top of my head. Why did you do that? Nothing good ever comes of it. You never learn. I flinch, reeling back a bit before swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat. One would think I would be used to the commentary that just so happened to swirl through my mind as if it owned the place, but no - I’d never be that lucky.

~

I somehow managed to make it to almost all of my lessons that day without incident. Until Potions. The positive affirmations I had given myself to recite quietly clearly weren’t enough since it only took one single moment to unravel everything completely and send me into a deep spiral. Not that I was doing all that great to begin with, mind you, but I liked to think I had a pretty decent handle on things.

I was in my 6th year at Hogwarts and somehow ended up in Advanced Placement Potions with Slughorn at the end of the day, how thrilling, and let’s just say that nothing was going my way. We were working on Scintillation Solution and apart from putting incorrect amounts in, I was also hellishly allergic to the powdered unicorn horn and of course this particular potion used quite a bit of it. Unavoidable contact at best. Nevertheless, I grit my teeth and got to work, hoping that I would have something that would at least get a passing mark. Oh how wrong I was.

The space next to mine was taken up by none other than Snivellus Severus Snape, one of the most gifted in Potions, and from the moment Slughorn began, I could sense the animosity radiating off of him. Was it directed at me? No… It was for James Potter, who had arrived before anyone else to take up Severus’ usual spot next to Lily Evans, a self-satisfying smirk set upon his face. Which means I got the shit end of the stick. Wonderful.

I keep my eyes averted and focused dutifully on my Scintillation Solution, not paying the greasy git a single lick of attention, until my wand slips from my fingers and in a desperate attempt to catch it before it makes its new home in my smoking cauldron, I end up flinging powdered unicorn horn… Everywhere. I begin to cough, rough and grating, as the particles sneak their way into my sinuses, coating my skin and robes, the table; yeah, I wasn’t kidding when I said it was everywhere. And to make matters worse, like the allergic reaction I was having wasn’t enough, I even managed to get some on, you guessed it, Snape. The world must really hate me.

“Are you that incompetent that you can’t even hold onto your wand without making a proper mess? And you’re supposed to be a Ravenclaw,” Snape sneered with a distasteful curl of his upper lip. “You should be resorted back into Hufflepuff for how daft you are. And to think, I could’ve been sitting next to Lily.”

Now, in hindsight, he could’ve said a lot worse. Truly. I just couldn’t stomach it. Not after how I was this morning, head in a tizzy, not knowing which way was up, down, or sideways. It hit a little differently and I felt the familiar prickling sensation behind my eyes. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. I bite down on the fleshy inside of my cheek and clench my hands into fists, already feeling my body begin to shake and drop in temperature. I felt cold. Detached. I needed to get the every loving fuck out of here.

“Oh! My dear! Are you alright?” Slughorn. I swallow thickly and keep the tears at bay with all of my might before glancing up at the greying Professor with a tight smile, “Splendid. Although, I wouldn’t mind a trip to the Hospital Wing if that’s alright, Professor.”

“Of course, of course! I will excuse you for the rest of the lesson and come see me after Madam Pomfrey tends to you, I will allow you to redo your Scintillation Solution at a later date.”

I flash another tight smile in thanks as I shove my wand into my robes, grab my bag, and hightail it out of there. I catch the concerned looks from Lily and Sirius on the way, but with a slight shake of my head, I dismiss them both, classroom door slamming shut behind me.

~

“Madam Pomfrey fixed you right up! You look right as rain now!”

“Thanks Pete.” I squeeze his shoulder and offer my usual tight smile, not wanting to offend the poor guy when he meant well enough. “I feel much better as well.” Liar.

James tore his eyes away from the petite redhead in the corner that was currently talking with Marlene McKinnon to spare a glance my way, a small frown taking root on his lips, “Are you sure? Snivellus looked pretty pissed and I can’t help but feel responsible. I mean, I did take the only seat he sits in.”

I roll my eyes and wave him off, not wanting his sympathy nor his guilt. A witch could only bear so much after all. “Don’t let it tie your wand in a knot. I’m rubbish at Potions, so something would’ve happened regardless of who was sitting there.”

The curly haired Marauder opened his mouth to speak again before Remus cuts in, “You aren’t rubbish at Potions. I’ve seen your marks and believe me, there are worse.” Always the gentleman.

“Yeah! Can’t be worse than Wormtail. He didn’t even make it into Advanced Placement Potions, the tosser.” Sirius.

“HEY!”

A chuckle passes through my lips and I flick my line of vision upwards only to be met with storm clouds, seeming to swirl around as they observe silently. I momentarily lose my breath and cough into a fist, looking away but not before catching the knowing glint flash within the grey.

~

Ah, Friday. Last day of lessons and I happened to have bribed Remus with copious amounts of chocolate that I would buy at Honeydukes next Hogsmeade trip for his in-depth notes for Ancient Runes. Seriously, always a gentleman. Despite the bribe, oops.

It was cool outside, wind crisp and causing the fallen leaves from The Whomping Willow to rustle around, the spidery branches whipping around in irritation, and my skin grew cold as a result. I guess the cream colored jumper I chose to wear wasn’t doing a very good job at keeping me warm. Pity. I rub my hands together as I walk along the winding path that led down to Care of Magical Creatures, thankful that I seemed to be the only student bonkers enough to be wandering about with the wind being the way it was. I wasn’t much of a people person and the thought of having to actually hold a conversation of merit made my skin crawl. I shudder with a shake of my head and kick a couple of stones on the path, watching as they skitter off into the grass, thoroughly enjoying my own form of entertainment.

CRACK!

CRACK!

CRAAAAACK!

“Oh for the love of MERLIN!”

Sirius? What the hell was he doing out here? And where the hell was he at? My brow furrows as I follow the source of the noise and Sirius’ voice, coming to the edge of The Forbidden Forest. Of course the arse would go in there. I mean, why wouldn’t he? I should know better by now at this point really.

I step past the tree line with a squint of my eyes, even when there was still light in the sky it was darker than ever within, and call out, “Sirius?”

Nothing.

“Sirius, is that you?!”

Nothing.

“SIRIUS!”

“OOF!”

I land on the ground. Hard. Rocks and fallen branches dig into my back as I groan, beginning to wiggle around wildly to get out from under the crushing weight on top of me. My ribs were digging into my lungs and I wheeze, pushing my hands against a solid chest and beginning to shove. “Get off of me!”

“Sorry darling. I didn’t see you there.”

I huff, “Clearly.”

There’s a flash of white and a reverberating chuckle before the weight is lifted, Sirius Black now plopped beside my still flat form, casually sitting cross-legged like he hadn’t just knocked the damn wind out of me seconds before. I sit up and brush off my arms before zeroing in on the sharp Aristocratic features of the eldest Black brother. “What the devil are you doing out here in The Forbidden Forest? Full moon isn’t until next week so spare me the pathetic story of ‘preparing things for Moony’, please.”

Sirius simply stares; eyes twinkling with amusement they looked like molten silver today and the infamous signature smirk playing at his lips, “And to think I was under the impression that everyone bought that story time and time again. Guess I was wrong on that one, eh?”

“Obviously.”

“Okay Severus.”

“What did you just say?”

He holds up his hands then, slender fingers adorned with rings that matched his eyes and the knuckle tattoos that he and James thought were an ingenious idea one night after a bottle of Firewhiskey. “Nothing darling. Nothing.” Our eyes meet once more and I feel a warmth spread from the top of my head and down the length of my spine, goosebumps pebbling up as I shiver. The fuck was that? “Right. Are you going to answer my question or sit and stare some more?”

“I think I could stand to sit and stare for just a bit longer.”

If there were ever an Order of Merlin for the biggest eye roll one singular person could perform, I would’ve won. “Fine, be an arse. I’m leaving.” And with that, I stand and brush some more leaves off, stalking back towards the tree line and the awaiting path that led back up to school.

“Oi! Wait a minute! Let me walk you back!”

I ignore him and keep making a beeline up the path, Hogwarts being my destination and I needed to get there. Quickly. All I wanted was to get back to my dorm so I could get warm. I swear it had gotten ten degrees colder since being in and leaving the forest. I was shivering like mad now and I didn’t see it letting up until I got inside.

“Hey! WAIT!”

I don’t know why I stopped, but I did and with an exasperated sigh escaping my throat, “Bloody hell, Sirius! What do you want?! I’m freezing my tits off and I want to get inside!” I whirl around and cross my arms over my chest, hands buried into my armpits to starve off the chill, and fire in my eyes. I truly loved all of The Marauders, but I was at my wits end with this particular member of the group and he was about to see my wrath if he didn’t tread lightly.

Sirius stopped a few feet in front with raised eyebrows, that same bit of amusement still present, “No need to bite my head off. I told you I would walk you back and I intend to do so. Even if you are particularly cranky today and have been for the last few days might I add.”

“Cranky? I’m not cranky. I already told you that I’m freezing and want to get inside. Not my fault you can’t take a hint.” I bite back, taking a step further back as Sirius mimics by taking a step closer. The man was infuriating, I tell you.

The taller male looks even more amused, probably just to spite me, and takes another step closer, “I’m actually very good at taking hints, so with that point being made, allow me to elaborate further just to show you how right I am…” His tongue flicks out to lick his lips just as he takes another step, but this time I have the mind to step back again. “Why do you keep moving away when you clearly don’t want to?”

My breath catches in my throat and I freeze, eyes widening a fraction before I force a look of indifference, “What are you on about, Sirius?”

“I think you perfectly well know.”

“I don’t.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Hm.”

That one little syllable grated on my nerves more than a full blown soliloquy would’ve and I clench my jaw, turning on my heel and practically sprinting up the rest of the pathway until a hand wraps around the upper part of my arm, putting all movement to a halt.

Bloody HELL.

“Wha-?!”

“I said I was walking you back, so no snarky comebacks. Just walk.”

Well, alright then.

[qqueenofhades]

I recently submitted my first ever article and it got accepted provided I change "some minor things" aka the entire article... Awful, 0/10, is it always like that? 💀💀💀

...okay y'all, buckle up, I'm about to tell you my worst academic horror story. Aka why academia is a terrible, awful, no good very bad idea and you should never do it. If you've been following me for a long time, you may remember parts of this, but yes.

Anyway, so in the UK university system, which is where I did my PhD, you don't have a thesis committee; you have two examiners, one internal (a member of the department in your home university, but who didn't supervise you or advise you) and one external (a senior academic from an outside university who hasn't seen your work before and wasn't involved in the process in any way). My supervisors and I had a little trouble finding an external examiner, as the guy that we first asked didn't think he was a good fit, and then we found a replacement: a senior female scholar at a fairly good university in Ireland, who shall both, for the purposes of this cautionary tale, Remain Unnamed. She had worked with my supervisor before, they were friends, and he thought that she would be a suitable replacement choice. As for my thesis, my supervisors both thought it was pretty much done and hence ready for formal submission and viva (the oral examination). So! We submitted it!

My viva was duly scheduled, I turned up on the day already nervous as hell, and then things started going, hmm, slightly downhill. It soon became apparent that my external examiner thought my thesis was about something else, subject-wise, than it actually was (aka the subject SHE worked on, not the one I did) and she kept asking questions that were only tangentially related and demanding to know why I hadn't included all this background/genealogical/family information. (Where might I find it, you ask? Oh, in her book!) My internal examiner was mostly fine and made a few comments about how I needed to beef up my critical commentary on this or that charter source, and move some things from the conclusion to the introduction. You know! NORMAL things that a NON-PSYCHOTIC PERSON would suggest after reading a 300-page doctoral thesis that was clearly on the topic that it was about! NO BIG DEAL!!!

They sent me out of the room to debate whether they were going to pass me or not, while I had a heart attack and they took forever, and finally called me back in to say that okay, they were going to approve it, But External Examiner Had Questions!!! I was just relieved that I wasn't going to suddenly fail my PhD at the last hurdle after four years of work, but to say the least, extremely shell-shocked. I went out kind of in a daze, and my supervisor pulled me into his office for a congratulatory drink of champagne and told me that he'd never had any doubts it was going to be fine and etc. He also offered to refer the thesis to the series that he edited at a major academic press, in order to be published as a monograph. I don't remember how much I said, but I don't think it was much, and he seemed a little puzzled that I was looking like I'd just been hit by a tornado. Was this the end of the saga, you ask? No, of course not!!!

Anyway, if you request corrections to a thesis, you're supposed to submit them within a very abbreviated timeframe: by the end of the week, so the candidate (me) has as much time to work on them as possible. My internal examiner submitted a sensible one-page list of suggested edits within two days. We couldn't get hold of my external examiner for ALMOST THREE WEEKS (close to a MONTH). Then she sent these absolutely batshit endless lists of barely comprehensible corrections that read like total rambling, which neither me nor either of my supervisors (so, two-and-almost three PhDs between us) could understand. My main supervisor was so horrified by how unprofessional and inexplicable this was that he literally offered to read through all them and try to turn them into something that I could actually use. I was already working on the other ones, and wrote a passive-aggressive line into my introduction throwing major academic shade about how This Thesis Is About This Subject, Not That One. The reason this line exists in the world is due to my absolutely psychotic external examiner, so.... yes.

Tl;dr: happy ending, my internal examiner was the one solely responsible for signing off on the corrections and was happy to do so, I passed and graduated, and then did more revisions on my thesis to turn it into a book. I submitted it to the academic press for another external expert to read and was absolutely braced for another total nightmare. Instead, he basically came back with "this is great and I can't think of anything!" and thus I made a few quick tweaks and it went off to be published. So boy, was I ever owed that karma.

[kimium]

Earlier in October I wrote a list of my favourite KHR fics, highlighting some of them and adding commentary. I had a lot of fun, so I figured I'd do the same with my Danganronpa fics. However, unlike with KHR I have about 4x the amount of Danganronpa (mostly SDR2) fics. More fics will be left out of this list in the spirit of keeping it concise. This doesn't mean I dislike a fic if it's not on this list!

Let's begin!

My Ramblings about my SDR2 fics (in order from oldest to newest)

How Did You Get In Here?

While this isn't my first Danganronpa fic, this fic took a scene I couldn't get out of my brain: Nagito escaping the Old Building after Ch. 1 and instead of going back to his room, he breaks into Hajime's room to sleep with him. There was something about the dichotomy of this scene: horror because of the canon scenes and Nagito breaking in to sweetness of Nagito cuddling Hajime in his sleep. I really love this fic with all my heart!

Take It All

One of my first soulmate AU fics, I remember loving this one because I took a soulmate AU prompt (soulmates feel each other's pain if they touch) and thought "What if Nagito's soulmate indicator worked differently?". My favourite part of soulmate AUs is playing with the idea and putting a little twist on it.

Waking Up in Pieces

Your Soul (Is Mine)

I could not make a list of my Danganronpa stories without talking about my most popular story to date. I love this story; so much heart and soul that went into it. There were so many ideas that swirled and coiled in my brain, demanding I let them out. I remember vividly writing this story and daydreaming about the next part. This fic truly ran on my post "I played SDR2" vibes. The rate I pushed chapters out on this fic was insane. The funniest part was, I remember thinking I'd only write five or six chapters. This fic has eighteen chapters.

To be honest when I started writing my Demon Komaeda AU I never intended it to be a series. I also didn't plan on him being as possessive/yandere as he turned out. However, this story is on my list because I vividly remember writing this story. It's a little crazy how this story is like a time capsule for me.

As for the story part, I remember coming up with this story using an idea generator. What site it was, I cannot remember. All I remember was the motif of "descending down into darkness with an elevator" and loving the imagery.

Prices

This story is the biggest love letter to myself. The idea for this story was one I'd had in my heart for three years. I actually wrote it in an original story, back when I wrote original stories that were never, ever published online. Anyways, I always loved the imagery and tone of this story and I was delighted to re-purpose the idea into this fic.

All Kinds of Love

Adoration for this fic cannot be described. I'd always wanted to do a long character deep-dive into Nagito's healing process. However, instead of focusing on canon events of overcoming challenging emotions, I decided accepting and understanding love was the key idea. I always want Nagito to find joy in different kinds of love (platonic and romantic) and this story was a joy and pleasure to write.

Nightmares and Coffee

I want Komaru and Nagito to properly meet! I want them to discuss what happened in Ultra Despair Girls/Another Story! I want Nagito to apologize to Komaru! I want them to be friends!!!! I stand by this headcanon!!! These are the core ideas that drove this story forward. Someday, I will write this idea again! I think Komaru and Nagito as friends would be unstoppable.

Paint Splatters

This fic followed off the heels of fics like Long Days and Healing is a Round Ball. The key component to these fics is a slow, languid atmosphere. There is sorrow and pain, but there is healing and soft moments. The reason why I'm talking more about Paint Splatters is because I am in love with the motif of painting. Framing all the characters doing the same action but in different ways was a fantastic way for me to do a character study on everyone.

1000 Kisses

I came up with this story because I joked with myself "What about instead of 1000 origami cranes granting a wish it was 1000 kisses?" This joke became a reality and I had to not only write it for Komahina I also had to do the impossible: have a piece of paper on the side with MATH on it. The horror.

The taste of melon and the weight of a plushie fox

I LOVE THIS STORY. I just... every time I think about this story my heart warms and I feel immense joy in my soul. I always wanted to write an accidental fake relationship/engagement turned real fic and this story was so much fun!!! I had a blast writing yokai society and Hajime trying to navigate it while being desperately in love with Nagito. I still have ideas to this story THREE YEARS LATER and I'll probably add to this AU randomly. It's like the gift that slowly keeps on giving.

I can't kill you (so we must be destined to be together)

I wrote this story because I used this Soulmate AU idea (Soulmates cannot harm one another) in a Fire Emblem Fates fic years ago. Once again I thought this story would be a fast one but it ended up seven chapters. I also remember thinking "I need Nagito in on the situation immediately" because I didn't want to repeat some scenes and tropes from the Fates Mafia AU me and ObscureReference co-wrote together.

Lingering Taste

I looked up a master post of Soulmate AU ideas, found the strangest one (Soulmates can taste what the other is eating) and went "Yeah, that's the kind of unhinged soulmate AU I want to explore". Seriously, that kind of indicator is a curse in my opinion due to its sheer ridiculousness.

Saved (for a price)

Look, I'm never over CLAMP's Tsubasa Fai and Kurogane dynamic post Acid Tokyo Arc. It haunts me and this fic exists because the idea will never stop haunting me.

Working Relationship

This story was a soft re-do of an older fic, Steal Your Tongue. I like this story a little more because I wrote both Hajime and Nagito as serial killers. That kind of unhinged quality to their relationship is peak and allowed for some funny dialogue.

Energy Drinks

My most recent story! I'm obsessed over the image of death chugging energy drinks to the point I wrote the same idea in Warming Up in Snippets (Ch. 7) but with Kamukura instead of Hajime. Anyways, I like this story because it was soft and quick. A little glance into Hajime and Nagito meeting with potential to meet again. Also, I think this is the first time I wrote both Hajime and Nagito as a supernatural being at the same time.

There you have it! My thoughts and rambles about my SDR2 fics! I hope you enjoyed my rambles to the stories here! Is there a fic I missed talking about that you want me to discuss? Or a fic here you want more commentary? Feel free to send me an ask!

[silenthillmutual]

prompt: post game the bura family visits shekhen, maybe murky and taya are playing together?

i know this ask is uhmmmmm three years old at this point. and i've not totally followed the prmopt to the t, but all the same; here is where my brain took this prompt. with artemy trying to find peace with himself :)

ily bro<3 anyway!

----------

Shekhen starts to rebuild itself almost immediately. Taya’s influence, Artemy is sure. He sympathizes; after being stuck in place for so long, any kid would grow impatient. There’s not a lot in the way of toys out here, but there’s more space to run around, more people to play with - the Kin who had integrated into the town have started to navigate back. More kids Taya’s age. More talk, more food, more song.

Sticky is beyond curious, beyond excited to learn. All the walk over he has been bombarding Artemy with questions about the language and the culture he has only learned through rumor. Artemy does his best to answer, ashamed at how much he has forgotten in his time away. If Sticky notices the prolonged pauses, he doesn’t comment. 

Murky hasn’t spoken in the time that they’ve been walking. Artemy has tried to check on her, concerned the new shoes don’t fit just right or that she’s shed them entirely to traverse the frozen ground barefoot. There’s nothing for him to worry over - the shoes remain, her expression unchanged. New environments are difficult for her. 

"Would you like me to carry you the rest of the way?" Artemy offers. Her face scrunches up in distaste, shaking her head. Learning her boundaries has been difficult, and this venture out to Shekhen has Artemy worried about her. Sticky, he knows, will be fine. His curiosity outweighs his nerves, and Artemy doesn't doubt he'll make friends easily. Murky, though, has stayed closer than usual, reaching out as if to grab Artemy's smock and ask to slow down. She's been picking herbs as she walks, but her usual commentary is missing. 

“Do you think they’ll like it?” is all she says to him, her expression severe. She’s collected about a dozen plants by now, her fingers shaky as she holds them up for Artemy to inspect. Artemy pauses, tongue wrapping around an admonishment (should have let us put gloves on you) before he swallows it down. 

He doesn’t have the heart to tell her they have their own gardens at Shekhen. “It’s beautiful, Murky,” Artemy says. He smiles at her, but she isn’t looking. Her attention is drawn away by her desire to be done with the walking, little legs taking her farther and faster than they have over the past several minutes. 

Now it’s Artemy who lingers behind. 

When he told Stakh and Dankovsky he’d be away at Shekhen today, their responses had been… mixed. It was clear they were both attempting to be supportive by holding back on their true thoughts, and the result wasn’t nearly as encouraging as they must have thought it would be. Artemy couldn’t pretend to sympathize with their points of view. Understand them, certainly; they both acted as they thought they should, but that meant breaking the Law, and Artemy was tired of being pulled in different directions. 

Maybe one day, they’ll understand. Maybe one day, Artemy can bring them out here and show them his community, his family, all he has left of his -

Artemy stops himself. Eyes closed, fingers curled tight into fists. He concentrates on breathing. Listens to the Earth. 

He takes a step forward. And another. And another. 

The scent of smoke and life greet him at the threshold of Shekhen. He only opens his eyes when the wave hits him, eyes darting around, trying to find something to focus on. It’s grown livelier over the past couple of months. Artemy can even hear laughter amid the buzz of herbs and lowing of bulls. 

For a moment, Artemy is too tense to move. His arms shake from the weight of his nerves, eyes searching for his children. He spots Sticky’s mess of hair, untrimmed and ruffled by the wind, chatting with a teen a couple years his senior. He finds Murky, hand gripped tight by Taya’s confident fingers, weaving through the camp. They could get lost in here, melt into the collage and never resurface.

And that, Artemy remembers, is the point. This is community. This is family. 

In his mind he hears his father’s voice, telling him, “Welcome home.”

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

BTS!! Don't Hurt Yourself

BTS: Write a dvd commentary about a passage from the fic (I cannot pic a fav so I'm just gonna give any old passage, I chose this one because I have a fun backstory about when I wrote it)(Full disclosure I own dvds but its been so long since I watched dvd commentary that I don't really remember what it's like so I'll just talk about the passage and how I made the decisions I did and how it came about, you know, the making of the passage.)

Spicy. alright I can do spicy.

Stede had always thought that a desire to hurt another individual out of malice or hatred was something that was intended to be done without their consent, that it would be dampened by the thought that the other person was into it. He was somewhat surprised to find that Izzy’s openly asking for it did not cheapen his own sadistic pleasure in giving the bastard what he deserved.

And he did deserve it, Stede decided as he pressed the head of his cock into Izzy’s tight, wet cunt. Izzy deserved to get smacked around and spat upon. Not just for the stunt with the blow job and the secret phone call, but also for calling Edward a whore, and a twat, and every other unkind derogatory thing he’d said in that courtroom and out, and for being generally an unpleasant, nasty little man that no one wanted to be around, and for causing Ed so much grief.

First of all, Bonnet, you are also causing Ed grief by fucking his husband but I digress

anyway. Backstory: This is from Chapter 7 of Don't Hurt Yourself. A chapter which I slaved away on for I think about two months, because I had written up to the point where Stede and Izzy Yaoi prat fall onto each other and Stede ends up with Izzy's tit in his hand or whatever, and I had no idea where to go from there ie how to get Stede's cock in Izzy's cunt in a way that was at least realistic enough for me to be satisfied with it.(emotional realities not physical realities, as is my right as an ofmd fic author, David Jenkins school of writing ect.) It's a problem I have with writing both Jack/Stede and Izzy/Stede, I have to seamlessly bring them from bitching at each other like they do in the show to fucking each other. Its not as easy as it sounds.

The breakthrough of the writers block came for me the same night I did magic mushrooms for the first time. My dealer told me that they would take about 3 hours to kick in (they took half that amount of time) and I was like, well I have three hours to spare so I might as well try to bang out a couple paragraphs. (it was the day I posted "why is it so much easier to write when the edible is about to kick in" It was not an edible I was waiting on. Idk why I said edible I regularly admit to drugs on here lmao.) So I managed to write a lot of the dialogue and then these two paragraphs. But the shrooms kicked in as I was finishing up the last paragraph, which meant that I ended it with some absolutely inebriated drivel about the word fuck and how it's used to convey both hate (e,g. shut the fuck up, fuck you) and sex that I had to delete when I was sober and I very rapidly lost the ability to write after that.

Anyway now that the fun back story is out of the way let's actually talk about what's happening in these two paragraphs. Stizzy hate sex! Stede and Izzy are sometimes hard to make fuck because Stede simply does not think about him, but they're also incredibly fun to make fuck. Muppet vibes off the charts especially when they're doing bdsm (which is the only kind of sex Izzy knows how to have). Miss Piggy slapping Kermit energy but they're not married.

I also tend to think Stede has a dark side. He's as mean as he is nice and he's real fucking nice. I love it when he's evil, because I'm horny about evil men. I think if Stede would think about Izzy long enough he could get dark with it (a vibe which is not incompatible with muppetry broaden your horizons for the possible.) and I think the only way to make him think about Izzy long enough is to have Izzy wrong Ed and make it clear to Stede that Ed was wronged and put Izzy in Stede's direct line of sight.

Basically, I want Stede to have hate sex and I want him to realize he's a sadist. I tried to convey that here. I think that Stede as a character has the capacity for so much love and so much hate. It's an important balance to strike when writing him, if you go too far in one direction you turn him into an unrecognizable monster (which I've seen certain people do) but if you go too far in the other he becomes an unrecognizable woobie baby which is so fucking boring dude. I hope I got across his sadist awakening well. he still needs a second one where you learn you can do it to people you like tho...

The ask meme

[team-heavenly]

Chapter 12 - Part 2

If you haven’t already, read Part 1 here!

So we finally reach the Gold rank and upgrade our storage capacity from 200 to 320! Yay!

The Guild is also peeved with me for taking four days away from the cause, so we hurry back to the plot to avoid getting pelted with Tamato berries.

Sounds good to me. Let’s do this!

So the... first floor of Questionable Causeway is the same as Quirky Crown.

Also ignore my artificially inflated playtime hahaha

Actually, I didn’t have too much trouble with this one- no more than usual, anyway. Although one attempt was thwarted by a Typhlosion having STAB for the strongest Fire Type move in the game:

It happened so fast that I blinked and it was over. As you can see from my max HP, I didn’t stand a chance.

“Look at these three crystals! They’re huge!”

I low key cannot believe that Beedrill’s group stumbled upon this, went “Wow! Cool! Three big crystals! Not much we can do with that though!” and just returned to the guild thinking these weren’t even worth mentioning. Like hello?? Y’all are explorers and puzzles aren’t exactly uncommon in this world! Use your head!

Okay maybe the group was (rightfully) wary this could trigger a trap of sorts, so they didn’t bother even touching the crystals. And sure, they knew nothing about the colors needing to match. Without that knowledge, it could be any possible combination that would yield a result, and trying them all out would take A While.

HNNNNNG I DON’T KNOW WHY BUT THAT MADE ME THINK OF THIS:

Same energy.

And then of course...

I’ve tried taking pictures of the few times the Dimensional Scream is just a voice. But the white text REALLY doesn’t show up well against the black, for some reason.

Naturally, we crack the code within about 10 seconds.

God I love these double screen portraits so much.

Woohoo! Let’s see what Crystal Crossing is!

Evil... Bluff... Uh oh. Boy, I sure hope that’s not a bad omen.

Again, this dungeon wasn’t too bad. I only had to reset once.

It suddenly hit me that 2F is exactly what Crystal Cave is supposed to be lmao. What are the chances?

Present?! Oh Andrea, honey, no-

Ran into another Secret Bazaar and decided to intimidate the true Time Gear Guardian by staring at him menacingly for a bit.

Okay, now here’s the next long stretch of dialogue and action. I didn’t expressly mention this in Part 1, but you may have noticed how I subtly formatted the images for the opening scene. With the more serious moments that drive the plot forward, I try to minimize my commentary. It just feels like the most appropriate thing to do. I know we’ve been through these scenes before, but I hope it can still be somewhat interesting/fresh with the new cast of characters.

The battle... It took more than a few Blizzards to knock him out. But we didn’t get roughed up too badly. The only move I saw him use was Luster Purge, which scared me a decent bit.

Nevertheless, we get brutally tossed aside and utterly paralyzed.

“This is all for the Time Gear! Forgive me...”

Click here for Part 3.

[dawnthefluffyduck]

Just got out of class where we had our group critique; can finally post something I've had done for a couple days now 🎉🎉 project details/commentary/funny(?) story under cut because I don't know how to keep things brief

tl;dr: Made some stickers that show things that interest me in Japan for class :) might try to print them later on, if I do then I'll post that too

This was for Digital Art, it's another "draw concepts of a specific location," but I didn't like, draw where I live this time, so I can actually post this one online haha.

The actual instructions were: "Create six 3"x3" stickers that represent parts of a city, country, landmark, or attraction you would like to visit/have visited." I, a typical art student, chose to do Japan, but I didn't really wanna lean into the whole anime thing a lot, partly because I just don't watch it as often as I used to. I wanted to stick with architecture and major landmarks, but buildings are hard to draw repeatedly in a shorter time limit so I ended up drawing some food too. Also, I'm a percussionist, so I wanted to include a taiko drum just cause they're really cool

The lineart itself took the longest since I reeeaaaally wanted to emphasize a hand drawn feeling to the stickers. I felt this was the best way to make all of the stickers match stylistically, aside from general color matching. I couldnt entirely rely on colors to make them match because things like the ramen bowl had wayyy more colors than the buildings/mountains, and the onigiri was mostly one color. Matching the stickers was part of the grading criteria, so after a lot of brainstorming, I ended up deciding to put more attention to detail into the linework than to the color scheme (though I did try to weasel in that orangey red into as much as I could)

Illustrator did not like line style I used, 'cause apparently all those textured pens take a lot more to load than the normal ones (never had that problem in the program I normally use to draw, so it caught me off guard). Halfway into the project my laptop's fan would sound like a jet engine every time I opened the file; needless to say, progress was slowed a bit as the program started to get extremely laggy haha.

I wasn't able to start on the coloring until a few days before the project was due but I was still good on time . Ultimately ended up having to pull a near all nighter though, because Illustrator crashed in the middle of the coloring process (guessing bc of the lineart), which got rid of hours worth of work :D so cool, love that

Got it done, walked into class on Monday w/ three hours of sleep ready for critique, but five or so other people didn't finish theirs on time so prof ended up extending the due date anyway :D :D so cool very awesome

Can't really be mad though. I would've been happy if that courtesy was extended to me if I were in that spot, so I just went home and used the extra time to knock out some homework lol.

The extra time was worth it too cause everyone's turned out so cool :D wish I could share those too cause I loved looking at all of them during critique today

I said I just got out of class when I wrote this but I took so long to finish the post that two hours have passed since then,,

[darthnell]

11, 19, 28, 30, 42

Hi anon ! Ty for the ask ! :D

11. Link your three favorite fics right now.

Oh god three of mine or three in general..??? Um. A..? I guess I’ll do both !!

Three of mine: True Vengeance, THE REPARATION CLAUSE, The Bridges We Burn

Three of others: The Illusion of Life, A Great Leap in the Dark, Mors Vincit Omnia

19. What is the most-used tag on your ao3?

Oh I bet for sure it’s gonna be “graphic depictions of violence” LMAO. Aside from like. The thg fandom tags. Also “original characters” and “alternate universe”. The “canon-typical violence” tag is also my best friend and i love when I surpass that one. Canon atypical violence. I think ive used that one before but only once so it doesn’t count here, but it is funny. OH- the “careers have issues” tag. Also my best friend<3 really fucking excellent tag

28. On average, how much writing do you get done in a day?

Pshhhhh uhhhh…. I’m actually just coming off of an event where i wrote like 35k in the span of 5 weeks which is. Not typical ! This past week-ish I have written exactly Zero words (: …at like. Normal times, I probably can do a solid 1k or in that ballpark. I have been known to bang out like 3k in a day if I’m rly in the zone (i was Unwell last july LMFAO) but also I rly don’t typically write every day. Would like to! Need to build a new schedule though. Hard for me to write on the days when I work but I only work part time atm. I am also. Kind of a slow writer usually. I’ve only written as much as I have bc I write frequently ! ((Or I try to))

30. Do you share rough drafts or do you wait until it’s all polished?

Good god I think I’d perish if I shared rough drafts. Like, on ao3… is that a thing..? So like. My shit isn’t perfect. There’s definitely typos I’ve missed and all that jazz, but I usually heavily edit my chapters before posting. The event I did recently was also like my first time having a beta which was neat but. This is rly silly, bear with me - so I had two separate docs for that, one I wrote the fic in and another that I shared w the betas, because the idea of someone having access to all my rough outlines and watching me on the doc as I write makes me Viscerally uncomfortable, I can’t rly explain it better than that. Anyways, the funny part is, said beta would point out a grammar mistake or typo, and I’d go “nice” and fix it, but forget to fix it on the other doc. So when I. When I posted the fic from the original doc… you can see where this is going maybe. Actual clown idiot moment LMFAO. Tl;dr - I attempt to polish. Doesn’t always turn out shiny jdjddjdk

42. What’s the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?

Ooh ! Last one I read was In The Clear by District11-Olive on FFN. So this one is technically thg but very au; it’s set in modern day Canada where a show called The Cut forced teenaged criminals to fight to the death in order to regain their freedom or get a “second chance”. It’s Really well written and also an excellent commentary on what it means to be a criminal and prison systems in general. This one’s actually the third and final installment of the series, wooh! It’s not complete yet; the story just reached the start of the death match part and its so 👁️👄👁️ It’s also a SYOC fic (Submit Your Own Character). Not open for submissions now, but u might see some of my characters if you check it out c:

Gotta also rec The Furthest Star by geologyisms on FFN since I’m in the middle of (re) reading it.. again 🥺 This is the fic I received from the exchange I took part in recently ! So the main pov char Solan Gardener (D9 tribute in the male slot but uses they/them) was created by me but the story was written by erik/geologyisms ! Ve did such a lovely job with my kiddo u should definitely check it out!! 10/10 new comfort fic fr ;—;

Ty again anon for the question, I had fun !!! <3

[thearchivistsjournal]

Day 37,

Author's Note/Content Warning: Offscreen character death.

Got up on time today.  I think.  Kala did a good job with these alterations.  They fit well but still maintain that antique academic aesthetic that the old archivist seemed to have embraced.

*******

I thought I’d be going back to the house tonight, but it looks like that won’t be the case.  Judging by the current moon phase, it will probably be a mist night soon and the Archivist needs to be on hand when to record funeral proceedings.

But I’m getting ahead of myself again.  Let us return to chronological order.

I’ve already spent much of my day doing the official recording of the race between the feuding siblings for the archive, so I’ll spare the detailed retelling of it all and stick to my personal experience of the event.

There was already a crowd when I got there this morning, but I was recognized enough that people let me through and pointed the way to where Pat and Vernon were going over the agreed upon rules one last time with the siblings.  A footrace starting and ending at the Village docks making one full widdershins circuit along the island’s main road.  No fighting or otherwise physically interfering with one another.  Witnesses stationed along the road to watch both for foul play (whether in the form of interfering with one another or cutting through the center of the island) and for the health of the runners, providing food and water (the race was expected to take several hours).  The sibling to return first would inherit their father’s artifact.  If either sibling was found to be breaking rules they forfeit their claim.  If both cheat, the artifact goes to the Catacombs with their father when he passes.

Another man in a dapper coat like Vernon’s was there too.  His mentor.  Martin, I think his name was.  That said, this seemed to be Vernon’s “case” so to speak so he was letting the younger man take the lead when it came time to address the crowd explaining the point of the race, who the siblings were, wishing them both luck, and more importantly, peace and satisfaction once their dispute was settled no matter who won.  Come to think of it, Martin didn’t talk much at all the whole day, maintaining an unbroken visage of the professionally detached observer; an air of deliberation surrounding a man who doesn’t speak unless he has something important to say and only after he knows he’s right.  An intriguing contrast to his apprentice.

Speech over, Vernon gave the signal and the siblings were off with a cheer from the crowd.  As they got out of sight from me, I could still hear more calls in the distance as they passed onlookers in the winding streets of the Village proper.  For about an hour or so afterward it was a bit like a party of sorts with the crowd continuing to hang around gossiping, speculating on who would win, cooking and distributing food, playing music, etc.  And then it started to set in that there wasn’t actually going to be anything else to see until later in the day and people started filtering out and going back to their regular day-to-day, leaving just me, Pat, Vernon, Martin, a few dedicated gawkers, and those who normally spend their days at the docks anyway.

Seeing as I now conveniently had three people knowledgeable of town workings and official channels, I brought up that the crystals in the archive we going dim and inquired about who I needed to talk to for replacing them and expressed my interest in joining whomever it was on a trip to the crystal cavern for recharging and gathering.  Martin was actually the one who answered, and said that he’d pass word on to the crystal collectors about it for me.

Not too long after the crowd started to disperse, the first of the witnesses arrived and I took their commentary for the official record.  And then a little while later, the second, and then the third.  That third happened to be Cass, and her mother, Antigone, to whom I finally had the opportunity to introduce myself.  If there’s one word that comes to mind in describing her it’s “forceful”.  Not so much in the sense of forcing her will on others as having a strong sense of purpose and strength behind every word and action.  The sort of woman who can run a household of fourteen and bring all her children into line with a word and whose hands and arms bore the calluses and muscles of a lifetime working the land.  At any rate, Cass’s usual level of smug sass was toned down in her presence.

Still, not a hard or joyless matron either.  She seemed genuinely proud of Cass’s assistance in transcribing race witness commentary and laughed heartily when old Pat started reminiscing about a similar contest between siblings back in his day that ended with all parties involved publicly making fools of themselves in an incident involving an impromptu makeshift catapult and a net full of fish.

And of course I brought up the prospect of taking Cass with me to observe the recharging and gathering of crystals.  There were a couple of uncomfortable moments of her scrutinizing me, but eventually she judged that Cass would be fine coming with me on it, despite it taking a couple of days to get out there and back and being on the more wilderness-covered north half of the island.  Especially since the actual crystal collectors would be with us.

As the day wore on the time between the witnesses arriving extended, as expected if the siblings were maintaining a relatively constant pace since each witness had to travel further to get back to the Village.  By the time the siblings passed the halfway point, I suspect they’d be beating the remaining witnesses back to the Village.  But all of them painted a consistent picture at least.  The siblings both maintaining a good pace.  Both seemingly in high spirits.  No signs of foul play.  The younger sibling had a slight lead, but wasn’t taking any water breaks.  That last part was a little worrying, but then again, that’s the sort of thing one might save for the second half of the course I suppose.

And then, a couple of hours past noon, we got the bad news.  A pale, bespectacled man with greying once-black hair and a somber expression approached the awning that we had set up under.  The others all recognized him as Huan, the Village doctor (once introduced, the family resemblance to Lin became more apparent to me).  The father of siblings who were currently out running their race had just passed away.  Turning to me, he related to me the deceased’s name, age, and exact time and circumstances of death, which I dutifully took down as the Archivist.  Bartolome.  Preceded by his wife, Sofia, and survived by his sons Ettor and Ynigo.

Lin, it seems, had stayed behind to pack up the medical supplies they’d been keeping in the patient’s home, clean up the old man, and prepare him for his funeral.  Fortunately, we looked to be close enough to a mist night that not much would need to be done in the way of embalming.

This news affected the mood of everyone present as you might expect.

An hour later, there was still no sign of the brothers, which was concerning given their reported pace up until this point.  Half an hour later still, a villager ran up to us reporting that the brothers had been injured but were refusing help, both of them still determined to make it to the end on their own feet.  We soon heard shouting, no, cheering from the direction we expected the racers to be coming.  Huan took off, grumbling about dumb kids doing dumb things, and I abandoned my post at the finish line to follow.  Things had obviously gone not as planned and I ought to be there to record it.

It didn’t take us long to find them.  The brothers were now leaning on one another to walk rather than racing.  They’d drawn an ever-growing crowd of followers, cheering them on, shouting encouragement, and moving in to catch them every time either brother stumbled, only to be angrily waved away.

Huan got the same treatment from the brothers when he tried to approach, getting called “old man” and being told he can patch them up when they’re done.  He called them fools and started to say more – I suspect to tell them about their father – but cut himself off, catching sight of Pat shaking his head.  It seems the eldest elder is surprisingly spry when he wants to be and had managed to catch up.

And so we joined the crowd, following the brothers as they passed the finish line together.  Huan was probably the only reason the two of them didn’t get picked up and tossed into the air by the celebratory mob.  Things calmed down temporarily as Vernon called for everyone to settle down so he could congratulate the brothers for their feat and declare a winner.  Before he could get much further than that though, the brothers interrupted, telling him to call it a tie and let the artifact go to the Catacombs.  This got even more cheering from the onlookers, and Vernon was able to spin off from there into a speech about how their actions were an inspiring display of brotherly love and reconciliation.  And really, the two of them – I’m still not sure which by looking at them is Ettor and which is Ynigo – appeared genuinely happy as they finally took a seat and allowed Huan to make his ministrations.

As to their condition, it took me and Cass the rest of the evening taking statements from witnesses, official and unofficial, but eventually we got it down to the following:

The younger brother had managed to get a fairly significant lead toward the end.

Just out of sight before reaching the last witness station, the younger brother collapsed from heat and exhaustion, having pushed himself too hard all day.

Upon catching up and seeing his sibling on the ground, the older brother started running faster and didn’t notice the loose cobblestone (or pothole, the details conflict a bit) that he tripped on and injured his ankle in the fall.

Limping over to his brother he managed to get him some water and started trying to carry him.

The younger brother started to recover a bit and the two of them leaned on one another the rest of the way for support.

Their reduced pace let the previous witnesses they’d left behind to start catching up to them, forming the beginnings of the train of people we saw.

Once the brothers’ immediate problems were taken care of, we (Huan as their father’s doctor, Vernon as their mediator, and me as the Village’s official voyeur) took them aside from the crowd for a measure of privacy and told them about their father.  The two of them were understandably devastated.  They said something to the effect of wanting to tell him they’d made up was part of what kept them going so doggedly at the end.  (From what I’d heard of their father’s condition I’m not entirely sure if he knew they were fighting, but I held my tongue.)  At this point Martin cut in and, apologizing in advance for coming across as insensitive, pointed out that with the next mist night due in the next few days, possibly even tomorrow, they needed to make funeral arrangements now or else risk keeping their father’s body in their home for two weeks waiting for the next time the shades would appear.

As I said, the details of that emotionally-draining discussion are in the official record and I don’t care to record them a second time.

And so now, here I am, writing the day’s events down for essentially the second time because I can’t sleep.  Partly because I’m still stressed from the crowds today.  Partly because I’m emotionally drained from the funeral talk.  And partly because I’ve spent so long writing all this that now it’s late enough at night and I’m tired enough that the existential dread is kicking in and I’m questioning just how perfect the whole thing seemed to play out with the brothers both getting hurt in their competition and painfully symbolically leaning on one another to get through things, learning their lesson, and mutually giving up their claims on the material object that tore them apart in the first place.  And then even the tragic irony of their contest leaving their father to die alone without his family nearby in his last moments to really hammer home that moral point.  Or maybe I’m the one who’s not right.  Maybe I’m starting to lose my grip and attributing story elements to people’s lives to reinforce the lurking fear that there’s something fundamentally wrong or artificial about everything since I washed up on that beach.  What if the fact that I’m even considering that is a sign that my own mental state is deteriorating so that I’m having trouble seeing those around me as real people?

Okay, need to stop all that right there.  I’m obviously staying up too late right now and the sleep deprivation is getting to me.

<==Previous          Next==>

[cantdrawshaw]

<<Lucy shakes her head. “It’s fine. We just don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things. It’s been like that ever since my mom died and he got stationed out here.”>> Remember this scene? It's way more than 500 characters lol. And I'm curious about where Lucy ends up in your Runaway verse, if you know!

Get out your popcorn and take a seat; it's DVD commentary time, let's go!

Okay so, this scene. Lucy's just had a terrible fight with her father over what she wants to do with her life. I think up until this point, she's kinda just went along with the whole West Point dream that he's had for her, because she wants to make him proud and it seems like a good path to take, right? But then she brings up how much she loves mock trial in school and is interested in learning more about law/possibly becoming a lawyer. And that starts up a fight between the two of them because she's "changing her mind all of the sudden."

So she doesn't sleep at all after the fight, and she feels awful and skips school the next day without his permission. Just barely has the coherencey to remember to call Alex and let her know to take the bus that day because she's not coming to pick them up. But she forgets that, of course, the school is going to notice her absence and call her dad, and that gets her in more trouble when he gets home that day.

And Lucy's had enough at this point, tells him that she's going to Alex's, and just walks out. It's definitely something that's happened before, Lucy just showing up at the Danvers' house and asking to spend the night, and sometimes her and Alex talk about it, and sometimes they don't.

They've definitely talked about how Lucy feels about her dad. Although it does get a lot harder after Alex's dad dies. Lucy was there to watch how badly Alex struggled firsthand, and Alex had really only just started come out of her depression right before Maggie showed up, so Lucy really hates to bring it up after that, because she does not want to be the one to make Alex sad again.

(Side note: someone ask me about Alex and what happened after Logan outed her and Lucy sometime too, hahaha.)

And maybe Lucy originally was planning to go to Alex this time too, but somewhere on the drive over her composure breaks again and she just thinks, Maggie, and that's who she ends up going to. Because she's pretty sure Maggie knows what it's like to have your parents not agree with what you want with your life, even if Maggie hasn't talked about it.

(And I know the story was mainly from Maggie's POV, and I tried to write her a little more oblivious to Lucy's and Alex's feelings, especially in the beginning. Oblivious might not be the right word even - like she does notice a lot of the signs but fails to piece together what they mean. But anyway - Lucy's got it bad for Maggie. 😂)

And Lucy's totally been skeptical about Maggie living in a tent on the beach by herself up to this point (even if she was the one to provide the tent, haha) but she sleeps better that night then she has in a long time. And I like to think that she's 100% unwilling to admit that it was because Maggie was there with her, so she just begrudgingly admits that Maggie's tent is more comfortable than she was giving it credit for at some point when they talk about it later.

As for where Lucy ends up... Okay, I'm going to admit that Lucy is probably the one I'm the most shaky on in the trio... Does she go to join the military/JAG corps? It kinda makes me too sad if I think about it too long (which I have) because that would probably mean the three of them get separated for a while after they graduate. And like, Maggie totally worked her butt off and took some more classes/tests the next summer so she could graduate in the same year as Alex and Lucy. So separating them after all that isn't something I like to think about, hahaha, even if it is the more realistic thing in life (and wouldn't be the end of the world, I know that, but still >.<. I can be hypocritical with my feelings of this AU and the Amphibia trio, okay? XP) So... Lucy's definitely a lawyer. I'm leaning towards just a plain old civilian lawyer, but feel free to imagine whatever.

And you didn't ask, but I'm telling you anyway!! Maggie ends up working with J'onn as a private detective. In the beginning, it's mostly helping J'onn with his on the books cases and helping out alien refugees illegally on the side. But later when the alien amnesty act goes into effect, they switch over to helping out aliens full-time (since it's finally legal and all).

Alex runs a youth center/homeless shelter for LGBT kids. Kara's very involved in it too, and a lot of her Supergirl rescues end up being taken there when they have nowhere else to go. Maggie volunteers there a lot too, but it's better for her to be able to step away and focus on other things when she needs to, because sometimes it can still get a little heavy for her, being reminded of it all.