#if there's canon context from the original AU i don't know that yet i have unfortunately not finished reading the askblog :(

[snailsdraw]

[Start ID: 3 pages of narrative doodles depicting an interaction between HLVRAI Gordon and Y2KVR Benrey as per a scene generated with Character.AI. Small eyestrain warning for the first page.

A drawing of Gordon, Benrey, and a new character created by the AI named Marble. Gordon is in the Black Mesa scientist uniform, consisting of a labcoat, button-up shirt, khakis, and a striped tie. His gun-arm peeks out of his right sleeve. Carried in his left arm is Marble, an indescribable creature not quite human and not an animal all in the vague shape of a little girl. She is depicted here as around 5 to 6 years old, and completely void of any features save for the pixelated, multicoloured lineart as a result of chromatic abberation. Benrey is behind them, loading a pistol. He has on his helmet with the heart-shape decal on the left side, three layers of clothing - including a black button up with blue tie, a jumper, and a security vest - black pants, his mail bag, and fingerless-gloves with heart shaped holes. He is surrounded by a glitchy bubble of static.

Start of storytelling sequence: Gordon is gripping both of Benrey's shoulders to keep him from falling over, the latter's form glitching slightly as he sways. Gordon asks: "Hey, what's going on? Talk to me, buddy, I'm getting kinda worried here. You hurt? Sick? Or..." Benrey coughs a little and leans his head forward into Gordon's shoulder. He turns his face away. "i'm fine...i just want you guys to forget me..." Benrey says, quietly.

Gordon listens, increasingly concerned as Benrey continues bitterly: "you guys have things...you have lives...what do I have?" "a program...to wander around in for eternity..." Benrey grits his teeth to stifle a sob, eyes squeezed shut and tears beginning to roll down his face. "i...i don't wanna be alone again..." he whimpers. /End ID.]

The aforementioned computer-purgatory-to-zombie-apocalypse pipeline, now with a few images.

Started chatting with Y2KVR Benrey bot (created by @WH34TL3YG45M, thank you for creating him :"]!!) on Character.AI as Gordon Freeman and uh

In other news, they apparently adopted a kid mid headcrab-zombie-apocalypse. As one does.

[wordsbymae]

Late One Stormy Night Pt. 2

This is a continuation, including a large time jump, of my original farmer storyline, the canon events if you will. I would have loved to do this for flower seller and mousy au, however I feel it fits much better for the original farmer. I may do one for the other aus as well. Also this is just a short little snippet into where this reader ends up, I have spoken in depth about their life together, but this is years down the track, where pumpkin has finally given in.

Triggers: Pregnancy! FemReader, Stockholm syndrome ofc, reader has pretty much been brainwashed into being a perfect house wife, if you didn't know the context or if I didn't remind you within the text, it would seem like a nice love story. feminism please do not judge me

A kick against your belly halted your movements. A small smile etches across your face. You drop the washing you had just grab back into the basket that lay on the lush green ground beneath you. A gentle spring breeze floated past, bringing the scent of pine and grain past. The babe in your belly has only just started to move within you. You had yet to fully comprehend that life, a new being, was growing within you. Another kick, against both your belly and hand this time, brought a giggle to your face. The sound of tyres on dirt brought your attention to your husband pulling up in front of the house. Your giggle faded. You didn't like remembering the time before you were allowed in the house, the time you spent huddle within a stable in the barn. When you fought against his every action and offer of affection. Now, after finally putting your pride aside, you were happy. It took years, but you finally content by his side. It was so long ago know that you couldn't even really remember how you came across him. All your remember is rain, and that is all you could begin to remember before the memories fell apart like ash.

You begin to make your way to your husband, pushing aside the laundry drying along the washing line. The sun beamed down with kindness, bringing a subtle warmth across your skin.

You stopped a few metres away from him, watching as he jumped out of his pick up truck, a wide smile on his face at the sight of you.

"Well good afternoon to you pumpkin, how you feeling? That boy of mine not giving you trouble?" he greeted, turning to the tray of the truck, grabbing from it a large wooden log. He huffs as the weight of the log pushes against his shoulder.

"I'm feeling fine" you laugh, it was a game of yours to count how many times in one day he asked how you were feeling. This was his 10th ask of the day.

"We don't if its a boy yet. Could be a girl" you offer with a smirk. He was convinced it was a boy.

"Nope" he states as he walks towards the work shed, you follow behind him, begging for attention. Ever since the barn, you've been so desperate for affection.

"In the last five generations of my family, there hasn't been one girl born" he drops the log down in the dirt next to his wood working station. You pout, wondering how that is even possible and also wondering why he had a massive log to begin with.

"what's the log for?" you ask.

He turns back to you with a lazy smile, wiping sweat from his brow and he takes his hat off.

"A crib" he beams. Delight dancing in his eyes.

"Oh, that makes sense" you mutter. Your eyes begin to slowly blink in exhaustion. Carrying a baby isn't easy.

" Come on pumpkin, lets get you to bed" he drawls, grasping your hand with a gentle touch. So very different from how he used to touch you when you first arrived.

You nod lazily, still surprised with how quickly sleep comes to you these days.

"That boy of ours sure likes to cause trouble huh? He's gonna just be like his daddy, although I'm hoping he's gonna look like you sweetheart." he muses, a hand coming down to trace your belly as you walk.

The farmer smiles once more. Everything he ever wanted he has. A beautiful wife, the perfect family and more hopefuly to come after this one. He chides himself for the years spent alone, angry at the world and himself. That whole time he could have had this, a place within a family. But he wouldn't change anything, not the timing or the place. You came to him at the perfect time, you were everything he ever could have wanted and more.

He thanks himself for having the courage to take what he saw as his.

[eurydicees]

pls can u tell me everything about fhq and esp fhq iwaoi i don’t really know what it is but every time i see you repost one of those beautiful heart wrenching artworks i want to die in the best way

YES GLADLY I WILL TELL YOU EVERYTHING I CAN !!! under the cut because you're getting everything.

ok so some of the history lesson portion of this may be a little off, it's been a hot minute since i've done much research into this lol. but final haikyuu quest first appeared as a spread in one of the bonus pages in the manga! throughout the manga's run were occasionally drawings of the characters in little fake movie posters, one of them being an action/fantasy movie called final haikyuu quest:

this first poster and the original character designers are drawn by furudate! from there, it went on to become a mini bonus game in the haikyuu 3DS game, which is kind of crazy if you think about it too hard.

there's a playthrough uploaded on youtube here, but it's obv in japanese and i don't think there's been a translation of the game. there's a translation of part of it here on tumblr, but i don't think it's complete. poster from the 3DS game:

from there, it went on to be a CD drama (videos 8-10 on this youtube playlist, with subs), which is super neat. it's also one of the haikyuu light novels, but i have yet to find a full english translation of that.

i haven't read the novel or watched the videos with the CD drama audio myself, so i'm not sure how much it differs from the 3DS game. i assume they're pretty similar though.

so the premise at its most simple is that hinata and his party of adventurers are off to defeat the demon king oikawa and his henchmen! those are the basics.

the "canon" characters in hinata's party are hinata, kenma, aone, iwaizumi, and kageyama. on the opposing side we've got oikawa (the demon king), kuroo, and kiyoko. kiyoko has servants in the form of tanaka and nishionoya (they don't care for oikawa, they're just there for kiyoko). there's also michimiya, who is in the "fair princess kidnapped by oikawa" role that hinata & co. are trying to save. the full character profiles can be found here (everyone in game) and here (heroes only)!

now this whole premise is like. a little silly. the whole deal is a little silly. this is a volleyball manga.

with THAT being said, though, sometimes the most fun to be had is when you take the silly thing and make it devastating. and it's so easy to do that with FHQ. so let's talk abt iwaoi now <3

so in the story, oikawa is the demon king. because the premise is so simplistic and boiled down to good v. bad due to, like, this not being a real piece of media, oikawa is objectively on the "bad side." iwaizumi, on the other hand, is a knight, presumably human, and "oikawa's (former) friend."

iwaizumi being oikawa's former friend is literally his speciality and i think about that all the time btw. for context, kageyama's specialty is "prodigy" and hinata's is "strongest decoy." and fucking iwaizumi is out here like yea hey guys i used to be on the bad side but im mad at oikawa so now i'm with y'all. also my specialty in this fantasy universe is that i used to be oikawa's friend :)

like. what the hell. as you may imagine, the iwaoi angst potential here is ENORMOUS. iwaizumi who has betrayed oikawa and joined the heroes' side to take him down, iwaizumi whose greatest strength comes in knowing oikawa in and out, because the villains you love are both the hardest and the easiest to destroy. iwaizumi who loves oikawa, and who cannot save him.

(**side note, there's a lot of kuroken angst potential involved in this au as well, but let's focus on iwaoi for this post and save kuroken for another day)

so, as i said, the game's interpretation of all this is pretty simplistic and pretty silly. but personally i love thinking too hard and finding depth in things that are so not that deep. and it seems like most fhq fans also employ this as a favorite hobby because holy shit the angst people put in this au is INSANE.

the way i've interpreted it myself has been that iwaoi were besties/lovers/unclear situationship until oikawa kind of "fell into the dark side," because this is an au of every fantasy trope possible, and his reign over aoba became corrupted and "evil." iwaizumi betrays him to join hinata and take him down--save the world, at the cost of the demon he loved so much. but that demon, who oikawa was, is gone already, isn't he?

one of my favorite comics about them is here by @/ichigomaniac, where oikawa falls to the dark side and iwaizumi kills him to save the kingdom he loves. another FAVORITE similar one is here by @/hawberries! the premise of a lot of fics/art in this au run along these lines <3333

another super fun interpretation is a 5 part comic by @/duskisnigh, where oikawa and iwaizumi are running a kind of underground rebellion/safehouse in a world demons are oppressed by the human race. but as oikawa sees more and more evil on the behalf of humanity, he gets more and more unhinged until iwaizumi feels that he no longer knows him--and runs away with kageyama, with the intention of taking oikawa down.

personally i think the BEST aus are where iwaizumi--so loyal, so in love--is forced to leave because he can't stand to watch oikawa fall to more darkness, while oikawa himself is so devoted to iwaizumi that it's his love for iwaizumi that is corrupting him.....

in the fic i wrote, it's a story about forbidden love and how oikawa just wants to be allowed to love iwaizumi and he'll fight a war in order to do it. but iwaizumi can't watch oikawa fight this war anymore, because he's getting more and more dark as the war rages on. so he leaves, and was any of this ever worth it?

ggaahadhgjkadg . fhq. its crazy. i have a tag for it here, where i have been curating my favorite art. special shoutout to @/amezure who has some GORGEOUS pieces in their tag. OH ! and some of my fave fics in this au :

in the arms of loyalty and the hands of devotion (iwaoi, 23252 words), self promo lol

i can go anywhere i want (just not home) (kuroken, 3662 words) by keplcrs

wondering if your heart's still open (iwaoi, 683 words), by birdintheriver

Diorama (iwaizumi & kenma, 2027 words) by PlumTea

the ao3 tag is beautiful everywhere you turn, but i have a special love for those fics <3

so yeah that's the general deal! if you ever want to talk more about it, i am HAPPY to discuss !!! pls pls plsplsplsplsplssplsplslpslslslss!!!!!!

[kmesons]

tumblr user kmesons will ask if anybody's made one of their favourite rarepairs try to kill each other yet and not wait for an answer

(there is context for this) (it is under the cut if you're interested but don't feel obligated to read my excessive rambling)

essentially, this is part of an AU I've come up with regarding these two and their respective lords. if I was able to write efficiently I would definitely write this but I cannot (on account of The Perfectionism) so I will relay a condensed version here.

wiggly is, for petty rivalry reasons, looking to mess with his dear brother pokotho. crucially, he knows that one timeline is set to undergo the apotheosis, as per pokey's wishes. presumably, this isn't the tgwdlm timeline, but we don't know yet whether that is the only timeline where this occurred, so I'll assume not unless this is confirmed as canon. it really doesn't matter to the AU, as its events take place before tgwdlm could occur.

if there's anything pokey despises, it's things not going his way, his perfect spectacle being meddled with. wiggly knows this, and he wants to capitalise on it using the soon-to-be-apotheosised timeline.

thus, wiggly sends his disciple, wiley, to this timeline, with the instructions to kill a certain paul matthews and introduce the singular voice's leading man early. paul doesn't know emma's name yet and the meteor will not be coming for several months, at least. pokey's contagion doesn't exist in any timelines at this point. however, by drawing on a little bit of the black and white's (and specifically pokey's) power, the apotheosis can be incited in a corpse (this isn't canon, just a concept I came up with to supplement the AU). importantly, pokey won't notice the stealing of his power or the addition of infected!paul to his consciousness, since this timeline is already saturated with his interference. the hive mind always embodies pokey's will, and it was always his will to apotheosise this timeline, so, though the stage is not yet set, the hive mind will not hesitate to go through with the overtaking of humanity.

wiley obeys wiggly (there isn't a choice, really) and expects to leave after the apotheosis has been kickstarted. however, with no new orders from wiggly, against his better judgement, he sticks around after infected!paul stirs.

on the lords' side, pokey finds out about wiggly's "gift" fairly quickly, and is predictably furious that his show has been ruined. with no heroic journey for his protagonist and the hive mind's brain leading the apocalypse, there can be no climax, no victorious narrative. hatchetfield is quickly overtaken as pokey and wiggly have an eldritch sibling standoff in the black and white.

eventually, they come to a tense agreement: pokey won't interfere with wiggly's apocalypse as revenge as long as he gets to remold the ruined timeline to his liking.

the events of tgwdlm are enacted by the infected in hatchetfield, "resetting" the narrative (although not infected!paul's memories), and pokey's contagion spreads across the world in the way he was originally planning. wiley finds themself visiting this timeline often, mostly to see paul. the two cause chaos together and just generally make each other worse (affectionate).

after the hive mind has succeeded, tensions once more rise between wiggly and pokey. this timeline, in wiggly's eyes, has no uses, as not only is it "imperfect", but the apocalypse has taken place and pokey has gotten what he wanted. pokey wants to hold onto it just to spite wiggly. important to this part of the plot is the idea that there are limited timelines, and an adjacent (and likely canon-divergent) idea that new ones can be created only as long as the limit has not been reached. in this case, the maximum number of timelines exist, which means that one must be destroyed (again, all of this likely does not make sense in canon, which is why I'm calling it an AU) in order for the lords (wiggly) to have a new one to play with.

in order to convince pokey to get rid of the timeline, wiggly reasons that he must ruin this one. permanently. and what better way to do so than to kill the hive mind's brain, pokey's prophet?

only the black blade can eliminate those imbued with the lords' power (I am. making this up. this is not canon), and so, once again, wiley kneels before wiggly, and once again, wiggly's directions are clear: kill paul matthews. or rather, this time, kill what used to be paul matthews. and if anything—some inane attachment, perhaps—gets in the way, wiggly will finish the job for him.

wiley obliges, entering the apotheosised timeline for the last time, by which point pokey has learned of his brother's plot. cue Epic Battle between wiggly's forces (the sniggles? I suppose? I'm not entirely certain) and the hive mind as wiley makes his way towards the starlight theatre, where he knows paul will be waiting.

this is the part where they try to kill each other

as much as infected!paul is undead and the prophet of a deity, his true strength is in the hive. he does not win this fight. wiley doesn't really win either, but paul's the one who dies.

if you read all of that (or just scrolled past it, which is fine too), then congratulations (I am so sorry)! here's an alternate version as compensation

[pikahlua]

so, I dunno if you typically answer questions like this, as it seems like most of your Asks are related to dissecting the manga, but!

in your opinion, what's the best way to write a post-canon fic without getting wrapped up in keeping it loyal to the still-unfolding story?

for context: i'm writing a (potentially long) post-war-arc fic at the minute, but seeing as how the arc is still ongoing, I'm finding it challenging to not stop and rewrite and every time i learn something new. perhaps this is a stupid problem to have lmao, but you seem so good at untangling the MHA narrative threads, so I guess I'm just curious if you have any tips for folks trying to weave 'em in our own way?

thanks in advance, and thanks for all your hard work in general <3

Aww I love this ask!

So if you think about it, there are plenty of great post-canon fanfics out there that were written without the full context of the series. The lack of information those stories have about the end of MHA does nothing to hurt those fics.

You have several options really. You can commit to adapting your story in future chapters to what may happen in the MHA canon as it goes, but that's a pretty difficult path to take. I started my fanfic based on the assumption we would eventually learn AFO's real name, but now I'm realizing I'm going to have to come up with a solution to the possibility he may have no other name. You could pick a cutoff point in MHA and write a story that doesn't rely on any information that might come later. You could write based on an alternate set of events to fill in the blanks so that your story is canon-adjacent and divergent. In any case, you have to accept the fact that you're writing a story before the source material has ended.

The real question you have to ask yourself is: what does "keeping it loyal" mean to you? I'd advise you to remember that, no matter what, you're not writing something that will be part of the official canon. That gives you a lot of space to move around. If you try to stick too rigidly to the canon when you don't know how MHA ends yet, then ask yourself what your story is even about in the first place. If your story is so up-in-the-air right now that the important beats in it could change at the drop of a hat depending on what happens in the canon, then you don't have a story; you just have an idea. There's nothing wrong with that per se. Plenty of authors write without knowing where their story is going or how it ends yet.

My suspicion though is that's not your problem. I'm guessing that you're just worried about small details or references to events in the canon that may incidentally occur in your story. To the best of your ability I would advise that you don't worry about such things. Just write KNOWING you will do that. It's a feature of fanfic to do so, not a bug. Anyone reading your fanfic will know that.

So now I come back to the question about what does "keeping it loyal" mean? I am writing an AU fanfic. I have to ask myself often what I care about when it comes to "keeping it loyal" because AUs have the potential to diverge so far from the canon material they're practically their own original stories. In this case, "keeping it loyal" to me is about the characters. When I write these characters, are they behaving in the way I would expect them to in the canon? I've chosen major events in my characters' backgrounds to make them behave similarly to how they would in canon because to me, the appeal of an AU is in seeing how my favorite characters would behave in a new environment. By extension, I've also chosen some events to happen in my fanfic that maintain similar themes to the canon. My characters may have to change some from their canon counterparts based on the specific events that happen to them, but there is a core vision of the canon in my heart I always try to come back to.

It's a lot easier to keep that distance between my story and the MHA canon because I'm writing an AU, and that helps me to answer your question because the obvious things my story and the canon have in common are the characters and the story themes. Those two elements would be my answer to you. The line becomes grayer when you're writing a story set in-universe to the canon. My best advice is to not get caught up in those details. It's far more important that you write and get out your ideas. You can always come back and edit things later, EVEN AFTER PUBLISHING. That's the forgiving nature of fanworks. That said, I personally think canon-divergent/alternate canon stories are supremely underrated, so I would embrace the label. It's up to you if you want to do that or just try to adapt to the canon as you go, but IT'S OKAY if your story doesn't completely match up to the canon. It doesn't make your story any less loyal to the source material so long as you maintain that integrity in other ways. No one is reading fanfic because they expect it to be a rehashing of the exact events in MHA anyways. They're expecting something new, something additional, whether it's an embellishment, a soliloquy, or an entirely alternate set of events.

Just write what's good for your story right now, and everything else is incidental.

[aidanchaser]

WIP Tag/Reblog Game

Thank you @rosie-b for the tag! I love hearing about your works~

List the titles your top five priorities for WIP updates (link your fics for new readers!)

An upcoming scene, event, or detail in each fic that you're looking forward to writing

Bonus: make a poll for your followers to vote on which top 5 WIP they are most excited to see an update on!

Then tag 10 writer friends!

WIP TITLES

(I picked the 5 that I have open currently - there are so many more than 5 rattling around at all times, and i try not to start publishing any that aren't already outlined beginning to end)

Boulangerella - a fairy tale/cinderella story full of love square shenanigans, blood sacrifices, and scheming villains

Butterfly Effect - Adrien as Hawkmoth/Shadowmoth AU; Marinette and Chloe hold the ladybug and cat miraculous - songfic with butterfly effect by FJØRA

Expectations - Kwami Swap AU where Adrien is Mister Bug from the beginning; he's dealing with the anxiety of his role (and the knowledge that he handed his earrings over to hawk moth in another timeline and has no idea why)

After the War (place holder title) - a 1920s post-WWI AU, where Marinette runs her parents' bakery by day and a club by night; the club is a cover to take down war-profiteer Gabriel Agreste through vigilante action; Adrien has just returned to Paris from his time abroad in London, and Marinette has to wrestle with her childhood crush on him and her now grown-up hatred for his family

Time Lady of Creation (place holder title) - A Time Lord AU - I will say little else about it because it's still in the outline stages with only a few scraps of scenes drafted

UPCOMING SECTIONS

The next chapter is full of A LOT of confrontations and hard conversations - Marinette & Luka (the original conversation has been written but it needs to be redrafted to a new context); Felix and Lila (again, a lot of their stuff is written but needs to be redrafted); and Marinette & Chat Noir (not drafted yet - fragments abound in notes but need to be tied together)

Adrien has to figure out how to get his hands on the Cat and Ladybug Miraculouses so that he can save Marinette from a terrible fate

Marinette needs to help Adrien face Miracle Queen - I'm excited about the Cat/Dragon and Bug/Snake renditions of their powers for this AU, but this fic just kept getting comments that were like "it's not even that different from canon" and so I no longer care too much about this fic - I'm just irritated because I wrote the ending already and i LOVE the ending but I can't post the ending without writing the middle

The next scene I need to write is a confrontation between Ladybug and Adrien Agreste, where he doesn't realize how much she hates him and she has no idea how much he's madly in love with her

Right now it's mostly an outline, so I need to write the beginning, where Ladybug saves Adrien from a wax museum come to life then asks him to run away with her through time and space!

So - which WIP are you most excited to see update?

I know I'm supposed to tag 10 but I know about half of the writers I am mutuals with have already been tagged, so if I accidentally tag you a second time, I apologize! @astargatelover (if you have 5 wips?), @asukiess (if you haven't been tagged yet), @kay-elle-cee, @uncertainwallflower, @ninadove (I would love to hear about your projects and get to know you more) [I'm so sorry i fully reblogged and commented your own WIP list and did not even process the connection - absolutely embarrassing], @chaos-has-theories, @sunshinemarauder, @wield-the-mighty-pen, @miabrown007 (I don't think you've been tagged yet??? unclear), and last but certainly not least @dammithawke (bc i haven't heard about your role reversal au in a while and would love to hear about it again)

[imaginary-regret-608]

Artfight Attack Updates, My Take on Maryverse (Non-Undertale/Deltarune) Overworld Sprites, and SwilTaett 'FANART FEATURE' Version Two!

The Second Attack was for @butterrbee , featuring IGNEO MALICE (who I also attempted to make a palette for in this artwork) interacting with Patchwork, an original OC who was chosen because of their similar aesthetic to Ripper and shared interest in pranks and trickery!

Because the original image didn't have much context for it, I'd decided to do an improv recording of IGNEO Malice talking to Patchwork after reading the Reference Sheet.

The tone and stability of voice, as well as accuracy of the laugh is consistent to other Voice Tests, but because of it being improvised (which I don't have much experience with yet) I wasn't able to keep IGNEO MALICE's pattern of rhyming like Jevil does in Deltarune.

Here's what the original Reference for Patchwork looks like, in case anybody else was wanting to make Fanart of him for butterbee, whether it's for Artfight or not!

LINK:

The Third Attack was for @marnielovesyouu ! Featuring Mary Rosemary and PeePee, who are both Cast Members from Marnie's 'Maryverse' Project, which already has concepts and animatics for a Theoretical TV Series, where the three members of 'Catgirl at Heart' (Mary Rosemary, Sasha Tones and Skylar McMilliwood) have to compete against bands of different music genres to play at the Tower of Melodies in the middle of Kitty City!

LINK:

As this attack also needs context in order to make sense, Mary has been described and shown as being afraid of cats, despite many elements in Maryverse being cat-like in theming or names (such as with Kitty Citty, the Pawprint Amphitheatre, Straycay Suburbs, and the potential name for the Hot Topic-Inspired Shop that Mary works at for her dayjob).

Although the reference image underneath uses the Old Version of PeePee's Design, it is what was used as inspiration for Mary's scared expression, with larger eyes and an alert stance.

"PEEPEE he’s a sort of comic relief cat that always gets in the way of Mary and scares her shitless" - marnielovesyouu

LINK:

The other character who I haven’t referenced yet is marnielovesyouu whenever drawing herself with a sona, who I'd chosen to present in the attack itself as well as in the Artfight Description as being godlike (as she was responsible for creating Maryverse, as well as also having experience in making very good Concept Art for other projects like Andromedia and Vision Crew's Deltarune Takes).

I'm not sure whether she canonically exists in Maryverse, but the two have been drawn together multiple times:

'You haven’t experienced the true joy of creating if you’ve never drawn yourself and your OC having fun'.

'I know you meant the Pokémon Marnie but I scribbled this once…'

So if Marnie does exist in this world, her and Mary definitely seem to be friends (although one of the tags did say about them and how 'We're dating for real' despite both already having partners). But because the earliest version of Mary's Design also being described as a sona before Marnie had her own, it would mean that the Maryverse Version of God is an AU Mary, which would make sense as Mary was the first Cast Member made for the project.

Finally, in regards to the 'FANART FEATURE' segment of the SwilTaett MASTERPOST, the post has now reached its Image Limit, and I'm not able to add any more recent images since mrchaosman's Scamcair and Grimpula Fanart. because of the most recent SwilTaett Fanart, which was also made by butterbee as Revenge for my Patchwork attack in Artfight!

If anybody has a suggestion for how they would want this issue to be fixed, please do say!

Also, I apologize for this being later of an Announcement than it should've been! However, it's because I've been working on a Non-Undertale/Deltarune Theory now that I've been able to interact with the project's creator. It's planned to be a longer post than usual, with two smaller and less theories attached to it underneath the 'Read More'.

I've also been thinking of a scenario where the Cast Members across my different projects have in-character interactions with eachother (with as much as had been written before them beforehand, and with some projects that I've never made reference to before)! So if you're reading this and would want to see that, please do say!

[daz4i]

yknow what i have nothing to do and need to distract myself from *gestures vaguely* and i mentioned it a few times in the last few days so i may as well talk abt that one theory i like

first of all let me say. it's not my own original theory lol i can't remember where i saw it first but it's p common so it'd be a bit hard to trace who was the first to bring it up

second. i know it contradicts some themes or at least some messages bsd is going for. which is why i don't think it's too likely (on the other hand some elements in the story can def allow a plot point of that sort to happen without being contradictory asdfhg matter of perspective ig)

ANYWAY the actual theory:

dazai knows he's in a story and aware that he is a character

backup for that theory:

honestly not much. a minor fourth wall break for laughs (the "wow~" scene. you know the one) isn't really proof, but if it was true it'd add some depth to that scene i think!

the main thing i think is cool abt this theory is how it recontextualizes a lot of things about him;

the thing that made me think abt making this post is that collection of dazai saying "you can't kill me" at various points of the story. most of them have context for each scene (atsushi can't kill him bc nlh will nullify the tiger, fyodor can't kill him bc he has the power of friendship, etc), but the fact the same line repeats multiple times makes it stand out to me

so consider this: dazai is confident that he won't die because he knows he can't die before the story is over, bc that's what the narrative decided. that's why none of his suicide attempts ever work (tho you already know my opinion on why that is, in the context of the story itself). he keeps trying tho bc man. it's tiring to be aware

that being said! well. we know he's been suicidal from a very young age. he sees no meaning in the act of living. and, being a character in a story, knowing that your life is all fake, can certainly make one's life feel meaningless, huh.

and ofc, alienation from those around him, since he seems to be the only one aware of the story. he is quite literally separate from the human experience bc of this

also some more angst :) i do firmly believe dazai feels a lot of guilt, more for meta reasons than him really showing it. guilt is a very big repeating element in no longer human and its protag yozo, whom i think dazai is obviously very inspired by. soooooo now consider this :) guilt over odasaku's death. in the context of the story, there is no reason for him to feel that, more or less. maybe nothing beyond "if only i called ango out earlier" "if only i got there in time and got him help", he didn't actually cause oda's death, not more than mori did for example, and he did the best he could too.

buuuuuuut what if he's a character in a story. he doesn't know if the story is about him yet, but given how other people around him don't seem to notice they're characters, it must be, right? the narrative depends on him. and, in that narrative, odasaku ends up dying. if he didn't exist, odasaku could live (really interesting to think abt that in the context of beast, too)

actually since i brought it up. beastzai definitely seems to know he's a character. he knows his existence doesn't mean much, i mean his whole universe is just an offshoot of the main one, literally an au of canon. that's even more meaninglessness on top of canonzai's meaninglessness, and he experienced both of them at once. no wonder he ended up killing himself damn 😩 (sorry this is a joke. ik he killed himself for some noble reason. but also i bet this made it easier)

an awareness of this level can explain some things like how dazai knows things are gonna play out in certain ways - he knows he's in a story, so he knows the narrative has to end in some satisfying way. the main characters have to win, so the doa have to lose. fyodor can't kill him. and we're back to the start

problem with this theory:

that thing i mentioned abt themes and messages in bsd. a lot of the story seems to tell us dazai is HUMAN. having him aware of everything on a meta level, imo, may cheapen that message, bc that quite literally makes him More than others in the universe.

then again the story (and asagiri in interviews lol) also seems to show again and again that he is exceptional and knows best so eh. like i said, matter of perspective

how i think it might work:

no longer human lmao

yknow how it was said The Book was created by an ability (and that's probably why it caused a singularity when beastzai touched it). well. what if the whole narrative we're following, in a way, in the universe of bsd, can count as an ability too. like a combination of The Book and poe's ability, kinda. (i've seen some theories in the past abt how asagiri is gonna be the final boss of bsd lol and that he would indeed have an ability that's just. *gestures at everything* this)

sooooo while nlh can't take him out of the story physically, it nullifies his ignorance to the situation. in a way, he's out of the story because he sort of watches it from an angle others can't

ok i officially ran out of brain power. i might add more in a reblog at some other point but for now these are the only thoughts i have. if you subscribe to that theory as well, or even just thing it's cool, i would love to hear some of your ideas - what other parts of dazai and his story do you think this changes? what does it mean about his relationships with other characters? please share if you have any thoughts on the matter!!! :)

[kaydeefalls]

65 for Carthaginians, 66 for fic of your choice, 67, and 69 (always be fishing for recs)

Here we go!

65. If you wrote a sequel to [Carthaginians], what would happen in it?

LYKON MY BELOVED. Not the obvious answer, which I guess would be the followup of Yusuf and Nicolò searching for the lost Carthaginian children, but I honestly don't know how much of a story I have to tell there. However, the later ramifications of this particular canon divergence are fascinating to me, and having essentially swapped origin eras for Joe&Nicky vs. Lykon, I would love to dive into his alternate origin story. I spent way too long trying to pinpoint where in the early medieval period Lykon could have become immortal instead (for a single throwaway line in the one flashforward to present day scene), and it would be fun to explore that further. Or how the events of the movie play out differently with Lykon still part of the team - would he be the one to lose his immortality instead of Andy, since canonically he IS the first to die (and at only around 1000 years old, which is right around movie era in this AU)?

66. What’s a fun fact about [insert fic]?

I guess I'll go with what dreams may come (TOG fusion!AU with Inception), since that's the most recent fic I've posted. IDK how we define "fun fact" here, so here's something that pleased me when it finally came together. The fic alternates between past and present day scenes, and every single one of Nicky's dreams we see in a flashback shows up again in the nightmare Quynh traps him in. I did not plan that going in. I did not have the faintest idea how the final showdown was going to play out until just before I wrote it, and then had the absolute delight of patchworking all the prior dreams together into some kind of Frankenstein's monster of a dream. I'd struggled with writing most of that fic, but that section came together SO easily in the end. Love it when I subconsciously lay my own breadcrumbs trail.

67. If a fic was titled [insert made up title], what would this story be about/how would you write it?

...I'm not sure how to answer this one without the made up title of choice! But titles rarely come first for me. When I'm very, very lucky, they come relatively early on in the writing process, and not in a desperate scramble at the last possible minute. Though I do sometimes have titles sitting in the back of my head for years, waiting for the right fandom/fic to show up for them. Always satisfying when one of those finds a home. (I do currently have one of those on the backburner - a line from my wife's favorite poem - but the WIP in question hasn't coalesced properly yet.)

69. What are your favorite fics at the moment?

Okay, so I'm currently doing a deep dive into Heartstopper fandom, which uh I'm not sure anyone else here would care about, and I'm kinda casting the net pretty wide at the moment in that sort of new(ish) fandom haze, where I'm not as picky as I normally would be, but also everything I've read is kind of starting to blur together? I wish I thought to bookmark fics more - I use author subscriptions instead of bookmarks for my own personal reference, but that's uh less helpful in a new fandom where I don't actually remember any author's username out of context. The most recent fics I've bookmarked (in ANY fandom) are:

like in the dramas by shoutowo (Heartstopper) - canon divergence where Charlie and Tao start fake dating after Charlie gets outed, and the ensuing complications once he meets Nick; it's just super charming and a fun subversion of the fake dating trope, and Charlie's repeated attempts to fake-break-up with Tao amuse me greatly.

That Was the River, This Is the Sea by @what-alchemy (TOG) - modern AU for Joe/Nicky, I fucking love the way this fic depicts them both, and how REAL they feel. I can't speak from a cis gay male experience, being a queer woman, but the depiction of Joe and Nicky's desire for each other in this fic is the closest I've ever read to the way my many queer male friends talk about sex and relationships, it just rings so unbelievably true to me. And also it's just lovely.

...apparently I've only bookmarked two new fics in 2024? Ugh. I really need to use bookmarks more often. But genuinely I'm just in a weird Heartstopper reading haze at the moment and I don't know what to rec because I'd have to track them back down again first, and my brain is not capable of that at 1am, whoops. 🤦‍♀️

[stobinesque]

intro & masterlist

read • 29 • ze/zir/zirs

I follow and interact from @amusingdisplacement.

Mostly Stobin, Steddie, and Lucas Sinclair content here, but I am, broadly speaking, a multishipper! (There is the occasional canon-Stancy-critical reblog here and there, tagged anti-stancy for filtering purposes.)

No DNI criteria, but minors take note that there's fairly frequent 18+ content here. And B*lly Hargr*ve fans who don't think he's canonically racist: we will not get along.

links & nav guide

[ ao3 account ] • [ spotify ]

tags:

#read.txt : original homegrown ramblings. sometimes there are even coherent headcanons here.

#read writes : general-purpose writing tag

#read microfic : where all of my microfic drabbles for my 250 follower celebration can be found!

things i currently ramble about a lot:

#jeff is steve's bi awakening au | #wayfinder tag [s4 lucas pov fix-it] | #first light tag [rockie apocalyptic first date fic] | #wigwag tag [steve's gay slut-discovery era: the fic]

fic list

highlights:

currently posting: Follow Celebration Microfics!

newest: held frozen like an angel to me • E • steddie • [read on ao3]

biggest hit: lay your cuts and bruises over my skin • unrated • Steve-centric • [ao3 only]

writer's higlight: the firmament in you • T • stobin • [read on ao3]

SERIES

semiotics 'verse

[series masterpost tk]

/ˌsemēˈädiks/ plural 1. the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation. "Queer identities, and the everyday practices and performances associated with them, cannot be dissociated from the ways in which they are expressed by language—in all its subtleties and implicit associations as well as explicit self-reports—as situated in dynamic contexts of social norms and values, politics, power, ideology and various media" (source)

lay your cuts and bruises over my skin

3/3 | wc: 22k | Unrated | Gen / Steve-centric | ao3 only

People like to say that Steve can’t take a punch. But that’s not strictly true. The other accusation—that he’s no good at throwing a punch—is closer to the truth. But really the issue can be neatly summarized by the fact that he’s a little too good at taking a punch. OR A history of Steve Harrington’s bruises.

plinth

One-Shot | wc: 1k | G | Gen / Robin & Max | read on ao3

There are monsters in Hawkins, Billy Hargrove is dead, and Robin is sitting next to his kid sister while her summer job burns in front of her.

phryctoria

7/7 | T | Gen / Stobin & Steve-centric

Sometimes your gay awakening is just having someone to show you it’s possible. After Starcourt, Steve realizes he's gay, comes out to his best friend, and starts figure out how to navigate his new reality with her. Sometimes your gay awakening is just having someone to show you it’s possible. After Starcourt, Steve realizes he's gay, comes out to his best friend, and starts figure out how to navigate his new reality with her.

A Cure for All That Ails You

One-Shot | wc: 6k | T | Gen / Stobin | read on ao3

Steve gives her a despairing look. “Please don’t tell me your only experience of grilled cheeses have been ones made with Kraft singles.” “Okay, I won’t tell you!” She says brightly. Steve looks to be on the brink of tears. “Hey…it’s okay, Steve. I promise you can pop my good-grilled-cheese cherry!” Steve’s expression, if anything, grows even more pained. “Please, for the love of God, do not put it like that.” For Lex's Spicy Six Summer Fanworks Challenge prompt: “How did you go through life so far without knowing how to make a grilled cheese sandwich?”

perfect creature rarely scene

held frozen like an angel to me

One-Shot | wc: 10.3k | E | Steddie | read on ao3

There's a figure in the doorway, silhouetted by the chandeliers he keeps faintly lit in the receiving hall. Eddie sees the outline of wings. Of horns. A flowered crown. No sooner has he had the thought to reach out than the figure is stalking towards him. Eddie still can't move, and the beat of his heart picks up its pace. Not yet pounding in terror, but racing like he's just started a chase. He wants to speak. Wants to cry out, wants to— "Hello, my pet."

ONE SHOTS

the shape of things lost; the shape of things to come

T | wc: 1k | Gen / Stobin | cw: Major (Canonical) Character Death, Post-Season 4 Vol. 2, Grief & Mourning, fatalistic thinking

hitch, loop, hand & heart [ READ ON AO3 ]

E | wc: 2k | cw/tags: Bondage, Shibari, Hand Kink, Praise Kink, Anal Fingering, Soft Dom Steve, Good Boy Eddie, ‘puppy’ used as a term of endearment

the mouth that feeds you [ READ ON AO3 ]

E | wc: 4k | cw/tags: Office Sex, Desk Sex,Lingerie, thigh biting, Stone Top Robin, Sassy Pillow Princess Nancy (kinda), ‘sir’ used as an honorific, Praise Kink, Oral Sex, Dacryphilia (just a dash), Edging, Vaginal Fingering, Squirting [there’s…a lot going on here]

CHALLENGES & PROMPT FILLS

Steddie Week fics:

Day Two: Fluff [T+]

Day Three: First Kiss [T]

Day Four: Familiar / “let me be the void you fill” [T+]

Days 6: Misunderstanding & 7: “Freedom!” by Wham / “talking could, if we’d just dare (you know that i’ll forgive you)” [part 1][part 2]

Steddie Microfic Challenge fics:

July

prompt: 'pool' original wc goal: 442 bonus round goal: 273 title: center stage • rating: E / M • cws: Kink, D/s dynamics, Public Sex, Bondage, Chastity Device (briefly implied), Boot Kink, Light Degradation/Humiliation

August

prompt: cake wc goal: 311 fill 1: gilding the lily • rating: E • cws: cockwarming, facials, group sex, “puppy” used as term of endearment

fill 2: avarice for pearls • rating: E • cws/tags: D/s dynamics, free use, sloppy seconds, Daddy Kink (no age play)

Spicy Six Summer Challenge fics

A Cure for All That Ails You One-Shot | wc: 6k | T | Gen / Stobin | read on ao3 prompt: “How did you go through life so far without knowing how to make a grilled cheese sandwich?”

TK: the firmament in you [prompt: Dancing under the stars. - stobin] TK: first light on the horizon (at the end of the world) [prompt: First date - rockie]

prompt fills

prompt: “Just pretend to be my date.” [stobin] rating: T (for language) | wc: 771

prompt: things you said but didn’t mean [stobin] rating: T (for language) | wc: 616 | cw: hurt/comfort, arguments & misunderstandings

prompt: things you said through a closed door [steddie] rating: M (for frank discussions of sex) | wc: 679 | cw: hurt/comfort, erectile dysfunction, internalized ableism

prompt: things you didn’t say at all [stobin] rating: G | wc: 276 | cw: angst, hurt/comfort, ambiguous loss

Playlists!

fic related mixes

World's #1 Babysitter Mixtape [rel: lay your cuts and bruises]

Steve & Robin's Scoops Tracks [rel: lay your cuts and bruises]

Steve's Heartbreak Playlist [rel: Steddie Week Day 7 fic]

Stobin Car Tracks #1 [Summer '85] [rel: phryctoria]

Jeff Taste Profie ['84] [rel: 'Jeff is Steve's Bi Awakening AU']

Wayfinder playlist

first light on the horizon [a Vickie mixtape]

(at the end of the world) first light vibes playlist]

the firmament in you playlist

perfect creature rarely seen series playlist

get to know the author mixes

Stobinesque's Ten Song Recs

STOBINESQUE [username playlist]

STOBINESQUE [vol. 2]

AMUSINGDISPLACEMENT [username playlist – main]

[kinaesthetiqueer]

(clearing out some drafts. condensing a couple of jnpr vs rwby into one post here)

August 1

i still haven't decided who wins rwby v jnpr

given me, there's an obvious answer. for plot reasons, i could convince glynda to skip it altogether. for canon reasons [post ends there, presumably i got distracted]

August 3rd

thinking about how i backed myself into a corner with rwby vs jnpr and how i don't really wanna write it so i might just skip it _(:3」∠)_

spoiler alert. processing rambles below.

if it does happen, rwby will probably lose because of weiss. unless rwby can convince me otherwise. they have the semblance advantage and canon on their side (food fight). however jnpr has non-canon on their side bc they're god's (my) favorite and also the way ive worked this volume favors them being more cohesive as a unit

i am thinking about ways to communicate even clearer when something from canon does or does not happen but i hope it's thus far clear that some things have yet to happen.

as Nora points out in her pre-jnpr vs crdl thoughts, she and jaune lost their duos demonstratory match. while it's yet to be mentioned, jaune still lost to cardin in his one-on-one as he does in canon.

i just rewatched jaunedice and forever fall before i decided to get tooooo far into JNdice planning. massively surprised that pyrrha becomes the target of cardin's ire simply because of being a know it all??? i knew i had my events mixed up but heavens that's hella extreme. makes dove's reasoning for going after Nora in ssvau seem... reasonable... good heavens. (hint: it's the jnpr vs crdl knockout)

for context's sake, and my own personal rambly timeline needs—

at the end of the rwby vs jnpr week (a week from current chapter), forever fall happens. which places jaundice taking place slightly to the left because i've adjusted cardin's asshole motivation in this au to crest with jaunedice, not quite originate there. giving a shorter time period of jaune torture. thankfully, because nora is our only pov that keeps track of jaune, i won't have to completely rehash canon-two-steps-to-the-left for this arc, only allude to what she notices. unfortunately for me, i do have to know everything that is happening. hence this ramble.

anyways i think the issue with jnpr vs rwby is several fold

i have a favorite team

nora is well rested

weiss is exhausted

jaune is not great at thinking on his feet

like they still prep and plan for rwby but they know damn well rwby has been more cautious about showing off than crdl ever was

pyrrha and nora and ren are gonna kick ass

blake and yang are gonna kick ass

ruby learns from earlier in the week after [spoilers] and can definitely kick ass if/when she stops pouting about weiss

the outcome has implications for the end-of-semester rankings which i am also still deciding

damn they might just have to fight until a draw due to time. because i think jaune and weiss would go down faaaaaaast.

----

bringing us to now....

okay SO since early august, i did some pretty intense problem solving and actually came up with the funniest solution possible. good news, i'm not going to skip it! bad news, im keeping the solution to myself until we get there.

it is my hope that my fight scenes are okay and fun to read, but i will be SO real with you they are one of my least favorite things to write. however, i think this one will be pretty fun

[fraudulent-cheese]

actually I would be interested in your heather/eva thoughts if you wanna share them......

OK. ok im actually on my computer so it's time to attempt to be articulate!!!

So my memory is uh. shit. and i don't remember when i really started thinking about them? I know it was AU related however, since i said so in my reblog of this post but im unsure which one it was??? (like it def wasn't my swap au but i don't think any other ones i had running around my head had them at the time) And it was just a pairing i thought was neato at the time. i was uh, a little more focused on other ones (courtzzy. and alenoah.) + i hadn't looked into Heather's character yet so it got sorta put on the backburner.

I had to dig up rambles i left in discord wayyy back in june to clean em up a little to try and explain what scratches my brain about em!!!

Funnily enough it's got very little with the few canon interactions they have - which mostly consists of Heather stealing Eva's MP3 player then giving them back after the challenge's over, Eva ranting about her dislike of Heather during Haute Campture, and one or two moments where she's just part of a crowd.

The thing that drew me in at first was just how opposite they are:

Like you have manipulative, pushes everyone away, has huge trouble being genuine Heather, and then you have blunt, straight-foward, values honesty Eva. You have Heather who places both alot of importance and feels alot of resentment towards her feminine presentation, while Eva seemingly doesn't care and presents more masculine (for this show at least).

They do have some things in common however; they've got alot of anger in them for one! They're both interested in leadership positions, and both fail to reach them for different reasons. I also headcanon both of them as neurodivergent and neither are super aware of it. They also don't have many friends, but would definitely get attached to the ones they make.

I have the very specific vision of eva being the first girl heather crushes on and her not knowing what those feelings are or how to deal with them and assumes they're fully negative and it must be hate because she's not acting how "a girl should" and she's fine with it so there has to be an issue with it (and it's definitely not because heather's lowkey jealous of Eva's ability to just be herself or to admit to and work on her own flaws without getting shamed for them by the people closest to her, totally not. It's not that eva gets genuine connection that is completely alien to Heather at this point, no)

Meanwhile Eva is not remotely aware of Heather's inner termoil and doesn't like her for her scheming and dishonesty but will admit that she is pretty, even during her bald era. (This would probably fuck with Heather's feelings for the girl even more, because what do you mean the literal manifestation of her insecurities still thinks she's hot like this. That must be a trick of some kind, no one could think she's even remotely beautiful like this and not be lying out of their ass to make fun of her but this is Eva. Straight foward, blunt Eva. Why would she lie?)

Also i genuinely do belive that Eva's female bully label mostly to fully originates from her anger issues and the complete lack of acomodations or therapy for it, most likely worsened by her status as an immigrant (remember the Island bios?) and the bullying she most likely received as a child for it. Guess who was also most likely bullied growing up for not fitting it? Heather.

I've been developping an AU alot that is currently stuck in the interns server/astrokyle's server limbo because there's a couple parts i wanna get out before i start talking about the actual fucking meat and bones of the au but what i can say is that heatheva happends in it and it's been a blast both figuring out what happends and Heather's arc in it as a whole. I have talked about them in the context of a no Total Drama AU before however, so uh. Feel free to read it ig.

I also had an idea for a fic a while back for them and i might write it out eventually, but it's a fic that takes place in the short inbetween period of island and action in which after a conversation during lunch, Heather takes interest in Eva's music player (spoilers: she actually likes the music she's composed). I have no fucking clue when it would be finished tho (reminder that im in medschool and while it's pretty calm now it's not gonna be soon) but yeah!! The girlies, they've been on my mind :)

[dragonbleps]

I can no longer hold my silence

who is dal? everywhere I go, I see his face. I've heard so much about the man and yet I don't know who he is. oc? sona? simply an incredible fictional character?

(aka I dont member but am intrigued so i'm specifically asking you to ramble about your guy. I need twelve paragraphs by noon tomorrow /lh)

you've activated mY TRAP CARD

MY BOY!!!

SO, Dal is my OC! Or, rather, Dal is the nickname for my TES OC, Dalamus Rex, but when talking about other AUs of him, I'll also use the name Dal often without clarifying, usually forcing people to either assume or figure out from context which version of Dal I'm talking about. A few of his AUs keep the Dalamus first name, or have a name that can be shortened to Dal, even if the name they actually go by is different (ie "Modern Dal" Damon Rex, whose birth name is Dalmatius). Sometimes, if talking about multiple Dalamus' in the same post, I might differentiate between them by using last names (Rex, Sarangerel, Strighym). Or sometimes I'll tag something as "Dal" because it applies to all of them, or vaguely makes me think of Dal even if it isn't entirely accurate to a specific version of him.

Clear as mud, right? WELL, allow me to go through the list!!! (All AUs are specifically AUs of Dalamus Rex. No weird permutations. Dalamus Rex is the origin of all and acts as the base.)

Dalamus Rex (he/him) is the original Dal, and one of two that can be safely assumed I'm defaulting to when I just say "Dal", (the other currently being Dalamus Strighym, and we'll get to him later). Dalamus Rex is a TES OC! He's a Dunmer/Bosmer (Dark elf/Wood elf) vampire who was originally intended to be a one-off antagonist for my other character, Thaerondil, to face. I felt I had hit a wall when writing Thaerondil, and needed something to force me to get him to mature a bit, so I started writing Dal. Dal was eventually supposed to just disappear or die and. Well. It's been 12 years and he's still here! And he's infecting the rest of my braincells.

Dalamus Rex started out life in Morrowind, to a family with a terrible father and a mother who tried her best but was treated just as awfully by her husband. I won't go into specifics unless asked, but you can search Dal's blog and find info (just mind the trigger warnings)! After his mother died, he ran from home and just kept running, eventually making his way into Skyrim at a young age. So while Morrowind might be his homeland, he basically grew up in Skyrim.

In Skyrim, he continued to use his stealth and thievery skills to survive, jaded and unstrusting, until eventually he caught ill with serious respiratory illness and collapsed outside the door of a Bosmer named Falin (fuh-LEEN). Falin took care of him and nursed him back to health with food, kindness, and herbal remedies because Dalamus does not trust mages or healing magic. In spending so much time together, they become fond of each other and fall in love.

Unfortunately, it would be cut short. At Falin's behest, Dalamus accompanies mercenaries to help clear a den of vampires, and ends up knocked unconscious and unknowingly infected with vampirism himself. Near the end of the week, Dalamus would wake a vampire in the middle of the night and kill his beloved Falin for his first feeding.

Wracked with guilt and shame, he runs and goes into hiding. For nearly two centuries he oscillates violently between ridden with guilt and starving himself, and succumbing to the Thirst and becoming a terror to anyone or anyplace nearby. He is stealthy, and wickedly fast, so god help you if you try to run, because he enjoys the chase. While not the strongest vampire, his agility and athleticism more than makes up for it.

Near the end of the two centuries, he finally evens off into a sort of homeostasis, emotionally speaking, allowing him to integrate himself into society if only to lure people to their death in typical Suave Charming Seductive Vampire fashion. This is where his blog canon takes place.

As he manages his Thirst better and can spend more time among people without needing to feed, he spends his time thieving from people and seducing them for more.. mundane needs. But it also means he has the time and ability and wherewithal to have conversations with people, and conversations often lead to connection. And he starts getting attached. (The next bit is going to be incredibly condensed and summarized because otherwise it's 10+ years of storytelling).

He starts building bonds with people. He learns to trust. He starts making friends, some to the extent of considering them family. He learns how to be vulnerable. He accidentally hurts friends. He learns how to apologize. He makes up with friends. He finally finds love again. He has a daughter. He cheats on his wife. He learns that apologies are not always enough. They get a divorce, and it hits him hard. But he has supportive people in his life now, his closest of which know he is a vampire and know of his past and that he has killed on his way here.

He learns how to change his behavior while still remaining himself, becoming ever closer to his friends and family. He finds love again, and is now in a stable relationship with an Agent of Mara, who also happens to be a Healer and a werelion. He has several close friends who he quite literally owe his life to, and for whom he would risk his life in an instant to keep them safe. Dalamus is not religious and is still afraid of Healing Magic but he occasionally reads about teachings of Mara when struggling, and he is slowly, slowly working up the nerve to be accepting of magic, although traumatic experiences and misunderstandings of how magic works are significant bumps in the road.

Damon Rex (he/it) -- A vampire in a fantasy Modern Earth who owns a jewelry store called Aeternum Rex ("forever the king", "forever king", "king forever", "eternal king", however you wanna think of it). CEO, owner, manager, boss, he's all of it. This is his store, and he uses it to swindle wealthy people :)

He's also a jeweler, gemologist, silversmith, gemcutter, etc etc. He's had time to learn it ALL. And he does make some of the available jewelry for the store. Some of it is stolen from the rich and altered to hide the fact. And some of it is synthetic jewelry altered to seem natural. The idea is that he steals valuables from the rich, changes them slightly, then sells them back to the rich when they come around looking for a replacement. Selling the synthetic gems at such a high profit margin also gives him leeway to give discounts to.. whoever he wants, really. But generally it is given to those who are not rich or wealthy, those looking for one-time gifts who will likely not be repeat customers.

He employs mostly teens and young adults from less-than-ideal living situations, or generally those who are desperate for the financial stability to get out of bad situations, buy necessities, etc. How he does this legally, who knows. But he pays them very generously for easy work, and time off is given on the honor system, assuming you will show up when you can work. See, with his speed and with how small the store is, he doesn't really NEED the help, but he wants to help others.

His own backstory is similar to TES Dal's in terms of family situation. But where TES Dal's mother died, Modern Dal became a vampire and returned to save his mother from his father. He then was able to live with and take care of his mother for the rest of her natural life, and this helped give him skills to integrate into society in a healthy manner earlier in his life.

Few people know he is a vampire aside from other supernatural creatures. His employees (who he eventually comes to see as his own kids, in a way) joke about him looking like one or dressing like one, but none of them actually believe anything out of the ordinary is happening. He's just goth, that's all. He's a little scary but he only ever uses his scariness on people who are disrespectful of his employees so it's fine.

Dalamus Sarangerel (he/they) -- FFXIV AU. A Xaela Au Ra who grew up in the Steppes in the Sarangerel tribe. His father is an herbalist, and his mother a hunter, giving him the chance to learn a well-rounded skillset for survival. The particulars of his tribe are TBD, but in my head they're more bestial than is shown in-game.

They were a peaceful tribe. His tribe worshipped the moon, Dalamud, as a guiding deity--Dalamus' was even named after it. But when Dalamud turned red and began descending, all manner of creature and people began behaving strangely. Dalamus' tribe was affected gradually, so gradually he hardly noticed, until they started treating Dalamus himself as a harbinger, and sacrificing animals for their deity.

When the Calamity happened, and Dalamud split open to free the dragon Bahamut, Dalamus got the wake-up call he needed to leave the tribe. Their violence continued, but Dalamus was determined to find a way to reverse their madness.

So, he left for Eorzea (where the game takes place), and discovered that the reason he was unaffected by Dalamud was this mysterious power called the Echo which he unknowingly had. And it meant he was a Warrior of Light. Out of one "prophecy" and into another. Chosen One for a different camp. But if defeating Primals will help him find answers on how to help his tribe, he is willing to do what they ask...

(I haven't played super far into the game, so, alas, his story is limited!)

Dalamus Strighym (he/him) -- BG3 AU. Dalamus Strighym, a Drow born simply as Dalamus, as surnames denoted nobility and a House, and he was born a commoner in the subterranean city of Menzoberranzan 200 years before the events of Baldur's Gate 3. (Disclaimer: Lolth-sworn Drow society in DnD is all kinds of messed up and potentially Problematic, and I'm well aware, but I'm not going to be the one to fix it; I'm mostly taking it as-is).

His family's trade was gemcutting, but neither of his brothers showed much aptitude for it. He had two older brothers. Orgoll, the eldest, a mean sonovabitch who delighted in harassing his youngest siblings. Orgoll became a military officer, strong and powerful, and most importantly, feared. Orgoll was jealous of what small amount of favor Dalamus was shown for his gemcutting skills, and would often sabotage his work.

And Nilaufein, second eldest, a weirdo by Drow standards, passionate about his job raising and training Riding Lizards and Pack Lizards, with a curiosity and fascination about the Surface. In private, he was kind, and hated the cruelty which ruled Menzoberranzan, and avoided being cruel whenever possible, instead using his wit and charm to diffuse situations and altercations. Nilaufein tried his best to keep his brothers from seriously injuring each other.

Nilaufein was selected to join a Raid on the Surface when Dalamus was 30. It was to be Nilaufein's Blooding, the coming-of-age ritual that would see him socially treated as an adult, if he survived. But he never returned, and is presumed dead. Dalamus' own Blooding was to battle a Displacer Beast with a handful of other Drow, and he survived, but not without massive scarring from a tentacle. To celebrate his success, Orgoll visited at the behest of their parents, but used the opportunity to mock both Dalamus and Nilaufein. Dalamus killed Orgoll later that night.

For a while, Dalamus had peace as the only child. He is excellent at gemcutting, one of the best. He makes good money for himself and his family. Then his sister, Taliira, is born, and immediately becomes the family favorite (Menzoberranzan operates under a Matriarchal Theocracy, where men are second-class citizens at best, and Priestesses of Lolth rule with fear and cruelty). If Taliira can undergo clerical schooling to become a Priestess, the family can be elevated.

And so, much of Dalamus' money becomes saved and dedicated to Taliira's teachings. While she is still small, Dalamus is often left to take care of her. He does not dare punish or discipline her, leaving her to do whatever she wants. At first, this meant hanging around him and curiously watching him work on his jewelry. She'd ask innocent questions, he'd give straightforward answers. But as she grew up and was encouraged to be cruel, Dalamus became target practice for her budding magic skills. Despite only being a teen, she was a hellion, and further compounded Dalamus' dislike of magic, especially anything that manipulated the mind or body.

She eventually was sent off to schooling, at which point Dalamus got a few years of peace. Until the minor noblewoman, Nedvyllanna Strighym, set eyes upon him. She thought he looked handsome, and interesting (his eyes and hair are not the typical Drow colors often selectively bred for), and his jewelry skills were second-to-none, and she wanted him for herself. And so she did. He became her personal gemcutter, jeweler, and favored consort.

I won't go into details what that entails bc again, messed up society (if you're interested then you can check his blog where I've written headcanons). But we will just say he is not treated kindly, and yet, because of how twisted the society is and the expectations for men, he thinks it's fine, even preferable in some cases. After 8 years, they have a son. He is not allowed to see or be around the son and does not get attached.

Two years later, he gets caught stealing from another noble (at Nedvyllanna's request), and his punishment is exile. She injures him with a whip and sends him out to wander the Underdark and hopefully die. But he survives, using his piwafwi for stealth, his knowledge of Underdark flora to stanch his bleeding, and a little subtle help from a Goddess he does not worship (and doesn't realize it's her doing). He doesn't escape unscathed, though, as an encounter with a bear-like creature called a Quaggoth gives him a back injury that'll prove permanent and be a source of both chronic and acute pain.

But he makes it to the Surface. And despite being blinded by the light and exhausted by the heat, he makes it to a town, and then a city, and commissions a back-support corset to be made. About a month later, he receives the corset--and the Nautiloid appears over Yartar and begins abducting people, Dalamus included.

So now he's got this mind flayer parasite behind his eye, his back injury is still healing, heck his face and neck scarring isn't completely healed yet, and now he has to work with strangers on the Surface where the sun burns his skin and blinds him, to try and figure out how to remove the parasites before they all become Mind Flayers.

It's been a helluva time the past few weeks for him.

Other versions of Dal I occasionally talk about but don't have specific blogs for:

Dalrex -- (Fallout) An odd, intelligent dark-colored Alpha Deathclaw. Seems to have a proclivity for finding shiny loot to try and decorate his hide with. Curiously able to speak, but not much more than a child. Extremely dangerous, and yet some say he's actually docile unless given a reason to be otherwise. Not many are willing to test that theory, though.

PokeDal -- (Pokemon) An adult pokemon trainer named Damon. He's gaunt, has bags under his eyes, is pale, and a Lampent follows him around. It's believed Lampent is a sort of emissary of death, appearing right before someone dies to take their soul, and yet Damon is still here. Some say it's because he's actually a vampire! But he's not. Probably. He's just a tired recluse who lives in a castle. He takes care of a sanctuary for pokemon who can't, won't, don't want to, or shouldn't become partner pokemon for trainers for various reasons. His team consists of mostly Dark types. Lemme see if I can remember... Houndoom, Corviknight, Umbreon, Zoroark, Lampent, Crobat. I think.

Stardew Dally -- (Stardew Valley) Dalmatius is a farmer who got tired of the monotony of working for a corporate entity. He's a bit pale and thin but surprisingly strong. He always wears his straw hat because he burns in the sun so easily. Just might be a vampire. He mostly keeps to himself, but holds respect for the townspeople.

MonHun Dal -- (Monster Hunter) An arrogant, tall Wyverian man named Dalakai. Unlike many of his people, who dedicate their lives to the study and understanding of the world around them through scholarly endeavors, Dalakai thrives being a Monster Hunter. He is considered immature and brash by his people, but his skills are nothing to sneeze at.

[missnobodymadness]

AOT OCS Show and Tell Days: Day 1

Saw this and decided to join the fun with my girl because you know...she is extremely important to me and I need to tell everyone about her as much as I can. :'D

Day 1: Basic Introductions

Name: Evelyn Thorburn Gender: Female Age in setting: 16 (850); 20 (854)

Bold all of the following that apply to your OC!

Context: Canon Setting | Modern AU | Other AU

What niche does your OC serve for you? Self-insert | Completely original character | Self-shipping | Roleplaying | Writing fics | Creating art | Only the scenarios and adventures that I imagine inside my head and share with no one! get fucked I ain't creating shit | Something else

A Bit More

If your character is in the AOT canon setting, what's their allegiance? Survey Corps, Military Police, Marleyan, Warriors, etc?

She was a Survey Corps member, becoming a member of the Special Squad later but now serves Marley as a cadet (it's a long story :'D).

If your character is from an AU, what's their occupation?

----

Do you ship your character with a canon character? If so, who?

She has an unrequited love for Reiner, the poor thing never had a chance, the bastard didn't even realize it until she died for him. At a certain point of my fic, Evelyn starts to question her feelings for Pieck as she noticed how different she felt around her despite her feelings for Reiner. Evelyn is fascinated by her intelligence and finds her personality very curious, for her, Pieck is a mind ahead of its time, she really admires her.

Yes, Evelyn is just an indecise person. Yay.

Do you have any cute art or picrews of them together? Let's see one.

I wish...I am not an artist myself and couldn't really find a Picrew that would fit their physical features, HOWEVER, I talked with a good friend of mine about ordering a commission of Evelyn and Pieck this month, I'm just waiting to have enough for the payment, pretty excited though!

Character Creation

How long have you actively been developing your OC?

I created Evelyn only three years ago and have been developing her since then, only very recently I had the pleasure to finally buy her a reference sheet from the amazing horizonzbusy!

Is there any significance behind your OCs name?

To be very honest, not much, I just really loved that name and how it sounded, I then did a fast research on it, finding out it is European with french and german roots, seemed like a good fit for an AOT character and decided to use it.

If your OCs appearance is based on yours, do they have any different features?

She is not based on my appearance, at all.

Is there anything you want to try doing with your OC that you haven't yet? (ex RPing, art, fics, etc)

Lots of things, to be honest! From memes to animation (this will probably never happen because I don't have that cash buuuut).

This was honestly very nice to do and I am so grateful that I came across this! Thank you for doing this, @shingekinomyfeelings !

[soccerpunching]

2, 4, AND 11 OF THE SAPPHIC ENGOUKIDOU MAGICAL GIRLS AU PLEASEE EVER SINCE I FIRST SAW U MENTION IT I WAS HOOKED IMMEDIATELY LORE PLSSS 🙏🙏🙏

[Image Description: darkmode screenshot of white text that says: Reblog if you are a fanfiction author and would like your readers to put one of your fic titles in your ask + questions about it. End of description.]

Thank you so much for asking about that story!! It's only been for a month and a few weeks in my head but it's already taking over my life. I'm glad you liked it aaaaaaaa I'll make sure to keep writing it afasdsafshdfgsd

To everybody else who has not heard of it before, you can read a brief introduction to it here!!

Sapphic EnGouKidou Magical Girls AU

2: What scene did you first put down?

I didn't mention this but this fic is originally a canon divergent AU where Kidou won consecutively in the FF and Gouenji and Endou didn't meet in middle school; it's engoukidou back then too. So the original dialogues and scenes have that context first before it was ever a Magical Girls AU. It goes roughly like this (this is still Haruna and Kidou's situation here btw):

Haruna: And since when did I say that?! Kidou: !! Haruna: You think this is what I want?! To live in this... stupidly fancy mansion with a full course buffet everyday?!! Is that what you thought when you... when you chose this stupid trophy!! *shoves it on his chest* when you chose winning over contacting me?!! Kidou: *voice breaking* I didn't-- I thought--!! Haruna: Yeah, exactly!! You thought!! Because you didn't think it was worth listening to me!!

I recreated it here and I still think about this... It turned into a Magical Girls AU because I wanted there to be a way for these three to act where they're away from expectations of the people in their lives and prying eyes. This also includes from each other's (because Gouenji and Kidou have a bad history and Endou initially wants to be liked by and befriend Gouenji and vice versa) and it turns out they like being silly and fighting crimes while wearing skirts (only 2 out of 3 of them likes the skirt actually)!!

4: What's your favorite line of dialogue?

I have two sets, but it's not written to be posted yet and this story is at the early parts of creation overall so the scenes and dialogues are probably going to change, but it's so funny to me. They're all transformed as magical girls in these scenes. I use the pronouns they currently use for themselves on the narration and since this is right at the start of the story, they mostly use he/him. Kidou also has an army of penguins as his weapon, I will elaborate next time.

Kidou: *takes the small penguin with a similar cape to him, thinking for a while* Call me Hotaru. *extends his hand* Endou: *shakes the beautiful lady's hands vigorously* MAMO--MAM-- MOMOKO!! Kidou: *sweatdrops with a small smile* Did you just come up with that? Endou: N--NO!! Kidou: *scoffs in amusement* of course...

-- Different scene and chapter --

Kidou: I'm Hotaru and that one shouting over there is my partner Momoko Gouenji: *nods* Nice to meet you... *ties the villains even tighter with his fire laso, not really trying to ignore him* Kidou: Kidou: So what's your name? Gouenji: --Huh? Kidou: Your name? Gouenji: *blinks then looks at Kidou then at the villains* Gouenji: I don't want to tell... Kidou: I didn't tell anyone my real name either-- Endou: YOUR NAME'S NOT HOTARU?! Kidou: *hand on hip* You lied to me about yours too. Endou: N-No--How did you find out?!?

It's my favorite lines of dialogues so far since I haven't written much about it unlike my other WIPs. It's my newest one so far as the others already have months in the making. This will change in the future...

11: What do you like best about this fic?

It's so interesting to write or imagine how the break trio (and the other characters) would be if they were given the chance to wear a mask and not care about the people's expectations of them. We all know how both Kidou and Gouenji only bares themselves to very few people and that Endou most often than not wants to be the support that someone needs (in a bit of a people pleasing degree at rare times too).

Even if Kidou is canonically a trauma-dumper, he still put a face (to everyone who isn't Endou) whenever he's interacting bcs he's always aware that all of his actions have consequences for the Kidou Conglomerate. As for Gouenji, he canonically has only told his problems to Endou and have dangerous levels of following people's expectations of him ((his father + his friends expecting a powerful shoot (only what he thinks bcs they just want him to play soccer actually)).

So anyway, I think escapism would bring an interesting layer to their characters and them being an egg in the story is just probably me projecting or that I'm adding another layer to their characters.

Thank you so much for caring about this story and asking about it so much omg 🥺

Sana masarap ulam mo everyday 🥹🥹

Ask about my WIPs here

[lilbittymonster]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @crackinglamb, tysm 💜

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

Currently 33

2. what’s your total ao3 word count?

110,421

3. what fandoms do you write for?

Currently writing for Final Fantasy XIV, but I have also written for Borderlands 2, Fallout 4, and Critical Role

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

Only A Thought Away - Critical Role, Widomauk, Soulmates AU.

This Is Home - Critical Role, Widomauk/Fjorester/BeauYasha, Domestic slice of life.

I Will Endure - Critical Role, Widomauk, background Yashagard, Canon Divergence.

Forgiveness - Critical Role, Genfic, a bit of catharsis that still ended up happening in game just not the way i first envisioned it.

Boy, Oh Boy - Critical Role, Genfic, modern au.

All of these were done for a discord event several years ago.

5. do you respond to comments?

I do, I make an effort to respond to every one I get. Only exceptions being a couple "moar plz" "when's the next chapter?" type ones that I just deleted.

6. what’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Extinguishing the Last Light, my worst end Lightwarden AU where the Scions fail to defeat the final Lightwarden and the First continues to drown in Light.

7. what’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Walk to the Water, a 10k Borderlands Gaingel MerMay AU

8. do you get hate on fics?

Not yet, but if anyone tries it they've got another thing coming :)

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

I've written plenty, I've only posted the one E fic though. Mostly gay elf porn.

10. do you write crossovers? what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

No.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope, though I'd be fine with it as long as I'm added as a co-author with a link to the original English.

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

I have, I was doing a pretty large scale Critical Role rp fic with four other people. It disintegrated from some interpersonal tensions and one person leaving the fandom entirely but I still think very fondly on it. Before that, I was doing a Borderlands OC rp with a friend.

14. what’s your all-time favorite ship?

You ask me, a bisexual, to make a choice? Lol. Lmao, even. I do not have a One True Pairing, I have learned the mature art of multishipping like a goddamn adult.

15. what’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

OOF well this is a tie between Sometimes Goodbye and A Thistle's Thorns, both being all but abandoned due to fandom drift and loss of motivation. I found the original outline I had (thankfully) written out for Sometimes Goodbye, and I have started another BL2 playthrough, but FFXIV has eaten my life at this point so idk if I'll ever come back to it properly.

16. what are your writing strengths?

Show don't tell, detail descriptions, I have been told my characterisation through dialogue has been consistently on point (which is a relief), worldbuilding

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

Finding a good place to end. if left to my own devices I will Just Keep Rambling. That was actually one of the reasons I kept my FFXIVWrite entries so short. I needed to get over the hump of just letting things end.

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

I haven't had this particular problem yet, but I will once I start writing stuff for Stormblood, because Kitali is multilingual.

When I'm reading it, though, I prefer to just have a dialogue tag indicating which language is being spoken and then either a bold, italics, or both to show what's being spoken in what language. It saves me the trouble of scrolling back and forth and back and forth from the notes at the end of the chapter or trying to remember what was said where exactly and in what context.

19. first fandom you wrote for?

Borderlands 2

20. favorite fic you’ve ever written?

That would be Dragoon Age: Origins, the telling of Kitali and Estinien's first clash which I definitely did not just spend the last hour or so rereading nope not me

Tagging: @captainsparklefingers @screamingvikings @ir0n-angel and anyone else who wants to take a shot, I have lost track of who writes and who doesn't lol