#interacting and building story with your fellow characters.....

[yuujispinkhair]

Alpha!Yuuji headcanons

A sweet anon sent me an ask wanting to know my thoughts about Alpha!Yuuji and my brain went grrr. Thank you!! I finally had an excuse to write about this strong and sexy Alpha with the sunshine smile and the knot so thick that it makes us sob ;) As you can see, I wrote this very shamelessly with my omega pussy lol but I hope my fellow Yuuji lovers can enjoy this self-indulgent piece too ;)

Pairing: Alpha!Yuuji x Omega!Reader (female) Genre: smut + fluff, Omegaverse AU Word Count: 3k Warnings: 18+, omegaverse, smut, breeding, knotting, creampie, pregnancy, biting, a bit of rough sex when Yuuji is in a rut, slight lactation kink, praise, mentions of blood and scars. Yuuji has to kill to protect his pack. All characters are of age. This story is 18+. Minors don't interact. Thank you for the star divider @/benkeibear. There is now fanart for this AU!! Thank you so much to @sandiaarts !!

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who is the strongest Alpha in the city but never planned to become a leader. Until the former boss-Alpha dies and is succeeded by his cruel son, who puts the whole city under his reign of terror. That's when Yuuji's heroic instincts are triggered, and he decides to step up and claim the position as the ruling Alpha.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who you see for the first time during his fight for dominance in a back alley behind a nightclub where the packs are gathered to watch the fight that will decide who becomes their new leader. You get one look at this gorgeous pink-haired Alpha and already know he will win. Tall and buff, with firm muscles and a feral conviction in his golden eyes. A true Alpha!

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who wins the fight after just a few minutes. He lifts his face while pinning his opponent down, one hand on the man's head and one foot on his back. His golden eyes find you in the crowd, and you feel a shudder run through you, your Omega cunt slicking up just at the sight of this strong and brave Alpha. Your new leader, who you will submit to all too happily.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who is so attractive with his boyish good looks and that muscular, powerful build. He has such a pretty sunshine smile but also such a broad, tall body packed with buff muscles. His skin is littered with scars that show the feral fighter he is, making him look so sexy and strong that it causes the most primal needs to awaken in you. You want to offer yourself to him, offer your slicked-up Omega cunt to him so he can breed you full of his strong pups.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who finds you later on in the nightclub, where you celebrate his victory. Who smiles sweetly when you congratulate him on his win. Who is so kind and easy to get along with despite how powerful he is. Who tells you he hates fighting, but since he is unfortunately very good at it, he thinks it's his duty to use his fists to protect the ones who are weaker than him.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who makes your Omega cunt throb with his words. All your primal instincts scream that you need this big, strong Alpha who is so brave and kind. You feel dizzy when you smell his enticing scent, filling your nostrils with its sexy, musky smell of wood and sunlight and the deep, rich aroma of ripe cherries. You gulp nervously as you tilt your head to look up at Yuuji's gorgeous face and see the same craving you feel mirrored in his golden eyes.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who mounts you only a few minutes later. Bending you over a table in the backroom of the nightclub, his pants and boxer briefs hastily pushed down while he ruts feverishly into you from behind. Riled up from the fight and exhilarated from the victory, needing to sink his Alpha cock into a willing slicked-up Omega cunt to come down again.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who fucks you like the leader that he is now. Who leans down to cage you between his big buff body and the table, interlacing his large fingers with your smaller ones while he fucks into you, making you cream again and again on his fat Alpha cock. His canines graze your skin as if he can hardly restrain himself from marking you as his mate right then and there.

+ Alpha Yuuji, who presses his nose against your neck and sniffs you, inhaling your scent hungrily and moaning against your neck, "Fuck. Fuck. You smell so good, baby." His big, heavy body shudders behind you while you feel him pulse his hot seed into you. And you know at that moment that you want to be his. That you want him to be your Alpha and your mate. You hope he will claim you one day!

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who doesn't pull out and leave after your needy fuck, like most new pack leaders would. Many of them would go from unmated Omega to unmated Omega to show them that the new Alpha has a right to take them now. But Yuuji stays with you. His big, broad body slumps against you, his muscular arms wrap around you, hugging you while he kisses your neck, sweet and caring. His seed and your slick run down your thighs in hot sticky rivulets, and your pussy twitches around his gorgeous thick cock, instinctively asking him for more, as if your Omega cunt is begging her Alpha to mate her and claim her for life.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who tells you that he needs to see you again when he finally pulls out of you. He turns you around, a large calloused hand cupping your chin tenderly, and he captures your lips in a sweet kiss before he lifts you up and places you on the table so he can clean your pussy with his loving mouth, taking proper care of you, moaning against your wet cunt how sweet of an Omega you are.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who keeps you close after that first night and makes an effort to get to know you. He buys you flowers and chocolates and asks you on dates, making sure to appreciate you and not just see you as a willing and breedable Omega but as a woman he cherishes and adores.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who is such a good pack leader, kind and protective. He is so sweet to the little ones, playing with them and teaching them how to box so they can learn how to protect themselves. He also cares about the older members of the pack, telling them he looked after his sick grandpa for many years and, therefore, understands the struggles of the elderly and that they can always come to him and ask for help. He is a natural leader. A real Alpha. It makes him even more attractive in your eyes, and you catch yourself getting nice and slick for him anytime he is in the same room.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who makes your scent glands throb hotly anytime he fucks you, your body trying to lure him in, wordlessly signaling to him how bad you want to be his. How bad you want him to mate you. He growls brokenly anytime it happens and licks hungrily over your scent glands, making you cum instantly around his powerful Alpha cock.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who is so sweet and caring that he tries to hold back as long as possible before he claims you. Who fucks his balls empty into your sweet Omega cunt and grunts and growls as he tries his best to stop himself from forcefully claiming you as his mate.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who kisses you in front of the nightclub that belongs to him now, smiling against your lips while his strong arms hold you so tightly, pulling you against his tall, buff body, offering you a feeling of safety you have never known before. He tells you he loves you while he holds you in his strong arms, and you almost cry from the happiness you feel.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who reaches his breaking point that night after you both confessed your love to each other and pushes his cock extra deep into you, letting you get a little taste of his knot, making you sob in need while he groans in your ear: "I want to mate you so bad, cutie. Want to make you my Omega. I can't hold back much longer, sweetie. Want to mate you and breed you and cherish you and give you my pups. Fuck... please let me mate you! Please be my Omega and my mate!"

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who waits for your consent even while his muscular body is shaking from the effort it takes to hold back before he sinks his teeth into your neck and bites you with a mating bite that hurts and arouses you at the same time.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who mounts you again to seal your bond with another load of his Alpha seed. He fucks you deep and feral, claiming his mate thoroughly, making sure you know how much he loves you and that he is yours now and you are his. He moans and growls and tells you he will give you his knot, will give you his everything for the rest of his life, while mounting you so hard and good that you see stars.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, whose knot is so big that you are worried you won't be able to take him when you feel the first swelling at his thick base. But Yuuji is such a caring Alpha and such a sweet mate. He soothes you with his low, sexy voice, whispering the sweetest praise to you while he prepares you thoroughly for his knot. He will give you his all, even if it takes hours to prepare you for his knot. He kisses you and rubs slow, tender circles around your swollen clit, loosening your cunt with several orgasms on his cock before he allows his knot to grow and plug you up.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who makes you mewl and orgasm instantly when you finally feel his fat knot plugging you up, claiming you as his alone while he moans I love you's in your ear. His calloused fingers rub your puffy clit, making you squirt over and over again on his fat knot while he pulses his hot seed into you, sealing your mating ritual with both of your cum.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who kisses you deeply and tells you how sweet and beautiful you are while he slowly slips out of you after a night spent mating you. You sigh happily, so content and happy that you found such a strong Alpha and such a caring mate. Yuuji stays with you for hours afterward, refusing to leave your side after such an intimate experience. He holds you tightly, lets you rest and sleep in his strong arms, safe and warm in your mate's embrace, knowing he will take care of you for the rest of his life.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who is loved by his whole pack for his kindness and strength. A caring and protective Alpha. His large, calloused hands touch you with so much love and tenderness, but they can also deal the hardest punches against the ones who dare attack his pack. And if anyone tries to hurt his mate, Yuuji will see red and become a feral predator so powerful that his enemies will grovel before him and beg for mercy.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who won't start a fight without a reason. But he hunts down the ones who break the rules of peace and are cruel and dangerous to others. He kills if he has to, but it bothers him greatly to take a life, and he always seeks comfort and reassurance in your arms after every kill.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who comes back home to you after a deadly fight with bloody scratches all over his body, which will heal into a few more sexy scars that show his dominance and strength. There's a feral glint in his golden eyes, making them glow like two full moons, angry and unrelenting. The eyes of a powerful predator who was forced to unleash his fury against his enemies. A gaze that makes you moan and grab the bed sheets tightly, your legs instinctively falling open to present your panty-clad slick cunt to this strong Alpha in front of you.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who craves you badly after every kill. Who rips off his shirt and lets it fall to the ground, looking at you with that feral, primal need in his eyes while he opens his belt with one large hand, so riled up from the fight and ready to fuck his anger into the comforting wet heat of your sweet Omega cunt.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, whose buff body is bloody and sweaty from the fight. Veins standing out on his taut, flexed muscles. His fight triggered a rut, making his thick fat Alpha cock slap heavily against his firm abs when he frees himself from his trousers. The irresistible primal scent of his pheromones fills the whole room, making the slick run down your thighs even before Yuuji has laid a single finger on you.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who tears your soaked panties down, presses his face against your slick cunt, and growls wildly when he inhales your scent and licks up your sweet slick. He needs to fuck all his worries and anger into you. Needs you so bad to make things ok again. He growls a thank you after you tell him to let it all out on you, to fuck you as hard as he needs. "Don't hold back, Yuuji. I can take it. Fuck me as hard as you need, Alpha."

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who always fucks you harder after a kill. Using his strength on you and manhandling you with rough, calloused hands. He growls when he has you on all fours for him, with your cute ass in the air and legs spread, presenting him your pretty Omega cunt to claim and fuck. He groans behind you, low and feral, in full Alpha mode, giving your ass a hard slap as he splits you open around his fat cockhead.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who mounts you wild and hard, slapping your ass and fucking you with rough hard thrusts that go so deep that you howl with the most primal need and lust every time he ruts into you. He takes you in such a primal way, like an animal, hard and deep, while biting your neck and drooling all over your skin. He is so loud and feral, not holding back at all, fucking you unrelentingly from one orgasm to the next.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who only pulls out after he has exhausted himself completely, taking all his anger and pain out on your sweet, willing Omega cunt. You know that on those kinds of nights, he needs you to give him comfort, and so you pull him in your arms, hug him and cuddle him, and stroke his pretty pink hair, telling him he did the right thing and that you are so proud of him for protecting his pack. "You are such a good Alpha. And such a good man."

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who not only wants you as his mate, but also as his wife, giving you a double promise of always protecting and loving you. Now you wear his teeth imprint on your neck and a beautiful golden wedding band on your ring finger.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, whose need to breed is so strong that he practically begs you to please let him fuck his pups into you anytime he smells your heat approaching. Your fertile pussy always drives him insane, making him lick up your slick needily while shooting his first load all over the bedsheets and himself, unable to hold back with your sweet taste filling his mouth and nose.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who is the happiest man ever, when you tell him you stopped taking your birth control. "I want your babies, Yuuji. Want to give you so many cute and strong pups, just like their daddy." And your man instantly has you under him, pinning you to the bed with his heavy, muscular body, snapping his hips furiously, shooting load after load into you while thanking you. "Thank you, baby, oh fuck, thank you so much! I will give you so many cute pups, my angel! Will fuck so many into you!"

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who always breeds you anytime he claims you, now that he knows you want his pups. He fucks to breed. He wants a whole litter of cute little pups with you. He moans and growls ferally into your ear while he mounts you from behind and fucks you with such savage, needy, and deep thrusts that he almost breaks the bed.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who loves to put you in a mating press with you all needy under his heavy buff body, your knees pressed to your tits while he bucks his hips ferally against you, going wild at the thought of his fat cock so deep in you.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who wants to knock you up so bad that he is in a permanent rut now, triggering your heat over and over again, making you so wet and horny for him that you can barely walk anymore.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who has so much stamina that when he knots you, his knot stays inside you all night. Slow rolls of his hips while he is in you balls-deep, shooting thick load after load of his hot fertile seed into you, his balls so big and heavy that they slap loudly against your slicked-up swollen clit, making you cum over and over again until you are delirious from it, babbling how much you need him, "Please, Yuu, please make me a mommy. Please gimme your pups, baby."

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who hugs you in his strong, buff arms and kisses your neck and lips lovingly while his knot is throbbing in you and plugging you up to keep his hot, fertile seed deep in you, breeding his sweet wife so thoroughly while praising you the whole time. "Look at you taking my knot so well. Fuck, I love you so much, cutie. I can't wait to see your belly so big and swollen with our pups. You'll be such a beautiful mommy."

+ Alpha!Yuuji, whose seed is strong and fertile and takes immediately. He smiles brightly at you and hugs you tightly when you tell him you are pregnant. He goes out to buy materials to build a cradle immediately, so eager and excited to start his family with you. And then repeats the same thing a few weeks later when you find out he fucked twins into you on the first try.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who is always very protective but gets even worse when you carry his pups in you. Who growls at everyone who comes too close to you, always ensuring his mate and pups are safe. Who leaves his scent all over you to keep potential threats away.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who goes feral when your belly grows. He loves you so much, and it drives him crazy with lust and love to see that he successfully bred you, making you round and big with his pups, with his strong and chubby babies. It makes Yuuji so hard to see you like that. He has to take you every night while he caresses your belly and kneads your swollen tits, already milking a bit of milk out of them that he hungrily licks up.

+ Alpha! Yuuji, who pulls out of your cunt and cums all over your swollen belly because the sight turns him on so much.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who kisses and licks you clean afterward before he rests his head on your belly and talks to his little ones, telling them how much their mommy and daddy love them. And he looks up at you with those gleaming golden eyes full of love and tells you, "And I also love you so much, baby. Thank you for being my mate and my wife. I am so lucky!"

+ Alpha!Yuuji, whose genes are very dominant, so all your pups will have his pink hair. But you definitely don't mind because it looks so cute when your twins are born with a soft tuft of pink hair on their little heads! Your pups are two big, strong boys with chubby thighs and cheeks and loud voices. Strong, just like their daddy.

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who is such a proud mate and daddy. He never gets tired of spending time with his wife and his little ones. He gets up in the middle of the night to feed and cuddle his little boys so his sweet wife can rest. He carries the twins around in his strong arms, showing them off all proudly with a big happy smile on his face, cooing at them, playing with them, and petting their pink hair. And you watch him with happy tears in your eyes, so happy that you found such a good Alpha and loving husband!

+ Alpha!Yuuji, who beams at you and pulls you against his buff, tall body to kiss you thoroughly. Who doesn't let you go again because his heart feels so full and his cock is already swelling again, knowing that you are such a good mommy and such a sweet mate. He needs to bend you over the nearest surface and mount you again until your cute Omega cunt is stuffed with his fertile seed again, making more cute little pink-haired pups with the love of his life.

FUCKKKKK HE MAKES ME FERAL!! I don't know why, but there is something about Yuuji that fits Omegaverse so well, in my opinion. My head is spinning!!! Thank you so much, dear anon, for sending me this ask! When I wrote my Sukuna Omegaverse story, I already low-key wanted to write for Yuuji (and Megumi) too, and you motivated me to do so!

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you liked Alpha!Yuuji and enjoyed this sexy little story!

Comments and reblogs would be very sweet!

[theplotmage]

How to Get Started with Worldbuilding for Fantasy Writers

Hey fellow writers!

Worldbuilding can feel like a Herculean task, but it’s one of the most rewarding parts of creating a fantasy novel. If you're getting stuck, Here are some tips that have helped me, and I hope they’ll help you too!

Start with the Basics

Geography

- Map out the physical layout of your world. Think about continents, countries, cities, and natural features like mountains, rivers, and forests.

Climate and Ecosystems

- What are the climate zones and ecosystems like? How do they shape the lives of your inhabitants?

Create a History

Origins

- Dive into how your world came into existence. Are there creation myths or ancient civilizations that set the stage?

Major Events

- Outline key historical events. Wars, alliances, discoveries, and disasters can add so much depth.

Develop Cultures and Societies

Cultures

- Craft diverse cultures with unique customs, traditions, and values. What do they wear? What do they eat? How do they express themselves through art?

Social Structure

- Define the social hierarchy. Who holds power? What are the roles of different classes or groups?

Establish Magic and Technology

Magic System

- Set the rules and limitations of magic. Who can use it? How does it work? What are its costs and consequences?

Technology

- Decide on the level of technological advancement. Is your world medieval with swords and castles, or does it have steampunk elements?

Design Political and Economic Systems

Governments

- Create various forms of government. Are there kingdoms, republics, or empires? How do they interact?

Economy

- Define the economic systems. What are the main industries and trade routes? How do people earn a living?

Build Religions and Beliefs

Religions

- Develop religions and belief systems. Who are the gods or deities? What are the rituals and holy sites?

Myths and Legends

- Craft myths and legends that influence the culture and behavior of your characters.

Craft Unique Flora and Fauna

Creatures

- Invent unique creatures that inhabit your world. Consider their habitats, behaviors, and interactions with humans.

Plants

- Design plants with special properties. Are there magical herbs or dangerous plants?

Incorporate Conflict and Tension

Internal Conflicts

- Think about internal conflicts within societies, such as class struggles, political intrigue, or religious disputes.

External Conflicts

- Consider external threats like invading armies, natural disasters, or magical catastrophes.

Use Maps and Visual Aids

Maps

- Create maps to visualize your world. This helps you keep track of locations and distances.

Visual References

- Use images or sketches to inspire and flesh out your world.

Stay Consistent

Consistency

- Keep track of the details to maintain consistency. Use a worldbuilding bible or document to record important information.

Feedback

- Share your world with others and get feedback. Sometimes fresh eyes can spot inconsistencies or offer new ideas.

Let Your Characters Explore

Character Perspective

- Develop your world through the eyes of your characters. How do they interact with their environment? What do they know or believe about their world?

Be Flexible

Adapt and Evolve

- Be open to changing aspects of your world as your story develops. Sometimes the best ideas come during the writing process.

[hpowellsmith]

Honor Bound: Guard students and secrets at an elite school!

Steam | Google Play Store | Choice of Games on Android | Choice of Games on iOS | Choice of Games on Amazon | Webstore

Protect an exclusive boarding school and rebuild your life after scandal as a military bodyguard for the children of the rich and famous! Return to the world of Crème de la Crème, this time as a military officer in the Republic of Teran.

Honor Bound is an interactive novel by Harris Powell-Smith where your choices control the story. It's entirely text-based, 595,000 words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

You've built a promising career in the Teranese military, a force which has not seen major engagement in decades but which holds vast influence. Thanks to an injury, you're no longer in the field. Thanks to the complicated (read: scandalous) circumstances of that injury, you've been quietly reassigned as a bodyguard for the teenage child of a famous scientist. This should be an easy assignment: your charge is at boarding school in the wilderness, an exclusive sanctuary where the children of the rich and powerful become artists and scientists of the future. The school sits close to your own hometown, so you'll be familiar with the area. Finally, you can recover your health and get your career back on track.

But danger is closing in, and peril can come from inside as well as out. What secret projects are your colleagues pursuing in the dead of night? What is your commanding officer not telling you? Bandits lurk in the wilderness—including one of your childhood friends!—and natural disasters constantly threaten the fragile environment. And then there's the danger to your heart, from the complicated feelings that come from returning to your birthplace, and from adjusting to the new reality of your life. Can you really go home again?

Build a warm community and bond with your colleagues, or impress everyone with your aloof competence. Chase ambition to receive glowing reports and get your life back on track—or become such a disaster that only bandits will tolerate your presence. Or, just maybe, you will have to risk it all for the sake of doing the right thing.

Play as male, female, or nonbinary; cis or trans; gay, straight, or bisexual; asexual and/or aromantic; allosexual and/or alloromantic; monogamous or polyamorous.

Customize your age: play a junior officer in your 20s, a mid-ranking officer in your 30s, or a senior officer in your 40s.

Befriend or romance a severe military officer; a bold, easygoing outdoors expert; a determined and overworked priest; an earnest but scatterbrained fellow bodyguard; a childhood friend turned disgraced bandit; or the anxious, serious widowed parent of your charge.

Pet the dog, the cat, or both.

Meet the main characters of Crème de la Crème, Royal Affairs, and Noblesse Oblige, and find out what their lives are like now!

Shape the school life of your teenage charge: encourage her to make friends or sabotage her rivals; let her slack off or push her to achieve; and get caught up in boarding-school drama.

Unearth and thwart shadowy schemes—or join in the scheming for your own gain.

How far will you go for ambition, duty, and your country?

Steam | Google Play Store | Choice of Games on Android | Choice of Games on iOS | Choice of Games on Amazon | Webstore

[hummingbird-games]

2024 in Review (Indie Games)

2023 | 2022 | 2021

Helloooo gamer friends!!!

I'm so tired.

Lol.

Anyhoo, y'all don't care about that!!! Y'all are here to see what games I played and what the heck I have to say about them! Reminders: I don't bash games I didn't like, and I try to post more in-depth thoughts and reviews and general yapping to Gem's Game Gems.

DEMOS

When Stars Collide - I am by no means a sci-fi girlie. I need a HEAPING dose of fantasy or fantasy elements to help me out. That said, y'all might remember how I went feral for Gilded Shadows, so I am locked in for this journey with WSC. It's just as mysterious and lore intense as GS, but also just as intriguing and engaging!

Love Me, Love Me Not - I looooove when a game charms me to pieces??? Our MC Addie, the introduced LIs, the story, the art??? Where do I begin?? Anyway, please check this one out y'all! I'm impatient for the full game (shocker, I know).

Threads of You: Beyond the Bay - So my thoughts and reactions for this one are on the side blog, but I really enjoyed the demo and I have eyes for Chris, Vince, and Alex hehehe.

Lost in Limbo - While I'd been keeping tabs on this game for what seems forever because of the character art that originally caught my attention, I almost didn't finish the demo because it was lowkey disturbing (I'm a wimp and not all horror is made equal). But!!! BUT!!!! I push through to the end, had a good time, noted that I need to play the full game in the daylight with the music turned down low. And I absolutely adore Ara and Xal so, so much.

A Simple Twist of Fae - Absolutely no one cares, but I read a lot of manga this year. Like, a lot-a lot. Like, ~180 books and 1/3 of that was manga. Anyhoo, When JMB announced she was cooking up this game, I was impatient to get my grubby hands on it. AND THEN I PLAYED IT AND IT WAS THE SHOJO INSPIRED GAME OF MY DREAMS?!?! Like.....I wish I could both have it on my computer and also on my bookshelf. Final build dropping when??? (Also the UI design is utterly delightful, I cry.)

The Summit Library (FULL DEMO) - The last time I reviewed this game, we got chapter 1 as a taste, and I was. Locked! In!! The full demo gives us the first 2 chapters as well as the previews for all the romance routes and while giving everyone a whirl I'm *still* undecided on who to go for in the future, I must mention this: TSL is so aspec friendly???? I do love a game with smut, don't get me wrong looks at College Craze but sometimes I have my moments of being overwhelmed/sliiiiiiightly repulsed and the variety of options you have to choose how you react and interact with the various LIs in this game is amazing. (I have more thoughts on this, so I'll try to remember to post to the sideblog, but please understand that this game is totally worth your attention and time imo!!!)

Fully Released & Played (at least 1 playthrough)

Rabbit Trail - This. Game. Is. SO. Cute. *punches the air* 😭🥹(Copy + paste of my review on the itch.io page -> This was so charming, so fluffy, so cozy, just delightful all around??? I've only reached one ending so far, but René is just the cutest protag to play as, and his interactions as he delivers his mail made me cheese so dang hard! (Also, I wanted to fight his parents for not properly appreciating their kid LOL))

Stuck by Design - I checked this game out because I was looking into games that fellow programmers had worked on, and this cozy game stumbled onto my lap. The music was perfect, the UI is beautiful and clean, and I thoroughly enjoyed the performance of the VA for the LI, Yuki.

Wake Me Up If You Need Me - I called this game older!HSDJY MC x Ryan coded and I'm still right. The voice actor MAKES this game, and the interactions the player has with Reed is so flippin' delightful?? All my love and adoration to the game developer. May they make more beautiful games.

CTRL FREAK - The developer team brought us The Faithfulness of the Universe which is a banger in its own right, and CTRL FREAK is the team's commercial, finished project that I also found delightful. The soundtrack and the animations are chef's kiss 💛

Breathless Winds - Ooo, baby, ooo. So. If there is only one game you play from this list and you have some spare cash to spend (at the time of writing, the game is on sale!!!) please, please, check this one out. It left me absolutely spellbound, both the orginal demo, and then the full game. While I didn't get to blog fully about this one, and I only tackled 2 of the 4 routes, this game is absolutely everything. This is my indie game of the year. Poppy and her journey resonated with me, and between the music and the art, everything just came together so perfectly.

Wake Up Magical Girl - Listen TF up, if miseri creates it, I'm gonna play it, idc, idc. That being said...this game had a kick to it that when I finished my first playthrough, I had to stare off into space and gather myself. It takes the concept of magical girls and heroism and gave me a teeny tiny existential crisis, but other than that, I'm fine, it's fine, play this game, thank you.

Sleeping Under Spells - God, I love me a game where I get to argue with a LI. I love it. Bonus points if it's lowkey stupid stuff we're bickering over LOL!!

Our Wonderland - Yeah, uh huh, you thought you'd escape me talking about this game this year, didn't yah???? Too bad. The fifth and final arc dropped this year and I played it and I cried and felt for the briefest moments that life was okay. To say something different than my review of last year, I love that this seems to be the game that helps fellow ace devs find and flock to each other, I'm not kidding 🤣 so thank you Carrot for helping us fellow aspec peeps feel seen and validated and understood!

I Watched a Full Game Playthrough and Highly Recommend

Replay Boys - Okay so technically at the time of posting, there's still one more video I'm waiting to watch (Naja of BlerdyOtome uploaded her stream to YouTube) but my Godddddd. I've had my eye on this game for FOREVER but I was lowkey waiting for it to move to itch.io (I'm still a lowkey Steam hater 🥹) anyhoo, watching this absolutely wild game made me go ahead and buy a copy for myself to replay at a later time, but it's just great. The summary only scratches this surface of what the game entails 🤣

Gemi’s Gushies

(a list within a list of games that have devs trucking along in the background and I want to spotlight for y’all)

Save the Villainess - Life got away with me and unfortunately I never finished my play of the demo BUT what I have played was fun and I hope to return to this in the new year!

Woman of Xal 2 - Plot Twist Studios is on that Sequel Train with the next installment of WoX!!! Which I'm VERY excited for!!! I've unfortunately only completed one playthrough of this game, but the first game is definitely a masterclass in replayability, and I hope next year I'll be able to do a second playthough as I wait for game 2's Kickstarter!

...

And that's 2024! Any shared favorites?

- Gemini 🫶🏾

[fattummyt]

Halsin/Plus-Size Tiefling Reader - "The Canary in the Coal Mine" - Chapter 1 - The Caged Bird Sings

Summary: Your Tiefling clan have successfully managed to capture the Archdruid known as Halsin, imprisoning him in your hideout residing in The Nine Hells. As a guard, your duty requires keeping watch of him in his cell, yet, despite his incessant humming and whistling, he somehow manages to capture your heart, blurring the forbidden line between guard and prisoner.

Tags: Forbidden Love, Prisoner x Guard, Temptation, Flirting, Reader Is Not Tav, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut, Protectiveness, Eventual Romance

Warnings: Explicit

Author's Notes: Any use of the Infernal language spoken by characters is indicated [“Like this!”] If some of the Tiefling traits, world building, or lore sound kinda off, I’m new to the BG3 series and D&D as a whole. Enjoy yet another story about everyone's favorite Damsel in Distress, Halsin.

Read it on AO3 here!

“I feel that I should say thank you. For whatever you did just then.” You didn't answer, but upon staring you found yourself taken with his features for a moment. His eyes, a strange assortment of colors, but his smile, a rare delicacy. [“Despite your image having been high on our bounty lists for years, I'm surprised. You're actually quite handsome in person… for an elf.”]

A high pitched sound, a whistling, echoed quietly in the cavernous halls leading up to the guardhouse door.

This was… abnormal among the caverns of the Nine Hells. Especially amongst your clan who preferred the crackling of flames to even idle conversation.

As you fetch your keys, unlocking the door opening to the relatively under-used guard house, you're greeted with a sight of your fellow guard slamming her foot against the newly occupied metal cell. 

[“Quiet, you imbecile. How many times must I threaten you to stop that haggard squawking?!”]

That earned her the peace she'd required as the room fell silent afterward.

She acknowledged you before you’d the chance to properly greet her, your superior. 

[“He's a noisy thing.”] She nodded in his direction as you approached, maintaining a fair distance from the cell. “He” watched you warily from inside as she continued.

[“Constantly talking and chirping. I don't know what he says. Perhaps the surface traveling members would understand him. Regardless, if he gets too noisy, a bit of a threat will get you your way.”]

Looking over him now, he appeared fairly sizable. Tall and muscular in a way you'd not anticipate an elven man to be. He’d worn some form of druid attire, layers with leather bindings, leaves adorning his shoulders, an emblem decorating his chest.

Physically, and given his bounty's title, he was more than capable of committing violent attacks and harm, however flora, or vegetative Earth magic, had little use this deep below where igneous rock addled every surface.

Whatever reason he may have for not attacking, success such as this was rare considering your clan are amongst the weaker born of Tieflings. You've no idea how such a small squadron managed to kidnap him with no loss of life.

[“He speaks English, more than likely. I can speak some of the common surface languages. If he provides any information that could be of our benefit I will report back.”]

That made the female huff with surprise, or rather pity. “The morning guard reports that he’s continued musing nearly non-stop.” Her hand fell heavy against your shoulder. [ “ May anger temper your patience like a mighty sword.”]

Soon enough she'd left, and with her, the last bit of interaction you'd receive for the next 4.5 hours until the evening meal arrived.

True to her report, it took less than a half hour before he started speaking. Not directed at you, perhaps to nobody, for that matter. 

“That's a rather fine shawl.”

You knew not what he spoke of, and paid no mind to his rambling. Consistently he'd move about his cell, walking himself dizzy nearly back and forth, occasionally pausing and stretching his muscled limbs or fanning himself.

If nothing else, watching him provided you ample entertainment as you sat at your stool across the way, gnawing at a bit of tough jerky you'd purchased for the occasion that you'd grow hungry between meals.

“That looks quite delicious. May I have a bite?”

You could laugh at the audacity of his request. Of course, laughing would indicate you'd understood him, and you weren't interested in letting that slip as of yet.

You simply scowled, watching with one eyebrow curled as he slid a hand through the metal bars, pointing to the food in your hand, miming.

“I’m very hungry. Could I have some of your food, please?”

[“It's too tough. You cannot eat it.”]

He looked puzzled, gesturing to his mouth again then his hand.

Surely as a primarily omnivorous species, his teeth were not strong enough, sharp enough, to chew and process the rather hard and tender meat jerky that was present around here.

In just a short moment there’d be a cook arriving to provide you your lunch, along with his. But humored, and bored out your wits end, you decided to placate him, rising to your feet and approaching his cell.

[“If you're truly hungry enough, you can eat this.”]

“Oh my, thank you. I can't thank you enough, I've been—” His sentence dropped short as he witnessed you spit the food from your mouth into your open hand, careful to not let an ounce of crumbled meat drop to the floor, before sliding your hand through an opening in his bars.

[“Not hungry, suddenly?”]

The look on his face was one of shock and as soon as you met eyes your serious façade cracked, laughing rather foolishly as you covered your face.

“Oh, I see. This is quite funny to you?” His pronounced brows drew together, darkening his expression.

You've yet to halt your laughing, further amused by his now passive aggressive response.

Though your enjoyment was quite short lived.

You're aghast when he actually cups your hand, leaning down and pressing his mouth against your palm. You gasp, nearly squealing, as you snatch your hand away, cradling your saliva laden phalanges to your side.

[“Disgusting fool.”] You cursed, scrubbing your hand against your dress bottoms. [“Touch me again and I'll feed my fingers down your throat.”]

Standing there he chewed quietly, offering no answer to your threat until he swallowed wholly, finishing it.

“Do you have any more, then? Preferably a dryer piece.”

He flinched, backing away from the wrought iron bars as your spear pierced through one of the openings, narrowly missing the center of his chest. 

[“Do not trifle with me.”]

The door swung open and in stepped your fellow Tiefling, a metal tray and a stone molded bowl in hand. Their eyes surveyed the scene briefly, curiously glancing over the bright fading blush that bloomed outward from your chest, their lips said nothing as they approached.

[“Thank you, kindly.”] You muttered, taking the much larger platter, returning your spear to its leather holster across your back as they glanced over at him, as if ensuring he still remained breathing.

It appears a palpable tension remained between you two that could be sensed by your colleague as they answered. [“Typically I'd offer the bowl directly, but I shall leave feeding up to you to decide.”]

With that, they made their exit, leaving you both to settle in your jumbled tapestry of nerves. 

He made no move to acknowledge the bowl held in your hand, surely evading any desire to tempt your anger.

[“Hands out.”] You spoke, and slowly he moved to approach the bars, undoubtedly having recognized the phrase from his prior feeding earlier in the day.

[“I've half a mind not to even feed you for your hubris.”] You spat, offering the bowl to his waiting hands.

“I apologize—” You flinched, moving the bowl out of his reach pettily, before resting it in his grasp.

[“You've 4 more hours to spend with me tonight. I insist you tread lightly.”]

He made little sound for the remainder of your meal. Despite having finished his much sooner, likely due to the nature of the varied table scraps that were offered to him, he patiently waited, standing, holding his bowl until you had finished, rising to come fetch his dish.

His fingers caressed along yours now, smooth and gentle, heating your already molten skin before you jerked away. You've experienced enough of his unwarranted touching for today.

The rest of the evening followed what was essentially the same pattern as it did prior to your attempted snack break. 

He'd entertained himself with quiet yet audible humming before whistling various tunes to the echoes of the hollow room.

This has become your routine since the prisoner's arrival roughly one week ago today.

This prisoner—the Archdruid, his name lost on you—was different. Unlike the others captured by your clan in the past, he didn't seem stricken. He showed no fear despite your presence, and despite the guards many threats, very little contempt. Despite his meals considering arriving extremely late. Consisting of nothing more than left over table scraps discarded while preparing the guards meals.

Surely it must've been a struggle for the overgrown elf. Yet he seemed unbothered... Or better yet, accustomed to this experience; this way of existence. 

Heeding your colleagues' threats to throttle him, he still hummed to himself and whistled for entertainment, but only in your presence now. Perhaps he'd learned of your higher tolerance for aggression over the week. Considering your initial interaction, he'd grown needlessly comfortable with your presence during his time here. That made his eventual decline in health all the more obvious to you.

You entered the guardhouse perplexed to not be greeted by the sound of low humming.

Your colleague sat with her head leaned against the wall, her delayed response to your entering that indicated she'd likely been asleep. She yawned behind you as the metal of her blade scraped against the stony wall, no answer to your greeting.

Looking upon him, the prisoner named Halsin, as you'd come to learn, appeared rather strange to you. Despite his movements, occasionally wiping away sweat and blinking, he's much more sluggish, lethargic. In fact he'd removed his blanket from the bed, instead resting atop it on the stone floor.

[“What's wrong with him?”] You asked, grabbing the attention of your sleepy superior. 

[“He was like this when I arrived. Just lying around on the floor. He hasn't spoken at all.”]

[“Not even to ask to relieve himself?”]

That question earned a shrug, nonplussed by your line of questioning.

You knocked on his bars, earning a frustrated groan from him before replying, voice harsh and dry sounding. “If you're not providing a meal, leave me alone. I don't wish to be bothered.”

You waved over your colleague. [“When is the last time this one had been fed?”]

[“Who knows? Feedings are only scheduled during the morning and evening shifts. At least he's been quiet, for all I care.”]

You turned to her, tone turned accusatory as you shortened the distance between you.

[“Did you at least give him water?”]

[“What do I look like, a butler? He can drink his own sweat for all I care. He's made plenty of that.”]

Color surged in your chest as you pointed your gaze at her.

[“He's a mortal, fool. And a wood elf. What feels like a cozy warmth to us Tieflings could feel like a savage blaze to him. If he doesn't remain hydrated he'll perish before we're even able to trade him in for a bounty.”]

Flames burst forth from her balled fists as she advanced upon you now, standing nearly horn to horn, mere inches taller than you as she grit.

[“You will watch your tongue underling. He is the Archdruid of one of the largest druid settlements on the surface. If he's as powerful as his bounty claims, he will manage to survive without another pail of water for 12 hours.”]

Anger pitted at the root of your tongue, yet you swallowed down, instead saying nothing as she moved to leave the room.

Halsin looked on in quiet intensity as you remained there, bright, intense color visible up your back to your neck.

As soon as the door slammed shut you crossed out of his view, entering the store room nearby, a converted cell nearest the entrance that's gone unused for long enough that it now houses foods and nonessential overstock.

Your fellow guards have raided it in secret from time to time, particularly a few bottles of cheap mulled wine that had been cleverly replaced with water to avoid detection.

You returned to his cell, banging on his door and he lifted his head, though his hair appeared clung to his skin, his brows drawn in an almost intimidating, unpleasant expression.

“Liquor?” He scoffed, waving you off. “There's nothing you need of me. I'd prefer to rest, as I'm quite tired.”

[“Come here. Imbecile.”] You whispered, urgently beckoning him closer, and though you spotted an eye roll, begrudgingly he rose to his feet.

The bottle’s glass shoulders clinked against the metal segments; too wide to pass through the bars.

Lethargy hung heavy in his brow as even his eyes remained nearly half lidded as he stared upward at you, puzzling. “Surely you don't intend to feed me that, do you?”

You tipped the bottle, the first splash landing squarely over his chin and he recoiled, stepping back.

[“Hold on. Just sit still—please.”]

With little time to waste, you grabbed him by his fitted collar, pulling him closer against the bars, holding him in place.

He coughed, cursing as he clung to your arm. This was unsafe, allowing a prisoner to grab you, but the bottle was growing lighter in your hand and despite his initial protests, he seemed to be adjusting, swallowing the water now.

[“Quickly now, before another guard arrives.”]

Slower now, he began to breathe through his nose, drinking down the more even stream that spilled from the bottle mouth, allowing you to release your hold, instead cradling his chin between your fingers.

As keys turned in the door you quickly pulled away, crowding the bottle behind your back. Your less than pleased looking superior had returned, with a bowl of scraps in hand and a pail of water.

[“I managed to track down his feed. The prior shift forgot it.”]

Approaching now she looked at him warily, his face and front seemingly drenched with wetness, before sliding the stone bowl along the floor. [“You sweat like a pig on a spit.”] She spat.

She called over to you. [“He looks disgusting. Make sure he eats both his meals.”] You say nothing in response, but as you're edging closer to the store room she intercepts, snatching the wrist you'd hidden behind your back.

[“What is that you have there?”] She trilled. [“Drinking on the job carries a heavy punishment if reported to the prison warden.”]

She tossed the bottle back, merely a few drops making contact with her tongue as she grimaced. [“Woman, you've nearly finished the whole bottle.”] She blinked. [“Hardly tastes like anything. Lost its edge.”]

You nearly missed the catch as she tossed it back to you. [“Make sure this isn't seen by the others.”]

You nodded quietly before she exited, leaving a tense rhythm to your heartbeat. You sighed with relief as you returned to your stool, the bright colors previously adorning your flesh having faded back into their even red and orange hues.

He sat crouched, scooping the now empty bowl into the idle pail of water before bringing it to his lips.

“I feel that I should say thank you. For whatever you did just then.”

You didn't answer, but upon staring you found yourself taken with his features for a moment. His eyes, a strange assortment of colors, but his smile, a rare delicacy.

[“Despite your image having been high on our bounty lists for years, I'm surprised. You're actually quite handsome in person… for an elf.”]

Similarly he does not answer, returning back to the outstretched blanket decorating the floor of his cell.

You're delighted to hear as he quietly begins humming to himself again. A gentle, solemn tune that accompanies the timber of his voice.

You enjoy it.

Read the fic on AO3! | Read more of my fics on Tumblr | Patreon

[ruruvxz]

have u seen the new pics of yunjin😍😍office siren yunjin has me on a chokehold

Please write boss!yunjin and worker!reader and basically everyone has a crush on her, but she tries to be so badass but she has the strongest crush on u. And it’s so awkward when u find out she has a crush on u, basically if uve ever read “finding secretary Kim” it’s like that☺️

-🍒

“Finding designer L/N”

Creative director!Huh Yunjin x Designer!Reader

↳synopsis: Huh Yunjin was the most prolific fashion designers in the industry, being the head of the “Huh House” she acquired the attention of plentiful suitors. Thinking she would never find love, she finally set her sights on one of her subordinates yet messes up everything completely when she sent a message confessing her love, to all her workers.

↳cw: swearing, overworking, mean!yunjin, rookie designer, pure fluff, yunjin absolutely embarrassing herself, dense reader, fictional character for plot, mentions of intoxicating, mentions of sexual acts

↳wc: 3.5k

a/n: hehehe i love finding assistant manager kim, so the the plot is basically the same thing minus the freaky deaky stuff. also her post saying “bayonetta” made me absolutely bust… sigh i love my wife so much and she doesn’t even know who i am. i absolutely loved writing this it was so fun

The day you got the acceptance letter to work under the "Huh House" a group filled to the brim with promising designers, you were more than ecstatic. Not only with the fact this could thicken your portfolio twice fold, but this also meant that you got to work with THE Huh Yunjin. She was undoubtedly one of your "celebrity"-like crushes, but her whole career was astonishing. Being the same age as you, you couldn't help but envy such a successful woman, and you knew she was a tad bit mean, but who wasn't?

Needless to say, you could barely contain yourself as you stood in front of the work facility, your palms sweaty as you held the doorknob. The thought of finally beginning a designing job next to one of— if not your favorite designers (not including Karl Lagerfeld, Miuccia Prada, or Vivienne Westwood) was almost a dream come true. If it wasn't for the fact that woman was the most viscerally heinous person you've ever encountered!

Before you could even peer your silly little head into the building you felt someone shove you inside with their broad shoulder, scoffing obnoxiously loud as they made contact. And without even apologizing, the woman continued to plow through you, paying no mind to the fact you were carrying a thick binder filled with your precious designs. But you were no pushover, and couldn't help but almost curse them out—well not until you locked eyes on who just assaulted your shoulder.

Furrowing your eyebrows as you jolted your eyes at the woman, it didn't take long before your mouth was slightly ajar as the redhead with her occupational lenses peered through oval glasses. Rightfully, trembling at her cold gaze before she spoke, clearly about to tell you off on your first day.

"You should learn to move out the way, dear." She hastily spoke, her eyes softened just a smudge, before ripping her gaze from yours and continuing to strut away. How surprising you thought, usually all the horror stories you heard from ex-designers (that so happened to hook you up with the position you're in now) always ended their stories with Yunjin acting out in some hostile way. But she took that a lot better than you expected, maybe it wasn't going to be all that bad!

Before you could regain your composure after being knocked down by the redhead, you felt yourself getting shoved back down once more. Looking up you fixated your gaze on the woman standing over you, she apologized profusely, reaching out a helping hand. She was much nicer than Yunjin just by this base interaction, so you happily expected her hand as she pulled you back up. She explained that she was a fellow designer named Jasmine L/N, someone who worked directly under Yunjin and who helped her procure various items for the Creative Director.

She was surprised to learn that both of you had the same last names and continued to explain that 2 other designers under the house also had the exact same last name. After a small pleasant conversation, you both ended the interaction quickly as the clock continued to tick off the seconds. Giving her a courteous wave, you jogged over to the assigned meeting room to get introduced to the whole system and facilities in the company. It was a little extraordinary that it so happened that the person guiding you happened to also have the same last name, but it was a small world after all.

After the short tour ended, your escort assured you to get settled as there were no upcoming shows to prepare for. Since everything was underwhelming at the moment, it gave you enough time to explore a little more. Taking in all the twists and turns of the facility, it was unexplainable and huge, but not unexpected. Each room was tailored completely to Yunjin's aesthetics or what she found was exceptionally unique, and her office specifically was eye-catching. The walls leading to her office were plastered with photos and awards congratulating her for her success and everything else of that sort.

If it was anyone else, you most definitely would've thought they were stuck up to pridefully display everything like this, but it was somehow different with her. You were in awe that she could achieve so much, that your hands mindlessly rubbed the plaque with her name beautifully etched onto the gold plating. It didn't take long for you to gain attention from a certain someone, may I say, the owner of that plaque you were caressing so gently.

"That tag is beautiful isn't it?" The redhead spoke up, slinging your head over your shoulder in surprise, I mean, you shouldn't be all that shocked since this was next to her office but you were still a little scared.

"Gah! Oh my— you scared me!" You spit out, quickly removing your hands away and tucking them behind your back as you rotate your body towards her.

"Haha, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have snuck up on you like that." Yunjin smugly laughed as she brought up her hair to tie it into a beautifully messy bun.

"No— it's my fault I shouldn't have been lurking around here." You sheepishly admit as you pull your hands from your back to fidget with your fingers embarrassingly. Only making her chuckle louder as she examined your body movements, she would've probably scared you off by now, but by some odd circumstance, she didn't.

If it wasn't for your preconceived negative notion that she was absolutely terrifying, you probably would've found her endearing by the way she giggled, whilst pushing up her glasses to not falter it for its original position. Honestly, everything about her was charming in some odd sense, like how she came closer to you to explain how she won each and every one of these achievements by herself. Undoubtedly cocky, but it was so flattering the way Yunjin carefully explained everything to your basic understanding, she was full of herself for sure. (Or maybe she was just trying to impress a certain someone.)

"Oh and this one," Yunjin pointed at one of the brightly colored magazines framed perfectly on the wall, which had her face and a full body shot plastered smack dab in the middle. "This was for a photo shot for 'Dazed', not one of my personal favorites as they only really cared for my facial aesthetics not my work." She mumbled memories of all those discouraging discussions about her becoming a designer flooded her mind.

"I mean, usually when someone's work is beautiful, the apple doesn't stray that far from the tree doesn't it?" You mindlessly commented as your eyes fixated on her portrait, and back to the old designs she created during her high school days. "Your works really inspired me to be a creative myself, I used to be so insecure about producing my own line for the longest time, and seeing someone my age do it really put me out of my shell. Y'know?"

Yunjin turned her head, just enough to meet your gaze with a side eye, you honestly thought she was offended, but that was far from the truth. She saw herself in you, a young designer so eager to work without any real goal but only their passion inside of them, it was incredible. Yunjin was swayed that anyone, let alone someone who showed so much promise, took inspiration, from her?!

"Oh." She stuttered as she snatched her gaze away from your face, looking towards an old portrait from high school sophomore year, the year she was thrusted into the industry. "Thank you... Y/N was it?"

"You know my name?— Oh, and yes that's it."

"I think you should get back to work." She mumbled, turning her head sharply away from you, her cheeks burning ferociously red, but she was Huh Yunjin, she couldn't show any of this, let alone to her subordinate. "Oh okay!" You chirped as you backed away from her, wondering about her sudden change of emotions.

✄

It had been months since that interaction, and to be honest, you haven't seen her ever since then. Particularly due to the fact that she suddenly booked multiple shows in the span of a few months to launch her spring collection mainstream. Though it was extremely exhausting, to say the least, you enjoyed working with your colleagues, and the fact you could finally produce physical copies of your designs. Your designs were so well loved that you started to get lost in your craft, working day and night tirelessly to make the most breathtaking pieces.

So this day wasn't any different, you had slept on the faculty room's couch and was abruptly woken up by someone aggressively tapping your shoulder and calling out your name. "L/N... L/N? L/N!" A woman shouted in your ear, springing you awake, a little disoriented since you just woke up in an unfamiliar place you usually wake up to.

"You're finally awake, I got you coffee." The woman said next to your ear, jerking your head to the side to find you were at eye level with your boss who was leaning down to your sitting level. "AHH! You scared me!" You squeal, dumbfounded by how casual she was about the fact you slept so soundly in her facility. This undoubtedly caught the attention of fellow designers as you could feel some eyes peer towards you and Yunjin.

"I apologize, take this to wake you up," Yunjin suggested as she handed you a tall cold Spanish iced latte, in contrast to the fact she brought the others a small shot of americano. As quickly as she handed it to you, she scurried away back to her office, as if she just completed the most rigorous quest of her left. It hadn't taken long for everyone to crowd around you, wondering what just happened as Yunjin hated interacting with her subordinates let alone going out and by everyone's coffee.

As you all converse, you were quickly shut up by the fact that someone brought up the Milan Fashion Week deadline that was inching ever so closely. Mentally cursing yourself out, as you only completed a small minority of the pieces you were working on before crashing out on the couch. You lugged yourself up and over to your workstation, quickly pulling up the designs on your computer as a reference. Forgetting to close your other tabs as you were too unbothered to care about that at the moment.

You scanned through your material checklist and back at the dress you were designing to figure out if you needed to grab some more fabrics. It so happened that you were out of some decorative textiles, and needed to haul your way to the back to grab some. As you do so, you pull on your headphones and jam out to some tunes, ignoring your coworkers looking bewildered at their computer screens. Whatever they were looking at was none of your business as you needed to finish your dress quickly.

"Such procrastinators gosh!" You mumbled to yourself, not batting an eye at the fact they were all stealing glances at their computer and then at each other. It wasn't until another coworker "James L/N" stood proudly in his seat, throwing his fabrics all over the place that it caught your attention. You tossed your headphones to hang around your neck and walked towards him, questioning why he was acting out irrationally.

He responded by grabbing his monitor screen and turning it towards you, with a message that was sent on the company's group board displayed brightly. You titled your head as you read it out loud, with others eagerly awaiting your reaction.

"Dear L/N,

I hope you enjoyed the coffee I brought, I want to tell you how I feel.

Would you like to grab a drink together after you're done?

- Huh Yunjin"

You were most definitely appalled as you continued to read, that the stoic creative director Huh Yunjin, was confessing her feelings. This was astonishing, the utter fact she'd like anyone, let alone her subordinate was a red flag in itself, but your coworker, James, was jumping around like a crazed bear.

"What the— James wait— You aren't the only one with that last name though." You spoke up, recalling the three other people with that last name, not including yourself of course. "Jasmine, Daniel, and Matteo..." Another designer spoke up, instantly shooting James down, as he sat back in his seat with a winded expression. You felt a bit bad about how defeated he looked but he was kind of a jackass, so even if Yunjin did like this loser out of anyone, you were glad he didn't think so.

Jasmine, the woman you first met, spoke over everyone, finding it uncomfortable why anyone would think this message was directed at her, as she was happily engaged and had known Yunjin for far too long. "It isn't mean dumbass," She shot a glare at everyone, wanting to make it dead clear, "Besides there's still 2 other people we need to check off, Matteo and Daniel."

After a lengthy discussion, a crowd of people, all of which consisted of the fashion designers, formed a circle in the break room to figure out who this designer was. You didn't speak up as you didn't find anyone but Jasmine suited for the pick. Matteo was stuck up, and cared strictly about others' personal opinions of him, Daniel on the other hand was almost about as bossy and uptight as Yunjin. Both of them were unlikely partners for Yunjin but to each their own.

You found this whole debacle irritating, yet you had an excuse to leave the conversation as you genuinely needed to go back and finish up all your pieces. You worked tirelessly, eating up your whole afternoon and even biting time into the night as you continued to work. Only being interrupted by your 3 other coworkers wondering if they'd be the perfect suitor for Yunjin. Thankfully Jasmine had enough time to yank them away and send one of the slackers back home to rest.

As the clock struck 10:30, you spent the next 6 minutes working and glancing at the two other people left in the building. Matteo and Daniel, who had been preparing themselves after work for your boss, it was kinda freaky, but you know what, you were beyond tired to care. And to be fair you were only still here to pack up your stuff and also see the both of them get brutally turned down.

"Ah, you three are still here?" The redhead questioned as she pushed herself out of her office, still distraught about what she had done prior. "You both should go home, it's far too late." Yunjin imposed as she shot them her iconic icy glare, without a hitch, they scurried away like mice.

"Ah L/N, are you heading home now?"

"Yup! Just packing up all my paper designs and I'll be out of here." You replied, trying to hide your joyous laughter while you watched both the boys pack up and leave the building.

"I'll drive you home."

"Oh alright! Thank you!"

The car ride was far more awkward than you'd originally expected, you both sat in silence with the radio playing softly in the background, with Google Maps speaking loudly to add some "spice" to the ride. Yunjin's eyes never faltered from the road, almost as if she was trying her utmost to not look at you.

"Thank you for all your hard work today Y/N, I know how difficult it is to pump out so many designs in such a short period." Finally breaking the silence she complimented how tirelessly you worked, while she gave you a glance and back at the traffic.

"Thank you Ms.Huh! Honestly it's nothing, I love working for you, it must be Ms.Huh who's having a hard day today—" Whoops, you didn't process her words fast enough to understand she was talking about your hard work and not about having a hard day.

"I'm so sorry, I meant that—" You stumbled over yourself trying to explain the situation, "What I was trying to say—" You stop yourself momentarily to handpick the perfect words to tell her. "It's just that you always seem so stressed and uhm..."

"I'm sorry Y/N." She cut you off.

"I'm so sorry," Yunjin spoke up pushing her head down onto the stirring wheel, the street light illuminating her blushing red cheeks.

"Oh no! It should be me apologizing Ms.Huh—"

"Please call me Yunjin, we're the same age after all."

"Yunjin— I didn't want to say this but, everyone was so curious about who you meant to send that message to, it seemed so serious. If you sent that to me I'd be so scared!" You admitted, fiddling with your hands as she lifted her head from the wheel and turned her head towards you. Yunjin was far too deep into what she did, that at this point she didn't care about what she was about to say next.

"Actually..."

"I meant to send that to you, Y/N L/N."

You turn your head towards hers as she blushes madly, her glasses resting on the tip of her nose, not bothering to push it back up to her eyes. It was all so clear now, that was your last name after all wasn't it? And she was talking about giving you coffee in the message, so why did you assume it would be anyone else?

"Oh!" You hiccuped, trying to decipher that dreadful look in her eyes, the anticipation killing her, awaiting what you would say next. "I.. Uhm... would you still like to grab a drink with me?"

✄

You arose from the plush comforter your head pounding from a clear hangover, the bright New York sunlight hit your head like a train. Everything was once again disorienting like when you awoke in the facility room, your surroundings were completely unfamiliar, and your body was covered only with a baggy sweater and your undergarments. Your body was sore and drowsy, scanning your surroundings everything was unfamiliar yet beautifully decorated with whites and greys.

"What the..." You continued to inspect the room, slowly moving to the edge of the bed, ready to leave until a familiar delicate hand yanked you back down. As if you were in a horror movie, you snapped your head at the woman, realizing it was that darn redhead again. Which added more questions in your head than answers, why exactly, are you in her house?

Replaying the memories in your head, you connected the dots, oh, you may-haps slept with your superior, and creative director of the fashion line you worked on. You weren't a drunkard nor a lightweight so how could you forget such a detail?

"Y/N, don't go— not yet." She groaned, clearly still tired from last night. (You both came back to her house after only a few drinks, the both of you somewhat drunk but one more plastered than the other, actually— you were practically wobbling under her trying to get in. She led you to the living room to sober you up, as you kept spewing some nonsense about how much you idolized her. Talking about how jealous you felt when everyone was claiming that message was meant for them, and how much you loved her the moment you set your eyes on her. She was amazing, and you kept reiterating that as she listened carefully, falling deeper for you as you continued to yap all the alcohol out of your system. Finally passing out in her arms for a few moments before jolting awake. Yunjin expresses to your mainly sober state how much your speech meant to her, and how she felt the same way. Cutting her off with short kisses around her cheeks and then to her lips. And the rest was history.)

"I'm not going anywhere, I'm just stretching." You lied, hiding your embarrassment as you leaned down to kiss her forehead. Her expression softened as you pulled away and began stroking her dark red hair A small smile filled her lips, just for a short while, before she dozed back to sleep at your touch. When she didn't look like she was about to maul someone, she was very much adorable.

"I'm gonna go get us some breakfast okay? I'll be back in a few minutes Yunjin."

"Mhm..." She mumbled, pushing her head back into the pillow as she fell deeper into slumber.

“Be right back Ms.Huh.”

She lifted her head back up, clearly a lot more awake than last time, registering the name you called her. “I said call me Yunjin.” She barked, offended by the change in honorifics, letting you tease her, before stroking her head once more, running your fingers through her hair. “My bad, Yunjin.”

[writingwithcolor]

Characters reconnecting with their ancestral cultures in an interplanetary setting

@pixiedustandpetrichor asked:

Hi! I am writing a novel with three main female characters in an interplanetary setting. They grow up as orphans in an Irish-coded country and as children are mostly exposed to solely that culture, but they leave after becoming adults. Character A is Tuareg-coded, B Mongolian-coded, and C is Germanic-coded. It isn’t central to the story, but I would like them to get in touch with/learn more about their ancestral cultures, especially in terms of religion. A does this by actually visiting the planet her parents came from, but B and C do not. What can I do to depict their relationships with said cultures and their journey to reconnect with them? Would it be realistic for each of them to have different mixed feelings about participating in these cultures and for them to retain some sense of belonging to the culture they grew up in as well? Thank you for your time.

Hello, asker! WWC doesn’t have Tuareg or Mongol mods at the moment, so we're not able to speak to the specifics of cultural and religious reconnection for these particular groups. Still, I want to take this opportunity to provide some general context and elements to consider when writing Tuareg-coded characters, or other characters from groups that have experienced colonization in the real world. My fellow mods will then share thoughts about cultural reconnection in general and with respect to Germanic heritage in particular.

Drawing inspiration from groups that have experienced colonization

As you’re probably aware, the Tuareg are an ethnic group indigenous to North Africa. As with many indigenous groups, they have experienced colonization multiple times over the course of their history. Colonization often leads to the loss or erasure of certain aspects of culture as the colonized people are pressured to conform to the culture of the dominant group. In many cases, it’s near impossible to say what the ancestral culture of a colonized group was prior to colonization.

When coding a fictional culture based on a group that was colonized in the real world, it's important to ask questions about:

Which aspects of culture you're portraying

Where these aspects come from

Whether you're ready to tackle their implications for the world you're building

It’s not necessarily wrong to use elements of coding that draw from cultural aspects influenced by colonization. As I said, it can be very difficult, even impossible, to portray a “pure” culture as it would have been had colonization not occurred–because we simply can’t know what that alternate history would look like, and because so much has been lost or intentionally suppressed that the gaps in our knowledge are too wide to breach. But it’s important to be aware of where these cultural elements are coming from.

Where is your coding coming from and what are the implications?

For example, while the Tuareg today are majoritarily Muslim, this was not the case prior to the Arab conquest of North Africa. Some elements of Tuareg culture today, such as tea ceremonies, are derived from the influence of Arab and Muslim culture and likely did not exist prior to the 20th century. As you’re developing the culture of the Tuareg-coded group in your fictional setting, you have to decide whether to include these elements. There is no right answer–it will depend on what you’re trying to do and why.

Is your setting in our far future, in which case we can assume your Tuareg-coded group is distantly related to today’s Tuareg?

In that case, they will probably have kept many cultural aspects their ancestors acquired through their interactions with other cultures around them–including cultural groups that colonized them. They may–let’s build hopeful worlds!–have reclaimed aspects of their ancestral culture they’d been forced to abandon due to colonization. They may also have acquired new aspects of culture over time. This can be very fun to explore if you have the time and space to do so.

I would recommend speaking with Tuareg people to get a better grasp of how they see their culture evolving over the next however many centuries or millennia, what they wish to see and what seems realistic to them.

Alternatively, maybe your setting is a secondary world unrelated to ours and you only want to draw inspiration from the real-world Tuareg, not represent them exactly. In that case, you need to decide which period of history you’re drawing from, as Tuareg culture is different today from what it was 50 years ago, and different still from 200 years ago or 1000 years ago. You’ll need to research the historical period you’re choosing in order to figure out what was happening at that time and what the cultural influences were. If it’s pre-colonial, you’ll probably want to avoid including cultural elements influenced by colonization from groups that arrived later on.

Finally, if the time period you’re drawing from is post-colonial:

Are you planning to account for the effects of colonization on Tuareg culture?

Will you have an in-world equivalent for the colonization that occurred in real life?

For example, will the Tuareg-coded characters in your world be from a nomadic culture that was forced to become sedentary over the years and lost much of their traditions due to colonial pressure to conform?

Where did this pressure come from in your world–is it different from what happened in ours? If so, how different? And what are the consequences?

Writing about colonization can be quite the baggage to bring into a fictional setting. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but it will certainly require sensitivity and care in portraying it.

In summary: think it through

I’m not saying all this to discourage you, but to point out some of the considerations at play when drawing inspiration from a real-life culture that has experienced colonization. Similar challenges arise for coding based on any other indigenous group in the world.

My advice to you, then, is to first sit down and decide where and when in history your coding is coming from, and what you’re trying to achieve with it. This will help you figure out:

which elements of contemporary Tuareg culture are pertinent to include

How much your coding will be influenced by the Tuareg’s real-life history

To what extent that will inform the rest of the world you’re creating

This, in turn, may help in deciding how to portray your character’s reconnection journey.

Again, I am not Tuareg and this is by no means meant to be an exhaustive list of considerations for writing Tuareg-coded characters, only a few places to start.

If any Tuareg or Amazigh readers would like to chime in with suggestions of their own, please do. As always, please make sure your comments adhere to the WWC code of conduct.

- Niki

Pulling from diaspora and TRA narratives of cultural reconnection

Marika here: This ask plotline could also pull directly from diaspora and TRA narratives of cultural reconnection. Many diaspora and TRA cultural reconnection stories are, in effect, about navigating the difficult process of resuscitating, or renewing ties to culture using limited resources in environments that often lack necessary cultural infrastructure or scaffolding.

See this question here to the Japanese team for suggestions of how to handle such a storyline in a similar sci-fi setting.

More reading: Japanese-coded girl from future

-Marika

Reconnecting with German heritage

Hi, it’s Shira. I’m not sure whether German-Jewish counts as Germanic for the purposes of your post but since German Jews were more assimilated than other Ashkies, Germanness does feel real and relevant to my life (especially because my father worked there for approximately the last decade of his life.) NOTE: when I see “Germanic” vs German I think of cultures from 1500 years ago, not 100-200 years ago, so I can’t help you there, but I’d be surprised as a reader if a character focused on that for reconnection to the exclusion of the 19th century etc.

People in the United States specifically, reconnecting with German heritage, often lean into Bayerischer/Bavarian kitsch, I’ve noticed. Personally, though, what I find most relevant is:

1. The food (although I’ve come to learn that what I grew up eating was closer to veal/chicken scallopini than actual schnitzel because it was drenched in lemon, but I do like the other foods like the potato salad and sweet and sour red cabbage etc.) Your character could try making one of these “ancestral” foods as a way to reconnect?

2. The classical music, because I’m a second generation professional musician – if character C plays an instrument, leaning into that might be meaningful (Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann and her husband Robert, etc.)

3. The nature, especially specifics that I enjoyed during my time there – personally, I loved the bright pink flowers all over the chestnut trees, but there are a lot of choices especially because of the Alps. If C is an artist maybe they can sketch something Germany-related from old photographs they found on the Space Internet?

I think it is VERY realistic for the characters to remain connected to the culture in which they were raised, by the way, whether or not they have positive feelings about it. Culture isn’t an inherited trait. Sure, if they want to completely walk away, they can, but I bet there are still ways it will creep back in without them realizing it simply because it’s really hard to have universal knowledge of the origins of all our quirks. Plus, not everyone feels alienated from their raised-culture just because they’re genetically something else.

P.S. There is also Oktoberfest, which I don’t really get into but is a thing, and beer, which is another point of German cultural pride.

German gentiles, weigh in – y’all have your own stuff, I know! OH YEAH so for German Christians, Christmas “markets” are a whole thing. That’s worth looking up. 

–S

What do you mean by Germanic?

Hello it’s Sci! I had to study German history for my historical fantasy novel set in the late 18th century Holy Roman Empire. I am not sure what is meant by Germanic as that can encompass a variety of things.

Germanic people: from the Classical Period of Roman Empire and early Middle Ages. Similar to Mod Shira, I unfortunately can’t help very much here.

The Germanosphere: regions that spoke German, which includes modern day Germany, Austria/Hungary, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Belgium, and Luxembourg. I generally define this as the regions captured in the Hapsburg Empire along with Switzerland usually encompassing “Central Europe.”

Modern German national identity (i.e. German): post Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna (> 1815) only including the territory of modern day Germany.*

I ask this because modern German national identity is surprisingly recent since Germany only popped up in 1871 under Otto von Bismarck. Previously, Germany was divided into smaller states and city states as a very decentralized region under the German Confederation and before that, the Holy Roman Empire. Depending on the era, you can see different conflicts and divides. During the early days of the Protestant Reformation started by Martin Luther, the northern and southern German territories generally split along Protestant-Catholic lines. The 18th century saw Austria and Prussia as the foci of global power who warred against each other even though both were part of the Holy Roman Empire.

Other states and city-states like Baden-Wurttemberg or Saxony sometimes had power but it was typically more localized compared to Austria. Post-WW2, you saw the split of Germany into West Germany run under capitalism and East Germany run under communism as a satellite Soviet state leading to more modern cultural divides. Due to heavy decentralization historically, each region had its own character with religious and cultural divides. 

Assuming that the Germanic character is not from the classical period or early Middle Ages but not from the 19th century either, you can include your character reconnecting to classical folklore like that of Krampus (if they’re Christian), German literature and music like the works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe or Mozart, or German philosophy like Immanuel Kant.

*A major wrinkle: German royals and nobility married into other states and nations frequently with Britain and Russia being notable examples. In Britain, the House of Hanover took over after the Stuart House died without clear direct heirs. When Queen Victoria married the German prince Albert, they celebrated Christmas with a tree and brought the German tradition of a Christmas tree to Britain and the British Empire. Only during World War I did the royal family’s house of Hanover name change from House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the more “English-sounding” Windsor. As a result, the German cultural influence may be even more widespread than we think.

However, without more specific descriptors of what Germanic means in the context of your story, it can be difficult to determine which aspects of German culture your character could reconnect to.

-Mod Sci

[roxannarambles]

The new Bede storyline in Pokemon Masters is so good. Bede finally getting the chance to stand up to Rose and Oleana, it felt so GOOD man

I also really liked Bede saying he didn't care if Iron Valiant was from the future or was a machine or whatever, to him it was just a pokemon on his team, and would be treated exactly the same.

Honestly, Bede didn't even have to accept Rose's offer for a tournament (which was Rose's attempt to take Iron Valiant from Bede). But perhaps he still felt like he had something to prove, which has always been Bede's vulnerability. And maybe part of him still craved validation from that jerk Rose.

In the end of course, Bede proved himself once again (winning against Nemona and Scream Tail, no less. With an extreme type disadvantage. No small feat!) and got to keep Iron Valiant. The only aspect I kinda dislike on this storyline is Rose rocking up and praising Bede for his success-- of course the rich businessman is gonna say whatever he feels should be said to keep smooth relations with people, the praise is no doubt empty-- and Bede is like 'oh my gosh Rose finally validated me' to himself. Noooo Bede you don't need that asshole to say you did a good job. You KNOW your worth.

It is realistic though. He's made a lot of character growth in Pokemas but of course he's still going to be swayed a bit by the praise of a person he spent so long trying to seem valuable to.

And it does not take away from the fact he was strong enough to stand up to Rose to begin with for using him like a tool. Proud of you, Bede. You decide your own destiny.

While Bede didn't battle Rose in the storyline, we DO get to battle Rose in-game as part of the story event. It's vs Rose's Copperajah. And I believe this is why they chose to make Bede's new unit a Fighting unit-- so he could defeat Rose. It was deeply satisfying to kick Rose's ass with Bede. In Sword/Shield I wished Bede had joined us when we rushed the Macro Cosmos building and battled Rose. At least in Pokemon Masters, Bede finally gets the chance to confront Rose and kick his ass in battle.

Also quick shout-out to the supporting cast in this storyline, Florian, Wally and Nemona. Florian makes sense of course since he knows what Future Paradox Pokemon are (and his Miridion is designed to synergize with Future Paradox Pokemon on teams together) but Wally the local Gallade/Gardevoir expert made sense too. And continuing the thread of his interactions with Nemona was fun, especially now that I guess she's a fellow Fairy trainer and Sygna Suit Paradox owner. Look, their outfits kinda match

Nemona and Bede together is fun because the sunshine one with the grumpy cynical one is always a fun interaction, although I don't actually appreciate how hard they go with Nemona in some of their storylines w/ Bede in terms of getting him to battle. So hard that it seems like coercion. I think that mischaracterizes Nemona, who actually is pretty damn cautious about not pushing people if they're not into it. This is just a reflection on some of their past interactions in Pokemas, they didn't really do it in this current storyline though. They had Bede annoyed with Nemona's enthusiasum, of course-- which he would be, Bede gets annoyed easily-- but when he said 'no' she didn't push it.

Bede's Sync Pair Story was nice too, and him saying "like a moth to the flame" to me in particular was super amusing since my trainer is named Jaybug and is a bug-type specialist, haha

But yeah, I like the message that the future is not for us to know. That we live in the present and we should focus on the good we can do in the here and now. Instead of spending all our time worrying ourselves sick with all the possibilities. Should we try and leave the world a better place than how we found us? Yes, absoutely. But should we destroy ourselves in endless what-if scenarios? No.

All we can do is our best with the time we have here.

Also, look, his outfit is SO COOL. They look so great.

[olis-inkwell-symposium]

How to Write Multidimensional LGBTQ+ Characters with Authentic Emotional Journeys & Moral Complexities

As a fellow proud member of the alphabet gang, when building LGBTQ+ characters in fantasy, it’s essential to push beyond surface-level representation and craft characters that are fully realized—characters with rich emotional arcs, intricate moral dilemmas, and personal journeys that go beyond their sexuality or gender identity. To do this, the character's identity should be one part of who they are, not the only thing that defines them. Below are some strategies for creating multidimensional LGBTQ+ characters in your fantasy stories.

1. Give Them Full Emotional Arcs

LGBTQ+ characters should have complex emotional lives that don’t just revolve around their sexuality or gender identity. It’s important to explore their hopes, fears, ambitions, and personal struggles just as you would with any other character.

Ask yourself:

What do they desire most in life?

What internal conflicts are they grappling with?

How does their identity shape their view of the world, but also, how do their experiences in this fantasy world impact their identity?

A lesbian warrior who’s conflicted about war may wrestle with the toll it takes on her spirit, her duty to protect her community, and her desire for peace—not just her love for another woman. These internal tensions create depth, making her more than a “token” character.

2. Place Their Identity in Context with the Fantasy World

How does your fantasy world view LGBTQ+ identities? Are they accepted, ignored, or misunderstood? Is there a specific cultural, political, or even magical significance to being queer in your world?

For example, in a world where shape-shifting is common, could gender be seen as fluid, or would rigid gender norms still exist? These questions not only affect how your character navigates the world but also how their identity interacts with the story’s larger themes. A gender-fluid sorcerer might find their powers misunderstood or even feared because of their shifting identity, adding layers to both their personal and external conflicts.

3. Move Beyond Stereotypes

Avoid fully focusing on tired LGBTQ+ tropes like the “tragic queer,” “gay best friend,” or “sassy queer sidekick.” Instead, allow them to occupy spaces where their queerness informs, but doesn’t limit, their roles in the story.

This means allowing LGBTQ+ characters to be:

Heroes and not just mentors or sidekicks.

Villains with moral complexities rather than simply “evil” because they are queer.

Leaders with the same flaws and virtues as any other character.

Relatable without relying on typical stereotypes.

Focus on their unique personalities, decisions, and values, allowing their identity to be one aspect of a multifaceted whole.

4. Explore Moral Complexity

One of the most compelling elements of character-building is the moral struggle. Allow your LGBTQ+ characters to face tough moral choices that aren’t just black and white. This shows that they aren’t infallible paragons of virtue or simplistic villains—they are people with the capacity for light and darkness.

For example, a gay knight may find himself torn between loyalty to his kingdom and the corrupting influence of power. His struggles are not centered on his sexuality, but on how his personal identity interacts with the external pressures of war, duty, and justice. This complexity makes him someone readers can empathize with, even as they wrestle with his choices.

5. Authentic Emotional Journeys

Many LGBTQ+ characters experience moments of personal discovery, whether coming out, finding community, or struggling with self-acceptance. However, these stories shouldn’t be reduced to a single “coming out” narrative.

If your character undergoes a journey of self-discovery, ensure it’s nuanced. Think about:

What are their internal emotional struggles?

What external pressures do they face from society or other characters?

How do their personal discoveries impact their relationships, goals, or views of the world?

6. Build Relationships Beyond Romance

Romance is often one of the main focal points when writing LGBTQ+ characters, but building meaningful, non-romantic relationships is vital. Focus on their bonds with friends, mentors, family, and enemies. These connections give them more texture and depth, allowing readers to see different aspects of their identity.

Develop these bonds to show how they shape your character’s motivations and emotional growth throughout the story.

7. Subvert Expectations

Fantasy offers the perfect space to subvert real-world biases and expectations. Maybe in your world, queerness is the norm, and being straight is the thing that raises eyebrows. Or, perhaps gender identity is fluid, and strict binary definitions are seen as old-fashioned.

This allows you to play with audience assumptions and opens the door to explore LGBTQ+ identities in new and innovative ways. By breaking the mold, you give your characters space to be fully realized individuals within a fantastical, yet meaningful, framework.

Crafting Characters with Complexity

Ultimately, the key to writing multidimensional characters lies in treating them with the same care and attention you would give any other character. Give them goals, flaws, emotional depth, and moral struggles that transcend their identity while still allowing their queerness to enrich their journey. By doing so, you create characters that readers can relate to and root for, regardless of their background.

The goal is not just to create LGBTQ+ representation but to craft complex, authentic characters that will resonate with your audience, making them unforgettable figures in your fantasy world.

[unchainedclaws]

I Am Fiction: A Personal Essay on Fictional Identity as A Being Who Has Always Had A Fictional Source

Cartoons are a staple of human childhood in this world, and have been for decades. From the comedic slapstick and simplistic one-off stories of the genre’s beginnings, to the more complex and story-based shows of the present, cartoons come in a wide variety. I fall somewhere in between, being from an educational childrens’ show all about teaching life lessons and kindness, though without a consistent storyline. It's not a show that truly exists here, being a fabricated background setting for a mascot horror game, but I’m a cartoon character, a Toon, all the same.

Before we get too far, I should probably introduce myself. I’m Sprout Seedly, one of the Main Characters of Dandy’s World and your local anthropomorphic strawberry who loves baking and is a bit overprotective of his fellow Toons. I’m a Toon brought to life by my creators, Arthur Walton and Delilah Keen, so I could interact with and teach kids who came to Gardenview Educational Center and Museum. I’m both a cartoon and a living person, and now I’m living in a human body as part of a plural system with people from many other “fictional” worlds.

Living here and knowing so many others’ experiences with being fictionkind, and comparing it to my own, I started thinking a lot more about my own life and how unique it really is. So, I decided to write this, putting my own experiences out there with being a Toon; with being fiction brought to life even in my old home. Being someone who blurs the line between fiction and reality in a different way than being a fictive, fictionkin, or another fictionkind identity typically does.

Back home, I always knew that I was a cartoon brought to life. Episodes of the Dandy’s World cartoon played on TVs around the Gardenview building, kids would come up to me saying I was their favorite in the show, and merchandise with my face flew off the shelves in the gift shop. Most importantly though, was how my creators viewed myself and the other Toons. Arthur was a kind man; he’s the one who initially drew us all and brought us to life on the screen, before Delilah used Ichor to bring us into the real world years later. Despite being the one to give us physical life, Delilah didn’t tend to see us as fully alive. We walked, talked, and entertained guests; we all had our own relationships with each other that differed from our show counterparts. Delilah did care for us in some way, but despite everything, in the end we were simply her creations, simply things that she made. Arthur was more outwardly caring, but even then he still carried similar beliefs.

Those beliefs shaped my identity then, and it shapes my identity now as well. Whereas most other fictionkind were fully real people without a “source” before awakening or coming here, I never fully was. I was always a piece of fiction, even back in my home at Gardenview. I understand now that the Gardenview staff were, in a way, denying us personhood despite us being living, sentient beings. It doesn’t bother me though, and honestly I take comfort and pride in it. I’m fictional; I always have been and I always will be. It's a fairly unique experience even within the widely varied alterhuman community, and I value having this life and set of experiences. 

Remembering the joy on the kids’ faces when they watched mine and my best Cosmo’s cooking shows, their excitement whenever one of them ran into me off set and we could talk about whatever, even the rarer occasions when adults came to me for baking advice and recipes or because they liked the cartoon too; all of it brings so much warmth to my heart. I know better now from living here and interacting with media how much it meant to those guests, being able to meet their favorite characters in real life and talk to us like normal people. I’m glad that my existence was able to give them that joy. And seeing the joy that these other versions of my friends and I bring people now, even if it is in the form of a mostly child-friendly horror game, brings me that same warmth.

Fiction doesn’t inherently mean “not real,” when it comes to some situations. For me, it is a state of being; a part of my identity. I’m real, but I’m also fictional. And I wouldn’t give that up for the world.

-🍓Sprout (He/It)

[twst-hottest-takes]

The Main story of TWST would be better with a change of pace from time to time. It would be nice to see a more 'event like' (as in low stakes) plotline be made part of the main story books.

One major improvement this could do in my opinion is it can help in foreshadowing (which is probably one of TWST's weaker points) for the next overblotters.

It also help in world building. It can help in further developing relationships with some characters and Yuu without these developments getting in the way of the FREAKING OVERBLOT (Book 7🥲) And as the plot would be more low stakes, Yuu could also be given an opportunity to actively take part!!

It would allow the characters to... Get out of NRC for a while. Like I know it is for the plot but if we discount all of the events and only count the Books as 'canon', Yuu's life in NRC just seems bearable at best and horrible at worst. It would also function as a breather in between the more 'heavier' books and stuff

It could also be beneficial from a monetary perspective (For Disney, the player always loses in these things) We have seen that fan response to playable Non NRC characters (Fellow and Skully come to mind though their plot wasn't super low stakes) has been very decent in both JP and EN servers. It would be interesting for even one of these characters to become 'canon'.

Narratively there is a lot of benefit from this idea.

I agree that it would be great to throw some more fluff into the story. Not like the bits that feel like they waste time though. Not walking around the school during the culture fair in Book 5. More like some interludes in the down time between chapters. Things involving the MC outside of their occasional appearance in character vignettes. A little more time devoted to seeing how the MC impacts characters outside of the obligatory story time. Because you're right, if we can't take events as explicitly canon then we miss a lot of important interactions and developments that can help with EVERYONE'S characterization. Also, yes, it makes it so that MC's life isn't hell on wheels 24/7.

The issues being addressed here really wouldn't crop up so much if certain events could be treated as a canon part of the timeline. But the separation is probably intentional for exactly these reasons. It probably has to do with keeping the main story streamlined and not needing to make the timeline of canon events unncessarily complicated or difficult to follow. It's a frustrating state of affairs though.

Thank you for your take.

[clawsandthunder]

✨ What I Want in Season 2 of X-Men ‘97 – A RoLo Wish List ✨

Hello Fellow RoLo’ers,

While it looks like the premiere of X-Men ‘97 Season 2 is still quite a ways off ... I’ve heard late 2025 or even early 2026 ... I figured now’s the perfect time to start building our wish list. Because if Marvel’s going to keep us waiting? We might as well be loud about what we want. (And by we, I mean all of us who loved One Man’s Worth.)

Now don’t get me wrong - Season 1 had some moments. But if I’m being honest? I was one of the fans who felt the pacing was off, some character arcs got absolutely dragged (Rogue, my favorite Southern Belle, I’m so sorry), and too many plotlines got crammed into too little time. Logan was sidelined. I had to squint to see him during several episodes. Ororo’s arc was once again rushed and underbaked. Our goddess deserves better. And as a RoLo’er? We got absolutely nothing.

But hey, I’m not here to rehash the past - the past is the past. I’m here to manifest a better future.

So here are my Top 5 Things I Want to See in Season 2:

#1 – More RoLo, Please and Thank You. I don’t even think they interacted in Season 1. Not even a glance. Not a growl. Not a single “are you okay?” between two people who have had some of the most electric chemistry in the X-Men universe. I’m not asking for a full-blown love story in one episode (okay, maybe I am)… but give us something. A rooftop heart-to-heart. A flirtation that makes my screen blush. An emotionally loaded fight where they challenge each other to be better. RoLo isn’t just romance and kisses that make us all swoon — it's wild and feral and hot, hot, hot! Bring it on.

🖤 #2 – Let Logan Be Logan Again. I get it — Season 1 was Cyclops’s time to shine. And Scott certainly deserved it. But did Logan have to be completely wallpapered in the process? We barely got to see him in action. I want an episode where Logan is the last man standing, bloodied but unbroken, fighting for the team because that’s who he is - the best there is at what he does. Give us the Wolverine — gruff, loyal, dangerous, and deeply human underneath it all. The one we fell in love with in the original series.

🖤 #3 – One Man’s Worth: The Sequel. This episode could elevate Season 2 to new heights. Imagine Logan and Ororo haunted by echoes of that alternate timeline — flashbacks, unfinished emotions, and that oh so smoking legendary RoLo chemistry. Let them explore what they lost, what they gave up, and what it still means. This is the perfect narrative thread to weave into Season 2, and we all know it.

🖤 #4 – Slow Down the Storylines. Please. I’m begging. Stop cramming five iconic comic arcs into a single 22-minute episode. Let things breathe. Let emotions land. Let relationships develop. It’s okay to build up instead of blow up. We want payoff. Not just plot points.

🖤 #5 – No More Character Assassinations. Season 1 was brutal to some characters, but none more than Rogue. I say that as a RoLo’er and as someone who loves Rogue with my whole heart. She deserved better. Her fans deserved better. Let’s see her friendship with Ororo again. Let’s see growth. Healing. Real arcs — not shortcuts to shock. I'm still grossed out by the storyline of Rogue and Magneto. So here's my wish here - Let's be true to all of the characters - especially Logan and Ororo!

That’s my list. What’s yours?

Share your hopes, your theories, and your dream RoLo moments in the comments. Manifest it. Yell it. Make Marvel hear us.

And as always…

🖤⚡️ Unleash the RoLo Love! ⚡️🖤

[moonandris]

✨Faye's Writeblr Reintroduction✨

Hello to all my fellow writing nerds, new and old! Thank you for checking out my updated writeblr reintroduction post. I've had this blog for nearly five years and am long overdue for a post explaining who I am, what I create, and why I write. I'm hoping to interact with more writers on here so we can all make the writeblr community a more welcoming place by supporting each other's creative journeys. If you're an active writing blog, I'd really appreciate it if you could like or reblog this so I can follow you and we can screech into the void together and gush about all our favorite WIPS and characters! ♡

A Little About Me

My name is Faye, a sassy bisexual woman living out her best writer life. I’m a lover, a dreamer, and of course, a creative writer enthusiast. I love storytelling in all of its mediums, so you can usually find me reading, writing, worldbuilding, character building, or doing an unnecessary amount of research for my works (ADHD tunnel vision).

Why Do I Write?

I write for many reasons, the biggest one being for myself. I love weaving stories with nothing but words because it's fun, challenging, and personally meaningful. There's nothing quite like the feeling of sitting at my desk and giggling away like a madwoman as I type out some intense scene. That feeling is only second to the absolute joy I get when people tell me they've connected with my stories. <3

How Do I Get Inspired?

I'm inspired by many different kinds of storytelling types: music, art, mythology, literature, video games, you name it. My writing comes from an intimate place and is motivated by my dreams, passions, and overall life experiences. I want my stories to mean something, and in turn, I want to share that 'something' with others in hope of continuing the positive cycle of human to human inspiration that started my journey in the first place. 🥺 Ultimately, for me, writing is about fulfillment, personal expression, and human connectivity.

Faye's Favorite Genre(s)

It's difficult to exactly pin down what my favorite genre is (because I genuinely love so many of them) but if I had to narrow it down to two genres, it would definitely be fantasy and romance. I love fantasy and its many subgenres (high fantasy, modern fantasy, science fantasy), as well as romance and its various subgenres (dark romance, paranormal romance, fantasy romance). As a bisexual writer, every story I write has LGBT+ characters, relationships and themes. Whether I'm writing gay or hetero romances, I love playing with the complicated dynamics resulting from human relationships.

My Absolute Favorite Tropes, Themes, and Content

exploring human relationships: platonic, familial, and romantic

enemies to lovers, rivals to lovers, friends to lovers, strangers to lovers, lovers to enemies, friends to enemies, enemies to friends

sensuality, intimacy, slow burn, dark romance, spicy content

soulmates, souls bonds, magical ties, and mental links usually tied to the villain (I love dramatic enemies to lovers, so sue me)

angsty, whumpy, dark fiction exploring morally gray characters and the true duality of man & human nature (dark vs. light)

hurt/comfort stories that rip out your heart, chew it up like old jerky, then spit it back into the gaping wound in your chest cavity (always with HEAPS & HEAPS of satisfying comfort after) ♡♡♡

identity, self-discovery, personal journeys, and character growth

experiencing, overcoming, and healing from messed up trauma

defying fate and choosing your own path despite destiny's enigmatic design for the course of your life

Finally, I need my characters to find genuine happiness at the end of the story. Very, very few stories I write have sad, unsatisfying endings (because I am a TOTAL sap and need them to find peace)

Thank you so much for reading, and if any of the above sounds appealing to you, I'd really appreciate so much if you reblog or give me a follow so we can chat. Happy writing! 💕💕💕

[oncewhenalongtimeago]

i like the side characters the reader is around that you implement in ur stories . im assuming they’re just ocs but it makes y/n feel more real rather than an insert to be purely attached to hiccup .

this isnt necessarily an actual request , but id like to see reader interact more with other characters , like how they did w snotlout in the jealous one ! if ur fine w small suggestions ?

Wildflower pt 2

Pairing: Unrequited!Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III x Fem!Fiance!Reader

Words: 3,628

The forge is dark.

Tags: Mild age difference, fem!reader, heavy exposition, non-canon politics, original characters

<Previous - Next>

There was a mood to your stride, one that could only be held by someone who was certain that they were alone as you crept into the darkness. It covered you like a thin film.

What was once blazingly bright was now tame, the fires from outside now resting and nearly dead. It was quiet sans the occasional crackling and the sound of sizzling and sputtering, fires being tended to by not just your peers, but the rest of the Berks Vikings, primarily the proletariat, as often the more noble found themselves too above those sorts of ordeals. 

The sooted inside of the smithy was not at all different to the outside- it was just as sweltering though perhaps filled with less of the festering smell of blood and carnage, though the air remained uncirculated- it felt just as musty as it was thick.

This last raid had been a difficult one, the work you’d need to spend rebuilding spanning many days. The idea exhausted you. You and your fellows would have your hands full. Bjorner, the bastard, would make himself scarce.

You’d seen him doing it a number of times, skulking through alleyways, walking with a mix of confidence and twitchy, hunched shoulders, striding and grunting and checking past shoulders when forced instead of talking to the others. He always made his way to the arena after a raid.

He lurked there just as Jorvik Jorgenson often spent his time training on the rare occasion he was let off on his lonesome, though Bjorner preferred to make himself most scarce if he and Jorvik were ever forced into the same space.

With a scoff that came from low in your throat, you ran the side of your hand down the side of your face, your other arm taut, carrying by the blade one tarnished shortsword.

You let it fall to the ground with a deep clatter.

It was not your own- it was a one that had been embedded in the side of the building which you’d dismounted with a vicious shout. You could tell quite obviously why it’d been there, blade cracked and nearly shattered against the thick neck-skin of a Nadder as you’d beaten it back with one blunt metal end.

In the place where there usually was a stack of thick logs, there was nothing more than sticks. 

Skulking, you eyed the dying light of rounded, chipped coals, slightly orange around the edges. The furnace had been left unattended- that would not bode well, now or ever. 

You could do the same- sneak off, go for some more training… Battle-practice was preferable to building, though most of you all had gone through the likes of dragon-training quite early on- it was all very much a casual affair now, yet it was also no less vicious for it.

You felt the taut press of wood against the small of your back, what was once a sharp edge nearly dull as you rested against it, ready for some deep thinking. You always were.

The world of Berk was one in which children were used like cows when it came to physical labor, so there was likely no escape. 

Childbearing had been rare in those few years where the raids had been hardest. Yours was almost the last class to be of use with the buckets. Your class had already been saddled with them much longer than any of you would have liked, from your twelve winters until fourteen, when most gave up the job in pursuit of other things. 

You suspected that your fiance’s lot would have to spend much longer in the brigade than yours had, which, in most eyes, must have been a good thing. Hiccup was still small and scrawny and not so capable of taking care of things on his own- reckless. 

He was willful, though that wasn’t so much of a fault as it was something to hone, same as any of the blades that had passed or would ever pass through the forge, pressed against the smithy’s sander’s belt. That was fine- he’d just need the extra room to grow. In retrospect, it was probably his father’s goal to temper him and to provide him something which might actually become of use before he reached an adult age and you were to be married, because he was certainly -in the eyes of his brethren, surely- not fit to be Chief.

You had to admit to yourself that he was much too flighty to do well there; too thoughtless, though that was just fine for your purposes.

You rested your hand against the table as you shifted, leaning your weight and adjusting.

Your palm could have met the sharp end of some hot tool and you would not have been bothered by it much. You hadn’t been since you were five, now fifteen. Instead, it met the fluttering edge of a paper, something you just barely felt past the aches, pain rendering your fingers all numb. 

Instead of plain wood, you felt the thin, nearly unregistrable flutter of parchment against your palms, covering most of the wood behind you in layers and folds.

You grasped backwards, grabbing the corner slip of one small piece.

You eyes it, its face covered in an even array of smudged charcoal etchings. They were organized in a way that wasn’t quite neat, semi-smooth lines offset by uneven scribbles and messy chicken-scratching rune-work. It was ungainly, yet there was a purpose to it.

Projected clearly across the paper in the way the spear was drawn loaded into the barrel, spring and launcher lined and detailed meticulously- it was a spear-launcher, not yet named, though you were sure when it would be, it would be just as asinine as any of his other ridiculous, dull-minded names; bonecrusher, jaw-wrender, the bloody fandangler.

You admired it, though it was not without its flaws.

A thick metal coil installed into the barrel behind a plate with rotating gears along the inside, connected to a hefty lever- compared to his usual models, all shelf-mounted model figures, it was an ambitious project. You were sure he’d never attempted something nearly as complex, either.

Your fiance was quite unusual by most standards. What he’d drawn up today was unlike anything anyone else could have come up with, you thought, which wasn’t so bad. There was something here for you to find pride in, at least- to be able to grow older and to marry a man with some skill, if a boy like him could ever become a man.

You couldn’t see what was so appealing about him now, not that many could in the first place. He was much too baby-faced- or, perhaps, you were much too prudent to conceive of him in any other way. You knew Stoick and his wife held many years of distance between them, and yet you still couldn’t picture it.

You sighed, though not at all exasperated. It was barely an expulsion of breath, more just the parting of lips.

Hiccup’s work had always been made to be quick and done hastily, boxy fingers addled by what was probably the natural, budding recklessness of a teenage boy. However, the world would rue the day he learned to use an even unit of measure- his preferred unit was the length of his arm, though that never bode well. 

He was smart, a kindred spirit in that he did what you occasionally thought but never entertained- he had an innovative mind, a creative one, if one not so dictated by fancy and color, more guided by logic and print, yet he was more prone to flaw, practice poor when it came to exercising the objective.

The design of the shell was simple and yet the measured lengths were different. Three lengths of an arm for the base and three and a half for the shell would make it much longer and wider than anything else, which meant that the frame would have been made looser, offset by his poor math. 

If this was to be his passion, he could do better.

The measure of the barrel's coil, marked by the hasty sketch of a circle, was most definitely too thin. You were sure it’d snap under most pressures even if it hadn’t already been wound so tight. The placement of a chain-and-clip along the bottom was quite inappropriate though not so dangerous. Its awkward angle and occupation of space meant that everything else had to have been moved to compensate for it in a way that would hinder the rest of the gears and wedges, though you weren't quite sure if he’d caught on to that yet. 

You were sure you’d hear of it later when you bothered to listen, which, if measured by instances, were also few and far between. 

You rolled your eyes back slightly, tilting your head to the side as you did, brows furrowing.

It had the added consequence of bringing your attention away to other things- the mess of tools laying in a pile across the way left to molder, the crumbling, half-shattered stones by the base of one wall, the thin, discarded shell of some machine just by your foot.

There was mismatching lever-base jammed quite recklessly into the hole of the side of it, nearly brushing the floor -it didn’t even stand up to your knee-  wood split slightly along the side of the hole. 

Detachedly, you nudged it aside with your foot, raising a brow.

Scuffing against stone, shedding distance, not excessively heavy, not too light, wholly measured- A hearty grunt, somewhat familiar, yet not worthy enough to draw your attention. The shift of furs against skin, a stilling; another grunt. 

Surely soon there would be more, arriving hastily after gathering their assets and their wits.

You kept your eyes trained on your hands, the parchment between, at what you hoped had just been a smudge, “Speak your name.”

“You jest.”

You raised a tired eyebrow with no small amount of amusement, eyes still trained on the paper in front of you, “If I do, I’ve also forgotten your name.”

You feigned ignorance still- you knew him well, if only vaguely, not all of your disinterest had been feigned- he was Hrolfer. One of the Hoffersons, also some winters older as well, though the last in your group to be such an age, in your class with a head of dashing blonde hair, a band and a tie keeping it tidied up at all times, and a lean set of evenly muscled shoulders, exposed as his sleeves were burnt and torn from battle.

“You’re the only one who could.” He spoke, voice smooth, not too hindered by the thick air, though almost not recognizable.

You raised a brow to yourself. The Hoffersons weren’t so egotistical a clan- not in ways that were outright, more obsessed with winning and betterness than bloodshed and bragging.

In terms of politic, though they were a major house, the Hoffersons were quite neutral, though not because they were particularly benevolent. If any group could be called ‘warriors,’ it would be them, though their lack of dalliance in any other field left them quite poor.

In terms of your own relations, you were always on the opposite sides of the arena- you’d never spoken, the both of you more the silent type than anything else, though you’d had a few chance dalliances.

Often, you took care of your needs on your lonesome, filling your belly in the hall, most often skipping meals when you had to, practicing out with an axe in the arena, throwing and beating metal through hay dummy.

You could recall maybe a nod in the midst of battle or a shared sideways glance- the few times you’d both been late enough to feed together in the Great hall, still keeping largely to yourselves. It happened more often than not. Perhaps that was what he meant to play on. 

Either way, he didn’t seem to care much, so you offered no sympathy in return.

“Woe.” You spoke again, droll, half-lidded, lazy eyes languishing their way over to him and back. Pithy words for pithy questions. A coin for the poor, not that you had coin with you.

As always, over his shoulder was an axe with a head nearly larger than his own, though now it was covered in soot and scratches and fractured by the blade where a chunk of metal had been taken from one mighty side. It would have to be replaced. The handle was just as scratched, dark wood with leather wrappings, though you could tell that before the battle, it had been well-polished and carefully taken care of. A damaged heirloom, most probably- a great disappointment to have it so broken yet also a point of pleasure to know it’d been of use to such an effectual warrior.

He hummed deeply before going silent, stoic, waiting, shoulders tall and face stiff with an expression just as blank to match, brows slightly furrowing as if he too understood- to mingle was to indulge in bother, time wasted that could have been better spent doing what was better, what was needed. In that way, you were two of the same. Which begged the question- where was your wayward fiance?

He wasn’t allowed away from the forge, not during a raid- yet he was absent. Just as absent as he was very much needed. He must have snuck out, though, to do what you weren’t sure, leaving you on your lonesome, breathing in the dust and lying in wait in the dark, nursing your own cuts and bruises.

You hoped you’d not have to deal with another instance with an axe or a spear. You thought he might have had enough with the humiliation, the manhandling, the failure. However, he was a determined thing, and determination was just as odd a drive as he, fueled by the most backwards circumstances.

You’d turned as Hrofer settled against the closed forge window, eyes overshadowed, the side of him half-lit by the open smithy shutter door. 

The table was completely crowded, full of odd bars, nails and other tool-like ends. 

You settled one hand aimlessly, grasping ahold of one end of another parchment, slightly dusty across the surface and uneven as if the wood hadn’t been pulped properly before it’s been set. You paid it no mind.

You were wholly aware of a hefty set of eyes on your back as you did, something in the air urging haste. You ignored it, scouring deeper into the darkness of the forge, though you didn't have to look so hard.

The long end of one charcoal stick rolled against your fingers as you picked it up, shedding dust against the wooden desktop between the wooden handle of a quaint-looking hammer and the hand-end of a prong.

Its dust-like feel was in great contrast to the ribs in the wood scratching against your other, paper lumpy yet smooth where there should be divots. It was a nice feeling, only mildly despaired by the shuffling of dirt outside, the slightly muffled sound of conflict, deeper baritones clashing against a squeaky voice, high in the nasal that hadn’t quite begun to drop.

Facing the darkness, you smudged at the charcoal with one thumb, drawing a larger three over the spot where it had lain plus half, frowning slightly as you rested your hips forwards against the table, thick wooden face pressing into the soft meat of your upper leg. Remove chain.

By the corner, where there lay one half of a blotted circumference, with your pinky finger resting against the table, the rest clutched around the stick, you drew the tiniest of words onto the paper with smooth, looped lettering; make it thicker.

 You could already hear his protests already through the walls. Some, “-ome on, Dad,” and some stuttered, “I can- I can-”

You sighed again, sharper and more exasperated this time, just as hissed as the now near-dead fires outside.

They’d go at it for a while longer, Hiccup with balled fists and folded elbows and a determined, aggressive lean as he attempted to make his case.  His father, in contrast, with a towering, exasperated, gruff expression- he wouldn’t be so pleased, even less so to see you’d caught the tail-end of it all. In a situation so violate, it really would not do to add any unneeded stress to the mix.

 In that moment, your irritation got the better of you, your fingers crumpling discarded paper. You glared at the ball of it in your hand for a moment before, in a moment of indecision, shoving it deep into a back pocket, sewn hastily into the back of your skirt, pulling it out, then tossing it to the side. 

You shook your head, eyes half-rolling as you blinked, soles of your leather boots padding soundlessly over stone, moving with an ease of practice, leaving the stick of charcoal to roll back onto a table full of various knacks, clattering hollowly, lightly against wood and tapping against metal.

There was a way out back, where the sky peeked in from many bottled windows and doors, easy enough to move through before Hiccup was left to stumble-storm in, before you’d be brought to awkward confrontation with his father, who had always had a hard time figuring what to do with himself before and after dealing with his own spawn.

The feel of thin stems against your fingertips, slightly wet and dull-wilted, the slick of the fog tingling against baby hairs, the hound of the forest, so quiet and uninhabited- you’d do nearly anything to be back there. 

Not in the village, tiny and full of those left aging, with not nearly enough women to make more than a single family, but in the forest, where things were quiet, and where, though few, if you knew where to look, there were plenties of small, wild, budding flowers.

If there was a word you could ever think to use to describe him, it would have been ‘child,’ for even if you were young in both name and stature, he was much more of both. You were worlds apart, though you could not find it within yourself to hate. You couldn’t find much in yourself at that moment. 

His height was not comparable to yours at all. His head ended where the top of your chest began, and even to you, who was the smallest and youngest on your tiny isle, he looked so young, cheeks cherub and shy-quiet.

To love and to be loved in turn was a privilege, one you were now sure you’d never be afforded, for how could you partner with someone so unlike you, so small and hapless? 

You were enough to be almost cherished but not enough to be wanted. It hadn’t been enough to sustain you, to keep you, to promise life and marriage- It was a lonely life, on that island. It was okay.

The worn bottoms of the small child’s leather boots scuffed against the wooden floor as he wrung his fingers together past large sleeves, stained and speckled with snot, both belonging to a shirt that was much too baggy and bright to be anything but frivolous and ill-fitting, yet was much newer than your own worn, dirty, fisher’s kin’s clothes. A small bit of snot peaked down from the bottom of his nose like a fouler version of the morning’s freshest, coldest dew. It was a muddled, sour color. His head was tilted downwards though his shoulders were at a normal angle if not slightly hunched.

He brought one sleeve up to his nose, smearing it against fabric, something in you recoiling as he did, causing your nose to wrinkle. 

“Hi,” The boy said in a voice that was both small and moppish. It was just as wavering as it was sound.

You were hesitant to respond.

There was a man standing a ways away and yet somehow still towering over the both of you. Though you didn’t care much to pay him any attention, it was a fact of the matter that his presence was overwhelming, nearly stifling. He was a monolith, heavy in the most muggy way plausible. 

A sharp whisper of breeze sputtered in from the outside, brushing up against your back, slicing through your close, moving, chilling and yet not fast enough to push the hefty front door open any further. 

You past the feel of fog, of weathering time, you felt the shifting of heavy brown furs, cloth layered over and over, covering the frame of a wooden bed, thin enough to shake over the chilling floor as you crawled into it, to squeak and squeal, to wobble precariously, but still somehow enough to carry both you and your mother. 

You were very aware of a lack- the lack. The one that spoke of crumbling foundations, of old pillars, temples made of blood and forged through bone, the bond of family, the realization that you might not have ever had any at all, just open, grassy clearings and biting, cold air where there should have been cities. The feeling was… isolating.

It wasn’t well lit at all inside of this hut, a world of growing darkness in a place that felt wholly empty. Still, like a rash, from the open door, a sash of light glanced over the boy’s face, starting where your shadow ended. You weren’t standing nearly close enough for it to cover you whole, small dust pieces and speckles dancing in the cool luster.

You waited, though for what, you weren’t sure. Not words, not change, but with the time, you realized quite simply that you had nothing to say.

You nodded.

[traversalpeaks]

Hello! We’re Traversal Peaks— a Discord roleplay group centered around farming sims such as Harvest Moon, Rune Factory, and many more!

Set in an alternate universe to the canon games, players can choose a character from a list of our accepted games and make them their own: interact with fellow muses, participate in community events, and take part in a world that is continuously being updated and expanded. 

What we have to offer:

◇ A warm, welcoming space with tons of creatives! With a thriving art community and plenty of talented writers, we’re proud of the growing community we’ve fostered.

◇ Consistent activity, events, and festivals! We hold frequent events for members to participate in, and have a year-round running festival calendar. In addition, members are permitted to run special events of their own! With over 50 active muses such as Gray, Popuri, Forte and Volkanon, Traversal Peaks is a consistently active and constantly growing community.

◇ A wide selection of canon characters to choose from! Though we initially started as a Story of Seasons and Rune Factory server, our masterlist has expanded to include characters from games such as Stardew Valley, My Time at Sandrock, and more! Choose your favorite characters and play out their day to day lives. Additionally, the masterlist is planned to expand once Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma releases! 

Some additional points to know about the server:

◇ Traversal Peaks uses canon characters only— meaning, no OCs. That being said, characters in the server’s universe are considered altered versions, meaning that they can be changed and customized within reasonable limitations.

◇ Traversal Peaks is an 18+ server. While the majority of server content is PG-13, we do have NSFW channels, and thus do not accept members under the age of 18.

Though the roleplay scene in the farming sim community is sparse, we’re proud of the community we’re building, and hope to welcome other fans of this genre into it. If you love writing, worldbuilding, and farming sims, come join us in Traversal Peaks!

[writeblr-live]

May's Aftershow

For those who missed the live show, here are all our questions!

Feel free to cut em up and answer however you like.

Don’t be afraid to ask followup questions or respond to others’ answers! We’re trying to get our interaction back here, so get in those askboxes.

Remember the tags, support your fellow authors and have fun with it.

Question One:

Introduce Yourself! Who are you, what do you write… What was the last line you wrote.

Question Two:

In honor of MerMay, Tell us about your aquatic creatures What role do they play in your story Are there any you want to write about but haven't

Question Three:

In honor of mothers, let’s talk about parents. Do your characters have theirs Are they pertinent to the plot or just backstory Alive, or not, how do your characters feel about them

Question Four:

Whether modern, historical or altogether fantastical; world-building is important to any story. What’s your favorite part about it...and your least? Give us a random fact about your world!

Question Five:

Last One! Everyone gets stuck, or blocked, in one way or another. How do you deal with yours? Does it work? In that vein, share something you wrote this month! Whatever it is, share a link. Or a link to something else you’d like to give attention to. (remember to share others’ links!) This is the promo post. PROMOTE YOURSELF. DO EET. SHOW ME THOSE LINKS. Hope you had fun and I’ll see you again next month!