#its technically the second one ive written but the first one is Not Good and i will not be posting it

[jenna-louise-jamie]

i posted my first AR fic yesterday! tumblr will not let me link it so. if you wanna read it. idk. my ao3 is jennalouiselynn because apparently someone already took jennalouisejamie. anyway check it out! (only if you want to) ((please be nice if you do)) (((i was so brave for posting it))).

[kaisfruit]

Hiiii loved your first first about kai!

Could I request a one shot or headcanon about each of the ninja and how they would pleasure a fem!reader pls?

How they pleasure you | All ninja x fem!reader headcanons

a/n: omg tysm for my first ask <3 this is like,,one of the few times ive ever written nsfw so!! i hope its okay :3 also im gonna leave out lloyd cuz ik technically he's an adult but idk it's still a bit weird imo warnings: nsfw under the cut (duh),cunnilingus (cole, zane, nya) , slight size kink mention in cole's part, degradation in kai's part, inappropriate usage of elemental ability (jay), umm thats all i can think of im srry if i missed anything ^^

Cole

Ugh idec he's a big guy. is that a collective hc that the whole fandom can agree on? i think so

def uses that size to his advantage when y'all are alone together

I'm talking like MANHANDLING

only if u ask tho cuz cmon we all know he is such a caring guy he would always take your wants and boundaries into account

okay, my horrible down bad size kink out of the way-

mans has a big appetite (wink wink)

goes down on you like no other. like, he treats your pussy like it's breakfast, lunch, dinner, AND DESSERT babes

there would be no breaks with him. i cant say this enough, but he is eating you out like a man starved

overstimulation bound to happen srry i dont make the rules

he would NOT ask for anything in return

this man is the biggest giver when it comes to sex oh my lorddd

you're in charge but like he is if you know what i mean?

like he does what he knows you love, but on his own terms

ur in the bed and he's just instantly pinning you down yk using that strength of his, spreading your legs as far as the can go, and boom diving in head first

srry i could fill up like 3 posts of just cole eating you out im that passionate abt this topic

Kai

Plays with your pleasure like it's a damn toy

This man is the biggest tease ever

Though, his teasing does lean a bit towards minor body worshipping bc he's just everywhere

Marking you up with hickeys wherever he can get his damn mouth

Hands? can barely keep track of their movements. One second they're playing with your tits the next he's two fingers deep in your pussy

Let's just say he's taking his time here just to make the actual sex feel absolutely amazing on your end

But rlly it gets him going seeing you all whiny beneath him at his never ending touches

it's a win-win if you think about it

THAT DAMN MOUTH.

kai is not the guy for u if ur not down for a bit of degradation because DAMN

he has to come second place to jay in the yapping awards bc he's always saying smthn during the act

he pays attention though. listens or feels your reactions to every filthy thing he whispers to you.

absolutely ruins u for anyone else. gl w this man yall <3

Zane

He is so damn PRECISE??

Like, how does he know exactly how to touch you in that spot in order to get that reaction?

LOVES i mean like absolutely LOVES fingering you

being able to watch you come undone on just his fingers? god it is everything to him

will also add his tongue into the mix bc even tho hes a robot he cannot get enough of ur taste

just so calculated w every movement

bro made sex into a science 😭😭

tells you how good you're doing for him, how perfect you look, etc.

loves praising you bc it's the honest truth of how he feels about you

tbh 50% of the pleasure he gives u is from the pure love u can feel with every slight touch, every kiss, everything

soft dom vibes iykwim

REFUSES to even try to get himself off if he hasnt attended to you first

also an extreme giver like

he would get rid of entire body parts if it meant making u feel even better during sex

okay thats hyperbole but like

this nindroid has so much love in his robot heart for u and he needs u to KNOWWWW

Nya

A GIRL'S GIRL U ALREADY KNOW WHAT IT IS

she has all of these boys BEAT when it comes to pleasuring u bc of her same gender advantage

her head will stay in between your legs until you are absolutely SCREAMING her name

that fact fills her with immense amounts of pride btw

i see her as giving u a good mix of gentle and rough touches that like come together to make the most intense feeling ever??? if that makes sense

she's so good w her mouth like,,,everywhere

her favorite place to have her mouth is on ur pussy ofc, but she could also give a vampire a run for their money with how attached to ur neck she is

marks litter your neck

she's so good at finding that one little sweet spot that makes your body squirm

tends to multitask as well

like if she's currently a knuckle deep in your hole then you can also probably find her mouth licking and sucking at one of your nipples

everything she does to you is just so confusing in the best way possible

Jay

everything with him is just so fast-paced

he barely gives you any time to catch your breath in between anything

just one thing after another with jay

it mostly comes from his overzealous nature

your body makes him feel like a kid in a candy store im not even gonna lie. there's so much he could be doing he doesn't even know where to start

constantly talking. what did you expect from the motormouth himself?

half of it's mumbles of how gorgeous or how breathtaking you are and the other half is just downright filthy

honestly that second part would be such a turn on cuz u wouldn't have expected it from jay

the first time he used his element on you it was an accident

he didn't even realized it happened at first. he felt you jolt at the sensation and his first instinct was to apologize instantly, but he never even had a chance as he felt how you clenched down on his fingers and the moan u let out would forever be ingrained in his brain

from that point on, he's constantly looking for the best opportunity to let the smallest current just give a little tingle to your skin

jay really knows how to keep things interesting <3

[inevitablestars]

HEY LINDS this is my Official Attempt to sway you towards perciver i hope you like it and that it doesnt turn you off them forever, now first off!

general relationship potential:

percy and oliver are in the same year and as far as we know they are the only boys in gryffindor in their year which makes them not only roommates but also the only boys in their room. for seven years.

percy is incredibly misunderstood by his whole family pretty much always, they all avoid him or are rude to him or just misunderstand him completely. with oliver's proximity its very likely hes the first person ever in percys life to properly observe him and understand him!!!

percy is the most career driven singleminded ambitious motherfucker in gryffindor.... second only to oliver!!! who is the most quidditch obsessed bitch on this planet and arguably has more solid career goals of anyone in that entire series. they are hyperfocused! they are girlbossing! they are not getting a wink of sleep bc they both get so lost in their work they forget what time is!

classic jock/nerd combo except oliver is a jock who is secretly a nerd (think of all the quidditch stats!!) and percy is a nerd who is secretly a jock (percy is a master spellcaster and nobody can convince me otherwise, that man fought multiple death eaters on his own at the battle of hogwarts and you do not get that kind of skill from just sitting behind a desk)

idk theres honestly a lot of directions one could take them but theyve just got so much chemistry and so much in common but also different and theyve got so much potential

(in my head they are the definition of autism/adhd solidarity but i know that not everyone hcs them that way which is cool too)

now for fic recs!!!

Twenty-nine - 85k - Endrina

percy weasley-centric fic that is honestly one of the most creative interpretations of him ive ever read, it goes deep into his past and his canonic decisions and stuff but theres a twist to it that is just gold, also its a whodunit where oliver's been framed for murder and only percy knows hes innocent its very very good and definitely played a huge part in me falling in love w percy's character

A New Life - 89k - AnotherAuthor, myroaringtwenties

percy and oliver meet post-war and help each other get their lives moving forward again, its very well written and very sweet but mind the tags its kinda heavy at points, it doesnt shy away from how hard the war was on everyone but the community that the weasleys and the quiddich players have is very warm and i love it

At least he has great abs - 12k - Irisen

this one is a cute shorter nonmagic soulmate au where oliver is a famous footballer and percy is a politician and they end up being soulmates, its very funny and light and i just enjoy it

(also i am technically writing a perciver fic rn its called Rely On Me and the first two chapters are up on ao3 but its my first fic attempt and i havent updated it all summer bc Life so pls dont feel obligated to read it i just felt like it would be weird if i didnt mention it)

anyway! i hope you enjoyed this if nothing else and if you read these or find other perciver fics or just wanna talk about em lmk bc i am always down to talk perciver i love them with my whole heart and soul <3

josephine hello. is this from literally ten months ago? perhaps it is. but i'm here now.... you mentioned perciver earlier and it reminded me that this has been sitting in my inbox for SO LONG

alright let's get into this

• iconic of them to be alone in a dorm for seven years together that already screams soulmates

• you're so right these two get their minds set on something and they're going to get it they're going to achieve whatever they want (tbh i already think they should put that energy toward like Getting Together but i distress)

• nerd jocks! a slay tbh

• i see the autism adhd thing i get it

• i also think like yeah i agree they have a lot in common when you dig into them but from one glance it's like ? these two? really? but then you see who they are at their core and it's like oh of course how could you think anything else (i have a lot of characters and dynamics that this sorta concept applies to i get it)

also love the inclusion of fic recs which i will check out when i am back to reading <3 consider myself convinced (it did not take much you already convinced me by just sending this ask)

[t4tcecilos]

ok im gonna bite what is falsettos. you and someone else i follow are both really into it and every time i see a post i find myself thinking "ok what the hell could this be" only to find that its tagged falsettos. <- this is entirely positive btw its a delight to have on my dash i'm just curious as to what it actually is

IM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS ASK YOU HAVE NOOO IDEA

its an awesome musical set in the late 70s/early 80s about a Jewish family. the first act is centered around a man named Marvin and his son Jason. the second act is more centered around the relationship Marvin has with a man named Whizzer. the story really comments on misogyny, family, queerness, toxic masculinity, and more.

the music is very good and the characters (there’s 7 of them!) are all very interesting and well written. there’s been quite a few versions over the years but in 2016 there was a revival version! (link)

technically its two musicals pushed together (act 1 (march of the falsettos) and act 2 (falsettoland) were separate musicals) but falsettos puts them together! theres also a prequel of sorts called in trousers which has one grainy recording on youtube. but dont worry about that now

you should watch it if it interests you! no spoilers but its one of the most emotionally devastating pieces of art ive ever watched.

[volfoss]

⚜️ *Gives you the fanciest emoji I know of*

im so sorry this is like. 2 weeks late. a lot of stuff happened for me irl and i also was waiting to come across a character that i thought u would find really interesting :) i think you'd be able to really investigate veycer like a bug under a microscope.

i think youd like veycer SOLELY because of how complex he is written. he sucks soooo much as a person and i would like to blow him up HOWEVER i think as a villain he is so fascinating. volfoss doesnt really have villains in the usual sense, as its more just oh im on this side of the war, hes on the other side of the war and hes kinda being mean so hes the villain for this route. and you can side w his (veycers) side of the war and see different sides to him that way. like everyone just kind of sucks in the war really.

^white boy of the year in a bad way

so like. in order to get into his complex writing i have to first again elaborate he sucks. you are not meant to really care about him unless you take the route where youre on the ikuaipe side (which hes the military leader of). and to really get into him as a character i have a LOT of explaining to do plot wise. so come with me. take my hand. we are having the tumblr askbox equivalent of my 30 minute volfoss politics powerpoint or whatever.

ikuaipe uses rare metals imported from asdenia, mainly to make drugs. asdenia one day is just like no. fuck you we are not exporting this to you anymore. this obviously causes a lot of tension. eventually the war is kickstarted (this is either because of a mysterious disease or because it appears that the leader of ikuaipe was kidnapped. put a pin in that. we will return to it later. sorry theres a lot to explain and i need to make it as cohesive as possible) and its kind of like. well not good for either side lmao. each of the three (technically four. its a long story.) nations has a different governing system: ikuaipe has a group of people leading (frokiston is kind of the head, gust is second in command, and veycer is kind of third), asdenia is like a religious leading (the archpriest leads the country), and caldealand is a monarchy (with a king and queen and prime minister). this is all important im so sorry stick with me here i have to set up a foundation for the politics.

so like. if volfoss was crazy popular and had gotten super fandomized, people would say frokiston was kinda like a father figure to veycer but like objectively they do care about each other a lot. i cannot even begin to get into their wide degree of issues but frokiston is arguably just trying to lead ikuaipe as best he can, so in the ikuaipe route, when hes kidnapped, it sends veycer into a panic. like to the point where hes rushing into battle, right into dangerous spots just because he HEARD thats where frokiston might be. he invades asdenia further bc it does seem like its a plausible place for him to be. frokiston is someone who you see reassure veycer when he's worried about the war and how they're losing. like he does genuinely care a lot about veycer and thats WHY veycer is pretty much willing to die to make sure hes ok.

i am not going to spoil the ikuaipe arc ending but veycer is kind of put in a position a lot where he has to make tough decisions and well. they are not normally handled well (in terms of he makes stupid as fuck decisions or like. decisions where youre sitting there like WHY would you do this). and the end of that arc is a very good example of that, as it deals with how someone who acts very calmly and level headedly about death can be forced to make a decision that doesn't make him act as calm as he normally would.

which this all ties into a couple very distinct moments that make me genuinely insane when i think about him. like again he sucks soooo bad its insane but hes very well written (which idk if ive gotten acorss bc i really do wanna avoid major ending spoilers. i think youd love volfoss a lot). bullet point list bc ive gone on long enough lol

his sister (Shes also an army commander. shes great you would love sheala) does a big fuck up on a mission and well. lemme just grab what i noted down here. auveon is another commander.

but later he goes on to be like oh ty for protecting sheala ^-^ i care about my family. he does pardon her to just a demotion and i rly think that was his intent at first but he needed to seem strict to make ppl respect him.

one of his right hand men dies in one ending and he literally just does not care at all but i also think its a situation of keeping up a tough front. hes fascinating and id get more into it if my wrists were not cramping up insane style but they are so. i think youd love him in the way that he well. has diseases but is written with so much depth and compassion

[red-dyed-sarumane]

kyuuyakus so good not only bc its like the only song heavy enough i can tolerate at loud volumes that can Almost drown out my coworker who never shuts up but ALSO for the points ive said 74times & will continue to,

aru sekai shoushitsu set us up for something super sci-fi, which. yes. the series very much is. but it was so technical and almost coldly indifferent. and then we're given the whole "old testament" in the title & the whole intro reading that isnt far from dantes inferno type content as my good friend emimin pointed out. we've got this new aspect added in and at the same time the lyrics let you know this character's still dealing with the complex technical stuff, from the terms down to the second kanji in ashita being incomplete as though because of a program error or interruption or some other similar reason.

and it feels even more different because theres just so much emotion in this one compared to shoushitsu. all the "bye-bye"s written in ways that express deep pain, the fact that the "see you tomorrow"s are cut off in the way they are the first time, and so drawn out the second time. the genre's not the spacey, distant trance type that shoushitsu is; its heavy, its intense, its got as much to it musically as there are details in the story. it's not just to sound cool, it's getting her state of mind across just as much as the spoken words. the world's being destroyed physically & metaphorically, everyone's suffered this over and over, they've parted ways so many times and its just never something they can get used to, especially not if they want to keep trying to end this whole loop, she's stressed past imagination trying to keep everything in check when its just not possible, & the intensity of the music just emphasizes all of that. there's less intense parts too, sort of like a forced focus on what she's doing that all too quickly builds to a panic. or the in the second part where everything gets so dire, the bell's tolling and she's running out of time, the piano over top of it giving such an uneasy feeling, and then right back to that heavy panic. theres so much emotional charge in it you know the long notes aren't just magu having fun with it; you just know they're meant as screams. i dont even think i can say screams for help, i think she knows shes past the point of help or at least that she's supposed to be everyone else's source of help that it's just stressed lamentation. she's doing everything she possibly can and its not working so all thats left is to cry out about it.

and then u have the rute furute wo a motif in here that's added in under the "fractal wa/kurikaeshita" parts that really hits harder now with kannagi for extra context. knowing that this is in the past & can't be changed and everyone else is using this as a point of reference. then u of course have the nami no ne wo motif, & the longest & clearest instance of it aside from maybe oumen mokushiroku so u know she's herself & gets to live, gets to keep doing this & watching other people die. (although i have absolutely no frame of reference for how long she lives given this is a past event & she doesn't seem to be present in the more current time songs. we dont really have that context yet) & then we're back to the rute motif on top of what still sounds like a jumble of nothing. but i also thought the rute line was nothing and here its a big deal so i cant wait to realize what this other jumble is, considering its also under the last ima kizanda parts.

theres just so so much to it, so many little intricacies that build such a full picture from whats otherwise one of the more simple series songs & i cant love it more.

[boypussydilf]

top three with. doctor who. talk about the silly little doctors Now

LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO tbh id kind of forgotten i reblogged that

3 male characters I love:

JAMIE MCCRIMMON MY BEST FRIEND

12th doctor. the doctor is never male and i like them in general but 12 is probably my favorite

um. uh. um. um. uhhhhhh. christ theres GOTTA be someone i like more than mickey or rory i mean theyre good but theyre not top favorites. WILF. RIGHT. WILF. WILFRED MOTT. GRANDPA WIN

3 female characters I love:

ACE!!!!!!!!

DONNA NOBLE!!!!!!!!!

Ahh god. Fuck. Theres too many I could put here. uhmmm. Ok im going to say rose tyler. She MIGHT. have a slight edge over bill potts. but ouuugghh i love bill. im not sure,. one of them. WAIT WHAT ABOUT MISSY. theres too many incredible women and girls in doctor who. If i had to pick one ummmm i guess I’ll say rose though. she’s classic

3 romantic ships I love:

the doctor and the master whatever the fuck they have going on

2/jamie this clown and scottish dude are gay as hell

uhhh. yeah lets say doctorrose. they too are classic

(Honorary mention to Ace and all of her Girlfriends Of The Week <3)

3 platonic dynamics I love:

TEN & DONNA!!!!!!!!!! OUUUUUUUGGGGHHHHHHHHHH *POWERS UP*

probably seven & ace… uncledadpa moments

christ i had something a second ago and then i lost it. why are amy and rory suddenly all i can think of THEY ARE MARRIED. ok i think im gonna say 11 & amy not a big fan of…. ALL the ways they were written in the show…… but the overarching concept of. to the doctor amy is always the little girl he accidentally left behind and he needs to make it up to her & to amy the doctor is always her childhood imaginary friend and they’re both trying to live in a fairytale and it is NOT actually ideal for them. It’s good

3 favorite moments in canon:

OUT OF SIXTY FUCKING YEARS OF TELEVISION?!?!?!?!?!?! ok lightning round off the top of my head

the scene in the unicorn and the wasp where the doctor gets cyanide poisoned and has to play charades with donna and agatha christie to try and tell them what he needs

in the god complex where the doctor amy and rory all get startled by people showing up and everyone is talking at once and the doctor goes IVE NEVER BEEN THREATENED WITH A TABLE LEG BEFORE! NO WAIT I TELL A LIE…. while rory is going ITS OKAY, WE’RE NICE! and amy looks at him like hes insane. i find it very funny

when ten sacrifices himself to save wilf but first he has to have a little mental breakdown about it because he knows what the right thing to do is but he’s also kind of fucked in the head and feels like he deserves to live. and then as hes very slowly dying of radiation poisoning we get that kinda cheesy montage that goes on WAY too fucking long of him doing little secret things to help out all the companions he’s had since the start of the revival series and it’s so self indulgent and wrung out and it kinda slaps

theres so many others and probably a lot of scenes i like way more than these but these r the first ones that came to mind so i will restrain myself

3 favorite headcanons:

gender and sexuality r different for time lords. bc theyre aliens. so of course it would be. but the doctor is also queer by their standards

erm. uh. fuck. shit. what else is there.

Susan is still alive and doing fine <3

Christ i dont know. I got nothin. Doctor who canon is so fucked i could probably take something that’s technically canon and then call it a headcanon anyway. Uh. No i got nothing there either.

K9 is a good dog. There

3 least favorite things about it:

NO NOSTALGIABAIT!!! STOP IT!!! PUT DAVID TENNANT BACK WHERE YOU FOUND HIM. WHY DID YOU HAVE TO PUT HIM RIGHT BETWEEN THE FIRST FEMALE DOCTOR AND THE FIRST BLACK DOCTOR <3 HE WAS ON THE SHOW FOR FOUR YEARS PUT HIM BACK

AND NO MORE DALEKS OR CYBERMEN UNTIL THE WRITERS CAN LEARN TO USE THEM PROPERLY! USE THEM AS REPRESENTATIONS OF FASCISM AND FEARS OF NEW TECHNOLOGY RESPECTIVELY OR DONT USE THEM AT ALL. STOP INCLUDING THEM JUST BECAUSE THEYRE THE BIG RECOGNIZABLE DOCTOR WHO VILLAINS.

(…….exceptions made for when daleks are used for comedy i may say it annoys me when they get watered down but i still think its great when theyre funny. also that one new years special was actually a very good occasion to have a dalek without it meaning anything but that’s besides the point okay anyway)

ALSO THE WEEPING ANGELS. THEY WERE SCARY IN THEIR FIRST APPEARANCE AND THEN THE WRITERS KEPT ADDING NEW THINGS TO THEM TO TRY AND MAKE THEM MORE SCARY AND IT JUST BACKFIRED. IT MADE THEM SUCK

basically i hope for a future where doctor who writers actually take to heart the whole “Moving Forward and Embracing Change” part of the show. if you bring back stuff that hasn’t appeared since classic who be sure you’re DOING something with it that means anything and not just going “Look! This species still… exists!”. write good stories instead of having recognizable villains show up because they’re recognizable. and FORGET ABOUT THE TENTH DOCTOR ERA ALREADY. DAVID TENNANT WAS GOOD. HIS DOCTOR WAS GOOD. MOST OF THE SHOW FROM THEN IS GOOD. AND ITS OVER. ITS BEEN OVER FOR TEN YEARS. STOP MILKING THE TENTH DOCTOR AND PUTTING ALL THE FOCUS ON HIM. PLEASE. PL

doctor who good :)

[kaesaaurelia]

Hustler's Blood editing accountability, chapter 2

I've written a fuckoff long Good Omens fic, and now I'm editing the thing. You can read more about it here, but the main points are:

It's set in 1926 in Chicago.

I'm posting little discussions of my editing process chapter by chapter, with spoilers for the fic, editing kvetching, research blathering, etc.

If you don't want to see these posts, please block the tag "hustler's blood nattering."

The title of Chapter 2 is "an infidel's capital six days a week," the first (well, technically second) of many Nelson Algren quotes. Both this quote and the title of the fic are from his essay Chicago: City on the Make.

Wordcount: I started at 8,301 words and ended up with 8,870 words. You might think I didn't cut anything out, but I did! I took out a whole bunch of extraneous reallys and quites and verys, as well as a few paragraphs where Aziraphale tries to help Crowley with a difficult tempting job, which ended up being repetitive. This just always happens when I edit.

Song of the chapter: "Welcome Home" by insaneintherainmusic (I love an Undertale cover, and this one is so cozy.)

What happens in the fic?

Al Capone invites Crowley to his birthday party.

Aziraphale (who is very hungover and conflicted about what happened the night before) does not know who Al Capone is. Over brunch, Crowley explains, and also explains the four personas he's been using in Chicago. They are: i. Anthony Crowley -- bootlegger to the North Siders. Throws a lot of parties, is otherwise pretty bland because he doesn't like the North Siders very much. [This is never actually confirmed in the fic, but Crowley has based this persona heavily on Jay Gatsby, having read The Great Gatsby, loved it, and largely missed the point of it.] ii. Lilith Cambion -- bootlegger to Capone's gang. A wealthy widow who totally didn't (totally did) murder her husband. iii. Felix, a cipher with an obviously fake name, who gets out the vote for Chicago politicians by raising the dead and sending them shambling to the polls. iv. Merit O'Malley, an adventurous and kind-hearted young woman who volunteers at Hull House so that Crowley can try and damn its founder, Jane Addams.

Later that week, Aziraphale steals the neighbors' cat, who Crowley resurrected once and who the neighbors aren't very responsible about. Crowley is convinced the cat hates him. It is clear to anyone who's met a cat that the cat adores him. This is their cat now.

Aziraphale and Crowley visit Hull House; Aziraphale comes to the conclusion that Jane Addams might be a witch, and also that Crowley ought to be more careful about how he's operating.

Recurring character of the chapter: This chapter introduces three of the four major recurring historical characters by name, but only one of them gets any on-page time here. Jane Addams was the first social worker, and founded Hull House, an organization that provided social services to Chicagoans from 1889 until 2012. The organization is no longer around, but the remaining structure is a museum now. (One of Hull House's other contributions to the modern world is actually the concept of improv theater! Whether this is a good thing or not I leave as an exercise for the reader.)

Addams isn't as directly important to the plot as either Al Capone or Hymie Weiss, the two mob bosses who derail Aziraphale and Crowley's romance as they fight pointlessly over territory and personal honor. (Alas, Aziraphale and Crowley's romance is always getting derailed by two equally stupid sides fighting pointlessly over territory and personal honor! Sucks to be them.) But when I read her autobiography, Twenty Years at Hull-House, she was giving me Pratchett witch vibes -- maybe a little more Granny Weatherwax than Agnes Nutter, with a dash of Magrat's idealism -- and I liked the idea of her strongly-held pacifism coming in handy, which indeed it does later in the fic when War shows up.

She wasn't perfect -- like almost everyone with progressive views in the '20s she thought eugenics was a good idea, and I disagree pretty strongly with her about Prohibition and sex work -- but I wanted to highlight someone who wasn't a buffoonish mob boss, and who was trying to make the city a better place while knowing, realistically, that this work would never be over. I'm pretty pleased with the role she plays in the fic.

If you watch Ghost Files, you may be semi-familiar with her and Hull House from their episode on the Devil Baby. (Which, nerdy sidenote, I got to watch with a bunch of other Chicago nerds/ghost nerds at Hull House the night it dropped.) I dearly wanted to make the Devil Baby rumors more of a thing in this fic, but the timing is all wrong and there just wasn't room. However, I do lightly imply that Crowley started the rumors because the only "bad" thing he's been able to get Addams to do is to try and fail to lie. You can read Addams' account of the Devil Baby rumors (and her momentary temptation to lie about them) here.

Edit I am fondest of:

I posted a larger addition I made here involving Chicago politics, but I like this bit a lot:

"Yeah," said Crowley, "I think I can get it for you within a few days. I know somebody. No guarantees, but --" He mouthed something at Aziraphale, which Aziraphale didn't catch at all. "Oh! Oh, is that so? Well, happy birthday! When is it? Oh my goodness! Of course I'm free. Lovely. Can I bring a friend?" He winked at Aziraphale, who pointed at himself and frowned at Crowley. Was he the friend? "Yes, he's my, er, late husband's solicitor. Lovely man." Crowley nodded furiously, and pointed at him. His expression suddenly became stricken at something the person on the other end was saying. "No! We're just -- we're not -- well of course I've talked about him, he's an old friend. Yes. Oh, wonderful!

I just like that I was able to imply that in his guise as Lilith Cambion, Crowley has been talking about Aziraphale a lot, enough so that Al Capone asked "oh, you mean your BOYFRIEND???" over the phone while Aziraphale was standing right there.

[darthnell]

11, 19, 28, 30, 42

Hi anon ! Ty for the ask ! :D

11. Link your three favorite fics right now.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[istherewifiinhell]

trying to find just a good combo of turtle clips to make myself cry cause ive got nothing else going on 2nite

[just words below im just thinking things. abt turtles.]

this technically in conversation with unfinished unposted larger thoughts but turtles reading but ack cest la vie. importance is the. getting those spicy brained readings and being confused when confronted with. lol. not those.

its like. mikey is always a fav cause hes been bringing a delightful, warm hearted gremlin energy to the ND coding since 87, at least.

raphie is always a fav cause. cause. [many scrunched up faces and tea kettle noises]. like okay hot head hot head blah blah blah. first thing hes stated to do in the very first issue in 1984? protecting someones flank. second (non kicking butt) thing is. likes being above ground so he can feel free. one of the 1st things in issue 2 is like. aw u know how he gets just wait till he wears himself out (sparing). name a character thats done more for understanding emotional expression not alway matching the root feeling.

donnie will be a fave cause like. lol. gov assigned turtle roll. and also mad science vibes. beating the stereotypes allegations by predating them and being written by ppl who wouldnt even know that was happening.

but leo. leo will be a fav cause if i dont other ppl willlll do it wrong. like hes not even one of my main guys why dont u understand him... its all love the trauma character love the miss communicators love the. forced family roll haver. until there actually gonna be a lil annoying abt it. lil controling? gonna say thing they think are ontologically true but are not in fact? huh. well anyway sometimes he will be written bad but thats not his fault. its fucking turtles man okay. sometimes it will stinky suck yucky disgusting. etc.

[therealbeachfox]

Wait, you were talking about "Gods of Astielle" being the next in line after "Rise of Empire", but I thought Queen of All Monsters came after Rise of Empire?? Does Stars Rising Infinite take place between those two, or what's going on? Who even designed this timeline in the first place?!

[[Character Breaking Information to Prevent Confusion: This whole thing is meta fan-fiction for @unpretty's Astielle series, which is written as if it's fan-fiction of a non-existent long-running video game series. This is my vision of what said game series might look at based on everything she's written so far. Legend of Starlight Hero XII: The Gods of Astielle is the name of the 'current game' Astielle is supposedly fanfiction of. This is written shortly before its release.]]

Well, no one. That's the problem. By the time anyone involved with the series realized it was going to last long enough for Lore to be a concern, they'd already played so fast and loose with the reincarnation cycles it was anyone's guess how they all related to each other. There are centuries long gaps between game-worthy incarnations, piles of side-games that constantly contradict each other, all those comics and novelizations, and so many Youtube videos trying to detangle the whole mess.

But you're in luck, Anon! With Gods of Astielle coming out, I've been mulling over this very question myself lately, and I am ready to present to you and the world the only 100% True and Canonical Legend of the Starlight Hero/Astielle timeline.

[[A screenshot of The Old Man of the Mountain sitting in his chair in front of a room full of herbs and bottles in all his 32-bit glory, but with a fox-head crudely pasted over his face]]

So come in from the cold, child, and buckle the fuck in. The Old Fox of the Mountain has some learning for you.

First, I'm laying down some ground rules so this project is halfway feasible.

I) I'm only covering video games. No novels/comics/web exclusives/terrible 1989 cartoons. I'm not getting caught in the "You forgot this obscure three issue manga from 1991 that said-" trap.

II) All numbered Legend of the Starlight Hero games have to be canonical. Yes, even Return to Monster Mountain. Yes, even Queen of All Monsters. Sorry.

III) All games involving time-travel (Tangled Skein of Destiny) or alternate time-lines (90% of the Untraveled Paths DLCs) or crossovers (Smash Brothers) are automatically out of the lineup. Yes, this means that I'm not covering some of the best games of the series, but to make up for it, the canon timeline includes the absolute worse ones.

IV) Any games which directly contradict world details or events laid out in the mainline games are out. So we wont be covering the Stardust Dungeons series or Fight of Goddesses/Final Flight or any of the PSP games. Again, not saying whether they're good (Fight of Goddesses) or bad (Stardust Dungeons), just whether they're part of the Main Canon timeline or not. "But if you assume that X is true, and Y was lying about Z, then technically~" This isn't Unraveled. If you want to imagine that there's a colony of sentient rootboars having magical adventures in their underground kingdom that no one else knows about somehow, that's all fine and good, but unless there's a sequence in Gods of Astielle where we meet them, I'm not counting it as canon.

Second:

My arrangement of the timeline may not be your arrangement of the timeline. The games I consider to be canon might not be the same ones you do. It's your right to disagree and it is my right to be correct.

Finally:

To try and make things clearer, all the Legend of the Starlight Hero games will be in bold, while all other games that are part of the main timeline like Monster Kingdom Builder will be in bold + italics.

Quick Lexicon (for the lil'ones):

Astielle: The World/Universe the LotSH games all take place in. Starlight Hero/LotSH/Astielle are used interchangably when talking about the series/franchise as a whole which doesn't get confusing at all, what are you talking about?

Dan (Thanks, Dan) Ryner: Head of Void Star Games studio and edge lord supreme. Banished to the wastes of Idaho for his many many sins

Fantastico: Plastic toy maker turned video-game maker turned console maker turned industry-cautionary-tale. Were responsible for the LotSH golden age of 1990-2000, and then also for whatever you want to call the 2001-2006 period.

Ito Makoto: The original creator of LotSH, and chief game designer until his death in 1998

Itokoto: Japanese game company that was the first publisher of LotSH and related games until it's bankrupcy in 1990

LotSH: Legend of the Starlight Hero. The main series of games for Astielle

Nichelle Augustin: Studio Head for White Spire Games. Also a former developer for Void Star Games who managed to grab the LotSH license and leap out of company headquarters right as the whole thing imploded in slow motion behind her.

Void Star Games: Owners of the Starlight Hero franchise from 2007-2015. Despite their best efforts, LotSH survived their stewardship.

White Spire Games: The current developers for LotSH since 2016.

Everything clear? Alright. Let's start at the beginning

=*=*=

Lute Bard Hero (2007) [Void Star Games] [Arcade/Wii/PS/Xbox]

[[A stylized Renfaire-esc bard playing a lute in a rockstar pose as magic explodes behind him. Jet Black from School of Rock has been crudely photoshopped over him]]

No, stop, don't click away! I swear I'm fucking serious! Let me explain.

It's 2006, era of Guitar Hero clones and endless Wii filler, and a spunky little studio named Void Star Games had just snagged up the rights to the Starlight Hero franchise in the aftermath of Fantastico's collapse. And while the studio heads plotted together in their dark crypts as to how best suck the joy and laughter and everything pure from the franchise, their shovelware department was put to work creating some quick and easy cash grabs to provide the funding.

One of these projects started as a generic Guitar Hero knockoff "with a twist". The twist being, you were a generic fantasy-world bard doing heavy metal rock if lutes were able to play heavy metal rock. Then the programmers realized that, hey, their company owned this great pre-existing fantasy world franchise that came with all sorts of pre-developed assets and started mining the entire Starlight Hero franchise for... easter eggs? Homages? Fanboying?

Regardless, what you wound up with was a too-short rock-opera where your first-person bardic protagonist traveled the countryside of 'Almost, but not quite Astielle', playing giant fantasy kingdom stadiums and rocking with Void-Magic Heavy Metal Rock, and occasionally defeating armies with wicked lute solos. If it had more than eight stages, or if they'd been able to hire someone halfway competent to write the music, it would've been awesome.

So why does this count as the first Astielle game and not just an easter-egg filled one-off? Well, the head developer of Lute Bard Hero was a bright young lady named Nichelle Augustin, and there was this other game she'd be head producer of a decade later...

=*=*=

Legend of the Starlight Hero XI - Stars Rising Infinite (2018) [White Spire Games] [XBox/PS/PC]

[[The boxart of Stars Rising Infinite featuring the Heavenly Trio in action poses.

Jet Black from School of Rock's head has once again been pasted over Vaelon's.

Brienne of Tarth's face has been pasted over Lynette’s.

Karzarul's head has been replaced with Baby Yoda's]]

*wicked heavy metal lute solo*

Go back and look at that lute in the screen shots above. Now look down at Vaelon's lute. Now look at the hands. Now compare the Aekhite Empire architecture with the architecture of the final concert arena. Now look at how Vaelon's primary mechanic is Void Magic powered by Heavy Metal Lute Solos.

[[Two screenshots side by side of first-person perspective from The Lute Bard and Vaelon with redlines connecting all the similarities. A piece of the background from Stars Rising Infinite that crudely approximates a triangle has also been outlined in red with a heavily pixilated illuminati pyramid next to it]]

Lute Bard Hero is Vaelon's prelude story. After that final blowout concert, he wound up chilling with the imperial family, hit it off with the eldest daughter, and wound up helping her run off on her quest to find fairies willing to hook her up with Goddess Smiting powers to kill her brother with.

The rest is history.

So. This game.

It really, really shouldn't have worked.

I have publicly made penance for all the unkind things I said about the concept when the first teasers dropped. I've left them up as proof that even the best of us can be young and stupid at times. But come on, it was an origin prequel that no-one asked for that retconned some of the basic foundations of the entire series and they blew a significant portion of the budget on getting Jet Black to voice one of the Celestial Trio!

It really, really shouldn't have worked as well as it did!

Obviously, this is the first main game of the series chronologically, no question of that. The Celestial Weapons don't even exist until halfway through the main campaign! So, a Shitass Long Time Ago, in a land that's the exact same land we've always been on, the Aekhite Empire is still in one piece and the eldest daughter of the dead emperor thinks her older brother sucks at the job and comes to the conclusion that the most logical and straightforward solution is to wrangle a Void Witch to her cause, track down the king of fairies, get him to help her acquire the divine blessing (and arsenal) or her patron goddess, then use those to depose her brother all while an epic-rock soundtrack plays in the background.

I love you, Lynette, but did you ever consider just hitting him with a brick?

Along the way, the Void Witch flirts with a reflection of moonlight so hard it manifests a Sphinx Cat fursona to flirt back with, everyone winds up getting Patron Goddess Blessings, and the most dysfunctional love/hate triangle in history proceeds to conquer the world before crashing and burning so hard it sets off the Unending Murdercycle that's shaped Astiellian history ever since.

Vaelon almost muscles Jonys out of the position of Best Starlight Hero.

Karzarul completes his journey from "What If Bowser was a Sexy Were-demon" to "What If A-Precious-Cinnamon-Roll-Who-Just-Needs-a-Hug was a Sexy Were-demon".

Lynette is the Queen Empress of Hot Messes, the answer to the eternal question 'Why are the Heirs Like That?' as well as the archetype of Video Game Playable Antihero that all future game-writers should learn from. She is beauty, she is grace, she will stab you in the face.

I have so much more to say about this game. And I have. Repeatedly. Check the sidebar. Or my YouTube channel. Or get cornered by me at Furcon.

[[Screenshot from the Winding Paths of Destiny DLC of the popular "Mothman" alternate monster form saving Vaelon, Lynette, and Lynette's horse during the canyon collapse scene]]

The DLC for this game is god-tier, but explicitly non-canonical, so I'll pass it by other than saying I hope the 'Venturing Off the Path of Destiny' mechanic becomes a series standard. I don't know how they'd manage the "Frantic Quicktime Button Mashing Choices that Result in new Monster Forms" mechanic from the alternate timelines, but the Gods of Astielle devs have made noises that something from that will be showing up. I'm hoping for Mothman. Everyone's hoping for Mothman. Long live Mothman, King of all Mothmans.

=*=*=

Stars Rising: Astiellian Warriors (2019) (White Spire Games) [XBox One, PS4]

[[A screenshot of the stampede scene from Lion King with Tauril heads pasted on all the wildebests and Lynette's face pasted over Simba]]

This is such a stupid game. I love it so much. It's a blatant Dynasty Warriors knockoff, it's got a multiverse/timestorm framing plot, the fucking Universal Dragon plays a major role, and the voice acting is for shit. But you can also plow through 1,000 soldiers as a Tauril before kicking their commander in the face so hard he flies halfway across the map and ragdolls Lynette right off her horse. Glorious.

Even within the story, 80% of it is explicitly non-canonical, what with the branching timelines and multiverse shenanigans, but The Untrammeled Path of Destiny is straight up how Astiellian history actually went. The fact it explains the details of the Aekhite Empire's expansion and Lynette's and Karzarul's shadow war way better than Stars Rising did is just a surprise welcome bonus.

=*=*=

Aekhite Empire: Eternal Zenith (2019) (White Spire Games) [PC/Mac]

[[An old Evony ad. The standard big boobed princess has been replaced with a seductive Abyssscale, and Aekhite Empire is pasted over "Evony". The 'Please Save Us, My Lord' text remains unaltered]]

I don't play much 4X games beyond Civ, so I can't speak to how balanced or polished or original the gameplay of EZ is, but any game that gives you combat bonuses for sexing the opposing general so hard their stats fall off, or reserves an entire gameplay loop to sending your boy toy out to open in-universe quick-travel points is alright by me. There's a lot of world-building and random details they put in this one that don't contradict anything from the core games, and I hope it continues to stay that way because I love every bit of it. It paints such a deliciously fucked up view of of pre-collapse Aekhite Empire and I love the additional look into Lynette's head via all the Event Decisions that come up during your 'Conquest for their own Good' of the world. The 'Political Maneuvering' minigame might've gotten cut from Stars Rising, but this is a very suitable replacement.

=*=*=

Monster Kingdom Builder (1997) [Fantacon/PlayStation/N64/PC/Gameboy/Game Gear] [Fantastico]

[[The American box art of Monster Kingdom Builder. If there's been any memes photoshopped in, they're too subtle to notice.]]

No, this is completely canonical! Look at the state of the Moonrise Kingdom at the end of Stars Rising Infinite. Now look at how the Moonrise Kingdom looks the next time we see it in (spoilers) Legend of the Starlight Hero I. Going from wooden "Ewok meets Art Deco" stylings to Silver-veined Marble columns and big crystal stain-glass windows?

Sounds like someone took Lynette's whole "Savage Kingdom of Sticks and Stones" speech a little personally and spent the next few decades playing an adorable city builder with perky chiptunes and chibi-Turial loading icons in order to spruce the place up for when she got back. "See, Lynette?", he'd ask, "I spent forty hours arranging all the construction bridges just right so I could get marble from the furthest quarry to the palace without loosing a single Rex to a canyon crossing! And the pathway spells out 'Please love me, Lynette" in Old Astian!'"

Pity Needle was too much of an asshole to notice all the hard work Karzarul had put in to spruce the place up for them. But what else can you expect from the guy?

=*=*=

Black Drakonis I-IV (1984-1990) [Nintendo/Atari/Sega Master/Fantacon/Others] [Itokoto]

[[Super Mario Brothers screenshot with The Hero pasted over Mario. Toad's text has been altered to "Thank you HERO! But our BLACK DRAKONIS HAS TAKEN another castle!]]

The third pillar of the the Metrokonisvania genre. Also known as Lair of the Ebon Dragon, Lair of the Black Drakon, or Drakonis' Castle depending on who was in charge of translating for each system. It wasn't until Black Drakonis II made enough American sales that Itokoto cared enough to ensure there was a single title across all systems. The Black Drakonis games have continued after the fourth, but the rights were bought by a different company, and the cross-continuity that'd developed between it and Astielle was (mostly) broken off. White Drakonis remains ones of Karzarul's iconic forms, and Black Drakonis was a surprise major character in Stars Rising Infinite, not only giving us some truly amazing/hilarious moments, but tying the original four BD games in even tighter with the Astiellian timeline.

The Black Drakonis games are relatively straightforward (storywise). A giant not!Dragon has taken over a local castle, and whatever poor sap who appears on the cover has been recruited to go deal with that... somehow. It was noteworthy at the time for having Black Drakonis be a force of nature to drive off as opposed to a Final Boss to deplete the health bar of. This was the series that got Itokoto known in the west, and paved the way for Legend of the Starlight Hero to perform as well as it did.

When White Drakonis appeared as Karzarul's final form in LotSH III, it was mostly an issue of reusing existing assets as part of the legendarily rushed and penny-pinching creation process. But Ito Makoto ran with it, bringing Black Drakonis herself into LotSH IV and officially tying the series together. And while everything from Black Drakonis V and onward is in its own unconnected universe, the first four slot in neatly in the early days of the Reincarnation Cycle as Black Drakonis continuously seeks out and claims poorly guarded (by her standards) castles/spires/megadungeons to guard until such time as some unnamed protagonist arrives to drive her back off.

=*=*=

Legend of the Starlight Hero III - Return to Monster Mountain (1987) [Nintendo/Sega Master/Fantacon] [Itokoto]

[[Box art of LotSH III with giant OSHA Violation tape draped over everything]]

This is what happens when you push for a sequel to come out eight months after the previous game, people. So, Black Drakonis II hit America in 1986 and was a huge hit out of nowhere. Then when LotSH II dropped six months later, it became one of the holiday season's biggest sellers. Itokoto management saw the sales figures and sent the orders down that they needed the next LotSH game ready for Christmas 1987 Or. Else.

They sent this order down in April, 1987. Some things in game development never change.

Under an unexpected time crunch, the team got "creative". A half-completed side-scroller with the working titles Crystal Warriors of the Underground got a bunch of Starlight Hero sprites thrown in, the backgrounds turned from weird magitech caverns into Monster Mountain, combat was changed from the time honored 'Jump on their heads' to 'hit it with a sword', and someone took Black Drakonis, painted her white, and dropped that sprite set in as Karzarul's final form.

Not that anyone got to see it.

This game was brooo~oooken. This wasn't broken as in the Nintendo Hard style of the first two games. At least with those, it's possible to get all the timing right to actually beat Karzarul into a puddle. With Return to Monster Mountain, however, it's impossible to even get to the final stage. Level 8 sees Starlight Hero having to navigate increasingly narrow platforms over the standard bottomless pits, all the while getting arrows shot at him by an offscreen Karzarul which push you back whenever you get hit. People have had AIs run this level. There is no pattern of movement that can take you successfully through the level. The Itokoto playtesters never had a chance to give the game a proper go-over before its release, and it never got taken care of. "Fortunately", most players just assumed they weren't good enough to get past it, assuming they even got that far in the first place.

Still, it's canonical that at some point before Needle, some poor-assed sap went to retrieve his birthright weapon and got shot off a cliff by Karzarul, who was probably feeling pretty damned crabby about all these Not Vaelons that kept coming around for the sword by this point.

RIP nameless Starlight Hero. Watch the first step. It's a doozy.

All this and we're not at Needle yet? Stars above! Let's continue this conversation another day, child. Next time: We -finally- get to Needle. And hopefully the other Needle. Maybe even Jonys! Hoboy, Jonys.

[mostlymaudlin]

self-recs 💫

prompt was: post your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. thank you @urban-sith @nightimedreamersworld @you-remind-me-of-the-babe for tagging me! i feel like im late so idk who has done this already but i tag @starwarned @seducing-a-vampire @otherpeoplesheartachept-2 @prettylightsbigcity @sillyunicorn

i'm only gonna do snowbaz, and also these are just in order of how recent they are bc i dont know how to rank them lol

1. Something's Gotta Give Now (T), 7k

this is my most recent snowbaz fic and i really really liked writing it. it's an au, and i don't really want to give too much away because part of what i like about this fic is the way the backstory unravels. but the gist is: baz plays a sexy, angsty vampire on a popular tv show, and simon is very bitter and very funny about it.

i did this after not writing snowbaz for a while, so i feel like i was able to return to the characters with fresh eyes and some broken bad habits. the third person is nice too -- i definitely write more cleanly in third. it's definitely not crack (which was my original intention lmfao, it's technically my crackfest entry), but im not really mad about it. i gave up on my ability to not to take it seriously about 500 words in. also, there's a second chapter that it just unhinged shit lmfao.

2. The Places We Build (T), 4k

this fic plays with the idea of: what if simon and baz decided in their first year at watford that they didn't want to hate each other? what if everything was the same, except nothing was the same, because they were friends? i like it because i feel like it has a strong heartbeat. i love to see how much of a world i can create in the least amount of words, and there's a looooot of history packed into these 4k words. very tender. very cuddly :)

3. love means slowly using losing your mind (E), 8k

this one was so fun to write. another au -- baz is a wedding planner, simon is penny/sheps best man (yes, both of them). it's loosely based on THAT scene from the movie 27 Dresses (iykyk) but it stands on its own. i like how i leaned into the setting here -- it feels like a very accessible world to me, like you could close your eyes and see the pub. and also i really just like to put my blorbos in a situation where they get drunk and have fun hahaha. as always, shit gets kind of real and snowbaz are their usual intense selves. also there's awkward car sex, which was hilarious to write.

4. Jump Up, Chosen One! (T), 8k

dude. what the FUCK was i on here..... this is perhaps the most plot-driven thing i've ever written, while also being one of the WEIRDEST things ive ever written. the premise is: simon goes off, trapping him, niall, dev, and baz in a Super Mario Bros game. and like. it's silly, yeah. but when i read back through im always like -- oh, ok, there's a lot of heart in this! good job rory! more reasons to love: lots of fun niall & dev screen time, simon solving problems thru the power of Being Determined, a tender moment that i interrupt several times by reminding you that simon and baz do indeed look like mario characters, penny solving problems thru the power of Being Clever, and a surprise tonal shift at the end lmfao. idk man. there's a lot going on here and i think it's p sweet.

5. In black ink my love may still shine bright (M), 5k

even though i hate that i used a fuckin long ass shakespeare quote as a title (lmao. like it fits and i love that sonnet but still. tacky !), this fic is great. @starwarned and i talk a lot about the power of The Slutty M-Rated Fic, and this is my best work in that regard. post-awtwb, date night -- they get ice cream and go to a bar and... shenanigans ensue. it's sweet and happy and nothing bad happens. NICE. the e-rated sequel is the first smut i ever wrote. i was so nervous about it. look at me now.... our resident blood slut LMAO.

honorable mentions, because im a dirty cheater. these probably belong in top 5 but ive been talking about them already recently so i didnt want to be repetitive.

closer to the sun (E), 6k: simpard taken seriously. investigations and road trips and finding purpose and... dragon-fucking.

Nothing Equals The Splendor (T), 52k: my longest fic! gbbo au. a labor of love.

[niqhtlord01]

Humans are Weird:   The Hand of Andromeda Ch. 1

( Please come see me on my new patreon and support me for early access to stories and personal story requests :D https://www.patreon.com/NiqhtLord Every bit helps) (New chapters will be posted first to patreon and then moved here) Hanging above the front of the classroom loomed an archaic clock; its arms slowly moving with the passing of each second. To Lizzy Stalwart who was the only student left in the classroom the clock appeared more like a prison warden, watching over her until her hour was due.

Mr. Parkins, her teacher, sat behind his desk just under the clock. He appeared to the casual observer to be going over today’s submitted papers and grading them, but Lizzy could tell from his constant sidelong glances that he was more interested in his data pad he had tucked away in a side drawer. No doubt it was playing the live feed for the Rebound Prix game going on today. He would occasionally look up to watch Lizzy with suspicious eyes before looking away again as if uninterested.

Lizzy had never liked Mr. Parkins as a teacher. He always felt the need to show off his intelligence, always needing to make people feel inferior to him, and always gloating about his past achievements. Frankly she thought that he was having a midlife crisis and this was his coping mechanism, but with each passing day it just became sadder and sadder to watch.

Before Lizzy could further ponder the sad existence of her teacher a series of knocks came from the classroom door. Mr. Parkins looked up from data pad and closed the drawer it was in. He straightened himself out and said “Come in.”

The door to the classroom slowly opened and a towering figure entered the room. They needed to stoop slightly to enter as their muscular build could barely squeeze through the door frame. At first Parkins thought that the figure was just a rather muscular human until the figure fully emerged into the room.

“Thank you for coming on such short-“Mr. Parkins began as he stood and held a hand out then stopped himself. He took a good look at the figure now that he was outside of the doorway and saying he was surprised would be an understatement.

The figure was none other than a Predatorian, standing easily six or seven feet tall and dressed in a coal black suit and matching pants of no doubt expensive material. Orange and black slit eyes looked down at Parkins before looking passed him to Lizzy. As they saw her the Predatorian’s mouth twitched for a moment and Parkins could see a gleaming row of razor teeth behind the smooth blue and white scaly skin.

Turning their gaze back to Mr. Parkins with his hand still held out but unable to move, the Predatorian clasped it with his own hand and shook it.

“It’s no trouble at all.” The Predatorian said. The fluency of his speech was almost as unnerving to Parkins as the sand paper like texture of their skin.

“You-you-you are…” Parkins trebled on as his body switched to auto pilot and continued shaking the alien’s hand. “You are Ms. Starlwart’s guardian?”

“I am.” The Predatorian let go of Mr. Parkins hand who was still dumbly shaking it. “You can call me Mr. B; I spoke with you earlier on the phone.”

“Why yes we did, but I was just thinking you would be-.”

“Human?”

Mr B. grinned, showing off even more teeth as he waved his hand as if dismissing Parkins concerns. “That’s alright; I get that a lot with humans.”

Lizzy watched as her father motioned for Parkins to sit back down which he gladly did. She could tell Mr. Parkins was regaining a bit of his composure returning as he sat behind his desk now that it separated the two of them.

“I was a bit confused why I am here however.” Mr B. continued. “You weren’t specific with what my little girl was in trouble for and I would like to clear up that confusion now.”

“Today was the final exam for the class before the summer break.”

At this Parkins pulled open a drawer from behind his desk and withdrew a single paper sheet from it. He placed it on his desk so Mr. B could fully see it.

“Your daughter was upset with how her grade came out and began arguing with me about changing it. I felt this was most disrespectful and thought her parents should be made aware.”

“That’s because you docked me points for not using a calculator!” Lizzy stood up suddenly and nearly knocked over her chair. “I told you I didn’t need one but you still told me I needed to use it!”

“It’s alright sweetie,” Mr. B said in a soothing tone Mr. Parkins found completely at odds with his appearance, “I’ll take care of this.”

Lizzy pouted but sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. She couldn’t even look at Mr. Parkins without becoming upset at this point.

Smirking Parkins turned from Lizzy back to Mr. B. “You see? Your daughter is smart but her manners can be lacking at times.”

Mr. B was ignoring Parkins and picked up Lizzy’s exam. He slowly went over reading every line before looking back at Parkins.

“Were her answers wrong?”

Mr. Parkins looked confused for a moment but rallied.

“She was docked points by not following the rules.”

“But were her answers right?”

Mr. B walked towards the desk and now loomed over Parkins. He set the paper back down on the desk and tapped it with his talon like finger. He locked eyes with Parkins and continued tapping the paper.

“I’m asking if these answers she gave are right or not.”

“Technically,” Parkins began, swallowing deeply as the locked eye contact whittled away his composure again, “they were correct.”

“Then it makes no sense why you took away points.” Mr. B stood back up to his full height. “She did the work and gave the correct responses.”

“But she didn’t follow the rules I laid out for the exam.” Parkins countered. “Not following the rules will not get you anywhere in the real world Mr. Stalwart.”

“And what would you know of the real world?”

Parkins looked up and saw nothing but pure anger written across Mr. B’s face. The corner of his mouth was twitching once more revealing the sharpened white teeth. His eyes narrowed and his stare turned hard.

“You, who spend every day inside this tiny safe box”

Parkins retreated deeper into his chair as Mr. B grasped the table and leaned forward.

“You sit here behind your tiny desk in your tiny world and think that you know how the “real” world works, do you?”

Mr. B was now leaning over Parkins, his shadow swallowing him up. Parkins clasped his hands together to stop them from shaking as gut wrenching fear crept up his spine like a cold shower. He looked into Mr. B’s eyes for a moment and saw nothing but a barely contained rage, held in check by the thinnest of lines. Parkins’s stare broke away for a moment and looked over at Lizzy only to see she was still sitting at her desk but had covered her face in her arms as if embarrassed.

Mr. B pushed forward Lizzy’s papers. “You will give her the credit she is do or else.”

“O-o-o-or else what?” Parkins stammered, to which Mr. B smiled. Not a friendly smile, but one of pure devilish delight. The kind of smile Parkins had seen on holo dramas from villains just as they were about to commit evil.

“Or else I will have the school board have you removed from your position.”

As Parkins looked at Mr. B’s calm demeanor he could tell this was no idle threat, but more a assured promise.

“Oh,” Mr. B continued as he casually picked some lint off his suit and flicked it away, “I’ll also have you black listed from every school on the planet.”

“But you can’t do that!” Parkins was on his feet so suddenly that he knocked his desk with his knees and sent the contents atop it scattering to the floor.

Mr. B casually shrugged and took on a more relaxed posture. “I can, because unlike you I know how the real world works.” He calmly bent down and picked up Lizzy’s paper and put it on the desk again.

Parkins looked back and forth between Lizzy and Mr. B like a deer trapped in headlights before slumping back into his chair.

“I will correct the mistake.” Parkins said reluctantly.

“Good man.” Mr. B adjusted his suit and motioned to Lizzy. She sighed loudly and rose to her feet, hefting her backpack and heading towards the door. “I knew we would come to an understanding.”

“Your daughter will have no trouble passing my class from now on.” Parkins continued, any shred of dignity lost from the encounter. Surprisingly Mr. B shook his head.

“I don’t want her getting a free pass.” He fixed Parkins with a stern stare again which made him further retreat into his chair. “All I want is for her to be treated fairly.”

Parkins couldn’t say anything and just nodded his head as the two of them left the classroom.

The car ride home from school was uncomfortably quiet for Lizzy. She sat in the back with Mr. B while their driver carefully navigated the busy streets of downtown Gilfield. The buildings flew by like blurry images as the car drove the two of them back home. The car itself was a stretched model with the back lavishly decorated with emerald silk and several bottles of Juvian IV water or exotic liquors.

Every block or so Lizzy would glance over at Mr. B expecting him to say something to her, but every time she saw him casually reading some papers and making notes or dabbing his slowly dying cigar into the ash tray. This went on for about ten minutes before she couldn’t bare the silence anymore.

“Look, I’m sorry.” Lizzy said as she crossed her arms and sat back into her seat. Mr. B set down the papers he was reading and turned to her.

“I’m not upset with you,” he began as he twisted the final embers of his cigar out and closed the tray, “but you know better than to poke the bear.”

“But Mr. Parkins-“Lizzy began but Mr. B held up a hand to stall her.

“I stood up for you because your teacher was being an asshole and needed to be taken down a peg; but that doesn’t mean his point wasn’t valid.” He pulled out a bottle of red velvet like liquid and poured a glass for himself, careful not to spill a drop as the car continued down the road. As the liquid touched his lips his pupils dilated and a shudder ran down the length of his body. “In his classroom he’s the boss, and when you’re the boss everyone under you must do what you say.”

“Until you find a way to do it better.” Lizzy quipped back making Mr. B smile.

“I’m glad to see some of my lessons are sticking with you.”

Lizzy smiled back as she pulled out a napkin and threw it at him. “Were as the ones I teach you fall on deaf ears.” He looked confused for a moment until she motioned down with her head and he saw several drops had spilled on his suit.

“Son-of-a-bi-“he began before the driver cut him off.

“We’ve arrived sir, madam.”

“Thanks Hendriks.” Lizzy was already out the door as she called back to the driver and stepped out on to the street. It was nearly dusk and the city lights were beginning to turn on one by one turning a dull city into a light show of neon and glare. A line was beginning to form around the block as Lizzy walked passed them to the front and waved to the bouncer at the door. To the crowds surprise the bouncer let the kid cut the line and enter the night club “Blitz”.

As she made her way through the club she smiled and greeted the staff still prepping the place for opening. Several of the dancers on stage saw her and called out which she waved back but continued her way upstairs and into the back rooms meant only for staff.

She came to a thick metal door strong enough to take an anti-grav tank rocket and not be dented and stopped. Pulling her backpack off she shuffled around inside until she found he id card and swiped it. The door beeped and lit up green for a moment before slowly rumbling open letting Lizzy continue on.

Unlike the front of the club the back room was an entirely different beast altogether. In place of bar benches and rows of liquor, stood weapon racks and crates larger than her entire body. The scantily clad dancers were replaced with thick muscled guards checking weapons before loading them into storage containers. Even the air itself that had smelled of cologne and perfume was replaced with the stench of weapon oils and hydraulic fluid.

She wondered why her dad had wanted to keep both of the businesses he ran under the same roof but when she thought about it the whole thing was so cliché that no one would believe it anyway. Who would think the largest mercenary company in the Sleisian Belt would be being run out of the back of a seedy nightclub?

She had just made it to her room when an aid approached her. Without a word said they handed her a data pad which she took without looking at it as she opened her room’s door.

“I’ll have it finished and organized in an hour.” She said to them. They nodded and scampered off back down the hallway to the arming room as the door closed behind her.

Her room was modest by comparison to the military quarters outside. Pictures of singers were on the walls and the ceiling was covered with star charts that shifted as the projector updated them every passing minute.

She threw off her backpack and plopped herself down on to the nearby bed. She’d hoped laying there for a few minutes would relax her after the mind numbing ordeal Parkins had put her through but the more she thought about it the more frustrated she became.

Sitting up she shuffled over to her desk and picked up the data pad she had been given earlier.

“Computer, play track seven.” She said as she sat down and began going over the day’s expense report for the company. Just looking over the initial figures she had a feeling it was going to be a long night.

[t4tcecilos]

omg tell me abt josh crayton .....

hiiii omg twirls my hair <3 its essay time <3 @itawalrus also asked ^w^ tagging bc. i can.

okay im super attached to him as a character first off. hes just. hes SO night vale.

like!! to me. he really represents one of the core aspects of wtnv, which is showing humans being humans, and overall humanity being humanity. hes a shapeshifter!!! and yet!!! hes still so HUMAN and REAL!!

hes described as "a boy of many forms but only one self.” which first of all. cool as hell. second. hes genderqueer to me. tbh.

he got stuck. as a waterfall. for A While. because he was anxious!! which yeah ive never done that personally BUT I GET IT!!!

theres one moment in it devours! that ive been thinking about which when nils is questioning him about one of the pits that appeared, and he says: “I wish I could help you more. You seem like a nice lady with good intentions. But I don't want to get in any trouble. And I'm just a kid. I like to think I'm more than that, but sometimes I'm just a kid. I'm sorry.”

hes a highschooler at that point in the story and it just. hits so much. hes just a kid!!! hes a shapeshifter yeah, and he likes to think hes more than just a teenager but at his core hes still a kid. which. IDK i related to that lol

i just think its so interesting how this background character who’s not technically human is written to be so realistic and real. he’s literally a highschooler hes my friend josh!!!!! he’s insecure and he pretends he isn’t!!!!! hes struggled throughout his life in many ways (not just bc hes a shapeshifter)

he loves his mom and he loves his sister even if he struggles w that sometimes!!! he likes multiple genders!!!! people understand him and his emotions even when hes a creature/idea/thing that cant show them!!! he loves being cute animals….

im a sucker for inhuman characters being some of the most human characters <333 ilove josh crayton hes my best friend

[favoringeyes]

lena lena!! wigglesd.. give us more thoughts abt kagepro novels!! also :D how do u rec getting into kagepro like what medium shd a new fan try first!!!

LAB hi hi wiggles so fast. i'll answer ur second question first since the answer for the first question might get long lol.. i think a new fan should probably start with the songs since theyre easiest to consume!!! the technical order is manga -> songs -> novels -> anime. but switching manga and songs wouldnt change too much. plus i think the songs r where jin's writing and portrayal of the core themes of kagepro really shines!! but its up to yew. as for the novels godddd theres so much to say. jin kind of sucks at writing in general, especially if u attempt to read the novels first with little knowledge of the series. it can get confusing knowing who's pov ur at and even i had to reread multiple times just to figure out who's talking. the first two novels, in my opinion, r probably the worst. which makes me sad bc thts where momo gets most of her pov. but ig to give jin credit he had never written anything b4 so im guessing he had a pretty hard time. what i hate abt the 2nd novel especially is the weird harem thing jin starts at shintaro's pov? there really wasnt a need for tht even for comedy purposes or whatever. the 3rd novel and beyond, honestly r really good for me. the writing from an unbiased perspective is probably subpar but i see it as good and even great sometimes. the way jin manages to connect every character not only literally but also in the sense of values is really fascinating to me. ive noticed he may use a lot of parallels in his writing which makes me a bit crazy. i think in the novels, jin probably gets his point across the best, which i think in novel 7 he mentions tht thts what he wanted most out of the series. it just is really refreshing to see a deep dive into each character's mind and truly understand why they r at the place they r at since tht can be hard in kagepro's other mediums. but yeah. i think the novels after 3 beautifully illustrate what it means to heal through others, and be able to move on. thts simplifying it immensely but i havent read 8 yet which is the last one so idk how it wraps up which is important

[princediavolos]

every clue in endless summer, explained

technically the title is kinda misleading because some clues simply have no explanation, they just are. still, there’s a lot of pieces to be put together over the three books, and there are clues found in the first book that aren’t explained till the last one. (if you’re confused about the clues, here’s the fandom wiki for book 1, book 2 & book 3.)

before i dive in, here’s some clarifications:

i’ve used mc’s default name, taylor, and neutral pronouns wherever i’ve referred to them. the endless is also referred to by neutral pronouns.

acts 1, 2 & 3 fall under book 1

acts 4, 5 & 6 fall under book 2

acts 7 & 8 fall under book 3

each act has one bonus scene, so if i’m referring to bonus scene 5, it implies to the scene shown after act 5.

ok so unnecessarily long exposition under the cut!

ACT 1

i. tranquilizer dart: found by taylor and diego upon landing on the airstrip. presumably used on the sabretooth, t'kal, to keep it docile. likely done by rourke or his henchmen, but it is also highly possible the endless tranquilized t'kal in order to keep it from killing everyone.

ii. strange creature: a colourful flying seahorse, found by quinn and taylor along the beach in a premium scene. as shown in bonus scene 1, rourke knows of the creature, as he examines it with interest through his binoculars.

iii. weird lights: lights resembling the auroras displayed at the control tower, found by taylor and jake. it is later explained in book 2 chapter 10 by grace, that the lights are caused by the doppler effect, due to the dilation and contraction of time around la huerta. the vaanti call it the lights of vaanu, said to bring them good luck.

iv. vintage wine: if taylor goes to the ballroom with zahra, quinn notes that every bottle in the room predates 1924. as revealed in book 3 chapter 7, the wedding in the ballroom was that of flora and arthur, and group arrived there due to the time anomalies of the island.

v. sharp tooth: found by grace by the pool, near the fence. according to her, the bars were all twisted. presumably belongs to t'kal the sabretooth.

vi. old note: a note found by taylor and diego in one of the upgraded honeymoon/rainforest suites. it was written by flora sullivan to eugene rosencraft, before her wedding to arthur barnaby. it also references neptune cove, where the second half of the island's heart is found in book 3.

vii. pirate coin/wolf symbol: can be obtained either by going to the waterfall with quinn, or by hiking the cliff with jake. the doubloon is probably a remnant of malatesta and yvonne's loot, while the wolf symbol could have been left behind by the endless. the symbol also matches the stamp on jake's dossier.

viii. shoe prints: a set of muddy shoeprints were found by the celestial's shelter. no solid explanation or implication towards who these belong to.

ix. gas mask: found by taylor underwater in the cavern. it looks very old, and as noted by diego, probably from the world war times. it would have probably belonged to kele, a world war ii soldier who paddled his way into la huerta while escaping from the germans.

x. padlock: the unbroken padlock to the burning hangar, which implies that the hangar was unlocked and jake's plane sabotaged. in one of the memories taylor receives from the endless, lila is shown to deliberately sabotage the plane in order to keep everyone on the island, implying she may have done it in this timeline, too.

ACT 2

i. cufflink: lila is discovered pocketing the cufflink in rourke's office, which she probably did to discover his whereabouts later on. in bonus scene 2, rourke is shown to remove all his clothing, including his cufflinks, before he steps into the containment pod. the cufflink can also be used in book 1 chapter 10, where rourke's dna on it reveals a footage video of him complaining about strange occurrences on the island.

ii. dossiers: files containing data on sean, grace, raj and estela are found in the paper shredder, intact. each of them is stamped with symbols of the constellations aquila, cygnus, centaurus and draco respectively. the symbols are left behind by the endless.

iii. whiskey notes: a note discarded by rourke in the vip lounge, referencing the satellite uplink at the la huerta observatory. this is also shown in bonus scene 2.

iv. frying pan: a frying pan embossed with the centaurus symbol on it, which raj says he feels very drawn to. this was also left behind by the endless. he also uses this pan to deflect a sedative dart aimed at taylor in book 1 chapter 16.

v. arrowhead: an amber arrowhead is found lodged inside the king crab's shell, as found by taylor and estela. as the vaanti have been shown to use amber weaponry (as well as in other ways, such as the catalyst idols), it is implied that one of them may have attacked the guardian with an arrow.

vi. dossiers: files containing data on jake, zahra and diego found in the room inside the observatory. they are stamped with the symbols of the constellations lupus, corvus and canis. symbols left behind by the endless.

vii. strange gun: a futuristic gun found by either estela or jake. in book 1 chapter 16, it is revealed to be a tachyon accelerator, used to move objects forward in time. in bonus scene 5, lila refers to the gun as a temporal perforator.

viii. star map: a holographic display of constellations, as seen by taylor and sean as they go up the pod. sean points out that the stars in the sky over la huerta don't have the usual constellations, and that the stars have not looked like this for a million years. this is confirmed in the book 1 epilogue, when aleister notes that atropo's eruption has caused la huerta to go back to the hadean eon.

ACT 3

i. dossiers: files containing data on quinn, michelle and craig found by taylor and diego by the marina. they are stamped with the symbols of the constellations delphinus, pavo and ursa. symbols left behind by the endless.

ii. rourke's ship: if taylor and lila venture into a familiar-looking boat, they will discover it is rourke's ship, the daedalus. he was seen on the ship in bonus scene 1, and he presumably destroyed it along with the other boats on the marina immediately afterwards.

iii. plastic explosive: the semtex explosive is found by taylor in the back of the boat. it's what was used to blow up the other ships in the marina, but this one malfunctioned.

iv. strange shell: a blue-purple coloured shell that repeats the speaker's words over and over. in one of the memories taylor receives from the endless, varyyn is seen tearfully listening to the shell echoing diego's voice, saying 'i'll always love you, varyyn' over and over again as it gradually fades away.

v. telepathic vision: varyyn telepathically communicates with taylor, showing them what would happen if the catalysts didn't go with the vaanti. it is later revealed to be a depiction of atropo erupting, setting the whole world on fire and destroying it.

vi. numbers: in the wine cellar, 1908 refers to a lever to the underground tunnel, disguised as a vintage wine bottle, as well as the cheat code to rourke's arcade game, most wanted 2. rourke also uses an override program on iris called the directive 1908, explained in book 3 chapter 9, which makes iris prioritise the goal she was created for -- to utilise imogen rourke's knowledge on cloning to provide an heir to rourke. another program, directive 8091, forces estela into the omega mech cockpit in book 3 chapter 10, as she is rourke's 'true' heir.

vii. dossiers: files on taylor and aleister are found inside the security centre, both stamped by the endless with symbols of constellations andromeda and serpens. aleister's dossier is newer, printed recently by iris upon discovering that he was aboard the plane to la huerta.

viii. healing plant: leaves of the plant, when wrapped around aleister's bleeding palm, heal it with unnatural speed without a trace. grace and aleister theorize this may be due to some cellular reconstructive properties the leaves may contain.

ix. necklace: worn by varyyn in book 1, the necklace is seen to have time travelling properties, as it brings back jake/estela/sean/quinn/diego back from the dead. it is unknown if the endless facilitated its use or it is associated with rourke.

x. pirate cutlass: the cutlass was forged by malatesta and was stolen from him by admiral higgenbotham, who was presumably killed alongside malatesta's crew in the flashback taylor experiences, by the vaanti. yvonne then stole the cutlass from higgenbotham's corpse, naming it chouchou. it is unclear as to how the cutlass ended up on a display case at the celestial.

ACT 4

i. hydra caduceus: a staff found in rourke's library, which when placed in the statue's hand in the atrium, turns it into a sundial. iris says that the caduceus is the only item in the library she cannot find the origin of.

ii. crimson glove: a futuristic, yet battered metal glove put on display in rourke's underground museum; taylor realises that the person's arm was probably cut off. the glove belongs to the endless, who tells taylor that they learnt very soon that 'the laws of time can be very unforgiving' with reference to their loss of limb.

iii. shotgun shell: michelle and taylor find the 12-gauge armor-piercing shell casing, as identified by jake, during the time loop. he notes that whoever shot this meant business. the shell probably came from one of the arachnids who were on the island searching for jake.

iv. snowy hills: taylor, with either jake or estela, finds snow on the hills and by the lake on a hot and sunny day, indicating time is in disarray throughout different parts of the island, much like the northern and southern parts of the island.

v. wedding ring: a wedding ring is found on the hand of a statue of a masked bride, in the valley of tombs by jake and taylor. the statue is of flora sullivan, and the ring was given to her by eugene rosencraft which she had turned down. it was after this she wrote him the note found in act 1.

vi. tattoo: uqzhaal has a back tattoo of the legend of the threshold. it is the place where yvonne finds the endless in bonus scene 5, and where yvonne, taylor and uqzhaal meet the endless after collecting all the catalyst idols and solving the puzzle.

vii. words on the wind: the voices at the singing cliffs tell taylor that something is coming across the sea, destroying everything in its path. this could either be an immediate reference to yvonne's arrival the next morning, or a vague prediction about the omega mech used by rourke in book 3.

viii. musket ball: yvonne concedes the gold musket ball at sharktooth isle in exchange for their services to find her 'treasure.'

ix. antique compass: yvonne's said treasure turns out to be an antique compass which she tries to conceal; malatesta made her walk the plank for stealing this compass, which she did in order to find the fountain of youth. the compass also leads her to the threshold in bonus scene 5.

x: oath blade: seraxa's gift to taylor for saving taari, saying that debts must be repaid in accordance with vaanti culture. she is shown to threaten the catalysts with this blade in book 2 chapter 4.

ACT 5

i. silver sap: the sap that drips from elyy'stel's tree aids the catalysts to walk in between dimensions. it is the consumption of this sap by eugene and flora that gradually turned them feral and eventually into the vaanti.

ii. deep fissure: if taylor keeps rewinding until they can't go any further, right up to the ancient sea, the catalysts witness the forming of a fissure in the ocean bed. this fissure was caused by vaanu crash-landing on the earth, and it eventually becomes mount atropo, and forms the bubble surrounding la huerta.

iii. the island's heart: one half of the island's heart, which was formed right in the crux of the volcano, found by the catalysts in the base of elyy'stel's tree.

iv. the mask maker: the masks worn by the vaanti bear the name of their maker, rosencraft & sons, 1921. this explains the masks worn by guests at flora and arthur's wedding, which also took place in the rosencraft manor. the rosencrafts were said to be bankrupt, and that the estate belonged to the banks.

v. burning shard: a burning crystal shard that glows green and reacts the same way that quinn did while possessed by the island's heart. it is one of many crystal shards scattered across the island, originating from the crux of the volcano.

vi. mansingh crater: a crater found near the chasm bears the name of mansingh transglobal tech, the company run by grace's mother, blaire hall. it is suspicious to both taylor and grace, as it implies blaire hall was somehow involved with rourke. no further explanation has been made about the crater.

vii. newspaper clipping: a scrap of an article is found by taylor in the elysian lodge, detailing the deaths of arjun and subhanu sethi due to a car accident, also killing their son and putting their daughter in a critical condition. this daughter is lila, and this article implies that rourke (or someone else) was doing a background research on lila.

viii. rourke's note: an old note written by rourke to look into the new junior researcher, as they look familiar. this is most likely a reference to olivia montoya, although it is not known where he recognises her from.

ACT 6

i. rourke's plan: out of agitation, lila blurts out rourke's plan to save the world through a machine at the masada facility. this machine turns out to be the omega mech, and rourke's plan happens to be controlling the world and its people's existence on his whims.

ii. tracking device: a tracking device is found by taylor, attached to the yeti's fur. this was placed there by the arachnid. this tracking device relays location details back to them, as seen in the military humvee by michelle, jake and taylor, where the code name for the yeti is arktos.

iii. garbled message: a distorted voice reveals the date and coordinates of jake's location, received by the arachnid through an anonymous transmission, which is how they came upon la huerta in the first place. this voice belongs to jake himself, who did so using a 'time-phone' in order to merge realities and help them escape through a helicopter from the masada facility.

iv. crashed satellite: varyyn, while talking about shooting stars, says a satellite once crashed to the ground from the skies. it is probably a stray satellite that got caught in the la huerta time bubble, or it belonged to rourke.

v. omega mech: olivia montoya demonstrates rourke's plans for the omega specimen, aka the endless, through a vr headset. she urges the viewer to understand the destruction the specimen, and rourke, are capable of.

vi. missing guests: rourke claimed that the guests at the celestial were evacuated in time at the beginning of the book, but it is shown that he had them put in containment pods. as seen in bonus scene 4, lundgren and the other arachnids were a part of these guests, but were released by rourke upon striking a deal with him to capture jake.

vii. charred skeletons: skeletons of people are found in the flames and ashes at hartfeld, proving that people did not escape the eruption.

viii. havana cigar: lundgren's cigar at the masada facility implies that he was snooping around where he shouldn't, and that he didn't trust rourke. this distrust is confirmed in bonus scene 6.

ACT 7

i. temple/ancient map: if taylor, yvonne and uqzhaal find the endless, they will give the whereabouts of no'ox naj temple to yvonne, where the fountain of youth exists. if they don't find the endless, taylor and yvonne find a carving of the la huerta map on the walls at the threshold, also hinting towards the temple. the whole group meets the endless for the first time in this temple in book 3 chapter 4.

ii. scout: a mechanical spider with a spy camera is found by taylor while they go windsurfing to win malatesta's bet. like the tracker on the yeti, this was also placed by the arachnid to track down their locations.

iii. padlock: a weathered padlock bearing the inscription, 'no land, no sea, no one will keep us apart. flora & eugene, 1920,' found by taylor in a coral reef. after turning down eugene's proposal (the ring clue, book 2), she tried to make it up to him with this padlock and by asking him to show up at neptune cove (the note clue, book 1). when he failed to show up, flora gave up on him and somehow ended up in a forced marriage to arthur barnaby a year later.

iv. pen: a tarnished silver pen bearing grace's name is found in the shrine at no'ox naj temple. it is implausible that she was at the temple, as she was under rourke's custody the whole time. it is also the same pen seen in grace's catalyst idol, returned to her by aleister and ultimately found near professor diaz's car which she had smashed up.

v. silver sap: one of the drinks served at the anachronists' party at quarr'tel is the silver sap from elyys'tel's tree. the creation of the vaanti myth, which is said to have started at a masquerade theme wedding, is that of flora and arthur's, where the former gets shot after confessing her love for eugene at the wedding. in an attempt to save her, eugene gives her some of this sap. this consumption eventually turns them into the feral vaanti.

vi. spirit's identity: the anachronist, clockmaker, refers to the faceless spirit as vaanu. in reality, vaanu is simply an alien being from another planet (the prism dimension) who crash landed on earth when its planet was destroyed. upon communing with vaanu, taylor discovers they are vaanu's creation, made for the purpose of returning la huerta to its normal state, allowing vaanu's departure.

vii. aleister's note: aleister writes a note to grace, apologising to her, and how he feels genuine remorse over his betrayal. he mentions that he hopes to redeem himself in her eyes.

ACT 8:

i. painting: at the rosencraft manor, there's a painting titled 'depiction of the divine' portraying rourke writing the ten commandments dressed in roman attire. the attire probably matches the statue of himself in the atrium, which opens up the sundial to his museum.

ii. communicator: the anachronists provide sean, raj and michelle with antique communicators which lets them coordinate the attack on cetus.

iii. path to the core: vaanu shows quinn the way to the core of the volcano, where the island's heart belongs. this core is the place where vaanu landed on earth.

iv. molten crystals: a crystal orb with claw markings in it, made by the oryctoraptor that dwells inside the volcano. referred to by varyyn as the deep guardian, it is the most reclusive of the four. it is also responsible for the orb found in the cavern in book 1 chapter 5, and possibly the orb that causes the time loop in book 2 chapter 2.

v. the endless' musings: zahra finds a diary belonging to the endless at the base of the volcano, in which they speak of how the sentience of the crystals probably drew the four guardians (cetus, king crab, yeti, oryctoraptor) to establish order on the island, but they were driven mad. the endless also believes it is possible the crystal created the creatures. this is possible, as it would explain the existence of the colourful seahorse, t'kal and furball (although they have not been affected like the guardians have.)

vi. closing words: the closing words spoken by seraxa during the handfasting ceremony, which is customary as 'it was for the first bride and her beloved.' they are the same words that were engraved in the padlock that flora made for eugene.