#kindclaws

[she-who-the-river-could-not-hold]

Tag 9 people you want to get to know better / catch up with!

tagged by @thelittlefanpire, thank you!!

Three (3) Ships: Bellarke (The 100), Kanej (Six of Crows), and Lumax (Stranger Things)

First Ever Ship: I think before I even knew what shipping was, it was Peter x Wendy in the 2003 Peter Pan!

Last Song: "Blood in the Wine" by AURORA

Last Movie: Killers of the Flower Moon

Currently Reading: I actually haven't picked out a new book yet, but I think I want to try The Silent Patient next!

Currently Watching: Too Old to Die Young

Currently Consuming: is this referring to food or media? If it's media, I spent the last week watching various pilots from 1990s-2000s teen shows as like... an experiment I guess! I think One Tree Hill ended up being my favorite. As for food, very obsessed with Trader Joe's Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese

Currently Craving: creative stability

Tagging: @kindclaws, @carrieeve, @kinetic-elaboration, @midnightisquiet, @queen-of-the-wallflowers15, @hopskipaway, @burninghoneyatdusk, @lucascsinclairs, @formerlyjannafaye

[cdfreak]

does anyone care about my main animal jam character shes a tiger and her name is prince kindclaw. images coming soon im playing best dressed rn

[kinetic-elaboration]

February 2: The Expanse 1x03

(Hi @she-who-the-river-could-not-hold @thisislavieboheme @kindclaws! Yes, I am watching The Expanse!!)

Back to The Expanse today after a 2-week hiatus. The hiatus wasn’t about giving up on it; it was just a scheduling thing. The break was not the greatest because I felt a bit like I was thrown into the deep end with the lore and plot and all the characters but I basically followed.

I think my favorite part of this episode was the part with the Ambassador to Mars, not because the UN storyline is my favorite—honestly it’s more like an exposition crutch, helping to give overall context from a more removed, birds’-eye-view—but because it really gave some interesting context to Mars. When ep 2 left off just before the boarding of the Martian ship, I was really excited to find out more about them. And then I was semi-disappointed: I guess miliary dictatorships are pretty dull, at least in terms of their overall aesthetic. They’re just… humans who wear black and stand really straight. (And have no testicles?? LMAO) But being able to contrast that very austere, very rigid, very dark military ship vibe with what the Ambassador describes of the planet itself was way more compelling: people with a common goal coming together to build a garden out of rock is like my fantasy for a utopian future (especially contrasted with ‘we paved over ours!’) and if I had heard that about Mars FIRST I would have a totally different expectation for the society. Honestly maybe that would have been more interesting. But hearing first and foremost that it’s a military dictatorship and being introduced to something of what that looks like simultaneously to getting this other information about the goals and appearance of the planet turns the story into something very different. And in a way none of it is surprising. Of course it’s a military dictatorship: a physically difficult task like creating a garden on Mars could probably most easily be accomplished through very rigid rules and structure and hierarchy. And the people who would sign up for such a task would be susceptible to falling into that sort of order. So that’s very interesting world building to me that I’d like to know more about.

I also liked the little mini-plot with the almost spy-like intrigue by Chrisjen. So much of the show is just really broad-based world building; there isn’t a lot that feels self-contained to any one episode, so that was nice.

The characters from the Canterbury are starting to get to me a little. I like Holden and I like Naomi—don’t love them but I enjoy them, they have potential—and I sort of have a soft spot for Amos-as-guard-dog and the sort of mystery about what his relationship with Naomi might be. But the other two? Meh. I feel like this group of five survivors should be better than it is… if you’re going to destroy the Canterbury in the first episode and also take out all of the other characters you’ve just started to develop, all in one twist at the end of the first hour, the people who are left and now have to carry this entire third of the show by themselves better be stellar. I just don’t feel like they are. Maybe I want something from them that they are not and were never intended to be, a sort of insta-found family thing, but I’m just not connecting with them. I could stand for the other two to be killed off, not gonna lie.

Currently, I don’t think Naomi is OPA but I sort of wish she was/hope she is… like, that would be the most interesting turn for the story to take, in my opinion. I feel like this might be the sort of statement I’ll regret putting down later for any number of reasons but I’m just saying—it’s my feeling right now. I do like that she is a confirmed Belter because it makes me feel smarter for recognizing her tattoo last week even though, like, that was probably supposed to be very obvious and not a secret clue or anything. I’d also like an explanation for her weird hand gesture during the interrogation. Much hay was made of it but I didn’t really get it.

I did like the Martian Captain a lot. First, love that she’s referred to as Sir (real “female crewman” vibes there). Adored her coffee mug. Totally taken in by her whole… her whole thing. The whole package. The only charismatic person on the planet honestly.

The Ceres story feels the most comfortable to me, I think because it’s Blade Runner-esque aesthetic is so familiar. Giant, overrun, poor, noir-ish, future city—this one in space! (I say this even the most obvious Blade Runner parallel in this episode specifically was the Mars ship interrogation.) Also the political unrest situation is a familiar narrative, with beats I can follow pretty easily. I like their transparent phones and iPads and stuff. I don’t actually think that kind of look is where technology will go—it doesn’t look very stable, and it’s already starting to become dated in a way not dissimilar to how Apple Store Enterprise in ST09 is dated—but future aesthetics reflect the tastes of the era in which they were made, and this is such a specific Shiny Futurism, very familiar to my era of sci fi, that I enjoy it. And it pairs interestingly with the dirty sci fi of the rest of the station.

I also liked the credits with the curfew announcement playing over them instead of music. On the one hand, I feel like that kind of trick is best for, like, real emotional outlier episodes, episodes when everything has changed and something devastating has happened, and I’m not sure that the death of the minor cop after 3 episodes really counts as that. I mean a whole ship blew up in 1x01, so let’s put it in proportion. But on the other hand, I think referencing that trick of using non-music credits as a sort of emotional emphasis helped to play up how ominous the curfew is. Otherwise, it sort of seems like just another step in the direction the narrative has been going in from the jump. But as it is, I’m left with this very eerie sense of, like, a turning point being reached in some way. We’ll see if that’s what actually happens, but that’s the mood for me right now.

[the-ships-to-rule-them-all]

writing meme

tagged by @msmargaretmurry - thanks!!

Rules: Go to your published works on AO3 and list the first fic you ever published there, the last fic you published, any fic that you wrote for a fandom/ship only once, your favorite fic you wrote in the fandom/ship that has the most works, the fic you wish more people read, the fic you agonized over the most, the fic that sprang fully formed from your mind without any effort, and a work you are proud of—for whatever reason.

First Fic: I'm Here - a 300 word ficlet about a rarepair that @blyedeeks and I came up with. I just ran with posting it and have been on ao3 ever since.

Last fic: currently posting a fic in probably favorite series that i've ever written - Breaks in Morning Light - which is fic five in my Matthew/Leon bdsm verse. It deals with chronic illness, communication and the hard work of a relationship. I really wanted to look at the way a relationship functions when absence is demanded and how those spaces remain empty or get filled. It's one of the longest fics I've written and I'm deeply proud of it.

Fic where I wrote for the fandom once: Let the Walls Break Down - a Girl Meets World Lucaya soulmate future fic. I love the concept of soulmarks that I created here and for a fic I often forget I wrote, it has a ton of reads

Favorite fic I wrote in the fandom that has the most works: Love in a Warzone which is my world war ii Stydia fic. It was the first big bang I ever participated in and I still think fondly about the experience and all the friends I made. Also love that I predicated Scott and Malia being a thing and got to put my history degree to good use.

Fic I wish more people read: The Devils Dance Outside My Doorstep aka my girl Jack Hughes fic. I love her here, her friendships and her relationship with Nico and Taylor. It's deeply personal to me as well and I wish it got more reads. Totally get why it doesn't but wish it did.

Fic I agonized over: anything in Scrawling It Forever but I remember agonizing over each word in chapter 2/3 of All This And Heaven Too. It was writing those chapters that I realized just how much of myself I was putting into the story and just how deep it was going to get.

Fic that sprang fully formed: Soaking in Promises But You Set It Alight aka my TK/NolPat demigod au that literally would not leave me alone during quarantine because I reread the entire PJO series. I wrote this in a fog but it has some of the funniest lines I've ever written

Work I'm proud of: In Tongues and Quiet Sighs - this fic was one that I wrote while I was dealing with the twin wrecking balls of long covid and burnout and as I got better, so did Leon. The character work that I did in this fic is something I'm very very proud of

I tag: @kindclaws @marauders-groupie @teex @hourcat (if you've already done it, feel free to ignore)

[dylanobrienisbatman]

rules: pick a song for each letter of your URL and tag that many people.

@blairwaldcrf tagged me in this awhile ago ... sorry <3...

For an end of the year twist im going to (try to) only use songs that are in my spotify wrapped! if you wanna try that too, please do! (Wish me luck lol and please excuse the many repeats of artists)

(D) dopamine (French Version) - Madelline (song 8)

(Y) You Don't Go To Parties - 5SOS (song 22)

(L) Low Tide - DRAMA (song 57)

(A) AUTOMÁTICO - Maria Becerra (song 4)

(N) Nonsense - Sabrina Carpenter (song 28)

(O) OUT OF MY MIND - little image (song 90)

(B) BODYBAG - Almondmilkhunni (song 3)

(R) Red Line - 5SOS (song 74)

(l) I Think I Like You - The Band CAMINO (song 7)

(E) Easy For You To Say - 5SOS (song 14)

(N) Nobody - DRAMA w/ Gorgon City (song 81)

(I) INSPIRADORA - Maria Becerra (song 33)

(S) Starting Line - Luke Hemmings (song 97)

(B) Better Than That - Sub-Radio (song 78)

(A) Airhead - Honey Revenge (song 12)

(T) TEARS! - 5SOS (song 6)

(M) Maybe You Saved Me - Bad Suns w/ PVRIS (song 61)

(A) Are You Impressed? - Honey Revenge (song 32)

(N) NUNCA PASARÁ - Maria Becerra (song 17)

i know some of you have longer urls than others and I can't remember who else I've seen do it but no pressure regardless!

@thelittlefanpire @theharddeck @willexxmercer @hostagetakerandhistraitor @probably-voldemort @kindclaws @she-who-the-river-could-not-hold @kinetic-elaboration @bombshellsandbluebells @iamnotawomanimagod @aspeckof-stardust

[pepperish]

Just got a notification that The Poppy War was delivered to my apartment (thanks to @kindclaws and her stellar review, tbh) and now I’m so excited to go home on Wednesday and get my grubby little hands on it!

[wereadtoliveathousandlives]

tagged by @bethanyactually

3 ships: low key perpetually Nancy and Ace from Nancy Drew CW, Penelope and Colin from Romancing Mister / Bridgerton, Ben and Devi from Never Have I Ever [you can tell what’s occupying my mind by what I can read fic about]; honorable mention: Bellarke because I stumbled upon some @ponyregrets fic I hadn’t read yet

First ever ship: either Ron and Hermione or Anne and Gilbert—at this point I can’t remember which came first (probably A&G, but I don’t know that I quite put it in those terms until post Ronmione)

Last song: “slivered heart” by Morgan Reese (something from my Discover Weekly playlist, but I really liked it)

Last movie: genuinely I cannot remember watching a movie recently—I think I watched like half or two-thirds of Falling for Christmas when I walked in as my mom was watching it; otherwise, maybe The Princess?

Currently reading: gonna be honest here, I’m rereading RMB because my brain is a complicated place, I have been reading The Girl From the Well by Rin Chipeco for longer than I care to admit, slowly working through Soman Chainani’s Beasts and Beauty: Dangerous Tales, and I guess technically I am mid-buddy read of Naomi Novik’s The Golden Enclaves with @jenndoesnotcare

Currently watching: @dimension20official’s Neverafter as it releases and rewatching Fantasy High Sophomore Year with my mom; doing a slow rewatch of Nancy Drew CW with Bethany; on my own, I’m watching Abbott Elementary and Sex Lives of College Girls as they drop and just finishing up Pen15

Currently consuming: açaí, pomegranate, and blueberry green tea

Currently craving: the presence of my friends who live far away and a little bit of extra whimsy and romance in my life, but also mango sorbet

I don’t know a lot of people who do these, but people who I would enjoy learning about: @crazyplantkatie @brightbeautifulthings @kindclaws @kay-emm-gee @golden-good-right-real @sweetblossoms or anyone else! I would love to learn about lots of y’all!

[thelittlefanpire]

this or that

thanks for the tag: @she-who-the-river-could-not-hold

painting or photography // dusk or dawn // spring or autumn // movies or tv shows // chocolate or nutella // audiobooks or podcasts // card games or board games // fiction or nonfiction // cookies or brownies // dragons or unicorns // bath or shower // blue or yellow // rollercoasters or bumper cars // iced tea or hot tea // left side of bed or right side of bed // zip-up hoodie or pullover hoodie // straight hair or curly hair // gummy worms or gummy bears // rain or snow // sneakers or flip-flops // bowling or mini-golf // pasta or pizza

tagging/hello friends: @kinetic-elaboration @dylanobrienisbatman @kindclaws @hopskipaway @marauders-groupie

[martianloon]

Fic recs

5/18/24

~•~•~ The 100 ~•~•~

The Sword and the Pen by Chash | Rated: T | 22.3 k words | Complete

Thirteen years ago, Bellamy Blake walked into the last gym in the Galar Challenge and walked out again, and no one has seen him since.

Clarke can't be sure if Octavia Blake is actually related to him. But she's a reporter. It's her job to find out.

the flesh calmly going cold by kindclaws | Rated: M | 36.5 k words | Complete

Clarke’s first coherent thought is that she must be dead, because sunlight. It’s only the rapid beeping of the cryo pod’s life support systems that tells her that her vitals are still going strong, that she’s alive, that somehow, this isn’t a dream. The light and the birdsong and the forest creeping in through the hole in the Skybox are all, impossibly, real.

The last thing she remembers is the guards pushing her down into the cryo pod, and Wells in the pod next to her, telling her not to fight, telling her it would be all right. But the Ark was supposed to wake them up after the oxygen problem was fixed. They weren’t supposed to wake up alone on Earth with the Skybox ripped in half.

~•~•~ Bad Buddy ~•~•~

wait until the stars uncross & say yes by fiercynn | Rated: G | 9.2 k words | Complete

Part 4 of author's favorites

For a moment, nothing happens. Pran stays still. Pat takes a deep breath to say something, and then –

“We can't,” Pran says, sounding breathless, and he scooches away from Pat, out of reach.

“Yeah,” Pat says, quietly. “I know.”

we crossed the line and it was on by phnelt | Rated: E | 15.1 k words | Complete

This time, Pat is going to be such a good secret boyfriend. Emphasis on the “secret.”

~•~•~ KinnPorsche ~•~•~

the kind of superstar that would only steal your heart by phnelt | Rated: T | 11.4 k words | Complete

Kinn glances back and forth between Porchay and Kim, brow managing to furrow even further. He’s got canyons going on in his forehead now; it looks like it might hurt. “Do you know each other?”

Porchay thinks about laying it all out. The trust, the deception, the cheesy song that he’d been so proud of and now makes him cringe.

But there’s something about the way Kim is looking at him, soft and tentative, that makes Porchay want to smack his little pouty mouth and then maybe throw a bucket of glitter on him to ruin his jacket.

~•~•~ Stranger Things ~•~•~

you're the best night's sleep i've ever had by manycoloureddays | Rated: T | 55.4 k words | Complete

All it takes to get them to stay, in the end, is Max hanging back awkwardly when Steve gets up to take her, Dustin, and Eddie home.

or - the one where they all have sleepovers and everyone gets a happy ending.

~•~•~ Teen Wolf ~•~•~

“Do you have a secret teenage son?” Stiles demands, as soon as Derek opens the door.

god was a dog-man by spqr | Rated: T | 12.8 k words | Complete

[wreck-jroth-club]

Sneak peek: Excerpt from chapter 27 of We are all caught in the in between (Of what's real and what's a dream?)

You, our readers, voted for what today's sneak peek would be. You voted for an excerpt of an upcoming chapter. So for your reading pleasure we have an excerpt from Tuesday's chapter written by @kindclaws!

“I think I underestimated her,” she says quietly, “like so many did. She was so strong when she needed to be, and so soft when she wanted to be. Always a smile, always rolling up her sleeves and getting to work. I wish we’d had more time together, Harper. I wish I’d made it to the rocket and lived years more with you, getting to know all the little things I missed when we were always surviving one disaster after another. I wish-“ she breaks off and glares at Monty. “Why am I here? Why me, and not the people you lived with for years, that you guys literally called family?”

Monty sways on his feet.

“Because I could predict all of their arguments, and I couldn’t predict yours,” he says, and then he kneels and starts shoving the small piles of dirt along the edges of the grave into the hole with his hands.

[panreivonreyes]

@kindclaws Idk, shouldn't that include purple? Looks more like trans flag colours to me!

[she-who-the-river-could-not-hold]

Getting to Know You Ask Game

Thank you for tagging me @queen-of-the-wallflowers15!! Feels like ages since I’ve done one of these but I’m such a sucker for them!

Favorite color?

It’s a close call between black and olive green! But I’m an all-black girl at heart.

Currently reading? 

For Thanksgiving I think I’m going to try and restart The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn! I started it at one point and just never kept up so I’m going to try it again. In terms of fics, I just sat down and organized my “marked for later” on AO3 so I definitely want to dive into that and finally get reading some of the amazing fics I’ve had saved for a while! 

Last song you listened to?  

“Heat of Glass” by Blondie 

Last series you watched?

In terms of finishing, I just finished the first season of The Expanse. For starting, I just started Vampire Diaries because it feels criminal that I’ve never actually watched it. And I’m currently indoctrinating my husband into The X-Files so those are the two I’m currently watching!

Last movie you watched?

The Banshees of Inisherin––simultaneously the funniest and devastating movie I’ve ever watched. 

Sweet/ Savory/ Spicy?

Probably savory but I’m working on my spice tolerance!

Currently working on?

SO MANY THINGS.

My main focus right now is my Hellcheer (Eddie x Chrissy) fic. I think I’ll be adding a chapter to its expected number, but it’s moving at a really good pace right now. I’ve never written anything this long this quickly before and I want to ride the wave of inspiration while I can. 

Following that, I’m diving back into all of my current published WIPs (primarily from t100BLM). I think I’ll probably try to get my Bellarke sci-fi/Hanahaki Disease outline cleaned up first. I kind of like the direction I was taking it but I’m not super sold on it anymore. I think I’ve become a lot better at pacing and outlining since I first planned it out so I want to improve it before I get back into actually writing it. In other Bellarke content, I’ve begun the planning process for an AU of Heat where Clarke is a detective and Bellamy is a criminal and they have a cat and mouse, sexual tension filled chase! It’s very much dedicated to my husband lol it’s his favorite movie so I hope I can get it written!

Anddddd I may or may not have come up with my first original story concept since like... ever. We’ll see what comes of that but for now it’s got a solid Pinterest board going!

Tagging: @hopskipaway, @burninghoneyatdusk, @kinetic-elaboration, @kindclaws, @thelittlefanpire, and @mylifeiskara! 

[jamesholden]

kindclaws replied to your post “jamesholden: jamesholden: my “what the fuck, fellow white people?”...”

Oh my god, there's literally never been a casting more perfect than Frankie, what are they thinking??

they were thinking that they can’t read because they legit read POLYNESIAN and thought Bobbie was Black/Black and Asian. they’re just as ignorant as people who think Gwendoline Christie should play Bobbie.

[kinetic-elaboration]

For @kindclaws who asked for updates on my blanket sewing project. I probably should have specified that I am sewing together parts of a knitted blanket. I knitted all the pieces myself! Sewing them is just a very different part of the process for me so that's why I think of this as "sewing a blanket." Anyway, this is about half the blanket; unsewn pieces not shown. Also, sorry these pictures are so crummy, I took them kinda fast and went 'good enough!' Maybe when I complete the whole thing, I'll take proper photos to show off.

[marauders-groupie]

How about.... 3, 15, 19, and free reign to answer any question that jumps out at you? :D

Thank you so much, Sara!

3. Favorite line/scene you wrote this year?

I’m proud of a lot of scenes and lines I wrote this year, but my personal favorite is this scene from Atlas Hands:

“Later, when ice no longer forms on the stairs of the ship and Clarke can step outside to drink her coffee before anyone else, she realizes that she had to be cold and hungry and weary to really come back home to herself. To feel strong. 

To feel like Clarke again.

She looks at herself in the mirror and for the first time in the longest time, she recognizes the person she sees.”

It was inspired by this quote from Thoreau. The notion really resonates with me. I’ve found the cold and hard physical work to be incredibly cathartic and healing. In many ways, the first chapter of Atlas Hands is easily one of the most personal things I have ever written.

15. Something you learned this year?

I learned that writing should be fun. Especially fic writing. 

I think I used to feel pressure, and felt influenced by certain fandom takes on things and characters, that a few years back, it felt like I wasn’t listening to my inner voice. But I came back wanting to write out of pure joy. I really needed a hobby. And if I’m writing fic as a hobby, then by God, it should be f u n.

I also love this quote by @eternalgirlscout about writing in general:

the secret, i’ve discovered, to actually writing, like actually sitting down and doing the damn thing, actually getting a word count up there, is to have an idea that makes you think “that’s ridiculous and self-indulgent and nobody else but me would want to read it” and then leaning as fully into self-indulgence as possible

I also really have a process where I’m just letting the ideas guide me, more than I plot them out ahead, so I’ve learned to lean into that and see where it takes me. It’s like being an adventurer (except no snakes and curses)!

19. Any new fics to start next year?

I already answered this about my WIPs, but I’d really love to start working on some of the following ideas:

Clurphy AU where half of their friendship group rejects Clarke after something happens (???), and she enemies to friends to lovers her way to Murphy. I really feel like Murphy would be a good influence on her; everyone keeps talking about forgiveness, I just want him to say: Listen, Griffin, you did your best. It’s time to let it go.

Peaky Blinders AU prompted by @bellarkesgodson MONTHS ago (Dora, I am so sorry) where Clarke and Bellamy are the leaders of rival gangs

Post S2 canon divergent fic where the Delinquents break away and form their own camp (I just need a lil joy)

As for free rein, I’d like to mention a few of the fics I loved this year:

24. Favorite fic(s) you read this year?

Moderation by @bettsfic - for the incredible way of depicting hope found at the rock bottom. 

The Sleep Series (and I Got That Feeling, That Bad Feeling in particular) by @star-sky-earth - for the fascinating character studies, and a honey-thick style of writing. 

Oh Darling, Here’s Hoping by @grumpy-bell - for the fairytales that remind me of why we need stories in the first place.

Imperfectly Perfect by @arysafics - for that special feeling of finding a fic that has an atmosphere where you just want to lay on back, and stay there forever.

Exiles by @kinetic-elaboration - for how cathartic and darkly delicious it was. 

The Earth Is Trembling on Some New Beginning  by @kindclaws - Sara, you know exactly what you did. You took so many fantastic prompts (which are usually hard to even imagine going together) and you created a tale that I just can’t get out of my head. 

Y’all, read these ASAP!

Fanfic End of the Year Asks

[goosegoblin]

HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT DESKTOP GOOSE YET?

Yeah I bought it! It was super cute!