#so essentially i only started doing work at 9 lol

[dreamerinthemoonlight]

Zhongli with a Touchy/Cuddly s/o

Finally. I woke up for like 15-30 minutes yesterday and this was the first thing I thought of. And my brain is finally really ready to rock. It took nearly 9 hours to get it even half behaving. grrrr But here it is. I’m starting to think I base a lot of these on my own personality and mindset. Oops. lol. Well it’s not like anyone requested these, so who cares. Honestly, Zhongli is the hardest to do romantic head canons for because he’s got so many odd quirks.

I don't stand by any of that, tbh. He's not actually that hard and he's probably a romantic at heart

GN reader

Essentially it pretty much depends on where you are

Zhongli is a very traditional person and PDA is not something he's usually very comfortable with

At least, excessive PDA. I can't see him telling you you can't hold hands or anything like that

But in public, for the most part, the PDA stops at holding hands or the small touches he loves to indulge in

Of course, there are exceptions

There have been times when he’ll be picking you up from work so that you can enjoy a late afternoon/early evening walk or go to dinner and you’ll need the comfort only he can provide and he’s perfectly happy to give it to you.  it feels a little odd for him, but he feels some amount of satisfaction that you are so willing to go to him when you’re upset

Honestly, before long he can tell whether you’ll need a hug or not mere moments after seeing you. After so long watching humans, reading them has become second nature and reading you even more so

So when you come up and rest your forehead against him, or wrap you’re arms around him, he immediately gives you a hug

He appreciates your willingness to respect his boundaries in public,but at home, he's happy to indulge you

He actually likes it that you're so touchy at home. it's very domestic and comforting and you can expect him to tell you as much

You can also expect him to come up behind you when you're cooking and wrap his arms around you. Whether he's giving cooking tips or complimenting your cooking kinda depends

He also loves rainy days with you tucked under his arm or in his lap while you pester him for stories

[weirdsht]

Disillusioned 7 . Truth (2)

a/n: double update this week (I'll upload another chapter tom) to lament over my fever getting higher lol (I'm actually procrastinating my school works)

tags: frustrated rosalyn, again abuse as the norm, cursing, detrimental thoughts and ways of living, unhealthy coping mechanisms and trauma responses

English isn’t my first language so there will be grammatical errors

Pls don't repost my work anywhere without my permission

Constructive criticisms and any kind of interaction are more than welcome

Requests are currently closed but my ask are still open (read pinned)

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Rosalyn is someone who threw away her royal position to pursue her dreams of being a mage.

A decision that removed her from her family.

The mage thinks that she would be sad by this if it wasn’t for the fact that she immediately found a new family to be with.

It's amazing if you ask her. It was as if the gods saw that she needed someone to trust after almost being killed and gave it to her in the form of a socially awkward swordsman.

And then almost right after she put her trust in Choi Han, she gained a little brother named Lock.

From there it spiralled. She met Cale and all the other people under him. She got the support she needed to make her dreams come true. On top of that, her relationship with her blood relatives is still good.

Overall it was nice. Especially when Cale seems to keep making friends everywhere and expanding this family-esc circle they have.

That was why when Cale brought another person home Rosalyn thought it would be the same thing. Thought that in a few days' time, that person would be part of their group, their family.

Well in a way they were.

Rosalyn has come to see _____ as her younger sibling, the same way she views Lock. She has taken it upon herself to help the healer acclimatize to their new group and environment in general.

However, every time Rosalyn thinks she’s making progress, _____ seems to go back into their shell.

At first, the woman thought they were just socially awkward. Perhaps shaken because their family literally just threw them to their death.

Her first mistake was assuming it was as trivial as that.

Her second mistake was not getting the full story.

If she had done that then maybe she wouldn’t be this shocked so early in the morning.

Well in her defence she was expecting Cale to talk about some sort of plan for when they meet the dragon. Why else would he gather the group this early right before they are set to travel to the dragon’s lair?

Apparently not.

As soon as everyone has settled Cale brought to everyone’s attention that they didn’t know how _____’s powers work.

This made Rosalyn confused. Because quite frankly what does this have to do with… well anything?

But oh god, the more _____ explains their abilities the more she understood why this has to be said now.

This should have been explained way earlier. Because what do they mean that _____ essentially absorbs their patients' wounds?

It made the mage look back at all the people the Medicus had healed. All the sickness and wounds they had to absorb.

And shit.

She remembered that _____ has been doing this since they were 9 years old. Maybe even earlier as she discovered that the famous story of their adoption is fabricated.

Rosalyn may have only known _____ for a short while, but that’s her little sibling goddammit.

A sibling she admires because of how helpful and selfless they are. Traits they possess that Rosalyn is now starting to resent.

The redhead shot a pointed look at the other redhead in the room. A look that says Rosalyn wants her questions answered. Cale responded with another eye contact that seemed to say “Later”.

“Just what-”

Cale put his hand up to stop Rosalyn from speaking. Everyone was still in the room minus _____. The redhead had sent them out as they hadn’t finished packing their things yet.

“To put it shortly, I need you all to keep an eye on _____.”

The man goes on to explain how the healer kind of lacks… common sense, for lack of a better term. It has something to do with how they were brought up. 

“We don’t need to look after them like a child. Just make sure they won’t go overboard using their abilities. No guarding them like a hound either.”

It's a no-brainer that the last part was for the visibly enraged Choi Han. He was still visibly enraged but nodded as he understood why Cale didn't want the healer to have guards as of now.

Rosalyn is sure that Choi Han is going to be overprotective of _____ in some way. Not that she blames him.

Cale went to stand up, signifying that the meeting was over. The rest followed and started filing out of the room. 

Everyone except Rosalyn.

She has questions and she’s going to get answers.

“Young master, how long have you known?”

“Since last night.”

“Were they deliberately hiding it?”

“No, they just didn’t think they could bring it up when no one was asking.”

“How are we supposed to- haaa”

“Blame their shitty family.”

On their way to the dragon’s lair, Rosalyn had a lot on her mind. Lots of puzzle pieces to put together.

Now that Rosalyn knows the full story everything started to make sense.

Made her realize just how hurt her sibling had been.

Just how much they suffered before Cale met them.

It made Rosalyn look back to some of the habits she noticed _____ has. Like how they almost seem apprehensive to talk to people in authority. How their hands and voice tremble when they thought they made a mistake. How they are so intent on healing everyone and low-key seem scared if a person’s condition is out of their jurisdiction.

How they take everything with apprehension. Like they can’t believe that they are being given things. Even when those things are basic necessities like a good plate of food. How they teared up when Raon gave them that red teddy bear from the night market. How apparently that was the first toy– no, the first thing, that they have ever received in their entire life for free. The first gift they get to indulge in.

How they are too independent for Rosalyn’s liking. How they always insist that the servants have better things to do than assist them. How they refuse to get treated when sick or injured despite them treating everyone else.

How they never speak unless spoken to first. How they will literally just stand there, bleeding and not saying a word unless they are given some sort of permission. This one frustrates Rosalyn so much. Not only does she want to hear more from the healer, but she also thinks they have so many good ideas. Before she let it go she thought they were shy, but that’s slowly going to change from now on.

How even when they were suffering from nightmares they were silent. How on one of those nights they looked more scared that Rosalyn saw them being vulnerable, as if it's a sin to have nightmares. To be vulnerable and lean on others. How on that night Rosalyn had to explain that there’s nothing wrong with asking for help after such things. How _____ nodded but seemed apprehensive. How Rosalyn knew that after that night they still suffered silently. Merely holding the mage’s hand as solace and comfort on the rare nights the healer allows themself to embrace the help presented to them.

How Rosalyn found out now that it was because _____ have been taught that since they don’t scar then they must not have pain. Since they only get a percentage of their patient’s pain then it would be arrogant and privileged of them to complain.

How they–

How–

Fuck.

Rosalyn is going to get revenge for _____. 

She’s going to make sure she gets it done one way or another.

a/n at the end: i wasn't quite sure how to get the point across that rosalyn was angry and frustrated beyond belief so I made her curse as she isn't really someone who's portrayed to curse a lot

[absolutelybifurious]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers! Spread the self-love 💞

ahhh thank you so much for this!!!! also thanks @inell for the same ask!!

i've been terrible with these tag things this week! but! i love them and i really wanted to do this one because yeah. i have 2 series that make up most of my 911 fics, so if i did it by series i would literally only have five so i'll pick the fics i like from those i guess.

man i really need to write fewer series.

can't tell where you end (and i begin) - this is prob my favorite thing ive written. it's a fic where buck watches eddie dance and gets heart-eyes about it and things developpp. it's just fluff/smut and i love it!

better than revenge - this was my first 9-1-1 fic and its essentially just buck laying eddie out on a pool table in a public bar under the very weak guise of making tommy jealous

take me home (to my heart) - this one's my most popular fic by a lot lol. inspired by lesbianrobin's tumblr post. maddie/eddie are in a bad car wreck and have to work together to not die, while buck and chimney collectively lose their marbles. my favorite thing about this fic is how many people are like this feels like an actual episode of the show when the entire time i was like god this is so factually bad, this is so unrealistic. which. honestly. that tracks.

cancelling the apocalypse - this is the pacrim au, which i'll steal cly's words here - is kinda more like a kaiju-inspired sci fi au that focuses a lot more around drifting and what it does to a mind pacrim did. but anyway, its still a wip and long but i have 70k written on it at this point so hopefully it'll be finished in a couple weeks. also honestly this is my fave thing i've written for this fandom but it's a lot more self-indulgent and less like... palatable? maybe?

a rose by any other name is a scandal - this is the last fic in my infideleddie/buckfidelity series. it's canon post s7 and mostly a lot of angst and buck trying to undo his screw-ups while eddie falls apart completely.

anyway, this fandom has made me deranged about writing. so. hopefully i'll come up with some more ideas once s8 starts and i have more of a pool to rank. anyways thanks again for the ask!

[misc-obeyme]

So I was thinking Barbatos is a busy demon and probably has a tight schedule as a butler, plus his duties in RAD. So dating him means the two of you don't see each other often. So what if you started working at the castle as a maid? (Or as a butler, but i was thinking Maid as in gender neutral since everyone regardless of gender can wear a Maid dress) So that you could be closer to him and you'll get to work with him! 

This thought occurred to me while i was thinking how barbatos might react seeing his beloved in a Maid dress since he's a butler and all. He would probably silently stare at you, taking in every detail of you dressed up and teasing you for it.

But if you actually started working at the castle, you would probably be tasked with doing small things that won't be draining for a human such as typical stuff like Making beds, Mopping, Cleaning interior windows, Run personal errands, Dust surfaces, Ironing and so on. Bonus, you get to work with the cute little D's by your side! On the other hand, Barbatos would still be strict with you even if you're his significant other, and he would take it seriously to teach you how to behave as the perfect Maid, and if you do mistakes you might get punished. Remember, this dude is a perfectionist.

Now, this is more NSFW, but imagine with his constant staring that you decide to make a game out of it by teasing him by doing little things such as pulling your skirt just a little higher, ‘accidentally’ keep dropping things to bend over and pick it up while His eyes are all on you, observing from afar or when he's near.

Now, after a long day of teasing and making a game out of it, Barbatos pulls you inside his room for some privacy. Lingering touches, his hot breath on your skin, and before you know it, you find yourself underneath him on his bed while he's on top of you staring down at you with his green eyes glowing in the dark. He would whisper in your ear what a naupthy maid you are or how you didn’t do a good job. He would go down on you and edge you for hours to come. Only when he thinks you've had enough, with your cute moans bouncing off the walls and your begging for release, he might give in and give you the sweet release you've been begging for, with your thighs clenching around his head and your cheeks flushed.

NSFW MDNI

Oh my, anon. This is exactly my favorite thing - Barbatos losing control because you're making him crazy lol.

I certainly have thought about all of the characters in a maid dress, so I think it could be considered gender neutral. Though when it comes to actually working I think a maid dress would be somewhat impractical. Like how am I supposed to move around in something like that huh??

But I realize that is not the point lol.

Do you suppose the punishments would always be of that nature? Because I think if being a naughty maid and getting punished results in having Barb's head between your thighs you might just deliberately be terrible at your job.

I think Barbatos would play along. Ah yes, MC, you're so naughty~

Ah I can't decide exactly how I think it'd go. Because on the one hand, Barbatos cares about doing a good job, but on the other hand I think he'd be unable to resist you. Maybe in the end he has to cut back on the hours you're working because every time you're around in that dress, he loses focus.

I've thought a lot about what it'd be like to date someone so dedicated to a job that is essentially their entire life. Being a butler isn't just a 9-5, he's working continually. I like to headcanon that a lot of the things he does can be delegated to the little Ds or other such castle staff. He just prefers to do things himself because he knows he'll do the best job. But if he realizes that he has to choose between having everything in the castle perfect and spending time with you, I think he'd let the others do a little more. I also think Diavolo is a good wing man and would demand he take more time off to be with you lol.

[butterflydm]

wot deeper dive 2x1: a taste of solitude

Today is all about 2x1 for me! I am going to go scene by scene, talk up some thoughts about where we're starting with all our lovely characters in this first episode of season 2.

This specific post I am going to avoid any spoilers from the books! I will be doing another post later today that includes those spoilers and related thoughts.

Our first scene is the meeting that Our Friend From the Eye is having with his buddies, which I've talked about before since it was one of the released teasers but I really do love how it sets up some themes that I'm sure we'll follow over the course of the season -- what is evil? How can you tell if something or someone is evil? I really get the vibe that we're going to do a deep interrogation of Why People Become Darkfriends and I am here for it. I love him setting up his own philosophical view on the world here.

What the Man is arguing here is essentially that the Trollocs (and, by extension, the Shadow) aren't immoral but are amoral instead. "Hungry" rather than "malicious".

2. I do mourn the loss of our lovely little title sequence. I guess they wanted to squeeze every last possible second that they could for content!

3. I love the sort of bait-and-switch here where Moiraine is working her ass off... in order to fill a bath for herself. But this whole sequence is so touching and heartbreaking. When she tries to heat the water but fails to reach the Source. Heartbreaking! And when she's all alone, you can really see how she's despairing over her situation and her helplessness. She can't hold in her tears when she's alone.

4. And Lan is feeling his own sense of despair here. Equally heartbreaking. Going from a feeling so deeply connected to someone to them just being gone, and not as a temporary thing but, as far as you know, a forever thing.

5. Verin and Adeleas (and Tomas) are a fun set of characters. I just found their entire setup very charming and I enjoyed everything with them. Poor Adeleas is so thirsty though, lol.

6. It really is hard to see Moiraine staying at such an emotional distance from Lan! She didn't even look at him.

7. Egwene's Journey Through The White Tower did a good job setting the new expectations for her current situation and her role here as a novice -- cleaning the Amrylin's room, enjoying the view, the little bow she gives Leane, trying not to watch Alanna having fun with Maksim and Ihvon, passing by the Warder sparring area, and ending in the kitchens. We learn here that the Amrylin is off traveling. Hmm. I wonder where she went (I mean, it's likely an excuse to not have the actress for this set of episode -- I'm guessing we'll only get Sophie for one episode, maybe two, for this season).

8. Nynaeve telling Egwene to stop smiling over doing her chores, lol. I don't think we get a 'time-stamp' yet in this part -- I think it's Perrin who first lets us know how long it's been since they parted at Fal Dara. I'm guessing that they didn't leave Fal Dara right away and needed to take time to recover before heading to Tar Valon -- I even wonder if maybe Perrin & co actually traveled with Nynaeve and Egwene to Tar Valon as an escort? Because they all celebrate Bel Tine later in this episode, so it's been one year since 1x1, but Perrin notes that he's been hunting the Horn with the boys for "five months". This would also mean that Loial could have gotten some Aes Sedai healing at the Tower. I don't think that the show will go back and address it because we are barreling forward but... things that make me go 'hmm'.

9. Nynaeve is SO ANNOYED and feels so bait-and-switched by Siuan's promises, lol. "I have enough character". Amazing, perfect, no notes.

10. I love so much how Alanna's lesson is folded into the chores! She's teaching them but also showing them useful things (purifying water is a VERY useful skill!) while also giving them an incentive to get better as quickly as possible lol. Alanna as the Charming Green is such an interesting contrast to Liandrin the Bitter Red, especially since they're both getting explored as full, rich characters.

11. Egwene takes lessons wherever she can find them -- here, we see her avoiding using her hands because she doesn't want to be helpless if someone ties her hands up again, like Valda did. Ah, we do get the "five months" timestamp here too -- five months "in this Tower", so that's not including the travel time it took to get there. That matches what Perrin is saying, so I feel like there is an implication there that Perrin & co escorted Egwene & Nynaeve to the Tower. Five months is a long time for Nynaeve to have completely failed to channel again despite being surrounded by teachers, so I understand why she's so frustrated.

12. Nynaeve drinking the glass of filthy water is just so disgusting but also perfect. And Alanna just going ??? what is wrong with that girl???

13. So... holy shit, a novice died under Liandrin's teachings. Wild that she was given permission to 'talk' to Nynaeve. I'm with Alanna on that, 100%. Liandrin should not have been allowed anywhere near Nynaeve.

14. Liandrin gives us some world updates: Hunt for the Horn declared in Illian; Trollocs raiding Arafel; and a new false Dragon is Saldaea. Thank you for the world info update, Liandrin! I appreciate it!

15. Perrin writing letters to his friends really gets to me. It makes me very emotional. I love that sense of connection getting to still be present. And Perrin has been writing them regular letters!! And Perrin is also writing letters home and asking if Mat has found his way back!!

16. Oh, hello, Mysterious Golden-eyed Tracker. Nice to meet you, Elyas.

And the way they're doing everything with Perrin is interesting. I feel like given the audience something to experience is important, rather than it being Perrin narrating what he sees/smells, especially since he hasn't talked about any of what he's been going through with anyone on-screen, really.

17. Padan Fain killing a young woman and helping slaughter an entire caravan of people who follow the path of non-violence. What was that about not being able to tell if someone's actions are evil or not, Man from The Eye of the World?

18. One of the children escaped, and one of the Tuatha'an dogs killed one of the Darkfriend soldiers protecting the young girl's escape but died protecting her.

19. Moiraine is very successfully sneaky here with Doman, making him believe she's after one thing but getting him to haggle down on the thing that she's truly interested in. And I think she realizes that Doman has something real because of his mention that he's being followed and then the whole, you know, "Old Tongue written in blood" thing. She plays him good. But then when she realizes how much danger he might be in, she gives him another ten marks to help him out.

Lan's thoughts on the bond are very poetic. I love him getting to talk these things over with another Warder. And Lan is very aware that Moiraine is trying to push him away and is determined not to let her freeze him out, but it's hard!

20. Nynaeve finding so much more comradery with the Warders than with the Aes Sedai (but then also that moment when she insults Alanna and they make it clear that she's gone too far). We also get a bit of a look into the Alanna-Maksim-Ihvon poly dynamics. Nynaeve does try to reach out to Egwene but Egwene is never in her room!

21. It is so funny that Alanna thought that Egwene came to her for advice on poly relationships. Egwene trying to mirror Alanna with how she leans against the cushions: also hilarious. (who does Alanna think that Egwene is having sex with, I gotta wonder, lol) Poor Egwene. Once Alanna realizes what Egwene is actually asking, though, she gives her some solid advice.

22. Nynaeve practicing Alanna's lesson on her own because she DOES want to learn but she doesn't want to fail in front of other people. And Liandrin's entire scene with her was so well done but also: wow, yikes ouch. Nynaeve's reaction to being shielded by Liandrin (getting teary; looking at her hands afterwards) reminds me of Moiraine's reaction to what happened to her at the Eye. Liandrin is also really good at getting under people's skins. Hearing the official Red policy on Warders is really a sad way to look at things, but does explain a lot (but she's also trying to get Nynaeve to react). "You saw that weave only once but you were able to copy it" - Nynaeve's a quick learner, when she can touch the Power. Such an intense scene!

23. Really liked the funeral scene. Elyas buries the brave dog who protected the little girl. Ingtar and Perrin talk about Darkfriends and revenge and grace. "All men deserve a proper burial". Perrin talking about being worried that the rage will overwhelm him (which is directly what led to him accidentally killing his wife in the premiere). "Anger won't bring my men back." But Perrin can't stop thinking about how open and warm his people were to Fain, and then Fain betrayed them all (with a smile!).

24. Lan telling Moiraine not to smile at him while they're in a terrible situation like this, and she's pushing him away. Getting two flashbacks from that -- a. Nynaeve telling Egwene not to smile about doing her chores earlier in this episode and b. Siuan telling Moiraine not to smile back in episode 1x6. This does hurt and I think it hurts Lan that he knows what she's doing, trying to drive him away, and it's still working anyway because he doesn't feel that intimate connection that they've shared for the last twenty years.

25. Us getting that lovely moment of Perrin writing the letter, and Egwene and Nynaeve receiving it, and Rand all on his own, thinking of his friends, and then poor Mat, getting tormented by Liandrin by her only reading part of the letter, making him believe that his friends don't care about him anymore. The way Egwene and Nynaeve are able to connect for a moment, and how all five of them are thinking about each other on Bel Tine (which tells us that it's officially been a year since 1x1). Perrin is a wonderful correspondent, with a very nice way with words.

26. "A dozen letters now, and not a single mention of Mat Cauthon." Liandrin is very very good at knife-twisting. Also, Perrin has sent them a dozen letters in only five months. He is a very faithful correspondent. Ugh, I was immediately gutted by the look on Mat's face. And this is confirmation that Mat has heard that Rand is dead (and from Liandrin, probably the worst person to hear it from!). Ah, we have a "six months" timestamp from Mat here, so it took Egwene & Nynaeve roughly a month or so to get to Tar Valon from Fal Dara, since they've been in the Tower for five months. Ugh, Liandrin has been picking and picking at him for six months. My poor darling. And I bet he's especially emotional over it right now because it's Bel Tine.

27. Mat can't afford a lantern this year either, and he doesn't have any other ways of getting one. Perrin almost says goodbye to Laila here but can't quite do it (that's how I'm interpreting the moment with the ring), which means that this lantern is only for Rand. And Nynaeve and Egwene also put out a lantern for Rand, to say goodbye. Then we see Rand with a lantern, all by himself in a city. We only get this one glimpse of Rand in the whole episode but it's still very emotional.

28. Love the reveal that Mat is secretly trying to work on an escape plan. Great moment to end his little scene here on.

29. Also love Lan getting some Warder therapy from Adeleas, Verin, and Tomas. Also, lol, Adeleas just wants to eat her meal. I love Verin and Adeleas's relationship. This is such a good scene.

30. Apologies to my dearest Moiraine & Lan, but I never have much to say about fight scenes. That scene sure did... fight. Good fighting in that scene. Their hands touching at the end got to me though. I liked getting to see Verin channel Tomas's sword to be on fire. That was pretty cool.

[dragontamerno3]

DS9 S2 E21 - The Maquis (Part 2)

Before I destroy this episode, I also enjoyed this one. I'm very dissatisfied with the ending but it was overall a very good episode and there were some fantastic moments. Also I want a Dukat/Sisko team up show where two enemies have to work together to deal with various issues and they still hate each other by the end of the show but it's fun to watch them also be buddies. Frenemies if you will.

On to the recap though.

I'm kinda pissed Hudson got to live. I really wanted Dukat to reach across the console and just fire on the fucker. Hudson is so far gone that only death is going to stop him.

I'm also kinda pissed the Sisko didn't tell the Admiral about Hudson when she showed up.

I'm also also pissed at the Admiral thinking that ANY terrorist group would just stand down after being talked to.

I 100% agree with everything Sisko said in his Earth is a Paradise speech that he spewed to poor unsuspecting Kira. He hit the nail on the head about how those who are living within any issues just assume that other places live the same way or can change super quickly to do so. None of the folks living on Earth (in the far far future) understand a second of hardship at least not to the extent that half of the species we come across do. They're living in pure Heaven while a majority of the universe is still fighting to live. And in some ways their ignorance is deserved, no one SHOULD have to go through war, have to starve, have endless crime, or other horrible things. But that doesn't mean that the Admiral isn't blind to it.

When the Cardassian Command showed up I knew they were throwing Dukat under the bus because that was the easiest thing to do. They wanted to blame him and let him die so that they could continue their attacks but I'm super happy that Sisko saw right through that. I was afraid he was going to be too optimistic about the whole deal and take them for their word.

The fact that Dukat can resist a mind meld was fascinating to me but honestly should have been expected. The Cardassians are known for their torture methods so of course he'd be able to block his mind.

Dukats discomfort after realizing that his superiors left him to die was fun. Especially since he had just given a whole speech about how Cardassians don't make mistakes and how trails are decided before they begin, so if he had one he'd be on the losing side. What I liked most about this scene, though, was when Sisko left and said that Dukat would have save Sisko if the situations were reversed. In that moment Sisko chuckles because its such a bizarre thing to say but Sisko actually believes it and then the camera pans to Dukat doing the same. I think Dukat, in that moment, realized that he probably would have. Not for sentimentality but rather to hold it over his head, but he'd still do it.

Another thing I liked was the scene where they're trying to find the ship that might be smuggling weapons in for proof and Dukat has to intimidate the Captain into letting them search the ship. In that moment Sisko is pulling ever diplomatic Federation line he can and then Dukat stands up and essentially outs the aliens crimes. During this specific conversation Sisko ends up slowly smirking. The thing that got me though was Kira's admiration. It was so clear that she was uncomfortable every second of it but a part of her was having an internal conflict of how badass Dukat was in that moment. She'd never say the words out loud but they were there lol

And Quark, out logicing the Vulcan? It was a beautiful thing to see. He might have help start all of this and he is certainly not the brightest of bulbs but its rare to see someone change a Vulcans mind, even just a little.

8/10 - this probably would have been a 9 for me if they actually killed Hudson lol

[curiouslavellan]

hi it's me annoying you with my request to answer all of the ask game questions for the soupmates <3333 feel free to skip those that dont apply or you dont like tho :'D

you're never annoying <3 ty for still being The soupmates fan lol

Gonna put this under a cut because I skipped 0 questions and it got long

1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

You lmao. As I've said, big part of why I'm actually writing it down! Re: the way I wrote it though, I've basically always written stuff with lots of POV switches, I like to see the differences between people's attitudes and levels of knowledge. If I ever write a story where everyone in it starts with all the same facts, I've probably been replaced by a pod person

2: What scene did you first put down?

I write chronologically, so that first scene with Ariel and Bethany was the first thing I wrote

3: What’s your favorite line of narration?

Ariel wasn’t the sort to leave things up to chance any more. Anyone could have seen, and anyone could have turned them in, so there were no fireballs or ice storms for them. No mage’s staff. In Kirkwall, it was all down to daggers and luck.  Sometimes that luck seemed too good to be true. Sometimes Ariel moved faster than a person really ought to be able to, and sometimes the idiots trying to kill them tripped over thin air. Only the paranoid would call that magic. 

Join me in my apostate Hawke as a rogue agenda

4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

When Justice in his chapter 1 section remarks on Wade and Herren being soulmates with

“I do not see it. This doesn’t happen to spirits,”

mostly because I immediately said "Ha, incorrect" to myself lmao. Justice himself obviously, but using Wade and Herren was an extra joke because idc what the creators said, if Herren is a desire demon in Darkspawn Chronicles, I believe that it's true for every timeline

5: What part was hardest to write?

Can I say the chapter I'm working on rn? I am being very picky about the first meeting because it's pretty essential in a soulmate au

6: What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?

I've never written for this ot3 before, or actually published anything for Ariel or DA2 as a whole. It's fun to get into Kirkwall! Also there are some pretty big time jumps between scenes, which I have done before but not in stuff that follows a set plot like a video games, so it's neat to kind of work into the spaces in an existing timeline

7: Where did the title come from?

The song Out There from Hunchback of Notre Dame lmfao. I'm just glad it wasn't actually called omg they were soupmates at this point

8: Did any real people or events inspire any part of it?

Not really

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

Not for the overarching plot but I did have a Lot of back and forth over certain details like Anders and Karl's relationship, when different scenes happen and from whose POV, where this story ends, etc

10: Why did you choose this pairing for this particular story?

because I love them <3 more seriously, because I love Justice, and I'm sad he's barely a character in DA2, especially because he's so interesting about love in Awakening, and I wanted him to be an equal part of the story. Also because they're the weirdest option in a soulmate au, so I get to poke at the "rules" of the genre

11: What do you like best about this fic?

writing Ariel is so fun! purple Hawke you will always be an icon

12: What do you like least about this fic?

Balancing the different POVs has been stressing me out a little, I know it doesn't actually matter that much but I do want them to be at least roughly equal

13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?

I don't listen to my character playlists while writing, because I can't write and hear lyrics at the same time, so I've just been putting on youtube mixes of fantasy writing instrumentals lol

14: Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?

ummm Justice is amazing and you should love him

15: What did you learn from writing this fic?

this is the fic that got me to commit to small daily increments of writing instead of waiting for inspiration to hit, which we've all heard plenty of times but finally hit me on this one

[doctor-disc0]

TES OC Ask Game!!! 📜✨

3 for Charlie, except edited to be specifically about how their multiracial identity affects them - how do people see them, and how does Charlie see themself? (my Redguard OC also has Breton blood, so I'm v interested to learn about another!)

And 20 for Ko'Lheta!

Yayyyy I love talking about Charlie lol they're my favorite <3

So, Charlie was born on Betony, a small island off the coast of Daggerfall, in 3E393, 9 years before the War of Betony starts. Their father was from Sentinel in Hammerfell, and their mother was from Daggerfall in High Rock. This is relevant to how their multiracial identity affects them, I promise lol.

Anyway, they knew as a child that a lot of the other people in Betony looked at them weird, especially when they were with their parents. I mean, who ever heard of an elvish Redguard? Charlie was occasionally asked questions by curious kids who had never seen someone who looked like them before, but for the most part, people let them be.

But, when they were around 8 years old, tensions between the Redguards of Sentinel and the Bretons of Daggerfall grew. Charlie noticed that people were being meaner. Many of the people living on the island were growing distrustful of their family because who knows what side they would pick? Charlie's parents tried their best to shield their young child from the hurtful comments made, but they couldn't shield them from everything.

Then, of course, when Charlie was 9, all hell broke loose in the War of Betony. By the time Charlie was 10 and the war ended, they had heard countless nasty comments about their appearance and their family and had to learn to put on a sarcastic and unbothered facade in order to prevent further teasing. This facade would later become very difficult for them to drop, even when among family and friends.

However, shortly after the war ended, Charlie's parents decided to pack their things and move to Cyrodiil, where they hoped the politics of home wouldn't follow. This mostly worked, though Charlie would still get occasional comments about their appearance or family.

Once they were an adult, they essentially looked like a very short Redguard with pointy ears (their ears were only slightly smaller than an Altmer's). They would often make jokes about their racial identity, especially if they saw it made someone uncomfortable.

However, I don't think they ever really felt a strong racial identity. They would later joke to Martin, Baurus, and Ko'Lheta that they're probably a good example of what the ancient Bretons were like. No real cultural identity.

Anyway, uhhh, I meant for that to be like 2 paragraphs, but this is the first time anyone's asked me about Charlie, and sometimes the need to infodump takes over, so I apologize for the long response 😅

Anyway, for Ko'Lheta:

20. How does your OC earn money? How much does money affect their life?

Okay, so Ko'Lheta will tell you that she makes money teaching Mysticism and Illusion at the Arcane University. Which is true. What she won't tell you is that she uses her skills in Mysticism and Illusion to make money through other means, as well. If you know what I mean.

However, if you accuse her of doing such a thing, she will act outraged and accuse you of stereotyping her. She will do this even if you somehow manage to catch her in the act. She's a little menace <3

Also, I feel the need to say that she is not Cathay like most of the Khajiit in Cyrodiil. She is Suthay-Raht like the Khajiit in Morrowind.

[diamondintherioux]

9/5/24

6 months post op

Well ladies and gentlemen, we made it. Six. Months. Post. Op. Wow. What a journey it has been. I feel like I’ve lived 3 different lives.

This new body has given me what I always knew I had, shape. Real feminine shape that makes clothes actually fit my body. It’s crazy to think how diet and exercise truly couldn’t give me this body. I feel like I’m a butterfly floating through life. My jean size is smaller than what I wore in high school (granted I do think sizes are “bigger” nowadays.)

It’s peak* week for me because next week I’m leaving for vacation but I’m already thinking about what I’m going to do when I come home. For the past decade, every winter no matter how hard I try I always gain 10 lbs lol then I spend the spring and summer trying to lose it. Rinse and repeat. This year will obviously be different. I have a plan. When I come back I’ll be wearing my faja 12 hrs a day (basically to curb my appetite from the compression.) I will up my personal training 2x a week. I want to do private Pilates classes 2x a week. I bought a walking pad so no excuses to not get 10k steps but in the winter I want to aim for 20k steps a day. Half inside half outside. After that is my meal plan. Prioritizing protein and water intake. I’ve been slacking as per usual lol my lack of protein amps up my sugar addiction to supplement for my hunger lol I know it’s not funny and actually fucked up. I blame my mother for not cooking when I was younger and subsequently not teaching me.

In addition to fitness and nutrition I need to unclutter my mind. I have wayyyy too much stuff. Clothes, shoes, bags. I’m going to do a fall cleaning and donate everything. Even the designer stuff. I have to make a promise to myself; no more secondhand shopping. I get it, trust me, more than anyone how “good” it is for the environment. But I do believe there is a spiritual aspect to it that is negative. Bringing someone’s thrown away trash (essentially) into your scared space, onto your body. It’s bad. I’ve been thrifting / vintage shopping since 2011 and let me tell you I’ve accumulated so much shit lol it’s just not fun. Yeah you’re saving a buck but who gives a fuck? lol in the grand scheme of things when you get older you won’t want another person’s trash. Trust me. There’s a reason why rich people always remodel the homes they buy.

Beauty maintenance also starts in the winter. Stringent morning and nighttime routines. Red light therapy. Facials. Chemical peels. Micro-needling. Lasers. Lymphatic massages. I really want an eyebrow lift. I was thinking about getting an eyebrow transplant but I think an eyebrow lift is the way to go. Investing in your body > clothes/bags. Trust me

To circle back, this new body has changed my life. My job is to now maintain it and make sure it only gets better. You work out in the winter to show off in the summer. Next summer I want to be on a super yacht off the coast of Italy in the tiniest Brazilian bikini known to man. I want to take a photo 1 year post op and see how much I’ve changed. I want to lose 10lbs and then I truly think I’ll be happy (I swear I’m not crazy)

It’s so wild going from a size 6/8 to a 2/4 lol plastic surgery is so worth it if you do it slow, go to the best, and make tweaks

*peak week entails

Mani + pedi

Hair Botox

Brazilian wax (will get laser when I get back)

Eyelash extensions

Facial

Due to the location I going to I’m not getting a spray tan but that would usually be on the list.

[anyablackwood]

WIP Questionnaire Tag

Thanks for the tag, @mysticstarlightduck! I'll use Traveling Bards for this, as is the current trend for me.

1. What’s the first part of your WIP that you created?

The outline? That's usually how I start. If you mean of the actual story, then chapter 1. If you mean the concept itself, the characters.

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

Best I can find is Passerine by The Oh Hellos (the artists who made Solider, Poet, King). I'd love to find a more comedic/energetic song, though.

3. What are your favorite characters that you made? Why?

Within this story? The MCs, lol. Especially Felix, my beloved son! I'm not gonna lie, the sisters are inspired by some IRL people that I love very much. But even without that, they're just so fun! This is my first "simple"/comedy story, so there's less of a focus on prose or "depth" and more on me just dicking around with these guys, so I'm really having a blast with them. Their characters are the most unhinged I've written so far, though I hope to change that soon.

Felix isn't inspired by an IRL person, but he's kind of shameless wish-fulfillment. Traveling Bards initially began as a parody of a very specific genre of anime, so he's essentially what I wish would happen/what I love to see for characters with his archetype.

For the favorites of all time? Can't choose, honestly. Love all of them!

4. What other pieces of media do you think your fanbase would share?

Memes. Or, I'd hope so. If it ever got adapted, I'd love a compilation video or funny edits. Regardless? Endless shitposts, sprinkled with random and unwarranted brainrot thesis-long thinkpieces on elements of my characters and world-building that I never even considered when writing it that ultimately change the way even I view my characters. I'd love a good Tumblr essay from someone being Totally Normal about one of my funky little guys.

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your WIP?

Actually writing it! Lmao. For the 3 people that have seen my writing logs, you'd know I had to recently overhaul the entire initial arc as well as the 3 chapters I already wrote! Though I guess plot points would also be part of that struggle.

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

All kinds! Anything from normal animals to classic fantasy ones to ones I personally made up! My favorite out of all of them are the dragons. Because dragons are fucking awesome. My second favorite are the ones I made myself.

One of the first ones I introduce is the "crystal frog" which is this really cute frog that's quite literally translucent- kind of like the glass frog, but even more translucent! And light refracts off of it like a crystal!

7. How do your characters travel/get around?

Carriage/horse most often at first, then eventually via ship, then flying (with magic or on a magic creature). So. Basically anything but a plane or car.

8. What part of your WIP are you working on right now?

Actually writing it! I'm currently only a few chapters in on my first rough draft. My goal is to create the entire rough draft with as few edits as possible and then to go back and revise the whole thing, since that'll be easier for me than trying to make each chapter "perfect" before I move on.

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe?) You think will draw your audience in?

I guess for those that are more familiar with this genre, it'll be that. Isekais/reincarnation/transmigration/portal fantasy/whatever you want to call it. It's also got found family and friendship (kinda spoiler-y, but there's a sibling adoption involved!). Lots of "be gay, do crime" instances too.

It's also primarily an adventure-comedy, with a kinda parody-angle to it. They're intentionally gunning for these classic Hero Adventure experiences, in a bucket-list kind of way. Also, they're bards (for lack of a more accurate and snappy term) in a fantasy setting. So if you like a heavy emphasis on a sibling bond and ridiculous people getting into ridiculous situations of their own making, I'm hoping this will be appealing!

10. What are your hopes for your WIP?

That it gets finished, LMAO. My goal is to complete the rough draft by the end of summer, so that I can spend fall and winter revising, rewriting, editing, etc. I eventually hope (like most writers) to one day publish it. But let's not get ahead of ourselves! I can't get there if I don't even finish it.

Not sure who to tag, so I'll come back to it later.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Hiya! I currently have covid and am just feeling blue--do you have any super fun and super hot book recs? I'm trying to cheer myself up lol

Oh no, I'm sorry! COVID sucks. I didn't get it until right after Thanksgiving last year (and haven't gotten it again since) but it fucked me up quiiiiite a bit. I hope you feel better soon.

And YES! I do have some hot books for funsies.

If you have a tolerance for angst at this time (I can never tell if people mean fun as in "funny" or "anything entertaining", because my brain is weird and I tend to just be able to take a max dose of angst 95% of the time), I will always say some of the hottest books I've ever read with The Most Fun are Sierra Simone's. New Camelot is a great starting place IF you are down for some angst (HEA guaranteed, of course).

If you're NOT in an angsty mood, why not get a head start on the holiday season with her Christmas Notch series, co-authored by Julie Murphy? This series focuses on a small town where a Hallmark-type company films Christmas movies. Shit gets ROCKED, however, when the former child star actress of the movie (in the first book—these read best chronologically though they're technically standalones) has to drop out. The man heading the production studio making the movie ALSO has a porn production studio.... so... why not sub in a porn star who wants go mainstream? Starring opposite her childhood crush/a former boybander who's a big fan of her Only Fans page?

They're super funny, they're super delightful, they're HOT and the final book is out on 9/24! Does it include the hero getting his ass fingered? Who's to say?

(I am to say. He does. It's great. More of that, authors.)

SPEEEEAKING of porn stars, you could also try Rosie Danan's The Roommate, which is about a girl whose potential roommate drops out right before she's set to move in. Her new roommate... may happen to be a famous porn star. There is a truly incredible scene where she's like "I need an orgasm" and he's like "omg buddy I got you" and eats her out through her panties. Because that keeps it... platonic...

And then, also along the lines of modern classic superhot romcoms featuring sex workers, if you haven't read Helen Hoang's The Kiss Quotient... You gotta. A woman on the spectrum hires a male escort to teach her how to date (I mean, also to fuck) essentially, because she's been told she's frigid in bed in the past and thinks something is wrong with her. Rightfully, he's like "There is nothing wrong with you, also here's an orgasm". I'd also recommend the second book in the series, The Bride Test. The Heart Principle... is a heavy book that is actually too angsty for ME. Which is saying something. Not bad. Wouldn't call it fun.

What about Tracey Livesay's American Royalty? The one about the uptight British prince who has to organize a charity concert and hires a female rapper a la Megan Thee Stallion and then they fall in love? This one has a direct sequel, so you can get extra fun. (First book does NOT end on a cliffhanger, second just continues the journey.)

Minx by Sophie Lark is a fun one. In this one, the hero is a billionaire who hires the heroine, a high end escort, to help him with specific needs... Pet play, it's pet play. He has her dress up in a cat suit (to be clear: not like a furry cat suit... she's in a sexy cat suit and wearing cat ears and a collar that says "Minx"... she drinks milk out of a bowl and then they fuck nasty... INCLUDING. when she's ON HER PERIOD. be still my heart, more pls) and she ends up getting into his heart. Also, because it must be noted when we get it in m/f romance: his ass. She gets into that as well.

If you're open to something SUPER wacky lol, Kathryn Moon's A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor is a paranormal historical erotic romance in which the heroine essentially works in a brothel for monsters...? And she falls in love with like, five or six different monsters. The swords don't cross a TON, but they do cross, at it were. She bangs like. A Jekyll and Hyde guy; and a gollem type guy; an invisible guy; a vampire, a sphinx; and there's definitely more lol

How to Marry a Marble Marquis by C.M. Nascosta. Another paranormal historical type book. The heroine is looking for a husband, and receives assistance from a gargoyle rake. Also she receives dick from a gargoyle rake. She does in fact fuck the gargoyle rake while he's sleeping. And is a stone. He's fine with it.

If you're open to mafia romance, Mila Finelli (otherwise known as Joanna Shupe) writes such fun shit with her Kings of Italy series. Best read in order (the first two books are directly connected, the next three technically stand alone but come on now) they are SUUUUPER hot and SUUUUUUUUUPER over the top and so good. TWs for a lot of murder obviously, most of the super violent shit is "offscreen". The heroine of the first book is 18 and the hero (who initially is arranging for her to marry his son) is 38. So there's that. But it's very much NOT your standard issue "sweet virgin" mafia romance.

Sara Cate's first four Salacious Player's Club books are super hot and good! I would especially recommend Give Me More (MMF, friends to lovers) and Mercy (femdom, older heroine/bratty hero). Also Mercy has pegging! I'm on a roll, truly.

Act Your Age by Eve Dangerfield, of course. The one where the heroine blows her boss by accident (it was dark, they were both confused, mistakes were made) AAAAND calls him daddy during. Which he loves. So they begin a no-strings relationship which involves, among other things, stepfather/stepdaughter roleplay. It gets emotionally out of hand. Soooo good and soooooo hot tho I will admit I am soooooooo the target audience.

If you want short and sweet, Angelina M. Lopez just released Give it To Me! which is an anthology of her short stories, most of which are on the hotter side (a couple are closed door, but one of the few that doesn't include sex has a sequel story in the collection which DOES and it's fab). You get everything from a widow asking her dead husband's best friend (who's become her best friend in the ensuing years) to help her get back in the saddle (by fucking her) to surfboard sex to a magical orgy gangbang situation. Very fun.

If you've never read Tessa Dare... lol... now's the time. A Week to Be Wicked and When a Scot Ties the Knot might be good for this moment! I also love Any Duchess Will Do, but that has a gut punch (in a sad way) moment.

Grace Callaway's historicals are very fun and very hot and silly and comedic, buuuut I will say the backstories can get pretty dark in a lot of them. If you are open, I'd say that you might want to try her Game of Dukes series or the Lady Charlotte's Society of Angels (it's Charlie's Angels but historical romance) books.

A lot of S.M. LaViolette books can be on the darker side, but her Bellamy's series is definitely on the lighter end for her. They're VERY hot if you're in a historical mood, and though there are some tragic backstories, I think it's a bit more doable than her other stuff. And you get things like "Phoebe's mom tells her she should just knock herself out on her wedding night because her future husband is like 7 feet tall and clearly hung" and "Hyacinth is pretending to be a guy and Sylvester knows she's a girl now so he's having a good time baiting her into revealing she's a girl by saying shit like 'LET'S JACK OFF TOGETHER, OL' BOY' while watching a peep show with her".

TJ Alexander's Triple Sec is sooo fun and hot if you're open to a queer book. The main POV heroine is a bartender who meets a bubbly lawyer... but the lawyer is married... But hey, they're poly! And now our main heroine is dating the lawyer while developing feelings for her frosty artist spouse... It's F/F/NB.

Preferential Treatment by Heather Guerre, of course. A woman mouths off to the billionaire CEO of her company. He's super into it and offers to pay her to be his domme. Yay!

[msbigredmachine]

Watched Survivor Series: Wargames. My highlights:

1. The women’s match was chaotic in a good way. Waited for a Dakota Kai-esque betrayal at the entranceway but didn’t get it sadly.

2. LOL at Asuka’s mist finally neutralizing Rhea’s rampage.

3. Frenemies Becky and Bianca working together to get the W warmed my heart.

4. Sami near tears as he explained to Roman what being in the Bloodline means to him was some top tier acting. But the look on Roman’s face when he hugged Sami was 🥶 .

5. Shoutout to Damian Priest’s hair! The literal definition of bone-straight!

6. Always happy to see Dominik get his ass beat. That Thanksgiving beatdown he gave his Daddy made me mad lol

6. Finn and AJ beat the shit out of each other. Both guys are in their 40s and they still move the way they do. Very enjoyable.

7. Still don’t like Austin Theory but I’m taking him a little more seriously now.

8. Chocolate Daddy Lashley always looks like such a badass. 🍫

9. LOVED the double Hurt Lock on both Seth and Austin.

10. The Super Stomp from Seth! The finish was GREAT. Really good match IMO.

11. The entire Bloodline coming out together (in red, no less 🤤). I could feel the atmosphere change even through the screen.

12. I believe Roman is the first person to ever sit on a chair in the War Games cage lol.

13. Roman you ain’t slick, I know you sent Jey in first on purpose to get tortured before he could get any help! 👀 😡

14. Am I the only one that loves when Butch turns people’s fingers into pretzels? Sorry Jey.

15. TBH I initially thought the men’s match was going a little slow, but once Sami came in, I quickly understood that this match was all about the storytelling.

16. Fam, Solo Sikoa coming in second to last for the Bloodline made him look so important. He changed the match, the badass shooter making way for the final boss. And don’t forget the way he stared down the opps before the match even started. Straight flames!

17. Sami making the save for literally every Bloodline member 🥹🥺. Yet I was still on the edge of my seat because I was sure they would turn on him during the match

18. Jey superkicked that man in the face with zero remorse 😩🤦🏾‍♀️ And the crowd calling him an asshole afterwards was perfect!

19. Sami giving Kevin that low blow followed up with a Helluva kick was essentially Sami shooting Kevin in the head. Then sacrificing Kevin to Jey to finish him off. MY EMOTIONS!

20. You know you’ve been accepted when Roman hugs you with his hand on the back of your head, lol.

21. THE HUG FROM JEY 😳😳😳 I couldn’t believe my eyes!

———-

I don’t care what anyone else watches. The Bloodline storyline is THE BEST story being told in wrestling today. Rikishi’s boys are exceptional professional wrestlers.

My MVP - Sami Zayn, hands down. Stole the entire show. Stole this storyline and pocketed it. He has been amazing since this started in May. Plus this was funny af:

Line of the night:

“Come fight me, you little bitch!” - Becky to Bayley, repeatedly 🥴😂

[thegeekyartist]

4.favorite thing to draw

6.warm colors or cold colors

7.show us a WIP

9.show us a finished piece right alongside the original sketch

10.how many different sketches do you usually have until your piece is finished

12.show us an old drawing

:D?

Ooh yay, thank you! 🥰

4. Favorite thing to draw.

PEOPLE. Always. I used to do a lot of candy and toys in that Instagram style (single object floating on a solid background), but it started to get boring. I'll do them every once in a while when I want to do a quick painting, but I've been mostly painting figurative works - either movie/tv screenshots or narrative personal pieces.

I also don't mean to do it but I almost always have hands in a painting. That's what I get for avoiding drawing them when I was younger.

6. Warm colors or cool colors?

Warm and ✨saturated✨. My most used paint (besides white lol) is my quinacridone magenta, which essentially is a hot pink.

7. Show us a WIP

Well since you asked so nicely 😏 it's not the whole thing but here's a peek of the area I finished yesterday! (Ironically this is the first and only painting in a LONG while that doesn't use that pink lmao)

9. Show us a piece alongside the original sketch.

Okay full disclosure, I'm terrible at making thumbnail sketches lol. I dive into paintings super quickly, usually doing most of the planning with references in Photoshop. Here's a comparison of a piece from last year vs the digital reference! (and a rare glimpse of me sans glasses lmao)

10. How many different sketches do you usually have until your piece is finished?

For paintings I'll MAYBE have a thumbnail when I'm coming up with the idea, then I do a bit of a digital collage in Photoshop to plan everything out (see above).

For digital drawings, I'll do a gesture drawing to plan the composition, then another layer to tighten things up, then usually a final sketch layer with all the correct lines that I plan to keep and work from.

12. Show us an old drawing.

Have a comparison! Lol. Growth really is a beautiful thing. 2009 vs 2022

[warpedlegacy]

Fanfic Writer Questions

Tagged by @dreadfutures! Tagging @effelants and @kiastirling-fanfic.

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 47

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 739,512

3. What fandoms do you write for? Resident Evil/Biohazard, Dragon Age, Mass Effect

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Recovery, a post-RE2 Remake Leon/Claire smut (340) The Rise, part 1 of my DAI-timeline series that starts with the prologue and ends with the arrival at Skyhold (140) Bracing, a 350-word drabble for Dorian/Bull (71) A Terrible Bore (350-word Cullen/Theresa drabble) and An Evening In (one-shot Cullen/Theresa fluff) are tied for fourth (64) Fiercely Perish, which is essentially Die Hard in Thedas, with Bull as John McClain (56)

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes! I try to respond to everyone and try not to be overwhelming in my gratitude lol. I so rarely get comments that each one feels like Christmas Morning to me and I want to cherish it forever.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? The Black City - the second part of my post-Trespasser Cullen/Theresa series, which ends with their relationship in tatters and them coming to the conclusion that the only way they can heal from their grief is apart. One of the hardest things I've ever written. T_T

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Swept Away - my super indulgent Josephine/Isabela adventure romance. I wrote it as a combination of Pirates of the Caribbean meets Jane Austen. I adore them!

8. Do you get hate on fics? No, never! I've been very lucky.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yup! I've written one-shots as well as scenes incorporated into longer stories. It's almost never PWP though - I have tried and literally can't. For some reason it always ends up at least partly a character study lmao. And because it's me, there's also usually some angst worming its way in there. I am hopeless. ^_^;

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? Nope. The closest I've ever come was D&DA Effect, which was me just taking the idea of "what if the plot of DA was actually just the crew of the Normandy playing D&D?" and cranking out a short dialogue-only scene. It reads like a transcript lol. It was definitely fun, but overall I don't have much interest in crossovers.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I've had a couple people ask if they can translate one or two of my fics, and I've always granted permission. If they ever completed the translations, I was never tagged in them.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? A couple times, yes. I've participated in a couple round robins with my fellow server members, and did a pinch hit on an exchange event with another writer.

14. What's your all time favorite ship? Oh gosh I have so many.... My favorite to write for is definitely Cullen/Theresa, Theresa being my OC Trevelyan Inquisitor.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Look. I really, REALLY wanna finish my Reprises & Reprisals series. I promise!!! I'm about to pick it back up in fact. But my worry is that once the fourth game comes out I may lose interest in writing for Inquisition for a while. And who knows when it'll come back. So I'm hoping to at least finish MOST of book two, which will at least get me to the end of the base game and the big revelation I've been sitting on for literal YEARS.

16. What are your writing strengths? Character and dialogue, and I've also been told that I write action well

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Repetition. Descriptive prose and scene blocking. Every time I have to describe what a character is physically doing in a scene, I immediately forget how to exist in a body or how to move one lol.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? If you are fluent enough to write in that language, write it out. Or if not, at least run it by someone who is. The more often languages other than English are included in stories shown to a primarily English-speaking readership, the less "other" it will become. Otherwise, it's best just to write it in English (WITHOUT writing the accent) and describe what language it's being spoken in. Conlangs and ciphers are definitely trickier, and I try my best not to lean too heavily on them, just because I don't feel I'm well enough versed in linguistics to really parse the nuances of such use without accidentally falling into unfortunate implications or stereotypes.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Mass Effect

20. Favorite fic you've written? As much as I love my Cullen/Theresa stories, I have a deep fondness and love for Swept Away. I poured a lot of time and effort into its writing, and it remains, in my opinion, one of my best-paced, best-written, and most engaging stories.

Blank form under the cut

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

3. What fandoms do you write for?

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

5. Do you respond to comments?

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

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

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

16. What are your writing strengths?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

19. First fandom you wrote for?

20. Favorite fic you've written?

[daemon-in-my-head]

7 and 9 for the new ask, hit me w/ those genesis stories ✌️

Thank u sm for asking! Don't mind if I do (though this might get very fucked up at some point, just a heads up lol)

7. Is their personal story represented in their overall design? Do they carry any mental scars or physical alterations from the shit that happened to them?

Yes, so goddamn much. Essentially every 'milestone' in his life is in some way represented in his visual design and most definitely in his behaviour.

He's got the scar on his cheek/nose from the time before Bhaal, or more specifically from getting his ass handed to him in training sessions to join a Paladin order. And well seeing how he is a Sorcadin, yeah the training did work out longterm too. The change to red eyes was a result of the urge fully manifesting and the pallid/sickly pale skin is the result of prolonged exposure to the shadow curse. He pretty much looks sick and not the way an elf should, cuz arguably, he isnt, is he? He was someone artifically created, someone whos majorly fucked up and his mental health is rotting in that corner over there, so he looks that part (bonus he uses the only sorcery type that can be artifically learned as opposed to normal sorcery that is always passed down.)

Overall he's gained a lot more scars over his time, his hair started growing lighter before he got white streaks/completely white hair due to the stress of simply existing in that way. And while his original eye colour kinda returns, it's only for one eye. Cuz even if ya redeem yourself, being created from bhaals flesh and essence kinda prevents you from wholly getting rid of him, so one eye remained red. Which he eventually gauged out cuz yeah that man is 1000% definitely sane and learned how to cope with his emotions properly. The remaining eye is also pretty fucked up thx to Orins homemade lobotomy, which honestly was pretty important to me cuz yeah he survived the story, survived bhaal, but it fucked him up and left very permanent scars he'll have to learn how to deal with (but he won't.)

The struggles with his past, his own existence and his own contradictory nature are very apparent in his design as well as his behaviour and it was important to me that he's that way fucked up failure kinda guy. Also the fact that you can't go thru the shit he had to endure and come out of it looking the same or being the same. He's bruised, quite broken, definitely lost most of his sanity but he did get to reclaim some agency and some parts of the person that was seemingly eradicated when Bhaal first took over. Life changes you, time changes you, and if you're a Bhaalspawn shit usually grows worse with time, so it makes sense his looks also grow from pretty boy to broken doll and that his controlled nature grows more unstable with time and experience (cuz ya can't loose basically everyone you ever held just a sliver of affection for and come out of it being cool, that mans obsession just grow exponentially worse).

Tldr; very fucked up man, physically and mentally a rep of struggle with your own mind and being a broken child ig. Loss and grief and the unavoidable change resulting from it as overarching themes and I wanted them to show in every way possible.

9. How much did Bhaal influence their design or personality in the end? Did you research lore to purposefully get the resemblance or do you just go with the flow and what feels right for the story you want to tell?

I'd never spend hours researching Bhaalist lore, naaaaah, who do u think I am....? He usually wears the priests robes. Straight up.

But cuz he's a rebellious little fuck the look is messy, with 1 sleeve just hanging from the belt that's barely tying the purple cloth together. Whenever he's not wearing that it's just simple black clothes and an old coat he brought from 'home' or fancy shit (though white/red colour scheme to contrast Gortash) whenever he needs to drag himself to deal with the patriars.

As for personality, oh boy. He loves Bhaal. Truly. Bhaal is his creator, his father, the reason he exists. And he absolutely loathes him because he's the reason for all the pain and suffering he needed to endure. He controlls him like a puppet and forces him to discard even the tiniest bit that's left of his person, but even so Bhaal is also the only reason he got to enjoy the youth he had and meet the people he met. Without him he may have never come to exist in this time period. Every choice he makes can be traced back to this twisted mindset. He's worshipping Bhaal while actively rebelling against him

I will one day get to finishing a ref! Maybe.

[visitbespin]

20 Questions for Writers

tagged by the wonderful @autumnwoodsdreamer, thank you!! ✨

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

19 works

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

139,379 words

3. What fandoms do you write for?

star wars, star trek, and...others (that i either won't mention + there's 2 more fandoms i have unpublished wip's for... one day they will see the light of day) (and i used to write for dghda!)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

you could always see me

time to come home

we're a slow burning tune

no different

5. Do you respond to comments?

yes!! and i love to do so!!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i don't really write angsty endings? so i'll pick home is far away - the first fic in the series of the same title! it has a hopeful ending but it leaves the characters in an 'angsty' place emotionally, essentially because it's part 1 of 3.

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

home, in every language - part 3 of the home is far away series. ♡ though i am also very fond of the ending of when to hold on and when to let go.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

never, thankfully!

9. Do you write smut?

i have not

10. Do you write crossovers?

no, unless we count mixing characters from various star wars properties; i love mixing rebels characters with the OT, mando, and thrawn books characters, it brings me a lot of joy.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

nope

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

nope

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

wow that is quite a question... within star wars i'd pick dinluke or thranto lol. truthfully i think my answer to this question changes every year lol, my ao3 bookmarks show this pretty clearly

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

oh hell... it's a star wars au of another fandom that i started writing in fall 2022. please let me finish this someday, i'm on chapter 4 of 4, and the whole thing is only 10k words rn 😭

also, more relevantly, there is a fic about ezra & luke on lothal that i started in ... early 2023. it's 6k words rn and i'm probably 40% through the story... [sighs deeply] please let me finish this one too, please.

16. What are your writing strengths?

constructing a narrative? i don't know, i'm fond of these stories i've woven. i find it hard to write a fic that's ~just vibes~, although i do love to read those; my writing is always spurred by the need to write these characters undergoing something meaningful, with a meaningful conclusion.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

...i have previously read back some of my work and found some very clunky sentences/paragraphs that really make it clear i'm only a writer by hobby, and that my profession is...more technical lol. i also don't like some of the romance i've written in the past, but i don't regret writing any of it.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

hell yeah i've done it multiple times! my bobannec fic is kind of very about that, and i've used other languages in non-sw fics. i like reading it in fics as well.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

dirk gently's holistic detective agency! in 2017-2018. to this day i think it was/is the most welcoming fandom to write fic for.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

home is far away, all 3 parts. ❤️ and since i have a place to say it, that fic means so much to me because it let me express so many of the feelings i was experiencing in 2022. the same goes for when to hold on and when to let go. i really love and cherish both of those stories.

no pressure at all, tagging @theydjarin @gizkalord @gil-estel and anyone else who sees this and feels like answering questions! 💌