#standalone don’t rb

[yaaay-propellerhat]

Trumpet's not afraid anymore.

That should be a good thing. His body has given up on being afraid, deciding to let whatever happens happen, and there's a relief in that acceptance. And if the past couple of days are any indication, he doesn't need to be worried about being abandoned - at least, not as long as he stays in one spot and just lets people pass him off when they need a break. He hasn’t really experimented on that front.

But here's the thing: if there's no point in being afraid, and no reason to believe that doing nothing will make people leave him, then what's the point in ever doing anything at all?

He doesn't need to act like a kid anymore. He doesn't have to pretend. He doesn't have to battle against the thick fog in his brain in order to be somebody worth keeping around. He doesn't have to try to be interested in all the things he used to like, he doesn't need to make sure other people still like him, and the only reason he SHOULD get out of bed has been kidnapped and he couldn't save her so honestly does he really deserve to be having fun, even if he could?

The fact of the matter is that Trumpet doesn’t have to do anything to survive anymore. He’ll be fed. He’ll be taken care of. And if he doesn’t have to do anything to survive, then he doesn’t really see the point in doing anything at all.

Trumpet’s not afraid anymore, and now there’s nothing left.

He lies in Maxo’s bed in the dark and lets the infinite blankness in his head and chest envelop his entire body.

[quesadillaislandofficial]

Pato’s fucking sweating.

The Bureau's booked through the day, which means that they get to poke around. They let the crows know that they don't have to take any risks and start to explore the building. Not the parts they’re used to. Engineering.

Pato climbs into the elevator and stares out nervously into the hallway they came from - clean, white, decorated with the occasional potted plant. Any moment now, the Bureau's gonna step out of its office and see them in the elevator. Any moment now. Any moment...

The doors close and Pato lets themself breathe. They feel the momentum of the elevator's motion. The doors open again.

Darkness. Silence. A corridor stretches into deeper blackness. The emptiness echoes like an exhale. Pato didn't know what they were expecting, but it wasn't this. The silence presses into their ears like cotton balls until they can hear their own blood rushing. They swallow hard.

Eventually, the elevator doors close on them, shutting them inside before they’ve even stepped out. Pato stares at the floor of their well-lit cube for a moment. Then they take a deep breath and press the button to open it back up.

Out they step, sidestepping immediately to press their back against the wall. They stare into the darkness like they're daring it to become something else.

After a bit, the elevator doors shut again, leaving the corridor pitch dark.

Pato takes a deep breath in and exhales slowly. "Easy, Jere," they murmur to themself. "You're a grown-ass man. It's just a dark hallway."

Still, it's another second or two before they force themself to get moving.

The offices they pass by are dark and empty. A lot of chairs are turned towards the doors, and the desks are still cluttered with papers. Work half-done. Evacuated in a hurry.

...Nobody back to clean up.

Pato stifles their feelings of unease and keeps exploring. The Bureau's engineers, they’re pretty sure they remember, were stationed deeper in.

There’s a green light at the end of the next corner they round.

Pato freezes instinctively, then starts hurrying forwards. In unnavigable darkness, the sight of any light is comforting. And as they get closer, they start to see where the light is reflecting off something: something textured, something like hair, or fur, or-

Pato’s breath catches, seeing the full outline of the figure slumped on the floor.

Oh.

[cha-cha-cha-chayanne]

He doesn't know why he's in here. He did everything right. His fathers did everything right.

He hopes that his family knows he's not frightened. He is way, WAY too angry to be frightened.

They restrain him with cuffs on a table and force his wings to spread wide. Workers come in with shears as Chayanne rants and rages and spits, and then he starts to hear them snip at his beautiful primaries, the SHICK of the blades, the hollow snap of his rachis, and as he struggles and shouts his furious cussing in English and Spanish devolves into furious screeches and hisses and roars.

By the time they're done with the first wing, all of his limbs are covered in feathers.

For the second wing, he goes limp, making a big show of defeat. He hides his face by bowing his head, the extent of the changes to his limbs hidden by his clothes. It takes much less time to finish without him thrashing.

When they're done, the cuffs click open. Chayanne's head snaps up and the transformation is complete, the veil of his hair vanishing into his feathers to reveal a feral, beaked face.

His wings can no longer fly, but they turn the air into an arctic storm as he launches himself off the table with the piercing shriek of an egret dragon. He latches onto the chest of one worker, claws shredding through the fur and leaving deep gouges in the metal, then bounds off of them to the next one, his hind leg turning its head completely out of alignment as he lands. In that moment before they fall, he sets lightning-blue eyes on the worker holding the shears.

The metal clatters to the ground and the faceless bear holds up its hands.

As if it’s not far too late for that.

Chayanne takes a deep breath and expels a high-pressure stream of pure frost directly into the worker’s neck joint. Immediately, he flings himself from the worker he’s on to that one, latching onto its neck with all four of his limbs and plunging his beak into wires made brittle by ice.

The worker falls backwards and Chayanne rides it down, punctuating the air with the crunching and snapping of metal. Clunky paws come to restrain him, and he does his best to fight them off, but doesn’t try to flee.

This isn’t about escaping. This is about doing as much damage as he fucking can.

By the time they tear Chayanne off of it, the worker’s chest is spread open like an unfolded paper airplane. He feels a prick in his neck, and then the world swims away from him.

When he wakes up again, mouth dry, head pounding, he’s wearing a muzzle.

[daughterofyuri]

The grass feels weird between her toes. It’s different when it’s real, not just a simulation. There’s texture to it, a smell to it. Em imagines there’s prolly a taste to it, too, but she’s not willing to find out.

She feels a bit useless as she watches Pepito build their shelter. The pile of apples next to the log hut gleams softly as the sun lowers in the sky.

She should help. She wants to help. What are they missing that they need?

[Water.]

Water! They need it to drink, and Pepito surely needs it for Pepito’s skin. Empanada needs something to carry it in, a source for it, a way to make sure it’s clean… it’s a bit overwhelming for her to think about. Her groupmates are hard at work, though, so she doesn’t have time to be anxious.

[Do you want my help?]

“Um…” Em whispers, trying to avoid drawing attention to herself. “Sure, if you don’t mind. What was your name again?”

There’s a pause, as if part of her, a part she can’t access and yet can feel all the same, is thinking.

[Cassidy.]

[sagesolsticewrites]

Sweet Nothing | Austin x Reader

You serve as a sweet domestic escape for Austin when the fame gets too much

a/n: I had originally planned this as sort of a sequel to another fic I’m working on right now (working title: Lavender Haze 👀) but this can also be read as a standalone! Highly recommend listening to Sweet Nothing by Taylor Swift while reading ☺️ Reader in this one is fem, referred to as Austin’s girlfriend.

Word count: 928

Warnings: mentions of paparazzi/media being rude, I think that’s it? As always, please let me know if I missed anything!

Please like/rb if you enjoyed! 🤍

Masterlist | add yourself to my taglist!

Austin sighs as he enters the apartment, kicking off his boots at the door. He had just wanted to go for a walk and enjoy the cool fall weather, but the paparazzi had been particularly aggressive today, and while he’d tried to avoid them as politely as possible, it had turned his mood sour as vinegar. 

His heart lifts as the sweet smell of… what was that, cinnamon?… reaches his nose, and he follows it to the kitchen to find you at the stove, removing what looks to be the first of several batches of cookies from the oven. You haven’t noticed him yet, and he takes a moment to drink you in: your hair is thrown up in an adorably messy bun, a maroon apron tied around your waist, remnants of flour scattered on your hands, in your hair — pretty much everywhere, from what he can see — and he practically melts as you start humming along to the song crooning from the speaker on the counter. 

“And I’m crazy for loving you,” Patsy Cline croons from the speaker as you hum along, transferring cookies to the wire rack you have set up nearby, and it’s such a sweet, soft, domestic scene that Austin’s almost afraid to move, afraid that he’ll break whatever spell is at work here. As much as he loves your attention, he loves these moments, too: the simple ones, where you’re not Austin Butler’s Girlfriend, you’re just Y/N, puttering around the kitchen on a cozy fall day.

Inevitably though, you turn around and practically jump out of your skin once you catch sight of him leaning against the wall at the entrance to the kitchen. You recover quickly, the startled expression on your face melting into a bright smile as he approaches you.

“Hey, I didn’t hear you come in!” You greet him brightly, leaning up onto your tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek, “How was your walk?”

“It was alright,” he chuckles, quickly changing to topic, “Whatcha working on here?”

“I found a recipe for gingersnaps, and today seemed like a good day to try it out,” you explain cheerfully. You keep your eyes on him, scanning his expressions carefully, and something tender flashes across your face.

“Did something happen while you were out?” You ask gently, setting down the spatula still in your hand and turning to give him your full attention.

He should’ve known he wouldn’t be able to hide his sour mood from you; you’ve gotten very good at picking up on if he’s feeling down, no matter how hard he tries to hide it. 

“Just the paps,” he shrugs, allowing some of the gray mood he’s in to show through, “They were more… I dunno, aggressive? Today for some reason.”

You let out an aw and pull him in for a hug, “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

He shakes his head from where it’s resting on your shoulder, stray strands of hair that came free from your bun tickling his nose.

“It’s not a big deal, I mean… it’s kinda what I asked for, being an actor, right? But it’d be nice to just take a walk in peace every now and then.” He says lightly, though some of the bitterness seeps through in his voice.

You pull away abruptly and take his face in your hands, forcing him to look into your eyes.

“Austin, listen to me,” you say gently but insistently, “Just because you’re a little famous,” your voice lifts to a teasing lilt for a brief second before returning to its urgent tone, “doesn’t mean you don’t deserve some sense of privacy, or at the very least the chance to walk around without a bunch of people with cameras hounding you. You got that?” Your eyes search his until he nods in understanding, “Good. You deserve to have a normal life, don’t forget that.”

Well-intentioned lecture over, you hop up to sit on the counter, picking up the spatula again. “Wanna help me with these?” You ask, gesturing with the utensil to the remaining cookies on the tray.

Instead of answering, Austin steps forward and wraps you in a hug. Though you’re eye-level with each other now, thanks to the height of the granite counter, Austin dips to rest his head on your shoulder, his nose brushing against your neck. He closes his eyes and inhales, taking in the scent of brown sugar and cinnamon mixing with your vanilla lotion to create what might possibly be his favorite scent on Earth.

“Thank you, sweetheart.” He breathes against your skin. 

He doesn’t need to say for what.

“Always, Aus,” you whisper in response, lips brushing a gentle kiss to the shell of his ear as your hand comes up to stroke through his hair.

The two of you stay like that for a while, wrapped in a gentle embrace in the kitchen that smells like all the good things in the world put together, only stepping apart when the oven timer goes off to announce that the next batch of cookies is done.

Without prompting, Austin takes out the tray, all traces of his previous sour mood gone as the two of you dance around each other in the kitchen in a perfect display of sweet domesticity.

The outside world might be constantly demanding things from him — the price he had to pay for his dream career — but he could always count on coming home to you: the one person who asked for absolutely nothing but his love, which he happily gave freely and unconditionally.

Taglist: @queenslandlover-93 @anangelwhodidntfall @austin-butlers-gf @butlersluvbot @killerqueenfan @kittenlittle24 @beauvibaby @kingelviscreole @justjacesstuff @sweetheartlizzie07 @coldonexx @londonalozzy @kaycinema @annamarie16 @adoreyouusugar @djconde58 @mirandastuckinthe80s @luke-my-skywalker @tubble-wubble @apparently-sunshine @kisseskae @whotfatemywaffles @gyomei-tiddies @friedwangsss @shynovelist @sassy-ahsoka-tano @she-is-juniper @hallecarey1 @adoreyouusugar @iheartcbe @nora-nexus-34 @finelineskies @dontbesussis @fangirl-imagines

[web-novel-polls]

Pinned Post / Tournament List

Ongoing

Have You Read This Web Novel? (11 am)

Best Hater Tournament (Web Novel) (10 AM)

WN Criminal Tournament (5 PM)

Submissions Open

WN Rarepair Tournament (Prelims ongoing)

Trans WN Character

Favorite Disabled WN Character

Smartest WN Character

WN Monster Tournament

ORV Constellations Tournament

Hidden Tournament

Modern WN Character Tournament

Favorite WN Men Tournament

Anything from Any Web Novel

Leverage Teams Tournament

Best Regressor Tournament

Most Feral WN Character Tournament

Suggestions

Suggest a tournament idea!

Suggest a poll idea!

Future Tournaments

Character All-Stars - for the most popular/winning/excluded characters (Runs when there's enough tournament winners)

Google Forms

"Two Men, One Cup" Survey

Danmei Characters - Type of Printer

"Gender & Sexuality in Web Novels" Survey

Tags

General 

Suggestive language → 13+ - please block these tags if you're under 13-years-old

nsft / 18+ - please block BOTH of these tags if you're under 18-years-old

#mini polls - standalone polls not attached to a tournament 

#themed polls - mini polls that are based on a theme (ex: “do you know this character”) but are not competing in a larger tournament with brackets (not tagged as mini polls)

#administrative polls - these are polls that are not part of the tournament itself; for example, "What tournament do you want to see next?" or "Should polls be kept open for 1 day or 1 week?”

#my polls

#not a poll

#submissions - where you can submit characters/contestants for my tournaments (#my submissions) and other tournaments

#masterposts - the main hub post of that will usually include links to the submissions & any other important posts. All the masterposts should also be linked to my pinned

#announcements - overall tournament stuff like polls being delayed or submissions closing

#statistics - info about tournaments (biggest sweep, closest race, most voted for, most voted in, least voted in, most see results)

#surveys 

#google forms

#asks

#web speaks - my yapping tag

Self reblogs 

#morning rb - for when I make a post in the middle of the night & want it to actually be seen

#submissions rb - I’ve started periodically reblogging my submissions every once in a while (sometimes spread out, sometimes 1 per hour for 5-6 hours), so feel free to block this tag

#reminders - another tag you can block if you don’t want to see duplicate posts. Usually used when there’s 24 hours left on a poll

#results - when a tournament or significant poll has ended, the results will be announced in a reblog with this tag. I don't reblog the results of every poll, usually just the tournament/bracket winner

Other Reblogs

#other polls - polls reblogged from somewhere else

#other tournaments - what it says on the tin! Usually contains both submissions & polls but NOT mini polls or themed polls

#propaganda - all propaganda that's not initially attached to a poll. If you're looking for propaganda for a certain character or tournament participant, it will be tagged as both "propaganda" and "[participant] propaganda." (Ex: "zhao yue propaganda" or "wenzhou propaganda")

Tie Rule: 1% difference or less = confirmed tie (more info here)

Other Cool WN-Themed Poll Blogs:

@/danmei-in-polls 

@/pollswithorvflavor

@/fun-mxtx-polls

@/mxtxfmk

@/b0dwr1ter

Completed Tournaments (16)

MDZS Character Tournament

February 21st, 2023 - March 26th, 2023

Tag: #mdzs character tournament

First Place: Wei Wuxian

Second Place: Lan Wangji

Third Place: Wen Qing

SVSSS Character Tournament 

March 20th, 2023 - April 6th, 2023

Tag: #svsss character tournament 

Winner: Shen Qingqiu 

Second Place: Luo Binghe / Bing-mei

Third Place: Shang Qinghua 

TGCF Character Tournament

April 7th, 2023 - April 26th, 2023

Tag: #tgcf character tournament

Winner(s): Shi Qingxuan & He Xuan 

Second Place: Yin Yu

Third Place: Yushi Huang

Baihe Tournament

May 6th, 2023 – May 30th, 2023

Tag: #baihe tournament

Upper Bracket Winner: Clear and Muddy Loss of Love / JWQS

Lower Bracket Winner: Female General and Eldest Princess / FGEP

Danmei Tournament

May 20th, 2023 - June 7th, 2023

Tag: #danmei tournament

Winner: Golden Stage

Danmei Character Tournament

June 2nd, 2023 – July 26th, 2023

Tag: #danmei character tournament

Popular Bracket Winner: Shen Qingqiu from SVSSS

Less Popular Bracket Winner: Yan Zhengming & Gu Mang

Baihe Character Tournament

October 11th, 2023 – November 7th, 2023

Tag: #baihe character tournament 

Winner: Qi Yan from JWQS

Aroace-spec WN Character Tournament

August 10th, 2023 – November 8th, 2023

Tag: #aroace spec character tournament

Winner: Liu Qingge from SVSSS

MXTX Side Characters Tournament

November 9th, 2023 - March 4th, 2024

Tag: #mxtx side characters tournament

Winner: Jiang Cheng

Silliest Pre-Isekai Death Tournament

February 10th - March 20th, 2024

Tournament Tag: #silliest pre isekai death tournament

Winner: Shen Qingqiu from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System

Five Love Languages of Danmei Tournament

January 12th-April 18th, 2024

Tournament Tag: #danmei love languages tournament 

Grand Tournament Winner: Bingqiu (Cooking a Large Meal)

Web Novel Weapon Tournament

March 6th-April 20th, 2024

Tournament Tag: #web novel weapon tournament

Winner: A Rock from Lout of the Count's Family

Priest (Author) Tournament

March 16th-May 20th, 2024

Tournament Tag: #priest character tournament

Upper Bracket & Tournament Winner: Wen Kexing from Faraway Wanderers

Lower Bracket Winner: Jing Beiyuan from Lord Seventh

Web Novel Animal Tournament

April 1st-June 2nd, 2024

Tournament Tag: #webnovel animal tournament

Sapient Bracket & Tournament Winner: Zhuzhi-lang (non-human form)

Non-Sapient Bracket Winner: Hua Cheng's Deathly Spirit Butterflies

Web Novel Women Tournament

May 24th - July 28th, 2024

Tournament Tag: #favorite wn women tournament

Tournament Winner: Han Sooyoung from ORV

Second Place: Yushi Huang from TGCF

Third Place: Liu Mingyan (SVSSS) & Ling Wen (TGCF)

Web Novel Quotes Tournament

April 25th - July 31st, 2024

Tournament Tag: #webnovel quotes tournament

Final Rankings

[mochamartyr]

please include the name of the specific piece of media in the tags!!

(also please rb for a larger sample size pls)

[lesbiansloveseokjin]

As someone who was a one direction fan back when they went on “hiatus”, this feels so, so different. Not only did they talk about future projects (choreo for Run BTS, bringing back Run BTS (the show) for example), they took the time to sit down and talk to us, tell us why they’re taking this time apart, focusing on their own projects. They didn’t hide their emotions, hide the tears. They talked about working on some music together (all those jokes about Yoongi’s producing rate). They talked about how much closer they’ve grown since they’ve been living separately, how they really are family and not just friends. I lived through the downfall of One Direction (and maybe one day they’ll come a reunion tour or album, who knows), but this is different.

And let me just say how proud I am of them for choosing to do this despite the immense guilt they’ve admitted to feeling about taking time to themselves, because they felt like they were letting BTS and ARMY down. They are not. Whether they come back as a group in a year or ten, I am so proud of them and happy for them. I hope their solo works go beautifully and look forward to seeing what they have planned.

We love you, Bangtan Sonyeondan.

[orindas]

that dreamers often lie

I go by meg, ellis, and cecil!! i don’t have any nicknames but you can absolutely give me some

she/they/any pronouns

18

queer, just really fucking queer

please feel free to tag me in any art/edits/fics you have!!!!

I love finding new creators and works so if it’s in any of my fandoms or we're mutuals please randomly tag me, send an ask, or dm me!!

mutuals can ask for my discord

you can reblog any of my posts, I literally don't care. If I do not want something reblogged I will put a specific 'do not rb' tag on it, or I will reach out to you to delete it if I need to

I am trying to get better at tagging things but i'm still not the best. If you need anything specific tagged please send an ask/dm!!!

I am very liberal with the block button. Just try to be a decent person before you follow me <3

Fandoms

the owl house

spop

one last stop

red, white, and royal blue

scythe

carmen sandiego

julie and the phantoms

the shadowhunter chronicles, specifically the last hours trilogy

six of crows duology, nikolai duology, grishaverse trilogy

marie lu books, especially skyhunter and warcross

osemanverse

general queer ya lit (series and standalones)

Previous urls:

luumitys, mcquistons, knifescythe, storm-witchs, catalinaajune

there are a few others from before that, but I don't remember some of them, others were very temporary, and the rest are from fandoms I'm not In and don't have any mutuals from

about my username:

orinda was the pen name of 17th century english poet Kathrine Philips, who had many amazing poems, but is very well known for her works on female friendship. let’s be clear that these poems were gay af, to the point my religious mother upon coming across them in our english textbook asked me point blank whether I thought she was really talking about friendship in it.

one quote that can kinda sum up the vibes of these poems is from Friendships Mystery, to My Dearest Lucasia in which she writes “To the dull angry world let’s prove/there’s a religion in our love”

I’m not really a huge poetry person myself, but I really love these poems for their literary value, as well as it’s meaning for both sapphic romantic love and platonic love. basically I’m really gay and really nerdy and would love to be the object of someone’s feral poetry some day

[yaaay-propellerhat]

Trumpet wakes up in the windmill again.

Standard fare. It’s been a while since he’s had one of these, but they do crop up every now and again. He just has to sit through the emotions until he can wake himself up, usually.

Only it’s different this time. There’s light coming through the windows. He can hear birds chirping outside. And the room he’s in is- different. The walls are covered in wild colors. There’s furniture. A music player. A chest. Pots with flowers line every windowsill. And…the arms of the windmill jingle. He glances out the window. Somebody’s tied chimes to the slowly-spinning blades.

He opens the chest. Stacks of bombs and flowers greet him, along with seagrass. …He grabs a stack. That’s what turtles eat. What-

Something nudges into his ankle. There’s a turtle crawling slowly around on the floor. It must’ve been under the bed.

Trumpet feeds it some seagrass.

This is weird. Trumpet keeps digging and finds more stuff. “Boy” clothes. “Girl” clothes. Hair ties and a brush. Two pairs of round sunglasses, like Maximus wears.

…What the fuck is going on?

Outside, music starts. Trumpet’s ear twitches. It’s dim, but the composition style is…familiar.

Slowly, a pit growing in his stomach, he climbs down the ladder and peeks outside.

The first thing he sees is the porch to the house. Maximus, Pierre, and Dan are all sitting on the steps, laughing together.

Trumpet blinks, taken aback. He’d forgotten what his original parents looked like when they smiled. And Maximus’s hands are normal as he squeezes Dan’s. Pierre says something to Dan, who laughs. Maximus, faux offended, reaches over and playfully swats him.

Trumpet blinks. His chest aches, like somebody’s pushing their fist into his throat from the inside up.

Maximus looks somewhere off the porch and calls something, loud enough for Trumpet to hear. “Cuidado, mija!”

Trumpet’s eyebrows arch. He follows Maximus’s gaze.

There’s a girl. She’s dancing to a song that sounds like it was written by Maximus. She’s short and thick, a little gordita, like he used to be. She has blue and black hair in a messy bun. She’s wearing an orange sundress. She’s holding a bomb.

She’s wearing a propeller hat.

She turns back to the porch, revealing dark, round sunglasses, and makes some kind of exasperated motion at Maximus before flinging the bomb down. It explodes when the beat drops.

Trumpet realizes that his mouth is hanging open slightly. Carefully, he glances at the porch, then starts to creep closer to the girl.

There’s some structures here he doesn’t recognize. A large, fenced in pond where turtles swim and play on the shore, all with names. A little pen where he can hear spiders hissing. Flowers everywhere. And little machines that do random shit- spin or make noise or pump water in a loop.

Trumpet feels eyes on him and turns back to the girl. Round, black sunglasses stare back at him like compound eyes.

He freezes.

The girl glances back at the porch. Seeing her parents distracted, she runs over to Trumpet and pulls him behind the wall to the spider enclosure.

They scrutinize each other for a bit. Trumpet feels like his heart has stopped. She didn’t stay that short, now that he’s seeing her up close - she’s actually a little bit taller than him.

Her hands start to move. She’s- talking with her hands. A hand language. Trumpet’s never seen anything like it, but somehow, in the way you know things in a dream, he can tell what she’s saying.

“Who are you?”

She doesn’t even recognize him. Even though he knows who she is. It hits him like a slap in the face. His eyes well up with tears.

The girl’s brows furrow. “Who are you?” she repeats. “What are you doing at my house?”

Trumpet’s mouth feels clunky. He licks his lips, rasps, then asks, “Trump?”

The girl’s nose wrinkles in disgust. “NO. That’s my OLD name. My new name is Best.”

“…Best,” Trumpet repeats numbly.

The girl nods. “TheBest. Best for short.” She squints at him. “Now what’s YOUR name?”

Trumpet still doesn’t answer. He blinks back tears and opens his mouth again.

“Y-you’re a girl?”

“No,” she replies. “Not all the way, right now. Only sometimes. And sometimes I’m not a girl at all. It’s-”

She shakes her head, waving her hands as if to scrub what she’s said out of the air.

“Who ARE you?” she signs in harsh, dramatic motions.

Trumpet stares at her.

Best stares back at him.

Trumpet licks his lips and opens his mouth.“Nobody,” he croaks. “I’m nobody at all.”

His breath hitches and he starts to cry, slumping to the ground.

Best crouches beside him, her hands flying furiously. “Are you okay? What’s wrong? What happened to your shoulder? Do you need food? My parents can help you, or my big brother-“

Trumpet closes his eyes to block out her words, keening high in his throat.

“Best? Où êtes-vous allé?” Pierre’s voice calls from the porch. Best’s feet rustle over grass as she pokes back out to respond.

Trumpet rocks back and forth, whimpering to himself. He feels hands settle on his shoulders and Best’s body slot against him, squeezing him gently around the shoulders.

He gasps, opening his eyes again.

The world is silent and dark. He’s on his bed in the living room, guarding the door. His eyes throb. His shoulder throbs.

Trumpet feels his face. He can feel the exact shape of his bones. There’s nothing soft about him anymore. He wonders if his cheeks even dimple when he smiles anymore.

He covers it all with his hands and starts to sob, the only noise in the dark.

[exit-path]

@craftykit1 yeah ^_^ btw “personal” doesn’t mean “don’t rb”, it’s just a standalone tag for anyone to filter who doesn’t want to see what goes on in my real life. otherwise it’s tagged “#don’t rb”

[cha-cha-cha-chayanne]

Chayanne’s out on the roof, tending to his rows upon rows of potatoes.

He’s not actually a huge fan of potatoes. They’re too thick and sit heavy in his gut. But if he needs to tend an army, his men will not die of starvation.

He looks at his latest harvest, wiping dirt off with his thumb. He imagines Phil doing the same with an arctic wind whipping around him and the vague figure of Uncle Techno by his side.

…It was almost a year ago now. Chayanne was a year smaller, a year bitterer, and yet.

(Phil’s silhouette was weathered in the way of a river stone, sharp edges softened by the wisdom of becoming worn. His soft eyes had been staring into the middle distance, imagining someone so very powerful and so very precious to him with enough clarity that Chayanne could almost see him too. And then he had turned to Chayanne and looked at him with all the same pride.)

“I see a lot of him in you, actually, I do see a lot of him in you.”

(Until that moment, Chayanne had been drowning in so many pounds of squishy human skin and thick, dense bones. He’d been deformed and weak and powerless. But Chayanne had come to admire and respect Phil more than anybody he had ever known, and none of that was reflected in his eyes.)

“I reckon one day you’ll take over the world.”

(In that moment, sitting by Phil in the boat, Chayanne felt that he could fight anything, endure anything, accomplish anything if it meant that his Dad would keep looking at him that way.)

“I’ll be right there watching.”

Chayanne realizes that he’s smiling at his potato. He tucks it into his bag and keeps working his way through the rows.

A shadow appears on him from behind. It doesn’t creep over him, it’s just suddenly there. As there as the sunlight had been just moments ago.

Chayanne feels the danger prickle in the feathers on his back. Almost instantaneously, he whirls around, sword falling into his hand from his hotbar, and opens his mouth to scream.

And then the Wall is empty.

The sharp inhale of a scream that never came seems to hang in the air, like the world is holding its breath. The wind rustles through the lush leaves of the potato plants. The setting sun gilds the cobble and casts long, soft-edged shadows towards the edge of the towering stones.

It’s a beautiful evening.

[mementofloreo-archived]

//oh right some fyi notes:

-You can send in as many prompts from a meme I rb as you want. I may not do all of them but having both variety and quantity is preferable to nothing at all!!

-You are always welcome to reply and start a thread from a prompt I post! No need to ask permission.

-That said, you are not expected to do so. If you don't have any good ideas for a reply, just don't want to reply, don't have much muse, whatever the reason, all my prompts work just fine as standalone drabbles written for a friend. I just love getting to write for my rp partners! In fact, if you haven't had a lot of muse yourself, I especially encourage sending in prompts when I reblog a list, because then I get to write, and you get a treat!!

[jincherie]

pebbles to recommend!

✑  in the light of recent situations and the fact that a few of you have even been so kind as to share some love and positivity with me, I’d like to share some of my own! these are some of the fics that I’ve been reading and loving lately! I haven’t had time to read much, but I hope u all enjoy what I’ve managed to stumble upon as much as I have!

ps. lets leave them something nice and let them know how fantastic they are!

✎  blood magic by @cakebite ​

maknae line x reader | magic au, fantasy au, royal au, yandere au | series

  ➥  in a word, fantastic. i’m not sure how many of you know, but yandere is my guilty pleasure and it’s not that often that I come across it being actually well written and portrayed. This is one of the few fics for the genre that I’ve read and deeply enjoyed. But aside from that, I love the way this world is brought further to life with each and every installation, I adore the fantastical nature, the little tidbits and factoids revealed to me one by one-- it has me thirsting for more! This is a read I easily got immersed in, and it’s not yet complete but I’m looking forward to more adventures in magic, mystery, fantasy... god I’m ready.

Part of why I love well-written fics of this genre is the inner workings, the finer details and each little turn of the cogs that makes the clock tick. I absolutely love that in this fic that is incorporated so seamlessly. From the beginning, there is tension and there are stress conditions-- and while they maintain and level out, with each introduction of the boys (without reader knowing they’re the princes, which is a dynamic i die for btw) and further build of their relationship, along with the glimpes of their background and the environmental factors that are probably going to lead to one or all of them Snapping... it all blends together in a magnificent mass of tension, and for each update that comes I’m on the edge of my seat. I don’t think there has been one in a while, but this is the kind of fic that I’d drop whatever I was doing to read!

✎  quarter quell by @chinkbihh

jungkook x reader | hunger games au, yandere au | series

➥  another yandere story, another insight into my guilty pleasure. again, i don’t often rb or rec many yandere fics simply bc its not often i find one that really pins it and I love enough to rb-- but luna never fails to provide, and I’ve found myself enjoying a number of her stories, most recently this one!

Usually, what I look for and enjoy reading about is the slow build, the climb and increase in yandere behaviour as they grow more comfortable/more obsessed with the character. Even so, this fic dumps it all on its head and I find myself loving it nonetheless. It’s the setting, the unique conditions that allow the yandere features to come out immediately and unabashedly-- and watching the integration of it all, how every aspect of oc’s situation is working together, is fascinating,, and putting yourself into oc’s shoes is terrifying. Luna puts a lot of effort into her fics and each installment she publishes is long and carefully put together,, and that’s something I really appreciate. I love a lot of her works, and this one in particular, because there is always just such attention to detail, such immersion around it all that draws me in and hooks me. I’ve seen her musing about where to take this on her blog and to be honest I’m really excited to see wherever it goes!

(ps. please send some lovely things her way if you end up checking this out, we all have times where we’re a little more in need of some tlc than others!)

✎  immortals by @bang-tan-bitches ​ 

ot7 x reader | supernatural au?, drama, smut, dark fantasy | series

➥  this is one i read a little further back, but one I definitely am still hooked on! What I really love about this one is just.... the mystery of it all. I’m a sucker for dark fantasy and urban fantasy and this bad boy rolls it all into one. Each installment reveals a little more and yet,,, not enough to fully satiate your hunger for knowledge. there are a lot of conditions, restrictions, barriers for the reader-- the push and pull of her innate desire to go to them vs. the constraints of her life and her thoughts is delicious. I remember in particular that each little interaction with each member made my tummy dip, they were so cute and so... thrilling? These two have a real talent and it shows through with fics like this one. I’m not sure when the next installment is, but I’m definitely waiting for it with baited breath!!

✎  beastly gods by @lemonjoonah ​ 

taehyung x reader x ?? | hybrid au, dark fantasy au, slight dystopia au?? | oneshot

➥ i read this as soon as it was posted and honestly.... I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. there’s something about it that just carves out a piece of you and replaces it with a piece of itself. It’s so memorable!! I love it dudes. The whole tone and vibe of the fic from the beginning, the chase and the combination of thrill and fear,,, and Taehyung.... I love the way that the story was set, the premises and tone, and I love how it was maintained all throughout-- what I abolutely love the most about it is that it allowed for that fucking FANTASTIC twist of an ending!! This story, to me, had OOMPH, and I love that man. I’m going to revisit it sometime soon and I definitely recommend checking it out yourselves. I wish I had read it more recently so I could gush more readily, but definitely check it out for yourselves and send some love!!

✎  agape and pragma by @uwugalore ​ 

ot7 x reader | hybrid au, poly au, smut, fluff, angst | series

➥ this is one that i’ve been reading consistently, and have been hooked on from the beginning. from the very first chapter the premise is so heartbreaking, and i was able to really align with the oc and what she was feeling, how her world had been turned so upside down. and then, seeing throughout the following chapters as the members slip into her life & home one by one, healing the pieces of her bit by bit... ugh i might have wept. it’s so soulfully sweet and lovely, this fic, and the spots of angst really just serve to make it sweeter. I love a fic that makes me soft and fuzzy while still having some hot as fuck smut, and this definitely serves that. plus hybrid au! already pinpointing several of my weaknesses. i definitely recommend checkig this out because it quickly became a favourite of mine :) 

✎  beautifully misfit by @orphicbts ​ 

maknae line x reader | hybrid au, angst au, smut? (subby maknae energy) | series 

➥ this is another kind of recent one that I’ve been enjoying over the past few months, and can i just say it’s got a firm hold of my heart and my future puth. If you’d read florescence u know i have a budding weakness for shy boys, blushy boys, and GOD when she introduced each of the boys it had me cooing--- ESPECIALLY jimin. i cant wait for things to bud and bloom and develop, the little hints of nice things the reader is going to do-- ahhh i can’t wait until jimin gets glassses!!! and sees oc all the time!!! and blushes more!!! aaah!!!

It’s just so very sweet mixed in with the little tidbits and aspects of their past which, are sad and angsty but mfkgjdg u know.... u know that hurt/comfort shit hurts so good. I’m really super excited to see where it goes and how their relationship and dynamics develop in the coming parts!

✎  home by @zerotexas1975  

jimin x reader | hybrid au, fluff, angst? | series

➥ I remember reading this when the first part came out ages ago and immediately being hooked, because I saw the prompt by hybridfanfiction that it was based off and love it. And straight away it was so sweet and cute and wholesome, and as we’re quickly discovering I’m an absolute slut for shy boys!! It was standalone for a while, but let me tell u when i saw there was a second part out i screamed and dropped everything to read it-- and!!! it’s so good!! she’s starting to implement the plot now and she’s making us WORK for that sweet validation, work thru the angst on the near horizon, and i appreciate that. it took such a turn that i really wasn’t expecting it but I love how the dynamic between them and the relationship has budded and begun so far. 

✎  euphoric endeavours by @/haveagreatday (AO3) 

ot7 x reader | vampire au, college au, mate au, poly au | series

➥ this is another fic that I’ve been reading for a long while, and from the very beginning I loved the fire of the reader, the spunk and how she wasn’t afraid to go up and confront one of the biggest names on campus. and then reading further and observing the change, the transition in their dynamic. when she found out, vs where she is now. I really love the way she had the reader change and grow, and that seems to be a very big theme in this fic that I really admire! The reader consistently looks to herself for ways to grow and change, and do the boys. The story is so rich and in depth with their history and backstory, all the dynamics and the goods and bads of their past and how it affects them i the current day. I definitely recommend it for an investment and a good time. 

✎  twisted tails & thunderlight by @stskpop ​

// ot7 x reader | hybrid au, poly au, angst | series

// ot7 x reader | supernatural au, fantasy au, witch au/magic au | series

➥ twisted tails is one that I found recently, and although there’s only one part out that I’ve seen, I really love where it seems to be going so far! it’s an interesting spin on the au that I haven’t seen very often, but god... I’m really excited to see how she’s going to spin it and how it’s going to play out. how the grief they must be feeling over oc’s sisters death is going to work with everything else happening, how they’re going to interact and feel about her.... I’m keen to discover how it will all blend together.

And thunderlight... can I just say, I love love love this one! I found it through twisted tails and !!! i love it!!! it’s so rich from the very get go with plot and narrative exposition, the way everything is being set up so smoothly. I’m absolutely hooked, I want to know who this demon is, and whether it’s going to have the gratifying happy ending that I crave so badly... god I love it, and I’m eagerly awaiting the next installment!

!! let’s use this as an opportunity to make their days!! I think it would be really awesome to use this to spread a little more love & positivity, so please send something nice their way and even feel free to reblog this with some fics you’ve been loving yourselves if you’d like! I’d love to see what you’ve been into and check it out!! :) <3 

[stenomatt]

Phoenix to Magnum: My Journey

Here are a few tips and tricks I picked up while retooling my writing style with Magnum Steno. The first is to look at it through that framework; it's a power-up, not a wholesale "change." I'd note that quick changes are not deep changes. 

Much of what I'll share here had to be drilled relentlessly before it became my new instinct and caused hesitation until it was drilled out. Additionally, I'd point out most of my multi-stroke game is still Phoenix-based, though I have found areas where four and five strokes can be whittled down to two, and the version of Phoenix you learned may have introduced some of these concepts as it underwent some retooling of its own since I learned it in 2010.

One piece of advice Mark gave me early on was not to try and change my "and" (SKW-) to his "and" (SKP-), this would be a slight change with only mild impact in the overall retool. Far better to filter Mark's briefs dictionary for phrases that start with the word "and" and modify the entries to utilize SKW-. As you go through this process you'll be able to spot areas like this where change is an option but won't yield much efficiency versus the time it'll take to reinforce the new instinct.

That caveat aside, there are a few routes you can take in your shortening journey. One place to start is to follow the instructions in the Magnum Steno Club Instructional Videos folder entitled "Really Great Way to Shorten Writing." Mark explains the process of mining your personal dictionary for your most common multi-strokers by ordering the dictionary in descending order of most translated words and picking out the first several high frequency two-stroke words from the list to convert to one stroke. This yields a personalized list of areas to attack that will have high impact immediately.

For a deeper makeover related to Phoenix specifically, there are some theory principle changes to consider. These are very worth working out because they allow for inflections across a wide swath of the English language, opening up a realm of accuracy and precision that accords with principles and thus aren't "briefs." If you still have your Fast Track Drills book, you'll want to work on these drills: 

4 (-V sound changes from -FB to *F)

16 (use -S for "-SS" words, so you can pluralize with -SZ)

17 (-SH changes from -GS to -RB, opening up easy inflections)

19 (-TH changes from -GT to *T, also opening up inflections)

57 (-TH reinforcement)67 (-SH reinforcement)

70 (-MP changes from -FPL to -FRP)^

71 (-SK, on stroke Magnum principle -FBG)

79 (-RTH endings different with *T for -TH)

80 (-RCH ending changes to -FRPB from -FRP)^

81 (-NCH ending changes to -FRPBLG from -FRPB)^

82 (-PTH, -LTH, -NTH, -NGTH endings all different with *T)

84 (-SHUN changes from -GZ to -GS, -KSHUN stays -BGZ)^

85 (-SHAL changes from -LGS to -RBL, -SHUS from -GS/-S to -RBS)

86 (-VER stroking option becomes *FR)

87 (-VEN stroking option becomes *FPB)

88 (-FL/-VL reinforcement of *F for -V sound & expansion)

90 (-BL words with -BL)

91 (ex- changes from EBGS to KP-)

103 (-SH reinforcement)

105 (-SHUN reinforcement)

^ Denotes principles where I've retained the original Phoenix concepts in my dictionary where possible, allowing myself some leeway if I hear something and write it the way I used to.

Following those reforms to our basic theory principles, we're ready to build in further Magnum Steno principles. Feel free to utilize the drills I've shared online for theory concepts that were new to me in Magnum Steno at https://soundcloud.com/mattheweloss-10/sets/ms-theory-concepts

At this point (or any point prior) it'll probably be helpful to start going chapter by chapter in the book and picking up briefs and word pairs. Don't fret if these conflict with Phoenix word parts as you can make a change in the standalone stroke oftentimes while retaining the Phoenix principle in its multi-stroke function. The Magnum brief concepts tend to stack up on one another later on with further efficiency gains, so they're pretty beneficial changes. And be mindful of Mark's Write-It-Out words, as you might be able to locate spots where you can turn four strokes into two, which can be as helpful as whittling these higher frequency words down to one stroke with the aforementioned principles.

Then there's the joy of conquering the Right Hand Phrase Enders. This actually may be a preferable starting point for the working reporter as these concepts open up worlds of efficiency and have few or no counterparts in Phoenix. Your familiarity with these ideas will depend on how heavily phrasing was emphasized in your original theory courses. Some will look similar (-FPL for ~them, *PBG for ~think, etc.) Here you may have to slay an old idea some of us were convinced of, and that is the notion that every phrase must have an asterisk in its outline. On the other side of conquering this beast lies even further versatility and short writing power.

Again, I'll refer you to the drills I used to incorporate these ideas into my writing. Notice they're succinct, moderately paced ("gettable") alternations between disparate concepts: https://soundcloud.com/matthew-moss-10/sets/rhpes  You might consider becoming your own drill master. A large part of what helped me succeed in this endeavor was the process of uncovering areas that felt unnatural or challenging, creating a drill for them, and then writing that drill until I couldn't make a mistake. I usually had to get to that point before I'd really hear the concepts and deploy the new strokes at high speed. Dictate drills for your problem spots into your phone.

Another point of entry, or further mastery, would be to spend a large chunk of time with the "families" later on in the book. Studying a group of briefs and phrases organized around the domains of Jury Charge, Political, Auto Accident, Law Enforcement, Medical, and Science Terminology provide concrete anchors for us to associate clusters of new neuronal pathways around with our arsenal of short writing techniques. 

And, of course, there's a multitude of further information in the Magnum Steno Club, the Olympic weight-lifting room of stenography. Our CAT software is an essential ally in this odyssey. For my conversion at Mark's online program and through most of my reporting career I've used at least two dictionaries. Mark helped me understand that if I rename my Phoenix dictionary something other than Personal Dictionary, and renamed his briefs dictionary “Personal Dictionary,” I could load them both in my translation settings, with the Phoenix dictionary prioritized above the Magnum briefs (Personal Dictionary). 

This is a little in the weeds, but it's an option that's available for the extreme makeover. This allowed me to open up entire concepts simply by learning them and rooting out and resolving conflicts as I went along. It also allowed me to always be able to examine the way Mark might handle a word or phrase. Early on I kept a "changes" diary in case I decided this path was a mistake and wanted to go back, and of course, I backed up all of my system files and my personal dictionary in several places before even attempting this. If this approach is too radical or extreme, just filter and copy new concepts from the Magnum briefs dictionary into your dictionary as you incorporate them.

Recently I merged the dictionaries. It's not all Mark and Phoenix either. I've developed a distinctly Matt Moss style as I've picked up concepts I like from Facebook groups and seminars (shoutout to Ed’s Steno Pro) and my colleagues in the courthouse where I currently work. This dictionary contains 270,000+ entries, and it's growing every day. Part of what I came to understand through this process is that I am the author of my writing style, and that style will continue to grow and evolve as long as I do. Mark and many others have pointed me in amazing directions and shown me things that have made me a much stronger writer than I ever imagined I would be.  

Let me know if you have any questions or if I can help you resolve any conflicts or pitfalls you encounter along the way.

[inventors-fair]

1-6 of 12 for the entries

@arcadiamancer (Morose) - The design is well and good, a fair balance between white and black tokens. My main concern is that the name is an adjective and not a virtue, honestly.

@darthjeeling (RB Despair) - I love the way that this card works and the “curse” effect of the incarnation! The replacement effect for the draw feels too overpowered, and I’d rather it be a trigger, with the ETB being a replacement effect. And six life is one hell of a clock.

@dim3trodon (Envy) - The second ability could have gone without the drain, and “nonbasic landwalk” is a little... Out of date. Still a cool idea. Is black envious? Or are they too proud to be? Depends on your point of view.

@forbidden-alchemist (B Despair) - Damage prevention in black feels real bad. I’d maybe forgive it if this card was more powerful, but I feel that you didn’t push it quite far enough. Don’t be afraid to take a risk on these big bois!

@mardu-lesbian (Jubilation) - Interesting concept, certainly. Feels like a build-around-me card, which could be interesting in a cycle, but as a standalone Incarnation it feels slightly too janky. I feel the wording is a little too weird by itself as well. Still, cool concept.

@minuittt (Vexation) - I love everything about this card except for the seven. Seven is CRAZY much on a hexproof body. Forced Fruition was a great callback - was that intentional? - but at least that didn’t have hexproof. I feel that you’re underestimating how insanely powerful it is. But! But this card is a runner-up for my faves.