#started this series a while ago but i wanna post them here too

[lesbyers]

1. Family Tree (Intro)

Yellowjackets x Preacher’s Daughter

[babyangelsky]

Two Worlds: Novel vs. Series (Part 1)

A few days ago, I mentioned that I had begun reading the novel for Two Worlds because I was curious about the changes that had been made for the adaption. Truthfully, I've been curious about it since the special and enough people liked my post to encourage me to put this together, so here we are!

Few things. Firstly, the official English translation of the novel is only updated through chapter 7 which equates to about episode 3 of the series. Approximately.

Secondly, good god is it convoluted so to make things easier on myself and on you, I'm going to break down the changes to each world in two separate posts and not jump around which is what the novel does.

Thirdly, if you'd like to read the novel yourself, the first seven chapters are available for free here! It's the official translation and updates are a bit irregular but it is being updated! Trigger warning for discussion and sometimes graphic mentions of suicide. Please proceed with caution.

I also have to thank @thainovels for being so lovely every time I've asked them for help. What are the odds the novel updated the day after I asked you for help finding a complete version?!

This is gonna be LONG so to spare your dash and anyone who doesn't wanna be spoiled, I'll begin under the cut.

World 1, aka our starting world in the series

Okay so, broad strokes. One of the biggest differences between novel and show so far is how much time we spend in Phupha's perspective and indeed, in perspectives other than Phupha's or Kram's. We really only get Kram's perspective in the chapters dedicated to World 1 and he's barely appeared in the chapters dedicated to World 2 so far.

This author also really loves to go on a tangent which kinda bugs me in a "I'm a writer too and I wouldn't do things this way dammit" sort of way and while that's my own cross to bear, objectively it does pull focus from the main plot and make the story more confusing than it has to be. Although I do appreciate the insight into the other characters.

How Things Start Off

Unlike the show which opens with Kram painting by the river, the novel opens with Kram trying to make friends with Phupha. At this point it's unclear how long Phupha has been staying at Kram's house but it doesn't seem like it's been very long.

In the show, Kram is the grumpy one who doesn't wanna talk or hang out and Phupha is the more open one, but it's flipped in the novel. Kram is a lonely lil ball of sunshine and he's excited to make a new friend and Phupha's generally very grumpy about his circumstances.

Kram also calls him "your grace" which I suspect is what the translator chose to use in place of "khun chai" since Kram also calls him that in the show a few times. I really wish the show had kept this detail because unlike in the show, Kram uses khun chai playfully and eventually affectionately. It's also worth noting that he doesn't call Phupha "phi" despite their age difference because he doesn't want to create distance between them.

Their first bonding experience is going for a walk just like in the show rather than walk aimlessly in the forest, Kram takes him to see the waterfall that is so central to our story. The locals refer to it as Moonshadow Cave.

We learn that Phupha is afraid of heights (and very traumatized) because of the circumstances surrounding his mother's suicide. He opens up to Kram about it and also tells him why his father sent him to stay with Kram and his father.

At one point, Kram steps onto a little ledge around the back of the waterfall and gently coaxes Phupha to join him so they can see the view. But remember, Phupha is afraid of heights and traumatized so after a few moments he panics and goes to turn back. But he turns back a little too quickly and stumbles and ends up face to face and very close to Kram.

SO THEY KISS ABOUT IT. Maybe it's adrenaline, maybe it's horniness, who knows! Certainly not Phupha!

It's getting late so they come down from the mountain to go home. Kram's head is spinning from the kiss, he's confused, he can still taste Phupha. Phupha's confused too, he doesn't know why the hell he kissed Kram, and just as he's in the middle of telling Kram that it was just the adrenaline and didn't mean anything, they hear something rustling in the tall grass.

The Tiger Incident

Yep. The thing they hear is a tiger smack in the middle of having a deer for dinner. Here is the first of two or three major plot points (so far) that were cut from the adaptation entirely.

They come across the tiger and even though they try to move as quietly and slowly as they can to get away, they don't get very far before the tiger notices them and starts chasing them down. As they're running, Kram falls and hurts his leg. Kram knows of a small cave where they can hide, and They manage to duck into it just in time. Fortunately the entrance is too small for the tiger to follow them in there so they're safe but homeboy is still waiting outside to eat them, so they're forced to stay there until morning or until he gets bored and leaves.

Kram and Phupha snuggle together for warmth because of course they do and in the middle of the night, Phupha realizes that Kram has a fever.

The next morning, Phupha sees that Kram hasn't gotten any better so he decides to go and get help for him. Luckily the tiger is gone, so he leaves the cave and marks himself a path so he can find his way back. When he exits the forest, he sees Kram's dad and a group of villagers talking amongst themselves. They'd been looking for the two of them since they hadn't returned from their walk and are very relieved to see Phupha.

Phupha tells everyone what happened and they go back for Kram, and this is where things get very weird. He notices that the branches he broke to mark his path aren't broken anymore and when he and the villagers arrive at the cave, the weeds that were covering the cave entrance are thicker than they were before. And Kram?

Kram is fucking gone.

He is straight up gone. He is not in the cave where Phupha left him despite being sick and unable to move because of his injured leg. Phupha obviously begins questioning his sanity as a search gets underway.

Fifty people including police search the forest for two entire days to absolutely zero avail. Kram is nowhere to be found. It's like the forest swallowed him whole and Phupha is feeling so guilty and Kram's dad is being so kind and not blaming him at all and it's all very fraught.

The search is paused on the third day because of heavy rain but that's not about to stop Phupha. He needs to find Kram and he's in the forest desperately wracking his mind for every last detail of the path he took from the cave and the surroundings while rain is pouring down on him. He thinks he might've found the right spot and sees a cave, but passes out before he can reach it.

When he wakes up, he's back at Kram's house being tended to by Duandow, Kram's childhood friend (we'll get to her in a bit). First thing he does is ask about Kram and miracle of miracles, KRAM HAS BEEN FOUND AND IS OKAY! His leg wasn't broken and he's in rough shape after not having any food or water for a couple days but he's expected to make a full recovery.

Duandow tells him that the cave Kram was found in--the one Phupha passed out in front of--was in an area that had already been searched by the police and that the locals believe that dark magic blocked the entrance to it, which is why they hadn't been able to find Kram before.

If that sounds really goddamn weird to you, THAT'S BECAUSE IT IS. Something fucky is going on with this forest but there are absolutely no answers I can give you as to the why and the how. The novel hasn't given us anything yet.

Phupha and Kram

Another huge difference between the show and the novel is just how much the relationship between Phupha and Kram progresses and how physical it actually is. In the show we only get a few kisses and some snuggling but they go a lot further in the novel.

A lot further.

After the tiger and the fucky forest trauma bond them, they're hanging out on the mountain near Kram's house one evening and as they get to talking and open up to each other some more, they're interrupted by a swarm of fireflies. Kram tries to catch one for Phupha but can't quite manage it, and somehow they end up very close together again.

SO THEY KISS ABOUT IT. AGAIN.

Not only do they kiss about it, clothes start coming off and things start getting hot and heavy before Kram's dad calls up and interrupts them. He doesn't actually see anything (since they're horizontal and shielded by the brush) but he does notice the state they're in when they come down.

Which leads me nicely to the painting.

The Nude Portrait

Remember the nude portrait Kram did of Phupha? In the show, it comes about after Kram accidentally paints Scarface Tai. Phupha sees the painting and realizes how skilled Kram is and hires Kram to paint him.

In the novel, Kram shows Phupha a spare room where he stores all his works and as they're looking through them, Phupha comes across a nude portrait Kram had done of DUANDAOW. KRAM'S CHILDHOOD FRIEND.

Kram tells him that she had agreed to pose for him one day so he could practice painting figures, as all artists do, and Phupha gets all quiet and grumpy and jealous about it. So what does he do? Hire Kram to paint a nude portrait for him like the one Kram had done for Duandaow.

If you'll recall, this is pretty much what happens in the show when Tai asks Kram do paint a nude portrait of him. He gets jealous because Kram had done one of Phupha and asks for one just like it. It seems like the writers reworked that bit since they also wrote out that Kram had done a portait of Duandaow.

And that's not all they reworked.

The painting session with Phupha in the novel begins the same as it does in the show. Kram is doing his thing while Phupha looks all pretty with his cloth in the river. But just like the nude painting scene with Tai, Kram starts getting distracted because of how good Phupha looks.

And I just have to say, the author always makes a point to describe how beautiful Phupha is, but I especially appreciate them taking the time to tell us that Phupha has lovely ample breasts and pretty nipples. Especially because wiping sweat off those lovely ample breasts is what brings Kram so very close to Phupha for the third time. Except this time, they don't just kiss about it.

THEY FUCK ABOUT IT. RIGHT BY THE RIVER. AND THEN GO RIGHT BACK TO THE PAINTING SESSION WHEN THEY'RE DONE.

In the show, this painting scene is where we get their first kiss but as you have seen, beloved reader, we are several kisses in by this point in the novel

Dilok

It's after this that we cut to Kram's dad's perspective for a bit, and I only mention this because it's so goddamn funny and also serves to highlight a few of important points.

The man is just so endearingly oblivious. He saw how disheveled Kram and Phupha were when they came down from the mountain as I mentioned above and assumes they fought each other after having an argument. This man interpreted two horizontal silhouettes moving together as a FIST FIGHT. He assumes they're angry at each other when they won't even look at each other.

THIS MAN THINKS KRAM AND PHUPHA ARE FIGHTING TO THE DEATH EVERY TIME THEY GO UP TO THE MOUNTAIN AND COME BACK LOOKING SWEATY AND FLUSHED AND RUMPLED AND IF THAT'S NOT THE FUNNIEST THING GODDAMN THING I'VE EVER READ I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS.

In one instance, Dilok catches Phupha leaving Kram's bedroom early in the morning and believes Phupha when he tells him he "fell asleep" after he and Kram "talked" all night. Dilok even thinks to himself how proud he is that they're so mature and communicate so well! I love Dilok so much, you don't understand.

That aside, however, his hilarious misinterpretation tells us that unlike in the show, Kram and Phupha are fucking on the reg. And bear in mind that Kram still technically has an ash exchange ceremony coming up with Duandaow but before I get into everything with her, I wanted to share this passage where Dilok happens upon both her and Phupha's portraits because it says something important about Kram's relationship with Duandaow. Also because I love it.

Duandaow

Duandaow's presence is yet another major difference between the novel and the show.

The show doesn't tell us a whole lot about her. We know only that she has an ash exchange ceremony coming up with Kram and that when she realizes that Kram has feelings for Phupha, she takes herself out of the equation so they can be together.

The novel gives us so much more. She's featured prominently when Kram disappears in the forest, she cares for Phupha when he passes out, she appears every time Phupha goes to her grandmother's store to get medicine for Kram, and of course there's the fact that Kram painted her.

She has been in love with Kram her whole life. In addition to getting her history, we learn that they've known each other since childhood and that they were very close since they were the only two children in the village that were the same age. And it's partially because there's no one else for either them that being with Kram is a foregone conclusion to her and it's why she assumes that's the case for him as well.

She confesses to Kram and he responds with something along the lines of "Who would I love if not you? It's just us here." It's not an "I love you, too" but she takes it that way. Kram literally has no one else so his response may seem sweet but to me, it reads as him accepting on some level that there's no other option and settling.

I do think he cares deeply for Duandaow but I don't think he's in love with her. Several things drive this home for me (including that passage above) but the one that stands out the most is actually when they lose their virginity to each other.

It happens one day after they go swimming together (at the infamous waterfall I might add). She makes the first move and he hesitates at first but he gets swept up in the moment and it's all very shy and sweet. Thing is, after it happens, Kram keeps things strictly friendly between them. So much so that she thinks the whole thing got wiped from his memory.

And this sense of "who else if not you" persists pretty much their whole lives up until this point. They have an ash exchange ceremony coming up because why wouldn't they? There's no other option. Oh, the comphet of it all.

She isn't stepping aside for Phupha because she doesn't realize there's something between him and Kram. She notices something there that makes her suspicious but those suspicions are nebulous at best. It never occurs to her that they could have any relationship beyond friendship because why would they?

The Other Love Triangle

Phupha has had silent, one-sided beef with Duandaow ever since he saw that painting of her. He's polite to her but just barely, he doesn't make any effort at friendliness or real conversation. He's jealous and he has good reason to be, because he and Kram haven't declared any feelings for each other or had the "what are we" conversation.

Not only that, there is an ash exchange ceremony coming up. Phupha has no idea what that ceremony is until he asks Kram's dad one day and Dilok tells him IT'S A MARRIAGE CEREMONY. Show!Kram had some nerve getting pissy at Phupha for having a fiancee he didn't tell Kram about when Kram had one too!

Here Phupha is, so very in love and in a very physical relationship with Kram, and then he learns Kram is about to get married to someone else. He doesn't know whether Kram returns his feelings, he doesn't know where he stands, there's been no hint of calling off the wedding, so what does he do?

He takes himself out of the equation just like Duandaow does in the show.

Phupha chooses not to confess his feelings to Kram, he spends one last night snuggling him, and then he takes the L and quietly goes back to his life in Rattha.

Oh, what's that you say? You wanted some salt in that wound? How about the fact that KRAM GOES THROUGH WITH THE CEREMONY AND MARRIES DUANDAOW?

More? HE ONLY REALIZES HIS FEELINGS FOR PHUPHA AFTER HE'S ALREADY GONE AND ONLY MARRIES DUANDAOW OUT OF OBLIGATION AND BECAUSE PHUPHA IS NO LONGER THERE.

It's a MESS and there is no resolution for it because the novel translation isn't done!

*screams*

Tai

You might have noticed that I haven't really talked about Tai and that's because he only shows up once in these few chapters we have so far. The ones that take place in World 1, that is. But boy howdy does he come in with a bang when he does. Literally.

When Phupha hires Kram to paint him, Kram asks him to take him into the city as payment. There's an arts festival happening and Kram wanted to go so he could show off his dad's paintings.

Everything is going lovely, everyone is having a good time. At least until Duandaow shows up and Phupha turns into a salty salmon about it but we already talked about her.

The brand new chief of police has been asked to make a speech to inaugurate the festival and a short while after he gets on stage to make it, there is a bang. It's followed by screams and a second bang.

Tai showed up at the festival, shot an officer in the gut, and then killed the chief in cold blood to get revenge for the chief recently killing his father.

Bedlam ensues. People are screaming and terrified and fleeing the scene and Tai is looking to flee the scene too, but it just so happens that Kram is blocking his escape route. Tai shouts for him to move but something comes over Kram and he's not budging. Doesn't matter how much Tai threatens him or how much Phupha pleads with him, Tai belongs to the gang that killed his mother and he ain't moving.

My boy doesn't move even when Tai points a gun in his face. That's how much he hates this man and everything he represents. And Tai fully intends to kill him, but there's a moment where he locks eyes with Kram and something shifts within him.

There's a shot, but because we switch to Duandaow's perspective in that moment, we don't know exactly what happens. We know only that the shot missed and that Phupha rushed to hug Kram to his body and shield him from the shot.

Kram was in point blank range. There was no way in hell that shot missed unless that's what Tai intended. But that's all we've gotten of Tai in World 1 so far so there hasn't been a chance to dig into anything more.

The Stabbing of Viroj

There's one more thing I wanna mention, which also happens to be the stopping point for the translation at this time.

In the show, in World 1, Phupha's biological father Viroj gets attacked after Phupha and Kram go talk to him about the incident in the gallery with Tai and the conversation Phupha had with his father.

In the novel, that conversation with Adisak and Phupha's aunt and stepmother takes place right after Phupha goes back to Rattha and for the subsequent conversation with Viroj, Phupha is obviously alone.

The circumstances that precede the stabbing at a little different but that's a whole other tangent so I'm not gonna get into it. The rest of it is largely the same as in the show.

Someone breaks in, stabs Viroj, Phupha hears a scream and comes upon the scene, he has the realization about his hemophilia, he calls an ambulance and the police.

Only a few details are different. In the novel, he does actually manage to call for help but help never comes so he decides to take Viroj to the hospital himself. Unfortunately Viroj dies before Phupha can take him.

After his death, Phupha calls his dad Adisak to tell him that someone killed Viroj and to ask him to call for help. Adisak does, and when Phupha gets a call from the paramedics asking for more information, the paramedic asks where the patient was stabbed.

Problem is, Phupha never told Adisak that Viroj had been stabbed. Phupha immediately suspects that Adisak knows more about the attack than he let on and was possibly even behind it.

This is as far as the translation has taken us so I have to stop here. Sometime before the finale I'm gonna write up part two to this absolute saga, which will be the differences between World 2 in the novel and show.

If you've read this far, thank you. You're lovely and I love you. ❤️

[dekusleftsock]

Hey, weird comparison might be a stretch

Okay angy-grrr (yes I’m name dropping you and I’m not sorry <3333) I think made a comment a while ago about how this whole thing between Afo and Yoichi felt incestual, and I’d be inclined to agree.

However, however however however, I do have a few bits of commentary on that sentiment. Specifically in relationships to this scene specifically.

And, alright, no this is not some bs like “pro incest” or whatever, you can talk about topics that are taboo and not necessarily agree with them. I understand that I’m a shipper but I’m inclined to follow my nose where it leads, and my nose says here. So.

We’ve established a lot that the kanji horikoshi used when Izuku says “Give him back!” Is very possessive. Like an ownership over an item.

Okay, because Izuku and afo share one very weird trait—possessiveness. And for literally a month I’ve written and rewritten a post about how I just can’t get behind the idea of Katsuki paralleling afo, because it just doesn’t fucking make sense.

What is it telling us? That Katsuki has become a better person? We already KNEW THAT. The Kudou parallel says something, it says that Katsuki rises ABOVE the fate of the OFA predecessor because he and Izuku accepted their hearts.

Not only that but what is it exactly that we’re paralleling? Afo is defined by ownership (an Izuku trait), an unreliable narrator (also an Izuku trait)—in my opinion, horikoshi isn’t that simply Willy Nilly about parallels. It’s not about shipping to me rn, I’m literally comparing him to Izuku and how Izuku obsesses over Katsuki, IT JUST DOESNT MAKE SENSE.

Besides, wouldn’t this parallel be made significantly earlier, when Katsuki was still acting like an asshole? The kudou parallel was made literally from the start of his introduction, just because he looked so much like him. We didn’t know why this was the case, theories were thrown, and we’re only being told NOW why this parallel exists. But it was built, very carefully, and served a purpose.

And, to add onto this parallel of at the very least afo and Izuku, the portal is very similar to the floating hand.

Especially with the reminder that Katsuki was taken away by dabis hand on his neck (hands always have symbolism in this series after all, it always has a purpose)

If someone, anyone really, could show me some genuine evidence of afo and Katsuki parallels that isn’t just “Katsuki was selfish about Izuku when they were younger” then by all means

But to me, along with the fact that Katsuki called himself IZUKUS NICKNAME, right before a chapter where afo talks about NAMING YOICHI, ummmmmmmm… I gotta say. Things ain’t looking so great in that evidence department. I guess you could argue that Katsuki did the same thing with deku, but deku hasn’t even been said these past few chapters and Kacchan has so????? Idk.

Anyway, this weird overly attached, incestual, codependent relationship is really fascinating to me. I’m not so inclined to say that Izuku and afo are the same since they very obviously aren’t, izuku is just toxic in his silly goofy ways, but I think it’s an interesting thing to point out.

It almost feels like a “fuck you” to people who have been saying Katsuki and Izuku act like brothers for years. Maybe like Horikoshi is saying, “well I guess if they’re brothers they’re incestual too :)”

And that’s gotta be the biggest power move I’ve ever seen. “Oh you wanna read this relationship in that light? How about I show you what that light would look like if it were true :)” AND LIKE. WOW.

I know anime is not new to incest, but I don’t think this is the “random incest for funsies” type of incest, I think this is the incest built off of actually talking about the taboo. The weird. The not so great things we’ve done as humanity, but that exist anyway. Because mha WANTS to talk about the taboo, things we find morally wrong and therefore don’t belong in our stories, but that just makes them all the more incomprehensible were it to be happen in the real world. Art is made to talk about the stories we wish remained unfinished.

[sunsetandthemoon]

saw in your tags you mentioned earthmix were in a serious fight while filming moonlight chicken? what's the story there? (ty in advance if you answer this and np if you don't :) )

Hii. Ok, so, while I do follow them on Instagram and Twitter, I never noticed anything until they talked about it during the MLC promo a few weeks ago, so I definitely don't know the full story, but here is a short summary of all the information that I’ve managed to gather from Twitter.

Apparently, there was a 4-5 month period last year where Earth and Mix were fighting (so-called their “divorce era”). It started with them going from constantly hanging out together to never interacting with each other anymore and fans quickly noticed something was up. Then this video from the MLC set was posted and it only further fueled all the speculations (it looks like a perfectly normal video to me tbh but to some, it looked like Mix was angry or like he was sulking 🤷)

They also had a few work events during that time and fans reported a noticeable tension between them. There was also a lot of subtweeting and indirecting on their social media including posts like this:

which is funny considering this is how they described each other in an interview once

("am I still your flower" is absolutely sending me 💀)

some more Mix retweets x/x

Earth even posted this on his insta story

and then, during the Oishi Magic Of Zero trip, they seemed to have finally gone back to their normal selves (x)

they even acknowledged the fight and said that they had made up and that everything was okay between them again (x/x)

and everyone was happy for them including P'Godji who posted this video (x)

Mix even posted this on his story

which may or may not have been a reference to this scene from ATOTS

then, during their interviews recently, they talked a bit more about their fight (x) (their poor manager 😭)

and P'Aof even teased them about it by saying "the hard part for me is, I wanna work with them when they aren’t fighting with each other" when EM were asked what were the easy/hard parts of working together on three different series (x)

speaking of P’Aof, I need to include this bit from MLC bts where he forgot Jim and Wen weren’t supposed to kiss each other during their sex scene in ep1 because it’s just so funny like dhfjhsdjkd

P‘Aof: *after watching them unnecessarily devour each other five takes in a row while knowing damn well they’re in the middle of their divorce era* “whoops my bad 🤭 please don’t kill me” 😂😂😂😂

(x)

anyway - TLDR - Moonlight Chicken was filmed during their divorce era and they were spending their days filming scenes like this

only to then go home and start subtweeting and shading each other online at the end of the day 😂

but they're making up for it now by being inseparable and constantly posting about each other. there are too many moments to link but here are some honorable mentions: x/x/x/x

including these posts from last night x/x

[mrslankyman]

Do I Wanna Know?

Wrote this a while ago - 2,906 Words

Daryl Dixon - Prison Era (Not based on any episode in series)

February 12, 2012

As far as I know today is February 12. That's what Carol tells me. She keeps the days tracked. I guess she does a lot around here.

She's pretty reliable. Rick's been out scouting for a while. We're running low on supplies. Might have to make a trip to the closest town.

I head out of the main corridor of the prison where we've been staying. Pulling my pistol out from my holster and switching it into my dominant hand.

I opened the door that lead outside. The sun hit my face and I squinted. Living in the dark of the prison sure as hell made your eyes sensitive to any bright lights.

I passed Glenn and gave a curt nod. He was heading to the watch post for his daily steak out. I walked up to the fence. Looking out into the field. Only a few walkers today. Better than yesterday. There was a whole hoard out there. Thank god for Daryl. Him and his cross bow. That damn cross bow. He loves that thing more than anyone.

Speaking of the devil the familiar sound of a motorcycle filled my ears. I turned to the gate as Glenn pushed it open. Daryl came riding into the prison. Stopping his bike and taking the keys out of the ignition. He unwrapped the three rabbits he had killed. Of course he was out hunting. When wasn't he doing something? He barely slept because he refused to be useless.

"What ya catch out there Daryl?" Carol asked walking out of the Prison. Daryl looked up at her and held up the three rabbits. "Nice." She smiled and took them from Daryl. Forgot, the cook and the hunter were best friends. I groaned and looked back out into the field. Everyone in the group seemed to have someone.

I was just left out. I joined late and it felt like when you joined a friend group but the kids before had been friends for years. I was always the odd one out. At least I can survive here. That I am grateful for.

"What are you doing just staring off into the field?" A low voice asked behind me. I'd be lying if when I first joined that voice didn't set me off. In a good way.

Now it's just a constant reminder that I'm just lonesome. Daryl never cared for me. I knew from the day I joined. At first he tried to come across as friendly. In his own way. He just said Hello. Which was more than anyone else did. After about a week I guess he got tired of it.

"Yes I am. Does it bother you Dixon?" I asked not looking at him. My voice was laced with attitude. Hoping he got the point to leave me alone. It was what he did best. Ignoring me.

Daryl must've gotten annoyed. At least I assume because I heard him turn away and head inside. I let out a sigh and put my pistol in its holster on my waist. "I hope this shit ends one day." Such an idiotic thought. It was never going to end. The world was over.

-----

"Alright, we need to plan out the group's going out for supplies tomorrow." Rick said as we all sat down to eat. "We need more canned foods, medicine, and first aid supplies. Ammo too if we can find any." As Rick carried on I looked over to Daryl.

He was sitting next to Carol on the floor. They were talking about what I don't know. I rolled my eyes. He was starting to get really close with Carol. It was annoying seeing him make friends. I don't know why but it did.

"Y/N did you hear me?" Rick's voice pierced through my ears. The angry dad tone. I looked up at him. "What?" I asked. "You and Daryl are going out to Greens Burrow to search the market place up there for food." Rick said pinching the bridge of his nose. "Ok everyone else listen up." Rick said gathering everyone else attention again.

I looked over at Daryl. He was looking back at me and chuckling.

I guess me getting scolded is what made a almost 40 year old man laugh now a days. I rolled my eyes and ate my stew.

----

After we all ate dinner everyone headed to their cells to sleep. Besides Rick. He headed out of the prison. I assume to go on watch or snoop around somewhere. I don't really care.

As I headed down the short walk way to my cell I bumped into a broad shoulder. I looked up and groaned. Daryl. "Watch where ya going." He huffed out. I rolled my eyes and went to walk past him. "Annoying asshole." I mumbled under my breath.

A hand grabbed the back of my shirt collar and slammed me into the cement wall. I groaned as a slight rush of pain pierced my head.

Daryl looked down at me. His hand holding my shirt to the wall. He leaned closer his eyes squinting at me. "Wha'd ya call me?" He asked in a low whisper.

I glared at the man in front of me. No way in hell he was talking to me like this. "Wha'd ya think?" I mocked him.

I smirked a little in sanctification as the annoyances crept its way onto his face. "Is the big hunts man mad?" I teased as his hand bunched into fist. I took the opportunity before he could speak to flip our positions.

I slammed him into the wall. Watching as his eyes widen in shock. "Before you go around shoving women into walls.." I leaned into his ear. "Make sure shes not a professionally trained wrestler." His face scrunched up.

I laughed as I let go of him. "Ass hole." I cooed as I walked off to my cell. Completely satisfied for once.

----

"I seriously cannot believe I have to go with you. Rick could've chosen anyone." I complained as I fixed my pistol in my holster.

Daryl was getting his bike ready. "Stop complaining." He grumbled in annoyance. He got on his bike and looked at me. I stared at him confused.

"Get on the fuck are ya doin?" He asked as I still stood there. In utter silence. "I'm not getting on that bike with you." I rolled my eyes.

He leaned his head back in exasperation. I was making this hell for him. I could tell. I kinda liked it.

"I'm gonna leave without ya." He kicked up the kick stand of his bike and revved it up. "Fine! But only because I don't feel like walking." I saw him smirk slightly from the side mirrors on his bike. Our eyes caught each other and he stared at me for a second before looking away.

I walked up to the bike and threw my right leg over the seat and sat down. "You're gonna have to hold on." He said as he revved the bike up again. "I think I can balance." I rolled my eyes. "Sure." He chuckled as the gates opened.

He revved the bike up one more time before shooting out of the prison and onto the road ahead. My body wobbled and I flung my arms forward. Wrapping them around Daryl's waist.

Daryl Pov

I knew she wouldn't be able to balance. I felt her arms wrap around me and bit my lip. The breeze of the wind flowing my hair felt nice. But not as nice as this. I'll admit it's been a while since someone has ever touched me like this. Maybe that's why I don't mind.

Or maybe I just wanted to prove her right. I closed my eyes slightly. It was nice to get out of the prison. Even with the dead being all over.

My thoughts slipped to last night. Her slamming me against the wall. Her face as she leaned into my ear. Her voice.. I felt a shiver run down my spine. No I couldn't like this snobby woman. She was also keeping to her self. A strange woman in a now strange world. Not so strange at all If you really think about it.

I'm too hypocritical.

I was and still am like that. Sure I've gotten closer to a lot of our people but I still keep my distance. I opened my eyes. Watching ahead for any walkers or living people.

I could see in my right side mirror Y/N looking around. She looked nice with the wind blowing her hair. A carefree look on her face.

I looked ahead and kept going. All the way to Greens Burrow. Trying my best to ignore the thoughts I had of the woman behind me. I'm just going crazy. This world has changed me.

----

I stopped at the local market. I kicked down my bikes kick stand and waited for Y/N to get off. Once she did I got off too.

She grabbed a stray shopping cart and headed inside. She better not fill that shitty thing up. The two bags on my bike only had enough room for a few things. If we found any.

I shoved open the door. Carts and random shelves blocked the entrance. We climbed over them and got to the main center of the store. Empty shelves and random new papers littered the room.

I looked over at Y/N to ask her what we should do but she was already walking off. Pushing the cart down a random isle all the way at the back of the store.

"Is she dumb?" I asked myself as I followed her. I left my cross bow back at the prison. Fuck. I pulled out my pistol from my holster and lifted it up. Checking each isle as I walked over to her.

This idiot could've been eaten. I guess not everyone is as smart as you think.

Once I finally made it to her I saw the cart. Stock pilled of random canned goods and chips. "We can't take all of that." I grumbled as I lowered my pistol.

"We can just take some and then come back for the rest." She shrugged like it was no big deal. She is starting to really piss me off.

"I do not wanna be stuck running around all day with an idiot." I pinched the bridge of my nose in annoyance. I felt her hand pat my chest and I looked down at her. "Get over it." She smiled but her tone was rather angry.

I shoved her away and headed off down the rest of the isle. Checking for walkers so this idiot of a woman doesn't die.

----

Regular POV

It's been about a week since me and Daryl's run. He has been avidly ignoring me. I guess I really pissed him off when I said this walker with the ugliest fucking face looking like him. I thought it was funny.

Today I was out checking the other cells around the prison. Killing any walkers that I stumbled into or that stumbled into me. I had finally made it to the end of cell block E.

I was going to be late for dinner. Oh well. I headed back to the front of the prison and walked into the main cell block we were all settled in. Just as I thought.

Everyone had ate and there was nothing left. I groaned and mentally cursed Rick for giving me the worst jobs. I lowered my head and started walking up to the stairs.

"Not gonna eat?" A familiar deep voice asked. I looked over at Daryl. He was holding a bowl of stew. I rolled my eyes. "No." I huffed and turned to keep walking.

"Come on and eat. I don't need you to starve." He insisted. Talking to me like he cared.

"Why do you care if I starve?" I sneered. He just gave me a look. The 'you better do what I say.' look. I gave up and walked back down the steps and over to him. He held out the bowl to me and I took it.

"Thanks.." I say unsure. Should I be thanking him or telling him off? He had ignored me for a whole week.

Why do you care about me so much all of a sudden? You ignored me all week." I antagonized him. He just stared at me. Bitting his bottom lip. 

"I didn't ignore you. Now good night." He turned away and began to walk up the stairs to his cell. I rolled my eyes and started to eat my stew.

Then it hit me.

He wasn't ignoring me. At least he was verbally.

He would purposely bump into me and give me a rude look. Even if it was his fault. He'd look at me anytime we all ate dinner together. Constantly pick the same time to do guard duty as me. Even if he didn't speak to me.

I shook my head. Maybe I was just over thinking it. We were in a prison after all. With maybe 10 people. It's bound that we bump into each other and have the same shifts.

———

Again. Today I had to check Cell block A. I groaned as I walked down the hall. I was always chosen for the dumb jobs. I headed into a cell unit. Checking each cell for any sign of life .. or death. As I got to the end of the cell block a hand grabbed me and pushed me down to the grown.

"Ah- what the hell.." I looked up at the walker infront of me. It's jaws slammed together as I pushed it away with my hand. Keeping its mouth away from my face and neck. "ah- fuck!" I looked over to my side. My gun had fallen out.

"Shit shit shit! I kicked at the walker. It didn't budge. I tried shoving it off. No use. My arms grew tired and I trembled under the weight of the dead. This can't be how I die. No way.

As the Walker lowered its self. Close enough to take a bite out of my flesh. I swear I could've felt the pain of teeth bitting into my skin. A loud 'phew' echoed and an arrow pierced the Walker through the head. It flopped down. I pushed it off my quickly and scrambled away from it. Catching my breath.

Daryl stood at the end of the corridor. His crossbow in hand. He lowered it and walked over. Pulling the arrow out of the walkers head.

"What are you doing here?" I asked still trying to recover from the shock.

"Saving you. Dumb ass." He grumbled and set his cross bow down. He walked over to me and held out his hand. I hesitantly held my hand out and took his. He pulled me up and I stumbled into him.

He looked down at me as I looked up at him. "I heard you. I was walking around tryna find you to tell ya dinner was done. Since you missed it the day before." His voice echoed in my head. This time it wasn't annoying.

"Oh really? What makes you care so much if I miss dinner? It just mean more food for you. I don't get why you're trying to be so nice to me but stop."

He stared at me. His eyes narrowing slowly. "I just saved ya. Doesn't it prove I are about ya?! Do I have to spell it out!" He yelled flipping his arms into the air and back down.

"Why did you save me? Aren't I just an annoyance to you?" I went on. His hands bunched up into fist. "Maybe you are!" He sneered.

"Good I like being the reason you're so mad." I smirked and pushed him against the wall. He stared at me. Slowly catching onto my game. "Agitating you makes my day." I clicked my tongue in his face at the end of the sentence.

He bit his lip and glared at me. His hands grabbing my sides slowly but firmly. My heart rushed slightly. I pushed the feeling down. I wanted him to make the first move.

"Maybe I like that you agitate me." He added on, pulling me closer by the waist. His voice was deeper now. More low and quite.

I pressed my body against his. My arms wrapped around his neck. "I like that you like it." I whispered in his ear in a slow, low tone. I could feel him growing hard as each one of my silky smooth words touched his ear.

I pulled away and looked at him. I laughed slightly. Who knew a women could make a grown man melt at a few words so easily.

"Maybe I'll-"

He cut me off and pressed me against his chest. "Just shut up and kiss me." He demanded. I smirked and gladly listened. Pressing my lips against his cold chapped ones. His stumble rubbed against my face and I'd be lying if I said it didn't turn me on more.

We stayed like that for a few minuets. Just kissing and saying things I'm sure he wouldn't want the others to know about. Men get embarrassed so easily.

[kourtniwritesagain]

Too Good to Be Part Two

A/N: Here’s the second part to the Too Good to Be series! There’s one more installment, which I’ll probably post within the next week or so. Part 3 is the longest of all, but I’m tinkering with it still. Hope you enjoy part 2! Also, only seven more days until the movie!!!!! 

There is only one week left of their two-week vacation, and Alex was dreading not seeing Henry every day. Living in two different countries…two different continents, really fucking sucked. Alex wants to make the most of the last seven days he has with Henry. Currently, they’re lounging in a hammock not far from the shore of the lake; Cash not too far from them, but allowing them to have privacy. June and Nora are in the cabin. Alex’s dad is getting more groceries. They’re planning on steaks and potatoes tonight for supper. They’re lounging in the hammock, Henry’s reading a book while idly playing with the hair at the nape of Alex’s neck. Alex tries his hardest to suppress the shivers with each passing stroke. It’s hard, though. And Alex knows that Henry knows because Henry, the dick, is smirking. 

“Something wrong?” Henry asks, looking down at Alex. 

“You’re a dick.” Alex tells him. 

Henry chuckles, a low sound in his throat that makes Alex want to bring out more of those noises…just not at his own expense. 

“It’s only fair I get a little revenge.” Henry replies. “You tortured me a few nights ago.” 

“You loved it.”

Henry says nothing, but Alex looks up at him and can see him blushing prettily. 

“Can’t even deny it, can you?” Alex teases. 

He gets a sharp, ticklish pinch to the nape of his neck for that. 

“HENry!” Alex let out a yelp, his shoulders scrunching up. 

“Be nice, or else there’s more where that came from.” Henry says. 

“You don’t wanna start this with me.” Alex warns as he tries to wriggle out of the hammock. 

“You’re disturbing my reading!” Henry shouts, trying to stay in the hammock. However, Alex has it spinning, and the men fall out, hitting the grass below. Alex fell on top of Henry with an ‘oof’. 

Henry looks stunned for all of three seconds before he narrows his eyes. “You’re in serious trouble.” 

Alex scrambles away and starts running. Cash barely glances his way. He looks utterly bored as Alex runs up to him. 

"Aren't you going to do something?"

"I am paid to protect you from outside threats, not your own stupidity." Cash yawns as he turns a page in the book he’s reading. 

"You're the worst bodyguard ever."

“He’s right behind you.” Cash tells him. 

Alex turns around, and, sure enough, Henry is standing there, looking down at him (damn those extra four inches). 

“Alex.” Henry greets.

“Dick Head.” Alex returns.

Henry tilts his head. “You really have no self-preservation, do you?” 

“I’ve been told that a time or two,” says Alex. “I’ve also been told I’m extremely attractive as well.” 

Henry rolls his eyes, but then grabs Alex by the waist and tackles him to the ground. 

“I’m heading to the porch,” says Cash. “Don’t kill him.”

“Dude! Do your duty to your country and help me from this foreign threat!” Alex is grappling with Henry now, but he’s at a disadvantage as he’s underneath Henry. And Henry plays Polo regularly. He trains for it. And Alex…well, he hits the gym, but it seems like that’s not enough because his hands are pinned with one of Henry’s and despite his tugging, Henry isn’t budging. 

“I know your neck isn’t your only ticklish spot,” Henry says casually. “But I’m unsure of what your other ticklish spots are.” 

“Baby, please!” 

“Pet names will, how did you put it last week, get you nowhere.” Henry responds, but he’s blushing. 

“You’re blushing.” Alex tells him, hoping to distract him somewhat. 

“And you’re about to be laughing.” And with that, Henry is tickling the left side of Alex’s ribs. 

Alex can’t even hold anything in. His ribs are easily his most ticklish spot. He bucks sharply, laughter immediately pouring from his mouth. 

“Hehehenry!” 

“Oh my lord, I had no idea you were this ticklish. Are your ribs your worst spot or something?” 

“Yehes!” Alex laughs, big belly laughter pouring out. He’s tugging furiously on his arms now, trying to protect his ribs as his shirt does nothing to help protect him from the ticklish jolts shooting through his body. Henry is kind of really good at tickling. It’s disconcerting for Alex because he knows his boyfriend isn’t going to be stopping any time soon. 

“This is brilliant.” Henry grins. 

Alex opens his mouth to curse at him again, but Henry hits this spot on his higher ribs that’s right underneath his underarm, and Alex lets out a very high-pitched (and slightly embarrassing) laugh. Alex finally frees his arms and crashes them down to his sides. Henry is undeterred; however, and just worms his other hand to mirror the one currently destroying Alex’s dignity. 

“Shihit!” Alex is laughing hysterically and trying to squirm away. Henry is wiggling a finger or two in between each rib as he concentrates on that awful spot on both sides of his ribs now. The tickling is intense yet gentle. Henry’s not digging in terribly, there’s no pain to it, which can happen with tickling sometimes. Instead, he’s all fingers and scritches and absolute destruction as he works his way up and down Alex’s ribs. 

“How were you able to hide this from me for so long?” Henry asks. “You’re a tickling menace, and my attempts at retaliation usually go sour.”

Alex is trying to gain the upperhand, but he’s losing. Every time he raises his arms to grab Henry’s, the stupidly attractive prince scrabbles his fingers into Alex’s underarms. Henry hasn’t moved away from Alex’s ribs except to hit his underarms. It’s wholly unbearable, and Alex is ready to beg for mercy. Having his most ticklish spot unceasingly wrecked for almost four minutes now (it seems like an hour), is getting to him. 

“Plehehehease! Enough with the rihihibs!” Alex begs. Henry slows his hands, but doesn’t stop tickling. 

“I’ve half a mind to completely ignore that request,” Henry tells him. “However, you saying ‘please’ is something I could get used to.” Henry’s hands move to Alex’s stomach, clawing lightly at the soft spot beneath his belly button. 

“Th-That’s nohot much better!” Alex gets out through his giggles. He’s trying to curl up and protect his stomach, but Henry simply readjusts himself on top of Alex each time. 

“I’m not trying to make it better.” Henry retorts. Alex glances up at him, eyes full of tears of laughter, and even though he’s being tortured, he can’t help but get a trill in his stomach (not due to the tickling) as he views at the gorgeousness that is His Royal Highness. It still shocks Alex that Henry is here...that he fought for Alex...fought for each other.

"Henry, baby, please!"

"You haven't asked me to stop...maybe someone else enjoys this." Henry tells him, still lightly tickling Alex's stomach.

"Sohoho what?" Alex retorts. "T-Tihihickling's fun!"

And it is. Alex isn't shy about it. He loves to tickle people, and he loves to be tickled. He and June had epic tickle fights when they were growing up. Nora wasn't super ticklish, but when they were together (and when they weren't) they, too, had tickle fights. June and Nora often teamed up on Alex, but he didn't mind.

Henry blushes when Alex says the word 'tickling'. His boyfriend enjoyed tickling even more so than Alex, but there was something that held him hostage to slight embarrassment. He was also just a super easy person to fluster. Flustering Henry was Alex's number one job.

Henry finally stops his attack, leans down, and kisses Alex. It's a soft kiss, a slow one. It makes Alex reach up for Henry's head to hold him against his lips. He feels Henry grin before the prince wiggles fingers on his ribs again. Alex barks out a laugh and grabs at Henry's waist, digging his fingers into Henry's hips. Henry immediately falls backwards and laughs.

"Don't forget, you're more ticklish than I am." Alex tells him as he offers his hand to lift Henry to his feet.

"You never let me forget, so I've no doubt I won't." Henry tells him wryly.

Alex pecks Henry's cheeks right as Alex's dad pulls in. "C'mon, let's help the old man with the groceries."

Henry nods and grabs Alex's hand as they walk towards the car.

"By the way, Cash, I'm totally going to get you fired." Alex throws to the Secret Serviceman.

"Don't threaten me with a good time, kid."

Henry laughs, and Alex flips Cash off. There's no heat behind the gesture. And once more, Alex is so thankful for the life he's living.

[archandshri]

9th feb '24 - [arch] characters, interactions and emotion - making a mini webcomic

Gahhhh Shri this has been an absolutely crazy couple of weeks!!!! Hope you are doing well :)) First of all, WOW! You have a lot of goals, and I’m sure you’ll get them done! I’ve worked a lot on my graphic design during the process of making Winter Wellbeing. If you wanna see a blog post dedicated just to that, I can do so! It would be cool to compare notes on the approaches we take for graphic layouts. If you wanna share your knowledge of camera skills when you build that up that would be awesome 😭😭

It’s been a tough few weeks, art wise. I have been reflecting on my process, motivations to create, the ego and all the baggage that’s lumped into the creative process for me. It turns out there’s a lot. I took some space from my illustration practise (literally for a weekend!) and began to realise how dysfunctional it is. I’ve been writing a lot about that so there may be a larger piece of writing coming about that at some point (no promises!!)

But for now, let's talk about little successes!

I’ve been playing with some characters for a while but I’d hit a bit of a block with the plot. I realised the expectation of having a finished project of high quality soon is unrealistic, and an unhealthy expectation to put on myself. I rarely give myself time to play with concepts for a long time and let the characters, plot and interactions evolve naturally. Maybe this in part came from sticking to the short university module turnaround. I noticed that that short turnaround was causing a lot of block, so I have decided to bench it as a comic for now and focus on using it as a playground - falling in love with the characters, creating stories and drawing them for fun. Maybe years down the line I’ll make them into a comic - we shall see! 

I *tried* to do hourly comics day this year and it didn’t quite work for me. I think I made 3 comics? And then got distracted with a bigger project that ended up taking a week or so to complete. Let’s have a look at it, shall we?

[you can find the full version here]

First of all, it’s based on an unfinished fanfiction I started a couple of months ago, which was mostly bad, but there was one nice scene that I liked and wanted to expand on. I started by having a look at the script I wrote and thumbnailing on the iPad. I’m away from home at the mo and usually would prefer to do most of my artwork traditionally, but because I don’t have access to a scanner, the whole process was digital this time. A lot of the pages got scrapped because the dialogue wasn’t necessary, and I’m not drawing pages that aren’t necessary.

some more development screenshots

I thought a lot about posing during the process, acting the scenes out in my mind and sometimes physically, really understanding the emotions of the characters, why they’re saying what they’re saying, their tone and how to convey that though their body language and expression (i find grian really annoying normally [affectionate] but I want this grian to step on me).

Pearl was hard with this because she’s quite erratic and unpredictable in this series, so I wanted her to switch from raw explodey anger to playful jabs at Grian. I’m hoping this comes across as somewhat insane, rather than tonally off and inconsistent. I did super enjoy drawing her and her explosive nature though, especially in comparison to Grian’s coldness.

I played with levels and monotone colour too - I’m not working with multiple colours much at the moment so I’m able to focus on things like values composition, characters and backgrounds. My skills limit the kind of stories I can tell currently, so I’m working to improve those foundations. Maybe when I’m back in the riso studio I can play with colours a little more.

Colours - despite the simple pallete it gets a bit nerdy here.I stuck to specific flat percentages for most of it - Pearl’s hair and Grians jumper are 60%, Grian’s hair and Pearl’s cloak are 20%. Then I added a 14% layer for shadows, using a ahrd blend eraser tool for highlights, making the images quite dark. I fill a layer with texture from Forystr’s riso brush for procreate, and turn it into a 40% opacity colour dodge layer. This gives it some much needed texture and makes the lighting feel low and nighttimecore. It also pushes the values to look really nice - I tend to be too scared to push them by myself.

I tried a few different colour layers to get a *vibe* but settled on a low percentage riso blue in a colour layer. All layers besides the riso blue are in a riso black, colour picked from a riso colour pallete. I learnt these tools - using percentages to get good values - from working with risograph. I really recommend having a look at these techniques and doing some monotone work. It's really improved by character designs, page layouts and compositions.

That's all from me today, though I have had MANY other thoughts over the past two weeks about creating, but perhaps we'll dive into them another time. If you (or anyone else) has any questions, hit me up with a reblog or an ask and I will get right to it. Lovely to hear from you! Hope your art is going great too :)) Arch :)

[bomberqueen17]

assorted, and snippet

it is a rainy sunday. we had a glorious last-gasp-of-summer week, 70s and sunny and lovely, and then last night as the sun went down it suddenly got cold and is going to stay that way.

today's my late father's birthday. he'd've been 79 today. farmsister asked the family groupchat if we wanted to do anything special but like, what? no, so we're just having our normal sunday family dinner. she decided to make enchiladas because while the tomatoes are done, there are still tomatillos, so she's roasting those. i decided to thaw a pork butt and i'll make a sort of al pastor kind of pulled pork for the filling, later. but at the moment i'm out in my cabin, which is a disaster area and needs cleaning. but at the moment i'm just listening to the rain on the metal roof, and i have the propane stove on to get it up to room temperature in here, and i'm dying to take a nap but probably won't.

i told myself i could sit for an hour and maybe write. I sorta don't want to write, I sorta want to fuck around and nap, lol. I'm at a bit in Peace-Tied where I'm trying to fold in stuff I wrote ahead that doesn't quite fit now, so that's complicated-- I've been resorting to using two monitors to have the old doc open in a window so I don't have to tab back and forth. But Fit For Thrones is also in an awkward spot where I wrote stuff ahead and like not a lot has changed, but I realized there needed to be a new thread introduced, so I've got to work that in, and I'm realizing a scene I wrote ages ago that was just fluffy and didn't show a lot of character development is going to have to get overhauled to fit the new concept in, which at this point is just a slight complication but later I wanna hang like a whole plot off it, so it's gotta be here-- if I put it in later it won't have any support and might not really properly hold all the weight it needs to, so. And this scene was just fluff anyway and needs more stuff in it. So that's fine. But it's hard. Because of course all I want to do is skip ahead and write the juicy weighty scene this is gonna support. But if I do that (again, as i've been doing a lot in this series, ugh) i'll get there and it won't fit and i'll have to do more of this fiddly kind of work.

I did only miss Friday's update because I was physically too busy at the time, though. It's the wind-down of the farm season but that just means people have started to peel away to do other things, there's not actually a lot less work, and so those of us left are kind of juggling a lot more balls, even if they're less heavy than they were. (more wittering specifically about FFP behind the cut, and a snippet)

So I have a bunch of stuff allllllmost ready to post, but a bunch of tricky work to do for the continuations of them. There has been a spate lately of very nice comments, some rereaders and some new readers, and I appreciate all of you and it keeps me going, really it does.

I can't find the one, though, someone commented on the latest FFT that they thought Morvran might wind up a bit subby perhaps, and I literally cackled out loud. (Someone else was speculating that he's more traumatized/demi/gray than pure ace, which I also have been trying to convey-- he's ace-spec for sure but gray, is where I'm headed with him.)

I don't think Ciri is going to wind up being particularly domme-y in her preferences-- she also would like a pretty lady to push her around please-- but understand she was raised by a bunch of dommes all around, so I had a very early slightly-cracky notion that she thinks this is how het relationships have to work (this did bear fruit in an outside-of-series published work on AO3 thanks to the Smubbles folks, here: What Every Young Woman Needs)-- but there's an excerpt here I haven't quite yet fit into the FFP continuity, which I suppose I'll put here for everyone's delectation (Ciri POV, of Morvran):

He glanced up only briefly at her arrival, flashing her a quick smile but returning to whatever he was writing, clearly intently focused. She propped a hip on the edge of the desk, waiting, and he finished writing the line and looked up at her.  There was something about the way he looked up at her, like this, something open in his expression that usually wasn’t. It sort of made her want to pull his hair, and made her suddenly understand some things about the way her-- Geralt and Yennefer had acted, around one another. She’d always thought Yennefer was perhaps too mean to Geralt, but she could suddenly understand Yennefer’s perspective, and see that maybe it… well maybe it wasn’t being mean.  But. She didn’t know Morvran near well enough to offer to pull his hair.

[sitp-recs]

Fandom creators self rec game! Choose five favourites from your own creations (and tell me why, if you like!), then pass on to at least five other people. I'd love to hear what you're proudest of.

Hello beloved! It’s always a privilege to see you in my inbox, thank you so much for this lovely ask and apologies for taking two centuries to reply lol this was a quite emotional trip down memory lane for me - I couldn’t decide whether to go with rec lists or single recs (oof I haven’t written one in so long 🥲) because they’re both so different and special in their own way. In the end I’m gonna do lists because I think they’re generally more helpful and popular! I’ve been going through a creative / fandom slump for a while now, so this was great encouragement as it made me look back at my own recs with joy and kindness. Thank you babes 💜

1. I actually still love the Drarry for Beginners series! Fun story, I wasn’t very confident about it at first - I was getting many requests for a classics rec list back then but I don’t really vibe with the “MUST read these or you’re not a valid fandom member” mentality so I tried to come up with a different format that felt more like an invitation than a lecture. I think I found a good balance of well known fics and hidden gems, so I’m very proud of that. Also, the banners looked really good! Especially the redemption arc and the Muggle!Draco AU ones if I do say so myself.

2. The Hidden Gems series is also one of my most precious babies - it took me a long time to plan it out, read all fics and prepare the small blurbs for each one and I really love how it came across, the authors I chose to highlight, and the fact that I was able to mix Drarry and rare pairs. I remember getting an ask back in the day that accused me of only reccing my friends (anon really overestimated my network size 🤣), they could have at least checked the hidden gem series before going for public embarrassment lol there’s so much to explore there, and I really wanna come back to it one day to finalize the second edition that I started posting in 2022. Hopefully this year!

3. 35 Romantic Shorts: my heart is so very soft for this one, not only because the ever generous @bluebutter-art has let me use her stunning art for the banner, but I’m also such a passionate champion of short form and I feel like this list really embraced the concept and delivered great recs. I’m not a fluff gal by any standards so this was a nice exercise finding the softest, most romantic and soothing reads that made my heart beat faster. It would be lovely to go back and maybe add a couple more lists with new shorts, or alternatively make new lists for medium-length and long fics. So many ideas, so little time!

4. It feels like a lifetime ago but I’m still very fond of my “smutty recs week” that I made to celebrate one of my first followers milestone. Ahh the nostalgia! All lists can be found here and include a wide variety of themes and kinks like voyeurism, dirty talk, gang bang and others. Those banners are some of my favourites too, they turned out very sassy and clever if I do say so myself. I had so much fun with them! I gotta find the time to sit down and update some of those lists with newer treats!

5. Now highlighting something more recent (from Feb 2023… LOL) I’m super proud of my Rare Pair Romance list for Valentine’s Day. It was a great chance to compile (most of) my favorite rare pair fics in one place and include different ships and tropes. I’m always looking for an excuse to rec het pairings which I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, so this was the perfect way to do it.

[waynes-multiverse]

Stay On My Side Tonight – Part 1

Pairing: Beau Arlen x F!Reader

Series Summary: One harmless call leads to a long night for Sheriff Arlen, who ends up gaining more than he ever expected.

Chapter Warnings: a bit of language, crack, a very public break-up, meet-cute (Wayne’s Version), handcuffs, mentions of cheating & divorce, puppy, flirting, teasing, sexual tension, innuendos, fluster, fluuuuuff

Word Count: 3.4k

A/N: This is when I realized I have a weird notion of meet-cutes, apparently. Well, I hope you snort right through this and leave with a blush in your cheeks and some warmth in your heart. Enjoy, loves & please let me know all your precious thoughts! 🖤

Miniseries Masterlist || Main Masterlist

With an exhaustive sigh, Sheriff Arlen shuts off the computer and falls back into the somewhat comfy desk chair, the old leather already scraping off at the edges. The sky outside the big window is dipped in a rich dark blue, the first faint hints of the Milky Way twinkling above while the horizon still shows remnants of a soft vanilla glow. Throwing on his hat and jacket, he heads out his office door, calling it a night.

“Already off the clock?”

The sheriff smiles when he finds Jenny leaning against the wall in the lobby. He already knows by her small grin that something interesting must’ve come up.

“Depends. What d’you got?”

“Little commotion downtown,” she replies vaguely as she pushes herself off the wall and stalks closer.

His brow furrows, bow legs taking a wider stance on the cream tiles. “About what?”

“Uh, I think you should see this one for yourself, Sheriff. Sounded fun on the phone. Wanna check it out?” the blonde says mysteriously and wiggles her eyebrows.

Beau chuckles with a soft shake of his head, “Man, you really know how to keep a guy interested, Hoyt.”

Indeed, the scene can be described as goddamn interesting when the pair arrive and exit the SUV.

A large crowd has gathered on the street, all of them exchanging whispered gossip behind palms and gawking at a young man who has his hands firmly tied around a lamp post. His denims are pooling around his boots, his bare ass is on full display, and there’s a target drawn in red lipstick around his… well, you can take an educated guess.

Opposite the poor bastard, the sheriff spots a young woman with a blindingly neon-orange rifle in her arms, determinedly aimed at her obvious target. She’s breathtakingly gorgeous, skin glowing underneath the spotlight of the street lamp, and while fuming from head to toe, he can’t help but admire the sparkling flames in her eyes. Luckily, he recognizes the weapon in her hands as a paintball gun, so he decides to let it play out. Whatever that idiot did to piss off that pretty lady, Beau assumes he probably had it coming.

“Well, gotta say, you don’t disappoint,” he tells Jenny, who smirks in response.

“Told ya – fun.”

“You wanna take this one?” A little part of him hopes she denies his offer, so he can talk to the woman who caught his green eyes himself. He’s unable to steer his mesmerized gaze away from her for too long, and it’s just a matter of time before Jenny notices his blatant ogling.

“Nah, you can have this one, Sheriff,” the blonde winks with a taunting smirk. “‘Sides, I really wanna see how you handle this one.”

“Alright, I see how it is,” he responds to her teasing and softly clears his throat. He exhales a little breath of nervousness before taking a large stride closer to the young woman with the angry wrinkles on her brow. “Good evening, miss. So, what do we have here? A little Wild West justice?”

“Well, it is Montana. I think my daddy would be proud,” she quips cleverly, though her eagle eyes don’t waver from her target once. But when she finally takes a quick scan of him, her eyebrows quirk together. “Who are you? Where’s Tubb?”

“Temporary Sheriff Arlen, miss. Started a week ago.”

“Shit,” she curses under her breath, her nose scrunching adorably. “I forgot about that.” Well, she clearly is thrilled to meet him, but to be fair, she seems a little preoccupied at the moment to fully appreciate all of him. “Can you call Tubb? I saved his wife’s cat. He owes me a favor.”

“She’s the local vet,” Jenny whispers into his ear for further context. The sheriff gives her a grateful nod.

“How about you just tell me what’s going on here and I promise I’ll try to help you as best as I can, alright?” Beau suggests. The distressed woman seems a bit like she’s in over her head.

Her eyes flicker to him every odd second as she ponders his offer and then accepts with a nod. “Alright, fine.”

“What’s your name, darlin’?”

At that, the woman questioningly lifts her eyebrow. “Darling?”

“You really gotta stop doing that,” Jenny reminds him in sing-song.

“Duly noted,” he mutters sarcastically and wonders if the blonde will ever cease her hazing antics.

“Can someone please untie me?!” the young man desperately yells and turns everyone’s attention back to him.

“Shut up, Kurt! You’re a lying, cheating piece of shit!” The woman determinedly adjusts the grip on the toy gun and squints her eyes at her presumed ex – aka the target.

“Whoa, easy there,” Beau tries to calm her, letting out a nervous chuckle as his hand carefully lowers her plastic weapon. She’s a feisty one, for sure. “Let’s talk about this, huh? You know the coffee at the station isn’t actually the worst.”

“No offense, but this seems a little more satisfying than chit-chat over mildly good coffee,” she counters, a bold smile shaping on her pink lips. “Wanna know something, Sheriff Arlen? I have a raccoon with rabies at my clinic. My first instinct was to lock ‘em in a cage together, let ‘em fight it out? But then I saw my nephew’s paintball gun in the corner. It was just calling out to me, y’know?”

“Well, I guess it’s good you didn’t go with your first gut on this one,” he jokes and dampens the amusement in his voice after seeing the little twinkle in her eyes. Goddammit, he’s supposed to be a calming influence, not encourage her itchy trigger finger further.

“Hey! You two couldn’t resist watching the show either, huh?” Cassie joins them with a grin as she squeezes through the crowd and folds her arms over her chest next to Jenny. “Did she get a shot in yet?”

“No, but I think she’s getting close,” the blonde deputy muses, chuckling.

“Okay, how about you two don’t encourage this, huh?” Beau scolds the two women but only receives challenging laughs in response. He rolls his eyes. He really needs to work on his authority to keep the peanut gallery in check. “Do I have to remind you two that this is technically still an ongoing assault and a potential kidnapping?”

“Whoa! I did not kidnap him,” the woman in crisis throws in and almost seems offended by his insinuation.

Shifting his focus back on her, he adjusts his hat and places his hands on his hips. “And how exactly did that guy end up tied to a pole?”

She shrugs innocently, “Found him like this.” When he shoots her a raised look, she rolls her eyes back and sighs, “Fine. Lured him here under false pretenses.”

“You said we’re gonna do somethin’ kinky, you bitch,” Kurt growls.

“Ey! Watch the language, pal,” Beau warns him with a stern glare.

“It ain’t my fault you’re a goddamn idiot, Kurt!” she shouts back and narrows her eyes to find the perfect angle on her prey as she raises the gun a little higher. “Oh, honey? Why don’t you bend over a little more, huh? You always seemed to enjoy that.”

Beau runs a hand over his freckled face and scratches his beard, assessing his options to settle the dispute. Once an idea hits him, he claps his palms together. “Okay, well, uhm, kidnapping or not – as soon as you take that shot, I’ll have to arrest you. You know that, right?”

Her head snaps to him, a broad and daring smirk forming on her lips now, “Is that a promise, Sheriff Arlen?”

Oh shit… He knows by the ardent fire burning in her orbs that his efforts will backfire, and sure enough, she takes the shot. He’s quite impressed.

Bullseye.

Two hours later, Sheriff Arlen is still at the station and hasn’t made it home yet, but he doesn’t mind that snakebit fact as much anymore. Once he has finished processing the paperwork and sent her whiny ex on his way, he saunters back to his office, where the fiery young woman is currently handcuffed to a chair. Figuring she wasn’t a huge threat or even remotely a flight risk, he didn’t see the need to lock her up in a jail cell. Frankly, she would’ve looked out of place there.

From the little intel he’s gathered on the scene, every single witness claimed they have seen nothin’ and vouched with their hand on their heart that she’s as sweet, kind, and helpful as they come. Clearly beloved and protected by everyone in the small town, he can tell she’s an incredibly bright, beautiful, and passionate young woman – a force of nature – and also a bit of a flirt on top of that. If he didn’t have to take his job so seriously, he would certainly opt to do a whole lot of other things to her in that position. His heart even starts pumping blood noticeably faster as soon as he steps back inside the room and reenters her irresistible orbit.

“So? What’s the verdict, Sheriff? Am I getting a prison girlfriend?” Curiously, she arches her eyebrow at him, the smirk on her lips making him swallow as he moves to her side and frees her from the cuffs.

“Had a quick chat with him. He ain’t gonna be pressing charges. You’re free to go,” he informs her with a small smile and clears his throat subtly. Her sweet scent, which is goddamn unavoidable in close proximity, causes his head to spin like a ballerina.

“Sheriff Arlen, did you rough him up a little for me?” she teases him with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

Beau chuckles wholeheartedly as he settles in his chair opposite her and rubs his mouth, his desk luckily separating the two of them and allowing him a precautious safety distance. “Still not the Wild West, Ms. Y/L/N. ‘Sides, sitting down already seemed painful enough for him,” he tells her and winks. “I think he just had an epiphany after our chat and realized he’s gonna have to lie in the bed he’s made.”

“Thank you,” she mouths and sends him a grateful smile, which audaciously melts his heart.

Honestly, he hopes the guy can’t sit comfortably in a chair for a whole month. What kind of idiotic asshole would cheat on this fantastic girl?

“Nah, just doing my job,” Beau says casually, hoping she can’t see the damn blush in his cheeks. “Your record is as clean as they come. ‘M guessing this was a one-time fluke?” He knows there’s nothing more to do than send her home but still finds himself asking more questions, his interest in the girl in front of him apparently unstoppable and developing a life of its own.

She nods and smiles bitterly, a bit of embarrassment expressed in the rosy color of her cheeks. “Yup, I’m stoked the whole town got to see my nervous breakdown.”

“Hey, if it’s any consolation, I’m pretty sure they all sided with you on this one,” he assures her. “Hell, even my entire department did.”

She then contemplatively leans forward and bites down on her bottom lip before she lets it pop back into place. “You know, I actually think you owe me one, Sheriff.”

“Oh, do I? Alright, let’s hear it, darlin’,” he drawls in amusement and might lay the charm on a little too thick, considering the professional nature of their encounter.

“Yeah, see, before my little stunt, your arrival was the only town gossip. You’re welcome,” she grins and folds her hands in her lap, leaning back in her chair.

Chuckling, he bobs his head and clicks his tongue. “Alright, I see… How about a ride home for your gracious sacrifice, Ms. Y/L/N?”

Her grin widens, the spark in her eyes blazing even brighter. “Deal. And you can call me Y/N, by the way.”

“You sure I can’t take you all the way home?” Beau checks as he watches her unlock the door to her vet clinic, located not too far away from the earlier crime scene. There’s no reason for him to come inside with her, his head telling him to go on home, but the nuisance in his ribcage keeps screaming at him to stay right where he is and never leave her side again.

“Yeah, I have surgery scheduled in the morning. Still need to prep. Got a little distracted earlier,” she jokes and smiles cheekily, the crescent moonlight softly illuminating her face, “But the job doesn’t wait. Still gotta take someone else’s balls tomorrow.”

“Well, I’ll give you that. You’re certainly good at it.”

When the door springs open, she instantly squats down and is greeted by a German Shepherd, happily wagging his tail upon recognizing her. Beau can’t blame the dog even for a second; he’d bolt into her embrace too, if he could.

“Hey, Cap. Held the fort down while I was gone?” She ruffles through the brown fur with a bright smile, earning her several licks from her companion.

“Yours?” he asks and takes his hat off as she lets him inside and switches on the lights. The clinic is small, cozy, and welcoming, every corner decorated with something uniquely personal that tells him something about her, making him wish he could learn the story behind each item.  

“Uh, no. My girl’s at home,” she shares. “The Captain here came to me a month ago. One of your deputies actually brought him in. His owner was some abusive drunk.”

“Seems like he enjoys it a lot more here with you,” Beau smiles and pets the Captain’s head, who immediately leans into his touch.

“Yeah, but unfortunately, he bit the asshole, so if I don’t find a home for him soon, I’ll have to put him down,” she tells him sadly.

“Can’t you take him?” He’s aware she probably can’t adopt every poor animal that crosses her path, but the Captain’s puppy dog eyes are hard to resist.

She sighs loudly and rises to her feet, “I would, but my Aussie is a bratty only child. And this one is practically love-starved. Needs all the solo attention he can get.”

The Captain seems to agree with his foster mom and barks, swiftly bringing the sheriff a tennis ball.

“He really seems to like you,” Y/N comments, giggling.

“Yeah, he’s a good boy,” Beau smiles softly, his hand automatically reaching to scratch the dog’s head while the vet starts preparing a few items on the metal examination table.

“You moved here from Texas, right?”

He can’t help but smile at her curiosity, filing it as a good sign. “Yeah, did the town gossip tell ya that?”

“Sure did,” she grins. “Why the move, if I may ask?”

“I was actually retired… sorta. Moved here for my ex-wife and kid. But then Sheriff Tubb called and asked for a favor, so here I am,” he explains and tries not to seem too flustered, albeit he’s failing miserably.

“Was she your ex before or after the move?”

“Before. Married some tech guy recently.”

“And you still moved? Wow. Ballsy,” she whistles lowly and grins.

“Says the woman who I just caught shooting her ex’s ass with a paintball gun a few hours ago,” he retorts with a loud laugh.  

“Exactly. That’s what people call a farewell,” she counters playfully. “I mean, I get moving for the kid, but what’s the plan here? Are you waiting for your ex’s new marriage to fall apart, so you can swoop back in? That’s pretty damn dark, Sheriff. Kinda like it.”

Laughingly, he shakes his head. “No, no, nothing like that… I think.”

She snorts, “Very convincing. Good luck with that. Lemme know if you ever need to borrow my nephew’s paintball gun.”

Honestly, it’s not the worst idea of the night she’s had. Aside from that, his abs already hurt like hell as he rubs a few more tears out of the corners of his eyes. “Well, I hope I don’t have to take you up on that offer. But hey, if I ever need to get rid of one of my daughter’s boyfriends once she starts datin’, I know who to call.”

“Gladly. I’ll keep it close by,” she sends him a wink and laughs, the honey-sweet sound warming his heart. “Don’t you ever get lonely on your own here?”

“Sometimes, but the fishing spots here are pretty damn nice, so that evens it out a little,” he says lightheartedly and kneels down to give the Captain more pets, placing his hat on the countertop to free both hands.

“You know, the Captain here would actually make an excellent police dog. He’s very smart, fast learner, brave, excellent sense of smell, amazing swimmer, and he clearly hates bad people. He’s also great with kids. Loves my little nephew,” she notes ambiguously as she sterilizes her instruments. “Guess that’s why they say a dog is man’s best friend. Bet it helps with the loneliness, too. It’s kinda nice having someone wait for you when you come home, you know?”

Pursing his lips, he straightens up and suspiciously tilts his head at her, the corners of his mouth curving up. “Are you hitting on me, Doc?”

She beams a thousand-watt smile and angles her body towards his, the gesture causing his Adam’s apple to bob. “No? Pretty sure I’m just trying to convince you to take the Captain home with you.”

“Oh.” His face falls, the heat rising to his cheeks as the embarrassment hits him like a tornado, his gaze landing on the dog as he wishes he could disappear under his hat like a Houdini act. “Huh.”

“Why? Did you want me to hit on you, Sheriff Arlen?” she inquires, the brazen smirk on her lush lips filling his mind with endless thoughts of tasting them.

Musingly, he leans against the examination table, his juniper eyes flickering between her and the German Shepherd. “If I take the dog, does the pretty vet come with it?”

The smile she sends him is flirtatious and infectious all the same. “Well, the pretty vet is the only one around for seventy miles, so it’s safe to assume. Choice is really yours.”

One last look into the Captain’s eyes makes the decision for him. “Alright, guess you’re coming home with me, Cap.”

“Yay, Cap! Did you hear? Are you excited, buddy?” Y/N happily gives the dog a few more cuddles, who wags his tail with the same enthusiasm. “I can give you a few supplies for the night that I have lying around here until the two of you can make it to a pet store.”

“Thanks, ‘cause I honestly got nothing for the poor fella,” Beau chuckles gratefully.

“You got a couch? He loves the couch,” she tells him.

“That I can provide,” he nods, smiling.

“Man, I’m a good match-maker,” she sasses, grabbing a pen and a contact card from her desk before scribbling something on it. “Here’s the number of the clinic and my private one in case of an emergency. Just call if you have questions or need a dog-sitter. Anything, really.”

“Great, uhm, thank you.” When his hand reaches out to take the card from her, it’s a struggle to not let it tremble as his heart pounds exceptionally fast and almost bursts through its ribbed cage, her enchanting smile indefinitely burying him six feet under.

As Sheriff Arlen then finally arrives home at the end of a long night with his companion in tow, he’s still not able to wipe the damn smile off his face. He hangs his jacket, hat, and gun holster by the door, striving off his boots in the entryway as Cap already curls up on his big couch. Plopping down on the empty space next to his new partner, he fishes out her card from his back pocket and stares some more at it, stupidly smiling all the way through. Cap then puts his head in his lap and looks expectantly up at him with a little whimper.

“Don’t worry, buddy. Hopefully, you won’t have to miss your mom for too long,” Beau assures him with a certain confidence in his deep voice.

In rare cases, staying the night really does seem to pay off.

Part 2

Can you tell this used to be a one-shot? But c’mon, they clearly want to bone. I couldn’t possibly leave it there, could I? I’m not a monster 🤷‍♀️

THOUGHTS

Tags:

Real Heroes (Dean/Jensen Tag): @deanwanddamons @flamencodiva @panicking-outside-the-disco @deandreamernp @avanatural @eevvvaa @writercole @gshade22 @poptart06294 @supraveng @sexyvixen7 @that-one-gay-girl @lyarr24 @msmarvelouswinchester @akshi8278 @spnbaby-67 @xlynnbbyx @mimaria420 @thoughts-and-funnies @dark-night-sky-99 @wittyboldsoul @awkward-and-indecisive @dean-winchester-is-a-warrior @imherefordeanandbones @mrsjenniferwinchester @snowlovespie @leigh70 @maggiegirl17 @perpetualabsurdity @globetrotter28 @jassackles @foxyjwls007 @extraterrestriali @parinarain @justrealizedimmascifygurl @tristanrosspada-ackles​

[a-salmon-good-time]

Hello I would like to ask if you could give me a critique and any tips on this artwork I recreated. Your art is very inspiring and has kept my attention for weeks. You had answered my question about Cohozuna in a very detailed way and I got the idea to draw one of his parties. Though I wanted to practice this style of drawing so I followed along to your speed paint of Steelhead. The sketch went well but once I added color everything seemed flat. I still am very new to drawing so any tips would help. Also I don’t mean to infringe on your idea by any means if it seems that way. I wanted to mention this before I even try to post anything so I am not just copying your talent.

I also tried to make a sketch of Cohozuna himself.

Thank you very much for the art and inspiration.

That really means a lot that my art is a form of inspiration!! 🎉🎉 I'm honored to have inspired you!

These drawings all came out amazing (no worries about the Steelhead, it's okay with me if you drew from reference)! I know you asked for a critique, but admittedly I'm not as confident with offering professional/critical advice; so I do apologize if that's what you were looking for!

With the Steelhead drawing, I know you mentioned the colors came out too flat for your liking. I can see what you mean though, as Steelhead in this series is a character mostly made of greys! One thing I can suggest is if you're coloring with greys and want to make them more full & less flat, you can play around with changing the hue/saturation of the greys! Here's what I mean:

The Hue changes the colors, and the Saturation determines how subtle or intense a color appears. And the Value is what makes colors lighter or darker, so you can adjust those as well if need be!

Hue/Saturation/Value can be be changed as much (or as little) as needed to give any shade of gray little/more color.

Here's an example of me shifting the Saturation & Hue just a liiiittle bit while not changing the Value (to keep it at the same lightness:

(Character designs with various shades of gray are just as great! This tip is only for if you're wanting to color with grays to make them look less flat)

As you say you're just starting out drawing, I do have a couple of art advice I can offer! While they can be applied to most artstyle, these tips are mainly geared towards cartoon styles. (The first tip is a basic one while the second moreso goes off of feeling/emotion rather than being a visual guide.)

Practice with Shapes!

This goes for any aspect of a character (head, body, etc). You can experiment and have fun with different shapes for characters!

These are only a few shape examples of different head/body shapes (as well as weight/mass), though there's many other shapes to explore when designing/drawing characters!

Become Your Inspirations

This is how A Salmon Good Time came to be! The art direction of this series is heavily inspired by the Don Bluth animated films.

How I got to where I am is a result of me studying the artsyle and familiarizing myself with it by watching some Don Bluth films, drawing characters from the films (from reference and memory), studying how the characters move or talk, etc!

Heck, I even had some people tell me that they study/wanna study my artsyle and it makes me feel honored, to be honest 🥺❤️ I'm not against it if anyone feels inspired by my art and wants to study it— in fact, I encourage it!

(I responded to an ask on my main Tumblr a year ago that also talks about becoming your inspirations as well: image is below!)

✨✨✨

[kinaesthetiqueer]

You've more or less single-handedly altered my entire perception of Nora as a character, and I mean that in the best way possible, making me enjoy her so much more every time I rewatch RWBY (which I gotta do again at some point, but that's neither here nor there)

However! This leads to my question :3 I noticed you had a few fics about her, and that she's also a very present character in your brain space, I kinda wanna know more about Satya Vaswani (which I now know her name is!!! Which is so cool!!!) and specifically your thoughts about her, what about her appeals to you, basically sharing as much as you want to!

I had a mild overwatch phase some years ago, so I know some Basic lore, but I always love learning and hearing about people's favorite characters :3

Oki thank you byeeee!~

aksnskajdhskanjs WONDERFUL QUESTION AND THANK YOU THIS TOOK DAYS TO WRITE BUT IT WAS NICE TO BE REASSURED THAT I DO STILL LOVE HER (AND HER GIRLFRIENDS, BY PROXY).

quick psa below for anyone who follows me for overwatch; otherwise, you can skip to the blue text & read more for sym gushing

im gonna preface this by saying my knowledge of overwatch ends in about mid to late 2019, which is right around the time i finally and miserably acknowledged that i could no longer play sym in the game because i could not adjust to sym 3.0. (for context, when blizz announced her 3.0 rework in 2018, i crawled under my desk and cried; there are pictures). while i also played rein and lucio, my real joy was playing sym and once i could no longer do that, i basically stopped playing. i'm not good at fps. there's a lot going on. i scream a lot. i cannot aim. overwatch remains my first and only fps. i just couldn't handle letting my friends down as a bad support-turned-dps as i cannot aim (even though they insisted i did not let them down) plus eventually a lot of other folks stopped playing, i got busy, blizzard continued to suck ass, etc. sym 3.0 was a personal death knell for my SI in overwatch

SO the last thing i read was the bastet short story and the last new chara i cared about was baptiste. i got soured on the fandom and the shipping base and crawled out of it into a perfectly happy ot3 isolation bubble. i say all this NOT to sound unhappy about this question, but to set up for the single boundary that i MUST enforce when it comes to overwatch:

i do not want to know anything about ovw post 2019!

this may sound harsh but i don't care about overwatch lore anymore!this is simply to prevent my brain from just absolutely self-imploding. i have a clear and complete outline for the take to the skies series and i only care about that series (and the demons/witch au) and a few other things that ive written; i do not want to corrupt that. i've heard whispers about sym lore updates and im simply not engaging with that. i don't need to know nor do i want to! thank you, good night! i'm content to willingly live in denial.

you see, my satya "symmetra" vaswani lives safe and sound in my brain. blizz can't touch her.

satya vaswani, also known as symmetra to her teammates and also her enemies, is a character near and dear to my heart! i knew nothing about her until i stumbled upon the fact that she was intentionally written as autistic. this was at a time in my life where i had recently discovered i was too, in a fun (not) series of events, and so i latched on immediately, not to mention when i started playing her, i found a niche and became a rather successful sym (which to me means being helpful, getting kills, STAYING ON THE FUCKING POINT, and not getting in the way). i don't remember what my hours ended up being on her but im pretty sure it was well over 100 and since the servers are gone??? i'll never know? im not downloading ovw 2 to find out. it's probably on my old blog. GAH. im not here to be be salty about blizz.

SATYA.

satya, much like nora, is a side[ish] character that i have taken every scrap of canon lore and extrapolated to the stratosphere. i acknowledge that i have surpassed canon and inserted my own, especially when it comes to her childhood.

that being said

here's canon:

After she was identified as one of the few capable of becoming a light-bending architech, young Satya Vaswani was plucked from extreme poverty and placed in the care of Vishkar's architech academy, never to return home. Isolated and lonely in her new life, Satya immersed herself in her education and training. She quickly grasped the applications of the technology and was one of the top students in her class. Satya approached hard-light manipulation differently than her peers, with their more procedural, mechanical constructions, instead weaving her constructs in the motions of the traditional dance of her homeland.

and then i, to recap practical ghosts to some extent, made it worse. she was singled out for a scholarship by the vishkar academies who intentionally sought out young kids with high compatibility with hard light tech. she has an older brother aditya and a younger brother krishna and her mom karishma. her father died when she was three; she is, at the time of pick up, eight.

she's taken away to the fledgling vishkar town of utopaea where she atends the prestigious vishkar dawn academy boarding school. fairly quickly she takes to HL. it just makes sense to her and she loves it! never mind that she's without her support net for the first time ever. higher up staff order her teachers to excuse her 'problematic' behaviour because they don't wan to damage the prodigy in the making. her mother fights to have satya come home regularly and succeeds in making sure she gets to visit. the higher up staff even court these wishes, hoping that karishma will see the good in vishkar's training and ABA therapy but satya's mom sees her daughter's personality changes and misery and the way she talks about her autism now, the bullying she receives from both adults and students, the way she only seems to focus on architecture. she doesn't like it one bit. and after four years of this back and forth fight between vishkar execs and karishma over the 'budding jewel' of vishkar, karishma finally finds another school closer to home and begins to make moves to take satya out of vishkar academy at the end of the school year.

in response, vishkar ensures that satya has no family left to go home to. they also make sure that not only it looks like an accident but a specific architectural failure that galvanizes satya's single track minded drive to make the world a better place in which no one ever loses their family to a building collapse again. she becomes a ward of vishkar through a series of legal dominos vishkar had in place; she's only twelve. she never finds out that vishkar is the one who killed her family (except for in this little riff i did on twitter that may or may not load). ALSO funny that i named it indomitable, bc i didn't know what rwby was when i wrote that XD. anyways i have all my tweets downloaded but it's not that important.

practical ghosts is a fun narrative because it's told completely outside of satya through documents about her (with the exception of three little chapters at the end, only one of which is from her POV) it's my fave of my satya vent fics. PG is in line with on the run from tomorrow and thursday's daughter's genre of 'no one asked me to go this deep with canon plausible backstory but i did anyway!'

satya NOW though. she comes to the watchpoint, essentially surrendering her vishkar insider info in return for asylum, and proceeds to have the meltdown of a lifetime the second no eyes are on her. she throws herself into discovering how much of her life is a lie (her first comic, where she begins wondering, inspires much of this, as it obvs happens before; while i have read her 2020 comic, i don't use it at all except to smile because it did not contradict my HCs or if it did i ignored it; i was made vaguely aware against my will that she has history with LW but again, i don't care)

she's sassy, she's deadpan, she's devoted, she's practical. she loves dance and cooking and all forms of gymnastics, skating, and ribbon arts. she'll take you to task for doing stupid shit and explain how you should fix it in the same breath. she's ruthless when it comes to making other's take care of themselves. she's harder on herself than anyone else dares to be. she likes birds. she likes making new ways to stim that aren't obvious. she has reclaimed her arm and her relationship with it. she's done an absolutely stellar job of reinventing herself in the wake of everything she's done and been involved with. she's taken all of vishkar's tech and made it better and more accessible. she prefers rebuilding missions more than combat ones. she loves drinking tea with ana. mei was her first human friend outside of vishkar; athena was her first friend at the watchpoint. her and lucio actually get along fine eventually. she is fearlessly devoted to those she loves. she's an early riser and early sleeper. she still cries sometimes when she allows herself to stim unhindered. she is a huge fucking demiace lesbian. she doesn't give a fuck about gender. she wears heels so she can discretely toe-walk and dresses because they're easy to move in. she can and will talk your ear off about her special interests but only if she loves you.

NONE OF THIS IS CANON

last i checked in canon, and based on voicelines, satya hasn't even LEFT vishkar. she's just doubting. she's still there under their thumb and i mean sure yeah that's fine but that was the great of overwatch HUGE sandbox, no plot, WOMEN, and oh my gods an autistic woman of color with the most wonderful voice and voice actor ever (hi ms bhimani i hope you're having a LOVELY day)

i took to sym because i wanted a more hopeful future for myself and i am awaaaaaaaare ive projected on her very hard but i gotta admit the fact that i turn 28 (her age) this year might have actually just made me grin like an idiot because oh my god i could NOT imagine that when i first got into overwatch in early 2017. jesus fuck i was twenty, i could barely see past my own nose. i REMEMBER tho, being like heeheehoohoo one day i'll be satya's age that'll be wild. complete hypothetical. ANYWAYS

i don't think im really answering the question here.

haven't even got to my favorite fuckin head canon. i SCREAAAAAAMED SO LOUD when i realized this. fuckiing rip to my friends bc i was in game and i was playing with a skin i had just unlocked and i noticed something incredible-

satya has a prosthetic left arm. she has two skins though where she looks more like she's wearing a school uniform. i think they're called architech and utopaea? but hey. hey. hey you know what she doesn't have in those skins?

her prosthetic.

SO. my second saddest and most favorite headcanon is that as an 18th birthday gift, when satya technically became an adult and thus could leave vishkar, vishkar offered her a choice. to quote 'nothing here to run from':

Just shy of her Academy graduation ceremony, an offer was made to officially cement her place in the Vishkar Corporation. “We only offer to the best and the brightest, Satya,” Sanjay had said, grasping her left hand in his right. “Wouldn’t you love to be the perfect architech, ready to change the world at a moment’s notice?” By the time she was eighteen, Symmetra only had room for perfection.

BECAUSE YEAH

i heavily headcanon vishkar to be just as bad as talon, since they are heavily intertwined. i would not put it past them.

so yeah, heavy heavy heavy disclaimer that i love satya 'symmetra' vaswani a normal amount but due to the inherent need to extrapolate a million things from a game that initially had three rubber bands and a paper clip worth of lore for her, i humbly recognize that the version of her that i love does only live in my head. and im okay with that!!!! but i love her canon self too, otherwise i would have never gone so feral about her to write over like 100k of her being loved, growing, living and learning!!!!!!!!!!!!!! gods i need to write her again.

also she has the best skins in the fucking gaaaaaaame she's so pretty and i am GAY

[in-a-nook-with-a-notebook]

Claimed | Anything For You

Masterlist

Franchise: Percy Jackson

Pairing: Luke Castellan x Nick Oliver (original character, pronouns are he/him/his)

Word Count: 1.3k

Warnings: swearing, injured Luke

Series Summary: Nick Oliver was on track to figure out his life after high school. One day in a bookstore, and suddenly, post-high school plans were the farthest thing from his mind. One day in a bookstore, he met Luke Castellan.

Chapter Summary: Nick is late and so is Luke. Unfortunately, Luke has a slightly more valid reason to be late.

A/N: Part two finally going up! I've got a few parts worth written but I feel like I shouldn't spam-upload everything I wanna have y'all out for blood for a new chapter <3

Nick is late.

Noon in three days at the bookstore; they had both agreed. Now, it’s 12:30 and Nick is scrambling to get a cab to Brooklyn Heights.

When Nick arrives at the store, he pays the driver and steps out. Luke is nowhere to be found. He does a quick walk around to see if Luke had just gone inside to wait, but there’s no sign of the blond. Nick returns to the bench outside and takes a seat with a sigh. Maybe Luke’s the one who’s actually late. Nick tries not to entertain the thought that he may have left.

————————

After about 45 minutes, another cab pulls up in front of him. Nick hopes it’s Luke, but it isn’t. The boy who steps out of the vehicle, however, seems to recognize him. He has blond hair and violet eyes, which Nick absentmindedly thinks is pretty cool.

“Are you Nick Oliver?” He asks.

Nick frowns. “Who’s asking?” The boy raises an eyebrow. “Yes, I’m Nick.”

“Thank the gods,” the boy says, clearly relieved. “Luke was so incoherent, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find you.”

“You know Luke?” Nick asks immediately. “Where is he? He said he’d be here over an hour ago. Is something wrong?”

“Slow down, man,” he says in a reassuring tone. “Did Luke mention a camp when you last saw each other?”

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, he did.” Nick does 75% of the Macarena trying to find the card that Luke had given him. He finds it in his back pocket, holding it out to the purple-eyed boy. “This place, right? In Long Island?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Um, also, I apologize if this comes off as rude, but who exactly are you?”

“Gods, I’m sorry. I’m Pollux, I’m a friend of Luke’s from camp.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“I have an offer for you,” Pollux says. “Luke didn’t want you to worry about him too much. So, either I give you the light-hearted, sugar-coated version of why Luke can’t make it and schedule another time for you two to meet up, or I can tell you the whole truth and you can make a decision from there.”

“I want the truth this time,” Nick says. He takes a step towards Pollux. “Luke offered me the truth the last time we talked and I wasn’t ready. I think I’m ready now.”

“Well, Luke is injured pretty bad. He’s in the camp infirmary.”

“I want to see him,” Nick says without missing a beat.

“Man, it’s not that simple.”

“I. Want. To see. Luke.”

Pollux grimaces. “I guess we’ll make it work. C’mon.”

Nick climbs into the back of the cab with the boy, and they drive towards Long Island.

————————

Pollux has the driver drop them off at the bottom of a seemingly random hill, but doesn’t question it when Pollux hands him a roll of cash. “Over the hill,” Pollux tells Nick.

“What are we waiting for, then?”

“Nick, wait!”

Pollux has to chase after Nick as he makes a beeline for the top of the hill. Nick tunes out Pollux’s shouts when he finds a tree with a living, breathing dragon curled around it. For some reason, the creature doesn’t scare him at all. In fact, it hardly fazes him. He sprints right past and down the other side of the hill.

“Pollux, where’s the infirmary?” Nick yells up the hill as the blond starts to catch up.

“How did you get past Peleus?” Pollux exclaims.

“The infirmary!” Nick repeats loudly.

“The big blue house past the strawberry fields.”

Nick keeps running while Pollux stays back to catch his breath. On the porch of the house, Nick encounters an older nam in a leopard-print Hawaiian shirt.

“Who are you?” The man asks.

“I’m Nick. Where’s Luke?”

The man shrugs. “Inside, I suppose.” There’s a scream of pain from somewhere in the house and Nick rushes in.

“Luke?” He calls out. “Luke!”

Nick almost misses the door for the infirmary. He sees Luke squirming on a bed across the room and he ducks in. “Luke, holy shit.”

“Nick? You came?”

Before Nick can reach Luke’s side, someone shoves him against a wall and holds a knife to his throat.

“Who are you?” The boy demands.

“I’m Nick, I’m a friend of Luke’s.” Nick maneuvers his way out of the boy’s grasp, kneeling down at Luke’s side. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, never better,” Luke says in a strained voice. “Sorry I couldn’t make it.”

“Don’t apologize, dumbass, you’re injured.”

The boy who attacked Nick isn’t done with him quite yet. “How did you get through the barrier?” He inquires.

“Barrier?” Nick says with a confused frown. “What barrier?”

“You’re telling me Peleus just let you pass?”

“Chris, chill,” Luke says.

“Peleus… what, the dragon on the hill? He hardly looked at me.”

“Chris, you can interrogate him later,” Luke says protectively, holding Nick’s arm. Nick’s face grows hot.

“I’ll interrogate him now,” Christ retorts. “Who the hell are you? How do you know Luke and how did you-”

“I’m getting a little tired of your questions, Chris,” Nick says angrily, glaring at him.

“Nicky,” Luke murmurs. Nick’s face heats him again and he look back at the blond. Luke’s eyes widen in surprise when Nick meets his gaze. “Hm. That’s new.”

“What?”

“Your eyes.” Luke reaches his hand to the side table and grabs a hand mirror. He holds it up in front of Nick’s face. “Purple.”

Nick blinks a few times in an attempt to comprehend what he’s seeing. His irises are glowing purple, the same way his cane and umbrella glow. The purple flickers before fading back to his usual ivy green.

“Huh.”

“I’ve never seen anyone’s eyes do that,” Luke mutters, resting the mirror in his lap.

“Well, that’s fucking reassuring.”

Luke manages a laugh, but winces and reaches for a wound at his side.

“Can you guys leave for a minute?” Luke asks Chris and the others in the room.

“But-” Chris starts.

“But nothing. I need to talk to Nick.”

Reluctantly, the small group leaves. Chris casts one last dirty look at Nick before disappearing from view with the others.

“What do you need to talk about?” Nick says gently. Luke shrugs.

“Anything at all. I kind of just wanted them to leave. Maybe today, you and I could hang out like we were going to earlier?”

“I’d love that, but you’re hurt.

“Nah, I’ll heal fast. Some nectar and ambrosia and I’ll be all set. Sound good?”

Nick smiles a little. “Sounds perfect.”

Luke hesitantly reaches for Nick’s hand and holds it, looking up for confirmation that it was okay. Nick’s smile widens and he holds Luke’s hand tighter. Luke’s stiff body relaxes while Nick absentmindedly runs his thumb over Luke’s knuckles periodically.

————————

Once Luke is feeling better, the two boys wander around camp while Luke explains to Nick everything that’s going on. The Demigod Talk.

At dinner, Nick sits with Luke at Luke’s cabin’s table. Hermes cabin, apparently. Luke is a son of Hermes, which makes his vendetta against the deity make simultaneously more and less sense to Nick.

After dinner, Luke and Nick go for a walk through the camp.

“How are you processing everything?” Luke asks.

“Well, in one day, I met a dragon, found out my eyes can glow purple when I’m angry, discovered that I’m literally half-god, and took an archery lesson from a centaur,” Nick replies. “I’m just fine, Luke.”

“Yeah, no, I get that.” Luke pauses. “You’ve got me, though. You always will.”

Nick reaches for Luke’s hand in the dim light of the sunset.

“I really hope you’re not another Hermes kid,” Luke states. “This kind of thing would kinda be super weird if that was the case.” He holds up their intertwined hands.

“Shit, that’s true.” Nick crosses his fingers on his free hand. “Here’s hoping.”

Just then, Luke glances up and his jaw drops. “Holy shit,” he whispers.

“What?”

Nick looks up, but whatever Luke had seen has disappeared.

“You just got claimed, Nicky,” he says slowly.

“By who?”

Luke swallows hard and meets Nick’s eyes. “Hades. God of the Underworld.”

A/N: Went back and found the original document for this and found out I truly did start this over a year ago, around March 25th 2022. Oddly enough, my sister's birthday. Thank you for reading! I hope to be back with part three soon! Feedback is encouraged and appreciated! Have a lovely day!

[odditycircus-2002]

A while ago you posted a hilarious scenario of some of the Outworlders reactions to "CPR" by Cupcakke and I was wondering if you could do another scenario of the Outworlders reactions to "WAP" by Cardi B and to make it even more better it happens to be the music video that they stumble upon.

If y'all wanna know what this ask is talking about, click here. As for your question, it's not a problem! 😁

Okay, I looked up the video and started laughing hard as I imagined how this scenario would happen. 🤣🤣🤣 Also keep in mind,I don't know Cardi B or Megan Stallion that well so be free to correct me.

I'm now imagining that, for whatever reason, Johnny Cage called in Mileena, Kitana, Li Mei, Tanya, Syzoth, and Medusa!Reader to Earthrealm for a shoot for a scene in his latest streaming series. Unfortunately, they happened to have been in the same studio as when Cardi B decided to do a remaster of her "WAP" music video. I can see Medusa!Reader and Syzoth accidentally took a wrong turn on which sound stage they should go to. As soon as they opened the door, they were greeted by the sight of two big-breasted women dressed in flowing white dresses, dressed like Greek goddesses with a large terrarium filled with exotic snakes behind them. Syzoth leaned towards you so you could better hear him over the music.

"Did we accidentally stumble upon a Warm-blood brothel?"

"Maybe they're shooting a movie too?"

You replied before a stagehand approached you and started to tug you by the sleeve, urging you to follow them since they thought you and Syzoth were part of the shoot. Yet, while you and Syzoth are trying to explain that you two aren't part of the "video", Li Mei and Tanya enter not too long after to look for you both. They barely paid the scantily clad woman and their strange siren song that Earthrealmers apparently call music, as they had a task to do.

Yet, as Cardi B and Megan Stallion wrapped up a scene for their video, they spotted Tanya and Li Mei before deciding to approach them. Edenian women are bombarded with compliments and questions about their style, who made their costumes, and if their designer could design something for them. Eventually, Empress Mileena and Kitana found all of you at the set for Cardi B's music video. Mileena finds herself very somewhat jealous when seeing Cardi B touching Tanya's hair while badgering her about her hair care routine. Kitana attempted to be respectful by not staring too long at celebrities or their backup dancers, who were similarly dressed in odd and revealing clothing.

Johnny ended up having to herd you back to the actual sound stage you were supposed to be filming at, which is fortunate since Mileena looked about ready to bite off Cardi B's face. Tanya assured her Empress that there's nothing to be jealous of and other loving affirmations.

You and Syzoth are left baffled by Earthrealm music and its obsession with sex and butts. You also kept a dress that a stagehand gave you, that shows more cleavage than you're used to but are saving for a later special occasion... 😏😏😏

[unpretty]

Hi, I really liked the post you did ages ago where you recommended romance novels, but I started with the Brothers Sinister and nothing has lived up to that. I think it's because there was other things going on in those books? In addition to Milan just being really good, of course. Any chance you have some recommendations for romance novels that also kinda have other focuses?

i think milan being really good is a significant factor, hahahaha. you might want to consider romance subgenres that require a touch more worldbuilding and end up with more plot, like paranormal romance (lots of shifters here), OR something like a romantic suspense novel (which includes thrillers and mysteries where the mystery is still secondary to Two People Fall In Love). unfortunately there's some real stinkers in the romantic suspense genre. i looked up two listicles and both had their number one as one of the worst books i have ever read in my life. do not read Mr Perfect or trust any list that tells you it's good. contemporary romantic suspense has the same problem as contemporary mysteries/thrillers which is too many goddamn bootlickers and sexy cops.

before i found courtney milan i was a big fan of amanda quick despite her tendency to write the same novel every time (and like, when you do that in a way that seems samey even for ROMANCE NOVELS you know it's notable). anyway she writes some like... historical gothic suspense type stuff under the pen name jayne ann krentz. she has a million pen names. but i can confirm those are definitely more plotty, but still have the fun historical vibes. you might also want to look into gail carriger books, although those are more fantasy-adventure than your typical romance (a whole series about one couple instead of a different person each sequel??? madness) (jayne anne krentz has a few series like this also iirc, where you stick with the same mystery solving couple)

my top fav before courtney was actually mary balogh but i haven't read those in a while. but the uuuh slightly? series? the bedwyns. i enjoyed those and they actually had an overarching plot that was very satisfying to see culminate in wulfric's book. however these are much more old school straight white historicals so if that's a dealbreaker don't bother.

i can't make a romance post without mentioning cat sebastian, erica ridley, tess bowery, alisha rai, and kj charles. i feel like kj charles charm of magpies might be a safe bet, is the first book free for kindle right now? alyssa cole writes in a LOT of romance genres in which there is a LOT going on (she also writes non-romance thrillers!)

i have probably already recced all of those and therefore you already tried all of them but i guess my core suggestions are alyssa cole, gail carriger, and kj charles. maybe jayne anne krentz if you wanna kick it old school.

oh, and check out hunger pangs by joy demorra and spitfire by maya kern, obviously :V

[cosmic-hoboandthehighlander]

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks for tagging me @daddygrandpaandthebeaver yesterday and thanks for the tag today from @babsvibes

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

46, about to be 47

2. What’s your total word count?

236,929

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Bob’s Burgers

I am slowly working on some WWDITS fic as well, but so far nothing has been posted.

I used to write for HP and my work can still be found on ao3.

4. Top 5 fics by kudos

Not counting my co-written fics (because I feel like that doesn’t count since I didn’t write all of it and one of them is a posted RP)

Take a Walk With Me

I Like That Sweater On You

Now I’ve Got It, Do I Want It?

That Over-Hyped Corporate Holiday

Gawky

Just for fun, since all my top fics are HP (I wrote for that fandom longer) I here’s my top Bob’s Burgers fics by kudos!

Wrong

Where You Belong

This Never Happened

Love, Your Sailor

Rainy Day

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to respond to every single one! I really really appreciate the support from the people who read my fics and a lot of them tend to be mutuals here on tumblr, so it’s nice to know that the people I interact with pretty much daily are enjoying what I put out.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Never Wanna Say Goodbye

For how much angst I love to write, I hate unhappy endings. This one is ambiguous, I’d say it’s the angstiest ending, even if it’s not the angstiest fic I’ve written. I think.

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

Never Too Old for a Bedtime Story

In a Lifetime

Probably. I don’t know, my opinion changes a lot. If you would have asked me months ago, I would have had a different answer. These two have endings that make me happy personally, so I choose these.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Yes. Unfortunately this was common while I was part of the HP fandom and one of the reasons I stopped writing and updating several of my fics. I usually delete the worst ones before they even get posted because I have comment moderation on all of the HP fics left on ao3 now. The people in that fandom seem to be very particular about their fics. I don’t want to start discourse or create drama, but I will say that I realized that, especially after TikTok and the marauders fandom exploded, my fics had to meet some kind of invisible standard in order to be considered “good” (aka atyd standard) and it feels as if readers come to expect your work to read like a published for profit book you can buy at Barnes and Noble. Considering you’re not paying me to write fanfiction and I do it not as a career but as a hobby in my limited free time, I don’t think that’s a very fair expectation.

I have never once gotten a hate comment on a single one of my Bob’s Burgers fics though.

9. Do you write smut?

Yes! As an ace person who is generally sex-repulsed when it comes to their own body, this is mostly how I experience it. I know it’s not always everybody’s favorite thing, so I don’t write it into every fic, but my characters do tend to be very sexual (For personal reasons I don’t want to get into my past, though I do want to make it clear that I am not ace because of it, I don’t want anybody thinking trauma leads to asexuality) but I do enjoy both writing and reading a good smut scene.

10. Do you write crossovers?

Not typically. I can’t never figure out how to do it write. Sometimes I’ll write fic based in the universe of another fandom, but I wouldn’t consider that a crossover.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope!

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

Yes, back in my HP days my best fandom friend and I co-wrote a series of Snupin fics based on songs from the Lumineers. Another one was an rp from discord that me and my rp partner at the time posted. Other than that, no I have not.

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

Tedmort

Obviously, since I am the (unofficial) tedmort CEO, what did you expect? 😉

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

The Lupin-Snape Family Shitshow (title not permanent)

There is no real title for this because I affectionally have been calling it that since I started writing back in 2021. I wanted as much written as possible before I began posting to ao3, so that’s 77k already written for this mamma jamma! This is a Snupin fic in which Snape and Lupin became best friends after the war, married other people, and ended up cheating on their partners and falling in love.

I doubt I’ll ever finish it, even though I am still very interested in it and really love what I’ve written so far. Unfortunately, I don’t know how well the fandom would accept it (due to the ships and themes of infidelity) and I do not write for the HP fandom any longer. I haven’t even opened this fic since March 2022.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I write dialogue fairly well. I come up with some good, interesting ideas even if they don’t get posted. Im good at one shots and the one scene sort of thing - I’m a decent short form writer.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I struggle with connecting the dots between scene a lot, which is why I write a lot of one shots and drabbles. Those are the scenes I wanted to write and if I connect them together, I could make an entire story but I struggle with writing the parts that go in between.

Which is also why I have a hard time finishing longer works because I’ll write the “good stuff” first and struggle with making it into a coherent story that makes sense.

Another weakness is my adhd brain losing interest after I’ve posted a few chapters of a fic and then suddenly never feeling motivated to continue again.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

I use google translate because most of the languages I use, I don’t have fandom friends who speak it (to my knowledge?) which can be really tricky and can make things sound off to people who do speak that language.

I can only read, write, and speak in English, unfortunately, so on occasion I’ll write words or phrases into English sentences but not full dialogue.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Twilight, though I only posted one fic in 2009 to Fanfiction.net

Followed by Glee, which is when I actually started writing fanfiction for realsies. Up until that point, I had mostly written original fiction and never posted online.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

If you asked me before I joined the burger fandom…it would have been this one: That over-hyped Corporate Holiday And this awful crack fic that I still adore, years later for whatever reason: Dicked Down in Divination Feat. Severus Snape

But in all serious, this question was really hard. Maybe this isn’t the best work I’ve ever done and maybe I didn’t take ages to perfect it, but it makes me happy. It’s so sweet and I still adore the idea of mortuary student Mort and Navy sailor Teddy meeting in their twenties.

Love, Your Sailor

I’m not tagging anyone because most of the people I’d tag have already been tagged! But if you weren’t please do this I want to see all of your answers!!