#the aurelia one is probably my own personal favorite of all of these

[nczaversnick]

OC Questionnaires

Okay so @the-letterbox-archives tagged me in not one, not two but 5 of these. So I’m going to do all of them in one post for their favorite character in Project Gemini, Adrian Harlowe. (He’s my favorite too)

What is your favorite thing to do to avoid responsibility?

“Leave.”

If you could choose anyone in the world to be your sibling who would it be?

“Probably Quinn. They are the closest thing I have to family within the military.”

Authors Note: In the previous draft, they actually were siblings

What is the most sublime thing you have ever eaten and why?

“First of all what the fuck kind of word is sublime anyway? Secondly, I ate…science blocks of..not really food for like the first 20 years of my life. Anything that isn’t that, is worth its weight in gold.”

Authors Note: He means genetically engineered processed foodstuffs.

What was the worst day of your life?

“None of your business.”

Authors Note: In my defense the answer to this is an insanely massive spoiler.

What’s your worst nightmare?

“…………..I dream about it. The day I became Gemini. I don’t want to be him anymore”

If a monster asked you your worst nightmare what would you tell it and why?

“Unless that thing provokes me I’m leaving it there hell alone. And even if it does, it’s gonna have bigger problems than asking me about my nightmares.”

Would you give away secret information if tortured? Be honest.

“No.”

Authors Note: This is true. He is specifically trained to resist torture. Even then his sense of loyalty outweighs everything

Who could you trust most with a secret?

“My sister Aurelia. Even Cas knows there are things I told her and not him.”

You have been caught somewhere you should be! Quick, what is your excuse?

“As Gemini I outrank nearly every officer in the city. For rebel activity it’s really a ‘hit first ask questions later’ kind of interaction.”

How good is your sleep schedule?

“If you’re gonna antagonize someone about sleep go bother Iris. She’s the worst of all of us.”

Do you have any siblings? If so, is your relationship good?

“Yes. Aurelia is the reason I started fighting against the military instead of for it. She is the only person who understands me.”

What’s the toughest time you had to endure growing up?

“Uh…all of it? It’s not like being experimented on comes with summer vacation time or something.”

What’s your relationship with your family like?

“Well, we’ve talked about my sister already. My mom is dead. My dad….I met him. Once. Aurelia was coming with me, to help fight for deviant rights like my mom did. We told him he could come with but he said no. I haven’t heard from him since.”

Do you have any hobbies? If so, what ones?

“Not really. Between training and keeping up my cover as Gemini, there isn’t time for anything else.”

Authors Note: After Book 1, he picks up gardening. In later years, he does try to learn to play the guitar. He learns to appreciate music more at least

Do you dream often? What do you dream about?

“…..Yes. Often. More nightmares really. Of the experiments. Of Gemini. Of fire and ice raging until there’s nothing left of me anymore.”

Have you ever been in love?

“Well I don’t have a husband for shits and giggles.”

What is your least favorite thing in the world?

“Oh I mean other than Lucia, the military in general and capitalism, I’d have to say when you’re in a body of water and something touches your leg? That shits the fuckin worst.”

What is your pet peeve?

“When people use big or fancy words to say simple things. Like sublime? What’s wrong with just saying good? Or great?”

Would you consider yourself different?

“Given that I’m not only classified as a Deviant but also as a Zodiac, yeah I’d say I’m pretty fucking different.”

How far would you go to save a loved one?

“As far as I have to.”

Would you team up with your worst enemy if it was your only option?

“It would never happen. She thinks she owns me. But under the right circumstances, I could do it. But she wouldn’t.”

What is the worst insult you can give?

“That I can give? If I stop pushing you to be better than you were yesterday, then you’re a lost cause.”

What is the nicest thing someone could say to you?

“If they’ve got my back that is all I need.”

Are you a jealous person?

“Hell if I know. My husband and his sister sure are though.”

Have you ever committed a crime?

“That’s kind of the point.”

Are you neat or messy?

“Neat. Ish.”

How do you feel about crying? Let it out or hold it in?

“…it’s not about one or the other, it’s about knowing that there’s a time and place for feelings or for focus.”

Who do you live for? Why?

“My family. They are everything.”

Who has betrayed you most?

“Lucia, easily. She lied to me about who I was and where I came from.”

What style of accessories do you wear? Is it willingly?

“I have masks for Gemini and for rebel activities. Also several guns or knives for combat. Other than that….i have my ring. That at least was completely my choice.”

Tagging: @honeybewrites @wyked-ao3 @kittrrrr @zackprincebooks @theverumproject @the-golden-comet @fractured-shield @poppycat-writes @illarian-rambling @finickyfelix @kuebiko-writing @yourpenpaldee @willtheweaver @moltenwrites @davycoquette +open tag

[eclipsecrowned]

i do find it interesting how neutral alignments play out w my pcs in baldy gate.

sybelle is a neutral good, bouncy cheerful kindhearted good, but neutral means she will be an out and out bitch to villains who are far removed from her own sense of moral right and wrong. see the not-quite-a-jokes about how she'd cast 'endometriosis' on m*zora, and also alluding to in a d*rge romance she'd be trading some downright low blows with their ex in a bid to assert dominance. there's also the way she's willing to shift allegiance with the wind, announcing to the organization she's been to loyal to since literal childhood that she's leaving them behind to pursue marriage with a duke's son and to train under the former chosen of their goddess... via letter delivered some months after the crisis is at an end.

hel is neutral. a general do-gooder, but not afraid to kick some when they are down (m*yrina and the staff) if it serves a higher aim, to go just crazy stupid (largely in act 1, ethel, the grave-robbers, etc.) on those who cross her own sense of morality... but also to consider other perspectives and even empathize with villains (k*theric and g*rtash particularly due to some narrative overlap/mirroring.) plus she's k*lemvor's favorite problem child, not totally law-abiding but not actively spiteful, so i wonder if she's a true neutral all the way around. the point is she acts with discretion, not as part of an overarching attempt to be better or worse. peace and love on toril, but sometimes a bitch simply must guiding bolt a knave's metatarsals to make a point.

aurelia is neutral, has no strong stances beyond 'balance,' and endgames with one of the evil-aligned companions. that says something. pragmatic. clear-sighted. efficient. her upbringing within a grove definitely made her a 'bigger picture' person who isn't interested in being polite or heterosexual, and is willing to see all perspectives before acting for what best serves papa s*lvanus' edicts about preservation and balance in a majority of cases. make no mistake. she can be petty. she's the woman with +5 approval when the player is an amusing dick. but she's not any more evil than she is good -- only mean. she's probably actually a crash course in how good, evil, and neutral do not immediately tailor how a person acts socially.

valas is neutral, in the sense of total apathy. he's old, he's lonely, he's being hunted for sport, and he's lost too many people to really give much of a damn about the world anymore. heroes rise and fall and fight and win and lose and the world carries on its merry way, with or without him. he's main character coded except that he cannot muster a single shit. it takes being found familied by the companions and my other tavs before he starts being an active participant in the world again. and even then, that's not necessarily a good development. he has people to protect now, who he wants to see survive and remain at his side -- and he's willing to be underhanded and brutal to get there when nobility and righteousness won't cut it.

and then there is miruna. born to serve, forced into a brutal role by divine blood, not so much herself as a physical configuration of her father's desires and power. she loathes it to her core. what she wants is choice, to wield the knife and understand intimately that the choice to bury it in sheathe or flesh is hers alone. she does not despise the urge for the blood it demands, but that it robs her of control. her life should be her own. she lives, and that life is hers, and so should every bloody inch of it be. in her own mind, she cannot starve out what she is, but she can cut her strings and practice discretion, decide whose life she weighs as only a stepping stone to her own ascension, no more feeding offal to the altar of her father. hail herself.

[gomezisabellas]

Hiiii! I hope you've been having a good day (or had a good day depending when you see this) so I would love to learn a little more about your current muses. which one are your favorites and can you tell me a little about them? Do you have any muses that are fandom or are they all oc? xoxo ss

so sorry this is answered so late, getting out of bed this week has been a battle. but unto my ocs, almost all of my muses except for one are fandomless! i don’t tend to like writing in fandom that much for some reason, although i think i’d like to get into that somewhat with some of my favorite shows. and as for my current muses, i currently have no self control so i have 77 muses at the moment. you can view all of them in the source link at my indie blog!

picking favorites is so hard so this is gonna be so long i am sorry. my current faves would probably have to be astrid harlowe, kamala srinivasan, aurelia de la rosa, nasrin kazi, bash guerra, josie franklin, nevaeh porter, jason palmer, charlotte gregison, and andrea matthews. under the cut i’ll put small little blurbs about each of them but you can also click the links in the source link to view their full stats and bio! trigger warnings for drunk driving, car accidents, suicide, death, depression, bullying. if missed any, please let me know.

astrid harlowe / alisha boe fc — she was born astrid noor but was abandoned by her mother and then put into foster care. she was eventually adopted by a famous and wealthy family which seemed like a dream come true until she learned the truth, they adopted her to rehabilitate their image and make sure this story got out before the negative ones. she grew up shy and polite because she didn’t want to step out of line and make the family look bad. she got pregnant at 16 and her parents sent her to a “troubled teens” program which traumatized her. when she came back, her adoptive parents were dismissive about her experience so she grabbed a flash drive and copied all of their secrets into it and is now just sitting around waiting for revenge.

kamala srinivasan / simone ashley fc — a nepo baby who was only ever praised for her looks so she never really tried to venture outside of that, despite having things of value to say. while she was a teenager, she became a sitcom actress on a disney channel show and the media kind of painted her as the “bimbo” character. she leaned into it because what else was she gonna do. soon after, she launched a singing career but was constantly met with pushback whenever she put her own input in and was forced to continue to put out vapid music she didn’t connect with.

aurelia de la rose / alexa demie fc — another nepo baby, kind of. her parents were both super wealthy and famous and had a nasty divorce. for whatever reason, the media and the paparazzi thought it was appropriate to delve into aurelia’s life and her parents didn’t really mind. they often put her in the middle of their fights and one day, she decided she had had enough. so she started acting out in front of the cameras, becoming the wild party girl. but in reality, she was sad. because the only reason her parents ever paid attention to her was when she was in the headlines for the wrong reasons. she uses this persona to fill a void but it’s all temporary.

nazrin kazi / mishti rahman fc — nasrin grew up in a very small town in minnesota with a speech impediment called rhotacism, which meant that she couldn’t pronounce some words with the letter r. she was severely bullied for this and this led her to become somewhat of a chronically online person, turning to tumblr and twitter to talk about her interests instead. this led her to become hugely involved in music and specifically, one direction. when in college, she double majored in speech pathology and music marketing, but ultimately went into speech therapy, in part because of how much her speech therapist helped her. she loves baking, fashion, karaoke, one direction, hiking, doing puzzles, and scrapbooking.

bash guerra / froy gutierrez fc — literally the sunshine love of my life. he grew up the oldest of six other siblings and was often the one to help raise them while his parents were working. while some people might resent this upbringing, bash loved it and this is where his nurturing nature was honed. when he was in high school, he got involved in the theatre club and subsequently got involved in community theatre, in order to make a little extra money,.during one of these performances, he was scouted by an agent and he moved to los angeles, albeit a little reluctantly away from his family, at the age of 18. unfortunately, while he was out in los angeles, one of his younger brothers took his own life and bash couldn’t help but feel it was his fault for leaving. this led him to having a savior complex of sorts, trying to save everyone else because he couldn’t save his brother.

josie franklin / halle bailey fc — josie is perfect. at least, that’s what she wants you to think. she was brought up by a pastor and a homemaker, and it was always drilled into her head that image was everything. and the expectations they put on her made her feel like she could never truly live up to them. but boy, did she try. instead of rebelling, josie tried to be perfect. josie always tried to be the perfect daughter, the perfect student, the perfect friend, the perfect sister, the perfect everything. but she was never praised by her parents for doing well, they only told her how to be better which prompted her to think that nothing she ever did was truly enough. but instead of wallowing in that she took it as a motivation to do better, to get closer to perfection. but as she grew older, cracks started to show. it was gradual at first. biting her nails when she was nervous but then she started biting her nails all of the time. while she was applying for colleges, she ended up deferring all of her acceptances and hiding it from her parents. when they found out, they kicked her out of the house and since then, she’s been on a journey to figure out who she is without her parents’ expectations. 

nevaeh porter / salem mitchell fc — nevaeh was the kind of kid that talked a lot. maybe too much, depending on who you asked. she talked about a mile a minute and would talk about anything and everything. she was emotionally vulnerable and open to people. but as she grew older, what some people might see as a gift, ended up hurting her the most. she wore her heart on her sleeve just for it to get ripped off. she got bullied but in very subtle ways. telling her the boy she had a crush on liked her just for her to ask him out and have him reject her in front of everyone because how could anyone like her. this led her to becoming shy and turning to other things instead of people. namely, painting and plants. because when she was painting, she could be as messy as she wanted without anyone telling her that she was too much and she could talk to plants and trees for hours without them telling her she was talking too much. 

jason palmer / jordan fisher fc — jason was born to parents who didn’t think he was going to happen for them. he also had an adopted brother who was around his same age, so they referred to one another as twins. he ended up living in the shadow of his twin, who was funnier and smarter and got more attention from his parents. and they were both involved in theatre, but while his twin got the lead, jason was stuck playing background characters or trees. he got comfortable in the shadows, the darkness. even though he was delegated to the shadows, they became his home in some twisted way/ jason is the king of biting his tongue and just putting his head down and doing the work.

charlotte gregison / dove cameron fc — charlotte gregison was born on a commune in san francisco by two hippie parents. the commune was all about community, free love, freedom of expression, acts of service, and liberation. a common thing she heard was that love was at the core of everything. her parents raised her somewhat isolated from traditional media, only allowing her to watch things that they approved of. this meant no disney fairytales or anything of the sort. it was mostly just bob ross and sesame street. she was homeschooled up until the age of eight when she went to public school for the first time. it was definitely a bit of a culture shock for her. at nine she was invited to her first sleepover where she saw her first disney move and fell in love with the fairytale. soon after, she also fell in love with a different kind of fairytale, the romcom. charlotte is the kind of girl who wears rose colored glasses and is in love with love.

andrea matthews / katie stevens fc — andrea and michelle matthews were born two minutes apart from one another. michelle was born first and never let andrea forget it. they were born to two parents who passed their love of soccer down to the two and the twins were naturally gifted. the twins played soccer together, just like they did everything else together. in high school, they were co-captains of the varsity soccer team despite being only being sophomores. during the summer of their sophomore year, a drunk driver came out of nowhere and sent the car spinning out of control until it hit a tree that pierced through the window of the car and into michelle’s heart. losing michelle made andrea feel like she was losing a piece of herself, like half of herself was gone. andrea tried to put on a good front because no one wanted to see the sad girl, they wanted to see the phoenix rising from the ashes. her team told her to take her time and come back when she was ready, but that unfortunately never happened. after high school, andrea turned to music instead of soccer to deal with her feelings of loss around michelle. 

[nokikissa]

Compilation of all the sketchtember Borderlands x Pokemon crossover drawings, whoo managed to get it done~

Links to individual pics under the readmore:

Lilith & Talonflame

Roland & Nidoking

Brick & Lycanroc

Mordecai & Fearow

Maya & Female Meowstic

Axton & Aggron

Salvador & Hydreigon

Zer0 & Kartana

Krieg & Silvally

Gaige & Gigalith

Athena & Bisharp

Nisha & Liepard

Wilhelm & Magnezone

Claptrap & Garbodor

Timothy & Zoroark

Aurelia & Alolan Ninetales

Rhys & Porygon/Porygon Z

Fiona & Murkrow/Honchkrow

Vaughn & Cubone/Marowak

Sasha & Noibat/Noivern

Handsome Jack & Shiny Rapidash

Angel & Absol

Moxxi & Tsareena

Tiny Tina & 2 Lopunny

Hammerlock & Decidueye

Janey Springs & Delcatty

Felicity & Rotom

August & Lucario

Vallory & Mandibuzz

Yvette & Purugly

[schleierkauz]

Q&A with Cornelia Funke - 05.07.2021

You guys probably know the drill by now. I’ve sorted it into topics to make it easier to read, have fun!

Mirrorworld

Q: What happened during Will’s and Nerron’s travels between the 3rd and 4th book?

A: Cornelia could spend hours thinking about that, figuring out the things they tell her and the things they don’t. She’ll keep the question in mind because she would also like to know the answer.

Bookstore Guy: “Maybe whatever they did is too... private to tell you?” (...  👀) Cornelia: “Very possible.” (.......  👀) “Dustfinger is like that, too, he barely ever wants to talk to me.”

Q: Do the residents of Ink-/Mirrorworld have a name for their world, like how we call our planet “Earth”?

A: Cornelia thinks that’s an excellent question and since their world is very similar to ours, the name would probably be similar as well. Gaia, maybe?

Inkworld

Q: Will we learn more about the Black Prince’s younger sisters in the new book?

A: Cornelia says “Ooohhhh!” and writes it down. She just started working on TCoR chapters again, so she’s been collecting ideas and thanks us for all the suggestions.

Q: Are there any magical items in the Inkworld that no one has found yet?

A: The Inkworld and the Mirrorworld are the same, so yes, there are. Inkheart (the book) itself is magical and so is the fire. Fenoglio has only seen a very small part of the Inkworld and he thinks that’s all there is but in TCoR we will discover new places that will make the connection very clear.

Q: What would Rosanna’s path have been like, had she lived? Perhaps she would have taken after her father?

A: Cornelia loves the idea and agrees that Rosanna probably would have shared many traits with Dustfinger. But, hers was a life unlived... Perhaps she will still take after Dustfinger in her next life?

Q: Could the Black Prince and Robin Hood be the same person?

A: No, definitely not. Robin Hood has a very anglo-saxon, white background; the Prince is black and from Africa. He is very different from Robin Hood as a person. He didn't used to be royalty or anything like that, he grew up in poverty... But they do share similar goals!

Q: Has Brianna shared what happened to her after the events of Inkdeath?

A: Not really, not yet. Cornelia is starting to discover some things but it takes a lot of time. Brianna is a character who likes to hide.

- Cornelia is realising that there is a lot of interest from readers regarding the story about Dustfinger’s and the Black Prince’s childhood/youth and she made a note to work on that asap

Other Books

Q: How long did it take to finish the new Dragon Rider book, Curse of Aurelia?

A: Cornelia started in winter 2018 while she was evacuated due to the fires. She’s been working on it on and off ever since and estimates it’s been 14 months of pure research and writing.

Because she wrote it in English but the publishing date for Germany was rescheduled to be earlier than originally planned, there’s been a lot of very complicated translation work. Right now she’s waiting for feedback from the Chumash tribe because she used elements and characters from some of their stories and they’re making sure she didn’t mess anything up.

Q: Why are Frieda and Fred a couple now, it’s heartbreaking!

A (and I’m just gonna quote Cornelia directly here): “No no no. Listen. There’s no need for broken hearts. It’s been 12 years and Sprotte and Fred split up pretty peacefully at some point in the past. Part of the reason for that was that Sprotte went to New Zealand and Fred wanted to stay in Germany.

Things like that happen all the time, despite all the love in the world. Take it from someone who’s 62 years old by now and who has lived many different forms of love. Also, Sprotte is not upset at all and she’s fallen in love with someone else- you’ll see. You already know the person. It’s a beautiful and passionate lovestory.

Fred and Frieda meanwhile are happy that Sprotte is there because she knows Fred so well that she can give them good advice. And I think it’s a beautiful thing when people who were once in love with each other can still be friends afterwards, even though the romance may not work out anymore. No need for broken hearts, really.”

Q: Does Cornelia come up with titles for her books at the beginning of the writing process or does it take more time? A: Depends on the book and the language she’s writing in

- Cornelia’s new book about letters and herbs is almost finished. She’s still unsure about the title - she’d like to include the word “kingdom” but that same word in german (”Königreich”) carries a lot of male energy which doesn’t fit the story

Q: What’s the biggest difference between Pan’s Labyrinth the film and Cornelia’s book?

A: Cornelia hopes there is no “biggest difference” because she tried to keep things canon compliant. But he did add short stories to give some characters a background story. Otherwise, she didn’t feel it was her place to mess with a perfect story.

Misc.

- The stream started with a ten minute tour of the bookstore and the bridge it stands on while Cornelia just silently sat there

...and I thought that was pretty funny. My favorite quote: “This house was build in 1567, so... it’s pretty new.”

- They are going to give away signed bookmarks and stuff again once Cornelia is settled in Italy

Q: Does Cornelia bind her own notebooks?

A: No, but she would like to. The botebook she uses for TCoR was made by a bookbinder in Scotland, usually she just uses moleskin hardcovers.

Q: Is Cornelia always satisfied with translations of her work?

A: Absolutely not, but she thinks a perfect translation is impossible. You always have to make compromises.

- Cornelia was recently invited to a village that belongs to the Chumash tribe and got to feed their sacred fire, a deeply touching experience she struggles to put into words

Q: What’s Cornelia’s favorite language to write in?

A: She can’t answer that because it depends on the book. For example, she couldn’t write about the Inkworld or the Mirrorworld in English, it wouldn’t fit. Writing Dragon Rider in English was fun, though, because the English language often feels “lighter” than German.

- Cornelia has no idea which language she dreams in

- Any time Cornelia reads that men and women can’t be friends she wants to slap the person who wrote it because it’s such annoying nonsense

- Minors will be able to stay at the farm in Italy as long as they’re self-reliant because Cornelia doesn’t have time to be anyone’s mom. There’s also always the Spiegelhof in Germany, which would be an easier option.

- Cornelia wants to invite environmental activist to her farm as well as artists

- Cornelia thinks parents should have more time to get to know their children before deciding on a name for them

- Cornelia firmly believes in reincarnation but isn’t sure why

...Aaand that’s it for now! Right now it’s uncertain when the next stream will happen, maybe in August, maybe September or maybe even October. We’ll see. I hope you enjoyed! :)

[echo-tries-writing]

okay, so i posted about the story i’m writing and asked if anyone wanted to hear about it, and a couple of people responded that they did which makes me so excited because i love talking about this!!!

i’ll just start talking about my characters because they are literally like my children

my very traumatized children

alright

https://picrew.me/secret_image_maker/TUpt5gokcYbd7w1d

the picrew i used^

-

The main characters:

Prince Morgan Fox Chamari (I made the picrews a while ago, so they might not be up to date, but it’ll do for now) (also they didn’t have that many option for make up and stuff, so i just drew on a lot of it)

He sounds like a snob but he’s really not

He’s 5’8, uses he/him, caucasian, pansexual, a leo (yes astrology is swag), he is way too nice for his own good, and trusts people way too easily (which might turn out to be a problem)

He has light brown, curly hair, green eyes, and he’s a prince, so probably like expensive clothing

Morgan does have magic, but I’m not really sure how it works yet, I only know that he kinda sucks at it at first, and he needs to find some kind of scepter to help him with it

Willow Ivy Stara

5’1, she/her, black, aromantic asexual, a virgo, also a nice person in general, but she’s not an idiot about it, you know? She is probably the one that keeps the single braincell of the team in place

Dark, coily hair, dark skin, brown eyes, the prettiest smile you’ll ever see, and she likes wearing dresses and flowers in her hair! She’s also a very gifted healer (maybe i’ll talk more about powers in my world later)(because she doesn’t just have healing, she can do damage too (basically the opposite of healing) which is really rare in my world, but it also strengthens her healing powers)

She joined the team because she ran away from her parents, because they were forcing her to marry another healer (cus she’s aroace right) (and the other healer is a gay man who she later finds out also ran away, and joined the villain!)

Raine Dayla-Jules

Probably the character I’ve put the most effort into, which also means she’s one of the characters who gets the most traumatized (love you Raine)

5’8, she/her, caucasian, lesbian, a leo, on the good side, but leaning towards morally grey, extreme trust issues, she is broke and homeless and a thief, says she is an orphan, but really just doesn’t want to get into her tragic backstory

Lots of blonde, curly hair, blue eyes, freckles, various scars all over her body (which she mostly gets through the story)

She had a normal childhood until she was six years old, when she was kidnapped (because of her powers, hydrokinesis and cryokinesis (is that what it is in english? idk, ice and water like a waterbender), she hasn’t seen her family after that (but she will at the end, I’m not that evil)

I mentioned enemies to lovers on the last post, and Raine is part of that<3

Ember Aurora Ilani

The villain with redemtion arc, because every story needs that, but believe it or not she’s actually a pretty good person, and she does what she thinks would be the best for everyone

5’6, she/her, asian, demisexual lesbian, a scorpio, she has pyrokinesis (again, hope that’s the right word), and that’s where the arson i talked about comes from, occasionally borrows that one braincell from Willow

Like, yes, she technically is a good person, but that will not stop her from setting a house on fire on purpose

Dark brown, long and straight/slightly wavy hair, hazel eyes, tan skin, terrible childhood of course

Like, ‘older brother dying in a fire that she accidently caused, parents hating her and abusing her because of it, running away at age 10, becoming best friends with the villain’ kind of terrible childhood

The other part of the enemies to lovers! (Don’t worry, it’s gonna be a slow-burn)(the burning part might be literal)(but it’s gonna be fine, we have lots of character development and no power imbalance, they both hurt and help each other)

Hawke Edavine

Typical badboy, poor but wholesome family, I might kill his dad though, because all of the main characters has all their parents intact

6’1 (I like that it’s a foot height difference between him and Willow), he/him, latino, straight (I guess they needed some rep too), a capricorn, probably nicer than he looks

Dark messy hair (like, think Percy Jackson), brown eyes, tan skin, bushy eyebrows, think about what a straight woman would find attractive in a man (what do straight women like? Flynn Rider? Think that, just younger)

Used to be best friends with Raine when they were like 11-14 years old maybe, but drama happened, they fell out, they will spend the first few chapter hating each other (also we all know and hate queerbating, so obviously I’m gonna straight-bait these two at first<3)

-

i think that’s all i had for now, but there’s so much more

if you read all the way down here, congrats (and also thank you?? i care so much about this, i love when other people listen)

like, if you wanna hear about the villain (aka Morgans twin sister, princess Sienna Aurelia Chamari), or about these characters, or other characters, their families, pinterest board of their aesthetics (yes i made that too) and also im currently trying to make playlists too, just please lmk because i will serve

i didn’t even talk about their body types or disabilties or mental health issues or other quirks or favorite animals or pets either, but just know i have it all

i just love this, hope you do too!

[too-attached-to-fiction]

First Comes Baby, Then Comes Marriage | Raising Harry

Series Masterlist

Word count: 1024

Synopsis: You and Remus get married.

A/N: I just want all the fluff. Sorry if you’ve submitted an ask, I haven’t been really paying attention to them! A lot of them are Weasley requests and I just needed a little break.

~~~

You cradled Harry in your arms, rocking him gently. Lately it was impossible to get him to sleep in his own crib without some extra help. The room was dark, only illuminated from the light in the hallway. 

“Hush little baby, don’t say a word, papa’s gonna buy you a mockingbird…” You hummed quietly as his eyes fluttered. “And if that mockingbird won’t sing, Papa’s gonna buy you a diamond ring… And if that diamond ring is brass, Papa’s gonna buy you a looking glass…” You continued on, smiling down at the boy. 

When his eyes finally shut and his breathing was slowed, you carefully placed him in his crib, tucking him in. You lingered by the crib, watching him sleep for a moment before Remus spoke from his place in the doorway.

“You’re brilliant at this.” He said quietly, smiling. “I never thought we’d be in this situation, but you’re amazing with him.” 

“So are you.” You retorted, walking over to him and wrapping your arms around his neck. “He loves you.” 

“I always knew I wanted you around.” He teased, and you grinned, kissing him. 

“Hopefully for more than childcare.” 

The two of you left the nursery, going down the hall to the living room. Carefully, you lay on the couch, with his head in your lap. You played with his hair gently, combing your fingers through it. 

“D’you reckon James and Lily moved too fast?” He asked, looking up at you. “They married right after we left Hogwarts.” 

“You know when you know. After all, they’d been going after each other for years. Doesn’t really matter in the end, does it?” 

“Well… because it’s time I ought to propose to you, right? We already have a baby.” Remus said, carefully studying your face for any reaction. 

“Is this your proposal?” You asked with a laugh. “Remus John Lupin, are you proposing to me with your head in my lap?” 

“I don’t have a ring, and we can’t exactly have a wedding in hiding. The best I can get won’t be expensive, Merlin knows I don’t have the galleons for that. And I can’t ask your father-” 

You laughed again. You didn’t even know he had put so much thought into this. The poor man probably spent nights wondering how to bring it up. After all, you’d had Harry for a month or two at this point. “I don’t care about any of that. A ring would be nice, but we can transfigure a coin into one. The backyard has enough space, and we both know Aurelia and Sirius are the only ones who would come anyways.” You stroked his cheek with your thumb. 

“Would you like to get married, then?” 

“One moment.” You said, reaching for your wand and pointing it towards a sickle on the coffee table. You waved it and the sickle hollowed out, turning into a silver ring. “Sit up.” 

He followed your instructions, unsure of where you were going with this.

You gave him the ring. “Try again.” 

He grinned, moving to get down on one knee. “(Y/N) (L/N), will you marry me?” He held up the ring for you. 

“Of course.” You grinned, letting him slip the ring on your finger and pulling him for a long kiss. 

~~~

“Moony, repeat after me.” Sirius said. The five of you were standing in the backyard. Heating charms had been placed everywhere, and you’d charmed the trees to make a small arch with the branches. 

You were dressed in a maroon dress and flats, a small flower crown atop your head. Remus had picked his best robes, which were a little too big on his skinny figure. Aurelia was carrying Harry, who you had dressed in a shirt and trousers that morning and was now trying to bite his shirt collar.

“With this ring, I thee wed,” Sirius said slowly, glancing at Remus. You tried not to laugh as Sirius exaggerated his enunciation. 

“With this ring, I thee wed,” Remus repeated. 

“And with it, I bestow upon thee-” 

“And with it, I bestow upon thee,” Remus said, bouncing on his heels. 

“All the treasures of my mind, heart and hands.” 

“Any and all the treasures of my mind, heart, and hands.” Remus winked at you, sliding the ring on your finger. 

“That’s not repeating me!” Sirius exclaimed, causing you both to laugh. “Now with (Y/N)-” 

“With this ring, I thee wed, and with it, I bestow upon thee all the treasures of my mind, heart and hands.” You recited perfectly, sliding the ring on Remus’s finger. 

“Then by the power invested in me by Merlin’s saggy left t-” 

“SIRIUS!” Aurelia interrupted, startling Harry. He glanced at her with wide eyes, tears beginning to form. “Harry, it’s okay.” She hushed him, rocking him back and forth. 

“I now declare you husband and wife.” Sirius said with a wide grin. The two of you met in the middle, your arms wrapping around his neck as you’d done a thousand times before, for a long kiss. 

“Yay!” Aurelia said, waving Harry’s arms around. You laughed, taking Harry from your best friend and giving him a kiss on the cheek. 

“You were so good.” You whispered to the baby, who smiled widely. 

“Can we have cake now?” Sirius asked, with Aurelia immediately smacking him on the head. “What? That’s a genuine question!” 

~~~

The five of you sat around the kitchen table, with Harry sitting in your lap. You bounced your leg up and down, letting the sound of his laughter float around the kitchen. Sirius made faces across the table, making Harry laugh even more. 

“Any plans for a honeymoon?” Aurelia questioned as Sirius and Remus entertained Harry. 

“Don’t think we really can go anywhere.” You shrugged. “If you can take Harry off our hands for a few nights, we could do that?” 

“Of course. He’s adorable.” The four of you laughed as Sirius made a particularly ridiculous face. 

“We’re married.” You whispered to Remus that night, after the two of you had tucked Harry into bed. “I can’t believe I’m married to my favorite person in the world.” 

“Neither can I.”

[your-uncle-sheogorath]

Hello Lord Sheogorath and happy Sunday!

How are you today? How did your week go? Did you find the source of the zoomies? (Lord tharn seemed to think it was joining a council meeting that triggered it within 20min?) The staff working at the tower really must have interesting stories to tell their friends... Unless they have signed some sort of secrecy agreement when it comes to odd things happening?

Not to change tradition, I wish you an excellent week to come! May you, your loved ones, and all you care for have lots of joy, fun, and happiness.

Have a great Sunday and take good care of yourself!

(Also, thank you for your well wishes as well. It's a pleasure to keep this little tradition alive :D)

Hello, Sundas Anon! :D

Last week was rather eventful. First, I got a desperate call for help from someone who was being lavished with the unwanted attentions of a team of Mazken. You could ask me since when I care, and to be fair I did not care much but who that person was made my intervention worth it. Tall, very serious, probably depressed, mostly made of brass... rings a bell? So this is how your favorite uncle got to visit the Clockwork City. It was quite the experience, I assure you. I got to try the nutriment paste (I cannot in good faith recommend it), climbed a tree, climbed a tall mer, shed fur all around the Tribune's place and learned a few things in the process. Complete success.

Aurelia's birthday also happened last week and, with a couple of tricks I learned in the Clockwork City, I made her a little gift: a miniature enchanted castle for her to play. Inside. She can become tiny and play there, as if it were her own personal fortress.

About the incident at the Tower, most of the personnel have seen worse during the Planemeld (and the Longhouse Dynasty). They assumed I was tripping balls and did not make a great fuss about it afterwards.

The source of the zoomies is still a mystery. Still working on that.

Thank you for your kind wishes! I hope that you are recovering well and that you, your loved ones and all you care for are having a wonderful week! :3

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

past 20 (or however many you have) titles meme, tagged by the wonderful Aurelia @lurking-latinist! most of these are from published fics, but "frozen" and "good mistakes" are working titles for a couple of WIPs I've got going (and, in typical fashion, may or may not ever finish 😂)

• frozen

• good mistakes

• Redux

• Tumblr Minifics

• Falling Together

• space between heartbeats

• give up forever to touch you

• for the bad decisions that we made

• tell me more than just the scars I've known

• when all I own is just dust and gold

• Which Has Suddenly Been Laid Bare

• for fear of moments stolen

• Home Is Weird

• in that sleep of death what dreams may come

• Hello Cold World

• Somehow More Than Alright

• somewhere too far for us to find

• In the Drift

• In Books Written By Rabbits

• what must we do to restore

1. How many are you happy with?

technically I'm happy with all of them, bc if I wasn't then I probably would have picked something else, but... I'm not a huge fan of a couple, so I would say that I'm *actually* happy with 18.

2. How many are... not great?

just two: "Home Is Weird" and "Somehow More Than Alright" aren't my favorites

3. How many did you scramble for at the last minute?

I normally title things as I'm filling out the posting form, so.... I think 16.

4. How many did you know before you started writing/creating, or near the beginning?

Four: "frozen" and "good mistakes," which are titles I've tentatively picked out for WIPs, along with "for the bad decisions that we made" and "In Books Written By Rabbits". I think I probably had a few others bouncing around in my head pretty early on, but I'm not sure tbh.

5. How many are quotes from songs or poems?

Eight of them; most of my titles are song lyrics tbh. (surprisingly, only two on that list are from Paramore songs 🤣)

6. How many are other quotes?

Five!! "Which Has Suddenly Been Laid Bare" is part of a line from Les Miserables, "in that sleep of death what dreams may come" is of course from Hamlet's soliloquy, "In the Drift" is from Pacific Rim, and "In Books Written By Rabbits" is from The Last Unicorn, which is actually worked into the fic itself. "good mistakes" is from a poem by Natalie Wee.

7. Which best reflects the plot of the story/content of the fanwork?

for obvious reasons, I'm not counting "Tumblr Minifics" in this one 😂 i would say that probably "give up forever to touch you" and "Home Is Weird" probably fit their respective fic content best, though if you know the context/full quote of "In Books Written By Rabbits," it actually says a LOT about the fic itself.

8. Which best reflects the theme of the story/fanwork?

IBWBR because the TLU quote ties directly into the fic and sets the stage for it, or "Redux," which was yoinked directly from The X-Files for... multiple reasons, mainly my own feels tbh, but also the word's definition does match the fic very well and also the connection to TXF fits pretty well within the context of both that episode and my fic. it's sorta convoluted tbh but I'm pretty proud of that 😅

9. Which best reflects the character voice of the story/POV of the fanwork?

"in that sleep of death what dreams may come". it's a Brax-POV introspective fic so like... duh, Shakespeare. plus, the angst of it all 😌

10. Which is your favorite?

you get one guess 👀

no but seriously you could probably guess by now that my favorite, my precious baby, is "In Books Written By Rabbits". it's just... very personal actually bc TLU is one of those very formative things for me and I'm super super sentimental, and I waited literally A YEAR to use that as a title for a fic.

the line always struck me as very Leela, "you and your heart and the things you said and didn't say, she will remember them all when men are fairytales in books written by rabbits," and I always wanted to write something about her based on that line/with it for a title and so when I finally did i just poured all that into it and i mean... I may not be the most objective on this bc it *is* my own fic after all, but I'm just super happy I got to use a quote so near and dear to my heart in what I would like to think is a pretty deep way?

I also really love "tell me more than just the scars I've known" tho bc it's my first Sylki fic and the title is from the first song I associated with that ship, plus it plays with the content of the fic itself so I think that's all-around a pretty great title.

tagging @theladyjojogrant, @magicofthepen, @thelightofthingshopedfor, and @ladyverachtung but obviously no pressure if you don't want to!

[avaria-revallier]

Love is blind Chapter 5

Chapter 0 - start here 

Chapter 4

Silence filled the kitchen. Dwalin didn’t dare to move and with a rather clear look he advised Kili, Fili, Bofur and Ori to do the same. The child - no, the hobbit - he corrected himself, stood there with one of his axes in her hand. Stunned at the fact that she could lift his weapon and swing it freely around, he hadn’t noticed that she wasn’t really looking in their direction.

“Now, now,” he tried his best not to sound anywhere near intimidating. “Why don’t you put that dangerous thing down and talk about it?” lifting his hands to show that he himself wasn’t carrying any weapons, he made a step in front of the princess and the youngest Ri brother.

~

Dangerous? No one had ever called her guiding stick dangerous. Her ears perked up as he made a step sideways. The board creaked under his weight. A gasp from behind the one who moved made her frown. She widened the range of her senses slightly.

There was someone entering the kitchen from behind, doing his best not to make a sound. It was a rather poor attempt. He was no match against her experienced brother. Whirling around she pointed the stick at him.

“Why don’t you introduce yourself first? It is very ill-mannered not to introduce yourselves when visiting someone else’s home,” the longer this dragged on the longer it would take to get some decent food to fill her stomach!

A chuckle from the hallway reached her ears. Gandalf. About time he showed up! He was probably enjoying the show until now.

“My dear Aurelia, why don’t you lower the axe in your hand? It is also quite rude to point a weapon at your guests, is it not?” the amusement in the wizard’s voice was hard to miss.

An axe? Well, that made more sense. An axe was a weapon, rather than the stick she was used to having.

“Gandalf, get your magic ass inside and tell me what exactly you had in mind by bringing this loud lot into my home!” she sighed, gesturing at the small table nearby.

Turning back to the one who spoke first, he had a rather nice deep voice that vibrated through the room, she said: “And you have a seat as well. It would be easier for me that way.”

Placing the axe next to the herd she started to prepare her own dinner, waiting for all of them to sit down. There was not much food in the pantry left, the dishes were in disarray and most of the pans have already been used.

“I see you have already eaten. Do you want some tea? I might be able to find a few cookies down the hall,” as if to agree with her words, her stomach rumbled.

With a loud whistle, the water announced that it was boiling and ready to serve the tea. With the tray in her hands, she made her way towards the table. She had managed to find some more cookies and biscuits in the pantries down the hall to serve her guests. And on the way, she met another two of her guests.

“As I had told you before, my name is Aurelia. I guess you are already acquainted with my brother, Bilbo. Please help yourself and be so kind as to tell me your names,” slightly searching with her fingertips, she reached out for the plate filled with cookies and took one.

“Balin, at your service,” he said and his clothes ruffled as he stood up, bowing, she assumed, “This one is my brother, Dwalin,” she assumed that he pointed at him.

“Who is?” Lia required to know, tilting her head to listen more closely.

“I am,” The warrior rumbled, confusion in his voice. A thud, like a light punch made him grunt, “Dwalin, at your service.”

“Thank you, mister Dwalin, mister Balin. It is quite hard for me to distinguish you, so please be so kind and introduce yourselves personally,” she chimed, reaching for another cookie, only to feel an empty plate underneath her fingers.

The dwarrows exchanged a silent look, while Gandalf was smoking his pipe, quite amused of how this was playing out.

Placing her palm flat on the table, she tilted her head to listen in more closely. The vibrations in the ground and the light movements in the air told her that they communicated silently in some way. Very rude. Not to mention barging into someone’s home, uninvited and without proper introduction.

“I believe there was someone sneaking up behind me just earlier. How may I call you, kind sir?” she asked, turning to the one sending the faintest vibrations.

He had moved from his prior seat. Probably trying his best to be silent and go unnoticed. He failed. Aurelia was used to much sneakier behavior from her brother. Comparing him to the others she had encountered so far, he was more than good.

“Nori,” he only grumbled under his breath.

The movement of their hands in the air intensified when he stood up to walk over to the other side of the table. She followed him for a moment, the head tilted, her eyes closed.

“My name is Ori, Mistress, at your service.” the chair scraped over the floor as he stood up in a haste, bowing she assumed.

He sounded young, very young. Somehow, he reminded her of her brother when he came of age, going against their relatives’ wishes to give up the house and let Lobelia move in. He sounded eager and excited, ready to prove himself.

“Master Ori, how old are you?” searching she moves her hands in his direction.

Thick wool and other layers of clothes tickled her palms. He didn’t flinch away as she had expected, but his fingers tensed nervously. One of her hands lay gently on his much bigger hands, while her other hand reached out towards where she thought his face would be. What would he be looking like? He couldn’t be a hobbit, no elf nor Man either. So, what was he? Before she was able to form her own picture of his appearance, a large strong hand caught hers and stopped her from moving even an inch.

Warmth flooded her system, starting from the point where his fingers touched her bare skin. For a split second all the noise, vibrations and all the shining wairu-anam emitted from her guests. Only the wairu-anam from the one holding her hand was visible, shining bright and filling out all her senses. It looked like a hammer from a smithy. It was wrapped in bright blue light, with a dragon carved into the handle. There was something else as well, behind the hammer, hidden deep inside.

She felt safe and loved. And this particular sensation, from a stranger at that, shocked her so much that she harshly pulled her hand out of his, opening her eyes to stare at him in disbelief. Abruptly standing up she brought some space between him and her. With her eyes open she could see his wairu-anam even clearer, just like all the others in the kitchen.

A quill in light orange from the direction of Ori. Across the room shone a deep red battle axe with dark blue carvings and runes. Right next to it a greyish pipe, a bit worn out and used, but cared for with love and patience.

Her head began to spin from all the different colors, vibrations and new impressions. Trying her best to minimize the radius of her senses she shut her eyes tight.

“We need to talk, wizard.” Grabbing Gandalf by the beard, Aurelia dragged him out of the kitchen, out of their smial and into the chill of the night.

Chapter 6

@pretty-and-pink-284 ​ @tschrist1 ​ @greeknerd007 ​ @mikadosenju ​ @marshmellowfromhell @ruthoakenshield @musicistherapyofthesoul @stuckupstucky @superhero2552 @maddybeck01 @thriving-n-jiving  @angelic-kisses13 @ayamenimthiriel

General things:

If you want me to tag you as well, please just send me a message.

If you like what you have read consider reblogging my story for others to enjoy too.

I am always open for asks and requests for shorts of our favorite dwarrows!

[mechaspirit]

Blades Modern AU Headcanon (Animal Lover)

Author’s Note: So thanks to @lxdy-starfury​ and @garlickk​​ with their Modern AU arts and headcanons, I decided to hope in and decided to create a headcanon of the same them with my BOLAS/Blades MC, Aurelia Nightbloom. It mostly describe what she would be like instead of an elf adventurer in the book. Hope you enjoy. And thanks you two for the inspiration. Hope you’ll continue to work on them. ❤️

Headcanon

In the book, Aurelia has an ability to communicate and handle wild animals/exotic creatures. In this AU, she is studying to become a veterinarian.

Hobbies include video games (fantasy is her favorite genre), reading fairy tales, stargazing, jogging to the park, and archery. Became archery champion in high school.

Likes: coffee, ice cream, cakes, street fashion

Dislikes: spiders (yes, she has at least one animal that she dislikes), assholes.

Both she and Kade were adopted.

They later got an apartment of their own and live together.

Kade is a writer.

He visits his sister at work and sometimes brings her lunch if she forgets it.

Also, share interests in fantasy movies and books.

Used to work in a coffee shop before she was given a job at the clinic.

Along with Kade, Nia is also their roommate.

Nia was studying medicine. Possibly to become a doctor and pharmacist.

Aurelia hangs out with Nia in the morning. And sometimes will do some shopping.

Nia is a better cook than Aurelia so dinner is handled by the former and Kade.

It was Aurelia’s and Nia’s ideas to get a pet. Well, two actually.

They managed to adopt two cats, named Threep and Loola. (yes, I’m making them real cats in this AU).😆

Loola is the most behaved one out of the two. Threep keeps meowing for food.

They still have to deal with cat furs and dirty litters.

Don’t worry, they loved them.

I’m thinking about having Rela first meet Mal when he is either looking for a dog or takes his dog to the vet she was working at.

Short note, she and doggo became best friends.

And of course, Mal too. He’s her drinking buddy and hangs out with her at night. Sometimes with the other gang.

When giving advice on how to take care of a dog, Mal goes to Aurelia. Doesn’t care if she’s not the owner of the clinic. He only trusts her with his dog.

Aurelia first met Imtura in a self-defense class. What? The former sometimes work late at night. You think she’s gonna get herself in danger? Probably get robbed or something worse? HELL NO!

Imtura gave her tips in her fighting.

It may be just me, but I have a feeling Imtura might be more into sea animals. I mean, she’s a pirate after all. She would be more fascinated if she saw a shark or stingray. Or maybe an octopus.

Well, they both have to go to an aquarium to visit them. Aurelia hasn’t got a chance to work with aquatic animals much.

And like Mal, Imtura is Aurelia’s other drinking buddy. Wouldn’t mind hanging out the bars with Aurelia watching Imtura arm wrestle with the other dudes.

So how Aurelia met with Tyril...let’s say there was a coffee incident. She was in a rush and accidentally bumped into him, spilling her coffee onto his outfit. How embarrassing. He didn’t make a scene thank god, but he is a little rude to her. Guess he’s more irritated that Aurelia got in the way instead of ruining his shirt. Still, Aurelia called him a jerk out of ear sight.

I think @lxdy-starfury​ mentioned somewhere in her headcanons that he does horse riding. Idk, I forgot. And could be wrong. But assuming he does horse-back riding, he does have his own personal horse he takes care of. Everyday, he would be the one to groom the horse himself after a ride. Wouldn’t allow anyone else to take care of him. (Maybe except Adrina).

Something went wrong with the horse, possibly illness (he turned out to be fine later. Don’t worry). And the boss at the clinic got a call from the Starfury’s estate that their horse needs help. So the boss brought Aurelia as his assistant because she is the best co-worker in the clinic and has worked with horses a couple of times.

And look how small the world is, because Aurelia and Tyril met again at his estate. And poor Aurelia had to hold herself back from chewing him out.

But don’t worry, they eventually got along better. After Tyril sees how well Aurelia handles his horse. And they got to hang out after each check-up. A tour around the house. Sometimes offering to teach her how to ride a horse.

She and Adrina got along pretty well. Often the latter teases them of liking each other more than friends.

Tyril later got added to the gang. Though not much of a people person tbh. Hard to get him to do something outside of his comfort, but just mention the name “Aurelia” and he’s in.

That’s about it. I may add more to it later. But hey, feel free to leave an ask if there’s anything else I have in mind for this. 😁❤️💜💙

Also Tagging these people to see this: @scgdoeswhat , @princessstellaris​ , @queenaryn , @itsagoodluckkiss,@sophie-summer , @xo-endlessmayhem-xo , @endlessly-searching-for-you , @sceptilemasterr , @blightarts and @daniela2510 and @mysteli !

[sawdustandgin]

A Year of Happiness, Joy and Sarcasm: My 2020 in Review

Absolutely nothing needs to be said about the year of our lord 2020 that hasn’t already been shouted from every social media platform like a shrieking alarm alerting us that the ship is sinking. We know. We’re all wet. 

I will not remember 2020 as mask-clad because I didn’t take any photos while wearing one. 

Every December, I reflect on the year through a short essay, allowing myself many opportunities to gush about the music that I didn’t include on my best-of lists but that I still loved dearly. (Though I guess I skipped last year. I found an abandoned draft the other day…) And consistently, I have regarded each year as one of transition. 

I don’t have clear career aspirations outside of wanting to engage with music as deeply and personally as I can; my only concrete life plan is to profile small towns across the country through the lens of its local music scene. So, with this nebulous image of a future endeavor, I have had a tumultuous time with money since losing my job two years ago. I realized fairly quickly, after only a few months of foundering at it, that I was unable to freelance my way to a liveable income. And in all honesty, this was for the best—nothing hurts worse than realizing the activity you are most passionate about has become a chore. I stopped worrying about pitching editors and trying to rub elbows, and I got to work applying for jobs. I, incredibly luckily, secured one after a few more months. The adjustment to being unemployed was a leap for me and my deep desire for a routine, but the adjustment to being employed and trying to maintain a balance between day job and side gig was even harder. 

Then I loosened up a bit. Toward the end of last year, I tried to make a vow to be more consistent with the blog, but instead, I prioritized sleep. At the time, I didn’t realize that it was an either/or scenario and probably would have made a greater effort to avoid my television if I had. But ultimately, I had to accept that my relationship with music journalism was on my terms. And regardless of how [in]frequently I ‘discovered’ new artists (for myself), I wasn’t ‘missing out’ on anything. 

And let’s be real, I wasn’t overly eager to listen to new stuff starting around April. I put so much energy into not losing myself in quarantine that I tuckered myself out before shit really hit the ceiling. When I began thinking toward my year-end lists in November, I began to worry that this would be my most deflated best-of season in recent memory. 

That’s ok, Zoë, no one really cares about top ten lists, I can hear you thinking, colored by a fascination with my determination. But as a double cancer and pisces moon, I like to cling to the art that moves my soul (read: ~nostalgia~). And so I take great joy in spending all of December and most of January repeatedly listening to my favorite music until I conjure a partially arbitrary ranking system and create playlists galore. It really is the best time of the year. 

Of course, there are always a few titles that need no additional spins, whether due to automatic disqualification or simply because I listened so much that I know it intimately. The automatic disqualifications this year were particularly striking. 

A few easy omissions were Chromatica, Positions, and Fetch the Bolt Cutters. Lady Gaga delivered her skip-less album around the time when it became clear that the pandemic was not even somewhat close to containment; my roommate and I cooked to Chromatica every night, singing along to every word. With each new record, Ariana Grande becomes a more graceful songwriter, and it also helps that Positions is a plain ol', boot-knockin’ good time. And the raw power Fiona Apple wields in Fetch the Bolt Cutters would be frightening were she not the perfect vessel to deliver it to us. 

Then there is the category of albums that simply didn’t need my (albeit dim) spotlight: Set My Heart on Fire Immediately, græ, and KicK i are each masterpieces in their own right. They each move purposefully through diverse landscapes, each song a new adventure not bound by genre or expectation. Interestingly, Perfume Genius and Moses Sumney were never mainstays in my music rotation, while my love for Arca is unquestioned. 

That leads us to Re-Animator, I’m Your Empress Of and The Mosaic of Transformation, all of which I actively feel bad for disqualifying. I’m too much of a fan of Everything Everything to impartially write about their new album, though it was one of my most frequently played. I have been writing best-of lists for six years now and I would prefer to write about a constantly expanding, diverse group of artists. That means I can’t keep doting on Empress Of, despite her status as one of our best contemporary artists. Me and Us were truly just prelude to her 2020 record, whose title is a formal introduction. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith is also the most talented analog synth musician that I personally have ever engaged with, and her latest album is everything I could have wanted.  

It took some self-control (aka strict time management) to not write a few thousand words about The Ascension. Let’s recall my massive thesis on Carrie & Lowell… Yes, I am a former Catholic who thrives in the ambiguous invocation of Scripture, especially from a songwriter who quite literally shaped my taste in music. Luckily, I’m not nearly as pent up with anger and existential dread as in 2015 when I was, for the first time, processing the physical and emotional distance from my family. This elongated emotional breakdown was spurred by drama between my parents, but was also due to an irrational fear I held about my own mother’s death. Listening to Sufjan Stevens forgive his mother on her figurative deathbed has stayed with me. 

The anxiety I felt about 2020 was almost entirely external, so the gorge formed from the current of The Ascension was not nearly as deep a canyon in my heart as C&L, though it is still an affecting 80-minute journey. Stevens’ production, when coupled with his lyricism, is a breakthrough, though I do hear murmurs of folktronica from earlier in the decade. (I’m begging everyone to listen to Under Our Beds by Consilience.) And for perhaps the first time, there were songs that I occasionally skip. If I still had to commute to work, I bet they would have grown on me. In fact, this would have been a perfect driving album—one that wouldn’t cause me to weep while on the interstate. (oh Carrie. oh Lowell.)

Then there was VOL.II by my dear friend Lauren Ruth Ward. She gave me an opportunity to write a unique interview with her about the record to be printed on the inside of the gatefold, making it a permanent fixture on this most exciting of sophomore albums. I could not justify writing anything more about it, if only to preserve the sanctity of that interview, which I gave more effort and attention than any other piece of writing I had done. It was a wonderful and inspiring experience that I hope to replicate. The most heartbreaking part of the pandemic’s onset, from a social perspective, was not being able to visit Lauren after the record was released. 

With all that said, 2020 was about so much more than the music I listened to. All the digital replacements for physical intimacy during lockdown made me realize that my legacy (aka all my music writing) is fragile, locked into the impermanence of the internet. So I took it upon myself to build a physical archive; in the fall, I finalized a zine template, and the first eight issues are in the can. (So far, I have 19 zines planned. Email me if you are interested in having one!) 

I’ve also been living without a front tooth since mid-March. On one hand, it’s been convenient to wear a mask to hide the hole in my mouth, but on the other hand, all I want to do is bite into an apple. (For almost two years before I even knew I had to have my tooth removed, I had been forced to slice apples before being able to eat them. The abject humiliation.) The journey with my dentists and oral surgeon has been excruciating, to say the least. Who knew three people in the same medical practice could have such mightily different styles of care? [Author’s note: I got my crown after writing this essay! :grinning-emoji:]

In sum, it was my image of myself that I was able to see a bit clearer this year. Each year I think that I’ve figured something else out about myself, which had always led me to believe that I am a most-complex, divine being. But I think a more accurate interpretation is that, put simply, I am not static. My thoughts and emotions adapt to life and life doesn’t seem to stop throwing me around like sneakers in a tumbling dryer. My pronouns are now they/them and while I don’t have many specifics as to why, I just know that this feels right. 

I hope your year was at least acceptable; 2021 promises a host of new challenges, but I think we can take ‘em. 

[pokegeek151]

Word-of-the-day writing challenge - 3/8/21

pivot. noun. a key person, thing, or factor.

Good ev-en-ing, listeners. How are all my favorite hypothetical future historians doing? Should I start this off with something more formal? All my other logs are pretty casual, but this one is very important. It will be studied by scientists for generations to come. *gasp* Maybe they’ll use it in schools to teach kids about my work! I guess it’s too late to start this formally, though, considering I’ve already been “started” for almost a minute now. Whoops. I guess I’ll just...go for it then.

I am excited to report that I finally got the time machine to work. I, Mackenzie Bennet, have successfully invented time travel. Man, that sounds awesome when I say it out loud. Audio logs were such a good idea. Way to go, past me. I could totally actually congratulate past me, now that I think about it. I shouldn’t, though. Time is more resilient than sci-fi makes you think, but it’s still breakable. Going into the past and looking around is one thing; sending a note to my past self and confirming her future is another.

...Where does maybe possibly falling in love with someone from the past fit into that? Specifically, where does maybe possibly having a lovely conversation with someone from the past who maybe possibly is also into me fall into that? Okay, that sounds really bad, but hear me out. Not that you have much of an option, since this is a prerecorded historical reference. Should I be talking about my love life here? Yeah, yeah I should. This is relevant to the time travel thing because she’s from the past. Which brings us back to the maybe possibly paradox thing.

So. My first test of the time machine took me to 1495 CE. I’ll figure out the date later and add it to the notes. The Gregorian calendar won’t be designed for nearly another century, and I do not know the Julian calendar well enough to calculate the date on the fly. And I know what you’re thinking - “Mackenzie, going so far back in time for your first test was super dangerous! Why didn’t you pick a date from a few weeks ago so that if something went wrong, you wouldn’t be stranded somewhere without wifi, AC, and the polio vaccine?” Though I’m sure the future scientists studying my records exist in a world where time travel has been perfected, allowing you to choose your destination, unfortunately at this stage of development, the time machine kind of drops me in random locations and on random dates. I can return home with no problems, at least. I’m just glad I landed somewhere that had recognizable English. Any earlier and I would have been at a loss for words.

Anyway, I swear I was trying to be professional. I was going to look around just a little bit, make some notes, and then leave before anyone saw me. But then someone saw me. I turned, and there she was. She was wearing clothes that seemed a bit out of place, but I couldn’t quite tell how. I think they were a bit too flowing in the wrong places. Simple, but not in a stereotypical peasant way. And her hair. There was something familiar about the style that I couldn’t identify but I knew was not normal for that time and place. The way she moved, too. She carried herself like she was...not from around there. I got so caught up in the anachronism that was her existence that I forgot how out of place I was, and she started talking to me.

I tried to tell her I wasn’t real, that I was a spirit or an angel or a hallucination or something, but then she said she’d seen me before, in a dream. I told her you can’t dream of faces you haven’t seen, but she insisted that I was familiar to her. 

And here is where the situation gets tricky. She told me she saw me in Ancient Rome. While she was in Ancient Rome. She didn’t call it Ancient Rome though because when she was there, it wasn’t ancient. Let the record show that in addition to inventing time travel, I think I also have the first recorded meeting with an immortal. She said I had appeared from the air wearing clothes similar to what I have on now, and I was speaking a language she had never heard before. She now knew it had been English, though an English she hasn’t learned yet. I spoke to no one for just a few minutes, then disappeared again. She hadn’t thought of that moment in a long time, but she still remembered it clearly. 

I thought about telling her that flashbulb memories are as susceptible to degrading and becoming inaccurate as other memories, and that you rewrite your own memories a little bit every time you access them, and so a flashbulb memory from over a thousand years ago would almost certainly be entirely different from what really happened, but then I realized she probably wouldn’t know what a flashbulb is, so I just said “Oh.”

And, uh, from there, I basically spilled the beans. For future historical context, that’s an idiom that means I was an idiot and explained to a fifteenth-century woman what time travel was because she was pretty and looked like she needed a friend. So that’s ethically dubious.

Is it worse that I told her I would come back to see her again?

I couldn’t help it! Scientifically, an immortal is super interesting, but also, she’s been so lonely. Everyone she has ever known has lived and died while she has to remain stagnant. That kind of thing makes it hard to connect to people, makes it hard to want to be alive. Just drifting from location to location as people you might love appear and vanish in the blink of an eye. It’s impossible to really understand what time is like for her. But I can be a constant in her life! At least, I can last longer than anyone else she’s ever known. I’m obviously confined to my ordinary life span, but I can go back in time and see her throughout history. A familiar face amid all the ghosts.

I’m basically just trying to justify this to myself. A hundred years from now, there might be rigorous time travel laws that would make what I did with Aurelia - that’s her name, by the way. I don’t think I mentioned that - laws that would make what I did unconscionable, but for now, since time travel has only existed for about four hours current time and I haven’t had time to draft some bylaws, I’m going to say that I did the morally good thing.

Plus, I think I’m allowed to be a little selfish sometimes. I want to see her again. I haven’t felt like this about anyone in...in ever, really. This might be a little bit of oversharing for a scientific log, but young scientists of the future ought to know that giving too much of yourself to one aspect of your life is really draining. I haven’t had any real friends in...a while, and I think I’ve been basically dragging myself into each day. So maybe a little time travel crime will be good for both of us. If something terrible comes of all of this and I inadvertently cause the collapse of society as we know it and ultimately take over the world after harnessing the infinite power of temporal causality goes to my head, I officially give anyone listening permission to come back to the beginning of this recording and stop me from going on that date with Aurelia.

*beat* That’s that, then. I think we can call this a successful test. Until next time, future historians. Bennet out.

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

2 big posts in one day? it’s more likely than you think!!!

Moze gameplay breakdown babey here we go

shit sorry i forgot my tl;dr the first time i posted this: the tablet is big important and might have eridian writing on it, it ties into the temple, the loot gun, the tablet in tannis’s infirmary on sanc-iii, and the planet holograms in Eleseer from TPS. also you get a special melee tool to break the purple crystals that i'm like 70% sure are Eridium and also, you’re never gonna believe this, but I talk about Atlas for a little bit because of it.

“lair of the harpy”

ah harpies. I’m shifting into Percy Jackson mode

just putting this out there

anyway as for what “Lair of the Harpy” means in bl3? Well we’ve seen in the We Are Mayhem trailer a bunch of flying Maliwan bots (i am assuming rn that those are Maliwan, anyway)

these green fucks

(u can tell that’s Jakobs Manor cause of the railing on the left) so i imagine that’s why it’s called the Lair of the Harpy. Could also be the lair of some evil woman character, idk lmao. 

Far more interesting than the Harpy thing, to me anyway, is this:

i wonder if that’s gonna lead us to the psycho basement with tv heads being hanged where the Hammerlock siblings are standing in front of the fireplace

i wonder...

nah but for real. I would almost bet money that the Vault on Eden-6 is in that giant volcano/mountain area. It just feels right. we’ve seen it both dormant (the leaked footage) and active (the 3rd trailer) so I imagine opening the Vault would cause it to activate. Tho I’m still hoping onto the hope that it’s a moon pool. Just saying, Randy, if you’re reading this... just saying.

we also see this glowing sparkle icon again, which I think pretty much confirms from the We are Mayhem trailer that those will show us where the Moxxi crew quests are.

we see an enemy called “Shredder Fanatic”, personally I’m a fan of Splinter, but to each their own. Uhhh but for realsies they probably deal some blade damage or have a high RoF weapon. 

a cool detail I noticed about the minimap is that elevated areas won’t get discovered until you reach that level. Thank god lol

part of this camp is made out of an old sailboat, which i think is pretty fuckin rad

makes me wonder if we’re ever going to see the areas of Pandora affected by the flash freeze again. How long do seasons last on Pandora again? I swear it was like 5 years or smth. oh well lol

i wanna know what this big thing is!! it looks cool. they mentioned that eden-6 was going to have a shitload of broken-down ships, so maybe this is related to it?

another look at what i'm assuming is Jakobs Manor. this is very hard because I keep getting distracted by the gameplay lol I’ve seen this video seven times! it shouldn’t be that enthralling!! and yet!

the combat music in this area is so fucking solid btw i am jamming the hell out

in awe at the size of this place. I’m digging the elevated hallway. i am very much getting a hogwarts vibe from here. the far right looks like an observatory, even.

“Big Donny’s Chop Shop - Open 7 Days” lmao

a gramophone and it looks like we can interact with it! i hope it plays classical music while we go on a murder spree

some sort of bridge? i assume that’s how you actually get up to Jakobs Manor. that may be why our quest is “go to Jakobs Manor”, we gotta fix the bridge before we can.

A Typhon journal!!!

No audio, though :( 

From the radio: “catastrophe lead [???] to a lets play (flay?). Craving some meat in a bite sized package? then try festy flesh meats with a bandit on the go. hey, we know you want it, but do you have the time to hunt it down? ...”

-moxxi speaking about her crew challenge i can’t understand the radio here-

[different voice] “... for an exciting announcement from the CoV’s own ministers of murder: Pain and Terror! Those guys are cooking up one hell of a sh-” [player turns off radio] I gonna assume he was about to say “show” cause they’re a Penn and Teller reference. These are the guys from the arena with the giant skull thing, i think i have talked about them before?

Eden-6′s version of the shock cactus?

El Dragon Jr.

OwO are those the same purple rocks as Promethea?

They look like they are growing out of a stone tablet, i mean look at the green light. also they have that same star pattern inside them as Amara’s arms and Maya’s phaselock!!! Which makes me think it’s raw Eridium just... growing out of a stone tablet. which IS WILD!!!

AND WHAT IS MOZE HITTING IT WITH?!

FUCKING ENERGY BLADE

that is not her normal melee weapon, BY THE WAY

she normally uses her Stab! knife!!!

when u try to break the purple rocks on Promethea, iirc the player character can say something to the effect of “have to come back here later”, so it’s possible later in the story we get something (the glowing red/orange/yellow) energy sword to break the purple rocks (eridium???). and yes you KNOW i pointed out the colors because Atlas.

After meleeing it, Moze says “let’s open you up” so im wondering if maybe those stone tablets come into play later? the (eridium?) crystals explode into sparkly purple powder

glowing green!!!! It’s weird, I feel like these are eridian ruins/tablets growing eridium or some shit. we’ve seen the ruins have lines of color across them before, but never strictly on one side. and also never saw them grow eridium. i wonder if that is a reaction to us opening the second vault on pandora? eridium grew on pandora from the 1st one, now it’s spreading because of the second? I deffo think Eridium is from the second dimension (it started growing on pandora after the opening of the Vault) and it’s our key to getting there. 

OwO

hey doesn’t that look familiar? I’ll give u like

10 seconds

...

...

yeah it’s the symbol from the gun

YEAH BABEY

AND GUESS WHAT

YOU KNOW HOW THE GUN WAS TIED TO THE TEMPLE

YOU KNOW HOW I WAS TALKING ABOUT TANNIS’S FLOOR TILE IN HER INFIRMARY ALSO BEING TIED TO THE TEMPLE AREA???

LET ME GO GRAB IT

THE TEMPLE

AND YOU KNOW I WAS REPLAYING TPS THE OTHER DAY FOR MY ANGEL ANALYSIS AND

FUCKING

ASGHDJUYKFDJTYHSRTAGR

THAT’S LABELING A PLANET IN THE HOLOGRAM

AAAAAAAAAAAAA THE ERIDIANS GAVE US A LOOT SPEWING GUN BUT THE GUN MAKES SENSE BECAUSE VAULTS VOMIT UP LOOT ALL THE TIME BUT IT’S NOT LIKE THE LOOT WE GOT WAS AROUND WHEN THE ERIDIANS CREATED THE VAULTS

ALSO I AM VERY CONCERNED THAT CORPSE IN THE TEMPLE IS TYPHON NOW AND THE BOOK IS HIS JOURNAL. WHY WOULD MAYA BE GIVING THE JOURNAL TO THE LITTLE GIRL? IS SHE ALSO RELATED TO TYPHON?

OKAY SORRY I GOT EXCITED but uh yeah idk if that writing/those symbols being the same was intentional or not but it exists and i'm losing my mind over it

i also just wanna know why the rocks are growing eridium and glowing green like what the fuck are your SECRETS 

Aurelia shows up as you cross the checkpoint at the bridge, so it’s pretty much 100% confirmed the Hammerlocks are helping us with the jakobs thing. considering Aurelia is contacting us and not Alistar, im REALLY worried about the shot in the We Are Mayhem trailer where he has red eyes. please don’t hurt him. also i love how Aurelia calls herself a rich bitch. she makes that shit rhyme lol

another look at that big tower thing. May be a different one, actually. idk!

round the corner and see a little camp on the left. through that tunnel up ahead leads us here

we head to the right and Zer0 ECHOs us, asking us to kill someone to complete a crew challenge

The target’s name is Heckle (and his rage name is Hyde)

Interestingly he has a megaphone strapped to his mouth

wild.

Lots of stuff! Zer0 sends you mail for killing the target and you are informed that the Crew Challenge is completed. You also get a challenge completed for doing it. You ever notice the actual gameplay of borderlands is very tied to yellow and blue? the color of the title is yellow and the vault symbol for it is red (except for TPS). just odd to me idk

looks like a little envelope icon appears under your minimap when you have mail in your inbox!

we can see some cryo freezing the swamp water here! that’s my favorite thing. the electricity is cool, but ice is cooler.

i love the way this dude runs. also we now know that his pickaxe is to burrow his way into the ground

looks like it will create a huge pink cloud so you know when its about to happen, giving you time to stop it. nice.

getting closer. guess that wasn’t an observatory after all. Awww mannn

lootsplosion from the loot tink

bigger lootsplosion from his bag

i believe this is our first look at an ‘artifact’ which are replacing relics from bl2 and oz kits from tps. and like the interviews said, they’ll be effecting movement! this one turns your slide damage into cryo damage, lets you deal more radiation damage overall, and allows you to slide faster and further. i wonder how broken this can get on a downwards slope with a super high level slide relic. let’s break the sound barrier!

anyway, that’s all i saw that caught my eye. I still haven’t completed my Mask of Mayhem analysis, I was kinda hoping something during E3 would help me figure out who those mystery robed maliwan guys are on it, but alas we got nothing of real substance. oh, i also gotta finish that mural piece... aw fuck

[tomiyeee]

Any / all remaining questions you haven't gotten for the BL meme

aaaand the other half :3

29) Worst villain?

hm…vallory was an extremely boring and lackluster villain. she’s cool maybe, but i mean between a siren, The Only Truly Good Person In The Universe, and The Biggest Douchebag In The Universe, she really doesn’t stand out at all.

33) Best easter eggs?

the minecraft one was super cool! plus u get a head and really nice pastel skin from it too :3

34) Favorite location?

helios is fun to wander around

35) Pandora or Elpis?

pandora has more variety in its environments (of course since it’s a whole ass planet and not just a moon) and its maps are much easier to navigate, BUT elpis has beautiful scenery (mainly the stars), a much cooler vault, and low gravity (every time i switch to another game i end up tryna do the double jump + grav slam) so imma go with elpis

39) Hardest achievement to unlock?

if this means the badass challenges i think the one where you have to not let felicity kill any scavs is bullshit since she’s much larger and faster than you and can kill scavs just by brushing up against them

41) Least favorite wild animal species?

either rakks cuz they’re annoying and hard to hit or skags cuz they’re annoying and their crit spot is hard to hit

46) Favorite skins and heads?

heads: til death do us part/kawaii killer/jack’s mask/cutthroat combatant (maya), let them eat cake/mad coutre (aurelia), and jill/frost/handsome (tim)

skins: PINK PANDORACORN/dolphins are badass/red-nosed paindeer/hyperion heroism/gearbox (maya), wealthy in pink/the hottest new look/la catrina/vh resplendant/hyperion defender (lia), never say dye/eridian loaned/vh resp/workin duds/flowers for the widows/dia de el jacko/spirit of regret (tim)

….i like pink and bright gaudy colors

47) What’s the rarest weapon you’ve ever found?

eh i’m sure i’ve found a couple legendaries here and there i don’t pay any attention to the weapons so…shrug

50) A scene in the games that is always stuck in your head no matter what?

jack and rhys’s final dialogue scene :’(

51) Biggest amount of money you’ve ever had in a single playthrough?

timmy’s at $38,000,000, but i probably had more at some point before dying multiple times.

52) How many times have you played each of the games?

i’ve started it with each of the vh’s but rarely get to finishing it fully after the first go. bl2 i think i’ve played through the main story with my maya 2 or 3 times, lia i think at least 3 times, and tim either 3 or almost 3 times. pre-sequel just has much more replayability than the silent playable characters in bl2.

53) Who is your favorite voice actor/actress in the franchise?

DAMEON CLARKE

54) Favorite AI?

HAH. ai jack.

55) Favorite song in the OST?

silver lining is fun to sing, plus i already liked first aid kit before, and the fact that it’s the credit song of my fav game just gives me big ouchies.

56) Would you like a movie based on Borderlands?

ehh, i guess it’d be cool? dunno what it’d be about, since i feel like the existing characters/storylines wouldn’t fit as well in a movie. but maybe.

57) If so, who would you like to see in the cast?

bruh i know exactly 0 actors and even less that would fit bl characters. dameon clarke as handsome jack tho.

60) On which platform do you own/play them?

all on pc :3

[saltysatellite804]

“Your fav femship for those questions >:3c” For that ask meme I reblogged forever ago and just now reblogged again

I’m gonna do this for my aureliona ship, since it’s probably my favorite femship despite being a rare pair that only me and one other person ship. (Aurelia the Baroness x Fiona the Grifter)

who hogs the duvet

Fiona. She gets cold easy. 

who texts/rings to check how their day is going

I like thinking Aurelia is very concerned with checking in on her girl, lest Fiona get in trouble. Fiona knows Aurelia can take care of herself and still is a bit reserved on letting herself be seen as overly romantic. She always looks forward to those messages from her girlfriend tho

who’s the most creative when it comes to gifts

Aurelia comes from a wealthy family and is used spending lots of money on rich gifts that are fancy and beautiful. Fiona, though, in her own way, comes up with meaningful gifts of her own without spending as much. So, they’re both creative. Artistically and aesthetically has to go to Aurelia though. In a way, Aurelia sometimes overdoes it, but it’s all in the best intentions. 

who gets up first in the morning

Aurelia. She’s probably one of those people who only need a couple hours of sleep. 

who suggests new things in bed

Hmmm… I think they both would, though it happens more often with Fiona. Ironically, Fiona is more nervous about admitting she wants to try new things. 

who cries at movies

…neither? Neither of them seem the type to cry at moves, but this could just be me

who gives unprompted massages

Aurelia.

who fusses over the other when they’re sick

Aurelia is definitely the fusser.

who gets jealous easiest

Fiona. She is a bit more insecure than Aurelia due to her nature as a grifter and not having many reliable ties throughout her life. 

who has the most embarrassing taste in music

Aurelia. She probably likes high society type music, like operas and such. Fiona puts up with it because she loves her.

who collects something unusual

Fiona. Fiona as a grifter has a habit of “collecting” things from people even after she becomes a vault hunter.

who takes the longest to get ready

Aurelia. Fiona gets impatient, but Aurelia’s gotta get that gaudy blue makeup and fancy outfit just right.

who is the most tidy and organized

Aurelia has probably been trained since birth to be tidy, so definitely her.

who gets most excited about the holidays

I feel like Aurelia just goes all out on décor, while Fiona quietly enjoys the holiday company. It reminds her of her best days growing up with Felix and Sasha.

who is the big spoon/little spoon

This one is obvious. Aurelia is big spoon. Fiona is little spoon.

who gets most competitive when playing games and/or sports

Aurelia has a competitive streak that’s probably a mild wide.

who starts the most arguments

Hmmm. Hard to say. Neither of them are particularly combative by nature. Fiona is potentially more likely to offend someone though than Aurelia. Aurelia doesn’t actually like arguments much, and prefers to keep things civil and has better manners and tact overall

who suggests that they buy a pet

Aurelia. She really has a disconnect between owning and taking care of one though, but maybe she’ll figure it out. If Fiona lets her get one. Or a hundred.

what couple traditions they have

The occasional offworld trips to fancy locations. Hunting trips. Romantic candle lit dinners.

what tv shows they watch together

I don’t know what kind of shows there are in the Borderlands verse besides the big explosion hypothesis, but I’m guessing they prefer romcoms and sitcoms. Fiona probably likes crime dramas and fantasy or superhero shows.

what other couple they hang out with

Well…I’m a huge rhack shipper, so, it’s gonna be rhack - Rhys and Jack. In certain settings and headcanons, they’re all old pals, even if the boys have a tendency to get on their nerves, they know they have each others’ backs.

how they spend time together as a couple

Aurelia loves to take Fiona “hunting” (shooting anything that wants a fight). Fiona has been teaching Aurelia how to con though, and they also do that. Otherwise they chill at home for the most part, cuddling, watching shows, or occasionally, Fiona will let Aurelia mess with her clothes and hair. Buying fancy things online together is another one I like. Also, they probably pursue vault hunting together.

who made the first move

Aurelia. She literally has no reservations about admitting her feelings.

who brings flowers home

Aurelia. If she sees any out and about, she’ll collect them. Otherwise she probably orders some expensive ones offworld. Fiona will bring them home for special occasions, like valentine’s day.

who is the best cook

Neither of these two can cook. Aurelia has servants for that, and Fiona can’t cook to save her life. Just the facts.