#the true mystery of this age

[ravenlilyrose]

Laptop stopped working. Have only phone. Am not enjoying this.

[shakespeareallanpoe]

Behold. After searching far and wide, I present to you untold and sacred knowledge in regards to our very own Alfred Pennyworth:

[lovelydrusilla]

miriam margolyes please be my friend

[meowsticmarvels]

screaming to the crowd. zero escapers i need to know your thoughts/hcs on 1904!phi and her partner.... im thinking a lot about phis insane ass backstory. need to Know.....

[decamarks]

i'm pretty sure i've posted this fucked up spamton image to this blog on at least 20 separate occasions, and i don't intend to stop any time soon. that being said, i truly cannot recall where i even found it in the first place. it's kind of been haunting me. out of everything in my 6.2 gigabyte archive of assorted spamton images, this file remains the most mysterious 44 kBs in the depths of my disk drive.

of course in this case, the best thing to do is run a reverse image search of the file in question. i did, and here are the results:

nothing but my own blog. and then, the bitter end.

[crackinglamb]

AO3 Year End Roundup, 2023

Normally, I'd do this in a couple days, but we're close enough for government work (and I'm on a deliberate break anyhow, so nothing new is being posted). Normally this would also be a tag game, but I haven't seen it floating around yet, so...

Hey, you wanna do your own roundup? Go for it. Yes, I mean you (looking at you, DAFF crew). Consider this an open invite. Tag me back so I can see what y'all have been up to.

Words posted: 241,283 . This total has had subtracted from it the amount that already existed for the fic that carried over from last year (which was WG, of course). So this is actually what I posted this year.

Additional Words Written: ~166K. I have several WIP's going on in the background. One of which is finished and will begin posting after New Year's. Another of which is about halfway done. The rest are...procrastination projects/getting the wiggles out. They may never see the light of day. But they count as writing, so they are included.

Grand total of words: 407, 283 (goodness gracious)

Fandoms: 2

Works: 12, 11 of which were new.

Highest Kudos: Into the Current, at 271 (just like last year, I'm not counting WG since it wasn't new). The Iron Bull/OFC, rated E, 79K words, complete.

Highest Hit Oneshot: The Mighty Fall, at 706. Sookie Stackhouse/Eric Northman. Rated T, 2900 words.

New Things I Tried: I wrote a trio of fics for True Blood/Southern Vampire Mysteries this year. The WIP that's finished and waiting for the new year is a continuation of this series.

I also posted a ficlet I'd originally posted here on tumblr for archiving purposes. Some Years Into the Future...

Fic I Spent the Most Time On: Driftwood, my Bullmance series. Writing ItC itself wasn't particularly long, about two months, but T3, the next fic, is still being written. At first it was all going to be one long fic, but then I decided I've had enough of epics (meaning any work significantly over 100K words), and split it into parts.

Fic I Spent the Least Time On: The Mighty Fall. I have finally gotten to use the tag 'I wrote this instead of sleeping'. 🤣

Favorite Thing I Wrote: Usually, I have trouble with this category. I'm poly, you know. But this year, I actually DO have a fave. Okay...I have two.

How Deep the Bullet Lies - a gift for @rosella-writes, for the Solas Lovers Exchange. Solas/Cassandra Pentaghast with a whumpy open ending. Rated M, 4200 words.

More Than Mere Stone - a gift for my beloved @ir0n-angel in the same exchange. Solas/F!Trevelyan, pure fluff. Rated G, 1500 words.

Favorite Thing I Read: In Twain, by CatC. It's everything I wanted in a 'background character gets caught up in events' fic. With a sizzlingly hot Bullmance and So Much Cole. I think I've read it three or four times already. At least. If you need something comforting and wonderful, I cannot recommend it enough. It's simply delightful, and so is the author. Rated E, 172K words, WIP.

Something I Finished: I did it, at long last. I finished What a Wicked Game to Play. It was the focus of NaNo (and took literally three days once I put my mind to it, hence much of the other writing I did that hasn't been published). It feels really good to have my beloved Behemoth marked with a green checkmark. The story itself isn't finished, and I'll eventually write more for Imogen and Co., but for now, it is Done.

Writing Goals for 2024 – Keep on keeping on. I want to finish T3, so I can start posting it. I want to finish a couple other things from the WIP list. There will of course be a new Fluffuary prompt list. Biggest goal, however, is simply not to burn myself out. I've started waiting to publish until a fic is finished, which has done wonders for my stress levels. No more posting gaps on an in-progress fic.

Allow me to Gush about some things I wrote this year.

(Otherwise known as: honorable mentions)

Out of the Dark - Lark Cadash was once going to have an epic fic to her name. But I'm Tired, and frankly, I'm bored with rewriting the events of DA:I over and over again. So I've turned her into a series, where I can just put up oneshots and short chaptered things in no particular order that add up to one big story. This is one of them. Post-canon, Lark goes into the Deep Roads to find the answer to a riddle that's bugged her for her entire life. She gets more than she asked for, with a side serving of sad Solas. I've had many of the headcannons included in it for a long time, with no home. Now, they're out there in the world. Rated G, 4800 words.

What Lies Beneath - my actual giftfic for the Solas Lovers Exchange. I had such fun writing this, and had ideas for it as soon as I received the assignment. I got to set something in the Hissing Waste, which is one of my favorite places in the game, as well as write a polyship for my two favorite romances. F!Cadash/Solas/Iron Bull, rated T, 3400 words.

Maker Damned Fools - back in 2020, I wrote a Varric/Hawke short little thing for the first Fluffuary. I always wanted to go back and expand it into a fuller story. Add it to the pile of Things I Finished This Year. From their meeting to post-canon. Rated E, 32K words.

What a Wicked Game to Play - *deep satisfied sigh* It took two years and ten months to complete, with near constant weekly updates. It's 412K words by itself (not counting the rest of the series). It contains about 350 embedded images of either screenshots or fanart. It is both the highest hit (over 90K) and highest kudo'd (1535) work on my archive. Affectionately known as 'the Behemoth', extensively written with my signature yeeting of canon. Imogen McLean, MGIT, Inquisitor, beloved of Fen'Harel. I am stupendously proud of this work, but I am also incredibly happy it's done. I set out to write an epic, and I damn well succeeded. Rated E.

See y'all on the flipside! 💕

[oakendesk]

True Mystery Feb 1955 (alternate versions used for March 1950 Best True Fact Detective and 1960 book cover Violent Desires)

artist unknown

Best True Fact Detective Mar 1950

book cover - Violent Desires 1960

[trickstercaptain]

as ever it's always so weird to me to even think about a younger version of jack in a modern verse that is set post-social media/smartphone technology because, even in a verse where he grew up with it, i still don't think jack has any interest in that sort of stuff? he doesn't watch much tv, he doesn't really play video games, i reckon the smartphone he owns is pretty basic because he doesn't use half of the stuff that is on there. as vain and self-absorbed as he is, he's not insecure enough about his appearance to have an insta account and need the validation that it brings. i imagine the only social media presence he has aside from whatsapp is a twitter and perhaps a tiktok account because both of those appeal to his need to argue with strangers on the internet and his adhd brain respectively lmao

[danceworshipper]

NOBODY TOLD THE CUTSCENE WITH VERUCCA AND PEREGRINE ON THE BRIDGE WAS SO COOL HOLY SHIT

[cidnangarlond]

I feel like if my mom let me watch Inuyasha when I was a child I would have been more on the track to being a furry but she wouldn't let me and I don't know why. Detective Conan was fine though, for some reason

[lesbian4lqg]

one thing i really appreciate about svsss is that with anyone else in shen yuans role?

the system's lbh mood ring points (satisfaction, heartbreak, etc) would be considered an invasion of privacy more than the whole transmigration thing already is or at least a source of valuable insight but instead

its shen yuan. if anything the mood ring reveals make him more confused

[fretbored34]

I personally like the sequel: The Mysterious Proctology Appointment

[krytus]

i like saying deranged shit abt my story then not sharing any part of it. dont worry about my words, boy

[crackinglamb]

Word Search Tag Game

Tagged by @fadedsweater, thank you! 💕

Tagging @ir0n-angel, @mogwaei, @mordinette, @shretl and @lilbittymonster. No pressure.

Find the word and post a snippet containing it. Can be from published works or WIP's, or both! Then tag some folks to keep it going with new words.

Your words are: present, happy, lift, watch, ache

My own below the cut. All of these are published works, links in the titles.

From More Than Mere Stone, the word soft:

She found her rhythm again and once more fell into the motions of sliding the whetstone against the blade. The sound of it was soothing, bleeding the tension out of her shoulders and back. There was a reason she'd always done this part herself, and not just because no one else would do it for her. Care of your weapon is care of yourself, her hahren told her once. She'd never forgotten, even if it had taken her a long time to understand what he meant.

She let the memories of long afternoons in the shaded gardens of her family home wash over her. Afternoons where they'd debated, sparred or just sat to appreciate the quiet drone of bees in the flowerbeds. She missed him. She wondered what he would think if he could see her now, Herald of a religion she viewed with utmost distaste. Forced to fix all the world's problems while few knew her other than her name. She wondered if he would be proud of her.

Another pass down the blade, another soft hiss of stone on steel. Another slight catch on the edge of the nick. And then...

...the whetstone broke in half in her hand.

---

From Trust In the Time of Vampires, the word bare:

He’d locked the office door, so she didn’t hesitate to strip off her Merlotte’s tee and the skimpy shorts that were her waitress uniform right then and there. She dropped her bra too, since the dress would leave it showing. In a flash, Eric was behind her, his cool fingers tracing the length of her neck and bare shoulder. His free arm was around her waist, holding her against him. Scorching hot desire poured down her spine through the bond and she smiled to herself. There were times she thought maybe he made her go through this routine for the simple pleasure of getting her out of whatever prim and proper outfit he’d picked later.

“Don’t mess up my concentration if you want me to be useful to you.”

---

From What a Wicked Game to Play, the word sun:

She held out her hand, glowing green in the deepening gloom as the sun disappeared behind the mountains. “You want it back?”

“If you know so much, then you know I cannot take it yet.”

“It was worth asking.”

His coldness dropped away, or perhaps was compartmentalized better. He gave her an assessing look now. “Do you mean it, that you would help me? Why?”

“Because Thedas was supposed to belong to the elves. And it did, for a really long time until humans came along and mucked it up. And you had to make a choice that turned out terrible and you want to fix it.”

“You are human,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, and? Doesn't make me an idiot.” She flapped her arms and huffed. “Okay, that might be pushing it. I'm definitely an idiot."

---

From Maker Damned Fools, the word place:

“You need to get out of those clothes,” he said finally when her face was clean. She huffed through her nose and he seemed to realize what he'd said. “All right, I could have put that better. I need to see if you're injured,” he rephrased. “You know we can't take any chances down here.”

She stripped off her armor and drenched shirt, leaving her shivering in her equally as soiled breastband. Not that there was any chance she was going to just remove it in front of him. She was reckless, but not idiotic. This was not the time or place.

He moved around her, looking over every inch with clinical dispassion. He drew her arms out from her sides, running calloused fingertips over her skin when he couldn't see in the gloom. It was impersonal, but also unbelievably intimate and she closed her eyes, trying to stay silent. When he was satisfied that she wasn't tainted – or wounded for that matter – he shrugged out of his duster and draped it around her shoulders, ignoring her jolt of shock.

“Not how I wanted to get you out of your clothes,” she said, finally breaking her silence as the horror began to recede.

---

From Into the Current, the word deserve:

“Why you care, Iron Bull?” she asked again.

His head tilted towards her, giving her his full attention. This close, and no longer distracted by a bleeding series of wounds, she could take in more details on his face. His nose was sloped strangely where it met his mouth. His lips were full and mobile, able to speak volumes without saying a word if he let them. His remaining eye was a clear green, like an agate. What stubble she could see on his long jaw and scalp was dark, but held hints of silver and gray. His horns jutted out from his head smoothly, although she could see the irregular ridge where skin ended and bone began. His ears were pointed like an elf's, but looked like they'd been docked so there were no vulnerable fleshy edges. Altogether he was rather beautiful, a summation of parts that shouldn't work together, but did. She wondered if all of his people looked this way.

“Everyone deserves to be at peace,” he said softly, drawing her focus back to his gaze. His voice rumbled out of his chest and soothed something deep inside her that she hadn't even been aware was chafing.

“I tell you sometime. Not today.”

His lips quirked upwards. “All right, Chestnut. Wash your hair, we leave in the morning.”

“Where we go?”

“Orlais.”

(This one was tough to find, apparently I don't use this word much)

[thejudyblumebookclub]

Most Fear Street fans believe that Nick makes a deal with the Devil so that he can save Ziggy, but no one has any idea as to why since her survival put him and his family's secret at risk. With Nick also having evoked the curse on Tommy way before Ziggy was stabbed, shouldn't that have meant another person should have been possessed as he made another deal? Either Ziggy's survival was a medical miracle or this is an unresolved plothole.

[oakendesk]

True Detective Mysteries Sep 1932

Dalton Stevens