#they're not even GOOD dragon bases. they're so busy.

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

not to talk shit about a thing that nobody else here probably knows anything about but looking back at the pladge threads does still activate a very strong "do the whole group project by myself" instinct in me

[fangirltothefullest]

Hey. Hey you. Yes you! If you are planning on having kids or if you already do and they are young (as in they're 3rd grade and younger) read your kids stories. Stop handing them the internet and READ THEM STORIES.

Bored? Grab a book.

Don't know what to do? Give them a book.

Read to them while they draw or colour.

Still little? Read to them while they are taking a bath.

Read to them once a week on Fridays for Story Night.

Read to them before bed.

Read to them at breakfast.

Whenever you can, read to them!

Curriculum doesn't teach your children how to have morals and how to problem solve, books with interesting stories do. Parents are super busy and juggling all the moral teaching is hard when you're busy- have them read! It does some of it for you!

Want your kids to do better than the generation I'm teaching? Read to them. Read to them whenever you can so they learn to love it. Make books of all kinds available. Make them read fantasy, make them read fiction, make them read science fiction, make them read realistic fiction, make them read about dragons and heroes, friends and dilemmas, make them read about warrior cats and the children of gods, heroic mice and people overcoming bullies, teen dramas and kid crushes, knights and cursed princes, faerietales and stories about princesses saving their brothers from being swans. Books with worm professors and spooky stories for the campfire that walk about lawn weenies and plonking children down the slide, stories of British children stranded on an island, and people cursed being set free with true loves kiss. Stories with mermaids and krackens or a dog thats a cowboy who saves the day. Stories of small mice having adventures or people with hidden secrets. Stories of children going through tough childhoods and children finding themselves or new understanding. Stories of funny little women who defeat the oni with laughter or what's beyond Z for Zebra.

Children are force-fed information-based/fact-based readings in their classrooms, filling their minds with the ability to parse data from what they read and answer it word for word on a test.

But the morals, the learning how to navigate life with each other, the building of relationships ships be it friend or foe, context ans meaning come from reading stories and relating to or understanding the characters, context and subtleties of emotions they face in books.

It's been this way since the dawn of time.

Please for the love of all that is good, don't slap a screen in front of your child to occupy them. Give them a book and let them get lost in a story. It's way healthier and helps them read better, helps them understand speech patterns, helps them understand spelling intuitively, helps them problem solve, helps them understand how to people, helps them with right and wrong, helps with morality, helps with contextualizing, helps them differentiate between real vs fake people and how to empathise with something even if its not real, helps them navigate the world with a broader and more open mind.

All tiktok and the internet/social media does is provide eons of the worst unfiltered, non-kid-friendly drivel and cruelty you could ever imagine.

I'm begging you to please think of their future because I'm teaching children raised on screens and so few books and they do not know how to people and they're so far behind in literacy at all and they open a book and if it's not immediately interesting on the first sentence it's "boring" and ignored.

I sound like a boomer but please I'm begging you make your kids read books from the time they are little.

[ladykailitha]

The Magic of Christmas Part 1/8

Here it is, guys! My first Christmas steddie story. It was a blast to write even though sometimes it was struggle to get words down being so close to the holidays.

Summary: Steve doesn't play D&D, not really. But he's been a fan of Eddie Munson's artwork for Wizards of the Coast for years. So after he inherits the business from his dad, he decides the best use of all his dad's money is spend it on a five piece painting for the Party of their characters fighting a purple dragon. So he hires Eddie to do the work, but because it's so labor intensive, Steve offers to pay all of Eddie's bills plus any expenses he has for the paintings. How is Eddie to say no to that, so he doesn't try. He also doesn't try not falling in love with Steve. Will Steve reject him or will Eddie get a little magic for Christmas?

Words: 17012 CW: none Rating: Teen for swearing mostly Relationships: Steddie, background Buckingham, Jancy, Eden/Argyle, Dustin/Suzie, Lumax, and a surprise later in the story. Mike and El aren't dating in this, but neither is Mike and Will. They're single.

Also, Steve comes off as mildly autistic in this. He's based on a lot of my own experiences, so I hope this doesn't scare you off.

Essentially this is Eddie falls first, Steve falls harder over the course of six months. June and July aren't strictly mentioned, but you know it's happening during those two months.

***

Eddie walked into the high rise office building feeling a little out of place. All right, maybe a lot of place, if he was being honest with himself.

Here he was in a faded leather jacket and ripped black jeans in an actual fucking glass elevator to the top floor.

The doors opened up to warm outer office. It was dark woods and deep reds and golds. He had been expecting it to look like the rest of the building. He skipped forward to the woman at the desk a little unsure if he was in the right place.

“Hey, um...” he began, tilting his head. “I think I might be in the wrong place. But I’m Eddie Munson and I have a two o’clock appointment with Steve Harrington?”

She blinked up at him in shock. “This is Steve Harrington’s office, let me look at the schedule. I vaguely remember him making sure I didn’t schedule anything for this time.”

Eddie handed her the card that had Steve’s name on the front and the date and time on the back. She took it from him and nodded. He bit his lip nervously as she fiddled with something on her computer.

“All right,” she said, “I do see that he has an hour of time blocked off, but let me call him.”

Eddie nodded.

“Steve,” she said into the receiver. “I have an Eddie Munson here for you.”

“He’s here?” Eddie could hear the excitement in the person’s voice. “Send him in!”

She smiled. “Will do.” She hung up the phone. “Looks you’re good to go.”

Eddie smiled back. “Thanks.” He leaned over the desk for a moment. “I’m guessing you don’t know what this is about anymore than I do.”

She shook his head. “Nope. But he sounds excited to see you so you should really do that.”

He nodded back and skipped over to the door where it swung open as he reached it. He turned back to her. “Neat trick.”

She grinned back.

Eddie walked through the door and found that the inner office was very much the same as the outer one. All warm and cozy. And...well. Friendly.

Behind the desk leaping to his feet to greet him was the most gorgeous human Eddie had ever laid eyes on. He had floppy dark golden hair with hazel eyes behind neat glasses. His smile was easy and infectious.

“Eddie!” the Greek Adonis in a smartly tailored suit said brightly, sticking his hand out to him. “I’m so glad you came. When I spoke to your agent I got the impression you don’t usually do commissions.”

He half shrugged taking the outstretched hand and shaking it. “It’s been a slow year and I don’t taking the odd commission when it intrigues me.”

Steve blushed. “I intrigued the great Eddie Munson, I’m flattered.”

Eddie raised both eyebrows. “I didn’t realize you were a fan of my work.”

Steve nodded eagerly. “Oh hell yeah. I managed to get a picture of that lovely mural you did to cover the gang signs in the neighborhood before the cops destroyed it.”

Eddie blinked. Well fuck. He didn’t realize anyone had known that was him.

“You didn’t tell the cops it was me, did you?”

Steve laughed, clear and bright. He sat down and gestured for Eddie to do the same. “Rule number one. Don’t tell cops shit.”

Eddie sat down with a thud. “That’s good to know.”

Steve grinned wickedly at him and pulled out a picture of the mural from his desk drawer. He handed it to Eddie for him to look at.

“Usually it’s on my desk,” Steve said. “But I didn’t want to come across as too much of a fan boy right away.”

Eddie ran his fingers over the glass. It was of a pack of wolves howling at the moon rising over a tall mountain range.

“It’s nice to see that it’ll be remembered in some small way,” he murmured.

“I’ve got an photographer friend who can make a copy for you if you’d like,” Steve said softly.

Eddie’s head shot up. “You’d do that?”

This time it was Steve that gave a little half shrug. “I mean I can tell it was important to you so...”

He grinned. “Thanks, man. So what’s this commission you’re wanting me to do?”

Steve blushed again. “Do you still do illustrations for Wizard of the Coast?”

Eddie’s jaw dropped. That’s where Steve knew his art from, fucking D&D? This day couldn’t get any weirder.

He cleared his throat. “Like, sometimes. Right now I’m not happy with them for trying to take the game away from little homebrew gamers like me and my friends. But yeah, beggars can’t be choosers.”

Steve nodded. “God, I wish we could go back to the days were stupid rich people would hire poor artists to paint for them for a year or whatever. Free paint, free room and board.”

“Lack of freedom of expression though,” Eddie laughed.

Steve laughed with him. “Not if you’re sleeping with the mistress of the house.”

Eddie laughed harder. “Sorry, I’d be more likely to be sleeping with the master than the mistress.”

Steve smiled with a little shrug. “I’d probably end up doing both if they were hot enough.”

Eddie’s eyebrows went up. All right, noted. “Though I suppose in the scenario you’d be the master, so you’d be sleeping with the artist and the mistress.”

Steve grinned. “Well that’s certainly true.”

Eddie needed to get this meeting to move on before he leapt over the desk to fuck this gorgeous man senseless. “You want to be paint something in my D&D style?”

Steve lit up and Eddie had bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from saying something stupid like how hot he found that look on Steve’s face.

“Yeah, I have these...” he said, “well they aren’t kids anymore. But they were when I first met them. They’re really big into D&D. In fact Dustin, the one I’m closest to is the one that got me into your art. They were so well done in the books and then found out you had a website and well...” he blushed. “I really liked the fantasy stuff.”

Eddie smirked. He knew exactly what Steve was talking about. There was a section on his website where you had to put in your credit card information to even view it. Did he know that kids stole their parents’ credit cards to view that part of his site? Sure. But at least it made sure most of the time that the viewer was over the age of eighteen.

There was more to fantasy then elves or dragons. Eddie smiled.

“Did you now?”

Steve blushed deeper. “Not that I want you to do that for this!” he said waving his hands. “They maybe adults now, I’m not that insane! But they have these characters that they’ve had since they were twelve and I was hoping you could paint them fighting a dragon. Especially a purple dragon. Because they are so cool.”

Eddie ran his tongue over his teeth thoughtfully. “What were you thinking in terms of size?”

Steve pulled out another picture and slid it over to Eddie. Eddie picked it up and looked at it. It was one of those wall paintings that were split into separate pieces but if put together it would form a cohesive picture.

“I was thinking 10x18 for the side pieces and 18x24 for the middle piece which would have the dragon,” Steve explained.

“And each of the side pieces would have a different character?”

Steve nodded. “I was wanting it by Christmas, would that give you enough time to do it?”

Eddie sat back and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I’m mean, I guess. A month for each of the smaller ones and two months for the larger piece. It’s doable. If it’s the only thing I work on for the next six months. So I would require at least half the payment up front.”

Steve nodded and pulled out a piece of paper from a leather folio on his desk and handed it over to him.

Eddie started reading and was about half way down when he realized it was a contract. He usually had his own contract to give clients, especially for projects this big. But looking over Steve’s contract, not only was it better worded, it was a lot better offer for Eddie.

“Do you mind if I take this and show my agent before sign?” he asked.

Steve smiled. “No, of course not. Be my guest. In fact, I insist.”

Eddie relaxed. “Thanks!”

Steve ducked his head bashfully. “I really hope you’ll do it. You’re my favorite artist. Dusty’s too.”

Hoo-boy did Eddie know that look. It was the look of someone who was used to being shut down for their interests because they got too excited talking about it.

It was starting to look like regardless of what Chrissy thought about contract, he was going to do it. Because fuck, no one should have to feel like they were too much.

He stood up and shook his hand. “Is the end of the week okay?”

Steve’s head jerked up in shock. “What?”

“For the contract?” Eddie said, holding up the piece of paper.

“Oh!” Steve murmured. “Yeah. That’ll be a fine.”

Eddie got up and shook Steve’s hand. He walked to the door, but paused at the doorway. He turned back and tilted his head down and around. “You don’t have to limit yourself with me, okay? You can be yourself with me.”

Steve’s jaw dropped. “What? I don’t know what you mean...”

“The look on your face when you were talking about me being your favorite artist,” Eddie explained. “It’s something I see all the time with my friends and even myself. You close yourself off because you think you’re going to be shut down and told to shut up or at the very least dial it back. And I’m saying you don’t have to. Not with me.”

Steve blushed and ducked his head again. “You just want to me flatter the hell out of you.”

Eddie laughed. “I won’t deny that flattering works on me. But I mean it, okay? Don’t limit yourself. The people that mind don’t matter and those that matter won’t mind.”

Steve smiled. “Dr. Seuss. I’ll try to remember that.”

“See that you do,” Eddie said with a laugh. He tapped his hand on the door frame and then walked away.

He was almost to the elevator when the secretary said, “I heard what you said just now. About him not needing to hold back with you. Thank you.”

Eddie paused in his step. He whirled around and then skipped up to the desk. “You don’t need to thank me for that. He deserves to gush about the things he loves.”

“His parents would shut him up every time he would gush about anything,” she said. “Even sports. Which you would think would be the one thing that a boy should gush about, but nope.”

Eddie nodded. “Bastards.” He cocked his head to the side. “You are more than just his secretary aren’t you?”

She laughed. “Best friend and soulmate, Robin Buckley.” She stuck out her hand.

Eddie shook it with a wide smile. “Please to meet you. I’m guessing you’re president of the Steve Harrington Appreciation Society. Where can one sign up?”

Robin laughed. “Signing that contract will do the job I think.” She jutted her chin up at the paper in his hand.

He shrugged. “I got have my agent look at it before I sign anything. She’d murder me otherwise.”

“Fair.”

“See you around, Birdie,” Eddie said with a salute.

She frowned. “Birdie?”

He made a bird with his hands or at least tried with the contract in his hand. “Robin. Bird. Birdie.”

“Oh god,” she sighed. “You’re one of those.”

Eddie threw back his head and laughed. “Yup!” He skipped into elevator and pressed the button to the ground floor. He waved as the elevator lowered him down.

***

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

Tag List: @spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @artiststarme @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 @pyrohonk ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @chaoticlovingdreamer @maya-custodios-dionach @goodolefashionedloverboi @messrs-weasley @val-from-lawrence @i-must-potato @danili666 @carlyv @rozzieroos @wonderland-girl143-blog @justforthedead89 @emly03 @bookworm0690 @itsall-taken @vecnuthy @bookbinderbitch @redfreckledwolf @littlewildflowerkitten @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @scheodingers-muppet @mira-jadeamethyst @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @genderless-spoon @anne-bennett-cosplayer @irregular-child

[llamagirl28]

let me just start by appreciating the hard work you do for this IF. this is genuinely one of the few IFs that have given me brainrot (/pos), and im so excited to see how it goes! your writing is amazing and the characters are so entertaining! im not very good with compliments, but i just wanted to give some appreciation with your work <3

anyway, what are the family symbols/crests of the ROs (or anyone)? we know that the Pendragon's is dragons and red, Le Fay's is serpents and green, and Leudonus's is bears and moss green. and follow-up question, are there any symbolism to why you chose that particular symbol, or was it already predetermined in Arthurian legend?

Thank you so much! 💕

No, it's not predetermined from Arthurian legends, I honestly took a lot of liberty with the myths in general - Boc is inspired by them but very much its own thing haha.

Alright, so the crests!

Pendragon - gold dragon, red background. All the dragon bloods chose their crests based upon the dragons that gave them their powers. They all went with a gilded dragon in various poses, and the background came from the color of the scales. Fun fact, the posture of the dragon on the Pendragon crest was changed when they first came to sit on the throne - it was less threatening as it is now, rearing, claws ready to strike, maw open.

Le Fay is not actually green! It's serpent and azure blue, the color being reminiscent of the sea. In-story explanation: their fae ancestor first showed themselves to their human ancestor in the shape of a snake. As to why I chose it, I really like serpent imagery and symbolism and how it can be use in the game.

Leudonus have the moss green and bear because I wanted something you'd think of as big and strong and fearsome. The origin of it in game is not set yet.

Beauregard - swan and blue. Swan because the first of their family to sit on the throne is said to have arrived at the castle in a swan-drawn boat to dethrone the one who wanted the crown, seeing them as unfit to rule. This is loosely based on the tale of the Swan Knight/Knight of the Swan. Also swans because they're beautiful birds and they have plenty in Astolat.

Meier (Isac's family) have a stag and dark green as their symbol. They are descendants of the fae known as the Deer King, hence the stag, and their magic affinity is plant-based, hence green.

Hendrik (Guinevere's family) - Red tulip and black. Tulip because of the family business, back before they even got on the throne.

Allard family, after they stopped using the Le Fay serpent - the Royal Eagle, (what we know as golden eagle). It's supposed to be a symbol to evoke power, strength and determination.

Laurent family (the family of Elena aka Galahad's mother) - a bundle of lavender against bronze background.

Du Lac - apple tree with red fruit, light green background. Inspired by the association of Avalon with appletrees within Arthurian legends. Initially it was mentioned as a symbol of Avalon in the game but I later changed it. In my story, Avalon is based on Mediterranean islands so if there's any fruit emblematic to it, it should be something more citrusy.

These are the most defined at the moment.

[jesuisici33]

2023 Writing Round Up!

Writing Round-Up: Share what you wrote this year! It can be works you posted to Ao3, Wattpad, Tumblr, or anywhere else! You can share everything you wrote or just the ones your most excited about.

i honestly didn't think i wrote/published a lot of fic this year, but that actually turned out to be a lie when i went back and checked out my stats this year so i'm pleastantly surprised and impressed with myself! so here's my writing round up!

January

Drabble Life 2023 - Jan 2nd, 2023 - (Schitt's Creek, 1.9k)

new year, new drabbles! drabbles based on weekly prompts from schittscreekdrabbleblog on tumblr

A Lesson in Flirting - Jan 3rd, 2023 (Schitt's Creek, Teen, 1.9k)

a 5+1 fic where patrick is oblivious when women flirt with him and 1 time where he knows when a man flirts with him

Public Relations - finished Jan 31st, 2023 (Schitt's Creek, E, 38k)

Patrick Brewer and Rachel Davis are everyone's favorite rom-com actors, and since this is the sixth time they're playing a couple and with the public demanding when they're going to start dating, their PR manager, Alexis Rose has them perform a PR relationship for two years to help promote their latest movie. Patrick, however has recently been casted in the new book to series adaption of The Thief and the Prince alongside David Rose, making his fake relationship with Rachel go into jeopardy

February

Month of Love - all month long (Schitt's Creek, 11.8k)

My attempt at doing 28 drabbles in 28 days!

Patrick vs. The Sexy Vets - Feb 7th, 2023 (Schitt's Creek, Teen, 461 words)

"Smiling quizzically at Dr. Miguel, Patrick was about to ask what he meant but his question died on his tongue when Miguel set the kennels down so he could take off his shirt."

Or, a little drabble of what if Patrick was there when Miguel shot that photo for that add of his?

April

Keep My Hands Tied - April 4th, 2023 (Schitt's Creek, E, 2.4k)

Right now David was on his knees in his and Patrick’s bedroom, taking steadying breaths as Patrick loped the blue rope around David’s body slowly around him. It wasn’t often David asked Patrick to dominate him. When they first got together, David found out his inclination of Patrick to be slightly wrong. But the way Patrick said, “Oh, I’m gonna get the money,” or, “You’re going to sit here and think about what you’ve done,” that time when they got back together… That tone never failed to leave David’s vivid imagination or fantasies.

June

What We Don't See At The 118 - June 20th, 2023 (911, 381 words)

Prompts I've received on tumblr*

*lol this only has one entry so far, this fic was supposed to be for little drabbles but some prompts i've recieved have grown to one-shots in my wip folder whoops

It's Photoshop - June 30th, 2023 (911:Lonestar, Teen, 567 words)

TK meets a friend who also likes bearded dragons. And Carlos' secret comes out.

July

cause i believe that we were supposed to find this- July 10th, 2023 (911: Lonestar, Teen, 3.2k)

As soon as they are at the scene a cop is already there waiting for him. He’s younger than TK expected. He greets his dad before letting him take the lead of the scene. TK doesn’t get a good look at him, doesn’t bother interacting with him - too busy to do his job of getting Allison out of her car. In fact, he even forgets about the timer on his wrist.

If he did, he would’ve noticed that the countdown is less than a minute.

When the 126 find out that Allison has another baby - one not still inside her - it doesn’t take long for Paul to figure out the baby miraculously landed in a tree. And isn’t that a news story. The cop comes up to TK and asks, “How the hell-” when two distinct buzzing sounds go off.

Both men look down at their wrists.

Or, you're born with a timer on your wrist that counts down to when you meet your soulmate.

Castles Crumbling Down- July 14th, 2023 (911, Teen, 1.5k)

Eddie sits down on the bench, laying his head back against the cold stone wall. With his eyes closed and arms crossed, he hopes it fools the guards into thinking Eddie is more calm than he really is. That they can’t tell how much his heart is pounding or how his skin itches to start punching things. Again. Just like how they found him when his hood fell off and people let out cries that the Princess Assassin is here amongst them.

OR: i had a tumblr prompt in my ask box and when i watched nimona things finally clicked.

You Can Take the Man Out of the Midwest... - July 29th, 2023 (911, G, 1k)

At first, Bobby gets trolled for all things midwest, it isn't until later he can use his teammates non midwest knowledge to his advantage...

September

yes i know that he's my ex but can't two people reconnect? - Sept 25, 2023 (911:Lonestar, E, 2.8k)

seeing him tonight - it's a bad idea, right?

(fuck it, it's fine)

tagged by @wikiangela and @hippolotamus

tagging @malewifediaz @911-on-abc @eddiebabygirldiaz @monsterrae1 @daffi-990 @rmd-writes @spotsandsocks @liminalmemories21 @aroeddiediaz @disasterbuckdiaz @loserdiaz @giddyupbuck @bonheur-cafe @wandering-night19 @alrightbuckaroo @tyfinn @lizzie-bennetdarcy @your-catfish-friend @pirrusstuff @carlos-in-glasses @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut @eowon @apothecarose @mammameesh @heartshapedvows @fortheloveofbuddie @cultofsappho

[melisusthewee]

Fanfic Writer Questions

I was tagged in this by both @dreadfutures and @blarrghe ! I did this once a few years ago, so it's interesting to see what's changed since then.

Tagging forward: @theluckywizard @greypetrel @darethshirl @natliecole @if-not-now-tell-me-when @madame-fear

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 35, though I believe 5 of them are artwork only for exchanges and not actually fics.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 87, 413 words

3. What fandoms do you write for? In my AO3 era: Hockey RPF; Dragon Age; La Sociedad de la Nieve/Society of the Snow Pre-AO3 (the ff.net/LJ era): Digimon Adventure, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, Beatles RPF, a little bit of DC/Marvel

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1. The Tang of Liquor On His Tongue (Dragon Age) 2. The Dreamer Sets the Rules (Dragon Age) 3. mala suledin nadas (Dragon Age) 4. Smut Challenge 2: War Table Boogaloo (Dragon Age) 5. Mañana (LSDLN/SotS)

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes! Or at least I try to! There have been a couple of times where I've gotten overwhelmed or have been busy and fallen behind. But I try really hard to reply to every single comment I get.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? That's hard to pick. I think that a lot of my fic endings lean more towards catharsis than raw angst. Perhaps "Lathbora Viran" is the angstiest ending because it concludes a trilogy of fics about Solas' spirit friend Wisdom and ends with the implication that Wisdom became corrupted into the Regret demon that appears in Skyhold in "Tevinter Nights".

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Any of my romantic fics, I guess? If I had to pick one then I would probably say "Nothing Else Than What is Now" which was the extremely long one shot that led to all my Quinn Trevelyan/Horatio Morris nonsense. It originally wasn't supposed to have a happy ending, but about midway through writing it I changed my mind and even though OC / OC is extremely niche in just about any fandom, I'm still glad I did it.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not yet. We'll see if that changes now that I've mentioned I've written LSDLN fic.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yep. 2 out of my top 5 fics are smut, and 2 more out of the top 5 have implied sex. I suppose that says I must be good at it. I don't really know what kind of smut I write since every smutfic I've written has been either a challenge or a prompt fill or a gift. I think I'm an example of that meme of "the 2000 word blow job is an important piece of character development". I really lean into tricking you into having emotions and feelings and getting introspective inside characters' heads while they're naked and getting down dirty. Come for the smut, stay for the emotional feelings!

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I did when I was younger, but haven't really vibed with it much in recent years. In terms of published fic, maybe the Harry Potter/Beatles crossover drabble I wrote based on a piece of artwork that an old friend of mine had done. I still have the fic, but the artwork has sadly been lost to the ethers of the internet. But the idea was that the Beatles didn't really break up in 1970, they just took on a different career.

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

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not to my knowledge. But I have taken to granting permission in my author's notes of new fics for anyone who might want to translate them into other languages.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes, actually! Some of my very first fanfics were co-written with a friend of mine. We never published them, but it was just fun to write little stories together.

14. What's your all time favourite ship? Even though I've never written any fanfic for it, I am 100% pure unleaded Chrobin trash. They are my OTP and I am probably due for a replay of Fire Emblem Awakening for it again. "YOU ARE THE WIND AT MY BACK AND THE SWORD AT MY SIDE."

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? One of the very first fics I ever started writing for the Dragon Age fandom was an Alistair/Cousland piece that looked at the period of time between the Warden's disappearance and their (hopefully) eventual return. It was meant to be 10 chapters, with each chapter split between a section in the past that looked at their romance over time and a section that took place in the more immediate present as Alistair navigated the events of DAI. I still have the document sitting on my laptop as well as backed up in my google drive, but I only ever finished the first chapter and even though I go back to it sometimes and make notes, I've not worked on it with any serious attention in years (I started this fic not too long after the Trespasser DLC was released) and at this point I doubt it will ever be in a publishable state let alone finished.

16. What are your writing strengths? I think I'm really good at dialogue! I'm very good at conveying personalities and speech patterns in written dialogue.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Blowjobs

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? For me, I think it depends on the amount of dialogue that is being spoken in another language and whether or not it's something the character whose POV is being written would understand.

With fantasy settings like Dragon Age, most of my fics are written from the POV of one of the game protagonists which are all human in my world state. So they wouldn't understand things like Qunlat or Elvhen, but also as those conlangs are incomplete languages, I will usually just refer to dialogue as being spoken in a language that the POV character doesn't understand. In a few fics where I've written from Solas' POV, I have used things like italics or sometimes <<special dialogue brackets>> to denote that this speech is being spoken between two characters in another language. Since the languages are fictional but the story is being told in English, it makes sense that the "author" translates in a similar logic to how Tolkien's books are "translated" for us to read.

With stories and settings that are more grounded in reality, I'll use other languages where appropriate. Usually this is in the form of nicknames or titles or expressions that I feel can't really convey the same tone or idea if they were translated into English. I've been very fortunate to find several new friends in the LSDLN fandom who have taught me a lot about monickers and nicknames and phrases in different regional dialects of Spanish.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Technically it was Digimon Adventure - baby's first Mary-Sue fic

20. Favourite fic you've written? It's a tie between "In the Long Hours of the Night" and "The Many Faces of Wisdom". With the former, this was the fic where I first felt like I finally got Quinn Trevelyan. It was the fic where he emerged as a more formed and complete character and I'm still proud of it. With the latter, it was an experimental idea that toyed with a rather ambiguously-defined relationship between Solas and the Inquisitor. It also was the first time I played around with writing Fade scenes and spirits and you can see a lot of the building blocks that I would eventually revisit and explore more as I fleshed out my own lore. It's also the one fic where I started with a very specific image in my mind and that I would really love to commission art for one day.

Blank Form Under the Cut

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

3. What fandoms do you write for?

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

5. Do you respond to comments?

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

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

8. Do you get hate on fics?

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

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

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

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

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

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

16. What are your writing strengths?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

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

19. First fandom you wrote for?

20. Favorite fic you've written?

[chipper-asks]

Hi! I've been following you for a good while now and have always rly admired the community you've build, and, your art itself, obviously, it's always very cozy in here. May be a strange question, but as a relatively popular artist on the interned, are there any tips you could share on how to engage and sustain an audience? maybe you know some recourses for artist to get their art seen? I've been an artist posting online for roughly 10 yrs and pretty much failed at accumulating any sort of prominent presence. I don't feel bad about it really, it's not why I do art per say, but these are pretty rough times and unfortunately other means of art monetization grow thinner with stupid updates & algorithms forcing anyone who can't afford payed adds or subscriptions out of business. I kinda have to make use of social media, even if it's not my element in the slightest. Feel free not to answer if you feel like it. Thanks in advance! Also big thanks for your shouts of my art overall, I really appreciate your support!

So I've had a post in my drafts for who knows how long detailing how to build and curate your audience online. But I haven't found a good way to go about posting it because I didn't want it to come off as tooting my own horn xD

BUT YOU HAVE ENABLED ME SO HERE WE GO!!!

(im going to generalize, you may already be doing some of these things but I think its good info for anyone who wants to build an online presence)

1. Engaging your audience

A: First, you have to think of the platform you're sharing your art on and what people use it for. Not even tumblr, but the internet as a whole. It is a place where people form communities and share information. It's also one of the most popular ways to mentally escape; from school, boredom, to the horrors of real life.

So if you want people to find you, make a space where they can escape/feel community.

This means: No callout posting, no venting, no doom posting, no politics, no guilt posting, no anything that would make you unfollow someone else if you were having a bad day.

It's okay to have an occasional vent or political post cause we're human, but trauma dumping is something thats very hard for someone else to read and honestly should you be putting that kind of information online, the internet is a place of community but it also isnt safe.

B: The Value of Fandoms

It's time for some metrics, featuring my own follower count.

I've been on tumblr for 9 years and I have been making an effort to grow my base as a way of getting money as a freelancer (like you) so I started doing this allll the way back in highschool. I can remember each milestone and which fandom I got them in

1,000 I got when I was posting stuff for Undertale

2,000 I got when I was posting stuff for The Property of Hate

there was a big break between these milestones where I was just drawing ocs and object heads and stuff, but nothing I was hyperfixated on

5,000 I got from Hollow Knight

but then something really unexpected happened.

In late 2021 and early 2022 I decided cringe was a worthless social construct and decided to fully indulge in my enjoyment of doodling dragons.

I juuust inched past 5,000 when 2022 started. I Ended Up With 12,000 as 2022 ended. That's more than double. As of posting this I am at 13,600 and its only February.

So how did that happen? I could tout along and say that it was simply luck and I wasn't really making an effort anyway but that's a big fuckin lie, i've been "selling out" this whole time (it's not fucking selling out to post in fandom. You like a thing? You go to the thing's community and post about the thing)

Posting in a fandom is essentially like, now bear with me, advertising for your blog. Fandom is where the eyes are and where the traffic goes. Big tags like #artistsontumblr #tumblrart #art are used OFTEN but they're too general and often people look for things that are specific. Fandoms like Hollow Knight, BNHA, Mob Psycho, The Owl House, etc are currently popping off and have a lot of traffic.

This doesn't necessarily mean that you need to join a popular fandom to post your work in to get followers, it just means that if you're into a show or a media, post it on your main art blog and don't make side blogs. Keep it all together

Why?

Because 5% of those fandom people stick around for YOUR STUFF and those 5% of people are the best goddamn people in the world. You want those 5% to see EVERYTHING you do and THEY'RE the ones who will recommend you to THEIR friends and do outreach on your behalf because they like YOU and not YOUR STUFF.

i fuckin love those guys

So as you hop from fandom to fandom, you're going to lose some people but that's fine. Everyone curates their experience online and if you head off in a direction they don't like then they can deal with it. The rest come along for the ride cause 1: they either really like your stuff or 2: are into the new thing you're getting into.

SO ANYWAY

posting in fandoms under one name is GOOD because it puts everyone in the same bucket that will see your stuff and there's a chance that a few will stick just for your stuff. It is not cheap, its how you reach out to people to help cheer up their day and escape from things stressing them out.

C: What should you post?

So this is something that isn't an exact science but if you're looking to increase your follower count, this is something you can keep in mind.

Because this is the internet and the digital word of escaping from stress, people flock to things that are

1: Familiar 2: Funny 3: Relatable

So i've already been over fandoms and that's something that goes into the Familiar category. Familiar can also mean generalized but still popular concepts, like werewolves, dragons, vampires, apocalyptic scenarios, etc.

The more you trail into something niche, like marine biology, the seelie/unseelie courts, object heads, etc, the less traffic you'll find. There are communities centered around these but they're not massive like certain fandoms.

Which is how you end up with artists who spend hours upon hours on every piece only getting like 14 - 32 notes per piece. It's not lack of people caring or lack of interest, its the fact that these artists haven't "advertised" their blogs in fandom. Those people who end up caring about more personal posts are those 5% you find from fandom spaces. Their Familiar from that fandom begins to include your artwork as Familiar and thus they're more likely to share it.

Funny is simple. Tumblr is a platform of shitposts and memes. Do you have a favorite character in a fandom? Shitpost them. 2 birds with one stone, Familiar and Funny. I can't teach you how to be funny, but if you see something that makes you laugh online, pause and try to find out why and see if you can replicate it. (You wont get it in one go)

Relate-ability is also simple. If someone finds something they can easily associate with they will eagerly tag #mood #me or @ one of their friends in the post.

What doesn't get people following just by itself is your skill.

This sounds really fucking depressing but hear me out.

Your skill in art is a multiplier. It can take those three categories from above and BOOST IT to fantastic new heights. People love things that are from their fandoms that are funny and relate-able. People go FERAL for shit that is from their fandoms that are funny, relate-able AND COOL AS FUCK. If art represented x5 in an equation and you have nothing else, you get 0. If you include any of those three other things and then x5, you get something grand.

2. Sustaining your Audience.

If you want to set up your blog as a platform to eventually gain freelance income from, you need to make it yours and not your audience's.

This is key to prevent burnout and feeling obligation to create for thousands of featureless faces and losing sight of what made you enjoy art in the first place.

It is REALLY EASY to fall into that pit, especially as you grow your audience. When you have a small audience, it's easier to interact one on one with someone. Engagement is exciting when you have a small audience! People? Interested in your work!! Fuck yeah!!

But as you reach those milestones, the vibe begins to change. More and more people demand your attention. People who are new don't see you as an artist they knew from another fandom, they see you as a content creator and that is the worst goddamn stone wheel to get stuck around your neck.

You can still respond to requests and answer silly questions, but now you have to keep in mind that if you draw this little dragon for someone, three other people are going to ask for their own little dragons. And that's fine because you love dragons and they asked so nicely. You make those dragons but now there's seven people asking for their own dragons and you actually want to work on something other than dragons-- but you made those dragon doodles for those other people so wouldn't it be hypocritical to say no-

It becomes a spiral.

So to prevent that situation from happening, you need to respect your boundaries as an artist and what you will do and what you will draw the line at. If someone doesn't like you for that, they can unfollow.

In terms of posting regularly to sustain your audience, i've found that it helps but ultimately doesn't matter.

(this is a tumblr centric view, i cannot say the same for other platforms)

The way tumblr works resembles a massive recycling facility. You will see shit on your dash from 7 years ago but you dont mind, its how this place works.

It doesn't matter how often you post. You won't lose priority on people's dashboards if you don't make your daily art post. What matters is that you just make the post.

Each post you make is like sending out a bucket of chum into the grand ocean of tumblr. The more buckets of chum you have, the more likely you are to attract fish. The more you post the larger your radius is. The more variety you make in spreading out to different fandoms the wider your range is. And these spots of chum don't go away! They're permanent brown spots in a big blue wasteland and fish will stumble across it and then try to find the source.

Basically, you can disappear for an entire month and then suddenly return out of nowhere and shove 57 posts into a week and then disappear again and people will show up and stick around.

THis post is getting really long and there are probably some things im missing but my hadns are getting achy and i think that's my call to stop :p

if you have anymore questions tho im very willing to answer 👍

[incomingalbatross]

SINCE Beowulf is all about relationships with Uncles of one sort or another, how would you personally adapt it into a Gravity Falls episode?

HM. Excellent question!

So for "Gravity Falls episode" I am adopting the parameters of "could exist in a hypothetical season three." At this point, the first problem we run into is that when you're talking about a guy who beats up sea monsters while swimming for nine days straight, ripping off arms and crushing rib cages, etc., the obvious character for the Beowulf role is Stan. But 2013-era Stan can't be young Beowulf, obviously. And he can't really take on a nephew role regardless.

HOWEVER. Another thing about Beowulf is that it loves non-linear history being told in repeated tangents. And people bragging about past exploits.

So right now I'm thinking you try to mimic that structure by setting a story in Gravity Falls, starting with an analog to the dragon-theft. (I'm comfortable nominating any of the Pineses for the role of "disturbed a dragon for a stupid reason," though I'll admit Stan's the most likely to steal from one.) As they're fighting for their lives, Stan goes "hey, this is just like that time last spring..." cue ripple transition to a flashback and we get Stan heroically punching sea monsters to save, idk, somebody's tavern in a fishing town.

And then maybe a NESTED flashback, if you really want a Young Stan, where he fought a monster or monstrous thug on behalf of a gang he was in for five minutes.

...This flashback also means you could do some of the fun things about Loyalty and Kinship and Good Leadership that Beowulf is doing. You can't bring in actual kinship unless you go all the way back to his teens, because Young Stan was in more of a Wanderer situation, but you can present him as a metaphorical thane to somebody. Closest you can get to Beowulf's relationships with his elders.

And then that narrative proceeds in parallel with the current dragon-fighting, and obviously Stan took the lead in fighting this dragon but when all hope is lost the kids charge in and support him in the slaying, like good Young Kinsmen. And there are TWO of them so Stan doesn't even die!

(Ford... Ford might already be in the dragon's clutches. The mission might be rescuing him. Either that or he's busy doing something else to make sure they'll have a stable base to return to and bandage their wounds, because having someone responsible who's not on the front lines is also a good way to have a happier ending than Beowulf.)

Also, to mimic my first-time Beowulf experience, Stan's nested stories ideally should include a lot of interwoven and impossible-to-track tangents about people we've never heard of. ;P

[weenwrites]

i request a Medium/Psychic Female Reader who works in churches.

Medium/Psychic Reader is like Loraine from The Conjuring or The Sixth Senses (if u have seen the movies) and a secret member of the churches and always got called for helping and explaining to people who needed, getting visions, praying for ghosts to live in peace and move on to the afterlife, join the exorcism and dealing/fighting with supernatural stuffs

Team Prime might noticed the reader's absence a lot because of her travels or not wanting to go at the base and all they get is excuses are like "Just visiting a family member/an old friend" or "Just a small business to tend". I feel they'll get suspicion all (which she might noticed but ignoring it/reluctant to tell because what she does isn't their business and not a part of their war) and might spy on her one day from another call of help or meeting at a church. The rest is up 2 u but leave it as a part 1.

✎ A/N: As per usual, I'm using gender-neutral pronouns because I don't write for gendered readers. Since you didn't specify, I'll just go with 2 characters.

[ Please do not repost, plagiarize, or use my writing for AI! Translating my work with proper credit is acceptable, but please ask first! ]

Smokescreen

Yeah he's spyin'. He's heard rumors of a "Psychic" doing exorcisms and helping with malevolent spirits at the local church, and he definitely wants to check it out to see if it's real or not. He doubts that it is because unicorns and dragons aren't real, but it sounds cool and he thinks it'd be good to be proactive and try to understand humans better.

But this isn't to say he doesn't take them at their word... He's sure they're just doing "churchly business at the church"... He's just curious... About what goes on at the church... He's heard that it's a place of worship, but let's be honest, he's far more interested in the exorcising and spirit stuff rather than the worshipping, the praying, and the church service.

So he stays by the roadside near one of the windows after he's dropped you off. It's hard for him to see anything, and as much as he'd like to come and get a closer look, he can't quite do that without blowing his cover. And a few minutes later all the shutters are closed and he can't see what's going on at all. He's disappointed he wasn't able to see anything, but this makes him all the more suspicious of you.

He'll poke and prod and ask about what happened in there on the ride back—he even promises not to talk about it to anyone else if it's some sorta secret thing. If they don't tell him, and ask him to stop, he'll be bummed, but he wont' bug them anymore.

But if they tell him, he'll start asking all kinds of questions about spirits and exorcisms and what not. It may come off as a little overenthusiastic at first, but it's because he genuinely thinks that what they do is cool. Little does he know about the true horrors behind dealing with malevolent spirits.

Bulkhead

He doesn't poke and prod at their private business at all. He's a respectful guy, he gets that they have private things and a private life outside of being part of team prime, and he'll leave them to that. He'll take them at their word if they say they have family business to deal with. So long as they aren't in any sort of danger, he won't really question where they're going and what they're doing.

He's not the kind of guy who believes in ghosts and spirits, and he finds the stories around them are pretty unnerving, but he likes hearing the kids tell him rumors about the exorcisms and spiritual stuff that goes on at the church. He knows that they're a regular church-goer, and he once jokingly asked them if that's what actually happens behind the scenes, but they gave him a weird response.

He doesn't think much of it up until he gives them a ride home from the church one day. They look tired—well, no, more than that. They look like they've seen better days, to say the least... He gently broaches a question about if they're alright, and if they've had a rough day. He asks if they'd like to talk about it or anything, but if they don't want to bring it up, then he won't push them any further.

But if they tell him about what happened at the church, it'll take him a while to really believe that spirits and supernatural beings are actually real. He doesn't really know what to say or do, but he lets them know that if there's anything he can do to support them, don't hesitate to let him know.

[ada-tan]

Dynamics Between the Nations of Elyos

Was gonna make this a thread on Twitter, but uh. It would have ended up WAY too long. So... here we go! The dynamics between the nations of Elyos, and my personal understanding of them from story/support dialogue, flavor text, and exploration lines scattered throughout the game.

Long post incoming!

Firene and Solm

Everything is prefaced with the non-aggression treaty between Firene, Brodia, and Solm. Firene and Solm have always had generally good relations, as stated by Alfred early in the game. The border between them seems easy to travel through, with Solm's Azure Coast being a popular tourist spot for Firenese visitors. (Alfred's comment on the Azure Coast map.)

Which is beneficial for Solm, as through tourism and trade, they can benefit from Firene's wealth and abundance of resources—particularly foodstuffs (crops, dairy, etc), teas, medicines, and dyes.

However, this relationship isn't quite so mutual, as Firene's bounty makes the country incredibly self-sufficient; in Fogado's support with Celine, he paints them in a somewhat isolated light, business-wise. Since they don't require resources from other countries, they don't do much in the way of importing, which is likely a detriment to Solm's economy.

As a desert nation with rather inhospitable conditions, it's perfectly sensible that Solm's prosperity and wealth is dependent on trade with other countries, hence their trade-based economy, and commitment to neutrality—it wouldn't be good for business to make enemies, and it falls in line with the Solmic ideology of living free, by your own rules, and being yourself.

Brodia and Firene

Brodia and Firene's relationship comes off as a bit more... tenuous. There is a connection there, as the Firene royals have visited with the Brodians in the past. But Alfred and Diamant's estrangement implies that, before the war, there had never been many chances for the two nations to form a proper friendship.

They have an alliance, but not one without tension. Alfred states early on that it "took some doing" for his mother to hash out a peace treaty with Morion, as he—and Brodians, as said by Diamant in his Alfred support—is known to be incredibly ambitious. Brodia has a reputation for warmongering and claiming surrounding territories, one of the primary motivators for their ongoing war with Elusia.

This violent reputation has existed long enough that it's even recorded in history books (Diamant & Framme support).

As such, they're likely seen by Firene and Solm as a potentially dangerous, unpredictable threat. Solm doesn't have as much to worry about as Firene would, due to its distance from Brodia, and lack of valuable resources. (Still, Solm is wary enough to actively spy on them.)

But Firene is the most abundant land in Elyos, and a veritable breadbasket. Similarly to Solm, Brodia is situated in very inhospitable lands. And even though that land hones the self-sufficiency and strength of its people (Amber/Merrin support), poverty and starvation is a prevalent issue amongst the common populace.

If Brodia ever turned its aggressions away from Elusia, then Firene could be the next prime target. The non-aggression pact, of course, prevents that. For now.

Even Diamant cites this as a possibility in his supports with Alfred, one he worries for and genuinely thinks is possible, due to the ambitions and needs of his people.

What's likely deterred Brodia all this time is Firene's connection to Lythos. As the nation most devout to the Divine Dragon, Firene and Lythos have an incredibly strong alliance and friendship. So no matter how tempting their territory might be, it wouldn't be the smartest idea to launch an invasion on a country that has the backing of the all-powerful Divine Dragon.

Brodia and Elusia

Brodia and Elusia's relationship is the one that probably gets the most focus in the plot, and will be the one people are most aware of without having to dig into supplementary dialogue and information. Still, that makes it no less interesting—even though Brodia is painted as an ally, and Elusia the enemy, I genuinely think their conflict is far less black and white than that.

Let's be clear. Brodia's primary reason for invading Elusia IS to claim the nation's territory as their own. They are the aggressors of the war between them, and it is unequivocally wrong. Not exactly the actions of a heroic nation, and definitely in line with the classic Red Empire archetype of Fire Emblem.

But there's also another reason, a motivator that definitely varies in sincerity—the Elusians' worship of the Fell Dragon, and Brodia taking it upon themselves to keep that worship in check, while Firene, Solm, and Lythos are far more tolerant of the Elusians fostering their beliefs (whether they agree with them or not; Alfred himself admits that it's "concerning").

For many ambitious Brodians (particularly the nobility, who are often painted as a problem in Diamant's supports), I feel as though the Fell worship offers a convenient excuse for them to continue and push for the war efforts, lining their own pockets in the process.

But also for many, I think the fear of Elusia, their worship, the Fell Dragon and what both are capable of is very much real amongst the Brodian populace. Of course, that fear is shared in Elusia, with one example being that children are taught to watch out for Brodian armor (Ivy/Alcryst support).

As for Elusia, one would think that people who worshipped an evil dragon were inclined to villainy and violence. And with Elusia's incredibly insular culture, it's easy for those sorts of rumors and perceptions to spread.

In some cases, it's true. There are sects of the Fell Dragon faith that are extremely violent, in the brainwashing and abuse of their followers, their glorification of pain, and tendency toward blood sacrifices. You see it in how its warped the perspective of people like Griss and Marni, in the comments of the characters in locations like Destinea Cathedral and Elusia Castle (centers of deep Fell worship), where they often note the unsettling sight and smell of blood.

But in many cases, it's not. There are certainly those who worship the Fell Dragon and are more adjusted in their lives, merely viewing it as an alternative faith to others they either don't believe in, or have been disillusioned by. And there are Elusians who don't worship anything at all. Alfred himself points out that not all Fell worshippers should be lumped under the same brush.

It's implied that Brodia's continued aggressions pushed Hyacinth into unsealing Sombron (and influences from Gradlon and Zephia as well), which leads to his return and a war that engulfs the entirety of Elyos, using the Elusian army as the main force.

Both countries have done deplorable things, but neither are fully evil—there's a level of humanity to each, exhibited in the characters that hail from each nation, that certainly paint the situation as more nuanced than it appears on paper.

But relations are certainly hostile between both.

Elusia and Solm (& Firene)

If Elusia had a positive relation to any other nation before the war, then it would seem to be Solm. And even then, it's more of a neutral, transactional relationship, seemingly based on trade.

At Givre Port, Bunet will mention that he often sought out food sent from Givre to Solm (likely to his hometown, a port city), establishing a relationship of trade between the two countries. But unlike with Firene, it seems to be mutual. Where Firene doesn't have to import because of its bounty and self-sufficiency (Fogado/Celine support), Elusia—being a cold, harsh land—very likely has to. And that, of course, benefits Solm.

Past that? They don't appear to have much of a relationship. The royal families don't seem friendly, and Solm is actively spying on Elusia (as they are with the other countries), so clearly there isn't much in the way of trust, despite the appearance of neutrality.

For Firene and Elusia, Alfred says so himself: there's very little that Firene knows about Elusia due to their distance from each other, and the latter's insular culture. What knowledge they do have seems to be from hearsay, mostly regarding some of its more notable features: the cold climate, and leaning towards Fell worship.

Neither Firene or Solm has stepped in to interfere with (or stop) the war between Brodia and Elusia, and with the recently established non-aggression pact, that possibility becomes even slimmer. I wouldn't be surprised if Elusia feels something of a distrust for the two because of it—it's certainly given them no qualms in invading both nations for their rings.

Solm and Brodia

Similarly to Elusia and Firene, both Solm and Brodia are extremely far from each other, so there's very little connection. They are members of the same non-aggression alliance, and the Brodian royals have visited the country in the past... but despite their similarly inhospitable lands, the two nations share very little common ground when it comes to ideology and values. (Saphir's comment in Tullah Desert)

I can only assume that, at the very least, both countries do trade with each other. After all, Solm is known for its spices, and it's a staple of Brodian culture to put spices in tea...

Plus, Solm's love of meat roasts? And Brodia having a deluxe brand of beef as a popular export? Where do you think THAT'S going.

But anyway, it isn't until the Fell Dragon war that more of a relationship is established, through the developing friendships of Diamant/Timerra and Alcryst/Fogado.

Lythos and Everyone

Last, but certainly not least, the Holy Land of Lythos! It is the center of Divine Dragon worship on the continent, where the ruler of Elyos resides, and a neutral force amongst the nations.

With Firene, Lythos has a very close relationship—it is the nation most devout to the Divine Dragon, with Lumera and Queen Eve having shared a friendship. This was likely the case for Firene's king as well, and the royals who came before them. Firene's throne room is specially built to accommodate Lumera's dragon form during visits.

Brodia and Solm, while respectful of the Divine Dragon, even having churches of their own, seem more neutral. Solm is stated to be a very secular culture, not deeply religious, but still fostering love and respect for Lumera as a ruler and dragon.

And Brodia respects the Divine Dragon as well, often accepting Lumera's invitations to visit the sleeping Alear at the Somniel. Diamant even states that it was through Lumera's help that Brodia was able to be established (Diamant/Framme support), so clearly they hold a certain level of respect for her and her faith, even if they aren't extremely devout followers.

With Elusia, there seems to be an indifference to the Divine Dragon at the very least, or outright rejection at most. So much that Ivy's worship of the Divine is something she sees as rebellion, and feels she has to keep secret. Some who live there are disillusioned with the Divine Dragon (Mauvier/Ivy supports), and others simply grew up with the Fell faith.

Like with other nations, Lumera is said to have invited Elusia to Lythos in order to visit with Alear (Ivy's wake up lines), but those requests were declined every time.

Though... Lumera, a living 'god', doing nothing to prevent Brodia's attacks likely did her little favors in that regard.

This is all my personal perception, of course, formed from different lines and bits of flavor text in the game. I personally think there's a lot to digest in Engage, while still giving us room to interpret and extrapolate, as long as you care enough to look.

[betty-bourgeoisie]

I really want to know more about your headcanons about magic and the supernatural aspects of hws if I can bother you for them! (draw-a-circle-thats-the-compass)

I tend to treat the nations as a sort of go-between for humans and mythical creatures.

Nations, as a concept, are made up by humans. At the end of the day the land is just land. Linguistic and cultural communities are fluid and move around and exchange information naturally without a need for borders and nationality. A country has no more tangibility in the real world than a mermaid or a dragon. The difference is that unlike mermaids, who are usually relegated to children's books, humans have a habit of trying to enforce nationality through structure - they write laws that they enforce with police and militaries, they draw lines on maps, and distribute resources and violence based on who they've arbitrarily decided is or isn't a citizen.

So in Hetalia, in a world where fairies are real, and every country has its own representation, the nations have been forced into a sort of liminal space between the tangible and the mystical. And where each individual nation falls in that space differs.

While all nations are somewhat supernatural, some nations, the ones we see use magic and interact with mythical creatures in canon, have leaned into that mysticism to the point that they take on aspects of their culture's mythology. Vlad has little vampire fangs because he is a vampire. Arthur's love for the sea and sailing is a result of the fact that he and his brother are all part selkie. Of course, Emil would never acknowledge publicly that he can see magical creatures, he's a huldufólk, it only makes sense to hide his more mythic qualities.

Other nations have adjusted over the years to be a little more human in nature. Even Jack's more supernatural abilities are mostly just a case study in why immortals shouldn't be left alone on an island full of poisonous animals, and if the good neighbors show up on occasion that's really none of his business. Feliciano loves Roman mythology because it reminds him of his grandpa, but at the end of the day, he's a good catholic boy who happens to run at inhuman speeds.

Some nations *cough* Alfred *cough* are in some pretty serious denial about just how supernatural they really are, and if they're just a little too strong even by nation standards, or if the corn in a field parts for them to walk by it, then thats just gods gift to them and there's no reason to question that at all is there?

I also think mythical creatures existing canonically in Hetalia is really interesting because presumably, they all live longer than humans. Even the nations that fall on the more human side of things probably have some sort of relationship with their culture's mythological creatures (except for Alfred who is far too rational to acknowledge the things he can see with his own damn eyes) because those creatures will have a life span much more similar to their own. Building relationships with the supernatural hurts less, there is less of a deadline involved, and a friendship with a supernatural being is something a nation might actually be able to rely on long-term even when they don't have other countries around to support them.

[shihalyfie]

So uh...Digimon Seekers being a web novel will be interesting.

It's an interesting format for sure. I'm guessing they're trying to find a way to keep "constant content" going in light of the loss of the anime timeslot and all that (the card game's doing well, but there's only so much it can do by itself).

Speaking of which! Let's talk about the elephant in the room, which is Digimon losing its timeslot and Ghost Game not getting a follow-up anime! In previous occasions, every time Digimon lost a timeslot and the anime went on hiatus again, that meant the franchise was in danger of dying (again), but...as of earlier this year, Digimon is now Toei's third best-selling IP internationally. So it is highly doubtful that the anime is going back on hiatus simply because things aren't doing well.

So, what's actually going on?

We're used to the idea of "Digimon should run back to back if it does well," and that's true of series that are explosively popular (which Digimon is not right now, even if it's not on the verge of dying either), but in actuality, the Fuji TV 9 AM slot is a high-demand one to the point most franchises don't get to run for three years on it consecutively. That kind of thing is rare enough that Japanese fans familiar with the timeslot have commented that Digimon has probably accomplished a lot getting to keep it for the last three years. There are only two IPs that have ever gotten to run for four consecutive years or longer on that slot: one is Dragon Ball (I think "not being as profitable as Dragon Ball" is hardly something to freak out about), and the other is Digimon itself.

That financial report I just linked says that Digimon is Toei's best internationally selling IP including overseas sales. While we've had a lot of reports recently about Digimon's financial success, they all specifically note that it means internationally and not just Japan -- and, granted, that's still important especially because Toei and Bandai have been trying to aim for more of an international market in recent years, but that's what's telling us that the video games and card games are what's carrying Digimon now, not necessarily the anime, which currently has very little influence outside Japan besides the Crunchyroll simulcast (and probably some East Asian language dubs), and I imagine that doesn't contribute very much. And the Adventure: English dub doesn't seem to be coming out anytime soon...

Like I've said, the card game is doing great, and sets have been coming out in Chinese and Korean as of late.

So while I'm no financial analyst, I'm guessing they've decided to put a hold on the kids' anime right now because it's not a very good outlet for their current best option, which is to focus more on building an international market and solid base. That doesn't mean kids' anime will never come back, and it also doesn't mean the franchise isn't already in a much better situation than it was when Frontier, Savers, Xros Wars, and Appmon ended, because the recent success of the video games and card games gives them a lot more of a foothold to do more business ventures, and maybe they can funnel that into actually getting partnerships to dub future kids' anime if they want to do that again. Moreover, it's true that in the past, the franchise would hit life support every time the anime stopped, but that's because the franchise was dependent on having a running anime for attention, which is not the case now because the card game has been doing fine independently of the anime. So I think it's pretty easy to understand that having an ongoing kids' show won't be the best option for them at the current moment, and meanwhile Digimon Seekers is coming out in multiple languages at once, so you can see what the strategy is here.

Of course, I think much of Digimon's best content is in the kids' shows, so I hope it comes back (and I'm certainly not a huge fan of the idea of the only anime we get being from that pipeline that's focusing on nostalgia stuff with Adventure branding), but that's how I see it for now.

[lowlevelkoboldadventures]

Where can a dragon go to find kobolds?

There's of places to go looking if you're looking for some kobolds to accompany you, whether that be as underlings or adventuring companions or otherwise!

Kobold warrens are a very good bet just based on how many kobolds you'll find there, though do be careful and courteous to any dragons that currently make their claim there! If the warren does not currently have a dragon, consider moving in if they'll have you! If you only want a few to come with you, it's up to you to pick, though do be ready for some pouty faces and drooping tails

There's plenty of kobolds that roam the world around us too! They might be a bit harder to find in numbers, but kobolds that live outside the horde typically are made of some pretty strong stuff after making it on their own! Try checking the darker places of towns, places with mines, thieves gatherings, and especially towns that are built underground! These aren't the only places you'll find them, but I'd say they're the most likely!

If you or a dragon you know are powerful enough, you also have the option to create them! I would recommend searching for existing kobolds firstly, as there are plenty of warrens and roaming kobolds that are just as eager to meet you that deserve the chance to meet you first! But if you've already searched and aren't able to find any, creating them is definitely your next best bet!

That's pretty much it! But also, do remember that not all kobolds are as interested in dragon partnerships as I am! Don't assume every kobold you'll meet is going to say yes to your offer, and always accept their answer even if they say no!

Thanks so much for the ask, and so sorry for the delay! I have had a human graphic design history tome that's been stealing my time, busy busy busy! Good luck on your search you amazing fox dragon, and come back if you need anything else!!! ✨🙏😊✨

[luna-loner]

Random B5 Headcanons

Gakushuu sleeps on his back. He also has two sleeping mask, one's black and one's dark purple. He uses one when the other needs to be washed. He also can't sleep without them. He's thinking of buying a third one in case both are dirty, ruined, or lost. (He's not sure which color, though...)

Ren absolutely hates multitasking. He can do it when he puts his mind to it, but prefers to handle one thing at a time.

The only exception's when girls are involved, now that's something Ren can juggle with whatever he's currently doing. The B5 constantly tease him for this.

For that reason, he doesn't enjoy singing and playing base simultaneously unless Gakushuu makes him he really has to. That's why Seo's usually the backup singer.

Speaking of, Ren's voice is much more suited for calm, relaxing songs, but it can't handle high notes or fast tempos. Gakushuu's constantly tells him to work on his breathing technique.

Seo's a bit of neat freak. He won't go above and beyond with cleaning until there isn't so much as a speck of dust in his room, but he's serious about organizing and good hygenie. He will never show up to school with bad body odor or his uniform wrinkled.

Still, he hates doing chores. Folding his clothes? Yeah, sure; he's gotta a cool image to keep. Folding everyone's clothes?? Get outta here! He'll even get outta the house just to avoid chores. (He's usually successful because he claims to have a study session with his friends, usually.)

By contrast, Araki's the messiest of the bunch. Organized doesn't exist in his book. The first time Seo came over, he nearly had a heart attack from the sight of Araki's sorry excuse of a bedroom.

Araki tends to hoard books and newspapers, especially old ones. He's also got plenty of notebooks and journals stacked on his desk, nightstand, and on the floor. Boy loves knowledge, okay?

Koyama's a great cook (credits to @/fivesmartfackers-blog for this one) because he would observe his mother cooking and strictly follows reciptes. However, he sometimes messes up due to vague instructions like add a pinch of salt, so he ends up adding too much or too little. He'll mess up other measurements when he's too focused on getting them just right. How? Even he doesn't know.

Even when it states to add a table spoon of an ingredient, he'll question if it's too little and add one or two more table spoons "just in case"

Luckily, these's a few instances as he proudly proclaims his cooking to be great 2 out of 10 times.

Araki has a massive sweet and will readily taste-test Koyama's snacks. Even when it's too sugary, he'll like it.

Gakushuu's not a fan of sweets. He may have the world's 2nd worst sleeping schedule (1st place obviously goes to Gakuhou), he's not so negligant with his eating habits. This boy is strict about having a healthy, balanced diet. He has a habit of checking food labels whenever he goes grocery shopping.

He's also a great cook and even takes over meal preps at home, not because he wants to do something nice for his mom, but because cooking's one of the few skills Gakuhou lacks. Gakushuu makes sure to rub it in during breakfast.

No matter how busy he is, Gakushuu will wake up early in the morning to make breakfast just to mock his dad. That's how petty he is.

Obviously, he doesn't do that when he's got tests. Those early hours of dawn are spent on studying instead. He lets his mom know so she knows what to cook.

Koyama's heavy sleeper. He's had brief moments of lucid dreaming before his consciousness slips away again.

Dragons are his spirit animal, which is why they're also his first choice for profile pics.

[ducksbyday]

HELLO TUMBLR PEOPLE

I HAVE BEEN ASKED TO WRITE MORE SO I SHALL OBLIGE

I will never get over how sweet the tumblr/qsmp community is. yall are so sweet and amazing and oof- hugs for all

PART 2 QSMP MEMBERS + THE KINGDOM (DDG) WOOOO

[You can find part 1 here]

PHILZA - FIRJEN/LJORD

The only kingdom to fully get wiped off the face of the earth for good, leaving almost no trace of it ever existing in the first place (the king deleted his YouTube channel :,( )

In the north peak of Midisti, deep in the snow was once the freezing kingdom of Firjen. It was a kingdom with little allies that mostly kept to themselves. It was once ruled by King Joris who, after losing the war against Entropia & friends, lost everything. The Goddess Eclypsa took notice of the unnecessary blood spill and became enraged. Fueled with grief and anger, she decided to save King Joris by bringing him to Ljord. Here she gifted him the dragons of Bovisti.

The king, broken but determined, rebuilds his empire in the new snowy lands of Ljord. He recruited new people, found some of his old companions, and eventually got revenge on Entropia after capturing King David and feeding him to the dragons. But his glory didn't last forever. His men turned on him, kicked him off the throne, and threw him in jail, never to be heard from again.

Philza seems to me like a person who'd do well in Firjen/Ljord. Either as someone who stayed loyal to King Joris and went down with him or as one of the people who turned on him in the end. Perhaps he realized that the revolution and appointing a new king did not make things any better, and joined the refugees to Fenrin to fight for freedom from the outside. Also, he has a history with cold lands (the Artic Empire & his DSMP base with techno). Plus he is currently taking care of two dragon eggs, which is fitting to me.

MISSA - HELLIOS

Truly a great place to be. As the name says, Hellios is the kingdom’s version of Hell. If you're bad and you die, you get doomed to live in a black, lifeless realm for all eternity named Hellios. If good, you go to Elementos, a haven with everything a person can dream of.

Hellios is run by Celcrius (the God of the underworld) and his mage Arjan. They are known to dabble in dark magic, necromancy, and mind control and will use it without hesitation. This has been made very clear since the beginning. In episode 1 of their series, they resurrect an old king intending to take over the kingdom of Tyksa.

Q!Missa being a walking, living, breathing skeleton fits in well with how Celcrius goes about his business. I see Misa possibly being one of Celcrius' workers who was brought to life by the mage. He could've been an informant, sent to the surface to collect information. I like to think Celcrius told him to spy on people from a distance, but Misa misunderstood completely. Instead, he started trying to blend in with civilization so collect info that way. People might've been a bit freaked out at first, since he's a walking skeleton but eventually got used to it. "But he's so kind though!"

QUACKITY - BOR

Kingdom Bor is.. a strange one. I don't know much about them except that they live inside hills and mountains, are OBSESSED with carrots, and don't seem to take anything seriously.

They're most known for the song the king wrote about importing carrots. Further, the kingdom is known for the song the king wrote about jumping around. Also, the king blew up a part of his own kingdom because looking at it made him sad. He also started beef with Hellios for some reason. Idk even how.

In general, the whole kingdom is just a bunch of lads messing around and being stupid. The fact that they survived for two seasons and won multiple wars is incredibly shocking to me.

I think Q!Q would fit in well seeing the many many times he went missing, and then came back, and then went missing, and then came back, and then- you get the point. He's unhinged, a little bit crazy and I think he would be busting it down if he heard the songs about carrots and jumping.

WILBUR SOOT - MURA (kinda)

I wanted to assign Wilbur to a kingdom but then later changed my mind. I think it be cool if he was a nomad, traveling from kingdom to kingdom to play music and have a good time. But if I did have to assign him somewhere it would probably be Mura (the kingdom of former nomads, who sworn to never participate in wars).

This is all for now, since it it getting very late for me and I am very sleepy. I hope you enjoyed reading this! :D Sending love to everyone <3

[underground-boss-clay]

Opinions on your fellow league members?

Not sure if ya mean as of now or includin' those from a coupla years ago. Might as well do both; never hurts ta cover all bases. This is... Pretty damn long, just warnin' y'all.

•The Striaton trio (think their individual names were Cress, Chili an' Cilan) kinda depended too much on each other. Guess that just comes with bein' a triplet, but I'm pretty sure that's a big weakness fer all three of them. They're so confident someone has their back that they ain't got plans for when no one can back them up.

•Honestly I wasn't too sure about Cheren at first; kid was goal-driven when I first met him on his Gym challenge. Which is admirable, and I'd been there, but he was a little too much so. Didn't think much about what he'd do after becomin' Champion; hell, I don't think he even knew why he was goin' for it so hard. Thank goodness for Lenora.

•Speakin' of, she and Hawes are... Wouldn't say close friends, haven't known em as long as I have, say, Joe, but decent enough associates. I've donated fossils to their museum on numerous occasions, and the woman treats each one with care, even before they're revived. Very strong willed and not afraid ta speak her mind or argue her case. Always good ta have someone like that on yer side! And even though he don't count as part of the League, Hawes is a very thorough researcher. Also knows a ridiculous amount of trivial things. Seriously, who needs to know what an aglet is?

•Anyway, Roxie is a bit of an odd one. My first impression of her made me think she was just a loud little punk, but she's actually surprisingly responsible. Thought she'd prioritize her band above Virbank, but girl has no problems wit puttin' that aside until Virbank's problems are solved. Still ain't a big fan of her music, but that's more personal tastes.

•Most creative types tend to be eccentric almost to the point a' hysterics, but Burgh is surprisingly calm. Keeps his cool 'n most situations, an' I can probably count the times I've heard him raise his voice on one hand. His Gym designs are out there, almost to be expected, but hey, least he ain't jumpin' off windmills right?

•Elesa is incredibly no-nonsense, an' with a stubborn streak ta rival Lenora. Very much a good problem solver, and accomplished a lot on her own very quickly. And on top a' that, able to keep succeedin', or at least minimize losses. That's the hardest part 'n businesses like hers (and mine, but different areas entirely).

•Skyla's a good girl--bit airheaded at times, 'f you'll pardon the pun, but loyal and ain't afraid ta help someone through tough times. Livin' as close to the Celestial Tower will probably do that.

•I'll be honest, Brycen was a bit of a strange one fer me. He's not bad, but he could be... Well, pretty damn dramatic. Not that Burgh doesn't sometimes have moments, but Burgh's theatrics are usually... How ta put this, quieter and somewhat predictable? Whereas Brycen could easily jump from one end a' the spectrum to the next quicker 'n you could blink. Made it hard ta really read him.

•Drayden... Is a good mayor, and an intimidatin' Gym Leader. To be expected when ya decide to work wit Dragon types. But there've been times where I don't think he focuses on himself enough. I don't even mean the wrestlin' dragons bit, I'm talkin' about how he tends to ignore his own problems in favor of helpin' others with their own. Which I can admire, he's helped me out of a slump once, but sometimes ya got to give yerself time to address a personal problem before it gets worse.

•Marlon is a good kid. Good heart, even if he ain't the sharpest pick 'n the box. Or the most alert, fer that matter.

•Marshall struck me as a bit compulsive at first, but he's actually got quite the quick-thinkin' head on his shoulders.

•No hard feelings against her, but there are times where Caitlyn can come off as... Uncaring, which irks me. I understand that probably ain't her fault, but it's one a' those things that makes me glad ta not work with her too often.

•Not fond of Grimsley's penchant fer risk, but as long as it ain't my money on the line I won't throw mud on him for it.

•Shauntal's a smart girl, but sometimes she talks too damn fast. Her writing's good according to some of my workers though.

•Alder was a bit too laid back as Champion in my opinion, but then again I do understand his reasoning for travelin' around the region instead a' stayin' cooped up with paperwork. Probably helped him understand folks more, which is a key element in a good Champion.

•And finally, Iris. I think she can be a bit hotheaded and impulsive at times, but that can be said for a lot of kids. And becomin' Champion certainly calmed her down a tad. Yer doin'great so far sweetheart, keep it up.