#this chapter has so many fucking bgs

[lizardsarecute]

I'm actually gonna be going on an extended vacation (out of country) in the next couple weeks, so please accept this page preview of chapter 6 in the meantime :)

korsica will be working while i'll be smelling the flowers hehe

might pop in here and there with some sketchbook doodles but otherwise i'm gonna be focusing on enjoying my time off before work inevitably kicks my ass (again)

[sethdomain]

can i shadow post about one popular mlb comic that has the most stale dogwater writing ever thats too much of a pussy to give any of the character character developtment and has dogshit take about a specific character thats fuckign terribly demonized because of misogny and yet they still take that route instead of not taking it making the most stale story nothing puke filled story same as the fukcing show

[ratcate]

I'm here to admit that I may have developed a hyper fixation on your OCs (especially on Zerion and Sir. Valentine) so can you perhaps tell us more about them? (And other OCS)

oh hey!! great selection of characters. Makes me really happy you wanting to know more about them! I love them a lot, but Sir Valentine more, as Zerion's personality and setting is pretty nebulous still. info about them both under read more!

Zerion is some sort of cartoony super villain, heavily inspired in the night of the bald mountain monster interpretation from Fantasia(disney)

(art from 2020)

I think he's a very strong dark mage or something. Right now I have him reduced to a joke. A cartoony villain living his slice of life, but always awaiting action, the smallest spark chaos, to join in, in a world where nothing ever happens. He has his sidekick, Vampina (I think that was her name). A vampire chick who lives in the moment and is Zerion's servant, as long as he provides him with some blood every now and then

(2023)

(2021)

she almost never pulls off that relaxed smile from her face, her brain usually has no thoughts more than "can i eath this?" "I can eat this" Both of them are pretty evil. I remember once i tried to sketch out a first chapter, where they had a visit of income tax department agents, coming to remind Zerion he hadn't paid his taxes, and both Zerion and Vampina made a whole intricate plan on how to get rid of them and torture them, to show the government they're not to be fucked with. Though, all their scare tactics were just confusing, failed magic tricks for the men, now tied to apparent non functioning electric chairs, looking at each other through their sunglasses, stoic faces, while confused to what Zerion is yapping about in his villain monologue, while Vampina eats a stale bread in the BG. ---------------------------------------------------------

I don't have much about Sir Valentine either, but I certainly have drawn him more. For now, His name is Sir Cannon Valentine, but we'll get to that in a bit.

(both from 2020)

This is the first art ever I made of him, and that's a lot of his vibe. (2019)

This MAN, is some warrior who died in his armor but is back by some whack magic, and he's impatient, easily irritated, screams instead of talking, and I've always imagined having him a strong accent. He's here to fight and go headfirst into everything bc he really cannot die.

As of 2024, Sir Valentine is Sir Cannon Valentine (you can still call him the first version), BECAUSE, besides him being reborn and inmortal, angry and ready to fucking obliterate anything in his way, now his body works as a canonball

He went through my manic episode of redesigning many of my characters, after getting a taste of Pizza tower's cartoony characters, and became this. Much more functional, easily drawn, flowy. he just works, i can animate him in a snap of fingers. Still consistenly working to improve his design even more.

I will probs change the story, but this guy is resucitated as a last resort for a war between kingdoms, as a mistake, bc they wanted to revive some other guy, but got mistaken and went to his thomb. This guy revived him, after a ritualistic dance and some lightning

and then he is like "oh wait I fucked up", and Valentine is like "TOO LATE BITCH I'M FREE!!" and blasts away from him, as a cannonball, fueled by his own fire and methane gas from the catacombs he is in lol. This story is very not much constructed, but I love Sir Valentine a lot, and the characters I can surround him with. I see him falling for a bourgeoisie woman, or a princess even, bc all my stories need the romance, I'm nothing without the romance. I am also thinking of including another character of mine, Sayen, as the daughter of this death guy

Sayen previously appeared as a participant in a nsfw comic in my twt alt account lol. I love her and her design very much.

[thedroneranger]

The Drone Ranger's Be Kind Rewind ⏪ beyondthesefourwalls Edition!

A rec reblog series dedicated to the fics that we love so much, we've re-read them!

@beyondthesefourwalls' Rewind is here! We all know how much I love my Bradshaw Baddies™, so I was delighted when Alli slid into my messages :)

While we continue to churn out amazing new content, let's be kind and rewind to look at some of the OG content we love! And don't forget to reblog when you re-read! Continue to show your comfort fics and favorite creators some love. It helps keep the fresh content coming :)

Let's keep this going throughout the summer. If you're interested in participating in the Be Kind Rewind, message me. The more, the merrier!

If you want to know when a new Rewind drops, join the tag list, and check out previous Rewinds!

fics below the cut (listed in alphabetical order by title)

and so it goes, Bradley Bradshaw, @laracrofted This story is so fucking hot, so it’s only fitting it takes place in a hot tub. There’s that tiny element of forbidden romance/we shouldn’t be doing this that makes it that much spicier. It’s a delicious read.

Come Back, Bradley Bradshaw, @ereardon One of my absolute favorite exes to lovers fics ever. It’s so well down and I love how Bradley has to earn every bit of her forgiveness, and how willing he is to build the trust back up.

Early Birthday Present, Bradley Bradshaw, @clints-lucky-arrow The touch of angst in this one makes the fluffy ending that much sweeter. It’s such a cute one!

home to you, Bradley Bradshaw, @iwritetopassthetime Love at first sight is my favorite trope, and protective Bradley always gives me a thrill. This had me hooked from the very first chapter. Bradley and Blossom are just 😍

Hot For Teacher, Bradley Bradshaw, @roosterforme There’s just something about Rooster and a slightly older woman (who outranks him nonetheless) that really REALLY does it for me.

Is It Working For You?, Bradley Bradshaw, @roosterforme If tumblr ever creates a filter revealing how many times someone has visited a specific post, I’ll have to run and hide. I’ve reread the BG and Roo origin story more than I’ve read anything ever. I fall in love even harder every single time. My OTP of OTPs.

little wallflower, Bradley Bradshaw, @bradshawsbitch This is so wholesome and cute and makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. How Bradley doesn’t shy away at her disability and then puts in the effort is so adorable.

skyrockets in flight, afternoon delight, Bradley Bradshaw, @gretagerwigsmuse The first story I ever read for the TGM fandom, all completely by accident. It popped up on my dash before I ever watched the movie and for some reason I read it anyway. It set down the TGM rabbit hole and here we are.

The Only Thing, Jake Seresin, @justfandomwritings Jake and Addie’s love story is so pure. They were only ever each others even if it took awhile to make it official and I love revisiting how it all came together.

your love is the love i need, Javy Machado, @theharddeck My favorite Javy story! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve reread it. The build up and tension is so so good and I love how connected they clearly are.

Creator's Own

This Love Came Back to Me It’s an ongoing one, so not a throwback, but I’m so proud of this one that I would love people to give it a read!

Tag list and friends: @petcr3 @desert-fern @Sagittarius-Lovewitch @mygyn @sweetwhispersofchaos @horseshoegirl @the-annoying-fan @dingochef @moon42flight @thecitysgraveyard @ereardon @roosterforme @cherrycola27 @galaxy-of-stories @taytaylala12 @malindacath @violyn20 @awildewit @potato-girl99981 @shanimallina87 @blue-aconite @djs8891 @linkpk88 @furiousladyking @daggerspare-standingby @princess76179 @jstarr86 @hecate-steps-on-me @darkheartcherry @soulmates8 @roosters-girl @dempy @roosterisdaddy36 @hangmanscoming @s-u-t @mavrellover91 @chicomonks @averyhotchner 

A kind reminder, this is a 18+ blog. While not all stories in the recommendation list are 18+, please respect boundaries and do not interact unless you are 18 years of age or older.

[acheronist]

HI ISABEL i was thinking abt ur beechey boys + peglar/armitage extended cinematic universe while doing my laundry earlier (<- normal guy behaviour) and now i'm curious if u've thought of any actors/face claims for them – beechey boys especially bc we don't even have terror versions to use lol 👀🎤

HI GENEEEE 🖤 this is interesting.... honestly i've never been very good at fan casting shit because my default is always just going "x character should be played by riz ahmed" which ummmm would not work here i fear.

anyways everyone watch out there's gonna be mummy images below the cut

okay i really don't care about actors enough to do this well ummm LMAO johnny bertchtold YOU🫵🏻 are now john shaw torrington!! except johnny's way too tall and also ripped to be jorts.... i will say tho, as annoying as the john torrington/david young erasure is in the amc show, they did kind of nail it with alfie kingsnorth... now that's a skinny blonde bitch who looks half dead! he's got the right big round eyes + prominent cheekbones as jorts

if we could get some mutton chops and the uniform of a royal marine private onto ferdinand kingsley i think he'd be fantastic as william braine..... actually now that i'm looking at this i kind of feel like a genius for this one LMAO??

john hartnell is a little harder because i've already decided in my heart that this daguerreotype is 100% undeniably him even though the chances of it are actually probably very low. in actuality. but i have tried to match up the daguerreotype "hartnell" with the mummy hartnell and i do think it's a super close match.... i just wish mr. daguerreotype hadn't tucked his hair over his ear so i could compare the shape of john's ear.... but anyways there is actually one bg dude from terror amc who i have also kind of decided could be jarts!!! he was one of the dudes who voted to stay on terror and die there instead of out on the shale before everyone abandoned ship... he's got the right haircut for it <3 but also i think rob james-collier could be kind of a slay for jartnell if we can get him back to his downton abbey prime

and then thomas morgan hasn't really made his debut in the beechey boys cinematic universe (yet. chapter two still cooking......) and we also haven't exhumed HIM so this is really just like throwing a dart and calling it good. i did draw a little version of him here tho . so do with this as you will i guess. me when i'm just making up whatever the fuck. he should be kind of sickly looking as well though because my dude was going THROUGH it (+ he had one million pre existing conditions) before he died.

and for like... henry & thomas theyre much more nebulous in my brain..... maybe i'll try and draw them later!? i did do fanart here of henry tho but i fear it's got a heavy amc casting influence on what he looked like.

real life facts: thomas (5'9") is 2 inches taller than henry (5'7"), henry probably had broad/strong arms and shoulders due to climbing around in the rigging for his whole career, both of them had brown hair, and thomas was older than henry enough that he was probably starting to get salt-and-pepper grey during the miserable stressful parts of the expedition. henry's id papers describe his complexion as "sallow" and based on how many captains said he had a shitty/indifferent/bored attitude while working leads me to believe my king had chronic resting bitch face + looked vaguely exhausted and pale and unwell even when he was healthy.

also in my heart amc nailed it with giving thomas curly hair tho... charlie kelly is cute to meeeeee... unfortunately he isn't 40 years old enough. no source no facts anyways i just want to believe in curly girl armitage supremacy. ALSOOOO in my heart (again) henry has sailor tattoos-- HOLD FAST on his knuckles for good luck in the ropes + two swallows on his chest under each collarbone to mark his 10,000th mile at seas. i forgot what i was talking about. i think do think k*vin g*thrie's face was honestly too conventionally attractive for henry though. i just know my man was mid as fuck. frown lines from scowling, ink stains on his fingers at all times, never worn sunblock ever, thinks splashing water on his face counts as moisturizing etc.... MY henry peter peglar is pretty weather-beaten and looks like a mean cunt and sometimes he snarls at people like a badly trained dog. amen.

[roosterforme]

Yeah.. i kinda dont think its fair for BG to call out Roo like that especially when she made him feel similar with the pity blowjobs last series.

I understand how she feels about her body but she never explained her feelings to Bradley so in away its like shes making him feel like a villain in a villain-less story.

Bradley spoke of out in hopes of making BG realize they have time…

Stinks how this story is kinda going..

Guys, it's chapter 9 of many. Nothing has been resolved yet. It kinda stinks how this anon ask is going... If you can't deal with an angsty fic that has characters dealing with real emotions individually and in a relationship, then go read something fluffy.

Wow, I really fucking broke tumblr today.

[limpfisted]

DESCENT INTO AVERNUS. references for my own benefit! please blacklist #descent into avernus ref if not interested in seeing this content! i cannot provide alt text to the images from the handbook, however, i will be showing notes on what i read in between screenshots!

PART ONE: chapter one of the descent into avernus guide book. shitty screenshots and summaries

Important to WYLL:

baphomet is a demon lord worshipped by minotaurs. wyll has fought a minotaur in his many journeys, it is one of his favorite and most impressive stories to tell

belynne stelmane : of emperor alliance fame, she had a stroke due to the emperor, wyll had a crush on her, she is one of the four dukes

dillard potyr: another of the four dukes

klim jhasso: member of the noble family, the jhassos

mortlock and thurswell vanthampur: 3rd son and 1st of duke thalmara vanthampur

thalmara vamthampur: duke of bg

tiamut: five headed dragon queen of evil dragons, wyll stopped this dragon from taking over the city 7 years ago with mizora

grandduke ulder ravengard: wyll’s dad, obvs lol

thavius kreeg: high overseer of elturel, this is the place and person ulder went to go see before it fell

notes: zariel intends to take ofer baldurs gate next, zariel and thavius kreeg, the high overseer, have an infernal contract.

ulder is missing after having gone to elturel. the flaming fist is useless without him, and are even referred to as “distracted” and “thugs.” there are HUNDREDS of refugees trying to get in, the dead three already has its claws in bg obviously.

thalmura vhampur using tiamut’s gold (tiamut if u remember was the reason wyll was banished) to fund the dead threes murders

thalmura is doing this to “shatter the confidence” of people who believe in the flaming fist, and get them defunded. she has made a deal with zariel that when the fist is disbanded, she will take over as grandduke.

the shield of the hidden lord will help her smack bg into hell, and has been corrupting the morals of bg for “decades.” i guess this means if u take it away it’ll make bg better! her sons have stolen it

ulder is “valiant” but he “opposes” elturel

zariel was once an angel and you can redeem her, wild

zariel wanted the other angels to fight in thr blood war between demons and devils, she made an army called the hellriders, the hellriders LEFT her gay ass there, and kept that a secret from the world

zariel lost her army but also her hand and her sword she was holding. she told yael, her bff general, to take the sword and get out. ollianthius and haruman, her other two besties, refused to leave her side. they were sent to nessus, the lowest of the hells

asmodeus was like i know u tried to kill is but that was so cool, rule avernus for me bestie? and bel was mad about it, but zariel wanted to fight demons so fuckin bad she said yes. haruman was like ok bestie lets go. olanthius killed himself bc he was NOT a true ride or die, but zariel brought him back as a zombie, bc fuck u olanthius, that’s why

zariel ALWAYS wanted revenge on the hellriders, who went to eltruel. in 1444 dr, she got her chance. they were raken over by a vampire lord. thavius, a priest of thorm, appealed to any power to save his city, zariel said “hi” and he accepted her deal, and elturel was safe.

EXCEPT THAT IT WASN’T!!!

thavius actually just became high overseer, only to ask ravengard to come on over RIGHT BEFORE the time limit was up and elturel would be pulled to hell!! ravengard didn’t even WANT to go, he was pressured to, probs bc elturel was gaining power n turning into a proper nation, and they have various disputes that make ulder “at odds” with them!

thavius greeted the duke and then LEFT HIM THERE to “watch from a safe distance” then disguised himself as a refugee and then tells everyone elturel has fallen with HUNDREDS OF HIS OWN PEOPLE THA5 ARE REFUGEES BC OF HIS EVIL ASS, and then goes to chill with duke vanthampur in her VILLA, while all the tieflings are in RAGS.

more to come……..

[something-pithy]

Notes and an Update: What's in a Name?

Chapter 16 of an echo, a stain features Astarion doing what he does best -- feeling terror, spiraling and at the very least contemplating terrible choices as a result. lol.

SPOILERS FOR ACT 2 OF BG3 BELOW

Those of you who are mostly caught up on an echo, a stain know I love me a flashback (and now the rest of y'all know, too lol). There are two in this new chapter, one of which is set in the Shadow-Cursed lands after Astarion has confessed his initial intentions toward and current feelings/desires for Tav to Tav (post-Orthon confession). As a result of that conversation, they've put a pin in the sexual aspects of their relationship, but are still together romantically. Then, the Araj Moment happens (spoiler alert: nobody bit that heifer), Thaniel is reunited with Oliver, Halsin's... admiration of Tav is becoming more apparent, and Astarion is... yes! Spiraling!

I think that flashback speaks for itself, and I'll let y'all get what you will from when / where in the story it appears.

The OTHER flashback, which is much more brief, is about this Tav's name. Now, I'm not trying to make any secret of the fact that the Tav in this story and I have a lot in common in terms of ethnic backgrounds when you remove the high fantasy fake world element from Tav's lol. FIRST I want to say, I don't give a fuck. There is no shame in my game. Nobody comes for George R.R. Martin or Robert Jordan or J.R.R. (the Rs are for REALLY RACIST) Tolkein (don't @ me -- or do, go ahead and send me an ask if you really want to know my feels on that one looool) for writing about characters whose ethnic and cultural backgrounds are Western European / British.

Second of all, maybe I'm being unnecessarily defensive because I'm an old head who came up in a time when writing a self-insert character was like THE VERY WORST POSSIBLE THING YOU COULD DO AS A WRITER, but once again I don't give a fuck.

The lived experiences of ethnic minorities, people of mixed ethnic and cultural heritage (not fucking half-elves who most of the time are just people of the Caucasian persuasion with pointy ears and shorter lifespans than regular elves), first generation children of immigrants, and all manner of permutations of non-white, non-Western "others" are in extremely short supply in all forms of media / popular narratives in the Western world (shit honestly, it ain't just the West but that's another struggle for another day). This is especially true, from what I've experienced as a lifelong nerdalerd, in speculative fiction.

So yeah, I conceived my Tav as a mixed-race (kind of, she's all high elf, but mixed sun, moon, and sea because she's a motherfucking unicorn, come at me bro looool -- no, there are other reasons too but also she's a unicorn lol), mixed-ethnic-and-cultural-heritage person whose life choices are NOT aligned with a lot of the conventions and values of the cultures in which she was raised.

Because that story and perspective is wildly underrepresented in literature, mass media, speculative fiction, and fan fiction.

So here we are. loooool

Having said all that, I got a comment from my fucking delightful beta and queen of my soul, Komo, asking about the naming conventions I reference in this chapter (or their real-world analogues).

So for the notes part of this episode of "Notes and an Update," I'm going to quote part of the comment she left on AO3 about the story and my response, which adheres to my policy of "why say it in five words if you can say it in EIGHT MILLION." Let me know what you think!

NAMING CONVENTIONS IN AEAS

(FROM THE COMMENTS SECTION OF AN ECHO, A STAIN CHAPTER 16:)

Komo wrote:

I have so many questions about naming conventions, both from the corner of the world that Tav’s family hails from and BG proper. Like, in American and Japanese culture, women take their husband’s last names when heterosexual couples get married. In the States, there are exceptions to this rule, of course, with some women hyphenating. In China, women do not change their last names, but kids are almost always named after the father’s side (the old one child policy may have affected this, but the top 100 most common surnames make up 85% of the population anyways). If Tav and Astarion do end up together, would names be a thing they’d have to navigate? Astarion is such a possessive little yandere after all.

I wrote:

OK so this Tav's ethnic and cultural background, as we know, is mixed

(I'm not even getting into her racial background I just can't with fucking elvish loool and her families on both sides are far-enough removed from immersion in elven culture where I'm like LOOOOOOOOOOOOOL SEE YOU LATER TOLKEIN).

On her father's side, she's Zakharan / DnD-analogue MENA (Middle Eastern North African, with apologies to Said for the orientalism of the term Middle Eastern).

On her mother's side, Amnian / New Amnian / DnD-analogue Latina but -- oh lordt OK without getting into the complexities of codified colonial Spanish racism and colorism, that identity is complicated. Through a combination of executive decision-making about elves and race and how they interact with culture on the material plane (aka not in the Feywild) AND really leaning into the idea of cultural analogues in Toril / the Forgotten Realms, her Latina-analogue ethnicity comprises a mix of indigenous and colonizer racial/ethnic heritage.

(I also can't with how fucking convoluted figuring this out was, is, has been, will forever be looool.)

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, for the sake of brevity (looooooooooooooooool), we'll say Tav's full name results from the combination of her parents' names using Amnian/New Amnian (Spanish) naming conventions, BUT that means her full name (which is not even as long as it could be but is LONG) incorporates both Arabic naming conventions AND Spanish naming conventions that result in impressively / annoyingly long names loool.

In modern Spain, at least, when women marry, some don't even take their husband's name. But the kids' names are composites of parents' family names.

A Spanish child takes the surnames of both their father and mother. The structure is usually [father's surname] y [mother's surname] (though in modern Spain and Spanish-speaking countries a lot of people no longer use the "y"), but the main surname would be the father's surname. So for example, someone's full last name might be Juana Garcia y Martinez or Juana Garcia Martinez, but she might just go by Juana Garcia.

ALSO, especially for children of families of some kind of note / nobility when the dad's family was not as well-known as the mother's, this would include the composite names of both parents.

So Juana's name might be Juana [Garcia de Manzanilla (dad's composite surname)] y [Martinez de Hierro (mom's composite surname)].

So Juana Garcia de Manzanilla y Martinez de Hierro. And like, when people get real into it this can go back generations. Like, I don't even remember my mom's whole-ass name. looool.

NOW, Arabic names are composites, too, but incorporate the father's first name, the grandfather's first name, then the family name -- back in the day, they'd link these things with words that indicated the relationships. So for example, if Yemina's dad is Yusuf and HIS dad is Muhammad and their family name is Rashid, Yemina's name would then be Yemina bint/bin (daughter of) Yusuf ibn (son of) Muhammad al-(of the family) Rashid.

So Yemina bin Yusuf ibn Muhammad al-Rashid.

OK SO THERE'S ANOTHER COMPLICATION (aren't you glad you asked this question loooooooooooooooooooool): with regard to Spanish naming conventions, apparently this patrilineal thing hasn't always been the case and only came to be the norm around the mid-1700s. Before that, surname transmission was often matrilineal.

(This comes into play here because the year in BG3 is like, idk, 1492-98 or something? I forget whatever who cares it's before the mid-1700s and I'm just making it vaguely and very much not perfectly analogous with the time / calendar of the Western world because I don't have the bandwidth for anything else loooooooooool).

In this Tav's case, her mom ditched her dad and the kids were young enough at the time that she was able to, as a sign of DEEP FUCKING DISRESPECT TO HIM loooool, change their names to MATRILINEAL AMNIAN-STYLE COMPOSITE SURNAMES LOOOOOOOOOOOOL

(So for a while Tav's government name was Zeneida Nqa Tavares de la Torre de López Jimenez y bin Harun ibn Ishaq al-Jazairi loooool)

I mean this was like looooooooooooooool FUCKING PROFOUNDLY SCANDALOUSLY DISRESPECTFUL FOR HER TO DO TO A ZAKHARAN MAN especially one of SOME NOTE WHO WAS SELF-MADE

That shit was mad personal and a level of petty that mere mortals can only aspire to it was so deep

But TAV'S MOM DOES NOT PLAY

(Now, could she have just cut Tav's father's name out entirely? Sure, but 1) THAT MOTHERFUCKER IS NOT GETTING OUT OF CLAIMING THESE KIDS / PAYING CHILD SUPPORT esp if he ever got married again HER KIDS ARE THE FUCKING HEIRS AND HE AIN'T GON FORGET IT and 2) (possibly more importantly) FUCK HIS COUCH, PEOPLE ARE GONNA KNOW HE FUCKED AROUND AND FOUND OUT)

Even though he's deadass like "lol wtfever I don't give a fuck, I know what their real legal names are" and also this resulted in a protracted, multinational legal battle that was never actually resolved until each kid reached the age of majority and decided what their own legal name would be.

Ahem, anyway as a consequence of all this, Tav's full-ass, whole-ass, government name is:

Zeneida (first given name)

Nqa (middle given name)

bin Harun ibn Ishaq al-Jazairi (full Arabic/"Midani" patrilineal surname)

y (conjunction [means 'and'])

Tavares de la Torre de López Jimenez (mother's full surname)

So: Zeneida Nqa bin Harun ibn Ishaq al-Jazairi y Tavares de la Torre de López Jimenez

But as we know, she just goes by Zeneida Tavares, and she wasn't lying when she said on most docs it's just "Zeneida Nqa Jazairi Tavares."

Second...

tl;dr: Tavvy for short. Ms. Tavares if you nasty.

ALSO LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

If Tav and Astarion do end up together, Astarion better adjust them expectations, bc after all the drama that's existed around her name, he gonna have a hard time getting her to change it looool

Not to mention, she has a career based in part on people knowing who she is so... loooool

SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO IF THE STARS AND PLANETS EVER ALIGN FOR THEM / THEY EVER GET THEIR HEADS OUT OF ASSES

[natcaptor]

WIPS

Got tagged by @bookishangelresurrection who should know me well enough to know i don’t have an actual WIP folder so this took a bit of sorting to figure out.

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs can think of.

Such a Fucking Nightmare

BG Tattoo Reveal (this one needs a real title, its two and a half chapters long)

Crash/Crush WIPS

Halentine’s Day

Myster Death

Carnival Date

The Other Side Of Paradise

Kidfic

A couple of these are so old oops… One has been in process for like…years. It was good to go back and find them all so maybe they’ll get some work!

Tagging: @m4rswalker @bagellu @writerofblocks @garbagefool

[wildernessuntothemselves]

*takes a deep deep deep deep breath*

I rarely comment on stories once I've reached the most-awaited, most-coveted end but right now the passion is overflowing I just need to let it out. When I saw where it was available, I immediately [insert take-my-money meme here]!!!

1. My unsolicited opinion on the two endings: I like the first one better, but that doesn't make the second one any less perfect. Knowing how I am in real life and just having experienced my own fair share of similar boys (as BG and YJ), I was like—wow. I've been second-ending oc so many times in my life it feels unhealthy (I'm not a very romantic person, I just prefer being practical)

2. There's a saying where I come from: Choose the one who loves you over the one you love. It does have its pros and cons, but the pros outweigh the cons when you choose the former. But then again this is just me, and I'm sure others love much better than me lmaooo

3. I don't think I have ever cried so much over something I've read and I have read soooo many sad (and happy ofc) stories in my 28 years of living. I cried reading both endings (I'm so pathetic rn) but only because I grew to love the characters more each chapter goes. There are parts of BG I loved and hated, same w YJ as well.

I will most probably have a better, more in-depth review on this in the morning where I am rn, but I'll wait to send another ask once the ending is available here on Tumblr. But again thank you so much for this masterpiece. I feel a little bit sad about it ending, but I appreciate it so much from you knowing how difficult it is for you to write these days.

Letting myself crawl out from under this rock where I'm quietly reading every single thing you ever put out. I'm rooting for you and hoping for better, stronger days ahead!! 🫶🏻

wait you know yeonjun like boys irl? you're fucking lucky he's so amazing lmao.

i think it's more complex than that. yeonjun is just the more understanding and more healthy option. i've left the ending with both deliberately imperfect (oc not completely being comfortable with yeonjun not loving her and her jealousy, and gyu with him having a temper and being very jealous with possible future issues with yeonjun) but yeonjun has more hope at a good relationship

there will be more parts for beomgyu so look forward to that ❤️

[olivereactsaboutgarbage]

Higurashi When They Cry - Watanagashi Chapter 5

I just want everyone to know that I don’t have the Steam achievement for meeting Shion. That’s so outrageous. I have the Steam achievement for getting food from Shion and the Steam achievement for getting rescued by Shion but not the one for meeting her.

Anyways

Keiichi’s Shion Meal is actually a super powerful rare meal he obtained via cheating that has been imposed upon him.

Also I think Rena is shipping Keiichi and Mion probably. If I’m right that’d be funny after Keiichi spent half of the last arc shipping Keiichi and Rena.

Hmm. Two? Where by “Two?” I mean “That’s inherently unacceptable!!”

Oh, Keiichi’s voice acting was cute here. That’s a first. For his voice acting. And probably a higher single-digit number in terms of overall Keiichi Cuteness Moments. Still a single-digit number either way though. But... a higher one if we’re counting things other than voice acting.

Keiichi learns that he can actually drag three leeches to the Shion Meal, but he only learns it while surrounded by leeches, so he learned it at a bad time, because it takes more than three leeches to surround a person, and also he doesn’t like them.

Keiichi doesn’t like to make jokes about sexual assault. I guess that makes him a better When They Cry protagonist than Battler.

Ew... did I really just say that...? Ew... disgusting...

Hmm, if Rena is actually a Keiichi/Mion shipper, and Shion is actually a completely different person from Mion (possibly untrue) and Keiichi is stupid (definitely true), that specific set of conditions would mean it sucks for Rena how Shion is groping all over Keiichi. Metaphorically speaking. It’s up to you to figure out what part of what I just said was a metaphor--shouldn’t be too hard, maybe.

Unfortunately for Keiichi, Shion’s Mealhouse is also a den of leeches. The acting drains from their voices and presumably also the color drains from Keiichi’s face.

fuck, this entire chapter is making me like keiichi. the stakes aren’t even high, why do i like him right now

Well, I guess this is just the same thing they pulled on the show Frasier via the existence of Niles Crane. Except I actually like Niles Crane. Not that I’m an avid Frasier fan.

Keiichi reiterates his stance that sexual harassment is actually bad.

Non-voiced text disagrees.

Keiichi decides to unveil the foreshadowed Shion Reciprocity and make a huge scene. Also he’s fatphobic. Also his fuckin’ Way-More-Useless-Spidey-Senses are inescapable even when they don’t really impact the plot meaningfully. They truly are innate to the boy himself, and not simply to his genre.

Ick, don’t say that. Especially not without enclosing it in <>s, old-timer! ...Actually I don’t know offhand which localization is older, but I know what I like, so I have chosen to ascribe youth to that which I like.

Keiichi lacks training and is a young man, so in order to cover for one of those deficiencies, he summons Chekhov’s Leeches who aren’t young men: Rena and the Toddlers.

wtf since when are all the losers not losers. they’re even less losery than the last time they weren’t losers!!

LMAO

Keiichi is pretending he owns walky-talkies. Or maybe he actually owns them. Probably not though.

The punctuation is getting sassy this time around. I like it! :)

This is the single most vile sentence known to man???

Why’d an entire BG get drawn for this restroom. How many more times is Keiichi gonna come in here.

Not “a” girl, not “the” girl, but simply Girl, in its purest state. Like a Toddler 02-shaped-hole punched through reality straight to the ocean known as All Quantifiable “Girl” Substance. I guess that makes Toddler 02 one of the best characters, because entity-shaped holes punched through reality are extremely great, especially when they lead to The Outer Turn!

...why would anyone trying to rationally explain their position end their sentence with “NyaaaAAAHH~”. Well whatever

Ah, but the English words used by the voice acting were clearly “I shall return”. Everyone else isn’t actually going to return, and the implication that they will is a false narrative concocted for unclear yet sinister reasons.

Anyway, Keiichi’s anti-leech fatphobia saved the day.

If the voice acting is to be believed, then the definition of the word “hau” is “was a pervert”. This explains a lot about Rena’s character!

Hmm... I suppose it could be said then that I also wield it... the power to make Keiichi laugh...

Ah yes, playing dumb. Another episode of Keiichi Being Correct Moments.

Is Rena calling Keiichi “the girl” here? Hmm... it suits him.

Rena all-but-confirms Keiichi’s theory that Mion and Shion are the same. Phew, I guess the fact that Shion loves groping Keiichi isn’t going to ruin Rena’s day after all. Not that I care especially deeply about that specific Mood Hypothetical.

Ah... hold on... let me do some cross-referencing...

“I’m very kind and thoughtful, but Shion has a cold and scary personality...!”

Alright. Dichotomy noted.

Nico Robin moment

Correct.

Wrong.

MEAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >:(

Oh right, I kinda forgot about that too. It was like two hiatuses ago on my part.

Um. Okay dude

Anyway, I can’t believe it... Keiichi has entered his Mind Palace and activated Smart Mode. Via the activation of Smart Mode, he’s completely eviscerated his greatest character flaw... this power level is way too high...

...okay even with Smart Mode activated, Keiichi didn’t even note the dichotomy I noted. Okay

Y’know a friend was saying a while ago that as someone who started with the anime, he found the VN’s pacing unbearable. I wonder if the anime also has this many extensive flashbacks in Keiichi’s Mind Palace.

BRO THE WORLD IS SO ORANGE??? There need to be more visual novels that take place in Orange World.

Anyway, this is just the plot of Umineko.

Keiichi decides to fix everything by giving Shion a toy, like in that Phineas and Ferb movie where Doofenshmirtz fixes everything by giving Shoofenshmirtz a toy. Keiichi is standing in for Mion in this situation and also this analogy doesn’t make any sense.

Wait, actually, Keiichi isn’t going to give Shion a toy directly, he’s going to make Mion give Shion the toy. So my analogy was fucking great and all of you were wrong to ever doubt me!

You jackass. Mion, just give her the toy already so she goes to jail

yeah she is laying this on way too thick for it to be anything other than a lie

i am going to commit fucking murder

Meanwhile, in Side Story Land...

What??? Why is Shion putting Keiichi in a car in Side Story Land??? What is this

OMG!!!! IT’S ULKI FROM FIRE EMBLEM!!!! YES YES YES YES YES

[crowpricorn]

14. for percy jackson au and/or haikyuu au + 11 for prince x bodyguard + 20 for our bodyswap fic

14. what have you been finding frustrating with writing this chapter/fic?

the volleyball terminology for haikyuu au!! it is so hard to write fluidly when I have to stop every 5 seconds to check if I have gotten things right // nothing actually frustrated me for pjo au I just got *stares at p x bg* distracted

11. what scene are you most hyped for this chapter/fic?

since I spoiled it to be a bathing fic, putting one of my fav scenes from chapter 2 (currently writing chapter 4 out of... many) (this is the FIRST bathing scene lol) (I am hyped for every bathing scene I've written but this is not a fic about. Baths.😶):

"A… a bath?" he blabbers, eyes falling on the sticky green substance that takes up the tub's space. A bubble explodes right that second, and Jesper flinches when a drop falls on the leaf of a nearby plant, and the whole plant blackens and falls dead in less than a second. 

He doesn't want his hands near that if he has to fight for his life. 

"Yeah, no. Not there," the Prince's initial discomfort makes space to the umpteenth eye roll of the day. Like it's obvious that Jesper doesn't have to prepare the bath in the fucking bathtub. 

20: share 3 images that would fit to a mood board of this chapter/fic

💗💗💗

[yamatossideboob]

ONE PIECE 1124 Spoilers!

This week's toasts:

Egads!! A ne'er-do-well lurks yonder! Save us, tall and beautiful man!

DJ Albatross lighting up Longitude Festival uns uns uns uns

Tell that overgrown drumstick what for Vivi!!

I love these reminders that Morgans is legit dangerous. Like he could turn the whole world against Luffy & co by the time they reach Elbaf unless Vivi can put a spanner in the printing press.

Also I love Wapol handwringing in the bg, he's such a good comic side character lmao

"If the world is going to be destroyed, I don't expect to live though it anyway" HARD. FUCKING. LINE. Very D.

This is probably the greatest week of Morgans' life. At least since the end of the Paramount War, or maybe Roger's execution. Man's gonna be laying eggs when BB makes good on Catarina's Saturn copy.

Safe travels Sentomaru, you did jack and shit, and Jack left ahead of ya.

More seriously, given the next few pages, I wonder will Sentomaru be pivotal in a certain Admiral doing a face turn...

"Have you ever killed a close friend?" Akainu has a reason/s for being the way he is. And while I hate him as a fictional person, I also keenly want to know what that reason/s might be. Might this be foreshadowing...?

Oh fuck what if this is foreshadowing Akainu vs Kizaru down the line????

Seeing Stella's near-lifeless body like that, limp on Kizaru's light sword, is still quite upsetting.

"If you have time to sit there and doubt me... then come over here and see my work for yourself, you ungrateful brat!!!" fucking. felt. any lingering doubt as to how Kiz feels about this, begone. Fuck... He's an antagonist, but I'm really feeling for him right here.

"I'm sorry brother..." I'm fucking feeling this too, what a rare and sincere moment of non-bloodlust from Akainu.

Vegapunk asking for an escape from Egghead doesn't quite gel with the reveals from last week, but it's not hard to chalk this up to him keeping up the pretence to fool York, or else to get the Strawhats off Egghead with or without him.

Jimbei being part of the crew nbd, we love to see it. Two burly uncles assessing the adventure.

"moping over one geezer dying" stfu mosshead no one asked you. worst Strawhat back on his bullshit. I hope Sanji spat in that beer

omg they sit on giant chair

let Lilith briefly grieve her outer headmates Usopp, read the room pls

I'll be honest lads, I read this 'Satellites aren't dead' bit and just fucking laughed. Fuck sake Oda. If this wasn't wholly plausible given the whole Satellite hivemind situation, I would be seriously miffed! Alas, this was speculated heavily by many, and it endures scrutiny. Lilith probably means their personalities were uploaded to Punk Records as digital avatars, or something along those lines? Fuck it maybe we can get an Ace force ghost this way, why not.

Wait maybe Zoro's earlier line was pre-lampshading this turn? My bad Mosshead.

I just love Luffy's about-face. The gods bear fickle moods and Nika is no exception lmao

Aaaaaaaaaaaand finally here's the arc wrap feast. Aaaaah. Satisfying. Robin looking beautiful but of course. She'll reunite with Saul soon!!!!!!!!!

"I don't care if you guys end up as my enemies" I hope I'm reaching with this one but... can anyone tell me what foreshadowing is

Like what a strange and ominous remark. I know Luffy's whole MO is being benignly selfish but are we about to get some serious interrogation of that trait of his? No. No we're not. But it's an intriguing notion heheh.

Okay so this is almost certainly Shanks, right. I'm going from the shape, the glug of what's certainly an alcoholic bevvie, and the air of impatience about them. Shanks has been waiting, what, about a quarter of a century for this? You can't blame him for looking at the clock for clock-out time. Babysitting the dawn of the world is tiring work I imagine.

No word yet on the next chapter on the Viz site, so next week may likely be a break. 2 weeks will be a sore wait, but next time we'll either likely meet this waiting figure, or get some world developments en route to Elbaf!

Cya in September nakama! 💪✖️

[theycall-vn]

drafted more of the prologue, finalized some, and edited/polished it and chapter 1.

set up some effects i'm gonna use in scenes throughout the whole story

started making notes for how many bgs and variations of them. i have about 17 listed rn, but there will be more.

also did the same for cgs, 9 so far. (not including variations this time)

fixed one of the chapter titles cause it wasn't centered

made scene and effect notes throughout what i have coded so far so i don't skjhdashla fucking foRGET again

also here is current main menu:

gonna change it, but eyyy it's there. not showing animation here tho cause i cba to do that rn

currently playing dress up with bb's character art. think i might have some idea how i want them to dress. i'm struggling with their hair now

also wondering how i wanna draw their dick

also-also, surprise! bb has a dick

[phantom-ellie]

The Art of (Smashing) Crockery Chapter 28: Warrior Heart

Click here for CWs/Full Chapter List

Post from the blog Hear Something Weird:

Hello hello, children and adults etceteratata! It’s DreadNordGreybeard here, filling in for a buddy and bringing you some truly weird shit. But don’t worry, I’m not that dreadful. In fact, I am quite handsome and cuddly. It’s my jokes you gotta watch out for yuk yuk.

(yes, I am pretending to be a radio DJ while typing this, no, i don’t care if that is over the top)

If you’re worried about the condition of our fearless blog leader, HearSomethingWeird, fear not! Rumors of his death and dismemberment have been greatly exaggerated. Turns out there is a hard limit on how many metal covers of famous 60s pop-rock songs you can consume in one sitting before you start to lose it a bit. But he will be good as new very soon! Until then, you have to deal with me and my immaculate taste in music. Avast, ye!

Thus. Thusly? Perchance.

Therefore.

The first song of my well-deserved tenure is great. Great, even. And it packs a wall-op.

It’s The Great Wall by Wang Leehom (and some lady who doesn’t get credited anywhere that I know how to read).

What are they mad about? Are they mad? Are they stepping on legos while they’re singing? Or are they just passionate about walls? I don’t know, but it’s awesome.

Comments: BlueSwedeShoes86: do yodel it

---

Jackie Delahaye plays the video again. “And this is that Chauncey asshole, or the other one? Who’s the one with hair?”

“That’s Nigel.”

“They both look the same to me.” Jackie never forgets a face, she prides herself on that, but these bastards have the same damn one.

“They’re twins.” Lucius reaches into his Lisa Frank satchel (he insisted it was strictly ironic) and pulls out more folders. “Each one of these contains a day of notes. You can probably get a lot more from Stede, when he gets out of the hospital.”

“I’ll have Ivan on that.” Jackie could go see Stede Bonnet in person, but there’s no rush. And Jackie hates hospitals. Sat in too many of them with bad results.

She places the folders in a box labeled "Lucy" S. (the assistant), next to the ones labeled “Jeff" F. (the accountant) and "Artie" H. (the HR rep).

“Can you use this video at least? Since it was a public recording?” More folders. More paperwork for Jackie. No rest for the vigilant.

“Maybe, maybe not. A lot of people seen it, could taint the jury pool.” Jackie takes a whiff of her Padrón 80th cigar and taps it against an ash tray shaped like the lower jaw of a skull. “But Jackie’s the best. We’ll get it done.”

Their meeting is interrupted by shouting outside of the office. Jackie opens her desk drawer and grabs her CZ-75 handgun she keeps there, slotting it into her side holster. So many undesirables trying to get up in Jackie’s business.

But Ivan’s got it handled.

He stands up to full height with his arms crossed as - speak of the devil’s uglier brother - the bald one (Chauncey?) screams in his face.

“Jackie is the best, and I am getting the best. I want to take that sack of shit for everything he has.”

Ivan frowns. “Back off, man. I told you over the phone. It’s a conflict of interest. We can’t represent you or your company. I’m sure BG&E can get you all the legal representation you need.”

“BG&E won’t give me what I ask for because it happened ‘off company property.’ They’re use, anyway. And to hell with the conflict of interest, whatever they’re paying you I’ll pay you double-”

“Mister Badminton,” Jackie interrupts. Chauncey spots her and clears his throat.

“Miss Delahaye. Charmed, I’m sure.”

“It’s Seniora Delahaye, to you.”

“Ah, yes Seniora Delahaye.”

“No. Seniora. You roll the fucking R.” She gives him the standard Jackie glare she uses for annoying rich white men in suits.

“Yes, well. As I was telling your assistant, I am seeking legal representation for a defamation suit.”

“Jackie doesn’t do defamation, not for men who could stand to be taken down a peg.”

Ivan cocks his head to one said, arms still crossed.

Chauncey clears his throat again. “I’ve been told you couldn’t take the case due to a conflict of interest.”

Jackie steps out of her office. “You were told wrong.”

Ivan looks back at her questioningly.

“Jackie can’t take your case because she won’t take your case. You have no case. My team wouldn’t be caught dead on the same side of the courtroom as you.”

She turns to her assistant. “Ivan. Take out the trash.”

Ivan smiles.

As the curses ring down the hallway, Jackie turns to the golden-framed painting on the wall. A metal plate under it reads, Alfeo de la Vaca. The best that ever done it. Done in too soon.

Jackie kisses two of her fingers and plants them on the portrait of her late husband. “Grant me all the luck you didn’t have, baby.” She returns to her meeting.

---

Post from the blog Hear Something Weird:

Hey hey hey! DreadNordGreybeard here, soft on dread but hard on beard.

Does that make sense?

Fuck yeah it does! Tons of sense!

Speaking of making sense, yours truly had a session with a real therapist who isn’t just a crabby, opinionated, so-called friend. For the first time in years! Because you have to take care of yourself before you can take care of anyone else, you know what I mean? I know you do. Of course, I didn’t know that until my therapist told me. Let’s dedicate the month of December to doing what we have to do to be happy and sane, so we can be there for those who need us most later.

After all, the future is always open wide for us. No matter what happened in the past, there can always be a better day tomorrow. Don’t you fucking forget it.

Today’s song is Hope by Stefan. There is zero yodeling in it. None whatsoever. Only whistling.

Comments: BlueSwedeShoes86: do YODEL IT TheRealWande: Swede, we talked about this LucyFlawless: Absolutely do not under any circumstances do yodel it you sick son of a bitch

---

Stede sits on the stool next to the phone. He twists the cord in his hand nervously as it rings, wishing Mary hadn’t kept his cell phone. It was hard being apart from them, all of them. He's needed them, Mary and the kids. Ed. Lucius. All of them. But he is okay. A little more okay every day. And he’ll have the rest of his life to spend time with them once he gets out.

The ringing stops.

“Stede.”

“Ed.”

“Not every day I get a call from a mental hospital,” Ed’s voice comes through the receiver.

Stede huffs. “Well, thanks to me, you get to experience it. What would you do without me?”

“Oh, I don’t know, go out of business. Oh wait, I’m doing that anyway.”

Stede bites his lip. “Did you close it down already? It would have been nice to have one last rage.”

“It’s not shut down, but no more rages for you, Stede. It doesn’t seem to be a healthy outlet. Have you considered therapy?”

“I consider it three times a week.” Stede pauses. “What about you? Have you… considered it? You’ve gone through a lot, too, lately.”

“Yeah, got back in contact with my old therapist Dr. Hornigold.”

“That’s good to hear. I want you to take care of yourself.” Stede looks out the window as he talks. His eyes are drawn to the clouds today.

“And you? Any progress?”

Stede thinks for a moment. “You know… I think so. Something happened yesterday.”

“Oh yeah? What happened?”

“I went outside.”

Ed gasps. “Nooo, anything but that!”

“That isn’t the thing, Ed. I went outside and I noticed that… it was nice. The air smelled good. I could feel the sun. And the clouds were just so… fluffy.” He bites his lip again. “I know it sounds stupid, but I can’t remember the last time I just noticed how nice it felt.”

“It’s not stupid. It’s called being happy, mate. I hope you keep feeling it.”

Stede’s still looking out the window. “The clouds are still pretty nice today.”

“What do they look like?”

“Marshmallows. I wonder if clouds smell good.”

“And you’re sure you’re just on antidepressants?”

“Pretty sure.” Stede blushes. There’s a pause on the other end of the line.

“Yeah, you’re right, the clouds are really fuckin’ pretty today.”

---

Post from the blog Hear Something Weird: It is I, DNG, here to blow your mind with something weird.

Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Not all of these songs you’re posting are weird! Some of them are, Andraste spare us, sweet and pretty and hopeful.

Well, listen the fuck up! Today’s is weird as fuck. Also epic and soooooo cool.

Automatonic Electronic Harmonics by Steam Powered Giraffe is really fuckin’ strange and creepy and you’re not still reading this are, you? You’re mesmerized by that music video. Just mesmerized. No point in saying any more here, is there? Nope. Bye.

Comments: BigDawgFangie: This is a nice blog. I do not understand your taste in music though. BlueSwedeShoes86: That’s because it isn’t YODEL IT BigDawgFang: What is Yodel It? PracticallyGayJesus: DO NOT ASK HIM ABOUT YODEL IT!!!!!!

---

In hindsight, Stede could have chosen a better time of year to have a mental breakdown.

However, also in hindsight, at least he doesn’t have to worry about Christmas shopping this year.

But still, it’s the 25th of December and he’s sad. Not a deep sadness, not one that permeates his bones and weighs him down. He’s just bummed that he’s spending the holidays here instead of with his kids. His family.

He wonders if they’ll spend it with Doug instead. He catches himself frowning at that and decides he’s going to need an extra therapy session this week.

It isn’t even like he enjoys Christmas. Nobody in his family is religious. Sure, his parents were for show, in order to impress whoever they needed to impress, but for Stede et al, Christmas was a strictly secular affair. It was about guiltily piling as many presents as possible under the tree as he could, finding something expensive and outlandish to give Mary in order to make up for all of his failings.

So, actually, in hindsight, maybe it wasn’t such a big deal.

But he does miss the food.

He doesn’t expect to have visitors today, though it’s allowed. So he’s confused when Nurse Bonny grabs him and leads him to the entrance to St. Anne’s Behavioral, where there’s a commercially-decorated artificial tree. And he certainly doesn’t anticipate being bowled over by his children.

Some surprises are nice.

“Daddy! Merry Chr- Merry Festivus daddy!” Alma says as he pulls her and Louis in for a hug.

“Festivus? Is that what we’re calling it now?” He looks up at Mary, who has her arms crossed and is smiling at him.

“We decided to create our own traditions this year,” she says.

“Like visiting daddy in a mental hospital?” Stede asks as the kids run off to the reception desk to ask for candy.

“Stede Bonnet, if you make this a tradition I swear to god…”

“Okay, okay! We’ll stick to airing of grievances.”

Mary shakes her head. “We did that in the car on the way.”

“Any I should know about?”

“No.”

“And it’s a good idea to… bring them here?” A place like this would have scared the fuck out of Stede as a kid. But he supposes that Alma and Louis are a tad braver than he is.

“We’re just staying out front with the decorations, no need to go inside. But Stede, how are you?” Mary beckons to a set of chairs and they both sit down.

“I’m pretty good, I think. All things considered. It’s not exactly a vacation, and I can’t wait to leave. But… I’m feeling pretty all right?”

“Just all right?”

“Yeah, but more all right than I’ve felt most of my life.”

“Well, that’s good.” Alma and Louis join them with coloring books and word searches.

“I… don’t have a present or anything,” Stede says.

“You’re here. You’re still around for them. That’s all you need to give them right now.”

Stede doesn’t quite agree. “I want to do more though. I want to be the dad I couldn’t be before. It’s too late to be the husband you needed-”

“I don’t need a gay husband, Stede. You never could be who I needed. And I couldn’t be who you needed. And that’s okay.”

Stede purses his lips and sits in silence for a few seconds. “I guess… it is okay. Huh.” He’s still getting used to the feeling of a happy middle, a peaceful existence between the rapidly changing highs and lows of his previous life. He’s learning to accept that it is okay to just be okay. It isn’t a failure to be less than the best. Feeling good at all is success.

He turns to Mary. “So… Doug, eh?”

Mary smiles. “Yeah, Doug.”

“How long? Have you been together, if I might ask?”

Mary looks at him back. “Are you sure this is a conversation you can have yet?”

“I think so. It’s okay. I just want to know.”

“Longer than I want to admit. Over a year.”

“Wow,” Stede sits back and waits for jealousy to wash over him, or anger at being lied to for so long, or a sense of loss… and he doesn’t feel any of those things.

“Do you… love him? Mary?”

“I do, Stede. I have for a while, now.”

They sit in silence for a while, enjoying the peace of the day. Festivus. Stede decides that it's time to perform his feat of strength.

“Mary?”

“Hmmm?”

“What does it feel like? To be in love?”

---

Post from the blog Hear Something Weird: DNG here bringing the heat of passion straight to your loins.

Just kidding, that’s what LucyFlawless is for.

What’s better than yodeling, you ask? Family. Family is better than yodeling, especially if it’s your chosen family, and you’ve told the rest to get carked.

Maybe you’ve gone through some hard times lately, or are helping someone else through hard times. Just know that inside, we’ve all got a beating warrior heart to carry us through to victory. You might have to take off a whole lot of armor to find it, but it’s there.

This is for you, chosen family member. Warrior Heart by Rhapsody of Fire.

Comments: BlueSwedeShoes86: Whatever. You could also yodel it when you have problems DreadNordGreybeard: no you can’t

Chapter 29

[danvers--carol]

ok ur top faves wangxian fic recs pls

wangxian has a looooot of good fics - here are my bookmarks 😅

im only going to post some of them 

a stone to break your soul, a song to save it by rikke (M, 180k)

canon divergence, wangxian arranged marriage, 1st fic i’ve read after binge-watching cql in less than 5 days

love, in fire and blood by cicer (E, 360k)

lwj enters an arranged marriage with yiling patriarch bc wwx helped get rid of wrh 

Wrong Turn, Right Place by diamondbruise (E, 71k)

modern!wwx ends up in cultivation world in gusu and meets lwj 

spider lilies to sunflowers by cicer (E, 33k)

omegaverse mpreg where lwj must give wwx his firstborn for helping with killing wrh 

The Golden Cutsleeve by syrus_jones (E, 77k)

wwx experiments with a uhh fleshlight 

Teach Me The Ways by likeafox (E, 58k)

lwj asks wwx for help with sex stuff etc but wwx is a virgin 

The Simplest Way Forward by harriet_vane (E, 70k)

modern au, wwx suddenly has baby a-yuan 

every love story is a ghost story by aisthuu (M, 59k)

ghost wwx that haunts lwj’s new guqin from ebay

asymptotic by chinxe (Teen and Up, 26k)

lwj falls in love with ghost wwx

Two Weddings and a Family Reunion by scifigeek14 (Teen and Up, 36k)

wangxian has shotgun wedding so wwx can attend his shijie's wedding

myself through someone else’s eyes (series) by thunderwear (59k)

lan xichen permanently turns himself into a baby post-canon and wangxian rises him

My Leaves Reach Ever for the Sun by nonplussed (Teen and Up, 26k)

wwx fakes being lwj’s wife to attend shije’s wedding

Wei Wuxian, Who's That? by bumbledees (Teen and Up, 48k)

canon divergence where they make wwx into jiang xiaolian aka lwj’s new wife

Lynchpin by ShanaStoryteller (Not Rated, 103k)

jc timetravels and fixes everything

Like Rabbits by Setari (Teen and Up, 41k)

mpreg, how many children can wangxian have during canon events

your problem as a mountain. by crowry (E, 30k)

nhs and wwx are writing letters, and nhs “accidently” sends wwx’s letters about lwj to lwj 

Lan Yuan's War by BurningTea (Gen, 159k)

ongoing; lwj timetravels with lan sizhui to the beginning of the sunshot campaign aka kinda 18 y.o. single dad au

The Third Young Master of the Qishan Wen by KouriArashi (Teen and Up, 138k)

wwx was adopted by dafan wens instead of jiangs

what builds a home by Stratisphyre (Teen and Up, 45k)

meng yao’s mom adopts little wwx

Brilliance in the Moonlight by rosweldrmr (E, 97k)

soulmates but its connected to golden cores… also lwj/oc in one chapter

I Started From the Bottom/And Now I’m Rich by x_los (E, 57k)

black widow wwx, marries sect leaders and kills them while lwj suffers in the bg

Regrets by antebunny (Gen, 37k)

lwj accidentally kills wwx during nightless city and then time travels

nothing you confess by PorcupineGirl (Teen and Up, 31k)

wangxian are soulmates but dont realise, lan zhan can FEEL wei ying getting his golden core taken out of his body and bc of the golden core hes like ????? when he meets jiang cheng

Pebble in the Deep by catchmeifyoucreon (E, 183k)

mo xuanyu and lwj spend the night together before mx sacrificed himself to bring back wwx, he’s brought back after for ex. yi city arc

picking up the pieces by KouriArashi (M, 111k)

jc dies at Nightless City instead of jiang yanli, she and lwj became friends while waiting for wwx to come back

to swim through the fires by littledust (M, 36k)

lwj is bethroted to jiang yanli

Just as the Snow Melts by draechaeli (Teen and Up, 66k)

one day wwx brings a-yuan to yiling to play by the river and some women ask him to watch over their children, he starts to teach them how to write and opens up a school etc

while covered in mud by merthurlin (Teen and Up, 12k)

nhs joins wens and wwx in burial mounds

box your errors by mellowflicker (Teen and Up, 42k)

dad-ji and little a-yuan vs human disaster wwx

Help, My Dad Is Fucking Someone My Age!! by sweetlolixo (Teen and Up, 3k)

lan sizhui pov about lwj suddenly taking a twink (wwx as mo xuanyu) back to gusu

shout it from the rooftops (tell them all I know) by arypls (Teen and Up, 12k)

lwj is trying to cope with his crush on wwx, he wrote his name in his notes without realizing etc,,,

make this chaos count by devotedbones (E, 15k)

when u (wwx) defend ur bros (lwj) dignity and everyone tells you that you should have fucked him more so he wouldn't be so strict lmao

mianmian the disaster lesbian saves the cultivation world by i_kinda_like_writing (Teen and Up, 27k)

mianmians pov about the wlw mlm solidarity she has with lwj,,, just “give lwj friends” a fic

Lead Me On Through by mrsronweasley (E, 54k)

everyone is in arranged marriages but they dont know the spouse until the wedding day

Lovelocked by Vamillepudding (Gen, 18k)

wangxian meets in paris and clown wwx makes lwj kiss him in front of famous sights for insta pics

不忘 | Don't Forget by dragongirlG (E, 50k)

wwx was thrown into burial mounds but he time travelled to modern times

Aftermath by KouriArashi (Teen and Up, 57k)

jiang yanli has had enough and kills jin guangshan 

Keep Holding On by abCEE (M, 38k)

ongoing BUT demonic cultivator jiang yanli 

in your skin by darkredloveknot (enheduane) (E, 10k)

wwx gets possessed by a skin-stealer

Double Dare by malkinmalkout (Teen and Up, 11k)

cloud recesses study era; jc dares nhs to pretend to have a crush on lwj to piss wwx off

it's just (aah) a little crush (crush!) by sweetlolixo (Teen and Up, 9k)

cloud recesses study era; wwx panics and says he has a crush on lwj 

Bet Your Heart by Vamillepudding (Gen, 14k)

cloud recesses study era; wwx gets a bet to kiss lan xichen

Losing My Mind by pupeez4eva (Teen and Up, 6k)

cloud recesses study era; jc hears lwj's horny thoughts bc of a potion he drank

with you, I am home by tellthemstories (M, 47k)

canon, wwx has to return to lotus pier for marriage proposals, so he and lwj fake date to avoid that

Nothing But Trouble by brooklinegirl (E, 60k)

modern wangxian fake dates

Orchids in Lotus Pier by Vamillepudding (Gen, 21k)

jc and lwj are friends and people (including wwx) think they are dating

Blossom by triedunture (E, 26k)

cherry magic au during canon wwx's death 

paint smears on sunny days by SnowshadowAO3 (E, 53k)

dadji and a-yuan’s art teacher wwx

in a river you wade by bleuett (M, 20k)

Mpreg where WWX died, leaving pregnant LWJ and A-Yuan; deals with postpartum depression, being a single father spoilers but my fav quotes 🥺