#under a readmore cuz it's long

[lokiina]

OC Interview: Zayn MacKenna

Interviewer: "Zayn! Zayn, can we have a moment?" Zayn: "If you're looking for Dino, he's not here right now." Interviewer: "No no, we want to talk to you!" Zayn: "Oh you're here for me? I thought- Uhh... Hmn. Why? What's this for?" Interviewer: "The people wanna know more about you" Zayn: "Uhm.... Why?" Interviewer: "Dino plays his cards pretty close to his chest, but doesn't seem to be too worried about waving you around. People are curious." Zayn: "Hmn. What do you wanna know?" Interviewer: "Just fun stuff."

( tagged by @dreamskug full interview under the cut cuz she's a long one~)

→NICKNAMES

Interviewer: "Do you have any nick names?" Zayn: "Mm, not really. Though Dino calls me pup. But he's allowed to. It's weird coming from other people."

→ GENDER

Interviewer: "So how do you identify? What's your gender?" Zayn: "Male."

→ STAR SIGN

Interviewer: "What's your star sign?" Zayn: "Aquarius? I don't really follow that stuff much, so I'm not really sure what that means. Is this being recorded?" Interviewer: "It might be."

→ HEIGHT

Interviewer: "Dino really towers over you how tall are you?" Zayn: "I'm not that short... Somewhere round 5'7"? It's been a while since I properly measured myself. D is just tall..."

→ ORIENTATION

Interviewer: "Anyone keeping up with screamsheets in the height of Dino's career with the Gloryhole Bandits knows he's not particularly picky with his partners, but what about you? Where do you lay in this mix?" Zayn: "I'm Dino-sexual." Interviewer: "Uh.." Zayn: "Oh my God, that's a joke. I'm a demisexual gay man." Interviewer: "Demisexual?" Zayn: "What year is it? Have you really never heard that term before? Demisexual is on the asexual spectrum. Go look it up, I'm tired of explaining it."

→ NATIONALITY/ETHNICITY

Interviewer: "So where do you- or your family rather, originate?" Zayn: "Is it weird that I don’t really know? I don’t actually know who my biological parents are, so I’m not really sure where my bloodline comes from." Interviewer: "Adopted?" Zayn: "Something like that..." Interviewer: "Don't they usually have records of stuff like that?" Zayn: "Ah... it's a lil more complicated than that. Can we move on?"

→ FAVE FRUIT

Interviewer: "Alright lets see, what's your favourite fruit?" Zayn: "Uh... Strawberries? They're not easy to find but they're so yummy."

→ FAVE SEASON

Interviewer: "Do you have a favourite season?" Zayn: "I don't know if I have an answer to that considering there isn't a huge dramatic weather shift around these parts. Everything is mostly just... Hot. Most of the places I've travelled to have still been, hot."

→ FAVE FLOWER

Interviewer: "Do you have a favourite flower?" Zayn: "I don’t know the names of them, but I saw in a book once these lil flowers that looked like little guys with their dicks out. They made me laugh a lot, bet it’s probably extinct at this point." Interviewer: "I'm sorry, what?" Zayn: "Yeah yeah! Look up 'naked man flower' or something you might be able to find a picture." Interviewer: "Okay hold on I have to look... Oh my God." Zayn: "SEE. What's it called? What's it called?" Interviewer: "Orchis italica" Zayn: "Ahaha. Perfect."

→ FAVE SCENT

Interviewer: "What's your favourite sent?" Zayn: "Leather." Interviewer: "Oh." Zayn: "What?"

→ COFFEE, TEA, HOT CHOCOLATE

Interviewer: "Never mind, do you prefer coffee, tea or hot chocolate?" Zayn: "I've never actually had hot chocolate before." Interviewer: "What?!" Zayn: "I'm allergic to chocolate.." Interviewer: "Oh that's unfortunate." Zayn: "Yeah, I just stick with coffee and flavourings usually."

→ AVERAGE HOURS OF SLEEP

Interviewer: "Dino's got insomnia, what's your average hours of sleep in comparison?" Zayn: "That's kinda weird that you would know that, and wanna know that about me... But... Uh... A lot. I can sleep just about anywhere, I got used to making the best out of really uncomfortable sleeping arrangements when I was little."

→ DOG OR CAT PERSON?

Interviewer: "Okay, are you a dog or cat person?" Zayn: "Uhm. What do you mean by that..?" Interviewer: "... Do you like dogs or cats better...?" Zayn: "OH, duh. I like both."

→ DREAM TRIP

Interviewer: "Do you have a place you'd like to visit one day? A dream trip if you will?" Zayn: "Uhh... I mean there's lots of places I'd like to visit one day. Maybe make a hop over to Europe?"

→ FAVE FICTIONAL CHARACTER

Interviewer: "Any favourite fictional characters?" Zayn: "I don't really follow a lot of media..."

→ NUMBER OF BLANKETS YOU SLEEP WITH

Interviewer: "So how many blankets do you sleep with?" Zayn: "What? Why are we back on the sleep topic, that's weird..." Interviewer: "Is it?" Zayn: "Yeah a lot of this is pretty personal shit man..."

→ RANDOM FACT

Interviewer: "Okay we'll skip that then, how bout a random fact?" Zayn: "Ah." Dino: "Hey. The fuck is goin on over here?"

Interviewer: "Oh, Mr Dinovic. We were just-" Dino: "No no. This little sich here? Not nova. This is over right now. I've told ya before to keep this shit out of my fuckin club."

Zayn: "Oop. Random fact, you've pissed off Dino." Dino: "Nosy lil shits. Delete this-" Interviewer: "HEY!"

---

Dino protecting his boy from sketchy papz trying to pry into their personal life.

sdFGHDFJKSG I think most people have been tagged already, but if you wanna do it you can totally do it. I might still do it with my other boys yet.

[fulgurbugs]

sorry this is gonna be a tmi and gross period post but idk what to do anymore so i’m gonna vent online

ok so my periods are famously inconsistent and unpredictable. most recently what ended up happening was i missed mine for like, months before it came back with a vengeance and i had one that lasted over a month long. this one was also extremely heavy towards the end, as well as like. idk how to describe this. very fleshy. chunky. however there were no cramps or pain associated with it, mostly just i was spending a fortune on pads and tampons (i had to double up to be safe) while this was ongoing i attempted to look for a gyno in my area, but i would only be able to get an appointment after i moved back to college with at minimum a few weeks wait. so i ended up not making an appointment because it was starting to wind down and i ended up getting super busy with school starting again. i still brought it up to my doctor before this and eventually had an appointment where i managed to sneak in on a weekend i could come home with my gp where she prescribed pill birth control which i started taking as directed not very long ago. but, a few days after i started taking it my period started again, extremely heavy, and this time, painful. it’s been about 4 days of extremely heavy blood flow and cramps, and i haven’t been able to focus on my school at all or go anywhere, i just want to lie in bed and rot. im bleeding through supers in under an hour, and i don’t know what to do. i’ve contacted my doctor and should hopefully hear back from her in a few days. but i’m so scared that something more is wrong or that this one will also last over a month like the last one.

do any other accursed uterus havers have a similar experience and any idea what’s wrong with me? or what i should do? if this one goes over a week i’m going to seek more urgent medical attention. i’ve heard suggested from people i know that it could potentially be endometriosis or a cyst so if anyone whos following me has some firsthand experience please let me know, im having a really rough time right now. sorry for the tmi and all but im so extremely uncomfortable and losing my mind and need help

[sylwanin-was-right]

That very short scene where Neytiri tries to talk to Kiri while they were preparing food could have been such a touching and vivid mother daughter interaction with so much hidden meaning but was severely undercut by Jake's evesdropping, Neytiri's sheer lack of dialouge, and the breivity of the scene.

All Neytiri said was initially asking Kiri what was wrong then just saying her name in pity after she revealed that she felt so different from everyone else. Then the scene was over after literally ~15 seconds. This was a really important scene for Kiri's character development since it introduces what she feels about her ultimate role in the film (and happens before her seizure). It was also important for the character development of both Kiri and Neytiri because a lot could be revealed about Kiri's temperment and morals from her reactions to Neytiri's words, and vice versa.

I think it would have made more sense for Jake to have the 15 second scene and for Neytiri to have the scene with Kiri at the dock because Neytiri just makes more sense to recieve spiritual observations and the affects it has on her daughter's feelings of isolation:

Kiri revealing perceptions of Eywa deep within her would have been compatible with Neytiri's future role as tsahìk and her own established belief in Eywa. Neytiri would understand moreso than Jake what Kiri was feeling spiritually and physically, and even help interpret Kiri's perceptions by using her wisdom and faith to better validate her and futher establish Eywa as a real, significant force to the audience.

Having Jake as the one who consoles Kiri in the introduction to her identity crisis wasnt as compatable because Jake's belief in Eywa didnt come until after he changd in A1, and in A2 it was less expressed and less consistent (like when Jake took Norm's scientific interpretation of Kiri's visions as symptoms of pathology). In cannon, when he asked Kiri those questions about what she felt, it felt more like things you say to someone to make them feel heard, rather than genuine belief in what they were saying.

Neytiri also would have been better able to understand Kiri as her mother, and as another female person. Mothers often see themselves in their daughters because their shared traits and behaviors are a reflection of their own childhoods. Women are more keen to girlhood, too, since women experienced the same puberty, and had similar social navigation as young female people. I dont remember her demeanor in Adapt or Die, but perhaps Neytiri could see her kid self (or even Sylwanin) in Kiri for feeling eccentric, and for feeling Eywa differently than others (similarly to how she had to defend her feeling Eywa's prescence to Tsu'tey in order to spare a tawtute in A1). Neytiri certainly could have seen herself in Kiri, a girl distressed from displacement and in isolation from her peers; she, too, was in a position of stress from being isolated from her People and her Native home, surrounded by hostile strangers, and struggling to maintain peace with her own family in dire circmstances (in A1, she was possibly isolated by getting too sympathetic to Jake and oher reasons, though we can only speculate this).

Instead of an emphasis on the Jesus-esque mystery of her origins in a question to her father figure about her father, Neytiri could have reassured Kiri that the spiritual energy she felt was important and real, while validating her feelings of isolation and inner turmoil as a normal and relatable experience of girlhood because she saw herself in her daughter and understood her as her mother. Hell, we didnt necessarily have to lose Kiri's dilema about her paternal origins since that was a big question that would have been relevant to Jake, and men in the audience. Kiri being a spiritual person would have likely told Jake about what she felt eventually because he's her dad, even if Jake didnt believe them the same way but still wanted to support his daughter. But I just feel we got next to none of that balance and consideration in the movie.

Lastly, I think the intimacy of the food preparation between Neytiri and Kiri was an element that had lots of potential for subtle metaphors as well as a medium that would be familiar and important to women and girls. I could see Neytiri teaching Kiri about self acceptance and finding her niche through food metaphors. They were using leaves to pack or wrap an item, and even though it wasnt clear if the leaves were an edible part, Neytiri could have taken the wrapping elements of their task and exemplified in her handwork and quality of the foodstuff how precious and unique Kiri is and how she has to be patient with accepting herself.

Food and food prep have very social implications for all peoples, and would likely be very important for hunter gatherer/fishing cultures, so having a moment of food prepartation was a narrative choice that would make sense in the cultural context, but also because food prep and cooking is heavily associated with women and mothers. Women are often innovators of home cooking, in charge of gathering, and possibly even innovators of the first agricultural practices. Spiritually, food is associated with goddesses because of the metephorical and literal ways food sustains fertility and provided nurturing. So the layers of metaphors would likely have reverberated with female audiences in a way thats not necessarily misogynistic.

But we barely got to see what they were preparing, what it was they were doing, how they felt about it, and why we needed to see it at all other than to establish that they needed to be together for their scene, which was unfortunate as we lost submersive elements of the culture they were learning, and what the characters felt beyond what the plot needed to advance.

What bothered me most about this particular scene, though, wasnt just the brievity of it, considering this is a nearly 3 hr film, it was Jake's eavesropping:

His male oversight on Neytiri and Kiri's mother-daughter moment was upsetting on my second view because they werent dignified a private, touching moment with each other for women and girls to relate to solely. It had to have literal male oversight for some reason. Jake being visably shown in the scene to listen in on their conversation was invasive and unfair since we didnt get the equivalent of Neytiri evesdropping on him and Kiri when they had their scene together. After Aounung, Rutxo, Ronal, etc set the tone that she was a "freak", Kiri became notably withdrawn and her tone and body language visably indicated frustration and sadness, so both parents could have easily picked up on Kiri's mental health seperately, and had their seperate scenes connecting to her that women, men, and girls could relate to.

TL;DR: On my second watch, Neytiri and Kiri's scene together was so noticably short and abruptly ended that it felt itw as cut to make room for the next scene with Jake and Kiri. I counted the seconds it lasted by scrubbing back to it twice to confirm its miniscule timing of ~15 seconds. Neytiri's lack of dialouge greatly exposed how neglected her character was, and Kiri telling Jake rather than Neytiri about her spiritual connection to Eywa revealed how hamfisted the introduction elements to Kiri's character arc was. This scene also highlighted how interactions between female characters in AWOW were overshadowed by male-led scenes or oversight, or were simply too brief to carry much weight to the plot or development for their characters. Lastly, this scene exposed how much we missed out on layered metaphors for characterization and cultural submersion from neglected use of the world around them as important elements of their interactions.

[cafecitoeddie]

Wtf is wrong with Oliver’s arm in that picture?

????????????????? are you talking about???????

[alphagodith]

just some of my favorite shots of wizardmon from the digimon xross wars manga. i did not like how he was drawn in the dreamers manga so i got nostalgic. note there may be spoilers and some stuff is out of order/cut to fit more wizard.

and the fun human tf sequence under the readmore cuz it's better with context but would make this an annoyingly long post

for the record i DID translate the digicode and it's actual nonsense. says something like 'my boss told me to write something cool here'

gotta love wizardmon's resting bitch face, especially in human form. man always looks bored/evil/annoyed but he's actually really cheerful xD the full manga was scanlated by xros raws, and you can download it there.

[quyqyart]

This scene suffered from the pace being rushed which makes it hard to understand what Kabru is going on about if you didn't piece together the story through his POV. This is unfortunate cuz this moment is so realistically messy yet is the satisfying moment when the leading and supporting characters finally come into an understanding.

Kabru's antagonism makes perfect sense only if the readers remove themselves from their favoritism to Laios.

I see some confusion over why he thinks Laios is an enemy of humanity. Firstly, Laios thinks the things that killed all of his family and community are cool. This alone to me is at least sympathetic enough to see why he harbors subconscious prejudice against Laios. It doesn't make him right, but it's logical enough.

Secondly, yeah he's in over his head with his own judgment and thinks too highly of his own motive*. Thirdly, he's bit of a dick to Laios I won't even lie here (I do blame stress for the punch) . But like everyone except Falin is a fucking dick to Laios when you think about it.

And to be completely fair, ever since he knew of Laios' interest till even here still Kabru's been flip-flopping between "This man might save us all" and "He would choose monsters over humanity, we are doomed if he got the power which he is very close to getting rn, let kill him". It's not like he went 100% antagonistic.

This is getting long so,,,My breakdown of Kabru's pov, which explains his actions regarding Laios, under the readmore.

Let see thru Kabru's pov in chronological order:

Taking it from the start, Kabru has a bit of a savior complex no doubt stems from his survival guilt. Being the sole survivor of a massacre by monsters it's understandable he feel that it's his duty to find out why it happened and prevent it from happening again. We saw him and his crew talking shit about how good he is at reading people, and he totally gonna topple the greedy governor and save this place. Then they continuously got their asses handed to them by monsters cuz while Kabru read people well, he can't handle monsters. So yeah he admitted deep down he's not making it to the deep.

So now Kabru wants to find someone he can trust to save the island. He got his eyes on Laios bc he can't read him. Laios is a damn good dungeon explorer and isn't motivated by greed while almost everyone is, so what gives?

Here we see Kabru reveals he had failed to get Laios attention while trying to get to know his mysterious party. This is my interpretation only but he was definitely pissed about it too. Kabru is a bit over his head about his own charm so Laios ignoring him probably stunk.

Even after knowing Laios' special interest he was like "huh so that's how he is" until the matter of dungeon master's power come up and it occurred to him "wait would this guy who loves monsters use the power to make the dungeon full of powerful monsters that will destroy people?" He definitely did not decide Laios was humanity emeny right there, it's a possibility. As much as Laios pulling through and save the island from becoming another Utaya tragedy is a possibility.

Here, we see him desperately clinging to the former possibility until the latter took over "It's too late to get through to him i have to kill him." But did it take over? In that panic, his true feeling comes out. He still wants to understand Laios as a person, he still wants to believe in Laios after all.

Wgile it's easy to get pissed at Kabru just as we did the the Shuro/Toshiro vs Laios fight scene. Fellow autistics know how much it fucking hurt to get your social ineptitude get dragged out like that. I do think Kabru's rant here is good for Laios. This is the first time somebody has admitted to want to get to know why he like monsters despite them hating the creatures. It's not the solidarity like what he and his sister has, but it's not total rejection. Again, his own party members who care about him want nothing to do with his interest (minus Senshi)

Tldr: Kabru's alright and his actions make complete sense even if it's flawed

[keplercryptids]

I know this was posted like. a week ago. but as someone thinking of running a forged in the dark game I would love to see your homebrew xp mechanics

hell yeah! so let me start by saying, forged in the dark games (at least, the two i've played, blades in the dark and scum and villainy) are designed to be run either 1. in campaigns with a maximum of 12-20 sessions, OR 2. in campaigns where you're running through characters frequently and telling a story of the crew as a collective, rather than focused on a specific group of characters. so if you do either of those things, i don't think you actually need to tweak the xp.

i am a longwinded bitch lmao and i also prefer running campaigns that don't switch out PCs often. so the rapid xp acquisition of these games is. troublesome. i've actually very recently decided to simply hand out milestone xp (which is what i did when i ran d&d 5e). basically, every few jobs, when something narratively Big happens, i'll give the players [x] amount of xp. but! i did come up with these narrative xp rules, which i like and i'm having fun with, so for now, any xp the players accrue by making desperate rolls will be added to their narrative xp bank to spend in the following ways:

(under a readmore cuz it's long!)

Narrative XP

At the end of each job, the maximum amount of XP that can be used for character advancement is 50% of the XP gained that session, rounding up. This is called Advancement XP. The remaining XP is called Narrative XP.

When Narrative XP is spent to increase or reduce a clock, 1 XP = 1 tick. Personal Narrative XP can be spent on campaign clocks, personal clocks, connection clocks, long-term projects or resolving traumas, as described below. With the exception of campaign clocks, any given clock can only be affected by 1 Narrative XP, per player per session.

At a player’s discretion, Character Advancement XP may be spent as Narrative XP, with the same restrictions as above.

CAMPAIGN CLOCKS

Throughout the campaign, there will be clocks tracking organizations’ goals, external forces outside the scope of the PCs’ sphere of influence, or events looming on the horizon. During downtime, these clocks can be increased or reduced by the use of Narrative XP. This is almost always going to be a meta decision made by the players and GM, rather than anything the PCs are doing within the fiction (though there may be some exceptions - talk it out!). The progress of campaign clocks can also be leveraged as Devil’s Bargains during play. There is no limit to how much XP can be spent on a campaign clock per downtime.

PERSONAL CLOCKS

Each PC can accrue personal clocks, tracked on your character sheet, that reflect potential complications, goals, or outcomes affecting your character. During downtime, Narrative XP can be used to increase or reduce ticks on these clocks (maximum 1 XP per clock per downtime). To use Narrative XP this way, describe or roleplay a scene to illustrate what your character is doing to affect the clock in question.

CONNECTION CLOCKS

[note: this text is taken basically word-for-word from Beam Saber by austin ramsay - a really cool game i haven't gotten to run yet! check out beam saber if you're interested in sci-fi forged in the dark games!]

The crew sheet contains separate 4-tick Connection Clocks for each other member in your crew, representing your character’s relationship with that crewmate. Make a belief about that crewmate for each tick on that clock (checking in with that player when you do). When the Connection Clock fills, ask the target crewmate for a truth about one of the beliefs tied to them, then reset the clock to 1 tick as you see them in a new light. When a Connection Clock resets, erase all the previous beliefs you had about that crewmate and write a new one related to the truth you just learned—it’ll take time and effort to understand them again.

A belief is a brief statement about how a character feels about another crewmate. Beliefs are simple, quick, and influential in the rapport between the two crewmates. However, the players need to remember that their beliefs are not necessarily true as they are based on incomplete information and gut instinct. A good belief is:

Something a character might say about their crewmate to a confidante.

Easily summarized, so that it can be quickly remembered when relevant.

Potentially true.

Suitable for the game’s setting and tone.

Something the player is interested in exploring.

During downtime or free play, Narrative XP can be used to add a belief and tick a Connection Clock with another crewmate (maximum once per session). To use Narrative XP this way, your character must have a one-on-one scene with a crewmate, which challenges their perception of their crewmate, and/or shows a new side of them, and/or during which the characters bond in a significant way. After this, spend 1 XP to tick the Connection clock with that character, and gain a new belief (see above).

LONG-TERM PROJECTS

During downtime, you may spend 1 XP to add a tick to a long-term project clock (maximum 1 tick per clock).

RESOLVING TRAUMAS

[note: there isn't a way in the rules as written to resolve traumas, but being able to do so is important to me, so i included this as a way to use narrative xp.]

When you gain a trauma, start a 6-tick Trauma clock on your character sheet. During downtime or free play, Narrative XP can be used to tick a Trauma clock (maximum once per session). To use Narrative XP this way, describe or roleplay a scene to illustrate what your character is doing to work on resolving their trauma. Once a trauma clock has been filled, you may remove that trauma from your character sheet.

[fallenhunnyapple]

Since I talked about Human Priest AU, I think I should talk about the Runner up too! Yet another AU with @fallenguitarhero

Amnesia AU

The basic premise is after Adam's death, when he gets revived in Hell, its as a Naked Idiot, thinking he'd just woken up from when he was put to sleep when they took his Rib for Eve. He doesn't know what this place is, why its Red and Hot, or why he's no longer in Eden. He awoke outside the Hotel so his first instinct is to look inside the strange structure and figure out what's going on.

(the rest under a Readmore cuz it got a little long and I don't wanna clog your dashes-)

Charlie thinks there's a new Sinner outside the Hotel and goes to greet him and instead met with a Very Naked Adam who doesn't seem to recognise her. Not wanting to let a confused and naked Adam wander Hell alone, she brings him inside and dresses him (poorly in a sheet) and tries to get to the bottom of it. Adam thinks she's an Angel since she looks so much like Lucifer, she must be one of his Angelic siblings, it's the only thing that makes sense.

He talks to her about his life in Eden, about how Lucifer is his best friend and he doesn't like Lilith because she doesn't listen to him so he gets in trouble with the Angels. About how they have started leaving him alone. About how the Angels say there's something wrong with him but once they do this thing that he was put to sleep for everything will get better! Lucifer said he would be there when he woke up, but Lucifer wasn't anywhere, why did he lie to him? But Charlie is nice, she listens to him. Usually the Angels dismiss him or ignore him, they don't care about his problems, but Charlie actually listens. The only other one to do that was Lucifer, that's why it hurts that he's been avoiding him-

Charlie of course calls her dad to come and help take care of this, she's Really out of her depth, she is Not equipt to deal with all this and she doesn't want to introduce Adam to the whole idea of Hell because, well, that's not her place. This has to be handled in a way she can't and by someone she's not. And when Lucifer does arrive, it takes Charlie only moments to see that Adam is completely In Love with her Dad. Who, for his part, is entirely oblivious. She feels almost Bad for Adam.

Lucifer ends up staying at the Hotel to keep an eye on Adam and it honestly doesn't take long for a relationship to start. Adam finds out from Charlie and Angel that being Gay is Okay, and that Lucifer is Bi. He doesn't understand much of what's going on, but he knows he's not in the Garden and he doesn't have the Angels' expectations placed on him anymore, he doesn't need to procreate and he can pursue what he wants. And what he wants is Lucifer. Lucifer for his part Isn't in Love, but there is something about how Adam is so innocent and earnest, how he makes Lucifer feel old but also feel like there's a way to start over, how he makes Lucifer feel wanted for the first time in many years. He may not be in Love, but he wants to make Adam Happy, he wants to take a chance on this Do Over.

Lucifer, despite not being in love, becomes a bit emotionally dependent and obsessed with Adam. He likes feeling needed, and he loves feeling wanted. It's helping heal some part of him that's been broken since his and Lilith's relationship started falling apart many years ago. Adam's mischievous, curious, and bright nature helps revitalize him in a way he didn't expect. And Adam is worried for him when he hits lows, he tries to cheer him up in whatever way he can think of. And having someone around during those times that shows how much they care does a Lot of good. Adam is his ESA.

There are a few things going on with Adam, though. First and Foremost, in a bid to keep him innocent, to avoid overwhelming him and to avoid making things Confusing and Terrible, they're trying to keep him oblivious to what this place Actually Is. They don't call it Hell, he shouldn't Know what that is. He doesn't know about Sin in that way and they don't want to introduce it to him like that. He's not allowed to go out unless it's with someone Trusted (Mainly Lucifer or Charlie, but that does eventually extend to Angel and Vaggie.) It would be hard to explain what happened to Humanity, why things are the way they are. It's not an easy thing to keep covered up. But it's not something they can hide forever, especially because of the next point.

He is slowly getting his memories back, reliving his personal traumas, the feelings of betrayal, the emptiness, the loneliness, the bitter hatred. He'd have memories of Feelings, hating the color red, feeling some level of bitterness and resentment towards the man he Knows he loves, etc but he never had any context for them. But he slowly gets them back. But everything is getting recontextualized, he has support from Lucifer and Charlie and other people at the Hotel. It's still difficult to deal with the memories and feelings, but he's not dealing with them alone and he feels genuinely cared about, it makes all the difference. Lucifer asks him if he believes he loves him, because by the time enough of these memories resurface, Lucifer does love him and Adam had never questioned it. So its hard when he genuinely answers he doesn't know. But it's okay, they can work through it together.

But aside from his memories coming back, Adam is also dealing with the much more physical problem of transformation. His blood is still gold, he's a Fallen Angel, even if he doesn't have the context of it. And gradually his body changes. His Fallen form doesn't quite reflect his Angelic form as he started as an almost blank slate. He's becoming a Catboy, or Lion Boy specifically, a kemonomimi type with more cat mannerisms. It's chalked up to the eventual corruption of anything residing in Hell, but it's part of his fate as a Fallen Angel. Lucifer isn't complaining and Adam is getting scritches and pets so he really has no complaints either.

There are a few other points and thoughts, but this is the general overview of it-

[nyoomerr]

Do you have any tips for finishing works and getting enough confidence to post them?

sure! just keep in mind that these are tips from my single perspective, and everyone's creative processes are different, etc etc all the usual disclaimers 🙈

↓↓ all advice under the readmore cuz it got pretty lengthy ↓↓

for finishing works, you'll probably have to start by identifying why you don't feel like continuing a particular WIP.

is it a time/energy thing? make sure you're staying physically healthy (good food, keeping hydrated, moderate exercise) and that you aren't forcing yourself to sit down and write at the end of a long day when you've already spent all your mental energy elsewhere. this is one of the lamest points of advice on the whole list but i am being so serious about it.

is it a lack of inspiration? try talking about the fic with a friend, using prompt generators, or thinking back to what originally inspired the fic to begin with. if you started writing the fic for One Specific Scene, go write that scene, regardless of how far out you are from it chronologically! you can always revise or rewrite it later if it turns out that the in-between scenes change some of the context or flow.

is it that you're struggling to get a scene written just right? skip past it and come back later, maybe leaving just a quick one or two line summary of what you want to happen in that scene so you don't forget later. if you can't skip past it, then tell yourself "okay, i'm going to rewrite this later," before trying to write it - if you have already decided that this will not be your final draft, then it can help you feel less hesitant to put imperfect words down.

for gathering the confidence to post a work, it's a bit more tricky...

i think most people want to post things because they want to receive external validation on it... so so valid and relatable 🤝 BUT this motivation makes it hard to actually shut out the factors that can cause nerves (i.e., advice like "turn off comments if you're worried about receiving criticism" is useless, because then you also don't get the positive comments you likely wanted in the first place).

one strategy you could try is starting with a small audience first - just send it to a friend you know will be your hypeman. if you're feeling more bold, you can try sharing it with a discord server or group chat - essentially, narrowing the audience down to people that you know will be supportive of your work, no matter what.

if sharing the fic with your friends actually sounds like the Worst Case Scenario, then i'd instead recommend posting it to an anon collection! if you end up not being happy with the response to the fic, you can pretend it was never yours to begin with - there's no shame in using the anon tool as it was meant to be used. if you end up feeling really proud of the work after the nerves have passed, you can always de-anon it later to tie it back to you!

regardless of how or who you share it with though, my top recommendation is that you sit down and identify every little thing that you're proud of in your work before you post it. write these things out so you don't forget! the people who are going to read your work will not have the same tastes, experiences, and desires that you personally had when you sat down to write the fic to begin with. if they don't like parts of it, it does NOT mean those parts are bad - it just wasn't for them personally!

that can be hard to remember when you're getting feedback, though, which is why it's important to have those things that YOU like about your work written down so you can go take a look at them to remind yourself.

if you try posting a work and afterwards go "oh, that isn't for me, i'd rather just create for myself personally," then that's totally chill! what would be tragic is if you posted a work and then felt so shitty after the fact that it tainted your enjoyment of the creation process itself. that's why, no matter what, please remember that you wrote this fic for yourself, and hold on to the things that you like about it!!

anyway that got pretty rambly but TLDR: 1) figure out why you're having trouble finishing your WIP and tackle that reason instead of blindly pushing yourself forward 2) ease yourself into posting in whatever way is least intimidating for you, no need to jump straight to having an AO3 profile linked to your writing 3) no matter what, make sure you remember the things that you personally enjoy about what you made, and celebrate those things!

[mamadarama]

finally got around to reading some more stuff abt the new guys so um heres my thoughts !!!! under a readmore cuz its kinda long :p

esu - interesting critter. looking forward to seeing how he gets along with subaru . still not beating the pkmn horizons protag allegations . vvv

yume - can someone PLEASE get this kid some antipsychotics jesus christ why arent you medicated you poor thing . and a therapist. theres so much to unpack here. god .

ibuki - hes american ....!!!!!!! i wonder if hes seen any of madaras shows. also ...... if rinne and madara had a kid, this is what wed end up with . god help us all.

kanna - theres something up with this guy and its not just the autism . what do you mean his name is "do you miss me" . also the kanji in his name are .... an interesting choice. im interpreting his first name to be either godless or god of nothing , and neither of those lessen my suspicion that the writers are planning some crazy shit. also i need to know what the deal is with his parents cuz otherwise im immediately clocking him as an orphan.

raika - i already talked abt him but anyways. love this kid, reminds me a lot of niki and if he and niki end up being related then the sakumas have a lot of explaining to do . the kleptomania is fun trait. hes my favorite i think. i want him to be friends with sora so bad

nice - still do NOT trust this man he is planning something i know it i fucking know it

[lokiina]

Continued under the readmore cuz it's long (16 total pics) PL new ending spoiler warning ⚠️

DSFHDJGDFJKGD

Sad Will with his lack of winged liner and lil depression beard sure is something....

Midas seeing a mentally destroyed and potentially newly single Will, thinkin it's the best time to move in. Goin for that rebound. That's absolutely a great starting foundation for a healthy relationship right? Right?

[veilkeeper]

WIP Wednesday

@curiouslavellan tagged me! I haven't been writing fanfic lately (let alone "relevant to this blog" fanfic) so have an excerpt from a self-indulgent drabble i wrote awhile ago featuring a slightly altered meeting with halsin where roz flexes their psionics and introduces themself a little early. (under the readmore cuz it's on the long side!)

tagging: @crossdressingdeath @spellmage @kikisgate and anyone else who wants to do this

A whisper had his ear twitching. Like footsteps walking down a hall, echoing softly. Halsin? It asked, and he perked up at the sound of his own name. But… there was no one talking, no one beyond the goblin children snickering outside the bars of his cell, sorting rocks to throw as their caretaker watched on in amusement.

Suddenly, there was a ringing in his ears, a pressure against his skull like when hands pressed against the source of a water flow, trying to staunch a leak. Like something on the other side was building and would burst forth and drown him if those hands did not remain firm. Halsin, the voice repeated, no longer a whisper. It sounded as clear to him as his own thoughts, but the voice was softer than his. Where are you?

Someone was speaking to him, he realized. In his mind. He craned his head around frantically, trying to find the source of the intrusion. He had been found out—but by whom?

Rath sent me, among others, the voice continued, almost soothing were it not for the fact that their tone betrayed impatience. Quiet yourself. You are thinking too much.

Whatever could that possibly mean?

That you are making it difficult to multitask. I can hear your thoughts. All of them. So please, focus.

He took a breath. He was not sure what quieting himself could mean in this situation, but he assumed it must be something like his meditations, when he sat in a beautiful place and cleared his mind of everything but the present moment. To that end, he settled himself on cold ground—hardly a beautiful place, but the theory was the same, he supposed—and he breathed. He pushed away the part of himself that still tried to listen to the goblin children and the clink of armour as a guard patrolled the upper level of cells, and he retreated into his mind where, for once, he was not alone.

How are you talking to me? he thought, imagining himself saying it. It was not often someone could just waltz into another's mind. A powerful spell, perhaps. One he did not even notice the casting of.

In his mind, there was a surge of satisfaction, almost amusement. Much better, the voice praised. Though it is no spell.

He thought perhaps it was unfair that this stranger could hear all of his thoughts, and he could only feel the barest hint of their mind. They felt like ghostly fingers lightly dragging over his skull and sending a shiver down his spine, but they were able to reach in and see everything. If Rath sent them, he could only hope they had no intention to use what they saw for ill.

It is not everything, if it is any consolation, the voice said matter-of-factly. Only that which is on the surface. It's an imprecise art. If I wished to delve deeper, I could.

Given the circumstances, that could be a threat.

It could. Fortunately for you, it is not. Where are you? Everyone in this gods-forsaken camp that I have asked has not known your name or your whereabouts.

I haven't given any of them my name. They believe me to be a simple bear.

Another spark of amusement, something resembling a repressed laugh. You are the war bear in the dungeon, then.

Yes.

Excellent. I will be there shortly.

All at once, he felt the pressure in his mind begin to ease, and while he had no idea how to reach for it, he tried to nonetheless—the way he would lunge for the hand of this person if they were in front of him, to keep them here a moment longer.

Wait, he said quickly, and the fact that the presence did not disappear entirely encouraged him to continue. I have not spoken to anyone since I was captured. If it is not too taxing, could we continue?

A pause.

It is not too taxing, the voice allowed. So long as you keep your mind clear.

I will do my best.

A rock thumped against his side and he growled reflexively, slipping out of his meditation. He was usually fond of children, but these ones in particular were quite the nuisance. He was sure if they could get their hands on worse than rocks, they would be throwing that instead.

If children throwing rocks is the worst that has been done to you, you are fortunate, the voice told him, a grave warning underlying their words. There are torture racks upstairs. You were wise to conceal yourself.

As he suspected, though his stomach churned with the confirmation. He was not the only one in their party to be captured. The others…?

Most of them escaped—Aradin remains at the grove with most of his band. Liam survives, I freed him moments ago.

Moments ago you were speaking with me.

I am multi-tasking.

How?

You were correct, earlier. I could drown you.

[yerekanescio]

Okay, I have thought of more pairings for you for the bingo game:

• Lanamia;

• Krisnix;

• Wrightworth;

• Solkat;

• Vrisrezi;

• Zosan.

I'm sorry if it's too much. If you don't want to do a bingo for all of these, it's fine.

I’m putting in depth thoughts under a readmore bc it’s gonna get LONG BABY!!!

LANAMIA:

OUGHHHH THEY WOUND ME!!!! Intellectually attracted. Lana fumbled Mia soooo badly and honestly I ship them as an OT3 including Diego <333 Lana had to become corrupt to save her sister while Mia fought corruption and died because of it… Lana the chief being called by Mia’s killer and informed through that (which I get was a translation error BUT MY GOD THE IMPLICATIONS!!!)… Imagine Godot trying to contact Lana to discuss Mia after he wakes up or them meeting in prison after TT…. UGH. Lanamia.

KRISNIX:

I’m fuckding crazy. They are toxic. They match each other’s freak. They pretended to be friends but they knew they were lying to each other (but what if those feelings got too real? What if it wasn’t an act? but you can’t let your guard down, no, not now, not after everything you’ve worked for). THEY SPIED ON EACH OTHER. for seven years. Kristoph made Phoenix more corrupt but Phoenix made Kristoph more human but they damaged each other and spiraled into madness. Kristoph ruined Phoenix’s like and Phoenix returned the favor. They are the same polar of a magnet, the same in every sense but always five steps away from each other, never able to get too close.

WRIGHTWORTH/NARUMITSU:

What is there to say that hasn’t already been said? I went through the pipeline. I hated Edgeworth and then instantly understood why the pairing is so popular. Childhood friends, to strangers, to enemies, to friends, to enemies again (one sided), to friends, and then lovers. They have long periods where they don’t talk or see each other and yet their bond only gets stronger each time. I don’t believe in soulmates and I hate the concept but if soulmates did exist, Narumitsu has that going.

SOLKAT:

Homestuck is fucked for separating them but at least they were put back together RECENTLY. They are so DOOMED in the main webcomic. They are best fucking friends and the closest each other has (outside, maybe, Sollux and Aradia). “kk dont u2e the computer explo2iion code iit wiill explode your computer” “FUCK YOU” and then the computer exploded. Sollux is Karkat’s IT guy (romantic). I think they could easily vacillate flushed and pitch and pale and. Yeah they are soo multi quadranted (with flush as the main). Goddd I miss them. When Sollux left it BROKE me. Davekat could never have what they have.

VRISREZI:

EVERYBODY GIVE IT UP FOR TOXIC DOOMED YURI!!!! WOOOO!!! They find each other in every universe. They are perfectly pitched (but also a little flushed). They have a POWERFUL rivalry like nobody else and are always evenly matched, bouncing one step ahead of each other. They act like they hate (platonic) each other at times but it’s sooo clear how much they care about each other. They would do anything to stop the other (cuz they are pitched rivals) but they would do anything FOR each other too. They make my head hurt and I mean this positively.

ZOSAN:

The fandom has them so wrong they are NOT CUTE YAOI they are MEAN and they FIGHT and that is their love language. They are a great example of Homestuck pitched. Sanji cooks Zoro’s favorite food because he has it memorized and Zoro eggs him on and threatens him but he’s eating the food and so clearly enjoying it and they keep up their bickering which escalates to a fight but they are fully in sync every step. They are a POWERFUL duo in fighting and they cover each other’s weaknesses FLAWLESSLY. They CARE about each other and their “love to hate” was clearly shown early on through Dorry and Broggy’s parallel, which is the same arc where this dynamic started. I don’t want them canon because I do like the friend dynamic the crew canonically has, but they are WONDERFUL in fanon.

[basslinegrave]

the worst thing is not washing his hands

"Gan Ning! I will never forgive you!"

"whats the matter with you.."

"listen up..!! you killed my father, you dont wash your hands after going to the bathroom, you spit when you talk, sometimes you wear your pants backwards, you put your feet up on the desk without hesitation, you have some immunity to hay fever and no sensitivity to cold, and you killed my father... thats why i hate you so much!!"

'even if you say that....'

[mistfallengw2]

💔 - Exes

Answer for two of your characters :3

OC's Background Relationships Ask Game

The randomizer picked Hagan and Zehmik! [under readmore cuz it got long]

💔 - Exes

Hagan's got a fair share of flings, but only two (technically three) ex-relationships that he considers such.

Gretna was his best friend and first girlfriend, back when they were teens. She had a noble future as one of Raven's shamans and he didn't want to put the burden of it all on her, so he broke up with her and exiled himself after what happened with his older brother (Martel had joined the Svanir while away to look for their parents, and when he tried to convert him as well Hagan killed him in self-defense). She knew what happened and understood, but it still broke her heart, especially as he was her only real friend in Hoelbrak. They met again once for a brief time, but then during IBS they got the chance to reconnect, and while it was initially weird that Hagan was already in an open relationship with an asura like Flom (the whole possession thing probably took the cake for weirdness), Gretna didn't lose her chance when she saw it, even standing up to her mother when she criticized her choice.

As for Daunte... it's complicated, and weird. Meeting in the Vigil, they straight up couldn't stand each other for the first years, annoying and one-upping each other constantly, then things somehow snowballed from yet another of the charr's petty jokes into sudden intimacy. They weren't technically dating, they were more "rivals with benefits" than anything romantic, but they cared for each other and whatever they had going on was comforting to both of them. They often joked about each other's death, but losing Daunte in the Heart of Maguuma hurt Hagan more than he could have ever imagined.

The relationship with Gaell started out as a simple one night stand between friends who had too many bad feelings they struggled to express, but they figured they could try to make it work, and it lasted for about a year (during LS4). At first it was intense and overall nice, but the more time passed, the more they started butting heads over nothing, as the human noble turned Priory Scholar was a bit too much of a primadonna for a headstrong down-to-earth himbo like Hagan. Eventually they decided to cut things off before they got bad, and they managed to remain friends after the awkwardness passed and having each others' back stuff took priority (during LS4).

* * * * *

Zehmik had plenty of "exes" as well during the nearly twenty years he spent in the Mists, though he considers even the longest-lasting ones as flings or "companionship of circumstances", because the only one that ever mattered is the one he had to leave behind in the first place, [name pending because I can't decide yet, gonna call him [???]]

Zehmik had been part of a fairly reputable pirate crew for a while when he met [???] in Lion's Arch, and they hit it off right away, spending all the time they could together and making big plans for the future. [???] was a brilliant mind kept away from opportunities due to part of his parentage (who was badly exiled from Rata Sum after a clandestine experiment ended up blowing up half the lab and 3.5 members of the krewe), while Zehmik and his sister Bemme had been struggling on their own since they were young. Zehmik wanted to earn enough gold to allow the three of them to live a comfortable life in Metrica as they chased their dreams, and he just needed to work for a while longer to get them there and quit for good.

When his captain died of "sudden causes" and the new captain seemed to bring bad luck, Zehmik followed some of his friends into a group of mercenaries, much to [???]'s and Bemme's worry. That job seemed to go even better, until one particularly high-risk-high-reward gig in Orr, where others made a series of poor choices that killed most of them, left Zehmik scarred (and magically enhanced), and had the Inquest sic a recovery team on their trail to get the loot they were promised. Zehmik managed to barely escape them twice with his life (the only other survivor got murdered the second time), and as he hid in Lion's Arch he had to make a choice: go back to [???] and lead danger to him (and potentially his sister and everyone else he knew), or run away so that danger would only follow him. He chose the latter, and in a moment of desperation he took the only way out he had available, joining the Mist War in the process. He stayed there for nearly two decades, only managing to send one of his earrings and all the gold he had left to Bemme through a trusted friend he made there, yet unable to do anything about [???], too afraid to know what he'd think of him and heartbroken.

Then, many years later, Zehmik follows Aurelia after the first part of SotO and finds out about the Astral Ward... and that [???] is one of them. It's messy and rough for both of them, especially at first, because for the longest time [???] thought he had been abandoned or that Zehmik had died, while the Mist Warrior had feared the same when he hadn't found any recent news of him or his whereabouts after finally leaving the Mists. Still, they eventually manage to mend things, and by the end of SotO they're happily and gayly back together, though Zehmik is firmly not on board with the whole Ward and Wizard sketchy deal (after what he's been through as a high-ranking Mist Warrior, he'd know how to sniff out something suspicious), but [???] has been doing more than he ever dreamed of there, so he plays as nice as he can (while still growling in the direction of a certain Wizard in particular).

[schtroumpf-a-lunettes]

My friend sent me an amazing thread (which I will link directly to in a reblog) and I decided to apply it to smurfs! The rest is under the readmore cuz it's a little Long - I spent a lot of time on it :') ENJOY! (click for better quality if u need it <3)