#wanderingbasilisk

[suzukiblu]

Hello hello, another ask for not actually a fake soulmark wip? 👀

Superboy wonders what Clark Kent is like. 

It doesn't . . . matter, obviously. The mark on his chest is fake. There's nothing in it. No one on the other end. 

But he . . . wonders, still. 

Superboy stays up hiding in the clouds for the rest of the day, getting covered in condensation and trying to avoid startling any birds or planes, and feels stupid and useless and just–stupid. 

He's sulking, he's pretty sure. He knows he's sulking. 

He's trying not to, but it feels like he can't help it, remembering how Lois Lane’s real soulmark looks. 

It looks exactly like his fake one, is the thing. It looks exactly like it. 

There's no difference at all, except for the part where his is a fucking lie. 

He doesn’t . . . he doesn’t know how he feels about that, except for “bad”. 

Really, really bad.

[veliseraptor]

Top 5 drinks of choice? ☕️

oooh fun one okay okay

creme de la earl grey tea from portal tea. my go to tea that I drink most days (multiple cups of). it's delicious, earl grey with a hint of vanilla but the vanilla doesn't taste super artificial as it sometimes does in other vanilla earl greys I've had. I have other favorite teas but this is probably the top of the list, at least currently.

mint hot chocolate. two great tastes that taste great together! I am a fan of hot chocolates in general (though I do like mine on the milkier side rather than the more intense chocolate side) and adding an additional favorite flavor (mint) makes it even better. though for a bonus, really specific one, the hot chocolate at gregory's coffee was really good, when I could get it.

rosemary lemonade. in general I'm a big fan of herbal lemonades (though I'm a little picky about the quality of the lemonade, it really can't be too sweet); I also like lavender lemonade a lot, but the rosemary lemonade that I've now both made and had at one specific coffee place in new york is really a show-stopper. absolutely impeccable.

chai latte. though I am picky-ish about them (I like my chais on the spicier side rather than the sweeter side), and I'm always looking for the best ones in my area. but they're generally my coffee shop drink of choice if they're available.

this rosemary gin cocktail. it requires just enough effort that I haven't made it in a while, but it's definitely one of my favorites. in general I'm a fan of gin cocktails, especially ones with some additional herbal flavor. and now I want to make myself one of these. maybe tonight, actually.

[utilitycaster]

@wanderingbasilisk replied to your post “my totally biased opinion is that the black moss...”:

...do you perchance have that recipe, and would be willing to share it? 👀

​I do (thanks past me for never deleting my texts), and have asked permission to share, and it has been granted.

2 c flour (all purpose)

1 c sugar (white granulated)

1 stick (8 tbsp) butter

3 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1/2 c cocoa powder

1 tbsp heavy cream

1 c beet juice

matcha powder (straight matcha powder - not sweetened matcha latte powder) and turmeric to taste; I believe the recommendations were 1 tbsp matcha and 2 tbsp turmeric.

The recommendation was to do a matcha creme patissiere for frosting but for some reason creme patissiere consistently eludes me so I'd do a matcha-flavored, light on the sweetening version of your go-to cupcake frosting. I think I did a not-very-sweet whipped cream, honestly. The recipe he recommended, if you are a better pastry chef than I and wish to try, is this one (matcha pastry cream only although if you feel like making pate a choux as well, I support this endeavor)

Edited: realized I did uh. not provide any details on the making thereof bc they were not in the screenshots. basically, standard cupcake rules:

Cream together butter and sugar

Beat in eggs

Add the dry ingredients, mixed together, a little at a time; alternate with the remaining wet ingredients (ie, the beet juice and cream). Essentially, find and follow a normal butter-based chocolate cupcake recipe except put matcha and turmeric in with the flour and sub in beet juice and cream for the milk/buttermilk.

Bake at 350 F (180 C) for 20-ish minutes, do the toothpick test as needed.

Notes:

You do want straight up beet juice that isn't mixed with various other fruits, and this can be a pain in the ass to find. I don't have a solution here, just a heads up.

Once you have used a cup of beet juice, you will have a bunch of beet juice left over. You can either use this to make even more cupcakes, or you can make a very lazy borscht (which is what I did) or you can just drink it. I don't know your life.

You can leave out the heavy cream and swap butter for margarine if you are dairy free, which my brother and his friend did test, but egg-free versions were not tested so if you are vegan/have an egg allergy you'll need to play around with your go-to substitutes.

Similarly, should play well with your go to gluten-free all purpose baking flour.

Recipe was developed prior to Jester's Isharnai cupcake scene (hilariously, in looking back through my texts, I received the recipe the Friday after that episode aired) so no guarantees on efficacy re: hag distraction

[jaskwritesthings]

Wip ask game! 👀 zombae? Or verins terrible no good roadtrip? 👀👀

for every fandom i ever enter there is always the dream of 'what if zombies?', i love the zombie genre so much. its all about the survival found family in desperate times. now with added critical role! i'm really excited about this one, i am in love with the idea i've come up with for how the zombie apocalypse starts in exandria and can't wait to share it

Essek turned his attention away from his maudlin thoughts and back to the reports on his desk. For now, at least, it was business as usual, even if his mind was elsewhere most of the time. He read with half a mind, the words barely registering. A list of battalion movements along the border. Bazzozan requires more weapons. Jester had rarely gone so long without sending to him, perhaps Beauregard and Veth had succeeded in convincing her to cut ties with the traitor? Da'leth had apparently been sighted leaving his tower regularly but not for the king's side. Unusual levels of violence in some villages and towns near the Ashkeepeers Peaks. Perhaps Caleb was having second thoughts on his redemption? Trade interests growing in the wake of the new peace. He said he wasn't born with evil in his heart but if Essek scarcely believed that how was he to expect that Caleb truly believed it as well? Three soldiers in the lower slums started a brawl in a tavern causing casualties. A quick and purposeful knock at the door caused Essek to jump in his seat.

verin's road trip is basically the drow they find in the zadash sewers is the one and only verin, complete with luxon beacon and secret surprise too, mwhahaha. anyway the nein naturally adopt hot boy the younger and seek to help him return to xhorhaus with his treasures! shenanigans ensue

“You all! Halt,” The guards call out to them and the human woman swears colourfully under her breath, letting Verin know their group has been singled out amongst the crowd. “What now?” Molly asks worriedly. “There! Freeze fiend!” Another guard shouts and Verin tenses, reaching for his sword. Before his fingers curl around the hilt, the human man is there, in his space, hand grasping his wrist tightly. Verin growls and snarls at the man who would betray him, only to note that the guards are not approaching, the clamour of armour and yelling is leading away from the group. “Nott has created an image, we don’t have time, let’s go,” he mutters, tugging on Verin's wrist with urgency. Verin nods and relaxes, somewhat.

wip ask game

[spottedenchants]

Wip game@ fjord help 2.5 year angst? 👀👀

ohohoho grumpy essek :3

-

“Eleven o’clock.”

Dragged from his mindless recess, hiding his startle in the tightening weave of his fingers, Essek swallows defiant silence like a stone and simply continues staring at the clouded line of the sea. Broken moonlight scores across the water in rolling patchwork swaths, masking depths so much as displaying them, a mirror tilted at all the wrong angles. Nowhere and nothing surrounds, still. The air brines his nose and skin, warmed from chill with the orb he can’t bring himself to part from.

The leather of armor creaks, once-and twice, though he can’t tell if the sound is from a shrug or the general shift of it as his friend’s accompanying lean vibrates through the bulwark.

“You don’t have to take my word for it.”

Essek, good for nothing but compliance, glares at Catha before it runs behind the clouds, at the clockwork pole stars before they, too, hide from his sight. 

He glances askance, aside to Fjord and his accurate assessment of the hour. He shouldn’t deign this annoyance a response, but regardless.

“Is that significant somehow?”

-

wip ask game

[tarydarrington]

tell me about essek memory loss, if you feel so inclined!

@wanderingbasilisk

essek memory loss was a concept i wrote down while half-asleep a year and a half ago, completely forgot about, and rediscovered earlier this month with zero memory of writing it

essek loses his memory for plot spoiler reasons. jester, who finds out about this via her daily sending, tells him how to find caleb, this smart and handsome and totally amazing guy whom essek will love. she does not tell him that it's been about a year since caleb broke up with him.

i haven't quite worked everything out yet, but it's probably going to play a little more with the lifespan angst angle of shadowgast than i usually do. it also needs to have a very slow build, which is historically one of my weak points in long form writing, so it's very possible that this one will stay a wip forever 😂

[flashhwing]

WIP word ask game! Chill?

ooh, that is a miss! sorry Wander! I do have a "cold" tho, from my mage twin au

That was the worst part about all of this, really. The tower was cold and big and scary, and he was surrounded by so many people he didn't know. The Templars were cruel, and barely looked human underneath all their armor. And still, all of that would be fine if Garrett had Marian with him. When they were together, everything didn't seem so bad. Together, they could do anything.

fanfiction WIP guessing game!

[agentmintea]

@doctorhelena tagged me to explain how I picked my url!

When Agent Carter S2 came out, I wanted to change my url to reflect how significant that fandom was to me (and my blog) while keeping a reference to the Carmilla fandom (my "original" tumblr fandom), so I came up with agentkarnstein.

In 2019 I decided to standardize my usernames across different platforms, and I didn't want anything fandom-specific, so I settled on agentmintea ('mintea' being a funky way to spell my name) for ✨aesthetic✨ reasons as well as username availability reasons. I still think of the 'agent' as a subtle nod to Peggy Carter (my beloved) and it lets me feel like people are calling me by a code name :)

Tagging: @sadieb798 @captainjimothycarter @mithrilwren @slurmsmackenzie11 @wanderingbasilisk @chilioilgirl @glitter-garbage and anyone else who frequents my notes (I see you :3c)

[kmackatie]

🌹:3

this is the current opening to the charm offensive au though it is liable to change

Caleb Widogast is good at his job. Sure, his job is sometimes lying on the floor of a stretch limo convincing twelve women that the delay of their arrival to the “Castle” (the quotation marks are definitely implied in the eyeroll that accompanies the thought) is entirely part of the plan and not the fact that he’s waiting for the signal from Astrid that their “Prince Charming” (quotation marks also implied) has somehow found a way to be actually charming in the last hour the cameras have been rolling.

(send me a 🌹 for a sentence from a wip)

[valakiir]

Ohhhh i gotta ask, polymorph essek cat 5+1 💜💜💜💜💜💜

This one is still just a concept. It's inspired by Zmeess kitty shadowgast art.

The notes I have:

""Essek finds a collar of polymorph that will let him stay a cat for longer than the usual hour. Any time ppl come looking for him, he just blends in with Caleb's other cats. Possibly forgetting to mention to Caleb what he found? Idk feels like a good 5+1 fic""

It's very different from my usual, sinse I typically headcanon Essek /hates/ being polymorphed bc he can feel his intelligence drain away. That may play a part in it idk yet, it's one of the ones (read "many") on my back burner.

I don't recall doing any 5+1 fics either so it would be an adventure trying to keep it from getting too long lol

[mllekurtz]

Gosh favorite story, thats hard 🤣

Fundamental forces other than gravity (i had earmarked that one a while ago, then i read it, and it socked my emotions in the figurative face /complimentary 🤣💕😭)

Eternally present, unredeemable makes me cry every time i reread it 😭😭😭😭

Cat's paw, for someone who hasnt played watched or read the witcher 🤣, is very very fun 💕👀

(Idk can i add fic im looking forwards to reading when my brain decides im allowed to? Bird of prey series 👀👀👀 brrrrr)

(Also your smut is very hot *chefs kiss very good very hot 👀👀 yes okay byeeeee)

Thanks in particular for mentioning one of my older fics, I'm glad eternally present still holds up ♥ I hope you enjoy bop if you get around to reading it!

[ayzenigma]

Top 5 favorite kinds of weather!

OVERCAST!!!

Thunderstorm (assuming I'm inside, or intentionally outside to get happily drenched in a summer storm with means to get dried and warm after)

Light rain/drizzle

Flurries

Cloudy / partially cloudy

(can you tell I don't like the sun very much lmao)

[pucaantaibhse]

List five things that make you happy, then put this in the ask box of the last ten people who reblogged something from you. Spread the positivity!

1. Sunny summer days

2. Singing along to the radio while driving

3. When a fanfiction I’ve been reading updates

4. Going out with friends

5. When new clothes look good on me

[drawsmaddy]

[ID: Two digital drawings.

Image 1: A digital illustration of Kingsley Tealeaf from Critical Role. He is visible from the chest up, grinning and waving at the viewer.

Image 2: A digital illustration of Essek Thelyss from Critical Role. He is visible from the chest up, smiling at the viewer and holding a magical ball of glowing white light in his right hand. End description.]

Kingsley and Essek kofi doodle requests for @wanderingbasilisk!

You can request a doodle from me here!

[ariadne-mouse]

looking for light inside an ocean for the wip ask game? could it be?? mercaleb my beloved??? \o/

This answer is also for @wanderingbasilisk who requested the same WIP!

Yes it is! It is a mercaleb oneshot interlude set within Chapter 21 of the main fic (the happiest time), and is one of my "front burner" WIPs that I am actively trying to finish. I missed getting it posted for Mermay but hey any month can be mermay with the right attitude!

I shared a previous snippet here, and here is another one:

‘Walking is very different from swimming,’ Caleb continued. ‘Often frustrating, and so much slower.  Inefficient and limiting.  It is a wonder you people get anywhere at all.” Essek huffed a laugh.  “Please, do not hold back your thoughts.”   ‘Ah, but you agree with me.’  Caleb’s tail twitched with mischief. ‘You, who would rather swim in the air than walk with your feet.’ “That’s not— it is merely floating.” ‘Swimming.’  “Floating!" ‘If you say so.’ “I do!” ‘...In that case, I must tell you that floating is also something you do in the water.’

[wip ask game]

[spottedenchants]

Lighting! 😁 shock? Static

a hit for lightning! ❄⚡

-

The very first brush is a strike of iced lightning, so exceedingly pleasant he has to pause just to pant.

-

send me a word, any word, and if it's in my WIP i'll answer your ask with the sentence or line it appears in :D