thoughmymindcouldthink

[thoughmymindcouldthink]

1. Fairy Tale Fusion

lost women tell of a mournful wail piercing moonless nights

the hunstmen tell of a fearsome howl haunting sunless shadow

a hooded cloak a woodsman's axe a girl and

a need for answer; the anguished beauty? or the savage beast?

[thoughmymindcouldthink]

Announcing the May Trope Mayhem Prompt List for 2025!

May Trope Mayhem is a multi-fandom/original creation event open to writers, artists, and creators of all kinds! Our creators have shared their favorite tropes, and we’ve put together a list of 31, one per day through the month of May. We encourage creators to join us for this month of fun tropey mayhem.

Our goal is to promote motivation and help with habit building, so we’re encouraging authors to keep their ficlets under 1,000 words, artists to stick to making just a sketch, gif makers to only do a single image, etc., as applicable to whatever you’re making.

This event is primarily held on Tumblr, but you’re welcome to participate anywhere Duck Prints Press has an account (you can see all our current platforms here) and we’ll keep our eyes on our tag everywhere!

How can you participate? It’s easy! There’s just a few simple rules:

write a ficlet or a poem, create art, make a gif, or create any other content that you want, aligned with the prompt for the day!

post your correctly tagged fills to Tumblr, and we’ll reblog them! We’ll reskeet works on Bluesky, retoot those on Mastodon, you get the idea. Note: we do not use Twitter.

you must tag warnings such as gore, MCD, sexual content, etc., so that people can make informed decisions!

please also tag fandom and ship, so people can find what interests them!

we ask that you put the tags at the top of your post, so they’re easy to find.

if you write more than 1k words and post the whole text on Tumblr or wherever, please use a read more if the platform allows.

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Ping us (duckprintspress) or tag your creations “#may trope mayhem” and so we can find them! We’ll reblog all fills that follow the above rules and are posted between May 1st and June 8th, 2025. Posting starts May 1st!

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You don’t have to sign up for May Trope Mayhem, just post your fills. You don’t have to be a member of the Press nor do you have to be following us. You don’t have to be part of a specific fandom. We’re open to all ships, genres, formats, ratings, kinks, etc.! You can post whatever properly tagged content you want. You don’t have to post fills on the corresponding day, though we ask that if you’re creating for a day that hasn’t happened yet, please wait for that day to post.

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This is a low-pressure event, held in good fun, and we look forward to seeing what you create!

MAY TROPE MAYHEM Prompt List Text Version:

Fairy Tale Fusion

Bachelor Auction

Stowaway

Superhero x Supervillain

Inherited Blessing or Curse

Tiny Adorable Eldritch Horror

Love Triangle to Polyamory

Wardrobe Malfunction

Body Guard Character

Fake Dating

Ghost Love Interest

Idiots to Lovers

Unresolved Sexual Tension* (*resolved)

“Who did this to you?”

Character is Conveniently Unrecognizable in Glasses

Breaking the 4th Wall

Time Loop

Wing Grooming

Accidental Summoning

Language Barrier

The House is Alive

Pet Acquisition

A+ Parenting

Mentor and Mentee

Amnesia

Body Swap

Royal x Knight

Second Chance with a Former Love

Identity Porn

Accidental Baby Acquisition

Magical Familiar

[thoughmymindcouldthink]

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Author's Note: This encompasses sessions 6-10, which was typical grindy D&D. I thought I'd try out a sort of montage. It took a lot of work, but I'm pretty happy with how it came out! (Also, I'm pretty sure at some point we negotiated to have some money, but I'm not gonna fix that continuity right now lol)

A different world lay beyond the city walls. Flat plains of dry, red dust stretched forever. Rivers of lava clawed across the dirt, splitting the ground and lighting the twilight. Dark storm clouds gathered in the distance, blue lightning cutting through purple nightfall.

At a command from Xiao, the horses burst into living flame, shedding their mortal skins like coats.

•

“Does anyone else feel like their boots are melting?”

A chorus of “Yes.”

•

A large thoroughfare wound into the distance, visible by its high traffic, even at the late hour. Despite the open plains, the avenue snaked an irregular path, avoiding lava flows and linking scattered underground burrows.

When all agreed it was time to rest, they set camp at the roadside.

•

Heaving breaths, hands on knees.

“So the giant lava wave, is that… typical?”

“It is not.”

“You know, that actually makes me feel kind of special.”

“If this is special attention, I’d rather be unremarkable.”

•

Daylight dawned red across the desert, revealing what the night had hidden. Miles away, a volcano dominated the horizon, petering into a mountain range stretching forever.

What had been uncomfortable at nightfall became misery in daylight. Sunlight blistered exposed skin, breaths steamed in the air. Even Infernal lineages couldn’t help here.

•

“Eyes up!”

Hope’s bow was in her hand, eyes tracking the flaming bird’s movements. Just as she let loose, she saw Lythrana had had the same idea, a roped arrow cutting through the air alongside Hope’s enchanted one. Together, they towed the bird within reach of the others.

“Thank you,” the two orc strangers managed to convey once their cargo was no longer aflame.

•

An outpost bustled in the temperate shelter below ground. Vendor stalls lined the surprisingly spacious place, leaving plenty of room for travelers to set up camp.

•

“She tried to buy a bomb!”

“We could have used it!”

“From sketchy kobolds.”

“I was conning them.”

“Y’all,” Hope interrupted. “What does this have to do with me?”

“Explain why it’s a bad idea,” Jugg said.

Viper scoffed. “Tell her why it’s not!”

Hope stretched her stiff shoulder blades and rolled her neck. “Jugg, Viper is an adult who can spend her money how she likes. Viper, Jugg is willing to share her wisdom; maybe take it into account sometimes.” She turned to continue setting camp. “That said, I’m not sure what the problem is. Unless it’s got a hair-trigger or something….”

She could feel the tension of the argument reigniting at her back.

•

Waiting for nightfall provided a day of rest in the cavern. The cooking fire burned low, a firebird wing crammed onto a spit. Kobold conmen cackled at a campsite across the cavern.

Their pockets were shallow, and all their possessions fit in their rucksacks; they turned to storytelling. A fable of meeting a bear in a forest. A haunting tale of a reflection seeking vengeance. A parable of Pelor.

↢ • ♊︎ • ↣

“What kind of story is that?” Viper asked.

“What?” Aravand startled.

Hope put a hand on Viper’s wrist. “I guess I mean… what’s that kind of story… for?” Viper continued.

“What it’s… for?” The half-orc puzzled.

“Jugg’s was like, a morality story about loyalty or selfishness or something. Mine was just fun. I thought yours would teach a life lesson or something but it was just… sad. And cruel. And boring.”

Hope pinched Viper’s wrist at the last one.

Aravand thought. “I suppose I first heard it as a cautionary tale. The governesses in the castle used it to teach us that our own decisions have consequence, despite the gods’ omnipotence.”

“The castle?” Lythrana’s soft voice startled Hope — she’d thought they were asleep.

Aravand flushed at the slip. “Yes, where I grew up.”

Suddenly intrigued, not least by his reticence, Hope leaned forward and asked in a low voice, “Are you royalty?”

“No!” Aravand shook his head. “No, my family was staff.”

VIper was thoughtful again. “So it is a morality tale?”

“At the very least, it can be used as one, I suppose,” Aravand concluded.

“It may be a historical fable,” Lythrana said, all heads turning to her. “The gods are real, present forces in the world; they’ve caused major historical events. There’s a style of folklore that’s evolved across the ages to explain their more questionable behavior.”

“Wait, what? Rav’s story really happened?” Viper asked.

Lythrana shrugged. “It could’ve.”

“And instead of questioning anything, people bent over backwards to explain it away just to maintain their own faith? That’s wild.”

“Losing faith can be a very painful experience,” Hope said softly. “When something — like your religion— has always been a part of your life, it can become a part of who you are. If you lose it, it feels like losing a part of yourself. I can understand that kinda bone-deep fear.”

“Still. It seems like it should’ve backfired somehow. I get trusting a god that gives you spells or whatever, but when there’s concrete evidence that they’re real AND don’t care about you? That’s a dealbreaker. Especially when there’s other options. Like Jugg — you don’t pray to the gods, right?”

“Personal worship is a complex topic,” Jugg warned.

“But your battle spirits, they’re not divine, right?”

“Technically, no,” Jugg confirmed. “They are my ancestors. But it is my religion; instead of praying to a god, my tribe reveres the flesh and blood who made us.”

“So, on the topic of history,” Aravand said, “does the passage of time not create that same distance with your ancestors as with the divine?”

Jugg’s brow furrowed. “I’m not a great… baseline example, I guess, for my faith. My spirits are less ancestors and more… family.”

“What’s… what’s the difference?” Viper asked. Hope cringed.

“Ancestors implies a long history, right? Generations of relatives that died before you were born. Family is —“ she gestured helplessly — “family.”

Hope watched recognition and grief travel across faces.

“Wait,” Viper said, struggling to comprehend. “So you mean…” she looked around the circle and her question died. “Everyone?” she asked.

“Yes,” Jugg said. “A monster attacked, a few years ago. I guarded the children and elders while everyone fought. No one survived the battle.”

An unsettled silence fell.

“I’m glad they watch over you,” Hope said. “That you can keep them close.”

“Thank them for us,” Lythrana added, and Jugg nodded with a gentle smile.

Darkness began its crawl across the sky, so they each split off to pack their own equipment. As Hope packed her bedroll, Viper hovered.

“How did you know what to say?” she asked.

“What?”

“With Jugg, earlier. How did you know the right thing to say to something like that?”

“Oh.” Hope huffed a strand of hair from her face. “I’ve known about her family for a while. But there’s never really a right thing to say. I just try to say something genuine and hope it’s a comfort.” She turned and sat on her now-packed bedroll. “‘I’m sorry’ is a good start. It shows empathy, that you’re also upset by their pain.”

Viper fiddled with a dagger, her brow furrowed like she had more to say. Hope waited.

“I think…” Viper said, low. “I never… learned how to grieve… right.”

Viper kept her eyes trained on the ground, and Hope masked her surprise. “What do you mean?”

Viper huffed with a shrug and finally lifted her gaze. “I don’t know. I mean, my parents died when I was really little. I don’t remember them, but my brother does. He misses them and I can’t… I couldn’t share that with him.

”And then when Degran died, I just felt rage. Well, I mean, I was scared as it happened, but afterward it was just rage. And even now when I miss him, I can feel grief creeping in, but then I get angry at that feeling, and mad at the people who killed him, and start planning and re-planning revenge.” She took a breath. “I’ve never had that sort of… quiet moment to miss him, I guess.”

Hope was silent as she absorbed Viper’s revelation.

“Well,” Hope started. “There’s no wrong way to have feelings. A lotta people express grief through anger.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, especially when it’s fresh or violent. Jugg’s had some time, and the monster died in the battle, too. From what I can tell, her pain is in missing them, not how she lost them. It seems like y’all have different situations, so it makes sense to feel differently.”

Viper nodded, absorbing the idea. Together they folded and re-folded Hope’s heavy all-weather cloak.

“By the way,” Hope said. “If you ever wanna talk about Degran, I’d love to hear about him. Who he was to you.”

“Oh.” Viper froze. “Thank you,” she said. “And I’m sorry I come to you for everything. I just worry the others don’t exactly… like me.”

“What? Why?”

“It feels like I’m always fighting with everyone.”

“Those are just little disagreements, really.”

“You know what I mean.”

“You can be a little stubborn sometimes. And you push back when they belittle you, which is good! I think we’re all still finding our rhythm. We didn’t exactly plan to be a long-term adventuring party, you know?” Hope chuckled.

Viper sighed. “It’s just exhausting to feel like I have to defend my every move.”

“I get that. And I’ve got your back. If it ever feels like someone’s crossing a line, don’t be afraid to call them on it. We’re stuck together, so it’s better to talk about stuff than to let it fester.”

Viper nodded. Finally, they stuffed the cloak into Hope’s rucksack, and she tightened the buckle.

“And you know what? You did great earlier, asking about Rav’s story. If you keep explaining your thoughts out loud, you’ll get better at it, and you’ll get less pushback. You might even start seeing things from the others’ perspective.”

“So like. Empathy.”

“Yeah. Proactive, intentional empathy.”

↢ • ♊︎ • ↣

Night fell, and the journey continued. In hours, they came upon a low cave mouth, an entrance into the mountain range. The volcano still loomed far off, but subterranean roads seemed the wiser choice.

•

“Ow, fuck! Don’t punch the bats!”

“The wh— Ow!”

•

Well-trod stone led to a rope bridge guarded by a fire giant. A forty-foot chasm of lava bubbled softly below. The bridge looked barely wide enough for the horses, let alone sturdy enough for the cart. Beyond the bridge was a town, their first taste of civilization in weeks.

Xiao spoke with the fire giant — a town guard, it seemed — and the party was permitted to pass.

•

“Did anyone else see that?”

“See what?”

“You know what, nevermind.”

•

The town was ramshackle and young, built upon the travel at the gates. Blacksmiths and forges were built into the stone walls of the cavern and the scent of smoke hung on the air. General stores, post offices, stables, inns, all the necessities one could want filled the open space of the vast cavern and composed the bulk of the town.

The infrastructure was clumsy and the streets wobbled, but business was booming. After striking out at a number of inns, the party shifted to a word-of-mouth approach and entered a casino.

They froze at the door, overwhelmed by black and orange. The walls were carpeted with the black-orange-white of tiger stripes, and the felted card tables matched. The floor, in contrast, had a subtle black-on-black diamond pattern. Lampshades and tablecloths were orange, giving the place a soft glow. After their eyes adjusted, the party fanned out.

•

“Ye’ve got no ♍︎♒︎◆♦︎⌘☐♋︎♒︎ to your name,” a gruff orc-looking person was scolding Lythrana. “How are we to know ye won’t fleece us?” Hope was across the room in seconds.

“I’d just like an honest game,” Lythrana said, angling for a seat at a poker-style table.

“Would you mind teaching my friend to play?” Hope asked with a glinting smile as she slung her arm across Lythrana’s shoulders. “We’re new around here.”

The orc-person and their companions grumbled, but everyone settled back at the table. “But no funny business,” the orc-person said, a stern finger in Lythrana’s face. “You neither,” they pointed at Hope, who stood behind Lythrana’s seat.

Since she wasn’t a player, Hope couldn’t join them at the table. But she didn’t want to leave Lythrana to the strangers’ mercy. Her fidgeting drew the her friend’s attention.

“Here, be my good luck charm, baby,” Lythrana said as she pulled Hope into her lap. Hope rolled with it believably, but knew she was blushing.

With the two of them at the table, Lythrana could focus on the game while Hope dug for information from the locals. Eventually, the orc-person gave them directions to an inn called the Careless Dandelion, even disclosing that the owner often took alternative payments — favors and whatnot.

Ultimately, Lythrana broke even, but the table wanted a finders’ fee for the recommendation. “Nice try,” Hope told them with a wink, but flipped the orc-person a gold coin anyway.

[thoughmymindcouldthink]

the scene i'm hammering at right now is a conversation between viper and hope with a lotta beats, but near the end, viper brings up a sort of insecurity abt her emotional intelligence and it sorta doubles as an infodump of the important bits of her background, and she's not shared much up until this point, so i keep picturing it as viper rambling anxiously while hope sits there with a buffering wheel above her head until her brain catches something viper said and it spills out of her mouth

[thoughmymindcouldthink]

thank god for this font or i would've written nothing today. i think i just wrote "snails don't have much in the way of offensive weaponry" but i am NOT going to check

[thoughmymindcouldthink]

brain at peak performance for writing

[thoughmymindcouldthink]

you know its bad for you when you start coming up with aus for your own ocs

[thoughmymindcouldthink]

oh my god i finally have a whole cohesive singular chapter draft. a whole One Chapter draft. oh thank god. it's been eighty-four years.

[thoughmymindcouldthink]

kjhguyf the way i was just tempted to post an excerpt as if the entire thing isn't goin on here when its done kljhgyftdr

[thoughmymindcouldthink]

can't tell if this scene feels so much better because it is better or because it was like a breakthrough moment

like i definitely hated what the scene was before, but i'm not sure if this version is genuinely better or just not blocking me like the previous version was.

it's def still hard cuz it's like every main character's lore dump in one convo but it feels like progress. but it also feels good and i don't trust that that good is not just. progress.

also i'm really struggling with individuals' voices lmao

[thoughmymindcouldthink]

if this were original fiction i would simply not put this scene in this chapter. but it is not. it has a basis. i do not want to shove it elsewhere because that is not where it happened. this is a good place for it to happen. the words are simply not making it happen

[thoughmymindcouldthink]

me: this chapter is taking FAR too long

me @ me: this chapter is four in-game sessions calm DOWN

[thoughmymindcouldthink]

Another darling killed

Glancing down into the glow as they passed, Hope saw one giant black tentacle the size of a tree trunk crest the liquid’s surface, and hastened to the other side of the bridge.

[thoughmymindcouldthink]

i didn't start the timer

to do list

write for an hour

photoshop for an hour

schedule a tattoo

[thoughmymindcouldthink]

to do list

write for an hour

photoshop for an hour

schedule a tattoo

[thoughmymindcouldthink]

killing a darling, so here it is in memoriam

Their first full day of travel began just as before, but quickly devolved into misery. What had been merely warmth through their soles was now akin to walking barefoot over flaming coals. The sunlight blistered exposed skin. Lythrana would only walk in the shade of the cargo, and Jugg, whose entire ancestral line was bred for cold mountain climes, appeared to be literally melting. Even Hope grew sluggish and overheated, despite her infernal lineage. The purpose of the caverns was now obvious, and the party quickly agreed to make camp at the next and wait for nightfall.