#for this set i've picked some of my fave shots

[hotvintagepoll]

hotvintagepoll Hot Men Tournament rundown thoughts

I promised a final recap post and here it is! I'll try to cover the questions I saw the most as we closed out the bracket, reveal my ✨secret faves✨, and talk about the biggest surprises and turnarounds I saw in the brackets.

Yes, this will get silly.

ROUND 1

As I've mentioned before, I worked off submissions for who to include in the bracket, so if your fave was missing—that's why. I used submitted pics when I could, but many submissions didn't have one, so I tried to find decent ones in the couple of days I had to prep the first round (I didn't always succeed). By decent, I mean pics where 1) I could see the hot man's face, so not too much moody lighting, and 2) hopefully conveyed something about his vibe, even if it was a funny thing (yes, I showed Howard Keel in full Shakespeare get-up—I'm not beyond putting up a pic because I think it's funny). I didn't know all of these hotties going in, so some I had to guess with, but when I could I tried to pick shots that had a touch of the humor, class, or genre of the hot man.

For Round 1 and Round 2, I grouped the hotties by each decade, so only '60s actors ran against '60s actors, '50s against '50s, etc. Male beauty standards shifted pretty dramatically over the sixty years this tournament covers, and I didn't think it was fair to pit dramatically different styles of beauty against each other immediately.

I pitted hot men against each other based on opposing energies—hot vs cold, elegant vs rough, comedy vs drama, etc.. I wanted the polls to be interesting and I've never liked brackets where everyone is clearly in different "lanes" until the finals! I also wanted to make polls where I couldn't tell which way they would swing, so by setting matchups that felt opposite but equal, I got to be surprised by the bracket results too.

The only reason we had any three-way matchups is because the amount of men submitted didn't round to a nice bracket number. I don't like them generally and find them really hard to balance.

Secret faves from Round 1—I am a James Coburn girlie and knew he would die immediately, so that was not a shock but a bummer. I similarly knew Robert Preston is only magical to people who have seen him do His Little Dance Routines in That One Iowa Musical, but it would have been nice for him to last longer.

Surprises—Jeremy Brett was a last-minute add and I didn't think he really had a shot, so I put him in as a third wheel on the Sean Connery/Dean Martin matchup. Little did I count on the Granada girlies. (Always count on the Granada girlies.) The Elvis/Peter Falk poll was the first one to gain any momentum—Elvis was winning for the first 24 hours but then, my god, did Peter fight back. I didn't expect the Tab/Toshiro poll to make that bad a mincemeat out of Tab—people have different tastes, and I thought the people who like blonde sunny All American white boys might turn out for The Blonde Sunny All American White Boy. Sorry, Tab. I hope you've peeled yourself off the sidewalk by now. And, of course, I was SHOCKED and APPALLED that James Cagney would be obliterated by, of all people, Mr. Bing Crosby.

SHADOW BRACKET

The fervor of the Harold Lloyd and Fredric March people inspired the shadow bracket, and I couldn't be happier at the way it's gone. You were right, the original photos I had for them did suck. Cunty Harold Lloyd in his little life guard uniform was a revelation.

ROUND 2

For Round 2 I'd gotten a better sense of who was doing well and who was not, so a little of that came into play, but I mostly paired on vibes again. (I genuinely think this is a good way to make a fun, challenging bracket.)

Secret faves—Noooo not hot dilf Dick Van Dyke don't take my hot inventor dilf away uwu!!! (He was up against Marlon Brando. I would have been shocked if he'd won but for a minute there, a glorious second, it was possible.) I am also a big old softie for David Niven's particular brand of repression to the point of volcanic rupture, but he is one of many hotties who does not look good without moving and speaking so I figured he would be going.

So much beef—hey! hey you. I ran a poll asking if we are horny for dancers. Yes, was the resounding poll response. Where, then, did all the fucking dancers go? This round we lost Donald O'Connor, Fred Astaire, Harold Nicholas; Sammy Davis Jr., Danny Kaye, Frank Sinatra, and Bing Crosby all sneak into this category as well, by token of having been in the kind of big MGM bang-a-pan-and-put-on-a-show beloved bedlams we all watch at Christmastime. Round 2 voters HATED musical matchups. Except for one.

The one—SOUND OF MUSIC, the voters said, WE LOVE SOUND OF MUSIC. we will KILL the man responsible for salad dressing because of the SOUND OF MUSIC. every other dance man can die but THIS man dances a FOLK DANCE with JULIE ANDREWS in a GARDEN. I did not go into this poll with strong opinions about Christopher Plummer or Paul Newman but my god did I leave having heard all of them.

Surprises—James Edwards/Anthony Perkins matchup was a nail biter! Conrad vs Oscar kept me up at nights. Surprised to see Basil Rathbone survive against Sabu Dastagir—both very fetching, but Sabu had some top-tier propaganda. Cesar Romero put up a surprisingly stiff fight against Cary Grant (an omen for things to come).

Oh horrors—horror heroes surprisingly fell all over the place. I was sure either Bela Lugosi or Turhan Bey would sweep their three-way matchup, but Michael Redgrave of all people carried through; Boris Karloff went down against Johnny Weismuller (while holding hands with fellow fallen hottie Fred Astaire), but at least we got his guacamole recipe before he went. Delighted to see that the Venn diagram of the coalitions who support horror hero Vincent Price and funny lil guy Donald O'Connor is a circle.

Secret faves pt 2—oh yeah, I fucking love Danny Kaye and Donald O'Connor. RIP funny lil kings.

ROUND 3

For some reason this was the hardest one to make matchups for. Oh no, all the men are hot.

Secret faves—Michael Redgrave i love you SO much you're SUCH an idiot, how did you make it as far as round 3. I want you to sweep the whole thing but you should NOT be surviving this. I love you, here's a kiss, go home.

Surprises—Marlon Brando is gone! Errol Flynn is gone! Christopher Plummer exhausted himself beating the organic oreos man to death and goes out with a whimper. Beginning to actually see the roots of #mifunesweep as Tyrone Power, a hot man very different from Burt Lancaster, who was in turn very different from Tab Hunter, also gets swept under the wheels of the unbeatable toshirobus. Conrad Veidt finds that no amount of purring svelte eccentricity compares to the people who will fuck a young Lt. Columbo.

SHADOW BRACKET 2

Cannot believe it but Veidt loses this one too. Perkins sweeps and becomes Prince of the Shadow Realm!

ROUND 4

At this point I've set a formal bracket that I'm following.

Secret faves—this isn't secret anymore, but losing Jimmy Stewart hurt.

Surprises—The Gene Kelly/Jeremy Brett matchup was the diciest one all round, moving back and forth between the two by sometimes .01%. Far more surprising, however, was Cary Grant getting eliminated before the quarterfinals. Grant has never been my type, but he is famous for being THE type, so while the writing had been on the wall the whole tournament—how on earth did Michael Redgrave even get 36% in his matchup?!—seeing Grant go down was a SHOCKER. Other fallen hotties included Gregory Peck, James Dean, Harry Belafonte, and Sessue Hayakawa. Peter Falk finally met his match in Omar Sharif.

QUARTERFINALS

Secret faves—I don't know if it counts as a secret fave, tbh, as my horses in the race really went out with Stewart, but I do have a soft spot here worth mentioning. Here's my childhood dog, Keaton.

The resemblance is truly striking, and yes, he was short, fast, and not prone to smiling.

Surprises—I couldn't predict how any of these matchups would go down, but I was most interested in Keaton vs Sharif, as they are both SO hot in SUCH different ways.

SEMIFINALS:

This was such a good batch of semifinalist contestants. By this point I think we could all tell Mifune was unstoppable (though I thought Sharif might give him a run for his money), but I really didn't know which way Robeson vs Poitier would flip.

FINALS:

I wanted Sidney Poitier to pull a last-minute sweep out of nowhere, but alas, Toshiro is just THAT GOOD (maybe. I will admit that I find Toshiro's domination a little hard to believe, given the variety and hotness of all his competitors; the man is hot but all these men are hot). I'm still happy with how the tournament went.

FINAL MEDITATIONS:

Biggest shock of a dropout: the loss of Paul Newman

Biggest "you people have no taste": the loss of James Cagney

Biggest victory: Paul Robeson making it to the semifinals over often-assumed champion Gregory Peck

Biggest coalition who deserve justice: dancing men

Biggest ask character: vents anon (currently eating Laurence Olivier)

Biggest, uhh, anything: how many of you are here! I genuinely thought it would be me and 10 other people voting for the whole tournament. I'm thrilled it took off like this!

I think that's everything, but I'm happy to answer addl asks. And THANK YOU to everyone for your tags, rants, impassioned propaganda, beautiful pics, and love for the hot men! See you for the ladies!

#hotvintagethoughts

[theviridianbunny]

SCAPBOOKING - JUNE 2023

A collection of scans from my current scrapbook. Just a bunch of doodles, stickers and things that make me happy/ inspire me

notes/credits to follow under the cut:

AGHHH HI IT'S BEEN FOREVER SINCE I'VE DONE ONE OF THESE!!

a few credits and notes:

WOW - what a fun few months it's been - Not really done too much work on this scrap boom for a while (just because my brain is always in 50 places at once ahaahah!!) - had a few problems the with the scanner at my local library again (but it was still fun trying it out !!) - i am aware a few of the pages look rather... blank - I may go back and add to them soon- I think today it was just a "oH MY GOD I NEED TO GET SCANS DONE AHDHJHDFDHFJD !!!" and I BATTLED WITH THE SCANNER AND SCRAMED A LITTLE INTERNALLY BUT HERE WE ARE--- WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

prited out a few of my fave jackie / viridian screenshots- also a few solo shots of my best girlie !! also went mad with stickers because you can NEVER have too many of them !! also collected the cinema tickets from when i saw john wick 4 and across the spriderverse ~

hand written note on the first page is from my dear friend bluefayt (linked her caard) - above that is a picture of me from comic con last year (taken by my fantastic irl bestie @withoutyouimsaskia <333 i love you aaaaa - we saw a bunch of star wars cosplayers and this person cosplaying as darth vader was posing for photos - they LARPed with me for a moment anf that photo was taken mid LARP - oh what an experice that was ~) sorry if you cant see it very well because of the damn contrast settings (tried to edit the scans but they ended up looking worse... so just posted the raw ones!!)

The xfiles tea packet is from @beastlybeverages !! I bought a pack of the xfiles themed tea last year after going to comic con - its a tea I really really enjoyed !!

The fith page - on the right - the postcard with the black and pink squares !! thats some serious art but my irl bestie Tim (aka 1710.film) - the post card was from an exhibition that happened when we were both at uni!!! Tim is not on tumblr- but please do check out his work- He is a photographer / conceptual artist - and one of my best dearest and lovely friends <3 you can find him on intagram here

sticker of the iron bull on page 4 is by @seonysketches - the manga ladies on pages 4 , 6 and 7 are by @pinkapplejam (find her esty here) - most of the other stickers i just had laying around - or picked up random packs in charity shops !! post cards and art cards too !! i found a whole pack of fairyloot(?) prints in a charity shop for like £2.49 and was like YOOO NEED - the art on the first pahe on the left side is of one of the main characters from these violent delights by chloe gong (WHICH I AM HOPING TO START READING SOON AGHHHH!))))

ugh um if you're at the end if this rammble your're the real mvp - thank you for coming to my ted talk wooOOOO !!!!!!!

#scrapbooking #journaling #oc: viridian #traditional art #art on tumblr #cp2077 #bunny makes art #oc: rowan hawkmore #demon slayer #cyberpunk 2077 #jackie welles #otp: to this #scrapbook journal #idk how to tag this aghhh #bunny screams into the void

[chungledown-bimothy]

Are you still doing d20 hot takes? These are admittedly lukewarm (some salsa that everyone at the table can enjoy).

1) I watch for the character arcs/development, not the story, so I really enjoyed Neverafter.

2) Both campaigns set in Calorum have been really hard to get into, even though they’re really good. But I also don’t like GoT so maybe that’s on me.

3) Hard agree with everyone who said they don’t really want sequel campaigns. I would, however, be down for the odd one shot a la holiday MisMag or Boys’ Night.

4) Coffin Run is so slept on, it’s not even funny. Jasmine’s props, the letters, the Dracula wings lighting, gorgeous sets & minis, incredible RP all around, great bits, all the campy horror movie references… Truly one of my faves.

5) I really wanna see Aabria or another guest DM do a full length/over 10 eps season. I feel like Aabria’s DM style would do well with a few more eps so she can explore more. And it would just be nice to hang out with a guest DM a bit more.

6) Confession: Never finished UC2 or Pirates =< UC2 was hard to pick up with less likeable characters (to me) + feeling like Chap 1 wrapped up so nicely + I’m bad with interpersonal conflict. And then I never got past the start of ep 1 of Pirates cause bad British accents is my pet peeve and B Dave’s character was first introduced 😭

oh i'm ALWAYS here for d20 hot takes. (god i love sam says that was so fucking funny, especially because what lou then gave was the most mild gossip i've ever heard)

1- completely valid. and to a large extent, i do too- i did ultimately enjoy the season, primarily because i love the characters so much.

2- skill issue. calorum campaigns slay absolute penis. (for real though totally fair, they're not for everyone. but i do think it's interesting in conjunction with watching for character arcs/development, bc i think acoc in particular is one of the best with that)

3- ooh yes one-shots are a different thing entirely, always a fun time.

4- coffin run FUCKS. my favorite non-intrepid heroes campaign, and it's only acofaf that comes sort of close. everyone needs to watch it, and if they've already watched it and don't appreciate it, they should try again. i could talk forever about it and how great it is.

5- yes. a million times yes please give us 20 episodes with aabria gming i'm begging. and in general yeah i'd love to see a guest dm have more time and space to flex. (except mercer please no more mercer in the dome)

6- i feel you. it took me a long time to get through tuc 2, this is a cody walsh hate account (half joking). and it took 3 attempts to get through pirates as well. honestly what got me through it was myrtle, cheese, and the little bit of garthy that we got. i found the other characters kinda annoying, big same on that accent, bob's was grating, too.

#dimension 20 #neverafter #coffin run #aabria iyengar #tuc 2 #pirates of leviathan #a crown of candy #the ravening war

[avengersnewb]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this (or when you feel up to it!), reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love!

aww thank you sabre for the ask, you know how much I love self recs :uwu:

alright so at first I thought it would be hard to pick only my fave five but it was surprisingly easy? :))) I think I picked the ones that I still look back at and think wow, how did I come up with all of that?

Seeking Companionship is a 616 epistolary fic which I really hoped more people would read because it's just pure joy to read if I say so myself, it's funny and engaging and I really like how I've managed to get their tones in writing letters in 1980s, and there is some innuendo and some raw insecurities and self-worth issues and of course a happy ending, all told in letters. oh and ID porn of course! (Rated T, 4.2k words)

Restless Gravity is my first RBB, a sci-fi omegaverse arranged marriage fic with omega Tony and warlord Steve in space, an AU of X-Factor 231, where Steve is a scary humanoid who is known for hating humans. I just have no idea how I came up with many of those ideas and images, and I really love the part of the fic where Tony transitions from 'I have to live with this thing' to him deciding that 'he seems to be very decent and I think I'm falling for him'. I just love that universe, I always think if I ever turn any of my fics into an original this would be the perfect candidate :) oh it also has ID porn, and amnesia. super tropey :) (Rated M, 10k)

Love of Inconvenience is an MCU arranged marriage, omegaverse, historical AU from 1920 happening near where I live in Australia, in a place called Fort Nepean which was the place where the first shot fired by the British Empire in World War I. It has a quarantine station and a beach and as soon I set foot in it, I was like yes, a small immigrant Steve fic with gun installer Tony. I just love the world of this fic, and the way they're so breathtakingly gone for each other but each think there is no way the other wants them for real. I actually made the mutual pining so real that I was unable to actually fix it for like a year before I finally managed to write the ending to this little thing :) (Rated T, 4.8 k)

Unintended Side Effects an MCU medkink fic, with bottom Steve and young Dr. Stark, with and ID twist that left all the commenters in awe (I'm not making this up, you can go check the comments :)) ), written for your birthday. to this day, I can't really figure out how I put so many words together about a...well... about the thing that happened in the fic. but I did, and I'm so glad that it exists because it's a rather niche kink and by the steady stream of readers that check it out 3 years later, I guess our people are also happy that it exists. (Rated E, 9k)

Quarantined Together an MCU canon adjacent AU about Steve and Tony hooking up one night and being forced to quarantine together for 14 days, with lots and lots of porn and lots and lots of fluff, which was intended to be a soft escape from the terrible times it was being written in. I'm really proud of it, both because I wrote and finished a long fic, and also because of the crazy concepts I put into it and I think they mostly worked in context, like the way I love yous were said, or the double ID porn roleplay. (Rated E, 40k)

well looks like I really love all of my ID porn fics :D

#stony #stevetony #stony fic #stony fic rec #ven replies #sabrecmc

[swiftviolets]

top 23 screenshots of 2023 <3

i was tagged by @applesaucesims a while ago to share my top 23 screenshots of 2023 and it was actually pretty hard to pick just 23!!!! i've seen a lot of people do them by month but because i made this blog in like may i'm just post them all as one :) some are raw some are edited its a real mixed bag i've seen a lot tagged in this already but if you haven't done this yet consider yourself tagged <3!!!

i thought she just looked cool here :(

2. i like the vibe of it and again i just thought she looked cool here lol. i wanna remake this so bad

3. i really like the angle i got w this, like its from elvis' pov. he wants attention but neither are giving it him

4. this was initially from when i started to make pictures to go around lori's apartment but never got around to finishing them. its a little lori and her oldest brother before he goes off to fight in korea :)

5. elvis was not having being held!!!

6. this was when i first started messing around with tool and i just love this shot a lot

7. one of my faves of all time!!!! i cant wait to add more context to this as i get deeper into four to one

8. i was trying so hard to get that feel of an up and coming band and their first album. i looked at a lot of old 60s garage band album covers and some were so raw like literally just a bunch of guys posing somewhere and thats what i attempted to duplicate with this :)

9. i could've honestly included the whole post this screen was from but out of all of them this was my favourite. idk i just like its the first little glimpse you get of new orleans before the street scenes. i was trying to set the mood a little lol

10. literally not a thought inside his little orange head <3

11. i used another angle of this pose for the initial post its from but idk i also liked this one a lot too i think lou's awkwardness makes it for me lol

12. i really like how andy looks back to lori as she was leaving. he looks so helpless and ideally he'd have gone after her but a) he didn't want to deal with her anger and b) he was really not in the mood to receive any shit from the rest of the group, and out of the 2 he's not ready to face lori's wrath!!!! i also like the couple on the left bc they could legit be talking about anything

13. the way they're looking here.... ough. in the story post they take a few moments to watch lori pass before initially approaching her. the look they give her is mixed with the displeasure of spending their friday night tailing their boss' 'girlfriend' and just your typical male gaze of watching girls go by

14. i think i peaked with this shot. she was literally just getting into a car what an absolute icon

15. & 16. the way she looks at him and the way he looks at her...... chefs kiss. she's annoyed and he can tell but that doesn't stop him with appreciating how she looks

17. its my blog header image for a reason <3

18. i love this little moment of intimacy between them. their relationship can feel more like an acquaintanceship at times, especially with how marco speaks to lori and how he treats her. i like in this shot it captures a rare moment in their relationship where lori is genuinely sweet and he's soaking it all in. also i really like both their side profiles hehe

19. i was starting to take screens for a post i was going to make then i just forgot about it but i really like this and how it's a little sneak peak on what to expect later on in four to one :)

20. i just love how the preset i used made this screen look tbh

21. just a cute lil gameplay moment no poses or anything just love between a girl and her cat <3

22. & 23. taken from lori's magazine spread i just really like how candid they look both look

#thank you soooooo much for the tag it was fun!!!! #tag game

[talldecafcappuccino]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks for the tag, @chainofclovers!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

41

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 301,363

3. What fandoms do you write for?

It's really just Ted Lasso. I wrote a bit for The Lizzie Bennet Diaries years and years ago and then a couple one-offs for Schitt's Creek and The 100, but it wasn't much.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

my body over yours

calamine

when we were young

It's Great to Stay Up Late

love the lasso way

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, but I fell off for a while at the end of the last year. I feel weird not responding to comments and also it's just really nice to chat with people in comments. It's where I first met many of my fandom friends! Alas, it's harder to respond to comments on a multichapter because the story isn't done and I don't want to give anything away so I'm just like repeatedly saying "thanks for sticking with this fic!!"

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

home again - I pretty much only write happy endings, but the most open-ended thing I wrote was this post-finale fic for Ted Lasso that I suppose some people might find angsty for reasons (it's really not angsty, but like...I could see making an argument for it).

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

leader of the pack - To me this is the happiest possible ending to AppleTV+ Ted Lasso: a future fic with Ted and Rebecca happy together, splitting their time between London and Kansas until Ted's eventual retirement from coaching, but they still visit the games in the fan section (where the season ticket holders have a permanent seat saved for Ted).

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not that I'm aware of.

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

Not really. I've only written it as part of a larger story and I guess I don't tap into writing it very easily without a larger story to frame it (basically I need a whole lot of build up or context before I can write it which I suspect is thanks to demisexuality lmao)

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

I’ve never set out to write a crossover, but I realized after the fact that my Ted Lasso goes on Queer Eye fic is in fact a crossover.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

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

No, just brainstormed with a friend or had a convo that sparked something, but never actually co-written anything with someone else.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

I don't have one! I don't like picking favorites in general and for ships there are different faves for different things and different faves for different seasons of life. I'm currently hyper-fixated on Ted/Rebecca, but that doesn't necessarily make them my all-time favorite ship.

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

Hmm idk. I think the ones I want to finish are still able to be finished and any other ones I'm good with them remaining WIPs. I only have one active Ted/Rebecca WIP posted on ao3 and I plan to finish it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think it’s dialogue. My honors English teacher said I was funny once and I've latched on to that as well.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I tend to get focused on plot and what's happening and I find it harder to just write someone's thoughts and emotions without it veering into melodrama (or at least it feels like melodrama to me).

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

I think it's very cool if you are someone who knows another language or has the resources to do so and it works for the character/story/fic. Unfortunately I am terrible at languages (including my own) so I'll just appreciate it when someone else does it.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I definitely wrote some very terrible HP one shots when I was like...13?

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

Idk about favorite but I'm proud I finished my bodyguard au the way I wanted to which makes it a fave based on that alone.

leader of the pack might be my personal fave because it's how I initially pictured an idealistic happy ending for the show (post-season 1)

But also I liked writing lots of my fics for different reasons. I really truly hate picking favorites!!

Tagging: I'm late to this and I feel like everyone I know who writes has been tagged already 😅 Please participate if you want to!!

#questions for fic writers

[boleynns]

Do u have fic recommendations?

I'm gonna assume this is for Daemon/Rhaenyra since that has been all I've talked about for months haha. And definitely have plenty of recs! In general I love reading really long fic (like, in really popular pairings I will set my parameters to see 50k+ or 100k+ fics only...), so due to the relative newness of this ship's popularity, most of my recs are incomplete. I also have way more that I am subscribed to that absolutely could be faves eventually, but that are just a little too early in the story to guarantee.

Canon/Canon!AU

To Ashes (Series) by Emerald_Aphelion (~30k, series incomplete but has 3 complete works so far) -- AU from Daemon's return from the Stepstones, basically where Daemon and Rhaenyra are just a little more thoughtful and forward-thinking within their relationship and with the political situation they're in. Established Relationship Vibes but also slow burn romance at the same time, they make each other smarter and better by working together, Rhaenyra bonds with baby!Aegon AND Rhea, Daemon picks Rhaenyra up and puts her on a table and calls her his queen at one point (hot), and this is the ideal Dance fix-it.

my eyes are aching to see you--126AC by SeveDeChampagne (~2.5k, complete) -- set between Episode 7 and 8, a very spicy First Time Post-Birth one-shot that contains multiple sentences that are some of the most intensely romantic things I've ever read. Considering my love of long fics, it takes a special kind of short fic for me to be so moved and attached.

How to Win Thrones and Ensnare Dragons by Writer_in_the__Dark (~15k, incomplete) -- Time Travel AU (my kink) where Rhaenyra is reborn into her baby-self. Only a few chapters in but I am HOOKED by the writing style and characterization of The Early Years dynamic, and am so looking forward to seeing how this evolves as time moves forward -- but based on the writing so far, I know it will be wonderful.

put down that gravestone by darkgods (~35k, incomplete) -- Post-Episode 4 AU, where Daemon went back to the Vale and Rhea didn't die, and then Rhaenyra gave birth to very Daemon-looking twins (wonder how that happened!), and then 10 years later Rhea has dead and Viserys invites Daemon back to be Hand. This story is so well-written and rich with character detail, I honestly just want to re-read it over and over! It has so beautifully dove into Rhaenyra's psyche, Daemon's personality (from his own perspective and from others), built a very sad and realistic portrait of Jace and Luke's lives as outcasts in court, set up some deliciously hurtful and complicated strings to unravel between Daemon and Rhaenyra due to this inciting situation, and has already indulged my pathological need for some Outside POV content by adding in Luke's (very well-written) perspective on a dinner scene. The fact that the chapter count is currently at 4/36 and we already have 35k words has me so hyped, you guys don't understand how badly I need piles and piles of giant fics.

Significance by AmazingAngie (~21k, incomplete) -- AmazingAngie is amazing because of how quickly she writes such amazing material! This is a Soulmate!AU, and this one in particular is just so insanely lovely so far! I'm a sucker for a "meant to be" setup so I will always love those from the get go, but I especially love the nuance in this story, and the ways that knowing that they are the endgame changes the trajectory of all of these characters lives.

you came/you called by scarlettscribbles (~10k, incomplete) -- basically an Episode 10 AU, kind of, but beyond that I just suggest reading it and going with the flow, because once I was like 80% into this first chapter I finally realized what was happening and it was so exciting. Needless to say I am pumped for the rest of the story.

Modern!AU

No joke I have literally NEVER liked Modern!AU's before, except for with 'Merlin' (because even if it wasn't explicitly stated, I could pretend that it was Reincarnation). It has just never appealed to me, until now with Daemon and Rhaenyra -- because they are just that powerful. Also none of my Modern!AU faves are any of that "Oh, actually, Daemon is adopted, or they're third cousins twice removed, or Daemon is only a ~symbolic uncle", like, we all know what we're doing here 😂

Lets Ignite Under the Ember Skies by grandlovescheme (26k, complete) -- So freaking good! The uncertainty, the jealousy, the tension, the ~vibes, the ~sexy ~vibes, it is a tightly-written and very well-characterized modern version of these characters and I love it.

Petrichor by sweetestsorrows (katschako) (~23k, incomplete) -- one of the chapters made me cry for real. Very intense "we are way too close to be appropriate, and it is causing angst, but i wanna be closer..." vibes, and I am so here for it. It really is wonderfully translating their bond to a modern lens, and all the problems and tensions that would come along with that dynamic. It made me go "omg that is so intensely romantic", it made me literally cry, it made me go "ooh ~spicy", its got it all.

the beauty queen in tears by writingwhatidream (~30k, incomplete) -- AHHH I am obsessed with this story (almost as obsessed as Crispin is with Rhaenyra in it...). To try and sum it up, it is a Modern!AU A/B/O Royal Family fic...but that all sounds so much more reductive than it actually reads. For me, it is: delicious Daemon/Rhaenyra "Us Against the World" vibes, where even if they're not physically together they are 100% together, with a healthy (or rather unhealthy, in-context) dose of creepy Outsider POV, and the promise of Alpha/Omega-induced drama, love, possessiveness, and danger to come. It is juicy and beautifully written, and is giving me so many things I want all in one place.

#thank the gods for writers writing the best stuff for free #hotd #daemon x rhaenyra #there is so much good fic happening i am truly personally blessed to read it

[maverik6464]

9 people you’d like to get to know better

tagged by @neotula

Three Ships:

Look I've never been much for shipping in media like I can pick some that I like. But I've never really clicked on shipping. But I guess there are some that sorta keep my attention for longer periods of time

Harrow/Gideon from The Locked Tomb. They are kinda like. IT. You know. So much of the core message of the books is tied up in those two characters

Lightcannon (Jinx/Lux) from League of Legends. Idk why but i just find it kinda funny in a good way right. Like i wont lie neither Jinx nor Lux are my fave characters by a long shot in their own right but shipped together its always entertaining.

Bumbleby (Blake/Yang) from RWBY. I haven't watched RWBY in years I haven't really been a fan in years too I've unfollowed almost every RWBY blog i used to follow but like. Sometimes things that are important to you when you're 15 kinda just stick hey

First Ever Ship: Uhhhhhh I'm gonna say FemShep/Liara from Mass Effect cos it was the first game with romance I ever played and I loved it but like once again shipping isn't really the way i engage with media so

Last Song: Real answer? The Big Breakfast by Tom Cardy, but thats almost more of a musical skit than like. A Song. So last Song was i think Themata by Karnivool? Karnivool is great

Currently Reading: Clariel by Garth Nix. I love the Old Kingdom books and I didn't know there was more after the trilogy and the short story for ages, I only found out a couple years ago when i bought the box set but I never got around to reading it, so I finally started recently and it's good!

Currently Watching: Frieren: Beyond Journeys End. I watch very little like. Actual Media. Like TV or anime or movies, i mostly play games and watch youtube, but Frieren is really fucking good lmao

Currently Consuming: Ok i don't know if this is meant to mean food or like. Other media. So food wise I just finished some left over shakshuka i made, and other media wise I've played 18 hours of Risk of Rain Returns in the two days its been out so.

Currently Craving: A can of Coke bc i forgot to get one to eat with the shakshuka and now i really want one but I've finished eating and I'm about to leave the house to i might not.

@bakuraryxu @lawrencegarte @spainambriz @arinaxiv @typefeisu do this, i can't be bothered to find a full 9 people cos i was supposed to leave the house 5 minutes ago LMAO

#ask game

[virtie333]

For the One-shot ask game... you have so many to choose from! I'm going to pick more than one, but don't feel obliged to do them all!

Rosemary for Remembrance: 2, 12, 22

The Back Corner: 4, 14, 20

And so I don't choose just smut, A Matter of Trust (my fave!): 6, 16, 21

Well, anon, since this is the only ask I got, I'm going to answer them all! Thank you for brightening my day!

Rosemary for Remembrance

2. Where did the title came from?

I had just watched Daisy Ridley's Ophelia the week before I wrote this, so that is where the title came from!

12. What scene was the easiest to write?

Believe it or not, I think the scene where Poe confronts Rey about his sex dream was the easiest. Dialog is always easy for me, especially when it gets emotional. I don't know what that says about me.

22. If you would rewrite it, how would you rewrite it?

Nope. I've never had any desire to rewrite any of my stories. Once they are posted/published, that's it. It is what it is and I have no interest in changing it.

The Back Corner

4. How long did it take to write it?

Oh, boy. I wrote this one two years ago, so I don't really remember. It was for Damerey Week, and I wrote a story for every day, so I'm going to assume I wrote it in a day or two. Maybe a bit longer, as I made this one in 5 parts. I probably wrote a part and then put it away for a while, like I do with chapters on my long fics.

14. What scene is the most different to the original plan?

Hmmmm... I don't think too much was different. Every part had to result in them in the Back Corner, so every scene had to end up in the bookstore. Only one started outside of it, actually, and I had to get them to the bookstore at some point, so I think the attempted break-in was a plot point that came along as I was writing.

20. What part of the oneshot are you most proud of?

Honestly? I was pretty proud of the fact that I kept them from kissing through the whole thing! That was hard! I love the idea of kissing Poe, so it's very hard to NOT write it! But for the story to end the way I wanted, they couldn't do it. No matter how much they wanted to!

A Matter of Trust

6. Have you written similar oneshots before?

No! This one was one of my most unique stories! I had never written anything like it before and I absolutely loved it!

16. What character was the hardest to write for?

Well, at this point I had been writing Rey and Poe for a long time. As I always try to do, I try to keep them as close to their movie characters as I can, trying me best to imagine how the Rey and Poe we all know would react to this kind of situation. It actually wasn't too difficult, as the Dystopian setting isn't too far removed from desolate/dangerous planets in Star Wars. The hard part (but also one of the most fun!) was trying to incorporate as many other Star Wars characters as I could into the found-family dynamic.

21. What part of the oneshot are you least proud of?

Hopefully this doesn't sound too egotistical, but there is not a bit of this story I am not proud of. It's one of my all-time favorites.

Thank you so much for this! My one-shots never seem to get the attention my long-fics do, and while they may not take as much time to write, my whole heart is still involved. You picked three good ones, too!

#ask box #anonymous #fanfiction #damerey #one shots #poe x rey #jedipilot

[marley-manson]

i want to know everything lol but let's try 4, 8 and 11 for now. i'm sure you'll get other asks but alsoooo curious about 15 but for your top 5 fave characters since you are a talented vidder, i'm sure you have interesting thoughts.

Thank you, both for the ask and the comment on my vidding 💖 Sorry I couldn't answer this last night lol, it actually took me a while to answer the song question.

4 . what’s your favorite line ?

lol it's so impossible to choose, I've seen this in a few mash themed ask memes and I have a different answer every time. Today I'm gonna go with a fave gay joke: "Captain Sodom and Captain Gomorrah. He's Gomorrah."

8 . what’s your favorite ridiculous storyline ?

Hmmmm well I love the vibes of Adam's Ribs a lot. Klinger's subplot in The Trial of Henry Blake is a stone cold classic. Lyle's crush in Springtime. God the pony contest in Life With Father. Genuinely love the erectile dysfunction episode for the freudian stuff. The Klinger/Zale fight in End Run for the sardonic commentary on the war. The tray subplot in The Life You Save for the complementary absurdism.

Uhhhhhh I'm going with pony subplot. It's fun, it's shippy, it's cute, it's light, it leads to one of the best episode endings ever, and it thematically ties into the rest of the episode in a neat way.

11 . favorite random object in the swamp ?

I love the basketball with a jack o lantern face drawn on in marker in Trick or Treatment. It's that or Hawkeye's picture of Truman, because I like to imagine him occasionally directing exasperated commentary towards it.

15 . pick a theme song for one of the characters . why do you think that song suits them ?

Oof lol this is hard because the hardest part of vidding for me is finding the right songs. I actually don't have very many associated with Mash characters for some reason. But I'll give it a shot!

I am going to go with my first vid song for Hawkeye, Waltzing Along by James. May your mind set you free, may your heart lead you on. It's perfect for his vibe imo. The rebellion in spirit despite being trapped, the ways he keeps sane, the love.

I do already have a main song I associate with Margaret: Happy Meal II by The Cardigans. Margaret always on the search for someone to complete her, faking her way through relationships by presenting a facade and trying to be perfect for them, the insistence that she's happy that sounds more and more forced the more it's repeated.

Arrange my books in order Make up some nice stories to amuse you Make things look smart and easy Shape up the place Hungry for the meeting The dinner we'll be eating Wine that we'll be drinking And kinky thoughts I'm thinking All because of you

Though actually I've mentioned that before in another meme, so have a different Cardigans song for her as well lol, Slow:

There'll be rain on our wedding day Rotting roses in my bouqet There'll be rain on our wedding day Gray be the sky Too late to cry

For Trapper... okay I consulted my tiny Mash playlist and found one that I think fits him. Left and Leaving by The Weakerthans. Not the type of song I usually listen to but hey it works.

The sidewalks are watching me think about you Sparkled with broken glass I'm back with scars to show Back with the streets I know

Okay BJ might not be in my top 5 but I actually have a few songs associated with him so he gets to jump the queue. I'm going with GMF by John Grant. I wanted to vid it but it's such a long song with some tricky lyrics to match I couldn't get it started, but I dig it for BJ. Especially this bit:

I am not who you think I am I am quite angry which I barely can conceal You think I hate myself, it's you I hate Because you have the nerve to make me feel

I wanted one for Klinger but if I had one for him I'd be vidding it lol :( So I wracked my brain to think of one for Frank, and realized my all time favourite song actually fits him lol: Lovefool, once again by The Cardigans. Just genderswap it and it's perfect in its pathetic shallow neediness.

ask meme

#i used to say that every one of my ships has a cardigans song that fits it #that band always comes through for me #ask meme #marley on mash #mash

[mrschwartz]

okay hi. i hate being succinct (like someone that starts with alex and ends with bitch) but here are my summarized first thoughts on the album

mirrorball: hooked me in from first listen when it was released as a single, that repeating motif underneath the whole thing, the melancholy that seeps from the music and the lyrics, those strings at the end and alex's falsetto spat in my face and called me a bitch. 9.5/10

i ain't quite: it's good, it's a good song. the "waaa" harmony def scratches an itch, and the best part of the whole thing is "the spare set of tingles will race up your spine if i get it my way" but it kinda feels like it's building towards something that never quite delivers nvjdnjdnf maybe that's the intention. but you know. it's good but my least fave so far. 7/10

sculptures: WHAT IN THE HOLY FUCK IS THIS. god jvfnjdkjkcnfjnfj i'll never ever forget the first time i listened to this. my jaw was on the fucking floor. the instrumentals are orgasmic. fucking period. it made me cry And made me horny. alex's vocal delivery and the lyrics paired with the music give me such a pleasant eerie feeling if that makes sense. "gasp [gasp!] and roll your eyes" is so vndnjfnfjnjf and i'm fucking incoherent towards an indie rock British band Arctic Monkeys (tm) song having an honest to god bass drop. never ever thought this would be a direction they'd be interested in but i'm so glad they are. 10/10

jet skis: i've only had this song for a day and a half and if anything happened to it i'd kill everyone in this room and then myself. the funk-ish blues-ish tone of the guitar is my best friend. alex's voice is a warm hug. the lyrics are sooooo bittersweet. this is the one that stuck with the most after my first listen (along with sculptures ofc), "jet skis on the moat / they shot it all in cinemascope" (with the instrumentals underneath!) is such an earworm. 9.5/10

body paint: body paint. how do i even begin to explain body paint. alex's voice is really impressive in this, the chorus and the solo in the end fucking scalp me every time (also loved it from first listen as a single like mirrorball). the lyricssssssssssssssss kill me. i'm a sucker for the persona/character/double life thing, i've said it a hundred times lol so i'm def biased towards it. the only thing that keeps me from giving it a 10 is that they gave me a taste of what a full on out of the water true rock n roll outro sounds like in the live shows (esp the brussels one) and they took it away from me here, but i do understand why it's more subdued in the studio too as it fits the overall vibe of the album more. so. 9.5/10

the car: if this song was just the folk-ish fingerpicking (GOD THE FINGERPICKING) and drums motif it would still be amazing but they went beyond. FOR US. that distorted guitar at the end paired with the haunting strings is very climatic. i def still need some time with the words to maybe get closer to what he's getting at but i love them! 9/10

big ideas: i love you big ideas i love you. the piano stabs and the darker strings (cello and double bass) particularly stand out to me and tick me in such a specific way. god i can't. i've talked about the lyrics (it's been like a week and i already have matured my opinion on them nfjnjfvn) which are heartbreaking in a beautiful way. the crunchy guitar solo is heavenly. alex's chuckle after "we had them out of their seats" shot me right between the eyes. 9.5/10

hello you: oh why hello tlsp song what are you doing around these parts jnjfjnfvjg that keyboard thingy that opens it and that appears again in the chorus (how i wish i knew music theory lol) is very pleasing and the guitar backs it up beautifully. ALEX'S VOICE;;;; def a stand out in the album (esp "why not rewind to rawborough snooker club" godddddddddd). i also need some more time with the lyrics in this one to get more what's he's talking about here but i have my theories and they're devastating fvjfvnjgn. 9.5/10

mr schwartz: finger fucking picking man. but surprisingly my fave part about this track are the drums! i love how retro they sound. reminds me of some sort of specific 40s-60s vibe i'm not well versed enough in to pinpoint exactly what it is or what it'd be called. def bossa nova but not Just bossa nova you know? the lyrics are about the persona/character/double life thing so yeah yeah ofc i love them and the way they break my heart. great song. 9/10

perfect sense: this song sounds like a goodbye. need i say more????? "if that's what it takes for me to say good night then that's what it takes" what a fucking Gorgeous melody my god. this one also sounds like it had the potential to crescendo into a grandiose orchestral solo moment in the outro and then it didn't, which i'm still scratching my head about but i'm not that mad about it, bc in the end it's just such a sweet sweet tune (bittersweet, but more sweet than bitter i think). i love the way it sounds i love the way it makes me feel. they just get how to do closers man, they do! 9.5/10

#my scale does not exceed 10 i'm sorry i wish it did so that i could give some of these a billion vnffjv #this will be fun to look back on a few months from now #they're all 10/10 actually but i don't know how to convey my slightly bigger love for some of them other than this way #exept i ain't quite. fvjfkvmfk hope that settles it #arctic monkeys #the car

[readingoals]

I wasn't expecting to get a fourth book read this month, what with only having 4 days to go. So I decided to pick up The Villa since it was the shortest from my possible TBR I posted at the start of the month, and I figured I'd have a reasonable shot of getting through it.

Well folks, I raced through it in 2 days. I found it unbelievably readable. Hawkins' writing really pulls you through and the dual timelines - one set in the present day, one in the 70s - as well as some short extracts from other in universe works, make you feel like you can get through just one more chapter.

The present day storyline was interesting enough, the suspicious best friend, the scummy ex husband. It was all very intriguing. I was so curious where it was leading and how it would all shake out. But for me, where it really shone was the 70s storyline.

Now, thats because I'm a huge nerd about Mary Shelley and her contemporaries, and the 70s sections are all heavily inspired by the summer Mary and Percy Shelley spent with Byron, Polidori and Claire Clairmont. It's no secret that the Romantic poets, and especially the Villa Diodati gang, are of particular interest to me. Mary Shelley has long been one of my fave historical figures (hence why shes my icon here). I've read numerous books about that summer and those people. So I found the 70s chapters so enthralling and emotional. The tragedy of that group of people - both the fictional 70s musician versions, and the 19th century poets - was so beautifully written, the characters so tangible. Gotta admit I teared up more than once, and now all I feel is an insane urge to find something to read or watch about the real historic people.

#booklr #the villa #rachel hawkins #brigid speaks #read in 2023 #book update #frankenbooks #(well sorta) #god i could cry rn just thinkin about the shelleys #also shoutout to my lemon tree which usually is full of lemons and would look really good with this book #but ofc its no longer lemon season when i read it so theres like 2 very sad looking lemons on the tree

[viscountessevie]

What are your fav pre S2 fics and post S2 fics?

Sanji's Bridgerton Fic Recs

Am I allowed to plug myself? 😂😂 I just never end up on fic rec lists so you know what Imma be shameless and link my masterlist:

I'm really proud of my Kathony one shots (My 10 Things AU is a vibe but I've abandoned it sorry yall 😭) and I think my NB!Sophie fic deserves more love so please if you're interested have a read and let me know what you think 💞

As for the other recs - I'll be honest, I don't read as much fics as I should especially when I have so many amazing writer friends I really feel bad I haven't read or commented enough on their fics! That being said here's all my fave fic writers (literally mainly my friends shsjjsjs cos they're the only ones I trust to get the characters right):

@newtonsheffield aka Molly! She is first fandom friend I ever made in this fandom and the reason I ended up making this blog. I always saw her in the main tag and got really curious about her fics. Then I fell into the rabbit hole that is BSCU which I still need to finish 💀💀. I would rec all of her works tbh she has written something for everyone but my personal faves are the following:

1) Mysterious Fathoms Below - A Little Mermaid Kathony AU that's very soft and hella intimate. I was SUPER hyped for this one and Molly really delivered

2) Through The Wire - This was an intense and angsty AU where Anthony gets amnesia after an accident a little while after dumping Kate when they were getting too serious. It was brilliantly written and I honestly think this is her best work. It's so annoying that the puritans of the fandom gave her so much shit for some of her chapters, they can fuck right off this was my absolute fave fic of hers ever!

3) Royals - Hello we ALL LOVE a Princess Diaries 2 AU! This was such a fun read honestly it's been so long I need to go back and reread. Also watching the movie right after hits different and gives you all the feels

[Ik she has other faves she'd hype up more but I haven't read those yet jshdjjd so I can't really comment on them but oh! Honourable Mention because she's mentioned she loves this AU but it's very underrated and I still need to read it: Post Traumatic. It's a Jurassic Park AU AND Kate is a fight pilot it's iconic]

I would also recommend going through the tags of those fics because she always has fun snippets, edits and playlists for them! It really drums up the hype while you're waiting for it to be updated.

~

Next up we have Lil aka @sharmasandcorgis whose writing I absolutely adore and I think she's hella underrated so please go give her some love on her AO3

1) Leap Year - If you haven't already guessed I go feral for movie AUs I think its a film writer thing lmao. Based on the movie of the same name, it's enemies to lovers EXCELLENCE, with a side of fake marriage we love to see it!!

2) Mornings - It's pregnancy Kathony fic and is so so soft and comforting. I was literally Agnes reading it: IT'S SO FLUFFY I'M GOING TO DIE!!

3) So I need to catch up on her other fics but she's so brilliant I couldn't pick a 3rd I'm just reccing her entire AO3 works!!

~

Zaira aka @jeanvanjer who needs to write more fics for us because her writing is AMAZING, currently only has The Ghost of You up at the moment. Very soft but angsty and sad, get tissues ready before reading.

Look out for her Sugar Daddy Professor Anthony AU at some point down the line.

~

Triv aka @hptriviachamp is my fave Regency fic writer because she's very good with the language of the time, does thorough research for every fic and as a Poli-Sci major, always has a political touch in her fics it sets her writing apart from the rest of the writers and makes her stories so unique!

1) Suddenly A Smile, Shyly Obscene - Johncesca's first meeting fully fleshed out. I watched this fic come to life in our GC whenever we had writing sprints and let me say I'M OBSESSED! She really understands Johncesca and the way she writes John makes me go feral, her John is now Canon John imo.

2) The Courtship of Charlotte Bridgerton - IT'S *THE* NEXT GEN FIC! Charlotte and Clairmont are super compelling especially with how it progresses and no spoilers but there's a suprise on Clairmont's part 👀. It's a really refreshing take on a certain kind of relationship and the characters are just so fun to read about.

3) A Very Bridgerton Diwali - The very first fic of hers I've read. It made my heart sing because it reminded me so much of how my family and I are during Deepavali so it hit close to home in a very soft way.

Author's Pick: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Senior Year (Just Rage) - A Kathony HS AU with all the tropes of a HS au and beats of their story in one fic.

Honourable Mention: I'm Your National Anthem - A very spicy politically charged Kathony Politics AU but it's on the back burner as a WIP and hasn't been posted 😭😭 if it ever comes out please go read it!

~

Belle aka @sophiamariabeckett !! My fandom wife 😍😍. Heads up, we're moving into Benophie territory.

1) Bridgertons' Anatomy - IT'S A GREYS AU!! I was really surprised to hear her tell me this wasn't hyped up more like don't yall love Greys?? AND OFC THE BRIDGERTONS WOULD BE A HIGH POWERED DOCTOR DYNASTY FAMILY!

Of course it's Benophie centric and Ben/Sophie (Baek!! She's Korean yall) are super cute in it but my fave chapter is Nepotism Babies where Anthony and Simon meet for the first time 🥺🥺🥺

Soo gooo read it - Belle also made a lot of edits for it, go give it some love!

2) Fallen Through Time - Outlander AU nuff said, very angsty and just iconic I mean when Jamie and Claire are the blueprint and you apply to Benophie it's just chef's kiss!

3) Author's Pick: Dusk Til Dawn - Violet Bridgerton II's Birth! Another fic that was born in our GC and it is so so soft. Okay but like the way I initially wrote From Dusk Til Dawn til I realised that's a video game 💀💀

~

Last but certainly not least, Michaela aka @minim236 is literally our fandom's Bob the Builder fix-it fic writer. Canon broke it? Michaela can fix it, yes she can!

Her AUs are unmatched! Lots of fun rarepairs but she makes them work and you can see why they fit together. My personal favourite fic is tied between these two so I'll put them in the order I read it:

1) The Marina/Simon Series - An AU where Simon and Marina strike a deal to enter into a marriage of convenience so she won't be ruined and Simon can say Fuck you to his dad by not having any biological kids to take the Dukedom. Also these two deserve better than being ending up with r*pists (Ik Show Phillip didn't since they won't need to consummate their marriage and she doesn't seem to have PPD but still Book Philip can go die.)

I think this was the first ever fic I read from her?? So definitely has a special place in my heart!

2) [Also Author's Pick:] A Papa Sharma & Mary Love Story. My soft spot is Kate and Edwina's parents I WANNA KNOW EVERYTHING and this fic series fulfilled that!! Their love story was so so sweet and we had baby Kate and Mary moments I was sobbing! We also had a moment where Vi was being a ignorant white lady lmaoo it was funny and I lowkey wish she had been called out for it within the narrative hshshs.

Bonus Sequel: Letters Sent & Read

Sorry M I gotta admit I haven't read this one yet but I will soon! The premise is promising and I'm excited to read it 🤗🤗

3) Ruin

He would not ruin her. How could he ruin such beauty? Benedict is an artist without a muse or motivation. Until he is introduced to Sophie Beckett, a guarded ballet dancer who lacks passion and does not want to be his muse. The attraction between them is confusing, especially to her.

I need to read this but it's a monster of a fic and I love that! Hopefully it will be finished by the time I can start it and I'll be able to binge it ehehhe. I will say I always see edits for it and they are amazing!!! So please go give them some love 💞

Also anon I know you asked for Pre-S2 and Post-S2 fics, but I can't recommend any good fics that are canon compliant with S2. I've given up on trying to find good ones without a Kathani jumpscare and I have talked about it on my blog a couple of times (recently talked about it in the comments here) but I hate HATE the trend of Abusive!Sharmas and White Saviour Kathony saving Kate from her 'oh so horrible' family, it's fucked up. Please go read TVWLM and come back with better characterisations of the Sharma Family Unit thanks, we don't claim the dysfunction on the show.

Thanks again for the ask anon and everyone goooo read my friends' work, just absolutely brilliant writers!

#bridgerton #Bridgerton Fic Recs #Bridgerton Fanfiction Recommendations #kate sharma #anthony bridgerton #kathony #sophie beckett #sophie baek #benedict bridgerton #benophie #Papa Sharma #Mary Sharma #Mr. Sharma #Mr. Sharma/Mary Sharma #francesca bridgerton #john stirling #johncesca #Kanthypants & Eldest Daughters GC #Michaela Tag #Molly Tag #sanji answers

[other-peoples-coats]

coats hello!! you said you played ttrpgs, but do you have any favorite systems or rulebooks?? also do you have any recommendations for how to start a campaign / one shot and bring everyone into the game? that's kind of. the most difficult thing for me personally to do so I'm looking for advice skdjskns

Hi nonny!

My fave systems/rulebooks are a bit of a grab bag; I started playing tabletops with the classic DnD (4e is what I learnt on; the group I played with played some of the beta rules of 5e for a bit and then swapped wholly over to 5e eventually, once it, y'know, was published.), and I also played a bit of pathfinder, which, like, y'know, not a huge jump there. So I've got, y'know, nostalgic affection for both of those.

(for not table top nerds - pathfinder is literally DnD edition 3.75 - it's built off the rules of 3.5, with the names scrubbed off for not-getting-sued-out-of-existance-by-WotC reasons)

That said, I've had a lot of fun with the Cortex system - the Leverage RPG runs on it, which is a fuck of a lot of fun to play with the right group, though you do need people who are at least somewhat genre savvy and willing to lean into it-- and the FATE system, which, special shout out to 'under the table', which is a prohibition-esque take on authurian legend that is just. so sexy as a world building idea. so much fun to fuck about and do organised crime in. Some of it's a bit janky but what is ttrpg play if not jettisoning that which does not vibe with you.

(I also taught a class using a stripped back version of the fate system, so, y'know, bonus points there; we picked FATE cause it is literally so easy to pick up for newbies and doesn't need Weird Dice)

Annnd then we get into the weeds of sort of obscure/only kind of ttrpgs as classically thought of. My favourite fucking thing in this space is a game called 'the quiet year'; it's half a card based rpg, half a map making game, about a community after the collapse of civilisation. You get 52 turns -- a year -- and at the end the winter kills you all. Which is a bit grim, but it's a lovely, thoughtful game to play.

Similarly, 'dialect' is just...such a fascinating game to play. (possibly, this surprises no one who's shown up here via my ao3; I do love weird language shit). You play as part of an isolated community, and...well, create a dialect for that community, based on events they (you) experience.

And then my final one in this space is a game called microscope, which is...well it's really only kind of a game at all. It's more of a worldbuilding tool, honestly, but it's fun, and it's a great way to come up with some weird ass shit you can then use for a homebrew world.

Ok, so, that's a grab bag of weird ass shit that probably says a lot about me; lets talk about starting games and getting people into them. I'm sort of assuming you mean, like, narratively, not like, the mechanics of finding a group to play with or like, how to organise a session.

(if yes, that's what you mean: sorry bud, on your own there, I haven't had a group to play with since pre-plauge, and most the people I'd play with these days are approximately 10-14hrs behind me in time, which makes scheduling.....hard.)

Anyway.

Starting off a oneshot or a campaign is...honestly it's pretty similar, in my experience; a oneshot does compress the time frame somewhat bc you don't wanna spend an hour being like 'worldbuilding lore drop time' and/or 'plot hook baiting' when you're only playing for like. four hours total, y'know?

If what you're looking for is an inciting incident; some sort of 'hey here's a MEATY PLOT HOOK GO FETCH' sign for your players: the classic is, ofc, 'you meet in a bar'; there's nothing wrong with that, it gives a nice bit of space for players to introduce themselves either explicitly - 'I'm Longfang, a hunter from clan blackthorn' sort of thing  - or implicitly, in the 'lurking around in a corner ala strider' school of character intros. Also a fairly easy way to set the tone - is the bar Notably Sketchy, what else is going on in the bar, are the patrons gregarious or all suspicious, etc.

(obviously, you can theme as appropriate for your world; maybe it's a cafe, or a market, or the guild halls, or a freighter bay.)

Other great inciting incidents that are endlessly adaptable: 

You all wake up In A Place (where you were not before) -  classic mystery hook. A group of strangers are brought together by Mysterious Forces, and need to a)get out of where they are b)investigate what happened and why they are all here. Bonus points if you have a mole; one player who knows — or thinks they know — why they've been chosen(they're secretly part of a gang, they're secretly royalty, they recognize the markings as The Cult That Killed Their [insert relation here], etc.) Extremely fucking funny to make every player think they know, and set up the spiderman meme when all your players stumble over revealing whatever secret they have. 

You all have A Job. Another classic hook - you've been hired to [take macguffin/person] to [place]; you've been hired to [steal thing] from [fancy bitch party]; you've been hired to clear [local basement/dungeon] of [rats/monsters]; etc. Nice easy set up, very basic 'this is Why You Strangers Are Together'. Does require you to have players who will like, take the hook, even if they take it and then immediately wander off to do something else halfway through. The person who hired your players may or may not be a person in specific - it may be A Guild Job, and your players all just got assigned together, or they're having their Normal Bitch Lives travelling coincidentally together and then oh no a monster attacks your trade caravan roll initiative!

Fucked Up Shit Happens, What The Hell. This is the one where you wave the plot hook at your players and are like 'damn that was crazy!' and then let them be like 'shit that was crazy, can I investigate that?'. Obvious ones here are: oh god a body where there should not be one, oh god no body where there should be one, someone rich is doing something sketchy (and your players saw some of it), weird magic/tech shit happened and yr players are the only witnesses. Worldbuilding for this is a lot of contrast - being like 'x is a Weird Thing' helps show, like, what isn't weird, if that makes sense? so like, in star wars, no one is surprised when jedi pull out their lazer swords, so the viewer knows this isn't 'holy fuck you have lazer swords???' situation; on the other hand, when the demogorgon comes clawing out of the wall in stranger things, all the characters shit bricks and the viewer is aware that like, This IS Fucked Up Shit Happening. (obviously, it's a bit more complex than that in context; what I'm getting at is showing NPC reactions to [plot events] helps tell your players about the world.)

Run before the Plot gets you. This is basically a variation on living normal bitch lives -> surprise roll initiative, where your players have Witnessed Something, and now need to Get Fucking Gone before [whoever] Makes Them Gone. Maybe they want to investigate, maybe they don't and the plot is coming for them anyway, but either way, Someone (or something) is trying to find them, and silence them. Sets up a very nice cat and mouse, if you're into that sort of thing - maybe your players saw local prince eating a person, and now they're trying to reveal that the monarchy are all fucking vampires without becoming vampire chow themselves, maybe they're just trying to avoid the government making them sign a bunch of magical NDAs. Very nice way to drop a bit of worldbuilding, because power structures tell you a lot about the world - are the cops corrupt, is this unusual, who's in charge and what's the social contract look like, if you fuck up and get caught are you looking at state sanctioned execution or imprisonment or a quiet knife in an alley, etc.

Nine plot pile up. This one probably has an official name; I always called it this in class, because, well, I think I'm funny. This is the one where your player('s characters) all have their Own Goals going on, and whoopsy, they all overlap! Either they overlap like they're the same goal, 'we might as well work together to Do X', or they overlap like 'I'm trying to steal the orb of magic from the same guy you're trying to kill and wow this is awkward, they need him alive to answer for His Crimes.' This one is a bit more work; you do have to talk a bunch with your players about what sort of character/plot they want to run for their specific character, and keep track of that as well as like, your overarching plot.

For an example: I once played a warlock who had a creature companion that got stronger as I fed it the corpses of defeated enemies, but those had to scale with us; my warlock pact required me to keep feeding it, which ended up with me having to choose between giving up my powers or slaughtering my party-mates after we'd levelled high enough. The main plot of the game was your standard war between kingdoms/gods sort of dnd plot; my character's plot was just… one of the background plots goin on. Another party member was secretly using the party to cover their hostile takeover of their family company; a third was basically a catch me if you can sort of conman who got in way the fuck too deep. The inciting incident for us was being hired by the local king to go Do War Shit (aka You Have A Job); my character had signed up bc war is great for corpses, hostile takeover had signed up bc their family company supplied War Stuff, and conman "signed" "up" and accidentally ended up assigned to do work instead of being left to fuck about with (and steal) supplies.

Also, just generally — fucking steal that shit. Steal like it's your job. Steal like you're in the british museum and all the security just flipped off. Got a movie you like? how's it start, what can you lift from that. Got a book you like? the first ten pages are yours now. If there's an scene or two in a show you like, think about why you like it, and then…copy it. 'My city now' your way through it; for all there's different considerations when it comes to writing the whole of a game, the opening is basically the same as any other story - hook the reader/viewer/player, make them want to find out what happens next. Starting in media res is a time honoured tradition for a reason; work out what your plot is, and then start your players about five minutes after it starts going off the rails, narratively speaking.

If you're looking for worldbuilding advice, though— or, rather, introducing people to your world — well, that's a lot shorter. Throw it at them! drop them right the fuck in. Let them pick it up as you go along - if you're starting in a city, describe the city. Is it cobblestone? are the skyscrapers so tall they vanish into the smog? are the crowds bustling, or are they harried, darting from place to place in fear. When all else fails, go off the five senses - what can your players see, what would they notice? what would they find unusual - their characters, that is. If you're playing in star wars, you wouldn't be like 'HOLY FUCK LAZER SWORDS EXIST???' but you might be like 'oh wow a jedi, I didn't think I'd ever see one in real life!', and 'oh there's a droid' is like, 'oh, a chair'. You might call out that it's a weird chair, maybe, but otherwise it';s like, 'you enter a room, there's wooden chairs around the outside'/'you enter a room, there's a couple of cleaning droinds doing their job'. lets your players know there's droids, but it's not like 'holy fuck robots?'.

Some of this worldbuilding is stuff you should cover in your session zero, if you're running a campaign - that's the one where you set up player characters, etc - and just…y'know, give your players an overview of your world. If you're running a oneshot, cover it when you pitch it to your players - 'I've come up with this cool as shit idea about a world where there's a group of monks with lazer swords in space, also theres robots', for instance, or 'ok, like, a teen coming of age movie set in the eighties, but also there's evil monsters'. Don't be afriad to use a reference point that your players know - emphasis there, no good being like 'imagine the ethical nightmare of animorphs but set in like, a round the twist sort of world', if your players haven't read animorphs and don't know what the fuck round the twist is.

Zero idea how to end this, so. uh hope that helps even a little bit, anon? if you've got more questions, or are like 'dude what theee actual fuck are you on about here', feel free to hit me up again. (also, anyone else reading this). 

#dnd #ttrpg design #coats chats #coats originals #coats makes games #long post #also like. soz for any spelling issues here it's now midnight. and the dsylexia. also that. #good fucking god this is like close to 2k sorry anon.

[nonsensegnomes]

bestie what are your top nine favorite movies atm

oooh good question <3 well like i said i'm discovering i've covered way more ground in tv over the last few years (which i'm gonna rectify soooooonnnnnn i think, got a lot of exciting recs from that recent tag game!!) so this is pitifully basic, but like in terms of what i'm thinking about Right This Moment:

the hitcher – slightly deranged about this ever since i saw it last week, a movie perfectly tuned to my preferences <3 love love LOVE the main performances & the dreamy atmosphere & the cinematography; just! the americana of it all!! plus there is soooo much to dig into, like the folkloric resonances (i mean the vanishing hitchhiker story HELLO), the gay panic (as in the actual original homophobic meaning) every shot of the first half hour is just LACED with, that scene where he puts the coins over his eyes in the diner.... obsessssssssssed.

the black phone – okay so i watched this last night & it might fade from the faves over the next few days but rn i can't stop Picking at it. genuinely Disturbed me a couple times so 🙈👍 ethan hawke ATE, the little girl playing the sister KILLED it, and my friend pj should've had more screentime so the sets of siblings could parallel each other or something but wcyd ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ i am a little I Can Fix It about some of its clunkier plot points, but the main conceit of the phone fucked soooooo hard i can forgive it 💖

it 2017 – listen. i have been feeling this rewatch approaching all summer & as soon as i get my grubby hands on a projector (as god intended this movie to be watched <3), august is going to be thee month for it!!! idk it just has a very dear place in my heart 💕 like everyone else i did have a 2019 breakdown despite its many Many flaws, but the first one remains That Bitch w/ the perfect pacing & ending... coming of age film that just happens to have a clown in it babey!! also always going to care about eddie kaspbrak unfortunately 😔

nausicaä of the valley of the wind – my fave ghibli movie!! What Is There To Say. it was the first one i saw before i was aware everyone went insane about like hmc & princess monoke (which i also adore!!), so at first i was just Captivated by the animation genius & the Weirdness & the design of those bugs... it just plucks at something in me, like this is PRECISELY the kind of post-apocalyptic story i can enjoy, like what a coherent & hopeful environmental message that's, well, not subtle but certainly managed with a very deft touch!!!

fight club – sorry for being a film bro :/ anyway go look at this important piece of LGBT history

the death of stalin – love a comedy where everything falls apart around & also due to a bunch flailing back-stabbing incompetent idiots, so of course an armando iannucci joint always hits the spot <3 just SUCH alarming pettiness & cruelty that you have to laugh in the face of it ohhhh my godddddd

southern comfort – okay so kinda cheating with this docu, but it just impacted me sooooooo deeply the first time i saw it & i still go back and rewatch every once in a while. despite how sad it gets at the end, it actually is one of those things that gives me Real hope bc the whole thing is just about love & community & the radical Comfort transness allows you to find in yourself 💕💕💞💖 i would definitely rec it to absolutely everyone, it's only 90 mins & absolutely Life-Changing; i think there was a clip going round here a while ago about how affirming t4t love can be, and imo that just sums up the whole vibe. rest in power robert eads ✊😔

fire walk with me – well this is my favourite movie of all time despite the fact that i can NEVER ever watch it again ✌️ like i am well aware that it is technically kinda all over the place, what with david seeing fit to make the first half hour just "fbi procedural david bowie cameo now THIS character says something ominous & incomprehensible" but also. i Do Not Care bc the next hour + a half made me cry so hard it took me like 5 hrs to watch it; jesus CHRIST she was just a kid who needed someone to reach out and help her!!! laura i would have done so much cocaine with you & kept you alive forever!!!!!! also lynch's weird cryptic storytelling just appeals to me personally bc the way the meaning comes more from the audience's emotional response makes it kinda work on the same level as a folk tale for me, which i loveeeeeeeeeee unpicking; saw a post once about fwwm being structured like the saint's life of a martyr and !!! that is exactly It!

stardust – an all-time favourite, i mean the costumes! the pacing! the fun twists on fantasy tropes! the sheer CAMPINESS of it all!!! the way the plotlines converge in the end WOWED me as a child and to this day every time i watch another fantasy movie i'm like. Well You're Not Stardust Are You :/

& honourable mention to those films always occupying some part of my brain, that i can mouth along with from memory just because they are so comforting to me: tsn, the princess bride, 10 things i hate about you, pride 2014, bend it like beckham, saw (this nearly made the main list but like. too obvious.), the parent trap (1998 version), the karate kid

#hiiii bestie!! sorry i ignored this for a few days! #but i am BACK in good wifi now & Thinking About Movies #asks #americanphysco #also 9 is way too few i'm realising i wanted to put american psycho on here too #but i had to restrain myself bc what i've ACTUALLY been thinking about is the barbie movie version we've made up in our heads 😌 #but fuck it the orig is a fave too put it on the board #personal #long post

[cordeliawhohung]

core !! for the ask game, choose whatever you’d like to answer :) i’d love to see the choices you’d pick <3

ah!!! hi fern ily sorry this took forever i had to work lmfao <3 also i am so terrible at choosing like... anything lmao but i'll try my best! we'll stick with 3 since that's what everyone else seems to be doing...

8: any reoccurring dreams?

when i was a kid, i had this dream that would keep coming back to me. it would start out where i'm in front of a set of three doors, all lined up next to each other. each of them had different symbols on them. don't exactly know what they meant. i would walk through one of the doors and i would be transported into like some other world or something. one time i just went into a hospital that was super run down. walked in on a nurse trying to administer a shot to a patient and killed them on accident or something lmao. the hospital was linear, and so when i got to the end, there was nothing but a bright field with a willow tree waiting for me. i remember climbing the tree and it was nice. each time i had the dream i would walk through a different door and it would follow some other type of story, but it always started and ended the same way. the dreams stopped the moment i told my friend about it though. i've had a few others but this one is the most mild of them i think lmao

9: tell a story about your childhood

when i was in the 8th grade, i had gotten terribly sick with pneumonia. i ended up in the hospital, fever of 104(f), terrible trouble breathing, a lot of pain, etc. my mom uh, was not the smartest and was like "you feel sick because you're just laying around all day" even after the doctor was like holy shit i was kind of afraid you'd die lol so anyway i ended up going back to school but was limited with like any physical activity and was still using a nebulizer. anyway, this kid like a grade under me was like really obsessed with my friends and i and i remember it's like lunch or whatever and we're outside waiting for our turn to eat and this mf comes up to me and i'm STRUGGLING like i feel like shit, i'm stuck standing cuz the ground is wet, and he's talking to me and i just... don't hear it because i pass the fuck out. luckily we were on the grass but i remember just sorta like laying there and like a fucking movie scene this mf looks down at me and is like "... so did you want to go on that date or not?" BITCH I JUST PASSED OUT? also my friends just LEFT ME BEHIND. anyway one of the boys in my grade saw what happened and helps me up and just sort of like guides me away from the kid and takes me inside and i don't think i ever gave that kid a proper answer but yeah. the doctor gave me a note saying to not participate in PE for two weeks but my teacher gave me the note back and so i sat out of gym for two months instead so there's a plus side to everything i guess <3 idk where i was going with that story but the more you know, i suppose lmao

38: fave song at the moment?

Lilies by Ethel Cain <3 anything by ethel cain honestly, or eden, or hozier <3

also sorry this was basically just me talking a lot but these were the only ones i could come up with answers for on the spot <3

#core responds #ask game