#okay enough yapping

[joeytime]

Maxiel Hogwarts Au...

If you asked Max what he thought of Hogwarts, he would likely make a joke about pigs and insult their quidditch teams.

He isn't sure it's smart to do that now, in the middle of the Hogwarts' grand hall, completely surrounded by Hogwarts' students and staff. He isn't sure he could escape even if he had his broom.

"Wow, you really hate Hogwarts." The dreaded hat says atop his hair.

Shut up! Max thinks furiously at it. Get out of my head!

Everyone stares intensely at Max, not daring to breathe while the fate of the member of the national quidditch team is being decided. Even the teachers are at the edge of their seats, other than Dumbledore, he seems to know where Max will inevitably end up.

"Little quidditch champion. Everyone is expecting" The hat says, as if it's life of forever moving from head to head to call one of four words is somehow a greater destiny than Max's.

It's not. Max knows he will go on to succeed in life, and win as many quidditch championships as he wants and then retire on an island in The Maldives with a butt load of cash while the hat is left in a dusty room, waiting for it's yearly use. Max wants to reach to rip it up but it would not be wise to do so in front of Dumbledore himself. His hands stay in his lap, frown etched on his face.

"Impatient. Immature." Max's fingers twitch slightly. There is only so much backtalk one can take from a hat.

"Violent and uncaring, wherever will I put you?" Max doesn't agree with that description, he cares plenty, about winning that is.

"Foolish. Foolish boy." It doesn't hurt, Max has heard those words plenty of times.

Max sulks.

It's a beat of silence before the suspense reaches its climax. "Hufflepuff! " The hat hollers, not bothering to consult Max on it's decision. Which is very rude and impolite.

The entire room erupts into chaos, screams of "What! " and "No way! No way!" echo throughout the hall.

Max can't help but agree, he thought he might end up in Gryffindor or Slytherin, maybe Ravenclaw if he was super unlucky. But Hufflepuff? His father was going to disown him. The media are going to have a field day. Well they were going to already, regardless of which house Max was put in.

Dumbledore moves to pull the hat off of Max, the treacherous thing whispers one last time: "Things will make sense in time. Be patient. Do not mope."

Max doesn't mope. Verstappens can't mope, so he doesn't.

Dumbledore gently guides a slightly speechless Max to the Hufflepuff table, pushing him into the seat before winking and walking off.

Max wants to burn down this school.

Cheers erupt from the Hufflepuff table, hands coming to pat him on the back and fawn over him.

The other tables seem miserable at the prospect of losing out on a quidditch champion.

"Oh my god! Hi! Hi! Oh my god! It's you!" A boy excitedly chatters to his left, other students crowd around him and Max suddenly finds that he can't breathe. It's like he's small again, after being knocked off his broom by an overly excited big kid. He had fallen to the ground, too exhausted and overwhelmed to get back up.

His father had been mad, really mad. He hadn't slept well again after that.

"Guys! Guys! He doesn't look so good. " Whoever that is, is definitely right, Max can hardly breathe, he tries to use the breathing technique his father taught him after his first match, control his breathing. It doesn't work, it only causes the panic and urgency in his veins to surge. It did work, it's purpose was to put him on guard, not calm down.

He curls into himself, hands around his ears to protect from the deafening sound of crowds cheering. His bubble of personal space is of course pried and poked at. Fans never had any self awareness when it came to these matters and his father never did have sympathy for personal space.

Hands are pried away from him, he can hear outraged screeching at the action. His own quidditch team's screams when he was 6 years old and pulled away to join the older kids. They thought it wasn't fair that a small boy climbed the ranks faster than they did.

"Hey! Hey! Everyone back up right now!" The entire opposing team bombarding him in an attempt to stop him. The referee's reprimand that fell on deaf ears.

The people at his sides are replaced and gentle hands hold him back up, out of the ball he curled himself into.

Max doesn't dare look up, too afraid at the thought of seeing his father's judgemental look.

"Hey, are you okay? " Max turns his head, soft, gentle, warm eyes, concerned. Jos was never concerned, he was the uncaring one! Not Max!

"I'm fine. " A repeated response, practiced again and again every time he came home to his mother.

The teen with the soft eyes gestures for another boy to sit on Max's other side. The boy opposite Max looks on in concern.

"Hello. I'm Daniel Riccardo, I'm a prefect of Hufflepuff, it's nice to meet you." The gentle boy says, eyes still filled with concern.

"Max Verstappen. " Max manages to choke out.

"The boy on your left is Yuki Tsunoda and that's Lando Norris." Daniel gestures to the boy sitting opposite Max, who waves shyly.

The ruckus Max's sorting caused calms down and everyone settles down to listen to Dumbledore's welcome back speech which luckily does not mention Max.

Max feels strange between Riccardo and Tsunoda, like dread wrapped in false cotton. Norris also peers at him from time to time, creep.

They're sent back to their dorms. Max tells Riccardo that he can get there on his own but the older boy frowns and insists that he takes Max. Max thinks his father would be disappointed at his complacency but he doesn't have the strength to fight it.

Riccardo leads him to the kitchen, Max wants to snap some insult about him being a goody two shoes and how this is none of his business. He holds his tongue.

Riccardo gestures to a specific barrel, looking more worn out than the ones around it. He taps a certain beat, perhaps it's a secret code. That's childish, Max decides, they are not children playing in a fort.

The barrel swings open.

Max grimaces at the small tunnel.

"Here, you try tapping it." Riccardo puts Max's hand to the barrel.

Max repeats the rhythm perfectly. Memory exercises were part of his training.

Once Riccardo is satisfied, he points at the tunnel, almost as if he wants Max to crawl through it.

Max scrunches his nose, seriously? The older boy points more urgently and Max relents, shoving himself through the tunnel.

Well, not shoving, he's not really big, a fact his father loathed, putting him on diets with large sums of proteins and even attempting to use transfiguration spells before it was put to a stop by his mother.

Max wished his mother had not stopped his father. Maybe he would have an excuse not to join this god forsaken house.

It's an agonizing 5 second crawl before he pops out the other end right in front of Lando Norris, the boy before.

Daniel appears behind him, putting a hand on Max's shoulder.

"So Max, this is the Hufflepuff house. You know Yuki and Lando. That's Oscar, Nico and Valtteri." Riccardo urges the boys to come forward.

"It's Verstappen. " Max declares, Riccardo quirks an eyebrow and the rest of the boys look equally confused.

"Hi! I'm Lando! I'm like a huge fan, do you mind signing this for me? " The boy's yellow robes are somehow orange.

Max's PR training kicks in and he smiles one of those sickly sweet smiles that his father loves to wipe off his face before ordering him to smile again. His posture straightens and he reaches a hand around the younger boy's shoulders, patting him on his back once, twice. Just like he rehearsed.

"Sure! " His tone is so obviously a faux sweet as he reaches to retrieve the black marker from his back pocket. The boy has stars in his eyes and Max feels guilty, he always does. He's a fraud.

He signs the hat from his national team, the one he left behind.

He wishes he didn't.

"Hey, are you okay Max? " Riccardo asks, looking weird again.

"I'm doing great, how are you? " His PR trainer said asking back these questions were endearing, cute. Max's father had mocked him for that act, his trainer had been fired after that.

"How about I bring you to your room? Would you like that?" Riccardo asks, Max smiles again, nodding.

"Sure." Norris waves enthusiastically as Riccardo leads him out of the common room and into his private room.

"Are you alright? Max?"

"Call me Verstappen."

"Verstappen. Are you alright?"

"You can go, Riccardo. "

"... Call if you need anything."

When the prefect leaves, Max wants nothing but to burst into tears. He flops onto the bed.

The next day he drags himself out of bed. Even if classes don't start till 9 and the sun hasn't risen yet.

Jos expected him to continue his strict training regime. He was almost tempted to skip it and lie to his father but he thought he better not after his humiliating sorting from yesterday.

Now, alone, Max can see the Hufflepuff room properly. It's... It's all gentle lighting, none of the bright fluorescent lights his room had. The chairs looked comfy and the many plants lazing around the common room tempts him to join them.

Perhaps that would be a better fate, turning into a plant to live the rest of his life in the common room. His hand lingers on his wand, mind on a spell his professor taught him when he was just 9. He didn't.

When he had crawled out of the Hufflepuff room, fully dressed, broom in hand, the sun was just peaking from the horizon.

The halls are empty, some portraits mutter as he walks by. His father's portraits never moved, other than those instructed to. For example, a painter that never stopped moving his brush or a surfer never to take a break from the sea.

Making his way to the Hogwarts field, he stretched, slow and patient. His bones crack from the exhausting day he had before.

The field is decent sized, not as big as the one he played in during national championships, bigger than the one his father made him run laps around till he fainted.

He glides through the air easily, flying comes easily to him. If he were to be given his own time and freedom he thinks he would likely still be a top player in the school leagues.

It's better that he was hurled up though. Better to have reached the top by sheer force of his father's training.

He thinks about his national team, he's a reserve, too young to play officially but the team has him in some practices and he attends smaller competitions for them. Max suspects it's more about having a claim on Max when he comes of age.

He's 15, he still has 3 years to choose which team he wants to go to. By then, he will make his own choice. He will not do whatever pleases his father anymore.

The golden snitch twinkles near the end of the field. Max pretends not to see it.

It is fun, sometimes, tricking the golden snitch, allowing it a false sense of security. Like a tiger cub playing with a cricket.

His father would get mad at him if he did it for too long, he was upset his son couldn't catch it at once. Which Max could, he just didn't see the fun of it.

The fluttering golden ball is in his hands before it can even think of escaping.

Max briefly wonders if the snitch can possibly think, he lets it flutter away, repeating his game once again.

In the golden light of the sun and shaded path of the clouds, the wind whizzes past his ears, he falls into the familiar rhythm of flying, sometimes he makes his own obstacle courses, weaving through imaginary hoops.

By the time the sun reveals itself fully to watch Max fly, he realizes that a crowd has gathered around under him, star-struck Hogwarts students watching, mouths open and everything.

He flushes slightly, he may have had many adoring fans due to his membership in the national team and young age but come on! These were his peers.

Max lowers down, checking his watch to see that it is indeed 8.30am and he has to run if he wants to get to class not drenched in sweat.

He waves slightly to the crowd, zipping to the house dorm even though he's probably breaking several school rules.

He knocks the tune and enters quickly, still high from the adrenaline of flying.

He climbs out of the tunnel only to come face to face with Daniel Riccardo, his face stern and stony.

"Verstappen! You can't just sneak out like that!" Daniel's expression softens when he sees Max.

Max knows he feels pity even if Riccardo knows nothing about his life.

"I of course did not sneak out, I left my room and went to the field." Max doesn't think early hour training counts as sneaking out, going to parties in the dead of the night is sneaking out.

"Max, we were worried. I went into your room and you weren't there. Thought you'd been kidnapped by the other houses to play quidditch for them or something... "

Max considers this briefly, Riccardo knocking on his door gleefully, freezing when he doesn't get an answer. Did his blood pressure spike? Did he throw Max's door open in desperation only to find the room empty?

Max grimaces.

"I went to go training... Sorry..." Max stands awkwardly, hands by his side like a child being punished by a parent.

Riccardo sighs. Max wants to cry.

"Please forgive me, I'm of course sorry, I will do anything!" Max cringes inside, begging with someone other than his father is a foreign concept.

Riccardo has a cheeky smile on his face, Max is almost scared.

"I'll forgive you... Only if you call me Daniel!"

Max groans inwardly, well he's also partly relieved but Daniel doesn't need to know that.

"What will it be Max? Will you call me the d word? Or will you suffer in my never ending spite! "Daniel's grin grows.

" Fine. "

" Fine, who? "

"Fine. Daniel."

Max flushes, weird.

Daniel looks elated.

#max verstappen #daniel ricciardo #maxiel #harry potter au #hogwarts au #my writing #baby's first fic #i am baby btw #I will accept criticism but if you raise your voice I will cry #Christian is obviously the head Hufflepuff teacher and loves all his children #Toto is the Ravenclaw teacher and they have intense quidditch matches every year #no rights for the lion and snake house #writing my Lando is/was a fan of Max agenda #Im not sure why i included Dumbledore though the image of him standing next to any of the F1 boys is hilarious #I wrote this a year ago and beta read it myself yay #did not get an A for English #The last name to first name pipeline is real #F1=quidditch #okay enough yapping #i posted this once and it didnt work so this is the second attempt sorry

[ilydottie]

I keep thinking about dottore who probably gives really good hugs but just doesn’t give them often. So, when he hugs you for the first time you practically melt into his arms, letting out a hum of pleasure as you wrap your arms around him.

“Better?“ He asks.

You say nothing. Instead you squeeze him just a little as you close your eyes and enjoy his scent. It’s a comforting aroma when combined with the firm grasp of his arms around you. You nuzzle your head into his chest and although it’s unusual, it’s not bad. Rather, it’s quite nice. The two of you remain there until one of you pulls away, which surprisingly enough doesn’t happen as fast as you’d think. Instead you hold onto each other for as long as you need.

He frames it as something you need at the time, but you see right through him. A part of him is consoled by the fact you trust him and enjoy the comfort of his touch so willingly. There’s not even a hint of fear detected when he holds onto you either. A fact that Dottore ends up thinking about for a very long time.

#uhhh yeah idk #i just think his neat #*pokes his cheek* #love this loser sm idk man #this all cause i wanna hug him lmao #is this ooc???? idk and frankly i dont care bc we all need dotto hugs i feel #okay enough yapping

[kenchann]

kuroshitsuji is back O(∩_∩)O heres a lil alois doodle

#kuroshitsuji #black butler #bb #mmarts #alois trancy #jim macken #i know hes not in the newer seasons also hes not real but hes my fave okay lol #i thought he was the mc before lmaoooo #thats what happens when you discover bb via doujin 😂 #anyway #wahoo new season (i have yet to watch the anime properly tbhtbh) #ill get to that later oop also prolly read the manga #enough yapping #non twst art jumpscare

[pinkavtomation]

Water me, my memories are wilting

Sketch under the cut !

#super super proud of this ummmmm umm #especially the hand hes kinda angled towards?? idk #this was originally to practice proper lineart but i deadass redid the WHOLE thing 4 times and still didnt like it so. yknow #okay okay enough yapping ill get to actual tags now #rain world #arted #five pebbles #iterator #rw five pebbles #rw spoilers #rw rot #.just for good measure #the amount of jack conte ive listened to today is UNREAL btw #love his stuff #kitchen fork fits this too but also. yk #ALSO I SWEAR THIS HAS BEEN DRAWN BEFORE JF IT HAS I AMSO SO SORRT

[hikiclawd]

lil comics and things from months ago

#mysims #mysims (game) #sim: violet #sim: poppy #sim: vic #my art #art #artwork #big part of vectorshade in my mind is vic being sweet to poppy #shes like . ^_^ oh okay youre my little sister now too #and violets cat too weather .. #also yes vic is an mlp fan #i want to draw her cosplaying Fluttershy at some point #OKAY ENOUGH TAGS. i should put this much yapping into actual text posts

[fexarii]

EVERYONE SHOULD GO READ THE MPF COMICS NOW NOW DO IT NOW DO IT RIGHT NOW!!!! I cannot stop thinking about them ,, I can't wait for the third volume but a silly billy has to be patient </3

I love Sam sm he's the perfect balance between someone who takes his job srsly but also knows how to have a good time,, he's very fun to draw ^_^

@organizedchaotics I SAW THE ANSWER TO MY ASK BTW !! I'M GLAD I COULD MAKE U HAPPY YAY

okay I'll retreat to my art corner now,, until I finish more rendered stuff XP

#deltarune #art #deltarune fanart #kritaart #digital art #whiteboard fox #ambyu lance #deltarune oc #not my oc #mpf #hopefully i can use that tag (tell me if i gotta remove it!!!) #i can ramble about this comic for ages and some of my friends have read it too #absolutely obsessed with the monster designs btw #okay that's enough yapping im NOT normal about this comic waaa :“”“) #fex's artcade

[starscelly]

#okay . sorry. i’m at the acceptance stage of grieving but i had to have a little bit of a not normal moment #thinking abt tyler having to just chuckle saying hockey is hard #tyler seguin who has been to 3 stanley cup finals and the only one he didn’t appreciate was the one he won #trying to chase the feeling of being 19 and the top of the world again #with a group of guys you actually love. a room you’ve cultivated to be loving. to be a family #and hockey is hard. the sport is hard and the emotions are hard and the toll it takes on your body and mind is HARD #but you can’t be the overpaid millionaire who complains that hockey is hard #you can’t stand up there and cry #acknowledge how it’s stolen time from your family you love so much away from you #it’s stolen your body from you. your mind. your heart. #and you give everything to it and it just keeps spitting in your face #and hockey hasn’t loved you since you were a teenager but you loved it and you love the people it brings into your life #and you can’t even cry about it because you’re a millionaire man playing a game for a living #so you just have to laugh and say hockey is hard like more pieces of your heart aren’t being torn off every year #okay anyways #yap yap yapping #dallas stars i love u and u will always be famous. the love will be enough eventually. tyler i need you to know the love will be enough

[hundredblooms]

ONE LAST THOUGHT BEFORE I CONK OUT right before their first kiss sylvia asks if they can try and kiss protag again because they "didn't do it right the first time"

#mun.txt #these two make my heart melt 😭 #they're bad at being vulnerable so they're super clumsy but they're so sweet and cozy too... #okay enough yapping now i sleep GOOD NIGHT #c: protagonist (elevator hitch) #s/i: sylvia/assistant (elevator hitch)

[skyburger]

considering theyre not even blood related (much less twins), dio and jonathan do a fantastic job at being like a evil twin vs. good twin kinda story. theyre like dante & vergil or liquid snake & solid snake to me. i want to put dio and vergil and eli in a room just to see what happens

#jojo and snavid and dante also get put in a room but theyre just sitting there awkwardly #theyre all being nice to each other they just have absolutely nothing in common to talk about #jjba #mgs #dmc #anyway im thinking too hard about this. i think speedwagon and otacon and lady could all be oomfs too #theyre buddies. i dont think they have literally anything in common #but i need to see otacon be scared of lady anyway #lady and speedwagon are hangin out they're maybe showing off how they fight #and hal is sitting there like a pathetic wet dog looking at them #actually final trio of characters who i think should hang out: josuke and nero and raiden #theyre like. the nephew type character. i know josuke is technically the uncle here but shush its about vibes #imagining dmc4 nero and mgs2 raiden and obviously part4 josuke thats like. the exact combination i need to see #they all think theyre cool but are actually losers. and they have no idea whats going on #my point here is i need to see them play mario kart or something #OKAY ENOUGH YAPPING!!! projecting my random fictional character oomfisms into your MIND. #muffin mumbles #wait edit. i wish wesker had an evil twin because i want to shove some re characters in here but like there is no dante to weskers vergil #there is no solid snake to weskers liquid snake. there is no jojo to weskers dio #you know? #that being said. would love to see jake muller hang out with the quote unquote ''nephew gang''. dont have a reason beyond its funny

[nanamimizz]

lamb beloved will u tell me abt marisol i am so intrigued i would like to hear more

OC BABBLING UNDER THE CUT. THIS IS MY TAV FOR BG3 !!!

twirls my hair hiiii fiiii thank u sm for asking about my babygirl angel sweetiecake marisol.

OKAY LISTEN. IN THE IMAGES WHERE HER HAIR IS DARKER (IGNORE THE FUCKING MEME I MADE WITH ZERO’S TAV SOULIKHA LMFAO) it is dyed to look more like her mother’s ! her hair is naturally a light copper/ginger coler !

ANYWAYS.

marisol is a half-elf light domain cleric of lanthander who hails from waterdeep and she romanced gale !

her mother is human and her father is a sun elf nobleman who is the main antagonist of her story. her mother is morally gray as she was a young when she had marisol and was doing her best but her actions do hurt marisol and their relationship. basically she has mommy AND daddy issues.

marisol is basically if all the goodness and kindness in the world was smushed into the prettiest girl in the world. she’s the embodiment of lathander’s ideals - kind, just, righteous and always wishes for the best. she is his chosen for this reason alone and she is well loved by her god.

she’s my attempt at a negative growth character where she doesn’t change despite the challenges she faces. think of like how goku is the same fucking guy no matter what. marisol is this way too and it’s because of how deeply she understands lathanderite doctrine - the world can be as much of a dark, cruel and unforgiving place as it wants to be marisol will just match it in her mercy, her kindness and forgiveness.

i have a lot. about her. a playlist a pintrest board and a notion im still making that i’d be willing to share with u privately !

her romance with gale makes me weep and to sum it up in the basic of terms - all of her heroics (the events of the game) happen the way they do because marisol falls in love with gale and does anything she can to keep him safe and alive !

#lamb.bleets #messages📩 #friends <3 #fi. #okay thats enough yapping on the dash. i can be annoying in ur dms if ud like me to be fi

[cuteniaarts]

Behold, my latest and most enamouring new obsession:

Malina, Lady of the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe. As if Red Lotus child OCs weren’t niche enough

#my art #artists on tumblr #the legend of korra #lok malina #still feel like that’s too vague of a tag but I can’t come up with anything better for now #and yeah. she has completely stolen by heart and I don’t know how to feel about that #don’t think I ever was this attracted to my own art before #to be fair the design isn’t mine. it’s very heavily based on something nina drew back in 2021 #because I did not have the energy or creativity to come up with my own thing #but the art is all mine and I genuinely adore it. super proud of myself which is a rare occurrence #anyways. kat and I spent three days digging this niche lower and lower and now have a he #*hell of a lot of lore about this basically nonexistent character #for lore about a lady from the North Pole a lot of it is rather hot… to the point my cheeks are burning non stop #I would say I’d let her do anything she wants to me but in my very specific aroace-adjacent case it’s more like #I’d let her tell me to do anything she wants to her #if that makes any sense and I have not completely lost my goddamn mind yet #okay. enough yapping. back to the art itself #lazy background because I suck at those and am not currently attempting to learn them. I’ll probably do that over the summer #about time anyway. my characters have been placed against an off-white background for far. far too long #this is the first piece in just over a year that isn’t tagged with sotrl. which is kinda weird tbh #I’ve been drawing my OCs almost exclusively for nearly 5 years so it is genuinely surprise I’m branching out #*surprising #less branching out and more diving from one hole into another but y’know #anyway. in my personal and very correct opinion she turned out absolutely gorgeous #her servants are way too lucky and unalaq is way too much of an idiot. no offence to vaatu but he could never beat out this #and I also have Kat’s personal and very correct opinion to back up my own. two against the void. once again we’re winning #I wanna draw her a lot more bc she has completely possessed my brain. I just wish character interactions were easier to draw 😭 #I’ll figure it out. just need to fight my visualisation issues for a proper idea. brb #okay I’m almost at the tag limit so. in summary: #she 🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵

[frogtossing]

guys important question:

and maybe also share your thoughts in tags cuz with the amount of tag games going around in this fandom i want to know who feels okay with being tagged and who doesn’t!!!

#my social anxiety always makes a bit hard for me to just tag people #and to be honest i may have some mutuals here but i talk to maybe one or two of you??? @.@ #i’m just a bit too awkward to interact with people even if i want to aaarrghhh #okay okay enough yapping

[kasperbunny]

thinking about drunk Arty. I think he's genuinely pleasant when he's drunk, it softens him up and allows him to be more...carefree, I guess. he's very, very messy and lovey when he drinks and sometimes it bothers Danse how handsy he tends to get in public, but he enjoys seeing Arty laugh and smile and seem happy for once. he does try to keep an eye on Art and make sure the drinking doesn't become a problem, tho.

#kasper yaps #artemis tag #danse is like. okay youve had enough. and tries to usher him into bed #art sleeps good asf when he drinks

[arom-com]

hi hope this is ok but i've seen sooo many of ur posts tagged as renbrand and i am ... perhaps .... a little curious .... would u like to tell me abt them !!!! 👀👀 (its ok if not ofc)

Ofc!! I sure have been tagging them a lot huh

The short version is that they’re my unhinged lesbian ocs stuck in a murder timeloop

Longer version is this:

(I am not going to be able to explain this in any way approaching coherent) (but I will try!!) (sorry in advance for the Wall of Text)

So RenBrand stands for these two:

Ren Hayashi (23, she/they) university student studying criminal psychology, abandonment issues out the wazoo, Going Through It

Brand Reitveld (26, she/her) local gang leader, Control Issues TM, definitely the cat in whatever cat-and-mouse thing they have going on

They’re in love — it’s not even remotely healthy.

Basically, through no fault of their own, they got stuck in a long-form time loop (days/months rather than strict 24h) that resets whenever one of them dies, which wouldn’t be too much of an issue? Except a) they’ve never met and don’t know they’re stuck together, and b) Ren keeps getting fucking murdered

Bc!! Ren’s psychology prof is running a secret cult (trying to turn his crim psy students into serial killers, it’s a whole thing, very cringe of him) so she gets killed for accidentally getting in the way a couple times (she doesn’t know about the cult), and then ofc starts investigating, which only makes it worse (I feel so bad for her but it’s also really funny, saddest most pathetic sopping wet oc I’ve ever created)

(Some of Ren’s deaths are also caused by Brand who’s like listen I don’t have a grudge against you or anything but you do keep getting my people killed so I have to eliminate the threat, no hard feelings! And Ren is like I am in abject misery)

(strangers to enemies to lovers except the strangers to enemies is a speedrun and the enemies to lovers is a slow burn)

The story they’re from is sort of a dark mystery-slash-romance (think nbc hannibal meets groundhog day, which is certainly a sentence), and it’s mainly centred around Ren and her corruption arc as she goes from “tired student just trying to finish her dissertation if it kills her” to “codependent mob-wife who kills first and asks questions later”

I’m obsessed with time as a narrative device, and especially time loops, because it can be used in such interesting ways!! And the interesting part about time loops to me is that they’re like,,,,, rube goldberg machines for character development? You only stick a character in a time loop when you need them to undergo a pretty drastic change without a proper catalyst, and it forces them to wear themselves down to their bones, to find the very essence of what they are, and then build themselves back up again into their ideal and purest form of self. (Of course, some people just use them as a tool for romance, but that’s boring!! Boo)

Usually time loops exist to make a character better, because they’re given some kind of epiphany that makes them the best and kindest version of themselves. (Alternatively, they can be used as the cosmic equivalent of a washing machine spin cycle if you’re writing horror) But what interests Me is the idea of using a time loop to make a character worse, which is what I’m doing to Ren (and to a lesser extent, Brand)

And it’s not just corruption for corruption’s sake, either! Ren, as she is, is miserable — she’s completely isolated, unable to achieve any of her goals, and ultimately ends up getting killed in an impersonal way for impersonal reasons — but once the loop begins and she gets her second chance, she starts to wear away at all her self-imposed barriers and boundaries until she can start making her own decisions and being an active agent in her own life. Of course, she’s not choosing to do good, but the best version of herself is not necessarily Good or Kind, it’s just Authentic.

Brand, on the other hand — because she has more support and isn’t as repressed — is experiencing the time loop less as a vehicle for character development, and more as a perpetual time travel fix-it (which is SO fun, having two characters get wildly different outcomes from the same experience). Her problems are more interpersonal rather than internal, so where Ren is using the extra time to understand herself, Brand uses it to understand the world around her (and is thus doing a much better job at actually solving the plot, we love a girlboss).

Brand’s conflicts are with her brother (who I can’t even Begin to explain without adding another thousand words to this post), and (as the leader of the local gang) with the police & the murder cult, which means that a lot of her loops are spent information-gathering (and murdering, dw abt it)

Personality-wise Ren is pretty quiet, she doesn’t like to ask for things which means she gets into miscommunications a lot (people not helping when she wishes they would, people helping when she doesn’t need it bc they think she just doesn’t want to ask), she’s a very “the only one you can rely on is yourself” kind of person, which isn’t exactly ideal for someone you’re stuck in a time loop with but at least it means she never gives up? She also doesn’t really care what people think of her — or rather, she does care, but she doesn’t let it stop her

Brand is suffering from a lethal combination of being the youngest sibling and simultaneously the eldest daughter, so she’s great at asking for help and using her resources but it means that she a) is a little entitled about it, and b) needs to feel like she has perfect control over everything or she’ll die. She’s very possessive and protective over things that she considers hers (hence murdering Ren for getting her people killed, it’s fine they get over it)

Renbrand also come equipped with two sets of narrative foils (Brand’s disabled ex-ballet dancer brother and his bodyguard/love interest, and the cult leader professor and his prized pupil who both hates and loves him for what he’s become) but the word count on this is already obscenely, embarrassingly long so I’ll talk abt them another day maybe

#ok!!! that should be enough for now #renbrand #scattered-winter #asks #half of this is just meta about time loops I’m so sorry #feel free to ask more questions!! clearly I can’t shut up abt them #I’ve drawn brand I think twice? both should be under my art tag on my side acct #but yeah that’s the basics #calling them renbrand like rembrandt bc im so clever (joking) #I would do a rembrandt style painting of them if shading and I weren't mortal enemies #[clenches fist] god I love time as a narrative device #love making a character experience all their worst moments again while also giving them the opportunity to change #god. wait. loreliese as the degas ballerinas I'm SO clever #okay okay shutting up now #hope this answers your question!!! #edited bc when I was transferring this over it SKIPPED A PARAGRAPH fucking christ #so yeah if the mention of the murder cult out of the blue confused anyone… that’s why #attys yapping ✨🌷💞

[xyriath]

Hope it's not too much to ask and I'll reach out individually if ppl would prefer it that way but @ my mutuals is there any way y'all could tag the current Gaza stuff? Not to get all anxious on main but—

I've been doomscrolling news and social media for hours daily since the 7th because I have no self control and at this point I can't go on most sites without it causing actual physical health problems due to stress—I'd love to have a place I can go and chill without freaking out about it for a bit and since tumblr is the only curatable site left I was hoping this could be it.

Thank you. 💜

#Xyri yaps #I promise if you're posting something I probably already know abt it #As well as who disagrees with that and the counterarguments to THOSE disagreements #And so on and so forth #And I've seen enough things that cross the line from Israel-critical into antisemitism that at this point #Even seeing the word Israel is enough to make me flinch like a kid expecting to be hit by an abusive parent #Not from anyone on here to be clear but just in general #I can't do it anymore y'all #And the thought of talking to a bunch of people individually about it is honestly a personal brand of hell #So yeah. Hoping this post is okay to make lol

[confinesofmy]

we met one of my northern cousins at the mounds and she was pulling out all the stops trying to tempt me into coming to visit her and i brought like a full picnic spread so she mentioned b-ham's got a great food culture and i had to explain my parosmia to her and i do think i got it across but it's literally so sad to me that if i do go visit her (which i probably will) i'm just gonna keep eating my ten little things that i eat. 🥲 like i could walk into a michelin star restaurant rn and have to immediately leave because it smells like corpse stench in there. i try not to think much of it or allow it much meaning in my life but i currently associate food with disgust to the degree that in a new city i would not even try the food. 😭 that's so miserable lol.

#her response was so horrified and i was just like yeah :^) i guess that is pretty bad huh #there's no soft way to describe my diet lmao #but it's genuinely the best i've ever eaten! i've never eaten this much veg before! it's just so. plain. 😭 #i'm clearly a culinary type. like at this point i cook several times per day usually and i'm just. i'm a good cook yk. i have good taste. #when i show up with a dish people have never even heard of they trust me enough to try it open hearted because i'm just really good #so for me to say 'oh no‚ i'm okay!' to visiting exciting restaurants hundreds of miles from home is so saaaad lmaoo #i'm just trying to avoid pain. and like. the confusion of trying to figure out 'okay. which ingredient tastes like swamp water' #or WORSE #adam yaps