#then it ended up because of the sheer length of this thing (i am very slow when it comes to writing/reading)

[kalmeria]

hey kori! how's your cold? are you feeling any better?

soo if you're in the mood to answer... what about 4, 5, 11, 14 and 21 from the enstars asks? sorry for asking so many, but i'm curious, haha ^^'

hello!! i’m feeling better, thank you for asking. still a bit sick but the brain fog is mostly gone at least~

answering these is fun so i might ramble on a bit haha

okay i ended up talking a lot a lot. so much that i’m putting a readmore here lmao

link to the secret codes that enable me to ramble about ensemble stars (aka the ask game)

4. what got you into enstars?

short answer is: wanted to play a new rhythm game!

long answer (i have a whole timeline lmaoo): my first encounter with enstars was watching the first episode of the anime when it came out (summer 2019). but honestly i didn’t enjoy it. the fact that anzu, who is such a central character, felt like a prop the others talked at… it was weird! i get that it’s because of her being the player character so to speak, but it still bothers me, and i find stories where she shows up a lot difficult to read.

fast forward to early 2021 when i followed a person on here who later turned out to be a big enstarrie. through them i was exposed to some wataei edits that made me go “wait this is gay?” but i mostly tuned it out as stuff on my dash i’m not that interested in. one mention of vampires did get my attention, and i ended up reading the tv tropes pages for a bunch of characters? the oddballs, valkyrie, switch, alkaloid. i could not understand what this “war” thing was.

then last autumn i got tired of the power creep in starira, my previous gacha game, and decided to try bandori garupa. found out i really enjoy rhythm games, so then i started playing d4dj and project sekai as well.

and then, around new years i think, i was sick and lying in bed, and ran into some enstars music related videos. notably one that was rating different rhythm games. and then there was a video of a bandori fan playing enstars for the first time that really sold it to me because of the shared point of reference.

i was still fighting my curiosity because enstars fans scared me, and i knew the immense amount of lore could easily suck me in and i didn’t really want that. so i decided to just watch the anime and see what the whole deal is… and then i did binge the whole thing and soon after downloaded the game (there was a minor setback of figuring out how to get an app that isn’t available in my region). i read the main story in like a week in february, and now i’m here!

(btw enstars replaced bandori in my mobile gaming, which i had kind of lost interest in at that time, and had just had the worst gacha luck trying to get a 4* moca card)

tl;dr (which is totally fair): wanted a new rhythm game to play, have heard about enstars and seen people be really into it, watched the anime -> it captured my interest

5. what's your favorite headcanon about the character you produce?

umm well this is not a fun one but it’s kind of an important one to me. i see tatsumi as someone who has dealt with being suicidal in the past, especially during his hiatus after the reimei incident, but before that as well. i think he processed it through his faith and through devoting himself to others, but it is also wrapped up in feelings of guilt about not respecting the value of a human life (his own) properly.

11. do you have a least favorite character?

i don’t really actively dislike any of the idols. the ones i like less than others are the ones i don’t really know well because i haven’t really read their stories. either because they didn’t manage to capture my interest, or in the aois case, i’ve just found that a lot of the ways identity and self comes up in their stories makes me uncomfortable, so i kind of don’t like reading them.

but i love seeing people who love these characters i’m not too focused on talk about them and why they love them. it’s really nice how everyone has their devoted fans!

that said, no one has managed to make me care about the two teachers.

14. what card are you currently saving for?

funny story!!!!!! (it’s not)

i am. saving for getto spectacle tatsumi.

and fs1 kohaku.

which will happen at the same time.

(pained smile) i know there is months to go until then, but in the meantime we’ll have fs mayoi, aira and hiiro, as well as ibara event scout. so i will have to make some decisions. oh and ariadne is right around the corner too….)

21. do you have a favorite story?

well. obbligato might be an obvious answer. and it is very high up there.

but i think in general i prefer the shorter stories? because the pacing of the long ones can be absolutely all over the place!

i quite like princess kaguya and ariadne. they do both have that typical enstars thing of having a central conflict that gets dragged out for quite a while and then very suddenly solved in a previously unforeseeable manner. but i’m giving these a free pass for having that conflict be interesting, as well as the character dynamics they explore.

oh and shoutouts to feather touch! i hadn’t considered it before as a favorite but as i was thinking about this question i realized that it’s a pretty solid story.

and i do just really love reading idol stories! they have a lot of fun casual interactions in them! (jun kohaku hiyori teatime, rinne praying to kanata, the runrun calamity, the ones where tatsumi and koga hang out, hiyori giving idol advice to kohaku, etc!)

#slow answer was originally bc i needed to make lunch #then it ended up because of the sheer length of this thing (i am very slow when it comes to writing/reading) #thank you for the ask and sorry about my rambling #i enjoyed answering :3 #asks #umilily #im too tired to read this back now #i could give you a tag of you are okay with that #ive been doing name + an emoji #lily🌊

[maxknightley]

Which Touhou Girls Can You Plausibly Read As Butch? A Comprehensive Overview

Earlier on Tumblr I saw a post complaining that someone called Hecatia Lapislazuli from Touhou Project butch. This is Hecatia Lapislazuli:

Obviously, like most Touhou characters, she is in fact quite feminine - she just shops at Hell Hot Topic. But it got me thinking: In a series like Touhou, with a cast overwhelmingly defined by feminine (if rowdy) ladies, how many characters could you say are 'butch' without sounding like a complete doofus or significantly redesigning them to fit your headcanon?

CRITERIA

I'll be using four main criteria to judge characters' butchness. In real life, of course, butchness is a multivalent and extremely personal thing, but I'm talking about funny cartoon women from a video game here, so I'm willing to be a little reductive.

These criteria, in order of descending importance, are:

FASHION. In a series where goddamn near everyone is in either a dress or a skirt, the mere act of Wearing A Dress Shirt can be enough to make a powerful statement. Hats may also play a role here, given how many Touhou characters have gay little hats.

HAIRSTYLE. Short hair is not the be-all and end-all of butchness. I, myself, am Decidedly Butch even though I've been growing out my hair since college. But the length and styling of the hair are still a valuable indicator of how someone thinks of themself and wants to be seen.

'TUDE. Could this character be accurately described as "kind of a frat boy?" How do they speak to others? Do they just kind of seem like a character who ought to be butch, regardless of their looks? Do they even lift?

COMEDY FACTOR. Self-explanatory. This will probably only come into play if I run into a weird edge case.

I'll also emphasize that we're grading on a curve here - butchness is being assessed relative to the characters who do not appear on this list. Nobody in this series has a buzzcut, you know what I mean?

THE TIER LIST

AS CLOSE TO CANON AS WE'LL GET

Fujiwara no Mokou. The girl wears a dress shirt, fucking suspenders, and trousers. Not shorts, actual full-length pants. She's also in a perpetual love-hate mutual-murder situationship with Princess Kaguya, who is femme as all fuck. Obviously you don't have to be butch to date a femme - I'm just saying it feels Fitting given their whole deal.

Yuugi Hoshiguma. Most of the time, her fashion sense is actually quite feminine - but her look in the most recent chapter of Cheating Detective Satori, with the one exposed shoulder and the sarashi and all that, significantly alters the balance. Her hair actually reads as more masc to me when she keeps it long and unruly - when she puts it up in a ponytail, she ends up looking very kempt, even elegant. The deciding factor here is 'Tude: Her sheer levels of butch swag are off the fucking charts. (Still, I wouldn't blame someone for arguing she should be knocked down a tier - especially since I'd argue the Comedy Factor works in reverse here. She's way funnier if she doesn't think of herself as butch in the slightest.)

Minamitsu Murasa. In his original appearance I'd argue that Murasa is in "Reasonable" tier - maybe even as low as "Kind of a Stretch." But her big gay Jotaro jacket in Sunken Fossil World, combined with the emphasis on the weightiness and solidity of his trademark anchor, put her over the top. One of the only Touhou girls I consider worthy of being He/Himmed.

Shinmyoumaru Sukuna. The other He/Him-worthy Touhou girl. Very short, slightly messy hair; wears a kimono, not a dress; inheritor of Issun-Boshi's legacy; wears fucking dinnerware as a hat. Why do you want to be Big so badly, huh? So you can pick up women more easily? So you can carry your awful wife through the upside-down threshold of your upside-down bedroom?

Raiko Horikawa. For the longest time I thought her skirt was a pair of shorts because I straight up could not parse it as anything else. Even now I'm like "that can't possibly be a skirt, ZUN just drew it weird. She has to be wearing a full two-piece suit." Skirt aside, her jacket/dress shirt/necktie are still undeniable, as is her short hair. Also, she is a taiko drum given life, and I feel like taiko and timpanis are naturally butch. Maybe if she was a tambourine or a set of bongos I'd rank her lower?

Momoyo Himemushi. Rough-talking miner. Wears a dress shirt, leaves the top button(?) undone. Tromps around a big weird cave with no shoes or socks on. Wears bows and bangles basically everywhere but in her messy, tangled hair. Also, maybe I'm stereotyping here, but I just can't picture a centipede as being femme.

REASONABLE

Wriggle Nightbug. The dress shirt, cape, and puffy shorts all paint a vivid picture, but I just feel like I don't have a strong enough opinion on Wriggle as a character to put her in the top tier. In other words, she's got plenty of points for Fashion and quite a few for Hairstyle, but I just don't think the 'Tude is sufficient for me.

Reisen Udongein Inaba. The skirts are a strike against her, but her whole "dress shirt + necktie + sometimes suit jacket" thing makes a big difference, especially given that we're grading on a curve. Her rumpled ears and (particularly in Inaba of the Moon, Inaba of the Earth) pathetic demeanor go a long way towards giving her a vibe somewhere between "overworked salaryman" and "Detective Columbo."

Aya Shameimaru. All you need to know about Aya is that her "human reporter" disguise looks like This:

Mononobe no Futo. Butch, but in a really weird, circuitous way, imo. Like. She's sort of wearing a dress, but it's sort of a robe - the contrast of the hemline with her big flowy sleeves makes it hard to pin down - and her outfit quite notably has tassels rather than any kind of frills. I don't know what the hell is up with her hat but it's definitely not femme by any stretch of the imagination. Then thou hast the wayes in which she speaketh all "faux-olde-timey," even though nobody else in the setting does that... she transferred her soul into a plate, but she also throws plates around as weapons... It's like she's constantly putting on a performance that only she truly understands. It's like she reverse-engineered "masculine womanhood" by hanging out with a bunch of queens and doing kind of the same thing but kind of the inverse. The more I think about Futo the more I think she's entirely on her own wavelength, but I think "Reasonable" tier is a... uh, reasonable... approximation for the sake of this post.

Sagume Kishin. She dresses like if Bill Nye were a woman, and I think that cuts to the heart of it - she reminds me of a professor who you're not ever sure is gay, but you kind of pick up on a vibe, and near the end of the semester she offhandedly refers to "her partner" and you're like HOLY SHIT I KNEW IT. I went back and forth between putting her in "Reasonable" and "Kind of a Stretch"; ultimately, the Comedy Factor decided it because I couldn't stop thinking about a scenario where she says she's a woman, accidentally upends her whole understanding of gender in the process, and ends up taking testosterone while still ID'ing as a lesbian. I don't actually know if her powers would work that way and I don't care.

KIND OF A STRETCH

Eiki Shiki. I don't have a lot to go on, here, because she hasn't had many official appearances and seems to spend most of her time lecturing people or tormenting sinners. Her uniform(?)/apothecary outfit(??) is pretty snazzy; combined with the hat, it gives her a vaguely "military officer" look to me. We'll call her "butch pending further investigation," which I think she would agree is the correct course of action.

Sekibanki. She's here partially because of the cape, and partially because being sandwiched between Wakasagihime and Kagerou makes her look way more masc by contrast. I know what I said.

Ringo. It's pretty much just the hat and the pants, though - as a butch woman who Loves Eating - I am also inclined to project my own experiences onto her.

Aunn Komano. She reads as more "tomboyish" than outright "butch" to me, what with her whole puppy-dog vibe, but at the same time... she's very much wearing shorts and the kind of goofy-looking button-up shirt that is central to my own wardrobe and the wardrobe of other butches in my life. I'm willing to count her.

Takane Yamashiro. A living testament to the power of small character design choices. I would never in a million years call Nitori butch, even with her gay little hat and all the pouches on her outfit - she just looks like a girl scout. Takane, though? Takane, with her little hair swoopy, and the fucking suitcase slung over her back, and her camo-print dress? I mean - ultimately it is still a dress, which is why I can't justify scoring her higher, but she's definitely chewing tobacco and riding around on an ATV on weekends.

Chiyari Tenkaijin. If she's butch, it's not really because she's trying to be butch, it's just because being femme seems too expensive and time-consuming. She's got better things to do (drink blood all day). Still, I think an argument could be made.

DEFINITELY A STRETCH, BUT I RESPECT IT

Renko Usami. ZUN is kind of inconsistent with how he draws her hat - sometimes it's more of a porkpie/fedora type thing, other times it's round-topped and looks a bit like Koishi's hat. To me, this is a crucial distinction. In a more general sense, I feel like Renko's outfit gets a little less plausibly-masc with each passing album, which says a lot about our society. Or her society, anyway, since she lives in the future. Still, the capelets and bowties...

Rinnosuke Morichika. I think it would be really funny if the only significant male character in Touhou wasn't actually even a dude. I'm not aware of any real textual support for this interpretation, though.

Shou Toramaru. Pretty much only on here because of the hair and because I think there's a certain je ne sais quoi to her whole deal of "she's not a real tiger, she's the idea of a tiger that pre-Meiji Japanese people came up with from secondhand accounts."

Seija Kijin. Not even remotely butch by any stretch of the imagination... But if she did consider herself butch, isn't that exactly what she'd want you to think?

POTENTIALLY NOTEWORTHY EXCLUSIONS

Cirno. "Tomboyish" is not the same thing as "butch," to me, especially if you exclusively wear dresses. Also, I'm not sure Cirno even knows what a lesbian is.

Saki Kurokoma. Not actually butch, just a horse girl. (And a horsegirl.)

Mike Goutokuji. Can't tell if she's wearing a skirt or shorts. She's got short hair, sure, but the whole "matching bell collar and wristbands that also have bells attached" thing makes her look more like a Very Online Trans Woman who just figured herself out and hasn't started hormones or bought any new clothes yet.

#touhou #touhou project #crossposted from cohost after i spent like an hour on it.

[yuri-is-online]

And Your Name Is? (Sebek, Silver, Idia)

Synopsis- After successfully resolving whatever was causing NRC to be trapped in an endless time loop of overblotting and disaster, one last reset should give him a chance to experience a normal school year with you. But instead you find yourself trapped in the here and there, appearing as a vague shadow around the school that vanishes as soon as he catches up to you. The kind thing to do would be to allow you to be forgotten in the chance it lets you return to your world.

But this is Twisted Wonderland where the kind thing is seldom done, and he wants you back as much as you want to find him again.

notes: they/them pronouns used for Yuu, thanks to the lovely annon who requested this, they suggested Silver and Sebek in celebration of Book 7 Chapter 5 and I decided to add Idia because I expect he'll be doing something soon-ish. Please look to my masterlist for the other parts if you liked this.

Sebek

This is madness, it has to be. What other explanation could he have for these memories torturing him every time he finds himself alone. Lilia had reassured them they were real, even if Lord Malleus's memory was fuzzy and Silver's as unreliable as ever what he saw, what he felt, were all painfully real. There was a missing student from his first year class, an incompetent irrevocably out of place, magicless human who seemed determined to get into the worst situations possible. He can't decide who he is angrier at, the other students for forgetting you, you for once again getting yourself into a situation someone would need to rescue you from, or himself for... for... for...

He'd asked his mother once, angrily and painfully disrespectfully, why she would marry someone so weak. The perspective of time, looped or otherwise, made him realize he was really blaming her for the way his grandfather saw him. As if he could have somehow earned his total respect and love if he erased everything about his father from his being, as if the answer his mother ultimately gave him was a sin somehow.

"Because my love is not weak, true love never is. You can let it change you for the better, or you can let it make you worse. When you see the person you love you will know what they'll do, your soul becomes theirs in a way. Your strengths and weaknesses become shared."

Sebek thinks he must be letting love make him worse. He isn't loud when he approaches your silhouette, he makes no announcement, no demand you be grateful he is paying you attention despite your humanity. He just sits under the apple tree, and quietly into the the empty night air reads a novel. There's a vague memory he has of a much louder conversation you had here about the exact same book. The knight saves his love at the cost of his own life, and he had gone on at much louder length about how noble that was.

You though, you had hated it. "What's the point of living if the person you want to share your life with had to die for it?"

"Do you remember?" His voice is still woefully in line with a normal volume, and you are still just out of reach. "That is what you said, and I am sure I said something very stupid about knightly honor. I probably told you that a mere human would never understand, but whatever I might have meant you were right in the end. It's an empty world when your life is paid for with the life of someone you love." You flicker as if to disappear, but Sebek is faster, snapping up from his seat to grasp you in a death roll and tumbling down to the grass. Yes, love is absolutely making him worse, how else is he supposed to explain to anyone the sheer joy he feels to find you, heavy and warm in the flesh successfully pinned under him and trembling. He can atone for his improprieties later, the sheer worry you inflicted demands immediate penance. There is no running from your fate, not that the arms that encircle his shoulders and pull him further down seem at risk of fleeing anywhere. Sebek's eyes close in relief, allowing himself finally to release his weakness into the strength of your embrace.

Silver

He used to dream what it would be like to live without his curse. Granted Silver didn't have much of an imagination, most of those thoughts consisted of him doing simple things like training with his father or cooking without fear of hurting himself, not that those were bad things to want. Now though, he almost missed his lapses into sleep. He was certain, based off of what little Malleus and Lilia had been able to tell him about the here and there, that he could find you in his dreams. When he went to bed at night he knew he slept, knew he dreamed, but for some reason he just couldn't find you. There were traces, locations he remembers from past timelines, places he's sure must be a twisted echo from your world, all showing traces he could follow but never once showing him you.

It was enough to make him cry, he swears he's cried more in the past month than he has in how ever many years he's been alive. He knows it's scaring his father, he thinks it's scaring Sebek. Malleus is still under the impression there is a way to save you so he has yet to give into fear, but if the way he dismisses Silver, teasingly telling him to get some rest, is any reassurance he's worried about him too.

"I really hope you aren't missing because you think we don't care." He seldom speaks aloud to you outside of dreams, Silver isn't sure if you can hear him when he does. But there's a painful strength to his desire tonight, maybe fueled by the silhouette he saw flickering just beyond the Ramshackle Gate earlier in the evening. He knows Malleus told him to rest, but he finds himself walking back there "just in case" before he returns to his dorm. It's quiet here, inviting himself to close his eyes and begin tracing the steps he saw earlier. You were dancing, he tried to reach for your hand to give you the partner the waltz so clearly demanded but only found air. They're still only holding air when when he pauses, eyes blurring as he tries to examine a still tingling palm, confused to find tears pooling in its center as words continue to flow. "That's not to say if you do I don't understand. If I was in your place, I would feel lonely too. It has to be painful, feeling so alone when you are surrounded by so many people..." His eyes close. A gentle breeze picks up the autumn leaves and tickle his nose with a familiar scent as he chokes out an earnest plea: "Is it too much to ask for you to be lonely in my hands? I promise I'll hold on so tight you never float away again." A comforting weight settles itself onto his hand, his fingers thread through theirs and his other arm pulls them into his embrace through sheer muscle memory before his eyes even open.

"Why are you crying?" A voice he's been chasing after for hundreds of years now, cracked from a months worth of silence asks him so earnestly and sweetly the only response he can find is laughter.

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter!" His arm finds it's way under your legs to sweep you up into a protective cradle as he spins you around and around to reassure himself that this is not a dream, no matter the familiar gleam shining up at him from your eyes.

Idia

This is so not worth it. Idia is not built for this, this, this cliche bullshit plot line. He will not own up to his past self's decisions, he will stay resolute in nihilistic pride and continue to refer to himself as a looser NEET who has never gotten any in his entire life. And technically, as he has argued to Ortho for the past five hours now, that is still true.

"New timeline new me, I am not in love with a student who doesn't technically exist that was my much cooler alter ego." He says that, but Ortho knows that's not a video game's code he has pulled up on his monitor. And despite checking the school's security cams being his thing, his older brother has several open on his other monitor. They've been changing through this entire argument, clearly monitoring wherever you appear and logging it as data in a massive spreadsheet Ortho has maybe taken one or two looks at when he managed to convince Idia to take a nap.

"Um big brother, not to be rude-" Ortho really wants to be. Idia isn't the only one who loves you, just the only one insistent on denying his feelings. "but isn't it sort of... childish to deny yourself at this point? The prefect-"

"They can't be a prefect if they aren't in school." Idia snaps.

"Just Yuu then." Ortho chooses to take the weird cackle Idia lets out as a sign he is making progress with his code and not a sign of a mental break. Yet. "They never showed interest in anyone else, they always picked you. That's got to be enough data to prove that when you save them," because there really is no point in pretending Idia is trying to do anything else at this point, even he gave up denying that just fifteen minutes into this conversation "they won't abandon you for anyone else."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Idia doesn't think he meant to say that, the words sort of just fall out of his mind onto his lap. He risks a look at the security footage, your ghost seldom comes into Ignihyde. That had bothered him at first, angered him even. What, you'll tell him you love him, steal his first kiss every time you can, and watch all his favorite shows just to get him to talk to you more but then when you're trapped in a liminal space you won't bother knocking on his door? Did all those things you said you would do only apply to the good times?

Not that it changed what he was going to do, part of him saw saving you as a challenge but mostly it was just out of gratitude for saving Ortho. That would have earned you his help even without the whole "lovers doomed by the narrative" thing you had going on. But recently, the more he worked on saving you really, he had started to wonder if his self doubt was what was pushing you away. Idia hated how much magic could rely on something as unpredictable and unreliable as human emotion, but it did. And whatever was happening to you was absolutely magical, he had the data to prove it. Reluctantly, ignoring Ortho's protests despite the guilt that gnaws at him he leaves his room. The harsh nighttime light of Ignihyde's LED displays bounce off his skin as he shuffles himself through the empty dormitory, no real destination in mind. He couldn't bring himself to say it out loud in front of Ortho, he couldn't bring himself to say it in front of you either, if his spotty memory is serving him correctly. He finds himself stood in front of a vending machine in one of the school's hallways, two distorted shadows flickering with equal uncertainty in the glass.

"Hungry?" Idia doesn't know why he asks, but he knows why he puts enough money into the machine for two bags of chips. "I keep forgetting I'm just getting shit for myself now." You don't respond, but Idia isn't too surprised or upset. It has to be weird hearing him address you directly after he's spent so much time ignoring you. "Just because Ignihyde's meant to respect the King of the Underworld doesn't mean you'll get snatched away if you pay me a visit. You shouldn't be afraid of him, he isn't dangerous to you." But I am. He doesn't say that, but the words hang heavy in the air anyway. Your shadow tries to reach for the vending machine, but pause almost confused when Idia beats you to punch in the familiar number of your favorite drink.

I love you. He doesn't say it out loud, but the thunk of the can makes the point just the same Idia realizes when he brings the can up to a very confused, very familiar looking face. You are confused, and a bit scared when he drops the drink to tackle you but you hold onto him anyway.

I love you too. You don't say it either but the steady, comforting beat of your heart screams it just the same. I will find you in ever lifetime.

#twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #sebek zigvolt x reader #silver x reader #idia shroud x reader #not me forcing words from myself by listening once upon a dream x500 times #that wouldn't be on brand for chapter 7 now would it

[evelynwinters1]

Yan!BSD character imagines + Yan!Fyodor oneshot at end

Dazai:

I can imagine a scene from Heathers, but instead of him finding you hanging and choosing to blow up the school only to see you alive, he would most likely abduct you and blow up the house he keeps you in with him and his delusional obsession.

Jouno:

Just give up. You are never getting out. He would find reasons to skip work if he has to. (It wouldn't matter how petty the reason) He would go lengths farther than the sun to simply stay in your presence. I can see him in an entirely different room (probably across the house even) eavesdropping on you whispering your plan of escape to yourself. How amusing.

Ranpo:

Another one you should give up escaping from. He has already deduced your plan of escape whenever and however you try to do it. He also knows where you will go if you do manage to escape and is waiting for you when you get there. I can see the reader/ yn trying to buy their escape by bribing ranpo with sweets and snacks at first, but he already seen through this method a while ago and went to go refill his stash. (Most definitely got you anything you may need with it)

P.s. I am still laughing at the thought of the cashiers face when he gets a mountain of snacks and pads/tampons and/or condoms. Shooketh!

Atsushi:

Would make sure you never suspected anything. This lovable idiot would turn full paranoid phsycopath and back again depending on if you were around or not. I can imagine him two-facing you and the detective agency. The agency sees his obsessive paranoia while you see his clingy side.

Chuuya:

Would definitely keep the anger issues (Yes. Even around you.) The main difference would be the direction of what he's angry at. The mafia - as usual. You - trying to escape. I can see a moment when you do escape, after seeing him activate his gift, you would be so terrified to leave him ever again. The sheer amount of strength it would take to not rip you in half with his gift would be immense. Very possessive. Chihuahua.

Mori:

(Now hear me out, I know that a lot of people would rather see him dead. But . . . . Yes.)

More platonic than the others, but equally as obsessive. Would make a secret room off of his main office that only him and Elise would ever know about. No one is to deliver food to you no matter how trusted the individual is. No one is to visit you other than him and Elise. No one will hear about you, let alone see you. Your very existence is hidden from everyone but Mori and Elise. I can see him putting motion sensors in front of the door to his office that notifies him when someone is near (like a ring doorbell but without the camera. He doesn't need it 'cuz no one will know about you anyway.)

Nikolai:

Would definitely have something I like to call the "house of mirrors" complex. Everything that happens to you is simply your fault. But it's completely okay because look how beautiful and special you are! Would convince you that you wanted it.

You wanted him to kidnap you, why else would you make yourself look so vulnerable? You wanted to be punished, why else would you try to leave him?

That kind of thing. A ton of gaslighting. Punish, pretend, praise, repeat.

His perfect doll.

Sigma:

Let's be honest, even as a yandere, he is still a cinnamon roll. Sure, he'll kidnap you, lock you in a room with plenty of space and light (only he would have the key), and put a chain around your ankle that the other end was bolted to the floor. But you would have a walk-in closet, a full bathroom with any necessity you could dream of, a king-sized bed (possibly a large vanity), a desk always stocked, and him.

He would give you meals that he had prepared and cooked personally. He would be at your every beck and call. It didn't matter what you needed, as long as he deemed it safe for you to have, he'd give it to you. Anything from around the world. The price didn't matter, you did.

Edgar:

His muse. Everything about you, whether it be physical or not, was enchanting to him. Even Ranpoe got jealous of his attention being on you. After all, he almost completely gave up contesting with his so-called rival. A good portion of his poems were based on his muse. He didn't need to kidnap you per sé, you waltzed in yourself. Exited that you finally tracked down your favorite author for nothing more than an autograph. (One would almost think you were the stalker)

His shyness and anxiety were key factors of him nearly panicking when he first met you. In time, however, he warmed up to you. Arguably faster than he would like to admit. You would visit him several times after finding him and try and get to know him.

I can imagine when he finally acknowledged his infatuation with you, he asks you if you could get something out of his room for him, telling you that it's a gift for you and he wants it to be a surprise. When you enter and start looking around for anything that stuck out to you, he closes and locks the door. Karl was also in the room with you to serve as both emotional support and security. But you didn't need to know that.

Fyodor:

!!warning!!: kind of cringe, written in a hurry, stalking, mentions of death, manipulation!!

For those of you who bothered to read this whole thing and reach the end, you are in for a treat. Because yandere fyodor wouldn't be as impatient as the others. Obsessed, yes. But impatient, absolutely not. The final result would collapse if he was.

He loved watching you live your daily life through the miniscule cameras he placed strategically throughout your entire house, car, even where you work. How? He has his ways. Every morale any human has tends to be abandoned when he can show the world their darkest secrets with the click of a button. Your boss was no exception. Living on your own was a pain sometimes. Most cleaning couldn't get done until about a week later because of exhaustion. Most of the time, when you got off of work, you'd simply crash in bed. As much as Fyodor loved watching you sleep, he worried a lot about you. Mainly not eating enough (if at all), and if you did, it was mainly cup noodles, canned food, or the occasional leftovers of food you bought during your break at work. He was going to wait until you nearly reached poverty. To be your savior, and casually press himself into your life and your heart. This method (according to his calculations) took the least effort, but the most time. It also raised the chance of success. When he finally gets to you, he will play innocent. He will tell you that he knew nothing about you but get you your favorites. All to paint himself as the perfect ideal man to you. Your soulmate even.

On a walk with him late at night, you both happen to run into a man you now know as Dazai. You could immediately sence Fyodor tense. He made it seem like you both were simply too focused on each other to see where you two were going and briskly guided you back home. You looked for Dazai wondering why it was fyodor tensed so quick (he never did explain why when you asked him), and you ran into him on your way to the post office where he introduced himself. He seemed a bit quirky but hilarious sometimes. That was until he asked about Fyodor. Without much thought, you told him about the start of a relationship between the two of you and how you met. Dazai looked absolutely shocked, told you about his work, where it is, and invited you to talk about 'the details' of Fyodor's identity. The two of you went your separate ways.

You came home to find it devoid of presence. Fyodor left. Given that it was a bit dark out, though illuminated by a full moons light, you read a book on the window seat in the bedroom with a cup of tea till the early hours of the day when you finished it and realized. Work. You had work in 30 minutes.

Fyodor was watching you through the cameras again. He couldn't help but chuckling at his darling, frantically getting ready for work (only halfway succeeding) after losing track of time reading with the forgotten cup of half drank tea. He found it so adorable that you had gotten so immersed in the book he had given you not long ago. Calming down from his fit of giggles, he got back on track. Elimination. Either Dazai needed to die or his darling needed to disappear. He wasn't going to kill her, no. He was going to erase everything, even hinting at her existence. All except her. He'll deal with the details later. He needed to choose quickly before that devil got any ideas. Neither option was simple. In fact, both are quite tedious in nature. Killing Dazai would risk having to kill the rest of the agency and possibly the port mafia. Getting rid of all but you yourself would mean not only would she have to lose both her job and her house, but possibly her entire family as well. Killing them would be the simplest because it would count as a burglary if the pictures of her and past possessions were stolen. He knew that he himself could very easily delete any and all documents the government has on her. All he needs is pawns. Maybe he could "cash in a favor," as it's called. The chief justice should be a good start. It wouldn't take much convincing. Only a few pictures he has of the cheifs deeds will suffice.

And just like that, you disappeared by Fyodors' hands. He had to pull a few strings for living arrangements, but it was well worth the price. You now live in the most rural area you can think of. Not a house or road for at least a hundred miles and surrounded by trees. Yet, you still have no idea Fyodor caused this. You are the one who agreed to 'move into his place'. You are the one who resigned your job to be there. It's not like you knew that Fyodor set your place ablaze or made your boss' blackmail public after ridding your files or being the cause of your family's death.

After a few hours of reading in the enormous library Fyodor has, you hear the door open. In all his handsome glory is fyodor adorning his unshaka and a pure white faux fur cloak.

"Good morning, moya milaya"

P.s. Fyodor will remain my favorite BSD character 😊

#yandere #yandere fyodor #yandere dazai #yandere jouno #yandere chuuya #yandere sigma #yandere nikolai gogol #bungou stray dogs #yandere ranpo #yandere poe

[doomsdaydicecascader]

What would you say was the thing that really shifted your opinion on postcanon stuff? I remember reading your long form posts about it and finding them pretty eloquent and interesting given the information I had (and I admit they did nudge me to me to end up not reading the epilogues along with the sheer length and my own squeamishness, though of course you also gave them their due when you felt it was fair)

if i'm being real, it's primarily interaction with other homestuck fans - my social media spaces tend to be pretty heavily curated, i basically only follow people i trust to be intelligent, since like. there is a level of comfort and complacency with social media? i don't like following new people, i don't like unfollowing old people. so i just dont branch out that much.

but i joined the mspfa discord in........ may of last year? while i really enjoy playing the role of like, i compared myself to solaire of astora once. guy who is there to help. i enjoy doing that, there is fun in that. i have spent many hours over the past months explaining homestuck plot points in ways that basically only i would and it is largely, pearls before swine, because the fact is that people dont want to understand post-canon, they don't want to like, pick at it critically, to understand why the decisions were made, they want to hate post-canon. and this is a very critical difference between me not liking post-canon and the majority of people hating post-canon.

and there is something to be said about experiencing homestuck as it is perceived by other people, to really solidify what i liked about homestuck post-canon, because there was stuff i liked to begin with. and seeing people who hate it without good reason frustrate me! genuinely, if you had to see the same "i heard jade has a dog penis" discussions every 2 weeks from some sprout who showed up only to be mad, you would start to defend it too.

like, i actually delayed that second blog post at the time because hatred for the team was flaring up again, for whatever reason, i don't even remember. but i remember putting it off because i didn't want to contribute to people who were blindly angry about homestuck^2

there are reasons to not like post-canon, lord knows there are plenty. i actually stand by basically everything i said about it not actually working and the times where it goes too far. in the second blog post, not the first one. but like, there is a total and all-encompassing difference in what the conversation is, "yeah, the meat and candy thing doesnt really work and dirks graphic suicide is ill-considered at best" doesnt matter at all when the level people are operating on is "say a plot point as a joke, make people mad, have fun circlejerking over how bad it is"

part of it is also that in the process of writing my own comic, it kind of comes with the territory to be less precious about the characters. like, team slime, my home discord server, watches movies every saturday. for a while, our theme was musicals, and eventually, we watched hamilton. and i realized that lin manuel miranda writes alexander hamilton in the exact way i am always afraid i am writing jane and vriska, like. just. truly relentlessly protective of them. and so being less precious about these characters means recognizing the flaws therein, not being afraid to write them just being kind of disasters. i still am pretty precious about them, but its a work in progress. you gotta get your hands dirty with them, and that puts it in context of respecting when others do the same

like, there are still a lot of really glaring flaws in post-canon, dont get me wrong, but theyre not insurmountable, and it helps to have spaces like burning down the house for me to express directly like. what i wanted out of homestuck. post-canon is not what i want it to be, but when has homestuck ever given anyone what they wanted without any complications whatsoever

and i think it is genuinely capable of being extremely good - this recent update (yiffy overlooking the rosemary drama) is extremely choice! i genuinely love how everyone involved is characterized, the panels are flashy, it puts to bed really stupid shit, like. its unbelievably fucking good how the problem kanaya has isnt "rose had another kid with jade in secret, our marriage is in shambles" but "jane knows about this kid", like. the absence of infidelity conflict is refreshing and says so much about everyone involved. and i have been thinking nonstop about how rose and jades daughters takes after caliborn of all characters. like. "you hope they eat each other alive" with the perspective of like, a caliborn grin is such an INSANE direction to take yiffy! holy shit! its awesome!!!!!!!!

[akkrosu]

Thank you, @recentadultburnout, for tagging me and asking for my nine favorite TV shows! I might have gone a little overboard because I haven’t been tagged a lot before, but please indulge me.

This is going to be limited to QLs, if only because I couldn’t think of a single piece of Western (or straight) media I love and/or remember well enough to be able to put on this list. The ones I have chosen are below, in no particular order.

1. The Untamed

This one belongs here both for being a fantastic story and for being the reason I even discovered any of the other series on this list. My entire “obsessed with Asian queer media” thing started all because a friend once told me, “Let me show you what I’ve been watching recently.” What can I say, drunk Lan Zhan got to me.

2. Moonlight Chicken

One of the most beautiful, thought-provoking and mature series I’ve ever seen, QL or otherwise. P’Aof is a genius and I would have to hide in shame if I didn’t have at least one of his works on this list. He created a narrative of six real people trying to figure out life and how to be happy and there is so much strength in every single one of them.

3. Not Me

With at least three watchthroughs one of my most-watched BLs. I mean, OffGun and the social commentary and political action and the queerness of it all and the characters. Ugh, I love this show. Plus, the music and musical editing were phenomenal.

4. Where Your Eyes Linger

Probably my favorite Korean BL ever? Also the KBL to really get me into KBLs, so it already deserves a medal for that (I was missing out on so much). I’m a sucker for good yearning and forbidden relationships, and this series gave me everything I wanted. And, again, the soundtrack. The instrumental of See U playing as Kang Gook storms Tae Joo’s dad’s house lives rent-free in my mind.

5. HIStory 3: Make Our Days Count

Yes, it’s the other HIStory 3, the one everyone ignores because ‘he went out to buy salt’. Look, don’t judge me, I own up to my love for this series. It’s not the show’s fault all anyone ever remembers is the tragic ending. It’s also such a beautiful story about a total dork falling in love with a lonely nerd and defying all odds to be with him. Plus, the best sibling relationship ever. And (spoiler) said dork dying doesn’t invalidate everything else the series tells us. Yes, it was sad, but I can deal with the sadness. And sometimes, the sadness is as much part of a show as it is of life.

6. The Eclipse

This series haunts me to this day. I was obsessed with it, and I still am. Akk is one of my favorite characters ever written, and First portrayed him beautifully. So did Khaotung with Ayan. The sheer existence of P’Golf baffles my mind to this day. These 12 episodes gave me everything I’ve ever wanted.

7. The Eighth Sense

I take back what I said about Where Your Eyes Linger. This is my favorite KBL. I’m not even sure I can explain why. It’s just so honest. And so, so queer. It made me cry so many times, and the storytelling was magnificent. Plus, it’s one of the few full-length KBLs we have.

8. We Best Love

The cups in my profile picture are the ones Yu Zhenxuan and Pei Shouyi drink out of in the flashbacks of the second season, so... yeah.

This was my very first QL that wasn’t a bromance, and so I’m very biased. I’m almost mad at myself for making this my first one, because sometimes it feels like nothing else could ever live up to it. I admit to having a special love for season 1, even though season 2 seems to be the one people talk about a lot more. It’s just perfect, everything about it. Especially Gao Shide’s mom.

9. My School President

What a phenomenal show. I remember how much I was looking forward to Fridays during the time this was airing, and each week it gave me everything I wanted. Gemini and Fourth are fantastic actors, the friend groups made me cry all the time, it’s one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen, and there are some absolute bangers in there, musically speaking. Gun and Tinn will always have a special place in my heart.

Some honorable mentions because it’s really hard to pin down exactly nine:

Never Let Me Go – I spent a lot of time debating whether to put this or MSP in this list because I love them both equally. And because they aired around the same time, they are sort of irrevocably tied together in my mind.

Big Dragon – I loved this significantly more than I ever expected to, and I can’t be impartial about Yai to this day, because I love him with all my heart. This was such a messy, weird, chaotic show, and yet it somehow gave us such beauty and sappy people in love.

Step by Step – It doesn’t get to be on the list because it hasn’t finished airing yet, and so it could still fuck up, but if it keeps going like this, it is definitely going to become one of my favorites. (Same with Be My Favorite, honestly.)

I don’t know many people around here, and certainly not many I wouldn’t feel awkward tagging, but I’ll just be awkward anyway and kindly ask @ellaspore and @biochemjess if they feel up for it. I wanna know! (No pressure, though.)

#the untamed #cql #moonlight chicken #not me the series #where your eyes linger #history 3: make our days count #history 3: modc #the eclipse #the eighth sense #we best love #my school president

[dramarising-replacement]

General Old-Timey Grumbles

I truly wish from the bottom of my heart that there was an alternative version of FR purely focused on breeding, decorating, and geneing dragons. I've been here for a Very Long Time and I still hate the Coli, I still hate grinding for mats, and I still consider the dollar-to-gem ratio an affront to god. (WHY ARE GENES SO OBSCENELY EXPENSIVE. IT'S 2023 AND I HAVE TO BUDGET FOR A BAKERY CUPCAKE, A DRAGON GENE IS NOT WORTH MORE THAN AN ITEM I PHYSICALLY GET TO EAT.) I wish there was a way to get everything solely from playing the rewarding part of the game: the part with the dragons. I have some profitable breeding pairs so I make an ok living, but compared to anyone who can even halfway doodle something or who have bottomless pockets to dump money into the game? I don't feel a sense of accomplishment by achieving my goals because by the time I finally get there, I'm just glad it's over... until I want to do something else. It transcends reasonable challenge to become demoralizing. I literally just want to gene up gen1s, breed dragons, sell dragons, and dress them up. That's the appeal for me. I like familiars, but bonding with them takes forever. I like dressing up dragons, but grinding to get stuff every seasonal event is such a pain in the arse. I think Baldwin and Swipp and so on are nice ideas as site features, but the sheer volume of item sink required to participate in them makes it not even worth it to try. And while I have all the retired items I could want (wanna know why Light Sprites are so rare? We didn't know they'd be permanently retiring at the end of the first Festival so no one bothered to hoard them! I'm fucking old!,) I feel for everyone that is never, ever going to be able to access any of it because of how unattainable things have become. I know this is an unpopular opinion, but especially for wearables, having them Gone Forever? It just sucks. It just sucks, you guys. It's not fun. Flight Rising is a game full of beautiful art that makes you jump through hoops like a collie at an agility trial doing meaningless busywork to get to the part where you get to play with your cool dragons. And I know most people enjoy a lot of those features, but I'm old. I'm tired. I mean I'm literally getting old and my fucking joints resent sitting at the PC and/or swiping shit on the phone at length. I have a life. I feel the response might be to move on, but 1) what other petsites even exist in 2023? I'm still on Neopets too, and Subeta is cool, but otherwise?? and 2) no. I like my stupid sparkledragons, I don't want to leave them behind! But this is the drama blog and I have complaints, so here I am. Please insert the "old man yells at cloud" image here, because it's me.

#Economy #Coliseum #Baldwin #Rant #Flight Rising #Cursing #Festival #Genes #Long post #Petty

[heartstringsduet]

Thanks for creating this Weekend WIP ask @welcometololaland . Guess who's not just wide awake at 5 am and half-blindly misunderstanding this is not a ask game but a fill-in thing? OOPS. SORRY thanks for tagging me @rmd-writes @alrightbuckaroo @lemonlyman-dotcom For Writers

1. WIP List: First Aid (Lying fools trying to fix the other)

Let Me Part 5 (D/s verse) TK turning 30 collab with @strandnreyes New Year's Day (meeting over and over on new years) Fathers (daddy issues the fic) 5 things Carlos isn't good at Christmassy short?

2. Which of your WIPs is currently the longest? First Aid. 120k that might be cut down or...expanded? but like 100k for sure will end up published.

3. Which WIP do you expect will end up the longest? See above. Want to take some time away from more than 50k projects after this. Good luck Michelle.

4. Which WIP is your favourite to write/the most enjoyable to write? Why?

Right now TK turning 30 is a wonderful reprieve because it doesn't really have a plot and I love written character deep-dives. But also, seeing the finish line of First Aid really made me sit down and enjoy writing it again.

5. Which WIP do you find the most intimidating to write? Why?

Ugh don't want to be a one-trick pony but First Aid has a lot of things that intimidate me. Like making both of them recognizable despite some very different circumstances for them. But also keeping all plot-points and the pacing and the OCs consistent and in line? UGH.

6. Which WIP do you experience the most self-doubt about. Why? See above. Added pressure for me thinking no one will like it because it really does have flawed characters and a lot of lying and back and forth and drama baby drama. Maybe people won't like the finished thing as much as the snippets. Maybe I will be disappointed by the response.. Maybe maybe maybe

7. Which of your WIPs will you seek out a beta/sensitivity reader for? Why? For longer fics or fics that mean much to me I do ask betas and they are TREMENDOUS helps and just a joy to me. I am in awe of all of you, taking the time to help make something shine more. <3 Still considering asking someone to sensitivity read First Aid but feel like 120k might a bit too much to ask of someone. So maybe I will ask for feedback once I update instead and hope I don't offend anyone and am open to criticism. Or maybe if you read this and want to be a sensitivity reader particularly for representation of Latino characters, would love that <3

8. Have any of your WIPs been struck by the curse of writer's block? Oh some have been on hiatus more like. like the 5 things Carlos can't do or the Fathers one. I really like what I have there so far but then other projects get in the way. First Aid definitely had some writer's block moments so I wrote other things like Let Me in between.

9. Which WIP has your favourite OC? Tell us about them?

Well, First Aid has a few OCs actually and none of them totally the ones everyone will love. But I do like writing Arturo, as a cousin to Carlos, even if he definitely won't be liked much.

10. Which WIP is the sexiest?

Let Me series for sure. That's just where the 5% sexual frustration I feel a year goes lol.

11. Which WIP is the angstiest?

First Aid is like a dark pool of angst. Whoops. Let Me isn't without its fair share of hurt/comfort though.

12. Which WIP has the best characterisation (in your humble opinion)? Fathers. I try to be very close to the source material to explore the relationship of TK and his father and Carlos and Owen through the lense of Carlos and how it changes over time.

13. Which WIP has the best scene setting (in your humble opinion)? My weaknessss. I guess First Aid though. Trying to do some of New York justic,e but ultimately won't probably.

14. Which WIP have you worked the hardest on?

Well for the sheer length and plot and time: First Aid.

15. Which WIP do you have the highest expectations for? Why? See above and see my doubts about First Aid. 😶

16. Do you dream about any of your WIPs?

I WISH. I wish I dreamt about people other than my former high school friends?

17. Do any of your WIPs have particular complexities that your other fics don't? The new part of the Let Me series deals with grief and self-harm in a very specific scenario of being in a relationship with Dom/sub dynamics. I think that's fascinating and I wanted to write that part for a while.

18. Which WIP is the funniest or has the most humour? Did i mention the angst part? But I guess 5 things Carlos isn't good at

19. Do any of your WIPs contain outside POVs or a deep dive on a character other than the main ship? How are you finding that process? Yes! TK turns 30 is actually about so many relationships TK has outside of the romantic one. I LOVE that. Since I have more experience with friendships than even family ties, and deep-dive into my own psyche way too much, I think this one is really challenging and fun.

20. Tell us one thing we don't know about one or more of your WIPs.

I ave like 10k minimum of First Aid that is all different versions of the characters and scenarios that make no sense anymore. Also, coming up with 5 fun things Carlos can't do wasn't that easy. he is TALENTED. I tag @decafdino @ambiguouspenny @carlos-in-glasses @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut @lightningboltreader @noxsoulmate @chaotictarlos @louis-ii-reyes-strand @carlos-tk @ladytessa74 @freneticfloetry @orchidscript

#might do the artist one too #or am I annoying yet? #michelle was tagged #tg

[nyaagolor]

How would you rank all the Ace Attorney games you’ve played from favorite to least favorite? You seemed to enjoy all of them, to varying degrees.

So this is actually kind of hard for me to answer depending on whether you base your metric on “how much fun were they to play” “how much do I think to explore the themes / writing / think about the game in general” or “how well written do you think they are”. I’m gonna do all of them and prolly talk a lot so yeehaw. Under the cut bc. surprise surprise! I got long winded

Quick disclaimer: Not including DLC cases or spin off games because if I did we’d be here all day

“How much fun did I have playing through the actual game”

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

Trials and Tribulations

Apollo Justice Ace Attorney

Justice for All

Dual Destinies

Spirit of Justice

This might be kinda surprising to some people considering what I talk about on this blog, but honestly my opinions on these games changed drastically after I had time to ruminate on them. Here’s some explanations if you’re curious!

AA1 very well could be at the top because it was the first game in the series and I was going in fresh— while Turnabout Samurai was a bit of a slog, I managed to get through all of these cases in a day each and just could not put down Turnabout Goodbyes. I don’t think about it as much anymore because it was so foundational and all the things it introduced have been explored by other games, but this game really is the reason I fell into this series with such ferocity.

AA3 was much of the same, and I don’t think I had as much fun with a tutorial case as I did with Turnabout Beginnings. The characterization present in this games and the nonlinearity of the narrative is genuinely fantastic, and my opinion of it has only increased over time.

AA4 is ranked a little lower because I actually wasn’t vibing with the game when I first played it— it was only after Turnabout Succession that everything fell into place and the game skyrocketed up my favorites list. Once I’m finished with all the spinoffs and have some time to chill I actually plan on revisiting it with fresh eyes because I think a second playthrough has the potential to be soooo much better than the first. Also APOLLOOOOOOO he’s my little guy :)

I thought justice for all was fine, but boring. Big Top made me feel some emotions that were less than positive, but generally speaking all the cases were fine but didn’t leave a big impression on me. Also I don’t like Farewell My Turnabout nearly as much as other people— I still like it but it didn’t totally blow me away or anything. Game is still like an 8/10, but it didn’t leave a huge impression on me.

Dual Destinies was confusing as hell timeline wise and it made it kinda difficult to figure out what was even happening, and for that same reason I struggled to attach myself to the plot. The game had some moments that really were stellar but the sheer length and layout of the cases kinda made me wanna cry

I literally only finished this game so I could get to Investigations. Characters were great but it was so. Damn. long.

“How much do I like thinking about the games, its writing, and its themes”

Dual Destinies

Apollo Justice Ace Attorney

Trials and Tribulations

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

Spirit of Justice

Justice for All

This part of the list actually has very little to do with how good I think the games are or how much I like them, but sometimes a game’s themes just Captivate you.

If you’re reading this you’ve probably seen this blog, and you know how I feel about Dual Destinies. I am OBSESSED with this game. I love the characters, I love the themes, and I am fascinated by every part of the writing process and how the game ended up the way it did. I think about this game an unhealthy amount actually. Don’t let my complaining make you think I don’t love this game to pieces. Bc I do. So much.

I love expanding on things. The media I blog about? KIrby and Pokemon, stories that practically beg for you to fill in the gaps and work with their vagueness. So when Takumi handed me a game with half a dozen hanging plot threads and massive time gaps just begging to be filled? You can bet I would never shut the fuck up about it. AJAA my absolute beloved

I could probably talk about Miego for hours. This game is incredible I think about it on the regular. Ough.

This game slams but all the ideas introduced by it have been expanded on and talked about and worked with in a hundred different ways so it’s hard to me to really go back other than to say “wow Turnabout Goodbyes was so fucking good”

Literally the only context in which I think about this game is “this should have been a spinoff” but honestly it barely crosses my mind except when I purposefully try to ignore it

JFA is good and makes me feel absolutely nothing

“How well-written do I think the games are”

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

Trials and Tribulations

Apollo Justice Ace Attorney

Justice for All

Spirit of Justice

Dual Destinies

These are suuuuuper close so this list is a lil shakier than the others but explanations are below as usual!

Ok this is really REALLY tough because I think AA1 and AA3 are tied. They both have their moments and I think the themes are incredible, but for the purposes of this list I’m putting AA1 above AA3 because BttT is a little bit absolutely batshit insane? Turnabout Goodbyes is TIGHT. Sorry Godot you’re still my favorite prosecutor ily kitten

See above

I’ve never seen an AA game whose final cases elevates the entire game quite like AA4. I thought the game was good, but the Turnabout Succession hit and oh my GOD. I think about this game constantly it’s so, SO good. Also helps that Apollo really shakes up the series, he’s my favorite species of insect

These cases were fine, Franziska is a solid prosecutor, the whole “chooses death” thing was fresh, and Farewell was some of the best character writing this series has seen. I don’t honestly have much to even say about it bc it’s super solid

The difference between DD and SOJ is that I think DD had a really good story that it failed to tell effectively while SOJ succeeded in telling its story but that story fucking sucks. Jokes aside I don’t like SOJ but the story is cohesive at least. It had a plot. It was Fine. DD failed miserably but oh my god what you could have been. Ily. Mwah.

See above

Sorry this wasn’t a clear ranking / favorites list, hope you enjoyed regardless!!

#mod vex #ask #ace attorney #heheheeee I love AA asks I love talking about it

[utilitycaster]

My biggest complaint about last night's episode was the tonal dissonance between the two halves (thought admittedly I only partially understood the Opal/Ted thing, and will have to watch the VOD on Monday to fully parse it). I find your Hamlet/Sheer Madness metaphor incredibly apt.

During the episode, I wondered if there was going to be a longer wait until we returned to the Hells, and if Aabria and the Crown Keepers had been brought in to fill space while the main cast or parts of it were unable to follow their regular filming schedule.

If that were the case, then I thought that ending the Bells Hells portion of the episode where they did the right choice, and made sense from both a narrative perspective (once the Hells arrive at the encampment, they will report to Keyleth and begin planning for their next steps, thus entering the next arc of their story), and a characterological perspective (they are still fresh off the fight and the loss of FGC, their intial feelings have been established, and while I'd love more rp, I think the next step of actually proccessing it and letting it propell them is more likely to be tied to their next actions/mission). Liam also provided a lovely button with his call to Dorian, and ending it with his call yet unanswerd increases acticipation. It felt very much like the last beats before intermission in a play, or the last episode of a tv show before the mid-season hiatis. I was therefore willing to be more generous. While the tonal dissonance was incredibly jarring, and ultimately I feel did both halves a diservice, I could understand them wanting to a) end on that beat, and b) keep to the usual length of their episodes.

Now that I know we are getting the Hells back presumably sometime after break next episode, I am not only feeling less forgiving, but also rather confused. I can't think of another reason to split the episode beyond shock value, and also can't help but wonder why they didn't just bring the crown keepers in during the second half for what I am assuming is the reunion we will be getting next episode, and have all of the

Opal/Loth stuff happen in a flash-back one-shot at a later date. While the Crown Keepers and their earnest slap-dickery were bound to change the tone regardless due to their nature, I feel that would have at the very least mitigated some of the emotional whiplash.

If you were to speculate, why do you think they made the choice to split the episode this way?

Also if you had to bring the crown keepers into the main campaign, how would you do so while maintaing narrative integrity and emotional tenor? (Or not, sometimes crack is fun, and if you have alcohol induced ideas, I'd love to hear them as well).

I truly do not know why they made this choice. The only thing I can think of, since it doesn't seem to be related to personal life reasons nor giving Sam more time to work on a character since functionally it's not more time than finishing out this episode with Bells Hells and airing a Crown Keepers episode for 93 is the surprise factor. And I'm going to be honest: I know this is something that is fun when you are at the table and so I think the "it's their game and their table" rule applies* but more often than not these surprises end up kind of sucking as a viewer.

I'm going to be honest but very vague re: bringing the Crown Keepers into the main campaign because I am waiting until after next C3 episode, and probably a bit after that, before I say anything more specific, but. I probably wouldn't. I liked the Crown Keepers well enough when they aired, but a lot of the generosity I extended at the time to the rougher patches is something I've since had second and third thoughts about. I would do another Kymal-style two-shot and then I'd have Dorian come back into the main campaign.

*just as a note: It's their game and their table means they get to make the decisions that they want to make and acting entitled and as if you deserve the outcome you personally want - as people did, for example, when Molly died - is, well, entitled and not something you have a right to ask for. It does not mean you can't say "I disliked this choice greatly."

#cr spoilers

[zeawesomebirdie]

hi !!!! did NOT consider you might like to have the ask again to answer it. if you do:

seeing you post about your old west au is motivating me to at least draft my stuff out for my fic, too!!! so, firstly: good god thank you. secondly, what kind of drafting process do you normally go through? you don't have to answer this but everyone i know is pretty particular about how they write so i'm always curious!!!

Gosh okay I'm still so embarrassed about accidentally posting this before it was ready!! Lesson learned: only work on long posts on desktop (very affectionate). I'm going to copy paste what I had originally said, but there will be added stuff because it wasn't anywhere near ready to go (if you thought it was long before, honey you ain't seen nothing yet!)

Also I still am so proud of you for working on your fic, we are writing buddies now hand in lovable hand I love you thank you for enabling my rambling <33

Buckle in, here we go!

SO! My drafting process is always a moving target. I do what works best for the work in question, and things change depending on my energy and fatigue levels plus my motivation and interest levels

So that said, right now my process usually looks like:

ramble at someone in DMs, copy and paste rambles into a google doc for safekeeping and marinating

zero draft, aka word vomit until a plot forms, block out actions and the occasional dialog, determine chapter and story arcs

first draft, aka Where The Real Writing Happens

optional second draft, but only if the fic is under 10k

line edits

post :)

find a bunch of typos that I somehow missed during line editing, fix those before anyone notices

I will be showing examples because this is a bit hard to explain and Extremely Intense to a lot of people, and yeah that's because it is! I approach writing fanfic the same way I approach writing original fiction, and I find it works best for me as a plotter

If you are metaphorically inclined and familiar with oil painting: I write the way an oil painter paints. First I block in the big shapes, the gestures, and the colours. Then I come back in subsequent drafts and increase the detail until I'm done!

Further information and actual examples of my drafts will be below the cut, because this is gonna be super long and I love talking shop ^.^

And general content warning for non-graphic violence and graphic smut (and shitty early drafts); the examples are from Bruce Wayne/Dick Grayson fics

So before we get into the zero draft, I want to point out two things: first, I do full rewrites. This is why writing takes me one million years. I retype each and every word in each and every draft. Second, I'm actually trying something new with the Old West!AU, for reasons I will explain in a moment!

I started doing full rewrites in 2019 after a college writing course, in which we read Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott; she encourages the reader to embrace the shitty first draft. I ended up really benefiting from a zero draft too, something I first learned about in 2020 from someone on authortube who I no longer remember the name of. The zero draft is essentially a pre-draft, in which one gets the gist of the story out of their system before the prose clogs up the spigot

For me, zero drafts are something that need to be finished as fast as possible in order to get done at all, so due to the sheer length of the Old West!AU, I'm trying out writing little bullet points instead of my full zero drafting. Right now this fic is at 27 chapters, and this is part 1 of 3 total. I will be going back and filling in the actual blocking once I have all the scenes roughly accounted for

Context for the Old West!AU: Bruce is the Bat, a vigilante gunman who only kills when he needs to but still has the fastest draw on this side of the Mississippi. Now that he's taken care of the man who killed his parents, he's returned home to his Uncle Alfred and gone straight, meaning that he's hung up his guns and gone back to homesteading the family land. He adopts Dick and then a year later Jason as well, when small burglaries start happening in town, so he takes the Bat out of retirement and goes to investigate.

My bullet points started out like this:

Open on comparison between Bruce's first gun and the Bat's guns. Introduce Joe Chill, general drunkard. The Bat calls out Chill, shootout, Chill is killed. Chill drew first. Moment of reflection between Bruce's first gunfight at 15 to this one, at 21. Bruce goes home.

And that's the whole entire first chapter!

However, now they look more like:

The Sheriff runs up and shoots at him. The Bat has him disarmed with his own gun barrel to his throat in an instant. It doesn't take the Bat much time to get info out of him either. The burglar is only going after small change, not enough to be noticeable. That rules out the gambler, easily. The Sheriff can't do shit about it, because no one is willing to start an investigation for such small change. The Bat shoves the Sheriff to his knees and is gone before he notices. Alfred is waiting for him when he gets home, and asks. Bruce tries to deny it, but the clothes are in his hands and he can't. So he sighs and says he may have made a promise, but… there might be more to this than there seems, okay? He just… has a bad feeling about it. Alfred can't accept this, what about his sons? Bruce can't take this, and tells him he doesn't have to. Their yelling wakes up Dick and Jason, who stand in the doorway to their bedroom and look on with the door mostly closed.

Eventually both Alfred and Bruce yell each other out, and they sit down for coffee as dawn breaks. Bruce breaks the silence first, saying Alfred is right. Alfred tells him he understands. Bruce decides to let the Bat go for real now.

This is about half of the chapter, and closer to the blocking I normally do in zero drafts

So far this pre-zero draft seems to be working, given I've already finished part 1, but I also can't wait to come back and do the blocking in because that's when the fic really starts to take shape!

Usually though, I just start with a zero draft. I'm going to show you two different fics for the zero draft examples, because they were done differently, and like I said at the beginning, I try to adjust my process based on what is called for by what I'm writing

This first is from the fic I'm writing for @ful-crum. It's a 5+1, in which it is five times Dick fucks Bruce to distract him from discussing his emotions plus one time they actually discuss their emotions and then fuck about it.

Tim and Jason turn up an hour later, and they're incredibly concerned. Dick waves them off. Tim takes him at his word and heads to bed (he has a meeting with Wayne Tech at 8am tomorrow, ugh), but Jason sits down next to the bed and asks Dick what he thinks Bruce is going to say. Dick tells him he's not sure, I mean, it's B, y'know? Jason just nods, and they lapse into silence. Then Steph and Cass come in, and Bruce is most noticeably not present. Cass signs something about bed, and Steph tells Dick that she's worried about Bruce, to which Jason snorts and says they all are, but she insists that Dick talk to him. Dick doesn't even need to take more than a moment to decide that won't be happening. But Steph goes to bed, and it's nearly 04:00 when Jason heads up too, saying he'd love to help Dick lecture Bruce about staying out late but he's got stuff to do tomorrow. Dick asks if he wants to know what stuff, and Jason gives him a smirk and says ask him no questions and he'll tell him no lies. Dick can live with that.

As you can see, this is just general staging directions and vibes

This second example was supposed to be for BruDick Week 2024, but I accidentally got carried away and ended up deciding to write a longfic for it instead. The prompt was "brudick meet their AU!selves," so I did 66!brudick meets the Gotham Rogues Polycule, an AU in which Bruce, Dick, and Clark are in a very elaborate polycule with half of Gotham's villains.

Batman and Robin were on a normal mission in the middle of the day, on the trail of Catwoman, who's been stealing from the Gotham Museum of Art again. One moment they were walking into the museum, the next they were in a weird swirl of energy. Robin clings to Batman and asks what's going on, and Batman tells him steady Robin, we just have to stay calm and see what happens. The energy clears as someone calls out ��incoming! Clear the floor!” and they find themselves in what is clearly the Cave, except it's even more high tech than anything they've ever seen. There's three people in suits like theirs standing in front of a massive screen, and Robin identifies the Riddler immediately, even if he doesn't recognise the other two. Before Batman can stop him, he charges the Riddler, who jumps behind the man in black and blue with a laugh. Batman does call out for him to stop, but he ignores him. The man in black and blue meets his every move, almost like he's fighting himself, and he calls out to the man in red and blue “a little help here, Supes?”

The biggest difference here is how drastically these fics changed from their zero draft to the first draft rendition, and that is entirely because of how fleshed out they ended up being (or not being, lol)

When I zero drafted the 5+1, it was with the intention of that specific part simply being a chapter, whereas my original zero draft of the 66! meeting the polycule! fic was actually intended to be a two shot at most. I unfortunately lost control of the plot during the first draft of that one, and it spiraled into a longfic, which will become more clear in a bit!

Basically though, the goal of the zero draft is to know who's where and why at all times! With longfics, there is often a restructuring that happens after the zero draft is written, where I move scenes and sometimes whole chapters to their best locations. This is where I make the most use out of a beta! Pacing is a big struggle for me and it is easier to fix at this stage, before I have all the prose and have become attached to what I've written

Next up is the first draft, and this is a whole new document. This is where I write The Actual Words. This is more or less the final version of the fic, for longfics, give or take a few paragraphs and a shit ton of line edits. Having said that though, I write in fits and bursts, because y'know disabled and stuff. So I write a paragraph or two at a time, and I am constantly adding and subtracting words and lines and sometimes whole paragraphs while I am actively working on a chapter

I'm going to show the first draft versions of both of the above fics, and due to the length these will be extremely excerpted but they should serve as examples regardless. Generally speaking, my zero drafts are about 1/3 of the length of my finished fics, however the 5+1 is currently proving to be an exception so that number may not be super accurate

First, the 5+1:

“You did take care of them, right?” Dick asked, groaning when Jason’s mouth thinned as he looked away. “Is Steph at least still with him?” “Last I heard, they were—” Jason started, cutting himself off when the Cave’s alarm signaled the arrival of newcomers. A moment later, two muddy bikes roared into the garage, leaving dark tracks behind them as they parked haphazardly together on the far side of the garage. With the return of Black Bat and Spoiler, the only empty place on the garage floor now belonged to Batman himself. Dick tried to catch Jason’s eyes as they waited in the med bay for Cass and Steph to strip off their suits and join them, but Jason turned away from him, though he didn’t rise from the bed. Something must have gone down after he’d fallen unconscious, Dick was sure of it. Why else would Bruce have sent everyone else home early on a patrol night? He could already see it in his mind’s eye, Batman doing God-knew-what out in Gotham alone, Bruce coming home with a busted lip that Dick would have to personally clean up before they went to bed, how that lip would scab over and feel under his tongue when he kissed Bruce the next morning after waking up in their bed—Bruce’s bed—on accident. How that scab would stretch when the ghost of a smile caught Bruce by surprise after one of Dick’s terrible puns. “You okay?” Steph called across the Cave as she and Cass walked toward the med bay. “Never been better,” Dick replied, trying not to be put out at Jason’s eye roll. He put up a hand for Cass to inspect when she came up to his bedside, and after she had nodded her satisfaction of his health he smiled. “I’ll be right as rain in no time.”

And the 66! meets polycule! fic:

“You!” Robin shouted, not waiting for Batman to back him up as he charged toward the Riddler. Riddler didn't move—in fact, none of the three moved—then Robin was on him, punching his face hard enough to hear a distinct crack. That startled all three into action, Riddler swearing up a storm before throwing himself behind the blue masked man, who blocked Robin's next hits without hesitation. “Robin!” Batman called from somewhere behind him, but Robin ignored him, focusing his energy on striking past the masked man's defenses to get at Riddler. “I know you're behind this, you– you scum!” Robin snarled in Riddler's direction, placing a perfectly timed jab toward the masked man's left cheek and then feinting to the right. But the man met him easily, as though they were merely sparring. “I'm not who you think I am!” Riddler exclaimed, his hands cupping his face but doing little to staunch the blood streaming from his nose. “Let's slow down for a minute, okay?” the masked man said, his voice maddeningly level as if Robin wasn't trying every trick he knew to get past him. “We can explain.” “Yeah kid, there's a good explanation here, we promise,” Riddler added. Robin growled and spun around the  masked man's reach only to find him once again directly blocking him from Riddler. How in the dickens did he know exactly where Robin was going to strike before Robin himself knew? And why on earth was he protecting the Riddler? “Supes, we could use a hand here,” the masked man said, still obnoxiously calm, once again blocking Robin's fist and this time circling his hand around Robin's wrist to twist his arm behind his back. In a blink, Robin was lifted into the air by his collar, the blue and red suited man holding him at arm's length. Robin continued to struggle for a moment, but finally Batman came into view, frowning up at him. Seeing Batman's disapproval took every bit of wind from Robin's sails, and he deflated instantly. If Batman didn't think he needed to fight, then he probably didn't need to.

So as you can see, I just kinda fill in the details with each draft!

Which is where we come to the optional second draft. I try, I really do try, to do a full second draft of everything I write. I always am glad to have done one, once it's done. The problem is, I really do have very limited energy, and anything longer than a chapter or two just doesn't get finished if I try to give it a full second draft. I've instead been doing really vigorous line edits, which I don't have an examples of because those are done in the same document as the first draft!

Now, you're probably wondering why on earth I gave a smut content warning at the beginning of this post. WELL.

I am calling myself out as a newbie when it comes to the art of smut writing. My 5+1 fic, the one where literally every single part has extremely explicit smut, has the following in the zero draft:

Yes, that is not one, not two, but three "cue smuts." Clearly I was new at this (affectionate)

Shout out to past!me for this in the last part though, because at least it actually has some semblance of blocking even if it is still extremely lacking:

The kissing escalates (as it often does) to smut over the desk (though Dick does try to move the documents out of the way, even if Bruce is growling at him to leave it alone; he doesn't want to be the reason Tim has another caffeine-induced breakdown).

I didn't figure this out until I was actually writing this fic, but it turns out I not only need to block in regular action scenes, I also need to block in the smut, because otherwise I will be sitting there having no fucking clue what to write (very affectionate)

So I now present what a zero draft of smut looks like! This is from a 5+1 in which there are five times Bruce and Dick fuck because of Poison Ivy's sex pollen and it "doesn't mean anything," plus one time they fuck because they actually want to:

Dick asks if they can take off their suits, it's too hot he's too hot, and Bruce says okay, that's a good idea, and internally he's panicking because oh no. Oh no. But the moment the words are out he sees the relief in Dick's face, and realises Dick needs to be told what to do right now, so he tells him clearly to strip, it'll help. Once Dick is fully naked in the other seat, he turns to Bruce and asks if he needs help with his armor. His hand is tentatively, almost shyly stroking his cock, and Bruce is really struggling to not watch. He tells him no, he doesn't, and takes off the chest plate and arm armor, but leaves what's left of his leg armor on. He decides he can safely put his hand under his boxers, but Dick makes a little noise, and when he looks over he can clearly see Dick watching him stroke himself. Oh fuck. He's cumming before he even realises it, his boxers getting wet and sticky and his cock still so maddeningly hard and he strokes himself through it, unable to stop himself from moaning even as he tries to keep himself in a clinical mindset. Dick asks to see him, and Bruce, despite knowing what a bad, horrible idea this is, pulls down his boxers to reveal his cock. Dick shifts his hand on his own cock to mimic what Bruce is doing, and Bruce has the horrible realisation that he doesn't even really know how to jerk himself off. Dear God, hopefully Alfred stays the fuck out of the Cave tonight.

So it's really just more of the same general blocking directions and vibes!

Another thing of note for zero drafts, I try to use as few words as possible to get what I need across. These are only ever intended to be seen by myself and a beta, assuming anyone else besides me even sees them at all, so I use slang and shorthand and leave notes for myself in the text itself

This can be a bit weird for when I show it to betas (or anyone else, for that matter!) because there are some fics where the tone or the vocabulary in the zero is incredibly modern despite the fic being in a historical or pre-modern setting!

And I have yet to actually write the first draft of that one, so I'm going to give you the first draft of the "Cue more smut (but this time against the batmobile 😌)" scene so that you can see the difference between the blocking and an Actual Scene:

Bruce had turned his back to him, bracing himself against the batmobile, and Dick took hold of Bruce's hip to hold him steady when he slid a finger into his hole. A soft moan was all he got in verbal response, but Bruce pushed against Dick's finger despite Dick's best efforts to do this slowly. Chuckling under his breath, Dick slid in a second finger, relishing in the clench of Bruce's muscle as he began working him open. “Easy, B,” he said softly, leaning over him enough to move his hand from Bruce's hip to his cock. Bruce growled and arched into his touch, taking in Dick's fingers completely. “Someone's in a rush tonight, huh?” He didn't get a verbal response, not that he ever did. Bruce rarely spoke while full, relying instead on nonverbal communication to indicate his needs. It hadn't taken long for Dick to become acquainted with his movements back when they started this; after all, fucking was no different from fighting, not for them, not when they had flown side by side across Gotham for more than half of Dick's life. And Dick knew Bruce would always try to get him to rush just a little, knew he'd give in like he always did, wanting to have his cock inside Bruce as soon as physically possible just as much as Bruce did. He wasted no more time, sliding his fingers out and releasing Bruce's cock just long enough to slick up his own. The small whine from Bruce at the loss of contact ought to be ignored, ought not be acknowledged, and Dick knew that, but he couldn't resist leaning over to kiss the small of Bruce's back. Bruce huffed at him, glaring over his shoulder. Dick met his eyes with a grin. Then Dick gripped Bruce's hip again, holding him steady while Bruce leaned back to meet him, and slipped into his tight heat. There was a soft moan from Bruce the moment he bottomed out; Dick leaned forward again to kiss up his spine, keeping his cock buried deep even while Bruce began to rock back into him.

I do think the fic for @ful-crum would be easier if I had proper blocking for the smut, but also I do love a good challenge and you live and you learn, so I'm not super invested in going back and blocking in the smut at this point in time!

And honestly, once the line edits are done that's pretty much it!

I keep a little "posting info" doc for each and every fic I write, to which I add tags as I come to them in writing, so that I don't have to think about what needs to be tagged at the end after I've already forgotten what I've written. That has saved my butt so many times ngl, especially for longfics!

But really what keeps me from posting more often, despite how much I write, is that I fully finish fics before I post them, even if I'm posting them on a weekly or whatever basis. This is mostly because I can't guarantee when I'll need to randomly take several months off of writing, and I don't want to leave anything unfinished, but also because I don't want to actually end up leaving something unfinished for a few years until I cycle back into the fandom

And that's it!! Thanks for tuning in to this little master class :) If I can clarify anything please let me know; I tried to explain everything that I thought needed it but I can never tell what others will need more clarification on!!

And also, thanks again for asking this!! I don't know many people who do full drafts, or even many people who don't completely pants everything they write, and so I'm always excited to discuss my process!! I also am a firm believer in "take what helps and leave the rest," so if you find something in my process that sounds like something you'd like to do, give it a whirl!! I think it's super important to share the different kinds of processes there can be for writing, because everyone really writes so differently, you know?

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed my shitty early drafts (very affectionate)!!

#asks #idk what to tag this so that ill be able to find it again lmao #also shout out to whomever told you to resend it bc i was fully prepared to just have a screenshot of the ask and tag you in a post #this was very fun!!! #oh and this is for you and anyone else who sees this: #feel free to pop in my ask box and ask about what i'm working on at any time!! #i could ramble for hours about my wips #and to be able to talk about them is always a pleasure!!!

[raccoon-eyed-rebel]

Part 12 - Euphrosyne

Masterlist

Series Masterlist

Part 11 -- Part 13

Pairing: Geralt x ofc (Solveig)

Summary: One night just isn't enough for a reunion after 6 months...

Warnings: SMUT, NSFW, 18+, MINORS DNI, oral (m and f receiving), face sitting, manhandling, cockwarming, (very?) light D/s... Call me if you find any others!

Word count: 3k

A/N: I'm never promising @keanureevesisbae anything ever again, but have fun with the second part of the Geralt triathlon ❤️❤️❤️ Yes, there is one more chapter like this coming, I will award 100 bonus points (that don't do anything) if someone can tell me what its title is going to be 😏

@geralts-yenn @deandoesthingstome @peaches1958

“I can’t believe you will be here for almost six months,” Geralt sighed after breakfast was finished. 

“Does it scare you?” Geralt chuckled softly when you asked him the question. 

“You noticed,” he said. Suddenly, he seemed very interested in his hands. 

“I did,” you answered truthfully. There was no doubt in your mind that he was truly happy to have you here, but you had noticed he had looked tense when you had revealed that you would be staying until at least the end of the year. It didn’t make you nervous; he surely had a good reason. 

“It will be an adjustment,” he spoke plainly. That was certainly true; neither of you had a lot of experience with relationships. The only one you had plenty of knowledge on was your own, and that had hardly been conventional. You sighed. 

“Do you remember the night we met?” he asked as though he read your mind. Of course you did. 

“God, I hated your guts by the end of that night!” 

“I still don’t understand why.”

“Because you were insufferable. Arrogant, abrasive, annoying,” you exclaimed. After a short while you decided to add something very important: “Handsome.”

“Exactly how was that of any influence?” Geralt laughed. 

“It made me extra mad because I hated you, yet I spent half of my nights wondering what it would be like to fuck you.” You flashed him a grin as you slowly got up and walked over to him. 

“We’re having a conversation,” he teased. You laughed; it had become something of a catchphrase for situations like these, and you always knew he didn’t mean it. In this case, exhibit A consisted of the fact that his sweatpants were on the floor before you were even on your knees. He wasn’t hard, but that was nothing a few kisses on the inside of his thighs couldn’t take care of. For the sheer hell of it, you snuck a quick peek at the alarm clock. 

11.41 AM. The soft brush of your fingers along the length of his cock had him moaning softly, the sensation of a single fingernail scraping the delicate skin earned you a hiss and the uncontrolled twitching of his strong muscles. You chuckled at the sound of the grunt that spilled from his throat as you wasted no time wrapping your fingers around him, and running your tongue all the way to the tip of his cock. When you looked up at him, you saw Geralt smile appreciatively as he realized that you had no intentions of dragging this out. 

“Fuck,” he groaned as you suddenly took him into your mouth, “I’ve missed you.” The hum that answered his remark made him moan even louder. Watching him like this made you realize how much you had missed doing this. There was something else you had missed more, but were more than sure you would get around to that, eventually. Muscle memory was a beautiful thing, you concluded as you began to move your hand and mouth without even thinking about it, and it immediately resulted in a cursing, moaning and trembling Geralt who seemed to be having the time of his life. 

“Love, I-” You appreciated the warning, even though it was barely a warning, and you didn’t really need it. A few more strategic flicks of your tongue dragged him over the edge. You glanced at the clock again: 11.44. When the stupid grin of utter bliss faded off his face, his expression morphed into concern, and he dragged you up by your arms and pulled you onto his lap, knees on either side of his hips. 

“Why did you do that?” Of course you immediately understood what he was referring to. In the beginning of your relationship, you had quickly found out that Geralt loved finishing in your mouth, while you were adamantly repulsed by the taste of… well... The compromise, you often joked, was that Geralt was just going to have to tough it out. He didn’t laugh at that joke very often. 

“Sol, why?” The sound of his voice shifted your thoughts back to the present. 

“I felt like it,” you said slowly. The questioning look on his face asked you silently whether or not you thought you would be feeling like it more often in the future. While it hadn’t been as bad as you remembered, it was still a long way from being enjoyable. You decided to not get his hopes up and shook your head. With a groan, Geralt fell back onto the mattress. 

“Where were we?” You asked slyly as you leaned forward until you were laying on his chest.  

“You were talking about how annoyingly handsome I am.” Technically, that wasn’t a lie, but someone had to wipe that smug grin off his stupid face. 

“Hm, yeah, what happened in the past three years, huh?” You squirmed when he responded by tickling your sides, which in turn made him groan as your hips rubbed his cock. He was hard, again. A devious smile spread across your face; this conversation was about to get a lot more fun. You sat up on your knees and used one hand to guide his tip to your entrance, suddenly very happy you hadn’t bothered to put on anything but a t-shirt. The blowjob from earlier had left you dripping - you loved watching Geralt lose his mind as you sucked him off - and you had no trouble sinking down onto his cock. With your hands placed firmly on his chest, you began to ride him. “But it was annoying. I couldn’t stand you, but all I wanted was to kiss your stupid, pretty face. And that flock of girls that always followed you around! So pathetic. It was infuriating.”

“I know a thing or two about infuriating, Sol,” Geralt groaned as you raised yourself up, hovering over him while barely keeping the tip of his cock inside you. Your eyes spoke volumes: Touch me, and it’s over. 

“Do you remember the rest?” You chuckled as he rolled his eyes when he realized you were really going to make him recount the story of how you got together while teasing him like this. 

“How I got along really well with your roommate? Of course I remember.” Your own eyes went wide when you caught on to his plan; he could do some teasing of his own. Ingrid had been the one to invite him to the dinner the both of you were hosting for Samhain that year, despite very loud protesting on your part. By the time you had finally found out he wasn’t such a jackass, after all, she had already hauled him off to her room. 

“The amount of noise that night was quite intriguing.” Over time, that had turned into a fond memory - if it hadn’t been for that night, you might never have made a pass at him at all, but you were simply too curious about his skills in the bedroom. And you wanted to know if Ingrid had been lying... Barely two months later the two of you had made things official. Just two months later he had to leave again, and you didn’t see him again until somewhere in May. Apparently, the memory of your first reunion was too much for him; his hands found your hips and he held you firmly in place as he lifted his hips, driving himself all the way into you. You shrieked in surprise at the sudden intrusion - okay, you screamed. There was absolutely no way that there was anyone in the entire house who hadn’t heard you. Luckily, Geralt had informed you that only three of his roommates were even here at the moment. Geralt suddenly chuckled. It was that specific sound that made you fairly certain he had overheard something amusing somewhere in the house.  

“What did you hear?” you asked curiously as you lay down on his chest, drawing slow patterns through the coarse hair on it. 

“I’m afraid we may have ruined Sherlock’s night,” he answered. A hint of guilt was visible on his face, but he mostly looked amused. The curious part of you wanted to ask him for more details, but you knew Geralt didn’t listen for gossip - and even if he did, Geralt didn’t gossip. 

You suddenly remembered your unspoken promise that if Geralt were to touch you, you wouldn’t finish what you had started, and with that in mind, you moved up and sat on his stomach.

“Really?” Gods, you’d feel bad for him if he didn’t look so cute when he was annoyed. You shrugged, which aggravated him even more, until he suddenly seemed to get an idea. His hands wriggled their way underneath your thighs and he looked at you ardently. You knew that look - and you knew that for the foreseeable future, at least as far as you were concerned, you were the luckiest woman alive. Geralt was always eager to go down on you, which was amazing, but something about this particular position drove him all but feral. Not that it didn’t do anything for you, on the contrary; you enjoyed it at least as much as he did. Your head fell back as he pulled you forward and pressed his flattened tongue between your folds, savoring the taste of your arousal first, before turning his attention to where he knew you needed it most. It was a good thing Geralt was a sturdy man, because there was no way you could keep your hips still. The feeling of his tongue on your clit, the sensitive skin of your pussy grinding against the harsh stubble on his jaw, his fingers digging into the flesh of your ass and hips, pulling you even further down onto his face; it was surreal. Fantastic. Magical. Before long, he had you cursing above him, reaching back for support to keep yourself from falling over. You could tell he was grinning; he always did when you let go like this, and you avoided his eyes so his smugness wouldn’t distract you. You were so close, you knew he would push you over that edge without any problems - and then he didn’t. Instead, he locked your hips in his arms, keeping you still over him as he kept deliberately missing the right spot, or denying you the pressure you needed. Keeping away from his gaze was no use now; his arrogance was evident in his entire body. From the way he held you down to the occasional chuckles that escaped his throat. This was his way of telling you that there was no escaping him. He’d occasionally indulge you, allow you your little ventures into dominance, but he needed you to be very aware that the only reason you were ever in charge, was because he let you. Because this was what he could do. Hold you down and deny you everything you wanted, for as long as he chose to. During one of your little fits of domination, you had challenged him - at the time convinced it was a threat - to ride him like this until he tapped out. He hadn’t, you had, but not before he’d left you so completely overstimulated that you hadn’t been able to continue at all. You liked to think he had unwittingly ruined his own night in doing so, but you knew that to not be true at all. Geralt loved to hold you every bit as much as he liked to make love to you - though sometimes his… excessively amorous nature caught up with him. Now, you found yourself in an unwelcome predicament; you wanted to cum, but you didn’t want to beg. And one wasn’t going to happen without the other, he’d make sure of that. 

“Geralt, please,” you whispered, but it wasn’t good enough. Every muscle in your lower body strained against his arms, but to no avail - he was too strong, keeping you firmly in place no matter how much you squirmed. 

“Hmm?” He obviously couldn’t speak, but he could raise his eyebrows and that was what he did. 

“You’re such a dick,” you huffed as his tongue kept torturing your pussy, never leaving the sensitive nerves, never satisfying them either. His chuckle was dark and it felt good against your core, but it wasn’t enough of a sensation to push you over the edge. Geralt hummed again; the sound contained the same question as before. 

“Dammit! Please, let me cum, you jerk.” He had you on the verge of tears, which didn’t get better when his tongue disappeared and was replaced by his lips around your clit, sucking gently - of course never hard enough to fulfill your desire. It wasn’t long before a single tear rolled down your cheek and you were sobbing. 

“Fuck, Geralt, please, please make me cum,” you begged. That was exactly what he wanted to hear. It took him seconds to pull you down into your best orgasm in months. They were always better with him, but this one… He loosened his grip on your hips and allowed you to ride out your high before grabbing you again. You looked at him, eyes wide with terror when you realized he was far from being done with you. 

“Baby, no, please.” He looked smug when he heard you, still begging for mercy, although this time it was of a different kind - but of course he didn’t show mercy. He pulled two more orgasms from you before he finally allowed you to collapse on the bed. 

“Are you alright, love?” He asked as he freed the covers from underneath your curled up body and crawled into bed with you, wrapping you safely in his arms. It was a while before you could answer him, and even then it was just a simple nod. 

“I’m sorry,” he chuckled, “you were looking just a little too triumphant up there.” 

“You’re mean,” you sighed. It was really all you could manage; you were completely exhausted. You groaned when you felt yet another erection grind impatiently into your ass. 

Your lips formed a smile while the movements behind you grew more impatient and the moans that came from him turned to whines. It would always be funny to you, to hear this big man whine and look at you like a wounded puppy - you couldn’t see his eyes right now, but you knew enough of him to assume - when he didn’t get his way. 

“What do you want?” you asked softly, already knowing the answer. 

“To be closer to you,” was his overly cryptic answer. That wouldn’t do; you were going to get Geralt to use his words, whether he liked it or not. You moved closer to him, and he eagerly locked you tighter in his embrace. 

“Like this?” Your voice was sweet - excessively so - and you knew he didn’t appreciate your teasing, which naturally made it all the more fun. 

“No,” he said as he pressed lazy kisses along your shoulder and neck, “you know what I want.”

“Then ask me,” you laughed. 

“Can I just be inside you?” He groaned. Something about him seemed to express that he felt embarrassed about his request. You gladly agreed to it, however, with a smile on your face and a chuckle in your voice. Even if you weren’t as overcome by lust as he was, you still enjoyed being that close to him. The three rounds of head had left you a mess, and he was met with little resistance when he pushed into you. Both of you sighed with what almost felt like relief, and you nestled back into his arms. This was comfort and familiarity. This was bliss. 

Outside the room you heard a few sets of footsteps and other noises that indicated life in the house, but you ignored it until Mike’s voice sounded dimly through the door. 

“Should we invite Geralt?” You could barely make out the words, but Geralt - of course - heard loud and clear. 

“No, you shouldn’t,” he snapped, loud enough for them to hear. You expected Mike to leave, but he didn’t. Of course he was going to be childish about this. 

“I thought they’d be done by now,” you heard him say, louder this time, as if he was making sure you’d be able to hear him, too. 

“Poor girl won’t walk for a week,” another voice spoke. You recognized the drawl; it was Sy. It was more than thinkable that Geralt would have been okay with it if these jokes had been aimed at him, and him alone, but they weren’t. They were speaking up to poke fun at you, as well, and things like that tended to not go over well with a man so hellbent on protecting his girl. You whined as Geralt slipped out of bed and back into his sweatpants, and pulled the covers tightly around you as he paced to the door.

“Michael, Nathan, for fuck’s sake, go,” you heard him hiss  as soon as he opened the door. “And Danielle. Hi, sorry.” That was a new name. He seemed less agitated when he addressed her - probably because she hadn’t been an asshole to you. 

“He used our full names, man, run.” Sy’s booming laugh sounded through the hall. 

“After you, Dani,” Mike growled. After that, he hissed something at Geralt that you couldn’t quite make out. Geralt crawled back into bed with you, and the two of you got comfortable the same way you had before. 

“What did Mikey say before you closed the door?” You weren’t generally curious, but you had a feeling you would find this particularly funny. 

“He requested I put a shirt on next time - I think I broke his girlfriend for a bit.”

“Well, you’re quite a sight,” you said as you let your fingers glide over his chest and abs. With a sigh, Geralt cuddled up against you, and you sank into his warm and comfortable arms. Maybe it wasn’t perfect, but it was very close.

-> Part 13

#geralt of rivia x ofc #geralt of rivia smut #geralt of rivia #henry cavill characters #179cs #179cs12 #179 crescent street #college!geralt

[jenniiiiiiiii]

THE PATTERN IS DONE (for now)

I've been working on this off and on since August. I started with a commercial pattern but after much trial and error I have something I am happy to make an actual shirt out of (some areas had 5 mockups :') ). It's not perfect - the back pleat was a compromise, and I could improve the armhole area further, but I got really sick of drawing new sleevehead curves every time.

The first one will be turquoise with a pinkish-orange fish print, I'm really looking forward to having it made. Here's hoping the relatively minor modifications from the last mockup are correct, and that I manage to construct it well (looking at you, flat-felled armholes!).

Some rambly late-night musings on the process below the cut.

It took me so many mockups because I really struggled with the shoulder and the armhole. I have very rounded shoulders, and as a consequence, prominent shoulderblades (I also kinda forgot to check for ease, but more on that later). Nothing I found explained the modifications I'd need; I couldn't find a cocktail of 'standard alterations' that made sense for my shape. I basically ended up doing a mashup of mostly draping with some unholy geometry.

Shoutout to a stitchcorder who prompted me to try concave shoulder seams, that was the first major victory. Shout-down? to sleevehead curves. Spent way too many hours of my life gradually deepening curves in pursuit of 1/8" more length.

Forgetting about ease caused me 2 major headaches. Firstly, I forgot I need to move my arms forward, so the back was too tight over my shoulderblades. Result: a pleat that I didn't totally understand how to shape the added volume, and ended up sliding a thin triangle around my armhole to compensate. It worked though. Secondly, I forgot I need to move my arms outward, so the upper chest was too tight. Result: only about half the extra width I needed got added, because that was how much seam allowance I was playing with and I did not want to recut. I will probably alter this in future.

But the ease and the drafting struggle was also a gender thing - I'm aiming for a fit that is pretty genderqueer, I guess. Quite fitted around the shoulders and upper chest, skimming over the bust with an unobtrusive side dart, falling roughly straight from there into a split hem skimming at the hipline. I'm a non-standard shape, aiming for a non-standard style. I guess it's in the neighbourhood of butch, but not quite? Ultimately, I've got aims to develop this further into a formal style with stand collar and a more fitted back; I've also got a silk scarf that I'll turn into a sheer shirt eventually. I'm excited for the gender feels this project is bringing.

#craftblr #crafts #sewing #yelling into the void

[has-gilgamesh-doneanythingwrong]

I imagine some of the servants like Cu, Robin and Mori (idk why I just think Mori can hunt and he does hunt bears often) would bring back their catches to A. To show off and B. To share food with master and ya know the way to master's heart is through her stomach. Got any hcs based on this??

Hello anon, thank you very much for the request. Usually I don't allow requests with four characters, but as this is my final batch (possibly forever), I will make an exception for this!!!!

Also sorry, but I am going to have to change your request a little bit to 'eating together with master' just because I think it would be even more fun to take various possible approaches to this. Like what if one guy does it as part of a date, the other one does it whilst you're farming together, and another just hands you the food to show off his killing prowess?

Note: Fem! master, hunting/ killing wild animals, cooking wild animals, the outdoors.

Lancer Cu, Robin Hood and Mori Nagayoshi Eating Together with Master (Fem! Master)

Lancer Cu

✩ From hunting ferocious animals such as wild boar, to being a seasoned fisherman; Cu takes great pride in his hunting abilities.

✩ Enjoying a lengthy forest hike under an endless canopy of verdant trees, the two of you bask within the natural scenery; as you make headway through vast lengths of grass, passing many interesting and wonderful creatures along the way. The two of you liked to go on outings such as these at times, enjoying spending time with one another.

✩ The conversation eventually takes a natural turn towards the topic of food and hunger- your stomach rumbling as you talk passionately about the foods you enjoy. Your haul of shared snacks was starting to run extremely thin, and you were hungry as hell! Finding that to be pretty cute, he laughs.

✩ Chipping in with a few legendary tales of his own, the two of you engage within some lighthearted banter on what you could possibly eat today (especially within a forest as isolated and remote as the one you were currently traipsing through). For Lancer though, this made for the perfect timing to pull out yet another special 'trick' of his...

✩ "Heh, you really seem to appreciate some good food, huh? How about I treat you to a good catch as thanks for today! Ever tried boar before?" As you shake your head to signal a 'no', Lancer's eyes twinkle with joy. If that was the case, then you'd be in for a real treat tonight.

✩ Whether it's a stroke of bad or good luck is anybody's guess, but the two of you had the misfortune of encountering one of the deadliest Demonic Boars known to man, miasma pooling from its tusks as it angrily barrels towards you. Though you feel scared, to Cu; such a challenge is exactly within his element!

✩ Swiftly scooping you out of harm's way, he delves head-first into his battle frenzy, as him and the boar have a rather heated showdown.

✩ However, one thing is certain. Though he could've likely ended the battle pretty quickly if he tried, thanks to him wishing to show off to you the sheer extent of his skills as a spearman; be prepared for bouts of spear-twirling, elegant leaps and dashing attacks that transform the battle almost into a beautiful dance.

✩ Feeling your eyes watching every moment of this exchange, Lancer's heart sings with joy. He hopes that you're enjoying this just as much as he is (and if it gets you excited, then all the better).

✩ Eventually, he FINALLY kills the boar; his tightly-fitted spandex figure overshadowed by the humongous creature that he hauls over his shoulders; clearly proud of his catch. When you praise him for the exciting show, he beams from ear-to-ear with bliss.

✩ Once you finally find a safe clearing for the day, as the two of you kindle a warm fire; the stars shimmer brightly within the night sky as you roast massive chunks of boar meat together under the fire.

✩ Was the meat delicious? Well...that may be up for debate. But one thing is for certain- it was made with a lot of care.

Robin Hood

🍃 Nature is like a second home to Robin Hood. It's where he made a living, met many great allies and had a good time. So when you asked for his help with farming materials for ascension as well as collecting supplies for the canteen, Robin was pleased that you'd look to him for assistance!

🍃 What starts off as a rather casual bout of farming becomes a guide to foraging, as Robin Hood guides you through what plants have medicinal qualities, as well as the herbs he'd recommend for you to stock the kitchen with.

🍃 Though he initially planned to only fulfil his duties and leave, your curiosity and rampant interest in nature inadvertently brought out his more talkative side. (Though he's not quite chuffed by this at first, he's secretly having a very good time!)

🍃 Time passes as if it's a blur, your stomach signaling that it's finally time to eat. As you blush slightly at the powerful gurgling of your ravenous belly, Robin smirks slightly as he cracks a small joke. "Haha, I almost mistook that rumbling as a sign of an enemy threat! Say, master. I'll get some grub for us. That's one of my duties as a Servant, after all!"

🍃 Well the two are you are in luck, for the abominable chicken foes that have become a staple of many FGO events are populating this area (though it shouldn't be geographically possible). As soon as he sees them far away in the distance- he certainly has a keen sense of sight- Robin shoots you the peace sign as he conceals his physical form.

It's time for the hunt!

🍃 And with that, he's off! Like a master of natural terrain, Robin Hood glides throughout the trees, an invisible shadow swiftly creeping behind unsuspecting chicken foes, and striking them solidly in the vitals with his nifty crossbow . Rather than taking them head-on, Robin tackles his foes from the sidelines. Instead of making a spectacle of his skills, Robin Hood is slightly more low-key focusing more on how he can be of use instead.

🍃 By the time he's back, he has a massive haul of chicken carcasses. As you compliment him for his impressive skills, Robin hood awkwardly scratches his face, blushing slightly from your praise. It certainly did feel good for him to have such value in your eyes, even if it would be somewhat of a struggle for him to admit that aloud.

🍃 But there was one glaring issue... Robin's arrows contained poison. Which meant that poison would be in the chicken carcasses as well, right? As you brought that up to a bemused Robin, his own eyes widened a little at how much you remembered about how his weaponry works. However, he reassures you that things will be okay, he has a few strategies up his sleeve to drain the poison out so that neither of you would be affected- only then for him to also recall your anti-poison stat as well.

🍃 Finding this to be rather funny, his grin widens. It seemed like the two of you had grown to know each other pretty well... a warm feeling seeps through his chest at that. He's so glad that he could meet a master as loyal as you, who had a genuine interest in people like him.

🍃 As you help him with the preparations and feast over some chicken over a fire grill together, the two of you continue talking about everything and nothing all at once, conversation flowing freely through the cerulean skies.

Mori Nagayoshi

☼ Mori Nagayoshi loves the thrill of the kill. Whether it's a strong opponent or a ferocious beast, he finds great pleasure in taking down his foes; relishing in the bloodshed and glory. However, now that he's working in your service, Mori has discovered something else...he also loves it when you praise him for such efforts.

☼ Wondering how he can repay you for your continued support of him as a vassal, he decides to showcase his very best to you, by going on his lonesome to catch a tremendous beast- one like no other...

☼ "Oi, Master! This is good timing, I've finally found ya. Check this out!!!" Beaming from ear to ear like a cheerful angel of death; blood marring his entire body, as his dangerously sharp teeth glint with glee; Mori Nagayoshi knocks upon your door one evening. "I hope you'll be excited, 'cause I've got the greatest offering for you yet! Hehe."

☼ As you greet him, unsurprised by his heavily soiled form; your eyes widen to saucers as you regard the absolutely enormous... bear? Beast? Monster(?) that was sprawled out against the once clinically clean metallic flooring of the Chaldea Halls. Looking back and forth between the floor and Mori's bloodied form, he rocks on his feet with anticipation at how you were going to thank him for his kill.

☼ You compliment him on his strength on destroying such a gigantic creature (which fills him with such an exquisite sense of joy), however you question him as to what is meant to happen next. "Eh...I ain't sure myself...didn't quite think that far. But trust me, bear meat is fucking great!"

☼ And just like that, an "aha!" moment of inspiration strikes between you both. Seeing as you were hungry and hadn't eaten dinner yet, how about making some bear? Mori finds the prospect exciting, glad to share his tips on skinning and cooking the meat. "Thanks, master. I'm looking forward to cooking with you."

☼ Despite the stench and terrifying figure of blood- encrusted form, you are so overcome with happiness that you leap right into a hug, which he returns tenfold; twirling you in the air. The cheer is palpable between you both, as he finally lets you go to clean himself up a bit.

☼ Thus, for the remainder of the night, both of you prepare a bloody feast, the warm bear stew soothing both your insides. Though it's been a chaotic interlude, you were glad to be spending such a great time by Mori's side.

☼ As for Mori himself, an unspeakably mellow feeling reigns within his heart, sentimentality gripping his chest. To not flee in fear at the sight of such an unusual gift, and to accept his unique form of affection so wholeheartedly... Mori was unsure on how to express such gratitude.

#cu chulainn #lancer cu chulainn #robin hood #mori nagayoshi #fate series #fgo #fgo headcanons #mastersona #gilgawriting #awooga awooga #yes i used powerpoint to help slot all the bois into one image

[vetinarivimesy]

Gargh I genuinely wish I liked this show more - I like the returning characters, I loved all the intriguing hints of new lore stuff, aesthetically it looked fantastic... The casting was mostly perfection. I could even (mostly) put aside my increasing annoyance at post-Lucas-Star War's increasingly negative stance on the jedi that seems to be influenced by the fans who were adults when the Prequels/90s films came out who insist that those films were all about how the jedi were evil actually, when... No seriously those films were aimed at 12 year olds how did the very basic genocide is bad actually message fly over their heads so collectively?

​But ye gods I really felt the whole, Filoni's been working on 20 minute episodes his whole career with this one. 

I think the thing that properly tipped me over from, I'm enjoying this show, but it's frequently frustrating, because I am unfortunately a fan with opinions... into no, this thing is just frustrating as the finale rolled to its extremely predictable end that he'd not so much done an Empire ending, as promised, yet again, to answer the questions he'd been posing throughout next time... Only next time is hardly guaranteed, as sadly epitomised by the waste of Ray Stephenson's rather intriguing character - let alone the way both Claudia Black and Wes Chatham were essentially one step above being glorified extras.

Eh I liked Mando S3 and even BoBF I adored Andor and Kenobi - I'm hardly impartial. I even quite like Ahsoka for what it was, rather than allowing my sheer annoyance at what it wasn't get me too enraged at all the George Lucas never implied that moments with his worldbuilding - stated very publicly to be the opposite to Filoni's takes several times.

I loved the new galaxy, the Purrgils, getting to see the Rebels gang again, most of the Baylan and Shin stuff and Claudia Black getting to be a terrifying Nightmother, the Kintsugi troopers, and the extremely blatant Stargate type worldbuilding can I copy your homework stuff. Even Huyang in live action, as frustrating as the constant jedi-negging by proxy was... Ezra was perfect. Love the little crab people and seeing Chopper, as toned down for live action as he was.

But Filoni, Dave, Hat-Man, please, if you're going to do glacial and epic mysteries that end on an Empire style cliffhanger at least give us some reassurance that you have a plan and know how all the plot-threads are going to go? And that your worldbuilding is in fact internally consistent actually and not just based on vibes with some degree of yeah this does have coherence... The occassional utterly incoherent aside, for you to go oh yeah, the New Republic are all fucking terrible actually, as bad as the space nazis actually, moments were not reassuring. And in the hands of a different writer I'd have been fascinated by the Sabine getting the force stuff... But I really sincerely do not trust you with this.

You keep leaving extremely important character and worldbuilding moments off-screen, not even summed up, just stated in a sentence then rapidly glossed over. With excruciating lengths of time given to portentious dialogue and incoherent ramblings about how the jedi deserved their own genocide actually.

No? Too much to ask? One and a half plot-threads proved too much to keep spinning..?

Of which, admittedly James SA Corey/David Abraham/Ty Franck you are not you could barely keep one plot thread going coherently let alone the half-dozen or so they kept spinning all the way through.

Actually, no, you know what. Fuck it. This has annoyed me enough that I am going to go off and watch Wes Chatham not be utterly wasted in a glorified extra role, in a sci-fi series featuring mysterious rings and huge conspiracy theories by corporate and fascistic government powers alike fuelled by greed and capriciousness but above all about humanity overcoming.

At least that one doesn't flanderise its own characters and worldbuilding for the rule of cool, and the at times seemingly glacial (but not actually) very deliberately paced plot actually serves a purpose that comes together into something spectacular.

Its that or Farscape to wash the bad taste out. But that's another property heavy on the evil space fascists who never quite seem to get an in-universe comeuppance.

#ahsoka series #ahsoka spoilers #the expanse #star wars #fandom #fandom salt #every single damned episode of this thing felt like one of the twenty minute animation episodes streeetched out to breaking point #and thats being polite about it #order 66 #genocide mention #stop making the jedi the villains of their own genocide challenge

[redbreastedbird]

I wanted to ask someone who knows more the inside of writing and publishing, so here's a question

I've been beginning to write a novel, and with that comes planning where the whole story will go, and I've been worrying about planning past book one.

I know that when you found the publisher for MMU the original contract was for three books, and then later three more and three after that.

The idea that is forming in my head about my series would be much longer than a trilogy and I've been worrying about maybe reworking my ideas so in case there's satisfying endings both at the end of book 1 (in this case eliminating every possible reference to this being the first event but not the last) and book 3 in case whoever I will publish with doesn't want to go with the sheer number of books I have in mind.

Would you say that's a good idea or just over worrying?

Thank you in advance for the advice, without your books I wouldn't be the person I am now

Hello, and thank you!

This is a tough question to answer, because it’ll really depend on a lot of things outside your control!

When I wrote MMU I imagined it as a single standalone book. But when I found an agent for it, she suggested that it might actually be the beginning of a series. So she helped me write a synopsis for several future books (honestly I think it was something incredibly simple like ‘Daisy and Hazel solve a murder at a country house; Daisy and Hazel solve a murder on the Orient Express; Daisy and Hazel solve a murder in Egypt’ and so on) and that’s what we took to publishers along with the first finished manuscript.

My publisher bought three books, so I knew I’d be able to write at least two more D&H stories. I remember choosing Orient Express as book 3 and thinking ‘this is the story I have to write, I don’t want to lose out on it if this is all I get’. I knew very clearly that if the series didn’t do well (and we weren’t expecting it to!) I’d only ever write three books, so I had to make sure that the series stood as a three book set, and each book stood alone.

But, of course, it did do well, and so I ended up writing a lot more stories than I’d ever originally intended, and creating series arcs that were a lot more long-lasting and nuanced than I thought I’d be able to. I never thought I’d write Daisy’s coming out plot, I never thought Hazel’s little sisters would ever even appear, I never thought I’d actually get to send them to Egypt …

All this is to say that the length of a series isn’t just shaped by what an author wants, it’s shaped by the publisher and the market and how well that series does. I have been lucky in that I always imagined each book as its own adventure, not necessarily part of a larger story. Some authors, of course, come up with intricate three, four or five part stories, often more books than they have a deal for - I know an author who went into being published with a seven part series plot and (I think?) only a 3 book deal. Publishers usually do 2 or 3 book deals at first, so if you’ve got a clear idea for a trilogy or a duology then you’re in.

But of course, what those authors do is have plans for many different scenarios! There’s no reason why you can’t subtly seed something in an earlier book that you can pick up if you do get more books. For example, I mention Hazel’s younger sisters and family repeatedly in the first books, even though they only become important in book 7. If I had never gone beyond 3 books the mentions would still be fine, but since I did, readers can see those early mentions and connect them to the Rose and May they know!

Plan the series you want to plan, write the book you want to write and then game various different scenarios if and when you come to sell it. Can the series work with only one, two or three books? How can you make a satisfying story with three parts that can then expand out if you do get a deal for more titles? It’s always sensible to be able to be flexible - publishers do get nervous when someone comes in and announces that this series has to be 12 books - but if you’re able to suggest different options you may end up writing those twelve books anyway, just across four or five deals!

Good luck! And do remember - it’s useful to think about the market, and be aware of the challenges you’ll face, but the best books are written with only you, the author, in mind. If you bend to other people during the first drafts you’ll lose some of the joy of creating a world, so always write for yourself first. The rest of the world can come later!

#murder most unladylike #robin stevens #writing #author life #publishing