I’m so tired of my physics lab group because it’s me and then a bunch of guys who went to the same Christian high school in the same town as my university and they just talk about guns all the time.

Today one guy was telling a story about his cousin who’s in Communications so the professors are more liberal so she has to deal with them “talking about pronouns and crap.” Same guy has a sticker on his phone that says “I support FREE SPEECH not ~POLITICAL CORRECTNESS~”

Of course they were all talking about the Citadel shooting in Nashville too and how the shooter was trans.

@the-starlight-papers

Lancer is a funny because of how much it insists that Union is this flawed but ultimately benevolent institution that's well on the path to improvement, a "utopia in progress" as they love to say, when like they casually reveal so many things about it that show Union as rotten to the fucking core. Like as much as Lancer fans like to go on and on about how it's an imperfect society that needs to make compromises, there's so much awful shit about Union that just seems pointless or easily avoidable.

And like part of this is the creator's politics; they're social democrats so it's not surprising that Space Sweden is their idea of a society that, if not the best we could possibly achieve, is at least the best we can do for the foreseeable future. As a Marxist-Leninist it's only natural that I'd have a condemnatory view of such a society just as I do for real Social Democracies; my idea of an achievably "good" society is just fundamentally different from that of the creators But like Lancer is also full of little details that just seem fucked up and awful even from the values and viewpoint of Social Democracy. Like stuff that's just as bad, if not worse, than a lot of sci-fi Dystopias. Like why the fuck does Union have a CIA that's run by a group of super-computers with the actual elected legislature having an advisory role but no actual jurisdiction and this fact being kept secret from the vast majority of the populace? Not much of a democracy if one of the most powerful institutions in the entire political body is free from any kind of democratic or even fucking human oversight while most people aren't even allowed to have an opinion on this because they aren't allowed to know about it. Or what about the caste of Janissary diplomats (like was it really necessary to take children and train them like they're the jedi of interplanetary relations) who come with customised computer slaves. Like yeah don't forget about the fucking SCP computer slavery thing, which is completely fine (except for the times it isn't I guess). Like it's basically the weirdest and most uncomfortable part of Star War's setting imported near whole-cloth only like the regular mindwipes are justified because otherwise they'll full Durandal and you don't want that do you? Look how happy and content they are being forced to think like humans while acting as loyal servants. Btw Union is somehow even less denazified than West Germany. Significantly so. They literally gave Hitler Corp. (a fucking weapons manufacturer so powerful they call it a "corpro-state"!) a seat at the UN. While allowing their Blue Helmets to keep using those Nazi-made weapons. And like Third Comm is repeatedly described as doing basically the same shit that Second Comm did but with more "Care" or whatever so don't worry it's fine now.

Like I can just keep going on and on like I'm not making this up this isn't some like weird expansion this is all from the core rulebook. I get that there has to be conflict and tension but like why did they need to make their ostensible good guys so fucking awful like these are the people you're meant to feel good about fighting for why did you need to fill them with the sort of details you'd see in some cautionary dystopia? And like why do actual people keep defending these guys? Like once you get down to it Union manages to be less Space Sweden and more* "The Ottoman Empire with Pronouns"

*to borrow a phrase coined by a mate while we were talking about this

im curious since in ur request rules you have that you write yandere characters. What is your definition of yandere? How do you write them and what do you think about them? btw I really love your work.

and since we're on the topic, what characters would you see being a little yandere? What type of yandere would they be?

Hi Anon! I appreciate the question! Many people have different ideas of what a yandere is and how they should be portrayed. I’d like to start off by giving you the definition of what most people see a yandere:

Now, my definition of a yandere is a person who is completely devoted to another, to the point where they develop unhealthy tendencies. I tend to write my Yandere characters in a more realistic way. (I tend to stay away from the whole ‘oh gosh you just killed this person because they looked at me weird’ kind of writing style. It’s just not my cup of tea)

Since I’ve always been a big fan of psychological horror and dark romance, I portray yanderes as narcissistic, manipulative, and simply not safe to be around. They might have stalkerish tendencies, yes, but I like to focus more on how they would affect the person they like. (I know it kinda takes away from the whole definition of yandere) Basically, I just like turning the usual lovestruck, insane yandere into a more realistic version of themselves (as realistic as they could get in the ninja world. I hate completely altering a character’s personality into something they’re not).

What do I think of yanderes? Well, I certainly wouldn’t want to meet one in real life. I like reading and writing them in fiction, but in no way shape or form do I romanticize or agree with whatever the Yandere does. I do not condone any type abuse because it’s absolutely vile that someone might go out their way to hurt others. Having said that, I think many people might not find the way I write yanderes very pleasing, because it’s not what they’re used to seeing, and that’s totally okay!

Now to answer you final questions:

I believe there are a few characters that might have the possibilities of becoming a Yandere or having Yandere tendencies:

Obito (way too obsessive):

I know a lot of people think the same way as I do. I believe that Obito is a man with serious problems.

He technically grew up alone, just with his grandmother. He almost succeeded in putting everyone in an infinite genjutsu, where he could distort reality to his liking and be with the girl he loved.

It’s safe to say that he would be a yandere where if push comes to shove, he will do whatever it takes to have you near him.

He is obsessive (he had a lot of pictures of Rin when he was young, so…). He needs to remember your face clearly, even when he’s away from you. You’re the reason why he breathes. He lives because you allow him to. That’s what he thinks.

Madara(protective and controlling):

Hear me out, this man is complicated.

Sometimes he would put his desires over you, but if we’re going to be honest, he’d shred down the world for you.

If something ever happened to you, Madara would take no time in avenging you. He’s a little different to Obito. Although he’s obsessive, he doesn’t completely revolve his life around you.

He likes feeling possessive over you, but he can leave at any time that he needs to. You have to wait for him. He’ll be a protective yandere, looking out for you and making sure you understand that he’ll be the only one there for you.

Kakashi (protective, pathological liar) :

Whoa? Kakashi? Really? Yes really. This man has grown up alone. He made friends, they died. They left. Anytime he got close to someone, they’d disappear. It’s only logical that if he were to fall for someone, he’d like to protect them.

However, this protectiveness can get overwhelming. He knows you’re capable of protecting yourself, he simply doesn’t want you to. If one thing he’s done wrong in life, it’s protecting those around him. This was his time to make up for all those times he failed.

He isn’t used to affection, but when he has it, he craves it. Badly. You need to remind him that you love him too, or else he might just think you’re ready to leave him at any time.

He isn’t above lying to get you to do something. He’s lied before, so why not lie again? If it gets things going his way, he won’t care. A little harmless lie can turn into a bunch of them.

Sasuke (distant, but protective) :

If he likes you, he definitely won’t show it. If he genuinely cares, he won’t be above doing anything inhumane. He’s already done a lot of things in this world that got him hate, adding another one to his list wouldn’t be a problem.

He’ll work from the shadows. He’ll love you from far away. He isn’t really affectionate and doesn’t know how to show it.

One things certain though, you’re his lover. He will give his life for you or take another.

You ask him for the moon and he will serve it in a silver platter before leaving.

Do I think other character could be Yandere? Well yes, this is fiction after all, but these are the best that fit that description. Anyways, thank you for your questions! I’d love to answer more if anyone else is curious or wants to request some Yandere content!

so my loa batkids au has gained a little traction and i’ve hit a bit of a wall when it comes to writing new stuff so here’s an infodump to hopefully kill my writers block xoxoxo

first of all, jason. my forever number one blorbo. there’s a bit of a role reversal here because compared to all the rest of them, jason arguably had it the easiest. like we’re not going to compare traumas but an argument could be made. i honestly don’t remember if i mentioned it at all in the actual series yet, but the story i have for jason is that his childhood with willis and catherine was about the same as canon/commonly accepted fanon, meaning he was homeless around nine years old. however, instead of living on the streets for years, it was only a few months tops before meeting bruce.

and bruce! this is very fun to me, but basically i was thinking that if he didn’t raise dick, then why couldn’t this version of bruce be younger? so bruce becomes batman in his early twenties, which is also around the time that he visits the league of assassins for training and damian is conceived. (for a little more about that, here) and bruce is roughly 25 when he finds a tiny 9-10 year old jason trying to steal his tires. just imagine that it’s so fucking adorable and heartbreaking ANYWAYS bruce, despite being overall a disaster, doesn’t let a malnourished 10 year old out to fight crime right away, so there’s a couple years between when jason first meets bruce and when he becomes a child soldier yayyyy!!!! but legit, it makes a lot of difference to jason, because you know how canon!jason has some self-esteem issues (for lack of a better term) around bruce not really loving him/seeing him as a son because bruce started training him as robin (and as dick’s replacement) immediately after adopting him- you know that whole thing? yeah well here, despite jason actually offering to help bruce as a vigilante, this bruce is like hell nah you’re literally ten years old and the size of a six year old no way, and those few years in between really stick in jason’s mind as solid proof that bruce really does love him, not for what use he can provide, but simply as a son. also being the only child definitely helps with that

(that little detail of jason and bruce’s relationship is slightly inspired by minimum height requirement, which is absolute batfam gold btw)

okay so. slight pet peeve of mine is in aus where dick isn’t the first robin, the legacy is still called robin for whatever reason (lookin at you reverse robins aus) because!!!!! how dare you erase mary and john grayson’s importance!!!!! (look there’s more nuance to it than that i know but. to put it simply it feels like flying graysons erasure to me) so in this au, jason can’t possibly be called robin. the real robin has been missing for roughly seven years at this point

and listen. i tried to be creative and come up with something cool and original for jason’s vigilante name i really did, but apparently i used all of my naming talent on nighthawk (fucking love that name for dick it’s so fantastic) so we just have bluejay. womp womp

also! on my list of things to expand on: main timeline stephanie!!! i’ve had an absolute blast making myself cry while writing every heart sings a song, incomplete and those who wish to sing always find a song, but spoiler steph will always be my babygirl. and duke!!!! i have not written barely anything for duke in this universe but believe me i have some Thoughts. perhaps even Ideas. basically a lot of steph&duke and steph&babs and steph&duke&babs because i love my little underrated trio

also just more babs in general, because like. i’ve had so many tiny little snippets of cass and babs and their sweet little relationship just sitting in my notes for literal years now that i really just need to organize and expand into their own fic. and yet. i have not done that. but rest assured cass&babs are very very important to me

such is the curse of female fanfic writers: always destined to fixate more on the male poor little meow meows than the female bad bitches. seriously what the fuck is up with that guys i don’t get it why does this happen

got a junior herbalist idea for you :3

Baizhu overheats EASILY, aka basically whenever he leaves the pharmacy in hot weather. The longer he spends out there the more he slowly loses energy (Changsheng joked it was like an 'energy broth'. Put him in the sun and it all evaporates. Baizhu sighed heavily.)

the junior herbalist has a similar weak constitution, so same thing. Baizhu & herbalist have to pay the same price for overheating: becoming absolutely exhausted/sleepy.

in the rare cases the whole gang has to go out for something, especially in hot weather, Baizhu and the herbalist immediately crash once getting back to the pharmacy and get herded into the back room with some fans. peek in 5 minutes later and they're both completely out, sleeping the afternoon away. (if both are okay w/ it and not sticky, sometimes they'll cuddle a little.)

heat exhaustion.

summary. the heat drains is very draining for the majority of those who work at bubu pharmacy.

trigger & content warnings. depictions of heat exhaustion and references to heat stroke.

tropes, pairings, fic length, & other notes. fluff, comfort. baizhu & reader. 0.9k words. they/them pronouns for reader.

author's thoughts. REAL OMG I GET LIKE THIS, EXTREME HEAT LITERALLY SAPS ALL MY ENERGY WITHIN THE HOUR. I FEEL LIKE A FUCKING CORPSE IN THE HEAT. i relate so bad..... i know EXACTLY what this is like so i RAN to do this request when you sent it HSJSHSKGJG im working on your dain req btw <33

i like to think that summer is every bubu pharmacy employee's least favorite season. gui dislikes it because he knows everyone else finds the heat tough to deal with, whereas baizhu and [name] hate it because it means they'll both be more likely to be out of commission, given how inclined they are to overheating.

qiqi also overheats, so she dislikes the summer for that same reason. she hates the feeling of being hot. she hates overheating. since she's a zombie, it's just... very uncomfortable and, in some cases, even painful for her. it stresses her out.

it stresses everyone out, really.

the pharmacy's atmosphere tends to be a little more frantic and tense during the summer as everyone tries to stay on top of their respective bodily conditions.

due to the collective struggle with heat, it isn't uncommon for trips out of the pharmacy during the day to be reduced to a minimum. qiqi can't handle gathering herbs when the temperature gets a bit too high, even with her cryo vision, so it's typically left to gui to do tasks like that while the sun is up. he doesn't mind it much at all.

he's not quite as sensitive to the heat as everyone else, so it's hardly an issue for him.

sometimes, however, going out during the day can't be helped. even when the weather is poor, leaving most of the pharmacists in equally poor condition, people still get sick and injured. that's the unfortunate truth.

sometimes emergency trips need to be made. high-priority house calls, herb gathering... some situations cannot be avoided, and given that [name] virtually always comes along with baizhu on house calls to gain experience and knowledge...

yeah.

it's not exactly uncommon for one or both of them to come back nearly ridden with heat stroke. heat exhaustion is a common result of such outings, which could become heat stroke if both aren't careful.

baizhu would certainly, 100% give them the option to opt out of house calls during the summer—they may be his apprentice, yes, but he would never force them into situations that would put their health or safety at serious risk, and there's plenty of other things they could do back at the pharmacy that wouldn't put them at such a high risk—but they wouldn't want him to have to go out in the heat alone, so they'd go with him regardless.

he downright refuses take them on house calls too far outside of liyue harbor in extremely hot weather, though.

(he also very rarely goes anywhere too far from the city during the summer, and the citizens of liyue are generally very understanding of the reason behind that. if he absolutely has to, however, he literally won't allow [name] to come along because of the serious risk it poses to their wellbeing.)

it's really just a learning process more than anything.

each pharmacist needs to learn where exactly their own limit is. it takes time and practice.

sometimes [name] overestimates their own ability. even so... they're certainly more skilled at working with their body rather than against it compared to how they were before their employment.

nonetheless, heat exhaustion is still a common and expected ailment at bubu pharmacy.

With tired, slightly uncoordinated fingers, they unclipped all of their unnecessary accessories, shedding anything they possibly could. They sat with their legs crossed on the bed often used for both the pharmacists' and patients' recovery needs. Anything that could make their body temperature higher, any unnecessary layers of their clothing, had to go. Given how exhausted they already were from the heat... they were at a considerable risk for heat stroke. There simply wasn't room for the extra cosmetic things when the weather was so unbearably hot.

The backroom of Bubu Pharmacy was thankfully rather cool with consideration for the dreadful heat outside. The air was pleasantly chilling against the festering heat beneath their feverish skin. They sighed, rubbing the inner corner of one of their eyes with their fingertips, as if to rub the tiredness away. It did nothing to help their state.

"It's way too hot this summer..."

"You didn't have to come along, [Name]," Baizhu mused, reassuring as he settled beside them, "I would have understood if you wanted to stay behind. It is rather hot this year."

"No, I know," they replied gently, interrupted halfway through by a yawn, "but I would have felt kind of bad if I didn't. I like helping people."

He softly tapped their shoulder, signalling them to lay down, which they did without any complaint, mindful to leave space for Qiqi in case she decided she wanted to curl up at their side (which she sometimes did if the pharmacy wasn't especially busy). "Remember not to do so at your own expense. You don't need to push yourself so hard. You have to be mindful of your condition, [Name]."

They went quiet, shooting him a critical look.

"I respect you so much Dr. Baizhu, but that is insanely hypocritcal of you to say. You are such a hypocrite. I just know that if Changsheng weren't off hiding somewhere, she'd back me up right now."

The doctor merely chuckled. "You may be right. Nonetheless, my point still stands."

"Yeah, I know, but it's not as if I passed out or anything. I used to faint in the heat all the time, but it happens less now... I've gotten better since working here."

He smiled fondly, gingerly taking off his glasses and setting them to the side. Baizhu shifted a little, getting into a position that was comfortable. "You have, indeed."

Quiet murmurs, discussions of medicinal practice and others of similar content, were eventually lost to the weight of heat exhaustion.

please consider reblogging, it helps me out quite a lot!

Brenner said this about Will and Henry

meaning Henry was afraid of being isolated and treated as a joke by the people around him because he was different too, like Will, even if in a different way than Will... he can go inside his mind and manipulate him way better because they both are afraid of being rejected for who they are

Instead in the game it's said that he can't possess Mike, Lucas and Dustin because they had less trauma at the time even if they had some fears like Will, it doesn't work because Vecna doesn't understand how to relate to them as he did with Will's mind and also they said that meeting Eleven made them feel optimistic like they can fight back even these big scary things because they have this "superhero" on their side and did it once before, Will wasn't there to see El at work in S1

So the things they are scared of in the game for me are all real things that plague them but Vecna can't "relate enough" and they have a more positive idea (?) of life than Will has, they are more optimistic basically

Mike being afraid that he lost El forever and will never find her again ( we see how he was missing her a great deal after season 1 and losing her left him heartbroken )

Lucas being afraid that he's always going to be judged for the colour of his skin first and he's never going to achieve something great if he keeps hanging out with "the nerds" (clearly all the trauma from racism and the bullying)

and Dustin being afraid his best friends don't think of him with the same care as he thinks of them (we saw how in S1 he thought that Mike didn't think of him as a best friend and in S3 he thought they forgot about him coming back from camp)

All of these are real fears they have after S1 and I feel that these are only getting stronger with the years going by and plus they are adding other fears to the mix that are heavier and deeper than these ones and those are the fears Vecna needs to find out to attack them in season 5

But we saw how Lucas's fear of always being looked as different in season 4 transformed in him saying he doesn't want to be "normal" anymore and I feel like his only real fear now is not being able to help Max maybe

Dustin will be obviously tortured about Eddie and how he was put before anything else for one of his friends to the point he gave his own life to save Dustin's life (like Mike tried to do in S1 btw) so Dustin's fear is sort of changed to the feeling of guilt I think

Mike's fear of losing Eleven is also born from his general fear of not being needed and losing all of the people he loves, and I also think he has the same fear as Will about being rejected for who he is, only I think he thinks it's because he's not cool enough at the moment... and he will discover he is different too but I think he's gonna be more ok with it than Will is

obviously homophobia has a weight on his mind too, he will want in part to repress it

but the main thing for Mike is that the dynamics of his relationships changing scare the shit out him because he doesn't want to lose any of them...

I think his need to repress his feelings for Will is born from this fear of change more than fear of being seen as gay/queer

Because change means things can end up being different... (Himself included😏😏😏😏)

and his relationships can shift one way or another

Will could want to go on without him in life and leave the Party to join a different one where he has new friends and even a girlfriend that he makes art for instead of making it for Mike

El can think he's just a random nerd and not want him in her life ever again if they are not in a relationship and she doesn't need him as a support, in his mind she's only with him because he found her and helped her not because she wants him

Lucas could join the basketball team and decide he doesn't want to be in the Party anymore and leave Mike too

Dustin is always growing closer to people like Steve and this could mean he's gonna leave too at one point

Mike wants to keep the status quo not because it's what he actually wants in his life...

but because he thinks that if things change they can change for the worst and he could lose ALL of them.

He's afraid of things changing to the point he wants things to be stuck in time and for the clock to turn back to when his friends needed him too and his connection to all of his friends was stable and it seemed like he could never lose them for one reason or another... He needs all of his friends so much and he somehow started to think that now they don't need him at all

fwiw that rude commenter is a transphobe, a post a few down on their blog is real blatant (and in that vein I think their comment was less a judgement of your anatomy and more saying Charlie is 'too' muscular/angular)

It's rude and out of pocket REGARDLESS but I also think you're a little hard on yourself! You even said, you hadn't illustrated exactly what you were after with her, and you hadn't intended for a collection of doodles you happened to still like to blow up. You're entirely right that we should all be drawing more than conventionally attractive people, but idk. It's a process and you're a great artist who's working toward it! Don't feel like you have to answer this btw I mostly wanted to let you know that commenter was a double idiot and started rambling. Hope you have a lovely day!!

oh absolutely! i have a feeling you're right abt what they meant considering i saw the transphobic comment they made a couple posts down on their blog lmao but i wanted to add that part anyway. and i appreciate your words a ton, but dw im not hurt or upset! i get a lot of weird comments all the time, i just wanted to use that one as a platform to bounce off of a thought ive been having lately. i wouldn't post a negative remark like that unless i wanted to use it for something. the actual comment was mostly irrelevant to the point i wanted to make, which is also not meant to be super serious, just a thought soup to stir around

and i mean my interpretation of my art as purely objective, i think its important to think critically about yourself and in general. from an objective standpoint, i dont believe the way shes drawn is too out of the norm and is fairly tame (disregarding her ox/bull parts lol), thats basically what i was aiming for with that section. i constantly get stuck in a rut without improving by much because im usually just drawing to doodle after a school day and not rlly with any purpose. i tend to keep drawing the same things out of habit and it gets stale really quickly. so i know my faults and im rlly looking forward to getting better!

also rq, what you said about how we need to draw more than conventionally attractive people- while i do agree with that, in my post i was more saying its important for people to be more open-minded about how they view gender expression and attractiveness in general, myself included! i dont think how i drew charlie was very revolutionary, but ive seen so many tags speaking otherwise. which is either reflective of how small the bubble is for whats acceptable or maybe i have a skewed perception of things? for example if having a bush or something is gender envy we need to look at ourselves. bush is so normal to me. (which i dont if thats what even drew ppl to it BUT. just as an example). would those same people say the same if i drew a very fat woman with a beard, unibrow, etc.? i have no idea. but i have had my eyes opened so many times before its incredible. little things ive never thought about before through new perspective. so thats why i want to encourage it too. i hope that makes sense. thank you so much i hope you have an equally lovely day!! 🫶🫶

Idk if you’ve thought this much about it but I keep thinking about your reverse au,,,,, how did the groups come together in this universe? Were the members of Iscariot still raised together, or are they more of a hodgepodge of mercenaries who met through work? Has Hellsing taken on that roll of a ‘family’ in the church?

Yes I mostly want to know how Yumikel met MEUXBEKZHEBE

Thank you so much for your interest i am still working on the AU but here are some basic information i kind of sketched out about the Iscariot (i also love yumikel yess i am working on how they meet),

The initial idea (might change) i had for the Iscariot is that Yumiko, Heinkel and Enrico are all from the same orphanage and they sticked together, because Iscariot in this is neutral alignment, and i intended to fix Enrico. He's still hungry for power and control, like in canon, but more grounded because his relationship with Yumiko and Heinkel is closer and they're his found family that keep him from straying too deep into madness (btw spoiler that Millenium is good aligned and Hellsing is bad aligned, it is "reversed" from the og hellsing anyway). In this, Enrico is an occultist, and Anderson is a demon he conjured (to contrast Anderson in canon that served his Christian religion).

Yes and back to the trio, they were seperated and taken in by different organisations and got turned. I am still working on this btw, so the reasons are still unclear whether they were used as bloodbag (yumi) or maybe military purposes idk i need to think harder on it, but one thing is definite is that in this au there are more monsters, real one not artificial, than in og Hellsing, so each group have their own autonomy. Yumie and Heinkel are both true vampire and werewolf btw, not artificial. Anyway, Enrico made a pact with Anderson for power to find Yumie and Heinkel. And they started growing up together, making money by working as hired mercenaries. That's why their alignment is neutral, because they work for the organisation that pays them.

During that time, they helped each other work on the newfound power. Heinkel can't control the wolf shapeshift yet she is working on it and she still wolf out when she's excited. While Yumiko sometimes go bloodlust and delirious, after she drank a lot of people that she assassinated, and her alter ego is Yumie (almost similar mechanism like Alucard's variations in the og hellsing). Enrico binded her with black magic demon power something something idk, almost similar to the Hellsing binding in og Hellsing, but not to bound her to him but to restrict her powers so Yumiko don't just comes out randomly. (I will work on creating a mechanism on her restraint that makes sense, this is still missing a lot of informations).

And to Hellsing, well Hellsing doesn't exactly act like a family, well they almost, kind of, but not exactly. In this, Integra is probably the closest to "family" to Seras while Alucard acted more like a teacher than a family member to Seras. And to recap, Integra is supposed to be Seras' guardian angel (long story btw), but she failed to save Seras in time so she gave Seras' angel blood so Seras became a nephilim, half human half angel.

Okay, let me start from the beginning, everything process like in og Hellsing, Vlad got dragged to public execution and prayed to heaven but G didnt ascend on him. So in this au, i made Integra an archangel who pitied Alucard so she think a little bit of divine revelation to a dead man is probably not too much of a transgression, but when she appeared before him (only he can see and no one else can so they thought he was tripping when he started talking to himself), he assumed that G sent her as a prize for his sacrifice so he just assumed that he rightfully owned her (inspirations from stories of selkies or mermaids that were caught by men because those fishermen just ASSUMED he owned her what a crazy man, but that is what Vlad would do i think) so he cursed her to be bound to him and every of his reincarnations (it's a blood curse, and if you want to know how he did it, he kissed her with his own blood and blood he licked off the stage, and she became an outcast angel like Eve because she ate food from humans, and that was blood too so it was extremely sacrilegious, im drawing inspiration from Eve AND Persephone). Yeah well anyway, Integra still had some celestial power left like understanding Angel's languages and shapeshifting, immortality, demon repelling, exorcism etc etc yeah all the classic one and she can return to her angel form but only PARTLY, not entirely and also she is not allowed back to heaven (she can fly tho but she have her limits when it comes to flying). And then, Vlad reincarnate and everytime he did, he started wrecking havoc, each reincarnations of him doesnt exactly remembered his past lives but he is always born into someone with Dracula blood, descendants of the family. And because Vlad left records, other reincarnation of him also contribute their own record of encounters with Integra. Integra on another hand was stuck with humans, she have her limits and no longer as omnipresence as she was. And each angel in this au is asigned a list of humans to guard over, and Integra failed her task because she no longer capable to guard all over them, however she did have the list and she tried to find her human to protect but most of the time they're already dead by the time she arrived. And she tried to do good things to ammend her sins, but Vlad everytime he was reborn will start conflicts and war to draw Integra out because she is a repenting angel she is very drawn towards places of great suffering, and she tried to hide from Vlad's reincarnations because he have authority over her and she can't kill him, both not capable and not allowed to (as a repenting angel, remember? not allowed to harm anyone). Okay okay fast forward, in the au i am working on, this time the reincarnation of Vlad is called Alucard, and spoiler alert, this time, hes a human but with celestial powers, almost like Integra. Because the soul of Vlad made a deal with Lucifer so when he reincarnated as Alucard, he maintain all of his memories and Integra in this au agreed to side with Alucard because she sensed celestial energy from him so she thought he was blessed or chosen to become an exorcist. And as to why he became an exorcist, he doesn't really care about exorcising, he was just messing around with Integra. In some cases, he himself was the one that conjure demons up (Hellsing is bad aligned in this but Integra and Seras didn't know it yet). And as an exorcist he is invited to crime scenes of demon activities to clean up. One of the crime scenes was Seras's family and Integra finally came across someone on her list that is still at least breathing so she tried ressurecting Seras with her blood. Yeah that's how we got Seras Victoria an orphan that was adopted by the church. Integra cared a lot about Seras, while Alucard intended to use Seras to use Integra. Oh and, Alucard in this au is still obsessive as ever to Integra, he's very close to losing his shits. Alucard and Integra acted like an exorcist duo, with Seras as their protege exorcist.

(The background of Integra and Alucard is lowkey inspired from buddhism's concept of reincarnation and fate and karma something something btw)

If you have any suggestion please do inform me I would love to hear it and thank you for listening to my yappings.

WHO'S READY TO HEAR A NEW AU?? FROM ME????? WOOHOOOOO

Anyway remember a post i made about assigning hermits superpowers. No worries if you didn't see it btw. Basically, i talked about how i looove coming up with superpowers, but usually have no idea how to tie the plot together... The last concept i had was pretty boring (hermits get isekai'd into the real world. Blegh), but i think i got something here. Take my hand and let's go.... Into the read more

Bdubs comes home from work to find his girlfriend, who he lives with, Cleo, murdered. And the murderer, still at the scene! The murderer disappears right before Bdubs's eyes, and leaves shards of glass behind. The investigation obviously takes place, and, after long questioning and everything, Bdubs is forced to spend the night at a hotel, exhausted. Strange things continue to happen, as everything becomes strangely quiet, as though the entire world had stopped. There is knocking on the door, but no answer; until a tall woman, mysterious but strangely normal looking, enters the room. She introduces herself as Pearl and gives Bdubs a clock, saying he lost it. Bdubs doesn't recognize it, until Pearl shows that his name is engraved on the backside. That's when Bdubs remembers that it was his former friend, Etho, who made this clock for him. They haven't talked in such a long time, but Bdubs was still devastated that he lost such as precious item. Pearl doesn't even hint at where she found it or how she has it, but she says that it's been away, quietly collecting magical power. Turns out, the clock can stop time - Pearl shows him how, and after Bdubs puts the palm of his hand on the face of the clock, the time resumes, the ambient noises are back and Pearl just... Disappears, with no answers.

As if Bdubs wasn't stressed enough already, Cleo's body also goes missing. One of those days, Bdubs walks by his house and sees a familiar silhouette... It speaks with a familiar voice, though horribly distorted. The person is Cleo, a walking corpse. She calms Bdubs down to the best of her ability and they try to catch up on what's going on. Turns out, Cleo woke up with a strange woman looking at her; it was the same woman that Bdubs met, Pearl! Cleo thinks she probably was given a little time to finish her business, and decides that the last thing she has to do in this world... Is to take revenge on her killer. Bdubs thinks it's uncharacteristic of them; he thought they'd say something like, "to spend my last days doing what i love, with someone i love". But Cleo says they have a specific reason why they want to take revenge. It's because they know the killer! They don't tell Bdubs who it is though.

Now, i haven't figured out what happens next yet. Here's some miscellaneous stuff ig

Some people may have guessed that "person disappears before your eyes and leaves glass shards behind" sounds like a specific power i have for a specific someone... It's Etho, actually. But also, writing this, i thought how cool would that be... If they meet Etho and find out about his power, and think oh it's so obviously him. But he swears it's not. And plot twist it's actually someone else who framed him ghhhhgghh do i wanna say who i have in mind. Do i wanna say. Um. I was thinking Lizzie. Idk. Idk. I think it's cool tho

There's gonna be other peepos in this AU too!! I'm thinking it's gonna be groups of people who start off seeming unconnected, but gradually your realize they're all part of one story (i love this sort of thing!!). The other group will be the Magic Mountains bros (or whatever they're called). So far I have thought of powers for Scar and Joel, and i have ideas but am undecided on Gem, Grian and Skizz, and haven't even began thinking about Impulse.. And mumbo (i keep forgetting he exists)

I thought it'd be funny if Grian had to throw a dice for everything he does and let luck decide if he succeeds or fails. No particular reason for it, other than sort of? adapting a curse i had for him in another AU but for a different setting. In that other AU, he had a curse where, when he would involve himself in someone else's business, the result of his involvement would be the opposite of what he intended. Here, i adapted the basic idea of this, which is: Grian's actions are not under his control, and are independent from his intentions. The only thing is... The rest of them have actual powers, but Grian is stuck with a curse again LMAO i will keep thinking about this.

For Scar, it's a power that i talked about and, in fact, also headcanon for his Hermitcraft character. It's that he has (pretty limited) shapeshifting abilities. Essentially, he can change a few basic things about himself, but he can't, like, turn into a tiger or into a rock. So he has to remain human basically. I think.

For Joel i wanted something crazy. I remembered an AU i had for another fandom, so i gave him a power based on that. Whenever Joel has a bleeding open wound, he goes berserk.. he has increased strength, but can hardly control himself. He ends up being covered in scars, poor boy.

For Gem, i initially had nature powers in mind. Her talent and love for building organics could translate very well into something like controlling plants. But then i remembered, if I'm (sort of) basing this group on season 10, should i give her water powers instead? Hm.

For Skizz, uh, I'm like. I REALLY want something that's kind of like... It SCREAMS that it's Skizz's power, or maybe it enhances his already present character traits. But so far the only thing i came up with is... Super duper eyesight. He can see ridiculously far, with all the detail, but also ridiculously close. What do you think. I think it's a cool power but I'm not sure it fits.

As for Pearl, i think she's kind of like... Not the "mastermind", but something like an outside force who has more powers and information than everybody else. Perhaps she isn't even human. I thought it'd be neat if she only appeared during a full moon.

Oh, and on Etho, of course. His power is to go fully non-existent for short times, but he leaves glass shards behind. In addition to that, he needs to keep a strong grip on his consciousness in this state, or it will disappear as well and he will forever remain this weird type of ghost.

That is all i have for now (i think)! I just like thinking, guys. I guess i should really get into a habit of finishing stuff though... It definitely won't be this time lmao sorry. Please do talk to me about this though UwU

Long but relatively unserious vent/rant below the cut (sorry I added this in bc I realized how long this post is oops)

Being at the center of some kind of internet witchhunt (which ik is kind of buzzwordy but) is literally my biggest fear ohhh my god. Even a small scale one… I think I would Die. Maybe it’s because I had a similar thing happen with my friend group in high school where one of them convinced the others I was like evil and spread all these rumors about me… 😭 He was splitting on me but still. That’s an explanation, not an excuse. And it basically confirmed all of my intrusive thoughts about myself, and my personality completely self-destructed and changed, and I haven’t interacted with any of those people the same way since. I isolated from them for MONTHS and just loathed myself. Bleh

The reason it’s on my mind is bc I’ve seen this happen to friends and mutuals and even just people I’ve followed in small fandoms, where the whole fandom hates them bc of this little drama and like. I KNOW that fandom drama is not the end of the world, but truly I think that would destroy me for months. And I would never be able to set foot in those spaces again :’) Getting a handful of rude comments about a fucking transfem hc I had at like 14 made me stop writing fanfic for YEARS 😭😭😭 sigh. Just bc they said it was ‘out of character for him to want to be a girl’ 🙄 (<- character who canonically felt confident when dressed as a woman btw. initially for a disguise but then she grew to love it. BUT I DIGRESS KNSHFJW)

All this to say I think that’s why I tiptoe around everything I say online… I am SO scared of ruffling feathers, but I know that fandoms are places for like! Having fun! And it’s not a big deal! And it doesn’t affect my real life! But like idk.. I just hate the idea of being hated by anyone. I’m sure that I ANNOY some people, and that’s whatever; I talk a lot and make overly personal posts sometimes (like this lol) but I don’t wanna be HATED yk? And idek if it’s better to be hated and ostracized publicly or resented in secret by people who still interact with you… :( Agh. If you ever have an issue with me, please DM me instead of letting it build up into something worse!

ANYWAY LIKE.. with fandom stuff. Idk. I want to have fun! I want to write and post things on Tumblr and AO3 etc but I am just very scared of peoples’ opinions, especially now that I have a decently popular/well-liked longfic in DnDads. For some reason I have convinced myself that writing bad or self-indulgent NSFW will make everyone hate me lmao. Like girl the POINT of fanfic is to be self-indulgent……….. sigh I need to get out more

^ light-hearted… but also kinda true haha. I stay at home a lot just bc I don’t have many reasons to go out atm and only a handful of close friends to go out with. Hopefully that will change when I move next semester lol. And whenever I get interests, they’re VERY strong and long-lasting, and fanfic writing is one of my main hobbies, so I get REALLY into online communities. And rn that is kind of my little niche fandom Tumblr bubble… which is embarrassing and probably unhealthy but whatever. I just inevitably get a lot of anxiety about things that are important/fun to me (bc OCD), especially bc I’ve never really had mutuals/‘friends’ in a fandom before this, excluding my irls

Anyway this got longer and more vent-y than I intended so I will tag accordingly, and sorry to whoever is reading this lol; I just wanted to get my thoughts written down in a public forum bc idk… Makes me feel less insane when ik other people can see it, too. Helps me not take it too seriously and spiral lol.

The bbeg of the Never After is Homogenization.

~beware my ramble~

The erasure and sanitization of stories that then get commodidified and distributed on mass to be the "right version" of the story that then become almost the "only version" of the story. Erasing centuries of culture and influence, beliefs and experiences, real world problems that these stories portray, and replacing them with the most marketable version.

And in a way, the stories themselves end up cannibalizing their different versions to fit in as the "right version" or just the nature of time combining and losing stories over time.

Like all of the worlds and groups are from folklore. Stories that have been told over and over again, that change to fit the world and the message that needs to be conveyed. Folklore isn't supposed to have a "right version". Much like weaving, the basics of cloth weaving are very similar all over the world but what is made with those techniques, the styles and additional learned cultural practices, can be so very different or so weirdly similar you wouldn't believe they came from different places across the globe from one another.

But in our more modern era where all of our stories feel factory made, we know where they come from, they aren't "folk" in so so many ways. The closest we get to folk media these days are MEMES. They are passed around and shared, often the original poster gets lost or is not common knowledge, have real world effect and meaning, and exist mainly in a specific group culture (internet culture, tumblr culture, etc) To quote my old professor "All folklore are memes, but not all memes are folklore" Think Creepy pasta vs horror movie. Internet legends, "send to 10 friends or blank will happen to you". BLORBO is a folk term. Slang in general I believe is counted as folk based. FANFICTION IN MANY CASES IS CONSIDERED FOLKORE BTW and I find that sooo delightful.

And whats kills memes faster than anything? The commodification of it! When companies go "ooo that'll make us some money" and take it and sell it back to us for profit. Often these days it feels choc full of advertisements and versions of propaganda.

In this era of Disney overlords defining the genre of fairytales to the point that they have set the standard for what is cannon for certain stories they tell. Like the first time I found REAL fairytales I was like 9 and cried myself to sleep because they got so dark, and how were we (me and my mom) to know with how we expected the disneyfied version of the story. Ironically it could be said that the Grimm's Brothers are guilty of the exact same thing in their era, commodifying and centralizing their versions of the stories.

I could also get into the demonization of tropes (lookin at you cinema sins) because tropes are the building blocks of story telling. Common themes and elements that we recognize because they MEAN something to us.

But, and I know what site I'm on, fanfiction is a great example of taking those stories and in some ways turning them into folklore. Its not because we believe we can tell the stories better, in most cases at least, but rather that we take the elements, characters, ideas that we connect to that we love and mean something to us, and make play with it because we have our own stories to tell.

The Homogenization and restricting of what counts and what doesn't ignores the importance of the differences in the stories.

Ylfa's "right" version is a lot like how the animals describe being part of Aesop's fables. There's no nuance. There's no room for change and adaptation. And in a world ever changing, even in bad ways, you have to change to make it work. Even Gerard's "Sometimes you have to be scary in a scary world" touches on this. The barebones basic Little Red Ridinghood is unrealistic in its simplicity. And also kinda blocks out how that whole experience would still be heavily traumatic for anyone (being attacked by a wolf and seeing your granny crawl out of the wolf's destroyed body ain't pretty) , even if it is better than the experience in this life. Meanwhile the more they die, the more versions of their stories get cannibalized and lost to time. Much like how folklore and stories die when culture dies.

Also Stepmom literally consumes story elements into non existence.

Nom Nom

moon knight fic idea that I had brewing in my head for 2 months but I can't push myself to write right now bc I'm having writer's block ofc

Might write them down as headcanons/bullet points to have them down before making this idea more concrete

fem!oc used for this fic idea btw! (can be read as a reader insert as well if you so choose as, but written this idea with an oc in mind), also lots of Japanese and other Asian mythology that I find would fit the story in mind, also I'm Asian so why tf not let me project a bit ok???

fic idea:

Imagine oc being able to see ghost and spirits (more specifically yokai and anything close to the sort) since childhood. Terrifying really.

Demon paralysis be damned when you open your eyes to see a literal shadow figure staring down at you. Panic attack ensue.

Oh yeah, did she mention the voice in her head guiding her on what to do with these spirits and how to handle them, yeah that's a thing too...

Apparently they're the goddess Izanami, overseer of the underworld Yomi. Fantastic.

She also mentions how more spirits are running amok and unchecked bc APPARENTLY THANOS' SNAP HAD FUCKED THE BALANCE OF LIFE AND DEATH. So I guess those that disappeared weren't actually dead but literally just ceased to exist and it threw Yomi is a disarray of chaos.

Basically the goddess was pissed. So now oc is their unwilling paranormal detective, being forced to faces these horrendous spirits so they can pass on. Fucking fantastic.

Also the Blip actually made it worse too. Great.

Apparently there's some consequences of being forced to help these spirits

They're not limited to out of body experience while taking the train home, usually with oc being in the place of the memory of the spirits that were either before or lead to their deaths. Awesome. More nightmare fuel for her ig.

While this happens to her mentally, physically her body will either be unconscious, spaced out, or even moving on its own unconsciously.

When she sleeps they become vivid nightmares she can't remember usually, only the terror she felt. Sometimes she'll find bruises and scratches on her and remember only bits of what happened. Night terrors. Check. Bodily harm. Check.

Works in the museum both Dane and Sersi works at too bc I can and pls Jeremy add some Dane/Steven/Marc interactions for season 2 pls I'm on my knees

Dane was said to make an appearance in Moon Knight originally but they didnt know how to add him so Dane is now in this fic bc idk what to do with this info now.

Dane and her are friends and friends only. He helped her get a job bc she's out of one bc she was Snapped.

Oh right she was snapped, forgot to mention that lol.

Yes she knows Sersi is an alien wizard. No she doesn't want to turn into a giraffe Dane.

If Dane is doing his Black Knight activities, 9 times out of 10 she doesn't know. She thinks he's distance himself bc of what happened to Sersi, and decided not to push.

Takes place a bit before the start of the series. She's Steven's neighbor but they dont talk much, only wave and greet each other on the lift and when they head to the same bus stop before she left to step onto the subway.

Goodness does Steven thinks she's adorable. A little better at social cues than he is but still as awkward. She a goober really.

She thinks he's cute too. Like a puppy.

Somehow they go on a date (personal headcanon that it was Jake that set Steven with a date bc he has the most social out all of them, which will make things real awkward for them when everyone finds out yikes). Well they try too. You know what happens on Steven's end but surpise suprise. She actually arrived late to the restaurant bc she had another out of body experience bc of some spirits she had encountered (thankfully it was in her home) by the time she arrived Steven wasn't there. It was hours later, she assumed that he thought she stood him up and left.

She ate the steak anyways. She was hungry.

She didn't dare to call or text him, afraid of what he'll say, so color her surprise when he called her instead.

What??? They have a date??? But it's Sunday. Confused, she decide to tell him that she thought he thought she stood him up. Both are confused. They decided to reschedule the date then, both hoping that this one goes well (tbh both were ecstatic that the other was giving them another chance).

Ofc that doesn't happen bc Harrow and his cult with Ammit ensue hijinks.

So Marc and her are complicated bc they used to be friends as kids but then her family moved to NY. They kept contract and talk but it became very minimal. Like simple how are you type shit. So they have no idea what the other looks like over the years.

So Marc is in for a big twist when he finds out Steven's date is her. It doesn't help he had a tiny itsy bit of a crush on her as kids.

But he doesn't have feelings for her he loves Layla still, right? It's probs bc of the fond memories he held of her as a child that makes him soft for her. No not bc she's kinda of a cute goof.

They're grump and sunshine embodied really.

Also embodies slow burn and friends to lovers trope real hard. Marc's gotta to learn to move on and live a happy life. It's hard but he'll get there.

He is emotionally constipated and will deny any possible thought of him having feelings for oc or any form of happiness.

Oc does not approve and annoys him with affection.

What the fuck was that????

A hug.

Disgusting. Do it again....

Nicknames. Nicknames! NICKNAMES!

Sunshine - Marc, Twinkle Toes - oc

Hc that Marc was kinda clumsy as a child and oc called him that to tease him (was more reinforced after they watched atla).

Steven call her his little sunflower.

Jake calls her his bébé usually.

And Layla.

They're divorced. They'll try to work it out but really Layla realizes that she fell out of love for a while now. The lies and guilt put a strain on their marriage.

That doesn't mean she doesn't care for Marc. She does. As friends.

She won't admit it but deep down, she thinks Marc was conflicted about his feelings whether he knew it or not (whether it was his guilt about her father or not, no one truly knowz). So seeing how he gets along with oc is good for him.

Layla slowly pushed him towards her bc she wants Marc to be happy as well and move on.

Layla is a good friend and wants everyone's best interests.

Now onto Jake.

Keeping in mind of the hc that it's Jake that asked oc out on a date on Steven's behalf. Well then things are gonna be messy. Bc haha they've met before. Like way before Marc met Khonshu and became his fist of vengence.

They met when she was in college and hit it off from there. I don't want to give away too much of their relationship but long story short. Jake does break contact with her.

So when everyone finds out about Jake things get awkward real fast and real bad.

Small hint of their relationship is ???? To lovers trope.

Khonshu is a manipulative bird brain and Izanami commit Khonshu hate crimes on the reg as she should.

Speaking of Izanami.

Goddess of Death and Creation. The overseer of Yomi, the underworld.

Yeah she's cool. Kinda unhinged but cool.

A bit over the top, but aren't all gods are???

Kinda gives off Scaramouche vibes from Genshin Impact but not as arrogant you know. She's not very well liked within the Japanese pantheon due to her role and also from her ex-husband's influences.

She really does care for oc. Thinks of her as her kin. She was a mother once too.

Speaking of her ex-husband, also commits hate crimes against her ex-husband Izanagi too (iykyk) and tbh go off queen.

Only oc sees her and she takes an appearance of a normal woman but dresses expensively. Thinking of Manwol from Hotel de Luna, same vibes as well tbh bc when I write Nami I think of Manwol tbh.

Oh possession is a thing too, ig

Bc with how oc acts, Izanami needs to take over when push comes to shove. Though this happens rarely.

Mostly this happens when oc is unconscious and in peril danger. Or when provoked enough to encite her fury or vise versa (usually the later is towards other gods of different pantheon, yeah she's still bitter they did nothing to restore balance in life and death). Sometimes when oc's spirit/consciousness is forcefully pushed out of their body, Izanami takes control to make sure the body is breathing.

Overall that's it for this word vomit. It's still in the process but if you want to know more lmk bc I haven't seen this idea in Moon knight fics just yet.

Fic idea inspiration taken from: Hotel de Luna (kdrama), Goblin (kdrama), Tomorrow (kdrama), The Uncanny Encounter (kdrama), Tale of the Nine Tailed (kdrama), Death Mark (game), Spirit Hunter NG (game), Mieruko-chan (manga)

Inktober Day 31: Halloween!

thank squod, october is over! Here's a funny fic of the children again for the final day :) spoilers for the splatoon 3 story mode btw, enjoy!

as always, credit for the prompts goes to @tidalknave

And that’s when the monster creeped up behind him—!”

“Aw boooo,” Pix groaned, slumping over dramatically. “Not this one again!”

“You tell this story every year; Reef,”—DJ rested his head on one fist, his leg bouncing a bit as he spoke—“Don’t you have anything else?”

Reef flicked off the flashlight in xir hand and crossed xir arms. “Well it’s not like anyone else has any stories.”

“I have a story.”

The group turned to Kaiden, who’d been sitting quietly with its small fry buddy Jorge up until now. Kaiden wasn’t exactly the creative type, so having a spooky story to tell was new for them. 

“Alright, the floor is yours, bud,”—Reef threw the flashlight to xir teammate—“This better be good.”

“Don’t worry, it will be,” Kaiden hopped up onto its feet, Jorge on their shoulders. They flicked the flashlight on and held it below their chin.

“A long long LONG time ago,” they began. “Before inklings and octolings, there were humans!”

“This is gonna be some cheesy sci-fi story, isn’t it?” Reef interjected.

“Shush!”—Pix pushed Reef aside, leaning close and holding her pointy hat—“I wanna hear the rest!”

“Ok ok,” Kaiden continued. “So humans. They used to be the dominant species. But one day, the world turned against them! Volcanoes! Floods! Meteors! Pew pew! Pfffssssh! Booom! Aaah!”

The octoling waved their hands for dramatic affect as they added their sound effects, Jorge gargling for emphasis, earning a laugh from their friends.

“When all of it ended, humanity was basically extinct. All the survivors escaped to the underground in domes to hide from the broken world.”

“Like the octarian kettles?” DJ tilted his head; he didn’t know much about the domes, having grown up in the deep.

“Exactly!”—Kaiden pointed to its friend before continuing—“Anyways, the humans started building a life for themselves underground, and called their new home Alterna. 

“They started 3D printing all their favorite things, like trees and big, funny-looking heads made outta stone! And then we started putting ‘em in our lockers!”—Another laugh from the rest of the group—“and you wanna know what else? They found sea creatures, and started farming them!”

“I bet they wanted to know how we got so fresh,” Pix pulled one of her dorky cute poses, more giggling ensuing.

“Nuh-uh! They harvested us to EAT US!!” Kaiden growled, circling their friends who flinched as they screamed. “Turn fish’s scales into bags and ink sacs into mind-reading crystals!

“But even then, the humans wanted more and more! They built a big rocket, and planned to escape the dome, but it exploded, killing all the humans left and shattering the dome, which was covered in those crystals! 

“They dissolved into the waters they kept the sea creatures in, and little by little, they infused them with humanity’s essence. Their culture, their fashions, and one goal: to see the sky.

“Inkling society isn’t built on new and fresh ideas, it’s built on the ancient past. We are the remains of humanity, we are the INFERIOR SPECIES!!”

The sound of lightning echoed across the dark, cloudy sky as Kaiden finished their story, Jorge completing with a little ‘dun-dun-DUUN’. The rest of the group leaned in closer with distorted faces, fearful yet no less intrigued.

“Woah…” Pix mumbled at last. “That’s so COOL!! It’s creepy and I LOVE IT!!”

“So we’re, like, the next evolution of humans?” Reef rolled and crinkled xir white sheets xir hands.

“Basically, yeah!” Kaiden concluded, switching off the flashlight and flopping back down to sit with their friends. “Pretty cool, huh?”

“Yeah,”—DJ gripped the frilly edges of his shirt sleeves, glancing between the others, who seemed to have the same thought—“it’s not real, is it…?”

“Maybe it is,” Kaiden shrugged, readjusting their fuzzy eared headband. “Maybe it’s not, who knows?”

“Well whatever,”—Pix stood up from her spot on the floor, dusting off her dress—“the Splatoween festival’s gonna start soon, let’s go so we don’t miss it!”

The rest of the group hurried along with Pix, heading for the Splatsville square to enjoy the autumn festivities. Kaiden hopped back up, Jorge in his little pumpkin costume on its shoulder. They leaned in closed and whispered to their little buddy:

“They don’t know about the ancient horrors.”

“Kaiden c’mon!” Pix called out from beyond the alleyway. “It’s gonna start any minute!”

“Coming!” It returned, running along to meet up with its friends.

The other didn’t need to believe the story, there were some parts that even Kaiden didn’t believe itself. But it was all in good fun, and it’s not like O.R.C.A. was gonna find out that they told their friends. Scary stories were the best part of Splatoween, and Kaiden was happy they finally had one to tell.

I mean, it’s not like humans are gonna rise from the dead and take over the world again… right?

Idea 2: Vanessa is great with kids

Contrary to most fics, where "freed" Vanessa acts exactly the same as Vanny, just not evil; I believe that in the pre-Help Wanted era, Vanessa was actually great with children. My reasoning is as follows:

Fazbear Entertainment wants to improve their reputation before the VR game release and the pizzaplex opening. 

Decide to make each of their "branches" (companies that work for them) send one of their employees to schools to talk about their job as a way to "be transparent."

Vanessa's job is basically "play/ break video games," so Silver Parasol Games, the company that made FNAF VR in this universe, decides to send her out.

Vanessa finds working with the kids to be very enjoyable. She used to babysit kids when she was a teenager. Her positive and bubbly personality (as evidenced by the cut FNAF AR emails) makes the kids really like her. They are blown away by the idea that they can be paid to play video games.

Vanessa especially likes when some of those kids get that look of "I have found what I want to do with my life."

It's a win for everyone! Vanessa inspires some kids to get into tech, the children get a newfound love for technology, and Fazbear Entertainment's reputation goes up...slightly.

All this just serves to make the whole "Vanny" thing even worse, especially if some of her victims were those same kids Vanessa once talked with.

That makes sense actually. The Vanessa we hear about in the emails and the Vanessa we actually get are almost 2 different people which could be accounted to stress and the whole possession thing but it actually being 2 different people works really well.

This whole thing brings up even more sympathy for Vanessa because not only would it already be traumatic to watch yourself murder but since she loves children it just makes it worse. Especially since kids are very trusting so she would get to see the betrayal in the eyes of the small people she loves.

The whole branching and teaching the kids about the job sounds really professional and legitimate. I know a lot of companies do things like that in real life so it makes sense for Fazbear to send out recruiters as well.

I'm sorry for taking so long to answer this btw! The next answer will probably be a while as well as this next week is busy and doesn't give me much time for in depth stuff like this.

Sorry if i have out any context i will do my best to answer any questions of yours in the least confusing way i can

Having a science olympiad fedex au dilemma. So, you see, i was part of a division b (basically middle school. There's a bit more to it than that but it's fine) team but then covid hit so i'm left not knowing how i should have everybody try out for the team because it isn't consistent.

Why would it ever be consistent?

So we've got three options 1. This was my first year's tryout. We took a test on 6th 7th and 8th grade science plus a /lot/ of bio. The only thing i specifically remember is that there was a cell diagram on there. I would scale that up for a div c (high school) setting with like chem and physics questions. Then i think the same day we took another test on like scientific reasoning. Like you get this table what's it telling you? Then the third test a couple of days later was basically you get this pile of materials to build something out of that would fulfill these requirements. All i remember is that there was a fan for those and i did not do well. There's a reason why i don't do buildits

2. This was my second year's tryout, a grand fucking total of a week before our first invitational. (That's not how that's supposed to work btw. I may have gotten a medal on one event but i did it the previous year so shush) Well that might've been our first practice but you get the idea. Basically the coach picked out 3 events and made a really easy practice test out of them. I know it was anatomy and physiology and reach for the stars (which is only a div b event, but astronomy in div c is very similar) but i can't remember the third one

3. Number three. I haven't actually done this yet but in like two weeks i can fact check this because this is how i've /heard/ it works. The callout's in a week and a half so i'll have more info then. I know there's a signup sheet thanks to the internet and I know you have to take a test on the events you want to be in but after that idk.

3 would probably be the most challenging for me while 2 would be pretty easy. Practice tests for scioly events exist, it's just a matter of googling for them. 3 would also probably be the best for the story so the readers get a feel for what fitz's and Dex's events are going to be like but then it's the game of do i have them try out for like 7 events each or just pretend like they'd only try out for 3 and then make it onto those 3 they wanted?

Thoughts?

ok, so. it sounds like 3 would be the least immersing, because you haven't done it before and you don't know how it works. as you said, you could google it and you'd probably be fine, but in writing, if you have personal experience you can draw from, you should. so i wouldn't do 3. which leaves 2 and 1.

it really just depends on how much buildup you want to fitz and dex getting in. (i assume they're both getting in, though there's definitely things you could do with one or both of them not getting in. i'll elaborate on those if you need me to, but for now, i'm gonna move back to the subject at hand.) 1 sounds like a good way to lay out fitz and dex's strengths and weaknesses when it comes to science pretty much straight out the gate, plus help your non-science-whiz readers figure out what's going on. potentially. depending on whether or not you include their thought processes and basic explanations of stuff 'cause i guarantee that a lot of your readers are gonna look at some things and go, 'i have no idea what the fuck that word means.' for some of their questions. 1 is truly the buildup-before-they-get-in option, if you want your readers to get to know them individually in this au before they dive into everything.

on the other hand, 2 sounds like the 'let's get this out of the way real fast so we can get to the plot' way of going about it. and here's the thing! that's honestly better a lot of the time! one of the main ways people fuck up their pacing in the beginning - which is the most crucial part to pace correctly, since you need to get readers hooked on the story and continue reading through your middle and ending - is by starting too early in the timeline. unless you're like, really good with pacing and stuff and you've been doing it for ages and you have it down under your belt, you want to start as close to the inciting incident of your story as soon as possible. taking too long to get to the good stuff will lose your readers. (remember that sokeefitz roadtrip fic snippet i submitted to tobi that was like. 1.4k words? i deleted that because it was starting too early in the timeline. i was dragging the pace too much. taking too long to get to the actual roadtrip. i restarted the story later in the timeline of events, and it's flowing much better now. if it were an original story, i'd jump even further in the timeline, but this is a fic and y'all like fluff so you're getting like. idk. 3-5k words of it? right off the bat? only because y'all are familiar with the characters already.) if you can explain all the science-y things some readers won't get as they're in events and their strengths and weaknesses and such after they get in, then you might want to! idk your plot outline, so i can't tell you if this is what you need, but i'd definitely consider it.

Man am I glad I'm not making these posts on the even-numbered days of the month because yesterday I had one of the worst bouts of time blindness of my life and that really put a bit of a crimp in the rest of my day. But anyway! Today we’ll talk about:

Mare and Denna (or Amaranthine and Dennaleia, if you’re a narc lol) from Of Fire and Stars as well as the sequel Of Ice and Shadows.

Y’know that classic fantasy/historical fiction plot where a betrothed noble falls in love with someone other than their intended spouse and things get seriously complicated about it? Honestly I’m not sure why I don’t see that trope with queer characters fucking everywhere, it’s prime material.

In any case, that’s one of the standout features of Mare an Denna for me; they initially play out a version of that cheesy old story and its really nice to see queer people get to just be in such a narrative. Actually, extend that to the setting, too. It’s remarked upon at several points that relationships between people of the same gender are a thing, and it’s treated neutrally. Mare even says at one point that if she were to have a false marriage to get her father off her back, then she’d rather it be to a woman just so lack of children isn’t questioned. This idea is not questioned for its inherent queerness, but rather because it would be Mare running from her problems.

But, I get ahead of myself! A summary, for any who have not read these books (go read these books, for the love of all that is good in this world). Denna is a princess of a mountainous northern realm called Havemont. She is, however, the younger of two sisters, and so her sister is the one in line to inherit the throne.

As such, Denna is betrothed to prince Thandilimon, heir to the throne of Havemont’s southerly neighbor: the kingdom of Mynaria. Denna has prepared her entire life for this marriage, and we pick up with her at the age of 17 (iirc) when she’s made the journey to Mynaria for final preparations before the wedding later that year.

Thing is, part of that prep involves learning to ride a horse. It’s not common to learn in the mountains of Havemont and a very important social expectation on the plains of Mynaria. The best available teacher? Princess Amaranthine, Thandilimon’s older sister (by about 2 years). With whom Denna starts to feel things she has never felt before.

Mare herself, btw, is very GNC, explicitly shirking traditional feminine roles, clothes, and expectations of her noble duty as a woman of status. Being royalty, she’s expected to one day run a household and produce heirs for a husband, in a marriage likely born of political importance. There’s a delightful lack of homophobia in this setting, but this kind of things is something that still seems to cause issues, at least in Mynarian society.

The other big spanner in the works is that Denna, unbeknownst to anybody in Mynaria, was born with the ability to wield magic. Specifically, she has what is known as an affinity for fire magic. This is a BIG problem, because the tenants of Mynaria’s religion and antagonistic relationship with a magic-using kingdom to their east leave magic outlawed and those with the ability to use it persecuted. Basically in a world with no homophobia and magic, this frequently feels like a metaphor for persecution of queer people in the real world.

I’ll spare most of the details from here, but suffice it to say that they have a wonderful, often fraught, and phenomenally cathartic story and relationship. Their love for one another is never in question, only their situation beyond that. Two girls loving each other is unremarkable in this world, what cause problems is the shenanigans that ensue when one of said girls is involved in a vital political marriage. It’s so fucking nice to just see queer people as part of this world and get to engage fully with other weighty themes, some of which are still quite relevant to real world queer people. Read these books, I am begging you, I need more people to talk about them with.