#good ol swap au. love me some swaps.
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The lovely thing about the Lovesquare, is just how many insane identity shenanigans can result from these two people. In fact, there are so many identity shenanigans between them that I've begun to pile them into archetypes, so now I have to wonder:
Definitions:
The "OG"- Just the plain ol' confused, but endearing lovesquare (included in this are any power-ups or kwami swaps)
The "Snekmouse"- A situation where they know the identity of the other, but they don't know they know and have to act like they don't know. Yes, they are idiots.
The "Lovewalker"- They are both multiple layers into a secret identity and are secretly missing the person, who is in actuality, sitting right next to them(can alternatively be known as the "Ladywalker if just a one-sided facade)
The "Secret Acts of Service"- They secretly deliver gifts (barrettes, scarfs, etc.) and/or do acts of service (telling off Lila, Chloe, etc.) without the other person knowing because they love, they're such good friends 🥰
The "Super-Civilian"- They, as a civilian must interact with, and fight alongside with their superhero partner, although this time using different powers, and with varying success. They often use this time to distance themselves from their hero identity.
The "Inter-Universal Square"- "Is this girl who is flirting with me, my lady? She kinda looks like her-" They are interacting, with some alternate universe/timeline version of themselves and/or with their partner, varying results ensue.
The "They Never Met"- Any situation where these two didn't meet according to the original timeline. They could have not have met as civilians, only one of them could have gotten a miraculous, or they could have never interacted as superheroes. This can include several enemy aus, as they never really knew each other.
The "Chat Blanc"- Though this can arguably fit into the "inter-universal square", this holds distinction as it includes any scenario with akumatization. This can include any situation in which either of them, under any identity, get akumatized and then fight and/or interact with the other.
#I'm not sure how inclusive this list is#i feel like there might#be something missing#oh well#loveybug#chat Blanc#ml lovesquare#ladybug#chat noir#marinette dupain cheng#adrien agreste#miraculous ladybug#mlb#miraculous#ml#ml spoilers#kinda#ml leak free#miraculeakless#ml polls#polls
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24 asks!! :DD Thank you so much!! :}}
WAAAAA THANK YOU SO MUCH!! THIS WAS SO SWEET I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY!! JUST- THANK YOU! THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!! 💖💖😭💖😭😭💖💖
@annathefenecfox
I haven't watched the episodes she's in yet.. but I love her color palette! She looks really sweet :}💚💙💛
@spinelfan11
They would run XD
@supersecretnerd
Woof, she looks like hello kitty! <XD What even is she? A squirrel..? Geez, if I ever add her to my AU, she will definitely be getting a full fur color make over- XDD
(Also thank you!! :DD)
@rubydraft (Comic in question)
YES YES! That was very much intentional! :DD And the answer lies in the fazbands!
The animatronics can scan the Fazbands and get any important information about the child they might need. Such as the child's name, age, and which parent they belong to.
The Fazbands also act as a proof of purchase. If the the animatronic scans a child and no fazband is detected, that child must be brought to an employee. As there is no current proof that the child has had their admission paid. Hence why Gregory has a red outline, he has no fazband!
The blue kids all have standard fazbands. As every kid is given when they enter the pizzaplex.
But if its your kids birthday, they are given a special fazband that has them show up differently in the animatronics scanners. This tells the animatronics that the golden kids are the birthday boys/girls! And they will address the child as such if they ever encounter them. :)
(Also there's an Easter egg in one of those panels that no ones pointed out yet.. 👀)
Oh yeah, there's a lot of em. :( But the animatronics don't have to worry about them. They have handlers to watch over them and keep angry Karen's/crowds away.
I haven't really figured out their whole schtick yet..
I think in the partial swap they haven't changed much. Although Monty is a kindler gentler Monty. With Foxy by his side he's simmered down some. And his theme is a little different than before.
Roxy I think is more of a recluse in the partial swap, like original Monty is.
As for the true swap.? I haven't really figured it all out yet. Thinking that Roxy is a golfer and Monty is a racer..? I haven't thought it all through yet <XD
@wolfie-777
Off the top of my head I have these two Minecraft wolf OCs that I made a while back :00 I cant remember any others if I happen to have them-
@itschrisboys
:D Thanks!
@wdillustration
XD I wont draw that today, but maybe sometime I'll draw him giving someone a big ol bear hug :)
@acedgola
:DD Hiii!! I use FireAlpaca! Its got some problems but at least its free! Its easy to learn but also has enough tools to be used by a professional! You can also animate with it if you have the patience to figure out how to use it XD
Overall, 7.5/10 would recommend FireAlpaca!
(Post in question)
I'm not a hardcore fan, but yes! I do love the little korbo :}} And those are some Kirby slippers I got for Christmas! :D
They're my artist hands! And I'm not sure what you mean.. 11 hands is a perfectly normal number of hands to have!
Right.?
I just imagined Glamrock Freddy having an imaginary friend that looks a lot like a purple/blue bunny.. :( 💔
@softkidlavender
My beautiful eyeballs have been known to lure people to my blog XDD (Also thank you! :DD)
@basementdregon101
:DD I'm glad you like it!! :}}}
@rockbott0m47
A fant. Its often mispronounced as "fart"
@ardent-38 (Comic in question)
WAAAA I REMEMBER THOSE TAGS!!! I SHOULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING IN THE COMMENTS- WAAA THANK YOU SO MUCH!! IT WAS THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY DAY AND IT STILL LIVES RENT FREE IN MY BRAIN 💖😭💖
AND THANK YOU AGAIN!! I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKE MY GOLDEN BOYS AND MY OCTONAUTS STUFF!! WAA THANK YOU SO MUCH!! 😭💖💖💖
AAAA THANK YOU!! :DD I'm so glad you like them!! :}}}
@fizzy-stars
XD I'm glad you felt inspired by me to bring those OCs back! And I hope that bite tasted good XDD
<XD It'd be more like;
Classic Bonnie: "Dude, what happened to you?
Swap Bonnies: "😒......"
It's all fun and games until I emerge ominously in the background with a snowball the size of a car XD
Everyone starts looking through the cookies and trying to figure out which one they want. Meanwhile I push everyone aside and snag all the peanut butter ones XD
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It’s been a hot minute since I posted Nexo Swap content huh?
Since Lance is swapped with Macy, he doesn’t get his shield and proceeds to cuss out his dad
As you can see, I improved my au’s designs a little to make them more unique from their original counterparts. I also caved and swapped their family crests (still...debating, but I’ll go with it for now because I think removing the F in “Aaron Fox” for it to make sense in this au is funny af for some reason and a golden opportunity)
In the future, I plan to release some updated designs and character concepts as while I haven't really made any recent art for Nexo Swap, I’ve been working on A LOT of ideas for it. What can I say? I love me a good ol swap au-
Extra: what really happens because Lance is a god damn cry baby lol
#also yeah I know they have helmets in this scene#but I really didn't feel like drawing them#nexo knights#nexo knights au#nexo swap#clay moorington#macy halbert#aaron fox#aaron ox#get it?#lance richmond#axl just axl#jestro my beloved#monstrox#swap au#knightly-bastard art
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I saw ur tags and ran over here. What are ur favorite spicy UF! Papyrus fics?
HELLOOO LMAO you were so quick... sorry this took me a while to get together, but I hope you enjoy ( ù ᵕ ú )
Fair warning that some of these picks will include dub/noncon (and potentially other dubious content? I don't know what I'm going to add yet HAHA) so as always make sure to heed the warnings and read the tags before reading!! I've done my best to label them accordingly though :]
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READER INSERTS
Edge Discovers the Wonderful World of Subbing
You can tell exactly what this list is going to be like just from the title of this first fic... (title is explanatory, gotta love it!!)
Good EdgeLord
More sub Edge!! 💥💥
Caught in the Act
HELLO?? HELLO. Voyeurism? Low stakes semi-public sex? Double penetration ?? Sign me UP.
Pumped (Kinktober Collection)
Usually I refrain from including individual Kinktober chapters from rec lists BUT I really like this one ( '^' )!! It isn't even that explicit, but it's stuck in my brain because I GASPED when I read it for the first time.
Pyr's Favourite Keeper [DUBCON -> CON]
Love me a snakey boy!!!!!! There's also oviposition 👀!!
Wake
Sleepy sex <3! The bit with the SNAP part killed me and it's also such a fun detail!
Prime Time to Run
Mafiafell... he straight up murders someone in front of you and you fuck about it.
Bound Edge
Sub Edge again!! The reader has a dick in this- a rare but delicious treat !
Fall Out Bones [NON/DUBCON...????]
Technically this is linked to a series featuring both UF!bros, because I think that both are reslly good partially also because I think they're intensely hilarious at times. The titles are also great.
Boned [NONCON]
CLASSIC 2016 PREMISE. Reader is trapped in the fucking shed. (Fucking used as both profanity as well as a descriptive action)
Housekeeping [NONCON]
Weird location (sink)! But it works really well for the fic!!! Violenctce.
To Prove A Point ||| The Origins Of The Pap-wich - (Swap!Pap/Reader/UF!Pap)
Ahhh the good ol threesome ! The reader gets sandwiched between two very sexy skeletons~ !! I'm also a big Swap!Pap fan so this is just. *Mwah* so good!!!!! Double penetration again ~ also one of the few fics with squirting 🙏✨
All Dicks, No skeletons [DUB/NONCON DUE TO DETACHABLE ECTODICK SITUATION]
I cannot put into words how much I love this. It's got detachable ectobits... inconvenience due to detachable ectobits!! In this, Edge has a barbed dick and claws up a tree. It's crack but it's so so good!!!!!! I'm patiently waiting for updates and will ravenously consume the fic for lime the fiftieth time when it does.
OTHER SHIPS
Also! Here are a few fics with UF!Pap in other ships (namely various Papcest configs) because you didn't specify it had to be reader inserts lol
Little Wet Bones (Papcest: Farm/Underfell)
Bitty!Edge is soooo cute... and horny!! He's so self assured I love it.
Pepper Heat (Papcest: Edgepuff)
Heat fic! Heat fic!! Chili peppers is one hell of a heat scent... the only person who can handle a Papyrus is another Papyrus ;] The naming scheme here is also very funny when you realise what went on.
A Fallen Knight and his King (Papcest: Edgepuff)
MORE SUB EDGE ! This one delves more into the his exploration of dom/sub dynamics and it's so so good!!!!
Three Chance Meetings (Papcest: Spicyhoney)
Swap!Pap is (secretly) a prostitute and Fell!Pap finds out and shills out the money to spend a night with him. I looooove the character dynamics in this one too.
Taste of Blood and Honey (Papcest: Spicyhoney)
I forgot about this and was delighted to discover it again because ohhhhhh my god the premise is so good... also there's mirror sex and first times and those are always fun :3c
Mutt Lost a Bet (Papcest: SpicyBBQ)
Mafia AU setting where SF!Pap and UF!Pap make and lose bets resulting in sexual escapades. The second chapter is my favourite because it involves gloryholes and aphrodisiacs <33
Bro's Replacement (Papcest + Sanscest : Spicyhoney + Cherryberry)
LAMIAS AGAIN 💖 Honestly the setup is what gets me... but the smut is delicious so I'm adding it here :3c
Heat (Papcest - Spicyhoney) [HEAT INDUCED MUTUAL NON/DUBCON]
Why are there so many lamia fics in this list, I do not know, but heeeeeeey enjoy the snakeys! In this one the non/dubcon is due to UF!Pap being in heat, and both of them regret it after. Things get better though!!
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Anyway, that's all for now! Hope you enjoy some ^^!!!
#doozis fic recs#fic recs#uhhhhhh YEAH IM NOT TAGGING THIS ONE LOL#im always down to talk smut >:3c but also im like. man this sure is a public blogggggg ahhsjrjrkgjfkrnngkrn#there are a couple i didnt include for Various Reasons so this is it for now uwu)b!!#anon#inbox
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ANOTHER AU.
Welcome to the Spliced AU!! This time this one is not derivative of DTDF (shocker). I still will not be using “canon” Fuse for this though. This time we get a glimpse at good ol’ Dr. Orion, but not the one who did the heinous crimes in his past.
Hold on actually let me explain/lay out all of the Fuse’s
DTDF Fuse! Aka Fuchsia Orion. A classic. Your lovely murderous god-fused doctor!
Dr. Orion! DTDF Fuse but he stopped being the shittiest person alive and is constantly haunted by what he’s done. If he could do anything to reverse what he’s done, he would.
Swap!Fuse! Dr. Fuse, but his personality is swapped with Moro aka Ice Type Mikey. Was heavily abused/tortured by old colleagues for the sake of research. Has some mismatched limbs :)
Splintered Fuse! DTDF Fuse in hell forever and ever <333333
“Canon” Fuse. Dead.
In the Spliced AU, we see a Dr. Orion who is genuinely just trying to research Pokémon fusions in a healthy way and not trying to kill anyone/hasn’t killed anyone in his life. His personality is a mixture of the original Dr. Orion and Swap!Fuse. ANYWAYS!!!!
The AU!!!! Dr. Orion gets a little too curious about experimenting on himself, and wonders what would happen if he used a DNA splicer on himself despite him never experimenting with humans before. Lo and behold, this splits him into two different people, with two different physical bodies. One is a more manic, peppy Orion, the other is a more mellow, yet brooding Orion. I think he could be spliced into more people, but for now I want to keep it at 2.
This was very much inspired by the UT fansong Dr. Gaster a teehee :3c
Not sure what/how much I’ll do with this AU but I just wanted to throw the idea out there :)
#Oh my god okay how many tags will there be.#Dr. Fuse#Fuchsia Orion#Dr. Orion#Splintered Fuse#Spliced Fuse#Swap!Fuse#Don’t Trust Dr. Fuse#DTDF#Splintering DNA AU#Spliced AU#OKAY THATS NOT THAT BAD.#Oh yeah there’s also Pony fuse too#Oh also#mandjtv#tw abuse mention#cw abuse mention#Abuse mention#abuse mention tw#abuse mention cw#torture mention
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Do you have any new arranged marriage fics?
Hii yes we've gathered all new and newest arranged marriage fics we'd read since the last compilation, one thing for sure is that this AU is popular and we're eating well hehe:
Supposedly Not a Love Story - fake relationship au. to avoid an arranged marriage with his crazy ex, jongin asks his secretary kyungsoo to be his husband for 100 days!!!
There was nothing (but love) - eight months after their wedding, jongin starts acting weird, avoiding kyungsoo out of nowhere, leaving kyungsoo to wonder why
Far Longer Than Forever - royalty au. prince jongin and prince kyungsoo have been promised to each other since they were kids, having to spend every summer together in hopes to get to know each other and maybe even fall in love
Sweeter (the second time around) - a/b/o. alpha jongin has gotten to a point of his life where he needs get ready to take his father’s place as a CEO, and to do that he also needs to start his own family
kiss. kiss? kiss. - mpreg au. kyungsoo ends up in a arranged marriage with jongin, who he has liked since high school
Fix Me - 100 days my prince meets frankenstein kinda au. in this one jongin is actually engaged to someone else
Essentially Yours - while engaged to someone else, jongin meets kyungsoo at a friend’s wedding
Lose You To Love Me - after jongin and kyungsoo are caught kissing inside a bar by a paparazzi, their fathers decide to arrange their marriage
Lean Cuisine - kyungsoo’s mother is known to play pranks, so obviously kyungsoo thinks she’s just joking when she tells him that in order to save his father’s business he’ll need to marry jongin
Arranged with a Kim - two different personalities / analytical and techy!soo with idol, heir!jongin and arranged marriage between the two where they accept it well ~
the pheromone enterprise - abo au, omega kyungsoo is in an arranged marriage to alpha jongin dur oto business arrangement, the two start liking each other. slow burn, smut
I do... do I? - modern royalty au, the news break out abt prince jongin sleeping with prince ksoo from the neighbouring royal family and they decide the two have to get married to e/o
I do. - continuation to the previous story, after their honeymoon
Dancing in the Kitchen - because of a lockdown, newlyweds jongin and kyungsoo find themselves having to spend their honeymoon at home
blue hour - mermaid au - mermaid!jongin, kyungsoo is in arranged marriage with queen jihyun
Of Shrimp Canapes and Coleslaw - light hearted fluff...with a twist :)) andante vibes anyone?
Bye Bye Sadness (Hello My Love) - abo au, omega kyungsoo alpha jongin with age swap/gap. relationship problem occurs with arranged marriage between them also soo is very clingy. implied mpreg
Contracts and bites - alpha soo is the future ceo of his family as well as omega jongin. both families sign a contract for them to get married but they oppose to it at first
ongoing: (some were last updated in 2020)
Lemons Are Sour But Also Flavourful - just six months before his graduation, kyungsoo gets in a arranged marriage with jongin
Hungry Heart - mafia au in a modern setting, jongin is the mafia boss, slightly inspired by an anime of the same title
sunflower - slow burn, modern royalty au, inspired by jjokkomi’s as you wish
Amidst the Lavender Blooms - modern royalty and college au. this is kaisoo but also kyungsoo-centric with chansoo/sesoo
The God of the Underworld - this is an english translation of a brazilian fic, while this one is not complete, the portuguese one is. mythology au with reflections on life and death.
To Love or To Live - college and mafia au. ksoo goes on a date with jongin...throw in some good 'ole mafia twist :)
Our Love Story - ksoo has to marry the son of one of the richest family in sk but he also has to sign the divorce papers before entering the marriage
I Don't Play the Game - modern royalty au. kyungsoo is a troublemaker prince who seduces jongin, his sister’s fiance in order to end their engagement, but ends up having to marry jongin
head to our arranged marriage previous compilations for more :)
Enjoy!
~ KFR Admins
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I think you'd make good money if you turned one of your fics into an original story by changing the names and such. I have seen people go WILD on social media over the most poorly written abusive-alpha-knots-his-true-mate smut that somehow got published into an actual book. But your writing and sex scenes would drive a lot more people insane, you write so well!
That is so sweet of you! I'm so glad that that you enjoy my writing. It really is incredibly flattering to hear that people think I could write at a professional level. <3 Now, allow me to explain why I'll never, ever do this.
When I write fanfiction, I try my best to keep characters in character. I know that seems obvious, but back in the day there used to be a slash tag used called ATG (Any Two Guys/Girls) indicating that you could swap out the characters involved with just about anyone and not change a thing. I want to avoid that. I want the characters to be so recognizably them to the point if the names were changed due to some bizarre posting accident, people would still be able to point and go, "Oh, that's X and Y."
(On a slight tangent, you'll also find most of my fics are usually Alternate Reality/Canon or Missing Scene rather than Alternate Universes. I personally find toying with canon incredibly satisfying, seeing how much can be changed in small increments while still keeping everything recognizable (mostly in the service of two hotties boning down, lol). This is, of course, the entire premise of the Every First Time series where I do my best to merely tweak the events in episodes rather than make broad changes. That isn't to say I don't do true AUs at all (I have several on the back-burner in fact, and one of my favorite things that I've written is still Cuckoos in Glass Houses), but I'm unlikely to do, say, a straight-up Coffee Shop AU anytime soon.)
Let me be clear, I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with AUs or ATG-type fics! Write what you want! It's cool! But what attracts me to fanfiction in the first place is reading stories about characters I already know and love. To me, that's the whole point. So while it may be possible to do the ol' CTRL+H, without a lot of work I still think it'd be really obvious what I've done. As someone who also writes original fiction, I don't think that's the mark of well done story. In original fiction, I think characters should belong to their books so to speak. And while the bar can be pretty low at times (as you rightfully pointed out), I want my stuff to be a little better than that if I can manage it, especially if I'm going to slap my real name on there. If I do have an initially have idea for a fic that later I realize would be suitable for publishing, that story will never, ever see the light of day in fanfiction form.
And, of course, there's the fact that I still struggle immensely with writing anything that's multi-chaptered (fanfiction or original fiction), so making sweet, sweet bank on smutty romance is still a distant dream until I can get my act together. T_T
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What are some of your koopalings AUs? Or Super Mario AUs in general?
Ooh Boy, be prepared for a VERY long post on this.
War-Torn AU: One of my personal favourites, this AU takes place in a setting where the Mushroom Kingdom and Darklands have been at war for several years. Mario and Luigi are considered the best fighters in the Mushroom Kingdom and their personal duty is to protect Princess Peach, as well as trying to work out how to defeat Bowser. Bowser himself is the evil yet charismatic tyrant of Darklands, who wants nothing more than the Princess’s hand in marriage. The Koopalings are his most elite soldiers and his 7 army leaders…but they’re still just children.
Undercover AU: One of my Koopaling-centric ones, the Koopalings are a group of orphans sent to the Darklands under the orders of a neighbouring king, King Rohan II, and were adopted by Bowser after he finds the 7 children on the streets. Their mission was to infiltrate the royal family from the inside and take the throne away from Bowser and Bowser Jr. After unsuccessful assassination attempt after unsuccessful assassination attempt, it always ends with the. Sing forced to start an all-out revolution early. The question is, do they get forgiven or not? That’s the fun part to work out.
Haunted AU: I based this one on the 19-year long disappearance the Koopalings had from the mainstream games after Super Mario World and worked it into a fictional story. Basically, 19 years ago, Bowser’s adopted children, the Koopalings, went mysteriously missing and, not long after, their ghosts started haunting the castle. Boos were one thing, but just having the ghosts of your former children wandering the castle was too much for Bowser and his troops, so they left for a temporary alternative. This AU mainly revolves around Luigi being hired to ghost-hunt them and questioning his own morals the entire way along, as well as various scenarios that could have led to their death (AUs within AUs basically)
Reverse AU: Ah yes, the good ol’ Swapped AU as it is commonly known. The world stays roughly the same, but everyone’s personality is completely changed to be the canonical opposite. Therefore, you’d have Soft Bowser, Childish Ludwig, Austere Lemmy, Pacifist Roy (he’s great fun to write), Bully Iggy, Sweet Wendy, Smart Morton and Quiet Larry, all of whom are under the care of Idiotic Kamek. Oh, and don’t forget that Peach loves Bowser, Luigi is a fearless bad guy and Mario is constantly kidnapping Princess Peach.
Evil Mario AU: Let’s face it, most Super Mario fans have the token Evil Mario AU and I’m no exception. As someone who’s firmly on Team Bowser, it comes naturally to me to write Mario brutally beating up Bowser’s children and troops and trashing the Darklands as he goes, as well as him trying to coerce Peach to marry him and relentlessly bully Luigi. It comes in various amounts of extremism, but it’s very good for angst.
Human AU: The second typical AU, this is basically the same as mainline Mario except everyone is a human and I can make them hot. I’m a sucker for Human AUs and I’m not entirely sure why. I guess I mainly write this one because it gives me more to work with, like with outfits or injuries. ALSO, since they’re humans, it would be much easier to disguise themselves and go undercover in the Mushroom Kingdom 😈. This doesn’t have a lot of depth to it, but it doesn’t really need to, it’s just a little variation on normal Super Mario.
That’s all my main AUs. If anyone wants to suggest some more, I’d love to hear them. I think I might like AUs more than canon at this point because I can give people whatever personality I want.
Also, thanks for the ask! I love talking about my AU’s!
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I am back on my bullshit (thinking about your stranger thing fics 24/7 and getting confused that your canon is not universal) but i was wondering if you had any extra body swap AU tidbits to share!! Or some Robin and Jonathan interactions in any verse!!
Lastly, I would love to hear your thoughts about how the Duffers pick their outcasts!! Also one thing that’s always struck me about stranger things (especially s1) is how much the narrative beats strike along those of ecological disasters(a la Erin brokovitch) and how in some ways ST seemed to understand that tragedy is random but some people are less protected from tragedy/authority fails them/the knowledge something is wrong but having no recourse yet lost all sense of finesse in later seasons. Idk if others have had those thoughts especially bc in some way it’s been lampshaded with the Barb cover story.
Anon I'm chewing gravel, you articulated it so well and so precisely. the narrative beats strike along those of ecological disasters!!!! I never thought about it that way but you're absolutely right!! Now I want somebody who has more knowledge than me to do a blow-by-blow comparing season 1 against Chernobyl or some equally prestigious piece of nuclear-disaster literature, because I'm really curious about whether that tracks, too. Just given the era and the anxieties of the era.
(Cut because here be salt.)
The ways in which it's lost all finesse, I think, are part sophomore slump (the show was a pet project in development for something like ten years before Netflix picked up season one, and then they wanted like a season a year after that? Or something along those lines?), part Franchising Is The Death Of Art, and part the Duffers just letting success go to their heads. The more I hear about the behind-the-scenes, the more sense I get that the showrunners just...don't put a lot of thought into what they make. Part of it is almost certainly time crunch, and part of it is absolutely economic pressure (the fabled Studio Meddling, and the studio is, instead of beholden to the companies who'd run ads during the show's runtime, beholden to the companies who'd buy product placement), and then there's the whole 'the US military won't let you use their infrastructure as props/sets if your film or TV show is too openly critical of the US military' thing.
But enough other showrunners work around these forces in interesting ways that it becomes really obvious how simply lazy a lot of the Duffers' choices are. They just pick something they think sounds cool and run with it. And that's a great way for every bias or anxiety or grudge they've ever had and not examined to float up to the surface to get skimmed off and shoved into their show.
I really do think that they set out with good intentions, in terms of 'outcasts' and challenging social norms. I just think that they've got a bunch of big ol' blind spots that they maybe don't even realise they have, have never examined, and now have an army of fans telling them aren't actually problems and they don't need to change anything. Honestly, it's the same problem a lot of actual 80s media has - John Hughes' whole canon is based off of this kind of 'identification with the outsider' thing, but. Well, Long Duck Dong exists.
It's the assumption that the white straight dude is the default, and everybody can relate to him, and should relate to him, and that if He is ever outcast then something is Wrong in Society - but hey, if people oppress women or gays or minorities, that's just how things work. And it's frustrating to see unironically and uncritically repeated in something that's patting itself so loudly and enthusiastically on the back about how it's All For The Freaks! (So Long As They're, You Know, Our Kind Of Freaks.)
Also it sounds like these motherfuckers keep ignoring the characterisation notes Winona Ryder is giving them and they Will one day die by my blade for disrespecting her. She's got more creative integrity, talent, and hard-earned skill in her little finger than the both of them have in their entire bodies. Put together. She made your careers you dumb fucking walnuts, do you think anybody would have cared that much about season one if it hadn't had Winona fucking Ryder in it????????
Anyway. On a less depressing note. I absolutely do have some Jonathan and Robin interactions I can share, and I'm going to pop them in a separate post because this one turned into a bummer, because I am a bummer. Expect that in a minute or two!
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This Dark Thing That Sleeps In Me - a Magnus Archives AU, Chapter Seven
This is a DARK AU; it is not a kid-fic, though Jon is young. Bittersweet ending ahead.
Spoilers for the whole show, though this is very much an alternate universe.
“Have you been to Oliver’s mountain?”
“No. Hey, Marto, how come the Eye didn’t choose this guy?”
“Wish I knew.”
It didn’t feel particularly good to hear that. Jon was beginning to dislike being a mystery.
AO3
Art by @iiiumihottie
Nobody answered Tim.
“So,” Mike said into the silence. “Is it always this exciting in the grand ol’ tower?”
“No, it is not,” said Sasha. “Is everyone all right?”
Some murmurs of assent.
Not from Jon. He knew what he’d been promised. Felt it deep inside, maybe in his soul. Answers. To everything. He kept swallowing, producing saliva as though hungry.
“Jon, are you all right?” said Sasha.
“Is he all right?” huffed Tim. "What about the rest of us?"
“I’m fine,” said Jon, who was still visibly shaking. “Can we go see everything? He said I could see everything.”
“First, let’s… okay. Martin, can you grab him some clothes, since Tim didn’t get the chance? I’ll get him fed and washed.”
“Thanks, Sash,” Martin said, and left.
Mike stayed. No one had expected Mike to stay.
“Hellooooo?” said Tim, as though Mike had forgotten.
“So what’s the deal with you three?" said Mike. "Is it open, or closed?"
“Not the time, Skyboy,” said Tim.
“Here,” said Sasha, and handed Jon a plate.
Food. Chicken? Some meat chopped up small and a bunch of vegetables he didn’t recognize and—
He groaned, mouth stuffed. He’d never had anything so good at Amherst’s place.
“Slow down,” said Tim, slowly. “Geez.”
“Who was taking care of you?” says Sasha.
“No one,” Jon says around another mouthful. “I took care of myself.”
“So you were… what, eating garbage?” said Tim.
“No,” huffed Jon, and scraped his plate clean. “I was trading.”
“Trading what?” said Tim.
Jon shrugged. “Needful things. I’d wash dirty dishes, or organize shelves.”
Tim started laughing. “Are you serious? They’d come downstairs in the morning, be… what, out some bread, or something, and find their kitchen redone?”
Jon slowly went red. “I’m not a thief. I traded. Without… telling anybody. It still counted!”
“Oh, my gods,” said Tim. “I love you. I want one. Hey! Martin! Dibs when you’re done!”
Martin stepped back in. “We are not doing dibs.” He’d changed. Impossibly fast, it seemed, but he was clean, his hair wet and slicked back, and his clothing swapped out for dry things. Gone were the velvety blacks; he’d gone into greens now, with an elaborately embroidered vest and a bright red cravat. “Here.”
Jon took the bundle of clothes.
“Shower,” Sasha pointed.
Jon obediently went to the corner shower to clean up.
He could hear them while he did. The conversation was odd, but… intimate.
“You are so pale,” said Sasha. “Drink.”
“No, I’ve taken too much from you lately already,” Martin said.
“Well, I’m not pale and bloodless yet,” said Tim.
“Guys,” Martin said. “I can’t. I’ve been greedy, and now I’m paying for it.”
There was a pause. Jon had no clue what they were doing over there.
“Nice,” said Martin, breathless after a moment, “but still no.”
“I’m here,” said Mike.
Silence.
“What? My blood works.”
“It does,” said Martin. “Well?”
“It’s up to you,” said Tim. “I mean. Your mouth going on him.”
“I’d return the favor,” said Mike.
"Wow," said Martin. "Right in front of everybody."
"If that's your thing," said Mike.
Martin laughed. "You're hopeless."
“Let me at least test him. Make sure he’s clean,” said Sasha.
“Do whatever,” said Mike. “So you gonna take the kid and gonna explore? I’m staying here.”
“Why?” said Martin. “My friends are… we…”
“I want to get to know them,” said Mike.
“You really know what you’re offering, don't you?” said Martin softly.
“Yeah. I do. I know it’s intimate. I know it’s permanent—we’d be tied. I know what I’m offering.”
“Damn,” said Tim as if impressed, and their voices lowered.
Jon missed the rest. The sensation of hot water was so glorious that nothing else mattered, anyway.
Martin was safe. Martin was… fed. So Jon could do whatever he had to do. Whatever that meant.
Stay focused.
“Sure, past self,” he muttered to the Answers, and hurried.
#
“Hey, Jon, you cleaned up all right.”
Jon smoothed down his weird new clothes. He’d never worn anything like it—blue velvet, a vest, a tie. He needed help with the tie. He did not like the tie. “Thank you. I’ll pay for this, somehow.”
“You don’t have to. Jonah sort of said you had to stay? That means he has to provide for your needs.”
You do not know this man.
He’d rather not think about Jonah. “I want to see everything.”
Martin sighed. “Everything?”
“Everything. He said I could.”
They all looked at each other.
“Please?” Jon added.
“Sure,” said Martin. “Might as well do it right. We’ll start at the bottom of the place and work our way up.”
“Geez, look at that expression,” said Mike. “Hungry as fuck. How are you not Eye?”
Sasha peered at Jon through the lens of her goggles. “He’s Uncertain, as far as I can tell.”
“Wild,” said Mike, clearly not invested. “So what else are you working on? I want to watch.”
“Do you,” said Sasha.
“I want to watch, too,” whined Tim.
“No, you’re coming with me, I decided,” said Martin. “You know everybody, and that’ll make this easier.”
“Aww,” Tim somehow whined harder. "Fine.
“How are you at taking instruction?” Sasha said to Mike.
Mike’s smile was slow. “Why don’t you find out?”
Martin looked like he’d much rather stay and watch what happened, but that wasn’t on the table. “Come on, Jon,” he sighed. “We might as well get this over with. Follow me.”
Jon did.
#
“Is this anything like what usually happens when the Fingers come for people who weren’t chosen?” said Jon as they headed for yet another set of stairs, then he tripped again. These shoes were strange, heavy; the toes kept catching on things.
Martin caught him by the arm.
“Sorry,” mumbled Jon.
“Never wore boots like this, hm?”
“Not since I was little,” said Jon.
“Little. Wow,” Tim deadpanned. “Really long time, then, yeah?”
“It was,” said Jon with full sincerity. “And I don’t think the toes were this pointy.”
“No, they wouldn’t be. That style swung in about a year ago, and has yet to make its graceful exit,” said Martin, and led the way down.
The whole building, Jon decided, was designed to absorb light. He couldn’t think of another reason for it to be made of black or dark brown stone, with sconces spaced far apart, and nearly all windows just too high to be of use. He hadn’t gotten an answer for his first question. “So is this normal?”
“Not even close,” said Tim behind him.
“What is normal?”
Martin sighs. “They’re taken to Oliver’s mountain. Don’t know what happens after that. They don’t come back.”
“You don’t know?” said Jon. “I mean, they say they’re sacrificed, so I assume they die, but—”
“You don’t have to sound so disappointed,” said Tim, amused.
“I... I’m sorry.”
Martin glanced at him. “You also don’t have to keep apologizing.”
Jon frowned. “I don’t?”
“Definitely not. We’ll let you know if you do something that requires it.”
“Oh.” And Jon blurted it: “I don’t understand the rules here.”
“Nobody does,” said Tim. “And by the time we learn them, it’s time to die, and then we get to be reborn and have to learn them all over again.”
“You don’t remember them?” said Jon, amazed.
“No.” Martin glanced at him. “Jon, nobody remembers.”
Jon started to say, I do.
His past self said, don’t say it.
Jon closed his mouth.
“What?” said Martin.
“The… the walls are really brown.”
“Dibs," said Tim.
“Quit it,” said Martin.
“Why is it so dark?” said Jon.
“Because the Heart feels contemplation of death is best done without distractions. Thus, outside of Jonah’s area, there is no art, there are no carpets, and there’s no real color except for in people’s personal rooms.”
“But his area’s fancy as anything,” Tim muttered.
“Whose else lives here?” Jon tripped again.
Martin exhaled. “There are representatives of all the Other powers here,” he said. “And most of them are new, but there’s… there’s a core of repeats.”
“A core?”
“Some of us, reborn, are always going to end up here,” said Tim. “Me, Sasha—Martin, until he took this out and just doesn’t die anymore, the jerk.”
“Anyway,” said Martin, stopping at an enormous door at the bottom of the stairs. He took out an enormous ring of keys. “It’s the core group, and then the people the Heart picks.”
“Picks?”
“He’s Aligned dually, himself,” said Tim. “He was Eye first, then End. So anyone who’s Aligned dually like he was, he keeps.”
“Is that good?” said Jon.
“Depends,” said Martin. “Sometimes, sure. He gave me eternal life. He helped Tim. He gave Sasha a real purpose.”
“That’s all good, isn’t it?”
“I’m grateful,” said Martin in a tone Jon could not interpret, and unlocked the door.
A weird smell wafted out—a smell Jon knew. “That’s rot.”
“It is. You ready? You wanted to see everything.”
“I do want to see everything,” Jon confirmed, and walked right in.
#
Jon was very surprised to find Jane Prentiss in the basement. He was even more surprised to find her in chains.
She was even more surprised to see him. “Well, fancy meeting you here,” she said.
Jon stared. “Why are you locked up?”
She sighed. “Lost a duel. Did you get our present?”
“I did! Why did you send it?”
“Little spider told us to.” Jane grinned. She didn’t seem particularly bothered by her chains or being stretched prone on the floor. “Wait. Aren’t you past ten?”
Jon flushed. “Nobody wanted me.”
“Huh.” She stared. “What's very weird. Well, we would have taken you.”
“Well. You didn’t.”
“We still could.”
“No?” he said, and stepped back. “I think I’ve had enough Corruption for the rest of my life, thank you.”
“Fair enough.” Jane looked at Tim. “Would you tell Jonah we have learned our lesson?”
“I can’t tell anyone anything, Jane,” said Tim, somehow making it smooth and gracious in spite of the worms squirming all around their feet. “I’m afraid you’ll just have to pay your penalty.”
“We would have won if not for interference.”
“Maybe so,” said Tim, and it’s almost gentle. “But the Heart never cared about cheating, you know? He just cares who wins.”
“Next time,” said Jane. “Next time, we will overwhelm her, and she will smother and writhe as we eat her eyes.”
“Good luck with that!” said Tim, the soul of cheer, and stepped over her legs and moved further in.
Martin moved past quickly, but she spotted him, and she spat. “Filth!”
Jon gawked at her.
“Come on, Jon,” Martin said, hand on his back. “Keep going.”
“Wretch! Pirate! Foul creature not of the grave!”
Jon followed, eyes wide. “What was that about?”
“Oh, she hates Martin,” said Tim with great pleasure. “The Corruption can’t touch him, you see. Not even after he dies.”
“You won’t rot?” said Jon.
“No. Whatever the Heart did to create me means I will, uh. Collapse into dust, apparently?”
“Wow.” Jon was awed. “How does that work?”
“I don’t know?”
Jon’s eyes grew wider. “And you… you’re all right not knowing?”
“I don’t even know who I’d ask,” said Martin. “Though Sasha is busy trying to figure me out.”
“She’ll figure you out, too, kid,” said Tim, opening another door.
There were more prisoners in here. Some were chained high on the wall, dangling from fetters. Some were, like Jane, on the floor, stretched out as if meant to be stepped on. Two—just two—were in complicated torture devices, one of which stretched its victim into moaning misery, the other piercing its prey with a thousand metal barbs so they could never stop bleeding.
It was… horrible?
And Jon felt like he should feel more bad for them than he did, but he was so damn curious. “Why are they here?”
“Displeased Jonah,” said Martin. “Bad idea to do that.”
Jon could see why. “But what did they do, specifically?”
“You really do want to see everything, don’t you?” said Tim.
“I do. What did that one do?”
“That guy tried to murder someone. Pretty dumb move, if you ask me.”
“What about that one?”
“Attempted to escape. Thought by just traveling far away, they could leave the End’s power, or something. I’m not really clear on it? Something about a flat Earth.”
Jon scoffs. “The Earth isn’t flat. Eratosthenes proved that centuries ago.”
“I’ll take your word on it, little buddy,” said Tim, then looked over his shoulder at Martin and mouthed, “Dibs.”
Martin rolled his eyes.
“What about that one?” Jon pointed.
“Attempted suicide. Belonged to the Dark, so they didn’t appreciate it.”
“Huh. That one?”
“Tried to swap their twin for collection to the Fingers. Didn’t work, of course.”
“So the Fingers do bring people here,” said Jon.
“Nope. They go to the Will. Like I said, nobody ever comes back from that.”
“Where is Oliver’s mountain?”
“Somewhere over the sea.”
“Over the sea? So the Vast is working with the Will.”
“Yep. It’s why Mike’s sort of not in our crew, if you’ll pardon the pun. He always goes to Oliver whenever he’s reborn," said Tim.
“Have you been to Oliver’s mountain?”
“No. Hey, Marto, how come the Eye didn’t choose this guy?”
“Wish I knew.”
It didn’t feel particularly good to hear that. Jon was beginning to dislike being a mystery.
The dungeon didn’t last much longer. Martin led them out and up stairs. Everything smelled so much better, and now, they were in the guts of the place.
Machinery churned; rumbling and mysterious, it chugged, pistoned, steamed, sparked; Jon wanted to know what everything did, but neither Martin nor Tim really knew.
“Hot water?” said Tim.
“Lights,” said Martin.
“But how?” said Jon, and they could not answer him. “There have to be books or something explaining it all!”
“Ask Jonah over dinner,” said Martin.
“Dinner?”
“He wants you attached to my hip,” said Martin. “Well, we have this huge dinner every night. Awkward as fuck, but at least everyone here will know not to eat you.”
“Eat me?”
“You’re wandering around here, affiliated with nothing and no one. You’re not safe, kid,” said Martin.
“Fuck,” said Jon.
For no reason Jon understood, that cracked Tim up.
#
The next several floors belonged to people of the Flesh. The Flesh’s floors had a lot of large people walking around, bulging with muscles, challenging tailors with strange bodies and too many limbs. They smelled kind of bloody, but were nowhere near as gross as where Jon grew up, so he was unfazed.
Tim flirted with everyone they met. That was utterly bizarre, but it was satisfying to watch. Everyone seemed to like him. They cheered up when they saw him—or if they didn’t at first, they did after a moment of talking to him. Jon had seen and heard some wild sexual behavior in his time, hiding in attics and on the street, but this seemed above and beyond. It was friendly, somehow; cheerful. It didn’t seem to mean anything, or require anything in response.
It was just… pleasant. It left people smiling when they walked away (if they had mouths to smile, which they didn’t always, but somehow gave that impression, anyway).
By contrast, very few knew what to do with Martin. He got a lot of nervous looks; not even the really big guys had any interest in challenging him, though his presence made them nervous. Being chosen specially by Jonah seemed to be either a blessing or a curse. Jon wasn’t really sure which.
The wild thing was, unless Tim or Martin pointed Jon out, no one noticed him at all. He wasn’t sure why he’d expected that to change. It still felt bad, but it wasn’t new.
They climbed more stairs.
The next section belonged to the Hunt, and these floors were a maze, set up so people could chase each other and get caught and bump against dead ends and do it all over again. Jon hated the layout. The people there didn’t see him, either, but they really liked Tim. Jon could see they wanted to chase him. From comments, maybe some of them already had. Tim laughed a lot with the people on that floor. And these people, unlike the Flesh, thought Martin was the bee’s knees. They flirted with him.
In response, Tim got louder and more amusing. In response, Martin got flushed and stammery.
This was becoming genuinely funny to watch.
The Dark’s floors were impossible to see in. Tim talked to somebody; Martin laughed and joked with somebody; Jon stared into the gloom, frustrated beyond belief that he didn’t know what was there. He wanted to go in, to explore.
“Wait until dinner,” said Martin. “Wait until everyone knows Jonah’s got his eye on you, and then you can explore without an issue, okay?”
“Fine,” Jon, whined, aware he was being bratty, and followed Martin away from it and up the stairs.
That one is dangerous to you , came sort of an answer, though Jon hadn’t asked. Be cautious.
Huh. Well. Maybe. All right. But he wanted to know what was in there. Jon had never not listened to his past self. It seemed unwise to start now.
Each area in this tower was unique; they smelled different, and sounded different. The people there all had complicated relationships with Martin, but everyone liked Tim. Martin was right: It had been a good idea to bring Tim along.
“So,” said Tim, as they reached yet another floor. “Weird question: you weren’t… uh. Drawn to anything we saw, were you?”
“Drawn?”
“We both know the Eye’s gonna mark him as soon as they see him, right?” said Tim.
“We’ll see,” said Martin, and opened a door.
This floor was different, too—ceilings high and rooms wide, all the walls were lined with books, and Jon was heading for them before he could even think to ask.
“So this conundrum is about to be solved,” said Tim.
Martin shook his head. “Doubt it.”
“Look at all these books!” said Jon, reaching, then stopped. “Can I?”
“May,” said Martin. “Jonah’s a stickler for that shit.”
“May I?”
“Ask her.”
Jon looked to find a young woman staring at him. “May I read your books?” he said.
“What the hell is this?” she said, and looked at Martin. “Why can’t I see him clearly?”
“She can see him! What the hell!” said Tim, throwing his hands in the air.
“He’s… Uncertain?” said Martin.
“He’s too old,” said the woman.
“Well, he still is. Um. Do you want him?”
“I’m not done seeing everything,” Jon said, frowning at Martin. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”
Martin looked aghast. “No, Jon! I’m not trying to get rid of you. I’m trying to protect you.”
The woman stared. Jon shuddered. Her eyes reminded him of Jonah’s, though not with the same weight. “This is very strange,” she said.
“Right?” said Tim.
“I can’t see him clearly,” said the woman again with dire suspicion.
Jon twisted a little. “Nobody can. May I read some books?”
“Martin,” said the woman evenly. “Explain now, or I will react with prejudice.”
“Geez, drink some camomile,” said Tim. “Gertrude, this is Jon—Jonah’s guest. Jon, Gertrude.”
Gertrude stared. She looked like a knife, Jon thought—sharp, polished, dangerous. “Sure. Read whatever you want.”
Whew. Happy to step away from her, Jon grabbed the first book he didn't know.
“What do you see when you look at him?” said Martin.
“It’s like an illusion,” she said, which made little sense. “What is he?”
“Don’t know.”
“I don’t like it. The Eye can’t see him, Martin. He’s invisible to the Eye.”
Martin stared. “Invisible to the Eye? Invisible? ”
“Invisible.”
“But that can’t—he’s clearly been accessing it! I don’t…”
“He’s accessing something, but the Eye can’t see him. Get this thing out of my space.”
Back to them, Jon hunched. “I’m not hurting anything,” he muttered.
“I don’t want him here. I don’t understand him.”
“Oh, come on, now, Gertie,” soothed Tim. “He’s not doing any harm.”
“Out.”
“What if I distracted you for a bit? Took you dancing. Listened to you ramble on about orbital patterns, or whatever.”
“Tim,” said Gertrude evenly. “I will not warn you again.”
“Shit,” Martin muttered. “Sorry, Jon. We have to go.”
“But…” Jon stared around himself at all the books. “Jonah said I could!”
“He hasn’t said it to me,” Gertrude snapped.
Jon felt like he was going to cry. New books! So many! Right here!
“He will at dinner,” said Martin. “I promise you’ll be able to come back.”
“If he does, then I will have to let you in,” said Gertrude. “Until then, leave.”
“Sorry,” Jon whispered, and held out the book.
Gertrude scowled. “You can keep it.”
“Really?” said Jon, eyes enormous.
Martin took his shoulder and directed him back to the stairs. “Come on. She wants to be a cranky old woman, she can be a cranky old woman.”
“Offer’s still on for dancing and orbital patterns!” Tim called over his shoulder.
“I think I got so used to people not seeing me that I forgot they don’t like me,” Jon said.
They walked for a moment. “I like you,” said Martin.
“Maybe you do,” said Jon.
“I do,” said Martin. “And the people who don’t are assholes.”
“Assholes,” Tim agreed.
Jon wanted to believe them. He couldn’t, quite. There were too many of them.
“One more area of Others, then we’ll get to the utility areas—kitchen, weapons training, all that," said Tim.
“Weapons training?”
“Jonah likes duels,” said Martin with a shrug.
“The Heart of the End likes a lot of things that aren’t the End,” Jon said.
"Dibs," said Tim.
“Shhh,” said Martin.
Tim leaned in. “You are right,” he said. “The running joke is he serves the End so faithfully so he can avoid it himself and keep indulging, but don’t say that. You’ll piss him off.”
“I swear, that woman,” said Martin, changing the subject back.
“Well, she’s got months left,” said Tim. “I don’t blame her.”
“She’s twenty-nine?” said Jon.
“Yep. The End comes for us all—except this dapper gent, of course.” He elbowed Martin.
“You’re close to thirty?” said Jon.
“Got a year and a half left,” said Tim. “So far, the only one whose life has been extended is Marto over here.”
“Oh.” Jon swallowed. “You don’t seem… unhappy about it?”
“Why would I be unhappy about it?” said Tim.
“I mean… so many others seem to be upset.”
Tim shrugged. “My future’s set, you know? I’ll be reborn somewhere, Jonah will find me, and bring me here. That’s what happens.”
For reasons he didn’t know, Jon glanced at Martin.
That was grief. On Martin’s face was grief.
Jon couldn’t engage with it. “How does he find you?”
“He can see all of us. Any of us,” said Tim.
“Except me,” Jon pointed out.
“That’s… well, he can see you face-to-face, so you’re not a ghost,” said Martin.
“Wh… did you think I was a ghost?” Jon blurted, feeling for no reason he knew like his past self was laughing at him.
“I considered it?” said Martin, and opened a door.
#
The final Other floor opened to a room of white webbing.
Martin sighed. “Annabelle, for the love of fuck.”
Tim gawked. Then he laughed. “What the hell? This isn’t the augury. What’s all this?”
“I have no idea. She’s filled the regular living quarters now, for some reason,” said Martin.
“Come in, children,” came a voice from who knew where.
“Annabelle,” moaned Martin.
“Yeah,” said Tim. “Um. You need help with this one?”
“No, it’s fine, you can wait outside. I swear, she’s worse with the drama than Jonah,” said Martin, and headed right inside.
Jon saw no reason not to follow.
The door slammed shut behind them, and Jon jumped. “Tim’s really not coming?”
“He can’t flirt with her,” says Martin, “and she unnerves him, so he’ll stay outside.”
“Oh.”
“It’s all right. She won’t hurt you.”
“You have to allow me a little pageantry,” said a woman’s voice, and its owner stepped out of the web as if materializing.
Jon stared. He shook his head and stared again.
She was a spider, but she wasn’t. She was a woman, but she wasn’t.
She smiled.
Martin looked back and forth. “You okay, kid? You’re pale.”
“Yes,” said Jon.
“Thank you for bringing him to me,” said Annabelle. “Now, we can begin.”
“Begin?” said Martin. “What do you—”
And without warning, webbing moved all by itself, wrapping around Martin’s wrists and arms and waist, and lifting him off the ground.
Jon gasped.
“Pageantry,” said the woman again. “Hello, Jon. My name is Annabelle. We need to talk.”
chapter eight
#rusty quill big bang#rusty quill big bang 2023#rqbb2023#tma#tma fic#the magnus archives#magpod#magnuspod#tma au#the magnus archives au#tma spoilers#jonathan sims#martin blackwood#sasha james#jonah magnus#annabelle cane#tim stoker#this dark thing that sleeps in me
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This... uh. Hrm.
So, AUs. I enjoy making them, as well as seeking them out to see what new spins people put on familiar material. Very early this year, I came across one Sailor Moon AU that, to its credit, devised a clever way to introduce male Sailor Guardians and clearly had a lot of passion put into it. To its demerit--Jesus Christ, where do I start.
Lan and I picked this AU apart several times over the course of ‘22; eventually (by which I mean “today”), all the fixes and edits we made, along with the fact that nudging the AU even slightly towards canon compliance breaks it irreparably, accumulated into “Just Fork This Thing Already”. These images, made with good ‘ol Senshi Maker v3, are very rough drafts of what I’m calling the B-Team (i.e. the Solars) and C-Team; sometime soon, I hope to draw more refined concepts.
A not-so-brief rundown of what I liked about the original AU, what PISSED ME THE FUCK OFF, and what my intentions are for my own version. (I will not name the artist, in case someone with a wild hair up their ass tries to track them down.)
The Good: The Solar/Lunar system itself, which forms the AU’s basis. Every major planet has a Lunar (female) and Solar (male) Sailor Guardian, both using the same title; the exceptions are Sailors Moon and Sun, who are essentially each other’s opposite attributes, and the Starlights, who have both. Definitely feels like a more natural expansion to the setting than some other attempts to integrate male Sailor Guardians or knights that are pretty much the same thing.
The Bad: [insert protracted noise of frustration here]
* RAMPANT (INTERNALIZED) MISOGYNY. In brief, it’s the Solars who are all the true heirs of their planets--and because they all get OC girlfriends, the canon Lunars seem to be pretty much locked out of succession. (It’s not even clear what Usagi and Mamoru are meant to do come the Crystal Millennium, since another pair of OCs become the future rulers of Earth) Said OC girlfriends largely exist only to be love interests, some of them literally prancing in out of nowhere to declare themselves such. Special mention to Solar Uranus being of the highest caste (Uranus-the-planet’s culture is modeled on India here) and canon Uranus being classless pond scum who’s forbidden from wearing the official planet colours.
Oh yeah, everyone gets sorted into neat little heterosexual rows. This is important to note, because--
* Equally rampant heteronormalcy, which dips into outright homophobia. Only M/F relationships are taken seriously; Solar Sailor Venus, who is bisexual, is the victim of a shitty running gag wherein he expresses his attraction to Sailor Sun and gets assaulted for it. In fact, Solar Venus is punished for interacting with any guy, period, and the AU only stops kicking him around when he hooks up with a lady, Sailor Cupid.
And the Outers... let’s see if I can explain this with minimal profanity.
* Some people make Shitennou equivalents for the outer planets. Some people have them be all-male like the canon Shitennou and then pair them up with all four Outers, because they’re twats. And then [redacted] took this a step further and established that not only did Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto sell the Moon Kingdom out to Beryl, but Uranus and Neptune’s relationship was the result of Beryl’s influence. And all three of them did a dying face-turn, asked their fiances for forgiveness, and hooked up with them in the present (or maybe the Crystal Millennium).
There’s other shitty things piled onto Uranus and Neptune here, but this is the most rage-inducing.
* As for Pluto, she betrayed the Moon Kingdom because she got betrothed to a General and not a fellow Sailor Guardian. (Which Sailor Guardian, if any? Who knows, chump) Then she changes her mind for no apparent reason. But the demonization doesn’t end there: not only did the AU feel the need to “explain” why Pluto’s and Saturn’s powers were swapped (they weren’t), but Pluto, under Beryl’s direction, poisoned Saturn in order to facilitate this, by making Saturn too weak to invoke the power of time. All that bullshit, and the artist barely drew her in comparison to the other Outers.
* One of the antagonists is Hotaru’s (and Serenity’s) past-life cousin. His plan involves brainwashing and seducing Hotaru in the present day. When she is still twelve. And he’s a grown-ass adult. While it’s not fetishized, the gross aspects are not acknowledged, either.
I have other criticisms, such as a lack of cultural consistency with names, but these are the most important ones.
So What Am I Doing Here: Fixing shit, mostly.
* Cutting the cast down to (for the most part) the canon Sailor Guardians, the B-team, the C-team, and expies of the Outer Shitennou.
* The Lunars are back in charge; their Solar counterparts are lords at best--certainly not the “true” heirs.
* Those expies of the Outer Shitennou? I have plans for them. Sapphic plans.
* The Outers sure as fuck did not betray the Moon Kingdom. One set of counterparts may have, though...
* You might wonder why Sailor Sol (not “Sailor Sun”; I already have a character with that title) is absent. Well, who in canon SM was heavily associated with the Sun?
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3, 5, and 18 for the fanfic asks? 👀
aw thank you for the ask! :)
3. What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?
Oh this is a hard one 😅 I'll pick for two fandoms!
For Dishonored: I want to say my good ole Corvosider Kinktober, The Devil's Favour because I put SO much in this fic, and Sinnerman, Where You Gonna Run To?
For Destiny: I literally can't pick, there are so many I've written :D Anything in my Guardian/Crow collection, but also this one in particular: Does your Ghost love you? and another fic but it has not been published yet as it's a WIP. Hopefully some day soon :)
5. What’s a fic idea you’ve had that you will never write?
I have a WIP that I'm still deciding if I want to continue with or just drop it, but it involved time travel and swap between Crow and Uldren. It's a very fun idea in my mind, but I think the logistics will drive me bonkers :D
18. What’s one of your favorite lines you’ve written in a fic?
I have a few, but this one is from an unfinished fic of mine, featuring the Hive AU if the Traveler actually managed to give them Light.
Centuries later, here, in her luminous gardens, in a home amidst the mossy hedges and blood-red lotuses, Sathona regards a magnificent globe. Her triad of eyes looks up towards it, where it hangs amidst a scatter of smaller moons. Ominous, yet familiar.
Fanfic Asks
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@cerriddwenluna this was the best way to get all of it in one screenshot, although it’s from newest to oldest reply, so you gotta read it from the bottom up.
First off, thank you for reading good ole All the pretty things. It’s probably the first fic that made me go “wow, I am proud of this” and I reread it frequently. (Well, I do remember absolutely loving other fic that I wrote before, but I haven’t reread them in years, so...)
Re: Check, Please! it was originally a hockey AU in general, but I don’t know enough about hockey. I definitely recommend it: https://www.checkpleasecomic.com/comic/01-01-01 Check, Please! has a big place in my heart because I affectionally call it “my first big fandom after Glee” and in my post-Glee rut it awakened my love for fandom and fanwork a lot. This is why it’s my second most written fandom on AO3, although Carry On is catching up at high speed (oop-).
The superhero criticism is valid. I admit that on my rereads..... uh..... I sometimes straight up skip the drama, even though I simultaneously think it’s one of the best parts of the chapter. I have a weird feeling about all the heavier stuff I write, also in other fics. Most of the time I’m proud of it, but also a bit embarrassed. I also tend to skip it for another reason: the chapter is so long. I think my big “Technical Flaw” for this fic was that there was no cohesive chapter length. Like, this was 7K and I think that The Good Place, that came after, didn’t even hit 1K. And while writing it, I was like “I don’t mind, it’s just for fun, and some dimensions have more to do” and even though I still agree with that sentiment, it’s the main reason why ATPT isn’t my best fic “technically” wise. Yeah, I have some “Technical Flaws” that I have for all my bigger fics. (River fic is the only one who’s flawless *flings hair over shoulder*). Fanfic is a weird cohesive mix between “it’s for fun so fuck around and do whatever” and “I must be very critical and perfectionist here”,
God the worst part of writing all these dimensions is the fact that Kurt and Blaine get dropped into these lives for a small moment. I deliberately planted little story elements that alluded to a bigger story (Mr. Anderson’s shady Pokémon business in the Pokémon dimension, Quinn being very worried about Kurt’s well-being in the artist dimension, allusion to a class system in the apocalypse dimension, the music industry being toxic in the famous dimension, etc. etc.) while knowing that I couldn’t expand on them, because these dimensions aren’t their lives. Because YES I too want more Pokémon cuteness, but I guess that’s now reserved for the original Kurt and Blaine of that dimension, and since our Kurt and Blaine move on, we can only guess. Sad :(
“I will never be able to do a The Good Place inspired fic after I read that one great Check, Please! one” I said after I read that one great Check, Please! one. Very interesting that you like that one a lot. I mean, I loved having a Janet, and the comedy that comes with her wanting to die, but as I said in the ask answer, if I could change things, I’d swap dimensions and this one would be one of the first ones to go. So WOOOH glad to hear that you like it, so that it wasn’t a waste. (Someone else left a comment about it being their favourite as well, but two comments boosts confidence, I guess) (Although someone also left a comment suggesting this is the Bad Place and 🤯🤯🤯!!)
JANET!!!
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Ok so swap aus, love them whole lot!!
Like personality swaps are interesting but the thing that gives sanders sides an edge to swap aus is the idea of the sides swapping traits!
Obvs dark side light side swaps are neat as well but that’s a whole other discussion so
Because I am a hoe for my ships ( that being moceit, analogical, Platonic/brotherly creativitwins ) let’s start off with the concept of
Logan - anxiety
Virgil - logic
Patton - deception
Janus - morality
Remus - light creativity
Roman - dark creativity
Now it’s important to note that listen you rarely see this type of swap, I’ve never seen it atleast??
It’s mostly logicality prinxiety swaps and I get the appeal they’re opposites, so it causes conflict, Same with Logince and moxiety is also a common swap
However!! I do have some ideas :D it’s not a fully fleshed out idea but still a concept!!
Commonly enough when people switch traits for the sides they honestly dont keep a lot of what that side was. For example patton is a hyper, kind hearted sad dad when anxiety he just loses that and just acts like a droopy Virgil yk yk?
So we are gonna try and preserve those personalities without making them not fit for the trait entirely, meaning we may have to exaggerate some details about them
For example:
Canonly, Patton can sometimes be manipulative so we may have to heighten that up a bit, stuff like that
So back on topic
I think we should still keep C!thomas the same, atleast in the beginning of me writing this, we work around the idea of him staying the same as canon and from there we can change him as needed
—————
Logan as anxiety
- a bit more confident as hes listened too more than logic!logan sadly enough
- I’d say hes a lot more open about his more negative emotions, while he does try and to still not show them his anger does slip out a bit much whenever he feels like his points are gonna get thomas killed, lmao insert tempest tongue falsehood joke here
- he’d have the look more that of a tired professor
- wrinkled black button up, he’d have a purple tie. Instead of just like makeup eye shadow, he’d have actual eye bags
- probably kept C!thomas up through many college and school nights for studying
- is always anxious YouTube is gonna fail and regrets not putting up more effort for Thomas to go into his chemical engineering degree
- obvs cause I’m an analogical hoe I’ll sneak this in, Logan really does like virgil as virgil too values thomas’ education and just kinda sits there while Logan angrily rants every single possibility of what could go wrong today
- “and there’s a highly probable statistic that we could end up dying participating in this activity! 75%, virgil!!”
- I think when overwhelmed with his mind racing through probabilities he’d end up messing with or loosening his tie, cleaning his glasses a lot, or chewing on the end of his sleeves
- I think he accidentally blurts out a lot of words especially when he’s trying to hold in his anger, like “THATS A BAD IDEA” then slaps his hands over his mouth and just kinda says, “apologies... I need to stop my sudden outbursts as they’re becoming a frequent problem” and hey the outbursts getting even more worse and uncontrollable could lead to Logan doing an ol duck like in AA
—————
patton as deception
- I think I myself would love a dark side who comes in sickeningly sweet but has “darker” intentions I suppose?
- I think Janus wouldn’t like Patton in the start because he knows how easily manipulated C!thomas can be and to see a seemingly innocent dad try and push some morals on you, he’s cautious
- so Patton when he first appears doesn’t hide himself like Janus did behind a disguise... well sort of?
- he comes in dressed as his outfit in the series, maybe throughout the whole time he’s redirecting the conversation in his favor so no one reveals him, which we’ve seen canon Patton do a good job of being able to distract the sides from fighting so we can say he has that ability himself as well
- maybe like Janus he can stop people from saying words he doesn’t want thomas to know, or well thomas himself doesn’t wanna know
- but instead of the obvious slams hand over mouth it’s more like, Virgil speaks up saying “Thomas, It would probably help you to know that, Patton isn’t exactly-“ and maybe either he tries to finish his sentence and can’t speak, he just lets out air instead of a noise. Or forgets what he was talking about all together, another form of misdirection?
- patton’s whole thing is he came up here, dressed in his lil innocent dad outfit, being sweet as all hell “kiddo, I heard about a certain show you messed of Joan’s? Now we don’t joan hating us do we? We love Joan to death and we wouldn’t wanna hurt them! Can you imagine the look on their face?” Which Janus just says, “are you asking him to lie? You and I both have the understanding that Joan hates being lied to.”
- patton’s like “ehhh I know, but I think saving the relationship is more important! We don’t know if telling the truth could end up hurting Joan more then just a small fib?”
- so blah blah Patton is revealed
- his cardigan is back to his cat hoodie which is the black variety, instead maybe tied around his waist? He could have fingerless gloves that kinda look like cat
- paws? Like, he’s the unlucky black cat. He doesn’t have snake makeup but maybe he has sharps canines/fangs like cats do. And maybe we could keep the polo just make it yellow? Not sure though, but I do wanna have his lil logo go from just a blue heart when first shown to a yellow one with it like, being broken with a claw mark, like someone tore through it
- and why he chose to come in blue in the first place maybe he wanted to show thomas he was similar to Janus or maybe he has a crush on Janus? 👀👀 who’s to say
- but he’s revealed and just ahHhwhaj OH NO THE CAT PUNS, “apawogies Thomas for deceiving you a bit there, I was just trying to help make sure joan is feline good in the end! I do think you should really reconsider- meow I better get on my way then ol’ creativity needs some pasta. Keep my ideas in mind kiddo!” Then leaves lmao
- and that could be a solid set up for Thomas to be like- wait is there two creativities? Yk yk
- I do have some ideas for how svs and svs redux could go but yeah
- overall Janus, not really that known for having an animal trait as much as Patton and Roman but Janus could turn into a snake for svs redux-
I’m getting a head of myself lol
- point is, lmao- Patton’s animal trait is a cat
- he’s still kind? He can be a bit more pushy then canon Patton. But his first method is always just a gentle nudge and, “oh come on kiddo, I think your father would probably agree with me on this one”
- he’s not so much for thomas’ self  preservation as more so he pushes thomas to help his friends and because he wants to make sure thomas looks good enough for them so they’ll stay he ends up pushing for lying
I have some more ideas for the other sides as well but just wanted to see what some thoughts are before I keep on developing this :D
#thomas sanders#sanders sides#virgil sanders#logan sanders#Janus sanders#Remus sanders#Roman sanders#Patton sanders#swap sides au
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Comfy’s Book Club (fic rec)
alright kids, lets just start with me saying this is in no way a complete list of fics I love because there’s truly too many for me to put them all here. that said, these are the fics ive been loving recently or just recently found.
this body swap fic bby@theamazingbard is absolute FIRE. so is the rest of their work, but I wanted to highlight this fic specifically because it’s not what I expected at all from a body swap and I love it so so so very much.
the road to Kaer Morhen by @darkverrmin gives me so much serotonin. the ending line from Jask makes me so happy i just fucking love it okay. we got pining geralt here too which I’m always a fan of.
sleepy cuddling geraskier goodness that will absolutely rot your teeth it’s so sweet by @jaskierswolf i think i read it like six times. I love it. Edit: I'm a dumbass and tagged the wrong blog as the author I'm so sorry 😬 tis my first rec list, can you tell?
a broken hand bby@silvipeppers i still cant fucking believe this is the first fic they’ve written and i’m shook to the core. i love it so much, we got angry bard hours up in here and frankly, i’m obsessed.
right in front of them bby@lesdemonium had me so giggly and soft oh my god. this fic will wrap you in a sweet hug, kiss your hair, and tell you everything is going to be alright
so much mutual pining in this one bby@elliestormfound i love this fic so so so so much and literally everything else Ellie writes. im not fucking kidding.
we got a mafia!geralt/teacher!jaskier fic by @persony-pepper in the mix tonight and let me tell you, tis fire.
@witcher-and-his-bard is doing some writing challenges/fic-a-day things that are magnificent. i love everything ive read from this lovely author and i anxiously await more
some good ole tired dad content ffrom@jaskierswolf that will just make you wanna barf rainbows its so cute. just. i LOVE.
build me up, buttercup by @witchertrashbag fuckin killed me okay? don’t get it twisted from the title this is a smutfic and its so good. like the smut is magnifique, but the storyline is also fabulous and now i wanna have geralt cook for me and take me for a ride on his bitchin motorcycle.
this right here is the cutest coffee shop au i think ive ever read and i adore it. read it all at like 2am as one should and i just-feels. idk if the author has a tumblr but plz go leave kudos/comments its so good Edit: @lovelyrita1967 is the author's tumblr
this one right here tho oh my god. i really dont think i can express how much i dig this fic. if you cant tell im not always too big on long form stuff because i get sucked in and cant stop which is exactly what happened with this one. i was reading it through my chem zoom class (which I don’t recommend, this is an only fans au and its horny and smutty) but goddamn i love it so much. once again, no idea if the author has a tumblr but if they do i wanna follow them bc damn.
lol to the nonie who requested this: sorry this took so long im just v dumb and disorganized! i have started tagging shit with ‘fic rec’ too and imma try to have a tag system so i can search shit up better next time. also if yall have any recs to add PLZ add them i wanna read moreeeeeee
#comfy's book club#fic recs#my talented and wonderful mutuals#the witcher fic rec#the witcher#the witcher fic
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fanfic writer question game! tagged by @granny-griffin
Names: Pastel, my writing pseud is FeatheredMask (and we don't talk about my old usernames)
Fandoms: BNHA is my current brainrot with a dash of KNY, but I wrote for ML and BSD when I was into those. Got a couple small fandom interests on the side. I've been roleplaying Hetalia for some years, but haven't written much for it.
Where You Post: Ao3. I used to post to FFN, but transitioned over to Ao3 some years ago for a new page in my writing journey. I got told on FFN to take my gore fic elsewhere, and, well, I did.
Most Popular Oneshot (by kudos): Hanahaki Folk Remedy - I've always wanted to write hanahaki, but I'm not a fan of pining and my love always veers queerplatonic rather than romantic. I was inspired by some people in NWA talking about non-romantic hanahaki, and I wrote this pretty fast to achieve my dream of writing hanahaki for once.
Most Popular Multichapter (by kudos): An Explosion of Gold to Fill the Cracks - oh lordy, it's my blind!Katsuki longfic! This was my first BNHA fic, and it started off as some good ol' self-indulgent torture nonsense, and moved quickly to Katsuki being a BAMF. I was so inspired after watching seasons 1+2 of BNHA that I wanted to get right to writing something. Nobody told me that Katsuki gets kidnapped in season 3 until AFTER I had written a couple chapters of this. My chronic illness was flaring when I wrote most of this, and I couldn't really do much more than sit around and write, so yeah.
Favorite Story I’ve Written: Sakura Trees Blossom Every Year - my fae fic! I really loved weaving in all the magical elements, had a lot of fun making so many characters fae, and the training camp arc was an absolute joy to come up with and write! All the scenes around Setsuna's death and bringing her body back to camp -- oh god I made myself love Setsuna!
Fic You Were Nervous To Post: cleaning a blank gravestone - reincarnated!Oboro. DID/OSDD is a kind of a touchy, controversial subject. I'm not writing it from a stereotypical view or even a research-heavy psychology standpoint. It's mostly my own experiences, a smattering of research, and a touch of magical fantasy. I always worry that it's not accurate enough or that someone will get offended by the portrayal of DID/OSDD, especially in the chapters I've been working on recently, where I've been writing with more of a horror tone. This fic has become very personal to me as I navigate my own plurality through it, and the research/planning for it is actively triggering something in my head to fight me, so all that makes me more and more nervous about the reception to each new chapter.
How Do You Choose Your Titles: I'll pick a few words or a concept from the first few chapters I've already written and start bouncing ideas around. I'll make a whole list of potential titles around one or two things I absolutely want to be part of the title, and I'll pick one from those. Sometimes I'll just slap on a song lyric without much thought and then busy my head in my hands when I realize it's stuck there.
Do You Outline? So much. So many bullet points.
Complete: Book 1: Sakura Trees Blossom Every Year, Feed, Forfeit Every Drop, Promised Future, Test Flight, Please Wake Up, and some older stuff.
In Progress: UHHHHHHHH
Coming Soon: Working on the next chapters of Holding Beautiful Things In Phantom Hands, ch2 of Swim in Starry Skies, ch11 or Wicked World, ch20 of cleaning a blank gravestone! probably gonna post ch3 of Holding Beautiful Things later
Not Started: So, for outlined and have a few hundred words written but nothing's posted, I have an izukacchako dragon rider au, izukacchako mermay, Good Parent Overhaul, Izuku-Katsuki quirk swap, vigi!Izuku with OFA!Ochaco, Midnight in HP-verse, and OFA!Oboro
Upcoming Work You’re Most Excited About: my Oboro fics tbh. Swim in Starry Skies is really scratching the itch to write my space au and fin folk, and I can't wait for the reveals in blank gravestone that are coming up. I've been foreshadowing them, but I really hope they're still good surprises! My vampire!Oboro fic, I'm also excited for, but honestly, it needs a little more outlining before I write the juicy part.
Tagging: @twelvefrogsinatrenchcoat @wishiwereabird @kittytrek @catlady5001 @starcloud-nova
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