I like to think that Adolin was super nervous for he and Shallan’s first kiss. I like to think that he was planning it mentally for months because he was so worried about screwing things up. I like to think that their actual first kiss took him by surprise. I like to think that he was insurmountable embarrassed by Pattern being there and made Shallan get Pattern to take an oath to not hang around on their wedding night.

shakadolin is everything to me. i need kaladin to marry shallan and adolin in stormlight 5 so bad.

Hi hello! Thanks for the tag @cosmereplay !

Last song: La mujer de Verde ("The woman in green") by Izal. I heard it in a wedding, while dancing with my wife and was such an emotional moment. I've had it in my head since and I've been listening to the band a lot. But, as always, I arrive late: the band is splitting 😭

Currently watching: The Wheel of Time s02 (my wife is a total fan of the books and discovers to me how much of Sanderson's work is inspired by them); Star Trek: The Next Generation (an oldie I totally recommend); and a bunch of more or less silly-cute animes from time to time 😅

Last movie/book: I've read the book Jude saves the world by Ronnie Riley (tells the life of a non-binary teenager) and the graphic novel Genderqueer by Maia Kobabe (an autobiography). I totally recommend both 🏳️‍🌈 The last movie was If you were the last, a kinda unusual (and fun) romcom with a non-white couple.

Sweet/savory/spicy: Always / Please / Within measure 😅

Last thing googled: "learn Euskara", because I knew there was a nice web that had a free course for learning the language, but I didn't remember 😋

Relationship status: I've been with my wife for 11 years (4 years married). We have a deep connection, we're so in sync and we make such a good team. Going through the process of realizing that I'm theoretically polyamorous, but taking it slowly 😅

Current obsession: a long-lasting Shakadolin fixation (Stormlight Archive), Sean Diaz adoration (Life is Strange 2) and need to look into any poly/queer thing I get my hands on.

Tagging @g0ddess-of-the-moon and whoever wants to play!

Ngl but the fact that I don't think shakadolin is gonna be a thing (duh) but kal/shallan is being set up does not bode well for adolins chance of survival

You shakadolin content brings me endless joy, they're so FLIRTY, and the fact you do aus is SO exciting!!! (( I wonder if you'll do something similar with canon? Shallan and Adolin married, yet people witness them aggressively flirt with Kaladin...))

Thank you!!!! I have lots of fun with it! I don't think Adolin and Shallan will get married in this? I mostly wing the scenes I draw, depending what I'm feeling in the moment, and I just try to keep them in chronological order. IF I marry them, then it will probably be either a) after they're finished with uni, or b) because of some ridiculous dramatic plot reason (like Adolin, as family heir, needing a bride ASAP for some rich people bullshit reason, and marrying Shallan before his family forces an arranged marriage on him, or something dumb like that.) TLDR, not in my plans, but maybe at some point, lol! It could be cute. I'll keep it in mind

Stormlight Archive Servers AU

i haven’t looked. so maybe this exists. but since this fandom is small im going to beg for a fanfiction like this anyway and odds are be right that it doesn’t exist.

give me a shakadolin au where they’re all working a minimum wage job.

Kaladin has to set aside a doctoral degree to provide for his struggling family. He refers to his job as a step up from slavery, and though he resents what’s become of him, he comforts himself with the fact that he does this for his brother, Tien. 

Adolin’s the rich kid who shouldn’t even be working this job, but his dad is forcing him to because “it builds character.” He doesn’t take his job seriously at first--in fact, he goes out of his way to piss off Kaladin and make life hell. But as time goes by, he actually finds himself enjoying the smiles on the faces of the kids whose days are made by what they’re selling--and storms, is the new coworker cute. 

Kaladin already couldn’t stand working with Adolin, but he can barely contain himself once Shallan arrives. From the very beginning, there was flirting between these two--how is he supposed to suffer this, let alone manage it? He technically respects that Shallan second-guesses authority (when their boss, Sadeas/Amaram is in, everyone can’t help admiring each other’s eye rolls), but does she always have to retort at everything he tells her to do?  

When asked, Shallan says she only has this job because she’s bored. If you think Kaladin was pissed off by Adolin--well, the knowledge of that absoultely sends him. He doesn’t say anything about it for a while, he’s just super passive aggressive towards Shallan. One slow night they’re closing together, and Shallan finally asks Kaladin why he hates her. He says he doesn’t hate her, and she refutes that he clearly doesn’t like working with her. In response to that, he claims to be annoyed by her. She acknowledges that as truth, but continues to prod about there still being something else--after all, Kaladin’s aggravated with Adolin, but he’s clearly vocal in his disliking of him rather than passive aggressive like he is towards her. So finally, Kaladin admits it--he’s jealous of Shallan. She’s there just because she’s bored. He wishes that were the case for him. He’s there because he has to be, because he’s been burdened with so much, because life didn’t go in the direction he wanted it to. She has a choice, though, to go anywhere, do anything, so why be here for no reason? She’s lucky and she doesn’t even realize it. Shallan looks at him, aghast, and she finally admits the real reason as to why she’s here: yes, he’s right, she does have a choice. But not much of one. She’s here so she doesn’t have to be at home with her abusive father and her crumbling family. She’s here because a job serves as a distraction. And Kaladin realizes that they’re the same in their situations. They both need this job. For different reasons, but they both need it. 

Also it Definitely needs to be a thing that Kaladin is unjustly fired from his job, but gets it back because of Adolin. 

Please comment with ideas about how the spren might come into play! How would Syl communicate with Kaladin in an alternate universe?

Perhaps this is the obvious choice, but Stormlight Archive for the ask thing!

thank u this was a lot of fun!!!!!!

Favorite character: this is literally SO hard actually. like actually really hard...i WANT to say Jasnah but i think my more emotionally invested in Kaladin

Second favorite character: Once again I can’t choose between two, but Adolin and Lift

Least favorite character: amaram can suck it but at least his existence had meaning: to provide king jasnah kholin with verbal target practice

The character I’m most like: ..............um. i think im like sun sign adolin but moon sign jasnah. 

Favorite pairing: kadolin is JUST BARELY edging out shakadolin both are FANTASTIC. actually kaladin/renarin is cute and underrated too.

Least favorite pairing: jesus can u imagine if kal and shallan had happened. like on god HOW unhealthy would that have been without adolin to balance that out.

Favorite moment: the FUCKING WoR duel. i dont care how showstopping the rest of the series is gonna be NOTHING will ever top ‘honor is dead. but i’ll see what i can do.’ NOTHING will ever touch the concept of kaladin blatantly using his powers for all to see and beating some guy up with a helmet he basically duct taped to his arm. and also adolin is there and kaladin looks at him fighting two shardbearers and is like wow theyre ALMOST a match for him. im kinda including the prison scenes in this but nothing will EVER top that sorry sanderson you PEAKED.

Rating out of 10: im going to say a 8.5/10 but just because i dont think its reached its full potential just yet!! we’re only three books in and the enormity of this as a series is just barely hitting (aka battle of thaylen city 400 pov chapters) so i cant give it a full 10 cause i KNOW its gonna get so much better

kadolin and shakadolin for the ask meme!!

...I don’t know if this is going to go the way you thought this is going to go. BUT YOU ASKED FOR THIS!! Also, I’ll try to keep it as vague and spoiler-free as I can. Because I like you and your posts are funny. But a lot of my opinions of these ships have changed from book to book. So...yeah :D

Kadolin

Somewhere between D (I’m neutral on it) and E (I don’t really like it). It’s more of an “ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh--probably not the best at this point” feeling. I like their friendship a lot and I think Adolin is a good person to show Kaladin that not all lighteyes are bastards.

Shakadolin

Listen...okay so in the fandom a few months ago there was an image of Brandon’s twitter where he said basically “if Kaladin wasn’t such prude they would have a polyamorous relationship”. Yeah, I don’t believe that’s real. Unless someone can give me the link to that tweet then I don’t believe it and I give this ship a grade very close to F. (also I have notifications on for his twitter since like 2016 and I never saw that tweet so, I don’t think it’s real)

I won’t outright say it’s a NOTP because I would have to have more negative feelings to call it a straight-up NOTP. I like them as a friend group but I think have a romantic relationship would be very unhealthy for them to be together. Especially with...what’s going on with Shallan in Oathbringer. I think I like them as a solid friend group that helps each other learn, grow and heal. I don’t even think Shadolin is the most healthy relationship at this point.

Send me a ship and I’ll give a grade (and probably be controversial :D)

A+: OTP A: I love it B: It’s really cute C: Not a bad ship D: I’m neutral on it E: I don’t really like it F: NOTP N/A: I don’t know the ship well enough

For the Fandom and Shipping asks, number 7

What are your top five ships of all time?

(from this post.)

okay so, imagine a cute backyard with a big pool in it. in that pool are about a thousand tiny boats bobbing on the water. that is the choice i am working with here!

with that said lol, here is what i can come up with in no particular order.

sorikai, kingdom hearts

they’re just adorable. the og trio. childhood besties. symbolized by a beautiful local myth of their home island. snarky bf and gf love and protect their sunshine bf. they’re the epitome of one who’s Soft and the others who will Kick Your Ass.

kallurance, voltron: legendary defender

they’re the sweetest. the human + half-galra + altean legacy. they balance each other out so well: keith, the silent brooder who will spend far too long in his own head, taking everything seriously; lance, the silly comic who nevertheless exercises top-notch communication and self-care; allura, who understands how to prioritize but knows what it is to feel in over your head. they get each other.

frankly, they deserved to be canon. (and also to be more popular than 40 fics on ao3.)

shakadolin, the stormlight archive

aka shallan/kaladin/adolin. it’s okay if anyone doesn’t know who the heck i’m talking about lol. they’re the cool kids, except shallan and kaladin only joined the club proper bc of adolin (and, you know, the magic powers). shallan and kaladin are big mental illness and wlw/mlm bi solidarity. adolin’s their sword-wielding mom friend that gets them juice packs, and they adore him for it. also they Fight Good Together. too much inherent homoeroticism to be denied.

xehaqus, kingdom hearts

there is a bit of a funny story behind this. i was into this ship long before the Great Wave of KH3 that has made it semi-popular. i had this entire idea that eraqus had a bit of a hero-worship crush on xehanort while they were students together, since xe is older and in many ways more technically skilled, and there was this whole concept in my little youthful head of eraqus making xehanort a wayfinder in their childhood as an Elaborate Ritual. and now people are pumping that sappy shit out bc kh3 made them cute teenagers lmao.

anyway, xehaqus are my disaster men. they are horrifically dysfunctional and inflicted so much harm bc of their myriad obsessions/shortsightedness. they are both huge assholes and willing (for xe, actual) child murderers, and i adore them. (i don’t know why the local antis like them so much. i’m too afraid to ask.)

royai, fullmetal alchemist

listen.  l i s t e n .

hiromu arakawa is a god of characterization. their relationship is startlingly complex. the codependency is unbreakably strong with these two. they are incapable of being untangled from the story of the other without indelibly changing them (for the worse? or for the better? that’s part of the joy). there’s not only their strong personal bond to each other but a bond of responsibility. that a young roy mustang was gifted a young riza hawkeye’s trust in numerous ways and then proceeded to shatter the shit out of all of it, while committing mass murder on top, and that both of them came out of a genocide soaked in blood and choking on their guilt.

that they’ve essentially chained themselves together in an unwritten contract of that immense shame, and that roy has chosen to return his gift of flame alchemy to riza by literally giving her his life in her hands… and that that trust nevertheless puts his potential blood on her hands. that roy loves her, knows all of this, hates himself for it, and does it anyway. that they both submit to the idea that their lives no longer mean anything except service at their own expense (up to literal execution) bc of their crimes.

they’re seriously fucked up. i love them so much.

(and thank you so much for the ask

i finished oathbringer!

yay! *confetti*

i can now unblock the oathbringer tag! woohoo!

it took me a month and a half to finish this book, all 1200-odd pages of it, and unfortunately, i’ve gotten a bit of book exhaustion. i enjoyed reading it, but it’s like reading a long trilogy of books in a very short amount of time, so i’m probably going to wait a while before tackling another cosmere book so i can get a breather and read some other stuff.

first off, i liked this book a lot! so much happened i’m not gonna go back and recap too many specific points right now, but there are a few things that i think were particularly important.

TL;DR oathbringer was good and had a lot of cute and funny stuff but it dragged a bit and got a bit too heavy for me a few times. i’m now shakadolin trash, Dalinar’s like fifty and he finally storming learned how to read, Lopen and his spren flipped off the Stormfather, and there are lots of good messages about agency and responsibility. oh, and lots of people stabbing each other

thematically, a lot of oathbringer is about choosing to take responsibility for your actions (or not. looking at you, Moash). this is most clear in Dalinar’s case, as his main character development is confronting the evil he did in his past, including killing his wife and burning thousands of people to death along with her. he has to admit what he did and take responsibility for it within himself in order to be able to resist Odium (speaking of which, What Is Up with Cultivation? i feel like i know so little about her. since Honor and Odium have spren and surges and all that jazz does Cultivation have them, too? D: i don’t know). Adolin has to admit to killing Sadeas, Venli has to realize that bringing back the Fused was a bad call, and the entire human race have to figure out what to do when they learn that they are the Voidbringers and invaded Roshar (i’m sure this is going to be a prominent theme in Stormlight 4, because it’s a huge deal and they barely talked about it). Not only do the characters have to confront their pasts and the truths there, however unpleasant, they have to decide what to do next. the story doesn’t end with a big reveal. life goes on, and they have to decide what steps to take and what future they want. the most important step a person can take is the next, if you will. in many ways, that is what the Ideals of the Radiants are for- life sucks, so what are you going to do to make it a little less terrible? and therein lies the connection between responsibility and agency. Moash’s internal dialogue about how nothing he regrets is his fault also means that none of the good things he’ve done belong to him. he gives up ownership over his life and himself and gives away his agency. he won’t be able to make meaningful decisions about his own life because he doesn’t want to anymore. Dalinar, on the other hand, accepts all of his past as his, including the good he has done, accepting his own agency over his actions and allowing himself to use his experiences to inform his decisions in the future.

on a kind of related point, honesty also leads to forgiveness. Shallan has to forgive herself for things that weren’t her fault and find a way to acknowledge the horrors of her past without letting them consume her. she isn’t all the way there- i don’t know if she’ll ever be able to be fully comfortable in herself, but i don’t doubt that she is going to continue getting better throughout the rest of the series. Kaladin has to forgive himself for not being able to save everyone, though he’s been figuring that out since book one, so it wasn’t a big part of his story in oathbringer. Teft comes to a kind of reconciliation with himself and is able to let himself start moving forward.

overall, it’s a “forgive, but don’t forget” kind of thing. don’t deny the bad stuff you’ve done or that has been done to you, don’t blind yourself to the truth, and act accordingly, but also don’t let your past hold you back or decide that you aren’t worthy of becoming a better person. it’s some important stuff

smaller-stuff-wise, uhhhhhhhh

-the scene in hearthstone was adorable i love Kaladin’s family and Kaladin being happy and getting to see his baby brother it was such a sweet part of the book

-Dalinar and Navani had the most dramatic wedding imaginable. they’re Kholins

-Shallan and Adolin! i’m so happy with how sanderson handled their whole pseudo-love-triangle thing (although this book turned me into shameless shakadolin trash (everyone has a crush on kaladin stormblessed 2kOathbringer) so that’s a thing and also since Veil isn’t gone i don’t think Shallan’s whole ‘wow Kaladin’s hot’ thing is gonna be totally gone) and their wedding was sweet

-Elhokar. wow. i didn’t see that one coming AT ALL and it’s really sad! i’m glad Gavinor’s okay though. a+++++ job to Skar and Drehy and Shallan’s guardsmen for remembering to keep him safe

-i love Wit. he’s fantastic. he’s obviously kind of an asshole but some of his scenes (the ones with Shallan and the epilogue) show that he can be very kind “Sadeas counts twice” yep pretty much. also we got two new names for him? and he bonded a Cryptic. this man

-Lopen flipping the Stormfather off... perfect

-Shallan recreating an entire play that she saw as a child... and doing it again later... i could imagine it so vividly and it was beautiful

-Kaladin’s suffering is just... never going to end. branderson just enjoys making him sad all the time and i resent that because he’s my favorite character in SA

-Venli is going to save the listeners and i’m so ready for it. it’s going to be a long, tough journey but i believe in her she’s so strong

-hmmmmmm interesting that branderson was like “HERE’S A GAY CHARACTER AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH” when a bunch of his characters are written (even if it’s an accident) to be Bisexual(tm)/Polysexual(tm)

-Lift and Szeth are a good team. i’m gonna draw him ice-skating at some point

-Adolin, Kaladin, AND Jasnah insulting Amaram... good... also Jasnah marrying Amaram is a terrible thought. both of them would be miserable even if Amaram wasn’t openly working for Odium. also is Jasnah supposed to be under the ace/aro umbrella or is she allo but not interested?

-people have been calling Jasnah a queen for ages and now look at what happened! long live queen Jasnah she is one of the most qualified leaders alethkar has ever had or will ever have

-i like Nightblood a lot. wanna destroy some evil today?

-Kaladin picking up a rock at the end of the battle :’)

-Rock firing a shardbow was surprising. i found the parts he narrated interesting because he knows a lot more than he lets on. i’m excited to see more from him in SA 4

-some of the heralds still think ishar is sane but he is NOT

-Moash straight-up stabbed a Herald! he takes the cake from Kelsier. punching gods is no longer enough

-sanderson is making Kaladin’s depression more explicit and i think he’s doing a good job. knowing that his parents are alive and safe helps, and being around people he loves helps, and having a purpose and path in life is really important for him, but his depression is still there, just like Teft’s addiction is still there, and Dalinar’s tendency towards alcoholism is still there, and Shallan’s tendency to repress trauma is still there. he still gets depressed during the Weepings and when he is forced to question the ideals that he has chosen to follow, and that’s very realistic, which is good

-DALINAR IS LEARNING TO READ! FINALLY

-and generally gender roles getting smashed is good. Lyn and Malata and Shallan and Jasnah and the other female Windrunner scouts all fighting and Dalinar learning to read and even little things like sanderson letting Kaladin cry over his baby brother were wonderful to read

-also everyone’s gotta stop making fun of Renarin for being a scholar and start paying attention to stuff instead

-Evi. Evi. Evi.

-Adolin and Shallan being the PDA couple of this series and disturbing the Good Alethis around them

my main criticism of oathbringer overall is that it was really heavy compared to the rest of the stormlight archive. the battle scenes were REALLY LONG and full of lots of main characters getting stabbed, and the philosophical weight of the decisions they all have to make is just getting heavier and heavier. there are definitely funny moments, especially in bridge four sections and a lot of the character interactions in non-conflict scenes. and every bird being a chicken. and the boots thing. how many pairs has kaladin lost now? anyways, almost every scene felt like it existed to serve a specific purpose and move the plot along, which is part of why i got book fatigue. there weren’t enough breathers, which usually isn’t an issue in sanderson’s pacing, so i’d assume that it won’t be a big issue going forwards? maybe it’s just me trying to leach as much meaning from every sentence as i can and if i just relaxed and enjoyed the book then it wouldn’t be so exhausting

also, this post (btw thanks op that’s a great summary) says that the stormlight archive (and i think by extension the cosmere as a whole) is anti-grimdark. while i mostly agree, i think some of the moral relativism and “you’ve been accidentally evil the entire time!”s in oathbringer have leaned it a little more towards (sometimes gratuitous (looking at u, mr. stormblessed, u, ms. lightweaver, and in this book, especially u, mr. dad kholin)) angst, which is another reason for the book fatigue. it’s not unnecessary, and it leads to character and plot development, but it got to be too much for me sometimes. then again, i’m a teenager and these books are written for adults, so maybe that’s a factor- moral relativism might be hitting a bit too close to home for me

ANYWAYS! i’ll probably write some more, smaller posts about OB but this is what i have for now! cfsbf, y’all

If you're still doing that fanfic trope ask meme, coffee shop aus

coffeeshop aus can be p cute!!! they are very slice of life tho. to be perfectly honest i don’t actually know why they’re so popular, they just are? haha. but i do like them sometimes! i’d say i would write coffeeshop au drabbles fairly often and easily when requested.

THAT BEING SAID: one time a friend of mine and i came up with a coffeeshop au PLUS magic (so, we made up a world where her oc worked in a coffeeshop and mine was a student at art school learning to use her magic for making sculptures out of light) and THAT kind of thing? i am SO here for it. spice things up with a fantasy twist! hoho!

as for what characters i’d write it for, for some reason i’m really feeling the shakadolin vibe for it. not entirely sure why, because i feel like kaladin would be way too salty to befriend them if he was the barista, but i like the idea of the three of them meeting at a coffeeshop (maybe all as customers who frequent the same place) and becoming friends...