I'm back as promised with fluffy post-canon Armand & Louis headcanons because I need them, so you're going to get them whether you need them or not. 🖤

In RoA and BC, it's pretty much implied that Armand only comes to court to be closer to Louis and keep an eye on Lestat since there's always something going on. I imagine post-canon things are a lot more settled and he retreats back to Trinity Gate as much as he can, which means Louis goes back and forth a lot when he needs a break from the château.

They don't have a strict visitation schedule per se, but Louis knows it's time when they're on the phone and Armand quietly says something like, "We went to the opera today; you would have loved it." And it's very clear that what he wants to say is, "I would have loved it if you had been there with me." But he's not going to be demanding, that's not who he is with Louis.

Trinity Gate as a coven house is rather busy most of the time, very different when it was just Armand, Louis, and B & S; neither Louis nor Armand prefer to be in the spotlight like Lestat. And as much as Louis needs a reprieve from court life and being Lestat's emotional support animal, Armand also needs a break from being the ever-on-alert guardian and caregiver at Trinity Gate. It's necessary for both of them to have that time away and decompress with someone who can relate to what they're going through (worrying over Lestat; having so much of their identity wrapped up in who they are to other people).

Shortly after the events of BC, Armand purchased a beautiful old renovated Victorian property by Sleepy Hollow, New York (Louis surprisingly never gets tired of making a deadpan Headless Horseman joke whenever it comes up, beating Lestat to the punch). It's exactly an hour's drive from Trinity Gate, so it's easy for Armand to meet Louis when he arrives via Armand's private jet and they head off for a few days.

The Sleepy Hollow house is their special place together. In some ways, this is the first time they can authentically recreate the early days of their relationship under much better circumstances—their "gentle intimacy"—without the ever-present distraction of fledglings coming and going and the earlier threats of Burnings in the 2000s.

They both have an inclination to want to retreat from the world at times, so for Armand being away from the overstimulation that is millions of minds in NYC and for Louis having a complete lack of privacy as royal consort at court, a little house miles anyway from anyone else is a much needed sensory reset. A lot less opulent than Trinity Gate and an actual castle, it's truly a smaller, comfortable, and cozy nest that reflects both their combined tastes.

Armand will typically silently opt to don Louis's old sweaters that he's hoarded and now keeps there, and Louis will very intentionally make it a point to wear nothing but clothes Armand's bought for him in years past. It's his way of saying, "This is our time right now."

Away from everyone, it's where Armand feels the freedom to be more vulnerable and passionate and confess how much he misses Louis, how tired he sometimes feels (remember: he's 500 years old and he has yet to go into the earth once, he must be exhausted). The sentiment is mutual—they were a constant in each others' lives for over a combined 10 decades. 

Oftentimes they take mortal naps together, curled up on the sofa in front of Romeo + Juliet with Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio (a movie Louis is said to have watched in TVA) and the artificial candles flickering. Armand's head on Louis's chest and Louis's "long and delicate fingers" tangled in Armand's curls, a green wool blanket that costs more than my rent draped over them both (Armand enjoys being cocooned and he likes to think Louis does too... and he does). ♥️

Some very novice fanart of Here for You by @aeryssickfics, which I simply cannot recommend enough!!! I've already lost count of how many times I've read it. There's something about Tighnari's vulnerability in that fic which I absolutely love!!

Took some liberties with his hand and feet anatomy because I couldn't be bothered to figure out if canon has anything to say about that. Also, I just want him to have claws, so that he can use them if he needs to :) And I put him in a comfy shirt because I could not possibly have pulled off his usual outfit because he deserves it =v=

Non-textured version under the cut for those who prefer a smoother look!

Important question, do more of the RE8 villagers survive in this version?

Yes, very much yes. I can't, at this time, guarantee any specific characters other than Elena (definitely) and Luiza (probably), and an undetermined number of unnamed villagers, but I definitely plan for some of the villagers to survive.

While the total wipe-out of the Village in RE8 is a lot more believable than other "total wipes" like Raccoon City or the Pueblo in RE4, as it seems significantly smaller than both RC or the Pueblo, and has a more intelligent breed of bioweapon under specific instruction to exterminate the Village, Resident Evil has a weird and kind of uncomfortable history with complete massacres over its long history that I'm always inclined to push against. It's lazy, uninteresting writing to me when it's a trope recycled so frequently... especially given it's very clearly mostly used to provide clean narrative "closure" between each game by eliminating any other survivors other than the main protagonists (and Wesker lol). Like... RE4, for example, functions as a contained narrative because the Pueblo dies at its end. Its function is over in the continued story of "Resident Evil"... it only matters going forth in the context of Leon, Ashley, and Ada as characters. But as a writer, I'm much more intrigued by a version of that story that involves other survivors. What would it mean to live through something like that, not as the hero outsider protagonist, but as a civilian? How do you even recover? Who would you be after?

The weight of the horror of the complete destruction of a place that's isolated to a single game becomes faded when it's the same shit in every game. I'm sick of it, and bored of it. It would hit harder if it wasn't every damn game... better to take it apart and try something new with its empty box.

That thing going around on tiktok where the oldest leaves dna inside for the rest of the siblings just sounds like something osomatsu would give the others shit for even though he probably didn't bc theyre sextuplets and weren't born seperately (unless I'm wrong)

I tried to find something on this and I didn't really see any articles on it (funny enough I'm in my colleges databases now for research paper so I thought it'd be an interesting search!) BUT! What I will say is Osomatsu would probably hear that once and completely run with it, not even know the whole science behind it or how it would even work. He would just get annoyed with them one day for not lending him money for pachinko or something and just whine "Ungrateful! All of you are so mean to your nii-san, and after I lent you the perfect formula for my handsome face!"

Immediately Choromatsu is yelling at him, "We're sextuplets you idiot, we were all born around the same time - we didn't get anything from you!"

To which Osomatsu points his finger at him, those crocodile tears gathering at the corners of his eyes, "See! Ungrateful! How can you treat your nii-san like this?! I did you a favor, Choromatsu!"

ur making it pretty hard to not be curious about aftg like what is going on can you infodump ur worst to me

so basically it's about a guy called neil who's not actually called neil bc turns out he's the son of a HIGHLY abusive mafia hitman and him and his mother have been running from this guy for years which ofc means changes in identity and a SHIT ton of issues ranging from good old fashioned paranoia to lighting cigarettes not to smoke them but to let them burn down bc the smell reminds you of your mother's burning corpse. but neil is obsessed and i mean OBSESSED with this made up sport called exy which is like lacrosse but with the violence of ice hockey and he joins a pro-team despite aforementioned ABUSIVE MAFIA DAD AFTER HIM and guess what! the guy who signed him is called kevin and his ex-team are affiliated with the mafia too! including neil's dad! neil just screwed himself over big time! but who cares when you have exy! enter: andrew minyard. andrew is a blonde, 5ft, ex-juvie, under-court-surveillance-for-grevious-bodily-harm goalkeeper currently working unofficially as kevin's bodyguard and, while we never get an actual diagnosis bc god forbid we handle mental health properly in this thing, it's implied that he has some kind of psychosis and, as part of his plea bargain, is legally obgligated to take incredibly mood-altering medication that makes him manic in exchange for being allowed to stay on the team (aka with kevin who he's VERY possessive of), done entirely for the wellbeing of those around him and effectively against andrew's will. does he stick to that deal? fuck no! but it doesn't stop there! andrew proceeds to spend the entire book being as violent and unpredictable and generally cunty as possible in order to figure out What Neil's Deal Is bc neil is capital S Shifty and andrew is convinced he's from kevin's old mafia cult team trying to hurt him. we spend an entire book watching the three of them wrestle between neil's paranoia, andrew's protectiveness and kevin's desire to Please Can We Just Play Exy. there are some keys involved. someone dies. there are two more books. inexplicably two of the characters can speak fluent german purely from high school classes.

you feel better now sam?

"..."

She...doesn't feel better, really. She stopped the heavy crying, sure, but she hasn't fully calmed down. It might take her some time...no one can blame her: personal jabs at her regarding her familial issues just...triggered something horrible in her, and she still feels very hurt. Now she's just tired...she needs the rest.

"...she's been crying for two hours, Alastor: we can't even calm her down."

"..."

"Alastor? Hon?"

"...I..."

...the smile on his face dropped the moment Sam closed her eyes, and he wiped her tears.

He had to stay strong for his little girl...his little girl. He never would've thought he would use those three words when speaking about her. Yet he simply did so, and it made him all the more soft. She was sweet, quiet, and had bursts of energy: he admired that. She was a good dancer, a singer, and loved anything about the Roaring Twenties: but she clung to him and trusted him, and that's what drew him to her.

This was his adoptive daughter now...his and DT's. He had to show her love, and not break promises. She didn't have to worry about him and DT drinking...which was good.

He was swarmed in his thoughts, he was tuning them out unintentionally. He was focused on getting Sam to calm down, but the more she cried, the more his heart shattered.

"...I failed her."

The tears said it all: literal. Tears. He cared for her more than he let on, and it was making him sentimental...in the best ways, however.

"You didn't fail her, hon."

"I did. I should've been there when that wretched anon shattered her with their commentary. I should've been there to comfort her sooner...but I wasn't."

"That doesn't mean you failed her. You found out when you could, and what matters is that she's safe in your arms. That she calms down."

"...but what if she doesn't...?"

"...you're going to hate this idea."

"How so...?"

"If she doesn't calm down in the next twenty minutes, we...we take her to Black Hat."

"...Black Hat."

There's fear and nervousness in his voice now. They tried to ease their husband by gently placing their hand on his leg.

"If she doesn't calm down. If she does, then disregard. I mean...everyone has already tried getting her to calm down, or talk...Mordecai hugged her for Christ's sake, and that didn't work! Ghirahim tried calming her by taking her hair down, but also nothing! Another person she confides in is Black Hat. He'll surely be able to calm her."

"...if you say so, my love."

"We'll get her through this...trust me."

May I present y'all with Amryl Shadowhoard; my Gary Sue, my batman. My everything and the kitchen sink. And I adore it.

SO. Amryl [They/It; sometimes she] is a hybrid [dhampir/werewolf, roflmao], half-elf with tiefling ancestry. Why do they have wings you ask? [Because I wanted it to fly/teleport, :-(].

I haven't ironed out the deets. But basically, Amryl is the youngest sibling to my youngest durge [Isyl]. Amryl's family found/was given Isyl. They didn't have children yet and Isyl became their beloved baby. They loved [.... I think] Amryl but they could never get losing Isyl. So they - a very wealthy mercantile/trader family - spent a lot of money trying to find Isyl.

Amryl became a dhampir; not through the traditional sense but either from a deal went wrong made by her parents OR by a trash ex [I haven't decided yet]. My original thought [that I might keep] was that it died, and through regret [if I do the parents angle] or obsession [the ex angle], and they were frankenstein'd back to life. Hence the wings [and maybe the werewolfness].

It's family was very devout to Lathander but the Morninglord [and his followers] do not suffer the undead. So when they came back, he left them out in the cold. But Bahamut welcomed her with open arms. So they're a war cleric of Bahamut and a ranger 😌.

I still have not decided their personality. Other than they're a dark wearer; the blue and white is an exception to honor Bahamut [he doesn't seem the type to care but it is immensely grateful for his kindness and strength and support]. Also, their bg is entertainer.

ty for coming to my TEDtalk.

..

Top 5 choral pieces you've sung.

Oh fun question! But very hard because I've sung so much amazing music.

Mendelssohn's Elijah, my all time favourite oratorio and something I've sung three times now.

Mozart's Requiem - I sang this from memory in the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London quite a few years ago now but it was an epic experience.

Verdi's Requiem - I've sung it several times and it's just such an awesome belter of a piece every time.

These are probably the big hitting works that I've most memorably sung. I'll include a couple of recent pieces I've done with my chamber choir that I've loved.

4. Buxtehude: Jesu, meines Lebens Leben and Alleluia - I love the steady pacing rhythm of both these pieces. I'd definitely use the Alleluia as the soundtrack for a period drama. Who said Baroque music was dull!?

5. Stenhammer's Varnatt - I sung this gorgeous Swedish piece in my concert on Sunday and it makes me cry every time from its emotion even as I'm trying to sing it. It's just beautifully written.

6. Bonus 6th because I just remembered it and it's amazing: Haydn's "insanae et varae curae" aka "insane and vain curates". An absolute belter of a piece.

@question-marked asked: “are you making fresh pasta?”

barton managed to barely hear eddie over the sound of two of his kids arguing in the background — who seemed to be jack and matilda, respectively, as he would soon call out to them using their names in his native tongue. but the fact remained that he had heard him and so after he essentially told them to ' get along ' in french, barton turned to face the other. he was currently kneading what looked to be some kind of dough with his hands, ❝ sorry, they've been unusually argumentative today with each other. you're going to have to excuse them. but yeah... lucky for you, you caught me right in the middle of making dinner. ❞

barton seemed to have some experience as he hadn't gotten any of the dough on his hands and it seemed to be quite close to having the right texture (not too dry, and not too wet). and truthfully, he did as the recipe he'd gotten for chicken alfredo from winslow? it called for homemade noodles so he figured he might as well try his hand at it. though barton still wasn't good at certain aspects of it, like actually rolling the dough through the pasta maker. a purposely overdramatic sigh left his lips then, ❝ ahh, but i'm really no good at rolling the dough through the pasta maker myself. if only there were someone here who could do it for me. ❞ he discretely looked over to edward afterward as if to say ' i'm totally not talking about you here, but also, i am. ' barton really didn't like to look like he wasn't an expert at things in the kitchen after all when he'd been cooking so long.

but this was only his second time making this, so he supposed it was more than reasonable for him to still struggle with it. barton stopped kneading the dough and looked at edward through squinted eyes as if analyzing him, ❝ i'm still a bit confused as to why you would come here when you're not injured. would you mind telling me again why you're here, considering i don't think you like me enough to be here simply for a social call? oh, and while you're doing that, could you also get me that dough cutter over there? thanks, ❞ a small unreadable smile ghosted across his features while he gestured towards the blade a little ways away from him. edward had honestly given him no reason to hate him, so as it stood, he felt rather ambivalent towards him. ❝ say, you aren't a vegetarian... right? because i'm making chicken alfredo. and enough to feed a small army, probably, so you can definitely have some. ❞

took the PHQ9 and at the end it just showed me this image

Hello, it's been a while!

Today I accidentally acquired two baby Wyandottes

wip who-even-knows time is meaningless and i am so tired

thank you to my love calico @k9rage for the wip tag - my apologies, this is so desperately desperately late 😵‍💫😵‍💫 ooh, let's have a look... @epsi-l0n @zozo-01 @thegoldenlittlerose - may we peek behind the curtain?? this is, as always, an open tag - if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged! 🥳🥳

under the cut: i think i've mentioned it very briefly before, but i wasn't very specific - we're heading back to the imperium, baby! an au of an au - freelancer, and their terrible, horrible, no-good very bad day 🤩🤩

(CW: blood, death and dead bodies - it's the imperium, so really it's par for the course... this is all happening on the same day as the cataclysm finale, so if that isn't your cup of tea, maybe skip this one!)

-

The earth trembles underneath your feet as you run. All you have to do is find Vindemiator. 

You’re anticipating the worst. If he’s still conscious, wonderful. If he’s not, Caelum can cloak him, at least until the worst of it is over. Funnily enough, your saving grace is that there’s almost no way he’s got enough magic left to rift - it means he’s probably still on the Spire grounds, and you still have a chance at finding him. 

In front of you, the Spire stretches high into the grim sky, all smashed windows and blazing, choking smoke. The smaller, secondary towers haven’t fared much better, and the walkways that join them to the main column are all but skeletal. The surrounding buildings cry blood, the small shapes of what must be bodies lying empty wherever you look.

The Spire gates were beautiful - wrought iron, hundreds of years old, twisting and curling into lovely patterns maybe ten feet tall. Unfortunately, the operative word there is were. Now, they’re little more than a blasted heap of metal to match the rest of the place. Picking your way through the debris, it’s almost… sad, in a way you’re not sure how to describe.

The end of an era. A hated one, to be sure, but it’s all you’ve ever known. Will this burning, brave new world be any better?

-

spent the summer prepping for and taking the worst exam of my life, riding out the lease at the worst place i've ever lived,* then being temporarily kinda homeless,** and getting dozens and dozens of job applications rejected. i had some fun in there, but my anxiety has been through the fucking roof on top of my regular summer depression.

then the last two weeks of august happened 😳

everything happens so much. somehow, i managed to find the perfect apartment for a reasonable rent, and now me and Books are living (together!) in a fantastic and charming new home- lots of space, big kitchen table, a balcony facing undeveloped woods, just off one of the major roads in the city that has my favorite grocery store and our favorite sandwich shop (where we were already regulars). plus, i've gotten not one, not two, but three (three!) job offers- and i can take them all!!! one is with a hospital where i did my favorite internship rotation, and i'm so excited that i get to go back there and get paid to do that job, it was a blast. another is right by my new place and it's similar to the other hospital, but it's slightly bigger and sees more complex cases, so i'll be comfortable and confident, but i'll still get some new, specific clinical experience in areas that i'm interested in.

and the third position is... literally my dream job. it's the job that's been the end goal since the moment i chose my field of study. grad school and the internship made me rethink all of my professional goals and push them back, thinking i wouldn't be able to get to them for so long because i'd need ~more experience~. but now i'm. uh. i did it. i did it??!

the two hospital jobs are just part time, but they both pay well. the other won't start for a few months bc my boss*** has to get insurance approval to add me to her private practice,**** but that's okay, because i have a lot of reading and learning i want to do in the meantime to prepare! and then it will start as part time working up to full time as i build up my case load, but i'll also get to decide my own hours and do some work from home. i'll get to work with my favorite kinds of patients! and i'll get fantastic professional development opportunities for specialization, if i want to. the other dietitians in the practice seem lovely, so i'm excited to work with them. and the pay is realllly good, gosh, for being fresh out of the internship, it's nuts.

so things will pick up as i go through orientation and onboarding for the two hospital jobs next month. but it'll get calmer again after that, so i'll have the time and energy to prepare for the more challenging work that starts later, which is really nice.

and in the meantime, i'll be tending the wee garden on my balcony and playing board games with the love of my life 💗

really want to read more and more literature (esp classics!) aghhhh yesterday iirc i was on a walk with my mom and twin and an old guy (not a weirdo dw) who was jogging or walking too actually asked what book i was carrying and it's a little funny bcs uhm he just went "oh a classic!" you see. i was carrying dante's inferno. which i still haven't properly started to read but anyways he might... if my mom is right... be the local parish guy so oopsies !! LMAO anyways yeah really interested in lovecraft for a while now! horror scares me and gives me paranoia but i also enjoy the writing of it? and i remember once that something/someone said my writing is kinda similar to his. hm.