#I still have a bit of work to do but I'm like 98% done with my degree now

[queersolarpunk]

just a happy lil rant

#today I denfended my master's thesis and passed with distinction #which is a huge relief and I'm so damn happy #but what made me even happier was that so many people from both my current and previous lab teams showed up??? #it was the sweetest thing and I hadn't expected it at all #especially cause I changed topics quite drastically so this was really out of my old teams comfort zone #like I was just so damn touched and then one of my current supervisors gave me this amazing feedback! #and even asked me for my code (for some light bioinformatics) to 'learn something'!!!!!! #because he recognized how damn much I improved in my coding and it's not his main topic #but he was really interested in it! #And my main supervisor loved my presentation and just immediately got some of the more subtle design choices I made #This has given me insane amounts of anxiety and up until half an hour before I really wasn't sure whether I could bring myself to go there #and then it turned out to be a kind of lovely experience #I still have a bit of work to do but I'm like 98% done with my degree now #which feels so incredible. Like I've been through it in this time but I learned so so much #and the amount of support I got today with so many people showing up and many friends and family texting me. #I'm really really happy and touched #and also tired and hungry so I gotta take care of that soon. lol. #to delete later

[starry-eyesanddaydreams]

Day 16 of @deepperplexity 's Rickmas prompts

December 16: Keep warm.

Severus Snape x Reader

A couple days late this one, but life and work happened. Back on schedule now and time for some Professor Snape love.

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December at Hogwarts was a delightfully peaceful time. School was out for the holidays, only a handful of students were staying over Christmas and they had been content to entertain themselves around the castle. Severus was using the time to catch up on some personal research projects, as well as restocking the school’s medical supplies. The common cold had been making its rounds of the school towards the end of term, depleting Poppy’s supply of pepper-up potion. He set a cauldron aside over a low flame. It would need to simmer untouched for a day before he moved onto the next step. He stretched his tight shoulders, realising he’s spent most of the day inside his lab, and headed to the kitchenette in his chambers for some tea. As he waited for the water to boil, his eyes were drawn to main room of his chambers.  The living area was decorated with holly and pine garlands, a Christmas tree stood in one corner, decorated with shining ornaments. White Christmas candles dotted the room around the garlands. It gave the room a warm and cozy feel to it. Once, he wouldn’t have bothered with trivialities like Christmas decorations. That was before you’d joined the staff of the school. Before that stubborn, beautiful energy of yours had chipped away at his emotional walls and wrapped around his heart. You’d brought softness and simple joy into his life, pulling him bit by bit out of his shell. He still had his reputation as the fierce bat of the potions class, but with you he had started to enjoy the life he lived in a way he never could before. Which included you decorating your now shared living space with holiday cheer. His eyes were drawn to the tree again. Some of the ornaments were older, reused since your childhood or collected along the years. Some were new, Severus had bought some of them, not having any childhood trinkets of his own to add but learning how to build something new with you.

He was snapped out of his musings by the stove top kettle boiling and he was finishing making his tea when the main door opened, and you hurried inside. Severus looked up and just blinked a few times at the sight of you. You were bundled up in a wool hat, scarf and gloves…and his black winter coat. The overcoat, which was already wide in the shoulders and long on him, absolutely swamped your smaller form, reaching down to the floor and the sleeves falling past your hands. You set a basket by your feet and after you tugged your hat and scarf off you noticed Severus watching you. Smiling, you headed across the room towards him. Severus couldn’t contain his rumbling chuckle and his dark eyes were sparkling with humour. “What are you laughing at?” You asked s you reached him. “Just the sight of you in my coat. Looks like it’s trying to eat you.” He answered, still smirking. He couldn’t help it, you looked adorable. You huffed, “Gotta do something to keep warm out there, it’s bloody freezing now. It was this or there’d be a human shaped ice sculpture on the road to Hogsmeade.” Severus pulled you in towards him, deftly undoing the buttons on the coat and slipping his arms under it and around your waist. “We can’t have you freezing, can we.” He said, “Now, what can be done to keep you warm now you’re home?” You grinned up at him and snuggled in closer to his chest, “I can think of a few ways.” You leaned up, brushing his warm lips with your cool ones. Severus’s life had changed so much since you’d entered it. And he was grateful for every moment.

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Reader is trying not to freeze in this and I'm writing it on a 37-degree day (98 Fahrenheit) Ahh the southern hemisphere.

#alan rickman #rickmas 2023 #rickmas2023 #severus snape #severus snape x reader

[howtofightwrite]

in a lot of zombie stories like The Walking Dead, the only way to kill a zombie is to destroy the brain. Given that the skull is designed to protect one of our most important organs, how hard would this be on average? Would it be easier with bladed weapons like a hatchet vs blunt weapons like a baseball bat? And while killing anything is easier with a gun, I’ve heard headshots can be quite hard to nail. Is this something that can get better with practice, or will it always be something of a crapshoot?

Honestly? Thinking about it, destroying the brain to put down the zombie doesn't make that much sense. The first problem is the brain itself. The skull is pretty good at protecting the brain most of the time, but that's more impressive when you consider just how fragile the brain is. It's very soft tissue, suspended in fluid. It's also one of the first organs to really suffer from decomposition.

Particularly, the brain is the organ you have to really worry about when someone flatlines. It will start suffering serious damage within 30 seconds of being deprived of oxygen. Within minutes of death, it undergoes irreversible chemical changes and starts to break down, so, it follows that, the brain isn't going to be in a usable state by the time the zombie virus tries to claw its way back to the living.

This is a different kind of problem with living “zombies,” such as the 28 Days series or REC. Though, in those cases, the zombies would have a very limited shelf life, as the strain of the virus would kill them long before the second film rolled around. But, in those cases, massive trauma should still kill the zombie, so you don't really need headshots, when a shotgun, center mass, will get the job done.

For clarity, you know there's no way to answer that comment about headshots without sounding like a psychopath, right? The short answer is that, yeah, if you' know what you're doing, and you know your gun, you can hit a small, semi-mobile target at medium range. A sapient being? That's harder, people don't tend to present their head for a convenient bullet, like a video game shooting gallery, but, with practice, you can reliably hit a head sized target at about 30m. Landing that shot against a live person running for cover or shooting back might be a bit tricky, but against a shambling, reanimated, corpse, it should be pretty doable. Obviously, I don't have a lot of first hand experience shooting reanimated corpses, so I'm having to make some educated guesses here.

However, having just said that, I'm immediately reminded of something the Resident Evil 2 remake pointed out: Shooting someone in the head doesn't mean you destroyed their brain. Surprisingly, shooting someone in the head will only kill them about 98% of the time, so I can see some logic in the thought process.

That said, shooting zombies tends to run up against a problem, that doesn't make a lot of sense when you step back and think about it. Generally you don't want to shoot zombies because the sound will attract more zombies, and there are inevitably more zombies than you have bullets. This the exact scenario that The Walking Dead works with. So, I have one small question: How did we get here?

Before we go any further, and spoilers for a comic book that published 15 years ago, but The Walking Dead did answer that. (The TV series and comic have different answers. In the TV series it's a virus from space that reanimates corpses, in the comic book it was a presumably supernatural force reanimating the dead. Though, it might have become a space virus now. I stopped reading the comic when it just got too goddamn depressing.)

When you're looking at a city like Atlanta (from The Walking Dead), and you're facing something north of six million zombies, yeah, that's a serious problem. You can't headshot six million zombies. But how did you get six million zombies? Six million zombies is a problem that can't be solved with brute force. Six-hundred-thousand zombies is a problem that can't be solved with brute force. But, sixty-thousand zombies? That can be contained. Six thousand zombies is an orderly riot. Six hundred zombies can be locked in a building and disposed of. Sixty zombies can be easily contained and neutralized. Six zombies? You can send out animal control and nip that problem in bud before there's an outbreak. And without higher brain function, there's basically no chance of patient zero avoiding detection.

But, I know the answer to this one, “well, they sent cops to catch patient zero, and the cops got bitten, then they turned in the hospital, and...” this would be a lot more plausible if rabies didn't exist. Actually, with the reputation of American police, there's basically no chance a zombie gets within biting distance.  But, even if they did get closer, you know what else likes to bite cops? Meth heads. You know who has more higher brain function than a zombie? Meth heads.

Is there zero chance of a first responder getting bitten by a zombie? No, there's a chance. There's basically zero chance of that zombie biting anyone else, and on the slim possibility that the infected first responder turns and manages to chomp on one of their coworkers, there is no chance that the infection daisy chains out from there.

There's also a real likelihood that any growing outbreak will suffer, “a negative biomass shift,” as it tries to expand. That is to say, if someone sends twenty soldiers to contain 100 zombies, and those soldiers are overrun and infected, you're not going to have 120 zombies. You probably won't have 100 zombies, after they're infected and turned. So long as those soldiers drop more than two zombies, the horde will experience negative population growth. Incidentally, it doesn't matter if this is a modern or medical fantasy setting, in either case, the zombies aren't going to be able to put up much of a fight against armed and armored troops. Militaries train to fight against sapient foes, while zombies are going to be little more than training dummies. Even if they are eventually overwhelmed by the hoard, the hoard only gets a few corpses to replace all the zombies it lost. (Note: This doesn't apply if you have necromancers raising undead forces, in those cases, the actual loss of zombies will be minimal, as they reanimate zombies that were damaged enough to break their previous reanimation, but could still be used on the battlefield, so in this specific case, the goal would need to be more egregious destruction of the corpses.)

So how did we get to six million zombies? Any zombie outbreak will be at its most vulnerable when there are only a handful of infected. This even applies, to some extent, when you're looking at non-traditional zombie scenarios, such as fungal infections. Zombies are generally not very stealthy. (Ignoring The Walking Dead (TV)'s ninja zombies for the moment.) So, if you have a biohazard situation like that, unless there's a very long incubation period (which most zombies don't exhibit), then  the danger of them going undetected and reaching critical mass is pretty limited.

Also, once you start looking at urban environments, that's not a great space for zombies to navigate. Things like storm drains and security barriers can effectively stop zombie advancement through an urban environment. Sure, zombies might be a threat to massive glass windows on the ground floor, but how are they going to operate the elevators, or the keycard reader to get into the stairs? Much less climb multiple flights of stairs to find the survivors? They might be able to chase them up the stairs, but getting there under their own initiative? Not so much. Same problem with any structure that puts steel bars on the windows. Zombies can't get in, or out.

After that, there's still the problem of decomposition. Dead bodies don't typically hold up particularly well. Maybe there's an embalmed zombie out there somewhere, shambling around, years after the outbreak, but most of the corpses will, quite literally, fall apart in a couple weeks. (Probably less, if they're chasing after survivors and slamming into walls.)

Having said all of that, I don't hate zombie fiction. Zombies can be a fantastic metaphor. You can even come up with compelling and interesting zombie scenarios. I know I just said it was implausible, but I don't hate The Last of Us's scenario, even if I do have some issues with some of the writing (specifically in the last few levels of the first game, before anyone asks.)

So, would it be hard to kill a zombie? Usually no. You might have some exceptions, such as magically reanimated corpses that really don't need to be intact to continue trying to kill you. Dead Space's necromorphs come to mind as an excellent example of creative zombie assembly.

The issue is usually the volume of zombies, just the sheer number threatening to pour out onto the street at any moment. Which requires that things went exceptionally wrong in ways that don't really make a lot of sense when you step back and think about it.

The issue wasn't shooting one zombie in the head, it was the next ten, and the next hundred, and the next thousand. Because, in those numbers, it doesn't really matter if they're easy to kill, there will always be more.

-Starke

This blog is supported through Patreon. Patrons get access to new posts three days early, and direct access to us through Discord. If you’re already a Patron, thank you. If you’d like to support us, please consider becoming a Patron.

#writing advice #writing reference #writing tips #how to fight write #starke answers #zombies

[supernerdsblog]

Some ideas for Jordan x reader

Maybe Jordan and reader have a little rivalry at uni even tho theyre dating and reader gets a higher grade / passes them in the rankings and Jordan is all pouty about it so reader comforts them. Maybe fluff but it could be a little angsty at the start because Jordan doesn't wanna admit reader may be smarter than them, they're a lil stubborn 🤭

This is such a good idea! And tysm for being my first request <33

(this is going to be before the show takes place, so Luke is still alive)

When you and Jordan were just friends in Freshman year, you both bonded over your obsession with the rankings and doing well in classes. It was always a running joke that you guys were always trying to one up each other in everything you did. When you became Mrs. Harrison's TA, they went and became Brink's. When Jordan scored a 95 on a paper, you would score a 98.

Even with your relationship changing, from best friends to dating, your rivalry was still infamous around campus. You two were always fighting for the number two spot under Luke Riordan. It even went as far as your friends placing bets on who would come out on top at the end of the week. But, in the end, it always made you push each other more so it worked out for the better.

With the week winding down, You and Jordan finally got to spend time with each other, aside from studying or being in class. The rankings were scheduled to come out soon, but you both did not concern yourself with it until the time came around.

Instead, you chose to occupy yourselves with a movie while you laid on Jordan's bed.

When both of your phones did finally chime, Jordan paused the movie you guys were watching together, and you both immediately grab your cellphones. The light illuminating your faces in their dark room.

Luke, of course, was in the number one spot. That was to be expected.

Your eyes shifted down the screen to where your smiling picture and your name were next to the number 2 spot.

Jordan's picture was right under yours. In third.

You sat up from the bed, beaming. "Ohh! Second week in a row, Li. Maybe I really am smarter than you." You shook their shoulder excitedly.

"Yeah. Good job."

Jordan had always done good in the combat aspect, but what you lacked in fighting you made up for in your classes. And this week, it seems like it put you just over the edge to pass them once again.

"I mean if you need help studying, I guess your smart, talented, and hot girlfriend can help." You joked. A wide smile evident on your face.

Jordan scoffs, hops off the bed, and pretends to look for something in the mini fridge across the room.

"Wait, are you actually upset about this?" You question, getting up from the bed as well. You almost laugh in disbelief as you watched them.

They cross their arms in front of them and they roll their eyes. They were definitely upset.

"I was just joking, -"

"I'm fine" they assured, looking the other way.

A smile starts creeping on to your face, realizing what was actually going on. "You're upset that I beat you?"

"No, I'm not." They say a bit more firmly, shaking their head.

The one thing that sucked about this rivalry, was that you both hated to lose. Of course, you guys wouldn't want the rank to go to anyone else, but it still hurt.

You sucked in a breath. Mustering up everything you could to push down your smile. "Ok fine." You answered, trying to match their broodiness. You cross your arms in front of you just like them and look off into the room.

"Fine" they reply back just as coldly.

Finally, Jordan looks at you. Their expression softening. Not a second later, a smile starts to peak out onto their face and they start to chuckle. In turn, you do as well until you're both smiling.

"Nice job" He whispers back, studying your face. He takes a step closer to you, thinning the distance.

You let your arms fall to your side and shrug a little. "Not too bad yourself, Li" You bite the inside of your cheek, still trying to hide your smile.

Jordan's ring covered hands, snake up to your face. Slowly, he looks at you then your lips, and then back at you. Before you know it, he is smashing into your lips, kissing you hungrily. Your hands slip to the back of their neck, softly playing with their hair. This only brings Jordan in closer.

"Y'know you're kind of cute when you pout." You mumbled in between kisses. The words come out breathless and just above a whisper.

"I wasn't pouting." They urge.

"Mhmm" You moan, before you lean back into them.

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Happy Valentines Day!

This is my first post so any tips would be appreciated! Also please send more requests!

xoxo, $uperNerd

#gen v x reader #jordan li #jordan li x reader #gen v prime #gen v #academic rivals

[isa-ghost]

holding u at gunpoint asking for some of your characterization on q!fitza for amfmn bc so far you've shown them off so well :]

RAAAAHHHHH god this took forever

Ok so like the qpr polycule thing goin on. Fitpac. Yeah so Pac isn't like *officially* part of it but also is at the same time but is ONLY intimate beyond casual friendship with Fit. He has no special involvement with Phil, Missa, or Etoiles. And even tho it's a 98% platonic polycule, Fit still told Pac abt the polycule being a thing and made sure Pac was consenting abt it bc that's just basic healthy poly etiquette. He also disclosed to Pac that him and Phil have done Things(tm) in the past and Pac was like WHAT bc for some reason he didn't expect it like at all. It was very funny, Fit had a blast giving that fofoca to Phil

They'll do anything for each other. They're the go-to for everything. You'd think Phil's go-to would be Missa and Fit's would be Pac, but Missa is so occupied with reaper things that the rare times he's actually around, Phil just wants to spend stress-free time with him. He feels bad that for a while Missa returning finally would result in an information overload and then overwhelmed Missa screaming. And Fit confides in Pac NOW, but before they started dating it was Phil

Besides, the times they're awake and out n about just kinda work out. Two birds one stone or smth like that. Adventures and fofoca.

Also something something 2B2T something something Antarctic Empire. Birds of a feather. Yeah.

I think the above is best explained as like. They get each other in ways that other people wouldn't. Bc some of the stuff they can relate on is ""Unsavory"" to the average person.

On that note, they are unwaveringly loyal to each other and will take each others secrets to the grave

And yet they both keep their deepest secrets from each other still. But goddd they'd have fantastic long and potentially gritty talks about it.

They're each other's safe spaces to speak a bit more,, morally grey, you could say. I wouldn't call Phil very gray but he's by no means pure and Fit is like 10 steps ahead of him on the spectrum so he Gets it and Phil gets him

Fit is very good at rationalizing things and thinking under pressure. Which Phil needs sometimes. Bc Phil is good at assuming the worst and therefore preparing for it, but he has a habit of getting too caught up in the The Worst Is Definitely Gonna Happen and being a defeatist, so he needs someone outside his head (Fit) to break him out of that loop

Ok I'm obligated to mention the flirting. No one's doing it like these two sorry. The back of the gym has seen and heard some Shit

God omg esp when it's just the two of them, no friends or kids, they're the Worst about each other. It's hilarious but good god they can be rated R at each other

Post Fitpac official they toned it down though and godddd they're so good about each other's boundaries punches the floor aaaaa

Also obligatory mention of Fit being observant as fuck. Phil can't hide shit from him, he knows all his tells. If Phil is lying or something is wrong, Fit can tell

These two mfs are the kids in class that always instantly partner with each other when the teacher is like "ok time to buddy up for this activity." The teacher is the Federation.

Their friendship be like "no kids around? bored? ... wanna go blow shit up? hell yeah."

#qsmp #qsmp fitza #fitza #qsmp philza #qsmp fit #qsmp fitmc #AMFMN things

[crescencestudio]

๋࣭⭑ Devlog 36 | 11.26.23 ๋࣭⭑

:rises from the dead: I'm.... BAAAAACK!!!!!!

Long time, no talk (kinda) everyone! I hope you've been happy, healthy, and well since we last saw each other and that the wind-down for the year is being kind to you all <3

We have a lot to catch up on, so let's do just that ^^ This is.... so long. I'm really sorry in advance tbh---I thought I hadn't done much because break, but there's quite a bit to show.

It's been a while since a formal update on the routes, so I'll start by telling you all where they officially stand. Before I do, it might be helpful to tell you all how I define percentage completion in my head. Basically, when I finish the draft of a route, I consider it 70% complete. This means I could ship it as is. I wouldn't be happy with the product, but it's playable and makes enough sense---just not the best quality.

When Wudgey finishes their edits, a route is 80%-85% complete, meaning I could ship it as is. I think it'd be pretty good actually and players would be happy. Beyond this point, I am just making fine tuning edits to incorporate more player interaction, polishing the flow of things, etc.

After that, there's basically only Elm and Vi's edits left. When Elm finishes, a route is 95% complete. Again, I think at this point, it's good. Like edits from this point onwards are purely for polishing purpose. After Vi, it's 98% complete. Then the last review comes back to Elm and I for it to be 100% complete. Right now, this is where the routes stand:

Kayn: 98% Complete

Fenir: 95% Complete

Druk: 80% Complete

Etza: 60% Complete (Still working on their draft!)

Do Not ask me about Kuna'a or Aisa LFMASOEIDJ

So most of the routes are actually looking pretty good! They're just getting bounced around to different editors at this point, but the changes made for most of them are basically small. Fenir and Kayn especially could be shipped as is in my eyes if I really wanted to.

Art recently has mostly been focused on commissions. Vui actually is almost done with ALL of the BGs for Alaris!! Isn't that crazy?? In about a year, he was able to create almost 25 BGs with daytime variations!!! He's a phenomenal artist, and I couldn't be happier to be working with him. It's also a bit bittersweet (and alarming??) to know that part of development is already close to ending! q.q

The most exciting art update I have is that we got the GUI assets finished and I've started coding them into the game!! AAAA!! These were the final updated assets I needed, and seeing the fully revamped demo come to life has been so.... Emotional HAHA! It's crazy to see how far Alaris has come from when I was first making it with my little fingies and throwing things together like paper mache. I'm incredibly in love with how all the assets look together, and I couldn't be more grateful for the artists who helped me update the assets!

Updated History Log. Please say you like the dividers between entries---I'm most proud of those

I'm still making my way through coding everything, but here's a couple screen previews so you all can see how things now look in the game!!

First off, is the Dialogue/Choice Screen. You can see that we have a brand new dialogue box (She's Stunning) and Choice Screen! I'm hoping to add some sfx for the choices when you hover over them, and sfx for the new UI in general so there's more user feedback when you click and hover on things. But for now, enjoy this preview of the new dialogue box, choice screen, and the new personality indicators!

Updated Dialogue/Choice Screen: You can't see it as well in GIF format, but the BG also has particles floating around, so there's a tiny bit of animation going on in some of the BGs as well!!

Next, we have the Free Time Screen. I actually posted this on Twitter recently but I don't think I posted it on Tumblr! ISN'T SHE STUNNING... ESPECIALLY WITH THE NEW BGS.... I'm especially happy with the text animations that show up at the bottom when you hover over the different choices! I was inspired by a couple other devs (specifically GUI god, @siyo-koy, and renpy animation master @just-a-carrot) to start incorporating animation style elements into my GUI. And I really like how it adds a little ~something~ to the feel of everything ^^

Updated Free Time Screen: begging someone to say they like the text animation so I feel validated for finangling with it

Finally, for our last preview, we have the Save Screen! While it looks new obviously with the new assets, I also did a lot of backend coding revamping for how it actually functions since my coding experience is a bit better now compared to when I was first fighting for my life figuring out save/load screens. The biggest change for you all is that there are now chapter markers so save slots will tell you what chapter that save file is from! And instead of screenshots, it's now a custom icon inside that shows the chapter card. I think it'll make the save screen look more cohesive now and hopefully more intuitive as well!!

Updated Save Screen: With a sprinkle of updated Chapter Card screen preview

That was long. Are any of us surprised, considering I had two months' worth of devlogs piled inside of me, begging to burst from the seams?

Anyways. Only two miscellaneous updates. One is that all soundtracks have been completed for Alaris! Peter finished the last of them recently, and they're all beautiful!!! For ppl who love piano soundtracks... :holds hand in piano lover solidarity:

Other update is that I finally fixed that godforsaken sprite bug that was associated with the energy vision feature from the demo!!! FINALLY!!! AFTER.... SO LONG. Extremely huge thanks to @robobarbie for taking time out of their day to do that; everyone please say thank you!!!!! OGs know how long that bug was bothering me!!!! Robo also gave me a pretty new rain code, so I'm showing you how both look in the new demo so you can appreciate them with me!!

Last miscellaneous update is more on a.... logistical development level?? Basically, now that I have new GUI assets to code, that means I can get a beta build of the routes currently written out. I was feeling really overwhelmed by that idea because most of this year has been focused on writing and making assets, not really coding. Knowing that I can Code and get Playable Builds out to people was stressful because I have to divvy up my time a bit more.

After an extremely insightful talk with beloved and admired Esh of @steamberrystudio I decided I'm probably going to be shifting how development goes from here on out. Instead of focusing head low on getting as many words written for the remaining routes everyday, I'm going to be making smaller but consistent progress and spend the rest of my time coding so that I can have more of a continuous cycle of production going on (e.g., writing a bit, making playable builds, gathering playtester feedback, etc. instead of doing each stage in blocked, sequential order).

I'm mainly telling you all this because it means writing updates will probably seem slower from this point on, but I think production overall will be more efficient because of it! This is also exciting news for playtesters and/or early access backers/patrons because it means you'll have playable content in the near future for content outside of just the demo :')

have u all heard of wudgeous of herotome. of course u have. they r all i talk about at this point

No market research because I've actually been addicted to BG3 LFMAOLSDJF. Actually, I'm taking some inspiration from it for the personality mechanic but eh.

On a more important note, @herotome demo is coming out December 2nd!!!! PLAY IT WITH ME. Wudgey is my editor, so you might think I'm biased but I'M NOT!!! I WAS A FAN OF HEROTOME BEFORE WUDGEY EVEN WORKED W ME!!! They have an exception eye for detail and player experience, and they are actually one of the devs that inspired me to even get into game development.

I just know the demo is going to blow everyone's socks off. OG Herotome prologue build fans know exactly what I'm talking about. Please mark December 2nd on your calendar---you will not regret it.

This was so unbelievably long, but I hope it's appreciated since there was no real devlog update for a hot minute. As always, Thank you all for your patience and continued support. With the year ending soon, I'm getting wrapped up in my feels in usual Crescence fashion. I am a Cancer so no one is surprised.

Next month will probably be more of an end-of-year devlog rather than the usual format. I know the devlogs of late have been all over the place, but once we get into the new year, it will be back to business as usual! Hope you all have a wonderful end to your year; I'll talk to you soon! <3

#alaris #devlog #bitches don't stop talking #aka me i'm bitches #also why did i shout out so many devs in this devlog #usually its like only one #that one being seyl of ravenstar games who i share a codependent relationship with #SODIFJ

[the-solarpunk-activist]

Y'all know what's solarpunk? Or at least sustainable? A good sourdough starter. It requires flour, quite a bit of it to get started, but it's healthier for you, and you can use the discard after the initial start phase for all kinds of tasty things meaning no waste and less store bought pancakes, crackers, brownies, breads, etc.

Here's how you make a starter (disclaimer this is how i made it, I've noticed a lot of sourdough purists insisting u need to weigh everything every time you feed and you need a scale for all your recipes, etc i have done none of that and i don't have the energy for all that either)

You need:

Flour, i use unbleached but that's because i had a bag lying around i used for vegan cookies as a gift and i heard it works for starters, Harold (my starter) seems to like it so why change, but I've heard of people using literally any kind of flour

Water, enough to mix into a thick pancake batter consistency

If you feel weird wasting flour you can try the quarantiny starter idea from king Arthur's flour which uses only a tablespoon of flour and some water until it's active and then you bulk it up when you want to bake with it.

You're going to want to add your flour and water and mix until it's a thick pancake batter consistency, i started with a half cup of flour but i left on vacation and my grandma accidentally bulked it up so now it's up to like a cup.

Every 24 hours (not exact measurement and some people swear by feeding it every 12, i do 24 but it varies by person and starter) you are going to want to toss half (in the garbage at this stage) and mix in about the same amount of flour as the mixture you just tossed (ex. You estimate you tossed half cup of starter, add half cup of flour to remainder in jar) add enough water til you reach consistency. I've gotten told this doesn't work but my starter is happy and thriving so I'm sticking with it.

Once your starter is active and consistently doubling within 8 hours after feeding (you will notice it does this in the first few days, that's Bad Yeast do not use. Your starter will hit a slump and then come back to rising, that's good yeast. I recommend putting a rubber band or hair tie where it is after u feed so u can monitor rise easier) experts recommend waiting ten days from initial starter start date to use it, i waited three weeks. Toss all starter at feeding during this time.

ONCE UR STARTER IS ACTIVE then u can save all the stuff u were tossing in a jar in the fridge (i use an old spaghetti sauce jar, and my starter is also in a big olive jar lmao) and use it in recipes that doesn't require yeast, this is sourdough discard and you can find a ton of recipes online for it.

If you want to use it to bake bread, you will use it when it's at its peak rise area, usually double what it was when you feed it. This is the yeast being all active and happy which will rise your bread. I recommend this recipe for beginners:

I reduced the salt to 1 tsp and added probably around a cup and a half of whole wheat flour, i had it lying around and why not. Changes will depend on your elevation and what works for you, it's not a science which is why no recipe will work for literally everybody. Almost everybody's first sourdough bread will fail one way or another but 98% of the time it's still edible and you learn!!!

Feel free to ask questions :)

Edit: forgot to mention that you should keep your jar covered, but don't screw the lid on, i just use the flat part of a canning lid placed on top

#sourdough #solarpunk #practical solarpunk #sustainable #environment #environmentalism #environmentally friendly #sustainability #ecofriendly #eco friendly #low waste #sourdough bread #baking bread #sourdough discard #yeast #sustainable baking #baking #bread baking

[fruitsoxs]

Hi I was wondering if I can request a very fluffy soulmate au (I'm really a sucker for theses cheesy aus honestly) with Vash and a artist reader?

Context on the soulmate au it's like if you write on you skin it'll show up on the other person kind of deal.

Thank you and hope you have a good day ^^🌻

ah cute. i love stuff like this. here's some headcanons!

pairing; vahs x (GN)reader warnings; none! notes; this is kind of 98 Vash coded, but i left it open! also wrote this with a modern au in mind but it can be read either way

When he first sees the doodles, it’s a bit of a shock. 

For the longest of times Vash was so sure he didn’t have a soulmate. He had lived his entire life without getting a single mark, only hearing stories of others who have. 

So. when he sees those little clouds appear on his arm, he can barely speak. He just watches as they get more detailed. He can’t help but wonder who could be creating such a picture, and his heart beats a little faster.

He reaches for a pen instinctively, but pauses before the ink can touch his skin. 

What should he say? He’s known people who talked through their skin. Gathering information to find out who the other is. 

Should he say hi? Should he draw? No, he can’t draw like that. Anything he added would just ruin the picture forming on his arm. Instead he lets the pen drop, and watches as the drawing comes to life.

He likes to wear his soulmate's doodles. He know she can wash them off after they appear on his skin, but he thinks they’re much too beautiful to scrub away. Plus he gets a kick out of showing off the pictures to anyone who looks his way

He notices that his soulmate is rather forgetful too. They often leave little notes on their arms reminding them to pick up food, or to do certain chores. He thinks these little notes are cute and he often stares at them for hours after they appear

He also notices that you like to draw portraits of people around you. They’re rather cute. He should wash them away, but he likes the art you create. It’s like he’s being supportive of your work. 

He still doesn’t write back, despite having every opportunity to.

Not until you write him a direct message that makes him stop in his tracks. On his hand, in little letters, forms “Are you there?”. When he sees the words his entire world flips.

You’ve probably been worried this entire time over whether you have a soulmate of your own. Doodling to gain his attention, and getting nothing in return.

He immediately starts searching for a pen in his pockets, finding nothing. Suddenly panicking, he darts around the street asking everyone in sight if they have a pen. When someone finally does give him one, he immediately draws a little heart next to your question

He’s still not sure what to say, but a little doodle is enough for you. You respond back with a heart of your own.

After that the two of you speak in mostly doodles. His are wonky, and messy. He thinks it’s a little silly to look at his art compared to yours. 

Eventually he starts using words. Simple things at first. “Good mornings.” and “sleep wells.” 

This turns into small conversations, and he soon realizes why the universe paired him up with you. He starts falling in love with you 

And then one day he sees himself on his hand

He’s sitting in a random café, eating some delicious treats. He notices the start of one of your drawings, and immediately pulls out his hands to watch the lines appear. He almost spits out his food when he sees the familiar spikey hair. His head swivels around as he searches the café for anyone

He sees you sitting in the corner, sipping on some form of drink. The only reason he knows it has to be you, is because you keep glancing over at him before looking back at your hand

He isn’t sure what to do at first

Then he gets this idea

He pulls out his own pen and starts sketching you. He notices your drawing has stopped. You must be watching what he’s doodling.

When he’s done he leans back proudly and looks over to see your reaction. He frowns when you don’t immediately jump up and look for him.

Then he sees what you write back

“Is that a dog?”

He can’t believe his cute idea was ruined by his terrible artistic skills.

He sighs and stands up making his way over to you. He lifts up his hand to show off the matching marks and says “it was supposed to be you.”

You look at his hand, then at him. 

Then the two of you smile at each other. 

#vash x reader #vash the stampede x reader #vashheadcanons #request

[anime-grimmy]

Trigun hyperfixation has an iron grip on me and I desperately need to get my head to think of something else. Especially cos I crave so much for good stories but to my suprise, a lot of (vashmeryl) fanfics I read are extremely samey, especially the post-anime ones.

That being said, while reading, I was actually suprised to see a few scenarios or themes never explored? So I thought, since I can't get my brain to focus anyways, might as well drop some vashmerly hcs and prompts.

the one I'm most suprised has not been explored at all is Meryl and Milly trying to teach Vash how to actually talk/flirt with women. I still dunno how Vash came to be known as a womamizer in the og anime cos he is abyssmal when it comes to flirting. So, after an especially embarassing rejection, Meryl picks a fight with Vash as usual and he's all like "yeah, then you show me how it's done." Not one to chicken out on a competition (and with avid encouragement by Milly) they set up a fake date. I can totally see it going really funny, Meryl trying her darn hardest to act like an actually interested date but can't help herself from cringing and and scoffing at how stupid Vash' approaches are. So basically, it would be a mix of silly flirting and a lot of bantering. By the end Meryl admits that he's not half bad if he just turns down the goofiness a bit, mentioning if he just ties up the night nicely he might even score a second date (she means in general, not realizing that it sounds like she's implying a date with her). Cue Vash doing the only smooth move in his life and stealing a goodnight kiss, asking "well, did it work?"

less of a prompt or headcanon, but in all the scar-centric fics Ive read, not once is it mentioned how Vash has a literal cage over his heart? Ive always loved this little design aspect, since it so obviously shows Vash fortifying his heart and keeping everyone out. I can also see Meryl being all smug like "well, im small and nimble, and the spaces between the bars are wide, I can easily slip through"

another funny thought about the metal grids on his body would be them cuddling but Meryl's hair gets caught on the metal and now they have to akwardly maneuver out of this situation

Meryl uses any and all situations to be taller than Vash. Since she is so much smaller than him, she usually stands when he sits, especially when they argue, tries to be just a few stairs above him or walks a few more steps up a slop so she can peer down on him. Not that her presence isn't big enough already, but she for sure tries her hardest to assert dominance.

To her dismay, Vash likes to use this moments to pick her up. I dunno why, but since Meryl is so small I can see Vash just enjoying it to pick her up and twirl her around. Lugging her around like a pretty looking sack of potatoes.

Vash is a human pretzel. He will contort his body in ways to hug as much of Meryl as possible.

Meryl becomes incredibly good at ignoring Vash if she needs to work. She could be sitting at her typewriter, only noticing Vash has her in a vice grip when Milly asks if she isn't distracted.

Despite how spiky it looks, Vash' hair is actually pretty soft and fluffy, and once Meryl finds out she uses any opportunity to run her fingers through it. Vash doesn't mind cos he totally digs the head scratches (humanoid typhoon? more like humanoid doggo)

when traveling together, they usually share a thomas cos Vash can't ride for shit. Vash likes to be dramatic and complain about it (cos he's a big boy thank you very much) but he can't deny that he wholly enjoys being cuddled up behind Meryl for hours on end.

Welp, just some food for thought cos my brain is in Trigun overdrive. These are specifically based on the 98 versions of them but I have a whole lot for Stampede as well haha

#trigun #trigun 98 #rambling #headcanons #vashmeryl #vash the stampede #meryl stryfe

[bella-rose29]

Not Your Lover - Chapter 2

I'm not gonna lie there's not much plot in this other than building up more hate between them but oh well :)

Also apparently I have a thing of writing fake kisses now?

Word count: 3.7k

Warnings: swearing

Tag list: @a-candle-maker, @bubybubsters, @el-de-phi, @hauntedenthusiasttragedy, @iambored24601, @itsyoboo-jassy, @karensirkobabes, @kentucky-criedfricken, @little8sun, @mrsklockwood, @mvidaaaa, @nalie-98, @naushtheaspiringauthor, @notoakay, @pietromaximoffsbabe, @simbaaas-stuff

As always, let me know here if you want to be added to or removed from the tag list! <3

Y/n was fuming.

What made Dominik think that he could just waltz into her life like that, making her mother think that the two of them were together?!

She was slumped in a chair in the waiting area of the town hall, leg bouncing and arms crossed as she tried to contain her anger. Surely he was getting something else out of it, right? A man like him wouldn't say no to female attention, Y/n was sure of it. He was a classic fuckboy, all smiles and nice words until he ruined a girl's life for the fun of it. So why did he want to stop that? It was infuriating, not being able to figure out what he really wanted, and Y/n didn't like it one bit. Annoyingly, he was right. Her mother had hinted this morning that Y/n would be getting the grant now that she had a boyfriend, and his offer to work on the building with her was useful (and had been begrudgingly accepted), considering nobody else wanted to. It would be difficult getting the place in a good enough position, but she was sure it would be a piece of cake compared to pretending she actually liked Dominik Opus.

"Y/n? They're ready for you," Sofia said from reception, smiling widely. Offering a smile back (that probably looked more like a grimace), Y/n stood, clutching her papers to her chest.

"Thanks, Sofia."

Pushing open the door, Y/n braced herself for the onslaught.

~~~

Nikolai was quite happy at the moment.

His plan had worked, and while a good number of women were still hanging around, trying to figure out if he was actually taken or not, the majority of them had heard that he wasn't single anymore and had gone home. He'd finally had time to work with Gregor on the carriage that had come in a few days ago, and it was now ready to go back to the wealthy noble that had sent it in. Nikolai had hidden in the back when he came to collect it, the man surprisingly coming in person and not sending somebody to pick it up in his place.

"Well, it looks alright. How do I know you haven't done some Grisha magic on it?"

"I use my hard-earned talents on pretty much everything, sir. I only use my natural ones if I really have to. Besides, I had an assistant who is otkazat'sya and very good at what he does helping me on your carriage." Nikolai's chest swelled with pride at his employer's praise. As a child, he'd been told many times to not pursue his love of machinery, or making things, since it wasn't very princely. Perhaps that was why he'd dedicated so much time to inventions as king; he was the top voice, and technically nobody could tell him what was and wasn't very royal. Being here, in Taya, he could be completely himself (minus the name and some of the backstory), indulging his desire to make things and build, and it was amazing.

"Where is he? I'd like to take a look at him and decide whether he's trustworthy or not for myself."

Nikolai held his breath from his position behind the door, hoping Gregor would come up with an excuse as to why his coworker couldn't be there.

"He's in the back room, I'll just go get him for you."

Fuck. So much for that, then.

Nikolai sprung back just as Gregor opened the door, hoping it didn't look too much like he'd been listening in.

"Wants to meet you. Something about making sure you haven't fucked it up or anything." Gregor's tone left no room for argument. Nikolai nodded, swallowing. Since he'd found out that Nikolai apparently had a girlfriend, he hadn't been too happy, but Nikolai had been working all morning to make sure that Gregor knew that he wasn't going anywhere. He understood where Gregor was coming from, having told him only a couple of days ago that he wasn't interested in girls at all at this point in time, but surely the man could have some leniency?

Pushing through into the main room, Nikolai thanked the Saints and any other deities that he had no idea who this noble was, because he knew everyone that he had had an interaction with as Nikolai Lantsov, and this man in front of him was not one of them.

"Who are you then?"

"Dominik Opus, sir." It felt weird calling someone sir, given only a few months ago Nikolai had been king.

"Right. How long have you been in the business?"

"Pretty much my whole life, sir. Started about 20 years ago."

"How old were you? You barely look 20 years old anyway."

"I was always making things, but I first got into machinery at the age of around 8 years old." He left out the part about how he'd rearranged a priceless heirloom of a clock, resulting in his family grounding him in his room for a month.

"And you know what you're doing?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well I'll take your word for it, Dmitri. If anything goes wrong, it's on your head, boy."

Nikolai bristled at the wrong name, and at the attitude this noble had, and was instantly glad that this man had never been in his court. He did wonder what kind of people Zoya was letting in, though.

"Of course, sir."

The rest of the meeting went without fault, Nikolai stood off to the side while Gregor secured the transaction, and he felt himself relaxing. That feeling left just as quickly as the noble when Gregor turned to him, unreadable expression on his face.

"I think we should talk." He moved in the direction of his office, and Nikolai felt unease creep up his spine. When the door was shut, Gregor sat in his chair on one side of the desk, motioning for Nikolai to sit opposite him.

"Is everything alright? I know what I said about how having a girlfriend was the last thing on my mind, but I really didn't expect-"

"Who are you? Really?"

Nikolai blinked.

"Sorry?"

"I think I know who you are, but I'm giving you a chance to come forward on your own, Dominik."

"Well who do you think I am?"

"I think you're the previous king of Ravka Nikolai Lantsov."

Nikolai blinked again.

"I take it I'm right?"

"Yes." There was no point denying it now, given Gregor had figured it out.

"Do I need to use a title?"

"I'd rather you didn't."

"Right." He paused for a moment, unreadable expression still on his face as he observed Nikolai. "Why are you here? And why the fake name?"

Nikolai shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "I wanted to be somewhere where it wouldn't matter who I was, where I could hide. I didn't want to stay in the capital, or anywhere like that, but I'm still a valuable target for assassins wherever I go, hence the fake name. Taya? It's small enough that people wouldn't ever think to look for me here, but big enough for me to make a life for myself."

"Why would you ever want that? I mean, you've spent your life in a palace, and now you're in a shitty little port town with zero tourism."

"I like it here," he said, smile on his face. "And I didn't spend my whole life in a palace; I was in the army for years, and then on the sea for years after that. This life is what I want, where I feel most like myself. And machinery has always been a better friend to me than people, so it made sense, I guess."

Gregor sat back now, blowing out a breath. "I suppose that all makes sense. Where'd you come up with the name?"

"Dominik is- was, my best friend," he swallowed at the past tense of the sentence. "Opus is a sort of take on my father's last name, Opjer."

"So you are a bastard?" His eyes went wide immediately afterwards, going to rectify the question at once.

"Yes. Surprising that nobody noticed the lack of inbreeding in my features sooner, really. And if anybody had actually seen him, there would be no doubt that my mother had had an affair." Gregor seemed somewhat embarrassed at Nikolai's nonchalance towards his mother's infidelity, eyes still just as comically wide as they had been before. The man went to speak, but was interrupted by a shout from the main room of the mechanic.

"DOMINIK?" Nikolai winced, recognising the voice.

"I think you'd better answer," Gregor said, smirk on his face. "I'll keep quiet, too. You're too good at your job for me to lose you."

"Thank you, Gregor. That means a lot," Nikolai smiled, pulling open the door. "Hopefully I'm not sacrificed in the next five minutes and I can keep working here." Gregor laughed, the sound echoing in the room as Nikolai let the door swing shut, leaving him and Y/n alone in the main garage together.

"There you are!" she huffed, looking out of breath. "I just came from the council meeting and they've given me the grant, but only for a month, because apparently my project won't be worth any more than that, so I have to get three rooms done by then, and-"

"Woah! Woah, calm down! You lost me past 'council meeting' because you were talking too fast! Slowly, what happened? And why did you sound like you wanted to murder me just now?"

"One: they gave me the grant," she held up a finger with each point she made. "Two: I only have a month. Three: I have to get three rooms ready by that time or four: they're revoking the grant. Oh and five: mother wants you to come to dinner tonight and she made it clear we couldn't say no."

"Well the first bits are positive, right?"

"How can you do that? Smile about only having a month to do this? You've seen that place! One month for three rooms is ridiculous!"

Nikolai came closer, placing his hands on her shoulders to hold her in place and calm her down. "One month starting today, right?" She nodded. "Well then you go and make a start. Did they specify which rooms?"

"No, just said I needed three."

"Okay. You decide which of the three rooms to do, although if I can make a suggestion, I'd say go for the front three for easy access, and when I finish work later I'll come and help. Did your mother say what time for dinner?"

"8 bells. Which makes me think she's cooking enough food for the entire town because we normally eat earlier."

"Well I have a large appetite, so don't worry about that. I finish at five bells, so I'll come over to help afterwards, okay?"

"Okay. How are you so calm about this? It's one month!"

"I'm calm because you're not. If we were both running around like headless chickens, nothing would happen. I'm assuming that if you can get the three rooms done they'll extend the grant?"

"Yeah. They just need some way of generating income while we carry on."

"Right. Well, I think we can do it. If you need anything fixing urgently, just bring it here and I'll work on it in the shop, alright?" She was much calmer now, and Nikolai's hands were still on her shoulders, rubbing soothing circles into her skin with his thumbs.

"Thank you," she sighed, then pointed an accusatory finger at him. "I still don't like you."

"I wouldn't expect anything less. Now go on, get your house ready," he smiled, receiving a glare in return as she stalked out the room. Apparently the moment of softness was gone, and Y/n was back to hating him.

~~~

It was nearly eight bells, and Y/n was close to gauging her eyeballs out.

Her mother hadn't stopped talking about Dominik the entire afternoon, so Y/n had had to hide upstairs to prevent unnecessary injuries from happening.

She'd been surprised at how level-headed Dominik had been that morning, and had been considering rethinking her original perception of the man, but when he then never turned up after five bells, as he said he would, she berated herself for ever thinking that he would be different. He obviously had no desire to be near her, which was why he had never showed, but he'd seemed so sincere that morning it made her heart hurt a little at having fallen for the nice guy act again. He was probably annoyed that she'd invaded his personal space, but then if he didn't want that, why pretend to be her partner? She'd let out her frustration on the weeds in the front garden of the mansion, ripping them up from the ground as she muttered expletives under her breath.

Since getting home half an hour ago, her mother hadn't stopped talking, again, about how happy she was that Y/n had finally found somebody. Seeking an escape, Y/n had run a bath, hoping to have some peace and quiet while she washed off the dirt and sweat from her day. She had stayed in there until her fingers wrinkled, and reluctantly put on the dress her mother had laid out for her. She'd made it clear that Y/n would be wearing it or starving, and she hadn't eaten since breakfast. Hearing a knock on the front door, Y/n jumped, then sprinted down the stairs to reach it before her mother. Flinging open the door, she came face to face with Dominik, looking annoyingly put together in contrast to her own wild hair (made that way by her rush downstairs). She glared at him, hoping he'd understand where he went wrong and would apologise profusely, but his smile never wavered as he leaned in for a hug. Immediately, Y/n flinched, going still as his arms wrapped around her.

"What. The fuck. Are you doing?" she hissed directly into his ear.

"Your mother is at the end of the hall and is watching everything, so maybe look a little less like a brick wall and more like you're actually happy to see me?" he whispered back, breath tickling her neck. Begrudgingly she brought her arms up around his torso, pushing herself up on her toes a little so her face wasn't uncomfortably jammed into his shoulder.

"Can I let go now?" she grumbled.

"Sure." He pulled back before her, but kept one arm wrapped around her shoulders to prevent her from running away.

"Oh, don't you two look wonderful!" her mother clapped from where she stood, painfully oblivious to how they kept pinching and poking the other in the side. "Well, come on through! Dinner's on the table already!" She disappeared through the doorway, leaving Y/n and Dominik on their own.

"I'm going to bruise from your torture," he whispered, yanking off his jacket. "What did I do to deserve that?"

"Where were you earlier? You said you'd come by after five bells and you never showed!"

"I never said that," he frowned, hanging the coat up on the wall. Y/n could only stare in disbelief at his blatant lie.

"Yes you did. You said that when you'd finished work, you'd come and help me. Or is your memory so shit you can't remember making a promise to your fucking girlfriend?"

"You are not my girlfriend," his expression hardened. "I am not your boyfriend, we are not anything. I can remember that just fine. I don't owe you anything, and you don't owe me anything. We're just using each other to get what we really want, alright?" He left then, following the footsteps of her mother, and when Y/n heard him cheerily greet her as though he hadn't just been an ass, she wanted to cry. Sure, she hadn't been the nicest to him, and sure, he'd given her no reason to think that he wasn't the fuckboy she'd decided he was, but he was the one that had come up with this ridiculous charade in the first place, so he could at least fucking try.

Hearing the laughter coming from the other room, she brushed away the few tears that had fallen, then went and splashed some cold water on her face. She refused to let any more tears fall for that man, and putting on a brave face and a fake smile, Y/n entered the lion's den.

~~~

"So how did you to meet?" Y/m/n asked, and Nikolai swallowed his mouthful to answer. Before he could, Y/n had done it for him.

"Just in town," she waved her hand in a way that was just as vague as her words.

"Oh, come on, darling, you can tell her the whole thing," Nikolai spoke up, smirking at her glare. She did that a lot, and he had to wonder if she was going to end up not being able to make any other facial expressions.

"I don't think mother wants to hear-"

"YES! Yes I do! Tell me everything!"

"Why don't you tell the story, sweetheart? Since you seemed so keen for my mum to know?"

Now it was his turn to glare, hiding it behind a sickly sweet smile.

"Of course. I should have known you wouldn't want to tell it, given how embarrassing it was for you." Her mouth opened in indignant shock, and she jabbed him in the side.

"It was not embarrassing for me, if anything you were the one who was embarrassed!"

"JUST TELL ME!" her mother shouted, glee written all over her face.

"Well. I had just come in to town, been settled in for a few days, started my job. It wasn't long before we met, actually," he gestured to Y/m/n. "Darling Y/n here needed something fixing, I couldn't tell you what it was, I was too busy looking at the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life," he glanced over at Y/n, forcing a loving expression into his eyes while she looked like she was trying not to gag. "I thought she was flawless."

"Thought? Do you not still?"

"Well she tripped and fell flat on her face after she saw me, obviously shocked by how handsome I am. Y/n is still gorgeous, of course, but nobody is perfect."

Y/n scoffed. "Yeah, sure, I tripped over because of how attractive I find you," she deadpanned. "You'd left a cable lying on the floor, and I fell over because of that, you shit. Besides, that doesn't even begin to compare to how you couldn't utter a single word in my presence, you were stuttering all over the place, flustered by my beauty." She smirked up at him, shoving a mouthful of food in. Nikolai was seething. He never allowed himself to be unable to speak; he prided himself on his public speaking abilities, and Y/n knew it.

"Sure. Think what you like, darling. That doesn't stop the fact you were totally checking me out while I fixed that thing for you."

"You mean the light? Sweetheart, I think you were the one checking me out given you can't even remember what it was I brought in for you."

"So how did you end up together then?" Y/m/n was leaning forward in her seat, plate of food long forgotten.

"She said no the first time I asked her on a date, but when I bribed her with the promise of paying for everything she accepted."

"As if I would go for that," she mumbled under her breath. Speaking up, she said "He did, as well. He's surprisingly well paid for a mechanic. We went to Marie's place, down by the sea."

"Oh, Saints, that's expensive!"

"What can I say? There's not much I won't do for my love," he looked down at Y/n again, sending yet another fake smile her way. Her mother sighed in happiness, resting her chin on her hands.

"Why don't you two have a kiss?" Nikolai froze, an he felt Y/n do the same from where his arm was over the back of her chair.

"Do we really need to, mum? Can't we just-"

"Why don't you two have a kiss?" Her tone was much harsher this time, although her smile was just as sweet as before, and suddenly Nikolai understood where Y/n got it from.

"Darling?"

"Sweetheart?"

"I think your mother wants us to kiss."

"Touch me and die," she whispered as he leaned in. Rolling his eyes slightly, he brought his spare hand up to the side of her face, covering their lips. He came close enough to feel her breath on his face, and when he whispered into her he felt the ghost of her lips against his own.

"Close your eyes, and try and make it look believable." He closed his own eyes, tilting his head slightly as her hand came up around his neck.

"What are you doing?"

"If you don't want to kiss, then you don't want to kiss. I value my life and I fully believe that you would kill me if given the chance." He pulled back, opening his eyes as he felt his face warm from how close they had been, but when he was immediately confronted by Y/n's glare, the warmth disappeared, and he was filled with cold-blooded hate. What had he done now? He'd done what she'd asked, hadn't he? If this was still about that afternoon, then she needed to get over it. He couldn't tell her the truth, obviously, since it involved admitting he occasionally became possessed by a demon and probably telling her who he really was, and while he definitely shouldn't have lied in the way he did, he hadn't been able to come up with a feasible excuse. He knew that she was close with Gregor, and since the man lived above the shop Nikolai knew he couldn't say that he was working late. Besides, he'd told Gregor that he was headed over to the mansion, and had fully intended on going over and helping when the demon forced its way out and made Nikolai change his plans.

"Wonderful, just wonderful!" Y/m/n exclaimed, and Nikolai couldn't help but disagree.

Chapter 3

#grishaverse #netflix shadow and bone #nikolai lantsov #nikolai lanstov x reader #nikolai x reader #nikolai lanstov x y/n #nikolai x y/n

[chibivesicle]

I would love to see an in depth breakdown of Stampede’s reworkings of Trigun’s female characters and how they compare to their original counterparts. Because although I’m not normally one to cry “misogyny” but I can’t help but feel like whoever decided to turn multifaceted characters like Meryl, Luida and Elendira into cutesy waifus and reduced Rem to the classic ‘dead mother’ trope has some explaining to do. There’s also the matter of the plants in Stampede being forcefully impregnated via Knives violating Vash, complete with swollen pregnant stomachs, which to me is just straight up, well, cursed(although something similar happened in the manga).

I can’t help but feel like there’s a lot of unspoken misogyny here.

Hello!

Now that Trigun Stampede is over and the dust has settled, I can 100% say that I agree with you. The level of lazy misogynistic writing in Stampede was high. When I was doing the weekly videos, I kept thinking, "Well, it isn't that bad. Is it?" until looking at the entire show and realizing, that "Yeah. It was terrible."

I'm not even going to touch on the entire sexual/impregnation of the plants via Knives by violating Vash at all! I'm sure one could write an entire meta about it and how cringe it is but I'm not feeling that vibe.

I'll focus on the female cast and how they were shortchanged from the original work to this 're-imagining'. I will say that the Trigun manga, focuses less on the female characters. But they are all totally competent individuals who are not driven by the romantic need to marry some man. Overall, the '98 anime was even better by creating the quartet of Vash, Meryl, Milly and Wolfwood. I mentioned it from time to time in my reviews but the original anime passed the Bechdel test. Which on paper isn't a high bar for media to clear but soooo many things fail that test.

For overall female character significance and roles in the Trigun universe (multiverse?) the '98 anime is top. Meryl and Milly play a major role in how Vash and Wolfwood behave and also bear witness to their actions and support them. Yet, they are not weak but instead demonstrate how four people, will have four different ways to solve the exact same problem.

However, the manga has a greater cast of women and cannot be ignored. As you mentioned, Luida and Elendira appeared in Stampede from Trimax and both are great characters. Aaannnnddd, Stampede ruined them for me.

The best way to approach all of the key women of the series, we'll break it down by character.

Meryl Stryfe - insurance adjuster/reporter

Trigun manga - secondary character. Acts as human viewpoint watching Vash, reacting to the power of his angel arm, contemplating what it is like to kill someone with a firearm. Age at the start of manga 21. Age after time skip, 23. By the end of the series 24-25 ish?

Trigun '98 - main character. Acts as human viewpoint in observing Vash [again] but also feels compassion towards him as their friendship grows. Senior and experienced insurance adjuster both a friend and mentor for Milly. Competent on the job, hard worker, gets things done, leans for logic over emotions. Age not mentioned in anime, but likely similar to manga. Vocal, opinionated, and ready to take on any situation.

Stampede - main character. Newbie reporter for November news under Roberto. Older starting age of 23, yet acts like she's 16 or something. Her character is a disappointment in this version; with her being junior to Roberto there is no senior female in the cast and it shows. By no means is Meryl supposed to be a perfect person (this is Nightow after all) but he does not write cutesy female characters. No female character in his cast is like how she is in Stampede.

Milly Thompson - insurance adjuster/reporter/???TBD

Trigun manga - secondary character. Strong, emotional, a bit naive but still able to help Wolfwood out during a fight. Continues to be the junior to Meryl and follows her to their secondary career as journalists.

Trigun '98 - main character. Foil to both Meryl and Wolfwood. Besides Vash making Wolfwood change his viewpoints, she also pushes him to think about things differently. Most importantly, she doesn't judge him based on his actions and only shows that she cares. Emotionally intelligent, naive and honest to a fault.

Stampede - next season?

Enough said right there. Why was Milly replaced by lame ass old man info dump Roberto?

Rem Severem - Key team member of Project Seeds/Vash and Knives adopted mother

Trigun manga - Rem is the mother/moral guidepost for Vash in the manga. He tries to uphold her ideals and moral code to not kill anyone. She told him about the death of her significant other which left her feeling lost. However, a dream about her taking a train with a origin station but no destination created her philosophy that everyone's ticket to the future is blank.

She is an incredibly compassionate individual and even tries to stop Vash from committing suicide being injured herself in the events. It causes him to snap out of it as he put her in medical care. However, her philosophy is impossible to practice on the planet where the ships crashed. Yet for ~150 years Vash is able to not kill another person.

Trigun '98 - The exact same role as in the manga but with less backstory fleshed out. However, her quote of one's ticket to the future is blank is the same. Additionally, the anime adds in her love of a creation song which becomes a musical motif in the anime linking Vash to her and to the present day humans as they try to create a new world. Hence the creation myth song as Project Seeds was to allow for them to restart.

The anime links Rem to Meryl when Vash finds himself lost as she supports him before he heads off for his final showdown with Knives. It shows that a very similar philosophy still exists within humanity and that Vash can continue on with his personal moral compass.

Stampede - At first, we learn who Rem is, unlike the anime or manga. She shows us that she saved Vash and Nai and that she loved them. However, that was it. We never hear her personal philosophy. The flashback only focuses on how she tries to raise them as her own children but no deep moral discussions are had like in the manga or even the anime.

Again, this is a huge determent to her character in Stampede; the series very much went for tell not show. So to try to convey Rem's character through showing when the default was tell made it a disappointment. I waited, waited, waited for her to say at least some version of her quote about the ticket being blank. Nothing.

Rem barely spoke in the scheme of things. Nor did Vash have dream or one sided conversations with her in Stampede which also made it hard to understand why he wouldn't kill.

Elendira the Crimsonnail - 13th Gung-ho Gun/nail producing child-plant hybrid who doesn't age

Trigun manga - A trans woman and the strongest of the Gung-ho Guns. Truly a witty and fashionable individual with her briefcase that allows for her to pierce opponents with a rain of oversized nails. Elendira's character is quite nuanced, watching the fall of humanity on the planet while having complex conversations with Legato. The two of them are frequently at odds but both see their roles to assist Knives in his goals.

I found her character to be the most sane/rational viewpoint into Knives and his organization. She always has a witty remark or comment and seems to have chosen to work with Knives thinking that this would be the winning side.

After she's revealed to be trans, that's pretty much it. It isn't brought up time and time again, nor does it define her character - you know with the whole ending of humanity on the planet taking more precedence.

Her final battle against Livio is epic and overall, I liked her character. She was badass in the best way possible.

Stampede - Ugh, where do I even start. . . . Elendira appears to be a perma-prepubescent child being a human-plant hybrid. We see her with Grey the Ninelines when they steal a plant in episode 3 wearing a pink dress. So maybe a girl? Maybe a boy? No gender?

But then, when we get the Monev the Gale/Rollo flashback, she speaks to young Rollo calling herself an angel and appears the same age. Present events put her fight with Vash, Wolfwood, Meryl and Roberto 25 years later and she looks the same. Apparently, being a human-plant hybrid makes her inferior to Vash or Knives since she still has to plug herself into one of the glass aquariums to regulate her 'gate'. So, not a plant plant, but lacking the skills of an independent plant. Sort of a crappy outcome the more you think about it.

Despite her age being at least 35 (say she was 10 when she met Rollo) or even older than that - she acts like a child. Gets angry like a child and has not mentally matured at all. Again, didn't get the rapid aging bits of Vash so still mentally a child? Unless I am told otherwise, I'm gonna stick with she/her pronouns and based on the rest of writing for Stampede, they likely want us to see her as cis not trans.

You cannot even compare Trimax Elendira to Stampede. They are not the same character other than the name. They don't even use nails the same way! As far as I'm concerned, she's pointless in Stampede. A cutesy angry girl who will kill you with her gate manifested nails.

Luida - Leader of [un]crashed seeds ship/botanist

Trigun manga - leader of humans from the Project Seeds ship that had been in hiding with several generations of humans living on it above the barbaric planet below. As events worsen, becomes the de facto leader of all the humans resisting Knives and coordinates with the NML cavalry. Wise, straight shooting and in charge. Brad works for her after the death of the Sensei by the Leonoff the Puppet master situation.

She never really steals any scene but is critical to the success of their plan and acts as the link between the humans from Earth and the people on the planet's surface. Always framed in a strong position of leadership. A very androgynous appearance with spiked black hair, and simple clothing.

Stampede - Simplified to the second stand in mother figure for Vash. She also gets aged up with her first meeting Vash when he was a teenager and brought him into their home. Instead of being older than Brad, she is a peer with him and both of them are considerably older in the current time point. A plant biologist expert - something which is not even close to the role that she played in Trimax.

She also elicits the anti-mother anger from Knives in Stampede, meaning that Knives only wants Vash to himself. No women allowed to be mothers for them! Compared to the manga, she again like Elendira is a totally different character. We don't see a whole lot of that natural leadership and commanding presence from the manga.

Therefore, of this list of key female characters their fates are as such in Stampede:

Meryl - aged up but down in maturity and experience.

Milly - missing.

Rem - dead mother trope. Never said anything to convey why Vash is the way he is.

Elendira - infantilazation to a perma-child.

Luida - kind older lady/second mother.

Therefore, two female characters have been relegated to mother figures; Rem and Luida. Meryl was made less mature to be the junior to an old asshole. Elendira is as far as we know a perma-child.

All mature women with years of experience have been removed from the story. Yeah, I enjoyed the previous versions of Trigun for their killer girls, uwu-waifus, and doting mothers. Really connect with these sorts of characters. . . .

I'm sure you can tell I'm being sarcastic. Thus, I will rewatch the '98 anime, or reread the manga and turn my attention to Kekkai Sensen. Where there are more excellent female characters - shocking! K.K., Chain Sumeragi, Luciana Estavez, Aligura, Michella Watch (a blind woman in a wheelchair took out a Beyondian mad doctor remember?) and in the anime, White.

If Stampede wanted to do scary cute well, they only needed to look at Aligura. One of the 13 kings and a gothic lolita. It takes ovaries to liquefy your boyfriend and inject him into your crush. But hey, it works. 'Cause based on her dismissal of Leo thinking that he was important to her, she's not one to cry like a perma-child like Elendira in Stampede. When one's monster truck, car eating vehicle of destruction causes thousands of casualties, you are pretty badass.

#ask #answered ask #trigun stampede #trigun anime #trigun manga #trigun maximum #meryl stryfe #milly thompson #luida #rem severem #elendira the crimsonnail

[robbiefischer]

i hate this paper i'm writing and i'm sick of looking at it. could i ask for some fun facts about julian and niko? anything you want to tell me, i'll take ANYTHING.

On the one hand, I feel like I shouldn't distract you from what you should be doing. But on the other hand, I empathize and will take absolutely any excuse to talk about Julian and Niko - if you don't mind I'm just going to throw out some basic stuff because it's been so long. But do your paper, okay? You'll feel so much better once it's done. Cut to save a life (and your dash).

Julian's a musician - he's the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for a band that he started with his best friend Saoirse, called fables. Other core members include Zoe (Saoirse's girlfriend), Annika, Lachlan and Avery. They've released five studio albums, and tour regularly. He's also an artist - he's done most of the band's promotional materials, merch designs, album covers, etc. and occasionally does work on commission. Niko is an art historian and museum curator (he has his PhD), and works as the chief curator at the largest art museum in New Islington.

Julian's family... are sort of evenly split between absolutely awful and wonderful. His bio-mom is (well, was - I ended up killing her off during the pandemic because honestly, she needed to go) pretty much evil and his dad was an extreme enabler of her narcissism and abuse. They're slowly developing a bit of a relationship again now that Julian's mom is gone, but they were essentially no-contact for years. On the other hand, his aunt (dad's sister) Clare and her wife Ana are fantastic. They basically acted as his second moms as much as they could during his childhood and teenage years and their home was always a refuge for him when he could get away. Niko's family is great, even if his relationship with his father has had some rough spots. His dad's really not bad, but he's very high-achieving and always expected that out of Niko as well. Very much a "where are the other two points?????" person if Niko brought home a 98% on a test, and while Niko's always been very academically and achievement-oriented, it wore on him a lot when he was younger. Niko's family still lives in Greece, so Julian's aunt Ana has basically adopted him as her own honorary son - they're thick as thieves.

Niko's favorite flower are sunflowers, and Julian's are tulips. Julian loves roses and peonies as well, but don't give him lilies.

They both share a love of traveling and are lucky enough that they both have to do quite a bit for work. Julian will often join Niko on work trips if he can, and it's not at all uncommon for Niko to fly out for a few days at the end of a tour so they can explore whatever city the band's in. They're all about the local culture when they travel - they'll check out a few museums and monuments, go on neighborhood walking tours to look at beautiful architecture and learn about the history of wherever they are, go to lectures and concerts, and spend their evenings checking out fun little wine or cocktail bars and local restaurants. Neither of them are beach people. Julian burns so easily even with sunscreen, and Niko's really not a fan of getting sand everywhere. Plus, they both find lying there listening to the ocean boring.

One thing they don't share is their feelings on birthdays. Niko is such a birthday person. The anniversary of his fabulous self being unleashed upon the world? Heck yeah, he's going to celebrate. He doesn't go as far as having a birthday month, but he definitely has a birthday week and will usually have multiple celebrations with different friend groups. He's such an extrovert, has tons of friends and wants to see everyone. They throw a big, fancy party every year for his birthday and he looks forward to it and works on planning it down to every last detail for months in advance. Julian, on the other hand... he has a lot of complicated feelings surrounding his birthday. Between how awful his mom always made it for him, and then how his shitty ex-boyfriend would be on his birthday, he used to prefer ignoring it entirely. He's come to enjoy a smaller, more low-key celebration with Clare, Ana and his bandmates and then a fancy birthday night with just Niko but it's taken him a while to get there. And he does not want a big, fancy party like his husband does - Niko made the mistake of planning him one the first year they were together and, while Julian did his best to enjoy it and be grateful, it really wasn't his thing at all and he asked Niko to please never do that again. It was just so stressful and anxiety-inducing for him.

Julian's asthmatic just in case that's relevant to anyone's interests. Also, an insomniac. Both are relatively well-controlled usually, but he'll have insomnia flare-ups a few times a year and his asthma acts up more if he's sick.

Niko's had a bit of a bad back ever since he threw it out at work helping to move a few big pieces for an exhibit the museum was putting on. He's been through a lot of physical therapy for it, had an injection or two and has (mostly) controlled it ever since with yoga, swimming, regular massages and occasional courses of anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxants when it's flaring up. Julian's started doing yoga with him, although he's really more into it for the stress reduction benefits. He does it every night before bed and it's helped a lot with his sleep issues.

I know there's SO much more I could talk about for them, but my brain's doing the "Jules and Niko? I have never met them in my entire life" thing right now and I think I need to take a break. But I hope you enjoyed this!

p.s. Go write your paper if you haven't by now!

#asked and answered #my ocs #oc: julian #oc: niko

[captain-aralias]

My Year in Review (but i cut the giant gif)

summary is - my top posts this year are recs, discord links .... and a pregnancy announcement!

I posted 1,105 times in 2022

165 posts created (15%)

940 posts reblogged (85%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@facewithoutheart

@cutestkilla

@artsyunderstudy

@letraspal

@forabeatofadrum

I tagged 908 of my posts in 2022

Only 18% of my posts had no tags

#carry on - 700 posts

#carry on fanart - 277 posts

#fic rec - 235 posts

#my content - 177 posts

#unintended - 38 posts

#snowbaz - 36 posts

#restoration ecology - 31 posts

#simon snow series - 22 posts

#doctor who - 16 posts

#sort of - 10 posts

Longest Tag: 129 characters

#the ones i'm disappointed with didn't quite sell the premise or i had to write them too hurriedly or forgot to bring something in

I sent 3 gifts in 2022

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

life update

i'm 14-weeks pregnant 🎉

due date: 30th may

bit more info below the cut

i thought about making a lulzy WIP wednesday post (aka, "here is what i'm working on") along these lines a few times, but i didn't want to tag anyone into personal stuff they didn't necessarily want, and also i thought i miscarried almost immediately and that started me down a spiral of anxiety, so now it's not so funny. but anyway - i thought today would be a good day to tell people, since we're out the first trimester.

how:

IVF - worked first time

my partner's egg

donor sperm - man it's weird buying sperm, particularly from america, although i only browsed. i bought from the UK. i do know men i could have asked, but in the end i thought... i dont know anyone well enough i'd want to have a child with them. at all.

happy to answer questions about any of the above, if you're interested. thinking of writing a blog about it in my work persona.

how am i?

fine apart from the anxiety!

my main symptoms have been exhaustion, leading to very little writing, and some nausea but pretty weaksauce compared to some

i've told most people at work, which is a very supportive environment, so all good.

my partner's therapist said (to her) not to make big life decisions so soon after the death of my mum/her dad on the same day about a year ago, but we are both in our mid thirties and at our most financially viable, so - hopefully it's fine.

how is baby?

probably ok! we've seen them on several scans, definitely have two arms, two legs, brain, etc

still haven't managed to do the test that tells you the likiehood of Downs etc, though, as the baby has refused to move into a position where they could get a good measurement. we may know towards the end of december - so that is making me More Anxious, but it's still fine

why am i putting this on the internet?

a few reasons.

firstly - i would've told livejournal. the same thing happened when my mum died - i wanted to tell the online community i'm part of, the same way i've told friends and people from work.

but also - because i've been saying i've been tired and that i'm not writing on here, and i wanted everyone to know... this is why. i'm not sick! i'm just pregnant.

AND ... i don't know what the next six months, and then the next.......... twenty years will be like. i'm hoping to write a few more Carry On things before the baby arrives, assuming the second trimester is less tiring (which seems likely so far), but who knows? and probably less after that. BUT WHO KNOWS.

my partner is also a fandom person. i have nine(ish) months of maternity leave (thanks, britain!) and she'll be around for most of that too, thanks to working from home. so  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ maybe i'll be writing a bunch of extremely realistic babyfics or something. probably not, but you never know.

anyway!

that's the news.

it may all still go wrong, obviously. we haven't done all the tests, still six months to go.

i'll update with these same tags, if we lose the baby for whatever reason, and i'll update if we don't!

98 notes - Posted December 4, 2022

#4

Some 'Carry On' Recommendations for your Tuesday

here's some things i've been reading recently that i think other people should read too! thanks for tagging me @messofthejess!

N.B. this list is super long and also only scratching the surface... i should rec more often, anyway - if you see this, please read some of the things as you will really like them, and give the authors some love!

Teen or under

The Plum Tree by @otherpeoplesheartachept-2, under 1k

baz and malcolm talk (without exactly talking) about how baz is a vampire. great characterisation, really nice contained and different piece.

Eight Times Simon Couldn’t Stop Himself by knightinbrightfeathers, RainyForecast, steadfastasthouart (steadfastest) - 12k

just realised this has three authors! really brilliant fic, fangirl-era - but super worth reading, as long as you're ok with simon being smart, and also knowing he's into boys before he kisses baz. (why wouldn't you be?). this is all about simon and baz pranking each other/being generally awful, until they aren't - you see their relationship changing and simon gradually realising what he feels about baz, then there's a telepathy scene! this was recced recently in the discord* so probably lots of people have now read it, but it's seriously good!

Golden Boy by @spockzilla, 9k

magickal mishap, simon turns everything to gold by mistake! this author (also responsible for the fic where simon turns into a frog) is really good at making the silliest things sexy, and sexy things silly - which is a good thing.

end to begin by @tea-brigade, 4k

canon AU, simon and baz are exes, but simon needs baz's help..... really lovely, unusual, interesting and moving fic! i really like how it uses this inciting incident to let baz be kind (that's for me, the most important thing about them being together) and encourage the two of them to have the conversation they should have had a long time ago. works so well.

Trapped by @you-remind-me-of-the-babe based on art by taken_aback_by_Tuesdays,

penny/shepard get together, no snowbaz involved! this fic is criminally unread, because ... it's not snowbaz, but it is BRILLIANT. amazing penny and shepard characterisation, and it's so fun to see them get together a different way... that also involves her saving him.

Explicit

This Will All Go Down In Flames by @facewithoutheart with art by @tea-brigade, 11/17 chapters, 40k, WIP (no sex yet, RIP)

obsessed with this fic right now! band AU where simon and baz briefly bacame friends at school, then became incredibly successful musicians before the band broke up... because simon and baz couldn't communicate about how they fancied each other. it's great! fun, funny, social media stuff, a malcolm trying to be down with the kids, texas references, shepard being a reporter - highly recommend.

Crosse My Heart by @creepyspice with art by @cutestkilla, 5k, brobelove not snowbaz

omg, this fic is so good. seriously - even if you dont think you're into brobelove, you should read this, as i dont believe you could like snowbaz if you don't like the competitive snarky action this fic has in spades, but also if you like brobelove, my god you should read this! such amazing characterisation and super sexy.

Here in the Dark by @artsyunderstudy, 5k

love this middle of the night sex - i'm repeating my comment here, but the whole mood is perfect: confused and dreamlike, you're locked out of baz's POV, entirely in simon's and it works so well for the mood. plus, it's sexy AND there's amazing art to go with it.

Two Heads Are Better Than One by @skeedelvee, 22k

omg, i am obsessed with this fic. it's so deeply strange (simon and baz share the same body, due to - magickal mishap!) AND SO AMAZING AND SEXY. and also romantic and fun. proper enemies to to friends to lovers action, a fantastic scene where simon and baz watch baz's vanilla porn, a bit where they defeat a unicorn together, sex as one person, sex as two people - it's got it all.

*if you're not in this discord, but you'd like to be, this is the link to get in: https://discord.gg/FJ8meVhr

that's enough - i've got more i should rec, but i'll do another post later.

101 notes - Posted August 16, 2022

#3

Thought it was time to bring this back. 

Discord is a chat room. This is a chat room about Carry On, etc.

Not the only one, but one of the biggest (there are 200+ members). The Discord has:

a strong, active moderator team, who make sure this is a safe space (not me, I’m just a helper)

adult-only areas, and a policy that NSFW stuff is not shared outside of these spaces

places to talk about and share fic, art, meta, fan theories, memes, etc

virtual outings, like fic readings

custom emojis

It’s very nice.

This link will get you in: https://discord.gg/8yZvQK7k 

(it expires in 7 days, so 6th May 2022, but feel free to message me if you see this post and the link’s expired)

You will have to introduce yourself before you’re given access to the server proper, although you don’t have to talk after that, if you don’t want to. You can just quietly vibe. Alternately, you can talk a lot and that’s fine too!

You will also have to sign up to the code of conduct.

If you have trouble getting in/speaking once you’re in, it could be because you haven’t verified your Discord account. There’s a clear prompt on desktop, but not on mobile.

I can confirm I checked with the mod team before making this post. It’s kosher.

Please share this post, if you want to.

108 notes - Posted April 30, 2022

#2

AU - Canon Divergence Recs

i couldn't think of a good title for this, but basically there have been a few fics recently where i thought: not only is this a great fic, but also this is something i think we could see more in other fics.

basically, they all do a thing that is a good tool to make new fics with. and they're all good fun. here we go:

Eighth Year AU but with Mage-mission

Shiver (rated E) by @facewithoutheart and, yeah, ok me - but not really

for me, an eighth year fic should be about baz being gone/the coffin, magic sharing (with simon and baz much more likely, therefore to be interested in each other quicker), or the plot events of carry on - this one does that. BUT ALSO the plot is driven by simon going on a quest for the mage, which is a classic seventh year trope. cool! (and not my idea)

Post Watford Get Together with Magickal Mishap

Come As You Are (rated E) by @facewithoutheart who sponsored this video

how genius is this? they've left watford, so they've both moved on but magickal mishap happens to simon and that's the plot instigator. simple, but genius.

Genuine new past for Simon and Baz, makes them the same but different

I Know What You Are (rated T) by @martsonmars

ok, other fics have done this too, but i really like this fic and i think the way it does this thing is perfect. simon's grown up with the mage and lucy as his parents; baz has been raised by natasha and malcolm. as a result, when we meet them in eighth year they have completely different histories. it's not only the way they interact with each other that's different, they're both much more confident, have different friends. they really are different people, but the same.

Carry On universe but no Watford

Pretty in Pink (rated T) by @arca9

i was re-reading this one (fake dating heist, love it!) the other day and thinking - this is pretty unique! baz and simon work for the coven, but only just met each other when they became partners, there's no watford. but they use the magic system - it's just a really fun view on what's necessary for your AU to work.

112 notes - Posted June 28, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Top 10 SnowBaz fics

I was talking earlier about how 'What's Left' is one of my top 10, which it is. obviously that made me think.... what are the rest?

i think it's probably instinctively these, these ones that influence me the most/that i've re-read the most/that i most wish i could have written, although i had to delete some real favs to get down to 10, and limited myself to one fic per author. and excluded 'your bloodied mouth' as it ain't finished, but kept 'northern downpour' as i believe it will be.

almost all canon divergence, most have plot and sex.

5 Times They Half-Arsed It by @krisrix

Bound and Determined by @fatalfangirl

Golden Years by @basic-banshee

keep on keeping on by waveydnp

In A Bind by @im-gettingby

Northern Downpour by @scone-lover

Remember the Magic by @sharkmartini

There'll Be Peace When You Are Done by somekindofpath

What's Left by @cutestkilla

When the Bells Ring by @phoxphyre

360 notes - Posted July 1, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #carry on #fic rec #personal #aralias's baby #pregnancy #i realised replying to comments on this post that i tried not to tag people into my actual post #becuase i didnt want to force anyone to have to read my personal stuff #and this post tags SO MANY PEOPLE #because it's full of recs #hey ho #sorry about that!

[turanga4]

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks for the tag, @lanaturnergetup, @hinnyfied and @pocket-lilacs!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 78, which is a terrifyingly large number, but almost every one of the works is very smol.

2. What's your total A03 words count? 66,388 (aka my entire 78-piece writing career so far would be, like, the same word count as 3 or 4 chapters in some of my favorite fics.)

3. What fandoms do you write for? Harry Potter

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Aftereffects (187 kudos????????) horrifies me with its popularity--I never really publicized that one, but it's the most beloved by leaps and bounds, even though almost no one comments. Fans of Snape, angst, and torture are forces to consider.

Accidental Magic (139) Yeah okay I like it--that was my first major foray into actually sharing my fic with the world.

Mothers (128) Featuring BAMF one pregnant Ginny Potter. Very much indebted, I think, to two excellent fests for that one taking off a bit--@hinnyfest for which I wrote it, and @ladiesofhpfest, where it was recced.

New Ice on A Lake (115) Semi-Obligatory post-war Harry Therapy fic. I still love this one, especially the bit about the brochure.

After The War (98) Ack lil baby turanga's head hop jamboree.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I do try! Absolutely means the WORLD to me that someone took to the time to share, and I think it's lovely to have a bit of a conversation, not just drop stuff in a void.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angtiest ending? Probably Tripping Over. No joy to be had in the graveyard, fourth year.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Dammit almost all my fics are fundamentally HAPPY. I like to write life as I see it, which is to say I don't tend to gloss over hard things, but I try to show that human connection and human resilience mean that the hard stuff isn't ALL that there is. But if it's pure HEA you're after, I reckon I'd say Epilogue.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Haven't done since I noped out of ff.net.

9. Do you write smut. If so what kind? Glad others can do it, but it's never been my thing.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I do not.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I'm aware. Fic slippage is very much a thing and it wouldn't make me mad.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? No.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before? I don't think that'd work for me--I tend very much, in conversation, to orient to my partner, and I think for co-writing, that would frustrate us both: I'd lose my own voice and end up aping THEIR voice badly.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship? I'm more a Gen writer than a shipper, but I guess Harry/Ginny.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? I will I will I WILL (there are three).

16. What are your writing strengths? I'm told I can say a decently large amount of things with a small amount of words.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I seem doomed to only produce, well, a small amount of words.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I did it once, for just one word, and found it exceptionally challenging, but also extremely enriching: I wanted to approach things with respect and awareness, and learn as much as I could before I tossed the word(s) out.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Oh goodness, way way way back in the day, I confess I wrote like three small fics for a TV show, Joan of Arcadia.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written? I truly don't have ONE.

tagging @greenhousethree @indigo-scarf @bettysgarden12 @ashesandhackles @nuatthebeach

#harry potter fan fiction #fan fiction community #fan fiction writer #tag game

[gnhaedam]

hi, all! i'm ivory (21+, they/them) with seo haedam, who you can find either giving tours over at evergreen horse farm (yes, that is definitely hay in his hair), fixing up his parent's old house on yellow street, most likely covered in some shade of paint, or delivering a homemade jar of apricot jam at your doorstep, courtesy of his mother. (remember to praise the mountain for which it's given us.) you can read more about him underneath the read more or find more information at his profile, or take a look at his plots, and if you leave a like, then i'll come find you in dm's soon!

born in gaenari in '98, an only child but a descendent of some of the oldest families who settled in the beginnings of the town. mainly on his father's side, while his mother's family came later

ever since then, his father's family has passed down a sort of worshipping of the mountain, and it's all that haedam's ever known. his entire family regards the mountain as an entity akin to a god, and they worship in their own ways with knowledge passed down generation to generation

he gets a high school education but finds himself right into work once it's done, because what his parents believe in is giving back to the mountain, and in turn they receive the benefits. he starts working at evergreen horse farm giving horse tours and lessons with how well he gets along with the animals, but finds himself encountering many stories from the people he meets of the world beyond

his parents don't really believe in the newest wave of technology or anything really past the town, and the phone that he does have is simple, just like his parents, and the shitty, old desktop computer they have at home doesn't do much for him either

his father works at a nearby farm while his mother sells jams and pickles out of their home which haedam usually delivers. they grow a lot of the ingredients out back in a greenhouse they have, and haedam's often there himself, tending to what they grow, in his free time

while he does work at the farm, he does a lot of work taking care of his parents and their house. he does so with his grandparents, too, who also reside in yellow creek, and repairs and deals with the old houses that are breaking around them

he's also built a habit of leaving poetry and words scribbled across random bits of paper he finds around town. newspapers, napkins, fliers, ripped from journals. it's always done in red ink, but he never signs it off as himself. it's a lot of things he'd never say out loud, and the only way he really feels heard without worry of who's listening to him say it

while he's always believed in what his parents tell him, it's been a slow progression of his own guilt and curiosity as he finds he wants to know more about his family. what they did to get here, how they stayed, what the mountain really gives them

even though he's never questioned it before, he finds himself looking for answers wherever he might find them, while still trying to maintain who he believes his parents want him to be, the son that gives back to the mountain, and praises the mountain, and does as he should in return to what he's been given

and the more curious he gets, the more covering his trail gets even harder to bear. always having been calm, quiet, and reserved, it's only getting more and more evident the weight on his shoulders of all of these thoughts lately, and only time will tell just what he'll do with all of it

and i do have some plots already here, but i'll leave just a few ideas of places to start!

others who grew up in gaenari, too, and probably had many classes together over the years. your family often buys jams and pickles from his mother, or your parents know his parents from long ago, and you've attended dinners together, visited each other's houses, played in the lawn and heard and saw the reverence with which him and his family treated everything from the mountain

you're new to gaenari and he's eager to hear more about what it's like outside of town. he's happy to show you around, or to tell you more about what he does know

you start to think there's something about this mountain, too and you want to know more just like he does

you've always wondered just where all of that faith that his family has comes from and ask him about it, always wondered what he was always repeating underneath his breath, a familiar habit

you keep finding these little red-written notes around town and think something should be done about it. either you're collecting them or throwing them away or making your own spin on the notes, but he starts to notice and asks you about it

you're both somewhere you shouldn't be. you're both going to take this secret with you even into the daylight

you've noticed he's off, lately. there's something about him that doesn't match up with the usual haedam you've always known, but he's not really budging with an answer, and you keep asking him about it. maybe one of these days he'll finally let it all out, even what he doesn't tell those red signed notes

you also know a thing or two about family tradition, and what's expected of you, and how it clashes with what you feel inside of your heart, and it's one of the only things you two can relate on

you know what it's like, to have a duty and to want to leave it, and you also get the feeling of wanting to run away. so you do, even if it's only for a little while, you run as fast and as far at the night will take you, only until you've got enough time for the morning to not catch you out

anyone who lives in yellow creek, you can probably always find him there, at the water, trying to hide away. it's a good thinking spot, after all

even though this got long, thank you for reading! and if you'd like to plot, then haedam and i will appear in your dm's, sadly, without his mother's jam to sweeten the deal (but hopefully, with very fun plots!)

#* -- introductions

[pancake-breakfast]

Trigun Stampede Spoilers

As we get to the final episode of the season, those familiar with the basic story beats of Trigun know there's a decent chance we could end this arc on a bit of a downer note. But Orange won't do that; no, they can't do that. Not if they want to stay true to the themes of the story.

Vash is the ever-blooming flower in the desert, the light in the darkest of storms, hope springing eternal even in the face of the most monstrous situations. To end the series on a note that lacks even the tiniest of flickers of that light would be to do a disservice to all that Vash is.

But in spite of all the horror that happened in Episode 11, I think Orange will pull through. Why? Because they've demonstrated multiple times that they're keenly aware of this aspect of Vash's character, and have gone out out of their way to express that.

I'm just gonna go over three places where they've shown that below, though I believe there are more to be found:

The Opening Song - Kvi Baba by Tombi I could go over the entirety of the lyrics, but I'll just focus on the bridge and chorus. 失いたくない I don't wanna lose これ以上の愛 Any more love 失いたくない I don't wanna lose これ以上の愛 Any more love 今⽇と明⽇の境なら未だ無 The border between today and tomorrow is still missing 眠れずに⾒る悪夢は終わらない Sleepless nightmares never end それでも僕は希望を忘れない But I never forget my hope それでも明けぬ夜ならここにない Through every dark night there's a bright day, even here This might as well just be Vash's theme song. I mean, this is the guy who's all about Love and Peace, who's body is a scarred-up mess because he's constantly putting himself in danger to help people. He's lost so much and hurt so much and been through so much, but even through the worst of it, he can't help but keep striving toward his goal. (Brief spoilers for '98 in the next paragraph. If you want to avoid them, skip to #2.) Those who have watched '98 (and I think maybe Maximum fans? IDK, I don't remember much of Maximum...) might remember the Ericks arc. Even then, when he's supposed to be in hiding and not being Vash the Stampede, boy can't stop himself from interfering (sometimes at great risk to himself) when he sees others in danger. He's always gotta help, and he's always gotta keep trying to pull everyone he can find toward that hope that he strives for.

The Soundtrack Itself The soundtrack, as it should, goes through a lot of different moods, but despite the foreboding and anxiety in the penultimate track (titled Millions Knives), the final track (titled Trigun Stampede) is light and hopeful. It also has lyrics. I couldn't find an official source for them, but it seems to include the following lines: Call me Vash the Stampede Live in Love and Peace Maybe a musician for an opening or closing song is gonna miss a few story points if they're not paying attention, but it seems unlikely they'd casually overlook this element in their soundtrack. Not when they've put so much work into capturing a reasonable facsimile of Vash. Additionally, a well-designed soundtrack should reflect the story it's trying to tell... and while I might be stretching a bit on this one, I'd like to think Stampede's soundtrack is well done. So it begs the question, why end the soundtrack that way if you're not going to have the story circle back to that light?

The Plant Manifestation at the End of Episode 11 I actually missed this one at first, so I'm glad other people noticed and pointed it out. After everything that happened in Ep 11, after Knives went after every memory and every moment of value to Vash and removed them with surgical precision, apparently he still can't entirely remove Vash's memory of Rem, because she's the figure blooming over July. Not Vash. Not Nai. Not another more plant-ish being. Rem, the surrogate mother who meant everything to Vash, whose brief existence continues to spur him forward to hope in the face of hopelessness. Knives tried to take everything away from Vash, to leave him as nothing but a husk, but some aspect of Rem still remains.

But I find myself wondering if Vash will be in any condition to keep holding that light at the season's end. I wonder if, instead of giving it back to Vash right away, Orange will instead give it to Meryl, and she'll hold onto it until Vash comes back to himself. Seems like she's holding a lot right now, but she seems both willing and able. Meryl's always been a bit of a fighter in her own way, and I could see her with all her determination declaring that no, this is not the end, that she will keep moving forward toward the ideal Vash chased, and she'll drag him along until he can walk the path on his own again, and then they'll both walk it together.

Hopefully, Wolfwood will be there, too. And who knows? Maybe they'll pick up another friend along the way....

#trigun #trigun stampede #trigun spoilers #trigun stampede spoilers #anime analysis #pancake thoughts