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collecting-stories · 10 months

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Long Story Short - Steve Harrington

Request: Hii <33 can i request long story short for steve harrington?

Summary: You wake up in the middle of the night from a terrible nightmare and seek out Steve's help to calm yourself down.

TS Anthology Series | Stranger Things Masterlist

...long story short it was a bad time, long story short I survived...

You were vaguely aware of Robin saying your name, she kept repeating it like a mantra, begging you to give any indication that you could hear her. And you did, hear her, but you couldn't answer. When you opened your mouth nothing came out, as if someone had switched off all the sound except for Robin's voice, echoing in your head. You clutched at your chest and your legs felt tangled in something as you kicked into the darkness, lurching forward and...suddenly you were in your room.

You searched for the light switch on your lamp, a dull yellow glow emanating through the room. Glasses on and realization beginning to set in, you weren't in the upside down, Robin wasn't calling your name, it was all just a bad dream. A really terrible nightmare-of-a-dream but a dream nonetheless. No one and nothing was hunting you or your friends. On legs that felt like they could crumble at any moment, you made your way to the kitchen, passed your parents room, the living room with a solitary light on by the door, and finally to the sink where you poured a glass of water and tried to calm your nerves. Your hands were still shaking and you thought about calling to see if Robin or Nancy might be awake but the analog clock on the counter said it was three in the morning and you doubted any of your friends were actually awake right now. Their parents definitely weren't and you knew that neither household would appreciate a 3 a.m. wake up call.

Still, the thought of facing those monsters again, whether real or imagined, alone, was too much for you to handle. With your pajamas still on, you slipped on a pair of shoes and took your coat; leaving by the kitchen door. Hawkins at night was a familiar entity but you had lost the sense of comfort you used to have in its existence. When it snowed at midnight three weeks ago you'd hesitated at the kitchen door, weighing the likelihood that something could be there in the shadows, just beyond the glistening light cast over your yard and your neighbors'. You could remember staying out as long as possible before the fall of '83, playing hide-n-go-seek or tag or some iteration of both. Now you worried walking the trash from the garage to the curb on Wednesday nights. Vecna or One or whatever it wanted to be called was gone, Hawkins had survived and most everyone had moved on from what they perceived to have happened but you remained somewhat stuck in the past. Like a scratched record that kept looping back to the same outro, never able to move on.

The light above the back door of Steve Harrington's house flickered on and you realized you'd walked yourself all four blocks over to his street. You'd been thinking of Robin's in actuality, and then thinking of Robin had you thinking of Steve and the still somewhat unresolved conclusion to your embarrassing outburst of emotion when you'd made it out of the Upside Down alive. Kissing Steve Harrington and telling him that you loved had not been in the cards.

"Hey."

As equally embarrassing as showing up unexpected on his back porch at three in the morning after not speaking to him for two months was, you were still happy that Steve was the one standing there on the other side of the glass sliding doors and not his mom. How would you even begin to explain to her what you were doing at her house?

"Uh, hey," you held your hand up as if you were going to wave and then lowered it to your side again.

Steve slid the door open, "do you want to come in or..." He looked passed you at the emptied pool and you shook your head. It was January in Hawkins and you were beginning to realize how cold you actually were. He stepped to the side and you came into his kitchen, crossing your arms in some half-hearted attempt to comfort yourself. Or maybe regroup? What were you doing here?

"Did something happen?"

"Not exactly..." You replied, trying to sort out both your thoughts and what had propelled you to Steve's house. Not Robin or Nancy or even Dustin but Steve. Who you swore you would never see again. Or at least never speak to again so that you couldn't further embarrass yourself in front of him. "I mean...not really. Not here, or well, here but you know...not here." You gestured awkwardly trying to sign what you couldn't say, "I had a bad dream, basically."

"Shit," he nodded like he completely understood and you were sure that he did. "Are you okay?"

"I just..." You took a breath, trying to center yourself, "It just felt real." There were tears forming at the corners of your eyes and before you could keep trying to explain the dream, Steve had pulled you into a hug, wrapping his arms around you and crushing you against the sweater he was wearing. You hugged him back, purely because you'd been denying yourself any interaction with him for the last two months and you felt relieved when he was the first to act. As if, maybe, he hadn't realized you were being distant.

"It's not real," Steve promised, as if you might not've been sure that it was just a bad dream. It was a surprisingly reassuring sentiment. "This is real. You and me, right now. That's real."

"I know...I know it's past I just...I don't know. Sometimes I feel like I can't let myself let it go." You admitted. Despite coming through the Upside Down and Vecna with everyone, you had a tendency to close down. It was over and you could breath but when the nightmares and the bad memories resurfaced, you felt guilty for mentioning them. You didn't want anyone else to feel like you were feeling.

"That's okay," the reply came almost as a surprise to you, like a validation of all your worries. It was okay to feel stuck, it was okay to be frozen in this time loop, and it was okay to ask for help. "Do you wanna...we could put a movie on or something, if it would take your mind off of stuff?"

"Yeah, that'd be good." You nodded.

There was an unmistakable feeling of awkwardness in the air, as though neither of you was quite sure how to act around each other. You really couldn't blame Steve for feeling uncomfortable, if he did. It was entirely possible that you were only projecting your own discomfort at being here again after such a long time and so much distance. You wanted to apologize for telling him that you loved him. Not that you didn't mean just that you didn't mean to make things so awkward between the two of you.

Steve led the way into the den, two beige recliners dominating the small room and an entertainment center set up in front of them. You took the seat on the right, waiting to recline while you watched him scan the collection of VHS tapes his parents had.

"What do you want to watch?"

"Something that I don't have to think to hard about," you admitted. You weren't sure you had the mental capacity for anything serious.

"Secret of Nimh?" He asked, holding the VHS up for you, the animated mouse staring back.

"You have the Secret of Nimh?" You asked, perking up at the mention of it.

"I have all the mouse movies," Steve joked, setting that one down a pulling out a couple more as proof.

"The Rescuers and An American Tail?" You laughed, "I'm kinda tempted to watch them all."

"Do you want to?"

"I shouldn't be keeping you awake," you answered, catching the time on the clock hanging above the entertainment system. You were more than positive that Steve had better things to do than entertain you all night (or morning at this point) and sleep was one of those things.

"I don't care," he promised, "I'm glad you came here. After...you haven't really...well, I haven't seen you. I thought maybe you were avoiding me."

"Honestly?" You looked guilty as you replied, "I was."

"Ouch."

"I don't mean like...after I, said what I said...I just thought it'd be better not to bother you."

"Why?" Steve set the movies down and placed his hands on his hips the way he did when he was reprimanding Dustin, though in this case he looked far less stern and far more confused.

"Because..." You gestured with your hand, trying to explain yourself with a wave of your hand instead of speaking. What could you say? "Because I...didn't think you..."

"Did you think I didn't feel the same way? That I don't feel the same way?" He asked.

"I don't expect you to."

"Well I do."

"What?" You were the one who was confused this time, genuinely flustered as you tried to determine exactly what he was telling you.

"When you told me you loved me, I wanted to tell you that I loved you too...I just. It just caught me off guard. I'd wanted to tell you and when you were in the Upside Down I didn't think I'd ever get to and then all the sudden you were there, in front of me and saying it and I just...reacted too slowly." Steve admitted. "I wanted to tell you, every day since, but I didn't want to push you."

"All I thought about, when I was there, was telling you. I mean, obviously I thought about getting out of there alive but also...that if I did I would tell you and I didn't care if you felt the same way. But then, when you didn't say anything, I kind of realized I did care. I didn't want to hear you say that you didn't feel the same way."

"I guess we kind of fucked up huh?" Steve laughed at the end though it seemed more him mocking himself than anything else.

"I mean, not totally." You replied, "if we both feel the same way...kind of a round about way of figuring it all out but that doesn't mean its too late or something."

"Yeah..." He agreed, glancing back at the clock himself, "but it is too late right now. You should be trying to sleep, not spending time focused on everything that happened." He moved away from the entertainment system to grab a blanket from the basket in the corner, handing it over to you. "We can talk later."

"I don't want to miss any opportunities." You admitted, taking the blanket from him.

"You won't...we won't. I just don't want you to feel bad in the morning." He replied, leaning over and pressing a kiss to your forehead, hand gripping the armrest of your recliner, "we have time."

#steve harrington x reader #steve Harrington imagine #steve harrington fan fiction #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington fic #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x y/n #stranger things imagine #stranger things fanfic #stranger things fanfiction

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amphiptere-art · 3 months

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*watching the newest episode of Tsams. Everyone sitting in silence in front of the theater screen.*

*Cygnus slowly clenches his fist, creating scratches. Looking over to blackstar with a snarl.*

Cygnus: So. Are we finally going to head over there and help them?

Black Star: Not yet. There's always a chance-

Cygnus: Fuck your chances! He can't get out of there, and Ruin's bringing moon! It's going to die idiot! You said we were-

Blackstar: I said we would help when they're really wasn't any other chances! It's not like he's being harmed-

Cygnus: Harmed! Here I thought you were the soppy fella! He's already been harmed enough by his brain or whatever!

Black Star: He still has a chance, ruin wanted to help-

Cygnus: What type of opinion is that blasted British idiot has that will change moon's mind! Nothing stops him from coating his hands in blood or oil!

Black Star: We have to wait!

Cygnus: If we wait any longer he could die!

Black Star: And there's also a chance things can turn around! Maybe this is the version of us that actually gets a happy ending.

Cygnus: Don't kid yourself. Every iteration of us has died by moon's hands, or by his plans! Not once has he ever regretted it!

Blackstar: Earth could still-

Cygnus: Earth doesn't know anything! Moon's too much of a defensive coward to tell her of his plans of murder!

Black Star: Sun's been thinking it through-

Cygnus: Sun isn't going to fight his brother! He's just as much of a coward!

Black Star: He's still been speaking out more-

Cygnus: After the fact!

Black Star: Look we can't just take him! I can teleport in and out of there in seconds, I'm not going to let him die! This comes out minutes before anyways for us. It's not like I won't have a chance.

Cygnus: And you want him to live through that! To know that he was seconds before being scrapped to pieces!

Black Star: He won't be dead.

Cygnus: He won't be alive!

Antares: Look, Cygnus! You don't have the multi-dimensional teleportation powers. Black Star is the only one who has it. If you can't convince him now. You're not going to convince him otherwise.

Rigel: Pretty sure Black Star is serious about not letting them die. He just seems stuck on waiting.

Cygnus: Yah, stuck like you are believing lunar thinks you're a robot.

Rigel: Hey!

Cygnus: Oh, shut up! *Looking back towards Black Star* If you want to be an idiot and make Algol live through watching himself almost get torn to pieces, That's your problem! I told you he was going to die, And you decided to ignore it! You know just as much as anyone else here. That we are all destined to die or fall at moon's hands. Never once has that changed. The only happy endings, are the ones created by fantastical aftermaths! That are so off the Cannon road, They aren't even cannon! You are running off of the idea of a fantasy, that only comes out of wildest dreams. That hope you hold on to, is a dream! You know it! You're the fucking creation of one! You and your stupid god. You know that your fantasy is a lie! Why can't you just accept it that way!

*Silence spans like an overwhelming blanket in the area. Covering everything except for the hum of the projector. Cygnus stands firm in front of Black Star. Shaking in rage. Blackstar stairs back at him. His eyes portray the husk that they have to come. Unable to deny or confirm. Cygnus screams and slashes his rage towards a theater chair*

Cygnus: Fuck off then! Live in your false reality! Don't come looking for me! I'll tear you to bits if you do!

*Cygnus storms off. Briskly leaving the theater. Antares sits up from his chair. Slowly walking out of the theater himself.*

Antares: He's right you know. We're all exaggerated cut off from what is true. Expecting anything better than the standard will just make everything hurt more.

*Antares leaves the theater. The silence returning as Rigel and Black Star stay in their places. Black Star finally raising up his arms and letting out a silent sob. Hiding his face in his hands.*

Rigel: ... If it's anything. I hope you're right.

Black Star: God I hope so. Huuh! I really hope so.

#The Black Star support group #sams #tsams #tsams au #sams au #tw death mention

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artsy-hobbitses · 9 months

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So you already have ttb anime opening songs list. Do you have a ttb anime closing songs list as well?

Follow up from here for those curious!

SEASON 1 (Pre-War) Ending: Fukisusabu kaze no naka de by WAG (Gensomaden Saiyuki)

Running along the edge of the cliff We decide not to look back Not speaking even one word Always without repentance Looking up at the sky The pouring rain falls down And as we wonder if it had let up It starts falling again on our heads If we stir up our emotions, We can easily determine our dreams Determine our love, Our friends, our lives In the midst of the raging wind Can I really throw away my pride? The colors of regret and truth Make my heart dance In these revolutionary days, I Always want to stay with you!

I feel like I don't need to explain the reason behind this choice on the account of it sounding like a Badass Ikemen Quartet and the HYSTERICAL amount of MegOP in. If you want men enthusiatically belting out Gay Subtext devotion-in-love-and-friendship rock type themes, Saiyuki's been doing that since the early 2000s. This theme is so Barricade Boys I'm slapping it on any modern iteration of Les Amis de l'ABC. (Also I have Lambros on my mind and it WILL NOT STOP just imagine them, Hotrod and Bee on vocals)

SEASON 2 Ending: Uso by SID (FMA Brotherhood)

Say, the sky we saw that day, That scarlet sky Do you remember it from that day? We made a promise and a vow While the early summer wind circled us And we clung close together Your forced smile Holds elongated shadows I pretend not to notice and continue on All the while waiting for you To deliver some news at the table Empty nights and mornings that will never arrive I could see them from a mile away Say, the sky we saw that day, That scarlet sky I'm sure you'll remember it one day While holding the promise we couldn't keep We take our first steps down out own paths

A narrative follow-up from the blow-out between the Rebellion in Season One, who are now divided into the Decepticons and the Autobots. Do you remember our promise and what we fought for? I'm sure you will some day, says OP, even as we walk different paths now.

SEASON 3: Ending: Mind Game by Tamaki (Tiger & Bunny)

I daydreamed in a corner Of the city stained ash-gray And somehow I started pondering My raison d'etre But I never know myself & dreams & truth anymore, anymore… more… In this wretched world, I asked myself, "Just what can I do?" Because I got the feeling that your smile taught me that Pain like discovering the light touched me: Yes, that's the feeling I got In order to attain an ephemeral dream by their own hands, All people lose sight of even eternal truth The one who gave light to the indelible, sad tomorrow Was none other than just one (I want to believe) We can share both the past and the future, always!

Rung (Past) and Sari (Future). Also fourth stanza is very Sari to Isaac. Also Drift/Ratchet, as Drift defects to the Autobots this season.

SEASON 4 Ending: Every Heart by BOA (Inuyasha)

Tell me babe How many times I've shed my tears? Every heart Every heart is not a gentle one Why can't I I can never share my loneliness? Every heart doesn't know what to say or what to do Was afraid of darkness cause I felt like I was left alone So I prayed for help to a distant million stars Round and round the planets revolve around the sun And they always seek after love and peace forever more Growing, growing whoa baby we can work it out Look up at the sky, every heart is shining on today

'Every heart is not a gentle one' feat. Sunstreaker/Sideswipe's blowout, Windblade and Starscream's sort-of-relationshing angst (as Starscream tries and fails to show her that the man she believes still lives inside him---that hopeful senator from the past---is dead, when he UGH falls into the trap of being a Decent Man)

Also a lonely LONELY season feat. Mirage with Hound Missing and his Ironhide-induced crisis.

Last stanza hitting the 'Autobots rebuilding On Griffin Rock And Finding Reasons To Hope For Tomorrow Even As It Gets Ever Harder' mood.

SEASON 5 Ending: Alone by Mikuni Shimokawa (Gensomaden Saiyuki)

All of the people coming and going Bear heavy burdens, Searching for tomorrow Within the heat haze wavering in the distance Feelings like sand Falling through my hands… Back then, the words that pierced my heart Suddenly started to throb with pain, but… I've searched for pieces of myself, counting the endless nights all the while. These feelings are becoming so certain I almost lose myself Right now, without fail I will walk forward However far

Because I REALLY wanted to end on this BEAUTIFUL note and it's my series kfhsdgfjsdgfjsfh but seriously:

First stanza encapsulates how the war has affected everyone, Decepticons and Autobots alive, who are now working together and genuinely had always wanted a better tomorrow for everyone.

"I've searched for pieces of myself" stanza, like literally 85% of the cast is in goddamn pieces at the moment and are holding on by their Nakama Thread. It's everyone--Megatron, Mirage, Starscream, OP himself, RUNG, the Lambros, Drift, YOU NAME IT.

This version of the song will be used over the finale itself which will show rebuilding efforts/how the cast is doing post-war. Stuff covered will be, among others:

Sideswipe waking up from his coma and his garbled proposal to Strongarm

Windblade visiting Starscream in prison as she tries to comfort Starscream who's messy snotty crying in happiness that she finally managed to pass a bill to outlaw the creation of new CCs so no child will ever go through what he went through.

OP reading/writing with Megs who's in prison.

Laserbeak and Soundwave helping Ravage with his physical therapy as he slowly regains use of his legs.

Wreckers and Springer visiting Kup's grave with Dakshi who is now Springer's dog.

Hound introducing Mirage to his parents

Prowl front row at Jazz's concert.

Bee and Co finally get their degrees.

Lightbright exploring the universe with her new Titan

A decorated mural of the Autobots and Decepticons who died in the final battle against Unicron.

#Inbox #Humanformers AU #TTB

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kisarastrife · 9 months

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Hi everyone!!!

I know I’ve been very quiet lately (blame all the games that released, with utter blame placed on FFXVI) and also my work. Oh, and my younger brother is getting married this weekend too. Hah, I haven’t been busy because of that though, I’m just gonna use it as an excuse to get stereotypically drunk as an Irish person.

Anyways, I just wanted you all to know that I’m still working on rewriting the earlier chapters of Paper Roses and think I’m currently on chapter 28 ‘Hinged’ which is proving a bit of a challenge to rewrite. I’m 30+ now and I wrote that as a teenager ... so it’s taking some picking apart to reassemble into something I think reads better. But I’m also concurrently working on Chapter 57, still untitled as of yet, but please find a tiny snippet under the cut.

More so because I really, really like the choice of alliteration with Kisara calling her dreams ‘memories in mummery’. My fave description so far.

As always, if there is anything in particular you would like to see, or think I’ve missed out on or made a mistake with please hit me up and let me know!!!!! I live for the input from you guys. Thank you all so much for your lovely messages, reviews and PMs!!!!! xxxxx

“Isamu won’t go … Roland will.”

The eye contact was returned in earnest and it made Kisara balk; the surety with which he offered Roland’s name made her wonder how much did his right-hand man know? It was a wordless question, but Seto’s certainty answered it without even a word being uttered. He had asked her if he could give Roland the information regarding her life in France and she had agreed … it just felt so strange – both daunting and freeing – to think that someone else knew. But just how much did the man know?

Walking closer to Seto as he stayed sitting on the chair, turned to look at her, and she thought about asking him if Roland knew of what she had learned tonight; of Egypt and the impossibility of a past life. Standing before Seto, she reached out and brushed his hair away from the scar above his eyebrow, her bruised wrist plain to see, and there was a long moment where she remembered seeing that iteration of herself in her dreams – the one with the gaunt cheeks and lank hair, who had grabbed the same wrist and told her to protect him from the shadows. The odd dream had more weight to it now, a message she didn’t have the energy or knowledge to divine at this moment. But Kisara nodded in thanks, knowing this was a big ask. “Roland it is then, thank you.”

What to do now?

She had so many questions, but none for Seto; they were for her own muddled memories. She had a lot to sort through in her own head; what recollections belonged to her and what had fallen free when the dam had burst of this other Kisara. The dreams and nightmares that had never been her unconscious playing tricks, but memories in mummery.

#paper roses #blueshipping #just a small update and thank you all for the lovely messages!!!!!#kisara #seto kaiba

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alsoyooraiyah · 1 month

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Tell us about Dola!

shsjshs idek where to start with Dola ;w; thank u for giving me an outlet for talking about her LND incarnation omg I hope you know what you’re getting into when you asked this…

so like!! in general she’s my OC that I use everywhere bc I just like her too much to even care about making other OCs because to me she’s like… the ultimate cool doll >.> she tends to retain a lot of her traits each time + I try to keep as much of her original conflicted artist background as possible while still making it make sense with the lore of the universe I’m putting her in

So in LND as MC, she still has Caleb + Josephine, is a Hunter, and ofc has the aether core in her heart but strays from canon in that:

Art has a huge place in her life because her parents were renowned artists and she was primed to follow in their footsteps. She ends up dropping it sometime after she was orphaned though, and only picks it up around high school age and in secret

Gets dreams of fragments of her past lives with Rafayel, but she can never recall the face of the man that’s always in her dreams once she wakes up. Trying to sketch out the man’s face is her main reason for getting into art again, and it snowballs into her making art inspired by her dreams in general

She knows a lot about Lemurian myth and history because she dreams about the place + this one Lemurian so much that she had to look into it, and by extension is fascinated by the sea

Which also means that she did actually attend Rafayel’s lectures at her university when he became a visiting professor there. They kind of only have one proper conversation throughout that entire year though.

Her heart issues affect her more than they affect MC in canon, so the UNICORNS treat her a little differently to work around it. Largely that means she doesn’t go on as many missions as MC seems to? And is often deployed a support/the human radar bc of her Evol rather than a frontline fighter.

Doesn’t feel that strongly about being a Hunter once she actually is one? Tbh I think she kinda hates a majority of the work and commitment that comes with it but feels she can’t just quit after spending so much time working towards becoming one. Xavier and their training sessions together are kind of the main things keeping her there (+ she has fun killing Wanderers)

She’s not as bubbly or cheerful or bratty as the canon MC is. Her personality is a lot more reserved and introverted and she LOVES studying + learning, but there’s still a bit of playfulness there. There’s actually so many parts of the main story, Tender Moments, and Bond/Memoria that I’m changing or outright excluding because they just don’t work out for her the same way they do with canon MC sigh >.>;;

LOVES plants and flowers. In every iteration I have of her she’s at least half covered in floral tattoos and her home is always full of them! Very into flower language to an extent that I’m not ahdjsjs she makes me research a lot of things…

Kind of obsessed with death (mostly because she believes herself to be on a short timer) and is a little fucked up? Will join Rafayel in his quest for vengeance and will believe his murders are all justified if she finds out about them tbh.

^Okay I feel like that’s a lot ahdjshsja >.> in LND I wrote her with Rafayel in mind as the endgame >.> Zayne’s more of a bestie/brother/secret third thing, and Xavier… I guess to her he’s a friend but he definitely is in love with her? And Dola eventually becomes aware of that and isn’t quite sure what to do about it.

Gosh anyway!! Thank you for being interested ahdjshsjs she’s been my baby and muse for like… 3-4 years at this point? I have so many thoughts about her like you wouldn’t believe ;-;

(i have a whole inspo blog for her ahdjshs it’s @dolasach >.>)

#you can probs tell that she’s partially wish fulfillment but i honestly dont see her as a self-insert #shes really just some cool person i have the pleasure of knowing really well and like putting in situations #thank u for the ask omg #yknow typing this out i wonder if OCs are as much of a thing in LND as they are in Obey Me?#i dont really see peoppe posting about their OC/MC in main tag…#skynapple #placeholder ask tag #dolasach

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davekat-sucks · 6 months

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Thinking about June and Ultimate Selves just made me realize how fucking stupid the concept of Ultimate Selves is. If it combines every possible iteration of yourself into one. So, thats all the good versions and all the evil versions of yourself. All the cis, and all the trans versions of yourself. Why is Ultimate Dirk evil? Sure there are infinite evil versions of himself, but that would be counteracted by the infinite good versions of himself, right? And wouldnt there be some trans dirks in there? Or cis dirks that were girls in their universe? So does the Ultimate Self turn you into a True Neutral Hermaphrodite?

They probably gonna pull the bullshit that the fate of all Dirks will always be to be part of Lord English. Just like how there are very few to rare Gamzee ghosts in Dream Bubbles. That means a Gamzee will always be destined to follow and serve Lord English. He has little chance to be someone better or be in a close relationship with anyone ever again. The only person exempt from this is Equius because he's a Void Player. So all Dirks being evil will outweigh the others. That Paradox Space is still around. Don't forget they will also have the memories from those timelines too. So Dirk will experience every carefully thoughtful plan each Dirk had made and went through. So if Ultimate Rose was able to see Doomed Rose's memories of fucking her brother, Dave. There is a chance that a Dirk probably had become straight too, fucked with either or both Jane or Roxy, to carry out their plans. So in a sense, it becomes more than just an identity crisis of being fated to become part of the mastermind Lord English, but the morals he had carried will blur that he has trouble seeing what is right or wrong. And they are gonna pull the bullshit that it was Dirk himself who chose to stay as a cis male while John will CHOOSE to become trans as June Egbert as his Ultimate Self. Just like how Rose and Dave CHOSE to be in robot bodies instead of living flesh.

#Homestuck #HOM3STUCK #Dirk Strider #Ultimate Dirk #Ultimate Selves #Ultimate Self #Homestuck^2 #Homestuck2 #Homestuck 2 #HS2 #HS^2 #June Egbert #John Egbert

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steddiehands86 · 10 months

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Here was the thing. Will had….has a gift.

It was a silent one at first, saved for school things and then onto privately coloring his pictures. Until after he came back from the upside-down. After their whole universe twisted and tore, the bells rolling the deaths of thousands.

First he drew their stories, their characters that they lovingly brought to life in their little dungeons and dragons group: Will being the wise, Mike the Gallant, Dustin the All-Knowing, Lucas the Swift and True.

After the upside-down, his pictures grew darker. These he kept quiet, secret to himself because he didn’t want to be known as zombie-boy, the broken one, the creep. He drew what he saw and sometimes what he drew? It came alive.

First were the vines while under the spell of the mindflayer, his mind confused and riddled like the endless tunnels and cross-crossing vegetation that nearly killed him the first go-around.

After the Mindflayer left, Will was torn. He was forced to leave the home he always knew, battered and broken as he often felt. He left behind the things that made him who he once was: toys were for children and he wasn’t one anymore, that innocence was lost to him.

Will grew quiet, contemplative. His mom and brother knew he was keeping secrets but if they knew this one? Would they love him still?

Dr. Owens often said if he couldn’t express what he was feeling out loud then maybe writing..? No, words did come to him but not in a way he could encompass everything, all of it. Since he couldn’t articulate he resorted to the only other thing he could think of to cast his mind to peace, one to bring him to a meditative state.

Painting.

He spent hours, days, weeks, months planning and outlining everything that had been haunting his dreams since he left Hawkins. The urgency to get out on canvas twisting his guts and stealing his every waking thought. They would chase and snap like the many heads of the hydra he drew.

His inspiration was Tiamat and he hoped that Mike noticed he included his favorite iteration of the dragons in their core book.

He drew Mike the gallant, in silver and gold shining armor. He raised his arms: one to deflect the flames with a mirrored shield, the other with an illuminated blade. The sword had a +5 for striking, he always imagined the blade was blue- like the heart of a flame. Just thinking of it made his heart warm, his hands shake, and he had to step away from the canvas for a week before he could finish it.

He finally did.

He sealed it to protect it, now dotted with new characters of their party. He was so nervous to give it to Mike, they’d barely spoken all summer but he knew El got letters…

He didn’t give the painting to him until after he let his heart a thousand times. Only having a shard of courage to give it to him after they lost her. It cheered Mike in a way, and Will didn’t know what he did with it, everyone so concerned about Hawkins. And it was fine.

It was fine. It was good to know that he got it out, told Mike a bit of how he felt.

It wasn’t enough but he would live.

Dustin though. He lost something-someone, a whole part of him that he’d never, ever get back again.

Eddie.

He listened to every story, asked endless questions, watched Gareth imitate the man they all loved until he broke down sobbing. Will held him through that storm, the two becoming much closer that Will thought he could have. Asking Gareth if it would hurt too much: if he could have a few pictures of Eddie, anything and that he would give them back as soon as he was done?

Done with what Gareth never asked, just handed Will a book full of polaroids, so many Will had to keep himself from laughing. A lot were of them and their band: Eddie in full glam makeup for a costume party, Eddie on stage shining like a rock star, Eddie high as a kite and cuddling a disgruntled Gareth, Eddie being held up by the band and squirming from Freak trying to take off his boots.

Eddie laughing with his head thrown back, eyes scrunched and cackling surrounded by supremely pissed off Hellfire members.

Eddie quiet. Studying. Reading. Smiling.

So many pictures, a whole lifetime of a person Will never got to meet but everyone said they would be fast friends. Robin saying they had a lot in common with an almost knowing look in her sharp eyes.

Will took them all and studied them, spent all of his waking hours in the corner of his room at his desk, the light above him always on as if inspiration was flowing into him.

He started to imagine his last hours i the upside-down, knowing the story by heart due to getting Dustin alone and talkative one night. How he distracted the demobats by playing “Master of Puppets” on his guitar on top of his nightmare trailer. How the air vents weren’t enough to hold all of them, and how he sacrificed his own life to protect Dustin, and the town that made him the villain.

Soon the sketch was done, and it was as if Will was a mere conduit, a puppet himself. He looked at it as though he could hear his focused breath, feel his joy at playing- his ever present fear, could smell the leather and sweat.

For an entire week Will knew nothing but the shade of his hair, the sweep of his lashes, the scars on his fingers from the guitar. This enthralled and terrified him, the level of detail, the layers of paint and blue wash that seemed to tinge everything with sadness.

He drew Eddie like he always saw him in the pictures: unbridled and alive, joy bursting from him like he was a firework. Smiling as he shredded and getting every note perfect, the demobats and red lightning soaring above and surrounding him in the background.

With every brush stroke he felt tingling in his fingertips, warmth going up his arms. He added highlights to Eddie’s curls, the glint in his rings, the shine of the sweat, the bright light shimmering in his doe-like eyes.

His heart hammered painting the shadows in the dip of his neck, the crook of his long fingers, the folds in his clothing and holey jeans.

When he was finished, feeling like the cord had finally been cut, he sucked in air like he was barely breathing. And maybe he was. His stomach hurt-growling with hunger. He knew his lip split at one point due to being dry and bitten in concentration.

Looking at the painting he gasped. He couldn’t-

He couldn’t have drawn that. Eddie looked like the god Apollo, like Icarus, and lucifer all in one. Dark and bright and beautiful. And he never met him.

Tears streamed down his face, the emotions so raw and deep. This was Dustin’s grief, he knew. This was Wayne’s unspoken screaming agony at having this man torn from their lives so suddenly and brutally.

He took the time to shower and eat, change his clothes and getting the items he would need to transport it to his friend. Walking back into the room didn’t change the picture at all, made it even more dimensional but he supposed it was delusion and hopeful feeling.

He heaved a beleaguered sigh as he swiped the first brush of sealant over the dry painting, even though he could see his faults- that many the nose could have been a little more smooth, maybe some extra shine on the rings, it was finished.

He kept the painting right where it was to dry, and went to go out with El and Joyce. It took them all by surprise when it started snowing in the middle of Spring, realizing that it was ash from the fires and rifts that were ripped open by Vecna.

He didn’t put two and two together until they heard the screeching from many large, frightening mouths. He was scared, gripping Mike’s hand as he clutched El’s. He knew. Knew it was Vecna, the Mindflayer, and lastly-

Tiamat. The hydra.

They let the government take care of that, their focus was keeping the town together. Soon all the dead were coming back but..different. They smelled like another word, and though they looked harmless enough it was when they were hungry or weak that their faces blossomed open like the demogorgon se. Soon brother had to kill brother, wife her husband, even the children weren’t safe. And there was no hiding. They could sense the living: hear their heartbeats and frightened breaths.

Will had forgot to give Dustin the portrait until they were huddled in his room late at night, keeping clear of the windows in case they would be seen, trying to scavenge for clean clothing, blankets, food-anything and everything.

He didn’t realize what they were looking at for a brief moment until he heard a choked sob and turned to see his pale, tear-stained face. Will shuffled to the painting despite Dustin’s harsh breathing and pleas to ‘keep down, they’ll see you’. This was a risk Will needed to take if his hunch was correct. He carefully tugged it from his easel, the canvas peeled off the frame soundlessly, as if even the painting knew the need for silence.

“I know,” Will started, his voice raspy from disuse, “I know this isn’t enough. But I wanted you to have something. If that’s-that’s okay.”

He handed it to Dustin who took the canvas in shaking fingers, “This…this is Eddie. How-”

“It’s not important now. It’s enough he’s with you. I meant to give it to you a while ago but with everything-” he was stopped by the crush of Dustin’s arms around him, the painting in-between and probably getting cracks in the layers but neither cared. He held Dustin as he poured renewed grief into his neck, his cold tears chilling and winding down under his shirt, and Will didn’t cared about that either. All he cared about was being there for his friend as he mourned a father figure he only got to have for about as long as his dad stayed in his life.

From that day on, Dustin held a bit more courage. He change his look a little: wearing a battle vest in tribute to Eddie. He let himself be as intense as he wanted, inspired by Eddie’s passion and endless love. He threw himself into their battle, defending those who couldn’t or were too scared to fight, his bad ankle being nothing but an inconvenience.

Until one night they were surrounded, inside an igloo jungle gym. How they got into the situation was ridiculous: Dustin heard a crying cat. Pulling an Eddie he went out to find it and lost track of time. Now they were surrounded by demobats gnashing their fangs and screeching with bloodthirsty fangs to get at their tender flesh.

Will had a gun. He was saving it, not having a lot of bullets. They were hours from dawn- Erica was scared and crying. He pulled her into his arms, shoving her face into the crook of his neck and shoulder, his other hand resting on the gun and mentally counting the bullets he had left. Four, he had four. One for each of them and maybe to take one of the bats out once they got through. The metal bars were groaning and popping with the weight.

Erica screamed.

The demobats stopped. They quieted and their little sightless eyes turned to a new prey.

“Jesus fucking Christ are they ever going to learn?” Dustin spat angrily, radioing for help. It wasn’t frequent but people did try to brave the night believing the demobats weren’t real.

Until he heard the music, the deep growling tone of a guitar riff. The demobats screeched, Will’s heart hammered anew, Dustin’s face drained of all color as the demobats seemed to calm, bobbing their heads in sync to the notes spilling from…somewhere.

They lifted off, one by one then two by two at a time. With each layer of their wings lifting they could see through the bars:

A lone figure, walking down the road so casual and slow as if he were strolling through the town on a bright summer day and not moldering in the upside-down. His rings glinted under the waning crescent moon, the ever present lightning highlighting the sparkle in his dark eyes.

The demobats were pulled, flying around their master and completely forgetting their prey sitting huddled together under bent steel. They wheeled around and flew like blissful birds than the terrifying creatures they were just moments before.

The man stopped just at the border of the jungle gym, power rolling off of him like the after math of thunder, smelling like ozone and smoke.

Dustin got to his feet first, Erica still crying out of fear. Will pulled her up, her bravery slowly coming back and wiping angrily at her eyes. Will was shocked. This man looked exactly like-

“Eddie?” Dustin’s voice warbled on a sob, hope and pain warring in the tone.

He smiled back in the same way as Will had seen in all the pictures, now more alive than ever.

#stranger things fanfiction #family #will byers #dustin henderson #erica sinclair #season 5 #will has powers #painting #demobats #eddie munson

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crystal-lillies · 1 year

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A Rambling First Thoughts Review + Critique of "Peter Pan and Wendy" (Disney+ 2023 movie) Spoilers ahead.

Okay for being called "Peter Pan and Wendy" I think aside from prequel iterations, this movie had the least bit of connection and bonding between Peter and Wendy that I've ever seen.

Wow okay, not even sure where to begin on the rest of my thoughts but certainly that was the first one. I didn't feel much connection between Peter and Wendy at all, and the story had very little justification for the emotional moments between them it tried to eke out, which is actually very difficult to achieve since the original source material has it baked in that all the adaptations, even the ones that twist the formula, have been able to adapt and grow off of.

Oof and I gotta say the movie rushed the beginning to really crawl through Neverland. I was shocked at how fast it was that they were already going, and it didn't really seem like an urgent event. Just like, oh yeah Peter's just gonna show up at your window and take you to Neverland one day kthxbai. Rather than it being a motivated decision for Wendy to say "I'm growing up tomorrow" (leaving the nursery, going away, etc.) but I don't want to, so I'm going to go and never grow up.

Also sidebar, Wendy my love, being an ass to your brothers is not endearing to your plight and is definitely new for this adaptation which was a Very odd take. And it could be argued by the end...or even the middle...she realizes her responsibility to take care of them and look after them in Neverland but that's a weak sauce character arc for someone who HAS one built in that's just as valid.

A really odd take for them NOT to double cast Jude Law as Mr. Darling and Hook. I actually would have liked to see his take on Mr. Darling. But RIP Mr. Darling had barely a personality at all or anything to do here.

And RIP Nurse Nana. Now you are just a dog with nothing to do, and no reason to be put out in the dog house.

And then Neverland, oh my dear place of literal dreams, what they did to you! Now, I am somewhat a fan of the Home Under the Ground being a castle ruin in this version, that's actually something close to how I've seen Neverland at least once. But it felt very empty, both the Home and the island. It was too...empty. And even though every iteration we know only the pirates, Lost Boys, Peter, the Indians, the fairies, and the mermaids live in and around the island, plus animals, all the other versions haven't felt so barren. Is it because Neverland became one large same-y landmass rather than a place that has mountains and lagoons and tropical forests and literally anything children dream of? Maybe that's part of it. But it's hard to place precisely. It doesn't feel lived in. The castle ruins didn't have beds or a table for meals. It had a neat rope swing and a fireplace yes, but it still just looked visually and felt empty, when a badass castle hideout could be so cool!

And regarding Hook and Peter having a history, having a tragic background. First, I'm not opposed to the friends to enemies take. Saw it done pretty well in the prequel special Neverland, though it was from a Fagin+Snape-like mentor to an orphan Peter who looked up to him, rather than two kids and one who grew up. But again, it may have worked with a different story. I don't think it was the right choice here, or at least it was not properly executed. The voice in my head kept saying, if Hook was a lost boy and Peter's friend and he KNEW where Peter's hideout was all along, then WHY hasn't he tried killing him before? The whole sticking point in the source and other adaptations was that he had NO IDEA where Peter's hideout was, otherwise he would kill him there!

Tiger Lily being a badass is never bad in my book, but once again, her service in the story feels unearned. I don't feel the bond between her and Peter, honestly. She had more of a connection with Wendy (and it caught me off guard how I immediately thought, "okay I would ship that" after their conversation en route to the hideout.) And then her tribe is just sort of there. Without much connection to the island, or to Peter. Tiger Lily calls him "Little Brother," but taking the movie as it is without reference of any other Peter Pan media, it doesn't feel earned from what we are given up to that point. It just feels like Tiger Lily being Peter's deus ex Machina, which really historically has been Tinkerbell, and that made sense given Tink and Peter's shared history and friendship. (Something that's also sadly toned back in this movie as well)

"Peter Pan and Wendy" is not even a poor live action adaptation of a Disney animated movie, it's just... a strange and lackluster adaptation of Peter Pan, which had been done successfully as a Disney animated movie. And I think that feels a bit more disappointing.

#flowerspeak #peter pan and wendy #peter pan #movie review #sort of #disney #disney plus #disney+

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spotsupstuff · 1 year

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What’s your thoughts on all of the scugs and their campaigns? I’m curious in general, but also wonder about peoples thoughts on the scugs if they dislike the campaign or vice versa

well- i haven't played through all of the scugs yet (haven't touched Riv or Saint at all) so i can't really speak on what i think about the campaigns when it comes to the gameplay itself. ya get me

for Monk: i really like the idea of a really chill campaign even though i don't fucking know why but i managed to have more rage inducing time with Monk than with Surv. i REALLY fuckin love Monk's story though. it's So Fucking Good, i'm such a slut for actions made out of absolute, endless and unquestionable platonic love between siblings (wink wonk at my takes on Moon and Nish). like that one post i wrote about the comparisons between Monk the brother/Surv the sister and Pebbles the brother/Moon the sister? that one line where i was like "he walks across the entire facility grounds of two iterators, dreaming of her, having faith in that she's still around."????? i LOVE IT SO MUCH -punches a wall- imagine you love your sibling so so much that even though they might be dead your faith in their ability to live on is so Fecking Stronk that you are dreaming of them, see them sleep in the corner of a shelter

for Surv: Surv is Surv, it's like trying to live without bread and water. can't say anything negative or really positive about the campaign cuz it's just so intrigated into my head as the Base for everything. just like bread and water, you love and appreciate it silently. can always count on it being there. doesn't mean it gets loved any less just because you don't put the thought of adoration upon it every second. it's just a constant note in the background of your life that offers comfort by its existence

for Hunter: i fucking LOVE... i Have played Hunter only after Spear and Arti though which, as defined by utuber user Ruby Rooz, is cheating (/lh) so i haven't had the same frustrations with the cycle limit like a pre-Downpour player (even though i'm pre-Downpour, i never finished any campaign back then). i had fun just kind of zooming by everything and idk man, NSH is my absolute favorite iterator so everytime i looked at the green neuron i just kind of smiled to myself cuz i kept thinking "he's right here, making the journey with me". Hunter's lore is what first captivated me and made me interested in RW (along with the buddhistic roots of the game's religion)! they introduced us to NSH, explained quite a bit about Moon's current position, what Hunter could mean to Pebbles makes me wanna -Pepe Silvia bit from Always Sunny in Philadelphia-

for Gour: i don't really have much to say about their campaign. i'd put it above Monk gameplay-wise but story-wise underneath them. running around collecting food is nice, i like how it deviates from the previous three in that the iterators basically don't matter at all. the most they matter is eating a neuron and yellin at Pebbles to LET ME OUT LET ME OOOOUUUUUT. it offers a different perspective from what we are used to and i really like when things turn 180° and just walk a completely different path from what is "widely accepted" (honestly a reason why i silently adore Shkika's Innocence so much). in Gour's eyes these godly machines are nothing more than just part of the background. unimportant. just another obsticle. something so important in one part of the world diminished into nothing important. no matter how holy someone thinks a thing is, to someone else it's going to be pointless (and, wonderfully enough, it goes the other way around as well.). Gour's most shining moment story-wise is reached once you think about it deeper and come to realise that what they stand for is a hint of variety of understanding the world. they expand the world very subtly. they make thinking about RW less claustrophobic. other than that i'm just "i just think they are neat" about them. i keep quoting the Ruby Rooz video when i think about Gour too- "who ELSE has the arm of a GOD capable of decimating most of the local fauna with one spear and strongly suggesting to those that it doesn't to promptly LeAVhe." also hot take but the big gamer peeps need to stop bitchin bout the tiredness factor of Gour. good challenge. nice variety. are you allergic to planning? have you not listened to Lyanna Kea, in her skits about Asian moms, telling you to have some Initiative for once in your life? because i am an OVERTHINKER and that one utube short, said in that way of speaking changed my fucking life and now i'm here living to my fullest with the local fatty. jokes on u, speedrunners, i've found joy

for Arti: murder is fun! :) scav tolls are not. :( ability to maim remains superior to everything else in this fuck of a game (affectionate). Garbage Wastes need to be stopped. this is probably my number one fav screen from the entire game (Metropolis kicks ass, the lore reveal in person of at least a Small piece of what it was like to be an Ancient makes me giddy)

for Riv: i recognize a threat to my safety in those eyes. i do not trust them. gameplay experience pending (i'm going to break something while travelling through The Rot, i already know it). the soundtrack Not Your Rain is one of the best fucking things i've ever heard come from a game (high praise) and everything that is happening to Pebbles in Riv's campaign goes right along my morbid angst needs. other than that Riv is also in the "i just think they are neat" category. i wish we could've gotten a clearer hint towards what's up with Riv and what iterator they met

for Spear: the most kickass motherfucker was made by the most fail cringe dumb fuck creature i've ever been forced to bear witness to and i am both perplexed and deeply delighted by this (i wanna square up with Suns so bad i cannot begin to explain how much i wanna kick their ass). Spear's campaign is rn my most fav one because of all the lore drops, so much new canon NSH content, the sheer Worldbuilding, the fact that there's been more iterators shown and that they felt like Normal People... the conversation about SoS betting on lizards, the reveal that NSH was the first one to bring forth slugcats as messangers, the conversations between Secluded Instinct and Wandering Omen are one of my most favorite broadcasts besides NSH's attempts to reach Moon. gameplay-wise, i love that Spear's campaign feels like upgraded Survivor campaign. you are faster now, there's more aggressive enemies, you are on no time limit, you don't have to bother with finding spears, you don't have to bother with Directly Taking A Corpse Into Your Hands and Eating it, you get to eat the fuckin carnivorous plants... -dreamy sigh- what more could one want. the whole lore pearl bringing to Moon was a headache without a stomach storage but that is such a little piece of it that i don't mind. the storyline pearl i could stand because i found it nice that i was forced to adapt to it. Moon's whole superstructure was breath-taking to see and i'm very glad that we got to explore an uninfected iterator while their antigravity and bugzappers didn't work. though it hurt to think about it cuz We Care Moon, i had a lot of fun slugging around her superstructure and using needle ladders to get around- OH YEAH i fuckin LOVE making needle ladders. i also really enjoyed the fact that you can make friends with the scavs like -snaps fingers- this fast thanks to the whole needle production thing. seeing Pebbles get angry like that was awesome. i'll admit that i really admire his anger and this sort of... "justice" seeking (?) he has going on that is heavily influenced by the game's/Ancient's religion. you can fight me on this but Pebbles is the least pathetic character in the entire game besides like Hunter, maybe NSH and Gour. i also got to meet the ugliest scav i've seen in RW so far and i'll prolly never forget the experience because i Just got thru the Underhang to the Wall (my first time going thru Underhang and using the grapple worms, i was dodging having to that for ages) and i was SO pissed and annoyed that i was just about ready to quit the game for that session but then i saw this ugly ass motherfucker just waltzing about and the sheer and sudden Horror and Affront of an Artist i've felt straight up snapped me out of my rage. LIKE GJLKDMKLSD that NEVER happened to me before Suns' design also kinda sorta actually plays into my little silly iterator color coding theory from two years ago which was fun to see! i'll still kick their fuckin ass Garbage Wastes need to be stopped. here are my fav screenies from my Spear playthru

for Saint i'm rn mostly like:

i don't fuckin know what why and how is happening and it feels like such a giant ass steppy from what i had grown used to with the base slugs that even though i'm very stern on myself with being open minded about everything all the time i'm having trouble adjusting to it kgjsalkmklsdgjklsd i don't trust myself with giving a solid verdict until i've beaten Saint myself. i'll prolly talk about it in my "finished the slug!" post when i do get thru 'em

finally rating of the campaigns: Monk - 7/10 Survivor - 8/10 Hunter - 9.5/10 Gourmand - 6.9/10 Artificer - 9/10 Rivulet - TBA Spearmaster - 10/10 Saint - TBA

#Spot says stuff #rw

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camping-with-monsters · 2 months

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When Robin Hood and Snow White were ushered to the dungeon for that pep talk that would embark them on their unlikely quest, it was the warden, named Atalanta Rancoreed, who stayed put, listening in, taking in every word the King said…

Atalanta’s job is simple. To tend to the cellars, to deal with the rough prisoners, to guard Lord Whistlegrimm when he steps into this dark ended place. Atalanta takes this job with pride. It’s a surprisingly perfect fit for a strong-willed guard who’d usually not be fit for a war. Atalanta loves the work. Practically lives for it too. To serve the king with your life is admirable to this warden, even if the job is as quaint as standing by the king should he enter the depths of the dungeon. But it’s still very much an important role. And after having to escort these two idiots and their pet bird down so Lord could give them the scoop, it was just another day.

But that day… Atalanta’s world suddenly changed. When your job is to stand guard to the king while he speaks down here, you just know you’re going to be overhearing a lot. And listen thoroughly to Lord’s words did Atalanta do so well! So much so that the words suddenly got to her head… a tincture that could rise the dead. How curious! You’d think she’d be smarter than to consider what she did, but that strange concoction that Robin and Snow would have to be questing to create sounded awful tempting. But it would be foolish to leave her post like this, especially if the King caught wind of it. But it’s far too promising for her. It’s the stuff of her dreams. And so, enlisting some help from her own brethren, the woman soured by greed snuck away, seeking out the very thing Lord recalled, wishing to claim the cure for her own reasoning. Reasoning she deems much more important than someone as simple as a gardener…

And so Atalanta will be a reoccurring obstacle, hoping to get her hands on what is not her’s to begin with for personal gain. This will be the first time she may resort to villainy to prove her perspective…

——

A MASSIVE thanks to @pazam for being a huge help with this design!

I’ve been super excited to show this one off! She’s got a lot going for her in terms of her character and has some twists with her motives. Needless to say though, these are technically still the reference rough drafts and I promise I’m working on her official reference!

A cool thing to note is that the reason I went with an apple theme is because of some iterations of Robin Hood being presented with shooting an arrow into an apple, and the poison apple of Snow White! This was… actually an unintentional coincidence I did NOT think about until I started thinking more about what kind of villain BMB would have! So Atalanta’s character is kinda an unintentional coincidence!

…as is with a lot of DDG and BMB. I have this weird habit of making spontaneous choices and then those seemingly random choices having meaning later. Pfft.

Fun details here: Atalanta has an arrow shaped tattoo/scar (I haven’t decided yet actually) on her eye to reference Robin Hood (or other iterations of Robin Hood since it’s not strictly to the original story) and the red parts of her face are vaguely shaped like a skull to reference the poison apple! She’s a golden apple though since not only are those common, but also a focus on the original Greek mythology story of Atalanta, who she’s truly named and based after! Rancoreed is a last name I made up with a surprising amount of depth to that I’ll get into later.

#appel :)#she’s uh. not nice though #cue bad apple Touhou or some shit #hey I mean that song would technically fit her for other means💥💥💥#Atalanta Rancoreed #Blind Man’s Bluff #Tags of Whistlegrimm #ocs #original characters #original stories #art #digital art #character references #character refs #character bios #The Kiwi Draws

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thedragonagelesbian · 4 months

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For the OTP asks: 5, 13, 22, and 26 for Cyrus and Wyll

yaaaaaaaaaaay

5. What activities do they enjoy together?

Cyrus socializes like a cat, so he's happiest just being nearby for whatever activity Wyll wants to do-- snuggling while Wyll reads or listening him play his flute (or his cello once they're moved in to their estate post-game). Wyll similarly insists that his greatest creative inspiration comes when he's with Cyrus and loves to compose in Cyrus' garden, drafting sonnets and serenades while Cyrus is tending to his plants.

As for things they really do together, they love planning outings into the woods around Baldur's Gate. Romantic picnics, hunting, foraging, birding, just getting away from the bustle of the city

13. Name something they would never do for the other person.

Cyrus for Wyll: I think Cyrus outright refuses to do the Champion/Ansur/whoops bitter gay exes quest. Not even in a reluctant 'I'll tag along to make sure you stay safe' thing, drags his heels to the very edge of the chambers of trials and is straight up like 'we shouldn't do this. I don't care how helpful the dragon will be we should Not Fucking Do This please don't do this i don't want to lose you to some impossible bullshit test you're already enough please don't make me watch you do this'

Of course there's no vindication in being right.

Wyll for Cyrus: Hmmmm Wyll is so accommodating it's hard to think of what he'd refuse… Of course there is the classic "you don't have to be the Blade of Frontiers" for me early on. No matter how many times Cyrus tells him that he doesn't have to perform for him, it's so hard to let go of a technique that has allowed you to cope with & make the best of such horrendous circumstances

22. If their lives were what was originally intended at birth, would they have still fallen in love?

Oh boy the 'at birth' specification is interesting, I've never really thought about what this version of Malcolm and Leandra had planned for him… He grew up on the road because Malcom was being hunted by his archfey patron who ends up killing him when Cyrus is very young (tho I have some. Extremely vague ideas about a post-game adventure involving Malcolm actually still being alive & Cyrus & his LI needing to save him). Presuming Malcolm doesn't die and is thus still around when Leandra passes from her illness, I could see him raising Cyrus as a much more well-adjusted rangers, mayhaps even of the fey wanderer variety as they work to free Malcolm from his patron

(…..i dont know how i've gotten this far without realizing before that the first loss in cyrus' life was to a vengeful warlock patron but it sure. Uh. Adds some Something to this dynamic…)

Wyll more obviously grows into a young lordling, but even without Mizora, I think he goes through life about 5 terribly repressed seconds from a nervous breakdown having grown up knowing absolutely nothing but his father's rigid expectations

And while I can't think of any self-evident way for their paths to cross, the notion of Wyll meeting a more fey version of Cyrus who whisks him away from the pressures of noble life for a whirlwind adventure straight out of the fantasies and fairytales Wyll grew up reading and dreaming about but had given up experiencing himself… well i think it FUCKS immensely

26. What are their favorite parts about physical affection/sex?

For both of them, the best part about physical affection is feeling safe. It's so new for them, but being able to melt into each other's arms and let all of their past disappear into the sound of the other's breathing and pulse is just one of their favorite things about being together, period.

For Cyrus, his relationship to sex is different than other iterations of the character because of his history with Meredith. Generally, Cyrus has two somewhat contradictory things he wants out of sex: to please his partner as much as possible, and to know himself and his body in relation to them. Contradictory because that first desire always trumps the second one and can even foreclose it entirely, depending on the partner, or make him vulnerable to someone who wants to control his sense of self.

Whereas ranger!Cyrus is pretty adamant about not relying on anyone else for that external validation/appraisal/identification. That just leaves "trying to give Wyll a religious experience every time," and that is something Cyrus adores immensely. (And his favorite part of /that/ is any indication of incoherency-- babbling and whining and stammering. Any sign that Wyll is trying sooo hard to be the calm & collected Blade and failing miserably turns Cyrus on a Lot; he refers to it playfully as 'making Wyll sing')

And as hard as it is, Wyll enjoys being made to let go and get out of his head and into his body and being taken care of and treated with a level of slow, gentle tenderness that is almost too much to bear (but he does and Cyrus praises him throughout to tell him he's doing a very good job bearing it)

#cyrus bg3 #cyrusXwyll #these were a ton of fun to answer & think about thank you sm!!#esp making the connection between malcolm being a warlock & wyll being a warlock... i will have to think about this more for sure........#aaaaaaaaand that is the last of my asks from november #i get to go into 2024 with a clean slate ready to yell more about my boy always and forever

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generalluxun · 5 months

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How would IDO and FeC couples react to the implied Adrien/Marinette/Chloe Polycule at the end of Chasing A Dream?

Hmmm...

IDO couples are just kind of sympathetic that things had to get *that bad*. They feel the same way about the Felis et Canus couples too. IDO branches early and takes a much healthier path, so they consider themselves very lucky. Marinette and Chloé in IDO haven't addressed their past (Derision is never canon in my stories FYI it's such a dumpster fire for multiple characters) but they're both in a better place to do so if ever they wish to. Maybe they won't, looking forward is a lot more important than going backwards. Chloé will probably squeeze her Alya and be ever more grateful to have her in her life.

Once again proving: Alya makes people's lives better by being their friend.

IDO Adrien would be slightly bemused? Of course he and Marinette are together. Chloé in the mix? He'd be thoughtful. She *is* a childhood friend and it's not impossible... This does make sense as the Adrien/Chloé connection is not very developed in Chasing a Dream. Overall the polycule is a potential in Chasing a Dream, not an endgame. The plot there focused on the trip itself. A sequel would explore thing further.

FeC has some more complex feelings about it.

Sabrina has a lingering fear tied to Marinette finding out Adrien is Cat Noir. The longer their respective ships hold together the more it fades, but it is still there. She's always had a bit of an imposter complex among these exceptional people. Yes Adrien knows Ladybug's ID and still wants to be with Sabrina, but Marinette hasn't connected Ladybug's partner to Adrien yet and no one knows what that might do.

Chloé would be in a similar situation, but in a more general sense. The idea of being left is still one she grapples with, and Adrienette was very much a thing in FeC until the unexpected derailment. She doesn't know Adrien is Cat Noir, or she would probably worry even more.

Adrien for his money would be bemused but not largely affected. He would probably feel some shame about his other-self being so passive. He'd recognize he too was passive for a long time too. He'd be even more grateful for Sabrina in his life, and how her support enabled him to take a more active role in events.

Marinette from FeC, the one whom Sabrina and Chloé both worry about, is actually much less affected by seeing the possible-polycule. Yes, some small part of her will forever fancy the *idea* of Adrien, but she's very much past that point now. If anything she's proud of her Chasing a Dream self for putting it together without the need for The Scourge. FeC Marinette is actually very happy with Chloé. Much like Chasing a Dream Mari says, FeC Marinette feels the bond with Chloé that was 'stolen' by social pressures. Kindred spirits separated by toxic influences. She's never letting her Golden girl go. They are much soo good at handling each other's highs and lows. It's a rare treat.

Chasing a Dream polycule would be completely baffled by the other timelines. 🤣 Theirs was the most 'mundane' path to their current state. Communication, awareness, time, growth. There was very kittle in the way of curve balls. It started from one of Marinette's mad schemes that relied on Chloé's ego. It ends on everyone involved learning to let go of the 'roles' they feel required of them in life. It's still very much in flux. Akumas, crazy Monarch powers, and time travel are all well beyond their scope.

I hope I answered this well enough. I love how the same characters iterate differently when fed through different experiences. Still fundamentally themselves, but spreading out like branches from the same trunk.

#ask #IDO #FeC #Chasing a Dream #ml au #my fics #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #chloe bourgeois #alya cesaire #sabrina raincomprix #chlonette #adrienette #adribrina #chloalya #chloadrinette #miraculous ladybug

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delta-orionis · 1 month

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Tuesday Again No Problem 3/26/24

No I didn't wait until after midnight to write my Tuesdaypost, what are you talking about

Listening

I've had Tangerine Dream's 1983 album Hyperborea on loop for the better part of a week.

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It's not too distracting, and it flows very well. Lately I've been putting it on when I need to think. This album plus my noise-cancelling headphones do a pretty good job of blocking out the sound of the world for a little while.

Watching

I've been binging old episodes of Well There's Your Problem again. I guess this technically counts as listening because I put it on while I crochet, but it's a podcast with slides so I'll put it in the watching section.

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Episode 61 is a favorite of mine, it's funny and I'm pretty sure no one dies in this one.

Reading

I'm still slowly getting through Ancillary Justice; I'm almost done with chapter 4. I don't have much to say other than holy shit I'm glad I wrote down a list of characters as they appear, because there was no way I would be able to remember who any of these people were otherwise.

Playing

I played a bit more Rain World with my brother the other day. We're playing the Survivor campaign and made it to Shaded Citadel. Miraculously, neither of our slugpups have died yet. They are making our lives significantly harder, though, because they're two additional mouths to feed. However neither my brother or I have the heart to abandon them, lol.

Making

I think I'm finally satisfied with my Five Pebbles plush.

I made some wires and an umbilical cable for him, and attached them to his head and back. I was trying to imitate the way he looks in-game.

If I was really ambitious I could also make the mechanical arm he hangs from, but I don't think I have enough yarn for that. I'm satisfied with him and I'm ready to move on for now, maybe the arm could be something silly to make in the future.

I also started working on Looks to the Moon!

She's just a head right now, though. Moon is going to be similar to Pebbles, but I want to try and make her cloak look tattered. I'm going to look into ways I can deliberately crochet holes into it.

Kind of related to making... I've spent the better part of the last few days spiraling into madness while trying to figure out exactly how big Rain World's iterator superstructures are. It's turning out to be a more complicated question to answer than I thought.

My initial math was a HUGE overestimate, I think. I re-thought my strategy and spent most of my evening counting pixels on in-game sprites to try and get an idea of how big iterators are in relation to real-life buildings. I think my second estimate was more believable.

I'll make a more detailed post about it later, but here's a diagram I made for fun:

These back-of-the-envelope calculations are based largely on wild assumptions, and I could be completely wrong, who knows. But iterators being about 2km tall seems right to me. I don't really have good evidence for that other than vibes... I'll probably try to come up with something more concrete when I write the actual post.

That's all for now, I'll check back in next week. Thanks for reading!

#tuesday again no problem #tuesdayposting

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n7punk · 1 year

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Selling a Dream Fic Notes

Selling a Dream (SaD) is done! This one took me way longer (and was way bigger) than I expected, but it was lots of fun. I'm gonna miss these girls, I already do, but BOY is the fic long enough 😂

Epilogue Life:

Adora continues focusing on cosplay and traditional photoshoots for her career, taking on commissions as well sometimes (more on that later). With the reboot now on, and thus the studio focusing on their new iteration of the characters, Adora doesn't do any more official work with the studio (at least as a host), though she is invited to a few events as an influencer. Adora continues to use the original She-ra as her signature cosplay, though she does recreate the new She-ra outfit too and wears it occasionally, but the other one is beloved (by her and older fans), it's what she's known for, it's more revealing (read: gets better traction on Instagram), and also, you know, Adora looks like the original She-ra so she's a good match for the cosplay whereas another amazing cosplayer would be a better fit for reboot She-ra/Mara.

Adora has warmed up to professional modeling now it's something she chooses and sometimes she has a lot of fun doing it, but it can be a little hard on her self esteem depending on the director/requirements, so the part of her "job" (confluence of jobs, more like) that really makes her happy is being influencer/cosplayer - especially the cosplay part, and especially doing "casual" photoshoots with her friends/for Instagram where she doesn't have to be perfect or fit the vision of a stranger. Her commissions let her dip her toe into the prop business sometimes (if they involve props, anyway), though she has no desire to return to it full time.

When she and Catra move in together almost a year into their relationship, Adora officially joins Wildcat Workshop and starts coordinating her commissions through there. She works partially at home (mostly for sewing/basic cosplays), partially at the BFS workshop (also cosplay, especially with more advanced elements, and light propwork), and partially at the workshop. She still goes over to the BFS house (now just Glimmer and Bow's house technically, but they all decided before she even moved out that it would always be the BFS house, especially with Catra now included in the squad) to spend time together/work together (and use the laser cutter). She has also built up a good friendship with Scorpia, plus a closer one with Entrapta, so she has a really great place to work no matter where she goes or what she needs.

Sometimes Adora helps on projects (that aren't hers) at Wildcat Workshop, but an average day might see her and Catra waking up together, going into the shop for a bit, and then Adora heading over to BFS to work on cosplay with Glimmer and Bow while Catra continues her work. Or that order might be reversed, depending when Glimmer/Bow are going to be home. Come evening, Adora and Catra will head home together or go hang out with one of their friends.

Catra's career is only just beginning. Once she has worked on one show(/for one propmaster) it's a lot easier to get work on others and she ends up making a steady business between commissions and propwork. When season two of the reboot rolls around, they hire her again for a few more key pieces, and Adora has a greater hand in helping with the builds this time around now she is an official employee.

Catra ends up admitting she loves Melog after he stops eating one day and they find out he has an intestinal blockage when they take him to the vet. It turns out fine and they're able to clear it without surgery, but she decides he should live with her and Adora after that because they can monitor what he eats better there. He sometimes goes with Adora when she goes to the BFS workshop because he's easily bored, but he's also very willing to let somebody lead him around and thus is pretty easy to take places.

At Catra and Adora's place, they end up with an entire closet dedicated to costumes. Catra cosplays with Adora (and Entrapta) a bit more here and there, though she does it the same way she did it with Entrapta before now and doesn't do any in-character events or anything (even if she kind of plays along with Adora when she is acting in character herself).

As implied in the fic, Scorpia and Perfuma start flirting via text and very quickly fall into a relationship, which makes it a bit easier for her to warm up to Adora as she becomes a frequent face at the workshop. Entrapta, despite doing her damnedest otherwise, doesn't build or hack anything that gets her prison time. She is definitely on a list, though. Overall, Wildcat Workshop is successful and they're all able to find work that let's them stay and build together. At one point they discuss moving to a bigger space, but, well, this one is important, not just to them but to Entrapta long before they showed up, so they always just end up cleaning, rearranging things, and maybe downsizing or relocating unnecessary materials/equipment. All of them end up with extra materials stowed in their garages for when needed, though.

Playlist:

This fic didn't have a playlist, though I was listening to Fletcher's "Girl of my Dreams" album a lot for the first half of it. For the second half, it was a few songs on loop: "Uh Oh" by Tate McRae (CH6, 7), "Nonsense" by Sabrina Carpenter (CH8), and "Dressed To Kill" by the Wombats (CH8, 9).

Chapter 1:

I did not think the premise of this AU was specific/unusual until readers told me so, but in hindsight "Cosplay AU" isn't even a tag, so maybe I should have known that. I genuinely thought the cosplay creation process was common knowledge within fandom as a whole and not just cosplayers themselves. I knew some of the machine talk was specific, but I definitely underestimated things.

Adora's social media presence is split three ways, technically. Instagram (feed/posts): Photo shoots/photos of herself, both in cosplay and out of it (typical hot influencer shit), along with some workout posts and the occasional build video (she uses reels for those). She also does announcement posts (a con she is going to be at, an event she is going to be hosting, new prints dropping, etc) on there and her stories, but once they "aren't relevant" (like when a con has passed) she deletes them to keep it clean. She does a lot of thirst trap posting because she likes the validation, but it's also great for engagement. Instagram (stories): cosplay/sewing/builds and con "liveblogs". She saves all her costumes and con stories into playlists or whatever they're called so people can go back and look at the making process for one character or a particular con. Her main focus for her "career" is on her Instagram. It's the only place she has really monetized, with like sponsored posts on occasion and stuff (she also sells prints and posts when they're going up). Her Twitter is more "personal" where she just tweets about whatever, interacts with her friends more (at least publically, she's in her friends DMs and stuff on Insta), and generally feels less "pressure" even though she still has a lot of followers. She'll also livetweet cons on her twitter sometimes, and she has more nerd shit on there than on her insta.

Catra mostly posts photos and videos from around the shop (now that she has left the Horde, that mostly didn't fly when she was there) and of commissions/builds/personal projects. It's basically a portfolio page for the shop. She does some videos of builds, mostly timelaspes or focusing on one small part of the build because she can't give away all her secrets. Her stories lean more towards shop shenanigans, and she also shares her friend's posts there. If she does a cosplay shoot, it will end up there unless she really wants to show off the prop, and then it will make it to her main page. Her Twitter is a mix of more casual posts and photos of builds, but she wouldn't treat it as casually as Adora does hers just because it is still her business social media and she needs to seem put together, if not professional. Adora's business is being hot LOL.

I find it really disruptive to my immersion when another property is brought up in a fanfic. This includes mentioning it as a fictional thing, or "cameos" from other characters. I don't know why, but it really throws me off and that made using real characters for their cosplays an instant no. It's usually weird to me to have something else IRL be fictional within an already fictional universe, hence the main property for this fic... basically being the original property of the show.

Catra only got one of Adora's presents, but because Adora messaged her every birthday she knew she sent two. The first one she sent to their old apartment, where Catra was no longer living. Later that week, Catra posted a photo of her hanging out on the balcony of her new place with a caption about how much she liked having a balcony now, basically signalling to Adora that she had moved. Adora considered resending the present, but she didn't know if that would be creepy and tenacious, so she waited for the next year, this time sending it to the Horde workshop with Catra's name on it. Catra got that one.

Adora was a litol buzzed when she sent the New Years message, hence the spelling. Catra was too, and she almost replied to it.

They both changed their numbers after leaving the Horde; Catra immediately, and Adora like a month later after she got a flaming voicemail from her ex-boss upon him seeing she had secured a job that, a month ago, would have been the Horde's.

Like 50% of my knowledge for this fic was from Simone Gertz/Laura Kampf/Evan & Katelyn videos (all maker Youtubers), like 40% from the cosplayers and sewists I've followed over the years, and then like 10% Mythbusters.

Melog was a "new arrival", hence why Catra was reluctant to claim him yet. He was actually born in the shop shortly before they cleaned it up, and had slipped in and out of the area, but he was Extremely Cautious of them, so it took a few weeks for them to even notice A Cat in the area, and a few more for them to suspect it was the same cat living nearby, and then they slowly realized he wasn't just mousing in and around the shop when the garage was open, but that he was actually living there. And then there was the slow process of charming him, which was made easier by how long he had been hanging around. He was already accustomed to them, and fairly young/tameable, but he had only just been "tamed" when the fic started (Catra had been in her shop for six months total).

Adora's whole deal in this AU is based off a professional cosplayer I met when I was like, 12 at a con who I have NEVER been able to remember the name of, just that I think it started with a J.

Adora's username is a reference to an (I think) well known Adora cosplayer, whose feed partially served as inspiration/reference for this AU. I gave some of the characters more "generic"/professional handles since social media is important to their jobs, but it also just made coming up with usernames easier. I hate coming up with usernames even for myself.

Catra hung up so fast after Adora said she tries to show she respects her now because she realized she was right and she wasn't ready to deal with that.

I had a lot of fun thinking of what personal touches Catra's workspace would have, because every workshop I know of has some kooky shit from a goofy build, or a prototype that didn't work out or that they just don't want to throw away.

Chapter 2:

Between rereading an old fic and writing summaries for SW&D to match TOHT, I was kind of feeling writing chapter summaries again even though I know I used to hate writing them (and wow, it's still hard). Anyway, I decided to throw in some odd ones from the "perspective" of the cosplay for this fic to match the chapter titles.

I use the pleading emoji a lot, and I see it a lot, but like 1 out of 20 times I see it I want to pick it up in my hands and squeeze it until it pops so it stops looking at me like that. I can't explain it, but it feels like a very Catra instinct to me so I included it.

"If Catra was any of her other friends, she wouldn’t hesitate to tell her how hot she would look as Skeletor, but it’s Catra, so Adora can’t just say things like that no matter how badly she wants to." Mayhaps that is why Catra doesn't think you love her. You fucking idiot.

BannetCon was named after a guy named Bannet. He did some important things in the video game industry and then founded one of the first video game conventions on the West coast accidentally. It's been around for a long time.

The jacket I described for Catra is based on a real one (but like, taken up to 12, and that jacket already started at 11), but it was a one-of-a-kind piece that sold on Etsy so the best record of it now is random Pinterest posts.

"I'm not She-ra without [the lights]" Yeah it's Adora so she's still insecure XD She-ra/cosplay in general has been a big crutch for her interactions with the public (as is discussed in the next scene) and she was on the verge of a panic attack at the thought of having a dead or a damaged prop for the panel where she would be talking about cosplay in front of everyone. She did end up talking about the battery dying and other mishaps that happen at the panel and how you have to adapt on the fly with stuff like that and how a simple "casualwear" cosplay is always good to pack, but with the danger passed and the prop working, it was easy for her to talk about - because she had her crutch.

The panel Adora was on was called "Cosplay & Community".

While writing this chapter I had to shove Marlena's body back in the closet. It just flopped out I don't know what happened. In the process I made Adora autistic on accident.

Chapter 3:

Glimmer's paint job on the mannequin head looks like a bad knockoff of a Monster High doll. My dress form doesn't even have a head and I still throw a cloth over it to make it less creepy. The arms are detachable and one time my mom *screamed* when she was helping me move stuff and saw the hand hanging off the top shelf of a closet.

Adora's VHS set up doesn't actually take up a lot of room because she has a pretty small CRT TV and the player is right on top of it, with the boxset displayed there. She likes having it because if she is in A Mental Place™️ where she wants/needs to be watching She-ra, then she likes being able to just ball up in her room and not venture out to do it - both because it's more comfortable (physically and emotionally) and because she doesn't have to enter the living room and alert her housemates to her mood. Then they'd try to help.

I don't miss VHS because it was a pain, but also, I do have some Nostalgia I was working out.

Adora was 100% lying and scrambling when she said she wanted to send the thirst trap to Bow for Totally Normal Shoot Equipment Reasons.

Starla and Adora (like 95% of the viewers) both shipped She-ra and Teela so it made sense to go all in on a ship photoshoot, but also lowkey Starla was just like 👀 yeah I'll climb that. Her brother knows this, and loves her, so he put up with it.

Adora did pay for the sword, even though it didn't end up being ridiculously more than Clawdeen's material/time costs, partially because she believes in compensation, partially because she doesn't want to strain their friendship, and partially because Catra didn't exactly want a Clawdeen costume from her, especially not the way Adora wanted the sword. Catra didn't charge her full price, though, just something close to the difference between the costume and the sword's costs.

Some stuff about the She-ra show: I've only watched like, two episodes of Xena, so mostly I only have cultural knowledge about it and used it as a touch-point for the live-action take on a warrior princess. The She-ra show in-fic had some plot similarities with the original She-ra/He-man shows, kind of a fusion of the two shows with He-man elements in general (partially because this just made sense when half the She-ra characters were already in the fic as "real people" and partially because I wanted to play with them).

The overall villain was just "Prime", but certain seasons/arcs were focused on other villains. Skeletor was a servant of Prime that had shown up in earlier seasons and was then the big bad of season three and made minor comebacks here and there until season six when he had a prominent role alongside Prime again.

Season three was set in an entirely new location, the Crimson Waste, which had been referenced a number of times but never seen. It was also shot at a new location to give the appearance of a desert, the plot roughly being that Skeletor managed to kidnap Teela "between seasons" and brought her into the heart of the cursed desert where he thought She-ra could never survive as a being of light and love. She faced opposition from both Prime's minions, the harsh landscape filled with mutated creatures, and the criminals who had been banished there and survived, forming an outlaw society that Clawdeen was the self-declared queen of. She was an anti-hero figure for the season, but She-ra would not have been able to rescue Teela without her help in the end. She was a Huntara-like figure in the desert.

Season 3 was shorter by a few episodes than the other seasons, due to the whole "written around a pregnancy" thing. The show ran for 6 seasons with just over a 100 regular episodes, 2 special episodes (Christmas episode and a drug PSA episode because it was That Era) and two TV movies.

The second TV movie came two years after the show ended and introduced She-ra's long-lost brother He-man. It was wildly hated for fucking with (or outright contradicting) the lore so much and is generally regarded as a cashgrab for more toys. Teela had to be written out of it because her actress didn't even return for it, officially because she was focused on her family, but pretty much everyone knows she was very attached to the franchise and would have only wanted to be part of a good movie. She-ra's actress did return (there wouldn't have been a movie without her), but she was unfortunately closely associated with She-ra and having trouble finding any prominent roles because people just looked at her and saw She-ra (similar to what happened with George Reeves and Superman) so she kind of felt like she had to. Her worry turned out to be somewhat misplaced and she managed a fine acting career in supporting roles after that, but she was never a headliner again.

Most people consider the movie non-canon, Adora included. After all, it establishes that at some undisclosed point after the series ended, She-ra and Teela parted ways because She-ra went out seeking information about a family she knew to be dead and for some reason Teela just... stayed behind?? With the implication at the end of the movie being She-ra then goes on to have adventures with her brother now instead of the woman she loved for years? Yeah it was a set-up for a sequel show that never happened and it was unacceptable. Adora has never run into a He-man cosplayer at a con and she would probably break character around them because it would be awkward, though she would take a photo with them if they asked, she just wouldn't do a photoshoot. People would probably call her a fake fan LOL.

Chapter 4:

This chapter was supposed to cover weeks/months. Instead it covers *checks watch* a day. I intended to get all the way to the con, to the first day with them going to sleep and the next chapter focusing on it through to the entire end of the con. Yeah. Uh. Oops. I didn't account for how fucking horny they would be.

Adora's sword had a lowkey "preview" in the stories from the set, but they were from so far away it didn't even come across as a different sword, although in retrospect the proportions were off and the lights were definitely different. Still, the majesty of the reveal was kept intact.

Scorpia didn't message Catra until they were already all but making out, and Catra didn't even have her phone on her, so she didn't see it until she got in the car after they were all done.

The Larry the Lobster joke was from a whole exchange with Meta, that would later play out in Chapter 6, but was set up here in chapter 4. Also I'm like 90% sure Larry the Lobster is from Spongebob but I don't even know for sure tbh because I didn't watch it. I just vaguely get the joke and think it's funny.

They were on the roadside for about an hour, but that includes solo shots, their pair shots, setting up and planning out shots, and then packing everything away and saying goodbye afterwards.

Glimmer sat in the backseat hoping Adora would join her there and they could have their "confrontation" there, but Adora saw a free passenger seat and went "sweet". Glimmer couldn't tell her to sit in the back without tipping her off.

Catra is a flirt, but not nearly as much of one as Adora thinks she is, because Adora's sample is so skewed. Catra flirts with her so much, and she does see Catra flirt with others sometimes, so she assumes Catra is always pretty flirty, which just isn't true. Catra also doesn't have the same intent with others that she has with Adora, which Adora is totally blind to.

Chapter 5:

I hate coming up with handles, as stated earlier, so I just kind of muddled around and gave Perfuma "ivyscousin" as in "Poison Ivy's cousin". Not directly stated, so it doesn't break my immersion too much.

When Adora asked if Scorpia knew who Perfuma is she was mostly asking because Perfuma has a Very Strong Brand as an advocate for trans and women's rights, especially in the fandom/entertainment/cosplay space ie stuff like "Cosplay is not consent" and respecting a cosplayer's personal gender identity no matter what gender(s) they choose to cosplay. She's known for hosting similarly to Adora, but her focus is on queerness, whereas Adora is known more in her fandom circles and for being a maker, and thus hosts fandom-related events and cosplay workshops. Adora was also lowkey asking if Scorpia knew she was trans (something Perfuma is also vocal about). She wasn't sure if Scorpia was or not at that point, but she did suspect given things like her display name and Vibes she got.

Adora's difficulties communicating here are partially related to her autism. She says something factual or literal and neurotypical people draw a different conclusion/correlation based on it, leading to her followers thinking she's dating or her booking a single room on accident.

It's also part of why they can get so close to crossing the gap and then either Adora pulls up short, doubting her read on the situation, or she does something that makes Catra pull up short because it seems like Adora wants her too. That's also just because they're best friends in Lesbians tho.

Catra sleeps naked to minimize fur-pinching potential now she has her own bedroom, so when she knew she would be sharing a room with Adora, she pulled out the matching pajama set as quite literally the only pajamas she owned.

When I was planning this AU I was like "how funny would a hotel mix-up be" and joked to my friends about sprinkling in All The Tropes for this one. I absolutely could have written the same thing with them having two beds - they would still share during the day to watch the TV since it was at the foot of only one of them, etc - but... it was more fun to write there was only one bed.

Chapter 6

Catra smiles when Adora mentions the chisels because she's remembering how much she likes them and how many times she has used them.

When Adora goes to a con, she usually tries to wear Just The Character's Costume and hold Just their props. It's easier when she's at a con with someone who doesn't mind carrying a bag (or when the character has pockets, which isn't that common for her), but that's her general goal. If she wants to buy stuff, unless she's worried about it selling out immediately, she usually waits until she's about to leave the con anyway (to go to lunch or something) and then gets a bag (sometimes buying one, sometimes bringing a drawstring bag or something, whatever works) and does a sweep through the hall picking up everything she's scouted throughout the day. Then she'll go to lunch, dropping the stuff off at her hotel room if it's close or keeping it in the car until she leaves for the night otherwise. They were doing their vendor sweep before going to lunch on Saturday in this case.

Entrapta actually hates having crumbs in her bed and Catra has watched her get out of bed after going to sleep and strip it to remake it more than once at midnight, but there's a disconnect there between "don't want crumbs" and "don't do the things that make them (eating in bed)".

PGS is Pacific Geek Show, a con Adora and Spinnetossa both went to but never found time to meet up.

Adora's "mindless glower" is her autism stare, where she's trying to figure out the thing she's supposed to do/say to come across as a socially attuned human. She just thinks she's socially awkward and a bit worse at interacting with strangers in general.

The line about the reboot tarnishing memories of something she loves is just a factual concern, but it's there because that was the exact reason I didn't watch the new She-ra show at first.

The reboot itself, however, was not at all meant to be a meta reference and was entirely there to set up Catra getting the prop job. Adora meeting Mara on set was one of The Scenes for this fic, the last one both chronologically in fic and to occur to me.

I went to Clare to ask about what exactly Masters of the Universe meant because I didn't want to "misuse" it here even if She-ra in the fic universe is pretty different from how it is IRL.

The fic summary mentioned consequences and now, in chapter 6, we finally get to them.

I have weirdly specific headcannons about porn for them. Adora does watch it, sometimes, mostly to figure herself out/what her kinks are, but because sex is focused on her partner for her, it doesn't do a lot for her aside from introduce her to stuff. Catra doesn't like watching it, it makes her kind of uncomfortable, but she does enjoy nudes/lewds that people post and might look at them while getting off.

When Adora did watch porn, trying to figure out her kinks or prepare herself for theoretical future sex, she definitely found herself gravitating towards stuff featuring magicats if it was an option and she couldn't decide if it was worse to be projecting her friend onto it/thinking of her while watching or to just have a thing for magicats, because then she was like oh no what if I'm fetishizing them and had a small spiral (the answer is she has a Type that she might have even if she hadn't grown up with Catra, but she was also definitely Projecting).

She saw the tail thing years after she first pulled Catra's tail, and she knew tail-pulling could be a bullying thing, not to mention seeing it on TV portrayed just as a rude - or sometimes straight up disrespectful - annoyance, so she knew it wasn't universal even before porn prompted her to look it up and found it was pretty common but not universal. She just immediately wrote it off as something Catra didn't have.

I talked about this in the author's notes, but chapter 5 was supposed to run all the way until they woke up together on the second day of the convention, chapter 6 was supposed to be that entire second day, with them in the hall, the tail pulling, and both of them getting off and cuddling together that night, talking about emotions, falling asleep together, etc, and then ideally also include the panel with Perfuma as a final "comedic button" on the two convention chapters. I did not think that was such an unrealistic expection, and yet.

The tail-pulling leading to a makeout against the wall and them rushing up to their hotel room was The Scene for this fic and the entire reason it exists, though when I was writing it I became extremely partial to the photoshoot chapter as well.

Chapter 7:

This smut is 0% what I planned, but tbh I didn't have much of a plan except Catra curling around Adora and getting her off, and then Adora got all giggly. Even after two years, these two find new ways to surprise me/have sex that I wasn't anticipating.

Catra: "Adora's going to make us move for dinner." Adora literally the next scene: "We can stay here until it's time to eat." Catra had her number lol

In my earlier fics I kind of had a running thing about Catra not wearing underwear, but I stopped it because I felt like I had to repeatedly bring it up every time there was smut or it would seem like I "forgot" to remove Catra's underwear as part of it. For this fic I kind of returned to it, but with a twist by having it be that thongs are the only thing comfortable for her (which is absolutely a thing). Adora's just a bikini briefs girl, but she does wear thongs or no show underwear (or very rarely, go without) if a costume or photoshoot requires it.

I find Perfuma really interesting because she's positive but she works so hard for it, to the point where at times it seems (to Catra) to be a little disingenuous, when really it just means that she's trying hard to be "good," and that taking work doesn't make it any less genuine, it just comes across as more suspicious to Catra.

Catra gets to be a little protective of her friends. As a treat.

Perfuma is not too classy to say fuck, she just only uses it in certain contexts.

I had to retype like two chapters worth of notes here because my computer restarted and I hadn't saved.

Chapter 8:

I got kind of "stuck" on chapter 8, not because of anything to do with it, but because I fell down a Mass Effect hole and did a replay through the entire trilogy while writing it, so progress was slow. Once I finished, I wrote in 2 days more than I'd written in the last 2 weeks. Then of course I had to get sick/have health issues for another two weeks, slowing me down again.

Catra's in a small bedroom next to Entrapta's master because it's actually supposed to be the office, but she was the last to move in, so it's what's left. It used to be Entrapta's secondary work/storage space, until they got the shop all cleared out and organized and there was actually room for stuff there.

Side note: Entrapta loves sharing space with people who - on some level, at least - understand her. She's had room/workmates in the past who just couldn't handle her and those small incidents added up to her working alone in a steadily-deteriorating workshop because nothing else had worked out. Like, she had friends of course, but she usually only saw them IRL a few times a year. Living or working together every day had not been a success.

Adora taking the pencil out of Catra's hand again isn't so much a callback as maintaining continuity, but it's there to show how far they've come since the first chapter. Catra doesn't even really notice it.

Mara's wife is of course Light Hope, and she is looking into the camera with a dead stare to show what she thinks of this, but at the same time she has agreed to it because she loves her wife's enthusiasm, no matter how shitty and plastic the costume is. Teela's outfit is, as typical for the series, missing pants (the lack of pants in the original She-ra/He-man is fucking ridiculous y'all) and also strapless and thus lowcut, so it wasn't something Light Hope was going to just wear, hence her donning it over her clothes, which kind of completed the joke of being "forced" into this despite everyone (who knows them, at least) knowing she agreed to it.

She-ra's original actress was, at the time of the series filming and airing, officially an "ally". There were implications and rumors of course, but she didn't come out until over a decade later. It was pretty much one of those open air secrets, but she was already under national scrutiny portraying something very queer on TV and didn't want to deal with more.

"Leatherman" is a brand of knife multi-tools of some repute.

Catra proposing to bring Adora in was basically "Look, I'd be an absolutely terrible partner if I didn't do my best to bring her in on this. Besides, she's great at finishing so I might have her weather some of the props." She had to kind of trickle the requests out so she didn't seem like a crazy fan or something, but the fact that Adora was already known to the brand - as both a superfan and an occasionally host/brand rep for them - helped a lot with getting the screen test delivery set up. Anything they approved with Adora could eventually be promo, at least once it wasn't secret anymore.

Chapter 9:

I heavily considered including chapter nine just in the ending of chapter 8 since it was short anyway, but the time skip made it feel better to do as something separate. Also I would have had to pad out two Adora POVs in a row, which is easy enough with social media posts or some texts, but I wanted the "cliffhanger" moment so it would sink in for the reader similar to how it did for Adora.

There's a few weeks gap between the end of Chapter 8 and when all the props were done and ready for shoot.

I decided to capitalize "she's going to host multiple Lives" about this to make it a little clearer I'm talking about Instagram Lives, even though no one capitalizes it in casual conversation. They also don't add "Instagram" to the front of it, making that feel more awkward, so I went with the capitalization to make things clearer. I might change this later tbh (like on a subsequent read).

Adora did get a bit of a headstart thinking about how she would make the new She-ra costume, which let her draft some ideas, but she didn't actually start making anything until the first official photos/trailer dropped, both for NDA reasons and because having photos to reference is really important if you have her level of dedication to making something look right. Memory is inherently faulty, and it would be easy to remember two strips of armoring instead of three. She had materials lined up and ready to go once it was time.

I was going to make the director "he" (a vague ND insert, since that's what he's favoring these days), but then I worried people might picture a, like, old hollywood dude ordering the lesbians around for the remake of this very queer show, so I just had them be nonbinary. Their name is Diana because of Diana Huh from crewra and because it is ND's middle name (the D part).

Catra is allowed to say the studio she's working for, though she really isn't supposed to, and she had no intention of doing so until much later. Once the show's embargo (for reviews and the like) was up shortly before premier, she was allowed to actually talk more about what she worked on, and after the first episode airs she posts some photos of the sword cosplayers love her for (other than Adora, who already has everything she needs - and already loves her). Adora, for her part, gushed about the show and getting to visit set like crazy on her Instagram stories once the show was airing.

In the extended show credits, Wildcat Workshop is listed under props (along with everyone else who was part of that production team), and under Wildcat Workshop it lists the names of everyone there, plus Adora, as she was technically a consultant on the sword project. Not with a paid contract or anything, but she was signed onto the NDA and helped Catra spitball some ideas, as well as offer input whenever a design tweak was needed. Basically, Catra worked with the studio, but Adora also worked with Catra.

Mara isn't really "in the show's fandom", especially not online, but she does have a boxset and enjoys it in her personal life. However, she heard about Adora when they were in pre-production because the director was talking about the sword some cosplayer made that proved practical effects could photograph/film well and make the show a little more timeless than the original (the magic effects are really dated), and when they pulled it up to show Mara, they realized the sword was actually made by a propmaker (thanks to clicking through Adora's tag, which they hadn't done before, just assuming it was another cosplayer since she was also credited as Clawdeen). That's the inciting conversation that eventually led to Catra being hired, mostly because when Diana went to the propmaster asking about it he was just like okay why don't we just hire that person to do it then? (Propmasters don't necessarily make the props for a production, often commissioning, buying, or renting them, and this way no one else had to figure out how to reproduce a similar effect, even if they ended up needing to make some changes for it to hold up to the stress of production). Mara has had a scroll through Adora's Instagram following that conversation, as well as later seeing a video of her hosting that fan night from when the production team were later discussing letting her onto set per Catra's request because it was mentioned she had done work for them in the past and been reliable.

The show does end up being good. Different from the original, but with the same heart behind it, just a little more "serious" and modern. Adora loved waiting week-to-week for each new episode - something she never got with the original - and she really likes the new version, but the original will always be more special to her for many reasons. Mara is an amazing She-ra, obviously.

I considered ending the chapter with a final social media post or two from when the review embargo was up, but that was a big timeskip and I thought might be confusing and make it seem like Adora didn't keep her word/respect the NDA. The gist was that Catra posts a photo or two from the build of the sword, like a glamor shot and one progress shot, with a caption talking about how fun it was to work on the project and what an honor it was. Adora then shares that post to her story and the fans who only follow her just lose their minds over her dating the person who made the new sword. Adora also posts about visiting set and gushes about meeting Mara on her story, but she tries to be normal and professional about it while she does so, even though it's very obvious how excited she is.

The effects for the sword Catra made aren't identical to Adora's version of the prop, but it does have lights even if their placement and trigger mechanism are a bit different, as well as their colors and modes. The show will be using digital special effects as well, but combining that with practical makes it look all the better.

No original outline, this was pretty close to everything I planned initially, it just ended up being a Lot More than it was in my head. The only thing that changed is initially, instead of them cosplaying She-ra and Clawdeen, they were supposed to all be part of a group cosplay involving both their friend groups (which is what roped them into talking and having the conversation where they kind of made up in the first place), and Adora & Catra just happened to get a pair of characters that were dating. That was a vague idea in my head that changed once I started writing.

Next Project: I would love to tease my next AU here because I'm pretty sure of what it's going to be, but I'm going to be real with myself: I'm actually probably going to do some scattered one shots (AU and canon) since I have like a dozen WIPs clinging to my ankles.

#SaD #ficmeta #fic notes #i'll post the share link soon

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