#cobalt-knave

[end-otw-racism]

Do you have a resource list (or document, etc) that details the specifics of the types of racism / examples of the racism encountered on Ao3 that you are trying to combat?

We touched on these issues briefly in our first Call to Action, but wistfuljane also has a useful timeline we recommend checking out - the latter resource is not limited to racism on AO3, but it does provide necessary context regarding fandom racism we find valuable, as the racism on AO3 did not arise on its own, nor is the racism found on AO3 (nor in its parent org, the OTW) limited to its/their confines now.

Dhobikikutti has also been documenting the racism they've faced as a volunteer within the OTW, and synonymous has been documenting various institutional failures of the org, racism included. Hope this helps!

#otw #ao3 #archive of our own #organization for transformative works #askbox #cobalt-knave #endotwracism #end otw racism #resources

[marzipanandminutiae]

I'm curious if you've read Tipping The Velvet by Sarah Waters. It's a queer historical fiction set in the late 1880s,early 1890s in England. I just finished the audiobook and was really delighted by how the main character's queerness (her relationship to sexuality, gender, and presentation) didn't try to fit into a modern mold. My own research into queer subculture in the past was focused on the 1700s, so I'd be curious to hear if you've got any thoughts on the book!

I have, and I. Really didn't like it. But that probably had more to do with when in my life I read it

I was newly out to myself, 14, in 2007, and that was the first sapphic novel I managed to get hold of. It scared the hell out of me. Because I had almost no frame of reference for what being a queer woman meant besides stereotypes- I knew about modern coming-out stories centered on androgynous girls and women, and that was it. I thought, okay, this is historical fiction BY a gay woman. This is my world! Surely this will help me make sense of this new thing I've discovered about myself, that the world seems to hate.

As a baby gay teen who had also just realized that, wait, maybe I DID like presenting feminine after all, I was really not at a good place to read a novel where almost all of the sapphic characters featured are butch and the main character goes through some truly tawdry and/or awful things as the result of her sexuality. (I definitely wasn't ready to think about sex, with anyone.) It made me think this was what this was what being a lesbian HAD to mean. I freaked out, shoved it in the top of my closet, and didn't face the fact that I exclusively liked women for another 6 years (told everyone, and myself, that I was bi).

Obviously there's nothing wrong with having orgies or being masc-presenting, but it was the thought that I would become a totally different person if I was gay that scared me so badly. So I haven't picked it up since.

Someday I may reread it, from a more settled and secure place in my own identity. I'm sure it's a great book- like I said, it just wasn't right for me at that point in my life.

#ask #anon #queer literature #cobalt-knave

[thewrongshop]

KICKS DOWN YOUR DOOR what about To Die As You Lived

(from this ask game!)

HI DID YOU KNOW YOURE MY PERSONAL HERO!! To Die As You Lived (or, as I fondly think of it, my molly on repeat fic) is my longest-standing cr project and easily one of my favorites if not my very favorite wip!!! It’s a time loop fic where the loop is molly’s entire life!!

Molly dies, and then he wakes up. And he lives, and then he dies, and then he wakes up again. And again, and again. And eventually, he treads this path thin enough that echoes begin to bleed through. Something is keeping him here, in the thin space between graves—to live? To make a change? All he knows is that he finds himself in the same moments again and again, and that the familiar taste of dirt in his mouth keeps growing stronger.

Clay spends a long time watching him thoughtfully through lidded eyes.  “Huh,” he says eventually. “That’s… not supposed to happen.” “You think it means anything?” Clay blinks. “Absolutely.” For several seconds, Molly sits in skin-prickling silence and waits. When he can’t stand it any longer, he says, “Are you gonna tell me what?” “Oh!” Clay looks genuinely surprised, an odd grin tugging at his mouth. “I have no idea.”

#this might be my first posted cr fic so is it a power move to start off with one tagged major character death or what #to die as you lived #cobalt-knave #my writing #talking shop #ask games

[the-poppy-outie-effect]

Operation Anti-Mongoose???? Tell me more!

Hello hello! Okay, so you may or may not remember the little series I have going on, a KFAM middle school au. Operation Anti-Mongoose is the third installment about Ben and Emily trying to set up Sammy and Jack, all while Jack and Sammy try to set up Ben and Emily. Troy knows about all of the shenanigans, tells nobody. It's an idiot plot!

Thanks for asking buddy!

#cobalt-knave #ask #shut up beck sorry beck #king falls am

[barry-j-blupjeans]

if you're ok with doing platonic fluff for the prompts, 13 with Lup & Taako?

13. “Can you stay? Just for tonight, please. I don’t want to be alone with my thoughts.” “‘l’ll stay for as long as you need.”

--

It was drizzling when Lup and Barry arrived at the studio. There was a throng of people around the entrance and Barry had to park next to a news truck because that was the only spot left. Last week, the throng of paparazzi that was desperately trying to crowd around the door had been an ambulance instead. Barry squeezed her hand reassuringly before Lup slipped her hood up and got out of the car. She made a dash towards the entrance.

"-and he's back here today," someone said as she passed.

"Cleared of all charges!"

"I never believed it was him-"

"And that nasty, nasty man who-"

"I couldn't believe-"

"My sister was in the crowd-"

"Is that Lup?" But the door had already been opened just enough for her to slip in and it shut soundly behind her. Lup lifted her hood off to see Susan, already walking down the hall. Lup hurried to keep up.

"Your brother is an idiot," Susan said as Lup fell into step with her.

"I know," Lup said shortly.

"I thought you were keeping him with you?"

"I thought so too," Lup said. She really didn't want to be having this conversation. Especially not with Susan. Susan didn't pick up on the tone.

"I thought you'd still be at court today," she said. "But I suppose-"

"Where's Taako?" Lup interrupted. Susan scoffed, seemingly annoyed. Lup resisted the urge to shove her and find Taako herself.

"Kitchen showroom," she said.

Lup sped up, leaving Susan behind her. She turned a few corners to get there. The door to the showroom was left ajar. Lup slowed, peering inside. Only one of the lights were on, but she could see Taako's outline against the stage. Lup shut the door gently behind her and went to sit.

He hadn't even changed out of his pajamas. Typical.

"Hey dignus," Lup said, plopping down at the edge of the stage next to him. Taako deflated slightly. "What happened to 'of course I'll stay with you and Barry 'til everything calms down'?"

"I just needed some air," Taako said.

"Some air thirty miles from our apartment?" Lup said. "In downtown? Where the air is arguably worse?"

"You know what I mean," Taako said, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah," Lup said. "But you coulda told me. I would have preferred to hear you say where you're going than finding out because Angus decided to watch the news and sent me like, seven hundred texts."

"That snitch," Taako said, not with his usual heat. Lup had to remind herself that unenthusiastic Taako was better than silent Taako, which had to deal with all week. Taako kicked his feet, staring down at the audience section. Lup waited for him to say something else, but he didn't, so she had to instead.

"D'you remember what you said to me when I came to pick you up?" Lup asked. Taako shrugged, playing with a loose thread on his pants. "You said 'Can you stay? Just for tonight, please. I don't wanna be alone with my thoughts.'"

"I'm pretty sure that's not what I said-"

"Shh," Lup said. Taako snorted. "And I said, 'I'll stay as long as you need, buttface.'"

"That's- that's a little more realistic, yeah."

"But I can't stay with you if you keep trying to leave, Taako," Lup said, grabbing his hand. Taako looked away. "I know the situation is shitty but I'm not gonna leave you. Please just- just trust me to help you. If you wanna go somewhere, like here, or I don't know, to the jail or whatever to beat up Sazed, then I'll be there. I'll drive you, I'll beat him up with you. Just don't... don't leave without telling me or Barry. Please."

"I'm not a child, Lup," Taako said.

"No, you're not," Lup said. "So you can be an adult and do this one thing for me, can't you?"

Taako was silent. He let out a deep sigh, shoulders slouching even further.

"You fight nasty, you fucking goober," he said.

"Is that a yes?" Lup asked, squeezing his hand again.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Taako said, which was as close to a yes as she'd ever get. Lup leaned over, wrapping him in a hug. He spluttered but didn't try to shove her off him.

"I care about you," Lup said. "You know that, right?"

"You've only told me eighty times in the past week," Taako said.

"Yeah, well, it's true," Lup said, finally letting him go. "We gotta get going before Barry's car gets mobbed or whatever."

"Well that I've gotta see," Taako said.

#taako #lup #taz #taz balance #mine #asks #cobalt-knave #ise cube writing

[ollieofthebeholder]

for "leaves too high to touch (roots too strong to fall)", 10, 11, 16, and 20 for the ask game!

I am actually going to answer 10 under the cut, because, y'know, it's a 60-chapter fic, so. XD

11. Was there a scene that you hadn't originally planned to include? Why did you decide to fit it in?

It's not exactly a secret that I did not originally plan to include Walter's statement. I wasn't sure it would fit the flow of the fic. The reason I decided to include it was twofold. First, everybody kept asking for it; I was going to write it and just, like, post it as a one-shot separately, but the more I looked at the plot and what I was doing with it, the more I realized it had some plot relevance after all. And second...somebody actually figured out the final twist in that statement, long before I'd even decided for sure that I wanted to include it. (Since this is outside the cut, no spoilers.) I'd had it in the back of my head at the start of the fic, but actually, by the time I wrote the chapter that got that comment, I'd decided not to include that particular headcanon in this fic. And then Tinyzoar said "you know, I almost thought that..." and I went OH HELL IT CAME OUT ANYWAY MIGHT AS WELL GO FOR IT.

I'm glad I did. I think it definitely added something to the final few scenes for MP to have that knowledge.

Beyond that, there were definitely a few moments I didn't plan on that came up (Charlie, JonMarTim, Sasha's uncle - fun fact, I originally had a VERY different explanation for why she could hear the worms singing!), but it wasn't so much that I decided to include them as I just...let them happen as they came up.

16. What was the easiest scene to write?

Weirdly, I think it was Chapter 39 - the confrontation with the Not-Them. There were a lot of chapters that just flowed (especially the statement ones), but Chapter 39 was the one that came closest to the Ernest Hemmingway quote: "Writing is easy. You just sit down at a typewriter and open a vein."

20. What is something you wish more people noticed about this fic?

Tim. Specifically, how Tim behaves around Martin Prime.

(Okay, I lied. I have to put the cut here because I can't answer this fully without spoilers!)

I actually don't know if anyone noticed at all - nobody ever made a big deal out of it in the fic, and I didn't see anyone comment on it - but from the moment Tim found out Martin Prime was blind, he made a point of announcing himself every time he entered a room or left it - or any time someone else entered a room or left it. It was just a little thing on Tim's part, as far as he was concerned, and Martin Prime did tell him (off-screen) that he noticed and appreciated it immensely, but yeah, I kind of wish more people had noticed that, because it's meant to be a small but important insight into Tim's character.

(Also, while everyone noticed the shift from ARCHIVIST/PAST ARCHIVIST to JON/PRESENT ARCHIVIST in the last scene, nobody commented on the fact that the Primes' POV chapters were in past tense and the past crew's POV chapters were in present tense unless I pointed it out, and I admit to being slightly disappointed about that, because I was kind of proud of that stylistic choice. XD)

10. Share a screenshot of the original outline (if you dareee😈)

Technically this isn't the original outline, it's the final outline, but I genuinely can't remember which chapters I added after my initial outline, beyond Walter's statement. (I think it was 44, 48, and 49, but don't swear me to that.)

Send me a number + the title of one of my fics and I'll answer!

#cobalt-knave #ask games for ts #fanfic asks #leaves too high to touch (roots too strong to fall) #thanks babe these were fun :)

[sunnydale-digest]

I am running a multifandom flash (short timeline) fic exchange, and one of the fandoms nominated is Buffy.

It is called Kill Your Double, and the theme is doubles, dopplegangers, clones, robot clones, time duplicates, and alternate universe versions of one's self.

Sign ups and Noms are open now.

"What is the work minimum?

For fic, minimum word count of 200 words. For art, a clean sketch.

What is the schedule?

Nominations and sign ups end August 17 at 11:59pm Eastern Time.

Works due by August 24 at 11:59pm Eastern Time."

#btvs #multifandom #announcement #author: cobalt-knave

[theskywaslookingback]

∞

And oh my God, you'll never be as beautiful without me

Beauty needs an animal to breathe

And baby you'll be alright as long as I'm not

The Sky Under the Sea // Pierce The Veil

send me a ♾

#ask games #statement ends #cobalt knave #((thank you!!))

[theshitpostcalligrapher]

req'd by @cobalt-knave

common courtesy

text: Never ask a woman his age.

#calligraphy #shitpost

[hellofromthehallowoods]

I have attempted to summarize the first three seasons of Hello From The Hallowoods in our first-ever recap! Available both as a video and as a podcast episode, wherever you listen to the show. Naturally, spoilers ahead. Transcript here if you're the reading type!

Some amazing fan artists have their art featured through the #hfthrecap event here, including:

@alec_makes_art (Twitter) @angryducktimemachine (Tumblr) @arianwells (Tumblr) @art-is-cancelled (Tumblr) @awkwardfantasy (Tumblr) @cobalt-knave (Tumblr) @c-r-saint (Tumblr) @cryptid-stuff (Tumblr) @excalibirds (Tumblr) @hello-archivist (Tumblr) @heres-someart (Tumblr) @jayisgay (Tumblr) @jexmirjuno (Tumblr) @laroldtheheralddd (Tumblr) @meabhyy (Twitter) @meyasthatbird (Tumblr) @oceanneedsatwt (Twitter) @paperwizards (Tumblr) @RemoveDelta and @whatlizardry (Instagram) @roguecanoe (Tumblr) @salkiest (Twitter) @that-one-musicalnerd (Tumblr) @whatlizardry (Tumblr) @wolvesbaned (Tumblr)

Go give them a follow!

#hfthrecap #hfth #hello from the hallowoods #Youtube

[arqueervist]

Based off of this, by @cobalt-knave. Hope its ok to tag you in this ^^'

[ID: Digital art of Jonny d'Ville from The Mechanisms as the sickos meme. He's grinning through a window while laughing, "Yes... Ha Ha Ha... Yes!" End ID] (by @johnmalevolent )

#the mechanisms #jonny d'ville #leart

[cobalt-knave]

“Ashes gestured at the window. Once again, the image there showed Nastya, holding a broken corpse. A broken corpse with rainbow hair, twisting and writhing in odd ways, and bleeding everywhere. Ashes was actually kind of impressed with them getting rainbow colors in stained glass, especially rippled like that. Glassmaking was hard. But the point remained. ‘That is Marius’s Inspector Lyf. ‘Michael’ always was. They just. . . bumped into Nastya during her time travel accident.’” --Now We Are Derailed by @rainbowstargazerlilies​

I really loved the image of the stained glass with its rainbow blood. So, ART. I used a pose from Adorka Stock as the base.

Nastya’s coat was changed to blue because I figured black wouldn’t be great stained glass.

[ID: A digital art piece in stained glass style of Nastya kneeling and holding the body of Lyfrassir Edda. Lyfrassir is entirely done in rainbow colors and is broken into more pieces (of stained glass) than Nastya. Beneath them is a jagged puddle of rainbow blood. The background is done like beams of light from Nastya in light yellow and dull reds. The signature at the bottom reads, “cobalt-knave”.]

#fanart #the mechanisms #fic rec #mechs fic #lyfrassir edda #nastya rasputina

[taakosleftshoe]

from this post, which @cobalt-knave reminded me existed

#my art #oksamber #this is everything and nothing<3 #taz Ethersea

[thewrongshop]

tell me of "sexy wizard dancing"

(from this ask game!)

SO glad you asked me this thank you!! This is currently my longest and also most embarrassing wip so I do need to be forced to talk about it in order to make actual progress </3

Can I be so real here. so completely vulnerable. I started writing this bc I wanted to try my hand at writing one of Those fics in which nothing explicit is happening but which makes you go GOOD GOD GET A ROOM when you read it. and somehow I ended up with 7k words and counting of Essek going through the mortifying ordeal of trying to stop doing a dance of deflection (literally and figuratively) around whatever is going on between him and Caleb, with a healthy amount of ace projection thrown into the mix. He's anxious; he's a newly reformed war criminal; he's experiencing attraction for maybe the first time ever; he's spent so long repressing any real desires that he doesn't know what he wants; he's being so normal about it. He's got it all <3

Essek’s breath hitches, and he finds himself gasping for air again. Light help him, he forgets sometimes that Caleb is quite literally trained for this. He holds him at a half arm’s length long enough to regain his breath, though certainly not his composure, then says, “Do they sometimes feel the same to you? Fear and- and pleasure?” “With you?” Caleb says. “At first, I could never tell the difference.” “Then you will know to take it as a compliment,” Essek says, “when I tell you that you frighten me more than I have ever been afraid in my life, Caleb Widogast.”

#tysm for the ask (again)!!! i owe you a great writing debt #cobalt-knave #ask games #my writing #talking shop #this is literally the most embarrassing thing i've ever written i keep switching between 'nobody ever look at me' and LIBERATION!!! #sigh. c'est la vie etc #anyway i have literally two full pages of this that are just stream of consciousness planning idk why but this fic is consuming me!!

[who-do-i-know-this-man]

⚠️Vote for whomever YOU DO NOT KNOW⚠️‼️

Art of Wrath by @cobalt-knave

#ultimate obscure blorbo #polls #round 4 #William Catesby (Requiem of the Rose King) #Wrath (McGillicuddy and Murder's Pawn Shop)

[maxwellshimbo]

New Tag game! Starting a new post because the old was getting rather long.

I was tagged by @cobalt-knave thank you <3

Rules:

1. Take this quiz

2. Take this picrew

3. Tag some people

Tagging @badgermcghee @alintheshitposter @spezialgelagerte-rokokokokotte @bos10blonde @underxstars @pandakong and whoever wants to do this 👀

#tag game #the quiz result 🥴 well #and i am holding the knife for cooking of course 😁