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numinousmysteries · 4 months

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Dancing the Tandava (9/10)

[on Ao3] @today-in-fic

Princeton, New Jersey 1993

On the drive up to Princeton, Scully listens to Mulder and William discuss classic science-fiction movies and their 21st century reboots. She wishes she could share their easy connection but her shock and disbelief intervenes. It feels unfair that William has this intimate knowledge of her as a mother but she knows so little about him. He is the product of her body and years of her nurturing and yet she feels a gap separating herself from him that she can’t quite bridge.

William is intelligent, kind, and curious. He’s soft-spoken and patient, but confident with a sense of humor. He’s exactly the type of young man she’d be proud to have as a son thirty years from now. The DNA test she ordered and reviewed herself proves William is her son and Mulder is his father, which means that at some point in the future, she and Mulder get together. And, since it seems like they’ve been parenting William as a couple, they manage to stay together. It’s a possibility that intrigues and terrifies her.

On the highway, she closes her eyes and tries to imagine Mulder as her husband and William as their grown son. As William describes the expanded universe of Star Wars prequels and sequels to Mulder who peppers him with questions, she can see the three of them naturally easing into these roles. But she and Mulder have never even kissed, let alone done anything that would result in the conception of a child. As much as she finds herself drawn to Mulder, she can’t imagine this single-minded man leaving his quest behind to live a quiet, domestic life.

“Scully, can you believe this?” Mulder asks, calling her back into her body. “George Lucas bastardized the entire metaphysical beauty of the Force with these, what are they called, William?”

“Midi-chlorians,” Williams says from the backseat.

“Midi-chlorians,” Mulder says, shaking his head dismissively. “You sure you want to go back to the future? It sounds pretty grim.”

“It has its ups and downs,” William says. “There’s someone I want to see.”

“Oh, yeah?” Mulder asks, flashing William a grin in the rearview mirror.

“My friend, Hannah. I mentioned her,” William says shyly. “I just miss her I guess.”

Scully peeks in the mirror and sees a blush spreading across William’s cheeks. He may have Mulder’s nose and lanky frame, but with her light coloring he can’t hide his embarrassment any better than she can. She turns to smile at Mulder and finds he’s already giving her a toothy grin. He’s proud of his son, she thinks, and she’s starting to feel pride bubble up within herself.

***

A flash of their badges grants Mulder and Scully access to the building that houses Princeton’s physics department. Scully catches William smiling, clearly impressed by how willingly the building’s security guard yields to his parents’ authority.

As soon as the elevator opens to the floor of Bellona’s office, they hear a man and woman arguing. Mulder raises a hand to hold Scully and William back from stepping forward so they can listen without being noticed.

“This is insane, Samita,” the man shouts. “Why would you want to give up the research you’re passionate about to work for the government on something so secretive they can’t even tell you what it is?”

“That’s exactly why I need to do it,” the woman responds. “This is the cutting edge of quantum research. What I learn on this project could revolutionize the entire field. It could be detecting dark matter, or even finding ways to utilize it. We’re making such small steps now, imagine if we could take a giant leap forward—what we could possibly learn if we had unlimited resources.”

“Resources from the military-industrial complex! You came here to unlock the mysteries of the universe, the origins of why we’re all here. And now you want to leave to work on what’s most likely a weapon that could kill millions?”

Their argument continues but their voices are lower now and Scully can’t hear what they’re saying. She looks to Mulder but he’s just as focused on trying to make out what Bellona and his wife are discussing. Scully wonders what line of questioning they’ll actually take once they get to Bellona. Knowing Mulder, he’ll probably come straight out and ask if he has plans to craft a time machine thirty years from now.

“I’m not going to let you hold me back,” Shah cries out. Her shout is followed by the sound of a door slamming.

Ballona huffs and heads toward them in the hallway. He’s a slight man with dark hair and glasses. As he makes his way to them, Mulder whispers to William, “Is that him?” and William nods.

“Dr. Bellona?” Scully says. “We’re Special Agents Scully and Mulder with the FBI and we have some questions for you.”

“Samita,” Bellona calls back. “Your friends the feds are here!”

With an exasperated sigh, Shah reopens her office door and comes to meet them in the hallway.

“Dr. Samita Shah,” she says, reaching out her hand to Scully. “How can I help you?”

“You don’t know them?” Bellona asks incredulously. “I assumed these were some of your government pals.”

Shah glares at him with ice in her deep brown eyes.

“Are you working on a government project?” Mulder asks.

“I’m considering it,” Shah says guardedly. “I was offered a contract by the department of defense. Are you here on their behalf?”

“No, Dr. Shah,” Scully says. “We’re actually here to speak with your husband.”

“Well, this will be a quick conversation,” Bellona snaps. “No, I’m not interested in collaborating with you.”

“Dr. Shah, do you know the nature of the project you’ve been asked to assist on?” Mulder asks. “Or where you’d be stationed?”

“I haven’t been fully briefed yet, no,” she says. “But I’d be working at Camp Hero on Long Island. It’s an older military base that’s being recommissioned for this project.”

Scully freezes and locks eyes with Mulder. She can see William looking at her wide-eyed in her peripheral vision.

“We need to visit that base,” Mulder says. “Would you be able to get access?”

Shah squints. “I believe I could. Let me make a call.”

She turns around and walks back to her office, leaving Mulder, Scully, and William with Bellona in the hall.

“Dr. Bellona, are you familiar with the Hindu god Shiva?” William asks. Scully looks at him nervously, unsure where he’s going with this.

“You’re better off asking Samita than me. Her family is Hindu,” he says. “But I’m familiar with the broad strokes. Lord Shiva is one of the religion’s three primary deities. He’s known as The Destroyer, but he’s associated with creation as well. You’ll often see him depicted dancing the tandava, a brisk choreography that has the power to create or destroy the universe.”

“I’m sorry,” he pauses. “Who are you? And what does this have to do with me and Samita?”

“Um, my name is William,” he says. “I’m…assisting on this case.” Bellona gives Mulder and Scully a questioning look but they don’t dispute William’s claim, so he goes on. “Is there any connection you can think of between Shiva and your research? Or with the project Dr. Shah is working on?”

“No, not really,” Bellona says. After a pause, he adds, “Well, in a very abstract sense, the tandava mirrors the dynamic movement of particles in quantum mechanics. Heisenberg even said quantum physics will make more sense to those who’ve read the Vedic texts. But, in practice, no, there’s no link.”

“What about if you were working on a particle accelerator? Would it be relevant then?” William continues.

“I suppose you could make the leap to connecting an accelerator’s capability to recreate the original conditions of the universe’s formation to Shiva’s role in the cyclic creation, destruction, and re-creation of the universe, but it’s quite the leap. And even the world’s largest particle accelerators haven’t even been able to confirm, yet alone re-create, the existence of subatomic particles such as the Higgs boson that are essential to that theory. Besides, it would take a real megalomaniac—or someone with nothing to lose—to want that kind of power for himself.”

Someone with nothing to lose. The words echo in Scully’s mind. “Dr. Bellona, could you give my colleagues and I a moment?” she asks.

“Sure,” he says. “I’ll go check on Samita.”

Once the three of them are alone in the hallway, Mulder turns to Scully and asks what’s on her mind.

“William, you mentioned in the car that Bellona and Shah aren’t still married in 2023, right?” she asks.

William nods.

“And have you heard of a Dr. Samita Shah working in the field? She already has an impressive resume and it’s hard to believe that she wouldn’t be leading a world-class quantum mechanics lab thirty years from now.”

“No, I’ve never heard of her. And I do follow this stuff pretty closely,” he says.

“Then I wonder if something happened to her at some point, something terrible that led Bellona to become the very type of megalomaniac he’s describing. With the advantage of an additional thirty years of advancements in the field of quantum physics plus a far more powerful particle accelerator, he could be dangerous.”

Mulder and William both stare at her and she can see them processing her theory.

“So you think Bellona, in 2023, either sees himself as a modern-day Shiva or is trying to harness Shiva’s energy to destroy the world?” Mulder asks tentatively. She realizes it’s typically the type of theory he would posit but the pieces are starting to fall into place. Besides, the results of the DNA test can’t be denied.

“I do,” she replies. “And I think our best hope for stopping him is making sure nothing happens to Dr. Shah.”

“How can we do that?” Mulder asks. “What do you think happened to her?”

“I don’t know,” she admits. “It might have to do with William, or Camp Hero. There must be a reason he appeared when and where he did.”

“I think we all need to make a trip to Camp Hero,” Mulder suggests. Scully and William nod in agreement.

They hear a door open and Shah and Bellona return from the office.

“Okay,” Shah says. “I spoke to my contact at Camp Hero and I can go up and meet with them today. I didn’t ask about bringing any visitors, but I can try to get you in.”

Mulder, Scully, and William follow Shah and Bellona downstairs. “Follow us,” Shah says before they separate and head to their cars.

Scully trails behind Mulder and William, watching them walk in step. Nearly equal in height, their strides match and their mannerisms are almost perfectly mirrored. The doubts she had about William’s origin are evaporating, even if she didn’t have concrete DNA evidence to prove his parentage. She’s desperate to know what changes in her life over the next thirty years lead her to becoming the mother of this bright young man—and Mulder’s partner in more ways than one. Learning that information, though, she knows, won’t replace the experience of living through it all. Her only hope of getting to see firsthand what the future holds is to ensure William’s safe passage back to his version of 2023, even if it means having to say goodbye to him now.

***

As Shah’s guests, Mulder, Scully, and William get a much warmer reception at Camp Hero than they did on their first visit. As they drive through the gate behind Shah and Bellona’s car, Mulder smirks at the guard in his post. Scully smiles but keeps her eyes focused in her lap in embarrassment.

They follow Bellona and Shah to a squat, square building next to a taller one that’s capped by the radar dish. The walls of both buildings are tagged with bubbly graffiti letters and it appears as if the site hasn’t been active in years. Except for a few military vehicles, the parking lot is abandoned. Weeds poke through gaps in the pavement.

A uniformed man in his 50s greets them at the door. He’s stocky and solid, built like a refrigerator, with a thick, but neatly trimmed mustache.

“Dr. Shah, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he says. “I’m General Jenkins, we spoke on the phone. You’ll have to excuse the desolate atmosphere around here. We’re just starting to get the base up and operational again, but we should have everything you need to begin your work.”

They follow Jenkins through a concrete hallway with a lingering mildew smell. Switch boxes and rusted-over equipment line the walls. Jenkins leads them to an unmarked door that he opens by keying in a four-digit code. Inside are rows of workstations with computers, but no people.

Jenkins guides Bellona and Shah to one of the desktop computers, booting it up to demonstrate something to them while Mulder, Scully, and William survey the scene.

“That’s the door I came through,” William says, pointing to a thick, metal door with a round vault closure at the other end of the room. “There’s a tunnel behind there.”

“The Phoenix III tunnel,” Mulder says. “That must be the entrance to the wormhole.”

Mulder and William glance at Scully, waiting for her to debunk the theory. In light of everything she’s seen, though, and as much as she doesn’t want to admit it, Mulder’s explanation makes more sense than anything else she can think of.

“Any idea how we can reopen the wormhole?” William asks.

“There must be a localized disruption in spacetime,” Scully thinks aloud, trying to reconcile her understanding of the laws of physics with William’s unbelievable appearance. “Two, actually. One here caused by whatever military technology—”

“Extraterrestrial technology,” Mulder interjects.

“—whatever technology they’re using, and one at CERN in 2023 that Dr. Bellona created with the large hadron collider. If they’re both activated at the same time, the wormhole will open and William, or whoever is in the tunnel at that time, will be able to travel between the two locations.”

“Bellona is going to try it again,” William says. “I just remembered he said he was doing a ‘test run,’ so it must have been for another experiment, possibly even a more powerful one.”

“Then we have to get them to activate the time tunnel here,” Mulder adds.

“But how?” William asks.

“Dr. Shah,” Scully says. “They want her to work on this project. She can ask them to demonstrate the technology before she commits.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Mulder says.

They agree it’d be best for Scully, as a scientist, to appeal to Shah and ask if she’ll go along with the plan. She takes a deep breath, then goes to pull Shah away from Bellona and Jenkins. Without explaining her time travel theory—she doesn’t want the other woman to think she’s insane—she manages to convince Shah to request a demonstration from Jenkins.

“I don’t know what you’re expecting to see,” Jenkins says after listening to Shah’s request. “I’ve seen the technicians run the experiment a few times and it just looks like gibberish on a computer screen to me. Of course, we can’t declassify any sensitive information until you’ve signed the necessary paperwork, but if you want to watch a technician press a few buttons on the computer, be my guest. Let me get our technician.”

Jenkins leaves the room and returns a few minutes later with a tall, thin man with a goatee. The man nods at William, who gives him a look of recognition in return.

“You know him?” Scully asks.

“He was here the night I turned up,” he says quietly to her.

“How can I help?” The man asks.

“Whatever experiment you were running the night William appeared, I need you to recreate those exact conditions and repeat the coordinates,” Scully instructs him.

“I just push the buttons,” the goateed man says, resigned, and takes up position at one of the desktop computers.

“And I’ll go in the tunnel,” William says.

“No one goes in there,” Jenkins barks.

“Sir, with all due respect,” the technician says. “I think it’d be in our best interest if he does go. He’s the one I told you about who turned up here the other night? If your concern is maintaining the secrecy of the project, I don’t think you’d want him hanging around.”

Jenkins nods. Scully thinks that it ultimately doesn't matter whether the technician truly cares about William’s return or only in hiding any evidence of time travel. Either way, their only chance of getting William back where he belongs is getting him in that tunnel.

William heads toward the vault door and Scully instinctively walks beside him. Even if she can’t understand or explain how he came to be, she’s suddenly acutely aware that she doesn’t want to lose her son. She feels the need to hold him in her arms and protect him.

When they’re directly in front of the door William turns to her and says, “You have to convince Shah not to work on this project. She has to stay at Princeton or else something will happen to her and it’ll send Bellona down the path to destroy the world in 2023.”

“I don’t know if I can do that,” she says.

“Yes, you can, mom,” he insists, taking her hands in his. “Explain to her that she isn’t going to find any answers here. These researchers only want to use her for her abilities and then they’ll dispose of her to keep their work secret. You and dad told me you’ve seen things like this over the years. Shadow government projects with no respect for human life. I have a feeling that’s what’s going on here. She’ll listen to you.”

“I’ll try,” she says, squeezing his hands. Even though his eyes are as blue as her own, she sees so much of Mulder in his gaze—his desire to believe, even in her, and the trust he puts in her.

William lets go of her hands. He twists the vault door open and peers into the darkness.

“Wait,” Scully hears herself say the word before she thinks it.

She feels both William and Mulder’s eyes on her now. Mulder crosses the room to stand beside them.

“What if something goes wrong and you end up not returning to 2023…or never existing at all?” She steps closer to William and grabs onto his hands again. “I don’t want to risk losing you.”

“Mom,” William's voice catches in his throat. “It’s going to work. You figured everything out yourself. I need to get back. I’ll see you…in the future.”

She takes him into her arms and hugs him tight, closing her eyes to allow the smell and feel of him to surround her. Her son is brave and loyal like his father. For the first time since she saw him, she senses a deep bond between them that transcends time and logic. It’s an instinctual love like she’s never felt before. Like a birth she has no recollection of, she feels a physical pain as their bodies separate and she releases him from her hold.

She watches as Mulder hugs him next, knowing the link between them is just as strong. “You’ve got this, buddy,” Mulder says to his son, tapping him on the back before letting him go.

“We’ll see him again one day,” Mulder whispers to Scully, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. His weight feels warm and safe against hers, and she eases into him.

“I can’t wait,” Scully murmurs. Despite her fears, she smiles. Tears stream down her face as William disappears down the tunnel.

#xfiles #txf #xf fanfic #msr #xfiles fanfic #x files #the x files

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maythearo · 9 months

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Ahem ahem, If I may rant a bit about Little Nightmares 3 with my thoughts on the trailer announcement + my predictions on how the game will go... cause I'm still freaking out and I'm so excited for this

Kind of a deserted, post apocalyptic theme, possibly associated with dangers of radiation or toxic waste of some sorts? I assumed because of Alone's gas mask design especially + Low's design is very post apocalyptic-like, and also from some of the enemies in the trailer. (Specifically about the obviously unnaturally big doll monster, and the bunch of human hands that crawled out of the sewer kinda resembling a humanoid spider creature for all we can see, maybe some of the enemies have been affected by whatever bigger danger this story may try to convey. I mean, characters from previous games were also unnatural looking, but for what I remember their designs and stories were fit of that very dark supernatural theme, as for this one in contrast seems to be going on a different kind of territory IN the means of supernatural, mixing a bit of more ""realistic"" tones to it)

The official podcast "the sounds of nightmares" seem to be going on a scientific/psychological evaluation and or experiments route, which I think grounds the story a little more, but at the same time I have NO idea how its narrative is going to relate to the game's itself lol something about dreams... hmmm

There is mirror travelling ig, that's super cool, but so far, I got no idea what it means 👍

I thought it would be a risky decision to leave the primary claustrophobic environment of the previous games and chose to go for a brighter, more "open world"(?) look for the main characters to adventure on, but at the same time, this setting can still be well explored on a horror perspective, despite me not seeing much of this theme being executed at all in any media I've consumed so far lol. I imagine it could be a great opportunity to contrast jumps between the game's levels, as in one stage you're out on the open desert and the other you fall into a darker area to explore through

Although I have my criticisms on some of Supermassive games' stuff, I'm still very fond of their work and takes on horror videogames in general, so I trust little nightmares 3 is in very good hands 👍

The ost is going to be awesome, the song in the trailer gave me goosebumps ngl

I believe we're not going to/are barely going to see Mono or Six in this story. Their arc was pretty well constructed beggining to end, but the lack of appearances of the two, at least for me, is not a negative thing at all! I think Low and Alone's story is going to focus on the world building through different lenses rather than exploring further what we already knew before. Mono and Six may be vaguely mentioned but not crucial to the sequel ig

Just a side note I'm a terrible game theorist, so if I said stuff that clearly contradicts something in the trailer or franchise, I am very sorry, I can't help I'm very inattentive most of the time, this is embarrassingenfjenfjebrk😫

I watched a full gameplay of the first and second game like, years ago- and only now I got the opportunity to play LN by myself. I finished the first game, went half of the dlc (I'm taking a break from it bcs it's so difficult for me and the switch version takes almost a full minute to reload after I die..) and I'm currently mid way through the second, although I still remember most of the stuff that will happen in its story. I'm following the episodes of the recent podcast, and I'm going to seach for the webcomic for me to read, yahooooo!!!

NOBODY asked for this post but I DO NOT CARE, little nightmares fascinates me from story, to gameplay, to visuals. It's one of a kind on its storytelling and art. Just my thing and I care about it very much. But that's it thanks for listening to my insanity arc

#shut up may #my brain is running laps atm. how do I make it stop

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interstellarflare · 2 years

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Bend and Break || Homelander

SERIES FINALE

-PART THIRTEEN-

Warnings: Gore, violence, course language, angst.

Summary: People can only bend their morals so far before they break. Homelander is the world’s greatest superhero, and you, a tech analyst, somehow become entangled in his world when he learns that you provide intel to The Boys. He makes it his personal mission to find out exactly what you know, but he never expected such resistance from someone as damaged as you. But broken things can be mended, sometimes in the most unexpected ways possible.

Author’s Note: Well, this is it. The final part of Bend and Break. I want to thank everyone who has continued to read this series, despite it’s insanely haphazard update schedule and continuous spelling errors. Do not be sad that this series is over however, because there is a sequel series in the works! The ending of this chapter will set up the beginning of the sequel series! Everyone who has been tagged below will be tagged when the sequal series is out. Once again, thank you to everyone who has supported this series, I’ve had a blast writing it. Enjoy the final chapter of Bend and Break! Gif by @justjensenanddean

You had stood in the shower for hours, the water now unbearably cold as it left goosebumps all over your skin. No matter how hard you tried to look away, you could still see the swirls of pink cascading down your skin, the dried blood melting away and disappearing down the drain by your feet.

You knew you probably should get out of the shower, having become numb from a mixture of the cold water and intense emotions. But you just couldn’t bring yourself to. Everything in your life was slowly falling apart. Your brother had yelled at you when you and Billy had brought Max home, swearing to you that you would never see your nephew again for bringing him into your superhero ‘clusterfuck’ as he had loudly exclaimed. John was gone, likely forever. Your heart ached painfully at the thought, your eyes stinging with tears even though you had nothing left to give.

From muscle memory, you absentmindedly lifted your hand and turned off the faucet, the shower water stopping sharply and leaving you a violent shivering mess. You trembled as you slowly stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around your frame and beginning to dry yourself off. It hadn’t even registered to you that you had changed into a pair of pjyamas and dried your hair until you eventually caught sight of yourself in the mirror. You blinked in surprise, taking in your appearance with a sad expression on your features. Your eyes were bright red, bloodshot and tired. The dark circles underneath your eyes, and the faint bruises forming on your skin were the only source of colour compared to your now pale complexion, or it might have just been the pale light in the bathroom making you look like a walking corpse.

Yes, that was it.

It didn’t matter that you had been shot and somehow miraculously survived, or beaten up by one of the most powerful members of The Seven and lived. Both times, he was there to save you. But now...what happens now?

You sighed heavily, brushing damp strands of hair from your face as you placed the towel onto the bathroom sink. A heavy weight fell onto your shoulders as you trudged out of the bathroom and down the familiar pale off-white halls. With one final turn through a familiar doorway, you found yourself standing on the threshold to your old apartment living room. The furniture had been mostly overturned and destroyed when the Cerberus taskforce raided it after your assassination attempt. The kitchen bench, the one John had burnt a whole through was lying on its side up against the kitchen cabinets. The lounge had been completely overturned, the cushions strewn about the room haphazardly, much like the wooden splinters of the dining table and what remained of your laptop. The device had been smashed to pieces, the screen cracked and completely beyond repair.

You collapsed to your knees before you even had time to register the action, your hands flying to your mouth as loud sobs wracked your body.

What were you going to do?

Your apartment was the only place you could go, it was the only place where you felt at home. And now, your home was ruined. Your bedroom looked very much the same, destroyed in every aspect of the word. You had nothing left.

________________________________

A few weeks later, you had managed to scramble together some cheap furniture to get your apartment back in some form of order.

Everything broken was replaced, well, everything you had the money for at least. You had been struggling to move your new lounge around your living room when there was a soft knock from your door. With a confused expression forming on your face, you stood up straight and stretched out your back as you stepped towards the door. Carefully pulling it open so you wouldn’t rip the delicate wood off its hinges, your eyes widened in surprise as you stood face to face with your brother, who looked up at you with a sheepish expression. Michael said nothing as he pursed his lips awkwardly, looking anxiously around the hall as if he was being watched.

“Are...you okay?” You asked quietly, raising an eyebrow in question as he turned to face you with a small nod. “I uh...I came to lend a hand...and apologise. Not in that order” He stated blatantly, his abrupt change in tone making you chuckle lightly. Michael sighed heavily, looking you in the eye as he spoke “I’m sorry about how I acted towards you, you know, a few weeks ago. I was just trying to do the fatherly thing and protect my son..”

“I know, Mike-”

“I’m not done...” He interrupted, holding up his hand in a gesture of silence. “I’ve almost lost you twice in the timespan of a few years, I’m sure you can understand why I would be mad that you dragged Max, your nephew, into all of this bullshit”

You winced, nodding slowly “I didn’t mean for him to. I swear-”

“I know, and trust me, I got an earful from my own son about how this wasn’t your fault...” Michael growned, sighing heavily once again “also, your friend...what was his name, Butcher? He kind if threatened to beat the shit out of me if I didn’t come and help you sort out your apartment”

You couldn’t stop the loud laugh the escaped your lips, the sound echoing loudly down the hall as you tried to stifle it with your hands. As your brother stared you down with an exasperated expression, you cleared your throat awkwardly. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry I shouldn’t laugh, but he’s very protective” You grimaced, pressing your lips into a thin line as Michael rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I figured that out. Something tells me that I don’t want to get on his bad side” he replied with a chuckle of his own, to which you nodded in emphasis. “No, you don’t”.

With a small motion of your head, you gestured for your brother to enter the apartment. He entered with a small gasp of shock, taking in the appauling state of the splintered cupboards and destroyed furniture. The two of you began to bustle about the ruins of your apartment, moving what you could and getting rid of what was destroyed. For hours, it seemed like all you did was joke around and argue about the ‘logical’ place to put things, according to Michael that is. The two of you had become so engrossed in yelling at each other about where to move the lounge for the fourth time, that you almost didn’t hear the gentle knock at the door.

Shushing your brother angrily, you rolled your eyes as he childishly stuck out his tongue before you made your way towards the door. Carefully opening it once more, you felt your heart skip a beat as you were met with a pair of piercing green eyes. The man before you stood just outside in the hallway with a small smile on his face, his left arm resting against the doorframe. His eyes moved from your frame, into your apartment, and then back to you again, his eyebrow rising in confusion. “I don’t mean to pry...” he began, his voice deep but somehow comforting “but is everything alright?”

With your cheeks flushing a deep red in embarressment, you huffed an awkward laugh. “Yes, oh my god I am so sorry” You apologised, biting your lip as you tried to supress a loud laugh “my brother is trying to help me move some new furniture around, and he insists on moving the lounge for the fourth time-”

“Because it’s in the wrong place!” Michael shouted from inside, a fustrated sigh leaving your lips at your brother’s denial. The man before you chuckled, shaking his head slightly as he grinned “That’s alright, I figured I’d introduce myself anyway. I just moved in across the hall from you, so I hope you don’t mind” He spoke kindly, pushing away from the doorframe and moving to fold his arms over his chest. You shook your head, a bright smile forming on your face as a strange warmth spread through your chest.

A warmth you hadn’t felt for a long time.

“I don’t mind at all...” You replied happily, extending your hand out toward him “I’m Y/n”. The stranger took your hand in his and shook it firmly, his gaze once again moving between you and the train wreck of an apartment inside. “I’m Ben...” He introduced softly, before gesturing to your apartment behind you with his head “would you like a hand?”

Releasing your hand from his, you let out a long relieved sigh and stepped aside, allowing Ben to stride into your apartment with a small but confident swagger. You watched as he introduced himself to your brother, and swiftly moved the lounge, for the fourth time, with strange ease. He was kind, though maybe a little bit brash, but there was something about him that you liked, something that made you ask him if he wanted to stay for dinner, as a thank you for helping set up your apartment.

Tag List: @bronze-metal @laceyauandromedus @escritora-de-imagines @life-is-a-cruel-game @sabrinaselina55 @madamestarlight @quixscentsposts @hc-official @bluemarsuniverse @naxxsstuff @iamnotthecatladynextdoor @liajiah @mystical-wonderland-of-me @madhatter2727 @thexhostess @staplerrrr @how-am-i-serpose-to-know @gingerwrites @prurose @the-number7 @miss-puregotti @marcshonda @kahelis @ddeandracnight @morven-aranea @dawnwriterimagines @lost-redstart @firelonewolf @soft-damergrove @clean-soap @coloursunlimited @cynthianokamaria @shilsvampsinger @freshmakertaco @starlight-boo @lauraaan182 @tardis-23 @freshmakertaco @shilsvampsinger @cynthianokamaria @delicatetimetravelarcade @coloursunlimited @clean-soap @themarch-oftheblackqueen @soft-hargreeves @kennedywxlsh @itskatrinahere @morven-aranea @sublimebearalienhuman @unlikelyllamanerd @charmed-asylum @nati-epic-jelly @micksschumi @transformers-insanity @sam-quinn

#homelander x reader #homelander #homelander imagine #the boys x reader #the boys #the boys imagine #anthony starr

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eirian · 8 months

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oc spotlight: ive

oh my god. oh my GOD ive. my sweet baby boy. my beautiful sunshine child

ive (pronounced eve) is definitely also one of my top favorite ocs ive ever made. he started as just like...i think a sort of spiteful oc?? as in i made him to spite the haters lol. i wanted to make a very powerful saiyan with an all-new transformation that was even more powerful than super saiyan blue and was also rainbow bc fuck u. and that was ive!

here's his first ref

compared to his newest (which still holds up even tho its old so i never bothered to update it but i kinda want to ngl)

ive went to being the one-off final boss for mirrors to being one of the stars of the sequel, facets! his development is off the charts actually. originally a soldier that got kidnapped and used for an experiment by an evil wizard, he eventually got taken in by the universe's god of destruction, who saw his potential to become the next god of destruction with the proper training. he eventually fulfills this role and while he struggles with it he gets the hang of it over time!

his power is what really grew over time though. he started out with just super saiyan albedo--my original rainbow transformation that surpassed blue and could only be defeated by THREE fusion warriors, two of which were blue and one that was ssj4. it was already insane. but then he learned ultra instinct. and if that wasnt enough, he eventually developed a super saiyan form that surpassed even ultra instinct--in fact, it surpassed someone else's form that already surpassed ultra instinct. AND THEN? due to out of control negative emotions, he accidentally brought on this form that would tear the multiverse apart if it wasnt controlled. luckily it was, and he was taken under the grand priest's wing to further train him and hone his power and control over it.

basically he's my most OP dbz oc currently LOL. and god i love him so much. b/c despite his insane powers, he still chooses to be kind. he chooses to love, and he chooses to forgive, and he's just so. HES SO GOOD I CANT EVEN DESCRIBE HOW I FEEL ANYMORE

look at him in his little god of destruction uniform. look at him

anyway ya. i cant wait for facets bc that means i get to show more of ive's character development and power journey. im so actually excited to get to him at all

oh right one more thing: his relationship with moja, the current god of destruction. he definitely sees moja as a mix of a mentor and a father figure and he cares deeply about him. thats all i really had to say about that but it was important nonetheless

#oc spotlight

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tripleyeeet · 6 months

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10 CHARACTERS!

rules: pick 10 characters from 10 different fandoms and tag 10 people!

thanks @imgoingtofreakoutnow for the tag!

1. cybersix/adrian seidleman — aka my first impression of gender fluidity. this show came out when i was 4 and to this day i still mourn that it wasn’t longer. it was so insanely influential for its time in terms of gender rep (the main character’s disguise was a male school teacher who pretty much everyone had a crush on) and i remember genuinely crying to my mom when this show stopped airing at its regular time slot.

2. eris — at the ripe age of 8 this woman was my bisexual awakening. and honestly, more than likely the introduction to my obsession with villains. to this day i would literally let this woman do whatever she wanted to me.

3. loki laufeyson — the man, the myth, the legend. truly the one that started it all. the og summer blorbo. i’ve literally been obsessed with this man since i was a kid reading my uncle’s comic book collection past bedtime. so many iterations have come and gone (some better than others) but regardless this mother fucker has rotted my brain.

4. dr. spencer reid — probably the most influential character in regards to my writing. he was the first character that i wrote an entire fic about (along with an even longer sequel) which really helped me develop as a writer. also, now that i’m older i realize his neurodivergent rep was very affirming to witness!

5. fleabag — god, i could go on and on about how this character and phoebe’s writing makes me feel for a century so i’ll just say no other character has made me feel the way this one does.

6. silco — he’s everything i love in a character. from his overall design to his motivations and traits, silco is perfect and i thank arcane every day for creating him.

7. nick miller — watching this character is like looking in a mirror and i hate it. everything he does or says is so ridiculously specific to my psyche that i sometimes have to cover my face out of sheer secondhand embarrassment. i love him dearly.

8. ash — this is baby. my darling. my sweet cheese. despite her kit in game being very mid i will never main another character simply because she is the moment! her backstory is compelling. her and horizon’s relationship prior to the games is so interesting that i think about writing a 33737 page fic of it every day. i just love her and her broken little simulacrum brain.

9. mizu — she is everything i want in strong, female character. blood thirsty motivations that lead to unwavering goals, complicated relationships, the external hotness of a thousand suns. mizu is incredible and i am so happy that blue eye samurai got picked up for season two!!

10. astarion — wow, what a surprise! the vampire is here! who would’ve guessed? seriously though, i know i post about him pretty much every day and make jokes about how hot he is and blah, blah, blah but he truly means so much to me. all of the writers involved in creating him (and neil obvs) did such an incredible and sincere job. you can tell they put so much care into crafting his (and so many other characters’) story and i’ll forever be thankful.

tagging: @infinitystoner @use-your-telescope @the-lake-is-calling @the-lady-amphitrite @novarunestone @sunserenade @justporo @leighsartworks216 @aphrogeneias @lipstickghoulie (and whoever else wants to participate!)

#tag game

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canofspooks · 1 year

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DannyMay Day 16 (Fangs)

Summary: Danny’s reflection has been changing. Sometimes those changes hurt. Sequel to the ‘No CTRL+Z’ prompt, since I wrote these out of order.

Words: 1947

He hated Phantom's reflection. From afar, it might've looked normal, but the closer he got to the mirror, the more the imperfections showed. Phantom fresh from Danny's untimely demise had been completely human aside from the eerie glowing eyes, but now... it'd gotten so much worse.

His face was becoming more gaunt and discolored, paling to the sickly green he had seen on his frightening future self. The shower curtains he could see bleeding into his form in the mirror taunted him, reminding Danny of how difficult it had become to keep a solid shape anymore. The worst of it all was the teeth - the reasoning for him being in the bathroom in Phantom form in the first place. To think that he could numb the pain of those two, long fangs growing in with a little toothache medication felt silly, but he was getting desperate now. The ache in his jaw didn't stay confined to his ghost form, following him throughout the school day despite him (hopefully) not sporting the massive canines when existing in the world as Fenton.

He dabbed some of the gel onto his finger and spread it liberally around the base of the fangs. Even if it felt silly, anything to numb the pain would be well worth the $5 he'd spent on a single, small tube.

The logistics of allowing the medication to take affect were completely lost on him. Would switching back completely remove the substance from his gums? Would numbing the pain in his human form help at all, or was it psychological in nature - as Jazz probably would've suggested. Just to be safe, Danny stayed as Phantom, and made his way over to the bathroom door on a mission to return to his bedroom and hopefully take a nap until it finally kicked in.

Then he heard a crash from the basement, and the tell-tale vworp of the portal as it spat out another ghost.

Damn it.

Danny slipped through the floors into his parents' lab, and grabbed a thermos from the counter before he could even tell who it was.

Instead of his usual fair of the green-ish, giant floating monsters, the faces that greeted him were much more human-like.

"The Ohio ghosts?" He stood there, dumbfounded. "I thought you were like. Gone."

Their brief meeting a few weeks ago would've all but slipped his mind, if not for the dubiously-acquired sum of cash they'd given him for helping them get back into the Ghost Zone.

"Trust me, kid. We wanted to be. This place is fucking insane," the shorter one, Conrad, shoved his hands in his pockets and eyed the various devices and tools around the lab with a keen interest. Now that Danny wasn't stressed out of his mind and on a tight schedule, he noticed that the ghost was sporting the kind of clothes he expected from an old aviator. If it was casual Friday, that is. The bomber jacket, dog tags, and jeans all screamed "old-timey war ghost on a budget". The man's thick-rimmed glasses hid his glazed-over eyes pretty well in the lighting of the lab, and if not for the massive burn scar running down the right side of his face, Danny would've clocked him as a normal, living human with an oddly dated choice of fashion.

"Here," Danny offered, "I'll turn off the portal before anything else comes through. What... uh... what happened?"

Danny was glad the ghosts didn't seem keen on immediately trying to kill him, but he'd rather them not be in a lab with a bunch of deadly anti-Phantom weaponry, especially with how intently Conrad was considering one of the guns. Step one, turn off the portal. Step two, shoo them out to somewhere less dangerous.

"I don't know what's in the air around here, but it's impossible to move two steps in that other world without getting harassed by some dipshit with magic fuck-you powers."

The other ghost - Poppet, if he remembered correctly - shot a glare at their companion. "At least try to be mindful of your language around the child, I am begging you." Their colors were still washed out, with the exception being their glowing green eyes that were similar to his own except for the black sclera. Their formal attire looked more roughed-up than it was last time, with the dress shirt untucked and tears in their pants. Whatever they'd gotten into a fight with, it must've been recent. He was pretty sure that sort of damage to a ghost's form was supposed to heal itself over time.

He didn't want to hear the two argue again, so he cut off Conrad's retort with the loud shutdown chime of the portal.

"Who attacked you? Was it a guy with a beanie obsessed with boxes, or a old lunch lady?"

Poppet's heels clicked against the floor as they paced around. "Neither of the ones you described sound familiar. Our assailant - or, the most recent one - was someone with control over ice. It feels as though everyone in the underworld is looking for a fight. I don't envy you, Daniel, if these are the kinds of monsters you deal with frequently."

With the portal fully off, he led the ghosts out of the lab and into the park. The farther they were away from deadly weaponry, the better.

"It's not that bad. Half the ghosts around here are easy to beat, once you get to know them." As per usual, Danny decided to focus on the Box Ghosts of the world, rather than his genuine near-death experiences. Those were much easier to process, anyhow. "So... uh, what's the plan, then? If you can't escape, are you gonna hang around here for a bit?"

Conrad huffed. "Nah, we're probably gonna walk. Maybe hitchhike a bit. No way in hell am I staying 'round here with all these monsters around every corner."

As if on cue, the aching in Danny's jaw flared up again, and he reflexively put his hand up to his cheek to dull the pain with pressure, since apparently the medication wasn't working.

"You okay, kid?" Conrad inched closer. When Danny opened his mouth to reply, his eyebrows shot up. "- woah, that's new. When'd you get those teeth?"

"E'ry ghos' aroun' here has fangs," he mumbled, reluctant to move his jaw anymore than strictly necessary. "S'normal."

Conrad rifled through his pockets and pulled out a lighter, and small bag of dried leaves. "Here, burning sage seems to help with the pain. Maybe it'll work here."

"You're not going to give him drugs. He's like twelve." Poppet grabbed the lighter.

"I'm sorry, do you see a fucking ghost pharmacy around here? I know sage works, I have sage - this seems like a pretty reasonable choice."

Poppet reluctantly gave the lighter back, and Conrad dumped some of the sage into his palm, then lit the dried leaves on fire.

He held out his hand. "Wherever the smoke touches should numb for a bit."

"Your hand. Doesn't the fire hurt?" Danny couldn't help but ask.

Conrad bit his lip. "... I have... fire powers..."

And that was just about the worst lie Danny had ever heard, but he was far too concerned with the fact that it was working. The pain in his jaw was replaced with a much more manageable, radiating warmth that only slightly felt like blood blossoms against his skin. If not for the fact that he'd felt the full force of the sulfurous choke of blood blossoms before, he probably wouldn't have even registered it as pain.

The sage finally burnt out, and Conrad wiped the ashes on his pants.

"Thanks. That actually worked." Danny brushed a finger across his gums, finding that he could barely feel the pressure against them.

"No problem. Pops, what's up?" Conrad looked over to where Poppet had been studying Danny with an intense stare.

"It's not a ghost thing," they stated.

Danny squinted. "What?"

"It can't be a ghost thing. The fangs, the skin - all the monsters in this area of the underworld have similar features, even the ones that couldn't be ghosts. What if it's the mist doing this? When we first came here, Conrad, don't you remember how much it burned to breathe?"

He was fully ready to accept that the Ghost Zone itself was evil, but he couldn't get passed the first part they said. "Woah, woah, what do you mean 'couldn't be ghosts'? It's the Ghost Zone, it's all ghosts."

The two ghosts looked at him funny, before Conrad piped up, "I don't know if we've met the same guys, but there are some 'ghosts' in the other world who are like... the supernatural embodiments of concepts. I don't know if there's a bureaucratic process you gotta go through to be considered the spirit of sleep and dreams, but I have a hard time believing that dude was just some guy from the like 1300's."

He assumed Conrad was talking about Nocturn, in which case... yeah, in retrospect he really should've questioned how that all worked. At the time, he had been more concerned with surviving, though.

"Okay, so, he's a monster from another dimension or something?"

Conrad laughed. "Fuck no. It's probably some other supernatural bullshit. I don't know how this all works. All I know is there's normal fucking ghosts like you n' me, and then there's a 50ft plant monster that could be the ghost of an eco-terrorist, or it could be a plant monster. Ocum's razor and all that."

"Can we refrain from discussing the plant monster?" Poppet grumbled.

"Sorry. Forgot. Sensitive subject and all that. Anyway, I think if you dipped from the area for a bit, maybe you might not turn into one of those big blue weirdos."

Danny considered the idea for a moment. Amity Park was his home. He couldn't just abandon it to struggle against the ghosts - or... vaguely-defined supernatural entities - all on its own. But maybe he could take vacations. Prolong his humanity with a few months away from the area, and leave his parents with the tools and knowledge to protect the town for the short time. So what if they were a bit more brutal in their methods? That would just mean his usual foes would have to take a raincheck during those periods of time, or face potential dissection at the hands of the older Fentons. If they chose to test their chances, then he could deal with the crushing guilt later.

Maybe he should take a vacation.

"I guess I always wanted to visit the Johnson Space Center in Texas..."

"Eh... maybe not there. The other world 'round there is all flesh."

"Excuse me?"

Conrad fumbled with his hands for a moment, trying to gesture towards... honestly, Danny wasn't sure what he was doing with his hands. It was just vague waving. "I don't want to explain. Just big flesh pit. Huge. Scary. Wouldn't recommend. If you're sticking to the human world then by all means, though."

"You two get around a lot."

"Against my will." Poppet's dead glare at their companion lightened up when it passed over Danny. "We shouldn't take up too much of your time. Good luck, take care of yourself. We'll be off to... wherever fate decides to take us next."

Before they left, he felt the need to add, "Um, please don't commit any crimes before you leave the city limits? I'd kinda feel responsible for that."

"I solemnly swear not to pickpocket until after we're in another town," Conrad promised with a grin.

"Thanks, I guess?"

He and the ghosts parted ways, and Danny was left holding his now-numbed cheek.

Right. Sage. He'd have to note that somewhere.

#danny phantom #dannymay2023 #spooks reign of terror #edit from future spooks: i shit you not. i was scrolling through my queue on my phone #and i fucking fell asleep reading this and accidentally posted it #whelp. no going back now

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cedarbranch · 21 days

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OMG... tell your beloved fans about haunt me PLEASEEE + also "show me how you do that trick" + one dealer's choice :-D

WARGHH thank u <333

in response to the wip meme... putting this under a cut bc it got long lol

haunt me is my monstrosity of a stranger things wip, sitting around 90k and MAYBE 65% complete. if i'm lucky. it's fucking Long. the basic premise is that eddie dies and then steve starts dreaming about him and eventually comes to realize he is NOT dead, but in fact alive in the upside down and somehow psychically linked to steve... i won't get too deep into spoilers but it's kind of a kas!eddie fic but with a twist that's it's less kas and more similar to the pacific rim fic designations congruent with things (<= sentences that mean anything only to the most Niche Possible Audience). anyway the more complicated premise is steve's savior complex and how every single issue in his life connects back to it

show me how you do that trick is the sequel to my hellcheer fic, push the limit! (which. is fucking crazyy to me that that's the only stranger things fic actually posted on my ao3 given how much time i've spent working on haunt me 😭😭) anyway. it's as horny as the first in the series but with more feelings and plot. it's from eddie's pov and includes some actual proper kink negotiation and apologies following the insanity of the og fic, and also some RLY CUTE FLIRTING!!! a snippet for thee:

“I don’t like… weird dirty talk?” Chrissy says, wrinkling her nose. “Like, the stuff they say in bad pornos.” Eddie sighs in feigned exasperation. “God, it’s like pulling teeth here. Specifics, woman, I need specifics!” “I don’t know! Like,” Chrissy opens her mouth, then closes it again, flushing brilliantly. “No. I’m sorry, I can’t, I can’t say any of it. I just—I don’t like the word ‘pussy,’ or ‘cunt,’ or anything like that, just—” She flaps her hands in the direction of her crotch—”Just don’t directly refer to it while we’re in the act? Like, if you’re having sex, it should speak for itself!” Eddie grins at her. “What?” she demands, all frustrated but laughing with her eyes. “I love that you have porn opinions,” he says fondly. “You asked!”

for dealer's choice... oooh this is tough... but i think i'll go with 5 + 1, the full title of which will one day be "5 times steve tried to teach eddie how to swim and one time it worked" or something of the like. this fic was born out of me a) wanting to write something with intense hot-summer-day energy, b) being really interested in water/swimming as the focal point of Multiple Traumatic Incidents in steve's life as of s4, and c) can you fucking imagine if part of the reason eddie was last to jump from the boat in lover's lake was that he couldn't swim. and then he DID IT ANYWAY. but yeah second snippet:

Eddie is, in fact, wearing boxer briefs, and nothing else. Seeing so much of his skin never gets less startling, no matter how many times Steve’s splashed around with him in the lake. He always forgets that Eddie’s shoulders aren’t as broad as the vest normally makes them look. He’s pale as a goddamn sheet, too, except for the pink-red scars that pockmark his stomach and chest. Eddie catches him looking. “Might not even be worth it to teach me to swim,” he says wryly. “Don’t think I can ever set foot at a public pool again with these bad boys.” “We could just go together,” says Steve. “Then we’d match.” His own wounds have healed up better than Eddie’s. The demobats tore him up pretty good, but the bites were shallow; as months passed by, they’ve smoothed over into pale, warped ripples of scar tissue. Without thinking about it, Steve touches one close to his hip. As if in a mirror, Eddie does the same, his fingertips brushing over his stomach. His boxers have little skulls on them.

your honor i fucKGIGN LOVE THEMMM!!! IDIOTS!!!!

#tyyyy hehehe one day you'll get to read all of haunt me <333 #been thinkin abt her lately...#answered #my writing #haunt me #n.txt

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crystalcatgamer · 6 months

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20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tag by @havenotwillnotreadthebooks, lo, Kefi!

How many works do you have on AO3?

122 🎵 I’ve orphaned and deleted a few along the years, though.

What fandoms do you write for?

Uhhhh. Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint (ORV), Boboiboy, Jujutsu Kaisen and more. Currently really, really fixated on One Piece though I haven’t written fic yet, but am cooking so much toxic doomed brothers food (Donquixote Bros)

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Vis la goddamn DSMP phase always going to be my biggest mark in the world. Excluding discontinued fics and stuff I’m not happy with anymore for now…

Run, run (Here comes the boy) 1415 kudos

May the odds (Be ever in your favour) 1203 kudos

There are days where I don’t know the person in the mirror (And there are days I don’t care) 1161 kudos

Hold you in my hands like hot tea 1155 kudos

Knowing I’m safe cause you want me 1052 kudos (A sequel to fourth place!)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I respond to every single comment I can, though sometimes I might miss some! I’ll catch them months later lmao. It’s always fun to chat with ppl about what’s in my fic

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I’ll call out your name, but you won’t call back. This is an ORV fic, doomed Doksoo (beloved) and since it’s canon compliant… yeah. ‘Twas full of angst that came from love.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

The deep blue of summer nights. This was a cute ORV fic born of me wanting to write Secretive Plotter’s birthday being celebrated by ABFD, SWK and Uriel! They’re my fav rare dynamic

Do you get hate on fics?

I think the closest I got was some discourse on my DSMP fic? To be expected, and it was cleared up soon enough!

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I did like years ago lmao, tucked into the depths of the internet. Definitely not on main, for this is a family friendly account sir. It was fun in a way but also I hated writing it most of the time??? More of a reader than a writer I would say. As for what kind… while, I wrote what I liked ☆

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I HAVE THREE (3) CROSSOVERS AND THEY’RE BOTH WITH JUJUTSU KAISEN. Maybe I’m more insane over JJK then I thought I was. In my defence they’re easy to cross. Okay so basically my craziest one is this ORV X JJK one (Something blue, something new) in which I wrote the ship Kim Dokja x Gojo Satoru because I was commissioned to

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope and I hope I never do!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have not, but as long as people ask first I’m always open to it.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

A FNAF fic I wrote with Kefi (the one who pinged me for this game): Many vegetables, one soup, and a work full of original poems with @thenamelesshaven: You are made of the sea and the stars (and one day you are going to find yourself again)

What’s your all time favourite ship?

[glances at my art gallery] Recently, LawLu from One Piece and… Sharron/Maric from Lord Of The Mysteries

What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

We Shouldn’t Be This Kind Of Tired At Our Age! An ORV fic featuring Yoo Mia witnessing Yoo Joonghyuk’s changes with every turn!

What are your writing strengths?

Uhhhh. Being able to churn out stuff at the speed of light. And writing angst (lol)

What are your writing weaknesses?

Actually having a proper outline, ehe. It’s why I usually write one-shots.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Uhhhh I? Might do it some day? I’m just a bilingual guy who barely passed Chinese. It’s cool when other people who know what they’re writing about do it in their fics tho.

First fandom you wrote for?

Ehe. VIS LA BOKU NO HERO ACADEMIA (MY HERO ACADEMIA) but the fic’s been orphaned to the void ✌🏻

Favourite fic you’ve written?

Woah. Tough question, scrambling for it… this one! when I look in his eyes, well, I just see the sky. It’s a Black Butler fic I wrote recently for Whumptober (2023), Elizabeth Midford centric! I love her a lot <3

#got a game for me #my family gets a personal tag #my writing #orv #fic

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anosci · 6 months

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(407-422 albums etc that I’ve listened to this year, copied from twitter) (now with art. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28])

names and thoughts below cut

407/ VA - Mirror Image: A Link to the Past ReMixed (2017) the !!!s: "Once Upon an Adventure" stuck with me most i think. the sound design!! "Excuse Me, Princess" fun take on an underrated theme "Dungeon Shuffle" peak blind banger "The Darkest World" rly cool arrangement here

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408/ Kliptown - Kliptown I (2023) short but sweet little romp. futuregaragey? beats. "Stay" does a silly vocal thing that i kind of love "Sunday Groove" second fav

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409/ Rabit - Les Fleurs Du Mal (2017) abstract. feels like a story. doesn't mesh with me particularly well… :\

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410/ Emptyset - Skin (2017) maximum pedal tone!!! this slaps actually. all 4 tracks lol

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411/ VA - All Nighter Vol. 8 (2023) various! so: "chucho" feels good banger :) feels like a modern take on what joesph nothing was doing 20 years ago. love the cuteness within "TELEWORK". "Hueshift." slappy. "CLEAN JOBS" god damn. dirty and clean at the same time! massiv.

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412/ Ghetto Lee Lewis - Heretic Sinphony (2017) imo this is one damn good track with several bonus tracks attached. "Embrace the Darkness" hell yeah im embracing it

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413/ YoshiBlade - Candy Corn II: The Sequeling (2017) back to bang backers. i am not much a fan of the narration, even though it's not bad. however: Cave Mushrooms!!! "Be Kind, Rewind" is a good take on a classic too

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414/ VA - SOUND WAVES: A Tribute to Ecco the Dolphin (2016) mixed bag. way more guitar than i was anticipating, which isnt rly my thing. tho the postrock chill-ish stuff is good ("Scrolling Madness" f.ex) the live(?) jams are more my pace, ie "Aquamarine Bagel". & the lush stuff!

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415/ Abdicant - Nothing we do will persist (2023) smtimes skeptical of "ambient" music as it can either be boring or soul-enveloping. luckily this has some bangers: "Premonition" hits right "The final self portrait" dark cold night.<3 "Proton Decay" beautiful use of pulse waves!

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416/ VA - Detroit XI (2017) mixed bag etc! "Motor City Motorcade" unlocked some strange nostalgic feeling in me. "Aeroplanefunk" is my overall fav i think. surprised how low this ranked compared to some other personal hilights on my list!

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417/ Anonymous Various Artists - Covert 4 (2023) very mixed bag, but from a damn good collective. two specifics: "Ronck67" has this sleazy soundscape draped over the outline of hip hop. delicious. "Damaged Cells" has such a specific timbre that i dig. simple maybe, but precise.

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418/ VA - Summer Chip VII (2017) mixed bag etc etc I'd like to first highlight "sleep paralysis" for being insanely cool. i love love that hazy composition! after that: "movement phase" holy shit "Coda-Cola Zone" holy shitttttttttt (bangerest!)

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419/ Mia Koden - Decode (2023) dusty old nighttime musics. weirdly nostalgic??? i hate to say retro toonami but…. retro toonami. vibes. "10easy" especially

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420/ VA - Secret of Mana: Resonance of the Pure Land (2017) mixed bag etc etc there's a good variety in here tbh however, i must say: "Kaleidoscope"? microtones in my ocrs? this rules. other hilits are "No Cab, Fan Pride: Boku No Infinite Thotty Gaiden" (fun!!!) and "Steel and Wubz" (fub woby!!) last album of the year! onward to the next <3

#media thread

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nedlittle · 2 years

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top five classic novels!!

as always we need a caveat that i have so much love in my heart that choosing favourites is hard and i'm gonna exclude some big heavy hitters from this year that are fresh in my mind and instead focus on the ones that absolutely have vacation space in my frontal lobe

rebecca (daphne du maurier) - i relate to the narrator saying she "shall never be rid of rebecca" because Me Too girl!! a gateway drug into classics. absolutely intoxicating without a word misplaced or misspent. i enjoyed reading it more for the second time not only because i knew the plot but because there was so much of any given theme to stick your teeth into (i had colour coded highlights for gender and doubling in addition to general excellent prose/foreshadowing). a whole thesis could be written about the ways that rebecca and the narrator both perform androgyny--the narrator essentially fails at performing any sort of gender, rebecca is too good at androgyny and that is what kills her. not to toot my own horn with the one decent line in my otherwise incomprehensible review but: "while rebecca sails freely between masculinity and femininity, not-rebecca drift unmoored between both." i could write more about the structure and point of view but i am big sleepy so unfortunately that post will half to solely exist in the hypothetical. i am always thinking about rebecca

wuthering heights (emily bronte) the thing about wuthering heights is that the first time i read it all the way through i gave it 2.5 stars and was absolutely enthralled by what it lacked and then like 5 months later i think emily bronte personally tunnelled into my brain and compelled me to bump the rating up to 4. at first i was just like Oh the ghosts they story is stuck in a time loop while the rest of the world moves the only way it can be broken is if the cycle of abuse is also broken which is True but the more i thought about it the less i actually thought of the ghosts (shocking i know) and more the possibility of rancid trans rep t4t cathy & heathcliff. cathy trying to get around gender like it's a blocked path and ultimately dying because of compulsory femininity. heathcliff determined to make up for what society sees as a deficit (his race) with his gender, playing four-dimensional chess with his gender trying to find the one (1) way to Do It Right which ultimately means deliberately emulating all the worst parts of masculinity so he has some modicum of power. this WILL be a post in the future and that is a threat.

hamlet. i don't need to say anything more about this one. we've unfortunately all seen the horatio monologue that people keep tagging as poetry even though the word MONOLOGUE is in the first line of the description.

the brothers karamazov (fyodor dostoevsky) frankly an insane choice for my first fedya d especially given the circumstances but man....mitya karamazov is one of the Characters Of All Time. honestly it took me a longass time to read because uhhh being intensely suicidal in a tiny studio apartment with a job you only took for convenience's sake in huge and unfamiliar country during a global pandemic is not the best environment to read your first dostoevsky in but also is maybe the most appropriate. so it took me a while to read and at first i wasn't sure if i understood half of what i was reading but gave it 4 stars for sheer craft and then maybe a week later it really hit me how good it was. i am Not Immune to atreus house. one of the readings i like to consider is somewhat basic but seeing it as biographical specifically alyosha as a mirror of dostoevsky's son alyosha who died at 3 from epileptic complications. book as a mirror and a shrine and a grave all at once. also i'm legally required to mention the unwritten brothers k sequel brothers k ii: alexey kills the tsar. my literary white whale. i have never wanted to read a book more and this one doesn't even exist. kill me! your slave and enemy!

the epic of gilgamesh. bro. bro. 1400 years old and it's a deceptively simple story about transformative love and the earth-shattering grief that comes from losing that love. please refer to my post about how gilgamesh and the velveteen rabbit are fundamentally the same story. it turns out that my method for answering asks is to just type until i run out of ideas and get so sleepy thank you goodnight

#lesbianaglaya #answered #lit #once again my condolences to anyone who has to read and/or scroll past this #what can i say i love explaining things and have a lot of thoughts also my keyboard makes funky clicky noises so typing is fun

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stormyoceans · 2 years

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gun would have absolute insane chemistry with literally anyone they pair him with but still i would die for a prequel to not me, black and todd and whatever happened between them before they started trying to end each other (but not being able to) or any other show with sing and gun i'm never losing hope idec

every day i look into the mirror and tell myself i don't need or want a second season for any BL and every day i lie through my god dam teeth because i know full well that if they gave me any kind of not me related content i would forgive and forget and eat that shit up like a starving woman

just think about how good it would be to have a second season that's more focused on black!!!!! a second season that works both as a sequel AND a prequel, following black as he still fights every day against the corruption in their society because that's not something that ended with tawi's fall, except these days he's pretty much working alone, the gang going their separate ways after everything that happened. then something BAD happens, like idk, maybe that dude who threatened dan that one time gaining a lot of political power in the upcoming elections or something, and suddenly todd is out of the coma and sitting in black's apartment like nothing happened trying to convince black they need each other's help to stop that guy from actually getting elected. of course black refuses at first, but eventually they make a deal and black ends up bringing the gang back together, and while this happens we also get flashbacks of black and todd growing up - falling in love and falling apart - and also of black meeting everyone and forming the gang the first time around. there are just so many things we don't know about the past!!!!! and so many things the show left open!!!!! the potential is there!!!!!

and like.. im not so delusional as to think something like that will ever happen with not me, however im with you on this, they will literally have to pry the hope for a singgun BL from my cold dead hands!!!!!!! or whatever, if they don't want to do a BL im fine with a lakorn where they play a pairing (like guy and papang in p.s. i hate you but like.. with more focus on them), i will take ANYTHING!!!!!!! THE PEOPLE (you and me) WANT IT!!!!!!!!!!

#you're definitely right on gun having chemistry with everyone tho #in not me he literally had chemistry with off sing mond and film #INSANITY #but sing and gun were just out of this world as todd and black #and i refuse to believe they would let that much chemistry and potential go to waste #gun attaphan #sing harit #not me the series #todblack #m: ask

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planeoftheeclectic · 10 months

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Oh, do tell more about "Columbo: Turnabout's Fair Play".

oh geez ok I don't know how much I can say because I have been trying so hard not to spoil the mystery but let's go.

There are a few people who know how it will end/what the twist is, most of whom don't care much about Ace Attorney and were unlikely to ever read it in the first place and one of whom cares negatively about spoilers. This is because I was very anxious that the twist leading to the break in the case was too contrived and I wanted an outside opinion.

This was because I began writing TFP before I finished playing Bridge to the Turnabout. All subsequent worries about "realism" and "physics" and "the laws of science" have since been summarily dismissed.

I am currently working on some things that are very close to what will go in the epilogue and I really can't say more than that or I'm worried you'll figure it out immediately. Suffice to say: I like mirroring.

In the past 24 hours I have discovered two musical themes from AA4 that I will absolutely be using as writing ambiance because they are exactly what I've been looking for. One is Phoenix's theme, one is ostensibly the Gramarye's theme but honestly might as well work for Phoenix, both are embedded below for your convenience.

youtube

Honestly, the name of that second one is perfect for Phoenix. Man I can't wait until we get there.

Hmmm...I think the only reason I can get away with writing this fic is because I am very good at mimicking other people's vocal patterns - to the point where I have come home from Shakespeare plays speaking in iambic pentameter. (In fairness, that's less hard than it sounds - English is made for that kind of thing.) But Peter Falk is so integral to the concept of Columbo that if you can't nail his patter, your work is just going to be missing something, imo.

Hmm, what else...I think you in particular will be delighted by the ending, which is why I had to stop talking about it with you the moment I realized what it was going to be lol. Which is infuriating because I love our talks and value your contributions so much but I can't and it's driving me insane ahhhhhhhh!! That said! I relish the look on your face when you finally get there, and that expression (multiplied by the other people who read it, which is way more than I expected when I first posted it tbh) is what keeps me going. It's going to be so good. I can't wait. Why isn't it done yet. What do you mean I have to write it first.

I'm still desperately tempted to write the alternative setup I initially proposed, aka "Maya Fey hires her friend the retired detective to get those idiots together it's been like 20 years guys, geez." I probably will write it as totally separate from TFP but man can you imagine.

If I ever write the jokingly hypothetical Klapollo sequel it will be after we've finished at least aa4 and possibly the whole sequel trilogy. Which is probably for the best, given I have palutena trap to work on. That said, I've grown exceptionally fond of Klavier. Possibly because I keep murdering his brother and making horrible things happen to him. ...Sorry about that, buddy.

I somewhat doubt that Phoenix has an official breakdown sprite (excluding the head-on-desk and nervous sweating varieties) but I need to start picturing it, because that scene is coming up sooner than I can imagine. And also farther away. But at least there's only one more Edgeworth chapter forecast. That should help contain their combined loquacious verbosity to a manageable length.

I may have said this before, but I am trying very hard to write everything from the narrative point of view of the TV camera. That's defining chapter breaks, POV's. information delivered, and general tone. It's very fun, and an excellent writing exercise. I get whiplash whenever I go back to palutena trap, which has a much more standard 3rd person limited view (the character's). I would definitely recommend this sort of thing if you want to experiment with your writing style!

Hmm, now for a fun fact to end it on...well, this isn't TFP specific, but I'd like to imagine that Gumshoe is on vacation at a beach somewhere and brought one of his metal detectors and finds a buried treasure chest that is for once not connected to a murder and so he strikes it rich and can finally retire to live a life of luxury eating slightly fancier instant ramen and that's why we never see him after the 7-year gap.

#though knowing that he actually did appear in the first gramarye trial...hoo boy now i'm having thoughts #did he resign? he can't have he's mentioned by those two later #might have just gotten promoted #police chief gumshoe supremacy all in favor say ok pal!#tfp #stonemaskedtaliesin #my writing #video #music #ace attorney

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geladaacomics · 1 year

Video

A proposal for a sequel to Hidetaka Miyazaki´s masterpiece; Bloodborne.

People that have yet to earn the "childhood´s beginning" ending of said game might have a hard time following.

Continued from the video: M(other) is the first "other"

Motherhood is one of the core themes the original game revolves around; I wanted to continue to build upon the haunting images that beautiful game hosts. Bloodborne combined fears surrounding the mystery of motherhood, the shady links between females and nightly powers, with the general fear of the unknown, and the other “others” that may lurk within.Aliens are also "others "in the writings of Lovecraft. They are associated with savages and immigrants, with exotic foreign cultures.

Along with their more grandiose, fantastical counterparts, these “aliens” were perceived as a great threat, mainly because of the ideas and viewpoints, the alternative religions they played host to, assaulting the European perspective with their undeniable allure, assaulting Christian values and morality. In a way, Lovecraft was afraid of people different than him because he felt they were valid, and potential agents of mighty, secret, powers. I have to say I much prefer this to the bigotry of low expectations that permeates our culture today.

Dolls are humanity itself. The human body can feel quite "alien" when you look at it under the microscope, or if, instead of a pristine surface of etiquette and makeup, you perceive savage, foreign, beast-like insanity in a fellow homo sapiens, instead of an affirmation of commonly maintained narratives and customs. My version of “the doll” acts as a metaphor for this contrast between simplified, stylized, civilized surface and complex, messy, eldritch innards. Brief Commentary on each panel:

First picture: The Doll stands triumphant above a recently defeated (and consumed) foe; a lycanthropic inhabitant of the nightmare labyrinth. She appears to have used ectoplasmic fangs to suck out the creature´s blood, in order to feed the developing child within her. Jacques Derrida proposed "language" to be the core of our world (replacing old favorites such as "History" "Man" and "God"). Derrida, as I understand, understood language not to be composed of two different pieces (word and meaning) but rather, word referencing word, in time, one. My pictures are all meant to place pressure on the distinction we make between form and content, inviting people to reflect on that tired old antagonism that, in my opinion, has wrecked enough havoc on our world.

Second picture: The squid-like child repairs her mother´s body from within, using a mold to produce a replacement for some lost body part. Many elements are placed in relation to each other, as a sort of equation. Compare and contrast; Moon, mirror, water, blood, vase, container, broken container, the idea of Aquarius(which is featured prominently in the original game), gaze, inner gaze, mold, wave, darkness, depths, phallic tower, time, Christianity, England, movement, sperm, menstruation, womb, broken body/head etc

Third picture: The Doll sings (or perhaps screams) a magic attack spell, producing a Moon-like light source. She has lent one of her eyes to her child, who stared out into the world; a mundane crystal orb now host to an otherworldly gaze. Two being find blasphemous harmony with each other, to the point where it´s hard to say where one ends and the other begins. Saint Peter´s cross is a symbol I find very beautiful because of how ambiguous it is, and how it exposes the contradictions within Christian morality. The desire to humble yourself becomes the desire to outdo as well, two martyrs in competition, a shadow of a shadow of a shadow.

Fourth picture: A wider view of the previous moment, it brings me great joy to integrate the famous ruins so often seen in the works of Caspar David Friedrich´s works. Sound and light; two kinds of waves, bring destruction down upon a group of would-be rapist/predators. The famous idea that 0.999(etc) equals ONE is referenced. In videogames strings of nines necessarily represent the idea of "maximum" I find that to be very beautiful. Here a mix that concept with the "number or the beast" idea. This picture integrates a variety a Christian elements to produce a decidedly un-Christian vision.

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umbralglade · 2 years

Text

My mid year reading update

Tagged by: @jushiro-ukitake

Amount of books you’ve read so far: 19

Best book you’ve read so far in 2022:

I really have loved pretty much all the books I’ve read this year, but my most favorites have been these!

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

Helpmeet by Naben Ruthnum

The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin

Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2022:

I haven’t read a lot of sequels this year, so I just listed them all lol (and I loved them all so!)

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert (definitely could have gone in general faves)

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin (part of the Hainish Cycle, which is technically a series)

New release you haven’t read yet but want to:

SO many

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

My Evil Mother: A Short Story by Margaret Atwood

Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro

Book of Night by Holly Black

The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings

Thrust by Lidia Yuknavitch

A Half Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys

Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence... by R.F. Kuang

All the Seas of the World by Guy Gavriel Kay

To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year:

I only find out about new books once they’re already out idk! With that in mind:

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Biggest surprise favorite new author (debut or new to you):

S.T. Gibson

Naben Ruthnum

Newest fictional crush:

I ggguess these would be fictional crushes??? Characters I imagined as........probably hot lol

The Golem AND the Jinni from The Golem and the Ginni by Helene Wecker

Breq and Seivarden from the Imperial Radch trilogy

This is not a crush but I just thought Baek Isak from Pachinko was so sweet and kind I was so sad about him and I think I was in love with him. uh

Book that made you cry:

I love to cry at fictional things so honestly most of these books probably had me misty eyed at some point, but the books that made me actually cry were:

Pachinko, and

Crying in H Mart, read back to back, literal nonstop crying

Lonely Castle in the Sky had a little publisher’s note at the end about Japanese children’s low reported mental health/happiness, which really got me given the context of the story

Book that made you happy:

Lonely Castle in the Sky, in a surprise turnabout from the last question lol. Happy in the cathartic, inner-child-feels-seen kind of way!

Ancillary Justice and its two sequels - I was really excited to get into a trilogy that hooked me so much!

Most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year (or received):

Focusing on beautiful like design-wise, and on received rather than bought:

Golem and the Jinni (got for bday)

Lonely Castle in the Sky (got for Christmas)

Favorite rereads this year:

I only re-read one book, which was:

Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell - which I really love, I KNOW

What books do you need to read by the end of the year?:

Need to finish (hard to find/read for misc reasons):

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

Almanac of the Dead of Leslie Marmon Silko

Prioritized to-reads:

The Night Watch by Holly Black

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters (have to read one insane historical lesbian drama by this author a year)

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

The Fisherman by John Langan!! Been looking for this everywhere!!

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield!! Also this one!

Unknown Language by Huw Lemmey and uh um Hildegard von Bingen lol

Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold (book my stepdad told me to read like 15 years ago)

I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us... by Ed Yong

Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake

Phew! Tagging anyone who wants to do it lol

#long post #so long

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