#though I feel like it didn’t go into the magic or worldbuilding as much as I wanted and it felt irrelevant to the characters | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

freetobeeyouandme · 2 months

Text

Chapter 6: We Take a Portal to School

Chapter 6 of my Byler Isekai AU is now up on Ao3! The party gets to relax a little after almost dying in the last one while also making plans on how to proceed. Plus there is some Mike and the boys bonding and worldbuilding happening, which is why this whole thing comes in at almost 10k. You're welcome.

Tags: M, Graphic Descriptions of Violence, Fantasy AU, Canon Typical Violence, Canon Typical Horror, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn

Summary:

Mike Wheeler hates High School, so when he almost dies and falls through a portal to another world, he’s not going to complain. Especially not when that world does not only have swords and magic but seems to work exactly according to the rules of his favorite tabletop role-playing game. But his euphoria might be short lived because the party of adventurers he falls in with turns out to be the target of an evil god and the fate of the world might rest on their shoulders. So, exactly like his games of D&D. Except the wanna-be Paladin soon realizes that being a hero is much harder in real life than it is in-game. - Or, Mike gets isekai’d into a world where D&D is real.

An excerpt and taglist below the cut:

Excerpt:

They are found, eventually. From where Mike is sitting he can see three doors leading into the building, all made of the same heavy wood. The one that opens grates on the stone floors, the noise so loud in the reverent quiet of the courtyard that Mike jumps.

The others turn towards the noise with equal looks of dread and resignation.

The door admits two men wrapped in white robes and big, colorful fabrics wrapped around them like greek togas. The smaller of the two is elven, a little shorter than Mike himself, with a pudgy, almost dad-like shape, short, thin white hair and pale skin. The other man is an owlin with brown and creme feathers, sort of like a barn owl. He towers over the other man but hangs back as they make their way to the edge of the walkway, curiously watching their bedraggled group, whispering to each other, before they finally step into the courtyard proper.

Mike puts his hand on his sword, not sure he’s ready to fight if it comes to it but also knowing that he’ll have no other choice. The men hold themselves friendly enough and as far as he can see they’re not carrying weapons, but in a world with magic that doesn’t mean much.

One’s weapon had also only been his mind.

The others react calmly to the approach, though. Lucas straightens up a little, clearly torn between holding onto Max and assuming his princely duties as their leader. Hop, Mrs. Byers and Jonathan look from the men to the group around Mike, and Will rises to his feet and approaches them. He meets the smaller man’s eyes and bows.

The man in charge smiles a smile that isn’t really comforting when he sees their Cleric. “Young Master Byers. I didn’t expect to see you here ever again.”

Will keeps his head bowed. “High Mage Owens.”

“Did that goddess of yours forsake you after all?”

Mike is sure the intention is just friendly ribbing, but the man’s tone is just slightly off, and Will gives him no more than a tight smile when he lifts his head.

“I’m afraid not, sir,” he replies. “But we seek shelter all the same. We will leave if you need us to, but-” he trails off, looking around the courtyard at his tired and grieving friends.

Owens follows the gaze with the same look of cold kindness that he’s been wearing since he stepped through the door. His eyes snag on the corpse sprawled out beside their bags. “So it is true that the Circle has fallen. I told Martin not to trust in gods.”

El tenses at the name, looking down at her feet. Mike understands the feeling. He doesn’t like that fact that this man used to be on a first name basis with the Father of Gods.

The man behind Owens leans forward, whispering something in his superior’s ear. Owens purses his lips, then shakes his head.

“Have you brought his body here with you to resurrect him, or-”

“No,” Lucas says, much too loud in his hurry to speak up. Again he looks at Mike in a way that makes him uncomfortable �� a feeling not at all helped by the way Lucas still clings to Max. “He should receive a proper burial...we brought him so he wouldn’t fall into One’s clutches, but no...we just- the body just-”

He trails off.

Owens watches him with calculated interest, the barest hint of a shadow passing over his face. Then he turns back to Will with a tight smile. “We will take care of it.” He nods at Max. “Your friend-”

Hop rises to his feet and joins his son. “She’ll be alright, she simply needs rest.”

Owens nods. “You all need rest. And you shall have it. Let it not be said that the Laboratories turned away heroes in their hour of need.” He motions for the man behind him. “Shepard, see that rooms are prepared for our guests. And have the kitchens bring some food up for them.”

The man whispers something else in Owens ear, and Owens nods. Then the owlin hurries away.

“Come,” Owens gestures for them to follow him. “We have far more comfortable places to discuss your predicament than our portal room.”

Unofficial Tag List (aka you interacted with my posts about this fic, please tell me if you want me to not tag you in the future (or want to be added)): @smalltownwheeler @wheelerpilled @wrong-energy @willthelies @foodiewithdahoodie @doggo9 @gardenfairie @beelikesbyler @beverlysclown @yickarus @sourdough-el @hessolivagant @hesquietoday @oldfashionedmorphine @total-serene560 @bylersrise @hawkinsunderground @longtallglasses @generalstorecashier @usnaavi @camel-casing @bylersbear01 @turningsoft @casatoan @maru-chu @xobyers @goldentrunks @itachisnipplesharingan

#kingslayer fic #mike wheeler #will byers #byler #stranger things #byler fanfic

26 notes · View notes

bitchin-beskar · 1 year

Text

The Roommate Agreement - Chapter 2

Rating: Mature

Pairing: College!Athlete!Roommate!Paz Vizsla x Fem!Reader (Bunny)

Warnings: Again, no smut in this chapter, we've still gotta set up the premise before we get to the fun sexy times, but I'm anticipating we're likely gonna start seeing smut in Chapter 4! There are mentions of domestic abuse that happened in chapter 1 between reader and her ex (not Paz!) but no actual abuse takes place in this chapter. JUST A REMINDER, THE MAIN THEME OF THIS STORY IS FREE USE! IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT IS, YOU'RE TOO YOUNG TO BE READING THIS FIC. 18+ ONLY, MINORS DNI.

Word Count: 3.6k

A/N: hehe, as promised here is chapter 2!!! we've got some emotional shit going on, along with a bit of worldbuilding. I will definitely be expanding on the worldbuilding as the story progresses, but just be aware, I will not be taking much from actual canonical lore. You're likely going to recognize some stuff, but I'm playing fast and loose with actual canonical events. So please, don't come yelling at me if it's "not canon." it's an au for a reason guys. anyways, I hope y'all enjoy!!!

Waking up the next morning was not an enjoyable experience. Your eyes stung like crazy, and there was a bone-deep aching pain centered around your left eye and cheekbone, and your throat and mouth were unpleasantly dry. As the haze of sleep began to clear from your mind and you slowly became more aware, you remembered why you felt like death warmed over.

Groaning, you scrubbed your hands over your face, cautious of what was surely a black eye at this point, trying to stave off more tears. You didn’t want to cry over Parjai, he didn’t deserve your tears, but your heart wasn’t quite with the program yet. You’d been with him for close to four years, and those feelings didn’t just magically disappear overnight.

Although, you could admit that your love for him had been dwindling in the recent months. Parjai’s jealousy was something you’d always been aware of, but it had only grown worse as the two of you got older. He’d never liked Paz, but you’d always rationalized it away, because you knew there was nothing but friendship between the two of you, and you’d thought that Parjai trusted you on that, but clearly not. There had been fights happening more and more, often instigated by Parjai. Coming home late, unexpected school projects, wanting to grab coffee with friends, everything and anything could trigger his temper, and you’d increasingly felt like you were walking on thin ice around him.

Still, you’d never thought he’d actually hit you.

A knock on the bedroom door brought you out of your musings. You didn’t have long to wait before the handle was turning and the door was creaking open, and Paz was poking his head through the crack. He’d clearly not been up for very long, based on the state of his hair, and it brought a silly little smile to your face. He always looked younger with his hair in disarray.

His eyes were soft when he saw you sitting up in bed, but they quickly hardened when he really looked at your face. He pushed the door open further and strode into the room, coming to stand by the side of the bed. Paz nudged your chin up with a crooked finger, his other hand coming up to gently brush over your cheekbone. You let him study your face for a moment before breaking the silence.

“How bad is it?”

Paz winced, squeezing his eyes shut briefly before opening them again to focus on you. “Could’ve been worse if we hadn’t gotten that ice on you last night. Wanna put a bacta patch on today, though.”

“Ugh, no I don’t need bacta, Paz. You know I hate the smell.”

He fixed you with a stern look, concern hidden behind the fond annoyance in those dark eyes of his. “This isn’t up for debate. You wanna go to class with a black eye?”

You sighed. He was right, you really didn’t want to go to class with a black eye, but truthfully, you thought you probably should. The look Paz gave you when you voiced that thought made it clear that you needed to elaborate.

“I don’t want Parjai to be able to say it wasn’t a big deal, or that he didn’t hit me that hard.”

Paz fell quiet at that, growing contemplative as he took a seat on the edge of the bed next to you. His gaze was focused downward, and he appeared to be deep in thought. Reaching out, you grabbed one of his hands that was resting beside him on the duvet. He didn’t look up until you’d wrapped both of your hands around his much larger one, fingers gently pressing into the meat of his palm.

The look on his face made you pause, the words dying in your throat. You’d never really seen Paz look so lost, not even when he told you his father-and Paz too, by technicalities of him being a minor at the time-had officially been stripped of the Clan Vizsla Name.

“You know what he’s gonna tell people, right?”

It took you a moment to register what he was saying, but when you did, a fury filled you unlike anything you’d felt before. Parjai was excactly the kind of man to go around spreading lies that Paz had been the one to hit you, and considering his standing in Clan Priest, he had a higher chance of being believed over Paz.

However, your clan wasn’t anything to sneeze at either. Clan Prudii, while not being nearly as powerful as Clan Vizsla or nearly as influential as Clan Priest, was still a clan in good standing, well-respected and well-liked. Clan Vizsla and Clan Priest were both memebers of the Founding Clans, the ones who’d settled Mandalore in the first place. Clan Prudii was a newer clan, having formed a few centuries after the Founding of Mandalore. But Clan Prudii had always held good-standing, with a solid history of being teachers and doctors. It had been a long time since anyone in your family had married into a clan with higher-standing, and no one had married into a Founding Clan before. So naturally, it had been no secret that your parents were extremely pleased with the match between you and Parjai, because it would’ve elevated Clan Prudii to Noble Clan status, the level just below Founding Clan status. It was something your parents had dreamed of for years.

This dream had meant that you’d had to listen to many of your mother’s rants about how you were destined to drag the clan name down with you, associating with Paz the way that you had been. Those rants had only stopped once you’d began to date Parjai.

While Paz still carried the Vizsla name, his status was rather… shaky, when it came to clan politics. His father, Pre, and his grandfather, Tor, had been disowned by his great-great grandfather for their crimes as members of Death Watch, and had been stripped of the clan Name. Because Paz had been a minor at the time of the exile, he’d been allowed to keep the Clan Name on a technicality. However, because he’d been in the sole care of his father, Pre, due to his mother Tal dying years earlier, he’d been subject to the same rules as any other Nameless, the Naasade. Unless the head of Clan Vizsla took Paz back into the Clan, which hadn’t happened yet, he was shunned the same as if he’d been exiled too.

It was something Paz was exceedingly self-conscious about. At one point, you’d offered to help him draft a letter to the Clan Head to try and see if he could rejoin the Clan, only to discover that after his great-great grandfather had died, no one knew who the Clan Head actually was. Or if they did, they weren’t willing to tell Paz.

Because of the whole mess with his Clan, Paz often had to fight tooth and nail to be recognized as a Named Mandalorian. There were many who were all too happy to try and deny him access to basic things like healthcare or education based on his father’s crimes and status, and he’d fought viciously for every right he had. It had gotten better when he joined the Mudhorns, and people were talking about Paz Vizsla, the star goalie, instead of Paz Vizsla, Son of the Nameless. But there were those who still didn’t think he deserved to be on the team, or even attending the university.

But if Parjai went around saying that Paz had been the one to hit you? Well, that could cause a lot of trouble for Paz, potentially even getting him expelled. There are those who would have a far easier time believing the treasured son of Clan Priest over the maybe-disgraced son of Clan Vizsla.

So, you needed to get out there and set the record straight, before Parjai had the chance to start weaving his web of lies. The Prudii Clan were known for their honesty and frankness, and if you could get enough people believing your side of things before Parjai, then maybe the fallout for Paz wouldn’t be too bad.

Besides, it wouldn’t hurt to knock Parjai down a peg or two. He’d always been a bit arrogant, but looking back on his actions as of late, now that your affection for him was fast fading, he’d defintely stepped over the line of arrogance and straight into insufferability. He’d have a hard time finding a new girl if they knew there was a possibility he could hit them like he’d hit you.

“I’m not gonna let him tell lies about my best friend, Paz. You don’t deserve that.” You made sure he was looking at you before you continued. “Besides, he doesn’t have class today, so if I’m wanting to set the record straight, today is the best day to do it.”

Paz could clearly see that you weren’t gonna let this go. He sighed deeply, running his free hand through the fluffy mass of his hair.

“Okay, but I’m talkin’ to the team. You don’t go anywhere on campus without one of us escorting you, got it? I’m not taking any chances in case that di’kut talked to his little friends. I don’t want you gettin’ hurt even more.”

You could tell by the look on his face that Paz was deathly serious. It looked like you were gonna be spending the forseeable future with bodyguards following your every move. Normally, you’d protest such a treatment, insist that you could take care of yourself, but just the thought of running into Parjai sent shivers down your spine, so you figured you could allow Paz this indulgence for awhile.

Swinging your legs over the side of the bed, you stood and moved to stand in between Paz’s legs, cupping his cheeks in your palms as you looked at him. He sat there, a confused quirk in his brow, but a small smile playing on his lips at the determined look on your face.

You took another step forward and wrapped your arms tightly around his shoulders, pressing your chest against his as you hugged him tightly. You tucked your face against his neck and squeezed, hands twisting in the soft fabric of his shirt. His own arms wrapped around your waist with zero hesitation, thick bands of corded muscle keeping you centered and pressed as close as physically possible. His own face was buried in your neck, you could feel his lashes fluttering against you. And when he spoke, his lips brushed over your skin, his warm breath sending a rush of heat through you.

“What’s this for, then?”

Somehow, you squeezed him even tighter, as if you could convey every unspoken word from the near two decades of frienship into this one hug. He held you tighter too, his actions a direct contrast to his blasé tone of voice.

“‘s a thank you, Paz,” you muttered, your own lips pressed to his sleep-warm skin. “Jus’ shuddup an’ let me hug you.”

A shudder ran through his body, and you could feel his hands trembling from where they were pressed against you.

“Yes ma’am.”

****

Practically as soon as you set foot on campus, you were immediately accosted by Mir’a. You’d barely climed out of Paz’s truck before she was beelining across the parking lot. She’d begun speaking before she even really looked at you, apologies spilling from her lips about leaving you alone at the party, but when she finally focused on your face, a horrified gasp escaped, and she covered her mouth with both hands.

“Oh my stars, what happened?” She was immediately reaching for your cheeks, gently turning your head this way and that. Her eyes were wide and worried as she scanned the rest of your body for any other injuries. “Did this happen at the party? Oh Maker, I shouldn’t have left, I’m so sorry!”

“Mir’ika, I’m fine,” you reassured her, gripping her wrists and pulling her hands down from your face. You could hear Paz getting out of the truck and coming over to stand behind you. “Well, I’m fine now.”

“But what happened?”

You sighed, taking a deep breath to steel yourself. “Parjai hit me.”

“WHAT?!”

You winced slightly at the volume of her yell, seeing other students out of the corner of your eye turning to look at the two of you. Mir’a’s eyes were wide for a whole other reason now, and you could see fury dawning on her face. Mir’a was not someone you wanted to cross, and her temper was legendary on campus.

“Girl, if you don’t explain-”

“I picked her up from that party cause kriffing Priest wasn’t answering his phone, and when we got to their place, he smacked her across the face.”

Paz had come to stand directly behind you, one of his hands resting on the small of your back to help ground you. The anger in his voice was palpable, you could practically feel it radiating off of him.

“I’m gonna kill him,” she growled, clenching her fists. “Please tell me you broke up with his sorry shebs, he does not deserve you, especially after-”

“Mir’a, breathe.” She took a few deep, sarcastically exaggerated breaths, her furious gaze still trained on you. “Paz may have knocked him out before I could actually break it off, but yes, he and I are done. But I need something from you.”

“Anything.”

See, Mir’a Wren was a lot of things, some good and some bad, but a notorious gossip was probably the thing she was most known for. She was good at picking out what was important to spread around and what was just useless information, and when she put her mind to it, she could spread information faster than a viral holovid.

“I need you to make sure people know that Parjai’s the one who hit me. Paz was the one who’d taken me home, and-”

“Oh, I know exactly how he gets whenever Paz’s name gets brought up-no offense, big guy.”

“None taken.”

Mir’a paused, and really looked at you for a second. “Do you really think he’d try and lie about it?”

Maybe once you would’ve hesitated, but you didn’t need to, not about this, not now. “Yes. I absolutely think he will, and Paz doesn’t deserve that.”

His hand trailed from the small of your back to your hip, squeezing slightly at your defense of him. You turned your face up to look at Paz, missing the knowing grin that spread over Mir’a’s face as you did so. He was looking at you with an exceedingly soft look on his face, and it made your heart melt a little bit.

“Alright, you can count on me. I’m not gonna let that mudscuffer go around spreading lies. I’ll keep you updated.”

In any other instance, you’d be scared of the slightly manic look on Mir’a’s face. But now, it just fueled the dark pleasure unfurling in your gut. She quickly pulled you into a hug, pressing a kiss to your cheek before she was flouncing off, out to spread a reign of terror-for Parjai at least.

You made to go and follow her, but Paz’s grip on your hip stopped you.

“Hold up for a second, bunny.”

You turned, hoping your face didn’t show how Paz’s new little nickname made the butterflies in your belly swirl. He waited to make sure you weren’t going anywhere, before setting his duffel bag on the ground and digging through it. You were about to ask him what he was doing when he pulled a wad of fabric out triumphantly. He stood again and held it out to you.

“You better not be handing me your dirty laundry, Vizsla.”

He laughed, shaking his head. “Nah, I swear it’s clean. Put it on.”

You unfolded the wad of fabric, mouth opening slightly as you realized it was Paz’s hockey sweatshirt. His name was emblazzoned on the back, his number prominent underneath it. The Mudhorn’s logo was centered on the front. It was clearly well-loved, some of the colors having faded a bit, but it was so soft. You didn’t hesitate. Dropping your own bag on the ground, you pulled the hoodie on over your head, sticking your arms through the too-long sleeves and letting the hem fall to hit you mid-thigh. You were swimming in the fabric, but you loved it. It felt a little bit like having Paz’s arms around you, and his cologne was practically woven into the fabric, so it even smelled like him.

As you settled the fabric on your body, you didn’t see the way Paz swallowed harshly at seeing you once more in his clothes. It’d been a long time since you’d worn any of his hockey gear, but the darkly primal part of him purred happily at seeing you dressed in his hockey hoodie, with his name and number on your back. He had to shove that dark possessiveness back down, and focus once more on your face when you finally looked back up at him.

“I can’t be with you for all of today, so Din’s gonna grab lunch with you, and hang with you until I’m finished and can take you home, alright?”

A part of you wanted to argue, say that you didn’t need a babysitter, but you remembered the way Paz had looked this morning, and you sighed, nodding. He pulled you in for a hug, and you went easily, arms wrapping around his waist as he held you close for a few precious moments.

“Alright bunny, let’s get you to class.”

****

For the most part, your day is completely normal. Except for practically everyone asking you about the black eye, that is.

Every time, you give variations of the same answer. Yes, Parjai as in your boyfriend Parjai. No, you’re not with him anymore. Yes, you’re doing alright, but you’d really like to stop talking about this, please and thank you.

By the time lunch rolls around, you’re exhausted. If you hadn’t been so adamant about coming in and making sure people heard your account of things, you’d have texted Paz a while ago and told him you were going back to his place to nap. Din’s waiting for you outside of your Galactic Republic History course, and the two of you walk in relative quiet to the nearest dining hall. Din’s the first person not to ask about the black eye, but you also figure that Paz probably already told him.

The two of you grab lunch and a table in the back corner, away from all the hustle and bustle, hoping that people will leave the two of you alone. It seems to work, and the two of you eat in a companionable silence. Somehow, Din seems to know that you’re absolutely done with talking today, and he’s content to just be a silent pillar of support, something you didn’t realize you were desperately missing.

Lunch is almost finished when you see that you’ve got an email from the admissions office. You open it, confused as to why you’re getting an email this close to the start of the quarter. All it says is that your presence is requested as soon as possible in the admissions office, and that they will provide a note to any classes you may be missing to attend this meeting.

Looking up, Din’s got an eyebrow raised in question at you, so wordlessly you shove your phone at him. He reads the email quickly, before simply shrugging and standing up, gathering up the trash from your meals. You give him a soft thanks before standing too, and the two of you make your way out of the dining hall and towards the main building, where all the administrative offices are.

The admissions office is easy to find, and when Din and you enter, it’s clear that the two of you are the only students here. The office is quiet, soft music playing overhead as a Twi’lek types away at the computer at the only occupied desk. She doesn’t even look up, merely gesturing for you to come over with the crook of one finger. The nameplate on her desk reads: Bondara.

“What brings you in today?”

You look at Din, who only shrugs helplessly. “Uh, I recieved an email?”

“Mmhmm, mmhmm, last name?”

“Prudii.”

“Ah, yes! Just a small matter, nothing to worry about. You just need to pay tuition for this quarter.”

A frown forms on your face. “I’m sorry ma’am, but I have direct withdrawls set up, it should’ve already been taken out of my account?”

Still, she doesn’t look at you, typing away at whatever-the-kriff is on her screen. “It didn’t go through, so we’re gonna need you to try again, hun.”

Sighing, you mouth “sorry,” at Din, before pulling out your phone to look up your banking app. You’re not quite sure why you had to skip class for this today, but oh well. The screen loads slowly, but when it’s finally fully loaded, you feel your heart fucking drop into your stomach. You frantically tap the refresh button, hoping it’s just some kind of stupid glitch on your app. But when the screen loads the exact same data as before, you sink into the stupidly plush chairs set out in front of the admissions desk.

It’s empty. Your tuition account, that should have close to 7,000 credits, is completely, utterly, empty.

#paz vizsla x reader #paz vizsla #college!athlete!roommate!paz #car!paz au #car!paz #reader #fem reader #reader's nickname is bunny #paz is a hockey player #the roommate agreement #chapter 2 #no smut yet #but there will be a lot #so 18+#the mandalorian #modern au #paz vizsla fucks

94 notes · View notes

toast-tales · 10 months

Text

I Lava You, Chapter 1: Temptation

Cover art by @luckyshotwrites!

This short story takes place after P39 of ITWOM and as such, contains minor spoilers for ITWOM - read at your own risk!

June is a little slime boy who finds themselves in an unfamiliar, giant world. By chance, he crosses paths with Sam, a giant who hasn't eaten a human for three months and thinks they've gotten incredibly lucky to have one just...show up on their doorstep. Not only that, but they want to be...friends? The catch: June thinks Sam is a human, and therefore, he has to hide his identity as a slime. Sam, lucky for June, doesn't know a lot about humans. This can only go well.

This story is cowritten with the amazing, fantastic @luckyshotwrites and uses the minor character June from their ongoing vore story What I'd Do For A Livable Income. It's chock full of monsters, magic, goofs, and absolutely fantastic worldbuilding and characters. Give it a shot if you haven't yet!

Contains: references to g/t soft, safe vore and language. About 2700 words.

Chapter 1: Temptation

June had finally made it to the giant windowsill. He’d climbed from below, able to change his exterior to be sticky enough to scale the building. He shimmied closer to the window.

Luckily, the curtains weren’t drawn. He could see the giant playing a video game.

Is that human very big, or am I very small? The house was huge too, but he could have also been shrunk.

June’s eyes then locked on to another object in the back of the room. Its vibrant, gooey colors that moved inside the lamp grabbed his attention. He pressed his face to the glass to watch it.

Thirty minutes passed by where June remained mesmerized, eyes glued to the fascinating display on the giant’s shelf. The only reason his attention was redirected once more was the giant shifting in their seat.

Okay June. I gotta get serious. I need directions back to work to see everyone again, so I gotta get the human’s attention.

He removed his face from the glass and tapped on it. As expected, though, the inhabitant of the room didn’t hear, especially given the fact that they were wearing a headset.

And then, an idea popped into his head—the giant was in range of his “voice.” He tried to send the tapping noise to the giant’s head directly, by doing a mimicry of it. Of course, June looked no different than a normal human, so the giant wouldn’t notice anything amiss. Right?

Sam nearly jumped out of their seat at the sudden knocking noise, given that they were in a part of their game where they were attempting to be stealthy. This, of course, led to their cover being blown and a “Game Over” screen greeting them in return.

“Dang it!” They swiveled their head around to try and find where the source of the noise had come from. They swore it came from the game, somehow, but that couldn’t have been right.

They didn’t have to look around for long, though. Because right outside their window, next to their desk…was a human. Staring right at them.

Did a HUMAN knock that loudly? It wasn’t a question they decided was important to figure out. They were much more interested in this new development of the night. Something stuck out about this human, but they couldn’t put their finger on what it was.

“Holy shit.” There’s a human right outside my window. What kind of luck is this? Sam had been largely unsuccessful in looking for humans in the wild themselves, in the past three months since Christopher had quit dealing them. They told themselves they weren’t actually addicted to humans. But they could feel the craving inside of them now, making them rather excited that they’d actually get a taste for the first time in months.

Seeing Sam looking back at them, June bounced up and down excitedly. That was pretty smart! He thought to himself, not realizing that a lot of people would probably be freaked out if they heard sounds in their head like that. Not only that, but if Sam was a “regular-sized human” like June assumed, seeing a tiny June would likely be terrifying for them.

Sam opened the window hurriedly, but as they did, they finally realized what had been bugging them about the human. “...glasses?” they said aloud—not as a question to the human, but as an observation. They’d never seen a human with glasses before.

This observation was about all that kept them from grabbing the human immediately.

“I do wear glasses, and you don’t wear glasses.” June’s smile was warm and chipper—he didn’t appear to be fearful of Sam’s height. In fact, he was amazed by it—it was clear from the glimmer in his eyes.

The slime didn’t move any closer yet. You should never go into someone’s house uninvited. He didn’t want to be rude.

Oh god, they’re talking to me. Sam still wasn’t familiar with the concept of humans making conversation with them. I mean, Chris’s got that weird human, but—

“And hi, I’m June!” the slime said, putting out a tiny hand. “It’s nice to meet you! I’m a little lost, so if you have time, can you help me? If not, I can wait here.” June got ready to plop down if needed. “It seems like it might be a nice night.”

Sam either didn’t see the human’s tiny hand stuck out to greet them, didn’t pay attention, or didn’t care. June couldn’t be sure. Sam picked them up—not roughly, but perhaps not as gently as they should have. They held June up close to their face to get a better look at the human they’d caught.

The giant’s stomach grumbled.

I mean…I should have dinner first, but…

It was incredibly tempting to taste the human now. The smell was…well, the smell was actually a little different than most of the humans they were used to. It wasn’t as strong, and a bit…strange. Sam couldn’t put their finger on what it was, though. It didn’t matter too much—they weren’t picky, certainly not after three months.

Wait wait wait. Chris’s human talks to them all the time, and she’s—

Sam began to connect dots and make assumptions that would be, to anyone who had access into their mind, wildly incorrect. This human is talking to me…so maybe if I…is this one of those WILLING ones?

Wildly incorrect assumptions aside, this at least spurred Sam to try something new. A wide smile crossed their face—friendly enough, though the excitement probably seemed unwarranted to June. “Hey there, little human. I’m Sam.” The rest of what the human had said kind of skipped Sam’s mind. Or maybe they had just spaced out when they’d caught the human’s scent.

June cast a glance into the room past Sam. His eyes locked onto his previous target, his beloved—the lava lamp. But Sam’s voice caught his attention.

“Little human? I don’t think I’ve ever been called that before.” Realizing his mistake, he quickly tried to recover. He couldn’t let this human know he wasn’t human! “The little part.” Nailed it.

He made sure to commit the giant’s name to memory. “Sam, thank you for the…nickname?” He guessed that Sam had decided to give him a nickname instead of using his actual name. In that case, he was glad that the nickname described what he was disguising himself as perfectly. That meant that he was doing a good job, and if anyone else met him, they’d be none the wiser.

Sam still wasn’t quite listening to June, running over what their plans for the evening would entail. “You can…stay here…for now…” God, I just want a taste. Just a little taste. What the hell do I SAY this is so WEIRD.

This really caught June off guard. “Stay here?” He giddily bounced a bit in Sam’s grip. “Like a sleepover?” He stopped himself. Be cool, June! This will be my first human sleepover. Or—giant human sleepover?

“I mean, um, if you were offering a sleepover…to be friends…I wouldn’t say no…” Sam’s grip prevented June from tapping his pointer fingers together in a pleading manner. “But, if you’re offering until I get my bearings together, that’s fine too!”

Oh my god. They ARE one of those willing ones. Sam leapt to the incorrect conclusion with all the confidence of a seasoned trapeze artist. Yet, something about what the human said made them pause again. They want to be…friends?

I would save so much money if I had a human stay with me. Sam’s cravings directed their train of thought away from the previous track, though that small sentiment didn’t leave completely. Their grin widened. “You can stay as long as you want, little buddy.” They didn’t think to ask June about whether or not they were, indeed, willing to be eaten, as they just sort of assumed all humans knew what they were in for with giants.

Buddy?!? June latched onto that word. It was official. He’d made another new friend. Much like Sam, June was vastly misinterpreting his situation.

He nodded his head enthusiastically. “Thank you, thank you, Sam!”

He wondered how it’d be to have a sleepover with a human. Is it any different with the giant ones?

Sam swallowed some of the saliva that had begun pooling in their mouth, with June so close to their face. It was so, so tempting. No no no. If I wait until after dinner, I can eat it before bed and sleep on it. Yeah.

But if I don’t eat it now, then…Sam looked around their room for a temporary human-sized containment unit, coming up short. They gave the strange human a curious look, full of a…naive sort of trust. “So. Um. If I uh…leave you here for a bit, you’re not going to run off, right?”

June raised his shoulders—Sam had released their grip just enough for them to wiggle their arms out. He looked at the lava lamp again. There it was—his chance. I can’t, no…I…I’ll just look!

He nodded, very sure of himself now. “No, I would never run from a buddy, I promise. Besides, you seem nice,” he replied honestly. “And, uh…” his honesty gave way to what he considered his “devious” side. He glanced at the lamp, pointing towards it. “You can leave me there so I can watch it while I wait for you!” June looked up at Sam with big, innocent eyes—a perfect imitation of a puppy dog.

Sam raised an eyebrow, but didn’t question June’s willingness to stay put. “Oookay then.”

They looked to where the human was pointing—the lava lamp on a shelf on the other side of their room. “Uh, that?” They walked over and set June down next to it. Oh, this is perfect, actually. They can’t get down from the shelf. Why didn’t I think of that earlier?

They found themselves chuckling at how fascinated this human seemed to be with their lamp. I think I got this thing from the clearance section at the thrift store or something. “Oh, you think that’s cool, huh? Check this out.” They hit a button on the power cord, and the lights started cycling through different colors slowly.

June’s eyes shone brightly upon seeing the lava lamp as he admired it with the biggest of smiles. But when Sam hit the button and the beautiful color lit up, his eyes got even brighter. “WHOA!” He looked back at Sam pointing to it. “Do you see this?” Then he chuckled. “Of course you do. It’s so cool! It’s like a giant glow stick, but—” he kept looking back and forth between the lamp and his new friend Sam.

He was too erratic for words, reduced to little bouncy expressions at the color changes as he kept looking back to the giant every so often to make sure his new friend didn’t miss them.

Sam, without realizing it, found themselves amused by the little human’s bubbly and over-the-top excitement. And for just a moment—the briefest of moments—they forgot about how hungry they were. “You like glowy things, huh, little dude?” Wait’ll they see the RGB lighting on my PC. They’d been playing on their handheld earlier, not their PC, so June would be in for a big surprise later.

June peered back and nodded. “Yeah, I love things that glow! I have a ton of glow sticks at home.” Though I ate most of them. “But nothing like this!” He wore the widest grin imaginable. “I couldn’t see things without my glasses—” he put a finger to the frames. “I have really bad sight. So now when I have them I can see all kinds of stuff, and I love the glowy stuff the best.” He then gestured to the tattoos on Sam’s arms. “Or pretty art like that.”

He almost wanted to copy them on his own arms to match, but he refrained. He had to be a human.

Sam’s grin widened as the human pointed out their tattoos. They were particularly proud of the relatively fresh one they’d gotten about a week ago—not being able to buy humans did provide them with a bit of extra spending money. “You’ve got good taste, little buddy.” Taste. Fuck. They’d almost forgotten about making dinner. “Okay, listen. You, uh…stay here. I’m gonna eat dinner. Then I’ll be right back.”

June gave the giant a thumbs-up. “I will keep your seat safe—” he almost forgot that they weren’t the same height. “I mean view!”

He laughed a little as Sam rushed out to make dinner.

And then…June was alone with a very pretty, glowy object of beautiful colors that June would never, ever, not in a million years, think of trying to consume…

The slime, perfectly disguised as a human, stared at the lamp longingly. He pursed his lips together and turned his head away. Look somewhere else, June. Sam seems to like this thing, too. He tried to ignore it, but the quiet hum called him like a bug to a zapper.

After a few minutes, he couldn’t help himself. He had to try and open it up and try some. Just a little. Sam wouldn’t notice if I ate a tiny bit.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Sam didn’t have any fancy dinner plans. They made a beeline for the package of instant ramen in their pantry, impatiently tapping their foot as they waited for the microwave to finish. They could still smell the human from here, and it just made their stomach clench with hunger even more.

The three-minute silence left Sam little to do but be occupied by their own thoughts. For a human, they seem pretty cool, actually. This was a bit of a first for Sam. The only human they’d ever had anything close to a conversation with was Chris’s human. Daisy? Annie? Whatever her name was.

And now, they’d managed to find a human that was not only unafraid of them, but seemed to want to be their…friend?

It was weird. But…well, Chris seemed to have a pretty sweet deal going on. Without all the screaming and crying and running in terror, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to try making friends with a human. I mean, I get to eat them either way, right?

* * * * * * * * * * * *

June had successfully made his hands grippy enough to get the cap off of the top of the lava lamp, and slowly climbed back down to lower the cap onto the shelf without making any noise.

And now…to climb back up for his tiny sip.

He leaned himself over the edge to taste some. He could feel the warmth of the glass and the strange liquid in himself as he absorbed it.

He had to force his body to cool quickly so he could take it in. He tipped further and further forward as he drank it, before he fell completely into the warm mixture of wax and chemicals.

Oh no! Ah! It’s hot! He had to quickly force his body to “drink” it, past his work uniform. He was increasing in height as he did so, though he made sure to keep his body’s color the same and not transparent.

He tried to get to the sides to pull himself out. He didn’t know how long Sam would take.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Sam was rather blissfully unaware of the lava lamp carnage that was occurring in their room at this time. They were instead looking down at their bowl of instant ramen, and for some reason, they could feel Christopher’s disappointment with their meal choices.

Sigh. Fine. They dropped an egg into the bowl and stirred it a bit, then sprinkled some seasoning on top. They figured the red pepper flakes would give it some color, at least. It was like…well, the addition of ingredients seemed to only highlight the sadness of the meal, but at least it was probably healthier now. Though they couldn’t remember if they were supposed to cook the egg first, or—

Eh. YOLO. The ramen at least took the edge off of their hunger. If they ate quickly, they could probably eat the human in two hours or so.

They headed back to their room, bowl in hand, hoping the human hadn’t, like, fallen off the shelf or something.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Chapter 2 ->

Yes, this story WILL continue! What kind of hijinks await these two? Will June be able to lie his way out of this one? Stay tuned!

And thank you for reading! < 3

#g/t vore story #g/t vore #gt vore #safe vore #sfw vore #vore writing #vore stories #i lava you #widfalitwom #widfali #itwom #oc sam #widfali june #nonsexual vore

50 notes · View notes

foodsies4me · 9 months

Note

So basically: Alec is super magically powerful and was able to keep a tendril of the unacknowlesged soul bond alive as a kid that was making him sick and corrupting the newly formed soul bond?

and now Magnus healed it and the bond is complete and Malec are currently cuddling in bonded bliss?

Wowwwwwwwwwwww 🙈🥹 I get more invested in AWG every single chapter. So excited to see Malbec exploring all the new layers of both of their magic + soul bond.

I wouldn’t say super magically powerful, but he is powerful yes! And it was maintaining that tendril that was a king him so ill, so yes for that part as well!

I apologize for the incoming ramble, it’s going to be a lot.

Alec’s magic is pretty unique in the sense that it reacts both in the way a normal shadowhunter’s magic works as well as the way a warlock’s would that is to say:

Shadowhunter magic - no intent, only runes. The magic reacts to the runes so even if you were to think about using a rune that would make you weaker (for whatever reason) if you use a strength rune, you will get stronger.

Warlock magic - mostly intent when untrained, when trained it’s intent + spell to focus. Intent will however always take the upper hand so if a warlock were to use a spell that should summon fire, but decides they really want it to create a jet stream of water instead, they would be summoning water.

Alec is using his magic the way a shadowhunter would (largely because he didn’t know he had magic the way warlocks do) except the intent is leaking through which is how the familias rune he drew on Bubbles by example ended up being a permanent bond that lets him track Bubbles (and more dangerously would let someone track him though Bubbles, which Magnus and Ragnor are going to have a conniption about).

In a similar vein, the philia rune which is just meant to be a decorative rune that shows familial love, was affected by his desire to draw this rune to show Max he loves him and that he’s safe/cared for when he’s scared. As a result, it now reacts to Max (or currently Madzie’s emotions), which in return makes it so other runes can activate if the magic in the rune feels it necessary to do so. Examples: the enlighten rune activating for Max when he’s scared of the dark, the familias rune activating and forcing Alec run over, the philia rune activating and spreading love and warmth to soothe etc.

Another thing with Alec’s magic is that it has never been restrained.

I already mentioned this, I think, but warlocks are used to containing their magic (even when they flare it in greeting it’s still not unleashing their full strength) because it’s considered impolite. The other reason is that it could be dangerous for untrained magic - a child could have a nightmare about monsters and, depending on how powerful they are, accidentally bring those monsters to life through their magic. (This is an extreme example, but that’s the main logic.)

Alec’s magic has however been given free reign to do what it wants because:

There were no warlocks around to notice;

Even if there were his magic mostly feels like that of a regular Nephilim at first glance;

His magic is perpetually exhausted because of the bond he had been unconsciously maintaining, so that would have made it even harder for a warlock to catch;

Alec didn’t realize he was doing anything in the first place so he wouldn’t have thought of putting a stop to it and trying to better control his magic.

All to say that Alec has the magical power of an adult (a young one, but an adult nonetheless) warlock with the finesse of that of a newborn. And just like how having a baby with the strength of a bodybuilder would be slightly disastrous, so is this. Ergo, the first time Alec tries to summon fire when Ragnor and Magnus are training him, he nearly destroys a full wing in the Spiral Labyrinth and burns off Ragnor’s eyebrows.😂

Sorry again for the long ramble, I have so much worldbuilding and nowhere to put it so you became the ramble victim. 😁

But yes, the idea is to wrap up the first part of this series in the next two chapters (with some more Malec being cute) and to finish with Alec’s official appointing ceremony before we start with the sequel that will focus on Alec’s magic, as well as some other plot lines that have already been set in place.😊

#Foodsies rambles #A lot #sorry for the wall of text #I just want to ramble so much about this verse because I love it #AWG #alec lightwood #malec #magnus bane #Sorry Ragnor #Please don’t murder me for torching off your eyebrows #At least you can magic them back

30 notes · View notes

girlfromthecrypt · 9 months

Text

My first Writeblr tag game!!

Thanks so much for the tag @mthollowell-writes! This is one of my first ever tag-games, so I'm pumped. Also, this made me realize I rly need to do a WIP intro for my main project. It's a dark fantasy/horror with some romance, too. The working title is Fucked Up Fairytale. That aside, let's goooooo

1) What motivates you to write?

Anything and everything! Writing is my coping mechanism, for good times and bad. It helps me keep hold of happy feelings and release negative ones.

2) A line/short snippet of your writing that you are most proud/happy of. If not maybe share a line of someone else's work you love (just please credit them)

I have multiple WIPs, but I'm going to refer to the one I plan on actually turning into a book. The working title is Fucked Up Fairytale. That may undergo revisions. Anyhow, I'll share two lines/snippets, if I may! Mainly because the first one is very short indeed. Here it is:

I braced myself for stupidity, and he didn’t let me down. —This is in the main character's (Margot's) narrative inner voice during a conversation with her little brother.

And here's the other one, same chapter, same conversation! I feel like I may have gone a little overboard with Margot's world-weariness, but I kinda like it:

“The world I dream of has me making six figures at a job where my boss doesn’t need me to show him my tits,” I said, a chill creeping into my tone. “It has me going home at a reasonable hour so I can watch TV and fall asleep with a bag of spicy chips, preferably next to a spouse who doesn’t mind that they make me gassy.”

Neither of us spoke for a couple beats. Then, softly, my brother asked, "And where's the magic in that?"

"Nowhere, Callie. That's kind of the point."

3) Which OC makes you smile every time you think/talk about them and what are they like?

That would apply to Margot's love interest from Fucked Up Fairytale. He's, um… special. To me, and in general. Seeing as he's one of the Folk, it would be unwise to share his name, especially since not even Margot knows it as of right now. He calls himself the Huntsman, so that'll work for now.

He's this rather delicate-looking youngish man; slender, short and long-haired—he's quite pretty, really. And he's the smuggest, most self-satisfied dork you've ever met, but in a sweet, non-threatening way. I just love his and Margot's more wholesome exchanges. They clash a lot; she's a recent university graduate, has been a skeptic all her life and didn't mean to get roped up into any supernatural stuff, and he's this forest-dwelling fairy-like entity. But they end up being really good for each other, despite (or perhaps because of) their differences. Even though their dynamic starts off based purely on physical attraction, it grows into something more and their interactions really feel cathartic at times.

4) What process of writing do you enjoy the most?

I love what happens shortly after getting the idea for something. It's like a little twitch in the brain that grows and grows and it's just… awesome. And I'm not actually doing anything at that stage, so it's also the easiest step. Also, I just love writing dialogue.

5) What part of writing do you think you are the best at? (Yes stroke your own ego it's okay)

I think that's also writing dialogue! Not much else to say there. Oh, and nature descriptions sometimes. I've been told my nature descriptions are beautiful.

6) What is something in the writeblr community is most enjoyable?

How passionate everyone is! We all do the same thing, we write, and we all love doing it. And there's such an undertone of positivity to it all, of openness. That's really nice.

7) A writing tool/device you use that helps you with writing? (It could be speech to text, a writing program etc)

Oof. This one's too hard for me. I'm honestly struggling with a lot of writing software so… I don't have a good answer to that.

8) A piece of worldbuilding that you like in your own story? (It could be the magic system, a particular place in the story, a law etc)

The majority of Fucked Up Fairytale takes place in a single location. It's a magical forest that is its own entity, almost deity-adjacent. Certain characters worship it to gain its protection and power, but it can also be dangerous, trapping humans and turning them into so something they're… not.

I just really like that forest! I enjoy describing it, I enjoy creating new creatures it may be harboring, I enjoy lending this seemingly inanimate idyllic environment a personality that kind of shines through in a lot of scenes. I almost wish it were real. Almost.

9) What piece of advice would you say to encourage others to write if they are having a rough patch?

I'm with you.

That's all I, or anyone, can really offer, I believe. I've dealt with month-long dry spells, really horrible ones. I know it's shitty, I know it sucks. My advice, if I had any, would be to force yourself to write anyways. It's the only way to get back into it, and you should never ever give up writing. Writing is worth it.

10) Tag some people whose works you love/have been your biggest supporters

Well, obviously I'm gonna have to mention @prismatic-bell who once wrote a wonderful thirty-part fanfic to one of my stories and is, in fact, amazing. Xe has contributed greatly to a lot of my stories and I will be forever grateful for that. Also @rehnwriter who helped me set up my blog because I'm bad at internet stuff and need constant surveillance.

I'm tagging… uh… anyone who sees this and wants to participate! I'm really eager to get to know more folks from this community.

23 notes · View notes

literary-illuminati · 1 year

Text

Book Review 12 - Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation Vol. 1 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

So, like everyone on tumblr, I was at least peripherally aware of The Untamed, if only as ‘the C-drama with the impossibly pretty men everyone loves shipping about necromancy or something.’ (Also the one crossover porn fanfic with so many tags that it broke AO3.) So I wasn’t quite coming into this blind, but I think I came pretty close. It sure as hell wasn’t anywhere close to my vague expectations.

Anyway, this was fun! Also absolutely let me cross off reading something from an entirely unfamiliar literary subculture off my metaphorical bingo card for the year. Just reams of assumed context I absolutely did not possess. Kind of loved it (but the occasional clarifying footnotes were very much necessary and appreciated.)

Which is to say – there was so much more slapstick and physical comedy than I expected from the vague intimations of feudal politics and magical warfare I got? Not usually my sort of humour but it got a laugh out of me once or twice. My favourite character is Wei Wuxian’s donkey.

The conceit of the first story – reviled and abused failson destroys his own soul and offers up his body as a host to the spirit of a legendary evil wizard to wreak bloody vengeance for him, but fucks up the bit of the ritual that tells the spirit who to take revenge on. Also the whole ‘legendary evil wizard’ reputation was at least partially and vaguely due to a propaganda campaign by his enemies and he’s not particular enthusiastic about the ‘murder a whole family’ thing – is also just incredible. I kind of wish it had been more drawn out, before the whole ‘gotta collect them [chunks of a specific super cursed corpse] all!’ plot became the main justifying connective tissue.

Not that the overarching plot is really the story’s strong point – it’s basically just the excuse to keep Wei Wuxian and Wang Lanji together and having adventures. The actual selling points are the backstories and character interactions and to a lesser extent the monster of the week stuff. All of which are pretty well done!

Though as far as monster of the week stuff goes – I’m vaguely aware that cultivation fantasy is a whole, like, genre, with about as many weirdly specific shared assumptions as ‘generic’ western fantasy written by people swimming in a sea of Tolkien/Conan-as-interpreted-by-Warcraft-and-D&D, but I’ve really got zero clue whatsoever to what degree the worldbuilding of this is typical of the genre? Not that it particularly matters, beyond some of the reveals making much more sense if they’re building off an assumed awareness of how the world’s expected to work, all more or less new (though more or less intuitive) to me either way. Fun to see so much magic based around music.

Anyways – obviously I’m going in with a biased perspective but my god can you see how this ended up with a massive shipping fandom. The entire story is nothing but impossibly beautiful men flirting/pranking/sexually harassing each other while being utterly and entirely capable to even understand let along communicate their feelings. The two lead’s entire relationship in this volume is like a dated mid-2000s comedy sketch about two ostensibly straight guys playing gay chicken and both being so competitive that they just end up fucking. Author really knew what they were doing with the fanfic bait.

(Though honestly I’m legitimately unsure if it’s just a matter of narrative choice to not dwell on motivations or Wei Wuxian really is the single most unselfaware asshole in the entire universe. He legitimately seems incapable of understanding his own motivations most of the time.)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the art, which really is very lovely. Though I will be entirely honest that there’s only so many handsome black-haired men in flowing robes I can keep apart in my head.

But yeah, fun read overall. Don’t exactly feel compelled to go seek out the next volume, but don’t regret having read this one, damn sight better than some other things I’ve read this year.

#book review #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #mo xiang tong xiu

26 notes · View notes

sam-glade · 7 months

Note

Happy STS, Sam!

Writing about a world other than our own involves choosing some elements of our world to include and others to leave out. In your writing, do any such elements stand out, like a real topic you put in your fictional setting, or a significant everyday detail of our world which doesn’t exist there?

Did anything work its way in without your intent, e.g. sayings or traditions or units of measurement you didn’t consciously include, but noticed later on? If so, did you remove them or leave them in place?

- @verkja

Happy STS, Verkja💜

I very much bring to attention what real-life elements I add to my main setting. It's been created to celebrate the aesthetic of 18th century Central and Eastern Europe and explore Slavic mythology. I want to double-down on it, since I find it VERY underrepresented in fantasy, while it's a goldmine for cool details. So I'm going to quickly link fashion and architecture info dumps.

The significant details I left out deliberately are plants and animals brought to Europe from the Americas (so no pumpkins, potatoes, tomatoes, etc.). In part, it's a thought experiment, what would our cuisine look like without them, and in part it's motivated by in-setting geography and non-expansive policies.

With the amount of research I've done, I could probably pull off historical fiction at this point, and I'm toying with this idea, however, it doesn't sound appealing to me personally. I want my setting to be my playground, and specifically 1. I want it to be queernormative and 2. I don't want to include real-world countries and their baggage of historical tensions. And at this point I might just as well go into fantasy, and add magic swords to the mix.

As for unintentional inclusions...

(I'm going to preface it with: my method of worldbuilding involves writing what 'feels' right, but then looking up if the detail is feasible in the setting. E.g. does it require technology that wasn't yet discovered or is it an invasive species from another continent. Then it's cut/replaced with something. It's noticed pretty quickly, by the 2nd draft.)

For The Fulcrum, the backburner sci fi with bronze/iron age birdfolk: I'm using it as an excuse to brush up on biology and archaeology, and also run a fun simulation 'what if our evolution ran a different path'. That's a deliberate choice though. One thing that appeared there unintentionally is a fast growing, light woody plant - it was needed for constructing cheap buildings which can be destroyed during monsoon season. It's bamboo. It wasn't meant to be bamboo, but bamboo by any other name will work just as well.

I've got a slightly longer story for Days of Dusk. The setting is based on Slavic mythology, which permeates the stories I was told as a kid, by my family. I'm brushing up on them and reading the less kid-friendly versions now, and I deliberately choose which demons to include. However. The demon possessing the protag feeds off his energy/lifeforce. As I was trying to explain this metaphysics and I've had a nagging feeling that I've read about it, but it's meant to be added to the setting, not based on myths, so whatever, don't need to look it up.

Prompted by all the Dracula-related stuff on my dash, I was talking to someone about vampires, explaining that Slavic vampires are a little bit different. And then it clicked. I re-discovered mares. There are upyrs/vampyrs, which feed on blood, and related to them are lifeforce-devouring mares. So that stayed and got highlighted during editting.

And whenever I need to give a character a hobby or a task to do, I write what I know - and I know some odd things independently of writing. E.g. I bake rye sourdough bread since I got some starter as a birthday present a few years ago, and so I can describe the smell and feel of the dough when a character is mixing it during a conversation.

#oof this got long #sts #ask and i shall answer #days of dusk #the fulcrum

6 notes · View notes

torinighthawk · 1 year

Text

Harry Potter Headcanons (2/?)

My werewolf post has been lost in the forest and I can’t find it so...

Let’s talk Hogwarts Headcanons instead!

I’ve always been big on worldbuilding (and attempted writing) of Next Generation stories because of the huge potential of not only getting to go crazy creating a world that is familiar but more suited to my own tastes, but because I enjoy the move forward, the making things better, aspect of jumping off from canon into uncharted territory.

Harry Potter is no different. Most of the fics that are still half finished in my document folders on my computer are Next Gen, in fact I believe they may all be.

Since coming back into the fandom I’ve been working on a huge worldbuilding project that spans dozens of decades of the wizarding world past, present and future, and I thought I’d share some of the Next Gen Hogwarts School ideas I had here.

Firstly, Post War Magical Britain is a mess and I’ve always been like, yeah, McGonagall took full advantage of that to make the school hers and to make lasting changes that would survive her tenor as Headmistress for the better of all of the students.

With a portion of the Board of Governors either in Azkaban for their crimes as Death Eaters, or silenced by their past support of Voldemort (and not wanting anyone to know it), and you know the ones who survived the war (its weird that the only Governor we know is Lucius), new different minded people take their place and McGonagall takes advantage of that too.

The world is my (ahem, her) oyster. Her first order of business after the recovery and grief period was to address the Houses and Sorting. Some wanted the Houses done away with, others argued it was tradition, smart educators pointed out that classes would eventually be hell if they didn’t split up the students somehow. McGonagall took this all in and conferred with active and former students alike, as well as with the Sorting Hat itself, and it was ultimately decided to keep the Houses but resort the students.

Resorting sparked a debate (because of course it did), with some arguing it should happen every year, and other’s balking at the logistics of resorting hundreds of students every year. It was Ron (seconded chiefly by Hermione) who suggested that students be resorted before transitioning through the natural progression of their schooling, basically meaning Second Years would be sorted at the end of the school year before transitioning from basic classwork into their O.W.L classwork and Fifth Years would do the same transitioning from O.W.Ls to N.E.W.T classwork.

Students still had pride in their House but knowing they could be re-sorted twice and potentially end up in three different Houses (this is rare usually its only two) during their time at Hogwarts almost immediately saw students trying to make friendships and connections with students in other Houses (though it was hard to tell if that was because of the change or Post War sentiments in general).

Over the years House traits fell out of use, though the Sorting Hat itself still used a general personality trait guide to sort, students themselves no longer put as much value on those traits as needing to have to be a true member of [insert House]. Calling people who stayed in one House their entire time at Hogwarts a True [House] was said as more of a joke, than something taken seriously.

At some point only Quidditch and Dueling Club became true places of rivalry between the Houses and even that was done all in good fun with the expectation of no ones feelings getting hurt (or you know someone saying something they shouldn’t, and other’s responding with violence, and those people getting suspended from playing, if you get the reference you get it).

Once the Ministry got itself together under Kingsley, they realized it was better to work with Hogwarts than against it.

It’s always baffled me that wizards, who think themselves so above muggles, don’t have institutions of higher learning. I’ve kind of changed that a bit in that there are certain institutions like St. Mungo’s that teach and train employees after secondary schooling or secondary equivalent schooling is acquired, including The British Archives and Museum of Magical History (BAMMH).

So instead of having to train wizards and witches on the most basic aspects of what their job might require at the Ministry after they have already started working, the Ministry instituted classes, such as Government and Economics, Magical Law, Business and Leadership Seminars and Conferences, etc. be taught at Hogwarts for students interested in future careers in the Ministry.

With the Introduction of new classes and new teachers McGonagall and the Ministry (and Hermione at some point inevitably) wanted to make Hogwarts and Wizarding Britain in general much easier for Muggleborns, or Half-bloods raised in the Muggle world (poor kids like Harry), to transition into Magical Society while also not assuming anyone raised in the wizarding world would fully understand even the basics of it at 11, a new class called Wizarding Studies (think basic gov and econ plus magical folk relations plus how wizarding society differs from muggle society) was created for First and Second Years to take. With the new class came a new teacher who requested to be allowed to teach Latin to the students to even further help witches and wizards in their studies.

Eventually Latin becomes a required course.

I’m still working on how all these new classes work, maybe when I have it at a place I’m satisfied with I’ll share.

But on to more nuanced ideas:

I headcanon that collectively as a student body the students decided to focus on culture in order to further unite the Houses and institute healthy House rivalry as opposed to negative culture. With McGonagall’s approval they created new clubs that were inclusive, and a student council made up of Prefects, the Head Boy and Girl, and other student leaders that could help keep the culture going.

A special peer Study Hall was created that allowed all students to help each other. By the time Harry’s children go to school Students Helping Students, or SHS, is a time honored tradition for almost all students to attend every Friday evening (SHS is available everyday in the evenings but Friday is special) where raffles are drawn and door prizes are given and everyone genuinely has a good time learning from each other with little to no teacher interference (except to keep the peace and caution against dangerous activities).

Multiple fundraisers where the Home Ec Club sell their projects and the Theatre club put on skits or whole plays to help other students out are held every year, completely organized by the students with help from the professors when needed. One year a Hogwarts Student makes it to the Wizard’s Chess World Tournament and the students raise the money to make sure they get to actually go and play some of the greatest Wizard’s Chess Masters. Another year, a Muggleborn Student and their family loses their home to a nasty fire and the students raise the funds to put them back on their feet.

Even before his kids go off to Hogwarts Harry gets involved as a Governor on the Board and whenever it is needed he matches donations made by students for certain causes (Mental Health Awareness; Abused Children in Need; A new wand for every student, even the ones whose families can’t afford it), and he gets other’s with deep pockets involved too.

Hogwarts as a whole grows, and with it so does Magical Britain.

There is a bit more that I have mostly ironed out and a lot more that needs more work, so this is only a sampling of what I’ve had floating around my head for the last several months. Hope you all enjoy!

#harry potter headcanon #hogwarts #hogwarts headcanon #minerva mcgonagall is the greatest witch who ever lived #fight me #Harry Potter #why is there no wizard's chess club at hogwarts #dont worry i fixed that

21 notes · View notes

magicalyaku · 1 year

Photo

You probably can't tell from the amount of books in the picture (six books plus one I ditched), but I didn’t read that much in April. Mostly because after the first week I picked up writing again. The silly story my friend and I built back in January. It took three and a half weeks and the first draft is finished, yay! Will it be good? How should I know? 8-D But I’m having fun, even if the real work is only starting now. On to what I read in April!

Daresh - Im Herz des Weißen Waldes (Daresh, at the Heart of the White Woods or something) (Katja Brandis): This is one of the worst books I read in a while. I read this at my artist alley table at a convention and I cannot keep a nice face when I read bullshit and I didn’t want to scare customers away with my scowling face the second day, so I just stopped reading after the first half. I was so frustrated with the book. If you're interested in the full tale, refer to the end of the post. :)

The Merceneries of the Stolen Moon (Tales of the High Court 4) (Megan Derr): I knew from the moment Charlaine was introduced in volume 3 that he would be important just by the way his presence is on the pages. I think, the author likes him. :'D Jac and Myra have been around since volume 1 and never gave off so heavy protagonist vibes. Anyway, here's another book trying to break out of the mold, introducing a polycule and all. Personally, with my aro brain the thought of two people finding each other and fitting together so perfectly is beyond me, so three people feeling that way towards each other seems like a even more of a miracle. Good for them, I guess! I read this right after Daresh and damn, what a blessing to my soul. The difference in writing and worldbuilding. One might argue, yeah, one was written for kids, the other for adults, but there's plenty of good books for kids and plenty of bad for adults, so that's not it. One book in the series left!

Lord of Silver Ashes (Rowan Blood 2) (Kellen Graves): Of god, I naively thought, this would end with volume 2. It DOES NOT. I learned halfway through and lost my will to read for a while. xD It does make sense from all the stuff that is happening. Because there is a lot and it builds up and builds up and builds up. But still. If I had known what I got myself into ... It is a good story though. It just took me so much longer to read than I'm used to, because of all the descriptions and pretty words. I have respect for how it is written, as in the style and the plot building. It's not just some easy, smutty lovestory with fairy princes. Behind the veil masking the beantighe's face is a whole complex person. And so is this series. (But it took soo long to read! I don’t get it!)

Spellbound (F.T. Lukens): This one was just cute. So warm and fluffy. There are some serious things going on and all and there characters have issues not to be taken too lightly. But overall, it was a total comfort read for me. Settle back into your cozy sofa and let your heart be healed. (Also there’s a magical cat.)

The Last Sun (The Tarot Sequence 1) (K.D. Edwards): This was kind of a culture shock. Took my brain a while to adjust. Adult men, modern setting, but still some sort of (wild) magic, so much action. But it’s interesting. And how to say it ... not sappy? While there’s a lot of danger to the protagonists’s life, it’s still not overly emotional and I like that once in a while. Also, Brand is great.

Shade & Revenant (Oracle of Senders 1+2) (Mere Joyce): After The Last Sun I found that I didn’t have anything in my book pile that felt right to read, so I had a look in my potential reads and chose this. And it was perfect, exactly what I needed. Simple, not too dramatic, but still engaging, nice characters, quite short. Pure 14-year-olds in the first volume, the cutest little romance in the second volume. I read both volumes back to back and only stopped because I wanted a little more time to enjoy. :D

And now, my full thoughts on a bad German fantasy book that I didn’t even finish! Daresh by Katja Brandis:

The Story: The world of Daresh is split into 4 territories for 4 guilds: Earth, wind, fire and water. And they hate each other. There are also half-humans (different animal races that can talk) who are mainly kept as slaves. Heroine Rena, 16 years, touches some important stone in the castle of the Queen and gets the ability to understand the half-humans’s language and is also hunted because touching is prohibited! She runs away, meets a woman from the fire guild, there’s some secret stuff going on and they decide to go unite the guilds.

The Worldbuilding: I hate it. For a long time I wondered why it bothered me so much, until I realized, it’s probably because I couldn’t figure out the intended audience. The heroine is 16, her love interest and other allies are even older, so I thought, it’s a story for 15- or 16-year-olds. But. The way the world is built is very black and white which I don’t find acceptable for readers that age. Teenagers are smarter than this. Where’s the nuance? The guilds all hate each other, they have a lot of prejudices and are not willing at all to rethink. And this is going on for many many years (100 maybe, I have no idea), but the heroine is apparently the very first person ever to think differently. And sorry, that is not believable. Even if people don’t speak up or actively do something there will always be some who do not share those beliefs. Not in this book. Maybe I just want to believe that people a generally good. In any case it was super annoying.

The Love Story: Is shit. 1) Why is it there in the first place? 2) The way it is written kinda grossed me out. (I can’t even say why. I read smut involving three people the day after and it was fine, but the way this girl swoons over her guy was so icky to me.) 3) The guy is so bland. I didn’t like the heroine as a character very much, but the guy was so nondescript. Also, he had an anger problem? And I’m not sure if it was intended to make him seem dangerous and therefore hot? If so, it didn’t work well. So, there’s the girl and she has a crush on some neighbor’s boy who doesn’t even notice her in the beginning. All good. While on the run already, she meets him by chance out in the woods (totally believable), he is mean to her, because she ruined his important day (the reason everyone went to the castle blabla), and she realized “oh, now I don’t like him anymore”. Alright. Then, like 5 pages later, literally the next male she meets who is around her age (a few years older), she falls for. Hmmm. They exchange like three words. She meets him again half the world later. He saves her life. They run away together and maybe talk more, but we hardly get any of that. They spent the night sleeping 200feet apart and the next day both are madly in love and after a fight with some thugs they kiss. Errr.... Another few days later they reach the next town, vanish into a room to do stuff that is not written (thankfully in this case because I would have vomited all over my table) and then they fight about something silly. I think they reconciled before I stopped reading but I don’t even care. A review for volume 3 of the series told me she gets another guy there, so ...

The Writing: Was fine for the most part, but. There’s no metric system instead every unit is something from nature like breath and person and ... I forgot. The breaths, though, were so annoying? They’re like seconds and come up every other page. There’s no “after a short while” or “it took a long time”, it’s “it didn’t take just 300 breaths, but 3 times 300″ and “after 4 times 11 breaths”. For real. It was so stupid. Who sits there to count till 300? Or starts calculating? I hated it so much after a while. 8D

I do regret a little that I didn’t finish because now I always have to say “maybe it got better after the first half”. But at the same time I don’t really care. I’m not wasting more of my life with these books. (The way the first half frustrated me I would probably be blind to anything good in the second half anyway.)

That’s it!

#yaku reads #april wrap up #queer books #queer lit #lgbtq books #books #bookblr #lord of silver ashes #rowan blood #spellbound #tales of the high court #oracle of senders #the tarot sequence #the last sun #daresh

7 notes · View notes

starlitangels · 1 year

Note

I wanted to finally start listening to redacted but I have NO idea where to start 😭 do you have suggestions?

*sucks in deep breath* There’s a couple ways to answer this.

My first instinct is to literally just say “go to the playlist titled ‘Everything’ and start at the beginning and work your way up” because Redacted’s lore can be confusing if you haven’t heard it in the order it came out in. I listened to Geordi’s first video the day after it dropped as my first video and had no idea what was going on. Then went to Elliott’s playlist and was even more confused because that playlist is major story heavy unlike some of the others

But I understand that the Everything playlist (while most useful for lore digesting and didn’t exist yet when I found the channel and wasn’t an option for me) can most definitely be overwhelming. It’s long, I won’t deny it. But it also gives you the space to get to know each of the characters a little bit at a time

If you don’t want to go that direction though, I have two decent options:

Start with Freelancer, Season 1. You get a fairly good rundown of most of the rules of the magic system, and the difference between daemons/demons, and humans. Redacted’s d(a)emons use the word in the old, more Fae connotation than a Biblical interpretation. They’re more akin to simply supernatural magical entities rather than creatures of evil and damnation or whatever.

So Freelancer S1 isn’t a bad place to start before moving on to whichever characters strike your fancy

But the other of my aforementioned two options is Avior’s story (the playlist is now titled “Sovereign State”).

Now, anyone who’s reading this and has known me for a while is probably chuckling like “of course Star is recommending her favorite character that she never shuts up about loving” but hear me out: Avior’s story has a lot of heavy, heavy worldbuilding lore all dumped into one place for quick access, but is almost entirely separate from the rest of the world Redacted has built, so it’s less complicated than jumping right in with, say, trying to keep track of the three werewolves and how they all connect to each other but also the vampires. Avior’s story is self-contained for the moment and season 1 of it is wrapping up right now so there are going to be some resolutions to a few things hopefully

Heed my warning though: Erik (Redacted) isn’t afraid of tackling some darker topics and heavy situations. If that’s not something you’re comfortable with, pay attention to the Content Warnings he puts in all of his video descriptions with applicable warnings. If you’re not into Yandere characters be mindful that he has three-ish. One of the three has mostly had his story finished but will occasionally pop up for a random reappearance. One of the three hasn’t seemed super Yandere to me yet but I’m sure it’ll get worse. The third is definitely one to be mindful of too because it’s much more magic-based.

Also Inversion and both seasons of The Imperium AU are dark and heavy so if you’re gonna listen to them you might wanna be cautious

So, TL;DR, either do the Everything playlist, Freelancer Season 1, or Sovereign State (technically season 1). From there you should have mostly enough information on the worldbuilding and such to pick and choose whatever catches your fancy from there. Though I’d recommend maybe the werewolves first after those three because they’re less story heavy and just kinda slice of life and also Milo is sexy moving on

If you have any questions about the lore or the plots please feel free to come back. I get questions all the time looking for explanations (usually from another video that the asker just couldn’t quite remember). There’s no shame in it. I’m the resident Lore Gremlin anyway and love helping people understand the world as best I know it

Erik also has a timeline (it’s in his Linktree in the video description of all his videos) but I don’t recommend reading it outright just yet. Because you will be confused and overwhelmed. Let the videos guide you first and then go to the timeline for clarifications

#answered #redacted asmr #redacted audio

14 notes · View notes

spinaroos-47 · 2 years

Text

So, now that 2B ended, I’m going to look back at my hopes for it that wrote back in september. There’s some comments on the points I added after FATCDP released also

(put under a read more because theres quite a bit)

- More Raine, Hunter, Lumity, Lilith, Camila & Vee, Willow & Gus

We definetly got all these, and I’m so happy. I would have liked more CAmila and Vee but at least I know we’ll get them on S3

- Portal stuff

Eh kinda? Not much, though. I’m still wondering why Belos moved it to the head. Was it because the castle was being used for the DOU?

- King’s dad

Yep, we got it. I like how even theories I wasn’t expecting to be true were done in a way that I accept them. Like that and some in Hollow Mind

- More Belos and Wittebane lore

We got it and boy I’m so glad we did

- More Phiip diary entries

Yep. Fucker.

- WHAT’S A GRIMWALKER?

...Yep. Boy that hurts to be right and how the truth is even worse than I expected. I do love that Hollow Mind is a lot of we expected/knew but even more terrifying than we thought it was

- Kiki’s emotional scene her VA mentioned on a livestream

That’s probably a scene from FATCDP but I can see her being talked like that by Belos in King’s tide also being what she mentioned. Hard to tell

(This is from a Cartoon Universe livestream that they did with some of the VAs, including her and Zeno)

- Epic fights

Funnily enough there was less fights than I expected, but the ones we got were amazing

- Return of the looking glass ruins

Woop, that one I wasn’t so sure if it would come back but it did, even if only for Labyrinth Runners

- Flapjack lives!

I was never on the team that he would die but it doesn’t hurt to hope for him to live

- Lumity date

Nope...I’m still holding hope for one in s3

-More magic lore/worldbuilding

Basically every single toh episode has magic lore and worldbuilding, and the ones we got in 2B were great

- The Hunter scene Zeno likes (betting on either any sport in a storm or hollow mind)

Pretty sure he was talking about when Hunter confronts Belos about the previous Golden Guards

(also from the Cartoon Universe livestream)

- Harpy Lilith

Forever sad we didn’t get it. Buuuuut there’s still time for that

- Dell Clawthorne

I think the little b plot he and Eda had was amazing, I love it so much

- Jacob

Glad to not see this guy in 2B

- More of the curse

Eh, just a little bit, mostly about the plan against the DOU (and i like the theory that OB sensed the collector being freed)

- RAEDA (we got it, but oof its going to hurt before we get somewhere happy)

We got the somewhere happy but then it was pain again!

- Philip = Belos

To be honest i almost forgot there even was the debate about wheter Belos was Philip or the brother jsfddnjfnd, the reveal was great

- Glyph stuff

Not much but still quite a bit, which makes me happy. I wish it showed if Luz used the invisibility glyph when she branded Belos or changed it to hide just the glove

- “We’ll be keeping an eye on the owl house inhabitants” (I just want to know what he meant by that because doesnt seem like it for now)

Ok so I kinda understand it now. He did keep an eye on them, especially before EaE happened, it just wasn’t with Hunter. He probably just assigned him to look closely if the owlfam did anything suspicious or anything like that, rather than full on spying.

- Adress Luz’s mental health pls (we kinda got that in follies but again I would like more)

It got adressed! Still full of trauma and guilt though!

- Hunter redemption (or at least just getting out of that horrible situation)

I don’t like how I phrased that, but the point still stands. Honestly the way it happened I never thought would be how he would get out of the EC. Like, it feels like the plot of many fanfics I read during the hiatus about him being taken in by the owlfam. I say that in a good way, it was really good

- Hunter and glyphs

We got it!!!! Only one time but we got it!!! I wonder if we will get him using glyphs again. Definetly not while they’re stuck in the human realm

- Luz and King discover about Raine (we got it in the best way possible)

We got it in the best way possible indeed. AND THEM MEETING WAS ALL I EVER WANTED!!! And Luz having them promise to keep Eda safe :,3

- “No more secrets” my ass (this actually might be the one that i dont think will happen since on follies the secrets were adressed)

Guess who was wrong, there are definetly still some secrets there, now Hunter also being on that equation as well. And probably some things that will be kept hidden from Camila now, which will hurt. And Gus now most probably knows about the grimwalker and Wittebane deal, so these all will be adressed

- The “spy” thing with Hunter (what does this mean, Dana)

I still don’t know what she meant by that. Probably just a nickname to throw people off to what he would be/do?

- Rascal’s name (yep we got it sjfjhsfd)

And we got it said on the show!!!

So yeah, most of them did happen! I’m thinking of revisiting my predictions for each episode even though I already kinda did that with most of them on my reviews

#alec talks #toh #toh spoilers

55 notes · View notes

elliepassmore · 1 year

Text

Threads That Bind review

5/5 stars Recommended if you like: fantasy, magic, mythology, threads of fate, mystery Big thanks to Netgalley, Penguin, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review! I really liked the magic in this book. The premise is that some people are descended from gods, but only the gods who come in sibling sets. There are a bunch of different city-states in the book, each with their own culture, but the one Io lives in is a Greek-esque city-state called Alante. For Alantians, their "other-born" pairs are things like the Fates, the Muses, descendants of Hypnos, and the Phobos-Deimos twin pair, etc. We do get to see some people who are from outside the city and thus are descended from a different set of gods, but for the most part the focus is Greek. I liked the way each person in a sibling set had a power associated with one of the gods, and that each of the different god powers worked in different ways. I also liked the worldbuilding in the book. It's a dystopian fantasy, so the world we're exposed to is post-collapse, and it's implied that the world was similar to (if not the same as) our own. Then the collapse happened in a mix of environmental and magical events that resulted in the world we see in the book. I liked the bits of history that are brought into the book, like the Iceberg Wars, and the little things that make the world seem more real, like the roof bridges and flood screens for storefronts. Io is the moirae-born who can cut people's threads of fate, but she tends to use her ability to see the Quilt (i.e., the threads connecting everyone) to be a PI. She's a little rough around the edges, but it's clear she does care about people, and over the course of the book her drive to fight for the people no one else will becomes stronger. At the same time, she's pretty wary of opening up to other people as a result of her eldest sister, Thais', treatment of her when they were younger, before Thais walked out on Io and their other sister, Ava. Part of Io's arc over the course of the book is reconciling everything that happened with Thais and growing into someone who's at least a bit more open to others. It was surprisingly easy to like Edei. Based on the synopsis and the very first scene we see him in, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about him, but he's actually a pretty good guy. Edei is someone who is easy to get along with and who has a relatively gentle demeanor about him. Despite the fact that he's the second of the Fortuna gang, the gang that runs the Silts, he's not that rough around the edges, probably the result of the fact that he had a very different upbringing. I liked the side characters in the story and enjoyed how they opened up different sides of the characters. For all her wariness of opening up to other people, Io actually makes friends pretty easily, and it was nice to see her joking around with Nico and Chimdi from the Fortuna gang just as easily as she joked around with Ava and Rosa, her best friend. I hope we get to see more of Rosa, Nico, and Chimdi in the next book, and am curious to see where things go with Ava. Bianca Rossi, the Mob Queen, is definitely someone to be reckoned with and I had a hard time getting a feel for her. There were times when I liked her and times when I didn't, so I'm looking forward to getting a better of understanding of her in the sequel. I did guess what the motive was pretty much from the get-go, but it was definitely a weird kind of predictability because even though I knew the why, I couldn't settle on the who, lol. There were actually a number of pretty viable suspects presented throughout the book, which I think helped obfuscate things in a way that still kept the story going without requiring weird twists. One thing I will say is that Io jumps to conclusions way too much for someone who's a professional private detective. Her second suspect was really the only one with any solid evidence pointing toward them, but Io treated all three as equally viable, which I thought was a mistake. The mystery is solved by the end of the book and it worked in a way that I didn't see coming, which I loved! I love how this book mixes fantasy, dystopian, and noir, and am dying to see what happens next as Io follows up on the loose threads (haha) from the end of this book.

5 notes · View notes

toast-tales · 9 months

Text

I Lava You, Chapter 4: You Taste Good!

Read Chapter 1 here!

Cover art by @luckyshotwrites!

This short story takes place after P39 of ITWOM and as such, contains minor, minor spoilers for ITWOM - read at your own risk! You do NOT need to have read WIDFALI to enjoy this story!

Contains: references to g/t soft, safe vore. ~1300 words.

Chapter 4: You Taste Good!

“Little buddy, we’re gonna have so much fun together.”

“Really?” June’s eyes sparkled back, more innocently than his giant buddy’s. “So far, what you said sounds neat.” The slime giggled. “I can watch you skate, ride a bike with you maybe, and go on a rollercoaster with you!" He hugged himself, swaying back and forth. "It'll be fun both inside and outside, because I'll be keeping you company," June confidently stated.

Sam thought that perhaps they should pinch themselves in case they were dreaming. Or maybe they were just on some really weird trip as a result of eating the human earlier. They hadn’t ever heard of something like that happening with humans, but like…they also hadn’t seen a human eat a lava lamp before, so they were entertaining some new possibilities in their mind.

Their ears perked up at the last thing June said, because it hit their secret weakness. They always welcomed company, and they realized suddenly that it being from a human didn’t matter as much as they would have thought. Their mind was racing with ideas for things to do with them, places to bring them, and cool glowy things to show them.

They found themselves laughing. “I’ve never had a human friend before,” they confessed, the words coming out of their mouth before their brain had time to process them. “But you know what? You seem pretty cool, little dude.”

Little did Sam know, these were magic words to the slime in their midst. Those words stroked his ears. He wants to be my friend? June could feel himself melting with warmth, internally. He was lucky he had enough control not to let his body mimic his feelings and melt on the outside too, as was common for slimes.

He held his body together, then pointed to himself. “M-me? You think I’m cool?” His lips quivered with sweet thoughts. He pointed at Sam and shouted, “W-WELL, I THINK YOU’RE SUPER COOL!” He wore a smug grin as, at least in his mind, he had successfully “showed” Sam that they were cooler.

“A-and,” he held his arms up and out, “c-can I give you a hug?”

Sam took a step closer to the human, giving them a weird look. “How are you gonna do that?” A mental image popped into their head, which made them laugh. “Unless you’ve got, like, super stretchy arms or something.”

This wild idea was, unbeknownst to Sam, much more accurate than they realized. June could easily use his “super stretchy arm powers.” He could be squashed and stretched, outrageously so. Not that he would tell his new friend that. He was human. “Heheh, no, no. That would be pretty funny, though.”

He motioned for Sam to lower their face. “Come closer, then I can show ya!”

Sam leaned in closer to June—perhaps too close, as their nose brushed up against June’s tiny body. The scent was tantalizing again, and though they couldn’t eat the human yet, they were still drawn in towards them, almost without realizing.

“...like this?”

June didn’t even flinch as Sam moved their face closer. Instead, he bounced joyously in place, and his arms wrapped around what they could of Sam’s face. That would be near the giant’s nose, since it was closer.

Sam’s body was warm and quite smooth. “Mhm! Perfect. Your face is really comfortable,” June said with a snicker.

Though Sam had been expecting it, the act still caught them off guard. Their eyes widened in surprise at the human’s gesture, and a warm, fuzzy feeling started somewhere just north of their stomach. Something that wasn’t quite a craving anymore, though, perhaps it was—just one of a different kind.

They pressed the human further against them with a few fingers, as if in an attempt to return the hug. They grinned like an idiot as their eyes nearly crossed to look at the human.

“You’re a funny human,” they said, rather bluntly. “But I think I can vibe with that.”

Heheh, that’s me, a funny human, June thought as he relaxed, even closing his eyes as he hugged Sam. He loved being able to latch onto his friends.

Sam only had so much self-control, though. Sneakily, the tip of their tongue poked out to taste June’s leg. Any other giant might have thought it was a rather muddled human flavor, but to Sam, who hadn’t had a human in months and was notorious for not being picky in general, the taste shot through their system like the best damn thing they’d ever had before. It made their head buzz with excitement.

The lick didn’t really spook June as much as it would have scared someone else. It simply surprised them. “That tickles,” he said with a goofy grin.

“You taste good,” Sam blurted out, social decorum flying out the window. While they didn’t have enough self-control to keep things like that from coming out of their mouth, they at least had enough to stop themselves from tasting June any further for now. They did not, however, make any moves to back off of June, secretly enjoying the feeling of the tiny human pressed up against them. The fuzzy feeling was still there.

Hearing Sam’s comment, June buzzed with the possibilities of what his body was capable of. I can change my taste to be whatever I eat too! He wanted to mention it but caught himself yet again.

“Thank you for the compliment!” June nestled closer.

See, Christopher’s human’s just weird. This one gets it. Unfortunately for every human Sam would encounter in the future, June was only affirming in their mind that their “compliments” toward humans were not, in fact, weird at all.

June thought that maybe he should compliment Sam back, and used his much tinier tongue to lick Sam on the side of their cheek.

The taste, of course, was near nonexistent. Slimes couldn’t actually taste things, but the light tingle of Sam’s energy was there. So June fibbed—only a little bit. “Back at you in the tasting good department!”

Sam didn’t properly register what had just happened, until June commented on their taste. Whatever part of their brain was supposed to be in charge of connecting thoughts together and making sense of things, it took that moment to slip a resignation notice across the desk and vacate the premises.

“Y…huh…wh—” Inexplicably, Sam’s body decided to respond with “embarrassment” in their brain’s absence, their cheeks flushing red and their words reduced to a stuttering mess.

Humans didn’t…uh. Do that? Did they? Is this a willing thing?

Sam didn’t have anything left in their head to stop their immediate thoughts from coming out into the world. “What do giants taste like?”

June saw the redness on Sam’s face and could feel their flustered embarrassment. He smiled happily, still burying himself in Sam’s cheek as he felt the heat rising in it. It elicited a light giggle from the slime.

He pulled back for a moment to adjust his glasses that had begun to fall off. Hearing Sam say “giant” didn’t quite trigger him to put two and two together yet—he still thought it was short for “giant human.”

June was caught. Slimes couldn’t taste things—but humans could. He had to pretend. What’s a good thing to say? What do people like—?

“Sweet?” He shook his head, then narrowed his eyes and doubled down. “VERY SWEET!” Yes, that’s an acceptable answer! Humans love sweet things.

Sam blinked a few times. “Huh. Human taste buds are weird.”

They mentally shrugged it off, though they did have a sudden urge to lick their own arm and check—just in case they’d never noticed that giants did actually taste sweet.

Sam didn’t see the smuggest smile in the world cross June’s face. Tristan, you should see me now! I ROCK at pretending to be a human!

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Chapter 5 ->

What other things will these two find out about each other? Stay tuned to find out!

Thank you for reading!

#i lava you #widfalitwom #widfali #itwom #oc sam #widfali june #gt vore #g/t vore #g/t vore story #safe vore #sfw vore #nonsexual vore #vore writing #vore stories

33 notes · View notes

foxfren · 9 months

Text

Books I’ve Read in July

Found some new favorite books ✨

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner | 3/5

First, there was trust. Then, there was betrayal. You cannot have one without the other. You cannot be betrayed by someone you do not trust.

This book features dual perspective between modern and historical times, which I typically like. Though the historical perspective was interesting, the modern one was lacking substance in contrast; I found the link between the two pov’s somewhat weak as well. The theme of magic was foreshadowed poorly; the entire book we were led to believe that magic was not real in the setting, yet in the end it unequivocally was. This book has a lot of unused potential.

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield | 5/5

I want to explain her in a way that would make you love her, but the problem with this is that loving is something we all do alone and through different sets of eyes.

Honestly, I’m unsure where to start with this. This book is incredibly poetic (if a tad strange) and features disturbing body horror, but is overall romantically melancholic; It’s about love as much as it is about grief. If I were to describe this book in one word, it’d be the ocean. The writing ebbs and flows, and I think it really represents the grief process and the want to hold onto someone. Akdbskdhsj I’m going to think about this book for actual months!! (Endearing)

Bunny by Mona Awad | 3/5

Why do you lie so much? And about the weirdest little things?", my mother always asked me. "I don’t know", I always said. But I did know. It was very simple. Because it was a better story.

This was so bizarre I’m unsure how to review it. I liked the aesthetics, the Bunnies, and how certain characters represented different aspects of the main lead. The parallels were well done, but oftentimes the language used didn’t convey the message of the story well; I was confused as to what was going on, which made it considerably less enjoyable to read.

Chlorine by Jade Song | 2/5

I guess hearts are slippery because they’re covered in blood. I wish I could bleed mine dry. Then I’d miss you less.

This book tells the reader what’s going on, without showing it at all. Ren sees being human as weak, and repeatedly states she wants to transcend to become mermaid; but her actions don’t match the direness of her words in the buildup of the novel. The climax feels like a stand-alone event because it wasn’t properly supported by the narrative. Furthermore, the mermaid plotline is completely pushed aside for the high school drama plotline; there’s no balance. Overall, it reads as unfinished, slow paced, and dependent on unnecessary exposition.

Nimona by N. D. Stevenson | 3.5/5

“No I wouldn't. And I'm the villain. What do you suppose that says about you?”

I loved the characters and their dynamics with each other, though the plot felt poorly set up. Some pages felt very disjointed, and more akin to short comic strips rather than contributing to an overarching narrative. I think there was a lot of potential that wasn’t expanded on; if there was clearer exposition and more worldbuilding, I feel it would be a more enjoyable read.

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki | 5/5

It’s true that giving can be a part of love. But, contrary to popular belief, love should never take from you, Freddy.

I loved everything about this book; the art and use of colors are absolutely stunning, the heavy themes were handled well, and I found the resolution very satisfying. Overall it was very compelling and heartfelt read.

#fennec speaks #monthly book review #book list #the lost apothecary #our wives under the sea #bunny #chlorine #nimona #laura dean keeps breaking up with me

3 notes · View notes

bonesandthebees · 10 months

Note

So Everything else has gone wrong is giving me major Pogtopia vs. Manburg vibes. It’s always fun trying to spot the events and relationships referencing canon in AUs. The crimeboys be doing crime, but they aren’t the only ones. They are just slightly better at it because of some supernatural abilities. And I love how that is 1. Not a common thing at all, which explains all the secretly having to switch you could just take as trying not to be seen because Wilbur’s being cased.

2. It seems to be a hard magic system. Wilbur can’t just change into anyone, he has to constantly consciously keep the change in position. Because of that he has to know what the person he shifts into looks like, and I love that how well he knows a person affects how fast he can shift into them. On top of that there’s some serious painful drawbacks and a clear limit on how long he can keep going (which depend on how often his shifts and how much energy he has).

Tommy seems to have the same thing. I don’t know what things clairvoyance is capable of because I don’t think I know what the word means in English, but it seems to be some combination of telepathy and being all-knowing, but in a way where you have to focus to do it. So obviously Tommy uses that to always bet on the right outcome. Also, his drawbacks seem like shit.

Gotta love all the references to backstory such as whatever happened between Niki and Schlatt as well as Quackity, Schlatt and Wilbur. It’s a nice example of showing vs. Telling. We are technically told what happened between Niki and Schlatt (though it’s vague enough to not feel like exposition and it’s done by a character talking). We are very clearly told something happened between Schlatt, Quackity and Wilbur, but then we are shown how close they were via Wilbur knowing him well enough to know he’s not bluffing and the touching knees. Also, Quackity not selling Wilbur out mainly because Schlatt’s a bitch but also a little because Wilbur indirectly says he deserves better than Schlatt. (though Schlatt not believing him is a very good point.

Also, gotta love self-sacrificial Wilbur. Though he does have a much better chance at getting away with it and Tommy has the money on him, but it’s more protective older brother than common sense. Still, it’s a solid plan, it’s just a shame he overexerted himself by running and shifting and couldn’t hold on until he was actually safe. Also, that he didn’t think of Niki because that held him up and made him have to shift longer.

As you can tell, I’m mild obsessed with this concept. I love the worldbuilding. It’s very intriguing and fun.

-🌲

YEAHHHH the dynamics were definitely inspired by pogtopia vs manberg. I love including loose parallels to dsmp events I feel like it's just such a fun thing to base conflict on

yeah I wanted to make crimeboys abilities not be a normal thing in the world bc i see so many aus where 'powers' are considered the norm. and that's all well and good I've written those myself, but I just wanted to try something different. so yeah the general public does not know those abilities exist at all, hence why wilbur and tommy have to keep it a secret.

I wanted wilbur's shapeshifting to feel realistic. I had to think to myself how I wanted it to function—whether it was more of an illusion-type thing where wilbur can just project an alternate image to everyone around him, or if he's actually physically changing his body. I went with the latter because I felt like it had a lot more restriction to it, which made it more interesting for me to work with. technically he doesn't have to personally know someone well enough to shift into them, but he has to have spent a LOT of time observing them which is almost only going to happen when he, y'know, hangs out with someone a lot. like could he stalk a stranger for days on end and be able to shift into them really well without saying a single word to them? technically yes. but it's just easiest if he knows the individual personally.

clairvoyance is defined as 'the claimed psychic ability to gain information about an object, person, location, or physical event through extrasensory perception.' it can also be described as being able to perceive future events 'beyond normal sensory contact'. it's kind of a loose term when it comes to describing psychic abilities, but for tommy specifically I decided he's got three main things he can do. 1) he can remotely view a location or person he's not physically near. technically, he can only do this to a limited range, so if he's inside a building he'll just be able to look out onto the street but not go much further than a block or two. but because of the psychic link he and wilbur have, he can remotely view wilbur and the area he's in up to way greater distances, so that's what he's doing for most of the chase scene. 2) he was able to form that psychic link with wilbur, giving them the ability to communicate telepathically (not technically part of clairvoyance but it's just a bonus I gave him). wilbur didn't do this at all, that's not in his wheelhouse. tommy bonded them. 3) perceive future events but only in a very limited sense. this is how tommy was good at gambling. he can see what's going to happen right in front of him in the next few minutes. it tires him out to do this because it's an ability he has to 'activate', and he can only see what's going to happen around him specifically, hence why he doesn't use this during the chase. but if he's about to bet on a dice game or a roulette wheel, he'll be able to see what the winning number will be before it happens

I had so much fun indirectly explaining the backstory between those four characters (wilbur schlatt niki and quackity). especially with the 'niki' and schlatt interaction. it's such a unique perspective to get for a convo like that (schlatt thinking he's talking to niki but he's actually talking to wilbur), and I had a lot of fun playing around with how I'd imagine wilbur would act pretending to be niki while also setting up schlatt and niki's dynamic in this.

and then of course quackity. ah, tntduo. they gotta have something going on in every universe lmao

yeah while wilbur's plan was him pulling a self-sacrificial move it was also the best option for their situation. they were going to be way slower running through that crowd together, so getting tommy away was the priority. and what better way to do that than by tricking the guys following them? yeah, it exhausted him, but if he had chosen someone other than niki to shift into after tommy then he would've gotten back to tommy way faster. it was only bc pulled that stupid move that he was delayed talking to schlatt and overexerted himself so much.

i'm so glad you enjoyed!! i had so much fun with the worldbuilding and dynamics of it all

#ask #spruce anon #everything else has gone wrong

6 notes · View notes