#wip meta

[writingonesdreams]

Main trio from Tears of Iron

Art done by the wonderful @enspey thank you so much

From left to right:

Leander - Zephyr - Skye

Really long character meta & sortinghatchats analysis under the cut

Sortings of the main characters:

LEANDER - Snake Lion - a very straightforward sorting with this guy. Leander is a hedonistic a bit immature snake who is unapologetically selfish, likes to have his comfort and style and generally lazes around if there isn't something in for him or emotionally inspiring. He has a pretty small circle of people, consisting of Zephyr at the start of the story. They have known each other since early childhood and act more like brothers than friends. Leander comes from a wealthy family, studied economics and has a affinity for business and leading. His brave unapologetic style doesn't work well for teamwork, so he likes being in charge and gets stuff done. He does risky moves, his charisma seals deals and inspires people to whatever he is currently chasing. Comfort, fun and pleasure are big motivations for him, he gets into action when someone is disturbing that. Leander is very ambitious ans vain though, and likes to be the best in whatever he does, so when he gets interested, he gets in it for real. He is cheeky and snarky around most people, tells his opinions straight away, loving and valuing the ability to not care or depend on people liking him or not. He likes to be risky and controversial and provocative, often just to get a reaction out of people and to try out new weird stuff and enjoy himself. He also has this stubborn tendency to do the opposite of what is expected, esp if people tell him what to do, which is great way to ensure he will do the opposite out of spite. His family has mostly given up to keep track of what he is doing and rely on Zephyr to keep an eye on him or talk sense into him (Zephyr is the only one he listens to, helped by the fact Zephyr knows how to best frame an advice so it doesn't seem like one). Leander bonds with individuals, interesting ones that bring him something, but he is insanely loyal, once he chooses someone for his circle. He is very bad at handling emotions, having spend so much time on funny biting remarks he doesn't know how to switch and be purposefully comforting and considerate to someone. This becomes a problem, when when he really cares and has to get over a certain machismo aspect of his pride to be of help (concerning Zephyr's injury).

ZEPHYR - Lion Badger with an exploded Badger primary model - Leander was the least complicated out of these as I said. Zephyr is a mission person who can't live without a cause and his causes are often very badger flavoured, or in other words, people based. Zephyr loves people and sees himself as someone responsible to make them happy. Caring, empathetic and helpful, his badger secondary connective ability is dialed up to insane levels. He is dependable, disciplined, responsible and often organized and calculating about his moves and very observant and curious about people, which makes him quickly invested and great in reading and understanding them. He is a born teacher and caretaker - he enjoys it best to be teaching someone new skills, especially if its martial arts he grew up learning in the dojo of his parents and that he sees as a spiritual meditative way of life. He is the warrior poet, the one who practices for the higher joy, for the harmony between body and mind, who always has his way clear as an arrow and emotions balanced and in check. He prides himself in being perfect and not having thoughts or emotions he would ever feel ashamed for, as he concentrates on the positive and good and releases the negative and unproductive. As long as he has his routine of meditation, physical training and poetry he is good to go be the perfect strongest guy for everyone else and this empowers and sustains him. His natural curiosity about people, his core desire to be helpful and his eye for the little things to be cheerful about are his defining qualities. The fact he gets exploded there in his badger primary model, seeing his worth only in being the best and the most helfpul and becoming more and more invisible to himself as he mirrors and shapeshifts to fit the group. He is the connector and mediator of conflicts, the one who can get along with everyone and he doesn't want to acknowledge how overwhelming, stressful and tiring that sometimes is. It's kinda like the badger primary model gets entwined with the badger secondary there, him seeing himself more and more as a tool for happiness for others, working himself to the bone, connecting with others and losing connection to himself in the process. This will become a challenge once he isn't physically able to be the most useful and strong one around (because of his injury) and he will have to face the fact that without this, he is basically empty inside. You couldn't ask this guy a favourite movie or a song, since outside of his training and dedication poured into others, he has nothing left.

SKYE - Lion Bird with a Bird primary model - In a way Skye is the opposite of Zephyr. She is completely self-sufficient introverted person with her cause being her research. She wants to understand people in an abstract removed way, by watching from afar and not interacting or being in the middle of action. While her attitude isn't as carefree and self-indulgent as Leander's, doing what Zephyr does looks like a nightmare to her. Being around people, socializing, getting along, making herself care, because it's the right thing to do and we can't get along if we all follow our desires all the time, are rational pragmatic things that tire her out. She needs her alone time, her books, her thoughts, her writing and her diaries to be herself and to recharge. Sometimes this makes her feel selfish and she doesn't think herself a good and noble person, because she just doesn't want to give that much of herself, to others or to the world. There is value in being happy and doing things just for yourself and for joy and she holds that close to her heart. Skye wanted to stay in research as a professor, as talking about her passionate topics is a plausible way to live, but she hates and struggles with the practical dialy parts of life. Where Leander is effective, driven and down-to earth and Zephyr is gentle and emotionally wholesome, Skye is the analytical thought behind it all, encompassing everything from all angles. Skye gets along very well with Hal's philosophical constantly wandering mind and his preference to discuss and systematize everything, but at her core she is driven by feelings. She is very reflective about them and knows how to reason the smallest thing she does though. A big struggle for her is that her power is so mind-focused. She is the brains, and the brains are powerful, but she is also a overplanner and overthinker, giant collector of knowledge and skills who never feels ready, making her one of the most fearful characters. Her journey to learn the Art of Dragonknights, that are more physical to feel secure is held back by her constantly wandering mind and the risk of being lost and overtaken by the Flying Islands' consciousness.

Not on the picture are Hal and Kieran. Hal is a black haired godly mage and last of the original dragon knights, with black hair falling in his face and deep green eyes. Kieran is a 18 years old new candidate for the dragon knights, with black curly hair and violet blue eyes. 

HAL - Bird Lion with a burned Badger primary model - Hal grew up with in the very people based society of the Dragon knights that valued saving people and nature and everything living with their unique Art. His bird system of looking at the world was therefore very badger-flavoured and he looks and acts like a badger most of the time. When he lost the whole order to the massacre though, his healthy happy badger model and understanding of the world burned, and he spend a hundred years in various detached forms of life to deal with that. He only woke up from his slumber, by meeting Zephyr and Skye. Those two slowly made him believe in people again, but the new worldview he is building isn't as universal and generous as it was before. His new badger model is burned in a different way, standing on the “us vs them” mentality and building a community from the new order of the knights by being selective and closed off. Hal decided it would be safest to care about the legacy of the order and choosing the right members to continue it, which should take priority over everything else (like helping the dragons, civilians or the members themselves). Hal likes to test his arguments in endless discussions and arugements with others, adding bits and pieces to his own system and search for the truth to live by. For Leander that's unnatural, like he is a robot and for Zephyr it's disturbing that he keeps adapting his beliefs like that. Skye finds him the most logical and welcomes his insights and willingness to think and mule over things, but even she can't change her mind about what she feels, while Hal can adapt to feel what he decides is right. Hal used to be more careful about his methods, used to hold himself back and consider feelings, but after the massacre of the order he stopped caring about coming off nice and dialing himself down. He is honest and blunt, and likes to just get things done already, although not in such a loud and argumentative way as Leander. Hal is subtle, quiet and most of the time looks ridiculously tired. Hal is someone who would like to care less, because that would be less painful, but can't manage to, against his better judgement. He basically can’t live up to the system he has chosen for himself after his loss. Therefore his driving force is to figure out how to care about people in a more managable painless way. Numbness is welcome and desirable for him, and he is in constant temptation to fall back on it, since on one hand his experience tells him not to care, but his learned people morality he grew up admiring tells him cutting himself off is wrong too. He can't stop himself from caring about others and at the same time can't make himself believe in them either. Vicious cycle.

KIERAN - Lion Lion - Kieran is a young glory hound lion who got kicked out of home to go for a boarding school at 14 and who since then felt seperate from his family, who never had any expectations for him. The nobody kid from nowhere who never got to go to a cool school or have fancy clothes and had to work to get the same level of comfort that was normal for most of his peers. He felt alone, vulnerable and weak, like he didn't get fair chances at life, and this sparked anger in him that fuels him forward. He wants to achieve something. He wants to make his mark on the world, to he powerful and famous and special and to make people notice him. He wants to get a chance to show what he is made of, and prove everyone who dismissed him wrong. He wants to find out what happens, when he throws his most intense fiery self at the world. Will it will be enough? Underneath all that anger there is a kid without a cause, looking for someone to trust but strongly denying and squashing that desire away, because he sees it as weak. Kieran is ambitious, daring and brave, usually a risk-taker to self-destructive degrees, who yearns for to achievement and acknowledgement, when what he really needs is peace. He is the first deeply wounded and unbalanced kid accepted as candidate for being a dragon knight for his passion and dedication. Accepted really for Zephyr's desire to help through the Dragon Art training and against Hal's preference to choose steady calm individuals that would be better for the Order.

Summary:

Leander - Snake / Lion

Zephyr - Lion with exploded Badger model / Badger 

Skye - Lion with Bird model / Bird

Hal - Bird with a burned Badger model / Lion 

Kieran - Lion / Lion 

Tag list: @thewalkingnerdx @bloodlessheirbyjacques @catharticallysarcastic @ren-c-leyn @diphthongsfordays @myhusbandsasemni @crazybunchwriting

#writeblr #my writing #writeblr community #my wip #my ocs #wip: tears of iron #sortinghatchats #wip meta #character analysis

[sailorbryant]

Thanks for tagging me @miss-ingno! :D No clue if I did this right or not, but my words were run, brush, and freeze. I did not have Brush or Freeze anywhere in my folders, so I replaced Brush with touch (Cause that's the only thing I could find!) and freeze with froze.

Run: (As of yet untitled VegasPete BDSM club fic.)

“I’m sure, babe. Believe me,” and Vegas can hear the smirk in Porsche’s voice. “Vegas is just Pete’s type.” 

Vegas stumbles over his own feet.  

He quickly pulls himself together, and continues, ignoring the trail of Porsche’s laughter behind him. He has never been late for an appointment since he started this years ago, and he will not break that record tonight just because Porsche knows how to rile him up.  

Vegas is just Pete’s type, runs through his mind as he twists and turns through the halls of The Family’s VIP area, and he has to shake his head to try and jostle the words loose. What in the world was wrong with this Pete guy, Vegas couldn’t help but think, before he finally enters the room he has a standing reservation for.   

Brush Touch: How Far We've Come, chapter 2. KPVP messy little thing.

Over the weeks following the ‘event’ as Vegas calls it in his head, he definitely does not think about it. Anytime the images of Porsche’s arms cradled so casually against Pete’s waist enters his mind or the way Pete leaned into Porsche’s touch, he digs his nails into his palms and the pain forces him to think of anything else.  

He doesn’t bring it up to Pete, and Pete doesn’t mention it either. The next time they meet with Porsche there is an awkwardness that lasts for only a moment but is immediately snuffed out once the two friends start talking. Kinn gives him a long, searching look behind their boyfriends’s backs, but he doesn’t make a comment. After that, Vegas is convinced that it was a strange little aberration that happened once, and they are all going to move on and forget all about it. 

Until about a month later, when they are out at Yok’s bar, it happens again. 

  

Freeze Froze (Chapter 5 of Dwarven Companion, my bagginshield WIP)

It was probably the prince’s, already deep into their cups, trying to drag him down to the gathering of the Company’s family and friends that he had already turned down twice. Or possibly Balin with a last-minute request for assistance before the larger banquet that was scheduled for the following night.  

Bilbo was still contemplating which one was worse, as he opened the door. And then promptly froze.  

“Thorin?” he whispered stunned. 

“Good evening,” Thorin replied in his deep baritone, and Bilbo couldn’t ignore the shivers it sent down his spine. He hadn’t been this close to the King in weeks.  

It was as unnerving as it was amazing.   

Tagging absolutely anyone who wants to do this. It's fun!

Words: dream, home, sun

#wip meta

[prahacat]

when the horrors catch up and you take an evening off to batch-process

#obi-wan kenobi #anakin skywalker #ahsoka tano #maybe obi-wan just read the outline for the next wip #why do i love to torture him so #one of my fav fanfic genres has to be meta fic horror #just imagine. how deeply disturbing it must be to find out you're a fictional character #somebody has *intentionally* written all those horrors onto you #and it wasn't even the guy who created you #he did his part. but the ppl who love it most to ruin your life and see you suffer are your fans #it's not enough that there's prob a lot of jedi rpf around in the gffa already. scarred obi-wan for life #lmao drawing anakin like this gave me so many flashbacks to my old ocs where almost every male character had that hair #also i have a job interview in one hour dsdsfhjgj #my art #prahacat draws

[starflungwaddledee]

from: @starflungwaddledee to: @post-it-notes7

message from santa: "happy holidays post-it-notes! 🎄🥳 i know you very politely only wished for a few modest things- characters high fiving, or struggling in christmas attire- but i hope you'll still enjoy this given that i kinda went the opposite direction entirely! i'm an enormous fan of your work and most times you post anything i wind up browsing your art tag from tip-to-tail in enraptured delight. as such, i thought it was only fair i give back something a little more significant in gratitude for all the joy your work has given me. i knew i wanted to do a comic, so i was thrilled you already had a whole storyverse for me to work from!! this scene seemed the most obvious choice (chapter 8 of "wishful thinking" on ao3) given that i enjoy a dramatic fight scene 😂 i tried to stick as beat-by-beat to the writing as i could and worked in as many details as possible; i hope it'll be fun to see it envisioned this way! merry christmas! ~starflung 🎀🔔 "

#phew... this is by far the most ambitious piece i've ever posted here! 12 pages! this is why i've been so afk from other work haha! #shout out to the poor mods who sent through assignments and received no small amount of all-caps panicked screaming from me in response!! #me?! draw a gift for THE post-it-notes7!? immediately knew i had to overachieve to stand any hope of being up to the bar haha #if you feel these characters look a little different to how i usually draw them- that's totally on purpose! #i worked really hard to match post's designs and styling for them rather than my own; seeing as this was a gift! #actually think it stands out a *lot* surprisingly- given that they are still the exact same orbs. really interesting to compare to my usual #i hope some folks will notice all the details from the story in here! if you've read it and you recognised it please let me know! #genuinely hoping someone just recognises it on the first page. iconic canyon fight... what an honour to draw for this fic tbh #also thank you to the mods for handling all the wips and progress on this ridiculously sized entry from me with such grace #it's being posted on my personal blog due to length for anyone wondering. should be seamless... fingers crossed. #my art #my comics #meta knight #galacta knight #hnk secret santa #cw violence

[sentient-stove]

“I keep thinking that I could’ve been a meta when my parents first opened that portal. I was standing almost right on in it, got a full blast of ectomatter straight to the face.”

It shouldn’t be cold, it’s September and there was a warm front. But his hands feel like chips of ice, warm cider doing little to establish feeling there. Danny probably shouldn’t be sitting on the fire escape with how rampant meta trafficking is in Gotham but since, since his accident small spaces no longer brought the comfort they once had.

“I know.” Of course he did, Tim knew everything about Danny, and vice versa. They bore their souls out and were connected for it. This information doesn’t stop Danny from continuing to talk though, because some days, it feels like the fact that he can keep talking is why he hasn’t been stuck six feet under yet.

“I- me and Sam and Tuck, we were fightin ghosts as kids with nothing special to show for it. Just junky tech we scrapped together. Maybe we would’ve gotten less hurt for it.”

“I know.”

“I’m dead. I think. I don’t know if I’m actually alive.” Danny held the mug closer to his chest and Tim sighed, leaning his weight on Danny’s side, stealing some of the blanket he had wrapped around his shoulders so they could share.

“By all medical definitions, you’re alive. There’s brain activity, a heartbeat, your cells are decaying and replacing themselves whereas a dead person would have none of that. Your heart would not pump blood, your brain would be devoid of electrical impulses, the cells would only die and rot. Polaris, my star, my love, you are alive.”

#fanfic #wip hell #Danny becomes a halfa later and life and mistakes himself as a meta whoops #danny fenton #tim drake #dead tired #danny phantom #dc comics #dc x dp #dpxdc #also also tim calling danny polaris because he’s the North Star that Tim looks too #ur honor that’s his husband

[afreakingmilkshake]

so. i was trying to animate meta spinning and i only have 4 key frames but this is so funny

i was chuckling to myself all night like a dumbass

#ig this is a wip ? #wip #kirby #meta knight #gif #fast gif #my art #o so i want to draw him spinning smoothly in all angles as practice since i like drawing him all the time :3 #he must look perfect ! #also also friend said its giving club penguin HDISHFKD

[blkkizzat]

COMING SOON - Teaser & Taglist

The Nursery - Toji x Reader

𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦? 𝘐 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦 𝘞𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘛𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦 (𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭)

rated X-18 for: lactation kink, face riding, drugs (weed), drinking, smoking, cheating (on your baby daddy Sukuna), size-kink, mom body kink, breeding kink, voyeurism, masturbation, dubcon/noncon, squirting, pussy talk, biting, creampies, obsessive tendencies, manipulation, yandere, Toji in daddy and dad mode. this will be fem black reader coded as reader is foreigner and uses aave but no other descriptors. (may add more once completed) song inspo: rich baby daddy - drake ft. sexy red & sza wc: tbd! Depending how long might be a 2 parter. Do y'all like split or all in one part if its gonna be over 10k?

Also do y'all like the animation? I want to do ones for Hulu and Tubi in the future, maybe Disney+ for a fluff fic haha. I made a 20 sec delay before the mouse comes to press play but if it needs to be longer to read it lmk!

This a test run to see if I do teasers more in the future, don't think I will do an official tag list then, if I do a teaser I will just tag people who ask.

Premiere: TBA - aiming for beginning of may!

Reblog or comment to be added to the tagslist!

blkkizzat©2024, do not steal work or banners ty!

#♋︎kizzatteases #wip wednesday #wip fic #jjk wip #jjk x reader #toji x reader #toji x you #toji x y/n #jujutsu kaisen smut #jujustsu kaisen x reader #jjk x you #jjk smut #jjk fic #jujutsu kaisen fanfiction #toji fushiguro x y/n #toji fushiguro x you #toji x black reader #jjk x black reader #toji fushiguro x reader #jujutsu toji #toji fushiguro x black reader #meta toji #toji smut #dilf toji #daddy toji

[suzukiblu]

5 headcanons meta for Plot Bunny, who wanted to know what Ma and Pa are currently thinking in the one where Kara gets to Earth on time and the Kents get a two-for-one special on free kids. 

Ma and Pa aren't sure if their new kids are alien shapeshifters or bodysnatchers or just weird government experiments or whatever, but they're not really worried about it. Worst-case scenario, they'll be raising terrifying goop-kids, they figure. Or maybe crab-kids or something, after the possible larval stage. Lots of things end up crabs, right?? Crabs make sense. It’s whatever, the kiddos both still like pie and Kara is adorably helpful around the farm and Kal is just adorably ADORABLE. 

The whole dang town thinks Kara is Kal's mom, and Ma and Pa don't know either way and so have been politely vague about answering everyone’s questions in case they're actually siblings or something. Those El eyes are VERY distinctive, though, especially on a planet without any other Kryptonians on it, so they’re pretty positive they’re related. They just don’t know how to ask a kid they’ve just met if she’s a teen mom or not with an intergalactic language barrier in the way. She’s just their foster child! Their totally legal foster child from . . . Norway?? Maybe???? Sure, Norway. They’ll go with Norway. 

Martha is zero-reservations delighted to have a free baby (grandbaby??) AND a free daughter. She has been rewarded for her patience in life, and it is a DELIGHT. She wants to buy Kara all the pretty dresses and cute jewelry and braid her hair and teach her how to make every single baked good in the entire Midwest, but she’s doing her best to not be overwhelming. She is very easily destroyed by both Kara getting excited to learn new things and Kal’s giggles. 

Jonathan is a little more uncertain about how to bond with a daughter and a maybe-grandbaby for about five seconds before deciding, actually it’s fine, he’ll just treat Kara like he would’ve treated a son and . . . well, he’ll follow her and Martha’s lead on how babies work, he supposes. Then he takes Kara out back to play catch while Martha watches Kal on the porch. They lose several baseballs in the back field just IMMEDIATELY and he wonders if suggesting his new kid join the baseball team once they get her in school is, like, a normal parental thing to do? Maybe?? He might just MENTION the idea if it comes up, he decides privately, and then buys a few more baseballs. 

Martha and Jonathan are regularly comparing notes on how “human” their new kids are (or their new kid and grandkid; they’re not gonna be picky). They are increasingly convinced they’re going to have crab-kids sooner or later, but it’s whatever. As long as Kara doesn’t jump that high or pick up anything that heavy or make any of those incredibly weird noises she keeps making in front of any of the town busybodies, anyway. Also, why does Kal sound like a melodious car engine whenever he’s happy? Is that a weird thing? Is that a thing they should be concerned about? Well, it’s fine, as long as he’s happy.

#plot bunny #meta ecetera #wip: kara gets to earth on time

[what-is-love-babey-dont-hurt-me]

A silly sketch dunno if I will actually finish it though because oh god look out Meta Knight there is a pissed off Galacta- oh god he has his AirPods in

#snappy’s WIP tag #meta knight #Galacta knight #I think I would dramatically change the pose for Galacta if I did work on it more #not completely sold on this composition #but I like the incomplete sketch enough to post it #also behold!!! meta with star blushes. the whole reason I started this drawing #Kirby

[dduane]

WIP Wednesday: "Why The Wren is Queen of Birds"

From the upcoming Tales of the Five #3: The Librarian: a fairy tale* of southern Arlen.

***

In the south of our land, in the mountain-wall’s shadow near Dhiil, they tell this tale of the ancient days after the Great Dark was downthrown and destroyed at last.

In that time the Goddess first began to send humankind royal rulers to mediate between the folk of those first realms and the land on which they depended for their lives. And in those days the birds of the world came together in a great parliament and decided they too should have a King or Queen. "For we’re a far older people than the humans are," said some among the birds, "and far more numerous and varied in our kinds. So by rights we ought to have a ruler over us such as the Mistress of the World has given these new young creatures, to show forth our age in the world and our importance in it."

And no sooner had this been agreed than the birds began to squabble over who should be their new King or Queen.

"It should be the strongest of birds," said the great mountain vulture. "It should be the most beautiful of birds," said the rainbow-feathered lyretail. "It should be the bird that sings best, the sweetest-voiced," said the melodious nightingale. "It should be the sharpest-eyed of birds," said the passager-falcon.

A long time the quarrel went on, but no decision could be reached. Finally a hedge-sparrow said, "The owl is said to be wise, and has not spoken. Let us ask the owl." And that seemed a good enough idea that the birds went straight to the great crested owl, who sat in a tree hard by where the parliament had been taking place, dozing the day away.

The birds woke the owl and said, "Wise one, how shall we choose what bird among us shall be our Queen or King?"

And the owl looked south and north, and west and east, and over its own shoulder, seeking the answer. Finally it said, "The deepest truth of being a bird is that one flies. Therefore let the Monarch of Birds be the one who flies the highest."

And this advice seemed good to all the birds gathered there in parliament. So it was agreed and then sung and cried far and wide for every bird to hear, both great and small; from the great dragon-eagle to the tiny wren.

The wren in her holly-bush, when she heard this news, smiled to herself. "There are more truths to being a bird than flight," she said, "and more kinds of wisdom than are owned by owls. I have an idea which bird may yet fly highest!"

So the day came when all the birds of the world assembled, and all flew to see which one might fly the highest. Up and up they went in great waves of flight, so that the sky grew dark with them, and in their dwellings humans looked up in alarm, saying "What devilry is the Shadow planning now?" For the Dark was only a few lives of mankind gone, and humans’ fear of Its malice was greater than their wisdom.

However, the birds cared nothing for the fears of human beings, and only strove to see who would rise highest. The birds of field and hedge dropped away first, and then the birds of the treetops and the tall forests. A while longer the birds of the upper sky rose up together, the hawks and eagles and the mightiest seabirds. But one by one they all fell back and could fly no more through air that was too thin and cold for them; and at last the only one who remained was the greatest of eagles, a Darthene dragon-eagle, grey-pinioned and golden-eyed with a spiky crown of feathers.**

And that dragon-eagle beat his way up and up until it seemed the blue of the sky was starting to go darker and the horizon might to a keen eye be starting to show the shadow of a curve, and even for a bird who was so often neighbor to the great heights, breathing had become hard. And looking around and seeing no other bird had kept pace, the dragon-eagle cried out in triumph and folded his wings to fall back toward the world and his waiting kingship. But as his wings folded down, a tiny grey shape started up from between them and flew, and kept flying upwards. It was the wren, who had hidden herself among the dragon-eagle’s feathers, and now flew higher than he—a tall tree’s worth of higher; two trees’ worth; five.

The dragon-eagle was nigh spent, and could not follow her. He let himself fall back to earth until he knew there would be enough air under his wings for them to bite into. Then he made his way swiftly to the place that had been set aside for the crowning of the ruler of birds. But not too far behind him came the wren, falling as fast as he into the upper airs, and finally to the grove and glade where the representatives of the bird-parliament awaited the winner.

Great was their confusion when the wren came down to perch on a tree-branch in the center of the glade and cry, "I am your ruler, for I flew the highest!" And down in his turn came the dragon-eagle, full of wrath, though he kept his dignity about him. "She flew higher than I," he said. "That much is true. But I flew all the way on my own wings from a treetop perch right up into the great heights where the sky grows dark and the air grows thin. And all that long way the wren hid amidst the down of my back, so that I carried both myself and her all that way. The feat of the highest flight is therefore far more mine than hers, and I am your king by right!"

And hearing these two claims, the birds in parliament began to squabble and argue the merits of each side, until the whole place sounded like a great noisy rookery at sunset. Yet they could find neither answer nor decision; so at last they turned to the Goddess.

As always, where many call upon Her together, there She is, whether She be seen or no. And here, since there was need, swiftly She was seen. To them She looked of course like a bird, mighty and radiant: and all bowed in awe before Her. But the awe lasted only a short while, and in little time the birds began to quarrel before Her over the issue they had begged Her to resolve.

Quite soon, "Peace, my dears, have pity! You’ll deafen me with your noise," the Goddess said, when the commotion had swollen to the point where even a deity might not hear Herself think. "Set out your case, now, so that I may judge."

So they laid it all out before Her, glossing nothing over and leaving nothing out. Then all waited in breathless stillness for Her verdict.

Due consideration She gave their issue; and then spoke and said, "The agreement you all made was that the bird who flew highest should be set as ruler above you. No one said that the bird who flew highest must also fly all the way."

"But that should have been understood!" the dragon-eagle cried in his wrath.

"It may often seem after the fact that many things should have been understood from the start," the Goddess said. "But that is not how it goes. When a game is to be rightly played, all the rules must be agreed first. When the game is begun, and won, it must be judged by what rules were decided before it began: not ones thought of after it’s done." And She looked sorrowful. "I was first to learn that rule. Now, it seems, comes your turn."

And She rose up in Her majesty before them and said, "By the rules of the contest you set for yourselves, the Wren is now your ruler." And as the Wren bowed down before Her, the Goddess reached out a pinion and with one primary-feather brushed the top of the wren’s head, which to this day bears the little gold mark She put there—the sign of its new-made royalty, and the Kingdoms’ first crown.

“Here then behold your Queen,’ said the Goddess to the parliament assembled. And some birds bowed to their new-made ruler, and some did not, grumbling among themselves and glaring at the Wren—as they dared not glare at the Goddess, preferring to think of Her as blameless, and as one who had been befooled, even as the Shadow had befooled Her when the world first began.

And soon enough the Wren began to issue commands to her subjects, telling the ravens, "Your harsh voices were better not lifted in song," and saying to the nightingales, "Your voices are fair but you should be still after dark so that others can sleep," and to the sparrowhawks, "You must cease your preying on small birds and confine yourselves to rats and conies and other such vermin." In short, she put forth many edicts that either seemed to favor her own tribe of birds, or were made to show that she by her fledgling royalty might command what she liked whether there was much sense in it or not.

It was not long before the birds began to chafe at this. And one day the Wren saw a carrion-crow swoop down on a pond, where it snapped up a duckling and swallowed it whole; and the Wren became wroth and cried out, "I pronounce you cast out from among your kind for devouring the living instead of the dead!" And no sooner had the scaldcrow gobbled the duckling down than he stared at the Wren on the willow-branch where she sat, and cawed, "Pronounce what you like, cheating little hedge-peeper; you have no power to make me pay you any mind!"

“I am your Queen, made so by the Goddess, and you must obey me!" the Wren shouted in a fury. But the carrion-crow laughed at her and said, "The only thing I need obey is my stomach, which says you will make a good end to my nunch!" And he flew at the Wren, so that only hardly did she escape from him by diving into a hole in a nearby hedge-bank.

Soon word got about that the Wren had no power to enforce her decrees, and that they only had force when the will of those she commanded allowed it. And quickly she found herself being mocked or ignored, and sometimes attacked and pursued by other birds who hated her and tried to kill her. Some of these said "What fools thought a ruler over us would be a good idea? Let’s have no more of this nonsense, but be free!", and others, "Once this monarch is gone, who knows, the next one may be better."

In no long time the Wren wearied of this strife. At last she took her grievance to the Goddess. "Great Mistress and Queen of the World," the Wren cried to Her, "the birds will not acknowledge me to be their ruler! They hate me because I was cleverer than they."

“It is a hard thing to learn," said the Goddess, “that sometimes cleverness is not enough… or too much.” And She looked sorrowful. “I grieve that you have had to learn it so.”

“All this could be put right,” said the Wren, “if only You would simply give me the power to make them do what I command.”

“That would be a change to the agreement that, unchanged, made you Queen in the first place,” the Goddess said. “My sorrow that your change cannot be made so after the fact any more than the Dragon-eagle’s could be. You’ve built yourself this nest, dear one. Now you must lodge in it and hatch out what chicks you can.” And She vanished away.

And so it is that the Wren is yet held to be Queen of Birds, for though she was never deposed, no other bird was afterward ever found wise (or foolish) enough to hold the office, not even the owl. The only court the Wren Queen holds is hidden away in holes and hedges, to avoid her enemies’ sight, and there she raises her chicks on worms and bugs in a nest no bigger than a child’s goblet. Her only state is the flash of gold on her crest, and in all other ways she goes as quietly as she may—in all ways the smallest and plainest of all birds. Whether she ever came to understand that royalty rightly exercised needs far more than mere cleverness, and needs the heart at as much as the mind, if not more, no one can say. For in this making of the world, even the Goddess who made all things has no power to make even the smallest creature wise against its will. In Her next making, may all things run more smoothly!

So they tell the tale in the high South; and in the low North, where folly resides, who knows what tale they tell? But now this one is done.

*Using the class-name here as the closest match to this kind of story in the Kingdoms, which lacks beings corresponding to fairies.

**On our Earth, Harpia harpyja, the harpy eagle.

#WIP Wednesday #Middle Kingdoms meta #Tales of the Five Book 3: The Librarian

[edsbacktattoo]

just had (evil) thoughts

so Ed gets rid of the silk first, right? He lets it go to the wind. then he gets rid of Lucius, then all of Stede's nice things, then his crew (save for Jim and Frenchie).

he puts on the Big Bad Scary Kraken persona and says this:

"Farewell Bonnet's playthings. Onto the next."

does that. does that mean he views his red piece of silk as one of 'Bonnet's Playthings' as well?

does that mean that Ed thought his heart was being toyed with? but does that also mean that he nevertheless believed it still belonged to Stede?

like yes, you may have been reckless with it, but it was yours anyway.

and maybe that's part of why he abandons it. maybe he didn't think it belonged to him anymore. maybe it became Stede's the moment he held it with both hands and treated it with care despite how 'tatty and old' it was.

#im sorry for this post #truly sincerely but i was just thinking about the order he gets rid of stuff for my wip #also i find it interesting that he calls all of stede's crew and his stuff 'playthings' because like #that implies that stede wasn't a real pirate. just a child playing with toys #but we're shown throughout the season that ed very much believes that stede is a pirate #he doesn't doubt that of him for even a second #even when stede tells him he traded gunpowder for marmalade ed is like yep that's a sound decision to me #anyway sorry for the tangent sorry for this post i just had to word vomit ok goodbye #ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd meta #gentlebeard #blackbonnet #edward teach #stede bonnet #oh we thinkin?

[writingonesdreams]

Okay so apparently Skye is way too touchy feely with all the guys according to the editor (which seems weird since she is like that with June too and the guys are all fluffy with each other as well).

So either I'm still too embarrassed about writing the kind of bromance I want and write Skye being all touchy feely with everyone, cause that still feels safer and more natural to me than that level of affection between guys (even though I crave it when reading [which brings me to the question why I like it so much. I suspect it's a way to humanize guys for me. So they aren't so intimidating and with such weird scary emotionless reactions. But look they hug! And cry! And care! They must be human! Lol]).

OR my desire to write bromance is actually a secret deep seated desire to write reversed harem XD.

OR I just want everyone to be touchy feely and fluffy with each other in the most platonic way possible, but that doesn't conform to social norms and how much friends are allowed to touch and hug.

I mean it's not like they touch that much. They just get emotionally close and hug and lean on each other a lot. And I'm just very much obsessed with gentle affectionate gestures. (Cause I have so much of it in my family? Cause I don't have enough of them between my friends? Because...why?)

Also such strong positive reactions to Cameron as the most conflicting character vs my good hero boy Zephyr...yeah. You all just love conflict, don't you? (Kidding. It makes perfect sense and is why fiction doesn't portray everyday life. I love Cam too). Comes back with the fear of Zeph not being interesting enough cause he is perfect...but then that's also the juicy smart conflict that's going to blow up with him soon so😎

I mean, you guys knew my fiction is a way to get to know and understand myself better...just a shame for me not everyone does that, I love analysing people according to their books...

#writeblr #spilled ink #wip meta

[agent-troi]

scully and mulder's dynamic visibly changes after the onset of the season of secret sex

i've been thinking about how dd and ga deliberately played season 7 like mulder and scully were sleeping together, and i think there's solid evidence of that in the differences in how scully reacts to mulder appearing to show interest in another woman before and after the season of secret sex begins (i'm using millennium as the before/after divider bc i think that's what dd and ga decided, but this is based on my vague memory of a reddit comment about it which is how i first learned that the season of secret sex was a thing)

so overall there's an undercurrent of insecurity, borne of scully's uncertainty regarding precisely how mulder feels about her and what her place is in the hierarchy of things that are important to him in his life, that exists in the pre-millennium incidents and is glaringly absent post-millennium:

before millennium:

(i'm not gonna include phoebe/fire here bc i don't think scully's awareness of her feelings had yet risen to the point where she'd be truly jealous, i'd characterize her in that ep as largely protective of mulder and unwilling to let him deal with phoebe's games alone. it also helps that he's clearly not happy phoebe is back in his life again, unlike his much more positive reaction to diana)

war of the coprophages- the second scully finds out about bambi, she immediately hops in her car and drives up to miller's grove to join mulder, bc letting him investigate cockroaches alone was fine but god forbid he spend quality time investigating an x-file with an attractive female scientist who isn't herself- that's their thing!!

syzygy- to be fair the planetary alignment situation was exacerbating her- and mulder's- behavior here, but her jealousy of and hostility to detective white were still real, even if she would've been able to rein in her emotions better under normal circumstances.

diana fowley arc- i think this speaks for itself, lol

alpha- this is an interesting period in their relationship: after most of the diana shit is over, but before the tension between them is fully resolved (a process which to me begins with milagro/the unnatural and ends with amor fati, but that would be its own post lol).

other than introducing himself to karin as "fox" (maybe as a way to appeal to her preference for canids lol) and thus implicitly giving her permission to call him by his first name (which she proceeds to do throughout the episode), mulder doesn't seem to show much in the way of attraction to her.

even when he touches her hand to move the mouse, he's more interested in what's on the screen than in paying attention to her:

karin, however, is visibly affected by the contact, a fact which scully immediately notices:

later in the car, they have this convo, the last line of which is so heavily laden with diana subtext it's not even funny:

scully's reaction to karin is similar to her reaction to phoebe in that she's motivated mainly by wanting to protect mulder from his own naive, trusting nature, and from someone she believes is seeking to take advantage of it, rather than being motivated primarily by jealousy and defensiveness. she doesn't really believe that karin is a genuine threat to her relationship with mulder, but with diana still fresh in her memory she can't afford to not be vigilant. hence why she confronts karin alone later:

here scully demonstrates that she somewhat empathizes with karin (mulder is also someone who challenges her, makes her feel fulfilled and happy and alive). karin's response indicates that she has correctly deduced the basis of scully's dislike/distrust of her, and also acknowledges scully is the dominant one as it relates to the territory (mulder) that they are sparring over.

scully looks away at karin's "feminine wiles" comment, revealing the nagging insecurity about her place in mulder's life that diana's arrival exacerbated and that will continue to plague her until amor fati.

after millennium:

rush- when mulder looks back at chastity in the hallway, scully's reaction is to possessively grab mulder's sleeve and pull him away into the interrogation room:

and his response is to laugh and say "what?" like he doesn't know he belongs to her and only her.

keep in mind this happens just before they interrogate tony reed, and right after they finish interrogating him this shit happens:

i already made a post last week about how insanely flirty they are in this episode, but this scene!!

she's pouting and giving him big doe eyes and playing with his tie!! at work!! in public!! she feels comfortable staking her territory in such an obvious way (also playful rather than hostile) bc she's not longer insecure about her place in his life!! i can never be normal about this i'm sorry ssdfgksdgsjdkfhkjsdf

first person shooter- when mulder checks out jade blue afterglow as she's leaving, he leans so far over in such an obvious, exaggerated way, almost as if he's deliberately trying to get a rise out of scully, but all she does is raise her eyebrows at him and lean over to block his view (while smirking):

and then he says he's "feeling the great need to blast the crap out of something", an almost direct quote of scully's line from their convo in the autopsy room right before they went down to the station:

and her response is to SMILE at him!!

pre-millennium scully would absolutely not have reacted this way in this situation. just like in rush, the insecurity that previously haunted scully whenever mulder seemed to be close to or interested in another woman is utterly absent here. they're joking and teasing and enjoying each other's company like they've always done, but there's a different dimension to it now. pre-millennium mulder would never have made a show of checking out another woman like that right in front of scully (unless a planetary alignment is affecting his behavior ofc lol), and pre-millennium scully would never have found it amusing.

(side note: people were debating on twitter a while back about whether this scene was ooc for mulder, and tbh i'm not sure what my own opinion is bc to me the whole episode has an air of... unreality? idk but it gives me similar vibes to post-modern prometheus, like maybe it's real or maybe it's just someone telling a story or it's somewhere in between, and it's also got that same unserious feel idk how else to describe it)

anyway, back to my main point, which is: dd and ga are damn good actors in the way they were able to subtly telegraph this shift in mulder and scully's dynamic. one might be able to argue that the insane flirting throughout season 7 isn't by itself evidence of the season of secret sex bc on some level they've always been like that, but to me these specific interactions provide important clues that the nature of their relationship has changed.

#if anyone can think of any more examples where mulder expresses interest in someone who isn't scully pls let me know #i feel like neither of them do that very often lol #they're just too obsessed with each other #txf meta #long post #i spent the afternoon writing this instead of working on my wip #mad respect for kae and trish and tiger and anyone who regularly writes super long meta posts bc damn this was surprisingly time consuming #season of secret sex #x files #fox mulder #dana scully #mulder x scully #msr #david duchovny #gillian anderson #war of the coprophages #syzygy #diana fowley #alpha #rush #first person shooter #txf s3 #txf s6 #txf s7

[a-victorian-girl]

Hi! I'm Vicky, welcome to my pinned masterpost! I'm a digital artist, fan of BBC Sherlock, and this is a collection of all my retouching works (and other stuff) I've been posting here so far. I hope you enjoy it!

PS: this post will be updated from time to time

☆ MY WORKS

You can see all my artworks HERE

☆ Interactions with others accounts:

(X, X, X)

☆ MY OBSERVATIONS

The oscillating movement of the kitchen lamp meta in 'The Blind Banker'.

Benedict Cumberbatch's skull tie.

Sherlock reading an 'explicit' johnlock fic that John accidentally left open on his laptop.

Christmas John, before & after the fall getting married.

☆ MY GIFSETS

The moment when John discovered that Sherlock was the only one who jumped into the fire to save his life.

Conversation between John and his brain being like...

Tea with the devil before the fall.

This was the only one time when Sherlock broke the 4th wall to tell us that he's the only one consulting detective in the world.

The only moment in the entire show where Sherlock doubted John.

Sherlock having fun texting to his brother.

(you can see other creations HERE)

☆ MY FIRST FANFIC!

"And at that moment.... I knew", Inspired by “The Moment I Knew” by Taylor Swift and based on the BBC Sherlock mini episode "Many Happy Returns". Spanish version HERE.

☆ FANFICS INSPIRED BY MY ARTS

'Tell me Where it Hurts' by @helloliriels, inspired by this work.

☆ MY ARTS INSPIRED BY FANFICS

I made this image for this lovely fic 'It Belongs in a Museum', written by @helloliriels.

I'm always open for commissions 👉🏼 here you'll find the details

Ooooww, you wanna invite me a ko-fi? Thank you! ☕️

And tysm for your love and support!! 🫂

Vicky 💋

Instagram Twitter Ko-fi

#masterpost #pinned post #wip #retouching works #adobe photoshop #photo manip #sherlock meta #sherlock fanart #sherlock fandom #sherlock fanfic #a victorian girl

[humming-fly]

I've been vicariously reveling in @post-it-notes7's recent foray into their version of dark meta knight's No Good Very Bad Day, and naturally have had a shitpost bouncing around in my head the Entire time

#i think about this simpson's quote literally all the time #nonsurat is here to help keep things in perspective #also because i couldn't think of literally anyone else who would bother to be in the same room as dmk during any of this lmao #anyways the color is only there so i could violate the geneva convention #kirby #dark meta knight #mir nonsurat #post-it-notes7 #for both the designs and the funny funny scenarios they suffer through #tw blood #my art #doodles #i have So many wips right now i need to get rolling on a lot of them h a

[wetcatspellcaster]

Metapost: "The Ascendent"

**this is a meta for my fic, Pieces Still Stuck in Your Teeth, and NOT a discussion of the BG3 game canon in any way. If you try and make this into a disk-horse, I will BITE you**

(spoilers under the cut for Chapters 1-23 of Pieces Still Stuck in Your Teeth).

So... remember in the Chapter One endnote when I said I was a Spike/Buffy fan first, and a person second? x

･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: ･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ

In more seriousness, there was a number of fictional seasonings/ingredients that went into creating what I felt was the villain of a Gothic horror, and what I felt could turn the Ascendent into something that was both 'fixable', and something I enjoyed writing.

Those ingredients were:

Spike and the idea of 'soulless' vampires in the BtVS canon - do I like this conceit of BtVS worldbuilding and how it's used in the show? No. I think it often underlines how bad Whedon is at writing romance. BUT I do think it gives Buffy this free pass for which vampires she can/can't like or adopt, and I needed some of that for my protagonist. I need a 'I can fix him' moment - BtVS has those in fucking SPADES.

Howl's Moving Castle (this one was accidental, I'm still mad at myself but I can't deny it's there) - man conducts magic ritual for power, removing an essential part of himself in the process that needs to be returned

Picture of Dorian Gray (the idea of an exterior staying pristine while something hidden suffers and decays)

Curse of Strahd (the soulless in Barovia, which I mentioned in Chapter 23)

The idea of default moral alignments in D&D. I have a whole chapter arguing against this in my thesis (mostly bc it's often applied to entire races) but I was fascinated by creating a set of circumstances where I feel like a default moral alignment is valid, actually. 7,000 deaths seems like a good set up. I wanted to imagine a being that was trapped within a default moral alignment, and the laws of its very being prevent it from being good no matter what it tries, and it knows that (this kind of creates a feedback loop with the Spike/Buffy stuff)

The parts of the BG3 canon I took and REMADE (I'm stressing this throughout, I was making a horror story and a horror monster your honour):

Astarion conducts the Rite of Profane Ascension with scars on his back, but has to scar Cazador's back personally, suggesting that um... the Rite REALLY SHOULDN'T BE CONDUCTED BY SOMEONE WHO'S GOT THOSE SCARS. Cazador wasn't going to do it that way, is all I'm saying!!

The idea that Ascended!Ending Astarion is a concentrated version of certain traits that have persisted throughout his story - his flirtiness, his understanding of sex as a mechanism and expression of power, his use of a façade as a mask for trauma he refuses to acknowledge.

The lines alluding to dissociation in the brothel foursome, post-Ascension.

The idea that Astarion seduced Tav to survive or protect himself- in my case, because I made the Ascendent empty save for Astarion's survival instinct, the idea that he would gravitate towards Tav as one of his default modes to potentially survive made sense to me - this is why it becomes an obsession.

･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: ･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ

For me, when writing, the Ascendent is a few things:

An intensification of vampirism in a different, fucked-up direction. Yeah, A!Astarion, you can walk in sunlight and you can eat and drink and don't need blood. But you are still a hungering maw of emptiness that feels like it will never be whole or close and connected to the living - just now in a wildly different, metaphysical/existential direction! Welcome to depression, alienation, and otherness!

A soulless being, that knows it is soulless - that initially was very happy with its life but then as the years passed, increasingly spends its every waking moment knowing there is something innately wrong with it that it can't seem to shake, no matter how much it engages with life and all the pleasures of life. (see the 'every meal without savour' speech)

A magically literal metaphor for Astarion's dissociation in moments of extreme trauma, up to and including the fight with Cazador - essentially, the moments when there is nothing but a performance or an exterior, because the self/soul are suffering and they cant' come to phone right now

Astarion's survival instinct. As I say in Chapter 23 - Mephistopheles thinks it is an empty body, who's performance is trying to deny the reality of it's own existence. Rosalie, who has a bit more understanding of Astarion, sees that the performance is not just a coping mechanism but one of Astarion's main modes of survival. The Ascendent is Astarion's survival instinct/techniques for endurance, without any soul or person behind them to protect. This is how I tried to tie in the flirty, hypersexual persona and wrap it with a bow.

I wanted a monster that was undeniably scary, and monstrous to me (oh? you can't fit in or be happy no matter what you do and no matter how hard you try, and you think there's something intrinsically off? how's that autism diagnosis going Emma) but that I also felt sympathy and true sorrow for. I needed to have motivations for him chasing after Tav that I could write meaningfully from and sympathise with.

Not only has Astarion used Tav as a life-raft once before, they've also proven to be the most secure thing he's ever clung to. Of course a rabid survival instinct Astarion would become obsessed, and see them as a potential solution to the problem (this was then intensified by Rosalie also being a walking, overbearing moral compass, and having bound him in a contract in the first week of living, accidentally - a lawful good immoveable objects meets a default moral alignment unstoppable force.)

...Because I also wanted that moral alignment spice!! Wizards of the Coast, default moral alignment is fucked up actually!!! Imagine something trying so desperately to be good - literally being bound in a pact and having been told to be good - but the laws of the universe and its very essence are like "nah mate, we kind of want to destroy and annihilate everything, we're neutral evil personified". That's scary!! that's fucked up!! that's what a birth from 7000 deaths gets you!!!

･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: ･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ･ﾟ✧

So, now for the actual timeline, for people who aren't interested in my silly musings but mostly just want answers lmfao.

Rosalie makes the decision not to intervene in Cazador's mansion, making it seem like she'll support whatever decision Astarion will make there.

Rite of Profane Ascension happens. Astarion conducts the ritual, rips his own soul from his body, the Ascendent is born with literally zero context. Mephistopheles is fucked in Cania, because a bunch of stuff has just gone wrong.

(oh, by the way, the Ascendent knows Infernal as a default language. Bc it's born from an Infernal rite.)

The Ascendent is now default neutral evil, and feeling some kind of way. Rosalie and him break up. He's supposed to have everything, but the one thing he thought was a done deal - his most stalwart suppporter - just rejected him.

Netherbrain defeat (the Ascendent is not invited. Imagine being an all-powerful, hypersexual survival instinct vampire, and your ex-girlfriend neither wants you for sex, nor your power.)

Rosalie accidentally binds the Ascendent (a soulless devil) in a pact demanding that he never kill anyone, when that's literally what the Ascendent's new existence/new default moral alignment is driving him to do. Then, she fucks off and goes into hiding.

Well. The Ascendent can just get another wizard, to help him learn all of Cazador's secrets to cope [Hemlock is recruited].

The years go by! The Ascendent is doing sooooo well. Everything is great, guys! I'm rich, I'm beautiful, I have lavish parties and lots of sex - why do I feel nothing? I'm a vampire perfected - I have no hunger for blood, I can walk in the sun, I can enjoy all the freedoms of a living, breathing man - why do I feel like I'm starving? Why does everything turn to ashes in my mouth? I have friends - oops, I've sabotaged all those friendships with my innate neutral evil destruction. Why can't I feel anything? What's wrong with me? I'm doing everything right? Why doesn't it feel that way?

Also, I can't kill anything to feel better about it, because my hidden ex-girlfriend bound me in a pact.

In this time, to reflect the gradual degradation of the Ascendent's happiness and it's increasing awareness that it is something Other and innately wrong, the reflection starts going weird. Starts going strange. Starts getting a bit fucked up. Almost as if, when he looks in the mirror and sees a person, *nothing* should be what's there. Imagine being a spawn who couldn't see your reflection, and then a vampire who could see it's reflection, but knows that they're innately empty. Knows there's nothing there. I'd freak out a little bit about it as well tbh, I'd go a bit tooth and claw and elongated jaw about it.

The Ascendent finally admits that's there must be something kinda fucked about it. Life just ain't working out, lads. He starts looking for any and all impossible cures that will help with the malaise in his soul (and that innate essence problem, caused by default moral alignment). These include: more bad decisions, such as a house in Cania bc the Ascendent is hoping he'll feel more at home with devils than he does with mortals. All it does is make him feel more isolated and alone.

But eventually, he settles on two things! - Wish (Hemlock's idea), and Rosalie (the Ascendent's idea). Clearly, we just need Rosalie back! Her leaving is actually what fucked him up in the first place - none of this existential bullshit! She fixed us one, she can fix us again.

But looking for Rosalie hasn't worked out. In order to get a shot at her, the Ascendent goes and bargains for his own soul from Mephistopheles. Mephistopheles, adding a new sheet in excel titled 'what the fuck happens when i give this soulless monster a soul to play with?', agrees and starts tracking his new data.

Obviously, just putting the soul back in yourself will fix you. But the Ascendent, the nothingness living inside Astarion's body, will die. Taking the soul back would erase itself. The Ascendent - who is survival instinct personified - would never do this.

So instead, it starts interviewing and cannibalising the soul. Bc a soul is what it needs, this is the closest it's ever felt to being alive. Bc it's made this all about Rosalie, he thinks he's found his solution. The chase is making him feel alive again. It's true love, lads! not the soul.

Wish auction happens - the Ascendent is beaten to the punch by some unknown (hot) wizard.

This avenue cut off, the Ascendent makes the decision to try and win Rosalie back.

Astarion advises that to make her come back to the Gate, he should murder a bunch of people. Because this comes from the soul, not the soulless devil nothingness, it circumvents the pact.

...The events of Pieces begin!

･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: ･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ･ﾟ✧

And finally - the Ascendent tries to destroy Jar!Starion for many reasons in Chapter 19:

The Ascendent knows that it dies, if the soul and the body get reunited (or is that constant high alert survival instinct just no longer needed, because the problem is fixed? you decide.)

The Ascendent values Tav above itself. Tav is going to fix them. Astarion believes he could never fix himself.

Dissociation - that soul isn't me. I'm here, looking at my soul. If I get too close, it'll kill me.

Self-hatred - that soul isn't me. That man made a mistake, and I've had to live with the consequences. He doesn't deserve to live, for what he's made me become.

The knowledge that Rosalie/Tav will only ever want that version of him, not the one that's living and breathing, that sees itself as the most wretched, fucked-up version of itself. So... give them no choice. They have to deal with me and love me at my worst.

And if the Rite didn't work - if the version of the Ascendent walking around isn't the best one, and the one people want... what was it all for? Why does the Ascendent feel like this? Why does it have to suffer?

･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: ･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ･ﾟ✧

....And, that's my little meta post! If anyone has any questions about the timeline or any motivations at any points in the fic, I'm obviously more than happy to explain things via ask/comment, as always!

TLDR: I just wanted to make a Gothic horror. I wanted a dark romance, fucked up obsession vampire/mortal dynamic, but I also wanted a situation that was scary for both Astarion and my Tav. I personally think an Astarion who is so dissociated and separate from reality that he feels that in his bones daily, is scary. It's the lingering impact of the traumas the Rite and those 7,000 souls embodied.

I was literally just trying to make it a horror, for everyone involved.

#metaposts #long posts #my writing #wip: pieces still stuck in your teeth #spoilers! #i've never really explained my writing process before in this depth so... I hope it makes sense! #writing meta