thecoziestbean

[thecoziestbean]

bg3 modern!au idea where halsin is a conservationist, who mentions kind of despairingly to a younger colleague at a conference the way he's having such a hard time with outreach to get folks in his community aware of the wildlife around them and how important it is. the colleague makes an offhand reference to how tiktok is the way people seem to get connected to that sort of thing most nowadays, although hell if they have the patience to figure out the app, and wanders off to catch up with someone else. they will not realize until later (far, far later) the ramifications of this statement.

halsin is rather quiet for the rest of the event, makes his goodbyes, and then returns home to painstakingly research just how "tiktok" works, with the grim determination of a fighter entering the ring. if this is what it takes to raise awareness, then this is what he'll do. the cause is more than worth it.

the first roadblock he runs into makes him worry the venture will be over before its even started. the first few webpages he finds tell him patronizingly that his phone is too old to work for 'content creation'. and okay, so it's scuffed, and dented, and has maybe taken one or two tumbles into a mud puddle, but it ought to be more than serviceable! he goes outside and finds a patch of wildflowers, pulling up the camera function and shooting a shaky video. he returns to his kitchen table, squinting down at the results. he can see all of the distinguishing features of the plant that would allow him to recognize it in the wild, which means it's good enough to do its job. with a new resolve - that his family would have wryly labeled as stubbornness - he focuses his research efforts until he finally finds a webpage that will tell him how to make the app work with his phone.

when at last it starts up in a blare of sound and over-saturated colors, he grimaces, but presses on. it asks him to set up a username, and he types in his first name. the little circle spins for a moment, then tells him it's taken. he frowns, then adds a random number. 2. it spins again, same response. he frowns harder, then adds another. 6. it spins, spins, spins, then — welcome, new user @.halsin26! upload your first video to start using tiktok!

he decides not to overthink it. it'll either work out or it won't. he looks out the window, and judges there's still just enough light out. he returns to the little patch of wildflowers, and gives it a thumbs up. he starts a recording directly in the app, making note of the 60-second time limit with a grimace. to make the most of the time he has, he doesn't bother with an introduction, just kneels down next to the cluster of plants, careful not to compress the ground too close to their root system, and moves his hand just behind the flowering portion to visually distinguish it, and act as a scale reference. he keeps his voice low, since he doesn't want to overshadow the content itself, and quickly lays out where folks could run into this plant, its importance to its local ecosystem, and ways they could help its conservation. the most important things the average person can do, he states passionately as the timer begins its final warning, is to document the locations where they find said plants, so that the areas can be marked for oversight and protection.

he doesn't bother to look back over the video before he posts it. he knows what he said, after all. he stretches his arms up above his head, then massages the back of his neck where the muscles are growing stiff. as he heads back inside to start dinner for himself, he tosses the phone into a basket on the counter and forgets about it.

the video languishes in the algorithm for the evening, until a random user gets distracted from scrolling away from the potato-quality wildflower video someone's grandma uploaded and chokes on their spit as forearms that very clearly do not belong to anyone's grandmother enter the frame, gently cupping the air around the flower.

god i wish that were me, they type before they can stop themself. debating whether to bother hitting send, they choke again as an absolutely unfair voice begins to narrate the ecological importance of this particular plant. the voice is smooth and deep, just above a murmur with a pleasant backing rumble. they have never given a moment's thought to plants in their entire life, but all of a sudden they are invested. they don't even notice when their thumb hits 'send' on their comment, too busy swiping over to the profile to see if there are any other videos. it's empty of literally everything, default user icon, only-barely-not-randomly-generated username, only one video posted earlier that day. they go back to the video and copy the link to send to their friends, needing someone - anyone - else to understand the experience they just had.

a few more interactions like that, and the algorithm takes notice. it bumps the video to a few more users outside of the current sphere, and those ones like it too. more importantly, they are very likely to share the video with others, increasing the engagement far beyond anything it had right to expect.

by two days later, when halsin remembers to actually check the thing, it is sitting at a comfortable 2500 likes, and there is a whole fleet of comments waiting for him to review. some of them - many of them, actually - don't seem that relevant at all, and he frowns, but then he sees a few that actually seem interested in more information on the plant he'd described, asking questions about how wide its range is, if it could be found in this or that coloration, etc. these he responds to swiftly, then grimaces as he runs up against a 'character limit'? who ever heard of such a foolish thing. after a moment of glaring down at his phone, he sees that it will allow him to answer by video, and does so, stepping onto his porch and zooming in on the plants. (this blurs them into barely discernible blobs of pixels, but he does not notice.)

still others are curious about what other plants and wildlife he might be able to share about, and he leaves short comments under each letting them know that he will plan to upload some more videos soon, if there is an interest. one user has left a comment that he almost files into his mental "ignore" category, but goes back to reread at the last moment.

not convinced this isn't one of those 'booktok bait' things again but i stg there's a big ass patch of those fuckers behind a parking lot somewhere around here?

halsin responds to this one with a video too. now that he's getting the hang of it, it's actually a bit more convenient than having to type everything out. he thanks the commenter for sharing, then asks if they might be willing to do him a favor sometime – only if it wasn't any trouble, of course! – and grab a video or two of the area they referenced, and share it with him — or their local wildlife foundation, at least.

a few days later, he opens the app to check in to find that he's been tagged in a video by some user. bemused, he clicks on the popup, and it takes him to a slightly shaky but pristine quality video of an empty lot filled with tall grass. the person filming moves a bit closer, then zooms in, and halsin spots multiple cluster of that recognizable wildflowers, before the video ends and restarts. there's no narration to this one, only a barely audible music wheel spinning in the corner. the caption on the video says, @.halsin26 just in case you're not actually some weird account for a fetish i haven't heard of before, here's some of those plants you mentioned looking for.

#oak father preserve me #how about oak father conserve me?! #oak daddy #halsin #halsin silverbough #halsin bg3 #baldur’s gate 3 #bg3

[thecoziestbean]

he was in the fridge!!!

#this is fucking delightful

[thecoziestbean]

Morfydd Clark ‘The Rings of Power’ promotional shoot for The Telegraph Photography by Rachell Smith

◼ Morfydd Daily

[thecoziestbean]

I just discovered foodtimeline.org, which is exactly what it sounds like: centuries worth of information about FOOD.  If you are writing something historical and you want a starting point for figuring out what people should be eating, this might be a good place?

#writing things #food history

[thecoziestbean]

Author reveals today for the spring round of Seasons of Drabbles. I wrote two including this Haladriel drabble set during s1e8 where Sauron considers what to do with Galadriel.

drag me out, destroy me

Haladriel | G | 100 words

For @myrsinemezzo

Read on ao3

#otp: bind yourself to me #haladriel #saurondriel #galadriel x halbrand #galadriel x sauron #haladriel fanfic #cozy writes #drabble #seasons of drabbles #rings of power s1

[thecoziestbean]

Let me loosen up your collar

Ch.3 - Paperwork

Price/Reader

E/8.5k

14.5k Complete!

NSFW/MDNI

He didn’t stop when you came around his fingers like a vice and in silky waves against his tongue.  When you scratched your nails across his shoulders so hard you thought you felt the fabric tear beneath them.

He barely even slowed down as your legs shuttered and you pulled air into your lungs in soggy, hiccupping gulps.  He still wanted more.  To reach his target and find out what lay beyond.  Resting not upon his initial success, but to conquer and devastate. 

To leave no uncertainty behind as to who had won.

And you wondered how much further he could’ve taken you had there not been a knock at the door.  An urgent pounding to bring you both back down to solid ground.

“Apologies for the interruption, sir, but Gaz is going to kill the cunt downstairs.”  Simon stood in the doorway, with Colin nervously perched behind him.  You could barely see the top of his head over the giant’s shoulders.

If you’d been in your right mind, you’d be horrified by the gross lack of security.  What if these guys posed a real threat to your safety?  Vinnie couldn’t be bothered to lift a finger, and Colin looked ready to piss himself. 

“Which one?”  The man between your legs stood gracefully, both disentangling himself from you and subtly positioning you behind him.  A businesslike edge to his gravelly voice.

Caught blindsided for the second time in the evening, you guiltily scrambled to cover up.  Modesty, at this point, was a meaningless endeavor, but it felt necessary all the same.  You didn’t want the others to see you like this. 

Open and ravaged.  Vulnerable without the armor of your costume, and your attitude. 

“Johnny’s trying to calm him down.”

“Bloody hell.  You left him with MacTavish?  Those two moppets...” 

Price and Simon were already out the door before you could stop your knees from shaking like a newborn colt long enough to follow him. You almost fell off your heels with your first step, and it earned you a disappointed look from Colin. 

“Not a word from you, kid.”  You’d have a talk with him later. 

If you weren’t fired first.

Read the rest on AO3!

#THIS FIC!!! It’s so gooooooood!!! #price x reader #captain john price #captain price #john price #call of duty

[thecoziestbean]

strawberries | raspberries | currants | cherries

— by Virginia Granberry (1831-1921)

[thecoziestbean]

(I personally bought it because I was having trouble finding a good group to play DND with)

#d&d nerd here #plus all my gaming friends screaming at me about how great it is #baldur’s gate 3 #bg3

[thecoziestbean]

Ooof Halsin x Shadowheart with hanahaki disease would be amazing.

Of course Shadowheart should be the one growing flowers in her lungs, thinking it yet another punishment from her Goddess. Until she starts coughing up clovers, dandelions and chamomille, flowers that are pale and bright and readily associated with wild meadows and sunshine.

A small dandelion bud tries to grow and stitch together the incurable wound but it only makes the pain worse. If only there was person who’d know how to calm down this affliction…

#oak father preserve me #hanahaki #halsin #halsin silverbough #shadowheart x halsin #halsin bg3 #baldur’s gate 3 #bg3

[thecoziestbean]

Author reveals today for the spring round of Seasons of Drabbles. I wrote two including this BG3 Halsin x gn!Tav drabble where it’s pining hours for my favorite druid.

follow my only song

BG3 Halsin x gn!Tav | G | 100 words

Read on ao3

#oak father preserve me #halsin x tav #halsin #halsin silverbough #halsin bg3 #drabble #seasons of drabbles #cozy writes #bg3 fanfiction #baldur’s gate 3 #bg3

[thecoziestbean]

Sorry Gale, it’s gonna have to be you!

#oak father preserve me #oak daddy #halsin #halsin silverbough #halsin bg3 #baldur’s gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 fanart

[thecoziestbean]

[thecoziestbean]

“It will be untamed, vigorous, and, well… large.”

#oak father preserve me #oak daddy #halsin #halsin silverbough #halsin bg3 #baldur’s gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 fanart

[thecoziestbean]

are u ever sick w longing. and i don't just mean romantic longing. i mean longing for a place you barely get to see, longing for friends you no longer have, longing for feelings you might have left behind in your childhood, longing for creativity, longing for a rich and more expansive life, longing for less inhibition. longing for more passion. longing for ur life to be so incandescent w something it thaws all the frost in ur bones. are u ever so consumed w it it rends ur heart in two. do u understand me

[thecoziestbean]

[thecoziestbean]

the truth about Gale is I really don’t think he “mansplains” I think he’s genuinely always very earnest and overly excited to share information with people but he’s an academic so he just sounds like that

[thecoziestbean]

✨And what if I said the next chapter of The Venus of Valinor was coming this week?✨

It’s been eight months y’all, but I’ve finally just about got this chapter done. Just need to do some edits and rewrites. Get ready for some third act angst.

#the venus of valinor #otp: bind yourself to me #haladriel #saurondriel #galadriel x halbrand #galadriel x sauron #haladriel fanfic #cozy writes