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"Join me, Cassandra. Together, we will rule the world."
From Update 24 of The Adventures of Casey and Bryz. (25th and final update releases 3/29!!)
Check out the full story here:
Below are alternate versions, one with reduced effects and one with more visible text, respectively:
[ID: Cassandra, a swirly-haired woman cast in an emerald-color, stands in front of an assortment of ghosts, all in varying shades of green and different attire. The middle-most one directly behind her hovers above a snail woman colored pink. The center ghost has one hand in the air, and the other beckoning toward Cassandra, who is forward. Cassandra herself is wounded, and her dress is torn where she's been cut. Blood drips down from her wounds. She has a worried expression on her face. Text surrounds her, the biggest and most important being "Join me, Cassandra. Together, we will rule the world." The rest of the text is small and repetitive, saying different phrases along the lines of "join us," "come with us," "join her," and "the emerald order awaits." Complicated fantasy sigils float around the scene, bright and green, in varying size and shape. End ID]
Time taken: 3 hours, 30 minutes
App used: Ibispaint
Ok, so I just read a really really really really (thats 4 reallys) good 2012 tmnt fic and I wanted to comment so bad but I got nervous.. It was one of those "If The Power Inside Her went differently" fics and I LOVED IT!!!!
I was gonna say that it was really hot and sexy of them and that I'm making out with them. Passionately. On the mouth.
But I got nervous and worried little random things like "what if they don't get it?" "what if they're uncomfortable?" "What if a child wrote this? I can't call a child sexy that's awful! What is wrong with you Axton? Why are you calling children sexy?" I'm not by the way. I never sent the comment and I did not know they were a child. Possibly. It is not confirmed whether or not a child wrote it.
The fic was great btw! If the writer of the fic happens to see this, it's fantastic, I loved it, I'm adding it to my list of favorite fics and I'm looking forward to the next fic in the series!
HOLY SHIT UPDATE BEFORE I EVEN SENT THIS I CHECKED THEIR THING AND THEY HAVE 15 YEARS OF EARTH EXPERIENCE!!!!
Anyway, Master of Rats, I am not kissing you but the fic is great, have a nice day!
The veteran AO3 experience is watching wattpad babies making the switch for the first time and experiencing a whole new world.
They say that fanfiction is all stanning. But has anyone stanned the source material to the point of getting distracted from writing fanfiction?
You know what I mean, bookworms? Just to give you a window into my oscillating thoughts: If my guy Jon Snow has returned to the Wall post-ADWD with his betrothed Daenerys Targaryen, yeah I'm gonna stan what came before and make shit up like crazy. The struggle is real! I love the romance of these ‘soulmates’ but I also love everything that makes asoiaf what it is. (Within reason.)
If I stan too much, I write slow-going passages like this:
Jon’s heart felt full as he left her side, his mind brimming with thoughts of their eventful morning so far. My love, where do we go from here? He knew where he was going, at the least. He would find Samwell in the Flint Barracks. In the three days they’d been at Castle Black, both men had yet to break from meetings to tend to personal interactions. With the increasing days among the Watch, it became more strange to think of himself and Sam as former members of the order. He’d expected the feeling even before they’d left Winterfell, yet as he walked across the courtyard and felt the gazes of a few dozen black brothers upon his back, it shook him all the same.
Yet another feeling warred within Jon Snow. On the right step he’d sense the men. On the left step he’d sense Daenerys. Her attention and love thrilled him, as like it had only one other time. On Dragonstone. Their home.
But if I hold back on the stanning, I write meatier passages like this:
It was hard to say if anyone took offense enough to the executioner’s blade hanging above them, for as often as the Northern lords, free folk and warriors large and small came up to the dais to present themselves, did the displays of fealty reassure her of Jon's leadership. Strikingly, the free folk never kneeled, but they did offer gifts, the most sobering of which were a pair of bearskin boots given to Queen Daenerys by a group of spearwives.
She took them graciously and wondered if the wise men would believe the gesture had given King Jon’s uncertain frown a rosy flush. That he was charmed enough to tell her a tale of the hunter who’d fashioned them was welcomed with her whole heart. As she listened to him describe the father of two who fell to the Others at the event many had come to call the Passing Through the Ice, she wondered if the scribes of history would tell of this pair, the last he ever made. And as Jon sort of sat and looked at her for a long time, she wondered if they would believe she was hopelessly lost for him, as well.
So it's coming! If anyone has read "A Long Way Home" and is waiting for the next fic in the series, I'd like to get Chapter 1 up before House of the Dragon comes out in June. (Because of the competition, you see, from their very same Team Black forebearers.) That's the goal, anyway!
Buffy 5x20-5x21 and A Long Way Home
A close friend of mine is a huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I never watched it, although I've seen other TV shows helmed by the brilliant and risk-taking Joss Whedon. One day we were analyzing one show (I'll leave it unmentioned) that tried to use similar themes as a short myth arc from Buffy. The two did not compare. But something amazing was happening. As my friend described Buffy's dilemma, I found myself filling in the blanks before she could finish her sentences. Because it made sense. I'd already tackled a similar value and character revealing duty vs. duty crisis in Jon Snow, in ALWH.
For years, I was not aware of this, because GRRM's 5-book foundation made it so easy to play with his themes. The fic was well-reasoned, however, it garnered backlash that left a sour taste in my mouth. (More on this later.)
Here's the rundown on Buffy's 5x20-5x21 myth arc. A moment of crisis gives way to a major character giving up by entering a catatonic state. Buffy's duty as a Slayer and her duty to her sister Dawn are in direct conflict:
Glory getting her hands on Dawn means the end of the world. Killing Dawn is the safest way to prevent this. Buffy spends 5x20 "Spiral" fighting against this idea, leading to Giles being severely injured and Glory capturing Dawn. If Glory opens the portal, Dawn must die to close it, otherwise everyone dies. 5x21 "The Weight of the World" isn't just Buffy grappling with her guilt, it's also her working through a moral conundrum. Is one innocent girl worth the entire world? What comes first - Buffy's calling/duty to the world or her love/duty to her sister? Buffy comes out of the episode with the moral conflict resolved. In the end, she chooses her sister. If that means the end of the world, she feels that they aren't in a world worth having around. It's a great exploration of Buffy's character and her values.
What a RELIEF!
When I began writing A Long Way Home in 2017, I wanted to change things up from my previous Jonerys fics. I went for "post-GoT 6x09, Jon and Dany meet by chance, but for once the revelation of his parentage doesn't bring them together, it keeps them apart."
Long story short, after they became lovers, once home he found out who he is, lost his nerve and ghosted her, then returned to pursue a second chance with her.
Spicy, but I figured it would give people something to chew on, ways to reflect on their lives as the hero of their own story, and as lovers. Would they crumble under the weight of Jon's circumstances and hesitate to return? Would they prepare themselves for disappointment and even forgive, as Dany had? Would they freeze and choke even once they could no longer justify their silence on a secret? But there was pretty sour backlash. Over the years, I wondered, is this fic too mature for some readers or am I being insensitive to the characters?
Once or twice I considered deleting the fic.
But I refused to budge. Jon's POV in the past makes him look like a fuckboy and Dany's POV in the present makes him look even more like a fuckboy. Therein lies the reason for their estrangement, which we must discover chapter by chapter.
In fact, when I finally applied Buffy's 5x20-21 arc to ALWH, I found that everything was similar. The core:
Jon is exhausted from war (and more). He spent so much time at war, ranging, arranging and politicking at the Wall (like never done before), to then to be mutinied against, captured and nearly slain again after battling the Bolton's. That he feels guilty for the fact that he knew their alliance might not be accepted and moreover because they're blood-related tops off a crushing crisis he's long been unaware of.
The middle shell:
The pain...the fear...choking almost gives a sense of relief, is a self-fulfilled prophecy. To relinquish the responsibility of loving her, continuing their line (Targ) and the fallout that could come to both their Houses and families if the alliance was not accepted by the Northern. Of risking the tens of thousands of lives in their charge…
The outer shell:
Jon has made mistakes. Although he has failed her, he has not lost his faith. The only way to lose her for good is to not get out there, not fight for her, not fight for the world. For no matter what person does, there's always a path forward. Crisis resolved.
Turns out, there wasn't a problem. I just needed to understand the main conflict more deeply (see Buffy) then go back to make Jon's crisis more apparent. There needed to be more details on the promises he and Dany made before he left Dragonstone, to make it less likely to conclude he abandoned her. That was all!
So I want to thank my bestie Diana, Jonerys readers and Buffy for all of the help. Tying up those loose ends helped me muster up the courage to return to my outline in the continuance of the fic series "We Could Live Together" and start planning the many, many details involved in making it a satisfying story.
Jon's still got an inferiority complex and Dany still runs from the trauma of loss. As remaining high lords seek to ensnare them in the game of thrones, they're both still trying to figure out how to be their own person, yet avoid becoming what they fear. Hopefully I'll manage to put their trials on the page and hit PUBLISH. In the meantime I want to keep sharing ideas as they have developed, as that’s about 1/2 of writing.
can’t stop thinking about @klance-daydreams’s space ranger vlogs au aaand i went ice skating with some friends a few days ago so… (more under the keep reading thingy)
they’re in silverton, colorado, skating near kendall mountain at night after the ice rink’s been closed to the public. neither of them really know how to ice skate, but they’re having fun with it. keith also thinks that knife shoes are one of the best concepts humans have ever come up with but he can’t figure out how to stand straight without falling backwards. lance thinks it’s cute. and he’s pining pretty hard. he doesn’t know that second part, though.
(guys i’m like properly obsessed with the idea of going on a cross country road trip with one to three friends and vlogging all of it already and i’m gonna take a gap year in college to do something similar and i can’t get this au out of my head)
Progress on the Kashi WIP! I'm quite very happy with how it's turning out :D
Some close-ups of the parts I'm really proud of!
ao3 wrapped
-> you read 2,690,420 words, none of which are in the bible
-> your preferred genre is an abomination
-> you found one writer and read everything they've ever written...
-> ...only to find out they're into some weird shit.
-> and now you are too. congratulations!
-> the data we've collected has shocked us to our very core and we wish we hadn't done it. we won't see you next year. please seek professional mental support
Fanfiction Authors: HEADS UP
(Non-authors, please RB to signal boost to your author friends!)
An astute reader informed me this morning that one of my fics (Children of the Future Age) had been pirated and was being sold as a novel on Amazon:
(And they weren't even creative with their cover design. If you're going to pirate something that I spent a full year of my life writing, at least give me a pretty screenshot to brag about later. Seriously.)
I promptly filed a DMCA complaint to have it removed, but I checked out the company that put it up -- Plush Books -- and it looks like A LOT of their books are pirated fic. They are by no means the only ones doing this, either -- the fact that """publishers""" can download stories from AO3 in ebook format and then reupload them to Amazon in just a few clicks makes fic piracy a common problem. There are a whole host of reasons why letting this continue is bad -- including actual legal risk to fanfiction archives -- but basically:
IF YOU ARE A FANFIC AUTHOR WITH LONG AND/OR POPULAR WORKS, PLEASE CHECK AMAZON TO SEE IF YOUR STORIES HAVE BEEN PIRATED.
You can search for your fics by title, or by text from the description (which is often just copied wholesale from AO3 as well). If you find that someone has stolen your work and is selling it as their own, you can lodge a DMCA complaint (Amazon.com/USA site; other countries have different systems). If you haven't done this before, it's easy! Here's a tutorial:
HOW TO FILE A COPYRIGHT COMPLAINT FOR STOLEN WORK ON AMAZON.COM:
First, go to this form. You'll need to be signed into your Amazon account.
Select the radio buttons/dropdown options (shown below) to indicate that you are the legal Rights Owner, you have a copyright concern, and it is about a pirated product.
Enter the name of your story in the Name of Brand field.
In the Link to the Copyrighted Work box, enter a link to the story on AO3 or whatever site your work is posted on.
In the Additional Information box, explain that you are the author of the work and it is being sold without your permission. That's all you really need. If you want, you can include additional information that might be helpful in establishing the validity of your claim, but you don't have to go into great detail. You can simply write something like this:
I am the author of this work, which is being sold by [publisher] without my permission. I originally published this story in [date/year] on [name of site], and have provided a link to the original above. On request, I can provide documentation proving that I am the owner of the account that originally posted this story.
In the ASIN/ISBN-10 field, copy and paste the ID number from the pirated copy's URL. You'll find this ten-digit number in the Amazon URL after the word "product," as in the screenshot below. (If the URL extends beyond this number, you can ignore everything from the question mark on.) Once this number has been added, Amazon will pull the product information automatically and add it to the complaint form, so you can check the listing title and make sure it's correct.
Finally, add your contact information to the relevant fields, check the "I have read and accept the statements" box, and then click Submit. You should receive an email confirmation that Amazon has received the form.
Please share this information with your writer friends, keep an eye out for/report pirated works, and help us keep fanfiction free and legally protected!
NOTE: All of the above also applies to Amazon products featuring stolen artwork, etc., so fan artists should check too!
KFP- Always and Forever Mine (AO3) Sneak Peak!
Long before the great Master Oogway found the Jade Palace, before the Valley of Peace was settled, centuries before the creation of Kung Fu, two dragons protected China from all dangers named Hou Yi, who was as bright and cheerful as the noon-day sun; and Chang'e, who's was a beautiful and aloof as the moon at midnight.
The dragons were well-beloved by the people of China, grateful to their fierce and benevolent guardians, but their adoration paled in comparison to the love the dragons had for each other. The citizens of China would say that Hou Yi and Chang'e were no doubt made for each other. That such a love would never be shaken, not by their enemies, by time, or even the gods themselves.
But one day, one creature decided to bring that love to the test.
Some fools that really gotta talk. From my fic on ao3.
See I put bandages and braces and stuff on him this time. I’m remembering things. How cool of me
even as a shadow, even as a dream
The tomb preserved everything perfectly.
Her image was preserved for all eternity in the stained glass. It felt almost larger than life, with her regnal portrait transferred to the stained glass. Her brown tresses framed her face sharply, and her cold eyes carried grace and class in a way that even her best speeches never truly brought on. The immaculate image she sought to cultivate every time that he saw her get ready for in the Senate was perfect. An icon for the ages.
She stares at him in final judgment; the tone, the serenity, it all carried him back to another woman, with green locks and pale skin, who stood for light and paid the price for her folly. In another life, when his deepest nightmares merely encroached on his reality rather than merge with it, he imagined himself in black with pale skin, holding the weapon shakily as everything bled and suffered to its death. He’d sit the ashes he’d made, hovering over a body, weapon impaling as his bloody hands wrapped around the handle as the Force screamed what did you do.
My nightmares were always my reality, only I was too weak to see it. I could only hide, and when running was impossible, I crumbled and burned everything else for a chance to escape only to fall into the fire I set ablaze.
Vader stalks through the mausoleum, footsteps dull and angry despite the hesitance in their master. The doors whistled quietly as they shut, the small thud echoing through the chamber until it became a deafening roar. His cape swished ominously, frighteningly cheery and disturbing large swaths of air. Everything about his presence in the tomb was foul, unnatural and inhumane, yet he felt drawn to it.
When he finally gained the arrogance to reenter Naboo and attend her mausoleum, he stopped in front of the carved doors for two minutes. His background swirled in that Force-damned red tinge, his limbs weighed him until it felt like agony to simply remain upright, and his breathing so loud it almost managed to drown out the last words of a strangled woman.
I love you…..Anakin..
Her coffin had her image carved into it, and for a moment he reaches out, to tenderly stroke her face, and he withdraws. He is a monster, she is dead. He will forever hate himself to death, and deny himself the release of impalement, for he would never deserve it. She would remain dead, the galaxy would spin on its uncaring rotation, oblivious to the rage he wreaked upon it. He loved her, oh how he loved her, but that love could not keep her. He'd love her as misery loved him, and even misery's tight fingers felt like a loose grip as he remembered choking the life from her. He once may have proclaimed his desire to move the stars for her joy, to warp reality to her whims, to burn her enemies, smiling at their agonizing screams and to wretch the eyes from her enemies and string them like pearls, but that life was over. None of that weak man, of the lakes of Varykino, of an office corner in Coruscant, of a wine bottle on a speeder exists.
He settles for kneeling, and almost scoffs at the delusions he enjoys laboring under. For all of his denials, hatred and numb terror, he is powerless at her hands. Death, for all of its unstoppable malice and vitriol, could not crush his weakness.
The whiteness of everything, the morning star’s light filtering through the stained glass, the marble arches and walkways, her coffin, the last image of her that he would ever see, repelled him. The purity, the kindness, the goodness, it all fell into a mockery of sorts. Everything that she dedicated herself towards, he proved himself to be the antithesis of. Her Republic was overthrown, fallen with him to create his Empire. Her belief in the goodness of the Jedi? Lost to the cold sweeps of times, which would wash the Jedi’s deeds away until they were nothing more than an ancient memory.
The cold marble seemed to freeze into his joints, almost as a warning. Leave, do not return. Poison this place no longer, demon.
And when Darth Vader turned to leave, he could feel arms around him. He wasn’t sure whether they were holding him in place or dragging him out: kicking, punching, screaming leave leave before he infected her forever.
AMA about Love Gun (MacCready x fem!SS)
Hi guys, Keith here!
I’m still kind of new to the FO4 fandom and well, I wanna oficially introduce myself with this AMA about the fanfic I’m writing: Love Gun.
↓ a little bit of information if you’re interested in reading! ↓
Summary: MacCready gets hired by one, if not the most mysterious woman of the Commonwealth.
No name, no talking. MacCready didn’t even know her name or voice but there were two things he could be certain about that peculiar job: he would be handsomely paid and that his boss carried a heavy past on her shoulders and hid it away in the depths of her heart.
MacCready had a policy of not making questions, but it wouldn’t be long until he would drown in a sea of questions.
Rating: M
| AO3 link |
I’ve been wanting to interact with my readers and reciprocrate the love they have given me through comments, kudos and bookmarks (❁´◡`❁)
So now that you know a bit, you can ask me about anything! For example, you could ask about world setting or places, Bluebird, MacCready, Nick or perhaps about my writing process and things like “what inspired you to...”, know what I mean?
Thank you for your time, have a nice day!
Tagging some people I think would be interested in this post: @theartofblossoming @drimko @kee-yooo @fallout3nerd @hi-its-me-minion ; If not, I’m sorry! Tell me so it doesn’t happen again (。・∀・)ノ