[cimikat]

To all my fellow PhoenixFlare fans out there! Valentine's Day weekend is a week away, and if you are anything like me, life has been very busy with little spare time to dedicate to big fandom projects, but I still want to do SOMETHING for my favorite Dion x Joshua ship. So that is why came up with 💛 💜 🩷 PhoenixFlare Candy Hearts 🤍 🩵 🩷

Just a little mini-event to inspire folks to create one or more small fanworks. Can be sweet & fluffy, or something spicy! Make a drabble, sketch, or headcanon! Special speedrun challenge version: Within Valentine’s Day weekend, spend only 2 hours or less making something. Even made a spin wheel with Candy Heart prompts to help inspire: https://spinthewheel.app/bo7YthP2Ig

[cimikat]

The water always stays warm when bathing with the Phoenix.

Brand new, color-corrected scan! (original post here for comparison.)

Have also the uncropped version with all the fun background details.

[boltlightning]

The boy looked along the rows of the dead as if counting them. "Is it easy?" Yes, thought Mo. Yes, it's easy...if you have a second heart beating in your breast, cold and sharp-edged as the sword you carry. A certain amount of hatred and anger, a few weeks of fear and helpless rage, and you'll have a heart like that. It beats time for you when you come to kill, a wild, fast rhythm. And only later do you feel your other heart again, soft and warm. It shudders in time with the other one at the thought of what you did. It trembles and feels pain...but that's only afterward. The boy was still looking at him. "Killing is too easy," said Mo. "Dying is harder."

— inkdeath, cornelia funke

[ouch-ness]

Fanfic Bookclubs and sharing comments

I've seen a few posts about how fics are being read in private discords and the author never even knows (no comments, no kudos, nothing). 

I wanted to share about the fanfic bookclub that I'm a part of because I think it is run really well. It's super fun, and we do share with the author, and I feel like it creates a lot of positivity in the community.

What we do:

Our Discord has a Bookclub channel with a link to a Google Form document where any discord member can submit links to fics. In our case, since our server is dedicated to a specific ship, we have a rule that the fic must be about that ship, and also that the fic must be complete. 

A random number generator helps pick the next fic. A meeting’s chosen fics may include: 1) a size-able one shot, 2) multiple short fics, 3) a few chapters of a longer fic, with subsequent meetings on subsequent chapters, or 4) a few chapters of a longer fic plus a very short fic. There is a little juggling required based on fic lengths to figure out how many to fit in a week, but our thoughtful mod only bases it on fic length, not on submitter, title, author, or tags.

We read fics of all different ratings, but we understand that some members have tags/tropes they don't like. Members simply choose to attend or not attend based on the tags and based on their availability. Easy peasy.

We meet once a week.  Timezone can be a problem, and definitely it is not a time that will be accessible for everyone.  We initially tried to have two meetings to accommodate all timezones, but did not have enough attendance.  But like with all global things, we just do our best.  

The conversation focuses on the positive. Things we loved, things we thought were clever or funny or such delicious angst.  There may be general conversation about how frequently we see this headcanon in fics (and that's a fun thing), etc. There may be some questions like "I found this confusing...what did this mean?" but there is no critique.

(The conversations often include some readers pointing out themes or easter eggs or some interesting details that others may have missed…truly, it is so fun)

One person volunteers to take notes the old-fashioned-way..typing!  Not via AI or any other recording.  The notes do not show who said what, so that people can feel comfortable speaking. 

Sometimes the author joins if they are able to, which is super fun! If the author is not a member of the discord, we may invite them, especially if anyone knows them, but we don't actively reach out because we don't want the author to feel overly pressured.  But we are always extra excited to have an author join. 

Since we intend to share our discussion with the author, we keep all the notes positive and focused on the fic.  We do not put anything that came up in conversation that is not relevant (like if we talk about other fics or HCs outside the fic). 

The notes are posted into the author's comment box in ao3.

[randomguyno3462]

Always losing some sleep for bookclub because timezones are a pain, but it's so worth it! I didn't know this existed until I got bookclub comments on one of my own fics, and it meant so so much to me to see people discussing my work and sharing their thoughts and their gushing. It literally was what encouraged me to interact more with the fandom and that community is now giving me so much joy. Share the love!

[laurasimonsdaughter]

Perhaps they ought not to have eaten the dragon. There had been people objecting to it at the time. Surely such meat was poisonous. Perhaps it was even an affront, an insult to some intangible order of nature they ought to honour.

But the city was starving, the siege had gone on too long, and the king's troops were still a week's march away. The scorched earth would be fertile again in time, but right now it was barren. Right now there were mouths to feed. So they changed their crossbows for butcher knives and got to work.

None of the royal commanders asked any questions that could not be answered. After all, their aid had come shamefully late. The dragon's horned skull made a noble gift, a fitting tribute from a triumphant city to its humbled king. Who would have thought to question them?

And none of the townsfolk spoke up, when the first golden-eyed babes were born. Children who grew up barefoot and fearless, clambering over the city's patched and rebuilt roofs like they had no notion of falling, with a strange glitter to their skin when the sunlight hit it just so. No one breathed a word about dragons.

Because soon enough there were deft, young hands taking loaves straight out of the oven, heedlessly lifting iron from the forge, plunging into boiling laundry water. And some of them more wondrous still, wild, warm-skinned youths, with inexplicable knowledge and peculiar remedies.

A blessing, their families said proudly. A blessing after so much hardship. Which it was, in its way. This city would never fear dragon fire again.

[tr33-g1rl]

weird asks that say a lot

in

1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans?

2. chocolate bars or lollipops?

3. bubblegum or cotton candy?

4. how did your elementary school teachers describe you?

5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups?

6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear?

7. earbuds or headphones?

8. movies or tv shows?

9. favorite smell in the summer?

10. game you were best at in p.e.?

11. what you have for breakfast on an average day?

12. name of your favorite playlist?

13. lanyard or key ring?

14. favorite non-chocolate candy?

15. favorite book you read as a school assignment?

16. most comfortable position to sit in?

17. most frequently worn pair of shoes?

18. ideal weather?

19. sleeping position?

20. preferred place to write (i.e., in a note book, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)?

21. obsession from childhood?

22. role model?

23. strange habits?

24. favorite crystal?

25. first song you remember hearing?

26. favorite activity to do in warm weather?

27. favorite activity to do in cold weather?

28. five songs to describe you?

29. best way to bond with you?

30. places that you find sacred?

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names?

32. top five favorite vines?

33. most used phrase in your phone?

34. advertisements you have stuck in your head?

35. average time you fall asleep?

36. what is the first meme you remember ever seeing?

37. suitcase or duffel bag?

38. lemonade or tea?

39. lemon cake or lemon meringue pie?

40. weirdest thing to ever happen at your school?

41. last person you texted?

42. jacket pockets or pants pockets?

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket?

44. favorite scent for soap?

45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero?

46. most comfortable outfit to sleep in?

47. favorite type of cheese?

48. if you were a fruit, what kind would you be?

49. what saying or quote do you live by?

50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have?

51. current stresses?

52. favorite font?

53. what is the current state of your hands?

54. what did you learn from your first job?

55. favorite fairy tale?

56. favorite tradition?

57. the three biggest struggles you’ve overcome?

58. four talents you’re proud of having?

59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be?

60. if you were a character in an anime, what kind of anime would you want it to be?

61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.?

62. seven characters you relate to?

63. five songs that would play in your club?

64. favorite website from your childhood?

65. any permanent scars?

66. favorite flower(s)?

67. good luck charms?

68. worst flavor of any food or drink you’ve ever tried?

69. a fun fact that you don’t know how you learned?

70. left or right handed?

71. least favorite pattern?

72. worst subject?

73. favorite weird flavor combo?

74. at what pain level out of ten (1 through 10) do you have to be at before you take an advil or ibuprofen?

75. when did you lose your first tooth?

76. what’s your favorite potato food (i.e. tater tots, baked potatoes, fries, chips, etc.)?

77. best plant to grow on a windowsill?

78. coffee from a gas station or sushi from a grocery store?

79. which looks better, your school id photo or your driver’s license photo?

80. earth tones or jewel tones?

81. fireflies or lightning bugs?

82. pc or console?

83. writing or drawing?

84. podcasts or talk radio?

84. barbie or polly pocket?

85. fairy tales or mythology?

86. cookies or cupcakes?

87. your greatest fear?

88. your greatest wish?

89. who would you put before everyone else?

90. luckiest mistake?

91. boxes or bags?

92. lamps, overhead lights, sunlight or fairy lights?

93. nicknames?

94. favorite season?

95. favorite app on your phone?

96. desktop background?

97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized?

98. favorite historical era?

[cimikat]

Setup INPRNT shop for some of my PhoenixFlare art! Only have a few pieces in the gallery currently, but plan to add more in future.

Also there is a Free Shipping Friday sale going on right now if catch it in time.

Shop gallery quality art prints by Cimikat.

[ouch-ness]

Joshua in an AU in which it's just him and Ultima for 100s of years before the game's canon time period. Is he bored? Worried? Lonely? comm by @mr-badjokes for a collab I've been working on with @randomguyno3462. Maybe we will write it one day?

(Thanks SO much to @mr-badjokes for taking on something in a different fandom and working on it with such care and thoughtfulness! I love it so much)

[luna-azzurra]

“Why do you write so much angst?” Because happiness is temporary, but emotional devastation is forever.

[she-who-reads-fanfiction]

Hands up if you were the child that read thousands of books and as an adult you hit burn out and now only read stories about the same 2 idiots falling in love over and over as you don't have the brain power to get emotionally attached to new characters.

[aaronsmith94]

[questions-about-blorbos]

BLORBO ASKS GAME

reblog if you’d like people to send you asks about your Blorbo

who’s the Blorbo that you’ve never posted about on your blog?

who was your first ever Blorbo, who was your childhood Blorbo, and are they still your Blorbo?

was there any specific point / any specific moment that suddenly made this character your Blorbo, or did you slowly grow to love them more and more until they became a Blorbo to you?

what’s the thing you love the most about your Blorbo?

what’s the thing you dislike the most about your Blorbo?

if you could talk to your Blorbo, what would you say to them?

what’s the one thing the fandom gets wrong about your Blorbo?

is your Blorbo an introvert or extrovert?

describe your Blorbo in 3 words

if your Blorbo were real, would you trust them with your life?

have you ever written a fanfic about your Blorbo?

do you talk to your family or in-real-life friends about your Blorbo?

is there any crime, any wrongdoing your Blorbo could commit that would make you stop loving them and remove them from your hyperfixation entirely?

have you ever distanced yourself from your Blorbo / have you ever left a fandom because people in the fandom were being too toxic?

have you ever gotten involved in ship wars?

is your Blorbo canonically alive?

do you like seeing your Blorbo suffer?

do you ship your Blorbo with any character?

when it comes to Blorbos, do you have a type?

if you have more than one Blorbo, do you love them all equally?

if your Blorbo is from a live-action media, are you also a fan of the actor who plays them?

would you still love your Blorbo if they were real?

is your Blorbo a victim of badly written script / bad plot / character assassination in the hands of canon?

if you could change one canonical thing about your Blorbo, what would it be?

how did you first discover your Blorbo?

when you first discovered your Blorbo, did you realize from that moment that they would become your Blorbo?

do you gatekeep your Blorbo? / would you want more people to know about your Blorbo?

have you ever been attacked online just because you liked your Blorbo?

has a fanfic about your Blorbo ever made you cry?

do you think this character will still be your Blorbo three years from now on?

[elena-kukanova]

Eowyn & Faramir

mixed media, 53*25 cm

[firelightinferno]

What a beautiful painting of my favourite couple ❤️

[tavina-writes]

horrible news: in order for you to finish a wip, you have to work on that wip and not the 2543524 other wips you were brainrotting over instead of that one. more investigations at 7.

[lady-viccy]

Mutuals in different timezones:

Turn based friendship

[the-bar-sinister]

Not with MY sleep schedule! ;)

[pollyjean]

before you write: THINK!

is it Tender?

is it Homoerotic?

is it Implicitly homosexual?

is it Noticeably repressed?

is it Kind of gay?

[yuumei-art]

Happy Lunar New Year! 🐍🏮🎆

To celebrate the year of the snake, I wanted to combine the snake with my other favorite scaled animal, the goldfish! Growing up as little kid in China, I was always fascinated by the goldfish and koi ponds that are scattered in every park and apartment complex. I would stare at them for hours, mesmerized by their shiny scales and graceful movements. Hopefully I was able to capture that in this painting :D

[maraschinocheri]

21 January 2000 :: 20 years ago, portraits of the hobbits and other members of the Lord of the Rings cast are taken in New Zealand for two articles in Vanity Fair: a first glimpse of the hobbits, which would appear in the April 2000 issue of VF, and a slightly longer piece with full character portraits which appeared in the September issue.

[maraschinocheri]

Happy 25th anniversary to this shoot, first of many wonders this world brought and, yes, continues to bring.