#the-cryptographer

[loopofrosewood]

1, 24, (and 2 if you feel like going there)

1. the character everyone gets wrong

everyone on account of my uniquely beautiful and correct mind. um joking no obviously not. uhhh ive been thinking about josie a bit recently so her. i think there's a tendency to take her pacifism at face value without acknowledging that her playing The Game is not bloodless and she did still very much join what she thought was going to be the inquisition prior to what it was. its genuinely admirable that she takes the opportunity to go to bat for the marginalized people around her when she gets the opportunity (...except in some of the war table missions)... but she's also never all that broken up about it if those causes have to be put aside for 'order', at one point outright says she thinks everybody should follow the chant of light, and will not really care about any of the 'eviler' decisions because they're not right in her face right. she's very good at ignoring what she doesn't want to see. this is like the core of her character for me the hypocrisy is really wonderful i wish it was around more often.

2. a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

oh hm this took me a minute bc i don't usually have super strong opinions on whether somebody would never do either. apart from, like, isabela who has canonical Things going on. and therefore kind of feels like a cop out. and i still don't know if i'd say never for her......... hm i think my pick for it i had to argue for it would be blackwall. blackwall has enough weird things going on around his masculinity and gender in general that i think he would get really really really weird about bottoming.

24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

most rancid is a long list because i feel like dragon age discourse can always get pretty bad even if the topic starts totally innocuous. which obviously sucks but is sometimes just very funny.

in terms of discourse i am least willing to get involved these days though i think it might have to be the aveline discourse that circles around every now and then. my opinion on her is complicated but between her role as the head of law enforcement and misogyny and canon's handling of all of that you can always find someone saying deeply strange about her in any direction. it can get very fraught and a lot of people are understandably quite touchy about a lot of surrounding her

[namonaki-arts]

Ghosts of the Past

This piece was commissioned by @the-cryptographer for @rainstormcolors ! Happy Birthday~!! ♡

[syrupwrit]

tell me about An Empty Vessel 🏺👀

Everyone is having mintheart suspicions! Ahem. Thank you both!

An Empty Vessel -- this is another BG3 oneshot, professor!Gale/DJ!Shadowheart, set after A Hungry Heart. I shan't go into too much detail, but a Camellia of the Black Lady is involved.

I should also have mentioned that both of these stories are straight up smut, kind of dark, kind of sad, set in what Ari pierogipie calls "the horny porn universe all porn takes place in." According to Ari, none of the stuff I've written has yet taken place in that universe because it is "too intellectual." You might not think so, but there are complexities associated with dating one of the world's preeminent erotica gatekeepers and critics, who is also a stand-up comedian in real life. Not a day goes by in which I fail to be "No, and"-ed. But I digress.

[papyrjam]

happy birthday to @the-cryptographer from @rainstormcolors who had this piece commissioned just for you! 🎂

[ariasune]

the-cryptographer: “psst who out of my followers likes naruto because that was baby’s...”

i had a naruto phase! and, although i read further than this, i think a lot of my interest dropped off around when shippuden started. I liked most of the canon het ships in theory, if not in practice, but the only ship I'd say I'm wholeheartedly interested in is InoSaku. Gaara and his siblings are also super cute tho~

InoSaku is an amazing ship !! o/ That’s one of my fave, the childhood faves made my heart ache before I even knew you could ship two girls (I was that young). Shippuden’s thematic shift caught me off-guard a lot...

haikyuumon: “psst who out of my followers likes naruto because that was baby’s...”

!!!!!!! So Many Ships, but honestly, my absolute Ultimate OTP from there is Madatobi and my main ships are Kakuhida and Kakaobi/Kakairu. I also like sakuoro and sasunaru a lot. I //adore// Tobirama, he’s my all-time favorite character. I love Gaara too! And obviously Naruto, because they’re such precious beans. ;u; But I really love Sakumo and Tsunade, and think of Madara, Obito and Orochimaru as complex characters, which makes me like them all the more even if they did everything wrong haha.

Oh gosh, I don’t know half those ships off-hand, I need to really catch up on some of this stuff, or I’ll never pass my Naruto Fan Credentials!

Naruto and Gaara are precious beans <3 

I really love the dynamic with the Sannin as an aside. But I feel that, all my fave characters are like, hot messes. I like Bakura, and Gaara is my first fandom crush ever so LIKE

[nolifepoints]

"Salted and Pickled" for the title meme x)

Pffff, great title, thank you. I don’t know if you remember my old rivalish post about Kaiba tracking Yuugi’s movements among his favorite burger joints to duel him but getting bamboozled into having lunch with him (frankly, I’m not sure how I remember it), but that would be a great title for that.

Since this is KJ week, though, let me take it further and involve Jounouchi (for either KJ or battle~). Yuugi makes the mistake of telling Jounouchi what’s going on, and Jounouchi’s like, “Who does this guy think he is, ruining your meal like that? I’m gonna come with you next time, and I’m gonna duel him first!” Yuugi’s like, “No, it’s okay, really, we usually wind up eating together, it’s kind of fun-” but this is even worse. Who does this guy think he is, stealing Jounouchi’s best friend? He’s the one who’s supposed to eat burgers with Yuugi. Does Kaiba even like burgers? It’s not Jounouchi’s fault his jobs have been taking up all his time lately! Etc. etc. Yuugi can’t complain. At least he gets to eat his fries before they get cold.

Over time, it becomes a habit -- the three of them meeting up, Kaiba and Jounouchi dueling while Yuugi eats and vice versa. Sometimes Yuugi and Jounouchi duel (Kaiba expresses extreme impatience with this but gets sucked into watching the duels anyway). Eventually they start planning it, cycling through every burger place in town that Yuugi deems sufficient (which is most of them). Kaiba criticizes each and every one of them but somehow always eats the food.

One day, at the very last minute, Yuugi has to cancel due to an emergency at the shop. Kaiba and Jounouchi are already at the burger joint, staring at each other awkwardly. They might as well duel, if they’re here. And then, they might as well eat.

Not sure how i would conclude this exactly, but I like the idea of it~

[thezolblade]

Tagged by @the-cryptographer  to share the first line of a WIP. I only have a few that are written in full sentences rather than notes, but I'll follow suit and share some beginning snippets with enough context to make it worthwhile.

All at Sea

Piers tossed and turned in his bunk, the restless creaking of the ship's timbers infecting his own frame with a sympathetic tension. He sat up suddenly, rough Madran cotton falling past crumpled Lemurian embroidery; an old nightgown, faded and drab, but there were times when he traced the patterns on the sleeve with his fingers, ornately intertwined serpents with pearls clasped between their jaws, and imagined the fabric still pastel blue, and could almost feel her fingers at his cheek again - too cold, always too cold, and she put it down to poor circulation, but he'd always thought that if anything in this dying isle - and his hand slipped on the desk, shaking with the nervous energy granted to the exhausted in place of missed sleep, knocking the journal to the floor.

He leaned down to pick it up, not sure whether he meant to read or write, and thumbed through the pages he'd filled in recent weeks. The words hovered just out of focus, blotchy bruises on the parchment.

This is really old, and so is the next one... My newer fics tend to stay in note form until I get a part one written and posted in quick succession.

In the Vale

Pale skin sighed beneath their feet as he staggered back, the blond's next punch passing through his chest as the clear sky caught his gaze again. Blue skies... A shard of annoyance from his opponent sharpened the air, drawing back his attention, and he looked down to see that Isaac had turned away. Twin curves of cloud spanned the skies to the north, though the point where they met in her hair wasn't visible from this side of the hills.

Uh for something more recent and less weird, maybe it’s worth sharing the opening of Fair Deal, chapter 2? It’s a separate WIP document from the first chapter, which is already posted.

"Can you manage another?" Amiti asked, his hand hovering over the platter of rice balls and dipping sauces resting on his uncle's bedside table.

"Perhaps later." Paithos offered him a weak smile, propped up by the pile of cushions at his back. "In the meantime, I am keen to hear you speak further of your new allies, if you would be so kind as to indulge my curiosity."

"Of course. But you've barely touched your food. Is there anything you would find more palatable? We could send for - "

"Much as I appreciate your concern for my lack of appetite, I must ask you to trust that the healers have no intention of allowing me to starve."

Edit: oops I forgot to tag in anyone else, not entirely sure who’s got WIPs right now, but if you feel like it, @sazandorable, @andaxay, @riestella, @lethalneuroses ?

[kaiba-fangirl]

the-cryptographer

asked

“If it's okay to send things late - arrogantshipping for 001 :)”

I just finished writing a big segment of Arrogant, so with that fresh in my mind, and to help flesh out more, here we go! I also took the liberty to really ramble here, since it’s a semi-rare ship, and it’s been the most challenging side to writing this Ettu thing. ^.~ So thanks! When I started shipping it if I did: Individually, I think I fell in love with Mai first? She was an instant fave on principles evident in her very design for a “boy’s” game show, but we did not yet know if she would be a recurring character at all. Kaiba, I initially assumed we were supposed to hate this evil and probably secretly even more evil bad guy, and support the sole “main character.” But... then we saw him hack Pegasus’ system to make the MC win? It felt like it happened slowly at the time, but the rescue-my-brother angle stole my heart, forever. Any character insinuating that his mission was anything but the most noble and wholesome thing made me overprotective. Mai was also knocked for being practical and having expensive taste, and it’s easy to see how guys would resent her after she took advantage of them thinking she was an easy target -- but I loved all that about her! Throughout Face Off (Kaiba vs Yugi/Yami atop the castle), Tea was especially pissing me off for glorifying Yugi’s equally loving mission, and blindly vilifying any reason Kaiba could possibly have. Her speech to Kaiba when it ended really did her in for me. And then I got to see Mai kick her butt - but surrender to take the high road. She wanted to give those star chips back to Yugi all along. She just couldn’t stand Tea getting all mushy and high-horsed about it all. So, nice! Also proves that throughout BOTH these duels, Tea was completely clueless as to what was going on under the surface. Naturally, I tried to figure out how to get my 2 faves together... Technically my first ship, or at least almost? My thoughts: Independent girl with expensive taste + independent boy with all money, smart enough to not underestimate her as a woman? Well, he thinks he’s better than everyone, & he’d still win against her, but it wouldn’t be a sexist thing. Just personal ego, personal skill, fate, destiny, etc. Problem is - they’re both TOO independent and TOO egotistical that it’s difficult to not have them just repel each other! Yet it’s not like how Mai turned down Jeane-Claude? He was a chauvinist, unrelenting in trying to lock her into a marriage against her will, and sexually harassing her, not to mention kidnapping. Even at Kaiba’s worst, he’s never shown me anything like that- besides the past kidnapping lol. There are qualities in Kaiba’s character she would appreciate & relationship needs he would fulfill well, and vice versa-- (what pushes me to Ettu is that it’s still hard to see how they can fulfill all of each others’ heart’s desires. Enter Joey.) Basically, it’s not about the money. But, not worrying about money takes a big load of stress off their minds & hearts. What makes me happy about them: Kaiba has no emotional connection to his money; it’s merely a tool. He needs the power to stay in control due to his own worries and mental state, but sometimes he still seems to understand what it’s like to have nothing. Money isn’t his god; it’s just how he keeps control to protect what little he does care most about: Mokuba, and his dreams to build theme parks for other little kids. To a certain extent, Yugi & Joey. And, occasionally, the world still existing and not being ruled by absolute evil.  Mai, on the other hand, seems to have been born wealthy, and is trying to get back to that level??? It’s always made me wonder what happened between her & her parents/family. I’ve never really seen it explained.  They mutually understand the appeal of solitude, but also how feeling isolated hurts. They’re both ambitious and emotionally unstable, craving to finally obtain control over their lives. Give them the Kaiba fortune, add Mai to his inner circle, and they’d be an awesome power couple! They even want to give back: Kaiba wants to help other kids who were like him, and seeing as Mai directly tries to repay those star chips, I think her come-around to “friendship” would include some further altruism. What makes me sad about them: They both struggle with the concept of weakness... Kaiba, however, still has his #2 position and Kaiba Corp’s success to back up his strong image. Mai is fresh off the heels of complete breakdown. He’d need to get over his accepting of her weaknesses before they’d ever think twice about each other. Things done in fanfic that annoys me: I’ve only managed to read 2 fics recently that truly paired them up on any level, but nothing really annoyed me. As far as other people just talking about them, they don’t seem to accept the areas where, while Mai & Kaiba may agree, they are wrong. Things I look for in a fanfic: For those 2 fics, I was just looking for something short enough to digest quickly. I guess I would have to say, realistic ways they come around to each other? Those 2 didn’t get too deep as they didn’t emotionally open up to each other, but they both felt perfectly in character and realistic.  Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: JOEY!!! duhhh. lol, well, actually, Valon turned out to be a good guy for Mai to possibly end up with. And for Kaiba, DSoD has me feeling Prideshipping. My happily ever after for them: Power couple runs Kaiba Corp! Adoption. Getting everything they’ve ever wanted: Love, acceptance, and security. And honestly, therapy. Creating together the family life they both resent being deprived of. Who is the big spoon/little spoon: Mai’s the one to seize her need for touch, so she’d big spoon him regularly. However, if she’s in turmoil, he’ll spoon & hold her til she feels safe and grounded again.   And sex-wise, this is the one pairing where I see Kaiba as that “naughty librarian” stereotype, and Mai’s already always overtly naughty. She’s more socially adept at flirting/seduction/courtship/foreplay, but behind closed doors, they both get wild.  What is they’re favorite non-sexual activity: For once, NOT dueling. Mai’s big league, but, given Fate’s narrative in this world, I’d see them both getting frustrated with it being one-sided. Instead, it’s enjoying being big corporate hot shots and working for their creative ideas to come into fruition, and general showing off.

Bonus: Arrogant-themed Playlist is the entire discography of Fireflight, and most of Skillet.