Hi everyone, Aster here!!! (I'm lunarvalleysinmymind wherever I'm not archers_and_spies.) Hope everyone has been having fun prompting, I can't wait for this year's fills :D Interrupting all the fun with more fun, which is the article/love letter I wrote for this community last month—I know a lot of you have already read this but I just wanted it to be somewhere on the internet so that a) more people can read it and b) it feels more Official (TM) hehe. I love you guys <3



The Monday before Christmas 2022, a lawyer in Ottawa, Ontario receives a black mug in the mail. She is delighted: snaps a picture of it without remembering to turn off the flash, sends an enthusiastic text to the Discord server in all caps. A year and a half later, it sits proudly on her DVD and action figure collection shelf, white splotches from the dishwasher and all.

The mug’s design proclaims ARCHERS DO IT WITH A RECURVE. The server is titled be_compromised. The woman’s name is—we’ll call her Alpha. But that’s not the point.

( Click for the rest )