ghost-town-story

[ghost-town-story]

FebruarOC Day 3: Cob

Name: Cob

Breed: ???

Bought at a technically illegal horse auction by Anthron. No one knows any specifcs on him outside of his colour, his age(10), and that he only likes Anthron.

Fairly murderous for a horse.

[ghost-town-story]

FebruarOC Day 2: Barda

I am claiming that horses count as OCs. They are characters in themselves too and they don't let anyone forget it

Name: Barda

Breed: Alcadian War horse

Aldon's constant horse companion for most of the story. Easily his favourite of the whole herd. Barda was an effort between Aldon and his mother, Lyra, before her death. Born when Aldon was 15, he's well known for being very loyal and stubborn.

[ghost-town-story]

FebruarOC Day 1: Anthron

shhh don't think about the date. shhh

Anthron wasn't supposed to be here.

He was supposed to be further down the road, following the directions his parents had given him to the stable his family had patronized for years. Good bloodlines and very dependable companions. All of their horses had been bought there.

Except now he was here at an out of the way auction field, if it could be called that, among a small crowd as the most sorry looking nags were presented to them. Most of them old or broken down. Some of them had promise. Maybe. The men buying most of them had the look of butchers. Anthron frowned as more and more of the horses were destined to be nothing more than meat for the needy or for dogs. The younger ones with wild, rolling eyes and more than a few kicks sold to people that Anthron hoped would spend the time to calm them. Its all they needed. A good firm hand for a couple of years and they could likely be the best damn horses known towns over.

That didn't quite explain why he was here. He didn't know why he was here, exactly. A feeling when he saw the rough painted sign. Which was a really silly reason if he thought about it too long. And to avoid thinking about it too long, he focused on the horses in front of him.

Leaning on the rough fence, Anthron watched the men to the right where the last of the horses to be shown were. There'd been a commotion during the last couple of horses now. A lot of swearing, muffled shouting, and good bit of movement. Nothing too clear came this way, outside of the swearing. And by now, the crowd had thinned out with muttering that the options available were poor prospects and that better could be found elsewhere. Only a few determined people remained and were also becoming spectators to the commotion as more and more time elapsed between the last horse and the current time.

Finally figures appeared to be coming towards them. It appeared to be multiple men around a horse. And as they got closer, it became very apparent that they were scared of the horse. Long ropes kept the men from kicking distance, with one to lead the horse, and two to haul back should it charge. Which it did often.

The crowd around Anthron pulled away from the fence, fearful of the large animal as it charged into place, churning the dirt with his hooves. Anthron was the only one to stay put and he was enthralled by what was before him. It was hard to tell what colour the stallion was, he was covered in so much dust and dirt. Drying spots spattered his face and chest with the red of freshly drawn blood, just bright enough to not disappear into the rest of the dirt.

"To be sold...as is," the auctioneer managed to get out as the stallion kicked out. "Starting price?"

"I'll take him."

The flustered man stared at Anthron. "The bidding-"

"I don't care. I'll take him. No one here is going to beat a hundred gold marks right in your hand as soon as I get over this fence."

In the absence of protests and only muttering among the small crowd behind him, Anthron hopped the fence. The stallion snorted and kicked out once again before going for another charge. The two men holding him back groaned as the heaved on the ropes looped around the stallion thick neck. Quick on his feet, Anthron dodged snapping teeth and got a good hold on the rough halter on the stallions head. He looked at the closest of the men. "Let go of the ropes."

"Are you crazy?!"

"Maybe," he replied, shrugging slightly and holding tight as his horse threw his great ugly head up. "Just let go of the ropes. It's not good for his breathing."

"His breathing? This beast has injured three men and stomped a mutt into the ground. We aren't worried about his breathing!"

"I am. Let go or I'll have you arrested for injuring my horse!"

The tension in the ropes lessened immediately and his stallion stomped in place, but Anthron swore he saw some of the tension in his face and neck disappear as well. Petting the great head, he crooned a little under his breath to inform the stallion that he was, in fact, the ugliest horse he'd ever seen while he used one of the ropes to fashion a proper lead.

His parents would be pissed about this. But in this moment, he didn't care. He had his horse.

[ghost-town-story]

FebruarOC Day 3: Claude

(Claude's "hero" name is Luciole, and René is another person who plays Revenant (and you'll find out their civilian name later ehehe). Warnings for violence, panic attacks, implied past abuse, and guns)

“How are things going on your end?” Luciole asked over coms.

René let out a long sigh, leaning against a ledge so they could peer off the rooftop and at their surroundings. “All quiet here for the most part,” they responded. “Boring, but that’s a good thing I suppose.” Except for the fact that the quietness meant that Despereaux was likely in a different section of the city tonight if he was out at all, and René missed their little mouse.

“Good,” Luciole said. “Don’t jinx yourself.”

As if on cue, René heard the sound of shattering glass from somewhere nearby, immediately followed by the high wail of an alarm.

“Speak of the devil,” they sighed, pushing themself upright. “Sounds like somebody decided it’s time for some breaking and entering.”

Luciole huffed. “Jinx,” he muttered. “Let me know if you need anything.”

“Always the plan,” René said sweetly as they headed in the direction of the alarm.

It didn’t take long for them to find the location, a jewelry store with the windows smashed in and a lone figure standing out front, presumably keeping watch. She was wearing a dark suit with neon patches over the elbows which René didn’t recognize, but new villains were popping out of the woodwork at every turn so really they shouldn’t be surprised by that. The rest of the street was deserted, the usual night life or night owls vanishing to avoid being caught in the crossfire if/when the “heroes” arrived.

René sighed and leapt down the fire escape of the building they were on, tucking into a roll as they hit the street to break their fall. “Hey,” they called to the villain standing guard as they approached. “Really?”

The villain startled and whirled around to face them. “Hey guys!” she called into the building behind her. “Revenant’s here!”

“Oh wonderful,” René said dryly. “You already know who I am. That makes introductions easier at least. And you are?”

Mid-stride, René’s joints locked up. They yelped and tried to catch their balance, but ended up crashing to the ground, unable to move. Fuck oh fuck please—

“’Sup.”

René didn’t recognize the voice, but they still clung to it, trying to find something to help drag themself out of the grey fog of panic that was settling over them. More villains had appeared by the first, in those same dark suits but different placement of the neon patches. The one who had spoken had his on his shoulders.

“We’re the Puppeteers.”

“Fun.” Even through their vocoder, René’s voice sounded thin and wheezy. “I was wondering who I should hire for a children’s birthday party—”

René’s arm jerked, and their words immediately froze in their throat as the panic reared its head again. Somebody spoke, but the words were lost in the fog as their body was dragged upright against their will. Through blurry vision they saw somebody approach, but they closed their eyes tight, unwilling to watch, unable to do anything but listen to the blood rushing in their ears as they waited for hands to close around their wrists or throat or waist—

A sharp crack echoed across the street, and René stumbled as the invisible hold on them was released. They blinked their eyes open, the world spinning for a few moments before they remembered how to breathe and it steadied into a starlit street and not a dark room tucked away at the top of a high-rise.

Ahead of them were the villains—Puppeteers—absolute fucking assholes, cringing away from a brand new hole in the wall above their heads. René turned around and could have cried at the sight.

Luciole stood at the other end of the street, his shotgun still raised and aimed at the villains. “That was a warning shot,” he said, his voice low, before flicking his eyes over to René. “Bien?”

René still couldn’t make their voice work, but they nodded and took a few stumbling steps towards him, grateful beyond belief that he was here.

“Dude, what the fuck?” one of the Puppeteers asked. “Aren’t those illegal?”

Luciole turned back to them with a withering look that René couldn’t help but gasp out a laugh at. “You’re joking, right?”

The Puppeteer in question wilted under his gaze, but the others were undeterred by it. Luciole stiffened in place, but to his credit he barely reacted other than his eyes widening almost imperceptibly. “Huh.”

His gaze flickered over to René again, and they almost hated the amount of understanding they saw there.

René broke the look, jerking their attention back to the stupid, petty-ass villains that had still managed to trigger a goddamn panic attack. They were whispering amongst themselves, likely trying to figure out their next steps now that Luciole was here. And, judging by the fact that René could still move freely (ignoring the adrenaline still jacking their system and making every move a little too abrupt), they could probably only hold one person at a time.

Okay. They could work with this.

René glanced at Luciole. “ETA?”

Years of working together meant Luciole could fill in the gaps René didn’t want to say out loud. “Maybe five.”

René nodded, slowly easing a knife out of their belt to avoid attracting the attention of the Puppeteers. Ideally, one throw would be enough to break all their concentration again, but if it didn’t, René still wanted Luciole to be able to run. Which meant the best targets would be the one with patches over her knees who was whispering fervently to the shoulder-patches guy, or the one with patches over their hips who kept startling at every little breeze.

René eased a few steps back, now level with Luciole. “Ready?” they breathed.

Luciole nodded.

René threw the knife.

Knee-patches screamed as the knife buried itself blade first into her side, causing Hip-patches to yelp and jump and whirl around and stumble as they lost their balance. At the same moment, René and Luciole turned and bolted down the street.

They turned the corner and René couldn’t help but grin at the familiar truck idling half a block away. They angled for the driver’s side, but Luciole checked them out of the way.

“Absolutely not.” He flicked the shotgun’s safety on, then tossed it to René. “No way in hell I’m letting you drive like this.”

René huffed but couldn’t find it in them to argue, so when they reached the truck they vaulted into the bed and turned to make sure they weren’t being followed by any dumbass Puppeteers or early “heroes”.

Thankfully, there was no pursuit as Luciole shoved the truck into gear and tore off down the street, but René still didn’t relax until they were several city blocks and multiple turns away. Only then did they sit back and let their head fall against the back window of the truck.

“Are you actually okay?” Luciole asked over the coms.

René turned their head to see him looking at them in the rearview mirror. “I don’t want to talk about it,” they muttered.

Luciole blinked slowly and turned his gaze back to the road. “Fine,” he said. “But we’re retiring for the night.”

René didn’t feel like arguing, or doing anything past curling up in bed and forgetting the entire fucking world existed. “Fine.” They slid down and let their eyes go unfocused as the city flew past them.

[ghost-town-story]

FebruarOC Day 2: Basil

(And Bay too, I guess lol)

“Stay away from my son.”

Basil blinked awake and found himself in soft darkness. Something beeped steadily nearby, overlapping the muffled conversation happening a room away.

“I’m sorry?”

Falcon. Basil’s mentor. Sniper. Taught Basil how to cheat at cards, among other things. Absolutely not invited into the apartment where Basil and his dad lived under any circumstance.

“You heard me. Stay away from Basil. He already knows how to use a gun in case of an emergency. You don’t need to be hanging around him.”

And that was Basil’s dad. Which raised the question: where the hell was he?

Basil gingerly sat up, reaching out into the darkness to try and find something familiar. His fingers ached. His right forearm stung. The beeping sped up for a few moments before settling again.

“Whatever we’re doing is really none of your business.”

Oh his dad was really not gonna like that—

“He is my son.”

Yup, there it was.

Basil poked at his arm and hissed as the pain spiked, but he could finally feel the bandages wrapped around his fingers, as well as something hard and foreign beneath the skin of his arm. He tuned out the heating argument in favor of scratching at his arm, trying to dislodge whatever the thing was because whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

Before he made really any progress, he was stopped by a hand closing over his as the light snapped on.

“Hey Eyas.” Kestrel kept hold of his hand as they sat on the edge of his bed. “How you doin?”

Basil blinked at them, then looked around the unfamiliar room, before his gaze settled on the door, past which he could still hear his dad and Falcon. “What happened?” he asked.

“You went nova,” Kestrel answered. “And when Falcon and I found you, we brought you here—hospital—to make sure you were gonna be okay, and to get your hands looked at.”

Basil looked down at his bandage-wrapped fingers.

“Alex said you’re probably okay, just gonna have some scarring and they want to keep you here for a few more hours for monitoring just to make sure,” Kestrel continued explaining. “Falcon and I decided to hang out till you woke up or your dad got here, so you wouldn’t be alone.”

“Thanks,” Basil whispered, glancing at the door again.

“Want your dad?” Kestrel asked.

Basil—didn’t know. Exhaustion dragged at him, chased in circles by the remnants of panic. Kestrel’s fingers were warm through the bandages wrapped around his hands. His dad was—his dad. Strict, but caring. Protective and proactive. Undoubtedly unhappy about Basil going nova, but it wasn’t like he had any choice.

And, from the sounds of it, about 2 steps away from starting a full out brawl with Falcon just outside.

Basil sighed, closing his eyes. “I don’t want them to fight,” he muttered.

“I can go tell him to fuck off,” Kestrel offered.

Basil couldn’t help his surprised huff of laughter. “No,” he said. “Thanks, but no. He’s just… worried about me.”

Kestrel hummed, looking like they didn’t quite believe him. “Then I go break them up, tell your dad to get his ass in here, and get Falcon the hell outta here while you two chat?” they offered instead.

“Sure.” Basil nodded, the movement a bit sharper than he would have liked.

Kestrel gave him a look, their dark Nova eyes conveying something that Falcon would likely know right away and Basil was left to guess at, but they squeezed his hand and stood from the bed. “Alright, just hold tight.”

They headed for the door and opened it. “Yo. Kid’s awake.”

A moment later, Bay pushed past them into the room, and Kestrel stepped out and let the door close behind them.

“Basil.” Bay crossed the room to stand by Basil’s bedside. “How do you feel?”

“Fine,” Basil answered, though he was unable to look his dad in the eyes as he did so. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he had done something wrong, even though he hadn’t had any choice in the matter of having Nova powers.

“Good.” Bay’s voice was as no-nonsense as it usually was. “I want to train you myself.”

“Huh?” Basil looked up at that. “Of course. Who else even would?”

Bay gave him an unimpressed look. “Kestrel.”

“Oh. Right.” Basil felt his cheeks heating with embarrassment. “They didn’t even ask.”

“And if they did?”

Basil didn’t know what his answer would have been truthfully, but he knew what answer his dad was looking for.

“No.” He shook his head. “I wouldn’t.”

“Good.” Bay nodded sharply. “Alex said they want to monitor you for a few more hours. I’ll be back when they release you.”

Basil didn’t want to be alone in this too cold, too unfamiliar room, alone with the uncomfortable needle in his arm and the ache that had settled into something more like a burn in his fingers, but all the words he wanted to say stuck in his throat, unwilling to escape and face the inevitable judgement they’d receive.

“Okay.”

Bay patted Basil once on the head, then turned on his heel and left the room, leaving Basil alone with the beeping of the machines and his own thoughts.

~

“Stay away from my son.”

Falcon raised an eyebrow. Bay had been in his line of sight for all of two seconds before he started being snappy. “I’m sorry?”

“You heard me,” Bay snapped. “Stay away from Basil. He already knows how to use a gun in case of an emergency. You don’t need to be hanging around him.”

Falcon’s eyebrow raised even higher. There were many ways he could respond to that, but what slipped out of his mouth was, “Whatever we’re doing is really none of your business.”

That made Bay puff up like an owl. “He is my son.”

“I hadn’t noticed, considering how you treat him,” Falcon shot back before he could stop and think it over.

Bay’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Falcon sighed and barely refrained from rolling his eyes. “I know enough.” He jerked his head at the door behind him. “You gonna go visit him, or are you gonna keep chewing me out for bullshit?”

Bay stepped closer to Falcon, his voice lowering. “You stay the hell away from Basil,” he hissed. “He is my son, and I will decide what’s best for him.”

Falcon scoffed. “Either treat him like a kid, in which case no way in hell he should be fighting, or treat him like a fucking adult and let him fight and make his own damn decisions.”

Bay bared his teeth, but before he could respond, the door opened.

Kestrel leaned against the doorframe. “Yo,” they said. “Kid’s awake.” And heard just about every word of their conversation, if the disdain dripping from Kestrel’s expression was anything to go by as they looked at Bay.

Bay straightened up and pushed past Kestrel without another word. They stepped out of the room and let the door close behind them.

“How is he?” Falcon asked, lowering his voice now that he knew how thin the walls could be.

“Oh you know, scared, freaking out, everything a new Nova usually is,” Kestrel said, their voice deceptively light. “Especially with that as their father.”

Falcon sighed heavily but couldn’t argue.

“But,” they added, stepping close and softening their voice, “he was glad to know you’re on his side.”

“Good,” Falcon muttered. “Kid needs somebody if his dad’s gonna be shit about it.”

Kestrel grinned. “Gotta protect your little eyas,” they teased.

“Kess, no,” Falcon sighed, but Kestrel’s grin only widened.

[ghost-town-story]

FebruarOC Day 1: Aiden

James woke to the sound of somebody knocking at his door. For a moment, he debated ignoring it or making it Will’s problem, but the decision was made for him by Will throwing a pillow at his head.

James grumbled but acquiesced to the silent demand and got up. He fumbled his way to the door in the dark and opened it just enough to see out without letting too much light into the room.

On the other side of the door stood Aiden, feathers rustling as he wrung his hands.

James took one look at him, then slipped out of the room and closed the door behind him. “C’mon,” he said, wrapping an arm around the younger boy’s shoulders. “Let’s go somewhere quiet.”

“Okay.” Aiden nestled into James’s side and let James lead the way.

~

“So,” James said, settling down on the parapet. “What’s up? Or do you want me to guess?”

Aiden let out a huff of laughter, but his brief amusement vanished as quickly as it had arrived. In its wake, he took a breath and straightened up, the same way James always saw him doing whenever one of his parents came into view. Out of habit, James glanced around to make sure neither had suddenly noticed and decided to investigate Aiden’s absence before returning his attention to the prince.

“So, I’ve been thinking about some things,” Aiden started, his voice stilted and two wingbeats away from cracking and far too formal for James’s liking considering the circumstances, “and I—”

His voice broke, and Aiden’s feathers ruffled with poorly concealed agitation as he whirled away from James. “I—”

Another crack.

“Aid.” James reached out and brushed his fingers against flame-colored feathers.

The persona of the dutiful prince crumbled in an instant.

“I can’t.” The words left Aiden’s chest on a wheeze, his shoulders and wings rising to cover his face as he curled in on himself.

“Hey.” James moved in an instant, darting between white and orange feathers to catch Aiden as his legs gave out, making sure they both ended up on the ground with nothing worse than a mild bruise and ruffled feathers. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

Aiden’s entire body shuddered with each gasping breath he took, his hands finding James’s shirt to clutch at him with a white-knuckled grip. “I don’t think I can do this,” he rasped.

“Do what?” James asked.

“I—It’s—” Aiden stumbled over his words for a few moments. “Ugh!” His head thudded against James’s shoulder, his feathers shaking with his agitation. James said nothing and just held him close, allowing him whatever time he needed to find the words that sometimes seemed to escape him.

After a few long minutes, Aiden finally managed to relax his death grip on James enough to sit back slightly, his feathers going mostly still. “That,” he said, his voice still thick.

James tilted his head. “What about it?”

Aiden huffed, refusing to meet James’s eye. “I can barely even talk to you about stuff and…” He paused, his breath hitching again.

James reached out to take his hand, rubbing his thumb over Aiden’s knuckles.

Aiden took a shuddery breath, then continued. “I can’t… talk to people.” His fingers wrapped around James’s, squeezing slightly. “And I know Mother—neither of them… like it. And I’ve been trying to do everything right but I can’t and now the meeting is tomorrow and I’m supposed to be formally introduced and I don’t think I can do it and—”

Aiden stopped abruptly, panting in the wake of his words.

“Aid.” James squeezed his hand back. “You do remember you don’t have to do anything for the introduction except sit there and look pretty, yeah?”

Aiden gave James his best unimpressed look, which wasn’t very compelling considering he was still trembling and sniffling. “I have to make a good impression,” he said, his voice not quite whining but close.

James scoffed. “Again, sit there and look pretty, and you’ll be fine. Can’t do worse than the Second Princess of Water.”

“Doubt it,” Aiden muttered.

“She nearly doused one of the People of Flame, almost started a fight between Earth and Flame, and stole at least 20 different feathers from the Sky,” James recounted. “And still the general consensus is that she’s just a little too free spirited and not necessarily a bad person or princess or whatever.”

Aiden remained silent, almost a little sulky as his cheeks flushed with color.

“Or you could always go the route of the Heir of Earth,” James continued. “She never left her father’s side last year.”

Aiden huffed, refusing to meet James’s eye. “But what if that’s not good enough?”

“Good enough for your father, or your mother?” James retorted.

Aiden didn’t vocally respond, but the way he curled in on himself, his free hand twisting in the hem of James’s shirt again, was answer enough for James.

“It’ll be good enough for your father,” James said softly, brushing Aiden’s hair out of his eyes. “And we both know nothing but Flame is good enough for your mother.”

“I am Flame,” Aiden bit out, but his voice shook too much to get much venom behind the words.

“And Sky.” James brushed a few errant feathers back into place. Aiden twitched his wings out of reach, and James didn’t chase them down. “So, sit there and look pretty should win over just about everybody of importance,” he said. “Seems like a win for me.”

But even as he said it, James knew Aiden would disagree. He had watched the Flame Princess (never the Queen of the Sky) spark and snap and scorch Aiden for daring to be too much Sky in her presence, and he had watched Aiden continue to chase after her attention and an affection that seemed to have died the day he gained his wings.

To James’s surprise though, Aiden didn’t vocally protest. His feathers rustled and he refused to meet James’s eye, but at the same time something like resignation flitted across his face.

“Plus,” James said, determined to lighten the mood at least somewhat, “if things somehow go terribly wrong, we can always run away and live the rest of our lives traveling the world.”

Aiden made a surprised little noise. “You cannot be serious,” he muttered.

“I absolutely am,” James said, giving Aiden his best innocent smile. “No matter what happens, I’ll be here for you. I promise.”

Aiden hiccupped and threw his arms around James, burying his face in James’s shoulder.

James hummed and pressed a kiss to his temple. “Come on,” he said softly. “It’s a big day tomorrow, and you need some sleep if you’re gonna do your best sitting pretty.”

Aiden let out a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a sob, but he untangled himself from James to let him stand.

As James helped him to his feet, he whispered, “James, I—can—I don’t—”

When his words stumbled to a stop, James filled in the gaps. “Your room or mine?”

Aiden’s relief was palpable. “Yours, please.”

“Alright.” James wrapped an arm around his shoulders again, letting Aiden nestle into his side as they headed back to James’s room.

[ghost-town-story]

Okay less than 24 hours but the sentiment still stands XD See y'all tomorrow!!!

It is once again time to start prepping for my favorite time of the year :D

FebruarOC!

What is it? FebruarOC is a character challenge taking place in February, where each day corresponds to a letter A-Z. The goal is to pick a character whose name starts with that day's letter and do something for them, like snippets, character intros, moodboards, art, whatever your heart desires lol. If you don't have a character for a specific day, make one up! Or take this as an opportunity to finally name that poor nameless character sitting in your pocket lol.

FebruarOC was originally started by notllorstel for artists on Tumblr (original post can be found here), with a sidenote for writers that I jumped on. I'd love to see more people getting involved, especially since it has kinda died off in artblr, since this is really one of my favorite events :D

So, hopefully I'll see some of y'all come February! Have fun!

[ghost-town-story]

It is once again time to start prepping for my favorite time of the year :D

FebruarOC!

What is it? FebruarOC is a character challenge taking place in February, where each day corresponds to a letter A-Z. The goal is to pick a character whose name starts with that day's letter and do something for them, like snippets, character intros, moodboards, art, whatever your heart desires lol. If you don't have a character for a specific day, make one up! Or take this as an opportunity to finally name that poor nameless character sitting in your pocket lol.

FebruarOC was originally started by notllorstel for artists on Tumblr (original post can be found here), with a sidenote for writers that I jumped on. I'd love to see more people getting involved, especially since it has kinda died off in artblr, since this is really one of my favorite events :D

So, hopefully I'll see some of y'all come February! Have fun!

[ghost-town-story]

This links to a wheel with nearly a hundred fic tropes for plots, settings, and more. Spin it twice.

This could also work with art inspiration, but the buttons only allow for so many characters on them. And please do ramble in the tags! I'm going to have no idea what most of you are talking about, and it's going to be great.

[ghost-town-story]

Hi I'm back in the fuckin pits of CoFaS and don't get me wrong I love this story but I never fuckin remember which of Aiden's wings is which fuckin color

Thank god I apparently had this same crisis last year but actually noted it down XD

[ghost-town-story]

It is once again time to start prepping for my favorite time of the year :D

FebruarOC!

What is it? FebruarOC is a character challenge taking place in February, where each day corresponds to a letter A-Z. The goal is to pick a character whose name starts with that day's letter and do something for them, like snippets, character intros, moodboards, art, whatever your heart desires lol. If you don't have a character for a specific day, make one up! Or take this as an opportunity to finally name that poor nameless character sitting in your pocket lol.

FebruarOC was originally started by notllorstel for artists on Tumblr (original post can be found here), with a sidenote for writers that I jumped on. I'd love to see more people getting involved, especially since it has kinda died off in artblr, since this is really one of my favorite events :D

So, hopefully I'll see some of y'all come February! Have fun!

[ghost-town-story]

♥ Welcome to #ockiss25 ♥

Get ready to get those OCs smooching!

♥ #ockiss25 CALENDAR ♥

from FEBRUARY 10th, 2025 to FEBRUARY 16th, 2025

♥ #ockiss25 MINI FAQ ♥

What is OCkiss? It’s a week long event in which artists, writers and other creators produce content about OCs kissing.

Who can participate in OCkiss? Do you have an OC? Do you want to participate in OCkiss? Congrats, you’re in! Create something and upload it during the event with the tag #ockiss25

My OC doesn’t have a significant other, can I still participate? Of course! OCkiss is not restricted to romantic kisses - they can be friendly, they can be familiar, they can just be kissing their pet!

Can I use other people’s OCs? If they have stated that their OCs are up for grabs for this event, of course! If you’re not sure, please, please always ask the OC’s owner first.

I’m a bit lost and don’t know what to create! You can ask other people for prompts, make your own, or follow the official #ockiss25 prompt list down below!

Can I participate with OCxCanon!character content? No.

If you have more questions, please refer to the main FAQ!

—

Remember to tag your OCkiss creations with the #ockiss25 tag! I aim to reblog everybody who participates and I will set up a queue to that effect. Reblog culture has gone down on Tumblr, and I want to change that and promote creators to the best of my ability - it would be awesome if you joined me on this! If you don’t want your work to be reblogged here, please say so in the tags!

[ghost-town-story]

It is once again time to start prepping for my favorite time of the year :D

FebruarOC!

What is it? FebruarOC is a character challenge taking place in February, where each day corresponds to a letter A-Z. The goal is to pick a character whose name starts with that day's letter and do something for them, like snippets, character intros, moodboards, art, whatever your heart desires lol. If you don't have a character for a specific day, make one up! Or take this as an opportunity to finally name that poor nameless character sitting in your pocket lol.

FebruarOC was originally started by notllorstel for artists on Tumblr (original post can be found here), with a sidenote for writers that I jumped on. I'd love to see more people getting involved, especially since it has kinda died off in artblr, since this is really one of my favorite events :D

So, hopefully I'll see some of y'all come February! Have fun!

[ghost-town-story]

we all know and love dog coded characters but what about their cousin, falcon coded characters. characters whose loyalty is fierce, but more distant, less physically affectionate, an unspoken but mutually understood bond. whose devotion to you is a language that only the two of you understand. whose fearsome appearance never lets you forget the privilege you hold in having earned that devotion. who require careful handling and patience to bond with, so you don't slip and cut yourself on their sharp edges. whose trust is given after you place yours in them, not before. whose dependence on you is less apparent but no less real. whose power is only equal to their fragility. who can easily leave your side, but will always return when you hold out your hand and call them home.

[ghost-town-story]

This post is so funny like comment subscribe if you picture your favs bloodied and coughing on the floor and flinching

[ghost-town-story]

Andi also requested 8, which is Caught It by VOILA ft. Chrissy Costanza, and this is so gotdamn Kestrel and Falcon coded lol. Enjoy the fluff and heartbreak <3

Spotify Wrapped Prompts! Send me a number and I’ll write a snippet based on the corresponding song!

You wake first, for once. Normally their side of your bed is long cold, or you catch just a flash of their hair as they slip out of your room. But for once you wake to their hair in your face and their chest rising and falling against yours.

It’s still early. The sky outside has barely shifted lighter, a mere hint of a suggestion that dawn is coming. When it comes, they’ll be gone, and you’ll both act like this moment never existed. But for now…

You untangle yourself just enough to press your lips to their jaw. They shift and whine softly. You move down to their neck.

That gets them to open their eyes, half silver and sleepy as hell. They glance at the window, then back at you. “Early.”

You hum your agreement as you lean in to kiss them. “Not morning yet,” you mumble.

“True.” They twirl your hair around their finger and hook a leg over yours, pulling you back in. As long as the morning light doesn’t creep in you can keep pretending, and you selfishly hope you’ll never see it again.

~

You catch his eye from across the room, and the familiarity is so strong it feels like an electric shock in your chest.

The night is winding down and people are leaving when you get the chance to join him in his corner. He raises an eyebrow at your approach, but doesn’t immediately rebuff you the way you’ve seen him do to others.

He does say, “I have a flight in the morning.”

You step close, reach up, and twirl a lock of his hair around your finger. “It’s not morning yet.”

He grins, sharp and feral, and takes you by the hand.

You should talk about this, this unfamiliar familiarity, but he steals your breath all too quick, and you decide that conversation can wait for another night. For now, until the morning, you are content with your name on his lips and the taste of whiskey on his tongue.

You hear his name on the news, a while later, and the grief rips through your chest anew, tasting like cyanide and silver flame.  

~

At least you’ve found them, every time.

Passed them by in the night.

~

At least you’ve found him, every time.

Clung to him till the morning’s light.

~

And maybe one of these times you’ll get it right.

[ghost-town-story]

Hi I'm a few days late (by my own standards) with this but in my defense every single day of December so far I've either been working or in school so I feel I'm justified lol

Anyways to explain what's going on here, another November has passed, and with it another of my NaNo stories turns heckin 10 years old. Who the fuck gave it the right, huh? So, in the spirit of nostalgia and cringe I'mma reread it, and since I'm now an adult with adult money who can buy herself some gotdamned alcohol, I'm also making drinking rules to deal with the inevitable cringe lmao

(Obligatory disclaimer that NaNo the org is fuckin trash and I do not endorse them, but NaNo as an event will always have a special place in my heart and I'm basically kidnapping it from the org now)

The rules are simple: 1. Drink whenever I cringe 2. Drink whenever there's a blatant case of me padding the fuckin word count (in this case, dream sequences lol)

And with that, I once again have my kitty, I have my snaccs, I unfortunately do not have my emotional support wine but I do have peach wine which'll have to do, so let's go

Time to reread Nova draft 1 for the first time since........ whenever I reread it last and sparked the eternal rewrite hell I'm in now lmao

Okay so this intro is like....... not great but also hella?? Like the whole "showing Will missing James" is *chef's kiss* but the execution is..... needs work lmao

Ah yes, the days when Aydan was hella fuckin traumatized before the events of Nova ever happened lol

Liam's gf is named after my tenor buddy from high school aaaaaah <3

LMAOOOOOO fuckin perspective change mid paragraph hell yeah *cries* we're doing so great y'all

............................. well I'm gonna take a huge ass drink bc oh lord, things that shoulda tipped me off that my brain is some form of neurospicy a long ass time ago

But also hell yeah, cute Summer Aydan moment. for fuckin once they are so mildly catty to each other now lol (Summer is overprotective and smothering and Aydan gets sassy in response and Summer gets catty back lol)

I thought he wore colored contacts in this draft. I THOUGHT HE WORE COLORED CONTACTS IN THIS DRAFT. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK

Yeah amnesiac Jay was the best fucking decision I ever made for this story bc oh lord Jay's motivations for why Will can't know his identity are tissue paper fuckin thin anyways if you need me I'll be singing Frozen bc that's the association my brain is making rn lol

CONCEAL DON'T FEEL DON'T LET THEM KNOOOOOOOOW

*ahem* anyhoot

I......... I'm fairly certain that's not vertigo, that's just shitty fuckin depth perception from having shit vision in one eye my dude

Ah yes, when Lai was an important character cause he was one of the only ones XD

Oh yeah and nobody tells Jay shit lmaoooo "oh btw she's Summer's cousin" "SERIOUSLY????" (this also happens later. something about their uncles dating. i think i've posted it before lol. we'll get there soon enough) lmaooooo and Lai calls Jay out for his lack of knowledge anyways cause he's supposed to know this shit XD

Lai isn't being an absolute gotdamned asshole and somehow this is worse

(also one of my classmates texted me for unrelated reasons anybody wanna take bets on how long before that conversation devolves because i'm already half a glass of wine in XD)

Jay being stalkery! Wahoo!!

oh antisocial bb Aydan <333 who's also a smartass <33333 and a bb <3333333

And meanwhile Jay is continuing to be creeper stalkery :P

oh bb yeah. yeah. I used to be snappy about my height lol. sorry bb that's where you're getting your snappiness from XD

fuckin Will lmao

And now is when the tissue paper motivations piss me off even more!!!!

"They never found his body" correction! y'all's mom never found his body. Baz did ;)

JAY. JAY NO. READ THE FUCKING ROOM MY BOY. ABSOFUCKINLUTELY NOT LMAO

"oh jeez i didn't mean to cause problems" says the boy who is knowingly causing problems by keeping his identity a secret

"I'm not going to make it personal" says the boy who complicates everything by making it personal i think we need to add a tally/drinking rule for every time Jay says a blatant lie XD

Oh god once again I have been smacked with the knowledge that originally Heron, Gray, and Owl were supposed to be teenagers, like barely older than Jay

And I have also been smacked with the knowledge that Seanna, Starlight-now-Sora, and Cal were always a part of the group in this version! forgot the fuck about that!

Wait. wait wait wait wait wait. Is Basil older than Heron Gray and Owl????????

WHY ARE THESE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE JAY????? WHY ARE YOUR DAMN MOTIVATIONS LIKE GOTDAMN NEWSPAPER IN THE RAIN

bb aydan <3333333

Jay now is not the time to be flirting ffs

lmaoooooo this was based off my fucking high school geometry class. fuck that weird ass project.

Aydan my darling with an Ed Elric-sized temper <333333333

"If you're going to be taking junior classes [as a freshman] try not to act your age so much" damn Summer what the fuck "Geometry isn't even a junior class it's a sophomore one" yeah mood lmao

Jay "sit here and look pretty" Miles you have not changed in that regard <3

Imma be honest, this scene is very what the fuck. Like, even understanding the subtext that I was trying to bury, I Do Not Get this scene. It's so fuckin disjointed and just. Will's parents have nothing to do with the unnamed past trauma. Why are they basically being equated here???? I don't fucking know!!!!! this, my friends, is why I drink when rereading ~decade old writing now XD

"I'm not stupid," says the boy who, historically, has made a lot of stupid decisions XD

LMAO "philosophy's a bitch" FUCKIN PREACH WILL I HATED THAT CLASS SO MUCH AND I ONLY TOOK IT CUZ OF A BITCH I CUT CONTACT WITH ALMOST IMMEDIATELY AFTER HIGH SCHOOL (she has a name in my storytime series. I do Not Remember it rn. nor do I care. She was a gotdamned bitch lol)

"Fuck philosphy" again gotdamn PREACH Will

HI WILLOW WHO IS FRESHLY STOLEN FROM COFAS AT THIS POINT :DDDD

Ah yes "I didn't know Summer and Aydan were related until River told me they were his nieces." "Is everybody related and I just don't know about it?" "BTW River is your uncle's ex-boyfriend" XDDDDD (ex only bc said uncle (Hayden) fuckin DIED rip in pieces Hayden you're officially ded for realsies in Nova canon nowadays)

Ah back in the ol' days when cellphones weren't ubiquitous and forgetting yours wouldn't be a gotdamn death sentence lol

THE FUCK PHILOSOPHY AGENDA CONTINUES

Jay. My dude. My buddy. Considering you know (i think) about the Past Traumas. you really shoulda maybe TOLD HER THE FUCKING TRUTH EARLIER. like i know this is rushed bc of outside circumstances (probs i was tired of writing high school shenanigans) but ma dude. pls.

Jay out here writing the "how to make your gf's cousin hate you forever" manual lol

Oh Lai now is NOT the time lmao Hell yeah Willow bitchin out Lai for being a bitch lol

oh good fucking lord i did not have the antagonists planned out well in this AT ALL

KAI!! I thought that was Baz at first and I was gonna cry bc I was confused at how old Baz is in this draft lol

Oh lord the exposition I was so terrible at it lol

"What do you want? A dramatic reunion scene where we admit our feelings to each other and shit?" lmaoooooo jokes on you Jay y'all are hella gay for each other now XDDDD (he's talking to Baz here)

Baz is 19. Jay is 17. So are Heron Gray and Owl meant to be 18 or are they even younger than Jay????? That's..... noooooo

"I left Aydan with River." "Oh yeah, they are related" "Goddammit why does everybody know this but me"

Lol this dynamic has flipflopped. Baz is now the one who freaks out when things don't go the way he plans and Jay's the one like "Babe. pls. not your fault. pls chill."

god they're so gay but like i don't even think they're exes here! it's just a bunch of homorerotic subtext that I never do shit with!!!!

OH MY GOD. HE IS WEARING COLORED CONTACTS. BUT JUST TO HIDE THE NOVA RINGS. WHAT THE FUUUUUCK DUDE SO MUCH EFFORT WOULDA BEEN AVOIDED IF YOU JUST WORE BROWN CONTACTS NOT YOUR HETEROCHROMATIC ASS

Ah yes the inability to sleep on his own. He still kinda has that trait. But more in the crossover from hell bc he's spent ages sleeping next to Baz and/or Aydan

And we come upon our first dream-sequence-added-for-word-padding folks! 15/83 pages in!!

*ahem* I accidentally fell asleep XD Day 2 shenanigans commence here

I still have no idea how old Heron Gray and Owl are supposed to be here smh

*hissssss* this is not my Basil *throws tomatoes*

But also Catnip <333333

The bones are there. The bones are so there. If they weren't I wouldn't've resurrected this from the dead and into eternal WIP hell. but gotdamn is this so painfully disjointed and cliche and aaaaaaaah

Wait does this make me a WIP necromancer? lmao ............................. GODDAMMIT I DON'T NEED ANOTHER WIP IDEA AAAAAAAAH

*ahem* anyhoot

Jay ya dramatic mothafluffa lol

Also Jay you are no doctor and those symptoms are vague enough that it might not mean shit about her nova (it does, but I'm still gonna rag on him bc it's so nonspecific lol)

Anyways bb snuggle times!!! :D

Aydan: is very blatantly told not to bring anything with her, and very clearly does not bring anything with her Also Aydan: has a book she brought with her in this scene. bc why not

Oh I thought we never went into the backstory trauma explicitly! Guess I fuckin forgot!!!! Never mind it's like bare ass bones detail lmao

God I can't believe I posted this on Figment Once again, rip Figment and also it's probably for the best since I'm a gotdamn digital packrat

Ah yes, hello Molly. I only semi-recently-ish added you back into Nova Also lmao Jay you are being so gotdamn unsubtle right now :P

Okay this is more like the Basil I know and love :D Sassing Jay and kicking his ass when he's sick <3

Awwww gay bbs <3

JAAAAAAAAY <33333333333333 I know I've been sassing this version of him hard but THAT'S MY BB RIGHT THERE

lol oh Basil jealousy never looks good on you XD (It's not even jealousy it's just. sir you've been introduced to her. Jay's probably waxing poetic in his free time. you should know her gotdamn name)

lmao still so true Jay really doesn't like making people worry about him

DREAM SEQUENCE TWO BAYBE actually this one might not've been to pad the word count, I think it was a strategically placed flashback due to Jay being sick as fuck right now

Yup, strategically placed (aka the following chapter actually acknowledges the gotdamn dream sequence)

Damn, low blow there Jay lmao

heh. heheheh. there's absolutely nothing you can imply about me from this scene. absolutely nothing regarding my love of sick-fics lmao

BASIL KICKING DOWN THE DOOR WITH THE FLIRTING LMAOOO but also yeah baz stop acting like Jay sheesh this is too damn weird lol

lolllllll Heron and Owl being gayyyyyyyyy

also lmao @ me writing fucking fight scenes :P

Basil you absolute shithead lmao

Damn Will being gotdamn sassy as shit

Ah yes, the part of Will's characterization that I eventually cut bc I was not.......... it's a sensitive topic and I did not handle it the way that i shoulda. So ultimately it got cut and it may have been slightly before this but this was def in the transition stage of me going "actually, I think I should not give Will this characterization in part bc i've been fucking it up bad" but he still had some parts of it Had to get mildly called out by somebody in a writing workshop to really start having that realization, but eh, you live n you learn and you do better the next time you create a character like that, because 15-ish-year-olds are notoriously stupid even if they think they're doing good research

Anyways moving on from that tangent

Time to silently scream about Jay's tissue paper thin motivations again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol i'm not sure if this was to pad the word count or not, but we're having a Heron-Gray-Owl intermission now!

Was Gray a Nova at this point? Or did I add that later? I def didn't have the specialties at this point so her clockwork shenanigans are just calling back to the book series I stole her from, but is she a Nova?????

LMAO Heron's upset about a book character dying whatta fuckin MOOD

lmao I'm laughing so hard that my cat just looked over at me and meowed so indignantly. sorry bb I must die over the fact I gave Heron my high-school overdramaticness about character deaths

dawwwww and now a Sora-Seanna-Cal intermission ft the best momma Cassandra!

Lol Summer you are waaaaaaaaay too late for the protective older sister/cousin talk you're trying to do here

Damn Summer really just always goes for the throat when arguing with Aydan gotdamn

lmao "I'm almost sixteen!" bb you're still just a bb <3

Will: *walks in, sees argument, immediately tries to nope outta this shit*

But hey, now we get snuggle time!!

Yeah I don't know why Jay was supposed to be a secret Nova. It's something that held on from the 0.5 draft, but even that I'm like....... why???? 0.5 draft was a fucking wild ass ride that is basically only 5 scenes long on paper and mostly lives on in my fuckin brain lol

Lmao snuggle time getting interrupted by Aydan somehow recognizing Jay's scars despite not ever actually knowing him before his nova

Lol despite it all, and despite me describing him as 2 steps from emo several times, Will's favorite color is in fact, still dark/navy blue, not black XD This is why his mask color in the Band AU is dark blue (+grey cuz of his eyes)

TISSUE! PAPER! MOTIVATIONS! FUCK YOU!!!

"I miss my parents" lol keep thinking that kid your mom gets so much worse in the rewrite <3

Okay back to the snuggles lol

And another dream sequence, this one definitely just for padding out that word count!!

pffft the "are we dating" convo got swapped over to Baz and Jay bc with Baz Jay is so fuckin clueless but by the time he n Ay are serious he actually knows fuckin words (bc words are very important when you're trying to do poly shit lol)

(side note my entire life is covered in glitter rn cuz i'm adding edible glitter to my wine :DDDDDDD)

Okay Jay that's goin straight to 1000% right there gotdamn my dude

Again, Summer, you are way too late to this party to be playing the overprotective card

And again she's going for the gotdamn throat jesus fuck Summer have a bit of chill huh?

Why the fuck is Will on Aydan's side in this??? I don't understand......

Baz seriously stop stealing Jay's personality I don't fluffin like it (tbh I think it was just a bit of the writer's version of same-face-syndrome where I only really knew how to write one sort of character. Maybe)

Ah yes the at-the-time reasonless "I want Jay to go nova first so dramatic powers explosion" scene (current reasoning for Jay going nova first despite Baz being older/a Nova for longer is that he uses too much magic closing the time rift at Almaraz) (sometimes it takes close to a decade to fix a plot hole lmao)

oh Baz <3333

Jay going nova in a safe environment cuz he knows he doesn't have much time left? *yawn* boring Jay sacrificing himself for Baz and Aydan cuz he knows he doesn't have much time left, then using his nova to hopefully hurt his mother/the government? motha fluffin *chef's kiss* right there (Especially with the added trauma to Baz of being the one to cause Jay's nova lol)

Group hug poly shenanigans! :DDDD

Oh I coulda made that hit so much harder if I had any sorta fuckin restraint and knew about/properly appreciated the trope of "one person says ily first and the other can't say it back but feels it so much" (I may have actually first encountered that in an OTGW/GF fic.......... lmao. The Mystery Best Friends is a great series. Go read it if anything about this ramble interests you. It's on AO3. I've seen 1 ep of GF and none of OTGW and I still love it with such a gotdamn passion)

Anyhoot lmao can you tell I've had a full ass glass of wine yet? :P My blood is turning to glitter as we speak <3

Oh my god I can't believe this is the first time Bay is getting some gotdamn real ass mention. he's gonna get his asshole characterization real fuckin soon tho!!

Oh I don't even describe his nova fuckin laaaaaaaaaaaaaaame (to be fair the only one i think I describe is in the Time Travel "AU" which is....... not the canon timeline in a way of speaking lmao) (TTAU my gotdamn beloved <333333)

This detail has stayed! The fact that Jay's goggles are so gotdamned attuned to him due to the initial nova lmao

WHY IS THAT TECHNICALLY A PART OF THE PREVIOUS PARAGRAPH JESUS FUCK okay context. I write in wall of text style. Still do. It's an awful habit i should break lmao. anyhoot. So I do full on paragraph breaks for scene changes

ya know like this, and lil shift enters like this for things that are like "continuation of the previous but but also i want a paragraph break in here for reasons" And for some fuckass reason I did the lil shift enter between a paragraph focused on Baz and Aydan and Jay's goggles and Jay waking up absofluffinlutely confused by everything and not even with his goggles yet which woulda been a very good mothafluffin transition jesus fuck my wine is too full otherwise i would drain my glass for this

Dream sequence no. I've lost count! 3?? maybe 4????? I can't math even when I'm sober lmao (which is absolutely hilarious bc I'm the best at math in my class. how. how did this happen. (engineering college is the answer tbh) my math major friend is absolutely shooketh that this is happening lol)

lollllll you can tell this was written in................... after my jaw surgery. wait was it after my jaw surgery? it's real fuckin accurate to that feeling of waking up after surgery but also was it really over a decade ago? jesus fuck i'm old (and don't remember how old/what grade i was in in 2014) Anyways mothafluffin accuracy all i wanted was some fuckin water when I was waking up after surgery and all they'd give me was gotdamn ice chips which did barely nothin (that surgery is also what gave me the knowledge that fruit punch gatorade is tasty af) (and baby food is very........ overly fruity)

Also a fuckin mood about trying to wake up and being hella unable to

Oh! by that point i'd definitely gotten my wisdom teeth out! which was probably at least part of the basis for this scene if I hadn't had the jaw surgery yet

Ah yes, back in ye olde days when Jay had fucked up eyesight (which magically got fixed after his nova bc let's be real, i kept forgetting to write that and Aydan's asthma)

Hey Bay! First time seeing you, 32 pages in! And you're immediately asserting yourself as an asshole!!!!!!

Good fucking LORD I basically swapped Jay and Basil's personalities didn't I????? Well, to be fair, maybe not really. I just... hol up lemme give you the line for context cuz I'm lazy lmao

“I never would have thought you would go nova before Basil,” Bay said, entering the room properly. “He always used his power a bit frivolously, while you… You never used your powers unless you had to, did you?”

so, in current Nova canon: 1. Baz in no way uses his power frivolously, although to Bay (who is very "no powers ever") it probably is 2. Jay is worse than Baz about using his powers. He doesn't like people healing him, but he won't fuckin hesitate to use his powers and shorten his own lifespan to protect/heal/save the people he loves 3. Bay is an asshole to Jay bc he thinks he's a liability and gonna drive Basil off the deep end into life-ending shenanigans (not entirely wrong, to be fair) 4. Basil is still probably more conservative in power usage than Jay, but that's more cuz he thinks more and can figure out ways of solving situations with minimal/no power usage, as opposed to Jay who basically goes nuclear if he has no other plan/guidance lmao

anyhoot tangent done lmao

Bay is being friendly to Jay and I am so weirded out this is worse than Baz acting like Jay

Yeah it's definitely better when Baz has the whole smackdown of his dad for running away, when his dad has been pushing him to fight his whole life vs Jay who's just a "friend" of Baz in this version I do appreciate Jay giving Bay the gotdamn snark for ditching Baz lol

Oh this is some bullshit lmao

Reunion time! <3333333

God my romance writing was Not Great back then lmao I think this was also before I ever dated somebody.................. yeah checks out (I may have had Cyrus flirting at me nonstop by this point tho) No wait I definitely did cuz Seanna is named after him! oh jeez

BRB just need to stare at the wall for a few moments contemplating what choices led to me deciding that Aydan needed this traumatic backstory (I would also say what choices led to me deciding a near sex-scene was necessary at this particular time, but let's be real I was a Cassandra Clare bitch so the reason behind the near sex-scene is the least confusing part of this)

Molly and Oliver intermission!!! Oliver is forever just a lil sweetheart <3333333

"A few weeks" YOU MEAN TO TELL ME JAY SNAGGED ANOTHER NOVA, WENT NOVA, GUILT TRIPPED BAY INTO COMING BACK, AND NEARLY BONKED AYDAN ON SCREEN WITHIN THE SPAN OF A FEW GOTDAMN WEEKS??????? BITCH TRY A FEW GOTDAMN MONTHS, MAYBE OVER HALF A GOTDAMN YEAR WHAT THE GOTDAMN FUCK?????? (not even mentioning the sick-fic arc and everything else that happened between that and Jay's explodey accident/subsequent nova)

"Jay only cares about Basil and Aydan" yeah basically lmao

Oh yeah. Definitely while Will still had the characterization I did badly. Cuz he's not in this dream sequence when he should be for plot reasons I really don't feel like explaining bc we'd be here for way too fuckin long

James the chocolate fiend has stayed! I've kept that much consistent!

(also if the typos get worse from here on out i apologize but damn my fingers are not wanting to hit the right keys and at some point i'll get too lazy to keep correcting my mistakes. the lack of capitalization should be a tipoff lmao)

This is totally not the point but the story mentions that James is the oldest son which. Is true in some universes. Not in current Nova and not in Band AU, which is where the tangent is coming from, but. that fuckin line just reminded me of the HPM AU of Band AU, where Will was the third oldest, and yet he became the oldest child and it fuckin sucks. The middle child who was never meant to be the oldest, even when his oldest brother died bc he still had his slightly older triplet brother, who then also died and absofuckinlutely ruined Will bc he was never meant to be the oldest.

Half Past Midnight is an AU that makes me cry onthe regular when I think about it!

Moving on!!

Jay you're a fucking shithead lmaooo

Oh dear. I just realized we're not even halfway through yet D: (to be fair this is 53000 words. and some of them may be notes for the rewrite/an attempt at it. but still. DDDDD:)

Ah Jay, being overly concerned with Aydan's health <3 (and overly concerned with his for the circumstances *stare*)

oh bb Oliver <3333333

Lol Molly's crush on Jay is kinda still a thing at least. or at the very least her ignoring the fuck outta Oliver following her around like a smitten puppy lol

"I'll make sure he takes care of you" I'm sorry do you actually get the opportunity to talk to Baz or are you fuckin bullshittin my dear Jay????

It is honestly so fascinating to see some of the character choices that I made. Like Boss is an active participant and not just the guy moving all the chess pieces around from his office. huh

Anyways back to the fuckin Frozen internal soundtrack lol which is funny cuz this wip definitely wasn't written to the Frozen soundtrack, unlike gotdamn CoFaS (that's a lie, when I was rewriting Nova in 2019 it was partially to the Frozen 2 soundtrack, but this is 2014 goddammit, the sequel is still 5 ish years off!!!!!!)

god this fight scene is bad *cringe*

OH THIS IS WHERE HERON DIED OMG Oh that is blatantly a quote from the series I stole them from oop

yup my love for whump definitely isn't shining through here *sarcasm*

oh poor Owl DDDD:

oh everybody is having a rough ass time rn

Ah I fuckin shared this scene with the writing club me and my selo started. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

oh that's a reference to a figment exclusive story that never got published oop lmao

OH HI HAYDEN ENJOY LIVING IN THIS DRAFT :DDDDDD

god everything was so black and white when i was a kid huh

"I don't think I'm qualified to tell you" says one of the most qualified mothafluffas on the planet lol

Yeah there is absolutely no logic for me bringing Hayden and Remus back, but ya know what? Let Kai be happy in this version at least. He gets that much still

Yeah my romance still sucks at this point in the story lol

LMAO everybody is chirping Kai for making out with Hayden first thing

feckin ;) KAI JESUS FUCK

Jay: I was trying to protect your innocence (re walking in on Kay and Hayden makin out) Aydan: what innocence?

Yup, my romance is trash lmao

Lol Jay is still a clingy ass shit <3

Goooooooooooooooooood Jay and Basil are so gay for each other in this draft they fuckin need to kiss about it already

Why is Will included? for the fuckin drama I guess lol

Oh yeah for the fuckin drama. Will's trying to dig into Jay's identity lmao

Which Jay is not helping by fucking suggesting he and Will pretend to be siblings lmaooooo

god the gotdamn age gap shenanigans smh (not as bad as CoFaS but I still made a fucking Point outta it here)

Ah yes the gotdamn mid-scene POV shifts smh

Oh I finally have an age for Gray, she's around Aydan's age here (so 15/16 ish)

BB LILY <33333333333

Ah yes, and back in the days where HP was still popular bc the author hadn't revealed herself as a piece of shit yet

BUT NEVER MIND THAT BB LILY IS BB <333333333333333

God Jay isn't supposed to be this much of a rules boi aaaaaaaaaaah

awwwww fuckin Lily and Aydan is the cutest gotdamn thing ever <3333333

[Will] followed Jay and Aydan regardless, not because he wanted to mind you, but because he had no other freaking choice.

lol fuckin classic Will XD

......... I FELL ASLEEP AGAIN GODDAMMIT I WILL FINISH THIS TONIGHT I SWEAR WE'RE LIKE 2/3 DONE I THINK

Ah Jay, why the fuck must this be your shitty person arc?

Don't mind me if you need me I'll be over here smacking this version of Jay with a newspaper for being so gotdamn shitty Like, ma dude! This is absolutely not how you're supposed to be acting! Stop being a dipshit!!

BB LILY <33333333

Lol perfectly reasonable reaction to getting attacked: "I'm gonna fuckin kill Jay the next time I see him" (To be fair, it is bc Jay's been a shithead that Aydan's even in this position in the first place. but still. Funny train of thought there babe lol)

Summer now is not the time for your gotdamn agenda lol

Okay at least now Jay's apologizing for being a shithead lol

Fuckin romance ugh lol

staaaaaaaaaaaaaaare I think the Seanna-Sora-Cal intermission ft Cassandra might've been added later. and by later i mean around when I was writing this scene. So not quite padding the word count last minute but definitely not preplanned lol Which would also make the Heron-Gray-Owl intermission also not preplanned, but added bc eh why not since I'm having a Seanna-Sora-Cal intermission

Heckin nerds

God why did I feel the need to bring up the fuckin age gap again????

"Your morals do not exist" lmao

also way too much shit has happened for it to only have been a year what the gotdamn fuck

Catnip!!! Catnip and Lily!!!!! Absolute chaos besties!!!!!!!!!!

I should add Lily back into Nova. Somehow. She's too adorable to cut completely lol

Oh hi Molly from (quite literally) left field!!!

Oh Oliver <33333333

Everything about this is outta fuckin nowhere lmao I think there was like 1.5 scenes of setup about 20 pages back and that was it lol

but anyways, poor bb Oliver <3

Lol that's the Jay I know and love (doesn't want Aydan healing him (even tho by this point he knows it ain't a death sentence))

oh bb Oliver <333333

DREAM SEQUENCE NO. I'VE MOST DEFINITELY LOST COUNT BY THIS POINT!!!!

Oh shit we're already at the reveal. I thought there was another scene of Will and Jay having a conversation but now that I think about it I think that was earlier when I was hella tipsy last night XD

Oh Will, this is such a conversation

"I was trying to protect you" Jay that was a shitty way of doing it and you fuckin know it!!!!! gotdamn tissue paper motivation bitch!!!!

damn practically back to back dream sequences :P

How the fuck are we practically at the end????? Like i know the last couple pages are dedicated to my first attempt at rewriting this but we're only at page 57/83????????? (to be fair the ending is long I'm just. shooketh lmao)

god now more than ever you can really tell I had no idea what the fuck I was doing re: climax of an urban fantasy story. This is like attempting to do the whole climatic end of LOTR battle but in urban fantasy and it just. does not fuckin work that way

Anyways lmao Will now is not the time to make Jay face his past

There had always been too much insomnia in this house.

I like this line.

Lexi!!! my darling <3

Oh this is so gotdamn awkward lmao

MID SCENE POV SHIFT ALARM

“Stay safe,” [his mother] whispered in his ear. “I will Mom,” Jay promised, lying through his teeth. “I promise.”

STILL A GOTDAMN MOOD

Lmao great pep talk Boss XD

OH I REMEMBER WHAT SCENE IS COMING UP ITS BAD LMAO

but hey, this is the basis for "mind controlled government Novas" that I have in the current draft lol

Y'ALL NOW IS NOT THE FUCKIN TIME TO BE MAKING OUT LMAO the Cassandra Clare influence is really showing here smh

oh bbs <3

KAI AND HAYDEN :DDDDDD

Oh we're checking in with everybody lol got some Gray and Owl battle shenanigans happening <3

Oh Seanna and Cal are such bbs lol <333333

OH RIGHT I FORGOT SORA FUCKS SHIT UP IN A GOOD WAY LOL

And here we have the bad scene So for context, last year I lol'd and cringed at the fact that none of my uwu blorbos actually ever killed people. Only unconsciousness for my uwu precious beans! And that aspect of my writing apparently did not change much between 2013 and 2014. We've had mentions of characters knocking out their opponents earlier (such as the Gray and Owl battle shenanigans just a few moments ago), but none like, explicit deaths Until now. Cuz Jay has a gun :DDDDDDDD

Jk he's being super duper fuckin angsty about using it and it's like ma dude! This should not be where the line is drawn! It should not! You either draw it way back before using your magic to potentially fatally wound people (but it's okay bc they won't die in front of him!) or you be okay with using that gun the same way you use your magic and draw your line..... somewhere else idk lol

The lines between magic pew pews and guns is very thin and covered in jellyfish (no i will not apologize for my brain forever being altered by WTNV lol)

Aydan you're very calm in this situation considering Jay literally just got knocked out in front of you lmao

SORA BB <3333333333

Oh poor Cal and Seanna. More Cal bc he's bb and also may or may not have had a crush on Sora. Idk. It just seems the type of thing my romance-obssessed-mildly-trashy-YA-novel-reading ass woulda done lol

Oh Jay you absolute dumbass lmao he just woke up from unconsciousness and his dumb ass is going back out to fight bc he's a DUMBASS

Wow you're all shook up by shooting a random unnamed dude but when it comes to Molly it's all "gotta take care of her before she hurts us" goddamn Jay okay

POOR SEANNA AND CAL DDDDDDDDDDDD:

Oh this is so stupidly cheesy :P

OLIVER <3333333

Fuckin midscene POV shift again AAAAAH

At least Oliver get his happy ending lol

oh poor Owl and Gray :(((( You're right Heron deserved better

Now the important question bc I don't remember and we didn't immediately check in on them: Did I kill off Hayden, Kai, or Remus? Or did i let them have their happy ending for once dammit? We'll hopefully find out soon enough! And if not, I'll count it as a win for them lol

Eepy bbs <3

ehehehe sick fic Jay time again :DDDDDD

Lol i love the implication that Aydan is the reason Jay stopped sleeping with a knife under his pillow. If anything Aydan is the reason there are so many knives under the pillows now XD

You know, I thought there was some aside about Baz going nova long before this, but maybe I missed it in the tipsy drunk haze

Lol grumpy ol' Will <3

lollllll so this was from the original 3rd gen story that has now been scrapped to high hell (mostly due to the Will characterization things mentioned previously)

Oh I had forgotten about that! The fact that it was canon that Liam kinda forced James into coming out to their families!!! That got scrapped so long ago omg Liam: still a pushy dork. but not the kind that pushes his cousin into coming out in front of y'alls entire extended families when he still hasn't admitted it to you/the friend group yet

LMAO WILL SASSING JAY FOR HIS PREVIOUS CHOICES IN PARTNERS

Also fun fact, I think this was the first story I wrote with bi James. Before now he was just straight up gay lol. And now he has joined my crew of bi boys with heterochromatic eyes (him, Alec, and Jake, off the top of my head) (oh and Nymar. I forgot about the non OG characters for a minute XD)

Poor stressy Jay lol Something something zombie conversation lol

FUCKIN MID SCENE POV SHIFT AGAIN AAAAAAH

Oh god they're all so baby here what the fuck. Aydan is like. 17. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Lolllll oh Baz <3

Lol oh the petty high school drama XD

I regret the fact that my glass is so full bc I am very tempted to drain it considering how much cringe I know is coming up bc I'm bad at endings and it's so dragged the fuck out

Okay despite the cringe, I do still love the color of Sora's eyes here (insert do you love the color of the sky here) (omg that just gave me an idea for another character) (nooooooo) (before anybody says anything yes I've had that idea for hair before) (mothafluffin magical hair dye yo) (I don't remember what blog I posted that one on tho) (maybe my main)

TIME SKIPS GALORE HOLY FUCKIN SHIT

It's so fuckin weird seeing Basil so committed to his dad. Like no Bay is a piece of shit and you end up cutting ties with him bc of how shit he is (Basil and his parents are a fun tangent I may go on one day. bc oh lord. Jay gets smacked by both of them for very different reasons lol)

Anyways Lily! is back!! and as adorable as ever even though she's older now!

Side note why the fuck is my cat so zoomy?! lmao

BBS <33333333

*incomprehensible babbling* how the fuck did Lily not notice ever that Aydan was pregnant ffs??????

Anyways bb Alec is bb and I love him <33333333

"Uncle Basil" lmao no that man is your dad nowadays Alec XD

Oh I forgot Katie was a very quiet child. Checks out still considering she takes more after her dad aka the silent watchful type as opposed to her hurricane papa and wildfire mother

Nova trio is such a fun dynamic especially when they become parents <33333333

Lol Alec has his momma's last name nowadays. Makes it easier since no way in hell Jay is using his birth last name, he doesn't have much attachment to Miles, and Baz has about the same levels of attachment to his own

Lol Alec definitely still takes after his papa though XD gotdamn disaster of a child

Hello Ryder! You are Gray's kid nowadays but this was when you were Oliver and Molly's! And I specifically changed their hair/eye colors to make yours genetically possible!

Also fun fact I asked Cyrus whether I should have 2 or 3 kids in this scene and I don't remember what he said but I remember deciding 2.5 kids was the right way to go XD Pity I didn't go 3, then maybe the two youngest coulda had their names figured out a decade ago

(It's just 2 in Nova canon now. 4 in Band AU. And I think those are the only places the kids/4th gen show up nowadays) (other than random AUs lol)

78/83 and we're done with draft 1. Oh lord would i like to finish my glass but alas it is still too full lol

To be fair, I still don't think I can do endings for shit. I haven't ended a project lately enough to know for sure (the only one is Stars. And that one is the only one I know is good lol)

Bc they're funny, here's my notes for the rewrite (written around...... 2017-18 ish?)

You know what. YOU KNOW WHAT. I just reread this. And goddammit there are so many things that I could do to make this better. So idk if I’m gonna do this for nanowrimo this year or continue with the astral chronicles but in case I ever get around to redoing it here are the ideas I have (so I don’t forget lol)

Make Jay and Basil hella more gay. Like HELLA. Maybe even have them date and shit for a while idk

Also amnesiac Jay is a glorious idea XD

More time between James’s death and Jay finding Aydan

Jay taking way more time to gain Aydan’s trust like omg he actually has a normal teenager life and he falls in love with Aydan so when she goes nova he’s like “I’ll fucking protect you with my life dammit”

Oh my god if Jay could sense where Novas were then he would basically track them down and bring them back to Base

Summer and Will only come to Base after they investigate Aydan’s “death” too much

There’s not as much betrayal by Jay because “why didn’t you tell me??” “I had no fucking idea?!?!”

Jay’s sickness is way more prominent like oh man trauma lol

Maybe some poly relationship between Jay Basil and Aydan because Jay loves them both and they’re both like “welp the other person isn’t bad and we love you too so okie”

Oh man make the enemy something more than just a faceless mass lol

Patch notes as of 2024:

Jay and Basil are indeed, hella more gay XD

Amnesiac Jay is in fact, the best fuckin idea i've had for this project

I did add in that more time. It does the job lol

Jay's just oblivious so he falls in love with Aydan without realizing she's a Nova XD

He can sense Novas! It's just very itchy bc I can't let this boy have one good thing other than his relationships XD

Summer and Will and Percy! Sora's got a brother now!

No betrayal at all. Just sadness and resignation and "Why didn't you tell me?" "I only just remembered. Barely."

Jay's sickness has turned into him losing his grip on his place in the fabric of time :DDDDD

HELL YEAH POLY NOVA TRIOOOOOOO

Enemy is now the government. And also Jay's mother XD

Jay picked up smoking from somewhere lol

Novas now have specializations! Jay's is time manipulation, Baz's is sniper shit, Aydan is fire babe :D, Bay is water manip, so on so forth

Alex got added, they're a Nova healer :D

Gray is now for sure a Nova

Heron-Gray-Owl got aged the fuck up

Sora had a name change and also is no longer a part of the org from the beginning

Almaraz was named and subsequently turned from a nuclear power plant into time travel experimentation facility

Jay is more dramatic

Basil is more subdued

Aydan is more nosy

Birds of Prey got added (and Nat's heart got broken by Falcon :3)

Hayden and Remus got deaded for goods :(

That's all I got off the top of my head lol

I'm gonna reread the last 4 pages of rewrite then call it lol

Lollll immediatetly starting out with sick fic Jay, I can't really blame myself tho

Ah yes, back when Boss still knew who Jay was but nobody else did

Heh, asshole Lai is back :D

Lol I was wondering about that. Yeah I basically have two attempts at a start here bc it was very aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Lol Baz is immediately so fuckin gay for Jay <3

Ah yes, the bones of current day Nova are so much clearer here lol

And that's it! 3 days, 53k words, and 2 bottles of wine later, we've finally finished the end of the Nova reread. And good fuckin lord lmao. I'm a gotdamned WIP necromancer lol

Goodnight, don't die, don't get kidnapped, hopefully I'll actually get some more Wrapped prompts done soonish. If not, see y'all in February cuz ain't no way I'm missing my baby (FebruarOC lol)

TTFN!