#+ill have fun with writing all the snippets :}-

[askthejash]

*glances at the other four Chonny Jash blogs getting all fucked up and abstracted*

mkay cool , i won't be using ciphers like they do even if its super cool +i can't read em tho lol-

But

when it happens here, you all will get the most detail. i hope you'll enjoy reading it :}

[sorenlionheart]

might post some wip previews on new years 👀

[diamonddaze01]

69. "You know my name?" + chan omg im begging u or ill beat u to it and write it (lol stares at all my wips 💀)

call me by my name

Pairing: lc x f!reader | wc: 971 words prompt: "You know my name?" au: university au! | warnings: none a/n: HANEULLLLL thank u for the ask this was so cute and fun to write i hope you love it <33333

The lecture hall buzzed with the usual pre-class noise—pens tapping against desks, chairs creaking as students settled in, snippets of conversation floating from every direction. The air carried a faint hum of fluorescent lights, blending into the background chaos. You sat at your usual spot in the front row, pen poised and ready, eyes skimming the lecture notes you’d pulled up on your laptop.

Behind you, it was less preparation and more pandemonium.

“Seungkwan, what the fuck! Stop throwing shit at me!”

You didn’t have to look to know it was Soonyoung. His voice carried, loud and incredulous as always.

“That’s not throwing—it’s called handing,” Seungkwan shot back, his words dripping with mock seriousness. “Get some spatial awareness, idiot.”

The sound of a paper airplane slicing through the air followed, landing somewhere near your seat. You glanced down briefly at the crumpled attempt at aerodynamics before looking back at your notes.

“Is that supposed to be a plane or modern art?” another voice chimed in—Chan this time, laughter in his tone.

Turning your head slightly, you caught sight of the trio in their usual seats toward the back. Soonyoung had crossed his arms, glaring at the offending paper in Chan’s hand. Seungkwan was smirking triumphantly, leaning back in his chair with his arms behind his head.

“Give it here,” Chan said, snatching the airplane and inspecting it with exaggerated care. “Yeah, no. This isn’t a plane. This is, like… a bird that forgot how to fly.”

The paper flew again—this time courtesy of Chan—and barely made it past the second row before nose-diving onto the floor. The resulting laughter spread like wildfire across the room, even prompting a raised eyebrow from Professor Lee, who was just arriving.

“If the three of you could channel even half this energy into engineering,” the professor said, setting down his coffee with a thud, “you might actually pass this class.”

A round of chuckles rippled through the room as Chan held up his hands in mock surrender. “We’ll consider it!”

You shook your head, letting the familiar chaos wash over you. It had been like this all semester—Chan, Seungkwan, and Soonyoung acting as the unofficial class entertainment. Their antics had a way of filling the space, loud enough to distract but not enough to pull you from your work.

Professor Lee called the class to order, his voice steady as he launched into announcements. You settled in, fingers flying over your keyboard as you took notes.

Until he dropped the bomb.

“Alright, folks, listen up,” Professor Lee announced, raising his voice over the chatter. “Big news today—it’s time to kick off your group projects.”

Groans and murmurs spread through the room like wildfire. People immediately started swiveling in their seats, calling out to friends to lock in their groups before anyone got left behind.

You stayed put, as you always did. You’d learned from experience—being the quiet one meant waiting out the storm. Once the dust settled, you’d deal with whatever scraps of a team were left.

“The project is worth thirty percent of your grade,” Professor Lee continued, adjusting his glasses. “So choose wisely.”

“Thirty percent?” someone whispered behind you.

“Yeah, that’s fucked,” another voice muttered.

You ignored them, jotting down the project details from the board. If no one picked you, you’d just work alone—it wasn’t ideal, but you’d survive. Your eyes flicked back to your laptop, but before you could even finish writing down the assignment details, a shadow fell over your desk. You blinked up, startled, only to see Chan grinning down at you, hands stuffed in his hoodie pocket.

“Uh, hi?” you said cautiously.

“Wanna be in a group with me and my friends?” He jerked his thumb toward Seungkwan and Soonyoung, who were mid-wrestle over a pencil in the back corner of the room.

Your pen froze mid-word. “You… know my name?”

Chan tilted his head like you’d just asked him if the sky was blue. “Uh, yeah? Considering you’re the one who ruins the curve every time… yes, I know your name.”

Oh.

“But also,” he continued, “you clearly know what you’re doing, and we’d be stupid not to team up with you.”

You blinked, your brain short-circuiting for a moment. “Okay.”

His grin widened, and he gestured for you to follow him.

By the time you reached Seungkwan and Soonyoung, they’d paused their argument and were now watching you with matching mischievous smirks.

“So,” Seungkwan said, leaning closer to Chan, “you actually got her to join us, huh?”

“Guess today’s my lucky day,” Chan muttered, side-eyeing him.

Soonyoung jabbed Seungkwan in the ribs, grinning like an idiot. “Told you he wouldn’t chicken out.”

“Shut up,” Chan hissed, his ears already pink.

But Seungkwan wasn’t done. “You didn’t have to use the whole ‘you ruin the curve’ thing. You could’ve just said, ‘Hey, I think you’re super smart and pretty, and I totally have a crush on you.’”

Chan’s eyes widened as if someone had just slapped him with a textbook. “What the fuck—”

“Or,” Soonyoung added, tapping his chin theatrically, “you could’ve been, like, ‘I sit two rows behind you every day because your hair smells like strawberries.’”

“I do not—”

Seungkwan gasped, fake-shocked. “Oh my God, you’ve smelled her hair?”

Chan groaned, scrubbing a hand over his face. “I hate both of you.”

You couldn’t help it—you burst out laughing, covering your mouth as the trio dissolved into chaos.

“Don’t listen to them,” Chan said quickly, turning back to you with an apologetic look. “They’re dumbasses, but I promise we’ll actually get work done. Eventually.”

You raised an eyebrow, still grinning. “As long as no one brings paper airplanes to the final presentation.”

“See?” Soonyoung crowed. “She’s funny too. You’re screwed, Chan.”

Chan didn’t answer, but the flush creeping up his neck said more than enough.

send me an ask for my drabble game!

[wonwayne]

how enha takes care of you ☁️

pairing : ot7 x gn!reader genre : fluff, comfort, humor warnings : mentions of food word count : 1k

a/n : requested by anon! kind of kicked it off with this hee drabble but had so much fun writing for all the members. for today’s purposes, let’s keep y/n sick and alone in their apartment 🫶

💭 heeseung

my little philosophy is that significant others can be two types of caregivers — one actively tries to treat your illness, the other is emotional support

each has their own merit ofc

but hee is miraculously both

sincerely believes he can rizz you to health

he’s being a bit selfish, he worries, for making you smile all the time

because it heals him more than it heals you

but he makes up for it by making sure you eat like a king (for all three meals a day!) until you feel better

also cuddles with you in bed to keep you warm

if whatever you have is contagious, he is definitely getting it

last but certainly not least: he sings to you. acoustic covers + snippets of his self-produced music, you’re getting it all 😌

almost makes you wish you were sick more often

💭 jay

arrives at your place with like fifty grocery bags (okay maybe not fifty, but… a lot)

big believer in sleep as the best medicine so he lets you be for the most part

but as soon as you wake up and come down to the living room

say hello to a FEAST

literally no room left on the dining table and he’s still doing something in the kitchen????

“jay i can’t… consume all of this” “don’t worry, eat as much as you want for now and i’ll put the leftovers in the fridge”

at this point what is there left to say except “can you just be my husband already”

you’re about to dig in and suddenly he’s standing over you giving you the death stare

“... did i… do something wrong?” “seriously?” your heart stops before he goes, “what happened to my thank you kiss?”

UGH he’s such a softie

💭 jake

is worried SICK and cannot hide it

refuses to leave your bedroom once he first enters it unless absolutely necessary — must stay by your side at all times !!

not the most experienced but the effort is very much there

“should we take the medicine together? would that be easier?” and you KNOW he hates taking medicine

“babe why would you take nyquil. you don’t have a cold.” “idk it can’t hurt can it?” it very much can (don’t do this kids)

he drinks it with you anyway (clinks the medicine cups and says “cheers!”… what are you going to do with this man) and tries his best to fight the drowsiness

ends up dozing with his head on your lap, kneeling by the bed

peak puppy position i tell you PEAK

💭 sunghoon

what matters is not so much how he takes care of you but how he looks so good while taking care of you: simple white dress shirt, sleeves rolled up just to the elbows, hair slicked back a little from washing his face, setting damp towels on your forehead and his forearm veins emerging as he wrings them… help me

it’s the wuthering heights bedridden cathy victorian era aesthetic okay

speaking of books why do i get the feeling that sunghoon would read to you

or simply talk to you about his day or childhood memories or anything to keep you comfortable and entertained

idk i feel like he’d want to remind you of his presence in a “i’m here for you” type of way but without being intrusive… is not at all offended when you fall asleep to his voice

don’t you just love when sunghoon.

💭 sunoo

i have one very specific idea for sunoo and i’m kinda obsessed with it

MINT. TEA. (if you know you know… mint tea is the sinus relief GOD)

and ofc as our resident mint choco lover, how could he not

“baby i made something for you!” you peer into the mug and you’re like 🤨 “you didn’t add chocolate syrup to this did you” “wtf i’m not a monster why would i do that??”

his discography and food preferences beg to differ but he truly does give you pure, steaming mint tea

it is so perfect i promise you will fall in love with him all over again

mint aside we all know this man is a human vitamin like i cannot imagine you staying sick for long

no need to binge tv (it makes your head hurt more anyway), just have sunoo spill all the drama to you for seven hours straight and you’ll be good to go

💭 jungwon

makes you wonder, did this boy have a medical degree this entire time and just not tell me??

knows exactly which medications help with which symptoms, gives you all the immune boosting foods, pulls up with a weighted blanket and a heating pad and a plushie to hug— you’re getting the best sleep of your life no question about it

listens to you so well “i miss what it was like to breathe” “it’s frustrating, isn’t it? as soon as one nostril clears, the other fills up, and it never seems to end” “YES ohmy— [cough] god, yes, you get it :(”

at the same time i think won is the most likely to avoid skinship when you’re sick bc yeah that stuffy nose does not sound fun

is smart about it though; prepares a bubble bath for you and then sets up the heating pad and everything on your bed while you’re in the bath

becomes 143x touchier once you’re back to normal (“i missed squishing your cheeks” “i missed squishing your cheeks!”)

💭 niki

crashes at your place to make sure you’re having a good time

it’s either you watching him game or movie marathon together

you don’t say it but you are so inordinately grateful that he’s caring enough to chill with you on days like these, you know he’d rather do dates outside and play pranks on you every other hour, but he’s giving that up just for you

would share a tub of ice cream with you if you’re craving it, although he voices his concerns first “is it… right to eat cold stuff when you have a cold?” “it defrosts in my mouth don’t worry” “okay you do you”

basically a good old sleepover

every time he checks your temperature he sings his part in fever (he’s humorous like that)

[seasirengirl]

EVERYTHING YOU SEE IS A PART OF YOUR IMAGINATION, EVERYTHING YOU SEE IS A LIE.

pairing: jason grace x f!neptune!reader

warning: jason is kinda a bop in this, reader is referred to as a blonde

a/n: wrote this at 4am so it’s probably really stupid, but i was thinking of writing hcs for a part 2? idk would y’all read that?

growing up at camp jupiter meant being a soldier, a warrior with no life outside of their duties, a disciplined demigod with no mistakes ever made. this mindset messed up a lot of the kids’ mind, awarding them with different mental illnesses that they wouldn’t be experiencing if their lives were just, normal.

normal could mean a lot of things, but jason grace lost the touch of it a long time ago.

what was normal? being a mortal in high school or spending his everyday life in camp jupiter?

none of these options were available to him, because in the middle of his quest to save the queen of the heavens, he felt more confused than ever, his memories slowly coming back, but in little snippets, unnecessary things were being brought back to him, such as a certain scent that reminded him of… he didn’t remember who. he was surely going crazy.

and the blurred face of a girl he saw every time he ever got the chance to fall into hypnos’ domain certainly did not help the situation. maybe he did something so terrible in the past that he didn’t even get the chance of sleeping undisturbed, but what did he do? he didn’t even remember.

the question that bore into the mind of a mere reader would’ve been, 'what did he even remember?’ an oblivion, absolute nothingness.

and his two apparent friends, leo and piper.

while piper seemed to not be much of a friend, she still kept her patience.

jason, being the selfless soul he was, always managed to put everyone else before himself, he was worried that he was breaking piper’s heart by his amnesia, which, by the way, was not his fault either, but who else was there to blame? truthfully, no one.

while the quest was ongoing, he managed to get used to being apart of the trio, managing to fall more and more in love with the mystery that was piper mclean, or so he thought.

piper was absolutely gorgeous, in her own unique way, she was something to be looked at, to be admired and treated with care and love, but the world that they got exposed into, certainly was not up to the standard jason wanted piper to be put at.

she was also a total knockout, pretty, smart and really unique, what more could a guy want?

right?

then why did the ocean breeze randomly flow through his nostrils when jason was not anywhere near an ocean? what about the blonde soft wavy hair he always saw in his dreams, or the laugh he heard during one of those dreams. something about the girl in his dreams made jason’s life way more complicated, he could not get her out of his head, but how could he? it’s like the gods above truly did not want anything to be remotely normal in his life.

was it all just a set-up, was he cursed? or was he simply going insane over a woman he had never met? it had to end.

apparently the blonde from his dreams did not even exist, he described her to a lot of people, but not one person in camp half-blood knew anything, so he gave up.

the argo II had to be built and they had to fight mother earth, gaea, along with quite a lot of giants, girl problems could wait.

while keeping himself busy, he found his sweet escape to be piper, maybe what was between them was real, it wasn’t just venus having “fun” for a bit and making him insane? he still got dreams from time to time, but they didn’t corrupt his whole time.

but a few months passed, his and piper’s relationship was going well, they were just days away from going to camp jupiter, while going there to find the rest of the eight demigods from the great prophecy was the goal, maybe he could find her there?

and just like that, thoughts and dreams about the mysterious ocean girl slowly came back.

until the day they finally landed in camp jupiter. pieces of jason’s memory came back to him, but not all of it, but everything seemed to click the second he got the chance to actually look around the (not-so) familiar territory.

his hand intertwined with piper’s, he entered camp jupiter, he noticed annabeth running off to a black haired boy, who he assumed to be percy jackson, since that was the guy everyone seemed to be looking for ever since his arrival.

but right next to percy, stood a girl, but not just any pretty girl, her.

the girl from his imagination.

she quickly noticed jason, running over to him and pulling him into a hug, he noticed slight tears in her eyes that weren’t willing to spill.

jason was stunned, his hand was still holding piper’s, until it wasn’t, he felt it let go.

but jason had your arms around him, which felt better than anyone elses.

“i missed you, jase.” you said quietly, in a tone barely above a whisper.

“i-i’m sorry, i don’t remember.”

“percy told me it was a possibility, i just never thought you’d forget me, after all that we’ve been through. he remembered things about annabeth, did you really forget all about me?” a single stray tear managed to escape your eyes, raised in camp jupiter, crying was not something you were used to, but given the circumstances, what else were you supposed to do? sit around and smile like nothing happened, like you didn’t just realise that the love of your life forgot about you? “no, i’m sorry, it’s not your fault, i can’t blame that on you.” you quickly added, noticing how much pressure you put on the boy you loved.

“jason, what’s going on?” that was the voice of the girl jason came back with, sweet as honey. did he find a replacement? have you commited a sin so unforgivable that the gods had to punish you this way? he held her hand, they came in happily, you weren’t needed.

“i don’t know, look, let’s just go and find annabeth, she’ll know what to do.” jason simply shrugged away from your uncounter, living the girl of his dreams in tears, standing there, empty.

and it certainly did not help that jason and his newfound girlfriend were on the ship too, so you couldn’t really be miserable all the time.

you had to put in the effort.

that same night, as you were about to go to bed in your cabin, percy came in to check on you and you suddenly got the urge to tell him about all of your emotions and thoughts, since he was a great listener and also probably the only person who could cheer you up.

so you told him, if you couldn’t trust your brother, who could you trust? you told him some details he didn’t already know about your and jason’s complicated relationship and about him and his new girlfriend.

jason’s cabin was the one opposing yours, so he got a bit confused and almost opened the door to your cabin, but he heard your voice, and his name a few times too, so he did something absolutely irresistible, eavesdropping.

“it was complicated for so many years, and when we finally confessed, 3 months later he just disappeared one morning, i count every minute he was a way, and he came back with a new girlfriend, what did i do to venus so horrible? she gave me a hair comb once after a quest, she doesn’t like hate me or something, right? or does that mean my hair is really messy?” you kept on rambling.

“shh, i don’t know about jason, but if he’s willing to break your heart like that, i’m not gonna be okay with it, goodnight, y/n.” percy kissed your forehead.

“night, perce.”

just as percy walked out of the cabin, he saw jason standing by the door.

“hope you heard all that, buddy.” he mumbled.

if jason thought he was going insane months ago, he for sure knows he’s insane by now.

around a week has passed since that night, jason admired you from far away, getting reminded of why he fell in love with you all those years ago.

it was a quiet evening, some calm and peace, the typical calm before the storm vibes were around.

and it sure ended up being a storm that night for jason grace. he had been thinking about ending things with piper, since remembering things were making him all confused, all of the fake memories were faded too, so their relationship was hanging by a thread, which piper tore that night.

“we need to talk.” piper exclaimed, her tone sounded serious, not the usual cheery and soft.

“is everything okay?” jason asked, knowing that in fact nothing was okay, but he could only use a filler sentence, he didn’t have much of a heart to say anything else.

“what’s going on with you and y/n? i know you two dated, but i see the way you act around each other, you’re not over it, neither of you, and whatever this is going on with us is simply not satisfying neither me or you, so, are you cool with staying friends?” piper stated casually, without much worry on her face.

“i’m sorry pipes, it wasn’t fair to you.” jason tried apologising, but got interrupted.

“it’s fine, but she loves you, i can tell, go talk to her before it’s too late.” that was it, the awakening point, jason immediately stormed into her cabin.

“i fucked up, i’m really in love with you.” he exclaimed, and boy, did that sentence change everything.

it did.

[agendergorgon]

I started out in the Worm fandom (superhero webnovel, very long) by writing a stupid fic about Worm's protagonist, bullied teen Taylor Hebert who is most famous for taking the often mocked power of insect control to such ludicrous extents that any other bug controlling villain looks positively , getting the powers of a big dumb monster from Evolve and going rawr and smash. I think it was cos it was the done thing at the time, cos I'd not written any fic before, and cos I liked Evolve. I've gone back and forth over the years but I think just smooshing Worm and another powerset you like or think might be fun to write is an over saturated market but its a market that exists. A bit after that and a few embarassing rewrites or other attempts at the same sort of thing, and one hit that I kinda just kept making after people seemed to like it, and I ended up making DADA, a parody of Worm fics in the style of the usual kind of crack fic where nonsense is substituted for plot and its more about jokes than saying much. There were a couple of jokes about trends in the wider Worm fandom but the main selling point is that Taylor's power is ill defined and never elaborated upon much, and that her costume is a papier mache version of her own face.

Like so. I fuckin love this pic, credit to Pericardium who drew this after I'd sorta given up after one arc, leaving all the notes for future chapters and where to take the story as one ugly ill put together mess of a final chapter. For the longest while, this picture was the last thing left of DADA if you clicked past that ending. And it still sorta is. This is the face of DADA. Most common thing anyone said was "Why does it look like that" or talking about how it startled them scrolling across the banner on r/wormfanfic. Peri got this down perfectly, a portrait not of Taylor Hebert but of the lumpy doll fanfic likes to make of her. I made a stupid mistake a few years down the line. I decided to keep writing DADA. Like a zombie limping back to life, or a Rob Zombie limping a franchise back to life, DADA returned with plans and aspirations and ideas for a new ending and went from a brief read it over a cup of tea fic to something that had to commit to its jokey bits, something trying to be more meta than it ought to have been and barely communicating itself well. So it died again with a new ending written out same way as it was last time, in crumbs and snippets and morsels. DADA is a curse of mine that limps back to life whenever I have a new silly idea for it. Its a world that runs on wordplay and Amelia Bodelia logic and entertains cartoonish misconceptions of how people's superpowers work. (Where notorious villain Jack Slash can project the cuts of his knives to strike from extended distances, the Jack Slash of DADA makes his knives shrink and grow to physically extend as far as he is reaching with them) Its a world where villains from my other fanfics have invaded it as a superfluous additional set of antagonists. So yeah, here's DADA, its a bit impermeable without exposure to fandom memes and it changes its mind on what it is constantly throughout, but my fiance likes it so I'm gonna keep updating it as long as I have ideas on where to take it. Taylor is dead, wormfic above all.

[slugtranslation-hypmic]

All the MTC song trailer snippets are out? What are your opinions? :D I think Rio's is surprisingly chill and I'm still torn on Samatoki's, the lyrics might decide that one!

Heyy did you listen to the mtc album snippets ?

Nope. Let's check them out!

Backbone:

Title note: Presumably from 気骨, which has a slightly stronger-- almost noble-- connotation than English "backbone." Someone with 気骨 never lets anything stop them from doing what they believe is right, and not necessarily in the personal sense like in the English phrases "Grow a backbone." or "They have a strong backbone." As some people in this comments section are noting, it's also possible to interpret the title literally. The back is a recurring image in Japanese fiction; in this case, it represents Samatoki single-handedly shouldering various burdens for those he cares about. People are also drawing connections to the Aohitsugi's death motifs and Samatoki's skeleton speaker.

20 seconds in: Okay he literally just says the shouldering burdens bit haha. I guess that part is canon authorial intent

24 seconds in: "Nobody can break my 'backbone.'" If we assume this should be interpreted figuratively, that's like "Nobody can make me do anything I don't believe in." / "Nobody can break my spirit."

35 seconds in: "My 'backbone' is my true strength." This + the traditional Japanese-reminiscent instrumentals remind me of the Katen-gumi. Iirc they have a scroll hanging in their main office proclaiming their dauntlessness, an attribute Samatoki embodies well imo.

53 seconds in: This is a mean-spirited thought, but I always find it funny when Samatoki's like "This god damn city is broken and filthy... *takes a drag from a cigarette*" when the god damn city in question is one of the most affluent in the world.

64 seconds in: With that said, it's nice to see him acknowledging the positive presence he has in Yokohama and vowing to rid it of... whatever ills are plaguing it... taxation and ne'er-do-wells with illegal mics, no doubt. An Ichirou-esque sentiment.

71 seconds in: Props to Asanuma for rhyming jinsei and shinsen so well. "My life is always fresh; this is still just the prologue." Samatoki being receptive to growth? You love to see it. With that said, it's interesting to see the discrepancy between the two ideas of "It's time to change." and "My core values will never change." as we see in this song. I'm not sure how that'll actually play out in canon, so we'll have to wait and see.

Overall: That was fun! It had a nice beat. I look forward to hearing the full song when it drops.

Awake:

Title note: ??? 目覚めた? Like, "I'm woke af now"? Haha let me see what this song is actually about and then come back to this...

Side note: I was staying with a friend-- a buddy from the old scanlation team-- when this song preview dropped, and she was keeping me up to date with this song's delayed release drama. When it finally dropped, she was like "YOOO SLUG, LISTEN TO THIS" and turned her phone waaaay up, blasting the sonorous tones of Mr. Komada into our not at all soundproof hotel room, immediately alerting me to two things: 1. I was not awake enough for this. 2. The illumatic Iruma Jyuto was IN the building and, at that volume, probably in every floor of the building. Anyway, I'm still not awake enough for this, but let's go.

5 seconds in: Love the horns. Very MTC and very Gen III Pokemon. Yokohama 8/10 too much water

20 seconds in: hey hey heeey

30 seconds in: I appreciate the technical skill involved, but I am not comprehending one word of this. I'm going to have to look up the lyrics when I'm done fr.

Overall: Seems fun to rap! Once again, looking forward to the full song.

Top YT comment at the time of writing: Juuto: Y'all never seen me like this before! Me: Yeah, no shit.

Scrolling through the comments: Spare lyrics, ma'am? Spare lyrics for the poor? Jesus, there are some thirsty-ass mofos in this comment section...

Well, I didn't find any lyrics, so here goes watch 2 with a lot of pausing, I guess. Hmm the gist of the chorus seems to be "I'm not fucking around anymore" which-- like someone else has pointed out in the comments-- is kind of how Juuto's been since day one...? I'm not sure what's changed. I suppose the biggest difference would be it's no longer "I'll solve this problem" but "we'll solve this problem." I do like the opening of this first verse: When someone makes bad choices, who's left smiling? Who's left grieving? What is right, and what is wrong? Can that be something for every person to figure out for themselves? Here's another interesting bit: I used to think I didn't have any interest in colluding with other people-- it was more like mutual exploitation. But then I joined hands with a couple of like-minded people, and now we share the goal of victory. Yeah, it seems like the biggest changes here are Juuto embracing teamwork, which hell yeah. Opening up and trusting other people with his mission, in turn taking on their missions and incorporating it into one singular goal? That's baller.

Title note revisited: yeah I guess deadass this is "awake" in terms of "I'm woke now" haha. Or like, "I've come around to [the power of friendship]"

NO WAR:

5 seconds in: Oh, now I get why someone on the Samatoki video called this "Riou's baby-ass song"

22 seconds in: I was NOT prepared for the autotune. I think I'm a little too tired because I found this really, really funny.

30 seconds in: "Conflict isn't entertainment; it's not a show." YOU TELL 'EM, RIOU.

44 seconds in: I always really, really appreciate Riou's unwavering distaste for warfare and conflict even as he considers it something worth devoting his life to. I would sincerely love it if the authors were to ever dive into why Riou has such dedication towards serving in the [whatever] army and whatever cause they were fighting for, but I don't think that's the story the authors want to tell. We probably just have to assume it's for whatever Riou considers to be a morally good cause.

49 seconds in: Ignoring the rhyme-induced silliness of "my buddies are my turret," I like the thematic consistency of each MTC member stressing that they're not alone anymore--that is, that they've given up on their self-imposed solitude--and they have each other to rely on and trust with their backs.

53 seconds in: "Practically brainwashed puppet soldiers" Oh?? Mind expanding on this a little, Hypmic? Again, I doubt the writers are keen to delve into the causes of WWIII or why Riou joined up at all, but the suggestion of propaganda or coercion being involved is tantalizing.

65 seconds in: I like the bit that goes (paraphrased): "What can you see when you look out of your binoculars at base camp? Rifles, revolvers--is that it? Instead of obsessing over who's strong and who's weak, why not be soldier who prays for peace?"

Overall: The lyrics are vaguer and more platitudinous than is my preference, but I fully recognize that my interests in this topic are outside of the scope of the story the writers want to tell. Which is fine! The music is pretty chill; I think I'll like this song when it comes out in full.

My favorite YT comment by a landslide: Thank god he's not making us work out again.

Thank you very much for the asks! :D It's fun to check this stuff out, and I probably wouldn't have done so otherwise.

[inscrutable-shadow]

viii. thou shalt not steal.

a/n: Featured in the 2024 2nd edition of the @zineofgid! (Which still has a few physical copies available if I recall correctly, consider supporting charity and receiving a beautiful zine with works from more than twenty incredible creators!)

I think this piece is an excellent capstone to what's been an incredible year for my writing. Over 30k words of original content, two of those stories in print, and a host of snippets and AUs and just so much fun I've been having with all of my friends (and that means you!). I never could have imagined all the things that happened this year and I hope next year has just as much growth and good things waiting for me. :)

contains: blood drinking (consensual and nonconsensual), captivity, vampire whumpee, vampire whumper, restraints, m/m established relationship, intimate whumper, starvation, exhaustion, mild suicidal ideation and self loathing, hypnosis

4.7k, also on ao3!

acknowledgements: special thanks to @crash-bump-bring-the-whump for betaing and letting me both borrow mariano and harass him in his dms constantly, haha

yesyes goodfood warm bright salt yes! foodtime strongsalt hot red yum—

The vampire inhaled sharply, as if surfacing from a deep pool. Pulling himself from the blood-haze was difficult, but he owed it to his companion, the mage, not to take more than he needed. What he needed, really, was a full meal, a kill, but in desperate times, one made do with the resources available to him. His fangs slipped smoothly, if reluctantly, from the narrow punctures they’d made in the mage’s neck, and his tongue flashed out to seal them and lick up the last drops. Finished, but far from satisfied, he leaned back heavily against the stone wall, accompanied by the clink of silver chains.

The mage sighed heavily, freeing himself from his own venom-induced daze. “Get what you needed?”

“Yes, of course. I’m much better.” He didn’t look any better. He looked stretched-thin, exhausted, at the end of his rope, even. The demented scarlet glow in his eyes had dulled back to its usual crimson, but that was the only visible improvement.

“Thanatos.”

The vampire, whose name was Thanatos, mustered the strength to roll his eyes. “I suppose you would prefer the truth.”

The mage evaluated him coolly. “If you could, that’d be great.”

It was annoying how earnest he always was. “Of course I didn’t. I’m hungry, and worn out, and I’d very much like to sleep. Is that answer to your satisfaction?” Thanatos knew he was only being snippy because he was ill, but it made him feel better to imagine the whole thing being Mariano’s fault.

The mage, whose name was Mariano, shook loose waves of hair from his face. “Yes, actually. Thank you. It’s easier for both of us if you tell me the truth, you know. You’re always talking about ‘making conclusions based on an accurate premise.’ Sharing information is a big part of that. We’re on the same side, after all.”

“I should stop teaching you things. How could I have possibly thought giving you access to dialectical technique was a good idea?” His tone was sharp, but his smile was soft. The mage was right, of course, he usually was. It was just easier to ignore that fact when his arguments weren’t couched in Thanatos’s own words. “Let’s leave the debating to me in the—”

A sound from the hallway, filtering through the small grate near the top of the steel door, made both of them look up. Thanatos’s slit pupils contracted and expanded with the increase in light. The lights here were electric, not arcane or chemical, and emitted a soft luminescence that he was very familiar with: nightglow lamps, a vampire invention that illuminated a space without irritating the eyes of the light-sensitive. His and Mariano’s captor, who now appeared in the doorway, was also a vampire, darker than Mariano but with the telltale ashen pallor. His catlike eyes were lit in emerald rather than Thanatos’s crimson and held the faintest jade highlight, indicating a meal wouldn’t go amiss.

“Good evening, gentlemen.” The voice was low and smooth and threaded through one’s ears like an eel, dripping with the arrogance and unctuous command of someone who wielded thrall. Thanatos could feel the pressure of another vampire’s aura against his own, demanding he submit.

“Varro.” He wasn’t in the mood for games of politeness. He was significantly more concerned with suppressing the urge to run.

Tiberius Varro, now House Tenebrus, laughed. “None of your hollow apologies today, Iuventus? Fine, I’ll get straight to the point. You appear to have attempted to circumvent your punishment by committing your crime again.”

“I’m not sure I take your meaning,” Thanatos replied, though an idea was coalescing in his mind.

“I know the new regulations are unfamiliar for all of us, but I believe someone of your age should be able to understand simple concepts such as territory and ownership. On each vampire’s designated lands, all game is theirs to claim. Violating that sovereignty is stealing, is it not?”

“I suppose so.” Thanatos had known hunting on another vampire’s territory would put him in a rather shaky legal position before he’d done it. He’d just hoped not to be caught. He hadn’t even killed the young woman he’d fed on the day before they’d been captured, merely left her dazed and confused outside of the town limits, but Varro had found him and elected to ‘punish’ him anyway. The whole thing was ridiculous in his opinion, pointless grandstanding he had no obligation to indulge. “However, property brought over a border still retains the rights of the original owner. You have no claim on my mage.”

“Perhaps not, though I do have the right to treat a thief how I please. I could just kill you for trespassing, but I don’t want to do that, do I, little Harbinger? What do you think I should do with someone who steals from me?” The one positive that had come out of Thanatos’s decades of military service to the vampire High Council was that the special operations nature of his duties had been quite mythologized by the public. He was fairly confident that Varro and many others thought he could set curses on those who mistreated him. He no longer had the backing of a master assassin, so there would be no following through on that implicit threat, but Varro didn’t have to know that.

Thanatos rolled his eyes. “I’m sure I don’t know. You were close with Rumholt, weren’t you? In the mood to electrocute me until I faint?”

Varro found the thought hilarious, so much so that he spent an uncomfortable several seconds laughing himself into a wheeze over it. Pointless theatrics, in Thanatos’s opinion. It wasn’t as if he needed to breathe. “Oh, I do like you! Rumholt was such a fan of his electrified implements. Or, was, rather, until you killed him.” Had him killed, technically. Ending another vampire himself was quite beyond him.

“Would you like me to apologize? Or do you just want to cut off my hands? Brand me with a ‘T’ for thief? What is this, the tenth century?” Thanatos was growing impatient. He didn’t have time to play Varro’s game. Mariano was here because of him and if he could get his mage out of here by humiliating himself, that was just what would need to be done.

Varro’s smile fell. “I already told you I don’t want your apologies, Iuventus. And I don’t want to risk your curse by roughing you up too much. What I want is for you to learn to keep your filthy hands off that which does not belong to you. I want you to lie on your belly in the dirt like the worm you are. You’re a wretched excuse for a vampire, a traitor to your own kind, and I do not grant you the right to subsistence while on my lands.” He tipped Thanatos’s face up to look contemptuously down into his eyes, and Thanatos found he couldn’t maintain eye contact. “You’ll be released when I’m satisfied you understand your place.”

“You can’t just starve him indefinitely.”

“Quite correct, points for the mage! As amusing as it would be to watch your Shadow rattle the bars of its cage, I don’t want to risk you becoming dangerous. No.” A smirk developed on Varro’s lips and the jade in his eyes glinted a devious hue. “Drink your mage as much as you’d like. An eye for an eye is fair though, no?” He slammed Thanatos backward into the wall of the cell with the hand under his chin transitioning into a choke. The purpose of this was to rile Mariano up, surely, and it worked: the mage moved reflexively, slamming against the end of the chains’ reach, his eyes burning with warning malevolence.

“Know your place, mage. Grown-ups are talking,” Varro taunted, and with the words came the suffocating pressure of his thrall. Unlike Thanatos’s, which was soothing and tender and drew one in with comfort and the promise of security, Varro’s hypnosis was muculent, insidious. It oozed into one’s psyche like animate slime. The wave broke against Thanatos’s mind, vampire as he was, but it took hold of Mariano easily, the defiance dying in his eyes with an immediacy that chilled Thanatos to the bone. “Don’t worry, I won’t damage him. I’m just… taking back what’s mine.”

Thanatos only had a moment to ponder what Varro could have meant by that before twin points of incandescent agony erupted on his neck. He couldn’t help but emit a strangled cry, but his voice died in his throat as the scrambled sensations resolved themselves and he realized what was happening. The wet movements against his neck were lips and tongue, the rush of air was breath, the hands were holding him still. Varro was draining him.

Vampires didn’t feed on each other. The idea was nonsensical: even just after being taken from a victim, the blood’s taste was muddy and muted, it couldn’t satisfy the Thirst, and there was little nutritional value. The only purpose the action could serve was as a power play, and that it certainly was. Varro was taller and stronger than Thanatos, if not by much, and nothing Thanatos could do made any progress toward freeing himself. He was immune to the venom’s effect and therefore got to experience the full force of the pain without the dampening effect of numbing euphoria. The punctures burned and he could feel every moist shift of Varro’s lips and tongue as he swallowed over and over, rhythmically, almost hypnotically.

Thanatos turned his eyes to meet Mariano’s, and what he saw in them made despair pool in his gut. Glazed over under what was most likely a suggestion of apathy, the mage merely watched what went on with a disinterest that bordered on contempt. That was nothing like the Mariano he knew. It went against his training, his personality, everything. The worst thing about it was that Thanatos knew how much his mage dreaded the idea of giving up control of his mind to another, of being compelled to act or stay his hand without his own will. He was being forced into compliance and it looked so utterly wrong on his face, for someone who knew him well enough to see the deep well of emotion under his flat expression to look at him and see truly nothing there… It was all Thanatos’s fault.

He didn’t disagree with Varro exactly. Thanatos had worked out very early in his unnaturally extended life that if he wanted to have his needs met, he’d have to resort to subterfuge. He was a coward, and by necessity, a leech. Apt to compare two bloodsuckers. There was an emptiness inside him, a voracious hunger, and he’d do anything to fill it, but he couldn’t earn anything legitimately. He lied and he cheated and he stole. He tricked others into being kind to him, into loving him, for the barest scrap of gratification. Varro was merely better at it than he was. It had made him feel good to foster a connection with Mariano that inspired such loyalty, just as it appeased Varro to make Thanatos squirm under his heel. He’d brought a human into a situation like this because he relished being worried over. It was hypocritical of Varro to set himself up as some paladin bringing down holy retribution on a sinner, but sinner Thanatos certainly was. He’d just have to take his “punishment for the sin of pride” and hope Varro got bored and threw him away instead of killing him. A reliable strategy. He prayed Mariano wouldn’t be collateral damage.

Thanatos felt distinctly lightheaded by the time he slipped unceremoniously from Varro’s grip and landed in a heap. There really was no reason to take that much. He’d run through what Mariano had donated and then some. Actual vampire blood was tasteless sludge, and Thanatos knew Varro must have felt rather ill, but none of it showed through the satisfied smirk. “The two of you behave now. I’d hate to have to do this again…” Thanatos wagered it was more that he was too full to do it again. Not that he’d put Mariano through that. The mage had lost enough blood and enough of his autonomy. Varro merely wiped the dregs from his lips with a thumb he then put in his mouth to clean. “I’ll leave you to think about your next steps. We’ve got plenty of time for you to learn this lesson.” The heavy door clanked shut behind him, and the two were alone.

Thanatos took several moments face-down on the floor before he forced himself back into his more upright position leaning against the cell wall. Mariano’s dark eyes, blessedly clear this time, could do little more than watch him struggle. “Are you okay?” The mage’s tone was deliberately even and betrayed no internal turmoil.

Thanatos was huffing quietly, trying to recover. “Yes, yes, I’m… fine. Just need a moment. Quite the singular experience.” He was also shaking all over, which didn’t lend credence to his words.

Predictably, Mariano didn’t believe him. “I’m getting you out of here.” That was his way of saying “I’m burning this place down, consequences be damned,” which Thanatos found adorable, but also misguided.

He laughed. “Your concern is noted and appreciated, mortal mage, but I invite you to consider what happens after the steel door.”

“I’ll manage.”

“As attractive as that is, I can handle a bit of minor manhandling.” Mariano never blamed Thanatos for getting him in trouble like this. He always focused on solutions. Than wasn’t sure he deserved that. He certainly deserved to endure a bit of abuse for the trouble he always put others through. “Save it for when we have a plan, hm?”

The mage clearly didn’t agree. “So, where does that leave us? Back at square one?”

“Not quite. I’m no longer in danger of losing my mind, for one. The blood tithe has been paid, Varro can’t undo that. Starvation is a much less pressing matter.” Mariano stared at him. “Oh, don’t look like that. It would take weeks for me to die of it. That is a much more forgiving timeline.” Weeks of awful conditions, he knew he could endure. He wasn’t sure he could stand Varro draining him again.

“Because you starving to death is the more forgiving option.”

Annoyingly correct as ever. “I’m not suggesting we allow things to escalate that far. There’s no need for theatrics, mortal mage. Relax for once and actually listen. Behold, the crux: time. Assembling our pieces and gathering information.” The dragon was the most significant asset. Even an approximate location would improve any sort of escape plan.

He was about to launch into a more detailed explanation of this, but Mariano shook his head and sighed. “Let’s shelve this and talk about it later.”

Ah. Preparing an argument, of course. Thanatos could respect that. “Fine, then.”

“Fine.”

---

Starvation wasn’t nearly as easy as Thanatos had made it sound, Mariano noted. The vampire had initially tried to keep up with his usual entertaining persona, telling stories and making light of the situation like he always did. It would have been more endearing if it hadn’t been clear that the effort was too much for him as the days went on. He held up well to the taunts of their captor and even being smacked around every few hours until Varro got bored and went away again, but there would also be long periods where he retreated into himself, staring listlessly into space like someone waiting for the end.

He seemed so… tired. Thanatos’s eyes always glowed at least a little in the dark whether or not he was hungry, but now even in the half-gloom of the cell they seemed dull and their crimson color was muddied, as if looking through a dirty window. Mariano had taken to counting the seconds between the vampire’s breaths, usually somewhere around thirty but now often in the hundreds, as if he didn’t have the strength to shift his chest more often. It was awful to watch someone he loved just waste away like this.

There was a spark of good news among the guttering embers of the situation. Though his meager ration of lumpy oatmeal was unappetizing at best and nauseating at worst, whether by its own merit or the guilt of eating while Thanatos starved, he wasn’t getting the familiar heavy feeling of pact dampeners as he spooned it into his mouth this time. It seemed as if someone had neglected to add them. That meant that his pact was slowly reopening, he was getting echoes and ghosts of emotion from the other end, the red of anger and the blue of worry — with a bit of yellow as well, he realized with tempered excitement, when Bastian recognized he could feel him, too. If he focused, he could work out an approximate distance: just over a day away as the dragon flew. He and Thanatos could make that distance up if they had to. It was worth trying. It wasn’t worth letting Than get any weaker.

“Thanatos,” Mariano began, and waited for the vampire’s leaden gaze to sweep over him. The pupils contracted as they focused and gave him the vague feeling of being hunted. “I think I can feel Bastian.”

“Good,” was all Thanatos said. It didn’t look like he had the energy to say much else, though he shifted slightly, one hand tucked protectively against his stomach. He blinked, but maintained the same intense eye contact.

Mariano tried again. “We can just go to him now. I’ll break us out and—”

“You’d have to carry me. Even you couldn’t fight your way out of a place like this with me slung over your shoulder. You are incredible, mortal mage, but you are not a dragon.” Than’s voice was much quieter than usual, and though his words carried their usual pragmatic force, his tone evoked explaining a difficult concept to a child for the seventh time more than discussing an escape from a torture dungeon, even though he’d seen what Mariano could do if he put his mind to it.

“I’ll figure it out,” Mariano pressed back. “I can’t sit here and watch you waste away, Than. I love you too much for that. You said we should wait, we’ve been waiting, I think it’s time to—”

Thanatos snorted humorlessly. “You think I’d enjoy watching you die trying to help me escape the consequences of my actions? I know you have difficulty with that sometimes, but really, Mariano, I thought you were smarter.”

“That’s… unfair, Thanatos. And a little mean.” Mariano frowned. Where was this coming from?

“Isn’t it just? Life is often unfair and mean.” The stare broke as Thanatos rolled his eyes and then averted them. “Go ahead and get yourself killed. Not as if I can stop you.”

For a moment, Mariano wondered if he really was just being dramatic again. If Thanatos really thought he could and should take the abuse, maybe there was just a plan he wasn’t sharing, a detail Mariano wasn’t seeing. Then he decided that was fucking stupid.

He almost told Thanatos so, though in kinder words, but the vampire sighed and spoke again. “No, you’re right. You should go. You have Bastian and… people who care about you. If you leave me here, they oughtn’t chase you. The border of his territory is ten miles to the north. You… deserve to continue your life.”

“And you don’t? I’m not leaving you here. You let him get to you, let him make you think your life is a waste, didn’t you?”

Than blinked at him, then smiled sadly. “I’m being silly again, aren’t I?” A pause. “How far is Bastian? I’ll be strong enough to walk the next time I eat, that would be a good time to—” The door rattled as it unlocked and admitted Varro once again.

“Come, Iuventus. I’ve thought of a most diverting activity for this evening. I got a letter in from Lady Valkayne. She provided some enlightening insights about your time in her care that I think will be quite instructive.” Thanatos blanched as the guards hauled him to his feet. Mariano hadn’t heard him mention this name before, but it clearly meant nothing good.

He almost moved to do something about it, but Thanatos gave him one of his trademark self-deprecating smiles and assured him he’d be all right. Between the chains and the three hostile vampires, the odds weren’t incredible. He’d wait one more time. Just one more time. As soon as they brought Thanatos back to the cell, the two of them would be leaving.

What he didn’t expect was the state Thanatos would be in when he returned. The guards didn’t even bother chaining him up again, they just hurled him bodily onto the floor at Mariano’s feet. The vampire’s previously lifeless crimson eyes had brightened back up into the brilliant scarlet associated with his curse. But instead of the desperate search for blood Mariano would have expected, Thanatos could only groan softly as his head lolled to the side. He was soaking wet, dark hair clinging limply to an ashen-pale forehead. Though he’d never really looked dead to Mariano before, now it was easy to believe he was a walking corpse. He needed blood. Now. Escape would have to wait.

Bound as he was, Mariano had few options. His wrists were encased in the soon to be useless suppressor cuffs, and he didn’t think Thanatos had the strength to feed from the neck like he usually would. The only easily accessible patch of exposed skin was near the elbow, between where his shirt ended — torn near the beginning of it all — and the cuffs began. “Than!” he called out, and the vampire’s eyes meandered upward to meet his own. He saw no recognition in them, only fear, pain, exhaustion. “Than, please, you have to drink, here…” He thrust his arm into the open mouth and was rewarded by a flash of white teeth and black sclera as Thanatos’s fangs plunged deep into the vein.

Without the silver shackles, the vampire’s Shadow was free to use every tool at its disposal to hunt. Mariano felt the heavy warmth of Thanatos’s hypnosis settle over him, but their desires were already aligned, there was nothing to change. “It’s okay, Than. You don’t need to use that on me. Relax and drink.” He carded his fingers slowly through Thanatos’s still-wet hair, the pain of the bite barely registering to him.

The color gradually returned to Thanatos’s face, and between one blink and the next, Mariano could see his personality come back before he pulled his fangs from the punctures and sealed them with his tongue. “Mariano?”

The mage laughed softly with relief. “Yeah, it’s me. You all right?”

He didn’t get a chance to respond. Like clockwork, the heavy door swung open again to admit a swaggering Varro, clearly having enjoyed whatever water-based torment he’d just subjected Thanatos to and itching to come back for more. “Guess who,” he chuckled, an overplayed opener at best, but he didn’t waste time in hauling Thanatos up off of Mariano’s lap and trying to prop him up against the wall to give up the blood again. Thanatos didn’t just let him, though. He summoned his shields, trying to keep hands away from him. Varro merely clucked his tongue and brought his own shadow to bear, beating at what little resistance Thanatos could put up.

It was obvious Thanatos couldn’t hold out against a better fed and much stronger vampire for very long. He was shaking with effort even if his eyes blazed scarlet once again with defiance and the light of his contract. It wasn’t right to just let him fight on his own. Mariano decided that he’d sat on his hands long enough. Time to show what a war mage could do.

---

Even a worm will turn, Thanatos thought. That explained why he was suddenly fighting for his life the instant he got a bit of freedom and some blood in him. The blood haze had barely receded — the drumbeat of hot salt food delicious more still echoed in the back of his head, but he’d felt the primal drive to force foreign hands away from his body, to prevent himself being violated again. Varro was so unperturbed by his resistance he didn’t even bother calling the guards back in, but so focused were the two vampires on each other that they forgot they weren’t the only factors in the equation.

The ultrasonic hum an idling mage constantly emitted was difficult to make out over the sounds of the scuffle, but Thanatos could pick out a distinct upward shift in pitch: Mariano, attempting to force a cast through the restraints. The sound built into a resonating screech like microphone feedback. A flood of relief washed through Thanatos and he redoubled his efforts, now with a focus on keeping Varro’s attention away from the crackles and snaps of each amplified surge of magic slipping out around the ward. The cuffs should have been enough to keep most mortal mages from even attempting something like this. Mariano wasn’t most mages. The screech pitched higher and higher until it strained the limit of even Thanatos’s hearing, an awful hissing whine. Moments later, there was a soft pop as if a lightbulb had burst, and then the roar of igniting plasma.

The stream of blue that erupted from Mariano’s teeth melted through the cuffs in a trice. When he got to his feet, his pact rings glowed more brightly than they had in days and white fire blazed at his palms. There was the avenging angel Thanatos loved so dearly: tall, dark, and ready to turn a vampire into a pile of ash. Varro did turn when he heard the noise, gathering liquid shadow around him with a snarl. “What did I tell you about interfering in the affairs of higher beings?” he growled, or at least, Thanatos guessed that was the end of the sentence. Varro never got to finish, a burning hole through his windpipe quickly followed by one through the chest, obliterating the heart. Mariano wasn’t one for one-liners. Gods, that was hot.

Finally, Thanatos had time to catch his breath. The damage from the repeated drownings, seventeen total, was already fading thanks to Mariano’s gift. And a gift it truly was, freely given, not asked for. Mariano always gave of himself when Thanatos needed it, without hesitation and with no need to be convinced. If he didn’t want to be somewhere, he wouldn’t be, as he had clearly demonstrated. The reason he belonged to Thanatos — and Thanatos to him, he thought with a thrill — was exclusively by his own choice. He was not stolen property; he was a friend, a partner, a lover.

“Are you all right?” Mariano’s hand on his shoulder interrupted his thoughts. “Can you walk or do you need—”

“I’m fine, darling, really,” Thanatos was quick to reassure. “You were incredible.”

“Couldn’t watch it again.” Mariano started working on the door, focused plasma from his hands parting the metal with ease. As it crashed to the floor, footsteps drummed in the hallway. They’d have company soon. “Ready to go home?”

They were both in terrible shape and had less than ten seconds before confronting an army. Escape would be nothing less than a desperate affair of fighting for their lives, even with the head of the snake still smoldering on the ground between them. Still, somehow, the cloud of despair that had filled the tiny cell and hung oppressively over them for days seemed to spill from the open door into the hall and leave them both breathing just that bit more freely. Thanatos almost wanted to laugh. Instead, he focused his blood sense into identifying the strength of the numbers coming toward them. He might as well be useful: no rest for the wicked, after all.

“Indeed, mortal mage. Let’s not keep Bastian waiting.”

taglist: @albatris, @athenswrites

[seaweedbraens]

Honestly ricks new book has just inspired me to reread wcwsthwas again.

I'm convinced Rick doesn't remember who his characters are anymore.

ill be the first to admit my characters can also be ooc! i think ive also fallen into the 'annabeth as a mom friend' trap (though piper is usually annabeth's mom in my fic) and i do think i have a lot of work to do keeping my characterizations consistent.

but heres the crux of my problem, right: this isnt my job. im a girl in my twenties who works full time and writes for fun. my ao3 is my hobby, and the characters i write are not canon. thats why it KILLS ME that rick writes with such a loose pen. in this new book, ive seen at least 5 inconsistencies, and thats IGNORING the timeline one (because why are people acting like leo is alive???). he has changed....just core things about characters. like grover the vegetarian eating a bacon sandwich and clovis now being morpehus' son. lack of attention to the little details, imo, just shows a lack of care. and as @glove23 pointed out, it shows that he really doeant respect his readers. he's acting like we're idiots, like we arent going to notice the changes. and, at the risk of aounding like a scooby doo villain, HES GETTING AWAY WITH IT TOO!! twitter laps up everything he does. it infuriates me to a whole other level.

this man is retconning shit left and right, tweaking stories previous to suit whatever new one he's writiig at the moment, and it just comes off as disrespectful and sloppy. fic writers are doing better than him at just about everything at this point. im not even talking about ME. there are heaps of really incredible pjo authors who seem to understand and respect the source material far more than rick seems to these days. and thats a goddamn shame.

ive read snippets of the book - some parts are okay and some are passable but most feel...weird. i dont know if its just me, but even the percabeth felt off. i hate how percy calls himself dumb in, like, every second sentence. when did that become a thing? and WHY? i wouldnt be surprised if this was ghostwritten. tbh, i hope it is. like you said, it feels like rick doesnt know how to write his characters anymore :/ sucks but i feel like i need to add a disclaimer to every fic now: this author has read only the original pjo and hoo books and all characters are written based on the ones of those series.

ANYWAY THIS IS NOT WHAT U ASKED FOR I WENT ON A BIGASS TANGENT IM SORRY SHSKSKSJSKSK

sidenote: to the poor souls running the riordanverse wiki, GOOD LUCK

[dandelion-wings]

The fun of this one has been, and still is, that I can jump around between three different "modes" depending on what I want to write that day: there's the hurt/torture bit, the rescue bit, and the aftermath/comfort bit. I sat down earlier this week and did an actual outline that stretches... somewhat into the aftermath, though I'm still having trouble putting my many little snippets from it into a proper order, and so I know this fic is going to go past ten chapters (why. why is it so long. why does everything end up so much longer than intended) but not sure how much further it's going to be (I'm crossing my fingers real hard for twelve, which seems a reasonable number). I've been mostly filling in torture bits for the past few weeks because that's how I deal with political anxiety and six days of it means a lot to fill in, but today I was in a mood to switch to the rescue, and started with the prefacing bit that I hadn't actually written yet. So anyway, for WIP Wednesday:

It's Lisa, though, who rattles a key in the knob and then, finding it open, strolls in and greets Jean with a welcoming smile. "Jean! You must have made it home last night. I am glad to trade that chair for my *much* more comfortable one in the library, but I would have been fine if you slept in a couple more hours." "I wanted to get started right away," Jean tells her. "Is Kaeya ill? Or is he investigating something too serious to leave until I returned? I do need to speak to him as soon as possible. As well as to Albedo. And you, of course. I would not leave you out of this conversation." Lisa frowns. "Kaeya isn't with you? If he was supposed to get back earlier, he hasn't managed it." A cold chill blows straight through Jean like last night's wind, but with none of its wine-laden sweetness. "Why would he be with me?" "You sent for him, didn't you? That letter- wasn't from you, was it." Lisa's green eyes narrow. "I should have insisted on looking at it before he left. He was in such a rush to transfer all your duties to me that I didn't think to." Even two cups of coffee in, it takes Jean's exhausted thoughts a stumbling moment to catch up with Lisa's. "So someone wrote him a letter, claiming to be me, and he... *believed* it?" "He was *very* anxious about your wellbeing. According to him, that letter suggested you were in danger." "How long ago did he depart?" "Four days ago." Cold fills her now, wrapping around her bones. Jean stands. All her earlier urgency, her compassion for the Khaenri'ahans, her guilt about the hilichurls, the driving need for action--that still matters, but far, far less than this new terror. Kaeya had set out to help *her*. Many of their enemies would love to get their hands on him, but given their fears around this meeting, she can only imagine one of them behind this trick. The Abyss Order has Kaeya.

[elainsgirl]

For a group who claims to be so smart you guys sure do lack emotional intelligence. No wonder most of the fandom dislikes you guys. You guys wouldn’t have such a bad reputation if you just ignored the things you don’t like. You pretend you don’t care what everyone else thinks yet all you do is talk about our takes. You clearly care. Have fun with less content and appreciation for your ship 👋

“lack emotional intelligence” you rlly chose to go through w that? An anti - known to make fun of elriels and say BS about the ship decided to post an elriel snippet and then acts all surprised when no one wants to read it or critique the fic and intent behind it. That is the perfect example of lacking emotional intelligence.

Coming from the side that twisted themselves over at me calling some of them boy moms in an appropriately tagged post they could have just ignored instead of bending over, trying to prove me wrong and flip the table calling elriels boy moms. This is another perfect example of when to use the phrase, “the call is coming from inside the house”

maybe anon, don’t bother lecturing me and instead share this “insightful” message with your own groups bcs they need to learn to stay in their tags. Not us.

Ridiculous BS always gets talked about idk what to tell you its been like that from the beginning of time, my blog is literally called “my place to rant” wtf did you think that meant? Here - take your advice and block the elriel content you dont want to see.

Thank God, Quality over quantity. I love every single elriel post in the tags so im doing just fine. My bad - do you want me to cry over the loss of not having random people including yourself not ship elriel or create elriel content? I think Ill manage just fine. I don’t blams you all. Not everyone has iconic, good taste. Have fun shipping the ships you like which clearly you must currently find boring bcs instead of taking the time to enjoy your ships’ content - you spent it here. Writing out a useless message to an elriel tryna act cool & unbothered which btw you failed at doing 🫶

[sweet-drmzzz]

wowowowow I’m finally doing a pinned post

DO NOT SENT ME DONATION REQUESTS THEY WILL BE DELETED

i have my reasons for this, among them being that i am just not comfortable with it.

This post is super fucking outdated btw. We have a new host (me, Cal he/they/it) who is a Coil fictive and uhhh yeah basically there was an entire sys overhaul which is... a thing that happened lmao

Hiya!! My names are Z-Fey, and Faele (pronounced fey-elle)!! I am the host of a median collective, and this is my/our main blog. You can find our plural side blog here: @treehousearchive

I go by Fae/Zi/It/They pronouns, and idrc how the grammar around them works (so you could say “fae are a person with adhd” or “fae is a person with adhd.” Please use my neopronouns as much as, if not more than you use they/it

if you misgender me I’ll eat ur knees /hj

I am faekin and foxkin, and I’m absolutely amazing at it. Don’t try to disprove alterhuman shit. I won’t listen. Also keep any alterhuman discourse off this blog. All nonhumans are welcome here. Yes even physical ones. Yes even ones that truly believe they are an animal. Yes even mentally ill/delusional ones.

Collectively we are aspec and arospec. Afaik that goes for everyone in our collective but I could be wrong.

currently I don’t check my discord, if you need to reach me my asks and DMs on here are the fastest ways.

I use a lot of emoticons, abbreviations, and tone tags :3

tone tag key:

/lh- light hearted

/j- joking

/hj- half joking

/sarc- sarcasm

/nm- not mean

/nf- not forced

/gen- genuine

/aesth- aesthetic (used to describe aesthetic attraction. Ex. “He’s hot /aesth”

if I ever use one u don’t understand just ask! I’m more then willing to inform!

DNI:

Pedos. Like genuinely. Pedos maps etc fucking disgust me. Stay tf away from my blog

Zionist. Yeah nuhuh. If u support genocide I don’t want to talk to u.

Homophobes/Transphobes. I’m gay asf. I don’t think you want to be here.

Zoophiles. No. Just no.

Anti furry/Anti alterhuman. Once again. I’m a therian. Y would u want to be here???

Sexual/kink blogs. Nothing against you, have ur fun. Idrc. I’m just not comfy w that.

Anti-endos. I don’t want that negativity on my blog. All good vibes here.

If you demonize mental illnesses (like schizophrenia or npd) fuck off. If you use “delulu” or treat serious mental illnesses as silly little things fuck off.

Anti aro/aspec. This shouldn’t even be a thing? Just let people exist?

if I don’t like u I’ll block u.

With all due respect, which is none, leave me alone.

Tags!!

#Happy Fox Hours

Foxkin euphoria and just generally happy foxkin related stuff

#Happy Fae Hours

Second verse, same as the first but w fae stuff this time.

#Zi speak!!

text posts and me ranting

#Soda Spill

My writing. Includes poetry and short stories/snippets from bigger stories. (Please note that since originally making this I have stopped using the name Soda, as that has gone to one of my headmates. This tag may change soon.)

#Faele agrees

Rebolgs!! I might forget to tag my rebolgs. I’ll try my best but if I do my apologies.

#Sad bitch time

vents n stuff. Me being depressed.

Boundaries: mostly im fine with anything.

pls don’t tag me in angelic/religious stuff, or send it to me. Especially if it has eyes featured prominently.

uhh i feel like this shouldn’t need to be said but just in case: foxes are a game animal where I live. I already see my kind’s hides enough. Don’t show me pics of that.

just yk… if i ask u to quit do so please. There’s nothing rly big other than those two things that I can think of. Be nice.

My filter tag list is here. If you are intentionally rude and disrespectful about it you will be blocked.

I have a side blog for Will wood stuff called @willwooddaily

thank you for your time!!

(userbox by @/plural-userboxes)

[the-sparkling-diamond-satine]

WIP Ask Game!

apparently i haven't played this since august so i thought i'd try and see if it helps kickstart my writing again!

Prompt: Make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

vampire satine x watcher christian

vampire satine x human nini

vampire satine x slayer nini

a light in the dark

i wanna breathe your air, press your chest against mine (think i know now what life should have been like)

give

take

winter holiday fic! snowed in!!

christian bijou shelter rescue

christian finds satine

maya gift fic

dream

nightmare

bdsm club modern au

satine and bijou escape

satine and bijou balcony

amnesia satine

romance novelist christian

satini andre best friend's brother

cs sex ed

ring rock box

haunted house christian overstimulated

christian and satine and andre neighbors

study abroad hook-up to LDR

massage

stage slap

neighbors au with bijou

childhood friends

off the pier

period

needles

you must've been looking for me (sending smoke signals)

injure

heal

"Please don't hurt me."

All Grown Up

ARFID Christian

i knew i loved her, then and there (i knew i loved her, touched her hair)

take this sinking boat and point it home (we’ve still got time)

reunion

pleasure

preferences

aftershocks

Nini/Satine panic attack

4 am shower

you took it from me (but i would've given it to you)

changing room

tell me you see me

Satine Hamish panic attack

Cold Satine

Bijou: the Sparkling Diamond’s Cat

sexting

if you hold me without hurting me, you'll be the first who ever did

last

first

Makeup Christian

Makeup Christian (Modern AU)

t4t (Modern AU)

Lifeguard AU

Jealous!Satine

OCD Christian

thanks, I hate it

Firework! for maya

to cover the bruises (which ending??)

Christian/Satine/Nini

Friends hear through hotel walls? (Arabia and Ivy)

Arabia/Ivy + Satine/Nini + La Choc x Baby Doll

Arcade trash rat

Missing Tour Hamish

Catsit Switch Up

Exes to lovers costars in a musical

Slower burn romance

gravity will hold us as we're holding on for life (and we're racing to get older)

nightmares

safe

too small to remember/too precious to forget

don't

"Come with me, to the stars!"

moments of tenderness

oral fixation

Hadestown time loop

pregnancy/kid!fic

in her sleep

non-binary Satine

Phone sex line

Coffee Shop AU

Fairy tale doesn't work

Theatre AU

Elevator - piano teacher and porn star

memento mori

Lush

5 moments when it wasn't safe to be himself (and 5 when it was)

Next Time Around

trans Christian childhood

t4t

chronically ill satine ???

first binder

needy

satine/nini kiss

"you're fun to touch"

experimental role reversal

airport crabs

satine as mom of newborn x neighbor christian

teen pregnancy satine

satine can't and christian tries to get her to

satini pregnancy fic

teenage kid!fic

scared to tell him

past baby loss

almost baby loss

chrisatini pregnancy

mom satine x teacher of her kid christian

acting abuse scene

satini exes to lovers

recovery satini

bijou christmas fluff

bijou shelter adoption

bijou piano singing

satine hallway run

satini club burns

satini poto movie

age anxiety satine

@satinechristian @littlelottediamond @elephantlovemedleys @ashleyslorens

@angel-with-paper-wings @mxssyrxcks

[itsdappleagain]

tagged by @emily-prentits THANK YOUU THIS LOOKS SO FUN

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

18!

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

141,974 words...which is a little embarassing considering jo, who tagged me, has 59 works and only about 30,000 more words. evidently i like my longfics.

3. what fandoms do you write for?

carmen sandiego 2019! 17 of those and one (1) original work that i dont mention in this post at all

4. what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

the cardinal and the kitten - 325 kudos

say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime (let me lead you from your solitude) - 164 kudos (we call her the phantom au for short)

simple are the ways of love (simple as the touch of another's hands) - 156 kudos

Upon the Sword - 154 kudos

Everything is a Lie - 127 kudos

5. do you respond to comments?

Most of them yes!! I LOVE getting comments I screenshot and save every one I get.

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hm- I guess it depends. Hellscape ends with Carmen's internal monologue just before she gets mind-wiped by VILE, but its technically no angstier than canon. they gave you life (and in return you gave them hell) is pretty angsty the whole way through and examines Carmen's trauma.

Those are both little one-shots, though- I usually end my reigns of terror within chapter fics pretty happily if I can manage it. The Phantom AU (linked above) ends in a dark place but leagues brighter than it seemed to be heading towards. It isn't a terribly neat and happy ending, and it tells a story of trauma and attempted suicide and the road to recovery from these. Let's go with that one.

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

In Love Is A Locked Cell Door Chase Devineaux and Crackle happily start making out in a jail cell and live happily ever after!

Ok, being serious-

For a one-shot, simple (linked above) starts happy and ends happier.

For a chapter fic, Choice ends with Carmen, Julia, and Gray all living in a very happy polycule pardoned from the law with full emotional control of their lives which is fun :]

8. do you get hate on fics?

@emily-prentits used to leave passive aggressive comments on my wattpad and we would fight in the comments sections 💀now we're partners so make of that what you will. but anyway, no serious ones, no!

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

No, not really! I have a few "fade-to-blacks" or skip-overs without any detail. The one time I tried writing smut it was really forced and hard for me to write...doesn't help that I've never felt sexual attraction in my life so I don't know about that. Curse you asexuality for taking papertiger handcuff sex away from the world.

10. do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you've written?

No, I'm not a fan of crossovers

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

I've had one or two...heavily referenced. Not in bad faith, but it was funny to see a lot of my plot and prose mannerisms reworded in a younger author's fic. I think they credited me as inspiration or gifted it to me both times so its not a big deal.

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

I have not!

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

If FRANTIC FANFIC! counts, which it shouldn't lol. Also the polycule is working on something :3

14. what's your all time favourite ship?

15. what's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have an au where paper star and black sheep escape VILE together and go through a sort of friends to lovers to enemies deal as carmen (renamed cardinal here due to never escaping in the boat the way she does in canon), though influenced by paper star at the start, eventually finds her inevitable path of good while paper star slips into a chaos that cardinal just can't stomach

ill paste a snippet here that i wrote but its a little bit long and complex and i dont have a ton of motivation for it

16. what are your writing strengths?

ABILITY TO MAKE READERS SUFFER

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

cohesive plot...lord help me i cannot plan a fic to the end before i post chapter 1 and it bites me in the ass all the time

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

if there's a small amount of it, i usually write it as-is in the other language and use external sources or context clues to explain it. if a lot of dialogue is in another language, I'll put it in brackets and write it in english!

19. first fandom you wrote for?

carmen sandiego. still going lmfao

20. favorite fic you've written?

that's really hard- i'm going to do top three in no particular order SORRY

Love, Carmen - this was the first or one of the first fics I ever wrote. it put me on the map a little bit (wattpad..) in terms of writing and boosted upon the sword and choice when they came along. it was really fun to just be young and writing after finishing all two released seasons of the show. i still like it a lot. its just cute and simple.

the phantom au - what a labor of love. i've had other fics (evil carlotta series, cough cough) that have been long and complex but those strayed into meandering and pointless and i lost a lot of motivation. phantom combined my love of theater with my favorite show and my hunger for angst angst angst. it was super fun to write and, at the risk of sounding vain, i pulled off a very hard to pull off trope at the end and i think i did it well. i think if you read any one of mine, this highlights a lot of my strengths.

the cardinal and the kitten - this is a popular one of mine that kind of serves as an updated love, carmen. i really enjoy how i wrote carmen and julia playing off of each other and my dialogue is very strong in this one.

okay, sorry about how long that was i treated it like a professional interview. i had a lot of fun writing this instead of working on a very important school project

[fayedartmouth]

Well since it’s okay please share some info about your upcoming projects sorry but im too curious and excited for my own good and i genuinely love your work read every single one in only a week

Well, in truth, I have like 20+ fics that are technically WIPs, all in various stages of development and completion.  I tend to get way more plot bunnies than I can write, and my WIPs range from rough concepts to like 30k words or more.  So it's just a wide range.

As per usual, I can't shut up, so the details are below.

For the record, some of those WIPs I really really love.  Like I have a whole series of Shoupe and preseries JJ that I'm super excited about (their first meeting, the first time Shoupe realizes JJ's getting beaten, JJ taking all of Luke's pills as a teenager, and a few more).  I have one very well developed with a preseries JJ getting kidnapped by one of Luke's associates and Luke blowing off the ransom (spoiler alert: it goes badly for JJ).  And I have a few now completely AU takes post S3, one with Rafe getting revenge on the Pogues by going after JJ (forcing him to take an overdose of drugs, and it's so convincing that almost everyone believes he did it himself) and a Sarah and JJ as siblings fic.  That's just a sampling.  There are so many more that I can't even remember them all.

One idea that just got hold of me this week is an AU with JJ and John B in the military.  There are a few other takes on this on AO3 that intrigued me, and the brothers in arms thing could be so fun to play out with those two.  And I mean, the whump. I may have wrote a few scenes....

However, the fics that I'm actively writing right now.  I'd say there are four (beyond the car accident fic I'm posting snippets of and the town council AU I did a snippet of last weekend).

1. Best of a Bad Deal part three.  This one is still in the works though technically kind of on my backburner.  I have completed quite a bit of this fic, which spans five-six years after JJ goes into remission.  I think I have a cohesive narrative at least through the third year with a lot of bits and pieces completed after that -- including the ending, which I really love.

2. My long fix-it.  I have been actively plotting this with woudsohfiv and currently have probably 70k done.  It starts around the mid point of S4 and maintains everything we see in canon -- but adds a secondary plot that manages to subvert it completely.  LOL, I don't want to spoil too much, but it heavily involves Luke.  The Pogues will still (mostly) think JJ is dead while JJ hits absolute rock bottom.  This fic is planned to be the first of a series.  We've been a little ambitious with our plotting and have sketched out plots for three additional fics.  The second one will really dig into JJ facing his trauma and dealing with his family heritage and Goat Island.  I'm really excited about this one!

3. I write fics for my friends for Christmas, and this year, I have two friends getting JJ fics.  The first one is for woudsohfiv, and she requested an AU of the S1 ep where Barry robs the Pogues.  IIn this take, JJ goes for the gun and gets shot for his trouble -- and the Pogues are faced with the reality of what they were willing to risk.  My goal is to make it eventually fit back into canon, however.  It's probably 15k in and is maybe half done.  It will (hopefully!) be done for Christmas.

4. For my other friend, I'm going on one of her favorite tropes:  seizures.  It's a fic set in that happy 18 months of Poguelandia 2.0 where the Pogues get sick -- and JJ ends up getting very, very ill.  This one is a pretty simple straight up sick fic where the Pogues have to confront that they're not quite as together as they thought they were, and wherein John B and Kiara have to face the reality that JJ isn't really as okay as he seems to be most of the time. Again, my goal is to finish this by Christmas, and I think I can pull it off. This should be relatively short hopefully in the 10k range.

Feel free to ask more questions or specifics! I'd even post snippets if you wanted. I only do completed fics on AO3 but I'm a lot looser here.

[alonetogether]

hello do you have peterick fic recs

OH BOY DO I anon i love you i am a child of fic rec lists, i miss those livejournal pages that were like just 50+ links to fics from all over so this is scratching an itch for me, even if ill only link a few. so heres a good mix of like ratings/plots and none of them are AU's as thats not really my thing though a few play with the rules of reality which is fun though

a peach so ripe that even breath would bruise it by auralcosm (E) - 4.3k

the sunshine of my lifetime by auralcosm (M) - 2.5k

all the wrong things i can do (and everything i love about you is a mess) by carbonbased000 (T) - 7.1k

ice cream headaches and sweet avalanche by withahumanheart (T) - 2.7k

the life of the party by pyrchance (T) - 2.2k

don't dare stop by intocooperstown (T) - 1.5k

itchin' on a photograph by emeraldcitydowntowngirl (G) - 1.8k

the way out is through by carbonbased000 (E) - 18k

i'm not gonna lie, i want you for mine by derridoid (E) - 5.8k

time capsule for the future (trust me) by earlgreytea68 (M) - 22k

and these next two literally changed my fucking life i love them and theyre both surprisingly similar concepts at the base of the plot? except ones pete pov and ones patrick pov

the antidote to everything (except for me) by snitchesandtalkers (E) - 22k

love, and other toxins by wanchor (E) - 11k

oh and also, my friend atlas is writing a fic that i am going insane seeing snippets for that is... ouppy :-3 that's all i'll say AND my friend spi is writing a forced closeness soulmate AU that i am ALSO eating up the snippets i see, so, when they finish those... imagine they are here amongst some of my faves, too