#(That scene was in the making ever since I first wrote this blurb)

[koushirouizumi]

{D I G I M O N} Original Chara{s} ~ Hikaru & Shane + TFOFW-Verse

(How it looks like when the img{s} Dont Work) [A R e l i c from my Adv+02 Shrine Days]

[crowleysgirl56]

Something that I’ve been thinking about for a good 6 months now, ever since Good Omens season 3 was green lit, and that was the three sentence description of the plot that Neil gave in his official announcement interview:

The plans for Armageddon are going wrong. Only Crowley and Aziraphale working together can hope to put it right. And they aren’t talking.

It really makes me think about the book sequel he and Terry had discussed and what was going to be included in that story.

Season 2 was thought to be that story. But then Neil confirmed after the season aired that it was in fact a bridging season that he wrote deliberately in order to get us to season 3, which would be based on the story that he and Terry plotted together in the 90’s and early 2000’s.

Neil also famously never gives anything about his stories away, always excited to tell us to ‘wait and see’. The fact we get this much of a description is quite exciting.

At first glance it doesn’t seem like anything we didn’t already know:

The plot involves Armageddon: Metatron told us as much when he mentioned the second coming at the end of season 2.

Crowley and Aziraphale need to work together: they have always done so before, so this time shouldn’t be any different.

Crowley and Aziraphale aren’t talking: very evident from where we left off.

But did you notice something else? Something hiding in plain sight? The plans are going wrong. And they hope to put it right. So what are these plans? Why are they going wrong? Who made them go wrong? What exactly does going wrong mean? What does putting them right mean? Also, notice how Neil doesn’t say Crowley and Aziraphale need to work together to stop it. Interesting choice of words right?

Now let’s think about the book sequel for a second. For a moment, let’s pretend that the TV series doesn’t exist (*shakes everyone by the shoulders* HEY, STOP SCREAMING! CALM DOWN! The show STILL exists! Just go with me for a second here, and you can go back to remembering the show in a moment! It’s OKAY! *pats everyone until the screaming subsides*). The Good Omens novel is structured with flashback sequences of Aziraphale and Crowley together over time as the story of the Anti-Christ and the Non-Ageddon unfolds. What if the three sentence description of season 3 that Neil gave was the actual tagline of the book sequel? Like, this is literally what he and Terry came up with? Something happened between Aziraphale and Crowley between the end of book 1 and the beginning of book 2, and the second book is telling us the story of the second coming, whilst at the same time providing us flashback scenes of exactly what happened between A&C? That part of the book is the mystery of why these ineffable husbands who spent the last 6000 years together were suddenly no longer talking.

Can you imagine reading that blurb and thinking “WWWHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAATTTT?”

Whether the intended sequel involved the story of a memory wiped Gabriel is up for debate. But I understand why Neil devoted an entire season to telling this story, because I don’t think there would have been room to do the second coming storyline and devote enough time to exploring the relationship breakdown at the same time in just 6 episodes.

And if my theories are correct, this is why I don’t think we will get any further flashback sequences in season 3. If we’re really lucky, maybe we’ll get a 1941 part 3 flashback, and a “what happened when they went back to Crowley’s apartment and body swapped” flashback (I’ve drafted some wildest dream posts on these, so look out for them coming in the near future). But unless they’re relevant for the plot, I think we’re out of flashbacks. This next season is likely going to be focusing specifically on the second coming, the consequences, and answering the question what does putting it right mean?!

This is obviously all opinion and conjecture and I could be completely wrong. I just like putting my thoughts down and sharing with others. So if you want to discuss comment or reblog! Let me know your theories! (And as always, please don’t tag Neil)

[rabbit-surfboard]

Fictional podcast recs

One of my friends got into audio drama and I just sent them a whole list of recommendations to go through, I thought someone who follows these tags might also appreciate it and perhaps have some more to throw in. I resisted the urge to throw in the little blurb about audio dramas as a weird little medium and their tropes that I wrote up. It was something to the effect of nodding at how the medium has rapidly been improving since Welcome to Nightvale started, also how a lot of the tropes that tie the medium together are products of the indie podcast scene being accessible and primarily based in audio. Also at how well horror works in the format. Those paragraphs went unsaved but writing first about the medium in general helped me to reflect on a lot of the things that make audiodramas appealing or repulsive to me for discussing each show in brief beyond just explaining what they're about.

All recommendations are tagged for the tldr.

Fiction podcast recommendations in no particular order:

The Magnus Archives

Horror

The biggest criticism I ever had of this podcast’s voice acting from episode 1 turned out to be a relevant plot point. This thing is probably the best of the best, but I would never recommend it to someone unfamiliar with podcasts because the listener only notices a plot hook somewhere between episodes 20-40 and that’s daunting in the face of a 200 episode show. Getting sucked in rewards you with 200 episodes of thoughtful content and a great explanation for most of the weird things this show chooses to incorporate.

Old Gods of Appalachia

Horror

Fantastic production quality on this ongoing show. Many seasons with interconnected lore and a hell of a narrator. It’s not my personal favorite but it’s quite excellent.

Red Valley

Found footage mystery

One of the newer shows I’ve gotten into, Red Valley is well-crafted. It becomes compelling very quickly with a rapid pace that slows down to land in a neat spot for a while so you can savor the cool parts. The production quality is excellent and the two main voice actors have excellent chemistry. The third and final season is currently being produced.

The Silt Verses

Horror

Often compared to American Gods, this newer podcast made by an experienced team is doing a lot of creative and fresh things at once. The magnificently fucked up religious system of The Silt Verses is both a neat plot vehicle and cleanly works as a criticism of late stage capitalism, where many podcasts like to jab at capitalism this one is much more pointed in its commentary. Episodes are long and very well produced. All the credits in the third season have been mostly diegetic and add flavor to the world.

Archive 81

Found footage horror

Slow to start but by season 2 the production quality and plot are among the best in the game. Unfortunately, on an extended hiatus.

Ars Paradoxica

Science fiction, historical

Very well produced considering its age, this is a highly regarded show among people who follow the medium. Excellent time travel mechanics here. The plot drags a bit by the end because time travel stories must violently contort themselves into a conclusion, but the first season or two are fantastic and it’s always nice to have an ending instead of interminable hiatus.

Caravan

Gay demons n stuff

Showed up, did magic and gay shit, disappeared and went on hiatus probably with some kinda unsatisfying cliffhanger seeing as I don’t remember the plot. Could I recommend it in good faith? Not until they at least cough up season 2. I don’t remember it being bad and that alone is notable for the medium.

Mabel

Gothic horror

This is the deepest cut on the list except for maybe Caravan. Lesbians pine at each other for increasingly complicated reasons, eventually devolving into them doing datura and then spewing cryptic poetry together for the rest of their days. The production quality is fair. The slow windup and creepy house are American-gothic af. This show has had a few hiatuses, but each time it comes back significantly more intriguing.

Welcome to Nightvale

Goofy spooky news broadcast

Old and iconic, not very consistent. Sometimes explores emotional, tense, spooky, or funny scenes well, but the show is really focused on being local news for an ooky spooky desert town because Cecil is damn good at his job. Don’t come here looking for plot, it’s a fun vibe and I don’t know that anybody’s ripped it off and notably improved on this classic. Above average production quality for its time which improved through the years.

Alice isn’t Dead

USA road trip, horror

Made by at least one of the Nightvale writers, totally different show with a lesbian trucker making wry observations of some magnificently twisted shit seen around the United States. The producers know how to run a show, so the production is pretty good.

Tanis

Found footage horror

Tanis is not good. However, it was the first fiction podcast to make me ask “Is this real?” and hesitantly believe it for a frankly embarrassing number of episodes. The stories in the first season were interesting and the lore is just some big-tent conspiracy style of cramming a bunch of fun Wikipedia research into what turns out to be an increasingly nonsensical plot. Every season after the second, I return to hate-listen and am gaslit into thinking the show might low-key rock a few episodes before the finale, which is routinely frustrating and makes sure to throw out any good plot points Terry Miles comes up with. The acting is routinely terrible, and the frame narrative allows lazy and frequent retcons, ruining what I think is a good premise. Also it’s incomplete.

The Black Tapes

Horror

Terry Miles started this show before Tanis began releasing about 5 months later. I think of it as one of his earlier works because it behaves like Tanis with an added layer of cringe from a time waster of an awkward romance(?) between the two main characters. I couldn’t finish this show. You won’t see this recommended as often as it used to be online because there’s many better shows now, but this used to be a big deal. There’s a bunch of memes making fun of the annoying cadence of the characters’ speech and iconic sponsorship reads in both this and Tanis. If you’re interested in some cringe atop your creepypasta podcast, the two are interchangeable.  

Rabbits

ARG investigation

Not as horror focused as Terry Miles’ other shows, the cringe is dialed down and the show is better for it. Tanis and The Black Tapes are more well known, I think the only reason more people don’t think about this one is because the first two don’t inspire trust in the production or narrative quality of this show, but I remember it being fine for a season. I have not gone back to catch up now that more is out.

Malevolent

Horror

Inspired by The King in Yellow, one man performs two voices and verbally abuses himself with aplomb. Having a blind main character with an extra voice in his head is a frame story I haven’t heard yet (unless it came up in the magnus archives and I don’t remember), the concept works out great for the frame of a podcast to deploy the environmental imagery that foley cannot communicate. It also prevents the podcast trope of lengthy exposition about visual surroundings from sounding awkward or potentially impacting someone’s character development to show setting.

Wolf 359

Comedy, science fiction

A crew of whacky characters is stuck in deep space, hanging out and researching a star. Since that’s not actually very interesting they crack jokes and fuck around for a slow burn until interesting stuff happens. Good but not great, this one is long and satisfying and a bit less heavy than all the horror this medium often focuses on. Decent production quality.

The White Vault

Found footage horror

I lost patience with this podcast even though the overarching story seemed very cool – it progresses very slowly yet appears to grow bigger and more confusing instead of deigning to answer basic questions for a frustratingly long drag through the first four seasons. I worry that this frustration may be the point and the Patreon gated stories are the drivers for this tendency towards the confusing patchwork of ideas this show communicates. The production quality is good though.

The Left Right Game

Found footage horror

Genuinely great reddit creepypasta got turned into an overproduced podcast – I say “over” in comparison to the voice acting quality because it’s kind of impossible to sell some of the lines, which makes sense considering the source. Brief, complete, punchy, interesting, and just a little odd to hear such a clean production but a creepypasta this fun deserves the effort.

Wooden Overcoats

Comedy

Surprisingly good production quality for its age, and also a refresher from the usual tropes of the medium. Just a chill sitcom about a funeral parlor in a small town. I haven’t finished this 4 season show yet but its good.

The Black List Table Reads

Movie script readings

Some movie scripts just short of making the cut to be turned into a full Hollywood production were well liked enough by a group of film nerds that sat down to act them out as a podcast. Half of the episodes are interviews with screenwriters, and the other half see a script read all the way through by actors. They’re all rejected for different reasons so there’s a pretty broad spread of genres. My favorites were Blood From a Stone and Balls Out.

[bengiyo]

2024 Recap: ✨A Summary✨

Post your most popular and/or favourite edit/gifset/analysis for each month (it’s okay to skip months!)

@troubled-mind and @my-rose-tinted-glasses brought this back, and @lurkingshan mentioned me in hers.

January:

most popular - Last Twilight Ep 12 (Finale) Stray Thoughts

favorites - An Apology to Ossan’s Love and The Novelist, and Goblin is One of the Best Shows Ever Made

Seems I decided to cope with Last Twilight’s disappointment by capping off three big catchups. I am still so glad that I went back to Ossan’s Love and The Novelist to watch them properly. I still think these shows get a bad reputation, and I’m curious to see how the Thai version lands with audiences. I feel like I could also say so much more about Goblin, because I’ve also been considering a rewatch.

February:

most popular - Quick Post about How Great It Is to Be a J-BL Fan

favorites - My first interaction with @happypotato48, Love for Love’s Sake Finale, Drama Shower Explainer, My Post About How Much I Love Dynamite

What a fun month! I made a new friend, and found a new favorite show! I was so correct about how much Japanse QL we were getting and how much we’ve gotten in the past year. Though I was disappointed in the end of Drama Shower, I’m still glad that MBS is making BL…and whatever Red Blue is (I want to watch it so bad). My love for Dynamite has only grown since I wrote that post. I need to see so much more Aungpao this year.

March:

most popular - Love is Better the Second Time Around Ep 2 Stray Thoughts

favorites - Perfect Propose Finale, Cherry Magic TH Finale, Cherry Magic Anime Finale

It really was unexpected that we got two good adaptations of Cherry Magic in the same year, both of which would supplant the original adaptation for me. I think the Thai live action might be the best one for viewers, but damn is the anime still my favorite. Perfect Propose also may have been short, but that show has stuck with me. I still think about Kai giving Hiro the first good sleep he’s had in forever.

April:

most popular - Threatening people to tag Unknown spoilers

favorites - A “violence” ask about I used to shout out Tadaima, Okaeri.

This month looks relatively quiet for me, but holy shit was Tadaima, Okaeri unexpected. I was not expecting one of my favorite shows of the year to be an omegaverse husbands becoming dads show.

May:

most popular - Asking other BL fans how often we’d seen a 69 in BL

favorites - My Post About Why I Don’t Like We Are, My Wandee Goodday Check In

Man, I really hoped that Wandee Goodday would be good. I’m still flabbergasted by how badly that show lost me. Oyei and Cher were so important to me. Pour one out for the homies.

June:

most popular and favorite - Love Sea: Tongrak is Kind of an Asshole, and I Like It

other favorites - My Love Mix Up TH: The Adaptation Changes to the Class Play

Becoming a fan of MAME was not something I ever expected of myself, and yet here we are. I’ve now enjoyed three of her shows in a row, and supported another adaptation of her work. I also am so sad that MLMU wasn’t something I could enjoy. I was so amped after Cherry Magic TH and had real hope that this could also be fantastic.

July:

most popular - I Hear the Sunspot Ep 5 Stray Thoughts

You can tell I was traveling this month. I was quiet.

August:

most popular - Ben’s Big BL Blurb

favorites - Knock Knock, Boys! review, Office Romance Meditation on The Trainee and Other Shows

There were too many episodes to catch up on after traveling, so I dropped Stray Thoughts. It was probably for the best, because it took up a lot of time, and it made me grumpy to write about shows that were in a slog. I’ve enjoyed writing more focused pieces since.

September:

most popular - Horniest Sex Scenes Ask

favorites - The Trainee Reflection on Adulthood, Happy of the End Review, I Hear the Sunspot Wasted Taichi As a Character

The Trainee was so solid that I wrote about it two months in a row! Unfortunately it coincided with two J-BL losses that I had to mark.

October:

most popular and favorite - Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo: We Are So Fucking Back

other favorites - An Apology to The Miracle of Teddy Bear, Love in the Big City Part 1: It’s Gay, Peaceful Property: There’s Nothing Noble About Being Poor

What an incredible month for me! I finished one of the best shows we never got to see properly in 2022, we got a fantastic adaptation of one of the best books I read this year, and Hwang Da Seul came back with an absolute banger.

November:

most popular - Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo reaction

favorites - Love in the Big City Part 2: The Weight of Homophobia, Making a Clown of Myself at the Beginning of Your Sky, Ben’s Big BL Blurb 2: Fall is Finally Here, Blue Canvas of Youthful Days: BL is So Good When The Characterization Holds

I feel like I must have had a lot of time to write this month. I still stand by what I said about Blue Canvas at this point, even if the finale threw a lot of this away. I also highlighted my Your Sky post as an example of how exciting the beginning of a new show can be before it veers off and loses steam. 

December:

most popular - Ben’s Big BL Blurb 3: Blue Canvas of Youthful Days Blew It, But I Still Recommend It

favorites - Random QL Superlatives 2024, Our Youth: “Don’t Do It At School”

I really love the end of the year posts as a time to reflect on everything we watched. What really stood out for me this year was how much I just let go. I’m glad I’ve watched less, and have stuck with things that compelled me in some way. Hilariously, I think it’s actually lowered my overall average, but my general mood is up because I’m not forcing myself to slog through shows. 

You can go here to find your top 10 posts of each month.

[jakes3resin]

Can you tell us about your other fics if you already have an established plot?

I'd love to! So there's quite a number of them I won't lie. I tend to get inspired by the randomest things. These are all in various stages of plotted out and written.

A/B/O fic (technically turning into 3 fics) that follows Bucky & Buck through the war, described below.

Courting Arc (top of my list to finish writing) - Bucky POV as he is anonymously courted during his time in the states just before he gets sent over to England (there's a post I'm basing my writing around I'll link it in a moment) <- published

England Arc- a quick look into their lives as they run missions with A/B/O elements (this will be pretty short I think) mostly snippets of scenes from the show just now with Omega Bucky and Alpha Buck <- published

Stalag Arc - Omega Bucky and his awful time in Germany. Here is where we see what being an Omega in war is really like in my omegaverse. Bucky is the highest ranked Omega in the camp meaning he's technically 'in charge' of keeping those Omegas in line. He's tested by his heats, keeping his pack together, and finally by a German order that could tear Buck and Bucky apart. This is a big fic for me to prepare for, and I'm building up to it by writing the Courting Arc first <- next on deck

Biker Gale AU (my beloved, genuinely obsessed with this AU) - this was inspired by one of hogans-heroes AUs. So, Gale leads an outlaw-esque biker club, and Bucky used to be his right hand (and lover) except one day out of the blue he just disappeared. Gale does everything he can to find Bucky, but there's no trail to follow, no clues to put together, nothing. Fast forward about two years, Bucky arrives on Curt's doorstep holding a small baby with the brightest blue eyes and prettiest blonde curls and begs Curt to watch his baby for 5 days. 5 days later Bucky comes back in town bruised to all hell with the FBI on his tail with their own nefarious reasons for tracking Bucky down. Bucky has nowhere else to turn especially since when he comes back to Curt's he finds Gale holding his little baby. (This could be A/B/O I haven't decided, but it's definitely at least mpreg)

Amnesia fic - this is based off of a post I made about the effects of Bucky getting hit over the head like 3 times in the span of two days, its... somewhere (edit: here). But its about Bucky waking up with no memory of who he is just before he gets interrogated by the Germans and sent to Stalag Luft III where he meets a man that his heart rejoices at seeing but his mind doesn't recognize. Buck of course has to deal with the love of his life forgetting him.

Magic AU - Bucky is a Scamander and its now everyone's problem to deal with it. The tag to find all of my ramblings for it is magic au (not that Tumblr's tag system works), and @getinthefuckingjaeger just wrote the best ever fic of Bucky and Theseus so go read that.

I've also got a few paragraphs written of Foster Kid Bucky somewhere but that might never see the light of day (that's also from a hogans-heroes AU) where Bucky is a jaded teenager just trying to make it to 18 to get out of his shitty foster placement when in comes Buck whose mother finally divorced his dad, got custody of her kids, and moved to her hometown to escape. It's about a Bright Buck meeting a Jaded Bucky (a flip on their usual dynamics)

Blonde Bucky AU - I wrote a blurb on the Twin Cleven AU post, and the idea of Bucky bleaching his hair on a drunken night out with Curt and Bubbles has haunted me since <- published as well

There might be more? But these are the only ones I can remember off the top of my head right now that are plotted out beyond oh that'd be a good fic. I have a lot of time spent sitting and waiting right now, so I have the ability to write a multitude of fics. I'm happy to talk about any of these fics if you want to come into my inbox or my messages.

[illarian-rambling]

@davycoquette with the fun question games again!

Get to Know the Writblr

Gonna put this under a cut because it got long, but feel free to treat this as an open tag if you want to hop on!

On the Tumblr Writing Community:

How long have you had your writing Tumblr/Writeblr?

Since the beginning of the year, maybe? Sometime in February, I think.

What led you to create it?

I was feeling pretty lonely having no one to talk to about my writing. None of my real-life friends are writers and I'm really terrible at expressing my interests verbally, so I figured online might be the place to go. So far, I've been right!

What’s your favorite thing about the Writeblr community?

Oh, the people, for sure. It's incredibly rare that I come across anyone being less than supportive on here. No matter our skill level, I really feel like every writer on here has a sense of being in this shit together.

What’s one thing you’d like your mutuals to know about you?

Hmmm.... I'm pretty open about sharing things about myself, so idk if there's anything major I haven't touched on yet. I wake up at 4am every morning for work, so if you see me posting at an egregious time, that's why. Also, if you ever want martial arts tips for your fight scenes, I'm your gal!

Is there anything you’d like to see more of on your dash?

I love it when people make memes of their ocs. Makes me giggle every time.

What tips/advice do you have for someone who made a Writeblr today?

You gotta interact with people. I know it can be scary, but even a reblog with no tags can make another writer smile. Chances also are, if you leave a nice comment on someone's work, they might check you out and leave a nice comment on yours! A community isn't a community unless you go out and commune :)

WIP it Good:

Which Works-in-Progress (WIPs) or writing projects are you noodling about, lately?

Lately, I've been juggling writing my first draft of Mortal God book 3 (tentatively title being The Machinations of Machine and Man) and going over @kaylinalexanderbooks lovely comments on MG1. My ghost ship project is also on a low simmer in the back of my brain, but I'm trying to leave that until I'm done with MG3.

How long have you been working on them?

Good lord, I started MG1 about... almost two years ago now? Damn, it feels like it's been so much longer. But hey, three book drafts in two years ain't bad! Honor's Outcasts, which is largely written by now, I started about three years ago.

Do you remember what inspired them/what got you started?

The two main characters of MG started as a vague daydream, which then became two important dnd npcs along with MG's main villain. I ended up liking them all so much that I wrote a short story which became *drumroll* three entire books! A lot of my inspiration came from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and the Foundryside Trilogy of books. I can't think of anyone specifically who inspired the characters, except that Astra was originally based on the archetype of the silent wandering cowboy/samurai as seen in a lot of Kurosawa films and old westerns. For anyone familiar with her, uh, things changed quite a lot.

How much time, in your best estimation, do you spend thinking about them?

At least ten percent of my brain's storage is dedicated to my wips at all times. As for how often I'm actively thinking about them... it's also quite a lot.

When someone asks the dreaded, “What do you write about,” question, what do you usually say?

"Uh, fantasy stuff?" is my go-to.

What do you want to say (if it’s different from what you do say)?

I really wish I had the ability to explain my wips as succinctly with speech as I do with writing, but alas. I would want to give a nice, book jacket blurb that doesn't give away too much of the crazy shit.

Let’s Rotate Blorbos:

Name any characters you created.

I think I'm really good at names, so we're gonna go down the list!

Izjik Meautammera

Sepo Kaiacynthus

Twenari Undetasib/Devaris

Djek Kagura

Astra DuClaire

Mashal Darezsho

Ivander Montane

Elsind Cavernsight

Duchon Avymere Kalaphon Spearsong III

Faalgun Falani

Nyda Burningrock

Kaulakri Ondohuroata

Pashananath

Anarac Fifth-Blood

Who’s the most unhinged?

Unhinged in terms of violence? Sepo for sure. Unhindered in terms of sheer chaos? I'm gonna go with Izjik and Djek as a duo. Between both of their high charismas and low intelligences, along with their combined expertise in fighting and creative uses of magic, they're unbeatable.

Who comes the most naturally for you to write?

Probably Izjik. I've been writing in her POV for the longest.

Do you ever cringe at them?

Sometimes yeah, when they do something real stupid. But, then again, I did make them that way.

How much control do you feel you have over your characters?

I think I know my characters really well and base my plot around their motives, so there really isn't a huge need for control.

Do you enjoy people asking questions about your characters?

PLEASE!!! FEED ME ASKS! I'LL TAKE ANYTHING!

On Writeblr Engagement:

What makes you want to follow another Writeblr account?

Probably creativity. I've read a looooot of fantasy/sci-fi, so if you're doing something I've never seen before, I'll probably give you a follow.

What makes you decide against following?

Any kind of hateful rhetoric or someone who doesn't want 18+ interaction. Other than that, I think it's important to follow people who write different genres or have different methods than me.

Do you interact with non-mutuals often?

I wouldn't say so. I get a little shy doing that.

Do your mutuals’ characters occupy space in your noodle?

The characters of @kaylinalexanderbooks @mk-writes-stuff and @somethingclevermahogony all have a little place in my brain. Favorites from each include Robbie and Akash (not to be separated), Narul and Bop (love me a good living weapon/teddybear of a dude team-up), and Nellie and Stellaris (their earnest kindness makes my heart happy). If you haven't yet, you should go check out their stuff and see for yourself!

And with that, thanks for reading! Go out and have yourself a bitchin day <3

[caplanbuckybarnes]

OMG I SO SORRY FOR THE ASK I HADN'T FINISHED IT I WAS ASKING ABT YOU GIVING ME SOME WRITING TIPS AND IT AUTOCORRECTED WHEN I WROTE I BC MY PHONES MESSED UP LIKE THAT AND I DIDNT REALISE OML I'M SO SORRY PLZ FORGIVE ME MOOT PLEASE I LOVE YOUR WRITING I PROMISE ESP YOUR BUCKY FICS AND THAT I'M SORRY

no worries, honey.. i figured that was the case. you want writing tips?? Sure.

Never force your writing. If ideas don't come to your mind, don't force them. It will sound like hell, and you will indeed hate yourself over it. Are you stuck on a scene in your writing? Skip it and write what comes after. The words will come eventually. I can't tell you how many times I was stuck on a scene to write out the following few scenes after, and then the scene I was stuck on came back to me in droves.

Write what YOU love and what YOU want to write if you don't want to write out a request/idea someone sent to you, then don't. You don't need to explain yourself. Don't feel as though you HAVE to accept a request from someone; you'll burn yourself out and hate yourself worrying over the request/idea.

Write about whatever you want to: your favourite character/blurbs. Write new AUs, write angst, fluff, smut, whatever you want. Ignore the antis; every fandom has them, and it's honestly not worth the time and effort. Block the people who try to bash you for writing a character/pairing they don't like. Fandoms are meant to be a fun, safe space. Write what you want, and love every word of it.

Don't proofread ANYTHING until you know you're finished with your piece of writing/art.

Get an extra set of eyes to look over your work, whether it's some stranger on the internet you trust or a person in person who you trust to be completely honest with you about edits/scenes you need to rewrite/whatever else they might ask. Sometimes, when we look over our writing, our brain ignores the mistakes, so get an extra set of eyes.

You don't have to post every day/week/month to be a writer. You're still a writer if only one word gets written/typed daily. Take care of yourself first & foremost. I know writers on tumblr/ao3 that have burnt themselves out writing nonstop, it's not mentally safe to force yourself to write just for a few commetns/reviews/kudos.

Which brings me to Ao3/Tumblr stats. DON'T compare yourself to other writers. EVER. Yes, there's always going to be a fic that's more popular then yours will EVER be. & that's totally fine. Whether you get one like/kudos/comment, or a thousand of them. ENJOY WHAT YOU DO! because guess what?? As they say on Whose Line Is It Anyway? THE POINTS DO NOT MATTER! you're writing for FUN, no other reason!!!

You'll be your absolute worst critic when it comes to your own writing. Don't be too harsh on yourself. The reason why you hate your own writing and think it sucks & nobody is going to read it is because you've read it over numerous times yourself and found it to be predictable; NEWSFLASH, DING DING! It's NOT!!

You will ALWAYS improve your writing. I recently went back to look at a bunch of my own writing from 2018 and noticed how much I've improved since then. Yes, the writing makes me cringe, but that's entirely okay. It means I grew as a writer.

Experiment with Aus that you wouldn't see in canon. I tend to always, always go for a good ole Mafia AU, because, let's face it, guns?? blood?? gore?? but also, fluff?? baking cookies with your lover ay 3am AU?? hellooo?? I never know where my mind will take me when I start a new drabble/one shot.

11. Take your time; don't rush a word out.

[kedsandtubesocks]

hiiii it's me, if no one else has asked PLEASE tell me abt guardian angel marcus? 😇

Hayley you are a shining light and i wish I was joking but this is serious me right now 😭🥹💕

Thank you so much for sending an ask in you didn’t have too and GAH 🥺 so grateful and appreciate you!!

SO!! I can’t take all credit for guardian angel Marcus P because he appeared first in our dear @yeehaw-djarin neck of the woods (thank you eri always) but I am obsessed with him?? I think I wrote a little blurb about him in Eri’s inbox too but now I can’t remember omfg lmaooo 🤡

But I so vividly picture him saving us from an elevator crash accident (thankfully no one else is in the lift!)

He has only been our guardian angel recently after he unfortunately passed away on the job. But, he doesn’t have memory of his past life as a mortal. He knows about human things and understands everything he just can’t remember who he was or what his life was and it makes you sad because okay-

I have this one vivid scene I have to write out of us going to an art musuem because I am just a corny cliché…

💌

You need to get out of the house, take a break and be outside. But with your constant companion tagging along you can’t make a scene just talking to the air so the musuem is the best of both worlds.

You’re thankful no one is around, plus wearing a Bluetooth earphone to play it off that you’re on the phone helps. So you get to enjoy and chat with Marcus about the pieces.

You admire the colors, the techniques, the brushstrokes together. Marcus gazes in awe besides you at the transitions of different pieces through every exhibit.

You eventually stumbled upon a classic Rembrandt, Jacob Wrestling With an Angel. You go to make a joke about it since an actual angel stands besides you looking dashingly handsome in a charcoal blazer.

“Thank you for proving to me that not all angels look like that.” You joking tease but when you turn to Marcus he is staring so intently at you.

“No… guess they don’t.” He answers soft and the tenderness underlying his tone hangs between you and Rembrandt’s work.

You don’t push his words. Instead you happily jump back into the self guided tour.

At one point you wander away from Marcus to go investigate an interesting painting that caught your eye. Then when you turn to find Marcus, you catch him staring up at a beautiful Monet.

His gorgeous charcoal eyes are watery, deep conflicted waves, that have you rushing over to him quick.

“Marcus what’s wrong?” You don’t even care if anyone sees you asking the air beside you a concerned question.

“I…” His voice is choked up, waterlogged and drenched. “I think, I don’t know why but I think I was an artist…in my past life.”

Your throat closes tight and your heart twist, feeling so overwhelmed for this dear man.

You go to hold his hand but then, you stop. Because all you will be grabbing is air. Because as an angel he can touch you, but you cannot touch him.

So instead you stand beside him and stare up at Monet’s work as your eyes feel as if they could spill over as well.

You believe Marcus was probably an artist when he was alive. It fits him. But it also brings in a soft ache that whispers how you wish more than ever you could hold his paint stained hand…

(Ok wow sorry this got away from me WHOOPS)

[amyisherenowitsokay]

claps hands together. hi hope you've been well, sorry i haven't asked much. buuuut. I forgot you wrote a thing until lately. :}

War On Love. How would it have continued/ended, what plot beats where there supposed to be if you remember any, etc?

also this'll sound weird, mainly because I can't really explain it and I'm still working thru it, but I wanted to say thanks for writing it? Finding it again and reading through it reminded me of things I had forgotten about myself for a while. Which has really helped from then to now. So, yeah, as silly as it sounds, thank you. :}

Lmao you're never obligated to interact with me homie, dw. Feel free to send me whatever when you're vibing, but don't also feel pressured to engage. You're too kind.

Long answer under the cut

I go back and forth on whether I'll ever update WoL. It just has so many bad connotations and memories for me about the headspace I was in while writing it, and where I was at emotionally, etc. On the other hand, I'm also incredibly proud of some of the insights I wrote about Gaz's perspective, and the overall plot twists and where it was going. I also still have a TON of writing for it still in bits and pieces, both important chunks and unimportant, AND like 4 chapters of the sequel written.

Sometimes I'm like, well, I could sort of finish it in the same style that like That Thing on Your Wrist and What We Become, which are more written in sort of continuous blurbs with gentle transitions and takes occasions to focus on really important scenes. I think with what I have written, it'd be feasible, but that'd also mean taking time away from my more important projects like Dead Weight and Re:MHNY2, so I hesitate to really commit to anything. You are not the first person to ask though, so that may be something I end up doing in the long term. A quick add up of the chunks of the story I have written says I have roughly 53k words of unpublished story for WoL. On the one hand, a shame to go to waste, on the other hand, I'm not really sure how I'd feel emotionally about trying to dig it back. Like I said, I go back and forth. Just for bonus trivia, since I gave the unpublished word count for WoL, it's sequel, which had a pending title of War on Finality, has 25k words written, and about a 2k words worth of ideas that I wrote, but wasn't sold on including.

I super appreciate btw your note about "things I had forgotten about myself for awhile." That really resonated with me. WoL has is a bittersweet for me because while it was my attempt to push through the gross stuff happening during that time period that I hadn't processed yet, I'm still also really proud of the messages I was going to include, some of the plot points I'd come up with, plot parallels, the OC's character development and direction, and how incredibly different it was going to be from anything I'd written at that point. I think it'd probably have ended up being one of my most emotive fics, and definitely with the (initial) darkest ending.

That being said, the plot of WoL definitely is it's own whole ass post, so apologies for not being able to answer immediately, but I genuinely think I'd break the character limit of tumblr if I tried to go into it all here lmao. Also, since it comes up sometimes from other dm's I've gotten, I think the better idea for me to do is make a masterpost about WoL and where it was going, include some screenshot blurbs for context, etc. That might take a few days, but when that posts, I'll reblog this with the link to the masterpost.

[peachdues]

Hi! I am fairly new to this app but I have been reading yours and other writers work and it’s amazing!!!!! I’ve always have had the thought in the back of my mind to start writing drabbles or fics but never had the motivation or was too insecure it wouldn’t get any interactions and people wouldn’t enjoy it. However recently as I’m off uni for the summer, I thought fuck it and I want to start! However I’m wondering, what got you inspired to start writing? And were you ever worried or insecure about your works not getting attention or no one liking them? I have those thoughts in the back of my mind which is making me not want to try 🥲 BTW I love your fics and I’m constantly checking for updates !! Your one of the writers who have inspired me :))))) have a good day!!!

Hello, friend!

Thank you for your ask, you’re so sweet! And congrats on having a break from uni 🤍🤍

I’ve been writing creatively since I was small, so the motivation was always kind of there. However, before May, the last time I’d written for fun was probably sometime in early uni? Later on in college, and definitely in law school, I was doing so much technical/research writing that I was kind of burned out with it, so I’d stopped. I picked back up again in May on a whim.

Once I knew I wanted to write, I just sort of daydreamed about different things to see what would get that creative spark going. I don’t even know how my brain narrowed in on demon slayer, as it had been a while since I’d last watched it, but it did.

The first thing I wrote was a scene from Bundle of Joy — when Sanemi pushes his way into the birthing room to hold the reader. I wrote that as a blurb on my phone and put it away. I started building on it later (like, the conflict, the development of their relationship, etc), so by no means was it a planned-out story. It was more of a stream of consciousness than anything, and I jumped around randomly to fill in the details as I thought of them.

And that’s still my writing process! I’ve sent my working draft of part 2 for Tell Me to Stop to a couple of mutuals, but had to explain that I just write full blurbs and occasionally stop mid-sentence until I figure out what to do next. That’s what works for me, but everyone is different!

As for your question on like, whether I’ve felt any insecurities — absolutely. But I also knew I couldn’t get better unless I let myself be a bit rusty at first, and I definitely was — TWAHM is probably my weakest work because I posted it first, and it shows. But, I also didn’t really post it expecting people to like it either — it was more of an incentive for me to do it and work on my creative writing, and once I started, it was like riding a bike again.

I’m a big believer in the “fuck it” mentality — so, I think you should just say “fuck it” and go for it! You might be surprised with how much people like your work — I know I definitely am! Pick a character you really love and play around with ideas for them — that’s why I have so many things for Sanemi, because I adore him, and find him easy to write. I used Sanemi to re-flex my writing muscles, and now I feel a bit more comfortable expanding into other characters, as I want. Maybe something similar will help you ease into it!

If you do decide to ever post anything you write, message me privately and I’ll go hype you up 😘 I hope to see your work soon!!

🌸🍑

[true-blue-sonic]

This is not a request or anything, but just curious: have you considered the idea of rewriting at least a scene of this arc with a more IC Silver (and as a bonus a more sensible Whisper/a more sympathetic Lanolin)? Since you asked what can we do to convince the fandom that Silver isn't a cute idiot, and my first thought was "spread your headcanons and write your fics with your ideas of how Silver would act".

Personally, I rewrote the Sonic vs. Surge fight in #50 to fix Sonic's awful characterization and show how in pain Surge actually was, and there's a certain joy in saying "yeah I get the idea but this is how I believe it should work".

Not trying to distract you from your projects! :P but since you keep explaining very well all the flaws of this plot, and how Silver suffers from it, I think it really needs a fix-it fic, and I trust your vision.

I have definitely thought it over before, but the work seems a bit daunting, haha. I immediately want to go Very Big and rewrite Lanolin from the ground up, but in the same vein I don't like her enough to really want to do that, if that makes sense? But there's definitely a lot of ideas in my mind about how things could go different (for example, let Duo dig his own grave more and more in issue 63 where only a "I'm so sorry! I panicked! I didn't know what to do!!" is enough to get the others off his back but leaves them all suspicious) while giving the heroes respect still. I could definitely make a document or so tonight with things I feel would have gone differently, and see if anything ever comes from it🍀

Fun fact: when we got the blurbs of issue 63 and 64 and I got annoyed at them, I actually did begin writing a fix-it fic... but I foresaw that the issue would be Duo, not Lanolin. And so I wrote a scene wherein Silver is training and Duo comes in and Silver offers to train together, except Duo is peppering him with so many compliments and interest in his powers that Silver becomes super uncomfortable by it and increasingly gets the sense there's something off. Funnily enough, we got a lot of that in issue 63 itself! That was quite interesting to see, actually.

[amewinterswriting]

🦋 tell us about your current wip

🍄 name a song that represents your mc

My current blurb for Magic's Servant is:

A dark rural fantasy set in modern day Wales, featuring Talli, a teenager who is in way over her head. There's also a talking cat with a secret, shadowy manipulative demons, and immortal figures from Arthurian mythology locked into a vicious stalemate over the centuries.

On a more personal note, the way I approached writing this is a list of my least favorite ways to write anything ever, and as such, this has been a thorn in my side for years. I started off with the idea of a mysterious magic cat and an abandoned church. To explore who the cat was and why he lived in an abandoned church, I pantsed a whole film script over the course of a month (Script Frenzy, NaNoWriMo's forgotten and abandoned sister), which gave me a vague outline of a story, introduced a lot of main elements and scenes but also introduced a lot of loose plot threads, characters and sideplots that didn't really go anywhere. Worse, I really didn't feel like there was anything interesting or notable about my MC (which as we all know is utterly unforgivable in writing).

So over the course of the next few years, I wrote a lot of backstory, sidestory, continuation of the story and notes. I also rewrote some key scenes of the script. Some of which was in first person prose, some of which was also in script format and some of which was in third person. If this already sounds like a mess...well, it was. Which is why I procrastinated on doing anything else with it for years. (To be entirely fair, I still thought about it a lot, and thought about the themes I wanted to explore and other characters in that world and more directions I could take the plot in. But I procrastinated actually getting all my various drafts together into one readable manuscript in a single tense and narrative.) I also developed a lot as a writer, practicing longform fiction on entirely different work and finding a more coherent voice.

The main reason I'm actually working on it now is my wife. I realised while talking with her about it that there were interesting things about the story that I don't want just relegated to a hard drive somewhere, and I want it in a form that other real human people can read. Or as she said: you need to write the thing. So I spent an absolute age on Scrivener importing all the documents I had, even the scripts and notes and scenes I had three different versions of. Then I plotted out a coherent outline - where would it make sense for backstory to be placed between chapters? What backstory would make more impact just implied instead of outright text? What order do things need to happen in? Can I actually fit this subplot in this book or is this going to be better as a sequel? Scrivener was especially useful for the notecard feature - you can write up a quick sentence or two describing the chapter and move it around within the project, so I could play around with placement and get a feel for the flow of the plot. I also love the notes I can make for each chapter - since it can get complicated very quickly. I use them to make a note of what knowledge each character has by the end of a scene - especially because in the earlier drafts, characters (and thus, the reader) learnt far too much, far too quickly, so this refining draft has been about slowing down the rate of information and introducing more emotion. That means I need to know what characters know what information at an glance, since it's usually a lot less than I think it is!

Of course, the most important thing is that I now actually like my main character. I think this is something only time could fix - when I first wrote the first draft, I was an insecure teenager who felt like I wasn't notable or interesting, and I was writing a teenager in a similar situation. With time, I've grown and had life experiences and can also treasure the abnormal that seemed so normal to me at the time. In many ways, this is a collaboration with my teenage self and a love letter to myself.

Which neatly leads to the song that represents Talli, the MC. I have a few, but the one I've settled on is One Day by Kodaline. I think it sums up the experience of undergoing big changes that can seem overwhelming, the awkward self-consciousness of teenage years and not necessarily having the right help and support available to you. As the song asks: "how are you still holding on?" and that feels like a large part of Talli's struggle throughout the plot; barely holding on while powerful beings try to use her for their own convenience.

[rearranged-fanfic]

I was literally thinking about you the other day and now there’s an update it must be fate 😩 I joke but I saw the other fandoms your thinking of doing (gonna be totally honest I personally am not a part of any of them but do your thing it’s totally cool) except maybe final fantasy, I haven’t thought or played that for so long though omg I think you’ve just unlocked some hidden memories for me, but now I’m just totally curious what other fandoms your a part of (whether you’d want to write for them or not doesn’t matter lol) because I myself am a part of some small fandoms some very dead fandoms and this is the first in a very long time I’ve seen someone say final fantasy so, yeah basically the gist of this is what are your fandoms I would like to bond please I’m lonely and starved 😔😔

But if you don’t want to reply to this that’s totally cool too I know I’m rambling it’s very late lol

~I’m from out of nowhere you never saw me coming anon

Hello, Anon! This response is very, very late. And that's on me; I'm so, so sorry 😭

I can use this ask to give all of you guys a little info on me, though! I've been asked a few times what I did before AO3/how long I've been writing. And I don't know if I've given an in-depth answer.

If you want to see my list of fandoms, just scroll to after the cut.

I've been extensively involved with fandom ever since I was pretty young. Lol. I got a laptop (with restricted access, of course) when I was about 11 and never looked back. I started writing headcanons on DeviantArt and Quizilla in, like, 2006. But I didn't really know what fanfiction was. So, I was essentially unknowingly making drabbles for years until I discovered fanfiction proper.

I think the first fanfiction I ever read was for Danny Phantom? Or Avatar: The Last Airbender? Something Nickelodeon. Lol.

But I've always been a very, very active member of fandom. I tend to hyper-fixate because of ADHD, and I use fanfiction/fanart as a way to continue exploring whatever my current obsession is, even after I've ravenously consumed all the official media of it. I've done everything from reading and writing to moderating fandom communities on LiveJournal to liaising with artists and managing commissions on DeviantArt.

Though, sadly, most of those old accounts that I used to have are dead. Very dead. Unable to be resurrected.

I started writing officially (as in more than small blurbs) on a little-known platform called Fanfiction.net. A very close family friend, and somebody that I'd grown up with wanted to become co-authors. They did all the idea work, planning, character creation, outlining and posting. I just wrote what they wanted.

This partnership lasted for a few years, but it became kind of tense after a bit. I wanted to do my own thing, and they wanted to stop doing something that they considered childish to take over the family business. We dissolved our partnership and most of the fanfictions that we wrote together were deleted.

They agreed to let me keep using the account for my own works, though.

That account has 3 stories left: a one-shot for Devil May Cry, an unfinished Naruto AU, and an abandoned Resident Evil 2 multi-chapter - all that I wrote completely by myself. But my old partner deleted the email associated with the account. So, I lost access to the whole thing.

Here is the account.

Needless to say, the whole experience killed my love of writing for a few years.

So, I just became a reader. And I did a few other fandom things behind the scenes. But I wasn't as active in participating as I had once been.

Until my husband encouraged me to start posting what I wrote again. As a 27-year-old woman. Lol. And I forgot how much I genuinely enjoyed writing and interacting.

Below is my list of fandoms. I haven't written for all of these, but I've been involved in all of them in some way or another - whether that's hosting an RP server, moderating a community or forum, compiling/commissioning fanart, cosplaying, manning booths at conventions, or simply enjoying them in the comfort of my own home.

This isn't all of them; I'll probably add more when I think of them. Also, in no particular order. Very disorganized. Oops.

Video Games

Left 4 Dead (All) Devil May Cry (4 & 5) Far Cry (4 & 5, Primal) Final Fantasy (7 Remakes, 10, 12, 13 Trilogy, 15, & 16) Fable (2 & 3) Elder Scrolls (3, 4 & 5) Dragon Age (1, 2, & 3) Red Dead Redemption (1 & 2) Love and Deepspace Batman Arkham

Anime, Manga, Donghua, Manhua, Manhwa, Light Novels

Naruto InuYasha Attack on Titan My Hero Academia Jujutsu Kaisen Baccano! Mushi-Shi Apothecary Diaries Heaven Official's Blessing How Dare you! Another Dusk Maiden of Amnesia Tokyo Ghoul Killing Stalking Hellsing Chainsaw Man Solo Leveling Noragami Demon Slayer Fullmetal Alchemist

Western Animation

Avatar (TLA & TLOK) Danny Phantom Code Lyoko Kim Possible Ben 10 Batman (TAS, Movies, & Beyond) Teen Titans Helluva Boss Futurama Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends

Live-Action Shows

Bones Lucifer Supernatural House Medium Phil of the Future Wizards of Waverly Place Penny Dreadful Doctor Who

Movies

🤷🏻‍♀️Can't think of any ATM; No brain power. Oops.

Books

Harry Potter (But seriously fuck JK Rowling; I only buy stuff secondhand and pirate the movies because I'm NOT funding her anti-trans agenda) The Forbidden Game Peter Pan Goosebumps The Chronicles of Narnia The Binding of the Blade Series The Farsala Trilogy Tunnels Septimus Heap Level Thumps Larklight Trilogy Stravaganza Series

[sinistergooseberries]

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

Oof, so.

I read TGGTVAV (doesn't this look like a nucleotide sequence?) and I just thought I'd give my feedback.

I actually kind of stumbled upon this book by accident. I saw one (1) post about the second book in this series, which is about Felicty, the main character's younger sister. So I went on Goodreads, searched this series up and that's how I started reading it.

From the blurb, this book gave the impression of a sweet gay romance in the 1700s. And I was all for it! From what I heard, it had a great plot and likeable, cute characters and yeah, I was in the mood for some simple cute romance.

Well, I was wrong. It's really a marketing problem. The blurb mentions like everything that happens in like one sentence, that too quite vaguely, and the romance (which isn't a significant part of the book) is just made to look like a big deal. Well, we don't get much of the main characters' romance, we get something more like an adventure novel. And it is an adventure novel. Yeah, it's got the gay couple, but really, I suggest you read it for the plot than the characters.

The characters themselves - I did not find them to be dynamic. I see that this is an incredibly plot driven novel and less character driven - most of the times you just see them being put in situations. Character-wise, I did not see any difference in characters at the beginning and those very same characters at the end. Yeah, they make choices, but like, they kind of have to in that moment because they're usually in situation where they have no other choice to make. There was this one scene, where they run away from highwaymen and go to their father's bank to try to communicate with their father-appointed chaperone as well as to get a bit of money for themselves. The chaperone had also come to the bank before them and wrote a note to communicate. Monty, the main character, sees the note and decides not to tell his sister and friend/crush, about this little note. And that is pretty big, right? This little choice is never addressed again. I had expected it to be one of the conflicts in the story but it end up being nothing. We find a lot loose ends like this.

Also, Percy, the friend/crush. This guy is mixed race. He is part of the bourgeoisie - his aunt and uncle raise him. He also has epilepsy. I liked the character. His character deals with some of the big things at the time - like epilepsy and being mixed race in a white society. However, the boy just does not stand up for himself. He and MOnty had been friends since they were kids. You'd expect Monty to have some perspective when it comes to race, but he turns out just as insensitive and racist as his fellow whitey-tighteys. They are at a party, Monty messes up, he is angry at himself and so are Felicity and Percy because of what he'd done (he's tried to fuck a French woman in the Palace of Versailles). WHen they confront him about it, first, he calls the woman a whore and literally tells Percy to go serve the drinks (in a place where black slaves were serving the drinks. which means?). This guy, for all the nuanced people around him, he never, ever, looks at them without his self-loathing-tinted glasses.

Throughout the novel, we see him being a huge dickhead and not get any shit for it apart from a few words. I found that annoying. And boring because this happens several time throughout the novel. And again, never gets addressed.

I kind of bored with the romance too cause once again, you get those high tension moments several times until it becomes boring.

I liked the imagery in the novel though. You know Mackenzi Lee enjoyed writing her little similes and metaphors. You know she is a good writer from that alone.

But, this was what I felt when I read the book. And also, I was really really expecting a cute romance, so maybe I wasn't in the right mood to read this adventure novel.

And I also heard this was Lee's debut book, so I'll cut some slack for it.

I give it 3 stars.

[whiskeyncoke-redux]

Sunshine

Pedro Pascal x Reader

A/N: wrote a little blurb while talking to @liquorlaughslove . Basically it's Reader letting Pedro know how beautiful he is. And we can all agree he is gorgeous, right? If you don't, exit stage left.

Warnings: none

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, let me set the scene: you're on your second or third date, not quite in the stages of a full blown relationship yet. You’ve just finished eating. Sitting either on the couch or outside on the porch. Just talking, still getting to know each other. 

You say something that makes him laugh. It's something you try to do now because ever since the first time he smiled at you, you were a goner. He's still laughing and he sees you staring at him.

"What?" He asks. "What is it?"

You, with absolutely no hesitation, and no idea where this boldness came from, "You have such a gorgeous smile."

He tries to crack a joke about it and you smile but say, in all seriousness "No really you do. It's like... Like sunshine."

"Sunshine? How?"

"Yeah. It makes everything brighter."

"No..."

"I'm so serious. Why do you think I try to make you laugh so much? I love your smile."

He blushes and looks down.

"Has no one told you that? That you have a beautiful smile?"

He still doesn't look up. "I mean people have but..." He trails off with a small shrug.

"But what? You don't believe them?"

He doesn't say anything but you have some sense that's what it is.

You frown slightly and again you’re struck with an uncommon boldness.

"Okay I'm gonna say something I've never said before to anyone."

Scooting a little closer, you reach out and tilt his chin up.

"You. Are. Gorgeous. And I mean that. I don't know if you're trying to be humble or you really just don't see it but man..."

He just looks at you with his lips slightly parted and a confused look on his face.

"Let me see... First there's your eyes. They're so sweet and warm. You can just see the kindness and a little (okay, maybe a lot) of mischievousness in them." That makes him chuckle.

"Then there's your nose." You can see him go a little cross-eyed trying to look down at it. "It gives you such a strong profile. Plus I just wanna boop it." So you do and he laughs.

"Then your lips..."

He's definitely blushing now, and you feel a bit of embarrassment wash over you but you’re too far gone to stop now.

"They're so kissable," you say as you run your thumb over his bottom lip. "There's more I can say about that but... Ahem," you clear my throat. "Anyway you are gorgeous..."

He's quiet for a moment and then he brings up something that  you had a sense was bothering him.

"What about the scraggly beard and..." his voice lowers to a whisper "wrinkles and..."

"Let me stop you right there," you scoot a little more closer. "When I say you're gorgeous I mean all of it. You see those as flaws yes? No they're not. They make you even more handsome to me. I love the way your eyes crinkle at the corner and" You take your hand and rub across his cheek. "I love your beard. Everything."

He is quiet.

You smile. "Man, even your ears are cute."

And that makes him laugh again.

"So I don't know why no one is out here hyping you up because they should be. Constantly."

"... Well you did."

"Psh, I was just stating facts. But hell anytime you need it, I'll do it."

He smiles again, which makes you smile.

"See, sunshine." You look around. "I promise you, it just got like ten times brighter around here."

When you look back at him you can see something in his face, you don't know what it is, but it makes you feel warm all over. He puts his arm around you and pulls you closer. You take his other hand in yours and lace your fingers.

After a beat he says "So about my kissable lips..."

And you just giggle.

[outerbankies]

yes post the dylan & rafe blurb !!!!

another new light scene that did not actually happen that i already wrote so you're now getting it anyway!

warnings: swearing, sad parent/kid relationships, old and only briefly edited writing

can we rain check dinner on the mainland tonight? family stuff going on

You should’ve known your phone would start ringing immediately—Rafe had never been a texter. He actually despised it, much preferring to call you instead. If you texted him first and he could assume you weren’t busy, he’d call right away. Or he’d text you first just to make sure that you weren’t busy before calling.

“Hello?”

“Hey. Is everything okay? Everyone’s alright?”

“Yeah, Rafe. Don’t worry. Dylan’s getting shit from my parents and I don’t wanna leave him,” you sigh, stepping out onto the back patio.

“Did something happen?”

You plop into one of the deck chairs, feeling Rafe’s concerned tone comfort the tension right out of your body. You’d been tense ever since setting your foot in the door today.

“Yeah. I guess he applied to some freshman early start thing? And he didn’t tell me or my parents. But he got in, and now he’s supposed to move in this weekend instead of a month from now and they just found out.”

“Oh boy,” Rafe sigh. “Take it that didn’t go over well?”

“‘Course not. My mom won’t even speak to him. She’s so mad she told me she’s not even going to help him move in now, and my dad will just do whatever he says like always.” You frown, thinking about how your father has been no help at all. You were the only one who tried to advocate for him, but your parents didn’t care. “I’m gonna try to shift around some babysitting stuff on Friday just to see if I can help him get settled. He’s already so upset, I really don’t want him to go alone.”

“No, yeah,” Rafe agrees. “You’re a good sister.”

“Thanks, Rafe. Sorry about dinner.”

“Don’t even worry about it. Just focus on Dylan and tell me if you need anything,” he says softly. There are shuffling sounds on his end, and then you can hear the sound of a door shutting and his background getting quieter. “You sure you’re okay, baby girl?”

“They’re just so hard on him, Rafe,” you say, voice wobbling. “Like they never were with me. And I know he sees it, so I don’t know how to help him because I don’t get it. It isn’t fair to him.”

“Oh sweetheart, I didn’t mean to make you cry.” And you know he didn’t, but you couldn’t help your reaction to hearing his sweet voice after an entire day of chaos in your house.

“It’s okay,” you say, using a sweatshirt sleeve (newly acquired from Rafe, his college logo on the front) to rub under both of your eyes. “It’s them, not you.”

“I’m sure Dylan appreciates you trying,” Rafe says. “And your parents should come around, right?”

“I don’t know, Rafe,” you sigh. “They were supposed to drive him over on Friday. That’s only four days from now. God, I don’t even know how I’m gonna fit all of his stuff in my car.”

Rafe doesn’t speak again for a while. “Give me one sec, Y/n/n. I’m putting you on speaker.”

“Um, okay?” You hear papers rustling in the background and the sound of Rafe typing on his keyboard, your eyes widening when you realize the time. It’s only three o’clock, he must still be at work. “Rafe, call me later. I forgot you were in the office today—”

“What if we took my truck?”

You blink. “What?”

“The bed is huge. We can put all of his stuff in it and still fit the three of us just fine. It’s not that far, and half of it’s just the ferry ride, really,” he says, so methodical. Like he’s running all of the numbers and logistics, but failing to recognize how big of a deal this would be for you. “If that’s cool, you know. I just wanna help if you’re stressed about driving and your car fitting everything. But if you wanna be alone with him, I get it.”

“Rafe, you—you’d do that for him?”

“And for you. ‘Course, Y/n/n. What else am I here for?”

“Rafe, I—wow. I mean, I have to ask him. And wait on my parents, still, but. It sounds like a plan for now. Will you miss work?”

“I’ll just stay late on Thursday. I was gonna take a half-day Friday to go golf with my dad anyway,” he says, effectively bursting your bubble.

“Rafe…”

“He’ll be fine with it, and I can golf with him any other time.”

“Please don’t stick your neck out on my account.”

“I’m not. Promise.”

“Promise?”

“Yes. Just keep me updated with your parents and everything, alright? I’ll book the ferry and get my truck tuned up. Do you… would you wanna stay the night? After we move him in?”

Your cheeks heat up, a smile pulling on your lips. You clear your throat, excitement sparking in your belly at the thought of you and Rafe alone in a hotel room. No parents, siblings, friends, or dogs in sight. “I mean, it’s kind of a long journey to do there and back in one day.”

“Mhm,” he agrees, and you can practically see the grin on his face. “Yep. Yeah, let me look into some hotels too, Y/l/n.”

“Look at you. RC taking care of everything,” you praise.

“Just for you. And quit calling me that. But call me later, alright? I hope everything’s okay over there,” he says sincerely. “Tell Dylan to keep his head up. Parents are the worst.”

Your heart squeezes—you can tell he means the words, that he’s speaking from experience.

“I will,” you promise. “Talk to you later. And send me that work selfie you promised forever ago!”

“If I do, will you stop calling me RC?”

—

Rafe pulls up in his truck, equipped with bungee cords in the back that look fresh out of the box, three coffees in his car, and a huge grin on his face. You told him to text you when he’s outside, not needing to make a show of having him ring the doorbell. Your dad went to work like any other day and your mother locked herself in her room, and you didn’t need to make this any more awkward than it would be by forcing Rafe to make small talk.

Wilbur follows you out and runs up to him, but Rafe’s smile drops when he sees you, although you’d tried your hardest to reciprocate his energy.

He gives you a frown instead, opening his arms. “What are the vibes in there right now?“

“Not good,” you whine, burrowing into his chest, Wilbur nudging his way to stand in between your guys’ legs. “I think my mom will just hide, so let’s just get his stuff in the car and get this over with.”

Dylan looks sheepish when you enter the house with Rafe in tow, standing near a pile of all of his stuff. His eyes had been drooping all morning, a combination of the early hour and the lack of sleep he’d been getting over this. But Rafe takes it in stride, and you have to remind yourself he’s an older sibling too.

“Hey. You ready?” he says, hoisting up a box marked ‘bedding.’

“I guess,” Dylan sighs, picking up a duffel bag and heading out the door without a second glance at either of you.

“Sorry, he’s just—”

“Nah, don’t worry,” Rafe says, picking out something light for you to pick up, nudging a backpack toward you with his foot. “He’s fine.”

Dylan’s silent the entire morning, shutting himself into the backseat and putting in his Airpods as soon as acceptable. He barely pats Wilbur twice on the head. Rafe finishes up securing everything in his truck bed, letting you get in the car to sit with Dylan.

“You sure it’s okay Rafe’s here?” you ask, turning to crane your neck at him. You tap his knee and repeat the question when he doesn’t respond over the music playing in his headphones. “I can kick him out and we will shove this all into my Rover.”

Dylan just shrugs, “Not like anyone else wanted to be here. He’s cool, Y/n.”

He says it with the saddest eyes, so you can’t even feel excited about your little brother accepting your boyfriend. Rafe hops in the truck then, leaning over to kiss your cheek. He nods at Dylan, cheeks burning red like he forgot your brother was there for a second. “You ready?”

—

It’s a quiet trip. You see Rafe try to connect with Dylan a couple of times, but he can ultimately recognize your brooding teenage brother wanting to do nothing but sulk. On the ferry, on the entire ride to campus. He really only perked up when Rafe pulled his truck into the move-in line.

Between the two of them, you didn’t do much manual labor besides supervising how everything should fit into one of the little rolling carts an eager move-in volunteer gave you. You squeezed Rafe’s hand in the elevator, tilting your head in Dylan’s direction discreetly as the volunteer talked your brother’s ear off about social life at his new school. It was the first time you’d seen him smile all day. Rafe just grinned down at you, pressing his lips into your hairline briefly.

You distinctly remember tearing up when your mom made your bed for you on your own move-in day, so eager as Dylan was to send you and Rafe on your way and start his next chapter, you instantly unpack his bedding and hop up to the lofted bed to get to work.

“Y/n, seriously. This is embarrassing,” Dylan groans.

“No one is even here. And I know you’d just sleep on this dirty mattress if you had it your way,” you roll your eyes, tucking the fitted sheet on. “So let me do this.”

“C’mon bud,” Rafe starts, encouraging Dylan to cut you some slack. “Let’s put those lights up. Where’d you pack them?”

Dylan lets the two of you hang around for exactly an hour, pushing you out the door basically as soon as his roommate and his parents arrive. Rafe follows behind the two of you, his hat turned backward hours ago to keep his hair back while he helped Dylan move—a new look you'd beg him to bring out again later.

“Alright. Obligatory ‘make good choices’ talk incoming,” you start, putting your hands on your brother’s shoulders when you guys make it to the courtyard outside his dorm.

“Oh, c’mon, sweetheart. He can handle himself,” Rafe says.

“Thank you,” Dylan agrees, sighing in relief.

“Okay. I love you,” you digress, pulling him into a hug. “But let me get one more picture.”

“Stop—”

“Please, just one more. In front of your dorm,” you plead, already backing him up to stand by the entrance.

“Rafe, a little help?”

“Nope. Listen to your sister.”

“Jesus Christ,” your brother sighs, giving you a half-hearted smile anyway. You beam, clicking away on your phone.

“Okay, okay. Thank you. Seriously, have fun. Call me if you ever need anything,” you say, squeezing him one more time. “I’m really sorry they didn’t come, Dyl.”

“It’s okay,” he says quickly. “Um. Thanks for coming. And for bringing Rafe to help.”

“Of course, I love you, alright?” you say, ruffling his hair.

“Go away,” he groans. “Love you too.”

You finally let him go, turning to grab Rafe’s hand and walk back to your car. But your boyfriend just leans forward, embracing your brother in a quick hug, patting him on the back. You just stand to the side, not hearing what they’re saying. But you hear Rafe’s murmur, see his hand come up to grab your brother’s shoulder once he pulls back. Dylan just nods, smiling slightly.

“Alright? See you at a tailgate or something this fall, bro,” Rafe says. Dylan just nods, waving at you one more time and finally walking back inside, a lanyard around his neck like a dorky little freshman.

You watch him walk in, and Rafe finally convinces you to walk back to his truck once he’s out of sight.

“C’mon big sis,” he teases, pulling you under his arm. You fall into a leisurely stroll back through campus, taking in the atmosphere. You have to look away when you see a girl saying bye to her boyfriend.

“Thanks for coming. I think it meant a lot to him,” you say, leaning up to kiss his cheek before you get in the truck.

“Of course. Have you heard from them at all?”

“No,” you shake your head. “I’ve been texting my mom but she hasn’t said anything yet.”

“The way I see it, Dylan had it pretty sweet. My move-in weekend with my dad… ugh,” Rafe trails off, looking up the directions to the hotel he’s booked downtown. “It was a very stressful experience to say the least.”