#Fanwork Friday

[fanlore-wiki]

Fanwork Friday: Factory Settings

What if Crowley returned to Heaven and was reset to a time before he became a demon? That is the premise of this week's Fanwork Friday, the Good Omens fic Factory Settings by an anonymous author.

Factory Settings is a novel length, canon-divergence story written within three weeks of the TV series' season two finale. It explores Crowley's character and how he has changed from his early beginnings as an angel, focuses on Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship and how lost Aziraphale is without him, all while also having a "layered" plot that wraps up the loose threads from the second season. Fans reccing it have called it an "incredible epic thing" and "an amazing season 3 until we get an official one".

Have you read it? Come check out the Fanlore page!

We value every contribution to our shared fandom history. If you’re new to editing Fanlore or wikis in general, visit our New Visitor Portal to get started or ask us questions here!

[dreadfutures]

Rules: If you're tagged, MAKE A NEW POST and showcase one fanartist or fanfic you recommend (with links), and tag someone to give their recs next! Don't forget to reblog the rec you were tagged in!

Let's bring back rec posts, and share some love for the creative work we get to enjoy every day in our fandoms! For ANY fandom, highlight either a fanartist or a piece of fan writing (or both) you love and tag some friends!

FANARTIST: @yolebrat

Today I'm highlight @yolebrat - an amazing artist who I first found through painterly Dragon Age fanart. Since then I've enjoyed commissions, and cute little doodle replies that make me smile!

One of my favorite pieces is a commission yole made for Mel (below) Give it a reblog and follow yole for more art of all kinds. Or buy a commission and get an amazing painted piece of your own!

FANFIC: Cheating the Dread Wolf by cartadwarfwithaheartofgold

I read this story long ago all in one sitting. It absolutely gripped me, tugged at my heartstrings, and wouldn't let me go. A Cadash/Solas/Varric Tethras rare pair, you have to give this a try.

Rating: E Pairing: Female Cadash/Solas, Female Cadash/Varric, Varric/Solas Chapters: 13/13 Length: 42,657 words Summary: Maria Cadash hung up the Inquisitor's mantle for the Viscountess' crown, but she's unable to stop her desperate and impossible struggle to stop Fen'Harel from destroying the world both her husband and daughter inhabit. The fact Varric, Maria, and Solas are all madly in love with each other just means she may have enough of an edge to win this game.

Tags

I'm tagging a lot of people on this one because I want to get this KICKSTARTED. Dragon Age is coming BACK this summer, and I'm trying to get twitter refugees who don't know anyone on tumblr to realize that there's a thriving DA fandom that has been here the whole time. But feel free to recommend from other fandoms! I love finding new fics and new artists to follow.

Dragon Age FanFic server tag list: @warpedlegacy | @rakshadow | @rosella-writes | @effelants | @bluewren | @breninarthur | @ar-lath-ma-cully | @inquisimer | @crackinglamb | @theluckywizard | @nirikeehan | @oxygenforthewicked | @exalted-dawn | @melisusthewee | @blarrghe | @agentkatie | @delicatefade | @leggywillow | @about2dance | @plisuu

People I Love In My Notes: @fiadhaisteach | @shivunin | @greypetrel | @littlewitchbee | @wildbasil | @peforby | @sucrosesorcery | @layalu | @beebundt | @neonteeth | @galadae | @thiefbird | @mel-0n-earth | @alienturnip | @ndostairlyrium | @v-arbellanaris | @demandthedoodles | @wailing-willow | @the-rebel-archivist | @thedreadblog

(There is a tag limit of 50 people on posts so I'm pushing it lol)

[dujour13]

Fanwork Friday

Thanks to @dragonologist-phd and @arendaes for the inspo to do this – great idea!!

I have a lot of beloved fics to recommend but this week I have to start with two criminally underappreciated PWOTR fanfics by authors I admire. They deserve tons more kudos. It's a thankless job writing less popular ships/characters but it shouldn't be.

Stay: Here, With Me, As I Go / The Links In Their Chain series – @silversiren1101

Ship: Regill Derenge/Minovae Arangeir

I admit I first clicked on this because of what was maybe morbid curiosity at the concept of a Regill romance but I AM CONVINCED. Many times Siren has made me cry literal tears over these two.

I am so in love with this couple. Mino is a Hellknight with a heart of gold who’s been through it all and still comes out swinging, a tireless defender of the downtrodden and just a fave OC of mine. Without compromising one iota (because that would be unacceptable) Siren’s characterization of Regill made even my flaky azata ass melt for him.

Incredibly emotionally impactful writing and deep knowledge of the lore that make the setting and characters come to life. I am insane over this.

Savor Its Sweet Bloody Taste / A Pulsing Wound of Need series - urgathoas / @camelliagwerm

Ship: Camellia Gwerm/Valerius Dragavei

This is another one my flaky azata ass clicked on out of morbid curiosity but I AM CONVINCED once again. The gothic horror couple of all time.

It’s sad that in the game a good-aligned KC never gets a chance to know Camellia. Harper fleshes her out in a way that’s chilling but also really endearing and made me fall in love with her (from a safe distance). And then there’s Valerius, the Urgathoan dhampir lawyer who uses his mythic power to turn Drezen into a necropolis. Terrifying man in every evil, power-hungry, bloodthirsty way and so damn cute about Cam.

Gorgeous prose full of just the perfect touches of descriptive detail. So much fun to read.

[shivunin]

Fan Work Friday Saturday

Rules: If you're tagged, MAKE A NEW POST and showcase one fanartist or fanfic you recommend (with links), and tag someone to give their recs next! Don't forget to reblog the rec you were tagged in!

Thank you for the tag @dreadfutures! I think this is a fantastic idea c: I am also going to do one of each!

Fanartist: @ndostairlyrium

I think the first piece of art I saw from Ali was this piece of her Inquisitor Ankh and I was floored! She has such a talent for tucking as much color and detail as possible into every piece. The way she draws expressions is incredibly compelling to me and the piece she made of Fenris and my Hawke (above) continues to bring me infinite joy. Just a genuinely funny, kind, and incredibly skilled person who's made just so many DA art pieces that I love!

You can find her commission info here or check out her DA blog here c:

Fanfic: Portrait of a Man by Dulcidyne

Rating: T Words: 3,136 Pairing: Cullen/Inquisitor Trevelyan Summary: It was an excellent painting: the man in it heroic, his face imposing to the point of intimidation. She opened her mouth to say that it looked nothing at all like Cullen but stopped and realized that it did look like Cullen the way most people saw him--the way she had seen him when they first met under a sky tattered and full of demons: a soldier, a leader, a man devoted to a cause, a man incapable of smiling probably.

This is one of my favorite Cullen fics! I love anything that delves into the tension between public and private perceptions for those who've been forced into a very public position (as the Inquisitor has been). This piece is one of those short fics that you immediately scroll back up to the top and read again. It's sweet, it's funny, it made me think, and I've read it many times!

(Also, this author has written some of my favorite Mass Effect fic too: Big, Dramatic Love Confession (Explicit; set in ME3) and Experiments in Diplomacy (T; Andromeda), the latter of which is just. man. so beautifully written)

Tags under the cut!

Tagging: @greypetrel @inquisimer @dungeons-and-dragon-age @blightbear @vakarians-babe @star--nymph @herearedragons @zenstrike @daggerbean @nightwardenminthara @pinayelf please give me your recs!

[rosella-writes]

Fanwork Friday Funday

Rules: If you’re tagged, MAKE A NEW POST to showcase ONE fanartist and/or fanfic for any fandom you recommend (with links). Then tag someone to give their recs next! Don’t forget to reblog the rec you were tagged in, and include these rules! :) If you have more than one person to highlight, consider spreading it out!

Bonus: Choose works by people you aren’t super tight with, or choose older works that maybe haven’t gotten some love in a while. :)

Thank you for the tag @dreadfutures. 💚 I have a writer I'd love to give a shout-out to, as he's doing amazing work and characterises Solas in a really moving, authentic way that gives me so much joy.

writer: @broodwolf221 | @bitterling (ao3)

I first encountered Brood's work through dadwc when he joined and began writing some of the most thoughtful Solas rarepairs I'd seen in some time. His writing is moving, his characterisations of not only Solas but Varric, Bull, and so many others are just masterful, and I really enjoy his writing. Thank you for sharing your talent, Brood. 💚

Here's some of my faves:

Fic: Seeker's Succor

While traveling, Cassandra reflects on how things have changed between her and Solas.

This fic is a sweet glimpse into Cassandra's mind and romantic heart, where her respect and love for a certain apostate has begun to grow. It has so much I love about the ship and really encapsulates Cassandra's sense of duty, her suspicion and devout faith, but also her softness and how she looks for the best in others.

Fic: A Show of Appreciation

Prompt: "Wait, that's mine. You fixed it?" While still in Skyhold, Solas surprises Varric with a kind gesture—and, really, such a thing deserves a proper thanks.

For those of us hungry for Varric x Solas, Brood sure does deliver. This one is so cute with its overwhelming sense of friendship over the entire fic, from the beginning where Solas mends a rip in Varric's jacket, all the way to the *ahem* heartfelt expression of thanks.

I tag forward, to recommend fics about Thedas at large or about Solas (if you're up for it - otherwise, any fics or fanart recs will be appreciated <3 )

@wolfs-dawn | @fadedsweater | @doctormage | @sugawara-kkoushi | @sidhelives | @little-lightning-lavellan

[broodwolf221]

Fan Work Friday

Rules: If you’re tagged, MAKE A NEW POST to showcase ONE fanartist and/or fanfic for any fandom you recommend (with links). Then tag someone to give their recs next! Don’t forget to reblog the rec you were tagged in, and include these rules! :) If you have more than one person to highlight, consider spreading it out!

Bonus: Choose works by people you aren’t super tight with, or choose older works that maybe haven’t gotten some love in a while. :)

tagged by @dreadfutures, and i want to showcase @bioelectriccell's gorgeous art! ( @shattered-eluvian | @pirpintine )

reo is such a talented artist 😭i fell in love with their work as soon as i saw it - they have such a playful, vivid style and a knack for showcasing emotion! love their character design and the expressions in their art are just so.... chef's kiss

and they share their talent with a number of fandoms!

such as this lovely nick valentine from fo4

gale dekarios (and tara!) from bg3

star trek (beloved salamander child)

and some , dragon age , and solavellan!

but seriously, check out their art! it's all so lovely 🥹💖

tagging others to keep the fun times going:

@inquisitor-julia | @ocean-in-my-rebel-soul | @fadedsweater | @flowerofthekeep | @here-lies-the-onyx

[kakairu-rocks]

Hey guys, wishing you all a Happy New Year! May this year be better than the last!

With a new year comes a fresh new start; and we, at the forum, have been discussing things amongst each other to set up some new changes for this year.

As you may be aware, we’ve run a lot of activities such as Meta Monday, Naruto Polls, DDN, monthly Fic Recs, and much more; and you may have noticed that throughout the past year, the consistency and frequency became less and less.

This is because there are only 3 mods here, and irl happenings kept keeping us busy and knocking us down, so the activities became unmanageable.

What we’ve been discussing is how to change that, and how to revive the activities that you know & love without it overwhelming us; and we’ve decided that there will be some slight changes to some of the activities themselves, and the frequency will change. They will still be run regularly, but less often; and as the year goes by, we may change the frequency, depending on how easy they are to run.

But for now, here are the main changes:

Meta Monday & Naruto polls will be run bi-weekly

DDN, Fic Recs, and Creator Spotlight will be run every 3 months

Meta Monday will change from having a Meta question & answer, to simply being a question; and if the poster wishes to answer, they will do so in the comments

Creator Spotlight will no longer be seeking individual creators for interviews, but will be asking everyone questions, so everyone has a chance to talk about & share their creations

We are reintroducing Fanwork Friday, where fanworks will be recced from previous events, such as Valentine’s Weeks & Maze Challenges

These are all the activities we’d like to start with, but we may reintroduce more or increase the frequency as time goes by, however, we have other mod duties, too, such as planning & running events, and doing forum maintenance (creating new emojis, writing how-to manuals to help you navigate the site, etc.), so it all depends on what we can manage on top of irl stuff.

Thank you for being so patient with us, and we look forward to enjoying another wonderful year with you all!

[warpedlegacy]

Fanwork Friday

Rules: If you’re tagged, MAKE A NEW POST to showcase one fanartist and/or fanfic for any fandom you recommend (with links), and tag someone to give their recs next! Don’t forget to reblog the rec you were tagged in, and include these rules! :)

Bonus: Choose works by people you aren’t super tight with, or choose older works that maybe haven’t gotten some love in a while. :)

Thanks for the tag @dreadfutures! Tagging @bluewren and @kiastirling-fanfic.

Today I'm recommending a fic that punched me so hard in the heart that I haven't stopped thinking about it since I first read it:

Cullen/Trevelyan, one shot, domestic bittersweet, 4703 words, T

It's such a beautiful depiction of love's mortality, of its enduring strength and the inevitable bittersweet ending. I wept when I read it, and it left me pondering it in stunned silence for DAYS afterward. @kantrips' writing is poignant and beautiful and emotional, and I would love to see this fic get more love and attention. BRING TISSUES! T_T

[xprojectrpg]

It's a Very Guthrie Christmas! Coming Soon to X-Project.

Image created by @nightmareinfloral.

[fearstreet2021dw]

Fanwork Friday is Back!

Hello and welcome to another Fanwork Friday! Please head on over to fearstreet2021.dreamwidth.org and join us in highlighting fanworks we’ve enjoyed, pimping your own work, and/or asking for recs!

[thedetectivessay]

📢 New Header Alert! 📢

Because we need a new one for the 5th year anniversary 😎 It seems to have stretched a bit, but I promise Jaesuk and Sejeong are there 😅

[harringroversdw]

Fanwork Friday

New Friday theme we’re trying out: general fanwork recs!

Come on by harringrovers.dreamwidth.org and let us know what fanwork you’ve been enjoying, pimp your own work, and/or ask for recs!

[kakairu-rocks]

Fanwork Friday - February 23, 2024

Here is our last Fanwork Friday for February. We hope you have enjoyed the glimpse back to the past.

Fanwork title: Greek mythology Creator: @animetrashmuffin From event: KakaIru Maze Challenge 2021 Fanwork type: Fanart

Rating: n/a Warning(s): No community warnings URL: https://animetrashmuffin.tumblr.com/post/658978729231581184/starting-my-kakairu-maze-challenge-hosted-by

Description: Don't you love a kkir AU, and a bonus with the artist's trademark comedic touch.

Starting my Kakairu maze challenge hosted by @kakairu-rocks

Today’s prompt is Greek Mythology so I am of course continuing my Greek Mythology AU with Ares!Kakashi

Statue is based on the Ludovisi Ares statue in the Roman National Museum

[dujour13]

Fanwork Friday

Last week it was vastly under-appreciated fics, this week it’s fics I will keep forever in my heart 💘 (also vastly under-appreciated tbh)

Like the World is Ending / The Intrepid Alchemist’s Guide to Fate, Chance and Demon Apocalypses series - @arendaes

Ship: Ariadne Trias/Woljif Jefto/Daeran Arendae

First a shout out to the series title. Legendary

Pre-throuple relationship set in Daeran’s first quest in the game, with Ariadne and Woljif exploring (sneaking around) Heaven’s Edge, and all three of them exploring a certain fascination for each other. The sweet tension is palpable. Beautifully written from Ariadne’s and Woljif’s POV as they find out more about Daeran’s tortured past. Funny and full of great dialogue with the three of them teasing each other but underneath it all starting to care. Their dynamic is always a huge treat, a personal fave.

Love and War - @dragonologist-phd

Ship: Cleo/Queen Galfrey

Not only does this fic give a heartbreaking look into Queen Galfrey’s lonely life as the figurehead of over a century’s worth of Crusades, for me it’s THE demon path fic. Cleo is wonderful. From barbarian rage to demonic rage, in denial about more than one thing. This fic has given me goosebumps more than once. I need them to have their happily ever after – no two people ever deserved it more. Dragonologist’s prose always knocks it out of the park.

My Lovely Husband Part I – A Shattered Soul - @undyingembers

Ship: Lenarius/Leonosa / Daeran Arendae

Reading Embers’ crossover fic between PWOTR and My Lovely Daughters, an original story in which Lenarius/Leonosa founds a very unexpected and unusual family with his/her husband Daeran, is what first really motivated me to write an original post-Crusade fic too. Adventure and fluff with a fun mystery plot that unfolds over the course of the fic. High stakes and moments of really heart-rending drama. The homunculus girls will forever be dear to me.

[currantlees-creative-corner]

Summary: Sora, Kairi and Riku have returned to Destiny Islands, but it is clear that nothing is like before their adventure off-world. While Riku struggles with the fact that half of the school wants to date him, Sora struggles with her new-found feelings for Kairi on top of getting bullied for - supposedly - sleeping with Riku. And Kairi? Well, she tries to do everything in her power to make her two friends feel a bit better.

~3.9k Words. Rated T (Teens and Older). LGBTQ+ themes. Depictions of Bullying, Misogny, Sexism and Xenophobia. Wanna read it on Ao3? Click here!

Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock… Rrrrrrrrring!!

The alarm clock was quickly shut down when Sora turned around, and slammed her hand down on the poor thing. She actually needed multiple attempts to find it in her daze, but once she did, her room quickly got quiet again. It was a wonder that after all these years, the clock on Sora’s nightstand was still ticking. Then again – it had already needed to be repaired several times.

Sora yawned and turned around once more. She wasn’t awake yet, and if it was up to her, she would have kept sleeping. It didn’t take long for her to drift away into the realm of dreams once more…

“Rise and shine, Sora!”

She groaned as she slightly opened her eyes again. “Yeah?”

“You have school today!”

“Ugh…” She had just returned home from saving not only the world, but the entire universe from Xemnas’ plot, and she was already pushed back into everyday life. Sora appreciated the sense of normalcy, but she also wished she could have gotten a break first. “Just five more minutes…”

“You’re gonna be late again, young lady!”

“You know I don’t need that long in the bathroom…”

“Well, you do ever since you came home out of nowhere with that long hair!”

Sora sighed. She still tended to forget that her hair was much longer than it had ever been these days. Not that she hated it, she actually kinda liked it (especially since Kairi liked to play with it), but it was a pain to take care of. Definitely not a great hairstyle to go on another worlds-saving quest with. If she ever had to again, she’d probably cut it off at least to shoulder-length…

“Sora!”

“Right…” She yawned. “Gimme a sec…”

She rolled onto her side, and blinked – unfortunately right as her mother opened the yellow curtains across the room. She rubbed her eyes. Yeah, now she was definitely awake…

“Come on, Sora,” her mother chided. “You don’t wanna be late.”

“Yeah, yeah…”

That wasn’t really true – truth be told, Sora couldn’t care less about being late to school. She had never particularly liked it after her initial excitement about it had worn off. Learning things from lectures and books was so dull. Sora preferred learning from practice. Maybe that was why her favorite subjects – or rather the only ones she liked and frequently excelled at – were art, music and sports. She had a hard time following the lectures without drifting away into a daydream or thinking of her plans for the afternoon, even when they were technically about topics that interested her. At least most of the teachers were kind and understanding, though there were a few who thought the key to handling Sora’s lack of attention in class was giving her extra homework. Luckily, she had Riku and Kairi to help her out with that so she was done quicker, and they could go back to having fun together. Her friends were pretty much what kept her coming back to school every day.

Sora sighed and opened her eyes again, finally sitting up. She rubbed her eyes. Her mother wasn’t in her room anymore – she must have left. How long had it been since she had come into Sora’s room to wake her up? Sora glanced at her alarm clock again.

“Oh, phooey!”

She was definitely going to be late now. Not that it mattered much. Sora already had a reputation for being late, so at least it wasn’t like she had anything to ruin.

Despite that, Sora got out of bed rather quickly, grabbed her school uniform ensemble she had already worn the day prior, and hurried to the bathroom. She got out of her PJ top on the way somehow, but that stunt also resulted in her hitting her arm on the doorframe.

“Ouch!” She hissed. That would certainly bruise…

“Heal,” she murmured, purely out of a habit, before remembering that she would have to summon her Keyblade for this to work – and both of her hands were occupied. Sora sighed. Despite all the things she’d learned in the past year and a few months, she still didn’t know how to cast magic without a conduit. She definitely had to ask Donald if he knew anything about that when they next met.

She threw the uniform on the toilet haphazardly before taking off her pajama pants, and starting to get dressed.

The Destiny Islands’ school uniform, alongside a strict dress code, was supposed to make everyone appear equal, to hide the fact that someone like Riku or Kairi came from a family that was better situated than those of others like Sora. She appreciated the idea, but what she didn’t like was that just like all the other girls, she wasn’t allowed to wear pants, and had to put on one of these short, impractical skirts instead. Sora had never understood that. Pants were so much more practical, and she didn’t feel like she risked exposing her panties every time she did anything but walking or sitting with her legs in a perfectly parallel fashion. She had pondered wearing leggings underneath, but any deviation from the uniform wasn’t allowed. On top of that, the boys’ pants had pockets, which her and the other girls’ skirts didn’t. It was almost as if the designers thought girls were calm and quiet, and that they didn’t need any extra space to store their stuff.

Sora sighed when she put on her tie. She was still totally out of the loop when it came to making the knot – she would have preferred to go with her crown necklace instead. However, it had to stay at home. Even small personal touches like this weren’t allowed according to the dress code.

She stared at herself in the mirror. Another Sora stared back.

She never looked like herself in this uniform. She never felt like herself in this uniform. If she could at least wear pants… With pockets.

Brushing her hair in the morning was trouble these days. Sora still wasn’t used to having long hair, and it proved to be as untamable as ever. If it wasn’t for Kairi, then she probably would have cut it off as soon as she returned to Destiny Islands. Sora had to admit there was something enjoyable about her best friend doing her hair during the school breaks whenever Sora didn’t manage to tame it in the morning herself. Besides, long hair actually suited her better than she would have thought. She wanted to keep it like this, at least for a while, even though it was a battle every single morning.

Sora sighed in defeat. This morning, her hair won.

She pulled one of the headbands that matched her uniform (and apparently her eyes, as Kairi had remarked a few days prior) from the bathroom shelf, and pulled it over her head, before tying the mane back into a chaotic, messy ponytail. That would hopefully keep it from tangling any further when she cycled to school at least, and at least the dress code didn’t say anything about hair apart from the fact that dying it in unnatural colors wasn’t allowed and that it was supposed to be worn in a tidy manner – something that Sora regularly didn’t succeed at even before her hair had grown out. She’d have to ask Kairi if she could fix that part for her during one of the breaks.

~*~

“Sora, you really need some kind of leave-in conditioner,” Kairi sighed. She had tried to detangle Sora’s hair during the first and the second break before lunch, and both times, she had failed to get the job done in time. Now they were at lunch break, and Kairi was still working on getting Sora’s hair into a manageable condition.

“Yeah, I could probably try that,” she mumbled. Admittedly, her hair was worse than usual today, but she also secretly enjoyed Kairi detangling it for her. She was always so careful – whenever she did Sora’s hair, it never hurt. “Do you have any that I can borrow?”

“Unfortunately not,” Kairi replied. She started working through another strand of hair. “My hair is pretty straight naturally. It tends to get stringy really quick if I put too much stuff into it.”

Sora sighed. Yeah, Kairi’s hair was as straight as her, probably…

“But we could go shopping on Friday afternoon if you want.”

“Sheesh, you still aren’t done?” Riku sat down a tray with two meals on it on their table. He took one of them, and placed the other in front of Kairi on the table.

“Nope,” she said. “I swear Sora’s hair has a life of its own.”

Sora was startingto think that too – mainly that her hair was trying to get her closer to Kairi in this innocent way. But she wasn’t getting her hopes up. She could daydream, yes. But more than that was probably never meant to be.

“Thanks for getting me my food,” Kairi said. She sounded as warm as she always did whenever she was sincerely grateful.

Sora used to think that Riku and Kairi must have it easier, coming from better situated families. Nowadays, she knew better. Kairi’s adoptive parents were lovely, but neither of them could cook. They usually ate out, or their meals consisted of simple sandwiches. As for Riku’s father, he was a doctor, meaning he rarely had time for his son. As a result, both of them usually got their lunch from the cafetéria, or whenever they had a free afternoon, at Sora’s house. Meanwhile, she didn’t have to worry about that. Sora’s mother still made a bento for her daughter to take to school each morning, and Sora was still excited to open and enjoy it every single day.

“Hi Riku!”

“Ouf,” Riku huffed under his breath. “Oh no…”

Riku had always been popular with the girls in school ever since the talk about who dated whom and which couples would break up at the end of the month became a thing. Ever since Sora and him had returned from what as far as everyone else knew was a lonely island they had gotten stuck on after the storm, his popularity had only increased. Meanwhile, Sora’s was at an all-time low. At least Kairi, Riku, Tidus, Wakka and Selphie still stuck with her.

“Sitting at the losers’ table again?”

“It’s not the losers’ table,” Sora disagreed with the two girls, a blonde and a brunette who seemed to have gone to the bathroom just to refresh their looks for this occasion. They weren’t in the same class, but Sora knew them. She had seen them pinning something to her locker the other day.

“Oh?” The brunette addressed her, without actually turning towards her. “What would you call it then?”

“Uh…” Truthfully, Sora had no real idea how to respond. “The table of people who are cool enough to sit with Riku?” Okay, that came out meaner than she wanted to, but then again, it wasn’t like these girls were going to be nice to her anyway.

“Sounds like someone doesn’t know their place,” the other girl said, and her voice was dripping with venom. “Listen up, Sora, you may have turned the head of the hottest guy in school just because you two happened to get stuck on a lonely island for a year, but don’t get cocky. At the end of the day, you’re just a slut and the entire school knows.”

Sora heard Kairi suck her breath in sharply, like she wanted to jump to her defense immediately, and she could see Riku furrowing his eyebrows. But Sora didn’t want to argue back, and simply shrugged instead, hopefully to the girls’ annoyance. The situation didn’t need to be escalated any further, and at this point she was pretty used to being called a slut, a whore, and other names. Sora and her closest friends knew she wasn’t any of that, and that was what really counted.

“Anyway, Riku,” the blonde girl went on, and her voice shifted back to a sweet tone in the blink of an eye, “we were wondering if you’re free after school?”

“Sorry,” Riku said coldly. “But I don’t put up with people who call my best friend a slut.”

“Aww, come on! It’s not that big of a deal. Besides,” the girl glanced at both Sora and Kairi, “you deserve better than these two anyway.”

“I think I can decide who I want to be friends with by myself, thank you very little!”

“A whore and an outsider? Seriously?”

“You know, I think you should apologize,” he said in a rather unimpressed manner. “To Sora for calling her names, and to Kairi for dismissing her for literally no reason.”

“She isn’t even from here,” the blonde girl said. “Why should we put up with her?”

“Excuse me?” Sora interjected.

Kairi just looked down and said nothing, and Sora’s heart ached. Her friend had always been picked on for not being born on Destiny Islands, despite the fact that that wasn’t her fault at all and she didn’t get much of a say in the matter. She had just arrived on the islands one day, without a memory as to where she came from.

“I think you two should go,” Riku said coldly. “Now.”

“Fine.” They turned to leave, of course not without winking and waving at him first. “See you later, Riku!”

He rolled his eyes after they finally turned their backs on him.

“Are you alright, Kairi?” Sora asked her best friend, who had stopped working on her hair and turned to her meal silently.

She nodded. “Thanks for your support, you two.”

“No problem.”

They all turned back to their lunch – Sora’s hair still wasn’t done, and it would probably have to wait until they had all finished.

“Honestly, I still don’t get what all of these girls haven’t gotten about me not being interested in anyone,” Riku sighed, grabbing the cup on his tray. “I really hoped this would stop after coming out, but no.”

“I mean, they’re probably just desperate because you’re unavailable,” Sora remarked. “You’re just a really sexy guy.”

Riku choked on his matcha tea.

Kairi reacted immediately. She stood up, moved to their friend, and gave him a few pats on his back. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Riku coughed once more, but then returned to breathing normally. Sora smiled. It was rare to see Riku laugh like this, although she felt a bit sorry for making him choke on his tea. She hoped the joke hadn’t made him too uncomfortable.

Kairi stepped back. “I’m gonna get myself a smoothie,” she announced, still sounding a bit down. Maybe she needed some space after what had just happened. “I’ll be back in a minute.” She didn’t wait for their response before taking her leave. Her hair in its ponytail bounced and shimmered as she took her steps rather quickly. She was almost skipping.

“So,” Riku, who had apparently calmed down again, asked, “when are you going to tell her?”

Sora sighed. Well, there it was – that topic she’d rather not talk about.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “Honestly, I haven’t really planned on outing myself.”

Riku nodded. He was already out himself – not that it really changed anything. The girls in the school kept blaming Sora for him being unavailable, and flirted with him anyway pretty much on a daily basis. Sora could kind of see why, and part of her had meant what she said before. Riku was attractive, even she could see that, despite the fact that she’d discovered that she was into other girls – Kairi in particular. But he was off limits, and Sora was fine with that. Obviously, not everyone was, though.

“I don’t want to pressure you,” he said. “But I think Kairi wouldn’t be mad if you just told her.”

“And I told you, she can’t know,” Sora sighed. She wished she could, but she really didn’t want to lose Kairi as a friend.

“I may be aroace, but I’m not blind , Sora. I see the way you look at her.”

“Well, what do you want me to do?” Sora snapped, a little more harshly than she meant to. “Confess to her in front of the entire school?”

“Well, that would be one way to get rid of all the hatemail on your locker,” Riku chuckled.

Sora groaned. Not that topic again too… She appreciated that her friends were looking out for her, but she also knew very well that an outing would just give the entire school another reason to make fun of her, call her names, and pin not so lovely letters onto her locker. Well, half the school. The guys didn’t seem to mind her as much.

“They’d probably just write different things in their hatemail,” Sora murmured. “Or throw me out of the girls’ changing room before PE.”

“Realistically, unfortunately yes,” Riku said. “But it’s not like they have to know. You could also just tell Kairi.”

“Look, I don’t wanna get my hopes up, okay?” Sora sighed. “I just… Don’t want Kairi to hate me too.”

“I honestly don’t think she would.”

“You don’t know that.”

One of the cafetéria’s glasses was set in front of her, the fancy ones with the handles and engravings. It was nicely decorated with a strawberry and a starfruit on the rim, and there was a small note on the straw that read ‘You’re amazing!’.

Kairi sat down next to her, with a smoothie of her own in her hand.

“Kairi, I didn’t want any…”

Kairi smiled. “It’s strawberry and lime. Your favorite.”

“But I don’t have any munny with me!”

“That’s okay,” Kairi said. “I’m paying.”

“Kairi, I can’t ask you to…”

“I can spoil my bestie a little from time to time, especially when she has a notably bad day. Besides,” Kairi waved a small card, “my coupon card is all filled out now. Which means, I can get a smoothie for free tomorrow!”

Sora couldn’t help but smile. Kairi was about the only student whose family was better off financially who used the school’s healthy meal coupon cards in order to get a free smoothie every once in a while, at least that Sora knew of. She loved them. Sora did too, she just didn’t get one as often, seeing as making one at home and bringing it to school with her in a bottle was much cheaper.

“Thank you, Kairi.”

“No problem,” she smiled back. “Enjoy!”

Sora nodded, smiling, and took a sip from the smoothie. She enjoyed how the sweetness of the strawberry and the sourness of the lemon blended together into something that was still sweet, but with a little bit of extra spritz.

“So,” Kairi said with her mouth full of food, “where were we?”

“We were talking about how I am just a really sexy guy, apparently.”

Sora had to compose herself not to break out in laughter, and spill her smoothie in the process. The way Riku said that out loud in such a dry tone was just funny. She failed however – a giggle still escaped her. Riku was grinning as well.

“Very funny,” Kairi said, but Sora could see she was trying to hide a grin as well – for whatever reason. “Anyway, do you guys have any plans for the weekend already?”

Riku shrugged. “My dad’s on night shift from Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning,” he said. “So I can pretty much do whatever I want.”

“We could have a sleepover,” Sora suggested. They hadn’t had one in a really long while.

Riku and Kairi looked at her somewhat disapprovingly.

“Oh… Right.” They weren’t kids anymore. “I guess our parents wouldn’t allow that.”

“More like people would talk even more than they already do if they find out,” Kairi pointed out.

Sora shrugged. “They can think whatever they like.”

Kairi and Riku exchanged glances.

“Sora, we know all of this hurts you,” Kairi said gently. “You know, the hatemail, the name-calling, all of that. You don’t have to pretend it doesn’t.”

Sora sighed. Kairi was right – as much as she liked to pretend that she was unbothered, she really wasn’t. Having to throw away all of the more or less gross stuff that was pinned to her locker each morning nowadays, and sometimes having to clean it up entirely because someone decided it was a good idea to smear something onto it, took a toll on her mood and nerves. Being called a slut, a whore, a bitch or anything like that hurt. However, Sora knew people had already made up their minds about her. She knew these girls, who happened to have a crush on Riku, were set on the idea that just because the two had supposedly spent a year on a lonely island together, that must mean they slept together. Which was somehow a big catastrophe, because apparently it meant Sora had taken something irreplaceable from him – and that he was no longer available, even though he really had never been in the first place.

“You’re not wrong,” Sora admitted. “But there isn’t really anything I can do to change their minds. Even if I outright say that Riku and I aren’t a thing, they won’t believe me.”

And neither did they believe Riku whenever he said that he wasn’t interested in anyone. Why did people have such a hard time accepting that others were different . Even when they weren’t outright hostile, like they were with Kairi, they were still disrespectful.

Sora sighed. “You know… I miss it.”

“What?”

“Traveling the worlds. Meeting awesome people. Learning new things. Wearing whatever I want every day. Being able to be myself without getting judged for it. Everything.” Sora lowered her head. “School sucks.”

She had never been happy whenever she entered this building, but nowadays she was even unhappier. The boring lectures and occasional extra-homework she could deal with, but now with the bullying and her newly realized feelings for her best friend, she wished she could just go back to adventuring.

“Maybe we could just take the gummi ship and spend the weekend… Anywhere but here,” Riku suggested. It sounded like something he would have said a year ago, only that this time, it wasn’t to satisfy his own curiosity – it was for all of them, to get away from everything, even if it was just for two days. “We could visit some friends we made along the way, or just… Get away, at least for a while.”

“Sounds good,” Sora murmured. “I’ve been wanting to see Donald, Goofy and my other friends again for a while.”

Kairi apparently had other concerns. “And you think that won’t get people talking?”

Riku shrugged. “Maybe, if they find out,” he said. “But it’s not like they aren’t talking about the three of us being different already. Why should we let our lives be ruled by that?”

“Well, we could at least try to fit in…”

“Awww, come oooon, Kairi!” Sora whined. “It’ll be fun!”

Kairi sighed. “I mean, probably, but…”

“It’s not like the entire school has to know,” Riku smirked.

Sora couldn’t resist the temptation to make yet another joke. “Oh, but it’s so scandalous,” she giggled. “I mean, you, just a really sexy guy, in a gummiship, with two very pretty girls…”

Riku pretended to throw his chopsticks at her, and she broke out in laughter.

“Alright,” Kairi said. “But only under one condition.”

She had both of their attention.

“We stop by some sort of shopping mall at some point,” she said. “Sora needs a leave-in conditioner.”

~*~

Author's Note: A lot of this is based on my personal experiences. That being said, no character in this fic is in any way, shape or form based directly on a real person, and I do not condone certain behaviors depicted in this fic. Thank you for reading, and no matter which ethnicity, culture, gender or sexuality you are / have, I wish you wonderful times.

[kakairu-rocks]

Fanwork Friday - February 16, 2024

Sorry for the wait! This week we have two Fanwork Fridays to make up for last week's break. Hope you enjoy the first one below~

Fanwork title: They say soulmates are a part of a whole... Creator: @happymonger​ From event: KakaIru Valentine’s Week 2021 Fanwork type: Fanart

Rating: n/a Warning(s): No community warnings URL: They say soulmates are a part of a whole - happymonger - tumblr

Description: This is such a sweet image of Kakashi and Iruka. They really do go perfectly together!

They say that soulmates are two parts of a whole...

Day 2 of KakaIru Valentines event @kakairu-rocks

Prompt: Soulmates

They just complement each other sooo much!