#Got a bunch half-finished and some answers drafted for now

[traegorn]

I need to stop doing this to myself.

(A Rant Where Trae Has Written Too Many Books This Month)

So since most of you started following me because of Witchcraft or podcast stuff, I realize a lot of you don't know how much fiction writing I do.

Primarily what I've published are comics. The big one is UnCONventional (which ran from December of 2009 to December of 2019), but I also did a steampunk comic called The Chronicles of Crosarth (which I put on hiatus in like 2018 intending to come back to... but I haven't, and I make no guarantee that I will even though over 650 of the 800 planned pages are done). Crosarth is... fine? The art isn't great in either of these, but UnCONventional carries itself with the humor.

But that's all old stuff. You may be like "Trae, what have you been producing for the last four years," and the answer is "not a lot." I got major creative block with the pandemic. Peregrine Lake, the "Northwoods Gothic" comic I was supposed to launch in 2020 (which has some characters from UnCONventional in it) didn't materialize when I said it would. What storytelling energy I had went into Stormwood & Associates and The Meatgrinder (my two actual play podcasts), but that was it.

And then 2023 happened, and the juices started flowing again.

Peregrine Lake is moving forward -- but with me just doing the writing. My urge to draw has not returned, but my urge to write has. A friend of mine, Ethan Flanagan, is drawing it, and I've written the first year of comics. It likely won't launch any time soon (the artist I'm working with is busy as hell so we want to get a shit-ton of the comic done before we launch it -- we have like the first month and a half of the comic ready?). But yeah -- it's happening. I hoping for Spring, but we'll see.

The other thing though is that I've started writing, like, novels. I've always had like twenty ideas in my head, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I decided to start with the idea I cared the least about (in case I fucked it up): A queer urban fantasy story.

In the last month and a half I've written complete drafts of two different novels in this setting, and am halfway through another one... and have another one outlined.

I, uh, had some ideas.

If you're asking yourself "Hey Trae -- what the fuck? That's a lot" you need to know a few things that aren't obvious. At one point in college, in 72 hours, I produced over 40 pages of text between three research papers. All were for 300 level courses, and I may have disassociated while writing them because I frankly don't remember most of it. But, like, they were decent papers.

One of those papers is in Google Scholar.

Anyway, yeah. I haven't been sleeping great because I've been obsessively writing, but you might ask "Why didn't you just write one and get it ready to publish?" That's a great question. Because I wrote a book, and when I was 3/4 of the way through it I realized something very important: This book would make a great sequel to a book I haven't written. I've been writing book two in a series where I haven't written book one yet.

Well fuck.

So I finished that draft, and I went and wrote book one. Now that book? That book I'm getting ready to publish. I expect to have it out in January. Part of my editing process involves setting what I think is a completed, good, revised draft down for a couple of weeks and then returning to it with fresh eyes. We're in that waiting period right now.

But I still had a bunch of energy.

So the first thing I did was a revising draft on book two (the one I wrote first), but I finished that. And had more energy. And more stories in this setting kept popping up.

So I started a third book. And I'm halfway through the first draft of that book. But then I realized yesterday... shit, this isn't book three.

This is book four.

I need stuff to happen before we get to this story.

So now I've outlined the actual book three, and am working on literally both of these books at once (I'll take a break for Christmas and then go do a final edit on Book One).

And... I'm just like... why am I like this?

I need to stop myself for a few days and get more sleep.

[fountainpenguin]

Early March fanfic update, with a "prettier" post to come later this month.

Spoiler for length (660 words):

- No MCYT update this Tuesday, but the next Dog's Life chapter (Stormy Eyes) posts on the 11th, followed by 3 "Chalaza" chapters. The Dog chapter "Scatter by Sunset" should be up April 8th (or the week after).

- Those 3 are my "Chalaza" buffer thus far; I'm hoping to use this time to complete the rest of "Chalaza," as well as the next Dog's Life chapters (I split the next one I'm working on in half because... way too much Bdubs; he could be a chapter in himself).

After these two chapters I'm struggling with, I need to do light polish on the last two Dog's Life chapters of this intermission arc, and then we're done! It definitely went on longer than I'd planned, but I like it! 1 year of intermission before we're done... Monthly updates, you'll be the death of my patience, but oh are you needed sometimes... One of the delays was the risk of conversation overlap between multiple fics, but I'm glad I got "Dreadful Burden" done so I could get answers there. Turns out there was definitely some things I needed to pull out of the Dog's Life convo because they definitely came up in the separate fic, so... Progress!

- I might post something on April 1st (Tuesday; MCYT update) - Ex: A fic I started a long time ago but was shy to post). Could be a good day for it (if I can finish it).

- I'm using March to focus on "Chalaza" and "Dog" right now, but once those are both wrapped up, I'm switching to Frayed Knots. Glad to give my brain a break, but looking forward to getting back!

- Getting close to wrapping up "So, You're Studying the Cloudlands" (as it stands now). Need to take the time to check my notes and see if I overlooked any lore posts.

- No Fairy New Year plans for now (beyond obligatory year name post). I have a New Year's multi-chapter about Anti-Cosmo's mom that I've wanted to post for years, but the draft is super rough. I might post it later this year, not around New Years, because it would be fun to get done.

I think I put too much pressure on myself feeling like I needed to post every day in accordance with the week of festivals, but there's nothing wrong with dragging it out and posting for 7 or 8 weeks instead, so that might be nice (and help me find a length that's comfy for me instead of trying to make it "bite-size" for daily festival posting).

- Continuing to post my old Total Drama works on Thursdays until the end of July, when we reach the last one. It's been a busy year!

- This is a scheduled post. I'm hearing news about my life situation today (job & whether or not I'll be moving several months earlier than planned... Some recent exciting news changed to bad news this weekend and I'm trying to rearrange plans to make things work, so I'm stressed and busy).

Fic updates may be less frequent, but hey, this is what the buffer comes in clutch for... I'm still going to try to save "Dreadful Burden" for later this year, though, because I want it to cover for me when I KNOW I'm unavailable and don't want to get distracted with thoughts of writing.

- Expect less art (from me). I did get some things done that I wanted to (Couple of fic announcements + those "washi tape" header images), but I wasn't expecting to move early (if I'm moving at all), so that will cut a few plans short.

Ex: I was planning to do a bunch of bios & profile arts for the FOP sideblog... That's going to drop to low priority and I'm not sure when I'll have access to my art stuff again.

That's all for now. I'll make a polished post later this month (divided by fandom & more specific than this), which will be linked in my pinned post afterwards.

[outpost51]

The 51 Post

Figured I'd start some kind of digest!

Contents:

Things You Might Have Missed

This Week's Jams

WIP Breakdowns

From the Skwad

Around the 'Blr

Things You Might Have Missed:

I've got a taglist form now! Because who doesn't love a good form?

BRHP: Chapter 14 posted; Atria learns the meaning of touch starvation and really, really misses her dad.

WIP Intro: Caught in the Crossfire (18+)

WIP Intro: The Arsonist Chronicles (18+)

WIP Whenever (Open Tag): BRHP chapter 15 snippet; pop pop is having a time time

Crossing Over: the 5th entry into the Lighthouse in the Fog shorts; a new player has entered the fray, and a familiar face reappears.

Vampire Council lore and vampire origins lore

Aria/Omega snippety snip

This Week's Jams:

friends like these || Brassie [spotify/youtube]

Little Girl Gone || CHINCHILLA [spotify/youtube]

EVERGREEN || PVRIS [spotify/youtube]

Eyes on Fire || Gold Souls [spotify/youtube]

WHEN THE PARTY'S OVER || Cami Petyn [spotify/youtube]

Lizard Lady || Laura Doggett [spotify/youtube]

WIP Breakdowns:

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Chapter 15 should be coming out later today, with 16 slated for release sometime late this week or early next week. I'm finally in the chapters that don't require a ton of rewrites; most of what I've been doing is adding content. The whole thing is outlined through chapter 30 though! Since this is my entry for WIP Big Bang, updates will "stop" at chapter 18, since that's what I had published before the rewrites. After that, you'll have to wait for the release date! Which also means I have to wait for the release date for the serotonin, and that's going to be a nightmare.

Unlikely Adventures of Bitchface and Go F*ck Yourself

At this point, it's just a matter of making myself work on it. About a third of chapter 9 is written and the entirety of Act II is outlined.

Blinding Neon, Shades of Grey

nervous laughter

Stellar Parallax

Fuck, I missed this WIP. I missed Jane especially, she's so fun to write -- I'm about a third of the way into chapter 9 and it seems to be flowing pretty well? I just wanna get to the part where she and Saren beat the shit out of each other LMAO

Lighthouse in the Fog

Dunno if y'all saw, but the lighthouse keeper stories have a tag and a tentative title now! It's going to remain as a series of loosely connected shorts, and that may very well be what I end up doing with Xatal as well. Anyway, we have some lore groundwork laid! Look out for the 6th short later today!

In the Works

I still have questions in my inbox that I am absolutely getting to! I've also got a bunch of unanswered tags in my drafts and Notion. Losing a week and a half of planned answer time threw my schedule WAY off. Submission for SSSC #006 is in the planning stage. Hannah and the MILF Squad Get Up To No Good is about 30% written and fully outlined. I have... so many Kryterius prompts left to fill, and so many more spotify wrapped prompts left, send help. Still working on separating out the Daddy Issues smutshots, hoping to finish up the rewrites for the F!Shali one before the end of July. TIPYNTS is most likely going to come out in October, and by then I'm hoping to have a backlog of chapters to make posting more consistent.

From the Skwad:

Door's always open! 18+ writing server for both fanworks and original works! Camp is starting soon! We also have a flash fiction challenge and three bingo cards running until the end of the month!

@teamdilf continues to absolutely baffle me with her productivity here we go: A Cheesy Situation is now complete, ch 16 of Alice's Adventures in Andromeda is live, ch 18 of The In-Laws and the Grandparents is live, A Night in the IKEA dropped which I'm absolutely dying over, and that's not even all of it. holy shit J i don't know how you do it but i'll have whatever you're having thx

@thetrashbagswasteland dropped ch 4 of the Sunseeker rewrite and I'm adsfdafdadsf yes. thank you king

@sparatus is tearing me to fucking pieces with Make Less the Depth of Grief. i hate you (i love you)

@uraniumwriting also obliterated me with their FFF entry.

@wrathbites is back and I'm literally beside myself I missed the Vampire AU so fucking much.

oops @commander-krios got me invested in Star Wars please look at this.

@starknstarwars updated Smuggler's Ruin aaaaaaaaaaaaa

A few of our members participated in Shenko Summer!! @dandenbo wrote Volta and @mrsd-writes wrote both We Got Here the Hard Way and Forever Home!

@regalbois dropped a new original oneshot and has been going bananas over Bioshock lately and gifting us MORE mlm deliciousness, ch 3 of Magnum Opus went live last night.

@inflarescent has a new wippppp aaaaaaa -- intro post for The Roulette Paradox here!

@discoeffect updated Far From Any Road and I am devouring the first book so I can read this one!!

Around the 'Blr:

Have you checked out the Writeblr Directory or Writeblr Cafe yet?

I'm literally still thinking about @captain-kraken's Heitha translator.

@void-botanist dropped some witch lore I'm eating with a spoon.

@tc-doherty ALSO popped off with the conlang.

The dates IRL are lining up with the dates in @elshells's Agent Ace EXCITING also a new chapter is dropping probably by the time I post this lmao

@liv-is dropped this GOLDMINE of relationship writing tips also TIL what Liv does for a living not sorry

@writernopal first of all made me absolutely CRY being sweet in the tags last night and also dropped an aasoaf 3 sneep while i was composing this thank you my friend i needed the energy snack

did y'all see Find the Word XVIII from @artdecosupernova-writing i'm going FERAL

@tabswrites's Silver Sentinels has a second chapter, I am VIBRATING

@oh-no-another-idea just slid in with this little diddy that i LOVE.

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

Outpost Updates Taglist: @tabswrites @writernopal @freedominique @asher-orion-writes @liv-is @starknstarwars @captain-kraken

Ask to +/- in the tags, replies, DMs, or HERE!

[augustmourn]

20 Questions for Writers

Tagged by @jaimehwatson - thank you!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

165! Plus one unrevealed.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

567,814

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I tend to be serially monofannish and mainly write for one fandom at a time, with small forays into other fandoms for exchanges. So right now it's Danganronpa but for quite a while before that it was Locked Tomb, etc. My longest-running fandom I've written for is probably All For The Game because that series is embedded in my brain and will never leave,

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Unexpected - Bojack Horseman, 1220 kudos. It was the most kudosed fic in the fandom for a while!

you know what they say about assumptions - Star Wars, 872 kudos.

Into the Dark - IT Movies, 723 kudos.

The Kids Are Alright - IT Movies, 680 kudos.

Lights Will Guide You Home - Star Wars, 632 kudos. I should probably just tag this one "abandoned and discontinued" since I haven't touched it in six and a half years.

5. Do you respond to comments?

I used to be better about it and then I got out of the habit, probably because I stopped responding immediately (waiting for exchange anon periods to end.) I still try to go back and respond to recent ones, but there are a lot that it would be too weird to respond to now. I really appreciate every one of them, though.

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

Probably quiet birds in circled flight, which is an IT fic where Richie commits suicide instead of Stan. At least that's the first one that comes to mind.

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

This is a harder one to answer, honestly, because I feel like most things I write aren't long enough to have an earned happy ending; it's usually at least bittersweet. My actual answer is probably the 50k Komahina fic that I'm in the process of editing, because the current ending was maybe the sweetest thing I've ever written and I disgusted myself.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I had one fic attract a bunch of hate comments because it was werewolf in wolf form/human smut. It was mostly funny.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes. Lots. I've been told my specialty is noncon but I write a lot of other stuff too!

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Never have and not sure if I ever will! It's just not something that really appeals to me, for some reason.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I think I had one put on Wattpad but I don't remember how that turned out.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! Into Russian.

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

No, mostly because I don't think I could write that collaboratively. The idea is interesting to me, though.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

I don't know if I'm capable of having an all-time favourite.

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

I would like to tell myself I will someday finish my Star Wars WIP, but I was still in high school last time I touched it, and my writing style and taste have changed so dramatically since then that I would want to rewrite the entire thing. I would also like to go back and finish the second chapter of the Karate Kid fic I posted.... three years ago? That's at least possible.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Porn, I think. It's pretty easy for me to write at this point. I like writing arguments, I like writing fight scenes.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I still have not figured out how to do structural or significant editing on longer stories. I finished three long stories (at least first drafts) in 2023, one had to be posted for a deadline, and the other two are extremely daunting to consider.

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

I've never done it, I'd be intimidated, I'd have to ask a native speaker for assistance.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Hunger Games, when I was eleven! The fic was not good and it's still online until FFN goes bust.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

My TLT longfic Crashing remains possibly the proudest achievement of my life thus far. More than four times as long as the previous longest story I'd ever finished!

Tagging @ladyculebras @hearthouses @gregwambsganss @queermccoy and anyone else who wants to!

[norcalbruja]

Script-writing semi-progress!

[Note: The first half of this post is from my actual writing blog.]

So with my dead-end life and non-existent art career, I spent a while venting in one of my writing Discords. I'm just spinning my wheels trying to get LITERALLY ANYWHERE with my novel drafts, my poetry, my short stories, and a theater script that I'm probably going to convert into a comic series or some kind of serial/online series, and I'm just not fucking getting anywhere.

This hurts especially bad because I write about FILIPINO mythology, and I've been asking FILIPINO theaters if my script is cool and people want to like, workshop it or keep an eye out for when the first draft is finished. Of the few people who actually answered me, the general consensus is that IT SOUNDSSSSSSSSSSS COOL, but it's too expensive and nobody wants to take a risk on unpublished/new writers.

And I'm like "great, so you like it, you just want SOMEONE ELSE to take a risk on it."

The script is called "Takotsubo: The Story of a Superhero." It's about a bunch of Asian gangsters/superheroes who roam around Oakland, California, trying to heal from their damage and dealing with the media, who treat them WAY differently than they'd treat white superheroes. After they recruit their only Filipino-American member, she ends up being the only person with ENOUGH knowledge of hostile Filipino spirits to keep everyone alive--but luckily, she attracts the Filipino gods as well, who know that a half-trained and very short mage cannot be expected to handle the likes of the aswang and the bantay-tubig with just some kalis sticks and her anger issues.

Everyone (and by extension, the audience) then learns about the CULTURE-SPECIFIC shitstorm that is Filipino colonization.

I have currently asked six or seven of my Filipino actor friends about it, and three people asked me to send the current script! I've got everything in some email drafts, but I'm just trying to work the nerve up to press the damn "send" button, lmao.

I did tell them it's a gangster AND superhero script, but like... I'm still worried they're going to wince and go "no, even if you're literally deconstructing the stereotypes, I don't think I can do this."

--

So I emailed my friends and am waiting on the others to message me back.

Araw the Sun is just... flat-out ordering me to "GO FUCKING ASK YOUR PINOY FRIENDS ABOUT THIS. RIGHT NOW. DO IT!!! YOU ARE DESPERATE AND YOU WANT HELP, SO I WILL GIVE YOU HELP!"

Araw is yet another Tagalog spirit who said he'll help me, but unlike the others, he's actually brutally honest about how he knows I don't believe him and I don't even know if he's who he claims to be, and he's just constantly going "DO IT ANYWAY. YOU NEED HELP, I'M GIVING YOU HELP."

He's supportive in the most angry way possible, lmao.

Like this guy is constantly going something like, "WHERE THE FUCK ARE THE OTHER ANITO??? WHY HAVE YOU SPENT YEARS IN THE FUCKING WILDERNESS WITH ONLY A GIANT SQUID AND A BUNCH OF REPTILES??? FINE, I GUESS I'LL HELP!!!"

And maybe he's a figment of my imagination or someone like Eric Draven as "a non-famous Tagalog spirit who took on my interpretation of Araw from my stories," but one thing that struck me a couple days ago was how I was Desperate Again and asked him for as much help as he could give me.

And once I was done, he was like "Yes, that's good enough, I'll get to work now."

I asked him, "...Okay? You don't want to stay a bit, or eat breakfast or something?"

And Araw told me, "I do not pretend that you love me. It seems that's for Haik and the other anito. You begged me for help, the same as as you begged the dead man, and the squid, and the crow, and all those foreign gods. Why shall I eat the food of someone who howls like a starving creature? Or play the kind god to a woman with no money, stuck in a job that she hates? You have as much choice in this as a beast lured into a trap, and if Ulupong is right, the other anito don't treat you any better than one."

And I'm like, "Well, that kind of hurts, but thanks for being honest, Araw."

Honestly, it IS very relieving that Araw just drops in to help me, listens to me say the same things over and over, and then he goes off to do stuff without trying to talk to me or being dramatically "concerned" about my situation, that I constantly tell the spirits I'm tired of explaining.

[oculusxcaro]

Khare can tolerate a lot of smells but the ones she can't handle is the smell of death and decay. Too many people died in the facility, mutated beyond recognition or dying slow, painful deaths as their bodies couldn't handle the experimentation they were forced to undergo, making those scents uniquely repulsive to her.

[istumpysk]

hello! i’ve been reading some of your reread stuff and i noticed a bunch of references/you pointing missandei sneaking up on dany and connecting that to arya but i’m having a hard time connecting the dots. would you be willing to explain it (like a 5 year old lol) or is it a theory you’ve only just started piecing together? thank you!! i’d never noticed how many times missandei sneaks up on people until you pointed it out and it’s got me intrigued bc i’ve been obsessing over what her role will be since the show Did All That lol

Why yes, I absolutely can!

Daenerys has a habit of being snuck up on.

Sometimes it's Quaithe -

She is standing over me. "Who's there?" Dany peered into the darkness. She thought she could see a shadow, the faintest outline of a shape. [...] "A dream." Dany shook her head. "I dreamed a dream, no more. - Daenerys III, ASOS

Sometimes it's Quaithe again -

A soft rustle made her open them again. She sat up with a soft splash. "Missandei?" she called. "Irri? Jhiqui?"

"They sleep," came the answer.

A woman stood under the persimmon tree, clad in a hooded robe that brushed the grass. Beneath the hood, her face seemed hard and shiny. She is wearing a mask, Dany knew, a wooden mask finished in dark red lacquer. "Quaithe? Am I dreaming?" She pinched her ear and winced at the pain. "I dreamt of you on Balerion, when first we came to Astapor."

"You did not dream. Then or now."

"What are you doing here? How did you get past my guards?"

"I came another way. Your guards never saw me."

[...]

Dany glanced back toward the persimmon tree. There was no woman there. No hooded robe, no lacquer mask, no Quaithe.

A shadow. A memory. No one. - Daenerys II, ADWD

Sometimes it's Missandei -

"My queen?" said a soft voice in the darkness.

Dany flinched. "Who is there?"

"Only Missandei." The Naathi scribe moved closer to the bed. "This one heard you crying." - Daenerys VIII, ADWD

Sometimes it's Missandei surprising the queen's personal guard, Barristan Selmy -

"No," murmured a soft voice behind him. "She would not do that, ser. She would not go home without us."

Ser Barristan turned. "Missandei. Child. How long have you been standing there?" - The Queensguard, ADWD

Sometimes Missandei's even doing it in old drafts that were later rewritten (thank you to @powderpowderblue for sharing) -

"My queen?" said a soft voice in the darkness.

Dany flinched, imagining pale skin, blue lips, a twisted blade. "Who is there?"

"Only Missandei."

And sometimes you even get mirrored text, and fun mad queen parallels -

His merriment still echoed in her ears when she felt a light touch on her shoulder, and woke suddenly. For half a heartbeat the hand seemed part of the nightmare, and Cersei cried out, but it was only Senelle. The maid's face was white and frightened.

We are not alone, the queen realized. Shadows loomed around her bed, tall shapes with chain mail glimmering beneath their cloaks. Armed men had no business here. Where are my guards? 

[...]

A dream, that's all it was, a dream.  [...] She imagined Tyrion creeping between the walls like some monstrous rat. - Cersei I, AFFC

So, what's going on here? Clearly something.

Well, it's foreshadowing how Daenerys will die.

I won't get into every parallel, chapter transition, or piece of evidence, but here's a quick rundown.

Someone (a rat!) will surprise Daenerys, and like Maegor the Cruel, she will be attacked and killed in the throne room immediately after she takes King's Landing -

All day the lords made plans, and late into the night. It was the hour of the wolf when at last Maegor allowed them to take their leave. The king remained behind, brooding on the Iron Throne as they departed. Lord Towers and Lord Rosby were the last to see His Grace.

Hours later, as dawn was breaking, the last of Maegor's queens came seeking after him. Queen Elinor found him still upon the Iron Throne, pale and dead, his robes soaked through with blood. His arms had been slashed open from wrist to elbow on jagged barbs, and another blade had gone through his neck to emerge beneath his chin.

Man to this day believe it was the Iron Throne itself that killed him.

[...] It might also have been a person or persons unknown, entering and leaving the throne room through some hidden passage. The Red Keep has its secrets, known only to the dead. - Fire & Blood

It's something that's hinted at in a very prophetic Daenerys chapter, among other places -

Dany could hear sounds within the walls, a faint scurrying and scrabbling that made her think of rats. Drogon heard them too. His head moved as he followed the sounds, and when they stopped he gave an angry scream. - Daenerys IV, ACOK

Funny enough, the hidden passages of the Red Keep tend to be a source of paranoia amongst notable Targaryens -

But when he closed his eyes, it was Aerys Targaryen he saw, pacing alone in his throne room, picking at his scabbed and bleeding hands. The fool was always cutting himself on the blades and barbs of the Iron Throne. Jaime had slipped in through the king's door, clad in his golden armor, sword in hand. [...] When Aerys saw the blood on his blade, he demanded to know if it was Lord Tywin's. "I want him dead, the traitor. I want his head, you'll bring me his head, or you'll burn with all the rest. All the traitors. Rossart says they are inside the walls! He's gone to make them a warm welcome. Whose blood? Whose?" - Jaime II, ASOS

x

Varys wrung his hands. "Oh, my lord, nothing would please me more, but . . . King Maegor wanted no rats in his own walls, if you take my meaning. He did require a means of secret egress, should he ever be trapped by his enemies, but that door does not connect with any other passages. - Tyrion II, ASOS

Of course I also have to mention it was harbor rats within the Red Keep that killed little princess Daenerys -

The princess was six, and years past being weaned, but a wet nurse was summoned, for there were some who believed that mother's milk could cure Shivers. Maesters came and went, septons and septas prayed, the king commanded that a hundred new ratcatchers be hired at once, and offered a silver stag for every dead rat, grey or black. - Fire & Blood

So is 11-year-old orphan Missandei, who speaks many languages and keeps collecting dead brothers the rat in the wall who will creep up on Daenerys?

No, it's not sweet little Missandei. Missandei is a stand-in for another character in the story -

Lord Renly stifled his laughter. "My brother is too kind. I can find the door myself." He bowed to Joffrey. "Perchance later you'll tell me how a nine-year-old girl the size of a wet rat managed to disarm you with a broom handle and throw your sword in the river." - Eddard III, AGOT

x

The old fat septa moved forward. "Boy, how did you come here? You have no business in this part of the castle."

"You can't keep this sort out," one of the red cloaks said. "Like trying to keep out rats." - Arya III, AGOT

x

The older scowled. "Who's this father of yours, boy, the city ratcatcher?" - Arya III, AGOT

x

"You be keepin' your filthy hands off. The gold cloaks know how to deal with thieving little gutter rats, that they do." - Arya V, AGOT

x

When he laughed he brayed like the donkeys they were riding. "Where's a gutter rat like Lumpyhead get him a sword?" - Arya I, ACOK

x

The Bull scowled at her. "Why should she want you? You're nothing but a little gutter rat!" - Arya II, ACOK

x

He probably won't even know me. She looked more like a drowned rat than a lord's cupbearer these days. A drowned boy rat. - Arya X, ASOS

Tall order, am I right? Good thing Arya spent half of AGOT in the underground tunnels of the Red Keep training for this very moment!

Quiet as a shadow, she told herself. She wondered where she was. When they had first come to King's Landing, she used to have bad dreams about getting lost in the castle. Father said the Red Keep was smaller than Winterfell, but in her dreams it had been immense, an endless stone maze with walls that seemed to shift and change behind her. - Arya III, AGOT

x

This time the monsters did not frighten her. They seemed almost old friends. Arya held the candle over her head. With each step she took, the shadows moved against the walls, as if they were turning to watch her pass. "Dragons," she whispered. She slid Needle out from under her cloak. The slender blade seemed very small and the dragons very big, yet somehow Arya felt better with steel in her hand.

The long windowless hall beyond the door was as black as she remembered. She held Needle in her left hand, her sword hand, the candle in her right fist. Hot wax ran down across her knuckles. The entrance to the well had been to the left, so Arya went right. Part of her wanted to run, but she was afraid of snuffing out her candle. She heard the faint squeaking of rats and glimpsed a pair of tiny glowing eyes on the edge of the light, but rats did not scare her. - Arya IV, AGOT

I hope this helps, anon! There's so much more, but it's too many words to share here. :)

[findmeontheisle]

chasing the ocean: part 14

author’s note: okay i’m not even gonna bother lying, i lowkey was giving up on this fic again but as always, i logged in to this account with the intention of deleting it and stopped myself when i saw how many people were still finding this series or coming back to read it again and i just pushed myself to finish this draft. i have no clue when or if there’s gonna be a next part, but i promise to not delete this series.

warnings: curse words (yall know the drill), rumors

masterlist

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weeks crawl by and slowly, my frustration with the rumors builds.

after the first few days back at auradon, harry and i decided to not be extremely public about our feelings. it's not that either of us were ashamed or embarrassed, we just didn't want to answer the questions that would inevitably follow. there was no way that we could have known that this option would've been so much worse.

it started with some of the other royals mentioning that they saw harry at the erodan ball. i should've known from their hushed tones and how their eyes sparkled with an intense curiosity that there were underlying questions laced into it. so, i just shrugged and confessed that harry spent the break at the castle with me and my parents so of course he was invited to the festival and ball.

from there, people took note of how harry wasn't acting quite the same anymore. his brooding nature never changed, but he wasn't pushing his way through crowds or threatening people with his hook. the cherry on top was when one of the vk's mentioned that they hadn't seen him flirting with anyone at lunch or in the halls in a while.

when i first got wind of that rumor, it peaked my interest as well. i tried to remain as nonchalant and pretend to be oblivious to the stares that harry and i received everywhere we went even if we were separated. but i found my gaze wandering until i could catch sight of harry at lunch daily. and that rumor was true.

in his time at auradon, harry had flirted with practically everyone in the school. no one was safe from his mischievous blue eyes or his raspy charm. but for a week and a half, he kept to himself in the best way that harry hook could manage.

girls still flocked around him frequently, but he always just maintained enough interest in the conversations to not visibly look like an asshole until they would give up and sulk away. each time, he would sigh in relief to find some reprieve from them and then his eyes would trail around the open lawn where everyone ate until our gazes met. my cheeks would instantly turn red and i would roll my eyes after he would send me a wink.

but now...

now, everywhere i go, people are staring and whispering as if i'm completely unaware.

i bet they're hooking up.

really? i heard that he's stringing her along for her money.

aubrey told me that he's still talking to like four other girls, but y/n thinks that she's the only one.

oh my god, that's so embarrassing. who's gonna tell her?

gritting my teeth, i adjust the strap of my backpack and duck my head down as i continue the walk to the attic. just as i'm approaching the door to the stairwell, i feel a tap on my shoulder.

when i turn on my heel to find evie, it takes everything in my to not let out an exasperated sigh because despite how much i love evie, she loves to gossip and i mentally cannot handle any more of that right now.

"hey y/n, i've been hearing a bunch of rumors going around the past few days-"

the look on my face is enough to have her pause midsentence, but she offers a small smile and meekly finishes, "and i just wanted you to know that if you need someone to rant to about it, i'm here."

mustering up the energy, i smile weakly at her before shrugging a shoulder, "thanks evie, that means a lot, but maybe another time. i'm just really tired from classes and dealing with all of that so i'm boutta go nap for a while."

she nods understandingly and as i open the door, she casually reminds me about some upcoming assignments in our shared classes. i thank her again and make the trek up the stairs to the attic.

shutting the wooden door behind me, i groan in relief at the sight of the safe space i've formed with harry in the attic. our walls have a combination of art from both of us and harry's slowly began to leave some of his personal valuables out on display. most of it is just vintage-looking pirate tools, but on his bedside table, i've noticed some pictures with worn edges. out of respect for his privacy, i haven't taken a closer look, but i have a general idea of what could be in the pictures.

tossing my backpack on the ground next to my desk, i kick off my shoes and pull off my jacket before finally falling onto my bed peacefully.

the sun has yet to even begin to set, but my eyes still droop with exhaustion. pulling myself up further onto my bed, i curl up and rest my head on my pillow. the warmth of the sun streaming in and the softness of my blankets have me sighing contently and letting my eyes close peacefully.

but i quickly realize i can't sleep.

my thoughts are still racing from all of the stress from the past few days and the rare moment of silence feels deafening. my first few years at auradon were spent basking in the glorious retreat into the attic due to the seclusion and peace i found from it. but in the past few months, i had grown used to hearing harry spray paint the walls or whistle a little tune or play the ocean noises i once couldn't stand.

an idea struck me and i was lifting myself from my bed before i could consider it further. my eyes find the device in seconds, already knowing it's location from the nights of listening to it softly play.

the speaker that i had gifted him was resting on the chest at the end of his bed, the nob turned down significantly from what it would've been when he first arrived. harry and i had come to an agreement to still have the ocean noises through the night as long as it was a background noise and not rattling the ear drums of anyone in a mile radius.

i pick it up before glancing all around, as if the miscellaneous objects that harry and i filled the room with were watching me.

hitting the power button, i hear the quiet roar of the waves hitting land and smile to myself. i set it back in its rightful spot and then without a second thought as to why, i grab harry's blanket and carry it to my bed.

laying down with the blanket pulled over my shoulders, i inhale deeply and for a moment, it's as if harry is laying right next to me. his unmistakable scent surrounding my senses. my eyes close and the waves make me think of the nights that we've spent under the stars together.

i feel myself drifting off into a peaceful sleep as a smile slowly pulls my lips up.

harry's pov

"hey hook, i got a question for you."

my jaw ticks and i feel my face sink further into a grimace. i barely refrain from continuing my walk towards the attic, but i slow my pace enough for carlos to catch up.

his cheeks are flushed and he's breathing heavily from the short run. i don't let him notice the amusement in my eyes at his lack of athleticism as i stare straight ahead and grumble, "better make it count, carlos. i'm not in the mood for an interrogation."

that was the most truthful thing i've said all day.

everywhere i've gone, i'm followed by stares and whispers, but the worst part were the few that were bold enough to ask questions. the range of conspiracies on why me and y/n were seemingly getting along now honestly shocked me. i had been asked if i'm getting paid or if i'm stealing from her or if i'm planning on overthrowing eroda. the questions never stopped and i would simply be left glaring at them as i wordlessly pull my hook from my belt loop. that was enough of an answer for most of them.

but as carlos comes to a stop in front of me, i get the feeling that i won't escape this as easily.

carlos smiles brightly and shrugs, “you and i both know you won’t do anything.”

stepping closer, i instinctively grab my hook and my voice drops into a low rumble as i argue, “unlike ye, my bite is much worse than my bark, deville.”

the smile stays prominent on his stupid face as he replies, “yeah, but y/n would not be happy about that.”

i don’t even process myself moving until i hear the thud of carlos’s back hitting the wall, my fingers tangled in his shirt as i hold him slightly off the ground.

“don’t ye dare bring her into this.”

to give carlos credit, he didn’t even flinch, which is impressive considering how well i remember him shaking and cowering back on the aisle.

carlos rolls his eyes at me and snaps, “she’s what i was gonna ask you about, dipshit. now, put me down before someone sees and snitches to her.”

narrowing my eyes, i glare deeply at him before slowly lowering him to the ground. bringing my hands back to my sides, i nod at him to continue, but i don’t back away or break from my stance towering over him.

he takes a moment to straighten his clothes before he stares up at me and there is no anger or amusement or any of those feelings in his brown eyes. just curiosity. carlos keeps his voice quiet, despite us being the only people in the hallway currently.

“what are you trying to do, harry?”

the question catches me off guard, but i don’t let it show as i force a chuckle and sarcastically snap, “well, carlos, i was trying to go to my room to avoid annoying people, but instead i got stopped by one of them and asked a dumb question.”

i turn on my heel to storm off, but his hand catches my arm and this time, his voice is more stern as he asks, “no, harry, i meant what are you trying to do with y/n?”

groaning, i throw my arms in the air in disbelief and huff, “of course ye believe the fucking rumors.”

everything in me wants to walk away right now. to just drop this stupid conversation that i should’ve avoided and go back to the attic. maybe i could paint or shine my hook. maybe i could lay on y/n’s bed and just listen to her hum as she does homework.

but then some small part of me thought about the idea of her hearing the same rumors that i have. that i’ve been using her or have some ulterior motive or am just playing with her feelings. the thought then plants an imaginary picture in my mind of her forcing a smile to look unaffected even though her eyes get duller with each rumor. for every conspiracy, her lip trembles and she turns away so no one can see how much those words hurt her.

and that’s enough for me to shake my head and grit my teeth as i growl, “listen. i’ve done some shitty things in the past and i’ve hurt people before. my reputation is practically me shadow from how much it’s gonna follow me for the rest of my life. i’ve accepted that.”

carlos stares up at me with wide eyes filled with fear and slight awe, but i pay him no attention. my voice is getting louder as i get angrier, flashes of all the times that i overheard the whispers in the halls.

“ye can say anything you want about me and it won’t bother me. but the second, ye bring her into the rumors… i’ll drag ye off the plank and into davy jones’s locker me self.”

my accent is thicker now and my chest is heaving as i rant, but i’m not quite done as i level carlos with a glare and snarl at him, “i’ve done terrible things, but i plan on being the best i can be when i’m with her. so ye can take that and go tell everybody that they can keep her name outta their mouths. if i catch wind of one more rumor that involves her, imma handle things the way i did on the isle.”

taking a step back, my throat feels raw and that’s when i realized that i had been yelling. i roll my shoulders to try to loosen my stance and i feel an ache in my jaw from how hard i had been clenching my teeth.

walking away, i hear carlos call my name once more. i stop, but don’t give him the satisfaction of me turning back to face him. my hand rests on my hook and for a moment, i wonder if y/n would forgive me for using it on one of her friends.

“thank you, harry.”

my shoulders stiffen again and i feel like a statue from my incapability to move. for a moment, i wonder if i imagined the words coming out of his mouth, but then he speaks again.

“she hasn’t been talking to any of us at lunch, but we can all tell the rumors are getting to her…. so, thank you.”

clicking my tongue, i don’t give him any acknowledgment to what he said and continue to walk away.

but by the time i’ve reached the attic, his words are swirling in my brain. i had noticed that at lunch she didn’t look as engaged as she typically did, but i had chalked that up to her being stressed about her history class again. but now all of her quiet sighs and moments of zoning out while we were on walks, they all made more sense.

i push the door open and frown at the wave noises that feel out of place when there’s still daylight, until i catch sight of her napping.

she was curled underneath a blanket that had been given to me a few days before i was transferred off of the isle. it was one of my few possessions that i didn’t steal or have to scavenge for. and now, as she sleeps with a distant smile and the material of the blanket tucked against her face, i would happily let her keep it for the rest of eternity.

i shut the door as quietly as possible and begin to tip toe towards my bed, cringing when i accidentally step on the creakiest board i’ve ever encountered in my life.

humming sleepily, y/n lifts her head and rubs her eyes with the back of a hand as she mumbles, “hey harry?”

sighing in disappointment at myself for waking her, i smile at how adorable she is with her eyes half-closed and her hair all messed up.

“yes, darlin’?”

she smiles vaguely at the nickname and then her hand lightly taps on the space of the bed next to her.

it’s an invitation that i simply can’t pass up on so i hurriedly pull off my boots before slowly sliding onto the bed next to her. wordlessly, she pulls the blanket up to partially cover me as well and then she curls into my side. her head rests on my arm and i swear i feel part of my heart melt as she happily sighs, her entire body relaxing against me.

she quickly drifts back off into her nap, but i feel my brain still lingering on the conversation i had with carlos. and as i gently tuck away a strand of hair that had fallen in her, i feel even more certain that i will stop at nothing to be the best that i can for her. starting with putting a stop to the rumors.

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//tag list: @kitkatgaming @reblogserpent @marichat4lyf @thomaslefteyebrow @newtshairdryer @thoughtsoftheantagonist @myalupinblack @rintheemolion @aquaamethyst96 @notyuralycat @aquaamethyst96 @3sriracha

[poohsources]

HELLO EVERYBODY! been a while since i did one of these, i hope you're all doing well, and have a great day / night wherever you are. i'm officially back from my vacation which means i'm officially returning to this blog. yay! now you might be wondering what exactly this means, and truthfully, i'm not too sure yet either. what i do know is that i plan on being around here more regularly. also, i'm planning to finally start working on the christmas giveaway gifts ( if you're one of the winners i've messaged previously, i'll message you again in a few days to discuss details ).

another thing i'm not sure i've mentioned here yet: i got a new job last month which means i definitely don't have as much time anymore as i did previously. it's also one of the reasons i've been so absent since the start of the year because i had to get used to it, learn some new stuff, etc. my schedule changes every week so i can't even give you reliable info on when i'll be able to be here and do stuff but i promise you that'll be something i'll figure out.

anyway, as for content i've planned, i really should start going through my inbox and try to answer as many questions there as possible. things have been really piling up in there and i'm very sorry about the delay in answers. there are also a few requests (primarily for certain kinds of memes ) that i will be working on slowly but surely. in terms of memes, i have some half-finished ones sitting in my drafts so i might just post these sometime soon. additionally, there are some other things i started working on a while back ― like some psds, templates, etc. ― that i might try finishing. so just a whole bunch of new content to use.

one new thing i might try out in the future is something one of you mentioned when i made that post about putting some very time-consuming or image-heavy templates behind some kind of temporary paywall. not sure how exactly i'm gonna do this yet ( i have a few ideas and websites, like patreon, in mind already, but i first want to see all the different possibilities i have on what site and what makes it the easiest and most user friendly for both you and me ). but that is something that's probably gonna take a few weeks / months still ― we'll see.

even though i could probably go on for a while and tell you about everything that's going on in my mind regarding this blog and its future, that's gonna be all for today. because honestly ― none of it is ever set in stone and while i do have some exciting things i wanna do here, real life can always get in the way so i feel back if i make too many promises i then have to delay. but i'm gonna try my best because i care about all of you people, the rpc as a whole, this stupid little hellsite i could curse multiple times a day, and although it's not much i do wanna contribute a little something to make this a nicer place for everyone.

so yeah, take care everyone, don't forget to drink enough water and get enough sleep, and i'll talk to you again soon. 🧡

[charmmycolour]

Hallo chrammy Colours (sorry if I got your name wrong) i have a question,

I recently got into your fanficana normal life. And because some of the chapters were postet for from another this made me wonder:

How do you keep track of your story? Do you right every chapter out in concept before you start writing? And did it ever happen to you, that you got an idea while writing a chapter, which you really liked and wanted to implement into the story? Would you change future, already planned chapters for it (under the condition it's not a massive plot change).

I was wondering bc your 12th chapter was my favorite one despite being posted later then the others. There's no shift in writing style either so I'm just curious. How do you manage that?

I'm looking forward to an answer.

greetings from Québec's Sweethearts.

I hope you have a great day.

My my this is such an interesting question. Thank you!

About my writing process, I have my own steps system (note this doesn't apply to fics I co-wrote with other authors, where I use a different one, only those I wrote entirely myself). For me writing a fic usually goes like this:

Idea: I have an idea for a concept I find interesting or a scene that would be cool to do. Sometimes these ideas don't tie to anything, they're just small fun scenarios I make up for fun, but if I like them a lot, I will develop them into the next step.

Outline: Now I have a core concept or situation I want to write, so it's time to decide how the rest plays out. I think of a beginning, an ending, and a general line of events that happen in the middle. It's a written draft and not set in stone, but has the general feeling (romance, comedy, angst, etc.)

First Draft: I will start writing whatever scenes I'm more excited to do. I usually work on the first chapter too so it's easier to set the tone later. The big events should be set in the draft, mostly, but can still change if needed; all the small things can wait. If I don't know how to write a part I jump to another.

Second Draft: Now we have a bunch of little stories! It's time to tie them together with the boring parts. It's not as exciting to go over exposition, or have the characters move around, but it's necessary. It's also the step where I make sure everthing is coherent and it's not contradicting other parts of the story.

Usually at this point is when I will clean the first chapter and start posting. I usually haven't finished the fic when the first chapter is up, but roughly half of it if not more will be written or planned. Note the first chapter will first go through step 6 and 7 first.

Final Draft: I rewrite everything correctly, polish the details, cut the filler and in general focus on making the flow dynamic and interesting. At this point it's possible I had a better idea for a future scene and I change it, but once something is published that detail is FINAL and will stay until the end.

Beta: I ask someone (usually my boyfriend) to revise and correct the chapter, fix the grammar and tell me if something is confusing or they have noticed a mistake in the timeline. This is important because I'm NOT English so I make a lot of mistakes lol

When I posted chapter 1 of ANL, up to chapter 9 I think? Were already in first draft at the very least. Some scenes from the ending had been the first I wrote, but as I developed the story and had new ideas, they have been heavily altered from the first idea.

Currently ANL is written to second draft completely, and the only reason I'm not faster uploading is because I'm lazy making the proper rewrites and drawing the illustrations that come with it (sorry!). The ending of the story went through several changes but I think I'm happy with the current one - nonetheless I never discard the idea of implementing changes if needed.

To keep the tone and writing consistent, I read the chapters together with the prior one (from the same character) together to make sure the narration flows the same way. Even if I learned a way to do it better, I try not to make it too different - I think keeping the flow is more important.

Often I will go back and correct things on prior chapters, but only grammar or oddly-written sentences, never events.

I hope this answers all your questions! Please don't hesitate to send more if you have them, and a big big thank you for reading my story! It makes me so very happy.

Have a wonderful day!

[skellebonez]

Tumblr Messed Up Fill #1

So Tumblr did a BIG OLD OOPS and published a bunch of my unfinished drafts that I left in my queue at 1 PM... when I set it to 1 AM and intended to finish a couple and then change the time again.

LUCKILY I DIDN’T HAVE THE ENTIRE FILLS IN THE QUEUE AND JUST BITS I ADDED IN TO HOLD SPACE. So... I guess this is how we’re doing this! @winterpower98​ here’s some Mentor Swap AU Shadowpeach!

How did you get that scar?/That is not a good hiding spot.

It had been scheduled far in advance and Wukong should have remembered that this was going to happen. The Weather Station needed to let it rain sometimes! It was good for the environment! Good for nature! But Wukong was Wukong and when he trained with Xiaotian for as long as he did he had a tendency to forget the unimportant things like “scheduled downpours” and “when training is actually supposed to end”.

So by the time he managed to crash land a foot away from Mei’s front door after pogo sticking his way off of Mount Huaguo he looked like he’d been dropped into the ocean.

“Cold-cold, cold and wet!” He yelped, shoving the staff back into his ear and trying to hold his jacket over his head as best he could, which did just as much good as it did during the ride. Which was “barely anything”. “Ah shit, it’s cold why can’t they make the rain not COLD!?”

He continued into the building, shuddering as he felt rain water seeping through every bit of fabric he wore, even his shoes the traitors. He immediately started ripping off his shirt, at the very least wanting to get some of the drenched clothing off him, and he froze when he heard a yelp from the other side of what should have been a very empty entry way given Mei was supposed to be out of the house.

A very familiar yelp.

“Why aren’t you are your own house!?” The voice yelled, and as Wukong pulled his shirt over his head he found the voice’s own staring at him with wide eyes alight with a mix of confusion and horror.

“UH, I think I should ask you that, Macaque!” He accused, turning sideways and walking backwards into the building with a raised eyebrow. “Why are you in Mei’s house? Are you hiding in Mei's house!? That is not a good hiding spot!"

“Wouldn’t you like to know, Monkey Boy?” Macaque said snarkily with a smirk.

“Monkie KID, and yeah, that’s why I asked,” Wukong snarked right back, holding his shirt and jacket out in front of him with a frown. “Also, you’re a monkey so...”

“Oh shut up.”

"And you look like you nearly drowned," Wukong chuckled, ringing his shirt out and pointedly not mentioning the blush he saw forming on the other's face. Yet. "It's raining cats and dogs and I’m pretty bad to, but you shouldn't be that bad."

"... don't laugh," Macaque grumbled, doing much the same to his scarf. "I was trying to get here when the rain was getting really bad and I... fell. Off the docks."

Wukong immediately burst into cackles.

“I told you not to laugh you asshole!” Macaque snapped, baring his teeth and trying to puff up his fur in annoyance but failing miserably with the sheer amount of water weighing him down. If anything it probably just made him look... adorably sad. Like a puppy. But a human sized monkey.

“I-I’m sorry!” Wukong held his sides, trying his very best to stop laughing. He also failed miserably, if not even more so than Macaque. “It’s just imagining you, YOU, falling off the docks? Just! You’re practically an acrobat! You’re usually way cooler than that!”

As Wukong continued to fail Macaque’s face softened as he stopped barring his teeth in warning and stared at the other young man.

“... you think I’m cool?” He asked softly, attempting to smooth down his fur and brush the water out of it.

“Kinda?” Wukong said with a half snicker, finally having himself under control. “Cool enough I guess.”

Macaque hummed, giving up on his attempts to dry off with a sigh. It was pointless to try to dry off with his fur like this, not without some kind of towel or brush. And he would be damned if he let Wukong let himself shake dry! That was not going to happen.

So instead he turned to the other, watching as he laid out his tip layers on his arm and turned around.

And something caught his eye.

Multiple somethings.

“How did you get that scar?”

Wukong tensed, not enough for him to stop moving but more than enough for Macaque to notice that he was walking away much slower than he needed to.

"Depends on which one you mean," he answered eventually. He reached up to pull on his hair, frowning as it dripped more water on him.  "Hold that thought until I come back."

And so he did. Macaque watched the other leave and stood in the open room, awkward and dripping sea and rain water all over Mei's floor.

He debated leaving. Just walking out the door and avoiding the awkward conversation that was sure to be leveled in his direction when the human returned, but before he could even make the decision to decide on an option something brought and green was lobbed at his head and wrapped around his face.

“WHAT IN THE-”

“Towel off before Mei gets angry we both tracked in water,” Wukong said, mischievous chuckle resounding through the air before Macaque managed to unwrap the towel from his face. “I’ve got something else that’ll help out after.”

Macaque was going to ask what that something was before the words died in his throat, the sight before him making him pause in confusion and barely held back amusement.

“You have Monkey King themed PJs?” He asked, toweling off his head first. “At Mei’s?”

“Sometimes I stay over.” Was all Wukong said, shrugging as if it was nothing. “Considering you’re here and I don’t see signs of a break in I assume those plum PJs in the same closet are yours.”

“I DON’T HAVE PAJAMAS HERE I DON’T STAY THAT OFTEN!” Macaque snapped, and his face flushed a deep red in embarrassment before he saw Wukong’s victory smirk. “... you made that up to make me slip that I’ve been here before.”

“And you took it hook, line, and sinker,” Wukong said playfully, grabbing the monkey demon’s arm and using a second towel he had to dry it off. “I wasn’t kidding about the PJs though.”

“O-oh...” was all Macaque could reply with as the information slowly sunk in before he ripped his arm away. “I can do that myself!”

“Then do it and come inside!”

~

Macaque was... mostly dry after a couple minutes, enough for Wukong to drag him into the bathroom and instruct him to change and use the blow dryer he has shoved into his hands while he mopped the floor. And as much as Macaque disliked the noise... he couldn’t argue that the warm air of the device was a welcome change from the icy seawater against him.

He may have looked like an extra puffed up fur ball when he was done and refused to come out until he at least had the PJs (short sleeved and indeed covered in plums) on to hide the worst of it.

Didn’t stop Wukong from devolving into cackles at his expense once again.

“Hold on, let me do something,” Wukong offered, and guided him to sit down on the couch sideways, situating behind him with the other pulled against his chest and a comb in hand. “At least I can help with your hair... if it counts as hair.”

“... I don’t know if it does,” Macaque replied, finding himself at a loss for what to do and say in this situation.

They were enemies, right?

Shouldn’t Wukong... be chasing him out of the building?

Now sitting him down to- OH NO!

“ACTUALLY WA-”

Macaque froze as Wukong’s fingers brushed against his scalp and the teeth of the comb brushed through his hair, far more gentle than Macaque could remember anyone touching his hair before, and he went limp in Wukong’s arms like putty.

“Knew that’d get ya,” he felt Wukong say as much as he heard him say it, and the hands and comb continued through his hair and fur and he couldn’t even muster up any coherent words to snark back at him. Just a frustrated grumble. “Xiaotian does this to me a lot. And to his monkeys. So I figured this would be... ya know, nice for you.”

They stayed like that for a good while, Wukong brushing his fingers and the comb through puffed up fur and pulling out tangles Macaque didn’t even know he had on the back of his neck. It felt... strange. To trust someone that you spent so much of your time fighting against, flirting with awkwardly in the midst of battle, never thinking that the two of you would just sit and do anything calmly together.

But here they were. On Mei’s couch. Macaque feeling a purr rumble up in his chest as Wukong groomed through his hair and fur in a gesture he clearly admitted he knew the implications of.

“They’re from before,” Wukong said after a while, after he rested his head on Macaque’s shoulder and started working through the fur on his arms. “Before Red took me in... back before I had the staff to fight with.”

And as much as Macaque wanted to ask, and if he really tried he knew he probably could, he chose not to push it when he heard the way Wukong’s tone changed. Something equally nostalgic and melancholy.

“I think they make you look cool too,” was what he said instead.

“... We’re both pretty cool.”

[187days]

Day One Hundred Thirty-Two

All the juniors took SATs today. In order to minimize distractions and give them the best test-taking environment possible, the rest of the school operated on an atypical schedule: Blocks 1 and 2 were about half an hour longer than usual, Block 3 was about ten minutes longer than usual, there was no flex block, the lunches were changed so that all the test-takers could eat C lunch... Block 4 was normal, but 

It actually worked out really well for my World students because it gave them more time to finish the rough drafts of their essays. I was really impressed by how well they used the time, especially during Block 2 because it was so lengthy. Did they run out of steam in the last ten minutes or so? Yeah, but they’d done so well up until that point, it was alright.

I had an observer in the room- Mr. Y, a former student and current middle school social studies teacher, who came up to see what a day in ninth grade social studies. Now, Mr. Y was a junior when I started teaching, and, while he wasn’t my student, he and I often talked politics because it’s an interest of his. While he was in college, he did a bunch of his observation hours in my classroom, and since he joined the middle school faculty we’ve been colleagues and friends. We have very similar mindsets and beliefs about education, so it was fun for both of us to spend the day together.

It used to be a regular thing that the middle school teachers visited us to observe, and we visited them, but then Covid happened, admins changed, etc, etc... So Mr. Y realized it’d been a while since he’d observed, and he wanted to make sure he’s still preparing his eighth graders well for their experience here, and that’s how this came about. His former students were thrilled to see him, and even the students who hadn’t had him as a teacher were happy to talk to him about their essays. Meantime, I was giving pointers, answering questions, proofreading on request. It was great. 

Then my APGOV students came in to prepare for a discussion-based assessment about Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet.” I asked them to write 8-10 questions about the content, context, and/or style of these texts, and they got right to work. Mr. Y got a look at some of their questions, which was great because he  got to see the level or work students are doing by the time they’re in twelfth grade and in an AP class. He took a ton of notes to share with the other middle school social studies teachers, and hopefully we’ll all get back into the habit of observing each other more regularly.

I missed most of track practice today because I had to renew my CPR certification, and our school nurses were offering a class this afternoon. I made it out for the last ten or fifteen minutes, but that was long enough for my face to get a bit of windburn. And, man, if I had to describe preseason, that’s one of the things I would definitely say: windburn. But, despite the wind, there was sunshine and warmth, and the snow is melting! 

[nanowrimo]

Pro Tips from a NaNo Coach: How to Finish Your First Draft

NaNoWriMo can seem like a daunting task sometimes, for NaNo newbies and veterans alike. Fortunately, our NaNo Coaches are here to help guide you through November! Today, author Aiden Thomas is here to share some advice on pushing through to the end of November: Hello Friends! My name is Aiden Thomas, I am the New York Times bestselling author of Cemetery Boys and I’m your Nano Coach for the dreaded week 3 of National Novel Writing Month!

I think most authors would agree that they hit a wall around the 30K mark of their manuscript. You’ve ridden out the high and novelty of Week 1; Week 2 things started to get tricky as you got deeper into your plot; and now you’re on Week 3. Right about now, your stakes are high, your character is facing some challenges, and very likely so are you. At this point it’s easy to get stuck, so I wanted to give you some advice on how to keep pushing forward.

The first and most important thing to realize is that your rough draft will never live up to your vision—and it’s not supposed to! First drafts are supposed to be crappy. The story you have in your head will never be exactly as you want it on the page the first time, and especially not in 30 days! Right now, you just need to get the words down. Stories become beautiful books with revisions, not during a fast draft!

So, how do you keep pushing forward and get that crappy rough draft done so you can hit your NaNoWriMo goal and start revising? I’ve got some tips!

1. Talk it Out

The most helpful resource to me as an author are my writing friends and critique partners! When I get stuck, I usually send them a Google Doc with the challenges I’m facing and we talk them through and come up with solutions. About half the time, I don’t even take their advice, but just bouncing ideas around helps me come up with an answer! Sometimes getting out of your own head and just talking it out with someone—even someone who isn’t a writer!—can give you the inspiration you need to break through writer’s block.

2. Bullet Points

Okay, this is lowkey Plotter propaganda, BUT JUST BEAR WITH ME! I often get stuck with the crushing stress of hitting my writing goal to the point where I freeze up, unable to move forward. Looking at the larger plot can be totally overwhelming, so try focusing smaller accomplishments that feel more manageable. By taking it one scene at a time and really breaking down the sequence of events, you’re setting yourself up for success by hitting achievable goals!

3. Take Note

Plot holes are a total pain and can pop up out of nowhere! When you figure out there's a problem with your plot, or maybe just a detail you realized needs to be changed 20,000 words earlier, don’t get distracted! When that happens, take note of it (either leaving a comment within the manuscript or writing a list) and fix it during the next draft. You probably want to fix it immediately, but now is not the time! This is a crappy first draft, remember? And you’re on a deadline! 

4. Focus Time

Writing sprints are a whole thing in the NaNoWriMo community, but I find them intimidating! The pressure to write a bunch of words quickly in a set amount of time sometimes just makes me freeze up completely and I get nothing written! A lot of folks don’t work well under that kind of stress, especially if you’re “competing” with friends to get the highest word count. What I find MUCH more helpful are doing “focuses”. I’ll pick an amount of time (usually 30 minutes) and commit to doing nothing but writing for those 30 minutes, no distractions! It takes some of the pressure off and it’s a lot easier to reason with myself to get writing done if it’s “just for 30 minutes.” After the focus time, I can get a snack or mess around on Twitter, but for those 30 minutes I am entirely invested in writing!

The most important thing to remember is that by November 30th—regardless of if you hit 50K or not—you will have gotten more of your story written than you did November 1st, and that’s still a success! Take a deep breath, try not to put too much pressure on yourself, and keep moving forward.

Aiden Thomas is a New York Times Bestselling author with an MFA in Creative Writing. Originally from Oakland, California, they now make their home in Portland, Oregon. As a queer, trans, Latinx, Aiden advocates strongly for diverse representation in all media. Aiden’s special talents include: quoting The Office, finishing sentences with “is my FAVORITE”, and killing spiders. Aiden is notorious for not being able to guess the endings of books and movies, and organizes their bookshelves by color.

[eddsworld-headies]

i was wondering if u could do a tord/tom with a female reader that dresses really baggy-VERY TOMBOYISH but is decked out with all types of rings and chains. doesn’t dress girly but still barely wears makeup and likes to have pretty nails at the same time.

Oh wow what a coincidence my-- OC IS JUST LIKE THAT HAHA WELL SINCE YOU ASKED MIGHT AS WELL RIGHT??

--------

Tom huffed loudly, not noticing that Tord had helped himself to sitting at the kitchen table to watch him press his forehead to the window, looking outside. He simply stayed silent, watching the brit get frustrated while opening and closing cabinets.

"Lose something?"

Tom groaned, slamming the cupboard door and turning round and facing the Norwegian with a sneer. "Screw off. I don't need you chewing my ear off." He replied grumpily, moving towards the living room and giving a quick glance around. " What, did you lose something in the bottom of your flask? Other than your self-worth?"

"EDD!" Tom shouted, making Tord roll his eyes as he stood up, following Tom as he moved up the stairs. "Jesus, don't be such a tattletail. I'll stop bothering you." "This isn't about you, Commie."

The two stopped in Edd's doorway, Tom holding onto the edge of the door trim as he leaned in. The leader of the group was jamming to some tunes at his drafting table, tablet pen in hand and hoodie wrapped around his waist.

His room was messy, seeing as he wasn't the only one occupying the room now that their newest addition moved in from America and needed a place to stay.

"Hey," Tom said loudly, moving in and lightly slapping Edd's shoulder, the tallest of the group shifting his eyes over before lifting his left earbud out. " Where's your sister?" The black eyed man asked." Huh?" "Your sister, dude, where is she?" " I dunno. She's your girlfriend, keep better track." "It's not like I have a tracker on her or something." "Then maybe you should invest in one." Edd retorted, settling his earbud back in his ear.

"Thanks for the help." The dirty blonde scoffed, pushing the second ginger of the house to the side and moving past him. "Oh!" Edd said, pulling out his earbud once more. "If you figure it out, let me know!" "Whatever!"

"You seem ever worried today," Tord started, continuing to follow the other-- much to his annoyance. " What? You fuck something up again?" " Fuck off. I haven't seen her all day. I'm just worried, Dick." "It's not like she can't take care of herself." "I know that. But she's a fucking dumbass with an impulse disorder and a can of pepper spray. Plus 4 years of law enforcement and dumb fucking defense classes in a tiny 5 foot package. The girl thinks she's indestructible and that doesn't go well with her--" "Tendency to do dumb fucking shit?" "That's putting it lightly. I guess getting into trouble runs in the family."

Tom perked up when the front door opened, Matt walking in with his hands behind his back as a much shorter figure following behind.

"Fuck, there you are-- What's with your hair?" Tom asked, moving toward his girlfriend, who's impossibly short cut hair almost replicated her brother's. " It's windy. And of course someone had to put the top down." She said, green eyes narrowing at the freckled ginger who was smiling brightly. "Oh, but look how good my hair is!" Matt whined, trying to get a bit of sympathy from his best friend's sister.

It was times like this that Tom realized, without her snake bites and brow piercing, their were only a few differences to Edd and his sister. Besides the accents, they could be twins if her eyes were a different color. And you know... If she wasn't a fucking twig.

Tom can remember how hilarious he thought the two were where they were younger. Sure, they weren't as big as they were now, but seeing this skinny short stack next to a guy like Edd and claiming them to be siblings was hilarious. But they looked a like, identical traits in each but separate none the less.

He had to admit, seeing his girlfriend without her hair pushed back was a little odd. She rarely wore it in a cowlick like her brother.

"Okay. Where did you two go off too?" He asked, noticing that the only girl in the house hand her hands shoved into the pockets of her blue zip up hoodie. The red long sleeve down to her wrists while the blue sleeves of her jacket were up to her elbows, and her tan pants and sneakers were slightly muddy. Practically all the cuffs of her pants were dirty, since she usually liked to go through puddles and mud rather than walk around a foot or two.

"We went to the mall!" Matt exclaimed, suddenly thrusting his hands into Tom's face. The shorter flinched, grabbing Matt's wrists and pushing them away to get a look at his hands. His nails were long, at least an inch and a half, and bright purple with butterflies and hearts. They were rectangles at the top and wrapped pretty nicely in a white french tip. "Aren't my nails gorgeous?"

"Yeah, their great," Tom said, letting his wrists go. " And why did you need to get your nails done?" "They were so dull before! I can't be this perfect and have dull nails! Plus, we got a 5% coupon!" Matt explained. Tom looked over to his girlfriend. " And how much did this cost?"

" 63 pounds each." She answered, her boyfriend raising a pierced brow. "Each?"

"Ah! Well yes, of course! I simply couldn't have a spa day all to myself," The ginger said as Tord took a seat on the couch, messing with his phone. "Sooo, I invited Bridget to come along!" He said, grabbing her hands out of her own pockets and revealing her nails. Long and sharp, deep blue with little piercings on them and a little blue marbling.

She smiled guiltily as Tom's eyes widened. "I mean- I couldn't not." She defended. "Bride- Baby, You're an All-star, really-" "Ah yes, just what every girl wants to hear." She teased lightly, fully knowing neither were at the "I love you stage" yest so finding a compromise was hard. "Yeah yeah- But... You're the clumsiest person I know. And you chew nail polish off your nails. In what world is this a good idea?"

Bridget blew air as her ran her hands through her hair, the front lightly sticking up in her normal do but half deflated without hair gel. " There is none- But! Listen to this!" She said excitedly, moving towards the wall and clicking her nails repeatedly on it with a wide smile, the noise loud and slightly satisfying. " Eh? Right? Isn't that great?" She asked. Tord sat up, laughing lightly. "You game for a living and the first thing you do is get acrylics-?" Bridget shushed him, moving over and running her fingers through his hair, lightly scratching at his scalp as his face scrunched up.

"Don't think about the future, think about the now." "OH gOd that's horrible!" Tord groaned, cringing but laughing at the odd feeling. "Fuck it feels like your scratching my brains!" Tom rolled his pitch black eyes. " You're gonna hate those in two hours." He insisted, watching her creep closer. "Okay. I'm hearing you," She said. " But in my defense...."

Bridget moved forward, wiggling her fingers in her boyfriends face. "These are fucking sick." She whispered, her nails lightly scratching at his stubble and making his laugh and pull back from the ticklish feeling. " Fuck that's absolute shit." He chuckled, face scrunching as Edd jumped down the stairs.

"Hey! I knew I heard you-" His eyes widened as they landed on his sister, the siblings locked in a staring contest as she slowly moved her hand away, this time towards her brother.

"What the hell are those?" "Edddyyyy," "Don't you dare." "EEEEEddddddyyyy," "Bridget, I swear to god if you touch me with those things-" " I think you need a back scratch, Eddy bo' Beddy." "Get away from me you fucking dwarf!"

///////////

Tom groaned as he scratched his stomach, lazily flipping out the band of his sweatpants so he didn't have to tie them as he went to the kitchen. He opened the fridge door, goosebumps forming over his chest as he reached in to grab the milk. He kicked the door close with his foot and turned to fill his glass, jumping out of his skin at the figure in the arch way to the living room and hall.

"Jesus-! Damn it, Bridget! The hell are you doing?" He asked, hand over his chest as she stared at him, eyes slightly bloodshot and wide as she stood in the arch way, his blue hoodie down to her thighs and the peaks of dinosaur boxers underneath. Her hair was spiked up now, only slightly ruffled. " Did you just finish your stream?"

"Seventy-eight," She said shakily. " Seventy-eight fffffucking run-throughs, because my fucking nails! Keep getting caught!" She whispered- but it was more of a stage whisper with her theatrics as she held her hands out awkwardly. " I want them off, Thomas." Tom stared at her for a moment, eyes wide as she looked at him with a death glare.

"..Uhhhhh," He dragged. ".... There's a Buzzsaw in the attic?"

//////

haha I really just wrote a short with my Oc in it cause I have that kinda power so suck it

( But if ya'll really want an x reader one I can write another one. It'll litterally be the same though I have a bunch more asks to get through)

[favefandomimagines]

Goodbye Love (t.h.)

Summary: Tom doesn’t realize how much being shipped with another woman hurts you, until you leave.

AN: i did a concept like this with a ben hardy imagine so I thought I’d do it with Tom. This is old and is one of the 41 drafts i have saved but too scared to post lol SO i hope you enjoy (using hailey bieber as a face claim cause i felt weird having a faceless photo of someone on a red carpet) xx

Ever since Tom had finished filming Spider-Man: Far From Home, the tomdaya shippers have been in full swing.

Shipping them ten times as hard as they did the first time. It was easy to ignore but now it was getting hard. Especially when Tom isn’t doing anything to make it stop.

His fans found an interview of him, being asked if he found his Liz Allen in real life and when he answered yes, the video was edited to show videos and pictures of him and Zendaya. Even though in that interview he was talking about you.

Currently in Atlanta, you sat on the bed you shared with Tom, Tessa laying close to you, almost as if she knew that you were upset. You were waiting for Tom to come home, though you were a nervous wreck. How were you supposed to tell him how you felt and that you were going home for a little bit?

“Love, I’m home!” Tom called from the living room. You didn’t move and neither did Tessa. Which was odd because she always left to go greet Tom when he got home.

He entered the room and saw you two on the bed. “There are my girls.” He greeted with a smile on his face. He walked over and tried to kiss your lips but you moved your head so his lips landed on your cheek instead.

Tom looked at you for a moment, a curious look falling on his face. “What’s wrong?” He asked. Tom knew you inside and out and he could tell something was wrong with you.

You didn’t look up at him, just handed him your phone with the screenshots and screen recordings, of people praising him and Zendaya’s nonexistent relationship and degrading you and your real one.

“Two years, Tom. I’ve been going through this for two years.” You finally spoke. “At first, I ignored it. Knowing I could put up with it for a few months while the movie was out and you were doing press. Then it just kept getting worse. Seeing people call me terrible names and wanting you to break up with me and wanting me to-” You started but stopping yourself, the more intense comments being worse than most. “Y/N-“ He tried to speak. “And you know what the worst part is? You haven’t done a single thing to end it.” You cut him off.

You still hadn’t looked at him when you got off the bed and grabbed the two bags you packed.

Tom watched you place them on the bed and his heart started to beat faster and his eyes widened. “W-What are you doing?” He asked. “I think, I should go back to LA for a little bit and just let you think things through. Is letting your fans have some fun with the idea of tomdaya worth losing me?” You replied.

“Y/N, please don’t do this. Please don’t leave me.” Tom begged, tears welling up in his eyes. “We’re just taking a break, Tom. But if you decide that I’m not worth it, that’s going to be it.” You told him. You picked up the bags and headed towards the door when Tom grabbed your wrist. “Please don’t leave.” Tom whispered.

You looked at him for a moment before leaning in and pressing a soft kiss on the corner of his mouth. “I have too.” You whispered back. Tom reluctantly let go of your wrist as you opened the door.

Tessa got down off the bed and began to follow you out the bedroom door. The dog began to cry softly as you headed towards the front door of the airbnb. “Goodbye, love.” You said to Tom before exiting the house.

Tom watched you leave, the tears falling freely at that point. He didn’t know it had gotten so bad for you. He’s ignored the shipping a million times knowing it was you he loved but he never knew you were second guessing everything about your relationship and yourself.

He ran his hands through his hair out of frustration before retreating back to the bedroom.

***

It had been three weeks. Three weeks since he had seen you. Of course he’d seen the photos of you in LA. Just because you’re going through something emotionally, doesn’t mean your career stops.

You had been doing a bunch of press for the TV season you had just wrapped before you went to Atlanta with Tom. It was the best idea you could think of to get your mind off of Tom.

He wasn’t having such luck. Everything reminded him of you and he wasn’t the same knowing that your relationship was in the balance. And everyone around him noticed.

“Tom, what’s going on?” Zendaya asked him one day. “Y/N didn’t leave for work, she left because of the fans shipping you and I. She couldn’t take it anymore.” Tom answered. “What do you mean?” She asked. “I’m supposed to be her boyfriend and you’re supposed to be her friend and yet we let thousands of people ship us together, without even thinking of how that could make Y/N feel.” Tom ranted.

Zendaya had never thought of that before. She didn’t realize just how cruel the fans were until she checked while she was talking to Tom.

“Oh yeah. This is, uh, very bad.” Zendaya said. Tom looked at her phone and noticed that there were new comments.

‘Y/N is so beneath Tom. Zendaya is a queen’

‘Y/N should just kill herself.’

‘Y/N’s show is gonna flop and then tom will see how much better zendaya is’

‘tomdaya is better.’

Tom’s stomach twisted seeing all the negative comments about his girlfriend and one wanting her to end her life. If they were really his fans, they’d support him 100%. “How could they be so cruel?” Tom asked. “I don’t know but maybe we do need to say something.” Zendaya replied.

“I need to get her to come back.” He muttered. “You setting your fans straight will do that.” Zendaya told him. Tom nodded his head before taking out his phone and posting an old picture of you at the Infinity War premiere.

@tomholland2013: i am going to be blunt and i’ve never done this before so bear with me. but the constant shipping of Zendaya and I, had gotten out of hand. I am in a happy and loving relationship with the woman in this photo. You don’t have to like it but you have to respect it. Y/N is the love of my life and seeing her being brought down my total strangers, breaks my heart. No fan of mine brings her down. And that’s that. @y/f/n_y/l/n

You got the notification that Tom had tagged you in a photo. Swiping your phone, you read the caption carefully. “He finally did it.” You said to yourself. But why now, two weeks later?

That conversation wasn’t one to have over the phone so you had your agent get you the next flight to Atlanta.

“Are you sure you want to leave half way through press?” She asked you. “I have too. Everyone will understand, they know how much Tom means to me.” You answered. “Okay. Your flight lands at 9:45 and pack an umbrella. There’s supposed to be a huge storm when you land.” She told you. You gave her a gracious smile before getting in your Uber.

***

Tom sat on the couch, quietly watching whatever soccer game was on, only wishing you were there next to him. You hated watched soccer with him because of how competitive he got but whenever he asked, you watched with him. 

He was knocked out of his reminiscing by the sound of his phone vibrating. Seeing it was Harrison, he sighed but picked it up. “Hello?” He answered. “Are you still sulking?” Harrison asked his best friend. “What do you think?” Tom retorted. “You have to stop that, Tom. She’ll come back when she’s ready.” Harrison told him. 

Tom sighed, knowing well that Harrison could hear. “Look, you saw the comments. They’re terrible. Telling her to kill herself so that you and Zendaya can finally be together. You don’t get over something like that over a few nights.” He added. “I know, but I just wish I could make it better. It’s been three weeks.” Tom said. “I know but you did all you can do. It’s all up to her now.” Harrison said. 

Tom knew his best friend was right. He knew you needed time to yourself, to make sure you were fully ready to come back to him. “But, if it’s any consolation, I had a surprise sent to your doorstep.” Harrison added. “What?” Tom questioned. “And you might wanna hurry up and bring it inside before it gets absolutely soaked.” He said. 

With furrowed eyebrows Tom got off the couch with his phone still pressed to his ear. “What are you on about?” Tom asked him. “Just do it.” Harrison ordered. Tom rolled his eyes and walked towards the door. He opened it up to reveal a soaking wet you. 

“Hi, love.” You greeted him, the sound of the rain nearly drowning out your voice. “Y/N, w-wha- you’re here.” Tom stammered. “Yes, I am now can you please let me inside before I get pneumonia?” You asked with a small laugh. 

Tom didn’t let you inside but instead hung up the phone and walked outside to pull you into him. He didn’t care if you were soaked from the rain or the fact that he was also getting wet as well. The only thing that mattered to him was you. 

“Tom, you’re going to get sick.” You told him, breaking the silence. “I don’t care. That’s the last thing I care about. I just need to hold you.” He replied.

You let go and looked up at him for a moment. “Y/N, I was a mess without you. You are everything to me and not having you here was hell.” Tom told you. “I love you, I am so in love with you. And I’m so sorry.” He added.

You didn’t say anything at first but wrap your arms around his neck and pull him down closer to you, to place a deep kiss on his lips.

Pulling apart, he rested his forehead on yours. “Let’s get inside before you catch a cold.” You told him, pushing him inside the house.

Tessa barked and ran to you and a large smile made it’s way to your face. “Tess! I missed you!” You greeted the dog, crouching down to her level. Tom smiled at the sight, feeling as if everything was back to normal.

“Y/N,” Tom started, causing you to turn to face him. He offered you his hand, which you took, to help you up from your crouched position. “I will never make you feel unimportant again. I am so sorry.” He said. You gave him a warm smile before kissing him gently.

“I know. It’s okay.” You replied. “I love you, Y/N. With everything I have.” He told you. “And I love you.” You said, the two of you plus Tessa cuddling on the couch for the night. 

[andypantsx3]

hi there !! i hope you're doing well :) ever since i started reading ur fics i've just been really impressed with how u keep the quality of ur content very consistent. do u take breaks in between writing each fic? i think u mentioned this in a previous post when u talked about editing fics, but i guess i'm wondering how u keep urself from being burnt out/if u get burnt out! i'm going thru a slump rn so i'd be curious to hear about ur experience!

Omg thank you so much!! That is literally so sweet of you to say, much as I doubt the quality is all actually consistent—I'm looking at you, in cinders chapter two.🖕🖕🖕

Also please excuse how long this got, I have a lot of thoughts on this subject in particular!!

Personally yes, I do get burnt out, and I do find it very necessary to take breaks—from writing overall and from a fic if I'm having difficulties with it. In general, I try to write a little bit every day, but that’s not always possible, and there are times when that’s not the right thing to be doing.

If you were following me late last year, you may vaguely be aware that I disappeared for two months straight between December and February. Like, just let the queue run through and did not answer a single ask, post a single original thought, or even look at my ao3 comments. While I was gone I barely wrote a thing. I think at like 1.5 months into it, I started drafting the outline for subtle, but before that, I didn't do shit except focus on my personal life and hang out with my dog.

At that point I was just tired and I thought I could use a little recharging to get excited about writing again. I read a bunch of books and other people's fics, and reread a bunch of my old fave comfort ship fics. That break from my own work really helped me get inspired again. Since then I've been consciously trying to strike a balance between writing all the time and chilling/consuming the things that keep me inspired to write.

When it comes to taking a break from fics, I do that too. My Hawks fic lay low has been ongoing since December of last year, when I normally finish fics in under a month. I actually really love this fic, but I got a little frustrated with some plot holes and then again with the pressure I was putting on myself to characterize him (like, relax, Andie it's a fuckin fanfic) so that's been on hiatus like multiple times even though we're only three chapters in.

I think it was important, though, for me personally to take a step back from it until I had the energy to address the things that I wanted to, and until I was excited to write it again. I'm actually finally working on chapter 4 (!!!), but it really took a long time to let that bad boy marinate, and I hope the fic will be better for it.

And I did that with statistically significant as well. This was more due to my workload at my job at the time, and I worked on this one over the course of five months when prior to that, I had been finishing fics in 1-2 weeks. But slowing down and writing this fic over like ten times the amount of time it took me to write other fics was a really good learning experience for me. It taught me that it's totally fine to step away from a fic for multiple months, and that you can always come back and finish it later.

I think that's also going to be the case with the new Deku fic, and I'm happy I already know it's completely okay to take my time. I'm sure there will be new wrenches that life throws into my path, and I'll have to get hit by those and figure out how to get back up and learn to duck next time lol.

Anyway, I definitely get where you are coming from, and if I've learned anything in the year and a half I have been writing it’s that it's totally normal to hit slumps, be they long or short, fic-specific or related to writing overall. Burn-out/slumps are actually not a big deal at all if you don't psych yourself out about them.

I feel like every time I'm asked advice on anything I say this (but I mean it!!): listen to yourself. You know best what you need. If you don't feel like you have the brain power for writing right now?? You're definitely right, and you should take some time away to chill, just consume things without producing, or do other stuff in life that makes you feel good.

If you're two months into not writing and you get excited about a project outside of the one you abandoned?? There's probably a reason. Work on that instead, and maybe let your enthusiasm for that project remind you of what you liked about the other one you put down.

And if that enthusiasm doesn't return? Then let the damn thing sit until it does. There are literally writers I follow who stepped away from fics for YEARS, only to come back and post a new chapter like half a decade later. They are always, always better for it.

So literally just listen to what you are telling yourself, and ride out the slump however you need to. Please try your best not to feel guilty for it, or think that it is any reflection on you or your work. They're just a natural part of the process, and honestly you will be the better for having had this experience.