#I bet the writer thought he was so original when writing this

[samthechaotic]

At this point, DC is a social experiment. I refuse to believe those people are real.

[sweet-s0rr0w]

Vintage Drarry Fics

Thought I'd put together a list of some of the old Drarry 'classics' of my teenage years, for anyone interested. All posted between 2001-2006, compiled using my (bad) memory, a lot of googling, fanlore.org and numerous different LJ rec accounts (including the incredible @capiturecs). I checked as best I could, but if anyone knows of any fics that their author doesn't want to be shared, please let me know and I will of course remove.

Please also note that these fics are of their era, when attitudes may have been different, and they may not all be grammatically perfect. I haven't reread all, as my own tastes have changed, but most importantly do note that they may not be tagged - don't blame me when, for example, Harry dies tragically on a rooftop at sunrise...

Hogwarts Era (mostly 5th-7th year)

A Thousand Beautiful Things by Duinn Fionn/geoviki (M, 105k)

Draco Malfoy struggles with changed fortunes, shifted alliances, an ugly war, and an unusual spell, with the help of a concerned professor, an insightful house-elf, and an unexpected Gryffindor friend.

All Bets Are Off by Allegra (R, 53k)

I am SICK of Good-little-innocent!Harry...Enter Playboy!Harry and his Overinflated Ego, a challenge, a bet, a couple of Really Cunning Plans - and there you have it, "Forty days and forty nights", Hogwarts style. Mayhem ensues! 

Angels and Devils by beren (E, 52k)

Harry defeated Voldemort and his act of heroism is famous throughout the wizarding world. He's trying to finish his final year at Hogwarts in peace, but, thanks to the method he chose to destroy The Dark Lord, something peculiar is happening to him, something he never would have expected. It's all rather embarrassing and making his life very complicated.

Artful Facade by Sky Sorceress (T, 66k)

Sometimes you fly too close to the sun and lose your wings. With sixth year approaching, the danger Harry seeks can be found only in the form of Draco Malfoy. What follows is a twist in the line between hatred, love, and need.

Beautiful World by Cinnamon/Lissadiane (M, 70k)

Harry finds out he's going to die on his 16th birthday. He embarks on a journey of self-destructive behaviour and drags Draco along for the ride. 

Beneath You by Cinnamon/Lissadiane (M, 113k)

Draco had no idea that the repercussions of stealing Potter's journal and shoving it down the back of his trousers would be so extreme.

Bond by AnnaFugazzi (M, 173k)

It seems 95% of H/D writers feel compelled to write a "Harry And Draco Are Forced To Be Together By Something Beyond Their Control And Then Unlikely Stuff Happens That Leads To Twoo Wuv" story. Count me among the 95% ;)

Checkmate by Naadi Moonfeather (T, 245k)

Draco has the perfect plan to get Harry Potter and challenges him to a game of Dare Chess. But is it love, or betrayal, he has in mind?

The Cicatrix Cycle by Ivy Blossom (NC-17, long!)

Three parts: Origins, Haven, Belong

Draco In Darkness by Plumeria (T, 41k)

Following an accident in his seventh year, Draco loses his eyesight. After Harry elbows his way into Draco's dark world, both boys find themselves in a strange new friendship, and they each learn new ways to see each other … and themselves.

Eclipse by PhoenixSong/Mijan (T, 287k)

"You're dead, Potter... I'm going to make you pay..." Draco swore his revenge on Harry for Lucius's imprisonment, and Harry all but laughed at him. But Draco is planning more than schoolyard pranks this time. The old rivalry turns deadly when Draco abducts Harry for Voldemort. It's the perfect plan, guaranteeing revenge, power, and prestige, all in one blow. But, when Draco's world turns upside down, the fight to save himself and Harry begins, and the battle will take them both through hell and back. If they come back. 

Friend Like Me by Lady Vader (M, 11k)

Draco's rendition of the love story that never was.

How Harry Potter Got His Groove Back by Durendal/Eleveninches (R, 12k)

Snape tries to hang himself, Draco enters an alternate reality, and Harry Gets a Clue. Humor, SLASH, naughty language, and other Evil Things. Harry/Draco, Snape/James/Lucius.

Irresistible Poison by Rhysenn (PG-13, 124k)

Under the influence of a love potion, Draco learns that poison doesn't always bring death -- there are other ways to suffer and live. Chemical emotion runs feverish as Harry and Draco discover the intoxication of love.

Lettered by pir8fancier (M, 7.8k)

Harry has a secret penpal, whose identity is as plain as the nose on his face. Except he's not wearing his glasses.

Love Under Will by Aja (R, 116k)

In their 5th year, Harry and Draco choose to be with one another; but the story--and the battle-- is just beginning...

playing the game, living the lie by Abaddon (R, 159k)

Set in Sixth Year, both the wizarding and Muggle worlds are threatened as Voldemort plans a final revenge. Past, present and future collide as all must consider where their loyalties lie; who they are, and who they want to be. Amidst it all, Harry and Draco begin a dangerous journey of understanding. Is it possible to leave everything you thought you were behind?

Resolution by Frances Potter (R, 322k)

When you've spent six years fighting evil, all you really want is a quiet time. But when your name is Harry Potter the chances of that are very slim. A series of vignettes chronicling Harry's final six months at Hogwarts. Exams, friends, lovers, Quidditch, the war and Draco all conspire to make the year end seem a very long way away.

Seamus is Seamus and You are Yourself by Ari Munami (PG-13, 31k)

Harry goes through some er... changes in his Sixth Year and everyone, including Draco Malfoy, sits up and takes notice.

Snakes and Lions by GatewayGirl (M, 139k)

When Ron and Hermione get together, they notice only each other. A nightmare prompts Harry to return alone to the empty Chamber of Secrets, and leads to a new look at an old enemy. Harry enjoys the company, but with Bellatrix Lestrange actively hunting him, how far can he trust a Death Eater's son?

Something Impossible by epicylical/Cassandra Claire (PG, 6.4k)

As punishment for an act of vandalism, Draco is forced to perform three tasks to win Harry's forgiveness - only they don't turn out to be exactly the kind of tasks he'd been expecting. With wet shirtless Draco, paint-covered Harry, and Proust-reading Goyle.

Transformation by amalin (E, 98k)

In Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts, he must face the consequences of the attack on the Department of Mysteries and the effects of Voldemort's return. And in doing so, he finds that even your enemies can teach you valuable lessons—about the world, and about yourself.

Walking the Line by SilentAuror (E, 179k)

Sixth year is over and Draco Malfoy is on the run. The war is on and an unwanted assignment is forced upon him by the only people he trusts - and a one-time arch-enemy just may be out to kill him.

Post-Hogwarts

Adagio in G Minor by furiosity (NC-17, 18k)

Seven years after Hogwarts and the war, life continues in the wizarding world. Draco Malfoy is rich, bored, and slightly jaded. Harry Potter is famous, busy, and somewhat disillusioned. They've not seen each other since school ended. What would happen if they were to cross paths again? What if it involved music?

Big Dick, Come Quick [PDF] by Calanthe (NC-17, 204k)

Draco’s got a theory. About sex. And after much searching for the right candidate, it appears that only Harry Potter, his life long enemy, can help him test it out.

Draco's Escort Service by Cheryl Dyson/dysonrules (15, 12k)

Draco's job is to escort travelers through the dangerous, war-torn countryside. Harry Potter is forced to hire him, but his destination isn't quite what Draco expected.

Left My Heart by Emma Grant (E, 85k)

Auror Draco Malfoy has disappeared, and Harry Potter has been sent to San Francisco to find him. 

Malfoy, P.I. by Nancy (R, 60k)

"I'm Draco Malfoy, private investigator. I've seen a lot--I mean a lot, and I'm like sweet seventeen a lot. I thought I'd seen it all, until a pair of green eyes stepped into my office." A noir AU set in L.A. where passion and magic collide. Slashy and sexy.

Queen of Hearts by scoradh (E, 65k)

A spectre is haunting Harry - the responsibility of his destiny. It looms over his future and, more importantly, over the future of his friends. Harry is determined to exorcise this spectre for the greater good, but on the way, he enters into a few unholy alliances.

Tissue of Silver by fearlessdiva (R, 76k)

A love story concerning possessed furniture, black silk pyjamas, courtroom drama, premonitions of doom, assassination attempts, Death Eater yoga, absinthe, bare feet and a sensible werewolf.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by November Snowflake (M, 58k)

When the long-missing Draco Malfoy turns up at a Ministry field hospital with amnesia, bitter Auror Harry Potter must confront the shadows of their shared past to shed light on a potentially deadly mystery.

Transfigurations by Resonant (E, 71k)

Five years after Voldemort's defeat, Harry returns to England to help re-open Hogwarts.

[fictionalreads]

This Was Never Meant to Be What It Feels Like

A/N: Hey y'all! I'm not really a writer so this is my first time posting any writing here on Tumblr, but I'm apparently incapable of not thinking about Armando (*Whatta Man by Salt-N-Pepa plays in my head) so this kind of...happened. I figured I'd share ☺️ Also, I know Armando thinks Aretas is his dad in the movies but I changed it a bit.

Title is from Satisfaction by SiR (if you haven't heard it do yourself a favor and go listen)

Pairing: Armando Aretas x Original Female Character

Fandom: Bad Boys Movies

Prompt: Shay (OC) wants to get to know Armando better and figures her best bet is to ask when he's...relaxed.

Warnings ⚠️: Uh...complicated parental relationships. Talk of smut, but no actual smut.

“Tell me something.”

“Hm?”

Shay kept her focus on drawing invisible shapes on Armando’s shoulder with her finger. Her blue stiletto shaped nails going down almost to his elbow before finding its way back up to his collar bone. It was something she did often after they had sex and she knew it calmed him much like it was now. His breathing had slowed into something calmer than the frantic breaths of ten minutes ago when he was trying to catch his breath. The open window blew in a decent ocean breeze, adding to the peaceful feeling in her bedroom. She tried to play it cool, like she wasn’t disturbing the moment, wasn’t asking him to do the one thing she knew he hated - opening up.

Shay had been seeing Armando for about three months now, and she knew next to nothing about the man. She knew it was a red flag, hell she knew he probably wasn’t a law abiding citizen, but she couldn’t help it. 

There was something so magnetizing, so sensual about his presence. He commanded attention even though she got the feeling he wanted nothing more than to blend in and be lowkey. She couldn’t help but notice the way he held himself, the way he spoke and moved with the confidence of a man who was sure of himself. Don’t get her started on the way he smelled - it was divine and pure man.

The point was basically this - he was a ten but he refused to tell her more about himself.

Shay was determined to get to know him better, because despite playing things close to his chest, she was in love with him. She didn’t know his last name, but she knew he would bring her flowers and food if she was having a bad day just to make her smile. She didn’t know what he did for a living - honestly, part of her was glad for this if it was illegal as she was imagining. Plausible deniability. - but she knew if she needed him to, he would fix anything she needed him to or at least find someone who could. She didn’t know what his crucible entailed that made him like this, but she knew he loved her like she was something precious.

So she was taking the risk that this would blow up in her face. “Tell me something about you that I don’t know.” She kissed his chest, like she was softening the blow of the question. Not that she needed to, it was an open ended question on purpose. The more freedom she gave about the topic, the more likely he was to answer.

He gently shifted her to the pillow as he lifted himself on his elbow, facing her with a suspicious look on his face. “Like what?” God, what she wouldn’t give to take whatever hurt that made him so distrustful of her just wanting to know him away. Who had betrayed him? Who took advantage of his trust and made him so wary of genuine love?

She thought over her answer, a million topics coming to mind but needing to pick one that wouldn’t have him shutting down immediately. Armando had let the conversation start but he could end it if she said the wrong thing.

“Your family.” She could feel him pulling away as if it was physically happening so she quickly explained her choice. “Did you grow up with siblings? Are your parents married?” Bare minimum. 

It seemed to have worked he looked at her as if debating what to say, if anything, before laying back down and staring at the ceiling. The relaxed man that was in her bed mere minutes ago, gone. Now he was tense, as if ready for a fight. She slowly and obviously resumed her previous position on his chest, giving him time to tell her no if he needed the space. Her nails went back to their drawings in the hopes of calming him enough to talk. He took a breath before, “I grew up an only child. My mom was my world, she taught me everything I knew.”

Her nails stopped moving. “Was?” It was the word that caught the most of her attention out of everything he just said.

“She passed away a few years ago.” His face was blank, as if he was just stating a fact of life rather than talking about the death of the person that raised him and whom he clearly loved.

Shay rubbed the shoulder she wasn’t laying on in an effort to comfort him.“I’m sorry to hear that.” Armando shrugged it off but she could tell it still hurt him. “What about your dad?”

“Our relationship is…complicated at best. He wasn’t around for most of my life. We were introduced a few months before my mom died. I didn’t even know who he was to me until my mom told me on her deathbed.” 

“You never asked your mom about him before?”

“If there was one thing I knew about my father growing up, it was that my mom hated him. She always told me that he left us behind and didn’t look back at all. As a kid I was curious but as I got older, I started to hate him too. I mean he was supposed to love my mom, and he turned on her and left me behind like I was trash. Fuck ‘im. Now I know it wasn’t so black and white.”

“How so?”

“The few times my mom spoke about him, she always heavily implied that he knew she was pregnant with me and left anyway. Looking back, she never said the words. When I confronted my father about it, he said they were a doomed couple that wasn’t ever going to last. They were both too selfish. Said he didn’t even know she had been pregnant until we met.”

“Sounds like he cares. I mean if he knew do you think he would have been around?”

“There’s no doubt in my mind he would have been there, raised me. I know he loves me, that he just wants what’s best for me, but I’m just having a hard time accepting it. I spent so much time hating him that reconciling this truth with this perception I’ve always had of him is hard.”

“Not to mention it means confronting that you didn’t know your mom as well as you thought you did. The woman she was to you isn’t the woman she was to others.”

“And she’s not here to explain it, which just makes me mad all over again. He’s usually the target of my anger.”

“Makes sense to me.” She shrugged in response to his questioning look. “He’s here. Add in the fact that he wasn’t there for so long its easy to blame him for a lot.”

“Yeah,” he agreed.

Like a flip had been switched, he once again moves her onto the bed and hovers over her.

“Enough about them. Talking is not exactly what I had in mind for us tonight,” he pleads. 

She could see the desperation and fear in his eyes. She had a feeling that being that honest with her scared him. He wasn’t exactly the vulnerable type and telling her all this put him on display in the most raw way, an unknown for him. It also meant he had to be honest with himself about he felt, something she didn’t think happened a lot. He wanted to escape the real hurt he was feeling about it all, he didn’t want to face what the truth might mean for his memory of his mother. If a reprieve is what he needed, she could do that for him. She would do that for him.

She bit her bottom lip, looking at him through her lashes, feeling herself get wet at his suggestive tone and slight touches. “What did you have in mind?”

❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

The next morning she woke up alone, his side of the bed cold. This wasn’t an unusual occurrence as he often left before she woke. She was used to him leaving and coming back randomly, sometimes being gone for days. After their conversation and the way he seemed to just need her last night, she figured this was coming. Something told her him leaving was different this time, that she had pushed him too far. She had the sickening feeling that he wasn’t coming back.

Round two had been fast and rough, needy in a way. Round three had been teasing and playful, like he was apologizing for being so rough before. Round four was…slow and passionate, reverent almost.

It felt like a goodbye.

A/N: 🫣So how'd I do? Let me know in the comments. Likes and reblogs are always appreciated! OH AND HOW SHOULD I TAG THIS?! Anything I should add to get more people to see it?

Part 2 Part 3

[akutasoda]

This is my first time requesting here, so

Hi! Mind if I send in an Obey Me request? How about this: Asmo, Mammon, Simeon and Solomon with a reader who makes jewelry. And one day they make a cute little accessory especially for them, like a keychain, a bracelet, or a pin or something

eye of the beholder

synopsis - your very good at making jewelry, how would they show interest?

includes - mammon, asmodeus, simeon, solomon

warnings - gn!reader, reader makes jewelry, fluff, wc - 906

a/n: hello!!

mammon ★↷

↪now, upon learning of your hobby of making jewelry mammons initial thoughts - which he will deny - is how much he could make off your little trinkets and jewelry.

↪while he does admire how dedicated you are to making them and sercretly honours your skills and dedication, at the end of the day the avatar of greed is namely know for one thing in particular. especially when your not that close to him.

↪however that attitude mostly shifts as the two of you grow closer and eventually the deciding factor is when you gift him a small gift of his own. i could definitely imagine you making him some sort of crow feather keychain.

↪he flaunts it off on everything. anything he can attach it too that's with him, always making sure it keeps close to him as he never wants to lose it.

↪and he even would absolutely treat it as the most valuable item. because it means the world too him, would honour it even more if perhaps you both had matching keychains. and no matter the temptation to seel it for a quick buck, he would never for your handmade gifts.

↪although sometimes he can't help but pose the idea if you two becoming so called 'buisness partners' to sell your jewellery and such. however under no circumstances would he get rid of his personal gifts as he would most likely become very, very upset.

asmodeus ★↷

↪he was absolutely enamored and so interested in your little hobby. especially because you were so good at it and he did always have a thing for collecting various jewellery and similar trinkets for his various outfits.

↪if he was honest he did sometimes always think about making his own because sometimes he wanted a very particular thing and could never find it. but then he realised how much time that could take and that would put him off.

↪but as he got closer to you he realised you vould help him with that issue! upon your choice to do so if course. but still, he would never forget the first time you gifted him a very precious handmade gift to him. one that made his heart absolutely soar.

↪i could see it being something along the lines of a bracelet. a bracelet signifying either his significant or favourite colours and finished with a very nice charm. and you bet it would receive better looking after than his actual very expensive ones.

↪during the day, he would wear it proudly and happily recite its origins should someone ask. and during the night he would safely store it as to avoid unwanted damaging. similarly to whenever he did something that may damage it. eventually he may subtly ask you to match with him.

simeon ★↷

↪initially and throughout, he absolutely admired your work. while he may be a writer he understood that making the things you made probably took alot nore precision and time. although he could understand and admired you more.

↪as said, because he is a writer he understands you time and dedication to something that you love and take pride in. meaning you two often converse about various works you two are occupied with and sometimes tips to help manage.

↪and so when you handed him a piece specifically for him, he was overjoyed. i could imagine it would be something along the line of a keychain or those little pen charms you can attach. mainly because he would carry it everywhere or keep it on his favourite pen at all times.

↪so everytime he would write, he would spend a decent amount of time staring at the charm and thinking of you and how much he treasured it. which often lead him to being more proactive as he imagined it was your way of cheering him on.

↪and if it were a keychain, he would love to have matching. something so small yet so meaningful hand crafted by you felt so nice to him that he wouldn't have it any other way.

solomon ★↷

↪if he were to be blunt, he did feel a bit conflicted on your little hobby. while he admired your dedication and pure skill, his long life as a sorcerer meant that he didn't understand why you wouldn't just make it that way.

↪but you did explain to him and he knew that was his issue and confliction not yours. and after seeing you so happy, pouring your life into making them he did start understanding why and he did like watching how you did it.

↪he finally truly loved your hobby when you gifted him his own personal piece. i would feel like it would be either pins or a necklace.

↪mini pins that could start decorating the white neck piece he wears, each ranging in colour, size and design. or simple necklaces with a small trinket on each. either way he would treasure them nonetheless.

↪although considering he isn't the most tidy especially during experiments, he does sometimes get them damaged or destroyed completely. he lacks the ability to maintain their condition iften going back to you asking for another.

[foxglovegames]

Trouble Comes Twice - the Postmortem

We celebrated Trouble Comes Twice's anniversary around a month ago! We'd hoped to post this postmortem back then as well, but it's taken us a moment to find the right words haha.

Anyway, we hope that this postmortem can give our players and other visual novel devs some insight into what the development process looked like for us. It's also a great way for us to look back at what went well and what went less well.

We'll be taking about the ideation phase, our (lack of) marketing for the Kickstarter, and also sharing (what we can) on our earnings from the game!

Coming up with Trouble Comes Twice

The original tone of Trouble Comes Twice was a lot more comedic and packed to the brim with anime tropes we enjoy. Most didn't make it into the final game, but some stayed and evolved e.g. all of the love interests are based on popular visual novel archetypes - the childhood friend, the tomboy, the shy girl, and the bad boy. 

Some, like Cameron and Zoe, changed a lot from their concept while Adrian and Stephanie stayed quite loyal to our original ideas of them. Cameron's character actually underwent the most changes after the initial reception to the demo, where a lot of people felt like he was too much of an ass haha. (Fortunately, he became a fan favorite when we dropped the new demo!)

The premise with the bet was something we invented to create some drama and establish a common plot thread throughout each route. Honestly, looking back, we would probably have approached the bet differently if we wrote it today and a lot of our pre-planning was... clumsy, at best. Still, it was a labor of love and I'll never forget the fun and excitement we had everyday balling ideas for the characters and coming up with their designs.

As Melli and I are just writers with limited coding experience, we worked with a past game jam friend to code the GUI and set up the base for the game (though the actual scripting was done by us and Melli put everything together in the end). Our biggest expenses pre- and post-demo was the character art and CGs, meanwhile we relied on free music and BG packs to save money.

Why a bisexual romcom?

So, this was sort of a no-brainer to us. We had decided right from the start that both twins could date both the male and female love interests, and (at the time) we feel that a lot of similar games had playersexual MCs rather than established bisexual/pansexual MCs. While playersexual charas are also awesome, we wanted to write a romcom where the main cast are always queer regardless of who you end up romancing. 

At the same time, bi/pan people don't all approach romantic relationships the same way e.g. Cameron is confident and has experience dating people of all genders, while Adrian's demi and Jace still struggles a bit with his attraction towards men. We know that some of our players felt like that made certain routes less romantic than others and we hear you on that feedback and have 100% taken it into consideration for our future romance games. But anyway, that was our thought process behind Trouble Comes Twice's romance dynamics!

Preparing for Kickstarter & the actual Campaign

Our Kickstarter launched at the start of August and let me tell you, we were nowhere near as prepared as we should have been. 😭 We hadn't set up a Steam page yet, we were trailer-less, and we only had a couple of hundred followers across our socials at best. I feel that there's a lot more successful Kickstarter projects to refer to and even a lot of marketing guides and advice now, but mostly it's on us for not researching more. 

The Kickstarter campaign did surprisingly well despite the lack of promotion and only having a rough alpha demo - we were even able to double our goal! - but we  wouldn't recommend what we did for other devs.

You should invest time into making a good demo, spend time building an interested audience before launching your campaign, and research so you've got some kind of marketing plan. We were lucky with word-of-mouth and that other visual novel devs with larger followings helped share our game, but we should have made more effort reaching out to bloggers, streamers, and game sites. Some crowdfunding successes may seem like they came out of nowhere and were just pure luck, but there's usually a lot of grinding behind-the-scenes that you don't notice.

The post-Kickstarter era, at least for us, was the harder bit. We now had 353 loyal backers who had expectations based on promises we had made and we had to make sure we met those expectations while also staying true to our wants as the devs. It was a learning process for sure, but we're fairly proud that we always did our best to keep our backers in the loop. It's frustrating to write an update explaining that the game has been delayed again, but backers are more open to being understanding than you think as long as you communicate!

A tip we'd give to new devs considering Kickstarter: Don't overestimate what you can do, but overestimate what you need. There's always hidden costs, unexpected taxes/fees, and other unknown obstacles that might eat up your budget. In our case, we made enough to make the game as planned, but had to change CG artists around halfway through development which meant our original budget didn't cut it anymore. Fortunately, we had earned a decent amount from our Patreon and pre-orders that we were able to use to complete the CGs, but that isn't always going to be an option for everyone and that also meant we were unable to use that money ourselves. (We didn't take any money from the original Kickstarter campaign, so whatever was earned through patreon and pre-sales was our only "salary" at the time.) 

Writing the game

Writing is, for obvious reasons, one of the most important parts of a visual novel. Melli wrote Jace's routes and I wrote Hazel's routes, which removed some pressure off our shoulders compared to trying to write over 300,000 words all on our own. 

It's fun working with another writer, but there are also some unique issues and considerations that come up when you're writing a game with two protagonists split between two writers. Especially because at the time, there weren't many visual novels with a similar set up to refer to.

The main things we learned, were:

Consistency. We wanted each couple to have their own dynamic, but the characterization needs to remain consistent between routes. You don't want Adrian in Jace's route to feel like a totally different character in Hazel's route. Additionally, we had to be careful that the tone and writing style of the protagonists' POVs still felt like you were playing the same game. Some routes can be more comedic than others, but we've got a problem if Hazel's routes are all (unintentionally) more serious/angsty in tone than Jace's or vice versa.

Watch out for your word count! Longer does not always equal better and writing eight routes, we had to put some restrictions in place. Even when writing on your own, it can be tough to guess how long your story should be, and it was important to us that the routes were roughly the same length so that none felt more "canon" than the other. However, with two writers who have different writing styles and ways of planning, it was tricky to compare our outlines and we struggled at times when it came to matching each other's word counts. Moving forward, we're probably going to be more lenient when it comes to word counts - some routes have to be longer than others, it doesn't mean that route is automatically more "important". We're also doing more regular meetings and frequent check-ins to make sure we're on the same page. In the future, we hope that should save us a lot of trouble when it comes to pacing! 🙈

Balancing your own wants with the wants of your players. In theory, these overlap most of the time. But making a commercial game (that people had already "bought" through the Kickstarter), there is some pressure when it comes to meeting certain expectations. We can't always just write what we want and assume everyone else is going to love it, but we also don't want to neglect what we personally like. We had a survey for the beta where we were able to get regular feedback and a lot of helpful advice. We definitely want to continue with surveys in the future - they are a great way to gather opinions from different players and figure out what works versus what doesn't! 

We took on too many tasks outside writing that distracted us. This bit is sort of inevitable for indie devs like us. 😅 Working with a limited budget and limited resources, you just end up having to wear a lot of hats! We think we did quite well sharing these duties though, and moving forward (thanks to you guys) we can afford more hands on deck to help us out. 

Marketing

The bane of every indie game dev's existence... although secretly, I kind of enjoy marketing but don't tell anyone that!

Having learned a thing or two from promoting the Kickstarter, we spent more time researching games marketing but in the end, trial and error was the best teacher.

As we got closer to the release date, we were posting almost daily on social media and grew our Twitter to over eight thousand followers. We didn't have any viral posts, but we saw a consistent growing interest in our game and it was such a motivation boost to see comments from potential players being excited for the game. We know a lot of devs have said that Twitter didn't help their game much but according to our stats, a decent number of our players found us through the platform. 

We saw less success here on Tumblr. Perhaps we haven't cracked the code here yet or maybe we're just comparing our numbers from Twitter unfairly! We're not hung up about it though, we love it here because it feels easier to connect with our followers and other devs there, and it's nice because we're able to write longer posts like this one! 💓

Aside from posting on social media, we reached out to several streamers and some bloggers prior to release to send them free game keys. 

We also commissioned some art from other artists to share, as we obviously couldn't reveal ALL our CGs before the release lol and visual posts tend to do a lot better in our experience. It was so much fun to see the characters in other art styles and we hope we can afford to commission guest art pieces a lot more frequently in the future!

In hindsight, we definitely regret not releasing a trailer sooner! We underestimated how much interest a good trailer could garner and delayed setting up our Steam page because of it. Steam was the platform where we sold the most copies and most of our buyers found the game through Steam itself.

Also, posting your trailer on youtube adds another site where you're promoting your game so there's really no reason not to get that trailer done as soon as you can. 

Final Notes

After the initial stress, we were pretty happy with our release! Although there were some things we would go back and change if we could,  that's just the nature of these kind of things. For the most part, we're proud of what we achieved and happy that we have learnt so much from Trouble Comes Twice that we can take into consideration for future projects.

We can't share exact numbers, but we wanted to open up a bit about our earnings for the game to help other aspiring devs: As of writing this, Trouble Comes Twice has earned close to 85,000 euros. This counts our profits from 2020 to now (the Kickstarter, Patreon, pre-sales, and actual sales). Removing fees, taxes, the salaries of our talented artists and other freelancers, as well as the money invested into our next game, our personal pockets did not see anything close to those numbers. But we're super proud of how much our little game has made and so grateful that it's allowed us more creative freedom with our next title! 

So, what's next?

You might have heard but for the past year, we've slowly been working on the demo and upcoming announcement for our next visual novel:

A 17+ supernatural neon-noir romance game about monsters, love, and other horrors. 

Play as vampire detective Circe (female protagonist) or hellhound cop Dante (male protagonist) and delve into the mysteries of North Haven, where demons, vampires, and supernaturals hide in plain sight among humans.

The game features six routes, with three romance options available to each protagonist. Dante only has male romances and Circe has both male and female romances. 

The game tackles a darker, more angsty tone compared to Trouble Comes Twice. Still, we hope that those who decide to check it out will enjoy it! We plan to announce the game this coming Autumn. Follow our Twitter (we're still not calling it X sorry) or Tumblr to stay up to date.

[harmonysanreads]

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ One Year Commemoration Post↬Sumeru Love Hexagon

-; ੈ♡˳ BEHIND THE HEXAGON

☆ The primary inspirations behind this AU are Alhaitham's Demo and this Fan Musical that debuted on Spring HoyoFair 2023!

Alhaitham's Demo no doubt gave many writers and daydreamers heavy brainrot and I happen to be one of them lol. But it was not until the fan musical that I had a concrete enough idea. I was charmed by the amount of tavern shenanigans this concept had the potential to bring, which is something that I really wanted to write at the moment :>

☆ Originally, Scaramouche or, Wanderer wasn't even supposed to be part of the AU!

Mainly because I didn't see many inclusion of him in the Sumeru Crew (at that time) and was unsure how it'd be taken D: But then, I remembered the v3.6 trailer where he was duking it out with the others and I was like 'why not?'. From that point on, he's come a long way and has even become the Best Boy of the Hexagon! :D

☆ Scaramouche's 'innocent in front of reader and the opposite behind their back' act is a tribute to his very first in-game appearance in the v1.1 Unreconciled Stars event!

This is something I'm humbly proud of, so to say. I still occasionally go back and admire the writing from that event. I think it's absolutely criminal for such a lore-rich and well-done in terms of character introduction event to be limited but oh well. Scaramouche, in my opinion, can be an excellent actor when he needs to be and if you watch the story from this event, you'll understand. Combining this with his mental state from after the Interlude Quest creates quite a messy situation though and, I kept it that way intentionally :>

☆ In the initial draft, Alhaitham was written as a very jealous character!

The cause of it being reader's infinite care for Kaveh. But obviously, I scraped it and wrote a much more toned down version and I sometimes wonder if I should've gone with my initial thoughts. Admittedly, I was playing it safe due to some reality checks regarding his character so I don't regret it a whole lot. But if it was up to the present me, I would be down to writing jealous Alhaitham immediately lol

-; ੈ♡˳ QUESTIONNAIRE

Does the Reader have White Knight Syndrome?

Well, I didn't originally write them with this particular condition in mind, however, upon further reflection I can see that they definitely show some symptoms of it. And considering the situation they're in, it's very easy for them to fall into the condition itself. I'm not at all qualified to diagnose someone with a mental condition so, my answer will have to a soft no. However, if anyone wants to imagine them as such, they're of course free to do so.

Is there any character you'd want to write differently if given the chance?

I already mentioned Alhaitham to a degree but, I really really wish I had been more considerate of Cyno. We're entering debatable territory here but the Hoyo writers putting so much emphasis on Cyno's TCG addiction and jokes while handling his actual lore whimsically made me lose interest in his character at that time. Though, I hope his upcoming Story Quest will fix this and do his character justice <3

Who is your favorite among the boys?

If you've lingered around my blog for a while, I know you thought I was going to say Alhaitham but, within the confines of the AU, it's actually Kaveh! He's like the initial spark that kindled the actual fire, as such, he's the first one you read about. I felt immense empathy for him after I learned about his lore through leaks, which is reflected onto the reader as well. Had this been a different timeline, Kaveh and Reader's relationship would be pure wholesomeness.

Who among the five is the endgame?

Ohohohoho.. place your bets because it can be literally anyone :) Even someone outside the hexagon in the off-chance they end up slaughtering each other lol. Kind of out of topic but, I think the Wanderer route would be genuinely heartbreaking unless he does something about Reader's mortality. He'd have to watch the one person who truly loved him decay slowly, while he remains afloat his raft of artificiality, safe from the clutches of death temporarily. Thinking about the endings make me feel quite sad honestly, it's a reminder that even the lighthearted shenanigans of the Hexagon will end at some point.

-; ੈ♡˳ ENDING NOTES

I could've easily done a writing event to celebrate the anniversary but I just really, really wanted to talk about these little tidbits. Many many kudos to you if you've made it this far, I hope I didn't bore you :')

Memories are fragile things, so I'd like to think of this as a memorial of sorts that I can look back to after a few years and not think of myself as a total failure lol. I wrote this AU at a rather difficult period of my life, which is why this is more lighthearted despite falling into the Yandere genre.

I don't really know how to express my gratitude without sounding overly sappy, but I'll forever remember every interaction, comment, ask etc regarding the Hexagon fondly. I even remember someone saying they're binge reading this late at night instead of studying for an exam or something which is.. wow, I hope you're doing well nowadays my fellow night owl! I appreciate every each one of you for even taking some of your time to read my silly ramblings <3

This is not at all the end of the Hexagon AU, just to clarify! I'll still answer any asks regarding the five losers (affectionate) because, despite the limitations placed by reality, in fiction, we have the power to imagine and write infinite tavern shenanigans.

Just before I posted the original concept, I thought to myself, 'If even one person smiles because of this, I'll consider it a success.' and now, looking back to the amount of people that enjoyed the Sumeru Love Hexagon (very silly name but I digress) I just feel so, so happy.

Thank you, everyone, sincerely <3

[facewithoutheart]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers (except me because obvs I have done it). Spread the self-love ❤

Thanks Jess & also @bookish-bogwitch, @skeedelvee, @run-for-chamo-miles, @aristocratic-otter & @urban-sith who also tagged me ❤️ y’all are lovely and I’ve enjoyed seeing the work you’re most proud of.

I tend to suffer from recency bias when writing fics, where I only like the things I’ve written recently, which isn’t fair to my (oh god so big) body of work. So, it’s taken me awhile to think about this.

This Will All Go Down In Flames (E, 77k, SnowBaz)

This is the first fic that really made me feel like a writer. Getting to collab with @tea-brigade & having some amazing alphas/betas like @sillyunicorn, @martsonmars, @bookish-bogwitch, & @cutestkilla. I’d written longfics before, but this was the first time I had a community with me and it made me realize how much more fun writing is with smart people in the trenches alongside me. I also got to add place to a fic for the first time really, celebrating the Austin I knew and miss every day.

boulders turn into sand (E, 19k, SnowBaz)

This is the first fic that I think is really beautiful, and painful in a sweet, aching way. Plus it’s got a banger of a playlist if you ask me. This fic wouldn’t be half as good without @shrekgogurt sliding into my DMs with amazing song recs and I’m so grateful to her ❤️❤️. I know this fic isn’t most people’s bag bc of the infidelity arc, but I consider this a turning point in my writing where I stopped trying so hard to write what I thought people wanted and started to focus on stories about messy people trying their best which is where I find most joy exploring. I think about the end of that fic and Simon/Baz’s slow journey to heal after their “happy ending” all the time. I don’t think I can express how much it meant to have @iamamythologicalcreature make art of Simon toward the end of that fic; he has my whole heart and seeing that moment represented just healed me in such a powerful way.

The Wedding Bet (16k, T, SnowBaz)

This fulfilled my dream of being a sitcom writer lol. Man, I had a blast with this fic and it seems best fitting for a gift for @martsonmars bc it’s funny, tender, smart and witty, all traits Marta exemplifies. I worked so hard on this fic yall hahaha and it’s one of the first fics where I contrived some insane structure and plot devices and I think I pulled it off. Finishing this definitely gave me the confidence to try bigger plots and new devices.

Cursed Ships (Series, various)

I’m cheating here because this is a series, but I think this is such a fun gift to fandoms: writing the cursed ships no one asked for but kind of make sense when you think about it. This is probably one of those areas where I feel unapologetically proud bc it’s hard for me to write in spaces without a lot of covered ground and also to pull off couples you kind of what to hate. And maybe I didn’t hit the mark on these but I’m still glad I tried.

Just Like That (WIP, E, 8k posted, buddie)

Maybe it’s premature to say this is a top fic when I’m still in the process of writing it but oh man I’m so proud of this so far. It feels like all of the heart of TWAGDIF combined with the sweet pain of boulders. This fic is meant as an exercise to see if I can pull off some of the messier themes I’ve got planned in my original novel idea, and so far I think I’m doing it? We’ll see if I stick the landing.

[tenpintsofsundrop]

Reader refused to sleep in her and Spencer’s apartment when he was arrested. She let their son and daughter sleep over at JJ’s house. She slept on the couch in Aaron’s office- when she slept. When they finally got him out they only made it to their SUV before they made up for lost time.

TLDR; Please don't just copy/paste the same requests and send them to a bunch of different fanfiction writers.

Okay so I don't really know how to go about saying this because I don't want to shame anyone or make them feel bad. Especially not people who have followed me for a long time and admire my writing.

When I first read this, I thought that it seemed oddly familiar to me.

So I tried looking in the Spencer x reader tags and I couldn't see the fic I had previously scrolled by.

So I copy/pasted this prompt into google, and I found a fic that I know was from a different author (because the one I scrolled by had a Spencer pfp and this one had a Steve Harrington pfp) that was from all the way back in 2021. And they had even answered a different request like one of the ones you copy/pasted to me.

Also: I don't have the links to those exact fics because I was just randomly scrolling through the mobile browser tumblr on my phone (and like I said, one of them I couldn't find but I know I saw it the other day) - but if you have seen those fics or know those writers, please go show their fics some love! I bet they worked hard on those requests and they deserve a lot of love for their fics.

I haven't stated this anywhere in my request rules, because I never felt the need to, but there is a certain etiquette around sending requests to fanfiction writers. And because I am old school fandom, I thought that I would never have to outright explain that kind of etiquette. Stuff like: a request is a request, not an order. Don't hound an author to get your requests finished. A request is more like a collaboration on an idea than it is a command to action.

And I think one of the etiquette bits around sending requests is that you shouldn't send the same exact requests word for word to a bunch of different fanfiction writers because it seems rude.

When you send someone a req, it's because you're saying "hey, I really like your writing! I like your style, the way you write these characters. I have an idea in my head for this fandom and because I admire your talent, I think that you could do it best." It's like going to a bakery because you think that they have the best chocolate chip cookies. A lot of places make chocolate chip cookies, but that one bakery makes them in a way that you think is the best.

Sending the exact same copy/pasted request to multiple writers sends multiple covert messages.

1) The person who did it the first time didn't do it up to your standards.

I have had requests filled before. It's rare that I request fanfiction, but when I have and someone has answered it, it has made me feel insanely special. And I treasure those fics (unfortunately a lot of the ones I reqd are on dead platforms now) and I go back and reread them over and over again.

So when you send a request to someone and they actually take the time to write out a whole fic answering it, and then you copy/paste that exact same request to another fanfic author - you are basically saying that the first person (in this case, at least two people with ^^^ this prompt) didn't do it correctly. That their fanfiction for your request wasn't up to your standards and you need to see it done again by someone else in a different way.

If that wasn't the case, you would simply treasure the original fanfiction that answered the request, reread it over and over again, and then go back to that original author with more different requests when they have their reqs open.

2) You are saying that you are too impatient to wait for your request to be finished.

I have seen times where someone copy/pastes the same request in different authors inboxes within the same week, basically just seeing who will finish the fanfiction first. Which is ... very annoying. If you enjoy an author's work and respect their time, then you will wait patiently for them to finish writing your request.

For me personally - I don't finish all requests. Which brings me to my third point.

3) Write it yourself.

If you are so passionate about this idea that you feel the need to see it written by different fanfiction authors multiple times, then please, write it yourself. All the details will be satisfying and exactly as you imagined them in your head.

There has been multiple times in my life when I have had a good idea for a fic and I have been so tired, and I considered taking that idea to another writer's inbox, but I knew that they wouldn't write it exactly as it was in my head - because HELLO - we are all individual artists with our own unique visions. So I just wrote it myself and wrote all the details as I imagined them and I was so much happier.

And that's how I grew my talent as a fic writer. By practicing writing my own ideas instead of just waiting for someone else to feed me the fanfiction I want. And now, whenever I want a hyper specific fanfiction that is not in the tags - I just write it.

But like PLEASE understand that fanfiction writers are not "content creators". We are not some big corporations like Netflix that has so much time and energy to pour into making this stuff - we are human. And it hurts to see you just feeding the exact same ideas to everyone else, because it means you don't value our work as individuals.

(Idk what I'm gonna do with the rest of the stuff in my inbox that you obviously sent. One of them really appealed me so idk.)

Anyway - Sundrop out ☀️💧

[crowcaws]

I've had some thoughts brewing ever since I finished NATLA, and watching Friendly Space Ninja's review of PJO really brought up a lot of feelings after sitting on it for a month so I'm going to try and articulate those thoughts here.

It's very interesting this fixation on the "word of god" and its involvement making or breaking a screen adaptation, to the point where you get unwavering devotion when a creator is on board, and outright disdain when a creator isn't on board. Both are completely reactionary takes that are unhelpful, especially when adaptations can be, sometimes, excellent without their original creators involved, and awful (cough fantastic beasts cough) when they are involved.

Regardless of whether or not NATLA was bad (it wasn't, it was just fine) I love that people are going "HA I bet Netflix regret losing BRYKE!" as a sort of gotcha, as if Korra didn't prove like a decade ago that Bryke are not infallible screenwriters. As if those same people, when the show was first announced and Bryke were on board, didn't even think to consider that Bryke are just two of the writers that made a great show.

Because fandom has a problem where it doesn't actually care or consider if the original creators are a good fit or not, if their involvement will harm the adaptation or help it, or if their recent work is still up to scratch with their original work. Fandom just wants a security blanket in the form of a name on a credits list, to the point of almost cult-like devotion that makes or breaks their opinion of content before it's even released.

This devotion is how you end up with fans doing logical backflips when their perfect book accurate Percy Jackson adaptation that "Uncle Rick" promised is now changing a bunch of stuff for not very good reasons, and now they have to either do mental gymnastics to justify questionable choices or admit that Rick can be wrong.

Percy Jackson had Rick Riordan on board and that series, let's be honest here, was just fine too. It wasn't groundbreaking, it did not surpass the source material on most points (I say most because all that Sally content was inspired) and fell short in a lot of ways that have been outlined by critics more articulate than I. Some of that, I suspect, was due to Rick's fixation on this adaptation being the antithesis of the 2010 movies to the point where it feels like they refused to let the show be fun and colourful in parts where it should have been. His involvement, as a book author delving into screenwriting, cannot be proven to have been more beneficial than if he had simply consulted and set boundaries and left it at that.

And of course Joanne is a fuckwit. But even creatively, you can't tell me that the fantastic beasts movies were better for her meddling.

But back to PJO and NATLA: I genuinely feel like we got very similar end products with both shows. An underwhelming foray into live action adaptation that suffers from too few episodes and disappointing characterisation save for a few standout roles (In this case, Sally, and Zuko and Iroh), and some problems aside that each show varies on, but ultimately still delivers something entirely and completely watchable. Percy Jackson has at least a tiny bit better characterisation overall, but cannot hold a candle to the fight choreography and special effects in NATLA (partly because in PJO they had a bad habit of cutting away or writing out every time anyone was mean to do something heroic or actually fight.) And yet you cannot speak a bad word about PJO, but NATLA is torn to shreds.

Back to NATLA and the Bryke: Almost nobody, in this whole time from the NATLA announcement to airing, has made comment on the absence of Aaron Ehasz, who was not involved with Korra either. They were happy to celebrate when Bryke was involved, and mourn when they departed, but you should have been mourning Aaron this whole time, if anyone. Aaron wrote Tales from Ba Sing Se, if you weren't aware. Arguably the most memorable episode of the Last Airbender, so emotionally rich and captivating that even hearing the instrumentals of that song in NATLA brought me to tears.

So why wasn't Aaron's absence ever felt? Well, that is because the fans saw "original creators" in headlines and ran with it without question as a sure sign of victory (and then failure when Bryke departed). Because fandom doesn't really care WHOSE name is in the credits, fandom just wants that sense of security -- and it's a false sense of security, because Annabeth and Katara both still ended up gutted of their depth at the end of the day. The presence of Rick didn't save Annabeth any more than the absence of the ATLA writers doomed Katara.

[goodluckclove]

I spent a long time avoiding Breaking Bad. I knew it was good - prestige television and the like. It just. Felt like a lot?

But Riley got me to watch Better Call Saul around the time we first started dating because I found out it starred Bob Odenkirk and I'm big into Mister Show (my love for improv and sketch comedy is vast and gross and the reason why I met my wife). I was crazy into it. It took me a while after that, but Riley brought up checking out the original show (The Bad as we Hardcore Fans call it) and I agreed to check it out.

So imagine my surprise when, after hearing so many assholes on the internet talk about how Badass and Cool Walter White was for like ten years, I realize immediately that he is probably the biggest loser in that era of television.

For those of you unaware, Vince Gilligan's Breaking Bad follows family man and resigned high school chemistry teacher Walter White. He is diagnosed with lung cancer and proceeds to spend five seasons of TV barely able to do a single crime without fucking it up. Walt fumbles pretty much every step of the way and is shocked when there are consequences to his actions, even though he does no research and makes a point to do all his worst felonies in the same dedicated Crime Hat.

I hate this hat. This hat is so, so dumb. While I fully think that the vitriol against the character of Skyler White (Walt's wife) is absolutely unfounded and a lot of her behavior is justified within the context of her being a super pregnant mother whose cancer-ridden husband starts acting unstable - the one fault I have with her character is that she saw Walt walk in with his New Crime Hat and didn't immediately burst out laughing. The hat sucks. On multiple occasions Walt is recognized and prevented from doing Crimes purely on the basis of someone recognizing his Crime Hat.

"Oh it's a reference to the French Connection" - yeah man and I bet Walt did that on purpose because he is absolutely insufferable and terrible at crime.

Legitimately every other character in this show, none of which are characterized for their Sick Crime Skills, are better at crimes than Walter White. They make better alibis. They're more thorough. They have - you know - skills and capabilities. Eventually a baby is introduced and I bet that baby could distribute meth better than Walter White.

I am not immune to depictions of toxic masculinity that people accidentally consider cool. When I was 13 I made my sister help me record a shot-by-shot reenactment of Paul Allen's death scene from American Psycho where I played Patrick Bateman. I still remember most of the monologue.

But honestly. Honestly? I cannot figure out why so many people found Walter White cool. I cannot see it and I feel like I'm going insane. I keep asking Riley to confirm that at one point he was like a prototypical Joker figure in culture. This reverence is unfathomable to me. Not only do I not see Walter White as a cool guy, I'm nearly certain the writers and directors and Bryan Cranston himself don't think he's cool.

Riley called him an antihero but I argued for that to be accurate he'd have to exhibit behavior that could be considered heroic in an unconventional sense. I'm midway into season four and I haven't seen do anything that wasn't based in ego at best.

I feel tempted to think that the Mandela Effect is real and my reality split from a prior one where people thought Walter White was awesome and would be willing to spend Human Currency on a silicon mask of what is essentially just a middle aged white man. No other explanation makes sense.

Anyways it's a really good show. Fantastic performances all around, including Aaron Paul's portrayal of Jesse which is actually way more sympathetic and nuanced than the memes online at the time made it sound. Writing is great, acting is great, the directing is a little on the nose sometimes with the Symbolism but it's pretty thought out. Very fun watch.

[fictiongarden]

Fan Fiction Review: Twilight of the Gods by blueenvelopes

Fandom: Star Wars

RATING: MAJESTIC

Blueenvelopes on fanfiction.net/blueenvelopes935 on ao3 has made something of a second unpaid career writing about Sith lords. Her Sith lords span antiquity right down to Darth Plagueis and beyond. Whatever may draw a person to create over twenty-five fanfic stories mostly about Sith lords, it’s my bet that blueenvelopes is female, older, well-read, and perhaps works in an artistic field. You’d certainly have to be all of those to create the damn-near-perfect masterpiece that drifts around fanfic land under the title Twilight of the Gods.

The story is thirty-nine chapters spanning the time between A New Hope and the end of the original trilogy and will take you several days of dedicated reading to finish. Happily, you will read it on the edge of your seat even though the author tells you how it will end in her copious story notes.

The story appears to have two main themes: One, to get the miserably widowed Darth Vader past Padme Amidala and married off to another wife; and two, to argue against a central premise of Star Wars that the reader may or may not agree with. It also brings back Darth Plagueis as the real star of the show in a capacity that will startle many readers.

Fortunately, when a writer with some talent thinks deeply enough about the paradigm and philosophy behind Star Wars to write thirty-nine chapters of coherent argument against it, the result is usually a well-thought-out and engrossing read. Even if you don’t agree that Snoke is Darth Plagueis or that the whole point of the GFFA isn't to stamp out darkness forever, the characters are so well drawn and the story is so intriguing that you should give it a chance anyway. It’s a hell of a good read whether you agree with blueenvelopes or not.

One of the story’s greatest strengths is the clear, convincing characterization. Darth Vader becomes even more nuanced here than he is in the hands of George Lucas, and that’s saying something. It takes real talent to make paragraphs of solid introspection, which this story features in abundance, just as riveting as an action scene. If nothing else, you will get lost in Darth Vader’s fascinating mind and beg for more when it’s over.

Another well-drawn character readers will enjoy is the Alderaanian art dealer Vader falls for and ends up marrying, a redhead named Astral Sidhu. (Is it my imagination, or is every female OC in Star Wars a redhead?) Unlike many OC In both the fan and professional worlds, Astral is older, in her mid-forties, so she beats many of the fanfic tropes right there. Her art world is so well-drawn and the character is so authoritative in her knowledge of it that we are swept right along into her world. There’s also the vicarious pleasure of being along in Astral’s wedding shoes as she’s recruited to help save the Empire’s second-in-command during a crisis, comes to know him more personally, and then ultimately falls in love with him and marries him. Yes, the sex scenes are included … a bit more realistically than in many other fanfics as well. (Yes, Darth Vader can be impotent … at least now and then.) Vader’s doctor and house staff leap right off the screen as admirable individuals in their own rights, too, although readers may not appreciate seeing fan favorite Firmus Piett trashed in this fic.

Another strength of this fic is the element of surprise. Not to reveal too many details, but who knew this much could go on between Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, and Darth Plagueis between Empire and Return of the Jedi?

The last point I can’t praise this work highly enough for is the strength of the writing. Not only is this writer at near-professional level (and as the widow of an award-winning novelist myself, I can say that), but the musings of the characters contain so much wisdom and so many truisms about war, about peace, about regret, and about middle age and the slide into life’s decline. You don’t find this kind of thought in fan fic usually, and that makes this a rich and rewarding read.

Of course, even the best-written published novel has its faults, and Twilight of the Gods does, as well.

The most obvious is the oft-repeated fan trope of having an OC stand in for the reader in the vicarious experience of getting intimate with a favorite character. Sadly, this trope is so often done that even when it’s very well done, it can’t escape the unfortunate associations with all the other thousands and thousands of the same thing that came before it. When even the creators of deeply loved film and TV series get accused of writing “Mary Sues” themselves, there’s no getting around it. It’s a plot device that’s not original. Here, at least, it’s well-done and enjoyable.

I say the writing here is “near-professional” quality because it has a number of noticeable flaws. First, and worst, there are too many Earthisms. No one in the GFFA has any idea what a Mary Sue is or what an eggplant emoji is. There’s nothing worse than being all caught up in such a tense, thought-provoking story only to get jarred right out of it when GFFA characters use Earth American slang or suddenly drop out of the high-minded diction for which they are known. The Darth Vader of the screen, for example, would never use the word guy.

Characters sometimes go off on tangents that are wildly out of character. A particularly grievous sequence has Hego Damask worried about his dramatic entrance when everyone has far more important things on their mind, and the Hego/Plagueis of Darth Plagueis fame would never. At least, not out loud or at the length he does here. The long, long chapter notes are a trademark with this writer. Personally, I would never be so brazen as to spend paragraphs and paragraphs believing my work is so good people will want to read pages of me explaining what was in my head as I wrote it. Blueenvelopes does, however, and it seems many agree with her. The danger here is that one may slack off in the work knowing one will explain it in story notes that are long enough to be a whole chapter by themselves. (The story is supposed to do the job, not your “liner notes.”) This, happily, turns out not to be the case, and many commenters are as fascinated with the story notes as they are with the story. If it works, do it. Overall, this story has ambition, scope, great characters, and enough surprises to keep you reading. It’s rich and thought-provoking enough that your mind will come back to it all day until you finish it. For good measure, there’s a happy alternative ending for those saddened by the conclusion.

My conclusion is, faults aside, this is one fan fiction not to be missed. *I will be posting these reviews on ao3 and my Substack, Garden of Deceit. Fan Fiction Review: Twilight of the Gods by blueenvelopes (substack.com)

[bluberimufim]

Find the Word Tag

Tag gamessss!!! I'm back to posting writingggg!!! (not that I'm writing original stuff rn, I'm just posting about it again)

Anywayyy, I got tagged by @olliexwrites (go check it out) for this. My words are White, Storm, Love, and Desk and I'll be taking the snippets from "Devourer of Souls" and "Black and White" as usual.

I'll gently tag @leisoree, @stesierra, and @writernopal, and your words will be Oppose, Bet, Risk, and City.

White (from DoS)

"We're going to the frontlines," replied one of the soldiers, with a moustache sprinkled with white hairs. "I don't think it's a proper place for a girl like you." I'm not a girl, Seth thought, but she restrained herself. She tried to look nice. "That's where I'm going!" she explained, setting one hand on the car. "I'm a healer." "You don't look like a healer. Where's your cloak?" "I'm in disguise," she lied. "My Master Healer Lady asked me to come work for the Lady Demigoddess." For a moment, she was grateful they'd hammered these titles into her head so hard they came out naturally. She sounded more convincing this way.

Storm (from B&W)

"I never thought I'd say this to you at age twenty-four, but I think you're senile." "I'm not senile, I'm drunk! You know, I once met a writer who said he had his best ideas when drunk. It's what I'm doing! Brainstorm! I've been thinking about it for a while, see?" He fished out his little black notebook from the inner pocket of his coat. It was much more worn out than a notebook that recent had any right to be. He set it down on the table and started flipping through it, showing its contents to Diedrich. Most of it was scribbles, with one or two notes scattered here and there. It was clear he'd given up on being organized about halfway through.

Love (from DoS)

"Don't you think it's weird to date the person you're healing?" Asha looked at her, confused. "No. Why?" "Well... she's eating up your soul piece by piece." "You're getting it wrong. I give my soul to her of my own free will precisely because I love her. I want to keep her alive, and if parts of my soul are what she needs, I'll offer them whenever she wants. For my love for her and my love for the Goddess of Time. This way, I slowly become part of her. Don't you find it the most romantic act of devotion there is?" Seth didn't reply so she wouldn't have to lie.

(I love Asha, she's so weird)

Desk (from B&W)

"Let me see him," he insisted. ""No," Johann repeated. "I'm his father. I want to see him. Let me go see him." "I've been there. The others called me over to go see it. It's not a vision I'd wish upon anyone. Especially not you. Stay." "I don't want to. I can't. If it was your son, I would have let you see him. For the last time. Let me go see Alphonse." "Diedrich, please don't insist. You can see him later, just not now. Not in the state he's in. I don't want you to see the look on his face. or his eyes. Try to understand, please. Diedrich let go of the desk and tried to stand up straight. He sighed. "Fine."

Damn, that was mostly normal and then ended in an emotional gut-punch. At least for me, because I know the context. Yippeeee!! 🥳🥳🥳

[dooptown]

my disorganized thoughts about the main reason i don't like 343 halo stories

i feel like one of the biggest failures of 343 Halo's stories is lack of character, literally. Pretty much every major player from the original trilogy is dead by the end of it (thanks marty) so they were left in quite a pickle. It had to be hard creating a new cast of characters, especially with 4's tone shift. It worked for some people, but this post is specifically about one character from the original trilogy that's been pretty much shafted by 343 and i cannot understand for the life of me why they don't utilize him

and of course i'm talking about Thel "The Arbiter" Vadam

sure he was controversial in 2004 but he's easily a fan favorite now. he's like the only major relationship chief has with someone who isn't cortana (or johnson but y'know...) They're former enemies who are forced to work together, with chief literally being the reason for Thel's entire character arc

i also think it's really interesting how cordially Chief talks to him when they're grabbed by gravemind (who i think was done the dirtiest in halo 3 irt to writing but this post isn't about that)

guy pretty much just says "hey, chill bro" when he sees him struggling. Like, Chief is THE guy who kills these guys. He's the one human that's probably killed the most of them. And he's just so quick to just casually quip like that. He sees him as a person. I just think it's such an insight into his character, and seems like the start of a fun dynamic relationship

Unfortunately that's the only time he ever says more than one word to Arby. Of course Chief's silence in 3 is due to Cortana not being with him, as she's the only one who can bring out his more talkative, sarcastic and quippy side. Him not saying a word to Arby is just an unfortunate side effect

343 could have changed this with their games. They could have brought Thel in and had him as a major player in the stories. I understand shelving him for 4 since that story was for chief and cortana, but having him appear in 5 and having their only interaction be teased in a cliffhanger and only talked about in a fucking BOOK is one of the most insulting things a game franchise could do. His further absence in infinite is also bizarre to me. Like i get that the stories they're telling don't really need to involve him but also they're not great stories anyway. They keep bringing cortana back (even though she should have stayed dead in 4) while ignoring the only other major relationship Chief has that he could develop to properly replace her friendship. Halo 4 and Infinite's story about grief and moving on rings a bit hollow when you're replacing the one important relationship you had with a near carbon copy of it

i could understand 343 writers being intimidated about using the arbiter (although i think most people's favorite part of 5 was his inclusion so idk i think it'd be a safe bet to keep bringing him back) since the vacuum in Chief/Arby interactions has mostly been filled in by fanwork and fan discussion. Maybe they're afraid of backlash if they don't depict it in a way fans would accept? I really don't know but i think anything would be appreciated instead of literally nothing

this all ties into a previous post i made about how 343 is afraid to tell stories that aren't human centric. I have no more expectations for modern halo, but it would be nice to see the deuteragonist of the original trilogy return to the series

also he's hot

thanks for your time

[ramblingcj]

I've found myself going down the rabbit hole that is "bury your gays" because I love torture apparently.

Found myself reading about The 100 and the Lexa controversy. I never watched the show and so I completely missed the whole drama surrounding it. I knew about it vaguely but that was it. And... wow.... that whole thing was somehow more cruel than other examples of that trope.

The relationship between Clarke and Lexa was used under the guise of giving lesbian/bisexual representation to draw in viewers. The creators needed their show renewed and the LGBT+ fanbase is strong and loud. So they baited them in with a character that they fell in love with. A character they still love considering how popular Lexa still is as a character years later.

But the "bury your gays" trope was (and is) a real fear. The fans were literally begging "hey please don't kill this character off". Or asking them about the "bury your gays" trope. This went on for weeks or even months prior to that episode. And the creators were like "don't worry guys, we totally won't do that". One writer even went as far as going into a lesbian forum to reassure everyone that nothing was gonna happen to Lexa. They knew about the trope but they didn't care. All they cared about was getting the views and stroking their egos.

Fans were practically begging them not to do it and they still did. Worse, they thought they did something good or groundbreaking.

Instead of... you know... really hurting people. The fact that the first thing some people did was tweet out the number to suicide hotlines after the episode was a heartbreaking thing to read about. And these assholes just didn't care.

Well...I bet the creator cared when he lost 15k followers on Twitter and the backlash came. So much so that the "Lexa pledge" became a thing. He got the attention he clearly craved, just not the kind he wanted.

It was a wild ride to read this. It was frankly pissing me off.

The, out of curiosity, I watched the scene. And now, I'm even more annoyed. THAT'S LITERALLY WHAT HAPPENED TO TARA IN BUFFY.

Step by step. Practically scene for scene. Just listen to this:

Lesbian character is on the outs with the girl she loves, but they are slowly rebuilding. Things happen, and they eventually find themselves coming together again. They have sex, spend some time cuddling (or going for round 2) before finally getting dressed.

While they are dressed and just enjoying the afterglow as it were, some jackass comes running in with a gun. He fires madly but misses his intended target. Instead he hits the lesbian character by accident. She then dies in the arms of the girl she loves.

Did I describe what happened to Lexa or Tara?

Both actually.

Not only did these assholes cruelly use Clexa to draw in fans while reassuring them that nothing bad will happen, but they were fucking lazy about it too! They just rewrote the whole thing with Willow and Tara.

That somehow makes this controversy worse. Not only did they hurt people with what happened, they couldn't even be bothered to write something original.

I think that's enough Internet for me today.

[crimsonbodies]

❝Now Kiss!❞ 18+ - MINORS DNI            … Alan Wake x Joan Newbury | Original Female Character ] WARNINGS: non-con, infidelity, graphic violence. >a/n : heyo! crimson here. so i'm posting on ao3 but thought i'd start posting on tumblr too again! after having writers block for (checks notes) 6 years, i'm back and ready to write smut finally. hope this isn't too much for some people. i'm not into the infidelity trope at all but it would appear that alan wake belongs to me now :) i thought about this. i wrote this. i read this. the guilt is immense. but i'm still gonna touch myself to it at the end of the day because it's hot 😎👍 ENJOI ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ

So Alan Wake had a ring on his finger. So what?

Jiwoon couldn’t wrap his head around why the two most gorgeous survivors (besides Yunjin) wouldn’t just confirm their feelings for each other already!!! It super obvious they were meant to be together, and it was driving him INSANE!

Wake had a wife in the real world or whatever but it had to be like a million bajillion years ago since he last saw her, so he didn't understand what the problem was, and he bet Joan was WAYYY better than Wake's wife anyways like C’MON. Plus what if she was dead??? He had half a mind to escape this realm and kill her himself. The mere memory of her was getting in the way of his power couple for god's sake, and Joan was NOT a second lead.

He paced around the stage, his home in between games being a massive auditorium. When he wasn’t practicing his performances, he was sitting in a meeting room at a long table with all the other killers. Well, most of them. Some didn’t want to participate in their little reality-tv ramblings, and others had been kicked out for being too rowdy. They had been non-stop teasing him about how Alan and Joan would never get together, and it was torturing him because he knew they were right. He had been around Wake long enough to know that the guilt of ‘cheating’ on his long lost wife was looming over his head every time he was with Joan; and yet his puppy-dog eyes couldn’t hide just how much affection he had for her. It was pathetic. It was dramatic. It had him on the edge of his seat, but the endless “will they, won’t they” had gone on for far too long. It wasn’t enough for him anymore, he needed a real display of affection.

Whenever he had them in a match, he would tunnel out the other two randos just so he could watch them interact alone, or ALOAN as he liked to call them (it was their ship name he made up and he was very proud of it)(he hoped it caught on in the meeting room soon). Even when tensions were high, and they constantly looked over their shoulders, Wake would still spare some time to make a bad joke, and Joan would call it awful but wouldn’t be able to stifle her laughter. Then they would gaze lovingly into each other’s eyes, or even worse, stare longingly when the other wasn’t looking. From the moments where Wake would drop whatever he was doing when he saw her being chased, to the fact that he would never even let her end up on hook in the first place, it was so obvious to every survivor and their mother how they felt, and if they were trying to hide it from people they sucked at doing so. They were even known to the younger survivors as 'mom and dad'. It was CRYSTAL LAKE CLEAR how well they fit together like two puzzle pieces, I mean, CLEARLY since even the killers who didn’t really care about them weren’t denying the chemistry they shared. Even Freddy, who rarely participated in the round table love island conspiracy, had a few choice words when Merchant said Joan could do way better than Wake. You could hear the sound of one of pinhead’s nails dropping the way the entire room froze in shock; it made Jiwoon proud to call them his OTP.

But Jiwoon wasn’t just another annoying fanfiction writer, he was the Trickster! A cold, confident, calculating,  killer. He wanted an intimate performance, not 50 webtoon episodes where the couple barely so much as brushes up against each other. He had already read plenty of that slow-burn garbage back in the real world, the comments flooded with disappointment every time a kiss was teased and not given for the seventh time over. He would never do that if he was the author, he would simply give the people what they truly wanted immediately. 

And then it hit him. He stopped pacing, bringing his hand up to his face that was curling into a devious smile, and started chuckling to himself. He knew exactly how to get them to admit their feelings. If the forced proximity trope wasn’t enough, he would have to take it a step further. 

He needed to get them to fuck each other, even if he had to force them to do it.

/////

Sooner rather than later, the Trickster had made an appearance in one of their matches. Alan and Joan had long noticed how he liked to stalk them, catching on to his constant ploy of saving them for last, but he never really finished what he started. He often seem to give up in the end game, and they would always see him from afar as they ran through the exit gates. Still, they learned not to let their guard down, and were extra cautious around him since he was unpredictable, but he knew it was all a farce. Some would say he was underestimating what they were willing to do for the other, but Jiwoon was banking on it. In fact, they needed to stick to the script that he had been writing for them behind the scenes or all of this would be for nothing. He was risking them never being able to face each other again. The stakes were high, and he was all in.

As per usual, he made quick work of the unfortunate Dwight and David (sorry about your ship Trapper) and quickly made his rounds to the last gen. There were only three left for them to work on, and they almost always worked together on one of them. The map was Gas Heaven in Autohaven Wreckers. He knew exactly where they were headed: the gas station. The false pretence of a safe roof over their head. They would crouch walk over to the gen, unaware that the basement was directly next to them, patiently waiting for the next scene to unfold. And he was right; there they were. From a fair distance away, he could see Joan’s dark chocolate movie-star hairstyle peeking out from the cracked glass of the garage door. In his head, he fantasized about them exchanging meek smiles, their fingertips would brush as they reached for the toolbox at the same time, unable to hide their blushing.

‘Sorry Allie.’

‘You can use it June.’

He pictured them exchanging lovey-dovey nicknames, truly the pinnacle of a completely platonic friendship. Ignorant lovebirds.

‘Keep it together, Jiwoon. It’s… showtime’

He took a deep breath, brandishing his throwing knives before he took off. The only reason it wasn’t wise to form a relationship in the games was the fact that sometimes you were so focused on protecting the other person that you ended up making stupid mistakes, and Wake was due for his own to catch up with him. Joan was on the side of the gen perfectly in line with the doorway. Wake hadn’t even noticed, too busy scanning their surroundings for the both of them and getting his vision caught on the way Joan’s delicate hands made quick work of the wiring. But the hair on Joan’s neck raised as the killer approached, and just as she was about to get off the gen and tell Alan to hide, a firm hand was grasping the back of her black turtleneck. She yelped as she was pried from the engine, and Alan yelled after her as Trickster swiftly walked toward the basement with her over his shoulder. He couldn’t help but smile as he carried her down the stairs, turning the corner and letting her fall to the ground. He had mulled over hooking her in his rough drafts, but ultimately decided against it. Instead, he rolled her onto her back and dropped on top of her.

Wake was usually not far behind whenever she was in danger, and Jiwoon wanted him to see this. He took a blade out and plunged it into the fabric of her long-sleeve, cutting it straight up the middle to reveal her bra. Joan stopped struggling and stared at him in shock, but he wanted her to make some noise so he pressed the blade into her shoulder, just deep enough to make her scream. He started to fiddle with the zipper on the side of her skirt and heard Wake come bustling down the stairs as Joan was quietly pleading ‘no, please don't, no no no stop’. Trickster catches his gaze and Wake stops in his tracks in disbelief at the sight. His blood is boiling and his fist is ready to connect with the killer's jaw, but he knows he can't. He’s not allowed to. He'll be punished.

'Good,' Jiwoon thinks, 'stay on script'.

He holds the older man’s gaze as he stands up, leaving Joan writhing beneath him, holding her wound. 

"Heal her." He instructs, and though Alan doesn't quite comprehend what's happening, he rushes to Joan’s side to help her. He sees her exposed chest and cute mint-green bra and forces himself to focus on her injuries, burning a second hole through the hole in her shoulder.

"Allie... Allie..." She cries, grabbing onto his jacket sleeves, her grip loose. 

"It's okay, I'm here. I'm here." 

He tries to reassure her but there's still too many questions about the situation. That and she’s half naked underneath him and he hopes it isn’t obvious he’s avoiding looking her in the eyes. As he finishes healing her and is about to help her stand up, Trickster lunges at him, downing him in one hit. Joan yelps at the sudden movement, jumping away. She wants to run but her feet feel like they’re made out of concrete, sinking her into the floor. Her and the killer stare at each other as he peers over his shoulder, slowly turning to face her as he starts to close the distance between them. She begins to inch away but her back hits a locker, allowing the Trickster to get right in her face. She turns her head away as he holds the blade of his knife up to her neck, slowly lowering it to trail down her stomach to her waist.. 

"Take off your skirt."

"DON'T."

Wake's booming voice bellows off the walls of the basement. For someone who was bleeding out, he sure did have a lot of strength left. Maybe it was just desperation, and that's exactly what Jiwoon wanted. He flashed a crazed smile, turning his attention back to the man on the ground. Wake was lying on his stomach, and Jiwoon easily dropped down on top of him, grabbing the back of his hair and holding his head up with a blade pressed into his neck. 

"Take it off or I'm gutting him like a fish."

Joan’s hands are shaking. She looks back and forth between Alan’s pleading gaze and the line of red threatening to bloom from his neck. She carefully reaches up to the zipper on her plaid skirt and starts pulling it down.

"June.. don't." he stutters out, his breath shaky.

But Joan listens to the popstar, bending one knee and taking one leg out and then the other. She never pulls her gaze away from the knife, afraid that if she blinks it will be pressed further into his skin. She drops it beside her, revealing her matching panties under her pantyhose, and pulls together her blazer over her bare skin in embarrassment.  Jiwoon retracts his knife and suddenly lets go of his grip on Wake's hair. His head drops to the floor. Not much strength left, eh?

"Heal him." he instructs again, and Joan clambers to her partner to stop the bleeding. 

'Perfect. Everything is going perfect'.

"You don't have to do this… You can escape… Please… Joan. Please leave me-." Wake pauses between each sentence, breathing heavily, but gets cut off.

"Don't ever ask me to do something as stupid as that. I woudl never just let him torture you to save my own ass."

"Better me than you. I won't let him.. hurt you." 

Alan was about to say 'I won't let him have you' but stopped himself. That was not what he should be thinking right now. Joan didn't belong to him, and he was married. He had… Alice. Right. That was her name.. He felt guilty every time he looked at Joan and felt something more than friendship. But in this type of situation the lines were starting to blur. How fucking dare he put his hands on her.

"Who says I'll be the one hurting her?" 

Trickster chimes in as Joan finishes her healing. Wake sits up on one knee, still breathing heavily, and Joan bends down with a hand on his shoulder. He reaches a hand up to grab hers, and Jiwoon does his best not to fangirl because holy shit they’re actually touching hands. This was going even better than he had imagined. He made sure to block the exit, leaning against the wall at the bottom of the stairs, but no one was moving anyway. They were far too afraid to anger him.

"You two are gonna put on a show for me, a private show, for your loyal, royal, number one fan. You do what I say, and I'll let you wander the fog together, safe until the next game. How does that sound?"

The pair stared up at him confused.

"A show?" Alan questions, angrily. "What the hell are you talking about? We’re not your playthings."

"Woah, chill out man. I thought you'd be jumping at the chance to protect miss victoria's-secret-model here from the clutches of my toned abs."

Jiwoon points to his stomach dramatically, and Joan blushes deeper, trying to further hide behind Alan. He straightens his back in response, trying to protect her. Jiwoon almost can't keep his act together. He begins to walk towards them again, knife first, and points it right in Wake's face.

"On your back." he instructs, but doesn't wait for him to lie down, instead pushing him down by his shoulders. He groans in pain at the sudden movement, only half-healed. Trickster then grabs Joan by her shoulders, and shoves her down. Her knees hit the floor on both sides of Wake's waist, effectively straddling him. Their crotches connect causing both of them to flinch, and Joan does her best to pull herself off him. He uses their shock to slowly lower himself behind Joan.

"Undo his belt." Trickster whispers, leaning his chest into her back. He presses his knees into Alan’s thighs to prevent him from getting up or kicking her off.

"Wh-.... I-.... I-..." She stutters out, staring at the slightly exposed skin from under Alan’s untucked shirt.

"Unless you want me to make him pick his intestines off the floor, do what I say. Undo his belt. Now."

Joan and Alan hold eye contact again. His gaze seems to beg her not to, but not because he doesn't want her to.

"You don't have to do this Jun-."

Trickster holds the knife to her neck and she gasps. Wake freezes just as he's about to sit up. He knows it's a threat to keep him lying down. Trickster read his movements like a book.

"Oh, but she's going to. Isn't that right, Junebug?"

Joan’s lip quivers. That was the nickname her dad used to call her, the one she shared with Alan. That was the reason he called her ‘June’. How could the killer possibly know that? It frightened her even more.

"I-I'm-. I'm sorry, I-." she stuttered out as she took the metal clasp of Alan’s belt into her shaking hands, fiddling with the loop until it was open and unable to stop her repeated cycle of apologies.

"Now undo his pants." 

She does as she's told, and Jiwoon keeps instructing her through it. 

"Pull them down. Then his boxers. Gooood girl."

Joan shimmies the fabric down and her pupils go wide as his cock springs free, half hard. She had always fantasized about having her way with him in a match, but not like this. This just made her feel awful. And she felt even worse about how wet she was getting from forcing herself on him. Alan turned his head away, unable to face the effect she had on him. 

'That's fine.' Trickster thought, 'Let's see how long you'll be able to keep that up.'

"Put your hand around him. Yeaaah just like that. Now start stroking uppp and downn." 

Joan’s grip is loose as she feels the guilt taking over her. Is this really that much better than being tortured with a knife? This was its own fucked up type of torture. Things would never be the same between them when they made it out of here. How could she ever face him again? Jiwoon noticed her hesitation and gripped his own hand around hers, forcing her to grip Wake harder. He guided her hand as she stroked him, and Wake clenched his teeth trying not to let a whimper escape. Her hand was so soft and it felt so good, but it was so so fucking wrong. 

"Keep going. Faster." Trickster releases Joan’s hand when he's satisfied she won't disobey him again. He lets the scene play on until he starts to see Wake buck his hips up into her hand. 

"Stop."

Joan freezes, Alan’s hard cock pulsing in her stationary hand.

"Don't. Move."

Jiwoon snakes an arm around her waist, bringing the knife between the flat fabric of her bra at the centre of her chest, and yanks upward, cutting it clean in half. Her breasts bounce free, and she's quick to try and cover them but the killer catches her forearms before she can do so, pulling her whole body back and pushing her head forward. Her lips brush across Alan’s tip.

"Open your mouth and stick your tongue out. Do not make me ask you twice."

Joan once again does as she's told, beginning to lick a line up his shaft. Her breath is quivering, and it's hot against Wake's skin. He can't help himself and glances up to see Joan’s tits pressed into his crotch, her face flushed, her lips red. He gulps. 

‘Think of Alice, think of Alice, think of-…’ he repeats over and over in his head.

Trickster notices the silent battle and his eyes twinkle. He takes the opportunity to let go of Joan’s wrists and instead gathers her hair back so it doesn't get in her face.

"Start sucking."

She closes her eyes, letting her sinful thoughts take over and hollowing her cheeks out. She was saving them both. She shouldn't feel bad. She also shouldn't be enjoying it as much as she was, but she couldn’t deny the feelings she harboured for him. She knew he must feel something for her. They shared far too many intimate moments for their relationship to be seen as 'just friends'. They were both being reduced to sweating, moaning messes. It wouldn’t be long before their animalistic instincts took over. It was getting Trickster hard just watching them, but that wasn't what he was here for.

Joan went up and down, sucking hard and swirling her tongue around. It felt so good Alan was seeing stars. He closed his eyes and all he could see was her face. She was god damned good at this. Better than his wife, which was a dangerous thought to think but he couldn't help himself. He hadn't felt the touch of a woman in god knows how long, and now a woman he had strictly forbidden himself from touching was hitting his cock against the back of her throat.

"Help guide her head."

Wake was snapped out of his ruminating to see Trickster staring directly at him from behind Joan. It was almost as if he was hypnotising him. His arms unconsciously began to lift and his hands touched Joan’s head, pressing her down and lifting her back up, matching her rhythm. It wasn't long before his grip had tightened and he was shoving her up and down further and faster to get him closer to his high. His hips bucked into her face and it made his belt jingle. He felt himself getting closer and closer to the edge, threatening to burst. But Trickster wasn't done yet. He yanked Joan off of him by her hair, a line of her spit trailing between them, and Alan whined as he felt the cold breeze wash over his raw, aching cock. He was so close.

"You cum when I say you can." The killer said, pleased with the reaction he was getting. He turned his attention to Joan. "We’re only halfway through the show, no skipping to the good part."

He let go of her hair and pushed her over onto Alan, her breasts hitting the fabric of his dress shirt as she was pressed into his chest and felt his bare cock on her stomach. Trickster wasted no time cutting a hole into the back of her pantyhose, ripping them apart with his hands. He then hooked his hands under her shoulders and pulled her back up. 

“Move your panties to the side.” He said into Joan’s ear, loud enough for Wake to hear. “And YOU. I’m not touchin another dude’s junk, so hold it up, and make sure it’s straight.”

Time seemed to slow as the words fell from the killer’s mouth. A shameful blowjob for the killer’s entertainment was one thing, but actually making them fuck each other? Just what kind of game was this psycho playing? This was on a whole other level of wrong, specifically a line in the sand that was never supposed to be crossed, and the Trickster was like a strong gust of wind just blowing it away. Neither of them could look at each other, and Jiwoon felt the tension in the air. No one dared to move. Was this a bad end? Did his plan fail?? Was this the one fic tag he had glanced over in the beginning coming to fruition, #no happy ending??? He almost regretted everything he had done to them… Almost. Just as he was about to start waving a white blade in defeat, he felt Joan’s arm moving. She reached down to her groin, slowly pulling the thin fabric away from her sex. He looked down to see Wake’s hand firmly grasping his erection, his head still looking to the side with his eyes closed. The shame wasn't enough to make them stop what he had started. He felt a crazed smile curling at his lips again. HE KNEW THEY WOULD PULL THROUGH!!!! HE SHOULD’VE NEVER DOUBTED HIS POWER COUPLE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!!!! HASHTAG LOVE WINS OR WHATEVER!!!!

He slowly lowered her down. Joan felt the tip hit her and she gasped at the contact as Alan dragged himself over her folds, trying to find her entrance without having to look at it. Rather than shame, the feeling was embarrassment. Neither of them wanted to do this in front of someone, let alone one of the people who killed them for sport. But neither of them could stop themselves. It was just like the Trickster had envisioned. Wake slightly raised his hips to push the tip of his cock inside of Joan, and she couldn’t help but let a moan escape her lips. 

“Is it in?” The Trickster asked flatly.

“Y-yes…” Joan had whimpered out. Without warning, the Trickster had let go of her arms, and she dropped down hard onto Alan’s crotch, completely swallowing him. She cried out, having no time to adjust to his girth. He was so big that it was painful. She carefully lifted her hips as her walls burned, but Trickster shoved her back down, and she let out another cry. Alan was suffering in a different way. She was gripping him so hard, her sex was tight and warm and wet, he was holding himself back from gripping her hips and thrusting up into her like a wild animal. 

“I-it hurts.”

“You’ll get used to it.”

Jiwoon replied thoughtlessly on purpose, leaving room for Wake to speak up and comfort her. And he did, right on script. He reached out a hand toward her, and she met him halfway, reaching out her own to intertwine their fingers.

“H-hey, June. I-it’s okay. It’s okay. Look at me, it’s okay. I’m right here. I’m right here.” His voice was trembling as he tried his best to soothe her. He glared at the man standing over them, and Jiwoon put his hands up in defeat, letting their story play out without any more of his direct intervention. He backed away, watching them from a safe distance, and took out his knives to fiddle with as a warning, making sure Wake got the message. He did.

“O-okay. Okay. It’s alright. I’m alright.” Joan replied, her words just as shaky as Alan’s. Jiwoon didn’t need to tell them what to do next. They already knew. Alan put his free hand on her thigh.

“Start slow, okay? We’ll go slow. Just focus on me. Focus on your breathing. No crying, okay? I know you can be a crybaby.” Alan tried his luck at a joke, and was able to pull a chuckle from Joan’s lips. 

“O-okay.” She laughed, taking a deep breath. “Okay. Slow. We’ll go slow.”

“Do you want me to help?”

“N-no no. No. I can do it.”

She delicately raised herself up the smallest amount she could manage, and lowered herself back down. Alan whined at the friction. She felt so fucking good and he needed more. She kept going, steadying her breathing, her grip on Alan’s hand getting tighter. Her walls were relaxing around him, but she was still so god damn tight. She reached a finger to her clit, rubbing it in circles and it made her moans become louder. They were music to Alan’s ears. But Alan had a wife. What about your wife, Alan? Remember her? Her name-... Her… what was her name again…? Joan began to speed up, allowing his name to roll off her tongue, and he tilted his head back, letting it hit the floor as he closed his eyes. Shit, this feeling was dangerous. He began to match her movements, thrusting in and out, the sound of skin slapping skin growing louder. They almost forgot about the other presence in the room. Trickster watched them intently, beginning to palm himself over his pants. Was this the type of stuff survivors got up to in their spare time? He almost wished he could share a tent with Yunjin. Damn, this was fucking hot. It was a million times better than the way he conjured it up in his head. Imagine your wildest fanfiction dreams being acted out in a way you could watch over and over and over again. Oh! He almost forgot! Danny, the Ghost Face, had generously lent him his camera for this very reason, though he wanted him to fail miserably just to see the sad look on his face, he was also secretly a #Aloan shipper.

Jiwoon shoved his hand into his jacket pocket and fished out the silver digital camera, turning it on. He wasn’t into photos like Danny, he strictly wanted to capture videos. He flicked around with the settings until he deemed it perfect, and pressed the shutter. The camera made a beeping noise to signal that it was now recording, and he stalked closer to the couple, capturing their intimate moment forever on film. Joan took notice and started to slow her movements, her anxiety taking over, but Alan reassured her, picking up her slack by thrusting deeper.

“Hey, hey. Keep looking at me. It’s okay June. It’s okay. You’re okay. You're here with me.”

But the Trickster was starting to become impatient. He put the camera on the ground, pointing it toward them.

“Alright, love birds. He smirked. “Time for the big finale.” 

He sauntered over to them, pulling Joan off of Wake once again. They both felt the disconnect this time, whining in sync as Joan was pushed onto her back. The ground was cold and unwelcoming. Jiwoon crouched down, spreading his legs and resting his elbows on his knees. Alan also half-sat up on his elbows, looking directly into the killer’s piercing stare, almost as if asking 'what the hell do you want now?'. He leaned in closer to the man on the floor.

“Now get on top of her and fuck her brains out.” Trickster winked.

He pushed himself up off his knees and walked away, back into the corner where he came from, picking up the camera as he went. He waited.

“If you don’t put your dick inside her, I will.” He called out from across the room. “And I know you don't want anyone else’s dick anywhere near her.”

Alan hated him. He hated how right he was. Hated how hearing those words made him feel. Joan was his woman. No one else could have her, not while he was around. Over his goddamn dead body. He turned to his side and got on his hands and knees, crawling the short distance over to her until he was right on top of her, his legs inbetween her own. His tie fell into her face, and she sheepishly reached up to loosen it. He bent his head down so she could pull it off of him.

“Thanks…” He muttered.

She pressed her lips together and nodded in response, looking down. His hard cock was hovering above her stomach, and she felt a bolt of lightning go through her body. Alan lowered his gaze too, eyes landing on her perfect tits. He tried not to think about how he wanted them in his mouth, but he failed miserably.

“I’m losin battery life here, folks. Get on with it.”

The Trickster feigned impatience but he just really wanted them to start talking to each other. He pointed the camera back at them, adjusting the zoom. The pair’s eyes looked towards him, the camera, then back at each other like deer in the headlights.

“I’m sorry we have to do this in front of him.” Alan offered his sympathy, but Joan’s reply surprised him.

“This isn't how I imagined how first time. I wish it was different than this.” She smiled, but tears started to prickle in her eyes. 

Shit. 

Alan steadied himself, thinking over his options before he got closer to her face, and kissed her forehead gently.

“I promise I will protect you. You’re safe as long as you’re with me. Alright?”

Joan swiftly nodded, trying not to let her tears spill. He continued.

“Do you trust me?”

“I trust you. I-I trust you, yes. Of course I do.”

“Can I put it inside you?”

Joan hesitated, looking down again. Alan was lining himself up. She looked back up and in a moment of bravery reached up to cup his face and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. He was shocked, but kissed her back. That was answer enough for him. They kept kissing as he rubbed himself over folds again, pressing the tip gently in and out. He pushed further in, and Joan gasped, but he caught her lips again and continued to kiss her. He kept slowly pushing in and out, going further each time he went in, until he was fully sheathed inside her. They both let out a breath they didn’t know they were holding.

Yep. This was WAYYY better than the Trickster had hoped for.

“I’m gonna start moving, okay? Are you ready?”

“I-I’m ready.”

Alan pulled back, but paused for a moment.

“Do you… want this?”

“What?” Joan asked in disbelief. Trickster cocked his head to the side behind the camera. Was he really asking this right now?

“I like you, Joan. If we’re really doing this, I need to know that you want thi-.”

He was cut off by Joan reaching up again to kiss him. She was the one to pull back first so she could reply.

“Alan Wake, you big stupid oblivious man. I like you. So much. I didn’t want to overstep but, wasn’t it obvious…?”

“I… I like you too. I like you so much too-.”

Wake’s words were cut off again by himself this time, pressing their lips together, this time with a hunger he hadn’t felt in a long time. Joan reached her hands up to run them through his hair. Jiwoon was screaming internally. He felt like a fan watching their idol finally receive a daesang after being with them since debut. He was SO making his own #Aloan banners and lightsticks when he got back, and he was SO rubbing it into Merchant’s face. Hell, he wanted to throw a fucking pizza party. He should start planning that ASAP.

Alan pushed himself back inside Joan, and she flinched as he spread her walls apart. She was soaking wet and her juices were rubbing all over Alan’s crotch. He began to speed up as he pushed her legs further apart, pulling her down by the thighs, closer to his body. They never broke the kiss, moaning into each other’s mouths. Joan removed her hands from his hair and brought them to his dress shirt, fumbling around with the buttons until they were all undone. She ran her hands over his toned torso, wanting to feel as much of him and she could. This made Alan pull back from the kiss and adjust himself, and Joan was confused until he gripped the sides of her hips and began pounding into her with the fire of a thousand suns. The basement was filled with the sound of their love making, loud, breathy moans, each other's names falling lovingly from their lips inbetween deep kisses, and the hot squelching noises of their juices mixing between them. Joan's back arched off the ground and she closed her eyes, one of her hands coming up to cover her mouth, embarrassed at the noises she was making. Alan saw what she was doing, and had other plans. He took both of her wrists in his hands, pulling them up over her head and holding them firmly in place.

“Don’t cover your mouth. I want to hear you.”

He sped up his pace even faster, dipping his head down to lick and suck on her neck. Her breasts bounced against his chest, feeling her nipples against him was driving him crazy.

“W-wait, that’s- ah, s-s-sensitive-, ahh.”

Hearing her say that had him sucking harder, leaving a trail of hickeys leading down to her collar bones. He started kissing a line down to her breasts, and adjusted his grip on her arms, moving them so they were beside her head. This allowed him to keep going down her body, and he licked over one of her nipples as her body curled to the side and his cock to hit a sweet spot inside her. The sound she let out went straight to his groin, and he alternated between sucking and biting on her breast and nipple. He let go of one her wrists to take her other breast in his hand. She brought one of her legs up and rested it on his shoulder, letting him thrust deeper inside her, hitting her cervix.

“A-Allie… Allie- ah, I-I’m gonna- o-oh my god I’m gonna-.”

She stuttered out his pet name as she felt the build up between her legs like a dam threatening to burst. Her stomach was coiling tighter and tighter into itself. Alan let go of her other arm, and she brought them down to grip onto his forearms.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck i’m gonna- I-I’m, oh fuck Alan.”

“Cum for me baby. Cum for me. It’s okay, I’m here. I’ve got you. You're safe. I've got you baby.”

He whispered sweet nothings in her ear as he felt her begin to tense around him, keeping his same pace to drive her straight over the edge. She was going to speak up again, but her orgasm suddenly hit her, and she sputtered his name over and over again between moans as her whole body violently twitched underneath him. She threw her head back, and it hit against the ground before he placed his hand under it, stopping it from hitting the concrete floor. He slowed his thrusting as her walls pulsed around him, trying to milk his own orgasm out of him, but he wasn’t ready to cum yet. He planted gentle kisses all over her face, landing on her lips.

“You’re doing so well baby, you’re doing so well for me.”

Her chest was heaving, her breathing heavy as she came down from her high, her eyes fluttering. Alan continued to kiss her neck softly, slowly pushing in and out.

“Can I keep going, or do you want to stop?”

Joan thought about it as if she had a choice. Her droopy eyes glanced over to the killer in the corner, his camera flashing to signal that it was still recording. Alan followed her gaze, nearly forgetting the reason they were doing this in the first place.

“W-we can stop now-.”

“No.”

He began to pull away from her, but she stopped him, putting a hand on his cheek and giving him a soft smile.

“I want you to keep going. Keep going until you're satisfied.”

“I-I… don't want to overdo it.”

“You won’t.”

“Please tell me if I do.”

“I will. Of course I will… He told you to fuck my brains out, remember?”

“Pfft.” 

That earned a snicker from Wake. At least she could still find some humour in this situation, as fucked up as it was. 

“You really want me to fuck your brains out…?” He cocked an eyebrow.

“I want you to fuck me so hard I walk with a limp back to the campfire. Do your worst, Wake.”

Joan smirked, and it caught Alan off guard. This was a new side he was seeing for the first time, and he didn’t hate it. 

“Alright. You asked for it.”

He pulled out of her, wasting no time to flip her onto her stomach. The cold floor made her nipples hard, and she shivered at the contact. He grabbed her waist, pulling her ass up into the air and spanking it with a loud smack. She yelped from beneath him, but moaned into it. It was his turn to smirk.

‘Do your worst, huh?’ he thought. But he wanted to save some stuff for when they were truly alone. He grabbed the waistband of her ripped pantyhose and her underwear, pulling them both down in one swift motion and smacked her now bare ass again, enjoying every new noise he could pull from her lips. He took a good look at her sex, and she could feel his burning gaze, becoming embarrassed. She was about to regret asking for more when he plunged two fingers into her, scissoring them around a bit before adding another. She was so fucking warm, and soaking wet. And the smell of sex was driving him insane. He wondered if she ever touched herself to the thought of him, and the image of her whimpering his name alone in her tent set off something inside of him. He pulled his fingers back and licked them clean. 

Shaking off his blazer, it dropped to the floor next to him. He was sweating like a mule. He decided to take off his shirt too, it was already half off anyway. He looked back down to Joan, and decided to undress her too. 

“Put your arms back for me baby.”

She did as she was told, and he grabbed onto the cuffs of her own blazer, pulling it off with the remnant of her turtleneck, leaving her bare back exposed. She put her hands back down to the floor, shivering again, but he grabbed her biceps pulling her back. He pressed his chest into her arched back, and she rested her head on his shoulder, looking up at him. 

“I wanna feel you baby, your skin on mine.”

“I-I’d like that.”

Joan stuttered out a reply as she felt his cock get hard again, pressing into her ass. He released her arms to grab her boobs, and kneaded them, softly tugging at her nipples. His cock was dripping with precum as he rubbed himself against her, and she pressed herself back, further into him. 

“I’m gonna put it in.”

He was about to reach down one of his hands but she stopped him.

“No, let me… Okay?”

Her fingertips brushed against him, delicately stroking him, and his breath hitched.

“O-okay.”

He returned his hand to her breast, and planted a trail of kisses across her shoulders as she prepared herself. She rubbed him along her folds until she settled on her hole, and pushed back to bury the tip inside her. Alan thrusted the tip in and out a few times before jerking his hips forward and back, immediately setting a relentless pace. Joan cried out, not from pain, but from the pleasure taking over her. Wake could tell the difference and didn’t stop, letting his carnal instincts take over. He shoved himself deeper and deeper inside of her, his pace as rapid as his own heartbeat that was pounding out of his chest. Fucking hell she was melting around him. He wrapped his arms around body and burried his head in his neck, holding her firmly in place as if she would disappear, biting down on her shoulder, leaving a mark but not drawing blood. She tried to meet his pace but it was proving to be impossible. He was eating her like she was his last meal, he wanted to devour her whole. He kept trying to remind himself how dangerous this was, but he didn’t care anymore. He wanted to make sure she remembered the shape of his cock. It felt so good, and she sounded like heaven. She couldn’t stop moaning and cursing.

“God I just want to destroy you.” He let his thoughts mix with his words as he felt his climax reaching its peak. His breathing was heavy, his voice low and husky. He was almost growling. 

“I’ve held back for so, so long. I’m not gonna let you go so easily.”

“Allie, A-Allieeee, ugh. Don’t stop Allie. I-I’m gonna-”

“Keep saying my name- ugh, k-keep saying my name. You’re mine. O-only I get to- ugh.. fuck you like this. Fuck, Joan. Joannn. Ughh Joan.”

His movements were becoming erratic and sloppy, and his grip around her tightened, bending her over slightly to fuck into her from a different angle. He was so damn close. He was gonna fill her up so good. So fucking goo-.

“F-fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK, ugh, Joannn. Fuuuck, ughhh.”

He sputtered out, his voice turning into a sweet melody of whimpers as he pumped everything he had into her. Joan felt her walls get sticky, and Alan didn’t relent his pace. Her second orgasm washed over her as he continued to cum, holding her firmly in place as he felt her spasm under him. She dropped her head forward, exhausted, and he finally began to slow to a stop. Their breathing was the only thing they could hear as he gently relaxed his grip and pulled out of her. Joan collapsed on the ground, her ass sticking out in the air, giving Alan the perfect view of his cum dripping out of her. 

Damnit, he wanted to fuck her again.

“You think you can get pregnant in here?”

A chipper voice broke through the private moment, causing Wake’s head to snap in the direction of the sound. The Trickster was right beside him, leaning forward and admiring the view. Wake quickly grabbed his blazer off the floor and draped it over Joan’s rear, covering her from the killer’s sick gaze. He got between them as he stood up and pulled up his boxers, staring daggers into the idol. 

‘Hey, that’s my job.’ he thought, flashing Wake a smile. Wake just furrowed his brows deeper.

“Show’s over, pal. We did what you wanted.” He said sternly. They had held up their end of the deal, now it was time for Trickster to make good on his word. He chuckled, leaning back to stand up straight.

“Yeah yeah, I suppose you did.” ‘You did that and more,’ he thought to himself. “Well! I’ll let you two get dressed. I’ll be just upstairs.” He sang as he sauntered up the stairs, leaving the pair alone. Joan had begun to get up from the ground, turning herself over to sit down properly. She realized she was sitting on Alan’s blazer.

“Oh- Alan. I’m making your jacket all… gross. ” She whispered the last part, a bit ashamed. She began to stand up but forgot her pantyhose were around her thighs, limiting her movement. Her feet caught on themselves and she began to tumble forward, colliding with Alan’s chest as he caught her in time, her breasts pressing into him again. He sighed lovingly, looking down at her.

“So… walking with a limp, huh?”

She blushed, hitting his shoulder. 

“Not a word until we’re out of here mister.”

“Are sure you're able to walk out of here?”

“Not another word!” She huffed as he laughed, pulling herself off of him only to be pulled back, a kiss pressed against her lips. Alan’s gaze softened as he pulled away.

“I love you.”

“!”

Joan squeaked at the sudden confession. He WHAT!? Alan LOVED her? Her!? The same her that was an absolute liability in matches and wouldn’t know map sense if a pallet hit her in the face, and Alan was there to save the day every single time. Steam came out of her ears as her brain tried to process the information. Alan frowned awkwardly at her overthinking.

“You don’t have to give me an answer-.”

“I LOVE YOU TOO.”

His eyes went wide as he was cut off by Joan's sudden yelling. Embarrassment washed over her face and she dropped her gaze to the ground.

“I-I mean.. I love you too, Allie. I have.. for a while…” 

She sheepishly looked up at him, suddenly scared to hear his response, but was met with a goofy grin instead.

“What…?” She asked, wondering if something was funny.

Alan offered no verbal response and instead started laughing, lifting her up and twirling her around. 

“A-Alan! Hey!”

She joined in on laughing with him, and they spun around giggling until they settled down.

“You don’t know how happy I am to hear that.” 

He flashed a genuine, glowing smile, and all Joan could do was warmly smile back, careful not to start sobbing on the spot. That would have to wait for later, when they weren’t in a literal meat freezer. 

Oh. Right.

They both seemed to realize where they were again and quickly released each other, beginning to pick up their clothes and get dressed. All the while, Jiwoon was quietly listening on the staircase, looking like the meme of the guy crying while holding the lightsticks in Wake Up, Girls!

His ship had finally sailed.

/////

As they made their way up the stairs, the Trickster was awaiting them at the top, leaning cooly against a locker, admiring his nails absentmindedly. He totally hadn’t been eavesdropping, psh, not a chance, he would never do that. He looked at the survivors up and down. Joan had chosen to discard her mauled tights, and was wearing Wake's dress shirt. Wake wore his jacket with no shirt underneathe. Both of their hair was a bit of a mess. And they were holding hands.

STAGE CLEAR .ᐟ‧₊˚✩彡

“I suppose a deal’s a deal.” Trickster said nonchalantly, trying to sound as bored as possible. He sighed extra loud for dramatic effect. Alan raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah. So, we’re gonna go work on the last gen-.”

As if God himself had intervened, the last gen lit up across the map, signalling its completion, and the exit alarm started blaring. They all heard the exit gates opening and stared at each other in disbelief. 

It seems the Entity had had enough and was telling them to get the fuck out.

“I’ll, uh… walk you two out. Ha ha… ha.” Trickster said, trailing off his laugh. He was sure to get a mouthful when he got back. He hoped the beating wasn’t too bad this time. He knew it would be. It was worth it. Totally worth it.

He swivelled on his heel toward the exit and led the newly announced couple to the edge of the map and through the exit doors, stopping just before the spikes came up signalling he couldn’t go any further.

“Pleasure doin business with ya, Wakey. Let’s do this again sometime, yeah?”

Alan let go of Joan's hand and straightened his back, getting right in Trickster’s face.

“Let’s not, yeah?”

Jiwoon felt his overwhelming presence and immediately backed down, dropping his shoulders as if to protect himself. He placed his hands in his pockets and felt the cool plastic casing of the digital camera. His eyes flickered back and forth between the pair. He was about to say something along the lines of ‘have a safe trip home!’ but felt he had said enough for the day. He simply nodded as Wake led Joan into the fog, placing a hand around her lower back and pulling her closer. The pair had seldom thought how they were going to start to unpack what had just happened to them. They felt it was in their best interest to just ignore it and hope for the best; they'd jump off that bridge when they got to it. But they had one another to help the other through the nightmares now. There was no space left between them anymore, no need to keep each other at arm's length. They were truly together. And they'd be even more together sharing a tent later tonight to finish what they had started without a serial killer across the room.

Jiwoon watched as they started to disappear, and noticed Joan was slightly faltering as she went. Was she walking with a limp…?

He sighed, scratching the back of his neck and looking around as if someone could be watching him. When they were completely gone, he let his crazed smile light up his face and he squealed, jumping around and waving his hands in the air. 

The other killers were not gonna BELIEVE this.

[kelliealtogether]

Because I loved it so forking much, please commentary on the office “”ambush”” at the beginning of *the /magician/ entertainment* was it as planned as Adam thought?

Ha! Thank you for asking about this! I loved writing antagonistic Adam and Declan in The Magician Entertainment. They're such bitches-in-law, and so similarly clever and cunning. I love them.

Yes, Declan ambushing Adam in the office kitchen was 100% as planned as Adam thought it was. Declan banked every single person's two truths at the company team building event, fully intending to use them at a later time when they suit him/get him something he wants. It just happened that he got to use Adam's against him sooner than he thought he would, and as soon as the original entertainer for the party canceled, Declan’s wheels started turning about how to get Adam to fill in and perform some magic tricks.

Adam also banked everyone's two truths, also intending to use them at a later time when it suits him/gets him something he wants, and you can bet he'll be using Declan’s against him plenty. (Just don't ask what Declan’s were. I have no idea. 😅)

[Fanfic Writers: Director's Cut]