#I hope everybody reading these little tags has a good and blessed day

[egginfroggin]

With regards to this post:

Ingo is a fine, honest, upstanding example of transparency and truth until his little brother is thrown to the wilds and he isn't allowed to help, whereupon all bets are immediately off and he will lie to the face of anyone he has to to keep Emmet safe -- including Irida, the woman who gave him a home.

Don't mess with him, it is a terrible mistake to do so, and yes, he is absolutely willing to fight Kamado on this. With Pokemon or straight up throwing hands.

Violence and deceit aside, the twins kind of... instinctively reach out to each other for comfort, sometimes. Emmet, while he's filling out the Pokedex, probably hunts Ingo down whenever he's in the Highlands -- or literally drops in via Braviary.

Ingo has, for whatever reason, always been able to understand the slightly odd Galarian sign language that Emmet uses, and after Emmet goes non-verbal, Ingo is about the only person he can just... talk to without issues. This was especially comforting during the incident with the sky, because it was so much easier to just spill out the truth of everything to someone who would understand immediately and react accordingly.

(There are a lot of tears, a lot of high-octane emotions, initially; they spend at least one night asleep on each other because Ingo just pulled him into a hug after Emmet's hands started shaking too much to sign with, and they fell asleep like that)

(The urge to debate Kamado on his decision to banish Emmet was already there the moment Ingo had heard about it; the urge to outright fight Kamado on the matter was near overwhelming the more Emmet told him, and probably the only thing grounding him there in Lady Sneasler's den was Emmet himself breaking down)

Emmet basically stays with Lady Sneasler for those weeks during the incident in the original WTST, and he does the same with Ingo during this version of things. Ingo winds up not being able to help him with the Lake Trio for the purpose of keeping up appearances, but he does intervene when Kamado tries to come up the mountain. He's, frankly, tired of holding back, and tired of Kamado's increasingly questionable decisions, and he absolutely lets him know.

("Leave, and do not come back -- you are unwelcome here, and failure to leave on your own will result in you being forcibly removed. Lady Sneasler is far less kind than I am, Commander, and I'd hope that you're intelligent enough to know not to tread on the territory of a mother whose kit you wronged.")

(Kamado is not allowed back into the Highlands until Sneasler says so, and even after she says such, the Commander is perfectly fine with simply staying away for a while longer)

Even after the Pokedex entries for Pokemon in the Highlands are completed, Emmet still sometimes just shows up at Sneasler's den or Ingo's doorstep, like some kind of weird wild Purrloin.

After the incident with Volo, the visits become even more frequent. When his health starts to decline from working too hard to finish the Pokedex, Ingo finds him and hauls him back -- by the collar, if necessary -- to sit and rest. He's as insistent as Zisu is in the original fic, if not more so, and Emmet finds himself listening a bit more quickly (something about the exchange -- "You are working too hard! Your cab is in disrepair, and you must pull the brakes before you derail completely!" -- feels extremely familiar).

With Ingo there to mitigate some of Emmet's more... detrimental practices of overworking himself, Emmet is in a bit better shape when he finally goes home.

Speaking of going home, remember when I said that Ingo was willing to lie to and fight anyone in Hisui for Emmet?

When he remembers who Ingo is to him and realizes that he isn't home, Arceus gets an extremely upset little chosen on its doorstep.

("He was in Hisui for six years," it tells him, surprisingly calm despite his threats to thrash it worse than he had in Hisui and stuff it into a ball again if it didn't bring his brother back right now. "Time is a sensitive thing, chosen of mine; the six years he spent in Hisui must pass here, as well, before he will come back.")

("But he'll come back?" he signs, too distressed for words, hands barely steady enough to form the words, and Arceus tell him that, yes, Ingo will come home)

(About four years later, Ingo drops into a tunnel, follows the tracks back to the station, and finds Emmet in a white coat, waiting for him)

(Finally, everything is as it should be)

[ironduke10]

tagged by: @irish-urn tagging: @awakening5 @northernnoir @lilunaire @blooming-gwens

number of stories posted to ao3 for 2024: 3 (2 of those being current WIPs) I'm low volume when it comes to this stuff.

word counted posted for last year: ~55K. Yeah that's light, but I have 3 kiddos to bus around after school to their various things and I get maybe an hour a day for myself.

fandoms i wrote for: Sony's Spider-Verse universe (currently comprised of the films Into The Spider-Verse, Across The Spider-Verse, and someday...2026??...Beyond The Spider-Verse)

pairings: Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy, aka Gwiles, aka Ghostflower, aka those two adorable dorks

stories with the most

KUDOS: THE Talk Between A Father And His Son (451) <- which is really weird because it's just this short little fluff thing on a dad teaching his son about the 5 love languages in a relationship BOOKMARKS (including private): Are You My Mother (146) COMMENT THREADS: Are You My Mother (69)

work i’m most proud of (and why): "Are You My Mother" which I wrote in tribute for my own mother who passed away when I was young (presumably much like Gwen's). In the movie ATSV, when I saw 5 seconds of silent staring between Gwen and Rio and later when Luna Lauren Velez (Rio's VA) explained the cultural significance of Bendicion/Que Dios Te Bendiga in an interview, I thought to myself...I bet I can do this.

share or describe a favorite review you received: I must state up front that my favorite reviews remains the ones from my 11 YO daughter (who is a creative writer herself), when I drive her to ballet or karate and she's going on and on about something I wrote she liked. That's parental nirvana right there. It makes the hours and hours of crafting a story all worth it.

But from an AO3 perspective, I have been blessed with many amazing and heartwarming comments. A lot of my favorites have to do with readers saying they like how I write the parents, or how they can see their parents in what I write, or they have healed because of the way I depicted parental love. All that is great! Because I'm a dad! So it's good to know I can write parents well. But the funniest review I ever got was from my most consistent commenter MasterInsaniac when he said:

"Somehow you have managed to balance the high romance that is Miles and Gwen along with the fact that they are both horny teenagers."

I laughed a lot after reading that.

a time when writing was really, really hard: The 3rd chapter (30K WC) of my Christmas fic (For Everything There Is A Season) was a slog. Man I was burnt out after writing that. It's not like I didn't know where I was going or had a mental block, but it just took so much time and energy to stick to the plan.

On my current WIP (Que Sera Sera) I swear Im 10/11ths done with Chapter 2, but there's this very last scene (not the ending) I'm currently tackling and it's the most pissed off I've ever been at a scene because the prose just isn't coming off in a way that I like. I really hope I stick the landing on that scene so I can publish.

a scene or character you wrote that surprised you: Due to what I do in real life for a profession, when I started doing this fanfic hobby thing, I took to outlining and planning early on. I like to know what I'm getting into when I'm trying to put digital pen to digital paper. However, though I do not like the actual act of writing very much at all, there are some times I admit where it gets random when I write and there are these "Ah-Ha" moments that are super cool to live through. Like a bolt of lightning comes into your head and your fingers just fly and know what to do on their own. That's a trip.

So. When I wrote about the post-BTSV dance for Miles and Gwen that everybody in the fandom is hoping that they get ("Requests and Promises"), I had planned all along to give Gwen some closure on her Peter's death and I had planned to end it somewhere on the dance floor. But then my fingers wrote into Gwen's mouth: "Miles I got another request for you," before my brain caught up and at first I said to myself - "what on earth is Gwen asking that for, I thought I was ending it now." Then my brain caught up and realized "Gwen's going to take Miles to Peter's gravestone. Ohhhhh." And then stream of consciousness pretty much took over from that point on and Gwen did the leading, not me. That was pretty neat to experience.

a favorite excerpt of your writing: Hmm this will be tough to nail down but I suppose it's this moment in "Are You My Mother" when Rio is laying it all on the line and unveiling her true intentions to Gwen in full (that is that she would love to be a sort of surrogate mother to Gwen). I channeled 3 different women in my life, to come up with this dialogue which just poured out of my head. One of those bolt of lightning moments.

“A mother’s love knows no history and has no bounds.  It is unconditional, mija.  It can’t be explained any more than that.  That is my love for you, Gwen.  It just exists.  That’s it.  And it’s not going to be scared away.”

how did you grow as a writer last year: Eh I don't like calling myself a "writer." I'm just a dad who is writing Spider-Verse fanfic at the behest of my daughter who absolutely loves these movies - specifically Gwen Stacy. I had a couple of commenters say that they can tell that I'm getting better, which is nice to hear.

who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer, beta, cheerleader, etc.): I don't want to single out one person as I am lucky to be connected to many talented writers in my fandom on Discord, all of whom I ask for advice - and if they're on Tumblr they're pretty much all linked up top

anything from your real life show up in your writing last year: A very very tiny slice of it. I had a family - that we're really close to - unexpectedly move away from us last year and that was quite painful to go through for my wife and I. So in my Christmas fic, there's a moment where May and Ben move away from George (which was always going to happen), but that little life moment helped me describe George's feelings in a little better detail. Blink and you'll miss it.

any new wisdom you can share with other writers: This is not new wisdom, but I have seen sometimes other writers in a variety of fandoms doubt themselves and be embarrassed to publish. I'd say that you have to write for yourself first and foremost. You're your own #1 customer of the fic you generate. As long as you're happy rereading your stuff, who gives a flying rat's ass about what some negative commenter might say?

any projects you’re looking to starting (or finishing) this year: In 2025, Que Sera Sera is definitely getting finished. I'll crank out a few more Ganke Ghostflower drabbles. Then I'd like to tackle and hopefully complete a 5+1 concept I've had in my head. I always wanted to do a 5+1. Now I hope for my own sanity I can keep that fic on the shorter side...

[thislovintime]

Peter Tork with the Fairfax Street Choir (in their bass vocal section); pictured in photo 1 with Ralph Pennuneri, Hosanna Bauer, and Bill Craig. Via the Fairfax Street Choir Facebook page, except for photo 4 (courtesy of Mark Kleiner).

Photo 2: “Peter Tork has his banjo but never played it with the choir that I remember but He was a really good musician and I remember him playing at the Lady. [...] I've heard some of his live stuff on tape that he did at the Sleeping Lady and was blown away by how great he really was as a musician.” - Marla Hunt Hanson, Facebook, January 3, 2021

“Peter showed me some banjo picking patterns... he was a nice guy fun to play music with.” - David Carlson, Facebook, January 2021

“To us, he wasn’t famous, he was just Peter. [...] He was just a sweet, dear man that, you know, everybody loved... He was just a good guy. You know, ‘Sleep on the couch, have a good one. You know, we love you. Come on in.’ [...] His destiny in this lifetime was with The Monkees. We were like his backup friends, or his backup band, whatever you want to call it.He came to us wounded, like a wounded bird, really. […] He never really got to escape from being one of The Monkees. It was very hard, you know, it was hard for him. I wish we could have given him more. [...] I said to him, ‘Well, why are you going back when they treated you so badly, and blah blah blah?’ And he said, they offered him something he couldn’t turn down, something like that, so it had to do with money of course, because… so, yeah, he went back, poor thing. God bless him. [...] [W]hen you’re a Monkee, the fans will come out of, you know, somehow they’ll seep in through the furnace floor or a little crack in the window. You’re always on display, you’re always having someone looking at you or tagging at you or pulling at you or saying, ‘God, I remember that episode…’You know, and you’re always having to be on the stage or on— in gear, or answering with a smile to your fan group, whatever that is. You’re trained to do that through the industry itself. You know, anyway, I don’t want to go that far. In this group consciousness that he was a part of for a short period of time, he didn’t have to do that. He just didn’t have to do that. And that’s why I think that was — he’ll never forget that group or the Sleeping Lady however many lifetimes he lives. And I’ll tell you this, he was happy in a very strange way for as long as he was there with us. He was happy in a different way, not in the way that you are when you’re famous. In the way you are when you’re happy. [...] Someone like Peter Tork, who shines a light out onto this world, can only shine as brightly as we allow them to. […] When you see a flame, move back and let it shine, don’t go in there and try to get it, because the reason that it’s alive is because it’s got oxygen, air, and there’s not a lot of moths hanging out around it trying to, you know, take its life. I think a lot of that is true about Peter. That’s how — what I think.” - Marla Hunt Hanson, interview with the Nesmith Tork Goffin & King podcast, February 2020

"Back in Marin. Peter Tork began to hang out at the Sleeping Lady. (He works there as a waiter now). One night The Fairfax Street Choir was there. He was amazed, saw a home, and joined. He grins as he adds: ‘In some ways I was a cold, lonely hitchhiker being picked up by a warm school bus.’ [...] He’s happy. Content. And hopeful. For the Choir. And himself." - San Diego Reader, December 6, 1973 (originally published in the Chicago Reader; interview conducted by Chuck Stepner) (read more here)

“What a group! 35 voices strong; some harmonies! It was something, very encouraging, very comforting.” - Peter Tork, Goldmine, May 1982 (x)

Peter Tork: "As soon as The Monkees was over, I went to Marin County to try to recapture some of my Greenwich-Village-days happiness, and I did. I was very, I was very lucky, there was a lovely scene in Fairfax, Marin County, and I had a great time up there for a couple of years, worked as a waiter in a cooperative restaurant and it was great, it was actually great. The thing about The Monkees, it was so difficult, was to be yanked out of — off the street, flung to the pinnacle and then, you know, and then dropped.” Q: “Yeah.” PT: “So, so I went back to the street, where I’d, you know, gotten my roots together. It was great.” - GOLD 104.5, 1999 (x)

[huntingteeth]

hi!

saw your post asking how people found your sleep token fic and wanted to answer but figured i’d have too many words for tumblr comments lol

for starters- i am obsessed with this fic its so so so good i save every chapter upload as a little treat to unwind from my day! also completely in love with how you’ve written iii, it hits very close to home and i can relate so hard to your characterization that it’s just. perfect. i love it.

on to how i found it lol- i am the world’s pickiest fic reader, i can push myself to get through sloggish (i’m making my own words now) books, but if a fic doesn’t catch my interest within the first couple sentences i’m out! i’m always trawling the tags to find something that might catch my eye and stumbled across your fic. i think i read the first line of the description and that was that. i was hooked! but yeah. nothing fancy for me lol, just a desperate, ravenous reader looking for something new and there it was! bless you for writing it, it’s so gorgeous. i love the world building and how things are described! and i love love love seeing magic portrayed in such a casual, accepted way! i know that’s the whole basis of the fic but like. as a semi-practicing witch it’s off putting to me when magic is written either only in extremes, or as accessible only to a few. i love that in your fic world everyone has the ability to practice, and like real humans they each have strengths and different abilities!

i’m rambling now so i’m going to stop (i also should be writing a paper rn and this is me procrastinating haha) but i am so excited to see where the story goes next :)

hello!! hope you're having an excellent day

omg i'm crying, sobbing, i keep saying that i'm so glad that people like this fic as much (if not more) as i've enjoyed writing it. i'm also really excited to get to share with all the readers the behind-the-scenes that i've been drafting as i've posted chapters, because i really put so much into this fic and there's worldbuilding that never makes it into the fic exactly but does inform a lot of how i write the fic and i want to share that with you guys so badly!! also magic is for everybody!!

obvi WRITE YOUR PAPER but also so humbled and honored that you'd procrastinate with my (mildly attention-seeking) question

[alittlefrenchtree]

Second part of my fanfics recs! 

I try to sort them a bit so you’ll know where you want to go depending on your taste but I’m not going to go in details about what every story is about but you’ll have a quick thought and a relevant comment (according to me) about my reading experience. Enjoy! 

Let me start by reminding me of a WIP from the first post, "What kind of day has it been?" Still updating, still good, go show the writer some love and support 🙏

CANON COMPLIANT

God Save the Blessed American President Mom : A bit heavy in some chapters but it’s nicely balanced with lighter stuff so it doesn’t get too heavy and unenjoyable.

All our Sweetest Hours Fly Fastest: Feels like everybody knows this one already and I’d wish it would have been longer through the second part but I had a nice time.

Las Flores : The first work of this is one of my favorite things I’ve read in this fandom.

Mince Pies and Mischief : If you loved Baker!Henry in Doughnuts and Dinner Rolls, there is a little bit more of him over here. 

i ask how you’re doing (and i let you lie): For all of the insecure adhd souls out there who needs a little bit of love provided by Henry 💜

RWRB YouTube Interviews: All of the YouTube concepts you can think of have now a RWRB scripted version. Very well made, very realistic. 

ONE SHOT

Call it Hope : I love when glimpses of my ship’s story is told through the perspective of someone else.

In bloom : five times Alex bought Henry flowers — it’s rizcriz, you don’t need to know anything else

Algorithms : your ideal content when you’re commuting or waiting for your food to cook

In every scenario : Look, in my head, this fanfic is called "omg the worm fic" and you just have to trust me on that. It’s probably my favorite one-shot of the fandom? Idk. And if you don’t trust me, trust rizcriz.

Leave a Message: The idea is so smart and efficient I’m kind of baffled I never read it in a previous fandom.

a goddamn blaze in the dark (and you started it) : I love when glimpse of my ship’s character's story is told through the perspective of someone else.

SMUT

— like in the sense of if you don’t like or don’t feel like reading smut, these stories probably aren’t worth it for you, even when there’s plot and softness and fun around the sex.

In an emergency: bless a romcom fandom when the origin story for a fanfic is a sticky note with "will top in an emergency" and NOT "what if they go to war and one of them nearly die???" Gotta love it. (+ it’s mansikka so we’re safe).

day off diaries : on my draft for this post, this was called "soft morning porn"

Bedroom Warfare: on my draft for this post, this was called "idiots having sex"

A very merry (happy) kinkmas : Ok, look. It normally isn't the kind of fanfic I'd put in a rec post. You saw the title it’s very kinky, so check the tags first obviously. It won’t be to everybody’s taste but it’s also one of the most realistic and healthiest sex I’ve ever read in a fanfic? You have to push through a few chapters of kinks and smut to get to the ones when it became special, I think. As someone who has started reading explicit fanfic (waaaay) before becoming an adult, I feel like it’s important to have representation like this out there.

CANON DIVERGENT

We’ll invite something in: One of the first non-canon-compliant thing I’ve read and I was happy about it because I love how Alex and Henry’s relationship is handled in this one.

Be Worthy Love, and Love will come : on my draft for this post, this was called "baby Henry asks for a bff" + it’s Mags (sparklepocalyspe) and they do know how to write fanfics.

Age Like A Fine Wine : Different meeting that starts with a whole lot of smut so if it isn’t your thing, be aware of it. But if you’re looking for a 100K story, here it is :)

AU

The Clementine thing : sweet story with clementines in it. Clementines are the best fruit so we should always read stories talking about clementines. It’s a rule and i make them.

Dinner and a show: on my draft for this post, this was called "I DON’T READ MUCH AU BUT IT’S RIZCRIZ"

If you have recs of your own, please send them to me.

Special thanks to @myteavsricochet 💜 many of the stories you see in this list are her own recs ✨

Do you have any firstprince fanfics to recommend?

Hi and thank you again for sending me this very exciting ask!

A few things beforehand. I don’t read AU in this fandom. So my recommendations will all be canon, post-canon and a bit of canon-divergent as long as the set up is mostly the same as the canon (read or book), meaning a prince and a first son being all kind of idiot together. 

Even it’s not my main focus, I read explicit and PWP as long as it has excellent characterization and excellent writing (for me, a non native with absolutely no legitimacy to judge other people’s English skill :D)

Also, I’ve only been reading rwrb fanfics for a few weeks/a couple of month so I’ll certainly recommend the most famous writers of this fandom as if they need a shout out from nobody!me (event if they really really don’t) starting with…

Anything by indomitablelove -- I’ve started with All that glitters (is not gold) and made my way through all — or almost all — their canon-compliant stories. They did something I absolutely love is that all — or almost all — their canon-compliant stories are set in the same universe they’ve created with their first main story so you have little references everywhere and it really creates something really immersive. I haven’t read their AU stories but if you’re into that yourself, I recommend you doing so because they’re probably equally good. There is also a companion fic to all that glitters that is written from Henry’s POV that I haven’t read it yet — ‘cause I feel more like reading new stories as the moment — but I’m sure it’s as delightful as the main story.

In the same vibe, I’ve just finished reading A love Letter to love by soshesighs. Missing scenes and post canon stories, all set in the same universe that I liked very much. A lot of respect for the character and the original story. I’ve also read their other (canon-compliant) stories and I recommend them as well.

A bit different is Event if it’s just Pretend by nontoxic -- I wasn’t overly on board with the plot at first but I got on board pretty quickly. It’s well written and one of the chapter of the fic is one of the most emotional and beautiful thing I’ve read recently.

To continue with the "I wasn’t sure about the plot at start but a few lines in and I was hooked" idea is Doughnuts and Dinner Rolls by mansikka. 30K words of fluffy fluff (that is never cringy) and beautiful deliciousness. My next reads will be all of their other stories, most likely.

If you’re in a PWP mood, you can browse through the Kinktober 2023 collection by Mags (sparklepocalypse). There is (quite literally) something for every taste so feel free to explore if it’s your thing :)

Oblivion by milowren. Probably one of the most canon-divergent thing I’ve read so far. I kind of wish it has been longer but it was a good read.

Same vibe (with the plot and the wish that it was a bit longer) : hours by demigodbeautiies.

[WIP] what kind of day has it been? By Evelinafelicia. Not much to say since we’re 8/25 chapters but I’m enjoying what I’m reading so far so it’s obviously bookmarked not to miss any update.

Same vibe as above (I like the idea and I like the start) [WIP] Designated Survivor by Beck17. Based on the TV Show with a good writing, so already waiting for the next update :)

… and that’s all I have for now, since my readings and bookmarks aren’t organized AT ALL. I’ll probably be reblogging this post with new recs since I’ll probably keep exploring and reading for a while.

Hope you’ll find interesting stuff in my list and happy readings 💜