#I still do intend to start chapter 2 in October but it will NOT be releasing that month

[gfbs-the-decaying]

Info .4) REGION MAP

-> Cities, towns, villages, rivers and most prominent and well known mountain peaks and hills.

"Region" stands for the general area we will see and hear of in the comic, it is not a definition for a "country" or "province/state" of any kind.

-> Region areas, some are named after certain cats and act under a single government, meanwhile some are simply names that act as a geographical descriptor (woodlands, tundra, grasslands)

After the infection originated in the city of Ardham, it spread along the rivers during the first wave of infection. After a contaminated brought it up to Houlston, it caused a mass outbreak and spread down stream into smaller towns. Eventually it was caught near the coastline, and spread throughout there until most towns in the region were abandoned. Some towns remain active, such as Mistvale which locked itself away from the mainland. Others transformed into large scale shelters and facilities, the most well known being H.R.A.R.S which is the only shelter which will accept stage 1 cats in hopes of saving them before they turn, and Project Seawater which aims to find a fast and efficient way of filtering the oceans water due to the risk in drinking freshwater on land.

Protagonists are (as of chapter 1) situated at Mount Johnson.

Biomes and Climate

Climate is determined based off the Köppen climate classification system. Biomes and environment are generally based off Canada (most precisely B.C.), around 30-40° from the pole.

More information to come on locations soon! But god am I happy to finally share this with everyone! If you have any thoughts or questions on any locations or environments I'd love to see them! I'm very passionate about this region and try to think of some lore for every little town and location! So feel free to reblog or reply! Anon questions will open soon!

[kataang-week]

Trick or Treat, Kataangers!🎃

Katara and Aang sprites from Distant Horizon. Graphic created by Mod Belle @itsmoonpeaches.

🦇What is Kataang Halloween?

Kataang Halloween is a one-time, three-day mini-event hosted and created by @kataang-week on Tumblr for the first time this year. (However, there is potential for it to happen again in the future.) Kataang Halloween celebrates Kataang with a Halloween theme. All prompts were chosen by the mod team.

🦇Cool, when is it?

Kataang Halloween starts on Thursday, October 31, 2024, and ends on Saturday, November 2, 2024.

🦇What are the prompts?

In honor of Halloween, we're using lucky number 13! There are 13 prompts for each adventure.

"Trick" prompt list:

Old Spirits

Family Secrets

Altered State

Moonlight

Teeth

Demon Claws

The Deep

Offerings

Inner Palace

Lost

Grotto

Cliff Edge

Poison

"Treat" prompt list:

Taffy

Candied Haws

Lanterns

Mid-Autumn

Mooncake

Crunchy Leaves

Warm Drinks

Pumpkins

Chrysanthemum

Sharing

Toadstools

Apple Picking

Paint

🦇So how does this work?

Choose your own adventure! You can take inspiration from the Trick prompts, Treat prompts, or both! Feel free to mix and match prompts to create spooky and/or sweet Kataang content.

Anything you can think of counts as content as long as you fill one or multiple prompts at a time. Fanfics, fanart, gifsets, metas, edits, playlists, moodboards, music, etc.—the sky's the limit.

🦇What are the rules?

Please create your own original pieces. We do not accept AI-made fanworks.

We only accept new works created for Kataang Halloween, not works that are retroactively said to be created for Kataang Halloween. However, you may create something that fills a Kataang Halloween prompt for an ongoing work like a chapter fic or an ongoing series. See this ask for more information.

We accept all range of works. However, bear in mind that this is an all-ages event. If your work contains themes or imagery that may be intended for older audiences, tag and warn people thoroughly. Works with adult content must have an all-ages appropriate preview.

Do not repost other people's works. Reblog their original post if one exists.

If a creator/author/artist has requested you to post their work for them, remember to credit the original and link back to their page.

Be respectful in your fanworks and to others participating or enjoying the event.

🦇How should I tag my work?

The easiest way for us to find your work so we can reblog it to this blog is by using the tag “kataang halloween”. Using “kataang” and “kataangtag” also help. You must tag one of the three in your first five tags otherwise it doesn’t appear in the search. It is also helpful to tag us directly with @kataang-week.

Sometimes even properly tagged posts may not appear when we search the tags, so if you do not see your content reblogged, please let us know.

Once we’ve reblogged it to this blog we add our own tags (a prompt tag and a user tag) for easy organization. This means we can find all the work for one prompt or all the work from one user in one easy click (this also means that if you have changed your username since participating last year you need to let us know so we can update your tag!).

🦇Can I post my stuff other places online too?

Of course you can! However, we won’t be able to reblog anything that isn’t a Tumblr post.

For those of you who will be posting your works on AO3, feel free to add your fic to our Kataang Halloween AO3 collection.

🦇What if I have late submissions for Kataang Week 2024?

While we will not reblog any late submissions for Kataang Week 2024 during the Kataang Halloween event, late submissions for Kataang Week 2024 will still be accepted up until Kataang Week 2025, so don’t be shy and don’t worry about giving the world more Kataang content 💖 We always welcome it!

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to submit an ask to the Kataang Week blog. See you on Halloween, Kataangers!

🦇Who are the mods?

@airbender-dacyon AKA Mod Dan: A Kataang fanfic writer who prefers fluff, but also loves some drama and angst. Mod Dan started writing Kataang stories in 2013 and has helped organize Kataang Week since 2016.

@penguinsledder AKA Mod Atarah: A writer, gif maker, and musician–she enjoys fluffy young adult Kataang and all the ways they complement and parallel each other. She first joined Tumblr for Kataang Week 10 years ago, and started helping out with writing posts and making banners as a mod since 2016!

@itsmoonpeaches AKA Mod Belle: An avid Kataanger with a penchant for angst and mild violence who likes writing. Mod Belle has been a mod since 2021 and helps write posts and social media.

@chocomd AKA Mod Celes: Fanfic writer who adores Kataang for their fun and flirty side but also their bond forged through grief and loss. Mod Celes joined in 2023 and helps with a little bit of everything - whatever needs to be done!

[pilesofnonsense]

RQBB 2024 Writer Sign-Ups Open!

Writer Sign-Ups are now open for the Rusty Quill Big Bang 2024!

Please read through the information carefully to understand what will be expected of you as a participant.

The sign-up link is at the end of the post under the spoiler cut!

You do not need to have decided what you will be writing at this stage, but please consider whether the fic requirements are compatible with what you have in mind, and be sure that you can commit to contacting us on the below deadlines to share your progress (or withdraw your participation if necessary).

Schedule for 2024 (all deadlines at 23:00 BST / 5pm CDT):

Writer Sign-ups: May 20th - 26th

Full First Draft & Summary Due: August 18th

Artist Sign-ups: August 26th - September 1st

Art Draft Deadline: September 29th

Final Fic & Art Due: October 13th

Posting: October 16th- 27th

Confirmation e-mails for sign-ups will be sent out after sign-ups close; if you have not received a confirmation by May 30, please contact us at pilesofnonsense@gmail.com. We ask that you check your email (including the spam folder!) and reply so we can confirm that your registered email address is correct and you still intend to participate.

Participation Requirements:

You must choose whether to join the Big Bang as an artist or writer. You may not do both.

Writers will require an AO3 account; if you do not have an AO3 account, please request one via AO3’s login page.

If you wish to write M or E rated fics you must be aged over 18.

All participants must read and adhere to the Expected Conduct guidelines (see below).

Minimum Final Word Count: 20,000

Maximum Number of Fics per Writer/s: 1

Maximum Number of Writers per Fic (collaboration): 2

Fic Draft Requirements: At the draft deadline (August 18th), we will require a complete draft of at least 18,000 words. “Complete” means that the fic is written from start to finish with no indispensable scenes missing or left as outlines—think, “If I posted this right now, would I be happy with the story it tells?”

Ideally, you will refine and polish your draft in the remaining time, but it can also be your final draft if you prefer.

Drafts will be handed in via a form that will be sent out to you before the deadline. Drafts should be available in Google docs, or if need be in PDF format.

Summary Requirements: A form for the summary will be sent out to you before the deadline. Summaries should briefly outline the general premise, and include rating, ships, triggers and other warnings, and any other relevant details.

Eligible Fics:

Fics of any rating and with any warnings are permitted, as long as they meet the minimum word count (20,000), are centered around at least one Rusty Quill original podcast (The Magnus Archives, The Magnus Protocol, Rusty Quill Gaming, Stellar Firma, Inexplicables, Chapter & Multiverse, Trice Forgotten, Cry Havoc!, Neon Inkwell), and are tagged appropriately.

We encourage authors to take this opportunity to challenge themselves to take on a project that they might not otherwise—though please consider what is realistic in terms of the deadlines as well!

Fics must be stand-alone (requires no knowledge of previous fics to enjoy), complete (resolves all main plotlines within the story, as opposed to being part I of a trilogy, etc.), and previously unposted.

Crossovers are allowed, but the focus should be on the RQ podcast involved. For example: a fusion crossover with the Leverage Team replacing the LOLOMG in the RQG!verse would not be permitted, though the RQG characters in the Leverage!verse would be.

Please be aware that fics with obscure crossovers, common squicks, higher ratings, etc., may be more difficult to match, and thus take a little longer to get snapped up. We will do our best to find you a suitable match, though!

If you have any questions about the suitability of your fic, please contact the mods.

Matching Process:

The artist sign-up will include a list of the anonymised fic summaries. Each artist will select 3 fics which they would be interested in creating for, with additional preferences (favourite show/shows they do not follow, OTPs and NoTPs, Do Not Wants, etc.) indicated in the comment field. Mods will then match writers to artists, taking preferences into account as much as possible.

If fics are oversubscribed or if it is otherwise necessary for matching, they may be removed from the list of eligible fics before the end of artist sign-ups.

If you have an issue with your match, please let the mods know as soon as possible.

Do Not Wants:

In this event, you will have an opportunity to Do Not Want (DNW) the types of content that you do not wish to work on. Similarly, if you’ve had conflicts with certain people in the past and do not want to risk matching to them, you can include this in your sign-up or draft submission, and we will avoid matching you with them (details of these will not be shared beyond the mod team).

The mods will always account for DNWs within reason; however, attempts to manipulate matches via DNWs or otherwise acting in bad faith will result in the rejection of your sign-up or draft. We are also not private detectives, and will thus not be fielding any requests such as “do not match me with anyone who has ever drawn/written XYZ.” Please keep that in mind when considering whether this event is right for you.

Expected Conduct:

By signing up for this event, you agree to do your best to meet the deadlines. If you might need a little more time, please email the mods to explain your situation before the deadline passes. Those who miss deadlines without contacting the mods beforehand may be dropped from the event without further contact.

In order to participate in this event, you must be willing to contact the mods directly in the event that you have a question, concern, or issue with your participation (as in the deadline example above). We are happy to help participants with anything that arises, but cannot accept “telephone”-style communiques on behalf of others.

Be in regular contact with your match—if you’re going to be offline for a significant length of time, let them know. Radio silence from your match in events of this kind can be very concerning. (If you are having trouble getting in touch with your match, please contact us!)

Please take care to credit your artist/writer in your own final post.

Our Discord server has its own list of rules, which are listed within the server. If you decide to join the server, we require you to read and abide by those rules.

Be kind and courteous towards your match and fellow participants. This naturally means that all forms of bigotry and discrimination are prohibited, but even where those are not at play, you are expected to treat others with respect.

We, like Rusty Quill, have an “all headcanons are valid” policy. Harassment or mockery of those with different interpretations will not be tolerated. This does not mean you cannot discuss how you see the characters with others or that your artist/writer should not take it into account at their discretion, but insistence that any one interpretation must be adhered to is not allowed.

If you have concerns that a work or participant may be in violation of the rules, please bring it to the mods directly. Harassment of other participants (including but not limited to callout posts, name-calling, baiting, etc.), either publicly or in the Piles of Nonsense discord server, over their identities, fanworks, or headcanons will result in an instant default.

A full overview of the Guidelines can be found on our Challenge Guidelines page. We also have an FAQ.

The writer sign-up form can be found here.

Thanks for reading, and we look forward to working with you!  

[floodonthefloor]

hi i made a tumblr

u can call me sam! she/her, late-twenty-something, lesbian, alicent hightower apologist, rhaenyra targaryen cult follower, have never read f&b and do not intend on it because i don't know how to read sorry ❤️

here is a list of fics i have written/am writing as of october 2024. i was trying to stay off of social media because fandom spaces sometimes can scare me because i'm a big baby but here i am. thanks to everyone who has commented on my fics:)) if you have requests (which i may or may not write but i love to brainstorm regardless)/questions about my fics/just want to shoot the shit hit me up in my ask box, which i have now, yay

(if you want to ask me something but want it to be private, pls indicate as such in your ask!!!)

a gold crown (cerulean blue) | M | 3/? chapters modern detective AU. new evidence surfaces in a serial killer case that metropolitan police detective alicent hightower and mi6 officer rhaenyra targaryen had worked on — and reluctantly closed — years ago. a fractured relationship is put to the test, threads connect from then and now. hate when that happens.

into the ether | E | 2/5 chapters modern divorce/corporate AU. viserys dies about a decade before anyone expected him to. rhaenyra is tasked with righting the ship that is his media empire when daemon almost sinks it. how much is she willing to lose to salvage his legacy?

there you go again | E | 8/8 chapters | complete modern actor AU. childhood friends to best friends to fwb to sort-of-lovers in university to imploding horrifically to ending up starring in the same film years later. hate when that happens.

try not to let go | E | 7/7 chapters | complete modern AU. rhaenyra and alicent dated and broke up in uni, reunited at viserys' funeral, where they both realize they've actually never actually gotten over each other ever once in their entire lives. also hate when that happens.

less of a stranger | E | 4/6 chapters sequel for try not to let go, modern AU. found family hello. alicent and rhaenyra try to start a family- their new neighbour larys strong moves in with two boys named jacaerys and lucerys under his care, but he sucks. hate when that happens

a stolen youth | M | 9/11 chapters canon-divergent, and my first ever rhaenicent fic- has been a big writing exercise for me in writing in this kind of setting; alicent marries viserys still, but is infertile; an exploration of her and rhaenyra's relationship as a result, and another instance of a found family. love when that happens

[doctorjuvenile]

Things from WtA The Book of Hungry Names you should know pt. 2

pt. 1 here

I'm about to start my fourth playthrough lol

5. The coordinates Daphne sends you for investigating the Pattern Line are a real location in Northampton, Massachusetts.

> I’m willing to let you condescend to me if you’re willing to help me out CrestFolder180IQ Your terms are acceptable. CrestFolder180IQ Meet me at 42°25'50.3"N 72°40'49.3"W at 10:30 PM.

Right at the tip of this path. (sooo IRL Garou meetup when?)

6. By my best estimates, the game takes place over the course of 2022-2024.

Now, the game plays pretty loose with exact dates, and I'm sure the ambiguity is intended. What we know for sure though is that Book of Hungry Names takes place over two and a half years (from beginning to epilogue).

Nonetheless, because I'm obsessed, I'm basing my assumption off of some strong hints:

The game definitely takes place after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, since Stormcat literally refers to it once you're in the second half of the game (foreshadowing the Jigsaw Plague chapter)

Will Northampton be ground zero for the next pandemic? Even I do not know.

2) Honestly, my biggest clue here are the years Melodie and Harmonie graduated high school (2016 and 2013 respectively), and the fact that she is 23 when you retrieve her from Ashfield.

Harmonie Palys graduated Berkshire Regional High School in 2013. Her sister, Melodie, graduated in 2016.

Melodie, who is twenty-three, angrily sips her Kir Pamplemousse.

Going off of the North American education system (where I myself graduated high school in 2014, and am presently around 27 years old), and assuming no skipped or repeated years, Melodie should be about 25 by the game's epilogue, which must take place in 2024. Harmonie would be 28 if she were still alive today.

Working backwards, that means it's 2022 in the first half of the game (where Melodie is stated to be 23). The timeline just works perfectly.

3) In the second half of the game, Nin will "talk your ear off about the new Blood Ceremony album." The album (The Old Ways Remain) dropped in 2023, thus further perfectly fitting in with the 2022-2024 timeline.

7. Speaking of guessing character's ages, I have a good idea of the rest of them...

Elton: I tried guessing Elton's age and he's anywhere from 24-26 over the course of the game to 29-31. My clues here are how you can find a picture of him and Katherine in a newspaper after arriving in Northampton early on and researching in the library. The photo states he's 19, and the photo itself is "maybe five to ten years old."

...the picture is labeled "Linus Harrowman, 46, Elton Dey, 19, and Katherine Aslanian, 20, have opposed the Broad Brook expansion, which would--" Then it turns into a more randomized babble. The photo is in color, the newspaper maybe five or ten years old.

Player Character: I am certain your character starts the game at 20 years old. The ID Daphne gives you shows your real age, which is below the legal drinking age in the U.S. (i.e. 21), but by the time a year passes in-game, you are now able to drink legally.

[Early game:] To your considerable irritation, the birthdate on the ID is the same year as your real birthday, which means you can't get into most bars. [Second half of game, one year later:] Armed with your Massachusetts State ID that finally says you're 21...

You, Podge, and Nin: Regardless, the whole pack drinks together in the epilogue at the last Hog Throne show, implying your entire pack is now at least 21 (legal American drinking age). So by this point, I think PC is 22, and Podge and Nin are legally 21, meaning they would be about 19 or 20 at the start of the game.

8. Intelligence isn't just tied to your book-smarts or occult knowledge, it also influences whether you can catch pop cultural/musical references.

I mean, my first two characters (galliard/December and theurge/October) had good-to-excellent INT (3-5pts), so the text described Elton's Mezzanine shirt, Highlander halloween costume, Podge being dressed up as the girl from the "Everyday Is Like Sunday" music video, Nin's Sophie Scholl hoodie, etc all by name or direct reference.

But I noticed with my third ahroun (January) character, whom I deliberately kept at 1 INT the entire game, that she didn't catch ANY of that -- the Mezzanine t-shirt is a "white t-shirt with a black insect scrawled across half its surface," she thinks Elton is dressed as the Scarlet Pimpernel, that Nin is maybe wearing a hoodie with her own face on it, etc. (You can get some pretty funny extra dialogue out of being so clueless.)

This makes sense when you consider that your Academics and Intelligence tutor in this game is a badass art teacher who used to be in the '90s demoscene.

[comfortlesshurt]

alrighty, I locked in for a couple days and now I get to reward myself by yelling into the tumblr void about the series progress

first off, there are TWO FICS over 50% done, v exciting stuff. I know they've been over 50% for a bit now, but like... let me have my motivation, okay? we are in the HARD PART of the project where it all looks overwhelming, so I'll take the wins I can

also tex fic is finished and through round 1 of editing. it still needs another major edit and i need to finish fic 1 to make sure no info conflicts between the two, but the serious work for that is done

there are a few more days left before NotNaNo, but even going in with today's word counts, focusing on fics 1 and 2 should put them pretty close to finished by the end of November unless I was super off with the word count estimate

also had a really good writing day yesterday!

ignore those date projections at the bottom because like... those assume either i write 3k every day or i write 3k twice a week and 1.2k the other 5 days, and I canNOT do that consistently. but that July 23rd date is realistic! that's me continuing to hit my average based on the past 106 days since starting this project, so there's a good chance I finish this project in a total of just over a year (in which case I will never shut up about writing 450k in a year, so watch out)

finally, fic 1 is a huge portion of that daily par number in the first row, so... unless I fall majorly away from the intended timeline, that required daily par will go down a LOT at the end of december, which will be nice. the goal is still to focus a lot on this project and only really jump over to side projects as they call to me, but it's easier to do that when your average isn't struggling to keep up with your daily par number. it simply does not feel good to be constantly working just to barely get over the par.

as far as editing, i'm starting to fear i didn't budget enough time for that in my early projections, so the timeline might be off there. those due dates listed are for the final rough draft, which doesn't get a chance to rest before immediately going into a month of editing. something just tells me now that a month isn't going to be enough to cover a content edit for each fic. it's also relying on the technical edits being done week-to-week as each chapter goes up.

also added one more tracking tool recently:

this is to look at all the projects week-to-week, and really what it's done is made it obvious that I am in fact very focused on fic 1 lmao. in my defense, that's the one that has consistently had the highest required par, so it's easy to treat it as the most important. also, up to 27-aug is rough. I started writing these fics in Word, so I didn't have day-to-day stats to go back and check. I could only find those once I switched to Reedsy, so for the record I did not write 54k between 20-aug and 27-aug. same with the tex fic--that wasn't all written in one week.

this chart still only looks at ILaD progress, so you can see where I take my break in October and it cuts down a lot... but that's excluding the 10k that went into an unrelated fic, so I don't think taking this break has actually cut down on my writing much. it's just made me have a better time with it temporarily. i took a couple days off writing completely during October but like... I didn't really enjoy that? so I don't think that's the solution I'm looking for long-term.

anyway, thanks for coming to my ted talk. i will infodump again, and probably soon since all the end of the month posts are coming up in the next week.

[ashimetsu]

Trey's Party 【Reader x Trey Clover】 -chapter 1

: ̗̀➛ It's Trey's birthday! You and the Heartslabyul crew decide to throw him a surprise party. Riddle sends you off to pick up some extra supplies, when you run into the birthday boy himself. : ̗̀➛ Fluff/crack, Y/n gets flustered over Trey's Beautiful Bodyᵀᴹ, Trey's a little shit, some parts a little suggestive, reader can be read as gn in this chapter, however is fem in future chapters : ̗̀➛ 3.1k words : ̗̀➛ [a/n]: who doesnt love a trey birthday fic in *checks watch* march! was just Thinking About Him.. this got a lot longer than i intended it to be oops. i still have some ideas for this tho.. (chapter 2 later?!?!?) edit: there's a chapter 2 now lol : ̗̀➛ (chapter 1), chapter 2, chapter 3

"Streamers, tablecloths, partyhats... I think that should be everything."

You check off the list Riddle entrusted with you. Deuce severely underestimated how many materials you all needed for Trey's birthday party, leaving you to pick up what was missing. Typical, but you didn't mind the extra steps, and those boys can be a tad overwhelming. Some fresh air and a walk to Sam's shop is what you needed to clear your head.

"Thaaaaank you! Come again, my little imp!" Sam's voice booms as you wave out the door, arms full of various party supplies. You didn't think to bring a bag, nor did Riddle give you one. As you send Sam your goodbyes, a firm wall knocks straight into your chest, sending you and all your perfectly balanced supplies flying across the sidewalk.

"Shoot, prefect, didn't see you there," a voice calls from above.

You look up from the wreckage of the fall, a large shadow casting over your face. A tall, broad figure stands above you, hand outstretched to help you up.

"Trey?" you grab his hand as he pulls you up.

"Didn't see you there prefect," he eyes your possessions strewn about, "looks like you need a hand." He begins to pick up your fallen supplies.

"S-sorry, I guess I should look at where I'm going," you stammer, scrambling to pick up the party items. Oh. Party items. For Trey's party. A party he doesn't know about.

"Heh, no problem. You've got plenty of stuff here, throwing a party or something?" he questions, throwing you his signature smirk.

It's his birthday, can't he piece two and two together? Or is he playing some mind game with you, trying to make you slip up and admitting to throwing him a birthday party? If you soiled the surprise, you wouldn't hear the end of it from Ace and the others...

"N-no, no no. Nothing like that. Just uh, helping Cater out," you fib off the top of your head. "For his photo shoot."

"Oh? First I've heard of a photo shoot for Cater."

"Um.. yeah. Pretty under the covers. Best not to tell anyone."

"...right." Trey is still giving you a strange look. Seems like you haven't convinced him yet.

"Bikini photo shoot," you blurt out "Cater's doing a bikini photo shoot."

Trey stops midway picking up a package of streamers. Silence lays heavy upon you two after you dropped that bomb of information on him. After a moment, he finishes grabbing your fallen belongings and clears his throat.

"In October. Didn't know there was a market for male bikini models out of season."

"Yeah, me neither. You'd be surprised."

"Huh."

Silence again. Definitely not awkward or anything.

"Well I certainly don't want to interrupt Cater, or get wrapped up in his shenanigans, for that matter," he starts, "but you've got way too much stuff to carry to Heartslabyul on your own. Curiosity has got me by the tail, so I'll head back with you."

Shit. Trey's gonna come back with you and there's no convincing him otherwise. Did the bikini photo shoot lie work...? If you're bringing him back, then you have to alert the others.

"Oh, one second Trey. I think I left my wallet inside," you lied.

He nods and you make your escape back into Sam's. Quickly, you whip out your phone and open the "TREY CLOVER SECRET PARTY SURPRISE!!!!!🎊🥳👯‍♀️" Magicam group chat. Very subtle name choice, Cater.

Y/n: Bad news guys

Y/n: Just ran into Trey outside of sam's shop (literally) and now he's coming with me to heartslabyul

Y/n: And I might have told him that we're planning a bikini photo shoot for Cater

Ace: what.

Y/n: I ran away for a second but I'm gonna start walking back soon

Y/n: Get Cater in a bikini ASAP

Cater: wtf

Ace: ur our of ur mind if u think im wearing that crap

Cater: i mean no biggie prefect but this is supposed to be treys bday party 😭😭

Riddle: Ugh, looks like we have no choice. Trey's coming prematurely and he's expecting a bikini photo shoot. What a disaster.

Cater: wait wait guys i have an idea

Cater: prefect just keep doin what ur doin and bring trey here 😈

Y/n: Don't trust that idea

Y/n: Whatever I'm omw

You slip your phone back in your pocket and head back outside to meet Trey. You're a little nervous to see what Cater has planned, but you have no choice but to trust him and bring the victim to Heartslabyul. Trey grins at you and has mostly everything tucked under his arms, save for a package of balloons left on the cobblestone.

"Sorry I couldn't get everything," he laughs sheepishly, as if he wasn't totally showing off his ripped stature. Are you blushing? Butterflies creep up your throat as you stare at his toned arms, exposed after he rolled up his sleeves. A bead of sweat rolls down his sharp jawline, leaving a slight sheen on his face. You're drawn to how hes carefully holding your supplies, being sure nothing is crushed. What would it be like to be a partyhat, snug in Trey's muscular arms, protected, held. It dawns on you that you get to walk the whole way back to Heartslabyul with him. Just you and him. Alone. The more you think about him the hotter your face gets. This could be a problem.

"Prefect? You ready to head out?" Trey's question snaps you out of your daydream as you face the mission at hand. Right. Secure Trey and safely escort him to Heartslabyul. Should be no issue, right?

"Oh, yeah," you stumble on your words as you attempt to regain your focus. A chilly gust blows through, giving you the shivers "I'd really like to be out of cold." Although the temperature was low, your face still felt hot from embarrassment and ogling Trey's body. You pray that the walk to the Hall of Mirrors goes by quickly, you don't know how much longer you can be in his presence without imploding from sheer embarrassment. The thought of you smacking directly into Trey and making a mess of all your equipment is playing on loop in your head, making you want to run away and hide in shame. Not only that, but trying to make up an excuse for his birthday party. A bikini photo shoot? Seriously? You curse yourself for not being able to think of something more believable. However, you're glad Trey is one of the few genuinely nice people on campus. Had it been anyone else... things could've been pretty sour. You heave a sigh after thinking so hard. This birthday party better end up being good for all the trouble you've gone through so far.

"Are you feeling okay? You seem out of focus" Trey says, snapping you out of thought for the second time today.

"I'm fine, really. Just a little chilly from the wind, that's all." You curse at yourself for not bringing a jacket, but you also weren't planning on being outside this long.

Trey halts and sets your things down. You pause and look at him, wondering what's gotten into his head. He pulls his white jacket and vest off and hands it to you, leaving him in a plain white tee.

"Take it. You might catch a cold without it." He grins while holding his jacket out to you. You can feel a warm blush creeping up your face.

"What? No Trey, if I take it, then you're going to catch a cold," you argue. "Plus, you've already helped me so much today, I can't take any more from you."

"Eh, I was getting warm anyways. Carrying all your stuff isn't an easy task, you know." He winks at you, causing your heart to run a marathon.

You see the opportunity and apprehensively take his jacket. Warm to the touch, even softer when it's covering your body. It's way too big on you, sleeves stretching much farther than your arms and the body drapes halfway down your thighs. Not only are you warm, but his scent lingers on his jacket, filling your nostrils. You've only gotten a few whiffs of Trey before, mostly while baking with him, but he smells incredible. It's sweet with a hint of pine, subtle, but not too subtle for you to not take notice. Wearing his everyday jacket feels like ecstasy, your body enveloped in a permanent Trey-hug. You hope he can't see the pink on your face, you surely must be blushing by now. You're wearing his jacket that he gave to you. That's a win in your book.

"Thanks, I feel much better," you smiled as you helped him pick up his load again. And you do feel much better, warm and protected by Trey's physical force field generated by the jacket. Nothing could rain on your parade now, unless...

"Did you feel that? I think we're forecasted for some rain today, and the clouds seem pretty da-"

Trey's sentence is cut off from a loud crack that echoes from above. Shit. Was it really supposed to rain today? You and Trey are about halfway to the Hall of Mirrors, maybe if you hurry, you can beat the rain.

Or not.

After the thunder echoes away, a drizzle begins to fall over campus. Great. Just what you two needed today, to be soaked in rain before Trey's birthday party. Rather, "Cater's bikini photo shoot". You and Trey begin to pick up the pace of walking when the drizzle turns into a downpour in an instant. Big drops of water soak both of you as you try and outrun the rain.

"C'mon prefect, inside before we're drenched!" Trey shouts as he grabs your arm and pulls you along. How he's managing to drag you along while carrying all your supplies is a mystery to you. You look at Trey as you're both running to safety and a twinge of guilt settles in your gut. This could have been avoided if you didn't clumsily run into him outside of Sam's shop. Then, he wouldn't have to carry all your stuff, get drenched in rain, and have his birthday party ruined by a stupid bikini photo shoot. Plus, your other Heartslabyul companions wouldn't have to scramble to change plans quick. How did you manage to turn his birthday into a total disaster?

You and Trey burst through the double doors of the Hall of Mirrors, huffing and puffing after running through the rain. You're both drenched from the sudden downpour. Even Trey's jacket, which kept you so warm only moments earlier, is completely soaked with rainwater. So much for enjoying the heat of Trey's-forever-hug. You look over at Trey and almost stop feeling bad for a moment. His white shirt is plastered to his chest, which is rising and falling rapidly as he tries to catch his breath. You're hopeless to the view of seeing the outline of his muscles along with the wet sheen along his arms. Feeling like you're invading his body, you quickly break your stare and look at the ground, trying to hide the heat that once again crept up your face.

"I'm really sorry," you blurt out suddenly. "If I didn't run into you and make you carry all my stuff to Heartslabyul, you wouldn't be in this mess right now. You'd even have your jacket to protect you from the rain too. All this wasn't even for anything important, just a stupid photo-"

"Say, can you do me a favor?" Trey interrupts you, and you look up at him in surprise. As if he hasn't given you enough already, his black glasses are outstretched to you in his hand.

"Your shirt is still dry right? Mind if I borrow it to clean these up? I'm totally soaked."

"Y-yeah that's fine," you stammer, surprised that he interrupted you for something like this. You reach for his glasses, but he takes a step closer to you instead. He grabs the hem of your dry undershirt and uses it dry the droplets off his lenses. It almost feels intimate with how close you are, breathing in his space. If you weren't already encased by the scent of his jacket, you would definitely be able to smell him now with how close he's gotten.

"I'm not blaming you for this little encounter with the rain, you know," he says quietly enough that only you can hear. "I offered to help you, knowing it was going to rain. I wanted to make sure you got to your destination safely."

Your face heats up for the umpteenth time, and you have nowhere to hide it this time with Trey looking directly at you.

"Plus," he continues, his face getting closer to your ear, "it's cute seeing you get flustered over everything I do."

Oh. So he has noticed every time you've gotten embarrassed during the past hour. Wonderful.

"Trey, enough with it," you whisper back.

He takes a step back and puts his glasses back on, making you wish he would've just stayed close to you.

"Alright alright, I'll quit teasing you. I thought I'd indulge myself for today," he says with his usual sheepishness.

If you knew he liked teasing you so much, maybe you would have avoided him for today if you had the choice. You feel your phone buzz and see a message from the Magicam group chat.

Ace: whats ur eta? i think we're just about wrapped up here

Ace: please tell me u didnt blow it again and change the story again

"One second Trey, Ace is messaging me."

"What a buzzkill."

Y/n: We just made it to the hall of mirrors, be there soon

Y/n: This party better be worth it

Deuce: You and me both, prefect

"You ready to head in?" you ask Trey after putting your phone away. You still have a mission to accomplish!

"Yeah, let's go. My arms will finally have a rest once we're inside," he quips back.

"You said you'd quit teasing me."

"My bad."

You and Trey make your way into the dorm, uneasy with what you're about to see. Did they really prep for a photo shoot? Or did they just stick with a half-assed birthday party with only half the supplies? As you both open the doors to the foyer, your jaws hit the floor.

Cater's body is out for display on the dorm couch, garbed only with a bright red speedo. His hair is in his usual style, a half-up pony, but now donned with sparkly red sunglasses atop his head. A glob of white sunscreen is stuck on his nose, imitating a cartoon lifeguard. He's holding a large beach ball with one arm, his phone in the other. On either side, Ace and Deuce are dressed similarly with swimshorts instead of speedos and plain black sunglasses over their eyes. Both of them look unimpressed while fanning Cater with cheap decorative fans, presumably leftover from New Years. Riddle stands behind a tripod with a camera mounted to it. A ring light is placed in front of the tripod, lighting up Cater's face with a perfect warm glow. Most of the equipment probably belonged to Cater, seeing that he uses it for Magicam posts. You didn't expect there to be an actual setup, neither did Trey by the look on his face.

"Oh hey Trey," Cater speaks up, "grab a fan."

"My god Y/n, I thought you were joking." Trey deadpans.

"I thought I was too..."

"I don't joke about showbiz, Trey." Cater looks deadly serious.

A beat.

Another.

Who's going to speak up first?

"...kidding! C'mon you two, we're just messing around! Happy b-day Trey-Trey!" Cater pipes up after a moment of awkward silence, "also, did you guys swim through a river to get here? You're both absolutely soaked."

"Really? I didn't notice anything coming in," you deadpan back, "did you see any rain, Trey?"

"Hmm, not that I saw. I mean, we were walking together after all."

"Okay you two, no need for the 'tude," Cater replies.

"I think I can have some 'tude' after going through a downpour for, what's this, a bikini party? Nice birthday party, guys." Trey's glare burns holes into Cater's perfectly lit face.

"It was prefect's idea," Ace blurts out before Trey can unleash his disapproval. You shoot a look in Ace's direction and he smirks in response.

"Oh? So you didn't like it when I was teasing you, but the idea of a bikini photo shoot was fine by you?" He nudged your arm, feigning anger. His wink was the cherry on top. You were sick of his winking.

"I only said that to keep the surprise birthday part a secret! Give me a break guys," you groan.

"Can we put our clothes back on now?" Deuce interjects, "Trey knows the truth, I think we can get on with the actual birthday party."

"I agree. This running joke has gone on long enough. Sorry Trey if this had made you upset, we'll do our best to make it up to you," Riddle says with a sigh.

"No worries guys, I guess I can't be too upset if prefect came up with the idea and Riddle approved of it," Trey replies, scratching the back of his head. "Besides, I think we're gonna need a change of clothes too." You almost forgot that you and Trey were soaked in rainwater.

Ace grumbles some "about time" and leaves to change, Deuce, Cater, and Riddle following suit.

"B-t-dubs, Trey, we set up the real party in the kitchen, but prefect will have to help you put the rest of it together! GL!" he says with a wave before exiting to his room to put some proper clothes on, leaving you and Trey alone in the foyer.

"Some surprise huh? I sure hope the rest of the party is somewhat normal,"

"Ugh, I'm just ready to be in some warm clothes and eat some good food..." you mumble.

You suddenly realize that you are in Heartslabyul, not Ramshackle. You don't have a spare set of warm, dry, clothes here. Trey must have noticed your error, or saw the expression on your face as you realized.

"Don't worry, I think I still have some old clothes you can wear, or I can ask Riddle. He might be more your size."

"That'd be great."

"And hey, you could return them at the end of the night," he snakes his arm around your waist and brings you closer, "as an apology gift, for screwing up my birthday party, no?"

You can practically hear his smug look as he tells you everything you need to know about his "plans" with you after the party. Happy birthday to you, Trey.

[accirax]

mini update

now that i've finished up that ask stuff...

just wanted to give a heads up about where i'm at this week! as this is the first day of October, i know that DRDTtober should be starting now. (i've seen other people start to post their work and it looks awesome btw.) i still plan on doing DRDTtober, and wanted to put out my thing for the first prompt today, but i'm in a bit of a crunch period right now and decided that, of the items on my plate, that was the most delayable. so, i still intend on participating in DRDTtober, it might just be slanted towards the end of the month. or turn into DRDTvember. we'll see.

along those lines, i've also turned off my askbox for the moment. don't worry, i'll turn it back on by, like, next week or something. i just, again, am kind of busy right now and was desperately looking for something that i can mentally declare "done" and not have to come back to until i'm ready for it. i still have the asks about the secret swap AU and what David's plan was, though, and i fully plan on getting back to those when i have some more time.

it truly is just like these first few days of October that have suddenly become really busy for me, so hopefully i'll be deleting this post before the DRDT Chapter 2 finale even comes out. and, either way, i'll definitely find the time to watch the episode when it airs. i know it's probably not even that serious, but people have been talking to me on here, like, way more than they ever have in the past couple of months, so i didn't want anyone to feel like i was avoiding them or didn't care if i don't respond quickly. that's all! :)

[justagalwhowrites]

What now? What’s next?

Hi Besties!

I can’t believe it BUT Beskar Doll has now officially come to a close and with it comes the end of my first two fan fictions.

I started writing Beskar Doll on March 16. I’d never written a word of fan fiction before that and had only recently started reading it (thank you to Stitches by @djarinsbeskar for making me love the genre so much I had to write it!) I started making it for myself and talking to my friend about it. The file is still just called Mando because I didn’t have a name and never intended for anyone but me to read it. But after a few chapters and plenty of encouragement from my dear friend @mysticnightmarewrites, I decided to post it on AO3 because why not? A few people might like it.

So began sharing Din and Doll’s story, which grew into sharing Joel and Doc’s story in Lavender and publishing more than 520k words of fan fiction (not counting drabbles on here) since then. (For those playing along at home, that’s more than 3,795 words per day on average - oy!) It also led to starting this Tumblr and I have so loved getting to know the community that exists in the fan fic world on this chaotic little corner of the internet.

Of course, this is not the end of my fan fiction life (though it does feel like an end to an era.) I started sharing Yearling, another TLOU story, a few weeks back and have plans for other fics going forward.

Here’s what I’m planning for the next few months, both fan fic wise and beyond:

August

- Continue Yearling, updating 2-3 times a week

- Write all the asks that are sitting in my inbox because OMG y’all are lovely and patient and I want to give you just all the content

- Finish watching Narcos and plan a Javi P fic (I have something in mind here that I think will both work and give me the brain rot 🤞🤞🤞)

- Finish my rewrite of book one of my book series, potentially start the query process

- Go on vacation, start teaching in the evenings and potentially host a foreign exchange student (these things may impact posting schedules, I’ll do my best to make sure you know what’s up!)

September

- Launch second long form fic (likely the Javi P fic) updating twice a week

- Continue Yearling, updating twice a week

- Kinktober prep? Do y’all think I should do kinktober? I write smut but like… plot with porn sprinkled in, not sure if kinktober is the place for my content? Send help??

- Query Ace

October

- Continue two fics (Yearling and other)

- Kinktober? Maybe???

- Query Ace

- Football games (my husband was born and raised in a college town with a major team - literally lived a mile from the stadium his whole life. He went to school there and now works there. His birthday is in October so that is when we end up at games. It will probably interfere with writing time on more than one occasion!)

November

- NaNo in the form of an AU Joel fic! I have a few ideas here so stays tuned

- Continuing Yearling and other fic, updating at least once a week for both (hopefully twice but NaNoing on a third fic may change that.)

- Query Ace/explore self publishing

This is what’s to come from me in the near future! Thank you so much for being here and being interested in what I have to share. It means so much ❤️

Love you all!

[lostintheuniverseslies]

Fic Master Post

Trying My Best

Rated E ● 75,271 Words ● 20 Chapters ● Pairing: Neil/Andrew ● Part 1 of a Series ● Finished

“You refuse to talk to Bee. If today was any indication, I’d say you cannot afford to continue going on without talking to her.” “I’m not talking to her,” Neil said resolutely. “Then we’re at an impasse. I will not waste my time worrying about a rabbit who will neither call me nor see a therapist for his problems.” Basically Neil and Andrew figure out how to help each other through the good and bad days.

Safe Zone

Rated G ●  3,062 Words ● 1 Chapter ● Pairing: Neil/Andrew ● Part 2 of a Series ● Finished

Andrew wakes up with a fever but like the hard headed shit he is, he tries to power through it. Nothing goes as planned and he finds a begrudging comfort in Neil.

Stay With Me

Rated E ●  97,333 Words ● 21 Chapters ● Pairing: Neil/Andrew ● Part 3 of a Series ● Finished

Neil had let Andrew say goodbye to every important person left in Palmetto while he stood on the sidelines and cheered Andrew on. There was only one goodbye left and it would be the most painful one. It seemed as though it was finally hitting Neil too. They only had twenty-seven days together and then Neil would return to Palmetto alone for the first time since Millport. -They spent the first year after everything healing. Now they have to learn how to navigate being away from each other while Andrew is off playing in the pros and Neil is still at Palmetto finishing his fifth year. Things aren't easy. They never seem to be for them but they're fighters. And they always come out on top.-

Three Steps

Rated M ●  33,033 Words ● 3 Chapters ● Pairing: Neil/Andrew ● Finished

After Mary died, Neil went to the FBI and helped them take down not only Nathan and his inner circle but also the Moriyama family. Now free to do as he pleases, he decided that he wants some normal life experiences. What better way to accomplish that than to enroll at Palmetto University. He doesn't expect to find friendship in his roommates and definitely doesn't expect to fall for the man who sits in the corner of the café with blades under his armbands and hair that shines like a halo in the sun.

If Only I Were Enough

Rated M ●  50,970 Words ● 15 Chapters ● Pairing: Neil/Andrew ● Finished

After Andrew moves to Colorado to start his professional Exy career, he intends on everything being okay between him and Neil. But when his self-destructive tendencies tell him that he doesn't need Neil Josten in his life, everything goes to shit. Things between them seem unrepairable and he's not so sure he wants to even try. But when Neil gets into a dangerous car wreck, Andrew finds himself back at the junkie's side with a deadline to fix things or walk away forever.

Somebody's Watching Me

Rated G ●  4,960 Words ● 1 Chapter ● Pairing: Neil/Andrew ● Finished

It's October and the monsters are out shopping when they come across a very creepy doll. Neil decides to have some fun with it by scaring Nicky at every corner.

Monsters, Friends, and Candy

Rated G ●  3,211 Words ● 1 Chapter ● Pairing: None ● Finished

Bee has spent the last two years hoping that she was doing good by Andrew and Aaron. Hoping that she had done a decent enough job that they truly believed they were safe and loved by her. She gets her answer when she overhears Andrew comforting a scared Neil.

Nothing Mattered Until You

Rated M ●  22,497 Words ● 5 Chapters ● Pairing: Neil/Jean ● Finished

On the docks in Marseille, Neil fell in love. But his mother ripped him away and for years he never dared hope to see Jean again. He believed that he would die before ever getting the chance. But when recuperating with his uncle after his father is killed, Neil's chance comes. Unfortunately, he isn't the only one who went through some horrible things over the years. Despite their horrible pasts, they decide to try for a future together. Going to college and even making some friends along the way. But Riko has other plans and wants back what he considers his.

A Quiet Little Seedling

Rated E ●  83,293 Words ● 15 of 30 Chapters ● Pairing: Neil/Andrew ● Ongoing

Neil had a lot of secrets. He didn’t want much in life except to live quietly, run his botanical store, upload TikToks covering plant care, and for not a single person to find out that he’s the best-selling author N.A.J who published one book anonymously five years prior and disappeared. His life takes a turn when his literary agent tracks him down for a follow-up book with the theme of feeling settled and at peace. Two things Neil is not. Thus begins his journey of planting roots in a town he’s lived in for years, starting with making friends with people who have tried to bring him into their circle. As Neil gets closer to them and his secrets become less guarded, there’s still that one big secret he intends on taking to his grave. But the closer he gets to his friends the closer he unknowingly gets to that secret being revealed.

[yourlocaldisneyvillain]

just because I’m curious: does it bother you at all to wait to post chapters on a certain day or do you like having a posting schedule?  I have the disease where I absolutely have to yeet things into the void immediately or I will start climbing the walls LOL, even when I briefly tried to keep a schedule to finish older stuff (prisoner draft 2 and songbird) it just made me crazy and I ended up posting way sooner than intended!

dskjfhadfjs okay so this is the first time in my life i've had a posting schedule, and that was bc with "particular" i was trying out a method where i write the entire fic and then post, bc otherwise i have a tendency to like.... just let it sit for months unfinished lol. and tend to lose momentum. this way, i'm driven by the Overwhelming Desire to yeet the thing to the people and receive Sweet Dopamine of comments and kudos, but i don't allow myself to until it is Finished, and somehow this method works for my impulsive ass? idk, i've found a loophole in the neurospiciness i guess.

i did struggle IMMENSELY with keeping a consistent posting schedule once it was written though asjkdfhg. i picked wednesdays to post bc it's the wednesday fandom (haha i'm so funny) and just the meme of it all was keeping me on track tbh lol (i am a simple woman sometimes). multiple times i posted on a different day, either bc my impulsive brain just said hehe Yeet(TM), or bc i didn't proofread/edit the chapter fully on time bc i was busy. but overall i did like. okay, i think! i think what was keeping me from sticking to it more is that i wanted to start posting relatively early bc i am Impatient (i was done with this thing in october), but i wanted to space it out so that the christmas epilogue was posted a week or two before christmas, and this equaled to posting once a week. if it weren't for that i'd for SURE have posted more frequently and just picked a posting schedule that's more realistic for someone with poor impulse control lol.

so i think the trick is like edging yourself lololol, like do the max amount of time you can last without posting (and if that's like two days, that's good enough) and then the sweet dopamine of Yeeting it into the void is even sweeter! also accept that sometimes you will Not Stick to the schedule and that's okay, and you can still return to the schedule once you've had a slip-up!

i'm now done with my next longer fic and i think i'll just yeet it all into the void all at once, but that's simply bc i expect hordes of weirdos in my inbox calling me a pedophile lol. otherwise i would likely have posted thrice a week tbh. that is like the ideal schedule that wouldn't make me insane i think!

but yeah, for me i think this method's pros outweigh the cons!

[mamamittens]

Time isn't fucking real istg

Got home and pulled my laptop out, fully intending to write and what happens????

What fucking happens????

I eat dinner and open animal crossing up instead of lofi jazz.

A game I haven't played in literally 1 year and 5 months, per one of my villagers (shockingly not overrun by weeds, guess Nintendo laid off the guilt tripping). And then what happened??? I only played for less than an hour.

Haven't a single damn clue. 11 hour work days for the second 6-day workweek in a row is really fucking with me lmao

Next thing I knew, it was time to shower if I wanted my hair reasonably dry for bonnet time without it being soaked when I gotta get up for work. And my weekend is definitely shot cause no way in hell are we not working Sunday and my brother is graduating this Saturday with the degree he needs to be a licensed therapist. So we gotta get up early to drive there and damn is this month a bitch already lmao

At the very least, if memory serves, I'm only waiting on two more folks to tell me what they want for their event gift/slots. Everyone else is spoken for and in theory I should be able to actually work on them soon without worrying about stopping and waiting for anyone.

In all fairness to myself, I've got 4 hours of free time when I get home and I don't sleep nearly enough as it is. Still gotta eat and shower too...

If only those self help books didn't feel like more homework for myself....

Lets see, what's my to do list?

8 fics between Tumblr and AO3 to be completed

6 December event fics

1 October event fic (2 if I count year before)

5 December art pieces

Plan and execute gift art piece for friend who did not enter event

1 zine fic

1 zine art piece

2 zine art pieces on other zine fics

Continue reading OP from chapter... 34?

Continue Apothecary Diaries from volume 7 (great read btw, quite fun)

Continue watching OP from Baratie introduction episode

Finish reading book on Satanism

Start reading grief and death guide

Sweep and mop my floor (should be higher up list, cats keep kicking litter out of box like rude bitches)

Buy new microwave

Buy new garbage disposal

Start watching Sailor Moon or at least one of the other 8 anime seasons I have, why do I keep collecting these but opening YouTube???

Oh! Wrap gifts I do have purchased but not distributed.

Find good dirty Santa gift.

Sleep forever until not tired

Write those passion fics (untold number, I keep putting them down and forgetting about them until 7 months later)

Damn, listing everything out makes it seem both unwieldy and more manageable somehow... I don't think it's in the order it should be tho lol

Anyway! Time to at least try number 20! Ya know! For work!

✧⁠◝⁠(⁠⁰⁠▿⁠⁰⁠)⁠◜⁠✧

[incendio22]

FOR THE HOPE OF IT ALL

Pt 2 Chapter 18: Plans In The Making

It's a morning in October when I see the massive snowflakes gliding towards the ground. It's a bit early for snow, but it's beautiful. It's only been a bit more than a month since I came back to Hogwarts, but it feels like a lifetime has passed. Within these days I've had time to see Garreth Weasley, make up with Sebastian, get abducted by goblins, win a game of quidditch and gone to a handful of parties. If I keep this pace up, I will have a hectic year. Therefore, the snow falling gives me a sense of calmness.

I tried to forget about the goblin part, mostly because that even traumatized me severely. However, I have a feeling that the story isn't finished just yet. Of course, they lost a few men in the battle. But I still wonder what they did to the container with my ancient magic and what they intend to do with it. This is a matter I need to deal with as soon as possible, but this time I'm not going alone.

I spend the day in classes, but I can't stop thinking about the goblin rebellion. Not even Poppy can take my mind away from it, despite her efforts.

''You wanna come with me to the forest?'' she asks after herbology class.

I agree to go with her, mostly because I don't like the thought of her going there alone after what happened to her not so long ago. As we enter the forest we need to fight off some spiders and I notice that Poppy's defensive skills have improved massively since we first fought people together.

''Good work,'' I tell her as we reach the part of the forest where she keeps Highwing.

''Thanks,'' she says with a proud look on her face. ''I started practicing after Milena and I broke up just to take my mind off things.''

I can relate to that. Maybe developing a skill is a better coping mechanism than kissing other people in front of the person you're trying to get over. I wouldn't know since I made my decision.

''When you disappeared,'' Poppy starts in a low voice as she's stroking the wings of Highwing. ''It had something to do with the goblins, right?''

I don't know what to say to her. Of course, she is one of my closest friends so I can tell her. But I also don't want to drag in too many people into this. Yet, not letting people know what happened was my mistake before.

''Yes,'' I tell her. ''How'd you know?''

''Well,'' she begins. ''You looked so extremely horrified when I told you about them in the Hospital Wing. I know you care about me, but you looked even more horrified after hearing about the goblins than you did before.''

''I'm sorry,'' I tell her, looking down in the ground.

''No, don't apologize,'' she says firmly. ''It's okay, it's just that I noticed you changing after I told you about the goblins.''

We head back to the castle together talking about life, relationships and beasts. I just wish I could give Poppy all of the happiness that exists in this world. She deserves it more than anyone. And most of all, I want her to find someone who can love her as much as she loves her beasts. Ever since Anne came back to Hogwarts, she is someone I pictured Poppy ending up with. But I'm not sure if either of them would be interested in each other. But if there's anyone, except for Sebastian, that would look out for Anne and her curse, it's Poppy.

I decide to find Ominis, Imelda and Sebastian to tell them that I need to find the container with my magic. But of course, it's a massive castle. I can just hope that I can find all three of them.

Sebastian is easy to find. Sitting in the common room, writing on his parchment like usual. It's like he's switched a book from parchment. I'm still wondering what he's writing, but I respect the fact that he doesn't want to share it with me.

''Hey,'' I tell him, squeezing his shoulder.

He quickly folds over the table, covering what he's writing on and turns his head to see me.

''Hi there,'' he says, looking rather uncomfortable.

''Can we meet with Ominis and Imelda?'' I ask. ''There is something I need to discuss with all of you.''

''Of course,'' he says with a smile. ''You find Ominis, I go look for Imelda.''

''Very well,'' I tell him. ''Let's meet in the Undercroft.''

What would be the best place to search for Ominis? If he's not in the common room, he's probably somewhere in the Defence Against Dark Arts tower or around the Great Hall. I decide to start with the Great Hall, since most people just had dinner. Very correctly, he's sitting in the Great Hall with some first years. As I approach, I hear him telling them about the mermaids in the Black Lake.

''I actually saw one just the other night,'' I tell them as I walk up to them. ''I was sitting at the window for hours when I saw one passing by.''

I hear them gasp and sound excited, running back towards the Slytherin Common Room.

''I need to talk to you,'' I tell Ominis seriously.

''Very well,'' he says and stands up.

''Sebastian and Imelda, too,'' I say and start leading him to the Undercroft.

We walk with rapid steps towards the Undercroft, feeling the coldness biting as we walk through the courtyard.

''I forgot,'' I stop quickly. ''Imelda doesn't know about the Undercroft.''

''Since Sebastian showed it to you without hesitation,'' Ominous begins. ''I think it's more than reasonable that Imelda can know about it, too.''

''Agreed,'' I say and start walking againg. ''Also, I heard about the kiss.''

''She told you?'' Ominis asks, sounding curious.

''She very much did,'' I say with a smirk.

''You know,'' Ominis starts. ''When I kissed her, it was like all the pieces fell into place. I knew I had kissed her before, even though I don't remember.''

''Well, how do you feel about her?'' I ask him, eager for details about what really matters.

''I feel as if she's everything I need in life, put together in the form of a person,'' Ominis says softly as we proceed to the Undercroft.

Sebastian and Imelda are waiting outside already, but Sebastian seemed to also remember that Imelda had no idea about the Undercroft.

''Go first, the two of you,'' Ominis says, referring to me and Sebastian.

We enter and stand there for a few seconds.

''Come here, new girl,'' he says with a smirk and kisses me quickly.

Quickly after, the entrance opens and Imelda and Ominis are coming in from behind us. Imelda looks around, rather confused.

''All of you knew about this, and no one told me?'' she asks in a jokingly upset voice.

''Well, I just want somewhere to hang out with Y/n alone,'' Sebastian says as he shrugs his shoulders. ''So if you go around telling people about this, I will fight you.''

''I'd beat you in a duel anyway,'' she says as she rolls her eyes.

Sebastian and Imelda argue for a moment as Imelda discovers the Undercroft. However, she seems to be impressed by the room as she explores it. The training dummies, the gobstones lying in a corner, Sebastian's pile of books and the wizarding chess. Eventually, I need to tell them why I brought them here.

''There's one thing I didn't tell you about when the goblins captured me,'' I say in a serious voice, facing the three of them. They exchange confused looks. ''I was forced to use my magic so they could contain it.''

''Wait,'' Imelda interrupts, looking very confused. ''What magic are you talking about?''

''She has some superpower magic,'' Ominis says in a short tone, wanting me to proceed.

''No,'' Imelda argues. ''Why haven't you told me?''

''Long story,'' I press my lips together and force a smile. ''I possess a very powerful magic that most people don't even know exists. And we need to keep it that way. You can't tell anyone.''

''I won't,'' she says quickly. ''I promise.''

''Very well,'' I continue in a serious tone. ''I was forced to use it and they stored it in a container. We need to find the container because I'm genuinely terrified of what they might do with it. And we need to find out more about what they're planning.''

They look at each other, once again confused. But Sebastian nods in agreement.

''I'm glad you're telling us,'' he says with a slight smile on his face. ''And this time, we need a plan.''

All of us nod in agreement.

''We need to be prepared to fight,'' I tell them.

We start making a plan, but Imelda and Ominis seem more interested in discussing how they are going to practice duelling together. Eventually, the two of them leaves so Sebastian and I are alone in the Undercroft.

''If we're gonna fight, you need to practice,'' I tell him with a smile. ''I remember our 5th year, how you had me do all the hard work, while you were just hiding in corners.''

''That's not what happened!'' Sebastian argues.

''Oh, I'll never forget,'' I tell him with a smirk. ''You bragging about being the best duelist in school, just to be more afraid than a little snidget when we faced trolls, goblins and Merlin knows whatnot.''

''Oh you did not,'' he says with a smirk.

He walks up to me and grabs my chin with his hand softly and kisses me passionately for a good moment, making me forget about time and space.

''I'll never forget either,'' Sebastian says with a smirk. ''But you don't have to rub it in like that.''

''That's just what I do,'' I argue with a smile.

''Good thing that I can just kiss you whenever I want to get you to stop talking,'' he says, still smirking and places yet another kiss on my lips.

[ilreleonewikia13]

Before you read, I wrote the first draft of this post in October, then I resumed it in April, but then in May I decided to heavily re-edit it when I noticed the massive grammatical errors that I left. So the version you will read is quite changed from its original form. Starting with the decision to split it into more chapters and not in a single piece as I did before. I even tried to add more characterization to some events as I noticed that maybe I rushed up some important things, cause when I wrote this "fanfic that is not a fanfic" I didn't have a clear vision of the events in their complexity. Some parts were very detailed and explained well, while other parts are only briefly mentioned. As I re-edit it I tried to make everything more cohesive and pleasing to read. For this reason, unlike the first version, this post will only be about the disclaimers and the introduction of my "fanfiction not fanfiction", as the whole "story" will be published on AO3. As I'm writing this I've already posted 2 of the 5 parts, and right now I'm working on the editing of the 3th chapter.

The Doom in Our Blood Comes Back - the Fanfic of a Fanfic

INTRODUCTION TO THE MANUSCRIPT: THE CHRONICLES OF TWO DRAGONS

TRIUMPHS AND DEFEAT

THE CONQUEST OF DORNE

RUBIES AND IRON

When do you start to realize that a fanfiction stops being just a fanfiction and becomes a real work of entertainment?

For me it's when reading it makes you want to theorize about it as if it were a real book and even before it is finished: this is what happened to me with "The Blacks and the Greens" by @sweetestpopcorn a fanfiction (which almost every fan who started watching the series has read if like me you went looking for Daemyra fanfics on AO3 as soon as it started) that tells the story of the Dance of Dragons starting with the idea that Daemon and Rhaenyra got married as soon as their "affair" was discovered, thus an AU of the original plot leading to a completely different scale of events from the original plot of the series/book.

This story, still in progress (at the exact moment I’m writing this post it arrived “just” at its 170th chapter) has gripped me so much this past month that my brain convinced me that this was the real canon story and made me completely forget about the existence of the TV series: so if you are interested to read this AU I suggest you read the original fic, even if it’s a little bit long cause it’s totally worth it.

I thought about writing an actual story about these ideas I had but then changed my mind. It didn't make sense to write about one idea when I already had a bigger story planned that wasn't finished yet.

As I said before, the story from where I take inspiration is only halfway done and things might change a lot in the upcoming chapters as I write this post. This means that the characters I'll talk about in this headcanon might have died to are going to because I don't control the story, the author does.

As I write this post, my idea for "this story" went in a totally different direction than what the original author intended. It became its own separate version of the Blacks and the Greens, with a different set of rules and logic.

I am a big fan of the Black side in the civil war and like happy endings.  I wanted Helaena to be happy with her kids and for Rhaenyra to rule the Seven Kingdoms with her husband and raise her five children. In my imagination, the Greens give up quickly and Rhaenyra becomes the Queen without any fighting. She brings both sides together and makes the dynasty stronger.

This means that in this universe almost all of the Targaryen family is still alive and because the war didn't last too much the finance of the kingdom is not significantly damaged making the reign of the Black Queen very prosperous and full of innovations, technically and artistically speaking, making for them more effortless to conquest Dorn and made Westeros finally United.

The first idea for this story was to talk about Rhaenyra and Daemon's five children and their fun experiences instead of just focusing on Rhaenyra and Daemon's relationship, which is already the main focus of The Blacks and The Greens.

When I was reading the fanfic for the first time, I knew that liked Baela the most because of her personality: plus in my head, she's like a female version of Daemon for this reason, I decided to use her as the main character in my story.

She, in my mind, had the right characteristic to be our main POV, being, in my head, the “middle child” of the group - so the one who is between Aegon and Viserys (the boys) and Rhaena and Visenya (the girls) - and that belong to both of the two worlds, the feminine and the masculine, and have both these sides with her.  She, in my fantasy, will spend a lot of time with her two brothers, with whom she will share a very strong bond as a very strong rivalry for the attention of their father; with the girls too she will have a special relationship. Especially with Rhaena who is her twin, who is, in some way, her opposite and her complementary, especially in the way they decide to express their femininity over the years.  I think that in the Book-canon, Baela looks more masculine than what it was depicted in The Blacks and the Greens, and because this headcanon is heavily inspired by that fanfic, I decided to follow this vision more than the canon one. 

In this universe, she dresses like a combination of Queen Visenya, whom Baela really likes, and Queen Rhaenys. Baela is both strong and sensual like her mother Rhaenyra. She wears bright colors like red and loves jewelry.

I thought about what clothes would look good on her at the court. I imagined she would like dresses that were fun and sexy, with low necklines and tight bodices. These dresses would be like armor to her and would have lots of beads on them. I got ideas from the outfits worn by Anne Boleyn in the show The Tudors, which I really like.

She likes to show she is comfortable with her sexuality, without feeling ashamed for having fun with men as she thinks that both women and men should be able to act in the same way.  Besides her regular clothes, I also see her wearing softer and masculine tunics as she trains, showing how much she loves the culture of the East continents. Even though she doesn't like to study, Baela enjoys reading High Valyrian poems and listening to Lysene music, as she prefers to sing over playing it. I can imagine her spending time flying and staying with her dragon more than her siblings. She will become very fond of her dragon, Moondancer.  She will also train with her brothers with the sword and be very good at it.

Because Baela became a such strong and intense character in my mind, I started to think that she needed an equally strong and enigmatic counterpart that matched it, but at the same time opposed it and gave it a hard time: or in reality the opposite, that is someone she could challenge and confront, someone equally crazy and reckless, but by the opposite and darker energy. 

And so that at any moment this post headcanon "The Blacks and the Greens" has become somehow a story focused on Baela and Aemond, or at least with a particular focus on the relationship and the clashes between these two. 

Let me make it clear that the choice to "pair" these two characters were not based on a double interpretation of the original story, which clearly shows a strong dislike for Aemond and the Greens in general. The decision to highlight Aemond's character was solely influenced by the irresistible charm of Ewan Mitchell, the actor who played the role in the television adaption, which unfortunately clouded my judgment. To be absolutely clear, I have never felt any form of empathy towards him during my entire fanfiction journey, except for some mere pity.

There were multiple factors that led me to spare the lives of Aemond and Aegon, as I believed it would be more gratifying to let them suffer as they experienced the consequences of all the actions that they made thought the first half of The Blacks and the Greens and the accompanying disgrace of their defeat, rather than simply executing them on the spot.

In this headcanon, Aemond will undergo significant transformations, causing a profound shift in his mentality and character due to experiencing a series of intense and traumatic events. As a result, this version of Aemond will differ significantly from both the Bookcanon and the Blacks and the Greens.  The decision was serendipitously influenced by reading a particular sentence in the fanfic where the detestable Aemond ridicules Daemon for allowing Rhaenyra to mistreat him and become submissive to his sister, referring to him as a "slut." Aemond expresses his reluctance to ever allow a woman to control him as his uncle did.

Well, these two simple sentences made me decide that I need to create my own headcanon where Aemond would become the exact thing that he always derided his uncle for: a "loser" who would be bossed around by all the women in his life. And not only command but as a great misogynistic bastard who was, after touching the bottom of the funds, it would be a woman to save him and put him on track, making him feel indebted to her. 

So this is how this literary experiment was born.   

A simple and very banal enemies-to-lovers story with A LOT of drama and a bunch of dragons, but that needs the perfect setting to work, for this reason, most of the work I did was on figuring out how to set the side character and the background events in a way that could serve my goal.

As I specified many times in this exaggeratedly verbose disclaimer and in the tags this is not actual fanfic, I will not so use a prostatic style like many other stories in this platform, still, I want my readers to have a pleasing experience while reading this work, the result of a very elaborate mental wank and my pressing need to take my mind off my real duties, so I decided to write the whole thing as if it were a cross between historical writing and the introduction to a Greek tragedy. 

Imagine, just like in Fire and Blood, that an obviously bored scholar set out to write the memoirs of Rhaenyra and her deeds; as I tried to make up this story I even tried to figure out the timeline of our characters' birth, some of them are the canon ones used in the books, while the others are the ones I tried to calculate trying to use some mathematics and the information that the writer give us on her fic. This means that it's not very precise, but I hope it's remotely accurate.

Aemond= 110

Daeron =114

Addam=114

Alyn=115

Larra= 115

Aegon III = 118

Viserys = 119

Daenaera = 120

Baela and Rhaena =121

Visenya= 125

Jaehaerys and Jaehaera = 123

Maelor = 127

Baelor = 130

[turvi]

Reichenbach for my Growing Pains - Remus Lupin fic!

Congratulations again on 500 followers, very well deserved ❤️

Thanks, babe for the request

Here is part one of the series and it is so well written and always find myself waiting for the next part. So I love the series but here are some of my favourite parts in it.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

PART 1:-

‘I’m not really in the mood for small talk, miss L/N,’ he said without looking at you. This angered you even more. ‘Excuse me? Miss L/N?’ you repeated. You were so surprised at his sudden cold approach to you that there was nothing else you could say. You started to tremble slightly. ‘We’re not doing this,’ he said coldly. When he finally looked at you, he looked even more tired than when you met earlier, his eyes bloodshot.

Oh gosh, this was the moment that got me hooked on the series. The tension, the drama. I'm living for it.

‘I was genuinely happy to see you, Y/N. I stupidly forgot I intended to keep my distance. I felt drawn to you,’ he said softly. The silence felt heavy. So many things were left unsaid. ‘But I have remembered it now and that’s just in time. Good night, Y/N.’ Once more he turned around and this time, he walked away.

Nooo baby..come back. My heart shattered.

PART-2

‘Friends? Not at all. We sometimes sit next to each other at breakfast. And last week, I  let him borrow one of my books. Yeah, that’s about the depth of our friendship,’ you said sarcastically. ‘He speaks very highly of you to the other teachers. I’ve never heard him compliment another person ever before, so I assumed you must be friends. But then again, he always had a thing for bright and pretty witches.’ Remus’ flushed cheeks matched your own in the silence that followed.

I giggled. Remus you flirt.

You could feel his warm breath against your hair. He put an arm around your shoulders and pulled your body against his. There was no need to talk. Nothing to say, just being held by him was all you needed in that moment. There was an urge to turn around and kiss him, but you weren’t brave enough.  Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. You two broke apart as if you were being struck by lightning.   ‘Come in,’ you said after quickly wiping your eyes. The door opened and Severus Snape appeared, holding a smoking goblet. He was looking through the curtains of his greasy hair with a look of disgust on his face. 

Look I love Severus everyone knows that but DAMN YOU SEVERUS. Why you gotta be like this?

PART 3:-

'Would you mind taking off your shirt? I need to see the wound,' you explained. You looked into his eyes and then let your gaze travel over the rest of his body. He was hurt. Dirty. Covered in mud and half-dried blood and Merlin knows what else but still you were so deeply attracted to him you had a hard time focusing on what you had to do. Remus didn't reply but took his shirt off. He flinched when the fabric touched the wound. 

hihihiihihi. I'm blushing. STAHP

‘After you,’ Remus said gallantly and you felt his eyes burn on you when you walked out of the staff room.

this is my favourite chapter man. Loved it.

PART 4:-

‘I want to show you something,’ Remus had said before you followed him, out of the  castle and past the lake. When the cold October wind made you shiver, he removed his cloak and put it around your shoulders without a word. You appreciated the kind gesture, but were still angry with him so you didn’t say anything either.

yes babe make him work for it.

'I hate trees,' you mumbled, which was a lie. You were perfectly indifferent about trees, but you weren't going to let Remus off easily. He had been nothing but rude to you and it was time to mirror his behavior.

hahaha this is relatable.

‘Go? I’m sure you don’t have to,’ he answered.  He wasn't even trying to hide his disappointment, it was written all over his face

How do you expect me not to melt for this man?

PART 5:-

‘Harry,’ you said, when your eyes landed on a boy with messy hair and bright green eyes who was standing in the door way.  ‘I’m Remus, love,’ Remus said with a look of confusion in his eyes. You sat up straight and pulled your arm back.

Ladies and Gentlemen. HIM. This is the man who has us in a chokehold.

PART 6:-

‘Remus Lupin, are you asking me to go on a date with you?’ you asked surprised.   ‘No. Or yes. I don't know. Guess it depends on your answer,’ he said quickly, stumbling over his own words.  You giggled. Shy Remus was adorable and you wanted to hug him there on the spot, but you resisted the urge.

Alexa play head over heels by tears for fears.

[anon-apple]

Hot Soup and Soft Bread 27 (END)

ToC and Synopsis <- Chapter 26 Read on WordPress

Chapter 27: Shiitake Mushroom Rice IV

t/n: This is the last chapter of the main story!

When Zhong Qiuyan drove by the location of the former stirfry shop, he parked by the roadside and stared for a long time. The inside has already been cleared out, and the old signboard drooped down from above the doorframe. This will be his restaurant in the future; he couldn’t quite believe it just yet. 

In the past few days, he cooked a few of what he intended to sell as his restaurant's signature dishes for Zhou Cunqu. Dishes like wild shiitake mushroom rice, chestnut pumpkin steamed rice, Pad Thai, et cetera. Cunqu particularly liked the Pad Thai. Zhong Qiuyan had pulled out a bottle of fish sauce from who knows where, and the rice noodles' flavor was particularly delicious. One day, Cunqu requested Qiuyan to cook it again, and he packed a serving inside the little pink pig bento box for Shi Shuyuan to taste. She smiled and said, “Your little pink pig’s cooking skills aren’t bad.”

Zhou Cunqu reiterated: “Don’t call him little pink pig.”

At the same time, the little pink pig Zhong Qiuyan was pulling A’Shan and Da Yu to the side of the storefront. He pointed at it and bragged: “Ge picked this store for me to open a restaurant with. He even did the design of the shopfront for me.” 

Da Yu let out a “Woah” and followed with, “It’s reminiscent of those financial-backer literature.”[1]

Qiuyan rebuked, “This is love with square feet as the unit of measurement, alright?”

Da Yu said to A’Shan: “Look, I’ve said it before. This guy is a prime example of fortune favoring fools.”

Qiuyan scolded, “How am I dumb??”

While the shop was undergoing renovations, Zhong Qiuyan was still busy every day as a bus driver. Instead, he let the unemployed Da Yu help oversee the work. At the same time, the South City Experimental Elementary School also started to renovate after its 35th founding anniversary celebrations. In a year, it would switch locations with the City First High School. This was because a fortune teller foretold that the feng shui (t/n: Chinese geomancy) on October Road was better and moving locations would be beneficial for raising the graduation rate. Anyway, the City First High students started attending school at the October Road location that year. The school uniform for the autumn months included a navy-colored windbreaker made of a material that rustled noisily with movement. They would stream out of the school gates like the dim light rays of the late dusk hours, flow across the street to the pretty little restaurant on the opposite side, and sit down for a meal. Even in the heat of summer vacation, they would meet up at the restaurant to do their summer homework over an order of watermelon shaved ice. In this muddle-headed high school era, they come here to secretly go on dates and come here to be heartbroken. 

Many students from City First High would remember this restaurant. This restaurant named “Hot Soup and Soft Bread”, despite not selling either hot soup or soft bread. Every day, there was a special menu. The seasonal wild shiitake mushroom rice and the signature Pad Thai were both delicious. The boss would stand behind the cooking station and scoop out rice from a giant brown earthen pot, and the aroma of wild shiitake being cooked would disperse and linger around every corner of the small seating area. Many years later, the students of City First High would join the fatigued adults of modern society, working hard to make a living. And in certain sluggish twilight moments, as they drag their weary bodies from their workplace, they would suddenly recall those high school days. Along with it, there is the fragrance of that shiitake mushroom rice. 

When “Hot Soup and Soft Bread” first opened, Da Yu helped out at the restaurant for a while. Zhou Cunqu had designed the little porch[2] outside the storefront so waiting customers or passersby could rest for a short while. However, after the “Double Yolk Egg” Grandpas discovered this location, they would show up early every day with a Go board. Zhong Qiuyan would give them each a cup of barley tea, and they would sit there and play Go until noon.

After getting off work, Cunqu pushed open the restaurant door and sat atop the bar stools next to a whole row of high schoolers. Qiuyan passed him a glass of water and asked, “This customer, what would you like to eat?”

Cunqu was about to reply, but he was interrupted by the excited yelps of the two high school girls next to him who were staring at their phone screens. They screeched, “He’s so handsome so handsome so handsome!!!” Qiuyan leaned over toward Cunqu and asked, “How about the secret menu?” Cunqu nodded.

After a bit, Qiuyan placed a bowl of fried rice before Cunqu. The fried rice contained chopped bamboo shoots, which were in season, as well as marinated meat, white beech mushrooms, and some other seasonal vegetables. Because that bowl of fried rice smelled way too good, the few students sitting beside Cunqu turned over to take a look. Qiuyan knocked on the table and said, “The school day ended, but you guys aren’t rushing home to do homework. How come you all are so free?”

The students’ mouths twitched, and they turned back to stare at their phone screens. They finished their meal, sat around for a bit more, and then, like chirping birds, left the shop amidst chatter to fly off to a nearby cram school. Sometimes, after closing shop around 8 pm, Qiuyan would sit beside the goldfish tank on the second floor and look down from the window. He’d recognize the faces of the backpack-wearing students, holding their trinkets-adorned phones, chatting while rushing to take the subway home. And the next day, at 6 am, those same students will emerge drowsily from various corners of the city and rush back to school.

Zhong Qiuyan and the newly hired waiter finished cleaning up the store. He closed up shop and walked back to Qin Qin Homeland. Zhou Cunqu recently started exercising and had just returned home from a half-hour run. After showering, he sat cross-legged on the sofa looking at his laptop. A few months ago, Shi Shuyan officially invited him to sign on. He leaned against the pedestrian bridge's railing and joked, “Boss, if work gets too demanding, I might leave anytime. You know me. Someone is willing to raise me now.” 

Shiyuan laughed as she cursed, “Gross.”

The one raising Cunqun finally arrived home. After kicking off his shoes, Qiuyan slid onto the sofa and hugged Cunqu’s waist, rubbing his face against his while complaining, “You haven’t taken a single look at me since I got home. You’re just looking at your laptop. I’m angry angry.”[3]  

Cunqu said exasperatedly, “Let me finish up with this email.”

Qiuyan was still repeating: “Angry, angry, angry…”

Cunqu lightly tapped his forehead and said: “Power off. Stop being annoying.”

Qiuyan aggrievedly shut his mouth, stood up, and ran off to the balcony. After Cunqu finally finished up with his work, he closed his laptop and walked to the balcony. He pinched Cunqu’s cheek and said, “Power on.”  

Qiuyan lightly said, “Angry.”

They leaned against the balcony’s railing and looked toward the housing community under construction across the street. The framework of the new buildings was almost complete; time always marched forward. Cunqu lifted his head, took a deep breath, and commented that the air carried the scent of grape juice. Qiuyan replied that give it a month, and Qiu Xuemei would be coming here to gift them two whole crates of homegrown grapes. 

In the sunset hours, when the streets are crawling with people, she will climb down from her cargo truck and push open Zhong Qiuyan’s restaurant’s door while holding two crates of grapes. She will sit down and take a break by the same window where she and Liu Xiaoying once sat. Turning her head, she will see the City First High’s students crowding by the bar counter, tilting up their faces, lit up by two cloud-shaped hanging ceiling lamps, chattering with Qiuyan, excitedly inquiring about his relationship history with sparkles in their eyes. And just like that, the love story of the boss of “Hot Soup and Soft Bread” will spread from one grade to another, from one year to the next. But many of the finer details and many of the deeper causes and effects are only known between me and you. Don’t go around telling that group of gossipy high schoolers. 

And now, I will tell you one last thing. In this universe, atop some planet, within a neighborhood in some city of a country, behind the window of the fifth floor of a building, a wonderful love has settled down.[4]

---- Author's Note: This is a rather unpolished sweet little bedtime story. After finishing the story, I recommend listening to 天台晚餐 (Rooftop dinner) by 麥浚龍 (Juno mak) (t/n: youtube, lyrics). Please refrain from commenting about this story under the song, anything you want to see please say it here[5]. I’ll also be uploading two short epilogues for Madam Qiu Xuemei and Madam Liu Xiaoying. Later I’ll write a bit of Zhou ge and Little Zhong’s if-storyline[6]

Footnotes

[1] I translated this ltierally. Da Yu is referring to all the novels of the “rich ceo falls in love with me” genre; basically he’s suggesting that Zhou Cunqu is giving Sugar Daddy energy lol.  [2] The original term was 缘廊, which I believe refers to an engawa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engawa [3]  Zhong Qiuyan literally repeats “Angry” twice here. Just to clarify, he’s saying this not too seriously, in like a childish, spoiled manner. He’s 撒娇（Sājiāo)-ing for anyone familiar with the term.  [4]  A call back to the storybook Zhou Cunqu read on the rooftop to the little kid in Chapter 15 [5] “Here” is the comment section of the raws, which I’ll link again here: https://www.gongzicp.com/novel-1597036.html [6]  Basically like an AU (alternate universe), she doesnt’ specify what kind. I’ll try to translate these eventually too.

t/n: And we're at an end! The reason why I picked this up (aside from the manageable length lol) is that the chapters often leave me with a warm fuzzy feeling (except for the angsty ones lol) I love how this story never forgets any of the side characters. The double-yolk egg grandpas, despite not being crucial to the main plotline of the story, consistently appeared throughout. And we even get some depth into Qiuyan's friends, especially A'Shan, despite how short this story was. I also adore how it describes just ordinary, daily lives. Like that bit about the high school students at the restaurant was so charming and nostalgic. Also! The fact that the shop Cunqu picked out for Qiuyan was the same store where Liu Xiaoying and Qiu Xuemei had their encounter (ch 23)! The world is so big; the world is so small. May Zhou Cunqu and Zhong Qiuyan be happy forever~ If you guys liked this story, please leave it a rating & review on https://www.novelupdates.com/series/hot-soup-and-soft-bread/ so more people can read it~