#I've never wrote about Connor before

[bookishb0rgid]

Scientific Advancement

@medwhumpmay day 6: Doctor turned patient Unconscious

Cw: Non-consensual drugging

Follow up from Day 4's prompt

They should really oil these wheels, notes Connor Belanger silently as he pushes the cart towards the back of the building. He tries, and fails, to not distract himself as he finds fascination in the unconscious boy. He could be the first real result. He thinks to himself proudly. He's a scientific marvel. He finds himself lost in his thoughts of scientific achievement and research and the honorable position he's been put in as he pushes the boy toward the back of a large van.

Someone opens the doors of the vehicle, stepping out, "Is this 183?"

"Yes, sir."

"Do you have his file?"

"It's right here," says Connor, passing it to the man.

Of course, it's unfortunate that this is how the research has to be carried out. A small risk for the sake of modern science.

"He's young," the man comments as the boy is lifted into the van.

"Gullible," replies Connor matter-of-factly. "Needed cash for college and decided this was an easy way to get it."

"Know him well?"

"He's a talker."

"Belanger," the man says in a warning sort of tone, "you're not getting attached, are you?"

"No, sir."

"And you're aware this stays between us?"

"Of course."

"Good," he says, "I'll contact you first, make sure no one comes looking for him."

Connor nods, bringing the empty cart back into the building, proud to be a part of something far greater than himself.

[racefortheironthrone]

What did you think of X-Men Blue Origins?

(I may turn this into a People's History of the Marvel Universe later today, so keep an eye on this space.)

X-Men Blue: Origins and the Power of the Additive Retcon

(WARNING: heavy spoilers under the cut)

Introduction

If you've been a long-time X-Men reader, or you're a listener of Jay & Miles or Cerebrocast or any number of other LGBT+ X-Men podcasts, you probably know the story about how Chris Claremont wrote Mystique and Destiny as a lesbian couple, but had to use obscure verbiage and subtextual coding to get past Jim Shooter's blanket ban on LGBT+ characters in the Marvel Universe.

Likewise, you're probably also familiar with the story that, when Chris Claremont came up with the idea that Raven Darkholme and Kurt Wagner were related (a plot point set up all the way back in Uncanny X-Men #142), he intended that Mystique was Nightcrawler's father, having used her shapeshifting powers to take on a male body and impregnate (her one true love) Irene. This would have moved far beyond subtext - but it proved to be a bridge too far for Marvel editorial, and Claremont was never able to get it past S&P.

This lacuna in the backstories of Kurt and Raven - who was Kurt's father? - would remain one of the enduring mysteries of the X-Men mythos...and if there's one thing that comic writers like, it's filling in these gaps with a retcon.

Enter the Draco

Before I get into the most infamous story in all of X-Men history, I want to talk about retcons a bit. As I've written before:

"As long as there have been comic books, there have been retcons. For all that they have acquired a bad reputation, retcons can be an incredibly useful tool in comics writing and shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand. Done right, retcons can add an enormous amount of depth and breadth to a character, making their worlds far richer than they were before. Instead, I would argue that retcons should be judged on the basis of whether they’re additive (bringing something new to the character by showing us a previously unknown aspect of their lives we never knew existed before) or subtractive (taking away something from the character that had previously been an important part of their identity), and how well those changes suit the character."

For a good example of an additive retcon, I would point to Chris Claremont re-writing Magneto's entire personality by revealing that he was a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust. As I have argued at some length, this transformed Magneto from a Doctor Doom knockoff into a complex and sympathetic character who could now work as a villain, anti-villain, anti-hero, or hero depending on the needs of the story.

For a good example of a subtractive retcon, I would point to...the Draco. If you're not familiar with this story, the TLDR is that it was revealed that Kurt's father was Azazel - an evil ancient mutant with the same powers and the same appearance (albeit color-shifted) as Kurt, who claims to be the devil and is part of a tribe of demonic-looking mutants who were banished to the Brimstone Dimension, and who fathered Nightcrawler as part of a plot to end this banishment.

I don't want to belabor Chuck Austen, because I think that Connor Goldsmith is right about his run actually being a camp cult classic in retrospect. However, I think we both agree that the Draco was a misfire, because of how the retcon undermined Kurt's entire thematic purpose as established in Giant-Size X-Men that Nightcrawler was actually a noble and arguably saintly man who suffered from unjust prejudice due to the random accident that his mutation made him appear to be a demon, and because of how the retcon undermined the centrality of Mystique and Destiny's relationship.

X-Men Blue Origins

This brings us to the Krakoan era. In HOXPOX and X-Men and Inferno, Jonathan Hickman had made Mystique and Destiny a crucial part of the story in a way that they hadn't been in decades: they were the great nemeses of Moira X, they were the force that threatened to burn Krakoa to the ground by revealing the devil's bargain that Xavier had struck with Sinister (and Moira), they were the lens through which the potential futures of Krakoa were explored, and they ultimately reshaped the Quiet Council and the Five in incredibly consequential ways.

This throughline was furthered after Hickman's departure, with Kieron Gillen exploring the backstories of Mystique and Destiny in Immortal X-Men and Sins of Sinister, and both Gillen and Si Spurrier exploring their relationship with Nightcrawler in AXE Judgement Day, Sins of Sinister, Way of X, Legion of X, Nightcrawlers, and Sons of X. One of the threads that wove through the interconnected fabric of these books was an increasing closeness between Kurt and Irene that needed an explanation. Many long-time readers began to anticipate that a retcon about Kurt's parentage was coming - and then we got X-Men Blue: Origins.

In this one issue, Si Spurrier had the difficult assignment of figuring out a way to "fix" the Draco and restore Claremont's intended backstory in a way that was surgical and elegant, that served the character arcs of Kurt, Raven, and Irene, and that dealt with complicated issues of trans and nonbinary representation, lesbian representation, disability representation, and the protean nature of the mutant metaphor. Thanks to help from Charlie Jane Anders and Steve Foxe, I think Spurrier succeeded tremendously.

I don't want to go through the issue beat-by-beat, because you should all read it, but the major retcon is that Mystique turns out to be a near-Omega level shapeshifter, who can rewrite themselves on a molecular level. Raven transformed into a male body and impregnated Irene, using bits of Azazel and many other men's DNA as her "pigments." In addition to being a deeply felt desire on both their parts to have a family together, this was part of Irene's plan to save them both (and the entire world) from Azazel's schemes, a plan that required them to abandon Kurt as a scapegoat-savior (a la Robert Graves' King Jesus), and to have Xavier wipe both their memories.

Now, I'm not the right person to write about what this story means on a representational level; I'll leave it to my LGBT+ colleagues on the Cerebrocast discord and elsewhere to discuss the personal resonances the story had for them.

What I will say, however, is that I thought this issue threaded the needle of all of these competing imperatives very deftly. It "fixed" the Draco without completely negating it, it really deepened and complicated the characters and relationships of both Raven and Irene (by showing that, in a lot of ways, Destiny is the more ruthless and manipulative of the two), and it honored Kurt's core identity as a man of hope and compassion (even if it did put him in a rather thankless ingénue role for much of the book).

It is the very acme of an additive retcon; nothing was lost, everything was gained.

I still think the baby Nightcrawler is just a bad bit, but then again I don't really vibe with Spurrier's comedic stylings.

[wlntrsldler]

well now that you let the angst monster peek out… can we have a luke and five star argument that happens while she’s visiting that leaves everyone tense and forcing them to make up, or smth along those lines?? i need more of their angst it’s too good 😁🙏

song: i choose you by kiana lede

"what do you want me to do, five star?" luke asked, trailing behind you. you both just entered the concert venue for their second album's listening session. the event was starting in a few hours and it was a struggle to sneak in through the back without any of the fans noticing you.

"do not call me that right now," you hissed, marching over to the back exit.

"fuck, are you serious? can you just-- stop walking so fast!" luke picked up his pace and planted his feet in front of you. he looked at you in disbelief as you crossed your arms over your chest with your lips in a pout. you tried to look at anything but him. "what do you want me to do, huh? you don't want people to know about us, which is fine! i'm good with that, but i can't control what people say about me. i can't control that they're speculating things. you know they're not true!"

you were being stubborn. you knew this. it wasn't luke's fault that someone named him as their celebrity crush and that the poisoned mercury fans were shipping them now. it wasn't his fault that your tiktok page was just edits of your boyfriend and the gorgeous, beautiful, singer. she didn't know luke was in a relationship. she didn't even know you existed.

outside of yours and luke's immediate circles, nobody knew. the long-distance thing was a blessing in disguise while you two hid your relationship from the public. no paparazzi pictures. no fan sightings.

"i don't know, okay?" you groaned, rubbing your face with your hands. "i don't know what i want right now."

"it looks like you wanna leave," luke clenched his jaw, gesturing to the door you were racing towards. "is that what you wanna do?"

you looked at him, hard and cold, "maybe i do."

luke scoffed, poking the inside of his cheek with his tongue, trying to hide the hurt in his face. he shook his head, an empty smile appearing on his lips, "fine. go, then."

around the corner, the boys and clarisse watched in silence. they were startled by the sound of you and luke arguing. you weren't yelling at each other, but the tone of your voices were rough. they'd never heard you guys like this before.

you and luke always spoke in hushed whispers with each other. sickeningly loving voices that were reserved for each other. the boys often joked about throwing up every time you and luke shared a kiss in front of them, but they loved seeing the two of you in love. so seeing you guys argue was something they weren't prepared for.

sure, couples argue and they fight, they weren't stupid enough to think that you two didn't do that, but you two always seemed to work it out. neither of you have ever left each other like this.

connor turned to clarisse when you walked out of the venue, slamming the door behind you as you left the building, "well, shit."

"what do we do?" travis questioned, panic in his eyes. "we have a gig in a few and luke is supposed to be singing these love songs he wrote about the girl who just left."

"dude. that's the last thing that should be on your mind," chris smacked him on the arm, "they just got in a fight."

"come on, it's luke and y/n. they're not gonna break up," he replied nonchalantly, "they're meant to be. i'm not worried about them."

"i am," clarisse mumbled. the boys all turned to look at her. "i-i've never seen her like this."

the boys were close, of course, they were, but they didn't always talk about relationships like this. they only knew about the surface-level things about your relationship because luke wasn't one to gush about the details of it. but if clarisse, who knew more about your side of the story, says that they should be worried, then maybe they should be.

before any of them could reply, luke walked by the group, grumbling and visibly upset. he collapsed on the couch with a thud and glared at them, "what?"

"are we gonna ignore the fucking elephant in the room?" travis asked, quirking an eyebrow. he motioned to the area where luke was previously standing, "what the fuck was that?"

"i'm not in the mood, stoll."

"you need to be more empathetic, bro," connor sighed, placing a hand on the older stoll's back.

"hey, none of you keep me for my empathy," travis shrugged, sitting beside luke. he nudged him with his elbow, trying to get him to crack a smile, "you keep me for my innate ability to kill it on the drums and for my humor. oh! and my killer looks, how can i forget that?"

luke snorted, letting out a dry laugh. he shoved travis playfully, easing his shoulders, "you're terrible."

"you guys okay?" clarisse piped in, standing beside chris. she reached for his hand to anchor her. "that seemed intense."

"i don't know," luke chewed on his bottom lip, "she's mad that fans are shipping me with some actress that said i was her celebrity crush, but i don't know what to do about it."

"oh, i've seen those edits," she cringed, sending luke a sad smile. "they're everywhere right now."

"clar, i don't know what i'm supposed to do here," luke was out of ideas. he propped his elbows on his knees, leaning forward. "she doesn't want people to know about us, which is fair. i get it. i'm fine with keeping it under wraps for now because i also don't want the media in my personal business and i don't wanna subject her to that. but like-- what am i supposed to do? i can't control what people make up online."

"yeah that's fair," she mused. she paused for a second. "did she ever tell you about the guy who asked her out to his frat formal?"

"yeah," luke mumbled, "la rue, if your goal was to get me madder, it's working because i distinctly remember telling five star that i would fly to north carolina to punch that guy square in the jaw."

"calm down," she laughed, "but you know how you're feeling right now? that's how y/n feels, but like a hundred times more. imagine people telling you that your girlfriend would be perfect with some other guy, who probably would make more sense for her. he goes to her school, he's attractive-- their relationship would make sense."

"y/n has to deal with having to share you with the world, luke. and it's not your fault and she wouldn't trade what you guys have for anything, but having to see people talk about her boyfriend being perfect with someone else? i dunno," she shrugged, looking at chris. chris held her hand tighter. she turned to luke again, "i would probably react the same way as her."

"oh," luke conceded. "just curious, what was the guy's name?"

"y/n didn't even bother getting his name," clarisse said. "she just said no and walked away. then she called you because she missed you."

"get your ass up and get your girl, castellan," travis pushed luke off the couch.

luke didn't need to be told twice. he opened the door, craning his head left and right to look for you. he saw you leaning against the wall, a familiar device in your hand. you exhaled, smoke escaping your parted lips, walking over to him.

luke met you halfway, pulling you to his body when he got close enough. he placed a kiss on the crown of your head, "don't like it when we fight."

"i don't either," you mumbled, gripping him tightly, "i'm sorry. i shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"you know there's nobody else for me, yeah?"

"no, i know," you pulled away from him a tiny bit, but luke wasn't having it. he wrapped his arms around your waist to keep you from taking a step back. you looked up at him, feeling vulnerable, "it's just getting to me, i think. it's hard to be unphased when everyone wants your boyfriend."

"fuck everyone else," luke hummed, placing a soft kiss on your lips. your lips molded together perfectly. "want you. only you. next time you're feeling this way, tell me, okay? i can think of so many better ways than fighting to reassure you of how i feel."

you giggled, trailing kisses on his jawline, "i can think of a few ways right now."

he pulled out his phone, turning to face you with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "we got a three hours. how many ways do you think we can do?"

--

"so this song is not on the album," luke started, taking his mic off the stand. the crew rushed over to switch to the acoustic set. his eyes found yours in the small crowd. you furrowed your eyebrows in a questioning manner. "but we wanted to give you guys a surprise song at this listening session."

travis got situated on his acoustic drum set, sending luke a thumbs up. the rest of the boys sat on the stools in front of the crowd. cheers erupted from the group you and clarisse sat with, all buzzing with excitement that they were getting an unreleased song.

"i wrote this song a few weeks ago and we haven't gotten the chance to record it so it may be rough," luke laughed into the mic, eyes not leaving yours. "but i wrote this song about a girl that i met last summer. and... well, i'll let the song speak for itself. this is 'i choose you.' hope you like it."

[poppadom0912]

Her father's daughter

Warnings: Kidnapping, crying, canon-typical injuries, blood

Summary: When all is well, someone just has to barge in and ruin Will and Faith's lives.

A/N: Soo, I am back more than a month later. I didn't mean to disappear for so long... It will happen again i am sorry. This Ramadan has come with more work and I have exams in two weeks that i refuse to fail. I will most likely return at the end of april/beginning of May.

i've been thinking about writing this for a while because of how much I love Faith but I didn't want to hurt her but then I thought, no one can turn down some good old angst. Sorry again for being mia for nearly another month but randomly wrote this all in one sitting after doing some psychology and having an existential crisis soooo. This is going to be a little longer than usual, happy reading!!

Will was at work when it happened.

He was getting ready to assist Connor in a surgery when he got a call as they were scrubbing in.

The part-time nanny he hired was now basically considered family over the two years she'd been looking after Faith whenever she wasn't in school and Will was at work. So to have her calling him at work was odd but when he answered her call and was immediately met with tears and gasping and hyperventilating, Will felt his heart stop.

Will wasted no time. simply telling her he was on his way before hanging up.

Connor, without hesitation, encouraged Will to leave, saying he'd find Goodwin and tell her himself.

As soon as Will was in his car, the first person he called was a no brainer.

Whenever Will called, Jay would always come running, day or night for his older brother and niece, consequences be damned.

Will found himself struggling when Jay answered, grappling for words he couldn't muster.

"What's wrong Will?"

"Faith's gone Jay... Someone's taken her."

*****

The brothers met up at Faith's school, Will arriving before Jay.

The second Will got there, Allison, the nanny, found him instantly. She ran up to him in tears, hysterically crying as if it was her own child that was taken.

"Will I'm so sorry." She gasped, on the edge of a panic attack, eyes impossibly red as she hyperventilated, tears showing no sign of stopping any time soon.

"They- Reception said a woman picked her up in Maggie's name three hours ago-" She cut herself off with a sob. Poor women was a mess, seeing her so distraught made Will want to cry along with her.

"Allison, please listen." Will said sternly, holding her shoulder so she would pay attention to him. "None of this is your fault, okay? If it wasn't for you, it would've been another two hours before someone found out."

She exhaled shakily, nodding fervently when Will pressed her to stop apologising and accept she was at no fault, there was no reason for her to take any blame.

Before either could say anything more, the sound of sirens scared them, making both of them jump at the sudden loud sound.

At the sight of familiar cars, Will wasn't too sure if he felt relief or impending doom.

"Intelligence Will need to take a statement but after that you can go home." Will told Allison, squeezing her bicep with a timid smile for reassurance.

"As soon as they find Faith, you'll be the first to know, I promise."

*****

Jay was struggling to concentrate on the CCTV footage him and Adam were meant to be watching.

He could say with 100 percent confidence the he never thought he'd find himself in such a situation.

intelligence have been involved with numerous kidnappings. So many in fact that it was usually what they would be expecting to be called in for every day.

But, this was his niece's kidnapping. This wasn't the norm for him let alone the rest of them. A five year olds kidnapping was something they'd never want to deal with, especially someone who was family.

"Here it is." Adam said, clicking the mouse a few more times before settling on a frame, the scene being the reception of Faith's school.

Shaking any deprecating thoughts away, Jay pushed his chair forward, looking closely and minimising his blinks as to not miss a single second of valuable footage. Footage that would show the final moments of Faith being alive and safe.

The halls were empty for the most of it, bar the occasional janitor or teacher walking by. Two minutes passed when a woman in a black trench coat walked up to the desk. Her brown hair obscuring her face from the camera's view along with the thick scarf wrapped around her neck.

She spoke to the receptionist, signing a sheet of paper before a lady walked away, soon returning with a small familiar bundle.

Faith was in her little purple puffer jacket, bobble hat covering her ears and mitten on her little hands. She wore little winter boots, her my little pony backpack sat nicely on her shoulders and Will's old scarf held in her hands. Unconsciously, Jay thought about how she always complained about the itchiness of the scarf that Will would always wrap around her masterfully, his method luring out the most wonderful sound to mankind; Faith's laughter.

Faith looked perfect, just like her fathers carbon copy and even from the shitty camera footage, Jay could see the pep in her step and the twinkle that never extinguished from her eyes.

Jay's thoughts trailed back to earlier this morning when he was still fast asleep in bed but his brother had messaged him, sending him a picture of Faith in all her adorableness. Nothing had changed from that picture and it warmed his heart slightly.

Usually, whoever picked her up was met with the biggest hello, the widest smile and incessant talking and she retold the adventures of her day but this time, Faith's steps faltered at the sight of the stranger.

Jay struggled to watch the rest.

*****

All Will could hear was his baby girls cries echoing in his ears.

He'd heard her cry plentiful, he raised her since birth for goodness sakes but this cry was different. It was like he could hear just how scared she was and it felt like a literal stab in the heart.

Will forced Allison home twenty minutes ago after Hailey took her statement and was told everything. She was still very torn and upset, she refused to leave Will for several reasons but before she started blaming herself again, Will forced her to leave, promising once again to call her later.

Jay had shown Will the footage of the woman who never showed her face, maybe there was some chance Will could recognise the back of her. Somehow, she knew the exact school Faith went to as well as knowing the list of very few people that were allowed to pick her up. The list consisted of Will obviously, Jay, Allison and Maggie.

Somehow, whoever this person was, they knew who was on the emergency contact list, information that only the school and said people were privy to.

That small bit of information made Will want to be sick.

They had tried other means to try identify the woman but they were coming up with nothing. Another hour had passed, now being give hours since Faith had been taken and Will was slowly losing the plot.

"I've contacted a bunch on my CI's." Jay said, face set in stone as he finished presenting. "Still waiting to hear back."

"I have several CI's in that area." Antonio added, Kevin nodding to also confirm. "Waiting for a call any time now."

Voight hummed, giving no indication of what he was thinking or feeling. But not too long ago, he had taken Will aside and promised they would bring Faith back to him, no matter the cost.

No matter the cost. Ethically, Will wasn't too sure what to feel but emotionally, he felt relieved.

Will must've zoned out for a bit because the next thing he knew, only him, Jay and Antonio remained in the bullpen. Everyone else seemingly disappeared.

Wow, he really needed to fix up.

"Hey, how are you-"

Just as Jay opened his mouth, he was cut off by a phone ringing.

*****

Jay wasn't allowed to accompany Antonio to his CI, instead taking Kevin with him. The Latino was never once persuaded by Jay, even when he promised to stay in the car.

The sun was now starting to set and there was a clear shift in the atmosphere as the sky grew darker. To ease broth his own and his brothers fears, Jay sat with Will, sitting together in a silence neither could stand.

This was an uncommon occurrence since Will had returned from New York, the two brothers being alone together. Since coming back, it had always been the three of them. So to be in this moment, both Halstead's would rather die than to have to repeat this again.

"You want a coffee?" Jay asked, eyeing up the half empty coffee pot. At the rate this investigation was going, they'd be needing more than just coffee to help them stay up.

"Sure." Will hadn't meant for his answers to be monosyllabic, Jay had done nothing but right now, he had not much left in him to continue being so forth coming.

The silence enveloping their space, Will usually relished in any moments of silence he could get but this was just uncomfortable. Never did he ever want his little girl to be causing such a ruckus.

"Maggie called me back." Will said, watching Jays' back, following his actions as he made both their coffee's. "She doesn't recognise the woman nor has she told anyone outside the ED's staff about Faith - that's all people I know and none of them know that woman."

Jay hummed as he stirred the tiniest bit of sugar when his tasted a little too bitter for his liking. "That's good but it does mean we have even less of an idea as to who this is."

Will didn't reply, only mumbling a small thanks as he took the mug from Jay's outstretched hand and sipping the lukewarm drink.

"Have you butted heads with anyone at work recently?" Jay asked, knowing his brothers stubbornness very well.

"No." Will rolled his eyes. "I've been under Goodwin's strong scrutiny after the last stunt. Go ask anyone, I've been good."

And for a second, nothing felt as heavy but such a feeling didn't last.

"Antonio and Kevin are back." Trudy suddenly appeared in the doorway of the breakroom causing both of them to flinch. "Go see them downstairs."

*****

"My CI works in a restaurant. When I reached out, his story matched up with ours." Antonio started, standing tall besides the computer screen where Kevin was trying to connect it to the USB they were given.

"At the same time Will called us, a different woman came and ordered a takeaway with a kid he said looks a lot like Faith."

Will felt his heart rate picking up the more Antonio spoke. Hearing all of this felt like a fever dream, he didn't want to get his hopes up just in case they reached another dead end.

The camera footage started to play, Kevin skipping it when nothing was happening, only to abruptly replay it when someone walked in.

All they could see was the back of the woman, her black hair in a braid, scarf wrapped around her neck with a long jacket on. As Will's eyes studied the stranger, he followed her outstretched arm to-

Faith

Will's breath hitched at the sight of his little girl who hadn't seen since the early hours of the morning when he dropped her off to school. He held his breath, watching closely to see if a single hair was misplaced on her body or to try and see what she was feeling from either her scrunched up eyebrows or her quivering lips.

But he couldn't see anything.

The woman went to the counter, ordered her food and stood there for however long it took for the food to be made. Only when she was handed a carrier bag with several containers did she finally turn around and show her face.

Will's face paled in recognition instantly.

"What's wrong Will?" Jay noticed his change immediately, his question causing everyone in the room to turn and look at him. "Do you recognise her?"

Will swallowed harshly, blinking repeatedly to bring himself out of shock.

"Yeah, it's Faith's mum."

*****

With this newfound information, it didn't take Intelligence long to track her down.

Stephanie Brooks, 'Steph' was what she insisted everyone call her. For just over a year, she was Will's girlfriend and as of five years ago, she was Faiths absent mother.

Ever since that night five years ago, Will never thought he'd see his ex again but here he was, sitting in the back of his brothers truck as he waited for Intelligence to get his daughter back.

Once they had her name, they found the car she had under her name in Chicago and the place she was renting out as of three months ago. Three months of which she had been watching them under a microscope.

Will actually had to go be sick in the toilet when Kim turned around with all of Stephanie's activities since she arrived in Chicago, all of which suspiciously looked very familiar and aligned with everything he and Faith did recently.

That aside, all Will had to do now was wait.

Jay and Kevin stood in front, Kevin ready to kick the door down before Jay could go in first. All they were waiting for was for Voight's signal.

"Now!"

Within seconds, they were all entering the bungalow, guns out and pointed in any direction, covering all corners as they searched for Stephanie.

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

They all went separate directions, covering every room in search of any life and soon enough, they found their culprit.

She screamed.

"Stephanie Brooks, your under arrest..." Adam went on, reciting the words they all had memorised for years now, his gun lowered slightly as Antonio went forward to handcuff her.

"What, no! You're crazy!" She shouted, struggling against Antonio's grip. Despite the cheap bungalow she rented, she was dressed as if ready for a night out. Her hair was curled, makeup perfect, heels and a tight fitted dress on.

"Kidnapping?" She scoffed, continuing to struggle as she was forced onto her feet. "She's my child, my daughter!"

"You can't take her from me." She told them, getting more riled up when she saw Adam rolling his eyes at her. "I want my lawyer, you have no right to take my daughter from me."

On the other side of the bungalow, Jay heard nothing but thundering in his ears as he frantically looked up and down for his niece. Nearly every room had been covered and they hadn't found her yet-

Jay felt his heart break the second Faith was in his sight.

He found her stuffed in the bathtub shivering. He had to kick down the door, finding her with zip ties around her wrists and ankles, sat in the bathtub with on her knickers and vest on.

Faith started crying.

Without another thought, Jay dropped his gun and rushed forward, kneeling at the edge of the bathtub before picking her up and dropping her into his lap.

"Oh Faith." Jay sighed, wrapping his arms around her as she curled into him. "It's okay, your safe, Jay Jay's got you now."

As sobs racked her little body, Jay took out his knife and carefully cut the zip ties off. As soon as the were chucked to the side, she wrapped her arms as far as they could around his torso.

Standing up, Jay took strides out the bathroom and made his way outside. Hailey found him on the way, taking her scarf off with Kim not too far behind taking her jacket off.

Both garments swaddled Faith, protecting her bare limbs from the torturous snow but she continued to shiver.

Jay felt himself breathing easier with her in his arms but Will was firmly on his mind.

Only a metre away from the premises did Jay find Will who was already bounding towards them.

"Faith, look." Jay gently poked her, watching her carefully pick her head up and turn in the direction Jay was pointing.

The cry she let out, it would forever haunt him.

"Faith."

Jay handed her over to his older brother who's arms encased her small body. Will dipped his face in her hair, inhaling the comforting smell that he never wanted to forget.

"Oh baby. It's okay, it's okay." Will repeated as she sobbed, showing no signs of stopping any time soon. "Daddy's got you."

Will pressed several kisses wherever he could: in her hair, her forehead, her ear poking out from her curls, her cheek anywhere. His arms tightened in their embrace and if it wasn't for Jay who was supporting him, he would fallen into the snow as soon as he lost all feeling in his legs.

Will could barely hear his own thoughts over Faith's gut wrenching cries. Somehow, her tears weren't running dry. To see her in such a state but to have her back and safe with him, Will finally let his emotions get the better of him.

He sniffled, hiding his face in her wild curls he always struggled to tame, his tears dropping like rain but his cries were muffled. Screwing his eyes shut, he tried to even out his breathing, Jay's hand on his back comfortingly rubbing circles kept him somewhat sane.

"We're driving to Med." Jay told him, directing the father-daughter duo towards his truck.

Sitting in the back, the outside world no longer existed, his entire universe was sat in his lap. Will had lost track of time, she had been continuously crying but Faith was silent now as she was knocked out, crying herself to sleep, that's how tired she was. All he could hear was the occasional soft snore, but he could feel everything from her rising chest against his own, her curls that needed to be brushed, her skin that was slowly warming up from both his own body heat and the garments wrapped around her and the tears that were drying on his shirt.

Will felt like he could finally start to relax.

*****

Faith remained in Will's arms at Med, even when he woke her up, neither of them made any move of letting go.

As soon as they got to the hospital, Will was surrounded by all his colleagues, all riddled with stress that was slowly disappearing when they saw Faith.

Currently, Natalie was doing the standard tests, letting Will do all the convincing which wasn't a lot. As soon as he asked, Faith complied.

"I'll go grab some heating blankets." Natalie said, stepping back as she finished off. "I'll make sure to put a rush on these."

"Thanks Nat." Will said, letting Faith curl back into his embrace.

"It's no problem." She smiled, her eyes looking down at the little girl, the sight of father and daughter making her think of Owen. "We're all just glad she's safe and mostly unharmed."

Will tried not to think of the scrapes and clotting up scabs that littered her body. He hadn't seen any of them till they got to Med, his chest restricting to know she had been hurt and he wasn't there to relieve her of the pain.

"Thank Ethan for me." Will added when Natalie was about to leave. "Faith loves the my little pony band aids."

And with that, they were left alone for the first time surrounded by the muffled sounds of the bustling department and the occasional beeps of machinery and the faint drips of the iv.

Despite being a doctor for years, Will found it difficult to see the iv needle in Faith. To have two worlds collide, Will would never wish this upon any parent.

Small pokes to his collarbone caught his attention, Faith poking it ever so gently as she stared up at him imploringly with the widest eyes that still glistened, their colour identical to the woman who was going behind bars.

"Missed you." She whispered, voice breaking towards the end. It was the first time she had spoken since she found her and the two words made his eyes water.

"I missed you too. Missed you so much baby." Will replied, tucking her hair behind her ears so he could see her whole face. "I'm so sorry baby. Daddy loves you so much."

A smile appeared on her cherry lips, her dimples not too far behind. Seeing them made it feel like nothing was wrong with the world and only the two of them mattered.

"Home?" She asked, her voice filled with so much innocence and hope that Will has to give himself some time before replying.

"Not yet, I'm sorry bubbles." He apologised, rubbing circles into her back. "Jay Jay still needs to come back and Maggie needs to bring you some medicine. She might even ask you to sleepover."

For once, Will was glad she was so eager to stay at his workplace. She had such wonderment surrounding his job, the thought of sleeping over at his work was almost a dream come true.

To finally see her mood pick up, her eyes glistening now with newfound happiness at the prospect of a sleepover, unaware of the connotations it had, Will allowed himself to feel good.

For now, all that mattered was that his daughter was rightfully back with her father and surrounded by family that would do anything for her.

[cappuccinoandglitter]

2024 Creativity Recap

I was tagged by @do-androids-dream-ao3acc to do this. I think it sounds fun so here goes.

I've been writing for my entire life but 2024 was the year I came back to fanfiction (for context, the last time I wrote fanfiction was before AO3 was even a thing--or I was not aware of it in the early days--and I think it was mostly self-insert Xena or Highlander stuff, so yeah, way back then).

It was Buck and Tommy who brought me back in. I just couldn't resist them. So on AO3 I have 117,674 words about them, spread across 5 fandoms (if you count Lone Star as separate from 9-1-1).

2 series, 7 works.

Practically Everything | Part 1 of Who Wants to Live Forever, because we never truly left the Highlander fandom. There's a lot Buck doesn't know about Tommy, including that he's an immortal born in the 1800s.

Flags | A little one-shot about Buck and Tommy attending their first Pride festival together.

Lightning Strikes Twice | Sequel to Practically Everything, where we learn more about immortals, what the fuck happened between Buck and Lucy in part one, and we meet Andromache of Scythia.

It's not what you think | When Tevan fandom was dealing with the breakup by jumping on the SWAT bus, and all the Rocker fics started popping up, I contributed.

Let's Try Being In Love | My most popularest boy. Born of the idea 'what if Tommy was a dispatcher and he took the home invasion call instead of Abby in the pilot episode?' and it just spiraled from there.

Step Into The Light | Sequel to Let's Try Being In Love, because I really grew to love this Dispatcher Tommy AU and a lot of people seemed to also enjoy it.

Hero Worship | I always thought Connor and Buck had an unrequited or mutual but secret crush. Then I saw the same actor play a firefighter on SWAT and since we've all decided that SWAT and 9-1-1 share a universe, and since the latter has already established identical cousins are a thing that exists, I decided Connor joined the LAFD and started fucking Tommy's cousin Rocker. WIP.

[hockeyforbabes]

Amber's First Game

Master List

A little burb about Amber's first Blackhawks game.

November 2023

Connor had a four-day break between games this week so I was forcing him to spend at least one day relaxing with me.

"Hold still," I say grabbing his face.

"It's cold and it feels funny," He squirms.

"I'm trying to make you beautiful, Bedsy," I tease as I apply the green face mask to his cheeks.

I laugh as I see a small pout spread across his face, "Is that your way of calling me ugly?" he says feigning hurt.

"Of course not, I'm just trying to make you extra pretty for all your groupies," I say poking fun at his big fan base of girls.

He rolls his eyes but sits still so I can finish applying the face mask, "I don't know how you find this relaxing."

"Self-care is good for you," I explain.

After our face masks are done and we wash them off we make our way back to the couch. Since our friendship has formed we have a fairly structured schedule of watching movies the few nights Connor is home and free. He sits on his end of the couch sprawled out and I sit curled up in my corner.

"Ok, what movie are we feeling tonight?" I ask picking up the remote.

"Um, before we do that I uh was actually wondering if you wanted to come to my game on Saturday?" he asks, "I have family and friends tickets you uh wouldn't need to pay."

I can hear the nerves in his voice as he fiddles with the strings of his hoodie.

"Connor I'd love to go!" I say excitedly.

A look of relief washes over him, "Really?"

"Duh, I wanna go support my new best friend, and I've never been to an NHL game so this is exciting," I exclaim.

"Ok great, I'll send you the ticket and the pass. We can watch a movie now I just wanted to ask you that first." He says.

"Um no now you need to help me pick out my outfit," I say grabbing his hand and pulling him up to go rummage through my closet.

He lets out a big groan, "Oh fun."

-----

When Saturday rolls around I'm both nervous and excited. Since Connor and I became friends I've been following the Blackhawks and I know despite how good Connor is, the team isn't great. Not that I would ever say that to him.

It really doesn't matter to me though if they win or lose. I mean obviously, I want them to win but as long as Connor does well I'll be happy. If anything I'm the most worried that Connor will be upset after the game if they lose and will regret inviting me.

When I get to the game I shoot Connor a quick text letting him know I made it and wishing him luck.

I decided to just wear Blackhawks colors but Connor lent me a team beanie that I'm wearing. I get there early to watch warm-ups like he told me to and I see the team come out on the ice. This is the first time I've seen Connor on the ice in person and I hate to admit the effect seeing him in his element has on me.

When he sees me he sends me a small wave that makes the fans around me go crazy but I know it was for me. He skates over to the bench for a second and does something I can't quite make out from here. When he's done he skates over right in front of me and tapes on the glass with his hockey stick before tossing a puck over the glass.

Everyone around me scrambles for the puck but Connor taps on the glass again signaling the puck is for me. When I pick it up and look at it I notice he wrote something on it.

nice hat ;)

I know it's a friendly tease but I can't help the blush that spreads across my cheeks. I look back up at him and send him a small smirk before he skates away.

"OMG, you are so lucky, he is so cute!" A girl next to me who looks about 14 says.

I laugh a little before turning to her, "I know right".

After warm-ups, I go find my seat and am happy to find out it's close to the rink. I've always found hockey interesting but didn't start getting into it until Connor and I met. Being in the arena though the atmosphere is electric and I can see why people are upset.

The game goes unexpectedly well. I cheer like crazy when Connor scores and as he celebrates I swear I see him smile and nod at me. I also laugh like crazy when I see the pout on his face when is is sent to the penalty box.

When the game ends I use the stadium pass he gave me to go downstairs where you wait for the players to come out. I notice it's mostly WAGs and player's kids waiting, some of whom give me weird looks but when I see Connor coming out I forget all about them.

Holy shit he looks good I think to myself. He is in sweats and a hoodie, his hair wet from the shower, and it looks like he is in a post-win daze as his eyes scan for me. I quickly compose myself before he sees me momentarily drooling.

"Connor!" I call out grabbing his attention and when he finally spots me his face breaks out in a grin.

He hustles over to me and wrap my arms around him in a big hug, "That was awesome, you did so good!"

"Really? You had fun?" He asks pulling back from the hug as I let him go.

"Yes! I had no idea hockey games were that fun!" I exclaim.

He laughs a little at my excitement, "I'm just glad we actually won for your first game."

"Wouldn't have mattered if they shut you out, I just liked watching you play," I say reassuring him.

I notice the look on his face, it's a mix of appreciation and something I can't put my finger on. "Ready to go back? I'm beat," he says.

"Yeah, the excitement drained me too," I joke leaning on him as we walk out.

He laughs at my antics but he wraps an arm around my shoulders holding me up. When he leaves his arm there as we walk out little butterflies go off in my stomach but I know he means nothing by it so I try to push them down.

"Movie when we get back?" he asks.

"Duh, that's a silly question Bedsy," I poke at him

Unbeknownst to the two of us as we walk out his teammates and their wives all shoot each other knowing glances.

Author's Note <3

I had fun writing this chapter. I was debating between a fic and blurb for this one but I have other game ideas so I figured I would do a little short. As always feel free to send in any requests or Q's.

[quaranmine]

pick a book for me to take on work travel

Ends of the World by Peter Brannen - nonfiction geology book about earth's previous mass extinction events. The author is also the writer of one of my favorite climate history Atlantic articles I read for a college assignments.

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer - nonfiction true story of Chris Mccandless, who decided to leave society to live in the Alaskan wilderness and was later found dead. I want to read Into Thin Air too but I don't have a copy (my mom probably does but that won't help me for this trip)

Dune by Frank Herbert - do i have to describe what Dune is about at this point? I've never read it and I also refused to see the movies 'caues I wanted to read the book before doing so

A Song for the River by Philip Connors - nonfiction/memoir by the same author who wrote my beloved fire lookout book Fire Season. This book also has to do that, as well as a massive fire he witnessed in his national forest, but I think it's a lot more about grief and death.

What the Eyes Don't See by Mona Hanna-Attisha - nonfiction/memoir by one of the doctors who discovered the Flint water crisis. I'm actually already 90 pages into it but got distracted and haven't picked it up for like a year. It's very good and highly relevant to my work (though I don't do lead in tap water but you know it's great information to have)

[bullet-clubs-bitch]

can you please write something with Drilla Moloney and Fem Reader,

They are both dating but long distance due to Dan's Schedules in Japan and when Drilla came back home from an NJPW Show she's surprised him at his place in Japan and they share an loving shower together with some intimacy (can be light smut) and than curled up together in bed and cuddle a lot and he admits that he's thankful that she is always on his side no matter how far they are away from each other🖤

Zen

Drilla Moloney x Fem reader Main Masterlist

Warnings: Mentions of depression, alcohol, drugs, Oral (M&F receiving), face sitting, hand jobs, vunrable Dan, Mommy kink, cockwarming

Summary: A very vunrable Drilla Moloney is missing his girlfriend and is feeling quite down on himself. It gets to the point where his negative feelings scare his girlfriend so much that she flys all the way to Japan to check on him. What happens when she relises what he needs is for her to be in control and help him be zen.

An: Happy Bullet Club day to all who celebrate! This is my firs Drilla fic! Also I know the request said light smut but I got a bit carried away with myself, whoops. I've never wrote anything like this so I hope you enjoy it!

"I'm really struggling baby. I miss you so much, I wish you were here right now to hold me and tell me everything is going to be okay" It pained me to hear Dan like this. He always acted to tough, he was so strong, I knew he must be truly hurting for him to be admiting this to me. "I miss you too Danny. I know it's hard but this is your dream, as much as this pains me to say this, you have to stop worring about me all the time. I promise you it will all be worth it in the end" I tried my best to comfort him but there is only so much you can do on the phone. "I need you here with me" I didn't even recognize his voice on the other line. "I promise you will see me soon. I love you Dan, so much. I'm always going to be one call away. You can call me whenever you need to, even in the middle of the night"

To be completely honest that phone call with Dan scared the shit out of me. This was completely unlike him. For the first time, I was scared for his safety. I texted his best friend and tag team partner Clark Connors and asked him to keep an eye on him for me. I booked the first flight I could get to Japan and was going to surprise Dan. A last-minute flight across the world was expensive but he needed me and I needed him. The flight was long and hard but it would be worth it. When I arrived in Tokyo it was already late, I knew Dan had a show so he wouldn't get home for a few hours. In the meantime, I decided to make a nice dinner for when he got back. When I entered the apartment I was shocked at how messy it was. Piles of clothes on the floor, garbage everywhere. This wasn't like him. When I entered the bedroom I noticed a familiar scent but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I looked around the room and noticed a bottle of perfume. It wasn't just any perfume but my perfume, I wore this perfume daily. The side of the bed where I would normally sleep was drenched in it. I didn't realise how bad it was.

Before I did anything else I knew I had to clean the appartment. It looked like a tornado went through the place. The first step to a calm mind is a clean space. I felt like I was suffocating and I had only been in the place for 30 minutes. Who knows how long Dan had been living like this? I coudn't tell which clothes were clean or dirty, everything was just thrown in piles across the room. I decided to throw everything in the wash along with the bed sheets, who doesn't like to come home to clean sheets after a hard day? Once I tackled that mess I moved to the kitchen. I don't know why I was expecting there to be food in the fridge. All I found was beer and a half empty box of pizza. I ended up ordering some food instaid, I didn't want to go grocery shopping and possibly miss him coming home.

Just as I was finishing putting on the clean sheets Dan was home. I didn't even have to say anything he just knew I was there. "Y/n?" I heard him call from the kitchen. "Surprise!" I yelled before jumping in his arms, gretting him with a kiss.

...........

I felt pathetic. I felt empty. I felt ashamed of myself for sounding so vunrable. I knew I scared Y/n when I called her on the phone, I knew I shoudn't have said anything but I just needed her to know. Long distance relationships of any kind are hard but they are even harder when you are on the other side of the world. I always missed Y/n but this time I felt like would die without her. Yes I know it's pathetic but she was my other half, she was my home, she was my everything. We normally didn't spend more than a month apart but this time it was three and I was starting to question if it was worth it. Looking around my appartment I saw how much of a dump it had become. Clothing everywhere, beer cans and pizza boxes scattered around the place. Y/n would be ashamed of me. This isn't like me, I'm actually a very organized person but for some reason I coudn't find it in me to clean up. I store up at the ceiling unable to sleep, god I missed her. I turned to find the bottle of perfume I bought. It was the same one Y/n wore. I know it sounds pathetic but when I coudn't sleep I would spray the pillows with her perfume so it was like she was there next to me. It wasn't the same but it worked. Nights like that I slept like a baby, clutching that pillow like my life depended on it.

....

As I was returning to my appartment from another gruling NJPW show I just felt it in my gut Y/n would be waiting for me. As I turned my key in the door I could feel her energy in the room. "Y/n?" I called out, wondering if my mind was playing a cruel joke on me. "Supprise!" she yelled, jumping in my arms to welcome me with a kiss. "What are you doing here?!" I asked in disbelief. "I told you that whenever you need me I will be right there by your side. I know your hurting Danny, let me help you" she told me softly as she wiped away the tears that fell from my face. I didn't even know I was crying. I held her close to me, scared I was halucinating but Y/n really was there.

"You have no idea how much it means to me that you are here right now. I'm loosing my mind without you" "It's okay, I'm here now. Let me take care of you. How about a nice hot shower? You smell like beer and weed" I gently placed y/n down and let her lead me to the shower. As I made my way into the bedroom I noticed she had cleaned the whole apartment. "You did all this?" I asked her in disbelief "What did I do to deserve you" she smiled at my words. Y/n turned on the shower and I let her strip me of my clothing. She knew how vunrable I was so she took her time, being careful with me.

I then watched her strip infront of me painfully slow. She knew what she was doing. "Danny, can you help me with these?" Y/n asked with big doe eyes. I felt mesmerized by her. I coudn't help but blush, I felt nervous. With shaky hands I removed her bra and took off her panties. I was now on my knees infront of her, I looked up at her like a lost puppy. She knew what I needed, I needed her to be in control this time. I could feel myself growing harder by the moment, the anticipation was killing me. "I know you want to" Y/n said admring me kneeling before her. "I need you" I wispered out "Tell me what you want baby, use your words" "I need to taste you" I didn't even recognize my own voice with how pathetic I sounded. "I need you to cum on my face mommy" I saw the expression on Y/n's face turn from one of lust to one of horror. "What did you just call me?" She asked shocked. I didn't mean to call her mommy, it just fell out. I didn't know what to say. Y/n bent down to meet my gaze. She gently grabbed my face between her hands. "I asked you a question. What did you just call me?" I really did call her mommy by mistake but I couldn't deny that I was getting more turned on my the second. "Mommy, I called you mommy" I told her pathticly. "You want mommy to cum on your face? You want to taste me?" "Yes please" "Very well"

I stil coudn't believe this was happening. 48 hrs ago I was deep in thought about how much I missed Y/n and here I am eating her out on the bathroom floor. I missed the way she tasted, I missed the sweet sounds she would make when I made her cum. I was rough, I was sloopy with her. I was always a rough pussy eater, she just tasted so good I needed to feel her harder. I was drunk on her sweetness. I could feel she was close by the way she pulsated around my tongue and how her thighs began to tremble. It took everything not to cum myself. I held her thighs close as she started to grind on my face. She played with her breast, rolling her sensitive nipples through her fingers as she came. I welcomed the familuar wave of pressure and sweet taste and made sure to lap up every drop of her sweetness.

I was in pure bliss. I was pussy drunk. Y/n helped me off the floor and into the shower. By this point I was rock hard, precm spilling from my dick. I was on the brink of cumming. My mind was scrambled but I could see the devious look on Y/n's face. She washed my body with soap and massaged my sore mucsles. She made her way from the top of my body to the bottom. This time she knelt below me. "Look at this pore thing. Does it hurt?" she asked, refering to my erection. "Do you want me to take care of it baby?" All I could do was nood in agreement, something she did not like. She squeezed my dick rather hard. "Words, I need words baby. Tell me does it hurt? Do you need mommy to help you with this? Do you need me to massage your poor angry cock? Kiss it better?" Her words were killing me, this new mommy thing was driving me insane. "Please mommy, I beg you" I heald myself up against the wall, trying not to colapse as she began to leave a trail of kisses and kitten licks along my shaft. She teased my tip, licking the precum. Then she took me whole in her mouth. I coudn't help the moans spill from my mouth as she bobbed her head around my cock. I was close, so close and she knew it. I cried out in agony as she pulled out right as I was about to cum. "I want you to cum on my tits" she said seductivly. She then used two hands to jerk me off, squeezing my dick hard and rough as I came. I watched in awe as rope after rope of my thick seed panted her breasts. It took everything in me to keep me standing.

The two of us then shared a comfortable scilence as we washed the other off in she shower lovingly. I turned off the shower and wrapped Y/n in a fluffy towel, holding her close to me. Once we dried off and got dressed the two of us ate takeout food in bed. "You have no idea how much I needed this" I confessed "I'm glad you're feeling better. I missed you so much Dan" "I missed you too love. I can't believe you're actually here!" "I promise you that I am always going to be here for you no matter what. Even if we are across the world I will always be one text, one phone call, one plane ride away. Whenever you need me I will be there" What did I do to deserve this woman. I was head over heels in love with her. When I was with y/n all my problems disappeared, all my insicurities faded. She was my home, she was my light source, she was my everything. I felt safe whenever we were together, I felt even safer when I was inside her.

The way we fit together was truly magic. We were one person, we were made for each other. I don't know what I did to deserve such a perfect partner. That night I had the best sleep of my life, I felt complete. I looked at Y/n wish such love as she slept on my chest, my cock buried inside her. I wished everynight could be like and was sad when I remembered it coudn't. But this is now and I need to enjoy this week I have with her. We are finally together once again and I promised myself I would do anything to keep it that way.

"I love you so much Y/n. I can't wait to marry you. Sweet dreams my angel"

[kay-then-i-guess]

Hii I have a quick question! Or two... (Bro it's been 39 days since I last checked in.)

Are you gonna do the prision visits when Foolish who has Dream's role is going to be in prison? Or the Tales From The Smp?

If so I would love to see all the interactions and how you put it all together!

Second you said you spun a wheel for the roles yeah? So all the characters are pick with their roles ahead of time? And you wrote them down and made some rough draft designs so you wouldn't forget I'm guessing lol! I would forget so quickly!

Oh and also I am new to your blog that other ask was my very first one ever! I don't know how this works. Also I'm just gonna put "🥀" instead of the "🍂" so you can tell the difference from others!

I also hope college is going good for you! School is hard sometimes especially if you have other stuff your doing to! Never heard of "Wuthering Heights" before but I hope you do good on it!

And take your time with it all! I would rather wait a longer time for a good comic then have a super fast one done in like a few minutes that doesn't look as good as it could be. I'm sure everyone that's sticking around agrees!

And thank you for the little Foolish doodle! He's so cutie! :D

Keep up the good work!

Yours truly,

-🥀

Good questions! I will do SOME prison visit stuff. I can't get into the details, but there's a few story changes I include later to generally help make the dsmp ending make more sense. The general idea with this comic is to keep the big strokes of the canon story but alter a lot of the details and specifics to make it fit better with the shuffled characters (and to clean up some of the messier parts of the dsmp's story). c!Dream was in prison a suuuuper long time, and I don't want to have that dead space in my AU. As such, I'll probably condense some of that prison time (and add a few secret things) to make the story more compelling and interesting there.

And, sadly, I will not be doing tales from the smp. Hypothetically, in the comic, Jack will still have all of that stuff happen to him, but I will not be including it in the comic for two reasons: 1. Connor is the narrator, and it makes no sense for him to know any of that and 2. It would add probably 100 pages worth of content to an already massive project. I think it’s good enough to just include Jack feeling the effects of time travel and hinting at it and such for my AU.

And yes! All roles were decided at the beginning through random chance. I wrote them all done and made each character a character design sheet (I've talked about these a little bit before), and after all of that I got started on the comic!

Thank you so much for your kind words, and really hope you continue to enjoy my comic!!

Also! If you're new to my page, check out stuff about my smp Roleshuffle AU here!

[linskywords]

From this post!

How many fics have you worked on since January? 12, not counting snippets I've started and not finished. (I posted 299,668 words, which is so painfully close to 300K. Should've been less concise somewhere...)

What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year? I had never written a wandering heart story before, and I'd never posted two stories with overlapping timelines in conjunction with each other. I'd never written an ace romance. I'd never written a four-person polycule. I'd also never turned anyone into a worm.

What piece of media inspired you the most? (This can be the fandom you wrote the most for, the one that spawned the most ideas, the one you thought about the most, etc.) I would have to say anonymous tumblr asks.

How many fandoms did you write for this year? Just the one!

What ships captured your heart? I wrote a lot of Jack/Nico this year and a lot of McDrai, and a lot of assorted others. I'm really enjoying the overlapping recent eras of USNTDP players and siblings.

What characters captured your heart? I just want Connor McDavid to be happy 😭

Did you write for any new fandoms or ships this year? So many new ships! Roope/Wyatt, Jamie Benn/Joe Pavelski, Jack/Quinn, the Edmonton polycule, Macklin Celebrini/Will Smith.

What fic meant the most to you to write? Oh man, tough call. Maybe the one where Connor turns into a worm.

What fic made you feel the happiest to work on? Probably the Where You Lead 'verse fics. Writing sub perspective is just the best.

What fic was the most satisfying to finish writing? Probably Help Me Hold Onto You, the Trevor/Jamie WYL story. I had had so much of it in my head for months by the time I started writing it, and the fic itself was such a long journey.

What fic was the most difficult to write? Like a Handprint on My Heart, the Jamie Benn wandering heart story. I made Jamie waaaay too depressed in the first draft and had to tear it all out and start again.

What fic was the easiest to write? The Great Leon Draisaitl Lookalike competition. Practically that entire story came to me in the shower, and then I wrote it in a single morning.

What were your shortest and longest fics posted this year? The Great Leon Draisaitl Lookalike Competition was the shortest at 2,092 words. Help Me Hold Onto You was the longest at 75,926 (though the Quinn wolfverse story will almost definitely be longer than that when it's all posted).

What were your go-to writing songs? I don't usually listen to music while writing, but I did get into Gracie Abrams and Maisie Peters and Olivia Rodrigo this year.

What was the hardest fic to title? Titling is the WORST. I either have a great title from the start, or it's a nigh-on impossible quest. The Hughescest story and the 1988 wolfverse timestamp were both posted around the same time and I had titles for neither of them, and then the titles I found were annoyingly similar to each other (What a Fire Feels Like and And His Heart Is Burning). Kinda Wanna Kiss Your Boyfriend (If You Don't Mind) was hard to find and required a lot of discord brainstorming. And I spent a while agonizing over various possibilities for the Jack wolfverse story, Like Juliet or Guinevere or Eloise, because I wanted to use a Marianne quote from the Sense and Sensibility movie but I also didn't want people to think Jack was going to die. 😅

What's your favorite title of the year? I'm really fond of But the Punchline Goes, from the Roope/Wyatt soulmate story, because I think it fits the story on its own and it also has the delightful (to me) easter egg of being the lyric from All Too Well right before Taylor snaps back at her ex about their age difference ("I'll get older but your lovers stay my age"), which was very relevant to the fic. I also really like Proof Enough of a Broken Heart, because Quinn is SUCH an Elinor Dashwood.

Share your favorite opening line: I tend to use opening lines as sort of...preliminary thesis statements? Things to be disproven? Something like that. So most of them contain a big chunk of the story premise but aren't necessarily all that punchy on their own. My favorite is probably from the Will/Mack story: "Mack finds out he’s pregnant in the usual way: from a blue stripe at the bottom of the toilet bowl." Totally confusing and a piece of worldbuilding I continue to be delighted with.

Share your favorite ending line: How dare you make me look at the last lines from all my stories. Last lines are the worst.

Share your favorite piece of dialogue: Don't know if it's my favorite, but what's coming to mind is Mitch and Dylan at the end of The Great Leon Draisaitl Lookalike competition, after Dylan has successfully set Connor up with this guy who is totally not just actual Leon Draisaitl, nope. Dylan is congratulating himself on finding such a good lookalike, and Mitch is like, “You used to play in the pacific division, right?” “Yeah, why?” says Dylan. “No reason,” says Mitch.

Share your funniest line: Woof. No, that's way too hard.

What's something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story? I was super surprised by how intensely piney the ace!Quinn/Brady fic got. I thought my ability to write pining was powered to a large extent by sexual tension, and it turns out that was not true.

What writing programs did you use? Did you write by hand? Scrivener, baby! Hahaha I would not be able to write this much by hand.

If you had to choose one, what was THE most satisfying writing moment of your year? Moment? Sheesh. I don't know, writing is a pretty satisfying activity in general.

Did you do anything special to celebrate finishing a fic? Posting feels like enough of a celebration for me.

How did you recharge between fics? I don't, really. By the time I finish posting a long thing, I've spent so much time editing that getting to start drafting again is refreshing in itself, and short things don't really require a recharge.

Did you create fanworks other than fic? Not unless you count responding to tumblr asks.

How many events did you take part in? (bangs, exchanges, ship weeks, zines, prompt memes, they all count!) Lol, I think just the HRPF CestFest. Though a lot of my stories were prompted, directly or not, by people on tumblr.

If this were an awards show, who would you thank? My wee hrpf discord. makeit-takeit. My irl bff who gets to hear all my story ideas in great detail despite not being into hrpf. My husband who thinks it's great and not ridiculous that I spend all this time writing.

What's left on your to-do list for 2024? Not much, fortunately, since it's over.

What would you like to write next year? Ah, the most important question! I of course want to finish the Quinn and Jack wolfverse stories, which is more about editing at this point. I have 2-10K written on no fewer than four different Where You Lead 'verse stories, and I'd really like to finish at least some of them (::cough:: Connor ::cough::). I'd also maybe like to start wolfverse stories for Trevor and Cole; I have somewhat specific plans for Trevor, and some vague notions for Cole. Aside from that, who knows? Maybe more WillMack, maybe some Nate/someone (Jo???). There are a lot of other couples I've been meaning to add to the wolfverse (gotta add TK/Patty to at least ONE of my 'verses). I've had a psychic wolf companions McDrai story bouncing around in my head for a while. Would still love to write a Persuasion AU (maybe that's the Nate/Jo). A Cyrano de Bergerac AU would also be fun, maybe via tindr. So many possibilities!!

[ocular-intercourse]

The historian ones sound like gyo, but I'm really into Finn these days... but I'm not so cruel to say all the questions, so I'll let you pick :)))

no. 5: letters between two of your OC’s companions about them

(i used a random nr generator cause i need it selected for me or i won't ever finish it lol)

or in this case, messages between shawn & randy about finn, who's streaming a concert of some songs he and his friends wrote in highschool over twitch

R: DUUDE ARE YOU WATCHING TJIS??

S: watching what

R: finn's stream

R: ?

S: hang on

R: you good?

S: watching now

S: hey what the fuck

R: yeahc

R: like

R: one of the first things you ever told me about finn was to not let him do vocals for the band or i'd be out of a job

R: i get it now, you weren't joking even a little

S: yeah no he's GOOD good, i had the pleasure of hearing him sing all the time when we were dating but man

S: wasn't prepared for that uh

S: presence? but also i'm biased so maybe that's just me

R: heh yeah scale of 1 to 10 how much does it kill you seeing him like this

R: not just you btw he's like.. fucking magnetic on a stage, it's wild to see

S: oh yeah, 10, easy

S: you know i was already head over heels for the guy before he became

S: you know, all that

R: rich? quasi famous?

S: ripped

R: oh yeah, that

S: no but seriously, like.. even more charismatic? like damn, a fulfilling career really does that huh

S: i mean i'm happy he still talks to me after everything but it's legit torture sometimes when he's, like, right there

R: you know you could totally get him back

S: bullshit

R: nah i'm setious

R: serious

R: i have reliable sources

S: randy don't fuck withme on this istg

R: i'm not, dude, i swear, i know everybody is all pussyfooting around the topic but

R: everybody can see how in love the two of you still are anytime ypu are in a room together and it's not even subtle

R: and i haven't seen either of you ever look at anybody else like that

R: no offense to connor, my dude, but it's pretty obvious it's like.. not the same

R: like you guys, when you were together, you legit made me believe in love and shit cause i've never seen two people so desperately in love with each other before in a way that's not like.. instagram filter fsbricated bullshit

R: and maybe i just wanna see two of my best friends be that happy again you know, but fuck, it legit seems like.. a cosmic error, like thats just not how it should be, when you're not together, you know?

R: ?

R: did the stream finally kill you or..?

R: okay fine, fucking stew in it for a while you know i'm right

S: you don't know shit

R: oh he lives

S: it's not that simple, man

R: how so? cause you have a bf? ppl break up all the time dude

S: oh yeah, and that always goes SO smoothly

S: but that's not even the point man

S: i hurt him. bad. when he left he made it very clear he never wanted to see me again, and for good reason too

S: so maybe he took that back by now but i'm still fucking lucky he wants to talk to me at all

S: there's just so much baggage

S: i doubt he'd want to go through all of that again

S: especially now where he can just basically have his pick

R: yeah he doesn't, though, have you noticed? not a date in sight

S: he's busy..

R: he's pining. for you, you walnut, he's so not over you and it's been what, like 2 years? 3?

S: if anything that's a sign of just how badly i messed him up, fuck man

R: shawn, i love you but my god

R: finn is not the kind of person to play nice when he does not mean to and yet anytime i see you guys together you are practically glued together in some corner making hearteyes at each other in a thinly veiled attempt of friendship

R: you know what, i fucking bet i could have this chat with him and he'd simultaneously tell me about how he still loves you but he'd hurt you too much and you deserve better

R: and you're just gonna be stuck in a circlejerk of who of you can shoulder more unnecessary guilt forever and ever

R: OR

R: you could just listen to me when i tell you i have it on GOOD AUTHORITY that the man is still in love with you

S: wait hang on

S: you mean that literally?

S: who's authority

R: :)

S: randy i swear to fucking god you cannot mess with me about this

R: okay listen

R: i'm breaking confidence here but man somebody's gotta

R: he's too scared of messing things up again and you know how much he loves to feel responsible for just about every bad thing that has ever happened around him

R: so he isn't gonna act cause he doesn't think he deserves to disrupt your live anymore not now that your're like, clean or whatever, you know, doing good

R: cause in his mind maybe that's cause he's not been part of your life idk man you know how he gets

R: but legitimately, we were talking about tthe possibility of dating again

R: and he said

R: that he had a hard time dating cause whenever he tries to picture being with someone to try and figure out what he'd even be looking for

R: he pictures being with you

R: and that'd not be super fair to the people he'd be dating i guess, so he just doesn't

R: so there's that

R: processing again i see

R: it's okay take your time

S: that makes no sense

S: like

R: okay before you go all: how could he still want me, consider that your brain is just as fucked as his with this self flaggelation bullshit

R: have you ever given it a thought that he did not actually WANT to leave you when he did? like he wasn't unhappy about being with you

R: the circumstance made him leave to like, protect himself, but that was not about being with you in general, it's not like he fell out of love or whatever makes ppl break up usually

R: i think he still hasn't

S: oh

R: yeah, oh

R: now go do something about it, dipshit

[e-mmygrey]

History Must Repeat Itself - Stranger Things Fanfiction (Act 1 - Chapter 1)

Author's note: Before you start, I want to say that this isn't some thoroughly plotted, new storyline to our beloved Stranger Things. It started as a thought before falling asleep: what would happen to some poor girl who fell for all three of these guys?

As I wrote this, another thought popped into mind: what if this new character's mother was a part of Brenner's LSD experiments while pregnant but didn't tell Brenner like El's mother did?

So, basically this is a cultivation of those two thoughts... Please don't judge too harshly as this was something I wrote as "downtime" to writing my own original book. 

Thank you!

---

September 1984

         My head leaned back against the wall, absently staring at the stucco ceiling. I've attended eight schools in my life. Every school in America had the same ceiling, I swear. I considered the mass production of stucco when I heard my name. Standing up, a man wearing a cheap suit stood in front of me. He gave me a judgemental look over, taping papers against his hand. Matched with my Chucks, oversized jeans and long-sleeved striped shirt was my outfit straight from my time in Seattle. From what I'd noticed in my week here, it wasn't a normal look in Hawkins.

I held back the sigh on my lips, and grabbed my backpack off the floor.

"William Hargrove?"

"It's Billy," the other student in the office stood, his own bag slung over his shoulder, politely smiling at the principal. My eyes ran over the tall teenager's figure. His dirty blonde hair was curled in a way that made me wonder how natural it was and how much product was in it. His jeans were fairly new and I could tell if the sun directly hit against his white shirt, it'd become translucent. Another look I hadn't seen in Hawkins.

"Alright then, Billy. Here's your new schedule, your locker assignment, and combination," the principal, whose name I genuinely couldn't remember, said, "feel free to come by any time and ask questions. I noticed you're a basketball player. Good man. We'll be excited to see you on the court."

Billy smiled, nodding, "yes, sir. Thank you."

Billy Hargrove glanced down at me, his smile changing to a seductive smirk as he exited the office. I kept my expression neutral, though I wanted to roll my eyes at him. Great. I was starting a new school with a golden child.

"And here are yours, Miss. Connors. Have a good first day. Hopefully, it's your last," the principal handed me my own little package. I raised my eyebrows in appreciation before the man walked away. Glad to see how the hierarchy works in this school.

I walked out of the stuffy office, scanning the papers in my hands. I've found as I've gotten older, the school administration assumed the changing of schools had to do with me as a student and person. My mother's continuous discovery of a "great new job" wasn't on their radars.

I agreed with the principal though. I hoped this was my last move like my mother had promised. I only had two years of school left. The hallways had few people lingering in them, late for their first period classes. All eyes rested on me, and the whispers began. Great. That never got fun.

"I've never been the new kid before," a gruff voice came from over my shoulder. My spine jumped at the unexpected voice. The tanned teenage boy walked behind me, but close to my shoulder. I could smell the hair spray, but my question still hung about the natural curl. His blue eyes shone, giving me a charming smile.

"It's not that exciting," I muttered, "staring, whispers, rumours, friends that stick around for a day, and people wanting in your pants. It goes away after a month when the shine dulls."

"I don't know, that all sounds very exciting," Billy said, "though I may take my time getting through all the pants around here. It's a long school year."

I snorted, looking back at him. I didn't believe him at first, but Billy's eyes roamed over a few girls in the hallway. I rolled my eyes, shouldering my way past people. Great. I'd caught the attention of a floozy within minutes of being at Hawkins High. I stopped at my assigned locker, silently entering the combination.

"I think we should stick together," Billy said confidently, but I recognized the look on his face.

"Jess?" I said, finishing his sentence. I opened the locker door, obscuring his smug face. Billy didn't take my hint, casually wrapping his arm over the door. The amused smirk was still on his face.

"Jess," he said my name with finality, "we should stick together. Get to know each other a little better. Y'know, have at least one friend who won't disappear in a few days," Billy ran a finger up and down my arm. I paused briefly, looking at his finger. I ignored him past that, taking out a notebook and pencil case along with the schedule the principal gave me from my bag. I shut the locker door swiftly, Billy's arm falling off and he stumbled. This annoyingly handsome individual looked straight off the pages of a magazine ad.

"Let me know how that goes. I'm sure there's another new student somewhere in this school who'd love your," I intentionally paused, "friendship," I said with a smirk.

Leaving the amusing boy at my locker, I started towards where I assumed my first class was. Against the lockers ahead, there was a crowd of teenagers, loudly talking amongst themselves. Seems some people didn't care about their classes. Everyone was looking at Billy behind me. Unintentionally, I made eye contact with the boy at the centre of the crowd. The handsome boy with very fluffy and manicured hair had his eyes on me. He had a careless smile on his face. I sent him a tight lipped smile, ignoring the heat pooling on my cheeks. Why did this small town high school have such attractive people?

           High school never changed. The first two weeks went by as it always did at a new school. I said my name more times than a person should have to. I learned so many people's names and after eight schools, I was fairly skilled at remembering them. People spoke to me every opportunity. I was rarely alone and it was a pain in the ass.

Much to my surprise, Billy Hargrove was either at my car or my locker before class every day. I rarely answered him past basic answers. I was annoyingly amused by his consistency. I thought he'd have given up already. I noticed every day, Billy had a new girl hanging off his arm. He was always surrounded by the teenagers I'd figured to be the popular kids. The kids had given up on trying to recruit me after a week when I wore a band shirt to school. They left me alone thankfully.

Though he weirdly tried to be my friend, I didn't think Billy and I had anything in common. That was until the third day of school, when we pulled into the school parking lot at the same time. 

My younger sister, Madison, didn't stop talking from the moment we left the house. Unlike the people I went to school with and interacted with daily, I didn't remember any of the names Madison told me. She didn't either.

Luckily for mine and Madison's habit of sleeping in, the middle school shared the same property as the high school. Another point of proof to Hawkins to being a small town. I'd driven my sister to school since I got my licence and first car at sixteen years old. Like our mother, Madison was bubbly and friendly with everyone. For the most part, that personality trait skipped me. 

As I backed into the parking spot, I thrusted my daily mug of tea into my sister's hands. Madison already made friends with her entire class and the mornings brought a level of excitement from the thirteen-year-old that I didn't understand.

"Max, hey!" Madison yelled across me into the next car, pushing the travel mug back into my hands and throwing her door open. A young red-haired girl stepped out of Billy's Camaro. She gently smiled at my sister, replacing the surprise on her face. Madison ran over, throwing me a half-assed "thanks" as she walked beside the other girl. Stepping out of the car, I tried to call out that she needed to be out right after school, but they were already out of earshot. Billy didn't give his sister a second look.

I sent Billy half a smile, reaching into the back seat for my bag. The gravel behind me shifted, and I sighed. I wouldn't get inside or finish my caffeine before my daily Billy interaction. Billy stood behind me wearing his signature smirk with his hands resting on his sides. Weirdly, I felt more comfortable around the boy. I was even starting to like him more than I found him annoying.

"I didn't know you had a sister," I commented, shutting the car door.

"Step-sister," Billy corrected with a snap, uninterested. He leaned against my car with his hand on the roof. Billy's face was close when I looked up, his breath gliding across my cheeks. It smelt like mint, even though I'm sure he'd smoked at least two cigarettes this morning. I glanced past him. Teenage girls walked past, whispering and glaring at me. Unsurprisingly, my daily Billy conversations weren't appreciated by the hormonal females. It definitely affected their friendliness levels.

"It's nice of you to drive your step-sister to school," I said, stepping out from his intense gaze, towards the school.

"My dad makes me," Billy fell beside me, "if you want, I can pick you and your sister up one day. We could drop them off early and spend some time together."

I huffed a laugh, "as much fun as that sounds and as much as I would love a few hours off from babysitting Madison, my mother might kill me for letting her in a random boy's Camaro."

Billy chuckled, "you watch your sister a lot?"

I'd only seen my mother for an hour each day this week, work and sleep consuming all her time. Well, what I assumed was only work and sleep. Our longest conversation was about which groceries she wanted and how we should be parking the cars. 

From the day I could take care of myself and Madison without burning the house down, that's how my interactions with my mother went.

"You could say that."

Billy held the school door open for me. I paused, not expecting his chivalry. But then he winked at the girls walking by us and followed the rears as they passed. Billy was dizzying.

"I have a proposition for you," Billy muttered in my ear as we got to the thicket of students.

I wearily glanced at the handsome giant, "am I going to throw up?"

Billy smirked, "how about I drive your sister home after school a few times, let her and Max hang out," I heard something in his voice as he said his step-sister's name, "then I'll bring her home. Give you some time to yourself. I'll introduce myself to your mother so your sister isn't with a stranger. I'm great with parents."

I smiled at the familiar faces I knew, walking up the stairs towards my locker. I glanced at Billy before watching where I was going. Maybe after three days, he'd already figured out his regular tactics weren't going to work.

"What's the catch?" I asked.

"The catch, Jess Connors, is that you have to go out with me."

I looked at Billy as we stopped at my locker. I didn't know he'd remembered my last name from the first day. Billy slung his arm over the top of my open locker door, his usual spot.

I sighed, "I'll think about it, Billy."

Billy winked, tapped the metal twice and walked away. As he passed the floppy hair boy a few lockers, who I knew now as Steve Harrington, they glared at each other. I rolled my eyes, grabbing my things for the morning two classes. I swear Billy used his vat of nice words during our morning conversation. His player attitude flowed through every interaction I saw from him during the day. Too bad for him and anyone else who dealt with him after me.

          As it was every morning, the door to my first period English class was still locked. The teacher hadn't arrived. He was often late, a trail of alcohol fumes behind him. I leaned against the door frame with the other students gathering in the hall. It was the second week of school, and some days I was certain, I was getting second hand drunk. How this man still had a job, I didn't know.

"Murphy's class, right?" the boy at the locker next to the door asked, a kind smile on his face.

I nodded with a smirk, "how did you know?"

The boy chuckled, his long curls tossed off his shoulders as he removed his denim jacket. It was covered in patches of bands that I recognized and a few I didn't. I didn't get the chance to look longer.

"That room smells like straight vodka by the end of the day. The summer is the worst. I'm sure Murphy's been drinking in his office since the early sixties."

I chuckled, "is that why he tried to hand out Romeo and Juliet as the first assignment?"

The boy nodded his head enthusiastically, "that happened to my class three months into my junior year."

I tilted my head at the expression on his face. It was like he was thinking much further back than last year. The boy shrugged, a bored expression dominating his face now.

"I'm not very academically inclined. 1984 is my year though," he laughed with a wink. He stuck his hand out, "I'm Eddie Munson."

I shook his hand, "Jess Connors."

My eyes flickered down to our connected hands, feeling the rings adorning his fingers. This Eddie Munson was already the biggest character I'd come across in Hawkins, Indiana.

"Good to meet you. Let me know if you ever need anything," Eddie looked behind me, "except for alcohol. I think Mr. Murphy has that covered if you ask nicely."

I followed his gaze to a rough looking Mr. Murphy coming down the hall. I glanced back at Eddie, rolling my eyes. He had a natural smile across his face. It pulled at my heartstrings. He was possibly one of the cutest people I'd ever seen. He just radiated goodness.

"Thanks. Alcohol really isn't my extracurricular of choice. Grade nine Jess learned it the hard way," I commented, following my classmates into the now open room. As we all began to sit down, Mr. Murphy announced for the students with last names in the first half of the alphabet to pick a name out of the box on his desk. That would be our project partner.

Internally, I swore. Partnered projects never went well. Though I was glad we weren't picking our partners. I'd have ended up with the kids who didn't do any work or the ones who wanted to do all the work. I sat on my foot as I waited for my doom.

A brunette girl came up to me, a piece of paper in her hands. She awkwardly smiled at me.

"Jess, right?" I nodded, "hi, I'm Robin Buckley. We're working together."

I smiled, shaking her hand as she sat on the chair in front of me. I noticed her blue eyes, and wondered why all the prettiest people at this school were crossing my path. Was the universe trying to damage my self esteem? Remind me that Seattle was far away?

Before either of us could say more, Mr. Murphy began explaining the assignment. Thankfully, the assignment would be easy if we both did work. It took Murphy longer than necessary to explain what we had to do. He continued to stumble over his words and forget where he was on the rubric. Robin gave me a look of exasperation and I held back my laugh. Instead, I rolled my eyes, making her silently laugh.

         Almost an hour later, Mr. Murphy slunk to his desk hidden at the back of the room. He opened a reusable water bottle, and took a long sip from it. The sigh he let out afterwards was too relieved to be from water.

"I've got work after school today, but we can meet tomorrow at lunch," I told her.

"Where are you working?"

"Palace arcade," I answered with a question mark in my voice. Robin's eyes widened.

"Oh, my gosh I love that place! I'm definitely coming by tonight and we can figure out what book to do. I might sneak off and play a video game for a bit though. Unless you don't want me to," Robin's mouth pursed, "but we need to get started, so I'll come by. What time do you work?"

The weight on my chest lightened by Robin's ramblings. She couldn't get her thoughts organised before they came out of her mouth, but I liked her. I filled her in on my work schedule and Robin confirmed that she would come by. Once that was done, we got to know each other. We bonded over playing the trumpet, though I insisted I wouldn't be joining the band at Hawkins high school. My patience for teachers turned conductors was burnt out at my last school. I didn't feel bad for laughing with Robin in the middle of class. Looking around, I don't think anyone was working.

         Sitting on the hood of my car, I waited for Madison to make her way across the field. Tapping my foot against the fender, I watched high schoolers flood the parking lot. With Journey playing in my ears, my eyes landed on Steve Harrington. His girlfriend, Nancy Wheeler walked beside him but neither spoke. Passing in front of my car, Steve glanced in my direction. His brown eyes met my grey ones, light reflected in them. His face was emotionless, but his eyes were friendly. Nancy looked up at her boyfriend. He took his eyes from me, and gave her a half smile.

"Hey Harrington," a familiar voice dryly called.

Steve, Nancy and I turned. Billy strutted across the parking lot with his friends. I couldn't use a different word to describe how he walked. Steve froze, and Nancy hid herself behind his shoulder. Stopping my music, I slowly took my headset off. This was a different Billy than who spoke to me every morning. Billy's eyes were darker, looking for prey. His friends were horrible. I didn't know their names, but during lunch, Robin told me about them. She gave me a run down on everyone I was going to school with. The people Billy hung out with, the "popular kids", made everyone's lives miserable. From what Robin had seen, they were Steve's friends the year before, but now clung to Billy.

Billy must've felt my gaze as he tormented Steve. He looked at me, his gaze staying dark. I didn't look away when I was caught.

"What can I help you with, sweet thing?" he asked, cruel tone in his voice.

We stared at each other. His friends shifted on their feet, looking at me too. They were waiting for instructions from their pack leader. My tongue wet my lower lip. I felt tempted to make a snarky comment, but I didn't want to set anything off. It wasn't worth it and I hadn't been at this school long enough to know  how the people around me would react. Instead I turned to Nancy.

"Hey Nancy, did you get the science homework?"

Relief appeared on her face, and with her hand latched to Steve's, she tugged them over. I glanced at Billy, the challenging smirk had turned into one of annoyance. The corners of my lips turn up, sliding off the car's hood. I knew I'd ruined whatever plans Billy had. I briefly wondered if this would end our morning conversations.

"Thank you," Nancy whispered once they were in front of me.

I shrugged, "he doesn't need the extra attention. His head is big enough."

I talked with Nancy casually for a few minutes as Steve looked on. Eventually, getting bored, Billy's friends dispersed and he wandered to his car. Instead of resting with his back against the Camaro's door, he faced us, forearms against the roof. I felt his gaze on the side of my head. I didn't look at him. Like I said, Billy didn't need the attention.

Once the pack had disappeared completely, Steve and Nancy walked away. Steve mumbled a quiet 'bye' to me, the first word he'd even sent my way.

Once I was by myself, I glanced over to Billy. I raised my eyebrows, encouraging him to share his thoughts. Billy smiled, different than the last, winking at me. His smile was genuinely amused, but I didn't know why. His expression enticed a smile on my own face with a quiet chuckle. Billy's smile gave me warm feelings.

"Can you take me to the arcade? Max says there's a really cool game that I need to try," Madison asked after calling my name, tossing her bag through the back door's open window.

I rolled my eyes dramatically at my sister, "well, since my first shift there is today, of course, I can drive you," I turned to the red-headed girl who silently was getting into the Camaro, "Max, would you like to go? I can drive you home afterwards. I'm only training for a few hours."

Max looked at Billy for permission. He rolled his eyes, waving towards my car.

"Whatever. I'm sure she won't kill you. You're too annoying."

Slamming the Camaro's door shut, Max rolled her eyes at her brother. She mouthed 'thank-you' to me as she slid into the back seat. I turned to Billy to confirm when I would bring his sister home but he only winked at me, got in his car and drove away, revving the engine. 

[freddie-77-ao3]

Connor Stoll (aka my son)

AWW YEA CONNOR STOLL MY BABY

Off to a great start here.

So, Connor Stoll, cabin 11 (claimed), sole counselor as of TOA.

Now, to start us off, identity headcanons:

Connor's non-binary (they/them), AFAB.

so when Connor was four, they got to camp (unrelated but Travis was 6), and although they had. no clue about their identity-- still was cis girl presenting, their hair was short because it's travis and connor. they're always doing some crazy shit. so, just as they got to camp, someone misheard connor or something, and just assumed their name was connor. No, their deadname isn't anything close to connor.

but as travis was about to correct them, connor was like, no, no, trav, i like this. i'm a boy?

and neither of them know what transgenderism is at this point but they just go, okay guess connor's a boy, whatever

anyway, they sorta start questioning that just battle of the labyrinth

and then after the battle they came out to everyone

also, connor is asexual. very sex-repulsed when they were younger, is now willing to make a dirty joke or two when it suits them. romantic orientation wise? doesn't know, doesn't care. if you ask them, they'll start thinking, and then get distracted by something completely different.

Random facts:

Connor isn't dyslexic. They joke it's because Travis got double the dyslexia. In actuality, Hermes kids are the least likely to be dyslexic because Hermes being a travel god means that his kids tend to be pretty good at picking up languages, including written english.

In the same vein, Connor knows A LOT of languages. Obviously english and ancient greek, Connor also learnt Latin (before HoO), French, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Swahili, and was brought up knowing basic gaelic terms.

Because yeah, Connor's scottish. more getting into their pre-camp story in a sec.

Connor's main friend group is Drew Tanaka and Malcolm Pace, because they're all around the same age. Connor and Drew knew each other for years before Malcolm, getting to know each other at four/five from camp, and Malcolm came when they were ten.

(Connor also has feelings for Malcolm)

Connor's also pretty close with Will, Cecil, and Lou Ellen because again, they're all year-rounders, and came to camp pre-Luke's betrayal.

Connor's birthday is April fool's day.

Connor has one of the only complete records of the titan war. they wrote it all down while it was happening-- complete notes of counselor's meetings, missions, attack plans-- lists of traitors and known allies, and, of course, lists of the dead.

Connor loves to read-- fantasy, specifically, and adventure.

They're always cold. It's not medical or anything, they're just. always cold.

Also, even though pretty much everything in Hermes cabin is communal, connor somehow manages to own even less than everyone else? they love stealing clothes from family and friends (yeah,,, clarisse isn't as fond of that one)

Connor (and Malcolm) have found complete tunnel systems and rooms around camp halfblood. Closer to the surface than the labyrinth, you can frequently find Connor there.

Pre-Camp

okay, so as i've mentioned before, Connor's scottish.

well, they lived in scotland from birth to age four (at which a point they moved to camp). I think they lived around Edinburgh, because mama stoll enjoys robbing the posh idiots in her free time, but originally the family is from the highlands.

so, the Stoll mother,,, Robin Stoll. (Robbing, because,,, yeah) I just think they're a punny family. It isn't intentional, it just is. (yeah i know i'm not as funny as I think i am).

Anyway, Robin, contrary to what you might think, had never stolen anything when she first attracted hermes. she was just a killer postwoman. she was kind to the kids on her route, who all loved her, and always had smiles and treats for the dogs, etc. Hermes was porch pirating something when they first met, and she chased him off.

of course, after attracting hermes the first time she started porch pirating, and leaving travis at home with her mother in the hopes of another glimpse of him. this eventually attracted hermes again, resulting in connor.

following that, porch pirating wasn't working to attract hermes anymore so she decided to leave the kids at home, and start robbing banks. this never did attract hermes, but the two children at home did-- travis and connor started playing with a computer one day, attracting monsters to their doorstep. although both lived, robin's mother died in the attack, and robin, forced to return home, resented the kids for her mother's death.

for a final heist, she planned to steal the queen of england's crown jewel. hermes appeared beforehand, begging her to stop--

she asked if he'd stay if she didn't.

he said no.

she never asked if he'd stay if she did.

that answer would have been no too.

so robin went off, and hermes took the kids to camp.

robin wouldn't be seen again, by hermes or her children.

[masterwords]

Okay but one of the team accidentally walking into the room while Derek is feeding Hotch ice chips while he's in hospital.

And they're cute

💕💕💕

I've been sitting on this one for a while and wrote up a few different ideas for how this adorable shit happens, but finally the other day it came to me. And now we have this...it's a hot mess, a chaotic image and the writing quality isn't nearly as good as the picture it paints. Apologies for that. (2.7k words / warnings: gunshot wounds, dog bites, hospitals, canon typical unsub stuff, some sex talk)

Starts out intense, ends soft and squishy. Thank you for sending this in and I'm sorry it takes me for-fucking-EVER to write anything these days. I'd say it's going to get better, be optimistic about all the time I might have someday soon but...I think this is just my new speed. &lt;3

He told Hotch to stop, to stay behind and wait for back-up and the medics. They couldn’t be that far out by now. He told him that he and Reid could do this part on their own. That it didn’t take three Agents to run down a pudgy middle aged man in the woods.

But Hotch was coursing with adrenaline and pain, running on the fumes of anger at being shot, and telling him to stay behind was like talking to a brick wall. A brick wall with anger management problems and he wasn’t about to argue too hard – he was bleeding too. He didn’t exactly have the logical high ground.

He keeps Hotch in his sights the best he can. They’re running like a pack of wolves, Hotch dead center, Reid flanking to the right and Derek to the left. The terrain is rough but not too dangerous except where they have to cross a ravine with a rocky bed. That’s where Reid and Morgan gain the advantage, they cross at narrow shallow places while Hotch and the unsub plod through knee deep ice water. On the periphery Derek watches Hotch slip on some rocks halfway through and the look of pain that flashes over his features says he probably wrenched his ankle on a rock but he keeps going, doesn’t skip a beat. If he can run with a bullet hole in his side, a twisted ankle isn’t about to stop him. Derek slows a little to let the unsub choose his path when he reaches the shore and he watches Hotch close on his heels. He's still a little dangerous, he's got a loaded weapon and he's got a girl they need to find. They could just shoot him but they might never find the victim that way. Hotch is calling the shots and he wants a clean take down, no weapons unless necessary. Even though he's already taken a hit, he still says clean. By the book. They're not taking any chances.

A warmth spreads in his groin, poorly timed reaction to his boyfriend being made of steel. Being so fucking intense that it's hard in the field not to find himself turned on by Hotch’s resolve and his refusal to give up. His eyes flick back to the unsub, Tim Connor, and though the throbbing in his injured leg is gaining in strength the further he goes, he speeds up his pursuit.

It’s not that he thinks Hotch is hot because he’s bleeding out or anything, and god if he had to explain this to his therapist she might really have some words for him about what this job has done to him...but something about the way Hotch is running full speed through the damn woods with a bullet in his side is a distraction that Derek can’t afford to indulge. It’s just that...Hotch is hurt and he can't seem to think about anything else with any clarity. For all intents and purposes he is running and dying at the same time, and the latter will catch up to him eventually if they don’t get him help, but right now he is running and showing no signs of stopping. He’s so damn strong, his features set grim and serious. Derek knows it must hurt, he’s been shot before. But Hotch won’t stop until they get their guy or he dies trying and there is something very sexy about that. Something in the way he refuses to give up, to lay down, to even mention that he needs a break. His strength is a beacon and Derek runs toward it. And being turned on by it is a hell of a lot less distracting than being worried about it, which is the only other place to take this mess of feelings.

They've had this talk before. Hotch isn't immune to it, either. Watching Derek kick in a door or run down an unsub has an effect on him...he's only human. Hazard of the job maybe. If he wasn't in incredible pain, he'd probably be thinking the same thing right now watching Derek run down Connor like a lion.

But the wound in Hotch’s side burns, the pain is unrelenting as he runs through the thick underbrush. He’s running and gritting his teeth against the constant barrage of pain. His feet are wet, pants soaked up to the knees with freezing water, but the blood that sticks his shirt to his side is warm.

They’re all gaining on Connor as the man loses steam. He’s not built for this kind of running and his only hope is that the knows these woods better than the three of them and he reaches whatever he’s running for before they reach him. If he manages that, they’re screwed. One of them is bound to reach him in time, before he gets there, before Hotch collapses from blood loss. He’s sure of it.

Derek watches the way Hotch runs, his long strides not deterred in the least by the deep red that blossoms and spreads over the expanse of his suit. He’s going to bitch about that later, this is his favorite suit. Now it’s got holes ripped through it and that stain isn’t ever coming out.

They hadn’t been wearing their vests – this guy was a witness, that’s what they thought. What they were told. Just going to talk to a witness, but then that witness had a dog that ripped into Derek’s shin while its owner tore a hole through Hotch’s abdomen right beneath his ribs with a .38 special. He was a bad shot and Hotch was quick, it didn’t seem like he hit anything major it just hurt like a bitch and bled twice as bad. In and out, Derek watched the bullet smash into a tree not far behind Hotch. At least there was that, he wasn’t running around with molten metal inside of him. Still, it burned. That was the worst part, the hot metal searing through the flesh and the flames that erupted in all of the nearby nerve endings. It was embers embedded in his flesh, smoldering just below his ribs.

It was Reid got there first. He was faster, operating with no injuries will do that for a body. His stride was as long as Hotch’s at least but Hotch had already started to slow some though he didn’t look like he’d realized it yet. Reid saw that he was close enough to take a chance and he slammed into the guy head down shoulder first like a football player, knocking the earth right from beneath his feet. Connor went flying and the force of the impact smashed both he and Reid into the ground. The scuffle that ensued was the part Reid had been concerned about – he wasn’t strong enough to overpower the other man, he just had the element of surprise on his side when he took him down.

“Nice tackle, kid!” Derek shouts, turning on the last reserves of his speed to sprint and help Reid get the guy in cuffs. Connor was realizing quickly that he could overpower Reid easily and was halfway to doing it when Derek finally got there.

Connor was about to understand that while Reid may have lacked some in strength, Derek did not. And when he drops his knee into the small of Connor’s back and wrenches his arms behind him, the guy gives up the fight. Which is smart, because Derek is pissed. His leg aches where the dog had made a chew toy out of him. It made him angry more than it hurt, though, and the way he ground his knee into Connor’s spine made that loud and clear. He’s mad about the dog, and he’s mad about the hole this guy put in his boyfriend. “You really put that shoulder to him. Wish you’d hit him a little harder though, asshole’s still breathin’.”

“Thanks,” Reid gasps with a smile, disarming the unsub while Derek tightens the cuffs. He tosses the gun and knife to the side and watches as Hotch collects them, one hand to grab both of them while the other grips the gaping hole in his chest. Blood pools between his fingers and he barely seems to notice. “You okay Hotch?”

“I’ve been better,” he replies with a heavy sigh. Breathing is taking a little more effort than it should after a run like that. “I’ll make it.” His hands are shaking uncontrollably and his knees are jelly but he plays it off well, stalking toward Derek to take a peek at his leg. “We’ve got to get you to the hospital. That’s an infection waiting to happen.”

“Hope that leg falls off!” Connor spits and Hotch looks away while Derek gives him a heavy kick to the ribs.

“Seems fine to me,” he mumbles and laughs, but it sounds weak to Hotch’s ears. Far away.

“You should sit down,” Hotch says as his vision narrows to a pinprick and he squints as if that’ll help him hear better what Derek says next.

“Yeah. Right. Says the guy with a hole in his damn side.”

Hotch wakes up in a hospital bed in a shared room with an old man who groans and complains of stomach pain attended to by a woman with deep wrinkles and a stern frown. She pulls the privacy curtain around them when she sees Hotch wake, like he’s going to be entertained somehow by their misery. He isn’t interested in the least. He’s a lot more concerned that he doesn’t remember getting to the hospital, and he’s alone. That part is actually okay once the shock of it wears off. He prefers it that way, the team just usually doesn’t. He’s shirtless, his torso exposed though there isn’t much skin that isn’t covered in bandages. His skin feels hot and tight around the wound and a small speck of red sits atop the fresh white gauze. Blood on snow, he thinks. It reminds him of winters in the forest hunting rabbits with his grandfather.

He hears the click of crutches coming closer before he sees Derek enter, his leg bandaged from the knee down. He’d been on the phone with Jessica, letting her know they’d be home late and giving her the low down. It was Jess that insisted he take the ice that’s rattling and clicking in the cup he grips with his teeth so he can operate the damn crutches. As soon as Derek told her what happened she jumped down the WebMD rabbit hole, a part of her personality that grated on Derek’s last nerve. He rarely said anything, it was how she stayed connected while they were out here risking their lives. She couldn’t stop that but she could help put them back together. So while they stitched up the last of his dog bite and bandaged his leg, he listened to her rattle off every bullet point WebMD had about blood loss. She said she’d save the statistics about infection and dog bites for when he got home, but he assured her that Reid would take care of it for her on the plane.

“It says he needs to drink extra water,” she said with an air of superiority Derek doesn’t care for. He’s usually able to smile and nod but the truth was, he was exhausted and in pain and concerned about getting Hotch home. In the field it’s easy enough to ignore this type of thing, when the case is on the line, but now that it’s done they’re just left with recovery and that part gets tricky.

“Reid says they’ve got him on an IV drip,” he points out. “I’m sure that’s for hydration.”

“So he can’t drink water too?”

He assured her that it was taken care of, but she wasn’t placated by that. She kept on nagging until he insisted they were done bandaging him up and he was going to go see Hotch. “We’ll be home soon. Don’t wait up, okay? We’re fine.”

“Give him water.”

“Jess,” Derek groaned with a huff. “I’m gonna show you exactly where you can shove that…” but she hung up before he could finish the sentence. It’s still boiling his blood when he enters the room Hotch is holed up in, the privacy curtain pulled around him now too. When Reid was in there, the room was wide open. Things change quickly and he’s thankful for the small bit of privacy that turquoise curtain would give them.

“You’re awake,” he mumbles, the plastic cup in his teeth shaking and rattling the contents while he tries to talk around it. Ice, a whole cup of ice. He knows Hotch well enough to know he’ll prefer that to water anyway, he probably hasn’t eaten much of anything and if that water hits his empty stomach it’ll make him feel sick. Sicker than he probably already does. “Thought you might be thirsty when you finally decided nap time was over.”

“How long was I out?”

“You passed out in the ambulance and then they sedated you so they could do their business. You got a lot of stitches, you definitely win this time.”

“How long?” he asks again, a little irritated. Derek never answers the part of the question he wants the first time. It’s a small thing but right now it’s grating.

“Three hours, give or take. Connor is booked in, he squealed like a pig once he was chained in the interrogation room. Soon as you’re all fixed up we’re blowin’ this popsicle stand.”

He tosses his crutches to the side and limps toward the empty chair beside Hotch’s bed. “Stop looking at me like that. I don’t need those damn things. They told me I shouldn’t put weight on it or I’ll bust some of the stitches but I’m not hobbling around on them. It’s bullshit. You thirsty?”

Hotch nods and tries to shift in the bed but he’s tangled in the IV tubes and sheets so he doesn’t get far. The movement sends a wave of pain crashing through his rib cage and makes him nauseous. He closes his eyes and presses his forehead into his hand, willing it to pass. Derek just sits and watches, he knows better than to make any sudden moves or to try and touch him when he’s like this.

“Ice,” Derek says after a minute, after Hotch’s features soften and his muscles unfurl. Hotch opens his mouth expectantly and smiles at the feel of the ice on his lip, the way it slides over his warm parched tongue. “More?”

Hotch nods and lets Derek feed him more. He’s got a spoon, a little plastic thing dwarfed by his hands, and he uses it to fish little bits of shaved ice out of the cup and set it against Hotch’s lower lip. Between each bite, Derek kisses him, little pecks and he tastes the icy residue happily. He’s thirsty too. In more ways than one. “You’re gorgeous,” he says, giving him more ice. “Hair all messy, smellin’ like sweat and cedar, sleepy eyes…you look just like when we went on vacation.”

“Atlantic City?” Hotch asks, greedily accepting more ice. He’s parched. He thinks he could probably guzzle a gallon of water and still feel thirsty.

“Yeah. Napping in that hotel room overlooking the ocean, waking up in the middle of the afternoon not knowing what day or time it is…”

“We should go back. When I have less holes in me.”

“You got it, baby.” They’re due more than a little time off and he knows it. He’ll make it happen.

“How’s your leg?” Hotch asks around a chunk of ice that crunches between his teeth. Derek shrugs.

“It’s okay. It’s not gonna fall off, I’m sure Connor will be disappointed in that.”

Derek digs around for more ice, lost in the repetition of feeding him and kissing him. It’s as good a way to pass the time as anything.

“Ohhhhhh…” Penelope gushes, startling them both. Derek had forgotten that the team said they were going to meet them there, that they’d head right to the airport once Hotch was discharged. Derek turns around to see all of them crowding doorway, peeking around the edge of the curtain. Penelope, JJ, Spencer, Rossi, Blake...they’re all there and they’re all looking at them like they’re watching adorable cat videos on YouTube, not two grown men full of antibiotics, morphine and stitches. It’s more than a little embarrassing. “You guysssssssssssssssssssss.”

“Woman,” Derek warns but Hotch shakes his head and squeezes Derek’s hand, dragging his attention back to where it belongs. He’s the one that got shot, after all. They can all wait their turn.

“Ice?” he asks pitifully and Derek complies. Hotch doesn’t seem to care that the team are watching him. Getting shot softens his edges a little. Derek pokes around in the cup, digs out a spoonful of ice and sets it on Hotch’s tongue before giving him the obligatory kiss and they do their best to ignore all the “awwwwws” that rise to a symphony in the doorway.

Derek, without turning to look, reaches behind him and pulls the curtain closed the rest of the way to block their view. The rest of the show is private.

[shadowredfeline]

Two in One Post

Two Responses to both my Filipino Friend and A-Pal.

First Response.

I understand how that movie got an average rating, but not only did this movie have Christmas stuff in it, but usually the main focus of the movie was about Hanukkah, and I know the three of us are not Jewish, it was a movie Adam Sandler wanted to do since he is Jewish. Especially for a Sony movie, and my cousin has watched some of his movies and even my friend from Social Club watches some of his movies. Some people like the movie because it is funny, and some people don't like the movie because it's either gross or a lot of people hate the main character, Davey Stone, Because he's acting like a troublemaking criminal, but he does kinda redeem himself at the end of how everyone was being so mean to this nice old man. And also, there's a Sonic YouTuber named Connor known as Emerald Masters, he gets that plot a lot about the movie, and every time he uses the word "Technical Foul", he got it from the character, Whitey Duvall, and I usually be like "Okay, Whitey!" And normally Whitey is the name of the old guy, But he can be obnoxious sometimes. Some people say Eight Crazy Nights was bad, but not as bad as the other movies like Jack and Jill which is done by Adam Sandler. But with my story, "Four Crazy Advents", We focus on Christmas since that's what the three of us celebrate. And Shadow and Spot normally don't act like Davey Stone where he acts like a Jerk and gets away with something. But usually Shadow and Spot normally don't act like that because they learn to try their best to learn to do the right thing and avoid getting themselves into trouble. Because I know Maxwell would like Shadow and Spot would never do that because Maxwell, May and Sam are always there for them. Same for Lisa, Riya and Vanilla.

Second Response.

I like how guys like what I got for Christmas. Normally for my Filipino Friend not to get too jealous, since he now uses the same site my family and I use when buying stuff on the Internet. We use Amazon since that's the site where I buy some of my stuff at or if I were to buy or preorder video games from. But my mom usually buys stuff from Amazon a lot. And she thinks we should check Amazon on some of their stuff how much they cost. And even one day you guys get Laptops or desktops like I do, I'm sure we can all work on our content together like we can all write stories, Because not only I draw, but I can also write stories too. So it can be like saying I wrote the story, while you guys can illustrate. And plus if we got gaming ones, we can all play online just the three of us, like Microsoft PC games or Steam games on PC. Those are the differences when playing a video game on the computer. But the only Microsoft Xbox title I would play on my computer would probably be Minecraft and Forza Motorsports. So I'm sure either my sister's boyfriend or my sister can help me set it up once I'm feeling better and getting over my cold. Because I got to do something fun with them before they go back to Colorado. But I hope you both will look into getting gaming computers and work computers in the future. Then we can all play online together during our free time. 👍

[lesbianwyllravengard]

20 questions for fic authors!

I was tagged by the lovely @ugetelynx and @wisecrackingeric-2 <3 so sorry it took me so long to do this hfsgjhdj

1. How many works do you have? - currently posted on ao3 I have 57 works total. However I have almost twice as many wips it's bad

2. Ao3 word count? - 395,068 ..... I've got a wip that's almost over 100k but it's also been there for years so I doubt that'll change anytime soon

3. What fandoms do you write for? - of the fics I have on ao3, I have written for detroit become human, star wars, resident evil, assassin's creed, and the last kingdom. The fandoms I've written for that are not on my ao3 include lotr/the hobbit, bbc sherlock, bbc merlin, marvel, voltron legendary defender, percy jackson universe, and whatever the Carry On by rainbow rowell fandom is called. Most of those I will never ever write for again lmao

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? - In order:

Sapphire Moonlight (Tequila Sunrise) (Serennedy)

We Look So Good (Reed900)

Hold Fast, the Suns Will Rise (Stay) (Dincobb) (also, my first fic ever posted, and still the fic I hold most dearly in my heart to this day)

We Are Home (Hank and Connor family content)

Tomato Soup (Serennedy)

5. Do you respond to comments? - every single one. I'm obsessed with comments. I have them all saved and stored so I can reread them at any time. Thank you everyone who has ever commented I love you

6. What fic did you write the angstiest ending for? - I only write angst with a happy ending. But I did write You Should Have Killed Me for a friend's dbh x hunger games simulator result and it had an angsty ending by result of being a hunger games simulator.

7. What fic did you write the happiest ending for? - I write many fics w happy endings, but I personally think my fic series Din and Grogu | the Clan of Two Trilogy has the happiest ending because it happened against all odds. It's a fic about Din and Grogu's found family (before BoBF and Mando s3 came out, so it's not canon accurate) and it ends meaningfully to me.

8. Do you get hate on fics? - I have before, but it was all bullshit that showed me the person commenting didn't actually read what I wrote but chose to get mad at something that didn't exist. So it was discarded easily. Otherwise, I've had people try to tell me how to write things, but I ignore them all

9. Do you write smut? - yes. badly.

10. Crossovers? - I wrote a dincobb fic that was set in Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, with Din as Kassandra and Cobb as Anais. I also started a serennedy fic set in the detroit: become human universe but never got anywhere close to finishing it.

11. Ever had a fic stolen? - not that I know of lol.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? - I had someone ask to translate one of my fics, and I said yes, but I don't think they've done so yet, which is fine. Other than that, no. But I'd be honoured!

13. Ever co-wrote a fic before? - I started a dincobb fic with a friend years ago but we never got around to finishing it. Someday I still hope to.

14. What's your all time favourite ship? - that's genuinely impossible to pick tbh I've had so many that rewired my brain. top three are probably bagginshield, simarkus, and shadowzel, not in any particular order.

15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? - ehhhhh probably the klance fic I started when I was like 15. I don't go to voltron anymore and literally couldn't care less about it. In fact I actively hate it.

16. What are your writing strengths? - I've been told that I'm good at characterisation and plot. I think I suck at plot severely. As for characterisation, I study characters really hard and take a long time to write fics so they remain in character so I'm glad people appreciate that. I also prefer writing dialogue to anything else.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? - Writing. haha I mean exposition.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language? I have before, I find it fun but also intimidating.

19. First fandom you wrote for? - The Hobbit :') my first ever fic was a bagginshield fic I started when I was 13. I still mean to finish it someday.

20. Favourite fic you've written? - *sighs* I guess I should say Another Time. It was the most fun to write, and everyone's responses have made all the difficulties of writing it endlessly worth it. It took me months but I'm so happy I finished it, and I'm working on p3 rn I PROMISE. But again the fic I hold most dearly in my heart is still Hold Fast, the Suns Will Rise (Stay)