#Thisstableground

[elliefint]

Hey so Harry Du Bois probably definitely grew up in Faubourg, right? If we assume that his canon voice is the same as ARB and/or Limbic System (per the karaoke scene) or the version of him from the hanged man dream, then he has roughly the same London accent as Acele and Andre and Noid, doesn't he? And they're canonically from Faubourg. And then if you get The Fifteenth Indotribe thought, his childhood friend group is described as "eight kids from Faubourgh [sic] and North Jamrock", so he could be from either of those two places -- except that pretty much all of the Jamrock characters have French accents. So I bet Harry is from Faubourg and has what, within the setting, would be considered a Faubourg accent, and then moved to Jamrock as an adult or at least at too old of an age to lose the accent.

[waitingonavision]

Ooh, I just saw this wonderful, bittersweet post by @thisstableground and rather than reblog and sully it with the following dark comment, I figured I'd create a separate thing:

Actually I'm sure this already exists somewhere, but a while ago I started thinking about a villain!Julieta AU where she essentially has a god-complex. Because if her Gift does work by intention, and she has to want to heal someone/can choose not to heal, if she went down a dark path, she could trip with the power of it all...

[thisstableground]

“Okay, but for real, do you think I shoulda stayed to help everyone out?” Usnavi asks for the fifth time. “I feel bad just runnin’ away down here and leaving everyone else in the lurch.”

Vanessa flicks a blueberry at him and says, “man, you gave them free dinner, you called the super, what else do they want from you? There’s plenty of other grown-ass adults in your building can deal with things if they need to. It ain’t your problem.”

“He is my apartment ghost.”

“Okay, so? You can be a little selfish for once. Just ‘cause something bad happens near you don’t automatically make it your responsibility to fix.”

[belphegor1982]

Find the word in your WIPs

I was tagged by both @rose-of-pollux and @tuttle4077 for a "Find the word in your WIP" game! Here are the rules: Find the words from the list in your WIPs and post the paragraph they belong to.

Thanks a lot :D They both gave me different words, too, so let's go!

I ended up using What Nightmares May Come (my long HH fic) a lot, if only because it's so long (64k+ words, gah, if only the inspiration could come back!!) but also from The Message (the follow-up to Mon Pays et Paris), three The Mummy WIPs, and one word from a Legend of Vox Machina somewhat long WIP. And since it got so long, I'm putting most of it under a cut ^^'

Tagging @thisstableground, @tinydooms, @laurelindebear, @teashoesandhair, @kabbal and @kaantt 💜

List of (new) words: chase | average | fast | minute | whole

sigh (from The Message, Hogan's Heroes)

“Did you clear that up with Colonel Hogan?” he asked. LeBeau stuck out his chin in a familiar show of stubbornness.

“Of course I did,” he said just a second too quickly.

Kinch shook his head.

“Man, now I know why you won’t play poker with Newkirk. He’d clean you right out.” He sighed. “LeBeau, you can’t just take a radio because you feel like it. Do you know how many of the guys miss listening to the Andrew Sisters or the World Series?”

hint (from A Fifth of Glenlivet, The Mummy)

The tea was light and slightly sweet, with a hint of mint. Egyptian style. Rick – though more of a coffee guy – had to admit that for what he considered to be lightly flavoured hot water, it wasn’t that bad, especially without the obligatory splash of milk generally favoured by the British.

heart (from Manifold, The Mummy)

She waits a little, enjoying the wind on her face and the shade the balloon casts over them; then she asks without looking at him, her voice very low, her heartbeat very loud, “Whom did you fall in love with first: Elizabeth, or Tom?”

toast (from In A Mellow Tone, The Mummy)

“Good Heavens. And I thought my parents had their hands full with me and Evy.” Jonathan put his palm into his hand and grinned. “How much of a scamp were you when you were a kid?”

“Not that much,” Harry said with a sharp smile, “but I usually got away with a lot, even more than Nellie did. You see, I didn’t often let myself get caught.”

“Sound philosophy,” said Jonathan, raising his half-empty pint in a toast Harry met with his own. “So you have four siblings?”

operation (from What Nightmares May Come, Hogan's Heroes)

The conversation in Klink’s office seemed to be over, so Kinch unplugged the coffee pot and replaced the lid. They were all thinking the same thing; all operations would have to come to a complete stop. The absence of the sub already meant they couldn’t go through with their orders of ‘assisting escaping prisoners’; but this meant that the other part, about ‘cooperating with all friendly forces and using every means possible to injure and harass the enemy’, was nixed as well if nobody could set foot outside camp.

_______________________

That's it for Tuttle's words! Now for Rose's :o)

sea (from What Nightmares May Come, Hogan's Heroes)

“Let’s hope that your escape will earn him a one-way ticket to the Russian front,” Hogan grimly quipped, his eyes serious. “In the meantime, you get to stay at the… ‘guerilla Hilton’ for a couple of days, we fit you with civilian clothes and official papers, and you do a little cross-country ‘round the German countryside. There’s a British sub in the North sea, a little off Wangerland. You’ll be in England faster than you can say ‘fish and chips’.”

star (from What Nightmares May Come, Hogan's Heroes)

Hogan whistled between his teeth. “So they’re basically stuck here for God knows how long?”

“Basically.”

“No chance of a plane, I suppose?”

“I asked. Apparently, if our guests were two-star generals, they would consider sending one.” Hogan didn’t miss the discreet sarcasm in his radioman’s deadpan voice.

pleasant (from A Fifth of Glenlivet, The Mummy)

Something loosened in the set of Jonathan’s shoulders.

“Good. Because if you’re planning to steal more toolkits for my sister then it’s better if… Well, you know. She’s had a lot flung at her because she has the gall to be a scholar and a girl, and ‘only half-English’ to boot.”

Something told Rick that particular turn of phrase glossed over many others, much less pleasant. Which both siblings probably had their own share ‘flung at’ them, come to think of it.

walk (from Underture, The Legend of Vox Machina)

Scanlan let his hand fall and rolled his eyes.

“Look, you don’t need to get your panties in a knot. I can see better than you at the moment, so the way I see it there’s only one way you won’t fall behind and get lost.” He walked back to Vax and thrust out his hand with a grin large enough to be obvious even in the dark. “Wanna hold hands?”

linger (from What Nightmares May Come, Hogan's Heroes)

“Oh, perfectly, Major,” Klink muttered in an almost defeated tone, resisting the urge to rub his temples. The lingering headache had been small this morning, the inevitable result of a restless night, but Hochstetter excelled in the art of making migraines in other people’s heads grow in a way even Hogan did not.

Thanks again :o)

[trekkiehood]

Fanfic Defaults

These are the first people I turn to when a fandom obsession reemerges

Hamilton - as_with_a_sunbeam (@aswithasunbeam)

Newsies - SomedayonBroadway (@somedayonbroadway)

In the Heights - thisstableground (@thisstableground)

Star Trek TOS - kscribbler

Spn - K Hanna Korossy

Spn Brotherhood - Ridley C. James

MCU- Bree Colburn

[cheetee]

For the “fic I wish you’d write” ask request…literally anything about Bruno’s mental health. That’s very broad. But whenever you allude to it in your fics (or explore it more deeply, like you did in some parts of Rumble Thy Bellyful) it seizes me by the throat. Somewhat related, I’d love to read your take on Alma’s request for a vision the night of Mirabel’s ceremony. Or your headcanons about any of these things. Kinda grim, but you do grim so well! Probably b/c you mix it w humor so well

Gosh, thank you...! But I do think the reason why the angst hits so hard is because I do it in very tiny spoonfuls. I have no idea how I'd handle a whole story that revolved around the themes of Bruno's mental health. I tend to dance around it almost as much as the movie does.

Although now that you mention it, I did actually rewrite a handful of scenes from my old fics from Bruno's POV, just to be self-indulgent, and they're significantly more intense when narrated by him. I ought to post that to my drabbles collection sometime... But I'm a little embarrassed about it, so I'd have to polish it first.

Sneak preview:

Ooh, but if you want a story about Bruno's mental health that does the funny parts extremely well, I'd recommend the Encanto fics by @thisstableground. If I wrote angst or psychological fanfic, I would want to do it exactly like her. I laughed out loud at several parts then lay in bed unable to sleep after.

[captaincravatthecapricious]

tagged by @metaphoricaltigers and @waitingonavision THANK YOUUUUU

✨when you get this you have to put 5 songs you actually listen to, then tag 10 of your favorite followers✨ (non-obligatory)

1. Half Decade Hangover by Will Wood

2. Land of Canaan by the Indigo Girls

3. Sweet Dreams in Sea Major by Miracle Musical

4. I've Been Dead All Day by Bayside

5. Marsha Thankk You for the Dialectics, but I Need You to Leave by Will Wood

I dunno who all got tagged and I dunno if I can think of 10 people but

@organchordsandlightning @genderfluid-druid @samglyph @bluejayblueskies @cannibalthoughts@sokkas-first-fangirl@thisstableground and I'm gonna give up now no pressure

[weathertheraine]

teddy pls draw me a 1h usnavi in the fool palette i simply must see the boy

The boy!!! A sketchy beachy summer boy!!! :D

[raeofstarshine]

Happy Birthday Sage! @thisstableground

This may be a terrible present, and I’ve never posted fic online anywhere before, but for some reason this idea demanded to be written and so I present to you: Dr Ruben Marcado’s first day at Independence Memorial Hospital, as imagined by yours truly!

“And finally, this is the lab.” The woman pushed open a glass door with the words “Department of Pathology” written across it. Several people looked up as they entered the room, and Ruben studiously examined the stack of paperwork in his hands to avoid their stares. Since he had arrived at the hospital at 9am that morning, he had felt distinctly out of place, the laminated badge that identified him as a member of staff tapping uncomfortably on his chest every time he moved. He didn’t yet have a white lab coat embroidered with his name like everyone else, and it reminded him of the time his mother had taken him to visit a different school when he was nine. He had worn his favourite sweater, soft and pale green from washing and completely in contrast to the dark blue uniform of the students. 

“There are smaller classes here, better teachers. They’ll be able to help you more.” she had said, but Ruben had never needed the teachers’ help, so why did that matter? He could feel the other students watching him all day, their eyes itching his skin, and when they got in the car to go home he told his mother he didn’t want to change schools. He may not fit in at his current school, but for the most part nobody noticed him. He preferred that to standing out.  

Of course, Ruben couldn’t help but stand out now. He followed the administrator - Dr Young? - to an office at the back of the large room. With the lights off and the blinds down, it looked as though it hadn’t been used in a while. This impression was reinforced when Dr Young flipped the light switch, only for a single dim halogen bulb to flicker into life. She frowned. 

“The extensions for maintenance and cleaning are in your welcome pack. This is your office, the door code is in your pack as well. Feel free to arrange it however you like.” She surveyed the room a final time, then turned to Ruben, who was looking at the various pieces of equipment on the workbench. “I’ll leave you to get settled in. If you need anything, call my office and my assistant will help you.” Ruben realised half a second late that she was holding out her hand for him to shake. 

Moments later, he was alone in the dark office. A thousand thoughts chased each other down in his brain. He swiftly ran through every moment of the last four hours of introductions and admin and touring the hospital, names and paperwork and procedures and desperate hope that he was making a good impression. Should he have asked more questions? Dr Young had been pretty comprehensive, but employers liked it when you asked questions, it showed initiative, right? Or did that only apply in interviews? Ruben caught himself before his thoughts could spiral too far. Setting the paperwork down on the dusty countertop next to the door, he looked around, trying to reconcile the unfamiliar environment with the idea that this space was now his. It was spacious for an office, but small for a lab, and he wondered what its original purpose had been. An isolated area for handling hazardous chemicals maybe? That would explain the big, double glazed windows and the keypad on the door. It reminded him a little of a foreman’s office in a factory, looking out on the production line of diagnostic equipment. 

For a moment, he lingered on the idea. The whole outer lab full of his employees, working on his projects, his ideas. Ruben wasn’t sure he’d make a good boss - that required leadership skills and management skills and all sorts of things that were much less easy to understand than chemicals and molecules and experiments. He sighed quietly. Future career prospects were a problem for future Ruben. Present Ruben needed food, and coffee, and he couldn’t remember how to get to the cafeteria. As he was trying to figure out how to find it without having to ask one of the technicians, a young woman knocked and stuck her head in the still-open door. She looked to be around the same age as Ruben, making her one of the youngest in the lab, and she had a nervous but friendly looking smile. 

“Hi! I’m Connie, I’m a pathology PhD student here. You must be feeling pretty overwhelmed, huh? I only started six months ago, so I remember what it’s like. A thousand different bits of paper, a whirlwind tour - and you had Dr Young too, she can be pretty intense. How’re you holding up?” Ruben took a few seconds to reply, but she waited patiently. He responded with the only thing he could think of.

“I’m starving.” Connie laughed. 

“Leave it to Dr Young to forget about lunch! There’s vending machines in the hall, or you can get free meals in the canteen. Do you want me to show you?” Ruben nodded, glad he hadn’t had to ask. Then, not wanting to be perceived as rude, he added,

“If it’s not any bother, that would be great, thank you.” She grinned at him and led the way out of the lab. 

“This way then. Nice to meet you…”

“Oh, Ruben. Ruben Marcado.”

“Nice to meet you Ruben. And welcome to Independence Memorial! I’m sure you’ll do great things here.” Her words stirred that old instinct in Ruben, the urge to blend in, to replace his soft greenness with itchy blue camouflage. He pushed it back. He wasn’t here to be average. He was here to do what he was best at, to do what he loved, to help people. Wasn’t that worth the discomfort that came with it?

[ruvieracd]

My friends (as told by Parks and Rec)

@redhoodsstrife:

@cat-r-gunn:

@rustyshackleford90:

@thisstableground:

@tiredalwavs:

Bonus: Me 

[fourteenacross]

All of those sound almost right but not exactly right? But thank you!

I think this is probably the best course of action. That and “stop obsessing over it and move on and write the remaining six thousand words of this story and then worry about it during edits,” perhaps 😅

Currently there is more discussion of FEMA assistance and insurance payouts than kissing, so I gotta fix that at one point too, probably. No one but me cares about FEMA response to supernatural/otherworldly disasters. 

[kitblue20]

Okay! I’m supposed to be working on a paper but I’ve also wanted to write a long post for @kikabennet, @tiredalwavs, @thisstableground, and @pika-ace.

I want to talk about what I like about each Ruben (how he is portrayed in fic)

Kikabennet/Tiredalwavs: I really enjoy that Ruben’s scars are not just deliberate cuts. They are signs of rage and abuse and accident chemical burn. I really like that Ruben has curly hair and a stutter and that he is very shy but there is always a glimmer of joy to him. He is very much healing. I also enjoy his situation that Ian is still sort of in control of him and he’s suffering Stockholm Syndrome to a degree b/c it will make the healing that much more rewarding for the reader.

Thisstableground: I really enjoy that Ruben still has sass and he seems to have escaped Jamaica with more confidence and heals emotionally faster (I think there’s probs stuff I miss from the UVR-I’m going by solo Ruben fic). I like that Ruben’s scars are very internal and he has much to work through. I also really like that he’s kept very similar to DNH hc. While Ruben in RACD is semi OOC, it makes sense b/c he’s a changed person, but this Ruben is very well to keep true to the source material since he’s healing better.

Pika-ace: Your Ruben is new to me, but I really enjoy him. His trauma has turned very nurturing (towards Usnavi and Sonny) and the idea of him as a high school teacher just warms my heart. I was also going through asks and saw Ruben has blue eyes in your AU which I LOVE. Blue eyed Ruben.

I just wanted to give a shout out to all of the hard working DNH authors! 

Please direct me to more Ruben work if you know of any!

[whoaiminactivenowwepa]

Pretty much

[og tweet]

[thisstableground]

He calls it “their room," but it was Usnavi’s too once, when he was a baby. The corner where the big stack of mismatched bags and storage boxes now sit is where his crib used to be, and he was using that much longer than he probably should’ve if the stories about them waking up to him cheerfully dangling off the railing are anything to go by. But they didn't have anywhere else to put him so that’s where he slept, right up until he pitched himself headfirst over the side into the fortunately full laundry hamper in the middle of the night, and his parents quickly upgraded him to sleep in their bed with them.

Please leave comments if you like it! Thank you!

[belphegor1982]

Got tagged by @accidentallylita for a 20 questions for writers thing! Thank you 💜 I'm gonna tag... @tameila, @fantasiawandering, @kabbal, @kaantt and @thisstableground - no pressure at all though.

How many works do you have on AO3?

88. But I still have 44 others over on FFnet.

What's your total AO3 word count?

659,354 (holy crap that's a lot!) and I'm way too lazy to add the FFnet numbers. The FFnet counters are a mess anyway.

What fandoms do you write for?

I have written for... Ready? Go! *deep breath* Harry Potter, Great Mouse Detective, The Mummy, Pirates of the Caribbean, Kung Fu Panda, Watchmen, Justice League, Discworld, White Collar, Hogan's Heroes, Zorro (the 1950s Disney series), Kaamelott, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the 2012 cartoon and a TMNT 2003 and 1987 crossover missing scene from Turtles Forever) , the Don Camillo stories/films, Cobra Kai, Karate Kid, The Legend Of Vox Machina, and Critical Role. Whew! And that's not counting unpublished WIPs, because then I would have to add ACD Sherlock Holmes, Jeeves and Wooster, or The Pirates! In an Adventure with Musicians Scientists :D It's mostly Critical Role and Vox Machina at the moment, though.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Let's see:

Villains (Justice League Unlimited, Flash's Rogues watch the finale of season 2's near apocalypse on TV in their bar, 442 kudos)

Reading the Colours (TMNT 2012, kid!Mikey having trouble learning to read and a bit of synaesthesia, and kid!Ralp being a good brother, 225 kudos)

Culture Shock (Turtles Forever (TMNT 2003 and 1987 crossover), 2003!Don and 1987!Leonardo having a conversation about danger and stakes and genre shifts, 215 kudos)

After the Sunset (The Mummy, a getting-to-know-each-other scene set just after 'The End' to tie up loose ends and explore character dynamics, 202 kudos)

Wife (Justice League Unlimited, the writers made Captain Cold (of all people XD) mention a wife so I created a character and explored her relationship with her husband and his nemesis, 168 kudos)

Aww 💜 I was kinda surprised by this list, to tell the truth!

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try (oh my god do I try ♫). Currently there's still a couple in my AO3 inbox I haven't responded to yet because I like to take my time (and also I like having that little number beside my inbox on my page 😭)

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oh that's easy. If, a Hogan's Heroes snapshot (<800 words) where I essentially went "hey, what if [character] really had been killed in that scene?" and picture the aftermath.

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

Oh that is hard! I have comforting endings, I have peaceful/hopeful endings, I have bittersweet endings with a side of sweet... But just plain happy? I mean, Pas de Deux would end on a thoroughly good and happy note if it weren't for that pesky last sentence ("This summer 1914 is going to be the best summer"). I'd say Perfect Picture has the happiest: it's a (few years into the) future JLU fic set at a Christmas do, PoV Jimmy Olsen, that ends on him taking the titular perfect picture in the immediate wake of a very happy announcement. I love it a lot.

Do you get hate on fics?

No, thank goodness. Something of a miracle in 22+ years of writing online! My beta has, though, because some people are idiots.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do, although it's a recent (ish) development! I've written three kinds of smut: loving and sometimes fumbling between two then three young people who don't a ton of (or any, in some cases) experience, quick and ill-advised between two desperate people convinced they'll die in a few hours, and cosy and warm as a means to (re)connect (two different fandoms) between middle-aged people. Love every one of them.

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

I have! Like the aforementioned TMNT crossover (within the same franchise, bit still, two different shows and fandoms). And, well, it's not exactly crazy, but I wrote a tavern-as-an-afterlife fic in which Sergeants García and Schultz have a little conversation about their respective supposed-to-be enemies. Would that count as "crazy" if they have approximately a century and a few years between their lifetimes?

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't... think so. Can't be sure. Sometimes I post fic here and I've definitely found my Tumblr accounts on those crappy Tumblr mirroring websites, so yeah, probably.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Someone asked me once if I minded them translating one of my Don Camillo fics into Italian, to which I responded with happy flailing and "not at all, go ahead!" But I never heard back from them. OTOH, I have done the translating :D I translated a Mummy fic into French back in the day (2004) with the author's permission, and I wrote L'éléphant de Carter (Hogan's Heroes) in French then translated it into English.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not really. I participated in group projects and big bangs and stuff, but I've written a fic "with four hands".

What's your all-time favorite ship?

It should be an obvious choice, because I have so few I ship actively - you know, not just "sure, I like the idea of them together". For the purposes of the question I will say Pike Trickfoot/Scanlan Shorthalt, from Campaign 1 of Critical Role/The Legend of Vox Machina (it's a slow burn with minimum pining! They both have personal growth! He pursues her but then apologises and asks if they can be friends! Each is the only one who truly sees and perceives the other on that level!). But also I really really love my one-third-canon-character-two-thirds-OCs OT3 set in 1910s Oxford. So... tie? :3

What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have one of those eternal WIPs (more of an idea, really) of a Discworld/Quantum Leap crossover where Sam Beckett Leaps into Sam Vimes who's in the middle of an investigation, which would mean that 1) Sam B has to wrap his mind around the existence of magic and dwarves and trolls and Nobby Nobbs while Sam V and Al Calavicci stare at each other down (Spider-men-pointing-meme style in the end) going "if my guy/my people get(s) hurt by your shenanigans then so help me I will go SQUARE" (and quickly enough work together).

What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, apparently? I've been told a few times over the years by readers that they could "hear" the characters speak in their heads, which is the greatest compliment 💜 (especially since English is not my first language, so I'm always worried about things not sounding right!)

What are your writing weaknesses?

Actual plots, especially ones with a bit of complexity in them 😅 I'm the first to admit 80% of my fics are one-shot character exploration (with conflict - internal and external - being resolved via dialogue and/or communication). Also finishing things on time, GOD.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Heh. I'm French and when I write for Hogan's Heroes I often write a French character who canonically (though rarely, gotta respect the ratio) says things in French sometimes. Of course I'll include some! But I always make sure 1) to include a translation/explanation in the notes (AO3 is really great for footnotes) and 2) that it doesn't really require a translation to understand the situation/stakes. I tend to go back and forth on the use of italics for foreign language words.

Now, if I don't know the language as well as I do French (and, more importantly, if the PoV character who hears it speaks that language), I just clarify in the "s/he said", like

"You gotta be kidding me," muttered Bob in [insert language here].

Works in English too, of course, especially if you're having a multi-language environment in your fic.

First fandom you wrote for?

I was gonna say "Harry Potter", because that's the first fandom I wrote for (and published) after discovering fanfiction (the first fics I read were for Starsky & Hutch), BUT. I guess I should answer Titanic?? On account of how I kinda wrote a self-insert in high school (when the film came out) in which an imaginary inventor uncle build a time machine and my sister and I did some time tourism (obviously money wasn't an issue), thinking "oh we'll just go home on April 14th". I was a soppy 16 years old otherwise 0% interested in romance, so I had my stand-in recently lost her boyfriend (very tragically) and Fabrizio (Jack's Italian friend) be her gently manic pixie dream boy (and, of course, die). In retrospect I might have given my 14 year old sister the best part as the snarky no-nonsense little sibling. I tragically lacked self-awareness and poured my entire heart into it. Thank goodness I had no idea you could put out stories on the internet and that my best friend at the time (the only other human being who read this story) was kind and just as obsessed with the movie as I was ^^'

(I should point out that I wrote it with pencil on loose paper gathered in a binder I lost long ago. Such is life.)

Favorite fic you've ever written?

You can't just - I - oh come on! I can't choose between my babies!! No but seriously, I actually can't choose, sorry :D

[kikabennet2]

Had a great time video chatting with @thisstableground and @rustyshackleford90 and my sister brought my bubble tea so now I’m going to drink bubble tea, nap, and wake up just in time to take a test for school.

Overall, Quarantine Day 18 has not been so bad