#WIP: The Eighth Sin

[jilyawards]

The Jily Fandom Rec List 2024 is a compilation of Jily stories our readers want to keep an eye on for this year's awards.

AUGUST

A Matter of Fairness (completed, 3.9k) by @yallthemwitches. Rated E.

James' Quidditch match is derailed by a very distracting Head Girl.

stitch the wound (completed, 15.7k) by @loverscrossmp3. Rated T.

moments on a battlefield and in a home. there are only so many things you can do when in hiding before you begin remembering.

101 Padfoots (completed, 4k) by @tedwardremus. Rated G.

An accident in potions class results in 101 Padfoots running around Hogwarts while Lily and James work together to round them all up

swimming through sick lullabies (completed, 4.7k) by @gigglesandfreckles-hp. Rated T.

“So, I’ve got a question,” James says, leaning forward slightly. Lily nods without looking at him, busying herself with wiping the puddle of water from the condensation of the glass. “If you were meeting Kallus for a date, why’d you bring a book?” She looks up sharply, her cheeks flushing a soft pink. “What?” He smirks, letting his eyes flicker down toward the book in emphasis. “Were you anticipating a rubbish date?”

the dance of mischief and duty (completed, 3.5k) by @gigglesandfreckles-hp. Rated T.

Lily Evans is an infuriating mosaic of traits—beautiful and she knows it, captain of the House Quidditch team, and the loudest voice in nearly any room. She has this way of floating through the school, her laughter ringing out as she moves between corridors and classes, one arm usually slung around Sirius Black’s shoulder and the other gesticulating wildly as she spins tales of misadventure. But she also sort of has a point, and that’s possibly the most infuriating part about her.

the road to reunification is not so smooth (WIP, 10.2k as of 31 August 2024) by wisterial. Rated T.

Other than her persistent guilt and loneliness, Lily Evans is doing perfectly okay. That is, until her friends give her phone number to James Potter, an old schoolmate she would very much like to avoid. If that wasn't enough of a problem, Lily meets a boy in the local library, who appears just as lonely as her, and she begins to realize that he may be the son she gave up for adoption eight years ago. Or: The story of how Lily, James, and Harry reunite, and eventually learn how to be a family (with the help of time, their friends, and a lot of ice cream).

bad day wall (WIP, 14.8k as of 31 August 2024) by apalapucian. Rated M.

lily calls it the bad day wall. it's like this weird communal one-liner diary thing. every time i think i'm over her something happens and it hits me just as stupidly intense as all the other times. i'm SICK of it why can't people just LIKE by default the people they LOVE? why do they have to be separate feelings? it would make things so much less complicated or: in sixth year, lily starts talking to a stranger(?) through messages on a wall. she also befriends james potter. these two things are completely not related.

Guilty as Sin (WIP, 56.7k as of 31 August 2024) by ohevans. Rated E.

This is not sustainable. He cannot keep being so god damn perfect or it’s going to ruin her. It sort of already has, really. Lily Evans is a practical young woman, and having sex dreams about one’s best friend that leave one waking up hot and bothered at 3:32 in the morning is decidedly impractical. Especially when said friend—self-proclaimed early bird—started Mamma Mia! together over facetime at half-past eleven solely because she said she couldn’t sleep, even though he likes to get up early and go on long runs before work. And then she went and fell asleep mid-lyric to Dancing Queen and he sent her a string of text messages and stayed awake long enough to finish the movie, all the while she was passed out on the couch dreaming of his face between her thighs. Again. For the third night in a row. (It would be the eighth, but there was one night she had a stress dream about missing her Eighteenth Century Women’s Lit exam.) This is not sustainable.

Check out the previous months' recs too: January, February, March || April || May || June || July

And don't forget to check out the Jily Week 2024 masterlist!

[for-a-longlongtime]

WIP Wednesday

Thank you for tagging me @magpiepills (and for tagging me last week @mountainsandmayhem @milla-frenchy , plus @alltheirdamn @djarins-cyare @jeewrites the weeks prior to that! Didn’t get to post anything at that time...)

This is from my still untitled Santi fic for @perotovar’s Frith writing challenge (with some Frankie in it too, of course). I'm trying out something new by writing it in second person from Santiago's POV throughout the years:

When it’s your eighth birthday, your father suddenly shows up with presents that make you the envy of your friends. Boxing gloves, a large pocket knife - that your mom repeatedly tries to take away from you -, and you all eat so much dulce de leche cake. You wake up in the middle of the night because you hear your father arguing. The loud bangs that follow are unmistakingly gun shots, and you find one of the bullet casings the next morning. When you ask your mami about it, she gets so angry that you run away from home for the afternoon to hide until it gets dark and she’s had the drinks that make her happier. Unexpectedly, the boxing gloves end up giving you more time with your father. He teaches you how to throw a punch, how to avoid an attack, read someone’s body language. When to attack someone if you need to defend yourself. Which parts of the body are most vulnerable, and where to stab somebody to make them bleed out quickly. He’s proud, always, as he tells people about how good of a fighter you’re becoming. “Takes after me.” You don’t take much after him though - not really, but you do your best to make him continue to believe it anyway. Finally you start to believe it too and knock out a guy who is twice your age.

NPT (and if you read this, consider yourself tagged too!): @sin-djarin @milla-frenchy @mountainsandmayhem @reallyrallyauthor @lotusbxtch

@qveerthe0ry @perotovar @quinnnfabrgay-writes @oliveksmoked @ohforficsake

@almostfoxglove @penvisions @sp00kymulderr @crowandmousewritingco @prolix-yuy

@moonlitbirdie @my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction @virtie333 @alltheglitterandtheroar @nerdieforpedro

@avastrasposts @mysterious-moonstruck-musings @lady-bess @din-cognito @frenchiereading

@rhoorl @musings-of-a-rose @trulybetty @yopossum @demonsandbullets

@pimosworld @alltheirdamn @djarins-cyare @jeewrites @writefightandflightclub

@arcanefox207 @youandmeand5bucks @exquisiteserotonin @legendary-pink-dot

[thegreatobsesso]

wooooooo working on something exciting!!! ;D

The fellow who walks into the room is even more delicious than his profile picture, but Octavius recognizes the gentle eyes, chubby cheeks and perfect blonde curls that initially stopped him browsing. If there’s a single word that could sum up his appearance, it’d be, simply, sweet.

Octavius likes sweet things. Fancy little cakes, two hundred year old port from the Douro valley, and darlings like this who shuffle on their feet, unsure of themselves in the presence of a superior.

He’s got no choice, really, but to toy with him. 

“Well,” he says experimentally, looking him up and down. “Jules must’ve been having an off day, sending you up.”

It works a little too well - the boy can’t even hide the way his face falls, and Octavius can’t bear to see him suffer so, sap that he is. He takes his guest’s chin in his hand.

“Surely he knows better than to send me someone under the age of eighteen.”

Milo McKenzie huffs a little relieved laugh and blushes impossibly, vibrant as a cartoon character. “You’re a decade in the clear there,” he says shyly, which of course, Octavius already knows. “And a bit on top of that.”

“Good,” he says, tugging the man closer by his shirt. “That’s very good, because I like what I see.”

He’s thirty-two, a baby, really. A mental health professional, has an office space in Notting Hill and a modest flat of his own in Ealing. Caucasian, five-foot-five, blood type O positive, no major chronic health problems, single, and an Eighth Sin regular able to provide reliable references.

He relies heavily on these references; he wouldn't be caught dead in his own club. 

“Open your mouth.”

The boy complies without hesitation - and yes, Octavius will call him a boy in his own mind, and perhaps later out loud. But he’s got a solid four inches on him at least, so it’s the simplest thing to tip his head back and descend upon him.

Milo’s got to break for breath and that’s just fine - there’s more of him to kiss. Octavius turns his head to the side and sets upon his porcelain little neck, eliciting a beautiful whimper.

“Are you quite alright?” hums against soft skin.

“Yeah,” the boy gasps. “God. You’re. I wasn’t expecting, uh, this.”

“Mmm. Did Jules make me out to be some kind of untouchable ice sculpture?”

“I. I don’t. Oh.”

How adorable; the path of Octavius’s hands under his jumper has already disabled his ability to complete sentences. 

“So responsive. What do I call you, love?” He twists the boy’s nipples while looking straight into his eyes, delighted by the way he squirms under two different kinds of calculated attention.

“Milo,” he manages. “Milo’s good. That’s my name, so.”

He repeats the name out loud to see how it tastes. “That’s a very nice name,” he concludes. “I’m going to take you apart, Milo. Find all the secret little mechanisms that hold you together and snap them off one by one. How does that sound?”

He doesn’t think much in these moments, just lets the words tumble out like he’s communicating with a dear little animal who can’t really understand him anyway, but the boy exhales with a heady sort of pleasure that lets Octavius know it’s working.

“Fucking fantastic.”

“I’m sorry, what was that now?”

The corner of Milo’s mouth quirks up. “Fucking fantastic, sir.”

He withdraws his hands from under the jumper and ruffles his blonde curls, enjoying the tousled effect it provides. “Well done,” he praises. “Now, go lay on the bed.”

“Oh. You mean...?” The boy glances down at himself.

“Yes, in your clothes.”

He’s already sized up the fabric and knows it will stretch up and over the back of the boy’s head once his wrists are tied to the headboard. He’s in that sort of mood to ratchet up the tension very, very slowly - keep this one around for awhile.

--

✨ WIP intro

🔖 tag list: @winterandwords // @foxboyclit //@revenantlore

@space-writes // @indecentpause // @words-after-midnight

comment to be added or removed!

📝 all posts from WIP: gay crime bdsm story

[octakiseronliker]

WIP word game

Tagged by @jaggededges123 !!

Rules: you will be given a word. share one sentence/excerpt from your wip(s) that start with each letter of that word. My word was RIVAL:

R - “Reliance on carveouts and loopholes in the word of God to ⁠— improve House morale, or what have you, threatens to send the Eighth down the same sinful path the other faithless Houses have trodden over time,” Silas intoned.

I - “I’d like you to listen to me, please, Si,” Colum interrupts, and Silas is so startled by the nerve of him that his mouth snaps shut.

V - Very tightly, Colum had replied, “I have never been more certain of anything, Brother Capris, than I am of the fact that I’m sure I don’t what you’re talking about.”

A - All Colum has to do is look at him a little more when he speaks, and answer him a little more frequently, and feign a little more interest in the very obvious way Tern lowers his lashes to look at him.

L - Lyctors do not need to eat, strictly speaking, so he is deprived of the simple reprieve of starving to death.

[saintsenara]

work in progress tag game

[post the names of all the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then either post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it.]

thank you so much for the tag, @midnightstargazer!

it's come at a great time - after a bit of a fallow period because life was life-ing and because of a fairly unpleasant fandom experience which rather sapped my energy for all of this, i am back to the grindstone cranking out those wips, and so there is quite a substantial list of things below for us to talk about...

ask away!

currently updating wips [what's happening next?]

one year in every ten

scylla and charybdis

subluxation - answered here [rodolphus lestrange/percy weasley]

the war of the roses

coming in 2024 - female character-centric

[lots of these are, unsurprisingly, for @ladiesofhpfest, but i'm also trying to commit to posting female-centric things outside of the boundaries of the fest. since - and this shocks me too - it turns out women exist all year round...]

alle perisches and passes

arachne - answered here [eileen prince character study]

cinnamon

eighth time's the charm - answered here [mrs zabini/lord voldemort. yes, really.]

game, set, and match - answered here [augusta longbottom/minerva mcgonagall]

gardener's question time - answered here [severus snape/andromeda tonks]

lullaby

metallurgy - answered here [tom riddle/myrtle warren the sequel]

mightier than any wizard living - answered here [female voldemort]

o magnum mysterium

second lover

tall tales and remarkable riddles - answered here [delphini's parent trap era. yes, really really.]

the riddle song

the secret history

wouldst thou like to live deliciously?

coming in 2024 - male-character centric

a general history of invisibility - answered here [barty crouch jr./lord voldemort]

alchemy

blood brothers - answered here [harry potter & tom riddle]

droit de seigneur

effraction

first do no harm - answered here [harry potter/lord voldemort]

my cares forgotten among the lilies

my sin

sand

taking your life would not satisfy me

and then some wips which are still in the planning stages

a world of wonders and catastrophes

and the eyes of the sleepers

embers

fortune favours the bold

i capture the castle

neither shall there be mourning

stella maris

the consolation of philosophy

the dreaming spires

the matchmaker

please feel free to send asks about any of the above!

[wundergeek]

From my currently 15K WIP in which I am Very Normal About Wanting To Fuck Self-Esteem Into G'raha Tia

---

"What's on your mind?" I asked mildly.

"I... was wondering about what you said last night..."

"Care to be more specific?" I asked after a long moment of silence.

G'raha turned red and looked at his hands. "About what... what you think of me," he stammered.

I smiled and said nothing.

"How... why... do you think that? About me?"

I paused in my chopping to give him an incredulous look. "Raha, have you seen yourself? There's a reason you've never had any problems finding 'study partners'."

"Not that," he shot back, dismissing the compliment with an irritated wave of his hand. "I know I'm good-looking. I meant... the other stuff."

I just barely managed to refrain from calling him an idiot. As dense as he could be sometimes (including right now) - he did appear to be genuinely confused. "Any particular part of it that you're having trouble with?"

G'raha's turned nearly the same color as his hair. "You said I was... fascinating. But..." He squirmed and looked down at his hands. "I'm just... a nerd."

"A nerd who knows more about the Allagans than all of the Allagan researchers for the last thousand years combined," I countered sharply.

"Only because I have the Eye of Allagan - which didn't have anything to do with me," he protested. "It was a genetic lottery win."

I gave him sour look to let him know what I thought of that argument, but let it slide. "Alright then. A nerd who is extremely accomplished, even by the standards of my very long-lived people."

G'raha's ears flattened with dismay. "I can't take credit for any of that! Most of what happened on the First was your doing, and the rest... I was just playing out my part in a plan that took dozens of researchers almost two centuries to perfect. They mapped out the path and set me on it, all I did was walk it."

"Raha," I said with loving exasperation as my determination not to insult him went out the window. "My dear, sweet buffoon. I would hold your face gently while I say this if my hands weren't completely covered in onion, but... The 'path' they set before you was literally insane."

G'raha blinked at me in bafflement.

"Seriously. Try and step outside yourself for a moment and look at it from my perspective. You went to sleep to safeguard the Tower's secrets, never expecting that a bunch of scholars would break in two hundred years after the literal end of the world to task you with crossing time and space to travel to another Shard and undo everything that had happened since the Eighth Umbral Calamity - a task which would require you to forsake part of your humanity by merging your essence with the Tower. Any way you look at it, it's completely mad."

"But..."

"Furthermore," I continued, my voice steely. "No one forced you to 'play your part' in this grand plan - you could have said no."

"You know I couldn't have refused!" G'raha exclaimed, tail lashing as he narrowed his eyes in hurt confusion. "How could I, when I knew what hung in the balance? Knowing that I was the only person who could avert the Calamity, and thus save thousands, maybe millions of lives?"

"I didn't say it was a good choice. But it was a choice. And let's not forget," I pinned G'raha with a sharp stare. "You weren't even given a detailed plan! It was more the shape of a plan that you had to fill in by yourself. By your own account, it took decades to figure out how to summon me to the First, which you had to do while shepherding the community that grew up around the tower."

"I..." G'raha was too intelligent not to see the trap he was walking into, but doggedly persisted anyway. "I couldn't just leave them to get turned into sin eaters right on my doorstep. That would have taken more time away from my research."

"You didn't have to let them build their settlement around the tower itself, though." I countered. "Nor did you have to become their leader and protector. But you did, because it's what you do. You leave people better than you found them."

"This... you're changing the subject," G'raha complained, not meeting my gaze.

"Maybe a little," I admitted. "But only because it makes me crazy how little credit you give yourself for everything you've achieved, or for how much you had to go through in order to achieve it. Those researchers could never have hoped to comprehend the magnitude of the sacrifice you had to make! By the time I showed up in the First, you had so much love in your life. You loved and were beloved by a community of people whose lives you had shared for three generations. You had a daughter, who you raised to be strong, and good, and tirelessly excellent at what she does. You had everything to lose, and still you didn't hesitate to lay down your life when the time came."

There was so much more I wanted to say, but G'raha was all but bent in half under the weight of so much positivity, his shoulders shaking with barely-contained emotion, which made me afraid that I'd said too much already. "It's what you would have done," he choked out.

My heart twisted in my chest as I hurried around to the other side of the table to pull him into a crushing hug. "You are worth so much more than how much you're willing to sacrifice for others," I said fiercely. "And... Gods, Raha. I wish I could show you what I see, because you're the best of us."

G'raha shuddered and pushed his face into my shoulder. "Y-you can't possibly think that."

"I do," I shot back, my words sharper than my touch as I gently stroked his back. "So deal with it."

Finally, he seemed to have run out of arguments. So I held him as he cried, and again that big dangerous something reared its ugly head, too damn obvious to avoid putting a name to.

Love. I loved G'raha. And I knew in that moment I always would love him, just as I loved Alisaie.

I wanted so badly to say it, to give G'raha something he could hold onto when his self-doubt made believing in himself impossible, but doubt held me back. I couldn't tell G'raha I loved him without saying the same to Alisaie, and I didn't have the faintest clue of how she'd feel about the level of implied commitment that would bring.

Unfortunately, I dithered too long, and the moment was lost when G'raha pulled away and wiped his eyes. "Thank you," he whispered hoarsely. "No one has ever understood me so well as you. Indeed, I think you understand me better than I understand myself."

"We always see others more clearly than we see ourselves," I pointed out, giving him one last squeeze before I let go. "And lest you worry about living up to my standard, I'll tell you right now that there's no sign saying 'you must be this heroic to ride the Warrior of Light's dick'."

The joke had the desired effect as G'raha involuntarily snorted with laughter. "You can be a real ass sometimes," he said, his eyes sparkling with something much closer to his usual good humor.

"What can I say? Alisaie's a bad influence."

Read from the beginning on AO3

[lambourngb]

last line challenge

tagged by @ravens-words to share the last line I wrote-

I'm a little unfocused, so I'm writing a tiny bit on a number of WIPs

good fences make good neighbors-

"Ice took a slow sip of his beer, absorbing that silently. Mav found himself watching as his throat muscles rippled and moved as he swallowed."

forgive me my trespass - in the middle of his divorce, Ice is notified Mav is MIA presumed KIA -

Now he was morning transport for the kids while Sarah went back to college, and ‘every other weekend dad’ in his sterile condo in Imperial Beach while the divorce proceedings continued. In theory he was morning transport, he sighed, watching the clock. They were moving past the five-minute lateness and into the unforgivable territory of twenty minutes overdue.

“We’re going to be late to pick up Michael and Erica, and he knows that. Also, he’s twelve, you have uniforms, what could be taking so long?”

“He’s twelve with a girlfriend, so he’s probably putting too much gel in his hair and then washing it out,” Caroline replied, flicking the page in her paperback. 

“A girlfriend? He’s twelve! How could he be dating already?” He repeated, uselessly. That was too young, wasn’t it? Ice thought back to his own childhood, but he couldn’t remember girls being on his radar until much later. Most of his memories revolved around Jimmy Lebedev, the only other kid from the neighborhood that his father approved of coming to the house. Girls were for after his application to the Naval Academy had been approved. Then later, it was flight school. After flight school, it was qualifying for Top Gun. 

Then he met Maverick. For a year, while they were both instructors, it was only Maverick for him and it had been perfect, right up until it had ended.

“It’s not his first.” 

and from the always in progress Last of US AU -IceMav fusion-

“Fair enough. I lost my virginity at fifteen, to Bad Company, with a girl who was in the same group home I was. I ended up getting kicked out and then sent to a much worse place. And wow, when I say that outloud, I sound like a real cliche,” Mav joked, before turning up the volume as Glenn Campbell sang about how ‘there's been a load of compromising, on the road to his horizon’. “I hope your experience was less traumatic.”

“It was. But there was a bit of an age difference between us. Enough that when I think about it as an adult, I probably should have been more bothered at the time. But I was young and I wanted to know what it was like.”

“Ice! You had a ‘Mrs. Robinson’ type pop your cherry?” Mav crowed, laughing in delight at the revelation. “To Glenn Campbell. Did your parents ever find out?” 

“No comment.” This time he knew he was blushing. “But no, I’m very certain my parents never knew about that, they were out of town for over a week.” His mother had died just before his twenty-eighth birthday. He always wondered if she had guessed that her son was different, or had she written off his non existent dating habits as just his dedication to his career? His father had figured it out, but then it was much harder to hide his preferences as an unmarried 35-year old. They were both gone before he had gained the courage to ask if they were disappointed in who he ended up being. 

“You must have been quite the choirboy at sixteen, that your parents left you alone for a week.” 

“Still no comment.”

Maverick laughed again, poking Tom in the shoulder like the jerk he was. “That’s what I like about you, you only look like you follow every rule but not even you, Mr. Perfect, could resist an empty house with no adult supervision. I swear, teenagers can't live with them, can’t kill them without doing time. I think there’s a proverb about how our sins as kids are revisited upon us as adults when we have kids of our own.” 

[wingwaver]

if that eighth deadly sin thing is true then I have some new ideas for my WIP 👀

[z-mizcellaneous-z]

Hi, hope you're doing well today! For the AO3 Wrapped, how about...

13. What’s your longest work of the year?

15. What WIP are you taking into next year with you?

30. Biggest surprise while writing this year?

13. What’s your longest work of the year? My longest work will definitely be the very first bkdk fan fiction I wrote, Paris.

15. What WIP are you taking into next year with you? The one WIP that I've started writing that I'm probably taking into next year is Your Hand In Mine (In Every Universe).

I also am planning out the plot of two other fics, one called Etched Into My Skin, and the other called The Eighth Cardinal Sin.

30. Biggest surprise while writing this year? HOW FUCKING DIFFICULT IT IS FOR ME TO WRITE ANGST FROM IZUKU'S POV, OH MY GOD. IT IS SO MUCH EASIER FOR ME TO WRITE ANGST FROM KATSUKI'S POV. Also I definitely did NOT go into this year with "start writing fan fictions" ANYWHERE on my list, so there's that lol.

[writingoflarka]

WIP Introduction | The Eighth Sin

Genre: Zombies, Post Apocalypse Fiction, Drama, Adventure, Horror

Themes: Corruption, Trauma, Found Family, Friendship, Toxic Relationships, Loss, Grief, Hope, Consequences.

Status: Reworking the first draft with a new outlook

It's been a year since the outbreak spread globally. Some cities are completely destroyed, others abandoned by the few survivors who managed to stick it out for this long. After a rocky year, activity has managed to hit a low point. Clearing out areas is becoming easier, containment is manageable. The majority seem to think that normalcy is returning. For Justin, the outbreak left his town mostly unscathed. Things were manageable, and like many of the kids in his town, he was spared from having to do most of the dirty work that came with the outbreak. Until now. The next stage is coming, evolving, and this time it'll be harder to hide.

Taglist: @ageeksnerdyworld

[pencilofawesomeness]

Author Self-Interview

tagged by: @ljf613

Name: Pencil

Fandoms: *deranged laughter* Too many. I have written (and published) work for Fairy Tail, Genshin Impact, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Voltron: Legendary Defender, the Arrowverse, ~Disney~, RWBY, and Transformers: Prime. I have also written for Seven Deadly Sins, My Hero Academia, DC/Batman, Avengers, Danny Phantom, and soooo many others, but those are all WIPs and such. As for fandoms, well, there’s Miraculous Ladybug, Tales of Arcadia, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Tower of God, and more. I bounce around, and I never really leave anything behind, even if other interests are more at the forefront.

Where do you post: AO3. I used to, waaaaaay back in the dark days, post on ff.net, but not only have I forgotten my password, but I don’t like the interface as much, nor the things I posted when I was a Child, so AO3 it is.

Most popular multi-chapter fic: Of Dragons and Fairies, so says my AO3 statistics.

Most popular oneshot: Sparks in the Night, which I by no means expected, being that it was a fun little thing I wrote pretty much in one night. Technically it’s two chapters, but I originally wasn’t going to post the second part I wrote, but decided to later, so I would’ve made it a one-shot, probably, had I thought things through. Besides, it’s only 3k, so that’s a one-shot in my book. 

The “real” most popular one-shot would be Never Forgotten by Pencil-actually-made-it-one-chapter logic.

Favorite story you’ve written so far: F-favorite? Oh. Oh well, um, I have really, really enjoyed the How to Raise Your Dragon Slayer series, far more than I thought I would when I started Of Dragons and Fairies for the kicks and giggles. That said, my favorite installment so far is probably The Eighth Tower, but one of my favorite things I think I have written is a massive one-shot that’s an MHA-style FMA fic, except that I lost it in a harddrive crash and haven’t re-written it. ;-;

Fic you were nervous to post: I don’t know if I’m ever really nervous? I generally post things and accept whatever outcome (even though I always hope it’s well received, because I’m a selfish author who likes validation). That said, it would definitely be United. That story was, and still is, one of my favorite brain-children, but I guessed that it wouldn’t be popular, and I was right. I haven’t written on it in a long time, though I have always wanted to circle back to it eventually; I just figured I had time to follow my current interests, since nobody else was chomping at the bit. One day my child, one day...

How do you choose your titles: Heh. Heheheh. HAHAHAHA. Very carefully, actually, even though sometimes I try to just slap something on a page anyway because it needs one. Most of the time, I try to capture the theme of the story—or at least one of the core ones—and allow it to both serve as a descriptor and as a note that would tie the story together and highlight the theme. Though I do appreciate allusions, and I like to include those as well. (If anyone wants to send me an ask about how I came up with a specific title, I will gladly give my thought process.) Unfortunately, chapter titles—as much as I try—rarely get as much inspiration as the fic title.

Do you outline: Y— Yesssssss.... Sort of. I try. Ironically, my most comprehensive outlines exist as Spotify playlists. That said, HTRYDS probably has the best outline of anything I’ve written, though Tales of Valor had a decent outline as well. 

Complete: Mostly just one-shots—I’m actually pretty bad at completing things, heheh—but there’s a few. Outside of an ongoing series, Finding Home is my only completed multi-chapter. Inside of a series, but existing as comprehensive arcs, I have Of Dragon and Fairies and The Eighth Tower. 

Edit: Oh! And it’s short, but The Recruitment Spiel is an Art But Destiny Took the Fun Out of It is complete! And multi-chapter. Yeah.

Do you accept prompts: Kinda. I’m accepting prompts and ideas for extra scenes for the HTRYDS series, though I’ll tailor them to fit my canon if necessary. Generally, I have so many things of my own to write, any prompt I got would be placed in the back of the line (unless I got super inspired, which happens) but I do enjoy prompts, provided they’re not super shippy or specific.

Upcoming story you’re most excited to write about: Well, that untitled I-have-to-write-it-again oneshot for FMA that I mentioned is definitely something I want to do and post eventually. As for what I’m actively working on, I am really excited for the next HTRYDS arc (I’ve been trudging through TLS to get to it, ngl) which will be titled Demon Tales. There’s also this Seven Deadly Sins TOG AU I’ve had rolling around, though I may not continue that the way I had planned because 4KOTA gave me more ammo. 

Stories you’re most excited to read: Hmmm. I have quite a few things queued in my Marked for Later list, some that I’ve started and some that I wanted to check out, but as to what I have been currently reading/following, the Poisoned Dreams Continuity by StrangeDiamond (AO3), which is currently inbetween fics, and Homuncular Nature by Otaku553 are a couple of things I have been following. I also read a lot of Webtoons, and I have some Tower of God to catch up on, and Room of Swords and Lore Olympus are always welcome updates. I’m currently perusing some of my Marked for Laters, and in regular searches, to see what my next few reads will be. (Feel free to send me recs, but I also got a hefty stack of ATLA fics to check out, I know.)

tagging @therosefrontier @ladylynse and @blueskyscribe (if y’all want to, of course)

[melonsmessymusings]

Why I’ve grown to love Jenny Calendar...

This is a long one that’s actually the abridged version so let’s get to it. 

I have been exposed to the magnificent BtVS from a very early age which has undoubtedly shaped me as a person and my life in general. At Primary School I would run around the playground pretending to be Spike because I thought he was so damn cool and I wanted to be him. I wrote Buffy fanfiction in school for creative writing homework dating back as far as 2009 according to the homework books in the loft at my parent’s place. I actually wrote a fic in my GCSE English Language exam for the creative narrative piece (got an A*). S3E12, Kralik gave me nightmares for YEARS and it still unnerves me today. I know every episode pretty much word for word. You get the idea...

Before this year, my last re-watch was in 2017 for the 20th anniversary and I thought that I’d already formed my opinions on the characters and episodes pretty solidly. Then again, I was like 18 so what do you expect? For instance, I dislike Xander, though appreciate his value even when I want to slap him silly, I’m a die hard Bangel fan even though I prefer Spike as a character to Angel (that’s a debate for another time) and Giles is actually me. Like seriously, I have NEVER related to a character more than I do with 1X Rupert E. Giles. That man owns my soul and I will fight anyone who dare have the audacity to say anything remotely negative about him. 

The point is, my views on the show have been pretty consistent until this year. One of these views that has thankfully now changed is that a character I had always HATED was Jenny Calendar. Before you hunt me down and kill me, I’d like to assure you that’s no longer the case and I freakin love her and would die for her. Let me explain why:

As I said, I’ve been watching the show every year or so for as long as I can remember and I didn’t remember Jenny that much. She was unremarkable to me and therefore I didn’t form any emotional connection with her character. Similarly, what I did remember of her was that she lacked proper characterisation/depth and was only ever used for plot convenience which is true to an extent. I could vaguely recall who she was, but I never paid any real attention to her, WHICH IS THE EIGHTH DEADLY SIN! This time around, I started to notice Jenny for what felt like the first time and I’ve come to one simple conclusion: 

JENNY CALENDAR IS A WHOLE ASS MOOD

Don’t get me wrong, there are moments when I don’t like her, but that’s the same with everyone, and I think it makes them more rounded and relatable as characters. I would engage in debates as to why I hated her and believe me, it would end in tears and violence because I am stubborn and very convincing when it comes to arguing my point. I could dissect every episode, and if that’s something people would be interested in I will do so gladly, but this isn’t the place for that. 

Jenny walking into class hungover in I Robot, You Jane is literally me going to my lectures at Uni. Genuinely, I can think of at least seven occasions when I have in fact done the exact same thing. Jenny calling Giles a snob which, let’s be honest, he kind of is (sorry my love) is bloody brilliant. Her witty comments, fabulous innuendos, the list goes on. Plus, she’s absolutely breathtakingly beautiful, she really is the whole package. Again, I could talk about how I love her little smile for days without hesitation but we’re not here for that right now. At this point I’m a serious Calendiles fan, to the point where I’ve got about eight WIPs. 

As with other fandoms, sometimes I prefer characters in fics instead of the show/book/film/whatever and I stumbled across The Eclectic Bookworm one dreary April morning at around 3am, who’s Tumblr Blog I’m fairly sure is jenny-calendar. This alone is mostly responsible for my newfound love of Jenny. I read all of their fics in the space of five days. I cannot praise them enough, their work is absolutely astounding and I literally bounce up and down like a puppy when I log onto AO3 and see that there’s a new fic or an update. They converted me to the obsession over Jenny Calendar and all I can say is THANK YOU! 

During my lockdown Buffy Binge, my love for this character that I’d slept on for 20 years blossomed. As an example, I wept like an infant after Passion and refused to leave my bed for three days. Before that, I was only ever upset because Giles was upset, but now I’m devastated by Jenny’s death because of her as a character. I could go on for days but I won’t just now. Yes, I know that I still need to get into the comics (I’m years behind) but it’s a struggle ya know and I’m a student so poverty is a thing...

Over quarantine, I’ve been working on a fic that I’ve uploaded the first chapter of on AO3 that was based off a prompt from my friend in an attempt to get me to try something new. It’s my biggest fic ever for anything and I’m super nervous about it. However writing it has made me appreciate Jenny in ways I hadn’t previously, and it’s been invaluable for cementing my love for her.

The natural progression of time and becoming a somewhat functional adult has allowed me to view things differently, Jenny Calendar being one of them. It goes to show how incredible the show is for me to still get something out of it all these years later. I’m aware that I’ve explained all this appallingly and it’s a colossal mess like me but hopefully you see where I was aiming when I started this so yeah... congrats if you got through my word vomit, I just needed to get this off my chest

[abalonetea]

World building Wednesday! In your story with Hook and Silver (forgot the name), are there different types of water folk (mermaids, selkie, the like) depending on which sea you are in?

As Time Passes On! :D

a very good wip, currently heavily in the world building stage!

but yes, it does!

some of the sea’s don’t have any kind of intelligent life! the First and Second Sea’s, for example. the Seventh Sea, where Hook is from, is known for mermaid’s of a vicious sort, with sharp teeth and sharper minds.

the Third Sea has an abundance of selkies, and their magic is said to partially be what causes the waters to stay so turbulent and fierce, with waves constantly threatening to bring you under.

and then there’s the Eighth Sea, the Lost Sea, the sea that shouldn’t be, with monsterous creatures that have come up from the depths of the dark, their forms white and ghastly as they push through sin dark waters; with mermaids that aren’t quite right, tap tap tapping on the underside of the ship’s hull, and vicious dragons born from reflections of the moon in a dying wave.

[lefae]

TAG GAME TIME Y’ALL!! I was tagged by @storminmywake 🥰❤️

———

rules: tag 9 people you want to get to know better/catch up with and then answer these questions.

last song: ‘Istanbul (Not Constantinople)’ - They Might Be Giants (listening to my playlist for Carmen Sandiego while making coffee, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

last movie: Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse (I think... Pretty sure that’s the last one I watched, anyway)

currently reading: Doctor Who: Casualties of War by Steve Emmerson, which I’m almost finished with, and next up is The Turing Test by Paul Leonard - I’m reading through some of the Eighth Doctor Adventures novels, so books from that list will likely be the primary focus for a while

currently watching: just reruns of things I’ve already seen before mostly, like Classic Doctor Who, Firefly, Stargate: SG-1 & Atlantas, to name a few; or more likely I’ve got some Let’s Play playlist for a random video game running on youtube, either to properly focus on or just for the background noise

currently craving: coffee, which should almost be finished brewing now

working on anything right now?: a handful of WIP fanfics (one for the DWEU, mostly from Irving Braxiatel’s and Bernice Summerfield’s POV, but will also include the Twelfth Doctor, Clara Oswald, and brief appearances from another of the Doctor’s regenerations and one of his companions); also an Iron Man/Labyrinth crossover and an Iron Man/Stargate: Atlantis crossover, both as fic request fills); various coding updates to try to get the blogs caught up; multiple graphics projects for meme fills and/or just because I wanna

currently playing: Mass Effect: Andromeda for a second full playthrough. Heavily modded, because ME:A has a lot of issues, but it’s basically a weird clone of the original Mass Effect when you get right down to it (thanks, Gaming Sins, I can’t unsee that now that I’ve heard that)

tagging: I haven’t had coffee yet, and thus am feeling rebellious against the rules of the game, so consider yourself tagged by me and do the thing if you wanna

[belleslettres-love]

WIP Monday

It’s no longer Monday... and I get the impression that, when I was tagged by the fabulous @drarryruinedme7 it wasn’t Monday, either. But here goes...

Recently Finished: Not a damn thing. I’m embarrassed to say that the last thing I genuinely finished was That Which Marks You way back in July 2018 

*hangs head in shame*

Current WIP:  Unexpected Expectations -- about 13,000 words so far and suffering from extreme writer’s block. Super short summary: The story where Draco plays the piano and Harry falls in love.  Not-so-short summary:  After the War, everyone wanted something from Harry… and he fled to Romania and the arms of Charlie Weasley. But a year’s passed and he finds himself back in London… working at a coffee shop. After the War, St. Mungo’s refused to admit Draco into their Healer program… but he decided not to allow them to dash his childhood dreams, and enrolled himself in a Muggle nursing course. He fuels his nursing studies with an awful lot of coffee.

So what I’m working on instead: Sins of the Fathers -- this is a post-war fic that will involve prostitution and parenting, but not at the same time First lines: And the sons shall pay for the sins of their fathers, even unto the third generation… The words are ancient, the sentiment archaic… and the whole thing, Draco thinks, is just really fucking unfair.

Plot Bunnies (do we still call them that?): 

Romance Novels -- The day Draco found his mother’s stash of (Muggle!) trashy romance novels. Really it’s a story about consent mixed up with first kisses and first loves.

Not a Nice Story -- When I wrote That Which Marks You, I went back and forth as to how dark to make Harry. As it turns out, he was more damaged than dark and everyone got to live happily ever after. This is where the dark stuff went. 

Wolf -- After Harry and friends escaped the Manor, what happened to those left behind? (This question was inspired by a fic by @rose-grangerweasleyisbae.) What happens when you are bitten, but not turned, by a werewolf? What happens when Draco comes back to Hogwarts for eighth year... and has to share a room with Harry Potter? Well, obviously, I don’t quite know the answers to these questions--it’s a WIP, after all!

The story that started out as Dramione but I don’t do that anymore, so I’m going to change it to Drarry, but keep a lot of the same words because they were good words. It will begin when Bellatrix is torturing Hermione at the Manor. There will be a pregnancy and a prison sentence and eventually Draco will take up the position of Potions Master at Hogwarts and who is that blond child??? Chances are it will end in the bed of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. 

Now I think I’m supposed to tag people and then go work on one of these. The tagged people can play if they want to with their stories, inspire me to work on a specific story, or ignore this completely because isn’t everyone super busy right now? So... @fleetofshippyships @lqtraintracks @dewitty1 @shealwaysreads @drarryismylife101 @gloster @s4900847

[experimentaldata]

You’re my favorite superhero.

Guys I wrote another thing! Based on a @deniigi​ prompt, and beta read by @momentofmemory​ and @that-one-blind-writer​.  It’s a rough sequel to the “Froggy Nelson�� bit. Also posed on Ao3 (same username), so shameless plug for that on the off chance I actually finish my other wip there haha...

Also I would like to point out that I don’t condone drinking irresponsibly and have only written in for accuracy. Because there’s kids on this side :P

    Most people knew much more about Foggy Nelson than they did about Matt Murdock, or at least thought they did. His gregarious nature and bellowing laugh--if you lived within two doors down from him, you had a front row seat to his emotional state. And since he never met a stranger, everyone assumed they knew all there was to know about him, especially in contrast to his recluse of a roommate. But there were plenty of things people didn’t know about Foggy. He hated the Dave Matthews band. His favorite color was green. He had a scar on his right leg from falling out of a tree as a kid.

     But the thing about Foggy that most surprised people was that he wore glasses. It was probably another contrast people assumed existed between Foggy and Matt. If one was a mystery, the other was an open book. If one was blind, the other must be sharp-eyed.

     Foggy, however, had worn glasses ever since he was a little kid. Coke-bottle glasses, his mother called him. In fact, that scar on his leg came from an unfortunate misjudgement in the height of the drop. But coke-bottle glasses didn’t get you very far with the girls in the eighth grade, and so they soon went by the wayside, along with his beloved Oscar the Grouch shirt and scruffy red corduroy pants.

*********************************

     To everyone’s shock, Matt had gone home and gone to bed that evening. He had been moping around the office with a bum ankle and sore ribs all week, and had managed to catch the killer virus Karen and Foggy had just fought off. By now, his head felt like it was fit to burst, and his office voice and Daredevil growl were barely distinguishable. It killed him to be grounded from protecting the city. He’d taken to wearing headphones to bed to drown out the cries for help that came, night after night. It helped. Some.

     Regardless, that is why he almost didn’t hear his phone when he got a text message at—3:20? 3:30 in the morning?—oh no, it was Foggy. The message was unintelligible to his phone. Maybe he got drunk and locked himself out. Wouldn’t be the first time, he thought with a sigh. Soon, he heard pounding on the door that gave him his answer. He grabbed one of his crutches and limped over to the front of his apartment.

The odor of cheap whiskey and cheaper perfume nearly bowled him over.

“M’down here, Matt,” slurred Foggy.

“I don’t smell blood.”

“Wha…?”

“You’re not hurt, are you?”

Foggy let out a drunken giggle. “It’s not exactly… ah… well I’m ok if that’s what you’re saying. I just...”

“Just what Foggy? Are you drunk?”

“What? No! Maybe. A little. But that’s not th’ problem, I just… damn this’s so embarrassing.”

Matt yawned and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. “You can tell me anything, Foggy. But only for the next two minutes. I’m on some pretty strong painkillers.”

Foggy laughed again. “Doesn’t that go against your, like, ninja code ‘r something?”

Matt shrugged. “I’m a changed man. Besides,” he said with a wave towards his crutch, “can’t fight like this anyway. Now are you gonna tell me what’s wrong or can I go back to bed?”

Foggy was giggling so hard he could barely talk, but eventually he managed to spill out, “I can’t...can’t find my glasses.”

Matt blinked. “You wear glasses?”

“Not really...they’re really thick, an’ ugly as sin, so usually I wear contacts. Wait,” he said, pausing to belch,  “y’didn’t know I wore glasses?”

“Guess I forgot. So why aren’t I in bed right now?”

“Well I was over at Marci’s place, and, y’know, maybe we had a couple of drinks, things happen, I’m spending the night. And I didn’t have my stuff because I didn’t—didn’t wanna assume, y’know? But my glasses were in my briefcase...figured I’d be ok. We ended up fighting a little after that, and I was already ready for bed, but she kicked me out so now I’m here.” He belched again, then sighed.  “And I went to scratch my eye and knocked my glasses off and now I can’t find ‘em. So yeah,” he said mournfully. “That about brings us up to date. What th’hell are you doing?”

Matt had eased himself to the ground and was feeling around them in ever-widening circles. He clicked his tongue and hummed softly to himself as he went.

“You’re...singing?”

“It’s called the Loud Moron’s Jig,” Matt said with an Irish brogue, “tune from the Old Country.”

“Jerk.”

“Hey, I’m not the one who answered a booty call.” Foggy felt something being pressed into his hand, then heard Matt grunt as he pulled himself up to his feet. He shoved his glasses onto his face before Matt could wipe the grin off of his.

“There’s your specs, Velma,” Matt said, “I’m going back to bed.”

“Wha—how—I looked for like ten minutes!”

“Well, Velma, you may be good at solving wacky Halloween hijinks your friends, but your pal Matty’s a blind ninja. Besides,” he said, tapping his forehead, “radar sense.” He pushed off from the wall he was leaning on and started down the hallway towards his bedroom.

“Hey Matt!” Foggy called after him.

“What now?”

“You’re my favorite superhero!”

“Go to bed, Foggy,” Matt said with a laugh.