#about my fantastic beasts fanfiction

[uefb]

A Wild and Precious Life — Chapters 1 & 2

Summary

In early 2024, Newt Scamander is injured during a conservation project in Burkina Faso. As usual, he gets better, but then… he doesn't. Meanwhile, Tina Goldstein is head of the auror office within the UK’s Department of International Magical Cooperation. Her sister and Jacob have just moved to London; and she and Newt are meant to be married in a matter of weeks. When Newt’s routine checkup suddenly turns concerning, the news comes hurtling at a speed they aren't prepared for... It turns out wizards aren’t impervious to everything; and now Newt and Tina are stuck between a wedding and a timeline that's determined to change their lives.

Opening Scene (Chapter 1)

Newt pounded up the stairs from the basement and screeched to a halt in the kitchen, hiking boots squeaking on the tiles as he dropped his [perfectly unordinary] briefcase onto the floor just a wee bit harder than he’d meant to... His eyes scanned the room for wherever he’d last left the tea kettle and – invariably – his ever-missing, godforsaken phone.

The sound of Tina’s hair-drying charms buzzed from the bathroom as he cast a location spell for both:

A bright ping!! drew him to a stack of papers by the stove (which, shuffling through them, revealed his half-charged phone, already stacked with notification banners…); while a gasping hiss! led him straight to the kettle in the sink, where he’d apparently left it the night before when they’d hurried to the bedroom.

(Monday night had been Tina’s 28th birthday and—after a well-deserved get-together at her favourite restaurant with their her various friends and colleagues… Well… Upon returning home, Tina had simply needed celebrating.)

But now, in the light of day—(as Newt struggled with the inevitably stubborn lid on the top of the kettle)—he caught sight of a pale gold band beside a maroon-stained pair of wine glasses, the ring’s warmth contrasting subtly with the brush-stained silver of their kitchen sink...

He gave up on the kettle and charmed it open instead, shouting over his shoulder (always a battle over Tina’s clatter in the bathroom — gentle mornings were not her forté):

“Tina love!”

But he paused then, swearing under his breath, for he’d enchanted the water in the kettle to boil before even thinking of setting it on a trivet, and thus his hand—

“You’ve left your ring by the sink again!”

He shook out his burnt fingers with a huff, pulling a battered green travel mug (Central African Conservation Conference - 2018) from a cabinet just as the drawer in the bathroom finally slammed shut—

“I keep telling you…” he muttered absently, and Tina’s routine morning noises suddenly died out. “It’ll get knocked into the drain. Or Teddy’ll run off with it. And I haven’t got another royalty check until after the wedding, so if you could –”

But he stopped mid-sentence then, for Tina was suddenly beside him with an abrupt and unexpected tenderness, slipping the citrine ring back onto her finger and pressing a firm kiss to his cheek. She dropped a fragrant Earl Grey tea bag into his mug before nudging it toward him and suggesting firmly, crossing her arms–

“Add honey to that, Newt. Your cough sounded terrible this morning.”

Newt flicked his eyes up to her at that, summoning the honey with an acquiescent but mildly amused grimace. “It did, didn’t it?”

For good measure, he squeezed a half lemon into his travel mug with a half-smile (the tagline ‘I survived erumpent mating season!!’ still made him laugh, even six years later); and Tina moved a step closer to brush a lock of unruly hair from his brow.

“And ask about it at the healers, won’t you?” she prompted. “ When you go in for your check-up? At your final examination this afternoon.”

“Oh - um - right… ”

He most definitely hadn’t forgotten about his second [three-month] follow-up for his January runespoor bite. (There was a reason Tina had merged their calendars the moment they moved in together the year before, and it certainly wasn’t because Newt was the superior timekeeper...)

“It’s been two weeks and the pepper-up’s not working,” Tina continued from where she’d crouched in front of the refrigerator, eventually selecting a Pyrex dish of leftovers to shove into her bag. “Maybe you picked somethin’ up in Spain last month?”

“Ah - no - I couldn’t have,” he murmured, flicking his wand to imbue Hello Newt!!! St. Mungo’s! 12.20! on his hand with waterproof ink and a buzzing reminder spell so he wouldn’t forget. “I mean, apart from pox, humans can’t catch things from dragons, can they? Their diseases simply aren’t zoonotic. And none of the ones I was working with were even sick. Breeding consult, you see,” he clarified.

“Fine, Mr. Scamander,” Tina harrumphed goodnaturedly, and then she was back at the counter, reheating coffee to pour into her own simple travel mug. “But – honey – coughing up a lung under the chuppah wouldn’t be cute, so maybe humour me this time.”

“Well. When you put it that way…” he conceded, returning to the whirlwind of his own morning preparations to get out the door. “Yes, I’ll ask. Of course.”

He had just finished attaching a leather strap to his briefcase to make travelling easier when he suddenly – (actually) – caught his fiancee’s eye, fully registering her striking comportment and demeanour for the first time that morning.

He immediately paused (frozen), for Tina stood particularly straight-backed, in an uncharacteristically well-polished outfit, having apparently swapped her casual slacks and button-ups for a fitted maroon pantsuit, a crisp white dress shirt, and a pair of no-nonsense (but brightly shined) chunky black oxfords.

She raised her eyebrows as Newt continued to stare at her. “Yes, Newt?”

“You - “ He paused to swallow. “You just look very nice today, Tina…”

A beat.

“Thank you.” She smiled and blushed, adjusting the lapel of her cropped suit jacket before taking a step closer to smooth out a wrinkle on Newt’s—conversely—well-loved summer cardigan.

In return, he ran a gentle thumb over a spot on her neck, dissolving the light love bruise back into the creamy tone of her skin with a subtly murmured wandless spell.

“I’ve got planning for that international summit—the one in Vienna—this morning,” she explained with a slight frown. “And then meetings with the French consulate all afternoon.” A huff. “Like, all afternoon, Newt… It’s a pain! But Queenie insists I’ll be taken more seriously if I look my best, so—”

She gestured at her outfit –

“Here we are, I guess.”

Newt tilted his head with a frown, rocking on his heels before patting down his pockets to check for keys, notebook, phone.

“You ought to be taken seriously because you’re the best international auror they’ve got,” he argued haltingly, shoving his wand up his sleeve. “Not just because you dress better than them.”

She guffawed and patted him on the back (in such a way that he would have been offended if it were anyone else), flicking her wand to turn the lights off.

“It might be 2024, Newt, but I’m still a witch under the age of thirty in international magical relations.”

And then they both wove through the slightly cluttered front room of their flat (currently littered with various wedding paraphernalia) toward the door, travel mugs clutched tightly in hand, as she concluded:

“It’s not exactly a walk in the park.”

“Yeah, yes, that’s true,” he acknowledged, when they paused on the stoop. Tina fumbled for her keys and then cast a subtle protective ward on the door behind them. “S’not exactly a walk in the park as an autistic scientist either, I suppose.”

“No, it’s not,” she laughed, and then he leaned in—accidentally bumping their mugs together—to press one hand to the side of her face and soundly kiss her.

“And that,” she murmured against his lips, as they pulled slightly apart, “is precisely why we work…”

Newt smiled, and then shoved Pickett back down into his cardigan pocket when he began to peek out.

“But please don’t lose track of time in the highlands and miss your appointment again!” Tina suddenly pleaded. “I just want everything cleared before the wedding, before our honeymoon…”

“Look,” he countered flatly, “I won’t forget as long as you don’t forget the takeaway.”

“Deal. Thai. 6PM,” she agreed, taking a step further away from him and then looking both ways to check for any particularly attentive Muggles… (They’d at least long ago charmed the front of the flat to be resistant to technological recording devices.) “All clear then.”

A beat.

“Be safe, Newt!” she insisted with finality, and he rolled his eyes.

They squeezed one another’s hands one last time before dropping them into pockets and – on the count of three – they each disapparated to their respective jobs: one to a stuffy conference room in the Department for International Magical Cooperation, and the other one to a crevasse on the highest mountain in the United Kingdom.

[otaku-tyriq]

Can I ask your top 10 fav fics ever (from any fandom, if you don't mind)?

Also, just curious, is there a story behind your name "otaku-tyriq"?

Hmmmmm that is a tough one because I read so many fanfictions on a daily basis xD but i will try my best.

My absolute favourite has got to be Shed Skin by Penguinabominations and snowxhanyouxqueen

It’s a fanfiction from the Yakuza franchise and is set within an alternative Version of Yakuza 0. An absolutely fantastic read, a gorgeous writing style and intriguing characterisation of Kiryu and Majima. Highly recommend it, but please read the tags first for potential Triggers.

Broken Paradise by Anonymous

https://archiveofourown.org/works/53892664

This fanfic man… It lowkey broke me. Another Yakuza fanfiction this time focussing on my favourite character from the franchise: Ichiban Kasuga. The fanfic heavily discusses themes of SA but in a respectful manner. But still only read this if you are in a mentally safe place. But like shed skin, this fan fiction NAILS the characterisation of the cast, with its dialogue sounding like it could be straight from the game itself.

Angel in the Architecture by just_a_lil_shipmate

Honestly a fantastic Trigun AU where Wolfwood gets put in charge to be the new priest at an old town’s church. But soon he realises that he is not alone in that old building. 10/10 highly reccomend it to any and all Vashwood shippers.

My All is in the form of you by FairyCrest

Over the past year or so Haikaveh has slowly started to replace Zhongchi as my absolute favourite Genshin ship of all times and this adorable little one shot collection is like a box of chocolates to me. Tiny yet packed with sweetness

The world I mean to destroy by nekomancer

A Sherliam Titanic AU, but by god did this one have me hooked from start to finish. The characterisation is a bit off at times but overall a really good read

The Kid and the Beast by Anonymous

A Beauty and the Beast Monkie Kid AU focussing on Sun Wukong and MK, but rather then shipping Sun Wukong and MK, it depicts the story in a father-son/found family angle. An overal really wholesome story

The Dragon Prince by scrunt413

A fantasy Asoryuu Fanfiction. What if the brave knight finds himself on a quest to defeat the evil dragon and rescue the kidnapped prince, only to find out that…. The dragon is the kidnapped prince?

The King’s Consort by Flowerlady Aerith

I love Souyo, I love the princessbride. This au is tailormade for me

By any other pen name by Prudabaga

A moshang fanfic in which Shang Qinghua anonymously publishes erotic novels about himself and Mobei-Jun. Hilarity and smut ensue.

The Alpha King & I by caelestisxyz

I know A/B/O is not for everyone and that is absolutely understandable. But regardless this fanfic has such a dope concept of a rebirth AU that i haven’t really seen recreated since by any other fanfic author. So if you don’t mind a/b/o aspects in your story i highly recommend this one.

As for the reason why my username is Otaku-tyriq, the story behind it is actually pretty boring. When i was 11 i realised i was genderfluid and literally just googled "genderneutral names” and found the name Tyrik. So i changed the letter k to a q for my tumblr name and most of my social media handles as most usernames with the name Tyrik was usually already taken.

The otaku part of my username is self explanatory. I’m a geek who loves japanese pop culture and media. An otaku.

[being-of-rain]

I thought I'd continue my usual trend of writing my thoughts down on new Doctor Who episodes, by talking about The Star Beast. As usual, I set out to write something quick and concise, but the Wrarth Warriors busted down my door and told me that I legally couldn't.

Apparently I still have the impulse to describe Doctor Who episodes as 'fun', but by and large it's a fun show! And a fun episode! Even if I'm not as obsessed with him as a lot of fans, RTD has a charm which it's hard not to enjoy, especially with lots of little jokes and bits of physical comedy (I love little bits of physical comedy). And it's a funny episode, I was laughing from the moment the Doctor picked up a box, saw Donna, and put the box back again. Well that's not true, I was laughing from the moment I saw David Tennant just standing in green screen space like he was about to tell me the exciting new direction he intended to take the company. I'm glad everyone else seems to find that as funny as I did.

Another word I could use to describe the episode is a bit surreal. Having Beep the Meep and the Wrarth Warriors on screen was a little surreal, but strangely I found it even more so that the Doctor was walking around not knowing who Beep the Meep was. I mean obviously that was always going to be the case, but all Doctor Who mediums just live together inside my head and it was just weird to see him not recognise an iconic enemy. Maybe that was just me. Oh but Beep and the Warriors looked fantastic! It's hard to believe they're all physical effects! I really wasn't too interested in the UNIT gunfight that didn't really do much for the story, but if the new big budget lets aliens look that good then I'm fine with it. Other slightly surreal or strange things involved finally watching Doctor Who again after more than a year's break, watching it on Disney Plus rather than Australia's ABC channel, and seeing Ruth Madeley on-screen as UNIT's scientific advisor when she's also playing a companion of the Sixth Doctor in the audios at the moment.

Oh and, of course, having the Tenth Doctor and Donna back on-screen, and the TV show doing what fanfiction writers have been doing for 15 years. That was really surreal. I definitely like the two of them, but I don't have the same rampant nostalgia for their time on the show like lots of people do. I'm glad lots of people are enjoying the nostalgia aspect, but I'm also glad this is a mini-series rather than a full one. And already there's some aspects back of RTD's writing which I'm not super fond of- like conclusions that try to use technobabble and music-swelling emotional moments to smooth over the fact that some things are just happening without much cause or set-up. RTD's usually pretty good at that too- that's how the whole DoctorDonna thing started in the first place, after all- so Donna and Rose just 'letting go' of the metacrisis did feel like it fell unusually flat. Especially with it being paired with a 'women are better than men' moment which felt more like something from a Moffat script (I say this as a fan of both these writers).

Okay, that was just me trying to get all of my negatives out of the way! On the flip side, Rose inheriting the metacrisis and saving the day was a wonderful revelation, and I love that daughter/mother and loving family relationships were so important on the whole. Seeing Sylvia stumble with pronouns but still try was so lovely, as was Donna being so aggressively supportive of her daughter. And Shaun was a small role but so hilarious.

The chat outside the Tardis was great too, with Shaun dunking on the Doctor, and Donna being genre-savvy enough to stop her daughter getting into the Tardis but not enough to save herself. The new Tardis itself was a little empty to me (I'll always prefer more homely interiors) but was still extremely cool. All I want is for the show to come up with excuses for creative ways to use the mood lights. And I couldn't imagine a better ending to the episode than the console exploding because Donna spilt coffee on it, 10/10 no notes.

I know basically nothing about the next episode, and it seems that's the case for most people, so I'm terribly excited about it! It seems potentially scary spooky 👀 I'm so here for that

[sweettjrose]

I really really like your writing and style of narrative (I am still reading your detective Mickey one, I am interested!), I have always wanted to write my stories and OC stuff like that , but it never turns out good.

Anyway, my question is if you any inspirations or reference when it comes to writing, and if so, what are them?

Thank you so much!!! 💕💕💕

It warms my heart so much to see so many people like my story and get invested. I always wanted to get into fanfic writing, but could never imagine seeing so many positive reactions. I worked really hard and I can't wait to share more of what I have planned for this series.

As for your question, it is a simple question, but I actually have a complicated answer lol. Because even though I am writing fanfiction, I feel like a lot of my inspiration comes from things outside of just writing such as tv shows, games, comics, movies, etc. There are so many stories that had such an impact on me like Undertale, Deltarune, Mob Psycho 100, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Gravity Falls, Pokémon Black/White, Steven Universe, Gurren Lagann, Kung Fu Panda, Bojack Horseman, The Great Mouse Detective, Beauty and the Beast (Tbh Disney movies in general), and so much more. I've always wanted to write something just as emotionally impactful and compelling as they were to me. I feel like I daydream of cool moments as well as fun story ideas but never really put them on paper. But one day, while hyper-fixated on Mickey Mouse, I couldn't take only thinking anymore and I decided to just start writing them down and that is how I got my start.

What has also helped is following other creators that have been making their own wonderful stories also based on characters in the whole "Mickey and Friends"-verse. I've been following "Everything is Blue", an incredible story that tackles the relationships that Bud Flud had before he became the Liquidator by @trishabeakens . I also love the amazing duckverse comics by @modmad that do such a brilliant job giving Magica De Spell and Gladstone Gander so much depth with beautiful illustrations. Also, my friend @skullsemi makes many terrific comics about her "The Backup Detectives" AU that explores Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Oswald, Clarabelle, and everyone in such a fun role, and even other people started to add their own take to their AU. That isn't even everyone. Just seeing so many people share their own fantastic work and take on these characters or any other characters are really big inspiration when it comes to getting the push to make my own stuff.

However, I can't talk about inspiration and references and not bring up all of the "Mickey and Friends" media that is the root of my story. The animated shorts, "The Three Musketeers", "The Three Caballeros", "The Goofy Movie", Ducktales 2017, "The Prince and the Pauper", "The Christmas Carol", the comics (Gottfredson, Barks, Rosa, Nucci, Topolino, etc.), Darkwing Duck, and just so much more have all been key references when writing my fanfiction series. Some of the inspiration is obvious such as "Mickey Mouse Outwits the Phantom Blot" for the Pilot. But it is more than that. It is also the feel that all of these stories give. What I like about all of these stories is how well they can balance a fun cartoony comedic vibe, but also have strong emotional moments. In "The Goofy Movie" you can have a musical number where people dance on cars in the same movie where two adults have a serious conversation about trust and the best way to parent a child. That is what I am trying to catch in my story. And now that I think about it a lot of the previous stuff I mentioned in the paragraph above also have a pretty similar balance. I think there is something about being able to be goofy but also sincere that speaks to me. The idea of exploring the tough parts of life, but still holding onto hope and having fun along the way. It is genuine. I want to be genuine.

I know you mentioned earlier about how you don't think you're writing is good. I haven't seen it (mostly because I don't know who you are lol), but I think you are being a bit hard on yourself. The fact that you are writing is better than doing nothing and I would say just write what you want to. Write what you enjoy and find fun. Write what gets you to actually write. Because if I could be honest, I am really writing mostly for me. This is something I've been wanting to do forever and I am having so much fun.

[eliyah-de-dark]

Ok ok okokok so fun fact about me: I like to sit with lore from different media and ask the Questions, right? Like my first date with my husband was rewriting the sequel trilogy for Star Wars because we liked the concept of Rey, Kylo, and Finn, but we didn't like the execution. I enjoy looking at things and thinking of how to tell compelling stories within the constraints of said universe.

And tiktok just reminded me that Harry Potter exists. Specifically, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. And the dumbass plot of "If we don't stop Grindelwald, then WWII can't happen :/" and all it's implications.

Now I haven't written HP fanfiction in a while, but the muses are singing softly and I feel the urge to write about a young witch/wizard risking the secret of the magical world to help their neighbors flee the gestapo and the aurors caught between helping and arresting them.

[roguepen]

I was asked to compile some fanfic recs and I've decided to put some out for you all to read at your leisure. It's mainly Harry Potter - because the fandom took full control there - and I'm recommending other fics from mostly smaller fandoms as well. I don't think you need to read the source material to enjoy most of these.

Under the cut!

Harry Potter

The Secret Diary of Hugo Granger-Weasley, Aged Thirteen and a Half - by FloreatCastellum

The Quest to Find 12 Ways to Charm Witches - by FloreatCastellum

A Brief History of Red Telephone Boxes - by FloreatCastellum

She has written my one true headcannon for Hugo Weasley in three fics - he's a menace, he's unintentionally hilarious and just the perfect combination of Ron and Hermione and the take on the Adrien Mole novels is sheer perfection. All of her work is great and stand out on their own merits - but I come back to these when I need a really good laugh because she really understands those awkward early teen years so well.

FloreatCastellum has retired from fanfiction to pursue original works, but her backlog is extensive, interesting and engaging. Her tumblr is still active and going through her asks is a treat into examining her though processes and clarifying some details. You can find the tumblr here @floreatcastellumposts

Order of Mercy - by MandyinKC

I'm very past due to reread this - she started posting this on FFN when I was teaching in South Korea and I remember reading the updates in the evening before bed. It's a fantastic take on another prospective on the last book and probably did play a part in my own writing. This is one of the best takes on an alternate prospective of Deathly Hallows from the shared prospectives of Bill, Fleur, Percy and Audrey as they form their own small resistance group.

Irrational - by RonsGirlFriday (aka @constitutionalweasleymonarchy on this hellsite)

This is the fic that made me appreciate the first person prospective and showed me what kind of strong character voice that can offer. The way Audrey is written here is fantastic, she's quiet, observant and is going through her very quiet life as it begins to shift through meeting new people. The story is not overwhelmed by an intense narrative, it's a quiet day to day sort of story. This is one of the primary inspirations for the POV for One for Sorrow and its early tone before the madness set in. I will drop everything I'm doing if I get word of an update or new publication.

Oo0Oo0

Bridgerton

a most assured bliss - by starkswinterfelling

I know this fandom has taken off in recent years and has a lot of good fics, I don't have time to go through them all these days but I can recommend this one with confidence as a long, extended epilogue to book 3 of the series from the prospective of the elderly housekeeper as she ends up in a web of well-meaning secrets between her employers. It's very well written, very funny and a reminder that all secrets come out eventually.

Oo0Oo0

Daddy Long Legs - Jean Webster

Dear Mr. Ben E. Factor - by orphan_account

This is one of the finest epistolary novels. It's short and covers about four years of Judy Abbott's life as a college student paid for by an unknown benefactor. This book is a product of its times in regards to race and class politics of the era. If that's not something you want to go through, that's fine, some kind soul has rewritten the novel for modern sensibilities and has lost none of what made the original novel so endearing.

Oo0Oo0

Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

The Abduction of Éomer, King of Rohan - by Lialathuveril

The author is now self publishing and I recommend all the work on her page. This is one of the stories I made sure to save in case FFN ever truly dies - it's funny, well written and a slightly insane concept that just works.

Oo0Oo0

Beauty and the Beast

Honey, You're Familiar (Like My Mirror Years Ago) - by hester_latterly

No words for this modern Beauty and the Beast AU. It's well written, engaging and a character study in the guise of... I just don't want to say modern fairy tale, because it's a good definition, but it's ultimately a story about two lonely people coming together. Unfinished, but great!

[itshype]

Ao3 WIP Tag Game!

I was tagged by @nonamemanga a while ago but I didn't have time to do this until now! Thank you for thinking of me!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? Thirty Eight! (37 on my account and 1 that is currently anonymous!)

2. What's your AO3 word count? 170,914 (oooh!)

3. What fandoms do you write for? Netflix's Wednesday (2022), DC Comics (Mostly Batman), Danny Phantom. Other fandoms I have written for but I wouldn't consider myself as currently writing for are; Disney's Descendants first film, Teen Wolf, Fantastic Beasts and where to find them the first film and Netflix's The Witcher. If we're counting my long-abandoned fanfiction account I have also written Dr Who fic, I think maybe a Sherlock one and Without a Trace (2002-2009)

4. What are your Top 5 Fics by Kudos?

In ascending order:

5) Hang On, I Still Need You (Descendants)

4) The Captivating Case of Percy’s Imaginary Date (Fantastic Beasts)

3) Bad Boys, not Bad News (Teen Wolf)

2) Espy Me, While I Watch You (Teen Wolf)

1) a language they cannot understand (Teen Wolf)

5. Do you respond to comments? If I can think of something to say! I can't always though unfortunately.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I generally write the most unrepentant fluff so I think Once Bitten, Never Shy? But I still wouldn't classify that as angst.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Again, most of them are pretty happy! I'm not going to reread 38 fics to check but the overall fluffiest, happiest AU I've written that comes to mind is The Only Garden My Heart Will Ever Grow In.

8. Do you get hate on fics? I don't think I've gotten hate in my comments but I did get an unkind comment on Tumblr fairly recently saying I needed to get a lot more feedback before publishing (I do have betas) - amongst other less friendly suggestions.

9. Do you write smut? No sorry. When reading fics I'll be like "Hmm this unsafe-kink, publicly-set, PWP is a little too vanilla." But when writing I'm like, "They kiss...with the tongue....I guess."

10. Do you write cross-overs? Yep! A bunch! I haven't always loved crossovers but over the last few years I've really come to enjoy them. On my account is a few DC x DP fics (Danny Phantom and DC Comics) and one, very poorly written Batman and The Witcher I never want to think about again.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated? Niet.

12. Have you ever cowritten a fic before? Yes! Not all of them are published and I don't think I currently have a cowritten fic on my ao3 account but yes, as a process. I enjoy it but also find it challenging to blend writing approaches and deal with time zones.

13. What is a WIP you would like to finish but doubt you ever will? All my fics are completed. However I just begun a new AU (Wyler) that's VERY ambitious so we'll see how that goes.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship? Malec. Have I ever written a Malec fic? No. Will I? Probably not. The fandom is low key intimidating. But in my heart I have so many AUs.

15. What are you writing strengths? I think my comedy and worldbuilding?? Maybe? I'd feel more confident if a reader of mine weighed in on this.

16. What are your writing weaknesses? Length. It took me almost the whole year to get to the end of A Standing Reservation in the Eye of the Storm. I'll never be one of those people who can smash out 30k in a few days.

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I'm not 1000% sure what this question refers to. I think it's important to check that any real-world language is written correctly. But with real-world languages AND conlangs, ensuring readability is so important. My preference is probably the sentence in English with the dialogue tags something like "he said in flawless Mando'a" but an immediate translation in parentheses at the end of the paragraph (hover text is good but doesn't work on mobile) is decent OR have the in-text reply make the dialogue fully evident:

"3456 234567 2345?"

"Oh, I love this song too, I'd love to dance with you!"

Encoded footnotes are alright, and my detested option is full separated out glossaries that give the meaning of each word used for me to string into correct order for each sentence. A headache.

18. First fandom you wrote for? Can't be sure...I think I was involved in a Five Find-Outers and Dog fanfic (not that I used that word) as a child that never made it near a computer, let alone the internet.

19. Favourite fic you’ve ever written? OH easily A million years ago, last night & at the end of all things (also known as AMYAL). The words flowed and I loved every moment. However, I did also love writing Espy Me, While I Watch You back in 2017. I wish the third story in the AMYAL verse came 1/3rd as easy.

20. What fic would you want to rewrite one day? None! Often after a fic is fully published I never think about it aga...That's all a total lie and I feel sad DAILY over the complete hash I made of Pry This Home From My Cold, Dead Mountain because I loved my au so much and I failed to show anyone why. It was just NOT good.

Tagging: @suchaladyy, @cosmic-lullaby, @katwitchwriting, & @writerrose1998 + @ohnomybreadsticks (If you'd like to be tagged please lmk and I'll add you ASAP!)

[talenlee]

Decemberween 2024 — Biblical Scholarship

Turns out that one of my special interests as I’ve grown older has been Biblical scholarship. Not Biblical apologetics – that’s its own miserable beast that slumps towards Bethlehem to be born – but Biblical scholarship. It’s the field of academia that focuses on precise textual criticism of the Bible. It is both fantastically interesting and probably one of the most heretical things I can do considering my upbringing.

I was raised to believe in the inerrancy and univocality of the Bible. That is to say, everything in the Bible is literally true, and it was all written by a single individual mind that used people to express its ideas. This means that anything in the Bible that seems to be in contradcition with itself must be considered as a deliberate choice from the person telling it who, you know, is also God, and that can lead to some complicated challenges reading the text without needing to invent fanfiction to explain silly ideas.

Anyway, this means that one area of Free Stuff on the internet I pay a lot of attention to is Biblical Scholarship sources! In the past I’ve shared a run down of the Yale Divinity College lectures, and this is more stuff in that similar space that I’ve enjoyed throughout this year.

Engaging with the Bible study space often involves delving into a lot of conversations that are about finding some of the worst people you’ve ever heard of and then sharing their opinions, before telling you how they’re stupid. My first suggestion if you’re interested in this space but not interested in conversations that take that form is:

Coming Soon: The Data Over Dogma Podcast

Watch this video on YouTube

The first source I’d like to point to is the Data Over Dogma podcast. Focused on democratising the academic scholarship on Biblical studies, the podcast positions a comedian layperson with an academic expert, and considers Biblical texts in light of current events in the public discourse around Christianity. It isn’t a confrontational, aggressive, mocking kind of thing which of course, I would probably like. Notably, Dan McLellan, the academic in the conversation, is a church-attending Christian, which I use carefully.

See, the thing with Christian is that if you aren’t a Christian the only useful way to describe whether or not something is Christian is accepting its self-declared status. I know that my Dad wouldn’t consider Dan a Christian, because my Dad is an Independent Baptist (one of the more assholey versions of Christians) and Dan is a Mormon (which, make no mistake, one of the wings of Christianity I have special disaffinity for). But Dan is the expert on Dan’s faith and I think it’s pretty reasonable that if someone considers them a Christian then that’s theirs to say and it’s not mine to get into cladistic arguments with them.

The result is that while the Data/Dogma podcast is critical of current Christian dogmas, it’s not going to raise much beyond referring to people as doofuses. Lots of deep textual digging into historical criticism, not a lot of ‘get a load of this asshole.’

SATAN'S GUIDE TO THE BIBLE | Official Trailer

Watch this video on YouTube

Anyway, speaking of ‘this asshole,’ you know who the Bible says sucks? Satan? Kinda! Well at least tradition does. And that tradition does a lot of heavy lifting! And this year, he released a truly fantastic long form documentary, set in a Sunday School, in which he explained the challenges of the idea of Biblical Inerrancy and Biblical scholarship, and the ensuing character of the modern Christian project. Basically, if you treat the Bible like an inerrant univocal book? You’re kind of agreeing that Jesus is a shifty evil asshole. The guy in that story is an apocalyptic preacher, following in the legacy of another apocalyptic preacher, convinced the world was going to end and, rather than accept that two thousand years later it’s really not happening, will instead encourage people to cut others out of their lives.

This documentary is both really enjoyable in its own right and pleasantly deep. With a fairly gentle tone, the document shows the many different ways in which the story presented in the Bible isn’t based on facts but based on the much more reasonable, much more meaningfully obvious fact that these are stories based on what the people telling them wanted to believe is true.

This documentary annoyed a lot of people. Particularly it annoyed them because hey, hey, hey, no fair quoting the Bible and showing evidence to back up your claims, you don’t get it, like this bit in Exodus is explained over here in Chronicles and if you then integrate a bit of Mark, then suddenly the whole thing makes sense, because those people are out on a lengthy bit of conceptual scaffold. This support of other excuses and reasons works really well if you have everything already set in place, but if you’re trying to convince someone of it, if you’re trying to prove any of it…?

It’s a load of malarkey.

The Hilarious New Dystopian Christian Nationalist Movie - Disciples in the Moonlight Review

Watch this video on YouTube

Finally, and I position it here because it’s probably the roughest material here, there’s the work of Youtuber Dead Domain. I don’t have a better name for them, and this here may not seem like it’s immediately related, but I wanted to make sure I didn’t just drop you into something immediately awful. See, one thing Dead Domain has been doing over the years is the infiltrating and documenting of the actual factual real behaviour of Christians (and yeah this is where it gets weird) at a niche hate church in America.

This is real ‘get a load of this asshole’ stuff, but it’s true to my experience of the kinds of people that churches exist to protect and promote into positions of power. Not cultists, not people isolated from reality, but instead given a social space where they’re safe and comforted to be terrible people and to have the responsibility for that amplified to one another.

It’s easy to look at these other kinds of sources and think that just because the majority of Christians aren’t like this, that they aren’t. But there are a lot of Christians who would walk past this kind of thing, and a lot more who couldn’t successfully explain what’s wrong with this stuff.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[the-lady-hestia]

Alright spoilers for the final Dr Who special

HERES MY THOUGHTS ON THE GIGGLE AND FINAL RANKINGS FOR ALL THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIALS!!

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Bi-generation

Oh boy

I spent a while trying to write this, but every time I came to a complaint, I realized that the story kind of set it up in a way. All that to say, this review was originally going to be a lot harsher, but I found some justifications for the things I had complaints about.

In general, I like the episode. It’s a goofy romp where Neil Patrick Harris is a cosmic-scale nut job while David Tennant looks on in horror. It’s fun. It is not, however, a good ending to a series of specials let alone ANNIVERSARY specials. It doesn’t feel like an ending. The ending doesn’t feel emotionally resolved (that’s the thesis statement right there)

Throughout the episode, the doctor is constantly reminded that he has always had to move on. He always has to leave his friends. Between meeting the classic companion Mel, to the Toymaker giving him basically a slideshow of all the people who have died because of him and his actions.

And so the story compliments this with an ending where the doctor doesn’t have to leave. The pattern breaks. The doctor stays.

Aaaaaand he also doesn’t. At the same time.

I feel like the same effect could have been reached without splitting the doctor in half. Now there’s two doctors. How the hell are you gonna manage that? The Timeless Child shit is definitely cannon so now there’s two cosmic super beings AND two Tardis’s (Tardices? Whatever the plural of Tardis is) in existence.

I was emotionally prepared to say goodbye to David Tennant as the doctor but now the story feels unresolved. Instead of the heartwarming ending they were going for, it feels like this was just concentrated fan-service intended to lead into a spinoff series and encourage fanfiction writers to fill in the gaps (I will say, the Doctor calling Rose his niece was very sweet. He does finally get a family and that is undeniably nice)

SO! Corrections:

I think the same emotional effect (if not more of an emotional effect) could have been achieved if 14 didn’t actually die in that confrontation. Maybe the resolution of his story is that The Doctor decided that, for a while, he does stick around. Maybe we get a montage of domestic Doctor. He still gets his family and he still gets to resolve all his emotional baggage, just without the Bi-generation nonsense. When Ncuti takes over we get a Doctor that is ready to start traveling again (remember, 15 isn’t going to have this emotional catharsis. He left without confronting his baggage. He’s still fucked up, but I don’t feel like the writers are gonna acknowledge that) And then, after some time has passed, maybe the David Tennant body “wears a bit thin” and he regenerates the normal way (that’s how Hartnell regenerated, I feel like it would be fitting with this whole “new era of Doctor Who” shit they’ve got going on plus the Toymaker is a villain from Hartnells run, the themes are themeing)

Other than that, pretty fun episode. Kate Stewart slays. Shirley continues to be a bad bitch keeping the doctor on his toes. The tease for the Master at the end was fun, always a blast to see that lunatic. Overall, I give The Giggle a 6.5/10. Passable episode with a truly nonsense ending (and not the fun kind of nonsense)

Final ratings for all the specials:

The Star Beast: 8/10

Wild Blue Yonder: 9.5/10 (this might be one of my favorite episodes of Doctor Who ever)

The Giggle: 6.5/10

I do still love RTD. The man wrote some of my favorite stories in all of fiction. I’m very optimistic about this coming season of the show. I think Ncuti Gatwa has charisma coming out his ears so he’ll be fantastic. My pie in the sky dream is that it’s so good that it makes me forget about all this weird shit and hanging plot threads. Here’s hoping!

[uefb]

Another little snippet from my “Newt & Hermione meet at her interview with the Department for Regulation & Control of Magical Creatures in the year 2000” scribblings

I only add to this wildly self-indulgent fic when I really need control over my life, and I do doubt I’ll ever finish it so I’ll probably just be posting random excerpts here instead because I think it’s a fun little thing. They’ll be under the tag “fic: the beings division”.

EXCERPT:

“I was going to go do some writing at a hidden little cafe up on Old Street, but if you’d like to join me for a - for a cup of tea instead?”

Hermione nearly squeaked. “You mean now?”

“I don’t see why not,” he shrugged, fingers absentmindedly beating out a rhythm on the handle of his cane. “I’m not technically on your hiring committee, and I always wait around London for my wife so we can travel home together. She’s off doing Morrigan knows what at the Wizengamot so there’s no telling how long that’ll take.” 

He shook out one hand to tap pointedly at a gold cuff engraved with runes at his wrist.

“And Tina knows how to find me.”

“Is that—” Hermione took a step forward and asked with far more interest than she’d intended— “Is that Protean charmed?”

“Oh, that and more, yes.”

He tugged the sleeve of his sweater back down and readjusted the grip on his walking stick. Hermione blushed deeply and hurriedly stepped away when she realised just how much she’d encroached on his personal space while attempting to get a better look at the enchantments.

He continued nevertheless, unperturbed: “You have an interest in runes, then?”

“Oh yes,” she answered quickly, and she felt herself beaming. (Ron hadn’t deigned to listen to her rant about her translation projects in far too long.) “It’s one of my side passions.”

“That’s wonderful.”

And he looked like he meant it.

“So — then - Tea, Miss Granger? And an explanation of this Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare you apparently founded? At 14?”

“Oh, right - yes! I’d be honoured.” She yanked on her coat and shoved her satchel beneath one arm, extending the other for a more formal introduction. “And you can call me Hermione, Mr. Scamander.”

His lips twitched toward a smile though he didn’t quite meet her eyes as he shook her hand.

“Well, Hermione—” And then he was patting down his own jacket, fishing a pair of gloves out of some hidden pocket before nodding down the corridor toward one of the apparition rooms— “Call me Newt.”

And—with a jaunty wave over his shoulder at a fellow wrestling a pixie back into a box behind them—he set off with a hasty loping limp, apparently assuming she’d get the idea and follow.

Hermione blinked and momentarily froze, barely suppressing a disbelieving laugh—she was going to have tea with scientific revolutionary Newt Scamander. (And, if she was lucky, perhaps meet one of America’s most respected presidents of the past two centuries when his wife Tina Goldstein came to pick him up…)

She shot a subtle airplane-message from her wand toward the Auror Offices before taking off after the surprisingly spry old man at a trot.

(Sure, Ron would have no idea who she was talking about, but she was fairly certain Harry knew enough to advise him to at least feign amazement when they all met up that evening for dinner.

(And oh, goodness—Luna was going to be jealous. But perhaps if this went well he’d be amenable to meeting her…? He seemed the sort to have patience for her, after all.)

[sarcasticsciencefictionwriter]

Ask meme: 🍓, 🍄 and ❄️

Hi!! Thanks so much! :)

🍓⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction? 

Hmm. I actually don't remember exactly. I've always loved writing.

I started writing original stories when I was pretty young and when I was around eleven? twelve? I started writing about OCs for Warrior Cats, but abandoned it after a few months.

I didn't even know fanfiction was a thing until I was about thirteen, when I stumbled across it for the first time, but latched on to the idea once I had.

I didn't pick up fic writing again until I was about nineteen/twenty. I wrote some Fantastic Beasts fics, only one of which I actually finished during that period. I dropped out of that fandom and dropped my fics (I did go back and finish two and publish them last year, but that was solely for the sake of my writing growth and the fact I had poured so much effort into them, not because I wanted to return to the fandom).

This time around, what got me into it was I was watched Sanctuary and just absolutely fell in love, which spurred me into imagining all sorts of different things for it. I figured I had the skills and the time to try and write for it, so I jumped and never looked back.

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

Oooh. This is for Helen/John. It leans strongly towards John, but it directly impacts their relationships.

My headcanon here is that when John started having murderous thoughts, he threw himself more into the relationship with Helen. Trying to distract himself, trying to prove that he could still be the man that he was, for her.

Helen, of course, noticed something was up, but didn't really put much thought into it, because John was hiding his real emotions from her and so what if he was a little more attentive than usual?

But then John started to get the urge to kill Helen herself, so he did end up turning to the prostitutes. And then the reverse happened. He threw everything in reverse and broke off the engagement (not Helen) without explanation, basically abandoning Helen and, by proxy, the rest of the Five.

So, John was the one that broke off the engagement and that was the final push Helen (and James) needed to dig a little deeper and realize that he was the Ripper.

I headcanon John being the one that broke it off hard, because in my mind it's the only thing that really works with the short timeline of Ashley's conception -> breaking up -> discovering he was the Ripper -> Helen shooting John when he killed Molly.

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

Hell if I know. 😂

Oh, wait, there is one that I looked for when I got into the Sanctuary fandom, but could never find.

I would love to see a multi-chapter story covering Helen's pregnancy with Ashley, starting at the reimplantation and ending with her birth. Along the way we would see her relationships with those closest to her at the time (James, Biggie, and Henry) effected and possibly changed as she goes through this huge emotional time that she's waited for for so long. Of course, along with her feelings about Ashley and John too.

I....I have no idea who would write this best. It's such a rare theme in the fandom (especially a fandom so heavily devoted to Teslen), let alone doing it to the length I'd love to see.

Maybe me, because if I can't find a fic I want, I usually write it.

[wisteria-lodge]

Have you sorted the Hogwarts Legacy companions at all?? I checked your master list and couldn’t find anything but I’m not sure if I’m just being blind 💀😂

So here's the thing.

(And your ask is super nice and in absolute good-faith, it's just also a good way of getting into this stuff.)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is not Joss Whedon. House of Cards is not Kevin Spacey. But Harry Potter kinda is JK Rowling. She has an astounding and honestly pretty unique amount of both creative control and ownership over that property. The only other person I can think of who's even in the same category is George Lucas... before he sold it to Disney, obviously.

And JKR has written about how she interprets the royalty checks she gets as kind of tacit approval from the world, which makes sense because she's been also very public about how she spends those royalty checks to support anti-trans campaigners and legislation.

But. But. I get wanting to engage with the property. I mean, obviously. I'm going to tag this 'sortinghatchats.' The parent system is clearly HP, and the point of changing the terminology was never disguising that, it was more supposed to communicate that I am not engaging with the work or its creator uncritically. I think it's worked pretty well. I've gotten maybe one piece of anon hate calling me a terf? That's not bad.

I'm a teacher, and the place I work attracts a *lot* of LGBT students. Trans and non-binary especially. And they're interested in Harry Potter. They read a lot of Harry Potter fanfiction. They want to talk to me about Harry Potter, and about JK Rowling. I don't see this property fading away any time soon.

And like. I was a fan. I waited until midnight in a bookstore to get books 4, 5, 6 and 7. My Sibyl Trelawney came in second at the book 7 costume contest. Which was fine because the girl who won did the most perfect Hermione you've ever seen, and spent the whole time handing out SPEW badges and knitting house elf clothing.

Recently, I'm finding myself wanting to unpack this property as an adult. Maybe understand some of the biases I didn't pick up as a kid, maybe do right by some of my favorite characters. Because there's good stuff in there. How much was on accident versus on purpose, how much is the fandom interpreting the text in a specific way, how much is the films smoothing over issues... and creating different issues... I would like to work all that out.

And actually, when I started writing some Harry Potter fanfiction over the holidays, it came pouring out, and it felt *good.* Clearly I've got a lot of *stuff* that I want to examine and *put somewhere,* and for me, writing (ships that JKR doesn't like) was a fun and ethical way to do that. Maybe I'll even post it with a nice disclaimer.

So that's me. Fanfiction, fan side-projects, fan merch. I guess the argument against that would be "free advertising," but like - HP has so much just - actual advertising - and I'd like it if people who still wanted to engage with the property had somewhere else to go. So no Hogwarts Legacy for me, no Fantastic Beasts films, or HBO miniseries, or even Cormoran Strike books. (and people don't talk about this enough - but a big aspect of that series is essentially JKR writing a non-magic AU where she ships herself with Mad-Eye Moody. I have no idea what to do with this information, but now you have it too.)

I could see myself writing more about JKR or Harry Potter, once I've turned it over more in my mind and feel like I have something useful and new to say. But as it is, this is a snapshot of where I am.

[harrypotterfesthub]

The Dark Festivus Gift Exchange is open for sign-ups! This is a Harry Potter gift exchange for all things angsty and dark. Give us all your Death Eater goodness, and get something delicious in return.

Important Dates

October 6, 2023 Sign-Ups & Matching 12:00AM Eastern Time November 3, 2023 Sign-Ups End 11:59PM Eastern Time November 4, 2023 Writing Continues December 18, 2023 Fics Due 11:59PM Eastern Time December 19, 2023 Reveals 12:00AM Eastern Time

How it Works

Sign up here. To stay up to date on any and all Dark Festivus announcements, join Harry Potter Fest Hub on Discord.

Fest mods will match you with a giftee. We'll tell you all you need to know about what your giftee likes and doesn't like in fanfiction and/or fan art.

You'll create a work for your giftee and submit it to the fest collection.

Wait for reveals! Your job is to keep your gift secret. When it's time for gift reveals, you, your giftee, and other fest participants will see what's been created for you all.

Rules & Information

Do not create a work featuring your giftee's dislikes/triggers, and try to stick with ships/characters your giftee suggests.

All works must be kept anonymous until reveals. This means you may not tell people which work is yours, nor hint at it, until your name is revealed.

You may have one alpha or beta. Your alpha or beta may NOT be your giftee.

All Wizarding World characters are allowed, including characters from the Fantastic Beasts series, Hogwarts Legacy, and Hogwarts Mystery.

Visual arts (art and comics) may NOT feature characters under 18 in sexually explicit scenarios, even if reference models are of age. This is for legal purposes.

You may not receive any extensions. We recommend starting early.

Art Requirements - Minimum: 1 character, B&W, Undetailed; Maximum: 5 characters, Color, Detailed

Fanfiction Requirements - Minimum: 1000 words; Maximum: 12,000 words

FAQs

Help! I love angst but I can't go too dark. Be clear about this when you sign up, so the person gifting you a work can work within your likes and dislikes. This fest is for people that love angst or dark works. The only content we can't accept is tooth-rotting fluff. How dark does my work have to be? All themes must be angsty, grey, or dark. The level of darkness will be dependent on your giftee's dislikes and your own comfort level. Not all works need to be Dead Dove here; in fact, most probably won't be. When you sign up, be sure to tell us what you like to write and what you absolutely will not write. This will help us match you with someone appropriate.

What if I can't finish my gift work in time? If you cannot finish your gift work in time, you will need to inform fest moderators via Discord or email as soon as you know you won't be able to finish. Please do NOT wait until the last 48 hours to tell us. To ensure everyone gets a gift, we will have pinch-hitters trying to fulfill outstanding gifts, but they need time to create.

Can I create multiple works? If you would like to create multiple works, sign up for pinch-hitting. You may be able to save the day for someone who wouldn't be receiving a gift.

How do I contact fest mods? You may ask generic questions in the #dark-festivus channel on Discord. For private questions concerning your giftee, please reach out to LadyVoldy or Kate Thorne via Discord. This is the easiest way to reach us.

[some-internet-stranger]

Woah! I actually wrote something for Revalink week! Holy cow! I actually wrote something, period.

First I wanted to draw something (I still might), then I had a few lines of dialog in my head and now I have this! Yippee.

This is technically my First fanfiction, how exciting, I hope you like it.

This is teeechnically a combination of "too close!!" and "keep breathing!", it's about 2K long

Lil summary: Revalink gets trapped in a secret closet on Vah medoh, things quickly go from gay-panic to we're-suffocating-in-a-really-small-space-panic

(no detailed description of panic attack)(but Link is hyperventilating a bit)(cw: near death experiences)(but its pretty lighthearted tbh)

-------

„No! “, Revali shrieks, realizing, what’s about to happen.

He surges forward in an attempt to stop it, but as the ancient (with lack of a better word) door closes shut, right in his face. He is left in darkness, the only thing that could be deemed a source of light being the faint blue glow of the sheikah technology (which is not helpful in the slightest, by the way. What a fantastic idea of the Sheikah to give the divine beast of the rito, known for their bad night vision, such a poor lighting system. Maybe he should bring this to Impa’s attention when he sees her again. If he lives to see her again, which brings him back to the problem at hand).

Not only is it dark, but the room is also impossibly small and oppressive. It may have only been about half a minute since he’d been trapped in this absolute death trap of a room, but he already can’t stand the lack of the breeze against his feathers. It’s a feeling he isn’t used to, and quiet frankly, he doesn’t want to be. Possibly suffocating is also a problem, of course.

There’s a muffled sound in the darkness. It’s coughing. Ah, yes that’s right. Not only had Revali, champion and pride of the rito, managed to get himself trapped in a secret chamber within his own divine beast, no, he had managed to do so in front, worse even, together with the silent champion, now firmly pressed against his chest. Great. This was just fantastic.

Revali know’s that it is ridiculous, be he can’t help but wonder if this is some sort of messed up revenge of Medoh’s for always making her listen to his endless rants about said Hylian specifically. He brushes the thought aside. He’s got to figure out how to get out of here.

He hears the Hylian make another sound, one he can’t quiet place, once again muffled against his chest. A certain vibration passes through his body. Can it really be…?

“Oh, are you actually granting me the great honor of being a witness to some of your thoughts? If that is the intention, I must ask you to speak up, I can’t make out what you’re saying”, Revali proposes into the darkness. He had been right. Link was indeed trying to speak. Revali hates to admit that it makes him feel a bit excited. Just a tiny bit.

Link lifts his chin, resting it on the edge of Revali’s pauldron, so that his mouth is next to Revali’s cheek. His breath is hot against it, when he goes to speak again (Revali’s feathers do not fluff up, and his heartrate stays the same as well! Anyone claiming otherwise is blatantly lying)

“Can’t you open the door?”, his voice sounds unfamiliar but not unpleasant, not at all. Though, Revali should have known that whatever Link had to say was not going to be something smart.

What bothers him the most is the way the Hylian said it. His tone matched that of his face. Bland and emotionless, but in a way that makes it obvious that it is a mere mask, concealing his real thoughts and feelings. And not a good mask at that, Revali can tell, that what Link is feeling right now must be annoyance. And if that isn’t outrageous (and endlessly embarrassing for Revali), then he doesn’t know what is.

“Oh”, if Revali was able to move his wing, he would dramatically put it against his forehead right now, “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that earlier! Thank the goddesses that you are here to save the day once again, hero. Oh, what would I, no, what would anyone do without your gracious advice. Without your guidance? How I was living these dark, dark years before our paths crossed is beyond my comprehension! Let me go ahead and just”, he gasps in fake surprise, “Oh what is that! Oh, I know. It appears that we are inside this closet. While the control unit is outside. Who woud have thought?”

Link doesn’t answer and only sighs.

Did Revali manage to shut him up for good? Was this the last time he’d hear him speak because he immediately scared him off?

These are questions Revali would be asking himself, if he wasn’t entirely distracted by the Hylian’s breath brushing over the feathers on his cheeks, just like the wind outside, but fiery hot. The chamber seems so much tighter all of a sudden. Link feels so much closer. So impossibly close, too close! He forces his eyes shut (it hardly makes a difference) and tries to think about something else. Like how they’re going to get out of here as soon as possible, for example.

“What about-“, Link speaks again, or tries to, but his voice breaks near the end. Okay, good, so he does still feel like talking to him (Revali feels annoyingly relieved about it). Link clears his throat before he continues, his voice still sounding strained, “The champions have a connection to their divine beasts, right? Can you try-“

His voice breaks again, from disuse, Revali figures. If it wasn’t for the darkness (and the fact that they were still so very close), he’d surely be talking with his hands, as Revali has seen him do with the princess before.

Revali gets what Link is trying to say. And he must (begrudgingly) admit, that it’s not even a bad idea. He knows for a fact, that Daruk had been able to get Rudania to move by his voice alone, only a week ago. Revali had been desperate to try it out himself, ever since he learned of his fellow champion’s recent success. He couldn’t let himself fall behind!

He clears his throat and addresses his beloved beast, “Medoh, I’m giving you the order, to open this door. Immediately!”

Divine Beast Vah Medoh remains silent.

“Vah Medoh, I, your pilot, command you to open this door. Now”

Divine Beast Vah Medoh once again, remains silent. (Remind you of someone?)

“Medoh”, he says threateningly. It’s starting to feel like he’s talking to an ill-mannered fledgling instead of a self-proclaimed divine machine.

“Keep trying”, Link chokes out.

Something seems off. Has Link’s breathing always been this fast?

“What’s up with your breathing? Stop that!”, he says. The Hylian is basically panting(!) into his ear now, and it is quiet honestly throwing him of a bit (a lot), for all of the wrong reasons.

“Air”, is Link’s response, “hard to breathe”.

Oh. He supposes it makes sense, that the tiny Hylian would have more difficulties breathing, other than Revali, he did not spend most of his time either in the mountains of Hebra or on Medoh, where the air was a lot thinner to begin with.

Wait.

“You’re not going to die, are you?”

“Keep…”, more panting, “keep trying”.

Okay. Well, shit.

If the situation hadn’t been tense before, than it certainly was now.

“Medoh! Open the door!”, he can hear how panicked his own voice sounds. But now is not a time for keeping up appearances. Now is a time for opening the cursed door, for Hylia’s sake!

“Medoh! Door! Now!”

Divine Beast Vah Medoh responds by letting out one of her bloodcurdling shrieks, and by, very much not opening the door. Revali feels betrayed.

“Oh! You think this is funny now, don’t you? Well guess what! You’re gonna have to find a new champion to pilot you soon, still funny? I do not want to hear you complain for one second, when they’re simply not as skilled as I am, because you’re not going to find someone better you giant, rock bird!”, he would love to continue cursing out Medoh (Hylia knows she deserves it), but his attention is once again drawn to Link.

“Try breathing slowly, you’re going to hyperventilate”.

“Like I’m not already?”, there’s some edge to the Hylian’s voice. And some truth in his words.

“Calm down, then”, Revali says. He never did claim to be good at speaking to people soothingly.

Surprisingly to absolutely no one, this does not calm Link down, or cause him to breathe more slowly.

“My fingers are tingling”, Link says between pants.

“Yes, that’s because of the hyperventilation”, it’s just a guess, and not an educated one at that, but it’s better and less alarming than the alternative (that this is the beginning of the end and that Link is surely going to pass away in the very near future)

“I think I might..-“, a pause, “I think I might faint”

“No, you wont, hey”, oh this is escalating way too quickly. Revali manages to wring free one of his wings, and uses it to pull Link closer, making sure he won’t fall.

“Listen, I’ll try it again, and you just stay awake, keep breathing, and don’t die. Because I will not forgive you”

He closes his eyes again and tries to connect to Medoh with his mind. He’s always worked best under pressure, so he’s sure he can do it. He just has to tune out the sound of Link’s breathing getting slower and blissfully ignore the fact, that if Link really does stop, that he is next. This is how they are going to be found (if they get found), entangled in each others’ limbs, clasping to each other for dear life. What a dishonorable way to die. (But if it does end here, which it wont, he can’t help but be comforted to able to hold someone and be held in return while it happens)

“Revali”

“Shut up, Link”, top 10 things he never thought he’d ever say.

“I think I might…”

“No, you won’t. What would your princess say, if her hero died in some random closet?”, realization dawns upon him, “Oh”

This could be their way out!

“Revali, I want you to know that, I always thought that-“

“Hush, you can tell me about that later, I have to bail our way out”, he interrupts and goes back to hard core concentration.

“I’m about to deliver my last words!”, now he does sound offended, incredibly so. Revali would sell his great eagle bow to see Link’s expression right now.

“And I’m sure, they’re incredible. Something for the history books all over the land, the children will sing songs about them, and the scholars will pick them apart word by word to analyze them. But I would advice you to keep them for later, as you’re not dying. Not here and not now”

“I- “

Link pauses. It is not easy not make out, due to the door’s thickness, but both of them hear footsteps.

Zelda’s footsteps.

“In here! Open the door!”, Revali squawks.

Link lets out a sigh of relieve, and Revali can feel him relax against him, as the door finally opens. The small room gets flooded with the fresh wind and with light. In front of the door is princess Zelda, holding that Sheikah slate, that must have unlocked the door (and probably locked it in the first place. That is something he’s going to question the Princess about later).

Medoh lets out another shriek. Maybe she does care that he didn’t die. How sweet.

“Thank the goddesses you’re alright, I had wondered where you had disappeared to. Oh!”, Zelda looks concerned. One look at Link tells him why. Apparently, he had not relaxed against him earlier, he had actually fainted.

“And I told him not to die”, Revali says in an almost casual tone, but only because he can see and feel Link breathing better than before. Carefully he lies him down on the floor.

“Goodness! Link! Link, say something, can you hear me?”, Zelda asks, putting his head into her lap.

After a couple of moments, the little Hylian opens an eye, “Yeah”, he just says. Zelda sighs in relieve. Revali does too.

[celaenaeiln]

Ok this is random, and all but I have made it my sworn duty to submit at least 3 questions a week, and it's like a minute before the end of this week. Have you ever been in a harry Potter phase, because I saw you use it as a reference for one post about happy robin, and also because I'm stumped on what to ask you and I DO NOT want to break my record

I HAD A HUGE HARRY POTTER PHASE!!

Harry Potter was my first book series ever actually and I just completely fell in love with it. Batfam came much later but the longest ongoing fandom I've ever been in is the Harry Potter now. I haven't been in it for about a year now but wow it was my first fandom ever. I used to read dramione fics on wattpad lol my first fanfiction introduction.

I was a massive hermione stan so I read a bunch of fics about her. My favorite pairing used to dramione but as I grew older I started falling into tomione (^◇^；) but really I was casual hermione x everyone shipper.

I even did the pottermore thing too online where you can quiz yourself to see what house, wand, and patronus you get and I got slytherin which didn't come as a surprise at all. At the time I thought it was so cool to be part of the evil house lol. I was such an embarrassing kid looking back.

Actually I originally created my tumblr account to see dramione stuff lol before I started getting into other fandoms and it became my fall back fandom when I was bored with the other ones or did want to engage with them.

I didn't really have a second favorite character after Hermione, I don't think Dumbledore deserves to be hated for being manipulative, and wtf is going on with the cursed child.

Writing this is giving me so many flashbacks it makes me want to start reading the fics again! It's also 1 of only 6 fandoms I've ever created a separate list of fics for because I really loved the source thing.

My favorite class was Charms because I thought it would be the most useful too. Don't want to make your bed? Magic! Don't want to clean the kitchen? Magic! Want to redecorate? Magic!!! Charms is so versatile that you can use it for anything. If voldemort was smarter he would've magicked his face to look normal using Charms, approached harry, and killed him. Voila! Problem solved! But I guess he lost his brains along with his beauty sadly but not unfortunately.

I heard there's a new Marauders movie coming out?? I wasn't going to watch it but then I saw people shipping James Potter and Regulus Black together because of it and now I want to see it only out of sheer bewilderment of what could've possibly led to that. Or so I tell myself.

The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them!! I LOVED the movie series!!! The first two were really good and third was okay but all that doesn't matter because the graphics. Unpopular opinion but I really loved the original Percy Jackson movies even though they were nothing like the books because the graphics were so cool. Action movies are my favorite so seeing columns of water rise up and seeing how real it looked, it was like a fantasy turned reality! The Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts movie series, I fell in love watching them because of the magic.

Which is hilarious now because I used to be scared of watching the Harry Potter movies! When my parents watched the first movie and I was really little I would hide because I was really scared of Voldemort and felt really sad about Harry losing his parents and the thought of it made me cry 😅🙈

But yeah Harry Potter is like number 2 biggest fandom for me right after the Batfam although it used to be number one. I have a fleeting interest span. So if I'm addicted to a show but I don't watch it for a few days, I lose all interest in it completely and forever (sorry Vampire Diaries) or a game (goodbye sky: children of the light) but these two fandoms, I can not be in them for several months or even years but I never lose interest. Just my love for them ig!

[brennustheskeleton]

Hello howdy! I gotta say your artwork is fantastic!

Though I wanted to ask, are people allowed to doodle your aus? Do you write at all :)? I’m a swatchton gal myself and I’d love to doodle them sometime!

Thank you, I'm pleased to hear you like my art <3

And YES I’D LOVE ART ABOUT MY AUS. You are all completely allowed to. Just credit who made the AU obviously xD

I do love to write but it's not something I share online much at all. I'm not on any fanfiction sites. You can see elements of my style of writing in captions and on my toyhouse. I mostly use writing as a tool to help me draw. For example, for every instalment of Eternal Winter, there is usually a written novel-esque draft of the scene before I even touch my stylus. It's by no means my best work but it assists me in developing the pacing, atmosphere and dialogue.

Here is the written draft for the first ever instalment of Eternal Winter

ALSO once I wrote a diary entry from the perspective of Spamton writing about the “dream” he had. He accidentally visited the windows xp wallpaper with a tree lmao

“The way I'm about to write this out feels stupid but I just want to express this the way I felt it as much as possible.

I had a dream long ago where it felt like I woke up in a strange new dimension. The sky was so bright I covered my eyes with my elbow. I realised that my jacket was not on me as my eyelids made contact with the white fabric of my cuffed shirt, the heat of my forearm traversing through it. The fabric started to absorb the tears welling in my eyes at how painfully luminescent the world had become. I started to feel every discomfort my senses could feel at that moment. The ground I was lying on was wet and poked at my back but I felt too heavy to get up. I extended an arm out to my side in this new world. The ground seemed to be covered in coarse hair or fur. I curled one of my hands around a strand and snapped it at the root. Suddenly a chilling wave passed over me, making me shiver and curl up. Did I anger some ancient beast when I ripped one of its hairs out? How could I have woken on a creature? I'm sure it was a dream with how fantastical this is. But with how sensory the experience was, it makes me keep doubting myself.

I rushed the strand to a cusped hand covering my eyes to get a closer look at it. The strand was green but not just a solid shade of green, the root was lighter in colour. It wasn't round as a normal strand of hair would be, kind of flat with a more solid pole(?) structuring it. I tossed the strand to my side and took a deep breath.

Even the air seemed different, colder and aromatic but more filling. My hand traced the green hair above my head where I meet a sudden obstacle. A solid object with rough, almost cement, skin. The main structure reached way higher than my arm could reach and scout for me. So I decided to finally uncover my eyes. I almost regretted it as my eyes watered again but the sight I saw was worth it. The rough object was a towering cylinder that reached way higher than I ever could. It seemed it was trying to touch heaven, dividing, spreading and sprawling itself like a spider diagram. The overwhelming amount of dark beige and green appendages were blanketing the sky for me. I realised I have not even looked at the actual sky this whole time. Tilting my head, I witnessed the expanse of this world. The multi-shaded green ground stretched endlessly to the blue horizon. Unlike the gradient green of the hair, the sky was a solid baby blue, one that would paint a nursery. I suddenly felt so much smaller. That this realm seemed to expand without me, indifferent if I were there to explore or not. It possessed endeavours and desires that surpassed me. Ever growing and breathing on its fruition.

When I woke up, my home was so much darker than I remembered. I stumbled and tripped in my once familiar store. My heel kept hitting every box of merchandise I placed that day before. Everything seemed so much more...silent and dead. I found my mounted mirror that morning and used it to look at my back. There were the same greens of the fur that once prodded and poked me smeared on my shirt like paint. My eyelids still beckon me to return to this realm of light to this day. But every time I sleep I can't seem to ever return to it.

I sound insane, I’ve been told that my whole life. But experiences like these in my life are the ones that make me afraid of forgetting, losing myself to nothing and the darkness. I want to see this world again but I don't think I ever will.”