#ah the multichap wip

[terrainofheartfelt]

i’m reading your lovely jenate fanfic rn and one of the details i’ve really been enjoying is the way you characterize the sibling relationship between jenny and dan! and it has me wondering, more generally, how do you picture dan and jenny’s relationship playing out as adults? we don’t really get to see jenny post going to london on the actual show, and i’m curious how things might have changed or evolved between them with them both being on more equal relational footing, so to speak. (i also think i remember you mentioning here that you yourself have siblings, so as an only child i can imagine you probably have a much more nuanced picture of this than i do lol)

ohhhh thank you so much!!! this is something that I actually explore in the next chapter (posting forthcoming), but I'll talk about it now just to get ahead of that lol

I am thinking, in show canon -- and in the canon i construct in this au in which the show ends after Despicable B ;) -- that Jenny sort of...gives herself a clean break from all things New York, including Dan. and Dan, with all his abandonment issues, takes that harder than she probably sees at the time, but completely removing herself is what she needs the most in that moment. and then, a couple years later, they gravitate closer, but virtually.

with their work being so time-consuming and not really on the typical layman's schedule (like, writer and fashion designer lol what free time) they don't really have time to full on talk on the phone or facetime, but they text regularly, often over an inside joke or a link or a meme they need the other to see (because their partner wouldn't find it as funny)

I think Jenny as a grown up would find it easier to talk to Dan first about things over their parents, and vice versa, because their is this sibling kind of thing were no other person quite understands you the same way, and has known you this long and loved you this long. but the love is different from the love you feel with your parents. i'm not sure if this is entirely accurate...but the love feels...more unconditional somehow, because a sibling has more choice in loving you, but less failures of doing so.

and yes! I do have an older brother, our age difference (3 years) is slightly larger than Dan & Jenny's, but my relationship and experience with him informs - consciously and unconsciously - a LOT of how I write Jenny & Dan. Disclaimer: our pasts are not nearly as traumatic as these fake people, and our parents are still together (over 30 years WOOT WOOT), so our life experiences don't exactly line up

but that being said, I look up to my brother so much. and I switched school mid highschool (like jenny but for less fraught reasons) so I went from being "Andrew's Little Sister" everywhere I went to being just Liz, just myself. and that's an adjustment, from always being the little sister to growing into your own person, and I wouldn't have gotten that opportunity without moving schools, and Jenny probably wouldn't have without moving to London.

and my brother and I have followed our own paths and live in different timezones (and regularly different countries, he splits his time between the US and Canada it's a whole thing), but I never don't feel like he isn't there for me. I know with him I always have a place to crash and someone to send me cute pet pictures when I'm sad and someone who is just as worried about my dad's health as I am (again, whole other thing, not gonna get into it bc privacy but yeah). and I am never entirely lonely as long as he is existing someplace in this world. shit I'm gettting emotional just talking about it but,

he's the guy that drove me to my piano lessons and teased me for my music taste and took me to my first punk show and said "that was so good!" after every performance even though he knows nothing about opera. and when I had a 3 month contract in florida and couldn't take my cat with me he fostered Steph and now Andrew is Steve's favorite person and when I was unemployed I crashed in his apt while he was organized for the 2020 Iowa caucus and he crashed on my couch to visit me after I got my job and moved and we smoke weed and recite monty python and joke and laugh together and I can be a version of myself with my big brother in a way that I can't be with anyone else.

so to bring it back to your meta question, lmao, I imagine and attempt to write Jenny's relationship with her big brother in the same way. it's never the same as when they lived in the same house, and that's hard. (because they stopped living in the same house when he was 18 and she 16 and you can never really go back to that), and they each have their own lives and careers and loves that keep them where they are, but they are still always just...their for each other. and, if given the choice, they are the first person to hear the other's good news.

[legendoftheotherside]

I never participate in these things but well, there's a first for everything lol

tagged by @sandwitchstories

Rules

Post the names of the files of your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you ask with the title that most intrigued them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it. If you want, tag as many people as you have WIPS.

I'm going to do this because all my titles are boringly hilarious 😂😂 It will be only wips that aren't published yet (I have more wips that are published on ao3 which I need to continue but I'll concentrate on wips that haven't seen the light of a day yet). All these fics are something I started and one day might finish XD I'm dividing the list by fandoms because there are too many 🤷‍♀️

Fairy Tail:

and there was one bed - new gratsu fic; you can imagine what it is about 😂

Slayers mating - gratsu idea that is somewhat written in the form of an outline and some scenes are actually written; I have no idea when I'll finish it 😅

gray is secretly a vampire - crack fic where outsiders decide Gray is a vampire and rumors spread like wildfire, pure humor; I'm pretty sure I saw some post on tumblr and had an idea

gratsu natsu knocks on the door - I'm pretty sure the title is a pun to the opening scene of my only multichap gratsu fic, A Sham

Naruto:

kushina lives AU - exactly what it says, I'm working on it on and off every now and then; while Kushina lives, Tsunade is actually the main character, collecting kids just like old ladies collect cats 🤣

seals naruto au wanting to keep the fox in - tbh this is basically just an idea in form of an outline and a few written snippets scattered around; don't really know if I'll ever write it completely

naruto timetravel 1 - this was actually supposed to be team 7 boruto timetraveling to naruto canon before that timetravel filler arc in boruto ever happened. sadly, I never tried to finish it

naruto timetravel 2 - naruto and sauske's consciousness from the future appear as flashes of memories/dreams to naruto and sasuke of the original naruto canon timeline before they graduated academy

kamui raw bondage - a kakaobi kinktober fic I never got around finishing, it was supposed to be a companion fic to my I've patched up the scrapes in my heart

One Piece:

LawLu stranded on an island AU plot - so this is one rare outline instead of a fic lmao (I never do real outlines 😂)

ofmd crossover - had an idea for a crossover but never finished it.

BNHA:

DFO/canon - tbh I don't even remember what this is supposed to be beyond DFO, but what I can see from a fast scan, it's one of the rare outlines lol

baku deku unconventional A/B/O - it's unconventional because it's alpha/alpha pairing; an old idea that I never got to finishing

genderswap au - ah this is one of the oldest wips in the fanfic folder; it's not so much of a genderswap as much as genderswap characters come to the canon through a portal; very fun

DabiHawks mermaid au - a discord drabble I wrote for a prompt and saved to finish one day

Other fics:

FT x DA:II crossover funny - just like it says: crackfic crossover of fairy tail and dragon age 2; Fenris is sure Natsu is a rage demon 🤣🤣🤣

Josuke'a accidental time travel adventure - I had a craving for Josuke time-traveling to part 3 and there was none to read. gasp. but then one day a fic with a similar premise appeared on ao3 so I read that instead of finishing my own XD

FuruSawa fic - an ace no diamond oneshot that just needs a satisfying end (which I need to write so who knows when I'll finish 🤣)

Shiki x Weisz - eden's zero fic just as title says XD

I still have a few more docs but those are literally a few sentences and I didn't bother to list them here

I don't think I talk with enough ppl to tag as many as I have wips lmao so I'll do just a few. feel free to ignore the tag if you don't feel like doing this XD I had fun typing all this and this post is not counting my original wips 😂

@pencilofawesomeness

@phoenix-before-the-flame

@genavere

@thehylianidiot

@nonnie992

@elenyafinwe

@xfangheartx

@wilhelmina-murray-harker

@tobethefairybest

[thatoneao3author]

for the writer asks - 6, 18, and 24? 🌾🍀

ah hello! thanks for the questions!

6. Are there any fics from others you reread all the time?

honestly? I'm not a huge fic rereader?

like I will think about fics all the time, and if I really like a fic, I'll seek out the author's other content and other fics with similar tropes/vibes/plots but i'm not huge about just rereading the same content again. it's an attention span thing, I think, I struggle with knowing how a story goes even if I love said story. if I reread something, I skip to very specific scenes that are plaguing my brain or I wait a longggg time until I've basically forgotten it

that being said, some fics that have been positively rotting my brain since I've read them are: Cooperative Gameplay, you'll never see us again, and Your Question Has Been Received

18. What’s one of your favorite lines you’ve written in a fic?

I could go back through one of my dream smp multichaps, 'a bond built of hate and cabins in the woods' and grab the ending paragraphs to the final chapter because i'm still lowkey proud of it almost a year later, or just go through any of my longform mcyt works but i'm gonna stick to something i've written more recently and grab a line or two from 'bright as the stars' (the interstellar ian au) chapter six:

"For every almost, there was a universe where they kissed. Where their hands ended up all over each other’s bodies, where they ended up together in all the ways they wanted to be."

i think it works better in the context of the scene but omg! in the context of the scene it hits so hard and i'm so excited to share it with you guys

24. Share a moodboard for (one of) your current WIP(s).

I don't really do moodboards, but here's the spotify playlist to bright as the stars. i kinda treat my fic playlists like other authors do moodboards, it's the tool I use to map out the vibes and inspire me to keep working

thanks again for the questions! they're so fun to answer

[chromatic-lamina]

Gonna just do this for myself (so don't worry about likes, sending asks and all). If you want to download the image and upload, I think it should be fine. It's all over the interwebs. Also fine to do it like a normal ask/answer meme!

All of my answers under the cut.

Yearly Word Count: (off anon, and not including unpublished zine fics): 31,223

Fav fic: Doctor Death Doula (Trafalgar Law) https://archiveofourown.org/works/37266862 But it had some stiff competition.

3. Fav fic read: ties between:

Living in a ghost town (lawzo) ( double joint @stephanericherthanyou ) Sabaody Shambles by @/CoffeeTimeWorks (Strawhats and Heart Pirates)

Oh! and the last chapter of the fabulous astra inclinant ( @petrachord ).

and at the point of a sword (freckledshoulderblades) (zoro, general) and most recently something's always going on at pathology (v. funny) by thegrimshapeofyoursmile (general)

Also family by @/KallistosWrites (kidlaw) and special shout out to 123_crowbar_solo who always writes quality (especially doff and croc!)

4. Fav ship you wrote for. I only wrote KidLaw this year re ships, but love ZoLaw, MarLaw, LawBin, etc. as well.

5. Fav character POV: Bepo writing as Law (or role swap. Bepo was the captain in his fanfiction!)

6. Favourite latest line I wrote:

Kid's head pushed back on the plushie and it squeaked.

7. WIP you finally finished. Ah, I don't really have any, but I probably wouldn't have written Overworked and Underpaid (Chopper and Bepo) if I hadn't had to scrap another WIP. And the idea for Doctor Death Doula had been sitting in the drafts for some time.

8. WIP you're yet to start finish. The one I'll be writing for the One Piece Kids zine. I'm still working on the one for the corazine too, although I think it's mostly done.

9. Most read fic this year: I guess they mean the ones written this year, right?

It'd be Bepo's Beptober with 868 hits, but that was begun in 2020, it seems, so a better reflection is perhaps Overworked and Underpaid (Chopper and Bepo) which has 841 hits and was published in June.

10. Longest fic of the year (off anon, right? heh). No multichaps for me this year, and some word count restraints for zine fics, but also due to time (and that's just the point where the fic should've ended), so!: Overworked and Underpaid at 6,289 words.

11. Shortest fic of the year: A drabble called kelp for the Justice zine ficlet challenges. 114 words.

12. Fav fic title: Maybe 'snow business like show business (kidlaw for the op secret santa exchange)

13. Biggest surprise while writing this year. Just how hard it is to write Kanjuro! (oh, and also that a free verse fic i did got reasonable interaction)

14. Fav comment you got this year: All of them! Special shout out for all the lovely comments on Doctor Death Doula, and also to @stephanericherthanyou for their always fabulous feedback, and the same goes for @afterdeck-ace

15. Fav fic author to read this year: see number 2!

16: Total fics/chapters uploaded this year: Okay, I'm gonna include the chapters in the ficlet collections, even though most are not very long:

Stand alone one shots: 6

Ficlets/chapters in anthologies (on my page): 10

17: What are you most looking forward to next year?: Some of the work for zines being published and being seen by a wider audience.

[iridescentis]

(I was the anon with the multichapter fics. I had pressed anon on accidentally and wondered why I never got a notification that u answered lmao)

I have a LOT of multichapter fic wips... I've been trying to wait to post some before I finish another one, but then my excitement gets the best of me and I'll update a multichapter fic super frequently for the first like 4-5 chapters and then it takes months for me to update it again.

ah okay lmao makes sense

yeah that's fair!! i try to stop myself from posting more than one multichap at a time but i lowkey wish i started a couple when i was super excited about them instead of waiting :')

[adrift-in-thyme]

Thanks for the tag Peggy <33

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

55

2. What’s your total ao3 word count?

339,122 (whew that's more than I expected)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mainly Legend of Zelda and Linked Universe right now! I've also done a few for Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. And I wrote a ton of Marvel stuff in the past. Might get back into that fandom a little bit this year

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Almost all of these are Marvel lol

1. Hold Me Through the Darkness — Loki gets sick on the Statesman and nearly dies (one of my most popular fics and I still don’t know why but I’m flattered anyway)

2. Even Now Do You Love Me? — Loki gets sick on the Statesman (again) and has to deal with his perception of his Jotunn heritage (Another one that surprised me. I guess I’m not the only fan of sickfics lol)

3. Will You Rescue Me? — ah yes my Loki gets drunk and changes the course of the multiverse by telling Thor about Thanos fic. I still have a soft spot for this one

4. Die A Hero or Live Long Enough to be Whumped (Febuwhump 2023) — a collection of whumpy LU ficlets that were great fun to write

5. You Are the Worst, Brother — Loki and Thor reunite post-Infinity War (this is one of my first fics ever posted. I’m a bit embarrassed of it 😅)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I definitely try to! But usually I end up not. Although I love comments and treasure every single one lack of time, lack of spoons, or just plain thinking I replied when I haven't yet all mean more often than not I either don't reply at all or reply embarassingly late. I want to get better at replying though!

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Ooh that’s tough. I’m gonna say it’s a toss up between two mcd Time-centric fics I wrote — this one inspired by @1caru ‘s art and this one inspired by @krissis-averted ‘s art

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Winter Wonderland. It’s very fluffy

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I did once or twice when I wrote sylki stuff. But I haven’t gotten any since diving into lu thank God. My readers are very nice to me 😊

9. Do you write smut?

Nope

10. Do you write crossovers?

Not usually

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of 😅

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have! One of my Marvel ones

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

I feel like I did a couple years ago

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

ZELINK

15. What’s the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Besides the countless wips crying out for attention from Google docs? Probably any and all longfics. I can easily lose motivation or get scared that I’m completely incapable of handling that big of a plot. So they’re always in danger of being avoided. I’m trying to get better at pushing through those fears and insecurities though

16. What are your writing strengths?

Descriptions! I LOVE describing things. Feelings, surroundings, expressions — you name it. And some lovely people have said I’m good at it which means a lot 😊

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Ugh GRAMMAR. It’s like the math of writing. No matter how many guides I look at and examples I try to emulate I still struggle with it so much. My brain just does not get it for some reason.

Also fight scenes and transitions. Those are both very difficult too

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I’ve never tried it before but I think it would be cool! I don’t have any languages I speak well though so I’d have to actually get proficient in one first 😅

19. First fandom you wrote for?

If we’re talking published fics then Marvel. If we’re talking fics I wrote on notebook paper as an eleven year old who didn’t even realize she was writing fanfic (and creating an au/multichap fix-it-fic lol)…then Disney’s Cars lol

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Oh that’s hard. Umm I’m definitely partial to some of my whumptober and febuwhump fics. But as for my favorite I’d say Drive a Man Mad. It was my first time writing FD and I adore Time and Warriors’ relationship. Exploring both FD’s range and their brotherhood was a lot of fun and very self indulgent. I reread it a lot.

No pressure tags @uncleskyrule @skyloftian-nutcase @wickedcriminal @louwhose

20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by @the-real-azalea-scroggs! Had to wait until I was of my phone because doing these is a nightmare on mobile lmao

1. How many works do you have on A03?

18 as of a few days ago!

2. What's your total A03 word count?

60,763! Which is. Only a fraction of the word count in my Docs folder. Be prepared.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I mainly write for The Legend of Zelda; specifically Linked Universe! In fact, that's all that's posted on my Ao3 currently, since my fall into that fandom began with me uploading there! Pre-Ao3 I wrote for Black Cat (Anime/Manga), Megaman NT Warrior, various Pokémon things, Assassin's Creed, Yugioh, Final Fantasy XIV and Octopath Traveler! Some of these I still write privately, but I haven't gotten around to re-posting any.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Whistling on Deaf Ears - My longest fic on Ao3, focusing on Wild and Twilight's friendship and how good intentions can lead to disaster.

Iconoclasm - Warriors deals with the room full of portraits in Cia's palace. The Chain also deals with it, but with a bit more fire.

Deserving - Twilight finally tells Rusl that he was the wolf in the village during TP, but that also means dealing with some heavier topics. Colin half overhears them and forms his own conclusions.

Something Greater - The start of the "Hyrule can see magical auras" series! In this one we deal with Legend and his many rings.

Ocean Magic - Mermaid Legend and Zora Time have a race and then fight one of the Big Octos from WW! Fun times.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Every single one!! I love comments, they give me an excuse to ramble about my fic more!! I am always down to ramble about every single insignificant detail of any line and/or section. If you ever want more background info about one of my fics, look to the comments! So please, I adore comments, I treat them like treasures, not responding to them would be a CRIME.

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

There's no contest; Inevitable, my (so far) only MCD fic.

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

Hmmm, that's hard to quantify. I usually try to end fics on a hopeful note regardless. I'd say possibly either Deserving, where Twilight reconnects with his family, or Shimmering Blue, Striking White, where Time meets the Fierce Deity settled down on Satori Mountain and they both get closure.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Thankfully, no! I've been blessed with mostly amazing and patient readers, even when my upload schedule isn't the best.

9. Do you write smut?

No, not really. I've attempted it, but I'm too asexual for it lol

10. Do you write crossovers?

Very, very rarely. Mostly privately, and only very specific ones. Only a single one has had an actual plot, so far (more on that one in question 15!).

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Also a nope! I tend to write for smaller fandoms, where these things don't tend to happen a lot!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have! But it's been a while. Over a decade, in fact! I tried to find the fic to link it here, but it was on the German fanfic website fanfiktion.de, and my friend who posted it back then must have deactivated her account, because it's nowhere to be seen (I still have the Word file though!). It was a Multi-Crossover that started as an RP in a forum, and we took turns turning the RP into prose one chapter each. "If a Hero Turns to Dark" was its title. We were edgy teenagers.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Hissssss. Bad question. Shoo. They are all equally important!! But it's probably TenRose from Doctor Who.

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

One of the very few crossovers I've ever worked on; a crossover fic between Assassin's Creed and Doctor Who, that I have mapped out in both chronological and timeline order, and yes, those are different. I only ever wrote about a quarter of it, since my primary audience of it disappeared when we graduated. I doubt I'll ever pick it back up properly, and if I do it'll probably go through heavy rewrites first since it's so old. Finishing it is a nice thought, but realistically, after 9 years it'll never be high priority enough for it to actually happen.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, especially arguments, and emotional impact. I've been told I do really well making characters feel alive and believable! Also I like to believe I'm decent at setting a scene and giving it the vibe I want it to have!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I struggle with dialogue tags when nothing much is happening besides the talking. I always feel it's too bland, and fall back on the same phrases. My scene transitions could use some work too.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I've done this with Japanese phrases, because I was a massive weeb. Usually I followed them up with their own translations, though; I'm not the biggest fan of footnote translations, unless they are properly linked to. Simple dialogue tags are my favourite way of indicating a language switch.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Black Cat the Manga/Anime! It's a series about an assassin turned bounty hunter trying to live a life separate from his murdery past, but getting dragged back into things by still wanting to avenge his best friend's death. The series has a special place in my heart and my bookshelf, it left an imprint on 13-year-old me that will never leave.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Probably Jailbreak, uncharacteristically enough! It's one of the only fics I never got stuck in once. Writing it was a great feeling from start to finish. I love writing all of my fics, but that was a special few days.

Tagging @ahrva @nowhere-to-go-but-down @silvercaptain24 and @aeghina! And anyone who wants to do it, really, go wild

[dartlekey]

"Boys next door" for wip wednesday please!

Thanks for the ask! Boys next door is the sequel to my 2023 steddiebang fic "Don't look back". It's an exes-to-lovers story that focuses on grief over the past self, healing trauma through community, and how everyone needs a strong female friend with a strap-on in their life.

With multichap fics, I like to write several chapters simultaneously, so for you I added to B-SIDE, CHAPTER 2: ERICA

Erica glances over at him. “Your parents picked [your bimmer] up,” she says carefully. “Next of kin. Since you were legally declared dead.”

“Ah,” Steve says quietly. “Right.”

His fingers drum against the dashboard absent-mindedly. Erica considers telling him that it used to be his dashboard, once upon a time; that this isn't just a bimmer, but his bimmer. That at twelve years of age, she'd gone to the effort of tracking down his parents and negotiating the car away from them, because she knew Lucas wanted his first car to be one they all knew and felt safe in, but he wouldn't be able to handle the Harringtons, especially in grief. 

Erica is made of harder stuff than him, though. She's made of harder stuff than most of the men she loves, which is why the only thing she tells Steve is, “this was Lucas’ car before it was mine, actually. He upgraded to a Subaru about a year ago; him and El and Max needed something a little bigger and more practical, I guess, so I bought it off him as a favor. Well, also to see his expression when he witnessed me painting it pink.”

[otterknowbynow]

main issue is I should definitely NOT break it up until it’s finished, at least, and until I can look it over fresh and decide if it needs to be broken up or just shortened, because who’s to say we don’t just end up with....another AHE situation otherwise :| 

[aethes-bookshelf]

in case you don't live forever || levi/reader

Levi loving hours, loves! May or may not mean I'll finally sit down to write that Levi multichap I have in my WIPs. But for now, I bring you this :)

Pairing: Levi/Reader

Warnings: fluff, a pinch of angst and yearning, more-than-friends-less-than-lovers, open ending

Summary: You didn’t really know what you and Levi shared. But god be damned if you weren’t going to fight tooth and nail for it.

ao3 link

Tomorrow marked the beginning of the 57th expedition of the Survey Corps. As part of Squad Levi, you were tasked with protecting Eren from outside threats. There was some talk of the Female Titan and its capture, but nobody was really sure she would appear at all — yourself included.

Still, titans, female or not, meant risk. Who knew if you’d still be alive by the end of tomorrow. Even as one of the veterans, your survival wasn’t guaranteed. You’d had your fair share of moping about that in your early years; bend over the bottle with your friends. And, eventually, without them.

Only one man was sure to come back in one piece. Your captain.

You took one final step up the ladder and opened the hatchet in the ceiling. Climbing onto the roof was still embarrassingly difficult, despite all of your training. When you finally clamored all the way through the hole and sat down with a hearty ‘umf’, a harsh voice sounded from the other side of the roof:

‘How are you still so shitty at climbing ladders?’ said Levi.

‘Get off my dick! It’s not my fault there’s nothing to grab onto at the top,’ you huffed, trying to shake pieces of straw out of your jacket.

‘You use the 3DMG gear better than most and you’re fussy about a fucking ladder?’

‘I told you to get off my dick already, didn’t I?’

Levi leveled you with a stare that would’ve made a younger version of you shake in your boots. This you, however, only heaved a sigh.

‘How come you can tell me to fuck off on a daily basis, but I do it once and you get angry?’

‘Because I’m your superior, shithead.’

‘There you go again.’ You moved to sit next to him. ‘How was your day?’ you added after a few extra seconds of silence.

‘Had to spend most of it teaching the fresh meat how to properly clean a floor,’ he grumbled; when you looked closer, you could see the stars reflecting in his eyes.

‘Ohh, fresh meat? What are they like?’

‘A fucking pain in the ass.’ He sighed and closed his eyes. The stars disappeared. ‘How about you?’

‘Ah, you know, same old. I bickered with Oulo a bit.’ You shrugged. ‘Oh, and I sorted out the rest of your paperwork.’

‘How many times do I have to tell you you don’t have to do that? You’re not my secretary.’

‘I know I don’t have to. I do it ‘cause I want to.’ You rested your head on Levi’s shoulder. He twitched slightly, like he always did, before relaxing into your touch. ‘I want you to have a good night’s sleep for once.’

‘...You know I’m not going to sleep. Not tonight,’ he said, the gruff of his voice giving way to something softer, more vulnerable. ‘...Thank you.’

‘No problem, love.’

He side-eyed you at the nickname.

‘What?’

‘You just called me “love”.’

‘I can call you whatever you want!’ Your cheeks felt hot. Still, you pushed on. ‘I might not be here to annoy you after tomorrow, I’ve got to make the most of the time I still have left.’ You knew your joke fell flat when he gave no reaction. ‘...What’s wrong?’

‘Don’t joke about that,’ he replied, voice barely more than a whisper.

‘Why?’

‘Because what if it’s true?’

Your brows furrowed, and then, understanding hit you. Immediately, your hands were on him. You cradled his face, fingers gliding along his cheekbones like he was the greatest treasure in the world.

It made him want to scream.

‘Oh no, no, love. I’m not going anywhere,’ you reassured him; even to you, it felt hollow.

‘How can you know that?’

Your eyes were downcast. Still, your hands didn’t leave his face; they only trembled slightly with the weight of the implications. ‘I… I can’t,’ you answered truthfully. ‘I can’t, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to do everything I can to come back to you.’

‘One mistake and you’re gone,’ he whispered, his hands steadying yours. They felt hot against your skin.

‘I know, believe me.’ You sighed, closing your eyes. Your forehead rested against his. ‘So I’m going to strive for perfection.’

Neither of you spoke after that. There was only measured breathing and the occasional call of a bird of prey, stalking the night.

You didn’t really know what you and Levi shared. Neither of you ever made a move to define it, to maybe make it more than it really was. Because all there was were subtle touches, burning eyes and quiet nights. Nights of nightmares, hushed voices and badly concealed tears, of desperation and warmth huddled together in between sheets.

Or, sometimes, on top of rooftops, where no one would look for you; no one would find you and rob you of those precious few moments stolen away from the world.

You’d always meet just like this before every expedition. Even before whatever you had became this, you came for a few words of guidance against the fear growing in the pit of your stomach. For someone who would understand the weight of losing the ones that mattered the most and shouldering it all alone.

And he would come too.

You didn’t really know what you and Levi shared. But god be damned if you weren’t going to fight tooth and nail for it.

[suzuki-violin-school]

Welcome to the Forest

I've been sitting on this wip for forever now but I decided to work on it some more and now it's starting to look like a multichap. N e ways, here's part one ig (yes, the dragon is indeed kirishima)

Masterlist Next Chapter>

Content: fantasy au, barbarian king bakugo, blood mention tw, animal death tw, bakugo gets bitchslapped

The barbarian king was wandering through the forest, a deer shredded by his own bare hands slung over his shoulder as he wandered slowly towards the clearing where he and his pet dragon currently lived. He was taking his sweet time alone, never able to silently enjoy his own peace with others around. The forest was peaceful and quiet in a way almost completely unfamiliar to him.

At least, it was peaceful, until a girl fell out of a tree. She yelped loudly as she hit the ground, leaves in her hair and tied around her wrists and ankles. The short dress she was wearing also reminded him of a leaf, though he was almost certain it was made of fabric and not a plant. She got up quickly, not bothering to shake the leaves from her hair or wipe the dirt from her palms and knees.

She stared at the king for a moment before glancing up at the tree she’d been sleeping in. She looked at him again.

“…Whose is the deer?” She asked. Her voice was softer and sweeter than anything the barbarian had ever heard. Softer than the silk his dragon wove, sweeter than the honey in the hives his dragon would bring home.

“It’s mine.”

“No,” the girl said simply. She walked over to him with such a smooth step that he didn’t know if she was walking or gliding. He didn’t know why he didn’t step away or shove her off of him, but he allowed her to run her hand over the dead deer. “This death was not blessed. You intend to eat him?”

She gingerly ran her fingers across the deer’s antlers, watching its blood drip onto the grass beneath the barbarian.

“Yes.”

“You shouldn’t,” the girl said. “This meat will make you ill.”

“And why the hell should I listen to you?”

The girl rolled her eyes, letting go of the deer and walking back towards her tree.

“You gave him no dignity as you killed him,” she said, resting her hands on the thick trunk of the tree. “He was given an unnatural death, and you did not have the blessing to claim his life. That is meat filled with the vengeance of the spirit you stole that deer from. I do not know whose deer he was, but his body’s fate is not yours to command.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” The king asked, annoyed that such a meek-looking stranger would dare lecture him of all people about killing an animal. “We’ve always hunted in this forest. I’ve never encountered any ‘spirit’ wanting to curse me for killing a deer.”

“You have never set foot in this forest before, hunter,” the girl said simply, shaking her head. “From which direction have you come?”

The barbarian was silent for a moment, slowly coming to the realization that he didn’t remember which way he’d come from. He decided on simply turning and pointing behind himself. In a general sense, he had come from behind himself. Probably.

“That way.”

“No,” the girl said again. She looked him over carefully, slowly circling him. “…You’ve been tricked by the fae.”

“Are you kidding me? You think I’ve been cursed by fucking faeries?”

Swiftly and sharply, the girl slapped him across the face.

“Never utter that word in my forest again,” she said sternly, the silken honey in her voice replaced with the sting of snake venom. A branch in the tree above her trembled, showering her in crisp leaves. “You hail from the western cities, yes? Only they speak such foul language in fae realms.”

“Again with the fu- Again with the faeries? What mushrooms have you been eating?”

“Ah. You were raised in the western capital,” the girl said, a wicked, knowing tone in her voice. She paused for a moment, examining the king once more. “You lived in the Forest District, where an old willow forest had been cut down. There was a tree in the front yard of your childhood home, a large tree dripping with heavy willow boughs, weighed down by a treehouse your father built.”

The barbarian stared at the girl in silence for a moment, trying to figure out how to respond without earning himself another slap in the face- His cheek was still stinging.

“…How do you know that?” He asked, settling on the simplest version of his thoughts.

“People from the capital don’t believe in faeries,” the girl explained. “The fae avoid big cities, and your people haven’t been in regular contact with faeries for centuries. …You were very kind to the tree in your yard. You lost that childhood kindness as you grew up, didn’t you?”

“Who the hell are you?”

“My name is sacred,” the girl said defensively. “I would never put my name on your vulgar tongue!”

“Fine. What are you?”

The girl closed her eyes, smiling softly.

“Finally,” she said sweetly. “A smidge of respect from you. I’m a tree spirit. You asked how I know of your treehouse- Your willow tree told me. She spoke, and her whisper carried along in wind-blown leaves.”

The nymph crouched to the ground, picking up one of the fallen leaves.

“Those are willow leaves,” the king noticed, looking at the trees around him. Not a single willow in sight. He huffed. “Alright, fine, whatever. Let’s pretend I believe in faeries. How the hell did I get mixed up with them?”

“How should I know?” The girl asked, shrugging.

“Wh- I dunno, can’t you ask the trees or something?”

“…I don’t know what you expect, but I suppose so,” the nymph said, grimacing. She glanced up at the tree she’d fallen out of and closed her eyes for a moment, asking a silent question to the forest. She took a deep breath before slowly opening her eyes again, ignoring a wind blowing through the trees above them both. “You were in a forest near the western cities, but you drank fae water.”

“What the hell is fae water?”

“City folk,” the girl muttered to herself, rolling her eyes. She sighed to herself, stepping back towards the king and resting a hand on the deer again. “Your death was in vain, I apologize. Come.”

With ease, the nymph lifted the deer off of the barbarian’s shoulders, taking it with her as she walked away.

“Hey! That’s my fucking dinner!”

The girl kept walking, holding back a giggle when she heard a tree branch fall on her pursuer’s head.

= Next Chapter> Nymph fic survey =

Taglist: (Want to be on it? Fill this out!) @sageyrage @ventini @katsupeach @patchworkpuzzle @nightwingsgirl @devilgirlcrybabiey @itszero16 @sendhelpimstupid @jodrawssmut @niicevibe @ushijimasslut @matriarchofworms

[etl-echo-audiobooks]

Hi! Was wondering if you had any long fics in the pipeline? (>150k words or so). Don’t get me wrong, I love EVERYTHING y’all put out and I know your work is very time consuming! I don’t mean to come across as ungrateful or anything. I find that long fics are such a tough commitment to read, especially with work/children/chores in the way. I loved listening to TRTTD, the Auction, and LIATOTZA throughout the day, in the car, whenever! It helped with time management so much.

The short fics are great and your fans will be happy with anything you put out! They’re less time-consuming to read on my own though, so the long ones are a preference of mine :)

(I’m just a single voice/opinion though so don’t mind me haha)

Ah we know people want the long stuff, but it is HORRIFICALLY time consuming (and emotionally taxing), lol.

@beatific-triciabean will have been recording Disappearances for A YEAR, if she doesn't wrap things before September 26th. Time flies.

1k takes 10 minutes to record on average across the team of Readers we have, and 15-20 minutes for our Editors, and then the edited product is listened to by our Quality Control folks to catch anything that may have been missed. If they catch something, Editors go through again, and sometimes there's a re-record

This issue with long stories is completing the recording before they are released. We don't want to do WIPS (ours or authors) because life happens and we never want to leave a story unfinished.

Beyond Disappearances, there are 5 works over 70k (most over 100k, two over 150k) that are in process. We also have one-shots queued for release on the weekends through to 2023.

As the summer is ending, and some of our team are going back to work (full-time, or for the first time since 2020), there are anticipated lulls in content release. We are taking a month off from Multichap releases when Apple Pies and Other Amends is finished this week. We're here to stay, always growing (always looking for new people to join the team) but we'd also encourage (and guide) anyone looking into going into podficcing themselves! The more content that is made more readily accessible to the fandom, the better!

[tryalittlejoytomorrow]

murder on a plane fic?? please tell us more! (for the WIP fic ask game)

Ah, murder on a plane my beloved/behated depending on the day!! 😹 @flythesail and @scarletslippers have been sort of little devil/angel on my shoulder about it.

Open: Airplane interior; day. Camera pans through first class; Bess is beaming, her chair is reclined and she makes a show out of stretching her legs. Pan through the left; Ace is sitting in the middle between Nancy and Bess, Nancy's head on his shoulder as she looks over at Bess, amused. There's a scream. Bess startles and groans.

This - this is the sort of  story that makes me want to pull at my hair in frustration but also pat myself on the back.

It will probably be a summer project; it is all planned out already. I’m sort of a control freak about this, but when I plan multichaps, especially the sort that involves cases and mysteries, I plan everything ahead in a spreadsheet: plot, timeline, mobile, alibi, cause of death, etc. There’s been oddly specific research made about what sort of murder weapon I could have the murderer carry on an airplane, what Ace could deduce from a body examination and not a full autopsy, and I hope the FBI agent assigned to my case knows I’m just a writer by now. #oopsie

Long story short: the Drew Crew will be on a plane, back or going to a sort of DetectiveCon, when someone dies on the plane. Ace’s M.E. expertise comes in handy when he declares the death a murder, and Nancy and the others start investigating.

Stay tuned! Hopefully I can start working on it during the summer, after I’m done with my current multichap!

[startanewdream]

I have this multichap WIP in the works for ages and now thanks to @sunshine-marauders' prompt ("Insecure James") I finally got around posting the first day!

Read on AO3 or below:

____________

Not a bad day

Chapter 1 - Not a bad game day

The moment the portrait closed and all sounds of the party vanished, James let the smile slip out of his face and his hands grabbed his hair nervously, fighting back a will to just tear them away.

Ten points.

In his first match as Quidditch captain, Gryffindor won by ten points.

It had never happened before in all twelve matches James had played; James remembered easy winnings, even in that match last year that he had to play as Seeker when Godfrey had broken his arm the night before the match, but back then they had a decent captain. Or two, because the Prewett twins were co-captains and they knew how to be a captain.

He’d thought he had done everything right. He had trained with the other chasers, making sure they worked as a team; he’d instructed the keeper in how to detect and avoid any tricks, sharing with him even James' secret manoeuvres. He’d practised with the two beaters, spent afternoon days with them with himself as their target and James had been to the Hospital Wing with two broken ribs, but he was certain the beaters could hit any target. And James had spent even more hours with the new seeker, developing all skills that were already there and making sure she was confident enough.

And then everything had crumbled in the first ten minutes of the match.

James had called for two time-outs and had talked to his team, bestowed upon them his best confident charm, but nothing seemed to work; and despite his words, he was equally lost. He didn’t know if he should try to redirect his team or make sure they had enough goals to not matter if they lost. If he wasn’t the captain, he would be scoring as many as possible — but everyone was looking at him in search of an answer he didn't have and the narrator was gladly commenting about every mistake Gryffindor was making and…

And a miracle had happened when Vance had caught the snitch, but James knew it had been more an accident than actual talent.

He hadn’t said anything about it though. His team — his carefully chosen and well-trained players — knew the match had been horrible and James didn’t have the spirit to let them down even more. So he had done his captain duty: he had praised everyone for whatever he could (‘That pass was amazing, Jones. You almost hit that bludger perfectly, Merryweather. Spectacular diversion of that bludger, Vance), and he had congratulated them for the victory.

None of the Gryffindors seemed to think anything was amiss. The victory party was raging when the team arrived — loud music and bottles of butterbeer all around. Sirius was drinking something that definitely wasn’t butterbeer and James had been tempted to lose himself too, but he had passed.

He had expected to drink to celebrate, not to drown away his misery.

After a while, he had just risen and left the Common Room quietly. With luck, his friends would just think he had left to celebrate with someone or had fallen drunk behind some couch.

The halls were quiet and empty, which James considered a small blessing. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with any joke about his performance as captain or even worse, any compliment about it.

He just wanted to be left alone to brood, really, and to think how everything had gone so wrong.

He found an empty classroom to sit in, watching the sun shining over the surface of the lake. The good thing was that the game lasted only one hour — the bad side of it meant it was still early and the party would last until nightfall. He wondered if he could just hide there all day — probably not, James thought as his stomach rumbled. He just wanted that horrible miserable day to end.

James lasted another thirty minutes until he agreed that he needed something to eat. The only question was if he would rather risk going to the kitchen or back to the Common Room — if people started clapping his back again, James was sure he would just throw up. What he needed, really, was to go to Professor McGonagall and return the captain badge so she could pin it on anyone else — and then he would be free to do what he was good at, that was scoring goals without worries about what everyone else was doing.

The Common Room, James decided. From there he could just slip back to his bed and then pretend he was too drunk and just try to sleep. Anything to end that day, to pretend it had never happened at all.

He left the classroom absently, and he was closing the door when he heard a voice that made him jump.

‘Potter?’

His hand went to his hair, in a gesture that was more reflex than anything. There were a lot of reflexes that James couldn’t help whenever he heard her voice — such as that redness that came to his neck or the way his heart beat faster whenever Lily Evans was around.

Mostly the last one.

And especially when he turned around and his eyes found Lily Evans standing in the middle of the hall, watching him leaving the classroom. She was still dressed in Gryffindor colours: wearing the uniform lazily, the tie hanging undone around her neck over two open buttons of her shirt; her face was painted with two lines of red and gold in each cheek, and her red hair was combed in two braids that were lined with golden flecks. He felt he could stay there watching her forever.

Good Godric, she was beautiful.

James refrained from sighing.

‘Hi, Evans,' he said, and his voice did that melodious thing that always happened when he was near her.

James really wished he could talk to Lily Evans as if he was a normal human being, but his body was always full of reactions when it came to her, no matter how much he tried to control them.

He was trying to forget her after all. Evans had already made it clear that she wasn’t interested in him — which was becoming more evident now as she watched him with a sudden suspicious expression, her eyes narrowing.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Going back to the Common Room?’ he answered, feeling a little unsure. There was something about Evans that always made him feel guilty as if she could find the worst faults in him.

Even when he wasn’t doing anything wrong such as now.

‘You left the party,' mumbled Evans, still sounding accusing as if he had no right to leave in the first place.

‘So did you,' James smirked, which he knew wouldn’t work with Evans but he had to try anyway. ‘What are you doing, Evans?’

‘Patrolling,' she answered easily, pointing to the prefect badge pinned on her robe, in the same place James had his captain badge pinned. ‘Which is why I get to ask what you were doing alone in an empty room — oh.' Evans looked away from him, an annoyed expression crossing her face. ‘You weren’t alone.'

‘What?’

‘No one is supposed to enter classrooms without permission, you know that, Potter,’ reprimanded Evans, ignoring him. ‘I will have to report it to Professor McGonagall.'

‘Ah, come on,' James complained, the unfairness of it making him grimace. ‘I can’t even brood alone without getting detention? Really?’

Evans blinked.

‘Alone? I thought — you left the party, and Vance too and — brooding?’ She paused, watching him with concern now, which James realized was even worse. On top of all his failures, he also didn’t need Evans’ pity. ‘What happened, Potter?’

‘Nothing.'

‘You look like someone stole the last piece of chocolate tart that you always pick up first at dinner — really, what’s up? Shouldn’t you be celebrating your victory?’

‘Just let go, Evans,' he asked, turning away from her and walking down the hall. He could hear her rushed steps after him.

‘Potter —'

‘I am a crappy captain, is that what you wanted to hear?’ he cried, turning around to face Evans. He hadn’t noticed how close she was, but for once James didn’t let this thought distract him. ‘I had one job that was to keep the team working and I screwed it up.'

‘Butt —’ Evans looked really confused. ‘But Gryffindor won.'

‘By ten points. We needed a good margin of points to not depend on the result of other games and now we have to double our work —’

‘You still won,' she insisted, watching him closely and there was no pity or annoyance on her face now. ‘Winning by ten points is better than losing by ten and, be honest, even if you had won by a thousand points, would it have made a difference?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘A victory by a giant margin — would you have relaxed your efforts with the team? Would you stop working so hard with Matt and Lucy? Or stop all those night meetings with Emmeline?’

James blinked slowly, not understanding what Evans meant by that. Of course he would keep trying to improve his team.

‘No.'

‘And if Gryffindor could lose by three hundred points and still win the Quidditch Cup — would you want the team to play poorly?’

‘No, of course not!’

‘So, Potter.' Evans crossed her arms like she had done a thousand times before at him but James didn’t think she was exasperated this time. ‘This one match doesn’t change anything. You still have work to do with your team.'

James shifted the weight from one foot to another, thinking. Evans was still watching him, her green eyes giving him the impression that she could see every thought unfolding in his mind; she didn’t look surprised when he nodded.

‘I guess the game wasn’t so bad. I mean, there is room for improvement, but now I saw everyone’s weakest points and I can work with that.'

‘Exactly, captain,' Evans said, and James dared to think there was a teasing note in her voice, one that he’d heard her sharing with others but never with him.

He fought very hard his desire to grin.

‘Ready to go back to the party?' she asked.

'Yeah. And you?'

He tried not to sound too hopeful. Considering Evans didn't look repulsed by his question, James thought he had been successful.

'It was a little boring,' Evans said, shrugging. 'I don't know, I expected it to be more fun.'

'It's because I wasn't there,' James teased, but this seemed the wrong thing to say. Evans took a step back, frowning; panic flooded him and he added hurriedly: 'I mean, who left Sirius in charge of the music? He grew up with classical music.'

Her expression softened.

'Maybe you could tap the radio to Muggle stations? Like you did last year?'

James fought to keep a neutral face. She had noticed he was the one that did it, then? He'd thought Evans was too mad at him back then — during all that party, James had tried to draw her attention, certain that him leading Gryffindor to the victory would make Evans want to go out with him, but she had refused to even glance in his direction.

But she had noticed his charm.

'I could,' he replied slowly. 'It is much better to dance.'

'Yeah,' she agreed and then Evans smiled at him.

She smiled. At him. On purpose. That warm glorious smile that had first attracted him years ago, long before he knew what it meant.

His heart was doing full acrobatics dancing steps inside him now.

'Are you going back too?' he asked, desperately willing himself to look normal, though his hand wanted very much to comb his hair — or touch her braids, he wasn't sure.

Evans bit her lip, looking down the corridor that led to the Astronomy Tower.

'It's Saturday,' James added as charmingly as he could, his voice again melodious and nice. 'Do you really need to be patrolling today?'

'Actually… no, I wasn't scheduled. It's just —'

'The party was lame, I know.' She looked back at him; it was difficult to concentrate under her gaze, but James had to try. 'But still better than patrolling empty halls, I’d say.

He tried that puppy look he always saw Remus using when he wanted something; at least it should be more efficient than his confident gaze that Evans never seemed to find amusing. But she took one look at his face and she averted her eyes quickly, looking suddenly flustered.

'Well, it wasn't my schedule anyway,' she agreed, walking next to him in the direction of the Gryffindor Tower. 'And I could use a drink.'

'Sirius' version or the normal butterbeer?'

'What's in his version?' Evans asked, and James could hear the amusement in her voice as if she was already predicting his answer.

'Probably not butter, only beer — and worse.'

She let out a giggle. James pretended the sound did not fill his heart with hope and joy.

'I will stay out of his version then. I would like to remember this day tomorrow.'

James thought of sharing a smile and a decent conversation with Evans — she had noticed he always saved a chocolate tart for himself? Or that he had charmed the radio to play Muggle songs? And she was actually going back to the party because he had asked? — and decided he would like to remember that day too. It had not been that bad.

_________

[elizabethvaughns]

ah the burden of having oneshot idea after oneshot idea when u have a multichap wip that u literally haven't updated since MARCH

[chierry]

For the tage game: Art Noveau, weird apartment one, and 2 blushing emojis

they all sound so fun :0

Thank you for another ask! It has been a blast talking about the wips, esp since I hardly have the chance to :3c

ART NOVEAU:

Yet another another for the Top 5 Things I want to Write. This one tho... I want to be my magnum opus. My swan song. The last thing I write. This kind of dramatic shit. It would be LOOOOOOONG, and it would have illustrations in every chapter, but man, I adore this story with all my heart. I have said this a lot with this game, but it's true: if I ever have a "last fic" to end my career, I want it to be this one.

It would be Uni and Hibari centric (yeah, weird, I know) and it would be about Uni having a terrible nightmare right before Vongola comes to visit for summer, and then Hibari gets hit by the bazooka and something weird wearing his skin would come out instead of a regular TYL version :D It would be about CULTS and EXPLOITING THE TALENTS AND LIFE OF CHILDREN and ABOUT FINDING YOUR LEGACY and GIGLIO NERO LORE and it would be, above all, about pretty art noveau-style illustrations.

No joke that I think about this story daily. I can't wait to start working on it, but I have a lot to do before that! That includes events, and just other multichaps I'd rather finish first before tackling such an enormous project.

(and if I do end up writing this, don't worry, I won't quit writing! Just that if I die after writing this one, I would die with no regrets.)

WEIRD APARTMENT ONE:

Ah, the classic. It would be 8018 where after Yamamoto fucks up he is isolated to an island, with a small village in it where he has to share an apartment with Hibari. But the question is: what the fuck is Hibari doing there?

This one is pure slice of life, and would be about escapism and just... general fluff stuff. I need to put 192491 references to Down the Rabbit Hole too, and I actually have entire scenes based around said references... This one would be pretty much "Chierry-happy-place". Very me to the core.

It's not one I am DESPERATE to write like others, but it's def something I want to write.

2 BLUSHING EMOJIS:

...Poooooooooooooorn. 1827 porn to be exact. For the sake of keeping it PG, let's leave it at that.

Again, thank you so much for the asks. It has been fun :3c

[thelastspeecher]

Eggs and Pollywogs

This is the final ficlet I’ll be posting for my Nixie AU.  Not because I won’t write anything else for it or anything like that, but because I’m going to be focusing my writing attention for the Nixie AU into making a multichap!  I’m hoping to finish a couple of my WIPs before I start posting the Nixie AU multichap (which I’m titling “Amphibious Tendencies”), so it might be a little while.  But I’m excited to clean up and expand my lil ficlets and make it into a multichap.

But I was already working on this ficlet, and since the last one ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, I finished this up so that y’all could have some Quality Egg Content.  Enjoy.

—————————————————————————————— 

              Water splashed Stan’s face.  He sat up, spluttering.

              “Good.  Yer with us,” Fiddleford said flatly.  Stan wiped the water out of his eyes.  “Yer lil faintin’ spell made Angie cry.”

              “Fidds, that’s a lie!” Angie protested.

              “You cried.”

              “I have a lot of emotions right now,” Angie argued.  Stan got to his feet.  Angie reached for his hand.  She brushed her thumb across his fingers.  “You all right, darlin’?”

              “Yeah, I think- I think I am.”  Stan rubbed the back of his neck.  He swallowed.  “So, uh, the egg in the jar, it’s-”

              “Your offspring, yes,” Ford said.  At some point while Stan was passed out, Ford had obtained the jar and was looking intently at the egg floating within it. “Hmm.  I wonder if all nixie eggs are this cherry blossom color.”

              “Cherry blossom?  Ford, it’s fucking pink,” Stan said.

              “I was specifying the shade of pink.”

              “Whatever.”  Stan turned his attention back to Angie.  “Did you- did you lay it or something?”  Angie nodded. “That had to have sucked.”  Angie laughed softly.

              “It most certainly did.  I wouldn’t have disappeared fer so long fer no reason.”

              “I suspect that it should hatch in a handful of months,” Ford interjected.  “Shorter than the regular human gestation of nine months, but longer than the regular frog gestation of a month or two at most.”  Angie rolled her eyes.

              “I know how long it takes frog eggs to hatch, Stanford.  I’ve got a doctorate in herpetology.”

              “Thank god,” Stan muttered.  “We’re gonna need your expert smarts when the kid hatches.” He grimaced.  “My kid’s gonna hatch from an egg.”

              “I’m sorry,” Angie said quietly.

              “Why?”

              “Yer kid’s goin’ to hatch from an egg ‘cause I’m the mother.”

              “You being the mom is a good thing, Ang.  I’m glad I’m having a kid with you,” Stan said. Angie smiled.

              “Did you lay any others?” Ford asked.  Angie sighed.

              “No.  Just the one.”

              “Odd.  Water sprites like nixies tend to spawn.  Maybe you only laid one because it has a human for a father.  Or maybe because you aren’t a full-blooded nixie.”

              “Spawn,” Stan croaked, his voice cracking.

              “Okay, that’s it.”  Angie took the jar from Ford.

              “Hey!  I was examining that!”

              “‘That’ happens to be my child,” Angie snarled. “You can examine my baby when I say it’s okay.  And right now, my child, my boyfriend, and I are goin’ to find somewhere private. It’s darn difficult to have a serious conversation about us bein’ parents with ya interruptin’ every minute.”

-----

              Stan and Angie walked down the dock.  It was the middle of the day, so they weren’t alone at the lake, but they had decided it was still a better place to talk than the house.  They sat down at the end of the dock, their legs dangling over the edge.

              “Can I, uh, can I see the egg?” Stan asked quietly. Angie handed over the jar.  Stan removed the lid to look more closely at his unborn child.

              Not really unborn. She’s gonna hatch, so, unhatched, I guess.

              “Are you all right?” Angie asked, just as quiet as Stan.  Stan nodded.

              “Yeah.  I’m just, uh, trying to, y’know, come to terms with this.  I didn’t even know if I’d be able to have kids with you, since you’re a frog,” he said.  Angie chuckled softly.  “And now…now I’m gonna have a daughter.”

              “Wait.  Daughter?” Angie asked.

              “The egg’s pink.  It’s gonna be a girl,” Stan said, matter-of-fact.  Angie stared at him.  “You’ve heard of pink going with girls and blue going with boys before, right?”

              “I- yes, but I highly doubt that’ll translate in this way,” Angie said.

              “I’ve got a feeling about it.”

              “Hmm.”

              “My gut feelings are never wrong, Ang,” Stan said firmly.  “We’re gonna have a little girl.”

              “Well, there is a 50% chance yer right,” Angie said after a moment.  She reached for Stan’s hand and laced her fingers with his.  “Do ya have any idea what names ya like?”

              “Molly,” Stan said immediately.  Angie quirked a small smile.

              “Ya had that one locked and loaded.”

              “I’ve wanted to be a dad since I was a teenager. I’ve thought about what I wanna name my kids,” Stan said with a shrug.  Angie’s smile broadened.

              “I like Molly, too.  And if the lil one turns out to be a boy…”

              “It’s a girl.”

              “Ya don’t want to hear what I think we should name our son?” Angie asked.

              “I mean, it’s not necessary, but go for it.”

              “I was thinkin’ we could name him after you. Stan Junior.”

              “I- you- you wanna name your kid after me?” Stan croaked.  Angie leaned against him.

              “Our kid, darlin’.  Not mine.  Ours. Why wouldn’t he be named after his father?” she said tenderly.  Tears sprang to Stan’s eyes.  He brushed them away roughly.

              “Yeah,” he choked out.  “Yeah, that sounds- that sounds good.”  Angie stroked Stan’s cheek.  “I don’t think we should still be living with Fidds and Ford when the kid hatches.”

              “I reckon yer right ‘bout that.”  Angie’s eyes widened.  “Oh!  So, durin’ my time explorin’ the lake, I stumbled across somethin’ incredible.”

              “What?”

              “There’s some nice-lookin’ caves behind the falls. There’s plenty of room fer a full fam’ly to live there.  And there’s even some natural pools of water fer eggs or nixies to sleep in.”

              “Huh.”  Stan thought on that for a moment.  “We wouldn’t have to pay rent.”

              “Nope.”  Angie rubbed the back of her neck.  “I don’t know if it’s a good long-term solution, but I think it’s definitely a decent one fer right now.”

              “Yeah, and it’s better than living with our brothers…” Stan grinned at Angie.  “I think that we can live in a cave like frogs.”

              Angie beamed.

-----

              Stan watched anxiously as Ford removed the egg from its jar to examine it.  Every instinct he had was screaming to rip the egg out of Ford’s hands.  Ford gently set the egg into a bowl of water.

              “She’s getting very large,” Ford commented.  Angie rolled her eyes.

              “Really?  You, too?”

              “The egg is the color associated with femininity.”

              “Assignin’ pink ‘n blue to gender is a human construct, Stanford,” Angie said shortly.  She, Stan, and Ford were in the basement lab at the house, where Ford and Angie were making their regular observations tracking the egg’s development. Angie was the one who suggested that Ford track the egg’s development with her, an opportunity he jumped at.

              “I suppose we’ll find out when she hatches.” Ford carefully turned the egg over. Stan winced.  “You’ll need a larger jar to transport her soon.”  Angie sighed.

              “Here’s the thing.  I can’t find any bigger jars.  I think that this is the last time I’ll be able to bring the egg over.  From now on, it’ll have to stay in the cave pool.”

              “Nope!” a voice said.  Everyone looked over.  Fiddleford had arrived, carrying something.  He strode over to Angie.  “I whipped somethin’ up fer ya.”  He handed the item to Angie.  She looked it over doubtfully.

              “Uh, a tote bag?” Angie asked.  Fiddleford chuckled.

              “That’s just one of its uses.  It’s multi-functional, o’ course.”

              “Of course,” Stan muttered.  Fiddleford ignored him.

              “Think of it as a portable version of the tank I made fer ya.  When ya zip up the top, it’ll keep water in perfectly, without any spillin’.  Ya can carry it over yer shoulder, on yer back, or even on yer front.”  Angie looked up curiously.  Fiddleford beamed.  “That’s the best part, I think.  If ya wear it on yer front and tuck it under yer clothes, it’ll give the impression yer expectin’.”

              “That’s actually a great idea,” Stan said. “Angie and I have been getting a bit worried about people noticing we have a kid when she was never pregnant.” He waved a hand.  “Sure, adoption exists, but there’s no way the kid won’t have either my nose or Angie’s.  She’s gonna look like us.”

              “Thank you, Fidds,” Angie said.  She smiled.  “This really is great.”  Fiddleford’s smile broadened further.

              “Speaking of which traits your daughter is going to get…” Ford said slowly.  Fiddleford frowned.

              “What makes ya think the pollywog’s goin’ to be a girl?” he asked.  Angie sighed.

              “Stan and Ford are stuck on the egg bein’ pink.”

              “Stanford, that don’t mean jack.”

              “In my professional opinion-” Ford started, his voice rising.

              “What were ya goin’ to say about traits?” Angie interrupted.

              “I- ahem.”  Ford cleared his throat.  “I wonder which traits from which forms will pass down.”  Angie frowned thoughtfully.

              “Elaborate.”

              “In your native form, you are blonde, like Fiddleford,” Ford said, gesturing to Angie’s caramel-colored hair.  Stan rolled his eyes.

              “The guy who said my kid’s egg is ‘cherry blossom’ thinks Angie and Fiddleford have the same hair color,” he muttered.  Ford blinked.

              “They’re both blonde.”

              “Yeah, but in different ways.”

              “Stanford, ignore him,” Fiddleford said.  “Finish yer thought, please.”

              “Right.  As I was saying, Angie, you are blonde when in human form, but as a nixie, you have black hair.  I’m curious as to whether your daughter will have black hair or blonde hair as a human.”

              “Or brown hair,” Angie said.  Ford frowned.

              “Why would she have brown hair?” he asked. Stan cupped his hands around his mouth.

              “Dumbass, I’m the kid’s dad!” he shouted.

              “Ah.  Yes. Fair point.”  Ford looked at Stan with some concern.  “Are you all right?”

              “No, my genius brother is an idiot,” Stan retorted, crossing his arms.

              “Not-” Ford huffed.  “Your voice sounds…off.  Do you have a frog in your throat?”

              “That’s racist,” Angie mumbled.

              “I mean, I don’t have a frog in my throat right now,” Stan said.  Fiddleford and Angie turned beet red.  After a moment, Ford flushed as well.  Stan snickered.  “Nah, I think that I’m just getting used to living behind the waterfall.”

              “Why would that alter your voice?” Ford asked. Stan shrugged.

              “I mean, I haven’t been able to fully dry off since we moved there.  Don’t you get sick if you stay wet?”

              “Not necessarily,” Ford said.

              “He’s fine,” Angie said.  “Can we please finish lookin’ at the egg?  I’m eager to try this here bag Fidds made.”

              “Yes, of course.”  Ford and Angie turned their attention back to the egg.  Fiddleford joined them as well.  Stan leaned against the wall, deciding to observe from a distance. He uncrossed an arm to scratch his neck, unaware of the thin slime that briefly oozed from the itch.

-----

              “Stan!”  Stan looked up from his attempts to shave, using one of the cave pools as a mirror. Angie beamed broadly at him. “C’mere!”  Stan wiped his face clean, got up, and joined Angie at the pool she had designated for the egg.  “Look!”  She pointed at the egg.

              “Uh, what am I looking at?” Stan asked.

              “The lil pollywog is swimmin’ in the egg!” Angie gushed.  Stan sat down and leaned in to look closely at the egg.  His eyes widened.  Sure enough, the dark speck inside the egg was moving.  “I reckon it’s a bit like when someone pregnant first feels their baby kickin’.”

              “Yeah.”

              “I’d say that we’ve only got a couple months ‘fore the lil one hatches.”

              “Wow, that soon?”

              “Yep.”

              “Damn.”  Stan smiled as he watched the tadpole swimming around inside its egg.  “Holy Moses, I’m gonna be a dad soon,” he said quietly.  His eyes widened.  “I’m gonna be a dad, but I’m not married.”

              “Oh,” Angie said, sounding surprised.  “That’s right.  We ain’t married.”

              “We should probably do that at some point,” Stan said.  Angie laughed softly.  “What?”

              “I’m just imaginin’ my fam’ly gettin’ invitations to a wedding where they haven’t even heard of the groom ‘fore.”

              “Wait.”

              “Oh.  Oh no.” Stan and Angie stared at each other. “I never told my fam’ly ‘bout ya.”

              “We’ve been dating for months!  We’re gonna be parents soon!”

              “I- well-” Angie spluttered.  “Have you told yer fam’ly ‘bout me?” she shot back.

              “Touché.  But you talk to your family a lot more than I talk to mine.”

              “Yeah.”  Angie rubbed the back of her neck nervously.  “There’s just- a lot has happened very quickly.  We first met a lil over a year ago, ‘member?”

              “That was only a year ago?”

              “A bit more,” Angie corrected.

              “Still.”  Stan looked back at the egg.  “Damn. We moved fast.”

              “Apparently.”  Angie groaned, kneading her forehead.  “Oh, Lord. They’re all goin’ to blow their gaskets.”

              “Especially when you mention the kid,” Stan pointed out. Angie groaned louder.  “I wonder how easily we’ll be able to get the kid to look human…”  After a moment, Angie nodded.

              “Good point.  Maybe we wait to mention we have a child until that child can hide its gills.”

-----

              Stan scowled as he watched Lute stare at the egg. Angie had called her family to let them know she had a serious boyfriend about a month ago.  Earlier that week, her older brother, Lute, had showed up determined to find out Stan’s “intentions” with his younger sister. Before Stan knew what was happening, Lute had discovered Angie was a nixie, as well as the existence of the egg.

              And now, he’s in my home, gaping at my unhatched kid like it’s the star freak in a sideshow.  Stan cleared his throat.

              “All right, are you satisfied?” he asked tartly. Lute nodded, still staring at the egg. “Great.  Now-”

              “Is it s’pposed to be movin’?” Lute interrupted. Everyone looked over at the egg. Sure enough, it was rocking back and forth in the small pool.  Stan looked at Angie.  Her eyes were wide.  She quickly got into the pool with the egg.

              “Are you all right, honey?” she asked quietly, stroking the egg.  The egg rocked more violently as the tadpole pushed against the membrane.  Then, before their eyes, a tear formed.  “Oh my- oh my goodness.”  The tadpole slid out of the egg, into the water.  Stan fell to his knees by the side of the pool.

              “Holy shit,” he whispered.  Ford, Fiddleford, and Lute knelt as well.

              “I think we just watched our new niece or nephew get born,” Ford commented.  The freshly hatched tadpole, the size of a human newborn, was swimming happily around the pool.  Unlike Angie, whose nixie skin was green, the tadpole had mottled brown skin, and, like a regular tadpole, had a tail instead of legs.  “Angie, is your child male or female?”

              “I, uh, I’m not sure,” Angie said after a moment. She caught the tadpole with her arms, hugging it close.  “Determining sex of amphibians isn’t easy to do.”  Stan sat down and dangled his legs in the pool.

              “C’mere, Ang.”  Angie came over, still holding the tadpole.  Stan looked down at his child, tears pricking the corners of his eyes. Most of the tadpole’s features in nixie form were very similar to Angie’s.  There were a couple differences, namely that the tadpole’s nose looked like Angie’s human one, not her nixie one.  The only other difference aside from skin color, was the tadpole’s eye color.  Brown, not blue.  Stan smiled.

              The kid’s got my eyes.

              “Hey, kiddo,” Stan said quietly.  The tadpole looked up at him curiously.  “I might be a human, but I’m still your dad, got it?” The tadpole blinked.  “Good work, babe.  The kid’s just as gorgeous as you are.”  Angie chuckled softly.  Stan leaned over and kissed her.  The moment his lips touched Angie’s, a strange prickling sensation spread across Stan’s skin.

              “What in the-” Lute muttered.  Ford swore softly.  Stan broke off the kiss to look at their audience.

              “What, you’ve never seen a guy kiss his gal?” he demanded.  His eyes widened at the suddenly much lower pitch to his voice, as well as the change in tone.  Fiddleford and Lute’s jaws dropped.

              “Ya don’t sound like a smoker no more,” Lute said after a moment.  He gestured to Stan.  “Maybe it has somethin’ to do with whatever just happened to yer skin.”

              “My skin?”  Stan looked down at his hands.  His jaw dropped.  His skin was soft and slimy like Angie’s, mottled brown like their tadpole’s. “Uh…”

              “I warned you, Stanley,” Ford said.  Stan looked up at his twin.  To his surprise, Ford looked more amused than upset.  “I warned you that if you continued to interact with Angie in nixie form, you would become a magical creature yourself.”

              “That’s what just happened?” Lute asked.  “But he don’t look anything like Angie or the, uh, the pollywog!  His skin and voice changed, that’s all.”

              “Okay, I need to get a good look at myself,” Stan muttered.  Angie scooted away so that Stan could use the pool to look at his reflection.  Stan leaned over, staring at the water.  Like Lute had said, his features had remained the same, though his skin was now of the same texture as Angie and the tadpole. His face and the front of his body were a pale brown, with dark brown mottling around his sides.  “I look like the missing link between myself and Angie.” Angie snickered softly.

              “This is just an intermediate stage,” Ford said. “I have no doubts that you’ll soon complete your transformation into a nixie.”

              “Huh.”  Stan looked up at Angie.  “Guess you don’t get to hog all the fresh bait now.”

              “Pardon?” Lute asked.  Stan looked over his shoulder.

              “You’re still here?” he drawled.  Lute scowled.

              “Stan’s got a point,” Angie said.  “Would the three of you mind leaving us alone for some quality time with our little pollywog?”  Ford, Fiddleford, and Lute got up.

              “Ya best bring that lil one of ya over first thing tomorrow, okay?” Fiddleford instructed.  Stan waved a hand airily, noting absently that thin webbing stretched between his otherwise unchanged fingers.

              “Yeah, yeah.  Now, beat it.”  Their brothers left.  Stan looked at Angie.  He winked. “Hey, babe.”  Angie giggled.  Stan removed his clothes and slid into the pool with Angie.  Angie, still holding the tadpole, scooted over to be next to Stan.

              “Given your color and the little one’s color, I wonder if our kidlet might be a boy,” Angie said, stroking the tadpole.

              “Are you sure?”

              “No.  But it’s our best lead.  So until we have some other piece of evidence, should we call the kidlet our son?” Angie asked.  Stan grinned.

              “I’ve always wanted a son, so, I’m down for it.”

              “Hmm, or maybe you’re just happy because the name we came up with for a boy was Stan Junior,” Angie teased.  She kissed his cheek.  Stan felt another strange tingling, but this time, concentrated around his hands and feet.  He looked down at his hands.  They were now large and webbed like Angie’s.  “Whoops.”

              “Eh.  I’m gonna turn all nixie at some point,” Stan said with a shrug.  He looped an arm around Angie’s shoulders.  She leaned against him.  Stan stroked his son’s bald head.  “Junior, I’m glad you’re here,” he said quietly.  Angie smiled.

              “So am I.”