#also this scene is gonna be longer than this but I haven't written the rest of it yet sdfklsff

[notasapleasure]

WIP ask meme

@stripedroseandsketchpads tagged me in this. And oh my god. If you think there are Too Many Words in the fic I publish, you should see my poor notes app. Here is a sneak peek of its contents. I haven't edited for brevity/those I'm actively working on, these are just all the unfinished files I could find. Some I don't intend to do any more with, others I'd really like to pick up again. The only ones being actively worked on right now are the Andor Saga AU and the first one on the list for Andor.

I put ALL the Lymond I could find in mainly for @oughtaagh who has been leaving the most lovely comments on my Lymond fics that I have totally failed to respond to. I'm sorry! I will cycle back round to Lymond one day, it's inevitable <3

Tagging uh.... @distressednoise, @r0b0tb0y, @faceofpoe, @donnaimmaculata, @batri-jopa, @elwenyere, @notabuddhist and anyone else who wants to say I tagged them! Also sorry if you'd already been tagged, I'm not keeping up with the dash very well at the moment!

Anyway please send me asks/comments/cease and desist orders about these. xxx

ANDOR

C: We decided we were thirsty, and you wanted to go to Cavo's. As yet untitled Brassian alternative scene - what if instead of a great collaborative cover story this was a great collaborative fuck? Almost(?) finished?

Saga AU pt 2. This actually does have a working title of 'The Bear and the Berserk' but this doc is just a short bullet point list of plot things for a specific part of the fic.

Cassian pov. It's a Cassian pov chapter! For...drumroll...the first chapter of the Saga AU pt 2! The rest is going to be back to Brasso FPN. The file actually includes a rough first draft of chapter 2, as well.

"You're up early this morning," Bix says lightly. A follow-up chapter to Only Ever Just One Night started back when I had epic plans for continuing this, bringing in Cinta and Vel and Luthen, whumping the hell out of Brasso, and having Cassian rescue him. This is just one scene of awkward conversation with tea though.

Oh god it developed Plot. Related to the previous chapter - a bullet-pointed list of things that might have happened in this fic I Wil Not Write (not least as I'd rather just see what happens in S2 first anyway).

AND THEN WE DANCED

It was a sunny day in Batumi... Patchy few paragraphs of the next chapter of Inchoate.

Plannnnns (again). Plans for how Inchoate would/will continue.

THE LYMOND CHRONICLES

Canon-verse/other AUs

Multiple pieces of follow-up to The next man with a ladder, Danny/Jerott post-canon: It was dark when they rode into the port town... [Chapter 3, basically done, plus most of Chapter 4 but it devolves into broken paragraphs at the end]. "I'm going to the other bed," Danny said in a voice like someone was standing on his throat... [??? there's loads of this written! This is the file where they Get Down To It] Stitch the scenes together [a few paragraphs in which I hoped to make a logical leap from Chapter 4 to fucking, but seemingly never quite got there].

Lymondar saga draft. Actually two files of the abortive first effort at writing a saga AU. I was trying much harder to write in saga style and playing with lacunae in a way that was fun for me but exceedingly nerdy. I think I found the idea more fun than the execution, too.

St Seb. Remember ages ago when I was writing a post-canon 'Jerott gets shot full of arrows and has to admit his feelings because he thinks he's gonna die' fic? This is the file! Some bullet points and some text, some of which I even posted as Sunday sixes way back when iirc.

Fait prosperer qui n'est à croire vain. Fuck me, there's LOADS of this. Pawn in Frankincense/Ringed Castle AU where Marthe steals Lymond's ride with Kiaya Khatun and persuades her they should take over Russia together. Meanwhile Francis is left with Jerott. Hahaha. It kept getting longer because Francis kept trying to escape and I kept finding ways to drag him back, but the 'and now kiss!!' with the two of them behaving in character was just not coming easily.

Francis Crawford's Holistic Inquisition Agency. I wrote this??? One chapter of a Lymond/Dirk Gently AU, where Francis is obviously Dirk and Jerott is a furious/bemused Todd.

She tried every instrument, she redrew every chart. A few short chapters, never finished, of Marthe wrestling with her role in canon and her fate as assigned by La Dame. A couple more paragraphs of a similar sort of thing in Volos.

Malta. Half-arsed few paragraphs of wondering how Jerott would cope with meeting a fellow Knight being imprisoned for sodomy.

Band AU (my 1980s rock band AU for the series, see also @theartistknownaslymond)

Au of an Au. What if, after the Battle of the Bands at Solway, Jerott went to stay at the Edinburgh townhouse for a while and he and Francis got to collaborating in the shed? There's quite a lot of this and it's quite fluffy.

Out out out! The band celebrate Thatcher's downfall. Happy epilogues for everyone! However it's an epic task trying to do all the characters justice, so I was trying to write it as vignettes to match each song on the playlist. Six-ish are written. And earlier draft with plan for characters intercting is in Ding dong the witch is dead.

Jerott/Marthe - four times it just about worked, one time it really didn't. What it says on the tin? aka you just know Jerott has said 'Francis' instead of Marthe at least once when he comes. Only the beginning of the first time exists in this chapter, but I think I explored the idea elsewhere, whenever I dig up that file...

DWTH missing scene. Jerott/OC missing scene from Don't wake the house. Not finished, probably not going to be finished. I think I have enough Jerott smut on the go.

Workshop. Patchy draft of pre-canon Jerott and GRM 'therapy' session in which GRM learns about Francis Crawford and what a hold he has on the boy he thought of as his own plaything. GRM doesn't like sharing.

F/P. Draft of a fluffy kiss prompt someone (@erinaceina? @notfromcold?) sent for Francis/Philippa. Post-canon pregnant Philippa and worried Francis written when it was too hot in summer. It's probably complete enough to post tbh! hmu if you want it posting.

Jerott behaving badly (again). Somehow this ended up in the 'comfortember' section of the notepad, which...no? Maybe it was intended to be originally, but it grew a life of its own. Post-canon, post split-up with the OC, pre-getting together with Danny. Joining the mile high club and regretting it, then ending up crashing at Joleta's (who he meets coincidentally at the airport, NOT who he's screwing in the airplane loo!!). It's meant to end up cathartic, but didn't get finished :') I'm actually really pleased with what I have - post-canon Joleta is so much fun to write!

Somewhere (Google Drive?? an actual Word doc??) there is also loads and loads and LOADS of Pawn in Frankincense band AU around Baron Morgan's place (the Aga Morat), featuring fucked-up Francis/Morgan, fucked up Marthe/Kiaya, fucked up Francis/Kiaya, and bewildered cold turkey Jerott. There's also some Jerott/Marthe from later on.

Other

Crossover. A sequel to my ATWD fic I will shake mountains, where Merab and Irakli encounter celebrity diners in the restaurant they work in: respected musician Francis Crawford and friends take the boys for a drink and share queer/artistic inspiration/history with them. There's quite a lot written but I couldn't quite manage to finish it off.

St Mary's. Another ATWD/Lymond crossover, placing Merab and Irakli among the mercenaries of St Mary's. Mostly bullet points.

3m. Furious that there was no fic for the film Three Months I decided to jot down a scene I wanted to see afterwards. I wrote four lines and cannot remember what my plan was at all.

[loosesodamarble]

Hello soda, I love your blog. I'm a huge Nacht fan and I want to write a Nacht x reader/oc (haven't decided) fanfic . I'm too shy to post it but I want to write it for myself. Can you give me tips to write fanfic especially about Nacht.

🖤 Anon! The answers you seek are finally here!

It's very exciting that you're writing some self-indulgence! It's one thing to make requests for what you want to see but taking the writing into your own hands is something else entirely! Make the most of it!

(This post ended up being longer than expected so pardon for the rest of it being under a cut.)

First off, reader insert or oc, or heck you could even do a full self insert. Any way you go about it, do what gives you the most fulfillment! You said that you aren't gonna post it but even if you did, your first and most important audience is yourself, so cater to what you want.

Second, when it generally comes to writing fanfic, play to your preferences. Do you enjoy banter or heartfelt dialogue? Then you can easily write scenes that focus more on characters speaking with little sprinkles of scenery and action written in. Or if you prefer prose and detailing the finer details of a moment, feel free to write a fic where you go five paragraphs without character speaking.

(For me, I like fic that's a little introspective. Where prose isn't just about the characters' actions or surroundings but also acts as their inner monologue. And thus, I tend to write fic that's a lot of "their feelings swirled inside of them like a storm" stuff.)

And don't worry about skipping over stuff that you don't feel confident or interested in writing. For me, I can manage a bit of fight scene choreography but it's not my strong suit so I don't write fights often and I usually keep it vague and short. The less interest you have for writing a certain thing, the less you end up writing. (That's not the whole picture since burnout/writer's block can leave you wanting to write but not having the energy or mind to do it.)

Something that I try to keep in mind when writing is the question of "what is the ultimate point of the piece?" It can be anything from a simple "I want these characters to talk/fight/kiss" to a complex "I want to show how a single event is actually a chain reaction of smaller happenings and how they can have massively different effects on people's lives and personalities." For me, the answer should be less a plot summary of the piece you're writing and more your motivation for writing it.

TL;DR for those previous points: write what you like, don't write what you don't like, and know why you're writing (since that can help you stay motivated).

Now when it comes to writing Nacht specifically, I keep these character details in mind:

Nacht has self-loathing issues, making it hard for him to believe he is good.

That self-loathing is projected onto others, mostly Yami.

While he does care for others, Nacht is afraid of loving and being loved. He fears hurting those he loves (see Morgen's death).

Those are probably the most important traits of Nacht's to keep in mind when writing him, pre or post Morgen's death. Although the projection aspect of his personality more shows up afterwards.

I also tend to write Nacht repeating the same mini arc. -He looks down on himself -He resists happiness when he has a chance for it -Someone talks some sense into him -Nacht lets himself be happy

Yes, it's keeping his character kinda in the same arc over and over. But to me, Nacht is a character that I see struggling to accept that he's allowed to be happy despite his dark past. He lets himself be happy but he doesn't want to risk too much good fortune in case it blows up in his face, if you know what I mean.

I think that writing Nacht is about finding the balance between suffering and salvation. He hated and punished himself for the longest time until he finally learned to let go of his guilt. Although I personally like to keep Nacht from fully letting go of the guilt and grief. Because squeezing out angst from Nacht's character is fun. Giving Nacht love and letting him be happy is ultimately more fulfilling though.

Really, like for any character, you have to write what you want for Nacht. And for me it's that ever present sorrow in his life. For you, it could be something else entirely.

You gotta write for you, 🖤 Anon. But hopefully my advice gives you something to work with. Good luck with the Nacht fic and I hope you enjoy what you come up with~!

[nativestarwrites]

Answer the questions and tag five fanfiction authors you know!

Thanks for the tag @jamietarttsnorthernattitude!

1. How many fandoms have you written in?

Ten, I think? Although it's mostly Macgyver and Ted Lasso, the rest are more dabbles.

2. How many years have you been writing fanfiction?

Consistently? Since 2019, but I first posted something to ff.net in 2007.

3. Do you read or write more fanfiction?

At the moment writing, if I had more time I'd read more but I'm not a very fast writer and I have so many stories I want to get finished right now...

4. What is one way you've improved as a writer?

Structuring plots and wrangling longer more involved plot lines.

5. What's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

The viability of mini arc reactors? As in Iron Man. This was for a Macgyver AU that I haven't posted. I wanted to keep it as much realism as I could, so it was interesting to see where science stood on the topic.

6. What's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

All comments are very much appreciated! Anything that makes me feel less like I'm shouting into a void, but my most favourite ones have to be the lengthier ones, where people share their thoughts, what made them gasp or cry or laugh or suprised them and if its a longer fic sometimes speculate on where it might be going. Those really feed an author.

7. What's the most fringe trope/topic you write about?

That's hard, what's fringe these days? Some people would consider hurt/comfort fringe. Gen fic definitely feels fringe given the drastic difference in interaction compared to those with ships. My most fringe fic is probably the Ted Lasso Apocalypse AU, not many people would expect that from a comedy football show. And that includes me!

8. What is the hardest type of story for you to write?

Anything longer than 1000 words? Nothing is easy but at least under 1k it's short and easier to edit. The hardest ones are probably where I have most of a plot, but not quite enough to string it together coherently. Like when you have this one perfect scene in your head, and then you need to construct the rest of the stroy around it.

9. What is the easiest type?

I'm always ready to write a bit of angst.

10. Where do you do your writing? What platform? When?

On my sofa at the end of the day mostly. It's a mix between Libre Writer and Scrivener but I tend to lean more towards Scrivener these days because it's such a great way to keep notes and ideas all organised in one place.

11. What is something you've been too nervous/intimidated to write, but would love to write one day?

I'd like to try a completely different genre to what I usually write someday, maybe horror or a murder mystery? But I have no idea where I'd even start with that so I'm definitely intimidated by that thought!

12. What made you choose your username?

I thought it would be neat to have a username connected with astronomy in some way and I loved that we have a star in our own backyard, the sun is our native star. I'd been listening to Moby's We're All Made of Stars at the time so that might have had an influence too, plus I'm also a physics nerd and the fact that everything was once made in a star is very very cool.

Not sure who hasn't done this yet, I think I've seen a lot of mutuals tagged but if you want to play I'm gonna tag @rosieblogstufff @impossiblepluto @appalachianapologies and else who would like to play!

[annoyingfobbie]

hi! can you give me any peterick recs please? ive already read all of your works on ao3 (amazing btw) and soooo many other peterick fics and i need new things to read, even just tell me about stuff your reading now or read recently cos i need something

okay first off thank you so much for reading my fics, i'm so glad you like them!! and i sort of suck at recs because i never really bookmark anything or remember stuff lol, but heres what comes to mind rn!

currently i'm rereading Girl Out Boy, which is really good but also very serious in it's tone and goes deep into sexism in the scene and basically i only read it when I'm ready to deal with all that stuff lol not when i'm looking for something light and easy and fun. but it's amazing and 191K words in total as a series, so it'll def keep you busy for a bit!

lost in the falling dark is one that i read a long time ago and remember really liking so i've queued it up to reread soon. if it's not actually as good as i remember than sorry lol but i remember it as a good read. it's more ships than just peterick tho, so if you're looking for Just Peterick then thats not this

I've Got Nothing to Confess is one that i really really love. i personally am always looking for fics that go into bdsm dynamics and do it well or in an interesting way, and this is one of the main examples of that that i love! and it's got a part two that is also amazing

Trying to Keep You Mine has like AMAZING porn lol so def check it out if thats what you're looking for

also, i always recommend to check out the rest of an authors works when you read and enjoy one of them, so if you like these recs, check out the other ones by the authors!

some other authors I recommend: SnitchesAndTalkers does some of my favorite fucking writing of all timeeeee and has some slightly longer fics, Gala_Apples has written like fifty million fics lol so i usually recomend to go looking there because if you'll prob find some you like, putthedindirtbaby has some super hot pwp, Pyrchance is like one of my favorite authors on ao3 for anything i'm ever looking for tbh, glitterandrocketfuel is another go-to rec for me, so is laudanum_cafe, appleremix writes some reeeeeally hot fics and is generally a talented writer, littlesnowpea has good stuff, i haven't read a whole lot of dancealonetoheartbreak's work but what i have read i've enjoyed

okay now i'm gonna stop because i've spent too much time on this and i really need to pack my stuff to go home for the week lolll but i hope these recs keep you entertained!

[sga-owns-my-soul]

WIP WEDNESDAYYYYYYYY have a selection of the most arcane runes, dealer’s choice on the titles:

🎢🔧🪩🆘🔜

i didn't realize how hard this interpretation part would be 😂

for 🎢 - i haven't written the scene yet so i'll just tell u about it but in McKay Takes The Team To WEM rodney takes them to an amusement park and john makes them go on all the Fun Rides (the ones that are super sketchy and rodney is sure they'll die on (there's one rollercoaster they're gonna ride where people actually did die in real life and rodney is only going to find out after john makes him ride it)(i promise they'll be okay tho this fic is pure fluff)) and it's gonna be super cute

for 🔧- John wasted no time in finding out what was really going on. He called Lorne to his office. Evan was a good second in command, and always put the well being of the base and personnel above all else. He had been just as angry with John as everyone else, but thankfully he didn’t let it interfere with work.

“Colonel,” Evan said shortly as he entered his office. John made a gesture for him to sit down.

“Okay, I’m just going to come straight out and say this. I did not cheat on Rodney. Grace has apparently been spreading around rumours that her and I are having an affair. This is unequivocally false, and I would like you to sit in on my meeting with her as an unbiased third party to help me get to the bottom of this.” (from Rodney Hears A Rumour)(this one has so much angst but it's also cute)

for 🪩- also haven't written this part but there's a scene in McKay Takes The Team To WEM where he takes them to a really fancy bar/club place for dinner and they're all gonna dress up and there's gonna be some light dancing (ronon and teyla are gonna get excited by the lights and music and drag john and rodney to the dance floor) it's gonna be cute

for 🆘- "Rodney, something's wrong," Teyla gasped as she pushed Torren the rest of the way out, and Rodney was so focused on the beautiful crying baby in front of him, it took him a second to realize there was way more blood than there should be.

"Oh god, okay that can't be goood, oh god, okay, okay we just have to... uhh..." Rodney was desperately trying to think up anything he could, anything to fix this situation, but he was so far outside his skill set.

"Rodney, please," she groaned, grabbing his arm and squeezing it.

"Teyla, I'm sorry, I don't know what's wrong, I don't know how to stop the bleeding," Rodney said, the fear and desperation dripping off his words. His hands were covered in blood, and he couldn't see anyway for him to stop internal bleeding that he couldn't even see the cause of. (this is from Rodney Raises Torren and it's super angsty whoops)

for 🔜- "Thanks, I guess, but this would've been helpful to know years ago!" Rodney tried to jump out of bed, and John and Radek both tried to keep him where he was.

"Woah, Rodney, Beckett will have my head if he sees you out of bed so soon, you gotta rest still," John tried but Rodney just glared at him.

"We just found out that not only is the city sentient, Sheppard, but she is also capable of much more than any of us realized. Do you have any idea what this means? Do you have any idea how important this discovery could be? I mean, just think what we could learn from her!" (from Team Is Everything which is gonna be the first of a series)

these ended up being a lot longer than i intended lmao whoops but thank you for the ask!!! this is actually a lot of fun more people should do this!!

[madness-of-void]

IT IS TIME

I said I was going to be 'annoying' about the fic I am writing once I got home from work. Well, I am home from wooooork.

I'm gonna ramble a little, so it'll all be put under a read more. I'll be kinda vague with some things, but I'm also gonna indulge a little coz I was not lying when I said I am fucking excited for this fic.

Anyways...here. We. Go!

It's a series! That's right. A series. Was it planned? Fuck no! Originally, it was only going to be this one chaptered fic. But then I had this idea to make a little prologue for a certain duo. Then I had this idea for 8 shorter fics. And THEN I had the idea for a second chaptered fic. *sigh* Yeah. I did that to myself.

There is a rough outline and other notes for the first fic in the series, but I am still flying by the seat of my pants with this one, folks. And some things I planned? Looks like they aren't happening! Things I didn't plan! They're happening! I have no control of these little shits, and I am okay with that. Kinda work better that way.

It is UTMV! Yaaay! I was a little apprehensive at first about diving myself into fic writing for this fandom, especially since I haven't written anything since 2020 and I have seen some people get a little butthurt about people not "writing these characters right". But you know what? I don't care. I have seen good fics/artwork with canon depictions, fanon depictions, and mixtures of both. There's a bunch of cakes out there to devour! Might as well throw mine out there!

Finally have a title! The series is called Reunion in Chains (RIC for short). The first chaptered fic is called Immured. The rest...are surprises. >:3

At the end of each chapter, I'll have a little author's notes that will be kind of like a behind the scenes type of deal. Fun little extra tid bits, if you will. Which I have never done before. Kinda excited about it, too.

Currently working on Chapter 4, which is being a royal beast. It's so far the longest chapter. Though, if the pattern of each chapter being longer than the last continues, it'll lose it's crown real soon.

How long will it be in total? No clue! Again, I'm just winging this bitch! Though I do have up to 6 chapters titled! Yippee!

There will be 4 ships in total: 1 that is mentioned real quick, 1 that is a secret until around chapter 6 or 7, 1 that is established before the start of the fic and is hinted at until it is outright said at a certain chapter (I am vibrating in anticipation to get to that point), and 1 that is slowly happening throughout in a more subtle way.

Possible rating will be M. Mostly for swearing, threats of violence (mostly physical, but there will be vague sexual ones as well), actual violence, mentions of past abuse, blood, and electrical punishment (you'll understand in due time).

I created 6 OCs specifically for the first fic that are fleshed out and have names! They are:

Ruperto - Human (he/him)

Taran - Spider monster (they/them)

Franciszka "Franny - Bunny monster (she/her)

Lilium - Flowey variant (he/him)

Abel - Dog monster (he/him)

Mimsy - Cat monster (they/them)

There are other random background kind of OCs that will be mentioned, but they are so minor that all they have is a description. No names. For now.

Lilium is my favorite to write so far. He is a fucking shithead and I love him!

There will be 2 additional OCs (that I know of thus far) that'll be created for the series, though they are going to be in the second chaptered fic. So no development yet.

Immured will be in Dream's POV! Which, not gonna lie, has been fun to do. Boy has a lot of angst potential, and I am running with it!

This includes having 1 dream that is a flashback, and 1 that mixes up a flashback and internal guilt. And plenty silent mentions of the incident.

Fun fact: There will be a lot of strikethrough in several chapters. This is very intentional! Let's see if anyone can figure out the reason why.

Error, by far, is the hardest one for my to write! I wanted to try to show his stuttering/glitches...but that is not easy to do. Sometimes I'm like "oh god, this is too much, I might have to fix this later", and other times it's "yeeeees I love how that looks, it's perfect". We shall see how it all ends up in the end after the millionth edit. (I have edited these chapters so much in the middle of writing, you have no idea.)

Ink is also so goddamned hard to write! Mostly because I want to write him as a silly little guy instead of someone reacting to the really shitty situation everyone had found themselves in, as well as having to turn off le emotions. For really important reasons. Promise.

Spoiler: Yes. Dream and Nightmare do make-up. Because I want them to. Badly.

Nightmare is also fun to write! Especially when I get to make him a sassy bastard.

Dream and Dust future smoking buddies? More likely than you think.

People underestimating Dream because he's the Guardian of Positivity and therefore there is no way he would be capable of hurting someone? 😏

Little sprinkles of a different take of the OG apple incident, with a full exploration in one of the side fics where the twins have a long, proper talk? 😏😏

The pre-Immured ship being absolutely cute here and there? And being that much more cute in their relationship 'prologue' fic, their side fic, and in the second chaptered fic? 😏😏😏

Dream and Nightmare having specifically adorable nicknames they used for each other when they were kids and they start using again as adults? 😏😏😏😏

And that's it! Though, before I end this rambling mess that I had to indulge myself in...I thought I'd leave some of my favorite snippets. I won't leave any context nor where they're at in the story. Enjoy!

Dream perked up, sockets wide and golden tears threatening to spill. Staring back with familiar shyness, Nightmare continued to whistle. As if he was waiting for Dream to resume the song. So he did. The twins spun the songs they used to hear at their tree – knowing their parts as if they had only performed it yesterday. Pure happiness squeezed within Dream's chest, ready to choke the air right out of him at any given second. It was nothing huge or life changing. Truly insignificant to anyone witnessing. But to Dream? It meant everything.

“Uh, excuse you? Nothing about me is straight. Dunno why you would think my priorities would be. And having nom-noms is a great priority! Right, H?”

But his face...oh god, his face. It was always different somehow in the way it was obscured, reminding him that he couldn't remember his twin's fucking face .

Nightmare scoffed right back – grin stretching wide and venomous. “Is that so? Well, why don't you enter my cage and see how big my bite is? I promise...I will leave some flesh attached, youngling.”

“So! Does anyone have any ideas? We can spitball! No idea is stupid!”

Taking it as a challenge, Killer smirked and casually sprawled out on the floor. “We can try to seduce them?”

“Except that one! That one is pretty stupid.”

And Dream began to wail.

Wail like the little boy who lost everything centuries ago.

[lichfucker]

I guess we’re sharing wip snippets now? I guess we’re sharing wip snippets now. thanks @swallowtailed

I opened the say it out loud word doc for the first time since march for this lmao. part 1 is about trent’s discovery of ted’s vampirism, and part 2 is ted telling trent all his stories a la interview with the vampire. this is a bit from part 2, set sometime in the early 1910s. past tense my beloathed 💛

Mark Twain wrote about remembering Muscatine, Iowa as having the most beautiful sunsets in the world, the dazzling array of colors on the surface of the Mississippi, unparalleled. Ted remembered Muscatine very, very differently.

Ted remembered the cool nighttime mist wafting up from the water. He remembered the glint of starlight. He remembered the rush of the current. He remembered his patrol along the banks, fishing out litter and critters that weren’t supposed to be there—the strength, the speed, the keen senses, the sleeplessness, the thermal strangeness that left him largely unbothered by extreme cold, they all meant Ted could do a lot of things most folks couldn’t. He remembered the anxious jitters he’d get, hoping he’d be sharp enough to help, petrified he’d miss something. He remembered the wind tickling his mustache. He remembered the lump in his throat. He remembered seeing something way upstream that didn’t look right, dread dawning as the current carried it closer and closer.

He remembered the smell of blood. He remembered the body.

And Ted remembered running as fast as he possibly could, faster than God could ever have intended, because he remembered his survival training books, and he remembered it wouldn’t take more than a few seconds to get caught in the undertow and not be able to find the surface again, if one could even move past the temperature making them seize up, and if they were already bleeding then the window of opportunity to intervene would be closing fast, and if there were one thing Ted Lasso knew he could be it was fast. He didn’t remember jumping in and he didn’t remember grabbing the fella—one moment he was standing there trying to make out the shapes in the darkness, and the next moment he was running, and then he was soaking wet, lugging a man onto solid ground, feeling around for a pulse. The pulse was weak, but it was there—good Lord, it was there. The man’s mouth was full of rank river water, and there was gunk and debris caught in his beard, and the blood was gushing from his temple, and Ted…

Ted sat there with the horror for half a second. And it was a horror: his best idea, his only idea, it wasn’t something he’d ever given much thought before, and he wasn’t giving it much thought now, either, because he just didn’t have the time. But he had time to reckon that it was all he had, the only tool left in his arsenal, the only bandage in his kit.

He whispered, “I’m so sorry,” and then he bit.

Ted didn’t know what to do here, with his fangs sinking into the man’s jugular. Ted didn’t know—but his body did. The part of him that wasn’t him, the part that was passed on when he himself was bitten, that was the part that understood and that was the part that took over. He sucked in for a moment, the taste of blood straight from the vein overwhelming in a situation where Ted didn’t think he could possibly be whelmed any further—and then the tracks shifted, and he was no longer sucking anything in but letting something out. The venom flowed from his fangs into the man’s bloodstream, and he didn’t have a clue how long it was supposed to take, so he just stayed there until the man started writhing and convulsing.

Ted held him as the spasms wracked his body, spitting up water and gasping for air, eyes glassy and fluttering. By the time Ted heard himself speaking, realized he was doing it at all, he’d already been going for several seconds. The words just spilled out of him reckless as the current, no impetus or intention of his own behind them.

“It’s okay,” he said. “You’re okay. Can you hear me? You’re okay. I don’t know if you can understand me but my name’s Ted. My name is Ted and I got you. Okay? You’re gonna be fine, I promise, I’ve got you. You’re gonna be different, but you’re gonna be fine. I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere. I’m gonna make sure you’re all right, all right? I promise. I promise I’m gonna look out for you. I’m gonna help you through this. And I’m sorry you didn’t get a choice in the matter, but, hey, neither did I, and I wasn’t just gonna sit back and let a fella die on me, now was I? I’m sorry. This should’ve been your choice and I’m sorry I took that choice away. But listen: you’re gonna be okay. I hope you can understand that. Even if you can’t actually hear me, I hope you understand me when I say you’re gonna be okay. Your life is gonna change, but at least now you’ve got a life to change. I didn’t give you a choice, but I am gonna give you what no one gave me, and that’s help. All right? I’m gonna help you. I’m gonna take care of you. I promise. I promise.”

[morrigan-sims]

Hi Morri! I've got some questions for you! First, what is your ideal environment to write in? Do you have a least favorite part of the creative process? And lastly, since you answered about scenes you look forward to working on, can you say anything about the ones you are dreading?

Hope you have a lovely rest of your day! 😊🌷

Hi Echo!! <333

Do you have an ideal environment to write in?

Umm... my room?? Idk. I mostly just write on my laptop while in my room. Sometimes on my bed, buts mostly on the floor. Sometimes I have music laying ,other times just listening to the clicks of the keyboard. But I will say that I get more writing done when I'm doing "sprints", aka a short time (20 minutes) and see how much i can write.

Do you have a least favorite part of the creative process?

MAKING POSES. Anyone who has been on my blog for longer than a week or two has probably seen me ranting about making poses. I don't actually hate doing it, but I'm not very good at it, mainly because I have trouble clearly visualizing what I want my sims to be doing. Like, I can describe it in my head, but translating it from words into 3D is really hard. Especially facial expressions. I am SO BAD at facial expressions. Which leads to me saying shit like this:

(don't worry, we signed a peace treaty.)

The scenes I'm dreading:

Well, the number one scene I'm dreading I can't tell you anything about, because it's MASSIVE spoilers, since it's literally the biggest plot point in the whole story. But it's gonna be really hard to pose, and I also haven't even written it yet, even though I've written the scenes on either side of it.... (I suck at writing action, and it doesn't help that the most important character in that scene is the character I'm the worst at writing.)

[victorianoruben]

{Untitled yet}

Ruvik X F!Reader

Chapter 1

Warning: none, I guess?

Written by: me and @another-bryk-in-the-wall

(thanks to my best friend for beta-reading it!)

Sometimes the hours are blurring together on nightshifts. Sometimes they are extremely stressful. Emergencies where there are only two people on a shift.

Other times you have 6 hours of complete rest and boredom.

That day it was the latter.

You haven't been working here for long and already find this hospital to be “different from others".

Many employees were emotionally cold and absolutely not interested in anyone, while just some liked to make jokes with you and treated you like a normal person. Also, the whole atmosphere here seemed very private. There weren’t too many patients who were going out of their way to socialize or make friends inside of the hospital. Hell, most didn’t even leave their rooms.

You sat bored in the lounge with your mobile phone in hand until you suddenly heard footsteps. They reverberated eerily in the long hallway and you turned to face that direction, startled. It was rare that anyone was wandering the halls this late at night. You saw a man in a tight red uniform aiming to walk past you, not even acknowledging your presence.

Only when you took a closer look at him, did you notice his burn scars. They were covering half of his face. When he noticed that you were looking at him from head to toe you decided to greet him, instead of just awkwardly staring at him. A relatively meek "Good evening, Sir" came out of you. You felt very overwhelmed by his dominant presence, which intimidated you a bit. That feeling only worsened when you let your eyes wander to the top of his head... Was that his brain surrounded by glass? No, that couldn't be. You were surely imagining things. But, what if you weren’t. Oh god damn it, what had he been through?

He emanated a unique self-confidence unlike anything you had ever seen in anyone with facial scarring. Usually patients like that were unsure and shy, afraid of being judged over something they had no control over. Human beings could be downright nasty to anyone with a scarred face. Something about facial scars disgusted people and the victims could clearly feel the contempt of others and as a result, they tended to lose all confidence.

This man, however, seemed to practically ooze confidence, which you respected and you caught yourself of being fascinated by or more like interested in his presence. You felt how your heartbeat rose from 0 to 100 when you both made eye contact, though you tried all your best to keep yourself collected and professionally polite. But that didn't work that easily.

"Good evening.", the man replied, his face completely blank and his voice monotone. He was just looking at you without a friendly gesture, without a smile. The man was simply studying your appearance as well. One of the many abilities he gained over the years was that he could read people like an open book, left open for him to peak in. Someone had longer fingernails on their right hand and short on the left? Guitar player who doesn't want to destroy the neck of said guitar. Some dog owners always carried treats with them, even if the dog wasn’t coming along. All those little clues told him enough about a person before they even spoke their first sentence.

But you. He couldn't read you yet, and this peaked his interest.

You hadn't been here for a long time, because he knew all the long-term workers and their darkest secrets.

"Are you busy right now?", the man pointedly looked at the phone in your hand, currently playing a silly cat video. Truth be told, he enjoyed that kind of content, but would he ad this? Never. Absolutely never. He would rather get the other side of his brain exposed than to admit that he liked cat videos.

"I need some help with my studies. Care to join me?", that was a big lie but he was curious -

Who were you and why did you peak his interest more than the average nurse in here? He'd find out soon enough.

Only now did you wonder what he was even doing here during these late hours. He didn’t look like a doctor. Was he a lab assistant? He certainly looked like some sort of scientist.

Pressing your lips in a thin line with a weak smile you put my phone in your pocket and nodded, slightly mortified that he had caught you watching cat videos of all things. It surely didn’t look professional.

"No, I'm not really busy. I’m just having a long boring night- I mean, not that I’m complaining... I wouldn't wish for emergencies either. So, yeah… I’d be glad to help you," You fumbled a little over your words, still slightly unsettled by his presence.

You’d do nearly anything to escape the boredom of a quiet nightshift, though. And you weren’t really worried about him being some kind of serial killer. Sure, your colleagues were weird, but they weren’t really the kind of people to chop you to pieces and bury you in the closest forest. Weird didn’t equal serial killer. Besides, you were curious about the man.

You were walking next to each other in silence that was quickly going growing awkward. Nervously you were fumbling with your hands in your smock overall, thinking of starting any conversation just to get out of this uncomfortable silence.

"I've never seen you before. I'm still pretty new here. Do you work here as a laboratory or doctor assistant? Also, with many nightshifts? Is that really that common in this mental hospital? " You had narrowed your eyes questioningly when you looked up to him. By reading his facial expressions it didn't seem like he liked to answer you. His forehead was wrinkling in silent contemplation, which made you suspicious. It was unusual to have an assistant running around here so late at night.

Maybe you weren’t so far of with the serial killer suspicions. You actually contemplated hightailing out of there.

'Quick, think of an answer. She is just a pretty and naive nurse'

But even a little slip up could cost his head. He could tell by her tensing posture that she was seconds away from fleeing the scene.

‘That could end badly’

"I mostly work nights," he tried to keep his answers short and to the point. Laying on a confidence in his answer that he didn’t actually feel. He made sure to look her in the eye shortly and casually avert his gaze back to the hallway. If he didn’t look her in the eyes at all he would look like a liar and if he stared at her too much he’d look like one too. It was a delicate balance, that he had mastered over the years "That is because the nights are quieter and I can focus on the patients better this way."

You took a glance at him, still wondering about what his actual job was. His answer was too vague for your taste. But the curiosity was still grown inside of you.

You had decided to work in a mental hospital because the human psyche had always been kind of a mystery to you. Mental illnesses were both fascinating and tragic in your eyes. The mind was even more delicate than the body, in your eyes. It was so easy to break and healing it was a true challenge. It was your goal to help people with mental illnesses like depressions, dissociative disorders and PTDS.

So, you really wanted to know what this scientist - or whatever - was working on.

You both arrived at the door to his office. You signed an NDA before, but who knew what could happened once you opened mouth. He didn't trust anyone in this damn hospital.

"Do not be surprised by the sight in front of you once I open this door. All I am asking you is to check the vitals of the patients in the bathtubs. I want to make sure they are doing well but I am not entirely sure how to do that.", he lied through his teeth, ready to push you into one of the bathtubs once the chance was there.

Or could you be useful to him in the near future?

When you entered his so-called office after his warning you had expected anything - but that!

Never in your life had you seen a machine this far developed... It looked like something directly taken out of a science-fiction movie. The construction filled the whole room. There were wires everywhere, all connecting to a weird sphere in the middle of the room. Completely gob-smacked by the strange… whatever that was you took a while to take notice of the bathtubs. When you did, though you froze up immediately. There were people - no patients - in lying in the bathtubs, connected to the cables, which were attached to the back of their necks.

Like a statue you stood there for at least 20 seconds. Staring at one patient, you slowly went to him just to check his state. Curious to see if he was aware of his surroundings or if he was unconscious – maybe asleep . What was this system?

Could that reach possibilities to help several people out of mental illnesses or was this just a machine designed from a psychopath just for his own use?

And why would he need help from just a nurse like you?

You let out a sarcastic laugh, "Looking at this huge thing… I highly doubt that you don’t know how to check vital signs ", you shook your head and crossed your arms, taking several steps back, out of his direct reach. No way would you let him put you into one of these tubs!

You really wanted to run away and never go to the hospital again.

"So, tell me. What do you really want from me? Do you expect me to go into one of the bathtubs? Gotta tell you, that’s not gonna happen. I mean... not to sound judgmental. Because technically this could be something to help our patients. But I gotta tell you, this,“ You gestured towards the patient that was laying in the tub right in front of you, “looks quite suspicious and not very save. I hope the patients volunteered for this, because if they didn’t I have to report this. Don’t get me wrong, you seem to be quite intelligent and this looks interesting, but I cannot allow something like this to continue without - "

"- You are annoying. All I want you is to check the vitals of the patients and you are throwing a whole speech at me.", he shot back, not amused with your behavior.

"I am a scientist, not one of your doctors. What I am doing here could change the world forever. It is a system which helps people with heavy trauma to forge new memories and get rid of the trauma. Do you understand me?", the scientist continued to spit out. There was a look of passion in his eyes that you hadn’t seen before. They had looked quite dull and emotionless up to this point. It was clear to you that he truly cared about that project of his.

What you weren’t aware of was that the man had a plan. He'd snow you . Make you feel comfortable. And then, he'd put you in the bathtub too. The next one on his list would be Tatjana from the reception area. And then it was your turn.

What even was your name? He chanced a quick glance of your name tag, just enough to read "(Y/N)" on it.

"Listen to me, (Y/N). This is a top-secret project. If I find out you talked about it outside of this room, I will make sure you suffer great consequences. And trust me, I have my eyes and ears everywhere. Now go and check on the rest of these people before I get angry. Then, you may leave."

Author's Note:

I'm still unsure if I keep making this as a slow-burn whole Fanfiction or just cut the whole thing I'm planing into single parts like One-Shots

[unusual-raccoon]

3, 6, 9, 12, 14, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30 :D

Thank you @someonefantastic for your generosity!

3. favorite line/scene you wrote this year

Gonna have to go back to “Welcome to the Murder” for this one. This line and particularly this scene, this eureka moment was so fun to write for this character in particular:

She could feel it then, as Castle carried her over to the bed, to Billy, that the hate she harbored hadn’t vanished. It was thermodynamics in action, that energy couldn’t be created or destroyed, it just changed; it became something else. And suddenly the fine line between love and hate seemed so blurred, there was no future or past, just the present.

Also, a bonus favorite scene from my Batman/Batgirl fic "House of Worship":

When she landed in the dilapidated courthouse she knew he was in, cape billowing around her, blue eyes lingering on him where he sat in the center, leaning back in the judge’s seat. Something horribly autocratic, and equally magnetic in the way he puffed on a cigar, eerily calm. He no longer looked like the white knight she had imagined when she was young, smoke spilling from the gaps in his scarred flesh, he’d become the dragon in her story. A filthy temptation.

I just really loved writing Barbara's attraction to a villain, one that she idolized as a child at that.

6. least popular fic this year

Okay this is tied between two fics with pretty small hit counts, first being a fic I wrote for the Mass Effect fandom, involving a very specific side character. The fic is called "Couldn't Forget You" based off a side quest called "I Remember Me", it was really a homage to a heartbreaking character that I thought deserved more love.

My runner up for least popular is a technically a WIP for the Punisher fandom that I stupid published before I had finished, called, "Come What May". It was an exciting idea, but potentially more than I could handle at the time, especially considering the pairing was nonexistent.

9. longest WIP of the year

I don't know if you mean word count or chapters, so I'll include both? Longest word count goes to fic I wrote for the ARROW fandom, called "Into the Clouds" it's by far one of the fics I was most proud of. It clocked at 15K word count spread across 3 chapters.

My longest chaptered fic this year was a Punisher fic called "Ashes to Ashes" which was 4 chapters long, but was exceedingly short, clocking in at 3,375 words all together. Chaptered fics really aren't my specialty lol.

12. favorite character to write about this year

Billy Russo, Frank Castle, and Karen Starr (respectively). I've bounced around a lot.

14. a fic you didn't expect to write

I already did this one ;)

18. current number of wips

Too many :(. My drafts folder is so ugly. Technically the WIP that has been published that hasn't been finished is "Come What May". The rest are collecting dust in the drafts folder waiting for me to love them.

21. most memorable comment/review

That's a really tough one, I don't want to single out any of my readers, it's bad enough they're reading the filth I write lol. That being said, just about every comment is special to me, any writer can attest how important comments and feedback are for morale.

24. favorite fic you've read this year

That's another tough one because I'm spiritually in so many fandoms. But if I had to choose (1) I'd say this fic because it got me hooked on the Billy Russo and Frank Castle pairing. It's fantastic and for those who like reading smut, I highly recommend it.

27. favorite fanfic author of the year

literally anyone but me~

30. favorite fandom to read fic from this year

uhhh, maybe Shadow and Bone? I haven't read any of the books or watched the show, but it's fun to tune into what some people have written about it. Oh, also the Pilgrimage (2017) fandom has some absolute gems.

Thanks again for the asks, this was a lot of fun!