#and I will do my best to turn it into shippy shippy fic for your enjoyment :D

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

hello and welcome to the niche corner

hello i'm néide and this is my blog, which mostly consists of me being grumpy about niche things. i have multiple degrees in medieval irish literature and while sometimes i use these to be vaguely educational, more often i use them to write incredibly specific fic about characters nobody else cares about, and this fic can be found on ao3 (for logged-in users)

so this is a guide to my incredibly specific fanfiction, which i feel also gives a reasonably good introduction to the kind of thing i'm likely to be yelling about on this blog

i am reliably informed that you don't actually need to know anything about the source material to have fun with these fics (or suffer from the angst), but also they can be more fun if you do. some have bibliographies/refs/explanations so i also know a few people have used them as a way to get started with medieval Irish lit which will never not be extremely funny to me

current WIP: chasing someone else's dream (16k, WIP): a cú chulainn/láeg reincarnation fic. they have been reincarnated, not for the first time. they've also been cursed, and thus, unlike in every life before this one, they've never met. ngl this fic contains some of the best prose i ever wrote, please read it

group chats of the ulster cycle, or, the in loco parentis series

a modern AU of the ulster cycle. sort of a college AU, turned into a ballet AU halfway through. consists of:

in loco parentis (135k, complete): my magnum opus. cú chulainn and láeg are university flatmates; group chats featuring all your favourite ulster cycle characters and also some you probably never gave a shit about; cú chulainn as a tiny trans ballet dancer and ferdia as his pas de deux partner; baking; everybody hating on conchobar; nobody dies; way more feelings about both ballet and shostakovich than anybody was expecting, including me; and much more. comes with explanatory notes / bibliography because i'm just Like That

getting the dee (9k, in progress/abandoned): a prequel to ILP, sort of a longes mac nuislenn fic except nobody dies and there are more sex toys. naoise/deirdre with guest appearances from conall. one day i'll go back to this but also i'm a coward

valentáin's day (4k oneshot, complete): a prequel to ILP, featuring láeg and cormac in the pub on valentine's day making fun of all their friends in relationships. they make out, fortunately their friendship survives the experience.

and when you move, i move (2.5k oneshot, complete): a sequel to ILP. just a horny lil cú chulainn/ferdia oneshot set a few months after ILP wraps up.

miscellaneous ulster cycle oneshots

i will be honest, most of these are sad fics of oidheadh con culainn ("the death of cú chulainn") because i just love writing angst, but there's a couple of others in there

a moment's silence (3k): smutty cú/láeg fic set during táin bó cúailnge, inspired by this picture. the most explicit fic i've written

to walk this world alone (6k): extremely niche fic featuring láeg after cú chulainn's death. some otherworldly happenings. sad but not as sad as it was originally going to be.

counterweight (3k): cú chulainn/láeg during oidheadh con culainn, anticipating cú chulainn's death. this one's pretty sad too.

dindsenchas (3.5k): missing scenes between cú chulainn and láeg during táin bó cúailnge. narrated by the landscape of ulster and addressed in second person to cú chulainn himself because the best sex scenes are the ones narrated by a tree.

in one dwelling place (2k): láeg/cú chulainn/emer. vaguely smutty, vaguely fluffy.

we'll say goodbye, today (2k): cú chulainn and láeg during oidheadh con culainn, anticipating cú chulainn's death. big sad hours.

glorious as the sunrise (3k): this is just angst. cú chulainn/láeg during oidheadh con culainn again. not particularly shippy but they love each other very much.

a marriage of inconvenience (3k): modern AU. cú chulainn wants to marry emer but unfortunately never bothered to get divorced after he married láeg for househunting purposes. a very silly fic.

of grief and glory (1.7k): cú chulainn deals with the aftermath of táin bó cúailnge, especially fer diad's death. more sad times lol.

flight risk (2.3k): teenage cú chulainn and láeg steal a spaceship. they get caught. fun scifi AU.

other medieval lit fics (non ulster cycle)

patron saint of toasties (2.5k): finn cycle fic. oisín took time out of uni to travel and now all his friends have graduated and he's lonely enough to text the christian union's "text a toastie" hotline. which is how he meets patrick. very silly modern AU gen fic mostly taking the piss out of st patrick

two birds of a feather (2.8k): yonec (marie de france) | togail bruidne da derga crossover fic. bird dad support group. conaire and yonec hang out and bond over their dads having maybe been birds. stupidest thing i ever wrote and i adore it.

quiver and shake (1.8k): fourth branch of the mabinogi fic. gwydion and gilfaethwy's special brotherly bonding time. canon typical content warnings apply.

other

absent thee from felicity (11k, WIP): hamlet | romeo & juliet crossover modern AU in which horatio and benvolio attempt to deal with the aftermath of their respective tragedies. sad at first, will gradually get sillier. haven't updated in a couple of years but that doesn't mean it's permanently abandoned, i'm just busy

a guild doctor and an abolitionist walk into a bar (5.5k, complete): mortimer sark/daragh vernant (the butterfly assassin by finn longman). in which they become friends while coparenting their fucked up assassin child and pretending they're not doing that. blatant pro-mortimer propaganda tbh and i'm not sorry

if you've never read any of my fics before and are wondering where to start, i firmly believe the reincarnation fic (current WIP) is a good one because it has a solid mix of angst, shenanigans, and weird fuckery, so you can experience the tonal whiplash of the rest of my fics all in one place! but it is a WIP and i make zero promises about upload schedule, it happens when it happens, so not so good if you're impatient haha. plenty of others to get you started though

[yingleis]

um... i saw your post and i don't really have a specific idea in mind but i do want to request fic(s) or shorts? feel free to discard this request though, just thought i'd try my luck to ask <3

- bai jiu and/or ying lei, the whole squad is fine too

- soft/funny

- absolutely no BE/SE

- if we're pairing anyone can we make bai jiu aged up, don't want tag: underage here

just missing them a lot lately :') anyway if you read this thanks!!! i hope you have a great day <333

this fic contains spoilers for the ending of FoF >_<

Notes:

post-canon, taking some liberties with their abilities

Aged up Bai Jiu, he's about 20 in this

can be read as platonic or shippy

It is well known amongst the townsfolk of Sinan Village that there are two mountain gods that inhabited Mount Kunlun.

Rather, the second deity was not truly a mountain god– his real form was that of a cypress tree– but he'd been the one to listen to their prayers and answer to the best of his abilities before mountain god Ying Lei returned, and so they worshipped him as such.

—

(half a century ago)

“Bai Jiu shanshen, are you not cold? You've been sitting here every day!” The little tree spirit says, materialising to sit next to Bai Jiu, unable to stay silent any longer.

They had been watching over this lonely mountain god day after day, witnessing him take his usual spot on the gate to Kunlun mountain every morning, and would secretly anticipate the arrival of whoever Bai Jiu shanshen was waiting for, only to be similarly disappointed when no one turned up.

Just who was so important that Bai Jiu shanshen would wait for them so patiently and without complaint?

(Even most demons knew now just where to visit, if they had grievous injuries that needed looking after).

“Don't call me that, I don't deserve the title,��� Bai Jiu shanshen says quietly. “The actual mountain gods are Luwu daren and Ying Lei.”

Ying Lei? They had never heard of a mountain god named Ying Lei. Luwu shanshen, they knew. He was wise and kind, and always entertained their endless questions with a jovial smile.

But the tree spirit nods, anyway, acquiescing. Bai Jiu daren was older than them, so he would know more about the older mountain gods. “Then, Bai Jiu daren, who are you waiting for? I'll wait with you!”

“I'm waiting for a friend. My best friend.”

—

As always, it is when he isn't paying attention that these yaos choose to sneak up on him.

Bai Jiu reaches for the plum, marvelling at how much easier it is to pick the fruit now, as compared to when he was younger, where his limbs were too short to properly reach the branch.

They aren't quite ripe enough yet, he decides, and is about to climb back down the tree when–

“Who's there?”

No. It can't be. His foot slips, and he goes down with a yelp, landing in the soft snow in an awkward mess of limbs.

“Boy! Are you alright?” Ying Lei asks– it is Ying Lei, alright, with his nest of yellow hair and all too innocent eyes peering down at him.

Bai Jiu snorts. “At least you got my gender right this time.”

“Xiaojiu?” Ying Lei’s brows furrow in confusion. “You're not Bai Jiu, he's not this big! Confess now, who sent you to impersonate him? What are you doing on Mount Kunlun?”

“Silly mountain god, nearly a hundred years have passed, how could I not have grown up?” Bai Jiu argues, slowly picking himself off the ground. “If you need proof, then. You died to separate Li Lun from my body, even though you were scared of going into the afterlife alone and leaving us behind.”

Ying Lei pauses, lowering the branch he'd snatched up as a makeshift weapon as he follows Bai Jiu into the mountain god temple.

“A hundred years?”

Bai Jiu nods. Not quite, but almost.

“Then, you–”

“I'm part demon, part human and part deity, remember?” Bai Jiu says. He doesn't quite know how it works either, only that he still looked like someone in his twenties, according to Wen jiejie.

“No, I mean, you've been waiting here?”

“What else would I be doing?” Bai Jiu replies, pausing in the middle of the room he'd claimed as his in the last few decades.

Only that now, seeing Ying Lei again has made him nervous, uncertain about his decision. He had gotten Lord Luwu’s approval to stay here, but he doesn't know what Ying Lei would think of it– for him to stay in the mountain god temple on the assumption that Ying Lei wouldn't mind– was it overstepping?

“You could've been travelling the jianghu, becoming the best miracle doctor of your time, meeting new people, anything other than staying here in this lonely and cold place!” Ying Lei says, a hint of frustration colouring his tone as he takes in the shelves of medicinal herbs and pills Bai Jiu had amassed over the years.

“But I wanted to stay here,” Bai Jiu replies, pulling Ying Lei into a hug, as he'd imagined doing over the years.

(He'd felt it, the warmth of Ying Lei’s hug as he held his body after Zhuo daren’s sword pierced through his stomach.

How he'd refused to let him go afterwards, knowing that he would dissipate soon).

“Who else would welcome you back, if I wasn't here?” Bai Jiu says, burying his face into Ying Lei’s shoulder.

It was strange, how he was now at the right height to do that, when he'd barely reached Ying Lei’s shoulder the last time they met.

Ying Lei returns the hug, a solid, reassuring, and warm weight against him as he pats Bai Jiu reassuringly. “I'm back, Xiaojiu. I'm back.”

—

Extra:

“Bai Jiu daren, why does that yao have your hair ornaments?” The tree spirit exclaims, gesturing to Ying Lei circling the huge cypress tree in the yard.

The furballs, the tree spirit meant. Bai Jiu had started weaving them into his own braids alongside his bells after Ying Lei’s passing, his own sort of way to remember him by.

(Who else would remember Ying Lei, if not him?)

“They were never mine to begin with,” he says softly, watching Ying Lei reacquaint himself with his home, his heart warming to see those hair ornaments back in their rightful place. “They belonged to my best friend.”

“Your best friend?” The tree spirit echoes, lost. “Oh! That yao is who you were waiting for!”

Bai Jiu nods in agreement. Though–

“He's not a yaoguai, he's Ying Lei shanshen, and my best friend.”

[still accepting fic requests!]

[fountainpenguin]

"Picture of your face in an invisible locket... I had a bad feeling. But we were dancin'... swaying as the room burned down." (x)

---

New Dog's Life chapter today! ~ 3rd Life series fan-season

Chapter 32 - “Starve (Etho, Scott)”

❤️ Read on AO3

💛 Start from Chapter 1

💚 More Pixels Imperfect fics

---

I am once again bringing you scenes of Etho cuddling up to SnifferMyFeet while Sniff growls reminders that even though he has Joel's memories and misses being Boat Boys, he wants Etho to treat him as a separate person.

If I had a nickel for every chapter Etho's touched this man and thought of Joel, I would have 8 nickels. I'd have 40 cents. That's as much as 1/4 of our story. And that's terrible.

#smalletho - Etho once again working through his touch starvation and Boat Boys Issues™ Many references to Joel, but he doesn't appear. Large flashbacks of him and Etho in next week's chapter, though! <3

(First 1,000 words under the cut)

---

This preview section jumps into shippy vibes- Proceed at own discretion.

---

Etho - Fox

Status: Holding out a hand

Self-taught programmer, full-time hero

💙  🧡  💚

So, uh. That string tidying, huh? You're setting yourself up for disappointment if you want to do that with an endermite hybrid. They're the best in the business and they'll mock you the whole time you set up. Sniff's smug and giggly about it, too, as Etho pushes him down on the bed and hangs back to study him. He's really tattered the code on the bottoms of his bare feet. I mean, shoe code gets tattered too, but usually those soft parts of a skin design hurt more.

"You gonna use your mouth?" Sniff asks, eyeing him up.

"In a shocking turn of events, the programmer has tools for fixing loose code. They're in the other room." Etho takes Sniff's wrists and pins them above his head for a second, then takes his ankles and stretches them out. Classic textbook pose for the work, even though they'll probably move to the carpet for obvious reasons before they start; he doesn't need weak pixels dropped all over his bed. "Stay," he commands, and Sniff sticks out his tongue and double flips him off without moving his arms. So Etho can't be mad.

But he does lean over, sliding one hand beneath Sniff's cheek, easing it behind his head. He curls it back around and lifts it just enough to scrape his palm across Sniff's brow, beneath his floppy dark brown hair. It's thick and feels like swamp plants in his hands. He still smells like well-treated water. Chlorine. Like one of Gluon's hotel builds with the fancy pools. Or the waterpark server. Never did find out why. Etho breathes against him without pulling back. Despite the wet scents, Sniff's warm soul's like fresh-baked bread against his hand.

"Oh my goodness… You're so pretty. You are so pretty…"

The metaphorical light fades from Sniff's mismatched eyes. Etho pulls back, waiting for a pinch or slap. Sniff turns his face away. Only his Joel side's visible at this angle as he squirms. "Get your eyes checked, Eefo… I saw my reflection when I got my water. I'm stitched together with hand-me-down parts. You don't mean that."

"What if I do, though?" He crouches lower by the bed, bringing a hovering thumb to Sniff's scalp. Sniff glances at him, then away. So Etho breaks that barrier. Slowly, the thick part of his hand eases down to touch Sniff's head. Sniff scrunches up his eyes again, giving the faintest little nod. Etho holds very still a few seconds (Sniff's pixels are so loose on his skin, which was the whole point of this cleaning project anyway) before he speaks again. "I'm sorry you can't see that yet. Body issues are tough; I've got issues too. Sometimes my fox traits get away from me… Been thinking about modding out, but it takes centuries of paperwork." His next stroke of hand (a circle on his head) is firmer, sharper, and Sniff mutters something under his breath as his cheeks freckle up with blue again. Cute. "If it were legal, I'd probably just unthread. I'd miss the bullet paths, but you make vex life look so easy. So good." He draws his hand around in one last loop, then eases it down Sniff's cheek (on his Grian side) to his neck. "Hey, take a closer look next time you're out. There's a lot of interesting people out there. Some wear faces that aren't even humanoid. Have you met MumboDrone or iCam? … And you know, it's just a skin."

Sniff putters his lips, staring towards the ceiling. His fingers lift, dancing across the backs of Etho's knuckles. "You just want me to stay late again. Gods, you're so lonely… Listen, fella- I know my strings are a wreck. I was an endermite before a vex; be pretty messed up if I couldn't tell. I'll let you clean me up, but I'm not playing sleepover. You can't make me."

"Mmhm." Oh man, I want to press my head on yours. He really wants to, noses brushing, hair tufts scraping, but he refrains, you know. He's kneeling, balanced on his heels, and Sniff's saying 'Yes' to the hand but looking unsure. So he won't. "Stay as long as you want to. Just let me clean your code and then you can leave. I promise I won't be mad."

"You smell like bread dough…"

"Yeah? My code wouldn't taste too good right now. Squeaky clean."

"Oh, that's too bad." Absentminded. Distracted. Etho eases back his fingers.

"Are you okay?"

Sniff clicks into focus again and then swishes up, sitting on the bed instead of lying down. "Yeah, thanks. I'm good, actually. The water helped."

"All right. I'll be right back with the cleaning stuff." He leaves without another touch, pausing only to switch off the portal still glowing in the corner. He leaves the desk lantern glowing like it is. It's fun, in the dark. The light's so low, it's like a fox's den in here.

The nice thing about being a programmer? He has no end of scrapers and combs to choose from. He pays the living room a visit to get the tray from the coding desk's drawer and some rolled-up pieces of carpet (ignoring the less than subtle smirks Beef and Pause give him as he strolls by). Etho brings the whole tray to his room and sits on the bed with Sniff, just talking to him and explaining how effective these tools are for different things. Sniff seems to recognize a lot of them, which is no surprise, honestly. Since Joel doesn't do logouts, he has a whole cleaning routine. It takes him forever.

"You know," Sniff says, digging through the tray, "using combs is cheating, actually. I can do the cleaning with my teeth still attached. I bet foxes can too. I mean, it's code work; all the code-eating species can do it." He flicks his gaze to Etho, who kneels across from him, tail waving in the air. Etho doesn't answer, so Sniff goes on. "You know what's fun? 'mite bundles."

"'mite bundles,'" Etho repeats. "Like… Endermites inside a bundle? Is that fun? That's a new one to me." Where is he going with this?

"Yeah, it's when you put endermites in with some of your supplies and go out on adventures. When you want your supplies, you have to dump everything on the ground and try to use your stuff without getting bit. If you get bit, you have to send your coords to server chat. Easy way to get killed, so you'd better not. You can play it in Between, too. Pig has an endermite living in his studio. For every time it bites him, he has to keep his weapons in a chest for an hour when he gets home. It means I can do whatever I want to him, really. Usually he just runs. Sometimes we duke it out bare-fisted. Have you ever seen him with a black eye and a tooth knocked out? Just me, I guess- It probably doesn't carry when he leaves the server. He looks so goofy when he smiles; I'm chuffed to bits with that. Gods, you wouldn't believe the bruise he left on me this one time he pushed me off an end ship. He smirked about it for days, no joke. No, actually. Can't believe his head even fit outside the server."

Etho smirks back, hidden in the mask and hidden by his fingertips. His chin rests against his hand. "What'd you do to him? You didn't let him get away with that, did you?"

"Hell no! I picked up a shulker and I slammed him on the head with it. I bet you didn't even know you can peel 'em off the wall- they're so clingy. What'd he do then? I think he put down a bed and blew himself up trying to get me with it. Oh, he's so lame. I like him so much."

[Full chapter on AO3 - Link at top]

[thebreakfastgenie]

beejhawk 👀

LMAO I was just sitting here like "no one even bothers to send me beejhawk anymore" but bless you to the bottom of your pot-stirring heart, anon.

Don’t Ship It

Why don’t you ship it? I have several reasons, which I will get into it, but I'm going to start with this one: I like a happy ending. Beejhawk cannot be a happy ending to me. I'm not entirely convinced any Hawkeye/4077th ship being endgame can be a happy ending, even the ones I like. I want to see Hawkeye move on from the war, which is what GFA is setting him up to do. Beejhawk keeps him stuck with the war defining his life. That's depressing to me. In the larger narrative of Hawkeye's life, it's important to me that the war is unimportant. The war being how Hawkeye met the love of his life gives me the ick. It implicitly suggests the war was somehow worth it. I can't think of a single reason why I would ship it. I think the biggest reason is it's simply too OOC for me. I cannot believe that Hawkeye would be in love with BJ. That is not Hawkeye to me. I actually can believe that BJ would be in love with Hawkeye, even though BJ is extremely straight to me, but I can't see Hawkeye reciprocating, ever. I've read some beejhawk fic and a lot of posts, and the way Hawkeye behaves and is characterized doesn't just feel wrong to me, it feels wrong in the way I hate the most. BJ is usually wildly OOC too. The other big reason is the complete lack of chemistry. They have negative romantic chemistry to me. This is a much smaller reason, but the things people get from beejhawk I get from other ships that make more sense to me. For a best friends ship, I have piercentyre. If I want to ship Hawkeye with someone repressed, I have hawnk or houlihawk. Sometimes I joke about this but it's kind of true that I don't need beejhawk because I have hawnk. The Joke Is Wild? Hawnk did it first. I genuinely do not understand why beejhawk is a ship at all, except that they're the two main guys. If I didn't know how slash culture worked, I would have been shocked that it even existed. In the last few seasons, I'm not even convinced they like each other. I found myself asking "do these guys even like each other?" about the alleged best friends more than once, and I had to actively rev up my suspension of disbelief to enjoy their goodbye properly the first time I watched GFA. I very strongly dislike any framing of MASH as a love story, and I have yet to find beejhawk content that doesn't turn it into the Ballad of Hawkeye and BJ. Piercentyre is fun for me, because it really changes the show very little. Beejhawk requires me to rewire the entire show, and I don't want to. A lot of moments that I adore become less meaningful to me if they're shippy. For example, Where There's a Will, There's a War. "When I wake up remind me to give you a kiss" is an expression of BJ's profound relief and a wonderful resolution to the anxiety and guilt he's been feeling for the whole episode. It's hyperbole that only works because they don't normally kiss or want to kiss. It always brings to mind a lyric from a song about WWII: "and I never kissed so many men as on that afternoon." It's not about romance, it's about being glad to be alive. I just like the show better without beejhawk. I started out a little more neutral and my visceral revulsion built through overexposure. There was also an assumption that you shipped beejhawk that I really resented. Especially because of the implications around it being slash. I am gay, I ship gay ships, I ship other gay ships in MASH. I don't ship beejhawk. I'm not required to ship every single gay ship. So all those beejhawk posts about "gay people love this" or "gay people think that" bother me and turn me off even more.

What would have made you like it? Completely different acting/chemistry. Something completely different from what I ever see the fandom do with it. I could probably be sold on unrequited (BJ's side only) or unhappy ending beejhawk in fic if it was really well done. This is your chance to plug! I think a realistic handling of it would help too. The show gives me a BJ who is as far from leaving his family as a man can be. I need to be convinced that something would change that. Meta claiming he's actually close to leaving in the show does not work for me, it directly contradicts what I see. I need writers to dig into it. Actually show me the dissolution of BJ's marriage, the pain and consequences. Show me how he manages to stay in his daughter's life, if he does. Brokeback Mountain does not shy away from how badly Ennis treats his wife and how absent he is to his children. My experience with beejhawk is that much angst is made of the obstacles to their being together, but they're quickly dispatched with. Tell me what Hawkeye sees in BJ, because I don't see it in the show.

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it? It inspired me to make these. I've been thinking lately that this lyric fits beejhawk "perhaps we don't fulfill each other's fantasies." If you know me, you know this is something positive from me, because it's from what I think is one of the best songs ever written. There is some interesting potential. Just get out of the true love box! Try something dark, something one-sided (BJ's side), something that ends badly! I do really like their friendship in the first few BJ seasons.

[autumnslance]

Fic Writer Interview

Tagged by @sheepwithspecs technically on my main but this is where fanfic goes. Do this if you wanna!

How many works do you have on AO3?

47 as of 2/6/24. There's a few things I need to get around to adding there though.

What’s your total AO3 word count?

411,290 as of 2/6/24

What are your top 5 fics by kudos

Downtime (compilation of younger Scions & other teen chars being pals in Norvrandt) Unexpected (compilation of shippy nonsense) A Constant Distant Thunder (Thancred in ARR patches post-Lahabrea) Ruminations (General Warrior of Light introspections & adventures) Rogue's Prelude (My headcanons on Thancred meeting Louisoix, Papalymo, and Yda)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I usually do! I often try to. So my comment count is almost, not quite though, doubled.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Hrm; I tend to do a lot of bittersweet endings. We'll keep it simple and say "Never Gets Easier", a fic where Edmont and Charlemend talk about their lost sons. There's no sweetness there, just men haunted by mistakes and losses.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Maybe "When Everything Changes" which is kid fic from the POV of my WoL's older brother when she's born and his ambivalence turns to big brother joy and love.

Do you write crossovers?

Haven't yet.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not that I recall.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Occasionally. Usually pretty vanilla. It's all right, I guess.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Had an OC's backstory on our WoW RP server's fic blogging site lifted wholesale; they changed the names and class, and then…walked into our weekly guild meeting that I was leading and tried to join our guild. When confronted, the person claimed their partner had leveled the character for them and based the backstory on Skyrim (my OC's story is very specific to WoW). They tried to message me later as if we were pals who would laugh this off someday. I informed them that was not a thing and btw the site mods knew they were a plagiarist now. Also everyone knew who their alts were and a bunch of other trouble they'd caused. So far as I know, they bailed from our server after that.

I hoped they learned better and grew up quite a bit; this was well over a decade ago.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Once or twice now; so long as folks credit and link back to my originals, and share the translated link with me, it's all good!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Roleplay and actual story collaboration both. It's a lot of fun.

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

How dare you.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

*stares at WIP folder*

Come back with a warrant.

(I won't say never, but there's a lot that probably are just noodling and scraps to feed something else later)

What are your writing strengths?

Folks seem to like my dialogue.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Impatience, and certain grammatical abuses that do nothing for length nor clarity.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Depends on the fic. Depends on the intended audience.

For dialects, mostly the concern is "don't overdo it" as it can slow things down, be really jarring at best and offensive at worst, and difficult to understand if laying it on too thick.

Other languages entirely have different guidelines though, from sprinkling in single words or short phrases, to entire passages, and whether or not you translate or leave it up to the reader. Depends on fandom, on the characters, on the story, author intentions.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Narnia, in a my little girl diary as a pre-teen. I wanted to pick up Susan's story as a grown up and bring her and family back to a magical land. Cuz I knew it could, would happen someday, even if Lewis never got to write it himself.

What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Final Fantasy XVI. Midst. The latter is tricky as I really don't have ideas at the moment, but really want to dig into that vibe. My writing needs to be more weird in general, really.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

How dare you, come back with a warrant!

[thousand-winters]

Pal, I hope the cats are doing well!! I have fanfic questions for you! 5, 7, 20, 27, 36, 48, ok I gotta stop there's too many good questions haha

Hi, friend!!! They're very good, they have been cuddling on my bed these past week because it has been so incredibly cold, so they're living their best lives haha. I hope you and your cats have been doing as well as you possibly can, given the circumstances 💖

It does have some amazing questions, it's hard to decide what to pick when it comes to asking. But let's get into that haha.

5. How many wips do you have?  What fandoms/pairings are they for?

... Oh, boy. Let me count them, haha. There's...

4 I have pending for Dadrius week (crying, by the time I'm done with that, it's going to be the next Dadrius week, surely). Do I count the two multichapters I have going on? I'm not going to, just to give myself some grace ahaha.

For MP100 I have one silly little idea for Reigen's birthday, one Dimple centric fic that I'm struggling for my life with because his interactions with Reigen keep coming out flirty, one silly Terumob inspired in a Mean Girls song, and the "Reigen pulls an Eda" fic. I technically have more but shhhh, only picking the ones I have faith in. So that's another 4.

And then finally for Saiki K I have vampire Kaido that I need to finish for Halloween but we'll see what the gods say about it, the Aren intervention™️ that I might turn shippy out of spite, and then Hairo getting burnt out. So 3, surprisingly not that much yet. I'm refraining from any Teruhashi ideas because I know I'm not gonna shut up with her.

That gives me a total of 11 things without counting multichapters I have to update. Not too bad. I think. Help me LMAO.

7. Post a snippet from a wip.

Reigen pauses all of his movements and looks up from his game, one eyebrow raised. “Unless… you really like my company, I guess.” Dimple huffs. As if.  “In your dreams.” “More like my nightmares.” “You would be lucky to have me in your nightmares.”

Why does it sound flirty. Am I going crazy. Help.

20. Do you prefer writing AUs or canon fics?

Canon fics, I think. I like exploring the possibilities and it's honestly less of a headache to have certain things about the characters already established rather than to have to think about how a new background has shaped their life haha.

I really, really enjoy AUs, but in terms of what's easier, canon is always good to play with, especially when it's a fandom in which there's a lot to explore and usually that's the case.

27. What area of writing do you feel strongest in?

Mmmm... the sequence of events, if that makes sense? Like I'm generally good at picturing how one thing gets from one point to the other, which might not say much about the way in which I actually write it when it comes down to it, but I do think it's important to have a grasp on how you get from point A to point B, and I think I'm good at that. If it ever feels rushed, that's a problem of my descriptions and redaction, not the plan in my head, I believe haha.

36. What fic are you proudest of?

The stars too, they tell of spring returning continues being my baby. I've been re-reading it in the hopes I can get back to it soon and oof. I went off with that one, it has a good amount of tension and it doesn't stall too long in unnecessary bits in my opinion? I don't know, I just like it. I did start writing the next chapter, it's just a matter of time, we'll get there!!!

48. Who is your favorite character to write for?  Has this changed since you’ve started writing for that fandom?

Darius Deamonne my beloved. I do think I need to make him a bit bitchier haha, I have made him far too soft lately, and while I do believe he's a sucker for his loved ones, he's also a bitch in the best of ways. But anyway, this says your favorite and not the one you write the best so I stand by the fact it's Darius, he's just fun in all of his little complexities, his snarkiness and his softness and his vulnerability. I love him madly.

My favorite to write for used to be Hunter, for sure. Now with him I think it was in part because he's easy. He's so terribly traumatized that I always joke with my friends that you can project some things on him and chances are it'll stick because he has all the issues in the world, poor tang haha.

Thanks for the questions, friend!!! From this ask game

[x-i-l-verify]

20 Questions For Writers

Was tagged by @kuraiarcoiris and decided why not. :V

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

35. I have more on other sites, but since I've made my AO3 account, that's how many I've posted there.

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2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

656,547. Give or take a couple thousand.

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3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently? Dream SMP. But I also have an Inscryption WIP and a couple Kpop WIPs that I really should get back to one of these days. orz But I've written for all sorts of fandoms over the years.

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4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

5) Its Suffering Was Real [Inscryption]

This is the one that came as the biggest shock to me when I went and looked at my kudos count in preparation for this write-up. Like, really? People like the fic where I torture the sassy robot trapped in the body of a stoat for 7k words that much??

4) A Shoulder to Lean On [Avatar: The Last Airbender]

WHERE did all these people come from, I have like 6 comments on this thing (not counting my replies)??? I mean, I'm flattered, but ??!!?!

3) Accepting Amelioration [Voltron: Legendary Defender]

I mean, it's a Voltron fic posted back when the fandom was in full swing, it doesn't really surprise me the kudos counter is considerable, though I am still surprised it got that much traction considering the fic is gen and not shippy. Am still proud I made the first daemon AU in the entire fandom, though, if this is my claim to fame, then I'm ok with that. :p

2) Temporary Shelter [Astro / VIXX]

I seriously have no freaking clue how this little self indulgent Kpop crossover fic became so popular, I really don't. I mean, Kpop crossovers are niche at the best of times, and these two groups aren't exactly the most popular Kpop fandoms on AO3 if you know what I mean. It basically started as "wouldn't it be fun if my two favorite Kpop groups were secretly friends all this time? How would I have that happen, tho?" and then snowballed from there. I, uh. I'm glad so many other people like it, ig? 0_0

1) Paved with Pawprints [My Hero Academia]

Of course it's the MHA pet AU fic. Of course. OF COURSE-

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

Absolutely. It's only fair I reply if someone takes the time to read on my work and actually give me feedback about it, wouldn't you say? Plus, like most authors, I enjoy talking about my own work, so sue me. >:p

.

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

I don't usually do angsty endings; I prefer happy or at least bittersweet ones. I guess by default, it has to be the fic where I slowly killed off America and China from Axis Powers Hetalia for 13k words, while the rest of the cast had already been dead for centuries at that point. So yes, the entire cast of that series was dead by the end of that fic. :))) IN MY DEFENSE, ok, I was actually trying to give them a bittersweet ending by reuniting them with all of their old friends and family by finally letting them rest after so long alone, but it still turned out really sad. TT TT It's basically my only fic where I can't go back and reread it more than once every couple of years, because I still end up a sobbing mess by the end.

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

Well, I guess that's what you define "happiest" as. The most cathartic? The one with the least amount of trauma and extreme bodily injury incurred by the characters? 🤔 I guess by the latter definition, it would Kaleidoscopic Perceptions, a very fluffy USPH college AU that I actually enjoyed writing a lot despite me not usually enjoying romance or college AUs.

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8. Do you get hate on your fic?

No, thankfully. I've gotten a couple kinda weird comments, and of course the obligatory "It's been X months since you updated were you aware?????" comments, but no outright negativity.

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9. Do you write smut?

LMAO. Absolutely not.

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10. Do you write crossovers?

Yes! I really love crossovers. I have a few common fallbacks that fit with a lot of fandoms (daemon AUs, Firefly AUs, etc.), but I also enjoy fandom-specific crossovers when I can figure out how to pull them off.

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11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No idea. I hope not!

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12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Just once for this Gravity Falls fic.

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13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Yes. It had a few ups and downs, but it was overall a really positive experience, and I think it turned out really well!

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14. What‘s your all-time favorite ship?

idk that I have an ALL TIME favorite ship, especially since I hardly ever ship anything, but Frobin is pretty choice, I gotta say.

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

Er, none of them, hopefully? I hope that I eventually get to finish all my WIPs at some point, even if it might take me awhile. >.>; But I suppose if I had to pick ONE to abandon, I'd probably pick Written In, my D&D Inscryption crossover AU. I like the IDEA for it, but writing it out is like pulling teeth, and after the first installment where the party gets together, I don't really have a lot of ideas on where to take the plot. :/ Like I have the general overarching idea but no plot structure or anything but small disconnected story beats.

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16. What’s your writing strengths?

I like to think I do a pretty good job with descriptions while not bogging the story down too much with too much detail?

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17. What’s your writing weaknesses?

Uuuuuuuuuuhhhhhh, staying motivated ig. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ if you're asking my weakness about mechanics, though, uh... exposition, I guess? Dialogue in general, sometimes.

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

If there is actual information included in the other language, then you better provide a translation. If it's just for flavor, though, have at it.

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19. First fandom you wrote for?

TMNT, specifically the 2003 show. It's never been posted anywhere on the internet and never will. :)

-

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Becoming Real, a Kpop fanfic based on VIXX's Voodoo Doll MV. However, it can easily stand on its own as its own original work. I consider it the most accessible story I've ever written, and it also was just very easy for me to write. Writing is often like pulling teeth for me, but not this story.

Tagging: @breezy-cheezy, @quicktothebatjalopy, @hiding-in-the-vault, @variablememory, @bleue-flora, @theriu

[lady-of-the-spirit]

3, 8, 9, 20, 27, 32, 35, 51, 53 and 64 for the fic writer ask game!

3. on a scale of 1-10 how much do you enjoy incorporating romance into the average story?

It has its place, and I am guilty of slipping romance or at least shippy vibes into fics that I did not INTEND to be romantic. I also like writing it in general, even though I struggle with writing the physical aspects (kissing). so I'd say, probably like, a 7/10. which is surprising, because the majority of my fics are rated Gen.

actually I went and figured out that out of all my fics, 70% of them are rated gen which I think is a fun coincidence.

8. what’s your relationship with constructive criticism and feedback like? do you seek it out? how well do you take it?

If I ask for it, I would like it. I don't want it if I didn't ask for it. I may still read it and consider it, but I'm gonna be annoyed by it. Feedback in general? fine - but I do like more than just "I liked this", although I love those comments. when I'm looking for FEEDBACK though, I need more than that. I need to know all your thoughts.

9. in an ideal world where you’re already super successful and published, would you want to see a tv or movie adaptation of your work? why or why not?

If I'm involved, why not? I think the majority of my (imagined) works would work better as a series, though. We've seen how turning longer works into movies works - usually not very well. I want to see my ocs on the screen. (in my dream world it would be an animated show, especially the fantasy ones, but we can't have everything in this live action obsessed world.)

20. what is your favorite trope to write?

soft fics: found family

hurt/comfort fics: trauma reveals

27. do you share rough drafts or do you wait until it’s all polished? And who do you share them with?

depends on how much thought I put into a fic. I'll usually at least scan through and reread fics before publishing, but if it's a fic I wrote in one sitting totally at random? I'll skim it and then post without thinking twice. Fics that I put more thought in, I'll go over at least a few times before publishing. I've only shared rough drafts a few times, and that's when I'm really unsure about the story for some reason and need someone to give it a scan and let me know their thoughts.

32. do characters influence your writing style?

oh definitely!! Every character is a little different so that changes how I write their perspective, so that automatically changes the voice I use when I'm writing.

35. tell us about a character who’s very different than you who you love a whole lot

Most characters I love a whole lot are very different from me lmao but the one who comes to mind most of all is probably Yataka from Arata the Legend. He's a very prim and proper man, very focused on etiquette and being a gentleman, he hates being touched, is obsessed with cleanliness, and also is a HUGE bitch, will bicker like a 5 year old with his best friend (neither of them would admit to being best friends and have one of THE MOST dynamics of all time), and has the capacity for extreme violence and absolutely unhinged behaviour. he also hates himself so much. I'm obsessed with him I love him so much.

51. share the synopsis of a story you work on that you haven’t published yet

Sersi gets harassed/assaulted and the team/whoever sees it are fiercely protective. (aka more Sersi whump and team dynamics.) (I'm still debating whether Ikaris should know or not because he may straight up kill the person.)

53.when writing, do you have an outline? and do you stick to it?

depends on how much I care about the details of the story, or how much I want to get it right. Especially if it's a longer fic, I want to plan as much as I can ahead of time. Or if it deals with more serious topics, I want to figure out how to deal with those ahead of time.

64. what is your favourite title for a fic you’ve read?

5 Times Where Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji Lose a Braincell and 1 Time Where They Lose Another on account of it being a perfect summary of the fic.

fanfic writer ask game

[emryses]

20 questions for fic writers

thank you @postmodernau & @queerofthedagger for tagging me!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

35. what the hell lmao

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

379,505. again. what the hell!!!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

at this point i would say the main one is stranger things. i tend to only be able to successfully write for one fandom at a time apparently lol. but i imagine i'll dip my toes back into merlin one day.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

you looking at me, looking at you (steddie) / run your fingers through my hair (steddie) / eat me alive (steddie) / when the party's over (gallavich!!) / you want it straight from the heart (steddie)

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

i do! most or try my best to. often in the first week-ish after posting something, and i do sincerely try to respond to every comment but i've fallen behind on that a lot recently.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

this is a hard question to answer because i literally have thrived off of angst, specifically in the merlin fandom, for many years. i think i'll say winter always turns to spring which is a canon compliant merlin/will fic i wrote that has a tinge of....unrequited feelings, which is probably what bumps it up into the most sad.

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

is it bad that i don't write a lot of "traditional" happy endings? i kind of make them work to get there lol. bittersweet my beloved. i would say my hairdresser steve au is the most lighthearted thing i've written with a happy ending?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

not really! i've gotten the occasional weird ass comment that i'm sure the commenter THOUGHT was "kind" but i've kind of side-eyed.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

i do! i don't think i'm very good at it & it takes me ages when i do. i guess all kinds??? love it when they're pathetic and desperate iykwim.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

not often, but i have a steddie btvs au i am slowly percolating on.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i'm aware of! but i doubt it, even then lol.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes! there was a merlin translation fest a while back, and my merwill fic, winter always turns to spring was translated into portuguese!

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

no..........but mona & i have been percolating some thoughts..............................................monaaaaaaa.........is this a sign................?

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

this is such a hard question !!! i think i have to say at this moment in time it's steddie. they truly just scratch all the shippy itches for me. honourable mention tho to merthur, who have had my soul in some way or another for 10+ years.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

i have this shameless canon divergence fic. the summary i wrote describes it best: "When Ian was 3, his birth father Clayton Gallagher and his wife Lucy were granted full custody, ripping Ian away from the only family he had ever known. Fifteen years later, Ian has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and is looking for answers. Here, he reconnects with Fiona and Lip, his brother and sister who watched him be taken. Ian also meets his brother’s friend, Mickey, who conveniently is the guy Ian has been meeting in bars and dark alleys for the past few weeks."

part of me wishes i could go back and finish it, but i haven't written for gallavich in so long & i have so many other fics for other fandoms i'm more inclined to finish first. i guess never say never, but i also don't know when the time for it would be. alas.

16. What are your writing strengths?

how dare anyone make me talk positively about myself....sigh. ok. i think i'm good at character tone/voice. the way characters speak has always come pretty easily to me, and so i'm often most proud of my dialogue. i think it's why a lot of my fics often are dialogue heavy & have people working out problems together.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

does my own brain count? i feel like i can be repetitive in my descriptors of things. everything is "says softly" or "he smiles" or "he laughs" etc. my brain tells me every single goddamn sentence has to be Unique or something, and then i get in my head about Everything. it's the worst !!!

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

i haven't ever done it! not sure how i would go about it tbh! i don't speak any other languages other than english, so i would be hesitant to put any other language in a fic of mine because i would have to rely on google translate or something.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

HMMM. if i'm really honest, probably peter pan when i was like. 10. then it was icarly LMAO. all on ff.net babeyyyy

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

hands down, fields of gold. i consider it to be my merlin magnum opus of sorts, my eternal love letter to the show. i took 2 years to write it, and genuinely no joke some of the aspects/themes of that fic date back to headcanons/meta i wrote in 2012. so. i poured a lot of my heart into that fic, and i hope it shows.

zero pressure tags: @stargyles/@pushrope, @mojowitchcraft, @magicinavalon, @stevespookington, @lady-lostmind, @thefreakandthehair, @snapshotmaestro, @glaftwlet, @andonandon & truly anyone who sees this and wants to answer these questions. tag me!!! i am nosy and love stuff like this lol.

[felicitysmoaksx]

Hi all! Welcome back to this story and thanks so much for the kudos! I'm glad to see everyone is enjoying my little story! This chapter is a little bit heavier in some places. But it does have it's lighter moments too. In the form of Autumn (you'll understand when you read the chapter) and we finally get to meet a character I mentioned in the first story of this universe, Tucker!So I hope you all enjoy this chapter and happy reading! P.S. If you want to set the mood of this chapter I recommend: Flares by The Script, Sympathy, and Iris both by the Goo Goo Dolls.Remember kudos and comments are good sources of protein for the author

Rating: Mature

Summary: Her eyes squeezed shut before she dropped her head. Borrowed time. It was meant to be her…It was meant to be-

Word Count: 3.5k

Warnings: Inaccurate medical procedures, and implied/references a canonical character death and in depth survivors’ guilt  

Read On AO3 | Fic Playlist | Fic Playlist but Less Shippy  | Chapter 1 | Want to be tagged when I post a Rheese story?

Bottled Up Feelings are Silently Screaming (You Were Breaking Down) 

 Ch. 2

“Claire, please. I know I need to sign those forms for the store. Just hold off Dad for a day or maybe two? But today at the very least. And I'll be there by the end of the day tomorrow.” Connor said into his cell phone, glancing at the closed bathroom door, where Sarah was getting dressed.

“I know you and Dad have your issues, but why can’t you just stop by after your shift? You wouldn’t even have to see him.” Claire asked before he heard her direct someone to ‘put that dress on a mannequin for the window display.’

Connor glanced at the bathroom door again, before he lowered his voice so Sarah wouldn’t hear him as he explained the situation to his sister.

“Claire, I’m not on shift today. I took the whole week off because something happened and Sarah was hurt.”

“Hurt?” His sister repeated the word and it sounded like a question coming out of her mouth. Concern seeped into her voice. “Hurt how?”

“Sarah and her brother were both shot the day after you and I had dinner with Robin and her husband.”

“Oh god.” Claire breathed, “Is Sarah okay? I mean you just said she’s not okay, but…”

His little sister trailed off, but Connor understood his sister’s question. He exhaled slowly, “She was discharged a few days ago, but her doctor didn’t want to do that. She wanted to keep her for observation. But Sarah wasn’t going to miss her brother’s funeral today.”

“…Which is why you can’t come to sign the forms because you’re going to the service with her,” Claire said slowly. Connor nodded even though his sister couldn’t see him before he told her carefully, “Sarah would have her family and I know that. But she’s grieving. She’s fragile right now and pushing everyone away. I want to be there for her. Today especially.”

“I’ll hold Dad off,” Claire reassured him, “And I’ll keep a good thought for Sarah and her family. That today goes as well as it can.”

“Thank you,” Connor said as his sister told someone else to ‘please put out those new vases we just got and price them.’

There was a crash in the background then and he heard Claire sigh, “I’ve got to go. Got a situation to handle.”

“Yeah, I should probably go too. We’ve got to leave soon anyway.” It turned out the siblings hung up just in time because the door to the bathroom opened up a moment later.

“I still think I should go with the other dress. It covers more.” She said, coming to stand in front of the mirror as she rubbed at her wrists. Her wrists were now scabbed over and in the process of healing. But they were still agitated and red and added that to the white bandage over her neck. Sarah was worried about people staring. About the pity in people’s eyes. She didn’t want people to focus on her today. Not at her best friend’s funeral.

“Sarah, it’s going to be in the upper eighties today. You’ll overheat in the other dress.” He reminded her, thinking of the black sweater dress she was referring to. Though it was technically autumn, it was still the beginning of the season. This meant summer was fighting for its last legs in Chicago right now and that produced unusual warm weather like today.

When she remained quiet, staring at her reflection, Connor stood and moved so he was behind her. Resting his hands on her shoulders, he kissed her head.

“How did this happen, Connor? Why did this happen? Why did I get shot? Why am I getting ready to go bury my best friend?” Sarah asked in a weak, brittle voice. Connor frowned because he didn’t have an answer for her. Not one that made sense at least.

So he told her that. “I don’t know, baby. I don’t have any answer that makes sense and I’m so sorry for that and that this even happened in the first place.”

It shouldn’t have gone unspoken. The brunette in his arms released a shuddering breath that could’ve been a sob as she turned in his arms and cried.

“I’m sorry baby. I’m so sorry.” The surgeon had been saying those words since she woke up in that hospital room just days ago. And though he meant them every single time he said them, with every fiber of his being he meant those words; the words had started to feel hollow even to himself.  He couldn’t imagine how they felt to her.

She said something, but he couldn’t understand her through her tears or her voice being muffled by his suit jacket. It was probably a good thing he didn’t. It would’ve just broken his heart that much more.

“Everyone leaves me at some point. Everyone.”

[LINE BREAK]  [LINE BREAK] [LINE BREAK] [LINE BREAK] [LINE BREAK]

“Does someone need to go get Sarah? She shouldn’t be driving right now, should she?” Tucker asked, coming to stand by Olive, Erin, and Teddy. While Olive had her arms full with Baby Danny,  Autumn’s hand was tucked into her father’s and she pressed her face into his leg when more people arrived. At least until she tugged on Hank's pant leg and asked to be picked up.

“Autumn Kimberly, leave Grandpa Hank alone right now. He can play with you later.” Tucker scolded his daughter softly in that Texas accent that he never lost when he and his parents moved from Dallas to Chicago. The accent he got teased for in school that made Camille Voight introduce him to her son. The reason he and Justin were best friends and had been since that day in sixth grade.

Hank waved a hand to show that Autumn was fine and bent down to pick up his pseudo-granddaughter. When the little girl was settled on his hip, she patted his cheek. “Daddy and Aunt Olive says Uncle Justin was hurted very bad.”

“He was,” Hank told her in a solemn soft voice. Autumn nodded in the way that all children seemed to do when mulling over information.

“Daddy also said he’s in a better place, a place where he can’t be hurted anymore. That he’s with my mommy and his mommy.”

Hank nodded, “He is. I promise. He’s not hurting anymore.”

Autumn nodded again before she patted Hank’s cheek again. “Does that make you sad? That’s even though he’s not hurted anymore, he’s not here?”

Hank mulled over his answer. He never wanted Justin to suffer but…“Yeah, yeah it makes me sad, baby.”

The small girl looked over at her pseudo-aunt holding her cousin. “Aunt Olive? Are you sad too?”

Like Sarah, the young widow had been crying on and off for the last few days and she knew her niece was four-years-old. She wasn’t asking these questions to be cruel. She was just trying to make sense of everything, of Justin being here one day and gone the next. But that didn’t lessen the ache, the hole in her heart growing wider with every beat of her heart because her husband was gone.

The sob bubbled out of her mouth before she could stop it causing both children to look up at her. Danny grabbed at her chin. “Mama?”

“Auntie Olive, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to make you start crying.” Now Autumn looked like she was about to cry.

“I know you didn’t little autumn leaf, but Aunt Olive just cries easy these days because I miss your Uncle Justin.”

“Me too. Daddy says it's okay to be sad though.” The little girl told the room in a soft tone. Hank gave her the best attempt at a comforting smile.

“Your Dad is a smart man.”

Autumn fell silent then, laying her head on Hank’s shoulder. Until she saw a familiar mop of brown curls.

“Aunt Sarah,” she said softly, wiggling out of Hank’s grasp and darting across the room to get to her pseudo-aunt.

“Autumn Kimberly,” Tucker narrowly avoided colliding with a man in a Marine uniform and scooped up his four-year-old daughter before she got to Justin’s baby sister. When he turned her in his grip, he saw the frown she wore and her tiny arms were folded.

“What conversation did we have about your Aunt Sarah?” He asked her patiently after she stopped whining and squirming. Instead choosing to glare at her father. The child huffed, blowing a stray piece of dark hair out of her eyes. But Tucker just stared at her, waiting. Finally, his daughter huffed again before uttering.

“Aunt Sarah was hurted like Uncle Justin. But not as bad, but that doesn’t mean you can go climbing and jumping on her like your person-al junglely gym.”

She repeated his words back to him with enough sass of a teenager. Four going on fourteen. Tucker sighed and hugged his daughter. Then he set her back down, but not before he cautioned her, “Gentle little leaf.”

His daughter didn’t disappoint. Slowly, the little girl approached her pseudo-aunt, who bent down with a half-hearted smile. Then she crashed into the brunette.

“Missed you,” Autumn’s voice was muffled by Sarah’s shoulder.

“I missed you too, Autumn Breeze,” the woman said softly. Brown eyes peered up at her then. Not quite filled with suspicion, but certainly on their way there.

“Then why didn’t you let us visit you? When you were in the hospital for your ouchies?” Sarah licked her lips, unsure how to approach her answer.

How could the brunette explain to a child that she blamed herself for what happened to Justin? That she didn’t deserve comfort? That she wanted to keep everyone away because the guilt was eating her alive? Because it was meant to be her…Borrowed time…It was meant to be-

“Autumn,” Tucker said softly, not quite admonishing his daughter. But stepping in to save his best friend from having to answer the complicated question.

“Aunt Sarah just hasn’t been feeling her best. And you know the hospital can be a pretty scary place. I just didn’t want you or your Dad to be scared.”

Then using a stage whisper, loud enough for her best friend to hear Sarah told her pseudo-niece, “You know your Daddy scares easy.”

Tucker snorted but covered it up with a cough before his daughter could hear him.

“Oh,” the little girl nodded before she peered up at Connor. Now the suspicion was clear in her eyes. “Who are you?”

“Autumn Breeze,” Both Sarah and Tucker admonished the little girl softly as her father reached down and picked up his daughter, settling her on his hip. “Be nice.”

But Connor chuckled slightly, not the slightest bit deterred. “I’m a friend of your Aunt Sarah.”  

The little girl nodded but her brown eyes still stared at Connor with a borderline glare in them before she noticed Travis and Annie arriving. She looked at her dad and the glare was gone. “Can I go say hi to Travis and Annie?”  

Tucker set Autumn back down with the warning, “Stay where I can see you little leaf,”

His daughter nodded once before she darted across the room again. Tucker watched her hug Annie’s son before he turned his gaze back to Sarah.

Their trio was a duo now.

[LINE BREAK]  [LINE BREAK] [LINE BREAK] [LINE BREAK] [LINE BREAK]

“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” Tucker said to her, reaching out to wrap her in a one-armed hug. Sarah sighed as Justin materialized in the corner of her eye. He narrowed his eyes at her with a look. One that meant he was annoyed with her.

“He doesn’t mean that like you’re taking it and you know that.” He said as Sarah sighed and grimaced at the ghost’s best friend as she returned the hug. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

“I didn’t mean it like that and you know that. I just meant that you wouldn’t let Annie or me visit you while you were in the hospital. Your siblings and Olive seem to think you’re pushing everyone away because you are under the delusion that what happened was your fault.”

Because it was her fault. It was meant to be her. Because it was always her that lived on borrowed time. Not Justin. Not when he had just married a really good woman and had a baby. Not when his life had just gotten on track.

Still, the brunette gave Tucker a wooden smile and said in a hollow voice, “Wonder why that is. It’s not like I’m here and he’s not, Tuck-Tuck.”

(“It wasn't your fault, Sarah,” Justin repeated his words from earlier that morning. Just like before, the brunette ignored him.) Despite Tucker repeating his best friend’s words with a heavy sigh. Connor remained silent but grabbed her hand and gripped it tightly in hers. The movement seemed to make her best friend remember their duo wasn’t alone.

“I’m sorry, I’m being rude,” Tucker said with a shake of his head. Sarah saw the opening and took the opportunity to duck away from the conversation before it could get turned back on her, about it not being her fault when it so clearly was.

(“I wish you would stop saying that.” Justin’s ghost told her, “Because it’s not true.”)

Ignoring the transparent version of her pseudo-brother, she squeezed Connor’s hand. “I’ll be right back. I’m just going to go say hi to Dad, Olive, Erin, and Teddy.”

When her lover nodded, Sarah’s hand slipped from his grasp as she walked away, giving Justin’s best friend since middle school her best attempt at a tight smile. Both men watched her go, then Tucker turned back to face Connor. Sticking out his hand, he introduced himself in his southern drawl.

“I’m Tucker Carvin. Justin’s and Sarah’s best friend. And I’m sorry my daughter. She’s been trying to make sense of everything with Justin being here one day and then gone the next. This is her first real experience with something like this and it’s manifesting into stranger danger.”

“Stranger danger isn’t always a bad thing, but it’s okay. I’d be wary of a new person too, if I was in her situation. I’m Connor Rhodes. Sarah’s boyfriend.” Just like days earlier with Teddy, the title rolled off of his lips easily as he took Tucker’s hand. Shaking it.

“Yeah, I heard about you. Didn’t know Sarah was really seeing anyone till she was in the hospital though,” the man commented and Connor winced, raising his hand to rub the back of his neck. “That's my fault really. We’ve had some miscommunication about what we are. But I’m working to remedy that.”

Tucker nodded then he nodded to Sarah, talking with Annie.

“How’s she doing? I’ve asked Erin, Olive, and Teddy but they say they don’t know because she’s not talking to them. Not really by giving them vague answers. I didn’t want to ask sergeant Voight because I didn’t want to add salt to an open wound.  And she refused to let me visit when she was in the hospital and she hasn't answered any of my calls. The only thing she’s been responding to is text and even those are one-word answers.” Tucker sighed sadly as the worry for his friend grew.

“She’s…” Connor sighed once more as he struggled to talk about his lover and how her grief and survivor’s guilt were getting to her. “I want to say she’s managing, but that would be a lie. She’s all over the place because it’s almost as if her misplaced guilt and her grief are warring within her. She’s actually keeping a better handle on it then you would think. But it still spills over and she can’t handle it without breaking down. I’m trying to be there for her. But I don’t know if it’s working as well as I hoped because I don’t want to smother her, but I also don’t want her to feel like she has to deal with this by herself.”

“Olive said she shouldn’t have been released as early as she was.”

“She shouldn’t have. Typically with gunshot wounds, Med keeps you for two to three days afterward and Sarah was a doctor there. So maybe she was being a little over-cautious but her doctor wanted to keep her observation. Sarah was determined to be here today though. She was going to leave against medical advice if she had to.” The double-certified surgeon explained.

“Heard you stopped a fight there too.” The man from Texas drawled slowly. Connor shook his head as Sarah started to make her way back over to them, “I just tried to offer a solution that would help everyone.”

“Dad said Justin wanted both of us to speak?” She asked Justin’s best friend as she leaned her uninjured side against Connor’s shoulder. His lover had been doing that a lot lately, clinging to him. (And calling Hank, Dad but that wasn’t Connor’s to touch.) Connor didn’t mind. She needed the support right now and in all actuality, she wasn’t being clingy by the same measure of other people. But she was being clingy for her. In fact, tragic events aside he was probably the more clingy out of the two of them because of how physical he tended to be when he was in a relationship.

“Afterwards, at the house. Good memories. Memories that make us laugh. That type of thing. Before…” Tucker trailed off before he cleared his throat, “He told me he didn’t want people to be more sad. So he wanted us to remember the happy memories and he thought you and me would be the best because-”

“We have the most embarrassing memories of him?” Sarah said with the ghost of a smile on her lips. Her friend mirrored her.

“Well, that. But also we were his best friends. I think Olive was going to speak too, but she doesn’t think Danny will let her right now because he doesn’t want anyone else to hold him right now. She can barely go to the bathroom without him throwing a fit right now because he’s so confused right now with Justin not here.”

[LINE BREAK]  [LINE BREAK] [LINE BREAK] [LINE BREAK] [LINE BREAK]

Tucker excused himself a few minutes later to go call his parents. They were coming in for the service, but they weren’t here yet and he was starting to worry. So that left Sarah and Connor to go mingle around the room. Well, Connor was mingling, being his naturally charming self. Sarah was more or less standing by his side, listening to his rich raspy voice as he talked.  

Only talking quietly when someone spoke to her directly. A lot of the people in marine corps uniforms seemed to know who she was. Or they recognized her name. Apparently, Justin and Olive talked about her often and it was ‘nice to finally put a face to the famous sister we’ve heard all about despite the circumstances.’

In those cases, not knowing what to say, Sarah just gave them a tight smile and let her lover make conversation for her. The brunette knew it was a cop-out to lean on Connor with this, to use him as her crutch. Because he was here for her. This was her best friend. Her pseudo-family. But as the service continued, Sarah’s energy had started to wane. (And they hadn’t even made it to the actual service yet.)

[LINE BREAK]  [LINE BREAK] [LINE BREAK] [LINE BREAK] [LINE BREAK]

“By the way, just so you know,” Annie told her best friend in a quiet undertone while Travis entertained Autumn with a piggyback ride because Tucker was still talking to his parents, “When you told me Sarah didn’t have a boyfriend and I told you she did because I caught a vibe between her and a guy at her hospital-”

“Let me guess, he’s the guy?” Erin interrupted looking over to where her little sister and Connor were talking to a group of people in marine corps uniforms.

“Yup.”

“Yeah, I know. I was wrong,” Erin said with a rueful smirk at herself, “Apparently, I’ve been wrong for six months now.”

The blonde woman whistled but didn’t say anything more than, “Well, no one can blame you for being out of the loop. You did kind of go into a black hole with Nadia’s death.”

Erin felt herself grimace as she opened her mouth, but before she could get a word out, a voice called for everyone’s attention.

“Sorry for the delay folks, but if you’ll follow me into the viewing room, we’re ready to begin the services now.” The funeral home director told the crowd of people. Olive released a sob. Hank reached out and grabbed Danny, passing him off to Teddy. Then he wrapped an arm around Olive’s back.

“Olive, maybe taking a seat will help. Come on,” he told his daughter-in-law in a gravelly yet gentle voice. Then he moved forward and one by one the crowd followed behind Hank as they made their way to say their final goodbyes to Justin Voight.

[fancymuffinparty]

SnK modern au writing prompts/fic ideas...

...that I may or may never get to but if someone else wants to use these for inspo please do and then let me read it :')

Eren and Porco Pizza Shop AU 🍕 They're coworkers who absolutely hate each other's guts and constantly clap back at one another and talk shit throughout the duration of their shifts lmao. But eventually, over time, they develop camaraderie because their personalities are actually pretty similar, they like the same music, and they both hate their boss (can be Levi or Zeke). Slow burn enemies to friends with all sorts of shenanigans. (Bonus: they fight over Pieck, who's a regular at the shop)

Zeke x Frieda, hookup/fake dating au. They initially start hooking up to piss off their dads, Grisha and Rod, who hate each other. But then oops, they catch feels. "We're only doing this to piss off my dad." "Wait... I thought we were doing this to piss off my dad??"

ANY SURFING AU OF ANY KIND!!! 🏄‍♂️🏄‍♀️ I feel like Ymir would best fit this au tho. Ymir's a pro surfer and kicks ass. Or; the Warriors take surfing lessons. Annie and Pieck get it right the first try. Porco and Marcel need more practice. Bertolt struggles but gets it eventually. Reiner is too beefy to balance all that muscle lmao.

Eren and Historia ballroom competition. (I have this planned for Silhouettes!)

Dance competition. Can be any pairs, shippy or non-ship. But I like ere/hisu for this one. Along with Porco paired with Pieck. Bertolt and Ymir partner up because they both got rhythm 🎶 Reiner is one of the best dancers (such grace) and he opts for Annie. Mikasa and Armin pair up. Levi and Zeke hate each other but they dance so well together lol. Go wild with this one!

World War II AU. You know that one VJ Day Kiss in Times Square photo that's famous? Yeah that. Imagine your otp.

Gym drama AU: Porco and Pieck work out at the same gym as Eren and Mikasa. (Couples gotta stay fit together ayyy) One fateful day, Eren takes a break between sets and heads to the water fountain, where he thinks Mikasa is taking a sip. All he sees is her black hair pulled back from behind and he's like 'damn is she shorter somehow?' but thinks nothing of it (he's a little loopy from his intense workout) and smacks her on the ass. BUT it's Pieck! Mistaken identity oops! Pieck jolts up and turns around, utterly shocked and Porco hurries over there like 'WTF! Hands off my girl!' Then Mikasa emerges and is like 'Eren, what are you doing???' But Eren, cornered, doubles down despite being in the wrong and is like 'so what? who's gonna stop me?? Fight me!' ^^^this au also works if you replace Eren with Jean, but I feel like Jean would apologize profusely, whereas Eren and Porco would immediately start brawling lmao

Any Zeke x Lara or Zeke x Frieda AU tbh. These ships need more love and are so aesthetically pleasing.

Top Gun AU! Or Air Force, Navy Pilots AU! I prefer the warriors for this one. Reiner as a squad leader. Porco is Pieck's wingman. Etc...

Spy/Assassin AU. Pieck is tasked with taking Eren out but falls in love with him instead. They embark on an epic romantic adventure.

'80s AU!

'90s AU! Anyway, here's Wonderwall!🎶

Kingsman AU: I like Porco and/or Eren for this one.

Bachelorette party AU! Ooohh I have too many ideas for this one!

Birthing class AU. Eren and Historia take a class, accompanied by Zeke and Frieda (the jaeger bros and the reiss sisters ayyyy). I like the idea of porco/pieck taking this class too, and Pieck is just a major goofball throughout the whole thing.

Annie teaches a martial arts class. That's a versatile one. But I was flirting with mik/annie for this one ~~~~

Summer vacation AU: Pieck/Porco plan a couple's getaway, but then Marcel invites himself along, and that means Reiner is going, and then Bert and Annie crash the vacay too.

Dating game show AU: Pieck is a contestant, and her suitors are Porco, Bertolt, Eren, Zeke, and let's throw Levi in there for the lols. Okay, that's a lot. If I think of anything else, I may expand on it. Obviously, I've plugged my own ships in here but feel free to mix it up however you like! Maybe I'll do a holiday edition lol 'tis the season!⛄

[kharmii]

Meta Liberation Army Fandom Drama

There's no safe word in the Kharmii dungeon today, so expect to get it raw and hard with a touch of the 'tism. Someone once told me -might have been @feldkommandant that Asian fans generally keep to themselves because they don't want to deal with Western world fandom drama. I just experienced the worst example of that in action. It's the reason I wrote this post about stuffy old ideologue fangusfungus throwing out a DAMN FUNDIES!!1!1!!! rant.

DISCLAIMER: This is going to be R-18 rated comedy. If anything in this post makes you feel uptight, turn off your device and touch grass.

-So I was a happy lurker watching a bunch of Paranormal Liberation Front fans participate in this Strawpage thing, which appears to be a site where artists crank out quick gift art in the form of loose sketches. It's not something I'd ever participate in because it takes me forever to finish anything. A couple of Asian artists were invited to participate, and they pretty much right away became victims of antishipper ire. They were so rattled that one artist might have set their page to private, and another deleted all their shippy art, even if it was as innocuous as hand-holding.

Side note: This is all speculation btw. I'm an observer trying to make sense of it.

-So Fungs did their rant, and I posted something on their page that they promptly deleted but then reposted as a cap:

0% of antishippers are 'right wing white supremacist Christian fascists' or whatever. I'm not intimidated by those titles because I am an iconoclast who can't be pigeonholed. Right wing people have found me just as offensive.

Also, there are two reasons why it was completely absurd of this person to assume I was to blame.

1.) I'm not a sniveling cowardly rat-faced leftist twat who tittle tattles over petty bs. All those people are supposedly over on Bluesky, LOL!

2.) It would be counterproductive of me to harass Asian artists into going incognito when the whole point of my blog is to obsess over stupid crap and then post related artwork constantly. Right now, I've got the MLA in an iron fist and don't plan on letting go for a very long time.

One of the artists who went private made a 48-page labor of love devoted solely to the underutilized character Trumpet. I'm confused about why antis would target them, but those people are fckn nuts, so who knows?

They were the artist who did this btw, the illustration book about Trumpet AKA 'Cunty Flowergarden'.

The other targeted artist might have offended the crazies doing ReDestro x Shigaraki, which is like a 50/20 ship (my best guess), but it's not as if minors were involved. I'm sad I didn't save more of their work on my computer. All I have is this:

After putting Trumpet through the wringer, I have an idea for a sequel (not really, this is my muse being a smartass). One of the advisors in Skeptic's Carmine Regiment has a brain reprogramming quirk. While they have Trumpet strapped down to a chair with his eyelids taped open, ReDestro tells them, "Make sure he never questions Meta Liberation Army ideology again. Also, make him think we are a couple, and that he blows me under my desk on demand."

Next thing you know, my guy is walking around with a perpetually vacant smile on his face saying stuff in a hypnotic tone like, "Hail ReDestro! Meta Liberation Army until I die!" The above artwork is the new and improved Trumpet.

Anyway, I thought me and Fungs were on the same page. He also did a trans Shig AU. I almost made Shigs trans in Trumpet's Trauma, but that would have crossed a line into being too gross. If I'm going to spend my valuable time writing a 10+K word gooner fic, it can't be too gross. It has to be something I'd want to read if someone else wrote it.

ReD is acting like the proper bootlicker, but he's hard pressed to keep that phony act up. He's sort of wishing he let Shig kill him the day he lost his legs, but he has one of those 'Do It For Him' pictures on his desk with adorable photos of Geten taped to it.

There's also hyper-sexual man-whore Trumpet:

-But then it's like....aaawwwwww......AAAWWWWWWWWW.......

I preferred the fanon head canon where Dabi can't eat because his internal organs are too damaged. -Or maybe that's what is going on here, but poor hapless Dabi keeps trying.

Moving on......back to the drama.

1.) Christofascism isn't a thing in fandom because 100% of antis are emotionally immature minors or twenty-somethings who most certainly will have 'pro Palestine' in their profiles with all their stupid pronouns listed.

2.) Damn right I'm straight! I might be a twisted degenerate perv who writes fan fic of guys getting shellacked by other guys, but that doesn't mean I should be lumped in with the sorts of people who spread Monkeypox in rest stop bathrooms or who walk weirdos in dog masks around on leashes.

Side note: Do Asian women feel the same way? -Like do women into fujoshi culture consider themselves 100% straight but just like to see cartoon boys being cute?

3.) I'm def not a 'terf' because that stands for 'trans excluding radical feminist'. I'm in no way aligned with radical feminism. That 'christofascism' shpeal is bigoted also. It's normal to want to preserve Christian values in countries built on foundations of Christian values. When Muslims go into a country and for real VIOLENTLY force their values on people, nobody is allowed to call them out on it.

4.) This person went private for a few hours because they were supposedly afraid I'd harass them and their friends. That means they must think I'm the kind of psychopath who'd stew on some drama for like a second, then be like, "Oh look, A SHINY!" *runs off* "WHEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!"

Come to think of it, I head canon ReDestro as being that sort of villain, like if he was pissed at you and didn't break your spine in half in the first five minutes, then he'd get distracted and wander off. He's a busy man, after all.

Anyway, that artist was better years ago when they drew more attractive characters with visually appealing fetishses, but lately they've descended into fat, transgender neckbeard pron. It's like the cartoon version of this:

There's no comparing to the pretty ones because they all look like that. Most look like that...but werewolf bullshit. Fungs was making Trumpet look like that. Let's detrans the Trumpet. Seriously, the guy is a solid mesomorph build who probably stands a hair over six feet tall.

Seriously, if you are going to make a MLA person trans, it would be funnier to do it to this guy:

Imagine our guy...erm 'lady' in a convenience store berating some poor clerk.

ReDestro: It's MA'AM!!! Don't stress Momma out or she might have to pop a bitch's skull like a pimple! *Takes out whole side of wall with 20% stress*

Skeptic would make a good transfemale. My best guess is that he's about 6'11" in canon. I could see him fighting to get ladies room rights. He would have had cameras trained on all the toilets for a while, but after some time, it wouldn't be good enough. He'd have a burning desire to be physically present. All it would take was one bad ruling from an activist judge, and he'd be in there skulking around like an oversized slenderman.

Trumpet zeroes in because he can't help himself. He like, "Suck my dick?" Skeptic refuses because he's a 'translesbian'.

Found this miscellaneous post when I was trolling for content:

I actually did a fan fic where that happened because I live to serve. To be fair though, Trumpet gets his ass beat in canon. You just know it. Look at his arrest photo:

Is that a boot print on his forehead? At least they had the common decency to let him comb his hair before they took the mugshot. You just know this man wasn't involved in any sort of combat during the Gunga Villa Raid. He was probably hiding in a broom closet during the worst of the action. The authorities had to drag him out kicking and screaming.

Let me clue you in on something....they don't have that 'defund the police' crap in Asian countries. People are okay with scumbag criminals getting what's coming to them. The cops who arrested Trumpet were like, "Wait...is that the politician? Are we getting to arrest the politician?" They would all look at one another for a moment, and then someone would say, "What do you think, boys? Does this asshole look like he's 'resisting arrest' to you?"

Trumpet would vehemently wave his hands shaking his head saying, "No! NO! NO I'M NOT! NOOO!!"

Next thing you know, all the cops would pull out their billy clubs and go to town on his ass like they're Endeavor trying to make the baby stick.

[potatoesandsunshine]

ooh good questions! I'm gonna say 1, 2, 10, and 4 for my beloved now is the season of the hunter death <3

thank you hannah!!!! these questions come from this post.

1.What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)

this is such a hard question for me and i don’t really feel like i have a good answer!! i guess it depends on what fandom someone was into? and i’m not really a fan of any of my pre-2020 fic anymore (i’m glad it got me where i am as a writer now but it kinda feels like looking back at pictures from middle school; like, loveable cringe?). i guess if fandom wasn’t a factor i’d choose most agitated hands, be my salvation because it feels like it exemplifies what i like to do best, which is turn characters over in my brain and make up activities for them to do. the small jobs series is also a distillation of me at my most Me (coming back to a ten year old video game and insisting that two women should’ve kissed). i know i’ve written so much cr over the years but sometimes i can’t find myself in those stories :(

2.Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

okay skip over the tlovm spoiler tag that’s just in there because i’m trying to finish the oneshots series. i guess that does represent my writing habits lately but it doesn’t represent Me As A Writer. other than that i think this is pretty accurate! the line between angst and light angst is something i often go with my gut on and i do love to write canon divergence AUs. and honestly i like writing about friendship more than i like writing most shippy stuff so i’m glad that’s in there :)

10.How do you decide what to write?

i wait for inspiration and then i stay up really late when it hits. i do not have good writing discipline and i have never managed to get the ‘write every day even if it’s just a hundred words’ habit. because it’s a hobby/for fun, i try really hard not to put too much pressure on myself and just lean into whatever idea feels best at the time. there are a couple things i’m not really interested in writing so it’s easy to stay away from them, but other than that i’ll just write whatever comes to me. i wrote about the elder scrolls: oblivion earlier this year and i’m working on a sequel fic when that game came out in 2006.

4.What detail in now is the season / of the hunter Death are you really proud of?

the fact that any chapters of it ever get finished at all every time anyone references the scars vox machina have left (however inadvertently!) on these characters is a moment i love. kaylie has a scar around her neck and one on her torso from vax killing her and she’s not sure if she’s ‘allowed’ to be mad about it. cassandra is carrying around the arrowheads her sister-in-law sniped her with. and this little moment in chapter three is like a crystallization of these three characters:

kynan looks back in regret, kaylie looks forward with a kind of angry optimism, and cassandra’s trying to figure out who she is in the present moment. it feels kinda cliche but i love it and it’s the guiding star of this fic’s characterization.

[addictedtostorytelling]

Hi! Thank you for answering my questions! I am curiou, what is your favorite GSR season and why?

hi, @i-collect-things!

while my favorite csi season of overall is s7, my favorite gsr season fluctuates between being s2, which has some of the fluffiest, most delicious "i am so madly in love with you" shippy scenes between them of the whole series (plus a soupçon of angst, too), and s5, which is pretty much their watershed as a couple.

s2 contains many of my top favorite gsr scenes of all time:

the chalk scene from episode 02x05 "scuba doobie-doo"

the "that's you talking" scene from episode 02x12 "you've got male"

the email scene from episode 02x12 "you've got male"

the scene where grissom orders the green plant for sara in episode 02x15 "burden of proof"

the "since i met you" scene from episode 02x16 "primum non nocere"

the arm-in-arm scene from episode 02x21 "anatomy of a lye"

the "unbound" scene from episode 02x23 "the hunger artist"

the back half of the season in particular has a very rom-commy feel in the best kind of way possible. though sara is dating hank at the time, she and grissom nevertheless seem very connected to each other. he is so superlatively charming to her, while she is so receptive to him.

of course, i also love s5 gsr because of the storyline. after the long, depressing slog of s4, s5 is where the light starts to come back into the story.

i've had that part of the gsr narrative "under the microscope" for a while because it provides the temporal setting for my fic "something in you i believe in," and in looking at it up close, what i am really struck by is how grissom and sara repair their friendship throughout the beginning of the season before tipping the scales toward romance from episode 05x13 "nesting dolls" on.

i love watching grissom start to show up more and more for sara; to just be that steady, reliable presence in her life who checks in on her and cares about how she is doing and gives her unconditional love. i love that sara becomes so honest with grissom and supports him through the team split, quietly slipping into the role of his right hand and stalwart.

and episode 05x13 "nesting dolls" is such a turning point just in and of itself.

as i've written about here,

to me, gsr’s whole vegas relationship can be divided into the “b.n.d.” and “a.n.d.” eras—i.e., “before ‘nesting dolls’” and “after ‘nesting dolls.’” the shift that occurs in their interactions once grissom learns sara’s secret is just absolutely everything...

as i’ve written about here, after realizing in s4 that he still loves sara and always will and that he regrets his decision to live without her, this episode marks the place where grissom starts to understand that he cannot continue to compartmentalize his feelings for and relationship with sara without hurting her; he has to be emotionally transparent with her or risk losing her forever. 

—and that’s what episode 05x13 “nesting dolls” is all about.

everyone is saying that sara is trouble, but grissom realizes that she’s troubled, which is different. he’s never been able to stand seeing her sad, and he’s felt helpless for a long time to do anything on her behalf. he can’t afford to “play it safe” anymore; he has got figure out what’s going on in her head and in her heart, but in order to do that, he’ll have to show her what’s in his head and in his heart first.

so he goes to her apartment in this attitude of total openness. he makes it clear to her that he’s there not because he’s her supervisor and it’s his job to reprimand her after her outburst but because he cares about her deeply and personally and wants to help her however he can. his show of interest is what gets her to open up, as she finally realizes that what happens to her matters to him. the fact that he would come looking for her when everyone else told him to let her go helps her to trust him.

so she tells him her story, fearing the whole time she’s talking that once he knows what kind of home she came from and what kind of violence is “in her blood,” he’ll reject her.

but then he doesn’t reject her.

he holds her hand.

he looks at her in a way that says there is nothing about her he doesn’t love.

—and to me? that’s what opens the door for grissom and sara to eventually become intimate.

not everyone agrees on the timeline, but i personally get a lot of joy from watching the back half of s5 through the lens of grissom and sara becoming a couple sometime circa episodes 05x19 "4 x 4" and 05x20 "hollywood brass."

to me, there is a lot of delight in reading that kind of eager excitement toward them leading up to the season finale as new relationship "honeymoon" energy.

sara just seems so happy.

grissom just seems so at peace.

anyway, while i have a lot of favorite gsr moments throughout the original seasons of the show, those two seasons are the ones i find myself probably spending the most time with, albeit for somewhat different reasons.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.

[alegocarmadein]

Long read ahead I do warn.

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?

Somber. Morose. Melancholy. Those three are my holy grail of insane meanings.

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

Yeah my own work, the Shaman was too late. So, I wrote it in 2021. Very beginning of 2021. I had just been put on bupropian, after years of trying anti-depressants, it finally worked. Slowly. But I still had psychosis, so I'm getting less depressed but I'm still psychotic. And literally the last day of 2020 into the early hours of Jan 1st 2021, I listened to (and binged) Kane and Feels. Obsessed. FUCKING OBSESSED. IMMEDIATELY. But I was off of social media in its entirety, so I had one (1) person to scream at and she was busy in school and shit. So I turn my mind to fanfiction. Psychosis is a BITCH. It robbed me of my memory during and after, it made me paranoid, and a horrible insomniac. So I sit in my room and formulate this plot in the early hours of morning, just muttering to myself. This weird story that would not ever truly make sense but vaguely had a plot and a destination. And I wrote it! And because my memory was so terribly dogshit, every night and every morning, in between edits and writing fits, I would read it. Uh. Out loud. It took hours to read, partially because of how long it was, partially because my reading skills were close to non existent. For a while I considered making a podfic of it to go along with it, but I didn't have recording equipment or money! I was really isolated and spent well over a hundred, maybe two hundred hours on a 13k fic. My writing skills at the time were…diminished, and far from polished, so it took a lot of edits to make it readable. But it was my baby. It was the first fic I'd truly fallen in love with of my own. And eventually I posted it and didn't hate it like all of my others. I would reread it every month, sometimes every week after, checking for errors (of which there were many). Again, my baby. And still, I consider it one of my best fics, this fic I wrote in between 16 hour sleeps, interrupted often by hallucinations and paranoia attacks. And its just terribly special to me, because I know it so very well. I spent two months writing it, and I love that fic, truly. 

13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy?

Okay its not really a subject matter, but fluff? So hard. Don't get me wrong, I can come up with it and put it on paper….but keeping it around is sooooo very hard. I am very much a kill-the-part-of-you-that-cringes, but with kaf especially….eeek. Like the first bit of physical affection I think we've ever been aware of them doing is in the end of WHY, right? So writing close affection is like….babe no, this is Kane we're talking about. but….I think I've had enough independent events/developments (character wise) through my string of fics that I can stretch the lines a bit and put in a little affection here and there. Not super shippy either, just…"holy fuck I'm so glad you're alive that really sucked man." oh and verbal affection is a BITCH. Dude NO. I can't. it never sounds reasonable. I can't do fluffy I CAN'T DO FLUFFY. I'M A MAN OF ANGST DEAR READER. ANGST. Anyway, I wrote a fic about them waltzing. You should read it. And I'm also really proud of the next of kin scene in Next of Kin.

And memory related magic trauma whatzits are my favorite thing to write. I have it so many fics of mine. Psychosis <3 you are so fun to write about, my beloathed.

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

This is from The Shaman was too late, near the very end.

"Lucifer Kane is standing on a cliff, overseeing a hazy ocean with a soft lavender-grey sky. Distant golden-grey light shines through the clouds, and the smell of salt and a gust of a warm, ocean breeze puts him at ease."

First off, full name, this is serious talk. Usually I call him Kane, Lucifer when I'm trying to make a point, full name is for introductions and endings. The present tense is something I very rarely do, I generally get tripped up with present tense. The only other time recently I've used it is in Next of Kin at the very end of chapter 4-7, where Kane notices Brutus and is back in the present moment. Weird choice. And I don't really know why I had such a clear image of the hazy ocean with the golden light, streaming down, crepuscular rays (god's rays) streaming from the cloud, but still hazy. The lavender grey was such a spur of the moment thing while I was writing it, it's the color theme for the fic, the other worlds are lavender grey all over. I knew I wanted an emotional yet…like…quiet moment for them being reunited? Keep in mind at that point only season one and WHO, the first ep of season two had been put out, so no hand squeezes, no ocean, not yet, no reuniting, and I didn't know if kaf would ever be coming back. Sigh. Rough times. Well the scene at least hit dyn hard enough for them to make some really baller art of that scene, so I'm happy.

24. How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part or do you just want to get on with it?

so…..so much. Most of the time at least. Big fics are almost guaranteed to have a separate notes document with a general outline, to keep my ideas on track. You usually find them in the final end note on the fic, though occasionally they're too messy to really share. This is actually what has tripped me up so bad with the sequel to Next of Kin that I've been working on FOR A FUCKING YEAR NOW, JESUS, is that I wrote an outline for an ending, went a completely different direction, wrote a new outline, then changed it again and now I'm super duper stuck and have no clue how to get to the end. :\ 

It's a document with bullet points or checkboxes with short plot points and weird details/characters/places I want to add. I ignore them at my will. I actually do enjoy it…for any other fic than the elphame fic. jesus.

37. If you were to be remembered only by the words you’ve put on the page, what would future historians think of you?

a fucken weirdo. Not like. WEIRD weirdo, just a weirdo. like, that artist who did the beautiful, colorful cat potraits that look very interesting? the one who had schizophrenia so now everyone attributes the weirder ones to his mental illness instead of to his creative ability? louis wain? I feel like they'd attribute all the weirder stuff I write to mental illness, when instead that was hand crafted and delivered by my loving, not-really-stable-i-kinda-have-a-tremor-but-lets-pretend hands.

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Louis_wain_cats.png)

(my ao3) https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlegoCarmadein/profile

40. Please share a poem with me, I need it.

(Not my poem (rest of the post is a poem))

Ode to Silence by Edna St. Vincent Millay

---

Aye, but she?

Your other sister and my other soul

Grave Silence, lovelier

Than the three loveliest maidens, what of her?

Clio, not you,

Not you, Calliope,

Nor all your wanton line,

Not Beauty's perfect self shall comfort me

For Silence once departed,

For her the cool-tongued, her the tranquil-hearted,

Whom evermore I follow wistfully,

Wandering Heaven and Earth and Hell and the four seasons through;

Thalia, not you,

Not you, Melpomene,

Not your incomparable feet, O thin Terpsichore, I seek in this great hall,

But one more pale, more pensive, most beloved of you all.

I seek her from afar,

I come from temples where her altars are,

From groves that bear her name,

Noisy with stricken victims now and sacrificial flame,

And cymbals struck on high and strident faces

Obstreperous in her praise

They neither love nor know,

A goddess of gone days,

Departed long ago,

Abandoning the invaded shrines and fanes

Of her old sanctuary,

A deity obscure and legendary,

Of whom there now remains,

For sages to decipher and priests to garble,

Only and for a little while her letters wedged in marble,

Which even now, behold, the friendly mumbling rain erases,

And the inarticulate snow,

Leaving at last of her least signs and traces

None whatsoever, nor whither she is vanished from these places.

"She will love well," I said,

"If love be of that heart inhabiter,

The flowers of the dead;

The red anemone that with no sound

Moves in the wind, and from another wound

That sprang, the heavily-sweet blue hyacinth,

That blossoms underground,

And sallow poppies, will be dear to her.

And will not Silence know

In the black shade of what obsidian steep

Stiffens the white narcissus numb with sleep?

(Seed which Demeter's daughter bore from home,

Uptorn by desperate fingers long ago,

Reluctant even as she,

Undone Persephone,

And even as she set out again to grow

In twilight, in perdition's lean and inauspicious loam).

She will love well," I said,

"The flowers of the dead;

Where dark Persephone the winter round,

Uncomforted for home, uncomforted,

Lacking a sunny southern slope in northern Sicily,

With sullen pupils focussed on a dream,

Stares on the stagnant stream

That moats the unequivocable battlements of Hell,

There, there will she be found,

She that is Beauty veiled from men and Music in a swound."

"I long for Silence as they long for breath

Whose helpless nostrils drink the bitter sea;

What thing can be

So stout, what so redoubtable, in Death

What fury, what considerable rage, if only she,

Upon whose icy breast,

Unquestioned, uncaressed,

One time I lay,

And whom always I lack,

Even to this day,

Being by no means from that frigid bosom weaned away,

If only she therewith be given me back?"

I sought her down that dolorous labyrinth,

Wherein no shaft of sunlight ever fell,

And in among the bloodless everywhere

I sought her, but the air,

Breathed many times and spent,

Was fretful with a whispering discontent,

And questioning me, importuning me to tell

Some slightest tidings of the light of day they know no more,

Plucking my sleeve, the eager shades were with me where I went.

I paused at every grievous door,

And harked a moment, holding up my hand,—and for a space

A hush was on them, while they watched my face;

And then they fell a-whispering as before;

So that I smiled at them and left them, seeing she was not there.

I sought her, too,

Among the upper gods, although I knew

She was not like to be where feasting is,

Nor near to Heaven's lord,

Being a thing abhorred

And shunned of him, although a child of his,

(Not yours, not yours; to you she owes not breath,

Mother of Song, being sown of Zeus upon a dream of Death).

Fearing to pass unvisited some place

And later learn, too late, how all the while,

With her still face,

She had been standing there and seen me pass, without a smile,

I sought her even to the sagging board whereat

The stout immortals sat;

But such a laughter shook the mighty hall

No one could hear me say:

Had she been seen upon the Hill that day?

And no one knew at all

How long I stood, or when at last I sighed and went away.

There is a garden lying in a lull

Between the mountains and the mountainous sea,

I know not where, but which a dream diurnal

Paints on my lids a moment till the hull

Be lifted from the kernel

And Slumber fed to me.

Your foot-print is not there, Mnemosene,

Though it would seem a ruined place and after

Your lichenous heart, being full

Of broken columns, caryatides

Thrown to the earth and fallen forward on their jointless knees,

And urns funereal altered into dust

Minuter than the ashes of the dead,

And Psyche's lamp out of the earth up-thrust,

Dripping itself in marble wax on what was once the bed

Of Love, and his young body asleep, but now is dust instead.

There twists the bitter-sweet, the white wisteria Fastens its fingers in the strangling wall,

And the wide crannies quicken with bright weeds;

There dumbly like a worm all day the still white orchid feeds;

But never an echo of your daughters' laughter

Is there, nor any sign of you at all

Swells fungous from the rotten bough, grey mother of Pieria!

Only her shadow once upon a stone

I saw,—and, lo, the shadow and the garden, too, were gone.

I tell you you have done her body an ill,

You chatterers, you noisy crew!

She is not anywhere!

I sought her in deep Hell;

And through the world as well;

I thought of Heaven and I sought her there;

Above nor under ground

Is Silence to be found,

That was the very warp and woof of you,

Lovely before your songs began and after they were through!

Oh, say if on this hill

Somewhere your sister's body lies in death,

So I may follow there, and make a wreath

Of my locked hands, that on her quiet breast

Shall lie till age has withered them!

                             (Ah, sweetly from the rest

I see

Turn and consider me

Compassionate Euterpe!)

"There is a gate beyond the gate of Death,

Beyond the gate of everlasting Life,

Beyond the gates of Heaven and Hell," she saith,

"Whereon but to believe is horror!

Whereon to meditate engendereth

Even in deathless spirits such as I

A tumult in the breath,

A chilling of the inexhaustible blood

Even in my veins that never will be dry,

And in the austere, divine monotony

That is my being, the madness of an unaccustomed mood.

This is her province whom you lack and seek;

And seek her not elsewhere.

Hell is a thoroughfare

For pilgrims,—Herakles,

And he that loved Euridice too well,

Have walked therein; and many more than these;

And witnessed the desire and the despair

Of souls that passed reluctantly and sicken for the air;

You, too, have entered Hell,

And issued thence; but thence whereof I speak

None has returned;—for thither fury brings

Only the driven ghosts of them that flee before all things.

Oblivion is the name of this abode: and she is there."

Oh, radiant Song! Oh, gracious Memory!

Be long upon this height

I shall not climb again!

I know the way you mean,—the little night,

And the long empty day,—never to see

Again the angry light,

Or hear the hungry noises cry my brain!

Ah, but she,

Your other sister and my other soul,

She shall again be mine;

And I shall drink her from a silver bowl,

A chilly thin green wine,

Not bitter to the taste,

Not sweet,

Not of your press, oh, restless, clamorous nine,—

To foam beneath the frantic hoofs of mirth—

But savoring faintly of the acid earth,

And trod by pensive feet

From perfect clusters ripened without haste

Out of the urgent heat

In some clear glimmering vaulted twilight under the odorous vine.

Lift up your lyres! Sing on!

But as for me, I seek your sister whither she is gone.

Weird Questions for Writers (because writers are weird)

1. What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting?

2. If you had to give up your keyboard and write your stories exclusively by hand, could you do it? If you already write everything by hand, a) are you a wizard and b) pen or pencil?

3. What is your writing ritual and why is it cursed?

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?

5. Do you have any writing superstitions? What are they and why are they 100% true?

6. What is your darkest fear about writing?

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

8. If you had to write an entire story without either action or dialogue, which would you choose and how would it go?

9. Do you believe in ghosts? This isn’t about writing I just wanna know

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

11. Do you believe in the old advice to “kill your darlings?” Are you a ruthless darling assassin? What happens to the darlings you murder? Do you have a darling graveyard? Do you grieve?

12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules

13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy?

14. Do you lend your books to people? Are people scared to borrow books from you? Do you know exactly where all your “lost” books are and which specific friend from school you haven’t seen in twelve years still possesses them? Will you ever get them back?

15. Do you write in the margins of your books? Dog-ear your pages? Read in the bath? Why or why not? Do you judge people who do these things? Can we still be friends?

16. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever used as a bookmark?

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

19. Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?

20. If a witch offered you the choice between eternal happiness with your one true love and the ability to finally finish, perfect, and publish your dearest, darlingest, most precious WIP in exactly the way you’ve always imagined it — which would you choose? You can’t have both sorry, life’s a bitch

21. Could you ever quit writing? Do you ever wish you could? Why or why not?

22. How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The Cloud?

23. Describe the physical environment in which you write. Be as detailed as possible. Tell me what’s around you as you work. Paint me a picture.

24. How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part or do you just want to get on with it?

25. What is a weird, hyper-specific detail you know about one of your characters that is completely irrelevant to the story?

26. How do you get into your character’s head? How do you get out? Do you ever regret going in there in the first place?

27. Who is the most stressful character you’ve ever written? Why?

28. Who is the most delightful character you’ve ever written? Why?

29. Where do you draw your inspiration? What do you do when the inspiration well runs dry?

30. Talk to me about the role dreams play in your writing life. Have you ever used material from your dreams in your writing? Have you ever written in a dream? Did you remember it when you woke up?

31. Write a short love letter to your readers.

32. What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic etc that you return to from time and time again? How did you find it? What does it mean to you?

33. Do you practice any other art besides writing? Does that art ever tie into your writing, or is it entirely separate?

34. Thoughts on the Oxford comma, Go:

35. What’s your favorite writing rule to smash into smithereens?

36. They say to Write What You Know. Setting aside for a moment the fact that this is terrible advice…what do you Know?

37. If you were to be remembered only by the words you’ve put on the page, what would future historians think of you?

38. What is something about your writing process YOU think is Really Weird? If you are comfortable, please share. If you’re not comfortable, what do you think cats say about us?

39. What keeps you writing when you feel like giving up?

40. Please share a poem with me, I need it.

[tren-fraszka]

Yuletide 2023

Dear creator,

Thank you for taking your time to check my requests. I know my requests can sound a bit tricky, but please don’t be discouraged. I wish you will have good time writing first and foremost!

My AO3 is Tren, if you wish to check it out. I’m open to treats.

Likes: comedy, angst, casefics, canon compliants, canon divergences, AUs, time loops, bodyswaps, roleswaps, “being hoisted by your own petard” plotlines, snark, pettiness, rivals, enemies to friends to lovers, pining, bed sharing, violence, friendships, and character bonding,

DNW: explicit sex (makeouts and fade to black is okay), A/B/O, mpreg, rape depicted as positive (so no “it’s okay, because the other person enjoyed it/it was what they truly wanted”), trans headcanons, soulmate AUs, stories ending with surrender to fate/destiny, fourth wall breaking in canons where that doesn’t occur, character has cancer or other real-life terminal disease AU, word “queerplatonic”.

Also, I included what ships I’m okay with in each fandom. Please do not include any ships that aren’t canon and I have not allowed in those sections (if you feel really strongly about a ship I haven’t mentioned, you can always ask through mods just in case).

On a separate, but similar note, I’m okay with OCs as long as they don’t overshadow the characters I requested.

Additionally, while I almost never request fanart as possible medium, because I prefer my main gift to be fic, I would be very okay with receiving fanart treats. Also, feel free to peruse my old letters if you get your hands on them. I never stop being interested in fandoms, and if I requested something once I will still want it in the future.

                                       REQUESTS

REIGN OF SEVEN SPELLBLADES

I’m up to date with anime and read the first 3 volumes of manga.

Oliver Horn

Pete Reston

I'd equally love a genfic or shipfic with those two.

I just love how tropey “my roommate has magically changed gender and now I’m helping him keep it a secret” is. The moment I saw it I was sold. Especially, given that Oliver has plenty secrets of his own.

Also, the setting being just edgy Hogwart with swords is so good. I love how dangerous Kimberly is, and how well it captures the charm of magic with the madness of people who end up pursuing it too far and the system that encourages them to do just that.

I’d love an exploraion on how much changes about their cohabitation. Pete mentions wanting to set a curtain, but is it the only change that happens? If there are other changes, what prompts them? Are some changes only applicable to when he’s a woman and get removed if he turns back to his original gender (since it’s mentioned that reversi can change between genders)? Are there situations where Oliver has to help Pete protect his secret? How does he go about it?

For something more shippy, Oliver is teaching Pete swordfighting which is such a good opportunity for extra bodily contact with helping him adjust his stance and such. I’d love to see Pete getting distracted, while Oliver is just doing his best to be hundred percent professional teacher and try to ignore his feelings. Extra points for accidental sword-related double entendres.

I think an exploration of what happened after the anime's final arc wraps up would be very interesting, given just how intense that hug was when Oliver got reunited with Pete.

AUs and ships

I’d prefer no setting changes, I just really, really love the idea of Kimberly as this edgy take on Hogwart. Though as always I’d be open to canon divergences. Maybe Pete catches a hint of Oliver’s secret and tries to carefully figure out what’s going on. How would he react if he learned of his revenge? Would he try to stop Oliver? Alternatively, you could go into more angsty route where Pete's rescue in the final arc doesn't go as well as it did. I would honestly be fine even with tragic ending for this canon, given in how much danger everyone constantly is (including death of requested characters)

I’m fine with mentions of Oliver’s fascination with Nanao (and Pete potentially feeling jealous of Oliver giving her attention), but I don’t want an outright love triangle, or shipping Oliver and Pete with someone else

AKANE-BANASHI

I’m up to date with manga, feel free to include new development

Akane Ousaki

Hikaru Kouragi

Finally, classic shounen rivals - female version. I’m so glad we are finally here.

I'd love to see more of their competition. Maybe another clash at an event. Or maybe they both end up performing at the same event and use it as opportunity to set up a little competition. It'd also be cool to see them interact in a more casual setting. Maybe they accidentally run into each other while shopping and decide to stick together. Or they bond over seeing a particularly bad movie.

I'd love to see them becoming closer with every rakugo event that they meet at. Going together to rakugo events to watch other performers or maybe visiting places connected to the stories they’re working for inspiration. Would they try to help each other if either of them ran into trouble?

However, I'd also be very much into rivalry slowly turning into romance! How would a confession look like? Would it be something open, or would one of them slip it between the lines. Would there be pushback about them dating given how traditional rakugo it? I won’t be surprised if there had already been some gay relationships the rakugo community that were an open secret, but what if Akane and Hikaru decide to come in the open about their relationship

AUs and ships

I think a setting change could be pretty fun as long as the element of rivalry stays intact. Different time periods, fantasy AUs, or such could be really interesting for them. Maybe they’re singers now, or bards. I would also be very up for a fastforward to when they’re adults and their rakugo career is in full bloom. How had relationship between them changed? Or has it stayed pretty much the same?

Please don’t ship Akane and Hikaru with anybody else.

ENDING MAKER (WEBCOMIC)

Please no light novel spoilers. I’m keeping up to date with new chapters so feel free to include new developments.

Yuder Bayel | Outboxer009 & Cordelia Chace | Sandstorm

Two no-life gamers get transported into the world of the MMO they play and suddenly have to stop actual world-ending plot. While being engaged. If anyone can do it it’s them. And maybe they’ll even admit they are in love while they’re at it.

I think it would be interesting to explore their relationship before the story started. We got a small glimpse into their rivalry, but it would be fun to see more of their MMO misadventures, especially to contrast it with how they’re currently having to co-operate. Aside from the server rankings, did they engage in other competitions? PvP? Guild versus guild events? Were they racing to see who can get the newest armour or weapon from raids?

For something happening after they became their avatars, it would be intersting to see them doing engagement activities when they don’t have a direct incentive in the form of some quest they’re trying to complete. Maybe they have to attend some sort of festival together as a part of their noble duties. How do they feel about all those little buildups to the fact that someday they may have to get married? I feel like they may initially come at it from the perspective of engagement being a part of the game, but then slowly start to feel the weight of their responsibilites since their engagement has real impact on their new families.

I’m also basic and always there for those two no-lifes abusing game lore and mechanics. Feel free to go wild with some orginal adventure or side-quest

Yuder Bayel | Outboxer009

I would really love a look into Yuder’s struggles with his illness. It’s one thing to struggle a bit with the gameplay and another to actually have to live through an affliction that leaves you very weakened. He acts pretty nonchalant about it when interacting with Cordelia, but is he really that unaffected? He mentions spending the first two days of his new life as Yuder bedridden and that must be one terrible first impression of the new world.

I’d also enjoy seeing more off his interactions with Maia and his family. How exactly does he feel about suddenly having a new family? Is he managing to balance everything or is he putting up a front? How well is he adjusting to actually using a sword?

Cordelia Chace | Sandstorm

I love that out of the two protagonists she’s the brawns of the team despite being the mage, more prone to choosing direct violence. It’s also obvious that she still carries hangups about being forever second in the rankings. Is her new situation helping her slowly overcome those issues or are they getting worse? How does she feel about actually being able to use magic?

What was her initial reaction to becoming Cordelia? Was she happy to become a character she loves or despaired thinking of all the tragedies that awaited her in the near future? What did she think of her engagement before she discovered that Yuder was Outboxer009?

AUs and ships

I prefer no setting changes for this story, but would be up for some canon divergences both befor and after the start of the story. Maybe Outboxer009 and Sandstorm accidentally met in real life (but didn’t realize that). Maybe the events they encounter after being transported the to the game worlds aren’t actually identical with the game and they run into complications due to that. Also please consider - status effect shenanigans.

I ship Cordelia/Yuder and Maia/Dalia

MACHIKADO MAZOKU (ANIME)

I watched both anime seasons, but haven’t read the manga yet. Please don’t spoil developments that weren’t yet in anime.

All three characters don’t have to be included, but I want the story to focus on at least two of them. I like the relationships both as platonic and romantic and would be equally happy for genfic or shipfic

Chiyoda Momo & Yoshida “Shamiko” Yuuko

Do I even need to explain? Those two are just perfect together - a depressed magical girl finding love and acceptance with very clumsy demon who makes the dark side look way more tempting than it ever should have been.

I’m definitely here for both Shamiko trying to pull Momo out of depression through her “evil” schemes and for some more serious plot. Whether it be cute moments of bonding or Shamiko proving her worth when her friends or family are in danger, I’m here for it.

I would be up to more outings of those two. Maybe they go to aquarium or movies? Or maybe Momo requires more mental support and has Shamiko dive into her dreams (this time consensually) to help her deal with some sort of bad memory or recurring nightmare. What if some rouge demon or magical girl came into town and started causing trouble? How would our duo resolve it? Are there more secrets left behind by Momo’s sister than need to be solved?

Chiyoda Momo & Lico 

I love that despite all the animositiy Lico has towards magical girls she's still clearly willing to help Momo, even if she does prank her in the process. I'd love to see the process of Lico slowly warming up to her. Obviously, she only helps her at first, because of Shamiko, but I feel like she does start to appreciate Momo on her own, even if it mostly manifest through pranks and attempts at making Momo eat weird things.

I'd love any scenario where Shamiko is busy/sick/indisposed and Momo and Lico have to join forces to deal with whatever weird thing is happening in town, because they feel indebted to Shamiko. I'd love all the banter they'd get up to. Or maybe they just try to throw a surprise party for Shamiko, but keep trying to one up each other which results in a whole lot of shenanigans.

Yoshida “Shamiko” Yuuko & Lico

I would love some work shenanigans and maybe a more extended look on Shamiko's newfound career. How much Lico helps her and how much does she leave Shamiko to struggle on her own? How do they handle more problematic guests? Are there regulars that Shamiko had to interact more regularly with? Are there times when Lico's culinary experiments cause some unintended side effects for clients?

Yoshida “Shamiko” Yuuko & Chiyoda Momo & Lico

I really loved the addition of Lico to the cast. She’s such an chaos element, because at one moment she’s extremly useful and the second she’ll be trying to spike your food with suspicious herbs. Just 100% trickster fox and I love her for that.

I found her relationship with both Shamiko and Momo extremely compelling. She’s a bit of a cunning senpai for Shamiko, obviously happy to teach her, but definitely not above a harmless prank here and there. On the other hand, there’s Momo, who visibly reminds Lico of her bad experiencess in the past, but at the same time she’s very willing to help Momo, but not without being very snarky about it and pranking her like there’s no tomorrow. I feel like that complex relationship between the characters is so good.

I would be curious to explore Lico’s point of view when it comes to Momo’s descent to the dark side. Is that the reason why she warmed up to Momo despite her bad experiences? Does she have some specific hangups that she needs to work through before she can truly accept her? Does Lico want to influence Shamiko’s development as a demon in some way, or is she satisfied helping her along on the path Shamiko choose herself? Does she try to teach Shamiko some of her magic? What if Lico engaged in some pranking that got out of hand and now is desperately trying to hide the truth from Shamiko and Momo by creating a fake villain?

AUs and ships

I don’t want any setting changes, but would very much enjoy other AU shenanigans. What if Sakura was still around and trying to play a matchmaker? What if something goes wrong when Shamiko dives into Momo’s dream and they end up bodyswapping? What if Momo also started working in the cafe? Time loop could be very fun for this fandom.

TOTAL FANTASY KNOCKOUT

I’m fine with story based on either anime or manga, I’m caught up with both.

Jinguuji Tsukasa

Tachibana Hinata

Childhood friends who are practically inseparable and strongly dependent on each other? That’s already perfect, but now throw into it a crazy goddess who isekais both of them, turns one of them into a girl, throws an unspecified curse, and forces those two to confront the fact that their feelings for each other might go beyond friendship? That’s beyond perfect. That’s galaxy brain and I want more of that mishmash of tropes.

I’m all about everyday interactions and weird rpg shenanigans they get into, so you can never go wrong with leaning into it. But for something else: What if at some point one of them got returned back to their original world? How would the other cope? Would they be able to establish communication between the two worlds? How would they go about reuniting?

I would love to see them taking their relationship a step further. I crave all the awkwardness that’s going to come with those two idiots trying to figure out how to admit their feelings to each other. And the inevitable defeat of any villains who get in the way of them having a moment. Will Jinguuji and Tachibana try to go on a date with a disasterous results? Will Jinguuji desperately try to find a dating manual in another world? And will they be able to enjoy a romantic moment without “CHARMED” status ruining it?

I also love the new development in manga with Love Goddess reappearing and messing things up even more. I’d absolutely love if you delved into those new changes!

Feel free to include any other characters, they are a colorful bunch. Though if you want a suggestion, I’m very partial to Schwartz and Shen

AUs and ships

I don’t want setting changes, though I would enjoy seeing a different spin on how those two dorks get isekaied and under what circumstances they end up inflicting the wrath of Goddess of Love. Or I would love an AU where the goddess doesn’t succeed in her first killing attempt, so she keeps trying to isekai Tachibana and Jinguuji keeps foiling her plans every time (or maybe he fails at some point?). What if the curse placed by the goddess manifests in some other ridiculous ways? What if Shwartz wormed his way into the protagonists’ party and third-wheeled like only he can?

Feel free to include any one-sided crushes from canon.

SOUSOU NO FRIEREN

I read new manga chapters as they get translated so feel free to incorporate anything from the manga that’s available in English.

Frieren

I love how this manga is a slow-paced fantasy dealing with loss and inevitable passage of time. And I love Frieren for being one of the best depictions of an elf whose long life actually affects their outlook on life and actions.

I love the intersection of Frieren’s present with her charges and the past with hero party. What other shenanigans did the hero party get into on their journey? What kind of weird magic Frieren pursued? Maybe some more insight into how they fought with demons, since Frieren seemed to have picked up a number of enemies during that time. Or Frieren's attempt at being mentor to Fern and Stark.

For some more specific prompts: maybe Frieren accidentally stumbles ona cursed item that erases her memories (or just her memories of Himmel). How would it affect her? What would the party do to help her? Or maybe a demon kidnaps someone from Frieren’s party. What if Frieren and Himmel ended up stranded in enemy terriory during their travels, having to survive. Maybe they have to pretend to be demons?

I also greatly enjoy the current manga arc and would love anything set during it. Is Frieren going to try to quell some of her regrets furing this adventure?

If you are also a fellow enjoyer of Fern/Stark, I think a story where Fern watches their budding romance and reflects on her own relationship with Himmel would be interesting. Especially if it makes her realize she had missed some very obvious flirting attempts.

AUs and ships

I’m fine with AUs as long as Frieren’s long lifespan is preserved. Her perspective is very much shaped by how long she has lived, so I wouldn’t want that aspect to change. One exception would be, a roleswap where Himmel is an elf, while Frieren is a human, and exploration of how both of them would be affected by having a different lifespan. An AU with mythological creatures or similar could also be interesting.

I would very much love Himmel/Frieren, though I also enjoy how the manga softly builds on their connection. I also enjoy the budding romance between Fern and Stark.