#and i also need to actually work on getting ahead instead of writing the chapters daily😭😭😭

[widebrimmedhatsblog]

okay...here goes...

(I wish you would write) a modern short au about Violet as a celebrity or princess or something, and Xaden as her bodyguard🤭🤭🫶

Okay I'm cheating a little on this one because I have something like this in my drafts already!! This was actually one of @skyfallscotland's prompt fics in which Lilith was the US President, and after a failed assassination attempt on the campaign trail, she assigns Xaden to be Violet's body guard. For reasons I hope are obvious, I don't want to finish it anymore. However, the first chapter was done in it's entirety by the time I scrapped it, so you can have 2.3k ish words of body guard Xaden!! (below the cut)

When Violet gets a knock on her door, she is not expecting it to have anything to do with her mother. The entire reason she’d gone to college in California was so that anything having to do with her mother would be a country away. And for the most part, it had worked. Her freshman and sophomore years had gone off without a hitch. In her classes that aren’t 99% poli sci majors, she doesn’t even get recognized, and she couldn’t be happier. 

She abandons her spot on the couch, and sets her planner to the side as she stands to answer the door. She doesn’t bother checking the peep hole, because she assumes it’s doordash for Ridoc, or last minute school supplies for Sawyer, or Rhiannon staying very ahead of her Christmas shopping. 

What she sees instead is a man. He’s tall, with dark, wavy hair, and dark skin. His arms—very broad, ridiculously so, some might say—are crossed over his chest— which is also notably broad. He’s squinting at her like he’s scrutinizing something, which is uncalled for, in Violet’s opinion. Maybe she isn’t dressed to impress just yet, but the only thing she’d been planning on impressing was her planner, and it didn’t have eyes, so her combo of old sweatpants she’d cut into shorts and a gigantic tie-dye t-shirt with her school’s name on it had been perfectly appropriate. 

“You just open the door all the way, without knowing who’s outside?” the man demands. He stares at her as does it, unflinching and unyielding. 

Violet, naturally, does both flinch and yield, because she’s entirely confused. She takes a step back, to get a better look at the man, to try and see where on earth he gets his audacity, but she comes up empty. 

“Do I know you?” she retorts, indignant. 

He matches her indignation, card for card. “Do you not have a chain on your door?” 

“Of course I don’t have a chain on my door. This isn’t New York.”

“Do you think crime only happens in New York?” The man demands. “Do you think that none of your mother’s enemies can run a google search and find out where you are?” 

He shouldn’t have brought up her mother. He’d been so hot before he opened his mouth, but even still, he could have saved the whole thing and escaped with his hotness intact if he’d avoided bringing up her mother. 

“Okay,” Violet says, “This was fun. You can go now.” 

She moves to slam the front door shut, but he shoves out an arm, blocking her. 

“See?” he says. “This is why you need a door chain. You can’t keep me out. You’re not strong enough, but metal is.” 

She stares at him for a second, blinks, then decides. 

“Okay. You can leave, and also, fuck you. Who the hell do you think you are?”

He’s still holding her door open, so she cannot make him leave, unless she resorts to something petty like kicking his shins. His arm, outstretched to support the door, looks…enticing. She’ll give him that. He has an enticing arm. Assholes are, technically, allowed to have enticing arms. 

“You know who I am,” he replies. His tone betrays no humor, which is ridiculous, because there’s no way he’s serious. 

“I don’t, actually, or I wouldn't have asked,” she snaps. “Not that I care. You have one more chance to tell me, then you’re going to need to get the fuck out, or I’m going to scream at the top of my lungs, and my two male MMA fighter roommates are going to come out here and kick your ass.” 

Ridoc and Sawyer only took one MMA class as a bonding experience, but Violet knows they’ll at the very least get this man out of the doorway. 

The man studies her with that same analytical look he’d donned when she first opened the door. He looks her up and down, then comes to his conclusion. 

“She didn’t tell you.” 

“Who,” Violet seethes, “is she?”

“Your mother, “ he says, though he’s speaking slowly, thinking as he goes, “She didn’t tell you. She didn’t call you or anything?”

“The last time my mother called me was in the year of our lord two thousand and sixteen, and that was genuinely only because she thought I had been abducted, so no. My mother didn’t call me.”

She pushes against the door with all she has, and still, he doesn’t move. He might have over one hundred pounds on her, though, given his size and his muscle mass. She will definitely have to get creative. There’s a vase on the coffee table Rhiannon won’t miss. 

“I’m your new bodyguard,” the man says. He holds the hand that isn’t holding the door out to her, anticipating a handshake. “Xaden Riorson.” 

Violet stares at him, at his hand, and at him holding out his hand. She says, “No you’re not.” 

“I’m not Xaden Riorson, or I’m not your new bodyguard?” he asks. “Because I'm pretty sure I’m both.” 

“No,” she shakes her head furiously, emphatically. “No to both. You’re neither.” 

He sighs, shoves his hand into his pocket, and emerges with a badge. It has its own little leather case, but the badge itself is shiny and gold, with an eagle at the top and a silver star in the center. 

“Happy now?” he asks, voice dry. 

He’s not just a bodyguard. He's from the secret service. 

“I’m happy that you found your way into a costume shop, but it is that time of year,” Violet says. And she’s right. With the start of August comes a proliferation of Spirit Halloweens. One on every corner, practically. 

“It’s a real badge, Sorrengail.”

She hadn’t told him her last name, and she hates that he already knows it, that he knows her mother. It doesn’t give him any legitimacy, though. He’d said it himself—she’s really only a google search away. 

But, if he’s actually Xaden Riorson, so is he. 

“Hang on,” she says, brain already speeding down this train of thought. “Stay outside, or I will actually commit a crime.” 

She steps back from the door, and he raises his non-braced hand in surrender. He leaves his badge out, and though Violet keeps her eyes on him, he doesn’t move over her line in the sand. 

She finds her phone  abandoned on the couch. She turns it on quickly, and her eyes scan notifications, but there is, of course, nothing from Lilith. Even though it shouldn’t, her heart still sinks. She should know better than to allow hope to thrive where her mother is concerned, but evidently, she doesn’t. 

She opens Safari without checking her other notifications, and types in his supposed name. Xaden Riorson. 

The results are inconclusive. No one, it seems, knows what Xaden Riorson is up to. 

“Give me your driver’s license,” she demands. 

He sighs, irritably, but then he’s digging in his pocket once more, revealing a wallet, and presenting her with his ID. He holds it over the threshold, so she plucks it from his fingers and holds it up in the light. 

It looks real, though Violet’s never been big on fake IDs, because she’s never been big on doing anything she thinks might make her mother think she isn’t perfectly capable of caring for herself. Illegal activities fall squarely on her no-no list. 

The picture matches, though Violet’s almost certain there’s a way to make that happen with fake IDs, too. She thinks she’s supposed to see a line somewhere in the middle of the ID, if it is real, but she’s also not entirely sure that isn’t actually the procedure for counterfeit money, and the longer she holds his ID up to the light without finding said line, the less sure she is of the line’s existence at all. 

Finally, she says, “Hmm.” 

“Hmm?” he presses. 

“Well, I’m starting to think you’re Xaden Riorson, but that makes the secret service thing even less believable,” Violet says. 

“Does it?” His voice is bone-dry, but Violet doesn’t mind. She’ll get to the bottom of this without his help. 

“It does, because the Xaden Riorson I knew of was a senator’s son, and the sons of senators don’t just up and join the secret service.” 

“They don’t?” he asks, still dry as ever. 

“They don’t, because joining the secret service means you’re literally willing to die for the president.” 

“And senator’s sons can’t do that?” 

Other senator’s sons could, Violet thinks, but not Fen Riorson’s son. Fen Riorson had not been just any senator. Last election, Fen Riorson had been her mother’s main opponent, and when Americans went to the polls, they had not picked him. 

He’d died six months after the election, but not before hundreds of articles were written, claiming he wanted to share classified government intelligence with the public, things the people deserved to know, but those in office were too cowardly to tell them. 

His secrets died with him. 

And Violet knows her mother is a lot of things, but she wouldn’t do this. She wouldn’t make the son of her biggest political rival her daughter’s bodyguard. Her daughter doesn’t even have a bodyguard, because her daughter does not need a bodyguard. 

“You can’t,” Violet says. “You, specifically.” 

“Well, unfortunately for you, Sorrengail, I did. What’s it gonna take for you to believe me? Want to see my work email? Want to meet my team?” 

She’s trying and failing to remember how hard it is to fake an email, or a series of emails, but he keeps talking. 

“Of course, I could just call your mom.” 

Her gaze darts to his. “You could call her?” she asks, but then, her brain catches up to her tongue. “Well, there’s AI now. You could fake her voice.”

“God, okay, you can call her and you can ask her three questions only she knows. How’s that? Do we have a deal? Because believe it or not, I have a job to do.”

She does not believe it, because if she does believe it, she is that job. She cannot be his job. 

“Fine!” Violet snaps, “Fine. I’ll call her. Don’t you dare come in.” He sighs that same exasperated sigh, and still, he doesn’t move. Violet moves to her contacts—she hadn’t lied about her mother’s radio silence. She really hasn’t talked to her mother on the phone in eight years. They also don’t text. Most of her communications are through her mother’s Chief of Staff, Colonel Aetos, who still goes by his military title. 

Still, her mother is in her phone under “birth giver” which had felt incredibly edgy when she did it at thirteen, but now makes her tilt her phone closer to herself, in case Xaden sees. 

Her mother’s personal line is secure, and though she doesn’t always carry her phone on her, she’s heard from Mira—who actually makes calls to their mother, when she’s not underwater—that their mother is good at picking up the phone. 

It rings once, and Violet bites her lip. It rings twice, and Violet’s foot begins to tap a thundering beat. 

It rings three times, and her mother’s voice sounds in her ear. 

“Violet?” Lilith asks. 

“Traditionally, “ Violet says, “people answer phone calls with ‘hello’.” 

“Traditionally, you don’t call me,” Lilith retorts. “I thought someone stole your phone.” 

“Nope. I’ve never had anything stolen from me because I am exceedingly competent.” Xaden huffs at this, which Violet cannot understand. She’s making a valid point. “And because of this exceeding competency, I can’t understand why there is a man at my door claiming to be part of the secret service. Can you comprehend this, mother?”

Violet will not be calling her mom.

“Is the man Xaden Riorson, or a member of his team?” Lilith asks. Violet thinks the world is sinking beneath her. She is slipping through the cracks. “Because if that’s the case, then yes. And he’s not claiming anything. Did he not show you his badge?” 

Violet swallows. Her throat is very, very dry. “You can get those badges anywhere.” 

“No you can’t. I have a country to run and an election to win, Violet, so if that’s all you had to say, I need to go.” 

She hasn’t spoken to her mother since her last mandatory Christmas visit. She’d spent the entirety of the summer sweating in California. And still, her mother doesn’t want to talk to her. 

“I don’t need a secret service agent, Mom,” Violet snaps. She feels suddenly sixteen again, when her mother was still her mother. 

“Correct. You don’t need one, you need four.” 

“I do not need four! I have never needed four!” 

Xaden Riorson is watching her start a screaming match with her mother, and Violet knows she should be embarrassed, but she’s too angry. She doesn’t have any energy to spare. 

“Did you hear that I was shot at recently, Violet?” 

“Of course I heard! Not from you, of course, because that would be too much to ask!” 

“Then connect the dots. You’re too intelligent to question me on this. Let Mr. Riorson do his job.” 

“He’s not Mr. Anything! He’s twenty-two!” 

“He is twenty two, which will make his work with you significantly easier on you. He’s also very good at his job. You’ll be safe. I don’t care if you’re angry with me if you’re safe.” 

“That’s ridiculous!” Violet seethes. “You’re being unreasonable! I have kept myself perfectly safe-” 

She is cut off by a beep. Her mother has hung up. Violet stares at the phone in her hand for a moment, then aggressively redials her mother’s number. 

Her mother doesn’t answer. 

Xaden Riorson is still in her doorway. 

“I didn’t quite realize it was like that between you two,” he says, casually, as if he didn’t just witness a sacred portion of Violet’s life imploding in her hands. Her privacy, destroyed. 

[peachcitt]

chapter 12 of my @ladrienjune fic greatest hits is out now!!

read the latest chapter here

see y’all tomorrow!!<3

[jayjj7]

chapter 19. puppy (written)

prev. next masterlist

as you wait for yunjin to arrive to class, you pull out her flash card notes she let you borrow. it really was sweet of her to let you borrow them without question and out of the kindness of her own heart. when you first received them, you copied them down and realized that she might be actually going somewhere in life, unlike yourself. you never really gave much thought as to what you would do in life and always said ‘it’s a problem for later’…but that later is soon.

before your thoughts were able to get too depressing you felt a hand on your shoulder.

“hey!” yunjin greets you as she sits down next you, placing her bag on the table

“hey yunjin, here are your flash cards thank you so so much really” you hand her the pack of cards neatly without a fold or imperfection on them.

“y/n, i told you it was no problem” she tilts her head and smiles. “besides, i needed to pay back the favor for you helping me study” yunjin smiles as she flips through her own cards.

“that was no big deal really, i’m happy to help whenever you need it” believe it or not, you shocked yourself with your own words. was that too bold?

“likewise- oh by the way, the professor assigned a pop quiz this thursday” yunjin breaks the news to you.

“oh great” you roll your eyes and open your laptop.

the professor you and yunjin have talks pretty fast while giving lessons, even with the powerpoint slides he has, its hard to keep up with what he’s saying. as you write as fast as you can to keep up with the important information he’s giving, you misspell a word that can’t be fixed with writing the correct letter over it in darker ink.

damn

you reach out to grab yunjin’s correction tape but instead you’re met with warm, soft, delicate skin.

“oh sorry go ahead” you apologize because after all it is her correction tape.

“no no use it! it’s fine!” yunjin whispers

“it’s your correction tape, you can use it”

“y/n please-“

“HEY” a loud voice over the speakers interrupts the both of you. in response you both look up out of fear.

“quiet down” the professors stern voice shoots at both of you, ending the debate on who gets to use the correction tape. after calling you guys out and having the whole room turn to inspect the cause of disruption, he continues the lesson.

you and yunjin slowly turn your heads to look at each other before she smiles and picks up the correction tape and puts it in your hand.

“that was so embarrassing” you cover your face as you stand up from seat. class had just ended and you wanted to get out of that room more than anything.

“hey its okay! everyone will forget about it by next class” yunjin tries to cheer you up and pats the side of your arm.

“ughhhh” you groan out as you toss your bag over your shoulder. “i hate him so much, he’s so annoying. we weren’t even that loud! also why does he even care it’s not like we-“ as you continue to complain yunjin just nods and smiles at you. not realizing that you guys are walking out of class together, out of the science building, into the cafeteria just talking about the professor and the work.

while you and yunjin were grabbing food in the cafeteria she interrupts you by laughing.

“y/n you’re really funny” yunjin grabs a piece of bread and puts it on your plate. “you make everything seems so interesting”

you both walk to sit down at a table while you try to remain calm from yunjin’s sudden compliment.

“you know, we should really hangout besides just studying” yunjin suggests as she takes a bite of the rice she picked up.

“yeah id love to”

taglist : [ @1luvkarina @thefckghost @everydayiloveyves @may-madness @modanisgf ] (taglist is open!!)

[thatsatricky1]

𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐛𝐢𝐞 | l.jn smau

Chapter seven = Neo T student.

Generally every University student on a Friday books it out of campus as soon as possible for the sweet taste of relaxation or excitement that Friday nights and weekends offer away from studies and duties. Even the seven boys seemed to nearly run out of their last business lecture that happened to be accounting today instead of their usual pairings or going off by themselves.

But Y/n was just finishing up about thirty minutes later than everyone else having grabbed the last two suggestion boxes Jaemin and she had placed around campus. She’d brought a duffle bag today solely for the purpose of not needing to walk home with them awkwardly in her hands.

Though by the time she got back to her apartment she was anything but motivated to sort out the piles of suggestion letters. Even though she was glad they had a lot of suggestions, some of them were for a lack of nice wording, shit. But there were some golden ones in there too that had evened it all out.

She was only going to sort out the serious suggestions out from the rambles and random ones today and would work properly on it with Jaemin on Monday. She wanted to enjoy her weekend away from university just like everyone else.

Nearly finished with the rest of the letter sorting she moved to grab one of the last ones, five or so sitting unopened. Moving to unfold it, letting out a hum, eyes scanning over the page, eyebrows furrowing as she read the cryptic note.

The address was familiar, unfortunately too familiar. It’s the same place she’d dropped Jaemin’s bag off. By the sound of the letter it wasn’t a bar or club for rich young people like she’d originally thought. Then again it really could be just that, with some douche writing her a letter to make her walk right into a stuffy, dimly lit alcohol, hormone infested building.

Leaning backwards slightly on her chair, the front legs of it lifting an inch off the ground as she read over the letter again, moving to fold it and fiddle with the paper lost in thought. There could be a slim chance it was a place she could actually use as an example for her assignment and she’d miss out on the opportunity if she didn’t take it.

Even so she wasn’t quite convinced it would be a good idea to go, seeing as she had no clear evidence this place was a legitimate area that she could benefit from.

Unfolding the paper again to read over it for the third time she noticed the eerily neat handwriting, she could help but think it was definitely how a psychopath would write. Or maybe, just maybe someone in her university did actually just have good handwriting.

Letting the letter drop down onto her desk, she tapped the wood underneath her fingers, nails making a rhythm as she did so. Staring ahead at the wall in thought. It would be stupid to just go somewhere without really thinking about it properly, or rather it was stupid to just go somewhere because an anonymous student at Neo T told her to ‘trust’ them based solely on a couple of neatly written words.

Even so she thought about her assignment. It was her first one, and she needed a good grade to show and prove she wasn’t just the lucky woman who got in through a scholarship but because she actually deserved to be there. Also the fact her parents somehow already caught wind of it and were expecting good results from it.

“This is a bad idea, if Karina finds out about this she’ll have my head if I don’t end up in a ditch somewhere.” Y/n groaned out checking the time before getting up to go throw on some clothes.

This better be worth it, and result in a great example for her assignment.

𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 | 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 | 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: sorry for not updating in a while i\ve been busy but i\ll be posting a few chapter soon so keep an eye out for that 🙂‍↕️

𝐓𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭: @strrykais @chenlesfavorite @dudekiss3r @strawberrysavi @nislost @polarisjisung @nattan127 @rotinyzen @wonyoungmywife @snflwrhaerecs4u @thegreenlynx @serinebsblog @delululi @molensworld @morkiee @marvelahsobx @kaciebello @kgneptun @bluedbliss @haechansbbg @officiallyjaehyuns @bunnychui @catpjimin @stqrgr7 @jaeveil @flamingi @tywritesstuff @lionzyon @xiuriii

[unordinary-diary]

Ensemble and Intelligence

Everyone in the main cast is really smart, actually. Every last one of them. But it doesn’t feel repetitive or unrealistic because they’re all smart in different ways.

Seraphina: is probably the most obviously smart. She’s capable of perfect grades, she’s a skilled liar, good at reading people and puzzling information together, and she’s really really clever. The moment that sticks out to me most is when she used clever wording to trick Nadia, the lie detector, during her interrogation in chapter 28, without hesitation or breaking a sweat. I’d argue that she’s actually the smartest character in the cast.

Blyke: is mostly academically smart. He gets good grades in school and finds the work to be easy. Beyond that, he’s also good at reading people. He’s not as good as Seraphina is, but he’s able to read his two best friends like a book, and he has a much higher emotional intelligence than I initially gave him credit for. He also uses his ability very creatively, even before his power up. A moment that sticks out to me is when Remi was secretly going after EMBER, and Blyke was able to read her and piece together what was going on, meanwhile Isen had no idea anything was wrong.

Isen: is not a high achiever in school, but he excels in writing. He is proficient at gathering, piecing together, and expressing information. He’s also the only character except maybe Seraphina who consistently makes the smart decisions (as opposed to the reckless, emotional, hasty or ill informed/advised ones). Most characters make at least some stupid decisions and mistakes, but Isen is pretty much always focused on logic and foresight. Notable moments include: being able to track down John’s records, tracking down Claire, choosing not to publish the article on fake Jokers because he knew it would exacerbate the problem, tracking EMBER’s movements and basically anything he does on his computer.

John: initially seems like a total birdbrain. He acts like a dumbass, and he gets fairly bad grades. However, it’s clear from the beginning that he’s a good strategist. He thinks on his feet well, he’s good at sizing people up, and when he chooses to, he uses his ability with incredible creativity and tact. His intelligence is largely fighting centered. However, much later in the story, after John’s suspension, we see another side of him. It doesn’t show up much when he’s acting like silly old hair gel John, and definitely not much when he’s too buried in his anger to think straight, but John is really clever. This side of John is a lot like Seraphina’s smarts— he’s good at reading people, and he’s good at putting pieces together and thinking critically. Things that come to mind are when he read Arlo like a book, (something along the lines of “But you do need help. You wouldn’t have lost your cool if you had things under control.) and when he immediately sniffed out Sera’s lies (She said she was talking to Arlo about “Safe House stuff”, and John identifies that as a lie because if it were true she would have kept Remi in the room instead of asking for a private conversation with Arlo).

Arlo: is very cunning. He’s constantly scheming and thinking five steps ahead. He makes many misguided decisions due to his naïveté and misplaced trust, but he’s also very often the voice of reason. He’s a great leader and an even better manipulator. He’s always thinking analytically and connecting dots. An example is the fact that Arlo is the only person who suspected that John was actually a high tier, and looked deeper for more info. He also provided valuable insight in the Spectre investigation, and, like Isen, often encourages others on the side of caution (advising Seraphina not to meet with Spectre, involving John with the Spectre issue, telling Remi not to go after EMBER, etc.) Now, Arlo actually does give off the impression of being stupid at times, which is something I’d like to look at. He has many areas where he acts purely on his emotions and against common wisdom, but that is something that every person does. I think the reason why Arlo’s emotion-based decisions come off as stupidity moreso than other characters is because of the image he upholds: Arlo hides his emotions, pretends he doesn’t care about anything, and portrays himself as a person who acts on logic alone. Because of this, the emotions he acts upon aren’t always immediately obvious, or the audience doesn’t perceive them as being intense enough to make him behave the way he does. Therefore, Arlo’s mistakes (namely: targeting John because he feels abandoned and unfairly burdened, and refusing to believe the authorities are EMBER because he loves his aunt) — can be mistaken for a lack of critical thinking as opposed to a strong emotion.

Remi: is probably the least smart by conventional standards, but she sure as hell isn’t stupid. She has good critical thinking skills, she’s able to come to logical conclusions on her own, and she has good leadership. She was probably the first to put together that the authorities and EMBER are connected, and she was the one to realize that the writer of the Kovoro Mall article (Terrence) had been following them (Ch. 52). Not to mention that it was Remi who came up with the idea for the Safe House. However, the most notable facet of Remi’s smarts is her emotional intelligence. Remi is very good at navigating social situations, understanding herself and others, and she is excellent at communication. Highlights include the way she handled the situation with John (being understanding of him, hearing him out and offering to help him, but without compromising her own values), and the way she expressed to Blyke that she wasn’t mad at him but rather, scared for his safety, which was a clear, concise and honest way of explaining a very intense and complicated emotion, which is difficult to do in the heat of the moment.

[thatnonameuser]

I really like your work! I do have some critiques though if you don't mind

First, I wish you would use the "read more" button so we don't have to scroll so long just to see your other posts.

Second, Crowley registering mc as a darling/giving them different textbooks doesn't make any sense imo. All of these things just make it more obvious that he enrolled someone he's not supposed to, which just makes the chance of his pay getting cut even higher. Plus if he only registered her as one so she doesn't get murdered, that also doesn't make sense. No one would know not to kill her unless they know she's a darling, but the whole point is to hide that.

Like I said though I do really enjoy the idea of your story, and I think it's quite well written, too. I'm definitely a fan I just know that if it were me, I'd want people to give me their real opinions, instead of just sugarcoating what they think I want to hear.

Sorry if this came off as rude. Have a good day!

I always like to get real opinions to my writing, and really don't want to be sugarcoated with what I write. So I appreciate your constructive criticism so thank you for that.

First, the 'read more' button. I actually didn't know how to add that. So thank you for pushing me to learn. All of my really long works will have this now and I went back and edited this for all of the chapter one parts so far.

Second, Crowley is shit at his job in any universe. Crowley had to register you to prevent himself from being punished if you were murdered. (Which kind of seems redundant when you think about the fact that not everyone knows she's a darling, but I hadn't thought that far ahead then😅) So to slap a bandage over that plothole, let's just say that exceptions can be made within certain circumstances.

MC, quite literally, didn't exist in this world before hand. And I severely doubt any government could manage to explain what should happen to her, if she has no family, guardians or anything in this world.

She could have been sent to RHC, but she was already enrolled at a yandere school when she was registered as a darling. Some could doubt her validity as a darling, which breaks the rules of RHC because of their yandere rules. (I'll make sense of this when I get around to writing the event)

With the MC's difficult position, it makes his job harder, because she's technically a student and she's also a darling, so he's covering his ass by pulling the 'oh, I already knew, and so did the students, so I didn't do anything wrong' if something happens to you.

Also, technically most yanderes, at least the ones we care about, were taught how to identify darlings since they were young, especially to make sure they don't accidentally kill one, if they're a rival for their darlings.

As for the censorship issue, I'm using it as a reason for MC to get closer to the staff, who will be platonic yanderes, as she'll use her limited knowledge as an excuse to sneak what she needs away from everyone.

I hope that answered it for you. 😊. And don't worry, you weren't rude.

[kings-highway]

Hi! So I'm a like a fan of your work, especially your ongoing long fic "This Is Not The End", and was just wondering, do you have any advice on writing? Anything you apply to your writing that helps you along the way? Especially about setting descriptions. YOU ARE SO GOOD AT THEM I CAN'T-

Btw, I was just about to re-read the chapters of TINTE but ao3 is down. and so is my sanity.

AaaAAAAAAAAAaaAAAAAAAA first of all thank you so much for being so nice, i have no idea what I've done to deserve any attention at all. And thank you for reading! It really means the world <3 and I am so sorry ao3 is down. it is for me too. we're all in this together.

As for advice... truthfully I could probably talk for HOURS about every little thing, but you've gone ahead and done me a favour and specified scene setting, so I'll try and keep my yapping to a minimum and just hit the highlights of things that I actually (try to) apply to my own writing.

One piece of advice that I often end up giving (that applies mostly to if you're in a limited omniscence 3rd person, or a 1st person POV - ie, one set of eyes) is to describe scenes ONLY as your perspective character would see them. So, envision where your character is standing, and the movements they're making, and describe the scene as their eyes would process details. This helps prevent static point-form style descriptions, as it mixes up when and how certain things get described, and also helps prevent massive blocks of description as you will naturally find places to describe your characters walking, looking around or moving in their environment as you "follow their eyes." [For a more practical example I apply this really heavily in the first chapter of TINTE, as Daichi is gathering his "lists" - this is why you get descriptions of Kags and Hinata and the scavenging trip being prepared before you ever get descriptions of the library. Despite the library ultimately being a main feature of the story, I don't set it into the description of the world until Daichi is looking at it. So instead of just setting the scene by describing how the town looks, we have to follow a character as they see it.] - this keeps the reader in the character's head, focused on the story. The environment (and the scene) is only relevent as perceived by your perspective character (this also makes the environments feel more authentic because there reader can't "see behind" the perspective character so to speak.)

The other thing I keep in mind, more generally for setting descriptions, is to not get bogged down by what I "want" the reader to "see." When you're writing a story, there's a 98% chance you're going to have these big, beautiful visuals in your head. There is a 6% chance of your reader ever being able to see that same vision. You will never be able to translate 1:1 the vision in your head - but you CAN translate the feeling you get thinking about that vision. So if you have a scene, with a gorgeous, beautiful stunning skyscape and mountains and animals and light and shadows - the more detail in your brain, the less you put on the page. These scenes are when you need to focus more on the feelings of the character, and the abstract descriptions of the world. "The sky stretching endlessly in it's vast expanse of pastels, dotted with birds flitting lightly between trees on rolling hills of lush flora. His breath caught in his throat, and it felt like he was seeing the planet for the first time." No colours are used, no animals decribed, there is vague "flora" and "birds" and "trees" - it's short and snappy and you may think you're not doing your beautiful planet justice, but it is infinitely more efficient at capturing that breathtaking aura you want your reader to understand than if you tried to describe the shape of the leaves and every species of bird and every single colour in the sky. A classic case of less is more. Sometimes not describing something is far better than describing it. You gotta let go a little bit of that control and let your readers paint their own pictures (they'll do a better job than the writer can every single time.) This applies for little things too! Even if you want your character to have an iconic necklace, sometimes it's better to just call it a "ruby studded pendant" rather than try and describe exactly the shape it's in and how many stones it has.

And the last tidbit I can offer is to just... write. Write so much and so often. The more you do, the better you get. I am honoured that you think I have the writing skills to warrant asking for advice, truly, it makes me feel so incredibly special, but if you're looking at me and saying "man I'll never be able to write like them!" then I need to give you my credentials. I have written 6 full personal novels, the first when I was 13 (it wasn't good, don't worry), and over a million words on ao3 for fanfiction - when I was in grades 3-5, I used to skip lunch recess and go down to the computer lab to write my "book" during that time. I am NOT a case of "oh they're just so naturally talented" I simply have a lot of practice under my belt. So if you write, and if you write a lot, you will learn and get better and there is nothing that I, or any other writer you like or admire, can do that you cannot learn to do as well. if you just write.

once again thank you SO much, and I hope this is helpful at all or answers your questions or was the kind of answer you were looking for. Please let me know if something doesn't make sense or if you have any other questions, and I am ALWAYS open to receiving asks like this, though my advice is only ever going to be the ramblings of one person, so take it with a grain of salt and if you don't like any of the suggestions, ignore 'em. Except for that one about writing. Unfortunately you have to do that one. Otherwise. Y'know. Nothing gets written.

xx

[rum-and-shattered-dreams]

The Man Downstairs Status Report -

July 10 2024

It's ahhhh been a while. Thanks so much to everyone who has been patient with this! How are you all doing?

So, first off, the actual status:

It's alive! ALIVE! I will have a chapter ready to post this Saturday evening! Finally! I can't say how often updates will happen but I do still want to finish this so even if it takes a while, I'm gonna get there!

Second:

Why it took so long (and some photos, some with cats and plants) - under the read more...

The reason related to the writing itself is that something was wrong in the story/tone and I knew it but couldn't figure out what it was. Recently, I had a breakthrough and have been rewriting everything that didn't feel right. Also, there was a scene that just didn't fit quite yet as much as I wanted it to so I took that out for now. We'll see what happens with it in the future.

One main non-writing reasons is cats! So many cats! I mentioned finding kittens back in this post and they have a home now... With me XD. (Except one who some acquaintances adopted so now I have nine instead of ten). In order to keep them, I needed to screen in part of my carport to give all of my kitties more space.

Building it was the easy part thanks to a friend. Getting the permit was the worst. But it's done and it's beautiful now! And most of the kitties tolerate each other now thanks to it! (Six of them are here):

Also, I've been putting in a lot of work on the gardens, especially the front one.

Before:

And after:

The dune sunflowers at the front will eventually fill the whole strip and the mulched areas that look a bit barren will fill in as the bushes grow and the wildflowers and ground cover fills in. As an example, here's the side garden when I first planted everything (with rain to illustrate that it also acts as drainage/a retention pond):

And here it is after two years of filling in:

And it's still not even near where it will be in the future!

And here's what the back yard looked like before:

And what it looks like now (yes it looks a bit hairy at the moment because it's in a stage where I'm letting things figure themselves out for a bit and once they're settled, I'll straighten it out more):

Aside from garden work, I also took driving lessons for a second time and actually managed to get my license this time (past all of my overwhelm and shut down associated with driving.)

Also, I was on ADHD meds but didn't like the side effects of not getting restful sleep and constantly having a stupidly high heart rate so I talked to my doctors, stopped taking it, and switched to a supplement program that helps balance things (cortisol, gaba, dopamine etc). It's not an immediately effective solution but it has been improving things over time and doesn't have the side-effects. Otherwise, I've been working on finding other coping mechanisms as well as trying to get meaningful rest to recover from burnout. It is getting better. Being able to write again is a good sign of that. Focus is still iffy a lot but it's improving. (I've been playing a lot of Palia and Stardew Valley lately XD)

So yeah. here's hoping for better things ahead for all of us!

[spork-supremacy]

The Epically Convoluted Journey of Agent Walker.

Guess who finished the first chapter of the fic they've been writing on and off for weeks. It's me, I am that person. Still not sure on the title but I'm fine with this.

So anyway here it is.

And for those who haven't seen my yammering on this idea. Basic concept is Agent Walker fic but loosely follows the song structure of Epic: The Musical/ The general vibe of the Odyssey.

Hope you guys enjoy.

---------

Agent Walker just wants to go home. He thought that was the administration, he thought that it was wherever all his stuff was, but he soon came to realise that he didn't really know what home meant, and maybe he should start looking for one. That is of course after he brings all his agents back to the Administration in one piece. He also wouldn't mind if life would just stop throwing side quests at him for five seconds.

---------

3480 words~

The Man and the Dragon

This was going to be a simple in and out trip. Confirm the rumours that an extremely powerful dragon is powering an entire city and decide what to do with it. All he had to do was command roughly 100 operatives in the field, none of which he had any experience with before, with him only previously having the hyper specific position of manager of realm reassignment, which means you don’t really know many people outside your field. But a simple crash course would apparently do wonders for him and, “The administrator themself said this would be a good fit for you, Agent Walker, you would have a real knack for field work that will prove beneficial.” 

Say what you want about the administration but they had operatives to spare when it came to field assignments, 100 is actually on the low end for your regular operation. 

“Alright, are we all aware of the mission ahead?”

“Yes Agent Walker!” They all shout in monotone unison.

“Good, just to be sure, I want B team to guard the entrance to the main tower, C team covers all underground exits and entrances, nothing gets in. D team I want to push ahead and make a clear path and mark the way towards the main energy supply room for the A team and I, remember guard the halls while we’re in there. Finally E team, find a way to clear out the guards and create a distraction, I'm sure you already have one prepared.”

A hand raised in the crowd. “Sir?”

Walker recognised the curly grey hair that poked out of the crowd alongside the elevated arm. “Yes, Sub-Agent Prentis?”

“I need your signature for oversight on prospective damages that may occur, marking your full responsibility on whatever happens on this mission.” Sub-Agent Prentis riffles through his bag before pulling out the pen and clipboard that he promptly lifts up to show his supervisor.

Agent Walker does not have the care or patience for any of those multiple sheets he knows is layered on that deceivingly small clipboard. “Give it to me when all teams are deployed.” He says, hoping that shuts Prentis up at least a bit. “Alright Agents, we don’t know what we could end up encountering, just hope you all got some full pens and time, because we’re going to be spending all night on the paperwork after this.”

That gets a laugh out of the several squads, always does considering their very…specific taste in humour.

“Alright let’s roll out remember your roles and execute them perfectly just like we planned, I expect no less from the most meticulous authority in all the merged realms.”

“Yes Sir,” salutes the many agents in turtlenecks and long overcoats as they all get into their respective groups and deploy themselves through the portals that took them to where they needed to be.

Jay turns to the only squad left, team A, the best of the best on field missions, he only knew two operatives on the squad, Underwood and Allen, the rest were completely obscure to him, an assortment of serpentine, merlopians, humans, and administration issued nindroids. 

And he has no idea who exactly put him in charge instead of one of them.

“Okay, prepare amongst yourselves until the signal from D team comes through on the intercom, then we move out.”

He walks off the makeshift stage, a small elevated platform, swiping the clipboard out of Prentis’ hands as he passes him, tucking it under his arm, and moving next to the water jug in the corner of the room. He takes a styrofoam cup and fills it ‘til about halfway when he moves off and plants himself on top of a crate pressed against the wall. He tends to find himself in this sort of positioning, prefers it that way, alone with his water cup, far removed from the other agents as they talk to spend the time, just as removed as he felt.

Granted he could do without the forms in his lap that he will certainly ignore until the absolute last minute.

He stares at the field agents as they laugh and chatter amongst themselves, passing the time as they wait for new orders. They all seem so naturally adept at their jobs, they all look like they want to be here, excited to give out authority and fill out forms. He has watched them everyday since his arrival, everyday of the only life he knows, and he still can’t tell if that’s just the way they are or it’s what the realm of madness turned them into. What he could eventually turn into.

He takes a sip out of his cup, continuing his gaze as he looks over the rim, that anxious feeling settling into his bones as he bounces a leg, antsy. His other hand drifts absently to the pendant around his neck, half of what he heard someone refer to as a Yin-Yang medallion, something loves gave to each other, a proposal. he once wondered where the other half went, but after a couple years it wasn't worth the thought. it did make for some fine jewelry though, and something to fiddle with.

“Sir, the signal’s been launched,” says a man, roughly early-twenties, brown hair in a neat comb over and wearing the same attire as every other agent. Well the same as everyone but Agent Walker who much preferred a well pressed suit and blue tie over a stuffy sweater layered with a trench coat any day. 

How did he miss him coming?

“Got it, uh?”

“Sub-Agent Carlton.” The man says before promptly moving off, rejoining the rest of his team.

“All right! We’re moving out!” Agent Walker yells to his squad, activating the portal he already preset on his little wrist device. Hurriedly they organise themselves into a single file line and make their way into the freshly created portal and across to the former realm of Imperium.

The coordinates chosen for their arrival is the location of a back alley behind the main tower/energy station for the entirety of Imperium, a shining beacon of light taller than any other building and placed in the heart of the city. Where they arrive however, is a place shrouded in the shadow of the tower and the surrounding high rises, and reaks of the garbage strewn across the floor, a mixture of week old take out and dead animals. 

“Remember, while the other teams may have marked out and secured a path for us, it is vital that we get in there without being noticed, as far as the Imperium guard are concerned as of now we don’t even exist and I would like to keep it that way.”

The squad proceeds to move forth with the mission and makes their way towards the basement levels, following the marks on the walls left by D team that directed them to the energy room and hopefully away from any guard patrols, if they were even still in the tower that is. The E team may have been tasked to create a distraction but Agent Walker wasn’t that bothered in the specifics of how they did it, granted he hasn’t exactly gotten word back that they were successful.

Thankfully there were no guards in sight as they weave through the basement level of the building, the grey halls all empty and silent as they coordinately move through them, aside from the odd agent they had patrolling the halls themselves, helping to confirm directions. Eventually the trail came to an end and they were met with a set of two steel sliding doors at the end of the walkway.

The door to the energy station slides open with a rapid motion, the bang ringing through the corridor. Through the doors revealed walls lined with computers. In the centre of it all hovered this bright golden barrier, shining in the harsh warm yellow lighting of the room, adding to its glow. Its presence taking all the attention away from the smaller details of the room, as if it was demanding the attention, the one dark spot on the sphere, outlining large talons.

“Shit, that’s a big dragon.” Agent Walker whispers in awe at the sheer size of such a creature. He wonders how much that thing would need to eat just to be satisfied, 100 pounds of meat, or 1 000? Probably more.

Sub-Agent Carlton, who has been shadowing Agent Walker the entire time, looks down to the tablet in his hands, trying to further pinpoint the species that could be inside the egg-like cage. “There’s a possibility, Sir, due to its sheer size that seems to be larger than any well, recorded species, it could be one of the source dragons of legend.”

“Which do you think?” In all truth Agent Walker has no idea what any of them are, despite dragons being a big part of many realms and several species across them, as well as one of the first creatures in creation, he’s never quite tried with dragon research.

“Just a rough guess but maybe the source dragon of energy, Sir.”

“What do we do in that case?”

“We have to free it, rule mandated, it’s way over the power limit.”

This was supposed to be simple, confiscate a regular high energy dragon, maybe not if it wasn’t that powerful, and go home. Having it be a dragon on par with a god in strength by the sounds of it, makes this a much higher priority mission. “Okay, I want you to get that shield thingy around it down.”

“NO.” Came a gravelly voice, from no clear direction except inside Agent Walker’s own head, and he might just know where it’s originating from. 

He turns towards the glowing yellow sphere in front of him, stepping further towards it, climbing himself onto a platform that with a press of a button rises him to the top. He stops at where the talons of the dragon were pressed against the wall of the cage, the size of it so much bigger than it was from down there, almost quadruple Agent Walker’s size in height alone.

“Why should we not let you go?” He asks aloud to the creature on the other side of the forcefield.

“Because if you uncage me you will cause the destruction of all the merged realms, the release of all that suppressed energy alone would level not only this realm, but possibly the next, burning them into nothing but ash.” The dragon brings his head to the forefront of the cage, what once was a blur of dark blue and yellow now in full focus as the jagged edges of Energy’s horn become clearer, and the sharp outline of its powerful jaw came into view. Most attention grabbing was the eye of the beast, so vibrant and yellow, outshining the glow of the already bright light emitted from the cage, so piercing and captivating.

Agent Walker looks directly into the eye of the dragon, swallowing down any fear he has lingering in his system and covers it with what he knows best: copious amounts of attitude. “Shouldn’t you be able to control that? It is your own power afterall.”

“Little Lightning, can you stop the swelling of your power when you feel a heightening of emotion? Can you stop the underlying crackle when you put yourself on guard? If I was to muzzle your power long enough, wouldn’t the build up burst out of you as it continually?”

Walker surveyed the ground below him quickly, checking if any agent had at all heard the name given to him by the dragon. “Quiet about the lightning thing, how do you even know?” He whispers aggressively.

“Do you think that even when trapped I can not feel the presence of someone containing the rawest form of my own power, lightning the purest of all energy forms, the embodiment of -”

“Okay, okay, I get it. You better not be accidentally broadcasting this to anyone else, no one can know, ever, or they’ll put me in one of those special operation units and work me to death, or First Spinjitzu Master forbid, claim me as property like all the nindroids and robots.”

“Do not fret, you are the only one I am communicating with.” And yet a deep suspicion lied within the Agent at those words, sending him into thoughts filled with paranoia, prompting a small silence to wash over the two.

“Hmmm,” Energy hums.

“What?”

“Your organisation is from Ninjago?” the dragon seeming slightly surprised, “I never knew it could develop into a place so…keen on interfering with the matters of other realms. ”

“No, we’re from the Realm of Madness.” Jay corrects him and gestures to himself, as if he was a prime example of a resident of a place designed to suck out your sanity.

“Only those from the land of the ninja would truly know about that man, he is practically their god after all, in fact you should be most familiar with him, considering he produced the element of lighting for the specific use of being a building block of that land.”

Agent Walker was starting to get very impatient with this topic. “Look, energy dragon guy, I just heard the saying somewhere and picked it up, I don’t think having a discussion of where I might come from is very productive right now.”

“Yes. I shall ask though, Little Lightning, why do you plan on freeing me?” A talon raised a little before scratching itself into the wall of the sphere, the sound sending a chill down the spine of the agent, reminding him once more of the sheer power of the beast. Almost as if a warning is being put upon him.

“The administration has a whole thing with the balance of the merged realms and maintaining order, we heard they were exploiting the power of a high class dragon. We were here to check it out and if it was much more powerful than the limit we have set in place, we would free it, things have changed now, though. You are basically a god yourself, we can’t exactly let one of the most powerful beings in existence be hogged by an entire realm. That’s not exactly fair now, is it?” He explains, a slight condescending tone covering those last couple of sentences.

The dragon hums to himself once more.“I see, well if you are so adamant on it you shall need to find a way to absorb all the energy of the field and that expelled from me.”

 While Agent Walker definitely understood all of what the dragon had asked, all he can think about is the piles of paperwork he would have to fill out. “Great, I’ll need to send in a construction request, engineering request, relic search form, a 9-p5...”

His train of thought was quickly interrupted by a blaring siren and the flashing of bright red light that encased the room, at first a warning to those who had entered, and a signal to those sent to protect the building.

Walker quickly switches on his intercom and calls out to all operatives in the room and  as he slowly descends on the platform “All teams head out and regroup at base.”

Once more Sub-Agent Carlton appeared practically out of nowhere next to him at the ready, “We have a problem, Sir.”

The kid really did love to hand out the news today.

“What is it, Carlton?”

“The portal devices are being disturbed, the frequencies are all off, if we use them there's a good chance we’ll all end up lost.”

“Then we’ll take the risk of getting scattered in able to go home.” Agent Walker responds, not really seeing the issue.

“These are very delicate things Sir, if they break, they’re as good as junk.”

Agent Walker proceeds to raise his voice at his subordinate. “Then file a broken weapon report when you get back, we can always make more but we find it much harder to recover agents that are either captured or dead.”

“But we could all get lost,” Carlton pleads.

“Or slaughtered once security gets here, there’s a reason you don’t want to get captured by a crazy dictatorship.”

“We have the technological edge, we can shoot them from afar.”

“And they could shields to block it for all we know. I don't think you understand this or did your enemy study, we have to leave now, we can signal headquarters when we get out, pick up a ride home, but we can’t do that if we’re all taken prison and have our communication devices taken from us.” 

Taking his attention off of Carlton, Walker presses the mic button on his earpiece and shouts into the intercom. “Everyone before you leave, know that when you do you must immediately call for transportation and pick up from The Administration, if your communication device is broken or missing, sorry to say but you just have to walk back.”

“Little Lightning.” Came that gravelly voice again, directly projected into Agent Walker’s head, at this point he believes he’s gaining a migraine from the act alone. He raises a hand to his forehead and rubs his temples. He does not have the time for this.

“Yeah?” He snaps, the adrenaline making its way through blood and shortening his fuse, half his brain focused on getting out of here, and the other on making this conversation as quick as possible.

“You don’t have what it takes to begin this quest, leave it with someone who has the strength and the resources, I see there are things you must do that you can not come back from. Do not argue with this, I can feel your weakness, the fragility of your state, you are not up to the task.”

“Excuse me?” No, he has been given a task by the higher ups. One that is a much larger priority than he once thought. He does this or it’s his head for it. “This is my mission and I have to comply no matter what. I'm sure I can find or make something to solve your energy overload problem, even make something if I have to. ”

Once more the dragon hums in thought before he answers the red haired man. “There is something…but you must handle it well or shall regret it.”

“What?” Agent Walker questions, the desperation in his voice just a little more apparent.

“You must take a baby dragon, preferably a lightning one, the younger the better, they have their own power but because of their youth they also serve to be absorbent to a high degree as their full energy capacity has not been developed. There is a possibility that it can consume not only the shield but also my potential power and the initial destructive wave.”

“What if it overloads?” He asks, fearing he already knows the answer.

“It dies.” Says the dragon, in a tone way too nonchalant for Agent Walker’s liking, “But that is just a consequence if you really are so keen on following your orders.”

“I’m sure there’s another way. I could make something, get someone to make something, we don’t have to risk a life, because while I might be pretty careless with how I handle my job, I would still prefer to not have any blood on my hands.”

“Didn’t you mention that something would happen to you if you didn’t comply with orders? To put it in a way you can understand: it’s either the potential blood of that baby, or yours spilt.”

The scrambling around the room increases as more agents are able to secure their portal networks and making their way through while several members of the imperium guard swarmed into the room, each in their shining bronze armour, the glowing orange blades of their swords raised and ready to strike at the nearest person they could reach.

Yet it was all numb to him for just those few seconds.

His gaze draws back to those he was supposed to be commanding, witnessing agents being dragged back by the guards, digging in their nail-like armour at the tips of their fingers, pulling desperately to inhibit escape and bring back a prize for their empress. Most were fought off with the tasers and guns wielded by the agents, but there was a couple of soldiers he could see winning, swords slowly being pressed into turtleneck jumpers, energy blasters hitting their targets a little too well, and even the faint splatters of blood coating parts of the floor. He couldn’t tell whose.

Turning back to the dragon trapped before him he felt himself get shoved by someone and into the closest portal before he could even give his answer to the god before him.

——

Like I said before hope you enjoyed.

if any questions always feel free to ask.

also gold star for whoever can guess where I got Carlton's name from.

[kyurilin]

2: Do you plan each chapter ahead or write as you go?

26: Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

2. Do you plan each chapter ahead or write as you go?

There is a severe lack of planning in my fanfic writing with the exception of the Shabby AU ideas and mostly since I don't write in chapters UNLESS I decide to post it early to gain interest (ie Stray and Love Is Just Like That, Sometimes) I really don't even know where chapters are gonna end. Mic's BS Life is FAMOUS for not having been planned at all with exception for the ending, while Crumbled Rooftops actually has an outline. Stray is MOSTLY unplanned and was a Follow The Vibes type thing with some talking it over with Shabby to nail down plot points I wanted to get down. Ironically the lack of planning is why stray chapter 3 has hardly gone anywhere as of yet but I also like not planning so that I can follow the vibes and figure out if something works naturally or not as opposed to stressing over how something SHOULD be going (crumbled rooftops chapter 5 suffered from this strongly since I knew what I wanted to do but several iterations didn't feel right).

26. Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

I gotta say Present Mic's Totally Bullshit Life in EVERY sense of the word wild. It started from Aizawa's POV but I wasn't used to writing him yet and switched it to Mic's. Then that vibed so well that almost 4 years ago TO THE DAY I knocked out every bit of the beginning up until Mic and Aizawa meet up again for the first time in years in the span of a few hours. By January/February of 2021 I had until the AWARDS CEREMONY done (and that's about 48k into the story!). This story was not intended to be posted- I was solely writing it for myself as a fun little thing because I'd fallen really hard into MHA and wanted to write it. Stray and a villain au for an OC from Mic's BS Life were started between the time I started this and when I hit the 48k mark. I wasn't interacting with the fandom at all at this point beyond obsessively reading erasermic fic, so my first real foray into interacting with anyone was to join an erasermic discord. Met @purekesseltrash, told them I loved their Rooftop Necromancy fics, formed a friendship, revealed my still in progress story and Bellsa convinced me I HAD to finish it and post it.

It took me till May to finish it (had to cut a smut scene because I wasn't comfortable posting it as is), figured out how to end it, then knocked out the HAPPIEST ending the week my great aunt iris passed because I needed something to distract me (Aunt iris was one of the most iconic people in my life and I looked up to her very much so writing my silly fanfic was a very welcome distraction). Almost posted the story from a McDonald's drive thru.

Even more wild is that this fic STILL gets comments and kudos. I literally just got a new comment yesterday. So many comments have told me that they stayed up all night reading it. @shabby-blog was commisioned by Bellsa to do fanart for it and now me and shabby are buddies because of that. I've been writing since I was 13 but not until I posted this story did I have a story that was a real 'hit'. And LITERALLY all because after consuming all of Vigilantes and as much erasermic fanfic as I could read and the entire anime and manga at the time in 2021 I looked at Mic and Aizawa's friendship and went "okay but what about the two of them healing from the loss of Oboro together and actually showing how it affected them and their friendship".

I owe it nearly entirely to the single panel in vigilantes where Mic tells midnight to call him Mic instead of his name, and now here I am 4 years later (3 and a half since posting) still hearing from people that they love how I wrote the characters growing over the course of the story and that it means a lot to them. Which is something I never expected to see in a comment on a fic I wrote.

[sweetiesicheng]

halazia - 01

word count : 2,538

warnings : yunho and reader take a bath together

author note : ahhhhh, i’ve been wanting to post more of chapters, but school is already kicking my ass. i think i have at least three and half more chapters written (thank you winter break), but i also have other stuff to write as well. hope you enjoy!

previous chapter - 00 | next chapter - 02

—

another day came by, and you happen to have work. the boys take turns bringing you to work. at least one of them accompany you when you leave your home, just to make sure you're okay. despite learning the different areas of the realm relatively quickly, they were always worried that you would get lost without them. plus, they wanted to make sure you were safe and not scared.

"do you want me to pick you up later?" jongho asks as you two approach the daycare building you work in. he holds your hand while also holding a tote bag for you.

"i'm only here for a few hours," you mention. "i could walk over and meet you if you want," you suggest.

jongho nods his head in agreement, "that works. then me, you, and hongjoong could go home together if he's done working for once."

"okay," you smile at him and both of you stop in front of the place you work at.

"it's miss y/n!"

"hi, miss y/n!"

"miss y/n! miss y/n! i flew!"

"hello, my sweeties!" you greet the children as they run over to you, obeying the "no flying" rule that is in place at the daycare. most of them learn to fly at a young age, but they are still in need of training once they are old enough to attend school. "i made cookies for after lunch today," you mention.

"cookies!"

"yay!"

the children start playing together outside with your two coworkers already telling a few of them to be careful. jongho helps you bring the bag of cookies in despite you telling him that you didn't need help carrying it. (he just wanted to look helpful and strong, but he also wanted to steal a cookie for himself.)

"i'll see you later," he says to you.

you nod, "see you later, sweetheart." he leans in a bit, and you give him his usual kiss on his forehead.

he leaves the small building. you notice him opting to walk instead of flying, but the main government building as you call it wasn't too far away anyways.

"miss y/n, miss y/n," one of the kids calls out to you as she runs over to you, "is that the super strong one?" she asks about jongho.

you smile at her, "all of them are super strong," you reply, but you knew that she was wondering if jongho was the one that played with them last time.

when jongho visited the day care, he showed off his strength by trying to lift all of the children who were present that day. he actually was able to lift all of them, and he played with them some more before leaving to train that day.

"but miss y/n, is he the one that lifted all of us?" the girl asks.

"mhm, he was," you answer her question.

"the next time he comes, i wanna play with him again! he lifted so many of us last time!" she says.

you smile and nod at her request, "i'll let him know. go play, you need to get hungry for the cookies!" you say and she runs off to play with the other children.

—

once all of the kids left the day care with their parents, you and your coworkers clean and straighten up everything in the building.

"y/n, do you want to go ahead and leave? we don't might staying behind," one of your coworkers, chaeon, asks you.

"no, it's fine! i don't mind helping out," you reply with a smile right as you tossed a few toys into a box that was decorated to look like a pirate's treasure chest.

the three of you talk about your lives while cleaning up for the next day. once you were done, you and your coworker eunha left while chaeon stayed behind to file some paperwork.

"have a good one!"

"bye!"

you head further into town, heading towards the center of the realm. you eventually reach where hongjoong works.

the building reminded you of the depictions that humans made and drew of the heavens. buildings made of marble and with pillars surrounding them; more of the dipcition of where the greek gods live actually.

you walk into the grand building and walk through the lobby, passing by workers and other officials who you have seen a few times before. you make it to the staircase in the center of the lobby and start walking up.

"babe?"

you turn around and see wooyoung standing at the bottom of the staircase. a huge smile appears on his face when he realizes that you're the one on the staircase. he runs up to you and throws his arms around you.

"hi," you smile and hug him back, "what are you doing here?" you ask, knowing that he would usually be helping out at one of the orchards nearby.

"oh, i'm done for today," he mentions and stops hugging you. "come on," he says and holds your hand, "let's see if they're done working."

you two head upstairs together and walk towards the back. you reach a set of double doors, and wooyoung knocks on one of them.

"come in!"

wooyoung opens the door for you and both of you walk in. you notice jongho trying to file papers with hongjoong sitting at his desk as the door closes.

hongjoong looks up and smiles, "hello."

"hi," you wave as both of you go up to him. "almost done?" you ask, peeking at the papers on his desk.

"i'll pretend that i almost am," he replies and reaches up to kiss you.

"how was your day?" jongho asks, appearing by you with a file in his hands.

"good. the kids want you to come by and play with them again," you mention.

"oh, i can definitely do that. they're fun to play with," jongho replies and you kiss his forehead, just you like did in the morning. "hyung, can't we finish this up tomorrow? let's go home," he says to hongjoong.

the king sighs, "that'd be more work for tomorrow, and that would mean you would have to come here again instead of training with seonghwa." hongjoong sits back in his chair looking at the three of you.

"the three of us could leave, and we go have fun together," wooyoung suggests, wrapping his arm around your waist.

"hey, you aren't going to do anything without me, smug bastard," hongjoong says to the younger with a slight frown. "if you guys were so kind enough, then you could help jongho file some things away while i finish this."

wooyoung huffs in response. you look at him and run your hand through his hair. "come on, let's help him," you say to him.

with a clear pout on his face, wooyoung gives in, "fine," he says, turning away to start helping.

"angel, let wooyoung and jongho do the work," hongjoong says to you.

"hey! come on, hyung!"

you shake your head with a smile and a laugh, "it's fine, babe."

as hongjoong finishes more paperwork, you, jongho, and wooyoung file things away to be delivered to other officials around the realm.

as you help out, you hear someone knock on the door. a correspondent comes in to retrieve most of the documents before leaving.

"can we leave now?" wooyoung asks, sitting on one of the couches with you in his lap. the three of you ended up on the couch after helping.

"i'm hungry," jongho mentions, leaning against you and wooyoung. you play with his hair and hear his stomach rumble, causing you to laugh.

suddenly, someone's phone starts to ring. you watch jongho sit up, patting his pants pockets. he stands up and digs his hand into a pocket before taking his phone out.

jongho answers the call and puts the phone on speakerphone, "what?" he asks, laying back down like he was seconds ago. you look at his phone screen and saw san's name.

"what are you doing?" san asks.

"with the love of my life, hongjoong hyung, and wooyoung hyung," he answers, making you smile.

"hey, she's the love of my life too," san says.

"and mine," wooyoung speaks up, "what do you want?"

"i'm bored."

"come over. we're waiting for hyung to get done with work," jongho says to san.

"should i tell everyone else to come?" san asks.

you and the two guys next to you look at hongjoong. he most likely senses you three looking at him, and he looks up at the three of you. he smiles and nods his head before looking back down at the papers in front of him.

"come over, and bring dinner. i'm starving," jongho says before hanging up.

—

after some time, the rest of the guys arrive to hongjoong's grand office, even yeosang, who works pretty far away in comparison to the rest of you. he even said he flew as fast as he could from the border office that he was working at to join all of you.

"and then the kid dive rolls away before missing the arrow," seonghwa explains his day while holding a drink in his hand.

"don't you tell them that the machines are always on?" yeosang questions.

"i do! they just don't listen to me," seonghwa replies.

you were now seated in a plush chair with a plate in your hand. on top of the plate was a small piece of cake.

"sweetie, do you want anything else?" yunho asks you. you shake your head as you eat another bite of your cake.

"hey, san, don't hate me when i say this—"

"i don't wanna go on another mission!" the angel immediately interrupts with a whine, "i just came back, hyung!"

"but we really need these messages sent to the borders," hongjoong says to san. "yeosang isn't going to the western border until next week," he adds.

san crosses his arms and stares at hongjoong.

"i'll go look for another plushie for you."

"fine."

—

a few hours later happen, and hongjoong is finally done working. (well, that's what he says at least.) all of you leave the building and walk home together.

as you make your way home, you sense something behind you. you turn around to see seonghwa behind you, who smiles.

"what?" he asks.

"oh, nothing..." you reply and he takes longer strides to walk next to you. he holds your hand, interlacing them together. "thought i sensed someone else with us," you mention.

"i'll knock them out," wooyoung says to you, overhearing what you had just said.

"no, i would," san interjects.

"listen here mother—"

"guys, chill please."

"oh no."

"again? really?"

you reach your home, where guards open the front gates for you. you make your way towards the house and most of the guys decide to do their own thing for the rest of the night.

—

"you seem tired," yunho comments.

"just being in here is relaxing," you reply.

the two of you are taking a bath together. yunho gently holds you against his chest while you two stay in the large tub, big enough for maybe twenty people.

why do they have a tub that big in the heavens? who knows why?

"we should get out soon," yunho says to you, "the guys are gonna complain that i'm being selfish by keeping you to myself," he says with a chuckle before kissing your neck, "but i wouldn't care."

"i don't either," you say to him with a smile, "but you have to get up early, so we really should get out of here."

he sighs, "yea, you're right. do you want me to grab you clothes?" he asks.

you shake your head, "it's fine."

yunho gets out of the bath and wraps a towel around his waist. you follow him and wrap the second towel around yourself.

"see you in the morning?" yunho asks you as you two exit.

"see you in the morning," you smile and he kisses you.

both of you go to your separate rooms. when you had moved to the heavens, there wasn't a room for you. but of course, a little magic and you instantly had a room. the room had mainly white furniture with a few pieces that were made of concrete as decorative pieces.

just like hongjoong's room, you have patio doors that lead to the balcony. your bed is neatly made (and hardly used since you almost always slept in another room). a few dressers and clothing racks are against two walls with your vanity next to one of the dressers. in one corner, you have a gray bean bag, matching the color of the concrete furniture decor that linger in the room.

you grab clothes from one of the dressers and set them on your vanity table. then, you sit down at the bench at your vanity and grab a small jar of lotion. you open the jar and rub the lotion on before putting your clothes on. then, you go into your private bathroom and get ready for the night by washing your face and brushing your teeth. a little skincare afterwards and then you head out of your room, looking for any of your lovers who are still awake.

you walk down the hallway of the house and stop at the door that leads to mingi's room. you knock on the door before peeking your head in. the room is dark except for the light that emits from mingi's computer screen. you can tell that he has headphones on and is focusing on something, so you decide to not disturb him.

you close the door and walk through the house, passing by a number of different rooms before reaching the other hallway. you knock on another door before opening it, peeking your head in again like you did earlier.

the lights had been dimmed, but you can clearly see yeosang laying on the fluffy rug by his bed with a face mask on his face.

"what is it?" he mumbles, not wanting to move because of the mask.

"almost done?" you ask, walking in with the door closing by itself behind you.

you sit down next to him. "mhm, you can do the honors," he says to you. you carefully take the mask off, and yeosang opens his eyes. "hi."

"hello," you smile. yeosang sits up, taking the mask from you and heads into his bathroom for a second.

you decide to get into his bed and get comfy, ready to go to sleep for the night.

"comfortable?" yeosang asks. you look over and see him standing in the entranceway to his bathroom. he taps his fingers to his face, making sure the product was in his skin.

"you bet," you reply with a smile.

about a minute later, he joins you in bed and snaps his fingers to have the lights turn off.

"do you want to come out with me in the afternoon? i'm going to go shopping," yeosang mentions, "and we could go by the garden," he adds, mentioning one of your favorite places to visit.

you nod, "okay."

"okay," he smiles and kisses you. "sweet dreams."

"goodnight, sweet dreams.”

—

previous chapter - 00 | next chapter - 02

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[sturthepotofmadness]

I got a random idea for a Xenoblade Chronicles 2 au I want to throw out into the world, since I'm not too sure if I'm going to write it or not. There's technically two, but one is more of a Xenoblade 3 au and even then it's even more canon diverge-y than this one, so only the xc2 au for now.

The divergence point is a bit weird, since it would take place before Rex gets pulled into the mission to find Pyra and I'm assuming story salvager ranks works differently compared to gameplay salvager ranks (mainly that story salvager ranks go from E-D-C-B-A-S-SS in order from lowest to highest and the weird extra titles don't exist, just rank letters). Other than that, the only spoilers are the events of chapter 1, the very beginning of chapter 2, and a boss and group from chapter 3. You've been warned if you care about early game spoilers.

Anyways, time to actually talk about the au idea. Also cut after the second paragraph cuz this is long.

So let's say Rex is 14, maybe a few months out from 15 here, he's known within the Argentum salvager community, and being salvager rank C is impressive for someone so young. He's having trouble reaching a higher rank, if only because his only way to protect himself is an old sword he scraped together and getting higher ranks means salvaging at risker points, which means dealing with stronger monsters and needing a better weapon, but he doesn't want to spend what money he has on getting a better weapon.

For some reason, Vandham's Merc Group has an influx of kids that don't want to become mercenaries, so they send a group out to gather people to explain jobs to this group of kids they're taking care of. One of the groups was led by Yew since the Argentum Trade Guild can be a hot mess if you talk to the wrong person by accident and Yew is good at sorting through people. Yew sees the salvager community here and is impressed by how supportive they are of each other.

When Yew talks to one of the salvagers there and he brings up the idea of teaching some kids about salvaging. The salvager asks, "We talking Rex's age, or we talking younger?" Yew asks who Rex is and that just so happens to be the time when Rex pulls into the docks and the salvager points him out. Yew (and the mercs with him) have to process that as the salvager comments that Rex is really damn good to salvaging and probably would have a higher rank if would use his gold on getting a better weapon instead of sending it back to his home town or repairing damage to his hut on Azurda.

Yew's crew decides to speak to Rex once he's free and before he leaves, so continue talking around Argentum. They're... really unimpressed with 97% of the Nopon, with the only ones they aren't unimpressed by being Zuzu (makes those noodles all by himself) and Falala (is a chef wanting to be something greater). However, they can't really ask either of them if they want to speak to said kids because Zuzu can't leave his job due to the popularity and Falala has a full time job.

They see Rex finishing up with the stuff he wanted to do at Argentum and Yew goes over to him. Rex sees him and asks what he's up to and Yew explains he's looking for people to explain to some kids about some jobs they could do and how unimpressed he's been with everyone from Argentum except the salvager and exactly two Nopon too attached to their job. Rex comments "yea that's Nopon for you" and asks if they found what they're looking for. Yew says that one of the other salvagers suggested Rex because Rex is closer to the kid's age and might have their attention more than some random adult. Rex thinks about it, then says that he's willing to do it, but only if it's fine if he brings Gramps along. Yew doesn't know who Gramps is, assumes it's someone important to Rex, and asks if he can speak to this Gramps. Rex drags him off to Azurda, who is Gramps, which Yew has to accept that of course the kid calls this titan something else.

Gramps and Yew talk for a bit before Gramps gives his go ahead and they head off to Uraya.

One travel later and all the merc groups have the people they managed to convince to speak to the kids and meet at Uraya's capital before they all start heading down to Garfont Village. There's 6 people (including Rex) they convinced, but it's better than nothing.

Once they get close to Garfont village, Rex notices a massive spider thing with a golden glow further up the cliff, with the road splitting off there to up there and to Garfont Village. Rex asks about the giant spider thing, some of the mercs look over and promptly go "why the hell is there a giant Elder Arachno with a blade". They get to Garfont Village, throw the volunteers at the kids, then tell Vandham about the spider Rex spotted (and also admitting that they wouldn't have gave a second glance at it if Rex didn't mention it).

Vandham takes some mercs to go demolish the Elder Arachno while the six visitors talk to the kids, though they're clearly only interested in the talks given by Rex and some Driver from either Mor Ardian or Gormott.

Vandham and who he took with him return with the meat, shell, and drops of the Elder Arachno as the last lecture ends. It took so long to kill the spider since it called friends and they wanted all of that meat for rations. The visitors are free to stay for the night before heading back home or just head back now without any help from the mercs. They all decide to stick around and Vandham asks one of the mercs to pull aside who pointed out the spider.

Yew grabs Rex, mentioning the boss wants to speak to him since Rex was the one to point out the spider. Rex is confused but follows as they go over to Vandham. Vandham makes sure Rex is the one who pointed out the spider and Rex is like "yea, i saw something glowing in the distance and i saw it was coming from some sort of spider". Vandham pats his shoulder, thanks Rex for pointing it out before it could become a problem, and drops the Beastly Core Crystal in Rex's hand. Rex is confused but Vandham explained the glow was from a Blade and that's the crystal the Blade went back into and Rex is free to keep it. Rex does decide to hold onto it and Vandham shooes him off after telling him to "awaken it when it glows or do smth with it".

One night and travel time later, Rex is back in Argentum and one of the salvagers ask how the trip was. Rex says all he had to do was explain the basics of salvaging to a group of 6-10 year old kids and he got a core crystal because he pointed out some spider that ended up being dangerous kinda close to the village. The salvager is surprised Rex got gifted a core crystal and asks what he'll do it with. After a moment, Rex says he's going to hold onto it until "it glows", since the village leader mentioned awakening it once it starts glowing. The salvager says that if it does start glowing to do it in Argentum so the other salvagers can see. Rex agrees and they head their ways.

About a week or two later, the core crystal starts glowing again after Rex had to smack some crabs back into the Cloud Sea. He goes back to Argentum to turn in his haul for payment (and paying the dock person) before going over to where the salvagers are meeting up. The salvagers greet Rex and ask if anything interesting happened. He takes out the now glowing core crystal and someone asks if he's gonna try and awaken a blade. Rex thinks for a moment, then says yea. Some Nopon nearby hear that and ask to see Rexrex attempt to awaken blade. Azurda moves to get a better look at the happenings as a group starts forming to watch.

Rex holds the Beastly Core Crystal out and begins to focus on it and attempting to resonate with it. They watch as the crystal begins to glow and, after a burst of light, Rex is holding a special Megalance and Wulfric has appeared in front of him. The crowd is silent as Rex says hi to his blade and Wulfric introduces himself, causing a few members of the crowd to recoil.

Congrats, Rex, you're now a salvager driver before the main plot begins. Rex starts bonding with Wulfric so they can be stronger together and learning how to use the Megalance. He finds it come weirdly naturally to him, but whoever he's sparring with just says that weapons created by a Blade you trust feels more natural than some random wepaon. Wulfric also learns to be "softer" for the lack of a better term so he can calm people if they find him scary. Rex also starts salvaging in more dangerous locations once he feels ready with Wulfric's weapon and he begins getting higher ranks, managing to get to rank A before the main plot finally shows itself.

The only real ideas of how the main story would go once it gets kicked started are:

-the Torna crew being surprised by Wulfric not returning to his core crystal and promptly rampaging on them because Pyra yoinked Rex before he could die,

-Malos and Jin failing miserably to stop Wulfric from wrecking the shipwreck while Nia, Dromarch and Sever try and make sure none of the other people on the shipwreck aren't harmed and get off the wreck,

-Rex and Pyra have a bit of an easier time against Malos thanks to Wulfric wrecking shit but still needing to be saved by Nia and Azurda,

-and Pyra not being able to wake Rex up herself after they crash on Gormott because Wulfric is very protective of his driver that nearly died but is somehow alive thanks to this new blade that randomly decided Rex is now her driver.

Not too sure how much else the story would change, other than they would probably have to come up with something to hide both pieces of green core crystal on Rex and Pyra when they have to disguise Pyra since their original excuse in canon wouldn't work because of Wulfric (... and also Rex being more well known because of the whole salvager driver thing with a high rank).

[anonymous-dentist]

Will you still continue writing and putting qbbh in your stories?

I'm asking this question after months because I can't stand people "separating" the cc from the character, when it can't be done, not when the cc defends such a despicable person. I kept quiet for a long time because you're my favorite writer, but I'm tired of pretending that it doesn't bother me because I suffer daily from racism and xenophobia (things that both qbbh and cc don't seem to care about JAJAJA).

I don't know if you will respond to this or just ignore it, but regardless, thank you for writing such beautiful works and stories, I won't follow you any further, not until I have your response. And if you keep writing Defender of the Bastard, I'll pretend I've never read any of your works, that I've never even met you.

I used the translator to make the job easier 0___=

Okay, anon, I'll start this by saying that I 100% understand where you're coming from. If you've seen my pinned, you know that I hate that shitty green teletubby and all his friends equally, and I do NOT fuck with anyone supporting them. And you've probably seen me speaking up about the freakish xenophobia that parts of Bad's fandom have been taking part in basically since April (that I know about, I've never been a viewer.)

But also? I don't write qBBH. I've written him maybe five times Ever since the QSMP started, and three of those five times were in Breaking Dawn. And, even then, he's not really super important to the narrative at all, and he was never going to be. If anyone from the book club was gonna be important, it would be Maxo because he was super important during the Regret Arc, unlike Bad. And you may have noticed that I haven't even mentioned Bad in that fic since he started getting weird about Dream recently. I legitimately rewrote all of the most recent chapter to keep Bad out of it.

With my other current multichapters (Let a Spider Run, Evil Eye), he was never gonna be a big part of them because I quite genuinely just don't give a shit about his character and because his character isn't too important to the parts of qCellbit and qRoier's stories that I want to explore. Breaking Dawn? Regret Arc. Let a Spider Run? ...Kinda all over the place, but it's the bit of May when Cellbit and Roier started getting interested in each other. Evil Eye? Current "Fuck The Federation" Arc. So if you wanna follow those, go ahead, Bad would only be a cameo mention at most, almost definitely not someone super important. The fic he'd appear most in would be Breaking Dawn, but even then it's like one or two more times because, again, Maxo is actually the more important one there. Limited roles, dig?

But also? You have no right to demand what I do and do not put in my writing. Am I gonna put Bad in anymore? Not in any huge role because I never did, but you showed up and decided to effectively threaten me into not writing him at all by saying you'll never read again. And that's disappointing because I'm so ridiculously thankful for all my readers and I never want to make anyone uncomfortable, but you coming in and demanding I effectively change the plot to my passion project instead of coming and talking to me in dms or something is just kind of a dick move.

I don't hold anything against you, anon, and I won't hold anything against anyone who decides to unfollow me because I'm gonna keep having qBad appear as minor characters in my fics, but you've gotta understand that he's a character. Does he suck? Yeah, and so does the CC, but separating fact from fiction is a vital part of appreciating Minecraft RP storytelling. And I 100% understand having difficulty separating character from CC when it comes to a CC who has done some real shitty things, but sometimes you just need to take a step back and stop consuming content from something that brings you this much distress just by having a single character in it.

You're probably young, and I'm really, really sorry that you've dealt with so much horrible bullshit because of this one man's fandom, and I'm sorry that this guy is on a server that you love and appreciate and I understand that so well (I was a DSMP writer for a while, after all), and I hope that you understand what I'm saying here. I'm not currently planning on including him in anything beyond one or two brief appearances in Breaking Dawn, but you don't really have much of a right to demand that of me. I made this decision weeks ago.

[corviiids]

8, 18, 23, and all the other numbers you haven't answered yet

ooohoho really enabling me there thank you very much. answered 23 in the last one! i wont do all of them or this'll get super long but ill put a few more under the cut!!

8. if you had to write a sequel to a fic, you’d write one for…

tbh ive been contemplating a silly oneshot sequel to as you like it but i do have to actually finish the damn thing before i even think about that so ill leave it there.

18. if you keep them, share a deleted sentence or paragraph from a published fic

im actually notoriously bad at killing my darlings so i didn't think i'd have that many deleted scenes, but i did find a few older versions of the makoto&ren scene in chapter 6 of as you like it that i had completely forgotten about. looking back on these i actually still like them

v1.0 of the grounding sequence ren goes through after his nightmares. i think i cut this because it was too long and didn't flow well in context, but im sort of fond of it in isolation:

this was from an alternate version of the scene altogether, where they go to harajuku instead of inokashira so ren can find some featherman merch futaba wanted. i dont like this version as much as the final but i am fond of the extremely long spiralled potato:

then a completely unrelated ren/akc date that i cut because it wasn't doing any work and i didn't think it was fun enough to be kept in:

...

a few more answers for fun (1-5)

writer asks

the last sentence you wrote

i cant remember which line i actually last wrote so here's the last line in current wip

He laughs again. In the silence where Ren tries to re-examine his own complexes, Akechi draws ahead on the wall.

2. a character whose POV you’re currently exploring

ren! i think he's fun because he's the player character and the protags are generally designed to be pretty malleable (or personalityless if you're feeling uncharitable... or wrong) so obviously there's a temptation to just make him whatever your story needs him to be, but i think he's a really tempting and interesting opportunity to really get your claws into a guy who has a personality but refuses to show it and have that be one of his character traits. he's so adaptable to every situation but there are so many moments where his stubbornness and inner values shine through in his limited dialogue, so the challenge becomes like, how do you deduce the rest of a character's hidden personality based on the little they show you? how do you unpack someone whose character is that he wants to be whoever you want him to be? what's going on in his mind? how do you understand him and fill in the gaps in a way that's consistent with what he does in canon when he gives you so little to work with? this is an irresistible challenge to me so he just lives in my brain. he's not even renting he owns the place and he doesnt have a mortgage

3. how you feel about your current WIP

i think palacefic is the project that ignites the most personal passion and excitement in me so im really so excited to finish writing it so i can share it and also so i can read it instead of reading my own chickenscratch notes and think about how excited i am to write it

4. a story idea you haven’t written yet

i keep coming back to circle this idea of postcanon akeshu and how they navigate a relationship (word used free of connotation) where they are constantly circling each other and obviously cant do without each other but also like. are so codependent and not at all functional enough to really have a normal romantic relationship or even friendship. i wrote like a short scene of this which i put on twitter a while back i might actually post it here. and i also started a short fic just to get some thoughts down but never had any plans for how to continue it

5. first sentence of the fifth paragraph of an unpublished WIP

im self conscious about how much of this has been about palacefic, so have a line from my death note longfic instead (i cheated this is like the tenth paragraph because the first paragraph is introductory and none of the lines make sense in isolation or they're too spoilery)

Well, when you eliminate the impossible.

[coquitokisses]

Trusting Again | Bucky Barnes (introduction)

series masterlist • m. masterlist

spotify playlist • moodboards • files

After having spent much of her childhood being trained in a private organization in Bulgaria, Catalina Navarro is finally free when she is rescued by Nick Fury during a SHIELD mission.

Nick took the responsibility of taking care of Catalina and thus preventing her from falling into the adoption system. He saw how much potential she had and as she got older, he thought that she could use everything she knew for good so at the age of 16, he decided to get her into SHIELD and since then she has worked for the organization as an agent and spy.

In 2014, Catalina witnessed the Winter Soldier event in Washington DC. A few months after all the files, from both SHIELD and HYDRA, went public, Catalina decides to help Steve and Sam find Bucky.

But when she finds him, instead of bringing him with her, she decides to let him go. An action that will have consequences later on..

A/n: hiiii! I have a few things I wanna clarify before starting the story

— I said it before but I’ll say it again, this story is 18+, it contains strong language, explicit and/or implicit sexual scenes, topics like mental and/or psychological health and PTSD.

— The story takes place during Captain America: Civil War, but there'll be a prologue which is set in 2015 just to give a little context of the story between Cat and Bucky. Then it’ll go along with the MCU timeline, although the story will be one year ahead (for example, Infinity War happens in 2019, not 2018, but everything will happen according to the timeline)

— I'm planning on following the order of the rest of the movies probably till Avengers Endgame (if things go how I've planned) maybe till TFATWS but I’m not sure yet, however, there may be some changes to the storylines of the movies just so I can introduce Catalina's character into the story.

— My first language is not English, is Spanish. I am bilingual, even tho I don't really talk in English just because I really don't need to, but I wanted to make this story in English. In case there's any errors/mistakes well now y'all know lol my brain process things in Spanish first and then translates them to English.

— This story is available on wattpad as well, (even tho I don’t really use that account much, the user is -dolcekisses) but I’m also uploading it in spanish in case anyone wants to read it, my user is coquitokisses (same as here lol) and the account is in spanish if any of y’all are spanish speakers.

— Also, I don’t know how many chapters this story will have lol (with everything I have written, notes etc, I think maybe like 55-65? I’m not sure, is that a lot? Lmao I’ll just go with the flow)

— When I started the story I started writing it in 1st person (my oc’s pov) but I actually write my stories in 3rd person now so there’ll probably be some times where it’s narrated in 1st person and some other times in 3rd. Sorry about that lol

— I chose Eva de Dominici to be the face claim of Catalina Navarro (my oc)

That'll be all, besties, I hope you like this fanfic as much as I do, let me know what y'all think, feel free to comment your opinion! Feedback will be appreciated <3

I'll see you in the prologue!

Likes and reblogs will be appreciated!

[ageless-aislynn]

For 10 years, my fic with by far the most hits on AO3 was "Five Times Oliver Held Felicity (And The One Time She Held Him)."

And I'm proud of it, don't get me wrong. I think it actually contains some of my better writing. 🤷‍♀️ But it ended up being a one-off sort of thing: I thought I'd write more Olicity or Arrow in general and then just... didn't.

However, it was so far ahead of all of my other fics in hits, I figured nothing would ever challenge it for the top spot. I hadn't checked my stats in quite a while and so I was surprised to discover that the "Five Times" Olicity fic was now in second place.

I've written 114 fics in the Flash fandom and none of them have remained in my top 5, that was another surprise! But 3 of my 11 Halo fics now are: "15 Minutes," (John/female reader) "Side Effects" (John/Cortana, John/Kai, very NSFW) and "Recreation" (Kai/male reader, same world as "15 Minutes").

Now, why is any of that important? It's for the sheer fact that I don't write sci-fi military fiction well AT ALL. My interest has always been in the more domestic and romantic themes, for lack of a better thing to call it. "You write the moments between the adventures" was what somebody told me about my Doctor Who fics ("Balancing Act," which is third place on that list, is a multi-chaptered Ten/Donna NSFW romantic fix-it fic where every chapter clearly takes place after some sort of new adventure that I don't show you but instead reference 😉). I agree with that assessment, that IS basically what I write.

A little while ago, I read somebody criticizing a particular type of Halo fanfiction. They didn't name mine by name but basically said it wasn't written "properly" like it's "supposed" to be and was everything that's "wrong" with uninformed people writing things they shouldn't be.

Here's the kicker: I think they're wrong. If they would've pointed at somebody else's fic and said that same thing, I would've wanted to jump in and tell them to get over themselves. People are allowed to enjoy whatever they want to enjoy! If somebody wrote a story that's "wrong" in your opinion, then all you have to do is scroll on by.

Heck, if somebody wants to write about Master Chief riding into battle on a T-rex while waving a glowing, magic sword given to him personally by Gandalf the Grey... Well, dang it, I'd read it, lol! Yeah, that wouldn't take place in canon but what is fanfic even for if not to allow all sorts of exploration? What if Halo had dinosaurs and magic swords? What if Chief and Silver Team or Blue Team or a brand new team of OC Spartans desperately needed to go buy new curtains for their apartments after they'd hung out for a while at the most happening coffee shop on Reach where Thel 'Vadam was the barista who made amazing specialty drinks while also heading up the local garage band?

(Yeah, I made that manip for something else but might as well get more use out of it, right? 😂)

Anyway, you get my drift. If one of my fellow Halo writers would've gotten criticism like that, I would've challenged it. But it was too close to my own work and instead, I absorbed it. I feel like I shouldn't be writing for Halo, I'm too wrong, I'm too off. I mean, no wonder I'm struggling to finish my WIPs, right? That's the first thing that pops to mind when I try to write anything: Yeah, but you're doing this all wrong. You should be ashamed of what you're writing. You're insulting the real fans of Halo by trivializing the characters like this. You're disrespecting actual military people living today by getting too much of this wrong.

And so seeing those stats at AO3 really meant something to me. I know I don't write authentic action-orientated sci-fi military fiction. I know that. But I love the characters and I love seeing them in situations they wouldn't be in in canon and I can't even tell you why. But people have been reading my fics? At least, I hope the hits aren't coming from people passing the links around with a big ol' ZOMG, please don't ever write Halo like THIS IDIOT, okay??? attached to them. 🤞😣🤞😉

This sounds pretty silly seeing it written down like this. I know, it's like, Get over yourself, Ais, not everything is about you! But I've been really struggling to get to the root of my writer's block so I could figure out what's keeping me from finishing my WIPs. And seeing those stats tonight and realizing how many more times my Halo fics seem to have been read over my other fandoms...?

Well, that might only mean that Halo is just the more popular fandom right now and it's nothing more than that. But it's nice to think that, even though there are people out there who think somebody unqualified like me shouldn't be posting their ridiculous little stories, maybe there are other people who've enjoyed them, even as unauthentic as they are?

I dunno. Food for thought.

I'm hoping this will inspire me to at least finish up the next chapter for "15 Minutes." 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Thanks for reading. *hugs* to you if you've ever or are currently struggling with anything like this. Tell your stories, they're worth it. I believe in you. 🤗🤗🤗

I just need to try harder to believe in myself, hm? 🤔

PS - I've gotten SO MANY wonderful comments on my Halo fics, so why is it that the hate that might not even have been meant for me is so much louder in my head and crowds the nice comments out? I hate that, I truly do. 😖