#and i don't need to be familiar with the fandom of the fic i review but if it matters to you just ask!

[mishyells]

Hello!! Please consider helping us out, any donation is welcome. If you have any questions about what you'd like reviewed, just let me know! I'm open to just about anything.

Each pic uploaded will come with a fun little fact about the cat(s) pictured. They're all very social and get along with each other closely.

[olderthannetfic]

Long post coming in which I look at the alleged examples of racism the EndOTWRacism campaign cites.

I'm sympathetic to EndOTWRacism, I really am, and I think some of the things they're asking for are broadly reasonable (diversity consultant, more admin tools --though not in the time frame being asked for).

But reading through their examples of supposedly "obviously" racist works is...something.

They love to cite that transformers fic about George Floyd, but that fic had zero hits when it was found and was posted anonymously. I understand it's offensive, but frankly, there is nothing in that summary that suggests the author was being deliberately offensive, and because it's gone now, we cannot see the fic to decide for ourselves. Stitch calls the author a "known racist troll" but offers no source for this beyond a link to a completely innocuous unrelated fic.

Stitch also cites one instance of readers finding a racist fic, leaving critical comments on that fic, and then being assailed with racial slurs by the author as evidence of harassment. That's... a nonsense accusation. If you go into a space you know will upset you, post things that will upset others, and then get upset by how those others respond, you are not being harassed. I don't know what you expected to happen. You are overall correct in what you are saying, but arguing with people in the comments of a fic is not activism.

Stitch also references a Holocaust a/b/o fic and Dr. Pande's response. I don't know how you read what Pande said and come out thinking they were the good guy here. Pande was absolutely harassing that author. They posted repeated comments on that fic after they were deleted, after the author explained their reasoning. Pande didn't like this reasoning and so continued to comment. Also, the author did not want to get Pande fired. That's just a lie. The screenshot to the tweet accusing the author of this makes it extremely clear the author did not want to get Pande fired.

Stitch cites one incident without actually citing it in which someone was told by AO3 not to harass an allegedly racist author. Source needed, but based on the other examples they cite I can make an educated guess here.

Perhaps most telling of these examples is the one in which someone impersonates Stitch in the comments of a fic. Other users proceed to criticize fake Stitch. Despite no mention of race in their responses, Stitch accuses the responders of being racist. This example makes it very clear that Stitch views anyone who disagrees with them about fanfiction to be racist, regardless of whether race is brought up or not. The only way to examine race in fandom without being racist is by agreeing with Stitch.

The hockey fic example offers no evidence that things happened as stated. No screenshots, no links. If other people cannot verify what you claim, you should not be citing it in your campaign.

It is very hard to take this campaign seriously when Stitch, who I was only vaguely familiar with before this, is the primary source. They repeatedly misrepresent situations in order to fit their narrative of victimhood, lie outright when the source is right fucking there, and seek out harmful content then get upset when they are harmed.

The campaign also appears to be using Stitch's questionable methods outright. See how they discuss AO3's admittedly sloppy June 2020 post about addressing racism. This campaign argues that AO3 has not implemented any of the promised features except for blocking, which is an absurd argument if you actually read the post from AO3. Of the six stated changes, two have been implemented (comment controls and blocking), two are too nebulous to say whether they've been done (reassessing warnings and reviewing ToS), one I'm not sure about (has collection searching improved?), and one (improving admin tools) is an actionable thing that has apparently not been implemented.

Maybe they did review their ToS and archive warnings and just came to the conclusion that they were fine as they are. I have no idea, and apparently neither does this campaign.

Anyway. I find this all frustrating. There are real issues to address here, somewhere, but this campaign buries them beneath layers of bullshit. Reading through their Call to Action and FAQ multiple times feels like reading any other bullshit fandom call-out post. They cite misrepresented or non-existent sources, outright lie, and frame those they disagree with in the worst light they can.

I implore anyone reading this to examine the campaign's posts and look closely at their sources. Decide for yourself what is going on here, don't just take the campaign's word for it.

--

[boomstab-papa]

Tae's guide to Pillowfort

So you fucking hate what tumblr is doing, you're fed up, but you don't know where else to go / what to do when you get there

Here's a guide what I've been up to over on Pillowfort:

For starters, new users need to either get an invite code (message me if you want one, because I literally always have some!) or donate to Pillowfort's operating costs to get started. I recommend getting a code first, and then donating later if you decide you like Pillowfort.

Recognize that Pillowfort has no ads and does not sell user data, so you are not the product. You are the customer. Pillowfort lives because users give their money to the webisite directly, just like how ArchiveOfOurOwn.org operates. If you give Pillowfort a try... and you want to see it keep growing... and you have a couple bucks to throw their way... please consider donating!

On your new account, you'll set up your blog. User icon, description, settings, etc. You get one blog per account. Consider making this your "everything" blog, where you make your original posts AND reblog things.

Consider making a Community that will serve the same purpose as a tumblr sideblog. For example, I made my main blog ceylon-tae and then made the Community "ceylon-tae-art". Just make the Community for now.

Did you set your NSFW and blacklist preferences? You should. Filters & Blacklist have their own link in the sidebar, so you don't have to go into your Settings every time you want to blacklist something. Easy!

Join some more Communities! Think of joining a [Fandom] Community like following the [Fandom] tag on tumblr. Posts from that Community will show up on your feed now! Here is a list of the currently-most-active communities.

Follow some people! You might have seen some of your comrades on tumblr posting their Pillowfort accounts, or maybe you really liked someone's post in a Community and you decide you'd like to follow them! Go follow them! Their posts will show up on your feed now!

Make a post! Remember to add any relevant tags to the post, especially if your post is NSFW, and don't cen/s0r your tags. Your post will now show up on your blog, and you can control who can see it, reblog it, or comment to it. You can make text, image, video, or link posts.

Now you can reblog that post you made to your Community that you made! Or to another Community someone else made! Some Communities review submitted reblogs before posting them, others do not. Remember to add the relevant tags to your reblog here as well.

Reblog posts you enjoyed, so you can show it to your followers!

If you have something to say about the post, Pillowfort has a nested comments section! Livejournal / Dreamwidth / Reddit users will find this familiar. Newbies will hopefully find it easy to learn: make your own comment, reply to the comments other people have made, talk to people in a space that's made for talking and replying.

You can make your own hush-hush commentary in your tags when you reblog a post to your blog, but these tags are not visible anywhere else. So Pillowfort is not gonna rat you out to OP when you make weird tags on your reblog. But also there is no bulit-in way to read everyone's tags in one long list.

You cannot make addendums to posts when you reblog them. If you want to add something, make a comment! Or make your own post and include link to the original post.

Seriously. Comments section. Good stuff. If you enjoy a post, check out its comment section. For comparison, tumblr discussions lived in reblogs, but comments on AO3 fics are what makes an author's world go 'round. Comments are where discussion lives on Pillowfort. So comment on the post if you have something to say! You can have real discussions again! GO. BE FREE. You can also do a Kung Pow Penis in nested comments if you want to. Nested comments are good.

Likes just tell OP you liked the post. That's it. It's just like how kudos works on AO3.

Remember, there's no algorithm, so Likes don't boost any post's visibility, and if you want other people to see a post, you reblog it. If you want to see posts, you follow people and communities, or you dive into the tags for yourself.

There's more details and things to know, but I think these are some good basics for "how the fuck do I even get started"

More how-to-pillowfort guides: https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/3459763 by DoktorHobo https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/4099124 by rah https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/4404622 by killerandhealerqueen

In summary:

Make a blog. Make posts. Make a niche-interest Community or three. Follow people and Communities. Reblog other people's posts to your blog. Reblog posts to your niche-interest Communities. Make comments. Reply to comments. Love the comments. The comments are a fertile land and we will thrive. And we will call it... Pillowfort!

[b00kwyrm7]

In lieu of an Ao3 comment

(since I don't have an account yet hhhhh) I'm doing a tumblr review of an incomplete fic from a series I adore very much! Why? Partly in honour of the fact that the adrenaline rush I got when I saw the update was so intense it shocked me into staying awake and attentive through my entire chemistry class 🙏🙏 also this has become my comfort series lately. It was so difficult to keep a straight face, the angst-lover in me was so gleeful.

Now, onward!

Fandom: FFXIV, spoilers for Shadowbringers

Authors: the amazing @azems-familiar and @sunderedazem

HE CUT HIMSELF OFF FROM THE LIFESTREAM?? Emet-Selch were you just planning to float in the Rift forever-

Hhh after everything he still trusts the Exarch and the Warriors TOT

:OOOOO Elidibus!!

Literally had to put a screenshot cause. I love this so much. Sliding this scene into the bookshelf in my soul. No words only cry. There's just something about Elidibus being so gentle, and his last traces of memory.

Of course he regrets ascending Fandaniel because of his opinions on THEATRE you fussy old man. This made me giggle though

URGH FANDANIEL WHY

Oh...the first place he thinks of to get help from is the tower...without even thinking... TOT

(remembers AN at the start saying this takes place after 5.3) (reads Emet-Selch going up the stairs) OH. OHHH. YESS

This scene is just. So well-written. I almost started kicking my legs with delight in class. *slots this scene into my bookshelf*

The way he's slowly dying but his grief just numbs out everything else until it's sundown before he begins to move again

A KISS!! A PROMISE!! WAUGH

A walk in the rain with a stab wound this poor man

Elidibus had the right idea (let👏him👏rest) but sadly plot needs must be fueled

;-;

Chapter 2!!

(and in comes the authors with the steel chair) TATTOO!!! YES!!!

Omg Corrain knows about Emet-Selch's Darkness-aligned aether 👀 it's so cool how he's modifying his healing magic for it

I suspect Emet-Selch is barely processing what he's seeing at this point (understandably)

TOT G'raha supports him and he just lets go (he's safe, he's among his trusted, his loves ;-;)

Just the way small intimacies are written in this series just makes me want to incorporate it into my own style so badly

Also Alphinaud and Alisaie being here in the background is such a nice touch

Lelesu is such a steady rock in this storm 🙏🙏🙏 so quick on the uptake too

The image of G'raha crying quietly next to the two ppl he loves once everything is settled is so bittersweet

Lelesuuuu

Hmm G'raha in-game is an all-rounder, but in this AU once his connection to the Tower has been broken, what magics can he do now? Seems like healing is not in the repertoire anymore

PROMISE!!!

The tea. The freaking plays from Voeburt *puts head in hands* HHHHHHHHHH

'delicate art of Ascian wrangling' well said well said

Before this series I never read a fic with two WoLs, but because Corrain and Lelesu have been written so well I actually think it's so much more fitting. Just the way their dynamic works and how it affects their relationship between themselves, with the ✨horrors✨ and with the rest of the Scions? I know FFXIV has the WoL be so solitary (even with the Scions) but just the thought of someone else who truly knows what you've been through on an equal level is so comforting tbh

If you've gotten to the end of this thanks so much holy crap. Idk if I'll do many more of these but if you're a fellow player 🫵 pls read the fic!! And the series!! Its all so wonderful I can't say enough about it XD

[ask-the-prose]

Hi there!

I’m starting a new Anne of green gables fan fiction story. I want to make a good strong opening for the first chapter. I want to get readers on fan fiction hooked from the start. How can I do that? I would love to get as many reviews on this story as I can. I have written other Anne of green gables fan fiction and I just don’t seem to get reviews and I can’t understand why. I want people to enjoy my stories. I have the summary written up and the beginning of the first chapter written up if you would like to see it.

Thank you!

Hey! Thanks for the ask :) apologies for the delay. I’ve been sick with a nasty cold! That said, this is a great question and one that I regularly play around with, and because of that, I have A LOT to say. This got long. Sorry!

Fanfiction is a great way to build your storytelling skills, and I personally love writing fanfiction myself! Writing fanfiction and writing original fiction has a lot in common, and so a lot of advice can be applied either way. But there are some things that fanfiction does differently that original fiction just doesn't have the same pre-ready audience for! So let's look at fanfiction a little closer, and I'll use this ask as a basis for a quick little fanfiction guide!

The Differences Between Original Fiction and Fanfiction

If you're writing fanfiction you probably already know the difference between original fiction and fanfiction, but for those looking to use this guide for their own purposes, I want to talk a little more at length about how fanfiction and original fiction really differ beyond just the dictionary definition.

Fanfiction is creative content using characters or setting from an already established piece of work that you did not create yourself. Whereas original fiction is original to yourself.

This difference is important to understand because when writing your work, you do need to understand your audience and why things work the way that they do. For original fiction, you're working with an audience that you have to connect with. But with fanfiction, the audience is pre-made, already invested in the characters, the setting, and sometimes the plot as well.

With fanfiction you have some leeway with how to write your story because readers are coming to the fanfiction already knowing that you are not the original author. That being said, there are a lot of FF readers who expect your fic to resemble the canon work, and so with all fiction, you will need to choose your audience and who you are gearing your work for. Your work will not appeal to everybody, even if your audience is pre-built. Everybody has different tastes, so what works for some won't work for everyone.

Take Advantage of Canon

You're an experienced fic writer, from what you've said, so you are familiar with canon and I'm betting you've read other fics within your fandom, right? This can be used to your advantage.

Some of the most successful fics I've seen, and some that I've found are most appealing to me, are the ones that incorporate canon into the fic in new and reimagined ways. One way to do this is to match your writing style, which is a fun challenge if you're ever up to it. Another is to use symbols, motifs, and other aspects of the story in new ways or settings. One most relevant to your question, though, is to reference canon in your own fic.

It can be assumed most of the time that if a fan is reading your fic, there was something about the canon source that appealed to them. So if you're unsure how to start your fic with a hook, take a look closer at the canon. Really pick it apart, and take a look at what appeals to you and why.

Does the source start in media res (starting the story "in the middle")? Then you know that in media res would be an effective hook on this audience. If canon starts with a dream or another cliche, then using a cliche yourself may be forgiven at the least or even appealing to your audience. You know your fandom better than I do.

You don't HAVE to use whatever tool canon uses if you don't want to, but it is an excellent place to look first when making creative decisions about your fic.

The key to the hook involves tension. A good hook gets the reader engaged in the story by asking questions and making them wait for the answers. Your reader wants to know what's going to happen next, and the best way to do that is to read the rest! Tension is created using stakes, so you don't necessarily want to wait to give your reader a reason to care, but a little mystery goes a long, long way.

Getting Comments

This is where my personal advice may get disappointing.

Getting comments and reviews on your work is something that the writing community has always had a problem with in regard to how to get them and how to get more of them. I tend to stay away from this part of the discourse myself because my opinions tend to be unpopular, especially with newer writers. But the best thing I can say on this topic is this: comments and reviews are completely outside your control.

There isn't a magic system or style or process or cheat code that will get you more comments or reviews. And believe me, I've tried. I've written since I was literally 12, and in fandom, you will find the most engaged readers across any platform and any media. Original fiction is infinitely harder to get engagement with (you might see writers on tumblr talk about this at length) than fanfiction. And so when it comes to engagement, you have 1 point going in your direction by simply what media you've chosen.

Fanfiction, by its nature, is designed around a pre-built, already excited, and already engaged fan base. The people reading your fic already love the original source and are also probably discussing canon with others, searching for and enjoying fan art, memes, meta, whatever. So these people are already engaged. I've found that no matter how well you write and how interesting your fic idea is if your already-engaged audience doesn't leave comments in general, it's going to be hard to get them to do that differently.

I'm not familiar with Anne of Green Gables myself, so I'm not familiar with the fandom. But I've been in a large number of fandoms over the years across many different platforms. Comments on ao3 are not as common as comments on, say, ff.net. Wattpad is difficult to get readers on, let alone commenters. Royal Road and others have very specific user bases that engage with some content more than others. So comments can depend upon where you are posting your fic.

Comments can also depend on how large your fandom is and the specific fandom-wide attitude toward comments and discussion. I write fic in a small fandom right now, and while my views and kudos are pretty low compared to my larger fandoms, my comments are higher because there are fewer of us, and we all recognize each other's URL. Big fandoms may result in people being more comfortable with anonymity and choosing to lurk instead. That doesn't mean people don't like your work. They, for whatever reason, just don't want to say anything to anybody.

Fanfiction also has a lot of differences in engagement when talking about tropes or kinks. When tagging your fic, always tag it appropriately, but there will be a portion of your readers who clicked on your fic because of one or more of your tags. If you're writing explicit fic, people specifically looking for the kink you're writing for will be more engaged and more likely to comment because they want to see more of their chosen kink. The same goes for tropes like "enemies to lovers," "soulmate au," or "coffee shop au."

An 18-chapter soulmate au I wrote 5 years ago in a huge fandom got 68k views and 300+ comments. So looking at those metrics, you can say, large fandom +1, popular trope +1, it was a popular ship +1, and it was on ao3 +1, and 18 chapters = 18 times I was on the first page of the "recently posted" dashboard. Those boosted my chances of getting comments. On the other hand, let's look at what really matters here: ratios. If you count all of those comments, which about a third to half were response comments from me, then out of all of my viewers, .4% of them left a comment. Less than half a percent of my readers said anything to me. And that number goes down when you take out the comments that were mine. Taking out my responses and dividing them by chapters, that's about 8 unique comments per chapter. Not much when 68k pairs of eyes saw the fic, right?

Now if we look at a more recent example, I have a current fic that is in a small but engaged fandom, arranged marriage au (related to canon), and that one had about 20 comments and 500 views. That's 4% of people who clicked on the fic and left me a comment. I didn't respond to many of those comments this time around, so that ratio doesn't go down all that much depending on how we filter comments.

I've played around with trying to engage my audience. Things like asking a question in the author's note to spark conversation in the comments worked somewhat but not all the time. Responding to comments doesn't seem to affect that number either. People aren't really looking at whether you've talked to others in your comment section before leaving a comment themselves. Simply saying, "I'd love to hear your thoughts!" Tends to do enough for my taste, but ultimately that won't always work.

In general, engagement on fics has gone down in recent years. I don't have the numbers to back it up. I've been around a while, enough to have lost original documents for my works at least three times. From my experience, though, fandom has changed its culture from what it used to be. I don't have the answers, but I do know that there are clever ways to engage your audience that can still make fandom a fun place for you.

Ultimately this is a long-winded way of saying that you can't control other people's actions. Even some of the most incredible writers I've seen have struggled with the comment conundrum. It has nothing to do with you or your writing and everything to do with the other person and the millions of unpredictable factors that go into why they made the decision to leave or not to leave a comment. Believe me; it's hard not to let reader engagement affect your sense of pride in your own writing. And I've found the "write for yourself!" advice mostly useless.

The best you can do is the little things that drive clicks and increase eyes on your work. Everything else is up to the reader.

– Indy

[ncruuk]

Hey...this is just so I can get closure 😭 but you weren't gonna update your maya/carina fic anymore right? I didn't see anytuing on your ao3 mentioning whether you abandoned the story or anything but I just wanted to check

Hello...umm, not sure where you got that idea from?!

I got asked a question about this just after the cancellation was announced and my answer is here.

Rereading it, it's perhaps not my most coherent explanation, but the gist is nope, not abandoned the stories but did have to temporarily abandon the fandom and show - for a number of reasons (many of which aren't really for sharing specifics about on tumblr) but in summary (which isn't really summarised so is under a cut):

- I have family history that means I don't cope well with baby storylines in TV shows. [I missed the entire original L Word apart from clips on youtube of Alice/Dana and Bette/Jodi because the literal first line of dialogue in the first episode of s1 was 'let's make a baby'.]

-I don't cope well with needlessly ruined wlw character storylines in service of a generic straight male for no good reason storylines

- I don't cope with poor showrunning. [By all means, make a 'bad' show in terms of market share/appeal, reviews etc, but make it well. Have some continuity, some recollection about how many brain cells your characters have week to week, etc etc. Keep your fictional versions of real world constructs (like fire departments say) at least plausibly real rather than go into pure fantasy where anything goes in terms of negligence and lack professionalism that goes way, way beyond anything remotely legal.]

All of which meant I had to step away from the show fairly quickly in s5, and then the fandom pretty much completely through s6 precisely so I didn't abandon the stories.

mid 2022 onwards though, through all of 2023...it was a wild and not particularly healthy ride for me. But one thing I'm very, very good at is writing for shows which aren't going to accidentally shaft my fic by droppng a new episode which completely distorts the characters we were familiar with. [Proof if proof were needed that I refound my writing mojo in general after RL crap with a show that finished 23 years ago, Voyager].

All of which is a very long winded way of saying fear not, I haven't abandoned my Station 19 stories...I'm actually really looking forward to returning to them, once I am in the right headspace and have obsessively rewatched s3 and a lot of s4 scenes (but not the last 3 episodes, as my father unexpectedly died the day the first of those 3 eps dropped and it's all rather synonymous for me with that).

[fuckyeahdindjarin]

Hi new readers!

First of all - welcome! I'm so happy that you're here. It's been a pleasure seeing new followers and readers discovering this fandom!

I know I'm not the only writer who has noticed some changes in the level of interaction in the fandom these couple of months. As someone relatively new to the fandom myself (it will be one year in March), I thought I'd post this cheatsheet for newer users who might not be familiar with this community.

1. Please reblog!

This is the primary way you find content and fics on Tumblr - please reblog freely and often! Content creators and writers spend their precious free time producing content for free. All we ask for is you share our work. While likes are nice, you are not sharing content by just liking content.

You don't even have to add anything to a reblog - a blank reblog is definitely more helpful than a like.

2. Feedback is very much appreciated!

If you are able to, please leave feedback for fics. It can be a comment, a reblog, tags in a reblog, or a gif - it means the world to have meaningful interaction with readers. It doesn't need to be a literary review, even a short comment or a keyboard smash is appreciated and will keep writers going.

3. If you want to stay anonymous, send in asks!

Anonymous or not, asks are always appreciated! But especially for readers who want to stay anonymous, send in asks to interact with writers.

4. Please interact with completed works!

I'm really feeling this one - I've had so many readers serial like their way through Consent, but literally just one or two users have left feedback in the last few months. Even if a fic is completed, no matter how long ago, writers would love to hear from you!

Same deal for fics that have not been completed, but haven't been updated for a while - leave reblogs and comments to encourage the writer to keep going!

5. Please be kind!

We are all human behind our accounts. Often we are writing late into the night after our full-time jobs, or giving up free time for writing. So please be kind when you reach out to writers, as you would anyone you meet in real life.

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, my inbox is open.

[sophia-sol]

five things: third-person dialogue, sewing project, zoom theatre, mdzs quote, total solar eclipse

one

I remember years ago, before I got into any cmedia fandom, the first time I attempted to read a fanfic for a cnovel. and the fic had dialogue written in that relatively formal way of speaking to someone in the third person, and I found it so alienating and unnatural a construction that I couldn't even finish the fic! and now...I love it.

I don't know why this just struck me now, but it's funny how much your opinions on something can change just by familiarizing yourself with it

two

red jeans alteration project complete! these jeans were too wide in the waist and too narrow in the thigh. (my thighs are almost universally more magnificent than pants manufacturers know how to accommodate.) I did the following:

1. removed the waistband so I could get some matching fabric from the inner side, to expand the thighs

2. unpicked the back seam and the inner leg seams

3. added the inner waistband fabric into the seams inside the legs, from the top of the seam to my knees

4. sewed up the back seam to take in fabric heading up to the waist

5. sewed the original waistband back on, with a tuck at the back to make up for how the back of the pants were taken in

6. sewed in some sturdy grey fabric scavenged from a dead pair of pants to cover the raw inside of the waistband

7. mended a small hole in the inner thigh

I maintained all the fabric in the seam at the back so that if I ever need to expand my waist again I have room to do that, instead of trimming the seams closely

and they're done! very pleased with myself. the pants work so much better for me now!

three

review of my playing of caesar in zoom theatre Julius Caesar: "please take this with the best possible spirit. I have never wanted to murder you more than in this role."

AWW YEAH I KILLED IT. (and then was killed. :D)

four

I just. need to bring up this quote from mdzs. because I feel like it's a moment that's glossed over FAR too quickly. wwx feeding his own blood to spirits he's called to help him, as a reward for their good work! what the fuck wwx!!!

Wei Wuxian brushed the finger with the cut near each of their lips as awards. With crimson tongues made of paper, the Nether Brawlers slowly licked the blood beside their lips, as if they truly cherished the delicacy.

five

total eclipse is a totally wild phenomenon, I'm so glad I got to see that, holy shit

and also it's like. if I lived in a time before we knew what was happening, I would absolutely be like, that is a powerful omen portending SOMETHING for sure

[chen-chen-chen-again-chen]

For the WIP Game! (I went and updated the original post so it has links to all the answers, if folks want to check those out. Sometimes my brain good!)

@you-remind-me-of-the-babe asked me about the WIP called Will suck dick for books! 😆😆 I did not anticipate that folks would ask about works in fandoms they are not familiar with but I am LIVING FOR IT~~

I'm also going to go ahead and tag @fatalfangirl here because (methinks??) you have partaken of the Haikyuu. Going to also tag @thewesterndoor because YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID lolol jkjk who got me into Haikyuu and whose Take/Ukai fics I ADORE.

Fandom background: Haikyuu!! is an earnest and hilarious volleyball anime where everyone is gay and chaotic and loveable. It's SO SO GOOD and like all sports anime, it is not necessarily just about sport but about FEELINGS~

Pairing background: Takeda Ittetsu/Ukai Keishin

Takeda (Take-chan): looks like a cinnamon roll but could actually kill you, English teacher, glasses nerd, his superpower is bowing at like 1000 km/h, head coach but he knows nothing about volleyball at the beginning of the series (he just stepped in to fill a void b/c he a good human), cries easily, tries to use poetry to motivate high school athletes, terrifyingly good at holding his liquor, in my headcanon he's a beast in the sack

Ukai: looks like he could kill you but is actually a cinnamon roll, Reformed Gangster Vibes, in his late 20s but his energy is always Kids Get Off My Lawn, lightweight, easily manipulated by cute English teacher into coaching a high school volleyball team even though he has full time jobs running a convenience store and helping out w/ the family farm because (in this fic) he's Weak for Dat Ass

The fic: a canon-adjacent and canon-compliant take on (some of) the events in the series, but focused on the relationship between Takeda/Ukai, these baby adults who have somehow accidentally co-adopted 14 chaotic teens.

There's fake dating, nerding out about books, soft boyfriends being super soft and domestic, dating/married even if they don't realize it, and a backstory involving writing your phone number in the back of a book, lending it to a hot stranger, and somehow running into them seven years later.

U want a snippet? here's a snippet. I has lots of snippets. (This bad boy is sitting at like 75% in my drafts folder):

"Look, are you going to buy something or not?"

"Are you going to coach the boys' volleyball team?"

"No. You should try a meat bun, they're pretty good." 

The Nice New Teacher buys a pizzaman, which is kind of adorable. "I'll come back," he says, but it's hard for him to sound threatening around a mouthful of steamed bun. 

And another, a little later on:

Keishin's gotten used to being accosted by the Nice New Teacher every few days, so he's a little weirded out by a sudden radio silence. In that time, he reviews the store inventory, decides to implement a new organization system for the frozen foods, and even washes the windows. It's a slow couple of days, okay? 

He literally just finishes throwing GunGun bars at a couple of punks from the volleyball team - the one with the shaved head catches the protein bar in his teeth, what the hell is Take-chan teaching them - when the store phone starts ringing. 

"Lo, Sakanoshita Market." 

"Ukai-kun!" Take-chan exclaims. He sounds breathless and excited, as if he's been eager to talk to Keishin all day, which is kinda adorable and - weird, Keishin corrects himself, weird, and not adorable, and definitely not a little bit charming. 

"You again," Keishin sighs, as if he's got about fifty million other things that he could be doing with his time, instead of re-reading One Piece. 

And then later, after Keishin's ass is well and truly Trapped:

"Er, thanks," Takeda says, flushing.  "I, ah, as you can see, I… I have a lot of books." 

"Do I need to stage an intervention, Sensei?" 

Takeda scratches the back of his head. "My mother was a librarian," he says, laughing a little. "So I come by it honestly." 

Keishin finds himself squinting at a silver flask resting between a bunch of cookbooks. There's writing on it in English, in fancy Gothic lettering, and he manages to just make out Will suck d- before Takeda suddenly materializes there, his smile very bright. 

"Hope you don't mind red pepper, there's a lot of it in the yakisoba!" Takeda says, his voice a bit higher than usual. "We should eat!"

THANK YOU for letting me blather about this fic in a fandom other than Carry On, LOLOLOL!!! It's so fun to come back to this and definitely makes me excited to FINALLY FINISH AT SOME POINT THIS YEAR RAWR~

[mercurygray]

I'm getting my ao3 account soon and I was wondering if there is a feature that blocks tags and therefore hides posts like we have here on Tumblr? There is some sus content that I really do not want to see on there

First off - congrats, Kind Anonymous Friend! AO3 is a wonderful tool for fandom and it is to be commended that you are joining that experience AND taking some responsibility for what you see and what you don't see! The first step to having a good time is figuring out how to control what you can control. (Let's call it 'content I really do not want to see' rather than 'sus', though. Just to be fair.)

There are several ways you can filter content on AO3 - some of them are big and some are small.

On the site itself, you can use the Search feature, and the filters along the righthand side of the screen, to restrict what kind of content gets returned when you look for something. For instance, if I only want to see Marvel fanfics with Steve and Peggy as a pairing, I can use the filter in the sidebar for 'Relationships' and select the Steve and Peggy tag to only see fics with that pairing tagged. If I do NOT want to see anything with that pairing, I can also use the 'exclude' section right below it. These get reset every time you do a search, so if you really don't want to read about {x} on a given day, you can filter it out!

If you'd rather not think about what you do and don't want to see all the time, I have several browser extensions installed on my laptop that always filter some things that I never want to see. Instructions and explanations below the cut!

To manage browser extensions and custom scripts, you'll need something like Tampermonkey installed on your browser. (I use a Chrome-based browser, Brave, but I believe it works with Mozilla also.) If you're not familiar with Tampermonkey, there's a nice tutorial here. (Disclaimer: I'm not sure if said extensions would work in a mobile browser on a phone...)

One of these is saxamaphone's AO3 Review + Last Chapter Shortcut + Kudos-sortable Bookmarks, which adds a shortcut to skip to the last chapter of a fic and some nice sorting features.

The other is Schegge's AO3 Fic Style, Blacklist, Bookmarks extension, which I think will work very well for what you're describing here.

Once the extension is installed, you'll get a nice little option in the toolbar at the top of the site for your blacklist:

(That's a small section of mine right there - I'm only sharing to give an idea of how it works, not to shame anybody.) You'll notice the tool also has some options for not showing works with too many fandoms tagged, with too many tags, with too many words - it's very versatile and easy to update.

You can also chose to filter them out wholesale or show the reason for why it's not being displayed - if you do use 'show reasons' you'll get a nice little box in your search results that shows the title of the fic and why it's not shown, so you could opt in if you wanted to!

I always like to note that filter systems are only as good as the people who participate in the system. Someone may chose not to tag - or be unaware that other people will want to filter something like that out! Unfortunately, there's not much you can do about this as a reader except to close the fic in question, and perhaps add that author to your blacklist. You could try kindly and gently reaching out to ask an author to add a particular tag, but I'm not sure how much action you'd get on that.

I also love all the work that @ao3commentoftheday does in their 'how to ao3' tag here on tumblr. There are lots of helpful comments and suggestions about how to use the site both as a writer and a reader!

Best of luck, Kind Anonymous Friend! Happy reading!

[lilacpaperbird]

hiiiii first of all thank you for saying they're pretty <33 !! I tried my best afskhgsk (this is the post anon is referring to)

How I made my ao3 wrapped:

I'm not saying this is the best or even the most convenient way to do any of this, I'm just going to share the system I came up with, hopefully something here is useful or helpful!

There are 3 parts to this system:

1. Bookmarks

3. The spreadsheet

3. The charts

- Bookmarks:

I use bookmarks for everything (and they're always private). I bookmark every fic I read with the tag "Read" and the tag of the year I'm in, like "2024". This is incredibly useful since you can filter through your bookmarks and it keeps everything neat and tidy

- The Spreadsheet:

I'm scared of Excel, I'm sorry. So I use Notion, because I already use it for everything else in my life and to me it's much easier to handle (and it looks cuter)

I tried to make my spreadsheet in the least complicated way possible because I'm not tech savvy at all

It's just a basic table, without any manual formulas. Sadly this will sound kinda incomprehensible if you aren't familiar with Notion, but it's really simple once you look into it

The spreadsheet has 9 columns (between brackets I'll put the type of column they are):

- Date I finished it [Date]

- Title [Name]

- Fandom [Select]

- Ship [Multi-Select]

- Words [Number]

- Tags [Multi-Select]

- Rating [Select]

- Year of publication [Select]

- Month I finished it in [Select]

It ends up looking something like this:

These are the parameters I chose to track, but you may be interested in tracking other things!

Most of these columns are [Select] or [Multi-Select], and in Notion that means they function with tags. For example inside the column "Rating" I can choose between the tags "Gen", "Teen", "Mature", or "Explicit". In the column "Year of Publication" I have a tag for every year. In the column "Fandom" I have a tag for every fandom I read about. And so on and so forth!

In the "Tags" column I have a selection of tags I personally want to track/I know I read a lot about. So I don't have a tag for every tag the fic had in AO3. For example, since I mainly read Spn fics, I have tags like "Weechesters", "Early Seasons", "Late Seasons", "Post-Finale", etc, because that's something I was interested in keeping organized. I also have kink-specific tags, and in this column I have the "FAV" tag as well

At the bottom of the table it will tell you the number of rows it has, which in this table means the number of fics. And the "Words" column, since it's a [Number] type of column, will let you do all kinds of automatic calculations with all the existing fics (like Sum, Average, Max, etc) - that's how I get stuff like the words I read in total, the words I read every month, the longest fic, etc

I can then filter the table through the different aspects of the columns in any way I want to get the different data I need to make the charts. In a way, it functions similarly to how filtering through tags works in AO3

Another great thing about Notion tables is that each entry is a page in itself, meaning you can click on it and it will open a page where you can write stuff. I use that to add: 1) the name of the author, 2) a link to the fic, 3) a downloaded epub of the fic, 4) any thoughts or review

I usually add a fic to the spreadsheet right after I finish it, but sometimes I wait until I've accumulated a couple of fics in my "Read" Bookmarks, and then I do them all together in a batch

- The Charts:

I make them with Canva - it has a feature where you can add and edit graphs and charts (all the info, the colors, etc). So first I collect the data I want by filtering the spreadsheet in different ways, and then I manually make the charts on Canva (if you're not familiar with the app don't worry it's kinda intuitive, and there are tutorials about everything)

And that's all! I came up with this system completely by myself and if you're reading this and you also track your fics but you use Excel or something maybe you're thinking what the hell is this girl even doing, but it works really well for me and I'm really happy with it afdhsafskh

English is not my first language so I apologize if there are any mistakes, I hope I made sense <3

[msmarvelouswinchester]

year in review: favorite lines!

I was tagged by the lovely @firenati0n in this adorable tag game where we share our top favorite segments from our published fics and/or wips! thank you for tagging me❤️

This year has been a fandom rollercoaster with being in RWRB fandom and also the SPN fandom! For RWRB, I posted three works (and have like 3 WIPS) and for SPN, I posted one fic (and unfortunately no WIP)

Starting with RWRB fandom,

Published (all works have been published in ao3) -

1. It’s the First Kiss (it’s flawless, really something, it’s fearless)

“How bad?”

“I don't know,” Henry said.

Alex's heart broke even further. He nudged Henry, “Scoot over, let me hold you.” Henry obliged without any further question. Alex slipped beside him under the covers and wrapped his arms around Henry. “Is it all the way black?”

“All the way.” It was a system they had come up with in their first year of living together—a colour system to know how bad the day was. Blue stood for ‘feel like shit but I'm going to be fine’, gray was for ‘feel so horrible, but a hug will cure me’ and finally, black was for ‘it hurts to even breathe, need you to hold me and never let go’.

Henry turned around the embrace and rested his cheek against Alex's chest. The rhythmic beats of his heart calmed his mind but it was not enough. He was still hurting. Alex gently carded his fingers through his golden strands and Henry felt himself tearing up. “Shh, shh, sweetheart, it's alright.” But the tears never stopped. Sobs racked his body as he made a mess of Alex's shirt with tears and snot. However Alex only pulled him closer to himself. “It's alright, H, let it out. I'm here for you.”

2. You Gave Me Roses (I Left Them There To Die)

“It's fine. Here—” Alex made a space on his bed for Henry to sit beside him, “Baby, please c’mere.”

And who was Henry to ever deny Alex anything?

“Henry you're so fucking wrong if you think I don't want you. I want you—all the good parts, all the bad parts and even the parts that you have sworn to hide away forever.” Henry's eyes snapped back to Alex. The familiar pain returned, and the final vestige of armour began to crumble. Despite his attempts to hold onto it, he sensed it slipping away, leaving him exposed and vulnerable. “Let yourself have me.”

“I want to.”

“Then fucking have me.”

And then again, who was Henry to ever deny Alex anything ?

3. The Great American Roommate Experiment (also a WIP series)

Henry grumbled, “Go to sleep, Alex.”

“Henry, what happened?” Alex asked. “If I did something wrong then I’m sorry.”

“You did nothing wrong. Not everything is about you, Alex.” Henry sounded harsher than he meant to be because deep-down he knew it was a lie—if he could, he would have made everything about Alex.

Alex frowned deeply, “Okay, fuck, fine! Don't have to be so fucking rude Henry. I just wanted to watch Bake-off with—”

Henry was exhausted, horny and truly couldn't give a fuck right now. He hadn't had a decent sex in a long time and he was tired of pining after a man who was so out of his reach, he could have fucking well lived in the goddamn outer space, “Christ, Alex! Can't you just let a man have a bloody wank in peace?”

Now onto WIPS -

1. The +1: Boyfriend for Rent

The devil on Henry's shoulder is pulling an overtime again. He gives Alex a nod and is dragged off to the dance floor. The pulsating rhythm envelopes the two boys while they navigate the dance floor in shared harmony.

Alex lets his hands rest in the dip of Henry's waist and the blonde's steps falter. “It's all in the hips, sweetheart,” Alex sways his hips to establish his point. And Henry—yeah, Henry is not okay. Alex guides Henry's hands up to his shoulders, drawing himself close to the blonde's chest. With a continuous rolling motion of his hips, Alex grinds against him. He feeds into his urge to be infinitely close to Henry and tucks his face into the crook of Henry's neck.

“Is this okay?” Alex breathes out against the blonde's neck. Henry nods. “Words, sweetheart. I need words. I want to follow each clause.”

“Yes—” Henry struggles to suppress a whimper that lingers at the edge of his lips as Alex's hands ascend to his chest. “It's okay.”

2. Unnamed Spy AU

“Ms. Bankston,” Henry raises his eyes to meet their superior's gaze, who appears poised to throttle both the Agents. “May I possibly be removed from this mission? I do not want to risk Agent Claremont-Diaz’s well-being because—” he whips head around towards Alex “—you don't seem to trust me at all.”

For a fleeting moment, Alex was thrown back in the past—back to their first mission together, in Rio. “Henry,” Alex wheezes, “Call b-backup. Henry?” He is running out of breath; running out of time. The bullet—a merciless messenger of death—has slotted itself beside his sternum. It's a miracle that the piece of metal didn't manage to puncture his heart. He is bleeding out. “Henry?” Alex calls for his partner but it's futile. For Henry stands paralysed—

“Alex?” Zahra's voice snaps him out of his reverie. Alex tips his chair back to stand up. He senses the twitching and shaking in his hands and fingers, recognizing the signs of an impending panic attack. “Agent Claremont-Diaz, are you okay?”

3. Unnamed Bridgerton AU (Idk when or how i will write this with Regency era English lol)

“And what? Tarnish the family name to find myself a husband? Gran will never allow me this respite.”

“Brother, you cannot—”

“I must.” That was all he told Bea before he was off to do his duty—find himself a wife. Henry let his inquisitive gaze travel the room in hopes that he could find a woman suitable enough for him to carry on a conversation. While he didn't hold an overly high opinion of himself, contemplating a loveless union compelled him to seek a lady whose wit could at least match his own. One could only endure tales of knitting for so long.

It was at that moment he glimpsed her presence, adorned in silk embellished with golden sequins. Miss Catalina June Claremont-Diaz, her eyes radiating keen intelligence as she engaged in conversation with Lord Richards who was simply quite taken by her. Yet, as he allowed his gaze to linger further left, a surge of emotions overwhelmed him, leaving him in a state of bewildered captivation for a long time.

The cause of this mesmerization was none other than a strikingly handsome gentleman who stood guard beside her. Upon further inspection, Henry understood it was Mister Alexander Claremont-Diaz, Miss June's younger brother.

Hello, old friend SPN fandom,

Published (On Tumblr) -

If We Love Again

“I remember very clearly you throwing me out of the bunker and telling me never to contact you again. You know what, showing up tonight was my bigges—”

“Son of a bitch, I can't believe I'm fucking doin’ this,” Dean murmured.

“Wha–” The rest of the question turned into a squeak and Dean’s lips crashed into her. And then the thoughts crashed into him. Fuck.

Dean immediately jumped back from her. “I'm so sor—”

“If you dare to say sorry for this, I am telling Sammy to shoot you in your dick, asshole,” Y/N panted, “Fucking come, kiss me, you moron!”

Now onto tagging!

Open tags! Please feel free to do this tag game - its fun and I want to know all about your fics!

[kamari333]

Okay so before I go off doing more things: I wanna sit and talk about the fic I read.

((i think i wanna sit and talk about every fic i read from now on-- maybe i need to reread old favorites and like, make reviews a thing. idk. maybe it will be fun))

Anyway:

Review 1: Four Times Rolan Spoke For Valdemar, and Once He was Speechless For Himself by st_aurafina (a gift for VelvetMouse)

So this fic is in a different fandom than I usually run around in:

if you've read any of the Heralds of Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey, you might be familiar with the trilogy in that series known as the Arrows Trilogy.

This particular trilogy in the series takes place during the Reign of Queen Selenay of Valdemar, and follows the life of the Queens Own Herald (a political position roughly equivalent to a royal advisor, but isnt really comparable), Talia. The first book in the trilogy, Arrows of the Queen, begins when Talia is 13 years old, and the trilogy stretches well into her adulthood (with the first one ending around her 18th year).

The bulk of the story is told from Talia's perspective specifically, but a few other characters take the metaphorical reigns to give us readers a bit of a broader context from time to time.

At this point in time, I have only just reread Arrows of the Queen, and don't remember the events of the following two volumes very well. I still have to get ahold of copies of them, but in the meantime I wanted a little bit more of this world and its feelings.

The Fic in question, "Four Times Rolan Spoke For Valdemar, and Once He was Speechless For Himself", takes place over the course of the whole trilogy. However, it is unique told from the character Rolan's perspective, which in the canon of the books is withheld from us.

This perspective gives us a reminder of what Rolan's rather unique and romantic (in the classical sense) life is like. He is born to shoulder the burdens of his herald, only to lose him (through death, a painful experience emotionally and physically) and have to choose again. He is duty bound to shoulder the burdens of his new chosen, who starts as an emotionally abused little girl and has to grow up quickly. He is compelled to love and to know the loss of what he loves, all while having to set an example of a being that is held on a pedestal of perfection and grace and honor and selflessness.

This particular fic tackles what it might be like for Rolan, to feel that expectation set upon him as something Special and Other, while in reality being just as fallible as the creatures around him he cherishes, just as vulnerable, just as deserving of love and support and the chance to aspire to his own wants and needs.

It is beautifully written, and I really appreciated it!

[1016anon]

Title: Eros & Psyche AU Author: 1016anon Fandom: Bridgerton Pairing: Anthony Bridgerton/Kathani Sharma Summary: What people forget about Eros is: he carries two sets of arrows.

A/N -- I wrote this a while ago (something like October 2022) and it's been sitting in my drafts. I figured I would post. My usual warnings about fic apply: read at your own risk, don't expect updates, no guarantee that I'll complete it.

Anthony, Ninth Viscount of Eros, had a system.  It had been perfected over centuries and worked very well.  It fulfilled his ever growing list of duties as the so-called god of romantic love, gave his siblings purpose, and brought mortals their True Love matches his mother always went into such rhapsodies about.  His system was simple: spread the assignments among his seven siblings according to their preferences.

They did not have strict categories or jurisdictions, per se, but Benedict favored assignments among artistic souls and those who were romantically inclined towards the same sex.  Colin always wanted to gad about the world; when he had returned and had complained about his lack of purpose, Anthony was only too glad to offload love between citizens of different countries.  Daphne was quite content and always busy with her assignments of love matches between men and women.

Hyacinth had never lost her childish enthusiasm and was in charge of the innocent connections of childhood and teenage love.  Eloise was particularly fond of love conducted through correspondence (though she and Colin got into squabbles on who had the stronger claim to a particular long distance love), she also took special interest in the love lives of political radicals.  Gregory obviously was a great enthusiast for love at first sight.  Francesca had a special gift for love which blossomed between grieving souls.

These categories obviously did not span the entire gamut of the types of romantic love and romantic relationships; all his siblings and their spouses went through the mysterious inbox to pick up other assignments.  Or rather, they knew that if they did not take their own share of the matchmaking, Anthony would simply give one to them without even reviewing the file.

No one knew where the assignments came from; they simply appeared.  The Fates could not (and would not) take credit, though they did meddle from time to time.  Humans fell in and out of love without the help of arrows every day; every single mortal did not need divine intervention for every single romance of their short lives.  Indeed, most did not.

Assignments were somehow different.

Colin discovered for them all that if they failed to complete an assignment, the mortals in question would fall in love on their own, but it would be a tortured, fraught process full of pain rather than joy.  The arrows of love made mortals feel stronger, braver, happier, and more willing to take risks for love; it eased human doubts and allowed for that feeling of instantaneous connection.  All his siblings were incurable romantics (it sort of came with the territory as a member of the House of Eros); they enjoyed and found real fulfillment in facilitating these fated meetings.

Anthony, however–

What people forget about Eros is in the original myth, he carries two sets of arrows.  The first and most familiar brings forth love, attraction, and desire.  The second set, however, brings forth antipathy, aversion, and disgust.

The balance of assignments for fated meetings tips to love, but there are some where two individuals are destined to hate.  It is already too easy for humans to dislike and loathe each other (oftentimes for the silliest reasons); implacable revulsion is not often written into a mortal soul's journey.

However, it does happen, and these were the assignments Anthony took.  He did not like them; he took no pleasure in them, but he could not imagine giving them to his brothers and sisters.  It was part of the job– one of the duties given to the House of Eros.  Anthony's father had always believed in making ten love matches before planting enmity; he said– correctly– that sowing hatred took a toll, even on the god of love.  However, his father was able to do so because he had something Anthony did not: the completion of his myth.

Anthony only carried lead arrows because carrying the gold-tipped was a sure way to meet his formative myth: the story of Eros and Psyche.  Anthony hated it.

The tale of Eros and Psyche is not about Eros; it is about Psyche.  Eros is merely the fool who was careless with his gold-tipped arrow, fell in love, abducted his love and only visited her under cover of complete darkness, then ran away when she decided she wanted to see his face.

No god could avoid their formative myth forever, but Anthony had managed to evade it thusfar by never carrying a gold-tipped arrow.  Moreover, he felt sick at the thought of essentially kidnapping, raping, and forcing a pregnancy on the woman he was apparently fated to love.  How was it that the story of Eros, the god of love, was built on violation and violence?

His father, mother and siblings assured him this was not how the myth had to play out, but Anthony couldn't bring himself to take that chance.  When his father was Viscount Eros and his mother faced the trials, the Twelfth Countess Aphrodite had been so distracted by her ongoing affair with the Marquis of Ares that she was willing to forego all the tasks Psyche had to suffer through and instead accepted bread, wool, water, and perfume in lieu of all the mythical garbage.

Lady Cressida Cowper, the Thirteenth Countess Aphrodite, was petty and malicious; Anthony knew she would take great joy in debasing the human she chose as Psyche.  He couldn't bear the thought of forcing the woman he loved through those sadistic trials, subjecting her to torture, despair, helplessness, hopelessness, and death; all while Anthony sat around uselessly at Aubrey Hall in a stew of self pity for having been burned with hot oil.

This strategy he devised worked for a long time.  The myth could only happen with a gold-tipped arrow– Anthony might not have a choice in the woman who would become Psyche, he might not be able to help her in her time of greatest need, but he could prevent it from beginning altogether.  He could harden his heart against love in hopes that if (when) his story had to play itself out, he could at least keep a level head instead of getting lost in overwhelming passion.

However, a god of love without his love– a god of love who did not even make love matches among humans– was a miserable god of love.  Anthony's tenure as Viscount was an endless string of duties he had to carry out.  Yet he still thought it better than inflicting pain on the mortal who would become his wife.  It was certainly an admirable, noble sentiment; he hoped that he could outlast the Thirteenth Countess Aphrodite and that her successor would be kinder.

But of course Lady Cressida fucking Cowper and her mother lodged a complaint with the Fates to force his hand.  Lady Danbury, Queen Charlotte, and Lady Featherington (to this day Anthony had no idea how she managed to secure that position, even if it was provisional) granted the request.  Someone truly had offended Cressida because she immediately named her target:

Miss Edwina Sharma.

Anthony had no idea why this young lady had been singled out, though he did feel profound relief; he knew from the bottom of his leaden heart that even with the aid of his most powerful gold-tipped arrows, he would never fall in love with Miss Edwina.  Anthony took the measure of her character and found Miss Edwina would definitely be able to withstand the trials; she might even be able to outwit Cressida.  She was quite clever, independent, and strong– better still, she was very familiar with Ancient Greek and Roman mythology and had read Apuleius's Metamorphoses in the original Latin.

The cruelty of Cressida's choice lay in the fact that Miss Edwina was already deeply in love and engaged to be married.  Colin, busybody that he was, discovered that Miss Edwina's affianced was Friedrich, the second son of the Marquis Ares and one-time paramour of Cressida.  Friedrich had descended to earth under the pseudonym Matthew Bagwell and was contemplating giving up immortal life to be with Miss Edwina.

Anthony couldn't do it.  Psyche in the Eros myth was not engaged or already in love– the whole point was, in fact, that Psyche had not found love despite her beauty.  If that rule could be bent, he could at least send a message to Friedrich to warn him, if only to say goodbye.

Friedrich had participated in some of his brother's myths and watched them unfold; as the spare of House Ares, he knew how it worked.  Unless another Psyche appeared, the myth would force Friedrich and Miss Edwina apart.  Anthony bought them as much time as he could; he spent approximately three months throwing up toxic sludge which rained down and caused a streak of dysfunctional relationships that his siblings could not remedy.

Then the message came down from Chronos himself: Anthony was out of time.  It was a directive he had to obey.

So, for the first time in his immortal life as Viscount Eros, Anthony picked up a gold-tipped arrow and with a heavy heart, went to find Miss Edwina.

But the Fates had other plans.  Friedrich had always been a favorite of Queen Charlotte; he appealed to her directly once he received Anthony's message.  Queen Charlotte, ever a romantic and terribly bored of watching the story of Psyche play out the same way over and over again, decided she and Lady Danbury ought to shake things up a bit, have a little fun.

Thus, when Anthony pricked himself with his own arrow (truly an accident– the balance of the gold-tipped arrows was quite different from his usual lead arrows), the woman he saw as soon as he looked up was not Miss Edwina Sharma.

It was her sister.

Anthony fell head first in love.

–

Matthew– or rather, Friedrich– paced in the small study in his Oxford cottage.  It was somewhat startling to see him so agitated– Matthew always carried within him an innocent happiness and deep calm.  With Friedrich, however, one could see the son of Ares in his tense, upright bearing.

This must have been the fiftieth time they had gathered to discuss the myth– Kathani could only see it as a fanciful ancient story which did not even belong to her own culture– of Eros and Psyche.

When Matthew had first revealed his identity and told a panicked story regarding Aphrodite, the Fates, Eros, and Edwina, Kathani had thought he was playing an elaborate prank.  Only to find out that he had absolutely been in earnest; he created a rose made of dawn's pink light for Edwina as proof of his claim.  It had been as endearing as it was shocking.

Edwina, her wonderful, clever, beautiful sister, had reasoned that– pink roses or not– since she and Kathani did not believe in the Ancient Greek or Roman Pantheon, surely the myths could not apply to them.

They had both been furious to learn that their culture of origin did not matter; England was under the jurisdiction of the Greco-Roman Pantheon.  The ancient treaties drawn up by the gods dictated that if a Mortal's Destined Path intersected with the Fate of a Deity, physical location determined the theistic authority, not the mortal's native gods.

Which was how they arrived at this juncture of the conversation yet again.

"There must be a way to circumvent this," Edwina insisted.  "Why can't the Viscount choose another story?"

"Unfortunately that is not how it works– each deity's house has one myth it must always perform."

"Like a rite of passage," Kathani said.

"Yes, exactly.  A god's myth must proceed as it is written."

"That cannot be true, because this story has already changed," Edwina frowned.  "Friedrich, you told us I was the original target of Aphrodite's anger.  The Viscount was supposed to fall in love with me, but he saw Didi instead."

"Bon, the story has not changed– the key is not that Eros pricks himself on his arrow and falls in love, but that falling in love leads him to disobey Aphrodite."

"How do you mean?"

"Both the Viscount and Countess were ready to play their parts– she chose you knowing what would happen and he was prepared to follow the original path of the myth."

"Following the path would be the same as obeying Aphrodite, so the story changed to preserve the disobedience," Edwina said softly.  Suddenly, she brightened.  "Didi, that means the requirements must be met by the gods, not mortals.  This is the Viscount's formative myth, so he is the one who must follow the path, not you!  That is the way out!"

"Friedrich?  Do you think that could be true?"

"Much will depend on the Countess, and I am sorry to say the Thirteenth Aphrodite is not a kind lady."

"I don't care, as long as Edwina is not killed.  Aphrodite has no hand in that part of the story, nor does Eros."

"I care!  I care that you will be whipped and tortured, Didi!  You will be separated from your child, and then you'll be killed!  I can't let that happen to you– we must find a way out."

"Edwina, I–"

"Friedrich, my dear, what is the meaning of this?" Queen Charlotte appeared out of nowhere.  "Are you meddling with a myth?"

"That's certainly what it looks like," Lady Danbury said, eyebrow raised and smirking.

"So you're the Psyche-to-be?  I suppose he could have done worse."

"Friedrich, we've run out of time," Lady Danbury said, not without sympathy.  "I'm sorry to break up this little strategizing session, but rules are rules– not even we Fates can escape them.  The West Wind will descend soon."

"Your sister is strong, Miss Edwina," Queen Charlotte said.  "Trust in her resilience."

"Ah– you can't take the book with you, Miss Sharma.  But there's no need to worry– the Twelfth Lady Cowper and I were quite good friends," Lady Featherington smiled.  "Now, come along."

"Didi!"

Edwina hugged Kathani and began crying.

"Don't worry, Bon.  Everything will turn out for the best," she smiled, tears falling silently.

Kathani looked at Friedrich, who nodded.

"I will love Edwina with all my heart."

They stood suspended for a moment, until Kathani led Edwina to Friedrich and kissed her sister's forehead.

She straightened herself, head held high.  Then looked straight at the Fates.

"I have one last request.  If I must be spirited away by the wind, I would like to do so on a horse."

"A horse?  Most unusual, Miss Sharma," Queen Charlotte tittered.

"Indeed," Lady Danbury looked at her appraisingly.

"I will go to Aubrey Hall on my own terms before I give up all my freedom.  The Viscount's myth does not require Zephyrus, only that I arrive at a meadow."

"Hmm.  Very well," Lady Danbury nodded.  "The horse is outside."

She was suddenly outside, next to the horse whilst Edwina and Friedrich watched from the window.

"You're going to ride astride?!" Lady Featherington gasped.  "Do you wish to look like a farmer's daughter?"

Kathani looked at her defiantly.

"Wear this at least," she pulled a gaudy cloak out of thin air.

She rolled eyes but put on the cloak.  Kathani took one last glance back to Edwina as a goodbye.  The wind began to pick up; she was out of time.

Without warning, she pressed her heels to her horse's flanks and they were off like a shot.

–

"What do you mean, she wasn't there?"

"I went to go pick her up and the Fates said I'd just missed her.  Arion himself volunteered."

"Arion?  Volunteered?"

"The horse does as he likes, you know that as well as I," Zephyrus shrugged.

"And he's bringing her here, to Aubrey Hall.  Directly."

"What kind of question is that?  He's taking her to the meadow– he can't enter Aubrey Hall.  It's as though you don't know your own myth."

"You were supposed to convey her to the meadow, so pardon me if I'm not sure which parts of my myth, as you say, will remain unchanged."

"No need to get so worked up about it–"

"I'm not!"

"But you raise a good point.  All I know is, I was supposed to take her to the meadow and as far as I know, Arion will convey her there also."

Anthony closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, counting to ten.

"Need anything else?"

"No."

"Best of luck, The Right Honorable The Viscount Eros.  From the sounds of it, you'll certainly need it," Zephyrus said with a jaunty salute, then disappeared with the wind.

Anthony decided: he really needed a drink.

–

"I thought you had wings."

"Um, yes, well.  I prefer not to have them.  They itch and take far too much time to clean."

"Oh," she paused.  "I thought I was supposed to– that is, as Psyche– am supposed to be overcome with curiosity and spill hot oil on your non-existent wings."

"I've decided to see how much of the story I– we– could change.  The Fates already changed the story."

"Yes, Matthew told us.  It was supposed to be Edwina."

"The current Aphrodite has a significant grudge against your sister– I'm sorry you got caught up in this mess–"

"I'm not."

"Pardon?"

"I'm not sorry I'm here instead of Edwina– I'm glad to spare her all the suffering Lady Aphrodite has in store for my future," she looked at him critically.  "In the paintings and sculptures, you're usually naked.  Or wearing a very short tunic."

"I can fix that if you'd like," he grinned.

"No, that is quite fine," she said quickly, realizing that in those same paintings and sculptures, Psyche was naked or wearing something which always looked like a torn bed sheet.  "Where precisely do we go from here?"

"I'm not entirely sure.  I could give you a tour of the grounds.  If I recall, that's what comes next, upon your arrival at Aubrey Hall."

"...This is your formative myth, and you're not sure."

"We are in wildly uncharted waters!"

"Actually, we are not."

"You were not the one chosen by Cressida, Edwina was not supposed to be engaged, the Fates were not supposed to interfere– you rode here on a horse!  According to the tale, you should have been carried here by the wind!"

"Of all the things to fixate on, you're upset about the horse?"

"Do you know how rare it is for Arion to allow anyone on his back?"

"No, but it sounds like you wish you'd had the chance."

"I do!  I really bloody do!  He's one of the fastest horses of the pantheon!"

"Eros–"

"Anthony."

"Pardon?"

"Eros is my house, my name is Anthony.  I have seven brothers and sisters."

"... I've decided I'm still asleep and this is a dream.  After which I'll wake up, there will be a self serving feast and a self playing lyre, you will be a disembodied voice, and I will pour hot oil on your wings."

"I think you missed a few key pieces."

"If we can truly change the myth, perhaps I could just kill you."

"WHAT?!"

"Psyche, before she drops the oil and all, carries a knife because she was going to kill the horrible serpent monster– is that a euphemism?"

"Nothing is going to be solved by killing me."

"Hm.  We could try it."

"No!"

"You're right.  I should try it later, while you're sleeping."

"Good gods."

"To answer your question–"

"What question?"

"We are not in wildly uncharted waters because up until the point where you greeted me dressed like you're in mourning–"

"There's nothing wrong with my attire–"

"– the point of that part of the story is not falling in love, but disobedience."

"Come again?"

"You were resigned to bumbling through the myth believing the sequence of events was the important part of the story, when it's not. This is your bildungsroman or whatever you'd like to call it."

"I am not bumbling."

"You are, if your first act of disobedience is to fall in love with the wrong woman. That is our working theory."

"Who is our?"

"Edwina and Matthew. I think you know him as Friedrich. Why am I able to see you?"

"... Why wouldn't you be able to see me."

"Is the darkness symbolic?"

"I don't think so. I didn't want to begin our acquaintance with false pretenses, especially if you're to be my wife."

"Hm, we'll see about that."

"If you try to kill me in my sleep, that could count as the betrayal."

"It's not betrayal if you already know about it."

"Well, I'm in love with you.  It would be a betrayal of my love?"

"You're in love with me," she deadpanned.

"Yes.  That's how the arrows work."

"The arrows work?"

"Of course they work, why wouldn't they work?"

"You don't have wings!"

"I can go find them and put them back on if it bothers you so much."

"No, I meant– never mind.  Why should the arrows work if you inspire absolutely no romantic feelings?"

"I think I should take offense to what you just said, but I can't because I'm in love."

"Now you're just trying to vex me."

"I quite enjoy it."

His smile was quite charming, even if he did look like he was suffocating wearing that cravat.  Kathani squashed the urge to untie it.

"I believe I was promised a tour of the grounds, my Lord?"

"You are planning to kill me in my sleep, Kathani– I think we can address each other on a first name basis."

"Very well," she laughed.  "Anthony.  I believe I was promised columns of gold and floors made of jewels."

"It wasn't to my taste so I had the estate redecorated."

"Should I prepare myself for dark curtains with enormous tassels?"

"No.  And this is your home now also, for the time being.  If you'd like to festoon our bedroom with gold leaf and animal mosaics, please warn me so I can avoid the sight entirely and come to you by cover of night."

"Our bedroom, is it."

"Yes– and before you ask, I promise you, I will not force you.  The kidnapping is bad enough."

"Why not have separate chambers entirely?"

"I tried.  The house wouldn't allow it.  I think at minimum, we must share a bed."

"You could sleep on the floor."

"You could sleep on the floor."

"You could use your wings as a lovely down mattress."

"That is not how wings work!"

"How would you know?  Have you tried?"

"Fine!  I will try to sleep on the floor.  The myth won't allow it."

"So long as you try, Anthony," she smiled at him cheekily.

"You are a menace."

"And yet you love me."

"Gods help me, I do."

–

"Did the floor just–"

"I told you the myth won't allow it."

"Hm, do you think when I go to stab you, the myth will freeze me in place?"

"Kathani, go to sleep.  It's been a long day."

"I've always wondered what it would be like to be cocooned in wings."

"What if I told you my wings are green?"

"I would say you're lying.  I wouldn't be surprised if they're black."

"You wouldn't?"

"Anthony, I saw what was in your wardrobe.  Dark blues, purples, and black as far as the eye could see."

"I have gold waistcoats."

"I believe the word you're looking for is ivory."

"I could have gold wings."

"You could.  But you don't.  I think you would look handsome with bronze colored wings.  Like the color of your hair."

"You're really quite disappointed I got rid of my wings, aren't you."

"No, not disappointed.  Surprised, but not disappointed," she hummed, unconsciously moving closer to him.  "I like you just as you are."

"Usually I sleep naked."

"Hush, you're in love with me.  Go to sleep."

"You can't use that to win every argument."

"Mm, yes I can," she drifted off.

Anthony pressed a kiss to her forehead and smiled helplessly.

"Yes, you can," he whispered.

–

"Anthony!" she called loudly from the breakfast room.

"What is it, darling?" he joined her, freshly shaved but not yet in his waistcoat and cravat.

"The fruit bowl is refusing to refill itself again."

"Again?  What did you do this time?"

"Why do you always assume I did something?"

"Because you've usually done something."

"I didn't do anything.  It simply dislikes me."

"You keep making requests for fruit it's never heard of."

"What is the point of a magic fruit bowl if it can't get the fruit I want?  Is this another silly rule?  You can only get fruit from the places within your jurisdiction?"

"No," he sighed and prodded the fruit bowl.

It very reluctantly filled with pomegranates.

Anthony gave her a look.

"Is this your idea of a joke?"

"No," she rolled her eyes.  "Not everything has to do with you and your pantheon."

"In the brief amount of time I've spent with you thusfar, you've demonstrated a very perverse sense of humor."

"Hmm," she said, noncommittal.

The pomegranate split open neatly and she popped the seeds into her mouth, smirking.

"Impossible."

–

"What happens next in the myth?"

"I have sex with you in complete darkness."

She smacked him with a pillow.

"We've already tried that."

"You quite enjoyed it, if I recall."

"Of course I enjoyed it– I would have been embarrassed for you if I hadn't enjoyed it."

"Embarrassed?  For me?"

"Anthony, you are Eros, the god of romantic love and desire.  Your name is the origin of the word erotic.  It is your duty to bring indescribable pleasure to your partners.  If you hadn't made me forget my name, that would have been a grave betrayal."

"First the wings, now this," he tried to grumble, but was too pleased to have made her forget her name.  "I'll have you know, not all romantic love involves sex."

"I know," she tried to smirk, but could only smile.  "But I very much enjoy sex, and I very much enjoy it with you."

"Is that so, Viscountess," he kissed down the valley between her breasts.

"It is," her breath hitched.

He brought himself back up and kissed her intensely, right hand teasing her nipple.  She was addicted to the feeling of running her fingers through his hair.

"Perhaps we should see what happens in the half light, Lord Eros."

"Perhaps we should see what happens every hour and every minute."

"That sounds," she gasped, looking up at him.

His eyes were intense with desire, his thumb playing with her clit and her body arched helplessly as her pleasure mounted.

"That sounds ambitious," she said, breathless.

"I am the god of erotic love, darling.  Nothing is too ambitious."

Her eyes fluttered closed.

There were certain advantages to being the god of desire and passion.  One of which was removing his hands from her body so she whimpered, positioning himself above her so the only thing she could feel was the heat of his body, leaning down and scenting–

With that one, long inhale causing her body to light up with pleasure like flowing magma, until she was a tectonic shift spreading beneath the sea and he made her shatter, whispering–

"I love you, Kathani."

She opened her eyes and stared up at him.

"Come for me, my darling."

–

"Satisfied?" he asked, smug.

"Are you going to be like this every time?"

"Like what," he teased.

"Useless and insufferable."

"I wouldn't want to neglect my duties as your god of love."

"My god of love," she wrapped herself around him.

"And you, my goddess," he replied, immediately distracted by kissing everywhere he could reach.

"Incorrigible," she said even as she pressed her body into his.

"Insatiable," he ground up against her, slowly.

"Impossible."

"Intoxicating."

"Speaking of, where's Newton?"

Anthony frowned.

"Who's Newton?"

"The fruit bowl."

"You named the fruit bowl Newton."

"He's my corgi, I had to leave him with Edwina."

"Have you named all our other serving dishes?"

"No, not yet."

"Whyever did you name your dog Newton in the first place?"

"Right after I got him as a puppy, an apple fell on his head.  He's hated apple trees ever since."

"And the fruit bowl?"

"Refuses to give me apples."

"I shall have it replaced."

"No, I'm rather fond of Newton now."

"I shan't have the breakfast service disrespecting the lady of the house."

"Anthony, it's really quite all right."

"This is how rebellions start," he grinned.  "First you allow the fruit bowl to disobey, next you have all the flatware refusing to serve dinner."

"Indeed, however will the Viscount Eros quash the Flatware Revolution.  Is the sugar bowl Napoleon in your ridiculous metaphor?"

"Leading the champagne glasses directly into battle."

"Anthony–"

He snapped his hips up, carving out his rightful place in her.

"How am I still so tight?" she gasped.  She narrowed her eyes at him.  "You've done something to me."

"Because I want you to be tight, and you want to be tight for me."

"I don't know–" she valiantly stopped moving her hips "– what you're talking about."

"Mm," he fucked into her harshly to prove his point.  "You were saying?"

"I'm not a virgin, Anthony."

"I never said you were.  In fact, I am intimately aware of it."

"Then why are you–"

"Darling, think for a moment."

"Think.  You want me to think while I'm stretched out and impaled on your cock."

"I know it's rather difficult, but you will eventually join the Pantheon as my wife.  I wasn't lying when I said you wanted to be tight for me."

"Your wife."

"Yes,  my wife."

"So," she said, eyes sparking with mischief.  "You're making me come into my powers."

He laughed and she shivered around him.

"If you'd like to think of it that way."

"You're filling me with your essence."

Anthony inhaled sharply.

"You're planting your godhood in me."

"Four out of ten for that one."

"You're fucking me to eternity."

"Eight."

"I'm flooded with the fountain of youth."

"If you start saying something about the nectar of ambrosia, I'm not going to let you come."

"Your seed is the sweetness of ambrosia."

"You haven't come into all your powers yet, my darling.  When I say I won't let you come, I mean it."

He could see her debating whether to say whatever ridiculousness she had on the tip of her tongue.  It did not surprise him at all when she decided to throw down the gauntlet and test his mettle.

"I overflow with the immortal nectar," she smirked, "of your cock."

"I gave you fair warning."

"Warning for what, my Lord?" Kathani asked, all wide eyes and false innocence.

"If that's how you want to play it," Anthony pulled out, "on your maidenhead be it."

"Two out of ten.  And you accuse me of–"

"I'm tempted to say your mouth can be put to better use, but I like to hear you scream, and," he paused, inserting a finger, "I've changed my mind."

Kathani looked far too triumphant.

"I'm not going to deny your pleasure," he crooked his finger and took her over the edge.

It wasn't cheating if he was the god of love.

"I'm going to overwhelm you with it."

–

Kathani was acting strangely.

For one thing, she slept far too much and when she was awake, she was extremely irritable.

For another, Newton had become extremely protective of her, going so far as to try to drown Anthony in blueberries for no apparent reason whilst providing every type of fruit under the sun, whether Kathani requested it or not.  Anthony could have sworn that some of the fruit was from the gardens of different pantheons– they had the sheen of divinity to them.  Newton was particularly insistent on Kathani eating those fruits; when Anthony tried to remove the blasted thing from their room, he found his side of the bed carpet bombed with citrus.  If a fruit bowl could give dirty looks, Anthony would've been on the receiving end of several.

The house was increasingly agitated, with random rooms popping into existence then disappearing.  Anthony was worried that he had finally pushed the myth too far and it was now attempting to correct its course.  He brought up the subject with Kathani, saying perhaps he should leave and visit only at night, following the original story.

The tongue lashing he received from her was astonishing, then alarming when she burst into tears and ran out of the room.  Anthony found himself barricaded from his own bedroom by a sentry of silverware and really, this was getting ridiculous.  Did his semi-sentient cutlery think he was going to harm her?

He actually had a shouting match with them; they refused to move until Kathani opened the bedroom door and bid him to join her.

"Darling, what is going on?  Is anything the matter?" he carefully sat next to her and was relieved when she immediately curled into him.  "I didn't mean to upset you."

"You didn't upset me–"

"I obviously did, because–"

"Anthony, please stop speaking," she said into his neck.  "Don't– don't interrupt me, I need you to listen."

"Whatever you need."

With his arms around her, he could feel her taking long, deep breaths; Anthony found himself doing the same.  There was something about her scent which had changed–

He froze.

She felt him freeze.

Without lifting her head or moving from his side, she took his hand and carefully placed it on her stomach.

"You're– Kathani," he said, voice hoarse.  "You're with child?"

She nodded.

"Anthony."

He felt her exhale shakily in an attempt to steel herself, but he removed his hand from her stomach and moved her to sit on his lap, trying to get as close to her as possible.  The joy which should have marked the occasion was overwhelmed by deep fear because: this was the beginning of the end of his time with her.

They had tried, for months, to keep this from happening.  Kathani had teas and mysterious herbs which would keep her from having a baby– they both wanted to spend as much time together as possible because they were in love, and Anthony could not bear the thought of his love wandering the world of gods alone, pregnant, only to be tortured by Lady Aphrodite and forced to journey to the Underworld, where she and their child would ultimately fall to Stygian sleep.

But their hands were forced again and now that she was with child, it was only a matter of time before they would be betrayed.  Anthony would rather die by her hand than live through his myth.

This was the beginning of Psyche's torture.

"Anthony, I'm so afraid."

His heart broke.  It broke, and shattered, and was crushed to silica shrapnel which turned to threads of sharp asbestos puncturing the capillaries of his lungs.

"I swear to you, Kathani, we'll find a way around this," he said frantically.  "My father and mother didn't have to suffer through the trials.  I have seven brothers and sisters who can help us, there must be some loophole."

"I'm afraid for our child, Anthony," tears ran down her face.  "I can bear anything to be with you, but I'm afraid for our child."

"Darling," his voice shook.  "I would rather spare you the torture than have a child–"

"How could you–"

"I know that makes me a terrible father, and selfish.  I know that's not what you want, but we promised to be honest with each other, and the truth is I would rather have you than the child."

"Don't– don't say that," she whispered.  "Please don't say that."

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but I can't lose you.  I just found you–"

"We know how your myth ends.  How my myth ends.  We know I'll be your wife among the Pantheon.  We can bear this."

"But what if the myth– the betrayal–"

"You come back to me in the end."

"I abandon you when you need me most."

"As long as you come back to me, this will be tenable, it will be bearable."

"I will consult with Themis again."

"No.  Please don't leave me.  I want to spend what time we have left together."

"But if we can–"

"Send one of your siblings," she could see him begin to protest.  "I need you to stay with me, Anthony.  This is all I will have to sustain myself in the coming days."

"Whatever you need, my darling.  Anything in my power to give you."

"Hold me?"

"I'll never let you go."

But the way Aubrey Hall grew impenetrable hedges meant to keep any intruders out, the way the lyre could not help but fumble over its usual melodious chords, only reminded them something was changing.

The idea that Anthony might prevent the progression of the myth by killing their child took deep root in his mind.  Their story dictated that they would be blessed with at least a daughter, and he would always have to sire the next Viscount Eros.  There would be other children, later.  It was regrettable, to be sure, and she would mourn their baby.  However, Anthony was not ready to let Kathani go.  Not so soon, not like this, at the height of their happiness, now destabilized by the anxiety of their future.

Another part of him pointed out that he was only prolonging the inevitable.  Was he going to kill every single child they conceived simply to stave off the myth?  Would he ever be ready to let her go to fulfill her own story?  Kathani would never forgive him if tried to divert the course of fate by killing an innocent.  She already loved the child growing in her.

He could not stop thinking of this creature growing in her belly.  The soft looks she directed towards it, the way she ran to him excitedly when she was certain it had moved, despite the fact her stomach had not enough even begun to swell.  Irrational, implacable, fated sort of jealousy took hold until Anthony could only see the child as his rival for her affections.  That she loved the unknown cluster of cells so much, she would rather leave him and suffer than give him the time he needed to come to terms with their predetermined story.

Perhaps the dishes and spoons were right; she needed to be protected from him.

His appetites were increased and his taking of her brutal.  She did not mind, as she herself was ravenous for him; but it lit an irrepressible anger within him when she spoke of the baby instead of engaging in their hours of post-coital teasing.  Time he'd not had to share, now encroached by the baby which was the harbinger of their agonizing separation.

Betrayal was the next theme of their story.

Anthony would rather betray her than be betrayed by her.  In many ways, it was a foregone conclusion.

–

"Didi!"

"Bon, my lovely Bon!  And Friedrich, it's wonderful to see you."

"Your cupid has finally allowed you to visit us," Edwina teased, though there was an undercurrent of disapproval in her words.

They all settled in the small parlor which Edwina shared with Friedrich.  He was apparently doing quite well as a lecturer at Oxford.

"He is not my jailer, Bon."

"I know, but I thought I'd see you more often.  The books say–"

"The books say many different things."

"You have been studying them?" Friedrich asked.

"It feels almost as though that's the only thing Anthony does these days– study the different variations of the tale and read the accounts for the viscounts who came before him."

"Then–" Edwina gasped.  "Didi, are you pregnant?"

Kathani smiled shyly.

Edwina squealed in delight and practically attacked her sister with a hug.

"How long has it been?"

"In truth, I don't know.  Time moves so strangely there, and Anthony has said the gestational period of children born from unions of gods and humans are never the same."

"Yes, especially if those humans were turned into swans or various types of cattle," Friedrich added wryly.

"Didi, this is happy news, is it not?"

"I– I don't know.  Anthony is convinced it is the beginning of the end.  He's been obsessed with finding a way to stop the story."

"But surely he must know you're not alone, not like the original Psyche of the story," Friedrich said.  "We are here to help in any way we can."

"You have friends and allies, Didi, no matter how despicable this Lady Aphrodite is."

"Quite despicable," Friedrich muttered into his tea.

"You must promise not to tell a soul."

"What is it?"

"I am afraid Anthony is plotting something.  Something rash."

–

Anthony did not consult Themis.

"Dorset, you're a difficult man to track down."

"Bridgerton– good to see you.  What brings you to my neck of the woods?"

"I've embarked on my myth."

"There was a rumor going around.  For what it's worth, I'm sorry you've been put in this position."

"Thank you," he said softly.  "Actually, I wondered if I could ask a favor."

"If it's in my power to help you, I'd be happy to assist."

"You're an oracle of Apollo."

"I can't divine the future for you."

"Not for me, for her."

Dorset frowned.  He opened his mouth to say something, when–

"Please," Anthony whispered.

Apollo's oracle looked at Eros carefully, searching.  Then nodded, once.

"I'll see what I can do."

[surely-galena]

G, Z and M for the ask meme, please 😊

Hello exhausted-impact!!

G: Care to share a favorite crack fic?

I know you technically asked for one but I'm giving you more anyway! I'm going to assume that they are ToT crack fics, and if so, allow me to point you to (if you haven't already read them):

Come and Spaghet It! by @samsspambox || samandspam

“Pasta night started by accident”, one of the officers told Luke as they shoved another forkful of the vegan chicken alfredo. “One of the lawyers, I don’t know if you know them yet, made way too much spaghetti and didn’t want it to go to waste."

or alternatively: Artem stress makes handmade pasta and Luke unknowingly eats some at the Stellis Police Department.

This was one of the first ToT fics I read when I got into the fandom last year and it's such a fun one. Also read the end notes section because it's hilarious

-

hey google? how do i recover from telling my boss to fuck off online? by @samsspambox || samandspam

The world of entertainment was a fickle thing. Artem was used to this idea. In fact, he was sometimes the subject of such internet trends. He would review a movie, people would talk about the movie more, and then people would forget about it. He still didn’t know how his little website got so popular, he just wrote what he thought and needed someplace to put it.

That’s how this whole thing started.

or alternatively: kiki and artem have internet beef. hilarity ensues.

Hands down one of my favorite Kiki fics! It's miscommunication done well and I personally think it's hilarious. The fic also uses fun HTML/CSS, references Artem's dislike of Kanon, and comes with a clickable link! :D

-

and i would walk 1,300 steps (just to be the man to fall down at...the reindeer workshop) by @actualbird || reptilianraven

“1,299 steps, huh?” Ria peers over to look at Artem’s fitbit.

“One more step ‘til the high score, then,” Marius smirks, extending his leg. “Do you think what DAVIS said would happen will actually happen when we hit 1,300?”

“Doubt it,” Luke rolls his eyes. “Most that’d happen is a prize from the staff.”

“We are likely only going to exacerbate Ria’s aching feet, should we wander around any longer,” Vyn tells him.

“Agreed,” Artem nods. “I think it’s time we call it a night.”

“You guys are no fun,” Marius whines, but he doesn’t protest as the rest of them start walking back to the parking lot.

And after one step, a large blue circle of light appears underneath all their feet before phasing the team completely out of existence.

-

DAVIS: The Teleport Point opens at a random point for the first time after 100 steps and leads the player to the Reindeer Workshop. Once the first is unlocked, the others unlock after 200 steps, with six Reindeer Workshops in total to visit. Cumulatively, 1,300 steps are needed to unlock all workshops.

[Based on the Xmas Partyland Map Event]

This fic delves into game mechanics (if you've played any of the map events, you'll be relatively familiar) and contains some of the best Artem lines. Okay, everyone has good lines in this, but *vague gesture* it's all delightful. It's a short read so I'd definitely recommend it, even if you haven't played this specific event!

-

farm time??!? by lawlietss (who I'm afraid I don't know the tumblr handle of?)

The NXX team play Stardew Valley for some good old fashioned team bonding. There's more problems than profit.

Okay, this isn't strictly crack (it's tagged as comedy), but if you're familiar with / have played sdv then you might enjoy this. There's MC marrying Harvey to spite everyone and Vyn naming the farm Farm Farm in the most deadpan voice possible (among other things). Would recommend if you also enjoy NXX team shenanigans!

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?

I... do have some actually. I'm keeping quiet about a lot of them because I don't want to raise expectations, but here are a few that I've been playing around with:

An Ever After High / fairy tale AU focusing on Vyn and Artem as foils (enemies to friends arc)

A Kiki and Vincent fic because there is tragically little content about the two of them, let alone both of them interacting with each other (probably strangers to friends and bonding over shared interests)

Possibly something about Zangr that actually has him as a main/POV character??

Z: Major character death–do you ever write/read it? Is there a character whose death you can’t tolerate?

I'm not sure if I could write major character death, haha! In original works, sure. In fic? I don't know! It's also something that I don't usually read, especially if I gravitate toward found fam / team dynamics. I will admit, however, that I have read a few ToT fics where Luke dies out of morbid curiosity. (Not him dying of morbid curiosity, I'm the one who is curious.) So while it's not something I stay away from entirely, it's also something I don't necessarily navigate toward.

Thank you for the ask!! Have a lovely day :D

[blackidyll]

3, 16, 22, and 30 for the writing meme!

this is for the 2023 in review writing meme! (which... yes i'm replying 2 weeks into 2024, this will tell you how my days has been going ;w;) 3. What’s something you learned about yourself as a writer?

That I'm capable of writing things quickly and on the fly. I know this doesn't sound very impressive, but like… I tend to get hung up on how I need to outline stuff (outlining is still my preferred method to start fics) and then I would agonize over my scenes overthinking on whether they're in character or true to the story or not. But this year due to various circumstances I just started forcing myself to write things out quickly without thinking too much and then… I found that I was finishing things and that the quality wasn't too bad for a first draft.

I guess that saying about "kill the perfectionist in you, getting something down is better than nothing" is true.

16. What were you go-to writing songs? I tend to pick songs related to the fandom I'm writing for! So for game fandoms it's always their OSTs, for anime fandoms it's often instrumental versions of the OP/ED etc.

If I don't have a specific song or soundtrack in mind, I usually write to instrumental music that fits the "vibe" I'm aiming for - Joe Hisaishi songs (Merry Go Round of Life is a favourite), Jennifer Thomas's A Beautiful Storm, Ezio Bosso's Rain in Your Black Eyes, Muse's Exogenesis etc. In recent months I also wrote a lot to the Chasm music from Genshin, in particular, Stories of Remote Antiquity and Inevitable Conflict. Lately because of my Star Rail focus, I also write a lot to Wildfire and various Luofu soundtracks.

22. Share an excerpt from your favorite scene This is from Chapter 6/the final chapter of A Drop of Rain Heralds the Cleansing Storm, my JingHeng post-1.3 update story (so, spoilers for the story, I guess).

How does the freedom of an unending journey feel like? Do you have strong ties to any particular planet you’ve visited? You say you often come back to familiar locations because they mean something to you – but have you ever been tempted to stay? March is right – Jing Yuan will never ask these questions aloud. Dan Heng knows the look of someone who hopes but does not dare to tempt fate, because he’d been that person once. He dreamed and dreamt of a previous lifetime, but never once had Dan Heng actually envisioned being able to lawfully return to the Luofu and put his past to rest, not until he’d been forced into breaking his banishment edict by numerous interfering hands and his own concern for his friends. As the one who was always left behind, who had to remain stalwart and steadfast against the tribulations of time and the vagaries of life, hoping without expectations seems to be a habit Jing Yuan has long fallen into. Dan Heng won’t allow him to stay in that rut. He reaches for Jing Yuan’s hand, the air around Dan Heng shifting as his horns materialize on his head and his hair cascades down his back. “Jing Yuan.” Jing Yuan startles, his eye a flash of gold in the dark; his surprise is a clear ripple in the bond that rings loud and clear in Dan Heng’s senses. Around them, a steady drizzle falls – partly a side effect of Dan Heng’s transformation and partly borne from Dan Heng’s desire to keep this moment between them private, the cloudhymn rain obscuring them from sight. “Dan Heng?” “The tacit understanding between us is well and good in battle and during our day-to-day doings, but some things, I’ve realized, need to be spoken out loud.”

30. What’s something that you want to write in 2024? I have like… three to four sequel stories I want to write to A Drop of Rain Heralds the Cleansing Storm. I want to finish the direct sequel first (long distance relationship focused) but the one I will probably have most fun with is my verse's version of the canon Dan Heng: IL's companion quest (aka, someone tries to assassinate Bailu, Jing Yuan rescues her and tells Dan Heng who is trailblazing with the Express; Dan Heng immediately returns to the Luofu to confront the Preceptors. It's basically Dan Heng and that "aren't you tired of being nice? don't you just want to go ape shit?" meme yes I know something something Dan Feng already did that, but I personally see Dan Heng as his own person and he deserves to slap the Preceptors around for all the crap they've done).

I also need to write my next chapter of Rallying Point! It's a Reigen perspective chapter just before the Spirits and Such crew try to bust him out which is why I'm struggling so much with it ahhhhhhh. So close to the end and yet so far!