#and i know i have struggled with this before about a pretty wide variety of other things

[slightlyhopefulromantic]

aaand here's deadlands! it didnt take seven months this time, who cheered?

i'll probably do another post grouping all of my line-ups together, but that's gonna wait for when i do the wyrdwood PCs as well :] more thorough design thoughts/smaller details will be under the cut, but im putting this here so that everybody has to know: their eye shines are all different card suits, except for nate, who gets J for the joker card :]

oxventurers guild | the hobby horses

unlike my other designs where i let everyone have individual colors/palettes, i tried to keep colors more consistent across these designs! the oxventurers guild has the fantasy element and theyre all very different, so the wide mishmash of colors are fine, and the hobby horses all have a lot of dark colors so that keeps them looking consistent together. but for these guys, i wanted a more consistent feel, so i tried my best to reuse colors between each design (especially between delacy and nate ^-^)

silas - ough. my boy. i wanted him to be broad with a strong build, and i hope i pulled that off :D i had so much trouble with his hat that i almost just didnt give him one, but eventually i decided it was better to just. give up and rock with it, even if he looks a bit like a mountie hbjgfjhd and he is wearing cowboy boots, theyre just tucked into his pants because he doesnt feel the need to flash them (looking at delacy, lol). he has spurs on his boots, even though he doesnt ride horses, because he likes the way they jangle <3

garnet - people really liked it when i gave garnet dark roots, so i have decided to always give her dark roots. i like how it looks hehehe and i also like to give her freckles!!! i think theyre cute!!! for the vest, i struggled for a while trying to capture the vibe of jane's vest, because its so so strange and specific in a way that makes it impossible for me to picture garnet without it. i'm pretty happy with where i landed with it, especially the pattern, since i've never tried to make a pattern like that before :3 i dont know why ive been loving patterns so much lately LOL but i will keep riding this wave and regret it later when drawing the designs again

edie - definitely the furthest departure from canon outfits, though still in the right wheelhouse. i just don't like drawing multiple layers of ruffled skirt. i didn't like how my sketches kept looking. i wanted to give her a skirt slit, especially after my friend reminded me about her thigh rifle holster. so today, i stared at a bunch of victorian ballgowns and party city costumes, and then completely redesigned her skirt before i lined these XD and i think it was worth it!! i love the layers and the way her rifle peeks out, and it meant i could show off more of her boots and give them a pretty design :]

delacy - my main thought going into drawing delacy was just. "i need to malnourish this boy" LMAO i refuse to believe that he is eating properly, i just know that he is not. otherwise, i mostly just stuck to the campaign art but scuffed up his clothes a bit. as implied on silas's notes, i very purposefully had his boots be Big. he's overcompensating a little bit :] also sorry i did not want to draw rooster so he just gets a generic handgun. i didnt feel like drawing complicated guns, and i wanted it to be a smaller handgun so that he could be poorly copying edie :') he has no trigger discipline but neither does edie so its fine

nate - that's just nate, baby!!! i think, canonically, he's meant to be a bit. emaciated. but i cant help but just picture him being a bigger guy, i think it fits his vibe better and its more fun for me to draw that way. i like having variety in body shapes, and garnet and delacy already have the rail thin thing down for this line-up. let my old man be fat !!! also. he has a weird nipple because he is transgender. heart emoji

[merrymagicalmenagerie]

Oh look, I actually wrote something! Harry/Ginny Incognito Elf Exchange 2024 for Macknificent101

More under the cut, or check out the link to my AO3

Like Her Paper Chains 

It’s Christmastime at the Burrow and Harry can’t sleep as usual. The cozy home was quiet, despite the many guests filling the rooms. Harry stared up at the violently orange ceiling for yet another night. His mind still raced over the comings and goings of Snape and Malfoy. The previous night’s dream of a particular ginger-haired girl didn’t help much either. Resigning himself to make something to drink, Harry quietly slipped out of bed. Moving around in Ron’s room wasn’t a difficult task, but he did worry about the landing and that one odd step that needed to be skipped.

As Harry quietly descended the stairs toward the kitchen, he heard an odd shuffling and crinkling sound coming from the living room. Ever the detective, he put his back against the wall and silently moved toward the sound, wand at the ready just in case. What greeted him was quite a sight–the room was covered in cut-up strips of paper of every color. Harry had never seen such a vast amount of paper in one place, let alone so many different varieties of color and patterns. He scanned the room for a moment before he spotted her.

Ginny was sitting in the middle of the vast crafting project, her back to him. He was awestruck by the way her hair glittered under the candlelight. He watched as she reached to the left and, without looking, snatched up a small handful of colorful strips. She let out an exasperated sigh and mumbled something that he couldn’t quite make out. Harry knew, of course, that Ginny liked making paper chains. But he always assumed it was something she did over time, like a quiet task to wind down for the night. But this—this was insanity.

He tempted fate and quietly called to her. “Ginny?” She jerked her head similar to a cat caught being naughty, eyes wide. Harry couldn’t help but smile softly at the sight. “How come you’re up so late doing…this?” he gestured to the paper forest on the floor.

“What? You expect Father Christmas had House Elves decorate every home before Christmas morning?” Her nose scrunched up as she giggled at him causing his heart to skip a beat. “You’re up late too, you know. Come help.” She shoved a small pile of multi-colored striped cuts on her left further aside and patted the floor.

Caught like a mouse, he obliged. Grabbing a pillow from the sofa on his way, he sat down next to her—too closely, but it was the amount of space she allowed him. Ginny looked at him expectantly. “Can’t sleep, pretty normal for me. You don’t need to worry; ’m fine.” He felt his face growing warm as he struggled to look directly in her eyes, but something told him that it was important to do so.

“If you say so,” she hummed. She finished her current link of the paper chain and bumped his shoulder with hers. “Help me get through this then. I’d be up for ages if you didn’t. Phlegm has totally taken over my room; otherwise, I’d normally be already done.” She handed him a Pritt Stick from her box of supplies and grinned widely.

“Hadn’t used this in a while. Didn’t think wizards would have glue sticks like Muggles do,” Harry replied as he reached for some strips of paper in front of him, returning her smile.

“Oh no! Daddy actually just got me a bunch of these for my birthday and some other muggle stationery. Before, I’d just use a sticky paste that I had to make myself. This is so much more handy!” Harry took a mental note to buy her crafting supplies for any upcoming gift-giving. By the way she smiled, he would spend all his gold in Gringotts getting her every paint, paper, glue, and glitter known to wizard and muggle alike.

Waving a few strips in the air between them, Harry spoke earnestly, “Well, Ms. Paper Chain Queen, you will have to show me how you do these ‘cause I have no clue.”

In response, Ginny brought her hand to her upper chest and gasped, “Nonsense! How can you not know how?” She dramatically sighed as she leaned over Harry’s lap to grab a glittery green strip, tucking a few loose strands of hair behind her ear as she went. “Let me show you…”

He didn’t dare move an inch, didn’t dare breathe until she was upright again.

He tried, honestly. He tried to pay attention as she twisted the strip of paper through the existing red link and glued it together. But her hands…her soft hands that held remarkably few calluses despite playing Quidditch with such fervor. Small, delicate fingers weaving paper as if it were nothing. Were they warm or a little cold? How would they feel—

"See? Easy! Surely you can manage,” she interrupted his thoughts, holding her addition in the air proudly.

He couldn’t recall if she did anything in particular. Harry was far too preoccupied with staring at her hands to watch what she was doing with them. Certainly nothing that wouldn’t haunt his dreams later. “I think so? Does color matter...?” He looked away, shuffling through the nearest strips of paper to hide the red that he knew was spreading across his face. “...this deep blue is my favorite…” he mumbled, hoping to escape the hell he was creating for himself.

“I’ve got you. I’m always here for you, Harry.” Ginny spoke solemnly as she squeezed his upper thigh. Alarms rang in his ears. Before he could fully turn his head, the moment passed as quickly as it appeared. Harry couldn't help but stare as she pulled her silky tresses through a hair band with ease as if she said nothing remarkable at all.

After a beat, Harry quietly said, “You look pretty good with your hair up like that.” Realizing what he said, he hastily went back to trying to glue up the blue bit of paper he was holding in his hands to a mustard yellow one.

“Didn’t know you were so into fashion. Maybe we should set up a meeting with Witch Weekly?” Ginny teased, bumping his shoulder again, seemingly oblivious to his heart beating out of his chest.

“Ha! You’d love to take the mickey out of me on that one.” Harry chuckled as he bumped her shoulder back, silently hoping to transfer the energy of his pounding heart to her. “Let’s get these done. I’ll make some hot chocolate when we’ve finished.”

“What a gent!” Ginny flicked her hair, long even in a ponytail, dramatically over her shoulder.

She had to know what she was doing to him, surely. How much more could he take before he said or did something stupid? He was certain that she could hear the frantic beating of his heart. Perhaps this is the moment to say something, he thought before reminding himself but she's still with Dean. At this moment though, it didn’t matter really. Nothing but sitting next to her did. Harry shook his head and smirked before returning to his feeble chain.

A few hours passed in glorious small talk. They made crude jokes about Ron and Lavender, gossiped about Hermione’s scandalous date with McLaggen (he would most definitely need to talk to her when they return to Hogwarts), talked shop about Quidditch strategies—anything and everything that came to their minds. It was as if no one else existed; Harry’s whole world was in the living room with Ginny alone. He could stay in this moment forever and be content.

The dark sky was giving way to an inky blue when all of the colorful paper chains were put together and the pair was finishing draping them across every surface in the room. Ginny was standing next to Harry, hands on her hips, as he secured the last link over the entryway to the kitchen. “How about that hot chocolate then?”

The next evening, the Weasley's and their guests were sitting in the living room, which everyone assumed Ginny had decorated so lavishly in a paper chain explosion alone as she always did. No one knew that Harry helped into the dawn hours. She discreetly winked at him when he came down the stairs for dinner, and he smiled in return. It was their little secret.

Despite his misgivings about his feelings toward Ginny and the eternal debate in his mind, Harry felt as if they grew a little closer the previous night. Something seems to have shifted between them, moving them forward toward some unknown goal, as if they were linked together like her paper chains.

[evolutionsvoid]

I am sure some folk are pretty surprised with how colorful the Underworld can be. When you describe a massive expanse of caverns far below the surface, where the sun can never reach, you figure it would be nothing but darkness. And indeed, there are parts of the Underworld that are blacker than night, where absolutely no light exists. In there you would find some pallid beasts lurking about, but in many other places, there is actually some forms of luminescence! There are types of stones that produce light and glowing magma rivers but one of the most common sources comes from fungi! A wide range of fungus down below produce a potent light, and that allows one to see their surroundings. And of course, civilization has brought plenty of light to many dark areas over the centuries. So while there are many dark tunnels and pitch black caverns, there are also areas where you can see....well, kinda alright. For the denizens who live in these light conditions their whole lives, I am sure it is bright as day to them. But for someone used to the sun providing plenty of light, I still find myself struggling with the conditions down below.

But before I get distracted anymore, back to the topic at hand! The reason I brought all that up is because the species I am writing about now is one that is well known for its gorgeous colors! The Trilocera is an utter beauty to behold, but one best admired from a safe distance! They possess a variety of patterns and bright colors, but also some nasty spikes and horns! Their head plate is like the cross between a shovel, a shield and a plow, but then glue on some curved blades to finish the look! As you can imagine, this hefty chunk of chitin is used for offense and defense, as it blocks attacks while dealing out punishment as well. On top of the many skewering spikes lining its head plate, they typically possess a forked horn as well. You don't want to be on the receiving end of that when they charge at you!

It was fitting that I mentioned fungi earlier, because that is what the Trilocera feeds upon! Though, honestly at this point I can imagine you understand that fungus is one of the most common food items down here. If you aren't a carnivore, then most likely you are a fungivore! Its shovel-like snout helps to overturn stones or rasp away at the ground. Its long horn doesn't just impale enemies, but it can be used to scrap fungi off the cavern walls! When it comes to being on the menu, the Trilocera has very obvious defenses to make predators wary. Thick armor and a whole lot of spikes. If you want to try and hunt of these beasts, you know for certain which end you would rather be dealing with!

Their impressive head plates make their use in mate selection obvious. No doubt you want the best colors, longest horns and most incredible display! But of course, challengers will approach, and that is when males lock horns and duel. Since they are heavy and have many legs to support their bodies, don't expect these fights to have any showy moves or knock outs. They tend to rattle horns and shake their heads a bunch, and eventually the loser knows when they have been beat.

To the people down below, the Trilocera is an iconic species. While they share similarities in shape and headgear to the Isodon, they aren't treated like cattle like the other species is. Apparently, Trilocera are far more ornery and don't take well to being bossed around. Makes me wonder how many injuries and casualties it took to figure that one out! Though not farmed, the Trilocera is hunted for its meat and armor, while their head plate makes for a fine trophy. Demons likes to fashion them into shields or masks, though some would suggest these are more decorative than functional. If one truly wants them as a shield, you have to re enforce them a bunch. That isn't to say that these head plates are weak, it just goes to show you how incredibly powerful demon weapons are! A strike from a demon forged mace would crack that thing right in half! But then again, if you take one of those blows to the head, I can't imagine any level of armor and padding would prevent your brains from being reduced to mush from the sheer impact.

Chlora Myron

Dryad Natural Historian

--------------------------------------

"Trilocera"

Whatwhatwhat? THREE trilobites in a row?! Hold up, is this some kind of themed month?! An entire month themed upon trilobites and ancient invertebrates?!

No.

[steddieas-shegoes]

Request: the party is at the Hopper-Byers house for the July 4th celebrations and Steve has a really bad nightmare caused by childhood trauma/abuse mixed in with Upside Down horror. He wakes up but is still lost in the nightmare + PTSD from the fireworks. Eddie can't calm him down. Nobody in the party can calm him down, he isn't fully awake. Its terrifying. What calms him down is Wayne, speaking in low tones about Garfield, and the weather and Eddie. He refuses to talk to anyone about the pleas and desperate sobs of "no..get off" & "leave me alone" but is extra clingy to Eddie & Wayne once he comes out of the flashback. It's also the 1st time he calls Wayne 'dad'

MY LOVE!!!!!! Sometimes I make myself cry so hard that I have to add the most ridiculous fluff to make it better. That's what's happened here. It's sad, it's hurt, but then it's so so so much comfort and fluff. I can't resist and I can't apologize. Plus you know supportive Wayne is like MY BRAND. Steve calling him dad? Jesus the tears I let out. I'm actually a pretty firm believer that at some point over the years, Eddie started calling him dad because he was a better one than his own ever was. Hope you all cry in a good way with this. - Mickala ❤️

-----------------------------------------------------------

Steve went to bed a while ago, his head hurting a bit too much to handle the fireworks show that Hopper and Jonathan were putting on. Eddie went with him, though he wasn’t tired, at Robin’s insistence.

She’d given him a look that said enough.

They’d all been dreading this day, at least a little, because of Starcourt the year before.

Steve was asleep in Will’s bed, curled up against Eddie’s side, breathing even.

Until it wasn’t.

Until his hands were gripping Eddie’s shirt like it was a lifeline, his feet started kicking like he was running from something.

He was whimpering in his sleep, clearly terrified of something, but Eddie couldn’t be sure what.

Steve tended to have a wide variety of nightmares: reminders of his childhood traumas, reminders of the Upside Down and Russians, and terrible visions of something that would hopefully never be the future.

They all caused him to struggle to wake up, and usually he was crying uncontrollably for hours when he finally did.

Eddie tried to prop himself up slightly, ready to try to hold Steve as still as he could.

Steve fought him off though, mumbling something in his sleep.

Eddie let him, knew better than to actively attempt waking him up during a nightmare.

He kept a hand on him, adjusting as Steve shifted in the bed. Trying to talk to him quietly, barely whispering reassurances that he was safe and loved and everyone would protect him.

Sometimes that worked. It wasn’t quite enough to wake him up from it, but he’d calm down and drift back into a mostly dreamless sleep.

Not this time.

He started sobbing, tears streaming down his cheeks from his still-closed eyes. He wasn’t quite tossing and turning, but he was moving enough that Eddie didn’t want to stay too close just in case either of them ended up hurt.

It killed him, but he put space between them.

“Eddie, no!”

Eddie flinched at the despair in Steve’s voice.

He heard a knock on the door, but couldn’t pull himself completely away to open it, so he yelled for them to come in.

Robin and Max were at the door with wide eyes, Dustin and Will standing behind them.

“Is he okay?” Robin started as she walked in.

“He’s having a nightmare.”

“Why can we not just wake him up?” El asked curiously.

“He wakes up on his own. If you try to wake him up he could accidentally hurt you.”

“But he is hurting,” she said, deep frown settling on her features as she watched Steve moving in bed.

Robin sat down on the edge of the bed just as a firework went off in the backyard, making her jump.

Steve’s eyes shot open, and he stopped moving.

But he wasn’t awake.

“Please stop. I can’t-“ Steve’s voice was pained, like he was being tortured.

“Hey, why don’t you rugrats go get Joyce or Hop or something?”

The kids hesitated, clearly not wanting to leave Steve even for a moment, but finally all turned to grab an adult from the firework show.

Joyce came in only a minute later, eyes wide and searching.

“Steve?” She asked as she got close to the bed, watching his open eyes crying silently now. “Sweetie, can you hear me?”

“This only happened once when I was around. He’s like, lost in the nightmare. He says when this happens is when he can physically feel what’s happening instead of just picturing it.”

“Bless his heart,” Joyce sighed. “Do you know what the nightmares are?”

“They’re different all the time,” Eddie said quietly.

“No, not her! I’m the one you want, right?” Steve yelled suddenly.

Everyone jumped and Steve and Robin shared a long glance.

“Maybe the Russians? We’ve had a lot of reminders today.”

Joyce placed a hand on his face to wipe his tears, but Steve flinched and curled himself into a ball.

“No, no, no,” he repeated.

“It’s okay, honey. It’s Joyce. We’re all gonna keep you safe,” she said softly, her hand still stroking through his hair.

She was trying to comfort him, but it seemed like the touch just made things worse. After another minute, she pulled her hand away and Eddie could see she was fighting back tears.

He put his hand on her shoulder as he heard a few more people come in.

“It’s okay. When he wakes up, he’ll be happy to know you tried,” Eddie said, though at this point, he figured if Steve knew that everyone was watching him have a nightmare, he’d be embarrassed at best, ashamed at worst.

“Maybe we should give him space,” Max suggested from the corner.

She suffered from terrible nightmares, too. She hated sleepovers now, usually chose to take the guest room of Steve’s house instead of on the floor in the living room with everyone just in case she had one. El would sometimes go with her, but most of the time, Max preferred being alone.

Steve was similar in that he usually hated anyone trying to take care of him, but Eddie and Robin usually didn’t give him a choice.

“Max is right,” Hopper said from the door, though he looked just as concerned as Joyce. “If he wakes up to all of us standing around him, he’s just gonna feel worse.”

“Let me get in there,” Wayne mumbled from behind Hopper.

Wayne had never seen Steve’s nightmares firsthand, just heard recounts of them from Eddie, but he’d felt terrible for the boy. He had his own share of nightmares from the war, and wouldn’t wish them on anyone.

Eddie and Wayne shared a look, one that had Eddie moving so Wayne could sit on the bed with Steve instead.

“Alright, everyone but Wayne and Eddie out!” Hopper said just loud enough to make a point.

Wayne wasn’t paying attention to everyone leaving, too focused on reading the situation at hand and preparing for whatever it might take to get Steve out of it.

“He ever punch when he’s in a nightmare?” He asked Eddie as he sat down close to him.

“Only once with Robin, then she learned to leave enough space that she could get up if he started throwing his hands around. It’s happened to me a couple times because I don’t want to leave him alone.”

“Alright, just stay right there for a few minutes. I’m gonna try to hold his wrists so I know if he’s gonna punch.”

“You aren’t restraining him, right? He doesn’t like to be restrained,” Eddie started nervously chewing on his hair.

“No, son. Not restraining. I’m gonna let him go if he starts to push against me, but it’s just so I know when he’s gonna start throwin’ his hands around.”

Eddie nodded and watched as Wayne sat back against the headboard of the bed and pulled Steve completely into his lap.

Steve wasn’t fighting it, but he was letting out little “no, no, no”’s until Wayne got him completely settled with his head against his chest, ear pressed to his heartbeat.

“Alright, bud, we’re gonna get you through this. You and me, kid. Just us. I’ve got you right here, you hear my heart? I got you.” Eddie watched as Steve’s crying continued to get worse. “Oh! You know that stupid Garfield mug? Broke the handle on it again. Damn thing seems like it’s giving up for good. I’ll have to steal the one you keep at the house.”

Steve’s whimpering was a bit quieter, his body relaxing a little more into Wayne.

“Tomorrow’s s’posed to be nice, maybe we should head out to the lake and fish. Leave Eddie behind, he scares the fish,” Wayne smirked over at Eddie, who was only holding back a comment because he was still too worried about Steve.

Steve was now silently crying, and Eddie knew he was probably closer to awake than asleep.

“I know you’ll probably say Eddie’s welcome, but that kid don’t shut up. Don’t know how you put up with him. Of my two boys, I’d much rather take you fishin’ and take Ed to a bar.”

Eddie bit his lip at the implication that Steve was one of Wayne’s boys. He knew Wayne adored Steve, but didn’t realize he was ready to adopt him as his own.

“There you are, bud. You awake?” Wayne was talking softer than Eddie had ever heard, and when he looked at Steve, he realized why.

Steve had finally managed to wake up completely, and his whole body was shivering, more from fear than being cold.

Eddie still found a blanket at the end of the bed and covered him, watching as Wayne mouthed a quick thank you over Steve’s head.

“You want me to keep talkin’?” Wayne asked.

Steve nodded.

“You got it, though this is more what Eddie’s good at. Ya know the first night he lived with me, I couldn’t get him to even say hello? Poor kid was like Bambi, didn’t trust anyone or anything, big brown eyes watching every breath I took until he was in his room. The next day I woke him up with pancakes, the recipe you like most with the cinnamon apples, and he hasn’t shut up since.”

Steve let out a breath that could have been a laugh if he wasn’t coming down from one of the worst nightmares Eddie’s seen him have.

Wayne’s hands were running along his arm and back, comforting and keeping him warm.

“Maybe we can head back to the house, I can make us those pancakes in the morning before we go fishin’. That sound good, kid?”

“Yeah, dad.”

Eddie’s eyes widened, and he saw Wayne’s hands freeze.

Then Steve was trying to pull away, his eyes shining with unshed tears that hadn’t been there a moment ago.

But Wayne pulled him back, held him against his chest and placed a kiss to the top of his head.

“I’m not lettin’ you go yet, son. Not unless you would rather be with Ed.”

Steve shook his head.

Eddie didn’t take offense to it, he was with Steve all the time and he knew Wayne was the best at giving support in times like this.

“You wanna talk about it?”

“What?”

“Anything.”

Steve shook his head.

“You ever talk about it with anyone?”

Steve shook his head.

“You think you should?”

Steve nodded.

“I ever tell you about when I got back from Vietnam?”

Steve shook his head.

“Is it okay if Ed sits down on the bed with us? Maybe you can hold his hand.”

Thank every god for Wayne Munson. Eddie was practically crawling out of his skin with the need to have his hand on Steve, make sure he was really okay.

Steve nodded.

Eddie sat down on the other side of Wayne, letting his head rest against his shoulder while Steve propped his legs in his lap.

“Everyone cozy?”

“Mhm,” Steve said.

“Yeah,” Eddie replied.

“When I first got back, I couldn’t sleep at all. Sometimes I’d drift off in my chair when I got too tired, but I’d usually wake up so quick my body didn’t even know I fell asleep. That went on for months until Jim got back. He was so much younger than me, ya know? Didn’t seem right that he had to go through what I did. We met for lunch a few times, we talked. He didn’t have much to say, neither did I, but sometimes we had a story to share. And ya know, dammit if it didn’t help.”

Eddie remembers back when he first started living with Wayne how he would sometimes have Hopper over for dinner, but never explained how they even really knew each other until he was older. Even then, he didn’t say much except that they had a lot of similar war stories.

“Didn’t have the time or money for professional help, but sometimes just gettin’ stuff off your chest can help. Ya know, I cut back my hours at the plant. Don’t need to work all that overtime now that the government bought us a house and pays the bills on it. Kinda nice to just have some time for doin’ what I wanna do. Maybe we could start takin’ a few hours a week to go fishin’. Maybe have lunch at the diner and chat.”

Eddie could feel tears running down his face at Wayne’s offer, at how much he cared for Steve.

“You’d wanna do that with me?” Steve’s voice was shaking, and Eddie didn’t have to see his face to know he was crying.

“I’d love to, bud. You’re my kiddo, ya know? Just as much as Eddie is.”

Steve let out a sob, and curled further into Wayne’s chest. Eddie squeezed his knee, letting him know he was there if he needed him.

“I love ya, kid. You’re gonna be just fine, alright? Not gonna let anyone or anything hurt you.”

“Thanks, dad.”

“Anytime, kiddo.”

They stayed there for a while, probably close to an hour, Steve holding Eddie’s hand while Wayne talked to them both.

Eventually, everyone was heading home and Steve decided to head back with Wayne and Eddie instead of staying with the Byers as planned.

“Get some rest, honey. We love you,” Joyce wrapped her arms around him and squeezed as he said his goodbyes to everyone.

The ride back was quiet, Wayne driving them both in his truck, the radio playing old country the whole way home.

When they got home, Steve decided to take a quick shower before he went to bed, said he didn’t feel clean.

Wayne furrowed his brows, but nodded.

Eddie kissed him once on the forehead before letting him head to the bathroom.

Wayne turned to him when they heard the shower turn on, his face pained.

“Has he ever talked about his childhood?”

“Not much. Said he used to spend summers with his grandparents and cousins when his parents didn’t wanna take him with them. He hated it, but didn’t say much about it.”

Wayne looked, somehow, worse.

“Has he ever been scared to be touched? Even just a hug? Outside of the nightmares?”

Eddie nodded.

“I mean, not so much with me or Robin anymore, but sometimes with the others, yeah.”

Wayne put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a sad smile.

“It’s not my place to make assumptions, but I think he had plenty of good reasons to hate staying with his grandparents and cousins. Just promise me you’ll listen if he talks to ya? No interruptin’ or judgin’.”

“Of course. I love him, I don’t want him to hide stuff from me,” Eddie responded.

“I know. I love ya, kid.”

“Love ya too,” Eddie was slightly confused, but didn’t ask. Steve would be done soon in the shower and he wanted to make sure he had some of his clothes to wear to bed.

Wayne made his way to his own room, giving a quick knock to the bathroom door and yelling that he loved him. Eddie heard a “love you, dad” in response.

Eddie had viewed Wayne as his dad for years, had called him dad sometimes when he let his guard down a bit. Wayne just had the natural protective, caring personality that a good father has, and Steve wasn’t immune to it.

When Steve made it out of the shower, Eddie was pulling the extra blanket out of his closet for Steve to wrap himself in like he did anytime he had a nightmare.

Steve walked over to him, towel wrapped around his waist, and leaned against him.

Eddie let his hands rest on his hips, right where the towel rested.

“Doing okay, sweetheart?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

“Thanks for sharing Wayne with me.”

“Oh, angel, I don’t make that call. Wayne pretty much adopted you day one and I just had to let it happen,” Eddie smirked.

Steve giggled and kissed Eddie’s collarbone.

“I’m gonna talk to you about it all someday. I will. I promise.”

“No rush, sweet love. When you’re ready, though, I’m right here. So is Wayne.”

“I know. Love you.”

“Love you so much.”

As they fell asleep in Eddie’s bed that night, he realized what Wayne was alluding to and his heart broke into a million pieces. If he was right, then Steve had horrors unimaginable even before the Upside Down.

But Eddie would be here to listen to it when he was ready. He knew it would be hard to hear, but not nearly as hard as it had to be for Steve to live with.

And they both had Wayne, who wouldn’t let either of his boys hurt if he could help it.

[fluffystevefest]

Steve's birthday month started yesterday and we're off to the races! Thank you so much to everyone who shared their creations or showed their love and support. Make sure to show each other your affection with likes, kudos, reblogs, shares, and comments! 💙

THEME ★ AFFECTION

Mission — Heat by @buckys-wintersoldier ★ Fic: 6.7k, E ★ Pairing: Steve/Reader ★ Your best friend and you are on a mission but when he finds out about your heat he doesn’t let you do the mission — but one night in one bed is still enough to confess the real feelings.

Day 01: Steve's Affection by @mercurial-chuckles ★ Fic: M ★ Pairing: Steve/Reader ★ Knowing Steve Rogers, one can easily bet Steve cannot for the sake of anything in the world, do casual dating. He was possessive, an age-old man who can't let go of that streak. His commitment and love are so deep it becomes too evident.

You, Next to Me by EiraLloyd ★ Fic: 4.9k, T ★ Pairing: Steve/Bucky ★ “About,” Bucky started, “what happened in Siberia... before the bunker.” “What about it?” Steve asked, trying to keep his voice steady. This was Bucky. Just Bucky. They were going to be okay, no matter how this conversation went. Steve might’ve been scared before, but… he could trust this — trust the two of them and their friendship. “Why did you let me kiss you?” Bucky asked so quietly Steve almost didn’t hear him, super-soldier hearing and all. (Or, Bucky kisses Steve shortly before they walk into Hydra's secret bunker in Siberia. They don't talk about it until much later.)

Fluffy Steve Fest Rec List Day 1 - Affection by @bulkyphrase ★ Rec list ★ Pairing: Multi ★ Welcome to @fluffystevefest week! The theme for Monday is affection, and while I cannot promise that every list this week will adhere to the themes and prompts, this one mostly does!

Fluffy Steve Fest Rec List: July 1: Affection by @ephemeralbutterfly ★ Rec list ★ Pairing: Multi ★ Hello everyone! I am doing daily themed rec lists for @fluffystevefest. The fics are related (some more loosely than others) to the daily prompts. The number of fics for any given day and prompt varies, but I have at least one fic for each day. There's also a wide variety of fic types and ratings, so I hope there will be something for everyone. The lists are vertically long, so I've put them behind a cut. Our first day features fics with both romantic and platonic affection.

PROMPT ★ HANDHOLDING

Walking Home in the Rain by @darthbloodorange ★ Art: G ★ Pairing: Steve/Thor ★ Steve and Thor walk home in the rain after a date.

PROMPT ★ TOUCH-STARVED

Clipped Wings I was a Broken Thing by @16woodsequ ★ Fic: 5.8k, G ★ Pairing: Steve & Tony ★ Captain America is supposed to have beautiful, strong wings. But after the ice, he keeps them covered, never exposing them or showing them to anyone. Tony finds out why. In the process he learns that no one has preened Rogers since before the ice. That needs to change.

His Favourite by @darthbloodorange ★ Fic: 200, G ★ Pairing: Steve/Thor ★ Steve shouldn't have a favourite Avenger, but he does.

The Shield Bearer by @gfawkesphoenixchokingonashes ★ Fic ★ Pairing: Steve/Bucky ★

PROMPT ★ KISSES

Red Lips & Rosy Cheeks by @ijustreallylikecaptainamericaok ★ Art ★ Pairing: Steve/Scott ★ “I’m never gonna get over that,” he said, his warm gaze sweeping over Steve’s face.

Kiss It Better by @darthbloodorange ★ Fic: 400, T ★ Pairing: Steve/Scott ★ Steve struggles to tend to his wounds after a battle. He knows he should ask for help, but he doesn't want to be a bother.

Sweetest tradition by @americas-ass-writing ★ Fic: 311 ★ Pairing: Steve/Reader ★ Steve's favorite way to wake up in the morning.

PROMPT ★ AFTERCARE

After Mission Recuperation by @darthbloodorange ★ Fic: 500 ★ Pairing: Steve/Bruce ★ Steve returns from a mission tired and dirty. Bruce is there to make it better.

meet me in the afterglow by @meidui ★ Fic: 1.2k, M ★ Pairing: Steve/Tony ★ As someone who has slept around New York a whole lot and thought he knew Steve Rogers pretty well by now, Tony is surprised when he finds out that Steve has been having intermittent one night stands in the two years or so since coming out of the ice. That doesn't stop Tony in the least from getting Steve into bed the first chance he gets, and that chance happens to be after his birthday party when he's looking at Tony, glowing from laughing and drinking all night.

[coffee-writesthings]

I made a headcanon about Scout and Spy both having EDS, soooo here's a fic i wrote expanding on it a touch. Warning for some internalized abliesm but it's dealt with pretty quickly

WC: 1k

MannCo recently sent a shipment of a variety of things: food, weapons, ammo, and a large roll of tape which Scout ordered specially for himself. It was sticky, and would look very similar to his skin-- the perfect thing to hide his slippery joints with.

He went to look through the boxes the moment he heard that the truck left. It had to be in there, and he had to get it before anyone found out. There was no way he'd be allowed to stay on the team in this sort of condition!

With a little searching, he found the right box. It was marked in large, egregious letters, "DISABILITY STUFF". He cringed at how the words glared up at him, practically shouting out to the world how 'broken' he was.

Broken or not, he needed the help, so he dug into the box-- with the help of a pocket knife. Though, what he found wasn't just his tape. There were braces of various kinds, pairs of glasses, and several bottles of what he assumed were medication.

He was dumbfounded, and at the same time wanted to kick himself-- of course his other teammates were also disabled. Medic needed glasses, Pyro needed stuff for their burn scars, Demo only had one eye for gods sake! Had he really just not considered that at all?

Really thinking about it as he dug through the boxes to find his tape, he realized that, no, he'd never thought of his team as disabled-- and they probably didn't either. They were just living life and had found things to work around whatever they were struggling with.

Underneath a sort of brace he'd never seen before lie his tape. It was a massive roll, far larger than what he'd ever used before, maybe as wide across the circle as his forearm?

With new complaints from his hips starting up, he abandoned the boxes and got to work 'fixing his life with duct tape'.

Under the dim light in the bathroom-- jeez, they really need to change that bulb out sometime-- he was able to put down some strips of tape where he felt it was needed most at the moment. Two strips starting just above his hip and trailing down to his inner thighs already helped so much. But with that out of the way, he started on his knees-- he made a sort of x shape from a little above his knee to the side of his calf with a strip of tape for each side, for each leg.

"Thank fuck, my joints are actually jointing now--" he muttered before bumping into Spy.

"Merde, what are you doing up at this hour?"

"I should ask ya the same thing."

"If you must know I'm looking for my new brace. Medic suggested it specially for my Ehlors-Danlos. Tell no one. Please."

"Oh hey, I have that same problem! Yeah, my joints are all wonky, I basically tape em together."

He winced in a way that was almost unnoticeable.

"Somethin' wrong?"

"No, nothing."

"Alright then. Make sure you get some sleep for your old bones then!"

It hit him in the face when he woke up, Ehlors-Danlos is inherited... They'd be around the same age, right? 26 and late-40s, early 50s. It's not unreasonable. He would've been... Somewhere between his age and somewhat younger.

It's not... uncommon for someone to have a kid at that age.

And there were other things too, other things that were shared between them. Their faces were incredibly similar, now that the thought about it-- one thing that the Director's visit helped with.

Something his Ma talked about once or twice came into the mental conversation with a steel chair-- his dad was french. Like, it was significant enough to warrant having a favorite french thing to watch on tv.

Damn, stuff like this had him feeling like an idiot for never noticing.

"But, what about Tom Jones--" he muttered to himself, "No. No wait. Hang on." He cursed loudly, remembering that Spy can use disguises.

That warranted a knock on the door from Engineer, "Everythin' alright in there?"

"Spy's my dad."

"Huh?"

"Spy, the 10,000-euro-suit-wearing asshole, is my dad."

"Have you... Considered talking to him about this, perhaps?" The voice that came out of that mouth was patiently off, too French for Engineer's Texas background.

"Your accent is slipping."

In a cloud of smoke, Spy dropped the disguise. "You caught me."

"So you admit it? You're my dad-- how freakin' long did you know?"

"About a year after you joined the team."

"Y'know the hell of it all? I can't even blame you, it's not like you were there most of the time. Didn't even get you for the big moments."

"I am sorry, I couldn't be around in ways you were aware of-- it would have put you in more danger than it was worth." his gaze moved downwards with his frown, "The few times I was able to, I had to be invisible. I didn't want you to become entangled in any of this."

He held back the insult, thinking better than to kick a man while he's down. "I'm still angry, but.. I guess it's at least good to know. Thank you."

Silence hung in the air for the next few seconds, not quite tense, not quite calm, but a third unknown thing. Spy broke the silence, "Do you want to see what I use for my joints?"

"Sure, maybe I can teach ya something."

"Don't get too cocky, I don't see anything you can teach me when it comes to your post-battle scores," he took a gulp of his cup of coffee.

"Oh you ass. Hey, why'd you dress up as Engineer by the way, you planning on taking him out sometime?"

"Who's to say I'm planning?"

"Well damn-- does this mean I'm getting an extra parent out of this?"

He choked, taking a few seconds to regain his breath, "You heard nothing."

[ciaossu-imagines]

Again, loving up some underloved fandoms here on Ciaossu-Imagines, so throwing out some headcanons I have about The Mighty Ducks characters! I hope anyone familiar with these movies will enjoy them!

Starting with Averman, he’s definitely Jewish. I think he and Goldberg are really good friends because both of them are Jewish. They attended Hebrew school together, their parents are good friends, and honestly they really rely on each other around the holiday season. Neither boy is ashamed of being Jewish or anything, but especially around the time period those movies are set, Hannukah was not as popular or as talked about as Christmas was. And when all your friends are talking about Christmas and their plans and the gifts they’ll get and all the celebrations you hear about are Christianity based, it’s hard not to feel a little left out so both boys’ kind of really like having another friend they can talk to about their Hannukah plans who will get it. Bonus headcanon but I think Averman has a bigger love of hockey and was the one to get Goldberg into the sport.

Hot take on Adam – I don’t think he’s this abused kid trying desperately to please Daddy. I think that while his father might have high expectations for Adam, his father isn’t really abusive. I think a lot of the pressure that Adam feels – and boy, does he feel a lot – is pressure that Adam puts on himself. I do see Adam as having some issues with perfectionism, with being way too hard on himself, and he struggles with anxiety and a need to be perfect but it’s because Adam himself knows that he’s got a lot of talent and he doesn’t want to waste that talent.

Charlie’s actually got a few hidden skills but the one that ends up surprising most people is that, at one point in his life, Charlie got really into magic and he’s pretty good with a couple of tricks, mostly sleight of hand stuff.

Tammy did enjoy playing hockey, I won’t pretend that she didn’t. But I think when it came down to it, she enjoyed figure skating a lot more. There was more pageantry in that sport, more creativity and more glamour in her mind and I think she left the Ducks before the second movie because she really did want to focus on figure skating and competing in that area. She did win several medals, but I think she largely left the sport around the time she started college.

Julie reads…for fun. While she loves being active and has various hobbies and interests, she’s been a life-long bookworm. She learned to read early, and gobbles books up. She normally gets through at least a book a week and does read a wide variety of things, though she has guilty pleasure reading that she’d be embarrassed if anyone found out about, such as romance novels and the Hardy Boys books.

Guy hates carrying change around with him. There’s just something about the weight of it and the clinking sound it makes in his pocket as he walks that drives him insane. He prefers to carry bills for cash and usually lets the salespeople keep his change wherever he goes.

Surprising thing about Goldberg…the boy is not only gifted with a green thumb, but he genuinely likes taking care of his plants. He only got them because his parents wouldn’t let him get a pet…they didn’t think he was responsible enough for a pet so they bought him a rather high-maintenance houseplant to take care of first so that he could prove that he could be responsible for another living thing. Turns out that he enjoyed caring for the plant so much, even giving it a name, that he ended up wanting more plants instead of an actual pet.

Jesse has a tendency to argue just for the sake of arguing. He legitimately enjoys arguments and I have this headcanon that he found the debate club during high school and it’s the most at home he’s felt since playing with the Ducks. Like, those are his people, that’s where he belongs. He gets really involved with debate throughout his high school career and I think he wants to go to law school after graduating.

Terry Hall…still hasn’t gotten the grasp of gum honestly. Not saying the kid is stupid, because he certainly isn’t. It’s just that he cannot, for the life of him, remember that gum is for consistent chewing, not eating, especially if the gum in question is a really fruity, sweet flavour.

I really do think that Karp is someone who is really easy to take advantage of. He gets bullied a lot as a kid and he’s someone who just naturally is the kind of person who really wants to make others happy and to have others like him. He’s a very generous friend but the fact that he’s willing to do almost anything to have his ‘friends’ like him means that he gets put into some pretty brutal situations and gets used throughout his childhood and teen years.

I think Peter’s an army brat, or something along those lines. Something tells me that this kid is someone who moves around a lot throughout his life because of his parent’s careers. He’s used to never staying anywhere really long enough to form completely solid relationships. He’s used to always being the new kid and needing to impress and be tough enough to both make friends and avoid bullies. I also think that while he really would like to settle down in one spot long enough to make serious friendships, the idea of doing so kind of scares him.

Luis taught himself how to juggle when he was a kid. He’s also really skilled at hackeysack.

Connie has the habit of pacing around when she’s deep in thought. There’s just something about moving that helps her think better and if she really has something on her mind, she tends to go running or jogging. The tougher the problem is, the faster and further she tends to go as she loses track of where she is or how far she’s gone.

Dean can burp the alphabet. Forwards and backwards. He’s really quite proud of this.

Fulton’s worst habit? He’s really bad at sitting and staying still for long periods of time and he starts fidgeting when he has to do so. He’ll stretch, move around in his seat a bit, crack his knuckles, but the worst is his leg because he’s definitely one of those guys who bounces his leg when he’s bored or restless, almost aggressively so.

Dwayne really likes to sing. He’s not horrible at it by any means, though a little tone-deaf. He’s a huge fan, because of how he was raised, of any older country, with Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, and Conway Twitty being favourites of his.

Russ has the tendency to get cold really easily. It can come out of nowhere too, with no real reason for him to have a chill or to be cold. He just is. He tends to always carry an extra layer with him as a just in case.

Ken has weird eating habits. He has to eat all of one thing before he can allow himself to eat the next thing on his plate. For example, if he has fries and a burger, he’ll have to eat all the burger before he’ll start eating the fries. He can’t bring himself to mix and match his food and not even he knows why.

[rosenclaws]

❤️

1. I have the entire Finding Nemo script memorized.

2. I listen to over 4000 songs, 100 genres, and almost 80 decades in music.

3. I one time got semi-viral on TikTok for a Mr. Mackey impression from South Park

(I didn't know what to put 😭😭😭 Hopefully, this works)

join my valentines event!

Hm okay I would ship you with dofp Logan with the gray streak.

This Logan is more aged and seasoned and also more relaxed. His world is saved and everyone he loves is back and things aren't fucking dying lmao.

I think you meet at the mansion. You're a new face that Logan doesn't recognize. I'm thinking art teacher or maybe music. It's wild to him that things aren't falling apart and that the students are able to enjoy classes like art and music. He struggles with the memories of his past and the new life he's living and you notice it quickly.

You and Logan were bordering friends and something more before his mind caught up with the new timeline. Now you see he's acting different. He remembers bits and pieces but a part of him has to learn who you are again. It hurts a little bit but at the same time you get to watch Logan fall in love with you.

He hears the wide variety of music that comes from your classroom and is surprised every time. I mean he's pretty much lived through it all each new song brings him back to a different time in his life and he'd tell you about it. What it was like, what he even remembers.

Showing him finding nemo though, and telling him that he's like Dory which he does NOT appreciate but then its more of a, you are missing a chunk of your life but its okay because you have me and the mansion and its a little sweeter. He does not enjoy being compared to an, in his words, annoying fish.

Also imagine introducing him to tik tok akljdf;. Do you know how funny that would be??? Forcing him into tik tok trends and seeing him just appear in the background of Rogue and Jubilee's tiktoks and the comments going wild about how hot he is LOL

[glasshouses-and-stones]

✨️ writer questionnaire ✨️

Thank you @agirlandherquill tagging me!

✨️My ao3 is tagged in the pinned post on my blog!✨️

-

About Me:

When did you first start writing?

I've been writing stories since I could string sentences together, and we always had to write creative stories in school, but I didn't seriously start to write until I was in about the 6th or 7th grade. I started out writing kpop rpf lollllll.

Are the genres/themes you enjoy reading different from the ones you write?

I write mostly romance in different forms, which I do love to read, but I also read a wide variety of genres. I enjoy reading classics that expand into things like tragedies and adventure, and I also love reading horror and murder mysteries, which I haven't written before. I might one day, though...

Is there an author (or just a fellow writer!) you want to emulate, or one to whom you're often compared?

Not that I can think of. I probably pick up different styles of writing as I read, but I don't have specific names in mind when I write. Though, it really depends on what I'm writing. All of my novels have different styles of writing depending on who the narrator is. And if I'm writing a fanfic based off of a book, I'll try to emulate their style to the best of my ability. I think it's really fun!

Can you tell me a little about your writing space(s)? (Room, coffee shop, desk, etc.)

My writing spaces is wherever I can strike up the motivation to write. In class, when riding in a car, when chilling at home. Though, most of my writing happens when I'm laying in bed, trying to sleep or just waking up.

What's your most effective way to muster up some muse?

I get ideas when I listen to music, read others' writing, and watch TV. Songs often give me ideas for stories, especially by artists who make great pining songs like Conan Gray and Taylor Swift. But I can get inspiration for stories from literally anything. Too many ideas and not enough motivation to write them.

Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and places you write about?

I would say a little. Most of my ideas take place in cities, unlike the rural town I live in. Though, my characters often have upbringings like that: homophobic parents in a small town. And most of my characters also live in suburbs, so.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing, and if so, do they surprise you at all?

Yes, pining. All of my characters pine after someone at some point, whether in my original stories or my fanfics. And no, it doesn't surprise me because I'm someone who pines a lot. I have a gf, and I still pine after her, so I'm pretty much a lost cause at this point.

-

My Characters:

Would you please tell me about your current favourite character? (Current WIP, Past WIP, Never Used, etc)

It would have to be Christian Laine, the main character from my current WIP Soup of the Day. He's a single dad struggling to get his life back together a few years after his divorce. He's awkward and terribly repressed and possibly autistic. He just wants to get out of his house and make friends who aren't his four year old daughter, but he was always bad at that, and he definitely does not know how to do that now as a 34 year old. He'll figure it out. Eventually.

Which of your characters do you think you'd be friends with in real life?

I'd love to be Christian's friend! But probably Marquis from my last WIP Neighbors Can Be So Hostile, Right? He's friendly and a little snarky and very gay. I'd make him cook for me, but I'd sit and let him tell me all about his plants. I think that's a fair trade.

Which of your characters would you dislike the most if you met them?

Uhhhh, probably Evan in Soup of the Day. He's kinda rude and probably wouldn't like me anyways.

Tell me about the process of coming up with one, all, or any of your characters.

I usually start stories in my head, and the characters evolve depending on what personality fits the plot the best. I always treat my characters as real people and try to come up with the most realistic person I can—someone who could be encountered anywhere and is relatable. I try to give my main characters traits that are interesting and distinctive, and my love interests are usually complements to them (but are able to stand as their own characters). I love instilling my characters with things that will make them lovable, and I think they're all somewhat an extension of myself.

Do you notice any recurring themes/traits among your characters?

Almost all of my main characters are men, which needs to be changed. Oh, and most of them have at least one parent who don't support them/a difficult childhood. Other than that, not really. Oh, well, they're all queer.

How do you picture them? (As real people you imagined, as models/actors who exist in real life, as imaginary artwork, as artwork you made or commissioned, anime style, etc)

I picture them all as real people. I struggle a little imagining their faces (but I can describe them), but the rest of them I can see clearly. They have their own characteristics and styles.

-

My Writing:

What's your reason for writing?

I write because I love it. I love bringing ideas and people to life, and I love sharing them with others. Even if I never write anything down, I'll always create stories in my mind. I might as well capture them.

Is there a specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating coming from your readers?

Anything, really! All of it means so much to me.

How do you want to be thought of by those who read your work? (For example: as a literary genius, or as a writer who "gets" the human condition; as a talented world builder, as a role model, etc)

I just want my readers to think I write stuff for their enjoyment because that's a part of why I share my work.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Coming up with ideas is by far my greatest. I have docs and docs of ideas. My inspiration comes from anything and everything.

What have you been frequently told your greatest writing strength is by others?

Writing feelings and injecting them into my stories. I'm glad they come across correctly!

How do you feel about your own writing? (Answer in whatever way you interpret this question)

I enjoy my writing! I tend to write what I like to read, so you can find me rereading over my own stories often. Sometimes I wish I had a more elegant style, but most of my stories don't call for that, I don't worry about it.

If you were the last person on earth and knew your writing would never be read by another human, would you still write?

Absolutely. Otherwise, the ideas would plague me, and I would never get anything done. I'd probably get more writing done, to be honest. I have to keep myself fed, after all.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely what you enjoy? if it's a mix of the two, which holds most influence?

It's a mix; I write what I like and hope others enjoy it, too. But ultimately, I write what I enjoy. I tell myself stories to past time and entertain myself, and then I might write them down. That's usually my process. But I always think about how there's probably at least one other person that would enjoy this, too, so I share it.

Thank you for tagging me, again! This was super fun :)

Tag list: @floweryprosegarden, @charlesjosephwrites, @riveriafalll, @willtheweaver, @chayscribbles, @willowseed, @zackprincebooks, @dyoniawrites +Open Tag

(Sorry if I've tagged you and you've already done this. I'm kind of late to the party.)

[distortedclouds]

You're so pretty... Left Behind/filler BW Set: Somewhere between chapters 20 and 21 Rating: G Wordcount: 1.2k Tags: Flufff

Her eyeslids still feel like they’re sticking to each other when she finally manages a firm grip, one on the doorknob and the other around the key, turning the two with a low click. She should’ve taken the time to light a lamp because the street lights around here are a pathetic excuse.

The insistent knocking lasts to the very last second the wood of the door is within reach. It’s not like Annie could’ve slept through it.

“Took you long enough,” Hitch elongates the words in a way Annie would’ve found as endearing as always if it wasn’t one of the first things to hear being ripped out of bed without even the brains to fetch more than a light cardigan.

“I found it!” Armin yells out triumphantly and with a wide smile to match the flush on his cheeks. He yanks his hand almost violently from his coat pocket, fingers grasping a shiny key, while his other is firmly in Hitch’s and around her shoulder, where she’s, very kindly, making sure he doesn’t fall face first into the muddy street at this hour of the night. Alas, his joy doesn’t last long when he’s dragged inside, having missed the opportunity to actually put it to use.

“I wouldn’t have minded if you’d borrowed him for the entire night,” Annie mutters, a hand rubbing over her face and shoving her hair out of the way. She still steps to the side and lets them in, counting their steps until she could shove the door back closed to keep most of the cold out. 

“Oh, no, no, no~ I couldn’t possibly do that to you, Annie dear,” Hitch says, face adorned with a similar flush and voice lacking much structure as she delegates the task of keeping Armin upright to the stair’s railing. She instead leans back against the wall, appearing fully unbothered by the smell of alcohol that wafted in with the both of them. “Also he wouldn’t stop talking about you. It was kinda annoying.” 

“I try not to take everything he says while drunk seriously,” Annie says, watching him struggle to take two more steps up the stairs before she finally catches up with him, replacing Hitch under his shoulder. He complains, but she ignores it. The last thing they need is a run to the hospitable for a concussion in the middle of the night. “You can stay the night in the spare room. I’ll fetch you another blanket.”

Hitch waves her hand at her like she’s swatting away a fly, a tiny hiccup almost erupting from her throat. “No, don’t worry about it. I’ll just head home.”

“You sure?” Annie stops to look at the Hitch from over her shoulder, Armin almost missing the railing at the abrupt change of pace.

“Yeah, yeah, sure. Just some water.” 

“Kitchen,” Annie nods the knock opposite the stairs and trusts her to know the rest. “I’ll be right back.”

“Take your time, really” she giggles stupidly and pushes herself off the wall and towards the kitchen.

Continuing on up the stairs, Annie hears the distinct sound of water, and it’s not unaccompanied by glass shattering or dangerously clattering, so it’s probably fine. Dragging Armin up the last few steps and into their room proves significantly easier once her body joins her mind in being somewhat awake.

“There!” Annie lets him drop down on the bed, and she almost falls on top of him when he proceeds to lie down instead of sitting, legs hanging off the edge of the bed. His arms feel so heavy that she can’t tell whether he tried to hold her to him or if that was simply their weight on her waist. “Don’t sleep in your clothes. They stink.”

She pulls out one of his shirts from the closet it and chucks it at him. He moves to catch it a couple of seconds too late, but he gets up and begins to wrestle his way out of the many layers he put on in the morning, starting with his military green coat. Annie’s glad she never got to wear this variety of uniform; it looks even more uncomfortable than the leather harness.

“I’ll go check up on Hitch,” she announces, leaving after he hums in understanding. Back on the ground floor, she finds Hitch still in the kitchen, making her way into what could be her second or third glass of room-temperature water and looking progressively more sober already. “Did you have to get him this drunk? You know he’s got the tolerance of a toddler.”

Annie takes the glass from her when she gestures that she’s done, putting it in the sink. No one needs to be doing the dishes just past midnight.

“If I didn’t, you would’ve had a wishy-washy—probably sobby, even—Armin on your hands right now. You should be thanking me, actually.” Annie doesn’t say anything, continuing to stand with her arms crossed by the sink. “Well, I should get going,” Hitch declares a little too loud and a little too cheerful as she untucks and pulls the collar of her coat higher around her neck. Yeah, it’s probably cold out there.

“You sure you don’t wanna stay the night?”

“I’m sure.” She pats Annie’s shoulder on the way out.

Annie doesn’t press or object, faring her goodnight and locking the door behind her, not sticking for long to hear her footsteps fade into the quiet of the night that now seeps into the corners of the house.

She hates it when things are this quiet. She should sleep until there are more signs of life to rouse her ears. Upstairs, Annie isn’t sure whether she should be surprised or not that Armin is still on the third layer, struggling greatly with the undoing of the tiny buttons of his shirt even when he seems to be giving it his all—judging by the frown wrinkling his brows and forehead.

“Here, let me,” she grumbles with a low sigh that draws out softly near the end.

Annie sits next to him at the foot of the bed and proceeds to undo the remaining two thirds of the buttons. He doesn’t attempt to get in her way, but she can feel his eyes on her; the quiet sound of his breathing not far from her face, and it pleasantly tickles her ears whenever it overlaps with her own. She’s yet to find anything better to interrupt the silence than the sound of his voice.

“I can feel you staring.”

“You’re so pretty,” he says in a low murmur, almost a whisper.

Annie makes a point to yank at the last button, making him flinch when she throws the two sides of his shirt open around his chest. “Get dressed,” she stressed, shoving the clean shirt into his hands. Annie goes back down the stairs and into the kitchen, filling an empty glass to the brim with room-temperature water and trying not to take anything he says while drunk seriously.

[ask-jiro-kirisaki]

(answer what you want! sorry it's so much)

alone: How does your OC deal with loneliness? Have they ever been completely alone before? How do they act when there's no one around to see them?

break: What would cause your OC to break down completely? What do they look like when that happens? Has anyone ever seen them at their lowest?

future: What's the worst possible future for your OC? Are they taking steps to avoid that outcome? Are they even aware it's a possibility?

pain: What's the worst pain your OC has ever felt? Do they have a high pain tolerance?

hate: What does your OC hate? Why? How do they act towards the object of their hatred?

ghost: Who or what haunts your OC? What happened? How do they live with their ghosts?

skin: How comfortable is your OC in their skin? Do they grapple with anything that lives inside them—a beast, a curse, a failure, a monster? How do they face the smallest, weakest, most horrible version of themself? Are they able to acknowledge it at all?

alone: "Thanks to Yuri, it's rare for me to be well and truly alone these days, and I'm grateful for that. After Taro died I..." He puts is head in his hand as he struggles to remember. "I don't know. Everything about that time just feels dark, and empty. Many were affected by The Clash, so I was probably on my own for awhile." He clutches his head, breathing rapidly increasing. "Sorry, I... I can't talk about this anymore."

break: "If anything were to happen to Yuri, I don't know what I'd do. He's probably seen the worst of me, but he's still here with me. I'd manage if he ever decided to leave me, but if he died... Then again, he's the only one who could treat me. All I could do is wait for my inevitable death. But a life without him... I'd probably lock myself up in the lab and wait for the end. I guess I can say with certainty that I just can't live without him."

future: "I don't think about my future much. I wasn't sure I would even have one to consider for awhile there. I suppose if Darkwick decided to lock me up because I'm too dangerous to roam free? The restraints they make me wear in the lab are a constant reminder of that possibility. Then there's Yuri... I have to make sure that doesn't happen. I promised him I wouldn't leave him alone."

pain: "Having gone through so many procedures and having my wounds reopen, my tolerance for pain is quite high. There are times I don't even notice when the sutures split. The worst pain was probably recovering from multiple surgeries. I was fortunate enough that some of the more immediate recovery happened while I was still comatose, but that was still pretty rough."

hate: "I can't really think of anyone at the moment. Hating someone to such a degree takes up too much energy and focus. I try not to let too many things bother me."

ghost: "There's nothing I can immediately recall, though I suppose that's what haunts me. The ghosts of a past that I've completely forgotten are bound to return in one way or another. As for what happened to me, I'm hoping to find it, before it finds me."

skin: "My condition brings a wide variety of struggles. There are so many things that I'm unable to do. If I cared for a social life, If probably end up worrying about holding everyone else back. I just wish Yuri didn't have to spend so much time and resources on me. Even worse, it might be my own fault I ended up this way."

[ambriel-angstwitch]

So weird AU idea I got that literally came to me in a Dream.

Sofia the first My Hero Academia AU. Though after I continued to come up with ideas it began to turn into a Tangled the series MHA AU as well

So the premise is Sofia is in a way the Midoriya of this story she is born quirkless. Before the series starts her mother marries Roland the Second who is the Owner of the most successful support item industry, and as well as a pro hero (quirk- steel like TetsuTetsu) though he’s mostly retired from hero work to focus on his kids. Her two step siblings are James whose quirk is steel which he inherited from his father and Amber whose quirk is jewel shields (like Rarity in EQG). Amber inherited her quirk from their mother who died in a fight against a villain when they were very young. James is pretty nice to Sofia off of the bat but Amber is a bit quirkest and is mean to Sofia (similar to her being mean to Sofia when they first meet in the original series, and her reasons for being mean to her in the original series still stand, she doesn’t like what seems like an intrusion on their family.)

She is a big Fan of the Pro-Hero Cinder, who is actually in a way this stories version of All Might. Cinder (Cinderella) was born with a simple spark quirk which was relatively useless but combined with another vestiges power of energy she was able to make flames. (I know with recent reveals about OFA her having a quirk would be slightly problematic but this is an au and it makes sense for the backstory I have in my head)

The other Vestiges with their quirks are (in no particular order):

Belle - Energy - (Used it for healing)

Tiana - animal shapeshifter

Snow White - Snow powers

Aurora- Anivoice

Jasmine - Size changing

Mulan - Super Strength

Ariel - Mermaid transformation and water control (like Cleo from H20 just add water)

Elena is the original vestige

Obviously with the different powers the plot will take some different turns. But I wanted to give Sofia powers that she uses in the show instead of just making her a gender bent Deku of sorts.

Now for our UA staff. I kind of want Cedric to be our Version of Aizawa, first of all because I adore him but also because he has that disgruntled vibe where he pretends he hates kids but is willing to die for them. The quirk I’m going to give for him is called the Wild Card. I came up with the idea for it based off of the fact that his spells often don’t go to as planned. It means that he has a wide variety of powers which are activated through card tricks. When he was younger he struggled with control and things blew up his face (often literally) he had to learn what certain combinations and types of cards meant and would produce.

Merida is a pro hero and her quirk is Predator Vision (a real MHA quirk that) because I wanted her to have a cool quirk that would assist her but I still wanted her bow skills to be her own (though I did for a bit consider making her like Lady Nagant). I love Merida so I had to include her and she just didn’t fit as a vestige so a pro hero it was. Sofia interns under her.

Princess Ivy is our version of Shiggy. Her black and white dragonflies which she produces are able to consume anything (instead of erasing memory like they did in STF) similar to how Shiggy can decay stuff.

Vor is All for One. She has the same powers and everything. I’m tempted to make her related to Elena somehow because I kind of like that aspect of the AFO/OFA struggle. It’s my au I could do whatever I wanted I could make them sisters if I desired and I am kind of tempted to.

Rapunzel’s backstory is that she has been held by Mother Gothel who is part of a mafia (Zhan Tiri). She has the similar powers to what she has in the show/movie her hair glows and reverses damage. She is sort of this story’s Eri. Mother Gothel can produce black or blue rocks that are unbreakable, as can her daughter Cassandra.

Cassandra was adopted by a policeman after a raid on a quirk trafficking ring by some hero’s. She resents her mother because she abandoned her. When her quirk came in her father was surprised to realize that she was Mother Gothel’s daughter but loved her nonetheless. The same could not be said for the others around her most people her age started ignoring her or antagonizing her from that point on. She decided she wanted to follow in her fathers footsteps and help people so she enrolls in the hero course. Eventually her and Sofia are part of the mission later to save Rapunzel

(This has been in my drafts since my Sofia the First hyperfixation. I wanted to make it more fleshed out and I kind of have but I’ve decided just to post it as is. If anyone is interested I can elaborate on parts of it but right now this is it. Also though I doubt anyone would anyone can use any concepts I present here as long as I get credit.)

[snarkythewoecrow]

Truth or Dare Tag Game

Okay, I am totally avoiding all my wips right now, so doing this instead, thanks @underwaterninja13

Which friends/mutuals would you call to hide a body?

@buckybeardreams I feel they would help without too many questions, and probably those would only be where and when, and if I needed a shovel

How many user subscriptions do you have on Ao3?

eh, more than some, less than others, but it's in the 4 digits

Do you have a crush on someone? OR If you're with someone, tell us one thing you love about them.

my hubby cuz he's ride or die, and didn't get all cranky yesterday when informed him in had spilt an ice coffee on the spare clip to my gun, and then kinda forgot to tell him for two days, and it had like caramel in it, and yeah, it was sticky and gross, but he cleaned it all for me, and still loved me after, and my bestie denim cuz they know all the right things to say when shit is extra shitty

What does the last DM/text you sent say?

(we were discussing tommy/buck lol)

totally, like all his other relationships were shit shows waiting to crash and burn, and like it showed, hence needing to talk to bobby every time about them, but like, yeah, with tommy it's different, it's a whole different vibe, mature and safe, for once his relationship isn't chaos and built on some weird and unhealthy foundation, like what he has with Tommy is just so different because if you think about it, he is the first person that doesn't want Buck to be something he's not, doesn't want anything from him other than to be part of his company, Tommy is patient and just wants him, wants Evan, and like there is no drama attached to it, they are equals and meeting with mutual understanding of careers, like they can just be and Buck doesn't need to struggle against what he'd faced in the past, partners only seeing him as a hero or a slut or as an object of death to study, like he really can just be himself with tommy

List the three friends/mutuals with the best takes.

@kittyneedsbetterhobbies @buckybeardreams

Share one of your favorite fics of all time.

yeah, I just went and stared at my bookmarks and then closed the tab cuz got overwhelmed, seriously, it's so all mood related for me, but there are some that are memorial for me, for sure, so maybe a few randoms that i recall enjoying but might be lesser known:

Jar of Hearts by Cupcakemolotov -- Caroline/Klaus (Vampire Diaries)

Of Old Soldiers and Missing Wars by NonchalantxFish -- Steve Rogers & Tom Riddle (MCU and HP)

of stitches and first meetings by buckaroos -- Buck/Eddie (911 but kinda crossed with supernatural)

List three of your favorite content creators.

wrinkling my nose at "content creators" being used as a term here, but anyway, definitely @voxofthevoid and um, pretty sure I don't have any others that stick out

Write one thing you love about yourself.

that i'm getting much better at being myself, no matter how weird that may be to some

Which fandom of yours (past or present) has the best fics?

idk, depends what you want to read, some fandoms are smaller, some focus more on wholesome shit, some are more big enough to include a wide variety of fuckery, so best depends on what's best to you at the time, but the bigger and older the fandom, the more likely the writers have life experience and actually had anal before which, my god, unless you like a finger in your ass for foreplay, my god, what is with the one-two-three fingers, you're all stretched, now let's go, shit? like every time??? anyway, continuing on......

Which creation of your own are you the most proud of?

Came back to edit and scratch that answer out, I really like and maybe not the most proud of, but definitely up there:

a little dented (but definitely not broken) by snarkymuch --this was important to me for many reasons, but proud of how it turned it, and of the emotion it captured

uh... not me forgetting everything i've ever written rn, um, i like a lot of the self harm ones, with buck/eddie, the emotion was nice to write, the build and tension, tbh, i'm blanking--i mean, the pikachu one was cute, also can't remember what it's called rn though, something like, I choose you pikachu (and other ways two idiots say i love you) <--could be way off on title there

Have you ever read RPF?

not really, though kinda suppose that's what I do with my friend by accident all the time when talking fic ideas

Tag the mutual(s)/friend(s) most likely to get away with murder.

probably myself, or like me and @buckybeardreams

Tag the mutual(s)/friend(s) who know(s) the most about you.

@buckybeardreams and weirdly, pretty sure @plotbunnypettingzoo has picked up so many random facts from reading my posts and talking to me

Now tag some friends to play!

@plotbunnypettingzoo @buckybeardreams @kittyneedsbetterhobbies and anyone else interested

[calithecretin]

Hey everyone! I still don’t like most of my art well enough to post it, so here are some Mistress-specific headcanons for now! I’m genuinely surprised how many I have lol

-In contrast to the warden’s noodley physique, the mistress is actually pretty dang toned and enjoys working out

-She can actually shapeshift and alter her appearance just like the warden, just does it less often and for more practical matters (such as changing clothes and making herself look nice)

-Honestly a pretty nice person once you get to know her, and even a little quirky, though before Stingstress she covered it up with her cold and stern persona

-Like the warden, she had a very bad childhood that led to her completely leaving reality and building “the greatest prison in the universe”, maybe I’ll write her one someday lol

-Was born in 1965, due to the same age regression as the warden she appears to be in her late 20s

-Is a lesbian and was never really attracted to Stingray, warden or Bruce (except for that one time with the bees but we don’t talk about that)

-Had a LOT of bad past relationships (hence the line “eh, I’ve been called worse things than a thing”)

-LOVES Pixar movies, but refused to tell anyone until after she changed into a peace-loving hippie

-Similar to how the warden suffers from nightmares, she struggles with sleep paralysis and gets it several times a month

-5’8, slightly taller than the warden

-Listens to a wide variety of music, but her current favorite is 60s-70s psychedelic rock due to being a hippie (duh). She also enjoys heavy metal and lofi.

-Since warden has a real name, I feel like a name that suits her is Lucy :) still working on a HC last name

That’s all so far! She’s genuinely one of my favorite SJ characters, even though I think she was kinda done dirty by the writers and I wish she had more screen time ^_^

[kirric-the-fan]

There's a problem with Tropical Rouge Precure.

So I've been watching precure of late, and something odd started happening when I got to Tropical Rouge: I frequently zoned out or mentally switched off from the story during the episodes, particularly in the first half of the season, which isn't something that had happened with other series in quite the same way.

I've been thinking about it, and It's taken me a little while, but I think I've figured out exactly why (and it's quite interesting from a writer's/narrative perspective.) (And if you've been struggling to get into it yourself, you might benefit from watching EPs 30 onwards)

Tropical Rouge's issue, is that it lacks driving narrative, which for a series with motivation as its theme, is a massive faux pas. It commits the cardinal sin of being boring.

This mainly applies to episodes 1-29. The issue is, we have the setup of Gran Ocean being in danger from the witch of delays and her minions, Laura being sent away to find the pretty cure, and then...nothing. She just sort of hangs out in the human world occasionally stopping the Yaranedas, and seems to forget about her home entirely.

This situation isn't helped by the lack of character development too- there's barely any in the first half of the season (at least, any that sticks), and while the activities the tropical club get up to are fun, it ends up becoming a bit too dull and repetitive monster of the week stuff as a result.

It's also the only precure series where I've got halfway through, and I still can't remember all the cures human names because they've been that forgettable. In fact, beyond Laura and Manatsu, I still couldn't remember the others names!

(For context, the only cure whose human name I've forgotten before is Chiyu, and that was a. After I'd watched the series and had seen other series too, and b. Because I mentally got stuck on Saaya and forgor (sorry Chiyu! Blue cure blindness. But I did remember you weren't called Saaya. I just couldn't remember your actual name!)

Returning to Laura and her lack of action: okay, it'd be understandable from one point of 'she's been told to find the pretty cure, and they'll help', but then like, yeah okay they don't know what they're doing. But Laura never pushes the matter, and it comes across like she doesn't care about what's happening to her home, and then we don't care.

All it would take is Laura to be a little more invested in protecting her home, maybe berating the cures for being so inept (maybe implying they're unmotivated), and the Cures seeking to respond to that, to add that connection and driving narrative through the season.

Ofc, the response from the cures would be that actually, they don't know how to be cures, or save Gran Ocean either, and while trying to get stronger and save a whole kingdom would be overwhelming, focusing on what they can do in the moment, and what's important in the moment will play to their strengths, keep them growing, and keep them going through. (And preserve their motivation). Which ties back nicely into the tropical club and its activities. Those activities would also naturally boost their cure skills (which I'm surprised we didn't see more of), and doing a wide variety of activities like that should naturally boost each of their character development (which is another bugbear, as it seems almost non-existent before episode 30. Like there's very little beyond the character's introductory episodes that seems to stick.)

Like, character-wise, Laura could still be keen to become the queen, but it could be used as more of a mask for her missing home. It would make her character a bit more likeable, as she is in danger of coming across as too obnoxious sometimes.

Before anyone says 'It's a kids show, it doesn't need a strong narrative', please know I am comparing it directly to other precure seasons: every single one is a kids show, and every single one (I have seen so far, 14-15/20) has had some cross season purpose, or even a distinct per-episode storyline (another point where Tropical Rouge seem to be weak. Even where the club is setting up activities for other clubs, there seems to be limited consequences or payoff for things going wrong/right. There's not so much to get invested in early on from a narrative point. It tends to be a bit wishy-washy, which isn't good, and a sunny upbeat coating can only go so far.)

So yeah. I think the most frustrating thing is that the potential was there, but the writing seemed to almost like constantly stop short.

Which for a series about motivation...

...almost feels like they were lacking it.

(And one additional comment about the movie: there was a moment in the movie, which I thought seemed to sum up all the series issues very well: when they all start singing towards the end, the characters do nothing but sing. For almost the whole song, all we see is them. As perfectly stationary characters, singing. There's no movement besides their mouths. It's boring, it drags, and it was the perfect opportunity to be showing all the MC's memories of the place the song was about. A simple narrative/directing choice that would have added depth and connection to the scene. And they didn't. I don't know whether it was a cost-cutting measure for whatever reason, but the sheer lack of any movement or emotion in the scene (beyond the actual vocal work, which was very nice. But if that's not well conveyed onto the characters, then what's the point?) kills it. It was immensely frustrating, and made me wonder if there were moments like that which dragged down the TV series pacing too (not that I specifically picked up anything like that during the watch, I will caveat that. )

TL;DR: Tropical Rouge lacks driving main storyline, has weak character development in the first half, and there is a moment in the movie that has cheap directing choices, which makes me wonder if that happened at times in the series too contributing to pulling it down.

Shorter TL;DR: Setting's great, storytelling; not so much.

[subspacejetwitch]

My thoughts on these tips:

This is a pretty obvious one. Or at least, it sounds like an obvious one. And it also sounds like something I've generally implemented subconsciously into my writing. I guess my problem with this, is that if you're trying to introduce an ensemble cast, implementing this tip can make the writing feel contrived and clunky. As an alternative for these cases, I'd say focus on the character relations rather than the character themselves; basically, what are they to each other?

What I wrote a lot yesterday? I get the point is to not devalue any progress for simply 'not being enough'; it's just a detail that irks me?

I agree with this SO MUCH! Or at least with the swearing part; 'fucking' as an adjective has become the bane of my existence.

Hmm... this one seems oddly specific, and I don't think I know what the underlying point is.

This is honestly something I struggle with when writing. I often end up making filler scenes where nothing important happens, simply because I fear the pacing may otherwise be too rushed.

I've heard a variation on this tip, which is that if you've painted yourself into a corner, the reason can usually be found about ten sentences back.

HEY! Don't call me out like that! But yeah, I guess you can say that it's better to write poorly, than to not write at all.

I have yet to write anything beyond 100k words...

Okay, I do NOT feel comfortable with this tip. Our time on this planet is short and precious, and I do not want humanity to succumb to climate apocalypse before you finish what you have in your heart.

What!? HUH!? Yeah, no, that ain't it. What works best in this case, varies wildly from writer to writer, and I personally feel most comfortable with the march of time staying consistent.

In general, don't take any writing tip you stumble upon in the wild as a golden rule and/or silver bullet. In fact, you should generally be very sceptical to those kinds of tips, and break them apart as best as you can, with you thinky-brain deconstruction skills, try to think if there's any merited reason you should disagree. Actually valuable advice, has to come from other writers you trust, from a wide variety of writers, and directed specifically at you on a case-by-case basis.

here have 10 pieces of writing advice that have stuck with me over the years

every character’s first line should be an introduction to who they are as a person

even if you only wrote one sentence on a really bad day, that’s still one sentence more than you had yesterday

exercise restraint when using swear words and extra punctuation in order for them to pack a punch when you do use them

if your characters have to kiss to show they’re in love, then they’re not in love

make every scene interesting (or make every scene your favorite scene), otherwise your readers will be just as bored as you

if you’re stuck on a scene, delete the last line you wrote and go in a different direction, or leave in brackets as placeholders

don’t compare your first draft to published books that could be anywhere from 3rd to 103rd drafts

i promise you the story you want to tell can fit into 100k words or less

sometimes the book isn’t working because it’s not ready to be written or you’re not ready to write it yet; let it marinate for a bit so the idea can develop as you become a better writer

a story written in chronological order takes a lot more discipline and is usually easier to understand than a story written with flashbacks