#and said girl has run out of fanfic other people have written

[clarencethemouse]

Please someone request things about X-Men '97. I'm rotting over here

(Preference for Gambit, Nightcrawler, and Morph, but I'm here for everyone)

(Just let me exhaust my brain)

[candycandy00]

Roses in the Sky - An Original Alien x Reader Story Part 6

In a future where humanity huddles in decaying domed cities controlled by alien invaders, you and your best friend Anna work as make-shift nurses in a tiny clinic run by the young doctor Terrian. The city is ruled by the aliens' violent, half-breed offspring who serve as brutal overseers. You and Anna have always tried to avoid these overseers at all cost, but your life is changed when one of those same terrifying offspring is brought into the clinic, injured and unconscious.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

This is an original Alien (well half alien) x Fem Reader story! I hope everyone who enjoys my fanfiction will give this a shot! Any feedback whatsoever would be loved! I’ve already written this story so it’s not going to delay my fanfics. Just thought I might post chapters of this between fanfics if anyone is interested.

Slow burn, as this is a novel-length story, but there will be smut in later chapters! Also: violence, blood, rape attempts, death of side characters, etc.

Vartan nearly knocked you over as he stumbled inside, holding onto the wall as he made his way through your kitchen and to the living room, where he fell onto the couch.

You closed and locked the door behind him, then hurried over to the couch.

"What are you doing here?"

He looked up at you, and for first time you could see a hint of annoyance on his face. It was both frightening and comical. "They asked me to leave the base. So I came here."

"They threw you out?"

He laid back on the couch, making himself a bit more comfortable, though every move still seemed painful. "Yes, that is basically true."

You were holding your forehead. This was ridiculous. If the neighbors happened to see Vartan on his way in, the whole building would be in a state of panic.

He glanced to the side. "You do not have a television?"

You frowned. "No, I'm not that rich. And besides, I don't even like watching movies. Wait, why did you come to my apartment? For that matter how did you know where I live?"

"I followed you home. And you are the only human I know."

You couldn't help but feel a little bit special upon hearing that. How many girls in the city could say a half-breed knew them well enough to crash at their place? But you tossed the thought out of your mind. "You know Terrian too. He has a really big house."

"But you are the one I followed," he said simply, as if that explained everything.

You sighed. "Alright, you can stay as long as you need to, but please don't go walking around in the hallway or anything. The other people in the building might have heart attacks if they spot you."

Vartan nodded.

"And," you said carefully, "there's one more condition to staying here."

He looked you in the eyes again. "What is it?"

You felt a little scared. You just couldn't get beyond the fact that you were talking to a half-breed. You took a deep breath. "You can't punish anyone while you're staying with me. No matter what."

He raised his eyebrows, and you flinched, as if expecting him to jump up and decapitate you. "And what will you do if I punish anyone?"

You hesitated for a moment, then built up your courage and said "I'll throw you out!"

Vartan stared at you in response, and you could've sworn an extremely faint smile had tugged at his lips for an instant. "Very well," he said, "I will abide by your rules."

You blinked. A half-breed was agreeing to your rules? It was beyond bizarre. You shook your head and walked into the bedroom, where you pulled out an extra blanket and took one of the pillows from your own bed. You brought them to him, and he politely thanked you.

Once he was comfortable again, you waved to him and told him goodnight, going into your room to change into pajamas. You opened your door a crack and peeked into the living room, but it was too dark to make out anything more than a vague shape on the couch.

It was a very restless night, as you had trouble sleeping while knowing that a half-breed was lying in the next room. Your mind was going crazy, telling you that he was different, that he was kind to you and had gotten himself into trouble for your sake, but at the same time reminding you of how callously he had murdered Miranda's parents only a few days before. You couldn't decide whether he was a gentle boy or a barbaric monster.

In the end, you fell asleep just a few hours before sunrise, and so overslept terribly the next morning. What little sleep you got was plagued by nightmares, of your parents screaming, of following a tall, black-clad stranger in the snow. You don’t even remember what snow feels like, but in your dreams it was bitterly cold. 

You climbed out of bed and staggered into the kitchen. Vartan was at the table peeling an orange. His jacket was gone and, to your embarrassment, so were his pants. He wore boxer shorts, plain black cotton. He looked up when you entered the room. "Is it alright that I took an orange?"

You nodded, still a little disoriented. You were wearing a tank top and a pair of knit shorts. It was nothing scandalous, but you felt a little self-conscious so you held your arms over yourself and stepped toward the door.

"There is no need to be embarrassed," he said, biting into the peeled orange, "I have seen you in less."

You remembered your first time meeting him, in the clinic while you were in your underwear, and cringed. You had almost forgotten it. You turned around to face him. "Right, about that, I have another rule. You can't... um... do anything... to me."

He looked highly confused. "Do anything?"

"You know, what you half-breeds do to humans all the time. Um, how did that girl put it yesterday... 'enjoy'?"

Vartan obviously understood now, and you were more than a little embarrassed.

He took another bite of the orange. "I will do nothing to harm you."

You sighed in relief. "Great, I'm glad we cleared that up." You sat down at the table and grabbed an apple from the bowl of fruit, biting into it without peeling it. "By the way, I wanted to thank you for what you did yesterday. You really saved us, Anna and I."

Vartan nodded without a word.

You watched him for a moment while chewing the apple. "I'm curious though, why did you do it?"

"I already explained. You saved me, I wanted to save you in return."

"But when you spared Miranda, I mean, the little girl a few nights ago, you said your debt had been repaid."

He was looking at the half-eaten orange in his hand. "I am... not on the best of terms with those three."

"Oh. I see. So going up against them wasn't exactly new?"

"Correct," he answered. "I have fought with them many times."

"Why?" you asked, the question slipping out of your mouth before you thought.

"I believe Celeste, the girl you met, harbors feelings for me that one half-breed should not have for another."

Your jaw dropped. "You mean she has a crush on you?!"

"Yes, I believe so. And the others, Aden and Marcel, harbor those feelings for her. As such, they despise me."

You laid the apple on the table, too intrigued to eat. "Wow, so they're jealous of you! But why would she attack you the way she did? Why would she allow them to?"

Vartan looked at you, surprised. "Why would she not?"

"Because she's in love with you, isn't she? You don't hurt people you love!"

"We do not understand the feelings of humans," he said. "If we somehow come to experience them, we do not know how to react to them."

You looked back down. "Oh," you said, then looked at him sharply. "But why don't the half-breeds get together? Why don't they ever date each other or get married or anything?”

Vartan looked positively shocked by your question, his expression even going beyond mere raised eyebrows to include wide eyes and a gaping mouth. "That is forbidden! We can never touch each other in that way!"

You were quite surprised yourself. "Why not?"

Vartan settled back into his usual expression. "I'm not sure. We've been told from the time we were children that we must never, ever mate with fellow half-breeds. Doing so would be punishable by death."

"Wow, that's a really harsh rule. But I guess that explains why you guys fool around with humans so much."

"Yes," he replied, eating his orange again and seeming strangely uncomfortable, "We were told to satisfy our physical desires with humans."

You placed your elbow on the table and leaned over, supporting your head with your arm. "But don't you guys ever want something more? More than just a physical thing? How do you get any pleasure from it when the human obviously doesn't want it?"

Vartan was focused intently on the orange, as if purposely avoiding your eyes. "We were told that humans are hormonal creatures who always desire physical pleasure. We were told that the humans wouldn't mind, that they would be happy to satisfy us, because we are pleasing to their eyes."

You wee positively amazed to be hearing all of this. Finally things were starting to make a little more sense. "But couldn't you figure out that humans didn't want to be used?"

Vartan suddenly stood up from the table. "Do you mind if I use your shower?"

You blinked, caught off-guard. "Oh, sure. There are some towels in the closet in the hall."

He stood up and pushed his chair in, then cleared the table of the small mess he had made with the orange. It really struck you that he was unbelievably polite. You wondered if half-breeds were raised to be that way, or if this was simply a personality trait for him.

You heard him open and then close the closet door, then listened as he walked a little further down the hall and into the bathroom. Then the water came on. You resumed eating while you waited, and he eventually emerged from the hall again, but this time he was without the boxers. You nearly choked on the apple, but stood up and quickly backed away, covering your eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Please put your clothes on!" you cried.

"Why? You have seen me nude before. Why are humans so bothered by such things?"

You slowly removed your hands from your eyes, but looked straight at his face. He looked genuinely curious. "Because things like this should be reserved for couples."

"Why?"

You thought for a moment, trying to come up with the best way to word it. "Well, it should be special, when two people who are in love see each other naked for the first time. Exposing yourself like that is like revealing your deepest secret."

Vartan's puzzled expression made you realize that you had indeed worded it wrong. "Wait, that didn't come out right. I mean, even with people who are not in love, you want to save that 'secret' for when you decide to become intimate."

"So, humans do not allow anyone to see them nude unless they are intimate?"

You rubbed your forehead again. "No, that's not exactly it. I mean, doctors see you naked, but that's for medical reasons. It's different. And when you're a kid and your parents see you naked, like when you're taking a bath. Or if you're spending the night with your best friend and you change clothes in the same bedroom, it's not a big deal. But, when it comes to someone you're attracted to, it makes you shy about it, so you only want to show yourself to them when you trust them to not be judgmental and..."

You trailed off, noticing that Vartan's look of confusion was gone and he was instead staring at you intently. "I see," he said, stepping into the living room. He returned a few seconds later, buttoning his pants. "I suppose I no longer have a secret to reveal."

"What?"

Again that faint smile seemed to flash across his face for the briefest of moments, but it disappeared just as quickly. "You're not going to the clinic today. Are you going anywhere else?"

"Terrian's house. He gave me a new job."

"What kind?"

You raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you really interested or are you making conversation?"

"I am interested."

"He wants Anna and I to be his new maids. I know he just wants to give us a reason to take money from him and come to his house, so we won't feel like we're robbing him, you know? But I hope he doesn't make us wear uniforms again."

"The white outfit you were wearing at the clinic, that was a uniform?" he asked. 

"Yeah. Terrian picks them out. I think he has a costume fetish or something."

"Does he not make you feel uncomfortable?"

You laughed. "We know he's just joking around. Yeah, he likes to see us in cute clothes, but he would never do anything inappropriate. In fact he's ridiculously protective of us."

"Yes, I saw that," Vartan replied. "He was quick to attack me when he thought I was doing you harm."

You laughed again, and in the back of your mind you wondered when you had reached the point that you could laugh with a half-breed. Your eyes drifted to the clock on the kitchen wall. "Oh crap, I'm really running late now. I better get ready."

You hurried to the hall, grabbed some towels, and took a quick shower. You dressed in the bathroom, having no desire to go prancing into your bedroom with nothing but a towel on while Vartan was there. He promised he wouldn't do anything, but you decided it wouldn't be a good idea to tempt a half-breed, despite the circumstances.

You fixed your hair and even dabbled on a little makeup and perfume, things you normally never bothered with. When finished, you looked in the mirror and asked yourself why you were trying so hard to look good. Was it because you wanted Vartan to find you attractive? But you had gone to such lengths to avoid attracting that sort of attention from him.

But what was wrong with it if you liked him?

You took a deep breath and walked out of the bathroom. You grabbed your bag from the counter in the kitchen and stepped into a pair of shoes by the door. You glanced into the living room, where Vartan was sitting quietly on the couch.

"Um, I'm leaving now. If you decide to go out, lock the door behind you. There's an extra key on the table by my bed so you can get back in. Remember not to let anyone see you in the building, okay?"

He looked up at you and nodded, then waved as you left.

You arrived several minutes later at Terrian's house. You usually visited in the evenings, after they closed the clinic, so seeing it in the daylight, under the red-tinged sun, made the huge house look a little scary. Now you understood why he often asked you and Anna to come live with him.

You walked up on the porch and rang the door bell. A few minutes later, you heard footsteps and the door suddenly flung open. There stood Anna, positively fuming, in a frilly french maid costume that was obviously bought for Halloween many years ago. You wanted to laugh, but then it occurred to you that you would probably be wearing that horrendous getup too. You grimaced.

"He's gone too far this time!" Anna said loudly, stomping her foot as she talked as if to emphasize every word. "Look at this! I look ridiculous!"

"It's not that bad. I mean, it's kinda cute."

"It's awful!" Anna cried.

You opened your mouth to respond, but heard Terrian's voice ring out from within the house. "Is she here? Send her on up to get her uniform!"

You paled. "Well, at least you won't look awful by yourself." You stepped inside and began climbing up the stairs, dreading what you would see when you reached the top.

Tag List:

@scrumptiouslampwobblercop

[olderthannetfic]

I had an incredibly odd moment last night at an event night for my dorm. Basically this girl and I were the last people left painting after everyone else had finished, the conversation was going well, and then she mentioned fanfic and how cringy and bad it was. Confused by my fellow nerdy type disliking a core part of nerdery, I admitted that I wrote fanfic, that I loved canon-divergent AUs and I wasn't sure what was wrong. "It's equally fictional either way," I said, which she did seem to pause and think about before acknowledging that was true.

Then she clarified the problem was Boku No Hero Academia. (For full transparency, I have not watched it. Confused, I said, "Isn't that just some shounen series? What's wrong with that? I like shounen." So then she hits me with, "The fandom is gross. That write things that shouldn't be depicted or portrayed." I stared at her, confused. "Like pedophilia."

I admitted, because I felt comfortable with her, that I had written fanfic about CSA and a survivor finding hope for the future, a therapist, true love and his abuser eventually getting his comeuppance. She looked at the painting and not at me. I couldn't tell if she was mad or not. So I added that, over the course of the year and a half of writing it, nine people had told me that reading it had helped them either decide to seek out therapy or helped them realize what happened to them was abuse and that it mattered. And I think it's worth it to make something that makes someone uncomfortable if it helps other people out, and also, the back button is right there. No one has to read something.

Looking upset but affect flat, she said that BNHA fans write things that "glorify" pedophilia. And I, because I am a dick with no social skills, went, "Well, don't read it." She clarified it shouldn't be allowed to exist because it "does harm to people". I said that abusers are responsible for abuse they commit, and nothing they read makes them do it. Psychologists, I reminded her, since several people in her family are psychologists, study and witness things much more horrible than we can imagine, which abusers often say are necessary, justified and sometimes kinda cool, and they don't do any of it. Stephen King didn't commit any murders as a run-up to writing about murder.

She went back to staring at the paint and said I didn't understand the harm it was doing, because it was normalizing it. So I pointed out that no amount of movies where killing the bad guy is a cool, glorious, badass thing to do has made murder socially acceptable in society. "But that's killing," was the objection. "Which is violence," I said in return, "just not sexual violence. But if a hundred years of killing the person who wronged you in cinema didn't make people fine with murder, I don't think a fanfic is going to make it that way." She scoffed and looked away. In a gentler tone, I finished with, "I don't think all of the socialization someone goes through in life and everything they've been told in their entire life can be undone by some anime characters."

She did not say anything to me for the rest of the painting time. She left without a word. I thought for sure she was angry with me and we weren't going to take anymore.

Today, she smiled and waved at me on campus like everything is fine and nothing uncomfy happened.

I don't understand. I am, however, neurodivergent, and therefore bad at social signals, so I may be missing something, here. She was never visibly angry at me when we talked, nor did she raise her voice, so I don't think that I was awful, here. However, not saying anything to me for a full forty minutes or even looking at me indicates to me I had said something that made her upset.

Neurotypicals, please advise. What is going on, here?

--

Well... probably she just had her dumb assumptions challenged and wasn't sure how to feel about it in the moment.

[teenagedirt]

Her

Colby brock x reader

Warnings:cheating,lying, argument/yelling. DARK ENDING! reference to murder.

Note: I made up a chacter for the other girl, because I feel its weird to write colby cheating with girls he has explicitly said are just friends, also the same reason I don't write ship fanfic, only x reader.

Your pov

I walk straight into the door of mine and colby's shared apartments, fans had dmed me pictures of colby with my bestfriend, Miley, it wasn't just a normal picture, they were kissing. Silent tears run down my face as I slowly creep up the stairs towards our bedroom, I crack the door open to look inside. There she is, and there he is, now reality is really setting in, I hoped that maybe the pictures were edited, but no, he's making out with her all right. Fuck, there goes our relationship. I open the door the rest of the way, "so, I see you guys decided to get along, maybe in the wrong way, but you get along" I say, trying to stay calm, my voice cracks at the end of my statement.

Colby pulls his face away from here's to look at me. Miley stares at me in shock, I shake my head and walk in and begin to gather my things, hoping I wouldn't have to make a scene. "Y/N WAIT" colby shouts, okay I'm making a scene.

"WHAT!? WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY WANT AFTER MOST LIKELY FUCKING NY BESTFREIND!?" I yell Back, glaring at miley. Colby looks down,ashamed.

"I'm sorry y/n I really am, but he just looked so good that night" miley says, he sly smirk displayed on her face. My face twists into realization.

"The night I invited you over to Sam's for pizza night? YOU FUCKED MY BOYFRIEND!?" I yell, confused,heartbroken, and pissed.

"Yeah, he was pretty good too" miley says, a small smile still stuck in her face. Tears bubble in my eyes, I'm not sure out of the feeling of betrayal, or anger.

"Out, get out" miley didn't move a muscle, "I SAID GET THE FUCK OUT YOU WHORE!" I scream pointing to the door. She scoffs and leaves, colby stakes a few steps torwards me with his arms open, about to hug me. "Don't, fucking don't, you dont get to act like nothing happened, oh and you can thank your fans for letting me know." I star to cry harder as I throw my stuff into a duffle bag. "How long? How many times, how many times have you ditched me or sam, or kat for her?" I ask, honestly not wanting to fight, just wanting answers. He opens his mouth to answers but stays silent.

"Do you still love me?" He asks, a singular tear falling down his face. I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

"Of course I still love you, how could I not, we've been together since highschool, but trusting you is a different matter, you know how long it takes me to trust somebody, and I trusted the both of you." I say, my voice wavers.

He nods and walks out. That was the last time I ever saw colby. I miss him dearly, it's not my fault, people say his blood is on my hands, it was, it sure was, but blood doesn't stain skin. If only they would find miley too, I'm sure they'd be surprised to see where I hid her.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

What did you guys think? I think this is the darkest thing I've ever written. Requests are open!

[squishy-lombax]

Umbrella (Fowlham fanfic)

Believe it or not, I've never written a fan fiction before! I hope you enjoy my first attempt! I decided to go with a comfort fandom of mine, RC9GN with a pairing I think is cute and sadly did not have much scene-time; FowlHam. If you're here from my Secret Trio comic book, this fic takes place before the events of my comic. Side note: I head-canon Randy with ADHD and Theresa with Autism. Reminiscent of the relationship that my partner and I have in real life. So hopefully I represented the disorders well.

It was an over-cast day when McFist's new McSneak shoes went on sale. The forecast said it would rain, so all those in line held umbrellas. No one was willing to miss the release of these new shoes just because of a little rain. Randy Cunningham was one of those lucky people waiting in line. Well, if you call standing in line for hours since the butt crack of dawn with the threat of rain "lucky." His best friend, Howard Weinerman, was there too; although, he came hours later with snacks.

Following the sound of groans and curses, "Th-thank *gasp* honking *gasp* cheese I found you Cunningham," Howard exclaimed as he shoved his way in line next to Randy, "Let me tell you! If I had to fight off one more toddler before finding you, I would have given up!"

"Well maybe I wouldn't be so far in line if you had gotten here on time," Randy greeted his friend, grabbing a bag of chips from his arms.

"Just be thankful I kept you updated. Do you know how hard it is to text when one of your hands looks like this?!' Howard said forcing a McCheeto dust covered hand up to Randy's face.

"Hey! Watch the hoodie, you shoob!" Randy retorted as a mild slapping match ensued.

The violence stopped as quickly as it started when the first drops of rain began to fall. There was a brief commotion as people extended their umbrellas. Randy grabbed his umbrella and found that opening it when one hand was occupied by a bag of chips was difficult. After fumbling for a few seconds he eventually turned to Howard for assistance. Howard obliged but kept a smug smile the whole time. Howard reached his dust covered hand over and pressed the release button. With the power of teamwork, the umbrella opened. Randy rolled his eyes as Howard added "see, it's pretty difficult when you're burdened with the best snacks borrowed money can buy".

"Okay, but did borrowed money," Randy air-quoted, "buy you an umbrella?"

Howard was unable to continue their battle of wits as the rain began to downpour. The umbrella-less Howard ducked under Randy's inconspicuous Ninja-themed umbrella as their playful argument was momentarily forgotten.

Rain has a funny effect on people. It has a magic that can cause a whole crowd of excited people to fall into a silence. Only something so powerful can make Randy and Howard quiet for more than two minutes. Howard licked his fingers of the McCheeto dust before popping open another bag. Randy, his bag of chips forgotten, began to disassociate as he stared out into the steady shower. The puddle forming in a nearby pothole caught his eye first. Then, a splash created by a car as it nearly hit a woman at the bus stop. Until he settled on a soaked Theresa running across the street. "Wait- a soaked Theresa running across the street?" Randy did a double take before his mind could wander to the next moving object. Yup, that was Theresa. She was without an umbrella and carrying what he thought was a grocery bag.

Nudging Howard, "Do you think I should help her?" Randy asked.

"Help who, bro?! You can't just change subjects on me like that, you know this!"

"Oh, sorry, Theresa. I mean- Theresa is across the street and looks like she needs help." Randy explained, pointing to where the girl was now walking after making it successfully to the other side of the road.

"Cunningham, you just stood in line for four hours and you're about to leave because you don't think women can hold bags?!"

"What?! No- that's- can't you see she is soaking wet?" Randy responded, arms flailing in the general direction of said drenched girl.

"Well, luckily she's already wet. Otherwise, that fall would honkin' suck!" Howard stated, desperately trying to stay under the moving umbrella.

"Fall-?" Randy muttered as he turned back to look at Theresa, who was currently on the ground and frantically trying to scoop up the contents of her dropped bag.

Randy wasn't sure if hisNinj-stincts kicked in or what, but he found himself handing Howard's snacks back and hopping over the crowd barricades he spent hours behind that morning. Making it to the busy street, the man-on-a-mission didn't bother to wait for the crosswalk sign. Instead, snapping his umbrella closed, Randy weaved his way through traffic. He began jumping between cars, narrowly avoiding splashes, and finished off with a roll over a hood. Only for him to pop the umbrella back open over Theresa's head.

Theresa was crouched with a can of soup in her hand, staring up, wide-eyed at Randy, who was desperately trying to look cool and not winded. This pose was held for a few seconds too long, as no words passed between the two. The awkwardness snapped Randy back to reality as his thoughts ran rampant: "What the juice did I just do?! Did anyone see that? No one thinks I'm the Ninja, right? Anyone could have done that! Why would they think I'm the Ninja? I just wanted to help a friend! Maybe I should say something to her- have I not said anything to her yet?! Okay, she's standing up now. How long has she been staring at me? What should I say? Hm, I forgot how tall she is-"

"Thank you," Theresa spoke.

"Soup."

"Huh?"

"The soup in your hand- I mean, I'm here to help with the soup- I mean the groceries!" Randy blurted.

"Oh, thanks. Uh- I already said that-" Theresa trailed off, her free hand pulling at her wet hair as she looked down at the scattered food.

The next few seconds were spent picking up the groceries. Randy, for reasons he didn't understand, was trying to avoid eye contact with Theresa. Instead, he was trying to focus on saving the items in the deepest puddles first. The bread was thankfully protected by it's plastic covering. The cans were fine too, although their labels would probably warp. However, some fruits and vegetables were bruised or smashed. The umbrella balanced in his elbow, Randy dropped the items in the rescued grocery bag that Theresa held out. With the task finished, Randy was forced to acknowledge Theresa again. Her hair was a disaster, but it appeared as though she attempted to smooth it while Randy wasn't looking. Her mascara ran down her face as she gave a small smile between blushing cheeks. She wasn't wearing her usual school uniform. Instead, she was wearing a small pink T-shirt and a black knee-length skirt. Of course, both were now wet and clung to her body, but Randy used all his Ninja strength to direct his eyes back to her face. She had a knowing look in her eyes, which caused Randy to blush.

"Thanks again for the help," Theresa said. "I have to get going now, though."

"In the rain?" Randy asked, still sheltering them both under his umbrella.

"I mean, I kind of have no choice. Unless you were offering to walk me home?"

Randy was struggling to read the situation. He hadn't intended to walk her home, but then again, he wasn't exactly sure what he intended when he abandoned Howard and ran across the road. Glancing back in that direction, Randy made out the shape of Howard, flailing his arms around and presumably cussing him out for leaving him alone without an umbrella. Randy's hesitation to answer must have faltered Theresa's confidence, for she began to move around him to carry on her way.

"No wait!" Randy reached out and grabbed her arm. "What kind of helpful hero would I be if I let you walk home in the rain?" "Nice, saved it!" He gave himself a mental high-five.

"Great! Uh- I mean- if you're sure" Theresa said, looping her arm with his, removing the choice of backing out.

The body contact was enough to short-circuit Randy's brain, causing him to completely forget about Howard and the new McSneak shoes. "L-let me take that bag for you," Randy added as he took the semi-heavy grocery bag on his other arm. "So, um, where do you live exactly?" He asked, realizing he didn't know. Theresa's blush deepened at the gesture and answered, "It's in that neighborhood near the cemetery, a few more blocks away."

They walked in silence peacefully as they enjoyed the rhythm of the rain. At least, that's probably what it would have looked like to any stranger seeing the "couple" walking down the sidewalk. In reality, Randy's mind was in turmoil. Mainly because he didn't know what was going to happen after all this was done. Theresa clung to his arm as if he was her lifeline, but her face was obscured by her bangs. Their relationship, if you could call it that, was complicated. They could be considered friends, but they weren't close, nor did they know each other well. Meanwhile, Theresa's crush on him had been obvious since day one. Randy, with his life already so hectic, didn't act on her advances one way or another. Did he like her back? Of course he did, but why hadn't he asked her out yet? The idea was almost too overwhelming. Having a girlfriend would wonk up what little semblance of routine and free time he had left. Stringing her along made him feel like a total shoob though. Is that what he was doing? He didn't even know.

Biting his lip, he looked down at the bag he was carrying. Having to go out and buy his own groceries was a relatable feeling to him. With his dad out of the picture and his mom away for business most days, average household chores were left up to him. Well, as many household chores a teen boy with a secret double life can accomplish. It made him wonder why Theresa was doing the job of a parent, too. Again, they didn't know each other very well. It was worth a shot to ask...

"Sooooo, who's all this for?" Randy broke the silence in a normal and not at all awkward way.

"Me...?" Theresa answered, seemingly brought out of her own thoughts.

"All of it?" He joked as he heaved the bag like it weighed a ton.

"N-no! It's for my grandma, too!" Theresa flustered, the joke seeming lost to her.

"Oh, cool, you bring food to your grandma?"

"Kinda. You can meet her if you want," Theresa replied absent-mindedly.

"Oh, ho-ho. I'm meeting your grandma? I am speed-running through this relationship!" Randy teased. "Why the juice did I just say that?! Man, I really am stringing her along-"

"W-what?! I mean- sure, b-but I haven't told her about you yet or anything, so it might be weird..." Theresa trailed off. Ugh, she was so cute when she was flustered. "Why are you having these thoughts? You're the Ninja! The Nomicon would chew me out for this..."

The cemetery was coming into view, but Theresa didn't say when to turn and they kept walking. The rain had become a gentle drizzle and made for perfect cemetery weather. Surprisingly, there were a few people inside standing near some headstones. Although, Randy may have missed them if it wasn't for their large umbrellas. It was a nice moment despite the dark subject matter. Randy's mind drifted again as he thought about other, more fun, dates Theresa and he could go on. He had to quickly remind himself this wasn't a date though. "It could be," a small voiced whispered in his mind. After all, if he had time to stand in line for four hours just for a pair of sneakers, maybe he did have time for a girlfriend. He just needed to take that plunge and stop using his Ninja life as an excuse not to get on with his own life. He tightened his grip on the umbrella handle, bracing himself as he tried to think of what to say-

"Hm, I think I could make this work..." Theresa was mumbling to herself.

"Make what work?" Randy asked, snapping out of his trance.

"I just feel bad because I've of been stringing you along. I'm pretty busy, what with my baton practice and taking care of my grandma. It's difficult to find time just for friends, better less a boyfriend!" She replied matter-of-factly, "But you're right, maybe we should make things official" She finished, finally looking Randy in the eyes. Her big, beautiful eyes, surrounded by black smudge that used to be mascara.

Laughing was probably not the response she was looking for, but Randy couldn't contain the irony. Umbrella in one hand and groceries in the other, Randy had to keep himself from doubling over as his sides ached from the laughter. Theresa, on the other hand, broke away from his arm and looked like she was going to pass away where she stood. "W-wait, is that not what you meant?! You were just joking, weren't you?! Oh my Ninja, I'm such an idiot!" The poor girl looked like she was about to cry at this point.

"No, no, it's not that," Randy breathed between laughter. "I just felt like I was the one leading you on! I never really told you whether I was interested or not. Meanwhile, you've been all over me."

"I have?!" Theresa's whole face was as red as the Ninja's scarf.

Theresa's response made Randy's mind temporarily blank as he tried to figure out whether she was joking by asking that or if she was genuinely unaware that the whole school knew about her crush on him. Luckily, she was able to snap his mind back before it ran away from him again. "Wait, so you are interested, right? I mean, in being girlfriend and boyfriend?" her words trailing off.

Ho-boy, the question when asked so directly made the whole situation overwhelming. Randy wasn't sure if he was happy or not that he left the Nomicon at home today. If it was here now, it would definitely be buzzing and he'd have an excuse to leave. But it wasn't here. It was just him, Theresa, and the steady tapping of the rain on the umbrella. "You gotta say something, anything!"

"LET'S. Go. To. Your. Grandma's." was apparently the strategy he was going with.

"Sooo that's a yes, then?" Theresa hummed, taking Randy's arm back into her possession.

"Mhm," was all the reply she got, but it was enough. Theresa's ability to read social cues may be wonk, but poor Randy was a total open book. Including that silly little secret he kept about being the Ninja. Despite her messy hair and ruined makeup, Theresa beamed the whole way to Grandma's.

[suinotsuki]

A Question

A/N: Hi! I'm continuing with uploading my fanfics and headcanons over here on Tumblr from my AO3 and Twitter.

This fanfic was written before the anime came out and may contain spoilers for anime-only people and for those who haven't reached Private Arc yet! Tokyo Blade arc is also lightly mentioned.

Fanfic Links: AO3

Other Links: Oshi No Ko Masterlist

Arima Kana is an honest girl. Or rather, sometimes, she couldn't stop herself from saying certain things before they came out of her mouth. (Alternately, Kana ends up asking a question that has been troubling her since their first run of Tokyo Blade)

Arima Kana is an honest girl.

Or rather, sometimes, she couldn't stop herself from saying  certain  things before they came out of her mouth. That would be a more accurate description given how the meanest words can spill from her lips despite meaning the opposite. Still, it wasn't a surprise she was bound to ask a question to Hoshino Aqua that has been intriguing her ever since the first day of the Tokyo Blade adaptation.

Kana discreetly stole glances at the said actor who was conversing with Akane. Even until now, the reality show co-stars were inseparable as if they were still in rehearsals. (And if she felt tiny pinpricks in her heart at the sight of them, she was determined not to show it.)

Is she affected by their distance?

Maybe, but that wasn't the reason why she kept on trying to catch Aqua with her eyes. She was more concerned with his emotional acting back then. It was great as she would have expected from Aqua, but the way he looked like he was in so much pain? There was something she couldn't quite place. She could be overreading it or not.

She just wasn't sure about it.

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

"Is there something wrong?"

Aqua stared at her with an unreadable expression for god knows how long. She was pretty sure she asked that in the most Arima Kana fashion kind of tone. So, why is he looking at her like that?

Could it be she took his acting too literally and blurred the lines between lies and reality?  The thought almost made her shiver. That would be dangerous -  too dangerous . It's best if she tells him to be careful with that because he can never know what could happen if he continues with it.

"Arima?" He called out to her again.

Was she staring too much? Was it a good time to talk about it now?  The child actress suddenly felt conscious about approaching the topic. Maybe it was better to ignore it? After all, Aqua changed after  that time  the cast went drinking. She could pretend as if her gaze happened to fall on him, and that would easily allow her to escape his questioning gaze.

"You've been staring at me too often the past few days." He added when she didn't respond seemingly stuck in her little world.

Kana blushed. There was no way around it, given how sharp the teenager can be. "I was thinking..."

"What?"

"When you were acting on the first day of the stage play, you seemed like you were in pain," she explained as her eyes met his. Instincts kicked in as soon as she saw his eyes slightly widen in surprise, and what left her mouth were words she couldn't control. "Of course, as your senpai, I have to look out for you too! And, to think that we're in the same agency? What kind of person would I be if I didn't?!"

While her laugh made it seem like she cared very little, Kana screamed inside and questioned her actions that started this conversation. The (nervous) laughter did fade out when she finally noticed Aqua wordlessly staring at her. It was still unreadable, but it was killing her.

She could school her expression and say the opposite of what she was feeling, but her concern for him was something she won't be able to control.

Then, he averted his gaze from her and stared at the distance. The breath she was unknowingly holding escaped her, and she tried to follow to where he was focused. There was nothing. So, she went back to looking at him.

The usually guarded and cold Aqua was transparent for a quick second. It was short, but Kana could easily commit to memory this sight - his blue eyes warm in contemplation, and his body seemingly relaxed and relieved from tension. This moment was rare itself, and, at that moment, she had so much to say.

What's wrong? What happened? Why did you look so wretched and in so much pain before? Why are you struggling? If you don't want to talk about it, it's alright. I'll be here when you're ready.

Time continued after a long emotional second for her, and he turned his attention back with a small smile. "I'll tell you next time."

And, Kana would hold onto his words on that one.

[beefromanoff]

Going Under Ch. 1

summary: Bucky Barnes is assigned to head the security detail of an internationally beloved singer named Gianna as his next mission. not based on the song, but the whole story idea came from the lyrics to Going Under - Evanescence, which will be incorporated into the story at some point!

characters: Bucky Barnes x OC

soundtrack: changing - the airborne toxic event

warnings: fluff, pop star fantasy x love story, set in an AU where the Avengers reunite after Civil War, pre-infinity war, slight angst, hurt/comfort, lonely reader/OC.

author’s note: this is my first ever fanfic, so please be kind! I have so many chapters written but not edited, so prepare for spam. enjoy xoxo

chapter list/links - xo

_______________________________________________

chapter one

Bucky Barnes sat in the Avengers' conference room, his eyes fixed on the long oak table in front of him. He couldn't believe that he was back in the same position he had been in years ago, working for SHIELD and taking orders from Tony Stark. Drumming his metal fingers on the solid wood of the table, he wondered if Tony ever missed a chance to spend extra money.

As if on cue, the large double doors to the conference room slid open with a soft whoosh, and in sauntered the billionaire.

"You're going to be assigned to protect Gianna Cruz on her global tour," Tony said without missing a beat, his voice ringing out in the otherwise silent room.

Bucky looked up, his eyes meeting Tony's. "Who's Gianna Cruz?" he asked, his voice low and guarded.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Come on, grandpa, can you at least try to get with the times? I guarantee Cap has her name written in his little notebook. Ask him for some flashcards.”

Bucky looked at him blankly, not responding to Tony’s trademark sarcasm in the slightest. 

Tony sighed. “She's only one of the biggest pop stars in the world, Barnes. You know, the one with the uh, strawberry blonde hair and the killer voice?" he said. 

Bucky scowled. He didn't care about pop stars or their music. Of all the new developments of the past 85 years, pop culture wasn’t high on his list to brush up on. 

"Why me?" he asked, his voice tinged with frustration. “Doesn’t she have a bodyguard or something?”

Tony leaned forward, his eyes fixed on Bucky's. "Because you're the best, Barnes. That’s what she needs. This girl’s star power is off the freakin’ charts and her label is concerned for her safety on this tour. And because it's one of the conditions of your pardon. You know that," he said.

Bucky sighed. He knew that Tony was right. He had to do this if he wanted to stay in good graces with the powers that be. He was thankful for the swift pardon for his crimes committed as the Winter Soldier, but he always wondered about the clause they included for him to be assigned to whatever cases the Avengers deemed necessary. He always pictured more intense, high-octane missions, not exactly running a security team for a little blonde singer. Not that he had a choice in the matter. 

At least there’s bound to be less gunfire on this assignment, he thought to himself.

"Fine," he said, his voice resigned. "When do I start?"

Tony grinned. "Right away. Gianna's tour starts in two days, and you need to be on that plane with her," he said.

Bucky nodded, his mind already racing with thoughts of how on Earth he was supposed to to protect her, and from what. Teenage girls? Crazed stalkers? He didn't know anything about her, but he hoped she wouldn’t be too overwhelming. He still struggled warming up to new people, and since this was a solo assignment, he wouldn’t have the buffer of the other Avengers to ease him into it. 

“Oh, one more thing.” Tony said, with one foot already out the door. “This job pays…incredibly well. Her record label knows she’s a cash cow and they’re willing to invest a pretty penny in her safety. Let’s just say that once the wire hits, you won’t be worried about money for quite some time.”

As he left the conference room, Bucky couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. He didn't know what he was getting himself into, but he knew that he’d be plunged in soon enough. As for the money, that was a welcome surprise. Part of his pardon was the reinstatement of his Veteran benefits, as well as a small stipend for being a prisoner of war and injured in the line of duty. He always felt guilty accepting it, because he had still outlived everyone else in his battalion by decades. But he couldn’t exactly go get a job at Starbucks, so he took the money anyways. 

Thanks to the existence of the Avengers’ compound and all the private funding from Stark Industries, Bucky really didn’t have that many living expenses. The occasional meal out with Steve or Sam, new clothes every now and again, and routine maintenance for his motorcycle. That was about it. 

The thought of having a hefty payday was appealing, but Bucky had no idea what he’d spend it on. As he walked back to the residential wing, Tony’s words echoed in his head “She’s a cash cow. They’re willing to invest a pretty penny in her safety.”

He knew Tony didn’t mean anything by it, but the way Gianna was already being discussed like a commodity or an object just didn’t sit right with him. He was assigned to protect a person, not a diamond necklace.

The next two days were a blur of activity as Bucky prepared for his assignment. He went through intensive training with SHIELD, learning everything he could about protecting high-profile targets. They did incredibly in-depth briefings on Gianna and her team, as well as any potential threats. The worst part was a mandatory media training he had to sit through to learn how to conduct himself when and if he should ever be on camera with her. He sincerely hoped that wasn’t in the cards. For a non-combat based mission, the training was incredibly intricate. He was used to being the reason people needed protection, not their protector. This would be a change of pace, being on the defensive all the time. 

He also did his own research on Gianna, watching her music videos and reading up on her life story. 

By the time he walked out on the tarmac towards the private plane, he felt like he knew her better than he knew himself. She was beautiful, with her strawberry blonde hair that always seemed to be in loose waves when she wasn’t performing. She had bright green eyes and stood about 5 '3, pretty petite. Although her voice was anything but. When he played her music, goosebumps erupted on his right arm. He wasn’t typically amused by any of the mainstream music, but her voice sounded completely and utterly angelic. 

And she was beloved by the entire world it seemed, with fans from every corner of the globe. She was only 24, which seemed incredibly young to have billions of eyes on you at all times. Then again, when he was 19, he was already entrenched in the hellhole that was HYDRA. He grit his teeth and forced that thought out of his head.

Bucky hoisted his black duffel bag higher on his shoulder and took a deep breath as he climbed the stairs onto the plane. He looked around and was surprised to see only four people on the plane. 

“Sargeant Barnes!” A man in a suit called out, walking up to shake his hand. “I’m Tom, Gianna’s manager. This is Kate, she’s our hair and makeup guru for the tour.” A heavyset woman with thick lashes and pink lipstick waggled her fingers at him. 

“And this, of course, is our princess. Gianna, come say hi.” Tom tapped Gianna on the shoulder and gestured for her to take out her headphones. She startled and looked directly up at Bucky as she pulled the airbud out of her ear. He noted that she still used the kind with the wires, even though he’d seen how high her net worth was. If anyone could appreciate the old fashioned things, it was him. At least they had one thing in common. 

“Hi Sargeant! Thank you so much for coming, I know this probably isn’t your first choice of how to spend your summer and it probably really isn’t your thing at all, but Tom and Mr. Stark said you’re the best and -” she gushed until Tom put his hand back on her shoulder. 

“Woah, G, don’t scare the man off on day one. Give him some breathing room.” Tom chuckled and gave Bucky a knowing look. “First note, if you want to be able to keep up with what she’s saying, you’ll have to cap her coffee consumption.”

Gianna elbowed him before returning to her corner seat. She looked back up at Bucky and said with forced calmness, “I’m very glad you’ll be joining us, Sergeant Barnes.”

He gave a soft smile. “Bucky.”

“Bucky,” She repeated, folding her legs up in her leather chair. She was pretty in person, but in a much softer and more vulnerable way. She looked younger. When she was on stage or on red carpets, her makeup was often done to make her look fox-like, with bedroom eyes and glossy, plump lips. Right now, with her bare face and loose girls, white sweatset, and slippers - she just looked like a young girl. 

As they settled into their seats, Bucky couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. He knew that he had to keep his guard up at all times, but he also knew that he was in for a long summer with people he didn’t know at all. He had never even been to a concert, and now the next few months would be full of them. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it.

But as he looked over at Gianna, he felt a flicker of something else. Something that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Maybe it was the way she smiled at him, or the way her eyes sparkled when she talked. Maybe it was the way that somehow, she was not at all what he expected. She was polite, gracious, and unassuming. Not how he expected the biggest name in the world to talk to her security. Whatever it was, Bucky had a sneaking suspicion that he was in for more than just a simple protection assignment.

He had a feeling that this was going to be the most challenging mission of his life. As the plane gathered speed and took off, he hoped he was ready for it.

[the-s1lly-corner]

Random creepypasta character hcs VOL. 3(?)

Lost count on these but yeah I wanna drop more headcannons!!!

Nina is genderfluid and uses any pronouns! They also wear binders every now and then + they wear pride jewelry

Also they dye their hair like. A few shades lighter because he likes how the roots look when they grow out!! Same note they dye their own hair!!

I'm sorry for really focusing on nina but I've been flashing my design for her; but she also wears fake fangs

Before eyeless jack became eyeless, he has heterochromia! One eye was brown and the other was more gold!

Obligatory "I hc that ej and nina would be friends" but they do each others nails and would help each other put together outfits

A majority of eyeless Jack's shirts are band shirts

The neighborhood, TV girl, hollywood undead, mother mother, ICP, ect ect are a few of his favorites! Granted I think his wardrobe would become more limited since he lives in the woods alone in my au...

Still focusing on EJ, in my au before he got all.. monsterified... I feel like he was studying to be a doctor

Ironic and kinda messed up considering now he's forced to dissect people to sustain his own body but yeah

I'm pretty sure I said this before but I'll say it again since I love the concept; but Ben 99% of the time is bound to electronic devices. Basically meaning you'll rarely, if ever, see him drag himself out. Even when he does it takes a lot out of him, and he can only wander for so long until he has to go back

More au stuff but to help give jill her own unique vibe and stuff, I designed her to look like those old dolls you'd see way back then. You know the ones, with the porcelain faces and ragdoll-like bodies!! She still has her black and white clown look but yeah!! Due to this she also has visible tears and stitches on her; mainly on the limbs!! I also kinda wanna give her a sort of lolita dress look, if I ever draw her again! Give her loads of frills and stuff

Tying this all off since shes made to resemble a doll shes short 😔☝️ a moment of silence for lady

She can still stretch her limbs like jack, though

Though tbh idk if jill could do that or not <\3 but shh it's my au

Jane is much more... well idk the right wording, but I guess shes more masc presenting in my hc/au? She doesnt wear a dress or pair of heels like her canon look

I adore her canon look dont get me wrong, but I feel like considering that shes gunning for Jeff, that isnt too practical; esp considering jeff is.... something else

Basically wears stuff that's easier to run in, add some protection to her if she falls, swap the heels out with running shoes, no dangly accessories, ties her hair back. If not she'd definitely cut it down short

She still has her mask, though, but its a prosthetic she made/received herself since I dont think she'd want to touch the one jeff gave her

So yeah!!

Also I feel like, out of most the creepypastas, she has the best chance of living her own life in society; she only has intention to end game jeff, but asides that shes just. Mostly normal. Shes in therapy for her trauma, she has a job, she lives in her own place, ect

Oh that also reminds me! I keep rattling in about "my au" this, "my au" that, but I havent actually... released anything about it outside of headcannons

Idk if it'll be out in written fanfics, or as comics, or just one shot half au-accurate drawings or WHAT but

Basic run down of the au; time skip has taken place, havent decided a set amount of years, but it's been long enough that characters (that age) like jeff or jane are in their 20s (so like anywhere between 7-13ish years)

Slender still has his mansion, but it's hardly like anything the old fandom had,, it's no where near as huge or extravagant; its about as good as an abandoned mansion can be with little to no access to materials to upkeep it, and hardly anyone lives in it

Also same area ej lives, but they don't interact much and have a tense dynamic; both refuse to change locations

Still fleshing out the mansion idea!! So this is subject to change!!

Anywaus

Obviously characters who dont age/are ghosts/undead dont change ages; so like ben and sally are still the same, and the same applies to others like

Uuuuuh

Puppeteer, laughing jack and jill, slender and his brothers (this au does not include THAT one, fuck that one, we only have splendor and trender here), zalgo

Oh speaking of zalgo! He exists!! They don't really have a physical/tangible form though, hes more so a concept/untouchable entity that corrupts whatever it touches and causes chaos

Anyways

Also eyeless Jack's aging is... slowed; not by much but yeah!! Side effect of his curse and the whole "his body is changing into something horrific", and the slow age thing is a whole thing about the curse trying to extend his life span in order to cause more damage to himself and others

Real goofy stuff

Anyways

Laughing jack lives in his lil box and mostly transfers from person to person via the box being passed around

Be it garage sales or being sold in a goodwill, he eventually finds a new family to torment

No one suspects the old ass jack in the box!!!!

Ysah that's about it

Sits

Anyways yall should totally send me In requests (please read my pinned first!!)

[clatoera]

Please tell us your Clato story. Since when do you like Clato? What makes you like them? Thank you :) ....

oh my goodness okay well uh

I have liked Clato for a long long time. Eleven years. I noticed the insinuation in the book, but it was once I saw the actual film and the performance of the characters I could really identify them stronger in the books, and I grew a love from that. Like I said. I have been a fan a long long time. On fanfic . net there are still 5 or 6 clato fics I wrote between the years 2012-2014, that are under a few different usernames, that no i will not claim, but they're still out there as proof of my life long devotion.

I always have taken to the kind of off the cuff ships that don't really have a lot of canon moments in the books, and even fewer on screen (me and gary ross gonna beef). But I always thought the insinuation was there in the moment Clove died. For crazy, violent Clove to scream for him because she is scared and about to die, she had to know he'd come. For Cato, who is described by Katniss as temperamental and brutal and violent, to actually call back to her, run to her, and hold her as she died, I took something from that.

I thought the way it humanized the careers was phenomenal, and especially those two considering they were Katniss's biggest competition. Clove dies a scared girl being held by a heartbroken, sad boy.

Naturally Clato has always been a fanon thing more than canon. I was on facebook RP-ing as Clove, I've written fanfic a LONG time, I've read probably every single Clato fanfic on both fanfic.net and AO3 both in my time. And it was the fan expansions of the characters that I loved.

That being said I think I have just always identified so strongly with the careers. I wanted to be Katniss, I had a little sister, etc. I've always been the Clove, I've always been the Glimmer. It sounds cocky but it's true in it's own way. I was the smartest, I was the best, I worked the hardest, I was a favorite to win anything I ever did. I wouldn't do something unless I had the best chance at winning. I was the oldest child, with the endless pressure to perform at the top level, to be the best, to make my family, my school, my hometown proud. I wouldn't do something unless I was the best at it, even today I'm called crazy by my classmates regularly because of how much I study, what long days I put in. I still reap the rewards of that. I empathized with these kids who had no choice but to be the best. Who worked really really hard with the intention to make other people happy and proud. I would be lying if I didn't mention this in my explanation as to why I love Clato, because it is definitely part of it. I see myself in these kids, in Clove and Glimmer especially, because I think personality wise I am a direct mix of the two, just depending on which side I turn on at any given moment. I'll use what I call my "pretty girl powers" to get what I want, or otherwise i'm pretty bitchy, cold, calculated, etc. I literally added a line in the most recent chapter of my big Clato fic, in which Clove describes the trafficking and abuse of the victors as the worst thing you could to do someone, violating them like that, which is literally my opinion and belief that I gave to her. So thats definitely part of it, the way I empathize with kids who's worth is placed in the pride they bring home. Pride they are wiling to DIE to bring hime.

Part of what I love is the opportunity with them. To take these kids who are often seen as villains (Which if you see them as villains you miss the author's whole point, that the capitol is the villain, the capitol is the enemy), and flush them out and give them depth. Give them relationships, and favorite colors, and secrets they share between each other. Give them hopes for the future, give them dreams beyond winning. You win by 18, you have to imagine what the future after the games is like, too. I think they have the opportunity to be very normal in what they want after the games. They'd want dogs, and houses, and families of their own. Thats why I love them. They are child soldiers who are still children. They have dreams. They have wants. They have needs. They deserve to have full characterizations and be fleshed out, and thats the opportunity I take with them. You could make brutal bloody Cato an adoring brother, because outside the games he has a really wonderful little family. You could make Clove, with her psychopathic tendencies, a child who lost the mother who loved her, and the drive to prove that her mother and her are not weak girls, and the resultant way she would deeply love and fiercely protect whatever family she has (even found family). They train their whole lives together, who would understand them like each other.

Theres the chance to make them complex, explaining who they are in canon, and expanding on who they are outside of it.

I could wax poetic on Clato for hours, and in fact I do. Thank you for this opportunity though, I am always always down to be a Clato enthusiast on main.

Thank you thank you thank you

@curiousnonny

[tallmadgeandtea]

Turn Week 2023:

Content Creator Appreciation Day!

Hi everyone! First off, I’d like to thank everyone for their shout-outs for today’s prompts. Words cannot describe how much I deeply appreciate them and all of the friends, followers, and readers who support my blog and my writing! Like I said in yesterday’s post, I had no idea how my first ever- official, let’s say- blog would go when I started posted in 2020. Since then, my life has changed for the better. I’ve become a better writer, a better historian in training, and I have a space to share my interests which I never thought was possible when it came to history. I’ve met some excellent people, and I wouldn’t change a thing.

Now time for some shoutouts!

@enchi-elm for undertaking this years Turn Week! A toast for taking this on and letting me help out! Your determination to continue our yearly streak is great! And for your past seasonal fanfic collaborations, which helped create one of my fav SS&SP scenes I’ve ever written!

@ms-march and @culper-spymaster my wonderful best friends I’ve met through this fandom. Your support has meant the world to me these past three years, especially when we met in 2020. Adrienne and Levi are my lovely stepchildren and it’s so rewarding seeing your growth as writers. Thank you, Susan, for being a mom friend like no other, and thank you, Clair, for daily daydreaming about our numerous AUs!

@viola-ophelia for organizing last years Turnsgiving, the very first! It was such a creative and unique event, and I had a blast participating!

@turnwashingtonsbaddies for hilarious, niche pop culture post for the fandom and for all the chronically online people in it. Your horse girl posts live in my mind rent free.

@lottiematthcws for new, beautiful turn gifs in the year of our lord 2023! It’s always a pleasure to go into the tag and see a new set we can all reblog :)

@musicboxmemories @honorhearted for supporting me and talking to me about all things writing, history, and Seth! Your meta posts on Benjamin are some of the best analysis I’ve seen of him, and your gifs of how pretty he is are always an inspiration!

@arrthurpendragon who runs @ocappreciation and dedicates so much time to supporting OC creators and making them feel their worth, while having her own Turn OC, Lydia Woodhull!

I’m sure there’s people I’m forgetting but just know you’re all keeping this little fandom kicking! Keep up your posting and have a great day!

[spindrifters]

ten lines, ten people ~ redux ~

thanks for the tag @rollercoasterwords xx

I did this earlier, but actually messed up a bit because I didn't realize until finishing that it wasn't meant to just be ten random lines. so let's do it properly this time. *finger guns*

rules: share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tag ten people. if you have written less than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway.

marginalia / wolfstar, dystopian au, e

Sirius Black is seventeen years old and going to murder his little brother.

Right, okay, so not actually

Well, probably not, anyway.

Probably.

The question of Regulus’s impending doom notwithstanding, the point remains that Sirius would never have found himself in this situation if it weren’t for that little shit.

yours if you want it / wolfstar, m

Here’s the thing about growing up in Wales �� and then going to school in the Scottish highlands, and then getting your first adult flat in London just after that. Christmas is everywhere. It’s unavoidable.

the story goes / wolfstar, m

The story goes like this.

They tried to kill us. We survived. Let’s eat.

pomegranates / wolfstar, genderfuck au, m

Three knocks, over the Hanuká of 1975, and the first one comes as the biggest surprise. Lyall Lupin opens the front door of the small Mayhill flat he shares with his wife and daughter to find Sirius Black, cold and dripping in the rainy Swansea night, shivering violently in nothing but a set of outrageously expensive silk dress robes.

His first instinct is to slam the door in the girl’s face.

a history of violence / wolfstar, jily lives au, e

“Tell me about this one,” Sirius says, running a thumbpad lightly over Remus’ eyelid, the faint scar there so old it barely registers anymore when he looks at himself in the mirror. He leans back into the faded green cotton pillowcase, eyes closed, and breathes in the delicate flutter of Sirius’ fingertips brushed against the soft, tissue-thin lid.

commercial allure / wolfstar, m

It takes a couple days for him to realize what Sirius is doing. The first few, it’s barely even noticeable. Two chocolate frogs and a Mars Bar slid into his school bag. That black and cream jumper he’s coveted for ages left behind on his bed.

forward motion / wolfstar, raising harry au, t

Sirius has a theory.

It’s a sound one, he thinks, only the path to proving it might not be worth the trouble. Because the Remus Lupin of just a year ago probably would have taken one look at the dreidel Mary brought along with her to their flat tonight and said, “Yeah, I’ve got no clue what to do with that.” But the Remus Lupin of right now is, among so many other things, terrified of letting Harry down.

death by honey / wolfstar, t

One thing Remus has always prided himself on — the ability to find humor in a shitty situation.

Dad calls it the RJ Martyr Complex. Ma usually rolls her eyes at that point and says it’s just an occupational hazard of being Jewish. Either way, he’s got a lot of practice. If not humor, there’s usually always some sort of silver lining to dig up. And the silver lining usually is that Hanuká runs on a lunar calendar, which means that it never, ever coincides with the full moon.

And now for the punchline: Lunar fever doesn’t give a shit about the phases of the moon. It crops up whenever it damn well pleases.

the helper / wolfstar, t

Remus is acting weird again. Well, Remus is always acting a bit weird, truth be told, what with the way that he dresses like a tiny grandfather and hyperfixates on random things like grindylows for weeks at a time and has a more impressive arsenal of curse words than any twelve year-old has the right to. But that’s the good sort of weird, the weird that makes Remus, well, Remus. And Sirius was more or less under the impression that the whole moodiness and sulking around and not-talking-to-his-mates thing would have cleared up now that the whole werewolf business is out in the open.

until our ribs get tough / lily + remus gen, dystopia au, m

“You look like a drowned rat,” she snickers, pounding out the dough for a country white. Only then she shrieks as the cold raindrops buried in Remus’ curls drive into her skin instead, and pushes him with all the righteous fury of her eleven years. “Bastard.”

tagging @r33sespieces @petalstofish @jennandblitz @fonkeloog @sliebman10 @lunapwrites @wanderingdonut @elder-millennial-trash @steelycunt and anyone who hasn't done this yet or wants to do it again with ~a flair~

[burnersideblogjustincase-ies]

MY TIME HAS COME. IVE BEEN HERE TOO LONG AND SEEN TOO MUCH. Most of the hate I see Jess and Jason get publicly is for bad writing choices, but. Uh. THINGS RUN MUCH DEEPER THAN THAT! Here's a big compilation, of both serious and less serious things, that people have gripes with Jess and Jason for.

Disclaimer: A lot of this stuff is sourced from twitter, which I do not use. I am a MCD fan and have been here since MCD Season 1, I also am not a Mystreet/modern content fan. There could be stuff/context I'm missing for some things. I'm trying to keep this post to stuff I can provide links/sources for, in order to prevent that.

Tw for discussions of homophobia, racism, abusive workplace, uncomfortable IRL age-gaps, fatphobia, and depictions of abuse and incest. This post is long, be warned.

Homophobia:

Jessica is a fetishist of gay/mlm relationships. I feel this is pretty visible through her actions as a whole, but in case you don't believe me, here's her tweeting about being a Septiplier fan.

(Ship between Jacksepticeye and Markiplier. Yes. She really tweeted this. https://twitter.com/_Aphmau_/status/748004225305677828)

And this.

And the video she did where she publicly supported the "ship" of her IRL employees/coworkers (Mithzan and YourPalRoss), which she then publicly reblogged a clip of to her tumblr here: https://www.tumblr.com/aphmau/142601660059/mithross-ahaha-thank-you-so-much-for-this

AND back when they did fanfic readings/reenactments on the channel, one of these videos was devoted to Septiplier.

(This video has since been privated, but you can see someone's... uh.... ""reaction video"" to it? Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jodpDmeqES0)

Yeah.

This fetishization does leak into the content Jessica creates. Jason himself has confirmed that the way Jess wrote Laurance and Garroth was intentionally written as queerbait.

The person he was replying to is no longer visible, but the tweets are still up here: (https://twitter.com/jasonbravura/status/802295131218984960)

Racism:

Yeah so remember how Jason said that they'd never have someone on the team make the skintones of characters to be lighter. Remember how he said that in those tweets above. Yeah well they did that they absolutely did that. They do it in the official poster merch, in the official music videos, thumbnails, and in the skins/ingame footage as well.

(Lots of the in-game whitewashing seems to be a side-effect of the shaders they are using, as they overexpose the footage and make everything lighter as a result. The difference in skintones is glaringly obvious, and definitely would've been tackled by the team by now if they cared about whitewashing as an issue.)

It took until Season 3 of MCD to have a single black character purposefully placed into the show. He had potential to be more than a side character, but the show was cancelled soon after his introduction. As far as I'm aware, Teony is still the only black character in all of Mystreet/Phoenix Drop High. She is a side character who is not included in the minigames or other modern content. Unless I'm misremembering, she doesn't appear in Mystreet in anything beyond Season 2.

Let's talk about Nana Ashida now. Or as she was known as up until late parts of Mystreet, "Kawaii-Chan." Good news! Jessica and crew realized that having an anime-obsessed neko-girl who works at a maid cafe and loves "shipping" and all things "Kawaii" was offensive, and changed her name as a result. Bad news! They confirmed this character to have Japanese heritage through changing her name, further enforcing every single stereotype she carried and more!

(Though it's not as if there was a very good out for this aside from acknowledging the stereotype, tearing out everything about her character, and rebuilding her from the ground up. Either you make your Japan stereotype Japanese, confirming she's a walking stereotype, or you make your Japan stereotype a white girl, and confirm that she the character is stereotyping Japanese people. Either way, they wrote an offensive stereotype and refuse to fix it, because the stereotype is intrinsically tied to her character, and all that is supposed to be appealing and likable about it.)

Fatphobia:

I don't even know what to say. Here is a roleplay video from 2018, where the sideplot is that Aphmau eats too many hamburgers, causing her to hiss at fruits and vegetables like a feral cat. She goes for a jog with aaron, where she fails miserably until being deceived that there is a... "wild hamburger" in the bushes. The video ends with her bursting into tears over turning down a cookie. Eating and food humor are common in this era of video from the Aphmau channel, and these topics are never handled well.

(https://youtu.be/PnOCMK1i-hQ)

Basically every character who is implied to like food (aside from Nana/Kawaii-Chan, because of course a Japanese stereotype Cutesy Icon™ can't be fat, because being fat is not appealing in the eyes of the writers) is implied to also be both unhealthy and overweight. Three out of Four of the trivia bullet-points for Betty (FCU character) are about her love of food, because she genuinely has no other memorable traits. If I have to tell you what is wrong with this, I can't help you.

(https://aphmau.fandom.com/wiki/Betty_(MyStreet))

Abusive Workplace Allegations:

Back while it was still known as BluJay, Catface Studios was reportedly not a good place to work. Here are some twitter testimonies from ex-employees, ranging from things such as PTSD, to possible legal threats for speaking out about working conditions/experiences. (Some of the text is very small, click through to read better.)

A lot of these tweets are, at this point, deleted. Especially the more negative/accusatory ones. Some of them can still be found online, search for them if you're curious.

(And context for people unaware, _Castr_ aka Castor is the same person as The Chicken Shaman in MCD. He used to work on/be a part of a lot of Jess' old content, and was a writer on various projects for her for a VERY long time. I believe he was involved in the writing of MCD since Season 1, but if anyone has a source on that so I know I'm not misremembering, feel free to let me know. His sudden release was VERY shocking to me personally, seeing as how long he's been a part of Jess and Jason's work.)

Jess and Jason have also pretty iconically had beef with Sebastian Todd, the voice of Laurance. This beef is why Laurance rarely appears in videos, and was written out of Mystreet. I personally don't really care for either of the involved parties, but here's what Mithzan has to say about Sebastian:

Child Labor (???):

I literally don't know how else to describe it. This tweet (and linked google doc) from 2015 is the source of this one:

(This tweet is still up and available at this link by the way: https://twitter.com/_Aphmau_/status/661051379234922497) The bit.ly link (http://bit.ly/1Q10LEA) leads to a google doc (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yPd1dsY99sOwIl_fITmUryfH4s00zVgiSuwodfcNiK8/edit) describing what a body actor is and where to apply to work as one for Jess. In case you don't feel like clicking links, here's just the "terms and conditions" and all listed requirements:

Yep, that's right, kids as young as 13 were encouraged to apply for this! Or even 12, if your birthday was close enough to the application date. Though it mentions "promotion", there is no payment mentioned or listed anywhere on the document. Presumably promotion is referring to asking for more important jobs, such as writers or voice actors, though I don't know for certain. Despite the mention of "credit given to you as the body actor" I do not remember seeing body actors ever credited on Aphmau videos of this era. (If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me, but I checked a couple MCD S2 episodes that came out a couple months after this, and could only ever find VAs credited.)

I don't know how young anyone who applied or was accepted was, and I don't know what their working conditions were like. I personally doubt anyone accepted was paid for their time at all, though I have nothing to back that up.

(Also, I don't know if that email is still active. And don't plan on testing it. I'd encourage not sending anything, just in case.)

Aggression towards fans:

This is more a point towards Jason specifically, but multiple times he has spoken out very... I don't even know how to phrase it. Agitatedly? Blame-y? Against fans on twitter for seemingly minimal or nonissues.

These are some of my "favorites," and by favorites I mean "I cannot believe a grown man actually said these things to young fans on twitter, for the crime of... wanting to see more non-Aarmau ships with Aphmau ???"

(These tweets are ALSO still up: https://twitter.com/JasonBravura/status/866345911571562496)

I'm sorry, but "whoring Aphmau's character out" is an INSANE thing to say about your literal actual IRL wife.

(Also he went real jokercore this one time I still cannot believe this is real.)

This is less of a serious accusation in comparison to some of the others, but looking at it with the following in mind makes an interesting picture:

Jess and Jason's Relationship:

Hate that I have to make this a bullet point given how fetishistic and weird people online are about celebrities/internet personalities' IRL relationships, but unfortunately this is necessary. The summary is, Aphmau and Aaron's 4 year age gap (Freshman and Senior in highschool) displayed in Phoenix Drop High is based on Jessica and Jason's real life relationship. Here's a better post breaking this down: https://www.tumblr.com/dantes-gf/648264700307668992/jess-and-jason-a-disturbing-dating-history

As of making this post, I believe Jessica's IRL age is 33 and Jason's IRL age is 37. They met before Jessica was 18, seeing as she moved in with him when she turned 18, as stated by Jessica herself in her Draw My Life video. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekOog6xKDMQ)

TLDR: Assuming the timeframe displayed in PDH is correct, their IRL ages suggest that Jessica was 14 and Jason was 18 when they started dating. This age gap is disturbing for obvious reasons.

Some fans have also found Jason controlling for things like this:

(I don't feel right commenting on this given the whole "This Is An IRL Relationship I Am Not A Part Of, And Thus Will Never Have As Much Insight Into As The People Who Are In It" thing, but here it is regardless. You can make your own judgements on it if you wish.)

Irresponsible Depictions of Abuse/Incest:

Ein is a character. He's certainly a character. If you don't know who he is, he appeared in Mystreet and Phoenix Drop High as a villain who wanted to romantically abuse and manipulate Aphmau. In some cases he succeeded. Towards the end of Mystreet Season 6, he was revealed to be Aphmau's sister. In contrast to his villainous persona in the main-story content, he appeared as friendly, teasing and even flirtatious in the mini-game and non-canon content. Many fans were upset to see him treated as a friendly member of the cast, instead of as the incestual abuser he is in canon.

Around mid-late 2018, many fans on tumblr were vocal about how they found Ein's story and character handled to be upsetting and uncomfortable. A voice actor for the channel (condescendingly) responded that depictions of bad things do not necessarily mean the writer is bad. This post was then reblogged by Aphmau's official tumblr account, without any commentary.(https://www.tumblr.com/aphmau/179882946599/hey-so)

Obviously writing about problematic things does not make you a bad person. You cannot have a story without conflict. What is concerning is writing about this content irresponsibly. Many fans around this time failed to understand that Ein should not be shipped romantically with Aphmau. This behavior was most alarmingly seen by (younger) fans who looked to the out-of-character minigame content of Ein for how he should be treated, and began shipping Aphmau and Ein without understanding the full force of their actions.

(Tumblr) Fans were then concerned about the responsibility involved in displaying this kind of content uncritically to younger audiences, especially since this time was when the mini-game videos became very clearly more aimed towards younger kids. This was Jessica's response, posted on tumblr: (https://www.tumblr.com/aphmau/179945128104/the-audience-of-my-channel)

It touches on the topic, but falsely identifies the main concern of fan backlash of mini-game and overall channel content becoming kid-friendly, instead of the real concern of irresponsibly exposing children to """friendly""" depictions of incest and abuse.

Making funny, silly content of abusers does not successfully condemn an abuser's actions. Making funny, silly content of an incestual relationship does not convey to the audience that the writer sees these actions as wrong. Without knowing that these text posts exist, the average fan would likely never even know they supposedly saw these things as an issue.

Not only has Catface never apologized for this, they later tried to retcon it out of existence:

This post sums it up pretty well. (https://www.tumblr.com/dantedeservedbetter/655931596641353728/oops-this-rant-was-longer-than-i-expected-but)

TLDR: Jessica/Catface has acknowledged that Ein was written to be Aphmau's sister multiple times, including a mini-game video in 2019 that directly referred to them as siblings in the title and thumbnail.

At some point after this comment was made, they changed the video title to be consistent with the "red herring" statement.

To spell it out, after defending their irresponsible portrayal of this abusive and incestual character for years, Catface quietly pretended like it was never an issue and erased all references to his sibling status, so that they did not have to keep trying to explain themselves or apologize.

If you need more proof, check out this tumblr post below where Jessica does not contest Ein's sibling status, which is directly mentioned and discussed in the ask prior! If it really was a red herring, then go on Jessica! Why not correct it here, when the sibling discussion is causing issues all the way back in 2018? That you yourself took credit for writing IN THIS POST! https://www.tumblr.com/aphmau/179877266199/i-think-jasons-a-really-good-guy-but-im-never

I think it's very clear why nothing about this was ever corrected earlier, and it's because they saw it as nothing needing correction. There is no red herring. Just a poorly-handled retcon.

Many characters are given this treatment in canon, where their poor writing was later friendly-ified or excused for little to no reason:

The treatment and attempted "redemption" of Derek, Aaron's abusive father in Phoenix Drop High/Mystreet, is another clear example of this poorly thought-out behavior.

As well as Travis and Katelyn's abusive relationship, which is initially handled seriously, then comically, then swept aside altogether.

As well as Ghost, the undead form of Emmalyn from Minecraft Diaries, who repeatedly forces herself upon Mystreet Zane, because she has confused Mystreet Zane and Minecraft Diaries Zane, and for some reason has also confused Minecraft Diaries Zane, the man who killed her husband... With her husband. Makes sense /s.

As well as.... whatever the hell is going on with Aphmau and Aaron's relationship in Mystreet altogether. Remember that time in Season 4 when Aphmau threw a rock at Aaron after he just got done freezing to death or whatever, because the person that helped him not die... was a girl...... ?????? and she was...... jealous ??????????? so she tried to hit him with a rock??????????????????? was this supposed to be cute??????????????????????????????????

Okay now here's the less serious stuff. Reasons people dont like Jessica and Jason beyond the horrible stuff.

Because the original asker was just asking why people are mad at Jess and Jason, and despite all of the above being very prevalent I mainly see people angry at them for the following:

Bad writing. It comes from both Jess and Jason. Stuff that isn't bad because it's offensive, but because it's just plain bad. In all produced rps, they frequently forget their own lore, characterizations, and write things that just plain make no sense. A lot of people get frustrated with that, understandably.

Stringing fans along. New MCD/Mystreet/Roleplay content is continuously promised and not followed up on. Seasons/series are left unfinished without warning, or rushed to completion in order to throw them in the bin and stop having to write them. Lots of fans have grown tired of hoping for new content for the things they originally followed for. The Aphmau Fantasy Stories channel is inactive for a reason.

Related to above, she mostly just does clickbait-cocomelon-styled videos targeted towards very young children now, which frustrates a lot of old or returning fans looking for more serious content.

Also related to above, retiring or benching main/beloved characters for seemingly no reason. This is most demonstrated by Laurance, but can also be seen in characters like Garroth, Daniel, Lucinda, and Vylad. (One commonality seems to be that this "benching" frequently happens when there are difficulties with employing the voice actor.)

Shipping. Yeah Aarmau is basically the only Aphmau ship featured anymore in all her content, and has been for a while. So people who don't ship that often don't like Jessica, Jason, or their modern content, since the characters are their self-inserts and it's basically their fault.

Content stealing. A lot of her work references other established works, such as making the wyvern dragon language in Minecraft Diaries just being the dragon shout language from Skyrim, taking the titles and sometimes names of the Divine Warriors from mythical figures featured in Final Fantasy, or, most egregiously, stealing the entire Mystreet Season 6 Finale from Fullmetal Alchemist. Yes, they really did do that. In my opinion, some of these seem like simple references to media she enjoys, while some of these (looking at you Mystreet Finale) just feel lazy at best and incredibly deceitful at worst.

The baby voices. All the VAs, including Aphmau, pitch their voices up to sound cartoony now. It's grating.

Jess learned the word "himbo" and now it is Garroth's only personality trait. It's grating.

The Fucklist, or sometimes referred to as The List, is a list Jessica made and posted on her tumblr of characters who, in a less child-friendly version of MCD, would have fucked. The sentence alone is upsetting enough. It's upsetting to read as well. And she didn't even include the canonical Aphmau and Aaron fucking, because it was spoilers at the time. Maybe this doesn't belong here, I don't know if this is the One Reason why a fan has turned on her. But it's probably been the straw that broke some poor camel's back out there.

Some Mystreet fans don't enjoy the more lore-heavy later seasons, and prefer the sillier slice-of-life first couple seasons that the series was originally written with the intention of following.

Similarly to above, some Mystreet fans don't enjoy the MCD crossover lore added late in Mystreet Season 6. Some MCD fans don't enjoy that the series now crosses over with Mystreet.

And more im probably not thinking of at the moment.

You cannot unlearn what you have learned here today.

Sorry.

[thevagabondexpress]

so . . . and a cat named spooky, my christopher/cordelia rarepair fanfic, now has another chapter, one more than the four I had planned out, and it's finally starting to find its structure. this has me thinking about the incredible @streettealee both because of the running joke that kickstarted this idea and because she also has a very-well written work out there for the ship now (check it out, it's got a very interesting take on their dynamic).

which of course then has me thinking about that thought she had about 'rarepair bingo' a while back and that made me think a little bit about the reason I'm so active in the tsc fandom, when in others I tend to just consume the content other people are creating.

I think it's because, post-chot denial aside, while I do have my preferred version of events, I tend to be more open to endings other than the one I want. I'm happy to set aside how I want it to go in favor of messing with rarepairs, with what-ifs, I could equally see a relationship as perfect for each other or as terrible and doomed and I want to write both outcomes, this character will have a different love interest in every fanfic that I write, in one book this girl is living happily with her mother and in another they aren't speaking.

I'm not like that about other fandoms. I tend to be more rigid, I have one take and if, like with warehouse 13 or the girl from everywhere, something didn't go the way I wanted, I'll be forever bitter about it. I don't know what it is about tsc that's so conducive to this more open attitude. I don't know how to draw the connection between my rigidity with other fandoms and why I tend not to talk about them and/or create for them, though I'm sure it's there. maybe I feel like I've said my piece and because I have one take I don't need to do more. I don't know where I'm going with this post anymore. oh well.

[lycorogue]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Originally started by @izanae. **EDIT: Seems izanae was also tagged by someone, but didn't state who. So I'm not sure who truly originated this questionnaire... Thanks for the tag @tree-reads

The "original" Fic Writers Ask thread (that izanae started) was getting lengthy (by nature of the game), and I was about to double its size (by nature of my writing style). But please go and check that thread out to see how other wriblrs answered. You might find a new favorite that way!

Alright, let's get to it.

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

49 (really? It feels like I have so many more...) You can also find me over on FFN and DA still, and I do post my stories here too... just... FYI.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

357,107* *I feel like I should clarify that the 49 stories and 357k words is since I started publishing fanfic in 2010. I feel like this doesn't seem all that impressive now... (also... holy hecken! I've been publishing fanfic for 13 years!?)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Miraculous Ladybug (31), but I originated in the "Hey, Arnold!" fandom (7*). I've also written for Fruits Basket (4). I have a couple of D&D fanfics - 1 each for 2 of my D&D characters, and I have written one story each for the following fandoms: - Left 4 Dead/Jonathan Coulton's song "Re: Your Brains" - Graceling Realm series by Kristin Cashore (specifically, the novel Bitterblue) [Rated: Explicit] - Ender Series by Orson Scott Card (specifically, the novel Speaker for the Dead) - Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (the LoZ franchise is one of my main fandoms... I'm shocked I haven't written more for it...) [Told in 1st person] - An all-OCs fic set in the X-Men: Evolution universe *I have more HA fics over on FFN that I didn't port over because they aren't completed works.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Woven Heartstrings Summary: Chat Noir needs a Christmas gift for Ladybug. Marinette is a very crafty and creative person, so Chat Noir asks her for some help in making a gift for his lady. While hesitant in aiding Chat Noir's attempts to woo her superhero self, Marinette reluctantly agrees. Although, after a week of working side-by-side with Marinette, Chat Noir's not so sure he wants to gift the scarf he's making to Ladybug after all. Could Your Paradise Also Be Your Hell? Summary: Marinette is not coping very well when she's magically transported into her older-self's body, and discovers she's now married to Adrien Agreste. [Unofficial companion piece to Remember That Time When... by @mostlovedgirl-writes ] Peeping Tomcat Summary: Something called to Adrien, and before he knew it, he was addicted to sitting outside Marinette's window as Chat Noir; just watching her. His voyeuristic habit needs to stop, but things have gotten far too complicated now that he realizes he's growing a crush on her. [Story told in 1st person; non-sexual voyeurism] I Was Thinking of You Summary: Girls' Day derails when Marinette realizes the male lead of a romance movie reminds her of someone other than Adrien. [Lukanette story] Is it True? Summary: Marinette instantly regrets confessing her feelings for Adrien. He decides it might be time for a confession of his own.

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

Always. I may run out of spoons and miss a comment for a little while, but I make a point of going back and still replying eventually. Even if it's months later. EDIT: I neglected to copy/paste the whole question originally. So, here's the answer to the why/why not question. I make sure to respond to all comments because people put in the effort to read my story and then tell me how they felt about it. I NEED to send the love right back to them. I need them to know that their words matter and warmed my heart. (That said, even if you don't leave a review, I do love you, Reader)

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

Despite my friends teasing that I'm "the queen of angst", I actually don't have too many stories that don't end on a hopeful note. So, if we're going "pure angst ending" I only have two: Unsent Letter for the Fruits Basket fandom and True Husband for Speaker for the Dead (Enderverse). Both are shorter stories of people believing they are unworthy of love, pity those who do love them, and believe they have sinned and are deserving of being miserable. If you want to stick within the Miraculous fandom, I'd say I'm Not Allowed to Love You [contains s4 finale spoilers]. That was angsty enough that I had to end on a hopeful note via an epilogue that I added to the closing author's notes.

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

Oh goodness! As mentioned, I try to end just about all of my stories on a high note. I was able to narrow the 49 stories down to 8 with a fluffy, happy ending. Out of those 8? I think Woven Heartstrings has the most optimistic, love-filled ending? Everybody is just showing their love and appreciation for everyone else (even Adrien and Gabriel... written pre-Chat Blanc, I believe???). It's just a lovefest story. Runners Up categories: - Favorite LoveSquare Fluff winner: I Just Wanted to Kiss You - Happiest Lukanette content winner: I Was Thinking of You - Happiest Family Unit winner: Build Your Own Luck - Happiest Platonic Love winner*: The Truest of Friends *excluding Woven Heartstrings - Happiest "I'm probably going to rework this as original fiction" winner: I Don't Care [a Gabriemilie story written before s5 lore drops]

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have been so so SO lucky that I have not. My heart goes out to you writers who do. :'(

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

I have written smut 3x (working on a 4th). I published 1. I am cishet, so I am vanilla and write cishet. Smut is also a rare genre of writing for me to venture into. So rare that my current "smut" story is more "plot with eventual porn" than it is "porn with(out) plot". The sex is a significant character development moment in 3 out of the 4 stories I wrote. The 4th was more of a character study for a pair of OCs. No shade on the "porn without plot" folks. Those stories are so fun and indulgent and I appreciate them so much. My brain just won't let me pare down to that style no matter how much I try. It's like "Nope. Must have character growth. Throw emotions into this mess!"

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

I think I've only attempted to write a crossover once... and it was not a very successful result. It was Arnold Shortman and Helga Pataki from "Hey, Arnold!" in the world of Familiar of Zero. Helga was Louise and Arnold was her familiar Saito.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Uh... I don't think so???

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not to my knowledge (although I'd be down if someone wanted to translate any of my works). That said, Woven Heartstrings does have the only non-English review I've received (it's in French). So.... maybe someone translated it into French without letting me know??? I just assumed the reader knew enough English to understand what I wrote or otherwise used a translating service....

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

Three different times. One was partially published. Prior to the Hey Arnold Jungle Movie officially being made, @chibisunnie and I attempted to write up a fanscript (is that how we met? I can't recall....). My friend Ronoxym and I have also attempted to write two different X-Men OC stories centered around his OC Devon. Although, in both cases, it was more he wrote the story and then I kind of unintentionally hijacked it???? The incomplete co-written fic that I actually attempted to publish* was one of the two I wrote with Rono: Please, Let Me Explain. *not published on AO3; on FFN and DA only

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

That I've written for? Love Square. Specifically anything where Marinette is herself instead of Ladybug: MariChat or Adrienette. They just remind me so much of myself and my husband. Fave in general? My OTP of OTPs is probably Gambit and Rogue from X-Men. I tend to refer to my husband as Gambit to my Rogue. (Are you sensing a theme as per my relationship vs my shipping tendencies?)

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

My poor unintentionally abandoned "Hey, Arnold!" epic What is Truly Meant to Be. It is on FFN and DA only.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I am frequently told that I keep the characters and world so in-character/canon-accurate that my stories read like "lost episodes" of a show. I'm also fairly good at dialogue and conveying emotions.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

- Naming things. Titles. Naming a McGuffin. Coming up with superhero/villain names. etc. - Anything with a LOT of action in it. Be that fight scenes, chase scenes, or sex scenes. I'm someone who can picture things in my head as clear as if I were watching a movie, and I try to convey what I'm seeing to the reader as if I were writing visual media such as a show/movie or comic. This usually leads me to micromanage the movement of the characters and the action ends up feeling clunky and repetitive. - Allowing the characters to get physically hurt in a way that professional medical treatment is needed. Broken limb? Stab wound? Concussion? Injured eye? Poisoned? Nope. Can't do it. Mental block tells me "no". - Write short, sweet, concise stories/drabbles/ficlets (can't you tell?)

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

Huh. With the exception of proper nouns (such as Chat Noir), I'm not sure if I've used non-English words that aren't just borrowed words within English or words most English speakers would know anyway (such as enchanté, cómo estás, or dōmo arigatō). I know I italicize thoughts, so I don't know if I'd italicize a non-English word to signal that it's a foreign word??? I'd assume the readers would know that already. I think, if I were to ever use a foreign word within dialogue it would have to depend on the circumstance. If the foreign word or phrase is important for the POV character to learn, I may include it along with a translation. Otherwise, I may just state that the characters are speaking in this other language and then write it in English so my readers have a better chance at understanding what is being said. Also, I am far from multilingual, so that would help me avoid translation errors.

19. What’s the first fandom you wrote for?

Technically, I think it would be X-Men???? I think I came up with X-Men OCs and storylines for those OCs back when I was in, like, 5th grade????? Then I did some Batman fanfics in middle and early high school. Mostly solo roleplay/dressup in my basement because I was that nerd still playing pretend by myself when I was 16. First fandom I published a fic for? If you don't count play-by-post RPGs*, then my first published-online fanfic fandom was "Hey, Arnold!" *the play-by-post game was for Batman.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

YOU'RE ASKING ME TO PICK MY FAVORITE CHILD!? Unlike parenthood, I GUESS I could put effort into actually answering this.... I've got it narrowed down to 4. These are the 4 I have probably reread the most. Two of them are the stories I wrote as kind of fanfics of @mostlovedgirl-writes 's fanfics. Take what you want from that, but, basically, I guess I love living in the worlds MLG creates??? The other two finalists are my personal headcanons for Miraculous Ladybug. Headcanon stories: Build Your Own Luck - cute little Dupain-Cheng family bonding story about the origins of the lucky charm bracelet that Marinette gave to Adrien. Forever in Darkness - What Plagg's life was like with his previous holders, and why he thinks Adrien is the best one he's had. Inspired by MLG: Could Your Paradise Also Be Your Hell? - How Marinette spent the night before heading off to NYC. Unofficial companion story for Remember That Time When... Rolling Thunder - Adult Marinette and Adrien stumbling their way into a romantic relationship, finally! Based off of Finding Yourself in the Details Honorable Mention to my longest story and first completed chaptered story: Peeping Tomcat

Phew! That... was a LOT! Thanks for sticking around until the end! It was fun going back through my portfolio.

All that wish to answer this, consider yourself tagged!

Official no-pressure tags for: @mostlovedgirl-writes, @captaintoomanybattles, @thetauruspixie, @livrever, and @cyhyr

[xplrvibes]

Im watchibg the first conjuring episode now (sorry if ive already said that) and its so sweet how they sit down just snc and sam immediately asks colby how he’s feeling

Im seeing everything now thru a new lens knowing sam is the guide and colby is the psychic and my hunch about it is literally fact and like an actual thing

ugh my heart.

- aussie anon

Sidenote that has nothing to do with anything: I had to dig out my laptop to answer this, cause the tumblr mobile app is lagging hardcore for me today. Anyone else having issues?

I've always thought it was interesting how often they get "Colby" or "Cole" during an Estes session. They get "Sam" too, but that's such a common name that I could see that being said on the radio quite often so that one coming through quite a bit doesn't surprise me - but how many Cole/Colbys are really out there on the radios waves across the US/Canada/Europe??

My opinion on the Estes, by the way, is not that it's an actual spirit coming through and speaking over the waves, for the most part - it's clearly bits and pieces of radio stations coming through for a second here and there - but rather, the person under the Estes session is almost being used as a psychic tool in a way to hear things from those radio waves that need to be heard in order to get the message across/out (hence why some people are better at it than others - Colby vs the girl that wasn't Rae whose name I forgot, sorry during the last video was a good visual representation of that). But having said that, Colby's name coming through as often as it does is just weird cause there cannot be that many ways to say "Colby" on the radio, so maybe it's a mix of radio waves and actual voices?

I don't know. Regardless, it's a collaborative effort between the person going under, the spirits, and the radio waves to make it all happen, is what I say.

Anyway, I love how casual Colby was about his name being said mixed with the word "kill" cause I would not have been as casual lol.

I don't remember anymore which Conjuring video has Colby getting locked in the basement and straight panicking, and Sam running back to the house and just going "oh he's probably freaking out right now" and yelling Colby's name as if Colby could hear him (I think that was the second video?), but that's another good Sam the Worrywart moment - although he ruins it by coming in and immediately thinking Colby was lying about the door being locked.

Man has some trust issues lol.

But the thing that made the very first Conjuring video stand out to me was their Estes sessions in the basement - Colby having an actual and legit panic attack halfway through and the stuff both of them were getting in their sessions was clearly something just fucking with them in a very unhelpful way and it had such a creepy creepy vibe to it. I didn't love the last series they did back in October, for a lot of reasons, but that first Conjuring video they did is really deserving of all of the attention and views it got.

Also, as far as fanfic is concerned - hey, write away! Maybe it's cause I've been on the internet for a long time and spent way too many years in the SPN trenches, but I think there's way worse things that can be written than just a standard RPF fic (wincest comes to mind). I think there are areas where it can get weird (and I think talking to snc themselves about it is ALWAYS a no-no and too far across the line), but for the most part, fics are fics. Write what makes you happy!

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Valicer In The Dark -- Discoveries

I am back with more Valicer In The Dark AU fanfic! Because I've actually written a fair bit for this AU over the past few months, and I figured that as long as it is sitting on my hard drive... Today's entry takes place a little while after "First(ish) Meetings" -- while Alice and Smiler were successful in getting Victor to the Mangled Mermaid so he could rest with a bowl of mushroom soup and get his head back on straight, it turned out that Emily managed to follow them there. And she's just realized what kind of place her new "husband" is hanging out in...

---

“Is this – is this a brothel?!”

The ghostly bride whirled on Victor, literal sparks flashing in her blue eyes as the air around her began to hum with electroplasmic charge. “Did you really run away from me to visit a whorehouse?!” she demanded, advancing on her unfortunate groom with hair twisting and curling around her face like devilfish tentacles, and her veil and train streaming behind her in an invisible breeze. The other patrons of the Mermaid promptly began clearing the area, a few preemptively making for the door.

“No! I wasn’t – t-this is j-just – this w-wasn’t my i-intention!” Victor babbled, holding his hands up in front of him in desperate supplication as he backed himself into the wall.

“Then what was your intention?” Emily demanded, face contorted with fury. Alice felt around again for her spiritbane charm, ready to chuck it at the ghost’s head if necessary. “Hmm? What possible reason could you have for coming here that isn’t – you know?!”

“Uh – food?”

All heads jerked around toward Smiler, standing a few dangerous feet from the confrontation. “He’s telling the truth – he didn’t really mean to come here,” they continued, giving Emily their best disarming smile. “Alice and I brought him here when he stumbled out of the ghost field onto the street where we were talking – but it wasn’t for the company. Nothing against you ladies, I’m sure you’re all wonderful,” they added, giving one of Nanny’s girls a thumb’s up. She returned it with an expression indicating she wasn’t entirely sure what else to do. “But our main concern was the fact that his stomach was growling louder than a leviathan.” They held up a gentle hand. “I know it’s probably been a while for you, and I’m sorry to bring it up if it causes you pain, but – living people do need to eat and drink if they’re going to stay alive. And you don’t actually want him to die – right?”

Emily stared at them for a long, worrying moment. . .then she blinked, and the hum softened as her veil dropped back down behind her. “No, I – I don’t,” she said, sounding a bit more – human. “I would never...oh, Victor, I’m sorry,” she added, turning back to him. “I – I genuinely do forget sometimes now about eating and drinking, and...” She blinked, electroplasmic tears shimmering in her eyes. “I have no idea how long it’s been since I was murdered, do you know that? I know I’ve been waiting for my true love for ages, but...I don’t think I kept you that long in my world, right?”

“I don’t know – I don’t think so,” Victor said, letting his hands drop. “But it is very hard to tell time in the ghost field, you’re right. . .I’m sorry too, Emily,” he continued in a softer voice. “I – I shouldn’t have just – s-slipped away from you like that. I should have t-tried to e-explain better. B-but I didn’t have the words, and I was s-so scared, and – and like Smiler said, I was hungry and cold, and...” He sighed heavily, pressing his fingers against his forehead. “And absolutely nothing lately has gone according to plan.”

“I know the feeling.” Emily perked up a little, a hesitant smile tugging at her lips. “But – but we can still make this work, right? We can alternate which side of the field we’re on day by day, so you can still eat and drink and – and not have to worry! We’ll even find a nice place to set up house together!”

“I think anyone who sees you two house-shopping is going to call the Spirit Wardens on you,” Alice couldn’t help saying.

Emily shot her a look. “I’m sure once I explain that Victor is my husband, they’ll be willing to – accommodate us. Somehow.”

Victor dropped his head, staring at his shoes. “That’s – that’s just it, Emily,” he muttered in a defeated voice. “The problem isn’t just that you’re d-dead – it’s that I’m already engaged.”

Emily froze – even her veil and skirts stopped bobbing. Alice had to admit, the sight was impressive as it was eerie. “What?”

“Engaged,” Victor repeated softly. “T-that’s why I was saying my vows w-where you could hear – I was practicing them after b-being run out of my own rehearsal for n-not being able to remember them.” He winced. “Well, t-that and leaving a lit candle on my future m-mother-in-law’s dress...”

“What? How and why did you do that?” Alice demanded, hands unconsciously clenching into fists as shadowy flames licked the walls. Behind her, the Queen of Hearts huffed, glaring at the offending groom as if she wished to take his head.

“I-it was an accident! We’d been r-rehearsing for t-three hours, and we’d only just gotten through ‘with this candle, I will light your way in darkness’ w-when we were interrupted by a newcomer...and when I t-tried to recall the next part of the vows, I got distracted and walked right into the table,” Victor said, rubbing his face hard. “Pastor Galswells d-demanded to know if I even had the r-ring, and when I pulled it o-out of my jacket pocket, I dropped it – and, of course, it rolled right under Lady Everglot’s s-skirt. And I was so intent on getting it back, I just – left the candle on her dress. It j-just figures after I had s-so much trouble getting it to light in the first place...” He waved placatingly. “She was fine – n-nothing worse than a small burn on her hem, I promise.”

“Yes, well, maybe make a better habit of keeping track of lit candles in the future,” Alice said, a bit harsher than she’d intended. “You never know when a flame in the wrong place might ruin someone’s life.”

“As Bumby ruined yours?” the Queen of Hearts hissed in her ear. “Ridiculous girl, you know the truth now. Why have you not cut his neck in twain?”

I can’t just kill him – what if the Spirit Wardens don’t find him in time? The last thing I want to deal with is his ghost. And while I’d like to expose him, he’s built up such a reputation as a do-gooder, it’ll be hard to topple. Especially since my own is in the gutter thanks to Rutledge – which you didn’t help with, I’ll remind you.

“I know, I know – I never – oh,” Victor groaned, letting his head thunk back against the wall. “I’ve got to learn to keep my wits about me better...”

“You do,” Emily agreed, folding her arms as she bobbed lightly in place. “So what happened after that? You ran away from your own rehearsal and, what, just wandered down my street saying your vows to yourself? With no idea that I was there at all?”

“More like Pastor Galswells ordered me out, but – yes,” Victor said, crossing his heart. “I’d been walking around, trying to get my head on straight and the words out right, and I – I didn’t even see you until you rose out of the ground before me.” He paused. “I – uh – did run away. Didn’t that seem – suspicious?”

“Well, I knew I’d startled you, but...I thought people knew I died there,” Emily said, expression falling. “That you’d come to – give my soul some peace by reciting the vows. And I know I was a little enthusiastic, but I was so happy, and...” She looked away, drumming her fingers against her arm – an impressive feat for a being so largely immaterial. “All right then, who is your actual fiancee? I’d like to meet Little Miss Living.”

“Hey, there’s no call to be rude,” Smiler chided. “It’s not her fault.”

“Exactly – from everything I c-could see in the few hours we had together, Victoria Everglot is a very nice person,” Victor agreed with a nod. “She never asked for any of this – i-it’s an arranged marriage, my family’s wealth for her family’s status. Please, if you’re in a mood, take it out on me, not her.”

“Everglot?”

Everyone’s attention abruptly shifted to Nanny, who was watching the scene with a curious tilt of her head. “Hang, I swear I heard something about them from one of them criers earlier this afternoon,” she continued, reaching up to fix her sagging bun. “Something about the daughter getting married?”

“What?” Victor started forward, nearly tripping over his own feet. “I – married to who? And when? I – w-what day is this?!”

“30th of Mendar,” Smiler provided.

“Yeah, and she got hitched today,” Nanny nodded. “Rush ceremony, I guess – maybe they didn’t want to waste the cake. Her and Lord – somebody or other, give me a minute...”

Victor stared at them both, head swiveling like it had been freshly greased. “30th of...I’ve been gone a day? And the Everglots already found a replacement?!”

“Seems like you weren’t very special to them, darling,” Emily said, in a tone that suggested she was trying to be mean, but not really succeeding. She sighed, letting her arms drop. “I’m sorry. I mean that. It’s not as bad as what happened to me, but it is horrible to be thrown over so easily.”

“I just...I thought...” Victor slumped into a nearby chair, running his fingers through his hair. “T-the whole point of the m-m-marriage was that the Everglots desperately needed my family’s money, and were willing to deal with my mother’s social-climbing to get it. I mean, they’re barely keeping themselves out of the poorhouse as it is. And when I met Victoria...we d-didn’t have long together, I admit, but – she seemed genuinely sweet. Complimented my piano playing, encouraged me to call her by her first name, seemed the least annoyed by my constant mistakes during the rehearsal...I – I was – just k-kind of hoping...”

“Well, if her parents are arranging the match, she likely didn’t have much choice in the matter,” Alice reminded him. “I doubt she’s any happier about the change in groom – especially if she’s gone from you to a total stranger.”

Victor rubbed the back of his head. “Well, uh, to be f-fair, we ourselves only met yesterday afternoon. Mother – well, she s-seemed to think it was a good thing that I’d never spoken to her before, so...”

Alice’s eyebrows shot up in shock. “What – not even a tea together first? To help you get to know each other?”

“That seems – abrupt,” Smiler agreed, blinking. “How can they be sure you’ll be happy together if they don’t let you get to know each other first?”

“Given what he just said about his mother, I doubt that was a priority, Smiler,” Alice pointed out. “This whole thing seems more like a business deal than a romantic connection.”

“It really is – they didn’t even tell me I was getting m-married until a month before,” Victor muttered. “But like I said, I was hoping for the best after meeting Victoria...and now...” He groaned, putting his head in his hands. “My parents are going to kill me.” He glanced up at Emily through his fingers. “Which would solve our problem, admittedly.”

“Don’t joke – I don’t want you to die,” Emily said with a stern frown. “Being dead’s awful. You’re always cold, and nobody talks to you, and...” She rubbed her arms. “...and I don’t remember what my mother looked like, despite knowing I’m wearing her dress. Or the sound of my father’s voice, even though I know he forbade my marriage to Eddie. And there’s so many big chunks of time now where I’m barely even conscious of myself, where all of you look like candles and all I want is to steal your light...” She sniffled, ghostly tears glittering in her eyes again. “That’s why I was so happy to hear you say your vows. I thought – I thought for sure having a proper husband, being able to be a wife instead of a bride...”

“Oh, Emily...” Victor stood up again, coming over to her. “I – I’m sorry. I wish I’d told you all this first thing. I wish – I wish I could have found you under better circumstances. If things were different...you really are nice.”

Emily sniffed. “You’re just saying that.”

“He’s not,” Smiler said immediately. “He made it clear even while he was trying to escape that he felt bad for what had happened to you.”

“It is a horrible story,” Alice agreed. “You deserved better.”

“You did,” Victor nodded. “And for what it’s worth, I did actually genuinely enjoy that duet you pulled me into in the pub. I’ve never met anyone as enthusiastic about the piano as I am before. It’s – it’s refreshing.”

Emily smiled weakly. “Thanks. I wish things were different too.” She sighed, skirts undulating in her personal breeze. “Look, do you want me to explain–”

“Barkis!”

Nanny snapped her fingers, drawing their attention back to her. “Lord Barkis, that was it! Some newcomer to the city! Must have swooped in and dazzled them with his foreign riches,” she declared. “Hard luck, sure, but it’s hard to compete with Iruvian honey or whatever it is–”

“Barkis?”

Emily’s voice was barely more than a whisper, but it drew all eyes to her just the same. “Edward Barkis?” she continued, a bitter bite in her tone now as her veil started crackling softly.

“Uh – dunno,” Nanny said, backing up a step despite herself. “Crier didn’t say. Why?”

“Because Edward Barkis was my fiance.” Emily spread her arms, letting everyone get a good look at the dark silver stain on the front of her gown, and the open wound between two of her ribs. “Up until he shoved a knife through my heart for my mother’s jewels and my father’s gold.”

“Seems you two are kindred spirits, of a sort,” Cheshire commented, grinning wider over his pun.

I think that description applies more to poor Lizzie than it does to me. “You think it’s the same man, then?” Alice said, folding her arms.

“Might be – Eddie claimed to be the son of a shoemaker, but he could have been lying then too.” Emily turned to Victor, mouth a thin, anxious line. “I think we need to call on the former Miss Everglot quite urgently. Because if her Barkis is the same as mine – she’s going to suffer a lot worse than being thrown over.”

“Right,” Victor agreed, nodding rapidly. “I’d never forgive myself if she...we’ll hire a gondola, the canals will be faster than the streets...oh, wait, no, my wallet’s at home, I forgot to pick it up before the rehearsal, and then I didn’t think I’d need it...”

“I’ll pay,” Smiler said immediately. “I’ll come with you, even. Try and help you smooth things over.”

“What? Oh, no, you’ve done more than enough–” Victor started.

“I’m an Advocate – my whole purpose in life is to help people be happy,” Smiler cut in, holding up a firm finger. “And I think preventing her from getting murdered will make your former fiance very happy indeed! Besides, we don’t know what’s going to happen when you get to her house – in case her parents try to throw you out, or he has friends in the wedding party ready to try and take you out, don’t you want some back-up?”

“If that’s the scenario you’re worried about, I should go too,” Alice said, touching her knife. “I don’t know how either of you are in a fight, but I’ve gotten pretty handy with a blade out of necessity. Some of the creeps in Charhollow don’t listen to anything but a stab in the hand.” She bit her lip. “Not to mention, my own history makes me rather eager to see any arsehole who hurts young women for their own gratification get theirs.”

“On the wrong end of a marriage proposal yourself?” Emily asked, all sympathy.

“No – you might have died before this happened, but I’m the only survivor of the Liddell fire.”

“The Liddell – oooh,” Victor said, sucking in a breath. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize...” His brow (what there was of it) furrowed in sudden confusion. “But wait, I thought. . .the story I’ve always heard is that the family cat accidentally knocked over an oil lamp in the library?”

“A scurrilous lie perpetrated by the perpetrator,” Alice informed him. “I’ve been piecing together my memories of that night over the past few weeks, and Dinah wasn’t downstairs at all – she was in my room. In fact, she’s the reason I was the sole survivor – I wouldn’t have gotten out if she hadn’t shown me it was possible to live through leaping out the second story window.”

“Explains why we didn’t find her furry little body in the wreckage,” Nanny noted, frowning. “So you think someone came in and burned up your family deliberately?”

Alice swallowed. How far do I tip my hand...Nanny might believe me, she must remember poor Lizzie’s complaints, but the others...maybe I can talk around the fact that I think I work for the bastard now? “Yes – that awful suitor of Lizzie’s. I woke to the sounds of him – having his way with her – that night, and when he crept out and saw I was awake, he panicked, shut me in, and grabbed my nightlight. That was the lamp that ended up in the library fireplace and started off the whole conflagration.” She sighed heavily. “And he got away with it because I was in no fit state to let anyone know what I saw – hell, I threw the memories into the back of my mind because I just couldn’t deal with them.” And look what’s happened as a result.

“Beware the trap of guilt without action,” Caterpillar counseled, winging around her head. “Your own healing was necessary before you could help others. Just don’t delay too long in helping them now.”

Emily clasped her hands over her mouth, eyes wide. “Oh – oh, I am so sorry. For you and your sister. . .yes, you must come with us,” she added, nodding. “If this is my Barkis, we’ll need the Bluecoats – and while we’ve got them there for me, you can tell them what you’ve remembered too and get that awful man put away!”

“I – I don’t know if they’ll believe me,” Alice admitted, scuffing the floor with a foot. “I’m well-known around the whole city for seeing things that aren’t there and being a general nuisance. They might just laugh in my face if I try to tell them everything I know about the fire is wrong.”

“They won’t laugh if I’m there,” Victor said, expression determined. “I may not actually have my family fortune to hand, but the name has got to count for something. I’ll tell them how you helped me, and that they should at least give you a hearing.”

“Same here,” Smiler promised. “You’re my friend, Alice, and you deserve justice for what happened to you and yours. You deserve to be happy again, plain and simple.”

Alice felt a long-forgotten warmth in her chest as she looked at the two of them. To be called a friend by someone she just occasionally passed by on her infrequent trips here...to have someone she’d just met be willing to vouch for her character...it made her smile, despite all her worries. “Thank you,” she said softly, then straightened up, all business. “Let’s be off, then.”