#and with the completion of this post i will stop procrastinating on my essays

[cassandragemini]

oc birdsonas list (Subject to change)

misha- blakiston's fish owl

while i generally try to associate characters with animals whos native ranges overlap with where theyre from im gonna give a little leeway on this one (misha is from northern mongolia in whats now khovsgol, these live in eastern china eastern siberia and hokkaido) cause it seems like it fits misha really really well. they share a big imposing frame and permanent death glare. these are the largest owls in the world and misha is 6'10 so like. i feel like that one makes sense

tseren - golden eagle

this one was probably the most obvious choice tbh. theyre a big assertive guy with a great sense of aim so the association with a big bird of prey thats a very precise hunter made sense for them

adelita - up in the air rn but im thinking Maybe a burrowing owl. all of my fairies are pretty explicitly tied to birds especially owls and adelita canonically grew up in a burrowing owl den. look at how round these things are

jacinta - elf owl or possibly a costa's hummingbird. elf owls are cactus dwellers and thery served as the initial inspiration for my desert fairies and back when i was originally writing her i initially considered giving her a elf owl form as a magic disguise. the costa's hummingbird was a option just cause she ourple

tadai - roadrunner

tadai is literally just the o'odham word for roadrunner i feel like i aint need to put much thought into this one

tulipán - verdin

originally i was thinking either a very disheveled little owl chick (this isnt meant to be mean to her. owls just kinda looked fucked up for the first few months of life) or a anna's hummingbird But i recently learned that the o'odham word for verdin (gi:sobï) is used as a petname for children which i thought was very cute. theyre little cactus dwelling birds and theyre very cute so it fits her

lou - remains undecided but a sandhill crane is probably my best guess for the moment since theyre really tall and lanky like him

[notsocooljess]

maybe one day i will learn not to procrastinate so severely it ruins an entire day for me, but today is not that day 😅

[lostgirlmuseum]

Who the Hell is Daryl?

Summary: Bucky is in love with you, and finally finds the courage to tell you. But what happens when it sounds like someone else is already in the picture? (Miscommunication!)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x f!Avenger!Reader

Words: 2k

Warnings: Miscommunication trope! Only one small mention of “Y/N”, teensy bit of yelling, let me know if I missed anything.

A/N: Wrote this a couple days ago and put it in drafts, spontaneously posted bc I'm procrastinating on an essay. Okay I'll get back to hw now :(

Dividers: @firefly-graphics

He was going to do it. He was really going to do it. 

He was finally going to ask you out.

-----

To the surprise of everyone on the team, you and Bucky had become fast pals after you joined six months ago. Something about the two of you clicked. ‘Opposites attract’ and all that, but Bucky always felt it went deeper than that.

The two of you had never argued, something he felt very proud of, considering he argued with most people. But not you. Never you.

The moment he decided that he needed to man up and ask you out wasn’t anything fancy. You were sparring with Wanda across the gym, and he was simply watching you work in tandem. He watched the entire 15 minute session, and didn’t take his eyes off you, even as you approached him. 

“Buck, I’m out of water, can I take a sip of yours?”

He nodded, “Sure, Doll,” and tossed you his bottle. 

You shot him a charming smile and opened the cap, and not-so-gracefully chugged half the bottle. You wiped your upper lip and handed it back to him. 

“Thanks, Jamie,” you breathily said, and jogged back to the arena. 

His head was completely empty except for a single thought, tumbling through his desert mind like a tumbleweed.

I’m going to marry her someday.

He shocked himself with the thought, he wasn’t sure where it had come from. But he couldn’t help the grin that snuck its way onto his lips as he realized he didn’t disagree with the thought.

Of course before marriage is dating. One step at a time Buck. 

After his realization, he had spent the next three days planning the perfect way to ask you out. He went through an entire list of ideas, but none of them seemed good enough for you. He wanted it to be perfect. But as the clock ticked on and he started running out of paper, he realized it was best to just be honest about his feelings. 

You had just gotten back from a solo mission, and Bucky was hanging out in your room as you showered.

He was blushing like an idiot and fidgeting like crazy on your bed as he waited for you to hurry up. It was surprising he had so much self control as to not blurt it out while you were showering.

“Oh, Bucky,” you called from the bathroom, the sound of the water pausing.

“What’s up?”

“Could you set an alarm on my phone for 7:30 A.M. tomorrow before I forget? I think I left it on the side table.”

“You got it, Doll.”

“You’re the best! I’m almost done, I’ll be out in like two minutes,” you called, and soon after the sound of rushing water resumed.

Bucky grabbed your phone and typed in the passcode, his heart fluttering a little as he thought about how you trusted him enough to know it.

But the flutter stopped almost as quickly as it started, the moment your phone turned on and resumed on your text string with someone. He would’ve ignored it, but a red heart at the top of the screen caught his eye.

Who the hell is “Daryl,” and why does he have a heart emoji next to his name?

Bucky couldn’t help himself as his eyes flitted over your last texts.

Daryl ❤️ I’m back in town, lemme know when you’re around 

You About to leave for a quick mission, but I’ll be back tmw evening. I miss you sm :( how about we meet up Monday morning at 8 at Bernie’s cafe?

Daryl ❤️ Lets do it. And I miss you too, can’t wait to see your beautiful face!! I love you, be careful

You Love you too, and Im always careful 😘

Bucky felt sick to his stomach. You had never mentioned a brother named Daryl, or any other kind of family member. And you’d told him about all your closest friends, and none of them were named Daryl. How did Bucky not know you had a boyfriend?

Bucky fought the urge to scroll up, and quickly tapped out of the app, and set the alarm you asked him to set. 

So you were meeting this “Daryl” tomorrow morning?

Bucky heard the water stop, and the sound of the shower curtain shuffling.

Shit. You were getting out. Fuck, he wasn’t ready to face you.

You’d never mentioned you were in a relationship before. He would remember. How long have you been dating? And more importantly, why did you keep this from him? Did you feel like you couldn’t trust him? Maybe you weren’t as close friends as he’d thought.

“Which movie did you want to watch tonight?” You asked, peeking out of the door with a turquoise towel wrapped around you.

“Um, I’m actually really tired, suddenly. I think I’m going to go to bed.” Bucky stuttered, avoiding your gaze as he quickly stood up.

“Oh, okay,” you responded, disappointment and concern lacing your voice. “Everything okay?”

“Everything is fine. Glad you got back safe. Good night.”

With that, Bucky ducked out of your room and practically ran back to his.

Bucky tossed and turned, and once he got over his embarrassment, he settled into a familiar depressive feeling. Of course you didn’t like him back. What the fuck was he thinking? He’s—well, he’s Bucky. Broken, only destined to ever be your friend. How could he be foolish enough to think you would love him like he loves you. At about hour 4, the heartbreak started turning into betrayal. Betrayal that you kept this from him. And soon enough, that betrayal festered into a kind of resentment, something he’d never felt for you before.

He didn’t get much sleep that night.

Bucky checked the clock for the 20th time in the past 5 minutes. 7:45 A.M. You were probably about to leave. Bucky felt his heart clench. He was usually up by 7, and eating breakfast in the common area by 7:30. He sat at the barstool, dragging his spoon around his now soggy Coco Puffs, waiting for you to appear. Why he felt the need to torture himself, he didn’t know.

Finally, he heard your steps coming down the hall. 

And there you appeared, wearing the most beautiful sundress he had ever seen. It was lavender, and had small white flowers adorning the skirt, and it fell just above your knees. 

Bucky took you in, and his momentary adoration turned back to his heartbreak. You were dressed up as if you were going on a date. There was no chance this wasn’t your boyfriend.

“Good morning Bucky, did you sleep okay last night?” 

“Yes.” He lied. Maybe you would tell him the truth if he asked. Yes it would hurt hearing the truth from your mouth, but he wanted to give you a chance to tell him your secret. “Where are you headed?”

“To meet a friend,” you nodded smoothly. 

Maybe Bucky was crazy. Maybe he was overthinking all of this. Maybe Daryl really was just a friend.

“Which friend?”

“Penny.”

So you were just flat out lying to him now. Bucky nodded and waited for you to leave before moping back to his room. He wanted to cry. And he did for a minute, or two, but his tears turned from sad to angry when he remembered you were now lying. You never lied to Bucky, and Bucky never lied to you. At least, he thought that was how it was. He clenched his fists, mad at you for betraying him, but more mad at himself for believing he could ever have you.

He didn’t move from his bed.

“Bucky?” Your voice emerged after three knocks to his door.

He couldn’t get himself to respond. 

The door slowly creaked open, a stream of light flooding his dark room.

“Hey Buck. You okay? You seemed a little off this morning.”

“Fine.” He mumbled, not turning over in bed to face you.

A pause. 

“Jamie, what’s wrong?” You asked, closing the door behind you and flicking on the light. 

“Don’t call me that.”

“What?” You asked, slightly taken aback. You thought he loved your affectionate nickname for him.

“I don’t want you to call me ‘Jamie’ anymore.”

“Okay…”

He felt the bed dip as you sat next to him. 

“Bucky,” you whispered, “please talk to me.”

He sat up and gave you a pointed look. Was he being immature? Yes. But what could he do, he just discovered that his best friend has been lying to him, and doesn’t love him.

“Where were you?” He asked.

You furrowed your brows a moment, trying to piece together where he was going with this. 

“I was at Bernie’s with Penny.”

“Don’t lie to me.” He sneered.

Your eyes widened at his bite.

“I’m not lying? Bucky, what is going on?”

“What’s going on is that you’ve been keeping the fact that you have a boyfriend from me. Why don’t you want to tell me?”

“A boyfriend?” You blinked. “I don’t have a boyfriend,”

“Why won’t you be honest with me?” He yelled, and you scooted back.

“I am!”

“Then who is Daryl?”

“What?”

“I saw your texts last night, when you asked me to set your alarm.” Bucky looked down at his lap, ashamed.

“Bucky,” you sighed, and a look of understanding crossed your face. A moment later you held out your phone to him.

“What?” He asked, dumbly looking at your outstretched hand. The screen was on your text string with Daryl.

“Call the number.” You simply said.

“What?” He repeated.

“Take my phone, and call the number.”

Confused and suspicious, Bucky grabbed your phone and hesitated over the call icon. 

“Go ahead,” you urged.

He pressed the button. 

Ring.

Ring.

Ri—

“Hey!” A familiar feminine voice rang through the speaker. “What’s up hon?”

“Hello?” Bucky said, looking from the phone to you to the phone.

“Uh, hi? Is that Bucky?”

“P—Penny?” He sputtered.

“Hey Bucky! What’s up, is everything okay? I thought Y/N was calling.”

“Hey Pen,” you interjected, “Everything’s fine, I’ll call you back in a bit, kay’?”

“Sure thing, bye, love ya,” Penny added, and hung up.

Bucky stared at the now blank phone, baffled.

“I don’t understand.”

“Bucky,” you sighed, and tilted his chin to look at you. “I don’t have a boyfriend. Penny is in my contacts as “Daryl” because it’s my funny little nickname for her. My Dad has had a best friend since grade school named Daryl, and they don’t see each other often, but when they do it’s like nothing has changed. They get along like no time has passed. I call Penny “my Daryl” because I know that even if we don’t talk for years, we are so close that I know we would be the exact same.”

Bucky sat quietly for a moment, simply taking in your story. He felt really stupid.

“I’m sorry,” he started, “I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I’m sorry I called you a liar.” He struggled to meet your gaze, ashamed of what he did.

“Jamie—can I call you Jamie now?”

He nodded sheepishly.

“Jamie, I forgive you. But I wish you had just talked to me about it, and asked me. We are usually so good about being open with each other. What happened?” You asked, wide eyes looking into his.

“I know, I’m sorry. I flipped out, I guess I was just shocked, because I was going to—” he licked his lips, “well, I was…”

“You can tell me, Bucky. Honesty, remember?” You soothed, placing your hand on his leg.

He gulped.

“I was going to ask you to be with me.”

You tilted your head, not quite understanding.

“Like, I was gonna ask if you’d let me be your boyfriend.” He mumbled. “So when I saw that you were texting and saying ‘I love you’ to some guy, I guess I was just blindsided.”

“James,” you smiled, moving yourself to sit on his lap. You brought your forehead against his. “You silly, jealous man.” You gently stroked his cheek with your right hand. “You want to be my boyfriend?"

"It sounds so juvenile, I don't know, I just want you to be mine, and for you to call me 'yours,'" he mumbled.

"I accept," you giggled, and watched his glittering eyes shoot to yours.

He had started to say something, but he stopped when you brought your soft lips to his.

“I'm so happy,” he whispered between kisses.

Suffice it to say, Bucky completed step one of the path to marrying you.

A/N: Tysm for reading! If you liked it, please feel free to let me know!

Also I'm sorry if the ending sucks, I wrote this in a couple hours and Idk why I'm so bad at endings gahh

Here's my Masterlist if you'd like to read more!

[maruyaaya]

*holds smol water gun to ur head* gimme some neomachus

hiiii i hope ur doing well and taking care of urself :D!!!

*throws blueberry muffin at u and leaves*

LMFAO well since i’m being threatened i suppose i must!! i think ive posted parts of this scene before, but never the full thing! it’s not completely finished (esp the ending which i want to add more onto bc i feel it ends very abruptly) but ive had no time recently so… this is what we’ve got

luckily my last final is dec 15th so i will be much more free after that. i’ve been missing the boys sm i’ve barely touched their google doc in all of december. i srsly need to stop procrastinating bc i have GOT to finish this research essay on queer exile bc that and my final exam are the last two things plaguing me for this semester

I HOPE YOURE DOING WELL ALSO!!!! rooting for you and hope everything is great!! i will take the blueberry muffin gleefully bc coincidentally, i baked a batch of chocolate chip muffins a few days ago

[tumblydovereviews]

What Failing NaNoWriMo Taught Me

This is a change in subject from the usual media posts, but I wanted to try and broad out the scope of my writing a bit.

If you are even remotely familiar with the online writing community, you will probably know what NaNoWriMo is. Every November, writers from all around the world scramble to start an all-new story and to finish that very story by the last day of the month. And, did I mention that this novel needs to be 50,000 words at the least?

Being the bored person I am, I decided to take a risk and try the challenge out. And thus, half my October was spent forming a new world with new characters and a unique plot. On November 1st, I gathered up my supplies, booted up my laptop and started the grand journey into the wild west that is NaNo season.

Obviously, if you read the title of this article, you would know how that went.

I wrote only approximately 29,000 words for my novel. That's it. Out of the 50,000 words I was planning on writing, I barely made it half-way through.

But yet, despite my technical failure, I don't think competing in NaNoWriMo was a complete waste. I learned quite a few lessons from the journey, both writing and non-writing related, and I'm here to share them with you.

Hydrate, hydrate, HYDRATE: Like many others, I have trouble keeping a consistent amount of water in my daily diet. Somedays, I'll hardly drink any at all and on others, chugging down is all that I'll do. A few years ago, my lack of hydration actually landed me in the ER on an IV. Most of the time, we are taught only to drink water to keep our bodies going. But, I learned that when I was sufficiently hydrated while writing, I could go on for much longer periods of time compared to when I was thirsty. As it turns out, drinking water and fluids can also have a positive impact on our brain function!

Create goals based off your personal style: I'm not too bad of a chronic procrastinator. Like all of us have, occasionally I'll put projects aside towards the last minute, but for the most part, I'm a pretty good worker. My problem is working consistently- I concentrate much better in controlled bursts of time than in a long session, but at the same time, I don't like leaving work unfinished. If I start a chapter, I'm going to finish it no matter what, for better or for worse. For NaNoWriMo, I decided to aim on finishing at least one chapter of my story per day. That way, I would have a manageable amount of work while still staying productive in the process.

At the same time, life is WAY more important than writing: Throughout November, Thanksgiving, school, and the start of the holidays in general impeded my ability to write as much as I could have. And that's okay! Writing is just one part of my life, not my entire well-being. I try to divide the different aspects of my life into certain 'parts,' from my academic part to my author part for tumblydovereviews. This helps me to throw away any worries I mayhave about another 'part,' and instead focus my whole self onto one part at a time.

Grow a closer bond with your characters: I loved my characters. I thought about them throughout the day and as I wrote. I came up with their favorite activities, movies, and foods, and imagined scenarios for them in my head. In a way, this made writing them easier as I knew more about how they would react and why.

And, if no matter what you try, you still fail NaNoWriMo...: That's okay! Remember, the entire point of this challenge is to have fun while also completing a story in the process. No matter what happens, I'm proud of you for trying. You're doing great!

Will I decide to complete NaNoWriMo again next year? It remains to be seen. But one thing remains clear: even through my failure, I still love to write. I still love to read. I still want to create stories and worlds and essays. And, nothing will stop me from doing that.

[pagan-sloth-witch]

I feel like such a crow when it comes to giving offerings. Sometimes it’s water, occasionally I light a candle, but mostly it’s “Ooh that’s a pretty rock,” or “Ooh that’s a pretty feather,” followed by “I bet ___ would like it,”

Like I gave Hekate two of my favorite pinecones in my collection because I saw a few sites saying she’s associated with coniferous trees like Cedar and Cypress, and I thought that was really cool cause some pinecones only release their seeds after a fire and it felt right, and I can’t quite word it but it makes sense. I also gave her a piece of quartz I carried around in my bag for a while, I love giving crystals and she’s a goddess of the liminal and that quartz has definitely been to some liminal spaces in my bag with me

Same with Lilith, when making her altar I was like “Ooh I bet she’d like these black feathers,” since I associate her with the color black. A dried stem of purple hyacinth since that’s another color I associate her with, and a dried pink rose cause I think of her and roses and I smile and I just thought she’d like it. And I just love giving her little gems and cool rocks I find. She has my favorite necklaces and bracelets on her altar when I’m not wearing them. I crocheted her an albino snake since she’s associated with snakes, and UPG, and I can’t say why, but I see albino snakes and it just feels right for her

I’m gushing and rambling, but I hope to get closer to Mother Hecate and know her better like I know Mother Lilith, and make Hecate her own playlist of songs that make me think of her

Reminds me I need to make a section for Lilith and Hecate in my Book of Shadows soon (maybe after I write some of my essay, as like a reward thing, get to gush about my deities completely unfiltered and in a more organized way). In which case I might share some of that here, I love reading other people’s posts about the deities they worship and work with

Anyway I’ll stop procrastinating on that essay, go work on that project your procrastinating on too my fellow crows

[scifrey]

NINE-TENTHS

Part Six

I get all of the gear flicked on, checking water levels and pulling the wands out of the sanitizer, then grind the first pot for the perc. As the espresso machine chugs its way to wakefulness, I peer into garbage cans and inspect tables. The till is all counted out neatly, with a post-it note reminding me to buy a roll of quarters stuck to the crisp purple stack of tens. 

Obviously Min-soo closed last night, ‘cause she always kills it.

In the dark kitchen, I crank the industrial oven up as high as it will go to pre-warm, scoop dough from the huge bowl Min-soo made last night onto trays, and climb the ladder to dump a burlap sack of fresh beans into the massive stainless steel bean roaster in pride of place in the corner of the kitchen. 

In my back pocket, my phone starts playing a punk version of You're the Cream in My Coffee. Shit. That's my alarm to start the second batch of scones. Dammit. I don't have time to let the oven preheat properly. I shove the tray in.

Then it’s back out to the front, where he is sitting primly in his corner, eyes on his newspaper. 

Yeah, I'm a basic bitch and prefer coffee that's more sugar and froth than bean juice, but there’s something so good about fresh-brewed black coffee first thing in the morning. That's art in its own right, my loves. I interrupt the drip machine to pour myself a mug, and I take one selfish minute to revel in a perfect sip.

But what is usually a soft symphony of my mornings is instead a self-inflicted agony. The plink of coffee into the carafe, the hiss of the espresso machine, the hum and clunk of the bean-roster in action, all punctuated by the crisp rustle of his newspaper? Agony.

A year ago, I would use this quiet time to work on my thesis. Before that, it would have been an essay, or a lab, or something else I’d procrastinated. Now, I have nothing to work on. Nothing to do but this. Nowhere to go but here. No career, no demand, no drive, just… 

Me. 

And him. 

And the stretching, hissing, clunking, dripping silence. 

 "Ugh, get your ass in gear, you embarrassment," I mutter to myself.

"Beg pardon?" he asks, voice raised politely.

Shit. 

"I said, uh, the espresso machine is warmed up. Caffe tobio?" 

"Please." He crosses his legs. There's a flash of turquoise at his ankle. I only catch it for a second, but it looks like he's wearing socks with cartoon dragons on them. Huh, okay… that’s more playful than I expected him to be. 

"Coming right up."

"I appreciate it. And you are well?" he says, which is the longest string of words I've ever heard out of him. Shame.

"Yeah." I turn to the machine, tapping out a careful twenty-seven seconds with the toe of my chucks, timing as the espresso fills the demitasse. So I'm completely in my head, and totally not expecting it when his voice comes from somewhere much too close, just over my left shoulder. 

"Oversleeping could be the sympto—" 

"Gah!" I shout, and Christ no, the wand in my hand goes flying up, up, sprinkling boiling-hot grounds like freaking pixie dust. 

He ducks and snaps the newspaper over his head as they rain down. The sharp clatter of the wand hitting the tile makes us both wince. We stare across the counter at one another, eyes wide, with what I assume are matching shocked expressions.

"Are you—" he starts again and I hold out a hand to stop him. 

"I'm fine." 

"I've never known you to—" 

"Shit, you're chatty today," Maybe that came out cattier than it should have. He flinches, stung. A glob of espresso grounds plops off his shoulder and splats on the tile floor. "Sorry, sorry! That came out wrong. I'm not… I'm not having a good morning." 

"My apologies," he murmurs mournfully, and aw, no. 

"I'll make you another one," I say quickly. "On the house. Just… sit, and I'll—" 

"Perhaps I should go." He lowers his paper and flicks grounds off the toe of his shoe. Oh, shit, are they expensive? Am I going to have to pay for, I dunno, shoe dry cleaning? 

"No, please." That lurch in my stomach again, and it's only because a morning that has started terribly (and has only gotten worse) would really become awful if he wasn’t sitting in the sunlight, glimmering and reading.

It would be just wrong.

"If you are ill, you ought to be taking care of yourself first. Don't you have a colleague who could cover—" 

"I got a new alarm clock, I didn't wake up, it’s fine, it doesn’t matter."

"It does to me." He crunches the ruined paper in his hands, flexing and twisting. "In fact, I, er, perhaps it is time I confessed that… I smell something burning." 

"You smell burning?" I swig another mouthful of coffee from the mug I'd left by the till, and take a deep breath to calm myself. Wait. "I smell it, too." 

His eyes flick to the door behind me, slit pupils dilating. "The kitchen." 

"The scones!" I squawk and spin on the spot. I slip in spilled espresso, toppling sideways. Before I can hit the ground, he lunges across the countertop, catching my arm in a grip that's stronger than I think he realizes. It also prickles. 

Trying to get my stupid feet under me, I catch the barest flash of red scale and black, long-tipped nails. Then his hand is back to perfectly pale peach, fussily manicured, and human. 

I shrug him off and push through the door. I shouldn't have gasped, that was a stupid thing to do when the air is heavy with smoke. But I do, and jerk to a stop, folding double, coughing. He runs into me. I nearly topple. That prickling grip pulls me upright again. 

"What can I do to—" he starts, but the fire alarm cuts him off.

"I forgot to turn down the goddamn oven!" 

"I'll get it." He reaches out with his free hand. It's covered in deep red scales, his fingertips ending in delicately curved claws. 

Holy crap.

He's dexterous, able to work the knob, then swing down the oven door. Black smoke, oily with burning fats, cascades into our faces. I cover my mouth and nose with the edge of my Henley, eyes burning. 

"Oven mitts!" I warn. 

"Not necessary!" He's got the tray balanced in his claws. "Where should I—?" 

And that's when the fire suppression system kicks in. 

It lets out a sharp, high whistle that startles him so badly the claws of the hand holding my arm spasm. They go right through my shirt and into flesh. 

I holler. 

Five things happen at once. 

First, he drops the tray of scones. It clatters off the tile, sending burnt pucks of dough into the air. One smacks into my leg, and two pelt him as we dance away. 

Second, he yanks his claws out of my arm, blood on the tips, and freaking hell, it stings. 

Third, white foam pours from the pipes that ring the kitchen ceiling, coating every surface in a bitter-tasting cloud. Including us.

Fourth, the guy makes a sort of gurgling belch noise, then a sharp bony click accompanied by a spark that looks exactly like the kind you get from a lighter. 

Fifth, he spits fire. 

Right into the corner. Where the giant custom bean roaster is. The drum is perforated, and the beans inside it immediately go up in flames. They're so hot they burn blue. The steel drum starts to goddamn melt.

"Coc y gath," he gasps in horror, dithering on the spot.

"Holy shit," I say, clamping my hand down over the punctures in my arm.

"I'm terribly sorry!" he shouts over the sound of the alarm and the hiss of the foam deflating around us. "I didn't mean to—I was startled!" 

The urgency of the situation suddenly hits home, fire crawling up the wall toward the ceiling, and I scream: "Put it out!" 

"What do you want me to do? Suck it back up?" he shouts back, all his cool calm evaporating in the heat of the inferno. "I'm a dragon, not a fire extinguisher!" 

Well. 

Fuck this meet-cute straight to hell, then.

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[myhoneststudyblr]

my masterpost | my studygram | ask me anything | how to stop procrastinating series

[click images for high quality]

[transcript under the cut]

Other advice posts that may be of interest:

All About Procrastination

How To Study When You Really Don’t Want To

Common Study Mistakes

7 Strategies to Improve Concentration

Tip 11 - Video Yourself or Do a Timelapse

I actually discovered this strategy not that long ago but now it is absolutely one of my most valuable strategies. The best thing is that it is so simple to do!

It really works well because the video puts some pressure on you to look like you are studying. You can't stop in the middle to play with your pen or stare into space. You just have to keep going so you power through work.

It's also so satisfying when you are finished to see visual proof of how much you have completed!

Tip 12 - Accept that Some Days You are Going to Get Very Little Done

This may seem a little bit odd to put on a post that is meant to avoid getting nothing done but it’s actually a very important thing to remember.

Sometimes you need to take days off because otherwise, you are going to burn out. Some days you are just not going to be in the right mindset for studying because maybe you are exhausted after a big exam, or you have a headache or you feel unwell.

You just need to accept it, draw a line under it, take time for yourself, and resolve to work tomorrow once you feel a bit better. There is no shame in taking time to make sure you stay healthy.

If you can, try to get your quickest, easiest task done so you have some sense of accomplishment.

Tip 13 - "Churn It Out and F*@k Off!"

This was my mum’s motto when she was studying and working in academia. She recently told it to me when I was getting stressed about all the big tasks during online school.

Like I'm certain many of you are too, I am a perfectionist and I always want to hand in my very best work and put 100% into everything. But honestly that is impossible.

Some days you just need to get stuff done and if that isn’t your very best then it doesn’t matter too much because at least you did it. It's also probably better than you think it is. Once you get it done you can just forget about it and move on.

Tip 14 - Ask a Friend or Parent to Check Up on You

When you are studying by yourself, it can be hard to motivate yourself because you know that no one is actually going to check whether you made those notes or did the reading.

So ask a friend or someone you live with to check whether you’ve done the work or get them to read essays. You then get an external reason to study or do your tasks because you need to show them something.

Tip 15 - Rephrase How You Think of Tasks

When you think that ‘I need to do this task’ or ‘I have to get this done’, a lot of the time this causes unneeded stress and anxiety. Also, it makes it seem like you are being forced to do something and human beings generally don’t respond well to that.

So try to change your language when thinking about task into one that is more forgiving such as: ‘I choose to do this project so that I can go meet my friends tomorrow’ and ‘I choose to read this book now because it will help me in the lecture next week’. This is probably the most difficult strategy that I've shared and it will take a lot of practice . However, in the long term, it can help you change the way in which you view studying for the better.

[empressofdiamonds]

Empress. How do you stop procrastination? Deep, intense, never ending, life ruining, aggravating procrastination?

Jeez I know that feel so badly.

First of all, a few posts of mine that might help you, browse the procrastination tag under this post (I'll write it down so you can click and easily navigate my posts), please read those first.

Secondly, most procrastination issues stem from a fear from being perceived as less than perfect, by yourself or from others. You probably don't want to fail others, don't want to be seen as less great/perfect that youd like to, maybe some pride too. All those are human reactions, they occur to a lot of people, but you gotta admit to yourself that you have the right to make mistakes, to be imperfect, to be less great on some days, and it doesn't affects your value as an individual.

Those (and I include YOU in "those") that attack you for simply... Being human likely have those issues too, and/or are attacking the version of themselves they're projecting into you.

So the strategy I suggest you is to adopt a mindset that things done at a inferior quality than your personal standard... Are better than nothing at all. I know. To the perfectionist this sounds freaking scandalous. But suck your pride up and learn how to be a student. It's okay to not know things and admit it. You're not gonna be professional-grade after a few classes, the professionals did do major mistakes and fuckups along the way and it made them the professionals they are.

A 500 words essay submission for a 750 word essay homework is better than simply not doing it or giving it late. An exam where you try to answer all questions the best you can (even if you put some guesswork as answer) is better than not replying any question. Same thing with daily life. A half-cleaned room is better than a mess, et cetera.

Another strategy I suggest you is to build a routine where you schedule yourself a fixed time everyday to study, read, do homework. The key here is regularity. Routine. It's not as intimidating to just read some stuff or re-read some notes every day, compared to doing a 6hour study intensive marathon once every two weeks. And you'll understand better your material and more likely to succeed.

If you're around finals time and rushing to learn your material, focus on the main PRINCIPLES of your material. The core ideas. The core formulas. The core numbers to memorize. How would you try to teach to a complete newbie your material within 1h? Take 1 min to pause and think about it.

... ok? All good? There you go.

[ipaaciir]

How do I get good grades?

[ID: A banner that reads "Study tips" in all caps in pale green color, with pale yellow background and a geometric pattern in pale green in the corners. End ID].

If there's something I've learned from getting straight A's at school and university is that it's less about what you know and more about what your habits and skills are.

Look, I have this classmate who is always reading advanced books, listening to podcasts, and watching conferences. She knows A LOT. But this adorable person doesn't do homework, when she does, it's late or poorly done. Her comments in class are lacking coherence and her essays are badly referenced. All of this just lower her grades.

So what can she do? How do I get good grades?

[Disclaimer: these tips are based on my own experiences and observations as I study a social science and some of the things that worked for my in high school, I've also helped my classmate but these tips might not apply to you].

1. Strengthen your language four basic skills.

If you study languages you know we have to practice four skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Well, it's not very different for your native language. After all, is with language that we're able to communicate, share ideas and knowledge. You know... like, everything we learn at school (and more).

a. Reading: If you don't know a word, underline it, search the meaning and write it at the margin of the text, on a post it, or in your notebook. Underline main ideas and take notes or write a summary. This will help you not only for better understanding or studying, but also to participate during class. If you need to, read out loud and/or try to explain each paragraph. This is helpful for very complex text. Doing a diagram works too!

b. Writing: Learning how to express our ideas in the written form is... weird. I seriously don't understand why on earth we can't write just like we speak. Why do we must write differently? Is it such a crime? (I mean, I know why, I just find it so interesting and funny). Anyway, must teachers' corrections are like "uSe sYnOnYmS", "bReAk YoUr PaRaGrApHs", "cOnNeCt YoUr IdEaS", "aRgUmEnT mOrE", "UsE aPa CiTaTiOn". So, yeah, follow those comments... I'll try to make a post on how to improve your writing.

c. Listening: Pay. Attention. To. Your. Teacher. I know it's hard, I know some people have a lot of difficulties because of ADHD or other learning disabilities. I can't speak for that, but what works for me is to doodle or embroider, sometimes being on Pinterest works too. Just doing something that requires low cognitive effort while I listen to the teacher keeps me on the class without getting lost in my mind. Even if you didn't do the reading, if you listen to your teacher (and classmates) you'll be able to participate.

d. Speaking. I think many people can imagine how frustrating it is to watch a presentation by your classmates and that they just... don't know how to present?? (it's even more frustrating when you know this people want to become teachers). Practice in the mirror, practice with your pet, practice in the shower, practice everyday. Remember the "explain each paragraph from the reading"? Yeah. When you can explain something it means you understand it. So try to explain everything you learn, everything you understand. Even just chatting with your friends, family, about it. This will also help you to participate in class. The other day a friend of mine just randomly shared her screen and started explaining the bacteria that causes tuberculosis to me... I don't know anything about medicine but I still learned a lot because she knows how to lower her knowledge. Practice. Practice 40hrs a day.

2. Organization.

a. Have a schedule. Set alarms for everything if you must. Look, I forget to eat, literally. I focus so much on what I'm doing that I tell my stomach to stop being annoying and he just... listens to me?? He's like "oh, okay, finish what you're doing and when you're done just tell me and we can go to grab some food". So, I set an alarm to eat, to shower, to have dinner, etc.

b. Color code!! Color coding is my best friend since I was in preschool. Assign a color to each subject. My notebooks or folders are classified by color. My schedule has the corresponding colors. My Trello has tags by color. My folders on the cloud and on my computer have colors. This way I don't mess up things.

c. Agenda. Write all of your assignments (with color code if you can) and everything on an agenda, to-do list, calendar, etc. Whatever works for you, but be conscious of all of your assignments. There was a point when I was in high school that I no longer used the agenda. I would write the homework and never look at it again, I just memorized (by accident) all of my assignments. I seriously don't get how no one noticed I had a big problem called anxiety. Before the modern plague I used a regular week by week agenda and it's what best works for me. I switched to a day by day agenda for a while... A nightmare. Fortnight by fortnight... Anxiety trigger. Now I use Trello since I have to do almost everything on digital.

d. Digital files. You must have well organized digital files on the cloud. I use my color code and my folders go like "university -> semester -> subject". I add a folder for each unit when I have many files. So inside "subject" or inside each "unit" folder I have "readings" and "homework". File names go like "1. Author - Title" for readings and "1. Type of homework (aka essay, diagram, synthesis, etc.) - Author/Title".

3. Discipline

If you don't do what you must when you must... It doesn't work, no matter how organized you are or how smart you are. As I said, my classmate learns a lot outside of school but she doesn't do her homework. I read just the absolute necessary (which I know is not ideal) but I have straight A's. To build habits is complicated, it will be hard but not impossible. Doing a bit is better than nothing. But keep doing stuff.

I have this friend who's very smart but procrastinates a lot, and she still gets straight A's. How? She does things when she needs to. Even 4 hours before the due date but she gets things done because she knows don't completing an assignment will lower her grades.

4. I don't want to do this specific assignment

When I don't find the energy or just want to avoid to do a specific assignment or advance on my projects, I... you're gonna call me nerd and you'll be on the right... I do other homework. Specially on finals. I just don't want to do a certain project and I go "well, what else do I have to do... Okay, this seems easy". And there you got me three days before the important due date with all of my homework for the day after done and the important thing just laying there... BUT, it does help!

That's it for now, I hope they help!

[samsstudycorner]

Avoiding Procrastination- Tips and Tricks

Hello everyone! For my first post I’m going to be talking about procrastination, how to fight it and the best tip I’ve seen in relation to it.

Procrastination is the bane of every student, but in case anyone doesn’t know what it means, procrastination is defined as ‘the action of delaying or postponing something.’ Procrastination leaves us with a temporary feeling of relief of not having to deal with the unwanted task, but the more we postpone something the more anxiety we actually create, until it reaches the point where it is impossible to avoid the task any longer, or we simply don’t ever complete it.

Even when we understand what is happening, however, its still a really hard habit to get out of. Naturally we’ll be lead to the least painful tasks first, avoiding the unwanted one and gaining that temporary relief. So how do we stop this?

One of the best tips I’ve ever seen in relation to procrastination, and one that has helped me so much, is this; spend 5 minutes on task, then if you still don’t want to do it, move on. 5 minutes may not seem like a huge amount of time to be productive in, but it is still 5 minutes of work you didn’t have done before! The task isn’t untouched anymore. and some of that anxiety is taken away, and you are in a better place than when you started. Whether you just made a plan or wrote the introductory paragraph to a dreaded essay, you didn’t avoid the task. You started it, and you may even find it wasn’t as bad as you thought, and return to finish it sooner. 

Take this approach and soon enough you may find yourself more organised and less stressed about things you haven’t completed; you’ve made a start and have made more progress than you would have if you procrastinated completely. I also find it really helps with any feeling of guilt you may have surrounding the avoidance.

Below I have put a link to a ted talk video about procrastination that is really helpful if you’d like to learn more about why we keep this bad habit so easily! 

Thank you for reading and I hope this helps!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU

[seaoflove]

I am in a never ending cycle of procrastinating and even though I always try to tell myself to do stuff, I can't concentrate or even start something.. do u have any sorts of advice or something it would be wonderful!! I really do appreciate all ur posts <3 they helped me a lot

as someone who’s struggled with crippling procrastination i get you <3 the only thing that’s really worked for me is developing healthy habits & tweaking them to my liking:

a go to tool is the five minute rule: “i will go and do x task for five minutes and then i can stop” (the thing is that it’s very easy to tell yourself to do a task for five minutes, but once you sit down and do it & get some momentum, you want to keep going, which is great. a fun way to trick yourself to get stuff done)

it’s also helped me to break up a big task into smaller ones (and write them down!! the dopamine from checking off something on your to do list is real!!) for example, maybe just “write essay” becomes ten smaller tasks, like: 1. find sources for research, 2. read a chapter for arguments, 3. plan out pharagraphs, 4. write pharagraps one, etc etc. (ruby granger on yt has some great resources for this!)

those “study with me” videos are really great too. it gives you some structure and can help you focus when working. and it’s much easier to choose to study when you know that after 30 mins of focused work you get a break. (the pomodoro method saved me a lot of nervous breakdowns over my workload in the beginning of lockdown <3)

getting a planner has also helped me a lot. it feels a lot more doable when you have all the things you need to do on a a piece of paper rather than just having them in your head. im not saying buying a planner will cure procrastination... but it sure can help. (i love notion too <3 great for organization)

treat yourself!!! i love reading so i always tend to bargain with myself like “when im finished with my essay i can read for an hour”. so try give yourself something to look forwards to after completing a task :-)

this tip is kind of weird, but at the time i tried it i was really desperate: light a specific scented candle for when you’re working. continue do this and only use it for focused work!! eventually your brain will associate the scent with work, and it will be easier to get into that “flow state” (it’s technically pavlovian conditioning lol.... i blame my psych teacher for this idea)

lastly i think procrastination is a complex issue, and it can’t hurt to try and resolve it with some introspection abt your thought-patterns & habits, but if i can give u one concrete rec it’s the book atomic habits (there’s a free audiobook on spotify!)

if u want more tips send me another ask <3 i hope you will find something that helps!!!

[piteouspeculiarity]

Defining Home: Extended Author's Note

Warning: This might contain spoilers for the series

(For clarity, when I say 'Tommy' etc in this post, I'm talking about the characters from my fics, not the content creators themselves.)

So it's done, huh? This note will include the sappy shit, the fun facts, then some of the more serious stuff, because I just didn't want to add an essay to the end of that chapter.

First of all, thank you all for the support along the way. Defining Home is easily my most popular series of fics I’ve ever written and I’ve been writing fanfic for years now. The comments and the kudos and the bookmarks were so very validating when I was new to the fandom, and still are. Hell, people have gifted me fics and written related fics to Defining Home, which blows my tiny mind. I haven’t gotten the chance to read a lot of them yet (procrastination I know thy name), but when I do, I’ll be leaving my best comments in thanks <3

I'll be honest, when I posted the first chapter of Enough, I never expected it to turn into what it did.

That first chapter was written in my phone notes at 3am, hours before an exam. I hadn't interacted with the fandom at all at that point, didn't even have a Tumblr for it, but boy oh boy did I get a warm welcome.

The point is, that first chapter was a very spur in the moment thing, mainly consisting of one scene I couldn't get out of my head (Tommy on a train to Wilbur's). I've gotten a few people telling me since then that they wished that they could write as well as I can, which is a huge compliment, but every person can write a fic like Enough. There are things that we all struggle with when it comes to writing: dialogue, prose, starting scenes - I have my own things I struggle with, things you might have noticed, things you might have not. You don't have to be a perfect writer to tell a story, especially in fandoms, where betas are easy to come across.

Write your story, even if its just for yourself. Posting that chapter gave me the chance to make new friends and I'll never stop being grateful for that.

One of those friends is Kat, who I've mentioned a couple times in the author's notes, but who honestly, I owe a lot to. Kat has encouraged me and been one of the main motivators to write this fic when I felt like it would never be finished, or that I'd never live up to other people's expectations. Sometimes, that meant motivating in some weird ass ways, but hey, it worked.

People who know me in discord servers might know that I'm a simp for Kat and it's damn true. Kat, I love you, you've improved my life more than you know in the last couple months and you deserve so, so much happiness.

In fear of love reciprocation from Kat, we'll move swiftly on to the more fun side of things.

Anyone feel like fun facts? You might already know some of these because I tend to overshare in author's notes, but I'm pretty sure some of them are new to all of you.

Barney the dog? Named after my own late labrador, who I love very much and loved to jump in lakes and need rescuing, time and time again.

I had no plans in moving Tommy in with Techno, hell, I had no plans in Techno moving to England at all. It was as much of a surprise to me as it was to everyone else when he told Tommy the news, but I latched onto the idea and ran with it. I think it worked out okay, in the end.

Techno has a draw in his bedroom full of parenting books, most of which were stolen from Phil.

After Tommy asked for help about what to do with Dream, Wilbur sent Dream a dm telling him he better not fuck anything up and if he did, Wilbur would not hesitate to humiliate him in front of millions of people. It was unnecessary, of course, but Dream was definitely a bit more cautious about what he said when he listened to Tommy’s explanation.

Some of my favourite things about writing Defining Home:

The Tesco v Asda discourse. Look, some of you just need to accept that Asda is the superior shop and get off your Tesco stanning bullshit. /j

The offers I would get for new chapters, some honourable mentions being newborns, siblings, diamonds and kidneys.

Now, I know that as much as I tried to, I won't have managed to include everything that everyone wanted from Defining Home, whether that's certain confrontations or scenes, I am sorry if I haven't included.

I don't imagine myself writing any more in the series, not because I think there isn't more I could write about, but because as a whole it feels complete to me, and any added oneshots I write would disturb that.

Right now Defining Home feels well rounded in a way that I'm proud of. The minute I realised that Enough was going to turn into a series I planned out how I wanted it to work. Maybe its just the maths part of my brain, but I like how there's three fics, with three chapters in each and how Tommy heals as you progress throughout the series.

My aim for the series was for the tone to get lighter as you went through, because yes, things kept happening (confrontation with dad, beach incident etc) but the point was that Tommy dealt with those things in different ways that he would have earlier on in the series. I have lots of thoughts and lots of emotions about how he felt safe enough with his family to experience nightmares and such. I made an effort in The Truth Behind Family to include more fluff, especially in the last two chapters, because I think it’s important to show that yeah, his parents’ abuse effected him, but it didn’t dictate how he lived his life. 

Like yes, I could write about their first Christmas together, for example, and add it onto the series, but I don’t think that I’d be able to do the rest of the series justice in that. Defining Home is largely about what the title implies, Tommy discovering what words like ‘home’ and ‘family’ mean beyond what he’s been told he’s stuck with and I believe that by the end of the series, he’s been successful in that. 

I'm so proud of the characters I wrote, Tommy in particular, for how far they've come in Defining Home, but I think that in a way, it’s time for me to let them go.

That’s not to say I’m done with writing for sbi! Hell no! 

I have a couple long fics in the works and a one shot I’m working on. The main fic I’m excited to focus on now Defining Home is finished is heavy heart, heavy head, heavy hero which, to put it simply, is an sbi royalty au, where unfortunate circumstances mean Tommy is forced to become King. It’s going to be a little more plot focused than Defining Home was and I am so very pumped to give it my full attention instead of leaving that lonely one chapter on AO3 like I have been doing.

I was 🤏close to making a Discord server, but ultimately decided I’m much more suited to causing chaos on other people’s servers than running my own. I think at this point the karma would be too great to even consider making my own server, so if you’d like to talk to me on Discord, keep an eye for me on other people’s servers - I mainly lurk, but I’m pretty active on one or two :D

On a more serious note, Defining Home deals with some heavy topics and I’ve had comments tell me that they relate to Tommy’s situation and wish that they had their own found family to run to. 

This Tumblr post has a list of phone numbers and places you can contact if you need help or want someone to talk to. Saying that, I recognise that a list as long as that can be daunting, so feel free to shoot me a message and I can either help you find the right one for you, or keep you company for a bit if you need it. 

Not all of us are lucky enough to have our own found family, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t forever, or that you’re alone. My dms and ask box are always open if you want someone to talk to.

Keep yourselves safe <3

- Lee 

[crackinglamb]

Writer's Meme

Tagged by @bogunicorn, thank you!

Tagging @ir0n-angel, @fogsblue, @shretl, @pikapeppa, @maculategiraffe, @rosebud1773 and @thefinalpotoo. No pressure!

What is your total posted word count on AO3? As of this morning it stands at 1,498,149. This week's chapter of WG will push it over 1.5 million. ...How did I get here?

How often do you write? It used to be daily. Life has consistently interfered with that of late, one way or another. Not the least of which is some major burnout. I'm satisfied if I spend at least a portion of each week getting some words down now. Don't let my posting schedule fool you. I rely on a big backlog of completed chapters for that.

Do you have a routine for writing? Not really. When the Muse hits, I go with it until it stops. Sometimes that's three chapters in a single day. Sometimes it's 20 words. I do always write in the same place (at my desktop computer in the nook under the stairs), often do it alone and only have music on if I need to inspire a mood I'm not currently feeling. That's about as routine as I get.

What’s your favorite tropes/pairing? Established, happy, healthy, power couples. There is just something about the dynamic between two people who have chosen each other to be ride or die with. Bonus points if they had to really fight for it (against the world, not each other). And pretty much everything I write has a happy/hopeful ending.

Do you have a favorite fic of yours? Okay, see, the thing with favorites is that I don't play them. Now, if you want a rundown of fics I've written that I personally have gone back to read more than once? I can do that. I'll keep it short.

Unexpected - This was my first true AU. Written for Fallout 4, with F!SoSu/Kellogg as the pairing. I'm still immensely proud of turning 'redeeming the villain' on its ear. Rated E, ~ 30K words.

Unrepentant - Dragon Age: Inquisition. F!Lavellan/Solas. I wrote this in a fit of...some kind of Mood. It ticked all the boxes for me for things I wasn't finding already published. So I wrote it myself. Rated E, ~ 3100 words.

A Fallow Season - DA:I, F!Cadash/Solas. Sometimes you just need something melancholy and poignant. And sexy, let's not forget that. Written as a standalone for Lark Cadash because she fit the prompt that sparked this oneshot so perfectly. Rated E, ~ 4600 words.

Like a Slingshot Around the Sun - DA:I, The Iron Bull/OFC. Imogen McLean got to have a little AU of an AU, as a treat. I love my girl, and I love Bull and if WG hadn't gone the way it did, this would be the pairing of it. Rated E (no, I'm not ashamed of that trend), ~5400 words.

(I do also reread portions of WG fairly regularly, but that's mostly because it's still the main WIP and I need to remind myself of where I'm at and where I'm going with it. I do love it though. Wouldn't be writing it if I didn't.)

Your fic with the most kudos? Twist, with 1250. WG is not far behind now and will probably overtake it at some point in the near future.

Anything you don’t like about your writing? I can get myself bogged down in the meta sometimes. And then I have plotline ideas that don't fit. Or would fit, if I had the mental energy to really explore them. I'm also terrible about concluding things. I always end up feeling like I don't do the end justice and just slapdash something together so I can mark it finished after procrastinating for up to a year.

Now something you do like? I like the way I write smut, ngl. In fact, last year I wrote a tutorial essay on my process for it for an event in one of the Discord servers I'm in. I like to think I blend realism and not-too-obscenely-biological together quite well.

[yes-ihavealwaysbeengreen]

College AU Week 1 Day 3 - Evgeni Kolpakov

A/N: I have never written for Evgeni but I kind of love the way this turned out. Let me know what you think. Thank you for reading, reblogging, commenting, and liking. This is day three of the January AU Writing challenge/300 follower celebration! 

* I posted a video I listened to while writing this if you wanted to listen while you read. It helped inspire me. 

Pairing: Evgeni Kolpakov X G.N Reader (please let me know if I missed any pronouns)

Warning: I don’t think anything, it’s pretty romantic/fluffy. 

My Masterlist 

My computer crashed, and you're the student worker at the IT center. 

Most people would be happy to have a night off from work. Ordinary people who don't go to school all day, spending their evenings at the IT center troubleshooting with students who've procrastinated their assignments. Shouting at you because their computer has decided to crash or their internet in their dorm has failed. Honestly, any person who works in customer service would be happy with a night off and away, but not you. Not since he first called. 

You sigh, thinking of the way his voice makes you hum in the squeaky rolling chair you find yourself perched on nightly. The Russian accent thick and shooting straight through your core as he talks to you about everything and nothing, making your heart beat faster. Evgeni, the enigma from your work who never failed to call you every evening for the past month; you'd never seen him, nothing more than a voice on the phone. His words honey to your ears as he makes you laugh. You want to know him. You have to know him. 

"Hey! Are you okay there? You seemed really out of it," your friend Charlotte looks concerned until you smile and embrace her outside the club. 

"Oh, I'm okay just thinking about someone," you pull back, and she grins. 

"Oh, is this about the mysterious caller that has your brain in a tizzy? Are you missing him already?" she teases, and you nod. The smell of cigarettes and cheap perfume waft onto the darkened street outside the piano bar. The ivories' tickling makes you think of Evgeni and how some nights he would play his piano over the phone. He was a very talented player, and you dreamed of hearing him play in person. The way his hands would move across the keys as he would coax the sweet music from them. 

Charlotte taps you on the shoulder and points to the bar, "I'm sure he can survive without you for one evening." 

"He wasn't able to call tonight; he had a prior engagement." 

"He plays the piano, right?" 

"Yes." You see the wheels turning in her head as she points towards the bar, "No, he didn't mention that he was playing anywhere tonight, just that he had something and wouldn't be able to call." You open the door and step inside, her following close behind. The bar is lit up on one wall with a single spotlight on the small stage. A black baby grand piano sits atop it, and the sounds of the keys sing to your heart. 

You walk over to the bartender, order a gin and tonic and take a seat at a two-seater towards the middle of the club. Taking a moment to soak in the music before you observe the player. He's handsome in a white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows; the chords in his arms shine under the light. He's got on a black fedora, but you can see the hint of a buzz cut underneath. His face with a light speckling of stubble just beginning to form—smoke curling from the ashtray perched on the top and a half-drunken glass of red wine. 

As the piece comes to a close, you feel yourself in a slow trance. The world around you slowing down as the music fades, and he does a small bow of his head as the crowd erupts into applause. You sit there frozen as he reaches for the cigarette, pulling drag and holding it between his fingers. Almost as if he can feel the magnetic pull, he looks up into your eyes, and you drown in the deep brown of his own. Lips parting on a small gasp when his gaze sears into your soul and ignites the fire in your blood. 

He leans towards the microphone, "Thank you, everyone, for this next piece…" but you stop listening as your heart stops. You would know that voice anywhere. It's the voice you'd heard every single day for the last month, the one who colors your dreams. The voice you dream of as you touch yourself at night, wishing it was really him whispering sweet nothings in your ear. 

*********** 

One Month Ago 

The phone rings more than you would believe for an evening IT department, and you pick up on the second ring already opening the form to fill out for the request. "Thank you for calling the  NYU IT department helpline; this is Y/N; how can I help you?" 

"Yes, hello, my computer keeps crashing when I try to submit an assignment," a man with a deep Russian accent coos in your ear. 

"Okay, and have you tried turning it on and off again?" He sighs and agrees, going through all the usual motions of a phone call this late. 

"Well, it would seem to be an issue with the server, I will put in a work order request for the IT department heads to take a look, and they will get back to you within 24-48 hours." 

He let out a groan, "But I need to submit the assignment tonight. Listen, I am not some privileged child who waited until the last minute to submit the assignment. I take night classes for business and work all day as a security guard. I really need to get this turned in on time. Please, there must be something you can do." Something about the tone in his voice gives you pause. 

"Maybe…" you try to think, "maybe I can send your professor a formal message from the IT department and submit your assignment for you. Can you email it to me?" 

He agrees, and he scrambles for a pencil, writing down your email and quickly sending it off. His name pops up a few minutes later, Evgeni Kolpakov. "Evgeni? Where are you from?"

You can hear the amusement in his tone when he says, "Vermont." 

You let out a chuckle, "Vermont really?" 

"A refugee camp in Vermont," oh shit, you try to apologize, but he lets out a laugh, "It's okay. Vermont is full of surprises, you know." 

"Oh really now," you finish composing the email and attach his essay before sending it, "done, it's sent." He lets out a relieved breath. 

"Thank you so much," he chuckles, "what do I owe you for the trouble?" 

"Tell me more about Vermont," you smile and lean back as he fills you with stories of his childhood. You spend two hours on the phone, and when you look at the clock and gasp, he quickly apologizes. 

"I'm sorry about taking so much of your time...but I'm not sorry for talking to you," you can hear him put something down in the background, and you sigh. 

"I'm not either," you whisper, "this has been one of the best nights I've ever had at this job." 

He chuckles, "You mean the universities IT department is not a bustling hub of excitement during the evening?" 

You laugh, "No...would you," you know you shouldn't ask, but you can't help yourself, "would you call again if you had any other problems?" I work ten to four in the morning this week." 

"I promise," his voice gets more profound as you hold your breath, "I will call back tomorrow with another problem if only to talk to you again." 

You tremble at his tone and hang up with a longing, "I'll be waiting." 

*********** 

Present Day 

"Evgeni," you whisper under your breath, but it's almost like he can hear as his head snaps up and looks at you again. His hands are poised above the keys, and he smiles. 

"This is for you," he whispers and makes love to you through the music. A personal symphony just for you as his fingers caress the keys like the ways of a lover. 

You listen, transfixed eyes never leaving him, your drink, Charlotte, and the world around you fading into nothing until it's just you and him alone. The music swarms around you, and you feel yourself rising slowly towards him as the song ends and the cheers of the crowd flow. But you don't care as he stands and holds out a hand for you to take, leading you outside and into the fresh air. The chill December evening shocks you back into reality. 

The feeling of his jacket, he grabbed draped over your shoulder as he rests his forehead against your own, and you feel the rough exterior against your back. "It's you," he whispers, and you feel his moist breath upon your lips. 

"It's you," you reply before closing the distance between you and sealing your lips together in a kiss that is soft and gentle. He groans, placing his hands on your cheeks and pulling you closer, deepening the kiss. You feel alive and consumed by him as he takes control and melds you to him, caressing you like his fingers caressed the keys on the baby grand. 

When he pulls away, you both smile, "I've been waiting for you," he whispers against your lips. 

"Oh Evgeni, I've been waiting for you too." The long days of waiting for the phone to ring are long gone as your fantasies and realities bleed together to make one complete vision. Love. 

Taglist: @oldstuffnewstuff​ @yespolkadotkitty​ @heythere-mel​ @justanotherblonde23​ @artsymaddie​ @anetteaneta​ @lunarthoughts​ @aellynera​ @lucifer-​ @houseofthirst​ @chicken-ona-stick​ @phoenixhalliwell​ @letoartreiides​ 

Tagging some extra people who may be interested (I hope that’s okay, let me know if not): @writefightandflightclub​ @tinygaydemonbby​ @itspdameronthings​ @damerondjarin​ @wasicskosgirl​ 

I listened to this while writing if you wanna listen while reading: 

[itsivyberry]

tri-wizard champion {1}

The Goblet of Fire Selection

Draco Malfoy x Hufflepuff!Reader

a/n: I remember reading something with an oc named Carolina but I can’t remember who wrote it and can’t find it anywhere so if you remember who wrote it please tag them🥺 but I wanted to do my own take without an oc and a little more gruesome but also a SERIES! I took out some scenes from this one to shorten it up and be able to make the other parts longer. enjoy !!

edit: the Carolina fic is by @aestheticweasleys thank you to the person who found them for me🥺 can be found here

word count: 1279

warnings: fluff (slightly, it gets worse from here), some mentions of people being rude

summary: Y/N watches as one of her best friends makes a decision that could cost his life. What happens when the same thing happens to her, but she didn’t know about it?

tag list: @drawlfoy

masterlist

{1} {2} {3} {3.5} {4} {5} {6}

gif credit: @weasleypottergranger

Y/N watched as her childhood friend, Cedric Diggory, placed his name on a piece of parchment into the blue flame of the Goblet of Fire. As he stepped out of the glowing ring surrounding the goblet, she walked towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m so excited for you, Ced.” Y/N whispered into his ear. “I’m so excited, too, Y/N/N.” He whispered back to her.

She let him go to talk to his friends, nervousness taking over her mind at the thought of him risking his life for a glowing cup and “lifelong glory,” as they called it. She picked up her things from the bench she was sitting at and made her way out the door of the Great Hall.

“Hi, Draco.” Y/N said curtly, walking past the blond boy in one of the lower corridors. “Oh, Y/N! I was actually meaning to talk to you. Do you still have that copy of the book on Forest Pixies? Madam Pince banned me from the library for, like, three weeks and I have an essay due in a couple days.” He turned around from the direction he was heading. “Three weeks? Merlin, Draco! What did you do?” She gave a breathy laugh, pulling the book out from her bag and handing it to him. “I really don’t want to talk about it, it’s embarrassing. I’ll return this as soon as I’m done, I promise!” Draco said, bidding goodbye and jogging off to wherever he was headed. She furrowed her brows, watching as he turned the corner and disappeared. Shrugging, she continued on to the Hufflepuff common room.

Y/N said hello to fellow Hufflepuffs hanging around the common room. “Y/N! Oh, Merlin I have some news for you!” Jamie walked up to her. Jamie had been a close friend of Y/N’s since the first day at Hogwarts, and the two girls have been inseparable since.

Jamie rushes Y/N up to their shared dorm room. “What happened?” Y/N asked, sitting on her bed and unpacking her small tote bag. “Oh, you’ll never believe it! I heard Viktor Krum has taken a liking to Hermione Granger! It’s crazy, isn’t it? I wish she could see how much Ron Weasley likes her.” Jamie sighed, wrapping her arms around one of the posts on her bed. “Viktor Krum? Seems scary, doesn’t he? If I were her I wouldn’t even talk to him. The whole lot of them, the Durmstrang students, they are all sketchy in my opinion.” Y/N responded curtly. “Oh, especially their headmaster! He’s always so secretive, stalking around all the Beauxbatons girls.” Jamie and Y/N grimaced at each other.

“Cedric put his name in the goblet today.” Y/N said quietly after a few moments of silence. “Do you think he’ll get picked?” Jamie responded, flipping onto her own bed and pulling out a book. “I hope he doesn’t. I can imagine him going through the whole competition by himself. Dumbledore literally said the champions lives will be on the line, did he not?” Y/N said, though not in a malicious tone. “You’re right. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow night. I’m actually really excited, this competition is going to be a nice change of scenery from Quidditch.” Jamie finished, opening her book. Y/N’s thoughts lingered for a moment. She didn’t want to watch this deadly competition, especially if one of her best friends was about to be in it.

~*•✰

“The Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory!” Y/N’s heart dropped at the name called from Dumbledore’s mouth. Cedric turned to the girl, pure glee written all over his features. She wrapped her arms around his neck, letting him know that she’ll be cheering him on. Cedric stood, shook Dumbledore’s hand, and was led to another room along with Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum.

But soon, the attention of all the students sitting in the Great Hall was brought back to the Goblet of Fire. The flame turned into a red once again, but this time impossibly bright and larger than when it spit out the names of the other champions. “There can’t be another champion, can there?” Y/N leaned over to Jamie. She shrugged in response, looking back at the goblet.

The fire spat out two ripped pieces of parchment this time. Dumbledore stuck his hands in the air, catching both and looking at them. He muttered something to himself. “Harry Potter? Y/N Y/L/N?” Dumbledore asked, looking around. “Harry Potter and Y/N Y/L/N up here now!” Dumbledore’s voice boomed throughout the now silent hall. Y/N looked over to see Hermione shoving Harry up towards the front, and soon noticed Jamie doing the same to her. She wobbled on her legs a bit, looking at her friend with fear etched all over her face. She slowly stood, her heart pounding in her head, and walked slowly over to Dumbledore. Harry followed suit, slowly walking behind her. Dumbledore handed the pieces of paper to the two young students hastily, and signaled with complete and utter fury for them to go where the other three champions were.

As they walked through the last isle, students began to shout.

“They aren’t even 17 yet!”

“Y/N’s a cheat!”

“Harry put his name in the goblet!”

Y/N continued walking, but she could feel burning pairs of eyes in the back of her head. She looked back at all of the students behind her, and met a piercing pair of grey eyes. Draco looked at her with, what appeared to be grief and sadness. Longing for the girl who was about to risk her life during a competition that she wanted nothing to do with.

Their voices rang in Y/N’s head as she broke eye contact and stepped up onto the platform where all of the professors were standing. Professor McGonagall looked at the girl and allowed her to pass, then patted Harry’s shoulder and allowed him to do the same.

The pieces of parchment were still clutched in both of their hands. “Y/N?” Harry asked from behind her. She stopped on the staircase and looked up at him. “Did you put your name in the goblet?” Harry asked. She shook her head no and continued down until she was met with an iron gate. The gate opened for them both, and they were met by the gazes of Fleur and Krum by the fireplace. “Y/N?” Cedric asked, stepping away from behind a glass case full of artifacts. He rushed to her and swallowed her in a hug. “Why are you here?” He asked frantically, keeping a grip on Y/N’s shoulders as he pulled away from her. She had almost zero emotion as she showed him the slightly charred piece of parchment in her hand. “Same with Harry?” Cedric asked, looking behind the girl to see the famous young boy. “Yes,” Harry nodded, holding up his piece of parchment that was still smoking.

Voices came from the top of the stairs and travelled down, lots of frantic voices and frantic footsteps. Dumbledore walked down the stairs quickly and stride in front of the 4th years. “Did you two put your names in the goblet?” Dumbledore asked, his eyes blazing with fire. “No, sir, we didn’t. I don’t know why we got chosen.” Y/N rushed out, flinching at Dumbledore’s tone and taking a step back. The headmaster must’ve realized what he did, and softened his expression. “Very well, then. It appears as though for the first time in history, there will be five Triwizard Champions.” Dumbledore spoke after a few minutes of uncomfortable and fearful silence, turning around to face the professors standing behind him. Y/N looked at Cedric will fear filling her eyes to the brim. She wasn’t ready.

final a/n: ahhh I’m so excited for this one! I’m sorry this part is short, I’ll try to make the other parts longer because who doesn’t love a nice long series to read when they’re procrastinating? Draco will appear more in the next couple parts, this was sort of a prologue but not just so I could get this out ! thank you for reading ♡ also THANK YOU FOR 100 FOLLOWERS! I remember only having nine and deciding to write again🥺 love u all to the moon n back 👩🏼‍🍳💋