#aquietjune writes

[aquietjune]

Little Bird Revision Progress Update

For Chapter 2, good enough to go (it's not like I will ever be satisfied with anything, anyway), so it'll be probably released on Thursday. See you then!

[annawayne]

AruAni's fics chibi edition

This small project is to celebrate AruAni's writers~

@moonspirit @distortedclouds @dude-why-3 @aruanimess @the-last-thread-of-my-sanity @aquietjune @luciensdefenseattorney @lunamoon1233 @mimiwrites2000 @midnightraine131 @breakingsanity-aruani

Thank you all for your wonderful and fantastic pieces of writing, and for keeping creating for our lemonheads - all of you matter and your efforts are enormously valuable. I cherish all of you :)

Using this opportunity, I also want to thank EVERYONE who writes and draws for AruAni fandom - unfortunately, I couldn't include every single author, and I apologise for it, but I just want to let you know that I deeply appreciate all the efforts and love AruAni writers give into their stories, making them alive and so great. And for artists too, all of you are an incredible treasure for fandom, I can't thank all of you for all the beautiful, funny and phenomenal pieces of art you share with us.

Thank you, all of you🖤

[aruanimess]

any aruani fic recs that you are your favorite?

Hello, anon!

So I've made a couple of posts in the past about this, but perhaps it's time to make a more comprehensive list. Sadly, the list of my favorites hasn't been expanded that much in the past year bc life has been kicking my ass since I haven't had much time for reading while also working on my own writing. But here goes.

Starting with the one-shots because they often get ignored:

Silhouettes by Jelly

Reincarnation AU. Armin spirals into madness as he tries to remember his past life, with Annie at the center of it all. Beautiful and concise, it'll have you sobbing on the floor.

Graffiti Love by brandymallory

Reincarnation AU. Armin and Annie are graffiti artists communicating with each other via murals. The understated, shimmering longing paired with the coolness of the street art scene is something else.

A Fistful of Latent Images by @aquietjune

Post-Canon Fort Salta fic. Armin and Annie navigate their relationship amidst the chaos of a post-apocalyptic world. Extremely well-written with great pacing, it captures the dissonance of normality after absolute devastation perfectly.

Look! by @lucaaazd

Modern AU. Kid Annie, still reeling from the loss of her father and subsequent adoption into her best friend's family, rescues Armin from his bullies. Grief and trauma mixed with the innocence of youth, its haunting carefreeness will fill you with an odd sense of optimism.

a crash course in curve lifts by @corner-stories

Modern AU, ice-skating. Armin and Annie, athletes who usually compete individually, train to perform a Pair routine for a gala (hopefully I got the lingo right). The commitment these two show to each other and their craft is absolutely heartwarming.

Now the multichapter fics:

A warrior in name, A traitor in game by @diam-etrical

Inspired by The Hunger Games. EMA in Marley. Set in a universe where the Warrior candidates have to fight to the death in an arena to get their titans. This will have you at the edge of your seat for sure. Also the character dynamics are expertly crafted.

Cigarette Duet by @darcycrow

Modern AU, set in Istanbul. Armin is a transfer student and new in town, he and Annie share a smoking spot in the schoolyard and bond over their existential dread, love of cats and weird relationship to intimacy. I'm here for the dry wit, the psychoanalysis and the sharp commentary about dating in the modern world.

Tater Tots & Heavy Thoughts by Anonymous

Modern AU. Armin is a social worker with a traumatic past, Annie asks him to help her brother who's a recovering drug addict (and then asks him out). This fic handles some extremely sensitive issues with care and compassion, it's a story about healing and not letting your past define you. Absolutely captivating and at times heartbreaking.

My Yellow Light in Your Soft Whispers by @annawayne

Post-Canon fic. Set roughly ten years after the Rumbling, Armin and Annie try to rebuild their trust in themselves and each other after a traumatic event. One of the most romantic entries on this list, steeped in rich symbolism and metaphor, the love Armin and Annie share is carved in every word, phrase and sentence.

See You Again by @dudewhy3

Modern AU. Estranged childhood friends, Armin and Annie, meet again after years apart, only Annie is sick and Armin is her doctor. It's a beautiful story about enduring love, compassion, second chances and vulnerability.

Love Letters from the Skies to the West Coast by @midnightraine131

Modern AU. Pastor's son Armin befriends Annie, a Californian girl who's new in town and also a bit of a wildcard. This is a sweet and funny story about the batshit shenanigans kids get up to, but also about the stifling confines of small religious communities.

Abandoned but worth a read regardless:

These City Lights by Katsy0c0

1920s AU. Armin is an up-and-coming Hollywood director and chooses Annie as his leading lady. An oldie but a goodie, the setting is exciting and glamorous and the relationship between the two is sweet and thrilling.

I Shall Slay by GoldenDoodleLover

Modern AU. Crack fic. Armin is recruited by his lit teacher Levi into a team of students who shall be participating in underground rap-battles. Absolutely hilarious and the verses are kinda fire.

[moonspirit]

TOP 10 favourite AA fanfics? (if you have one)

Oh hello xD That's a great blog name! Does that mean more questions will follow ._.?

Anyways, my reading speed has taken a nosedive as of late; too many things have been going on and I'm trying to stick to my own writing schedule too... so my recs remain mostly the same as the previous times I've been asked. Still, here are a few of my faves:

Bury Me in the Shadows of Spring & My Yellow Light in Your Soft Whispers by @annawayne . Features some of the most compelling story-telling I've ever seen. The former is a historic AU set in the 1920s and holy shit the immersion? Anna comes armed with a deep, impressive knowledge base of history and so the fic takes you straight back in time, as if you were standing in the time period itself. BMSS is a story carrying very heavy themes, and the dive into the character's psyches is simply stellar.

As for the latter, a post-canon fic set 10 years after the Rumbling, MYLYSW is a story that takes an in-depth study into the ways that an intensely traumatic event can affect people - both the victims and of those around them. It's a wonderful telling of grief, heartache, unresolved ghosts from the past, with stunning imagery and descriptive writing. :3

Black Water & everything else in @distortedclouds 's collection. BW is, as another reader very aptly put it, the single best take I've seen on Annie's relationship with her father, and how it affects Aruani's relationship. Clouds' mastery in prose and narration is on a whole other level, and every chapter literally hurts your bones. Aside from that, all the other fics in the collection are simply wonderful reads, with everything ranging from fluff to angst to smut and everything in between! My wife is very talented you see :3 Unparalleled!

Little Bird by @aquietjune . Simply a fantastic Annie-centric post-canon story, with writing skills that simply leave you in awe. June takes a deep dive into many of Annie's issues and problems that are still left unresolved, though the world may be rid of titans. Her dedication to period-appropriate research, and the how's and why's of in-world problems make the story a truly delightful experience, and coupled with her talent of being able to tell so much in so few words, this remains one of the best post-canon fics I've ever read. Please also check out her other works, she has an uncanny ability to make you laugh until your sides hurt xD

Coveted by @honeytheriot . One of the first aruani fics I read after the S4 P3 P1 dropped in March 2023, and holy shit xD Every chapter is a smut-filled goodness and delight, and honeyriot makes it WORK with her writing!

Children of War by @/SeaTempest . Primarily a Jeanpiku fic with Aruani as a side-couple, this fic features some of the best writing I've ever seen. Smooth prose and convincing post-canon world-building, plus very good character monologues?? Hell yeah. Hasn't been updated in a while, but has plenty of content, absolutely worth a read.

Tater Tots & Heavy Thoughts by Anonymous and everything in this collection. TT&HT is a modern AU Aruani fic primarily from Armin's POV, dealing with some very dark and heavy subject matter. The writing is really good, and while I haven't caught upto later chapters, I highly recommend it. The other fics in the collection are great too :3

There are many more tbh, but my head is mushy for the moment xD However, I'll add some fics I've been following as of late!

on the path that led me to you by @the-last-thread-of-my-sanity & By Each Crime and Kindness (I'm bound to you) by @aruanimess - two Cadet Aruani fics taking place that are an absolute delight to read! Wonderful writing, wonderful characterization, lots of fluff, and the impending doom of angst~

Who painted the sky? by @dudewhy3 & Hiding in Plain Sight by @midnightraine131, two Modern AU fics that take a look into the issues Aruani deal with from their past, in a modern real-world setting. Engaging and fun, with sprinkles of heavy angst now and then.

A Force To Be Reckoned by @luciensdefenseattorney . Inspired by Bridgerton, this is a wonderfully written and highly engaging Aruani fic set in the regency era. You just want Armin and Annie to kiss and find out all about each other already.

Legends by @mimiwrites2000-fun . Canon-divergence and wonderfully written, this is an Aruani fic spanning 32 chapters and counting! Lots of emotional, heart-wrenching moments, Mimi is a writer who embraces angst with a passion and doesn't shy away from hurting you T^T

[larmin]

TO MY BELOVED AO3 WRITERS

Please keep on writing. I don't care if AOT is over, I can't get over it, so please KEEP ON WRITING YOUR FANFICS!!

(especially you @moonspirit @mimiwrites2000-fun @aquietjune @midnightraine131 @distortedclouds @lunamoon1233 @dudewhy3 <3)

My love and support are for y'all and for everyone else who will help this fandom stay alive! <3

PS: The same goes for all those talented artists who draw (@annawayne, you're the first one I've thought of), so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep on doing whatever you're doing for this amazing story!

Love and appreciate y'all!

[ladykalliope]

Tagged by @zuzusexytiems

Favorite color

These sets of colors

I also like these

Last song

I don't listen to music often, but I listened to Doja Cat and Yemi Alade the most.

Currently reading

Ink Strokes By @celestialstarcandies 🥰🥰

Last Movie

I saw these two recently

Currently working on

A fic for ReiHitch week and another JeanPiku fic for Mrs. Kirstein week.

I'm also writing a ton of essays for school.

Sweet, Savory, or Spicy

All of them but Spicy is at the top 🥰🥰

Tagging @celestialstarcandies @aquietjune @sparklekitteh @raebelle @etherealheartss @melmedardasworld @korinthologies

[aquietjune]

With horror I realized that I counted 19 chapters for Little Bird assuming I'd split chapter 3 into two parts, since the chapter itself was 13.2k words long. Having now done so... I'm not happy with it hahahahah. There is a nice splitting point, but I'm not super convinced the two parts can stand on their own, momentum-wise. But I also know that long chapters are not extremely well received. What do I do? ç__ç (I worry a lot about this ignoring that chapter 2 will have the greatest reader deterrent ever hahahahahahah)

[aquietjune]

Non Little Bird updates (kinda…)

✅ I took off some time off SnK fandom to recharge after the end of the Little Bird publication

✅ sad!Armin feelings are creeping back in my mind however help

✅ sad!Reiner feelings too, ah…

✅ I also want to reread all of The Apothecary Diaries light novels for I missed a lot of little things the first time around and yes with season 1 of the anime having ended I’m feeling sad and all

✅ missing The Apothecary Diaries

✅ missing The Apothecary Diaries

✅ I even gave in to reading one web novel arc because I can’t resist neither the story nor the characters nor (ofc) The ship.

❗️please watch The Apothecary Diaries

⚠️ aquietjune stopped working

Jokes aside ups and downs with writing lately, a certain difficulty to focus on individual stories. This will pass, at some point. I think.

How are you all doing?

[aquietjune]

Revision time

I started working on the revision of my Annie-centric long fic. For now, that includes:

rereading everything and noting what's blatantly wrong

fighting Scrivener to compile the document according to my wishes

(2) is of course the neverending nightmare that keeps me not dying from being overwhelmed at (1). Scene separators: what horror.

There will be time for me to be overwhelmed, anyway. The long fic is... long. While my aim is to get to work to fix the first chapters as soon as possible (it's been more than a year, I just want to post it!), a high-level revision to make sure that every plot has the minimum development to function is needed before that. And getting mastery over a 160k words monster is overwhelming indeed, but it's an Annie fic, so I guess... that's fitting?

Wish me luck pls.

runs away, crying (of course reactions are Annie-themed, too)

[aquietjune]

Little Bird Revision Process Update

I completed the revision for Chapter 3: Part 1. (This is an AOT fanfiction, so we’re inevitably falling into the same traps as the canon adaptation…)

1. I’m still torn on whether to post Chapter 3 as a whole or divided into two parts.

Reconsidering my earlier words, after rereading and revising I think that Part 1 is actually rather autonomous as a posting unit, and would actually benefit from being posted on its own, but it’s more about Annie’s past and present and less about plot progression.

Plot progression is in Part 2 (still to revise).

2. I’m very proud of some of the writing in Chapter 3: Part 1, I can’t wait to share, especially because here starts the part I haven’t shared with anyone (not even early readers) yet.

3. Thank you all for the kind words & the encouragement. I didn’t get round to reply to the latest comments yet but I want everyone to know that they mean a lot—feedback means a lot in general, especially after working about this story in silence for 1+ year. It’s great not to scream into the void. ✨

4. Publication date: still to be defined, but not before Friday in any case.

[aquietjune]

(Slightly) late to the party, but I wrote* a fic about/for Armin’s birthday: it’s called Cardigan Story and is set during the Paradis’ Peace Treaties: when the Alliance finally visits Mikasa in her home, she has something to give Armin, something she wanted to give him for his birthday for the past one, two, three years.

It covers the core people in Armin’s life and his relationship with them, with a special focus on Armin & Mikasa (and it’s also, of course, an AruAni story.)

Please check it out!

* I wrote it in winter, and it’s about a cold season garment, but then I posted it in August because of course I did.

[moonspirit]

Thanks for the tag wife! Tho you're being so cruel to my boy Armin and by extension, me T_T

Last Song: Two songs really, on repeat during my metro ride: aldri mer dans - Ramón, and, Sint, Såra & Sykt Sjalu - also by Ramón! Quite obsessed with them atm haha xD

Favorite Color: GREEN!!! IT GIVES ME LIFE!!! Especially the deep, dark green of forests T///T

Last Book: The Miracles of the Namiya General Store - Keigo Higashino. I'm halfway through it and so far it's great! Brought me to tears a couple of times T^T

Last Movie: The Celestial Railroad (2006) by Kagaya. It's actually a short-animation that's 38 mins long based on the book of the same name, but brought to life by Kagaya. I watch it often when I'm feeling depressed or demotivated - it's literally my most favorite thing in the world T^T

Last TV Show: Worst of Evil (2023). Watching an episode a day with my mom!

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: Spicy > Savory > Sweet. I consistently ruin my health with 10x spicy ramen. I'll do it again.

Relationship Status: MARRIED TO WAIF! <3

Last Thing I Googled: How hankos are made... yeah...

Current Obsession: Aruani (& AOT) They're going to be my 'current' obsession until I die.

Looking Forward To: Oh boi. Writing, my annual rewatch of Mushishi, and ofc my WEDDING!! You're all invited!

No Pressure tags! @underthetree845 @aquietjune @luciensdefenseattorney @wyvernslovecake @fromriches-tosin @larmin

Datasheet

Wasn't tagged by anyone but I saw this on my dash and I wanted to hijack it!

Last Song: Promise, I blame the wife for this one

Favorite Color: I don't really have a favorite color, its constantly changing! But purples, reds, and blues are feeling particularly good right now

Last Book: Currently reading The Dressing-up Box by David Constantine. It's a collection of short stories and it's looking quite good so far!

Last Movie: MAMMA MIA!! will always watch it!

Last TV Show: I finally got around to watching Apple's Dickinson! And it was nice! But currently I'm doing an aot rewatch and... Suffering

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: hmmm.... savory>spicy>sweet!

Relationship Status: Happily married! Wedding soon (⁠灬⁠º⁠‿⁠º⁠灬⁠)⁠♡

Last Thing I Googled: Goose teeth! Because I was trying to give a friend the scare of a lifetime

Current Obsession: Lol AOT! Been slowly letting it take back over my life and every waking thought because I really wanna write Armin and fuck my wife up by driving her favorite boy to rock bottom

Looking Forward To: My wedding (⁠っ⁠˘⁠з⁠(⁠˘⁠⌣⁠˘⁠ ⁠))

Anyways tag 5 people! @annawayne @moonspirit @aruanimess @mimiwrites2000 @dudewhy3

[aquietjune]

Anyway, I wrote a KanaKane fic, A light sting, that is, as of chapter 164, canon divergent (summary is: Kana, Akane, and a bunch of other people are at the hospital while they’re waiting to have news about Aqua’s conditions; Akane’s pov); despite it no longer being canon compliant, however, I still feel like clinging to it, at least on an emotional level. I also really like the ship; in Umineko terms, I feel like Kana and Akane are like Lambda and Bern, but in this fragment it’s Bern who’s pursuing.

I don’t know if the canon story will touch on these feelings (not the shipping ones: mostly, the grief), but given that, despite all the effort Aka Akasaka put into it, I still feel attached to the story, I truly hope I will have the desire to write more about them, and maybe make a sense of it all — Akane’s pov was unexpectedly fun to write, and I too want to escape this story unscathed.

[aquietjune]

Little Bird, Chapter 6: "what a lovely set of blue ceramics" is out on AO3

I hope you'll enjoy it.

[aquietjune]

Little Bird: Chapter 11 is out on AO3

Note: there is a map at the end of the excerpt.

“So, when did you see the light?” she asked her father.

No, she was still on affectionate terms with him, even though the tension was already building, the doubts accumulating.

She must have asked something like, “When did you realize that you made a mistake in raising me that way?”

And then, she tried to answer herself, proposing, “When they told you I would only live up to twenty-two?”

While in Paradis, on her mission, she never let herself entertain the thought of what it would be when she returned home. She couldn’t afford the luxury of that; she couldn’t let herself daydream as if she was someone like Jean.

In the crystal, it was different.

Some days, or rather, some unaccounted amounts of time, the darkness around her was so deep, the silence so deflating, she would think of drowning if she didn’t have something to keep her anchored.

The years passed. She had a rough sense of how many, for Armin read her the newspaper often; he would even summarize some happenings, tentatively thinking that if she only became conscious then, she would feel alienated by an ongoing conversation.

Despite the darkness of the thought, or maybe exactly because of it, those were her moments of light.

So, she knew by then that she had six more years, maybe five, now, to get back home.

(continue here)

Oh, and we have a map of the general region of untrampled territory we're dealing with in the Marleyan continent, as in, the province of Cotta and surroundings provinces*. I will post it on the website as well, but for now please know that MATH DOES NOT EXIST, ok? * I should have marked the line of the end of the Rumbling, but consider Monte Forca and Fort Salta as a boundary, mh?

[distortedclouds]

Thank you for the tag Cris!!

Man 2023 has been a wild year for my writing haha

And I move slow and steady but I feel like a waterfall I started a one-shots challenges at the beginning of the year hoping to post monthly updates, but it looks like it's gonna take me longer than that

STRAIGHT UP AWFUL PARENTS was my crack fic

A leaf in the wind is all I want helped me break my most recent dry-spell and I love it for that! Plus it's a lot of fluff!

I also wrote a lot of.... not sfw one-shots.... huh:

Kiss me once, twice, then three times darling

Talk your shit

'cause you love, love, love (when you know I can't love)

But I guess I'm most proud of finally wrapping up Black Water at 135,000 words having started it all the way back in February of 2021 (WTF!!) It was my first time ever writing something this long and this elaborate, and I'm thankful for everyone who stuck around through the ups and downs of the messy updates 🥹

This was also the year that I got to make soooo many new Aruani friends here I love you all so much aaaa

Let's see who I can tag (no pressure!) @luciensdefenseattorney @aquietjune @marthaim308 @lunamoon1233

a year in review!

@bloompompom is wholesome and had a great idea of posting recaps of our favorite fics that we've written for the year! i'm also turning this into a tag thing because i wanna see what moots have on theirs! :3

"get me a damned matcha"

first longfic that i've published in such a long time, and the first one i actually finished! i'm very attached to levi and reader in this :3

discipline

obsessed with manager levi? love levi being a mean dom? that + me being particularly horny for levi week resulted in this filth

don't leave me

some all hurt no comfort from your angst queen :) prepare for break-ups, canonverse-typical violence, and death 😭

you're safe

some hurt/comfort where reader is a survivor of domestic violence and levi comforts her about it. one of my first pieces on this website

your safe space

i struggle with mood swings a lot and end up in shame spirals once i'm unable to fend them off, so here's another self-indulgent piece about levi helping you through it

your worth

i struggle a lot with comparing myself to others and find myself in a shame spiral once i find someone doing something that i pride myself in doing better than me (blame the burnt out gifted kid syndrome), so of COURSE i had to write a self-indulgent oneshot of levi comforting me about it

thanks to everyone for dealing with my feral ass as i thirst and pine for this 2d man and being delulu with me in being love with pixels (✿◡‿◡)

no pressure #'s (but would love to see your work :3): @chaotic-on-main @dreamtuna @lucysarah-c @sixpennydame @leviismybby @wyvernslovecake @ghostlykeyes @roseofdarknessblog @theragethatisdesire @youre-ackermine + any other writers that want to share!