#but I did at least get to the first few paragraphs of Chapter 31

[fnafawoundleftbleedingau]

To make sure I don't overdo it with my arm, I think I'm gonna have to stop here on this one with the flat colors for this week. But with any luck I'll have this all done next week and ready to post in full! :3

[quit-125]

Moodboard💗

Congratulations, @shuuuuush, for getting over 100 followers I'm so proud of you!!🥳

This fic honestly gives me enchanted by taylor Swift vibes😭😅

This is a special fic jst for you and i hope you like it!🥰

Word count: i honestly dont know💀

Paragraphs:31?

Warnings:Strong language, detailed kissing(is that even a thing?😭)

(Not using Y/N)!

Marly and Kenny met in New york, and they instantly caught feelings for each other,but what troubles will they have to face? Will they end up together? Or will someone try to get in between them?

Taylor-your best friend

Kenny- Stranger

to lover

Aj- your friend

Niko-your friend

Chunkz-Your friend

Sharky-your friend

The first time i laid eyes on you-Kenny

Chapter 1 out of 5🫶🏻

I felt the warm water hitting my body as i washed my hair. I truly needed a warm shower after a long day. I grabbed a dry towel and stepped out of the shower. I dried my hair and body and put on my clothes. Just before i could lay down, i got a call from taylor."Marly? Where the hell are you? I asked you to come over 20 minutes ago. Did you seriously forget?" Said taylor. "Oh shit im so sorry. I'll be there soon!"i said. "Yeah.. okay." taylor said. I grabbed my keys and unlocked my front door.

Kennys POV:

"Hey guys! Today we'll see who can make the most money in New york in just 24 hours!" Said niko. I honestly hated these challenges. We had to do stupid things for money. But this time it wasn't as bad since New york was absolutely beautiful! I was looking forward to spending time here. "Kenny?Bro?You good?" I heard aj say. "What? Oh yeah, im good." I said. "Yeah, if you say so." Said aj. There we're 2 teams, me,Aj and niko. Chunkz and sharky. Since we had more people, Chunkz and sharky got a headstart. As i walked through the streets of New York, i could hear chatter and laughter all around me. Most of it was from my friends. I didn't like to get involved in many conversations,im more of a quiet person. Dont get me wrong,i love hanging out with my friends, of course, but sometimes i prefer to be lost in my own thoughts.

Marlys POV:

I was in a hurry. i didn't want Taylor to get even more mad at me..well, that's what i thought. I was about to cross the road when i saw 3 extremely familiar boys. "No fucking way..." i whispered to myself. It was no other than the beta squad! And kenny was there.. he was my BIGGEST crush, and i was his #1 fan...well, that's what i think, at least. I just stopped and stared at Kenny, and i couldn't help but blush. Just before i was going to talk to them, i saw kenny looking at me, and we made eye contact. My stomach was filled with butterflies. i gave an awkward smile and waved as he did the same. I felt like a complete idiot. I digged my face into my hands in embarrassment.

Kennys POV:

I could feel a pair of eyes looking at me, i looked to my left to see the most beautiful girl ever,my heart was beating like crazy. I smiled at her, and we made eye contact. She was gorgeous.. We instantly clicked.

Marlys POV:

I saw them crossing the road, so i thought it was a perfect opportunity to go talk to them. They were getting closer and closer,multiple thoughts ran threw my head. i stood there, not knowing what to do as he approached me.

Kennys POV:

i got closer and closer towards her as she just stood there. "Hey, my name is kenny. What about yours?" That was so stupid of me..i said under my breath. "Huh? What did you say?" She said. "Oh! Nothing, dont worry."i said. "Okay! Uhm, well, my name is marly. Well, im a huge fan of you three and the rest, by the way!" said Marly.

It was even better that she was a fan.The rest of the beta squad introduced themselves to her,im so glad that she at least knows me."Ay Kennys got a gyal," i heard aj say. I gave him an annoyed look. "She's not my "gyal, " i said. There was awkward silence for a few seconds,i could feel the tension between us. "So, uhm, could i get ur number or something?" I asked her. "Yeah, sure, of course!" I gave her a smile, and we exchanged numbers. "I'll call you later today?" I said. I honestly was so happy on the inside that she actually gave me her number. Most girls dont. "Sure! I'll see you around, " I heard her say. "This is great content," said niko. "Bro, cut it out," i told him.

Time skip

Marlys POV:

I just came back from taylors house, i told her everything that happened on the way there. I was honestly shocked that Kenny wanted my number! I flopped onto my bed and put on my headphones.Maybe i was wrong.. What if he doesn't actually like me?What if he's just joking? I thought to myself. I sighed and picked up my phone. Just then, i got a message from kenny.

Kenny:Hey, Marly! Do you maybe wanna hang out tomorrow if you're free?

Marly: sure!❤️

Kenny:Great! I'll pick you up tomorrow at 5pm? We can go watch a movie together if you'd like?

Marly: Okay, sounds amazing!

Kenny: i have to go, but I'll talk to you later, marly! :)

Marly: alright no worrys!

I squeeled in excitement. i couldn't believe what just happened. i was so excited! I called up taylor to tell her what happened. "Omg girl, you won't believe who i was texting!" I said. "OMG! who??" I hear taylor say. "Kenny!! He asked if he wanted to hang out, and i obviously said yes!" I said in an over excited voice. "EEKK, im so happy for you!"i heard her say. "Thank you!!! I'll keep you updated!" I said before hanging up the phone.

Time skip:

Kennys POV:

I woke up to the sound of my phone buzzing." Why the fuck is someone calling me at 11am."i said to myself. I groaned and sat up and picked up my phone,it was niko. "Bro you better have a good fucking reason for waking me up."i said. "Jeez.. someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed... It's not my fault you wake up at 11 a.m. Anyways, our latest video went viral because of you and marly. Everyone says that you guys should be together. "So? Who cares? It's not like we are together." I said. "Yeah, i know, but it's kinda obvious that you like her..." said niko. "Yeah, okay, maybe i do like her, but it has nothing to do with you, does it?" I said slightly, embarrassed.

"Yeah okay chill its just a question. There's no need to get so worked up about it.." niko said. "Yeah, sorry..im not in a good mood." I told him. "It's all good,I'll call you back later," niko said. "Alright." I told him. I put my phone back on my desk and tried going back to sleep, but i just couldn't. "Maybe i should tell Marly how i feel.." i said to myself . Part of me wanted to tell her, but part of me didn't. i wasn't sure if she liked me back. I sighed and got out of bed.

Marlys POV:

I woke up to the sunlight shining threw my window, i lifted my head from my pillow and rubbed my eyes. I slowly got up from my bed and made my way to the kitchen. I made breakfast.

I was still over the moon that kenny wanted to hang out. I wasn't sure what to wear. i never really went out on many dates, but i had a few ideas in mind.

Time skip-

it was almost 5, i was kinda panicking since I wasn't sure where kenny was. Lucky i already picked out an outfit..

Just before i could say another word, i heard a loud knock on the door. A huge smile emerged on my face as i went to unlock the front door.

There stood kenny, i was so excited to see him. "Hey Kenny! You look great." I said. "Same goes for you Marly you look gorgeous." He said. His words were enough to make me blush. He handed me a bouquet of red roses.

"There, beautiful! Thank you so much, " i said. "Glad you like them. Shall we?" Said kenny. I nodded and gave him a kiss on the cheek.He opened the front door of his car as i got in. I gave him a smile as he started the car. I looked out the window and enjoyed the view.

Most of the car ride was slient,but it wasn't awkward at all...it was surprisingly comforting. I didn't want anything more than to be in Kennys presence. I liked him, but i didn't know how to tell him. I felt stupid for liking someone like him...afterall, he was basically a celebrity, and i was just an ordinary girl. I turned my head to face him,his beautiful brown eyes shining in the sun. "We're here, marly," he said, smiling. He got out of his car and offered me a hand. I smiled back and held onto his hand.

Time skip

The movie was finished, and we made our way back to the car. "If you like, i could take you home?" He said, not making eye contact. "That would be great," i told him. Before i knew it, we were already half way threw the journey back home. I hadn't had this much fun with someone in a long time..and i was happy that i got to spend it with Kenny.

We were almost home, i wasn't sure if i should tell kenny how i felt yet. Right then, i heard the car stop. "We're here," said kenny. "Thank you again, im looking forward to hanging out with you again, Kenny!" I said. Just before i could open the car door. I felt kennys hand on mine. "I had a lot of fun with you as well

.." he said. There was a few seconds of complete silence before he pulled me into a kiss. His hand carresed my cheek as he pulled me in closer into his grip. I was shocked,my eyes widened as he pulled away. "Im so sorry, i dont know what got into me i shouldn't have done that. im sorry." Said kenny. "nono, it's not that...its just i didn't expect it, that's all.." i told him. "Right..ill be on my way, then I'll talk to you later once again. im sorry." Kenny said.

I exited the car as i watched him drive off. I felt like a complete fool. The guy i had a crush on just kissed me, and i didn't kiss back. I felt guitly, but i wasn't sure how to react. I unlocked the front door and went inside. I sighed and sat down on the sofa and picked up the bouquet of roses. I didn't feel like doing anything and headed straight to bed.

Time skip

I woke up later than usual, i rubbed my eyes and lifted my head up from my pillow. I got dressed and headed downstairs to make breakfast. I was still in shock from yesterday, but i had to move on. I picked up my phone to see several messages from Kenny.

Kenny:

Hello Marly? 9:50 pm

Are you awake? 9:50 pm

I need to talk to you. 10:00 pm

Text me when you're awake.10:20 pm

Marly:

Sorry, i was sleeping! 10:48pm

Kenny:

It's all good, i was wondering if you could come over to my place? I was hoping we could talk. 10:50 pm

Marly:

Sure, what time? 10:52pm

Kenny:

I was thinking maybe you could come over in 30 minutes?10:52 pm

Marly:

Sure, see you soon!10:52 pm

I was a bit nervous since i wasn't sure why he wanted to talk to me so badly..i didnt question it too much and got ready.

Time skip:

I arrived outside his house as i knocked on the front door. I was anxiously waiting for him to unlock the door. "Hey, marly, come in!" He told me. "So i needed to tell you something that has been on my mind for a while." Kenny said. "Sure, go ahead. You can tell me anything." I told him.

"Well, ever since i met you, I knew there was something about you that was different..in a good way, of course. I wanted to tell you this for such a long time, but i wasn't sure if you liked me back. After yesterday, i was sure how you felt about me, but i figured I'd tell you anyway." Said kenny. I was waiting forever for those words. I was too stunned to speak. "Say something, please," he said. "I never thought you felt the same way i did! Im sorry for yesterday as well.

i didn't know how to react!" I said. "So i can kiss you again..for real this time?" He said with a smirk on his face. I nodded and blushed at the same time. He pulled me in closer, putting his cold hands on my waist as he carresed my cheek, his soft lips pressed onto mine, pulling our bodies closer together.

I put my hands around his neck and pulled away for a second for a gasp of air. Our lips once again pressed against each other, this time more passionate and longer. We both pulled away,"So does this make me your boyfriend?" He said. "Of course idiot" i said playfully as i let out a chuckle. "It's getting late, i think I'll head home now, but we can finish this later," i said as i winked at him. "Okay, darling, whatever you say,"he said. His words were enough to make my heart flutter. I was so excited to tell Taylor the good news, i know she'll be just as happy as i am.

Taylors POV:

I was just about to head out when i received a text from marly

Marly:

Me and kenny are dating now! There's so much you need to catch up on!12:55pm

I was fuming in rage. I've liked marly for longer than i can remember, and just before i could tell her, she suddenly gets a boyfriend.

Taylor:

Wow, that's great! 12:57pm

I want marly to be happy, of course, but with me. I just dont get what she sees in him. For the longest time, i had to pretend that i was happy that she met Kenny when all i wanted was to be with her. I'll make sure that I'll we'll be together no matter what it takes....

Ahh! FINALLYY CHAPTER 1 IS DONE!! I hope you like it, marly!

Chapter 2 coming soon!

@vctrvn-ls @shuuuuush @b4tasquad @allygatcr

[rhetoricandlogic]

Book Review: Speaking Bones (The Dandelion Dynasty, #4) by Ken Liu

August 31, 2022 Petrik Leo

am labeling Ken Liu as a genius. Speaking Bones has launched The Dandelion Dynasty to become the best series of 2022.

“What did that goddess-like lady say? If you do not like the stories you’ve been told, fill your heart with new stories. If you do not like the script you’ve been given, design for yourself new roles.”

Since The Wall of Storms, I’ve mentioned the difficulty of reviewing each book in The Dandelion Dynasty, and that statement hasn’t changed here. It is even more prevalent. I’ve read and written more than 600 reviews now, and each volume in The Dandelion Dynasty, especially Speaking Bones, are some of the most difficult reviews to write for three main reasons. The first one is it is impossible and futile to try and tell the magnificence of the series through a few reviews; this series is an experience, and it is something you should start and complete for yourself. No reviews in the world will ever be able to capture the multitude of impactful depths Liu poured into this series. The second reason being each book in The Dandelion Dynasty packed a myriad of glorious content.

Although The Dandelion Dynasty is technically a quartet, each book feels like I’ve read two or three epic fantasy worth of content. The third reason, I’ve never highlighted quotes from a book or series as much as I did for The Dandelion Dynasty. With 181 quotes, Speaking Bones alone is by far the most highlighted book I’ve ever read. This quantity is unprecedented. As I always say, I usually highlight about 10-40 quotes per book. But almost every paragraph and sentence in The Dandelion Dynasty demands to be highlighted, remembered, and re-remembered. All of these made reviewing Speaking Bones so challenging. The Dandelion Dynasty is a special series. And although I fully understand my review won’t be able to do this book and series justice, I will still attempt it in the hope of convincing at least one or two people to give this series a read. Because through that, I will know I’ve succeeded in making the world a bit brighter.

“The world may not be fair, but we must strive to make it so. The world is a dark place, but we must strive to make it brighter.”

The Veiled Throne functioned as the first half of the final book of The Dandelion Dynasty. But there’s always a second act. Always. And the second act to finally conclude the series is manifested in Speaking Bones. In part 1 of The Veiled Throne, we encountered a new important character from The Lands of Ukyu and Gonde: Goztan. This was done in a flashback format. But that is no longer the case here. The last chapters of The Veiled Throne were centered on our main characters in The Islands of Dara. We are not getting the continuation to this side of the story until we reach Part 2 of the novel. But believe me, the wait will be worth it. In Part 1 of Speaking Bones, Hail-Pummeled Flowers, the story focuses on our main characters in The Lands of Ukyu and Gonde. And without mentioning any spoilers, part 1 of the novel immediately showcased the main tone of the narrative that will be displayed even more powerfully in the rest of the novel. Incredibly emotional, thought-provoking, contemplative, and so intense.

“The shamans say that the weapons of the Fifth Age were unnatural and wicked, but I do not agree. My mother always told me that there is nothing inherently good or wicked in the nature of tools, for they only serve to amplify what is already present in the hearts of humankind… My parents are good and seek to free the Agon, and in their hands the weapons of Dara bolster good. We show our character not by the weapons we choose, but through the purpose for which we fight and manner in which we wield them.”

This shouldn’t come as a surprise. As I said, The Veiled Throne and Speaking Bones are two parts of one big novel. That means what we are reading in Speaking Bones is almost an entire consecutive climax sequence and conclusions. But with proper build-up and superb pacing. And this notion applies to all five parts of the novel, starting from Part One, where the final confrontation between the Agon and Lyucu storyline is executed. I have no shame in admitting that I couldn’t predict where the story was going. I was just astounded by how well-written the big aerial battle was. But more importantly, I already LOVED the themes that Liu discussed in Part One. A FEW examples: the meaning of eternity, what defines good or evil, why the cycle of violence is recycled endlessly, how no one is a villain in their stories, and what is often used as justification for the act of killing. All of them were delivered with a freezing impact. And this is just from Part One! Everything that happened in Part One was harrowing, depressing, bittersweet, and memorable. And these work well in preparing readers for the upcoming chaos and drama in Part Two of Speaking Bones: Thunder-Awakened Forest.

“In Dara, it is said that there is often little to divide the madness of tyrants from the grace of kings, and heroes and villains alike demand sacrifices of others. The difference, if there is one, lies in why the sacrifices are being sought: to satisfy the ambition of the few or to secure the freedom of the many.”

One of the best things about The Dandelion Dynasty has always been how splendid Ken Liu incorporates the super engaging battle scenes and the various deep themes into the story. We, epic fantasy readers, tend to love reading scenes of bloodshed, violence, and massive war scenes, but I think an SFF author has to be careful about applying these to their books. These devastating scenes, without any emotional weight and proper setup, would end up being mere flashy scenes that hold no meaning to me. Fortunately, this negative situation and feelings of boredom never happened throughout my time reading The Dandelion Dynasty. The concept of power, its attainment, and the corruption from wielding it is one of MANY themes that Liu insert into The Dandelion Dynasty. We arrived at the final stage of its searing effect in Speaking Bones. Teeth on the board. One who wields power must understand the consequences of wielding it. Or it will end up wielding the supposed wielder instead. These themes and the perpetually superlative characterizations, background development, and motivation building for the myriad of characters throughout the series imbued insanely terrifying emotional weight and stakes in the battle scenes and crimson conflicts.

“Soldiers always fight out of love: love of life, love of family, love of homeland. Many do end up fighting for the wrong lord or the wrong cause. But your father always said, ‘They are not mean in their nature, but made mean by the meanness of their rulers.’ Never be so certain that you’re right that you can justify the killing of thousands without shivering from doubt.”

The destructive sunflower bloom of conflagrations and countless bloodshed poured in the big battles like the Battle of the Crescent Island felt palpable, vivid, immersive, and pivotal. Before you drown in my overwhelming praises for Speaking Bones, or The Dandelion Dynasty, I feel inclined as a reviewer to mention no war scenes in the series top over The Battle of Zathin Gulf in The Wall of Storms. This isn’t to say The Battle of Crescent Island, or the Battle of Pan I’ll talk about later, was ever uninteresting, but let’s put it this way. If The Battle of Crescent Island and The Battle of Pan are 5 stars material, The Battle of Zathin Gulf is a 6 out of 5 stars material. I know, for one thing, that several readers won’t like the structure Liu used to depict The Battle of Crescent Island. The Battle of Crescent Island is divided into three huge chapters. And every chapter ended with a cliffhanger immediately followed by a long chapter about the new specific invention crafted to be utilized in the battle. This can be slightly disruptive to the pacing. Those who don’t like reading a chapter ending in a cliffhanger might have an issue with this as they won’t be able to read the continuation of the cliffhanger chapters without reading a 30-40 pages chapter about the creation of a new invention first. But I loved it so much. Though it’s true it did decrease the tension of the battle, the juxtaposition between battle scenes and technology crafting demonstrated Liu’s spellbinding storytelling skill. Change is a constant, and everyone has to adapt.

“There are consequences for every change, most of which cannot be anticipated. The belief that all wrongs can be righted merely by the desire to do good is… worrisome. Even the wisest laws and the most dedicated ministers will produce injustice, so long as humans are frail and selfish.”

Speaking of cliffhangers and technologies, the end of Part Two of Speaking Bones will require readers to be patient again. It can be a bit hard, especially after such a pulse-pounding, dramatic, and enthralling turn of events that ended Part Two satisfyingly. Part Two plunged readers immersed in Dara into sceneries of carnage in the land and the sky. Through engineering that changed the shape of the future, exceeding even the Silkmotic bolt’s capability, the new arsenal of weapons created resulted in climactic duels and fiery detonations. But Part Three, in my opinion, was different and absolutely worth it. By the end of the series, Part Three of Speaking Bones became one of the most crucial sections in the novel. But above it all, excluding the importance of the chapters here, I think Part Three was exquisitely meditative and impressive.

“This was the mortal condition, she realized. She would never know with certainty the right path; she would never experience enough to act with absolute conviction; she would never be able to eliminate all suffering. All she could do was to act in the here and now, to live and die for love, to fight and battle for friendship, to trust in a conscience that was never perfect but capable of being perfected, to scintillate in the bright light of winter on the frozen beach suspended between the eternal ocean and the inconstant land for the brief instant allotted to us all.”

Unlike Part One and Two of Speaking Bones, Part Three, Stone-Twisted Roots, was relatively calmer. At least for the one in The Islands of Dara. The way Liu implemented technologies and inventions into The Dandelion Dynasty is utterly clever. I have always mentioned this, I love epic fantasy series that dares to blend technology and science into their epic fantasy series while keeping it secure that it is still an epic fantasy series. The blending of genres is one of the things that Liu excelled in his storytelling. This is proven in ALL of his books. And that is once again re-established in Speaking Bones. Technologies and inventions often dictate how civilization advanced, and the intelligent practicality and importance of innovations and technology were not exclusively designed for war and obliteration. Most of Part Three centered around the dominant characters from the second half of The Veiled Throne, and here Liu also revealed the writing zither. I loved everything about it. Not only does Part Three enhance the quality of The Veiled Throne, but the philosophies and themes of healing, redemption, kindness, mercy, peace, war, life, and death embedded into Part Three constantly hit me like a brick. I will not spoil you with anything about this, and I will talk about this briefly. The origin story of Totoryoana (or Rufizo Mender) and the story of the three swords are some of the best origin or mythical stories I’ve ever read. Simple as that. Plus, it again exhibited Liu’s wonderful talent for writing short stories. It is all SO GOOD.

“There was nothing ordinary about being ordinary; to love and to be loved: That was the quintessence of the extraordinary. Only by being apart from her beloved did she finally love herself; only when she had learned to love herself did she truly begin to love.”

Ken Liu saved the best of Speaking Bones in Part Four: The Fruits of Knowledge. It is, after all, the riveting denouement to the series. This is where everything came to an end. And I mean, really everything. One of my favorite things about reading The Dandelion Dynasty, or a well-structured epic fantasy series, is how we can look back and realize how much has been planned and prepared since the beginning of the series. This goes back to events in The Grace of Kings. The deadly long game that has been cultivated since The Grace of Kings and The Wall of Storms by one of the most spectacular and despicable characters I’ve ever read reached its final stage in this section as well. And although I ended up discovering the truth of her long game sooner than expected, seeing the full revelations still brought me relative satisfaction. I wanted a different fate for everything she has done, but what occurred is more fitting for the series. The Battle of Pan was absolutely compelling. Once again, The Battle of Pan was not as epic as The Battle of Zathin Gulf, but when it comes to emotional value, it was on par. All the unfolding vicious betrayals, heart-wrenching tragedy, merciless menace, ruthless violence, and tempestuous disputes ended in Part Four. And you know what? I couldn’t be more satisfied by the breathtaking sequence of events than what is written here.

What Dara needs now is not the Doubt-Ender, but the emptiness of doubtful potential. When the heart has been cleansed by doubt, every hope becomes a possibility. I want to tell a story that the people don’t expect, a story of empathy that encompasses the world.”

From my perspective and experience, the concluding chapters of Speaking Bones and the series were just too fitting to complain about. Calamity, cataclysm, war, and despair weren’t the only key driving factors of the climax sequence or the book. If that was the case, the ending of The Dandelion Dynasty wouldn’t be this special to me. As I said, portraying meticulously crafted balance in light, darkness, and the shade of grey between the two is one of the many talents Ken Liu accomplished marvelously. Hope, love, trust, friendship, peace, friendship, honor, art, and legacies, to mention a few, shine bright as well. Their beautiful existence, together with their dark counterparts, transformed the series and the ending of Speaking Bones into something irreplaceably special to me. And the finishing touch composed in Part V: Falling Leaves, the epilogue chapters of the novel, proceed to turn The Dandelion Dynasty into the best series of the year for me with even more gravitas than it already has.

“Beauty and art can persuade through the heart even when grand speeches from learned philosophers fail to sway the mind.”

Translation, languages, cultures, prejudice, ideals, engineering, legacies, mentorship, love, friendship, family, and more. There is too much. There is simply too much to capture in a review. I’ve written more or less ten thousand words (in total) of reviews for the series, and I still feel like I’ve captured only fragments of its brilliance. Speaking Bones is a masterpiece. A masterful culmination to The Dandelion Dynasty. Spanning generations of stories through hundreds of characters, I am in disbelief that I must say goodbye to the series now. For the past four months, I’ve been reading one book in the series per month, yet it feels like I’ve lived in Dara for half my lifetime. The Dandelion Dynasty is one of the very few series where each new volume I read improved the already exceptional (and beyond exceptional for The Wall of Storms) previous books. It is now proven that the reimagining of the Chu Han Contention in The Grace of Kings was successfully established as an ironclad basis for the rest of the series to explode with its meteoric impact and illuminating excellence.

“Every generation must compose its own destiny. There is no shirking of this duty. Teeth on the board.”

Once again, no existing review in the world could encompass the multitude of depths, knowledge, and emotions contained in each volume of The Dandelion Dynasty. I absorbed tomes of knowledge, a torrent of philosophies, exciting adventures, and unforgettable experiences permanently put into my mind and soul. Ken Liu always says a book isn’t completed when an author has finished writing the book. That’s halfway. A book or a series is completed only when the reader has finished reading them. And now, I’ve completed The Dandelion Dynasty. I didn’t just read about Dara and Ukyu and Gonde. I have lived them. How could I not? Ken Liu isn’t merely a storyteller with an intricately deep knowledge of this world. I see him as someone who has truly lived these stories. And he’s imparting the stories inside The Dandelion Dynasty to readers through his evocative and lyrical prose inside these books. Through his telling, my reading, and my re-remembering, I, too, have lived in The Islands of Dara and the Lands of Ukyu and Gonde. I have witnessed the tales of Kuni Garu, Mata Zyndu, Jia Matiza, Gin Mazoti, Zomi Kidosu, the children of Dandelion, and all the inhabitants from the Islands of Dara and The Land of Ukyu-and Gonde. I have heard stories of their gods. I have undoubtedly enjoyed my remarkable time and experience with the series. And it is your turn. It is your turn to complete your version of The Dandelion Dynasty. And yes, you SHOULD read The Dandelion Dynasty, a series that has catapulted its way up to becoming one of my favorite series of all time. You have my total gratitude for this masterpiece of a series, Ken Liu. Teeth on the board. I will strive to serve Mutage.

“Finally, thank you, readers, for coming on this journey with me. I’ve long held the belief that fiction is a co-creation between the author and the reader. While the author sets the scene and describes the action, introduces the characters and sets forth their lines, it’s the reader whose imagination brings it all to life. Just as the author must put something of themselves into the world to build it, the reader must also take a leap of trust to devote their attention wholly to the fantasy world, to live a life separate from reality… May you find a place in this fantasy world to live out an interesting life, a life with an empathy that encompasses the world and at the end of which you leave your teeth on the board, content that you served mutagé.”

[undertale-data]

[Image Description: an Undertale textbox with “INTRODUCTION AND DEMOGRAPHICS” in all caps in its middle. To its left and right are a radar screen and an egg, sun, and "WED" from the Dating Hub. End I.D.]

Our sample size consisted of a total of 2651 responses. We did not set any sort of age restriction to take the survey, and no other qualification than self identifying yourself as part of the Undertale fandom.

[Image Description: a pie chart titled “AGE OF UNDERTALE FANS”. In clockwise order, the results: 31%, or 812 responders, are 13-17 years old; 44% or 1160 are 18-24; 15%, or 398, are 25-30; 6%, or 158, are 31-40; 0%, or 6, are 41-50; 3%, or 91, preferred not to answer, and 1%, or 25, are 12 and below. End I.D.]

The age group most represented is composed of people between 18 to 24 years old (also known as emerging adults), corresponding to 44% of all participants. They are followed by teenagers aged 13 to 17 years old (31%) and young adults aged 25 to 30 years old (15%)

(Many more demographics under the cut.)

[Image Description: a pie chart titled “GENDER OF UNDERTALE FANS”. In clockwise order, the results: 374, or 14%, are male; 1144, or 43%, are female; 789, or 30%, are nonbinary; 167, or 6%, identify as ‘other’, and 177, or 7%, prefer not to say. End I.D.]

In terms of gender, most people identified as female with a total of 43%, followed by nonbinary with 30% and male with 14%.  A significant amount of people responded with “Other,” explaining their identity (or questioning) more in depth.

[Image Description: a pie chart titled “UNDERTALE FANDOM AND LGBT+ IDENTITY”. In clockwise order, the results: 1949, or 73%, identify as LGBT+; 293, or 11%, do not identify as LGBT+; 280, or 11%, are questioning; and 129, or 5%, prefer not to say. End I.D.]

Considering the great amount of LGBT+ representation present in Undertale, we decided to ask people whether they identify themselves as part of this community. The majority, 73%, has declared to be a part of it. It is relevant to add that 5% chose not to say, and 11% were questioning. It is possible that media containing well developed representation draws more people to it; many people said that the reason they liked certain characters was being able to feel represented as a minority.

[ID: a pie chart titled: “LOCATIONS OF UNDERTALE FANS”. In clockwise order its results: 1788 responders, or 67%, are from North America; 420 responders, or 16%, are from Europe; 141 responders, or 5%, are from Asia; 94 responders, or 4% are from South America; 83 responders, or 3%, are from Australia; 11 responders, or 0% are from the Pacific Islands; 22 responders, or 1% are from “Other” locations; 92 responders, or 4%, selected ”Prefer not to say.” End of ID.]

The internet has made the game known all over the world, which motivated us to look into the way its fans are distributed around the globe. It is important to consider that since this survey is in English, people were more likely to respond to it if they understood the language, whether it is their native language or not (like Vessel #1, who’s writing this paragraph). It would be interesting if other communities did a similar exercise in the future by translating the survey. 

Having said that, we present the results. To get these numbers some of the answers were distributed into their corresponding existing group, and at least three new categories were created.

North America: 1788 votes 

Europe: 420 

Asia: 141 votes

South America: 94 votes

Australia: 83 votes

The most represented area is North America, which is no surprise considering it’s composed by a majority of native English speakers. It should also be noted that considering Toby Fox is from the US, it makes sense that people with a similar cultural background would more likely hear about Undertale and join the fandom. Europe follows with 420 votes, which could be due to their usage of the English language either as a native language or a frequently taught second one. Asia has a similar situation, however, if we take global population estimates (e.g: 141 per 4.561 billion in the case of Asia compared to Europe with 420 fans in an area with a population of around 746 million people), we can see that the density of Asian fans is drastically lower. After that we have both South America and Australia with a similar amount of votes. In those cases, knowledge of the English language may also factor into the density. Common social media used around the world could also be a factor but we do not have enough data to draw any conclusions.

92 people preferred not to specify and 50 people answered the survey with “Other”, giving their explanation. A few of these responses were put in bigger categories (Canada is in North America, for example). Besides them, the most notable group were Pacific Islanders, making up 11 people, 3 more than Africa. Due to their sizes, further investigation is needed to know if this is a replicable result or just the product of the places the survey was able to reach this time.

[Image Description: a pie chart titled “YEAR FANS FIRST EXPERIENCED UNDERTALE”. In clockwise order, its results: 937 responders, or 35%, experienced it in 2015; 687, or 26%, experienced it in 2016; 231, or 9%, experienced it in 2017; 181, or 7%, experienced it in 2018; 123, or 5%, experienced it in 2019; 145, or 5%, experienced it in 2020; 88, or 3%, experienced it in 2021; 231, or 9%, don’t know when they experienced it, and 25, or 1%, have never experienced Undertale. End I.D.]

We asked about the exposure to the source material. After all, to be a fan of something, you should know about it. The biggest proportion of fans experienced Undertale for the first time in 2015 and 2016, with those two years amounting for more than half of our sample. As for people who have only started playing during this year, they represent 3% of all participants.

[Image Description: a pie chart titled “YEAR FANS FIRST EXPERIENCED DELTARUNE”. In clockwise order, its results: 1585 responders, or 60% of those responding, experienced Deltarune in 2018; 275, or 10%, experienced Deltarune in 2019; 213, or 8%, experienced it in 2020; 126, or 5%, experienced it in 2021; 115, or 4%, don’t know; 253, or 10%, have not played but want to; 77, or 3%, have not played and don’t plan to; and 7, or 0%, do not know what Deltarune is. End I.D.]

Many people are familiar with Deltarune as well. Most of them played the first chapter of the game as it was released in 2018, and other people followed in the next few years. Among the people that didn’t play, 253 manifested interest in playing in the future, while 77 stated they knew of the game’s existence but did not plan on playing it.

[Image Description: a pie chart titled "HOW FANS FOUND UNDERTALE". In clockwise order, its results: 870 responders, or 33%, saw someone play it online; 576 responders, or 22%, were introduced by a friend; 539, or 20%, saw fancontent first; 195, or 7%, read reviews or recommendations on social media; 63, or 3%, came through the Kickstarter before release; 50, or 2%, came through a different fandom; 34, or 1%, came by following Toby Fox, Temmie Chang, or other collaborators; 221, or 8%, came through another way; and 101, or 4%, don't remember how. End I.D.]

33% of responders found Undertale by watching someone play it online.  The next largest categories were those who were introduced by friends or saw fancontent first, comprising 22% and 20%, respectively.  These statistics are indicative of the love that fans have for Undertale: they want to share the game with others, whether by creating and sharing fancontent, or just by talking about the game positively enough to inspire others to give it a chance.  In the “other” category, many fans mentioned specific fanworks or AUs as their reasoning for giving Undertale a chance.  Other common answers in the “other” category were through the soundtrack, through memes, through connections to Homestuck, and through curiosity about the infamous fandom.  One humorous response that stuck out said, “I was searching for the word ‘sand’ and had wrote ‘sans’ by wrong.”

[victory-red]

why tōya being the oldest todoroki sibling makes no (or very little) sense.

Warning: Manga spoilers. Long post ahead - big paragraphs, lots of reading, and at least one (1) rabbit trail.

So I know this is old news, but I’ve been meaning to make a post about it for a little while now. I know a lot of people already headcanoned that Tōya was the oldest Todoroki sibling even before it was officially confirmed, but it just never really made sense to me, particularly in regard to Enji’s timeline. And then, after Chapter 291 came out, it made even less sense.

(A couple of quick disclaimers, before I continue: I’m not trying to pass anything off as fact. My conclusions are simply opinions based on observations I’ve made. I’ll also note that there are definitely gaps in what information we do officially have, so there is still a chance that what seems to me like a fairly significant plothole will eventually be explained.)

I’ll start with Enji - more specifically, his current confirmed age in relation to Fuyumi’s, who is the oldest Todoroki sibling whose age we do officially know. As of the current manga arc, Enji is 46 years old, and Fuyumi is 23. Since Enji’s birthday is in early August and Fuyumi’s in early December, that means that Enji was a little over 23 years old when he and Rei had Fuyumi.

From what we know of Enji’s history and personality, that seems like a reasonable age for him to have started having kids. He said in Ch. 165 that he became Number Two at age 20, at which point he immediately realized that he wasn’t ever going to be able to surpass All Might on his own. He said that it was because of this realization that he passed the torch (no pun intended) to Shōto. But, Shōto wouldn’t be born until a decade later. So, it makes sense to me that this would be the point that Enji decided it would be best to instead try having a child that could surpass All Might. In other words, it makes sense that this would be the catalyst that led to Shōto’s birth.

The most recent information we got regarding Enji and Rei’s relationship in Ch. 291 seems to be just a bit conflicting with how Shōto had described things back in Ch. 31 - unlike Shōto’s account, Ch. 291 sort of implied that Enji did care for Rei to some capacity, at least early in their marriage. (How he’s been portrayed in flashbacks recently is actually very conflicting with flashbacks from earlier chapters, and even with his entire personality in earlier chapters. But I won’t get into that - we’ll just make the assumption that Shōto’s story was biased, because it probably was.)

Since he essentially bought Rei’s family off, it only makes sense that he would have to grow to care for her over a period of time - you know, maybe like a year or two. I’m not sure how long the entire Quirk Marriage process took, but factoring in the 9 or so months Rei had to carry Fuyumi before she was born, it makes sense that after Enji’s realization upon attaining the Number Two title, the entire process of creating the plan of having hyper-powerful children, finding a suitable partner, buying her family off, marrying her, and having their first child would take anywhere between two to three years. That would mean that he was 20 when the process started, 22 when Rei got pregnant, and 23 when Fuyumi was born. Boom.

(Frankly, even that timeframe seems a bit compressed to me, but since Enji’s and Fuyumi’s ages are both canonically set in stone, I have no choice but to work with it.)

Tōya canonically being older than Fuyumi begins to screw a lot with the timeline - especially taking into consideration what the implied age gap between them is. I unfortunately can’t find where (or if) this is explicitly stated in the manga, but the wiki says that most Quirks develop around the age of 4. Now, it’s entirely possible that Tōya was born with his Quirk, but given Rei’s constitution, I highly suspect that there would have been severe complications with both her pregnancy and Tōya’s birth. It also makes sense that if he had developed his Quirk at an exceptionally young age, there would have been some note made of it. But since neither of those things are mentioned to have happened, we’ll just assume he was between 3 and 4½ years old when his Quirk manifested.

I don’t know how long afterward it took for Enji and Rei to decide to have another baby, but I can’t imagine that the decision took any longer than several months. I’ll be conservative and say that they decided no longer than a few months after Tōya’s Quirk developed, because remember - Enji literally, canonically cannot be any older than 23 when Fuyumi was born. Jumping 9 months forward from that time, Tōya would most likely have been between 4 and 5 years old when Fuyumi was born.

Now I will note that in the top panel, Tōya looks to me to be between 4 and 6 years old, which was presented as being before Fuyumi’s birth. But in the lower one, where he’s crawling over to look at baby Fuyumi (or at least I think that’s what’s happening? It’s a bit dark to tell for certain), he looks a lot younger - in fact, he doesn’t even look to have the white streak in his hair yet. But given how it’s explained that Enji and Rei even came to the decision to have Fuyumi at all, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense contextually. But, I’ll let it be and just assume that the manga didn’t present those panels chronologically. It could also be the zoomed-out view that makes Tōya seem smaller. Either way, I’m overanalyzing, and that’s sort of off-topic, anyway.

Okay, I think that’s all the setup I need to finally get to the meat of my argument, which I will start with this: If Tōya is anywhere between 4 and 5 years older than Fuyumi, that means that Enji was anywhere between 18 and 19 years old when Tōya was born.

In any other situation, that might make sense, but here’s the thing: it’s already been established, or at least very heavily implied, that Enji didn’t even consider the possibility of having children to surpass All Might until he attained his Number Two status, which as I’ve already mentioned happened when he was 20. Even if Tōya was only 3 years older than Fuyumi, which doesn’t make much sense because he would then have had to develop his Quirk at age 2 or younger, that still would mean that he was conceived before Enji even became Number Two.

If that doesn’t make sense to you, think of it this way: If Enji was between 18 and 20 years old when Tōya was born, that would mean that Tōya would have been conceived when Enji was 17 at the youngest - still a student, unless he graduated early. Regardless, that also implies he would have had to create his elaborate plan to beat All Might, as well as find and marry Rei, before he even graduated secondary school. Given what information we have from canon, that just does not make any semblance of sense.

As compelling that argument alone may or may not be, there are others to support it as well. Let’s consider what that implies for the age gaps between Tōya and the other Todoroki siblings. If he’s 3-5 years older than Fuyumi, that means he’s roughly 7-9 years older than Natsuo and 10-12 years older than Shōto. That would mean, if Shōto were between 5 and 6 years old in the following panels, Tōya would be anywhere between 15 and 18 years old. Fuyumi would be between 10 and 13, and Natsuo would be between 8 and 11.

While I understand that Tōya inherited Rei’s slight constitution, puberty usually begins for boys around 12 or 13 years old (although to my understanding it often starts later in Asian boys), so Tōya would likely have already begun to go through his growth spurt by this age. Even assuming that Natsuo had started going through his own growth spurt, Tōya still has 7-9 years on him - so the chances that Natsuo had this much height and mass on him are pretty slim. I might be able to buy Tōya being 15 years old in those panels, but I find even that a bit of a stretch.

And finally, let’s talk about how old Tōya was when he “died.”

Assuming that the second panel is the most recent (halfway decent) photo the Todorokis have of Tōya before his “death,” I’m inclined to agree with the people who have pointed out that his clothes resembled a junior high school uniform, similar to what Midoriya and Bakugō were seen wearing in the story’s earliest chapters and episodes. Junior high school in Japan is attended by students between the ages of 12 and 15, roughly - so it’s safe to assume that Tōya was no older than 15 years old when he “died.” However, I will note that given how Horikoshi draws most of the 15-year-old male characters in the story, he does look younger than that to me. I am keeping in mind that Tōya was mentioned to have had a slight build - even as Dabi, he still does - so there is the possibility that my conclusions there aren’t accurate.

If Tōya was 12 when he “died,” Shōto would probably not have any memories of him at all - at the time of his “death,” he would have been anywhere between 2 years old and a newborn. It’s implied in the manga and the anime that Tōya disappeared sometime after Rei burned Shōto’s face, which undoubtedly happened after Enji had begun to train him - so, likely well after he had turned 5. In the somewhat unlikely event that his face was burned while he was still 5 years old, Tōya would have been between 15 and 18 years old, as mentioned above. If it had happened when Shōto was 7, he would have been between 17 and 20, and so on. Going with the junior high school uniform theory, which honestly seems rather plausible, he essentially cannot have “died” after age 15 - so, more than likely, he would have been gone before Shōto even began his training. Obviously, this is disproven by the soccer panel in Ch. 39.

Honestly, I don’t know how else to say it - no matter how I angle it, it just does not make sense to me, canonically, that Tōya is the eldest Todoroki sibling. There’s a lot of information stacked up against it, and though I’ve mulled over it for a bit now, I can’t actually think of a scenario in which it actually is a logical conclusion.

TL;DR: Tōya being the oldest Todoroki doesn’t make sense in light of information we have regarding Enji’s timeline as well as previous images we’ve seen in the manga and anime.

[thewildwaffle]

Abduction - Chapter 31

I had scheduled this to be posted this morning but had accidentally set the wrong day, so I hope no one thought I was just pulling an April Fools Day joke and not posting it at all. I was thinking of posting a joke chapter (maybe a few paragraphs long) but I thought of it too late and my brain just doesn’t want to work anymore right now. Maybe later though.

First Chapter     Previous Chapter      Next Chapter

***

Jebannuck nudged his food with the blunt end of his utensil. He hadn’t eaten since he’d first woken up, and it was now late in the cycle. He just couldn’t find any interest in the sauteed parteem stems right now.

His humans were leaving today.

“Are you just going to push those around your plate forever, or are you actually going to ingest them?” Simmo pestered him from across the table. Since being released from the medical ward, Simmo had been granted restricted clearance aboard the Rock Base. It was actually quite restricted and only granted after a few threats (mostly from the humans, but some from Jeb about reporting the illegality of their attempt to remove her from Demfar’s care without authorization earlier.) One requirement to Simmo’s freedom was that she was to always be accompanied, and if she wasn’t with Mike or Wenona, she was usually with him.

Jebannuck looked up from his uneaten meal at her. Her compound eyes stared back coolly. He sighed. He really should eat, but his stomach felt too tangled up to hold anything. He grunted and pushed the plate across the table to her. Her antenna flicked as she looked the food over. After a moment, she speared one of the stems with her claws and slid it into her mouth.

“These are better when they’re not cooked,” she managed to say between bites. “Makes them mushy.”

Jebannuck nodded half-heartedly as he rested his chin on his hand. He wasn’t sure why he felt like this. He should be happy. Mike and Wenona were going home, back to their normal lives before they were abducted. Back to Earth where they could get help and get their lives back together.

He suspected he felt this way because… well because…

He exhaled and leaned back in his seat. Simmo, who was still munching away quietly, eyed him curiously.

“What’s with the long face?”

Jeb looked up. He raised one eyebrow. “Long face?” He brushed his chin with to make sure nothing was wrong he hadn’t noticed. “Does my face look different than it usually does?”

Simmo’s eyes suddenly shone bright, smug that she knew something he didn’t. “It’s a human expression. Mike told me a few so I would better understand conversations on Earth. It means, ``Why do you look so sad?””

Jeb’s hand dropped back down to his lap as he frowned.

“I’m… not sad.”

Simmo growled.

“Why would I be sad?” Jebannuck countered. “Today is a happy day. Mike and Wenona are finally going home, it’s what they’ve been trying to do for partecs now. I’m glad for them.”

Simmo studied him for a moment. “You’re going to miss them.”

Jebannuck opened his mouth automatically to respond, but he didn’t know what he wanted to say. Before he could make up his mind though, he was interrupted by a loud voice from the other side of the cafeteria.

“Well if it isn’t Jebannuck Sefra! I hear you’re back from the dead!”

Jeb looked to the source of the voice. A large, hairy, red biet was strolling in followed by two squifra. He recognized them.

“Biet Tungs Arku, is that really you?”

“In the fur!” Tungs laughed and as she approached the table. She gave Simmo a side glance before sitting down. The squifra joined as well, side fins up cheerily, but giving the Montauk plenty of space.

“We would have come to visit you earlier,” Tungs continued, “but we’ve been busy with finalizing the repairs on our ship.” “You’re still on the ESS Butel?”

“Still am. So is Burrek here,” she motioned to the shorter squifra with a mostly green-colored skin patterns.

“Good to see you Burrek,” Jebannuck nodded respectively. Burrek had served under him while stationed on the ESS Butel as the Chief of Security. They didn’t get along amazingly well, but kept things cordial enough to do their respective jobs. He had been promoted once Jebannuck had transferred to the Gladius.

“I’d like to say it’s been quiet since you left, but, well, we’ve added another human to the crew, so you know it’s probably good you got out when you did.”

“What do you mean?”

Tung and Burrek shared a look with each other. “Well, it’s no secret you weren’t a huge fan of Humans Derrek and Carl, and then you go and get marooned on a Death World and then held hostage by the Burnti with two of them. Just you and them, up close and personal.”

Simmo made a loud set of clicking noises with her mandibles. Tung gave her a quick glance and ammended, “and a Montauk.”

“I heard they’re going back to Earth today,” Burrek added. “That must be a bit of relief for you. Well, at least for a while. I’m sure humans will be officially integrated into your crew soon. Most ships in the fleet have a few.”

“Poor Jebannuck,” Tung laughed, “Try as you can, you just can’t seem to escape them huh? Oh, Burrek, do you remember the time Human Derrek pulled that prank on ol’ Jebannuck?” She bowed over with laughter, her voice seemed to shake the air around them. “It was so funny, and Jebannuck was so mad! Oh!” She took a few deep breaths to steady herself. “Oh. It must have been hard for you. After I mean. You thought you’d gotten away from humans and then had to go through all… that ordeal. That must have been hard.”

She waited for an answer, but none came.

“Jebannuck?”

Still nothing.

“Hey Jeb,” Simmo pushed aside the rest of the plate of parteem stems and stood up, “it’s almost time for that meeting. We’re going to be late.”

Jeb looked up, confused but relieved. “Biet Tungs, Squifra Burrek,” he nodded politely to the other squifra he hadn’t been introduced to, “I must accompany our friend here. It’s been… a pleasure to run into you. Safe travels and infinite horizons to you all if I don’t see you before we leave.” And he stood up and followed Simmo out of the cafeteria. 

They walked down the hall for a while in silence before Jeb turned to Simmo. “I wasn’t aware we had a meeting.” “We don’t. I could tell you were getting upset.”

He stopped. She stopped.

“Upset?”

She blinked her compound eyes silently at him.

“What do you mean. Why would I be upset?”

Simmo flicked her antenna, annoyed.

They stood there, staring at each other in the almost empty hall. A few couriers hustled past them, trying to get their packages delivered quickly as well as put some distance between themselves and the Montauk. Jeb’s frown finally broke and he sighed deeply.

“Back there...I was reminded… when she talked about… I used to be so… but…” He groaned at himself inwardly. There were very few moments in his life where he ever struggled to find words. Two of them now were when he was talking to or about Mike and Wenona.

Simmo just stared at him. “They changed you.” She sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I get that. Seems to be what humans are good at.”

A smile played on the edge of Jeb’s mouth. “They’ve changed you a lot too.” Simmo sneered and tossed her head. 

Jeb couldn’t help but let the smile completely spread across his face. “Come on, they should be getting done soon. We should go help make sure they’re ready to go.” He started down the hallway, looking back slightly to make sure she was following. “You’re really set and determined to go with them?”

Simmo scoffed. “Verses what? Staying here stuck being babysat by you the rest of my life? No thanks.”

Jeb didn’t want to get into it with her that she did have other options. She knew that. She’d made up her mind already and no force was going to stop her, and he wished her the best. He smiled to himself. Friends with a Montauk. Simmo. He really did wish her the best on the human home planet.

“Earth it is then.”

***   *   ***

It had been two years. That’s what they're called here. Two sets of 365 local planetary rotations to orbit the local star.

Whoo-hoo.

Simmo smiled smugly to herself. She was getting pretty good at human phrases. Whoo-hoo was a very fun one, albeit too energetic for her tastes to use unironically. It was much more fun to use it with sarcasm. And oh, did she enjoy sarcasm. It’s not solely a human thing, but they did have it down to an art.

With a final tug, she finished ratcheting a bolt into place. There. That should do it. This stupid bucket of bolts should be ready to fly now. It had better be, she’d spent a good chunk of this past month working on the dumb shuttle. It was an older model, but her new employers, Near Star, hadn’t phased it out, much to her chagrin. She would fix one thing only to find two more problems with it.

She wiped a bit of oil and grit off on a rag as she stepped back. Her thorax ached, but she felt satisfied with the job. She’d just need to test it to make sure everything was good to go. The next part of her job was less satisfying. Paperwork.

She threw the rag onto a desk and walked around the shuttle, stretching and admiring her work.

A thought struck her. Life was crazy. It was a thought she had a lot, but it felt really poignant today. Life is so fluid, it could just change shape and alter course as if on some whim. She was proof of that. Life had been rough to her, then full of adventure. It gave her a family, then treacherously stole them away. It left her desperate, injured, captured, then decided to gift her peace and quiet, with new friends and family, a quiet life with simple tasks to do and a home on a death world of all places.

She had had a good year living with Mike and Wenona. She had learned a lot. She met world leaders, ate the sweetest foods she’d ever had before in her life, nearly baked to death in the desert, and swam in an ocean. Well, she didn’t really swim. She waded in it a bit to appease Mike before getting the heck out of the water. She had read up on what lives in there. Flargin’ monsters of the deep, that’s what. It was also huge, and way too salty. It terrified her on a primal level, though she’d never admit it.

Her phone rang and pulled her from her mental meanderings. She went to fetch it from her cubby. It was a primitive thing, even by human standards. Their newer phones that were more “smart” mostly used screen interfaces that did not cooperate well with her exoskeletal, sharp hands. This one folded in half and had soft buttons for her to push.

“Hello?”

“Ahoy Simster!”

There were only two beings in this plane of reality that would ever be permitted to live after calling her that, and only one ever did it regularly.

“What do you want Mike?”

“Well, I was just wondering for no real reason, but have you heard anything from the Galactic Confederation lately?”

“I hear what’s in the news. That’s it.”

“They… haven’t contacted you or anything?”

“No.”

“Nothing at all? No incoming messages, or phone calls, or… did we ever help you set up an email?”

“Mike, I’m at work, you want to maybe get to your point?”

“Well I just think it’s weird you haven’t heard anything yet is all!”

“Mike.”

“Well, I guess it only has been an hour. Well, almost an hour.  I’m just so excited! I’m not going to spoil it though, but if you don’t hear from them by the end of the day, I just might. I’m going to be back in Arizona in about two days.”

“Two days?” Simmo caught that part with a frown and held the phone a little closer to her tympanal to make sure she was hearing alright. “I thought your training went on for another two weeks. What do you mean ‘two days?’”

There was a rustle and Mike’s voice on the other side went a little garbled, like he was covering the speaker while yelling something to someone. When he got back on the phone, Simmo could almost hear the stupid grin on his face. “Listen Simmo, I’ve got to go, but yeah, I’m coming back day after tomorrow. They’ve got something new and it’s big. Like, big big!” “Well it sounds awful already,” she grumbled.

“Hey, let me know if they get in touch with you or not. I’m not doing it without you, or, you know without you being able to chose to or not. I mean, no hard feelings if you don’t want to.”

“Mike, you’re making less and less sense the more you talk.”

“Yeah, I know, sorry-love-ya-got-to-go-BYE!”

And with a beep from the little speaker, he was gone.

She folded the phone and put it away with a hiss. What, by all that is bright and shining, was that all about? Shaking her head, she started back toward the shuttle with it’s keys to give it a test run when her comm device went off. It was set up similarly to the ones used by the Galactic Confederation (who had probably traded the technology with Earth a few years ago). It was supposed to be set in the local network within Near Star, but it did also have access to the planet-wide internet. She pulled up a holographic screen and read through her messages.

The newest one was from an external source. It was from the United-Earth Space Embassy’s Galactic Confederation Relation’s office. Her hand hovered over it for a while. What could be so big? 

It was a fight inside her mind. On one part, she was nervous and weary. The Galactic Confederation did not hide their disdain for the Montauk race as a whole. What could they possibly want from her? She had found a place to call her own here on Earth, and had somehow started to think of it as home. Life was quiet, but after everything she’d been through, quiet was good. It was more than good. Earth had welcomed her as a hero who had helped save two of their own. All her needs were met, she had want for nothing.

And that, the other side of her mind countered, was part of her problem. Life was good yes, but it was quite sedentary. Her whole life, ever since her second molt, had been on the move. It was a matter of survival then, but it became a part of her. For every shuttle she repaired, she imagined herself boarding it and taking off through the stars.

The problem was she had nowhere to go. No one to go with. Mike and Wenona were her hive now, and they were on Earth.

This was home.

But at the same time, she felt so restless.

She dropped the hologram and paced next to the shuttle. Her mind kept going back and forth like a match of that one weird human sport Wenona’s little sister kept trying to get her to play.

“What am I doing?” she muttered to herself. “I don’t even know what they want. Mike said something about me making a choice,” she pulled the hologram back up. “I should probably find out what decision it is that needs to be made before I go driving myself crazy like this.”

With just a small pause, she opened the message and browsed over all the flowery pomp and circumstance of the first paragraph. Frewan, these people could never just get to the point, could they?

Then she found it- what had gotten Mike so excited. She read it and re-read it to make sure she was understanding it correctly.

This was big.

***

Next Chapter

[bluemoon-writer]

TSI - Chapter 1 Notes

Here are my full notes and commentary for Chapter 1 of my Harry Potter fic 'The Snake Inside'.

Chapter 1 can be found here.

Throughout the chapter there are numbers in parentheses, these numbers correspond to the below notes. To best understand what I’m talking about in the notes I would recommend opening the story in a second tab and following along from there.

(notes begin under the cut)

1. This is, if you hadn’t noticed, lifted directly from the book, I do do this a couple times however, this is the only one that is italicized. I’m going to try and point out the other instances in chapter notes as well.

2. Another line lifted from the book, although here it has slightly different context

3. This was another line from the book, although again it has slightly different context (also I swear these notes aren’t just going to be me citing passages from the book)

4. I was actually really conflicted over this. Dudley is obviously incredibly spoiled so I figured it made sense that if for once Harry had something that he didn’t that he would throw a fit and demand he get the same. What I wasn’t confident about was how Petunia or Vernon would react as they really do love Dudley, shown by how much they spoil him. In this scenario, I decided that Petunia’s hatred of magic plus her fear of losing Dudley to magic (just like she lost her sister) would drive her to hit Dudley.

5. The first signs of Harry’s sneaky Slytherin side! He reads the room and chooses the best manner to approach the situation, something he would be good at considering he grew up in an abusive household. He would likely have gotten very good at reading moods and acting accordingly at a young age to avoid being hit or yelled at.

6. It might seem like Harry is a little quick to believe in Hogwarts and want to go considering he knows nothing about it. But, it’s an escape from the Dursleys and the terrible school they were going to send him to. Plus, it’s obvious that the Dursleys hate magic, so why would they lie to Harry about him being a wizard?

7. I know in canon Hogwarts is free, but that simply doesn’t make sense to me. In my world, Hogwarts is the best and most elite school in Britain, but it’s not the only one. There are also smaller ‘public’ wizarding schools that people who can’t afford Hogwarts go to. Also, if Hogwarts has a tuition then it only makes sense to me that the Potter Parents would set up an education fund for Harry, especially since their lives were at risk, they would want to make sure that Harry would be able to get the best education possible.

8. Some more Slytherin sneakiness, Harry isn’t a master manipulator by any means but he’s lived with the Dursleys for 11 years, he knows how to play them.

9. I don’t write it in bc it seemed unnecessary, but she does explain her reasoning off-screen.

10. Some foreshadowing here, I thought I was rather clever, finding a logical way for Harry and Vernon to learn how to enter the train platform.

11. This whole paragraph is my attempt at showing how Harry is still just a kid who’s curious about the new world he’s found himself in. I know I write Harry (and all the characters his age) as being a little more mature than they probably would be in reality, so here I was trying to show a pure, childlike curiosity and also some trains of thought that aren’t totally logical bc he is a kid.

12. I do think the Dursleys, or Vernon at least, is more clever than he gets credit for, he is high up in Grunnings, so he has to have some sort of head on his shoulders, and he’s certainly self-serving we saw in book 2 how he lathered up those rich people he wanted to impress. So, I think as much as Vernon might hate magic and think goblins are disgusting, that he would very much be able to put that aside if he thought it might benefit him.

13. The goblins ‘revealing the truth’ to Harry, or giving him or helping him out in some way is kinda over done and doesn’t always make sense as the goblins really have no reason so want to go out of their way to help Harry. But, I needed an unbiased 3rd party to teach Harry a little about the wizarding world and I figured a satisfactory motivation for the goblins would be making money in the form of consultation fees.

14. The first hints of Dumbledore’s manipulations. He wants a naïve Savior who will be easy for him to influence and shape into the person he thinks the world needs. Note, I’m not going for an evil Dumbledore, just a morally grey Dumbledore.

15. Paper business refers to the practice of owning a business on paper but not being involved in how it’s currently ran, I’m not trying to say that the Potters own several companies that sell paper. I don’t know if this is a common term, when I googled it nothing came up, but my dad uses it a lot when talking about businesses. Also, we know in canon that the Potters are rich but in a lot of fics it has evolved into them being extremely wealthy and influential. I’m running with this fanon idea because the Potters are a very old family, they’ve been around since the 12thcentury and married into other very influential families in canon. Also, if I ever get to the later years I do want to mess around with some politics and Harry having power from his family name will be a necessary advantage.

16. I’m not going to bore you guys with paragraphs detailing just how exceedingly rich Harry is, if he can’t even do anything with what he owns yet. He’s 11, he’s not going to be making any smart investments.

17. Like I said earlier with the tuition vault, the Potters were soldiers in a war, they knew they might die and I think it’s only logical that they would take precautions to ensure that Harry would have a comfortable life should they die.

18. This might seem like a lot, but again, the Potters are rich and they want their only child to be able to have a comfortable life even if they die, plus it is supposed to last until Harry’s an adult.

19. This is not canon, JKR said that a galleon is approx. 5 British pounds. I think that’s too low, so I changed it. I mean, it’s solid gold and the highest form of currency it’s got to be worth more than that.

20. Trying to give Dumbledore the benefit of the doubt, but of course Vernon is going to be suspicious of anyone who took money that he could have used.

21. This is just something that I thought made sense, Gringotts has been established as being in the business of making money and how can they do that if they’re cut off from part of their clientele?

22. I’m trying to go in a new direction with the Dursleys, I’m not trying to redeem them, but like Dumbledore, they’re in a grey area, especially Vernon. I think a self-serving Vernon would be interested in learning more about the magic world, or more specifically learning what it can do for him. But also because you need to know your enemy, as interested as he might be in profiting off magic, Vernon doesn’t trust wizards. As for Harry, this is a Slytherin AU, of course he’s going to play along with his uncle’s plan as long as it benefits him.

23. This is another line from the book

24. Hints that Dean is actually a halfblood and not muggleborn, this is canon too. I’m looking forward to exploring the future “tracking down who my real dad was arc”

25. Originally, I had Harry meet Hermione and her family, but I decided to change it to Dean because I wanted to go down some different avenues. A lot of Slytherin Harry stories have Harry becoming friends with Hermione early on despite their differences and I didn’t want to just do the same thing as everyone else. Also, I really like Dean Thomas’s character he’s a friendly, good natured, brave and loyal. I also think that Harry would get along better with Dean right off the bat than he would with Hermione.

26. Honestly, I think it’s ridiculous that they still use quills and I will be using the trope where Harry sneaks in ballpoint pens.

27. Harry came to Diagon a few days earlier than he did in canon, so I figure it only makes sense that he would meet someone different at Madam Malkins also this gave me a great opportunity to shoe in one of my other favorite characters, Neville.

28. I headcanon that Harry and Neville have a slight magical bond over both being possible options for the prophecy.

29. I admit this is slightly unrealistic, as I’ve dropped my glasses several times before and they’ve never broken but I wanted an excuse to get Harry some new glasses.

30. Not implausible, but also not likely either. Also, I admit I really have no clue about British healthcare, especially not what it was like in the 80s and 90s. I know it’s free, but that there’s also the option to do private or paid care. So, for this story, assume that the Dursleys use private care bc they want to seem better than everyone else.

31. Again, probably not the most realistic scenario, but it is possible. I got glasses when I was 11 and contacts when I was 15, but I definitely could have gotten the contacts when I was a little younger. Maybe not, 11-years old younger, but I don’t think it’s entirely out of the ballpark.

32. I didn’t see any point in changing Hedwig’s name, so I kept it the same.

33. Giving Harry contacts was something that I debated a lot, there’s no real reason he needs them, I just wanted him to have some because they’re convenient. I personally regret not getting contacts earlier.

34. To be honest, this is actually a bit of a cop out on my end because I haven’t figured out the entire political system yet. BUT even if I had, Harry is still 11 so he probably wouldn’t understand it that well anyways. There will be a brief explanation in chapter 2 though.

35. Dudley’s reaction is anything thing I was really torn up about. Because he’s essentially torn between his two parents, sticking with Petunia ostracizes him from Vernon and sticking with Vernon ostracizes him from Petunia. Ultimately, I decided Dudley would value his father’s attention more because while Petunia wouldn’t like him getting involved with magic, she wouldn’t cut Dudley off completely, she loves him too much. But Vernon, has been completely distracted by magic and without Dudley getting involved in it too then he won’t get any attention from his father.

36. According to the HP wiki, Dean’s family actually lives in London, but I wanted it to be more convenient for them to meet so I moved them closer to the Dursleys. Also, I actually did about an hour’s worth of research on google maps trying to find a real place Dean’s family to live.

37. A whole lot of this section with the Weasleys was lifted from the book with slightly different commentary from Harry. I originally had more, but it didn’t add anything so I cut it out.

38. I don’t know how outgoing Ron was before he met Harry, if I was him though I would be too nervous to intrude on a compartment with two other kids who looked like they were already friends.

39. This is not a Ron bashing fic, Harry has no reason to dislike him, so of course he wouldn’t be opposed to sitting with him. That said, for the premise of the story I couldn’t have them sit together because Ron is heavily biased against Slytherin.

40. Poor Draco, if he had just paid more attention to who he was passing in the hall then he would have met Harry, but again, I couldn’t let that happen because Draco’s so obnoxious that he’d turn Harry off Slytherin.

41. Honestly, I just wanted Harry to interact with more students who can be potential friends.

42. Again, and the sorting is lifted from the book. I’m not going to make note of every line.

43. I wasn’t sure if I wanted Neville to be in Hufflepuff of Gryffindor at first. A lot of people argue that Neville needed to be in Gryffindor to learn how to be brave, but I think that Hufflepuff would provide a strong support system that would help Neville gain confidence in himself. Also, I decided that Harry’s words in the robe shop would influence Neville into not thinking that he was a loser if he went to Hufflepuff. I imagine in canon, much like Harry was chanting “not slytherin” Neville was probably chanting “not Hufflepuff”. So I think it’s fitting they both don’t end up in Gryffindor in this fic. Also, Harry already has a Gryffindor friend in Dean, he can use a Hufflepuff friend.

[stormears]

FF7R Fanfic Exvacation - Trends of the Times PART 1

Welcome to my ECOLOGICAL SURVEY OF FF.NET’S FF7 ARCHIVE.

I’m scrolling through (most of) the 36 thousand English FF7 fanfics on FF.net. I’m mostly a new fan because of the remake (know some spoilers now tho) and got curious what the fanfic culture of years ago was like...of FFN specifically. Because that’s what I know and used for many years. I’ll go up till shortly after Remake’s release date, I think. 

PART 1, YOU ARE HERE! // Part 2: May - Dec 2005 // Part 3: Jan - Jul 2006 

I had 1458 pages to go through at the start. Got through 30 of them before deciding I would, uh, take liberties and skip a few pages sometimes. Sometimes 2, sometimes up to 4. Because while I liked this project, I also want to eventually, actually READ some fics for this new fandom of mine. And the oldest ones don’t often...have that high-quality writing. Or they’re about late-game plot deets that I, a newbie fool, don’t know or want to read about yet! (Note 3 months later, I kind of regret this and may go back and read more deeply about the 1999-2004 fics. Future posts of mine don’t skip nearly this much.)

SOME FINDS AND FACTS:

- July 23, 1999: first English language FF7 fic posted

- February 2000: First mention of Aerith, instead of original translation Aeris

- Dec 3, 2000: First Sephiroth/Cloud fanfic posted, refers to the pairing as “shounen-ai”. Did not see the pairing being called “yaoi” till later, in fics published June 2001 and after.

- GENERAL: a lot of poems and songfics. Often mournful fics with son lyrics set in between every few paragraphs, from popular bands of the early 2000s (Metallica, Creed, Weird Al Yankovic, Avril Lavigne) or just the song with FF names and words plugged in

- GENERAL: Humor or light-hearted crackfic is the most popular genre, followed by romance. By mid-2001, TifaxCloud and AerithxCloud seem about neck-and-neck in popularity. 

-  June 14, 2001: First Tifa hate fic I came across. It’s written in script style, about the characters having fun and drinking at a house party. Author says in opening AN: “I truly think she is a slut.”

- GENERAL: My knowledge of what happens after the Remake is spotty but I didn’t expect there to be more than 10 AerithxRufus fanfics and there’s been...at least 10?

- GENERAL: One story has just 1 chapter, and the summary invites readers to go to the author’s Geocities page to read the rest! May 31, 2002. 

- January 2, 2003: a “fic” that is a group of haikus about the Turks, that was neat. Points for uniqueness. 

- One summary: “Not yaoi - you ought to read it just for that!” Although M/M pairings and/or self-declared yaoi makes up 10 - 15% of everything I’ve scrolled through so far. “Crazy yaoi fangirls” doesn’t appear to be a popular demographic here yet.  

- 1999-2002 fics often had very short, poorly written and meta-factual (?) summaries. Not detailed, more like facts about the story you might write on a sticky note, and poor grammar. One might be like: This is a story from Aeriths perspective. Its about her talking to thhe planet.....I wrote this in math class btw. Thanks for helping me Ashley R&R! (In 2003 to 2004 times, this is really tapering off and legit summaries get more common.)

- 2004 sampler platter of fics: 1) Aeris (not “th”) watches an irl Australian tennis player’s match on TV, goes to his house and kills his girlfriend, is sentenced to death by chocobo pecking 2) Sephiroth is a vampire looking for a mate and sets his sights on Tifa, also a vampire; they meet in a seedy/dangerous bar 3) After President Shinra is killed, the Shinra grunts discuss how they like Rufus much more because he doesn’t view himself as too good for dirty/dangerous work and isn’t afraid to be on the front lines with the grunts

- First mention of the Advent Children in a modern AU crackfic about child Sephiroth and his “little brothers” posted July 24, 2004. But google says the movie didn’t come out till September 2005? Idk. And yet a later, unrelated fic posted on February 20, 2005 mentions “the upcoming movie Advent Children.”

- 2004 and 2005 have a lot of Yuffie representation. I haven’t seen the word “Yuffentine” since I last seriously used/surfed DeviantART in 2012.

- We are at May 2005, I’ve skimmed and simplified almost 6 years of fanfic.

I’m going to put the brakes on my liberal skipping policy. There’s 1144 pages left as of this time of writing, April 24, 2020. I will only skip 2 pages max if I want to “hurry,” so I will view at absolute minimum 644 more pages of fanfic before I’m done. Again, I’ll probably go up to the day of Remake’s release (I’m more concerned with the PAST trends here) or maybe just a bit after its release for better comparison of the very old and very new. 

This is taking a long time, and obviously eating into time I could use for my own fanfics or anything else in life, but damn it’s fun.

(Note August 2, 2020: I SWEAR I’m gonna update this post soonish with more ‘99 - ‘04 fics :/ ) 

[itscookieoverlordtoyou]

40 Questions — Meme for Fic Writers

Don’t you sometimes see those ask games and wish you could just fkg do them all? On this sunny Saturday, we make our dreams reality lolol

1.  Describe your comfort zone—a typical you-fic.

Short fic, I usually get a small scene I want written so I write around it, plus I love short stories with interesting punchline.

2.  Is there a trope you’ve yet to try your hand at, but really want to?

Probably, I don’t know them all ^^’

3.  Is there a trope you wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole?

Writing about stuff that disgust me I guess.

4.  How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?

Like 5-6? I want to write about a restaurant but set in a world where people have powers I think the combo could be very funny. The main character has the power of insight, the plonge is a giant pool where you swim around cleaning. Backstories of characters with shitty and amazing powers and how they ended up here. Rival to lover character that has the power to see into the future.

5. Share one of your strengths.

Dialogues, subversion, and humor; classmates often said I have a touch to spin a sad story into something positive/happier.

6.  Share one of your weaknesses?

I get tired when I describe something for longer than 4 sentences.

7.  Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

“In what kind of trouble have we walked right into?”, I ask my companions as they’re idly fixing their attire. Together, we’ve face many perils and this mission ranks among one of the most dangerous. Yet, the others had been…how should I say it…professional! Rescuing kidnapped princesses, vanquishing terrifying monsters, quests to restore mythical artifacts, save nations from insidious plots. Oddly enough, “Does this dress make me look fat?”, is not the answer I’m looking for.

Ribbon in my hair is the first time I wrote about my knights, I first dreamt about them when I as 18, my boyfriend at the time called my idea stupid and my world building pointless so I only started writing about them when I was 21. Now I write about them a little bit every year :)

8. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

“Do you really want your last words to be complaints?”

“I die as I lived.”

“Will we become a fruit tree?”

“I don’t think so, it’s never been the case for my ancestors.”

“I’d love it if we could turn into a banana tree.”

“I’m not from the southern regions, plus I like apples more.”

“Just imagine, our fruits could have been banana flambée”

This death scene was a big finale to a story I wrote for a class in Uni, a story of war between clan of forest and volcano people, of the supposedly brutal death of a Goddess, of a mysterious apple tree whose fruit give vision of the past. I should revisit it.

9.  Which fic as been the hardest to write?

My analysis on D’Artagnan and the figure of the hero. Granted it’s an essay for school but I deeply loved it. I was too afraid to write or ask for help from the professor in charge of me (which made our relationship tense ^^’) but when I did, it was beautiful and I was very proud got 89% :D

10.  Which fic has been the easiest to write?

A play called Adelaide where an old couple reads their old fairytale book about a Prince on a quest to save a Princess. They bicker about the other misreading the story but we finally get to the part where the Prince tosses the princess apart to get a better view of the dragon of which he falls instantly in love. The book is actually their wedding album.

11.  Is writing your passion or just a fun hobby?

It’s one of my passions, but it’s not something I think I could live on so I delegated it to my hobby.

12.  Is there an episode above all others that inspires you just a little bit more?

The wedding scene in Shrek 2, my mind was blown when I saw it in theaters and when I need inspiration to write, I rewatch it.

13.  What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?

Presentation is important. If trying to read you gives people headaches, they’ll stop. Choose a nice big font, space with paragraphs, be mindful of your spelling and missing words. Read out loud because some things written are bad said.

14.  What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever come across?

I must’ve been lucky in this regard, I don’t think I’ve ever received advice that made me go NO, but I did have to listen/read stuff that made me gag.

15.  If you could choose one of your fics to be filmed, which would you choose?

I would love to the Adelaide acted out, some adjustments would be required because I’m no expert in play writing but I think I’d be great.

16.  If you only could write one pairing for the rest of your life, which pairing would it be?

Luyenor’a and Taram, names are placeholders as of now but they’re two of my knight, being the “only pairing I’m allow to write about forever” means I’d get more knight shenanigans done.

17.  Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?

I’m doing bullets point of what I want to happen and write stuff without much order. Some days I have no inspirations for what goes in the beginning but have loads for a later point. I surf the wave when it presents itself.

18.  Do you use any tools, like worksheets or outlines?

Word on my computer, a notebook in my bag, the note app in my phone.

19. Stephen King once said that his muse is a man who lives in the basement. Do you have a muse?

I have little trinkets all around my computer to invite inspiration.

20. Describe your perfect writing conditions.

Freshly woken up, having eaten, drinking something sugary and sometimes apple cider because the alcohol help lower my inhibition.

21.  How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

I read out loud at least once the whole thing, helps with missing words but dude I reread my stuff on ao3 and always find mistakes still ^^’

22. Choose a passage from one of your earlier fics and edit it into your current writing style. (Person sending the ask is free to make suggestions).

I’m not going to put here because it’s in French and I don’t want to translate now but I wrote Vision of a world, mine when I was 16 and damn was I already depressed then?

23.  If you were to revise one of your older fics from start to finish, which would it be and why?

The Princess and the Soldier, some gay fairytale I think my first one, I’m sure I can do better bow

I also have one about a janitor and it’s a murder mystery I could redo

24. Have you ever deleted one of your published fics?

Once by accident, I was so angry I never rewrote it.

25.  What do you look for in a beta?

I don’t really use beta (beta reader right?) but I guess I’ve had like 3-4 when I was in Uni and had to read people’s wip and they read mine. They’d talk about what they liked, links they noticed, things that seemed weak or to change

26.  Do you beta yourself? If so, what kind of beta are you?

I usually just point out the stuff I like

27.  How do you feel about collaborations?

For a class in college, we had to act out a play we wrote collectively. Ten sketches written in pairs/alone. I made sure I was alone so I wouldn’t be saddled with someone else to write my sketch

28. Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

I don’t follow fic writers; I just am in a mood for a ship and read what’s available. I do like my friend @alumort ‘s fics tho ^^

29.  If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?

There was a Phineas and Ferb fic focused on Perry I really loved. Their world building was something I’d never seen and they abandoned the story, so I did fanfic of a fic. Never dared to post it anywhere I mean it was their world to begin with.

30.  Do you accept prompts?

Of course, when inspiration is given I accept

31.  Do you take liberties with canon or are you very strict about your fic being canon compliant?

I don’t care about canon but I do love using it when there are little trivia to enrich the character.

32.  How do you feel about smut?

Love to read it sometimes, would love to write it. Some I’m like………….youveneverhadsexhaveyou…………………

33.  How do you feel about crack?

Love it!!!!!!!! I’m too self-conscious to write it tho. Oh maybe that could be a never before written trope I could try?

34.  What are your thoughts on non-con and dub-con?

Rape I can’t, dub-con where underlying requited feelings exist but anxiety™ don’t let the characters express them but they’re drunk so it surfaces is okay

35.  Would you ever kill off a canon character?

Hell yeah! I do when/if the death makes sense (I am still pissed at Kishi for Neji)

36.  Which is your favorite site to post fic?

Ao3 is where I post,I used devianart when I had one

37.  Talk about your current wips.

Marry Me for the Love of Cake: God I’m so sorry to the few people who followed it, I said I’d pick it up before the end of 2019 and well……I have the ending in bullet points

Yours, with Love: I hope I’ll finish it…I have most of the ending in bullet points

I guess I’m into rom com at the moment lolol

38.  Talk about a review that made your day.

I made my best friend read All this for a Roll Cake, and she laughed so much at my work, I took a picture I look at from time to time to remain humble.

39.  Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them?

Thankfully I’ve never received a rude review. My professor once told me it seemed kinda unnatural how unlucky my protagonist was vs. how lucky his love interest was (All this for a Roll Cake) but that was the whole point of the story so I just ignored her.

40.  Write an alternative ending to [insert fic title] (or just the summary of one).

Writing this I realised I lost my final version of All this for a Roll Cake T^T so I guess I’d rewrite the ending I have of the before the last version I still have.

Well this was fun ^^ got to revisit my works and remember many beloved pieces of fiction I wrote, I look forward to my next projects

[johannesviii]

Top 10 Personal Favorite Hit Songs from 2005

16 to 17 years old. Finished public highschool, started public university in September. Looking back at 2003-2005 feels like looking at ten years of my life condensed in three. Exhausting.

Also we’re now past the halfway point of these lists! And this is another exceptionally good year for hits.

Disclaimers:

Keep in mind I’m using both the year-end top 100 lists from the US and from France while making these top 10 things. There’s songs in English that charted in my country way higher than they did in their home countries, or even earlier or later, so that might get surprising at times.

Of course there will be stuff in French. We suck. I know. It’s my list. Deal with it.

My musical tastes have always been terrible and I’m not a critic, just a listener and an idiot.

I have sound to color synesthesia which justifies nothing but might explain why I have trouble describing some songs in other terms than visual ones.

So I finished highschool that year. I met my best friend ever in late 2004 and we even had some sort of small crew back then! I had a bit of a crush on her but alas it wasn’t meant to be. I don’t know who invented the term ‘friendzone’ but they got its meaning completely wrong because staying friends basically forever with someone you love can be a fantastic thing. Things weren’t rosy nor perfect that year, of course, and I still was miserable at home, but I’m not sure where I’ll be today without her. She's amazing and she still lives nearby nowadays. Shoutout: if you read this, E., you pretty much saved my life.

I was still making tapes and burning CDs, still using my trusty portable cd player, and always listening to stuff while drawing during recess, sitting in a corner and doodling stuff in my sketchbook on the floor like a weird gangly goblin.

I had already started to buy Rock Mag in August 2004 but it really became my monthly ritual in 2005, and it lasted until autumn 2007. A reliable source of posters to cover my walls. At that point they were almost completely covered with paintings, drawings, torn pages from magazines and posters of Linkin Park, Mylène Farmer, Placebo and Indochine.

I also had a better access to the family computer and was a bit more involved online. Might explain why the number of singles I was buying plummeted.

It’s time once again for some (ok, many) honorable mentions!

Beverly Hills (Weezer) - I don’t even know why I like this but I do.

Bouger Bouger (Magic System) - I never understood why it was cool to make fun of these guys in my country. Their music is so happy and fun.

Holiday (Green Day) - My brother loved that band and listened to it a lot, and I was 100% fine with that.

Wake Me Up When September Ends (Green Day) - See above.

Gabriel (Najoua Belyzel) - That is so-bad-it’s-good at its finest right here.

Candy Shop (50 Cents) - As a sucker for terrible puns (HA, get it?? I’m sorry I’ll get out immediately) I can’t help it, I love this.

Love Generation (Bob Sinclar) - Stay tuned for more of this guy on another list.

Listen to Your Heart (DHT) - The original is better, but it was really nice to hear that again on the radio.

We Be Burnin’ (Sean Paul) - Not my favorite but still damn good.

Bad Day (Daniel Powter) - I even bought the single. What can I say except “relatable”.

All About Us (Tatu) - I bought that single as well. Almost made the list.

Le Bateau Blanc (Karol) - The last cut from the list. Not even kidding at all. I’m still not sure if Keane deserves to be on the list more than this to be honest.

Like it happened previously with Placebo not being elligible at all, it is a complete outrage that Precious by Depeche Mode isn’t elligible for this list. Like, what the f█ck. Playing the Angel was one of the defining albums of the year to me. I’m not even sure it would have topped the list, maybe #2, but it still feels wrong.

There’s another band who’s complete absence from this top feels kinda painful to me, considering how much I loved their new album at the time. Indeed, no single from Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge by My Chemical Romance is elligible for this list, and it feels wrooooong, man. I love I’m not okay and especially Thank You For the Venom, but even Helena would have been nice. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

For some unfathomable reason, Get The Party Started (Pink) and, even more unexplainable, Do You Really Want to Hurt Me (Culture Club) recharted in France in 2005 and both made the year-end top 100. The fact they are both elligible but all the stuff mentioned above this paragraph isn’t makes no sense whatsoever.

And now, the actual list!

10 - Everybody’s Changing (Keane)

US: Not on the list / FR: #48

Pretty great even though it’s not my favorite Keane song. That would be Crystal Ball. It’s fantastic and as a person who is scared, above all, by existential horror, the music video is terrifying. Sadly, it’s not elligible for my 2006 list, so Everybody’s Changing will have to be its slightly less good proxy for 2005.

9 - Et Si En Plus Ya Personne (Alain Souchon)

US: Not on the list / FR: #100

This has to be the most borderline non-elligible song ever put on one of my lists. But I’m glad it is still elligible. Remember the song on the 1993 list that I called an “anticapitalist ballad”? Well that’s the same guy. And this time it’s a song about how religion can cause both beautiful things and war, and how “the sky might be empty” because of us. It’s great. Here’s a translation. You’re welcome.

8 - F█ck Them All (Mylène Farmer)

US: Not on the list / FR: #62

Aaaaaaaaand unfortunately for everyone including myself, she’s back. Not her best song by a mile (told you it was all downhill after C’est Une Belle Journée didn’t I), but still pretty damn good, and that music video where she’s destroying bird-like scarecrows is amazing so here’s a bonus gif.

7 - Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Green Day)

US: #7 / FR: Not on the list

My brother LOVED this band and listened to it SO MUCH. And yeah, they were very good and that song might just be my favorite one from them. I don’t have much more to say about it, you all know it already. Let’s move on.

6 - Sugar We’re Going Down (Fall Out Boy)

US: #40 / FR: Not on the list

Again, it feels wrong that both Fall Out Boy AND Panic! at the Disco were elligible for this list but not My Chemical Romance. I was never a fan of these two acts, at all, and their supposed rivalry was kinda hilarious to watch from afar. With a bucket of popcorn. While listening to Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge and nodding sadly, of course.

This is still a great song, mind you.

5 - Feel Good Inc (Gorillaz)

US: #37 / FR: Not on the list (really? wtf happened)

Again, I live with someone who loves Gorillaz, so I claim overexposure.

It’s still #5 on a list based on a very, very good year.

That’s quality for you.

4 - Speed of Sound (Coldplay)

US: #57 / FR: Not on the list

A new chapter in the ascension of Coldplay from “Johannes hates this band” to “this is one of the best mainstream bands we have”. An epic saga, years in the making, and Speed of Sound was basically the last scene of Act One. Not my favorite song from X&Y (that would be Talk), but still really good. Hell, I even bought the single, and goodness knows I wasn’t buying a lot of singles anymore in 2005.

Holy shit, half of these are Benassi Bros garbage. None of them are elligible, though! Dodged a bullet there, didn’t I.

3 - Numb/Encore (JayZ + Linkin Park)

US: #93 / FR: #75

What a blessed mashup. For a few magical months in 2005, all the punk goth kids and the hiphop kids were united under this song’s banner and it felt like world peace had been achieved. It could have pissed off everybody but no! Everyone loved it instead!

“But Johannes, this is just Numb all over again with different lyrics. You can’t keep putting Linkin Park at the top of your lists forever.” Sadly no, I can’t. I know. It’s only #3. Don’t yell at me. Also, the next two songs are genuinely better, at least in my opinion!

2 - Lift Me Up (Moby)

US: Not on the list / FR: #31

I heard this on the radio and bought the album, Hotel, on the grounds that Natural Blues from 2000 was one of my favorite songs ever and than it wouldn’t hurt to actually own an album of that guy after all that time (”all that time” being only five years, but please keep in mind the past three years had felt like ten, and in my mind, they still do ; trauma is one hell of a thing). And a couple of days later that year, we went to Disneyland for my brother’s birthday, and I only had a small bag that could contain my cd player, and the earphones and nothing else. So I could only put one cd in it and that was it.

So I picked Hotel, and I basically retreated inside of it whenever my mother was starting to talk aggressively, which happened a lot in the various queues. So in the end, I listened to that cd a LOT that day and every single time, it would calm me while still being energetic enough to keep me enthusiastic for the various Disneyland rides.

Lift Me Up is energetic but cold, aerial but distant, uplifting but sinister. It was the perfect song for someone who was, at the time, trying to tone down their aggressivity and anger and trying to be masculine but in a softer way, while still staying themselves and not giving up the fight. I absolutely adore this song. It’s perfect.

It instantly joined my list of favorite songs ever that year.

1 - Mr Brightside (The Killers)

US: #16 / FR: Not on the list (this feels so wrong)

If I had to make a top ten of the hits of that entire decade, this would be #2. No debate whatsoever.

Because holy shit.

I was already sold on that band after hearing Somebody Told Me on the radio, which sadly isn’t elligible for this list (I instantly loved it, first because it was catchy as hell, but also because I love the chorus “Well somebody told me you had a boyfriend / Who looked like a girlfriend / That I had in February of last year", because as you already know I tend to be extremely literal minded and my immediate conclusion was “wow you two dated the same trans guy before and after he was out of the closet” and that was highkey relatable and no you can’t change my mind). So I bought the album about two weeks after, mostly blind, because the cd store was playing it and also because Rock Mag said it was great.

That was an understatement. Hot Fuss is one of the best albums of the entire decade and you probably know that already. The first song, Jenny Was a Friend of Mine, floored me right after putting the cd in the player and it felt like the album already reached its peak and there were still 12 tracks after that.

The very next track was Mr. Brightside. And. How do I put this.

There’s like a dozen interpretations possible for this song, and most of them are something like “this guy is so anxious and paranoid he’s gonna break up with this girl because he keeps imagining her cheating with another guy and it might not even be real.”

Now might be a good moment to remind you that at the time, I had a crush on my best friend, and was still firmly in the closet. And this song starts, as everyone knows, with “Coming out of my cage and I've been doing just fine“.

So... yeah. This is the song that accidentally convinced me the closet sucked and did nothing to deter bullies anyway, and that after more than three years of feeling mostly miserable, I should try to be myself and screw the consequences. I know it wasn’t the original intention behind that song. But still.

Godspeed, The Killers. I owe you one, guys.

Next up: Still not able to put Indochine nor Placebo on a list, OP is this close to punching a wall

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

As previously warned, I have a huge number of questions for the fanfic author ask thing. So, here we go: 4, 5, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 33, 36, 37 and then, if that wasn’t already enough, and there is anything you want to answer that I haven’t already asked, then pick one of your choosing to answer as well! 💕

Holy crap you weren’t kidding! lol this is gonna be so much fun!

4: What made you start writing fanfiction?

My 3rd grade teacher, Mr. Gula, gave me a challenge to write out my own ending to my favorite movie or TV show. As I was never really one to back down from a challenge, I went home and wrote out my own story about the first Transformers movie and another one about what I would do if I had been in HIgh School Musical. Yeah... needless to say, I was the Hermione of my grade.

5: Favorite pairing?

I know I don’t write for them, but my top is probably either Dee Dee and Frankie from the Beach Blanket Bingo, Bikini Beach, and Muscle Beach type movies or Seaweed and Penn from Hairspray. Something about those types of romance are sort of sweet to me. Guess I’m just an old soul. I also adore Cory and Topanga form Boy Meets World, but I’m mostly here for the older romances.

6: Least favorite pairing?

I’ll probably get flack for all of my answer, but I’m a little bit opinionated about this lol. The way Ginny and Harry’s relationship in the films was, was just confusing and so not what I had expected from them. The books gave them so much more than the movies ever did. The books were way better. Another case I don’t like was Bella and Edward/Renesmee and Jacob from Twilight. I think the other relationships in Twilight were better (Jasper and Alice are so sweet!) and Stephanie Meyer just kinda tossed Bella and Edward and Renesmee and Jacob together in the hope it would work and it just didn’t.

12: What’s the weirdest fic you’ve ever written?

I can’t believe I’m admitting to this.... I used to write full stories about One Direction. I had a full Niall x OC story I posted on a 1D Imagines group on Facebook that got almost 2,000 likes. It was silly, but, my word, it was almost as long as Broken Record. It spanned over the month of October 2014 and I can’t believe it ot the attention it did. It wasn’t all that good, but I guess it was good enough for people to like it, so that’s alright by me lol

13: Weirdest fic you’ve ever read?

I don’t believe it’s on fanfiction anymore, but I remember the basic info on it. It was Make a Wish by FireBladePrime. It was pretty much a girl made a wish on a shooting star and it made her favorite toys come to life as full size humans. I believe she ended up falling in love with one, but I’m pretty sure it just ended up being something that she came up with in her head when she was in a coma due to a car accident. Definitely a weird one, but it was pretty well written as far as memory serves.

14: Do the people in your life know you write fic? How do they feel about it?

Well, quite a bit of my family knows, actually. It started with just my parents, but my dad was always wanting to show off whatever his baby princess did (I was his only biological child, my older siblings were from my mom’s ex-husband). Dad shared with his siblings, mom shared with her siblings and my grandfather. My nieces and nephews know as well, but I believe that’s it. As far as I know, they are all very supportive and have no problem with it. My neice, Lorali, and nephews, Erek and Drake, have read all of my Teen Beach fics and quote things from them daily just to see if I’ll react, but they mostly just like reading them or having me read to them. They’re very loving and supportive of my writing.

15: Favorite fandom to write for?

I don’t know if I could pick one! I love Teen Beach so much, but I also have a certain affinity for writing small oneshots or “x Reader” style stories for Avengers and Harry Potter which can be found here and here. I do share the Harry Potter page with my sister, but she handles reblogging things to our page. Anyway, those would probably be my top fandoms!

17: What is the harshest criticism you’ve ever gotten on a fic?

Holy crap. Okay, I may or may not have repressed this for a long time, but I have more than one that I can’t decide between. The other one was from a girl in my class who stole my writing notebook and read my writing. Fuck you, Ashley She gave it back to me later that day with marker scribbles all over my writing. She said that I was horrible. The next day, I stole the makeup bag she had brought from her mother’s bathroom and buried it on the playground.

I was a good child that believed in getting even. Nobody found out about that btw.

Anyway, the first real criticism I had on a fic was someone who said, “You have no talent and you shouldn’t be writing. It all sucks and you’ll never go anywhere as an author.” I had actually written this down and, when I felt it no longer mattered to me, I burned it. It took me a couple of years to come to the realization that their opinion didn’t matter to me.

 20: What’s your biggest struggle when it comes to writing fic?

Having time to sit down and write, probably. I usually have great ideas, but, in order to write them out and have them come out alright, I would need to sit down and feel it all come together while I write. I need time that I just don’t have most of the time.

21: Your biggest strength?

When I sit down to write, it all just flies out of me. Once i start, I don’t stop until my idea is all out into either m notebook or my computer. I can have a simple idea that somehow spirals into an eight page chunk that I never thought was possible. I like to think of that as my biggest writing strength.

24: What’s your process?

Write out the “backbone plot” (The stuff that has to happen, no matter what)

Decide on characters. Figure out appearance, personality and basic traits. (Sorta like a sim, I guess)

Bounce ideas with whoever will listen/listen to music (Gain ideas and write them in a small notebook)

Wait for inspiration and time to line up accordingly.

Write as much as I can.

Go back into that later on and edit what needs to be there and delete what isn’t necessary.

Publish!

I hope that’s what this means, at least.

25: Of all the fics you’ve written, which is your favorite?

Most definitely Broken Record and Creating a Rift. It was one of my first published stories and I just adore them.

26: Which of your fics is your least favorite?

I don’t even know how to find it anymore, but it was called Life’s a Rollercoaster. It was a Transformers fic that I had written when I was 11. Never finished it bc I lost the login stuff and it, now that I remember it, sucked hard.

27: What’s your most popular fic? Do you think the popularity is warranted, or is there another fic that you think deserves it more?

Any of them really! I love that Broken Record has had almost 10,000 reads, but I don’t believe it. As I go back over it, I wonder how on earth it gained popularity in the first place, but I couldn’t be happier that it did!

29: Which of your fics was the hardest to write?

My book. Probably the Christmas one, tbh. I only feel the pull to write it around the holidays and that kinda sucks lol

30: Favorite fic writers?

You better know you’re number one, girlie! For those who don’t know, Eleanor here is one of my closest internet friends and she’s practically family to me at this point!

As for other authors, I love Ulurnaga’s Primary Mechanisms story (Transformers). I know she hasn’t updated it since 2014, but it was so good that she could’ve left it at multiple parts and it would’ve been fine. I think it has abot 118 chapters to it. I have a few favorites from AutobotGuy710 who does a lot of Transformers stories basing around adoption (helps for my references and also a better understanding of what goes on a bit in adoptions/foster care). On Tumblr, I have a few faves, but not a ton. I like imagine-and-marvel and potterlyimagines fics a lot, but that’s about it at the moment as I haven’t sat down to read fics in a little while.

31: Do you write just for fun, or would you ever consider pursuing writing?

A bit of both, actually. I mostly enjoy writing my fics as a bit of an escape from reality. I enjoy being able to place myself in a world that doesn’t exist and sort of play around a bit. However, I do actually write as a job. I was working for my county newspaper for a while and that spiraled into me writing my first book, Feather Picked. I am currently writing one of the sequels to Feather Picked which takes the focus from my original main character, Melody, and moves it to her best friend, Roxy. I am planning on publishing a total of at least 5 books, the first four being the chronological 4 that take place over the course of a full year, each taking one season. The last one will be a look into the future, hopefully.

My first book can be found here!

33: Fanfiction pet peeves?

Goodness gracious. As someone who loves English classes, when people don’t place paragraphs correctly or spell simple words correctly, it reeeeeeally grinds my nerves. I will still sit through a story if it’s a well plotted story, but, come on people, at least do proper paragraphing!!!

Also, when people spell “definitely” as “defiantly”...... uuuuuuuuggggghhhhhhhhh

36: Which charachter(s) would you never write for?

For this one, I don’t really have much to say.

Probably characters from shows like soap operas or shows that never seem to end. If I can’t grasp the character’s backstory or personality after watching it because it never stops changing whenever it benefits the story or what the writers have planned, I refuse to write for them. 

Mary Sue types like Bella Swan who are merely the damsel in distress  and are only there to play out the author’s wish to be put in some type of scenario where everyone fawns over them constantly (can be applied to male characters as well).

37: Which character is your favorite to write for?

Out of already made characters: Butchy, Lela, Cheech, Evie, Ben, Harry Hook, Bucky Barnes, Draco Malfoy, Luna Lovegood.

Out of my OCs: Mick, Malina, Roxy Madden, Candi DiMaggio

Since you said I could pick one if I wanted, I’m going to pick #40.

40: Imagine yourself 10 years in the future; do you think you’ll still be writing fic?

I think I will be, yes. I don’t think my ideas for movies and books will ever stop. Especially knowing what I have planned after Creating A Rift is done. But... that’s a story for another time, lol

[scribeofred]

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47!

2. Whatis your latest fandom?

My latestfandom is Batman in terms of fic. There’s a wealth of reading material in it,and it is almost perfectly suited to my preference for brothers-relatedmaterial. There are also some very very very good writers to be found, and I’menjoying being able to consume in a large scale again, at least when I’m notsick of reading due to work.

3. Whatis the best fandom you’ve ever been involved in?

In termsof “this is my ideal place and I am never leaning,” absolutely Thunderbirds. It’salso a… very small fandom, and for a choosy consumer such as myself, that’sbeen a serious problem over the last year or two, what with the departure of alot of my favorite writers. Nevertheless, the world and the characters have embeddeddeep in my heart, and I’ll always be around somewhere in the fandom in one iterationor another.

5. Whichfandoms have your written fanfiction for?

A few! Ihave published fics for TRON: Legacy, Assassin’s Creed, FFVII, Star Wars, Sherlock,Thunderbirds, FFXV, and VLD.

As far asentirely unpublished fandoms… I have an enormous Merlin AU completelyoutlined, but I only wrote snippets of it. Too bad, because it was going to beSO GOOD. Alas, I am no good with monster projects, so it languishes, probablyforever. Unless I post the outline here. Hmm. I could do that…

7. Listyour NoTPs from each fandom you’ve been in.

Oh man. Well.Let’s see. Automatically anything incest or slash, they’re just not my mug ofpomegranate juice. Other than that, I’m relatively fluid when it comes topairings and tend to go in for anything that’s well-written and has dynamicsthat are to my taste, so I rarely hit upon pairings that make me nope entirely out.I tend to just not care about anything that doesn’t strike my fancy.

11. Whois your current OTP?

As notedabove, I am not a hardcore shipper. Favorite pairings come and go depending onmood and whether they’ve become boring due to overuse/overexposure/passage oftime or not. If I had to pick, I’d say I still default to Scott/Penny, though,because I’m still writing ’em.

13. Goon, who are your BroTPs?

Mostrecent fandoms only, in no particular order: Shiro & Pidge, Shiro &Hunk, Keith & Pidge, Keith & Hunk (VLD); Scott & Virgil, Scott& John, insert-all-possible-bro-combinations-here (TB); Dick & Jason,Jason & Stephanie, Jason & Cass, Cass & everyone, Jason & Damian(Batman).

17. Whatship have you written the most about?

I am stillinfluenced a ton by TOS, so as of the last five years, it’s Scott/Penny. They’rethe ultimate power couple, both heirs to enormous fortunes, and let’s face it:they look incredible on each other’s arm. The dynamics are lovely between them,very arch, very clever, and finding ways to make them relax around one anotheris just genuinely my favorite.

19. Anyships which you surprised yourself by liking?

Nyx/Araneafrom FFXV came out of the blue. I think I saw someone had written it once duringone of my only glances at the fandom’s AO3 section, and it lodged in my brain. Imean. I’ve read exactly one (1) fic for them and have written an equal numberof fics with them, and I don’t really think about them on my own time nowadays,but they did click with me, at least very briefly. I also super wasn’texpecting to like Shiro/Allura from VLD, but they touched hands in S2, and Idid that little flappy hand thing and made The Noise, and I knew I was InTrouble.

23. Whatfic do you desperately need to rewrite or edit?

See, I dothis thing. Where once I’ve posted a fic, I am disinclined to reread it withoutsome serious—usually external—prompting. Not because I hate it! But because I’vejust moved on to new ideas—that one has had all the hooks it had in my brainreleased by way of posting the story, and I don’t need to think about it anylonger. I’m not very interested in rewriting old material, although last week Idid reread Three Towels and a Tracy for the first time in a couple years, and Imade a few tiny tweaks to the AO3 version for improved readability. I edit soheavily while I initially write a story, though, that I really don’t leavemyself much room for editing/rewriting at a late date.

Arealistic answer would be “probably the first ten or so stories I posted becauseI know So Much More about writing, especially the technical elements, now thanI did then, and there are undoubtedly many missing/misplaced commas int them.”

29. Whatinspires you to write?

Sometimesit’s vivid mental images that I Must Put Into Words (an upcoming FFVII story);sometimes a piece of art or a song compels me to put words down. Imagery is abig thing in my writing, so it tends to be something visual that sparks aproject, although occasionally combinations of words just *sing* to be put downsomewhere. Truth told, I write for SS and no one else, so yeah, she’s myinspiration.

31. Doyou listen to music when you write or does music inspire you? If so, which bandor genre of music does it for you?

Music inand of itself rarely inspires me these days, with one notable exception, but I dousually listen to it while writing. Anything instrumental gets at least tried,but I lean toward film/game/TV scores (Hans Zimmer yaaaaaasssss), smooth jazz, epicproduction music, and some electronic music. If music is too much for onereason or another, I will pull up a soundscape generator—myNoise is amazing; I’vebeen all over the Black Hole soundscape recently—and let that run on animatefor an hour or two.

37. Doyou use established canon characters, or do you create OCs?

I alwaystry to write canon characters unless it’s necessary to create a person for aspecific scenario. OCs can be hard to connect with unless you’re very good at makingreaders care, so they’re a bit risky. I know I prefer to read about canoncharacters, though, so that drives my thinking when I create plots/scenarios.

41. Listand link to 5 fanfiction authors who are amazing:

@preludeinz is just… one of the best writers you’re ever going to find. The way she’sable to take literally any scenario or characters and make them interestingbaffles me even years into knowing her, and you will not find a better writer todescribe clothing. She’s as brilliant at handling character interactions as sheis at describing lasagna food. Also, her dialogue is A++

lurkinglurkerwholurksis another complete package. Everything about their writing is engaging andfeels so polished, and they have an enviable ability to capture characters’ voices.I’m constantly blown away by the quality of their work, and I’m waiting withbated breath for the next chapter of Nature and Nurture.

@headspacedad writes some of the best stream of consciousness I’ve encountered. The firstchapter of their story Falling took my breath away, and subsequent updatescontinue to knock the air out of me. Writing a character who’s lost a primarysense is no easy feat, but they make it incredibly easy, and indeed the storyis so rich with details that it’s 100% better that way.

If youwant a writer who’s going to challenge you with each chapter, each scene, eachparagraph, each sentence, pollywantsa is absolutely the writer for you. I’mperhaps a tiny bit traumatized by one particular work, but in general every storyis worth reading. There’s a sense of weight to each piece, a gravity that goesbeyond fandom trappings and sinks into your very bones, lives like mercury inthe bottoms of your lungs, dragging you down into the unshakable truths that areinescapably human. Real people make wrong decisions, destroy other people orthemselves; they are crude and profane and selfish and so very beautiful intheir imperfections, and polly will remind you of that with each tone-perfectword they’ve laid down.

Roundingout the list is @velkynkarma. Unusual stories and unique situations that I neverwould have considered reading are some of my favorite stories because of VK’sskill at finding the engaging threads to pull into the light. Space mouse vsCoran? Amazing. Keith + space mouse shenanigans? Incredible. Zarkon + eldritchhorror? Terrifying but so engaging. Slav and Sven AU? Worthy of popcorn. Heapsof Shiro angst? Sign me up. The high quality of both storytelling and technicalskill are not to be missed, and every new story and chapter updated is a TREAT.

(honorarymention: @deepwaterstars for being the sunbeam to my moonbeam

43. Whatship do you feel needs more attention?

Uh… I’mnot sure tbh. I’m not a “shipper,” and I tend to read gen fic as a wholesalerule. I wouldn’t mind seeing a bit more Virgil/Penny, I guess?

47. Doyou leave reviews when you read fanfiction? Why/why not?

Mmmm.See. This is the thing I’m trying to get better about. Because I tend to go ALLIN when I comment and drop a solid 300–500 words, and that takes time, even ifthe words are flowing. I find it hard to write something more modest, because Iknow exactly how much I drool over the writers who leave me enormous comments,and I want to give them the same feelings. I tend to only comment whensomething has truly moved me, especially since I’ve tried to move on from the unasked-forcritique-style reviews. Maybe one day I’ll find a happy middle ground.

ask me about fanfic!

[deputy-sarah-sux]

can i be a psycho and your worst nightmare by asking ALL the writers asks?

You are a demon omg. I love it though this was so much fun to do.Since you didn’t specify fic specifically for some of these questions I’m just gonna write about The Devil Has Come for all of the “in xxx fic” asks.

Answers are below since this is such a long ask :):):)

1) How old were you when you first starting writing fanfiction? 12/13 it was between 7th and 8th grade and it was all anime fanfiction

2) What fandoms do you write for and do you have a particular favourite if you write for more than one?Far Cry 5, RDR2, Assassin’s Creed, DC, Marvel, Fallout, Skyrim, Preacher. Far Cry 5 is definitely my favorite to write for though

3) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer.Personally, I prefer OC’s, with OC’s I can build their character, give them a personality and growth. I like shaping the character as the world changes based on their actions

4) What is your favourite genre to write for?Action or romance unless I totally misread that question

5) If you had to choose a favourite out of all of your multi-chaptered stories, which would it be and why?The Devil Has Come!!! It was my first in the Far Cry fandom and it’s my baby. I love all the characters and the world that I’m building. It’s got action, romance, some twists, it’s exciting

6) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?If we’re talking things that I’m currently writing and enjoy writing then I guess Bridges only because it’s the same characters as TDHC just in an AU form so I’d survive without it.

7) When is your preferred time to write?Night, 10pm on basically.

8) Where do you take your inspiration from?Everywhere really? TV shows, movies, video games, other fics

9) In your xxx fic, what’s your favourite scene that you wrote?So far my favorite scene that I wrote in TDHC that has been published was either the confrontation with Rook in Chapter 11 or Jacob finding Sarah in the hotel in Chapter 8. They were both really fun to write.

10) In your xxx fic, why did you decide to end it like that? Did you have an alternate ending in mind?Well it hasn’t been ended yet, but there were two possible endings that I was originally considering. I’m not saying much more other than the ending that I went with is gonna hurt me when I eventually get to it.

11) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it?Not after posting but I have amended stories due to criticisms. If I’m a bit worried about a particular scene I’ll share the doc with my best lady @farcryfuckmeup and get her opinion. She usually points out things that aren’t great and I go from there. She’s the closet thing to a beta reader that I have.

12) Who is your favourite character to write for? Why?Sarah!!! She’s my best girl and I love her personality and attitude. In terms of canon characters though I’ve been writing some stuff from Arthur Morgan’s pov and that’s been really fun too. I really love playing around with his sense of self and morality.

13) Who is your least favourite character to write for? Why?I don’t have one yet? We’ll see how the future plays out there. It might be Ethan Seed but I’ve never written stuff for him so I’m not 100% sure.

14) How did you come up with the title for the xxx? - You can ask about multiple stories.Almost every fic name is from a song. The Devil Has Come is from Blues Saraceno’s “The River”, Icarus is from Bastille’s “Icarus”, and I’m not sure where Bridges is from but I’m 90% sure it was a song. The series that TDHC and it’s connected stories are a part of is called Bottom of the River from Delta Rae’s “Bottom of the River”.

15) If you write OC’s, how do you decide on their names?I use name generators for modern characters or look up names with a specific meaning. If the character is from the past (ie cowboy times or pirate times) I look up names popular in that century. Sarah’s name I got by looking up popular names with religious meanings and Sarah was on the list.

16) How did you come up with the idea for xxx?I came up with the idea for TDHC by playing co-op with @farcryfuckmeup. It was originally supposed to be a crackfic based on the dumbshit we did in-game. Then in my desperation to pretend that the game didn’t end the way it ends I started coming up with ways it could have gone differently and thus my fic was born.

17) Post a line from a WIP that you’re working on.I have so many wips! I’ll do a few because I’m in a sharing mood.Fallout 4 WIP: “‘You don’t even use power armor, why did you steal so many?’”RDR2 WIP: “Valentine was a crap town with crap people and even crappier whiskey. It was tiny and smelled like mud and horse shit and something else that she was pretty sure was vomit.”Another RDR2 WIP: “Trouble was the bastard was clingy apparently as he was hot on Arthur’s heel.”

18) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?Yes, a few. I got bored or I decided to focus on other things. I do intend to one day finish them but who knows

19) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to?The Devil Has Come!!! I can’t wait to write a sequel and I haven’t even finished the current fic.

20) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?Sometimes I wish I’d written a follow up to my judge fic Joseph and his Judge. I’m not totally sure if I like how it ended.

21) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?@farcryfuckmeup first and foremost, she’s amazing. I also love gwennolmarie and OutlandishWhalesharks on Archive of Our Own.

22) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it?My anime fics from middle school. It’s still posted and I won’t tell you what it’s called but every time I remember it a little part of me dies.

23) Do you prefer listening to music when you’re writing or do you need silence?Music mostly but it sometimes depends on the scene. For certain scenes I need silence but for the most part it’s music music music. I have playlists for all sorts of scene types.

24) How do you feel about writing smutty scenes?I love it, idk if I’m any good at it but I do like writing them.

25) Have you ever cried whilst writing a story?Yes, I’ve been writing some future parts of TDHC and I have cried a bit writing some of it.

26) Which part of your xxx fic was the hardest to write?The smut scene in Chapter 10 of TDHC, it was the first smut scene I’d ever published so I was really worried about that and kept rewriting it.

27) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow?Bit of both I guess. There is a vague outline in my head but only for like the big events, everything in between is go with the flow shit.

28) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fanfiction?It’s not going to be an instant hit. When I first started posting works back in the day I was always so upset when I’d check the next day and see only like 12 people had read it.

29) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?Icarus :(   It’s only a baby fic and it’s in a mostly dead fandom but I love it.

30) In contrast to 29 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?No, I love all the attention my fics get.

31) Send me a fic recommendation and I’ll post it for my followers to see! (The asker is to send the rec not the answerer)I’m gonna recommend one myself. Since this is a Far Cry blog I’ll recommend a Far Cry fic: come a little closer by lowtides on AO3Also here’s a Fallout 4 fic that isn’t finished but I absolutely love: RAIDERHEAD by TaraTargaryen

32) Are any of your characters based on real people?No real people no. Thomas is a combination of a few fictional characters though.

33) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?I’ve gotten a few comments of analysis on chapters I’ve posted and honestly I love that so much. Nothing warms my heart more than seeing that someone not only read my fic but sat there and actually thought a lot about it.

34) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?Like I said before I haven’t gotten a lot of criticism, but I guess the harshest for me was when I was discussing a character that I had really started to like and my friend (who I was ranting at about him) asked me to honestly think about what he brings to the table. Like is he actually necessary or just a throwaway character that won’t bring much to the story? I ended up scrapping him and putting a nameless character in his place to fill a few of his scenes.

35) Do you share your story ideas with anyone else or do you keep them close to your chest?I share them with one (1) person and that person is my irl best friend @farcryfuckmeup. Everyone else has to wait until I post stuff I don’t want to spoil any big surprises.

36) Can you give us a spoiler for one of your WIP’s?It’s a chapter very far in the future for a fic I’m sure you can guess but I won’t outright say.“Against his better judgment, he reached out and grabbed the hysteric woman, tightening his grip against her struggling and pulling her into his lap. He wrapped her in a tight hug until she finally began to calm down, humming softly and running his fingers through blood-soaked hair.“

37) What’s the funniest story you’ve written?I haven’t written a lot of funny stuff. I mostly do angsty. But when I was in middle school a wrote a novel where I spent two paragraphs talking about my MC’s hair color and current outfit and I cackle every time I read it. 70 pages or pure cringe, it’s hilarious.

38) If you could collab with any other writer on here, who would it be? (Perhaps this question will inspire some collabs!) If you’re shy, don’t tag the blog, just name it.@farcryfuckmeup hmu bitch!also you @onl-you

39) Do you prefer first, second or third person?Third, every now and then I write in first but idk I just don’t like it much.

40) Do people know you write fanfiction?My close friends do

41) What’s you favourite minor character you’ve written?Thomas Moore, he’s a lot of fun to write for.

42) Song fic - What made you decide to use the song xxx for xxx.I don’t actually have any song fics in the traditional sense. I do however have some fics inspired by songs. I listen to music almost constantly, sometimes a song comes on that gives my fic vibes and I add it to my prompt playlist.

43) Has anyone ever guessed the plot twist of one of your fics before you posted it?@/farcryfuckmeup has but I don’t try too hard to keep secrets when she’s around

44) What is the last line you wrote?“John rolled his eyes and finished unbuttoning his shirt.”

45) What spurs you on during the writing process?This is cliche probably but the readers. I don’t want to leave someone waiting around for the next update forever. I also want to see how things play out myself so my own desire to see the finished product also helps.

46) I really loved your xxx fic. If you were ever to do a sequel, what do you think might happen in it?Again, going with TDHC for this. I am writing a sequel currently (I know it’s not done). It’s going to focus on a different character but Sarah will make appearances. I’m also working on a standalone sequel for her but that won’t be posted until the first sequel fic is complete.

47) Here’s a fic title - insert a made-up title. What would this story be about?I used a title generator: Hidden Midnight. It’s about a pair of idiots in love, one is a vampire so they can only meet at night and it’s very secretive. The human dies at the end.

48) What’s your favourite trope to write?Forced partnerships. I love it when two characters are forced into a partnership. One of them can’t fucking stand the other but slowly grows to like/love them in secret. If the chill one is in danger the annoyed one freaks the fuck out and does everything they can to get to their partner and afterwards claims they couldn’t care less what happened.

49) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?I don’t remember the name of it but I’m pretty sure it was a Supernatural fic. I think it was Destiel (don’t just middle school me) and a high school AU. I’m not 100% sure. It was either that or a Fairy Tail fic and I like to forget my anime days.

50) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?Angst. I love fluff and smut but in the end, I always go back to angst. It’s so much fun and there are so many ways to do it.

[goforwardgreenwriter-blog]

The Worm Reads: Empire of Storms, Ch 30 - 31

We got a special treat for y’all today; a double update! Mostly ‘cause the next few chapters are gonna be massive fish to boil, and ‘cause I love you guys.

After two weeks of inching across the muddy open plains, Elide was tired of using her mother’s name.

Christ, I completely forgot about this subplot. Bad pacing who?

Elide says she’s barely interacted with Lorcan or slept by him which is. What. I thought you were supposed to be smart, Elide! You’re pretending he is your husband, if you two act all distant someone is gonna get suspicious. I thought you were better than this....

Lorcan stalked ahead and said without looking back, “We finished at the three dungeons and their entrances yesterday night. Tell me about what’s inside them.”

Elide gets all nervous and Lorcan points out her scent has changed, which is just, ah.... oof. SJM you uh, you got something you wanna tell the class? Something about a werewolf kink, perhaps?

Elide refuses to spill the beans and Lorcan gets all pissy.

We have a bargain, girl.” Elide met that depthless gaze. “You did not specify when I had to tell you. So I may take as much time as I wish to recall details, if you desire to wring every last one of them from me.”

There’s the Elide I know! Finally, a character doesn’t have to be all powerful and magical to succeed and be an actual force.

“What are you,” [Lorcan] said quietly. “I am nothing,” [Elide] said, voice hollow. Maybe once she found Aelin and Aedion, she’d find some purpose, some way to be of use to the world.

Aaaaand take it back. Unless you’re serving Aelin, you’re useless and have no purpose! Or you’re an evil slutty bitch who should be put down. I am so fucking tired.

They finally finish their bickering session and return to the others, then we switch to Lorcan’s POV. They’re setting up tents for everyone, including one for Elide/Lorcan.

Ombriel came forward, throwing her usual wary glance his way, and slyly informed Elide they’d finally have a night alone together. Arms full of logs, Lorcan could only watch as that pale face of sorrow and despair transformed into youth and mischief, into blushing anticipation, as easily as if Marion had held up a mask.

Finally. It’s like you two want this plan to fail or something.

“I’ll sleep on the ground,” [Lorcan] offered blandly. “You take the roll.” “What if someone comes in?” “Then you’ll say we got into a fight.” “Every night?” Marion pivoted, her rich eyes meeting his. The cold, weary face was back.

zzzzzzzz this drama is so boring please progress the plot or do something of interest

They bicker more about Lorcan getting a bath and he asks her how badly her leg hurts. Such riveting dialogue.

Lorcan’s thoughts drifted toward Rowan and his bitch-queen.

Jfc. At least we’re spared Lorcan splooging over them, instead thinking about how much he hates them and how Rowboat was an idiot for falling in love with Alien. Damn, you know it’s bad when I agree with Lorcan.

Lorcan was about to leave when [Elide] said, “My uncle … He is a commander at Morath.”

So Elide drops that bomb, and Lorcan offers to kill her uncle. Not much else happens. This subplot is so mind numbingly boring and dumb. Next!

Well, on the one hand, at least Rolfe’s map worked. It had been Rowan’s idea, actually. And she might have felt slightly guilty for letting Aedion and Lysandra believe the Pirate Lord had only gone after the Amulet of Orynth, but … at least they now knew his unholy map functioned.

This is the first paragraph + sentence of chapter 31. Who is she? Use names when switching to a new POV gdi!!! Alien doesn’t get name dropped until the bottom half of this page.

As for the rest of it … It was just past midnight when Aelin wondered how the hell she and Rowan would ever go back to normalcy if they survived this war.

I’m imagining it’ll be something akin to the A Court of Wings and Ruin; where you guys will angst about how much the war cost you and how everything is different, but in actuality nobody you cared about died and no one important was even permanently injured, and the supposed trauma was just an excuse for porn.

Alien and Rowboat dramatically sneak into a room through the window, using Rowboat’s magic to close it. Gav and Fenrys are waiting inside.

“You could have used the door,” Fenrys said, arms crossed—a bit too casually. “Why bother when a dramatic entrance is so much more fun?” Aelin countered.

Because this isn’t a video game and you’re a princess who is supposed to be a good diplomat and ruler? I’ll forgive SJM if Alien becomes queen, pulls dramatic shit like this, and is instantly banished from the kingdom and Darrow is crowned king. I’d pay extra to read that.

Gavriel’s tattooed hands closed into loose fists. “You deny me the right to see my son and yet you barge into our room in the dead of the night to demand we divulge information about our blood-sworn queen.” “One, I did not deny you anything, kitty-cat.”

Gav deserves better than to have to put up with Alien’s edgy teenager bullshit. She sounds straight out of the 2012 internet phase.

Fenrys asks if Alien has Settled yet for.... some reason. It’s explained here;

She knew enough about it—the transition pureblooded Fae, and some demi-Fae, went through once their bodies locked into immortal youth. It was a rough process, their bodies and magic needing months to adjust to the sudden freezing and reordering of their aging process. Some Fae had no control over their power—some lost it entirely during the time it took to Settle.

Basically it’s an excuse for SJM’s character to stay young appearing and beautiful forever. Because if you’re old in a SJM book you’re instantly not hot and therefore, not good enough for porn.

“How does she do it?” Aelin asked baldly. “With Rowan, it’s not … Every order I give him, even casual ones, are his to decide what to do with. Only when I actively pull on the bond can I get him to … yield. And even then it’s more of a suggestion.” “It is different with her,” Gavriel said softly. “Dependent on the ruler it is sworn to. You two took the oath to each other with love in your hearts. You had no desire to own or rule him.”

Are we really out here praising and kissing Alien’s ass for not treating her boyfriend like a slave? Are you fucking kidding me???? Next we’ll have them weeping in joy at Alien wiping her ass after taking a shit.

She gave him a little smile that she knew drove Rowan and Aedion insane, and—yes. It seemed it was a surefire way to piss off any Fae male, because ire flashed across Fenrys’s stupidly perfect face.

I fucking hate Alien. Also we get it, Fenrys is drop dead gorgeous like everyone else, you can stop now.

Fenrys’s edged smile flashed. “Oh, the losses of Fae lives would be of little concern to [Maeve]. It likely just increases her excitement about it.” “Careful,” Gavriel said. Gods, he nearly sounded identical to Aedion with that tone.

Hhhhhh stop I hate Assdion.... stop making me fucking have feelings over how much he resembles Gav....

“If we say she gave us the order to take everything,” Fenrys drawled, bracing his hands behind him on the bed, “will you kill us, Heir of Fire?” “It’ll depend on how useful you prove to be as an ally,” Aelin simply said. The weight hanging between her breasts beneath her shirt rumbled as if in answer.

“That’s it?” Fenrys demanded. “Do we get to know what you plan to do with this information, or are we just your lackeys, too?”

Sorry Fenrys, them’s the rules. You either bow down to SJM’s perfect snowflake protagonist or you’re a villain who deserves to be slut shammed and killed off.

Rowboat and Alien start making out. Skip!

Oh, gods—this. This was what drove her out of her mind—this fire between them. They could burn the entire world to ashes with it. He was hers and she was his, and they had found each other across centuries of bloodshed and loss, across oceans and kingdoms and war.

You’re just making out, it is literally not that deep. I hate SJM trying to sell her romances as epic world stoppers. No, you two are not Aragorn and Arwen. You both are just horny assholes who deserve to rot.

“Even when you’re in another kingdom, Aelin, your fire is still in my blood, my mouth.” She let out a soft moan, arching into him as his hand grazed her backside, not caring if anyone spotted them in the streets below.

JESUS CHRIST HAVE SOME RESTRAINT YOU SHAMELESS FUCKERS. And no, they don’t actually have sex here. Just you wait, SJM has something special in store for that.

Thank god this chapter is over. But it is only a preview into the madness SJM has in store for us several chapters down the road......

[creideamhgradochas]

Thanks to the lovely @interestedbystanderwrites​ for taking the time to answer these! Get to know more about lovely Cass, go give her a follow and then show her some love!

These questions are from this list. You should check it out, there’s 50 questions all together and they’d be great to ask your favorite fic writer!

1) How old were you when you first starting writing fan-fiction?

Ha! I was a teenager and it was Backstreet Boys – and smut didn’t exist the same way it does now but that’s another opinion for another day. What I wrote then was cutesy and romantic, probably because that was what I was daydreaming about, I guess. Just a reminder that my blog is NSFW if you’re under 18.

2) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer.

I think I can get more depth from an OC but you also risk the Mary-Sue and you may pigeonhole your OC in race, sexuality etc. That can really open a can of worms with the reader, which is wholly understandable. Reader inserts are great in the way you can make it 100% person to the reader. They should imagine themselves (if that’s their choice) and not feel that the writer has alienated them in any way somehow but it is still difficult to please everybody.

3) What is your favorite genre to write for?

I like fluff – I like things that make you smile at the end, give the reader a little cuddle to maybe brighten their day.

4) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?

One that never made my masterlist – a Spider-Man super angst titled “How Long Do You Want to be Loved?”. I thought it as okay, pretty good even – but I guess people just want Bucky or Sebastian smut haha I hear you all!

5) When is your preferred time to write?

Morning when the little guy is napping ☺ Evening is hard because it’s when I play adulting catch up… or try not to fall asleep on the couch.

6) Where do you take your inspiration from?

I have a very overactive imagination, always have. And for most of my fics, I guess it’s pretty obviously the beautiful aesthetics of Sebastian Stan and to a lesser extent, Bucky Barnes.

7) In your Time Only Flies When You’re Around Series, what’s your favorite scene that you wrote?

Chapters 27 and 28 of TOFWYA – more so 28 as you get a pretty interesting insight into Sasha’s and Sebastian’s ways of coping when they’re out of sync. Long story short, they’re a mess.

8) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it?

Luckily – none! The joys of a smolblog maybe?

9) Who is your favorite character to write for? Why?

I love writing for Buckster – he’s a complex devil and has a lot of layers to work with and a body to die for. Thumbs up for the material, Sebastian.

10) Who is your least favourite character to write for? Why?

As per mentioned before – Peter Parker. That fic scarred me.

11) How did you come up with the title for the Time Only Flies When You’re Around Series?

It’s actually a song lyric as are the first few chapter titles: Belinda Carlisle – Valentine

I made a rule about you, I made a plan // For getting my feet back on the ground // Bury my face in clouds, for hours on end // But time only flies when you're around

12) How did you come up with the idea for the Time Only Flies When You’re Around Series?

I was just writing some stuff, pissfarting around and all of a sudden I’d written something similar to what Chapter 22 ended up being and that’s how it all began. 150k words of nonsense really.

13) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

Many – but there is a long Bucky multichap fic that deserves more of my attention. As his story has evolves via MCU, the story has changed a little.

14) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to?

I write one shots to TOFWYA, I don’t think I could write the sequel to it though. I’ve considered a full fic for Take Me to the Water but I doubt I will for an AU. Any sequels will be little one shots so at this stage, there is nothing planned.

15) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?

I ended Next Year very kitsch – I regret the last sentence as it currently is: You gave him a small smile, overwhelmed by his words. “I love you too, Bucky Barnes.” Blurgh.

16) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?

How much time do you have for me to talk about @whostheblondegirlwriting​? Truly. My fandom soul mate. We are separated by far too many kilometres and time zones, but between her job and me mummying, we’re chatting at all hours of the day. She is a true gem and I adore her.

17) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it?

Luckily, it’s not available on A03 or Tumblr, but it’s still online elsewhere because I thought about it a few weeks ago – it was a Lords of Dogtown fic… and it was not good. Saying that, anything before that I would cringe at anything I’d written anyway ha!

18) Do you prefer listening to music when you’re writing or do you need silence?

Definitely music or the sound of the baby monitor that I find quite soothing.

19) Have you ever cried whilst writing a story?

Argh. “How Long Do You Want to be Loved” messed me up. Too many parental feels.

20) Which part of your Time Only Flies When You’re Around Series was the hardest to write?

The proposal. I went over it a thousand times. I thought, should it be romantic, should it be grand, should it be this or that? How it happened, just a couple in love, in the city they love, being themselves just seemed to fit when it finally came together.

21) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow?

I occasionally outline – but mostly I just write, write, write and then start toying with it afterwards. I’m constantly chopping and changing, but I’m not pedantic about planning. It isn’t that kind of fic. Other multichaps I put a bit more planning and emphasis on.

22) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fan-fiction?

You’re only as good as your last fic and its reblogs. If you’re going to get hung up on likes/reblogs/comments, you’ll never publish something again. But it can be bloody disheartening at times.

23) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?

Time Only Flies When You’re Around? Haha busted my ass on that beast for over a year. It has the hits but likes and comments are encouraging when received. When. I always considered publishing it on Tumblr, but I don’t know. It’s freely available on A03.

24) In contrast to 23 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?

Smut talks – I think Heatstroke is a little silly. But it gets hits.

25) Are any of your characters based on real people?

Nope – any characters, inc OC’s are all fictional. I don’t know if I could handle people in my real life if they were like my OC’s!

26) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?

Any body that takes the time to leave a ‘yes!’, ‘omg’ to paragraphs of reiterating your story back to you – it’s amazing! Taking the time to leave a writer a comment makes our day.

27) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?

It still makes me laugh when I read it, not quite verbatim but it was along the lines of ‘I loved this fic but it’s gone a total 180. I’ll see how you continue but you know, I’m probably out of here’. While I know you can’t please anyone, it’s a strange comment. I’m old enough to appreciate constructive criticism. This was neither here nor there, but still hilarious!

28) Do you share your story ideas with anyone else or do you keep them close to your chest?

Back to my love, @whostheblondegirlwriting, we’re constantly taunting the other or beta’ing each others stuff when we have time to help the other (let alone write our own stuff!).

29) Do people know you write fan-fiction?

In real life? No. On this hellsite? I have made some amazing writing friends!

30) What’s you favorite minor character you’ve written?

Ollie in TOFWYA – she’s a completely stereotypical New Yorker, brash, in your face and on the other hand, Sasha’s best friend in the world and they’d do anything for each other. If you knew Ollie in real life, you’d absolutely hate her.

31) What spurs you on during the writing process?

People simply enjoying your work and letting you know is the most amazing aphrodisiac. I’ll never stop writing – whether it’s for myself or for other people to enjoy. Don’t ever be scared to let a writer know if you’ve enjoyed their work or if you haven’t, a writer should be able to accept your constructive criticism and will probably appreciate your feedback if you take the time to provide it respectfully! If you’re going to go on anon and talk shit, just don’t bother. It’s boring, childish and completely unoriginal. Shows true testament to your personality offline.

32) What’s your favorite trope to write?

Friends to Lovers. THEY WERE FRIENDS AND NOW THEY ARE… LOVERS!

33) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?

Not a clue – but will assume it’s Backstreet Boys-related!

34) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?

Smut will get you the hits but fluff is forever.

[echelonlab-blog]

Reigning Madness – Chapter 31

Masterlist

Disclaimer: Fiction.

Warnings: None for this chapter

Tagging: @hazeleyedleto @msroxyblog @letojokerownsme @miss-shannanigans @snewsome756   @maliciousalishious   @nikkitasevoli@meghan12151977 @mindlessselfindulgence88 @sanellv @ambolton@jayded-reality @bradlea23@spillinginkwithlove @alexis7215@dezmarz@pezziecoyote@whoistheprettiest @avaj99  @iridescxntsolitude @pheenixpeterson @guccilowell

         Caroline's POV

    The feel of his soft lips on mine sent my mind into a complete state of intoxication. Shifting sideways, I deepened the kiss, wrapping my arms around his neck while my body relaxed against the wall behind me. The feel of his fingernails moving along my skin, under the hem of my pajama pants, gave me goosebumps and set my skin on fire at the same time.

    We were so lost in the moment, but the sound of a door closing, made me bite down hard on his bottom lip. Dropping my arms to my sides, I watched him jerk his head back with a sigh. "Ow!" I stared at Emma, who stood there, eyes bulging and her mouth dropped open. The crease in her forehead was prominent as she moved forward. "Sorry to bother you, but Jared, I need your signature."

 He raised his fingers to his lip to check for blood and when he realized there was none, he glared at me. "Don't go anywhere," it sounded more like a direct order rather than a suggestion. I watched him turn and snatch the papers from her hand without uttering a single word. He leaned forward and picked up the pen lying on the table, signing whatever she had ready for him. She gave me a little grin, but her blank expression quickly returned and she whispered something to him. He seemed annoyed when he responded back and they went back and forth a bit.

   I took the time to straighten my clothing and prepare myself for what I was going to say to him. Unfortunately, my thoughts were all over the place. I was angry as hell with him for spoiling my night with Shannon one minute, and then next, God only knows what would have happened if we hadn't been interrupted. He handed the papers back to her and their eyes met, appearing to carry on a silent conversation of their own before she exited. He locked the door and stood there, head pressed against the door, still facing away from me. I knew he was gathering his thoughts as well.

  Taking a few steps toward him, I said what I was sure he was thinking. "You don't have to say anything, I'll do it for you. What just happened between us...." his phone rang and he held his finger up to quiet me. It wasn't until he answered, sweet talking Susan, that I threw my hands in the air in frustration and walked away. I stormed off to my room to pack. Snatching up the clothing lying around the room, I threw them into my suitcase with fury. How dare he kiss me so passionately and then speak to her like that, like it meant nothing to him, but then again, what did I expect? I was the one completely confused about how that kiss made me feel.

 My insides twisted as warm tears rolled down my face. I had to get packed since we had a flight to catch. The only thing I knew for certain was that I wasn't Susan and refused to behave like she did all those years ago.

I was completely ready to go when he finally approached me. The sunglasses were on his face and I was positive he couldn't look me in the eye after what happened. "Listen, I just wanted to apologize about earlier. I just.."

I cut him off and beat him to it. "It was a mistake, so.... you stay out of my business and I'll stay out of yours." I heard him calling my name as I walked into the hallway. Shannon and Tomo were with Emma, waiting in the lobby and we all rode to the airport in complete silence. I sat next to Shannon, who apologized repeatedly about bailing the night before. At least with Shannon, I knew what I was getting myself into. He was upfront and honest about what he wanted, he had no reason to lie or play games. The plane took us to the next stop on the tour and we arrived at the new hotel.

When we separated after exiting the elevator, Jared leaned in, "There was a little mix-up." He opened the door and I was stunned to see a regular hotel room. No huge suite like in the past few cities. What really shocked me, was the king size bed in the small room. "There's some kind of convention and this was all they had available."

   I frowned, dropping my purse on the chair. "Perhaps we could try another hotel."

He gave me a sarcastic laugh, "Perhaps not, did you not hear what I said? There's a fucking convention and we are lucky to have this, but feel free to try sweetheart." He walked over to the bathroom and opened the door, checking it out.

Jared's sarcastic comment instantly got my back up. It had been a long day after a series of long days and all I wanted was a hot bath and to curl up in bed somewhere far away from Jared. Now I was going to be stuck in this tiny little room with him and he had the nerve to get snappy with me? If it hadn't been so good for the label and my boss wasn't so happy to have me engaging in this little charade I'd have grabbed my bags and headed for the next flight back to L.A., no doubt about it. Somehow I had to get through the rest of these two weeks.

   “It was a simple question,” I told Jared, trying to keep my voice even. “There's no need to be nasty about it. None of this is my fault.”

   “I'm going to take a shower,” he announced without even looking at me or acknowledging me.

   “Better make it a cold one,” I mumbled. If he heard me he gave no indication, just shut the bathroom door firmly behind him.

   I started unpacking my things. I thought about seeing if Emma would let me bunk with her, but considering how much she was coming and going I didn't think I would get any sleep if I did. At least we weren't due to stay in this city long, we were flying back out after tomorrow night's show. I just had to get through tonight. I pulled out my Kindle and settled myself in the chair to read and wait for my turn in the bathroom.

   I tried to concentrate on the mystery novel I had started on the plane, but my thoughts kept going back to this morning. Jared had caught me completely off guard. I had been so mad at him, so tired of the strange way he had been behaving ever since this all started. I was already all spun up from the.. well, whatever it was between Shannon and me, and he had just slipped past my defenses. It wasn't fair, but that wasn't the worst thing about it. The worst thing was I couldn't decide how I felt about any of it. It was a lot more complicated than deciding whether or not I was attracted to Jared. Why the hell, out of all the nasty fame and attention whores in L.A., did it have to be Susan that was the other part of this picture?

   I sat there, pretending to read the same paragraph over and over while my mind did its gymnastics until Jared finally came back out of the bathroom. He was damp and wearing nothing but a white hotel towel cinched around his waist. Leaving no doubt as to what my hormones thought of the situation my stomach did a little flip at the sight of his sculpted form. Down girl, this is not the time, I thought.

   Jared must have caught the look I was giving him because he smirked at me and then stretched himself out on the bed, arms behind his head. He looked so smug, so sure of himself I wanted to smack the grin right off his face. Or kiss it off. Jesus Caroline, get yourself in order. Instead of calming myself down, however, I inexplicably decided to start a fight with him.

   “Maybe if you call down to the desk, they can bring you up some extra pillows. It should make the floor more comfortable.” I told him. The smirk on his face vanished quickly.

   “You're not really going to make me sleep on the floor, are you? I'm sure we can behave ourselves. We're both grownups.”

   “Well, one of us is,” I said sarcastically. “The other one of us is behaving like a horny 16-year-old boy who gave up his balls to the first whore who came along.”

   “Don't call Cynamon names like that," he said flatly, always quick to jump to her defense, even when she wasn't around. What kind of spell did she have him under anyway?

   “Hey, if the stripper pole fits....”

   Jared's lips became a thin, hard line. “Whatever. I'm sleeping in the bed.”

   “Fine.” I started throwing my belongings back into my suitcase. “If I'm sharing a bed with someone tonight, at least I'm going to pick someone fun. I bet Shannon could make some room for me.” I had made it all the way to the door when Jared finally responded.

   “Maybe you should think twice about who is behaving like a whore.”

   I felt like someone had thrown a bucket of ice on me. I whirled around, ready to give Jared the full weight of my wrath when I saw the horrified look on his face. I realized that neither one of us meant for this to take the direction it had. “Jared...”

   “I am so sorry, Caroline. I don't know what got into me.” He got up from the bed and quickly moved towards me. “I didn't mean it. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry."

   “I know. I'm sorry too.” The truth was everything felt like it was getting a little more out of control every minute. I had a lot of things going through my head and I wasn't getting any closer to figuring them out with Jared never more than ten feet from me.

   “What are we doing here?” he asked sheepishly.

   “I don't know but I think it might be a good idea if we retreated to neutral corners for a bit.” I grabbed my purse. “I'm going to go down and have a drink or two at the hotel bar. Please, for the love of all that is holy, don't follow me.”