#but at the same time “man if I ever wanna a crossover with these I’d have to write it myself”

[no1ryomafan]

SRW is such a funny thing for me to think about cause it’s like “wow a trpg game that’s been ongoing for decades that really encapsulates how huge and significant mecha is to japan by having every and all mecha been featured in this giant crossover that also has really cool attack animations that replicate the shows they’re from well, with new original content for some shows sprinkled in as well” at first glance then I proceed to be salty by going “oh wait the main show I like in here is only ever used for one iteration which they end up butchering and all the other mechas I’ve liked have shown up maybe once because I’ve liked the ones that had to flop in Japan- also this game caused tags to be unnecessarily filled with crossovers and people acting like they know a series just because it was in SRW thanks I hate it” and this cycle is only a constant because I haven’t actually played a SRW besides 30s demo for a bit 💀

[moron-hassaikai-and-more]

Character ask: hojo!!

:0 UNDERRATED CRYSTAL BOI!!

Quick heads up: there’s brief overdose mention and suicide right at the end so be wary of that if you think that’ll be triggering to you.

What I like about him: How much he clearly cares for Tabe and Setsuno (blah blah the camaraderie warms my heart, blah blah trauma from having no friends in school blah blah), pretty Crystals, buff man make brain go brrr.

What I dislike about him: that one screenshot where you can see he’s got stubble under his mask. No. Fucking shave your face dude. You already shave your head. Also that he got no screen time outside of getting his ass kicked :’)

Favourite moment: explaining why he and the other 2/3s of the trash trio are so close and that they’re not worth anything without each other (EEEEEEEEEE-)

Least favourite moment:

Cries at that panel

Situations I want to see more: Give me day to day trash trio shenaniganary. I want them doing normal stuff: going grocery shopping, hanging out with the other bullets, pestering overhaul, just slice of life stuff. I’d also love his relationships with Toya and Tabe to be developed more. Like, yeah, they’re trash but with each other they’re trash with meaning (EEEEEEEE-*is knocked out) but I want to know the actual dynamics. Toya is supposed to be the leader, do they actual respect that? (See more on this in the head cannon bit)

Interesting AU: One where he’s in a bizarre interlinked family tree with like, 6 others from the series. This is one me and my bf made, I dubbed it the Sin AU because each person’s quirk is from one of the seven deadly sins: Midnight is Lust, Deidoro is Gluttony, Monoma is Envy, Hojo is Greed, Tiger is Sloth, and there were two more I can’t recall at the current time. It doesn’t really do much other than add another layer of depth to the character, but I think it’s cool none the less. (Also I wanna see how the family reunions would go lol)

Crossover: Give this man a cavern crasher, give this man a rock stomper, we’re going to Berk, Gadies and Lents. I wanna see the entire Hassaikai with dragons from how to train your dragon so bad!! (I actually have headcannons for everyone! If you want to know I’ll elaborate in the notes)

OTP: ok ok ok. It’s weird, I know, but you gotta hear me out on this one: Hojo and Pixie Bob. The reason I say this is linked back to the Sin AU (Ibara must have coded my iPad or something, it won’t let me type sin without autocorrecting to sun a million times) because I Headcannon Deidoro and Ragdoll to be friends/partners/no one can fucking tell, so because Ragdoll and pixie are best friends, and in that au Deidoro and hojo were brothers, plus Hojo and tiger were related, it just kinda fell into place. Plus Pixie is super desperate for a partner and I feel like Hojo gets zero bitches, he’s the human embodiment of the ‘No bitches?’ Meme. Anyways.

Other ships: Overhaul and Chrono (because under no circumstance will I ever split them up). Purely cos I saw a post saying that entire rant about the trash trio being useless without overhaul and them owing everything to him was said by Hojo, not Setsuno, and it sounding like he had a crush on him.

BROTP: the rest of the trash trio. Duh.

NOTP: anyone from the league except now that I think about it I can weirdly see him working with Magne? …hm. And any pro too.

Headcannon time!!!

1. While Setsuno is the ‘leader’ of the trash trio, and he’s good at it, don’t get me wrong, he can definitely strategise and knows what he’s doing, he’s terrible at just…existing day to day life, so Hojo typically has to help him. He’s his common sense, in a way. He’s to Setsuno what Tengai is to Rappa, just both are a lot happier with the arrangement.

2. He and Setsuno actually knew each other before they joined the hassiakai, not well but they attended the same school and had a few classes together.

3. He’s 22 years old and the oldest of the trash trio. He’s also the third tallest in the bullets at 6’1 (only Rappa and Katsukame are taller cos…yeah. Btw this is completely ignoring the canon evidence showing otherwise because Tabe is not allowed to be tall. He is baby and he is no taller than 5’3 and I will bite anyone who says otherwise. I’m only saying this because I want to be taller than at least one person in the hassiakai-)

4. Sad backstory time. He was orphaned: his dad cheated on his mum before Hojo was born and his mum died of a drug overdose when he was around four. He was then moved to live with his aunt who..wasn’t an amazing parent but was better than what he had previously. As he got older, about 16, he found out what actually happened with his parents, and attempted to find his dad. He eventually managed to get in contact with him- however his dad wanted nothing to do with him. This destroyed him and he attempted to end his life, however overhaul found him and took him in. A few months later, Setsuno joined, and then Tabe about half a year after that, and with that, the trash trio was fully formed.

Huh. Didn’t know I had that much to say about him. I really thought I’d have a few sentences for each question…anyways, hope you enjoyed!

[hms-tardimpala]

20 questions for fic writers

I decided to grab the general tag issued by @narastories for this. (to be honest, someone on my dash did this weeks ago and I found the questions interesting so I answered them for myself, knowing the game would make its way to my writers group sooner or later)

No-pressure tags: @jaynovz @etoilesombre

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 11

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 67 389

3. What fandoms do you write for? I’m currently writing for The Hobbit and (spiritually) Supernatural.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? Uncle Steve; You asked me how I feel, I say nothin’; Statuts Quo; You Say I’m the Worst; Fake It Till You Make It

Nara said "The popularity of a fandom or a ship + the age of the fic will always have a bigger impact on your statistics than the quality of your writing. Don't sweat it too much." and I agree.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes, comments are life. I’m here for the community, I wanna make friends!

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Oh, man. I’ve only written happy endings so far. I guess You Say I’m the Worst, because of the amount of UST, and the uncomfortable situation the characters are in.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Share your adress, because it’s a fix-it of the canon ending, and my ship ends up together forever in a nice house.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not yet.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I’m not great at it, I need training, and it doesn’t interest me as much as other things, so I do it when the story needs it, and I write the kind of smut the story needs, kinky or not.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? No, that’s not my thing. I’ve read one crossover fic I’ve liked, I think.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Who does that ?? It’s horrible. I don’t know, but I don’t think so.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not yet.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?  No.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship? Tough question. My favorite ship is whichever I write for at the moment. Destiel is the one I’ve had the longest, but, I don’t think there’s so much to say about it, honestly. Don’t get me wrong, it makes sense, it’s historical, and the chemistry is there. But we all know that, so what is there to say about it?

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? The last WIP I worked on for the H50 fandom. I’d like to finish it so I have closure on that fandom, but I don’t think I’ll go there again anytime soon.

16. What are your writing strengths? I’m good at codas and canon-compliance, at exploiting canon and expanding it, giving it new sense, slowly bending canon events to get to the point I want. And I think I write good dialogue.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? My sentence structure tends to always be the same and my style is very bare : I don’t do much description or transitions, I tend to get to the point directly and it feels rushed. That I don't mind, but I also have a hard time keeping the characters’ voice in mind, and that bothers me.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I mean, why not, if it’s in a language I speak? I’ve done it a little. But I don’t want my readers to feel excluded, and if I don’t know the other language, I’ll just put it in italics or use "he said something in italian".

19. First fandom you wrote for? Hawaii Five-0. Doesn’t reflect my politics.

20. Favorite fic you've ever written? The Hobbit one I’m writing right now, or my first ever one, You asked me how I feel, I say nothin’, because it made me discover fanfic and it was so fun to write it.

[maxwell-grant]

May I please ask where you set the boundaries when constructing a crossover? (i.e. How far are you willing to bend characterisation of the setting a character's adventures take place in and of the individual characters themselves to make this crossover work? How many settings are you actually prepared to smush together before you feel you're losing more than you gain in this mix? and so forth).

I could be off the mark here, but this question sounds like you yourself got a very big idea planned but you are unsure of how far you can, or want to, push the concept. Two words of advice upfront: 1: Stop overthinking it, and 2: Run your ideas by people whose judgment you know and trust. I run some of my biggest and stupidest ideas by friends of mine and they help me make them less stupid or at least stupider but in a better way.

I mentioned in my post about potential Shadow crossovers that "boundaries" are not the priority to fret over so much as having a good working knowledge of the characters. And part of that is because a crossover, by design, already constitutes the breaking of boundaries. That's by default what a crossover does. You don't wanna test or break boundaries, then you picked the wrong kind of story.

A crossover is still a story like any other. Two characters meeting is not a story, it's a premise. You don't start a story by defining where it can't go, before you've even decided where you want to take it. Some boundaries are important, others aren't. Some boundaries are hard-coded and unbreakable, and others HAVE to be broken for the story to work, and the process of deciding which is which is easier when you have a clearer idea of what are the characters and what is the story you want to tell, and what you can and can't do with either. You gotta understand the properties you're working with, or at least, understand WHY you want to work with them and make this crossover happen in the first place.

For example, you could, very easily, write a crossover between The Shadow and The Spider, just by going through the motions. They are urban vigilantes with fairly similar designs who live in the same time period and fight crime with their supporting casts. I'm sure most writers offered the job wouldn't think twice of putting them together. But as someone who's read their stories quite extensively and who likes and obsesses over both characters, I would not cross over the two, because their stories and characters are fundamentally incompatible with each other in a more "serious" narrative, and you could not merge the two without seriously fraying one or the other.

It's a story that doesn't work, with characters that are not supposed to function together or in each other's narrative real estate, even with a character as malleable as The Shadow. This doesn't mean that it's impossible to write a good Shadow and Spider crossover, but to me, personally, these two are hard-line incompatible. That is, if it's a crossover based specifically on these two, because that changes if said crossover expands to more characters, as I'll get into.

Regarding the question:

How far are you willing to bend characterisation of the setting a character's adventures take place in and of the individual characters themselves to make this crossover work?

By default, any crossover is already going to have to create new settings from scratch based on relevant bits and pieces from the properties in question, so you do get more leeway for bending it.

But regarding characters, it's a question that cannot have a unified answer, because it's even more so dependant on a case-by-case basis. You could argue "only as much as necessary for the story to work", sure, but that's not really a good answer, because a story can do anything it's author wants to, and sometimes the story is not good to begin with, or the characters are just not made for being in the same narrative or even partaking in a crossover to begin with.

No amount of justifications for a story or characterization can excuse an unsatisfying result. Joe Yabuki and Guts are two of my favorite manga protagonists, but there would be no point to even attempting to put them together in the same story, because you'd have to twist either their narratives or their characters past the point of recognizability, which defeats the purpose of making a crossover to begin with.

Like, yeah, we've all heard the argument that Zack Snyder's Superman makes sense in the context of his movies, doing his own thing. Sure. But there's a reason any discussion of that character in the context of Superman in general comes prefaced with "Zack Snyder's" first, and why mainstream audiences who earnestly looked forward to Batman V Superman walked away feeling cheated, because, to borrow RLM terms here, they got "MurderMan vs Captain Hypocrite", and you can't even tell which is which in that description. You gotta give audiences at least a bit of what you promised them.

How many settings are you actually prepared to smush together before you feel you're losing more than you gain in this mix?

This one actually DOES depend on the story, because most stories that aren't just short narratives require multiple settings for it's scenes. Chances are your narrative will already be combining multiple settings, because setting is a word that can refer to "Korea during the Joseon dynasty", "spaceship traveling through lost nebulas" and "the McDonalds parking lot", as if they are the same thing. And in a way, when you look at a narrative's bones, they basically are.

To an extent, I think opening yourself up for a massive crossover of multiple properties of different characters and settings can, indeed, be a better choice than just going off purely by X meets Y. You start off by making it very clear to the audience that the boundaries are thin and you will be breaking them, and you use said framework to instead tell a myriad of stories, big and small. Stories that you couldn't really tell if you stuck to an existing framework or defined strongly the boundaries you can't cross. I'm gonna use Smash Bros as an example:

Smash Bros is arguably the biggest "official" crossover of all time, and it doesn't really have a "story" other than the basic framework that the series was built on, that these were representations of Nintendo icons dueling it out, and the few details that used to define this in the older days (like the characters being trophies and copies, and not the real deal) have been basically pushed aside. The most story you get in Smash nowadays is in the form of what the trailers showThe "point" of Smash was never really to tell a big, dramatic story with these characters. And maybe you really can't tell this kind of story, or a good story, with this many characters to juggle.

But they tried it once.

I'm sure most of you who do remember Brawl, as anything other than the blistering shame of the franchise that it's treated as these days, remember it mainly because of Subspace Emissary, which was this big, dramatic storyline where the end of the world was at stake and all the characters had to pull their weight to fight it. Subspace didn't have dialogue, it didn't have much story other than characters going from scene to scene while fighting, several of the characters either got nothing to do or were written poorly (mostly Wario), and none of this mattered at all, because Subspace, I'd argue, was the one and only time Smash Bros ever really recaptured that childhood feeling of smashing toys together that the franchise was built on.

Because if you remember being a kid smashing toys together, you remember not just doing it because you wanted Max Steel to kick Cobra Commander's butt. No, you did it because you wanted to tell a story where Max Steel got trapped in a rapidly filling water tank along with He-Man's Battle Cat while Cobra Commander kidnapped Max's girlfriend April O'Neil and bombed the city, and Max Steel had to talk Battle Cat into not eating him so they could together save the city and April from evil, and so they reconciled their differences and saved the day. Those things mattered to you. They were the stories you could tell with the resources you had in hand, sagas you did for the sheer fun of it, regardless of whether they were "good", you probably didn't even think of that. Why would you? You had bigger things to do.

And that's what Subspace did. It was big and dramatic and the world was at stake and all these heroes were coming together. Ness sacrificing himself to Wario so Lucas could have a chance to run away. Diddy Kong dragging along seasoned Star Fox pilots to rescue his buddy. Samus and Pikachu forming a bond. Peach stopping a deadly battle just by offering tea. ROB's story arc culminating in actual genocide, hell, ROB having a story arc to begin with. To a lot of people who played Brawl as one of their first games, this would have been their "introduction" to a lot of these characters in any sort of narrative, and to characters like ROB or Ice Climbers, this would have been the only chance they would ever get to be part of a great big dramatic narrative. Hell, Pit sure looked like he was on the same boat at the time, until Smash brought the Kid Icarus franchise back from death, and now Smash is where characters or properties get to stay relevant or at least on life support (Captain Falcon), or make glorious comebacks (King K.Rool). Brawl was what destroyed the idea of there being boundaries as to who could get in Smash or what kind of story could be told within it.

And people don't seem to recall this nowadays, but Brawl was when Smash exploded in fan content, specifically inspired by Subspace. This was the period of the Machinima craze and the fan mods galore and fan remixes and fan art and fan headcanons and fan films, and suddenly it hit people that, just because the games couldn't accomodate the stories they could tell with the premise, didn't mean that they couldn't start telling them on their own. We even got the formerly longest piece of English fiction off of it. The devotion Melee inspired in competitive players, Brawl did for artists and creators who got their start off in Smash fan content.

And because of it, suddenly a lot more people started writing stories with ROB and Ice Climbers and Pit and Captain Falcon and so on than there would have ever been if it wasn't for Brawl and Subspace. Smash gave ROB a story the character likely would have never gotten otherwise. And if you don't grasp what I'm getting at because you still think that fan content is a long way from being "official" or at least respectable, I don't know what you're doing following someone who rants about pulp fiction all day.

The point I want to get across is, boundaries in a crossover are important, yes, they exist for a good reason, but the boundaries should be defined by the story and characters and whatnot, not the other way around. Boundaries in fiction exist to be crossed or tested, they exist to tell you where you can't go so you can try to do so anyway and either fly high or crash.

Sometimes, bending or twisting characters and settings can be both a grave sin, as well as the thing that allows them to survive. Sometimes there are rules that seem unbreakable until someone breaks them without trying. And sometimes, going big and stupid and carefree over-the-top is either the worst, or the best outcome. It's fiction, taking risks and having fun is part of it.

So I'm afraid I thankfully cannot give your question a universal answer.

[1lostone]

ao3 stats meme

thanks so much for the tag @gracerene09

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

121 

2. What's your current AO3 wordcount?

2,055,131

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Um.....  20, although I have a few things I’ve never published in small fandoms (The Black Tapes Podcast) and not so small fandoms (Hunger Games) 

Published: The Walking Dead, Star Trek, Teen Wolf, Star Trek RPF, Ugly Betty, Sherlock, Inception, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, House M.D., Marvel, AO3 Abuse, X-Men, The OA , CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Long Dark (Video Game), Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey, Stranger Things 

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Hey There, Little Red (5696) Teen Wolf

Nowhere Man (5628) Teen Wolf

Love the One You’re With (4851) Star Trek AOS

Five Times Stiles Needed a Crash Course on Wolfy Behavior and One Time He Figured Shit Out. (3206) Teen Wolf

What The Moon Showed Me (3206) Teen Wolf

5. What are your top 5 fics by hits? 

  Nowhere Man (222,990) Teen Wolf

Hey There, Little Red (210,147) Teen Wolf

Love the One You’re With (109,625) Star Trek AOS

What The Water Gave Me (66,720) Teen Wolf

in the bed where you lie (66,405) The Walking Dead

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

Always. It might take me a bit to get to them, but I always respond. Often, they’re little bits of joy in a usually hectic day. 

7. What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Hm. I’m kind of a giant nerd for happy endings. Angstiest would probably be Thistle and Weeds, a Rickyl fic. 

8. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've ever written?

Not usually. My crossovers tend to be within the same ‘verse. I wrote one where Kirk and Spock from TOS met Kirk and Spock from AOS and several fics where Clementine from TWD Video Games meets Rick, Daryl ... and especially Carl. :D 

9. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yep. 

10. Do you write smut?

Definitely, yep. I would say mostly smut. 

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Sadly, yes. A few times. 

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

Sure have a few times! It’s fun! 

13. What's your all time favorite ship?

Oy. That’s really hard to pick just one. I’d probably say Sterek. Or Kirk/Spock. Or Rickyl. Or Drarry!  GAH.

14. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Ever? Star Trek

15. What's your favorite fic you've written?

in the bed is the one I’m the most proud of. It’s probably too long. Okay, it’s definitely too long. But I think it’s some of my absolute best writing. 

Tagging (if ya wanna):  @twdobsessive @moitmiller @mojoflower

[taiblogcomics]

St. George-yashi’s Dragon Chef

Hey there, stilted dialogue. Happy Halloween! Or at least closely approximate! Sorry we gotta interrupt our MLP comic coverage right when the getting's good. I don't have issues 101 or 102 yet anyway, so I guess November will be for the whole Transformers crossover. So, what're we reviewing today instead, then? Well, what was it, two years ago now? Remember when I reviewed couple Bailey City School Kids books? Let's do that again. I've got a few lined up for the future, but at random, let's review... this one~

#24 Dragons Don't Cook Pizza

I think I mentioned this one back in the previous review, which is pretty much why we're doing it today. Anyways, man, and Kevin McCallister thought the furnace in his basement was scary. I'm not sure the smoke should be venting directly into the building there, Monty Python and the Holy Grail character who is clearly posing for a camera. What's the secret to the best pizza in town? Probably garlic, it's always the garlic. You wanna take care of those kids before you get slapped by a health and safety violation?

So we open the book with the titular School Kids arriving on the most enjoyable of school activities: a field trip. They're visiting a newly-opened pizzeria, which is leagues above the science museums and history exhibits I used to go to. And yet, at the same time, isn't that a bit... pedestrian for a field trip? Like, for a summer camp, okay. I used to attend a day camp, and that's the sort of thing they'd take us to. But for a class trip, where you have to get signed permission slips well in advance and such? Chances are half this class has already visited this pizzeria on the weekend with their parents by now~

Anyway, the pizza place has gone all-out on theming. Ever been to a Medieval Times? Not unlike that. It's described as having pennants, aged gray stone walls, and a drawbridge. I'll be honest, I'd be excited about this as a kid too (and even still a little bit now). Anyways, our old friends return: mouthy troublemaker Eddie, meek Liza, well-studied Howie, and Melody who is also there. Eddie's annoyed because they had to read "like a million" books to earn this field trip, which casts even more doubt on none of them having been there before. Eddie is the relatable one because he hates anything that's remotely educational.

Upon entering Jewel's Pizza Castle, the kids are greeted by the proprietor, who introduces himself as George. He's described as "the oldest, wrinkliest man they'd ever seen", but judging by the cover and interior illustrations, they've never met anyone over 40, I guess. He takes them to a dining room (or "eating room", as the book calls them) named "The Dragon's Lair", which also has a sword mounted above the door. I think that's for attacking, if the yellow arrow doesn't tell you to go left or right. It's notably dingy in here, with long wooden tables. The kids are seated and served, and thankfully the pizza is excellent.

As they're served, a loud rumble eminates from beyond a set of swinging doors, presumably leading to the kitchen but labelled "Dungeon". George gets extremely nervous and excuses himself. Seems his chef is very tempermental, and despite their teacher's requests, George denies them both any recipes or kitchen tours. As the kids exit, they note that the sword above the door has gone missing. Howie, as usual, is the first one to start drawing (or jumping to) conclusions regarding their experience. As they get on the bus, the four sit together so Howie can tell them a story his mother once read to him.

It's actually a loose retelling of "St George and the Dragon". Like I said before, if there's one thing I respect about Bailey School Kids, it's their accuracy to mythology, or at least their interest in the more obscure parts of it. They remove the more overtly Christian aspects from this telling, having George instead hypnotise the dragon with a magic sword. And rather than kill it, he captures it and keeps it under his control. The others remain skeptical, but Howie is pretty convinced that the unseen pizza chef is a dragon, especially when another roar rocks the bus as they drive away.

Next day, Eddie comes to school with his hat decorated to look like a dragon. You gotta respect his dedication to mocking his friends. He's actually more interested in harassing Liza than Howie, however. After some discussion on the properties of dragons, Howie suggests that they love telling riddles. And to prove this, he reveals that all the napkins at the pizzeria had riddles written in rhyming couplets on them. Eddie didn't notice, but Melody and Liza confirm this. They even saved their napkins, because that's something children would do.

"Inside me deep, there is much heat. Captured sadness, lonely madness. My only joy, to cook for girls and boys." Well, Mr Dragon, I have issues with both your rhyme scheme and meter, but we'll ignore that for now. The kids debate over the meaning of this riddle. Eddie theorises that the answer is an oven, but he fails to realise that the cold food of out hot eat the food. And also that ovens aren't lonely or captured. Howie concludes that the only answer can be a dragon, and that these are more than riddles: they're cries for help. I think Howie's the one who's having a cry for help here~

Howie's conclusion is that George is indeed the St. George of the legend, also citing that dragon scales grant eternal life. I feel like this may be straying from the legend somewhat. Regardless, Howie is convinced they need to go save the dragon from its imprisonment. Liza points out that, you know, the dragon was captured for a reason. That reason being a tendancy to eat people, and perhaps setting it loose in Bailey City would be a bad idea. Howie retorts that it's better than imprisonment and enslavement, and Eddie suggests he'd rather be chained to a pizza oven and forced to cook than go to school. Eddie, I have great news about your future employment prospects with that attitude~

The four of them stake out the back of the pizzeria, behind the garbage cans. After a while, Howie just enters in through the back door, which isn't even locked. Eddie's all for letting Howie be arrested for trespassing, but Melody and Liza decide they'd rather Howie not be lunch for a dragon, should one exist. And when they taunt Eddie that he might be afraid, he's all too willing to go in just to prove otherwise. Oh Eddie, your fragile masculinity is so easy to manipulate! They sneak on in, finding the exit leading right to the kitchen/dungeon.

The kitchen's a wreck, with everything from globs of dough to suits of armour littering the place. Further in, though, it gets dark. Dark enough that they can only see two glowing red lights and some smoke billowing out of the space beyond. There's also a loud rumbling throughout. The kids, not exactly in stealth mode, bump right into George, who brushes them aside, saying he needs to attend to his chef's problems. The kids fret to him that the dragon has eaten their friend, and he replies "Who said anything about a dragon?" Um, they did.

Before anything else can happen, Howie appears. George looks relieved and tries to shoo them on their way, but Howie says George has some 'splainin' to do. He marches right back into the kitchen, with George hot on his heels. And when the other three try the door, it's locked. I guess they eventually give up, because we then cut to a week later. Howie turned up the next day at school, and refuses to elaborate on anything that happened in the kitchen. The pizzeria closed for renovations all week, and is only now reopening its doors, so the four kids decide to drop in.

While the place retains its medieval looks, it's considerably spruced up. The aged gray stone is now gleaming white, and a large enclosure with high walls has been constructed around the back, with many "keep out" signs adorning it. The lighting is also less dingy, presumably because it's not filling with smoke anymore. George happily serves the kids, having worked out everything with his chef. Howie reports that he told George it was much too dark in that kitchen dungeon. Sounds more like the Board of Health got on his ass. Anyway, that's what the enclosure out back is for: so his chef can get some sun in private. A loud rumble echoes through the restaurant, though one more pleasant than before. The chef is happy.

Well! That was certainly an unusual story. I learned so much about dragons today, guys: they can be hypnotised by swords, they're the secret to immortality, and apparently they're solar-powered. As usual, one of the delights of the Bailey School Kids books is that they're always kind of ambiguous. Was the pizza chef a dragon? Is George the same one from the legend? The world may never know. And that's the other delight: the use of real mythology, like St. George and the Dragon. You know, however loosely they do it. The whole reason I know about the story of St. George in the first place is because I read it here first as a kid. And that's the kind of thing I really admire in a kids' book~

Next week, we'll get back to our pony adventures, but next Halloween, we'll probably do this again. There were, like, more than 50 of these books, and I don't mind checking them out one by one (subject to availability). I have a couple more on standby, but if you have a particular one you'd like to suggest and an Amazon Marketplace link for it that's less than, like, $10, I'll give it some consideration for a future review. I don't mind if it's a reprint, though I'll probably use the original-style cover in the review (heck, I did it here. This one was one of the 2007 reprints, after its 1997 original release), since that's the ones I grew up with~

[gottawriteanegoortwo]

Yanois - Second Impressions Can Bring Misfortune

Read Part One here, or check it out on AO3!

Though their first meeting could have gone better, Illinois might be a little fond of the mystery prisoner. Let’s just hope his famous luck doesn’t run out…

Warning: There is an instance of deadnaming under the read-more. It’s accidental, but be mindful if that might cause a little upset. (I promise this doesn’t end on a bad note)

Word Count: 2,448 (sorry, it’s four hand-written pages)

-

After his encounter with the brash prisoner, Illinois found he couldn’t get the other man out of his head. It was hardly an attraction (no, shut up! It wasn’t!), but he accepted that there was a level of interest in the unknown. Perhaps it was the prisoner’s standoffish attitude, or how he seemed utterly disinterested yet keenly focused. He didn’t heckle during the lecture, so he wasn’t there for the sole purpose of causing trouble.

But the question that plagued Illinois was painfully simple: what was the prisoner’s name? He hated how badly he wanted to know. Ah, the curse of the archaeologist - insatiable curiosity! With no starting point, Illinois took inspiration from his work and fetched his laptop to start the research.

Most prisoners were from Texas, but not all. The stranger’s accent suggested he was potentially from New York, so Illinois decided to sieve through articles that made reference to a transferral to a Texan prison first. His abundance of good luck meant that it only took an hour to find a result that was most fitting. The article was several years old and discussed the outcome of a rather tragic case. The information was put to the back of his mind - Warden Murderslaughter always said to never talk about an inmate’s crime unless they bring it up first - as Illinois instead took the important information. The photograph used of the criminal was old, but it matched. Which meant… He had a name! All he had to do was wait until the next time he was set to visit Happy Trails Penitentiary.

-

As luck would have it, he merely had to wait a week. When he wasn’t travelling as part of archaeological trips, Illinois would volunteer two Saturdays a month to teach the inmates. Unlike his history lectures, these consisted of smaller groups of prisoners undertaking a short course on several points in history; which would be rounded off with each prisoner completing a short research project on something that interested them in the course. All he needed was to put his possessions in the room he used for classes, and then he would be free to find the right prisoner if he arrived earlier than usual. The inmates followed a set schedule with minor variations depending on when their work shifts were. He had been volunteering long enough to know when one of the crossover periods would take place. It would be easy to find him!

The rec yard was fruitless, as was the library. But it was upon leaving the chow hall that Illinois spotted the man of the hour. He seemed in a hurry as the prisoner dashed toward the hall.

“Ah! Can I have a moment?” Illinois called out. The tattooed man screeched to a halt, bemused once he realised who wanted his attention. Unfortunately, no one else was around, so it had to be him. 

“Sure. Fine. What?” His eyes didn’t stay on Illinois, but instead darted to the clock.

“I know this is likely a bad time, but I’d like a chance to talk. We got off on the wrong foot last time.” Even Illinois knew it didn’t go well. “Are you free after your shift?”

“U-uh…. Yeah?” Thrown by the turn of events, it appeared the bold prisoner was willing to cooperate. “I know I’d never hear the end of it if my friends heard I refused. They’s is always singing youse’s praises. ‘Sides, second chances is always a good thing, right?” He looked as though he was about to say something else, but decided against it. Regardless, Illinois was elated.

“Excellent! In that case, I’ll be in the classroom just opposite the library until seven this evening. Call by when you’re free. Even if there’s a class going on, sit in on it anyway.” The prisoner nodded and hurried past once he knew he was dismissed. Before the other disappeared into the chow hall, Illinois belatedly realised he should be more polite about this. He guessed the other might be swallowing his pride in accepting the invitation to chat, given their first meeting. The least he could do was show some manners.

“Thank you! I look forward to chatting, █████!”

Whatever progress had been made was instantly thrown aside. The prisoner froze in the doorway. Though his back was to Illinois, the archaeologist could see that the other was rigid. It wasn’t a reaction Illinois associated with hearing one’s own name…. Unless it was a name they didn’t use anymore.

“O-oh my God, I’m so sorry, I had no -” For once, Illinois found himself stammering in a frantic attempt to get an apology out. It was to no avail, as a fistful of his shirt had been grabbed and he was slammed against the wall.

“I don’t know what sorta shit game youse is playing,” the prisoner hissed, “But if youse is gonna act like youse is better than me by being such a sly bitch…. I really wanna beat the shit outta youse, but I don’t wanna get in trouble.”

“Yancy! That’s enough!” The prisoner - Yancy? - dropped Illinois without hesitation and didn’t struggle when two guards rushed over and restrained him. “Bring him into th’ chow hall to calm down. I’ll speak to him in a sec. As fer you…” Yancy was led away by the guards, and it was hard to ignore how withdrawn he seemed compared to minutes earlier. With heavy guilt, Illinois pulled his attention away to finally acknowledge Warden Murderslaughter, who had been the one to stop the disaster in its tracks. His lips were pursed and his arms crossed as he shook his head. “I’m disappointed in you, Illinois. Out of all our volunteers, I thought you would’ve known our most important rule better than anyone else: don’t provoke th’ inmates with topics that are touchy fer ‘em.”

“But I didn’t know -” Illinois’ head turned toward the chow hall’s entrance. “I only wanted to get to know him. I didn’t mean to…”

“Who told you that name?”

“No one?” He looked back at the Warden with confusion. “I read it in an article covering the trial online.” The Warden pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with a heavy sigh.

“Son… You could’ve saved yourself a whole lotta bother if you’d thought to ask someone here, even over the phone. It isn’t like you to mess up like this.” He put an arm around Illinois’ shoulder and began guiding him toward the staff breakroom. “The name you used is correct, if you go by legal documents or the press, but it’s not the name he goes by. Everyone calls him ‘Yancy’. See, his birth name has links to pretty painful memories that I don’t think he’ll ever recover from, and he’s been striving to prove he’s a better person as ‘Yancy’. So to turn ‘round and use th’ wrong name is like a slap to the face and a surefire way for him to hate you. Now, I know you had good intentions and it was an honest mistake, but you need to be more careful. Next time you see him, give him a good, proper apology. Just know he’s probably gonna be frosty toward ya. I’ll go talk to him and check if he’s okay, let him know you didn't mean to use the wrong name.” The Warden threw a glance over his shoulder with a hint of a smile. “Yancy’s a good kid, despite how he acts sometimes. He’s been through some rough times, but his heart’s stayed in the right place. If he can have a friend outside the prison… I think it’ll do him some good. Now, get yourrself a coffee before you start classes.”

Illinois blinked, genuinely surprised to realise they had arrived. Murderslaughter gave him a hearty slap on the back of the shoulder (Illinois had learned long ago the art of hiding the wince from the strength of such actions) before making his way back to the chow hall.

---

In the chow hall, Yancy was a mess. He sat far away from anyone else who might have been there. A cup of water had been given to him, but it was used more as a stress ball rather than a drink. He didn’t know what to think. How could someone act like they wanted to be a friend, then turn around in the same breath and say something that implied the complete opposite? Why remind him of what he did long ago? The cup was put aside so he could slump across the table with a defeated groan. █████… Was that all he was ever going to be to the outside world? Would the attempts he has made to be a better person forever go unnoticed under the large, looming shadow of his crimes? Then again, prisoners like him were locked away to be forgotten about by the world.

His form tensed the moment he spotted the Warden sitting opposite him. This was it - he was going to be scolded and sent to Solitary, and probably lose other privileges on top of that. How dare Yancy lay a finger on the visitor everyone worshipped!!

But it was nothing like that. Murderslaughter checked if he was okay. They sat in silence for a few moments so Yancy could try and collect himself without anyone else approaching. Then, the Warden praised him for not completely lashing out, but then took time to explain Illinois’ side of things.

“- He’s not like the reporters or anyone else who comes to ‘visit’ you. He was a moron who didn’t ask th’ staff for your name. It seems like he wants to try an’ be friends…. But it’s fine if ya don’t wanna see him today. An’ if you’d rather go lie down instead of working, that’s fine too.

“N-no… I’d rather work. Don’t really wanna be left alone with my thoughts just yet.”

-

Yancy spent the rest of the morning washing dishes. The work wasn’t ‘busy’ enough to keep his mind distracted, but it was labour-intensive and he could work out his frustration on the crockery. By the time he finished his shift and lunch, he returned to his cell with an idea - he needed to get rid of the White Jaguar model. It had to be the source of the blame.

But just like a blasted boomerang, the clay figure kept returning to him in ridiculous manners throughout the afternoon. Yancy dropped it in the trash on the way outside, only to be tapped on the shoulder by another prisoner who thought it was dropped by mistake. Trying to gift it to anyone in the Gang had them refuse - Bam-Bam had initially accepted, but changed his mind when he held the tiny model and handed it back to Yancy with the excuse that it ‘belonged’ to him. He then hid it in the long grass in the rec yard. When no one immediately found it, he went to the bathroom, returned to his cell… And was greeted with the terrifying sight of the White Jaguar sitting on his pillow, staring at him. Overcome with frustration, he decided to simply break it. He threw it at the wall with all his might. Instead of smashing, it ricocheted off the wall and toppled his radio that had been on his bed, before landing neatly on the pillow. Yancy picked it up, he swore there was a look of smugness on the Jaguar’s face, which reminded him of… Wait.

He could simply return it to Illinois and ask him never to speak to Yancy again. It would solve two problems at once.

---

“Come in!” Illinois’ voice was upbeat as he tidied the classroom after a day of workshops. The guilt from earlier had been put aside in favour of professionalism. He did have a reputation to uphold, after all. However, that professionalism immediately slipped the moment he saw who entered.

“Yancy!” The name was blurted out with relief more than pleasantry. Whatever Illinois had been putting into his briefcase was unceremoniously dumped as he gave Yancy his full attention. “Before you say anything…. I want to apologise for this morning. I made the mistake of not checking with the staff what name you prefer to go by. It was careless of me. I know I upset you, and I am truly sorry. You don’t need to forgive me, as I know it’s something that hurt you… But I just want you to know I didn’t mean to use that name, and I’ll never use it again, Yancy.”

Yancy was dumbfounded. No one who deliberately used that name apologised. They never cared that it made him uncomfortable and upset. Emotions stung him for the second time that day, but polar opposites to the anger that had nearly consumed him in the morning.

“I-I, uh… Thanks. For apologising, I mean. Takes balls to admit youse was wrong ‘bout something. But it means a lot that, y’know, youse said sorry. So… If it’s okay with youse, we can consider it forgiven and forgotten.” Yancy looked ill at ease, but Illinois couldn’t blame him. It would be better to find a new topic to talk about before Yancy decided to swiftly dismiss himself. At that moment, Yancy adjusted his stance, drawing Illinois’ attention to his hand.

“Is that the White Jaguar model I gave you?”

Yancy blinked and looked at his hand like he didn’t know it had existed until that very moment. He opened his mouth, only to snap it shut with a quick shake of his head. When he did speak again, there was the faintest hint of a smile.

“Yeah, uh… Had a few people asking ‘bout it, but I don’t remember shit from that talk so… Is it too late to join one of these class things you is doing?” Yancy mentally slapped himself for doing the opposite of what he had intended, but it wasn’t met with a cocky reaction. Instead, Illinois’ face lit up like the Fourth of July and invited Yancy to the desk so they could check if there was a class that would fit neatly into Yancy’s schedule. There was a hint of awkwardness between them, but Illinois was optimistic that this could be the start of a better chapter for them.

However, he did get a little ahead of himself and winked at Yancy just before the prisoner left. Yancy rolled his eyes, but the dismissive look had a trace of amusement in it as he left. Once the door closed, Illinois found himself staring at it for several long moments.

Okay… Maybe there was a bit of an attraction toward Yancy after all.

[ifliamsmile]

I’m with you on this - Dick Grayson Imagine

Summary/Request: MarvelxDC crossover where Yn Stark finds out she’s pregnant with Dick’s baby and they need to give the news to her father, Tony and the avengers.

pairing: Dick Grayson x Titan!Stark!Reader

notes: Anony, thank you for requesting, hope you like it xxxx

You woke up groaning at the weird feeling in your stomach; it didn't even give you time to think when you found yourself running to the bathroom where you ended up throwing up.  You looked at the mirror and saw a pale version of yourself and you got scared. You returned to your room and noticed that your boyfriend wasn't there.

You took a look at the clock to see that  it was later than you used to wake up, that’s why Dick wasn’t in bed with you. All those years and you still couldn't understand how Dick managed to wake up so early.

You checked your messages to see that he left you one saying he left with Hank and should be back soon. So you went to take a shower trying to remember if you ate something that could be the cause of your sickness, and then it hit you.

You were 4 weeks late. You should be on your period by now but you never really paid attention to it, blaming it to you being so busy. You showered quickly and went to the nearest pharmacy.

You thanked god for not bumping into someone on your way out of the tower.

---

You entered the store already sweating because you almost run your way there. You stood in front of the pregnancy test and there were so many options. You were getting nauseous all over again.

You took 5 tests.

You paid  quickly and made your way back to the Tower.

--

You locked yourself  into your room trying not to think too much until you saw the results, but it was impossible. You were terrified.

What if you ruined Dick’s life? What if he didn’t want this now? What would you do? And your father, Christ, your father. The fact that you were Y/n Stark made things more complicated that you’d like to admit. 

You were his only child and he was completely attached to you. You’d always be “his little girl.”

You followed your father’s steps when you became a hero, but you decided to do it far from him so you would have your own life and take your own decisions, so you moved to San Francisco, where you met Dick and eventually, the Titans. 

It was love at first sight.Really. You met one of the most selfless and incredible man you’ve ever met and to top that his team was incredible too.

It wasn’t hard for you, but completely difficult to your Father to accept that his daughter was now living with a man that was not him.  it didn’t matter how many times Steve or Pepper tried to convince him that he was Batman’s son and a good guy, he was still a worried about your wellbeing.  

So he let you move in with Dick, but always kept an eye on you both. Dick feared your father to death, even if he wouldn’t admit it. 

You couldn’t blame him, after all,  you remembered very well when 3 years ago, Tony threatened to kill him if something ever happen to you, and Dick took it very serious remaining scared of him until these days.

You stopped thinking and went to the bathroom, you wanted to believe that it was just your mind and body playing tricks on you, but with everything that’s been going on protection was the last thing on yours and Dick’s mind.

You tried the first one. Positive. 

You tried the second one. Positive; your hands were trembling and your lip quivered trying to contain a sob.

When the fifth one also tested positive you were already in tears with your phone in your hands texting Dick.

“Babe, where are you? Please, come back home” you tried to write him while the tears blurred your vision.

He didn’t answer for 5 minutes and your heart was racing

“Hey, love.What’s going on? Are you okay?” he texted you back 

“Dick, i don’t know please come back home i need to talk to you.” 

He saw the message and understood that something was really wrong, you weren’t the beggin type, so he got in the car along with Hank and called you. You were too nervous and crying so much to notice your phone buzzing.

“Calm down. Whatever it is, it’s going to be fine. I’m on my way.”

“Answer the phone” he sent you after you didn’t answer the calls. He started to get worried.

You realized your phone was buzzing after a few minutes. He never drove so fast in his life.

“D, i’m sorry to bother you but it's important” you said still crying.

“Hold on, i’m almost home” he said and hung up the call.

--

“Where’s Y/n?” Dick stormed into the living room, startling Jason.

“I think she’s in her room” Jason answered with his mouth full of cereal.

Dick barely entered the room when he immediately felt a body against his, holding him strongly and he held you back.

You got his shirt all wet with your tears and he waited until you were ready to talk, he caressed your hair and kissed the top of your head.

“Babe? I’m starting to get worried, do you wanna talk about it?” he tried to lift your face to look at you and he saw your puffed and red eyes. He hated to see you like this.

He cleaned your tears and you both sat on the bed.

“I don’t know where to start”

“Take your time.” he squeezed your hands, trying to show some support.

“Dick, I woke up and i felt so sick, i throw up and i realized that I’m late and...” You couldn’t continue because you felt a lump in a throat and tears began to fall one more time. He listened to you carefully 

“And?” he encouraged you to keep talking.

“And i bought 5 tests and the five tested positive, Dick. I think I’m pregnant.” you said.

He got up and kneeled in front of you.

“Hey, look at me.” he said “It’s fine, okay? We’ll figure it out. Relax, it’s okay”

“What?” you looked up to see him doing his best to calm you down “Dick aren’t you mad or anything?”

“I’m nervous, I won’t lie but i’m with you on this. if you really are pregnant, we’re going to do this together and you don’t need to be scared or worry about anything.” he told you trying to find out the best way to say it, Dick wasn’t that good with words but he was doing his best. 

“i love you” you said hugging him.

“Your father is going to kill me.” 

“Shit, we need to talk to him” you said and Dick freezed already imagining what Tony Stark would do to him when he knew that his little girl was pregnant.

---

You and Dick headed to Avenger’s compound feeling more and more nervous the closer you were. When you let your father know that you would be visiting he immediately sent a car to pick you up. You couldn't expect less from the guy.

Dick drove the car that Tony sent. During the trip he kept his free hand in your thigh. He didn’t want you to get nervous, although he was most definitely scared shitless.. He looked at you and smiled softly.

You couldn’t ask for a better man when you had Dick Grayson by your side.

You got into the tower and your hands were sweating. You didn’t know what would your father’s reaction would be and to be honest you were not expecting anything good.

When you and Dick passed through the elevator’s door, you were immediately welcomed by Pepper.

“Yn, you look so beautiful. We missed you so much.” she said hugging you tightly.

“Hey pepper, we missed you too” you smiled sweetly at her.

“Grayson.” You saw your father greet your boyfriend. 

“Hello, Tony” Dick smiled at him, he was always so polite.

“My princess” he hugged you. You missed him

“Hey, dad.”

“So the couple came to visit us.” You saw Steve, Natasha and Bruce coming into the room. You two smiled at them and gave each one a hug.

“So, what brought you here kiddo?” Tony asked, holding both of your hands.

You prayed that he kept this smile when you told him what you came to say.

“Dad, why don’t we sit?” you smiled softly at him as you sat into the large sofa.

“Dad, Dick and I came here to talk with you because” you cleaned your throat obviously nervous. “because we found out that I’m pregnant.”

You saw your father’s smile disappear as he listened you.

“You’re what?” he got up. Pepper, you and Dick got up at the same time and the rest of the avengers too, expecting any kind of reaction of Tony.

“She’s pregnant, Tony. Four weeks.” Dick said stepping into the conversation.

“Okay. Now can someone explain to me how the fuck did it happen?” he said and his tone of voice increased as he walked aggressively towards your boyfriend. Dick didn’t move and you stood between them.

“Go easy on the boy, Stark. I don’t think you want to know how it happen” Steve pushed Tony by his chest, gently trying to avoid any confrontation.

“How could you both let it happen? You are young and look at your-”

“Dad. Stop it. Please, Dick and I are both adults. We know what we’re doing.“ 

“Tony, I’ll take care of her and the baby” Dick said trying to calm him down

“You better do that, Grayson, or-” he said glaring at Dick. 

“I know, I know. Otherwise you’re going to find and kill him. Now let them be. Grayson is a good guy, and he already proved this to you by taking care of y/n through all this years. Didn't you, Dick?” Natasha said

“I do my best.” Dick said and  smiled to the red haired woman. Tony was mad but deep inside he was happy. He liked to mess with Dick, but he knew he was a good guy and that you loved each other. 

He hugged you and when the conversation was over, you and Dick headed to the elevator door, ready to leave. Pepper congratulate you both and hugged you one more time before you left.

Dick took this moment to talk to Tony alone.

“Tony, I’d like to ask her hand in marriage. I promise you I won’t fail her” 

“I give you my honor, Grayson. But you better be worth it.” Tony  smiled to the boy and Dick thanked him, saying goodbye to everyone and catching your hand, ready to live the future by your side. No matter what happen.

[fiamac]

AO3 Tag Game

Tagged by the illustrious, incomparable @stillbeatingheart

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

An even 50 

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

230,499 — woo! go me!

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Uh... seven. Inception, Teen Wolf, Supernatural. The Old Guard, The Princess Bride (does this count if it’s a fusion?), The Cassandra Palmer series, and the Darkest Powers series (not on AO3)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

All are from my Psycho Heroes series, unsurprisingly:

It’s Just A Twitch, And It’s Part of His Style

You So Impolitely Walked Into My Dreams

The Fall Makes You Break

The Wise Man Knows

Disarm You With a Smile

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Probably either You Can Close Your Eyes (But That’s Not Gonna Take Away the View) or My Heroes All Became Psychotics. Both deal with the same breakup but from different POVs.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

They all end happy—eventually, sort of—but I’d say As You Wish, my Teen Wolf/Princess Bride fusion fic since that one’s, like, an actual storybook happily-ever-after ending. The happy couple rides off into the sunset and sails away to a paradise of their own making. What could be better?

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I love crossovers! I’ve only finished two, but I have so many crossover WIPs. So. Many. The craziest one is a self-indulgent crack fic tentatively titled Moody, Dark, and Handsome, which has Magnus Bane from Shadowhunters making a drunken magic oopsie and transporting characters from That Awkward Magic, Teen Wolf, Inception, Check Please!, and Supernatural into his world. There’s just so many beautiful, dark-haired grumpy-gusses out there, after all, and it’s hard for a warlock’s inebriated mind to pinpoint the exact one he’s looking for.

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

You bet your patootie, I do. Mostly I write plotty smut, or smut’n’feels, because I have a hard time with keeping plot out of my fics. So far, all my smut is in the Inception fandom. Two of my best smutty works are Lust in Translation and The Tightest Fit, if you realllllly wanna know what I write.

9. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I always intend to respond to all comments and actually respond to maybe 80–90% of them. Me not responding is usually due to Life Woes or having literally no idea what to say back. (It’s not you, it’s me.) I enjoy responding to comments because I like it when other writers respond to mine, I desperately want to talk about my fics, it makes me feel connected to the fandom, and it helps keep my readers engaged with my stories—which is handy when you put out an ongoing saga that’s been taking years and years to write.

10. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Happy to say, I haven’t. Sometimes I get “concrit” and shit (pro tip, folks: unsolicited criticism is never constructive). And one memorable instance, a reader was completely hating on the events within my story but, like... as if I were a sympathetic ear? Despite the fact that I obviously wrote the very thing they were upset about...? It was very weird.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge, though I check periodically. ::narrow-eyed stare:: 

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Some people have asked permission, but nothing yet. On that note, I give blanket permission for any transformative works of my transformative works. Or even my original works. Go nuts. 

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

::nervous foot shuffle:: Uh... there was this plan? But, uh, no, not yet. @iamanonniemouse look away!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Playing favorites!? I could never! Or, fine okay. It’s probably Sterek. With most ships, I love one of the characters more than the other(s). But I adore Stiles and Derek equally, second only to how much I love them together.

15. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t ever think you will?

My first-ever fic, Awakened, for the Darkest Powers YA series (the Dereks, again! I have such a type). It lives on ffnet, and I’m very proud of the some of the writing in it and have the rest of the story mapped out for the most part. But it’s just never gonna happen.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Consistency, maybe? I like to think I’m good at avoiding plot holes, loose threads, and OOC-ness. Oh, and I’ve been surprisingly successful at combining crack-worthy humor, violent angst, tasty smut, and schmoopy feels all in the same fic. That’s definitely a superpower.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Big chunks of exposition acting like giant speed bumps, slowing things down. And I definitely struggle to keep stories contained within manageable, achievable goals. Everything turns into a a series of multichaptered WIPs up the wazoo. 

19. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

The Darkest Powers, a YA book series by Kelley Armstrong

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

It’s either Cock Handling or As You Wish. Both of these were ridiculously fun to create and gave me that “yes, I am a writer” rush.

I’m going to tag @vex-verlain, @little-specificity, and @slashmania but and anyone else who wants to play. No pressure, of course!

[luriluth]

PLEASE IM LITERALLY IN LOVE WITH UR SK8 + GENSHIN CROSSOVER SJDNSKD as someone who is also currently hyperfixating on both and loves reki to death this watered all my crops 😭😭💖 if u ever wanna talk about how you came up with these ideas I’d be so so interested 👀👀👀 hope u have a good day/night!

IM SO GLAD I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO IS SUFFERING FROM GENSHIN AND SK8 BRAINROT THANK YOU SO MUCH AAAAA

I will gladly!! Tell about the ideas i have in mind when conceptualizing Reki!! I’ll make these posts again once im done with the others but here!!

This is long so! Entire mental gymnastics process of Genshin!Reki will be under the cut :}

Okay so first of all, when i do these kinds of stuff, I actually want to incorporate the characters and such instead of relying on general aesthetics, since it makes it more fun trying to think about the talents and such

When I looked at Reki, I immediately thought he was a sword person, okay in this case i really didnt think of it much, I just can see him using a sword than the other weapon types? So that’s what I went with!

As for his vision, I gave him the Pyro Vision. While it fits his color pallette since Reki is red, It also fits his personality since i noticed a lil pattern going on with vision wielders and how their personalities and background connected with their visions. For pyro visions, they are most often seen as passionate, and courageous even. Reki shows clear love for his skateboarding hobby, as well as drawing and creating them even, he’s clearly motivated and loves it!!

Also I used Mondstadt for his origin because the idea of him being under the land of the God of Freedom felt fitting for his character :0

Anyways, moving on to the talents! I admit they were hell to work with because this was the first time i sat down and actually conceptualized this, but it was fun nonetheless!

I absolutely loves the idea of giving him a support dps kit for his attacks, It pays homage to him giving his support and aid to others while also giving it his all. For Cinder Kicks, I based it off Barbara’s Elemental Skill but instead of healing, it would have given you a temporary atk boost (When you unlocked Talent 2) as well as providing room for elemental reactions to deal more dmg to nearby enemies.

Actually, Cinder Kicks had an alternate name called Cinder Ollie, my friend had told me that it would be funny to add in a skating reference to the name and how it references fucking CindeReki in the soon to be posted drama dvd spinoff and I’m CACKLING at the thought

Okay so moving on to his Elemental Burst, Vitality’s Cogs and Ignition. I decided to give more of the mechanic theme in this burst by turning the area where this burst would be activated to show a huge cog that would spin every 2 seconds to deal pyro aoe dmg to enemies, in a way, this represents Reki’s talent and passion for skating, bright and strong.

Now we’re going to the passives, at first for Reki’s passive 3, i thought about giving him a stamina boost or smth to 10% if he’s present in the party, bUT THEN I REMEMBERED THAT THIS MAN CREATES SKATEBOARDS, FOR PEOPLE TO AID THEM, LIKE HOW HE MADE LANGA HIS OWN CUSTOM SKATEBOARD. That resulted in me finalizing his Passive 3 so that he can a 20% chance of refunding a portion when creating weapon ascension materials since it!! fits so much!!!

Passive 2 on the other hand is based of Sucrose’ passive, I made it so that it caters to adding more atk boost and dmg and it would also reference Reki who wouldnt hesitate to help people huee.

Last Passive is basically the stamina idea i had at first for passive 3, where the party’s speed would be boosted for 10% while stamina consumption would be reduced to 10%. This also gives the same reason to Passive 2 so hueee

Now lastly, his constellation! Arbitrium Motus is basically the latin translation to Determination and Movement, the meaning i had for this constellation is that no matter how you feel like you’re dragged down by others or by yourself, you can still push past those negativity and stand with your own feet to continue moving forward.

kdjfksdjkrj hello that’s the end of it! I’m so glad you wanted to hear me ramble about this because i didnt want to keep bothering the same 2 people of my friend group about it HAHAAHAH

[smilesthroughfandoms]

Random List of things I want from episodes of Hazbin Hotel (and Helluva Boss) when it gets greenlit cause we all know it will

Mimzy, Baxter, and Crymini joining the hotel. Think that's a pretty obvious one.

Mimzy and Alastor backstory, I know that info on Mimz being in love with Al is probably outdated but I think it would be fun if they still at least knew each other in life. (Were the friends? How close were they? Did Al fucking kill Mimzy, if so was it an accident or on purpose?) The sky’s the limit here!

On that note: Backstories on how each mortal soul involved in the Hotel ended up in Hell. Especially people who (for now) it’s kinda tricker to imagine why/how they ended up in Hell in the first place. I’m namely thinking of Vaggie and Niffty. Vaggie is a little more believable cause of her apparent reliance on weapons the first sign of trouble. But Niffty is a sweet little sugar bean who I imagine is legally forbidden from saying bad words. 

I’d like to see why Niffty ended up in a Hell cause I'm a sucker for the “Cinnamon Roll is actually Deadly Murder Baby” trope, don't judge me.

Royal Family Backstory! How did Lucifer and Lillith meet? How did they acquire their stations? When was Charlie born and how did this affect hell’s demographics, particularly in the realization that “Shit, some of us can create kids here”

Also, what other biblical figures are canon in Hazbin Hell? We already saw Stolas (though I’m still unsure if he’s the Stolas in bible or this is just, like, an avatar or version of him or something). Is Beezlebub in Hell? 

What about historical figures? Jeffery Dahmer and probably Lizzie Borden (that ax chick from Charlie’s song). Is Hitler in Hell? What about Vlad the Impaler or John Wayne Gacy?

I want Lucifer to be voiced by Weird Al. No, I will not explain or apologize for this wish.

More musical numbers!

Valentino backstory and his relationship to Angel Dust (Ik Vivz said this would be explained more in those comics but c’mon, it’d be a cool episode too).

Rosie, Vox, and other overlord backstories. I also wanna know who that cute overlord girl was with Vox and Val in the opening. She’s so cute and looks fun.

Vaggie and Alastor team up for some reason. I know they don’t really like or trust one another but I think they could play well off each other. Also character building.

Angel Dust and Charlie team up as well. Maybe a subplot to the above. More character development!

Sir Pentious, Cherri Bomb, and the Egg bois join the Hotel because why not and it’d be fun.

Angel gets a boyfriend. Cherri gets a girlfriend. 

Chaggie moments. I want their relationship to be shown in the same way Moxxie and Millie’s relationship was.

Who are the Von Eldritch family? Why to Helsa and Charlie not get along? Who is the son and why did he and Charlie break-up? What did their parents think of this? How does Vaggie (if at all) factor into this?

An episode where they focus on all the background characters in Hell (kinda like that one episode of Gumball).

Angel telling Val where to stick it being framed as him finally, seriously, giving redemption a shot.

Alastor and Vox fight framed like a big anime showdown no I will not apologize for this either, deal with it.

ALASTOR FROWNING!!!!!!

NIffty having a habit of saying really dark, morbid, depressing, horrifying things in the bubbliest, happiest voice in all of Hell. Everyone is kinda unnerved by it.

Husk is an odd combo of Rick Sanches and Grunkle Stan.

Baxter making inventing or “creating” something that destroys something in the Hotel off-screen. It becomes a running gag.

A running gag of Alastor literally shoving anyone out of the way to talk to Charlie.

Mimzy somehow becoming the mom friend despite being terrible at it.

This kind of conversation: Angel Dust: What’re you doing? Crymini: Teenage Rebellion. Angel: Fuq yeah, stick it to the old people!

An episode where Sir Pentious tries to destroy the Hotel and goes whole ham to do it... but no one in the Hotel ever notices his schemes or accidentally thwarts him without even trying,

Tom bitch slapping Katie. He deserves too.

Are there other religions in this universe? Did God and Lucifer inadvertently kick out all the old-timey deities in their rise to power?

Are any of said deities or mythological characters in Hell? Do they like it there? Do they deserve it? Again, sky’s the limit

A crossover with Helluva Boss

Or at least references back and forth.

Blitzo and Stola’s relationship played with more, but not necessarily Blitzo ending up with Stolas. Although if Stolas has good character development I could change my mind

More Moxxie and Millie relationship. They’re so cute!

Baby Loona and Blitzo adopting Loona. That is all.

That bratty kid becoming a sitcom archnemesis for I.M.P. but no one taking it seriously.

Stolas and Blitzo busting their asses off to keep whatever they have a secret from Stolas’s wife. But she knows, she has known for a long time (Blitz did tell her that first time) and she actively encourages is because hey, she’s sleeping with someone else besides her husband. Stolas and Blitzo’s reaction can vary.

Moxxie, Millie, and Loona memeing on Blitzo whenever Stolas calls. Like, yeah, they don’t like Stolas much either, but still, Blitz kinda had it coming.

Stolas gets a musical number. But not a good one. More on the lines of this. 

On that note, maybe something like a Starkid musical episode? C’mon, it fits.

I want Charlie and Stolas to know each other. Not friends but at least they know each other. Royalty and all...

Blitzo family backstory? Who are those ladies in the poster with him? Was he actually in a circus? How did the O become silent in his name?

Stolas’s daughter, Natasha (or Tasha, whatever) shows up. Maybe she’s the spoiled, bratty, daddy’s little girl trope. OR EVEN BETTER: She’s a mix of E.B. from the Netflix Green Eggs and Ham and Louise from Bob’s Burgers. Let her be smart! Let her start working for I.M.P. and run it better than any of them.

Tasha actually has a strong moral compass and actually kinda likes Charlie’s idea and wants to help, but she’s a kid and her dad says she can’t so... (She probably does anyway or Charlie tells Tasha to come back and help when she’s a bit older and has more freedom from her parents.

Blitzo and Angel Dust meeting, tell me that wouldn’t kick ass. (And Stolas meeting Angel Dust and getting “I’m here to steal yo man” vibes from him). Whether Angel and Blitzo hit it off that way is completely arbitrary.

A crossover of Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss culminating in the entire crew having to defeat some big baddie and it kicks ass.

More found family tropes in general. That’s the good shit.

That’s all I got for now. Feel free to reblog and add on!

[grayintogreen]

I was not technically tagged, but at least two people on my dash were like DO WHAT YOU WANT NO ONE IS YOUR GOD, and you know what? They’re right and valid. 

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

96! And 90% of them are from just this year. Can’t wait to find out what the big 100 is gonna be. Any one of my WIPS could be Disney’s next 100th fic.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

455,024 (also mostly from this year...)

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

In my entire life??? Since I was twelve??? I don’t even know, man. I wrote a lot of ooc crackfic and fic for cartoons when I was on FF.net, and then I was on LJ and wrote for a TON of different fandoms, but on AO3, I have written for Critical Role (so much CR), Yashahime/Inuyasha, Guardians of the Galaxy, His Dark Materials (TV), Steven Universe, Bleach, Alias, Supernatural, Dollhouse, Pushing Daisies (the last four were all transferred here from LJ, though)

4) What are your top five fics by kudos?

- turning wine back into water (Critical Role, de-aging fic with plot, 30457 words)

I STILL CANNOT BELIEVE HOW POPULAR THIS FIC IS. It beat out two of my super popular GotG fics that have been up since 2017 BY A LOT. Apparently, there was a market for the Mighty Nein being adorable cocktail brats and saving the world. Thanks, Liam’s Quest!

It is probably one of the most wholesome fics I will ever write too. I love it.

- Sunshine Came Softly (Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket and Mantis friendship, 3188 words)

THIS FIC STILL GETS HITS EVEN TODAY. It was written right after I saw the movie so it hit hard and fast on the hype train. 

- Mine Is Just a Slower Sacrifice (Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket-centric, 2248 words)

BOY YOU CAN TELL THESE FICS ARE ANCIENT BECAUSE I HADN’T DEVELOPED MY TITLE NICHE YET. where are the lower caps and Seanan McGuire lyrics!!

Anyway, this was written probably IMMEDIATELY after I saw the movie and had to process Rocket’s emotions during the last moments, because of who I am as a person. For what’s mostly a character study, it got some mileage on it.

- they drink dreamers up like brandy (Critical Role, 1625 words)

Back to Critical Role! I wrote this one when I was in a fucking blind post-finale haze and producing massive amounts of Kingsley content and I wanted to write a silly fic about Caleb being tiefling catnip. 

- if adversity breeds character (we’ve character enough for two) (Critical Role, Beau and Molly-centric, 1824 words)

I feel like most of my most kudos-ed CR fics are Beau-related, which is funny because I never really wrote her EVER. I guess I need to write her more often. ANYWAY, this one got jossed immediately after 141, but I needed to write Beau and Molly bantering and I couldn’t get her flipping him off after revealing her card is Rumor out of my head.

(Incidentally my sixth most kudos-ed fic is my Fjorester next gen fic, WHICH I WAS NOT EXPECTING AT ALL. IT’S A FIC BASED ON MY OC FANCHILDREN!! I’M VERY EMOTIONAL ABOUT THAT!!)

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Usually!! There are times when I forget and then it’s been so long that I never go back, but I like responding to comments. They make me so happy and I want to make sure the people who take the time to comment know that I see them and appreciate them. Especially if they give me long comments. You long commenters know who you are and I value you and also flail incoherently in your direction.

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

God, probably this church takes no conversions simply because, like, the whole ending scenes are MISERABLE AND FULL OF ANGST and then it has the hopeful ending that is actually a bullshit lie.

But second place probably goes to what couldn’t i offer, what couldn’t i give, which is just misery porn in disguise as a character study. Sorry, Cree.

7) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

Okay, so back in the day when I was a tineh fanbrat I wrote a lot of self-indulgent crossovers featuring my friends and I in true Mary Sue format being ~saviors of the world~ alongside our favorite fictional characters and after I grew out of that, I very rarely did it again, because as someone who can only write AUs if they’re high concept and can only write crossovers if the canon welding is pristine, it’s difficult.

I have ideas for some! I just haven’t written them yet. Or they’re sitting in Google Docs partially written.

8) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not to my recollection, which is insane, because I’ve written some things in my youth that deserved it, but also I was a kid, so maybe I definitely did not deserve it. Don’t send hate to kids!!

9) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

The first smut I ever posted on AO3 involved some fucking American Gods flesh horror shit, so that answers your second question.

Basically, yes, but I write smut to facilitate character development in a way that regular story beats can’t, mainly with characters who are in some way deeply fucked up and have unbalanced dynamics. 

So basically chances of me writing smut that isn’t Creecien or Lucigast? Very low. (I haven’t written Lucigast smut yet but I will. Inevitably.)

10) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that anyone’s told me, but one time when I was a teenager someone ripped off an entire group messageboard RP I was in and tried to pass it off as a fic they wrote.

11) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that anyone’s told me!

12) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I tried and it did not work out, because of (non-wanky) reasons, but it’s just not something I’d be very good at. I was the kid who wanted to work alone on group projects. I’m bad at group work.

13) What’s your all time favourite ship?

That I’ve WRITTEN??? Because that at least narrows it down significantly. Sesshoumaru/Rin hands down. It’s a good dynamic and they’re fun and sad at the same time. 

My self-indulgent ass does also enjoy writing Creecien though. I’m putting it out there because I want it.

14) What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

GOD POOR SUPERNOVAS OF ALL SOUND AND LIGHT. THAT FIC COULD’VE BEEN A CONTENDER, but I unfortunately posted it RIGHT BEFORE the White Diamond episodes aired and it became so jossed by canon so fast that I gave up on life with chapter two half finished. I need to delete it but I can’t bring myself to bury my shame.

15) What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue and meta-narrative and character-specific stuff. I go into every story with CHARACTER FIRST mentality, which is how I end up writing so many damn character studies or why my word counts explode. I’m just out here naval gazing because I love character stuff SO MUCH.

I’ve been told I’m good at fight/action scenes too, which... Shocks me, but I think watching and playing a lot of D&D stuff has really improved how I write fighting and action sequences.

16) What are your writing weaknesses?

[whispers] too much naval gaze. dial it back, bitch. 

I get really caught up in character stuff and forget to do important things like ADVANCE THE SCENE OR DESCRIBE THE SCENE OR LITERALLY ANYTHING. I also don’t think my prose is all that great, but I’m pretty sure every writer feels that imposter syndrome bullshit, so /waves hands. All I’m saying is I have seen some writers on AO3 who are writing some fucking vivid imagery and stringing flawless sentences together and weaving introspection and description together like beautiful baskets and they are stronger than any US Marine and I salute them and wish to be them.

17) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Iiii try not to. There’s times where I want to throw in, like, a little Zemnian for Caleb flair, but I try to stick to things that are either untranslatable (like German compound words), common phrases (like please or come here), or insults/curses/ pet names. Things that I don’t think Google will fucking lie to me about.

18) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I think it was a Sailor Moon crackfic about Haruka being forced to enter a beauty pageant which was just a blatant rip-off of Ms Congeniality and oh my god was it awful. I don’t even wanna talk about it.

19) What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

this church takes no conversions, probably BECAUSE it’s my little red-headed stepchild of a fic involving so many things that are just never going to make it popular (backstory fic, fic that is almost 85% headcanon, doesn’t involve popular characters, etc.), but godDAMMIT I love that fic so much. It was fun and I use every bit of that headcanon in almost everything like it’s my job.

shattered stage is a close second, because it was such a crazy concept for a fic that I PULLED OFF SOMEHOW and is this wonderful mix of crazy plot and character and lore and my three favorite tieflings having to work together. And also Jayne Merriweather as the main villain. 

A lot of love went into both of those fics and they are my babies. this time next year we’ll see if I add Creedemption and shoot at fate to this list- probably. All of my epic long fics resolve to be my babies because I spent so much time on them, and I have to love them and cherish them because I raised them into gigantic wordy attempts to write a doorstopper.

[ink-asunder]

The Heartless DLC - The Rest of the Story

I’ve given a lot of thought to this, but I’ve decided to drop my Dragon Age: Inquisition/Dragon’s Dogma crossover fic, The Heartless DLC. I’m not out of ideas, but it turns out retelling the entire last 2/3rds of the game WITH original quests was too much of an undertaking for me. That combined with my surprising distaste with elements of Dragon Age and issues with the fandom just made it a project that I have no interest in continuing at this time.

It’s not fair to keep my readers in the dark, even if I *do* plan to get back to it someday. So I’m going to give a heavily abridged but general summary of how The Heartless DLC would’ve continued and ended right here, just so you get the full story instead of me leaving you hanging. It’s also a fairly long post!

After the events at Adamant, the Inquisitor and Arisen ltake care of some side-quests, favor quests, and cleaning up some areas whilst also preparing for the ball at Halamshiral. As stated previously, the Arisen and Gale will be going on their own, not under the Inquisition. Once there, the Inquisitor searches for clues, and the Arisen very quickly realizes that there are pawns serving at the ball. Gale pretends to faint, which allows him and the Arisen to be temporarily excused while the pawns take them to the servant’s quarters.

Once in the privacy of the servant’s quarters, the pawns give Marnie an urgent update about the state of things in Gransys. The Duke wasn’t ill, he was trying to keep her away. Nothing particularly heinous is unfolding, but the pawns are worried the Arisen has abandoned them. Marnie assures them that she’ll return, but before they resolve the issue, the harlequin drops in and tries to murder them.

Cut back to the Inquisition. The Inquisitor finally finds some clues and escapes to the servants quarters with his companions. By the time they get there, Marnie and the pawns are nowhere to be found and everyone else is slaughtered. They briefly have a moment of “oh, so I guess we might have to consider Marnie did this” and move on. They find Marnie and the pawns engaged in battle in the courtyard, and the two groups converge for the rest of the quest. They discover the pawns have been traveling to and from Gransys by a Riftstone they brought overseas with them. This Riftstone is later transported to a grove closer to Skyhold for ease of access to the Pawn Guild. It might be noted that Marnie is the one who finds and unlocks the Empress halla door, mostly because her pawns were collecting whatever they could find already. She has Gale interrogate the man for her, then she brings the information to the Inquisitor. The empress is spared, Florianne is arrested, and the Inquisitor has enough evidence to ally all three parties.

Now that there’s a Riftstone at Skyhold, Gale is going out at night on jobs in other worlds. More pawns begin to frequent Skyhold. They don’t blend in well, but the Arisen is able to explain it away as if the Duke sent over members of his elite army, of which the Arisen is a commander. No one ever suspect she had that kind of station. The pawns all seem moderately wary of Solas, but decide he won’t pull anything in Skyhold around the Arisen, for whatever reason. Gale has the most influence over the other pawns aside from the Arisen because he is the main pawn in this universe. That puts him at a high position, even though he may be younger than many pawns he meets.

Gale still goes to Solas frequently. Their meetings range from Gale asking for help with spells to discussing the Inquisition and the Arisen. Solas starts asking Gale to keep their meetings a secret from the Arisen (red flag!). Meanwhile, Cole and Marnie settle their differences; Marnie says she was never upset with Cole to begin with, and they both make a point to be more objective and communicative with each other. Marnie resumes training Cole and gifts him a pair of climbing boots with spikes on the bottoms (shout out to RavenNox on fanfiction.net for mentioning the strider concept art in a review, because I hadn’t seen it before!).

After Wicked Eyes, Wicked Hearts, the Inquisitor decides to finally get in a good dragon hunt like I’ve been teasing. This is a long-ish “Dragonhunt Arc,” and it’s what I’d imagine Marnie’s main favor quest would be if this was a real DLC. They go to the Hinterlands to fight the Fereldan Frostback, (I know, I should be writing them getting back at that damn dragon in Crestwood, but I haven’t written anything in the Hinterlands yet, and I wanna get to it). There’s an epic battle where the Inquisition FINALLY gets to see more of that dynamic climbing from Marnie and Cole. Gale also shows some creative use of healing spells by preemptively casting healing spells while Marnie is in danger, then she’ll heal as soon as she’s injured and it’ll spare her, (Gale actually did stuff like this with consumable curatives while I was fighting the Ur-Dragon quite a few times, so I wanted to implement it).

At the end of the battle, the Arisen realizes that dragons are just animals here, as opposed to intelligent, self-possessed beings like in Gransys. Therefore, the only real “reason” she came to Thedas was a bust. She’s noticeably sullen and distraught for several days, and Gale begins to worry. Eventually, Gale reaches out to the Inner Circle for help, and they arrange a quiet evening in the yard where she and Gale could dress fancy and slow-dance because it was the one thing she wanted to do at Halamshiral and couldn’t do. There’s this vague internal monologue about how she never gets to keep what she loves, and it’s implied she only truly loves Gale, and it’s also a subtle reminder that she’s a fucking god, but anyway.

After the Dragonhunt Arc, I get back to the main quest, except I kind of don’t, because I want things to be more dramatic. They chip away at some favor quests, and oddly enough, Gale and the Arisen start to drift apart. This is due to several factors including but not limited to Marnie being preoccupied with other pawns and Inquisition-related duties, but it’s also largely because of a concentrated effort on several people’s part to get Gale to assert himself as an individual human as opposed to a pawn defined by his Arisen.

When they go to the Temple of Mythal, Marnie and Gale can barely keep themselves together. The group manages to complete the quest regardless. They ally with Abelas and Morrigan drinks from the Well of Sorrows.

When they face off against Corypheus, Marnie uses the Backfire skill when fighting the red lyrium dragon to ensure it dies. In that moment, a part of her is frighteningly powerful, almost like she is no longer human. (God this stuff sounds corny.) She passes out for a minute and Gale stays with her while she recovers and the others go to fight Corypheus. Corypheus probably delivers a villainous monologue. I was originally going to have Marnie and Gale bust in and at the part where Corypheus says "ancient ones, if you've ever been there, be with me now," Marnie says "I am one" but I decided against it. The Inquisitor lands the killing blow because this is his quest and his game.

During the afterparty, the Arisen and Gale interact with each member of the inner circle with the news that they'd be leaving for Gransys in the morning. Neither are drinking and they're both dressed as if they're going to leave any minute.

When Marnie and Gale are setting off, Cole comes to Marnie one last time and tells her she never will be alone. That reassures her and, for the time being, she seems ready to confront Grigori upon her return to Gransys.

When Marnie and Gale return for the Tresspasser DLC, they still haven't killed Grigori, but they did go to Bitterblack Isle. As such, their gear is dope and dragonforged, and their mental health is in shambles. Gale also converted to the way of the bow while they were there. They aid the Inquisition in fighting Qunari and finding Solas, and he and Marnie have a final showdown where he's revealed to be the Dread Wolf and she's revealed to be the Seneschel who reset the world so she could relive being the Arisen again and again. Solas needles her about why she redid everything, why she refuses to assume her place as Seneschel, and how many times she's done this same thing over and over again. Gale manages to shoot Solas from afar and they're all driven apart.

After the Inquisition returns to Skyhold and orients themselves, only Gale reappears saying his Arisen sent him in case they meant her any harm after her reveal. After the Inquisitor agrees not to compromise Marnie, Gale leads him to the ruins by the Riftstone, where Marnie's been waiting. They have a chat about her true origins and intentions, and she admits she didn't defeat Grigori because she knew she'd have to leave the mortal world soon after. She agrees to help the Inquisition when she can and places a Portcrystal by the Riftstone. They both agree that things are probably going to get a whole lot worse.

And that's where the fic ends. There's also a number of subplots I neglected to detail. Cole's favor quest, a few side quests related to the pawn guild, etc. As I said, I might return to the fic later on, but I really don't care for it or the fandom or the source material anymore. It's sad, but I'm happier elsewhere. And I thought it was only fair to leave some conclusion to the fic regardless. I might post certain chapters and snipets on my tumblr, but for the most part, this is the last you'll see of the official fic.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to the readers and fans that have stuck with me through all this. I wish you all the best, and I'm sorry I couldn't give you the full fic. Stay safe out there!

[thedreammweaver]

Split Personality part 3 (Burton-schumacherverse/Gotham crossover)

Part 2

(A/N: so things don’t get confusing outside of the characters themselves referring to eachother by name Burton-schumacherverse characters are going to be referred to as penguin, riddler, and Catwoman while their Gotham counterparts just have their normal names)

Warnings: sexuality struggles, Ed’s dad being an asshole mention

As they left the interrogation room Oswald noticed that Penguin’s waddling limp was more pronounced than his yet he wasn’t leaning on the umbrella he carried as Oswald would have. Even with his cane his leg was beginning to ache terribly from standing for so long. As soon as they were in the main part of the precinct Jim made a beeline for Oswald “What the hell-“

“We’re leaving, Jim, they’ve done nothing that warrants you holding them here.” Oswald stated. “Absolutely not-” Jim paused “Wait, where are the other-“

“Jim!” Bullock called from the upper level “Your favorite little delinquent and that freaky cat lady just blew up a store downtown.” Jim looked like he was about to have aneurysm “How did they even get out- I don’t have time for- Okay, you know what,” he turned back to Oswald “you can go just for the love of god behave!” He instructed before sprinting off to deal with the current situation.

     Selina and Catwoman were laughing as they ducked into an alley, hiding from cop cars. “This is the most fun I’ve had in a while,” Catwoman panted “Who knows, maybe I should get a kid.” She joked. “You’re not too bad yourself.” Selina chuckled.

        Not really knowing where else to go Oswald had taken the group back to the Van Dahl mansion. As soon as they’d arrived Riddler said he wanted to have a private chat with Ed and they’d ducked off somewhere. Oswald’s leg was lit up with pain by the time they’d gotten there and he was just grateful to see his armchair. “What happened to your leg?” Penguin asked as he surveyed the decor, judgement in his eyes. “Oh...” Oswald hadn’t actually recounted the tale to anyone before, though he didn’t exactly want to open up to the odd man he felt a pull like he had to “Someone broke it, I was in a sticky situation of sorts and couldn’t get it set...it just healed wrong, I suppose. I’ve never actually had it looked at, come to think of it...”

“You kill the person who broke it?”

“Yes..” Oswald chose to leave out that Fish hadn’t stayed dead.

“Good.” Penguin growled. “Don’t ever let anyone get away with doing shit like that to you..” he trailed off as he set eyes on a portrait of Elijah that was above the fireplace. “That’s your old man?” He asked. Oswald struggled to keep pain out of his voice as he too looked at the portrait “Yes, it is.”

“Christ, he looks like mine.” Penguin muttered.

“My father was a good man,” Oswald assured “He would never throw a child into a river...I apologize for my snide remark about that, I just...can’t imagine parents being so cruel.”

Penguin laughed “I can’t imagine parents being so loving. To be perfectly honest with you I...killed mine, my parents I mean.” He admitted. Oswald found himself chuckling “I’d say that’s fair.” he shrugged.

      Ed didn’t know why he was letting himself be led into a spare bedroom by his counterpart but he was. “Alright,” Riddler said carefully shutting the door before leading Ed more into the middle of the room and grabbing him gently but firmly by the shoulders “You said you’re straight.”

“I am-“ Ed’s insisting was interrupted.

“How many times do you rehearse that?” Riddler asked, letting go of Ed and surveying the room curiously.

Ed’s face fell “How did you know that..”

“Because I used to rehearse it too, silly. Now, can you be honest with me?”

Ed sighed and nodded there was an odd sense of complete trust he felt with the other man. “Do you like boys or girls?” Riddler asked as he absently fixed his hair in the reflection of a vase. Ed looked at the floor and inhaled “...both.” he mumbled. “Hmm..both.” Riddler repeated “I’m willing to bet your dad said some pretty nasty things about that.” Ed didn’t answer, which prompted Riddler to turn to him and walk back over. Seeing that Ed looked to be on the verge of crying, Riddler open his arms in a hug offering gesture. He didn’t expect Ed to actually accept so he was surprised when the man walked over and practically melted into his arms as he cried softly. “There, there, dear repressed one.” Riddler cooed, gently rubbing Ed’s back “I’m going to tell you what I wish someone told me when I was younger. There is nothing wrong with you and all the horrible things your dad ever said are not true.” He hugged Ed for a few moments more before pulling away “Now, you said you like boys, does boys include Oswald?”

“Y-Yes..” Ed admitted, wiping his eyes “But he’s...out of my league, I could never-“

“Oh, please.” Riddler interrupted, he grabbed Ed’s arm and took him into the bathroom and stood him in front of the mirror. He lifted Ed’s chin up to make sure he was looking at himself “That’s a handsome boy, hmm? You should be milking those cheekbones for all they’re worth.” That made Ed chuckle. Riddler moved some of Ed’s hair out of his face “Maybe if you tried more green it would bring out your features more..but that aside, you’re plenty worthy enough of Oswald.”

Ed blushed and shook his head “He probably doesn’t feel the same way.” Riddler smirked “I’m willing to bet he does.”

     “That is ingenious.” Oswald said in awe as he watched penguin shoot a tree in the backyard with his umbrella again. 

“Wanna try?”

“Really?? Yes, please.” He said, taking the umbrella from the shorter man. The glee on his face was childlike as he quickly figured out how the thing worked and made another hole in the tree. “I also have one that shoots fire.” Penguin said taking his umbrella back from Oswald. “And a few that fly, those get broken a lot though.. I was working on one that shoots acid but Eddie made me take a break from that little project after I burned myself..on accident of course.” Penguin sounded both annoyed and in love. “You guys really care about eachother..” Oswald mumbled. “You need to tell your Ed that you’re in love with him.” Penguin said frankly. Oswald’s face went bright red “What?! I-I’m not-“

“Don’t bullshit me. You’re head over heels for him, I can see it. Even if I didn’t see it..I’d know.”

“I can’t tell him..”

“You have to!” Penguin insisted “There cannot be a universe where he and I aren’t together, do you understand? I won’t allow it.” Oswald anxiously considered the prospect of confessing his love to Ed “Okay..I’ll tell him.” He relented. Penguin looked relieved “Good...good.”

       Oswald felt a chill run down his spine as he, Ed, Selina, Penguin, Riddler, and Catwoman walked through the halls of Indian Hill. They were being lead by Jim who was being led by Hugo who had gotten done with whatever he’d rigged to get the misplaced counterparts back to their dimension faster than he’d predicted. He came to an ominous looking door at the end of the hall and stopped “Those from this Gotham can leave now, the rest of you proceed with me.” He instructed. Before Catwoman could start walking Selina hugged her “This is weird but I’m gonna like...miss you or whatever...” Catwoman quickly recovered from her surprise and hugged Selina back “I’ll...miss you too, kid.” Hugo looked at Jim pensively as he opened the ominous door  “I must be a complete fool to let such a perfectly well preserved case of complex syndactyly slip through my fingers. You owe me for this, Gordon.” He lamented, looking Penguin up and down “God, what I’d give to dissect you..” Oswald was struck with a type of terror he’d never felt before and he moved to hide behind Ed who guarded him protectively as they both walked through the door. Catwoman looked at Selina sadly before following. Hugo was about to enter but paused looking at Oswald, Ed, and Selina “Oh, I should probably tell you there’s a certain margin for error with this that could actually send you to-...you know what never mind, that most likely won’t happen.” He said cryptically before disappearing into the room, slamming the door behind him. Wanting to just get out of there Jim pushed past Oswald and Ed, Selina soon followed. Ed and Oswald lingered for a second, there was a strange feeling about them now..something pulling them together. Both remembering their counterparts’ words they took eachother’s hands as they started walking out..together.

To be continued....

[dezmondmyles]

haha ok i got tagged by @taruyison ilu <3

alright cool lets do this

Would You Rather - Fanfic Version

Do you prefer friends to lovers or enemies to lovers? Aw man, do I gotta choose? I really love both, but there’s something a little more mmm, intimate, about enemies to lovers.

Would you rather be forced to watch a terrible movie adaptation of your favorite fanfic or an amazing adaptation of your least favorite fanfic? "terrible” and “amazing” are very subjective, and I love trashy movies/games that are fun to watch/play so that’s kinda my attitude with fanfics haha.

Would you rather read fanfic chapters backwards or read them as parsed from google translate? Backwards? I guess? If I have to translates a fic, uhh, I just Don’t lmao.

Would you rather consume every fanfic as an audiobook read by a monotone narrator or have to read on a tiny printed piece of papers written in yellow highlighter? If I had to choose, probably the audiobook. My eyes have trouble reading black text on white background sometimes as it is.

Would you rather get a tattoo on your body of every fanfic title you read or never read fanfic again? Never read fanfic again ahahaha. I’ve read some trashy fanfic just based on the equally dubious title before.

Do you prefer vampire au or werewolf au? If you know anything about me as a person.... Well you know that answer. And if you don’t, it’s uh, werewolf.  

Would you rather get sold to a boy band or be stuck in a time loop with your love interest? Time loop I guess? I never listened to 1D.

Would you rather kill your favorite character or marry your least favorite character? What if my favorite character is already dead?? Also what’s stopping me from marrying my least, killing them, and cashing out on the life insurance??

Would you rather meet your love interest in a coffee shop au or college au? My big brain take is to combine both- The local coffee shop near campus. Boom.

Would you rather have your fic history leaked or never read another fanfic again? Again, I’ll just never read again lmaaaao.

Would you rather be able to read amazing fanfiction but it always has an mpreg plot twist or only read bad fanfiction for the rest of your life? I uh, wrote?? Some of the mpreg in a reasonable semi-thought out fashion?? Also I’ve already spent most of my reading subjectively bad fanfic so like, idk.

Would you rather gay ships or straight ships? I can do both?? Also are we talking gay-gay ships or “these two are in a samesies relationship but theyre bi” ship? cause i can do that too.

Would you rather ship a rarepair with almost no content or a pair with lots of content but almost all of it is cracky nightmare smut? Honey I’m already in rarepair hell don’t even talk to me lmfao.

Would you rather see your otp shatter years after their happily ever after or never have the happily ever after happen in the first place? I mean, both is already like, the Thing with them anyway lmfao. I fuck hard with bittersweet endings all the same.

Would you rather read a poorly written but complete fanfic or a literary masterpiece last updated june 2013? I mean I do both. The former esp if the content is compelling enough for me to continue reading just to see how much more terrible it can get.

Would you rather read SSSS++++ tier smut with almost 11k words or 70k words worth of fluff? I can do both, the fluff will probably make me cry though in the end lmao you don’t get that many words of fluff without something sad in there

Would you rather read only alternate universe fanfics or only canon fanfics? My bread and butter is AU by virtue of being a crossover shipper. No matter how close to canon I get with either, it’s still ultimately AU. Plus, canon is dumb af anyway for both so i’m doing everyone a favor lmao.

Would you rather introduce fanfics to your normie friend with an ongoing smut fic with great writing or a complete fluff fic with terrible writing? Depends on the normie. I have non-fandom friends who enjoy writing and reading as much as I do, and I feel like that a well written smut and fluff fic would be more compelling to them, if not just to analyze the characters.

Would you rather read your notp with all your favorite tropes and perfect characterization or your otp with tropes you despise and inconsistent characterization? I think I’d pick the notp honestly. Listen, anything can become an otp with the right convincing in my book. Though, for most of my notps, they employ a lot of similar annoying tropes I hate seeing in most of my otps so like, can’t win them all.

Would you rather have a major character death or have a bed sharing scene but it’s a ship you hate? Major Character Death in the bed they were sharing.

Would you rather every fanfic includes Jackson Wang or every fanfic includes at least one nsfw moment? dunno who that is so I guess one nsfw moment it is.

Would you rather read a fanfic that has constant grammar and spelling mistakes or one that the characters are wildly different than canon? Have you read any of my fics I’m the worst speller/grammarererrr ever. However, I can take “wildly different” to a certain point in the case of many AUs where you kinda have to fudge things a little for the sake of your setting.

Would you rather read the most absolutely messed up dead dove with your most wholesome ship or subject yourself to 100,000 words of your notp all written in a solid block with no punctuation and horrible grammar? Dead Dove, no contest.

Would you rather have the power to read every fanfic in existence or have the power to make any ship canon? Any ship canon. I literally have no interest in read every single fanfic ever.

Would you rather read a cringy 70 chapter harry styles mafia au or a high school kpop au y/n fic with horrible grammar? At least I know who Harry Styles is lmfao.

Would you rather have your otp get together in canon but one of them dies in a tragic way or all members of your otp survive but get together with other people? They’re already dead in their respective canons so it can’t get worse from here right?

Would you rather accidentally send your boss a super detailed smut fic or read a super detailed smut fic about your boss? I think the latter because I would rather I lose respect for my boss than the other way around lol.

Would you rather read smut fanfic aloud to your parents or submit smut fanfic to the employer of your dream job? Like taru asked, what is the context. I think the latter though if it was allowed and it’s explicitly what they wanted.

Would you rather pine after an oblivious love interest or be the oblivious love interest pined after? I’m both irl (probably lmao)

Would you rather hanahaki disease or your soulmate’s first words to you tattooed on your body (and they’re really stupid)? I had to look up what hanahaki was lol, so I guess soulmate’s first words. And I mean, how much more stupid would mine be anyway?

Would you rather be an alpha, beta, or omega in omegaverse? None, I hate omegaverse with a passion. You can’t dress it up in any form possible to make me enjoy it. Idc what character(s) is/are in it, it bugs the fuck out of me.

Would you rather read a fanfic where the characters turn into furries or a fanfic where the characters all get pregnant? I mean, out of morbid curiosity, I’d wanna read both?? I’d hate it but I’d attempt to read it at least once?

Would you rather be able to resurrect dead fics or have the power to create a plethora of new fics effortlessly? New fics, so long as they’re getting completed on top of that ahaha.

whoo, that was fun! it’s been a while since i’ve done one of these memes. thanks for the tag, taru!

ok so i guess i’ll tag in return: @cooldadmondmiles @theladyisapirate and @seventhstrife

have fun friendos!

[thorne93]

Inside the Criminal Mind (Part 39)

Prompt: You’re married to Dr. Spencer Reid of the BAU, and are a distinguished doctor yourself on the team. You’re sent down to Miami, Florida for teaching and as a side request from the FBI, to investigate a string of missing persons. When you think you’ve figured out who the unsub is, your life becomes more complicated than you ever could’ve imagined.

Word Count: 3091

Warnings: (throughout the fic –>) death, blood, gore, killings, language, disturbing mental notions, mentions of rapes/murder/etc (You know, Dexter and Criminal Minds related business)

Notes: Thank you so much to @arrow-guy​​​​​, @carryonmyswansong​​​​​, and @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo​​​​​ - without each of you, I couldn’t have finished, written, or properly navigated this story. Each of you helped me fish out details that were incredibly important to me. Beta’d by @carryonmyswansong​​​​​ and @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo​​​​​… Aesthetic by @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo​​​​​

This is a crossover of Criminal Minds x Dexter. First time writing Dexter.

Also, the timeline is after Season 1 of Dexter, but during season 14-ish of Criminal minds into Season 15. Enjoy!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JJ knelt beside him too, across from you.

"What happened?" she wondered, no accusation in her voice. 

"I don't know," you admitted. "I was only gone an hour or two. He was perfectly fine when I left." You stared at his body in horror, wondering what went wrong. Wondering if it was your fault. 

Soon, an ambulance, police, and firefighters arrived. 

You rode with Spencer to the hospital and JJ said she'd let the team know and be behind you. You were trying to keep your crying back, but it was hard as the EMTs worked on him. 

Finally, you got to the hospital where Garcia and JJ met you. The doctors asked you questions and you focused long enough to answer them quickly and directly. Then they wheeled him away to the CCU. JJ and Garcia said they were being called in, so you nodded, telling them to go, that the team needed them. 

With trembling hands, you called Diana, Spencer’s mom. In a little under an hour, Diana arrived and Spencer was out of the CCu, but he wasn’t doing much better. The doctor informed you of the options. 

“The conservative approach would be surgery. It may reduce the swelling around his brain faster. There is risk, it could cause seizures and even more bleeding.”

You nodded and asked them to give you a moment. You spoke with Diana and as you were weighing your options, he began to seize again, causing monitors to go off everywhere. You went around the side of the bed and hugged Diana, trying to comfort her and not focus on your own pain. 

Your husband was dying and you had no idea if he even loved you anymore.  

When they finally got him calmed down, and the seizing stopped, someone appeared in the doorway of Spencer’s hospital room. You turned your head, and it was Max. 

A million emotions slammed into you at once, but the main one was confusion. 

“What are you doing here?” you asked. Diana turned to see the newcomer. 

“Who’s this?” she asked. 

“A friend of Spencer’s,” you answered absentmindedly. Max looked like a lost puppy. Maybe she didn’t realize you’d be here. “Diana, I’ll be right back.” You stood up and walked towards Maxine. “Do you wanna go grab some coffee?” you offered. You weren’t about to sit in the same room with her as your dying husband. You wanted her far away from him. 

“Sure,” she said, looking a little afraid. 

You two walked to the cafeteria and got coffee, sitting down. 

“So, what are you doing here? Who told you he was here?” 

“JJ.”

“Ah, I should’ve figured that out.” 

“I’m uh, sorry for showing up like this--”

“Why did you show up, knowing now that he’s a married man?” you took a deep breath and remembered what Dexter had taught you. “How do you and JJ know each other?” you figured this would  be a good start to finding out more.

“After the thing with Cat, we talked for a bit. Your team had briefed me about what might have happened and then afterwards, she said she was close to Spencer and gave me her number in case I had any more questions about what had happened. Then, I got the text about him being in the hospital. She said I might want to know.” 

This fueled the fire within you about JJ. she had no reason to tell her about what was going on with your husband. “So….how did you and my husband meet?” This was the most awkward situation you were in and you just wanted this to get over with. “It seems you’ve become the center of his attention and that’s not something I'm okay with.”

She twiddled her fingers, toying with her coffee cup. “Yeah, I’m probably not your favorite person. Um, we met at the park. My nephew was talking to him, then he started to have a panic attack and Spencer came over and did a magic trick to distract him. It really impressed me, that a guy could take time out of his day to make a boy he didn't know happy and feel better.”

“Spencer’s always had a soft spot for kids, he’s a great uncle.” You smiled fondly hearing that he had helped a child in need. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy he was able to help but how does that in turn end up with you and him constantly being together?” You took a sip of your coffee. “Wasn’t there a point where you asked if he was seeing anyone or if he was married?” You couldn’t see how that would never cross a person’s mind

“It did, but we were having such a good time, I didn’t want to think anything was wrong. He never talked about you, and I never thought to bring it up. He seemed so sweet and decent, I didn't think there was any way he could do something like that.” 

“You never thought to ask if he was single or taken?” That sounded incredulous to you. “Did he ever ask you?” At that point you were starting to believe that the man you loved really didn’t love you and this was just a confirmation. “I’m going to be frank with you. He and I are going through a tough situation and JJ was the cause of it and then you showed up and things got worse, I’d really appreciate it if you could tell me what exactly it was that you two did so much that he couldn’t bat an eye at me.” You moved your hands under the table to hide their trembling.

She took a breath. “Okay, well, first of all, I didn’t mean to make anything worse. I’ve never intended to cause issues in a marriage. But, all we did was go to lunch, dinner… We went to a few museums and shops. He gave me a couple of things.” 

“Were there ever moments where you two got to be closer than friends?” You massaged one temple trying to think things through like Dex had told you to. “I’m just trying to figure all this out and I’d like to know everything, if you could tell where you guys went and what you did I would really appreciate that.” You were being sincere as much as it pained you, this needed to be done there was so much you were unsure of and Max was the key to knowing the truth. “ Do you have pictures by any chance?”

“I have a few. Yeah.” She pulled her phone out and began to show you pictures. “This was us at the science museum. This was us at the park.” She glanced at you, making a face of worry. “I know this is probably really weird, but as you can see we’re never kissing or holding hands.” She put her phone away, sighing before trying to list everywhere they went. “We talked about books, movies, a little bit about his work, but that was only for a few minutes. He gave me some of his favorite books to read, and showed me a few poems. He told me places I should go visit.”

Hearing all of this was hurting you far worse than you thought it would. He gave her the books that you had given to him, the places they went to were some of the few places that only you and him had ever gone to.the same poems he showed to her were the ones he would recite to you when he felt that they were meant for you. Your shoulders sag and you wanted to hate her but you couldn’t she did know he was married he chose to keep that from her. He chose to keep you hidden from his life to someone else and that, that's what broke your heart.  “Did he ever hint at wanting more than what you two had?” you hoped this would give you the answer to the question that's still gnawing at you.

“Not really, no. He made it clear he liked being around me but…” She bit her lip. “I was falling for him. I was going to tell him I loved him, soon. Probably the next time we met. That was before I found out he was married though. But I still can’t turn off those feelings, that's why I came to the hospital, I think…. Because I love him, and if he died…” 

“If he died what? He died knowing that you fell in love with him?!” you winced hearing your voice rise. “I’m sorry but knowing that he’s married you shouldn’t have even thought of that, it’s bad enough I had to deal with JJ doing the same shit while I was away for work but I don’t need someone else doing that and especially not now when he’s like this.”

“I know. I shouldn’t be here but… I had to be true to myself. I love Spencer, and I wanted to tell him that, but… I won’t get in the way of your marriage. I’d still like to be his friend and I won’t let us go anywhere past that.”

“I don’t really know much about you so it’s hard for me to even trust you’ll keep that promise and that you won't try later on.” you finished your coffee cup “But I do appreciate you telling me everything that’s happened.”

She nodded. “Of course. If I was married, I’d want the same courtesy. Besides, you’re really intimidating.” She nervously laughed. 

“You smiled a little at that. “I don’t do it on purpose, it's just part of the job.”  you make a move to leave. “I should probably get back. I need to check on Spencer.”

“Right, yeah, of course. I’m just gonna go. I’m so sorry to have come, but… now at least you know the truth. I hope whatever damage I caused, you two can fix it.” 

“I’ll let him know you stopped by to say hello, and I hope we can fix this too.” You nod your head and head back to the room. 

You headed back, and Diana had a hold of his hand. A few hours later, he opened his eyes and he was fully awake. After they ran some more tests, they cleared him. His bleeding had stopped and he was going to be okay. Diana said she was tired and she went back to the live-in home, wishing you both a good night. 

Now that Spencer was finally lucid, you were sitting beside his bed, holding his hand. 

“Hey,” you softly said. “I thought I lost you there for a while. I came home from the hotel and found you on the floor. I’ve never been more scared in my life.” 

Spencer smiled at you.

“I wondered if the last thoughts in your head were about Max,” you admitted with a bit of an embarrassed laugh. 

He shook his head. “No. They weren’t about Max. I was thinking about the case. Everett Lynch is still alive.”

“We know, sweetie,” you assured. “The team is tracking him, we’ll find him.” You bit your lip to look down for a second. “Spencer, I talked to Dexter, and actually Max stopped by too.”

“Oh? What did they have to say?”

You noticed he didn’t ask about why Max was here. “I had talked to Dexter and he made me realize that I was overreacting and I didn’t give you a chance to explain yourself and try to see your side of this.” You looked away from him, not being able to meet his eyes about Max.

“Well, that’s good. He won’t hurt any more women… Y/N… I’m so sorry that you were put in the position to even think I was thinking of another woman before I collapsed… I never should’ve done that to you. You’re right. I was completely in the wrong for keeping you a secret from each other. I just… It was nice to talk to someone who had nothing to do with work, or Miami, any of it. It was a breath of fresh air. But I made you feel second best, and you’ve never done that to me. Ever… I should’ve paid you the same respect.” 

“Thank you, Spence…” You really didn’t know what to say. Things were happening left and right and you didn’t know what to believe. “I just wish you’d thought of giving me that respect before all of this happened.” You still couldn’t look at him. “We spoke… Maxine and I.”

He made a look of uncertainty and worry. “Really? How did that go? She came by? What did she have to say? Why was she here?”

“She… She came to see you and well we got to talking and she confessed that she’s in love with you and that if you died she wanted to do right to herself and tell you.” you moved yourself away from him a bit. “She told me about everything Spencer. The places you guys went to, the books you gave her” you looked away trying to calm your emotions. “Why Spencer? What happened to those places being just for us, I gave you those books.”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. Nothing. And everything. I know the case in Miami is done but that doesn’t mean my head or my heart were in the right place. I was in profiler mode the whole time we were down there. Working the case, protecting you. Then we got back here,and reality hit me of everything that had happened. And I just wanted the taste of a normal life for a little bit with someone that wasn’t on the team or even you. It wasn’t a romantic choice. It could’ve been anyone. It just happened to be her. I’m sorry that she told you she loves me… That.. that was never my intention. I just wanted a friend, a close friend, a good friend like you and Dexter. I needed to digest everything that happens, and at the same time, be away from it all with someone who could just be my friend, not a profiler or a killer. But I don't love her… at all. I love you, and only you. It’s always only been you, I swear.” 

“Spence, it's hard for me to believe that, all of the things she told me you did were the exact same thing we did when we first got together, how do you expect me not to feel like i’ve been pushed aside for someone new,” There was no stopping the tears. “Like you said she’s outside of all of this I wouldn’t put it past you to move on from me.”

He reached over, taking your hand and sitting up on his elbow. “The last thing I will ever want or do is move on from you. I didn’t spend the last several months using every waking moment trying to protect you and your freedom because I don’t love you more than anyone in this world. I made a mistake. I distanced myself from you, but to be fair, you did it too.” He held up his hand to stop you from protesting. “I’m not faulting you. I know why you did it. I’m keenly aware as to why you did what you did. But the fact remains that when both of us are afraid of hurting the other person, we distance ourselves. The only problem with that logic is, the distancing ourselves does hurt. I did this all wrong. I know I did. But Max is just a friend. I was caught up with feeling.. No longer bogged down by our work, or the Miami business. For that, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for making you feel second best. I’m sorry for not making you a priority. I’m sorry for making you feel anything but all the love I have for you. I'm sorry for not handling my emotions better and coming to you when I had a problem. I can’t fix what I did, or correct my mistakes, but I’m here now, telling you that none of it matters to me anymore. All I want, all I’ve ever wanted, is you.” 

“You mean it? You're not just saying this to get me to not overthink? It’s been hell, Spence. Every time I wanted to be with you, it’s like you didn’t think twice to run to meet with Max.” You looked up at him. “I was honestly waiting for you to tell me that you were leaving, that you never wanted to see me again, I wanted to blame you for this but I blame myself because if it hadn’t been for me you wouldn’t have had to find confidence and search for someone else to find some semblance of normalcy.” You wiped the tears away, not wanting to get too emotional.

He leaned all the way up and put his hand on the side of your face. It was some of the first physical contact you’d had in forever since this whole Maxine thing began. “No,” he cooed. “No, none of this is your fault, don’t even think that. I’m an adult. I should've handled it better. It’s just… well you already know I’m envious of you and Dexter. Between JJ, and Miami, and Dexter, and Maxine and our jobs in general. So much has been so messy with us lately, I didn’t even know how to begin talking to you about it. That’s my fault. Not yours. It’s a reflection of me, not you. I got caught up in distancing myself so far away from work, that I distanced you too, and I never meant to do that. I just… I want us to find our way back to each other. That’s all.” 

“I would really like that too, just please no more lies?” you asked of him as you leaned into his touch realizing you’d been very deprived of his touch. “What do you say when we go back I cook you up some of your favorite foods to make you feel better?” you hoped that this would be a good start to getting back to what you two had before everything went wrong. 

“Yes, please. No more lies. I swear. I’m done with Maxine. It’ll just be about us, from now on.” He promised, leaning forward to kiss you and it felt like you could finally breathe again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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